Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The angiogenesis in decellularized scaffold-mediated the renal regeneration

There are increasing numbers of patients underwent partial nephrectomy, and recovery of disturbed renal function is imperative post partial nephrectomy. We previously have demonstrated the decellularized (DC) scaffolds could mediate the residual kidney regeneration and thus improve disturbed renal function after partial nephrectomy. However, the cellular changes including the angiogenesis in the implanted DC scaffold has not yet been elaborated. In this study, we observed that the scaffold promoted the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) that adhered to the DC scaffold in vitro. We next examined the pathological changes of the implanted DC graft in vivo, and found a decreased volume of the scaffold and a dramatic angiogenesis within the scaffold. The average microvessel density (aMVD) increased at the early stage, while decreased at the later stage post transplantation. Expression level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) showed similar dynamic changes. In addition, many endothelial cells (ECs) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were distributed in the region which contained active angiogenesis in the scaffold. However, the implanted graft became fibrosis and the angiogenesis degraded at final stage roughly 8 weeks post transplantation. Our data indicate that DC scaffold can be vascularized in vivo and possible mechanisms are discussed.
Model-based approaches to increase efficiency of drug development in schizophrenia: a can't miss opportunity

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder characterized by definite specificities and complexities (heterogeneity of the disease symptoms, large between-subject variability in disease progression and response to therapeutic agents, placebo response, dropout, questionable preclinical models, importance of market differentiation, etc.) that make drug development in this field particularly difficult when compared to the other therapeutic areas. However, drug receptor binding (especially to D2, 5-HT2 and H1 receptors) can provide a useful quantitative framework that can be related to the downstream clinical (amelioration of disease-related scores) and unwanted (neurological effects and metabolic disregulation) effects. Objective: This paper reviews the pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and disease progression approaches applied to the development of new drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. Conclusions: Only model-based methodologies, able to integrate the diverse characteristics of a compound, can provide a rational approach to increase efficiency in drug development in this area, through the development of pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamics models able to integrate quantitative descriptions of pharmacokinetics, desired and unwanted effects. These holistic approaches can be used in clinical trial simulations for reliably predicting the outcome of future trials. Meta-analyses of the competitor environment are also essential to position the new drug into a crowded competitive landscape.
Controversy About Brain Damage Following Cranio-Cervical Acceleration-Deceleration Trauma

Objectives: To ascertain the levels of trauma from an acceleration-deceleration event which would expose a person to brain trauma, and to suggest clinical guidelines to the evaluation of injury outcomes which would indicate significant brain trauma was a potential sequelae. Methods: The brain-injury literature that related to clinical, psychological, biomechanical, and imaging studies was reviewed and compared for correlation to injury outcomes. Results: The severity of cranio-cervical tissue damage is clearly correlated to the degree of acceleration-deceleration trauma exposure. The size of a brain lesion is in a direct correlation to the duration and depth of unconsciousness, and the duration of post-traumatic amnesia. The acceleration-deceleration mechanism of injury would expose the prefrontal, frontal, or temporal cortex to diffuse axonal injury. These brain regions are crucial for complex attentional functioning. Indicators of trauma severity [loss of consciousness] are correlated to both clinical [cognitive impairment] and neuro-imaging findings [PET]. Presumed head-neck trauma that leads to an unconscious period of less than 10 minutes, or an amnesia period that spans less than four hours [a minor concussion] is not likely to cause any lasting brain damage or dysfunctional mental sequelae based on brain trauma. If these relationships cannot be established, factors other than brain damage [pain, adverse effect of medication, alcohol, psychological-personality problems, other agendas] should be considered the basis of complaints following cranio-cervical acceleration-deceleration trauma. Conclusions: Minor trauma exposure without a significant unconscious period, including amnesia, is very unlikely to have caused diffuse axonal injury, nor brain trauma.
Effects of Built Environments on Vehicle Miles Traveled: Evidence from 370 US Urbanized Areas

Concerns over rising fuel prices and greenhouse-gas emissions have prompted research into the influences of built environments on travel, notably vehicle miles traveled (VMT). On the basis of data from 370 US urbanized areas and using structural equation modeling, population densities are shown to be strongly and positively associated with VMT per capita (direct effect elasticity = ⊟0.604); however, this effect is moderated by the traffic-inducing effects of denser urban settings having denser road networks and better local-retail accessibility (indirect effect elasticity = 0.223, yielding a net effect elasticity = ⊟0.381). Accessibility to basic employment has comparatively modest effects, as do size of urbanized area, and rail-transit supplies and usage. Nevertheless, urban planning and city design should be part of any strategic effort to shrink the environmental footprint of the urban transportation sector.
Effect of Pulsed Stress on Leakage Current In MOS Capacitors For Non-Volatile Memory Applications

A detailed investigation of leakage current in MOS capacitors under pulsed electrical stress is presented. In particular the effect of pulse amplitude, pulse width, time between two pulses and stress temperature is studied. A new model of trap kinetics is discussed, based on the assumption that electrical stress induces creation of both stable and metastable states (trap precursors). The latter states are not involved in trapassisted-tunnel transport and therefore do not contribute to stress induced leakage current (SILC). However, precursors can anneal spontaneously, if the external perturbation is removed, or convert into stable traps, if the electrical stress lasts for a sufficient time. Experimental data of SILC in pulsed regime are coherently interpreted within the frame of this model.
Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Drive the Progression of Metastasis through both Paracrine and Mechanical Pressure on Cancer Tissue

Neoplastic cells recruit fibroblasts through various growth factors and cytokines. These “cancer-associated fibroblasts” (CAF) actively interact with neoplastic cells and form a myofibroblastic microenvironment that promotes cancer growth and survival and supports malignancy. Several products of their paracrine signaling repertoire have been recognized as tumor growth and metastasis regulators. However, tumor-promoting cell signaling is not the only reason that makes CAFs key components of the “tumor microenvironment,” as CAFs affect both the architecture and growth mechanics of the developing tumor. CAFs participate in the remodeling of peritumoral stroma, which is a prerequisite of neoplastic cell invasion, expansion, and metastasis. CAFs are not present peritumorally as individual cells but they act orchestrated to fully deploy a desmoplastic program, characterized by “syncytial” (or collective) configuration and altered cell adhesion properties. Such myofibroblastic cohorts are reminiscent of those encountered in wound-healing processes. The view of “cancer as a wound that does not heal” led to useful comparisons between wound healing and tumorigenesis and expanded our knowledge of the role of CAF cohorts in cancer. In this integrative model of cancer invasion and metastasis, we propose that the CAF-supported microenvironment has a dual tumor-promoting role. Not only does it provide essential signals for cancer cell dedifferentiation, proliferation, and survival but it also facilitates cancer cell local invasion and metastatic phenomena. Mol Cancer Res; 10(11); 1403–18. ©2012 AACR.
Restitution Without Context: An Examination of the Losing Contract Problem in the Restatement (Third) of Restitution

Professor Stewart Macaulay wondered in 1959 whether restitution, a set of doctrines applied in a wide range of fact-laden contexts, could be captured in a restitution casebook that, inevitably, would strip away much of the context for the law’s application. Restitution reappeared early in this new Century when the American Law Institute decided to “restate” restitution; the final product was approved In 2011. Several sections focused on the role of restitution in settings that began with a contract, or with a contract later “avoided” under contract law.This article is about one of those situations, that in which the party on the losing end of the original contract exits the contract due to the other party’s substantial breach. If that plaintiff agreed to what turned out to be a bad bargain, and would have lost money performing it, is that loss to be reflected in the injured party’s remedy notwithstanding the other party’s substantial breach. Modern decisions — and the 1981 Restatement (Second) of Contracts — permitted the injured party to “avoid” the contract and seek restitution for the value of what it conferred on the breacher, thereby erasing the loss on the bargain that would come with a contract law remedy. The new Restatement did not follow dominant case law but, instead, adopted a solution reflected in a few 19th Century cases that would preserve part of the “bargained-for” loss in the non-breacher’s recovery.The article argues that the Restatement’s solution — a compromise between recognizing all of the bargained-for loss and recognizing none of it — may be unworkable in real cases, and that the supporting economic analysis is hopelessly indeterminate in the complex situations onto which that analysis is projected. Yet, paradoxically, its unworkability may be an asset, pressing contracting parties to settle rather than risk litigation in a legal environment even more indeterminate than the environment that preceded it, where the older Restatement of Contracts and the dominant case law were at least in rough alignment with one another. The article concludes with the observation that the new Restatement’s solution is a product of its time and is likely to be temporary because legal thinking tends to be cyclical. Our current economics-dominated approach to solving legal problems will inevitably give way to new thinking, research, and norms — and to new solutions to recurring problems such as this one.
A Distributed Cluster based Interference-Traffic aware CA for MRMC WMN

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have the potential for improving network capacity by employing multiple radios and multiple channels (MRMC). Channel Assignment (CA) is a key issue that plays vital role in defining WMN throughput by efficient utilization of available multiple radios and channels there by minimizing network interference. The two important issues that are needed to be addressed by CA algorithm are Connectivity and Interference. CA problem is proven to be NP-Hard [2] [4]. Further difficulty is added by constraints of varying network conditions such as interference and traffic load. In this paper we propose a Distributed Cluster-based Interference-Traffic aware connectivity preserving CA (DCITCA) algorithm. DCITCA involves two phases of operation. In phase 1, first step prepares r-hop clusters in the given network topology where r defines maximum hop distance between any mesh node in the cluster to the cluster head. Second step performs interface-to-link binding to ensures that every link in the network topology receive a communication channel and channel dependency problem is controlled. In phase 2, the channels are assigned to interfaces by selecting least interfering channels in the neighborhood. Interference is measured based on the traffic load carried in the neighborhood. Proposed CA algorithms can be easily implemented on commodity IEEE 802.11 hardware. Our simulations demonstrate that proposed algorithm DCITCA reduces overall network interference when compared to existing CoMTaC[7] CA algorithm.
The maximum of CRLB of time delay estimation

Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is very significant to evaluate parameter's estimation results. This paper proposes to study the maximum of CRLB of time delay estimation (TDE) under certain signal to noise ratio, when we only need to get a reasonable range of estimation variance to test the validity of an algorithm without knowing the exact formula of signal, or to design a waveform which is difficult to be located. First, we deduce the estimation variance of time delay using the principle of least squares. Then, through comparing to CRLB in frequency domain, we know that they are same to express the lower variance bound for unbiased TDE. Finally, with time-frequency uncertainty principle, we could know that Gaussian envelope is the waveform to maximize CRLB of TDE under certain signal to noise ratio. Simulations also illustrate that Gaussian envelope is close to the maximum of CRLB of time delay.
Sliding three-tube model as a simple educational tool for vowel production

1. Introduction A series of physical models of the human vocal tract for education in acoustics and speech science has been proposed from our group [1–8], and we successfully showed the effectiveness of hands-on activities for an intuitive understanding of the mechanisms and phenomena. Arai [1] replicated Chiba and Kajiyama's physical models of the human vocal tract on the basis of their measurement [9]. This Arai's model [1] consists of the cylinder-type and plate-type vocal-tract models; they are simple but offer a powerful demonstration of vowel production with a sound source such as an electrolarynx or a whistle-type artificial larynx. A driver unit of a horn speaker can also be used as a transducer to produce an arbitrary sound source. One can feed signals to the driver unit not only from an oscillator, but also from a computer using a digital/analog converter and an amplifier, so that any arbitrary signal can be a source signal. We have recently showed additional physical models of the human vocal tract that are useful for education. We have shown Umeda and Teranishi's model [10] with several sound sources fed through a driver unit in pedagogical situations [11]. In this model, one can change the cross-sectional areas of their model by moving 10-mm (or 15-mm) thick plastic strips, closely inserted from one side. In Arai [8], we further extended our previously proposed physical models of the human vocal tract to the lung models and head-shaped models. The head-shaped models can produce vowel sounds and provide a visual demonstration of how the vocal tract is positioned in the head. The lung models with the whistle-type artificial larynx give a visual demonstration of the human respiratory system and phonation. In one extended version of the head-shaped model [8], the tongue could be manipulated by hand. Therefore, many different vowels can be produced with the model by changing the position of the tongue. In Umeda and Teranishi's model [10], the shape of the vocal tract can also be changed by moving a set of the thick plastic strips. None of the models, however, had a simple way to change the vocal tract shape in order to produce different vowel sounds. In other words, we needed high degrees of freedom to control the vocal tract shape in the previous models. In this study, we, design a three-tube model with a simple mechanism to produce several different vowels.
Cardioreparative Effects of Lisinopril in Rats With Genetic Hypertension and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

BackgroundIn genetic and acquired hypertension, a structural remodeling of the nonmyocyte compartment of the myocardium, including the accumulation of fibrillar collagen within the interstitium and adventitia of intramyocardial coronary arteries and a medial thickening of these vessels, represents a determinant of pathological hypertrophy that leads to ventricular dysfunction. Methods and ResultsTo evaluate the benefit of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition in reversing this interstitial and vascular remodeling in the rat with genetic spontaneous hypertension (SHR) and established left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), we treated 14-weekold male SHR with oral lisinopril (average dose, 15 mg/kg/day) for 12 weeks. Myocardial stiffness and coronary vascular reserve to adenosine (800 gg/min) were examined in the isolated heart; myocardial collagen and intramural coronary artery architecture were analyzed morphometrically. In lisinopril-treated SHR compared with 14-week-old baseline or 26-weekold untreated SHR and age- and sex-matched Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) controls, we found 1) a regression in LVH and normalization of blood pressure, 2) a complete regression of interstitial fibrosis, represented by a decrease of interstitial collagen volume fraction from 7.0 + 1.3% to 3.2 + 0.3% (p <0.025; WKY, 2.8±0.5%), 3) normalization of myocardial stiffness constant from 19.5±0.9 to 13.7±1.3 (p < 0.025; WKY, 13.8 + 2.2), 4) a reversal of intramural coronary artery remodeling, including a decrease in the ratio of perivascular fibrosis to vessel lumen size from 1.4±0.2 to 0.4 + 0.1 (p < 0.025; WKY, 0.6±0.1) and medial thickening from 12.3±0.6 to 7.4±0.5 μm (p < 0.005; WKY, 7.4±0.4 μm), and 4) a restoration of coronary vasodilator response to adenosine from 12.3 ±0.9 to 26.0 1.4 ml/min/g (p <0.005; WKY, 21.8±2.2 ml/min/g). Thus, in SHR with LVH and adverse structural remodeling of the cardiac interstitium, lisinopril reversed fibrous tissue accumulation and medial thickening of intramyocardial coronary arteries and restored myocardial stiffness and coronary vascular reserve to normal. ConclusionsThese cardioreparative properties of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition may be valuable in reversing left ventricular dysfunction in hypertensive heart disease.
CD70/CD27 ligand, a member of the TNF family, is expressed in human brain tumors

CD70 (CD27 ligand) has been implicated in proapoptotic signals mediated by its receptor CD27 in lymphocytes as well as in proliferative effects induced by reverse signaling in CD70‐positive hematopoetic tumor cells. We were able to show that CD70 is expressed at the mRNA and protein level in human meningioma cells, glioma cells from solid human gliomas as well as glioma cell lines and 1 ependynoma. The intensity of CD70 expression varies considerably between different samples from 1 tumor type. In the U343 glioma cell line, CD70 was preferentially localized in the cell processes. Thus, our studies identify CD70 as a new marker molecule in brain tumors that are of nonhematopoetic origin. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
SCR device with double-triggered technique for on-chip ESD protection in sub-quarter-micron silicided CMOS processes

Turn-on efficiency is the main concern for silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) devices used as an on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, especially in deep sub-quarter-micron CMOS processes with much thinner gate oxide. A novel double-triggered technique is proposed to speed up the turn-on speed of SCR devices for using in on-chip ESD protection circuit to effectively protect the much thinner gate oxide in sub-quarter-micron CMOS processes. From the experimental results, the switching voltage and turn-on time of such double-triggered SCR (DT-SCR) device has been confirmed to be significantly reduced by this double-triggered technique.
How experimental trial context affects perceptual categorization

To understand object categorization, participants are tested in experiments often quite different from how people experience object categories in the real world. Learning and knowledge of categories is measured in discrete experimental trials, those trials may or may not provide feedback, trials appear one after another, after some fixed inter-trial interval, with hundreds of trials in a row, within experimental blocks with some structure dictated by the experimental design. In the real world, outside of certain educational and vocational contexts, opportunities to learn and use categories are intermixed over time with a whole multitude of intervening experiences. It is clear from any elementary understanding of human cognition that sequential effects matter, yet this understanding is often ignored, and categorization trials are often instead treated as independent events, immune to local trial context. In this perspective, we use some of our work to illustrate some of the consequences of the fact that categorization experiments have a particular trial structure. Experimental trial context can affect performance in category learning and categorization experiments in ways that can profoundly affect theoretical conclusions.
Utility of Amsel Criteria, Nugent Score, and Quantitative PCR for Gardnerella vaginalis, Mycoplasma hominis, and Lactobacillus spp. for Diagnosis of Bacterial Vaginosis in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Women

ABSTRACT Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a clinical syndrome presenting with a malodorous vaginal discharge and increased vaginal pH. Diagnosis has been based on clinical Amsel criteria and direct Gram stain of vaginal secretions. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected participants in the Women's Interagency HIV Study contributed cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) samples. Lactobacilli, Gardnerella vaginalis, and Mycoplasma hominis in cervicovaginal lavage samples were quantified by PCR. Gynecologic evaluation included Nugent score and Amsel criterion assessment. We compared the gold standard Nugent score to Amsel criteria and quantitative bacterial PCR for diagnosing BV in 203 CVL samples from women with Nugent scores of 7 to 10 (BV group) and 203 samples from women with BV Nugent scores of 0 to 3 (“No-BV” group). Only 75 of the 203 CVL samples from women with Nugent scores of 7 to 10 met positive Amsel criteria. Increasing levels of G. vaginalis and M. hominis and decreasing levels of lactobacilli were significantly associated with BV by Nugent score. Of the group with Nugent scores of 7 to 10, 83% and 81% had log10G. vaginalis counts and log10M. hominis counts greater than 6.81 and 4.82, respectively, while only 30% and 31% of the group with Nugent scores of 0 to 3 were above these thresholds, respectively. There was significant overlap in the log10 lactobacillus counts between the two groups. Utilizing all three log10 bacterial counts (G. vaginalis, M. hominis, and lactobacilli) in our model improved the sensitivity and specificity to 83% and 78%, respectively, in comparison with Nugent score. In this cohort, Amsel criteria were poorly predictive of BV. PCR quantification of G. vaginalis and M. hominis from CVL is significantly more sensitive than Amsel criteria for diagnosing BV.
Sticking with What (Barely) Worked

Outcome bias occurs when an evaluator considers ex-post outcomes when judging whether a choice was correct, ex-ante. We formalize this cognitive bias in a simple model of distorted Bayesian updating. We then examine strategy changes made by professional football coaches. We find they are more likely to revise their strategy after a loss than a win -- even for narrow losses, which are uninformative about future success. This increased revision following a loss occurs even when a loss was expected, and the offensive strategy is revised even when failure is attributable to the defense. These results are consistent with our model's predictions.