Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ovariectomy Augments Hypertension in Aging Female Dahl Salt-Sensitive Rats

The ovariectomized (OVX) Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) rat fed a low-salt diet is a model of postmenopausal hypertension. In addition to estrogen loss, aging can also contribute to postmenopausal hypertension. We hypothesized that: (1) female DS rats on a low-salt diet become hypertensive with age; (2) ovariectomy accelerates age-dependent hypertension in the DS rat caused by estrogen depletion; and (3) this hypertension correlates with increased type 1 angiotensin receptor (AT1R) number (Bmax). Blood pressure was monitored by telemetry from 3 to 12 months and AT1R Bmax was determined by Scatchard analysis in glomeruli and adrenal cortex. Three groups of DS rats were studied: intact, OVX, and 17&bgr;-estradiol–replaced OVX (OVX+E). In intact rats, aging to 12 months resulted in hypertension (159±6 mm Hg) and an 82% decrease in estrogen. Blood pressure in OVX was significantly higher than OVX+E through 12 months of age (173±4 versus 150±8 mm Hg). At 4 months, OVX increased AT1R Bmax compared with intact and OVX+E in both glomeruli and adrenal cortex. Aging also increased AT1R Bmax in these tissues in intact rats. In summary, female DS rats fed a low-salt diet have hypertension develop with age, that is accelerated by OVX and attenuated by estrogen replacement. Concurrently, AT1Rs are upregulated by age and OVX, which is prevented by estrogen replacement. This study suggests that an increased activity of the renin angiotensin system contributes to the development of hypertension, and estrogen protects against this process.
Information Importance of Models and Relative Importance of Predictors: Concept, Measures, Bayes Inference, and Applications

Comparison of relative importance of predictors is a subject of discussion of research findings in many disci- plines, as well as being input for decision-making in business practice. Relative importance methodologists have proposed measures for specific problems such as normal linear regression and logit. Some attempts have been made to set requirements for relative importance of predictors, given a measure of "importance", without characterizing the notion of "importance" itself. The main objective of this paper is to fill this gap by providing a notion of importance of predictors suciently general so as to be applicable to various models and data types, yet to admit a unique interpretation. The importance of predictors is characterized by the ex- tent to which their use reduces uncertainty about predicting the response variable, namely their information importance. Uncertainty associated with a probability distribution is a concave function of the density such that its global maximum is a uniform distribution reflecting the most dicult prediction situation. Shannon entropy is used to operationalize the concept. For nonstochastic predictors, maximum entropy characteriza- tion of probability distributions provides measures of information importance. For stochastic predictors, the expected entropy dierence gives measures of information importance, which is invariant under one-to-one transformations of the variables. Applications to various data types leads to familiar statistical quantities for various models, yet with the unified interpretation of uncertainty reduction. Bayes inference for importance and relative importance of predictors is presented. An illustrative example shows the information impor- tance analysis and versatility of the invariance for normal regression. Two other examples show applications providing assessments of relative importance of some attributes needed for business decision-making.
A Multi-Arc Model for Predicting AC Critical Flashover Voltage of Ice-covered Insulators

A multi-arc model for applications to outdoor insulators under icing conditions is developed. In order to validate the model, several insulator types and configurations, with a dry-arc distance up to 4.17 m were tested under icing conditions. The applied water conductivity of the ice was varied between 30 and 150 muS/cm. The simulation results from the model were found to be in good agreement with the laboratory results. This model will constitute a powerful instrument for the selection of EHV and UHV insulators subjected to ice accretion.
Implicit Dynamic Frames ( draft )

An important, challenging problem in the verification of imperative programs with shared, mutable state is the frame problem in the presence of data abstraction. That is, one must be able to specify and verify upper bounds on the set of memory locations a method can read and write without exposing that method’s implementation. Separation logic is now widely considered the most promising solution to this problem. However, unlike conventional verification approaches, separation logic assertions cannot mention heap-dependent expressions from the host programming language such as method calls familiar to many developers. Moreover, separation logic-based verifiers are often based on symbolic execution. These symbolic execution-based verifiers typically do not support non-separating conjunction, and some of them rely on the developer to explicitly fold and unfold predicate definitions. Furthermore, several researchers have wondered whether it is possible to use verification condition generation and standard first-order provers instead of symbolic execution to automatically verify conformance with a separation logic specification. In this paper, we propose a variant of separation logic, called implicit dynamic frames, that supports heap-dependent expressions inside assertions. Conformance with an implicit dynamic frames specification can be checked by proving validity of a number of first-order verification conditions. To show that these verification conditions can be discharged automatically by standard first-order provers, we have implemented our approach in a verifier prototype and have used this prototype to verify several challenging examples from related work. Our prototype automatically folds and unfolds predicate definitions as required during the proof and can reason about non-separating conjunction which is used in the specifications of some of these examples. Finally, we have proven soundness of the approach.
The utility of the Digi-walker step counter to assess daily physical activity patterns.

PURPOSE The Digi-Walker step counter is a promising and cost-effective tool to measure physical activity under free-living conditions. Two specific studies were conducted to evaluate the number of steps required to meet current physical activity guidelines. METHODS Thirty-one adults (17 men, 14 women) served as participants. In study 1, we determined the number of steps to complete a mile under two different conditions and three paces. In study 2, we conducted a field trial to examine the relationship between daily step counts and other indices of physical activity. Participants in this study wore a Digi-Walker for 2 consecutive weeks and completed the 7-d physical activity recall (PAR) after each week. RESULTS In study 1, there were no differences in step counts by site, but steps were inversely related to pace, with values ranging from 1330 to 1996. Individual step counts at a specific pace were negatively correlated with height, weight, leg length, and stride length and were positively correlated with body fatness. In study 2, participants had average daily step counts of 11,603 when structured vigorous activity was included and 8265 when only light and moderate activity were measured. Modest correlations were found between step counts and estimated energy expenditure. Similar correlations were observed when step counts were related to minutes of activity per day and minutes of sitting per day. CONCLUSIONS Pedometers provide a useful indicator of daily step counts but variability in activity patterns make it difficult to establish step count guidelines that correspond with other public health guidelines.
A New Tracer for Imaging Atherosclerosis.

Carotid artery disease accounts for ≈20% of strokes.1,2 Although the role of revascularization in reducing the incidence of stroke in symptomatic carotid stenosis is well established,1 the optimal treatment for asymptomatic disease remains controversial.2,3 In Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study (ACAS, published in 1995)4 and Asymptomatic Carotid Surgery Trial 1 (ACST-1, published in 2004),5 which enrolled patients with ≥60% carotid stenosis carotid endarterectomy (CEA) was found to be superior to medical therapy. Subsequent studies demonstrated that carotid stenting, the alternative revascularization procedure, is not inferior to CEA in these patients.6,7 However, recent advances in medical therapy have led to considerable reduction in stroke risk, such that the contemporary annual rate of ipsilateral stroke in medically managed patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis (≤1%) is similar to the risks observed with revascularization in aforementioned trials.2 Accordingly, American Heart Association guidelines suggest that revascularization may be considered in a highly selected group of patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis, acknowledging that the effectiveness of this approach compared to medical therapy is not well established.8 How to identify this high-risk group of patients remains more akin to an art than evidence-based medicine. Interestingly, in contrast to Canada and most of Europe, a great majority of carotid revascularization procedures in the United States are performed on asymptomatic patients,2 highlighting the magnitude of the problem and costs associated with potentially unnecessary procedures. See Article by Voo et al Focal thrombosis triggered by plaque rupture, superficial erosion, or protruding calcified nodule in the setting of predisposing systemic factors can be asymptomatic or lead to myocardial infarction and stroke. Plaque rupture is the main cause of such thrombotic complications in both coronary and carotid artery disease. The nidus for rupture, a thin-cap, highly inflammatory fibroatheroma …
A Circular RNA Binds To and Activates AKT Phosphorylation and Nuclear Localization Reducing Apoptosis and Enhancing Cardiac Repair

As central nodes in cardiomyocyte signaling, nuclear AKT appears to play a cardio-protective role in cardiovascular disease. Here we describe a circular RNA, circ-Amotl1 that is highly expressed in neonatal human cardiac tissue, and potentiates AKT-enhanced cardiomyocyte survival. We hypothesize that circ-Amotl1 binds to PDK1 and AKT1, leading to AKT1 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. In primary cardiomyocytes, epithelial cells, and endothelial cells, we found that forced circ-Amotl1 expression increased the nuclear fraction of pAKT. We further detected increased nuclear pAKT in circ-Amotl1-treated hearts. In vivo, circ-Amotl1 expression was also found to be protective against Doxorubicin (Dox)-induced cardiomyopathy. Putative PDK1- and AKT1-binding sites were then identified in silico. Blocking oligonucleotides could reverse the effects of exogenous circ-Amotl1. We conclude that circ-Amotl1 physically binds to both PDK1 and AKT1, facilitating the cardio-protective nuclear translocation of pAKT.
Nonequilibrium Goldstone phenomenon in tachyonic preheating

The dominance of the direct production of elementary Goldstone waves is demonstrated in tachyonic preheating by numerically determining the evolution of the dispersion relation, the equation of state and the kinetic power spectra for the angular degree of freedom of the complex matter field. The importance of the domain structure in the order parameter distribution for the quantitative understanding of the excitation mechanism is emphasized. Evidence is presented for the very early decoupling of the low-momentum Goldstone modes.
A CORBA-based distributed software architecture for control of service robots

This paper presents the distributed robot control software architecture developed for the autonomous service robot Albert2. The development of this architecture is focused on two major issues: modularity and the integration of learning aspects. Each module within the architecture is presented, as well as the underlying event-based communication framework. An approach for integration of learning capabilities is proposed.
Enhanced semantic access to the protein engineering literature using ontologies populated by text mining

The biomedical literature is growing at an ever-increasing rate, which pronounces the need to support scientists with advanced, automated means of accessing knowledge. We investigate a novel approach employing description logics (DL)-based queries made to formal ontologies that have been created using the results of text mining full-text research papers. In this paradigm, an OWL-DL ontology becomes populated with instances detected through natural language processing (NLP). The generated ontology can be queried by biologists using DL reasoners or integrated into bioinformatics workflows for further automated analyses. We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach with a system targeting the protein mutation literature.
A Novel Way of Family Tree Representation and Case Retrieval *

Efficient representation of family tree is essential for any system utilizing information in the family tree. Efficient representation of family tree and retrieval methods, which can handle large number of family trees, are introduced in this paper. It is a modified form of conceptual graph and can be used as a case representation form for a case-based genetic cancer risk assessment system.
Ethics Education for Irregular Warfare

Contents: Foreword, George R. Lucas Jr Introduction: ethics education for irregular warfare, Paul Robinson Part 1 The Theoretical Background: Preserving soldiers' moral character in counter-insurgency operations, H.R. McMaster The philosophical warrior, Alexander Moseley Culture centric warfare: the moral dynamics, Patrick Mileham. Part 2 Operational Issues: Preventing torture in counter-insurgency operations, Jessica Wolfendale The fall of the warrior king: situational ethics in Iraq, Paul Robinson Military ethics of facing fellow citizens: IDF preparations for disengagement, Asa Kasher. Part 3 Pedagogical Issues: Teaching military ethics in the United States Air Force: challenges posed by service culture, Martin Cook Counter-insurgency ethics at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Stephen Deakin International law and the ethics of war at the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College, David Whetham Ethics education for operations other than war: the Dutch approach, Peter Olsthoorn Index.
A Novel IEEE 754 Standard Floating PointUnit Comprising Fused Add-Subtract Unit

In this paper, a high speed and reduced area floating point unit(FPU) is implemented incorporating fused addsubtract unit. The FPU is designed to handle numbers both in single precision and double precision formats. When compared to discrete add-subtract unit, fused add-subtract unit has achieved 33% reduction in area and 52% reduction in delay in case of single precision format. In double precision format compared to discrete add-subtract unit, fused add-subtract unit has achieved a reduction in area and delay by 41% and 40% respectively. The FPU was designed using VHDL language and implemented on a Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA.
Difference in concentration trends of airborne particulate matter during rush hour on weekdays and Sundays in Tokyo, Japan

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) and fine particulate matter (less than or equal to 2.5 μm: PM2.5) have generally been decreasing for the last decade in Tokyo, Japan. To elucidate the major cause of this decrease, the authors investigated the different trends of airborne particulates (both SPM and PM2.5 concentrations) by evaluating comparisons based on the location of the monitoring stations (roadside vs. ambient), days of the week (weekdays vs. Sundays), and daily fluctuation patterns (2002 vs. 2010). Hourly mean SPM and PM2.5 concentrations were obtained at four monitoring stations (two roadside stations, two ambient stations) in Tokyo, Japan. Annual mean concentrations of each day of the week and of each hour of the day from 2002 to 2010 were calculated. The results showed that (1) the daily differences in annual mean concentration decreased only at the two roadside monitoring stations; (2) the high hourly mean concentrations observed on weekdays during the daily rush hour at the two roadside monitoring stations observed in 2002 diminished in 2010; (3) the SPM concentration that decreased the most since 2002 was the PM2.5 concentration; and (4) the fluctuation of hourly concentrations during weekdays at the two roadside monitoring stations decreased. A decreasing trend of airborne particulates during the daily rush hour in Tokyo, Japan, was observed at the roadside monitoring stations on weekdays since 2002. The decreasing PM2.5 concentration resulted in this decreasing trend of airborne particulate concentrations during the daily rush hours on weekdays, which indicates fewer emissions were produced by diesel vehicles. Implications The authors compared the trends of SPM and PM2.5 in Tokyo by location (roadside vs. ambient), days of the week (weekdays vs. Sundays), and daily fluctuation patterns (2002 vs. 2010). The high hourly mean concentrations observed at the roadside location during rush hour on weekdays in 2002 diminished in 2010. The SPM concentration that decreased during rush hour the most was the PM2.5 concentration. This significant decrease in the PM2.5 concentration resulted in the general decreasing trend of SPM concentrations during the rush hours on weekdays, which indicates fewer emissions were produced from diesel vehicles.
Skeletal muscle protein synthesis after active or passive ascent to high altitude.

INTRODUCTION The effects of acute exposure to high altitude on muscle protein synthesis rates in human volunteers were examined after active and passive ascent. METHODS Measurements were made initially at low altitude (550 m) and again after ascent to high altitude (4,559 m). To be able to separate the contribution of physical exercise, one group was flown by helicopter (air group, N=8), whereas the other group climbed to high altitude (foot group, N=9). Fractional rates of muscle protein synthesis rates (FSR) were determined from the incorporation of isotope into protein after injection of [H5ring] phenylalanine. RESULTS In the air group, there was no change in FSR at high altitude, whereas in the foot group, there was a 35% increase in FSR (P<0.05 for interaction) measured 19-23 h after the end of climbing. At high altitude, the degree of hypoxia and alkalosis were not different between the groups. The plasma concentration of insulin-like growth factor-1, free thyroxin, free triiodothyronine, and thyroid-stimulating hormone were not different between the groups. Urinary 24-h cortisol excretion increased significantly in both groups after ascent, but the increase in the foot group was significantly higher compared with the air group. CONCLUSION Physical exercise appeared to be responsible for the observed increase in muscle FSR. The significantly higher increase of 24-h cortisol excretion in the foot group suggests that the increase in FSR occurred despite higher levels of glucocorticoids, which generally affect muscle protein turnover by inhibiting protein synthesis.
Hepatocyte Growth Factor/Scatter Factor Can Induce Angiogenesis Independently of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

Objective—Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) promotes vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and induces angiogenesis in multiple pathological conditions. The present study was designed to delineate the HGF/SF and VEGF signaling cascades during angiogenesis by using PTK787, a selective VEGF receptor antagonist. Methods and Results—PTK787 produced a concentration-dependent (10−8 to 10−6 mol/L) inhibition of VEGF-induced angiogenesis, without altering the basal or HGF/SF-induced response in vitro. In contrast, the nonspecific kinase inhibitor genistein blocked the HGF/SF-induced effect. Both VEGF and HGF/SF induced a rapid phosphorylation of extracellular receptor kinases-1 and -2 (ERKs) and Akt. PTK787 inhibited the VEGF-induced activation of Akt and ERKs, without affecting the HGF/SF-induced phosphorylation. Treatment with VEGF and HGF/SF increased total neovascularization in a murine scaffold granuloma model, but no additive or synergistic interactions were observed. PTK787 (50 mg/kg) blocked the VEGF-induced response without altering the basal or HGF/SF-induced neovascularization. Conclusions—We demonstrate that HGF/SF can induce angiogenesis independently of VEGF, possibly through the direct activation of the Akt and ERKs. These results demonstrate the necessity of a multitargeted approach for the rational design of newer therapies to inhibit pathophysiological angiogenesis.
Non‐coding RNAs in imprinted gene clusters

Imprinted ncRNA (non‐coding RNA) genes represent a family of untranslated transcripts that are mono‐allelically expressed in a parent‐of‐origin manner (their expression is restricted to either the maternal or the paternal allele). Although the expression of a few long imprinted ncRNAs act as cis‐acting silencers in the epigenetic regulation of chromatin at imprinted gene clusters, many of them fall into the growing class of small regulatory RNAs, namely C/D small nucleolar RNAs, microRNAs and also likely piRNAs (Piwi‐interacting RNAs), which are known to act as antisense trans‐acting regulators of gene expression (for example, site‐specific RNA modifications and RNA‐mediated gene silencing). Although their biological functions remain elusive, recent studies have pointed to their functional importance in development, in brain plasticity and also perhaps in some pathological situations, such as cancers or Prader—Willi syndrome. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the molecular and biological roles of these ncRNAs, both in terms of their contribution to genomic imprinting control, as well as in terms of cellular RNA targets they might interact with.
Three‐dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of asymmetric pulsar wind bow shocks

We present three-dimensional, non-relativistic, hydrodynamic simulations of bow shocks in pulsar wind nebulae. The simulations are performed for a range of initial and boundary conditions to quantify the degree of asymmetry produced by latitudinal variations in the momentum flux of the pulsar wind, radiative cooling in the post-shock flow and density gradients in the interstellar medium (ISM). We find that the bow shock is stable even when travelling through a strong ISM gradient. We demonstrate how the shape of the bow shock changes when the pulsar encounters density variations in the ISM. We show that a density wall can account for the peculiar bow shock shapes of the nebulae around PSR J2124-3358 and PSR B0740-28. A wall produces kinks in the shock, whereas a smooth ISM density gradient tilts the shock. We conclude that the anisotropy of the wind momentum flux alone cannot explain the observed bow shock morphologies but it is instead necessary to take into account external effects. We show that the analytic (single layer, thin shell) solution is a good approximation when the momentum flux is anisotropic, fails for a steep ISM density gradient and approaches the numerical solution for efficient cooling. We provide analytic expressions for the latitudinal dependence of a vacuum-dipole wind and the associated shock shape, and compare the results to a split-monopole wind. We find that we are unable to distinguish between these two wind models purely from the bow shock morphology.