Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Insulin selectively increases SREBP-1c mRNA in the livers of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

Sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) enhance transcription of genes encoding enzymes of cholesterol and fatty acid biosynthesis and uptake. In the current experiments, we observed a decline in the mRNA encoding one SREBP isoform, SREBP-1c, in the livers of rats that were rendered diabetic by treatment with streptozotocin. There was no change in the mRNA encoding SREBP-1a, which is derived from the same gene as SREBP-1c but uses a different promoter. The ratio of SREBP-1c:1a transcripts fell 25-fold from 5:1 in control rats to 0.2:1 in the diabetic animals. The SREBP-1c mRNA rose nearly to normal, and the 1c:1a ratio increased 17-fold when the diabetic rats were treated for 6 h with insulin. These treatments produced no change in the mRNA for SREBP-2, which is encoded by a separate gene. The SREBP-1c mRNA also fell selectively in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes and rose when the cells were treated with insulin. Considered together with recent data on hepatocytes [Foretz, M. , Pacot, C. , Dugal, I. , et al. (1999) Mol. Cell. Biol. 19, 3760-3768], the current in vivo studies suggest that insulin may stimulate lipid synthesis in the liver by selectively inducing transcription of the SREBP-1c gene.
MRTB framework: a robust content-based music retrieval and browsing

In this paper, we propose new content-based music retrieval and browsing system so called MRTB. New feature extraction procedure such as multi-feature clustering (MFC) is proposed for robust and optimum performance of the music retrieval system. Using MFC, we can achieve 86% of average retrieving success rate and 0.5/spl sim/0.8 sec retrieval time based on top 10 ranked list rules. User friendly graphical interface of MRTB S/W is implemented in thumbnail manner so the user can easily verify their retrieving results with some useful musical information.
The ventricular-brain ratio (VBR) in functional psychoses: the relationship of lateral ventricular and total intracranial area

SYNOPSIS CT scans were performed on 72 consecutive patients with a functional psychosis, and compared with 50 community controls. There was a specific difference in lateral ventricular area between these two groups but it accounted for only 11% of the variance in this measure. In contrast, racial and sexual differences in the ventricular-brain ratio (VBR) related to differences in intra-cranial area. It is argued that analysis of variance, using lateral ventricular area and intra-cranial area, is more informative than VBR in examining these structural changes in functional psychoses.
Energising Entrepreneurship: Ideological Tensions in the Medium-Sized Family Business

Although entrepreneurship, management, and familyconcerns are generally viewed as mutually exclusive aspects of familybusinesses, the tensions generated by the entrepreneurial drive, the family associal institution, and the management profession may actually energize themedium-sized family business.In this study, six well-established familybusinesses located in small towns in Sweden were investigated during 1998. Afew individuals from each company participated in semi-structured, face-to-faceinterviews. It appears that specific ideologies did dominate the operations of the sixbusinesses, which were founder-managed, bought out by management, or run bysecond-generation family members; at the same time, all of the businessesnurtured at least two ideologies. The study suggested that medium-sized, privately owned firms are strongholdsof multiple ideologies (namely paternalism, managerialism, andentrepreneurialism) and that the ability to turn ideological tensions toproductive purposes was an important part of the entrepreneurial process. Alsoincluded is a review of recent family business literature, which operates onthe supposed need for management structures in the medium-sized familyfirm. (SAA)
Protection challenges under bulk penetration of renewable energy resources in power systems: A review

Among different sources of alternate energy, wind and solar are two prominent and promising alternatives to meet the future electricity needs for mankind. Generally, these sources are integrated at the distribution utilities to supply the local distribution customers. If the power generated by these sources is bulk, then they are either integrated at the distribution/transmission level or may be operated in an island mode if feasible. The integration of these renewables in the power network will change the fault level and network topologies. These fault levels are intermittent in nature and existing protection schemes may fail to operate because of their pre-set condition. Therefore, the design and selection of a proper protection scheme is very much essential for reliable control and operation of renewable integrated power systems. Depending upon the level of infeed and location of the renewable integration, the protection requirements are different. For low renewable infeed at the distribution level, the existing relay settings are immune from any small change in the network fault current from new incoming renewables. However, bulk renewable infeed requires modification in the existing protection schemes to accommodate the fault current variation from the incoming renewables. For bulk penetration of the renewable, the requirement of modified/additional protection schemes is unavoidable. Adaptive relaying and non-adaptive relaying schemes are discussed in the literature for protection of power networks, which are experiencing dynamic fault currents and frequent changing network topologies. This article presents a detailed review of protection schemes for renewable integrated power networks which includes distribution, transmission and microgrid systems. The merits and demerits of these protection schemes are also identified in this article for the added interest of the readers. The visible scope of advance protection schemes which may be suitable for providing reliable protection for dynamic fault current networks is also explored.
Local Treatment of Spasmodic Torticollis with Botulinum Toxin

ABSTRACT: Fifty-six patients with spasmodic torticollis were treated with local injections of botulinum toxin. The drop out rate was 21%. The remaining 44 patients were followed for a period of 3 to 21 months. Thirty-two patients (76%) had pain relief out of 42 presenting with pain; 37 (66%) improved in the amount of sustained movements of torticollis. The efficacy was reproducible after repeated injections.
Bending the Dipole

This paper presents simulation results of bending the half-wave dipole antenna at different points of its length. Antenna under test is a center-fed dipole simulated at two different dimensions: half-wave length and resonant length. The bend angle is incremented by 5 degrees starting from 5 degrees to 90 degrees. The entire dipole is divided into 32 segments. There are 16 segments them from one end of the dipole to its center. The bent length is incremented by one segment length per test point. Parameters such as impedance, and propagation pattern are simulated and presented. Analysis of results is done. Direction for further study is enumerated.
Three‐dimensional cell culture model utilization in cancer stem cell research

Three‐dimensional (3D) cell culture models are becoming increasingly popular in contemporary cancer research and drug resistance studies. Recently, scientists have begun incorporating cancer stem cells (CSCs) into 3D models and modifying culture components in order to mimic in vivo conditions better. Currently, the global cell culture market is primarily focused on either 3D cancer cell cultures or stem cell cultures, with less focus on CSCs. This is evident in the low product availability officially indicated for 3D CSC model research. This review discusses the currently available commercial products for CSC 3D culture model research. Additionally, we discuss different culture media and components that result in higher levels of stem cell subpopulations while better recreating the tumor microenvironment. In summary, although progress has been made applying 3D technology to CSC research, this technology could be further utilized and a greater number of 3D kits dedicated specifically to CSCs should be implemented.
Is uric acid an indicator of metabolic syndrome in the first-degree relatives of patients with type 2 diabetes?

Background: To determine whether uric acid levels are associated with the components of metabolic syndrome and whether uric acid is a significant factor for development of metabolic syndrome in the first-degree relatives of type 2 diabetic patients as high risk group. Materials and Methods: A total of 694 (182 male and 512 female, aged 30-69 years) first-degree relatives of type 2 diabetic patients during 2007-2011 were enrolled. The height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, lipid profile and uric acid concentrations were measured. Metabolic syndrome was defined by NCEP-ATP III. Results: Uric acid was associated with waist circumference, blood pressure, triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol level in both sexes (r = 0.1-0.3, P < 0.05). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the fourth quartile of uric acid (64.4% of male and 60.2% of female population) was significantly more than those in the first (25.5% of male and 31.2% of female population) and second quartiles (33.3% of male and 32.0% of female population). The mean of uric acid in people with metabolic syndrome was significantly higher than in those without (6.6 ± 1.2 mg/dL vs. 5.8 ± 1.2 mg/dL; P = 0.0001). The age-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of uric acid for metabolic syndrome in univariate analysis were [1.60 (1.23-2.07); P = 0.008] for men and [1.61 (1.34-1.92); P = 0.0001] for women but the effect of uric acid in multivariate logistic regression was not significant. Conclusions: Uric acid is associated with majority of the metabolic syndrome components. People with metabolic syndrome have higher uric acid levels. However, uric acid probably is not an independent factor to predict the metabolic syndrome.
Factors affecting Culicoides species composition and abundance in avian nests

SUMMARY Mechanisms affecting patterns of vector distribution among host individuals may influence the population and evolutionary dynamics of vectors, hosts and the parasites transmitted. We studied the role of different factors affecting the species composition and abundance of Culicoides found in nests of the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). We identified 1531 females and 2 males of 7 different Culicoides species in nests, with C. simulator being the most abundant species, followed by C. kibunensis, C. festivipennis, C. segnis, C. truncorum, C. pictipennis and C. circumscriptus. We conducted a medication×fumigation experiment randomly assigning bird's nests to different treatments, thereby generating groups of medicated and control pairs breeding in fumigated and control nests. Medicated pairs were injected with the anti-malarial drug Primaquine diluted in saline solution while control pairs were injected with saline solution. The fumigation treatment was carried out using insecticide solution or water for fumigated and control nests respectively. Brood size was the main factor associated with the abundance of biting midges probably because more nestlings may produce higher quantities of vector attractants. In addition, birds medicated against haemoparasites breeding in non-fumigated nests supported a higher abundance of C. festivipennis than the rest of the groups. Also, we found that the fumigation treatment reduced the abundance of engorged Culicoides in both medicated and control nests, thus indicating a reduction of feeding success produced by the insecticide. These results represent the first evidence for the role of different factors in affecting the Culicoides infracommunity in wild avian nests.
Legal Mobilization under Neo-corporatist Governance: Environmental NGOs before the Conseil d’Etat in France, 1975–2010

Existing theory suggests that under neo-corporatist governance, civil society groups are less likely to take the state to court. However, a comparative analysis of the use of legal strategies across a number of environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) in France presents a counterintuitive finding. Drawing on new data on more than 200 cases taken by these ENGOs, the analysis finds that the groups that are most incorporated in policy making are also the most active litigants against the Environment Ministry in the Conseil d’Etat. This article tests a number of theoretical explanations to account for this result. It finds that the neo-corporatization of the rules determining access to justice as well as the presence of certain agent-level characteristics helps to explain when and why groups mobilize the law.
Does money matter for mental health? Evidence from the Child Support Grants in Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract Globally, the poor are consistently at greater risk of suffering from depression and anxiety. Yet in resource-poor countries, mental health remains a neglected topic. This interdisciplinary study explored the potential for a poverty alleviation programme to contribute to breaking the vicious cycle between poverty and common mental disorders (CMD). Quantitatively, beneficiaries of a cash-transfer programme were found to have a lower risk of CMD. Qualitative interviews indicated that Child Support Grants acted as a psychological safety net, but that negative stereotypes of grant recipients could detract from the positive mental health outcomes of the grants. It was concluded that poverty alleviation programmes such as cash transfers could have both positive and negative impacts on mental health. In order to achieve mental health benefits for programme beneficiaries, aspects of programme design and implementation that promote mental health should be enhanced and aspects detrimental to mental health modified.
Mechanical tissue optical clearing devices: Enhancement of light penetration in ex vivo porcine skin and adipose tissue

The complex morphological structure of tissue and associated variations in the indices of refraction of components therein, provides a highly scattering medium for visible and near‐infrared wavelengths of light. Tissue optical clearing permits delivery of light deeper into tissue, potentially improving the capabilities of various light‐based therapeutic techniques, such as adipose tissue removal or reshaping.
Symptomatic Correlates of Vitamin D Deficiency in First-Episode Psychosis

Previous studies indicate that low levels of vitamin D are associated with increased severity of psychiatric symptoms in chronic multiepisode psychosis (MEP). We aimed to compare vitamin D levels between first-episode psychosis (FEP) and MEP and to investigate the correlations between vitamin D levels and symptoms in FEP patients. The participants were adults aged 18-45 years who presented with affective and non-affective FEP to an early intervention team in Portugal. Depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory, and positive and negative symptoms and general psychopathology were measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Blood samples were analyzed for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD). Thirty-three patients completed the study in the FEP group and 33 in the MEP group. FEP patients had low levels of 25OHD (18.16 ± 7.48 ng/mL), with no significant differences from MEP patients. Low 25OHD was significantly correlated with high severities of depressive (r=-0.484, p=0.004) and negative (r=-0.480, p=0.005) symptoms as well as general psychopathology (r=-0.569, p=0.001) in FEP patients. Multiple regression revealed an inverse association between general psychopathology and vitamin D level (p=0.027). More investigation of the association of vitamin D and schizophrenia is needed, namely, using a nonpatient control group and trying to clarify possible causality between vitamin D and psychiatric symptoms.
Nitric-oxide-dependent activation of pig oocytes: the role of the cGMP-signalling pathway

Pig oocytes matured in vitro were parthenogenetically activated (78%) after treatment with 2 mM nitric oxide-donor (±)-S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) for 24 h. Inhibition of soluble guanylyl cyclase with the specific inhibitors 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) or 6-anilino-5,8-quinolinequinone (LY83583) suppressed the SNAP-induced activation in a dose-dependent manner (23% of activated oocytes after treatment with 400 μM ODQ; 12% of activated oocytes after treatment with 40 μM LY83583). 8-Bromo-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (8-Br-cGMP), a phosphodiesterase-resistant analogue of cGMP, enhances the effect of suboptimal doses (0.1 or 0.5 mM) of the NO donor SNAP. DT3, a specific inhibitor of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG, PKG), is also able to inhibit the activation of pig oocytes after NO donor treatment. Involvement of the cGMP-dependent signalling pathway is specific for NO-induced oocyte activation, because both the guanylyl cyclase inhibitor ODQ and the PKG inhibitor DT3 are unable to inhibit activation in oocytes treated with the calcium ionophore A23187. These data indicate that the activation of pig oocytes with an NO donor is cGMP-dependent and that PKG plays an important role in this mode of oocyte activation.
Toms Symmetry of Compact Self-Dual Manifolds

We classify compact anti-self-dual Hermitian surfaces and compact four-dimensional conformally flat manifolds for which the group of orientation preserving conformal transformations contains a two-dimensional toms. As a corollary, we derive a topological classification of compact self-dual manifolds for which the group of conformal transformations contains a two-dimensional toms. Mathematics Subject Classifications (1991): Primary 53C25; Secondary 32L25, 58D19.
The Impact of Compulsory Retirement Savings Contributions on Lifetime Welfare

In private pre-funded retirement savings systems, workers can be compelled by regulation to make minimum contributions to retirement accounts. We examine the impact of compulsory contributions into retirement savings (superannuation) accounts on individuals' lifetime consumption and wealth using a continuous-time life-cycle model calibrated to the Household, Income and Labour Dynamic in Australia (HILDA) survey data. Simulations of optimal paths from the calibrated model show that the consumption of lower wealth individuals is severely constrained by compulsory savings, resulting in a sizeable welfare loss. In response, we propose a time varying contribution rate that mitigates the welfare loss while enhancing retirement wealth.
Paradoxical decrease of an adipose-specific protein, adiponectin, in obesity.

We isolated the human adipose-specific and most abundant gene transcript, apM1 (Maeda, K., et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 221, 286-289, 1996). The apM1 gene product was a kind of soluble matrix protein, which we named adiponectin. To quantitate the plasma adiponectin concentration, we have produced monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies for human adiponectin and developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. Adiponectin was abundantly present in the plasma of healthy volunteers in the range from 1.9 to 17.0 mg/ml. Plasma concentrations of adiponectin in obese subjects were significantly lower than those in non-obese subjects, although adiponectin is secreted only from adipose tissue. The ELISA system developed in this study will be useful for elucidating the physiological and pathophysiological role of adiponectin in humans.
Northrop Grumman's Family of Fiberoptic based Inertial Navigation Systems

Northrop Grumman Navigation Systems Division’s (NSD) fiber-optic gyro (FOG) based family of inertial navigation systems; LN-251, LN-260, LN-270 and LTN- 101E have demonstrated superb performance over a wide spectrum of applications ranging from high dynamic fighter aircraft, unmanned air vehicles, land vehicles and commercial aircraft. As compared to the previous generation of ring laser or mechanical gyro systems, the FOG navigation systems offer significantly smaller size, much lower weight, lower power consumption, vast improvement in life and reliability, all at the same or better level of accuracy. Using FOG technology, low noise accelerometers, high performance GPS, and sophisticated integration algorithms, NSD has demonstrated the FOG navigator’s ability to provide extremely low velocity noise information, in turn enabling improved surveillance sensor compensation and reduced target location errors. Transfer alignment techniques also permits leveraging the full accuracy of the FOG navigator to smaller remote inertial measurement units used for motion compensation or stabilization of other sensors such as radar or electro-optic pods. NSD is also in the process of adding differential GPS correction capability to provide even further enhancement of absolute positional accuracy. Using this method, radial position errors have been demonstrated to be only a few 10’s of centimeters.
Recombinant E. coli efficiently delivers antigen and maturation signals to human dendritic cells: Presentation of MART1 to CD8+ T cells

The generation of tumour‐specific cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte (CTL) responses is the primary focus in the design of immunotherapeutic cancer vaccines. We have recently demonstrated generation of ovalbumin (OVA)‐specific CTLs and tumour‐protection in a murine tumour model using vaccination with dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with E. coli expressing listeriolysin O (LLO) and OVA as a model antigen. In this system paraformaldehyde fixation of E. coli/LLO provided an additional safety feature without compromising vaccine efficacy. We therefore reasoned that paraformaldehyde‐fixed recombinant E. coli expressing LLO would be an efficient vehicle for the delivery of human tumour antigens to human DCs. In the present study, we demonstrate that fixed E. coli expressing LLO are taken up efficiently by human monocyte‐derived DCs (MoDCs) with minimal toxicity. As a consequence of the interaction with bacteria, human DCs undergo marked phenotypic and functional maturation. Furthermore, we show that fixed E. coli/LLO expressing the well‐characterised human melanoma antigen, MART1, efficiently deliver the HLA‐A2‐restricted MART127–35 epitope for processing and presentation on human MoDCs, suggesting the potential of this system as a novel strategy for human tumour immunotherapy. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Identification and Characterization of Three Novel Nuclear Export Signals in the Influenza A Virus Nucleoprotein

ABSTRACT The nuclear export of the influenza A virus ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) is crucial for virus replication. As a major component of the vRNP, nucleoprotein (NP) alone can also be shuttled out of the nucleus by interacting with chromosome region maintenance 1 (CRM1) and is therefore hypothesized to promote the nuclear export of the vRNP. In the present study, three novel nuclear export signals (NESs) of the NP—NES1, NES2, and NES3—were identified as being responsible for mediating its nuclear export. The nuclear export of NES3 was CRM1 dependent, whereas that of NES1 or NES2 was CRM1 independent. Inactivation of these NESs led to an overall nuclear accumulation of NP. Mutation of all three NP-NESs significantly impaired viral replication. Based on structures of influenza virus NP oligomers, these three hydrophobic NESs are found present on the surface of oligomeric NPs. Functional studies indicated that oligomerization is also required for nuclear export of NP. Together, these results suggest that the nuclear export of NP is important for virus replication and relies on its NESs and oligomerization.