Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expanded gallbladder fossa: simple MR imaging sign of cirrhosis.

PURPOSE To determine the frequency on magnetic resonance (MR) images of a widened pericholecystic space, which the authors call the expanded gallbladder fossa sign, and to assess the sensitivity and specificity of this sign for cirrhosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Three-hundred thirteen patients who underwent MR imaging were included in this study, including 190 with pathologically proved cirrhosis (cirrhosis patients) and 123 without history of chronic liver diseases (control subjects). MR images were qualitatively evaluated by three independent observers for the presence of the expanded gallbladder fossa sign. This sign was considered present if there was enlargement of the pericholecystic space (i.e., gallbladder fossa) and the space was bounded laterally by the edge of the right hepatic lobe and medially by the edge of the left lateral segment, in conjunction with nonvisualization of the left medial segment. RESULTS The expanded gallbladder fossa sign was seen in 129 cirrhosis patients and in three control subjects (P < .001). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive predictive value of this sign for the MR diagnosis of cirrhosis were 68%, 98%, 80%, and 98%, respectively. CONCLUSION The expanded gallbladder fossa sign on MR images is a frequently present, specific indicator of cirrhosis. This sign can be used as a simple and highly specific sign of cirrhosis, if present, despite the overall sensitivity of 68%.
Eco1 is important for DNA damage repair in S. cerevisiae

The cohesin network has an essential role in chromosome segregation, but also plays a role in DNA damage repair. Eco1 is an acetyltransferase that targets subunits of the cohesin complex and is involved in both the chromosome segregation and DNA damage repair roles of the network. Using budding yeast as a model system, we find that mutations in Eco1, including a genocopy of a human Roberts syndrome allele, do not cause gross defects in chromosome cohesion. We examined how mitotic and meiotic DNA damage repair is affected by mutations in Eco1. Strains containing mutations in Eco1 are sensitive to DNA damaging agents that cause double-strand breaks, such as Xrays and bleomycin. While meiotic crossing over is relatively unaffected in strains containing the Roberts mutation, reciprocal mitotic crossovers occur with extremely low frequency in this mutant background. Our results suggest that Eco1 promotes the reciprocal exchange of chromosome arms and maintenance of heterozygosity during mitosis.
Estimation of surface insolation using sun-synchronous satellite data

Abstract A technique is presented for estimating insulation at the Earth's surface using only sun-synchronous satellite data. The technique was tested by comparing the insolation results from year-long satellite datasets with simultaneous ground-measured insolation taken at five continental United States sites Monthly average insolation values derived from the satellite data showed a standard error of 4.2 W m−2, or 2.7% of the average ground insulation value.
In Vivo Imaging of Renal Redox Status during Azelnidipine Treatment

The effect of the calcium channel blocker azelnidipine on the redox status of a murine hypertension model was analyzed and imaged using in vivo low frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). A murine two kidney–one clip (2K1C) hypertension model was produced by a clipping of the right renal artery. The resulting hypertensive mice were treated with low-dose azelnidipine (1 mg/kg/d), with high-dose azelnidipine (3 mg/kg/d) or without azelnidipine (HT group). An EPR system equipped with a loop-gap resonator and an imaging system was employed. Redox status was evaluated as organ reducing activity measured by means of the decay rate (half-lives) of the spin probe 3-carbamoyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidine-1-oxyl (Carbamoyl- PROXYL). Four weeks after clipping the mice demonstrated hypertension as expected. After the additional 2 weeks of azelnidipine treatments, the Carbamoyl-PROXYL half-lives of the Low and High azelnidipine groups measured in the upper abdominal area were significantly shorter than those of the HT group, suggesting improvements in the reducing activity. The blood pressures of the three groups showed no significant differences at this time, and there was no correlation between the renal reducing activity and either blood pressure or serum creatinine values. EPR imaging studies revealed that the improvement in abdominal reducing activity was mainly recognized in the kidney but not in the liver. These results indicate that azelnidipine ameliorates renal redox status through an improvement in reducing activity independent of blood pressure control.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure, Urinary Mutagenicity, and DNA Adducts in Rubber Manufacturing Workers

Objectives: Several studies have suggested that genotoxic risks might still be present in the contemporary rubber manufacturing industry. Previously, we observed elevated levels of urinary mutagenicity and bladder DNA adducts in rubber workers. Presently, we investigated whether DNA adducts in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and/or urothelial cells may be caused by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or other genotoxic compounds. Methods: Spot urine samples from 116 rubber manufacturing workers were collected on Sunday and during the workweek (post-shift) to determine 1-hydroxypyrene and mutagenicity levels. For 52 nonsmokers, urothelial cell DNA adducts and PBMC DNA adducts were measured additionally. Results: Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels were significantly higher in workweek samples compared with Sunday (P = 0.0001). This increase was not uniform across tasks and only reached statistical significance for the curing department (+99%; P = 0.003). Weekday urinary mutagenicity was significantly increased for mixing (+56%) and curing (+21%) workers when compared with that for Sunday. Total urothelial cell DNA adducts were related to urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (P = 0.021) and mutagenicity (P = 0.027). No significant relationship was found between the adduct levels in PBMC and urothelial cells or between the former and urinary 1-hydroxypyrene or mutagenicity. Conclusions: Workers in the compounding, mixing, and curing departments were at highest genotoxic risk among rubber manufacturing workers. Increased levels of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene, mutagenicity, and urothelial cell DNA adducts were found in these workers. Urothelial cell and PBMC DNA adducts were not related, hinting possibly to the presence of specific bladder carcinogens in the rubber manufacturing industry. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(6):1452–9)
Shallow Salinity Minima in the North Pacific

Abstract CTD/STD data from 24 cruises in the North Pacific are studied for their vertical salinity structure and compared to bottle observations. A triple-salinity minimum is found in two separated regions in the eastern North Pacific. In the first region, bounded by the northern edge of the subarctic frontal zone and the 34°N front between 160° and 150°W, a middle salinity minimum is found below the permanent pycnocline in the density range of 26.0 and 26.5 σθ. This middle minimum underlies Reid's shallow salinity minimum and overlies the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW). In the second region, southeast of the first, a seasonal salinity minimum appears above the shallow salinity minimum at densities lower than 25.1 σθ. The shallow salinity minimum and the NPIW can be found throughout year, while the seasonal minimum only appears in summer and fall. The middle and shallow salinity minima, as well as the seasonal minimum, originate at the sea surface in the northeast Pacific. The properties at the m.
Coupled and partially coupled Eulerian‐Lagrangian Model of freshwater‐seawater mixing

The problem of density-dependent transport of salt in unconfined coastal aquifers is solved numerically by means of an implicit Eulerian-Lagrangian finite element formulation. Such a formulation leads to symmetric positive definite finite element matrices which are ideally suited for efficient solution by preconditioned conjugate gradient methods. Additional known advantages of the formulation are unconditional stability, reduced numerical dispersion and suitability for parallel computation. The method has been used to study the effect of dewatering on seawater intrusion within a vertical cross section through an aquifer in southern Italy, related to the construction of a thermoelectric power plant. To investigate the extent to which the dependence of fluid density on salt concentration affects the numerical solution, the flow and advection-dispersion equations were solved in coupled (iterative), partially coupled (noniterative) and completely decoupled modes. Partial coupling was found to yield results very close to those obtained by full coupling but at great savings in computer time; the less rigorous decoupled approach led to results substantially different from those obtained through coupling and partial coupling. Effects of aquifer heterogeneity and the construction of a cutoff wall on seawater intrusion are discussed.
Fractal Analysis of Binding and Dissociation Kinetics and Interactions of Cancer Markers on Biosensor Surfaces

A fractal analysis is presented for the binding and dissociation of different cancer markers on biosensor surfaces. The data analyzed include putrescine in solution to PDDA/APTES/MWCNT/Puo-modified GCE (glassy carbon electrode) () and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in solution to the soluble form of the VEGF receptor (SFlt-1 or VEGF-1) immobilized on a sensor chip (). Single- and dual-fractal models were used to fit the data. Values of the binding and dissociation rate coefficient(s), affinity values, and the fractal dimensions were obtained from the regression analysis provided by Corel Quattro Pro 8.0 (). The binding rate coefficients and the affinity values are sensitive to the degree of heterogeneity on the sensor chip surface. Predictive equations are developed for the binding rate coefficient as a function of the heterogeneity present on the biosensor chip surface. The analysis presented provides physical insights into these cancer biomarker-receptor reactions occurring on the different biosensor surfaces.
Main shocks and evolution of complex earthquake networks

Dynamical evolution of earthquake network is studied. Through the analysis of the real data taken from California and Japan, it is found that the values of the clustering coefficient exhibit a specific behavior around the moment of a main shock: the coefficient remains stationary before a main shock, suddenly jumps up at the main shock, and then slowly decreases to become stationary again. Thus, the network approach to seismicity dynamically characterizes main shocks in a peculiar manner.
Repeated immune challenges affect testosterone but not sperm quality

Mounting an immunological response is energetically demanding and necessarily redirects allocation of resources toward immune system activation and away from other energetically expensive processes, such as reproduction. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major component of the outer membrane of the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, mimics a bacterial infection without producing the cost of replicating the pathogen and is one of the most commonly used agents to induce an acute phase immune response. Here, we ask if a trade-off can be induced between activation of the acute phase immune response and sperm function, a key indicator of sperm competitive ability. Further, we ask whether repeated exposure to this endotoxin in a social species such as the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), where repeated pathogen exposure may be common, may have a more pronounced effect. To address our questions, we exposed individuals to two rounds of LPS treatment or control, to mimic a repeated pathogen exposure in the wild. We predicted that repeated pathogen exposure would have detrimental effects on sperm quality, and therefore, reproductive success. We compared a measure of sperm quality (straight-line velocity) in captive male house sparrows between LPS-treated and control individuals. We found that although LPS treatment impaired circulating testosterone and induced a hypothermic state when compared with controls, it did not affect sperm quality within days or weeks following a single or repeated LPS exposure.
CENTERIS 2012-Conference on ENTERprise Information Systems / HCIST 2012-International Conference on Health and Social Care Information Systems and Technologies Easy-to-use SAP sizing based on evolutionary generated scalability models

Sizing an SAP ERP system’s hardware is a complex task, due to the numerous factors affecting the system’s performance and scalability. To ease the effort required for the sizing process, we developed the SAP Sizing Calculator (S2C) tool. The S2C requires a minimum set of input data and provides a fast prediction of the estimated system performance. The prediction algorithm is based on the results of a synthetic benchmark, the Zachmanntest, which we applied to various x86 servers. From the numerous Zachmanntest results we extracted scalability models using evolutionary algorithms, which we integrated into the S2C. Beside its simple application the S2C provides an extension interface for easy integration of scalability models derived from SAP systems deployed on other server architectures. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of CENTERIS/HCIST.
Playing for Keeps: Pay and Performance in the NBA

"This paper examines contract-related incentive effects using a unique dataset on individual performance and individual contracts. Evidence from professional basketball players in the 1980s and 1990s shows that individual performance improves significantly in the year before signing a multi-year contract but declines after the contract is signed. One interpretation is that workers strategically increase effort to obtain the most lucrative, multi-year contract but then reduce it once the contract is locked in. This highlights the double-edged nature of long-term contracts: good for employers when workers are fighting for them, but less so when workers have them. " ("JEL" J22, J3) Copyright 2006 Western Economic Association International.
SOS1, HKT1;5, and NHX1 Synergistically Modulate Na+ Homeostasis in the Halophytic Grass Puccinellia tenuiflora

Puccinellia tenuiflora is a typical salt-excluding halophytic grass with excellent salt tolerance. Plasma membrane Na+/H+ transporter SOS1, HKT-type protein and tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter NHX1 are key Na+ transporters involved in plant salt tolerance. Based on our previous research, we had proposed a function model for these transporters in Na+ homeostasis according to the expression of PtSOS1 and Na+, K+ levels in P. tenuiflora responding to salt stress. Here, we analyzed the expression patterns of PtSOS1, PtHKT1;5, and PtNHX1 in P. tenuiflora under 25 and 150 mM NaCl to further validate this model by combining previous physiological characteristics. Results showed that the expressions of PtSOS1 and PtHKT1;5 in roots were significantly induced and peaked at 6 h under both 25 and 150 mM NaCl. Compared to the control, the expression of PtSOS1 significantly increased by 5.8-folds, while that of PtHKT1;5 increased only by 1.2-folds in roots under 25 mM NaCl; on the contrary, the expression of PtSOS1 increased by 1.4-folds, whereas that of PtHKT1;5 increased by 2.2-folds in roots under 150 mM NaCl. In addition, PtNHX1 was induced instantaneously under 25 mM NaCl, while its expression was much higher and more persistent in shoots under 150 mM NaCl. These results provide stronger evidences for the previous hypothesis and extend the model which highlights that SOS1, HKT1;5, and NHX1 synergistically regulate Na+ homeostasis by controlling Na+ transport systems at the whole-plant level under both lower and higher salt conditions. Under mild salinity, PtNHX1 in shoots compartmentalized Na+ into vacuole slowly, and vacuole potential capacity for sequestering Na+ would enhance Na+ loading into the xylem of roots by PtSOS1 through feedback regulation; and consequently, Na+ could be transported from roots to shoots by transpiration stream for osmotic adjustment. While under severe salinity, Na+ was rapidly sequestrated into vacuoles of mesophyll cells by PtNHX1 and the vacuole capacity became saturated for sequestering more Na+, which in turn regulated long-distance Na+ transport from roots to shoots. As a result, the expression of PtHKT1;5 was strongly induced so that the excessive Na+ was unloaded from xylem into xylem parenchyma cells by PtHKT1;5.
A time Petri net approach for finding preruntime schedules in embedded hard real-time systems

There are two general approaches for scheduling tasks in real-time systems: runtime and preruntime scheduling. However, there are several situations where the runtime approach does not find a feasible schedule even when such a schedule exists. However, finding a feasible schedule is not trivial, because this problem is NP-hard in its general form. The proposed method finds a preruntime scheduling, when one exists, using state space exploration starting from a system formal model. Despite this technique being not new, at the best of our present knowledge, no one tried to use it for finding preruntime scheduling. The main problem with this approach is the space size, which can grow exponentially. This article shows how to minimize this problem. Additionally, the proposed algorithm is a depth-first search method on a labeled transition system derived from a time Petri net model. It is verified through real-world experimental results that the schedule is found examining a reduced number of states.
Landfast ice affects the stability of the Arctic halocline: Evidence from a numerical model

Landfast ice covers large surface areas of the winter Siberian Seas. The immobile landfast ice cover inhibits divergent and convergent motion, hence dynamical sea ice growth and redistribution, decouples winter river plumes in coastal seas from the atmosphere, and positions polynyas at the landfast ice edge offshore. In spite of the potentially large effects, state-of-the-art numerical models usually do not represent landfast ice in its correct extent. A simple parametrization of landfast ice based on bathymetry and internal sea ice strength is introduced and its effects on the simulated Arctic Ocean are demonstrated. The simulations suggest that the Siberian landfast ice impacts the Arctic halocline stability through enhanced brine production in polynyas located closer to the shelf break and by redirecting river water to the Canadian Basin. These processes strengthen the halocline in the Canadian Basin, but erode its stability in the Makarov and Eurasian Basins.
A diversity of paracrine signals sustains molecular circadian cycling in suprachiasmatic nucleus circuits

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is the principal circadian pacemaker of mammals, coordinating daily rhythms of behavior and metabolism. Circadian timekeeping in SCN neurons revolves around transcriptional/posttranslational feedback loops, in which Period (Per) and Cryptochrome (Cry) genes are negatively regulated by their protein products. Recent studies have revealed, however, that these “core loops” also rely upon cytosolic and circuit-level properties for sustained oscillation. To characterize interneuronal signals responsible for robust pacemaking in SCN cells and circuits, we have developed a unique coculture technique using wild-type (WT) “graft” SCN to drive pacemaking (reported by PER2::LUCIFERASE bioluminescence) in “host” SCN deficient either in elements of neuropeptidergic signaling or in elements of the core feedback loop. We demonstrate that paracrine signaling is sufficient to restore cellular synchrony and amplitude of pacemaking in SCN circuits lacking vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). By using grafts with mutant circadian periods we show that pacemaking in the host SCN is specified by the genotype of the graft, confirming graft-derived factors as determinants of the host rhythm. By combining pharmacological with genetic manipulations, we show that a hierarchy of neuropeptidergic signals underpins this paracrine regulation, with a preeminent role for VIP augmented by contributions from arginine vasopressin (AVP) and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP). Finally, we show that interneuronal signaling is sufficiently powerful to maintain circadian pacemaking in arrhythmic Cry-null SCN, deficient in essential elements of the transcriptional negative feedback loops. Thus, a hierarchy of paracrine neuropeptidergic signals determines cell- and circuit-level circadian pacemaking in the SCN.
Intrusion Detection Based on Adaptive RBF Neural Network

Recently the machine learning-based intrusion detection approaches have been subjected to extensive researches because they can detect both misuse and anomaly. In this paper, we propose a new method to design classifier based on multiple granularities immune network. Firstly a multiple granularities immune network (MGIN) algorithm is employed to reduce the data and get the candidate hidden neurons and construct an original RBF network including all candidate neurons. Secondly, the removing redundant neurons procedure is used to get a smaller network. Experimental results on the real network data set show that the new classifier has higher detection and lower false positive rate than traditional RBF classifier