Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PTP1b Is a Physiologic Regulator of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Signaling in Endothelial Cells

Background— Regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) signaling is a control point that determines the extent of vascular tree formation. Recent studies demonstrated an important role played by VEGFR2 endothelial trafficking in control of its activity and suggested the involvement of a phosphotyrosine phosphatase 1b (PTP1b) in this process. This study was designed to define the role of PTP1b in endothelial VEGFR2 signaling and its role in regulation of angiogenesis and arteriogenesis. Methods and Results— We generated mice carrying an endothelial-specific deletion of PTP1b and examined the effect of this knockout on VEGF signaling, angiogenesis, and arteriogenesis in vitro and in vivo. PTP1b knockout endothelial cells had increased VEGF-dependent activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling, sprouting, migration, and proliferation compared with controls. Endothelial PTP1b null mice had increased retinal and Matrigel implant angiogenesis and accelerated wound healing, pointing to enhanced angiogenesis. Increased arteriogenesis was demonstrated by observations of faster recovery of arterial blood flow and large numbers of newly formed arterioles in the hindlimb ischemia mouse model. PTP1b endothelial knockout also rescued impaired blood flow recovery after common femoral artery ligation in synectin null mice. Conclusions— PTP1b is a key regulator of endothelial VEGFR2 signaling and plays an important role in regulation of the extent of vascular tree formation.
Pharmacodynamics of chimeric glycoprotein IIb/IIIa integrin antiplatelet antibody Fab 7E3 in high-risk coronary angioplasty.

BACKGROUND Thrombosis has been implicated as central to the clinical complications of coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Chimeric monoclonal 7E3 Fab (c7E3 Fab) is the first of a new class of antiplatelet drugs directed at the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa integrin. This study was performed to determine the pharmacodynamics of c7E3 Fab administration during PTCA and to gain an initial clinical experience with this novel agent. METHODS AND RESULTS The study was a multicenter, open-label, dose-escalation study conducted in two stages. Enrollment included 56 patients scheduled for elective PTCA who were estimated to be at moderate to high risk of sustaining ischemic complications. All patients were given aspirin and heparin. The study drug was given at least 10 minutes before PTCA. In stage 1, increasing bolus doses of c7E3 Fab were given to 15 patients; a bolus dose of 0.25 mg/kg was found to result in blockade of > 80% of the receptors and reduce platelet aggregation to < 20% compared with baseline, establishing this dose as that necessary to sufficiently suppress platelet activity. In stage 2, additional c7E3 Fab was administered by continuous infusion to 32 patients for progressively longer periods of time (up to 24 hours) to confirm that platelet inhibition could be maintained with prolonged drug infusion. Also, 9 patients otherwise meeting entry criteria were given placebo. There were no thrombotic events among patients receiving c7E3 Fab. Overall procedural and clinical success and complication rates as well as rates of bleeding were statistically similar among groups. However, minor bleeding was more frequent with administration of the active drug. CONCLUSIONS The novel antiplatelet agent c7E3 Fab can be administered during PTCA in combination with aspirin and heparin. Suppression of platelet activity is dose dependent and can be maintained for up to 24 hours. Further evaluation will be required to determine the extent of improvement in ischemic complication and restenosis rates and to provide additional insight into the safety profile of this potent monoclonal platelet antibody.
Examining Regional Weather Effects on Single Ply Roofing Membranes

ii Acknowledgments iv List of Figures vii List of Tables viii 1.0 Introduction and Literature Review 1 2.0 Materials and Methods 15 2.1 Materials 15 2.2 Instrumentation 15 2.2.1 QUV accelerated weathering tester (Model LE 10) 15 2.2.2 Q-fog Cyclic Corrosion Tester Model CCT 17 2.2.3 Futura Silver Series Refrigerator and Freezer 19 2.3 Aging Methods 20 2.3.1 QUV cycle 20 2.3.2 Cyclic Corrosion Tester 21 2.3.3 Freeze-thaw cycles 22 2.4 Testing methods 26 2.4.1 Weight 26 2.4.2 Dynamic Puncture 26 2.4. 3 Thickness 29 2.5 Data analysis 29 3.0 Results 31 3.1 Weight 31 3.2 Puncture 39 3.3 Thickness 54 4.0 Discussion 62 4.1 Weight 62 4.2 Puncture 67
Differential diagnosis of head and neck lesions based on their space of origin. 1. The suprahyoid part of the neck.

The cylindrical soft-tissue core of the extracranial portion of the head and neck, excluding the more anterior parts of the orbit, sinonasal region, and oral cavity, can be subdivided at the hyoid bone into two distinct regions: the suprahyoid and infrahyoid portions. The three layers of deep cervical fascia that cleave this area of the body into functional spaces converge on the hyoid bone, dividing the neck into these two parts (Fig. 1) [i , 2]. The suprahyoid area encompasses the deep spaces between the skull base and hyoid bone, and the infrahyoid portion lies inferiorly between the hyoid bone and the clavicles. In the suprahyoid area, the three layers of deep cervical fascia delineate the individual spaces of the deep part of the face (Figs. i -4). As the contents of these spaces are some-
Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimizer with Opposition-based Learning

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) has shown to yield good performance for solving various optimization problems. In this paper, a Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimizer (MOLPSO) is proposed with Opposition-based Learning. This algorithm uses opposition-based learning strategy for population initialization and evolution. Experimental comparison with NSGA-II are conducted with several multiobjective benchmarks, which indicate that even more uniform distributions along the Pareto front and even better coverage of the Pareto optimal sets can be obtained.
Insular Cortex Lesions, Cardiac Troponin, and Detection of Previously Unknown Atrial Fibrillation in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Insights From the Troponin Elevation in Acute Ischemic Stroke Study

Background and Purpose— Detection rates of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) after acute ischemic stroke increase with duration of ECG monitoring. To date, it is unknown which patient group may benefit most from intensive monitoring strategies. Therefore, we aimed to identify predictors of previously unknown AF during in-hospital ECG monitoring. Methods— All consecutive patients with imaging-confirmed ischemic stroke admitted to our tertiary care hospital from February 2011 to December 2013 were registered prospectively. Patients received continuous bedside ECG monitoring for at least 24 hours. Detection of previously unknown AF during in-hospital ECG monitoring was obtained from medical records. Patients with AF on admission ECG or known history of AF were excluded from analysis. Results— Among 1228 patients (median age, 73 years; median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, 4; 43.4% women), previously unknown AF was detected in 114 (9.3%) during a median time of continuous ECG monitoring of 3 days (interquartile range, 2–4 days). Duration of monitoring (P<0.01), older age (P<0.01), history of hypertension (P=0.03), insular cortex involvement (P<0.01), and higher high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (P=0.04) on admission were independently associated with subsequent detection of AF in a multiple regression analysis. Addition of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, insular cortex stroke, or both to the CHADS2 score (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years, diabetes mellitus, stroke [2P]) significantly improved c-statistics from 0.63 to 0.68 (P=0.01), 0.70 (P<0.01), and 0.72 (P<0.001), respectively. Conclusions— Insular cortex involvement, higher admission high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, older age, hypertension, and longer monitoring are associated with new detection of AF during in-hospital ECG monitoring. Patients with higher high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T or insular cortex involvement may be candidates for prolonged ECG monitoring.
THE CENTRAL HYPERTENSIVE ACTION OF 1 NESFATIN-1 : MELANOCORTINS , CORTICOTROPIN RELEASING HORMONE AND 2 OXYTOCIN

1 NESFATIN-1: MELANOCORTINS, CORTICOTROPIN RELEASING HORMONE AND 2 OXYTOCIN 3 4 5 6 Gina L. C. Yosten and Willis K. Samson 7 8 Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Science 9 Saint Louis University School of Medicine 10 Saint Louis, Missouri 11 12 13 14 Running Title: Neural Circuitry of Nesfatin-1 15 16 17 18 19 20 Corresponding Author: 21 22 Gina L. C. Yosten, Ph.D. 23 24 Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Science 25 Saint Louis University School of Medicine 26 1402 S. Grand Blvd 27 Saint Louis, MO 63104 28 Phone: 314-977-6354 29 Fax: 314-977-8670 30 Email: gyosten@slu.edu 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Neural circuitry underlying the central hypertensive action of nesfatin-1: melanocortins, 44 corticotropin releasing hormone and oxytocin. 45 46 Articles in PresS. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol (March 5, 2014). doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00396. 2013
Communication-optimal parallel algorithm for strassen's matrix multiplication

Parallel matrix multiplication is one of the most studied fundamental problems in distributed and high performance computing. We obtain a new parallel algorithm that is based on Strassen's fast matrix multiplication and minimizes communication. The algorithm outperforms all known parallel matrix multiplication algorithms, classical and Strassen-based, both asymptotically and in practice. A critical bottleneck in parallelizing Strassen's algorithm is the communication between the processors. Ballard, Demmel, Holtz, and Schwartz (SPAA '11) prove lower bounds on these communication costs, using expansion properties of the underlying computation graph. Our algorithm matches these lower bounds, and so is communication-optimal. It exhibits perfect strong scaling within the maximum possible range. Benchmarking our implementation on a Cray XT4, we obtain speedups over classical and Strassen-based algorithms ranging from 24% to 184% for a fixed matrix dimension n=94080, where the number of processors ranges from 49 to 7203. Our parallelization approach generalizes to other fast matrix multiplication algorithms.
Horizon: efficient deadline-driven disk I/O management for distributed storage systems

Data centers often consolidate a variety of workloads to increase storage utilization and reduce management costs. Each workload, however, has its own performance targets that need to be met, requiring isolation from the effects of other workloads sharing the system. Satisfying the global throughput and latency targets of each workload is challenging in fully distributed storage systems because workloads can have different data layouts and different requests from the same workload can be serviced by different nodes. Quality of service schemes that manage individual system resources usually rely on resource reservations, often requiring assumptions about the layout of data. On the other hand, solutions for distributed storage tend to treat the storage system as a black box, metering requests issued to the system and often under-utilizing system resources. We show that our multi-layered approach that locally manages individual disk resources can deliver global throughput and latency targets while efficiently utilizing system resources. Our system uses upper-level control mechanisms to assign deadlines to requests based on workload performance targets, and low-level disk I/O schedulers designed to meet request deadlines while maximizing throughput at the disk. We provide a novel disk scheduler called Horizon that meets deadlines while providing efficient request re-ordering and keeping efficient disk queues. Our experimental results show that Horizon can meet more than 90% of deadlines while remaining efficient even in the presence of low-latency bursty workloads.
On Grasp Quality Measures: Grasp Robustness and Contact Force Distribution in Underactuated and Compliant Robotic Hands

The availability of grasp quality measures is fundamental for grasp planning and control, and also to drive designers in the definition and optimization of robotic hands. This work investigates on grasp robustness and quality indexes that can be applied to power grasps with underactuated and compliant hands. When dealing with such types of hands, there is the need of an evaluation method that takes into account the forces that can be actually controlled by the hand, depending on its actuation system. In this paper, we study the potential contact robustness and the potential grasp robustness (PCR, PGR) indexes. They both consider main grasp properties: contact points, friction coefficient, etc., but also hand degrees of freedom and consequently, the directions of controllable contact forces. The PCR comes directly from the classical grasp theory and can be easily evaluated, but often leads to too conservative solutions, particularly when the grasp has many contacts. The PGR is more complex and computationally heavier, but gives a more realistic, even if still conservative, estimation of the overall grasp robustness, also in power grasps. We evaluated the indexes for various simulated grasps, performed with underactuated and compliant hands, and we analyzed their variations with respect to the main grasp parameters.
B cell–intrinsic signaling through IL-21 receptor and STAT3 is required for establishing long-lived antibody responses in humans

Engagement of cytokine receptors by specific ligands activate Janus kinase–signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling pathways. The exact roles of STATs in human lymphocyte behavior remain incompletely defined. Interleukin (IL)-21 activates STAT1 and STAT3 and has emerged as a potent regulator of B cell differentiation. We have studied patients with inactivating mutations in STAT1 or STAT3 to dissect their contribution to B cell function in vivo and in response to IL-21 in vitro. STAT3 mutations dramatically reduced the number of functional, antigen (Ag)-specific memory B cells and abolished the ability of IL-21 to induce naive B cells to differentiate into plasma cells (PCs). This resulted from impaired activation of the molecular machinery required for PC generation. In contrast, STAT1 deficiency had no effect on memory B cell formation in vivo or IL-21–induced immunoglobulin secretion in vitro. Thus, STAT3 plays a critical role in generating effector B cells from naive precursors in humans. STAT3-activating cytokines such as IL-21 thus underpin Ag-specific humoral immune responses and provide a mechanism for the functional antibody deficit in STAT3-deficient patients.
Fc gamma receptors in respiratory syncytial virus infections: implications for innate immunity

RSV infections are a major burden in infants less than 3 months of age. Newborns and infants express a distinct immune system that is largely dependent on innate immunity and passive immunity from maternal antibodies. Antibodies can regulate immune responses against viruses through interaction with Fc gamma receptors leading to enhancement or neutralization of viral infections. The mechanisms underlying the immunomodulatory effect of Fc gamma receptors on viral infections have yet to be elucidated in infants. Herein, we will discuss current knowledge of the effects of antibodies and Fc gamma receptors on infant innate immunity to RSV. A better understanding of the pathogenesis of RSV infections in young infants may provide insight into novel therapeutic strategies such as vaccination. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Copurification of actin and desmin from chicken smooth muscle and their copolymerization in vitro to intermediate filaments

Desmin is a 50,000-mol wt protein that is enriched along with 100-A filaments in chicken gizzard that has been extracted with 1 M KI. Although 1 M KI removes most of the actin from gizzard, a small fraction of this protein remains persistently insoluble, along with desmin. The solubility properties of this actin are the same as for desmin: they are both insoluble in high salt concentrations, but are solubilized at low pH or by agents that dissociate hydrophobic bonds. Desmin may be purified by repeated cycles of solubilization by 1 M acetic acid and subsequent precipitation by neutralization to pH 4. During this process, a constant nonstoichiometric ratio of actin to desmin is attained. Gel filtration on Ultrogel AcA34 in the presence of 0.5% Sarkosyl NL-97 reveals nonmonomeric fractions of actin and desmin that comigrate through the column. Gel filtration on Bio-Gel P300 in the presence of 1 M acetic acid reveals that the majority of desmin is monomeric under these conditions. A small fraction of desmin and all of the actin elute with the excluded volume. When the acetic acid is removed from actin-desmin solutions by dialysis, a gel forms that is composed of filaments with diameters of 120-140 A. These filaments react uniformly with both anti-actin and anti-desmin antiserum. These results suggest that desmin is the major subunit of the muscle 100-A filaments and that it may form nonstoichiometric complexes with actin.
YASAS - Yet Another Sound Analysis-Synthesis Method

This paper describes a novel analysis-synthesis method based on estimation and comparison between spectral methods that are specifically designed for modeling of random signals. These methods are an alternative to the discrete Fourier transform, providing high-resolution, smooth and easily interpretable spectral estimation over short signal frames. It is generally acknowledged that musical signals that exhibit both periodicity and variations can be modeled as sinusoidal components with various extents of modulation (generally characterized as band-limited frequency components), and remaining noise or wide-band frequency components that describe unvoiced and other noisy parts of the signal spectrum. Using single frame Fourier analysis makes is difficult to tell if spectral energy at a particular frequency is due to noise or sinusoidal components. Existing methods for such decomposition usually consider properties of Fourier phases, which are noisy. Our method decomposes a signal into sinusoidal, modulated sinusoidal and noise components based on a comparison between two spectral representations, namely autoregressive (AR) and minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR), both calculated from linear prediction coefficients (LPC) in a time varying manner. Using different optimal properties of each model, we develop estimators for frequencies and amplitudes (spectral envelope) of sinusoidal components (spectral lines) in noise and derive a “noisality” index that assigns different weights to contributions of sinusoidal and noise components at every frequency. Examples of synthetic and real sounds are presented in the paper. Keywords— Sound Analysis-Synthesis, Spectral Estimation, LPC, AR, MVDR, Sinusoidal and Noise Model, Modulated Periodicity, Bandwidth-Enhanced Additive
Construction of Nanocellulose Microcapsules for Research and Sensor Applications

Nanocellulose microcapsules with internal hollows have previously been found to form when cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) are added to paper pulp before drying. In an effort to study such capsules removed from the paper matrix, attempts have been made to develop a production protocol using a aqueous layer-by-layer (LbL) technique. Studying the capsules separately is theorized to expose interesting interface properties as well as provide an opportunity for creation of sensors for use in gaseous environments. Before such possibilities can be investigated, capsules formation must be established. TEMPO-oxidized nanofibrilated cellulose (CNF-T) in combination with PDADMAC were adsorbed around central CaCO3 template particles to form the polyelectrolyte layers. Investigation into the use of freeze-drying with liquid N2 as coolant was done to confirmed this as a viable method for drying the resulting structures. The structures were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), alone or in combination with focused ion beam (FIB) milling. ζ-potential measurements show that the alternating layers began forming. Other techniques such as scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), optical microscopy and light scattering were also used. Characterization of the starting materials showed the template particles to have an average diameter of ∼6.3 μm. The CNF-T fibrils were determined to have an average diameter of ∼2.7 nm and rheological studies revealed a critical overlap concentration of 0.17% (w/w). The process described in this work provides a first step towards creating layered capsules of CNF-T for use in further research.
New approaches to design asynchronous circuits on FPGAs

FPGAs device is a dominant implementation medium for digital circuits. Unfortunately, they do not support asynchronous circuits because of the lack of asynchronous circuit elements such as Muller gates, etc. In this paper, new efficient approaches are proposed to prototype asynchronous or mixed synchronous/ asynchronous circuits on Look-Up Table-based (LUT) FPGA rapidly. The developed techniques are based on building of elements which play an important role in asynchronous circuits. The hazard-free elements are predefined in libraries in HDL and EDIF format. Timing and/or area constraints for place&route tool are automatically generated to map the asynchronous elements on suitable FPGA's logic blocks. Several FPGA devices such as Altera, Xilinx and Actel could be used as target for the implementation. For the purpose of demonstration, some asynchronous circuits are implemented with Xilinx Spartan 3 FPGA family.
Apolipoprotein A-II production rate is a major factor regulating the distribution of apolipoprotein A-I among HDL subclasses LpA-I and LpA-I:A-II in normolipidemic humans.

HDLs are heterogeneous in their apolipoprotein composition. Apolipoprotein (apo) A-I and apoA-II are the major proteins found in HDL and form the two major HDL subclasses: those that contain only apoA-I (LpA-I) and those that contain both apoA-I and apoA-II (LpA-I:A-II). Substantial evidence indicates that these two subclasses differ in their in vivo metabolism and effect on atherosclerosis, with LpA-I the more specifically protective subfraction against atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of apoA-I and apoA-II production and catabolism on plasma LpA-I and LpA-I:A-II levels. Fifty normolipidemic subjects (those with HDL cholesterol levels in the top and bottom tenth percentiles were excluded) underwent kinetic studies with radiolabeled apoA-I and apoA-II, and the kinetic parameters of apoA-I and apoA-II were correlated with LpA-I and LpA-I:A-II levels. ApoA-I levels were strongly correlated with apoA-I residence times and less strongly correlated with apoA-I production rates. In contrast, apoA-II levels were correlated only with apoA-II production rates and not with apoA-II residence times. Levels of apoA-I in LpA-I were correlated with apoA-I residence times, whereas levels of apoA-I in LpA-I:A-II were correlated primarily with apoA-II production rates. The fraction of apoA-I in LpA-I was highly inversely correlated with apoA-II production rate (r = -.67, P < .001). In multiple regression analysis, apoA-II production rate was the most significant independent variable determining percent apoA-I in LpA-I among all the kinetic parameters. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)