Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Upregulation of selective cholesteryl ester uptake pathway in mice with deletion of low‐density lipoprotein receptor function

This study examines the effect of mutation of the low‐density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) on cholesterol metabolism, and especially lipoprotein‐derived cholesteryl ester uptake, in murine ovarian granulosa cells. Although the tests were conducted on cells prepared by two different procedures, the results are similar. Deletion of LDLR function did not noticeably affect key enzymes of the steroidogenic pathway or affect progestin production and secretion in granulosa cells. No change was found in expression of LDL‐related protein (LRP). These data suggested that cholesterol turnover in cells from the knockout animals is within normal limits and that the cells are not stressed to acquire more cholesterol. Both biochemical and morphological data indicate that unstimulated granulosa cells from LDLR−/− mice are nonetheless programmed to take in double the amount of lipoprotein‐derived cholesteryl ester (via the selective cholesteryl ester uptake pathway) and to process (hydrolyze, re‐esterify, or utilize) more than twofold the cholesteryl ester processed by cells from wildtype (LDLR+/+) animals. Bt2cAMP stimulation of the murine granulosa cells increases the mass of cholesteryl ester taken up by the selective pathway by an additional 38%. To determine to what extent this increase is related to high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) scavenger receptor protein (SR‐BI) or caveolin function, Western blots and immunohistochemical studies were performed under a variety of conditions. SR‐BI levels are found to be low in unstimulated cells of both LDLR+/+ and LDLR−/− animals, but highly expressed (∼20‐fold increase over basal levels) in stimulated (Bt2cAMP) cells of both animal models. Thus, the functional relationship between selective cholesteryl ester uptake and SR‐BI receptor protein is not as tight as in previously reported studies, suggesting a requirement for other tissue factors. Caveolin expression did not change under any of the conditions tested and appears not to be functionally involved in this process. J. Cell. Physiol. 180:190–202, 1999. Published 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Predictive model of Amorphophallus muelleri growth in some agroforestry in East Java by multiple regression analysis

Budiman, Arisoesilaningsih E. 2012. Predictive model of Amorphophallus muelleri growth in some agroforestry in East Java by multiple regression analysis. Biodiversitas 13: 00-00. This research aimed to determine the multiple regression models of vegetative and corm growth of Amorphophallus muelleri Blume in some age variations and habitat conditions of agroforestry in East Java. Descriptive exploratory research method was conducted by systematic random sampling at five agroforestries on four plantations in East Java: Saradan, Bojonegoro, Nganjuk and Blitar. In each agroforestry, we observed A. muelleri vegetative and corm growth on four growing age (1, 2, 3 and 4 years old) as well as environmental variables such as altitude, vegetation, climate and soil conditions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to compare A. muelleri habitat in five agroforestries. Meanwhile, the influence and contribution of each environmental variable to the growth of A. muelleri vegetative and corm were determined using multiple regression analysis of SPSS 17.0. The multiple regression models of A. muelleri vegetative and corm growth were generated based on some characteristics of agroforestries and age showed high validity with R2 = 88-99%. Regression model showed that age, monthly temperatures, percentage of radiation and soil calcium (Ca) content either simultaneously or partially determined the growth of A. muelleri vegetative and corm. Based on these models, the A. muelleri corm reached the optimal growth after four years of cultivation and they will be ready to be harvested. Additionally, the soil Ca content should reach 25.3 me.hg-1 as Sugihwaras agroforestry, with the maximal radiation of 60%.
Dynamical non-ergodic scaling in continuous finite-order quantum phase transitions

We investigate the emergence of universal dynamical scaling in quantum critical spin systems adiabatically driven out of equilibrium, with emphasis on quench dynamics which involves non-isolated critical points (i.e., critical regions) and cannot be a priori described through standard scaling arguments nor time-dependent perturbative approaches. Comparing to the case of an isolated quantum critical point, we find that non-equilibrium scaling behavior of a large class of physical observables may still be explained in terms of equilibrium critical exponents. However, the latter are in general non-trivially path-dependent, and detailed knowledge about the time-dependent excitation process becomes essential. In particular, we show how multiple level crossings within a gapless phase may completely suppress excitation depending on the control path. Our results typify non-ergodic scaling in continuous finite-order quantum phase transitions.
Improved General Self Cuckoo Search based Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

have become major area of research in computational theory due to its wide range of applications. But due to limited battery power the energy consumption has become major limitations of WSNs protocols. Though many protocols have been proposed so far to improve the energy efficiency further but still much enhancement can be done. In order to overcome the constraints of the earlier work a new improved technique is proposed in this paper. The proposed technique has the ability to overcome the limitations of the tree based routing protocol by using the reactivity and cuckoo search based optimization based optimized path selection. The proposed technique has been designed and implemented in the MATLAB tool. Various metrics have also been used to evaluate the improvement of the proposed technique over tree based routing protocol which proves the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Alprazolam‐ritonavir interaction: Implications for product labeling

Pharmacokinetic interactions involving antiretroviral therapies may critically influence the efficacy and toxicity of these drugs, as well as pharmacologic treatments of coincident or complicating diseases. The viral protease inhibitor ritonavir is of particular concern since it both inhibits and induces the activity of cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) isoforms.
Prevalence, Predictors, and Outcomes of Primary Nonadherence After Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background— Secondary prevention after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is achieved primarily through medications. However, patients must take their medications to benefit. Medication adherence research has focused primarily on continuation of medications rather than not filling the first prescription written (primary nonadherence). Our objectives were to characterize, to determine factors of, and to measure outcomes associated with primary nonadherence after AMI. Methods and Results— We conducted a population-based cohort study using an AMI registry linked with administrative data in Ontario, Canada. The primary outcome was 1-year mortality. There were 4591 post-AMI patients >65 years of age included with 12 832 prescriptions written, of which 73% and 79% were filled within 7 and 120 days, respectively. By 120 days after discharge, more cardiac than noncardiac prescriptions were filled (82% versus 35%, respectively; P<0.0001). Only 74% of patients filled all their discharge prescriptions by 120 days after discharge after the exclusion of acetylsalicylic acid, which is also available over the counter in Ontario. Factors associated with filling all compared with filling no discharge prescriptions included younger age, low income, discharge medication counseling, in-hospital attending cardiologist, and fewer medications before AMI. The adjusted 1-year mortality rate was higher in patients who filled some versus all (odds ratio, 1.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.15 to 1.79; P=0.001) and none versus all (odds ratio, 1.80; 95% confidence interval, 1.35 to 2.42; P<0.0001) of their discharge medications. Conclusions— Patients fill most of their discharge prescriptions within 1 week after AMI. The 1-year mortality rate was higher for those patients who did not fill all of their discharge medications after AMI. Factors such as discharge medication counseling and postdischarge follow-up may help to increase the filling rate of medications after AMI.
The Peer Model Advantage in Infants’ Imitation of Familiar Gestures Performed by Differently Aged Models

Infants’ imitation of differently aged models has been predominately investigated with object-related actions and so far has lead to mixed evidence. Whereas some studies reported an increased likelihood of imitating peer models in contrast to adult models, other studies reported the opposite pattern of results. In the present study, 14-month-old infants were presented with four familiar gestures (e.g., clapping) that were demonstrated by differently aged televised models (peer, older child, adult). Results revealed that infants were more likely to imitate the peer model than the older child or the adult. This result is discussed with respect to a social function of imitation and the mechanism of imitating familiar behavior.
Relationship Between EGFR Expression, EGFR Mutation Status, and the Efficacy of Chemotherapy Plus Cetuximab in FLEX Study Patients with Advanced Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Introduction: The phase III FLEX study (NCT00148798) in advanced non–small-cell lung cancer indicated that the survival benefit associated with the addition of cetuximab to cisplatin and vinorelbine was limited to patients whose tumors expressed high levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (immunohistochemistry score of ≥200; scale 0–300). We assessed whether the treatment effect was also modulated in FLEX study patients by tumor EGFR mutation status. Methods: A tumor mutation screen of EGFR exons 18 to 21 included 971 of 1125 (86%) FLEX study patients. Treatment outcome in low and high EGFR expression groups was analyzed across efficacy endpoints according to tumor EGFR mutation status. Results: Mutations in EGFR exons 18 to 21 were detected in 133 of 971 tumors (14%), 970 of which were also evaluable for EGFR expression level. The most common mutations were exon 19 deletions and L858R (124 of 133 patients; 93%). In the high EGFR expression group (immunohistochemistry score of ≥200), a survival benefit for the addition of cetuximab to chemotherapy was demonstrated in patients with EGFR wild-type (including T790M mutant) tumors. Although patient numbers were small, those in the high EGFR expression group whose tumors carried EGFR mutations may also have derived a survival benefit from the addition of cetuximab to chemotherapy. Response data suggested a cetuximab benefit in the high EGFR expression group regardless of EGFR mutation status. Conclusions: The survival benefit associated with the addition of cetuximab to first-line chemotherapy for advanced non–small-cell lung cancer expressing high levels of EGFR is not limited by EGFR mutation status.
Stable Isotope-Assisted Evaluation of Different Extraction Solvents for Untargeted Metabolomics of Plants

The evaluation of extraction protocols for untargeted metabolomics approaches is still difficult. We have applied a novel stable isotope-assisted workflow for untargeted LC-HRMS-based plant metabolomics , which allows for the first time every detected feature to be considered for method evaluation. The efficiency and complementarity of commonly used extraction solvents, namely 1 + 3 (v/v) mixtures of water and selected organic solvents (methanol, acetonitrile or methanol/acetonitrile 1 + 1 (v/v)), with and without the addition of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid were compared. Four different wheat organs were sampled, extracted and analysed by LC-HRMS. Data evaluation was performed with the in-house-developed MetExtract II software and R. With all tested solvents a total of 871 metabolites were extracted in ear, 785 in stem, 733 in leaf and 517 in root samples, respectively. Between 48% (stem) and 57% (ear) of the metabolites detected in a particular organ were found with all extraction mixtures, and 127 of 996 metabolites were consistently shared between all extraction agent/organ combinations. In aqueous methanol, acidification with formic acid led to pronounced pH dependency regarding the precision of metabolite abundance and the number of detectable metabolites, whereas extracts of acetonitrile-containing mixtures were less affected. Moreover, methanol and acetonitrile have been found to be complementary with respect to extraction efficiency. Interestingly, the beneficial properties of both solvents can be combined by the use of a water-methanol-acetonitrile mixture for global metabolite extraction instead of aqueous methanol or aqueous acetonitrile alone.
The Smoothed 3D Skeleton for Animation

Skeleton is at the main interest of 3D character animation. In this paper, we use a recent skeleton pruning method based on the medial axis transform and the geodesic distance function that originates one-voxel thick, graph-like skeleton. Unfortunately, the location of skeleton joints does not usually match the anatomical joint of the model. We introduce a novel method for smoothing the pruned skeleton for realistic character animation by using the filtering process for adjusting the locations of consecutive points along the skeleton. Chord-to-point distance accumulation then be applied, and the smoothed skeleton is split in order to create segments and joints corresponding to its shape. The new skeleton can be regenerated later on. Therefore, the new skeleton produced from the proposed method can capture the essential shape characteristics in a compact form, while preserving the meaningful anatomical information of the 3D character models. The demonstration of the approach with several examples is also provided.
Design and evolution of a modular tensegrity robot platform

NASA Ames Research Center is developing a compliant modular tensegrity robotic platform for planetary exploration. In this paper we present the design and evolution of the platform's main hardware component, an untethered, robust tensegrity strut, with rich sensor feedback and cable actuation. Each strut is a complete robot, and multiple struts can be combined together to form a wide range of complex tensegrity robots. Our current goal for the tensegrity robotic platform is the development of SUPERball, a 6-strut icosahedron underactuated tensegrity robot aimed at dynamic locomotion for planetary exploration rovers and landers, but the aim is for the modular strut to enable a wide range of tensegrity morphologies. SUPERball is a second generation prototype, evolving from the tensegrity robot ReCTeR, which is also a modular, lightweight, highly compliant 6-strut tensegrity robot that was used to validate our physics based NASA Tensegrity Robot Toolkit (NTRT) simulator. Many hardware design parameters of the SUPERball were driven by locomotion results obtained in our validated simulator. These evolutionary explorations helped constrain motor torque and speed parameters, along with strut and string stress. As construction of the hardware has finalized, we have also used the same evolutionary framework to evolve controllers that respect the built hardware parameters.
On the pathophysiological implications of an intracellular renin receptor.

he renin angiotensin system plays an important role on the regulation of arterial pressure, blood volume and cardiac function. Both a circulating and several tissue-localized systems have been identified and able to cleave angiotensinogen by renin to form angiotensin I which is converted to angiotensin II (Ang II) by angiotensin converting enzyme. The presence of local Ang II generation, which has been supported by the beneficial effects of Ang II AT 1 receptor blockers and ACE inhibitors independently of their effects on arterial blood pressure, certainly requires that renin, angiotensinogen and ACE be synthesized locally or taken from the plasma.
Radiation-induced genomic instability in repair deficient mutants of Chinese hamster cells

Purpose: To determine the role of single (SSB) and double strand break (DSB) repair in the induction and propagation of radiation-induced instability. Materials and methods: Two defined hamster cell lines with known DNA repair deficiencies in DSB repair (XR-C1) and base excision repair (EM-C11) and the parental wild-type line (CHO-9) were used. The rate of micronucleus formation, apoptosis and survival were measured at 0, 7 and 14 days after X-ray radiation. Results: An enhanced rate of production of damaged cells was observed in wild type and the repair deficient mutants after irradiation. This was cell type, dose and time-dependent. All cells demonstrated delayed death up to day 14 after irradiation along with an elevated apoptosis frequency. The yield of micronuclei was not significantly increased in the wild-type cells, but was in the mutant cells, over the dose and time range studied. For all three endpoints the increase in damage was most pronounced in the SSB deficient cell line. Conclusions: SSB and/or oxidized base damage play a major role, rather than DSB, in radiation induced instability.
STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology: Molecular Epidemiology STROBE-ME. An extension of the STROBE statement

Advances in laboratory techniques have led to a rapidly increasing use of biomarkers in epidemiological studies. Biomarkers of internal dose, early biological change, susceptibility, and clinical outcomes are used as proxies for investigating the interactions between external and/or endogenous agents and the body components or processes. The need for improved reporting of scientific research led to influential statements of recommendations such as STrengthening Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement. The STROBE initiative established in 2004 aimed to provide guidance on how to report observational research. Its guidelines provide a user-friendly checklist of 22 items to be reported in epidemiological studies, with items specific to the three main study designs: cohort studies, case-control studies and cross-sectional studies. The present STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology – Molecular Epidemiology (STROBE-ME) initiative builds on the STROBE Statement implementing 9 existing items of STROBE and providing 17 additional items to the 22 items of STROBE checklist. The additions relate to the use of biomarkers in epidemiological studies, concerning collection, handling and storage of biological samples; laboratory methods, validity and reliability of biomarkers; specificities of study design; and ethical considerations. The STROBE-ME recommendations are intended to complement the STROBE recommendations.
The infant mouse as a in vivo model for the detection and study of DNA damage–induced changes in the liver

The present work describes the use of the infant (4‐wk‐old) mouse as an animal model for the study of DNA damage–induced G1 checkpoint response, changes in p53 protein levels, and multiple gene expression changes after DNA damage has been induced in the liver. Hepatocytes in the infant B6C3F1 mouse had a proliferation index that was 27 times greater than that of the 12‐wk‐old B6C3F1 mouse (57.4 vs. 2.1%, respectively). Eight hours after infant mice were exposed to the DNA damaging agents bleomycin (100 mg/kg, i.p.) or 10 Gy of whole body gamma irradiation, the G1/S ratio significantly increased from 21 (control) to 66 and 75, respectively, because of the induction of the G1/S checkpoint response. One hour after whole body irradiation of infant mice the levels of the p53 protein, phosphoserine 18‐p53 and phosphoserine 23‐p53 increased dramatically and tended to peak at 1 h in the liver, whereas the p21WAF1 protein increased more slowly and tended to peak at 2 h after irradiation. The mRNA expression of the p53‐response genes p21, murine double minute clone 2 (mdm2), and cyclin G was increased at 2 h after irradiation but was decreased by 8 h postirradiation, relative to the 2‐h time‐point. The expression of insulin‐like growth factor binding protein‐1 (IGFBP‐1) and growth‐regulated oncogene 1 (GRO1) increased at 2 and 8 h postirradiation. This work characterizes various parameters in the infant mouse, thus validating the use of this model to study in vivo DNA damage–induced cell‐cycle–related changes. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Beyond different levels: embodiment and the developmental system

The value of studying a phenomenon at multiple levels of analysis is often emphasized in psychology, but a lack of clarity about the nature of levels and the relations among them remains an impediment to progress. The suggestion here is that an approach combining the tenets of embodiment with the construct of the developmental system provides a way forward. Embodiment opposes the splitting off and elevation of a level of mechanisms that has characterized much of cognitive science. In contrast, a constructivist embodied approach places a level of mechanisms in the context of a formal or systems level of analysis, with developmental process framing the interpenetrating relations between levels. Such an approach stems from a relational worldview that opposes conceptual splits and posits that levels of structure and process comprise an indissociable complementarity. The combination of embodiment and developmental systems within a relational worldview is discussed and elaborated through outlining the integrative approach of relational developmental systems, which has been proposed as a scientific paradigm within which formulations of the interrelations among brain, body, and mind can be advanced.