Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blunted Tubuloglomerular Feedback by Absence of Angiotensin Type 1A Receptor Involves Neuronal NOS

Abstract—To define the role of angiotensin type 1A (AT1A) receptor in modulating tubuloglomerular feedback signals and to determine its relationship to neuronal NO synthase (nNOS), the diameter of the afferent arterioles of wild-type and AT1A receptor–deficient mice was measured by the blood-perfused juxtamedullary nephron technique. The afferent arteriolar diameter of wild-type and AT1A receptor–deficient mice averaged 16.7±0.6 (n=9) and 16.8±0.7 &mgr;m (n=9), respectively. In the wild-type mice, addition of 10 &mgr;mol/L acetazolamide to the blood perfusate exerted a biphasic afferent arteriolar constriction, with the initial response and sustained response averaging 47.2±3.8% and 33.9±3.3%, respectively. In AT1A receptor–deficient mice, the initial response and sustained response averaged 51.6±3.6% and 9.5±1.3%, respectively, and the sustained response was significantly attenuated compared with that of wild-type mice. Inhibition of nNOS with 10 &mgr;mol/L S-methyl-l-thiocitrulline significantly decreased the afferent arteriolar diameter of AT1A receptor–deficient mice, from 15.1±1.2 to 5.0±0.3 &mgr;m (n=7), and the decrease was significantly greater than that observed in wild-type mice (from 15.9±1.2 to 10.6±1.3 &mgr;m; n=8). During nNOS inhibition, the initial and sustained afferent arteriolar constrictor responses to acetazolamide in wild-type mice averaged 54.4±6.4% and 44.8±11.3%; respectively, and were similar to those in AT1A receptor–deficient mice (53.2±6.4% and 59.5±4.4%, respectively). These results suggest that AT1A receptors enhance tubuloglomerular feedback–mediated afferent arteriolar constriction, at least in part, through reducing the counteracting modulation by nNOS.
GEOLOGIC TIME AS A PARAMETER IN ORGANIC METAMORPHISM AND VITRINITE REFLECTANCE AS AN ABSOLUTE PALEOGEOTHERMOMETER: REPLY

Before replying to James Kohsmann's discussion of the Price (1983) paper, I wish to correct two errors in that paper. In the abstract I stated: "The threshold of intense petroleum generation is not detectable in Plio-Miocene sediments at minimum temperatures of 160°C" (Price, 1983, p. 5). I should have said ". in Pliocene and Miocene sediments with hydrogen-rich organic matter at minimum temperatures of 160°C. " In the Fig. 19 caption, in a classic demonstration of Murphy's Law, a line was dropped during printing so that the last sentence of that caption read: "This equation can only be applied to coals or rocks with Type I organic matter". The sentence should have read: "This equation can only be applied to coals and rocks with Type III organic matter. It cannot be applied to rocks with Type I organic matter. "+
Global Water Availability and Requirements for Future Food Production

AbstractThis study compares, spatially explicitly and at global scale, per capita water availability and water requirements for food production presently (1971–2000) and in the future given climate and population change (2070–99). A vegetation and hydrology model Lund–Potsdam–Jena managed Land (LPJmL) was used to calculate green and blue water availability per capita, water requirements to produce a balanced diet representing a benchmark for hunger alleviation [3000 kilocalories per capita per day (1 kilocalorie = 4184 joules), here assumed to consist of 80% vegetal food and 20% animal products], and a new water scarcity indicator that relates the two at country scale. A country was considered water-scarce if its water availability fell below the water requirement for the specified diet, which is presently the case especially in North and East Africa and in southwestern Asia. Under climate (derived from 17 general circulation models) and population change (A2 and B1 emissions and population scenarios), wa.
Driver crash risk factors and prevalence evaluation using naturalistic driving data

Significance This paper presents findings about the riskiest factors faced by drivers as informed through the first large-scale, crash-only analysis of naturalistic driving data. Results indicate that many secondary tasks or activities, particularly resulting from the use of handheld electronic devices, are of detriment to driver safety. The analysis uses a large naturalistic database comprising continuous in situ observations made via multiple onboard video cameras and sensors that gathered information from more than 3,500 drivers across a 3-y period. The accurate evaluation of crash causal factors can provide fundamental information for effective transportation policy, vehicle design, and driver education. Naturalistic driving (ND) data collected with multiple onboard video cameras and sensors provide a unique opportunity to evaluate risk factors during the seconds leading up to a crash. This paper uses a National Academy of Sciences-sponsored ND dataset comprising 905 injurious and property damage crash events, the magnitude of which allows the first direct analysis (to our knowledge) of causal factors using crashes only. The results show that crash causation has shifted dramatically in recent years, with driver-related factors (i.e., error, impairment, fatigue, and distraction) present in almost 90% of crashes. The results also definitively show that distraction is detrimental to driver safety, with handheld electronic devices having high use rates and risk.
Misreported schooling and returns to education: evidence from the UK

In this paper we study the impact of misreported treatment status on the estimation of causal treatment effects. We characterise the bias introduced by misclassification on the average treatment effect on the treated under the assumption of selection on observables. Although the bias of matching-type estimators computed from misclassified data cannot in general be signed, we show that the bias is most likely to be downward if misclassification does not depend on variables entering the selection-on-observables assumption, or only depends on such variables via the propensity score index. We extend the framework to multiple treatments. We provide results to bound the returns to a number of educational qualifications in the UK semi-parametrically, and by using the unique nature of our data we assess the plausibility for the two biases from measurement error and from omitted variables to cancel out.
Dynamic instability of marine-terminating glacier basins of Academy of Sciences Ice Cap, Russian High Arctic

Abstract Ice sheets and smaller ice caps appear to behave in dynamically similar ways; both contain slow-moving ice that is probably frozen to the bed, interspersed with fast-flowing ice streams and outlet glaciers that terminate into the ocean. Academy of Sciences Ice Cap (Akademii Nauk ice cap; 5570 km2), Severnaya Zemlya, Russian High Arctic, provides a clear example of this varied flow regime. We have combined satellite measurements of elevation change and surface velocity to show that variable ice-stream dynamics dominate the mass balance of the ice cap. Since 1988, the ice cap has lost 58±16 Gt of ice, corresponding to ~3% of its mass or 0.16mm of sea-level rise. The climatic mass balance is estimated to be close to zero, and terminus positions have remained stable to within a few kilometers, implying that almost all mass loss has occurred through iceberg calving. The ice-cap calving rate increased from ~0.6 Gt a–1 in 1995 to ~3.0 Gt a–1 in 2000–02, but has recently decreased to ~1.4 Gt a–1 due to a likely slowdown of the largest ice stream. Such highly variable calving rates have not been reported before from High Arctic ice caps, suggesting that these ice masses may be less stable than previously thought.
Automatic detection of marine surfactants by MODIS sunglint imagery: a study case of biogenic films off the southeastern coast of Brazil

Global monitoring of marine surfactants is important for understanding the heat, particle, momentum, and gas exchanges between the ocean and atmosphere. Observing the sunglint, i.e., the specular reflection between Sun, sea surface, and sensor, which intensity depends on the geometry of acquisition, has the potential to improve surfactants detection. The basis of the approach is that surfactants modify surface roughness, therefore the probability distribution of observing reflection by wave facets in the sensor field-of-view. An automatic method to detect surfactants from optical imagery under Sun glint conditions is presented. The method consists in comparing modeled normalized radiance (for clean water and surfactant contaminated water) with observed values. Application to MODIS imagery acquired off the Southwest Coast of Brazil in January 2003 demonstrates the method’s feasibility, revealing the presence of biogenic films formed by Trichodesmium colonies. The presence of the N2 fixing cyanobacteria was verified independently from in-situ measurements and ocean color remote sensing. An advantage of the glint-based method over detection methods using SAR imagery is the good spatial resolution (250 m) and the capability to detect surfactants at low wind speeds (< 2 m/s), impractical to SAR sensors due to the absence of Bragg scattering. Discriminating the type of surfactant, i.e., biogenic versus mineral, requires additional information, such as spectral marine reflectance.
Rice black streaked dwarf virus P 9-1 , an a-helical protein , self-interacts and forms viroplasms in vivo

Correspondence Bingsheng Qiu qiubs@sun.im. ac.cn Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA Bureau of Animal Husbandry and Fishery of Xiangxiang, Xiangxiang 411400, PR China Laboratory of Structural Biology, School of Life Sciences and Bio-Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China Hebei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Baoding 071000, PR China
The Eeect of a Pruning Prior 6.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is twofold: to provide an example of the application of statistical learning on a very simple problem. This very simple case allows us to gain insight into the way diierent learning schemes address the problem and work towards the same goal. to display the eeect of an regularisation alternative to the usual \weight-decay" on this problem, and on real life time-series modelling and system identiica-tion. The rst part is developed in sections 6.2 to 6.13: this part is quite long as we have tried to go into the details of the derivations. The second part is the body of sections 6.14 to 6.19. 6.2 The parameter location problem We address the problem of estimating the value of a quantity based on noisy measurements of it. The target value will be noted e w and called the teacher parameter, or teacher weight, by analogy with neural network parameters. A number of noisy examples are available, of the form: The noise is taken with 0 mean and known variance 2. The training set D is here the set of all the available examples 1 : The real system is thus y = e w + , and we try to model it by nding an estimate b w of the teacher weight. This estimate will be called the student parameter.
Hunting Impacts on the Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) Population in Clam Lagoon (Adak Island, Aleutian Islands) 7,000 Years Ago? Results of Preliminary Stable Isotopes Analysis

Archaeological site ADK-171 is situatedalong the precipitous coast of the almostclosed “Clam Lagoon” on Adak Island, inthe Aleutian Islands (Figure 1). The sitewas excavated by members of the CentralAleutian Archaeological and PaleobiologicalProject(CAAPP). Theexcavatedmiddenhasclear stratigraphy with two discrete layers.Radiocarbon dates show that the culturalmidden at ADK-171 was formed approxi-mately 7,000 years ago during a relativelyshort time period of about 100–200 years(Savinetskyetal.2010). ThesedatesconﬁrmthatADK-171istheoldestsiteintheAleutian
When the Truth Is Not Too Hard to Handle

Our brains rapidly map incoming language onto what we hold to be true. Yet there are claims that such integration and verification processes are delayed in sentences containing negation words like not. However, studies have often confounded whether a statement is true and whether it is a natural thing to say during normal communication. In an event-related potential (ERP) experiment, we aimed to disentangle effects of truth value and pragmatic licensing on the comprehension of affirmative and negated real-world statements. As in affirmative sentences, false words elicited a larger N400 ERP than did true words in pragmatically licensed negated sentences (e.g., “In moderation, drinking red wine isn't bad/good…”), whereas true and false words elicited similar responses in unlicensed negated sentences (e.g., “A baby bunny's fur isn't very hard/soft…”). These results suggest that negation poses no principled obstacle for readers to immediately relate incoming words to what they hold to be true.
Minimal Conflicting Sets for the Consecutive Ones Property in Ancestral Genome Reconstruction

A binary matrix has the Consecutive Ones Property (C1P) if its columns can be ordered in such a way that all 1's on each row are consecutive. A Minimal Conflicting Set is a set of rows that does not have the C1P, but every proper subset has the C1P. Such submatrices have been considered in comparative genomics applications, but very little is known about their combinatorial structure and efficient algorithms to compute them. We first describe an algorithm that detects rows that belong to Minimal Conflicting Sets. This algorithm has a polynomial time complexity when the number of 1s in each row of the considered matrix is bounded by a constant. Next, we show that the problem of computing all Minimal Conflicting Sets can be reduced to the joint generation of all minimal true clauses and maximal false clauses for some monotone boolean function. We use these methods on simulated data related to ancestral genome reconstruction to show that computing Minimal Conflicting Set is useful in discriminating between true positive and false positive ancestral syntenies. We also study a dataset of yeast genomes and address the reliability of an ancestral genome proposal of the Saccharomycetaceae yeasts.
Electric Source Imaging in Frontal Lobe Epilepsy

Summary: The objective of this study was to determine the validity of interictal spike (IIS) source localization in frontal lobe epilepsies (FLE) using stereoelectroencephalography as a validating method. Ten patients with drug-resistant FLE were studied with high-resolution EEG and stereoelectroencephalography. Sixty-four scalp channels, a realistic head model, and different algorithms were used. For each patient, the intracerebral interictal distribution was studied and classified into one of three groups: lateral, medial, and mixed (latero-medio-basal). Surface IIS were abundant or subcontinuous for 8 of 10 FLE patients. In lateral and medial groups, intracerebral interictal activities were accurately localized. In the mixed group, source localizations designated a part of the intracerebral interictal distribution. A high degree of source localization accuracy is obtained in FLE. False-positive results were never obtained, but the extent of interictal activity could be underestimated by source localization results. Geometrical and cytoarchitectonic characteristics of the generator appear crucial to explain why medial frontal IIS (anterior para-cingulate gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus) may be localizable whereas only the lateral orbitofrontal IIS seems to be localizable.
Immunocytochemical detection of HoxD9 and Pbx1 homeodomain protein expression in Chinese esophageal squamous cell carcinomas.

AIM To evaluate the expression pattern of two novel oncofetal antigens, the HoxD9 and Pbx1 homeoproteins in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs) to determine what role they would play in the carcinogenesis of ESCC. METHODS We obtained tissue samples of ESCC from 56 patients who underwent esophagectomy but not preoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The diagnosis of ESCC was established and confirmed by staff pathologists. We used a highly sensitive, indirect, immunocytochemical method to detect HoxD9 and PbX1 proteins. We qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated cells that exhibited and staining using a light microscope. RESULTS In all observed carcinoma tissue samples, more than 60% of neoplastic cells stained lightly or strongly for HoxD9, and more than 50% of neoplastic cells stained lightly or strongly for Pbx1. CONCLUSION Our data suggest that HoxD9 and Pbx1 are inappropriately expressed in most human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Understanding the role of Hox genes in esophageal epithelial cell carcinogenesis may not only augment early detection but also offer new avenues for treatment of this disease.
A New Prognostic Score Supporting Treatment Allocation for Multimodality Therapy for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Review of 12 Years’ Experience

Introduction: Treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) remains a clinical challenge. The aim of this study was to identify selection factors for allocation of MPM patients to multimodal therapy based on survival data from 12 years of experience. Methods: Eligible patients had MPM of all histological subtypes with clinical stage T1–3 N0–2 M0. Induction chemotherapy consisted of cisplatin/gemcitabine (cis/gem) or cisplatin/pemetrexed (cis/pem), followed by extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). Multivariate analysis was performed to assess independent prognosticators for overall survival (OS). A Multimodality Prognostic Score was developed based on clinical variables available before surgery. Results: From May 1999 to August 2011, 186 MPM patients were intended to be treated with induction chemotherapy followed by EPP. Hematologic toxicity was significantly less frequent after cis/pem compared to cis/gem, but there was no difference in response or OS between the regimens. One hundred and twenty-eight patients underwent EPP with a 30-day mortality of 4.7%. Fifty-two percent of the patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. The median OS of patients undergoing EPP was significantly longer with 22 months (95% confidence interval: 20–24) when compared to 11 months (9–12) for patients treated without EPP. A prognostic score was defined considering tumor volume, histology, C-reactive protein level, and response to chemotherapy that identified patient groups not benefitting from multimodality treatment which was confirmed in an independent cohort. Conclusion: Patients receiving induction chemotherapy followed by EPP for MPM of all histological subtypes and irrespective of nodal status showed a median survival of 22 months. A prognostic score is proposed to help patient allocation for surgery after validation in an independent cohort.
Risk factors for sporadic Campylobacter infections: results of a case-control study in southeastern Norway

In 1989 and 1990, a case-control study designed to identify risk factors for sporadic infections with thermotolerant Campylobacter bacteria was conducted in three counties in southeastern Norway. The investigation was confined to infections which were acquired in Norway. A total of 52 bacteriologically confirmed cases and 103 controls matched by age, sex, and geographic region were interviewed. The following risk factors were found to be independently associated with illness in conditional logistic regression analysis: consumption of sausages at a barbecue (odds ratio [OR] = 7.64; P = 0.005), daily contact with a dog (OR = 4.26; P = 0.024), and eating of poultry which was brought into the house raw (frozen or refrigerated) (OR = 3.20; P = 0.024). The risk associated with consumption of sausages at a barbecue could not be attributed to cross-contamination from poultry products. By univariate analysis, consumption of poultry which was brought raw and frozen was associated with illness (OR = 2.42; P = 0.042), even though freezing substantially reduces the number of viable campylobacters. When poultry consumption was examined by country of origin, eating of poultry produced in Denmark or Sweden was strongly associated with illness (OR = 13.66; P = 0.014), whereas consumption of poultry produced in Norway was not (OR = 1.33; P = 0.41).
Ribosomal protein S14 is encoded by a pair of highly conserved, adjacent genes on the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster

We describe a Drosophila DNA clone of tandemly duplicated genes encoding an amino acid sequence nearly identical to human ribosomal protein S14 and yeast rp59. Despite their remarkably similar exons, the locations and sizes of introns differ radically among the Drosophila, human, and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) ribosomal protein genes. Transcripts of both Drosophila RPS14 genes were detected in embryonic and adult tissues and are the same length as mammalian S14 message. Drosophila RPS14 was mapped to region 7C5-9 on the X chromosome. This interval also encodes a previously characterized Minute locus, M(1)7C.
Sex differences in emphysema and airway disease in smokers.

BACKGROUND The authors of previous reports have suggested that women are more susceptible to cigarette smoke and to an airway-predominant COPD phenotype rather than an emphysema-predominant COPD phenotype. The purpose of this study was to test for sex differences in COPD phenotypes by using high-resolution CT (HRCT) scanning in male and female smokers with and without COPD. METHODS All subjects completed spirometry and answered an epidemiologic respiratory questionnaire. Inspiratory HRCT scans were obtained on 688 smokers enrolled in a family-based study of COPD. Emphysema was assessed by using a density mask with a cutoff of -950 Hounsfield units to calculate the low-attenuation area percentage (LAA%) and by the fractal value D, which is the slope of a power law analysis defining the relationship between the number and size of the emphysematous lesions. Airway wall thickness was assessed by calculating the square root of the airway wall area (SQRTWA) and the percentage of the total airway area taken by the airway wall (WA%) relative to the internal perimeter. RESULTS Women had a similar FEV(1) (women, 65.5% +/- 31.9% predicted; men, 62.1% +/- 30.4% predicted; p = 0.16) but fewer pack-years of cigarette smoking (women, 37.8 +/- 19.7 pack-years; men, 47.8 +/- 27.4 pack-years; p < 0.0001). Men had a greater LAA% (24% +/- 12% vs 20% +/- 11%, respectively; p < 0.0001) and larger emphysematous spaces than women, and these differences persisted after adjusting for covariates (weight, pack-years of smoking, current smoking status, center of enrollment, and FEV(1) percent predicted; p = 0.0006). Women had a smaller SQRTWA and WA% after adjusting for covariates (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Male smokers have more emphysema than female smokers, but female smokers do not show increased wall thickness compared with men.
Xylene Induces Oxidative Stress and Mitochondria Damage in Isolated Human Lymphocytes

Xylene is a cyclic hydrocarbon and an environmental pollutant. It is also used in medical technology, paints, dyes, polishes and in many industries as a solvent; therefore, an understanding of the interaction between xylene and human lymphocytes is of significant interest. Biochemical assessment was used to demonstrate that exposure of lymphocytes to xylene induces cytotoxicity (at 6 hr), generates intracellular reactive oxygen species, collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, lysosomal injury, lipid peroxidation and depletion of glutathione (at 3 hr). The findings show that xylene triggers oxidative stress and organelle damage in lymphocytes. The results of our study suggest that the use of antioxidant, mitochondrial and lysosomal protective agents can be helpful for individuals subject to chronic exposure to xylene.