Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE ACTIONS OF CARBENOXOLONE ON FRUCTOSE CATABOLISM IN LIVERS OF FASTED RATS

Carbenoxolone is a derivative of glycyrrhetinic acid, the active principle of licorice ( Glycyrrhiza glabra ), a medicinal root. The pharmacological properties attributed to carbenoxolone are related to its inhibitory actions on the 11 β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and gap junction channels. Recent studies have shown that carbenoxolone also induces swelling and membrane potential collapse in mitochondria. These effects were related to hydrogen peroxide generation and mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) induction, indicating possible toxicological actions of carbenoxolone at the mitochondrial level, which could trigger the apoptotic pathway. The data of these previous reports are pointing, thus, in the direction of a possible action of carbenoxolone on the bioenergetic functions of mitochondria, which could in turn cause toxic metabolic changes in the liver. For this reason, the present work was planned to investigate if carbenoxolone affects gluconeogenesis in the rat liver. Livers from 24 h fasted Male Wistar rats weighing 200 to 280 g were used in the experiments. The isolated liver was perfused in the non-recirculating system. Carbenoxolone inhibited gluconeogenesis as well as decreased oxygen consumption and stimulated glycolysis from fructose, which is an expected combination of phenomena for decreased mitochondrial ATP formation.
Cell surface-bound elastase and cathepsin G on human neutrophils: a novel, non-oxidative mechanism by which neutrophils focus and preserve catalytic activity of serine proteinases

Serine proteinases of human polymorphonuclear neutrophils play an important role in neutrophil-mediated proteolytic events; however, the non-oxidative mechanisms by which the cells can degrade extracellular matrix in the presence of proteinase inhibitors have not been elucidated. Herein, we provide the first report that human neutrophils express persistently active cell surface-bound human leukocyte elastase and cathepsin G on their cell surface. Unstimulated neutrophils have minimal cell surface expression of these enzymes; however, phorbol ester induces a 30-fold increase. While exposure of neutrophils to chemoattractants (fMLP and C5a) stimulates modest (two- to threefold) increases in cell surface expression of serine proteinases, priming with concentrations of lipopolysaccharide as low as 100 fg/ml leads to striking (up to 10-fold) increase in chemoattractant-induced cell surface expression, even in the presence of serum proteins. LPS-primed and fMLP-stimulated neutrophils have approximately 100 ng of cell surface human leukocyte elastase activity per 10(6) cells. Cell surface- bound human leukocyte elastase is catalytically active, yet is remarkably resistant to inhibition by naturally occurring proteinase inhibitors. These data indicate that binding of serine proteinases to the cell surface focuses and preserves their catalytic activity, even in the presence of proteinase inhibitors. Upregulated expression of persistently active cell surface-bound serine proteinases on activated neutrophils provides a novel mechanism to facilitate their egress from the vasculature, penetration of tissue barriers, and recruitment into sites of inflammation. Dysregulation of the cell surface expression of these enzymes has the potential to cause tissue destruction during inflammation.
Elemene Induces Apoptosis of Human Gastric Cancer Cell Line BGC-823 via Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase (ERK) 1/2 Signaling Pathway

Background Elemene is extracted from a traditional herbal medicine and is commonly used in the treatment of cancer in China. However, its effect on gastric cancer cells remains unknown. The goal of this study was to investigate its effect on human gastric cancer cells. Material/Methods Human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells and a tumor-bearing mouse model were employed to be divided into 4 groups: control group, elemene group, PD98059 group (an ERK 1/2 signaling pathway inhibitor), and the combined group (elemene plus PD98059). The tumor size, cell proliferation, expression of ERK 1/2 and phosphorylated ERK 1/2 (p-ERK 1/2), Bcl-2 mRNA, and Bax mRNA were measured. Moreover, cell apoptosis was detected and the apoptosis index was calculated. Results Elemene and PD98059 each significantly inhibited the proliferation of gastric cancer cells BGC-823, and their combination showed higher synergistic inhibitory effect (P<0.05). We also found increased expression levels of p-ERK l/2 protein and Bax mRNA, but reduced level of Bcl-2 mRNA expression (P<0.05). Elemene presented higher apoptosis rate in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). Furthermore, the injection of elemene decreased the weight of transplanted tumors. Conclusions Elemene can inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells associated with the ERK 1/2 signaling pathway and expression levels of Bax mRNA and Bcl-2 mRNA.
Rate-Optimal and Reduced-Complexity Sequential Sensing Algorithms for Cognitive OFDM Radios

Sequential sensing algorithms are developed for OFDM-based hierarchical cognitive radio (CR) systems. Secondary users sense multiple subbands simultaneously for possible spectrum availabilities under hard misdetection constraints to prevent interference to the primary users. Accounting for the fact that the sensing time overhead can often be significant, a novel performance metric is introduced based on the effective achievable data rate. An optimization problem is formulated in the framework of optimal stopping problems to maximize the average effective data rate by determining the best time to stop taking samples and proceed to data transmission. A basis expansion-based suboptimal algorithm is developed to reduce the prohibitive complexity of the optimal solution. The numerical results presented verify the efficacy of the proposed approach.
SCFT and M Theory on AdS 4 × RP 7

We study M theory on AdS4×RP 7 corresponding to 3 dimensional N = 8 superconformal field theory which is the strong coupling limit of 3 dimensional super Yang-Mills theory. For SU(N) theory, a wrapped D6 brane on S which is connected to a D2 brane on the boundary of AdS4 by N fundamental strings can be interpreted as baryon vertex in Type IIA string theory. For SO(N)/Sp(2N) theory, by using the property of (co-)homology of RP, we classify various wrapping branes. Then we consider strings, domain walls and the baryon vertex in Type IIA string theory and point out a perplexing puzzle on the baryon vertex.
Understanding the Emerging C2C Electronic Market in China: An Experience-Seeking Social Marketplace

China's consumer-to-consumer (C2C) electronic market has been growing very rapidly. The largest Chinese online auction company. Eachnet. was purchased by eBay but faced tough competition from a new Chinese online auction company, Taobao. Now Taobao's market share is twice as large as eBay's. Why has eBay quickly lost its market share to the newly launched Taobao? What is the nature of this market? On the premise of the customer relationship management (CRM) process model, we conduct a case study to describe the whole picture of this market and to find out what strategies are most suitable to the current Chinese market and likely to lead to success. Our study shows that the C2C market in China is a young and experience-seeking market whose customers are price-sensitive, willing to try new services and new vendors, and comfortable with switching. The market is also a social environment where customers' loyalty to a vendor can be built more easily by the vendor's social relation management service than by the transaction service. The findings suggest that vendors in China's C2C market should not only provide a functional service to acquire customers, but also foster the development of social marketing to retain customer loyalty. The social marketing design should be tailored to Chinese culture.
Efficient core decomposition in massive networks

The k-core of a graph is the largest subgraph in which every vertex is connected to at least k other vertices within the subgraph. Core decomposition finds the k-core of the graph for every possible k. Past studies have shown important applications of core decomposition such as in the study of the properties of large networks (e.g., sustainability, connectivity, centrality, etc.), for solving NP-hard problems efficiently in real networks (e.g., maximum clique finding, densest subgraph approximation, etc.), and for large-scale network fingerprinting and visualization. The k-core is a well accepted concept partly because there exists a simple and efficient algorithm for core decomposition, by recursively removing the lowest degree vertices and their incident edges. However, this algorithm requires random access to the graph and hence assumes the entire graph can be kept in main memory. Nevertheless, real-world networks such as online social networks have become exceedingly large in recent years and still keep growing at a steady rate. In this paper, we propose the first external-memory algorithm for core decomposition in massive graphs. When the memory is large enough to hold the graph, our algorithm achieves comparable performance as the in-memory algorithm. When the graph is too large to be kept in the memory, our algorithm requires only O(kmax) scans of the graph, where kmax is the largest core number of the graph. We demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithm on real networks with up to 52.9 million vertices and 1.65 billion edges.
Glucagon-like peptide 1 improves insulin resistance in vitro through anti-inflammation of macrophages

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), a kind of gut hormone, is used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Emerging evidence indicates that GLP-1 has anti-inflammatory activity. Chronic inflammation in the adipose tissue of obese individuals is a cause of insulin resistance and T2D. We hypothesized that GLP-1 analogue therapy in patients with T2D could suppress the inflammatory response of macrophages, and therefore inhibit insulin resistance. Our results showed that GLP-1 agonist (exendin-4) not only attenuated macrophage infiltration, but also inhibited the macrophage secretion of inflammatory cytokines including TNF-β, IL-6, and IL-1β. Furthermore, we observed that lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced macrophage conditioned media could impair insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. This effect was compensated by treatment with the conditioned media from macrophages treated with the combination of LPS and exendin-4. It was also observed that exendin-4 directly inhibited the activation of NF-κB in macrophages. In conclusion, our results indicated that GLP-1 improved inflammatory macrophage-derived insulin resistance by inhibiting NF-κB pathway and secretion of inflammatory cytokines in macrophages. Furthermore, our observations suggested that the anti-inflammatory effect of GLP-1 on macrophages can contribute to GLP-1 analogue therapy of T2D.
Inhibition of GABAA Synaptic Responses by Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in Rat Hippocampus

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of neurotrophins involved in the development and maintenance of both the peripheral nervous system and CNS. Although the expression of BDNF and its receptor TrkB still occurs in the adult stage, their physiological role in the mature CNS is not fully understood. In the present study we examined in detail the possibility that BDNF modulates synaptic neurotransmissions by using patch-clamp technique in rat hippocampal CA1 region. BDNF (20–100 ng/ml) did not show any appreciable effect on evoked EPSCs, but it markedly reduced both evoked and spontaneous IPSCs within 5 min, and the reduction persisted while BDNF was present. BDNF also attenuated GABAA receptor-mediated response to applied GABA. However, BDNF failed to attenuate IPSCs when the postsynaptic pyramidal neuron was loaded intracellularly with 200 nmK252a, an alkaloid that inhibits the kinase activity of Trk receptor family, through the patch pipette. Intracellular application of 200 nm K252b, a weaker inhibitor of Trk-type kinase, did not affect the inhibition. The attenuating effect also was prevented by postsynaptic injection of U73122 (5 μm), a broad-spectrum PLC inhibitor, and by strong chelation of intracellular Ca2+ with 10 mm BAPTA. These data suggest that BDNF modulates GABAA synaptic responses by postsynaptic activation of Trk-type receptor and subsequent Ca2+mobilization in the CNS.
Discussion of slip boundary on fibrous filter media

In modeling fibrous filter media, it is important to consider the phenomena of slip on the fiber surface because of the Knudsen number limit. In this paper the available analytical expressions for slip boundary were summarized and applied on a novel fibrous filter media model. Experimental data of the pressure drop on the filter media was used to validate the numerical simulation using OpenFOAM when partial slip boundary was applied. It was found the optimal valueFractions for F8 media was 0.16.
Chromatin structure and transposable elements in organismal aging

Epigenetic regulatory mechanisms are increasingly appreciated as central to a diverse array of biological processes, including aging. An association between heterochromatic silencing and longevity has long been recognized in yeast, and in more recent years evidence has accumulated of age-related chromatin changes in Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila, and mouse model systems, as well as in the tissue culture-based replicative senescence model of cell aging. In addition, a number of studies have linked expression of transposable elements (TEs), as well as changes in the RNAi pathways that cells use to combat TEs, to the aging process. This review summarizes the recent evidence linking chromatin structure and function to aging, with a particular focus on the relationship of heterochromatin structure to organismal aging.
Educating the Net Generation

The educating the net generation that we provide for you will be ultimate to give preference. This reading book is your chosen book to accompany you when in your free time, in your lonely. This kind of book can help you to heal the lonely and get or add the inspirations to be more inoperative. Yeah, book as the widow of the world can be very inspiring manners. As here, this book is also created by an inspiring author that can make influences of you to do more.
Dysregulation of the Circulating and Tissue-Based Renin–Angiotensin System in Preeclampsia

The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) participates in preeclampsia; however, the relative contributions from the circulating RAS and the tissue-based, uteroplacental RAS are unknown. We hypothesized that the tissue-based uteroplacental RAS is dysregulated in preeclampsia. We performed microarray and gene expression studies and confirmed the findings on the protein level by immunohistochemistry in ureteroplacental units from 10 preeclamptic women and 10 women with uneventful pregnancies. All of the women were delivered by cesarean section. We also analyzed plasma renin activity and circulating agonistic angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor autoantibodies. In preeclampsia, we found that the angiotensin II AT1 receptor gene was 5-fold upregulated in decidua (maternal origin). We also found AT1 autoantibodies in preeclamptic women and in their offspring by neonatal cardiomyocyte bioassay compared with women with normal pregnancies and their infants (mother: 17.5±2.2 versus 0.05±0.4; fetus: 14.5±1.8 versus 0.5±0.5 &Dgr;bpm). Gene expressions for renin (35.0-fold), angiotensin-converting enzyme (2.9-fold), and angiotensinogen (8.9-fold) were higher in decidua than placenta (fetal origin) in both control and preeclamptic women, whereas the AT1 receptor was expressed 10-fold higher in placenta than in decidua in both groups. Our findings elucidate the ureteroplacental unit RAS in preeclamptic and normal pregnancies. We found that, in preeclampsia, the AT1 receptor expression is particularly high in decidua, combined with pregnancy-specific tissue RAS involving decidual angiotensin II production and AT1 autoantibodies. We also showed that AT1 autoantibodies cross the ureteroplacental barrier. These components could participate in the pathophysiology of preeclampsia.
Deep integration of the OWL ontology language into Ruby using metaprogramming

The arising Semantic Web is an important component of the Internet of the future. Semantic applications provide encouraging possibilities to control the exponentially growing data and information amount. Despite its considerable application potential, the idea of the Semantic Web is not enforced on a broad range yet. Thereby there are two problems of particular relevance: existing Semantic Web frameworks are either difﬁcult to learn or cause problems because they do not avoid the generation of logical inconsistencies. The in this work developed, fundamentally new Semantic Web framework DEEP SEMANTICS ﬁrst provides an efﬁcient and quickly to learn approach to edit ontologies, second integrated consistency checks and third a fast processing of the data. Through the algorithmic realization of the so called deep integration approach, with DEEP SEMANTICS it is possible to convert OWL Lite ontologies in Ruby code. As a result a functional model of the ontology is generated in Ruby. The editing of ontologies is more efﬁcient because less lines of source code achieve the same functionality as source code of conventional API-based Semantic Web frameworks. Moreover, the access to ontologies using DEEP SEMANTICS is much more intuitive and therefore easier to learn. The integrated consistency check corresponds to an important feature of DEEP SEMANTICS: consistency safeness. DEEP SEMANTICS is the ﬁrst Semantic Web framework of its kind, which guarantees the logic consistency of the modiﬁed ontology. As the framework processes only those operations which cannot cause logical inconsistencies, it provides the developer of semantic applications a security in handling semantic data whose importance should not be underestimated. Thereby, DEEP SEMANTICS reveals an excellent operation time within the ontology editing. Further on, DEEP SEMANTICS was successfully applied for the implementation of the semantic image management application IKen. Using IKen, images can be annotated and searched on the basis of an ontology. Thereby, the application offers a novel approach for the utilization of semantic context information in graphical user interfaces. Depending on the entered term, IKen presents the user additional information stored in the ontology. During the implementation of IKen all three above mentioned advantages could be afﬁrmed with respect to DEEP SEMANTICS. Additionally, new suggestions for the extension of DEEP SEMANTICS have been motivated, that lead to the implementation of novel, efﬁciency improving convenient functions. Furthermore, DEEP SEMANTICS promises to become a valuable building block for semantic applications in bioinformatics. In this thesis it was possible to discuss this on the basis of the results of the BIO2Me project. In summary of the presented work results it appears to be possible that DEEP SEMANTICS could become an important part of the Semantic Web.
Parameterized Contrast in Second Order Soft Co-occurrences: A Novel Text Representation Technique in Text Mining and Knowledge Extraction

In this article, we present a novel statistical representation method for knowledge extraction from a corpus containing short texts. Then we introduce the contrast parameter which could be adjusted for targeting different conceptual levels in text mining and knowledge extraction. The method is based on second order co-occurrence vectors whose efficiency for representing meaning has been established in many applications, especially for representing word senses in different contexts and for disambiguation purposes. We evaluate our method on two tasks: classification of textual description of dreams, and classification of medical abstracts for systematic reviews.
Robots we like to live with?! - a developmental perspective on a personalized, life-long robot companion

This work addresses different possible social relationships between robots and humans, drawing on animal-human relationships. I argue that humans have been living in (generally peaceful) co-existence with a number of potentially dangerous species, such as some canines. Interestingly dogs are not born 'pet dogs', it's not completely 'predefined' in their genes whether they become friendly or dangerous. A critical period in a puppy's early life significantly shapes its socialization and behavioral conformation. I suggest that such a developmental model of socialization could be an interesting viewpoint on the design of future generations of robots that need to co-exist with humans, and that humans like to live with. I propose the challenge of developing 'personalized robot companions', machines that can serve as life-long companions. I argue that such individualized robots are necessary due to human nature: people have individual needs, likes and dislikes, preferences and personalities that a companion would have to adapt to: one and the same robot not fit all people. Cognitive robot companions above all need to be socialized and personalized in order to meet the social, emotional and cognitive needs of people they are 'living with'.
Postsynaptic Shank Antagonizes Dendrite Branching Induced by the Leucine-Rich Repeat Protein Densin-180

Leucine-rich repeat and PDZ [postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95)/Discs large/zona occludens-1] domain proteins such as scribble and Densin-180 have been implicated in the establishment of cell-cell contacts. Here, we show that Densin-180, which has been identified as a constituent of the postsynaptic density in excitatory synapses interacts with the postsynaptic scaffold protein shank (shank1-3). The interaction involves a two-point attachment of the C-terminal region of Densin-180 with the Src homology 3 domain and the N-terminal part of the proline-rich region of shank proteins. The N-terminal leucine-rich repeat region, which is not involved in binding shank, targets Densin-180 to the plasma membrane in transfected cells and to the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells. Nevertheless, coexpression of shank leads to a redirection of Densin-180 into intracellular clusters. In cultured hippocampal neurons, Densin-180 overexpression induces excessive branching of neuronal dendrites, which occurs at the expense of clusters for the postsynaptic marker PSD-95. Coexpression of shank3 abrogates branch formation and targets Densin-180 into postsynaptic clusters instead. Shank blocks binding of δ-catenin but not αCaM kinase II to Densin-180; because δ-catenin has been shown to induce branching and neurite formation, our data suggest a mechanism where shank could block the activation of a Densin-180-dependent signaling pathway by δ-catenin.
Medical image segmentation using a multi-agent system approach

Image segmentation techniques have been an invaluable task in many domains such as quantification of tissue volumes, medical diagnosis, anatomical structure study, treatment planning, etc. Image segmentation is still a debatable problem due to some issues. Firstly, most image segmentation solutions are problem-based. Secondly, medical image segmentation methods generally have restrictions because medical images have very similar gray level and texture among the interested objects. The goal of this work is to design a framework to extract simultaneously several objects of interest from Computed Tomography (CT) images by using some priori-knowledge. Our method used properties of agent in a multi-agent environment. The input image is divided into several sub-images, and each local agent works on a sub-image and tries to mark each pixel as a specific region by means of given priori-knowledge. During this time the local agent marks each cell of sub- image individually. Moderator agent checks the outcome of all agents' work to produce final segmented image. The experimental results for CT images demonstrated segmentation accuracy around 91% and efficiency of 7 seconds.