Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CXCR4 expression is associated with time–course permanent and temporary myocardial infarction in rats

Objective(s): Experimental myocardial infarction triggers secretion of Stromal cell-derived factor1 and lead to increase in the expression of its receptor “CXCR4” on the surface of various cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression pattern of CXCR4 in peripheral blood cells following time-course permanent and temporary ischemia in rats. Materials and Methods: Fourteen male Wistar rats were divided into two groups of seven and were placed under permanent and transient ischemia. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated at different time points, RNAs extracted and applied to qRT-PCR analysis of the CXCR4 gene. Results: Based on repeated measures analysis of variance, the differences in the expression levels of the gene in each of the groups were statistically significant over time (the effect of time) (P<0.001). Additionally, the difference in gene expression between the two groups was statistically significant (the effect of group), such that at all times, the expression levels of the gene were significantly higher in the permanent ischemia than in the transient ischemia group (P<0.001). Moreover, the interactive effect of time-group on gene expression was statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: CXCR4 is modulated in an induced ischemia context implying a possible association with myocardial infarction. Checking of CXCR4 expression in the ischemic changes shows that damage to the heart tissue trigger the secretion of inflammatory chemokine SDF, Followed by it CXCR4 expression in blood cells. These observations suggest that changes in the expression of CXCR4 may be considered a valuable marker for monitoring myocardial infarction.
BDNF and the diseased nervous system: a delicate balance between adaptive and pathological processes of gene regulation

It is clear that brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a crucial role in organizing the response of the genome to dynamic changes in the extracellular environment that enable brain plasticity. BDNF has emerged as one of the most important signaling molecules for the developing nervous system as well as the impaired nervous system, and multiple diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, epilepsy, Rett’s syndrome, and psychiatric depression, are linked by their association with potential dysregulation of BDNF‐driven signal transduction programs. These programs are responsible for controlling the amount of activated transcription factors, such as cAMP response element binding protein, that coordinate the expression of multiple brain proteins, like ion channels and early growth response factors, whose job is to maintain the balance of excitation and inhibition in the nervous system. In this review, we will explore the evidence for BDNF's role in gene regulation side by side with its potential role in the etiology of neurological diseases. It is hoped that by bringing the datasets together in these diverse fields we can help develop the foundation for future studies aimed at understanding basic principles of gene regulation in the nervous system and how they can be harnessed to develop new therapeutic opportunities.
Targeting testis-specific proteins to inhibit spermatogenesis: lesson from endocrine disrupting chemicals

Introduction: Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has recently been linked to declining fertility in men in both developed and developing countries. Since many EDCs possess intrinsic estrogenic or androgenic activities, thus, the gonad is one of the major targets of EDCs. Areas covered: For the past 2 decades, studies found in the literature regarding the disruptive effects of these EDCs on reproductive function in human males and also rodents were mostly focused on oxidative stress-induced germ cell apoptosis, disruption of steroidogenesis, abnormal sperm production and disruption of spermatogenesis in particular cell adhesion function and the blood–testis-barrier (BTB) function. Herein, we highlight recent findings in the field illustrating testis-specific proteins are also targets of EDCs. Expert opinion: This information should be helpful in developing better therapeutic approach to manage ECD-induced reproductive toxicity. This information is also helpful to identify potential targets for male contraceptive development.
Topical photodynamic therapy with 5‐aminolevulinate for the treatment of tumor‐stage mycosis fungoides: a case report

A 70-year-old male patient with generalized tumor-stage mycosis fungoides (MF) presented to our office. He had been treated with psoralen + ultraviolet A, bexarotene, and total-skin electron beam radiation with poor response. He rejected systemic chemotherapy. The most uncomfortable lesions were those involving his face, fingers, buttocks, and calcaneus region (Fig. 1a). Skin biopsy confirmed the diagnosis (Fig. 2a). We offered him topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) with methyl-aminolevulinate (MAL). A 1-mm thick layer of 160 mg/g MAL cream (Metvix ; Photocure ASA, Oslo, Norway) with a 5 mm of margin was applied and covered with an occlusive dressing (Tegaderm ; 3M Health Care, St. Paul, MN, USA) for three hours on his fingers and buttocks, and in the calcaneus region. MAL was then cleaned with physiologic solution 0.9%. Irradiation was done with red light using a Waldmann lamp (PDT 1200 L, incoherent light source lamp) with a wavelength of 570–670 nm, 37 J/cm, and 70 mW/cm. Two to three sessions were done, depending on the lesion, each one separated by two weeks. Complete clinical and histological remission was achieved after treatment (Figs. 1b and 2b). No recurrences after five years of follow-up have been observed in the treated areas. New lesions have appeared in non-treated areas with excellent response to conventional therapies.
Identification of DNA cis Elements Essential for Expansion of Ribosomal DNA Repeats inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT Saccharomyces cerevisiae carries ∼150 ribosomal DNA (rDNA) copies in tandem repeats. Each repeat consists of the 35S rRNA gene, the NTS1 spacer, the 5S rRNA gene, and the NTS2 spacer. TheFOB1 gene was previously shown to be required for replication fork block (RFB) activity at the RFB site in NTS1, for recombination hot spot (HOT1) activity, and for rDNA repeat expansion and contraction. We have constructed a strain in which the majority of rDNA repeats are deleted, leaving two copies of rDNA covering the 5S-NTS2-35S region and a single intact NTS1, and whose growth is supported by a helper plasmid carrying, in addition to the 5S rRNA gene, the 35S rRNA coding region fused to the GAL7promoter. This strain carries a fob1 mutation, and an extensive expansion of chromosomal rDNA repeats was demonstrated by introducing the missing FOB1 gene by transformation. Mutational analysis using this system showed that not only the RFB site but also the adjacent ∼400-bp region in NTS1 (together called the EXP region) are required for the FOB1-dependent repeat expansion. This ∼400-bp DNA element is not required for the RFB activity or the HOT1 activity and therefore defines a function unique to rDNA repeat expansion (and presumably contraction) separate from HOT1 and RFB activities.
Intubation without muscle relaxation for suspension laryngoscopy: a randomized, controlled study.

OBJECTIVE AND AIM The objective of the following study is to examine the effectiveness and safety of suspension laryngoscopy under intubation with propofol and remifentanil alone for vocal fold nodule (VFN) excision. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 40 patients were equally and randomly assigned to elective VFN excision using suspension laryngoscopy under intubation with propofol and remifentanil alone (Group A) or with supplementary cisatracurium (Group B). RESULTS Intubation time was significantly longer in Group A than in Group B (300.0 ± 30.0 s vs. 265.2 ± 38.7 s, P = 0.003). The two groups showed similar Cormack-Lehane classifications, intubation conditions and ease of suspension laryngoscopy. Both groups showed favorable cardiopulmonary safety profiles. Post-anesthesia recovery was significantly more rapid in Group A than in Group B, in terms of times to spontaneous breathing return (7.2 ± 1.4 min vs. 10.9 ± 1.6 min, P < 0.001), consciousness return (7.4 ± 1.5 min vs. 12.3 ± 1.8 min, P < 0.001), removal of tracheal intubation (8.1 ± 1.5 min vs. 13.2 ± 1.7 min, P < 0.001) and operating room discharge (12.7 ± 1.4 min vs. 22.1 ± 1.3 min, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Use of propofol and remifentanil alone provides favorable intubation and anesthesia conditions for suspension laryngoscopic VFN excision and accelerates post-anesthesia recovery.
Exogenous Nitric Oxide (NO) Interferes with Lead (Pb)-Induced Toxicity by Detoxifying Reactive Oxygen Species in Hydroponically Grown Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Roots

Nitric Oxide (NO) is a bioactive signaling molecule that mediates a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses. The present study investigated the role of NO (as SNP [sodium nitroprusside]) in ameliorating lead (Pb)-toxicity in Triticum aestivum (wheat) roots. Pb (50 and 250 μM) alone and in combination with SNP (100 μM) was given to hydroponically grown wheat roots for a period of 0–8 h. NO supplementation reduced the accumulation of oxidative stress markers (malondialdehyde, conjugated dienes, hydroxyl ions and superoxide anion) and decreased the antioxidant enzyme activity in wheat roots particularly up to 6 h, thereby suggesting its role as an antioxidant. NO ameliorated Pb-induced membrane damage in wheat roots as evidenced by decreased ion-leakage and in situ histochemical localization. Pb-exposure significantly decreased in vivo NO level. The study concludes that exogenous NO partially ameliorates Pb-toxicity, but could not restore the plant growth on prolonged Pb-exposure.
An Efficient Authentication Scheme with Fault Tolerance for Database Systems

This paper proposes an efficient authentication scheme with fault tolerance for database systems. The proposed scheme significantly reduces the total overhead by sharing an innovative checksum for the purposes of both locating the error position and serving as a digital signature. The proposed authentication scheme can check the data integrity of a record and ensure the non-repudiation of a record digitally signed by a sender. The proposed scheme is able to correct a single error within each record and is ideal for many database applications in which both authentication and fault tolerance are required
On the Memory-Hardness of Data-Independent Password-Hashing Functions

We show attacks on five data-independent memory-hard functions (iMHF) that were submitted to the password hashing competition (PHC). Informally, an MHF is a function which cannot be evaluated on dedicated hardware, like ASICs, at significantly lower hardware and/or energy cost than evaluating a single instance on a standard single-core architecture. Data-independent means the memory access pattern of the function is independent of the input; this makes iMHFs harder to construct than data-dependent ones, but the latter can be attacked by various side-channel attacks. Following [Alwen-Blocki'16], we capture the evaluation of an iMHF as a directed acyclic graph (DAG). The cumulative parallel pebbling complexity of this DAG is a measure for the hardware cost of evaluating the iMHF on an ASIC. Ideally, one would like the complexity of a DAG underlying an iMHF to be as close to quadratic in the number of nodes of the graph as possible. Instead, we show that (the DAGs underlying) the following iMHFs are far from this bound: Rig.v2, TwoCats and Gambit each having an exponent no more than 1.75. Moreover, we show that the complexity of the iMHF modes of the PHC finalists Pomelo and Lyra2 have exponents at most 1.83 and 1.67 respectively. To show this we investigate a combinatorial property of each underlying DAG (called its depth-robustness. By establishing upper bounds on this property we are then able to apply the general technique of [Alwen-Block'16] for analyzing the hardware costs of an iMHF.
Belowground carbon allocation by trees drives seasonal patterns of extracellular enzyme activities by altering microbial community composition in a beech forest soil

Plant seasonal cycles alter carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) availability for soil microbes, which may affect microbial community composition and thus feed back on microbial decomposition of soil organic material and plant N availability. The temporal dynamics of these plant–soil interactions are, however, unclear. Here, we experimentally manipulated the C and N availability in a beech forest through N fertilization or tree girdling and conducted a detailed analysis of the seasonal pattern of microbial community composition and decomposition processes over 2 yr. We found a strong relationship between microbial community composition and enzyme activities over the seasonal course. Phenoloxidase and peroxidase activities were highest during late summer, whereas cellulase and protease peaked in late autumn. Girdling, and thus loss of mycorrhiza, resulted in an increase in soil organic matter-degrading enzymes and a decrease in cellulase and protease activity. Temporal changes in enzyme activities suggest a switch of the main substrate for decomposition between summer (soil organic matter) and autumn (plant litter). Our results indicate that ectomycorrhizal fungi are possibly involved in autumn cellulase and protease activity. Our study shows that, through belowground C allocation, trees significantly alter soil microbial communities, which may affect seasonal patterns of decomposition processes.
Towards Strong Accountability for Cloud Service Providers

In order to be an accountable organisation, Cloud Providers need to commit to being responsible stewards of other people's information. This implies demonstrating both willingness and capacity for such stewardship. This paper outlines the fundamental requirements that must be met by accountable organisations, and sketches what kind of tools, mechanisms and guidelines support this in practice.
Oxidation-Reduction Potential in Sea Water

The activity of oxygen in sea water and standard oxygen electrode potentials at a range of temperatures have been computed. Accurate values for the thermodynamic ionic product of water, Kw, found by Harned & Hamer, have been applied to the calculation of the activity of hydroxyl ion in sea water from pH measurements. The activity of water in sea water has been computed from the lowering of the freezing-point. From these data the theoretical reversible oxidation-reduction potential of sea water has been calculated. Typical data for the irreversible potential in the pH range 1-8 have been derived from Hoar's results with which experimental determinations made by Dr Atkins agree. Thus the oxidation-reduction potential of sea water is controlled solely by the oxygen system.
Repetitive Brief Ischemia: Intermittent Reperfusion During Ischemia Ameliorates the Extent of Injury in the Perfused Kidney

Acute renal failure commonly follows reduced renal perfusion or ischemia. Reperfusion is essential for recovery but can itself cause functional and structural injury to the kidney. The separate contributions of ischemia and of reperfusion were examined in the isolated perfused rat kidney. Three groups were studied: brief (5 min) ischemia, 20 min ischemia, and repetitive brief ischemia (4 periods of 5 min) with repetitive intervening reperfusion of 5 min. A control group had no intervention, the three ischemia groups were given a baseline perfusion of 30 min before intervention and all groups were perfused for a total of 80 min. In addition, the effects of exogenous ·NO from sodium nitroprusside and xanthine oxidase inhibition by allopurinol were assessed in the repetitive brief ischemia–reperfusion model. Brief ischemia produced minimal morphological injury with near normal functional recovery. Repetitive brief ischemia–reperfusion caused less functional and morphological injury than an equivalent single period of ischemia (20 min) suggesting that intermittent reperfusion is less injurious than ischemia alone over the time course of study. Pretreatment with allopurinol improved renal function after repetitive brief ischemia–reperfusion co pared with the allopurinol-untreated repetitive brief ischemia–reperfusion group. Similarly, sodium nitroprusside reduced renal vascular resistance but did not improve the glomerular filtration rate or sodium reabsorption in the repetitive brief ischemia–reperfusion model. Thus, these studies show that the duration of uninterrupted ischemia is more critical than reperfusion in determining the extent of renal ischemia– reperfusion injury and that allopurinol, in particular, counteracts the oxidative stress of reperfusion.
POS-Tagger for English-Vietnamese Bilingual Corpus

Corpus-based Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks for such popular languages as English, French, etc. have been well studied with satisfactory achievements. In contrast, corpus-based NLP tasks for unpopular languages (e.g. Vietnamese) are at a deadlock due to absence of annotated training data for these languages. Furthermore, hand-annotation of even reasonably well-determined features such as part-of-speech (POS) tags has proved to be labor intensive and costly. In this paper, we suggest a solution to partially overcome the annotated resource shortage in Vietnamese by building a POS-tagger for an automatically word-aligned English-Vietnamese parallel Corpus (named EVC). This POS-tagger made use of the Transformation-Based Learning (or TBL) method to bootstrap the POS-annotation results of the English POS-tagger by exploiting the POS-information of the corresponding Vietnamese words via their word-alignments in EVC. Then, we directly project POS-annotations from English side to Vietnamese via available word alignments. This POS-annotated Vietnamese corpus will be manually corrected to become an annotated training data for Vietnamese NLP tasks such as POS-tagger, Phrase-Chunker, Parser, Word-Sense Disambiguator, etc.
Biochemical Properties of Ectoine Hydroxylases from Extremophiles and Their Wider Taxonomic Distribution among Microorganisms

Ectoine and hydroxyectoine are well-recognized members of the compatible solutes and are widely employed by microorganisms as osmostress protectants. The EctABC enzymes catalyze the synthesis of ectoine from the precursor L-aspartate-β-semialdehyde. A subgroup of the ectoine producers can convert ectoine into 5-hydroxyectoine through a region-selective and stereospecific hydroxylation reaction. This compatible solute possesses stress-protective and function-preserving properties different from those of ectoine. Hydroxylation of ectoine is carried out by the EctD protein, a member of the non-heme-containing iron (II) and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase superfamily. We used the signature enzymes for ectoine (EctC) and hydroxyectoine (EctD) synthesis in database searches to assess the taxonomic distribution of potential ectoine and hydroxyectoine producers. Among 6428 microbial genomes inspected, 440 species are predicted to produce ectoine and of these, 272 are predicted to synthesize hydroxyectoine as well. Ectoine and hydroxyectoine genes are found almost exclusively in Bacteria. The genome context of the ect genes was explored to identify proteins that are functionally associated with the synthesis of ectoines; the specialized aspartokinase Ask_Ect and the regulatory protein EctR. This comprehensive in silico analysis was coupled with the biochemical characterization of ectoine hydroxylases from microorganisms that can colonize habitats with extremes in salinity (Halomonas elongata), pH (Alkalilimnicola ehrlichii, Acidiphilium cryptum), or temperature (Sphingopyxis alaskensis, Paenibacillus lautus) or that produce hydroxyectoine very efficiently over ectoine (Pseudomonas stutzeri). These six ectoine hydroxylases all possess similar kinetic parameters for their substrates but exhibit different temperature stabilities and differ in their tolerance to salts. We also report the crystal structure of the Virgibacillus salexigens EctD protein in its apo-form, thereby revealing that the iron-free structure exists already in a pre-set configuration to incorporate the iron catalyst. Collectively, our work defines the taxonomic distribution and salient biochemical properties of the ectoine hydroxylase protein family and contributes to the understanding of its structure.
Hardware Accelerated Compression of LIDAR Data Using FPGA Devices

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) has become a mainstream technology for terrain data acquisition and mapping. High sampling density of LIDAR enables the acquisition of high details of the terrain, but on the other hand, it results in a vast amount of gathered data, which requires huge storage space as well as substantial processing effort. The data are usually stored in the LAS format which has become the de facto standard for LIDAR data storage and exchange. In the paper, a hardware accelerated compression of LIDAR data is presented. The compression and decompression of LIDAR data is performed by a dedicated FPGA-based circuit and interfaced to the computer via a PCI-E general bus. The hardware compressor consists of three modules: LIDAR data predictor, variable length coder, and arithmetic coder. Hardware compression is considerably faster than software compression, while it also alleviates the processor load.
Psychological and biological models

What makes people smarter than computers? These volumes by a pioneering neurocomputing group suggest that the answer lies in the massively parallel architecture of the human mind. They describe a new theory of cognition called connectionism that is challenging the idea of symbolic computation that has traditionally been at the center of debate in theoretical discussions about the mind. The authors' theory assumes the mind is composed of a great number of elementary units connected in a neural network. Mental processes are interactions between these units which excite and inhibit each other in parallel rather than sequential operations. In this context, knowledge can no longer be thought of as stored in localized structures; instead, it consists of the connections between pairs of units that are distributed throughout the network. Volume 1 lays the foundations of this exciting theory of parallel distributed processing, while Volume 2 applies it to a number of specific issues in cognitive science and neuroscience, with chapters describing models of aspects of perception, memory, language, and thought. David E. Rumelhart is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. James L. McClelland is Professor of Psychology at Carnegie-Mellon University. A Bradford Book.
Sexual Conflict in Humans

This chapter provides an introduction to and brief overview of empirical and theoretical work on sexual conflict in humans, some of which is showcased in the current volume. We begin the chapter with a brief review of evolution by natural selection. We then discuss the application of evolutionary principles to psychology, with a focus on human psychology. With this background established, we present an overview of theory and research on sexual conflict in humans. Sexual conflict was a recurrent feature of human evolutionary history, just as it has been in every sexually reproducing species that does not practice life-long genetic monogamy. One source of much of the conflict between men and women can be reduced to an asymmetry in reproductive biology: Fertilization and gestation occur within women, not men. This asymmetry produces (1) sex differences in minimum obligatory parental investment and (2) paternity uncertainty, but maternity certainty. These consequences of internal fertilization and gestation help to account for many phenomena in humans, including sexual coercion, commitment skepticism, sexual overperception, and a host of adaptations associated with sperm competition.