Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nitric Oxide and Cardiac Function: Ten Years After, and Continuing

Abstract— Nitric oxide (NO) is produced from virtually all cell types composing the myocardium and regulates cardiac function through both vascular-dependent and -independent effects. The former include regulation of coronary vessel tone, thrombogenicity, and proliferative and inflammatory properties as well as cellular cross-talk supporting angiogenesis. The latter comprise the direct effects of NO on several aspects of cardiomyocyte contractility, from the fine regulation of excitation-contraction coupling to modulation of (presynaptic and postsynaptic) autonomic signaling and mitochondrial respiration. This multifaceted involvement of NO in cardiac physiology is supported by a tight molecular regulation of the three NO synthases, from cellular spatial confinement to posttranslational allosteric modulation by specific interacting proteins, acting in concert to restrict the influence of NO to a particular intracellular target in a stimulus-specific manner. Loss of this specificity, such as produced on excessive NO delivery from inflammatory cells (or cytokine-stimulated cardiomyocytes themselves), may result in profound cellular disturbances leading to heart failure. Future therapeutic manipulations of cardiac NO synthesis will necessarily draw on additional characterization of the cellular and molecular determinants for the net effect of this versatile radical on the cardiomyocyte biology.
An Interactive Human Carbonic Anhydrase‐II (hCA‐II) Receptor – Pharmacophore Molecular Model & Anti‐Convulsant Activity of the Designed and Synthesized 5‐Amino‐1,3,4‐Thiadiazole‐2‐Thiol Conjugated Imine Derivatives

New imines, derived from aromatic aldehyde, chalcones and 5‐amino‐1,3,4‐thiadiazole‐2‐thiol exhibited promising anti‐convulsant activity which is explained through chemo‐biological interactions at receptor site producing the inhibition of human Carbonic Anhydrase‐II enzyme (hCA‐II) through the proposed pharmacophore model at molecular levels as basis for pharmacological activity. The compounds 5‐{1‐(4‐Chlorophenyl)‐3‐[4‐(methoxy‐phenyl)‐prop‐2‐en‐1‐ylidene]amino}‐1,3,4‐thiadiazole‐2‐thiol (2b), 5‐{[1‐(4‐chloro‐phenyl)]‐3‐[4‐(dimethyl‐amino‐phenyl)‐prop‐2‐en‐1‐ylidene]amino}‐1,3,4‐thiadiazole‐2‐thiol (2c) and 5‐{[1‐(4‐chloro‐phenyl)]‐3‐[(4‐amino‐phenyl)‐prop‐2‐en‐1‐ylidene]amino}‐1,3,4‐thiadiazole‐2‐thiol (2f) showed 100% activity in comparison with standard Acetazolamide, a known anti‐convulsant drug. The compounds 2c, 2f also passed the Rotarod and Ethanol Potentiation tests which further confirmed them to be safe in motor coordination activity and safe from generating neurological toxicity.
Journal Descriptor Indexing Tool for Categorizing Text According to Discipline or Semantic Type

A JDI (Journal Descriptor Indexing) tool has been developed at NLM that automatically categorizes biomedical text as input, returning a ranked list, with scores between 0-1, of either JDs (Journal Descriptors, corresponding to biomedical disciplines) or STs (UMLS Semantic Types). Possible applications include WSD (Word Sense Disambiguation) and retrieval according to discipline. The Lexical Systems Group plans to distribute an open source JAVA version of this tool.
Extended Embryo Culture and an Increased Risk of Preterm Delivery

OBJECTIVE: To estimate whether extended embryo culture is associated with preterm delivery, very preterm delivery, low birth weight, or a combination of these in neonates conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). METHODS: U.S. IVF live births were identified using the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technologies database (2004–2006). Associations were assessed in neonates born after extended embryo culture (day 5 to 6) as compared with cleavage-stage transfer (day 3). Analyses were stratified by singleton and twin birth. Subanalyses in neonates born to oocyte donation recipients and primiparous patients were performed. RESULTS: A total of 69,039 live births were identified; 46,288 neonates were born after cleavage-stage embryo transfer and 22,751 neonates after blastocyst transfer. Singleton IVF births conceived after blastocyst transfer, as compared with cleavage-stage transfer, were at an increased risk for preterm delivery (18.6% compared with 14.4%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.39, P<.001) and very preterm delivery (2.8% compared with 2.2%, respectively; adjusted OR 1.35, P<.001), but not low birth weight (10.3% compared with 9.1%, respectively; adjusted OR 1.10, P=.06). Findings remained robust in subanalyses. In twin births, adverse outcome was more prevalent in both groups and an association of blastocyst transfer was noted for preterm delivery (67.3% compared with 60.5%; adjusted OR 1.81, P<.001) very preterm delivery (adjusted OR 14.0% compared with 12.0%; adjusted OR 1.75, P<.001), and low birth weight (71.1% compared with 68.6%, adjusted OR 1.19, P<.001). CONCLUSION: Extended culture of embryos from cleavage stage to blastocyst stage increases the risk of preterm delivery. Unless blastocyst transfer results in a reduction in multiple births, it may be contributing to the perinatal morbidity associated with IVF-assisted conception. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
Intake of carotenoids and retinol in relation to risk of prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND Several human studies have observed a direct association between retinol (vitamin A) intake and risk of prostate cancer; other studies have found either an inverse association or no association of intake of beta-carotene (the major provitamin A) with risk of prostate cancer. Data regarding carotenoids other than beta-carotene in relation to prostate cancer risk are sparse. PURPOSE We concluded a prospective cohort study to examine the relationship between the intake of various carotenoids, retinol, fruits, and vegetables and the risk of prostate cancer. METHODS Using responses to a validated, semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire mailed to participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study in 1986, we assessed dietary intake for a 1-year period for a cohort of 47,894 eligible subjects initially free of diagnosed cancer. Follow-up questionnaires were sent to the entire cohort in 1988, 1990, and 1992. We calculated the relative risk (RR) for each of the upper categories of intake of a specific food or nutrient by dividing the incidence rate of prostate cancer among men in each of these categories by the rate among men in the lowest intake level. All P values resulted from two-sided tests. RESULTS Between 1986 and 1992, 812 new cases of prostate cancer, including 773 non-stage A1 cases, were documented. Intakes of the carotenoids beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lutein, and beta-cryptoxanthin were not associated with risk of non-stage A1 prostate cancer; only lycopene intake was related to lower risk (age- and energy-adjusted RR = 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.64-0.99 for high versus low quintile of intake; P for trend = .04). Of 46 vegetables and fruits or related products, four were significantly associated with lower prostate cancer risk; of the four--tomato sauce (P for trend = .001), tomatoes (P for trend = .03), and pizza (P for trend = .05), but not strawberries--were primary sources of lycopene. Combined intake of tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice, and pizza (which accounted for 82% of lycopene intake) was inversely associated with risk of prostate cancer (multivariate RR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.44-0.95, for consumption frequency greater than 10 versus less than 1.5 servings per week; P for trend = .01) and advanced (stages C and D) prostate cancers (multivariate RR = 0.47; 95% CI = 0.22-1.00; P for trend = .03). No consistent association was observed for dietary retinol and risk of prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that intake of lycopene or other compounds in tomatoes may reduce prostate cancer risk, but other measured carotenoids are unrelated to risk. IMPLICATIONS Our findings support recommendations to increase vegetable and fruit consumption to reduce cancer incidence but suggest that tomato-based foods may be especially beneficial regarding prostate cancer risk.
Multi-disclinational description of pentagonal particles with subsurface layer free of twin boundaries

We present the results on the modelling of structural changes in pentagonal small particles (PSPs) during their growth. We prove that after a certain critical size it becomes energetically favourable for a PSP to form a subsurface layer free of twin boundaries (TBs), which are only typical structural elements for smaller size PSPs. In this layer, the low-angle dislocation boundaries (DBs) are formed. Our calculations of the energy stored in the transformed PSP are based on the disclination model of a PSP, in which the TB junctions, as well as TB–DB junctions are treated as wedge disclinations.
Open Access Research

article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Research Diabetes prediction, lipid accumulation product, and adiposity measures; 6-year follow-up: Tehran lipid and glucose study Abstract Background: The body mass index (BMI) is the most commonly used marker for evaluating obesity related risks, however, central obesity measures have been proposed to be more informative. Lipid accumulation product (LAP) is an alternative continuous index of lipid accumulation, which is computed from waist circumference (WC, cm) and triglycerides (TGs, mmol/l): (WC-65) ×TG (men) and (WC-58) ×TG (women). We sought in this study to assess if LAP can outperform BMI, waist-to-height-ratio (WHtR), or waist-to-hip-ratio (WHpR) in identifying prevalent and predicting incident diabetes. Results: The cross-sectional analyses were performed on a sample included 3,682 men and 4,989 women who were not pregnant, aged ≥ 20 years. According to the age (≥ 50 and <50 years)-and sex-specific analyses, odds ratios (ORs) of LAP for prevalent diabetes were higher than those of BMI, WHpR, or WHtR among women, after adjustment for mean arterial pressure and family history of diabetes. The OR of LAP in old men was lower than those of other adiposity measures; in young men, however, LAP was superior to BMI but identical to WHpR and WHtR in identifying prevalent diabetes. Except in young men, LAP showed highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AROC) for prevalent diabetes (P for trend ≤ 0.005). For longitudinal analyses, a total of 5,018 non-diabetic subjects were followed for ~6 years. The ORs of BMI, WHpR, and WHtR were the same as those of LAP in both sexes and across age groups; except in young men where LAP was superior to the BMI. AROCs of LAP were relatively the same as anthropometric adiposity measures. Conclusions: LAP was a strong predictor of diabetes and in young individuals had better predictability than did BMI; it was, however, similar to WHpR and WHtR in prediction of incident diabetes. Background There is an emerging view that type 2 diabetes (hereafter diabetes) may reflect not so much as an isolated impairment of glucose regulation, rather the complex metabolic consequences of accumulating ectopic lipids or hepatic fat [1-4]. Obesity is commonly used to imply excess fat, but it is ordinarily classified according to excess weight. This semantic inconsistency may help to explain why …
Enzymatic analysis of riverine bacterioplankton production

Bacterial production is the entry point for detrital macronutrients into aquatic food webs. Many factors affect productivity, but the heterogeneity of detrital substrates and the diversity of microbial communities confound simple relationships between carbon supply and growth. We tried to link the two by analyzing extracellular enzyme activities. Water samples were collected from three rivers and assayed for bacterial productivity and the activities of eight enzymes. Production varied among systems, peaking at 644, 170, and 68 µmol C liter‒1 d‒1 in the Ottawa (Ohio), Maumee (Ohio), and Hudson (New York) Rivers. Vmax values were generally correlated with productivity. The mean ratios of productivity per unit peptidase and esterase activity were similar among rivers, whereas carbohydrase and phosphatase ratios varied widely. The data were used to evaluate a model that relates productivity to carbon flow by using enzyme activities as indicators and assuming an optimum resource allocation relationship among C‐, N‐, and P‐acquiring enzymes. The data supported the model, but predictive power was low. Bacterial productivity generally increased with inorganic nutrient availability, but high levels of productivity at any specific eutrophic state required sources of both saccharides and amino acids.
Minimal-preparation CT colon in detection of colonic cancer, the Oxford experience.

BACKGROUND the main colonic imaging modalities, including barium enema, colonoscopy and computed tomography colonography, require bowel preparation. Performing these imaging procedures in the elderly can difficult due to immobility, incontinence and poor tolerance of bowel cleansing. Minimal preparation CT (MPCT) colon was introduced in the early 1990s in the UK. Much of the published literature on MPCT colon is limited by small patient numbers and short duration of follow-up. OBJECTIVE the aim of this study is to review our experience with the MPCT technique involving a large consecutive cohort of patients with long follow-up. METHODS all studies of MPCT performed in a 1-year period between July 2000 and July 2001 at our institution were reviewed retrospectively. MPCT reports were cross-referenced with the cancer registry to allow for an average period of 30 months follow-up. A definite diagnosis of cancer was only given following the appearance on the cancer registry. Those patients who had negative MPCT colon were assumed to be true negatives if no corresponding name was identified on the cancer registry. In the event of data mismatch, patient notes were reviewed to ascertain a diagnosis. RESULTS 391 MPCT examinations were performed during the period of the study (209 males, median age 82: age range 56-91 years). Thirty-four patients who had MPCT colon during the study period appeared on the cancer registry. A further three patients with disseminated colorectal malignancy identified on MPCT colon died without histological confirmation (tumour prevalence = 9.5%). Thirty-two of the registry confirmed 34 cases were detected on MPCT colon, giving a sensitivity of 0.94 (95% confidence interval 0.86-1.00). Including the three cases without histological confirmation gives a slightly higher sensitivity of 0.95. There were seven patients with definitely abnormal MPCT colons, who did not appear on the registry, resulting in specificity for definite abnormality of 0.98 (confidence interval 0.97-1.0). However, three of these seven are those who died of disseminated colorectal malignancy as above, raising the specificity to 0.99. Fourteen cases (3.5%) of extra-colonic malignancies were observed in this study. CONCLUSION even with the longer follow-up of this large cohort of patients the sensitivity and specificity in our study for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer with MPCT remains comparable with that of other studies and this technique competes well with other common colonic imaging modalities.
An energy efficient and Fault-Tolerant Clock Synchronization Protocol for wireless sensor networks

Recent advances in the development of wireless sensor networks(WSNs) have considerably increased the interest in their applications for a wide range of problems such as environmental monitoring, target tracking, habitat monitoring etc. Many of these applications and the wireless sensor network(WSN) itself require that the clocks of the sensor nodes are synchronized with certain accuracy. Existing approaches to clock synchronization in WSNs are mostly hierarchical in nature. A hierarchical structure is usually difficult to maintain, and it results in longer synchronization phase and reduced synchronization accuracy for large WSNs. Traditional internal clock synchronization protocols that have been proposed for distributed systems assume that the network is complete, i.e., every node can communicate with every other node directly. But WSNs, in general, are not a complete network, and hence, traditional internal clock synchronization protocols are not directly suitable for WSNs. In this paper, we propose a novel peer-to-peer based fully distributed internal clock synchronization protocol for wireless sensor networks which are not a complete network. We have analyzed our protocol for bounds on synchronization error, and shown that the synchronization error is always upper bounded. We have carried out extensive simulation studies using Castalia simulator (up to 1000 nodes) to evaluate the performance of our protocol and also compared its performance with that of TPSN. The accuracy achieved is consistently better than that of TPSN, and the energy consumption per node is considerably less than that of TPSN except for small WSNs requiring higher accuracy. We have also implemented our protocol using TinyOS in a WSN consisting of a few TelosB motes. The experimental results from the above implementation of our protocol show that the synchronization error is bounded and the accuracy is within a few tics of the external clock.
Impact of Asymptomatic Malaria on Some Hematological Parameters in the Iwo Community in Southwestern Nigeria

Objective: To determine the prevalence of asymptomatic malaria among prospective blood donors and its effect on some hematological parameters. Subjects and Methods: Six hundred sixty-eight seemingly healthy individuals (501 men and 167 women) ≧16 years of age and without clinical symptoms in Iwo, Southwestern Nigeria, were screened for this study. A sample of 5 ml of blood was drawn from each participant for examination of malaria parasites and a full blood count. Thick and thin Giemsa-stained blood smears were prepared for malaria parasite identification and quantification. Estimations of hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration, and platelet and leukocyte counts were made using an automated Coulter counter (STKS model). Results: Out of the 668 participants examined, 141 (21.1%) were positive for malarial parasitemia. The parasite rate was significantly higher in men (25.5%) than in women (7.8%) (χ2 = 23.29, p < 0.001) and it was significantly associated with age (χ2 = 33.69, p < 0.001). Parasitemic participants had significantly lower mean values of hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration, and total leukocyte and platelet counts compared to aparasitemic individuals (t = 3.5, p < 0.001; t = 2.0, p = 0.04; t = 4.4, p < 0.001, and t = 5.3, p < 0.001, respectively). A low platelet count (<150 × 109/l) was significantly associated with malarial infection (OR 4.0; 95% CI 2.6–6.1). A person with a platelet count <150 × 109/l was 4 times more likely to have asymptomatic malarial infection than one with a count ≧150 × 109/l. Conclusion: Asymptomatic malaria is prevalent among blood donors in the study area and is associated with thrombocytopenia.
Conversion of Iskra-5 iodine laser radiation to the second harmonic by large-aperture DKDP crystals

The experimental results of "Iskra-5" laser operation conversion at the second harmonic. (λ = 657.6 nm) are presented. The experiments were carried out with DKDP crystals of big aperture (size 32 x 33 x 2 cm). The scheme of one channel was upgraded for optimization of second harmonic generation. Maximum conversion efficiency has been achieved for primary laser intensity of 1 - 2 GW/cm2. A second harmonic output of 500 J has been obtained at 60% of technical efficiency.
Title Bilinear probabilistic principal component analysis

Probabilistic principal component analysis (PPCA) is a popular linear latent variable model for multi-layer performing dimension reduction on 1-D data in a probabilistic manner. However, when used on 2-D data such as images, PPCA suffers from the curse of dimensionality due to the subsequently large number of model parameters. To overcome this problem, we propose in this paper a novel probabilistic model on 2-D data called bilinear PPCA (BPPCA). This allows the establishment of a closer tie between BPPCA and its nonprobabilistic counterpart. Moreover, two efficient parameter estimation algorithms for fitting BPPCA are also developed. Experiments on a number of 2-D synthetic and real-world data sets show that BPPCA is more accurate than existing probabilistic and nonprobabilistic dimension reduction methods.
Fast greedy triangulation algorithms

The greedy triangulation of a set $S$ of $n$ points in the plane is the triangulation obtained by starting with the empty set and at each step adding the shortest compatible edge between two of the points, where a compatible edge is defined to be an edge that crosses none of the previously added edges. In this paper we present a simple, practical algorithm that computes the greedy triangulation in expected time $O(n \log n)$ and space $O(n)$ for points uniformly distributed over any convex shape. A variant of this algorithm should be fast for some other distributions. As part of this algorithm we give an edge compatiblity test that requires $O(n)$ time for both tests and updates to the underlying data structure. We also prove properties about the expected lengths of edges in greedy and Delaunay triangulations of uniformly distributed points.
Leukotriene pathway genetics and pharmacogenetics in allergy

Leukotrienes (LT) are biologically active lipid mediators known to be involved in allergic inflammation. Leukotrienes have been shown to mediate diverse features of allergic conditions including inflammatory cell chemotaxis/activation and smooth muscle contraction. Cysteinyl leukotrienes (LTC4, LTD4 and, LTE4) and the dihydroxy leukotriene LTB4 are generated by a series of enzymes/proteins constituting the LT synthetic pathway or 5‐lipoxygenase (5‐LO) pathway. Their function is mediated by interacting with multiple receptors. Leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA) and LT synthesis inhibitors (LTSI) have shown clinical efficacy in asthma and more recently in allergic rhinitis. Despite growing knowledge of leukotriene biology, the molecular regulation of these inflammatory mediators remains to be fully understood. Genes encoding enzymes of the 5‐LO pathway (i.e. ALOX5, LTC4S and LTA4H) and encoding for LT receptors (CYSLTR1/2 and LTB4R1/2) provide excellent candidates for disease susceptibility and severity; however, their role remains unclear. Preliminary data also suggest that 5‐LO pathway/receptor gene polymorphism can predict patient responses to LTSI and LTRA; however, the exact mechanisms require elucidation. The aim of this review was to summarize the recent advances in the knowledge of these important mediators, focusing on genetic and pharmacogenetic aspects in the context of allergic phenotypes.
The Control Strategy of Open-Winding Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive System Based on Five-Leg Inverter

A novel Open-winding Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (OW-PMSM) drive system based on the five-leg inverter is presented to reduce the cost, volume and the switching loss of the inverter. Due to the common DC bus of the proposed five-leg inverter, the zero sequence current generated by the inherent 3rd harmonic of the phase back EMF flows through the phase windings and it leads to the weakness of efficiency and torque triple to the drive system, therefore, the closed-loop of zero sequence current and modulation method of the five-leg inverter were employed to the system control strategy and it generated the offset 3rd back EMF to suppress the zero sequence current. The double-loop control algorithm for the proposed OW-PMSM drive system was realized by the software of Matlab/Simulink, and the validity of the high performance OW-PMSM drive system based on the five-leg inverter was verified by the simulation results.