Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppression by cyproheptadine of human growth hormone and cortisol secretion during sleep.

The effect of cyproheptadine on plasma growth hormone and cortisol levels was studied in seven male volunteers with polygraphic sleep monitoring. Sleep-related growth hormone release was completely inhibited in three of the seven normal subjects by the intravenous infusion of cyproheptadine (5 mg) which was started at the onset of sleep. In the other four, growth hormone release during sleep was significantly decreased or delayed by cyproheptadine when the drug infusion was started at 7:00 p.m. , 1-2 h before the onset of sleep. The usual increase in plasma cortisol in the early morning was completely suppressed in all five subjects given cyproheptadine infusions from 4:00 to 7:00 a.m. The intravenous infusion of cyproheptadine increased slow wave sleep, although the time from sleep onset to the first occurrence of slow wave sleep was not affected. In contrast, rapid eye movement sleep was significantly decreased by cyproheptadine. These results suggest that cyproheptadine inhibits growth hormone and ACTH secretion during sleep in man, possibly by antagonizing serotoninergic mechanisms although other actions of the drug are not ruled out.
Participatory Sensing or Sensing of Participation: Privacy Issues with Smartphone Apps Usage

The convenience and mobility provided by smartphones have made them a preferred mode of conducting many daily activities and various types of applications for these devices have been developed. Apps on a smartphone can be used as a medium for tracking users’ behaviors and collecting personal data about them. The collected data can potentially violate users’ privacy. Many users may acknowledge this but their actions do not support that claim. The seeming inconsistency between professed privacy concerns and the use of smartphone apps may be more a consequence of ignorance rather than irrationality. In this study, an experiment is developed to understand how awareness about the privacy risks associated with the use of smartphone apps would alter the level of the use of apps. Our empirical results support the assertions that awareness significantly increases privacy concerns and reduces inclination to use apps. Implications of these findings are discussed.
BREMSO: a simple score to predict early the natural course of multiple sclerosis

Early prediction of long‐term disease evolution is a major challenge in the management of multiple sclerosis (MS). Our aim was to predict the natural course of MS using the Bayesian Risk Estimate for MS at Onset (BREMSO), which gives an individual risk score calculated from demographic and clinical variables collected at disease onset.
Protective effect of the PAF antagonist BN 52021 in an experimental renal warm ischemia model

Platelet activating factor is involved in warm ischemic damage. We studied the effect of the PAF receptor antagonist BN 52021 in an experimental model of 60 min of renal warm ischemia in which the left kidney was flushed with Euro-Collins solution and a right nephrectomy was performed. Eighty Wistar rats were divided into a sham-operated group, two control groups, and four study groups, according to the dosage and route of BN 52021 administration. BN 52021 was used in the flush solution at concentrations of 0.1 and 0.5 mg/ml, or intravenously prior to ischemia at 5 and 10 mg/kg body weight. Creatinine clearance per, 100g body weight, fractional sodium excretion, and conventional histology were studied. Rats that received BN 52021 intravenously showed a significantly higher creatinine clearance than controls. Intravenous BN 52021 produced a higher acceleration of renal function recovery at 10 mg/kg than at 5 mg/kg body weight. Conventional histology was better in animals that received BN 52021 at 10 mg/kg body weight than in controls. Addition of BN 52021 to Euro-Collins flushing solution showed no protective effect. We conclude that intravenous BN 52021 shows a renal protective effect against warm ischemia.
A Minimal Binding Domain of the Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor Family

As more relatives of the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) are discovered, defining their minimal binding domain(s) becomes a challenge. Here we have chosen the multifunctional chicken oocyte receptor for yolk deposition (termed LR8), and the pan-receptor ligand, receptor associated protein (RAP), as model systems to characterize a minireceptor using the phage display approach. Displayed fragments derived from the entire 819 residue LR8 molecule, followed by selection via panning on RAP, led to the definition of an 80 residue stretch LR8 minireceptor. It contains 12 cysteines, and represents parts of the second, the entire third, and parts of the fourth, of the eight clustered 'ligand binding repeats' in LR8; only two of the eight stretches of negatively charged residues of LR8, i.e., EDGSDE and DSGEDEE, are present. The latter sequence is reminiscent of that in the fifth repeat of the human LDLR, thought to be most critical for interaction with positive charge clusters in ligands. Baculovirus-mediated expression of the soluble minireceptor in insect cells showed it to fold as a monomer, and sulfhydryl-reduction-sensitive interaction with RAP was demonstrated for immobilized as well as soluble minireceptor. Furthermore, the LR8-derived minireceptor provided a RAP-responsive surface when covalently coupled to the surface of a gold electrode. In addition to its use in defining minimal binding domains, the phage display approach provides powerful tools for dissection, and consequently, manipulation, of the function of receptors so as to direct their binding activity toward ligands of diagnostic and/or therapeutic interest.
Physics of Swimming : Conditions that Affect the Passive Drag on a Swimmer in Streamline Position

The purpose of this experiment is to explore the variables that affect the efficiency of a swimmer in the streamline position. There are various factors that affect the drag of a swimmer such as: the type of suit, wearing a cap or not, and the depth of the push off. The hydrophobicity of a fast suit and a regular suit was measured to show which one will be the most effective in the water. The contact angle of the fast suit was 20◦ less than that of the regular suit meaning it is more hydrophobic and will produce better times in competition. The effects of suit and cap were tested by having the swimmer push off of the wall wearing two different types of suits and wearing a dome cap versus not wearing a cap at all. The depth was tested by having the swimmer push off deeper than one normally would to see the effects of pressure drag. The results showed a 44% decrease in drag while wearing a fast suit and cap compared to wearing a regular suit without, and the push off at a deeper depth yielded a 49% increase in drag compared to the original push off depth.
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of tiacumicins B and C against Clostridium difficile

Tiacumicins B and C are members of a novel group of 18-membered macrolide antibiotics with in vitro activity against Clostridium difficile. The MICs against 15 strains of C. difficile were 0.12 to 0.25 microgram/ml for tiacumicin B, 0.25 to 1 microgram/ml for tiacumicin C, and 0.5 to 1 microgram/ml for vancomycin. The resistance frequency for both compounds against C. difficile was less than 2.8 x 10(-8) at four and eight times the MIC. The in vivo activities of the tiacumicins against two strains of C. difficile were compared with that of vancomycin in a hamster model of antibiotic-associated colitis. Oral therapy with 0.2, 1, or 5 mg of tiacumicin B or C per kg of body weight protected 100% of clindamycin-treated hamsters exposed to C. difficile ATCC 9689. Oral treatment with identical doses of vancomycin produced a prolonged, dose-dependent survival of hamsters, but it did not prevent the development of fatal colitis at doses of up to 5 mg/kg. When clindamycin-treated animals were exposed to another strain of C. difficile, both tiacumicin B and vancomycin were protective at 5 mg/kg, but not at lower doses. Tiacumicin C was not tested in vivo against the second strain of C. difficile. No tiacumicin B or C was detected in the sera of hamsters treated with single oral doses of 25 mg/kg, while antibiotic levels in the ceca of these hamsters reached 248 micrograms/ml and 285 mg/ml for tiacumicins B and C, respectively. The tiacumicins demonstrated in vitro and in vivo potencies against C. difficile and achieved high concentrations in the cecum, but not the serum, of hamsters after oral administration.
Débruitage Non-Local Itératif basé sur un Critère de Similarité Probabiliste

A new methodology is proposed to generalize the non-local means algorithm introduced by Buades et al. [2] to non-additif and/or non-Gaussian noises. The patch similarity used by Buades et al. is substitued by a statistically-grounded similarity criterion that we derive from the noise distribution model. The denoised image is estimated by maximizing the wheighted likelihood. The weights are iteratively refined by defining the similarity on both the noisy image and the previous estimated image. The iterative process noticeably improves the denoising performance. The results are given on three images corrupted by different noises: an additive Gaussian noise, an impulsive noise and a multiplicative speckle noise.
Prediction of total execution time for MapReduce applications

In this paper, we estimate the total execution time of two applications under different input data size with linear regression model and error correction neural network model respectively. From the prediction results, we can conclude that error correction neural network model can predict the total execution time of these applications under different input data size accurately and the prediction accuracy of error correction neural network model for CPU-intensive workloads is much higher compared to linear regression model.
ASPIRIN INHIBITS THE EARLY MYOCARDIAL RELEASE OF THROMBOXANE B2 AND VENTRICULAR ECTOPIC ACTIVITY FOLLOWING ACUTE CORONARY ARTERY OCCLUSION IN DOGS

Acute coronary artery occlusion in anaesthetized open‐chest greyhounds led to early release of thromboxane B2 (TxB2) into venous blood draining the ischaemic region. No release occurred from the remainder of the left ventricular wall (coronary sinus sampling). TxB2 release and ventricular ectopic activity were positively correlated (r = 0.863) 2 min post‐occlusion. Aspirin (3 mg/kg i.v.) suppressed both local TxB2 release and ectopic activity and prevented ventricular fibrillation. It is suggested that TxB2 release is a factor contributing to early post‐infarction arrhythmias.
SPECTRAL ANALYSIS FOR TRANSITION FRONT SOLUTIONS IN CAHN-HILLIARD SYSTEMS

We consider the spectrum associated with the linear operator obtained when a Cahn--Hilliard system on $\mathbb{R}$ is linearized about a transition wave solution. In many cases it's possible to show that the only non-negative eigenvalue is $\lambda = 0$, and so stability depends entirely on the nature of this neutral eigenvalue. In such cases, we identify a stability condition based on an appropriate Evans function, and we verify this condition under strong structural conditions on our equations. More generally, we discuss and implement a straightforward numerical check of our condition, valid under mild structural conditions.
Environmental Factors That Distinguish between Clinical and Healthy Samples with Childhood Experiences of Abuse and Neglect

Background: Childhood maltreatment is associated with a wide range of problems in adulthood. However, specific environmental factors (either positive or negative) influence mental health outcomes in maltreated children. The present study investigated the effect of environmental factors by comparing a group of clinical participants with experiences of abuse/neglect with a healthy group with similar patterns of experiences. Environmental factors selected were: separation from parents, financial hardship, parental psychiatric disorders, and low social involvement. Method: The study included 55 mixed clinical participants and 23 healthy participants. All participants were investigated using the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) interview. The two groups were specifically matched with regard to patterns of childhood maltreatment. Results: The findings indicated that psychopathological outcome was associated with a greater presence of negative environmental factors (p < 0.001). In particular, lack of social support seemed to be the only one predictor (OR = 27.86). Conclusion: This study is the first to investigate the influence of specific environmental factors in two groups with similar childhood experiences of abuse/neglect but different mental health outcomes. These findings suggest that efforts should be made to incorporate both familial and external sources of social support in promoting mental health for maltreated children.
Black carbon and its correlation with trace gases at a rural site in Beijing: Top-down constraints from ambient measurements on bottom-up emissions

[1] The mass concentrations of black carbon (BC) were measured continuously at Miyun, a rural site near Beijing, concurrently with some trace gases (CO, CO2, NOy, SO2) during the nonheating seasons of 2010 (April to October). The average concentration of BC was 2.26 ± 2.33 μg m−3. About 70%–100% of the air masses arriving at the site from June to September were from the source region of Beijing and the North China Plain (NCP), while in the spring, 40% were of continental background origin. BC had moderate to strong positive correlations with CO (R2 = 0.51), NOy (R2 = 0.58), and CO2 (nonsummer, R2 = 0.54), but not with SO2 (R2 < 0.1). The observed ΔBC/ΔCO ratio was 0.0050 ± 0.0001 μg m−3/ppbv for the regional air masses (excluding the influence of biomass burning). This ratio increased by 68% to 0.0084 ± 0.0004 μg m−3/ppbv after excluding the influence of wet deposition. Accounting further for the impact of atmospheric processes on the observation, we derived an average top-down BC/CO emission ratio of 0.0095 ± 0.002 μg m−3/ppbv for the source region of Beijing and NCP that is 18%–21% lower than the average emission ratio from the bottom-up inventory of Zhang et al. (2009), whereas the difference is substantially lower than the uncertainty of emissions for either species. The difference between the mean bottom-up and top-down emission ratios is most likely to be attributed to the residential sector, which needs to have a lower share in the total emissions of BC or a much lower BC/CO emission ratio. The industry and transportation sectors are found to be dominant sources of BC from Beijing and the NCP rather than from the residential sector as suggested by the bottom-up inventory.
Children, Adolescents, and the Media

Media, from television to the “new media” (including cell phones, iPads, and social media), are a dominant force in children’s lives. Although television is still the predominant medium for children and adolescents, new technologies are increasingly popular. The American Academy of Pediatrics continues to be concerned by evidence about the potential harmful effects of media messages and images; however, important positive and prosocial effects of media use should also be recognized. Pediatricians are encouraged to take a media history and ask 2 media questions at every well-child visit: How much recreational screen time does your child or teenager consume daily? Is there a television set or Internet-connected device in the child’s bedroom? Parents are encouraged to establish a family home use plan for all media. Media influences on children and teenagers should be recognized by schools, policymakers, product advertisers, and entertainment producers.
Seeking the determinants of the elusive functions of Sco proteins

Sco proteins are present in all types of organisms, including the vast majority of eukaryotes and many prokaryotes. It is well established that Sco proteins in eukaryotes are involved in the assembly of the CuA cofactor of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase; however their precise role in this process has not yet been elucidated at the molecular level. In particular, some but not all eukaryotes including humans possess two Sco proteins whose individual functions remain unclear. There is evidence that eukaryotic Sco proteins are also implicated in other cellular processes such as redox signalling and regulation of copper homeostasis. The range of physiological functions of Sco proteins appears to be even wider in prokaryotes, where Sco‐encoding genes have been duplicated many times during evolution. While some prokaryotic Sco proteins are required for the biosynthesis of cytochrome c oxidase, others are most likely to take part in different processes such as copper delivery to other enzymes and protection against oxidative stress. The detailed understanding of the multiplicity of roles ascribed to Sco proteins requires the identification of the subtle determinants that modulate the two properties central to their known and potential functions, i.e. copper binding and redox properties. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the current knowledge on Sco proteins gained by genetic, structural and functional studies on both eukaryotic and prokaryotic homologues, and propose some hints to unveil the elusive molecular mechanisms underlying their functions.
Structural Characterization of Atomically Thin Hexagonal Boron Nitride via Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract : A non-destruction evaluation of atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) films is critical to the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense initiatives pursuing graphene-based electronic field effect transistors (FETs) capable of operating at terahertz frequencies. H-BN thin films an increase to the characteristic E2g 1367cm-1 h-BN peak intensity has been correlated to an increase in film thickness. Raman spectroscopy on a h-BN film with thicknesses of 7, 14, and 21 atoms (2.5nm, 5nm, 7.5nm respectively) revealed a linear relationship between peak intensity and thickness. This relationship can mathematically be described as y=0.0265x+0.8084, and fits the data with a R2 value of 0.9986. There was no observed correlation between film thickness and full width at half maximum (FWHM) and there was no measured shift to the E2g peak with increasing film thickness.
What features improve the accuracy of clinical diagnosis in Parkinson's disease: A clinicopathologic study

&NA; Many authorities have drawn attention to the difficulties in clinically distinguishing Parkinson's disease (PD) from other parkinsonian syndromes. We assessed the clinical features of 100 patients diagnosed prospectively by a group of consultant neurologists as having idiopathic PD according to their pathologic findings. Seventy‐six percent of these cases were confirmed to have PD. By using selected criteria (asymmetrical onset, no atypical features, and no possible etiology for another parkinsonian syndrome) the proportion of true PD cases identified was increased to 93%, but 32% of pathologically confirmed cases were rejected on this basis. These observations suggest that studies based on consultant diagnosis of PD, using standard diagnostic criteria, will include cases other than PD, thus distorting results from clinical trials and epidemiologic studies. The strict use of additional criteria can reduce misdiagnosis but at the cost of excluding genuine PD cases.
Direct binding of parotid secretory protein to phosphatidylinositol phosphates.

DIRECT BINDING OF PAROTID SECRETORY PROTEIN TO PHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL PHOSPHATES Dipti Goyal October 25,2010 BACKGROUND: Regulated secretion of protein by salivary and other exocrine glands requires correct trafficking of soluble cargo proteins into secretory vesicles. However, the molecular mechanism of sorting in the parotid salivary gland is unknown. Phosphatidylinositol phospholipids, such as Ptdlns(3,4)P2, are present in the membrane of secretory granules. We have shown that crude preparations of native Parotid Secretory Protein (PSP) bind Ptdlns(3,4)P2; however, it is unclear whether this is due to a direct interaction. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesize that PSP directly binds Ptdlns(3,4)P2 with high affinity. METHODS: Rat PSP cDNA with a C-terminal V5 tag was cloned into a glutathione-Stransferase (GST) expression vector. Conditions were optimized for expression and purification of protein. The affinity purified protein was cleaved from the GST tag using PreScission protease. To test for binding ofPSP to PtdlnsPs and quantify the binding affinity, the bacterially expressed proteins were used for lipid-overlay binding experiments with nitrocellulose membranes having lipid spots.
Identification and Characterization of an Exogenous Retrovirus from Atlantic Salmon Swim Bladder Sarcomas

ABSTRACT A novel piscine retrovirus has been identified in association with an outbreak of leiomyosarcoma in the swim bladders of Atlantic salmon. The complete nucleotide sequence of the Atlantic salmon swim bladder sarcoma virus (SSSV) provirus is 10.9 kb in length and shares a structure and transcriptional profile similar to those of murine leukemia virus-like simple retroviruses. SSSV appears unique to simple retroviruses by not harboring sequences in the Atlantic salmon genome. Additionally, SSSV differs from other retroviruses in potentially utilizing a methionine tRNA primer binding site. SSSV-associated tumors contain high proviral copy numbers (greater than 30 per cell) and a polyclonal integration pattern. Phylogenetic analysis based on reverse transcriptase places SSSV with zebrafish endogenous retrovirus (ZFERV) between the Gammaretrovirus and Epsilonretrovirus genera. Large regions of continuous homology between SSSV and ZFERV Gag, Pol, and Env suggest that these viruses represent a new group of related piscine retroviruses.
Cyclin D1 protein expression and function in human breast cancer

Cyclin D1 is a cell‐cycle regulator essential for G1, phase progression and a candidate proto‐oncogene implicated in pathogenesis of several human tumour types, including breast carcinomas. In spite of the accumulating genetic evidence, however, there are no data regarding abundance and properties of the cyclin D1 protein in breast cancer. We now report aberrant nuclear overexpression/accumulation of the cyclin D1 protein in about half of the 170 primary breast carcinoma specimens analyzed by monoclonal antibody immunohistochemistry, indicating that the frequency of cyclin D1 abnormalities may be considerably higher than previously deduced from DNA amplification studies. A comparison of the expression patterns in matched lesions at different stages of tumour progression revealed that the cyclin D1 protein aberration appears to reflect a relatively early event and that, when acquired by a tumour, it is maintained throughout breast cancer progression including metastatic spread. In both tumour tissues and breast cancer cell lines, the abundance of this protein shows characteristic variations consistent with a cell‐cycle oscillation and the peak levels expressed in G1. In all 7 cell lines whose retinoblastoma (Rb) protein is mutant or complexed to SV40 T antigen, exceptionally low levels of cyclin D1 protein and mRNA were found. Antibody‐mediated and anti‐sense oligonucleotide knockout experiments demonstrate the requirement for the cell‐cycle regulatory function of cyclin D1 in breast cancer lines with single or multiple copies of the gene and reveal the absence of such a requirement in the cell lines with Rb defects. Our data are consistent with the notion that the emerging “Rb‐cyclin D1 pathway” represents a frequent target of oncogenic abnormalities in breast cancer. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.