Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A2b adenosine receptors can change their spots

Recently, a central role for the A2b adenosine receptor in a variety of cardiovascular functions including inflammation, erectile function, coronary artery dilation, asthma and cardioprotection has been demonstrated. Despite this evidence, the low‐affinity A2b adenosine receptor is still poorly understood. This receptor appears to be very promiscuous in its coupling. In most tissues, it couples to Gs much like its cousin, the A2a adenosine receptor, but in mast cells and now, most recently, in cardiac fibroblasts, the A2b receptor also couples to Gq. Because of its low affinity, this receptor was originally thought unlikely to play any important physiological role. But the sensitivity of A2b adenosine receptors can be greatly increased by interaction with protein kinase C (PKC) making this receptor, under various conditions, both an activator and a target of PKC. We have recently documented a third coupling involving Gi. This plasticity and versatility of A2b adenosine receptors position them as potential triggers of signalling in multiple signalling cascades in many physiological responses, making this a most interesting receptor indeed.
Une méthode de localisation et de reconnaissance de symboles sans connaissance a priori

Nous presentons ici une methode pour segmenter des symboles dans des documents graphiques, sans aucune connaissance a priori sur les symboles. Ce systeme se base sur une methode de description structurelle qui va permettre de mettre en avant un certain de nombre de regions pouvant contenir un symbole. A partir d'un decoupage du document en chaines de points cles, nous proposons de fusionner successivement les regions entre elles, en fonction d'un critere de densite. Cela nous permet de «reconstruire» les symboles et d'effectuer une reconnaissance a partir d'une requete presentee par l'utilisateur.
Efficacy of Perioperative Halo-Gravity Traction in the Treatment of Severe Scoliosis in Children

Perioperative halo traction was used in the treatment of severe scoliosis in 19 children. Diagnoses included neuromuscular, idiopathic, and congenital scoliosis. Traction was transferable between the bed and a walker or wheelchair. Thirteen patients had prior spinal surgery, and most required osteotomy. Traction was used for 6 to 21 weeks. All patients underwent spinal fusion surgery after traction, with instrumentation used in 15 patients. Improvement was achieved in all patients. The Cobb angle improved 35% from an average 84° before traction (range 63°–100°) to 55° preceding fusion. Trunk decompensation improved in all patients. Trunk height increased 5.3 cm in traction. Response to traction did not correlate with diagnosis, patient age, or prior surgery. There were no neurologic complications. Perioperative halo-gravity traction improves trunk balance and frontal and sagittal alignment in children with severe spinal deformity. Surgical fusion was enhanced by the improved alignment, and neurologic injury was avoided.
Recovery and refractoriness of auditory evoked fields after gaps in click trains

When clicks are presented in a train at a rate above ∼5 Hz, they evoke a sustained field in human auditory cortex that can be recorded by magnetoencephalography. In this study we evaluated how this sustained field continues when a click train is interrupted by a silent gap. The stimuli were click trains with interclick intervals of either 12 or 24 ms, which produce pitches of 83.3 or 41.7 Hz, respectively. The click trains were 996 ms in duration with a gap of 12, 24, 48, 96, or 192 ms beginning 504 ms post‐stimulus onset. The sustained field for click trains with short gaps was similar to the one evoked by a continuous click train. Subtraction of the response evoked by a solitary click train of 504 ms enabled estimation of the sustained field in the interval after the gap. The comparison revealed that the sustained field amplitude after the gap was larger than that at the onset of the initial click train in the interval from 150 to 350 ms after onset, and the difference decreased with gap duration. In contrast, the transient P1m was refractory for gaps up to 48 ms, but had nearly recovered its initial amplitude for gaps of 192 ms. We discuss how these results might relate to the perception, i.e. if an interrupted click train is perceived as one continuous sound with a transient gap or as two successive events.
Inhibition of fatty acid synthase activity in prostate cancer cells by dutasteride

With malignant progression to androgen independence, prostate cancer cells develop resistance to apoptosis and exhibit a variety of gene expression changes, including increased fatty acid synthase (FASN) expression. Increased FASN expression has been shown to correlate with poor prognosis, and correspondingly, the FASN gene has been proposed as a therapeutic target. Because FASN is an androgen regulated gene in the prostate, we have examined the effects of dutasteride on FASN in prostate cancer cells in vitro. Dutasteride is a novel dual inhibitor of the 5 alpha‐reductase enzymes and is currently in use both for treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and in the reduction by dutasteride of prostate cancer events (REDUCE) prostate cancer prevention trial.
Hypertensive structural changes in systemic precapillary resistance vessels: how important are they for in vivo haemodynamics?

Objective To discuss recent findings that seem to question the importance of structural vascular changes for the raised resistance observed in hypertension. Main issues First, in daily life situations, the proximal resistance sections, which are the main site for vasoconstrictor fibre effects, are also the main site for structural elevation of resistance in hypertension. The most distal ones are crucially important for local flow distribution, and their unaltered design suggests that they are usually protected from pressure elevations by a raised resistance upstream. Furthermore, recent findings indicate that central neurohormonal mechanisms are much more important than myogenic ones for inducing hypertension at least in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Second, the function of structurally altered resistance vessels is often misunderstood, mainly because the haemodynamic importance of wall distensibility is disregarded. Vascular geometric design and distensibility tend to be altered to an 'ideal' extent, so that with ordinary changes in smooth muscle activity a normal flow range is maintained, despite elevations in both perfusion and transmural pressures and in resistance. Third, the rapid normalization of blood pressure on declipping of two-kidney, one clip or of one-kidney, one clip renally hypertensive rats by no means refutes the haemodynamic importance of a prevailing structural upward resetting. Declipping leads to a powerful and prolonged release of vasodilator-sympathoinhibitory medullipins, which create a subnormal smooth muscle tone. Because the structurally hyper-reactive resistance vessels now operate along a steeper resistance curve the pressure fall becomes, if anything, accentuated, which opens the way for structural regression. Fourth, the highly sophisticated and often differentiated neurohormonal control system usually explains why vasoactive agents, for example, do not regularly produce exaggerated pressure changes in vivo, even in the presence of hypertensive structural changes. In addition, counteracting effects by endothelial mechanosensitive mechanisms seem to be of great importance in these situations. Conclusion The arguments and views outlined recently do not, on closer scrutiny and for the reasons given, really challenge the importance of structural vascular changes in hypertension in vivo and may, indeed, in some respects serve to support this concept.
Bi-static radar antenna using EBG structure for shallow area detection

The bi-static radars consist of transmitting antenna and receiving antenna. The antennas are placed side by side. However transmitted pulse from transmitting antenna is directly received by the receiving antenna. Therefore, if the radar and the target are close, transmitted pulse and wave which reflected from the target are observed to overlap each other and artificial image occurs. On the other hand, EBG (Electromagnetic Band-Gap) structure that is one of metamaterial reduces the electromagnetic coupling in specific frequency. This study proposed novel bi-static radar antenna that inserting EBG structures between the transmitting antennas.
AVALIAÇÃO DE FLUXO UNIFORME E PROPRIEDADES HIDRÁULICAS DE AQÜÍFEROS EM POÇOS DE GRANDE DIÂMETRO PELO MÉTODO DA CAPACIDADE ESPECÍFICA FRACTAL

Uma das maiores limitacoes ao emprego dos metodos convencionais de analise de testes de bombeamento em pocos de grande diâmetro esta relacionada com a hipotese de fluxo uniforme, liberado exclusivamente do aquifero. Sabe-se que, nesse tipo de poco, a descarga liberada do aquifero varia com o tempo. Dentre os metodos disponiveis, o de Papadopulos & Cooper (1967) e um dos mais conhecidos e mais utilizados para avaliar os parâmetros do aquifero. Embora nao hajam duvidas quanto a transmissividade (T ) , a estimativa de um valor confiavel do coeficiente de armazenamento (S) , por esse metodo, e controvertida. O tempo de bombeamento necessario para cessar o efeito da agua liberada do armazenamento no poco, e inversamente proporcional a transmissividade. Como os pocos de grande diâmetro sao geralmente construidos em aquiferos pouco profundos e de baixa transmissividade, esse tempo e quase sempre longo demais e nao se justifica na pratica. Este trabalho sugere o metodo da capacidade especifica fractal para avaliar o fluxo uniforme liberado do aquifero. Conhecido esse fluxo, os parâmetros do aquifero podem ser avaliados por qualquer um dos metodos classicos a depender das condicoes hidrogeologicas. Exemplos de casos ilustram o metodo proposto e comprovam o erro cometido no valor do coeficiente de armazenamento pelo metodo de Papadopulos & Cooper (op.cit).
Anode Glow Discharge Plasma Treatment Enhances Calcium Phosphate Adsorption onto Titanium Plates

Glow discharge plasma (GDP) supplied to a cathode (GDP-) has been applied for cleaning, surface activating, and sterilizing biomaterials, because the kinetic energy in the case of the GDP- is larger than that supplied to the anode (GDP+). However, no comparison between GDP+ and GDP- has been reported. In this study, a titanium surface pre-treated with GDP+ and GDP- was characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In addition, the wettability of the titanium surface was measured with and without GDP. Furthermore, XPS characterized the adsorption of inorganic ions on titanium surfaces with and without GDP and immersed in an electrolyte solution. The findings suggested that GDP+ enhances calcium phosphate nucleation, due to the accumulation of electrons. In addition, calcium phosphate was not nucleated on the specimen with GDP-. We conclude that GDP+ is more suitable for biomineralization on titanium.
Optimal composition of characteristic modes for minimal quality factor Q

This work describes an efficient and powerful technique to obtain optimal currents with respect to the lower bounds of quality factor Q for an arbitrarily shaped electrically small antenna made of perfect conductor. The resulting optimal currents are expressed in terms of characteristic mode basis with the minimum always being obtained by either one mode tuned to the resonance, or, by properly combining two modes. The calculation of the stored electromagnetic energy is based on matrix representation of the integro-differential expressions derived by Vandenbosch, an approach which simplifies the entire development resulting in an uncomplicated numerical evaluation.
Wernicke's syndrome due to vitamin B deficiency; report of the disease in two infants.

IN 1881, Wernicke 1 described a syndrome characterized by drowsiness or stupor, ophthalmoplegia and ataxia and reported his pathologic observations. He attributed the condition to the toxic effect of a variety of substances or poisons. Since then, many of the cases of this syndrome have been seen in alcoholic persons, for which reason it came to be accepted as one of the serious manifestations of chronic alcoholism, or at least as one of its complications. In recent years, however, cases have been described in the literature in nonalcoholic persons. Bowman and Wortis 2 had collected 40 cases from the literature up to 1941. Campbell and Biggart 3 also reported cases of Wernicke's syndrome in conditions other than alcoholism. Of their 12 cases only 1 included signs of frank alcoholism. They observed that diseases accompanied by malnutrition, such as gastrointestinal conditions, tuberculosis, anorexia and hyperemesis gravidarum, can give rise to the
Trust and Quality Assurance in Business-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce: Enhancing Consumer Acceptance and Participation

The growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce) has been inhibited by consumer fears and concerns about the risks, real and perceived. This paper discusses the risks associated with ecommerce transactions and the measures to gain consumers' trust in order to enhance their acceptance and participation. The quality assurance in e-commerce, and therefore the enhancement of consumer's trust and acceptance, should be a combination of self-regulation, technology, and legislation. Regulations similar to those for traditional businesses could be applied to the electronic commerce environment to protect consumers with the assurance regarding the existence of business entities and define the related liabilities to consumers.
Modelado y control de convertidores dc/ac de cuatro conductores

De un tiempo a esta parte, y cada vez mas, la conciencia de que hay que reducir el consumo innecesario de energia esta en la mente de todos, empresas y particulares. Por tanto se convierte en principal reducir los costes. Para reducir los costes se pueden buscar maneras de aumentar la vida util de los dispositivos o optimizar los sistemas de distribucion de energia. En concordancia con este hecho este proyecto se enmarca en la busqueda de mejorar el suministro electrico sobre diferentes dispositivos, tanto a la calidad de la energia suministrada, como la reduccion de posibles defectos. Se ha iniciado este proyecto con el modelado de cuatro topologias de convertidor concluyendo que todas excepto una, la topologia de inversor con fuentes ideales de tension en el bus de continua, tras ser modeladas presentaron un modelo bilineal. Ello implica que las variables de estado se encuentran acopladas con las senales de control y por tanto que, unicamente, se podra realizar un estudio de control convencional con la primera topologia. Del modelo A se extrae la funcion de transferencia con el objetivo de analizar la tension de salida del convertidor en funcion de la senal de control de cada fase. Se realiza un acondicionamiento de la senal mediante un sistema de control Adaptive Feedforward Cancellation y se obtiene un seguimiento correcto de la senal de referencia. Pese al conocimiento de sus diferencias con el modelo A, se aplica el mismo control al modelo B y se observan ciertas carencias en la calidad de la senal de salida. Se identifica un posible fallo en referencia al equilibrado de la tension de los condensadores que forman el bus de continua. Se aplica el modelo C que contiene una rama controlada para equilibrar la tension de los semibuses de continua. Se disena un control especifico para el control de esta rama. Al realizar la simulacion se observa un mejor seguimiento y los armonicos hallados en la respuesta del convertidor para el modelo B han desaparecido. Como conclusion hemos probado y validado en simulacion un sistema de control basado en la tecnica AFC para las topologias de inversores estudiadas.
Élasto-capillarité : Poils mouillés, Origamis, Cloques

Bien que negligeables au grandes echelles, les forces capillaires deviennent dominantes lorsque les dimensions sub-millimetriques des micro-systemes-electro-mecaniques (MEMS) sont consideres. Vous proposons une revue des differentes situations dans lesquelles les forces capillaires sont susceptibles de deformer une structure elastique. En particulier nous definissons les differentes echelles de longueur pertinentes pour ces problemes "elasto-capillaires". Nous developpons le cas de structures elancees (lamelles, tiges, feuilles) et decrivons la taille d'une meche de cheveux mouilles, le critere qui dicte le percage d'une interface liquide par une tige ou l'evolution d'une goutte d'eau deposee sur une feuille flexible. Ces resultats peuvent etre generalises a d'autres situations impliquant fracture ou adhesion. Cette generalisation ouvre le champs d'application a des systemes biologiques, les problemes de stiction dans les procedes de microfabrication, l'elaboration de microstructures tri-dimensionelles ou la formation de cloques de delaminage sur des films minces.
Photomechanical Ablation of 304L Stainless Steel, Aluminum Oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) Thin Film, and Pure Silicon

Recently, a number of studies have focused on micro-manufacturing processes, which find use in a variety of applications, including the production of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The process of ablation in materials is mainly governed by the laser source and scanning speed. The rate of material ablation is influenced by chemical and physical properties. In this work, the energy from a CO2 laser was used to ablate three different materials, namely, stainless steel 304L, a thin film of amorphous aluminum oxide (Al2O3), and pure silicon, due to their wide use in MEMS technology. The laser parameters used were an average power of 18 W and a spot size of 200 μm. The maximum depth during the photomechanical ablation process was 72 μm in the case of 304L steel and 77 μm in the case of the Al2O3 thin film for a scan rate of 24 mm/min. However, at the same scan rate, silicon did not exhibit any penetration. As expected, while increasing scanning speed the ablation depth decreases due to reduced interaction time between laser and material. The theoretical ytterbium fiber laser shown in this study can thus be employed in the manufacturing of a wide variety of materials used in the production of MEMS as well as those used in clean energy technologies.
Patient Focus and Regulatory Considerations for Inhalation Device Design: Report from the 2015 IPAC-RS/ISAM Workshop.

This article reports on discussions at the 2015 workshop cosponsored by the International Pharmaceutical Aerosol Consortium on Regulation and Science (IPAC-RS) and the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM), entitled "Regulatory and Patient Considerations for Inhalation Device Design, Development and Use. " Key topics addressed at the workshop and presented here include patient-focused device design for orally inhaled products (OIPs), instructions for use (IFU), human factors, regulatory considerations in the United States and Europe, development of generic inhalers, quality-by-design, and change management of OIP devices. Workshop participants also identified several areas for further consideration and emphasized the need for increased focus on the patient to create therapeutic products (inclusive of device design, IFU, education, training) that support adherence with an individual patient's treatment regimen. Advances in patient-centric product development will require engagement and collaboration by industry, regulators, patients, physicians, and other stakeholders. The article includes summaries of presented talks as well as of panel and audience discussions.
Morfología y propiedades de politereftalato de etilen-glicol y polietileno de alta densidad

Se estudiaron mezclas de politereftalato de etilen- glicol, PET y polietileno de alta densidad, HDPE, con y sin agente compatibilizante. Ambos materiales se usan ampliamente en la industria de bebidas carbonatadas. El agente compatibilizante que se uso fue un copolimero de etileno y acido metacrilico parcialmente neutralizado con zinc (Surlyn). Como hipotesis se planteo que el segmento olefinico del Surlyn podria ser compatible con el HDPE, mientras que los grupos carboxilicos del Surlyn serian afines con los grupos carbonilos del PET. La efectividad del agente compatibilizante se evaluo usando tecnicas diferentes, entre las cuales se pueden mencionar la espectroscopia de infrarrojo, la calorimetria diferencial de barrido, la microscopia electronica de barrido y la determinacion de propiedades mecanicas.
AIS Electronic

After a sizeable growth and propagation of social networking sites (SNS), there has been a decline on its usage. Studies have shown that this decline caused by the over-influence of SNS on people's life. And people were reacting with a variety of discontinuous behaviors in the service. Prior studies termed this as the SNS fatigue phenomenon and clarified potential factors. However, these studies primarily approached the phenomenon with fatigue as the sole manifest factor. Less attention has been paid on the social features of SNS. In this paper, we view SNS as a social platform; emotion perceived from social features of SNS is an important factor for people to continuously use the service. Based on this view, we employed reactance theory and proposed a reactance model by following two variables; existence of persona non grata and a threat to freedom of usage. Our empirical study on Facebook users (n = 210) revealed that encounter to certain unwelcomed subjects (existence of persona non grata) in the service moderates a social overload. And the social overload acts as a potential antecedent to threat on freedom (trigger of reactance status) to the users of Facebook; ultimately harming the intention for continuation of usage. Implications of research and practice are discussed.
Establishment and characterization of immortalized human gingival keratinocyte cell lines.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Primary human keratinocytes are used to analyze the properties of the oral epithelium and the early stages of oral bacterial infections. In vitro, these cells are characterized by their short life span and restricted availability. Approaches for culturing these cells will end after approximately 6-10 passages as a result of entry into apoptosis. For this reason, it is important to generate cell lines suitable for obtaining an unlimited source of cells. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to generate gingival keratinocyte cell lines and to compare their in vitro behaviour with those of primary human gingival keratinocytes. MATERIAL AND METHODS Primary human gingival keratinocytes were immortalized with a combination of the human papilloma virus onkoproteins E6 and E7. The pattern of the cytokeratins, involucrin and filaggrin was investigated by intracellular staining using flow cytometry. This method allows quantitative analysis of the expression of a variety of intracellular or extracellular markers. RESULTS The immortalized cell lines showed many morphological similarities, expressing a cytokeratin pattern that is comparable with that of primary gingival keratinocytes. Furthermore, they developed transepithelial electrical resistance, which is a marker for the generation of tight junctions. These results indicate that the cells might be able to act as an epithelial barrier, reflecting the reaction of primary human cells. CONCLUSION The establishment of a continuous line of human gingival epithelial cells with functional characteristics of the epithelial barrier provides a valuable in vitro model for using to study the early steps of gingival/periodontal infections.