Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of Group III mGluRs increases the activity of neurons in area 17 of the cat

Activation of Group III metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) by L(+)-2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (L-AP4) has different effects on in vitro slice preparations of visual cortex (Jin & Daw, 1998) as compared with in vivo recordings from somatosensory cortex (Wan & Cahusac, 1995). To investigate the role of Group III mGluRs in the cat visual cortex, in vivo recordings were made of neurons in area 17 of the visual cortex of kittens and adult cats at different ages and the effect of iontophoretic application of L-AP4 (100 mM) was examined. Application of L-AP4 resulted in an increase of the spontaneous activity and visual response of neurons to visual stimulation, the former more than the latter. The effect of L-AP4 was greatest at 3–5 weeks of age with the effect on the visual response declining more rapidly than the effect on spontaneous activity. Consistent with work in rat cortex (Jin & Daw, 1998), the effect of L-AP4 was significantly greater in upper and lower layers than in middle layers. Whole-cell in vitro recordings from slices of rat visual cortex indicated that L-AP4 (50 mM) did not increase the number of spikes elicited by increasing levels of current injections. These results confirm that L-AP4 increases activity in vivo and reasons for the discrepancy with the in vitro results are discussed.
Divided Representation of Concurrent Goals in the Human Frontal Lobes

Simultaneously Serving Two Goals What are the neuronal mechanisms underlying dual-task performance? Charron and Koechlin (p. 360) used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study this question under conditions of varying incentive for two tasks. Subjects performed letter-matching tasks either sequentially or concurrently. Reward value for performance of each of the two tasks was manipulated orthogonally. Under conditions of single-task (sequential) performance, they observed bilateral brain activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate and the premotor cortex that correlated with the reward value of the current task. However, under dual-task conditions, activity in these regions on the left corresponded to primary-task reward performance, while on the right, activity corresponded to secondary-task performance. Under dual-task conditions, both reward and stimulus-response representations are thus segregated according to hemisphere. The human brain is limited to accurately negotiate the pursuit of two concurrent goals at the same time. The anterior prefrontal cortex (APC) confers on humans the ability to simultaneously pursue several goals. How does the brain’s motivational system, including the medial frontal cortex (MFC), drive the pursuit of concurrent goals? Using brain imaging, we observed that the left and right MFC, which jointly drive single-task performance according to expected rewards, divide under dual-task conditions: While the left MFC encodes the rewards driving one task, the right MFC concurrently encodes those driving the other task. The same dichotomy was observed in the lateral frontal cortex, whereas the APC combined the rewards driving both tasks. The two frontal lobes thus divide for representing simultaneously two concurrent goals coordinated by the APC. The human frontal function seems limited to driving the pursuit of two concurrent goals simultaneously.
Increased endothelial survival of organ-cultured corneas stored in FGF-2-supplemented serum-free medium.

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of FGF-2 on corneal endothelial cell survival in porcine and human corneas during corneal storage in a serum-free medium. METHODS Porcine and paired human corneas were stored at 32 degrees C for 9 and 22 days, respectively. One cornea of each pair was stored in a serum-free culture medium, and the mate was preserved in the same medium supplemented with 10 ng/mL FGF-2. Quantitative analysis of corneal damage after storage was determined by the Janus green photometry technique. 5-Bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling of the endothelium determined the effect of FGF-2 on endothelial proliferation during storage. Additional cell culture studies were performed to elucidate the role of FGF-2 on the incidence of endothelial apoptosis after serum deprivation. RESULTS When FGF-2 was added to the serum-free medium, the damage rates of porcine endothelia were reduced from 15.1% +/- 8.7% (control) to 6.4% +/- 2.0% after 9 days and from 25.3% +/- 10.2% to 13.6% +/- 4.2% after 22 days of storage. In the human corneas stored during 22 days in FGF-2-supplemented medium, the amount of endothelial damage was 11.8% +/- 3.2%, which was significantly less damage than in the control fellow corneas stored in unsupplemented serum-free medium (19.3% +/- 6.3%; P < 0.01). DNA synthesis was not enhanced in corneas stored in serum-free medium, serum-free medium+FGF-2, or medium containing 10% FCS. Only a few (3.8%) TUNEL-positive endothelial cells were detected in cultures maintained in FGF-2-supplemented serum-free medium compared with a high number (48%) of apoptotic cells in control cultures. CONCLUSIONS FGF-2 efficiently reduces human corneal endothelial damage that occurs during organ culture storage in a serum-free medium. This effect is truly protective, because no proliferative activity and a decreased rate of apoptosis were determined. FGF-2 emerges as an important component of a future serum-free corneal organ-culture medium established to replace fetal calf serum (FCS) as a potential source of recipient infection.
Prevalence and determinants of pesticide use in informal households in Mulago II parish, Kampala Uganda

The indiscriminate use of pesticides in developing countries has impacted negatively on the environment and public health. Despite that informal households in Uganda carry a high pest burden, the safe use and disposal of pesticides is poorly studied. We determined the prevalence and pesticide use practices among the informal households in Mulago, a suburb of Kampala city. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among heads of informal households in Mulago II parish, using a semi-structured interview questionnaire. Out of the 56 households in the parish, twenty 20 household met the inclusion criterion for an informal household. Household heads were interviewed on the pest burden and the practices on safe use and disposal of pesticides. Data was analyzed using SPSSv21 software; the chi-square test was used for Univariate analysis. The mean pest burden per household was 4 ± 0.7 pests: mosquitoes 20 (100%), bedbugs 18 (90%; p < 0.001), rats and houseflies 16 (80%; p = 0.007), and cockroaches 15 (75%; p = 0.025). Most households, 17 (85%, p = 0.002) had used a pesticide within the last 2 weeks. The most commonly used pesticides were synthetic pyrethroid in form of aerosols 18 (90%) or insecticide coils 10 (50%) and organophosphate solutions 15 (75%). Pesticides were applied on walls 15 (75%; p < 0.001) and in open air 12 (60%; p = 0.086). Pesticides were stored in lockable cupboards in 6 (30%; p = 0.645) households. The use of pesticides was associated with having livestock, cost of pesticide and the burden of pest infestation. Informal households in Mulago parish have a high pest burden and usage of pesticides. The use, storage and disposal of pesticides are largely inappropriate. Public health interventions that promote the access to quality and safe use of pesticides at informal households are critical. Keywords: Prevalence, Pesticide Use, determinants of pesticide, Uganda.
Performance Evaluation Model of the Supply Chain Viewed From Customers

Performance evaluation is one of the most important aspects to make supply chain management (SCM) decisions. The evaluation from the customers' view is a complex problem, and evaluations of some factors may be subjective. This paper proposes a novel performance evaluation model of supply chains from customers' view. Based on the assumed conditions and principles of the metrics system, we list the relevant metrics and analyze the relationship among the metrics from customers' view. Then we use the fuzzy mathematic method to define the factors and target functions in the quantitative problems. Our goal is to set up a model to evaluate the performance of supply chain. The application of this model in enterprises is discussed through a practical example.
A Survey of Attacks Happened at Different Layers of Mobile Ad-Hoc Network & Some Available Detection Techniques

A Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of mobile nodes (stations) communicating in a multi hop way without any fixed infrastructure such as access points or base stations. MANET has not well specified defense mechanism, so malicious attacker can easily access this kind of network. In this paper we investigate different types of attacks which are happened at the different layers of MANET after that we discuss some available detection techniques for these attacks. To our best knowledge this is the first paper that studies all these attacks corresponding to different layers of MANET with some available detection techniques. General Terms Flooding attack, blackhole attack, wormhole attack, Link spoofing attacks, MAC targeted attack, WEP targeted attack, jamming attack, intrusion detection technique, cluster-based intrusion detection technique, misbehavior detection through cross layer analysis et. al.
A phase II, window study of SP1049C as first-line therapy in inoperable metastatic adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus.

4195 Background: SP1049C is a block co-polymer incorporating doxorubicin resulting in broad in vitro activity and superior anti-tumour activity in 9 out of 9 in vivo animal tumour models compared to doxorubicin. METHODS Chemotherapy- or radiotherapy-naïve patients with measurable, inoperable or metastatic, biopsy-proven, adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus; KP ≥60; normal cardiac LVEF; adequate swallowing and adequate renal, hepatic and bone marrow function were eligible. TREATMENT SP1049C 75mg/m2 IV 30-minute infusion was given q3w, for up to 6 cycles. Radiological response was assessed after cycles 2, 4 and 6. Upon disease progression (PD) patients were offered standard chemotherapy. Other assessments included: QoL (by QLQ-C30 and QLQ-OES24 questionnaires), toxicity, disease-related symptoms and cardiac function. RESULTS From February 2002 to date, 17 male patients; median age 62 years (range 49 - 78); 16 with stage IV disease and 1 unknown stage (TxN1M0); were enrolled. 10 patients are eligible for efficacy analysis. Radiological response after 2 cycles: one (10%) PR, 8 (80%) SD (including 4 (40%) with minor responses) and one (10%) PD. Further partial responses have been seen after cycles 4 and 6 (by investigator assessment) and will be reported in due course. One responding patient underwent salvage resection (pT2N0 (Stage 2A) tumour). Toxicity data is available for 2 cycles for the first 11 patients. Gd 3-4 haematological toxicity (by patient): neutropaenia 8 (73%), leucopaenia 7 (64%), anaemia (0%) and platelets (0%) resulting in six (55%) patients being dose-reduced to 55 mg/m2 at cycle 2. Non-haematological toxicity (Gd1-2,Gd3-4): nausea (73%,0%), anorexia (45%,9%), lethargy (55%,18%), febrile neutropaenia (0%,36%), weight loss (35%,0%), vomiting (45%,18%), mucositis (55%,9%), and Gd 1-2 alopecia in 55%. A significant fall in LVEF (pre-defined as an absolute ≥15% drop from baseline value) was seen in 2 patients. CONCLUSIONS SP1049C appears to be active in advanced oesophageal adenocarcinoma based on the preliminary results of the first 10 patients and the study will continue accrual to a total of 24 evaluable patients. [Table: see text].
The roles of plasma binding and receptor specificity in the mineralocorticoid action of aldosterone.

The current hypothesis of the mechanism of action of aldosterone includes an initiating step of binding of the steroid to stereospecific receptor proteins in target tissues. In view of the very low circulating levels of aldosterone relative to other adrenal steroids, there must exist potent specificity—conferring mechanisms to insure appropriate aldosterone occupancy of mineralocorticoid receptors. Two specificity—conferring mechanisms are described which are posited to allow aldosterone occupancy of its appropriate receptor.In vitro, renal aldosterone binding sites are shown to fall into two classes. Those with a higher affinity for aldosterone—Kdlss (37 C)≅ 5X10-10—are termed Type I; those with a lower affinity—Kdiss (37 C)≅ 2.5 X lO-8— Type II. Desoxycorticosterone (DOC) has ∼80% the affinity of aldosterone for both sites. Corticosterone (B) has a high affinity for Type II sites, but less than 2% of the affinity of aldosterone for Type I. From the relative affinities of the three steroids for Type I, t.
Nucleic acid homology studies of SV 40 virus-transformed and normal hamster cells.

0.01 M Na pyrophosphate. This filtered through membrane filters (0.40-0.45-,u pore size) which retain radioactive DNA-RNA hybrids.14 The filters were washed with 200 ml of the Tris buffer heated to 60'C. In certain experiments prefilters (10-,. pore size) were used over the filters to reduce nonspecific trapping of radioactive RNA. The prefilters were discarded prior to assay for radioactivity. RNase treatment (20 ;&g/ml of RNase-A, Sigma Chemical Corp., St. Louis, Mo., in 5 ml of SSC X 2 for 1 hr at room temperature) of the loaded filters was employed in some experiments to reduce background radioactivity. The reaction with RNase was stopped by the addition of 0.25 ml of 1% SDS, and the filters were washed with 200 ml of heated Tris buffer. In experiment 3 the diluted reaction mixture was filtered through three filters (5 ml of fluid per filter) which were counted together in a single counting vial. The filters were washed with 25 ml of 95% ethanol, dried, and placed in Liquifluor (Nuclear-Chicago, Des Plaines, Ill.). They were assayed for radioactivity in a three-channel liquid scintillation spectrometer (Nuclear-Chicago). Channel ratios method was used to correct for variable (0-20%) quenching by the membrane filters. The counting efficiency for radioactive RNA bound to these filters was 25%, and the counting error (20r) was 46%, if the net count rate was 25 cpm or greater. The details of each experiment are given in the appropriate table.
Validation of a Chinese version of the Quality of Well‐Being Scale–Self‐Administered (QWB‐SA) in patients with epilepsy

Generic preference‐based health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments are increasingly used to estimate the quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs) in cost‐effectiveness/utility studies. However, no such tool has been used and validated in epilepsy patients in China. This study was conducted to validate a generic preference‐based HRQoL instrument, namely the Quality of Well‐Being Scale–Self‐Administered (QWB‐SA) in Chinese patients with epilepsy.
The role of genetic structure in the adaptive divergence of populations experiencing saltwater intrusion due to relative sea‐level rise

Saltwater intrusion into estuaries creates stressful conditions for nektonic species. Previous studies have shown that Gambusia affinis populations with exposure to saline environments develop genetic adaptations for increased survival during salinity stress. Here, we evaluate the genetic structure of G. affinis populations, previously shown to have adaptations for increased salinity tolerance, and determine the impact of selection and gene flow on structure of these populations. We found that gene flow was higher between populations experiencing different salinity regimes within an estuary than between similar marsh types in different estuaries, suggesting the development of saline‐tolerant phenotypes due to local adaptation. There was limited evidence of genetic structure along a salinity gradient, and only some of the genetic variation among sites was correlated with salinity. Our results suggest limited structure, combined with selection to saltwater intrusion, results in phenotypic divergence in spite of a lack of physical barriers to gene flow.
30-100 MHz npn-only variable-gain class AB companding-based filters for 1.2 V applications

Companding can be used to maintain reasonable dynamic range (DR) in integrated analog signal processors where the allowable voltage swings are limited by the low-voltage supply requirements of modern low-power applications. The input signal is compressed before being processed, which ensures signal integrity over a large range of signal levels. At the output, the signal is expanded to restore its dynamic range. This results in a higher output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to conventional analog signal processors. Unlike the latter, the higher SNR does not come at the expense of increased power dissipation or chip area for a given bandwidth. The dynamic range of low-voltage companding analog circuits can be significantly extended using class AB current mode based signal processors.
Tissue‐specific up‐regulation of arginase I and II induced by p38 MAPK mediates endothelial dysfunction in type 1 diabetes mellitus

Emerging evidence suggests a selective up‐regulation of arginase I in diabetes causing coronary artery disease; however, the mechanisms behind this up‐regulation are still unknown. Activated p38 MAPK has been reported to increase arginase II in various cardiovascular diseases. We therefore tested the role of p38 MAPK in the regulation of arginase I and II expression and its effect on endothelial dysfunction in diabetes mellitus.
Hepatocellular carcinoma after thorotrast exposure: Establishment of a new cell line (Mz‐Hep‐1)

A human hepatoma cell line, associated with thorotrast exposure, from an hepatitis B markernegative patient was established as a permanent cell line (Mz‐Hep‐1) in tissue culture. Histology of the primary tumor, as well as phase contrast, transmission and scanning electron microscopy of the cultured cells showed typical characteristics of liver cells. Mz‐Hep‐1 cells secreted complement components (C2, C3, C4), carcinoembryonic antigen, lactate dehydrogenase, chymotrypsin, haptoglobin and retinol‐binding protein and expressed HLA‐, transferrin‐, blood group B‐related determinants and complement component C5 and carcinoembryonic antigen on their cell surface. Mz‐Hep‐1 cells represent the first human hepatoma cell line, which is strongly associated with a carcinogen.
The Dynamic Mobility of Histone H1 Is Regulated by Cyclin/CDK Phosphorylation

ABSTRACT The linker histone H1 is involved in maintaining higher-order chromatin structures and displays dynamic nuclear mobility, which may be regulated by posttranslational modifications. To analyze the effect of H1 tail phosphorylation on the modulation of the histone's nuclear dynamics, we generated a mutant histone H1, referred to as M1-5, in which the five cyclin-dependent kinase phosphorylation consensus sites were mutated from serine or threonine residues into alanines. Cyclin E/CDK2 or cyclin A/CDK2 cannot phosphorylate the mutant in vitro. Using the technique of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, we observed that the mobility of a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-M1-5 fusion protein is decreased compared to that of a GFP-wild-type H1 fusion protein. In addition, recovery of H1 correlated with CDK2 activity, as GFP-H1 mobility was decreased in cells with low CDK2 activity. Blocking the activity of CDK2 by p21 expression decreased the mobility of GFP-H1 but not that of GFP-M1-5. Finally, the level and rate of recovery of cyan fluorescent protein (CFP)-M1-5 were lower than those of CFP-H1 specifically in heterochromatic regions. These data suggest that CDK2 phosphorylates histone H1 in vivo, resulting in a more open chromatin structure by destabilizing H1-chromatin interactions.
Architecture Optimisation of Embedded Systems under Uncertainty in Probabilistic Reliability Evaluation Model Parameters

Software plays a vital role in most of the embedded systems including safety and mission-critical systems in avionics, automotive, nuclear and medical applications. Along with the functional complexity of software, the quality of software-intensive systems has become a crucial concern. Numerous techniques are being developed to evaluate the quality of a software system from its architecture in terms of quality attributes such as reliability, safety and performance, and to automate the search for alternative designs which provides good trade-offs with respect to those quality attributes of interest. However, the results of these quantitative architecture evaluations depend on design-time estimates for a series of model parameters, which may not be accurate and can change at run-time. Conventional approaches use numerical values (point estimates) as design-time estimates, where the uncertainty in the parameter estimation is not part of the evaluation. As a result, architecture-based quality evaluations at design-time can be inaccurate and thus, sub-optimal design decisions may be taken. To overcome this problem, this thesis presents a novel design-time architecture evaluation and optimisation approach that incorporates parameter uncertainties. The work specifically focuses on architecture-based reliability evaluation models, where a number of parameters have to be estimated subject to heterogeneous uncertain factors. Instead of using point-estimates for architecture-based reliability evaluation models, this work proposes to incorporate heterogeneous and diverse uncertainty information into the reliability evaluation and architecture optimisation. A framework is devised which can capture uncertainty information associated with parameters and use them for the search for robust and optimal candidate architectures. This approach is able to find good architecture solutions that can tolerate the impact of the uncertainties, and thus provides better decision support. The accuracy and scalability of the presented approach is validated with an industrial case study and a series of experiments with generated examples in different problem sizes and characteristics.
Phosphorylation of AktSer473/Ask1Ser83 in Trolox-induced suppression of doxorubicin-induced changes in rat cardiomyocytes

OBjECTIvE: To examine the modulatory effects of the antioxidant Trolox in the interplay of Akt and apoptosis signal-regulating kinase (Ask) 1 in doxorubicin (Dox)-induced oxidative stress (OS). METHODS: Rat cardiomyocytes were treated with Dox (5 μM) or Trolox (20 μM) for 24 h, or were pretreated with Trolox (20 μM) for 4 h before treatment with Dox (5 μM) for 24 h, and were compared with cardiomyocytes without any treatment. For the Akt inhibition study, cardiomyocytes were pretreated overnight with the phosphoinositol 3-kinase/Akt inhibitor wortmannin (1 μM) before treatment with Dox, Trolox or Trolox + Dox. The gain and loss of Akt gene function with HA-tagged constitutively active Akt1 or dominant-negative mutant Akt1 (T308A; S473A) was also studied in the cardiomyocytes under all treatment conditions. Cells exposed to various treatment conditions were analyzed for OS, apoptotic and antiapoptotic proteins, and phosphorylation of Ask1Ser83, Ask1Thr845 and AktSer473.