Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Physalis and Choline on Lipid Profile and Antioxidant Activity in Hepatic Toxicity Rats

Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 120+6g were divided into five groups. The first group kept as normal control (-ve) group (n= 8 rats) which fed on basal diet only. The rest of rats were administered paracetamol drug at a single dose of 2 g/kg by stomach tube to induce liver injury then classified into four groups. One of them acted as control (+ve) and the other three treated groups were physalis extract (600 mg/kg b. w), choline (1000 mg/kg bw) and physalis extract with choline (600 mg/kg b. w+1000 mg/kg bw). Results showed that rats fed diet contains physalis extract or choline or physalis extract with choline showed a significant increase in body weight gain, food intake and FER, and also serum total protein and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc). Moreover, they had a significant increase in liver glutathione S-transferase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glycogen compared to rats of control (+ve) group. On the other side, they showed a significant decrease in aspartate and alanine amino transferase, alkaline phosphatase & gamma glutamyle transferase enzymes, total bilirubin and cholesterol (CHO) in serum. Also, they showed a significant decrease in CHO/HDLc ratio and also, malondialdehyde, cholesterol and total lipids in liver compared to rats of control (+ve) group. Rat group which fed physalis extract with choline in diet showed improvement of nutritional results, liver function parameter, lipid profile and also antioxidant activity.
Thymic Alterations in EphA4-Deficient Mice1

In the present work, we have demonstrated in vivo an altered maturation of the thymic epithelium that results in defective T cell development which increases with age, in the thymus of Eph A4-deficient mice. The deficient thymi are hypocellular and show decreased proportions of double-positive (CD4+CD8+) cells which reach minimal numbers in 4-wk-old thymi. The EphA4 −/− phenotype correlates with an early block of T cell precursor differentiation that results in accumulation of CD44−CD25+ triple-negative cells and, sometimes, of CD44+CD25− triple-negative thymocytes as well as with increased numbers of apoptotic cells and an important reduction in the numbers of cycling thymocytes. Various approaches support a key role of the thymic epithelial cells in the observed phenotype. Thymic cytoarchitecture undergoes profound changes earlier than those found in the thymocyte maturation. Thymic cortex is extremely reduced and consists of densely packed thymic epithelial cells. Presumably the lack of forward Eph A4 signaling in the Eph A4 −/− epithelial cells affects their development and finally results in altered T cell development.
The effect of inertia and satisfaction on consumer loyalty in online shopping sites

Purpose - This study deals with the effect of the required qualifications of an online shopping sites on consumer inertia and customer satisfaction and loyalty. Methodology- As a method of research, the convenience sampling method was preferred and face-to-face questionnaires were applied. Upon elimination of incomplete and incorrect questionnaires, 317 questionnaires were included in the evaluation. Findings- According to the results of the study, the adaptation, transaction ease and engagement which are dimensions of a website's required qualifications are effective on consumer inertia. On another note, adaptation, interaction, commitment, transaction ease and engagement are dimension which have an impact on customer satisfaction. While alternative attraction has a moderator role in the relationship between consumer inertia and loyalty, positive word-of-mouth has not been proven to have a moderating effect in the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Conclusion- This study reveals the factors affecting inertia and satisfaction in consumers and the moderator effects in making loyalty.
Archaeosomes Induce Long-Term CD8+ Cytotoxic T Cell Response to Entrapped Soluble Protein by the Exogenous Cytosolic Pathway, in the Absence of CD4+ T Cell Help1

The unique ether glycerolipids of Archaea can be formulated into vesicles (archaeosomes) with strong adjuvant activity for MHC class II presentation. Herein, we assess the ability of archaeosomes to facilitate MHC class I presentation of entrapped protein Ag. Immunization of mice with OVA entrapped in archaeosomes resulted in a potent Ag-specific CD8+ T cell response, as measured by IFN-γ production and cytolytic activity toward the immunodominant CTL epitope OVA257–264. In contrast, administration of OVA with aluminum hydroxide or entrapped in conventional ester-phospholipid liposomes failed to evoke significant CTL response. The archaeosome-mediated CD8+ T cell response was primarily perforin dependent because CTL activity was undetectable in perforin-deficient mice. Interestingly, a long-term CTL response was generated with a low Ag dose even in CD4+ T cell deficient mice, indicating that the archaeosomes could mediate a potent T helper cell-independent CD8+ T cell response. Macrophages incubated in vitro with OVA archaeosomes strongly stimulated cytokine production by OVA-specific CD8+ T cells, indicating that archaeosomes efficiently delivered entrapped protein for MHC class I presentation. This processing of Ag was Brefeldin A sensitive, suggesting that the peptides were transported through the endoplasmic reticulum and presented by the cytosolic MHC class I pathway. Finally, archaeosomes induced a potent memory CTL response to OVA even 154 days after immunization. This correlated to strong Ag-specific up-regulation of CD44 on splenic CD8+ T cells. Thus, delivery of proteins in self-adjuvanting archaeosomes represents a novel strategy for targeting exogenous Ags to the MHC class I pathway for induction of CTL response.
Effect of association with adenylyl cyclase-associated protein on the interaction of yeast adenylyl cyclase with Ras protein

Posttranslational modification of Ras protein has been shown to be critical for interaction with its effector molecules, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae adenylyl cyclase. However, the mechanism of its action was unknown. In this study, we used a reconstituted system with purified adenylyl cyclase and Ras proteins carrying various degrees of the modification to show that the posttranslational modification, especially the farnesylation step, is responsible for 5- to 10-fold increase in Ras-dependent activation of adenylyl cyclase activity even though it has no significant effect on their binding affinity. The stimulatory effect of farnesylation is found to depend on the association of adenylyl cyclase with 70-kDa adenylyl cyclase-associated protein (CAP), which was known to be required for proper in vivo response of adenylyl cyclase to Ras protein, by comparing the levels of Ras-dependent activation of purified adenylyl cyclase with and without bound CAP. The region of CAP required for this effect is mapped to its N-terminal segment of 168 amino acid residues, which coincides with the region required for the in vivo effect. Furthermore, the stimulatory effect is successfully reconstituted by in vitro association of CAP with the purified adenylyl cyclase molecule lacking the bound CAP. These results indicate that the association of adenylyl cyclase with CAP is responsible for the stimulatory effect of posttranslational modification of Ras on its activity and that this may be the mechanism underlying its requirement for the proper in vivo cyclic AMP response.
Switching of GnRH Agent from Agonist to Antagonist in Patients with Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of alteration from gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist to antagonist in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Methods: Fourteen patients with CRPC were switched from GnRH agonist to GnRH antagonist. CRPC was defined as 3 consecutive rises of PSA values under androgen deprivation therapy despite a testosterone level at the castration level. No patient underwent a change in oral anti-androgen agent or any additional therapy. Patients who showed increase of the PSA value within 10% or showed decrease in the PSA value compared to the baseline were defined as responders. We measured serum PSA, testosterone, follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), and leutenizing hormone (LH) at the time of alteration and 3 months after alteration. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 74.8 ± 6.3 years with a mean initial PSA level of 537.3 ± 999.1 ng/mL. The mean age at alteration to GnRH antagonist was 81.4 years with a mean PSA level of 28.6 ng/mL. Two out of 14 patients (14%) were judged as responders based on PSA after alteration to GnRH antagonist, although they did not show any further reduction of the serum testosterone level (remain less than 0.03). Six patients showed further reduction of the serum FSH level after alteration; however, they showed no PSA response (from 46.4 ± 42.6 to 69.4 ± 70.3). Conclusions: The switch from GnRH agonist to GnRH antagonist affected 14% of the patients (2 out of 14 patients) with CRPC at 3 months based on PSA. Larger and longer-term studies are required to determine the efficacy of alteration to GnRH antagonist in patients with CRPC.
Content Validation of Total Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Protocol in Indian Population.

INTRODUCTION Total knee replacement (TKR) surgery has become the most successful surgery for patients with severe debilitating arthritis. The guidelines for rehabilitation progression should be tailored respecting the tissue healing parameters. Hence, the current literature states a need for protocol to mitigate these impairments and ultimately result in improved functional outcomes. OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to validate the content of TKR rehabilitation protocol in Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS The process of content validation involves development stage and expert judgment stage. The protocol was designed into three stages with extensive review of literature. After designing the protocol, nine experts in field of musculoskeletal Physiotherapy performed the judgemental process. The process of validation includes rating of experts in a 5 point likert grading on two parameters namely relevance and ease of performance. Based on expert's inputs on TKR protocol, the level of agreement, content validation index and kappa value was calculated. RESULTS The three staged TKR protocol almost exhibited an excellent agreement on all stages. However, muscle activation exercises (except Vastus medialis obliques activation), stretching, strengthening program and functional training showed 100% agreement than other stages. CONCLUSION The structured TKR protocol exhibited excellent content validity to its use in Indian population.
Feed-Forward Control for Stability Improvement in Cascaded System

Multi-converter power electronics systems are being increasingly used in many applications such as tele-communication systems, international space station, aircraft, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. Tightly regulated converter and motor drive systems tend to behave as constant power loads (CPL). Stability of the multi-stage power electronics intensive systems loaded by CPLs is a significant design consideration because of their potential for negative impedance instability. In order to adapt to hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), in this paper the stability of traction system was improved by adding feed-forward control to the main bus voltage. By the demonstration of simulation and experiments, the method presented in this paper can not only reduce the ripple of DC bus but also increase the efficiency of system.
Deviating from the well travelled path: Precursor cell migration in the pathological adult mammalian brain

The presence of both neural and glial precursor cells in the adult central nervous system (CNS) and the capacity of these cells to migrate through this mature structure to areas of pathological damage and injury raises hope for the development of new therapeutic strategies to treat brain injury and disease. Although at present time, the compensatory neurogenesis described after various types of brain pathologies appears to be modest, the development of a strategy promoting the directed mobilization and phenotypic induction of endogenous precursor cells to areas of neural cell loss remains of high interest. The development of such a strategy however is currently thwarted by a limited understanding of the process and factors influencing precursor cell migration. In this review, we will discuss the current knowledge around precursor cell migration in the pathological adult brain with particular focus on the response and fate of precursor sub‐populations to neural cell loss and the role of the inflammatory system in mediating precursor cell migration. Through this discussion we will identify particular areas in which further detailed research is required in order to expand our current understanding and aid in the eventual development of a novel therapeutic application. J. Cell. Biochem. 112: 1467–1474, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Novel Instance of Class I Modification (cim) Affecting Two of Three Rat Class I RT1-A Molecules Within One MHC Haplotype1

MHC class I expression by rats of the RT1o, RT1d, and RT1m MHC haplotypes was investigated. Identical, functional cDNAs were obtained from RT1o and BDIX (RT1dv1) rats for three MHC class I molecules. RT1-A1o/d and -A2o/d are closely related in sequence to other cloned rat class Ia genes that have been shown to map to the RT1-A region, while RT1-A3° is highly homologous to a class I gene identified by sequencing an RT1-An genomic contig and is named A3n. Detailed analysis of the three molecules was undertaken using serology with mAbs, two-dimensional gel analysis of immunoprecipitates, and killing assays using cytotoxic T cells. Arguments are presented suggesting that A1° is the principal MHC class Ia (classical) restricting element of this haplotype. A2°, which is highly cross-reactive with A1°, and A3° probably play more minor or distinct roles in Ag presentation. Unexpectedly, cDNAs encoding exactly the same three molecules were cloned from rats of the RT1m haplotype, an MHC that until now was thought to possess unique class Ia genes. RT1m contains the TAP-B allele of the TAP transporter, and we present evidence that functional polymorphism in rat TAP has an even greater impact on the expression of RT1-A1° and -A2° than it does on RT1-Aa in the established case of class I modification (cim). Historically, this led to the misclassification of RT1m class Ia molecules as separate and distinct.
Development in mechanisms of ischemic mitral regurgitation

Objective The clinical diagnosis and treatment of ischemia mitral regurgitation (IMR) remained difficult because of its unclear mechanisms. This paper reviews studies on the mechanisms of IMR during the last 20 years, and discusses the relevance of the various mechanisms. Data sources Data used in this review were mainly from CNKI and Pubmed in English. The search terms were “ischemia mitral regurgitation mechanism”, “myocardial infarction” AND “mitral regurgitation”. Study selection Articles were selected if they involved mechanisms of IMR. Results IMR is one of the common complications of coronary artery disease. But currently, the clinical diagnosis and treatment of IMR remained difficult because of its unclear mechanisms. Conclusions For now, dominating theory of ischemic mitral regurgitation mechanisms are left ventricular remodeling, imbalance of leaflet tethering and the closing force, left ventricular dysfunction, changes in spatial structure of the annulus and the dyssynchrony of the left ventricular electromechanical activity.
Innovation Research on the Cultivating Path of Financial Talents from the Perspective of Policy Tools

The major social contradictions in the new era have been transformed. The lack of financial talents that meet the requirements of market changes has become an important obstacle to the development of financial industry in the new era. How to innovating the ways and methods of cultivating financial talents and build a talent team that can meet the needs of information and network development in the new era is the focus of financial circle. In order to solve this problem, we should make reform and adjustment from the policy tool of talent training. Take the financial structure change, system change and internationalization development trend of the new era as the starting point. According to the principles of market, scientific and technological, as well as international, to reform the traditional training mode of financial talents. Taking policy tool elements such as strategic planning, organizational management, performance evaluation and data information platform construction better integrated into the training path of financial talents.
Power/Ground Network Optimization Considering Decap Leakage Currents

In this brief, the authors take a first look at the leakage effects of decaps in power/ground (P/G) grid optimization. Through the use of an approximate leakage current model, it is revealed that simple usage of the leakage model in traditional optimization methods cannot help in reducing noises on P/G grids, and it even hurts power consumption due to overadded decaps. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an efficient method to budget decaps when leakage effect is considered. Here, a new two-stage approach to solve this problem is proposed. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our new method
Comparative Analysis of T Lymphocytes Recovered from the Lungs of Mice Genetically Susceptible, Resistant, and Hyperresistant to Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Triggered Disease1

Genetic control of susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB) is being intensively studied, and immune responses to mycobacteria are considerably well characterized. However, it remains largely unknown which parameters of response distinguish resistant and susceptible TB phenotypes. Mice of I/St and A/Sn inbred strains and (A/Sn × I/St)F1 hybrids were previously categorized as, respectively, susceptible, resistant, and hyperresistant to Mycobacterium tuberculosis-triggered disease. In the present work we compared parameters of lung T cell activation and response following M. tuberculosis challenge. In all mice, the disease progression was accompanied by a marked accumulation in the lungs of activated CD4+ (CD44high/CD45RBlow) and CD8+ (CD44high/CD45RB+) T cells capable of secreting IFN-γ and of activating macrophages for NO production and mycobacterial growth inhibition. However, significantly more CD8+ T cells were accumulated in the lungs of resistant A/Sn and F1 compared with I/St mice. About 80% A/Sn and F1 CD8+ cells expressed CD44high/CD45RB+ phenotype, while about 40% I/St CD8+ cells did not express CD45RB marker at week 5 of infection. In contrast, in susceptible I/St mice lung CD4+ cells proliferated much more strongly in response to mycobacterial sonicate, and a higher proportion of these cells expressed CD95 and underwent apoptosis compared with A/Sn cells. Unseparated lung cells and T cells of I/St origin produced more IL-5 and IL-10, respectively, whereas their A/Sn and F1 counterparts produced more IFN-γ following infection. F1 cells overall expressed an intermediate phenotype between the two parental strains. Such a more balanced type of immune reactivity could be linked to a better TB defense.
ALES: Cell Lineage Analysis and Mapping of Developmental Events

MOTIVATION Animals build their bodies by altering the fates of cells. The way in which they do so is reflected in the topology of cell lineages and the fates of terminal cells. Cell lineages should, therefore, contain information about the molecular events that determined them. Here we introduce new tools for visualizing, manipulating, and extracting the information contained in cell lineages. Our tools enable us to analyze very large cell lineages, where previously analyses have only been carried out on cell lineages no larger than a few dozen cells. RESULTS Ales (A Lineage Evaluation System) allows the display, evaluation and comparison of cell lineages with the aim of identifying molecular and cellular events underlying development. Ales introduces a series of algorithms that locate putative developmental events. The distribution of these predicted events can then be compared to gene expression patterns or other cellular characteristics. In addition, artificial lineages can be generated, or existing lineages modified, according to a range of models, in order to test hypotheses about lineage evolution. AVAILABILITY The program can run on any operating system with a compliant Java 2 environment. Ales is free for academic use and can be downloaded from http://mbi.dkfz-heidelberg.de/mbi/research/cellsim/ales.
Outpatient Management of Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes

In Brief Disturbed eating behaviors are common in adolescent girls and young women; however, these behaviors are significantly more common in those with type 1 diabetes than in the general population. Long-term treatment of patients with eating disorders and type 1 diabetes (ED-DMT1) often occurs in outpatient settings. This article reviews the clinical issues and strategies relevant to the outpatient treatment of ED-DMT1.
The role of NF‐κB in lymphoid malignancies

Nuclear Factor kappaB (NF‐κB) transcription factors are central regulators of lymphocyte proliferation, survival and development. Although normally subject to tight control, constitutive activation of NF‐κB promotes inappropriate lymphocyte survival and proliferation, and is recognised as key pathological feature in various lymphoid malignancies. Inhibition of NF‐κB may be an attractive therapeutic approach in these diseases. This review focuses on the mechanisms and functional consequences of NF‐κB activation in lymphoid malignancies and potential therapeutic strategies for inhibition of NF‐κB.
American Investment Banking in the Context of Great Economic Crises

Abstract The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers had a strong impact on the whole financial system and started the worst recession since the Great Depression. However, it was not the first crisis in the history of the USA. The purpose of this article is to present the history of investment banking during the main crises in the US history and their impact on the American economy. The article presents the following: a definition of investment banking, theoretical aspects of crises, changes in banking system regulations, and the history of the most important American investment banks, including the infamous Lehman Brothers.
The Design of Multilayer Optical Coatings Using Convex Optimization

For the first time, convex optimization is applied to the design of multilayer optical coatings. We present two different approaches to approximate the design problem as a convex optimization problem. This problem is then efficiently solved using interior point methods. Our formulation is fast and flexible, allowing the designer to add any number of constraints. The results show that the used approximation is tight and has a good match with the exact solution
Addressing Online Behavioral Advertising and Privacy Implications: A Comparison of Passive Versus Active Learning Approaches

Sophisticated technology advances are delivering new and powerful ways for marketers to collect and use consumer data. These data-driven marketing capabilities present a unique challenge for students, as they will soon be expected to manage consumer data and make business decisions based on ethical, legal, and fiscal considerations. This article attempts to address shortcomings related to the “information privacy gap” in marketing education by providing educators with an online behavioral advertising exercise that they can employ in their courses. This article offers educators an easy-to-implement learning exercise that can help students better comprehend these new technologies and the implications for consumer privacy. Furthermore, we compare two exercises (active vs. passive learning) to assess the outcomes of each approach.