Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of amikacin sulfate on the motility of stallion and bull spermatozoa at different temperatures and intervals of storage.

Because microfloral content of stallion semen tends to be high, and strains may be resistant to commonly used antibiotics, amikacin was tested with stallion semen and compared with bull semen. Nine ejaculates to stallion semen were incubated at 37 C in egg yolk-tris extender for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 h in the presence of amikacin concentrations of 0, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1,000 and 10,000 microgram/ml, with penicillin and penicillin-streptomycin as controls. Averaged over all incubations, spermatozoal motility was 44, 48, 49, 46, 45, 45 and 19%, for increasing concentrations of amikacin, compared with 52 and 47% for penicillin and penicillin-streptomycin controls. The 10,000 microgram/ml concentration of amikacin was the only treatment that suppressed sperm motility (P less than .01). Amikacin (0, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1,000 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000 microgram/ml) and 1,000 IU of penicillin G plus 1,000 microgram of streptomycin/ml or 10,000 IU of penicillin G/ml were added to nine ejaculates of bull semen stored at 4 C in egg yolk-tris extender, and evaluated after 0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 d. The percentage of motile spermatozoa, with increasing levels of amikacin, was 66, 67, 66, 64, 67, 68, 74, 68 and 53%, respectively. Amikacin, at 2,500 microgram/ml, resulted in the highest (P less than .01) motility compared to the other levels of antibiotics after 7 d storage. Both 10,000 microgram of amikacin and 10,000 IU of penicillin G/ml depressed (P less than .01) the mean percentage of motile bull spermatozoa. These studies demonstrate that high concentrations of amikacin can be added to stallion and bull semen without depressing motility of spermatozoa.
Electromagnetic quantization in dispersive inhomogeneous nonlinear dielectrics.

A technique of canonical quantization in a general dispersive nonlinear dielectric medium is presented. The medium can be inhomogeneous and anisotropic. The fields are expanded in a slowly varying envelope approximation to allow quantization. An arbitrary number of envelopes is included, assuming lossless propagation in each relevant frequency band. The resulting Lagrangian and Hamiltonian agree with known propagation equations and expressions for the dispersive energy. The central result of the theory is an expansion of the quantum Hamiltonian in terms of annihilation and creation operators corresponding to group-velocity photon-polariton excitations in the dielectric.
Stimulation‐induced reset of hippocampal theta in the freely performing rat

Previous research has suggested that visual and auditory stimuli in a working memory task have the ability to reset hippocampal theta, perhaps allowing an organism to encode the incoming information optimally. The present study examined two possible neural pathways involved in theta resetting. Rats were trained on a visual discrimination task in an operant chamber. At the beginning of a trial, a light appeared over a centrally located lever that the rat was required to press to receive a water reward. There was a 30‐s intertrial interval before the next light stimulus appeared. After learning the task, all rats received surgical implantation of stimulating electrodes in both the fornix and the perforant path and recording electrodes, bilaterally in the hippocampus. After surgery, theta was recorded before and after the light stimulus to determine whether resetting to the visual stimulus occurred. During the intertrial interval, rats received single‐pulse electrical stimulation of either the fornix or perforant path. Theta was recorded both before and after the electrical stimulation to determine whether resetting occurred. In this experiment, hippocampal theta was reset after all three stimulus conditions (light, perforant path, and fornix stimulation), with the greatest degree of reset occurring after the fornix stimulation. The results suggest that activation of the perforant path and fornix may underlie theta reset and provide a mechanism by which the hippocampus may enhance cognitive processing. Hippocampus 2003;13:109–116. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Improved Output Voltage Quality using Space Vector Modulation for Multilevel Inverters

Space vector modulation (SVM) has received wide acceptance due to many benefits over other techniques such as higher output voltages, lower total harmonic distortion (THD), high-efficiency and flexible to be implemented in vector control systems. In digital implementation, the SVM equations can be optimally computed by eliminate the use of complex forms. In this paper, the simple SVM based on twolevel inverter is employed for higher levels of inverters. This is to retain the simplicity of SVM computation for three-level and five-level cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (CHMI). Moreover, the proposed method utilizes two controller boards to perform high computational workloads and to eliminate glitch and error problems. Experiment results show that the THD of output voltage in five-level CHMI gives the smallest value among the results obtained from other levels.
Diels-Alder in Aqueous Molecular Hosts: Unusual Regioselectivity and Efficient Catalysis

Self-assembled, hollow molecular structures are appealing as synthetic hosts for mediating chemical reactions. However, product binding has inhibited catalytic turnover in such systems, and selectivity has rarely approached the levels observed in more structurally elaborate natural enzymes. We found that an aqueous organopalladium cage induces highly unusual regioselectivity in the Diels-Alder coupling of anthracene and phthalimide guests, promoting reaction at a terminal rather than central anthracene ring. Moreover, a similar bowl-shaped host attains efficient catalytic turnover in coupling the same substrates (although with the conventional regiochemistry), most likely because the product geometry inhibits the aromatic stacking interactions that attract the planar reagents to the host.
Murine double minute 2 promoter SNP309 polymorphism and prostate cancer risk: A meta‐analysis

Objective: The murine double minute 2 gene encodes a negative regulator of the tumor protein p53. A single nucleotide polymorphism in murine double minute 2 promoter, SNP309 T>G, has been reported to alter murine double minute 2 protein expression and to accelerate tumor formation in humans. We carried out a meta‐analysis to explore the association between this polymorphism and prostate cancer risk.
Performance Comparison of NextSeq and Ion Proton Platforms for Molecular Diagnosis of Clinical Oncology

Purpose Next-generation sequencing is a powerful approach to detect genetic mutations with which cancer diagnosis and treatment can be tailored to the individual patient in the era of personalized and precision medicine. Ion Torrent Systems Ion Proton and Illumina NextSeq are 2 major targeted sequencing platforms; however, not much work has been done to compare these platforms’ performance for mutation detection in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) materials. Methods We benchmarked the performance by using a collection of FFPE samples from 23 patients with different cancers for NextSeq and Ion Proton platforms. We report analysis of sequencing in terms of average coverage depth, read length, and variant detection. Results Sequencing results by NextSeq and Ion Proton displayed near perfect coverage behavior (>99%) on target region. We analyzed the ability to call variants from each platform and found that Ion Proton sequencing can identify 89% of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) whose mutant allele frequency (MAF) is greater than or equal to 5% detected by the NextSeq pipeline in common analytical regions. The correlation coefficient of MAF for those common SNVs was 1.0046 (R2 = 0.973) between the 2 platforms. To call lower mutant frequency (5%-10%) mutations for NextSeq sequencing, coverage depth should be improved. The concordance of small insertions and deletions between these 2 pipelines was up to 100%. Conclusions The 2 sequencing pipelines evaluated were able to generate usable sequence and had high concordance. They are proper for mutation detection in clinical application.
Antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of polyphenolic compounds isolated from the leaves of Leucenia leucocephala

Context: Cancer is a serious clinical problem to the health care system. Anticancer drugs have been extracted from plants containing phenolic compounds. Leucenia species (Fabaceae) contain a variety of bioactive components of numerous biological and pharmacological properties. Objective: This study explored the constitutive polyphenols of Leucenia leucocephala Lam. growing in Egypt and evaluated the antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. Materials and methods: Chemical structures of the isolated compounds from the leaves of L. leucocephala were established by spectral techniques (UV, 1H, and 13C NMR, MS). Results: Chromatographic separation of 80% MeOH extract of the leaves of L. leucocephala have resulted in a novel flavonoid-galloyl glycoside [myricetin 3-O-(2′,3′4′-tri-O-galloyl)-α-l-rhamnopyranoside] with three known polyphenolic compounds isolated for the first time from this species (apigenin 7-O-β-d-glucuronopyranoside methyl ester, luteolin 7-O-β-d-glucuronopyranoside methyl ester, and 1,3,6-tri-O-galloyl-β-d-glucopyranose) and seven known previously isolated compounds. Also, 80% methanol extract exhibited high antioxidant activity (SC50 = 3.94 µg/ml), which is correlated with its phenolic content. The extract also showed cytotoxic activity against Hep G2 (IC50 value 1.41 µg/ml) confirming its anticancer activity against hepatocellular carcinoma. Among the tested compounds (4–8) for antioxidant property, compound 7 was the most active compound (SC50 = 2.49 µg/ml). Also compounds 7 and 8 exhibited high cytotoxic activity (IC50 = 2.41 and 2.81 µg/ml, respectively). Discussion and conclusion: These findings demonstrate that the leaves of L. leucocephala contain a considerable amount of polyphenolic compounds with high antioxidant properties, thus it has great potential as a source for natural health products.
Disturbance observer based adaptive sliding mode controllers for fuzzy systems with mismatched disturbance

The paper has considered a problem of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy system with mismatched disturbance and proposed a approach named DOB-SMC which introduce the estimates of the disturbances into the design of the sliding mode controllers and the sliding surface. A disturbance observer is presented to estimate the mismatched disturbance in the paper and a adaptive sliding mode controller is also put forward to solve the problems of unknown parameters. At last of the paper, the example of ball-beam system is employed to verify the effectiveness of the method we suggested and the results prove that the approach designed in this paper is very efficient and applicable for the problems contraposed in this paper.
The influence of maternal nutrition on muscle fiber number development in the porcine fetus and on subsequent postnatal growth.

In the pig, undernutrition in utero causes low birth weight, a decrease in muscle fiber number, and a reduction in postnatal growth rate. The effect on fiber number is mediated via a reduced secondary fiber population. Within a litter of pigs, lighter-weight pigs have probably suffered some deficit in muscle fiber number. In an attempt to improve the number of fibers in the lighter-weight pig fetuses, four maternal feeding regimens were used, one serving as the control. Maternal feed intake was doubled for one of three time periods during pregnancy: 1) d 25 to 50 (HE) immediately before fiber hyperplasia; 2) d 50 to 80 (HL) during fiber hyperplasia; or 3) d 25 to 80 (HT) covering both developmental events. Controls were fed at levels routinely used for pregnant sows on the farm. Sows farrowed normally and pig birth weights were recorded. Estimates were made of total myofiber number, total primary fiber number, and mean secondary:primary fiber number ratio (S:P) for the semitendinosus of each pig at 5 wk postnatal or 80 kg (HT and two control litters only). The progeny of all supplemented sows had a significantly greater mean S:P ratio (P < .05), and the HE pigs tended to have a greater number of muscle fibers than control pigs (403,840 +/- 8,197 vs 370,970 +/- 12,720). Postnatal growth rate to 80 kg was also investigated for the HT group of pigs. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Sites of retroviral DNA integration: From basic research to clinical applications

Abstract One of the most crucial steps in the life cycle of a retrovirus is the integration of the viral DNA (vDNA) copy of the RNA genome into the genome of an infected host cell. Integration provides for efficient viral gene expression as well as for the segregation of viral genomes to daughter cells upon cell division. Some integrated viruses are not well expressed, and cells latently infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) can resist the action of potent antiretroviral drugs and remain dormant for decades. Intensive research has been dedicated to understanding the catalytic mechanism of integration, as well as the viral and cellular determinants that influence integration site distribution throughout the host genome. In this review, we summarize the evolution of techniques that have been used to recover and map retroviral integration sites, from the early days that first indicated that integration could occur in multiple cellular DNA locations, to current technologies that map upwards of millions of unique integration sites from single in vitro integration reactions or cell culture infections. We further review important insights gained from the use of such mapping techniques, including the monitoring of cell clonal expansion in patients treated with retrovirus-based gene therapy vectors, or patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) on suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART). These insights span from integrase (IN) enzyme sequence preferences within target DNA (tDNA) at the sites of integration, to the roles of host cellular proteins in mediating global integration distribution, to the potential relationship between genomic location of vDNA integration site and retroviral latency.
A suboptimal solution to joint source and relay power allocation of MIMO relay systems

The joint source and relay power allocation (PA) problem of MIMO relay systems is studied in this paper. First, a joint PA cost function is formulated based on the maximization of the capacity. It is then shown that the cost function is only partially convex, i.e., it is convex with respect to only either the power allocation parameters in the source or those in the relay alone, making it very difficult to obtain a truly joint optimal PA solution. Next, a tight lower bound of the capacity is derived and employed to modify the cost function so as to achieve an easy-to-solve convex optimization problem. Finally, a convex solution as a suboptimal PA scheme for the entire relay system is obtained by applying a standard convex optimization method to the modified problem. It is confirmed through computer simulations that the proposed PA scheme outperforms the existing method in terms of the capacity of the MIMO relay system.
Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor Inhibits Aortic Smooth Muscle Cell Migration Induced by Tissue Factor/Factor VIIa Complex

Summary Tissue factor (TF), a transmembrane glycoprotein, forms a high affinity complex with factor Vll/VIIa (FVIIa) and thereby initiates blood coagulation. Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) is an endogenous protease inhibitor of TF/FVIIa-initiated coagulation. We previously reported that TF was a strong chemotactic factor for cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). In this study, we examined the contribution of FVIIa and the effect of TFPI to TF-induced cultured SMC migration. TF/FVIIa complex showed a strong migration ability, however, neither TF alone nor FVIIa induced SMC migration. TF/FVIIa treated by a serine protease inhibitor and the complex of TF and inactivated FVIIa (DEGR-FVIIa) did not stimulate SMC migration. Pretreatment with hirudin and the antibodies to a-thrombin and factor X had no effect on TF/FVIIa-induced SMC migration, although a-thrombin and factor Xa also induced SMC migration respectively. TFPI markedly inhibited TF/FVIIa-induced SMC migration in a concentration-dependent manner, but did not affect the SMC migration induced by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB, basic fibro blast-growth factor (bFGF), or a-thrombin. These results indicate that the catalytic activity of TF/FVIIa complex is important on SMC migration, and TFPI can reduce SMC migration as well as thrombosis.
Characterization of uremic toxin transport by organic anion transporters in the kidney.

BACKGROUND Harmful uremic toxins, such as indoxyl sulfate (IS), 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropionate (CMPF), indoleacetate (IA), and hippurate (HA), accumulate to a high degree in uremic plasma. IS has been shown to be a substrate of rat organic anion transporter 1 (rOat1) and rOat3. However, the contribution of rOat1 and rOat3 to the renal uptake transport process of IS and other uremic toxins in the kidney remains unknown. METHODS The cellular uptake of uremic toxins was determined using stable transfectants of rOat1/hOAT1 and rOat3/hOAT3 cells. Also, the uptake of uremic toxins by rat kidney slices was characterized to evaluate the contribution of rOat1 and rOat3 to the total uptake by kidney slices using inhibitors of rOat1 (p-aminohippurate) and rOat3 (pravastatin and benzylpenicillin). RESULTS Saturable uptake of IS, CMPF, IA, and HA by rOat1 was observed with Km values of 18, 154, 47, and 28 micromol/L, respectively, whereas significant uptake of IS and CMPF, but not of IA or HA, was observed in rOat3-expressing cells with Km values of 174 and 11 micromol/L, respectively. Similar parameters were obtained for human OAT1 and OAT3. Kinetic analysis of the IS uptake by kidney slices revealed involvement of two saturable components with Km1 (24 micromol/L) and Km2 (196 micromol/L) values that were comparable with those of rOat1 and rOat3. The Km value of CMPF uptake by kidney slices (22 micromol/L) was comparable with that of rOat3, while the corresponding values of IA and HA (42 and 33 micromol/L, respectively) were similar to those of rOat1. PAH preferentially inhibited the uptake of IA and HA by kidney slices, while pravastatin and benzylpenicillin preferentially inhibited the uptake of CMPF. The effect of these inhibitors on the uptake of IS by kidney slices was partial. CONCLUSIONS rOat1/hOAT1 and rOat3/hOAT3 play major roles in the renal uptake of uremic toxins on the basolateral membrane of the proximal tubules. Both OAT1 and OAT3 contribute almost equally to the renal uptake of IS. OAT3 mainly accounts for CMPF uptake by the kidney, while OAT1 mainly accounts for IA and HA uptake.
Whole Blood Multiple Electrode Aggregometry Is a Reliable Point-of-Care Test of Aspirin-Induced Platelet Dysfunction

BACKGROUND: Aspirin is one of the most commonly ingested over-the-counter drugs. In addition to its analgesic and antiinflammatory actions, it also potently inhibits platelet aggregation. Evaluation of aspirin-induced platelet dysfunction is relevant in various clinical situations, including during complex surgeries with high bleeding risk in individuals who have ingested aspirin. In this study, we examined the suitability of multiple electrode aggregometry (MEA) for time course assessment of the antiplatelet effects of a single oral dose of 500 mg aspirin. We also determined the applicability of this method in the point-of-care (POC) setting by comparing the results of the test after different time intervals after blood sampling. METHOD: Twenty-four adult volunteers were enrolled in the study. After blood drawing at baseline, 500 mg aspirin was administered to all volunteers. Blood samples were taken at 4, 24, 56, 80, and 124 h after aspirin ingestion. At each time point, measurements were performed immediately and 30 and 60 min after drawing blood. Whole blood MEA was performed after stimulation with thrombin receptor activating peptide (TRAPtest, 32 &mgr;M) and arachidonic acid (ASPItest, 0.5 mM). Repeated measurement analysis of variance with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons was performed to detect differences between time points. Assay imprecision was determined by calculating the coefficient of variation. The level of statistical significance was set to P < 0.05. RESULTS: Platelet aggregation by ASPItest was markedly decreased 4 h after aspirin intake. From the second day after aspirin intake, ASPItest values recovered with high interindividual variability, and 5 days after aspirin intake, ASPItest values did not differ significantly from baseline. TRAP-induced platelet aggregation (TRAPtest) showed no systematic changes during the study period. The resting time of the sample did not affect TRAPtest or ASPItest values. The coefficients of variation were 10% for the ASPItest and 7% for the TRAPtest. CONCLUSIONS: MEA reliably detected the effects of aspirin. Notably, 500 mg aspirin caused complete inhibition of arachidonic acid-induced platelet aggregation for 2 days in all volunteers. Aggregation returned to baseline values with a wide interindividual variation in time course by day 5. No resting time for the blood sample was required for ASPItest or TRAPtest. These assays can be implemented as real POC tests. The reproducibility of the assays studied here is within the range of modern POC analyzers.
Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Prevents Hepatic Steatosis in a Murine Model of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Prolonged use of total parenteral nutrition can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, ranging from hepatic steatosis to cirrhosis and liver failure. It has been demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids are negative regulators of hepatic lipogenesis and that they can also modulate the inflammatory response in mice. Furthermore, they may attenuate hepatic steatosis even in leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. We hypothesized that omega-3 fatty acid supplementation may protect the liver against hepatic steatosis in a murine model of parenteral nutrition in which all animals develop steatosis and liver enzyme disturbances. For testing this hypothesis, groups of mice received a fat-free, high-carbohydrate liquid diet ad libitum for 19 d with enteral or i.v. supplementation of an omega-3 fatty acid emulsion or a standard i.v. lipid emulsion. Control mice received food alone or the fat-free, high-carbohydrate diet without lipid supplementation. Mice that received the fat-free, high-carbohydrate diet only or supplemented with a standard i.v. lipid emulsion developed severe liver damage as determined by histology and magnetic resonance spectroscopy as well as elevation of serum liver function tests. Animals that received an i.v. omega-3 fatty acid emulsion, however, showed only mild deposits of fat in the liver, whereas enteral omega-3 fatty acids prevented hepatic pathology and led to normalization of liver function tests. In conclusion, whereas standard i.v. lipid emulsions fail to improve dietary-induced steatotic injury to the liver, i.v. supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids partially and enteral supplementation completely protects the liver against such injury.