Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The SKN-1 hunger games: May the odds be ever in your favor

Animals must continually assess nutrient availability to develop appropriate strategies for survival and reproductive success. It is no secret that nutritional state plays a large role in both aging and health.1-7 Appropriate cellular energy usage is not only crucial for animal starvation survival, but is also important for diseases such as obesity and cancer, which characteristically have metabolic dysfunction.8-10 C. elegans are exceptionally well poised to handle bouts of starvation as resource availability in the wild varies greatly.11,12 We recently discovered an evolutionarily conserved pathway, regulated by the cytoprotective transcription factor SKN-1/Nrf2, which integrates diet composition and availability with utilization for survival.13,14 These responses have potent impact on organismal physiology and remarkably are influenced by current and parental life history events, including choice of diet. In this commentary we will focus on recent insights concerning dietary intake and the impact that this can have throughout the life history of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. In light of the strong impact that diet plays throughout life we urge caution when interpreting previous studies that make use of only one diet and suggest a reinvestigation utilizing a different diet is warranted.
Finite nest structures and propositional logic

Our terminology and notation is the same as that of [1], of which this note is a sequel. We wish to show that if we take the natural deduction system (N) described in [1], and delete the rules for the quantifiers, we obtain a complete system for propositional logic. [Of course we now construe “X”, “Y”, “Z” as syntactic variables ranging over formulas of propositional logic, rather than sentences of quantification theory. ] Moreover the system serves as a neat decision procedure.
GRAIN MARKETS: A SOUTH-AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

Paper presented at the “Grains and Oilseed Outlook” of the AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK FORUM 2002, that took place in Arlington (VA) in February 21-22, sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The authors acknowledge the assistance of Daniel Baptistella, Jailton Pereira Santos, Eduardo Barker, Guilherme Soria Bastos Filho, and Eduardo Leao. Direct all correspondence to agroconsult@agroconsult.inf. br or msjank@usp.br. INDEX
Inheritance of resistance to cucumber mosaic virus transmission by Aphis gossypii in Cucumis melo.

PITRAT, M. , and H. LECOQ. 1980. Inheritance of resistance to cucumber mosaic virus transmission by Aphis gossypii in Cucumis melo. Phytopathology 70:958-961. Melon (Cucumis melo) line PI 161375 (SC), which is resistant to the resistance to CMV "common" strains which is under an oligogenic cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) transmission by Aphisgossypii, was crossed recessive genetic control. The study of a varietal collection has shown that with two susceptible lines to study the inheritance of its resistance. five melon lines other than SC (viz. PI 164320 and PI 414723 from India and According to the behavior of the F1, F2, and BC 1 progenies, resistance to Ginsen makuwa, Kanro makuwa, and Shiroubi okayama from Japan) are CMV transmission by A. gossypii is controlled by one dominant gene that resistant to CMV transmission by A. gossypii regardless of their resistance appears to be associated with nonpreference for these plants by A. gossypii. or susceptibility to CMV "common" strains. The resistance to CMV transmission by the melon aphid is independent of
Structured Methods for Solving Hankel Matrix Approximation Problems

The problem of finding the nearest positive semidefinite Hankel matrix of a given rank to an arbitrary matrix is considered. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear minimization problem with positive semidefinite Hankel matrix as constraints. Then an algorithm with rapid convergence is obtained by the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) method. A second approach is to formulate the problem as a smooth unconstrained minimization problem, for which rapid convergence can be obtained by, for example, the BFGS method. This paper studies both methods. Comparative numerical results are reported.
The Double-Blind Variable Placebo Lead-in Period: Results From Two Antidepressant Clinical Trials

The 1-week single-blind placebo lead-in has long been a standard in double-blind psychopharmacology clinical trials. Although a lead-in period is often necessary (e.g., to receive laboratory results before randomization), some authors have demonstrated that the standard single-blind placebo lead-in’s performance was similar to having a lead-in in which placebo was not administered. The single-blind placebo lead-in did not decrease postrandomization placebo response, nor did it increase drug–placebo differences. To eliminate a higher percentage of placebo responders before randomization and to reduce potential biases in baseline ratings, the authors designed and implemented two depression studies with a double-blind variable placebo lead-in period. In these designs, both the patients and personnel at the investigative sites were blinded to the length of the placebo lead-in period and the start of the active treatment period. Approximately 28% of the patients in the double-blind placebo lead-in studies met criteria to be placebo lead-in responders, as compared with fewer than 10% from two single-blind placebo lead-in studies conducted in a similar time frame. Although all patients continued in the study (including placebo lead-in responders), the primary efficacy analysis prospectively excluded double-blind placebo lead-in responders. Analysis of postrandomization changes revealed that double-blind placebo lead-in responders, even when continuing to receive placebo treatment, maintained their response. At the study endpoint, these placebo lead-in responders had significantly lower severity scores than their counterparts who were not lead-in responders. The prospective removal of lead-in responders thus resulted in an increase in mean endpoint placebo group severity scores. This resulted in an increased drug–placebo treatment difference in one of the two studies but had no effect on the treatment difference in the other study.
Comparison of a mitochondrial gene and a corresponding nuclear pseudogene

Nuclear copies of mitochondrial genes have been reported several times. Presented here is a direct comparison of a fragment of the mitochondrial gene coding for Cytochrome b and its assumed nuclear pseudogene in a phylogenetic context. By studying eight such sets of genes a direct measurement of relative rates of several types of substitutions were made. As expected mitochondrial third position transitions are the fastest accumulating substitutions, here indicated to be at least up to 39 times faster than corresponding positions in the supposed nuclear pseudogene. Translocated mitochondrial genes, evolving much slower than their functional ‘counterpart’, reflect the ancestral-pre-translocated form of the gene. A warning is given against unwanted inclusion of paralogous sequences in phylogenetic analysis and against the use of versatile primers that can promote such incidents.
An Analysis & Survey on Quality of Service Improvement in MANET, VANET and WSN

: An Ad-hoc network has a Provision of Quality of Service (QoS) to support many applications like digital and multimedia applications. However, one of the challenging tasks in Ad-hoc Network (MANET &VANET) is Quality of Service (QoS) which is determined by numerous parameters such as bandwidth and delay constraints, varying channel conditions, power limitations, node mobility, dynamic topology, packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay and connection duration. With the increasing demand for real time applications in the Wireless Senor Network (WSN), real time critical events anticipate an efficient quality-of-service (QoS) based routing for data delivery from the network infrastructure. Designing such QoS based agent routing protocol to meet the reliability and delay guarantee of critical events while preserving the energy efficiency is a challenging task. This paper surveying about (QoS) based agent routing algorithms in MANET, WSN and VANET.
Effect of Retinoic Acid on Apoptosis and DNA Repair in Human Keratinocytes after UVB Irradiation

Background: Skin cancer is extremely common. Epidemiological studies indicated that ultraviolet radiation (UV) is the primary cause for skin cancers, and that retinoic acid (RA) is able to inhibit this UV-induced skin carcinogenesis; however, the molecular mechanism of the anti-UV action of RA is unclear. Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate if RA enhances the removal of UV-induced DNA damage. Methods: The effect of RA on UV-induced apoptosis and DNA repair was investigated by ELISA apoptosis assay and CAT assay. Results: Both all-trans-RA and 9-cis-RA did not promote UV-induced apoptosis nor the repair of UV-damaged DNA in human keratinocytes. Furthermore, RA did not induce the expression of p53. Conclusion: The inhibition of RA on skin carcinogenesis is not due to enhanced removal of UV-damaged DNA. Therefore, RA does not inhibit skin cancer development at the initiation stage, but possibly at the promotion and progression stages.
Screening of antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic potential of oil from Piper longum and piperine with their possible mechanism

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycaemia and other symptoms like polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst) and polyphagia (increased hunger) which ultimately causes various other complications like retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy and microangiopathy. Objectives: The antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic potential of oil from Piper longum (PLO) and piperine was investigated with their possible mechanism using α-glucosidase, aldose reductase (AR), and pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity. Methods: The biochemical parameters, viz. glucose level, insulin level, liver glycogen content, glycosylated hemoglobin, total plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, and antioxidant parameters, were estimated for all treated groups in acute and chronic antihyperglycemic animal models. Results: PLO (100 and 200 mg/kg), piperine (25 and 50 mg/kg), and glibenclamide (0.6 mg/kg) in respective groups of diabetic animals administered for 28 days reduced the blood glucose level in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. There was significant increase in body weight, liver glycogen content, plasma insulin, and high-density lipoprotein and decrease in glycosylated hemoglobin, triglyceride, and total plasma cholesterol in PLO-administered groups as compared to control group. The IC50 value of PLO for α-glucosidase, AR, and pancreatic lipase was found to be 150 ± 2.5, 120 ± 1.2, and 175 ± 1.2 μg/ml, respectively, which was found comparable with the standard drugs acarbose (90 ± 2.3 μg/ml), quercetin (80 ± 2.3 μg/ml), and orlistat (25 ± 0.5 μg/ml), respectively. Conclusion: The investigation done reveals that PLO has significant antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic activity.
The diffusion performance analysis of variational PDE based neural network restoration models

In this paper, we introduce two variational PDEs (Partial Differential Equations) as the regularization terms to the image restoration model based on the modified Hopfield neural network. The performance of these regularization terms is analyzed from the viewpoint of nonlinear diffusion. It can be shown that the two proposed restoration models have superior edge preserving performance than the traditional restoration model.
Cellular and antibody reactions to streptococcal M protein types 1, 3, 6 and 12.

Immunization with purified M protein, a component of the group A streptococcal cell wall, induces the formation of circulating antibody and delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity (DCH). The specificity of these responses was evaluated in guinea pigs and man, using types 1, 3, 6 and 12 M protein. In a study of 10 human adults, delayed hypersensitivity and circulating antibody to more than one M protein was usually present. In several individuals, in vitro cellular reactivity to several M proteins was found in the absence of detectable DCH and antibody. Female Hartley guinea pigs sensitized with specific M proteins were reactive to homologous and, to a lesser extent, heterologous serotypes when DCH or spleen cell reactivity was determined. High titer homologous antisera reacted with heterologous M proteins measured by passive hemagglutination; only opsonic antibody was type-specific. Cellular responses to M proteins, assayed by spleen cell reactivity and inhibition of peritoneal exudate cell migration 6 months after sensitization when antibody was no longer detectable, were as great as when titers were high. Unimmunized controls, or those given Freund's adjuvant without M protein manifested negative skin tests, did not produce circulating antibody or respond with significant cellular proliferation when challenged with M proteins.
Enhancement of electromagnetic field intensity by metallic photonic crystal for efficient upconversion

2D arrays of cylindrical and rectangular gold nanopillars in square and triangular lattice were investigated for maximum field intensity enhancement above the metal dielectric interface. 3D-FDTD method was used for investigation and design of metallic photonic crystal. Photonic crystal was designed for maximum electromagnetic field intensity enhancement in infrared radiation centered at 980 nm wavelength. It was found that gold nanopillars of thickness 70nm, diameter 310nm and periodic in 620nm enhances the electromagnetic intensity by 100 times above the metallic nanopillars by exciting surface plasmon resonance. Enhancement of near-field intensity by two orders of magnitude is the promising way to increase the upconversion of infrared radiation by rare earth doped nanoparticles, such as NaYF4:Er,Yb.
Phagocytic functions of salivary neutrophils in oral mucous membrane diseases.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Phagocytic functions of salivary polymorphonuclear neutrophils (sPMNs) have not been comprehensively studied in patients with oral mucous membrane diseases, although available data suggest the role of immunity in their pathogenesis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Phagocytic functions of sPMN were determined in 15 patients with acute recurrent aphthous ulceration (RAU), 11 patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) and 20 healthy volunteers. In healthy subjects, the same parameters were also determined in peripheral blood polymorphonuclear neutrophils (bPMNs). Phagocytic activity (proportion of ingesting cells, PA), ingestion ability (number of ingested targets per 100 phagocytes, IA) and intracellular microbicidity (proportion of killed targets, IM) of PMNs separated from peripheral blood and the whole unstimulated saliva were determined by acridine orange method with living yeast cells as targets. RESULTS Salivary PMNs in healthy individuals showed significant reduction in PA (33% vs. 76%; P < 0.009) and IA (0.47% vs. 2.93%; P < 0.009) and significant increase in IM (12.0% vs. 5.5%; P = 0.011) in comparison with bPMNs. In RAU patients, reduced PA (27% vs. 37%; P = 0.035) and IA (0.25% vs. 0.47%; P = 0.05) were detected, while in OLP patients enhanced IM was detected (12% vs. 19%; P = 0.033) in comparison with healthy controls. CONCLUSION Salivary PMNs present functional features distinct from those in peripheral blood. Some phagocytic functions of sPMNs are reduced in RAU and enhanced in OLP, indicating their role in pathogenesis or reflecting clinical changes in these conditions.
Parametrization of ice‐particle size distributions for mid‐latitude stratiform cloud

Particle size distributions measured by the UK C‐130 aircraft in ice stratiform cloud around the British Isles are analysed. Probability distribution functions over large scales show that the zeroth, second and fourth moments (equivalent to concentration, ice water content and radar reflectivity) as well as mean particle size have monomodal distributions. Rescaling of the size distributions requiring knowledge of two moments reveals a ‘universal’ distribution that has been fitted with analytically integrable functions. The existence of the ‘universal’ distribution implies that two‐moment microphysics schemes are adequate to represent particle size distributions (PSDs). In large‐scale models it may be difficult to predict two moments, and so power laws between moments have been found as functions of in‐cloud temperature. This means that a model capable of predicting ice water content and temperature can predict ice PSDs to use for calculations requiring knowledge of the size distribution (e.g. precipitation rate, radar reflectivity) or to make direct use of the power laws relating moments of the size distribution. © Royal Meteorological Society, 2005. Contributions by P. R. Field, P. R. A. Brown and R. J. Cotton are Crown copyright.
Demethylation of the Synuclein γ Gene CpG Island in Primary Gastric Cancers and Gastric Cancer Cell Lines

Purpose: Whereas synuclein γ (SNCG) gene expression is usually highly tissue-specific and restricted to the nervous system, SNCG is expressed in advanced-stage breast and ovarian cancers. When overexpressed, SNCG stimulates cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. It is thought that the molecular mechanism of CpG island demethylation may underlie aberrant SNCG expression. To determine whether aberrant SNCG expression and demethylation play a role in gastric carcinogenesis, we examined the expression and methylation status of SNCG in primary gastric cancers, gastric cancer cell lines, and non-neoplastic gastric mucosal tissues. Experimental Design: Ten gastric cancer cell lines, 105 primary gastric cancers, and 10 non-neoplastic gastric mucosal tissues were examined. SNCG expression and methylation status were examined by reverse transcription-PCR and bisulfite-single-strand conformational polymorphism followed by direct sequencing, respectively. The relationship between SNCG methylation status and various clinicopathological factors of the primary gastric cancers was then analyzed. Results: SNCG mRNA expression was observed in 5 of 10 cell lines. Analysis of cell lines positive for SNCG expression revealed that most of the SNCG CpGs were demethylated. SNCG mRNA was not expressed in the 10 non-neoplastic gastric mucosal tissues, although several CpGs were demethylated. Of the 105 primary gastric cancers, 40 (38.1%) showed apparent SNCG demethylation, similar to the result obtained using cell lines. SNCG demethylation was more frequent in primary gastric cancers positive for lymph node metastasis (51%; 26 of 51) than in cancers without lymph node involvement (26%; 14 of 54; P < 0.05), and also more common in stage II-IV (48%; 27 of 56) than in stage I (27%; 13 of 49) cancers (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Aberrant SNCG gene expression can occur via CpG island demethylation, and tends to occur during the more progressive stages of gastric carcinogenesis.
Monopulse angle estimation for unresolved targets with a fourth order cumulant

Monopulse angle estimation for unresolved multiple targets in antenna mainbeam was proposed in this paper. A fourth order cumulant was introduced to increase the array's degree-of-freedom of monopulse beamformer from two to four. Subsequently, a derivative VESPA algorithm was used for calculating the multiple monopulse ratios to enable angle estimation by existing monopulse processing. Results of computer simulation were provided to illustrate the performance comparison with the four dimensional beamspace MUSIC. The results show higher accuracy than the beamspace MUSIC for the unresolved two targets scenario.
Opening of the blood–brain barrier during isoflurane anaesthesia

In order to produce its desired effect, anaesthesia acts upon neuronal elements by modifying membrane conductances and transmitter interactions. The effect of higher doses of isoflurane, widely used in clinical settings, on the permeability of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is meanwhile ignored. In this study we investigated the integrity of the BBB during various levels of isoflurane anaesthesia (1% and 3%) in cats by monitoring the extravasation of Evans blue. Simultaneously we measured the electroencephalogram (EEG), with particular emphasis on its direct current (DC) component. High doses of anaesthetic (3%) broke down the BBB in the cortex and thalamus, while milder doses (1%) only opened the BBB in the thalamus. The fluorescent signal of Evans blue was visible over an extravascular length of 23 μm in the cortex and 25 μm in the thalamus, similar to the diffusion of the same dye when the BBB was disrupted with mannitol. The opening of the BBB was associated with (i) a positive DC shift in the EEG measured on the scalp and (ii) an evaluated increase in cerebral volume of 2–2.8%. The opening of the BBB by high doses of isoflurane brings into discussion hitherto unexplored effects of anaesthesia on the brain. The electrophysiological correlate provided by the DC component of the EEG constitutes a promising option for the assessment of the BBB integrity during human anaesthesia.
Tongxinluo attenuates neuronal loss and enhances neurogenesis and angiogenesis in the ipsilateral thalamus and improves neurological outcome after focal cortical infarction in hypertensive rats.

PURPOSE Tongxinluo, a well-known traditional Chinese medicine complex, has been widely used for the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases in China. The present study was to explore whether treatment with tongxinluo could improve neurological function and alleviate secondary damage in the ipsilateral thalamus after focal cortical infarction in hypertensive rats. METHODS Tongxinluo was given through oral gavage starting 24 h after distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Neurological function was assessed and then rats were sacrificed 7 and 14 days after MCAO. Brains were harvested for examining infarction volume, Nissl staining and immunofluorescence analysis. RESULTS Compared with vehicle treatment, tongxinluo remarkably improved neurological function without reducing infarction volume, attenuated neuronal loss and astrocyte activation in the ipsilateral thalamus 7 and 14 days after MCAO (all p < 0.05). Also, tongxinluo markedly increased the number of BrdU+/nestin+ and BrdU+/NeuN+ cells 14 days after MCAO. Moreover, vascular density, the number of BrdU+ vascular endothelial cells, and vascular perimeter in the ipsilateral thalamus were markedly increased in the tongxinluo group relative to that of the vehicle group (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSION Administration of tongxinluo 24 h after cortical infarction may promote neurogenesis and angiogenesis in the ipsilateral thalamus and improves neurological function after cortical infarction in rats.
Social context and social capital as enablers of knowledge integration

This paper argues that social contexts and social capital enable knowledge integration; that different social contexts combined with different types of social capital enable different types of knowledge integration. Four types of social contexts are distinguished based on the extent of social embeddedness and closeness of interorganizational coupling; four types of social capital are also described. Based on the diversity of knowledge streams, the extent of tacitness of knowledge to be exchanged, and value created through such exchanges, four modes of knowledge integration are identified, namely frontier, incremental, combinative, and instrumental. This paper provides new insights about the processes of interorganizational transfer of knowledge: the unique combination of a specific social context with a specific type of social capital means firms can achieve equally effective yet highly differentiated approaches to different modes of knowledge integration.