Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proteome and radioimmunoassay analyses of pituitary hormones and proteins in response to feed restriction of dairy cows

The hypothalamic‐pituitary system controls homeostasis during feed energy reduction. In order to examine which pituitary proteins and hormone variants are potentially associated with metabolic adaptation, pituitary glands from ad libitum and energy restrictively fed dairy cows were characterized using RIA and 2‐DE followed by MALDI‐TOF‐MS. We found 64 different spots of regulatory hormones: growth hormone (44), preprolactin (16), luteinizing hormone (LH) (1), thyrotropin (1), proopiomelanocortin (1) and its cleavage product lipotropin (1), but none of these did significantly differ between feeding groups. Quantification of total pituitary LH and prolactin concentrations by RIA confirmed the results obtained by proteome analysis. Also, feed energy restriction provoked increasing non‐esterified fatty acid, decreasing prolactin, but unaltered glucose, LH and growth hormone plasma concentrations. Energy restriction decreased the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein, triosephosphate isomerase, purine‐rich element‐binding protein A and elongation factor Tu, whereas it increased expression of proline synthetase co‐transcribed homolog, peroxiredoxin III, β‐tubulin and annexin A5 which is involved in the hormone secretion process. Our results indicate that in response to feed energy restriction the pituitary reservoir of all posttranslationally modified hormone forms remains constant. Changing plasma hormone concentrations are likely attributed to a regulated releasing process from the gland into the blood.
An investigation and implementation of real-time image cropping on mobile computing devices based on saliency and face detection

Thumbnail images provide mobile computing users of an easier and smoother image exploring experience. Recognizing the objects in an image is important in many retrieval tasks, but thumbnails generated by shrinking the original image often contain less information. The ability of computer vision systems to identify key components of images is investigated in this research. We evaluate automatic cropping techniques 1) based on a general method that detects salient portions of images, and 2) based on automatic face detection. Both of the two methods have been implemented on the mobile computing platform and a desktop platform as a comparison. The experimental results demonstrate the validness of the proposed approaches.
Locating faces using statistical feature detectors

We describe a method of locating hypotheses for the positions of faces in an image. We use statistical feature detectors to locate candidates for features, then use a statistical model of the shape and orientation of the features to test combinations of such features to find the most plausible. The best sets can be used as the initial position of an Active Shape Model, which can then accurately locate the full face.
The effect of explicit training on the prosodic production of L2 sarcasm by Dutch learners of English

Previous research implied that Dutch learners of English are not able to accurately use prosody to convey sarcasm in English. The present study tested whether explicit instruction on the prosodic markers of sarcasm in English improved student‟s sarcastic sounding. English sarcastic speech was elicited from Dutch participants in two sessions. Between the two sessions, participants were trained in English sarcasm by (1) a presentation on the prosodic markers of sarcasm in English, (2) independent practice guided by audio and visual feedback on both target and own production and (3) an individual feedback session with the experimenters held in small groups. The degree of sarcasm in the recordings from the pre-test and post-test were evaluated by L1 British English-speaking raters on a five-point scale. Results showed a significant main effect of training, a significant main effect of sentence type as well as a significant interaction between the two. The findings imply that prosody training can have an effect on L2 learner‟s prosodic ability in the L2. In addition, some sentence types received higher average scores than others. Future research might explain the cause for the difference found between sentence types.
GATA4 expression is primarily regulated via a miR-26b-dependent post-transcriptional mechanism during cardiac hypertrophy.

AIMS GATA4 is a transcription factor that is up-regulated during cardiac hypertrophy and plays a fundamental role in myocyte growth and survival. In this study, we investigate the transcriptional vs. post-transcriptional mechanisms that are involved in regulating GATA4 in the heart during neonatal and pressure overload-induced hypertrophic growth. METHODS AND RESULTS GATA4 protein is significantly higher during pressure overload-induced (2.9 ± 0.4-fold) and neonatal (6.8 ± 1-fold) hypertrophic growth vs. the normal adult mouse heart. Using RNA polymerase II immunoprecipitation combined with deep sequencing, we confirmed that active transcription of the Gata4 gene remained unchanged during hypertrophy, whereas it was two-fold higher in the neonatal vs. adult heart, commensurate with the mRNA levels. These results suggested a post-transcriptional mode of regulation of its expression, which prompted the identification of a conserved sequence in its 3'-untranslated region that was responsible for reduced translation via miR-26b. Overexpression of miR-26b reduced GATA4-dependent transcription, endothelin-induced hypertrophy, and sensitized the cells to apoptotic insults. Additionally, miR-26b targeted phospholipase C-β1, which, in turn, inhibited miR-26b expression, creating a double-negative feedback loop. Accordingly, overexpression of miR-26b in the heart inhibited up-regulation of its targets and the development of hypertrophy. However, knockdown of miR-26b is not sufficient for inducing hypertrophy. CONCLUSION Down-regulation of miR-26b in the heart is required for the up-regulation of GATA4 and the induction of pressure-induced cardiac hypertrophy. The results also underscore the functional relevance of miRNAs in regulating gene expression during cardiac hypertrophy.
The Prevalence, Distribution, and Morphologic Changes of the Epithelial Remnants in the Molar Region of the Rat

T HE PURPOSE of this study is to classify the different forms of epithelial remnants and to investigate the prevalence and incidence of these structures in the periodontal membrane of the molars of the rat. This study is an attempt to provide a base line for later investigations on the fate of the epithelial remnants of the rat molars under different systemic conditions and to serve as a part of a broader study of the biology of epithelium.
Treatment of Symptomatic Cartilage Defects of the Knee

Background Damaged articular cartilage has limited capacity for self-repair. Autologous chondrocyte implantation using a characterized cell therapy product results in significantly better early structural repair as compared with microfracture in patients with symptomatic joint surface defects of the femoral condyles of the knee. Purpose To evaluate clinical outcome at 36 months after characterized chondrocyte implantation (CCI) versus microfracture (MF). Study Design Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods Patients aged 18 to 50 years with single International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) grade III/IV symptomatic cartilage defects of the femoral condyles were randomized to CCI (n = 57) or MF (n = 61). Clinical outcome was measured over 36 months by the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). Serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were scored using the Magnetic resonance Observation of Cartilage Repair Tissue (MOCART) system and 9 additional items. Gene expression profile scores associated with ectopic cartilage formation were determined by RT-PCR. Results Baseline mean overall KOOS (±SE) was comparable between the CCI and MF groups (56.30 ± 1.91 vs 59.46 ± 1.98, respectively). Mean improvement (±SE) from baseline to 36 months in overall KOOS was greater in the CCI group than the MF group (21.25 ± 3.60 vs 15.83 ± 3.48, respectively), while in a mixed linear model analysis with time as a categorical variable, significant differences favoring CCI were shown in overall KOOS (P = .048) and the subdomains of Pain (P = .044) and QoL (P = .036). More CCI- than MF-treated patients were treatment responders (83% vs 62%, respectively). In patients with symptom onset of <2 years, the mean improvement (±SE) from baseline to 36 months in overall KOOS was greater with CCI than MF (24.98 ± 4.34 vs 16.50 ± 3.99, respectively) and even greater in patients with symptom onset of <3 years (26.08 ± 4.10 vs 17.09 ± 3.77, respectively). Characterized chondrocyte implantation patients with high (>2) versus low (<2) gene profile scores showed greater improvement from baseline in mean overall KOOS (±SE) at 36 months (28.91 ± 5.69 vs 18.18 ± 5.08, respectively). Subchondral bone reaction significantly worsened over time with MF compared with CCI (P < .05). Conclusion Characterized chondrocyte implantation for the treatment of articular cartilage defects of the femoral condyles of the knee results in significantly better clinical outcome at 36 months in a randomized trial compared with MF. Time to treatment and chondrocyte quality were shown to affect outcome.
Wireless information and power transfer using energy harvesting relay with outdated CSI

Today amounts of wireless networks have made the ambient radio frequency signals around the world. Wireless information and power transfer make it possible for the devices to cyclically use the energy from these surrounding signals and process information simultaneously. In this paper, we study the wireless information and power transfer protocol using the energy harvesting relay in a two-way amplify-and-forward (AF) scheme. This energy harvesting relay recharges the battery using the energy from the sources, and provides transmission power to forward the received signals. We firstly study the outage probability to evaluate the performance of the system in normal situation. Then we will extend it into outdated channel state information (CSI) scenario. The approximated results are provided to show how the correlation coefficients affect the outage probability under outdated CSI scenarios.
Structured Low-rank Coding for Top-down Saliency

In this paper, we propose a structured low-rank coding method for top-down saliency detection. Both spatial consistency and structured information are considered in our proposed method. Spatial consistency encourages local image patches which are spatially close in an image to have similar representations. Structured information facilitates the patches from the target to have similar representations, while the patches from the background to have various representations. Furthermore, we perform a structured dictionary learning paradigm by integrating both cues. Robust structured and low-rank representations for image patches are obtained over the learned dictionary. The experiment results on two datasets demonstrate that our method can effectively exploit the spatial consistency and structured information and achieve the state-of-the-art performance on saliency detection.
Using a graph cuts approach to analyze the structural vulnerability of the power grids

The identification of critical nodes is relevant to determine the structural vulnerability of an Electric Power System. In this article, centrality indices from the area of complex networks analysis are adapted to identify nodes and lines that result critical for the transmission of energy. The centrality indices are calculated in each sub-graph, to rapidly assess the structural vulnerability of the power grid. To validate the proposal different network topologies are analyzed.
Lung cancer is the most prevailing cancer and the leading cause of cancer related

Lung cancer is the most prevailing cancer and the leading cause of cancer related deaths throughout the world [1,2]. Early detection of lung cancer can increase the survival rate of cancer patients. In United States, current statistics shows that about 1 out of 4 cancer deaths are from lung cancer among both men and women than other cancers. The goal of this study is to develop machine-learning models that can detect malignant lung nodules from CT using volumetric imaging features. we used scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) to identify important image features and linear support vector machine (SVM) is our learning algorithm. To understand the shape of healthy and unhealthy data sets or to understand the correlation pattern, we employed tools from topological data analysis (TDA). We have used 80% of the data for training the SVM and remaining 20% of the data for testing.
Optimistic parallel simulation engine for predicting future situations incorporating observation data

Coping with emergency situations requires effective and prompt decision-making under constantly changing situations. The deployment of various kinds of sensors makes it possible to acquire vast amounts of information. At present, however, most information processing is not automated; therefore, the quality of decision-making depends heavily on the capacities of the decision maker. To solve this problem, we propose a system for predicting future situations through parallel simulations based on observation data. To facilitate the development of such systems, we have been developing an optimistic simulation engine (hereafter referred to as O-SE) that supports parallel simulation of many possible situations and dynamic simulation modification based on observation data acquired by sensors. The design and evaluation results of the O-SE are illustrated in this paper.
Gelismis ve Gelismekte Olan Ulkelerde Telekomunikasyon Yatirimlari ve Dogrudan Yabanci Sermaye Yatirimlari Iliskisi

Bu calismanin hedefi telekomunikasyon yatirimlari ile dogrudan yabanci sermaye yatirimlari arasindaki iliskinin panel veri analizi ile arastirilmasidir. Veriler 7 gelisen ve 14 OECD uyesi ulke icin 1975-2009 yillarini kapsayacak sekilde gruplandirilmistir. Onceki calismalardan farkli olarak uygulamada yatay kesit bagimliligi ve heterojenlik goz onunde bulundurulmaktadir. Elde edilen bulgular her iki ulke grubu icin de telekomunikasyon yatirimlarinin ulkeye gelen dogrudan yabanci sermaye yatirimlarinin pozitif ve anlamli belirleyicisi oldugunu ortaya koymaktadir. Ayrica bu etkinin gelismis ulkelerde gelismekte olan ulkelerden daha buyuk oldugu gorulmektedir. Bu acidan dogrudan yabanci sermaye yatirimlarini telekomunikasyon yatirimlari araciligi ile ulkeye cekmeyi hedefleyen politikalarin etkili olacagi soylenebilir.
Fatty Acid Hydroperoxide Lyase: A Plant Cytochrome P450 Enzyme Involved in Wound Healing and Pest Resistance

Plants continuously have to defend themselves against life‐threatening events such as drought, mechanical damage, temperature stress, and potential pathogens. Nowadays, more and more similarities between the defense mechanism of plants and that of animals are being discovered. In both cases, the lipoxygenase pathway plays an important role. In plants, products of this pathway are involved in wound healing, pest resistance, and signaling, or they have antimicrobial and antifungal activity. The first step in the lipoxygenase pathway is the reaction of linoleic or linolenic acids with molecular oxygen, catalyzed by the enzyme lipoxygenase. The hydroperoxy fatty acids thus formed are highly reactive and dangerous for the plant and therefore further metabolized by other enzymes such as allene oxide synthase, hydroperoxide lyase, peroxygenase, or divinyl ether synthase. Recently, these enzymes have been characterized as a special class of cytochrome P450 enzymes. Hydroperoxide lyases cleave the lipoxygenase products, resulting in the formation of ω‐oxo acids and volatile C6‐ and C9‐aldehydes and ‐alcohols. These compounds are major contributors to the characteristic “fresh green” odor of fruit and vegetables. They are widely used as food flavors, for example, to restore the freshness of food after sterilization processes. The low abundance of these compounds in nature and the high demand make it necessary to synthesize them on a large scale. Lipoxygenase and hydroperoxide lyase are suitable biocatalysts for the production of “natural” food flavors. In contrast to lipoxygenase, which has been extensively studied, little is yet known about hydroperoxide lyase. Hydroperoxide lyases from different organisms have been isolated, and a few genes have been published lately. However, the structure and reaction mechanism of this enzyme are still unclear. The identification of this enzyme as a cytochrome P450 sheds new light on its structure and possible reaction mechanism, whereas recombinant expression brings a biocatalytic application into sight.
Cardiac Senescence Is Associated with Enhanced Expression of Angiotensin II Receptor Subtypes.

Recent studies have pointed out the differential role of angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor subtypes, AT1 and AT2, in cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis during pathological cardiac growth. Because senescence is characterized by an important cardiovascular remodeling, we examined the age-related expression of cardiac Ang II receptors in rats. AT1 and AT2 receptor subtype messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were quantitated by RT-PCR. In parallel, specific Ang II densities were determined in competition binding experiments using specific antagonists. AT1a and AT1b mRNA levels were markedly up-regulated (5.6-fold) in the left ventricle of 24-month-old rats compared with 3-month-old rats, but not in the right ventricle. In contrast, AT2 gene expression was increased in both ventricles of senescent rats (4.2- and 2.8-fold in the left and right ventricles, respectively). Similarly, AT1 and AT2 gene expression was increased 2.3- and 2-fold, respectively, in freshly isolated cardiomyocytes from aged rats. Furthermore, AT1 an.
An Explanation of Metastability in the Viscous Burgers Equation with Periodic Boundary Conditions via a Spectral Analysis

A “metastable solution" to a differential equation typically refers to a family of solutions for which solutions with initial data near the family converge to the family much faster than evolution along the family. Metastable families have been observed both experimentally and numerically in various contexts; they are believed to be particularly relevant for organizing the dynamics of fluid flows. In this work, we propose a candidate metastable family for the Burgers equation with periodic boundary conditions. Our choice of family is motivated by our numerical experiments. We furthermore explain the metastable behavior of the family without reference to the Cole--Hopf transformation, but rather by linearizing the Burgers equation about the family and analyzing the spectrum of the resulting operator. We hope this may make the analysis more readily transferable to more realistic systems like the Navier--Stokes equations. Our analysis is motivated by ideas from singular perturbation theory and Melnikov theory.
Global Exact Quadratization of Continuous-Time Nonlinear Control Systems

We consider a class, denoted by ${\cal Q}$, of the nonlinear control systems which can be densely represented as a subsystem of a certain kind of quadratic system, namely a quadratic target. We say that a system in $\cal Q$ undergoes a globally exact quadratization. Here “globally” adds up to a slight extension of the notion of $C^\infty$ immersion (of systems), namely a dense immersion, which amounts to saying that it is defined on the whole manifold of the system states, except possibly a zero-measure set. It is proven that the class ${\cal Q}$ includes all systems characterized by vector fields whose components are analytic integral closed-form functions (ICFFs). The result is first proven for algebraic system functions, by means of a constructive proof, and next extended up to analytic ICFFs. For nonanalytic ICFFs a weaker result is proven as well. Also the case of a partially observed system is considered, as well as the internal structure of every quadratic representation, which is proven to be alwa.
Pivmecillinam treatment in acute cystitis. Three versus seven days study.

In an open randomized study pivmecillinam (Selexid; CAS 32886-97-8) was studied by general practitioners in 345 female patients with uncomplicated acute cystitis. Out of the bacteriologically evaluated 299 patients 151 patients were treated for three days with two tablets of pivmecillinam 200 mg t.i. d. and 148 patients for seven days with one tablet t.i. d. There were no significant differences in the bacteriological effect between the two regimens. In the 3-day group 91% and 88% were cured at the first and the second control; in the 7-day group 94% and 95%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the total clinical effect, either. Adverse reactions, usually gastrointestinal disturbances, occurred in 10% of the 3-day group and in 11% of the 7-day group (N.S.). Pivmecillinam treatment in acute cystitis in women was equally effective whether given for three or seven days, with the same total frequency of adverse reactions for the two regimens.
Neutrino processes in strong magnetic fields and implications for supernova dynamics

The processes of neutrino (antineutrino) absorption and electron (positron) capture on nucleons provide the dominant mechanisms for heating and cooling the material between the protoneutron star and the stalled shock in a core-collapse supernova. Observations suggest that some neutron stars are born with magnetic fields of at least 10^15 G while theoretical considerations give an upper limit of 10^18 G for the protoneutron star magnetic fields. We calculate the rates for the above neutrino processes in strong magnetic fields of 10^16 G. We find that the main effect of such magnetic fields is to change the equations of state through the phase space of electron and positron, which differs from the classical case due to quantization of the motion of electron and positron perpendicular to the magnetic field. As a result, the cooling rate can be greatly reduced by magnetic fields of 10^16 G for typical conditions below the stalled shock and a nonuniform protoneutron star magnetic field (e.g., a dipole field) can introduce a large angular dependence of the cooling rate. In addition, strong magnetic fields always lead to an angle-dependent heating rate by polarizing the spin of nucleons. The implications of our results for the neutrino-driven supernova mechanism are discussed.