Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tumorigenic Transformation of Immortalized ECV Endothelial Cells by Cyclooxygenase-1 Overexpression*

The cyclooxygenase (Cox) enzyme catalyzes the rate-limiting oxidative and peroxidative enzymatic steps in the biosynthesis of prostanoids. Both Cox-1 and -2 genes encode the two isoenzymes that carry out similar enzymatic steps. Enhanced Cox activity is associated with proliferative diseases such as colon cancer. To determine if a cause and effect relationship exists between Cox isoenzyme overexpression and tumorigenesis, the human Cox-1 and Cox-2 isoenzymes were transfected into ECV immortalized endothelial cells. Although numerous clones of Cox-1 expressing cells were obtained, Cox-2 overexpression resulted in growth disadvantage and increased cell death. In contrast, Cox-1 overexpressing cells expressed high levels of the functional Cox-1 polypeptide in the endoplasmic reticulum and the nucleus. In vitro proliferation of these cells was reduced compared with vector-transfected ECV cells. Cox-1 overexpression also enhanced the tumor necrosis factor-α-induced apoptosis of ECV cells 2-fold. In contrast to the in vitrobehavior, ECV-Cox-1 cells proliferated aggressively and formed tumors in athymic “nude” mice, whereas the vector-transfected counterparts did not. The growth of Cox-1-induced tumors was not inhibited by indomethacin, suggesting a nonprostanoid function of Cox-1. ECV-Cox-1-derived tumors were angiosarcoma-like and contained numerous host-derived neovessels. These data suggest that Cox-1 overexpression in immortalized ECV endothelial cells results in nuclear localization of the polypeptide and tumorigenesis.
Technique of Porcine Liver Procurement and Orthotopic Transplantation using an Active Porto-Caval Shunt

The success of liver transplantation has resulted in a dramatic organ shortage. Each year, a considerable number of patients on the liver transplantation waiting list die without receiving an organ transplant or are delisted due to disease progression. Even after a successful transplantation, rejection and side effects of immunosuppression remain major concerns for graft survival and patient morbidity. Experimental animal research has been essential to the success of liver transplantation and still plays a pivotal role in the development of clinical transplantation practice. In particular, the porcine orthotopic liver transplantation model (OLTx) is optimal for clinically oriented research for its close resemblance to human size, anatomy, and physiology. Decompression of intestinal congestion during the anhepatic phase of porcine OLTx is important to guarantee reliable animal survival. The use of an active porto-caval-jugular shunt achieves excellent intestinal decompression. The system can be used for short-term as well as long-term survival experiments. The following protocol contains all technical information for a stable and reproducible liver transplantation model in pigs including post-operative animal care.
Expression of Src Family Kinases and Their Putative Substrates in the Human Preosteoclastic Cell Line FLG 29.1

Several lines of evidence suggest that the c‐Src tyrosine kinase has a specific role in bone‐resorbing osteoclasts. To investigate this further, we examined the expression of c‐Src, its kinase family members, and their putative substrates in the human leukemia cell line FLG 29.1. Western blot analysis with specific antibodies against Src family members showed expression of Src, Fyn, and Lyn, lower levels of Yes and Hck, and the absence of Lck tyrosine kinase. During a 3‐day treatment with phorbol 12‐myristate, 13‐acetate (PMA), which induces differentiation of FLG 29.1 cells toward an osteoclast‐like phenotype, the levels of Src and Fyn increased and the levels of Lyn decreased. In a similar leukemia cell line, HL‐60, Src protein was not constitutively expressed and not induced by PMA treatment, which leads to monocytic differentiation. PMA treatment of FLG 29.1 cells induced a strong increase in the expression of p120 Cbl and Pyk2 kinase, which are putative Src substrates. Pyk2 phosphorylation increased upon adherence of FLG 29.1 cells to fibronectin and to ST2 stromal cells. The expression of other Src substrates and interacting proteins, such as p120 Cas, p130 Cas, vinculin, Fak kinase, and the p85 phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase subunit either did not change or slightly increased during PMA treatment. The elevated total protein tyrosine phosphorylation in PMA‐treated FLG 29.1 cells was abolished by herbimycin A, a Src inhibitor. These data are consistent with the proposed role of Src in the osteoclastic function and support the use of FLG 29.1 cells as a model to study Src substrates in the cells of the osteoclastic lineage.
Gravitational instability of static spherically symmetric Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet black holes in five and six dimensions

Five and six dimensional static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically Euclidean black holes, are unstable under gravitational perturbations if their mass is lower than a critical value set by the string tension. The instability is due to the Gauss-Bonnet correction to Einstein's equations, and was found in a previous work on linear stability of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet black holes with constant curvature horizons in arbitrary dimensions. We study the unstable cases and calculate the values of the critical masses. The results are relevant to the issue of black hole production in high energy collisions.
Assessing the cumulative impact of alcohol marketing on young people's drinking: Cross-sectional data findings

As alcohol marketing remains a highly debated and politically charged issue, we examine the cumulative impact of alcohol marketing on alcohol initiation and drinking behaviour among youth (12–14 years). Cross-sectional data come from a cohort of 920 second year school pupils from Scotland. Regression models, with multiple control variables, were employed to examine the relationship between awareness of, and involvement with, a range of alcohol marketing communications, and drinking behaviour and intentions. Marketing variables were constructed for 15 different types of alcohol marketing, including marketing in new media. Drinking behaviour measures included drinking status and future drinking intentions. Significant associations were found between awareness of, and involvement with, alcohol marketing and drinking behaviour and intentions to drink alcohol in the next year. Given these associations, our study suggests the need for a revision of alcohol policy: one limiting youth exposure to these seemingly ubiquitous marketing communications.
SpUSP, an annexin-interacting universal stress protein, enhances drought tolerance in tomato

Universal stress protein (USP) appears to play an active role in the abiotic stress response, but their functions remain largely unknown in plants. A USP gene (SpUSP) was cloned from wild tomato (Solanum pennellii) and functionally characterized in cultivated tomato in the present study. The SpUSP transcript is abundantly accumulated in leaf stomata and its expression varied with the circadian rhythm. SpUSP was remarkably induced by dehydration, salt stress, oxidative stress, and the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) etc. This protein was predominantly localized in the nucleus and cell membrane. Overexpressing SpUSP increased drought tolerance of tomato in the seedling and adult stages. Under drought stress, the ABA content significantly increased in the SpUSP-overexpressing plants, which induced stomatal closure and reduced water loss, leading to the enhancement of drought tolerance. Based on the microarray data, a large number of chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins and photosystem-related genes were up-regulated in the SpUSP-overexpressing plants under drought conditions, which possibly enhanced the stomatal sensivitity to ABA and maintained the photosynthetic function. SpUSP overexpression also alleviated the oxidative damage accompanied by oxidative stress-responsive gene activation and osmolyte accumulation. Annexin (SGN-U314161) was found to interacte with SpUSP in the yeast two-hybrid method. This interaction was further confirmed by the bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay. The present study demonstrated that the annexin-interacting SpUSP plays important roles in the drought tolerance of tomato by influencing ABA-induced stomatal movement, increasing photosynthesis, and alleviating oxidative stress.
Developing a Multiple-angle Hand Gesture Recognition System for Human Machine Interactions

This article presents a robotic visual system that allows effective recognition of multiple-angle hand gestures in finger guessing games. We shot images of hand gestures at various angles to train support vector machine (SVM) for the construction of a multiple-angle hand gesture recognition system. Our experimental results show that the hand gesture recognition system presented by this article can effectively recognize hand gestures, at over 95%, of different angles and sizes, with different ornaments, and of different skin colors, while recognizing right or left hand gestures, at up to 90% recognition rate.
Health and Quality of Life Associated With Chronic Pain of Predominantly Neuropathic Origin in the Community

ObjectivesTo assess the health and quality of life associated with chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin (POPNO) on health and daily activity in the general population. MethodsThe Self-complete Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS) questionnaire, recently validated for identifying pain of predominantly neuropathic origin, was sent to 6000 adults identified from general practices in the United Kingdom, along with chronic pain identification and severity questions, the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), the Neuropathic Pain Scale, and the SF-36 general health questionnaire. ResultsWith a corrected response rate of 52%, 3 groups of respondents were identified: those without chronic pain (“No Chronic Pain” group, n=1537); those with chronic pain who were S-LANSS positive indicating the presence of POPNO (“Chronic POPNO” group, n =241); and those with chronic pain who were S-LANSS negative [“Chronic Pain (non-POPNO)” group, n=1179]. The chronic POPNO group reported higher pain severity and had significantly poorer scores for all interference items of the BPI than those with chronic pain (non-POPNO). Mean scores from the Neuropathic Pain Scale were also significantly higher for the Chronic POPNO group. There were significant differences between the groups in all domains of the SF-36, with the Chronic POPNO group reporting the worst health. After adjusting for pain severity, age, and sex, the chronic POPNO group was still found to have poorer scores than the other Chronic Pain (non-POPNO) group in all domains of the SF-36 and all interference items in the BPI, indicating poorer health and greater disability. DiscussionThis study confirms the importance of identifying neuropathic pain in the community, and the need for multidimensional management strategies that address all aspects of health.
The role of biotin-dependent carboxylations in biosynthetic reactions.

0.01 N-HCI and digested by incubation with 160mg. of crystalline pepsin at room temperature. After evaporation of the water in vacuo the residue was dissolved in 7ml. of pyridine-acetate buffer, pH6.25. Insoluble material was removed by centrifugation, and the clear solution chromatographed on a column (2.1 cm. x 150 cm.) of DEAE-Sephadex. The eluting solvent until fraction 70 (volume of fractions, 6ml.) was 0-05m-pyridine-acetate buffer, pH6-25; thereafter a gradient was employed. For this purpose 0 2N-acetic acid was continuously introduced into a mixing chamber containing 200ml. of 0 05m-pyridine-acetate buffer, pH6.25.
How To Be a Skeptical Theist and a Commonsense Epistemologist in advance

1See his “Epistemological Considerations,” “Further Epistemological Considerations,” and “Phenomenal Conservatism. ” 2More exactly, he claims that there is at least a superficial tension between commonsense epistemology and skeptical theism, and he issues a challenge to skeptical theists to remedy this tension. I use my terminology for the sake of simplicity. A referee suggests that this makes it appear that I am addressing a straw man. However, as I show below, Dougherty is, in fact, committed to the incompatibility of skeptical theism and commonsense epistemology, since, by his definitions of them, they entail contradictory propositions (i.e., (7) and (8)). See n. 5 for more on this.
Major Depression: A Breakdown in Sense of Coherence?

The relationship between major depression and the salutogenic construct of sense of coherence was investigated. The Sense of Coherence scale and the Beck Depression Inventory were administered to 50 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder and to 50 control subjects. Significant negative correlations were found between scores on Depression and total scores on the Sense of Coherence scale as well as all three of its subscales (Comprehensibility, Manageability, and Meaningfulness). A significant positive correlation was found between scores on the Sense of Coherence scale and age. Of the three subscales, a low score on Meaningfulness was the best predictor of scores on Depression.
Differential Signaling of Cyclic AMP

The recent discovery of Epac, a novel cAMP receptor protein, opens up a new dimension in studying cAMP-mediated cell signaling. It is conceivable that many of the cAMP functions previously attributed to cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) are in fact also Epac-dependent. The finding of an additional intracellular cAMP receptor provides an opportunity to further dissect the divergent roles that cAMP exerts in different cell types. In this study, we probed cross-talk between cAMP signaling and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/PKB pathways. Specifically, we examined the modulatory effects of cAMP on PKB activity by monitoring the specific roles that Epac and PKA play individually in regulating PKB activity. Our study suggests a complex regulatory scheme in which Epac and PKA mediate the opposing effects of cAMP on PKB regulation. Activation of Epac leads to a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent PKB activation, while stimulation of PKA inhibits PKB activity. Furthermore, activation of PKB by Epac requires the proper subcellular targeting of Epac. The opposing effects of Epac and PKA on PKB activation provide a potential mechanism for the cell type-specific differential effects of cAMP. It is proposed that the net outcome of cAMP signaling is dependent upon the dynamic abundance and distribution of intracellular Epac and PKA.
SYSTEME D’AIDE A LA SELECTION AUTOMATIQUE D’UN DETECTEUR DE CONTOURS: ETUDE ET EVALUATION DE PERFORMANCES

Le probleme auquel se trouvent confrontes les concepteurs de systeme de vision est le choix du detecteur de contours a utiliser dans l'application envisagee. En effet, les algorithmes de detection de contours proposes dans la litterature sont multiples et different par leurs proprietes mathematiques et algorithmiques et par le type de contours auquel ils sont destines. En outre, ces algorithmes ne donnent aucune information ni sur le contexte precis dans lequel ils peuvent etre utilises avec succes, ni sur les regles de calcul de leurs parametres d'echelle. Par consequent, il est difficile de trouver un detecteur de contours qui s'execute mieux que les autres sur toutes les images. Ce probleme nous a conduit a mener une etude a la fois theorique et experimentale pour rassembler un maximum d'expertises indispensables pour aborder le probleme d'evaluation des performances des detecteurs de contours et de leur selection. Plus precisement, notre contribution principale reside dans la conception et l'implantation d'un systeme d'aide a la selection de detecteurs de contours et a la specification de la relation de cause a effet entre les caracteristiques d'un contour, le contexte d'utilisation de l'image contours, les proprietes algorithmiques et mathematiques d'un detecteur et les performances de ce detecteur.
Reconstitution par filtrage non-linéaire de milieux turbulents et rétrodiffusants à l'aide de LIDARs Doppler et aérosols

Le but de cette these etait de mettre en place un algorithme permettant de traiter des donnees de LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging). On a principalement eu recours a des LIDAR de type Doppler et aerosols. Les mesures de ces appareils sont obtenues de telle sorte que l'on dispose en fait d'une grille d'observation. Cependant on souhaite avoir des informations sur l'atmosphere qui est un milieu continu. Nous avons utilise des methodes d'analyse multi-resolution pour se placer dans un cadre mathematique correspondant au probleme physique. On a donc obtenu un decoupage de l'espace d'evolution du processus en deux sous-espaces orthogonaux, impose par la structure des observations. Nous avons alors pu etendre la theorie du filtrage non lineaire dans ce cadre. Pour cela nous avons utilise les noyaux de filtrage de type Feynman-Kac. Il nous a fallu reprendre les calculs et formules des hypotheses coherentes avec le probleme physique pour obtenir des resultats de convergence semblable a ceux de la theorie classique. Nous nous sommes alors ramene dans le cadre adapte aux filtres a particules. Nous avons alors developpe differents algorithmes bases sur les resultats theoriques obtenus. Differentes applications de notre methode nous a permis de mettre en valeur le fait que nous pouvions, dans une certaine mesure, retrouver des parametres de taille inferieur a la resolution donnee par la grille. Finalement nous avons mis en place un cadre theorique ainsi qu'un algorithme permettant de traiter a la fois des donnees de LIDAR Doppler et aerosols. Nous avons ainsi pu verifier que nos estimations se raffinaient par l'ajout de traceurs passifs.
Validity and clinical utility of the current operational characterization of major depression

Abstract The operational definition of major depression has remained more or less the same in the past 40 years. An appraisal of currently available research data leads to the conclusion that further evidence is needed about (1) where to fix the boundary between cases and non-cases in order to improve the clinical utility of the diagnosis, (2) the validity and clinical utility of the construct of melancholia as a qualitatively distinct subtype of depression, and (3) the validity and clinical utility of a ‘contextual’ exclusion criterion. Furthermore, we need a more precise description of individual depressive symptoms, an exploration of the predictive value of these symptoms and of clusters of them, especially concerning clinical outcome and treatment response, and a clearer operationalization of the impairment criterion.
Coupling-based resistive-open defects in TAS-MRAM architectures

Thermally Assisted Switching Magnetic Random Access Memory (TAS-MRAM) is an emerging technology that offers several advantages compared to existing non-volatile memory technologies. In this paper we show how coupling faults induced by resistive-open defects impact the TAS-MRAM architecture. Results shows that read and write operations may be affected these defects and may induce single and double cell faulty behaviors.
Ciclos de estrangeirização e concentração da terra no Paraguai

O Paraguai possuí a maior concentração fundiária do mundo, com o índice de Gini de 0,93. Concomitantemente, 19% do território paraguaio estava (2008) em posse de estrangeiros (CAN, 2008) e está classificado como terceiro maior exportador e sexto maior produtor de soja do globo (CAPECO, 2018). Apesar desta conjuntura atual, a concentração e estrangeirização da terra no Paraguai se configuram como processos históricos, desde o final da Guerra da Tríplice Aliança (1864-1870) e que com o passar do tempo tornam-se mais complexos, interagindo ainda mais com processos econômicos e políticos globais (ARRIGHI, 2008). Neste cenário, o objetivo deste trabalho é debater acerca do processo histórico de apropriação do território paraguaio por estrangeiros desde 1870 até o período atual, evidenciando as estratégias, papel do Estado, relações geopolíticas e impactos na estrutura fundiária do país. Entender este processo histórico é essencial para compreender as raízes da atual concentração da terra, estrangeirização do território e transformações agrárias ocorrentes no Paraguai. Para atingir este objetivo, para além de revisão bibliográfica, utilizaremos dados de diferentes agências de pesquisas e entrevistas construídas durante trabalho de campo em diferentes departamentos paraguaios entre os anos de 2015 e 2018, que nos permite refletir acerca das contradições do agronegócio e dos impactos resultantes desta apropriação de terras por estrangeiros, tais como desterritorialização de camponeses e indígenas, insegurança e perda da soberania alimentar, aumento da população em favelas e acentuação da pobreza rural e urbana, o que evidencia que os impactos desde modelo estão para além do espaço rural.
Radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Unfortunately, only 20% of HCC patients are amenable to curative therapy (liver transplantation or surgical resection). Locoregional therapies such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA), percutaneous ethanol injection, microwave coagulation therapy, and transcatheter arterial chemoembolisation play a key role in the management of HCC. The choice of the treatment modality depends on the size of the tumour, tumour location, anatomic considerations and the number of tumours present and liver function. RFA therapy for HCC can be performed safely using a percutaneous, laparoscopic, or an open approach, even in patients with poor functional reserve. Since the introduction of RFA, several randomised controlled trials and non-randomised studies comparing RFA and other therapies for HCC have been conducted. In addition, in the last decade there have been technical advances in RFA therapy for HCC, resulting in significant improvement in the prognosis of HCC patients treated with this modality. In this review, we primarily focus on percutaneous RFA therapy for HCC and refer to current knowledge and future perspectives for this therapy. We also discuss new emerging ablation techniques.
The Neuroactive Steroid 5α‐Tetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone Increases GABAergic Postsynaptic Inhibition in Rat Neocortical Neurons in vitro

The neuroactive steroid 5α‐pregnane‐3α,21‐diol‐20‐one (5α‐tetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone; 5α‐THDOC) has been shown to potentiate GABA‐induced chloride currents in cell cultures and subcellular preparations.