Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A reassessment of mercury in silastic strain gauge plethysmography for microvascular permeability assessment in man.

1. We have used non‐invasive mercury in a silastic strain gauge system to assess the effect of pressure step size, on the time course of the rapid volume response (RVR) to occlusion pressure. We also obtained values for hydraulic conductance (Kf), isovolumetric venous pressure (Pvi) and venous pressure (Pv) in thirty‐five studies on the legs of twenty‐three supine control subjects. 2. The initial rapid volume response to small (9.53 +/‐ 0.45 mmHg, mean +/‐ S.E.M.) stepped increases in venous pressure, the rapid volume response, could be described by a single exponential of time constant 15.54 +/‐ 1.14 s. 3. Increasing the size of the pressure step, to 49.8 +/‐ 1.1 mmHg, gave a larger value for the RVR time constant (mean 77.3 +/‐ 11.6 s). 4. We propose that the pressure‐dependent difference in the duration of the rapid volume response, in these two situations, might be due to a vascular smooth muscle‐based mechanism, e.g. the veni‐arteriolar reflex. 5. The mean (+/‐ S.E.M.) values for Kf, Pvi and Pv were 4.27 +/‐ 0.18 (units, ml min‐1 (100 g)‐1 mmHg‐1 x 10(‐3), 21.50 +/‐ 0.81 (units, mmHg) and 9.11 +/‐ 0.94 (units, mmHg), respectively. 6. During simultaneous assessment of these parameters in arms and legs, it was found that they did not differ significantly from one another. 7. We propose that the mercury strain gauge system offers a useful, non‐invasive means of studying the mechanisms governing fluid filtration in human limbs.
Effect of nutrition on the body temperature and relative organ weights of broilers

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different nutritional plans on the body temperature and organ biometrics in male and female broilers, of two ages. Here, 1,700 birds were used (850 males and 850 females) in a completely randomized design composed of five treatments (- 3%, - 1.5%, reference, + 1.5% and + 3%), with 10 repetitions, totaling 50 experimental units; the reference treatment based on nutritional and energy levels indicated in previous studies was calculated from this. At 35 and 42 d, the temperatures of the wing, head, shin, back, and cloaca in males and females were measured separately, and the average surface and body temperature were calculated. At 42 d, relative weights of the gizzard, liver, heart, and small intestine were calculated. The temperatures of the wings, back, and cloaca, and consequently the average surface temperature and body temperatures, were not affected by nutritional plans. Effects of increasing the nutritional and energy levels were observed on liver weights, the gizzard, and the small intestine. We conclude that the nutritional plans did not affect body temperature. Males had higher body temperatures than females. Body temperature increased with increase in age, and the increase in the nutritional plans increased liver weight and reduced the gizzard weights.
Manipulating myosin light chain 2 isoforms in vivo: a transgenic approach to understanding contractile protein diversity.

The evolution of the contractile apparatus of striated muscle, from cytoskeletal systems involved in cell motility to the specialized structure of the sarcomere, has been achieved largely by the diversification of contractile protein isoforms. Despite the distinct embryological origins and transcriptional regulatory pathways of skeletal and cardiac muscle, there is a considerable overlap in the contractile protein isoforms expressed in these two striated muscle types (see Reference 11 ). Isoform switching occurs during striated muscle development and mediates plasticity in adult skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Functional diversity in different muscle types is therefore largely the result of differential expression of interchangeable sarcomeric components. Cardiac and skeletal muscle programs are finely tuned to the functional requirements of these striated muscles. Forced activation of the skeletal muscle program in myocardial cells of mice expressing transgenes coding for skeletal muscle regulatory factors in the heart leads to varying degrees of abnormal heart morphology and cardiomyopathy, demonstrating at a gross level the incompatibility of these programs for correct sarcomeric function.2 3 There are few examples to date where specific skeletal muscle contractile protein isoforms have been targeted to the heart. In transgenic mice expressing skeletal troponin C (TnC) in the myocardium, it has been shown that contractile sensitivity to acidosis was reduced, identifying functional differences between TnC isoforms.4 In a naturally occurring model, the BALB/c line of inbred mice, a duplication upstream from the cardiac α-actin gene results in reduced cardiac α-actin expression and abnormally high levels of skeletal α-actin in the adult heart.5 Overexpression of this skeletal muscle isoform correlates with nonpathological increased myocardial contractility,6 thus allowing functional distinction between two isoforms that differ by only 4 of 375 amino acids. In a series of experiments using transgenic mice to remodel the contractile apparatus of the heart, Gulick …
How to compare and analyse risks of internet voting versus other modes of voting

Internet voting (I-voting) has been very topical and it has been used in elections in North America, Europe and elsewhere. The advantages of its use include increased participation from infirmed, elderly and itinerant voters and quicker vote tabulation. Its disadvantages stem from the inherent lack of control and transparency from allowing votes from homes and other locations rather than from controlled polling stations, which may lead to voter fraud or inadvertent spoilage of 'virtual' ballots. Much of this balancing-off of pros and cons is done on a qualitative basis with little attempt at quantifying the risks using an established methodology. The application of a well-known risk analysis method, Operationally Critical Threat, Asset and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE) has merely been proposed. In this paper, we extend this general proposal and describe key constructs for applying OCTAVE to perform risk analysis for voting alternatives in general. Governments or other institutions can then use this methodology to perform quantitative risk analysis to compare different voting alternatives including I-voting, as well as poll, mail-in and telephone voting.
In-Fiber Gratings for Simultaneous Monitoring Temperature and Strain in Ultrahigh Temperature

In this letter, a pair of regenerated gratings with Bragg wavelengths of 1547 and 1304 nm in a single piece of singlemode fiber has been fabricated for simultaneous monitoring of temperature and strain in ultrahigh temperature environment. A 3 × 3 matrix is used to characterize the cross sensitivity of the proposed sensor in which the strain sensitivity varies with temperature change. The proposed structure exhibits the deviation of 28.3 με and 4.1 °C at the ranges of 0-1000 με and 25 °C- 900 °C, respectively.
Schisandrin B attenuates acetaminophen‐induced hepatic injury through heat‐shock protein 27 and 70 in mice

Schisandrin B is an active component isolated from Schisandra chinensis (TurcZ.) Baill. that is widely used as an antihepatotoxic agent. Schisandrin B has significant hepatoprotective effect against chemical and immunological liver injury. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Schisandrin B on the expression of 27‐ and 70‐kDa heat‐shock protein (HSP) and its role in protection against acetaminophen‐induced liver injury in mice.
Comparison of enzyme immunoassay and gas-liquid chromatography for the rapid diagnosis of invasive candidiasis in cancer patients

Three proposed quantitative markers for candidiasis, arabinitol, mannose, and mannan in serum, are compared in 50 normal blood donors and 38 high-risk patients, 23 with and 15 without invasive candidiasis. Arabinitol concentrations in serum, the arabinitol/creatinine ratio, and mannose concentrations in serum were significantly greater in the 15 patients without candidiasis than in the normal blood donors (P less than 0.05). The sensitivities and specificities were 26 and 87% for arabinitol, 13 and 93% for the arabinitol/creatinine ratio, and 39 and 87% for mannose. On the other hand, mannan concentrations in serum were less than 1 ng/ml in normal blood donors and patients without candidiasis (P = 0.344), and the sensitivity and specificity were 65 and 100%, respectively. Of 23 patients with proven or probable candidiasis, 16 had mannan levels in serum greater than the mean + 2 standard deviations (0.46 ng/ml) for the 15 controls. In 16 patients with invasive candidiasis and positive blood cultures for the Candida spp. , only 13 had elevated levels of at least one of the three markers. The arabinitol/creatinine ratio, the mannose level, and the mannan level became elevated an average of 4 days before, 1 day before, and on the same day that the blood cultures were drawn, respectively. Conversely, mannan was detected in the sera of six of seven patients with invasive candidiasis and negative blood cultures. We conclude that the best approach to diagnosing invasive candidiasis involves obtaining blood cultures and carrying out serial assays for mannan in serum.
Assembly of juxtaparanodes in myelinating DRG culture: Differential clustering of the Kv1/Caspr2 complex and scaffolding protein 4.1B

The precise distribution of ion channels at the nodes of Ranvier is essential for the efficient propagation of action potentials along myelinated axons. The voltage‐gated potassium channels Kv1.1/1.2 are clustered at the juxtaparanodes in association with the cell adhesion molecules, Caspr2 and TAG‐1 and the scaffolding protein 4.1B. In the present study, we set up myelinating cultures of DRG neurons and Schwann cells to look through the formation of juxtaparanodes in vitro. We showed that the Kv1.1/Kv1.2 channels were first enriched at paranodes before being restricted to distal paranodes and juxtaparanodes. In addition, the Kv1 channels displayed an asymmetric expression enriched at the distal juxtaparanodes. Caspr2 was strongly co‐localized with Kv1.2 whereas the scaffolding protein 4.1B was preferentially recruited at paranodes while being present at juxtaparanodes too. Kv1.2/Caspr2 but not 4.1B, also transiently accumulated within the nodal region both in myelinated cultures and developing sciatic nerves. Studying cultures and sciatic nerves from 4.1B KO mice, we further showed that 4.1B is required for the proper targeting of Caspr2 early during myelination. Moreover, using adenoviral‐mediated expression of Caspr‐GFP and photobleaching experiments, we analyzed the stability of paranodal junctions and showed that the lateral stability of paranodal Caspr was not altered in 4.1B KO mice indicating that 4.1B is not required for the assembly and stability of the paranodal junctions. Thus, developing an adapted culture paradigm, we provide new insights into the dynamic and differential distribution of Kv1 channels and associated proteins during myelination. GLIA 2016;64:840–852
I Want to Move, But Cannot

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of seniors in the Canadian population who are involuntary stayers and to assess associations with health. Method: Data come from the 1994 Canadian National Population Health Survey, with the sample restricted to those 65 and older (N = 2,551). Results: Nearly 1 in 10 seniors identified as an involuntary stayer. Seniors with few socioeconomic resources, poor health, greater need for assistance, and low social involvement were more likely to identify as an involuntary stayer. Furthermore, seniors who were involuntary stayers report significantly more distress and greater odds of low self-rated health than other seniors. Discussion: This study brings into visibility an understudied segment of the elderly population: seniors who are unable to move from their present location despite their desire to do so. Further research and policy responses assisting seniors to age in a setting of their own choosing are needed.
Non-coherent Power Decomposition-Based Energy Detection for Cooperative Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks

As the fundamental component of dynamic spectrum access, implementing spectrum sensing is one of the most important goals in cognitive radio networks due to its key functions of protecting licensed primary users from harmful interference and identifying spectrum holes for the improvement of spectrum utilization. However, its performance is generally compromised by the interference from adjacent primary channels. To cope with such interference and improve detection performance, this paper proposes a non-coherent power decomposition-based energy detection method for cooperative spectrum sensing. Due to its use of power decomposition, interference cancellation can be applied in energy detection. The proposed power decomposition does not require any prior knowledge of the primary signals. The power detection with its interference cancellation can be implemented indirectly by solving a non-homogeneous linear equation set with a coefficient matrix that involves only the distances between primary transmitters and cognitive secondary users (SUs). The optimal number of SUs for sensing a single channel and the number of channels that can be sensed simultaneously are also derived. The simulation results show that the proposed method is able to cope with the expected interference variation and achieve higher probability of detection and lower probability of false alarm than the conventional method in both hard combining and soft combining scenarios.
Peptide fragment of the m3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor activates Gq but not Gi2

Gq, a heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide‐binding protein, plays important roles such as the regulation of calcium mobilization and cell proliferation. This protein is considered as a promising drug target for the treatment of cardiac hypertrophy. Selective activation of Gq would be quite useful for analyzing the role of Gq in signaling pathways. We synthesized m3i3c—a peptide with 16 amino acid residues that corresponds to the junction between the C‐terminus of the third intracellular loop and the sixth transmembrane helix (TM‐VI) of human m3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, which couples to Gq but not Gi2. At micromolar concentrations, this peptide was found to activate Gq but not Gi2. This peptide is the first small compound that selectively activates Gq but not Gi2. Copyright © 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Migrations, vaccinations and epidemic control

We consider three regions with different public health conditions. In the absence of migration among these regions, the first two have good health conditions and the disease free state is stable; for the third region, on the other hand, the only stable state is the endemic one. When migration is included in the model, we assume that the second region has a disease risk that makes its inhabitants prone to accept to be vaccinated, while the population in the first region tends to reject the vaccination, considered riskier that the disease. Therefore, the second region is a "buffer zone" between the two extremal regions. We study the basic reproductive ratio as a function of the vaccination in all regions and migration among them. This problem is studied numerically, showing explicit situations in which migration will have an overall positive effect in the disease dynamics, with and without vaccinations. We also find explicit formula in the limit of small ("closed borders") and high migration ("open borders").
A novel compact Ka-band threeway power splitter/combiner

This paper presents a novel 3-way microwave power divider design with a novel high-efficient and compact six-port branch-waveguide directional couplers. The coupler has low loss, low VSWR, good amplitude and phase balance and good isolation. Compared with traditional binary power/combiner, 3-way power divider/combiner has higher efficiency. Simulated results of the power splitter/combiner have shown that the return loss is greater than 30 dB, the isolation is greater than 25 dB, the amplitude difference of output ports is less than 0.3 dB.
Flow velocity measurements through a fluctuating free surface by means of adaptive optics

The noninvasive investigation of flows where media of different optical density participate is often not possible. A direct measurement through free, transient surfaces will result in higher measurement uncertainties or they will hinder any measurement at all. To overcome this issue we make use of adaptive optics (AO). Dependent on the measurement system, an adaptive correction of the illumination path and/or the observation path can result in improved measurement properties. AO can therefore help to directly measure noninvasively flow velocities and flow turbulence at places that were inaccessible before. Examples of interest are convection flows at emergency core cooling, where cold water is injected into a pressurized water reactor, forming a free falling jet, as well thin film flows and biomedical flows. Interferometric velocity measurement systems are especially sensitive to wavefront distortions since the straightedge of the system the interference pattern is directly influenced and needs to be stabilized by AO. Interferometric measurement systems are an important tool for measuring flow velocity profiles. It is therefore of high interest to stabilize those systems in the presence of optical distorting environments. In the studied model experiment, we equipped a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) with AO to measure through a pumpdriven free surface. The AO system realizes both beam stabilization as well as wavefront shape control to compensate for the dynamic optical distortions. Depending on the strength of the distortion we could achieve an over-all improvement of the measurement properties that is flow velocity uncertainty, interference contrast and rate of validated signals. The largest gain in validation rate was achieved at medium distortions where it raised over 50 percentage points. We discuss the expected effects of our model distortion onto the LDV and give an outline of further advancements of the AO flow velocity measurement system. The experiments studied so far are very promising to exploit new potentials in the field of multi-phase flows.
Trajectory filtering and prediction for automated tracking and grasping of a moving object

The authors explore the requirements for grasping a moving object. This task requires proper coordination between at least three separate subsystems: real-time vision sensing, trajectory-planning/arm-control, and grasp planning. As with humans, the system first visually tracks the object's 3D position. Because the object is in motion, this must be done in real-time to coordinate the motion of the robotic arm as it tracks the object. The vision system is used to feed an arm control algorithm that plans a trajectory. The arm control algorithm is implemented into two steps: filtering and prediction and kinematic transformation computation. Once the trajectory of the object is tracked, the hand must intercept the object to actually grasp it. Experimental results are presented in which which a moving model train was tracked, stably grasped, and picked up by the system. <<ETX>>
Closely linked early and late histone H2B genes are differentially expressed after microinjection into sea urchin zygotes.

An early and a late histone H2B gene from the sea urchin Stronglyocentrotus purpuratus were linked in a single plasmid and injected into the eggs of the sea urchin Lytechinus pictus. The levels of transcripts of injected early and late genes and of endogenous early genes were monitored during development by a ribonuclease protection assay. Transcripts of both the injected and endogenous early genes peaked during the blastula stage and decreased severalfold by the mesenchyme blastula stage. Transcripts of the injected late gene became detectable at the blastula stage and increased in amount subsequently, until at least the early gastrula stage, 28 hr after fertilization. Thus, the pattern of expression of the injected early and late H2B genes is similar to that of their endogenous counterparts. These results show that DNA sequences regulating the temporal pattern of early and late H2B gene expression must lie within the cloned DNA segments; i.e., within 600 base pairs of the early H2B gene and 3 kilobases of the late H2B gene.
Enhancement-Mode Metamorphic HEMT on GaAs Substrate With 2 S/mm $g_{m}$ and 490 GHz $f_{T}$

This letter presents the results of an enhancement mode metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor device on a GaAs substrate with a 70% indium composition channel. A 35-nm gate length device exhibits a 490-GHz current gain cutoff frequency (fT), a transconductance (gm) of 2 S/mm, a threshold voltage (Vth) of 0.11 V (enhancement mode) and a low on- resistance of 0.37 Omega mm. These attributes make the device well- suited for millimeter-wave circuit applications.
Optimization of serial-serial multiplier and implementation of a 4-bit multiplier

In this article partial products algorithm of serial multipliers is presented and different architectures of these kinds of multipliers such as: Successive Addition, Serial-Parallel and Serial-Serial methods are surveyed. With respect to extension capability of pipeline architecture, this circuit is implemented as 4-bit serial-serial multiplier. Some problems have been found and issues were scrutinized. Through improvement in the architecture that is presented as a first method, the problems are eliminated. In following suggested way, it is optimized for speed and area usage of chip. Implementation, simulation and layout have been done by Cadence 6.1. 0.243 with TSMC 0. 18μm standard cell library. It is found by this improvement that with the total area usage of chip A=0.286nm2 (result from W*L) and total power consumption P=3.6mW of power supply, maximum operation frequency is fmax=700 MHz.
Ligustilide attenuates inflammatory pain via inhibition of NFκB‐mediated chemokines production in spinal astrocytes

Ligustilide (LIG) is a major component of Radix Angelica Sinensis, and reportedly has neuroprotective and anti‐inflammatory effects. Recent studies have demonstrated that spinal astrocyte‐mediated neuroinflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic pain. Here we investigated the anti‐nociceptive effect of systemic treatment with LIG on chronic inflammatory pain and explored possible mechanisms. Unilateral hindpaw injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) induced persistent pain hypersensitivity. Repeated daily intravenous treatment with LIG, either before or after CFA injection, attenuated CFA‐induced thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia. The same treatment also inhibited CFA‐induced keratinocyte‐derived chemokine (KC) and monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1) mRNA and protein increases in astrocytes of the spinal cord. In vitro study showed LIG dose‐dependently reduced lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced upregulation of KC and MCP‐1 mRNA in astrocyte cultures. Interestingly, LIG treatment did not affect CFA‐ or LPS‐induced glial fibrillary acidic protein upregulation, but did inhibit CFA‐induced phosphorylated nuclear factor‐κB (p‐NFκB) upregulation in spinal astrocytes. Furthermore, intrathecal injection of NFκB inhibitor attenuated CFA‐induced pain hypersensitivity and upregulation of KC and MCP‐1 in the spinal cord. Finally, single intravenous injection of LIG attenuated intrathecal injection of LPS‐induced mechanical allodynia. The same treatment also decreased LPS‐induced NFκB activation and KC and MCP‐1 upregulation in the spinal cord. These data indicate that LIG attenuates chronic inflammatory pain potentially via inhibiting NFκB‐mediated chemokines production in spinal astrocytes. These results provide direct evidence of the anti‐nociceptive and anti‐inflammatory effects of LIG, suggesting a new application of LIG for the treatment of chronic inflammatory pain.