Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cyclotides as natural anti‐HIV agents

Cyclotides are disulfide rich macrocyclic plant peptides that are defined by their unique topology in which a head‐to‐tail cyclized backbone is knotted by the interlocking arrangement of three disulfide bonds. This cyclic cystine knot motif gives the cyclotides exceptional resistance to thermal, chemical, or enzymatic degradation. Over 100 cyclotides have been reported and display a variety of biological activities, including a cytoprotective effect against HIV infected cells. It has been hypothesized that cyclotides from one subfamily, the Möbius subfamily, may be more appropriate than bracelet cyclotides as drug candidates given their lower toxicity to uninfected cells. Here, we report the anti‐HIV and cytotoxic effects of three cyclotides, including two from the Möbius subfamily. We show that Möbius cyclotides have comparable inhibitory activity against HIV infection to bracelet cyclotides and that they are generally less cytotoxic to the target cells. To explore the structure activity relationships (SARs) of the 29 cyclotides tested so far for anti‐HIV activity, we modeled the structures of the 21 cyclotides whose structures have not been previously solved. We show that within cyclotide subfamilies there is a correlation between hydrophobicity of certain loop regions and HIV inhibition. We also show that charged residues in these loops impact on the activity of the cyclotides, presumably by modulating membrane binding. In addition to providing new SAR data, this report is a mini‐review that collates all cyclotide anti‐HIV information reported so far and provides a resource for future studies on the therapeutic potential of cyclotides as natural anti‐HIV agents. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 90: 51–60, 2008.
Studies on mechanisms of arc propagation in vacuum involving multiple power circuits

Time and again geosynchronous communication satellites worldwide are plagued by unexpected power failures due to sustained arcing in power systems, the phenomenon which is under vigorous investigation. Though many studies have been conducted on arc phenomenon across polarized electrodes, very little attention is paid on the propagation of an initialized arc into adjacent power carrying conductors. Considering the complexity of theorizing the vacuum arc phenomenon accompanied with the ever increasing demand for high power satellites and greater reliability necessitates the devising of experiments to gather deeper insight into the arc phenomenon. The present paper discusses the experimental studies to understand the sustenance and propagation of an electric arc with respect to potential difference, current, electric field, vacuum level, and materials involved. The experiments establishes an operating threshold for current and vacuum level beyond which an initiated arc can propagate and create a short in the adjacent circuits of a power transfer assembly and thus likely to destabilize the system. The steps to mitigate the undesirable effects of arc propagation in a power transfer assembly are also discussed. The studies are conducted as part of development of high power transfer assembly for Geo-applications.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy: An adjuvant pain controlling modality in TMD patients — A clinical study

Background: The use of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in dentistry was first described in 1967, by Shane and Kessler, but it has yet to gain widespread acceptance in dentistry. A study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of TENS therapy as an adjuvant modality and to compare it with the conventional medication in controlling pain in temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Yenepoya Dental College and Hospital, Mangalore. A total of 40 patients with the clinical symptom of pain associated with TMDs were randomly divided into two groups. Group A (control) patients were treated with medication (analgesics and muscle relaxants) alone, while group B patients were treated with TENS therapy in combination with medication. The intensity of the pain was assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The results were analyzed with the student's ‘t’ test. A P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: A significant improvement was observed in both the TENS and the control group in terms of pain control. On comparative analysis, adjuvant TENS therapy was found to be more effective than medication alone, in controlling pain. (P value = 0.019). Conclusion: The observed data suggest that TENS therapy can be used as an adjuvant modality in the management of pain associated with TMDs. This study justifies the use of TENS therapy in the management of TMD.
Texture analysis using local region contrast

Abstract. The local binary pattern (LBP) operator is a very effective texture descriptor that describes images using texture patterns. However, existing LBP operators discard the texture contrast information by definition and, in addition, they are sensitive to noise. This paper presents a local contrast descriptor (LCD) to represent images using texture contrast by measuring how far neighbors are spread out in a given neighborhood. LCD and LBPs can be combined to improve texture description performance. Furthermore, the LCD is extended to the local ternary contrast descriptor (LTCD) to describe textures using both contrast and magnitude features. Experiments on the UIUC texture database show that the LCD and LBP combinations are more accurate than either descriptor alone and LCD is an easy and efficient complement to LBPs. Experiments on the FERET face database and the database in which the probe sets contain added noise show that LCD, especially LTCD, has promising discriminative power and strong robustness against noise.
Curcumin Inhibits Skin Squamous Cell Carcinoma Tumor Growth In Vivo

Objective. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCCa) has increased from 4% to 10% over 4 decades, stimulating interest in developing novel agents that slow sun-damaged skin progression. This is the first study evaluating the naturally occurring bioactive food compound curcumin on skin cancer xenografts. Low bioavailability of curcumin has slowed its transition to clinical trials. It is hypothesized that curcumin has growth-inhibitory effects through the MTOR pathway and chemopreventive potential in skin SCCa where local application could bypass bioavailability problems. Study Design. A randomized experimental animal and laboratory study. Setting. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana. Subjects and Methods. SCID mice were pretreated with 0, 5, or 15 mg of curcumin (n = 8 per group), 3 days prior to injecting 106 SRB12-p9 skin SCCa cells in each flank, and were gavaged daily thereafter. Tumor volumes were measured and tumors were harvested on day 24 when mice were sacrificed. Immunohistochemical analysis of pS6 expression (n = 3 per group) and tumor volumes in the 3 groups were compared using 1-way analysis of variance and pairwise comparisons were determined with the Tukey t test if overall comparisons were significant. Results. Tumor volume increased 2.3 times faster in control mice compared with the group receiving 15 mg of curcumin (P = .0003). A significant difference in average tumor volumes was seen (P = .0012), especially with treatment of 15 mg of curcumin compared with control P = . 0003). Curcumin inhibited S6 phosphorylation (P = .0027), suggesting inhibition of the MTOR pathway. Conclusion. Curcumin appears to inhibit skin SCCa growth and blocks tumor progression by inhibiting pS6 even when gavage is used to deliver curcumin, indicating even more significant effects in future experiments with local application.
Minimum detectable strain improvement in junctionless nanowire FET sensors

We present the piezoresistive and noise measurement results on junctionless nanowire field-effect transistor (JL-NWFET). Results reveal the channel doping and gate bias impacts on the piezoresistance, threshold voltage and low frequency noise (LFN). In JL-NWFET, at a doping level of 6.7 × 1018 cm-3, we found 91% increment in the piezoresistive effect compared to device with a doping level 6.7 × 1019 cm-3. The JL-NWFET shows ~5 orders of magnitude lower spectral noise than the inversion mode FETs, and LFN is found less sensitive to gate bias voltage. Channel doping shows a wide tunability of threshold voltage without any influence on LFN. The picoampere drain current noise helps achieve a superior resolution (minimum detectable strain) and formulate JL-NWFET as an ultrasensitive sensing element for the nanoelectromechanical sensors.
Fusión bayesiana de pares de imágenes con diferente exposición

En la actualidad, las camaras DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex), incorporan diversos mecanismos para ayudar al usuario en la obtencion de una imagen correctamente expuesta y nitida en condiciones de luminosidad adecuadas. La modificacion del tiempo de exposicion, tamano de la apertura y sensibilidad ISO, en conjuncion con la utilizacion de flash, tripode o sistemas estabilizadores de imagen permiten captar imagenes nitidas bajo ciertas condiciones. Por desgracia, existen multitud de situaciones en las que la iluminacion no es la adecuada y los mecanismos anteriormente descritos podrian no ser suficientes para evitar el emborronamiento en la imagen captada. Ademas, los problemas para captar imagenes nitidas se acentuan si la camara que utilizamos es de bajo coste o la camara de un telefono movil ya que estos dispositivos no permiten captar tanta luz como las camaras DSLR, ni suelen proporcionar los mecanismos descritos anteriormente. El objetivo de la restauracion digital de imagenes es el de recuperar una imagen nitida a partir de observaciones borrosas. La hipotesis de partida de esta trabajo es que la incorporacion de observaciones adicionales con diferentes exposiciones, ayuda a la recuperacion de una imagen nitida de gran calidad. El objetivo del trabajo de investigacion ha consistido en conseguir una imagen nitida en situaciones de baja luminosidad combinando la informacion proporcionada por imagenes con distintas exposiciones. En nuestro caso demostraremos que un par de imagenes, formado por una correctamente expuesta pero borrosa y otra nitida pero muy ruidosa debido al corto tiempo de exposicion, u obtenida con un ISO muy elevado es suficiente para conseguir una imagen libre de emborronamiento y ruido, mediante la combinacion de ambas. Las tres contribuciones principales de la tesis se describen a continuacion: En primer lugar se han analizado varias tecnicas de calibracion fotometrica y geometrica, y se ha propuesto un metodo robusto y automatico de calibracion de un par de imagenes de distinta exposicion para la aplicacion posterior del proceso de restauracion. Posteriormente se han propuesto diversos algoritmos de restauracion que combinan el par de imagenes desde dos puntos de vista, asumiendo un emborronamiento espacialmente invariante y otras dos soluciones que que consideran una degradacion espacialmente variante. Los metodos propuestos mantienen una firme base teorica, ademas requieren muy poca o ninguna supervision del usuario, con una estimacion automatica de los parametros del algoritmo, resolviendo el problema de forma satisfactoria tanto en el dominio lineal del sensor como en la imagen revelada por la camara.
Longwall mining automation an application of minimum-variance smoothing [Applications of Control]

This article reviews the development of the minimum-variance smoother and describes its use in longwall automation. We describe both continuous- and discrete-time smoother solutions. It is shown, under suitable assumptions, that the two-norm of the smoother estimation error is less than that for the Kalman filter. A simulation study is presented to compare the performance of the minimum-variance smoother with the methods of H.E. Rauch et al. (1965), and D.C. Fraser and J.E. Potter (1969).
Replication cycle‐coordinated change of the adenine nucleotide‐bound forms of DnaA protein in Escherichia coli

The ATP‐bound but not the ADP‐bound form of DnaA protein is active for replication initiation at the Escherichia coli chromosomal origin. The hydrolysis of ATP bound to DnaA is accelerated by the sliding clamp of DNA polymerase III loaded on DNA. Using a culture of randomly dividing cells, we now have evidence that the cellular level of ATP–DnaA is repressed to only ∼20% of the total DnaA molecules, in a manner depending on DNA replication. In a synchronized culture, the ATP–DnaA level showed oscillation that has a temporal increase around the time of initiation, and decreases rapidly after initiation. Production of ATP–DnaA depended on concomitant protein synthesis, but not on SOS response, Dam or SeqA. Regeneration of ATP–DnaA from ADP–DnaA was also observed. These results indicate that the nucleotide form shifts of DnaA are tightly linked with an epistatic cell cycle event and with the chromosomal replication system.
Spontaneous Vesicles Formed from Hydroxide Surfactants: Evidence from Electron Microscopy

Dialkyldimethylammonium hydroxide surfactants are highly soluble in water and form spontaneous stable vesicles. These vesicles can be grown to size with added acid, and appear to provide an ideal membrane mimetic system for the study of fusion and ion transport. These phenomena are a consequence of strong hydration forces that are not necessarily limited to the hydroxide ions. The forces can be used to design a variety of model systems whose behavior differs from that of systems in which double-chained surfactants form insoluble liquid crystalline phases in water and unstable vesicle suspensions on prolonged sonication.
Dialetheism and the Impossibility of the World

This paper first offers a standard modal extension of dialetheic logics that respect the normal semantics for negation and conjunction, in an attempt to adequately model absolutism, the thesis that there are true contradictions at metaphysically possible worlds. It is shown, however, that the modal extension has unsavoury consequences for both absolutism and dialetheism. While the logic commits the absolutist to dialetheism, it commits the dialetheist to the impossibility of the actual world. A new modal logic AV is then proposed which avoids these unsavoury consequences by invalidating the interdefinability rules for the modal operators with the use of two valuation relations. However, while using AV carries no significant cost for the absolutist, the same isn't true for the dialetheist. Although using AV allows her to avoid the consequence that the actual world is an impossible world, it does so only on the condition that the dialetheist admits that she cannot give a dialetheic solution to all self-referential semantic paradoxes. Thus, unless there are any further available modal logics that don't commit her to the impossibility of the actual world, the dialetheist is faced with a dilemma. Either admit that the actual world is an impossible world, or admit that her research programme cannot give a comprehensive solution to the self-referential paradoxes.
Acupressure and Acupuncture for Side Effects of Radiotherapy

“Many symptoms of cancer patients, including pain, nausea, and dry mouth, are significantly different in an objective sense than in a subjective sense,” says Peter Johnstone, MD, William A. Mitchell Professor and chair of Radiation Oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “We have evidence now proving that a disconnect often exists between a patient’s reported symptoms and objective evidence of those symptoms,” says Dr. Johnstone, who is also past president of the Society for Integrative Oncology. He made his comments in response to 2 recent studies regarding the effects of acupressure/acupuncture on nausea and xerostomia (dry mouth) in patients receiving radiotherapy for cancer.
Possible role of c-Jun in transcription of the mouse renin gene.

BACKGROUND Renin is a rate-limiting enzyme for activity of the circulating renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and expression of the renin gene is regulated by a variety of stimuli. In this study, we examined a possible role of c-Jun in the transcription of renin gene. METHODS The renin promoter, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), fusion genes with or without c-Jun expression vector (pSV-c-Jun) were transfected into human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, and the effects of c-Jun were examined by deletion and mutation analyses of CAT assay and by in vitro transcription-primer extension assay. We also examined the effects of c-Jun on DNA-binding activity to the renin promoter by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Furthermore, we examined the effects of c-Jun on transcription of the renin gene in enriched juxtaglomerular (JG) cells by cotransfection with pSV-c-Jun and by treatment with antisense c-jun oligodeoxynucleotides. RESULTS Promoter activity of the renin gene was increased by c-Jun overexpression in HEK cells, and the proximal promoter region from -47 to +16 was sufficient for transcriptional activation by c-Jun. Although mutation of activator protein-1 (AP-1) element-like sequences in the proximal promoter did not affect c-Jun-mediated stimulation, mutation of the core promoter including the TATA box inhibited c-Jun-mediated transcription. The results of EMSA showed that c-Jun overexpression produced a binding of nuclear factor, which was HEK cell-specific and distinct from TATA box-binding protein and AP-1 family transcription factor, to the renin core promoter region (RC element) from -36 to -20. The overexpression of c-Jun activated the renin promoter in renin-expressing JG cells, and antisense c-jun decreased the activity of renin promoter and expression of renin mRNA in JG cells. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that the RC element plays a role in c-Jun-mediated transcriptional regulation of the renin gene in HEK cells, and suggest that c-Jun participates in the regulation of renin gene expression in JG cells of the kidney.
Expression of thymidine phosphorylase and vascular endothelial cell growth factor in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and their different characteristics.

BACKGROUND Thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) is identical to platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF). dThdPase is known to promote the development of new blood vessels, which are fundamental to tumor growth and metastasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a 34-42 kilodalton (kD) protein that induces both angiogenesis and vascular permeability. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is a 36 kD nuclear protein, and its expression is associated with DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. METHODS The authors investigated the correlations of dThdPase and VEGF with the growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in 95 patients by examining PCNA expression as a marker of tumor proliferation. They also retrospectively examined the expression of dThdPase in primary HNSCC and its association with angiogenesis and clinicopathologic findings. RESULTS Microvessel count was significantly correlated with the expression of VEGF (P = 0.046) but not with dThdPase expression. The expression of PCNA was significantly correlated with dThdPase (P < 0.001) but not VEGF expression. A significant correlation was found between VEGF and dThdPase expression (P = 0.003). Neither dThdPase nor VEGF correlated with clinicopathologic findings, except for the correlation between tumor location and VEGF expression (P 0.020). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that VEGF is involved in angiogenesis in HNSCC. dThdPase may have effects on tumor growth other than angiogenic activity in HNSCC.
Global and Continuous Pleasantness Estimation of the Soundscape Perceived during Walking Trips through Urban Environments

This paper investigates how the overall pleasantness of the sound environment of an urban walking trip can be estimated through acoustical measurements along the path. For this purpose, two laboratory experiments were carried out, during which controlled and natural 3-min audio and audiovisual sequences were presented. Participants were asked to continuously assess the pleasantness of the sound environment along the sequence, and globally at its end. The results reveal that the global sound pleasantness is principally explained by the average of the instantaneous sound pleasantness values. Accounting for recency or trend effects improved the estimates of the global sound pleasantness over controlled sound sequences, but their contribution is not significant for the second group of stimuli, which are based on natural audio sequences and include visual information. In addition, models for global and continuous pleasantness, as a function of the instantaneous sound pressure level Leq,1s, are proposed. The instantaneous sound pleasantness is found to be mainly impacted by the average sound level over the past 6 s. A logarithmic fading mechanism, extracted from psychological literature, is also proposed for this modelling, and slightly improves the estimations. Finally, the globally perceived sound pleasantness can be accurately estimated from the sound pressure level of the sound sequences, explaining about 60% of the variance in the global sound pleasantness ratings.
A Mixed Semantics Model for Schedulability Analysis of Time Petri Nets

Two semantics, a strong semantics and a weak one, are usually adopted by time Petri nets in different application context. However, both of them are not suitable for the schedulability analysis of real-time systems. The scheduling ability of the strong semantics model is limited because of the constraints of the strong timing, whereas the weak one can not guarantee the timeliness of schedules due to the non-compulsory nature of weak timing. In this paper, we propose a mixed semantics model for time Petri nets that efficiently addresses the problem. In our models, the firability of a transition is not dependent on its conflicting transitions, but on its non-conflicting ones. This not only extends the schedule scope of the model, but also keeps some certain strong timing on choices. Therefore, the mixed semantics model can provide a good support for the schedulability analysis and timing verification of time-critical systems.
Reduction of p66Shc suppresses oxidative damage in retinal pigmented epithelial cells and retina

The largest isoform of the Shc adapter protein, p66Shc, has been implicated in oxidative damage‐induced apoptosis in vital organs, because mice deficient in p66Shc have a 30% increase in life span and are resistant to the lethal effects of systemically administered paraquat, a source of severe oxidative damage. In this study, we utilized siRNA directed against the CH2 domain of Shc, to reduce p66Shc, but not p52Shc nor p46Shc in retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells. RPE cells deficient in p66Shc had reduced susceptibility to oxidative stress‐induced apoptosis. Compared to control cells, those with reduced p66Shc had increased basal and oxidative stress‐induced NF‐κB transcriptional activity, increased levels of antioxidant enzymes, and less generation of reactive oxygen species when challenged with H2O2. The increase in oxidative stress‐induced NF‐κB activity was mediated by activation of ERK. Compared to eyes injected with GFP siRNA, those injected with p66Shc siRNA showed less loss of retinal function as assessed by electroretinograms from paraquat‐induced oxidative stress. These data suggest that p66Shc and molecular signals involved in its regulation provide therapeutic targets for retinal degenerations in which oxidative‐damage plays a major role, including age‐related macular degeneration and cone cell death in retinitis pigmentosa. J. Cell. Physiol. 209: 996–1005, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.