Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tumorigenesis and Neoplastic Progression High Fat Diet Induced Hepatic Steatosis Establishes a Permissive Microenvironment for Colorectal Metastases and Promotes Primary Dysplasia in a Murine Model

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which includes steatosis and its progression to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, is a liver disorder of increasing clinical significance. Here we characterize a murine model of high fat diet-induced NAFLD with progression from liver steatosis to histological features compatible with steatohepatitis and more advanced stages of NAFLD in humans, including chronic portal inflammation, pericellular and bridging fibrosis, Mallory body formation, and bile ductular reaction. Chronic changes induced by the prolonged consumption of a high-fat diet alone culminate in the development of primary liver dysplasias. Importantly, we extend these studies to demonstrate that even the early stages of uncomplicated steatosis provide a permissive microenvironment for the growth of colon cancer cells that are metastatic to the liver. High fat diet-induced steatosis, coupled with a splenic injection model of experimental liver metastasis using syngeneic MC38 colon cancer cells, resulted in an increased number of secondary tumor nodules and metastatic burden in steatotic livers. Metastatic nodules were associated with focal peritumoral areas of infiltrating inflammatory cells and associated apoptotic cell populations. These results suggest that the modulation of specific host factors in the steatotic liver contributes to tumor progression in the microenvironment of NAFLD. (Am J Pathol 2009, 175:355–364; DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2009.080703)
Purification and Characterization of a Cl−-Activated Aminopeptidase from Bovine Skeletal Muscle

To elucidate the mechanisms involved in the increase in free amino acids during postmortem storage of meat, a novel aminopeptidase was purified from bovine skeletal muscle by ammonium sulfate fractionation and successive chromatographies such as DEAE-cellulose, Sephacryl S-200, Hydroxyapatite, Phenyl-Sepharose, and Hi-Trap affinity column chromatography. The molecular mass of the enzyme was found to be 58 kDa on SDS–PAGE. This enzyme had optimum pH at around 7.5, and preferably hydrolyzed Ala-β-naphthylamide (-NA) in amino acid-NAs. The activity was strongly inhibited by phenylmethansulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and bestatin, suggesting that it is to be classified as a serine protease. Moreover, the activity was enhanced by chloride and nitrate ions, which is the most remarkable property of this enzyme. The enzyme appeared to be involved in the increase in free amino acids during postmortem storage of meat.
Odontoidectomy through posterior midline approach followed by same sitting occipitocervical fixation: A cadaveric study

Object: Atlantoaxial instability with irreducible odontoid process is one of the challenges in spine surgery. These lesions are commonly treated through anterior transoral approach which is followed by posterior atlantoaxial fusion. However, there are still many limitations, especially cerebrospinal fluid fistula with subsequent life-threatening infection, difficulty in cases with limited opening of mouth due to temporomandibular arthritis or anomalies of naso-oropharynx. Türe et al. used the extreme lateral transatlas approach for the removal of odontoid. In this study, we applied the transatlas approach but through posterior midline incision aiming to evaluate its safety and feasibility. Methods: In four silicon injected, formalin-fixed cadaver heads, posterior removal of the odontoid was done through the familiar midline incision and subperiosteal muscle separation and elevation of muscles as on unit followed by microscopic exposure and mobilization of the vertebral artery after opening of the foramen transversarium of atlas followed by drilling of lateral mass and odontoidectomy. Occipitocervical stabilization was done between the occiput and C2, C3 (C1 lateral mass screw can be added in the contralateral side for better stabilization). Results: Unilateral excision of the lateral mass of atlas after mobilization of the vertebral artery provided safe and excellent exposure of the odontoid process in the four cadaver heads without injury to vertebral artery or retraction of the dura. Conclusion: Posterior removal of the odontoid can be done safely through wide and sterile operative field, and occipitocervical fixation performed at the same sitting without need for another operation and hence avoids the risk of cord injury from repositioning.
Improving Yield and Defect Tolerance in Multifunction Subthreshold CMOS Gates

This paper presents simulations of 3 different implementations of the minority-3 function, with special focus on mismatch analysis through statistical Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations clearly favors the minority-3 mirrored gate, and a gate-level redundancy scheme, where identical circuits with the same input drive the same output-node, is further explored as a means of increasing fault- and defect-tolerance. Important tradeoffs between supply voltage, redundancy and yield are revealed, and VDD = 175 mV is suggested as a minimum useful operating voltage, combined with a redundancy factor of 2
Synthesis of Bacillus cereus spore coat protein

The major structural protein of Bacillus cereus spore coats was synthesized, commencing 1 to 2 h after the end of exponential growth, as a precursor with a mass of ca. 65,000 daltons. About 40% of this precursor, i.e. 26,000 daltons, was converted to spore coat monomers of 13,000 daltons each, perhaps as disulfide-linked dimers. The rate of conversion varied, being initially slow, most rapid at the time of morphogenesis of the coat layers, and then slow again late in sporulation, coincident with a decrease in intracellular protease activity. There was a second major spore coat polypeptide of about 26,000 daltons that was extractable from mature spores in variable amounts. This protein had a peptide profile and a reactivity with spore coat protein antibody that were very similar to those of the 13,000-dalton monomers. It is probably a disulfide-linked dimer that is not readily dissociated.
Ca2+ channel blocking effects of hirsutine, an indole alkaloid from Uncaria genus, in the isolated rat aorta.

Ca2+ channel blocking activity of hirsutine and its pharmacological features were studied. Hirsutine (10(-6) to 3 x 10(-5) M) produced a dose-dependent relaxation of the isolated rat aorta contracted by norepinephrine and high K+ concentration. This effect was exhibited in the aorta strips with or without the endothelium, suggesting an involvement of vasodilative mechanisms not dependent on the endothelium. Hirsutine also inhibited the contractions induced by serotonin and Ca2+ channel activator YC-170, but not by Ca2+ ionophore A23187. The pA2 value of hirsutine was 6.6 +/- 0.1 (mean +/- S.E.; n = 4) in antagonizing cumulative dose-response curve for Ca2+ in the depolarized aorta strips. It is concluded that hirsutine apparently exhibits Ca2+ channel blocking activity mainly through inhibition of the voltage-dependent Ca2+ influx.
DHAT SYNDROME: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF A CULTURE BOUND SEX NEUROSIS OF THE ORIENT

SUMMARY Indian Dhat syndrome which is symptom complex most commonly seen in younger group of patients in between 16 to 23 years of age. These patients present with whitish discharge with urine (patients believe it to be semen). This is associated most commonly with impotency, marked anxiety, general weakness, premature ejaculations and hypochondriasis. All the patients were either from low or average socioeconomic status. Majority of the patients attributed masturbation as a causative factor for this problem.
Linear Algebra to Quantum Cohomology: The Story of Alfred Horn's Inequalities

A long-standing problem in linear algebra-Alfred Horn's conjecture on eigenvalues of sums of Hermitian matrices-has been solved recently. The solution appeared in two papers, one by Alexander Klyachko [20] in 1998 and the other by Allen Knutson and Terence Tao [23] in 1999. This has been followed by a flurry of activity that has brought to the mathematical centre-stage what for many years had been somewhat of a side-show. The aim of this article is to describe the problem, its origins, some of the early work on it, and some ideas that have gone into its solution. A substantial part of this article should be accessible to anyone who has had a second course on linear algebra. The reader who wants to know more will find it rewarding to read the comprehensive and advanced account [11] by William Fulton.
Impacts of storage and solar photovoltaic on the distribution network

Energy storage is the key building block for effective utilization of Renewable energy (RE). Among different distributed generators (DG), solar Photovoltaic (PV) is one of the most popular method in RE extraction. However PV cannot support the load at steady rate for whole day and storage helps in timely load demand and adds flexibility in load management. Moreover storage indirectly helps in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission by increasing the use of RE. However storage connects to the grid through inverter and switching of inverter depends on the load demand and PV generation. Frequent switching due to fluctuating solar radiation introduces voltage fluctuation, voltage deviation and harmonics in the network. Moreover the concentration of storage and PV in the network may introduce unbalance situation. This paper identifies the impacts of high penetration of storage and solar PV by evaluating different case scenarios on a small distribution network in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. It was found that storage introduces bidirectional power flow in the network and has impacts such as voltage regulation, phase unbalance and harmonics.
Past tense –ed omissions by children with specific language impairment: The role of sonority and phonotactics

Abstract Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) frequently omit past tense –ed. Omission rates are subject to phonological context. Two phonological characteristics were manipulated; the sonority profile of the stem-final phoneme plus affix, and the phonotactic probability of the word-final phonemes (/i:pt/ in beeped). Seventeen children with SLI (mean age 6;7) and 21 language-matched children (mean age 4;8) repeated sentences containing regularly inflected verbs according to a 2 (sonority) by 2 (phonotactic legality) design. Affix omissions were analysed. There was a significant effect of sonority only, characterised by a difficulty with level-sonority clusters, and no interaction. Syllabic affixes, e.g. head-ed, were produced relatively accurately. It is argued that –ed omissions in SLI may reflect a low-level speech or articulation difficulty which surfaces in uniquely challenging clusters. This is not an alternative to morphosyntactic accounts; rather past tense omissions are best explained according to complexity in multiple domains; syntactic, morpho-syntactic and phonological.
Drosophila HNF 4 Regulates Lipid Mobilization and b-Oxidation

Laura Palanker,1,2 Jason M. Tennessen,1 Geanette Lam,1 and Carl S. Thummel1,* 1Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, 15 North 2030 East Room 2100, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-5330, USA 2Present address: Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Lipid Research, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Box 8127, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA *Correspondence: carl.thummel@genetics.utah. edu DOI 10.1016/j.cmet. 2009.01. 009
Joint multi-CDN and LT-coding for video transport over HTTP

Video transport over HTTP is becoming more and more popular. Many video service providers construct huge content distribution networks(CDN) to support HTTP streaming service, however, they seldom exploit the benefits of multiple servers to achieve higher bandwidth and reliability by parallel streaming. In this paper, we study the problem of jointing multi-CDN and LT-coding for video transport over HTTP. Using LT coding, a client could download the same video segment from multiple servers without considering data segmentation and server scheduling issue. Thus, we are able to treat all CDN servers as a virtual server with higher bandwidth and reliability. To reduce the ACK overhead, a stochastic model is designed to predict the amount of data to be sent from each server while guaranteeing the decoding probability. Compared with the existing schemes, the experimental results show that our proposed scheme obtains less overhead and fewer number of HTTP requests. Besides, we also achieve better video quality and better robustness to fluctuant bandwidth.
Sindbis Virus Induces Apoptosis through a Caspase-Dependent, CrmA-Sensitive Pathway

ABSTRACT Sindbis virus infection of cultured cells and of neurons in mouse brains leads to programmed cell death exhibiting the classical characteristics of apoptosis. Although the mechanism by which Sindbis virus activates the cell suicide program is not known, we demonstrate here that Sindbis virus activates caspases, a family of death-inducing proteases, resulting in cleavage of several cellular substrates. To study the role of caspases in virus-induced apoptosis, we determined the effects of specific caspase inhibitors on Sindbis virus-induced cell death. CrmA (a serpin from cowpox virus) and zVAD-FMK (N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone) inhibited Sindbis virus-induced cell death, suggesting that cellular caspases facilitate apoptosis induced by Sindbis virus. Furthermore, CrmA significantly increased the rate of survival of infected mice. These inhibitors appear to protect cells by inhibiting the cellular death pathway rather than impairing virus replication or by inhibiting the nsP2 and capsid viral proteases. The specificity of CrmA indicates that the Sindbis virus-induced death pathway is similar to that induced by Fas or tumor necrosis factor alpha rather than being like the death pathway induced by DNA damage. Taken together, these data suggest a central role for caspases in Sindbis virus-induced apoptosis.
Hyperemesis Gravidarum in Eastern Asian Population

Objective: To investigate the clinical features of hyperemesis gravidarum in Eastern Asian women. Method: Retrospective cohort study was conducted based on delivery records. Hyperemesis gravidarum was defined as a pregnancy with severe nausea and vomiting necessitating hospitalization with a body weight loss of over 5% from pre-pregnancy weight with ketonuria. The onset is at 10 weeks of gestation or less. Maternal and neonatal variables were compared. Result: There were 3,350 singleton deliveries in the study period. All subjects were Eastern Asian women. Hyperemesis gravidarum was observed in 119 cases (3.6%). Hyperemesis gravidarum subjects had a smaller pre-pregnancy body weight (50.5 ± 0.64 kg vs. 51.8 ± 0.16 kg, p = 0.046) and a smaller pre-pregnancy body mass index compared to non-hyperemetic subjects (20.2 ± 0.21 kg/m2 vs. 20.8 ± 0.06 kg/m2, p = 0.02). Conclusion: The Eastern Asian population had a significantly higher incidence of hyperemesis gravidarum. Small pre-pregnancy body habitus increased the risk of hyperemesis gravidarum.
Spin Labels in the Gel Phase and Frozen Lipid Bilayers: Do They Truly Manifest a Polarity Gradient?

© 2012 Dzikovski and Freed, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Spin Labels in the Gel Phase and Frozen Lipid Bilayers: Do They Truly Manifest a Polarity Gradient?
Cognitive radio equipments supporting spectrum agility

This paper describes the practical design issues and potential strategies for implementing cognitive radio (CR) equipments that support spectrum agility. We first discuss a simplified cognitive cycle that satisfies the requirements of a typical CR scenario. We give a brief overview of the various steps involved in the above cycle, namely, sensing, decision making and flexible signal processing. A management architecture called HDCRAM (Hierarchical and Distributed Cognitive Radio Architecture Management) is proposed as a solution for efficiently managing all the steps in the cognitive cycle. Finally we give an integrated proposal, which serves a starting point for designing future spectrum agile CR equipments.
Analyse et exploitation des observations de passages du Soleil à partir de l'astrolabe de Danjon équipé d'une caméra CCD

Depuis plus de vingt ans, l'astrolabe de Danjon est utilise, sous une variante modifiee, pour les observations du diametre solaire. Toutes les series de mesures montraient une variabilite du demi-diametre apparent du Soleil, que les modeles solaires actuels n'expliquent pas. L’interet scientifique suscite par les resultats obtenus depuis 1978, a demontre la necessite d'une modernisation de l'astrolabe solaire. L’adaptation de la camera CCD a pour avantage, outre une impersonnalisation complete de l'instrument, de lever le doute sur la definition observationnelle du bord solaire, et de fournir des images permettant des analyses completes. Les variations eventuelles du diametre solaire ne peuvent etre mises en evidence que par des observations continues, donc faites depuis le sol. Le fait que des mesures de diametre solaire deviennent possibles depuis l'espace, permettra de calibrer les mesures au sol. Dans le cadre de ce travail, nous avons mis au point la nouvelle methode de mesure du diametre solaire. Pendant deux campagnes d'observations, en 1996 et 1997, cette methode, numerique, d'acquisition d'images CCD a ete testee et amelioree sur les astrolabes solaires de l'observatoire de Calern. Des observations visuelles effectuees en parallele ont permis de qualifier les mesures CCD. L’analyse des images numerisees, conduisant a une definition conceptuellement precise du bord solaire, constitue une deuxieme partie de ma these. Environ 900 mesures CCD du diametre solaire ont ete reduites avec ces nouvelles methodes, et les resultats sont analyses. La comparaison avec d'autres series de mesures est egalement faite. Enfin, nous essayons d'interpreter les resultats obtenus concernant les mesures de diametre du Soleil, et d'analyser les possibles implications de ses variations eventuelles.
Tehranolide could shift the immune response towards Th1 and modulate the intra-tumor infiltrated T regulatory cells.

BACKGROUND Artemisia diffusa contains a new type of sesquiterpene lactone with an endoperoxide group (Tehranolide). OBJECTIVE Due to the existing similarity between the structures of Tehranolide and Artemisinin, it was hypothesized that Tehranolide would have similar effects as Artemisinin. In this study, the immunotherapeutic effectiveness of Tehranolide was investigated by direct intra-tumoral injection. METHODS Tehranolide was purified from Artemisia diffusa, and its effect on the tumor volume was investigated. The splenocyte proliferation, shifting of cytokine profile, and the presence of naturally-occurring CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells were assessed to describe the anti-tumor immune response. RESULTS Analysis of immune response showed that, intra-tumoral injection of Tehranolide decreased the rate of tumor growth compared to control group. Furthermore, the proliferative response of mice treated with Tehranolide was enhanced. In comparison with the control group, production of both IL-4 and IFN-gamma was induced (p<0.05). The results indicated a decrease in tumor CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T lymphocytes in the Tehranolide-treated group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION Treatment of tumors with Tehranolide attenuated CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cell-mediated immune suppression and elicited a persistent anti-tumor immunity against cancer.
Venous Return and Cardiac Filling in Varanid Lizards

1. 1. The duration of ventricular diastole relative to the cardiac cycle length is much shorter (46%) in varanids than in mammals (>70%). 2. 2. Atrial systolic pressures were high (15–20 cmH2O), and atrial contraction was apparent in pressure waveforms from the ventricular cavum arteriosum and cavum pulmonale. Atrial contraction coincides with the short period of ventricular diastole and represents the filling agent for the ventricular cava. 3. 3. Increased central venous flow coincides with ventricular contraction, which by reducing the intrapericardial pressure will promote the expansion and filling of the atria and central veins, implying a suctional element of cardiac filling. 4. 4. Inspiration during spontaneous breathing will reduce central venous pressure, steepen the pressure gradient towards the heart and aid flow towards central veins. There is a positive correlation between the systolic level of central venous pressure and cardiac cycle duration.
Resurrecting ancestral genes in bacteria to interpret ancient biosignatures

Two datasets, the geologic record and the genetic content of extant organisms, provide complementary insights into the history of how key molecular components have shaped or driven global environmental and macroevolutionary trends. Changes in global physico-chemical modes over time are thought to be a consistent feature of this relationship between Earth and life, as life is thought to have been optimizing protein functions for the entirety of its approximately 3.8 billion years of history on the Earth. Organismal survival depends on how well critical genetic and metabolic components can adapt to their environments, reflecting an ability to optimize efficiently to changing conditions. The geologic record provides an array of biologically independent indicators of macroscale atmospheric and oceanic composition, but provides little in the way of the exact behaviour of the molecular components that influenced the compositions of these reservoirs. By reconstructing sequences of proteins that might have been present in ancient organisms, we can downselect to a subset of possible sequences that may have been optimized to these ancient environmental conditions. How can one use modern life to reconstruct ancestral behaviours? Configurations of ancient sequences can be inferred from the diversity of extant sequences, and then resurrected in the laboratory to ascertain their biochemical attributes. One way to augment sequence-based, single-gene methods to obtain a richer and more reliable picture of the deep past, is to resurrect inferred ancestral protein sequences in living organisms, where their phenotypes can be exposed in a complex molecular-systems context, and then to link consequences of those phenotypes to biosignatures that were preserved in the independent historical repository of the geological record. As a first step beyond single-molecule reconstruction to the study of functional molecular systems, we present here the ancestral sequence reconstruction of the beta-carbonic anhydrase protein. We assess how carbonic anhydrase proteins meet our selection criteria for reconstructing ancient biosignatures in the laboratory, which we term palaeophenotype reconstruction. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Reconceptualizing the origins of life’.