Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Specific inhibition of PI3K p110δ inhibits CSF‐1‐induced macrophage spreading and invasive capacity

Colony stimulating factor‐1 (CSF‐1) stimulates mononuclear phagocytic cell survival, growth and differentiation into macrophages through activation and autophosphorylation of the CSF‐1 receptor (CSF‐1R). We have previously demonstrated that CSF‐1‐induced phosphorylation of Y721 (pY721) in the receptor kinase insert triggers its association with the p85 regulatory subunit of phosphoinositide 3′‐kinase (PI3K). Binding of p85 PI3K to the CSF‐1R pY721 motif activates the associated p110 PI3K catalytic subunit and stimulates spreading and motility in macrophages and enhancement of tumor cell invasion. Here we show that pY721‐based signaling is necessary for CSF‐1‐stimulated PtdIns(3,4,5)P production. While primary bone marrow‐derived macrophages and the immortalized bone marrow‐derived macrophage cell line M−/−. WT express all three class IA PI3K isoforms, p110δ predominates in the cell line. Treatment with p110δ‐specific inhibitors demonstrates that the hematopoietically enriched isoform, p110δ, mediates CSF‐1‐regulated spreading and invasion in macrophages. Thus GS‐1101, a potent and selective p110δ inhibitor, may have therapeutic potential by targeting the infiltrative capacity of tumor‐associated macrophages that is critical for their enhancement of tumor invasion and metastasis.
Factors associated with location of death of children with cancer in palliative care

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with location of death of patients receiving palliative care in a pediatric oncology unit. Methods: A palliative care program was developed in the pediatric department in order to provide specialized attention to the patient and family in end-of-life. The program is coordinated by a nurse, delivering a simultaneous interdisciplinary team approach with focus on identification and training of a family care provider as well as local resources supplemented by support of a social worker and the community. All 87 patients in palliative care were followed by the team. The factors associated with the location of death (home or hospital) were evaluated for the 71 patients who died prior to analysis. Results: Forty-two (59%) patients died at home. Factors significantly associated with dying at home were: male with an Odds Ratio (OR) = 3.80, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.26–11.76; public health insurance (OR) = 4.95, 95%[CI] = 1.03–26.75, low educational level of the caregiver (OR) = 11.11 95%[CI] = 1.65–94.66 and low educational level of the mother (OR) = 7.07 95%[CI] = 1.37–40.14. Gender was the only independent factor associated with location of death: a boy had a higher risk of dying at home, (OR) = 4.25, 95%[CI] = 1.37–13.21 when compared to a girl. Significance of results: In our society we are still not able to provide hospice care or home care for all children, although increasing emphasis has been placed on utilizing local resources. Even though we had increased the number of desired home deaths, it is still a challenge to meet patients and families' requests. A team approach, the recognition of the factors involved, and adequate health and community support have helped us to meet the child and family's needs.
Advancing the search for extra-terrestrial genomes

Widespread synthesis of complex organics, including nucleobases and ribose precursors, occurred early in the history of the solar system in the solar nebula. These organics, delivered to multiple potentially habitable zones, may have biased the evolution of life towards utilization of similar informational polymers. Meteoritic exchange might also have produced shared ancestry, most plausible for Earth and Mars. To test this hypothesis, we are developing the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes (SETG), a life detection instrument for in-situ isolation and sequencing of nucleic acids. Our mission focus area is astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth. Our science goal for Mars is to search for related or unrelated nucleic acid-based life, particularly life that has the potential to interact with life on Earth; this may also inform sample selection for Mars Sample Return (MSR) and reduce the risks of false positives through the first in-situ measurement of forward contamination. Our science goal for Enceladus is to search for a second genesis based on nucleic acids in the plumes emanating from the South Polar Region. Life detection may also be possible in Europa orbit but the availability of a suitable plume is tenuous and it is a challenge for biological reagents to survive intense radiation there. Here we describe advancements in SETG geared towards in-situ sequencing during a future Mars mission, including extraction of nucleic acids coupled with proof of principle for in-situ single-molecule nanopore-based sequencing. We briefly describe plans to advance SETG from Technology Readiness Level 3 to 6 in preparation for future flight definition and show that under realistic assumptions, a sensitivity of parts per billion or better is feasible.
Effects of morphological plasticity on evolution of virtual robots

Many animals are able to modify their morphology during their lifetime in response to changes in the environment. Such modifications are often adaptive—they can improve individual’s chances of survival and reproduction. In this paper we explore the effects of such morphological plasticity on body–brain coevolution of virtual creatures. We propose a method where morphological plasticity is achieved through learning during individual’s lifetime allowing each individual to quickly adapt its morphology to the current environment. We show that the resulting plasticity allows evolution of creatures better adapted to different simulated environments. We also show that evolution combined with the new learning rule reduces the total computational cost required to evolve an individual with a given target fitness compared to evolution without learning.
Tannins from Canarium album with potent antioxidant activity

The contents of total phenolics and extractable condensed tannins in the leaves, twigs and stem bark of Canarium album were determined. The structural heterogeneity of condensed tannings from stem bark was characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses. The results show the predominance of signals representative of procyanidins and prodelphinidins. In addition, epicatechin and epigallocatechin polymers with galloylated procyanidin or prodelphinidin were also observed. The tannins were screened for their potential antioxidant activities using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) model systems. Tannins extracted from leaves, twigs and stem bark all showed a very good DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing power.
Websites for E-Electioneering in Maharashtra and Gujarat, India

Purpose – The purpose of this exploratory study is to look at how the Internet was used by political parties and candidates during the Indian parliamentary elections of 2009.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 31 web sites belonging to political parties and their candidates in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were examined for how they were used to mobilize volunteers and voters. An online questionnaire and in‐depth interviews were administered to the web site coordinators/designers and politicians.Findings – The study found that sites were not used to their maximum potential but instead, merely for publicity, online presence, and to explore the new medium. There was greater reliance by most candidates on traditional media such as rallies and face‐to‐face interaction. The reason may be due to the limited Internet penetration in India, which also means the Internet may have less influence on voters. Some candidates have shown the way to the potential use of the medium for fund raising and .
Spectrum-Power Trading for Energy-Efficient Device-Centric Overlaying Communications

In this paper, we propose device-to-device (D2D) overlaying communications with spectrum-power trading where D2D users (DUs) consume transmit power to relay the data of cell-edge cellular users (CUs) for uplink transmission in exchange for bandwidth from CUs for D2D communications. The proposed spectrum-power trading aims at exploiting individual disparities from both the spectrum and the power perspectives. Our goal is to maximize the weighted sum EE (WSEE) of DUs via a joint D2D relay selection, bandwidth allocation, and power allocation while guaranteeing the quality of service of each CU. We show that for a given D2D relay selection, the objective function of the WSEE maximization problem in a fractional form can be transformed into a subtractive-form that is more tractable based on the fractional programming theory. To perform D2D relay selection, we first reveal an important property, which connects the WSEE with both the system-centric EE and the fairness- centric EE. Based on this insight, the D2D relay selection problem is cast into a minimum weighted bipartite matching problem that can be solved efficiently with optimality. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme and algorithm.
Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: a new set of tools for the assessment of cognition and drug effects

Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia must be seen as a disturbance of cortico‐sub‐cortical connectivity with a neurotransmitter imbalance in a circuitry system, which connects thalamic input with prefrontal processing and supplementary motor cortex and basal ganglia output. The concept of maze‐solving behaviour as a continuous cognitive task evoking a conflict between prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia activity is explained and introduced to distinguish between the effects of D2 blocking agents and substances with a predominant 5HT2A receptor affinity, such as clozapine and risperidone. Complex mazes show a cognitive deficit in untreated schizophrenic patients that are impaired by conventional and improved by atypical antipsychotic substances. Processing speed improves most on clozapine, while parallel processing is best supported by the non‐sedative atypical substance risperidone. Maze paradigms are presented.
The Role of DDB2 in Regulating Cell Survival and Apoptosis Following DNA Damage - A Mini-Review

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) represents a central cellular process for the removal of structurally and chemically diverse DNA lesions [Friedberg et al., 2006]. Mutations in genes involved in NER are associated with rare autosomal recessive syndromes such as xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a condition characterized by sensitivity to UV light, neurological abnormalities, and a propensity to develop skin cancer (Cleaver, 2005). The observation that cells from XP subgroup E (XP-E cells XP2RO and XP3RO) are defective in recognizing damaged DNA and performing NER highlighted the physiological importance of the protein termed DNA damage-binding protein, or DDB [Chu & Chang, 1988]. The DDB protein, sometimes also referred to as UV-DDB due to its high affinity and specificity for UV-damaged DNA, contains two principal subunits, DDB1 and DDB2 [Grossman, 1976; Keeney et al., 1993; Takao et al., 1993]. The DDB protein complex also binds to non-UVdamaged DNA, like cisplatin-modified DNA, although with much lower affinity. Although the history of DDB spans more than two decades, the complete understanding of its physiological functions remains to be clarified. The activity of DDB has been repeatedly described in crude mammalian cell extracts by electrophoretic mobility shift assays or filterbinding assays performed by different laboratories since the first report of its discovery [Feldberg & Grossman, 1976]. Notably, micro-injections of DDB complexes into the nucleus of XP-E cells restored NER activity [Keeney et al., 1994], supporting the notion that DDB participates in chromatin NER. The DDB1 gene from simian cells was the first DDB gene to be identified [Takao et al., 1993]. The human DDB1 and DDB2 genes were subsequently sequenced [Dualan et al., 1995; Lee et al., 1995]. Soon after, DNA sequencing from Linn’s laboratory revealed that DDB2 is mutated in XP-E cells which lack DDB activity [Nichols et al., 1996; Tang & Chu, 2002]. The predicted DDB2 protein sequence was shown to contain several functional domains, including WD40 repeats, post-translation modification sites (e.g. acetylation, phosphorylation, and ubiquitination), DDB1and DNA-binding sites, as well as a DWD box. Notably, in a majority of XP-E cell lines, DDB2 was found to be altered at domains other than the one required for binding DNA. Thus, DDB appears to be regulated at several levels in UV-irradiated cells, including by transcriptional activation of DDB2 mRNA, post-translational modification, translocation to the nucleus, complex formation,
Interaction between gfp-tagged Pseudomonas tolaasii P12 and Pleurotus eryngii.

Pseudomonas sp. , (formerly reported as strain P12) which produces brown blotch disease symptoms on Pleurotus eryngii, has been identified as P. tolaasii based on its biochemical, physiological properties and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. This pathogen is able to infect basidiocarps when surface-inoculated on mushroom casing soil. However, infected basidiocarps develop the brown blotch disease symptoms when the pathogen concentration in the fruiting body tissues is higher than 10(4) cfu/g d.w. Using gfp-tagged cells and confocal laser scanning microscopy, it was possible to show that the pathogen has the ability to tightly attach to the hyphae of Pleurotus eryngii.
Dysplastic nodules and hepatocellular carcinoma: thin-section MR imaging of explanted cirrhotic livers with pathologic correlation.

PURPOSE To evaluate detection and characterization of hepatocellular nodules in fresh whole explanted cirrhotic livers at thin-section magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS T1-weighted spin-echo and T2-weighted fast spin-echo MR imaging (5-mm-thick sections) were performed in a head coil at 1.5 T in the whole cirrhotic livers of 28 consecutive patients within 4 hours of explantation. MR imaging findings were correlated with findings at pathologic examination, and new international terminology was used to classify the hepatocellular nodules. RESULTS At pathologic examination, 42 suspect (other than regenerative) nodules were identified in 11 patients. MR imaging depicted 41 of 42 (98%) of these nodules (five of five hepatocellular carcinomas [HCCs {diameter, > or = 2 cm}], 10 of 10 small HCCs [diameter, < 2 cm], two of two dysplastic nodules with subfoci of HCC, three of three high-grade dysplastic nodules, and 21 of 22 low-grade dysplastic nodules. Lesions demonstrated the following combinations of signal intensity characteristics on thin-section T1- and T2-weighted images, respectively: HCC, hyperintense, hypointense (n = 3); hyperintense, hyperintense (n = 1); hypointense, isointense (n = 1). Small HCC, hyperintense, hypointense (n = 7); hypointense, hyperintense (n = 2); hyperintense, hyperintense (n = 1). Both dysplastic nodules with subfoci of HCC, hyperintense, hypointense. All seven nonsiderotic low-grade dysplastic nodules, hyperintense, hypointense. All 14 siderotic low-grade dysplastic nodules, hypointense, hypointense. All three high-grade dysplastic nodules, hyperintense, hypointense. CONCLUSION The variable signal intensity characteristics of HCCs made reliable diagnosis impossible, but the thinsection unenhanced in vitro MR images were sensitive for detection of HCCs and dysplastic nodules in cirrhotic livers.
Proinflammatory high-density lipoprotein as a biomarker for atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have a 7-50-fold increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). In the general population, oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) increases the risk for CAD. Normal high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) protect LDL from oxidation; proinflammatory HDLs do not. This study was undertaken to determine whether patients with SLE, who have chronic inflammation that causes oxidative damage, have more proinflammatory HDL and higher levels of ox-LDL, thus predisposing them to atherosclerosis. METHODS One hundred fifty-four women with SLE, 48 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and 72 healthy controls were studied. The ability of the patients' HDL to prevent oxidation of normal LDL was measured. Values >1.0 (the value assigned for LDL oxidation in the absence of HDL) after the addition of HDL indicated proinflammatory HDL. Plasma ox-LDL levels were measured as the amount of oxidation produced by the patient's LDL after the removal of HDL. RESULTS SLE patients had more proinflammatory HDL (mean +/- SD score 1.02 +/- 0.57, versus 0.68 +/- 0.28 in controls [P < 0.0001] and 0.81 +/- 0.22 in RA patients [P = 0.001 versus SLE patients]). A higher proportion of SLE patients had proinflammatory HDL: 44.7% of SLE patients versus 4.1% of controls and 20.1% of RA patients had scores >1.0 (P < 0.006 between all groups). Levels of ox-LDL correlated with levels of proinflammatory HDL (r = 0.37, P < 0.001). SLE patients with CAD had significantly higher proinflammatory HDL scores than patients without CAD (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION HDLs are proinflammatory in a significant proportion of SLE patients and are associated with elevated levels of ox-LDL. Abnormal HDLs impair the ability to prevent LDL oxidation and may predispose to atherosclerosis.
Relationship between time of day physical exercise and the reduced risk of coronary artery disease in a Chinese population.

PURPOSE Exercise leads to a lower risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, whether time of day physical exercise has effects on CAD is still unclear. The present study is to investigate the relationship between time of day physical exercise and angiography determined CAD in a Chinese population. SUBJECTS A total of 1,129 consecutive participants who underwent coronary angiography for the first time were enrolled in our study. Participants were divided into non-CAD group and CAD group according to the result of coronary angiography. We used a predesigned questionnaire-the work-related activity, leisure-time activity, and physical exercise information were recorded in the form of self-reporting. RESULTS Doing physical exercise was associated with a reduced risk of CAD, after adjusting the established and potential confounders, with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 0.48 (95% CI, 0.35-0.67) compared with those who did not any physical exercise. Moreover, the risk of CAD could linearly decrease with increase of intensity, duration and frequency of exercise. Further stratification analysis revealed that the protective effects of exercise were more significant in the afternoon and evening group than in the morning and forenoon group. The adjusted ORs of doing physical exercise in morning, forenoon, afternoon, and evening groups were 0.53 (0.36-0.78), 0.51(0.27-0.96), 0.46(0.25-0.85), 0.43(0.28-0.66), respectively, compared with nonexerciser (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS Doing physical exercise can decrease the risk of CAD, and exercising in the afternoon or evening may have more significant effects on the prevention of CAD than in other time of day.
A non parametric shot boundary detection: an eigen gap based approach

Shot boundary detection is one of the challenging and crucial task in designing video archival and retrieval system. Even though a good number of works on shot boundary detection can be found in the literature, still there is a need of developing novel shot boundary detection algorithms which can work in a real time environment. In this paper we present a novel, simple, non parametric shot boundary detection approach where eigen gap analysis is exploited to preserve the variations among the video frames. To detect different types of shot boundaries the concept of small eigen values on a curve obtained by plotting the variations of eigen gap across the video frames is used. To corroborate the efficacy of the proposed method an experimentation on a large set of video frames having different types of transitions is carried out. For experimentation, news, lecture and entertainment videos collected from the World Wide Web is used. Also a qualitative comparative analysis of the proposed method with other existing similar type of techniques has been provided in the paper.
Characterization of the C‐terminal domain of ras‐GTPase‐activating protein (ras‐GAP) as substrate for epidermal growth factor receptor and p60c‐src kinase

We describe in vitro tyrosine phosphorylation of the C‐terminal 334 amino acids of ras‐GTPase‐activating protein (ras‐GAP)1 that contains the activity domain for ras interaction. To date, there have been no other phosphorylation sites determined than the reported in N‐terminal domain of ras‐GAP Tyr‐460, which is considered to be the major phosphorylation site of ras‐GAP. In our assays some differences of the kinetic parameters were observed when the reaction was catalyzed by EGF‐R compared to p60c‐src. Enzyme specific regulation of activity is associated with autophosphorylation which leads to reduced (in case of EGF‐R) or increased (in case of p60c‐src) phosphorylation of the C‐terminal 334 amino acids of ras‐GAP (GAP334). Because of the characteristics of these investigated reactions the phosphorylation of GAP334 seems to be ‐ independent from the presence of SH2 or SH3 domains ‐ triggered off by complex mechanisms different from those regulating the phosphorylation at Tyr‐460.
Accurate landmark-based segmentation by incorporating landmark misdetections

We propose a novel approach to landmark detection, where the appearance of landmarks is modeled by Haar-like features and a random forest classifier, and spatial relationships among landmarks are modeled by Gaussian distributions augmented by shape-based random forest classifiers for identification of landmark misdetections. The proposed approach was evaluated on segmentation of lung fields from a publicly available database of chest radiographs, and the resulting segmentation performance was 1.43 ± 0.85 mm in terms of boundary-to-boundary distance and 95.3 ± 2.0% in terms of area overlap coefficient. By objective comparison to existing state-of-the-art approaches, the proposed approach proved superior in terms of segmentation results and computational efficiency.
Exploiting Gene-Environment Interaction to Detect Genetic Associations

Complex disease by definition results from the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. However, it is currently unclear how gene-environment interaction can best be used to locate complex disease susceptibility loci, particularly in the context of studies where between 1,000 and 1,000,000 markers are scanned for association with disease. We present a joint test of marginal association and gene-environment interaction for case-control data. We compare the power and sample size requirements of this joint test to other analyses: the marginal test of genetic association, the standard test for gene-environment interaction based on logistic regression, and the case-only test for interaction that exploits gene-environment independence. Although for many penetrance models the joint test of genetic marginal effect and interaction is not the most powerful, it is nearly optimal across all penetrance models we considered. In particular, it generally has better power than the marginal test when the genetic effect is restricted to exposed subjects and much better power than the tests of gene-environment interaction when the genetic effect is not restricted to a particular exposure level. This makes the joint test an attractive tool for large-scale association scans where the true gene-environment interaction model is unknown.