Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of renin activity by aliskiren ameliorates diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes mouse model

Renin is the rate-limiting enzyme of the reninangiotensin system (RAS). In addition to its enzymatic activity to generate angiotensin I, renin also signals through the (pro)renin receptor to exert angiotensin II-independent effects. In this study we examined the effect of renin inhibition on the development of diabetic nephropathy. Male DBA/2J mice were induced to diabetes with streptozotocin, and the diabetic mice were treated for 16 weeks with saline or aliskiren, a renin enzymatic inhibitor. Aliskiren treatment had little effects on blood glucose and blood pressure in diabetic mice. Saline-treated mice developed progressive albuminuria and glome-rulosclerosis, and aliskiren treatment effectively alleviated albumiuria and glomerulosclerosis. Morphologically aliskiren treatment prevented the thickening of the glomerular basement membrane and reduced podocyte loss. At the molecular levels, aliskiren prevented the decline of slit diaphragm proteins and blocked the synthesis of extracellular matrix and pro-fibrotic factors in the diabetic kidney. Aliskiren treatment results in compensatory renin increase in the glomeruli due to blockade of the negative feedback loop, and also partially suppressed the intracellular signaling mediated by the (pro)renin receptor activated in hyperglycemia. These observations suggest that the therapeutic activity of aliskiren to prevent diabetic renal injury is contributed by inhibition of both the angiotensin II-dependent and -independent pathways. Taken together, it is concluded that inhibition of renin enzymatic activity ameliorates diabetic renal injury in type 1 diabetes, and support the use of aliskiren in diabetes kidney disease.
AMS dating of a recently rediscovered juvenile human mandible from Solutré (Saône-et-Loire, France)

Nearly 150 years of excavation at the Upper Paleolithic type-site of Solutre has yielded substantial evidence for Late Pleistocene human occupation, food procurement, and tool manufacture in the Mâconnais. To date, however, no human skeletal material from the Solutrean phase of this eponymous site has been discovered. Among the finds curated by the Field Museum of Natural History resulting from a relatively obscure and poorly documented excavation conducted at the heart of the site in 1896 is, however, a human juvenile mandible which had, until quite recently, escaped both notice and study. While the scanty stratigraphic information available for the specimen indicates that it comes from a Solutrean level, recently conducted radiometric analysis (an AMS date of 1676 ± 36 BP, uncalibrated) suggests a much more recent origin.
Demotic Voices and Popular Complaint in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England

Though Shakespeare’s creations are said to be infused by the structures of popular culture, it remains uncertain how closely his characters echo the phrases of everyday speech. The text alone cannot tell us how Shakespeare’s contemporaries talked, or what commoners said of each other or of those in authority above them. Fortunately alternative and complementary sources exist that yield informal and unscripted utterances by ordinary men and women in Elizabethan and early Stuart England. Court reports, depositions, and examinations by magistrates preserve versions of scandalous and transgressive words that were never intended to be recorded. These include the gendered language of insult, expressions of social complaint, and verbal challenges to royal authority. Despite problems of mediation, ventriloquism, and scribal processing, of the sort familiar to literary scholars, these archival traces reveal a vigorous vein of plebeian speech, that can be compared to the ‘speeches’ of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Abundant examples illuminate the popular discursive culture of Shakespeare’s age and environment, and suggest the possibility of building towards a new corpus of demotic and non-literary text that can be compared to the language of the plays.
Research on relationship between remote sensing image quality and performance of interest point detection

The paper researches on the relationship between image quality and the performance of interest point detection. In this paper, we use the image quality metrics and interest point repeatability as the measures of image quality and the performance of interest point detection respectively. Considering the differences of image's scene and quality degradation factor, nine images covering three kinds of classic scenes are selected as the experiment data, and they are respectively contaminated by Gaussian blur and Gaussian noise. The results show that image quality metrics and the repeatability have a certain quantitative relationship, and the repeatability is reduced with the decrease of image quality metrics. Moreover, the relationship can be simulated by some simple functions such as linear and exponential model when the image's scene and degradation factor are fixed.
High-Pressure Synthesis of Molybdates with the Wolframite Structure

A series of small cation molybdates, MgMoO4, MnMoO4, FeMoO4, CoMoO4, NiMoO4, and ZnMoO4 with the wolframite structure characteristic of the corresponding tungstates have been synthesized at high pressure and temperature. The high-pressure compounds revert to the ambient pressure modifications if heated in air at 600�C.
Interleukin-12 mediates resistance to Trypanosoma cruzi in mice and is produced by murine macrophages in response to live trypomastigotes

Host resistance to infection by Trypanosoma cruzi is dependent on both natural and acquired immune responses. During the first week of infection in mice, NK cell-derived gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) is involved in controlling intracellular parasite replication, mainly through the induction of NO biosynthesis by activated macrophages. Interleukin-12 (IL-12) has been shown to be a powerful cytokine in inducing IFN-gamma synthesis by NK cells, as well as in mediating resistance to different intracellular protozoa. We have therefore studied the ability of T. cruzi to elicit IL-12 synthesis by macrophages and the role of this cytokine in controlling parasite replication during acute infection in mice. Our results show that macrophages cultured in the presence of live trypomastigote forms (but not epimastigotes) release IL-12 that can induce IFN-gamma production by normal spleen cells. IL-12 was detected in as little as 12 h after the addition of the trypomastigotes, and the level of IL-12 peaked at 48 h after the initial macrophage-parasite incubation. The addition of anti-IL-12 monoclonal antibody to macrophage-trypomastigote supernatants dose-dependently inhibited IFN-gamma production by naive splenocytes. Finally, the in vivo role of IL-12 in resistance to infection by T. cruzi was analyzed. Mice treated with anti-IL-12 monoclonal antibody had significantly increased parasitemia and mortality in comparison with those of control infected mice treated with control antibody. Together, these results suggest that macrophage-derived IL-12 plays a major role in controlling the parasitemia in T. cruzi-infected mice and that the animal's resistance during the acute phase of infection may, at least in part, be a consequence of postinfection levels of IL-12.
Ergenlerde Zorbalığın Anne Baba ve Akran İlişkileri Açısından İncelenmesi

Ozet; Bu arastirmanin amaci ergenlerde anne baba akran iliskilerinin cinsiyete dayali olarak zorbalik davranislari uzerindeki etkisini incelemektir Arastirma betimsel ve regresyonel bir calismadir Arastirmanin katilimcilari 9 10 ve 11 sinif duzeyinde toplam 595 lise ogrencisinden kiz n= 346 erkek n= 249 olusmaktadir Arastirma verilerinin toplanmasinda Yeniden Duzenlenen Olweus Zorba Kurban Anketi Buyuk Siniflar Formu Anne Baba  Ergen Iliskileri Olcegi Akran Iliskileri Olcegi ve Kisisel Bilgi Formu kullanilmistir Arastirma verilerinin analizinde betimsel istatistik ve coklu sirali lojistik regresyon analizi teknikleri kullanilmistir Arastirma sonucunda sozel zorbaligin fiziksel ya da sosyal zorbalik turlerine oranla daha yayginlik gosterdigi bulunmustur Coklu sirali lojistik regresyon analizine gore ergenlerin anne baba ile iliskileri arttikca zorba ve zorba kurban statulerinde olma olasiliklari azalmaktadir Ayrica akran iliskilerinin artisi ergenlerde zorba olma olasiligini artirirken kurban olma olasiligini azaltmaktadir Cinsiyet acisindan ele alindiginda ergenlerin anne baba ile iliskilerindeki artis erkeklerde kizlara gore zorbaliga katilmama olasiligini artirmakta kizlarda ise akran iliskilerindeki artis erkeklere oranla zorba kurban olma olasiligini artirmaktadir
A Third Subunit in Ancestral Cytochrome c-Dependent Nitric Oxide Reductases

ABSTRACT Reduction of NO to N2O by denitrifiying bacteria is catalyzed either by a monomeric quinol-nitric oxide reductase (qNor) or by a heterodimeric cytochrome c-dependent nitric oxide reductase (cNor). In ancient thermophilic bacteria belonging to the Thermales and Aquificales phylogenetic groups, the cluster encoding the cNor includes a small third gene (norH), in addition to those encoding homologues to the subunits of a typical cNor (norC and norB). We show in Thermus thermophilus that the three genes are cotranscribed in a single mRNA from an inducible promoter. The isolation of individual nor mutants and the production in vivo of His-tagged NorH protein followed by immobilized-metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) allowed us to conclude that NorH constitutes a third subunit of the cNor from T. thermophilus, which is involved in denitrification in vivo, likely allowing more efficient electron transport to cNor.
Evidence for a rule governing the avoidance of superfluous escape flights

When an imminent attack by a predator on a group of birds is signalled to non–detectors only by the departure of the detector, non–detectors may make time–wasting false–alarm flights in response to mistaken or non–predator–driven departures. The frequency of false–alarm flights might be reduced if group members assess the reason for single departures before responding. Immediate flights should only occur after multiple simultaneous departures, because these are only likely to be generated by an attack. The response delay between the detectors' departure and the next birds that respond should then be dependent on the number of detectors. On sparrowhawk attack, response delays in redshanks decreased significantly as detector number increased, controlling for raptor conspicuousness and proximity, and flock size and spacing. If response delay is modified because of risk dilution, it should increase with flock size and, consequently, the rate of alarm flights due to mistakes should decrease. However, response delay did not increase and flight frequency due to misidentification of non–raptors or non–predator–driven departures did not decrease with flock size. Significantly more feeding time was lost by birds in small flocks, suggesting that the dilution effect decreased the cost of each false–alarm flight rather than their frequency.
Comparative analysis and design philosophy of next generation unified enterprise application security

Unified enterprise application security is a newly emerging approach for providing protection against application level attacks. Conventional application security approaches that embed security into each critical application results into scattered security mechanism, which is not only difficult to manage but also creates security loopholes. Therefore, new unified enterprise application security concept is evolving in the industry that consists of centralized authentication, access control, incident response and auditing. Industries such as Computer Associate, Cerebit, Entrust, Evidian, IBM Tivoli, Netegrity, Ohlix and SunOne have comes up with the identity and access management solutions that are based on this concept. Significant amount of misunderstanding exists in the industry and research community about appropriate features of such a unified product. Therefore we have proposed new enterprise application security (EAS) comparison framework to compare existing enterprise application security products. This framework helps an enterprise in selecting appropriate application security product. From comparison we found that Computer Associate and Netegrity solutions are the best available solutions, however none of the current available solutions are providing complete enterprise application security. Therefore we have proposed new unified enterprise application security architecture. This architecture provides all basic information security and other critical services such as, auditing, reporting, authentication, access control, confidentiality, integrity, commitment to standards, incident response, scalability. flexibility, manageability, and compliance of regulatory mandates.
Patient‐reported outcomes and gut dysmotility in functional gastrointestinal disorders

Background Unlike chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudo‐obstruction (CIIP), severe digestive syndromes that are not characterized by episodes resembling mechanical obstruction remain poorly characterized. The present study compared clinical features, small bowel motility, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with CIIP or severe functional gastrointestinal disorders (SFGID), compared to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Geographic variation in body size, sexual size dimorphism and fitness components of a seed beetle: local adaptation versus phenotypic plasticity

Variation in body size, growth and life history traits of ectotherms along latitudinal and altitudinal clines is generally assumed to represent adaptation to local environmental conditions, especially adaptation to temperature. However, the degree to which variation along these clines is due to adaptation vs plasticity remains poorly understood. In addition, geographic patterns often differ between females and males – e.g. sexual dimorphism varies along latitudinal clines, but the extent to which these sex differences are due to genetic differences between sexes vs sex differences in plasticity is poorly understood. We use common garden experiments (beetles reared at 24, 30 and 36°C) to quantify the relative contribution of genetically-based differentiation among populations vs phenotypic plasticity to variation in body size and other traits among six populations of the seed-feeding beetle Stator limbatus collected from various altitudes in Arizona, USA. We found that temperature induces substantial plasticity in survivorship, body size and female lifetime fecundity, indicating that developmental temperature significantly affects growth and life history traits of S. limbatus. We also detected genetic differences among populations for body size and fecundity, and genetic differences among populations in thermal reaction norms, but the altitude of origin (and hence mean temperature) does not appear to explain these genetic differences. This and other recent studies suggest that temperature is not the major environmental factor that generates geographic variation in traits of this species. In addition, though there was no overall difference in plasticity of body size between males and females (when averaged across populations), we did find that the degree to which dimorphism changed with temperature varied among populations. Consequently, future studies should be extremely cautious when using only a few study populations to examine environmental effects on sexual dimorphism.
Virological Success of Lopinavir/Ritonavir Salvage Regimen is Affected by an Increasing Number of Lopinavir/Ritonavir-Related Mutations

We evaluated the virological outcome of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/RTV) in 224 HIV-1-infected and protease inhibitor (PI)-experienced patients showing virological failure to a highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen and followed up for at least 3 months. At baseline, the median level of plasma viraemia was 4.61 log10 copies/ml (range 3–6.48) and the median CD4 cell count was 219 cells/mm3 (range 1–836). During a median follow-up of 272 days (range 92–635), we observed an increase in the number of CD4 cells (P=0.02) and a dramatic decrease in plasma viraemia levels (P=0.0001), which became undetectable in 122 patients (54.5%). The closely related predictive factors were baseline plasma viraemia levels and the number of mutations known to reduce susceptibility to LPV/RTV. Thirty-one patients (13.8%) discontinued LPV/RTV during the follow-up, and one AIDS event and three deaths were recorded. Of the 134 patients (59.8%) who underwent a baseline genotype resistance test, 22 (16.4%) had ≥6 mutations known to reduce LPV/RTV susceptibility; plasma viraemia became undetectable in 76 patients (56.7%), only five of whom harboured ≥6 mutations at baseline (P=0.0001). The independent predictive factors related to virological success were plasma viraemia levels and the number of mutations reducing susceptibility to LPV/RTV at baseline; each additional log10 copies/ml of HIV RNA reduced the probability of virological success by 34.0% and each extra mutation by 14.5%.
Low-Stress CMOS-Compatible Silicon Carbide Surface-Micromachining Technology—Part II: Beam Resonators for MEMS Above IC

Microelectromechanical beam resonators and arrays are fabricated using a custom low-temperature complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible silicon carbide microfabrication process, detailed in Part I of this paper. Theoretical aspects are presented with modal analysis and numerical methods. Measurements of the resonant frequency, the quality factor, the transmission, and the tuning characteristics are presented for different device types and dimensions. Trends are analyzed, and performance metrics dependences are investigated. A tuning method based on integrated heaters is introduced and tested, yielding a very desirable constant insertion-loss tuning and a wide tuning range. Quality factors of up to 1493 and resonant frequencies of up to 26.2 MHz are demonstrated. Both the Young's modulus and the residual stress of the SiC film are extracted (261 GPa and <; ±30 MPa, respectively), and favorably compare to values reported for polysilicon.
Cortical granule exocytosis in C. elegans is regulated by cell cycle components including separase

In many organisms, cortical granules undergo exocytosis following fertilization, releasing cargo proteins that modify the extracellular covering of the zygote. We identified cortical granules in Caenorhabditis elegans and have found that degranulation occurs in a wave that initiates in the vicinity of the meiotic spindle during anaphase I. Previous studies identified genes that confer an embryonic osmotic sensitivity phenotype, thought to result from abnormal eggshell formation. Many of these genes are components of the cell cycle machinery. When we suppressed expression of several of these genes by RNAi, we observed that cortical granule trafficking was disrupted and the eggshell did not form properly. We conclude that osmotic sensitivity phenotypes occur because of defects in trafficking of cortical granules and the subsequent formation of an impermeable eggshell. We identified separase as a key cell cycle component that is required for degranulation. Separase localized to cortically located filamentous structures in prometaphase I upon oocyte maturation. After fertilization, separase disappeared from these structures and appeared on cortical granules by anaphase I. RNAi of sep-1 inhibited degranulation in addition to causing extensive chromosomal segregation failures. Although the temperature-sensitive sep-1(e2406) allele exhibited similar inhibition of degranulation, it had minimal effects on chromosome segregation. These observations lead us to speculate that SEP-1 has two separable yet coordinated functions: to regulate cortical granule exocytosis and to mediate chromosome separation.
Monadic refinements for relational cost analysis

Formal frameworks for cost analysis of programs have been widely studied in the unary setting and, to a limited extent, in the relational setting. However, many of these frameworks focus only on the cost aspect, largely side-lining functional properties that are often a prerequisite for cost analysis, thus leaving many interesting programs out of their purview. In this paper, we show that elegant, simple, expressive proof systems combining cost analysis and functional properties can be built by combining already known ingredients: higher-order refinements and cost monads. Specifically, we derive two syntax-directed proof systems, UC and RC, for unary and relational cost analysis, by adding a cost monad to a (syntax-directed) logic of higher-order programs. We study the metatheory of the systems, show that several nontrivial examples can be verified in them, and prove that existing frameworks for cost analysis (RelCost and RAML) can be embedded in them.
Superior olivary contributions to auditory system plasticity: Medial but not lateral olivocochlear neurons are the source of cochleotomy‐induced GAP‐43 expression in the ventral cochlear nucleus

A unilateral cochlear lesion induces expression of the growth and plasticity‐associated protein 43 (GAP‐43) in fibers and their varicosities on specific types of postsynaptic profiles in the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN), suggesting the induction of synaptic remodeling. One candidate population from which GAP‐43 might emerge was neurons of the lateral olivocochlear (LOC) system residing in the lateral superior olive (LSO). Upon cochleotomy, these neurons express GAP‐43 mRNA and GAP‐43 protein. However, retrograde axonal tracing with Fast Blue or biotinylated dextran amine from VCN revealed that the number of 6.8 ± 1.3 neurons in the whole ipsilateral LSO labeled in normal adult rats was distinctly small and did not rise after cochleotomy. Concluding that LOC neurons cannot be the source of GAP‐43 in the VCN, we reinvestigated the pattern of GAP‐43 in situ hybridization and found that, after cochleotomy, shell neurons in the regions surrounding the LSO and medial olivocochlear (MOC) neurons in the ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body up‐regulated GAP‐43 mRNA. We then lesioned these regions by means of stereotaxic injections of kainic acid. Destruction of shell neurons preceding an ipsilateral cochleotomy did not change the emergence of GAP‐43 immunoreactivity in the VCN. However, if the contralateral MOC system was lesioned, the rise of GAP‐43 immunoreactivity in VCN on the side of the cochleotomy was significantly reduced. We conclude that, after cochlear dysfunction, MOC neurons are the major (if not exclusive) source of synaptic reorganization in the VCN that could possibly entail compensatory activation of the affected ascending auditory pathway. J. Comp. Neurol. 475:374–390, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mini-Whegs TM Climbs Steep Surfaces Using Insect-inspired Attachment Mechanisms

When climbing vertical or inclined surfaces, insects utilize claws, tibial spines, and tarsal pads to create attachment forces. These devices allow them to climb on a variety of substrates, including those that are smooth, soft, or porous. Recent advances in materials may make long-lasting dry adhesives and arrays of sharp hooks feasible attachment mechanisms for small robots. Mini-WhegsTM are a series of robots that use rotating wheel-legs driven by a single motor for locomotion. By testing specially designed wheel-legs with office tape, pairs of spines, and Velcro®, this work demonstrates the feasibility of applying novel adhesives and frictional materials passively on simple rotating legs. The resulting robot climbs vertical fabric surfaces with Velcro®, crosses ceilings with Scotch® tape, and climbs steep concrete inclines with sharp spines and provides a test-platform for future adhesive materials such as dry adhesive tape.