Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of Gαs Mediates Induction of Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator Gene Transcription by Epoxyeicosatrienoic Acids*

The epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) are products of cytochrome P450 (CYP) epoxygenases that have vasodilatory and anti-inflammatory properties. Here we report that EETs have additional fibrinolytic properties. In vascular endothelial cells, physiological concentrations of EETs, particularly 11,12-EET, or overexpression of the endothelial epoxygenase, CYP2J2, increased tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) expression by 2.5-fold without affecting plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 expression. This increase in t-PA expression correlated with a 4-fold induction in t-PA gene transcription and a 3-fold increase in t-PA fibrinolytic activity and was blocked by the CYP inhibitor, SKF525A, but not by the calcium-activated potassium channel blocker, charybdotoxin, indicating a mechanism that does not involve endothelial cell hyperpolarization. The t-PA promoter is cAMP-responsive, and induction of t-PA gene transcription by EETs correlated with increases in intracellular cAMP levels and, functionally, with cAMP-driven promoter activity. To determine whether increases in intracellular cAMP levels were due to modulation of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins, we assessed the effects of EETs on Gαs and Gαi2. Treatment with EETs increased Gαs, but not Gαi2, GTP-binding activity by 3.5-fold. These findings indicate that EETs possess fibrinolytic properties through the induction of t-PA and suggest that endothelial CYP2J2 may play an important role in regulating vascular hemostasis.
Clinical Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Treatments for Patients With Chronic Pain

ObjectiveChronic pain is a prevalent and costly problem. This review addresses the question of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the most common treatments for patients with chronic pain. Data SourcesRepresentative published studies that evaluate the clinical effectiveness of pharmacological treatments, conservative (standard) care, surgery, spinal cord stimulators, implantable drug delivery systems (IDDSs), and pain rehabilitation programs (PRPs) are examined and compared. The cost-effectiveness of these treatment approaches is also considered. Data SynthesisOutcome criteria including pain reduction, medication use, health care consumption, functional activities, and closure of disability compensation cases are examined. In addition to clinical effectiveness, the cost-effectiveness of PRPs, conservative care, surgery, spinal cord stimulators, and IDDSs are compared using costs to return a treated patient to work to illustrate the relative expenses for each of these treatments. ConclusionsThere are limitations to the success of all the available treatments. The author urges caution in interpreting the results, particularly in comparisons between treatments and across studies, because there are broad differences in the pain syndromes and inclusion criteria used, the drug dosages, comparability of treatments, the definition of “chronic” used, the outcome criteria selected to determine success, and societal differences. None of the currently available treatments eliminates pain for the majority of patients. Pain rehabilitation programs provide comparable reduction in pain to alternative pain treatment modalities, but with significantly better outcomes for medication use, health care utilization, functional activities, return to work, closure of disability claims, and with substantially fewer iatrogenic consequences and adverse events. Surgery, spinal cord stimulators, and IDDSs appear to have substantial benefits on some outcome criteria for carefully selected patients. These modalities are, however, expensive. Pain rehabilitation programs are significantly more cost effective than implantation of spinal cord stimulators, IDDSs, conservative care, and surgery, even for selected patients. Research is needed to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from the available treatments and to study combinations of the available treatments since none of them appear capable of eliminating pain or significantly improving functional outcomes for all treated.
Opening Up Openness: A Theoretical Sort Following Critical Incidents Methodology and a Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Trait Family Measures

Existing taxonomies of Openness's facet structure have produced widely divergent results, and there is limited comprehensive empirical evidence about how Openness-related scales on existing personality inventories align within the 5-factor framework. In Study 1, we used a critical incidents sorting methodology to identify 11 categories of Openness measures; in Study 2, we meta-analyzed the relationships of these categories with global markers of the Big Five traits (utilizing data from 106 samples with a total sample size of N = 35,886). Our results identified 4 true facets of Openness: aestheticism, openness to sensations, nontraditionalism, and introspection. Measures of these facets were unadulterated by variance from other Big Five traits. Many traits frequently conceptualized as facets of Openness (e.g., innovation/creativity, variety-seeking, and tolerance) emerged as trait compounds that, although related to Openness, are also dependent on other Big Five traits. We discuss how Openness should be conceptualized, measured, and studied in light of the empirically based, refined taxonomy emerging from this research.
Number of nuclei in mammalian cardiac myocytes.

The numbers of nuclei per cardiac muscle cell were determined in adult mammalian hearts after previous enzymatic isolation of individual myocytes. A high percentage of binucleation was observed in rat (78 ± 1.8%), rabbit (78 ± 0.8%), guinea pig (81 ± 1.6%), cat (76 ± 1.5%), dog (47 ± 2.4%,), and beef (45 ± 1.1%), while the human myocytes were found predominantly mononucleated (90%) and only 10 ± 2.2% of them were binucleated. These findings are in agreement with our data obtained after serial sectioning of the myocardium of the above species and subsequent reconstruction of individual myocytes. We also found that in fetal and neonatal rat the cardiac myocytes are predominantly mononucleated (95% and 84%, respectively), that the binucleation develops during the early postnatal period, and that adult values are reached by 12–14 days of age. When the body growth and consequently also the heart growth were either accelerated or slowed down by nutritional intervention during the above period, the rate of appea.
A 4-Gb/s/pin low-power memory I/O interface using 4-level simultaneous bi-directional signaling

This paper presents a simultaneous bi-directional (SBD) 4-level I/O interface for high-speed DRAMs. The data rate of 4 Gb/s/pin was demonstrated using a 500-MHz clock generator and a full CMOS rail-to-rail power swing. The power consumed by the I/O circuit was measured to be 28 mW/pin, when connected to a 10-pF load, at a 1.8-V supply voltage. The transmitter uses a 4-level push-pull linear output driver and a 4-level automatic impedance controller, achieving the reduction of driver currents and the voltage margin as large as 200 mV. The receiver employs a hierarchical sampling scheme, wherein a differential amplifier selects three out of six reference voltage levels. This scheme ensures minimized sampling power and a wide common-mode sampling range. The 6-level reference voltage for sampling is generated by the combination of the transmitter replica. The proposed I/O interface circuits are fabricated using a 0.10-/spl mu/m, 2-metal layers DRAM process, and the active area is 330 /spl times/ 66 /spl mu/m/sup 2/. It exhibits 200 mV /spl times/ 690 ps eye windows on the given channel with a 1.8-V supply voltage.
FAT is a component of glomerular slit diaphragms.

BACKGROUND Slit diaphragms are intercellular junctions of podocytes of the renal glomerulus. The molecular composition of slit diaphragms is still elusive. Slit diaphragms are characterized by the presence of a wide intercellular space. The morphological feature is shared by desmosomes and adherens junctions, which contain members of the cadherin superfamily. Thus, we have hypothesized that some components of slit diaphragms belong to the cadherin superfamily. Consequently, we have isolated cDNA encoding FAT from reverse-transcribed (RT) glomerular cDNA by homology polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers based on conserved sequences in cadherin molecules. FAT is a novel member of the cadherin superfamily with 34 tandem cadherin-like extracellular repeats, and it closely resembles the Drosophila tumor suppressor fat. METHODS Expression of FAT was examined in glomeruli of the adult rat kidney by the ribonuclease protection assay and in situ hybridization. To localize the FAT protein in podocytes minutely, we prepared affinity-purified antibody against FAT by immunizing rabbits against an oligopeptide corresponding to the C-terminal 20 amino acids. RESULTS Expression of FAT mRNA was detected in total RNA from glomeruli. In situ hybridization revealed significant signals in podocytes. Western blot analysis using solubilized glomeruli showed a single band, in which the molecular weight was more than 500 kD. Immunostaining of cultured epithelial cells from rat kidney (NRK52E) revealed FAT accumulation in cell-cell contact sites. In the glomerulus, FAT staining was observed distinctly along glomerular capillary walls. Double-label immunostaining using monoclonal antibody against slit diaphragms (mAb 5-1-6) showed identical localization of anti-FAT antibody and mAb 5-1-6. Furthermore, the double-label immunogold technique with ultrathin cryosections demonstrated that gold particles for FAT cytoplasmic domain were located at the base of slit diaphragms labeled by mAb 5-1-6 and that the cytoplasmic domain of FAT colocalized with ZO-1, a cytoplasmic component associated with slit diaphragms. CONCLUSION The molecular structure of FAT and its colocalization with 5-1-6 antigen and ZO-1 indicate that FAT is a component of slit diaphragms.
Processive proteolysis by γ-secretase and the mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract γ-Secretase is a membrane-embedded protease complex with presenilin as the catalytic component. Cleavage within the transmembrane domain of the amyloid β-protein precursor (APP) by γ-secretase produces the C-terminus of the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), a proteolytic product prone to aggregation and strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Presenilin mutations are associated with early-onset AD, but their pathogenic mechanisms are unclear. One hypothesis is that these mutations cause AD through a toxic gain of function, changing γ-secretase activity to increase the proportion of 42-residue Aβ over the more soluble 40-residue form. A competing hypothesis is that the mutations cause AD through a loss of function, by reducing γ-secretase activity. However, γ-secretase apparently has two types of activities, an endoproteolytic function that first cuts APP to generate a 48/49-residue form of Aβ, and a carboxypeptidase activity that processively trims these longer Aβ intermediates approximately every three residues to form shorter, secreted forms. Recent studies suggest a resolution of the gain-of-function vs. loss-of-function debate: presenilin mutations may increase the proportion of longer, more aggregation-prone Aβ by specifically decreasing the trimming activity of γ-secretase. That is, the reduction of this particular proteolytic function of presenilin, not its endoproteolytic activity, may lead to the neurotoxic gain of function.
Decoupled Current Control With Synchronous Frequency Damping for MMC Considering Sub-module Capacitor Voltage Ripple

Capacitor voltage ripple in the fundamental frequency is distinctive in the performance of modular multilevel converters (MMCs), unlike other voltage-source converters. First, in order to reveal the influence of capacitor voltage ripple, the coupling effect of conventional MMC double-loop control strategy is investigated to explain the unsatisfactory response. Then, decoupled current control with synchronous frequency damping is proposed, eliminating the coupling terms in the presented average value MMC model, which can improve the system dynamic behavior. Moreover, the damping index is defined and designed in the proposed control strategy to compromise between current decoupling and oscillation damping. Furthermore, the dynamic MMC characteristics with the decoupled current control and appropriate damping index are explored with detailed theoretical analysis. Finally, the simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
Applying the theory of probable future competition

The theory of probable future competition is one of the few analytic tools with which to examine the competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions involving firms not competing in the same market. If patterns of bank expansion continue to evolve along their present course, the frequency of such mergers and acquisitions, often called market-extension mergers, may well increase. The degree to which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System directly influences changes in the structure of banking in the coming years may therefore depend in part on the manner in which it applies this theory. Recent developments have had a substantial effect on the Board's application of the theory of probable future competition. In the early months of 1981, a federal appellate court rejected the Board's method of employing the theory with respect to applications submitted by two bank holding companies. In light of the appellate court actions, the Board reversed its original determinations and approved both applications early this year. Shortly thereafter, the Board determined that a public statement of the ways in which it will apply the theory would be helpful. Accordingly, the Board issued for public comment a proposed policy statement containing guidelines that would define the range of applications that would be rigorously scrutinized under the theory. On June 14, 1982, the Department of Justice released its own long-awaited new Merger Guidelines, which contained a section addressing the theory of probable future competition that varied substantially from the Board's proposal. Against this background the Board is expected to issue the final version of its own guidelines in the fall of 1982. The various positions expressed in past months by the federal court, the Board, public commentors, and the Department of Justice differ not so much on the substance of the theory as on methods of applying it. This article reviews the recent developments in the application of the theory of probable future competition and describes the positions of the parties involved in those developments. The discussion begins with a brief description of the theory and related background.
Structure and Function of Cardiac Pacemaker Channels

Cardiac pacemaking is controlled by a mixed Na+/K+ current named If, which is activated by hyperpolarized membrane potentials. Recently, a family of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated cation (HCN) channels has been cloned. The members of this family exhibit the general features of If channels. This review describes the molecular diversity of the HCN channel family and the structural determinants of channel function including activation by voltage, modulation by cylic nucleotides and ion permeation. The relationships beween cloned HCN channel types and native cardiac If currents are explored.
Post-acquisition IT Integration: The sequential effects in growth-by-acquisition programs

The extant research on post-acquisition IT integration analyzes how acquirers realize IT-based value in individual acquisitions. However, serial acquirers make 60% of acquisitions. These acquisitions are not isolated events, but are components in growth-by-acquisition programs. To explain how serial acquirers realize IT-based value, we develop three propositions on the sequential effects on post-acquisition IT integration in acquisition programs. Their combined explanation is that serial acquirers must have a growth-by-acquisition strategy that includes the capability to improve IT integration capabilities, to sustain high alignment across acquisitions and to maintain a scalable IT infrastructure with a flat or decreasing cost structure. We begin the process of validating the three propositions by investigating a longitudinal case study of a growth-by-acquisition program
EXPLORING THE COMPLEXITY OF COMPLIANCE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

A large body of literature indicates that people diagnosed with schizophrenia are highly likely to not comply with their prescribed treatment regime at some stage during the illness process. Factors that indicate the risk of noncompliance have been the subject of considerable research over a number of years. This paper presents an extensive review of the research literature on the subject of compliance in schizophrenia. A number of factors have constituted the focus of research into this area. These include: socio-demographic characteristics, including age, gender and socioeconomic status; illness factors including insight, psychiatric symptomatology, duration of illness, substance abuse, and adverse side-effects of medication; psychosocial factors such as health beliefs and social supports; and treatment factors including the nature of the therapeutic relationship between patients and health care professionals. While the results of relevant research do not provide a clear and conclusive picture of compliance, they provide important information to guide the pivotal role of the mental health nurse in facilitating patient compliance.
Visual linguistic analysis of political discussions: Measuring deliberative quality

This article reports on a Digital Humanities research project which is concerned with the automated linguistic and visual analysis of political discourses with a particular focus on the concept of deliberative communication. According to the theory of deliberative communication as discussed within political science, political debates should be inclusive and stakeholders participating in these debates are required to justify their positions rationally and respectfully and should eventually defer to the better argument. The focus of the article is on the novel interactive visualizations that combine linguistic and statistical cues to analyze the deliberative quality of communication automatically. In particular, we quantify the degree of deliberation for four dimensions of communication: Participation, Respect, Argumentation and Justification, and Persuasiveness. Yet, these four dimensions have not been linked within a combined linguistic and visual framework, but each single dimension helps determining the degree of deliberation independently from each other. Since at its core, deliberation requires sustained and appropriate modes of communication, our main contribution is the automatic annotation and disambiguation of causal connectors and discourse particles.
Three-dimensional ultrasound imaging

Ultrasound is an inexpensive and widely used imaging modality for the diagnosis and staging of a number of diseases. In the past two decades, it has benefited from major advances in technology and has become an indispensable imaging modality, due to its flexibility and non-invasive character. In the last decade, research investigators and commercial companies have further advanced ultrasound imaging with the development of 3D ultrasound. This new imaging approach is rapidly achieving widespread use with numerous applications. The major reason for the increase in the use of 3D ultrasound is related to the limitations of 2D viewing of 3D anatomy, using conventional ultrasound. This occurs because: (a) Conventional ultrasound images are 2D, yet the anatomy is 3D, hence the diagnostician must integrate multiple images in his mind. This practice is inefficient, and may lead to variability and incorrect diagnoses. (b) The 2D ultrasound image represents a thin plane at some arbitrary angle in the body. It is difficult to localize the image plane and reproduce it at a later time for follow-up studies. In this review article we describe how 3D ultrasound imaging overcomes these limitations. Specifically, we describe the developments of a number of 3D ultrasound imaging systems using mechanical, free-hand and 2D array scanning techniques. Reconstruction and viewing methods of the 3D images are described with specific examples. Since 3D ultrasound is used to quantify the volume of organs and pathology, the sources of errors in the reconstruction techniques as well as formulae relating design specification to geometric errors are provided. Finally, methods to measure organ volume from the 3D ultrasound images and sources of errors are described.
Improved Phase Lock Loop system for grid connected renewable energy sources under distorted conditions

Under distorted grid conditions with high bandwidth, synchronous reference frame (SRF) Phase Lock Loop (PLL) is able to work properly but increased bandwidth introduces harmonics which affect the PLL output and SRF PLL is also not able to produce accurate phase information under distorted grid conditions. This paper suggests a new phase detection technique based on cosine look-up table (cLUT) using sliding discrete Fourier transform (SDFT) for grid interfaced renewable energy sources (RES) under non-ideal grid conditions. The cLUT offers precise locking by acting as an integral controller such that the competence of the SDFT PLL is improved, steady state error in the output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is reduced, and the input signals are also synchronized with generated sine and cosine reference signals. The proposed improved PLL system is mathematically analyzed and final enhancement to the system performance is studied under amplitude deviation and three phase voltage unbalance in the grid voltage and the results are compared with predictable SDFT PLL system.
Inductive Clustering : A Technique for Clustering Search Results

In this paper, we introduce a novel technique for clustering search results: Inductive Clustering. Interestingly, our approach avoids three essential components which exists in all of traditional clustering techniques: a similarity function, and a threshold of similarity or a predefined number of clusters. The experiment shows that Inductive Clustering work extremely well and really helps users to capture the return search results much more easily.