Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated furin expression in aggressive human head and neck tumors and tumor cell lines

Pro‐protein convertases (PCs) are proteases that recognize and cleave precursor proteins. Furin, a well‐studied PC, is ubiquitously expressed, and it has been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes. Some substrates for furin, such as membrane type 1 (MT1) matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), an MMP that activates gelatinase, a collagen‐degrading enzyme, are associated with the advanced malignant phenotype. This report examines the expression of furin in carcinoma cell lines of different invasive ability. The levels of furin mRNA and protein correlated with the aggressiveness of tumor cell lines derived from head and neck and lung cancers. Furin expression also was investigated in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Furin mRNA was not detected in nonmetastasizing carcinomas. In contrast, furin mRNA was expressed in metastasizing HNSCCs. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis confirmed these results at the protein level. Furin activity was investigated indirectly by evaluating the expression of the pro‐form and the processed form of MT1‐MMP. Metastasizing HNSCCs showed increased expression of MT1‐MMP. Furthermore, pro‐MT1‐MMP expression was noted in most of the nonmetastasizing HNSCCs analyzed by Western blot, and it was absent in the metastasizing HNSCCs. This finding suggests a lower level of furin‐mediated MT1‐MMP activation in the less aggressive cancers. These observations indicate that furin plays a role in tumor progression. Its overexpression in more aggressive or metastasizing cancers resulted in increased MMP processing. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Modularisierung leichtgewichtiger Kompressionsalgorithmen

Im Kontext von In-Memory Datenbanksystemen nehmen leichtgewichtige Kompressionsalgorithmen eine entscheidende Rolle ein, um eine eziente Speicherung und Verarbeitung groser Datenmengen im Hauptspeicher zu realisieren. Verglichen mit klassischen Komprimierungstechniken wie z.B. Human erzielen leichtgewichtige Kompressionsalgorithm en vergleichbare Kompressionsraten aufgrund der Einbeziehung von Kontextwissen und erlauben eine schnellere Kompression und Dekompression. Die Vielfalt der leichtgewichtigen Kompressionsalgorithmen hat in den letzten Jahren zuge
C-reactive protein and outcome after first-ever ischemic stroke.

To the Editor: We have carefully read the study of Keith Muir and colleagues published in Stroke1 regarding the putative role of C-reactive protein (CRP) as outcome predictor after ischemic stroke and would like to add further observations to their data. Despite the theoretical importance of CRP in ischemic stroke, very little direct evidence exists to implicate CRP in stroke. In their study, Muir and colleagues had not only investigated the CRP role but also discussed the causative role of inflammation in acute ischemic stroke. They found an intriguing association between CRP levels within 72 hours of stroke and an increased risk of death with an excess of cardiovascular mortality. The authors suggest three possible explanations to support the CRP role as predictor of outcome. They state that (1) CRP concentration may reflect the degree of stroke severity correlating with the degree of inflammation directly consequent to cerebral infarction, (2) CRP concentration may indicate underlying unstable atherosclerotic lesions, and (3) CRP may be raised as a consequence of secondary complications of stroke at the time of sampling. …
On the Diversity Order of Selection Combining Dual-Branch Dual-Hop AF Relaying in a Poisson Field of Interferers at the Destination

In noise-limited cooperative wireless networks, the diversity order of selection combining (SC) is the same as the diversity order of maximal ratio combining (MRC). The contribution of this paper is to report that the diversity order of SC and MRC may be different in the presence of randomly distributed interferers at the destination. More specifically, an amplify-and-forward (AF) dual-branch dual-hop cooperative relaying protocol in the presence of Nakagami-m fading, additive Gaussian noise at the relay, and additive Gaussian noise and symmetric alpha-stable interference at the destination is investigated. By contrasting the diversity order of SC against recent results on the diversity of MRC, it is shown that both combining schemes provide the same diversity order if the distribution of the interference is unknown to the destination (interference-oblivious design) . They may achieve a different diversity order, on the other hand, if the interference can be estimated at the destination (interference-aware design) . Moreover, it is shown that the achievable diversity order depends on the interference in the broadcast and relaying phases being spatially correlated or independent.
Therapeutic Targeting of Multiple Signaling Pathways in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

The majority of malignant pleural mesotheliomas (MPMs) aberrantly express the epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB1). We examined the efficacy of GW572016 (lapatinib), a dual inhibitor of ErbB1/ErbB2 with a panel of 10 MPM cell lines. Two of the 10 MPM cell lines, H2373 and H2452, underwent G1/S cell cycle arrest and growth inhibition with an IC50 of 1 µM and 0.8 µM, respectively. There was no relationship between the presence or the amount of ErbB1, phospho-ErbB1, phospho-ErbB2, ErbB3, ErbB4, phospho-Akt, and Akt or the ability of lapatinib to inhibit phospho-ErbB1 in these cell lines compared to those that did not respond to lapatinib. The sensitive cell lines had a time-dependent decrease in phospho-Akt and/or ERK1/2, and an increase in p27 and when treated with lapatinib. The combination of lapatinib with U0126, LY294002 or rapamycin caused greater growth inhibition than either drug alone in the sensitive cell lines while this did not occur in the resistant cell lines. Our findings suggest that ErbB1 alone is a therapeutic target for the minority of mesotheliomas and that combining ErbB1 inhibitors with signal transduction inhibitors in mesothelioma will enhance their effectiveness. Furthermore, combinations of growth factor and signal transduction inhibitors may be needed to inhibit the growth of the majority of MPM cell lines, and therefore patients with MPM.
A Context Dependent Dynamic Interconnection Method of Heterogeneous Knowledge Bases by Interrelation Management Function

This paper presents an interconnection method for heterogeneous knowledge bases depending on user's interests as a context. Various knowledge bases have been created in each field by using collaborative working environments such as Wiki. One of the important issues is how to interconnect these knowledge bases and represent the relationships between various concepts in heterogeneous fields. An event affects various aspects of an area, field, or community. In order to understand an arbitrary event or concept, it is necessary to find various relationships over heterogeneous fields. Generally, the relationships over heterogeneous fields strongly depend on contexts and situations. It is important to realize the dynamic interconnection of knowledge bases depending on contexts and situations. Therefore, we design an interrelation management function (IMF) that defines the operator for interconnection data. In this paper, we propose a framework for a context-dependent dynamic interconnection method by using the interrelation management function.
Chlamydia trachomatis Infection and Reproductive Health Outcomes in Women

Chlamydia trachomatis infection is a major and increasing public health problem worldwide and is currently the main cause of sexually-transmitted infections (STI). The incidence of this infection is highest in young women and is especially important in this population group due to the potential consequences in the female reproductive tract, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, tubal damage, and infertility. During pregnancy, C. trachomatis infection has been associated with adverse outcomes, including spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, premature rupture of membranes, preterm birth. Moreover, the infection can be transmitted perinatally to women’s offspring causing neonatal conjunctivitis, nasopharyngitis and pneumonia.
Effects of neoadjuvant hormonal therapy on prostate biopsy results after (125)I and (103)Pd seed implantation.

BACKGROUND Androgen ablation may improve the efficacy of radiation therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 296 patients who had either (125)I (206; 70%) or (103)Pd (90; 30%) transperineal prostate brachytherapy (no external-beam radiation) had routine transrectal ultrasound-guided needle biopsy (minimum six cores) 2 years after treatment without regard to disease status. Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy (NHT: leuprolide acetate and flutamide) was used in 115 patients (39%) for 3 months prior to and 3 months after the implant. RESULTS Of the 296 patients, 30 (10%) had positive prostate biopsies. Biopsies were positive in 4 of 115 (3.5%) v 26 of 181 (14%) of those who received or had not received NHT, respectively (P = 0.002). When patients were separated into low risk (PSA < or = 10 ng/mL, stage < or = T(2a), and Gleason score < or = 6) and high risk (all others), it was seen that low-risk patients did not benefit from NHT (3.8 v 7.7% positive biopsy rate; P = 0.5) whereas high-risk patients did (3.4% v 21.1%; P = 0.003). CONCLUSION Prostate brachytherapy yields high negative biopsy rates (90%) 2 years after treatment. Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy can improve the local control rates (as determined by biopsy) in patients undergoing (125)I or (103)Pd seed implantation. These results are most significant for patients who present with PSA >10 ng/mL, stage > or = T(2b) diseases, or Gleason score > or = 7 (high-risk status).
Twins as Participants in Randomized Controlled Trials: A Review of Published Literature

Monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins participate in research that partitions variance in health, disease, and behavior into genetic and environmental components. However, there are other innovative roles for twins in medical research. One such way is involving MZ and/or DZ twins in co-twin control-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs). To our knowledge, no reviews have been conducted that summarizes the involvement of twins in RCTs. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature search using the U.S. Clinical Trials Database, NHS electronic databases, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsychINFO for RCTs on publications involving MZ and/or DZ twins as RCT participants. Out of the 186,027 clinical trials registered in the U.S. clinical trial register ClinicaTrails.gov, only six RCTs used twins as participants. From 1,598 articles identified in our search, 50 peer-reviewed English language publications met our pre-defined inclusion criteria. Sample sizes for RCTs have ranged from a total number of participants from 2 to 1,162; however, 32 (64%) studies had a sample size of 100 or less, and of those, 12 (24%) had fewer than 10. Both MZ and DZ twins have been recruited to the RCTs. In most instances (33/50) each twin from a pair were assigned to different study arms. Most of those studies included MZ twins only. Despite the methodological advantages, the use of MZ and DZ twins as participants in interventional RCTs appeared limited. The continuous development of innovative twin designs, especially RCTs, indicates that twin research can extend beyond the more widely recognized heritability estimates.
Primary Tumor Levels of Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-1 Are Predictive of Resistance to Chemotherapy in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer

Purpose: Only about 50% of metastatic breast cancer patients benefit from cytotoxic chemotherapy. Today, no validated markers exist for prediction of chemotherapy sensitivity/resistance in this patient group. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) has been shown to protect against apoptosis, and the purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that tumors expressing high levels of TIMP-1 are protected against apoptosis-inducing agents and thus less sensitive to apoptosis-inducing chemotherapeutic drugs. Experimental Design: We investigated the association between primary tumor expression levels of TIMP-1 protein and objective response to first-line chemotherapy in 173 patients with metastatic breast cancer. Results: When analyzed as a continuous log-transformed variable, increasing TIMP-1 levels were significantly associated with lack of response to cyclophosphamide/methotrexate/5-fluorouracil and anthracycline-based chemotherapy (P = 0.01; odds ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.3). In a multivariate model, including lymph node status, steroid hormone receptor status, menopausal status, dominant metastases site, type of chemotherapy, and disease-free interval, TIMP-1 was significantly associated with resistance to treatment (P = 0.03; odds ratio, 1.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.3). Conclusions: In the present exploratory study, we showed that elevated tumor tissue TIMP-1 levels were significantly associated with a poor response to chemotherapy. By using TIMP-1, we identified a group of patients with metastatic breast cancer, which hardly respond to the most frequently used chemotherapy regimes (i.e., cyclophosphamide/methotrexate/5-fluorouracil and anthracyclines).
The communities of scientists and journal peer review.

IN RECENT years, scientists and editors of scientific journals have often noted how few hard data exist on the workings of editorial peer review. Although pressures from inside and out increasingly encourage journals to be more explicit about their practices and more inclined to question their own habits, there is still a good deal of truth in the sardonic observation made 5 years ago that "the arbiters of rigor, quality, and innovativeness in publishing scientific work do not apply to their own work the standards they apply in judging the work of others. " 1 This paradox inspired The First International Congress on Peer Review in Biomedical Publication, with its goal of encouraging the systematic and empirical study of journals. Of course, data and rigorous methods are not enough to make a science. The systematic study of peer review is even more deficient in theory than it is in data. Some
A PSO-BASED MULTIVARIABLE FUZZY DECISION-MAKING PREDICTIVE CONTROLLER FOR A ONCE-THROUGH 300-MW POWER PLANT

Model predictive control is an available method for controlling large-lag process in power plants, but conventional constrained predictive control cannot deal with the widely existent uncertainties and nonlinearities in power plants. With the help of the fuzzy set theory, this article proposes a new constrained predictive control algorithm based on Fuzzy Decision-Making Method (FDMPC). Compared with the other traditional constrained predictive control, this new algorithm replaces the conventional objective function with the appropriate fuzzy index function. As a result, it is easy to integrate the constraints into the fuzzy index function, which can greatly reduce the complexity of the optimization. Then a new evolutionary computation method named particle swarm optimization is firstly applied into the design of a model predictive controller. Moreover, this article also demonstrates that the conventional predictive control is actually a particular case of the proposed algorithm even though in the MIMO case, so this new algorithm is an extension of the traditional constrained predictive control strategy. At last, the proposed FDMPC has been applied into a real once-through power unit model, and the simulation results have validated the good control performance of the proposed FDMPC.
Errors in Potassium Measurement: A Laboratory Perspective for the Clinician

Errors in potassium measurement can cause pseudohyperkalemia, where serum potassium is falsely elevated. Usually, these are recognized either by the laboratory or the clinician. However, the same factors that cause pseudohyperkalemia can mask hypokalemia by pushing measured values into the reference interval. These cases require a high-index of suspicion by the clinician as they cannot be easily identified in the laboratory. This article discusses the causes and mechanisms of spuriously elevated potassium, and current recommendations to minimize those factors. “Reverse” pseudohyperkalemia and the role of correction factors are also discussed. Relevant articles were identified by a literature search performed on PubMed using the terms “pseudohyperkalemia,” “reverse pseudohyperkalemia,” “factitious hyperkalemia,” “spurious hyperkalemia,” and “masked hypokalemia. ”
Aproximación a la probabilidad en el aula de educación primaria. Un estudio de caso sobre los primeros elementos lingüísticos

El lenguaje desempena un rol fundamental en el proceso de ensenanza-aprendizaje de la matematica, especialmente de la probabilidad, debido a la estrecha relacion existente entre las expresiones de uso comun y el lenguaje de corte matematico o probabilistico. En este trabajo se presenta un analisis de los primeros elementos linguisticos vinculados al lenguaje probabilistico presentes en dos sesiones de clase de un segundo curso de Educacion Primaria de una escuela chilena. Para ello, nos hemos centrado en cuatro grandes focos que promueven el lenguaje probabilistico y el desarrollo de la alfabetizacion probabilistica: lenguaje verbal, lenguaje numerico, lenguaje tabular y lenguaje grafico. Los resultados muestran un fuerte predominio de terminos y expresiones verbales provenientes del lenguaje comun vinculadas principalmente al significado intuitivo de la probabilidad, que transitan hacia conceptos de corte probabilistico.
Sampling-based soft equalization for frequency-selective MIMO channels

We consider the problem of channel equalization in broadband wireless multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems over frequency-selective fading channels, based on the sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) sampling techniques for Bayesian inference. Built on the technique of importance sampling, the stochastic sampler generates weighted random MIMO symbol samples and uses resampling to rejuvenate the sample streams; whereas the deterministic sampler, a heuristic modification of the stochastic counterpart, recursively performs exploration and selection steps in a greedy manner in both space and time domains. Such a space-time sampling scheme is very effective in combating both intersymbol interference and cochannel interference caused by frequency-selective channel and multiple transmit and receiver antennas. The proposed sampling-based MIMO equalizers significantly outperform the decision-feedback MIMO equalizers with comparable computational complexity. More importantly, being soft-input soft-output in nature, these sampling-based MIMO equalizers can be employed as the first-stage soft demodulator in a turbo receiver for coded broadband MIMO systems. Such a turbo receiver successively improves the receiver performance through iterative equalization, channel re-estimation, and channel decoding. Finally, computer simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed sampling-based soft MIMO equalizers in both uncoded and turbo coded systems.
Speech enhancement using harmonic regeneration

The paper addresses the problem of single microphone speech enhancement in noisy environments. Common short-time noise reduction techniques introduce harmonic distortion in enhanced speech because of the non reliability of estimators for small signal-to-noise ratios. We propose a new method, called harmonic regeneration noise reduction technique, which solves this problem. A fully harmonic signal is calculated based on the distorted signal using a non-linearity to regenerate harmonics in an efficient way. This artificial signal is then used to compute a suppression gain able to preserve the speech harmonics. This method is theoretically analyzed, then objective and formal subjective results are given and show a significant improvement compared to classical noise reduction techniques.
Binding of the 3′ terminus of tRNA to 23S rRNA in the ribosomal exit site actively promotes translocation.

A key event in ribosomal protein synthesis is the translocation of deacylated tRNA, peptidyl tRNA and mRNA, which is catalyzed by elongation factor G (EF‐G) and requires GTP. To address the molecular mechanism of the reaction we have studied the functional role of a tRNA exit site (E site) for tRNA release during translocation. We show that modifications of the 3′ end of tRNAPhe, which considerably decrease the affinity of E‐site binding, lower the translocation rate up to 40‐fold. Furthermore, 3′‐end modifications lower or abolish the stimulation by P site‐bound tRNA of the GTPase activity of EF‐G on the ribosome. The results suggest that a hydrogen‐bonding interaction of the 3′‐terminal adenine of the leaving tRNA in the E site, most likely base‐pairing with 23S rRNA, is essential for the translocation reaction. Furthermore, this interaction stimulates the GTP hydrolyzing activity of EF‐G on the ribosome. We propose the following molecular model of translocation: after the binding of EF‐G.GTP, the P site‐bound tRNA, by a movement of the 3′‐terminal single‐stranded ACCA tail, establishes an interaction with 23S rRNA in the adjacent E site, thereby initiating the tRNA transfer from the P site to the E site and promoting GTP hydrolysis. The co‐operative interaction between the E site and the EF‐G binding site, which are distantly located on the 50S ribosomal subunit, is probably mediated by a conformational change of 23S rRNA.
Assessment of in Vitro Applicability of Reversibly Immortalized NKNT-3 Cells and Clonal Derivatives

In vitro applications of human hepatocytes, such as bioartificial livers and toxicity assays, require thoroughly testing of human cell lines prior to using them as alternative cell sources. The reversibly immortalized NKNT-3 cell line was reported to show clear in vivo functionality. Here, NKNT-3 cells were tested for their in vitro applicability. Low-passage (P2) and high-passage (P28) NKNT-3 cells and clonal derivatives were characterized for reversion of immortalization, heterogeneity, and hepatic functionality. Reversion with reduced expression of immortalizing agent could be established. However, during culturing the cells lost the capacity to be selected for completed reversion. The phenotypic instability is probably associated with heterogeneity in the culture, as clonal derivatives of P2 cells varied in morphology, growth, and reversion characteristics. The mRNA levels of genes related with hepatic differentiation increased 4–20-fold after reversion. However, the levels never exceeded 0.1% of that detected in liver and no urea production nor ammonia elimination was detected. Additionally, activities of different cytochrome P450s were limited. In conclusion, the NKNT-3 culture is heterogeneous and unstable and the in vitro functionality is relatively low. These findings emphasize that in vivo testing of hepatic cell lines is little informative for predicting their value for in vitro applications.