Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Carotid arterial stiffness in overweight and obese Indian children

Abstract Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate carotid arterial stiffness and intima media thickness (IMT) in obese children in comparison with healthy children, and to examine associations of lipid profile and blood pressure with carotid artery morphology. Methods: Anthropometric and blood parameters were assessed in 44 overweight, 95 obese (6–17 years) and 69 healthy age-matched normal children. Percent body fat was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and stiffness and IMT of the common carotid artery were evaluated using Aloka α 10 equipment. Results: Anthropometric and lipid parameters were significantly higher in overweight and obese than in normal children (p<0.05). Stiffness (β), pulse wave velocity (PWV), elastic modulus (Ep) and blood pressure were significantly higher in obese and overweight children than in normal children (p<0.05). However, overweight and obese children did not show any significant difference in IMT compared with normal children (p>0.1). Significant positive correlation of PWV, β and Ep and negative correlation of arterial compliance with body fat and triglyceride was noted (p<0.05). Different multinomial regression models for each e-Tracking parameter indicated that the relative risk of hypertension was highest with high PWV, followed by LDL cholesterol, Ep and body fat. Conclusion: PWV may be considered an important marker for evaluation of early functional changes of the carotid artery in children and adolescents.
Intellect declines in healthy elderly subjects and cerebellum

Abstract Scores of the performance scale of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) declined linearly with age from the 6th decade, whereas those of the verbal scale did not. This decrease in performance intelligence was thought to be related to an age‐related frontal atrophy. The relationship between scores of the WAIS and changes in regional cortical gray matter density were examined in healthy elderly subjects using voxel‐based morphometry. Thirty healthy non‐demented individuals >50 years of age were tested with the WAIS and scanned with brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The right neocerebellum was significantly associated with scores of the performance intelligence scale while frontal lobes were not. The current study suggests that the cerebellum may play an important role in changes of intellectual capacity in old age.
L'étude des nouvelles localisations industrielles. Problèmes de méthodes et de sources

Toute étude géographique soulève un double problème : celui des méthodes et des sources. Dans le cadre de cet article, nous souhaiterions analyser plus spécifiquement le cas des études de localisations industrielles, d'une part, en développant une réflexion sur les méthodes d'analyse et, d'autre part, en présentant les sources utilisables en Belgique pour l'étude des nouvelles implantations industrielles (1).
Information-governing dynamics of attacker–defender interactions in youth rugby union

Abstract Previous work on dynamics of interpersonal interactions in 1 vs. 1 sub-phases of basketball has identified changes in interpersonal distance between an attacker and defender as a potential control parameter for influencing organizational states of attacker–defender dyads. Other studies have reported the constraining effect of relative velocity between an attacker and defender in 1 vs. 1 dyads. To evaluate the relationship between these candidate control parameters, we compared the impact of both interpersonal distance and relative velocity on the pattern-forming dynamics of attacker–defender dyads in the sport of rugby union. Results revealed that when interpersonal distance achieved a critical value of less than 4 m, and relative velocity values increased or were maintained above 1 m · s−1, a successful outcome (i.e. clean attempt) for an attacker was predicted. Alternatively, when values of relative velocity suddenly decreased below this threshold, at the same critical value of interpersonal distance, a successful outcome for the defender was predicted. Data demonstrated how the coupling of these two potential, nested control parameters moved the dyadic system to phase transitions, characterized as a try or a tackle. Observations suggested that relative velocity increased its influence on the organization of attacker–defender dyads in rugby union over time as spatial proximity to the try line increased.
Cadmium-induced activation of high osmolarity glycerol pathway through its Sln1 branch is dependent on the MAP kinase kinase kinase Ssk2, but not its paralog Ssk22, in budding yeast.

Cadmium ions disrupt reactive oxygen species/Ca(2+) homeostasis and subsequently elicit cell death and adaptive signaling cascades in eukaryotic cells. Through a functional genomics approach, we have identified deletion mutants of 106 yeast genes, including three MAP kinase genes (HOG1, SLT2, and KSS1), are sensitive to a sublethal concentration of cadmium, and 64 mutants show elevated intracellular cadmium concentrations upon exposure to cadmium. Hog1 is phosphorylated, reaching a peak 30 min after the cadmium treatment. Both Sln1 and Sho1 upstream branches are involved in the cadmium-induced activation of high osmolarity glycerol (HOG) pathway. Cadmium-induced HOG activation is dependent on the MAP kinase kinase kinase Ssk2, but not its paralog Ssk22, in the Sln1 branch.
An overview of early drug development for endometriosis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent chronic disease of women of fertile age requiring chronic therapy. Although available drugs have good efficacy and safety profiles, some patients experience partial or no improvement of pain with conventional treatment and recurrence of symptoms after discontinuation of the therapies. For these reasons, many new compounds are currently under investigation for the treatment of endometriosis. Areas covered: This review offers the reader a complete and updated overview on emerging therapies for the treatment of endometriosis. The authors describe, in detail, the laboratory and clinical studies on these therapies and highlight the potential advantages and limitations associated with the administration of these new agents. Expert opinion: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists are the most intriguing emerging agents for the treatment of patients with endometriosis. It should be noted that while there are a number of drugs under investigation, a large majority of these new compounds have only been investigated in laboratory studies with more extensive research required to better elucidate their efficacy and safety profiles.
p53 mutational spectra are different between squamous‐cell carcinomas of the lip and the oral cavity

We studied the p53 mutational spectra of 34 lip and 60 intra‐oral squamous‐cell carcinomas and examined possible etiological and prognostic correlations for these tumor sites. For the p53 analysis of exons 5–8, we used PCR/TGGE screening followed by DNA sequencing. Mutations were found in 18/34 (53%) lip and 22/60 (38%) intra‐oral carcinomas. The p53 mutational spectrum of the intra‐oral carcinomas comprised transitions and transversions in nearly equal frequency (11 to 10). In comparison, transitions were 3.5 times more frequent than transversions (14 to 4) in carcinomas of the lip. The predominant types of base change found in intra‐oral tumors were G:C‐to‐T:A transversions and G:C‐to‐A:T transitions (32% each), while in lip tumors G:C‐to‐A:T transitions (70%) were the most frequent. The rate of lip tumors with mutations was higher in non‐smokers (8/13) than in smokers (9/20). In contrast, p53 mutations in intra‐oral tumors clustered in smokers (18/47 vs. 2/10). G:C‐to‐T:A transversions, regarded as tobacco smoke–associated in lung cancer, were found in 2 moderate and 4 heavy smokers with intra‐oral cancer. This base substitution was found in none of our lip cancers. In lip tumors, a high rate of mutations occurred at dipyridine sites (13/18); among these were 8 C‐to‐T transitions and 1 CC‐to‐TT tandem base transition. These changes are characteristic of DNA damage caused by UV light. The presence of mutational events at the DNA‐binding surface of the p53 protein may correlate with poor clinical outcome. However, we could not find any statistically significant correlations between p53 status and survival. Only the recurrence‐free interval was significantly shortened in cases with mutations affecting residues of the DNA‐binding surface of the p53 protein. Int. J. Cancer 88:82–86, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Elasto-optical constants of Si.

The three independent components of the piezo-optical tensor P ijkl (ω) have been determined in uniaxially stressed Si using rotating-analyzer ellipsometry. This tensor, with only three complex independent components in the case of Si, links the changes in the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric tensor Δe ij (ω) to an arbitrary stress X=X ki [i.e., Δe ij (ω)=P ijkl (ω)X kl ]. Using the experimental values of P ijkl (ω), several related functions and parameters were derived and compared with previous piezoreflectance, ac-stress-modulated reflectivity, Raman spectroscopy work, and theoretical estimates
A scale invariant Object Detector: An Implementation for License Plate Detection

In this paper we present a new method for 2D object detection. This method uses the Hough transform as a robust platform for edge detection and extends it in the scale space. This extension enables the Hough transform to detect the scale changes within an image. The method starts with a linear scale-space representation of the image. At each level of this space edges are extracted through a normalized derivative function and accumulated in the Hough space. Higher features are mapped from the Hough space into the spatial space and then tagged with a normalized descriptor. The feature with the maximum descriptor over scale is then selected as the object of interest The new approach is applied to the classical problem of the license plate detection. This problem is characterized by a unique solution that can be easily verified by the human observation.
Negative regulation of expression of the pituitary-specific transcription factor GHF-1/Pit-1 by thyroid hormones through interference with promoter enhancer elements

Expression of the growth hormone gene is due to the presence of the pituitary-specific transcription factor GHF-1/Pit-1. The action of the thyroid hormone T3 is mediated by nuclear receptors that regulate transcription by interaction with DNA elements located near promoters of the regulated genes. In this study, we show that T3 inhibits expression of the GHF-1/Pit-1 gene in rat pituitary GH4C1 cells by a novel mechanism that involves transcriptional interference with other regulatory elements of the promoter. Sequences between bp -90 and -200 of the rat GHF-1/Pit-1 gene which do not contain a hormone response element but contain two cyclic AMP-responsive elements mediate most of the repressive effect of T3. The hormone reduces basal levels of GHF-1/Pit-1 promoter activity and antagonizes its response to cyclic AMP and the tumor promoter TPA (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate). A similar repression is found with a heterologous promoter that contains four copies of the cyclic AMP-responsive element motif. This regulation provides a novel example of the cross-talk between the thyroid hormone receptor and the signal transduction pathways used by different hormones and growth factors. Additionally, T3 interferes with in vitro binding of GHF-1/Pit-1 to a positive autoregulatory element located at bp -45 to -63 and has a detectable inhibitory effect on the activity of a promoter construct which extends to bp -90 of 5'-flanking DNA. The regulation of the transcription factor provides a novel example of negative transcriptional regulation by thyroid hormones.
Rickettsioses as paradigms of new or emerging infectious diseases

Rickettsioses are caused by species of Rickettsia, a genus comprising organisms characterized by their strictly intracellular location and their association with arthropods. Rickettsia species are difficult to cultivate in vitro and exhibit strong serological cross-reactions with each other. These technical difficulties long prohibited a detailed study of the rickettsiae, and it is only following the recent introduction of novel laboratory methods that progress in this field has been possible. In this review, we discuss the impact that these practical innovations have had on the study of rickettsiae. Prior to 1986, only eight rickettsioses were clinically recognized; however, in the last 10 years, an additional six have been discovered. We describe the different steps that resulted in the description of each new rickettsiosis and discuss the influence of factors as diverse as physicians' curiosity and the adoption of molecular biology-based identification in helping to recognize these new infections. We also assess the pathogenic potential of rickettsial strains that to date have been associated only with arthropods, and we discuss diseases of unknown etiology that may be rickettsioses.
Altered Mechanism of Adenosine-Induced Coronary Arteriolar Dilation in Early-Stage Metabolic Syndrome

Onset of the combined metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a complex progressive process involving numerous cardiovascular risk factors. Although patients with established MetS exhibit reduced coronary flow reserve and individual components of the MetS reduce microvascular vasodilation, little is known concerning the impact of early-stage MetS on the mechanisms of coronary flow control. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that coronary arteriolar dilation to adenosine is attenuated in early-stage MetS by reduced A2 receptor function and diminished K+ channel involvement. Pigs were fed control or high-fat/cholesterol diet for 9 weeks to induce early-stage MetS. Coronary atheroma was determined in vivo with intravascular ultrasound. In vivo coronary dilation was determined by intracoronary adenosine infusion. Further, apical coronary arterioles were isolated, cannulated and pressurized to 60 cmH2O for in vitro pharmacologic assessment of adenosine dilation. Coronary atheroma was not different between groups, indicating early-stage MetS. Coronary arteriolar dilation to adenosine (in vivo) and 2-chloroadenosine (2-CAD; in vitro) was similar between groups. In control arterioles, 2-CAD-mediated dilation was reduced only by selective A2A receptor inhibition, whereas only dual A2A/2B inhibition reduced this response in MetS arterioles. Arteriolar A2B, but not A2A, receptor protein expression was reduced by MetS. Blockade of voltage-dependent K+ (Kv) channels reduced arteriolar sensitivity to 2-CAD in both groups, whereas ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channel inhibition reduced sensitivity only in control arterioles. Our data indicate that the mechanisms mediating coronary arteriolar dilation to adenosine are altered in early-stage MetS prior to overt decrements in coronary vasodilator reserve.
Comparative Susceptibility of Ochlerotatus japonicus, Ochlerotatus triseriatus, Aedes albopictus, and Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) to La Crosse Virus

Abstract Invasive mosquito species can increase the transmission risk of native mosquito-borne diseases by acting as novel vectors. In this study, we examined the susceptibility of three exotic invasive mosquito species Aedes aegypti (L.), Ae. albopictus (Skuse), and Ochlerotatus japonicus (Theobald) to La Crosse virus (LACV) relative to the native primary vector Ochlerotatus triseriatus (Say). Adult females of the four mosquito species were orally challenged with LACV; incubated for 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11 d; and their midgut infection rates, dissemination rates, and effective vector competence were determined. Overall, Oc. japonicus (2.92) had the highest effective vector competence values, followed by Ae. albopictus (1.55), Ae. aegypti (0.88), and Oc. triseriatus (0.64). In addition, we assessed the relationship between mosquito size and LACV susceptibility for field-collected Oc. triseriatus and Oc. japonicus. We hypothesized that smaller adults would be more susceptible to LACV; however, our results did not support this hypothesis. Infected Oc. triseriatus tended to be larger than exposed but uninfected females, while infected and uninfected Oc. japonicus were similarly sized. These findings suggest that Oc. japonicus, Ae. albopictus, and Ae. aegypti have significant potential to transmit LACV and more research is needed to uncover their potential role in LACV epidemiology.
Primary structure requirements for correct sorting of the yeast mitochondrial protein ADH III to the yeast mitochondrial matrix space

Alcohol dehydrogenase isoenzyme III (ADH III) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the product of the ADH3 gene, is located in the mitochondrial matrix. The ADH III protein was synthesized as a larger precursor in vitro when the gene was transcribed with the SP6 promoter and translated with a reticulocyte lysate. A precursor of the same size was detected when radioactively pulse-labeled proteins were immunoprecipitated with anti-ADH antibody. This precursor was rapidly processed to the mature form in vivo with a half-time of less than 3 min. The processing was blocked if the mitochondria were uncoupled with carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone. Mutant enzymes in which only the amino-terminal 14 or 16 amino acids of the presequence were retained were correctly targeted and imported into the matrix. A mutant enzyme that was missing the amino-terminal 17 amino acids of the presequence produced an active enzyme, but the majority of the enzyme activity remained in the cytoplasmic compartment on cellular fractionation. Random amino acid changes were produced in the wild-type presequence by bisulfite mutagenesis of the ADH3 gene. The resulting ADH III protein was targeted to the mitochondria and imported into the matrix in all of the mutants tested, as judged by enzyme activity. Mutants containing amino acid changes in the carboxyl-proximal half of the ADH3 presequence were imported and processed to the mature form at a slower rate than the wild type, as judged by pulse-chase studies in vivo. The unprocessed precursor appeared to be unstable in vivo. It was concluded that only a small portion of the presequence contains the necessary information for correct targeting and import. Furthermore, the information for correct proteolytic processing of the presequence appears to be distinct from the targeting information and may involve secondary structure information in the presequence.
Sepsis Produced by Pseudomonas Bacteremia Does Not Alter Plasma Volume Expansion After 0.9% Saline Infusion in Sheep

Clinicians generally consider sepsis to be a state in which fluid is poorly retained within the vasculature and accumulates within the interstitium. We hypothesized that infusion of 0.9% saline in conscious, chronically instrumented sheep with hyperdynamic bacteremic sepsis would be associated with less plasma volume expansion (PVE) and greater interstitial fluid volume expansion than in conscious, nonseptic sheep. Six conscious adult sheep received an IV infusion of 25 mL/kg of 0.9% saline over 20 min (1.25 mL·kg−1·min−1) in a control nonseptic state and during early and late sepsis (4 and 24 h, respectively, after initiation of a standard infusion of live Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The distribution and elimination of infused fluid were studied by mass balance (after measurement of plasma volume using Evans blue dye) and volume kinetic analysis. Mass balance demonstrated no significant differences in the time-course of PVE between control, early sepsis, and late sepsis. At the end of the infusions, which averaged 1050 ± 125 mL in sheep weighing an average of 42 ± 5 kg, calculated PVE was 312 ± 50 mL, 386 ± 34 mL, and 400 ± 51, respectively. Volume kinetic analysis was similar in all three protocols. In both nonseptic and septic sheep, infusion of 0.9% saline resulted in similar peak PVE and resolution of PVE over a 3-h interval and similar kinetic parameters. Contrary to clinical impressions and to our hypothesis, the distribution of 0.9% saline in this animal model was not changed by bacteremia produced by infusion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Broadcasting consistent data in mobile computing environments

Recent studies on transaction processing in broadcast environments have an implicit assumption that the server is able to broadcast consistent data to the mobile clients. However, this assumption may not be valid unless there is a special algorithm to handle broadcasting data in a consistent and timely manner. To the best of our knowledge, there is no related work on this problem yet. The authors devise an efficient algorithm that causes least interference with the update transactions to read the entire database for broadcasting at the server. Our future work is to develop a complete framework for scheduling the broadcast transaction to meet the following objectives: read the entire database consistently with minimum impact to the system; broadcast fresh data; and meet the time constraint imposed by the periodicity of broadcast cycle.
Microsatellite markers in the tree peony, Paeonia suffruticosa (Paeoniaceae).

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Microsatellite primers were developed in the tree peony, Paeonia suffruticosa, to perform paternity tests as well as assignment to variety in special Austrian collections. • METHODS AND RESULTS Using SSR-enriched libraries and EST-mining, 8 polymorphic primer sets were identified in Austrian collections of Paeonia sect. Moutan DC. The primers amplified di- and trinucleotide repeats with 2-6 alleles per locus. All primers also amplified in P. ostii, P. pontaninii var. trolloides, P. delavayi, and P. lutea, and in the herbaceous species P. peregrina and P. tenuifolia (Paeonia sect. Paeon). • CONCLUSIONS These results show the usefulness of primers in P. suffruticosa for population genetic studies and their ability to cross amplify in related taxa across the genus.
Analysing Market Sentiments: Utilising Deep Learning to Exploit Relationships within the Economy

In today’s world, globalisation is not only affecting inter-culturalism but also linking markets across the globe. Given that all markets are affecting each other and are not only driven by fundamental data but also by sentiments, sentiment analysis regarding the markets becomes a tool to predict, anticipate, and milden future economic crises such as the one we faced in 2008. In this paper, an approach to improve sentiment analysis by exploiting relationships among different kinds of sentiment, together with supplementary information, from and across various data sources is proposed.
Light-programmable Logic Gate

This paper describes a new method of retroactively programming a genetic circuit to exhibit the behavior of one of four logic gates (AND, OR, NAND, and NOR) using pulses of light. These pulses must occur after DNA transfection into the host cell. The pulses of light deactivate a photosensitive kinase, inhibiting phosphorylation. Using this effect, we can control the transcription of recombinase enzymes that can ”reprogram” our DNA-based circuits through excision of particular sections of DNA, as determined through placement of recombination sites. We also describe a novel circuit design for an ”undifferentiated logic gate” that can be reduced to any of the four basic logic gates through the introduction of reecombinase to the system.