Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for the involvement of cyclic GMP in adenosine‐induced, age‐dependent vasodilatation

1 Adenosine‐induced dilatation of rat aorta was present in aorta taken from 4 week‐old rats, attenuated with increase in age of rats to 8 weeks, and was virtually absent in the aorta from 12 week‐old rats. 2 Removal of the endothelium by mechanical rubbing attenuated adenosine‐induced dilatation. 3 Haemoglobin and methylene blue partly reversed the adenosine‐induced endothelium‐dependent dilatation. 4 The order of potency of adenosine derivatives was 5′‐(N‐ethylcarboxamido)adenosine (NECA) > 2‐phenylaminoadenosine (CV‐1808) > 2‐chloroadenosine > N6‐([R]‐[‐]‐phenylisopropyl)adenosine (R‐PIA) > adenosine > N6‐cyclohexyladenosine (CHA) > N6‐([S]‐[+]‐phenylisopropyl)adenosine (S‐PIA), indicating that adenosine receptors mediating the dilatation are of the A2 subtype. 5 [3H]‐NECA bound to preparations of membranes from rats of 4 weeks old; it was displaced more effectively by NECA and the A2 ligand CV‐1808 than by the A1 ligands CHA and S‐PIA. ligands CHA and S‐PIA. 6 The number but not affinity of specific binding sites for NECA decreased considerably with increase in age of rats to 8 weeks, and binding sites for [3H]‐NECA were hardly detected in membrane preparations from rats of 20 weeks old. 7 Adenosine caused a marked increase in cyclic GMP production, but did not induce an increase in the cyclic AMP level. 8 This increase in cyclic GMP production induced by adenosine was abolished by methylene blue or 8‐phenyltheophylline, or by removal of the endothelium. 9 The age‐associated decrease in adenosine‐induced dilatation was found to be associated with a reduction in the formation of cyclic GMP, but not of cyclic AMP. 10 These results suggest that adenosine causes dilatation via A2 receptors by inducing production of an endothelium‐derived relaxing factor (EDRF), which in turn stimulates soluble guanylate cyclase, and so increases production of cyclic GMP. It is also suggested that the main reason for the age‐associated decrease in adenosine‐induced dilatation is a decrease in the number of A2‐receptors or the ability of the endothelium to produce EDRF, leading to decreased production of cyclic GMP.
Biogenic amines in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma of patients with dementia of Alzheimer type.

The involvement of monoaminergic neurons in Dementia of Alzheimer Type (D.A.T.) is still a matter for debate. In a selected group of patients with D.A. T. we evaluated monoamine levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma and found a significant decrease in serotonin and dopamine metebolite levels. Dopamine levels were reduced in both CSF and plasma. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between the duration of the illness and the decrease in monoamine levels. These findings suggest that there is systemic damage to monoaminergic neurons in D.A. T.
Growth inhibition of head and neck squamous carcinoma cells by small interfering RNAs targeting eIF4E or cyclin D1 alone or combined with cisplatin

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) exhibit an increased expression of the eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4E and the cell-cycle regulator cyclin D1 (CCND1). Both stimulate cell cycle progression and transform squamous epithelial cells. We used small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to silence the expression of eIF4E and CCND1 in HNSCC UMSCC22B cells and analyzed the effects of reduced levels of these proteins on colony formation. Transfection of either eIF4E or CCND1 siRNAs decreased the levels of their targeted proteins and inhibited cell growth. siRNAmediated decrease of eIF4E has led to decreases in the expression of CCND1, basic fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor. Combination of these siRNAs and cisplatin showed more than additive inhibition of colony formation. These findings demonstrate that silencing of either eIF4E or CCND1 by siRNA leads to inhibition of the growth of HNSCC cells and suggest that these siRNAs alone or combined with conventional cytotoxic agents may be useful for therapy of HNSCCs.
Expression and localisation of matrix metalloproteinases and their natural inhibitors in fistulae of patients with Crohn’s disease

Background: Fistulae are a troublesome complication of Crohn’s disease but little is known of the final effector molecules responsible for matrix degradation. Although matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been strongly implicated in tissue injury in Crohn’s disease, their role in fistula formation is unknown. Aim: To determine the expression pattern of MMPs and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) in fistulae of patients with Crohn’s disease. Patients and methods: Resected fistula specimens were obtained from patients with Crohn’s disease (n = 11) and classified according to the predominant histological features—that is, acute versus chronic inflammation. Patients with fistulae due to other diseases (n = 9) and normal colon (n = 5) served as controls. MMP and TIMP protein expression was measured by single or double labelled immunohistochemistry, and mRNA expression by in situ hybridisation. MMP activity was measured by gelatin zymography. Results: Compared with normal colon, strong MMP-3 expression was consistently observed in fistulae in Crohn’s disease, irrespective of the stage of inflammatory activity. MMP-3 transcripts and protein were localised in large mononuclear cells and fibroblasts. MMP-9 transcripts and protein were expressed in granulocytes and only in fistulae with acute inflammation. Staining for MMP-1 and MMP-7 was weak and negative for MMP-10, whereas MMP-2 was equally expressed in normal colon and fistulae. TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and TIMP-3 expression was low in all samples. Similar expression patterns were found in fistulae of the disease control group. Fistulae also expressed active MMP-2 and MMP-9, as measured by gelatin zymography. Conclusion: MMP-3 and MMP-9 are markedly upregulated in intestinal fistulae and may contribute to fistula formation through degradation of the extracellular matrix, irrespective of the underlying disease process.
Agua y energía en el riego, en la época de la sostenibilidad

La expansion del regadio a lo largo de las ultimas decadas, y en los ultimos quince anos su modernizacion, ha necesitado incorporar gran cantidad de energia para la captacion, transporte y distribucion del agua a los cultivos. Esta transformacion ha convertido al sector del regadio, que ocupa el 20% de la superficie cultivada en Espana, en el preponderante con casi el 60% de la produccion final agraria. Al mismo tiempo se esta avanzando rapidamente en la mejora de la eficiencia en el uso del agua, espoleado el sector por la falta de recursos suficientes en los anos secos. Pero esta reduccion unitaria de agua usada, del orden de un 21% desde 1950, debe ponerse en relacion con la mayor intensidad de energia aportada al agua de riego que ha crecido desde 1950 en un 1800 %: la mayor eficiencia hidrica va ligada a una mayor ineficiencia energetica. Los costes de la energia aportada al regadio crecen rapidamente ano tras ano, y pueden ser limitativos ante procesos de encarecimiento brusco del precio de la energia, especialmente el petroleo que sigue teniendo un gran peso en el mix energetico espanol. Este riesgo se pondra de manifiesto en los regadios poco intensivos que utilizan aguas subterraneas o que se han implantado a cotas elevadas respecto a los puntos de captacion. Los nuevos enfoques del uso de los recursos naturales a que nos obliga el cambio climatico, y de manera mas amplia la sostenibilidad, aconsejan introducir los balances energeticos del regadio, la huella hidrica y energetica y los conceptos de agua y energia virtual, como maneras de acercarnos a las tendencias que deberan marcar los cambios necesarios para adaptar los regadios a la sostenibilidad.
Test-Driven Development of Automotive Software Functionality

The growing sophistication of automotive software has made the development of high-quality software a cumbersome process in a small period. There exists a compromise between software complexity, quality, and duration to build it. Software development costs increase as the duration of the life cycle extends. Errors detected late in the life cycle which must have been detected early, such as contradictions in specifications and ambiguities, also raises the life-cycle costs of software development. In this approach, the Test-Driven Development (TDD) process for Automotive Software is discussed, which incorporates agile methods in the early stages of development, dramatically decreasing the possibility of discrepancies and ambiguities in specifications and thereby lowers development costs. TDD is one of the practical approaches for improving the quality and reliability of software. In the proposed methodology the tests are automated, the bugs are recognized and fixed, which in turn reduces the software development life cycle costs and improves software reliability.
Mango Diseases Identification by a Deep Residual Network with Contrast Enhancement and Transfer Learning

Plant diseases have a great influence on the productivity and economics of agriculture. In the traditional method where manual labour and experiences play important roles, early plant disease detection and prevention for field crop are inefficient. This can bring negative effects in stopping the spread of diseases. Applications of image processing techniques and computer vision may provide a solution to these problems. Deep learning is known as one of the most powerful techniques which is able to address more complicated tasks compared to traditional machine learning thanks to the embedded complex layers. This paper presents an image-based diseases identification method using a deep neural network with contrast enhancement and transfer learning from the PlantVillage dataset. Since there exist various sizes of leaf, rescaling and centre alignment are performed to standardize images. Besides, contrast enhancement is used to improve quality of visualization which gives a well-prepared step for further processing. By using a collected mango disease dataset, the proposed model is trained to identify 3 common diseases from the healthy one. The proposed model is then compared with other pre-trained models. An accuracy of 88.46% is achieved for the proposed model, which is higher than the results obtained from other pre-trained models.
Ceramic Pressure-Tight Housings for Ocean-Bottom Seismometers Applicable to 11-km Water Depth

Ceramics have some outstanding features that are necessary for pressure-tight housings, such as higher compressive strength, lower specific gravity, and higher resistance against corrosion. One promising application is pressure-tight housings for a free-fall popup ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS). Ceramic pressure-tight housings can provide sufficient strength and buoyancy even at 11-km water depth. Nevertheless, tensile and bending strengths of ceramics are only a fraction of their compressive strength. For metals, they are almost equal. Therefore, common design methods for pressure-tight housings are not directly applicable to ceramic pressure-tight housings. As described herein, we propose a new design method for ceramic pressure-tight housings, particularly a method of reinforcement of through-holes for underwater connectors. We also present detailed data that support the proposed design method.
Diagnostic Considerations of Lateral Column Foot Pain in Athletes

Foot maladies are often classified descriptively by general foot locations, i.e., forefoot, midfoot, and rearfoot. However, common vernacular verbiage, implicating a common biomechanical purpose, also applies pathology to the medial or lateral foot column. Although imprecisely defined, lateral column injuries to the foot encompass conditions that affect any of the lateral side of the foot from the calcaneus to the toes. The lateral column of the foot includes the calcaneus, the cuboid, the fourth and fifth metatarsals as well as the calcaneocuboid, cuboido-metatarsal, and intermetatarsal joints. It may be helpful to think in a “lateral column” fashion when evaluating and treating certain lateral foot injuries, load patterns, and biomechanical or anatomical faults. Misdiagnosed injuries in this area of the foot can be a source of great morbidity to the athlete. It is important for the clinician to be aware of common conditions presenting as pain to the lateral side of the foot.
[Proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in hydrogels of human blood plasma].

INTRODUCTION The use of mesenchymal stem cells in clinical practice has increased considerably in the last decade because they play a supporting role in the processes of tissue repair and regeneration, becoming the main tool of cell therapy for the treatment of diseases functionally affecting bone and cartilage tissue . OBJECTIVE To evaluate in vitro the proliferative and osteogenic differentiation ability of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human adipose tissue in a blood plasma hydrogel. MATERIALS AND METHODS Mesenchymal stem cells were obtained from human adipose tissue explants and characterized by flow cytometry. Their multipotentiality was demonstrated by their ability to differentiate to adipogenic and osteogenic lineages. Cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation ability of the cells cultured in blood plasma hydrogels were also evaluated. RESULTS Mesenchymal stem cells derived from human adipose tissue growing in human blood plasma hydrogels showed a pattern of proliferation similar to that of the cells cultured in monolayer and also maintained their ability to differentiate to osteogenic lineage. CONCLUSIONS Human blood plasma hydrogels are a suitable support for proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human adipose tissue and provides a substrate that is autologous, biocompatible, reabsorbable, easy to use, potentially injectable and economic, which could be used as a successful strategy for the management and clinical application of cell therapy in regenerative medicine.
Imitation and innovation new biologics, biosimilars and biobetters

ABSTRACT Biopharmaceutical drugs are the future of the pharmaceutical industry. The United States is the world leader in the development of new biopharmaceutical products. These original new drugs, numbering close to 200, are now losing patent protection and imitators from several countries are entering the markets of comparable drugs, called biosimilars. Some companies are improving the original product, and these drugs are called biobetters. Even among the producers of biosimilars one finds different strategies, and these are linked to different government regulations concerning the approval of these products. Some biosimilar companies are aiming at developed-country markets (North America, the European Union and Japan), while other producers are targeting emerging, less-regulated markets. This introduction will present the dynamic picture of an industry in transition. The paper has a double aim: discuss the fuzzy frontier between imitation and innovation, and track the new contours of the pharmaceutical industry.
Investigation of Reliability Characteristics in NMOS and PMOS FinFETs

Three-dimensional vertical double-gate (FinFET) devices with a high aspect ratio (Si-fin height/width = Hfin/Wfin = 86 nm/17 nm) and a gate nitrided oxide of 14 Aring thickness have been successfully fabricated. Reliability characterizations, including hot-carrier injection (HCI) for NMOS FinFETs and negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) for PMOS FinFETs, are carried out in order to determine their respective lifetimes. The predicted HCI dc lifetime for a 50-nm gate-length NMOS FinFET device at the normal operating voltage (Vcc) of 1.1 V is 133 years. A wider fin-width (27 nm) PMOS FinFET exhibits promising NBTI lifetime such as 26.84 years operating at Vcc = 1.1 V, whereas lifetime is degraded for a narrower fin-width (17 nm) device that yields 2.76 years of lifetime at the same operating voltage and stress conditions.
Modélisation des matériaux granulaires cohésifs à particules non convexes : Application à la compaction des poudres d'UO2. (Numerical study of cohesive granular materials composed of nonconvex particles applied to UO2 powder compaction)

On s'interesse a la modelisation des materiaux granulaires compose d'agregats non convexes et cohesifs en vue d'application a la rheologie des poudres d'UO2 . L'inﬂuence du degre de non-convexite des particules est analyse en termes de grandeurs macroscopiques (frottement interne et cohesion de Coulomb) et de parametres micro-mecaniques tels que l'anisotropie de la texture et la transmission des efforts. Il apparait en particulier que la compacite evolue d'une maniere complexe avec la non-convexite et que la resistance au cisaillement augmente mais sature sous l'effet d'imbrication entre agregats. Des modeles simples sont introduits pour decrire ces comportements en termes de parametres micro-mecaniques. De meme, des etudes systematiques par cisaillement, compaction uniaxiale et compression simple montrent que la cohesion interne augmente avec la non-convexite mais est fortement controlee par les conditions aux limites et l'apparition de bandes de cisaillement ou de concentrations de contraintes.
VGDRA: A Virtual Grid-Based Dynamic Routes Adjustment Scheme for Mobile Sink-Based Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networks, exploiting the sink mobility has been considered as a good strategy to balance the nodes energy dissipation. Despite its numerous advantages, the data dissemination to the mobile sink is a challenging task for the resource constrained sensor nodes due to the dynamic network topology caused by the sink mobility. For efficient data delivery, nodes need to reconstruct their routes toward the latest location of the mobile sink, which undermines the energy conservation goal. In this paper, we present a virtual grid-based dynamic routes adjustment (VGDRA) scheme that aims to minimize the routes reconstruction cost of the sensor nodes while maintaining nearly optimal routes to the latest location of the mobile sink. We propose a set of communication rules that governs the routes reconstruction process thereby requiring only a limited number of nodes to readjust their data delivery routes toward the mobile sink. Simulation results demonstrate reduced routes reconstruction cost and improved network lifetime of the VGDRA scheme when compared with existing work.
The role of propionate and acetate in the control of food intake in sheep

Sheep fed ad lib. on a good-quality pelleted diet (g/kg; hay 500, barley 300, molasses, fish meal and minerals) were infused via the hepatic portal vein with mixtures of the sodium salts of volatile fatty acids, acetate and propionate, and a variety of equivalent osmotic loads. Propionate infused at rates between 0·6 and 2·5 mmol/min consistently reduced food intake in a linear, dose-related manner. Propionate infusions resulted in consistent dose-related increases in peripheral venous plasma glucose concentration but variable changes in insulin concentration. Infusion of osmotically balanced mixtures of propionate, acetate, mannitol or saline (9 g NaCI/I) indicated that at constant osmotic loading propionate caused a greater reduction in intake than other infusions. Acetate infusions only depressed food intake when administered as a 1 M solution. Lower concentrations had little effect, similar to that of equivalent osmotic loads of mannitol or saline. It is concluded that portal propionate flow has a potential role in the control of food intake in ruminants which is independent of osmotic effects or changes in plasma insulin concentration.
Treatment of unstable distal radial fractures with the volar locking plating system.

BACKGROUND The best treatment for an inadequately reduced fracture of the distal part of the radius is not well established. We collected prospective outcomes data for patients undergoing open reduction and internal fixation of an inadequately reduced distal radial fracture with use of the volar locking plating system. METHODS Over a two-year period, 161 patients underwent open reduction and internal fixation of an inadequately reduced distal radial fracture with use of the volar locking plating system. Patients were enrolled in the present study three months after the fracture on the basis of strict entry criteria and were evaluated three, six, and twelve months after surgery. Outcome measures included radiographic parameters, grip strength, lateral pinch strength, the Jebsen-Taylor test, wrist range of motion, and the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire. RESULTS Eighty-seven patients with a distal radial fracture were enrolled. The mean age at the time of enrollment was 48.9 years. Forty percent (thirty-five) of the eighty-seven fractures were classified as AO type A, 9% (eight) were classified as type B, and 51% (forty-four) were classified as type C. Radiographic assessment showed that the plating system maintained anatomic reduction at the follow-up periods. At the time of the twelve-month follow-up, the mean grip strength on the injured side was worse than that on the contralateral side (18 compared with 21 kg; p<0.01), the mean pinch strength on the injured side was not significantly different from that on the contralateral side (8.7 compared with 8.9 kg; p=0.27), and the mean flexion of the wrist on the injured side was 86% of that on the contralateral side. All Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire domains approached normal scores at six months, with small continued improvement to one year. CONCLUSIONS The volar locking plating system appears to provide effective fixation when used for the treatment of initially inadequately reduced distal radial fractures.
Water deprivation activates a glutamatergic projection from the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus to the rostral ventrolateral medulla

Elevated sympathetic outflow contributes to the maintenance of blood pressure in water‐deprived rats. The neural circuitry underlying this response may involve activation of a pathway from the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVH) to the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). We sought to determine whether the PVH‐RVLM projection activated by water deprivation is glutamatergic and/or contains vasopressin‐ or oxytocin‐neurophysins. Vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2) mRNA was detected by in situ hybridization in the majority of PVH neurons retrogradely labeled from the ipsilateral RVLM with cholera toxin subunit B (CTB; 85% on average, with regional differences). Very few RVLM‐projecting PVH neurons were immunoreactive for oxytocin‐ or vasopressin‐associated neurophysin. Injection of biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) into the PVH produced clusters of BDA‐positive nerve terminals within the ipsilateral RVLM that were immunoreactive (ir) for the VGLUT2 protein. Some of these terminals made close appositions with tyrosine‐hydroxylase‐ir dendrites (presumptive C1 cells). In water‐deprived rats (n = 4), numerous VGLUT2 mRNA‐positive PVH neurons retrogradely labeled from the ipsilateral RVLM with CTB were c‐Fos‐ir (16–40%, depending on PVH region). In marked contrast, few glutamatergic, RVLM‐projecting PVH neurons were c‐Fos‐ir in control rats (n = 3; 0–3%, depending on PVH region). Most (94% ± 4%) RVLM‐projecting PVH neurons activated by water deprivation contained VGLUT2 mRNA. In summary, most PVH neurons that innervate the RVLM are glutamatergic, and this population includes the neurons that are activated by water deprivation. One mechanism by which water deprivation may increase the sympathetic outflow is activation of a glutamatergic pathway from the PVH to the RVLM. J. Comp. Neurol. 494:673–685, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.