Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estrogen Actions on Neuroendocrine Glia

Astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the central nervous system (CNS). It appears that astrocytes are as diverse as neurons, having different phenotypes in various regions throughout the brain and participating in intercellular communication that involves signaling to neurons. It is not surprising then that astrocytes in the hypothalamus have an active role in the CNS regulation of reproduction. In addition to the traditional mechanism involving ensheathment of neurons and processes, astrocytes may have a critical role in regulating estrogen-positive feedback. Work in our laboratory has focused on the relationship between circulating estradiol and progesterone synthesized de novo in the brain. We have demonstrated that circulating estradiol stimulates the synthesis of progesterone in adult hypothalamic astrocytes, and this neuroprogesterone is critical for initiating the LH surge. Estradiol cell signaling is initiated at the cell membrane and involves the transactivation of metabotropic glutamate receptor type 1a (mGluR1a) leading to the release of intracellular stores of calcium. We used surface biotinylation to demonstrate that estrogen receptor-α (ERα) is present in the cell membrane and has an extracellular portion. Like other membrane receptors, ERα is inserted into the membrane and removed via internalization after agonist stimulation. This trafficking is directly regulated by estradiol, which rapidly and transiently increases the levels of membrane ERα, and upon activation, increases internalization that finally leads to ERα degradation. This autoregulation temporally limits membrane-initiated estradiol cell signaling. Thus, neuroprogesterone, the necessary signal for the LH surge, is released when circulating levels of estradiol peak on proestrus and activate progesterone receptors whose expression has been induced by the gradual rise of estradiol during follicular development.
An O‐Glycosylation of Fibronectin Mediates Hepatic Osteodystrophy Through α4β1 Integrin

Patients with cholestatic liver disease experience increased fracture risk. Higher circulating levels of a fibronectin isoform called oncofetal fibronectin (oFN) were detected in a subset of such patients. Administering this isoform to mice suppresses osteoblast differentiation and diminishes bone mineral density in vivo, suggesting it is responsible for bone loss in cholestatic liver disease. The aim of this study was to define the mechanism by which oFN affects osteoblast function and evaluate possible modifiers in experimental hepatic osteodystrophy. The fibronectin isoform oFN is characterized by the presence of various glycosylations. In line with this, adding oFN that underwent enzymatic O‐deglycosylation to osteoblasts normalized nodule formation in vitro. Of three possible O‐glycosylation sites in oFN, only a mutation at AA 33 of the variable region or binding of this glycosylated site with an antibody normalized osteoblast differentiation. Because the responsible site is located in the variable region of fibronectin, which binds to α4β1 or α4β7 integrins, these integrins were evaluated. We show that integrin α4β1 mediates the inhibitory effect of oFN both in vitro as well as in vivo. In a hepatic osteodystrophy mouse model, we demonstrate that liver fibrosis is associated with increased circulating oFN and diminished BMD. In addition, trabecular bone loss induced by oFN injection or fibrosis induction could be prevented by either administering an antibody that binds to α4 integrin (PS/2) or the CS1 peptide, which contains a binding site for α4β1 integrin. In summary, oFN inhibits osteoblast activity. This is because of an O‐glycosylation in the variable region that results in decreased integrin‐mediated signaling. This deleterious effect can be thwarted by binding α4β1 integrin. Thus, we have characterized the defect and the receptor mediating bone loss in patients with hepatic osteodystrophy and evaluated possible therapeutic interventions in a murine model. © 2016 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Direct Home Observations of the Prompting of Physical Activity in Sedentary and Active Mexican‐and Anglo‐American Children

&NA; Social interactions are important correlates of physical activity in children. Previous studies used global measures; the present study examined the influence of specific social interactions on immediate physical activity in children with data obtained from the Behaviors of Eating and Activity for Child Health: Evaluation System (BEACHES). The study examined parental and peer prompting of physical activity at home among 178 Mexican‐American and 113 Anglo‐American children at age 4 years and again at age 6.5 years. Most activity prompts came from adults interacting with children when they were sedentary. A reduction in the frequency of prompts from baseline to follow‐up occurred in the prompter group (adult or child peer), gender, ethnicity, and preprompted activity level categories. Children's responses to these prompts showed that as they aged, they seemed to rely less on the interpersonal (especially adult) aspects of their environment for cues to be more active.
Characterization of sol-gel Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 in thin film bulk acoustic resonators

The behavior of {111}-textured Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 (PZT) deposited by the sol-gel technique in thin film bulk acoustic resonators (TFBAR's) was investigated at a resonance frequency of about 1 GHz. The resonators were fabricated on Si wafers using deep silicon etching to create a membrane structure and using platinum as top and bottom electrodes. The best response of the resonators was observed at a bias voltage of -15 kV/cm with values of about 10% for the coupling constant and about 50 for the quality factor. This voltage corresponds to optimal values of piezoelectric constant d33 and dielectric constant measured as a function of the electric field. The influence of a bias voltage on the resonance frequency, antiresonance frequency, and coupling constant were observed. Both the resonance and antiresonance frequency show a hysteretic change with applied bias. This effect can be used to shift the whole band of a filter by applying a voltage. The TFBAR structure also allowed us to extract values for materials parameters of the PZT film. Dielectric, piezoelectric, and elastic properties of the {111}-textured PZT film are reported and compared to direct measurements and to literature values.
Advances in passive PCB thermal control

In this paper, the author discusses the use of carbon composites, metal carbon composites and two types of carbon Nanopapers in Printed Circuit boards as a thermal control method. The emphasis is on directly mounting active power components on the thermal control layer to minimize cost and assembly complexity. Metal carbon composites, Bucky paper and Long Wall Carbon nanomaterials were acquired from commercial vendors and processed through a commercial PCB facility. A number of issues were confronted and solved to make these materials compatible with PCB fabrication, and all are now potentially available for use in military or commercial systems. The resultant PCB's were then thermally tested and modeled to give in-situ thermal performance. Measured and predicted thermal conductivity for commercial products was excellent, giving confidence that the measured number for the carbon material is accurate. Given that carbon papers have not been optimized for thermal conductivity, there exists a significant potential for even better performance in the near future.
January effect on stock returns: Evidence from emerging Balkan equity markets

The motivation for testing anomalies in the selected financial markets in the region was primarily to help investors to devise a viable investment strategy. Taking into account the difficult circumstances faced by the capital markets in developing countries, their efficient operation is under question. While the calendar anomalies in the developed capital markets have been studied intensively, emerging stock markets have received less attention. The aim of this paper is to test historical data on movements of stock exchange indexes in the region, and in that way the possibility of gaining beyond average yields on capital in certain calendar months during the year, also known as the January effect. The paper aims to test the efficient market hypothesis (in terms of the presence or not of the ‘January effect’) in the financial markets in the region by using daily data of regional stock market indexes. Panel data analysis includes daily data during the period from 2008 to 2014 for the stock exchanges in the emergent economies of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. However, in this study it has been proven that the traditional January effect is present only on the stock market in Macedonia. The obtained results on capital markets in selected countries in the region indicate weak sustainability of the efficient market hypothesis in most of the observed countries in the region and the presence of calendar anomalies.
Chromatin configuration and transcriptional control in human and mouse oocytes

In vitro maturation of human oocytes at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage could offer an alternative in several cases of female infertility. It however rests on a better knowledge of the quality of human oocyte. Using fluorescence imaging of DNA and of the transcription sites, combined with electron microscopy, we show that human oocytes follow size‐dependent changes in chromatin configuration, transcription sites distribution and nuclear ultrastructure that follow those observed in mouse GV oocytes. We thus analyzed in mouse GV oocytes the phosphorylation dependence of the transcriptional activity. We show by Western blot that, while active GV oocytes have approximately the same proportion of hypo‐ and hyperphosphorylated forms of the RNA polymerase II (RNAP II), the hyperphosphorylated form is almost absent from inactive oocytes. We also show that (1) RNAP II‐dependent transcription is much less sensitive to various kinase inhibitors in mouse oocytes than in somatic cells or mouse one‐cell embryos, although the phosphorylation equilibrium of RNAP II was largely shifted towards the hypo‐phosphorylated form upon treatment with these inhibitors (2) RNAP I is completely insensitive to kinase inhibitors in GV oocytes. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 64: 458–470, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Nonlinear Optimal Control Design for Underactuated Two-Wheeled Inverted Pendulum Mobile Platform

In terms of the state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) control framework, a nonlinear motion control is investigated for the two-wheeled inverted pendulum (TWIP) mobile robot platform. As a critical design issue, the state dependent coefficient matrix is established based on the sound understanding of dynamic characteristics of the TWIP robot. The developed SDRE control solution has the merit of robust posture stabilization when the inverted pendulum robot experiences strong nonlinear behaviors due to abrupt external disturbances.
Prostaglandins alter extracellular matrix adjacent to human ciliary muscle cells in vitro.

PURPOSE This study investigates the possibility that prostaglandins (PGs) induce changes in extracellular matrix (ECM) adjacent to ciliary muscle cells. METHODS Human ciliary smooth muscle cells were grown to confluence in monolayer cultures and were treated with PGF2alpha, 11-deoxy-PGE1, or PhXA85 (the nonesterified analogue of PhXA41) for 12 to 72 hours. The amount of collagens type I, III, and IV in the cultures was determined, using sandwich enzyme immunoassays. The distributions of these collagens were assessed in the PG-treated cultures by immunocytochemistry. RESULTS Twenty-four-hour treatment with 20 nM PGF2alpha, 11-deoxy-PGE1, or PhXA85 reduced the amount of collagen type I in extracts of the cell layer by 65+/-10%, 56+/-7%, and 46+/-7%, respectively, when compared with levels of those substances in vehicle-treated cultures. In similar fashion, collagen type III in cell layer extracts was reduced by 41+/-5%, 33+/-9%, and 3+/-5%, respectively. When the concentration of PGs was increased to 200 nM, the amount of type III collagen in the cell layer extracts was reduced by 93+/-7%, 99+/-1%, and 99+/-1%, respectively. Changes in type IV collagen in cell layer extracts after treatment with 20 nM PGs were not statistically significant. When the concentration of PGF2alpha, 11-deoxy-PGE1, or PhXA85 was increased to 200 nM, the amount of collagen type IV in the cell layer extract increased by 101+/-16%, 14+/-5%, and 89+/-11%, respectively. There were minimal changes in the staining pattern for collagen type I after 24-hour treatment with 20 nM PGs. When the PG concentration was increased to 200 nM, there were reductions in the density of collagen type I fibrils and clumping of collagen type III immunoreactive elements. The delicate lacework of collagen type IV immunoreactivity was replaced by bundles or clumps of heavy immunoreactive strands, separated by areas without immunoreactivity. These changes were present in cultures exposed to 20 nM PGs and were marked when PG concentration was increased to 200 nM. CONCLUSION These results indicate that PGs can induce substantial changes in the ECM around ciliary smooth muscle cells in vitro. These data support the possibility that changes in ciliary muscle ECM may contribute to increased uveoscleral outflow facility after topical PG administration.
Behavioral Household Finance

This chapter provides an overview of household finance. The first part summarizes key facts regarding household financial behavior, emphasizing empirical regularities that are inconsistent with the standard classical economic model and discussing extensions of the classical model and explanations grounded in behavioral economics that can account for the observed patterns. This part covers five topics: consumption and savings, borrowing, payments, asset allocation, and insurance. The second part addresses interventions that firms, governments, and other parties deploy to shape household financial outcomes: education and information, peer effects and social influence, product design, advice and disclosure, choice architecture, and interventions that directly target prices or quantities.
Temporal study of immunoglobin M seroreactivity to Borrelia burgdorferi in patients treated for Lyme borreliosis

Forty-six patients with late Lyme disease who were considered improved or cured following treatment were monitored by immunoglobin M (IgM) immunoblotting (mean monitoring period, 27.6 months). There was a persistent IgM response in 32 (97%) of 33 initially positive patients. All but three showed a consistent number, type, and intensity of IgM bands over the entire follow-up period. IgM immunoblotting may not be useful for monitoring the response to treatment of Lyme borreliosis.
Short-Term Surgical Outcomes From a Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate Laparoscopic and Open D3 Dissection for Stage II/III Colon Cancer: Japan Clinical Oncology Group Study JCOG 0404

Objective:A randomized controlled trial to confirm the non-inferiority of laparoscopic surgery to open surgery in terms of overall survival was conducted, and short-term surgical outcomes are demonstrated. Background:The efficacy and safety outcome of laparoscopic surgery for clinical stages II/III colon cancer undergoing Japanese D3 dissection are still unclear. Methods:Eligibility criteria included colon cancer; tumor located in the cecum, ascending, sigmoid, or rectosigmoid colon; T3 or T4 without involvement of other organs; N0–2; and M0. Patients were randomized preoperatively and underwent tumor resection with D3 dissection. Safety analyses were conducted by per-protocol set. Results:A total of 1057 patients were randomized between October 2004 and March 2009. By per-protocol set, 524 patients who underwent open surgery and 533 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery were analyzed. D3 dissection was performed in 521 (99.4%) patients in the open surgery arm and 529 (99.2%) patients in the laparoscopic surgery arm. Conversion to open surgery was needed for 29 (5.4%) patients. Patients assigned to laparoscopic surgery had less blood loss (P < 0.001), although laparoscopic surgery lasted 52 minutes longer (P < 0.001). Laparoscopic surgery was associated with a shorter time to pass first flatus, decreased use of analgesics after 5 postoperative days, and a shorter hospital stay. Morbidity [14.3% (76/533) vs 22.3% (117/524), P < 0.001] was lower in the laparoscopic surgery arm. Conclusions:Short-term surgical safety and clinical benefits of laparoscopic D3 dissection were demonstrated. The primary endpoint will be reported after the primary analysis, planned for 2014.
Immunoregulatory effects of the traditional Dai prescription Yajieshaba on food allergic mice

The Dai prescription Yajieshaba is widely used in Traditional Dai Medicine to treat food allergies and intolerance. However, information on the active chemical ingredients, effects and mechanisms of action of Yajieshaba is limited. The present study aimed to elucidate the effects and underlying mechanisms of Yajieshaba in the treatment of food allergies. Liquid chromatography with a diode array detector was used to measure the levels of palmatine and berberine, the active ingredients of Yajieshaba. A food allergy model was established in female BALB/c mice by three injections of ovalbumin (OVA) at 0, 48, and 96 h. OVA-sensitized mice recieved no treatments (control), Yajieshaba, loratadine, palmatine or berberine. The scratching frequency, serum immunoglobulin (Ig)G, IgE, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, IL-17, IL-21, interferon-γ and tumor necrosis factor-α levels were assessed at 50 and 98 h. The percentage of regulatory T cells (Tregs) was evaluated by flow cytometry at 98 h. The scratching frequency induced by OVA was significantly suppressed in mice treated with loratadine, palmatine, berberine or 3.50 and 4.70 g/kg Yajieshaba. The frequency of CD4+CD25+Treg in the spleen increased from 6.80% in mice in the control group to 12.50% in mice treated with 4.70 g/kg body weight Yajieshaba. Mice treated with palmatine or 4.70 g/kg body weight Yajieshaba had increased forkhead box p3 expression compared with those in the control group. Treatment with Yajieshaba decreased the scratching frequency and increased CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg frequency in the spleen. This indicated that symptoms of allergic reaction were alleviated following Yajieshaba treatment. Palmatine was identified as one of the major active components of Yajieshaba. The present study identified the possible mechanism through which Yajieshaba treatment may alleviate food allergy symptoms.
Fast Modulo 2^{n} - (2^{n - 2} + 1) Addition: A New Class of Adder for RNS

Efficient modular adder architectures are invaluable to the design of residue number system (RNS)-based digital systems. For example, they are used to perform residue encoding and decoding, modular multiplication, and scaling. This work is a first in the literature on modulo 2n-(2n-2+1) addition. The algebraic properties of such moduli are exploited in the derivation of the proposed fast adder architecture. Actual VLSI implementations using 130 mm CMOS technology show that our adder significantly outperforms the most competitive generic modular adder design over the entirety of the power-delay-area space
The theory and application of UW ehealth-PHINEX, a clinical electronic health record-public health information exchange.

BACKGROUND Electronic health records (EHRs) hold the promise of improving clinical quality and population health while reducing health care costs. However, it is not clear how these goals can be achieved in practice. METHODS Clinician-led teams developed EHR data extracts to support chronic disease use cases. EHRs were linked with community-level data to describe disease prevalence and health care quality at the patient, health care system, and community risk factor levels. Software was developed and statistical modeling included multivariate, mixed-model, longitudinal, data mining, and geographic information system (GIS)/spatial regression approaches. RESULTS A HIPAA-compliant limited data set was created on 192,201 patients seen in University of Wisconsin Family Medicine clinics throughout Wisconsin in 2007-2009. It was linked to a commercially available database of approximately 6000 variables describing community-level risk factors at the census block group. Areas of increased asthma and diabetes prevalence have been mapped, identified, and compared to economic hardship. CONCLUSIONS A comprehensive framework has been developed for clinical-public health data exchange to develop new evidence and apply it to clinical practice and health policy. EHR data at the neighborhood level can be used for future population studies and may enhance understanding of community-level patterns of illness and care.
DNA repair capacity in peripheral lymphocytes predicts survival of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer treated with first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

PURPOSE Platinum-based regimens are the standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). DNA repair capacity (DRC) in tumor cells plays an important role in resistance to platinum-based drugs. We have previously reported that efficient DRC, as assessed by an in vitro lymphocyte-based assay, was a determinant of poor survival in patients with NSCLC in a relatively small data set. In this larger independent study of 591 patients with NSCLC, we further evaluated whether DRC in peripheral lymphocytes predicts survival of patients with NSCLC who receive platinum-based chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS All patients were recruited at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and donated blood samples before the start of any chemotherapy. We measured DRC in cultured T lymphocytes by using the host-cell reactivation assay, and we assessed associations between DRC in peripheral lymphocytes and survival of patients with NSCLC who were treated with first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. RESULTS We found an inverse association between DRC in peripheral lymphocytes and patient survival. Compared with patients in the low tertile of DRC, patients with NSCLC in the high tertile of DRC had significantly worse overall and 3-year survival (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.33; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.71; P = .023; and HR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.76; P = .025, respectively). This trend was more pronounced in patients with early-stage tumors, adenocarcinoma, or squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION We confirmed that DRC in peripheral lymphocytes is an independent predictor of survival for patients with NSCLC treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.