Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppression of p21Rac Signaling and Increased Innate Immunity Mediate Remission in Crohn’s Disease

Overactivation of p21Rac1 is a rate-limiting step for innate immune function in Crohn’s disease and prevents remission. Crohn’s Disease on the Rac Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), wherein the body’s immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract. In patients with Crohn’s, there are areas of apparently healthy tissue right next to damaged intestine, but it remains unclear what differentiates healthy and inflamed regions. Now, Parikh et al. examine signal transduction differences in healthy and inflamed tissue to find targets that may be protective in Crohn’s. The authors performed a comparative kinome profile in healthy controls as well as healthy and inflamed tissues from Crohn’s patients. They found that p21Rac1 GTPase signaling is suppressed in noninflamed tissue. What’s more, blocking p21Rac1 correlated with clinical improvement of IBD, potentially by boosting innate immune responses. These data suggest that blocking p21Rac1 may be protective for IBD. In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), large areas of apparently healthy mucosa lie adjacent to ulcerated intestine. Knowledge of the mechanisms that maintain remission in an otherwise inflamed intestine could provide important clues to the pathogenesis of this disease and provide rationale for clinical treatment strategies. We used kinome profiling to generate comprehensive descriptions of signal transduction pathways in inflamed and noninflamed colonic mucosa in a cohort of IBD patients, and compared the results to non-IBD controls. We observed that p21Rac1 guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) signaling was strongly suppressed in noninflamed colonic mucosa in IBD. This suppression was due to both reduced guanine nucleotide exchange factor activity and increased intrinsic GTPase activity. Pharmacological p21Rac1 inhibition correlated with clinical improvement in IBD, and mechanistically unrelated pharmacological p21Rac1 inhibitors increased innate immune functions such as phagocytosis, bacterial killing, and interleukin-8 production in healthy controls and patients. Thus, suppression of p21Rac activity assists innate immunity in bactericidal activity and may induce remission in IBD.
EMT markers in lung adenocarcinoma pleural effusion spheroid cells

Epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process in which cells undergo a developmental switch from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype. This process has been related to embryologic morphogenesis but also to cancer progression and metastasis. The aim of the current study was to investigate the expression of EMT‐related markers in adherent and spheroid cell cultures derived from malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) of patients affected by lung adenocarcinoma. On the basis of efficient in vitro propagation, six cases of MPEs were selected and analyzed by immunocytochemistry staining for EMT markers and by RT‐PCR for transcription factors known to orchestrate EMT. EMT markers immunostaining showed in spheroids a statistically significant correlation between the loss of E‐cadherin immunoreactivity and overexpression of N‐cadherin (P < 0.001). Likewise loss of EpCAM epithelial marker was coincident with Vimentin overexpression (P < 0.001). RT‐PCR analysis of transcription factors Snail, Slug, and Twist showed a highly variable expression, although a general trend to increase was observed. Importantly, in some selected cases it was possible to establish a precise relationship between spheroid formation, EMT switch and increased upregulation of the marker related to cancer stemness such as ALDH positivity. Therefore, MPE‐derived cell cultures, while recapitulating the heterogeneity of lung cancer, are a suitable system to study the mechanisms at the basis of EMT and to understand its relationship with the generation of cancer stem cells. J. Cell. Physiol. 228: 1720–1726, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Isolation and analysis of the luminal membrane from the calf urinary bladder.

The bladder luminal membrane is relatively impermeable to water and has a unique substructure. It is composed of rigid plaques of asymmetrically thickened membrane separated by thinner hinge areas. The plaques are estimated to cover between 73 and 90 % of the luminal surface of the bladder (Porter et al., 1967; Staehelin et al., 1972) and each consists of a hexagonal lattice of dodecameric subunits (Warren & Hicks, 1970). This membrane has been isolated and its chemical composition investigated in the rat (Ketterer et al., 1973), rabbit (Staehelin et al., 1972) and pig (Vergara et al., 1974). In the present work, the membranes have been isolated from homogenates of calf bladder epithelium prepared in iso-osmotic Tris buffer, pH 7.4, without the use of fluorescein, mercuric acetate or thioglycollate, which have been used by previous workers, with the aim of obtaining pure luminal plasma membrane in as near a natural state as possible. The homogenate was fractionated by equilibrium sedimentation on sucrose density gradients, giving rise to a membrane fraction which was rich in the luminal plasma membrane. This was further purified by a rate-sedimentation technique. The luminalmembrane fraction contained large sheets of thickened membrane readily identifiable by its ultrastructure. It showed little or no 5’-nucleotidase activity and very low glucose 6phosphatase activity, but contained ouabain-sensitive Na+ + K+-dependent ATPase. * The purified luminal plasma-membrane fraction was compared with a fraction of less dense membranes consisting of other plasma membranes and smooth endoplasmic reticulum. Extracts of lipid of both membrane fractions were prepared by a modification of the procedure of Folch et al., (1951). The analysis of these lipids is shown in Tables l(a) and
Strict and extended interpretations of operation contracts in conceptual modeling

This paper describes two different ways of understanding operation contracts in conceptual modeling. The main difference between them lies in the way operation postconditions and integrity constraints are guaranteed, which impacts on the desirable properties of operation contracts according to recommended good practices for requirements specification. Both approaches are formalized and then compared in a number of issues.
An analytical model of the oscillation period for tri-state inverter based DCO

Tri-state inverter based DCO are emerging as an attractive circuit for the implementation of fully digital PLL. In this paper, we first introduce an analytical expression of the tuned period as a function of design and technology parameters. Then, we propose a sizing methodology for the CMOS implementation of a tri-state inverter based DCO. Finally, we applied this methodology to the design of such a DCO. We achieved an average error of 5.4% for our analytical expression compared to simulation results. In conclusion, we showed that our analytical expression and sizing methodology are directly applicable to the design of tri-state inverter based DCO.
US mortality by economic, demographic, and social characteristics: the National Longitudinal Mortality Study.

OBJECTIVES A large US sample was used to estimate the effects of race, employment status, income, education, occupation, marital status, and household size on mortality. METHODS Approximately 530,000 persons 25 years of age or more were identified from selected Current Population Surveys between 1979 and 1985. These individuals were followed for mortality through use of the National Death Index for the years 1979 through 1989. RESULTS Higher mortality was found in Blacks than in Whites less than 65 years of age; in persons not in the labor force, with lower incomes, with less education, and in service and other lower level occupations; and in persons not married and living alone. With occasional exceptions, in specific sex and age groups, these relationships were reduced but remained strong and statistically significant when each variable was adjusted for all of the other characteristics. The relationships were generally weaker in individuals 65 years of age or more. CONCLUSIONS Employment status, income, education, occupation, race, and marital status have substantial net associations with mortality. This study identified segments of the population in need of public health attention and demonstrated the importance of including these variables in morbidity and mortality studies.
Controlling Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus growth and aflatoxin production in poultry feed using carvacrol and trans-cinnamaldehyde.

Aflatoxins (AF) are toxic metabolites primarily produced by molds, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Contamination of poultry feed with AF is a major concern to the poultry industry due to severe economic losses stemming from poor performance, reduced egg production, and diminished egg hatchability. This study investigated the inhibitory effect of 2 generally regarded as safe (GRAS), natural plant compounds, namely carvacrol (CR) and trans-cinnamaldehyde (TC), on A. flavus and A. parasiticus growth and AF production in potato dextrose broth (PDB) and in poultry feed. In broth culture, PDB supplemented with CR (0%, 0.02%, 0.04% and 0.08%) or TC (0%, 0.005%, 0.01% and 0.02%) was inoculated with A. flavus or A. parasiticus (6 log CFU/mL), and mold counts and AF production were determined on days 0, 1, 3, and 5. Similarly, 200 g portions of poultry feed supplemented with CR or TC (0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, and 1.0%) were inoculated with each mold, and their counts and AF concentrations in the feed were determined at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 12 weeks of storage. Moreover, the effect of CR and TC on the expression of AF synthesis genes in A. flavus and A. parasiticus (aflC, nor1, norA, and ver1) was determined using real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). All experiments had duplicate samples and were replicated 3 times. Results indicated that CR and TC reduced A. flavus and A. parasiticus growth and AF production in broth culture and chicken feed (P<0.05). All tested concentrations of CR and TC decreased AF production in broth culture and chicken feed by at least 60% when compared to controls (P<0.05). In addition, CR and TC down-regulated the expression of major genes associated with AF synthesis in the molds (P<0.05). Results suggest the potential use of CR and TC as feed additives to control AF contamination in poultry feed.
Long-Term Benefits from Investing in International Real Estate

This paper analyses long- and short-term co-movements between 14 international real estate stock markets based on bivariate testing for cointegration and correlation analysis. The results indicate that there exist strong long-term relationships within economic and geographical regions, but less long-run linkages between real estate markets in different continents. Thus, investors would benefit from broadening their investment horizon from their domestic continent to Australia, Europe, and Northern America. Furthermore, it is shown that within each region there are one or two key markets influencing neighbouring markets like Australia in the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. in the Anglo-Saxon area, and France and the Netherlands in the EMU. Therefore it is implied, from an investor’s point of view, that it should be sufficient to focus only on these central markets. With respect to the efficient market hypothesis, the findings by cointegration analysis put some further doubt on its validity for securitized real estate markets.
[Insertion/deletion polymorphism of IL1A 3'-UTR associated with the susceptibility of prostate cancer ].

OBJECTIVE To identify the association between the insertion/deletion polymorphism of interleukin- 1A gene (IL1A) and the susceptibility of prostate cancer (PCA). METHODS We performed a case-control study enrolling 131 PCA patients and 229 healthy control subjects in a Chinese Han population. The TTCA insertion/ deletion polymorphism (rs3783553) in 3'-UTR of IL1A gene was genotyped by PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS The genotype distribution of rs3783553 in both groups met the requirements of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Significantly reduced PCA risk was associated with D/I and I/I genotype compared to D/D genotype (P<0. 001, OR=O. 48, 95%CI: 0.31-0.74), and allele I is associated with the reduced PCA risk (P=0. 001,OR=0. 56,95% CI: 0. 40-0. 79). CONCLUSION TTCA insertion allele of rs3783553 contributes to the reduction of the susceptibility to prostate cancer.
Fp2 arithmetic acceleration based on modified Barrett modular multiplication algorithm

The quadratic extension field F<inf>p</inf><sup>2</sup> is the underlying field in pairing, and speeding up the F<inf>p</inf><sup>2</sup> arithmetic will benefit the overall pairing computation largely. This paper we proposed a modified Barrett modular multiplication algorithm and devise an architecture to perform the operation in the form of “AB+ηCD mod M”. In our design, the η is a 5-bit two's complement. The proposed Barrett modular multiplier can implement the fundamental operations of F<inf>p</inf><sup>2</sup> multiplication efficiently. The advantages of our design are that the proposed hardware circuit can adapt different parameters of pairing flexibly, and each final result is reduced under modulus M as well, which will shorten the width of the operands and decrease the overhead of the memory access bandwidth. The proposed architecture is synthesized under SMIC 65nm CMOS technology. And the results show that the max work frequency is 709MHz (1.2V) and the design requires 226kGates. It can compute F<inf>p</inf><sup>2</sup> multiplication (254 bits) in 0.07us.
miR‐135a Inhibits Cancer Stem Cell‐Driven Medulloblastoma Development by Directly Repressing Arhgef6 Expression

microRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs, which regulate gene expression post‐transcriptionally and play crucial roles in relevant biological and pathological processes. Here, we investigated the putative role of miRNAs in modulating the tumor‐initiating potential of mouse medulloblastoma (MB)‐derived cancer stem cells (CSCs). We first subjected bona fide highly tumorigenic (HT) CSCs as well as lowly tumorigenic MB CSCs and normal neural stem cells to miRNA profiling, which identified a HT CSC‐specific miRNA signature. Next, by cross‐checking CSC mRNA/miRNA profiles, we pinpointed miR‐135a as a potential tumor suppressor gene, which was strongly downregulated in HT CSCs as well as in the highly malignant experimental tumors derived from them. Remarkably, enforced expression of miR‐135a in HT CSCs strongly inhibited tumorigenesis by repressing the miR‐135a direct target gene Arhgef6. Considering the upregulation of Arhgef6 in human MBs and its involvement in mediating experimental medulloblastomagenesis, its efficient suppression by miR‐135a might make available an effective therapeutic strategy to selectively impair the tumorigenic potential of MB CSCs. Stem Cells 2015;33:1377–1389
Everyday discrimination and physical health: Exploring mental health processes

Goals of this study were to examine the mental health processes whereby everyday discrimination is associated with physical health outcomes. Data are drawn from a community health survey conducted with 1299 US adults in a low-resource urban area. Frequency of everyday discrimination was associated with overall self-rated health, use of the emergency department, and one or more chronic diseases via stress and depressive symptoms operating in serial mediation. Associations were consistent across members of different racial/ethnic groups and were observed even after controlling for indicators of stressors associated with structural discrimination, including perceived neighborhood unsafety, food insecurity, and financial stress.
Wavelength selection in an integrated multiwavelength ring laser

The wavelength selection mechanism of a compact integrated multiwavelength ring laser is demonstrated. The device contains four semiconductor optical amplifiers, a compact arrayed waveguide grating and passive waveguides integrated on a single InP wafer. The device can produce seven different wavelengths through biasing one or two out of the four amplifiers. Comparison of calculated and measured subthreshold laser spectra demonstrates the role of crosstalk in the arrayed waveguide grating in the laser and allows the crosstalk to be quantified. A rate-equation model of the laser and measurements are presented that describe the switching between wavelengths of the laser as a function of bias currents. A comparison between the measured data and the model is made.
An Unusual Metastatic Motilin-Secreting Neuroendocrine Tumour with a 20-Year Survival

Motilin-secreting neuroendocrine tumours have been rarely described. Immunohistochemical, biochemical and motility investigations were performed in a 62-year-old man with liver and bone metastases of a motilin-secreting neuroendocrine tumour originating from a rectal polyp removed 14 years previously. Symptoms related to liver metastases were reduced by a right hepatectomy whereas plasma motilin levels were decreased. The patient also underwent two operations for spinal cord decompression and survived 6 more years under medical treatment, mainly octreotide. Immunohistochemistry revealed predominant expression of motilin-containing cells, with rare cells expressing somatostatin and pancreatic polypeptide, and staining for only one panendocrine marker, neurone-specific enolase. A liver tumour extract contained 17.9 µg motilin per gram of tissue, which permitted to isolate and characterize human motilin, which was identical to porcine motilin. Plasma column gel chromatography revealed a main peak corresponding apparently to porcine motilin. The patient had no symptoms of disturbed motility. Gastric emptying and gastroduodenojejunal motility were found within normal limits. The absence of alterations of gut motility was perhaps related to sustained autonomous motilin production. The long evolution of this type of tumour suggests that plasma motilin determination should be added to the investigations for neuroendocrine tumours.
Stable Isotopes Reveal the Contribution of Corticular Photosynthesis to Growth in Branches of Eucalyptus miniata1[OA]

The deciduous bark habit is widespread in the woody plant genus Eucalyptus. Species with deciduous bark seasonally shed a layer of dead bark, thereby maintaining smooth-bark surfaces on branches and stems as they age and increase in diameter. This has a significant cost in terms of fire protection, because smooth-barked species have thinner bark than rough-barked species that accumulate successive layers of dead bark. Eucalypts are closely associated with fire, suggesting that the smooth-bark habit must also provide a significant benefit. We suggest that this benefit is corticular photosynthesis. To test this, we quantified the contribution of corticular photosynthesis to wood production in smooth-barked branches of Eucalyptus miniata growing in tropical savanna in northern Australia. We covered branch sections with aluminum foil for 4 years to block corticular photosynthesis and then compared the oxygen and carbon stable isotope composition of foil-covered and uncovered branch sections. We developed theory to calculate the proportion of wood constructed from corticular photosynthate and the mean proportional refixation rate during corticular photosynthesis from the observed isotopic differences. Coverage with aluminum foil for 4 years increased wood δ13C by 0.5‰ (P = 0.002, n = 6) and wood δ18O by 0.5‰ (P = 0.02, n = 6). Based on these data, we estimated that 11% ± 3% of wood in the uncovered branch sections was constructed from corticular photosynthate, with a mean δ13C of −34.8‰, and that the mean proportional refixation rate during corticular photosynthesis was 0.71 ± 0.15. This demonstrates that corticular photosynthesis makes a significant contribution to the carbon economy of smooth-barked eucalypts.
Preconditioning, write width, and recording properties of Co-Cr-Pt-O perpendicular media with various underlayer designs

The effect of magnetic "preconditioning" on the recording performance of perpendicular media is investigated. Furthermore, the dependence of the magnetic write width (MWW) of shielded-pole heads (SPH) on soft-underlayer (SUL) type and thickness (t/sub SUL/) and the recording performance of perpendicular media with thin SULs are examined. The MWW dependence on SUL structure is influenced by the pole-to-trailing shield spacing. For a wide-gap (/spl sim/80 nm) SPH, thick single-layer, SULs are preferred. For a narrow-gap (/spl sim/50 nm) SPH, MWW is less sensitive to the SUL type. For both narrow and wide-gap SPH and for media with an antiferromagnetically-coupled SUL, MWW is reduced for t/sub SUL/<100 nm. Comparable performance is achieved relative to media with t/sub SUL//spl sim/150 nm.
Bounded relay hop mobile data gathering in wireless sensor networks

Recent study reveals that great benefit can be achieved for data gathering in wireless sensor networks by employing mobile collectors that gather the data via short-range communications. To pursue maximum energy saving at sensor nodes, intuitively, a mobile collector should traverse the transmission range of each sensor in the field such that the transmission of each packet can be constrained to a single hop. However, this approach may lead to significantly increased data collection latency due to the low moving velocity of the mobile collector. On the other hand, data collection latency can be effectively shortened by performing local aggregation via multi-hop transmissions and then uploading the packets from relay sensors to the mobile collector. However, local transmission hops should not be arbitrarily increased since it may incur too much energy consumption on packet relays, which would adversely affect the overall efficiency of mobile data collection. Based on these observations, in this paper, we study the tradeoff between energy saving and data collection latency in mobile data gathering by exploring a balance between the relay hop count of local data aggregation and the moving tour length of the mobile collector. We first propose a polling-based mobile collection approach and formulate it into an optimization problem, named bounded relay hop mobile data collection (BRH-MDC). Specifically, a subset of sensors will be selected as polling points that buffer locally aggregated data and upload the data to the mobile collector when it arrives. In the meanwhile, when sensors are affiliated with these polling points, it is guaranteed that any packet relay is bounded within a given number of hops. We then give two efficient algorithms to select polling points among sensors. The effectiveness of our approach is validated through extensive simulations.