Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Block of P/Q-type calcium channels by therapeutic concentrations of aminoglycoside antibiotics.

Aminoglycoside antibiotics can cause neuromuscular block by inhibiting Ca2+ influx into motor nerve terminals. P/Q-type Ca2+ channels, which are formed by alpha 1A subunits, are mainly responsible for depolarization-dependent presynaptic Ca2+ entry in motor neurons. We therefore investigated the possibility that aminoglycosides function as P/Q-type channel blockers. They inhibited [125I]-omega-CTx-MVIIC binding to P/Q-type channels in guinea pig cerebellum membranes with nanomolar IC50 values (e.g., 8 nM for neomycin). Divalent cations decreased the apparent affinity of neomycin. Barium inward currents through alpha 1A subunits expressed in Xenopus oocytes were partially blocked by therapeutic concentrations of aminoglycosides. This explains that therapeutically relevant concentrations of these drugs decrease the reserve of neuromuscular transmission, which can lead to neuromuscular block. We conclude that micromolar concentrations of aminoglycosides block not only N-type but also P/Q-type channels in mammalian neurons.
Differential Regulation of Phospholipase C-β Isozymes in Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy☆

Abstract Cardiac hypertrophy is a major predictor of heart failure and of morbidity and mortality in developed countries. Many hormones and growth factors induce cardiac hypertrophy via activation of members of the phospholipase C (PLC) family. The expression pattern of the PLCβ isozyme subfamily was investigated in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes after stimulation with different hypertrophic stimuli. Under control conditions and after stimulation with norepinephrine, cardiomyocytes expressed similar amounts of PLCβ3 mRNA. In the presence of fetal calf serum (FCS), additional expression of PLCβ1 was induced. Growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) both induced a substantial increase in PLCβ3 mRNA expression. The response to GH could not be abolished by the IGF-I receptor blocker IGF-I analogue indicating an IGF-I-independent action of GH. The upregulation of PLCβ3 by IGF-I was abolished by preincubation of cardiomyocytes with the IGF-I receptor antagonist IGF-I analogue, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein, the extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) inhibitor PD 98059, the phosphatidylinositol-3- (PI-3) kinase inhibitor wortmannin and the p70 S6 kinase inhibitor rapamycin. Induction of the immediate early genes c-myc, c-fos, and c-jun by IGF-I was abolished by preincubation with antisense oligos against PLCβ3. It is concluded that the expression of PLCβ isozymes in cardiomyocytes is differentially regulated by different hypertrophic stimuli. The upregulation of PLCβ3 by IGF-I is dependent on the activity of tyrosine kinase, ERK, PI3 kinase, and p70 S6 kinase and PLCβ3 expression seems to be required for the induction of immediate early genes by IGF-I. The involvement of the PLCβ subfamily in signal transduction of receptors other than G-protein-coupled receptors is suggested.
Ultrasound of Skin in Prednisolone-induced Short-terin Growth Suppression

OBJECTIVE To assess the thickness of the cutis and subcutis in children with prednisolone-induced knemometric growth suppression. DESIGN A double blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial with two 7-day treatment periods. PATIENTS Twenty children with asthma aged 7.7 to 13.8 (mean 10.4) years. INTERVENTIONS 5 mg prednisolone/day. OUTCOME MEASURES Lower leg growth rate, thickness of cutis and subcutis and the fraction of low echogenic pixels determined by ultrasound. RESULTS Mean lower leg growth rate was -0.23 during prednisolone, 0.58 mm/week during placebo treatment (p < 0.01). Mean total thickness of cutis and subcutis over the knee was reduced by 0.28 during prednisolone, increased by 0.07 mm/week during placebo treatment (p = 0.04). Lower leg growth rate was positively correlated to changes in thickness of cutis and subcutis (p = 0.04; r = 0.31). CONCLUSIONS Reductions in thickness of cutis and subcutis may account for some of the lower leg growth suppression caused by systemic glucocorticoids.
Testing of channel coefficients of MIMO communication system in the presence the set of interferences

In this paper produced effect investigation of thermal and phase noise of frequency synthesizer complex on error of MIMO channel coefficients estimation. Dependence of channel coefficients estimation errors on time mismatch when channel coefficients testing is analyzed. Employment of technique time-division multiplexing is justified. Calculated to dependencies of error estimation on accepted signal counting number. Comparing results of simulation and experimental is carried out, their good agreement is shown.
A dual output converter with a PFC bridge- less buck front-end

This paper presents a dual output converter with a bridge-less, power factor controlled, buck based front-end, which could be in parallel with a PV based dc source. The diode bridge rectifier is eliminated and the configuration consists of separate buck converters for the positive and negative halves of the AC supply. Conduction loss is reduced since the bridgeless configuration ensures that only one diode conducts at a time. Discontinuous mode of operation contributes to inherent power factor improvement and power quality is improved. The frequency of the Inductor-Capacitor-Capacitor (LCC) resonant converter regulates the first output. The duty cycle of the converter regulates the second output. Thus cross regulation is almost eliminated. The implementation of the resonant tank contributes to ZVS. Switching losses are reduced and efficiency is improved. The topology is simulated using PSIM and a hardware prototype is fabricated some experimental results are presented.
LOW-VELOCITY SHOCKS TRACED BY EXTENDED SiO EMISSION ALONG THE W43 RIDGES: WITNESSING THE FORMATION OF YOUNG MASSIVE CLUSTERS

The formation of high-mass stars is tightly linked to that of their parental clouds. Here, we focus on the high-density parts of W43, a molecular cloud undergoing an efficient event of star formation. Using a column density image derived from Herschel continuum maps, we identify two high-density filamentary clouds, called the W43-MM1 and W43-MM2 ridges. Both have gas masses of 2.1 × 104 M☉ and 3.5 × 104 M☉ above >10 and within areas of ∼6 and ∼14 pc2, respectively. The W43-MM1 and W43-MM2 ridges are structures that are coherent in velocity and gravitationally bound, despite their large velocity dispersion measured by the N2H+ (1–0) lines of the W43-HERO IRAM large program. Another intriguing result is that these ridges harbor widespread (∼10 pc2) bright SiO (2–1) emission, which we interpret to be the result of low-velocity shocks (⩽10 km s−1). We measure a significant relationship between the SiO (2–1) luminosity and velocity extent and show that it distinguishes our observations from the high-velocity shocks associated with outflows. We use state-of-the-art shock models to demonstrate that a small percentage (10%) of Si atoms in low-velocity shocks, observed initially in gas phase or in grain mantles, can explain the observed SiO column density in the W43 ridges. The spatial and velocity overlaps between the ridges of high-density gas and the shocked SiO gas suggest that ridges could be forming via colliding flows driven by gravity and accompanied by low-velocity shocks. This mechanism may be the initial conditions for the formation of young massive clusters.
Mitigating Traffic-Based Side Channel Attacks in Bandwidth-Efficient Cloud Storage

Data deduplication is able to effectively identify and eliminate redundant data and only maintain a single copy of files and chunks. Hence, it is widely used in distributed storage systems and cloud storage to save the users' network bandwidth for uploading files. However, the occurrence of deduplication can be easily identified by monitoring and analyzing network traffic, which leads to the risk of user privacy leakage. An attacker can carry out a very dangerous side channel attack, i.e., learn-the-remaining-information (LRI) attack, to reveal users' privacy information by exploiting the side channel of network traffic in deduplication. Existing work addresses the LRI attack at the cost of the high bandwidth consumption. In order to address this problem, we propose a simple yet effective scheme, called randomized redundant chunk scheme (RRCS), to significantly mitigate the risk of the LRI attack while maintaining the high bandwidth efficiency of deduplication. The idea behind RRCS is to add randomized redundant chunks to mix up the real deduplication states of files used for the LRI attack, which effectively obfuscates the view of the attacker, who attempts to exploit the side channel of network traffic for the LRI attack. Our security analysis shows that RRCS significantly mitigates the risk of the LRI attack. We have implemented the RRCS prototype and evaluated it by using three real-world datasets. Experimental results demonstrate RRCS significantly outperforms existing work in terms of bandwidth efficiency.
Functional microvascular anatomy of the horse eye: a scanning electron microscopic study of corrosion casts.

Objective: This study presents the microvasculature of the horse iris, ciliary process, retina, and choroid and discusses the functional significance of the vasculature. Procedure: Seven horses were used for this study. The ocular vascular system was injected with methylmethacrylate resin via the carotid artery, and the vascular corrosion casts were observed using a scanning electron microscope. Results: The iridial vessels showed a wavy course. The ciliary process was supplied by 2 arterial routes: the iridial and ciliary arterial circles. The subjects displayed a paurangiotic retina with retinal vessels extending only a short distance around the disc. The retinal arterioles and venules ran in closely related pairs, and the capillaries formed hairpin loops. No central retinal artery was seen in the equine eyes examined. The choriocapillaris in the avascular retina was arranged in honeycomb hexagon lobules and formed a more densely packed network than that in the vascular retina. There were 2 distinct venous drainage systems in the horse choroid: the vortex veins and the posterior ciliary veins. The vortex vein ampulla was flattened and showed a slit-like lumen at the merge site with the ophthalmic vein. The vortex veins demonstrated a marked constriction before leaving the eye. Discussion: The 2 choroidal drainage systems may compensate each other in event of occlusion. The ampulla and the constriction in the vortex veins may act as a valve regulating the blood flow to keep the eye at an optimum size and the intraocular pressure within the normal physiological range.
Disease Recurrence Patterns and Analysis of Clinicopathological Prognostic Factors for Recurrence after Resection for Distal Bile Duct Cancer

Surgical resection is the treatment of choice for bile duct cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate disease recurrence patterns and prognostic factors for recurrence of distal bile duct cancers after surgical resection. A retrospective study was performed on 122 patients with distal bile duct cancers who underwent R0 or R1 surgical resection at Korea University Guro Hospital from 1991 to 2010. Sites of initial disease recurrence were classified as locoregional or distant. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate the factors affecting recurrence. Of the 122 patients, 80 patients developed recurrence. The disease-free survival rate was 63.1 per cent at one year and 36.4 per cent at three years. The patterns of recurrence at diagnosis were locoregional in 25 patients, locoregional and distant metastasis in 14 patients, and distant metastasis in 41 patients. Multivariate analyses revealed that recurrence pattern, lymph node metastasis, and differentiation are independent prognostic factors affecting disease-free survival. R status (marginal significance) and tumor differentiation were independent prognostic factors associated with locoregional recurrence. Differentiation and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors associated with distant metastasis. The prognosis after recurrence was poor with a 1-year survival rate after recurrence of 26.1 per cent. Adjuvant chemo- or radiation therapy, delivered in patients mainly with R1 resection or with presence of lymph node metastasis, did not demonstrate the survival benefit. Significant factors for recurrence were tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis. Therefore, close follow-up and adjuvant therapy will be necessary in patients with lymph node metastasis or poorly differentiated tumor.
Assortative sexual mixing in a heterosexual clinic population ‐ a limiting factor in HIV spread?

Objective: To assess the degree of sexual mixing in a sexually transmitted disease clinic population stratified by country of birth. Design: Prospective linked HIV serosurvey incorporating demographic and sexual risk data gathered by a doctor‐administered questionnaire. Setting: The Department of Genitourinary Medicine at St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK. Subjects: Fifteen thousand eight hundred and seventy‐eight heterosexuals who attended between April 1992 and February 1995. Main outcome measure: The degree of assortative (like‐with‐like) mixing, after stratification of the population by country of birth, of index patients, their parents and their sexual partners. Results: Sexual mixing in this population of sexually transmitted disease clinic attenders is highly assortative when the CoB of parents (family origin) of index patients is taken into account. Conclusions: Our findings help to explain the low spread of heterosexual HIV infection in the UK to date, and may help future projections and health targeting of those at risk. This model can be applied to other mixed populations.
Early ethanolamine phospholipid translocation marks stress‐induced apoptotic cell death in oligodendroglial cells

The consequences of H2O2/Fe2+‐induced oxidative stress on translocation of ethanolamine phosphoglyceride (EPG) and serine phosphoglyceride (SPG) were studied in an oligodendroglia‐like cell line (OLN 93) following 3 days of supplementation with 0.1 mm docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and a series of polar head group precursors, including N‐monomethyl‐ and N,N‐dimethylethanolamine at millimolar concentrations. Added DHA was predominantly esterified in EPG species and those cells enriched in DHA showed enhanced sensitivity to oxidative stress and eventually died by apoptosis. Co‐supplements with ethanolamine and DHA resulted in a rapid, but transient, EPG translocation with a maximum at 30 min following stress, as characterized by a trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid reagent. There was no significant translocation of SPG as evidenced by annexin V binding. Unlike SPG, which is usually irreversibly translocated to subserve as a tag for phagocytosis, EPG acted as a signaling molecule with biphasic kinetic characteristics. N‐Monomethyl‐ and N,N‐dimethylethanolamine supplements reduced EPG synthesis, prevented its externalization and rescued cells from apoptotic death. Following stress, the fatty acid profile of the externalized EPG showed marked losses in polyunsaturated fatty acids and aldehydes compared with the remaining intracellular EPG. Prevention of EPG species selective translocation to the outer membrane leaflet by altering phospholipid asymmetry may be important in the mechanism of rescue from cell death.
Efficient packet scheduling for heterogeneous multimedia provisioning over broadband satellite networks: An adaptive multidimensional QoS‐based design

With their inherent broadcast capabilities and reliable extensive geographical coverage, the broadband satellite networks are emerging as a promising approach for the delivery of multimedia services in 3G and beyond systems. Given the limited capacity of the satellite component, to meet the diverse quality of service (QoS) demands of multimedia applications, it is highly desired that the available resources can be adaptively utilized in an optimized way. In this paper, we draw our attention on the development and evaluation of an efficient packet scheduling scheme in a representative broadband satellite system, namely satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (SDMB), which is positioned as one of the most attractive solutions in the convergence of a closer integration with the terrestrial mobile networks for a cost‐effective delivery of point‐to‐multipoint services. By taking into account essential aspects of a successful QoS provisioning while preserving the system power/resource constraints, the proposed adaptive multidimensional QoS‐based (AMQ) packet scheduling scheme in this paper aims to effectively satisfy diverse QoS requirements and adaptively optimize the resource utilization for the satellite multimedia broadcasting. The proposed scheme is formulated via an adaptive service prioritization algorithm and an adaptive resource allocation algorithm. By taking into account essential performance criteria, the former is capable of prioritizing contending flows based on the QoS preferences and performance dynamics, while the latter allocates the resources, in an adaptive manner, according to the current QoS satisfaction degree of each session. Simulation results show that the AMQ scheme achieves significantly better performance than those of existing schemes on multiple performance metrics, e.g. delay, throughput, channel utilization and fairness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Down-modulation of mu-activity through empathic top-down processes

Simulation theories argue that humans simulate motor processes of others to gain information about intentions and emotional states of others. Mu-suppression is a valid electrophysiological correlate of these processes. Mu-activity can be measured via electroencephalography (EEG) in the alpha-band (8–13 Hz) above the sensorimotor cortex and is suppressed when actions are executed or observed. Based on a within-subject design, including 28 participants, it was tested whether the processes measured by mu-suppression could be modulated by empathic top-down-processes. Participants were asked to take the perspective of two actors, telling a story about a sad or neutral life event (video sequences). Afterwards, EEG was measured at central (C3, Cz, C4) and occipital (O1, Oz, O2) electrodes, while participants observed the actors drinking water (standardized video sequences, 8 s duration). Fast fourier transformation showed stronger suppression of power in the alpha-range (relative to baseline) at central and occipital electrodes while the actor with the sad story was observed relative to the actor with the neutral story. Furthermore, measures of state empathy correlated positively with the difference of mu-suppression between executed and observed movements, an indicator of self–other discrimination. Thus, mirror neuron activity measured by mu-suppression is modulated by empathic processes.
Clinical evaluation of gauze‐based negative pressure wound therapy in challenging wounds

The aim of this randomised clinical study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of gauze‐based negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in patients with challenging wounds. A total of 50 consecutive patients who had wound drainage for more than 5 days, required open wound management and had existence of culture positive infection were included the study. In this study, gauze‐based NPWT was compared with conventional dressing therapy in the treatment of patients with difficult‐to‐heal wounds. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. Group I (n = 25) was followed by conventional antiseptic (polyhexanide solution) dressings, and group II (n = 25) was treated with saline‐soaked antibacterial gauze‐based NPWT. The wounds' sizes, number of debridement, bacteriology and recurrence were compared between group I and group II. The mean age of the patients was 59·50 years (range 23–97). In group I, average wound sizes of pre‐ and post‐treatment periods were 50·60 ± 55·35 and 42·50 ± 47·92 cm2, respectively (P < 0·001). Average duration of treatment was 25·52 ± 16·99 days, and average wound size reduction following the treatment was 19·99% in this group. In group II, the wounds displayed considerable shrinkage, accelerated granulation tissue formation, decreased and cleared away exudate. The average wound sizes in the pre‐ and post‐treatment periods were 98·44 ± 100·88 and 72·08 ± 75·78 cm2, respectively (P < 0·001). Average duration of treatment was 11·96 ± 2·48 days, and average wound size reduction following the treatment was 32·34%. The patients treated with antibacterial gauze‐based NPWT had a significantly reduced recurrence (2 wounds versus 14 wounds, P = 0·001), and increased number of the culture‐negative cases (22 wounds versus 16 wounds, P < 0·047) in a follow‐up period of 12 months. There was a statistically significant difference between two groups in all measurements. As a result, we can say that the gauze‐based NPWT is a safe and effective method in the treatment of challenging infective wounds when compared with conventional wound management.
Fossilized Nuclei and Chromosomes Reveal 180 Million Years of Genomic Stasis in Royal Ferns

Cytologically Informative Fossils Fossilization processes tend to destroy fine-cell structure but, exceptionally, Bomfleur et al. (p. 1376) have found examples of fossil ferns from the Jurassic in which subcellular structures, including organelles such as nuclei and chromosomes, are well-preserved. Comparative and quantative analyses show that these cells closely resemble the fossil nuclei of extant cinnamon ferns, Osmundastrum cinnamomea, which indicates that this group of ferns has remained virtually unchanged for 180 million years. Fern fossils provide evidence that nuclear shape, size, and chromosomal content have changed little since the Jurassic. Rapidly permineralized fossils can provide exceptional insights into the evolution of life over geological time. Here, we present an exquisitely preserved, calcified stem of a royal fern (Osmundaceae) from Early Jurassic lahar deposits of Sweden in which authigenic mineral precipitation from hydrothermal brines occurred so rapidly that it preserved cytoplasm, cytosol granules, nuclei, and even chromosomes in various stages of cell division. Morphometric parameters of interphase nuclei match those of extant Osmundaceae, indicating that the genome size of these reputed “living fossils” has remained unchanged over at least 180 million years—a paramount example of evolutionary stasis.