Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased transient receptor potential canonical type 1 improves diabetic nephropathy via inhibiting NF-kB pathway

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the complex complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). The present study has been designed to examine the possible protective effects of the transient receptor potential canonical type 1 (TRPC1) on DN. After administrated with TRPC1, the levels of blood glucose, urine protein, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCr) in DN rats were significantly decreased compared with the model rats. In addition, morphological studies demonstrated that TRPC1 attenuated mesangial expansion and capillary basement membrane thickening as well as glomerular structure. The treatment of TRPC1 reduced the inflammatory cytokines including transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) though the immunohistochemical analysis. In addition, related-mRNA and proteins of NF-κB signal pathway were investigated to determine the protective molecular mechanism of TRPC1 on the DN. The results presented here suggest that the protective mechanism of TRPC1 may be attributed partly to decreased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines via the inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathway.
Linking high‐frequency DOC dynamics to the age of connected water sources

We combined high‐frequency dissolved organic matter fluorescence (FDOM) data with stable isotope observations to identify the sources and ages of runoff that cause temporal variability in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) within a peat‐dominated Scottish catchment. FDOM was strongly correlated (r2 ∼ 0.8) with DOC, allowing inference of a 15 min time series. We captured 34 events over a range of hydrological conditions. Along with marked seasonality, different event responses were observed during summer depending on dry or wet antecedent conditions. The majority of events exhibited anticlockwise hysteresis as a result of the expansion of the riparian saturation zone, mobilizing previously unconnected DOC sources. Water ages from the main runoff sources were extracted from a tracer‐aided hydrological model. Particularly useful were ages of overland flow, which were negatively correlated with DOC concentration. Overland flow age, which ranged between 0.2 and 360 days, reflected antecedent conditions, with younger water generally mobilizing the highest DOC concentrations in summer events. During small events with dry antecedent conditions, DOC response was proportionally higher due to the displacement and mixing of small volumes of previously unconnected highly concentrated riparian soil waters by new precipitation. During large events with wet antecedent conditions, the riparian saturation zone expands to organic layers on the hillslopes causing peaks in DOC. However, these peaks were limited by dilution and supply. This study highlights the utility of linking high‐frequency DOC measurements with other tracers, allowing the effects of hydrologic connectivity and antecedent conditions on delivery of DOC to streams to be assessed.
A Novel Approach to Metric Assessment, Productivity

: Metrics are significant indicator of the effectiveness of a software testing process. The key to effective measurement lies in the capability to evidently make out the goals to be accomplished and the issues to be tackled. The foremost step to ascertain test metrics is to identify the key software testing processes that can be objectively measured. This information can be used as the baseline to define the metric and to decide what information will be tracked, who will track the information and at which frequency. Then the processes needed to effectively track, calculate, manage and interpret the defined metrics must be implemented. In this paper we discuss software measurement and metrics and their fundamental role in software development life cycle. This paper focusing on software test metrics discusses their key role in software testing process and also classifies and systematically analyzes the various test metrics.
A Comprehensive Study of Statistical Machine Translation for English to Kannada Language

The field of machine translation has recently been energized by the emergence of statistical techniques. Development of a Machine Translation (MT) system for any two natural languages is a challenging task. This paper presents the impact of Mathematics (Statistics) on Statistical Machine Translation for English to Kannada Language. MT has its own approach to process the Corpus data for translation, whereas the whole approach of SMT is built on Statistical rules rather than linguistically motivated rules. It provides the necessary grounding in linguistics and probabilities.
Predicting fish recruitment from juvenile abundance and environmental indices

Prediction of year-class strength is a critical challenge for fisheries managers. Theo- retically, predictions of recruitment should be better when they are based on estimates of cohort size taken close to the age of recruitment and may improve if the effects of environmental factors that influence pre-recruit mortality are accounted for. In practice, measurement error and difficul- ties in establishing robust recruitment-environment relationships complicate the picture. For 5 fish stocks of 4 species in 3 ecosystems, we examined the usefulness of indices of juvenile abun- dance relative to larval abundance for predicting recruitment. Further, we examined whether the use of environmental covariates improved predictions. For 2 of 4 stocks with sufficient data (1 stock did not have larval data), juvenile abundance was a better predictor of recruitment com- pared to larval indices. For the 2 other stocks, we found that juvenile indices were not superior to larval indices, possibly because of error in the measurement of juvenile abundance. In all 5 of these stocks, regression analysis showed that inclusion of environmental correlates contributed significantly to explaining recruitment variation compared to models based on juvenile indices alone. Further, cross validation showed that forecasts of future recruitment were either improved or qualitatively unchanged by including environmental correlates. This was despite apparent nonstationarity in the recruitment-environment relationships; most of the environmental vari- ables and pre-recruit abundance indices were significantly correlated with recruitment for only parts of the studied period. Such complex responses to environmental changes are difficult to anticipate, yet the environmental information should not be ignored altogether.
Evolutionary modifications of ontogeny: heterochrony and beyond

Abstract Consideration of the ways in which ontogenetic development may be modified to give morphological novelty provides a conceptual framework that can greatly assist in formulating and testing hypotheses of patterns and constraints in evolution. Previous attempts to identify distinct modes of ontogenetic modification have been inconsistent or ambiguous in definition, and incomprehensive in description of interspecific morphological differences. This has resulted in a situation whereby almost all morphological evolution is attributed to heterochrony, and the remainder is commonly either assigned to vague or potentially overly inclusive alternative classes, or overlooked altogether. The present paper recognizes six distinct modes of ontogenetic change, each a unique modification to morphological development: (1) rate modification, (2) timing modification, (3) heterotopy, (4) heterotypy, (5) heterometry, and (6) allometric repatterning. Heterochrony, modeled in terms of shape/time/size ontogenetic parameters, relates to parallelism between ontogenetic and phylogenetic shape change and results from a rate or timing modification to the ancestral trajectory of ontogenetic shape change. Loss of a particular morphological feature may be described in terms of timing modification (extreme postdisplacement) or heterometry, depending on the temporal development of the feature in the ancestor. Testing hypotheses of the operation of each mode entails examining the morphological development of the ancestor and descendant by using trajectory-based studies of ontogenetically dynamic features and non-trajectory-based studies of ontogenetically static features. The modes identified here unite cases based on commonalities of observed modification to the process of morphological development at the structural scale. They may be heterogeneous or partially overlapping with regard to changes to genetic and cellular processes guiding development, which therefore require separate treatment and terminology. Consideration of the modes outlined here will provide a balanced framework within which questions of evolutionary change and constraint within phylogenetic lineages can be addressed more meaningfully.
Constructing patient–psychiatrist relations in psychiatric hospitals: the role of space and personal action

This essay investigates the role of space and personal action in the construction of patient–psychiatrist relations at psychiatric hospitals. In order to explore such a theme, the writings of R.D. Laing prove to be salutary. This is namely accredited to Laing's tenet that the staff and patients of a psychiatric hospital are institutionalised by both physical structures and personal action. A central approach taken in this essay is to explore Laing's theory through an inter-textual reading of Michel Foucault's Madness and Civilization (1967) and Erving Goffman's Asylums (1961).
Breast cancer cell–derived IL-35 promotes tumor progression via induction of IL-35-producing induced regulatory T cells

Interleukin 35 (IL-35) is a potent immunosuppressive cytokine, consisting of an Epstein-Barr virus-induced gene 3 (EBI3) subunit and a p35 subunit. IL-35 is mainly produced by regulatory T and regulatory B cells, and plays a crucial role in the development and prevention of infectious and autoimmune diseases. However, the effect of IL-35 in malignant disease is not well understood. In this study, we demonstrated that breast cancer cells (BCCs) also expressed and secreted IL-35 and higher level of IL-35 in BCCs was closely associated with poor prognosis of patients and was an independent unfavorable prognostic factor for breast cancer. Subsequent study revealed that BCC-derived IL-35 inhibited conventional T (Tconv) cell proliferation and further induced suppressed Tconv cells into IL-35-producing induced regulatory T (iTr35) cells. Furthermore, BCC-derived IL-35 promoted the secretion of inhibitory cytokine IL-10 and obviously decreased the secretion of Th1-type cytokine IFN-γ and Th17-type cytokine IL-17 in Tconv cells. Meanwhile, the expression of inhibitory receptor CD73 was also elevated on the surface of Tconv cells following the BCCs' supernatant treatment. Mechanistically, BCC-derived IL-35 exhausted Tconv cells and induced iTr35 by activating transcription factor STAT1/STAT3. Hence, our results indicate functions of BCC-derived IL-35 in promoting tumor progression through proliferation inhibition of tumor-infiltrating Tconv cells and induction of iTr35 cells in tumor microenvironment. This study highlights that IL-35 produced by BCCs are a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer.
Therapeutic potency of oncolytic virotherapy–induced cancer stem cells targeting in brain tumors, current status, and perspectives

Brain tumors are the most common form of solid tumors in children and is presently a serious therapeutic challenge worldwide. Traditional treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy was shown to be unsuccessful in targeting brain tumor cancer stem cells (CSCs), leading to recurrent, treatment‐resistant secondary malignancies. Oncolytic virotherapy (OV) is an effective antitumor therapeutic strategy which offers a novel, targeted approach for eradicating pediatric brain tumor CSCs by utilizing mechanisms of cell killing that differ from conventional therapies. A number of studies and some clinical trials have therefore investigated the effects of combined therapy of radiations or chemotherapies with oncolytic viruses which provide new insights regarding the effectiveness and improvement of treatment responses for brain cancer patients. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the therapeutic potency of OVs‐induced CSCs targeting in the treatment of brain tumors for a better understanding and hence a better management of this disease.
Predicting Physical Activity Among Children: Investigating Interaction Effects in the Theory of Planned Behavior

ABSTRACT Purpose: The theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been criticized for not including interactions between the variables assumed to predict behavior. This study sought to test how TPB variables interact to predict physical activity (PA) in children. Method: Four hundred thirty-eight children (Mage = 8.6 years, SD = 1.6 years) completed a TPB questionnaire and a PA questionnaire at Time 1. The PA measure was repeated 2 months later. Path analyses were performed to test the hypothesized model including interaction terms between TPB variables. Simple slopes analyses were also carried out to examine the statistically significant interaction terms. Results: Path analyses confirmed the classical hypotheses of TPB (R2 for intentions = .39, R2 for PA = .12) and also demonstrated only statistically significant Attitudes × Perceived Behavioral Control and Subjective Norms × Attitudes interactions (R2 change for intentions = .01, p = .009). Simple slopes analyses revealed that the strength of the association between perceived behavioral control and intentions was only statistically significantly higher (t = 2.18, p = .05, d = 0.34, 95% CI [0.03, 0.65]) when attitudes were high compared with when attitudes were low. The link between attitudes and intentions was only statistically significant at a low level of subjective norms but not at a high level. Conclusion: The integration of interaction effects between TPB variables did not increase for the variance of PA explained by the model. More research appears to be necessary to explore how the TPB could be augmented to better predict PA in children.
Esthetic evaluation of facial cheek volume: A study using 3D stereophotogrammetry.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influence of cheek volume on facial esthetics judged by orthodontists and non-specialists. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 25-year-old female's natural and smiling face was captured by 3D stereophotogrammetry. Cheek volume of the 3D image was altered to different degrees three-dimensionally. For the natural and smiling face, seven groups of facial images were created: decreased grade I/II/III, increased grade I/II/III, and the original one. Thirty orthodontists and 30 nonspecialists were invited to perform esthetic evaluation of the original and transformed images using a questionnaire. Data were calculated with one-way analysis of variance (least significant difference test) and independent samples t test. RESULTS: Compared to nonspecialists, orthodontists gave lower esthetic scores to the decreased grade III facial images (maximum deformation degree: 7.500 mm and 7.327 mm in natural and smiling face-oriented image groups, respectively). The decreased grade III facial images also received the highest age ranks. However, the increased grade III facial images received the lowest scores and highest age ranks from nonspecialists (maximum deformation degree: 6.994 mm and 5.300 mm in natural and smiling face-oriented image groups, respectively) ( P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Orthodontists and nonspecialists showed different esthetic evaluation of varied cheek volume. The influence of cheek volume in orthodontic diagnostic analysis needs further consideration.
A New Continuous Query Evaluation Scheme for Multiple Data Streams

Data streams, which are a representative type of big data, are massive unbounded sequences of data elements that are continuously generated at a rapid rate. In this paper, a new scheme called a 2-phase query evaluation scheme (2PE) is proposed for a multi-way join continuous query over multiple data streams. The first phase identifies the candidate tuples that can satisfy a given query. Subsequently, the second phase judges whether each of the candidate tuples satisfies the query in order to materialize its final results.
RELAXED UTILITY MAXIMIZATION IN COMPLETE MARKETS

For a relaxed investor—one whose relative risk aversion vanishes as wealth becomes large—the utility maximization problem may not have a solution in the classical sense of an optimal payoff represented by a random variable. This nonexistence puzzle was discovered by Kramkov and Schachermayer (1999) , who introduced the reasonable asymptotic elasticity condition to exclude such situations. Utility maximization becomes well posed again representing payoffs as measures on the sample space, including those allocations singular with respect to the physical probability. The expected utility of such allocations is understood as the maximal utility of its approximations with classical payoffs—the relaxed expected utility. This paper decomposes relaxed expected utility into its classical and singular parts, represents the singular part in integral form, and proves the existence of optimal solutions for the utility maximization problem, without conditions on the asymptotic elasticity. Key to this result is the Polish space structure assumed on the sample space.
Excision-reintegration at a pneumococcal phase-variable restriction-modification locus drives within- and between-strain epigenetic differentiation and inhibits gene acquisition

Abstract Phase-variation of Type I restriction-modification systems can rapidly alter the sequence motifs they target, diversifying both the epigenetic patterns and endonuclease activity within clonally descended populations. Here, we characterize the Streptococcus pneumoniae SpnIV phase-variable Type I RMS, encoded by the translocating variable restriction (tvr) locus, to identify its target motifs, mechanism and regulation of phase variation, and effects on exchange of sequence through transformation. The specificity-determining hsdS genes were shuffled through a recombinase-mediated excision-reintegration mechanism involving circular intermediate molecules, guided by two types of direct repeat. The rate of rearrangements was limited by an attenuator and toxin-antitoxin system homologs that inhibited recombinase gene transcription. Target motifs for both the SpnIV, and multiple Type II, MTases were identified through methylation-sensitive sequencing of a panel of recombinase-null mutants. This demonstrated the species-wide diversity observed at the tvr locus can likely specify nine different methylation patterns. This will reduce sequence exchange in this diverse species, as the native form of the SpnIV RMS was demonstrated to inhibit the acquisition of genomic islands by transformation. Hence the tvr locus can drive variation in genome methylation both within and between strains, and limits the genomic plasticity of S. pneumoniae.
Quantifying ER Function Using High-Throughput Imaging in Breast and Other Cancer Cells

Abstract : We are testing the hypothesis that PRL-array-containing cell lines can be used effectively to identify novel molecular players in ERalpha transcriptional activation and repression, and in determining temporal patterns of function of all known ERalpha-coregulators. We are using special cell lines containing chromosomally integrated arrays of estrogen-responsive reporters combined with automated and other types of single cell microscopic, imaged based assays. This systems-biology level approach will integrate functional data from multiple readouts at a single cell level for ERalpha and CoRs including 1) nuclear targeting, 2) promoter array occupancy, 3) large scale chromatin modeling, 4) histone modifications, and 5) mRNA synthesis. ERalpha is differentially recruited to the PRL-array in HeLa cells by estrogen or epidermal growth factor, two critical signaling modalities in breast cancer. Transcription and chromosomal condensation mediated by ERalpha can be uncoupled. ERalpha mediated accumulation of reporter transcripts has differential periodicity in response to E2 or EGF. E2- induces a novel 24-hour cyclical pattern of accumulation of mRNA. Significant progress in technology and analytical techniques and modification of planned reporter constructions will facilitate achieving our proposed objectives.
Biomimetic Approaches to Understanding the Mechanism of Haemozoin Formation

Haemozoin, also known as malaria pigment has been attracting increasing attention over the last twenty years. Interest spans subjects as diverse as immunology, medicinal chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry and biophysics and has mainly been concerned with elucidation of its structure, investigation of its role as a drug target, possible role as a diagnostic marker and immunological effects of haemozoin on the host (Hanscheidt et al., 2007). This chapter is restricted to a review of the state of the art in the physico-chemical aspects of haemozoin structure and formation.
Strong Predictor-Corrector Euler Methods for Stochastic Differential Equations

This paper introduces a new class of numerical schemes for the pathwise approximation of solutions of stochastic differential equations (SDEs). The proposed family of strong predictor–corrector Euler methods are designed to handle scenario simulation of solutions of SDEs. It has the potential to overcome some of the numerical instabilities that are often experienced when using the explicit Euler method. This is of importance, for instance, in finance where martingale dynamics arise for solutions of SDEs with multiplicative diffusion coefficients. Numerical experiments demonstrate the improved asymptotic stability properties of the proposed symmetric predictor–corrector Euler methods.
Semiparametric estimation of outbreak regression

A regression may be constant for small values of the independent variable (for example time), but then a monotonic increase starts. Such an ‘outbreak’ regression is of interest for example in the study of the outbreak of an epidemic disease. We give the least square estimators for this outbreak regression without assumption of a parametric regression function. It is shown that the least squares estimators are also the maximum likelihood estimators for distributions in the regular exponential family such as the Gaussian or Poisson distribution. The approach is thus semiparametric. The method is applied to Swedish data on influenza, and the properties are demonstrated by a simulation study. The consistency of the estimator is proved.
What's on Their Mind: Do Exchange Rate Forecasters Stick to Theoretical Models?

Do financial market analysts use structural economic models when forecasting exchange rates? This is the leading question analysed in this paper. In contrast to other studies we use expectations data instead of observable variables. Therefore we analyse the implicit structural models forecasters have in mind when forming their exchange rate expectations. The economic exchange rate models included in our study are purchasing power parity, the flexible-price monetary model, the sticky-price monetary model and the Mundell-Fleming model. These models are the theoretical basis for the estimation of latent structural models using the categorical expectations data of the ZEW financial market survey. The expectation variables used to explain expected exchange rates are short term interest rates, long term interest rates and business expectations. Our results show that the flexible-price monetary model is clearly rejected, but the sticky-price monetary model (in case of DM/Pound Sterling and DM/Yen) and the Mundell-Fleming model (in case of DM/US-Dollar) are both compatible with the estimated parameters.