Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global Gene Analysis of Erigeron canadensis-Treated TNF-α-, IL-4- and IL-1β-Stimulated A549 Human Epithelial Cells

Background/Aims: This study was conducted to evaluate the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of Erigeron canadensis (EC) on the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-, interleukin (IL)-4- and IL-1β-induced stimulation of A549 cells. Methods: In the present study, the anti-inflammatory effects of EC on TNF-α-, IL-4- and IL-1β-induced A549 cells were determined by analyzing eotaxin secretion using ELISA. In addition, the effects of ECon gene expression profiles in stimulated A549 cells were evaluated by microarray analysis. Results: Oligonucleotide microarray analysis revealed that inflammatory-related genes such as NOS1, NOS2A, IL-1β, IL-8 and CSF2 and cell adhesion-related genes such as SELE, MMP3, VCAM1, ICAM1, ITGA7 and ITGB2 were downregulated in EC-treated A549 cells that had been pretreated with TNF-α, IL-4 and IL-1β. In addition, significant decreases in Eotaxin, ICAM, VCAM and IL-8 gene expression were observed in EC-treated A549 cells. Conclusions: EC has an anti-inflammatory effect in stimulated A549 cells. Microarray-based genomic survey is a high-throughput approach that is suitable for the evaluation of gene expression in cell lines that have been treated with EC.
[Influence of epidural lidocaine injection on vecuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade].

BACKGROUND We investigated vecuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade in patients with continuous epidural lidocaine injection and those without epidural lidocaine. METHODS Lower thoracic epidural injection of lidocaine was commenced at a rate of 2-3 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1) following its bolus injection (1.5-2 mg x kg(-1)) only in epidural group. Neuromuscular function was monitored by acceleromyographic train-of-four (TOF) responses of the adductor pollicis muscle to ulnar nerve stimulation after induction of general anesthesia. RESULTS Neuromuscular block was obtained by vecuronium 0.1 mg x kg(-1) as an intubating dose and was maintained 5-10% of baseline first twitch (T 1) of TOF responses by continuous vecuronium administration. The maximum depression of T 1 response and onset time obtained by vecuronium 0.1 mg x kg(-1) were not different between the groups, but mean clinical duration from administration of the first dose to T 1 recovery to 5% of baseline was significantly prolonged in group with epidural lidocaine (49.5 min), compared to that without lidocaine (32.3 min). Furthermore, maintenance dose of vecuronium obtained in the group with epidural lidocaine (0.034 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1)) was significantly smaller than that in the group without lidocaine (0.060 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1)). CONCLUSIONS Based on our results, we conclude that lidocaine injected continuously into the epidural space potentiates vecuronium-induced neuromuscular block.
HOST SPECIFICITY IN MICROBE-MICROBE INTERACTIONS : BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS VARY IN SPECIFICITY FOR HOSTS, PATHOGEN CONTROL, ECOLOGICAL HABITAT, AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

ventional monocultural crop systems often supported by high inputs of pesticides and fertilizers to sustainable agriculture. Although precise definitions of sustainable agriculture vary, one key aspect is a reduction in agrichemical inputs with a corresponding shift to alternative crop protection strategies, such as cultural practices, organic amendments, resistant or tolerant crop varieties, and biological control. Biological control of plant diseases may be accomplished by several different means (Cook and Baker 1983), including the use of introduced microbial biological control agents. Because most plant diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, using a microbial biological control agent to control a plant pathogen involves microbe-microbe interac-
Design of a High Resolution Positron Emission Tomograph: The Neuro‐PET

The design of a high resolution positron emission tomograph is described. The scanner has four rings of detectors with an inside diameter of 38 cm and produces seven simultaneous slices, including three cross-slices. Each ring contains 128 bismuth germanate scintillation detectors with dimensions of 8.25 × 20 × 35 mm; adjacent crystals are separated by tapered tungsten septa that extend to within 7.5 mm of the front faces. The anticipated geometrical spatial resolution of the scanner is 4.5 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM) at the center of the image, and the sensitivity is 44,000 true counts/sec/ring (390,000 counts/sec total) for a uniform phantom 20 cm in diameter containing 1 μCi/cc activity. There are interchangeable collimators for use in high count rate studies, for narrowing the slice width from 1 cm FWHM to 5 mm FWHM, and for ultra-high resolution studies with a 2.5 mm FWHM geometrical point spread function. The electronic circuitry has separate timing and energy verification channels and can detect 95% of the coincidences with a timing window (twice the maximum time between two coincident pulses) of 14 nsec. The count rate capability of the electronics is 150,000 counts/sec/ring and 1.5 million counts/sec total.
On the Nature of Soil Moisture in Land Surface Models

Abstract The soil moisture state simulated by a land surface model is a highly model-dependent quantity, meaning that the direct transfer of one model’s soil moisture into another can lead to a fundamental, and potentially detrimental, inconsistency. This is first illustrated with two recent examples, one from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) involving seasonal precipitation forecasting and another from the realm of ecological modeling. The issue is then further addressed through a quantitative analysis of soil moisture contents produced as part of a global offline simulation experiment in which a number of land surface models were driven with the same atmospheric forcing fields. These latter comparisons clearly demonstrate, on a global scale, the degree to which model-simulated soil moisture variables differ from each other and that these differences extend beyond those associated with model-specific layer thicknesses or soil texture. The offline comparisons also show, however, th.
A diffusion model of scheduling control in queueing systems with many servers

This paper studies a diffusion model that arises as the limit of a queueing system scheduling problem in the asymptotic heavy traffic regime of Halfin and Whitt. The queueing system consists of several customer classes and many servers working in parallel, grouped in several stations. Servers in different stations offer service to customers of each class at possibly different rates. The control corresponds to selecting what customer class each server serves at each time. The diffusion control problem does not seem to have explicit solutions and therefore a characterization of optimal solutions via the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation is addressed. Our main result is the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the equation. Since the model is set on an unbounded domain and the cost per unit time is unbounded, the analysis requires estimates on the state process that are subexponential in the time variable. In establishing these estimates, a key role is played by an integral formula that relates queue length and idle time processes, which may be of independent interest.
The machines that divide and fuse mitochondria

Mitochondria are essential, double‐membraned organelles that perform a myriad of tasks within cells. Unlike their bacterial ancestors, they are not discrete entities; rather isolated organelles are transient and are constantly in communication via fusion to form both localized and widespread mitochondrial syncytia. Mitochondrial division antagonizes fusion and together these events function to create a compartment that is connected and functional, yet able to be distributed to distant cellular destinations via transport. Proteins directly required for mitochondrial division and fusion have been identified and among them are three highly conserved dynamin‐related proteins (DRPs), which are large self‐assembling GTPases that regulate membrane dynamics in a variety of cellular processes. We have established in vitro assays that recapitulate mitochondrial division and fusion events. Our recent progress towards understanding the mechanistic roles these DRPs play during division and fusion will be discussed.
Optimization of simulation and visualization analysis of dam-failure flood disaster for diverse computing systems

ABSTRACT Simulation and subsequent visualization in a network environment are important to glean insights into spatiotemporal processes. As computing systems become increasingly diverse in hardware architectures, operating systems, screen sizes, human–computer interactions and network capabilities, effective simulation and visualization must become adaptive to a wide range of diverse devices. This paper focuses on the optimization of simulation and visualization analysis of the dam-failure flood spatiotemporal process for diverse computing systems. First, an adaptive browser/server architecture of the dam-failure simulation application was designed to fill the hardware performance and visualization context gap that exists within diverse computing systems. Second, a data flow and an optimization method for multilevel time-series flood data were given to provide more support to network simulation, visualization and analysis on diversified terminals. Finally, a user interaction friendly and plugin-free prototype system was developed. The experiment results demonstrate that the methods addressed in this paper can cope with the challenge in simulation, visualization and interaction of a dam-failure simulation application on diversified terminals.
Inducing precocious anaphase in cultured mammalian cells.

The spindle checkpoint, which prevents anaphase onset upon spindle damage or incorrect chromosome alignment, presents a problem for experimental analysis of protein function in anaphase and cytokinesis. This is because the functional disruption of many proteins before anaphase onset can activate this checkpoint, preventing anaphase and subsequent cell cycle events. This paper compares new and old methods of overriding the spindle checkpoint in prometaphase mammalian tissue culture cells.
Economic aspects of haemophilia care in the United States

On 6 December 1997, physicians from the Americas gathered at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California, for an informal symposium, `Economic Aspects of Haemophilia Care'. Louis M. Aledort MD, the Mary Weinfeld Professor of Clinical Research in Hemophilia at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, chaired the meeting, leading a distinguished panel in a discussion of economic considerations of haemophilia treatment in the United States. Topics included cost-effectiveness analysis, a recent study on cost of care supported by the United States Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), and regulatory changes at the federal level that will affect medical practice. The symposium was sponsored by an unrestricted educational grant from Centeon. Alan Colowick MD, of Harvard Medical School and Research Fellow in Hematology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, began the session by addressing the subject of cost-effectiveness analysis. Haemophilia is an exceptional area for such analysis due to the high cost of haemophilia treatment and because data regarding such treatment have not been adequately examined in the past. People with haemophilia consume a disproportionate amount of healthcare resources compared with other chronic diseases, making the issue of cost paramount. It is important to distinguish cost-effectiveness from cost±bene®t analysis. While cost±bene®t analysis requires all inputs and outcomes to have similar units (typically monetary), cost-effectiveness analysis allows for the comparison of disparately measured inputs and outcomes to achieve a cost-effectiveness ratio. This allows for the comparison of various clinical strategies, groups of patients and diseases. Three issues in particular must be addressed when conducting a cost-effectiveness analysis. First, how does one determine the value of certain outcomes, including lives saved or extended, in monetary terms? Second, how do we reduce multiple outcome parameters to a common unit, such as quality of life? Third, whose perspective should be used when performing cost-effectiveness analysis: the patient's (for whom clinicians often argue strongly), society's or the funding source's? Such questions, Dr Colowick acknowledged, are dif®cult to answer (Table 1). The presentation of haemophilic complications varies according to the age of the patient. The time of follow-up varies signi®cantly, and the issue of present economic value is 1 important. A large percentage of paediatric treatment is aimed at intervention to enable children to become productive members of society. However, it is dif®cult to project and quantify future productivity. Treatment bene®ts for children may not be achieved for many years. As the number of years increases, present value decreases exponentially (see equation 1). The allocation of resources will therefore typically favour adults, whose bene®ts may be apparent sooner.
Subcarrier and power allocation for multiuser OFDM-based cognitive radio uplink systems

Cognitive radio (CR) technology is designed to enhance the spectrum efficacy by allowing the secondary user to use the unoccupied frequency bands which belong to the primary user. A problem of maximization in the capacity of the secondary users subject to the power and mutual interference constraints is discussed in multiuser OFDM-based CR uplink systems. A modulation order limitation on each subcarrier is also considered. The proposed allocation scheme is developed based on a well-designed indicator which is composed of three terms with parameters related to the amount of power, interference, and other adjustable coefficients. The allocation strategy assigns subcarriers to users and allocates power to subcarriers by utilizing the proposed indicator. The scheme outperforms the existing schemes shown in the simulation results. In order to further improve the performance, a refinement approach is applied after the proposed allocation strategy. The proposed allocation schemes further outperform the existing schemes as revealed in the simulation results.
Collaboration between psychiatrists and clergy in recognizing and treating serious mental illness.

OBJECTIVE A surprisingly high number of Americans seek clergy support for treatment of mental illness. However, little is known about how the clergy prepare for fulfilling this need or their beliefs regarding mental illness. This study examined the ability to recognize and treat mental illness among Hawaii's Protestant clergy. METHODS Ninety-eight clergy members responded to the survey. RESULTS Most (71%) reported feeling inadequately trained to recognize mental illness. The most common cause of mental illness that clergy members cited was medical (37%), yet when asked to comment on two case vignettes, many reported that they would provide counseling instead of referral. When referrals were made, 41% considered shared religious beliefs between parishioner and provider important, and 15% considered shared beliefs essential. CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the need for collaboration between mental health professionals and the clergy. Knowledge of a patient's belief system may help improve crisis interventions and treatment planning for religious patients.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis among chamorro migrants from guam

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which occurs in unusually high incidence among the Chamorro people on the island of Guam, has developed in 28 Chamorro migrants‐24 of whom had onset in the United States, Japan, Germany, or Korea‐‐after periods of absence from Guam of 1 to 34 years. Thus, the latency period for the disease, if caused by environmental factors on Guam, may be over three decades. Four further patients developed ALS within 1 to 14 years of their return to Guam after long‐term residence in the continental United States. The minimum exposure time to environmental variables on Guam, based on age at migration, was 18 years, and all patients had spent their childhood and adolescence on Guam. Estimates of crude mortality rates for ALS from these data are considerably higher than for the United States population, and lower than the ALS mortality rates for nonmigrant Chamorros on Guam.
Arabidopsis OR proteins are the major posttranscriptional regulators of phytoene synthase in controlling carotenoid biosynthesis

Significance Carotenoids are indispensable to plants and humans. Despite significant achievements in carotenoid research, we still lack the fundamental knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms underlying carotenogenesis in plants. Phytoene synthase (PSY) and ORANGE (OR) are the two key proteins for carotenoid biosynthesis and accumulation in plastids. This study shows that OR family proteins interact directly with PSY and function as the major regulators of active PSY protein abundance in mediating carotenoid biosynthesis. The findings establish posttranscriptional regulation of PSY as a novel way to control carotenoid biosynthesis in plants and provide strategies for crop nutritional quality improvement. Carotenoids are indispensable natural pigments to plants and humans. Phytoene synthase (PSY), the rate-limiting enzyme in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway, and ORANGE (OR), a regulator of chromoplast differentiation and enhancer of carotenoid biosynthesis, represent two key proteins that control carotenoid biosynthesis and accumulation in plants. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying their posttranscriptional regulation. Here we report that PSY and OR family proteins [Arabidopsis thaliana OR (AtOR) and AtOR-like] physically interacted with each other in plastids. We found that alteration of OR expression in Arabidopsis exerted minimal effect on PSY transcript abundance. However, overexpression of AtOR significantly increased the amount of enzymatically active PSY, whereas an ator ator-like double mutant exhibited a dramatically reduced PSY level. The results indicate that the OR proteins serve as the major posttranscriptional regulators of PSY. The ator or ator-like single mutant had little effect on PSY protein levels, which involves a compensatory mechanism and suggests partial functional redundancy. In addition, modification of PSY expression resulted in altered AtOR protein levels, corroborating a mutual regulation of PSY and OR. Carotenoid content showed a correlated change with OR-mediated PSY level, demonstrating the function of OR in controlling carotenoid biosynthesis by regulating PSY. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism by which carotenoid biosynthesis is controlled via posttranscriptional regulation of PSY in plants.
Protein Kinase B/Akt Regulates Coxsackievirus B3 Replication through a Mechanism Which Is Not Caspase Dependent

ABSTRACT The role of signaling pathways including the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) during viral infection has gained much recent attention. Our laboratory reported on an important regulatory role for extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2), subfamily members of the MAPKs, during coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection. However, the role of the PI3K pathway in CVB3 infection has not been well characterized. CVB3 is the most common known viral infectant of heart muscle that directly injures and kills infected cardiac myocytes during the myocarditic process. In the present study, we investigated the role of protein kinase B (PKB) (also known as Akt), a general downstream mediator of survival signals through the PI3K cascade, in regulating CVB3 replication and virus-induced apoptosis in a well-established HeLa cell model. We have demonstrated that CVB3 infection leads to phosphorylation of PKB/Akt on both Ser-473 and Thr-308 residues through a PI3K-dependent mechanism. Transfection of HeLa cells with a dominant negative mutant of Akt1 or pretreatment of wild-type HeLa cells with the specific PI3K inhibitor LY294002 significantly suppresses viral RNA expression, as reflected in diminished viral capsid protein expression and viral release. Dominant negative Akt1 and LY294002 also increase apoptosis in infected cells, which can be reversed by addition of the general caspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (zVAD.fmk). Interestingly, blocking of apoptosis by zVAD.fmk does not reverse the viral RNA translation blockade, indicating that the inhibitory effect of dominant negative Akt1 on viral protein expression is not caspase dependent. In addition, we showed that the attachment of virus to its receptor-coreceptor complex is not sufficient for PKB/Akt activation and that postentry viral replication is required for Akt phosphorylation. Taken together, these data illustrate a new and imperative role for Akt in CVB3 infection in HeLa cells and show that the PI3K/Akt signaling is beneficial to CVB3 replication.
Promotion of self-assessment for learners in online discussion using the visualization software

This study describes a method of self-assessment for learners in a collaborative discussion. The authors propose a method of self-assessment in an online discussion and examine its effectiveness through the development and evaluation of a software program to visualize the discussion on a Bulletin Board System. The software, referred to as "i-Bee" (Bulletin board Enrollee Envisioner), can visually display the co-occurrence relation between keywords and learners. Thus, the i-Bee can display the content-wise contribution made by each learner to the discussion. In addition, the i-Bee can display the recent level of participation of each learner and the frequency of each keyword used by the learners. The i-Bee enables students to assess and reflect over their discussion, to understand the condition, and to reorganize their commitment in a discussion reflecting their learning activity.
Phase-field simulation of two-phase micro-flows in a Hele-Shaw cell

A two-phase diffuse interface model previously developed by the authors is used to simulate the buoyancy-driven flow and Rayleigh-Taylor instability of fluid layers inside a Hele-Shaw cell. The model assumes that the two phases coexist inside the diffuse interface with different properties and velocities. A separate momentum equation is used to calculate the slip velocity between the two phases within the diffuse interface. This two-phase approach is coupled with a phase-field equation for calculating the interface motion. The model is validated by comparing the calculated interface evolution, before any topology changes occur, to available results from a sharp interface model. Then, the flows and interface topology changes are investigated for fluid layers with a large density and viscosity contrasts. The convergence of the results with respect to the interface width is examined in detail. It is shown that the two-phase model converges better than standard diffuse interface models that assume a single velocity inside the diffuse interface.