Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electron microscopy of the epiphyseal apparatus

Of the many facets of bone biology, the question of how the shafts of long bones increase in length has, perhaps, stimulated most intense and prolonged scientific interest. Experimental study on the subject began more than two centuries ago when Hales (1727) observed that holes drilled in the shaft of growing bone always remained the same distance apart. This led him to conclude that the growth of long bones occurred at their ends. Subsequent investigations with fixed markers established the epiphyseal plate as the precise site of growth (du Hamel, 1745; Hunter, 1772). With the introduction of light microscopy came many investigations on the morphology of cartilage and bone. One of the most comprehensive studies is that of Fell ( '25) on chondrogenesis and osteogenesis in the chick. Her view of endochondral bone formation, in its major aspects, has been confirmed by numerous investigators and extended technically by such diversified approaches as microradioautography, histoehelmistry, biochemistry, x-ray absorption and diffraction data. Concerning the finer morphology, there is speculation and controversy. The finest structural features observable with the light microscope cannot be too well characterized with . that instrument, and electron microscopy is in its infancy. Observations of fine structure have been limited because, with
The Pdx1 family is structurally and functionally conserved between Arabidopsis thaliana and Ginkgo biloba

Vitamin B6 is one of the most important compounds in living organisms, and its biosynthesis has only recently been understood. Because it is required for more than 100 biochemical reactions, lack of the vitamin is fatal. This is of special importance to mammals and humans, which cannot biosynthesize the vitamin and thus depend on its external uptake. Here we describe the cloning of a vitamin B6 biosynthetic gene GbPDX1 from Ginkgo biloba. The gene is expressed in seeds, leaf and trunk tissue. Using yeast 2‐hybrid and pull‐down assays, we show that the protein can interact with itself and with members of Arabidopsis thaliana AtPDX1 and AtPDX2 families. Furthermore, we prove the function of GbPDX1 in vitamin B6 biosynthesis by complementation of an Arabidopsis AtPDX1.3 mutant rsr4‐1, at the phenotypical level and increasing vitamin B6 levels caused by ectopic GbPDX1 expression in the mutant background. Overall, this study provides a first description of Ginkgo vitamin B6 metabolism, and demonstrates a high degree of conservation between Ginkgo and Arabidopsis.
Polo-Like Kinase-1 Is a Pivotal Regulator of Microtubule Assembly During Mouse Oocyte Meiotic Maturation, Fertilization, and Early Embryonic Mitosis1

Abstract Polo-like kinases (Plks) are a family of serine/threonine protein kinases that have been activated through phosphorylation. The activity of these kinases has been shown to be required for regulating multiple stages of mitotic progression in somatic cells. In this experiment, the changes in Plk1 expression were detected in mouse oocytes through Western blotting. The subcellular localization of Plk1 during oocyte meiotic maturation, fertilization, and early cleavage as well as after antibody microinjection or microtubule assembly disturbance was studied by confocal microscopy. The quantity of Plk1 protein remained stable during meiotic maturation and decreased gradually after fertilization. Plk1 was localized to the spindle poles of both meiotic and mitotic spindles at the early M phase and then translocated to the middle region. At anaphase and telophase, Plk1 was concentrated at the midbody of cytoplasmic cleavages. Plk1 was concentrated between the male and female pronuclei after fertilization. Plk1 disappeared at the spindle region when microtubule formation was inhibited by colchicine or staurosporine, while it was concentrated as several dots in the cytoplasm after taxol treatment. Plk1 antibody injection decreased the germinal vesicle breakdown rate and distorted MI spindle organization. Our results indicate that Plk1 is a pivotal regulator of microtubule organization during mouse oocyte meiosis, fertilization, and cleavage and that its functions may be regulated by other kinases, such as staurosporine-sensitive kinases.
Design of UEP-Raptor codes over BEC

In this paper, we propose a new scheme to construct Raptor codes that can provide unequal error protection (UEP) and unequal recovery time (URT) properties. We use joint optimisation of UEP-LDPC codes and UEP-LT codes to improve the performance of more important bits (MIB), and derive unequal density evolution (UDE) formulas over binary erasure channels (BEC). Using the UDE formulas, we optimise the UEP-Raptor codes. For the finite length case, we compare our UEP-Raptor codes with the previous UEP-Raptor code. Simulation results show that, compared with the previous UEP-Raptor code, the proposed UEP-Raptor codes can get better performances of both MIB and less important bits (LIB). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The effects of cold application and modified PNF stretching techniques on hip joint flexibility in college males.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of modified Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) flexibility techniques on hip flexion in college males and to determine if local cold application enhances the effectiveness of these techniques. Male subjects (N = 120), with an average age of 21.5 +/- 2.7 years, were randomly assigned to one of four different kinds of stretching treatments with cold or no cold application (15 per group). Range of motion (ROM) in degrees was determined following four stretching techniques: three modified PNF (PCP, 3-PIECP, 3-PIFCP) and a passive stretch (P). Data were analyzed using a 2 (conditions) x 4 (treatments) ANOVA. There were no significant differences in ROM between cold and no cold conditions. Significant differences existed among ROM techniques (p less than .05). Post hoc analyses revealed that the three modified PNF techniques resulted in greater ROM than the passive stretch technique. However, we conclude that cold application does not influence the effectiveness of selected stretching techniques.
Forty-Five Cases of Chest Keloids Treated With Subcutaneous Super-Tension-Reduction Suture Combined With Postoperative Electron-Beam Irradiation

BACKGROUND Chest keloids are challenging to surgeons because of their high recurrence rate. OBJECTIVE To investigate the effectiveness of the subcutaneous super-tension-reduction suture technique with postoperative electron-beam irradiation in the treatment of chest keloids. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-five patients with chest keloids underwent excision. To minimize the wound-closing tension, subcutaneous super-tension-reduction suture was used. The maximum tension reduction was placed on both dermis and subcutaneous tissue, which were far away from the incision. The consequence of such suturing was that the wound edges were moved centrally to elevate them like a bump after tying the buried knot. All patients received fractionated electron-beam radiation therapy starting within 24 hours after surgery, in a 5-Gy dose daily for 3 to 4 consecutive days, to a total dose of 15 to 20 Gy. RESULTS The wounds healed primarily in all 45 cases. The bump at the incision began to flatten out after 2 to 3 months and was almost completely flat by 12 months postoperatively. Only 1 case of relapse (2.2%) was observed within 2 years of follow-up examination. CONCLUSION The use of subcutaneous super-tension-reduction suture after chest keloids excision can greatly decrease tension on the dermis and the subcutaneous tissue and can, in combination with postoperative electron-beam irradiation, decrease the rate of relapse.
Morphology and cytochemistry of the Golgi apparatus of rat salivary gland acnar cells.

The ultrastructure and cytochemistry of the Golgi apparatus was studied in acinar cells of the parotid and von Ebner's glands of the rat. The Golgi apparatus was composed of four to six stacked cisternae, numerous small vesicles, and condensing vacuoles. The latter appeared to form as dilatations of the innermost Golgi cisterna, and their irregular membrane suggested fusion with or fission of small vesicles. Nucleoside diphosphatase and thiamine pyrophosphatase activities were localized to the inner Golgi cisternae. Acid phosphatase activity was localized to condensing vacuoles, coated vesicles, and an irregular, narrow cisterna found in the internal region of the Golgi apparatus and termed the internal Golgi lamella. The morphology and relationships of the Golgi apparatus indicate that it plays an important role in secretory granule formation. The presence of nucleoside diphosphatase activity may reflect the role of the Golgi apparatus in the addition of carbohydrates to the secretory proteins. It is suggested that the internal Golgi lamella develops from the inner Golgi cisterna after secretory granule formation is completed. Acid phosphatase activity in condensing vacuoles may be a mechanism for lysosomal regulation of the secretory process.
A Methodology for Modeling Multi-Agent Systems using Nested Petri Nets

In the past two decades, multi-agent systems have emerged as a new paradigm for conceptualizing large and complex distributed software systems. Even though there are many conceptual frameworks for using multi-agent systems, there is no well established and widely accepted method for the representation of multi-agent systems. We adapt a well-known formal model, predicate transition nets, to include the notions of dynamic structure, agent communication and coordination to address the representation problems. This paper presents a comprehensive methodology for modeling multi-agents based on the extensions. We demonstrate our modeling approach with an example. Several case studies on different application domains from our previous works are also discussed.
Psychosocial care for family caregivers of patients with cancer.

PURPOSE To understand family caregivers' needs for better preparation and care, this state-of-the-science review examines the effect of caregiving on the health and well-being of caregivers, the efficacy of research-tested interventions on patient and caregiver outcomes, implications of the research on policy and practice, and recommendations for practice and future research. METHODS We reviewed research that described the multiple effects of cancer on caregivers' well-being. Five meta-analyses were analyzed to determine the effect of interventions with caregivers on patient and caregiver outcomes. In addition, we reviewed legislation such as the Affordable Care Act and the Family Leave Act along with current primary care practice to determine whether family caregivers' needs have been addressed. RESULTS Research findings indicate that caregiver stress can lead to psychological and sleep disturbances and changes in caregivers' physical health, immune function, and financial well-being. Research-tested interventions delivered to caregivers of patients with cancer or other chronic illnesses can reduce many of these negative effects and improve caregivers' coping skills, knowledge, and quality of life. Although these interventions also decrease patients' symptoms, reduce mortality (non-dementia patients), and improve patients' physical and mental health, they are seldom implemented in practice. CONCLUSION Recommendations for practice include development of standardized guidelines that address caregiver assessment, education, and resources; identification of "caregiver champions" in practice settings; provision of referrals to established support organizations for caregivers (eg, Cancer Support Community, Cancer Care); and collaboration among caregiving, professional, and cancer-related organizations to advocate policy and practice changes for family caregivers.
Extraction and analysis of tripartite relationships from Wikipedia

Social aspects are critical in the decision making process for social actors (human beings). Social aspects can be categorized into social interaction, social communities, social groups or any kind of behavior that emerges from interlinking, overlapping or similarities between interests of a society. These social aspects are dynamic and emergent. Therefore, interlinking them in a social structure, based on bipartite affiliation network, may result in isolated graphs. The major reason is that as these correspondences are dynamic and emergent, they should be coupled with more than a single affiliation in order to sustain the interconnections during interest evolutions. In this paper we propose to interlink actors using multiple tripartite graphs rather than a bipartite graph which was the focus of most of the previous social network building techniques. The utmost benefit of using tripartite graphs is that we can have multiple and hierarchical links between social actors. Therefore in this paper we discuss the extraction, plotting and analysis methods of tripartite relations between authors, articles and categories from Wikipedia. Furthermore, we also discuss the advantages of tripartite relationships over bipartite relationships. As a conclusion of this study we argue based on our results that to build useful, robust and dynamic social networks, actors should be interlinked in one or more tripartite networks.
The Language of Time: A Reader

Edited collections of papers are something of a tradition in fields such as computational linguistics and knowledge representation; probably most readers of this journal are familiar with the classic Readings in Natural Language Processing (Grosz, Spärck Jones, and Webber 1986). Such collections play a valuable role in assembling the (often scattered) primary texts that define swiftly evolving research areas. At first glance, the present collection seems to belong to this genre. A closer look reveals that its editors are attempting something rather more ambitious: They want to simultaneously define a research area and to provide it with a reference tool that can help shape further research. To put it another way, this is a reader with its eyes firmly on the future, not the past. Not that the past is neglected. Part I of the book (" Tense, aspect and event structure ") includes older material, some of it drawn from the philosophical tradition; the voices of Zeno Vendler on verb classification, Arthur Prior on hybrid logic, and Hans Reichenbach on temporal reference can all be heard here. But the historical perspective takes second place. The major concern is to explicate, as clearly as possible, the themes that have shaped research on temporal language, and following the publication timeline is not the best way to do this. Thus, although the collection opens in 1967 (with Vendler), the second paper fast-forwards the reader to 1991 (James Pustejovsky on event structure), the third takes us to 1986 (Emmon Bach on the algebra of events), and the fourth catapults us all the way back to 1947 (Reichenbach), after which we wend our way forward (with the occasional temporal bounce) toward more recent work. Sound confusing? It's not. On the contrary, this is one of the best-structured collections I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Indeed, to call it a collection is to diminish it: This is an edited volume, with edit being used in a strong sense of the word. The editors are not passive contributors to this volume: They provide background, structure the material, and (in two useful places) supply newer material that enables the reader to evaluate (and in some cases, perhaps, to reevaluate) the significance of the various contributions. A great deal of effort has gone into the preparation of this volume, and it shows. The volume, which contains 29 articles, has a four-part structure. As mentioned above, Part I …
Addressing and Privacy Support for 6LoWPAN

In most of the current IPv6 addressing protocols, a node's IP address remains unchanged during its lifetime. Since addresses are a fundamental requirement of communications and cannot easily be hidden from eavesdroppers, eavesdroppers may track a node's activities via checking its IPv6 address. Consequently, the use of a constant address is of special concern, and changing an address regularly is desirable to lessen privacy concerns. This paper proposes an IPv6 over low-power wireless personal area network addressing scheme with privacy support. In this scheme, a node regularly changes its address without extra overheads and the size of an address set is randomly generated, the address privacy is achieved. This scheme is analyzed and evaluated, and the data show that this scheme achieves the address privacy and improves the addressing performance.
PGC‐1α affects aging‐related changes in muscle and motor function by modulating specific exercise‐mediated changes in old mice

The age‐related impairment in muscle function results in a drastic decline in motor coordination and mobility in elderly individuals. Regular physical activity is the only efficient intervention to prevent and treat this age‐associated degeneration. However, the mechanisms that underlie the therapeutic effect of exercise in this context remain unclear. We assessed whether endurance exercise training in old age is sufficient to affect muscle and motor function. Moreover, as muscle peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC‐1α) is a key regulatory hub in endurance exercise adaptation with decreased expression in old muscle, we studied the involvement of PGC‐1α in the therapeutic effect of exercise in aging. Intriguingly, PGC‐1α muscle‐specific knockout and overexpression, respectively, precipitated and alleviated specific aspects of aging‐related deterioration of muscle function in old mice, while other muscle dysfunctions remained unchanged upon PGC‐1α modulation. Surprisingly, we discovered that muscle PGC‐1α was not only involved in improving muscle endurance and mitochondrial remodeling, but also phenocopied endurance exercise training in advanced age by contributing to maintaining balance and motor coordination in old animals. Our data therefore suggest that the benefits of exercise, even when performed at old age, extend beyond skeletal muscle and are at least in part mediated by PGC‐1α.
Nod2, a Nod1/Apaf-1 Family Member That Is Restricted to Monocytes and Activates NF-κB*

Apaf-1 and Nod1 are members of a protein family, each of which contains a caspase recruitment domain (CARD) linked to a nucleotide-binding domain, which regulate apoptosis and/or NF-κB activation. Nod2, a third member of the family, was identified. Nod2 is composed of two N-terminal CARDs, a nucleotide-binding domain, and multiple C-terminal leucine-rich repeats. Although Nod1 and Apaf-1 were broadly expressed in tissues, the expression of Nod2 was highly restricted to monocytes. Nod2 induced nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation, which required IKKγ and was inhibited by dominant negative mutants of IκBα, IKKα, IKKβ, and IKKγ. Nod2 interacted with the serine-threonine kinase RICK via a homophilic CARD-CARD interaction. Furthermore, NF-κB activity induced by Nod2 correlated with its ability to interact with RICK and was specifically inhibited by a truncated mutant form of RICK containing its CARD. The identification of Nod2 defines a subfamily of Apaf-1-like proteins that function through RICK to activate a NF-κB signaling pathway.
A new statistical model for activity discovery and recognition in pervasive environments

This paper presents a new unsupervised statistical model for human activity discovery and recognition in pervasive environments. The activities are encoded in sequences recorded by non-intrusive sensors disseminated in the environment. Our model studies the relationship between the activities and the sequential patterns from the sequence analysis perspective. Activity discovery is formulated as an optimization problem which is solved by maximization of the likelihood of data. We present experimental results on real datasets recorded in smart homes for persons performing their activities of daily living. The results obtained demonstrate the suitability of our model for activity discovery and recognition and how it outperforms most of the widely used approaches.
Influence of Galantamine on Vasomotor Reactivity in Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia Due to Cerebral Microangiopathy

Background and Purpose— Recent reports suggest that vascular factors play a crucial role in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. We aimed to assess vasomotor reactivity in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia due to microangiopathy using transcranial Doppler sonography and near-infrared spectroscopy during a CO2 exposition task. Methods— The normalized CO2 reactivity assessed at the middle cerebral artery and the oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin of the frontal cortex were obtained. To investigate the impact of cholinergic deficiency known for Alzheimer’s disease on vasomotor reactivity, both groups were reinvestigated during treatment with the acetylcholine esterase inhibitor galantamine. Results— Transcranial Doppler analysis revealed significantly reduced normalized CO2 reactivity for Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Vasomotor reactivity assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy was decreased in patients with vascular dementia, but not in Alzheimer’s disease. Galantamine treatment showed a beneficial effect, normalizing these parameters close to age-matched control levels. Conclusions— Our results suggest that Alzheimer’s disease is associated with a lack of vasomotor reactivity, which might be associated with disturbed autoregulation indicating a potential risk for a decreased protection of brain tissue against blood pressure changes. Additionally, a diminished increase of cortical oxygenated hemoglobin during the CO2 test was apparent in patients with vascular dementia. Galantamine treatment influenced vascular reactivity in the CO2 test, thus providing evidence for the cholinergic deficiency, thereby adding to vascular dysregulation in Alzheimer’s disease, but also indicating an important role of cholinergic system dysfunction for vascular dementia.
Regular daily smoking among 14-year-old adolescents increases the subsequent risk for suicide: the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between adolescent regular daily smoking and later suicides in a prospective longitudinal birth cohort setting. METHOD Data from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study (N = 10,934) were linked with national death certificates from Statistics Finland. The information on suicide attempts until the end of 2001 was gathered from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register (FHDR). The information on adolescent regular daily smoking was gathered via a questionnaire in 1980 and 1981, when the subjects were age 14 years. RESULTS Of all cohort males who smoked regularly at age 14 years, 2.6% committed suicide by age 34 years, while the corresponding proportion was 0.8% among experimental smokers and 0.4% among non-smokers (chi2 = 15.8, df = 2, p < .001). After adjusting for sociodemographic factors in adolescence and psychiatric morbidity, regular smokers were at a 4.05-fold hazard (95% CI = 1.18 to 13.93, p = .026) for committing suicide at a younger age. Corresponding associations were not found among females. The choice of suicide method was not associated with smoking habits in adolescence. Furthermore, the proportion of suicide attempts was significantly higher among regular daily smokers, among both boys (3.3% vs. 1.2%) and girls (4.2% vs. 1.2%), compared with other adolescents. CONCLUSION At the epidemiologic level, adolescent regular smoking was found to be associated with increased risk for suicide among males before the age of 34 years. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects of smoking on neurobiology of depression, self-damaging aggression, and impulsive behavior.