Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NITRIC OXIDE DIMINISHES APOPTOSIS AND p53 GENE EXPRESSION AFTER RENAL ISCHEMIA AND REPERFUSION INJURY1

Background. The role of nitric oxide in the ischemic injury of the kidney is still controversial.The aim of this study was to reevaluate the beneficial effect of exogenous nitric oxide and define its effects as regulator of gene p53 expression and apoptosis in the ischemic renal injury. Methods. Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to 75 min of renal warm ischemia and contralateral nephrectomy. The animals were divided into six groups (n=6 per group): Two sham groups at 4 and 24 hr, two ischemic control (IC) at same times and two treated groups (Na-NP), studied at same intervals, where sodium nitroprusside (5 mg/kg) was given 15 min before reperfusion. The parameters evaluated included: serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, neutrophil infiltration determined by myeloperoxidase, gene p53 expression determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, apoptosis determined by peroxidase in situ technique and light histology. Results. There were significant improvements in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen at 24 hr in the NA-NP group when compared with the IC group (P <0.05). Myeloperoxidase levels were higher in the IC when evaluated against the Na-NP groups. Na-NP exhibited a downregulating effect in the expression of gene p53 when compared to the IC group. Apoptosis was more evident in the IC group and had moderately increased histological damage when compared to the Na-NP group. Conclusions. Nitric oxide demonstrated a protective effect in the ischemic injury of the kidney and exerted an antiapoptotic action dowregulating the expression of gene p53.
Coding of sources with unknown statistics-I: Probability of encoding error

It is well known that it is often possible to obtain considerable data compression by encoding messages in long blocks. Usually the coding scheme for a specific source depends parametrically on the statistics of the source. Universal codes which are independent of the source statistics are introduced. These codes are shown to be asymptotically optimal in the sense that the probability of encoding error can be made vanishingly small for output rates no larger than those of optimal codes that do in fact depend on the statistics of the source. A particular universal coding scheme is introduced for which the encoding complexity increases no faster than the second power of the block length n and for which the encoding error vanishes exponentially with n . The discussion is limited to discrete-time finite-alphabet sources.
Period-Doubling bifurcation in discrete Hopfield neural network

A two-neuron model of a discrete Hopfield neural network is considered. The local stability is analyzed with the associated characteristic model. In order to study the dynamic behavior, the Period-Doubling bifurcation is examined. In the case of two neurons, one necessary condition for yielding the Period-Doubling bifurcation is found. In addition, the stability and direction of this bifurcation are determined by applying the normal form theory.
Hypothalamic fatty acid metabolism: A housekeeping pathway that regulates food intake

The hypothalamus is a specialized area in the brain that integrates the control of energy homeostasis. More than 70 years ago, it was proposed that the central nervous system sensed circulating levels of metabolites such as glucose, lipids and amino acids and modified feeding according to the levels of those molecules. This led to the formulation of the Glucostatic, Lipostatic and Aminostatic Hypotheses. It has taken almost that much time to demonstrate that circulating long‐chain fatty acids act as signals of nutrient surplus in the hypothalamus. Moreover, pharmacological and/or genetic inhibition of fatty acid synthase, AMP‐activated protein kinase and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 results in profound decrease in feeding and body weight in rodents. The molecular mechanism behind these actions depends on changes in the cellular pool of malonyl‐CoA and fatty acyl‐CoAs. Current evidence also suggests that this pathway may play a major role in the physiological regulation of feeding, by integrating hormonal and nutrient‐derived signals in the hypothalamus. Here, we summarize what is known about hypothalamic fatty acid metabolism and feeding control and provide future directions for research. Understanding these molecular mechanisms could provide new targets for the treatment of obesity and related disorders. BioEssays 29: 248–261, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modeling enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic substrates using confocal fluorescence microscopy I: Filter paper cellulose

Enzymatic hydrolysis is one of the critical steps in depolymerizing lignocellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars for further upgrading into fuels and/or chemicals. However, many studies still rely on empirical trends to optimize enzymatic reactions. An improved understanding of enzymatic hydrolysis could allow research efforts to follow a rational design guided by an appropriate theoretical framework. In this study, we present a method to image cellulosic substrates with complex three‐dimensional structure, such as filter paper, undergoing hydrolysis under conditions relevant to industrial saccharification processes (i.e., temperature of 50°C, using commercial cellulolytic cocktails). Fluorescence intensities resulting from confocal images were used to estimate parameters for a diffusion and reaction model. Furthermore, the observation of a relatively constant bound enzyme fluorescence signal throughout hydrolysis supported our modeling assumption regarding the structure of biomass during hydrolysis. The observed behavior suggests that pore evolution can be modeled as widening of infinitely long slits. The resulting model accurately predicts the concentrations of soluble carbohydrates obtained from independent saccharification experiments conducted in bulk, demonstrating its relevance to biomass conversion work. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2015;112: 21–31. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modulation of the Readily Releasable Pool of Transmitter and of Excitation–Secretion Coupling by Activity and by Serotonin atAplysia Sensorimotor Synapses in Culture

Short-term homosynaptic depression and heterosynaptic facilitation of transmitter release from mechanoreceptor sensory neurons of Aplysia are involved in habituation and sensitization, respectively, of defensive withdrawal reflexes. We investigated whether synaptic transmission is regulated in these forms of plasticity by means of changes in the size of the pool of transmitter available for immediate release [the readily releasable pool (RRP)] or in the efficacy of release from an unchanging pool. Using sensorimotor synapses formed in cell culture, we estimated the number of transmitter quanta in the RRP from the asynchronous release of neurotransmitter caused by application of a hypertonic bathing solution. Our experiments indicate that the transmitter released by action potentials and by hypertonic solution comes from the same pool. The RRP was reduced after homosynaptic depression of the EPSP by low-frequency stimulation and increased after facilitation of the EPSP by application of the endogenous facilitatory transmitter serotonin (5-HT) after homosynaptic depression. However, although the fractional changes in the RRP and in the EPSP were similar for both synaptic depression and facilitation when depression was induced by repeated hypertonic stimulation, the changes in the EPSP were significantly greater than the changes in the RRP when depression was induced by repeated electrical stimulation. These observations indicate that homosynaptic depression and restoration of depressed transmission by 5-HT are caused by changes in both the amount of transmitter available for immediate release and in processes involved in the coupling of the action potential to transmitter release.
Consumer Online Privacy Concern and Behavior Intention: Cultural and Institutional Aspects

With the rapid development of e-commerce and increased number of online transactions in the developing countries, consumer privacy has become an important issue for e-commerce adoption. Although the issue had been addressed in many previous studies, however, these studies were typically conducted in developed countries in different cultural and institutional contexts. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical model of consumer online privacy concern and behavior intention to adopt e-commerce taking into the consideration of demographic, cultural, and institutional factors based on case analysis in a developing country.
Crystal structure of the complex of porcine trypsin with soybean trypsin inhibitor (Kunitz) at 2.6-A resolution.

The complex of porcine trypsin with soybean tryp- sin inhibitor (Kunitz) was crystallized from 17% ethanol at pH 7. The crystals have P212121 symmetry with a = 59.0, b = 62.2, and c = 150.5 A. They contain one molecule of the 1:l complex in the crystallographic asymmetric unit. Three-dimen- sional X-ray diffraction data were measured for these crystals and for crystals soaked with 0.3 mM K2PtC14, 1 mM K3UOzF5, 5 mM mercury salicylate, 0.2 mM (NH4)3IrC16, and 5 mM mercury acetate. All strong reflections to 2.6 A were measured, including almost all reflections to 3.8 A and 56% of the reflec- tions between 3.0 and 2.6 A. Beyond 3.8 A only the K3U02F5 and salicylate derivatives were useful. In the resulting electron density maps the trypsin molecule was easily identifiable, and although some parts of the inhibitor were not clear, a precise interpretation of residues 1'-93' was made, including the con- tact region. Coordinates for this part of the inhibitor, and for adjacent parts of the trypsin molecule, were refined by the real-
Visualization of focal sites of transcription within human nuclei.

HeLa cells were encapsulated in agarose microbeads, permeabilized and incubated with Br‐UTP in a ‘physiological’ buffer; then sites of RNA synthesis were immunolabelled using an antibody that reacts with Br‐RNA. After extending nascent RNA chains by < 400 nucleotides in vitro, approximately 300–500 focal synthetic sites can be seen in each nucleus by fluorescence microscopy. Most foci also contain a component of the splicing apparatus detected by an anti‐Sm antibody. alpha‐amanitin, an inhibitor of RNA polymerase II, prevents incorporation into these foci; then, using a slightly higher salt concentration, approximately 25 nucleolar foci became clearly visible. Both nucleolar and extra‐nucleolar foci remain after nucleolytic removal of approximately 90% chromatin. An underlying structure probably organizes groups of transcription units into ‘factories’ where transcripts are both synthesized and processed.
Vertical Double-Gate MOSFET based on epitaxial growth by LPCVD

A vertical MOSFET layout aiming a double gate structure is proposed. DoubleGate MOSFETs are known to reduce short channel behaviour effectively [1] and are a promising candidate for sub 50nm MOSFET design. The vertical layout discussed here is based on epitaxial growth by LPCVD. From in situ doped samples pchannel MOSFETs with a channel length Lg of 100nm and gate oxide thickness dox of 6nm were fabricated. These first transistors show transconductances of up to 41μS/μm.
Changes in nutrient components during ageing of emerging juvenile bamboo shoots

The newly emerging, tender juvenile shoots of bamboos that belong to the tribe Bambuseae, subfamily Bambusoideae of family Poaceae, are edible. Their rich content of amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and low fat content attracts many people to consume bamboo shoots. A study was conducted to determine the nutrient changes in emerging juvenile shoots of five commercially important bamboos. It was observed that whereas nutrient components of the shoots depleted in all the five species with ageing, the dietary fibre and moisture content were increased. Vitamins and mineral content also decreased in the older shoots. The present study indicates that the freshly emerging juvenile shoots are nutritionally superior to the older emerged shoots.
Changes in catecholaminergic pathways innervating paraventricular nucleus and pituitary-adrenal axis response during morphine dependence: implication of alpha(1)- and alpha(2)-adrenoceptors.

We have previously shown an enhanced activity of the pituitary-adrenal response in rats dependent on morphine, which occurs concomitantly with an increase in the activity of catecholaminergic terminals in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). The present study examined the possible role of noradrenergic system in the regulation of opioid withdrawal-induced activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity. Rats were given morphine by s.c. implantation of morphine pellets for 7 days. On the seventh day, morphine withdrawal was induced by s.c. administration of naloxone (1 mg/kg), rats were sacrificed 30 min later, and changes in noradrenaline (NA) turnover (estimated by the 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethylen glycol/NA ratio) and in dopamine turnover (estimated by the 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid/dopamine ratio) in the PVN (HPLC with electrochemical detection) and in plasma corticosterone levels were determined. We found a parallelism between the behavioral signs of withdrawal, an increased activity of noradrenergic and dopaminergic terminals in the PVN, and the hypersecretion of the HPA axis. Pretreatment with alpha(1)- or alpha(2)-adrenoceptor antagonists prazosin or yohimbine, respectively, 15 min before naloxone administration significantly prevented the withdrawal-induced corticosterone hypersecretion and attenuated the behavioral signs of morphine withdrawal. In addition, biochemical analysis indicated that both prazosin and yohimbine completely abolished the withdrawal-induced increase in NA turnover in the PVN. In contrast, neither prazosin nor yohimbine modified the hyperactivity of dopaminergic terminals in the PVN during withdrawal. Collectively, these data suggest that the secretory activity in the HPA axis after morphine withdrawal results from an increase in noradrenergic activity that is dependent on alpha(1)- and alpha(2)-adrenoceptor activation. Activation of dopaminergic pathways might not contribute to the neuroendocrine response during withdrawal.
The Structure and Acquisition of Reading II : The Reading Process and the Acquisition of the Alphabetic Principle

Human linguistic communication undoubtedly was originally by ear and by mouth, but men began to communicate with each other also by eye and by hand at least 20 millenia ago. The visual route of communication apparently developed on its own hook for some time, as men drew pictures representing their ideas, on rocks and walls of caves. This protowriting was based on man's natural ability to interpret the visual world meaningfully; it probably involved little or no reliance on concepts from the spoken language. Users of this kind of visual communication were perforce limited by artistic talent and ingenuity in representing all possible notions. Probably in consequence of this inherent limitation, "idea writing" eventually gave way to the representation of words of the spoken language itself; here an infinity of notions could be represented with finite means. But still, the number and variety of words, while finite, is very large, and it is not a trivial matter to think up and memorize a picture for each item. Eventually, writing systems that represented the sounds of speech were invented and came into wide use. Since all utterances can be represented in terms of relatively few speech-sound units, it now became easier to render by eye all those meanings originally conveyed by ear. The usual units of speech transcribed were syllables (as in the Mesopotamian cuneiform scripts). Only very recently, during the first millenium B.C., was the alphabet (a transcription of abstract phonemes) invented. The clear trend in this history, then, has been away from
Roles of GRP78 in physiology and cancer

As one member of 70 kDa heat shock proteins, glucose‐regulated protein 78 (GRP78) participates in protein folding, transportation and degradation. This sort of capacity can be enhanced by stresses under which GRP78 is induced rapidly. Unlike its homologues, GRP78 presents multifaceted subcellular position: When ER retention, it serves as the switch of unfolded protein response; When mitochondrial binding, it directly interacts with apoptotic executors; When cell surface residing, it recognizes extracellular ligands, transducing proliferative signals, especially in certain tumors. The close correlation between GRP78 and neoplasm provides us further insight into the event of carcinogenesis and cancer cell chemoresistance, indicating its prognostic predicting significance and validating potential therapeutics for clinical usage, especially because its small molecular inhibitors are emerging quickly these years. What's more, GRP78‐related signaling may be helpful for clearer understanding of its biological mechanisms. J. Cell. Biochem. 110: 1299–1305, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Terrain characterisation and gait adaptation by a hexapod robot

Legged robots are especially suited for traversing unstructured terrain outdoors. To maintain efficient locomotion, it is necessary to use appropriate gait parameters informed by terrain interactions such as slipping and sinking. Humans and legged animals inherently use this skill when walking. Effectively characterising the terrain with proprioceptive sensing provides information to the robot control system that can be used to inform a gait optimisation algorithm. This paper presents a novel methodology for any legged robot to characterise the terrain it is traversing in real time. This is achieved by introducing the concept of a timeinvariant gait phase. We also develop a method for on-line adaptation of gait parameters such as leg height and stride length based on these terrain characteristics. An experimental evaluation of the real time terrain characterisation methodology and gait adaptation system is presented. The experimental results show that through gait adaptation, the cost of transport can be reduced by up to 69.9% on a carpeted surface and 41.66% on a mulch-covered surface.
Toward an Understanding of Software Code Cloning as a Development Practice

Code cloning is the practice of duplicating existing source code for use elsewhere within a software system. Within the research community, conventional wisdom has asserted that code cloning is generally a bad practice, and that code clones should be removed or refactored where possible. While there is significant anecdotal evidence that code cloning can lead to a variety of maintenance headaches — such as code bloat, duplication of bugs, and inconsistent bug fixing — there has been little empirical study on the frequency, severity, and costs of code cloning with respect to software maintenance. This dissertation seeks to improve our understanding of code cloning as a common development practice through the study of several widely adopted, medium-sized open source software systems. We have explored the motivations behind the use of code cloning as a development practice by addressing several fundamental questions: For what reasons do developers choose to clone code? Are there distinct identifiable patterns of cloning? What are the possible shortand long-term term risks of cloning? What management strategies are appropriate for the maintenance and evolution of clones? When is the “cure” (refactoring) likely to cause more harm than the “disease” (cloning)? There are three major research contributions of this dissertation. First, we propose a set of requirements for an effective clone analysis tool based on our experiences in clone analysis of large software systems. These requirements are demonstrated in an example implementation which we used to perform the case studies prior to and included in this thesis. Second, we present an annotated catalogue of common code cloning patterns that we observed in our studies. Third, we present an empirical study of the relative frequencies and likely harmfulness of instances of these cloning patterns as observed in two mediumsized open source software systems, the Apache web server and the Gnumeric spreadsheet application. In summary, it appears that code cloning is often used as a principled engineering technique for a variety of reasons, and that as many as 71% of the clones in our study could be considered to have a positive impact on the maintainability of the software system. These results suggest that the conventional wisdom that code clones are generally harmful to the quality of a software system has been proven wrong.
Sexual victimization and physical symptoms in women.

that they can easily be rendered totally helpless by circumstance, and a forced confrontation with their own mortality. "Secondary wounding" with extension of the trauma can occur when medical and other caregivers manifest attitudes that suggest disbelief or blaming the patients for causing their own trauma. Implications that trauma survivors should have been more cautious, more intelligent, more resistant, or more morally outraged tend to be directed particularly to the victims of human-caused disasters. This unnecessary worsening of the original trauma, when based on a health worker's ignorance, burnout, or personal belief system, can be avoided. Secondary wounding can also occur at the hands of fellow trauma survivors, who happen, at that point in time, to be coping with their own losses by the use of denial of the adverse consequences. A natural result of primary and secondary trauma is internalization of the victim status. Though no longer in a traumatic situation, such patients adopt the disaster and its aftermath as the central, dominating event in their lives. They then use it to determine their general worldview and the way they think and act. Secondary prevention efforts must address these attitudes that underlie the "permanent victim" status: intolerance of one's mistakes and fear of seeming defective, weak, or cowardly. Research has shown that primary prevention in the form of rapid, brief psychiatric intervention and the use of support groups can minimize the development of persistent posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. The short-term use of benzodiazepine or antihistamine agents with anxiolytic or hypnotic effects can be helpful in selected patients not prone to chemical dependency. KATHLEEN BELL UNGER, MD San Francisco, California