Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of NOS isoforms in internal spermatic veins of infertile men with varicocele

Although varicocele is a relatively common entity encountered in the evaluation of infertile men, the exact pathophysiology still remains unclear. Recently, as previously widely investigated in various parts of human circulatory system, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and its product, nitric oxide (NO) have been thought to play a role in the development of varicocele and thus male infertility. In this study, we determined the concentration of NO metabolite and the expression of NOS isoforms in the internal spermatic (ISV) and superficial branch of inferior epigastric veins of infertile men with varicocele. The study included 60 infertile men with clinically unilateral or bilateral varicocele. Expression of inducible and endothelial NOS (iNOS and eNOS) isoforms were investigated in tissue arrays of internal spermatic and superficial branch of inferior epigastric veins with immunohistochemistry. NO metabolite (nitrite) levels were measured using the calorimetric method. A significantly higher expression of eNOS was observed in the varicose veins (mean score: 2.25 and 1.55, respectively; p = 0.0001). However, statistically, there was no significant difference for expression of iNOS between varicose and control veins (p = 0.094). The nitrite concentration and NOS expression were not found to be correlated with clinical variables (varicocele grade, maximum varicose vein diameter, and sperm concentration, motility, and morphology) (p > 0.05). As a result, the significantly higher expression of eNOS in ISV may be responsible for the development of varicocele, although this finding is not accompanied by an increase in NO concentration. Still, the pattern of the relationship between varicocele and increased eNOS expression warrants further investigation.
Malsegregation as a possible mechanism of aneuploidy induction by metal salts in MRC‐5 human cells

Many aneugenic compounds are known to affect one or more components of the mitotic apparatus leading to an erroneous migration of chromosomes. Malsegregation occurs when a chromosome (or a chromatid) fails to migrate and remains at the metaphase plate. Nondisjunction implies the lack of dissociation between sister chromatids and the migration of both together to the same pole. The aim of the present study was to provide evidence that the aneugenic effect of some metal salts is the consequence of malsegregation at anaphase and that it is not caused by nondisjunction mechanisms. The frequencies of lagging chromosomes at anaphase‐telophase of mitosis, hypoploid metaphases, and kinetochore‐positive micronuclei induced by cadmium chloride, potassium dichromate, and cacodilic acid (dimethylarsinic acid) in MRC‐5 human cells were compared. The data indicate that all the tested compounds are able to induce aneuploidy in MRC‐5 human cells. Positive, statistically significant correlations were found when kinetochore‐positive micronuclei, hypoploidy, and lagging chromosome frequencies were compared. The results suggest that malsegregation is the main mechanism involved in the induction of aneuploidy by metal salts in MRC‐5 cells. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 40:200–206, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Drosophila melanogaster model of classic galactosemia

SUMMARY Classic galactosemia is a potentially lethal disorder that results from profound impairment of galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (GALT). Despite decades of research, the underlying pathophysiology of classic galactosemia remains unclear, in part owing to the lack of an appropriate animal model. Here, we report the establishment of a Drosophila melanogaster model of classic galactosemia; this is the first whole-animal genetic model to mimic aspects of the patient phenotype. Analogous to humans, GALT-deficient D. melanogaster survive under conditions of galactose restriction, but accumulate elevated levels of galactose-1-phosphate and succumb during larval development following galactose exposure. As in patients, the potentially lethal damage is reversible if dietary galactose restriction is initiated early in life. GALT-deficient Drosophila also exhibit locomotor complications despite dietary galactose restriction, and both the acute and long-term complications can be rescued by transgenic expression of human GALT. Using this new Drosophila model, we have begun to dissect the timing, extent and mechanism(s) of galactose sensitivity in the absence of GALT activity.
Process + Interaction + Insight : The Need for Analytic Provenance Panel

Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces. One key aspect that separates visual analytics from other related fields (InfoVis, SciVis, HCI) is the focus on analytical reasoning. While the final products generated from an analytical process are of great value, research has shown that the processes of the analyses themselves are just as important if not more so. These processes not only contain information on individual insights discovered, but also how the users arrive at these insights. This area of research that focuses on understanding a user’s reasoning process through the study of their interactions with a visualization is called analytic provenance, and has demonstrated great potential in becoming a foundation of the science of visual analytics. This panel builds upon a successful CHI 2011 Workshop to present the current state of analytic provenance tools, the needs of users, and perspectives on areas for future work, ending with a call to action for further research. The goal of the panel is to draw attention to this fertile research area and to elicit interest and critiques from the research community at large.
Design and evaluation of an auto-memoization processor

This paper describes the design and evaluation of an auto-memoization processor. The major point of this proposal is to detect the multilevel functions and loops with no additional instructions controlled by the compiler. This general purpose processor detects the functions and loops, and memoizes them automatically and dynamically. Hence, any load modules and binary programs can gain speedup without recompilation or rewriting. We also propose a parallel execution by multiple speculative cores and one main memoing core. While main core executes a memoizable region, speculative cores execute the same region simultaneously. The speculative execution uses predicted inputs. This can omit the execution of instruction regions whose inputs show monotonous increase or decrease, and may effectively use surplus cores in coming many-core era. The result of the experiment with GENEsYs: genetic algorithm programs shows that our auto-memoization processor gains significantly large speedup, up to 7.1-fold and 1.6-fold on average. Another result with SPEC CPU95 suite benchmarks shows that the auto-memoization with three speculative cores achieves up to 2.9-fold speedup for 102.swim and 1.4-fold on average. It also shows that the parallel execution by speculative cores reduces cache misses just like pre-fetching.
Defective Tapetum Cell Death 1 (DTC1) Regulates ROS Levels by Binding to Metallothionein during Tapetum Degeneration1[OPEN]

Timely production of superoxides is essential for initiation of tapetum degeneration in rice. After meiosis, tapetal cells in the innermost anther wall layer undergo program cell death (PCD)-triggered degradation. This step is essential for microspore development and pollen wall maturation. We identified a key gene, Defective Tapetum Cell Death 1 (DTC1), that controls this degeneration by modulating the dynamics of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during rice male reproduction. Mutants defective in DTC1 exhibit phenotypes of an enlarged tapetum and middle layer with delayed degeneration, causing male sterility. The gene is preferentially expressed in the tapetal cells during early anther development. In dtc1 anthers, expression of genes encoding secretory proteases or lipid transporters is significantly reduced, while transcripts of PCD regulatory genes, e.g. UDT1, TDR1, and EAT1/DTD, are not altered. Moreover, levels of DTC1 transcripts are diminished in udt1, tdr, and eat1 anthers. These results suggest that DTC1 functions downstream of those transcription factor genes and upstream of the genes encoding secretory proteins. DTC1 protein interacts with OsMT2b, a ROS scavenger. Whereas wild-type plants accumulate large amounts of ROS in their anthers at Stage 9 of development, those levels remain low during all stages of development in dtc1 anthers. These findings indicate that DTC1 is a key regulator for tapetum PCD by inhibiting ROS-scavenging activity.
Evaluation of Breath-Holding Test in Assessment of Peripheral Chemoreflex Sensitivity in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

Background: The sensitivity of peripheral chemoreflex is a marker of the severity of heart failure and the prognosis of the outcome in these patients. The assessment of chemosensitivity in these patients remains an actual problem. Objective: The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between a Breath-Holding Test (BHT) and single-breath carbon dioxide test and to evaluate the reliability of both tests in patients with Heart Failure (HF). Method: The study was performed in 43 patients with chronic heart failure. All subjects underwent BHT and single-breath carbon dioxide (CB-CO2), the evaluation of both tests was repeated a month later. Relationship of two test was evaluated by correlation analysis. Reliability was assessed with calculation of Standard Error of Measurement (SEM), Coefficient of Variation (CV) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results: The duration of the breath-holding was inversely correlated to the result of CB-CO2 test (r = -0.86 at first measurement and r = -0.79 after a month) The ICC was 0.87 (95%CI: 0.78–0.93) for SB-CO2 test and 0,93 (95%CI: 0.88–0.96) for BHT, the CV was 24% for SB-CO2 and 13% for BHT. SEM for SB-CO2 test was 0.04 L / min / mmHg and limits of variation was 0.11 L / min / mmHg; SEM for BHT was 3.6 sec and limits of variation was10 sec. Conclusion: Breath-holding test is a reliable and safe method for assessing the sensitivity of peripheral chemoreflex to carbon dioxide in patients with heart failure.
Comparativa entre OpenStreetMap y Cartociudad: caso de estudio de Valencia

OpenStreetMap se inicio en 2004 y ha crecido de forma paralela a los proyectos de software libre hasta convertirse en el ejemplo mas veterano y de mayor envergadura dentro de lo que se conoce como informacion geografica voluntaria (VGI en su acronimo ingles). El auge del uso de este tipo de datos deja, sin embargo, ciertas preguntas abiertas como por ejemplo: ? Hasta que punto son fiables los datos asi obtenidos? Cual es su calidad? En el presente trabajo se ha realizado una comparacion de los datos geograficos producidos por voluntarios dentro del proyecto de colaboracion OpenStreetMap, con los datos producidos por instituciones y armonizados dentro del proyecto Cartociudad. La intencion de la comparacion es evaluar la calidad de los primeros respecto de los segundos. Para ello se ha definido el termino de calidad cartografica y se han evaluado los diferentes elementos de calidad cartografica de OpenStreetMap: precision espacial y de atributos, complecion, calidad temporal y consistencia logica. El trabajo se realiza con los datos a dos niveles: municipio y/o provincia de Valencia. Los resultados de este analisis muestran que OpenStreetMap tiene una precision posicional y temporal mas que adecuada para usos geocodificacion y calculo de rutas. Sin embargo la heterogeneidad de la cobertura de datos y ciertas inconsistencias internas pueden comprometer su uso. A pesar de ello, se destaca el potencial del proyecto y de una solucion de calculo de rutas optimas (OpenRouteService) que utiliza con exito los datos de OpenStreetMap
Effect of Heat Treatments on Antioxidant Activity in Sucrose- Milk Protein Model Systems

An investigation was carried out to estimate the antioxidant activity in simulated milk beverage model systems at different heat treatments equivalent to industrial processing of dairy beverages. Model systems of sucrose and milk proteins (whey protein and casein) were given different heat treatments to generate Maillard reaction products. These MRPs were considered to elevate the antioxidant activity in dairy beverages. Percentage inhibition of DPPH as a measure of antioxidant activity was determined at different time intervals. The study showed that there was a significant difference in the free radical scavenging activity of samples at different time intervals at a given temperature.
Cbk1p, a protein similar to the human myotonic dystrophy kinase, is essential for normal morphogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We have studied the CBK1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which encodes a conserved protein kinase similar to the human myotonic dystrophy kinase. We have shown that the subcellular localization of the protein, Cbk1p, varies in a cell cycle‐dependent manner. Three phenotypes are associated with the inactivation of the CBK1 gene: large aggregates of cells, round rather than ellipsoidal cells and a change from a bipolar to a random budding pattern. Two‐hybrid and extragenic suppressor studies have linked Cbk1p with the transcription factor Ace2p, which is responsible for the transcription of chitinase. Cbk1p is necessary for the activation of Ace2p and we have shown that the aggregation phenotype is due to a lack of chitinase expression. The random budding pattern and the round cell phenotype of the CBK1 deletion strain show that in addition to its role in regulating chitinase expression via Ace2p, Cbk1p is essential for a wild‐type morphological development of the cell.
Egoizm i altruizm jako niesprzeczne motywy działań człowieka w świetle zasady wzajemności / Joanna Bierówka.

Myśliciele pochylający sie nad podstawą spolecznej egzystencji czlowieka probowali i probują odpowiedziec na fundamentalne pytanie: jaka sila, jaki mechanizm pozwala spoleczenstwu trwac i rozwijac sie? Konkurencja czy kooperacja, walka czy pomoc wzajemna, dązenie do realizowania interesu wlasnego czy preferowanie dobra ogolu, altruizm czy egoizm jest silą napedową ludzkiej cywilizacji? Nie zamierzam bynajmniej udzielac w tym artykule odpowiedzi i juz w tytule deklaruje pogląd, ze tzw. prawda lokuje sie niejako pośrodku. Pragne jedynie przedstawic przegląd koncepcji, ktore pozwolą byc moze spojrzec na poruszona kwestie wlaśnie z takiej perspektywy środka. Psychobiologiczna konstrukcja czlowieka ksztaltowala sie i ksztaltuje na drodze ewolucji. Ową droge ewolucji przedstawia sie w niektorych koncepcjach jako krwawą walke o przetrwanie, w ktorej wykorzystywane są rozne formy agresji. Za propagatora powyzszego poglądu uznaje sie Karola Darwina 1 . Trudno jednakze nie ulec wrazeniu, ze odniesienia te mają raczej symboliczny charakter i nie zostaly poparte wnikliwą analizą teorii ewolucji. W dziele O pochodzeniu czlowieka Darwin stwierdza bowiem, ze o sukcesie ewolucyjnym gatunku ludzkiego stanowily trzy elementy: zdolności intelektualne, zwyczaje spoleczne i budowa ciala. Wbrew koncepcjom, noszącym miano spolecznego darwinizmu, zwyczaje spoleczne czlowieka nie są wedlug autora teorii ewolucji ciąglą walką, ktorą mogą wygrac najsilniejsi i najlepiej przystosowani. Strategia przetrwania dla Homo sapiens to wedlug ojca ewolucjonizmu, „[…] spieszyc z pomocą swoim bliźnim i w z a j e m oczekiwac jej od nich [podkr. J.B. ] 2 . Darwin postrzegal wiec stosunki miedzyludzkie jako oparte na wspoldzialaniu i wzajemnej pomocy, przy czym zdecydowanie odroznial zacho1
A spectral approach to lower bounds

We establish a nonlinear lower bound for halfplane range searching over a group. Specifically, we show that summing up the weights of n (weighted) points within n halfplanes requires /spl Omega/(n log n) additions and subtractions. This is the first nontrivial lower bound for range searching over a group. By constrast, range searching over a semigroup (which forbids subtractions) is almost completely understood. Our proof has two parts: First, we develop a general, entropy-based, method for relating the linear circuit complexity of a linear map A to the spectrum of A/sup T/A. In the second part of the proof, we design a "high-spectrum" geometric set system and, using techniques from discrepancy theory, we estimate the median eigenvalue of its associated map. Interestingly, the method also shows that using up to a linear number of help gates cannot help; these are gates that can compute any bivariate function. The best feature of our method is that it is very general. With any instance of range searching we associate a quadratic form: any lower bound on the mid-range of its spectrum implies a lower bound on the complexity of that range searching problem. The main drawback of our approach is that it (probably) yields weak lower bounds. Another shortcoming is that the method does not seem to generalize to range searching over rings or fields. <<ETX>>
Bayesian feature selection and model detection for student's t-mixture distributions

In this paper, we propose a novel method for feature selection and model detection using Student's t-distributions based on the variational Bayesian (VB) approach. First, our method is based on the Student's t-mixture model which has heavier tails than the Gaussian distribution and is therefore less sensitive to small numbers of data points and consequent precision-estimates of the components number. Second, the number of components, the local feature saliency and the parameters of the mixture model are simultaneously estimated by Bayesian variational learning.
Serologic evidence for the presence in Pteropus bats of a paramyxovirus related to equine morbillivirus.

Dispatches 239 Two outbreaks of a previously unknown disease in horses and humans occurred in Queensland in 1994. The outbreaks occurred within 1 month of each other in Brisbane and Mackay, which are approximately 1000 km apart. In the Brisbane incident, 21 horses were infected of which 14 died or were euthanized after severe clinical signs of an acute respiratory disease. Two human cases were in patients with less well defined clinical signs; one patient died (1,2). In the Mackay incident two horses became seriously ill and died, and one person also died (3). Although it is now known that the two outbreaks occurred in August and September 1994, knowledge of the Mackay outbreak did not occur until late 1995 when the infected person died of a relapsing encephalitis. The name equine morbillivirus (EMV) has been proposed for a paramyxovirus isolated from four of the Brisbane horses and the first patient who died (2). In both locations, the index case appears to have been in a mare in late pregnancy, on pasture. The mode of transmission to other horses and to humans is unknown. In spite of intensive investigations, no connection has been established between the two incidents. At both locations, initial serologic studies of in-contact horses and humans failed to show evidence of neutralizing antibody, and it was concluded that infection by contact is uncommon. A subsequent statewide serologic survey of 2,411 horses has also shown no evidence of infection (4). At present, only seven horses have had antibody, and all were involved in the Brisbane outbreak. To evaluate the theory that EMV originated from a wildlife source, a trapping program was initiated, focusing on the location of the index cases, first in Brisbane and later in Mackay when the details of that incident became known. A total of 5,264 sera from 46 species were tested, none of which showed any evidence of antibody. Further information from the Mackay cases enabled us to think more logically about a possible reservoir host. Although virus was not isolated from the two horses, it was possible to amplify part of the EMV matrix protein gene by PCR. A comparison of the sequence of this PCR product with PCR product from the Brisbane cases showed that they were identical, indicating a common source of origin (5). In our consideration of possible reservoir hosts, the following criteria were applied to prioritize species for investigation: …
Optimal content design and implementation strategies of non-parallelism eLearning models

The eLearning solutions available today are observed to be designed as Parallelism platforms characterised by very good look and feel environment with all objects having ‘always-available’ status, and competing with the learning zone of each of the Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS). This paper proposes a non-parallelism design for eLearning solutions as an optimal strategy for enhancing learner's concentration and so minimising the impact of most learner distractors within LCMS. The paper also identifies some vital content development and implementation tools aimed at optimising the quality and deliverables of eLearning systems.
Approximating Marginals Using Discrete Energy Minimization

We consider the problem of inference in agraphical model with binary variables. While in theory it is arguably preferable to compute marginal probabilities, in practice researchers often use MAP inference due to the availability of efficient discrete optimization algorithms. We bridge the gap between the two approaches by introducing the Discrete Marginals technique in which approximate marginals are obtained by minimizing an objective function with unary and pair-wise terms over a discretized domain. This allows the use of techniques originally devel-oped for MAP-MRF inference and learning. We explore two ways to set up the objective function - by discretizing the Bethe free energy and by learning it from training data. Experimental results show that for certain types of graphs a learned function can out-perform the Bethe approximation. We also establish a link between the Bethe free energy and submodular functions.
Thermal Parametric Imaging in the Evaluation of Skin Burn Depth

The aim of this paper is to determine the extent to which infrared (IR) thermal imaging may be used for skin burn depth evaluation. The analysis can be made on the basis of the development of a thermal model of the burned skin. Different methods such as the traditional clinical visual approach and the IR imaging modalities of static IR thermal imaging, active IR thermal imaging and active-dynamic IR thermal imaging (ADT) are analyzed from the point of view of skin burn depth diagnostics. In ADT, a new approach is proposed on the basis of parametric image synthesis. Calculation software is implemented for single-node and distributed systems. The properties of all the methods are verified in experiments using phantoms and subsequently in vivo with animals with a reference histopathological examination. The results indicate that it is possible to distinguish objectively and quantitatively burns which will heal spontaneously within three weeks of infliction and which should be treated conservatively from those which need surgery because they will not heal within this period
Crystal structure of NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase from pig liver at 2.4 A resolution.

The three-dimensional structure of NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase from pig liver microsomes has been determined at 2.4 A resolution by X-ray crystallography. The molecular structure reveals two domains, the FAD binding domain and the NADH domain. A large cleft lies between these two domains and contains the binding site for the FAD prosthetic group. The backbone structure of the FAD binding domain has a great similarity to that of ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase [Karplus, P. A. , Daniels, M. J., & Herriott, J. R. (1991) Science 251, 60-65], in spite of the relatively low sequence homology (about 15%) between the two enzymes. On the other hand, the structure of the NADH domain has several structural differences from that of the NADP+ domain of ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase. The size of the cleft between the two domains is larger in NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase than in ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase, which may be responsible for the observed difference in the nucleotide accessibility in the two enzymes.