Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustained Maximal Voluntary Contraction Produces Independent Changes in Human Motor Axons and the Muscle They Innervate

The repetitive discharges required to produce a sustained muscle contraction results in activity-dependent hyperpolarization of the motor axons and a reduction in the force-generating capacity of the muscle. We investigated the relationship between these changes in the adductor pollicis muscle and the motor axons of its ulnar nerve supply, and the reproducibility of these changes. Ten subjects performed a 1-min maximal voluntary contraction. Activity-dependent changes in axonal excitability were measured using threshold tracking with electrical stimulation at the wrist; changes in the muscle were assessed as evoked and voluntary electromyography (EMG) and isometric force. Separate components of axonal excitability and muscle properties were tested at 5 min intervals after the sustained contraction in 5 separate sessions. The current threshold required to produce the target muscle action potential increased immediately after the contraction by 14.8% (p<0.05), reflecting decreased axonal excitability secondary to hyperpolarization. This was not correlated with the decline in amplitude of muscle force or evoked EMG. A late reversal in threshold current after the initial recovery from hyperpolarization peaked at −5.9% at ∼35 min (p<0.05). This pattern was mirrored by other indices of axonal excitability revealing a previously unreported depolarization of motor axons in the late recovery period. Measures of axonal excitability were relatively stable at rest but less so after sustained activity. The coefficient of variation (CoV) for threshold current increase was higher after activity (CoV 0.54, p<0.05) whereas changes in voluntary (CoV 0.12) and evoked twitch (CoV 0.15) force were relatively stable. These results demonstrate that activity-dependent changes in motor axon excitability are unlikely to contribute to concomitant changes in the muscle after sustained activity in healthy people. The variability in axonal excitability after sustained activity suggests that care is needed when using these measures if the integrity of either the muscle or nerve may be compromised.
Friendship supported learning – the role of friendships in first-year students’ university experiences

The student experience at university is impacted by student and institutional factors that combine to influence student wellbeing and engagement. This paper contributes to existing literature on student engagement by exploring friendships that are formed with other students. The qualitative study followed students at an Australian regional university throughout their first year of study. Drawing on Kahu and Nelson’s framework of student engagement, this paper reports findings on the influence of friendships on students’ psychosocial experiences, and on learning engagement outcomes. Findings indicated that students establish friendships with people with common interests, increasing a sense of belonging. Friendships also improve student wellbeing through increasing comfort in attending class, reducing stress, and providing opportunities to relax. Through initiating student supported learning opportunities, friendships also lead to opportunities for students to deepen their engagement: enhance student interest, develop positive learning behaviours, and increase cognitive understanding. ;
Robust Model Predictive Control for Time-Varying Systems

This paper extends robust model predictive control to problems involving linear time-varying systems with constraints and subject to persistent, unknown but bounded disturbances. The new controller guarantees constraint satisfaction and feasibility of the optimizations. Robust feasibility is achieved by tightening the constraints in the online optimization, with the advantage that the complexity of the optimization is not changed. This method is applicable to the control of constrained nonlinear systems by linearizing about a reference trajectory. The uncertainty introduced by linearization error can be accommodated in the disturbance model, and constraint satisfaction for the nonlinear system is then guaranteed.
An official European Respiratory Society statement on physical activity in COPD

This European Respiratory Society (ERS) statement provides a comprehensive overview on physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A multidisciplinary Task Force of experts representing the ERS Scientific Group 01.02 “Rehabilitation and Chronic Care” determined the overall scope of this statement through consensus. Focused literature reviews were conducted in key topic areas and the final content of this Statement was agreed upon by all members. The current knowledge regarding physical activity in COPD is presented, including the definition of physical activity, the consequences of physical inactivity on lung function decline and COPD incidence, physical activity assessment, prevalence of physical inactivity in COPD, clinical correlates of physical activity, effects of physical inactivity on hospitalisations and mortality, and treatment strategies to improve physical activity in patients with COPD. This Task Force identified multiple major areas of research that need to be addressed further in the coming years. These include, but are not limited to, the disease-modifying potential of increased physical activity, and to further understand how improvements in exercise capacity, dyspnoea and self-efficacy following interventions may translate into increased physical activity. The Task Force recommends that this ERS statement should be reviewed periodically (e.g. every 5–8 years). An official ERS statement providing a comprehensive overview on physical activity in patients with COPD http://ow.ly/C6v78
Sodium cromoglycate in childhood asthma

The review of placebo controlled trials of sodium cromoglycate (SCG) in childhood asthma by Tasche et al 1 concludes that “there is insufficient evidence that SCG has a beneficial effect as maintenance treatment in children with asthma”. We do not believe this conclusion is justified. The principal criteria for assessing the efficacy of inhaled SCG are the mean differences in the effect on the symptoms of cough and wheeze between SCG and placebo across all trials included in the review. The 95% confidence intervals for these differences are 0.12 to 0.27 for cough and 0.11 to 0.26 for wheeze. As the differences are in favour of SCG and the confidence intervals do not include zero, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that there is strong statistical evidence for a beneficial effect of SCG in children with asthma—the reverse conclusion to that presented. The review identified 24 randomised controlled trials and is claimed to include “all published randomised, placebo controlled trials”. Two published trials are not included (those by Berman et al 2 and Mikawa et al 3) and the trial by Silverman et al ,4 which is included, does not meet the author's criteria. Both excluded trials, which involved 472 children, reported statistically significant differences in favour of SCG compared with placebo. The study by Silverman et al compared the combination of inhaled SCG and isoprenaline with isoprenaline alone and did not include a placebo comparison. The authors have calculated a tolerance distribution for study effects and we believe it is this distribution which has been fundamentally misinterpreted. They provide a tolerance interval for the results of future studies based on the between study variation seen. The fact that this interval contains zero does not mean that there is no evidence of a difference between treatments, as …
Co-op Advertising: A Manufacturer's Counterstrategy to Store Brand

We study whether the introduction of a private label could be profitable for retailers and manufacturers. We also investigate if cooperative advertising could be considered a manufacturer’s counterstrategy to the store brand’s harmful effects. The literature that dealt with the issue of private label introduction was mainly concerned with pricing strategies. However, this problem has not been addressed considering other marketing efforts (flyers, displays, etc.). In this paper, we consider a distribution channel formed by one manufacturer and one retailer, and propose a game theoretic model that accounts for marketing efforts for the national brand, in addition to retail prices. Results are found by comparing outputs from three Manufacturer-Stackelberg games: 1the retailer offers only the manufacturer’s brand; 2the retailer sells a private label in addition to the national brand; 3the manufacturer offers a co-op advertising agreement to the retailer. Our findings generalize previous results and show that the private label introduction is profit-improving for both the retailer and the channel although it could harm the manufacturer’s profits. We show however that for a specific range of the retailer’s advertising efficiency and of the price competition intensity, the manufacturer could profit from the private label introduction. Further, our findings suggest that the coop plan is be an efficient counterstrategy for the manufacturer. Our model also predicts that the retailer would accept the implementation of the coop plan only if the national brand competes strongly with the private label.
Exploring Control Tensions in IS Project Portfolio Management

While the concept of control has been widely studied in information technology project management, and a plethora of mechanisms are commonly used to control information systems development (ISD) teams, very little research exists on the management, and particularly control, of IS project portfolios. Using exploratory case studies this research-in-progress seeks to contribute to practice by first using control theory as a lens to uncover a range of formal and informal control mechanisms used in IS projects and portfolios. Secondly, it will identify and categorise the tensions that exist between IS project and portfolio controls. Finally, it will uncover the implications of tensions between project and portfolio controls and their impact on the management of IS project portfolios. This work contributes to the advancement of control theory and provides new insights for theory and practice by integrating the study of tensions and control.
Influence of cellular ganglioside depletion on tumor formation.

BACKGROUND Gangliosides are immunosuppressive cell surface molecules that are often present in high concentrations in and shed actively by tumor cells. These molecules inhibit the antitumor immune response that is implicated in tumor rejection. We therefore determined the ability of tumor cells pharmacologically depleted of gangliosides to form tumors in mice. METHODS We tested a ganglioside-rich subline of B16 murine melanoma, MEB4, and MEB4 cells that had been depleted of endogenous gangliosides by incubation with 0.5 microM 1-phenyl-2-hexadecanoylamino-3-pyrrolidino-1-propanol, a specific inhibitor of the enzyme glucosylceramide synthase. Tumor formation was assessed twice a week for 10 weeks after the intradermal injection of tumor cells, and metastatic potential was assessed 4 weeks after tail vein injection of tumor cells. All P values are from two-sided tests. RESULTS Reduction of the ganglioside content of MEB4 cells, which was not cytotoxic to cells and did not inhibit cell proliferation in vitro, markedly reduced their ability to form tumors. Only 40% of the mice given an intradermal injection of 10(5) ganglioside-depleted MEB4 cells developed tumors compared with 100% of the mice given an injection of 10(5) control MEB4 cells (P<.001). Ganglioside depletion also reduced metastasis: A mean of five pulmonary metastases was detected per mouse given an injection of 2 x 10(5) ganglioside-depleted MEB4 cells compared with a mean of 25 per mouse given an injection of 2 x 10(5) control MEB4 cells. CONCLUSION Tumor cells with a pharmacologically decreased concentration of gangliosides produce fewer tumors in mice than do untreated cells, suggesting that pharmacologic depletion of gangliosides should be explored further as a therapeutic approach to cancer.
BcMF9, a novel polygalacturonase gene, is required for both Brassica campestris intine and exine formation.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The polygalacturonase (PG) gene family has been found to be enriched in pollen of several species; however, little is currently known about the function of the PG gene in pollen development. To investigate the exact role that the PG gene has played in pollen development and about this family in general, one putative PG gene, Brassica campestris Male Fertility 9 (BcMF9), was isolated from Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis, syn. B. rapa ssp. chinensis) and characterized. METHODS RT-PCR, northern blotting and in situ hybridization were used to analyse the expression pattern of BcMF9, and antisense RNA technology was applied to study the function of this gene. KEY RESULTS BcMF9 is expressed in particular in the tapetum and microspore during the late stages of pollen development. Antisense RNA transgenic plants that displayed decreased expression of BcMF9 showed pollen morphological defects that resulted in reduced pollen germination efficiency. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the homogeneous pectic exintine layer of pollen facing the exterior was over-developed and predominantly occupied the intine, reversing the normal proportional distribution of the internal endintine layer and the external exintine in transgenic pollen. Inhibition of BcMF9 also resulted in break-up of the previously formed tectum and baculae from the beginning of the binucleate stage, as a result of premature degradation of tapetum. CONCLUSIONS Several lines of evidence, including patterns of BcMF9 expression and phenotypic defects, suggest a sporophytic role in exine patterning, and a gametophytic mode of action of BcMF9 in intine formation. BcMF9 might act as a co-ordinator in the late stages of tapetum degeneration, and subsequently in the regulation of wall material secretion and, in turn, exine formation. BcMF9 might also play a role in intine formation, possibly via regulation of the dynamic metabolism of pectin.
Bcmfs1, a Novel Major Facilitator Superfamily Transporter from Botrytis cinerea, Provides Tolerance towards the Natural Toxic Compounds Camptothecin and Cercosporin and towards Fungicides

ABSTRACT Bcmfs1, a novel major facilitator superfamily gene from Botrytis cinerea, was cloned, and replacement and overexpression mutants were constructed to study its function. Replacement mutants showed increased sensitivity to the natural toxic compounds camptothecin and cercosporin, produced by the plant Camptotheca acuminata and the plant pathogenic fungus Cercospora kikuchii, respectively. Overexpression mutants displayed decreased sensitivity to these compounds and to structurally unrelated fungicides, such as sterol demethylation inhibitors (DMIs). A double-replacement mutant of Bcmfs1 and the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter gene BcatrD was more sensitive to DMI fungicides than a single-replacement mutant of BcatrD, known to encode an important ABC transporter of DMIs. The sensitivity of the wild-type strain and mutants to DMI fungicides correlated with Bcmfs1 expression levels and with the initial accumulation of oxpoconazole by germlings of these isolates. The results indicate that Bcmfs1 is a major facilitator superfamily multidrug transporter involved in protection against natural toxins and fungicides and has a substrate specificity that overlaps with the ABC transporter BcatrD. Bcmfs1 may be involved in protection of B. cinerea against plant defense compounds during the pathogenic phase of growth on host plants and against fungitoxic antimicrobial metabolites during its saprophytic phase of growth.
Electrical coupling between glial cells in the rat retina

The strength of electrical coupling between retinal glial cells was quantified with simultaneous whole‐cell current‐clamp recordings from astrocyte–astrocyte, astrocyte–Müller cell, and Müller cell–Müller cell pairs in the acutely isolated rat retina. Experimental results were fit and space constants determined using a resistive model of the glial cell network that assumed a homogeneous two‐dimensional glial syncytium. The effective space constant (the distance from the point of stimulation to where the voltage falls to 1/e) equaled 12.9, 6.2, and 3.7 μm, respectively for astrocyte–astrocyte, astrocyte–Müller cell, and Müller cell–Müller cell coupling. The addition of 1 mM Ba2+ had little effect on network space constants, while 0.5 mM octanol shortened the space constants to 4.7, 4.4, and 2.6 μm for the three types of coupling. For a given distance separating cell pairs, the strength of coupling showed considerable variability. This variability in coupling strength was reproduced accurately by a second resistive model of the glial cell network (incorporating discrete astrocytes spaced at varying distances from each other), demonstrating that the variability was an intrinsic property of the glial cell network. Coupling between glial cells in the retina may permit the intercellular spread of ions and small molecules, including messengers mediating Ca2+ wave propagation, but it is too weak to carry significant K+ spatial buffer currents. GLIA 35:1–13, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Challenges in developing opinion mining tools for social media

While much work has recently focused on the analysis of social media in order to get a feel for what people think about current topics of interest, there are, however, still many challenges to be faced. Text mining systems originally designed for more regular kinds of texts such as news articles may need to be adapted to deal with facebook posts, tweets etc. In this paper, we discuss a variety of issues related to opinion mining from social media, and the challenges they impose on a Natural Language Processing (NLP) system, along with two example applications we have developed in very different domains. In contrast with the majority of opinion mining work which uses machine learning techniques, we have developed a modular rule-based approach which performs shallow linguistic analysis and builds on a number of linguistic subcomponents to generate the ﬁnal opinion polarity and score.
Comparative Assessment of Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for Face Recognition

This paper addresses the relative usefulness of Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for Face Recognition. Comparative assessments are made regarding (i) ICA sensitivity to the dimension of the space where it is carried out, and (ii) ICA discriminant performance alone or when combined with other discriminant criteria such as Bayesian framework or Fisher’s Linear Discriminant (FLD). Sensitivity analysis suggests that for enhanced performance ICA should be carried out in a compressed and whitened Principal Component Analysis (PCA) space where the small trailing eigenvalues are discarded. The reason for this finding is that during whitening the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix appear in the denominator and that the small trailing eigenvalues mostly encode noise. As a consequence the whitening component, if used in an uncompressed image space, would fit for misleading variations and thus generalize poorly to new data. Discriminant analysis shows that the ICA criterion, when carried out in the properly compressed and whitened space, performs better than the eigenfaces and Fisherfaces methods for face recognition, but its performance deteriorates when augmented by additional criteria such as the Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) rule of the Bayes classifier or the FLD. The reason for the last finding is that the Mahalanobis distance embedded in the MAP classifier duplicates to some extent the whitening component, while using FLD is counter to the independence criterion intrinsic to ICA.
Birth, Death, and Diversification of Mobile Promoters in Prokaryotes

A previous study of prokaryotic genomes identified large reservoirs of putative mobile promoters (PMPs), that is, homologous promoter sequences associated with nonhomologous coding sequences. Here we extend this data set to identify the full complement of mobile promoters in sequenced prokaryotic genomes. The expanded search identifies nearly 40,000 PMP sequences, 90% of which occur in noncoding regions of the genome. To gain further insight from this data set, we develop a birth–death–diversification model for mobile genetic elements subject to sequence diversification; applying the model to PMPs we are able to quantify the relative importance of duplication, loss, horizontal gene transfer (HGT), and diversification to the maintenance of the PMP reservoir. The model predicts low rates of HGT relative to the duplication and loss of PMP copies, rapid dynamics of PMP families, and a pool of PMPs that exist as a single copy in a genome at any given time, despite their mobility. We report evidence of these “singletons” at high frequencies in prokaryotic genomes. We also demonstrate that including selection, either for or against PMPs, was not necessary to describe the observed data.
Intra-individual and crossover effects of work contact in leisure time on satisfaction with work-life balance

Using data from the 2015/2016 German Family Panel (pairfam), this article examines the intra-individual and crossover effects of work contact in leisure time on satisfaction with work-life balance. Results of mediation analyses show that individuals who have work contact in leisure time are less satisfied with their work-life balance because of the (perceived) obligation to be available after work hours. Partners, by contrast, are less satisfied with work-life balance only when the other partner actually has work contact in leisure time. The negative association between work contact/availability and satisfaction with work-life balance is mediated in both partners by work-home conflict.
Modulation of thermal stability can enhance the potency of siRNA

During RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) assembly the guide (or antisense) strand has to separate from its complementary passenger (or sense) strand to generate the active RISC complex. Although this process was found to be facilitated through sense strand cleavage, there is evidence for an alternate mechanism, in which the strands are dissociated without prior cleavage. Here we show that the potency of siRNA can be improved by modulating the internal thermodynamic stability profile with chemical modifications. Using a model siRNA targeting the firefly luciferase gene with subnanomolar IC50, we found that placement of thermally destabilizing modifications, such as non-canonical bases like 2,4-difluorotoluene or single base pair mismatches in the central region of the sense strand (9–12 nt), significantly improve the potency. For this particular siRNA, the strongest correlation between the decrease in thermal stability and the increase in potency was found at position 10. Controls with stabilized sugar-phosphate backbone indicate that enzymatic cleavage of the sense strand prior to strand dissociation is not required for silencing activity. Similar potency-enhancing effects were observed as this approach was applied to other functional siRNAs targeting a different site on the firefly luciferase transcript or endogenously expressed PTEN.