Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rhythmic Gamma Stimulation Affects Bistable Perception

When our brain is confronted with ambiguous visual stimuli, perception spontaneously alternates between different possible interpretations although the physical stimulus remains the same. Both alpha (8–12 Hz) and gamma (>30 Hz) oscillations have been reported to correlate with such spontaneous perceptual reversals. However, whether these oscillations play a causal role in triggering perceptual switches remains unknown. To address this question, we applied transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over the posterior cortex of healthy human participants to boost alpha and gamma oscillations. At the same time, participants were reporting their percepts of an ambiguous structure-from-motion stimulus. We found that tACS in the gamma band (60 Hz) increased the number of spontaneous perceptual reversals, whereas no significant effect was found for tACS in alpha (10 Hz) and higher gamma (80 Hz) frequencies. Our results suggest a mechanistic role of gamma but not alpha oscillations in the resolution of perceptual ambiguity.
Formation of ultrafine structure in as cast Ti7CuXSn alloys

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to investigate the microstructure and microhardness of novel Ti7CuXSn alloys. Ti7CuXSn alloys with x = 0, 1, 2·5 and 5 wt-% were synthesised using a well developed arc melting and casting method. The microstructure was analysed by means of optical microscopy, SEM and X-ray diffraction methods. The cellular grain size dG, lamellar spacing λL, volume fraction of Ti2Cu phases fv and microhardness HV were measured. The addition of Sn content into the Ti7Cu alloy can effectively increase the solubility of Cu in the eutectoid microstructure (α-Ti+Ti2Cu), induce transformation of ultrafine α′ martensite microstructure and increase the volume fraction of the Ti2Cu phase fv. Especially, ultrafine microstructures have been produced in as cast Ti7Cu5Sn alloys. The value of HV increases with the increasing values of , and fv.
Mature miR-17-5p and passenger miR-17-3p induce hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting PTEN, GalNT7 and vimentin in different signal pathways

Summary To study the physiological role of a single microRNA (miRNA), we generated transgenic mice expressing the miRNA precursor miR-17 and found that the mature miR-17-5p and the passenger strand miR-17-3p were abundantly expressed. We showed that mature miR-17-5p and passenger strand miR-17-3p could synergistically induce the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. The mature miR-17-5p exerted this function by repressing the expression of PTEN. In contrast, the passenger strand miR-17-3p repressed expression of vimentin, an intermediate filament with the ability to modulate metabolism, and GalNT7, an enzyme that regulates metabolism of liver toxin galactosamine. Hepatocellular carcinoma cells, HepG2, transfected with miR-17 formed larger tumors with more blood vessels and less tumor cell death than mock-treated cells. Expression of miR-17 precursor modulated HepG2 proliferation, migration, survival, morphogenesis and colony formation and inhibited endothelial tube formation. Silencing of PTEN, vimentin or GalNT7 with their respective siRNAs enhanced proliferation and migration. Re-expressing these molecules reversed their roles in proliferation, migration and tumorigenesis. Further experiments indicated that these three molecules do not interact with each other, but appear to function in different signaling pathways. Our results demonstrated that a mature miRNA can function synergistically with its passenger strand leading to the same phenotype but by regulating different targets located in different signaling pathways. We anticipate that our assay will serve as a helpful model for studying miRNA regulation.
Overview of methodological quality of systematic reviews about gastric cancer risk and protective factors.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE A comprehensive overall review of gastric cancer (GC) risk and protective factors is a high priority, so we conducted the present study. METHODS Systematic searches in common medical electronic databases along with reference tracking were conducted to include all kinds of systematic reviews (SRs) about GC risk and protective factors. Two authors independently selected studies, extracted data, and evaluated the methodological qualities and the quality of evidence using R-AMSTAR and GRADE approaches. RESULTS Beta- carotene below 20 mg/day, fruit, vegetables, non-fermented soy-foods, whole-grain, and dairy product were GC protective factors, while beta-carotene 20 mg/day or above, pickled vegetables, fermented soy-foods, processed meat 30 g/d or above, or salty foods, exposure to alcohol or smoking, occupational exposure to Pb, overweight and obesity, helicobacter pylori infection were GC risk factors. So we suggested screening and treating H. pylori infection, limiting the amount of food containing risk factors (processed meat consumption, beta-carotene, pickled vegetables, fermented soy-foods, salty foods, alcohol), stopping smoking, avoiding excessive weight gain, avoidance of Pb, and increasing the quantity of food containing protective components (fresh fruit and vegetables, non-fermented soy-foods, whole-grain, dairy products). CONCLUSIONS The conclusions and recommendations of our study were limited by including SRs with poor methodological bases and low quality of evidence, so that more research applying checklists about assessing the methodological qualities and reporting are needed for the future.
Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling Open Access the Velocity of the Arterial Pulse Wave: a Viscous-fluid Shock Wave in an Elastic Tube

Background: The arterial pulse is a viscous-fluid shock wave that is initiated by blood ejected from the heart. This wave travels away from the heart at a speed termed the pulse wave velocity (PWV). The PWV increases during the course of a number of diseases, and this increase is often attributed to arterial stiffness. As the pulse wave approaches a point in an artery, the pressure rises as does the pressure gradient. This pressure gradient increases the rate of blood flow ahead of the wave. The rate of blood flow ahead of the wave decreases with distance because the pressure gradient also decreases with distance ahead of the wave. Consequently, the amount of blood per unit length in a segment of an artery increases ahead of the wave, and this increase stretches the wall of the artery. As a result, the tension in the wall increases, and this results in an increase in the pressure of blood in the artery.
Ability of a cocoa product to prevent chronic Mg deficiency in rats

The ability of a cocoa-derived product, used in some European countries as a dietary supplement added to milk, to prevent chronic Mg deficiency was investigated. Wistar rats were fed an Mg-deficient diet supplemented with 3% (w:w) cocoa product (271 mg of Mg2+/kg of food). The concentration of Mg2+, Ca2+, and PO43- in plasma, whole blood, skeletal muscle, heart, kidney, and femur was measured after the rats had been fed the diet for 35, 42, 49, and 56 days. These values were compared with the results from rats fed a diet that was deficient in Mg (225 mg/kg of food) and in rats fed a control diet (557 mg of Mg2+/kg of food). On day 56, dietary supplementation with the cocoa product had significantly reduced hypomagnesemia and hypercalcemia and had prevented the appearance of hypophosphatemia caused by Mg deficiency. The cocoa-supplemented diet also substantially reduced the decreases in Mg in muscle, heart, and bone caused by Mg deficiency. Ca deposits in skeletal muscle and kidney were reduced, as were P .
Effects of locomotor stimulation and protein synthesis inhibition on circadian rhythms in size changes of L1 and L2 interneurons in the fly's visual system

Axons of monopolar cell interneurons L1 and L2 in the first optic lobe (lamina) of the fly Musca domestica undergo cyclical changes in diameter. These axons swell during the day and shrink during the night. In addition, the axons' size depends on light conditions since they are largest in continuous light (LL), somewhat smaller under day/night (LD) conditions, and smallest under constant darkness (DD). In this study we found that sizes of both cells can further increase in free flying flies under LD conditions, while the visual stimulation alone does not have significant effect on the cross‐sectional area of L1 and L2 axons. The stimulation of free flying had no effect on L1 and L2 sizes if it was performed at the beginning of subjective day in LL or DD. Our results indicate that a maximal increase in size of L1 and L2 is observed when stimulation of free flying is synchronized with a fly' daily peak of activity. We also found that protein synthesis is needed to increase size of monopolar cell axons during the day when they normally swell. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2007.
The Feasibility of Dynamically Granted Permissions: Aligning Mobile Privacy with User Preferences

Current smartphone operating systems regulate application permissions by prompting users on an ask-on-first-use basis. Prior research has shown that this method is ineffective because it fails to account for context: the circumstances under which an application first requests access to data may be vastly different than the circumstances under which it subsequently requests access. We performed a longitudinal 131-person field study to analyze the contextuality behind user privacy decisions to regulate access to sensitive resources. We built a classifier to make privacy decisions on the user's behalf by detecting when context has changed and, when necessary, inferring privacy preferences based on the user's past decisions and behavior. Our goal is to automatically grant appropriate resource requests without further user intervention, deny inappropriate requests, and only prompt the user when the system is uncertain of the user's preferences. We show that our approach can accurately predict users' privacy decisions 96.8% of the time, which is a four-fold reduction in error rate compared to current systems.
The data retrieval optimization from the perspective of evidence-based medicine

The paper is devoted to classification of MEDLINE abstracts into categories that correspond to types of medical interventions - types of patient treatments. This set of categories was extracted from Clinicaltrials.gov web site. Few classification algorithms were tested includingMultinomial Naive Bayes, Multinomial Logistic Regression, and Linear SVM implementations from sklearn machine learning library. Document marking was based on the consideration of abstracts containing links to the Clinicaltrials.gov Web site. As the result of an automatical marking 3534 abstracts were marked for training and testing the set of algorithms metioned above. Best result of multinomial classification was achieved by Linear SVM with macro evaluation precision 70.06%, recall 55.62% and F-measure 62.01%, and micro evaluation precision 64.91%, recall 79.13% and F-measure 71.32%.
Occurrence of Fruit Rot of Melon Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in Korea

In 2007 to 2008, a fruit rot of Melon (Cucumis melo L.) caused by Sclerotium rolfsii occurred sporadically in a farmer’s vinyl house in Jinju City. The symptoms started with watersoaking lesion and progressed into the rotting of the surface of fruit. White mycelial mats appeared on the lesion at the surface of the fruit and a number of sclerotia formed on the fruit near the soil line. The sclerotia were globoid in shape, 1~3 mm in size, and white to brown in color. The hyphal width was measured 3 to 8 μm. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth and sclerotia formation was 30 on PDA. Typical clamp connections were observed in hyphae of grown for 4 days on PDA. On the basis of symptoms, mycological characteristics and pathogenicity to the host plant, this fungus was identified as Sclerotium rolfsii Saccardo. This is the first report of the fruit rot of Melon caused by S. rolfsii in Korea.
American Meteorological Society Monthly Weather Review Early Online Release the Analysis and Prediction of the 8-9 May 2007 Oklahoma Tornadic Mesoscale Convective System by Assimilating Wsr-88d and Casa Radar Data Using 3dvar

This is a preliminary PDF of the author-produced manuscript that has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. Since it is being posted so soon after acceptance, it has not yet been copyedited, formatted, or processed by AMS Publications. This preliminary version of the manuscript may be downloaded, distributed, and cited, but please be aware that there will be visual differences and possibly some content differences between this version and the final published version. Abstract The Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) prediction model is employed to perform high resolution numerical simulations of a mesoscale convective system and associated cyclonic line-end vortex (LEV) that spawned several tornadoes in central Oklahoma on 8-9 May 2007. The simulation uses a 1000 km x 1000 km domain with 2 km horizontal grid spacing. The ARPS three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) is used to assimilate a variety of data types. All experiments assimilate routine surface and upper air observations as well as wind profiler and Oklahoma Mesonet data over a 1 h assimilation window. A subset of experiments assimilates radar data. Cloud and hydrometeor fields as well as in-cloud temperature are adjusted based on radar reflectivity data through the ARPS complex cloud analysis procedure. Radar data are assimilated from the WSR-88D network as well as from the Engineering Research Center for Collaborative and Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere's (CASA) network of four X-band Doppler radars. Three-hour forecasts are launched at the end of the assimilation window. The structure and evolution of the forecast MCS and LEV are markedly better throughout the forecast period in experiments in which radar data are assimilated. The assimilation of CASA radar data in addition to WSR-88D data increases the structural detail of the modeled squall line and MCS at the end of the assimilation window, which appears to yield a slightly better forecast track of the LEV.
Background correction for cDNA microarray images using the TV+L1 model

MOTIVATION Background correction is an important preprocess in cDNA microarray data analysis. A variety of methods have been used for this purpose. However, many kinds of backgrounds, especially inhomogeneous ones, cannot be estimated correctly using any of the existing methods. In this paper, we propose the use of the TV+L1 model, which minimizes the total variation (TV) of the image subject to an L1-fidelity term, to correct background bias. We demonstrate its advantages over the existing methods by both analytically discussing its properties and numerically comparing it with morphological opening. RESULTS Experimental results on both synthetic data and real microarray images demonstrate that the TV+L1 model gives the restored intensity that is closer to the true data than morphological opening. As a result, this method can serve an important role in the preprocessing of cDNA microarray data.
An enhancement module to improve the atypical birefringence pattern using scanning laser polarimetry with variable corneal compensation

Aim: To examine the repeatability and effect of an enhancement module on the severity of atypical birefringence patterns (ABP) using scanning laser polarimetery (SLP) with variable corneal compensation (VCC). Methods: 16 patients with perimetric glaucoma (PG), 24 glaucoma suspect and pre-perimetric glaucoma (GSPPG), and 12 normal volunteers (N) were included. One randomly selected eye of each volunteer was scanned three times using VCC and enhanced corneal compensation (ECC) at the same session by the same examiner. Typical scan scores (TSS) were calculated to evaluate the ABP. Coefficients of variability (CoV), coefficients of repeatability (CoR), and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated. Results: The mean TSS using ECC (n = 97.3 (5.5), GSPPG = 98.3 (3.5), PG = 99.2 (2.3)) was significantly higher (p = 0.02, 0.01, and 0.006, respectively) compared with VCC (86.5 (14.4), 88.2 (18.2), and 83.4 (2.2), respectively). VCC parameters had a CoR of 1.2–6.5, CoV of 1.9%–8.6%, and ICC of 0.8–0.9. ECC parameters had a CoR of 0.5–4.0, CoV of 0.3%–5.1%, and ICC of 0.2–0.9. TSNIT average was the overall best performing parameter with the highest repeatability and least variability using both techniques (CoR<2.1, CoV<2%). Conclusion: The enhancement module significantly reduced the severity of ABP and maintained a high level of repeatability of retardation measurements.
Influence of body size on swimming performance of four species of neonatal natricine snakes acutely exposed to a cholinesterase‐inhibiting pesticide

Locomotor performance is an important fitness‐related trait in reptiles because of its potential influence on prey capture and predator avoidance. Because cholinesterase‐inhibiting pesticides disrupt neuromuscular signaling, reduction in performance seems to be a logical translation of this biochemical disruption to the organism level. In the present study, we compared the swimming performance of four species of natricine snakes acutely exposed to a formulation of carbaryl to determine whether neonatal body size or skin permeability influences responsiveness. Exposure to high concentrations of carbaryl (2.5–5.0 mg/L) resulted in reduced swimming performance in all four species of snakes, and species responded similarly to the pesticide once body size was accounted for allometrically. Using traditional methods in physiological ecology to estimate skin permeability (a parameter that influences the dose of contaminant absorbed), we found that water flux across the integument also scaled allometrically with body surface area and, therefore, was similar among species after controlling for this relationship. We suggest that future studies examining the effects of repeated low‐dose exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors on performance parameters will be useful in assessing the ecological significance of our findings.
Self-supervised Monocular Road Detection in Desert Terrain

We present a method for identifying drivable surfaces in difficult unpaved and offroad terrain conditions as encountered in the DARPA Grand Challenge robot race. Instead of relying on a static, pre-computed road appearance model, this method adjusts its model to changing environments. It achieves robustness by combining sensor information from a laser range finder, a pose estimation system and a color camera. Using the first two modalities, the system first identifies a nearby patch of drivable surface. Computer Vision then takes this patch and uses it to construct appearance models to find drivable surface outward into the far range. This information is put into a drivability map for the vehicle path planner. In addition to evaluating the method’s performance using a scoring framework run on real-world data, the system was entered, and won, the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. Post-race log-file analysis proved that without the Computer Vision algorithm, the vehicle would not have driven fast enough to win.
Antibodies to Envelope Glycoprotein of Dengue Virus during the Natural Course of Infection Are Predominantly Cross-Reactive and Recognize Epitopes Containing Highly Conserved Residues at the Fusion Loop of Domain II

ABSTRACT The antibody response to the envelope (E) glycoprotein of dengue virus (DENV) is known to play a critical role in both protection from and enhancement of disease, especially after primary infection. However, the relative amounts of homologous and heterologous anti-E antibodies and their epitopes remain unclear. In this study, we examined the antibody responses to E protein as well as to precursor membrane (PrM), capsid, and nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of four serotypes of DENV by Western blot analysis of DENV serotype 2-infected patients with different disease severity and immune status during an outbreak in southern Taiwan in 2002. Based on the early-convalescent-phase sera tested, the rates of antibody responses to PrM and NS1 proteins were significantly higher in patients with secondary infection than in those with primary infection. A blocking experiment and neutralization assay showed that more than 90% of anti-E antibodies after primary infection were cross-reactive and nonneutralizing against heterologous serotypes and that only a minor proportion were type specific, which may account for the type-specific neutralization activity. Moreover, the E-binding activity in sera of 10 patients with primary infection was greatly reduced by amino acid replacements of three fusion loop residues, tryptophan at position 101, leucine at position 107, and phenylalanine at position 108, but not by replacements of those outside the fusion loop of domain II, suggesting that the predominantly cross-reactive anti-E antibodies recognized epitopes involving the highly conserved residues at the fusion loop of domain II. These findings have implications for our understanding of the pathogenesis of dengue and for the future design of subunit vaccine against DENV as well.
DYNAMIC FACTOR MODELS

Macroeconometricians face a peculiar data structure. On the one hand, the number of years for which there is reliable and relevant data is limited and cannot readily be increased other than by the passage of time. On the other hand, for much of the postwar period statistical agencies have collected monthly or quarterly data on a great many related macroeconomic, financial, and sectoral variables. Thus macroeconometricians face data sets that have hundreds or even thousands of series, but the number of observations on each series is relatively short, for example 20 to 40 years of quarterly data. This chapter surveys work on a class of models, dynamic factor models (DFMs), which has received considerable attention in the past decade because of their ability to model simultaneously and consistently data sets in which the number of series exceeds the number of time series observations. Dynamic factor models were originally proposed by Geweke (1977) as a time-series extension of factor models previously developed for cross-sectional data. In early influential work, Sargent and Sims (1977) showed that two dynamic factors could explain a large fraction of the variance of important U.S. quarterly macroeconomic variables, including output, employment, and prices. This central empirical finding that a few factors can explain a large fraction of the variance of many macroeconomic series has been confirmed by many studies; see for example Giannone, The aim of this survey is to describe, at a level that is specific enough to be useful to researchers new to the area, the key theoretical results, applications, and empirical findings in the recent literature on DFMs. Bai and Ng (2008) and Stock and Watson 2 (2006) provide complementary surveys of this literature. Bai and Ng's (2008) survey is more technical than this one and focuses on the econometric theory and conditions; Stock and Watson (2006) focus on DFM-based forecasts in the context of other methods for forecasting with many predictors. The premise of a dynamic factor model is that a few latent dynamic factors, f t , drive the comovements of a high-dimensional vector of time-series variables, X t , which is also affected by a vector of mean-zero idiosyncratic disturbances, e t. These idiosyncratic disturbances arise from measurement error and from special features that are specific to an individual series (the effect of a Salmonella scare on restaurant employment, for example). The latent factors follow a time series process, which is …