Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MIMO Interfering Broadcast Channels based on local CSIT

The Interfering Broadcast Channel (IBC) applies to the downlink of cellular and heterogenous networks, which are limited by multi-user interference. The interference alignment (IA) concept has shown that interference does not need to be inevitable. In particular spatial IA in MIMO IBC allows for low latency and requires little diversity. However, IA requires perfect and typically global Channel State Information at the Transmitter(s) (CSIT), whose acquisition does not scale with network size. Hence, designs that are optimal in terms of Degrees of Freedom (DoF) may not be so in terms of the more relevant net DoF, accounting for CSI acquistion. Also, the design of transmitters (Txs) and receivers (Rxs) is coupled and hence needs to be centralized or duplicated. Recently, a number of (usually suboptimal in terms of DoF) approaches with reduced, incomplete or local CSIT requirements have been introduced requiring less CSI acquisition overhead and allowing decoupled Tx/Rx designs. This network decomposition is aided by the for finite SNR more relevant topological IBC scenario. We shall discuss CSI acquisition and Tx/Rx design for topological IBCs and interfering HetNets (macro/small cell hierarchical IBCs). At finite SNR, essentially reduced rank MIMO channels may appear also and the transition to Massive MIMO furthermore introduces a reduced rank in the covariance CSIT, all allowing further network decomposition.
Pathophysiological Mechanisms of Sino-Atrial Dysfunction and Ventricular Conduction Disease Associated with SCN5A Deficiency: Insights from Mouse Models

Genetically modified mice provide a number of models for studying cardiac channelopathies related to cardiac Na+ channel (SCN5A) abnormalities. We review key pathophysiological features in these murine models that may underlie clinical features observed in sinus node dysfunction and progressive cardiac conduction disease, thereby providing insights into their pathophysiological mechanisms. We describe loss of Na+ channel function and fibrotic changes associated with both loss and gain-of-function Na+ channel mutations. Recent reports further relate the progressive fibrotic changes to upregulation of TGF-β1 production and the transcription factors, Atf3, a stress-inducible gene, and Egr1, to the presence of heterozygous Scn5a gene deletion. Both changes are thus directly implicated in the clinically observed disruptions in sino-atrial node pacemaker function, and sino-atrial and ventricular conduction, and their progression with age. Murine systems with genetic modifications in Scn5a thus prove a useful tool to address questions concerning roles of genetic and environmental modifiers on human SCN5A disease phenotypes.
Retrieval of Soil Salt Content From an Integrated Approach of Combining Inversed Reflectance Model and Regressions: An Experimental Study

Monitoring soil salinization has been a difficult process in arid lands due their large spatial and temporal variability. Hyperspectral remote sensing has offered a potential for faster detection of salinization process but mostly from empirical approaches. In this paper, an integrated approach combining model inversion and empirical regressions has been proposed for soil salt content (SSC) estimation from hyperspectral information obtained from controlled laboratory experiments. All soil samples were artificially salinized using Na2SO4, NaCl, and Na2CO3 (99% purity) salts to different levels and to different soil-moisture conditions, since soil moisture often jointly affects reflectance spectra with SSC. Hapke model was calibrated and validated for its simulation on soil reflectance and showed good agreements with measured data. The optimal values of single scattering albedo that was inversely retrieved from the Hapke model had good relationships with SSC at 2000-2200 nm for each treatment even under various soil-moisture conditions. Taking usage of these findings, the integrated approach obtained high accuracies on SSC estimations with R2's of 0.90, 0.86, and 0.72 and slightly dropped R2 's of 0.89, 0.81, and 0.67 for NaCl-, Na2SO4-, and Na2CO3-type saline soils under respective dry and wet conditions. The R2 decreased to 0.55 and 0.53 for dry and wet soils when salt types were ignored. The integrated approach provides a novel as well as an efficient way for SSC estimation from reflected spectra, and hence, we foresee its potential applications for large-scale SSC mapping from reflectance measurements.
Differential Effects of 17β-Estradiol and of Synthetic Progestins on Aldosterone-Salt–Induced Kidney Disease

Elevated mineralocorticoid levels and female sex hormones have been shown to confer opposing effects on renal injury, but their combined effects are still unknown. Objective: Identify the function of estrogens and of different synthetic progestins on aldosterone salt–mediated renal disease. Methods: The role of 17β-estradiol, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), and drospirenone during renal injury was studied in Wistar rats subjected to uni-nephrectomy plus aldosterone salt treatment. Results: Aldo-salt treatment of intact, ovariectomized, and estradiol-treated female rats resulted in remnant kidney hypertrophy without structural damage. Co-treatment with MPA, but not with drospirenone, increased kidney hypertrophy, fluid turnover, sodium retention, and potassium excretion. Medroxyprogesterone acetate also caused glomerular, vascular, tubular, and interstitial lesions that were accompanied by increased blood pressure and enhanced NADPH oxidase (p67phox) and sodium channel (α-ENaC) expression. Drospirenone, a progestin with anti-mineralocorticoid function, and spironolactone prevented kidney hypertrophy, hypertension, and sodium retention. Drospirenone and spironolactone also increased renal angiotensin II type 2 receptor expression and relieved aldosterone-induced suppression of serum angiotensin II levels. Conclusion: The choice of specific synthetic progestins has profound implications on the development of kidney injury and renal gene expression under conditions of elevated aldosterone serum levels and salt intake.
Corazonin Neurons Function in Sexually Dimorphic Circuitry That Shape Behavioral Responses to Stress in Drosophila

All organisms are confronted with dynamic environmental changes that challenge homeostasis, which is the operational definition of stress. Stress produces adaptive behavioral and physiological responses, which, in the Metazoa, are mediated through the actions of various hormones. Based on its associated phenotypes and its expression profiles, a candidate stress hormone in Drosophila is the corazonin neuropeptide. We evaluated the potential roles of corazonin in mediating stress-related changes in target behaviors and physiologies through genetic alteration of corazonin neuronal excitability. Ablation of corazonin neurons confers resistance to metabolic, osmotic, and oxidative stress, as measured by survival. Silencing and activation of corazonin neurons lead to differential lifespan under stress, and these effects showed a strong dependence on sex. Additionally, altered corazonin neuron physiology leads to fundamental differences in locomotor activity, and these effects were also sex-dependent. The dynamics of altered locomotor behavior accompanying stress was likewise altered in flies with altered corazonin neuronal function. We report that corazonin transcript expression is altered under starvation and osmotic stress, and that triglyceride and dopamine levels are equally impacted in corazonin neuronal alterations and these phenotypes similarly show significant sexual dimorphisms. Notably, these sexual dimorphisms map to corazonin neurons. These results underscore the importance of central peptidergic processing within the context of stress and place corazonin signaling as a critical feature of neuroendocrine events that shape stress responses and may underlie the inherent sexual dimorphic differences in stress responses.
A study on the production-perception link of English vowels produced by native and non-native speakers

This study explored the relationship between the production of the nine English vowels and the perception of synthesized vowels by thirty-five American, Chinese, and Korean, male and female speakers. The average formant values of the ten American English speakers were employed to synthesize the nine vowels that were presented to the thirty-five speakers. The center formant values of the highest and lowest formant boundary of the same vowel quality were collected and compared to the formant values of their productions. We found that there was a strong correlation between production and perception within and across the language groups. The American group had higher coefficients than the Chinese or Korean groups. The lower coefficients were related to the non-native speakers’ deviant production of the English vowels. In the cross-linguistic comparison, the American, Chinese and Korean groups perceived the stimuli about the same. Individual comparison by regressional analyses of the formant frequency data of the produced vowels and the center formant values of the perceptual test led to a very remarkable r 2 value. This suggests a very lawful relationship between production and perception.
Video Content Browsing Based on Iterative Feature Clustering for Rushes Exploitation

Rushes Exploitation We have implemented a feature-independent framework for video content browsing, which is based on iterative clustering and filtering of the content set. Plug-ins for content clustering using the features camera motion, motion activity, audio volume, face occurrences, global color similarity and object similarity have been implemented. A light table view is used for visualization in the browsing tool. We have evaluated the tool on the TRECVID rushes data with four browsing tasks defined by a textual description of the material. We measured precision, recall and the number of items found during the working time.
Fidelity and time resolution of the magnetostratigraphic record in Siwalik sediments: high-resolution study of a complete polarity transition and evidence for cryptochrons in a Miocene fluviatile section

SUMMARY The Surai Khola section in southwest Nepal, a 5000 m continuously exposed record of fluvial sedimentation since Middle Miocene, was revisited for high-resolution magnetostratigraphy in sequences with expected cryptochrons and reversals of the geomagnetic field. Polarity intervals with durations of a few tens of thousands of years are recorded as zones of stable palaeomagnetic directions. Polarity transitions are recorded as zones with complex demagnetization behaviour of specimens in the sedimentary column. Almost antiparallel palaeoremanence directions, residing in diVerent haematite phases in the same specimens, could generally not be separated properly by thermal demagnetization. DiVering demagnetization paths for neighbouring specimens during a reversal suggest that measured transitional directions are not true geomagnetic field directions, but rather are generated by the superposition of variable amounts of at least two almost antiparallel components of magnetization. Accompanying studies of recent river sand deposits demonstrate that these sediments acquire a true depositional remanent magnetization (DRM) with considerable inclination errors and scattered directions for individual specimens.
A Skp2 autoinduction loop and restriction point control

We describe a self-amplifying feedback loop that autoinduces Skp2 during G1 phase progression. This loop, which contains Skp2 itself, p27kip1 (p27), cyclin E–cyclin dependent kinase 2, and the retinoblastoma protein, is closed through a newly identified, conserved E2F site in the Skp2 promoter. Interference with the loop, by knockin of a Skp2-resistant p27 mutant (p27T187A), delays passage through the restriction point but does not interfere with S phase entry under continuous serum stimulation. Skp2 knock down inhibits S phase entry in nontransformed mouse embryonic fibroblasts but not in human papilloma virus–E7 expressing fibroblasts. We propose that the essential role for Skp2-dependent degradation of p27 is in the formation of an autoinduction loop that selectively controls the transition to mitogen-independence, and that Skp2-dependent proteolysis may be dispensable when pocket proteins are constitutively inactivated.
Integrating Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity: introduction

Hebbian plasticity is widely considered to be the mechanism by which information can be coded and retained in neurons in the brain. Homeostatic plasticity moves the neuron back towards its original state following a perturbation, including perturbations produced by Hebbian plasticity. How then does homeostatic plasticity avoid erasing the Hebbian coded information? To understand how plasticity works in the brain, and therefore to understand learning, memory, sensory adaptation, development and recovery from injury, requires development of a theory of plasticity that integrates both forms of plasticity into a whole. In April 2016, a group of computational and experimental neuroscientists met in London at a discussion meeting hosted by the Royal Society to identify the critical questions in the field and to frame the research agenda for the next steps. Here, we provide a brief introduction to the papers arising from the meeting and highlight some of the themes to have emerged from the discussions. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Integrating Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity’.
ODE: Ontology-assisted data extraction

Online databases respond to a user query with result records encoded in HTML files. Data extraction, which is important for many applications, extracts the records from the HTML files automatically. We present a novel data extraction method, ODE (Ontology-assisted Data Extraction), which automatically extracts the query result records from the HTML pages. ODE first constructs an ontology for a domain according to information matching between the query interfaces and query result pages from different Web sites within the same domain. Then, the constructed domain ontology is used during data extraction to identify the query result section in a query result page and to align and label the data values in the extracted records. The ontology-assisted data extraction method is fully automatic and overcomes many of the deficiencies of current automatic data extraction methods. Experimental results show that ODE is extremely accurate for identifying the query result section in an HTML page, segmenting the query result section into query result records, and aligning and labeling the data values in the query result records.
Neural Crosstalk Between Sympathetic Nervous System and Sensory Circuits to Brown Adipose Tissue

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a critical organ for non-shivering thermogenesis, which is under control of both sympathetic and sensory neural innervation. We utilized both a retrograde sympathetic nerve tract tracer pseudorabies virus and an anterograde sensory tract tracer the H129 strain of herpes simplex virus-1 to locate individual neurons across the neuroaxis that are part of the SNS outflow from brain to interscapular BAT and are part of the sensory input to the brain. We found specific neuronal phenotype of the double-infected neurons distributed from the hindbrain to the forebrain with highest densities in several discrete brain regions: the paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH), lateral hypothalamus (LHA), parabrachial nucleus (PB) and raphe pallidus (RPa). The neuroanatomical reality of the SNSsensory feedback loops suggests coordinated control of BAT thermogenesis at several sites and indicates plasticity of SNS-sensory crosstalk. INDEX WORDS: Sympathetic nervous system, Sensory circuits, Brown adipose tissue, Viral tract tracing NEURAL CROSSTALK BETWEEN SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSORY CIRCUITS TO BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE
A randomized, placebo‐controlled study of rofecoxib with paracetamol in early post‐tonsillectomy pain in adults

Background and objective: Effective and early treatment of postoperative pain and nausea have become pivotal for the early discharge of patients after tonsillectomy. Opioid‐based analgesia is standard practice but the use of non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs is discouraged due to their platelet inhibiting properties. The cyclo‐oxygenase‐2 selective non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs are effective analgesics and do not affect platelet function. We hypothesized that premedication with cyclo‐oxygenase‐2 selective non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug in addition to paracetamol would provide effective analgesia and decrease opioid consumption during early recovery from tonsillectomy. Methods: In a randomized, placebo‐controlled study of adult tonsillectomy patients (n = 40) one group (R‐group; n = 20) was premedicated with paracetamol 1.5 g and rofecoxib 50 mg and a control group (P‐group; n = 20) was premedicated with paracetamol 1.5 g and placebo. Morphine was used as rescue medication. Postoperative (24 h) pain scores (0‐10), morphine consumption as well as intraoperative blood loss were recorded. Results: We found no overall difference in pain scores between the groups but significantly more patients in the placebo group had pain scores >5 within the first 8 h. The rofecoxib group consumed less morphine during the first 12 h. A lower intraoperative blood loss was observed in the rofecoxib group. Conclusion: Our results suggest an early although clinically minor analgesic benefit of the addition of a cyclo‐oxygenase‐2 selective non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug to paracetamol as premedication for adult tonsillectomy.
Quantitative evaluation of hepatic cytochrome P4501A transcript, protein, and catalytic activity in the striped sea bream (Lithognathus mormyrus)

Hepatic cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) expression was partially characterized in the striped sea bream (Lithognathus mormyrus) from the Mediterranean coast of Israel as part of the process of establishing the CYP1A gene as an environmental biomarker. Reverse transcription‐competitive polymerase chain reaction, competitive enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, and ethoxyresorufin O‐deethylase (EROD) assay were used for evaluating transcript, protein, and catalytic activity levels, respectively, in absolute units. Highest elucidated transcript, protein, and catalytic activity levels were 0.264 ± SD 0.084 fmol/μg total RNA, 0.88 ± 0.52 pmol/μg total protein, and 1.11 ± 0.52 pmol resorufin/min/μg total protein, respectively, and the lower levels were 0.009 ± 0.007 fmol/μg total RNA, 0.17 ± 0.08 pmol/μg total protein, and 0.11 ± 0.06 pmol resorufin/min/μg total protein, respectively, demonstrating substantial induction potential. All alternate pairs of seven examined field samples, revealing a transcript‐level ratio higher than 1.7, also demonstrated a significant difference between their transcript levels, indicating a potential to detect relatively small biomarker changes (1.7‐fold) caused by environmental effects. Simultaneous triple measurements of transcript, protein, and catalytic activity were carried out in individuals from two field samples and during a 318‐d decay experiment. Fish from the field samples revealed significant alternate bivariate correlation between transcript, protein, and enzymatic activity. Conflicting results were found when analyzing the decay experiment, in which both protein and catalytic activity levels decreased significantly to basal levels, in contrast to no significant change in transcript levels throughout the experiment. No significant difference was observed between males and females regarding the levels of CYP1A transcript, protein, and EROD.
Value of Power Doppler and Gray-Scale US in the Diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Contribution of Cross-Sectional Area just before the Tunnel Inlet as Compared with the Cross-Sectional Area at the Tunnel

Objective To determine the value of gray-scale and power Doppler ultrasonography in the evaluation of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Materials and Methods Median nerves at the carpal tunnel were evaluated by using gray-scale and power Doppler ultrasonography and by using accepted and new criteria in 42 patients with CTS (62 wrists) confirmed by electromyogram and 33 control subjects. We evaluated the cross-sectional area of the nerve just proximal to the tunnel inlet (CSAa), and at mid level (CSAb). We then calculated the percentage area increase of CSAb, and area difference (CSAb-CSAa). We measured two dimensions of the nerve at the distal level to calculate the flattening ratio. The power Doppler ultrasonography was used to assess the number of vessels, which proceeded to give a score according to the vessel number, and lastly evaluated the statistical significance by comparing the means of patients with control subjects by the Student t test for independent samples. Sensitivities and specificities were determined for sonographic characteristics mentioned above. We obtained the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to assess the optimal cut-off values for the diagnosis of CTS. Results A statistically significant difference was found between patients and the control group for mean CSAb, area difference, percentage area increase, and flattening ratio (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.05, respectively). From the ROC curve we obtained optimal cut-off values of 11 mm2 for CSAb, 3.65 for area difference, 50% for the percentage of area increase, and 2.6 for the flattening ratio. The mean number of vessels obtained by power Doppler ultrasonography from the median nerve was 1.2. We could not detect vessels from healthy volunteers. Mean CSAbs related to vascularity intensity scores were as follows: score 0: 12.3 ± 2.8 mm2, score 1: 12.3 ± 3.1 mm2, score 2: 14.95 ± 3.5 mm2, score 3: 19.3 ± 3.8 mm2. The mean PI value in vessels of the median nerve was 4.1 ± 1. Conclusion Gray-scale and power Doppler ultrasonography are useful in the evaluation of CTS.
Two new breeding localities for the Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel Oceanodroma tethys kelsalli in Peru

Very little is known about the breeding, biology and numbers of O. t. kelsalli since it was first found breeding in natural crevices among rocks on Gallinazo and Guaca Islets, Pescadores Islands, and on San Gallán Island off the coast of central Peru in 1912 (Murphy 1936, Harrison 1983, Duffy et al. 1984). After breeding, this species ranges south to the coast of Chile (Araya & Millie 1992) and north to Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico and occasionally to California, USA (Harrison 1983). We present photographic documentation and information from two newly discovered breeding colonies of the Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel on Chao and Corcovado Islands, off the coast of north-central Peru (Figs. 1 & 2).