Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Offspring from intracytoplasmic sperm injection of aged mouse oocytes treated with caffeine or MG132

Postovulatory mammalian oocytes age significantly in culture. B6D2F1 or ICR strain mouse oocytes were collected 16 h after hCG injection and then cultured for up to 40 h post hCG at 37°C under 5% CO2 in air. After intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), B6D2F1 and ICR oocytes lost full‐term developmental potential by 30 h and 26 h after hCG administration, respectively. However, using supplementation with 10 mM caffeine or 1‐5 μM of MG132, we could obtain live offspring from oocytes at 34 h (BDF1, 5%–21%) or 28 h (ICR, 5%–18%), whereas none were obtained from untreated aged oocytes. Caffeine maintained normal meiotic spindle morphology, whereas MG132 maintained maturation‐promoting factor activity. These treatments did not affect the potential of fresh oocytes for fertilization and subsequent development. Thus, it should be safe to use these chemicals in routine in vitro fertilization and offspring could be generated by ICSI of aged fertilization failed oocytes. genesis 49:460–471, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Temporoparietal Junction and Inferior Frontal Cortex Improves Imitation-Inhibition and Perspective-Taking with no Effect on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Score

Lesions to brain regions such as the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and inferior frontal cortex (IFC) are thought to cause autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies indicated that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the right TPJ improves social cognitive functions such as imitation-inhibition and perspective-taking. Although previous work shows that tDCS of the right IFC improves imitation-inhibition, its effects on perspective-taking have yet to be determined. In addition, the role of the TPJ and IFC in determining the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), which is a measure of autism spectrum traits, is still unclear. Thus, the current study performed tDCS on the right TPJ and the right IFC of healthy adults, and examined its effects on imitation-inhibition, perspective-taking and AQ scores. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that anodal tDCS of the right IFC and right TPJ would improve imitation-inhibition, perspective-taking and the AQ score. Anodal tDCS of the right TPJ or IFC significantly decreased the interference effect in an imitation-inhibition task and the cost of perspective-taking in a perspective-taking task, in comparison to the sham stimulation control. These findings indicated that both the TPJ and the IFC play a role in imitation-inhibition and perspective-taking, i.e., control of self and other representations. However, anodal stimulation of the right TPJ and the right IFC did not alter participants’ AQ. This finding conflicts with results from previous brain imaging studies, which could be attributed to methodological differences such as variation in sex, age and ASD. Therefore, further research is necessary to determine the relationship between the TPJ and IFC, and the AQ.
Updated growth curves for Turkish children aged 15 days to 60 months.

BACKGROUND Growth reference values are useful in paediatric health care as a health indicator. Secular changes in height for age values are also known to affect the timing of puberty and brain weight. Different populations may be at different stages of this secular trend. It is, therefore, necessary to periodically update the growth reference values for each population to identify these changes. The aim of this study was to update the growth reference values for Turkish infants and young children. METHODS Background information and height/length, weight and head circumference measurements on a sample of 2391 boys and 2102 girls were obtained from Well Child Clinic Records. The LMS method was used for the analyses. The percentage of exclusive breastfeeding was 62% at 4 months and 26.6% at 6 months. The continuation rate of breastfeeding at 12 months was 62.5%. RESULTS Comparison with previous Turkish data showed an increase in height of 0.9 cm for boys and 1.1 cm for girls at age 5 years. The increase in weight was 0.220 kg in girls, while a decrease of 0.160 kg was noted in boys. Comparison with the 2000 US and Swedish values indicated that population differences may exist in pre-pubertal years. CONCLUSION This study provides an enhanced instrument to evaluate the growth of Turkish infants and young children.
Disturbance of Cerebral Oxygenation and Hemodynamics Related to the Opening of the Bypass Bridge during Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to investigate changes of cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics related to opening of the bypass bridge during veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Ten newborn infants and 12 piglets were studied during opening of the bridge for 10 and 1 s, respectively. Changes in cerebral concentration of oxyhemoglobin (c O2Hb), deoxyhemoglobin (c HHb), (oxidized-reduced) cytochrome aa3 (c Cyt.aa3), and blood volume (CBV) were continuously measured by near infrared spectropbotometry. Heart rate, arterial O2 saturation (s aO2), and mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) were measured simultaneously. In the piglets, central venous pressure (CVP), intracranial pressure (ICP), and left common carotid artery blood flow (CaBF) were also measured. Opening of the bridge for 10 s in the infants resulted in a significant decrease in MABP, s aO2, and c O2Hb, whereas c HHb increased. CBV did not change significantly. In piglets biphasic changes were observed for MABP, CaBF, c O2Hb, and CBV, showing an initial decrease followed by a smaller increase. c HHb and CVP showed reverse biphasic changes. ICP increased but s aO2 was unchanged. In all cases heart rate and c Cyt.aa3 did not change significantly. Opening of the bridge for 1 s resulted in minor changes in only a few variables. In conclusion, opening of the bridge resulted in a decrease of CBV and cerebral O2 supply due to a decrease of cerebral blood flow, followed by a compensatory increase of cerebral O2 extraction and vasodilatation. The return of oxygenated blood after reclosing resulted in an increase of CBV with overcompensation of cerebral O2 supply.
Enhanced Expression of &bgr;3-Adrenoceptors in Cardiac Myocytes Attenuates Neurohormone-Induced Hypertrophic Remodeling Through Nitric Oxide Synthase

Background— &bgr;1-2-adrenergic receptors (AR) are key regulators of cardiac contractility and remodeling in response to catecholamines. &bgr;3-AR expression is enhanced in diseased human myocardium, but its impact on remodeling is unknown. Methods and Results— Mice with cardiac myocyte-specific expression of human &bgr;3-AR (&bgr;3-TG) and wild-type (WT) littermates were used to compare myocardial remodeling in response to isoproterenol (Iso) or Angiotensin II (Ang II). &bgr;3-TG and WT had similar morphometric and hemodynamic parameters at baseline. &bgr;3-AR colocalized with caveolin-3, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and neuronal NOS in adult transgenic myocytes, which constitutively produced more cyclic GMP, detected with a new transgenic FRET sensor. Iso and Ang II produced hypertrophy and fibrosis in WT mice, but not in &bgr;3-TG mice, which also had less re-expression of fetal genes and transforming growth factor &bgr;1. Protection from Iso-induced hypertrophy was reversed by nonspecific NOS inhibition at low dose Iso, and by preferential neuronal NOS inhibition at high-dose Iso. Adenoviral overexpression of &bgr;3-AR in isolated cardiac myocytes also increased NO production and attenuated hypertrophy to Iso and phenylephrine. Hypertrophy was restored on NOS or protein kinase G inhibition. Mechanistically, &bgr;3-AR overexpression inhibited phenylephrine-induced nuclear factor of activated T-cell activation. Conclusions— Cardiac-specific overexpression of &bgr;3-AR does not affect cardiac morphology at baseline but inhibits the hypertrophic response to neurohormonal stimulation in vivo and in vitro, through a NOS-mediated mechanism. Activation of the cardiac &bgr;3-AR pathway may provide future therapeutic avenues for the modulation of hypertrophic remodeling.
On the Effect of Demand Randomness on Inventories and Costs

We explore analytically cardinal effects of the extent of demand randomness on optimal inventory levels and the associated expected costs. To model changes in demand randomness, we make extensive use of a mean-preserving transformation commonly used in probabilistic microeconomics, as well as the notion of risk-pooling aggregating independent demands. For the single period news vendor model, the order quantity and associated costs are shown to depend on the randomness parameter in a simple and highly interpretable manner. We show by a simple example that in some situations risk pooling might neither reduce inventories, nor move them closer to the mean or median demand. The managerial relevance of such analyses is discussed.
Utility of oncotype DX risk estimates in clinically intermediate risk hormone receptor‐positive, HER2‐normal, grade II, lymph node‐negative breast cancers

Oncotype DX breast cancer assay (Genomic Health, Redwood City, Calif) stratifies patients with early breast cancer according to risk of distant recurrence. The authors hypothesized that the test is ordered when clinicopathological variables yield equivocal risk estimates. The current study also showed how often the test clarifies clinically ambiguous risk status.
Significance of Phosphorylated Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor and Its Signal Transducers in Human Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Previous studies have shown that total epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein is highly expressed in soft tissue sarcoma (STS). We aimed to investigate the significance of phosphorylated-EGFR (pEGFR) and its activated-downstream signal transducers in STS tissue samples. A tissue microarray comprising 87 STS samples was assessed for total EGFR, pEGFR and its phosphorylated signal transducers and expression was correlated with clinicopathlogical parameters including patient outcome. Although the expression of total EGFR was significantly associated with adverse STS histologic grade (p = 0.004) and clinical stage (p = 0.012) similar to pEGFR, phosphorylated protein kinase B (pAkt) and phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated kinase (pERK), it is not a prognostic factor for survival. By contrast, the expression of pEGFR is an independent factor for cancer specific survival, while pERK is an independent prognostic factor for both overall and cancer specific survival in STS (p < 0.05, Cox proportional hazard model and log-rank test) in addition to the recognised factors of tumour grade and clinical stage. pERK and pEGFR are new independent prognostic factors for overall and/or cancer specific survival in STS. The expression of EGFR/pEGFR, and their associated downstream signal transducers, was associated with STS progression, suggesting that EGFR downstream signalling pathways may jointly support STS cell survival.
Energy Aware Offloading for Competing Users on a Shared Communication Channel

This paper considers a set of mobile users that employ cloud-based computation offloading. In order to execute jobs in the cloud, the user uploads must occur over a base station channel that is shared by all of the uploading users. Since the job completion times are subject to hard deadline constraints, this restricts the feasible set of jobs that can be processed. The system is modelled as a competitive game in which each user is interested in minimizing its own energy consumption. The game is subject to the real-time constraints imposed by the job execution deadlines, user specific channel bit rates, and the competition over the shared communication channel. The paper shows that for a wide range of parameters, a game where each user independently sets its offloading decisions always has a pure Nash equilibrium, and a Gauss-Seidel-like method for determining this equilibrium is introduced. Results are presented that illustrate that the system always converges to a Nash equilibrium using the Gauss-Seidel method. Data is also presented that show the number of iterations required, and the quality of the solutions. We find that the solutions perform well compared to a lower bound on total energy performance.
Radio frequency spectroscopy of a strongly imbalanced Feshbach-resonant Fermi gas

A su! ciently large species imbalance (polarization) in a tw o-component Feshbach resonant Fermi gas is known to drive the system into its normal state. We show that the resulting stronglyinteracting state is a conventional Fermi liquid, that is, however, strongly renormalized by pairing fluctuations. Using a controlled 1/N expansion, we calculate the properties of this state with a particular emphasis on the atomic spectral function, the momentum distribution functions displaying the Migdal discontinuity, and the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. We discuss the latter in the light of the recent experiments of Schunck et al. (Science 316, 867 (2007)) on such a resonant Fermi gas, and show that the observations are consistent with a conventional, but strongly renormalized Fermi-liquid picture. PACS numbers: 67.85. De, 03.75. Kk, 03.75. Ss
Garbling Gadgets for Boolean and Arithmetic Circuits

We present simple, practical, and powerful new techniques for garbled circuits. These techniques result in significant concrete and asymptotic improvements over the state of the art, for several natural kinds of computations. For arithmetic circuits over the integers, our construction results in garbled circuits with free addition, weighted threshold gates with cost independent of fan-in, and exponentiation by a fixed exponent with cost independent of the exponent. For boolean circuits, our construction gives an exponential improvement over the state of the art for threshold gates (including AND/OR gates) of high fan-in. Our construction can be efficiently instantiated with practical symmetric-key primitives (e.g., AES), and is proven secure under similar assumptions to that of the Free-XOR garbling scheme (Kolesnikov & Schneider, ICALP 2008). We give an extensive comparison between our scheme and state-of-the-art garbling schemes applied to boolean circuits.
Caspian sea-level changes during the last millennium: historical and geological evidence from the south Caspian Sea

Abstract. Historical literature may constitute a valuable source of information to reconstruct sea-level changes. Here, historical documents and geological records have been combined to reconstruct Caspian sea-level (CSL) changes during the last millennium. In addition to a comprehensive literature review, new data from two short sediment cores were obtained from the south-eastern Caspian coast to identify coastal change driven by water-level changes and to compare the results with other geological and historical findings. The overall results indicate a high-stand during the Little Ice Age, up to −21 m (and extra rises due to manmade river avulsion), with a −28 m low-stand during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, while presently the CSL stands at −26.5 m. A comparison of the CSL curve with other lake systems and proxy records suggests that the main sea-level oscillations are essentially paced by solar irradiance. Although the major controller of the long-term CSL changes is driven by climatological factors, the seismicity of the basin creates local changes in base level. These local base-level changes should be considered in any CSL reconstruction.
The Role of Microbial Ecology in Glacier Retreat

Glaciers have been considered too hostile to harbor life for a long time. However, they are now recognized as unique biomes dominated by microbial communities which maintain active biochemical routes. Microbial communities inhabiting glaciers are diverse depend- ing on the type of glacier and the area studied. Some glaciers have a marine margin and finish in a calving front, with partly or completely temperate tidewater tongues, this establishes important differences with respect to glaciers with a land margin. Depending on the glacier area studied, microorganisms are also characteristic as they establish a vertical food chain, from the surface photosynthesizers in upper illuminated layers to heterotrophs confined in the inner part. Glaciers are retreating in many areas of the world due to global warming. Microorganisms are their most abundant and unknown occu-pants. They play a main role, carrying out key processes in the development of soil and facilitating plant colonization when glaciers have ultimately retired. These microorganisms are perfectly adapted to their harsh environment and are very susceptible to envi- ronmental changes. This chapter summarizes the role of microbial ecology as indicator of the conservation status of glaciers.
Identical Strength of the T Cell Responses against E2, nsP1 and Capsid CHIKV Proteins in Recovered and Chronic Patients after the Epidemics of 2005-2006 in La Reunion Island

To characterize the immunity developed by patients infected by chikungunya virus (CHIKV), we studied the intensity and specificity of CHIKV-specific T cells mediated responses in chronic and recovered patients at 12 to 24 months post-infection. T cells were challenged in vitro against CHIKV synthetic peptides covering the length of three viral proteins, capsid, E2 and nsP1 proteins as well as all inactivated virus particles. Cytokine production was assessed by ELISPOT and intracellular labeling. T cells producing IFN-γ were detected against CHIKV in 85% patient’s cells either by direct ELISPOT assay (69% of patients) or after expansion of memory T cells allowing the detection of both CD4 and CD8 specific-T cells in 16% additional cases. The IFN-γ response was mainly engaged in response to nsP1 or E2 (52% and 46% cases, respectively) but in only 27% cases against the capsid. The anti-E2 response represented half the magnitude of the total CHIKV IFN-γ production and was mainly directed against the C-terminal half part of the protein. Almost all patients had conserved a T cell specific response against CHIKV with a clear hierarchy of T cell responses (CD8 > CD4) engaged against E2 > nsP1 > capsid. More importantly, the intensity of responses was not significantly different between recovered and chronic patients. These findings constitute key elements to a better understanding of patient T cell immunoreactivity against CHIKV and argue against a possible defect of T cell immunoresponse in the chronicity post-CHIKV infection.
Conformal anomaly of (2,0) tensor multiplet in six-dimensions and AdS / CFT correspondence

We compute the conformal anomaly in the free d = 6 superconformal (2,0) tensor multiplet theory on generic curved background. Up to a trivial covariant total-derivative term, it is given by the sum of the type A part proportional to the 6-d Euler density, and the type B part containing three independent conformal invariants. Multiplied by the factor 4N3, the latter Weyl-invariant part of the anomaly reproduces exactly the corresponding part of the conformal anomaly of large N multiple M5-brane (2,0) theory as predicted (hep-th/9806087) by AdS7 supergravity on the basis of AdS/CFT correspondence. The coefficients of the type A anomaly differ by the factor (4/7) × 4N3, so that the free tensor multiplet anomaly does not vanish on a Ricci-flat background. The coefficient 4N3 is the same as found (hep-th/9703040) in the comparison of the tensor multiplet theory and the d = 11 supergravity predictions for the absorption cross-sections of gravitons by M5 branes, and in the comparison (hep-th/9911135) of 2- and 3-point stress tensor correlators of the free tensor multiplet with the AdS7 supergravity predictions.
An endogenous caspase-11 ligand elicits interleukin-1 release from living dendritic cells

Immune activation in context Dendritic cells (DCs) initiate protective immunity upon binding molecules derived from microbes or released from dying cells. Zanoni et al. examined how microbial and endogenous signals interact to shape the course of the ensuing immune response (see the Perspective by Napier and Monack). They found that oxPAPC, an oxidized phospholipid released from dying cells, binds to a protein called caspase-11 in DCs, activating an inflammatory program in these cells. Whereas caspase-11 binding to oxPAPC and bacterial lipopolysaccharide causes DCs to produce the cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) and undergo cell death, binding to oxPAPC alone triggers DCs to secrete IL-1 and induce strong adaptive immunity. Thus, context-dependent signals can shape the ensuing immune response. Science, this issue p. 1232; see also p. 1173 Oxidized phospholipids released from dying cells shape dendritic cell immunity. Dendritic cells (DCs) use pattern recognition receptors to detect microorganisms and activate protective immunity. These cells and receptors are thought to operate in an all-or-nothing manner, existing in an immunologically active or inactive state. Here, we report that encounters with microbial products and self-encoded oxidized phospholipids (oxPAPC) induce an enhanced DC activation state, which we call “hyperactive. ” Hyperactive DCs induce potent adaptive immune responses and are elicited by caspase-11, an enzyme that binds oxPAPC and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). oxPAPC and LPS bind caspase-11 via distinct domains and elicit different inflammasome-dependent activities. Both lipids induce caspase-11–dependent interleukin-1 release, but only LPS induces pyroptosis. The cells and receptors of the innate immune system can therefore achieve different activation states, which may permit context-dependent responses to infection.
Effect of Different Time Intervals between Examinations on the Reproducibility of ICDAS-II for Occlusal Caries

Aim: To evaluate intra- and interexaminer reproducibility of ICDAS-II on occlusal caries diagnosis when different time intervals were allowed to elapse between examinations. A subsidiary aim was to determine whether collapsing the codes would influence this reproducibility. Methods: The occlusal surfaces of 50 permanent posterior teeth were investigated by 3 trained examiners using ICDAS-II at baseline, 1 day, 1 week and 4 weeks after baseline. Results: Weighted kappa values for intra- and interexaminer reproducibility were 0.76–0.93. Conclusion: The time span did not have a major impact on assessing intra- and interexaminer reproducibility. Collapsing ICDAS-II codes had no impact on examiner reproducibility.
Recovering dynamic information from static handwritten images

This paper proposes an efficient method for recovering dynamic information from offline single-stroke hand drawing images. This method makes use of both the local analysis and global smoothness calculation. At first, a graph model is built from the skeleton. Then, odd degree nodes are resolved in a probability framework to detect the double-traced/terminal segments, and even degree nodes are analyzed by the node traversing ride (NTR). We estimate the probability of two strokes being contiguous pair by PCA based angle calculation. Then, double-traced lines are identified. Finally, we calculate the smoothness for each of the possible paths by SLALOM approximation and select the smoothest one. Experiments show that our method works successfully on cursive hand drawing images.