Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunocytochemical studies of cardiac myofibrillogenesis in early chick embryos. III. Generation of fasciae adherentes and costameres

To study whether the first myofibrils are separate from or firmly bound to the myocytic cell membranes, whole mount preparations of 6-12-somite- stage chick embryonic hearts were examined by fluorescence microscopy after double labeling with antibodies to vinculin (fluorescein- conjugated) and rhodamine-phalloidin, or with antibodies to titin (rhodamine-conjugated) and nitrobenz-oxadiazole-phallacidin. When a small number of myofibrils appeared for the first time at the nine somite stage, most of them were already bound to the cell membranes through zonulae adherentes, fasciae adherentes, or costameres. In the outer of the two myocardial cell layers, in which the myocytes were closely in contact with each other along polygonal boundaries, fasciae adherentes and costameres developed at the boundaries, apparently by conversion of preexisting zonulae adherentes. On the other hand, in the inner cell layer, in which myocytes were more loosely associated with each other, both costameres and fasciae adherentes appeared to develop de novo, the former in association with the inner surface of the myocardial wall and the latter at the intercellular boundaries. The myofibrillar tracks in the inner layer followed long and smooth courses and were as a whole aligned in the circumferential direction of the tubular heart wall from the earliest stage of myofibril formation. Those in the outer layer were arranged in a pattern of two- or three- dimensional networks in the 9-10 somite stage, although many myofibrils were also circumferentially directed. The fact that the majority of the first myofibrils were already bound to the cell membranes in a directed manner suggests that myocytes at the earliest stage of myofibril formation are endowed with spatial information that directs the organization of nascent myofibrils. It is proposed that the myocyte cell membranes perform an essential role in cardiac myofibrillogenesis.
Properties and device applications of silicon and silicon-germanium nanostructures with different dimensions

PROPERTIES AND DEVICE APPLICATIONS OF SILICON AND SILICON-GERMANIUM NANOSTRUCTURES WITH DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS by Han-Yun Chang Defect-free crystalline Si/SiGe(Ge) nanostructures are demonstrated despite the 4% lattice mismatch between Si and Ge. The lattice mismatch-induced strain is sufficiently relaxed through the designed, cluster morphology, or nanowire (NW) structures. Future device applications of these nano structures require complete understanding of their structural, optical, electrical and thermal properties. This study explores these properties in two-dimensional (2D) Si/Si:B delta-doped multilayers, 2D Si/Si 1-x Ge xplanar multilayers, three-dimensional (3D) Si/Si 1-xGex cluster multilayers, one-dimensional (1D) Si NWs and 1D Si/Ge NW heterojunctions (HJs). Raman scattering and photoluminescence measurements show that by alternating heavily boron-doped layers with layers of undoped Si in Si/Si:B multilayers, dopant segregation and strain can be avoided. Current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements show Schottky-barrier-like characteristics in these nano structures. The studied samples exhibit significant dependence of optical reflection on temperature and applied electric field, and hence have a potential to be used as electrically controllable mirrors. High Ge content 2D (planar) and 3D (cluster) Si/SiGe multilayers are studied thoroughly using Raman spectroscopy. Low frequency Raman measurements show formation of strong folded longitudinal acoustic (FLA) phonons in the 2D sample, indicating abrupt interfaces and good superlattice structure. By utilizing the multi-modal feature of Raman scattering, local temperatures are found by comparing the intensities of Stokes and anti-Stokes signals at specific wavenumbers, and the thermal conductivity of each sample is estimated. A strong correlation between FLA and thermal conductivity is found: in samples with high intensity FLA, thermal conductivity is almost twice increases, when compare to samples without FLA. Fabrications of Si NWs and Si/Ge NW HJs are explored, including interferencelithography-based photoresist patterning for Au catalysts. Raman spectroscopy shows significant strain in Si NWs and Si/Ge NW HJs. In the HJs, the temperature dependence in PL peak positions suggested a preferential composition at the hetero-junction. Raman-spectroscopy-based temperature measurements show significant decrease in the thermal conductivity of NW HJs: more than one order of magnitude less than that in Si NWs and two orders of magnitude less than that in c-Si. The high mobility and good carrier transport, combined with the substantially decreased thermal conductivity gives these Si/Ge and Si/SiGe nanostructures great potential in CMOS compatible, integrated thermoelectric device applications. PROPERTIES AND DEVICE APPLICATIONS OF SILICON AND SILICON-GERMANIUM NANOSTRUCTURES WITH DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS
Antenna de-embedding in WBAN channel modeling using spherical wave functions: Transmit antenna model validation

For designing reliable wireless body area network (WBAN) systems, channel modeling plays an important role. Antenna de-embedding, in which the contribution of antennas is separately modeled from the channel, has been one of the biggest challenges in WBAN channel modeling. While the antenna de-embedding in mobile communication has been achieved by double-directional channel modeling, this approach can not be applied to the WBAN channel because the antennas are operating close to the human body. Instead, this paper evaluates an antenna de-embedding scheme using spherical-wave-functions (SWFs). The antennas are modeled by the spherical wave coefficients. The channel without the antennas is modeled by a mode-to-mode mapping matrix M which describes the relationship between the radiated and impinging spherical waves. This paper shows the numerical validation of the transmit antenna model. The E-field distribution throughout the region is successfully reproduced by the antenna model in the proposed approach.
River‐Induced Flow Dynamics in Long‐Screen Wells and Impact on Aqueous Samples

Previously published field investigations and modeling studies have demonstrated the potential for sample bias associated with vertical wellbore flow in conventional monitoring wells constructed with long‐screened intervals. This article builds on the existing body of literature by (1) demonstrating the utility of continuous (i.e., hourly measurements for ∼1 month) ambient wellbore flow monitoring and (2) presenting results from a field experiment where relatively large wellbore flows (up to 4 L/min) were induced by aquifer hydrodynamics associated with a fluctuating river boundary located approximately 250 m from the test well. The observed vertical wellbore flows were strongly correlated with fluctuations in river stage, alternating between upward and downward flow throughout the monitoring period in response to changes in river stage. Continuous monitoring of ambient wellbore flows using an electromagnetic borehole flowmeter allowed these effects to be evaluated in concert with continuously monitored river‐stage elevations (hourly) and aqueous uranium concentrations (daily) in a long‐screen well and an adjacent multilevel well cluster. This study demonstrates that when contaminant concentrations within the aquifer vary significantly over the depth interval interrogated, river‐induced vertical wellbore flow can result in variations in measured concentration that nearly encompass the full range of variation in aquifer contaminant concentration with depth.
Effect of Turmeric Rhizome Powder (Curcuma longa) and Soluble NSP Degrading Enzyme on Some Blood Parameters of Laying Hens

In order to study the effect of turmeric rhizome powder (TU) and enzyme in some blood parameters of laying hens, an in vivo study was conducted. In a 5 * 2 completely randomized block design with factorial arrangement, 5 levels of TU (0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 %) and 2 levels of enzyme (0.0, and 0.05%) with 4 blocks (replicate) , 480, 100-week old laying hens for 4 weeks fed wheat-soybean meal based diets. Some serum blood parameters of laying hens including hematocrit value, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL and LDL-cholesterol were recorded at 104 weeks of age. Increasing dietary levels of TU with or without a dietary enzyme significantly decreased serum triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (P<0.05). TU without enzyme significantly increased HDL-cholesterol. It was concluded that dietary supplementation of TU improves some of good indices of serum blood components in laying hens and might be used as an ingredient in laying hen diets for manipulating egg composition.
1993 VW: an ordinary chondrite-like near-Earth asteroid.

The optical reeectance spectrum of the near-Earth asteroid 1993 VW was measured over the wavelength range 4500 { 9200 A using the 1.52 m telescope of the European Southern Observatory and a CCD spectrograph. This object, as supposed, has been found to show spectral properties resembling the rare Q taxonomic type asteroids and possibly ordinary chondrite meteorites.
Medical Care and Payment for Diabetes in China: Enormous Threat and Great Opportunity

Background The Diabetes Impact Study followed up a large national population-based screening study to estimate the use of and expenditures for medical care caused by diabetes in China and to ascertain the use and cost of essential basic medicines and care. Methods In 2009–10, the study team interviewed 1482 adults with diabetes and 1553 adults with glucose tolerance in the normal range from population-based random samples at 12 sites in China. The response rate was 67%. Findings After adjusting for age, sex, and urban/rural location, people with diabetes received 1.93 times more days of inpatient treatment, 2.40 times more outpatient visits, and 3.35 times more medications than people with normal glucose tolerance (all p<0.05). Adjusted expenditures for medical care were 3.38 times higher among people with diabetes than among people with normal glucose tolerance (p<0.01, unadjusted 3.97). Persons who were diagnosed with ≥10 years prior to the survey paid 3.75 times as much for medical care as those with ≤5 years of diagnosed diabetes. Among persons with diabetes, 45.2% took medication to control blood sugar, 21.1% took an antihypertensive medicine, 22.4% took daily aspirin, and 1.8% took a statin. Over the three months before the interview, 46.1% of persons with diabetes recalled seeing a doctor, 48.9% recalled a blood pressure measurement, and 54.5% recalled a blood sugar test. Over the year preceding the interview, 32.1% recalled a retinal screening and 17.9% recalled a foot examination. Conclusions In China, health care use and costs were dramatically higher for people with diabetes than for people with normal glucose tolerance and, in relative terms, much higher than in industrialized countries. Low-cost generic medicines that would reduce diabetes expenditures were not fully used.
A DSL compiler for accelerating image processing pipelines on FPGAs

This paper describes an automatic approach to accelerate image processing pipelines using FPGAs. An image processing pipeline can be viewed as a graph of interconnected stages that processes images successively. Each stage typically performs a point-wise, stencil, or other more complex operations on image pixels. Recent efforts have led to the development of domain-specific languages (DSL) and optimization frameworks for image processing pipelines. In this paper, we develop an approach to map image processing pipelines expressed in the PolyMage DSL to efficient parallel FPGA designs. Our approach exploits reuse and available memory bandwidth (or chip resources) maximally. When compared to Darkroom, a state-of-the-art approach to compile high-level DSL to FPGAs, our approach (a) leads to designs that deliver significantly higher throughput, and (b) supports a greater variety of filters. Furthermore, the designs we generate obtain an improvement even over pre-optimized FPGA implementations provided by vendor libraries for some of the benchmarks.
Probiotics prevent growth deficit of colon wall strata of malnourished rats post-lactation.

The objective of this study was to analyze morphometrically the colon wall strata of malnourished rats supplemented with probiotics. Sixteen recently weaned Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) were distributed into four groups: animals that received commercial chow (G1, n = 4); animals that received the same feed as G1 and were supplemented with probiotics (G2, n = 4); animals that received chow with 4% of proteins (G3, n = 4); animals that received the same feed as G3 and were supplemented with probiotics (G4, n = 4). After 12 weeks, the proximal colon was collected and submitted to histological processing. Three-µm cuts were stained with H.E. , Periodic Acid Schifff (P.A.S.) + diasthasis solution and Alcian Blue (A.B.) pH 2.5 and pH 1.0. The morphometric analysis of the intestinal wall showed that the supplementation with ABT-4 probiotic culture prevents the growth deficit of colon wall strata that normally occurs in malnourished rats right after lactation. Besides, no alteration was observed in the proportion of the number of globet cells in relation to the number of enterocytes in malnourished rats, regardless of the supplementation with probiotics.
Neuronal factors determining high intelligence

Many attempts have been made to correlate degrees of both animal and human intelligence with brain properties. With respect to mammals, a much-discussed trait concerns absolute and relative brain size, either uncorrected or corrected for body size. However, the correlation of both with degrees of intelligence yields large inconsistencies, because although they are regarded as the most intelligent mammals, monkeys and apes, including humans, have neither the absolutely nor the relatively largest brains. The best fit between brain traits and degrees of intelligence among mammals is reached by a combination of the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity—factors that determine general information processing capacity (IPC), as reflected by general intelligence. The highest IPC is found in humans, followed by the great apes, Old World and New World monkeys. The IPC of cetaceans and elephants is much lower because of a thin cortex, low neuron packing density and low axonal conduction velocity. By contrast, corvid and psittacid birds have very small and densely packed pallial neurons and relatively many neurons, which, despite very small brain volumes, might explain their high intelligence. The evolution of a syntactical and grammatical language in humans most probably has served as an additional intelligence amplifier, which may have happened in songbirds and psittacids in a convergent manner.
Overdiagnosis, Sojourn Time, and Sensitivity in the Copenhagen Mammography Screening Program

Abstract: The goal of this research was to estimate the overdiagnosis at the first and second screens of the mammography screening program in Copenhagen, Denmark. This study involves a mammography service screening program in Copenhagen, Denmark, with 35,123 women screened at least once. We fit multistate models to the screening data, including preclinical incidence of progressive cancers and nonprogressive (i.e., overdiagnosed) cancers. We estimated mean sojourn time as 2.7 years (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2–3.1) and screening test sensitivity as 100% (95% CI 99.8–100). Overdiagnosis was estimated to be 7.8% (95% CI 0.3–26.5) at the first screen and 0.5% (95% CI 0.02–2.1) at the second screen. This corresponds to 4.8% of all cancers diagnosed among participants during the first two invitation rounds and following intervals. A modest overdiagnosis was estimated for the Copenhagen screening program, deriving almost exclusively from the first screen. The CIs were very broad, however, and estimates from larger datasets are warranted.
Polygonal tundra geomorphological change in response to warming alters future CO2 and CH4 flux on the Barrow Peninsula

The landscape of the Barrow Peninsula in northern Alaska is thought to have formed over centuries to millennia, and is now dominated by ice‐wedge polygonal tundra that spans drained thaw‐lake basins and interstitial tundra. In nearby tundra regions, studies have identified a rapid increase in thermokarst formation (i.e., pits) over recent decades in response to climate warming, facilitating changes in polygonal tundra geomorphology. We assessed the future impact of 100 years of tundra geomorphic change on peak growing season carbon exchange in response to: (i) landscape succession associated with the thaw‐lake cycle; and (ii) low, moderate, and extreme scenarios of thermokarst pit formation (10%, 30%, and 50%) reported for Alaskan arctic tundra sites. We developed a 30 × 30 m resolution tundra geomorphology map (overall accuracy:75%; Kappa:0.69) for our ~1800 km² study area composed of ten classes; drained slope, high center polygon, flat‐center polygon, low center polygon, coalescent low center polygon, polygon trough, meadow, ponds, rivers, and lakes, to determine their spatial distribution across the Barrow Peninsula. Land‐atmosphere CO2 and CH4 flux data were collected for the summers of 2006–2010 at eighty‐two sites near Barrow, across the mapped classes. The developed geomorphic map was used for the regional assessment of carbon flux. Results indicate (i) at present during peak growing season on the Barrow Peninsula, CO2 uptake occurs at ‐902.3 106gC‐CO2 day−1 (uncertainty using 95% CI is between −438.3 and −1366 106gC‐CO2 day−1) and CH4 flux at 28.9 106gC‐CH4 day−1(uncertainty using 95% CI is between 12.9 and 44.9 106gC‐CH4 day−1), (ii) one century of future landscape change associated with the thaw‐lake cycle only slightly alter CO2 and CH4 exchange, while (iii) moderate increases in thermokarst pits would strengthen both CO2 uptake (−166.9 106gC‐CO2 day−1) and CH4 flux (2.8 106gC‐CH4 day−1) with geomorphic change from low to high center polygons, cumulatively resulting in an estimated negative feedback to warming during peak growing season.
A Comparative Study of the Performance of Spatialization Techniques for a Distributed Audience in a Concert Hall Environment

The performance of various spatialization techniques is evaluated for a distributed audience using the nonideal speaker arrangements found in small concert halls. The methods under evaluation are Second Order Ambisonics, Vector Base Amplitude Panning, Delta Stereophony and Spat with B-format Ambisonics encoding. Each method is assessed in terms of its localization accuracy. The data is presented by comparison of empirical high resolution binaural measurements and perceptual listening tests to simulations of the speaker arrangements in an equivalent acoustically modelled environment.
Simultaneous linear estimation of multiple view geometry and lens distortion

A problem in uncalibrated stereo reconstruction is that cameras which deviate from the pinhole model have to be pre-calibrated in order to correct for nonlinear lens distortion. If they are not, and point correspondence is attempted using the uncorrected images, the matching constraints provided by the fundamental matrix must be set so loose that point matching is significantly hampered. This paper shows how linear estimation of the fundamental matrix from two-view point correspondences may be augmented to include one term of radial lens distortion. This is achieved by (1) changing from the standard radial-lens model to another which (as we show) has equivalent power, but which takes a simpler form in homogeneous coordinates, and (2) expressing fundamental matrix estimation as a quadratic eigenvalue problem (QEP), for which efficient algorithms are well known. I derive the new estimator, and compare its performance against bundle-adjusted calibration-grid data. The new estimator is fast enough to be included in a RANSAC-based matching loop, and we show cases of matching being rendered possible by its use. I show how the same lens can be calibrated in a natural scene where the lack of straight lines precludes most previous techniques. The modification when the multi-view relation is a planar homography or trifocal tensor is described.
Developmental and skill effects on the neural correlates of semantic processing to visually presented words

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to explore the neural correlates of semantic judgments to visual words in a group of 9‐ to 15‐year‐old children. Subjects were asked to indicate if word pairs were related in meaning. Consistent with previous findings in adults, children showed activation in bilateral inferior frontal gyri (Brodmann area [BA] 47, 45) and left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21). Words with strong semantic association elicited significantly greater activation in bilateral inferior parietal lobules (BA 40), suggesting stronger integration of highly related semantic features. By contrast, words with weak semantic association elicited greater activation in left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45) and middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), suggesting more difficult feature search and more extensive access to semantic representations. We also examined whether age and skill explained unique variance in the patterns of activation. Increasing age was correlated with greater activation in left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21) and inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), suggesting that older children have more elaborated semantic representations and more complete semantic integration processes, respectively. Decreasing age was correlated with activation in right superior temporal gyrus (BA 22) and decreasing accuracy was correlated with activation in right middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), suggesting the engagement of ancillary systems in the right hemisphere for younger and lower‐skill children. Hum. Brain Mapping 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Prevalence of Tamoxifen Use for Breast Cancer Chemoprevention Among U.S. Women

Background: Tamoxifen can reduce the risk of developing invasive estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer by 49%, but it is unknown how many women in the United States are taking tamoxifen for primary prevention of breast cancer. Methods: Data from the years 2000 and 2005 National Health Interview Surveys were analyzed to estimate the prevalence of tamoxifen use among U.S. women for primary chemoprevention of breast cancer. Results: In 2000, ∼0.2% of U.S. women ages 40 to 79 years without a personal history of breast cancer took tamoxifen for chemoprevention (95% confidence interval, 0.13-0.31). In 2005, the prevalence was ∼0.08% (95% confidence interval, 0.03-0.17). Conclusion: The prevalence of tamoxifen use for primary prevention of breast cancer was very low in the years 2000 and 2005. Possible explanations for the low uptake are explored. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(2); 443–6