Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Amino acid homeostasis and signalling in mammalian cells and organisms

Cells have a constant turnover of proteins that recycle most amino acids over time. Net loss is mainly due to amino acid oxidation. Homeostasis is achieved through exchange of essential amino acids with non-essential amino acids and the transfer of amino groups from oxidised amino acids to amino acid biosynthesis. This homeostatic condition is maintained through an active mTORC1 complex. Under amino acid depletion, mTORC1 is inactivated. This increases the breakdown of cellular proteins through autophagy and reduces protein biosynthesis. The general control non-derepressable 2/ATF4 pathway may be activated in addition, resulting in transcription of genes involved in amino acid transport and biosynthesis of non-essential amino acids. Metabolism is autoregulated to minimise oxidation of amino acids. Systemic amino acid levels are also tightly regulated. Food intake briefly increases plasma amino acid levels, which stimulates insulin release and mTOR-dependent protein synthesis in muscle. Excess amino acids are oxidised, resulting in increased urea production. Short-term fasting does not result in depletion of plasma amino acids due to reduced protein synthesis and the onset of autophagy. Owing to the fact that half of all amino acids are essential, reduction in protein synthesis and amino acid oxidation are the only two measures to reduce amino acid demand. Long-term malnutrition causes depletion of plasma amino acids. The CNS appears to generate a protein-specific response upon amino acid depletion, resulting in avoidance of an inadequate diet. High protein levels, in contrast, contribute together with other nutrients to a reduction in food intake.
Evaluation of two ozone air quality modelling systems

The aim of this paper is to compare two different modelling systems and to evaluate their ability to simulate high values of ozone concentration in typical summer episodes which take place in the north of Spain near the metropolitan area of Barcelona. As the focus of the paper is the comparison of the two systems, we do not attempt to improve the agreement by adjusting the emission inventory or model parameters. The first model, or forecasting system, is made up of three modules. The first module is a mesoscale model (MASS). This provides the initial condition for the second module, which is a nonlocal boundary layer model based on the transilient turbulence scheme. The third module is a photochemical box model (OZIPR), which is applied in Eulerian and Lagrangian modes and receives suitable information from the two previous modules. The model forecast is evaluated against ground base stations during summer 2001. The second model is the MM5/UAM-V. This is a grid model designed to predict the hourly three-dimensional ozone concentration fields. The model is applied during an ozone episode that occurred between 21 and 23 June 2001. Our results reflect the good performance of the two modelling systems when they are used in a specific episode.
Understanding the Limits of LoRaWAN

Low-power wide area networking technology offers long-range communication, which enables new types of services. Several solutions exist; LoRaWAN is arguably the most adopted. It promises ubiquitous connectivity in outdoor IoT applications, while keeping network structures and management simple. This technology has received a lot of attention in recent months from network operators and solution providers. However, the technology has limitations that need to be clearly understood to avoid inflated expectations and disillusionment. This article provides an impartial and fair overview of the capabilities and limitations of LoRaWAN. We discuss those in the context of use cases, and list open research and development questions.
Clinical and Vascular Outcome in Internal Carotid Artery Versus Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusions After Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator

Background and Purpose— Early reperfusion is a predictor of good outcome in acute ischemic stroke. We investigated whether middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusions have a better clinical outcome and proportion of recanalization compared with internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion after standard treatment with intravenous (IV) tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Patients— In a retrospective analysis of our prospective stroke database between January 7, 1998, and January 30, 2002, we identified 36 consecutive patients who were treated with IV tPA within 3 hours after symptom onset of a stroke in the distribution of a documented ICA or MCA occlusion. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score was recorded before tPA, at 24 hours, 3 days, and 3 months after stroke. Three-month outcome was recorded by modified Rankin scale. Magnetic resonance angiography or computed tomographic angiography was obtained before tPA. The presence of recanalization was assessed by transcranial Doppler and/or magnetic resonance angiography within 3 days after stroke onset. Results— Nineteen patients had MCA occlusion, and 17 had ICA-plus-MCA occlusion before tPA. Although there was no difference in age and NIHSS at day 0 between the 2 groups, the MCA group had a lower day 3 NIHSS score compared with the ICA group (P =0.006) in an ANCOVA. In addition, patients who had a MCA occlusion had lower day 1 and 3 NIHSS scores compared with the ICA group (P =0.04 and P =0.03, respectively; Wilcoxon rank sum). Similarly, NIHSS was significantly lower in patients who recanalized on days 1 and 3 (P =0.004 and P =0.003 respectively, Wilcoxon rank sum). When we adjusted for NIHSS score at day 0 in an ANCOVA, the adjusted mean was lower in the group that recanalized compared with the group that did not recanalize (P <0.001). There was a significant difference between the proportion of recanalization in the MCA group (15 of 17 recanalized, 88%) at 3 days after tPA compared with that of the ICA group (5 of 16 recanalized, 31%;P =0.001, Fisher exact test). The 3-month modified Rankin scale was not different between the 2 groups. Conclusions— Despite comparable age and NIHSS scores before IV tPA, MCA occlusions have lower day 1 and 3 NIHSS scores and higher proportion of recanalization compared with ICA occlusions. A combined IV/intra-arterial or mechanical thrombolysis may be needed to achieve early recanalization in ICA occlusions.
A Prospective Comparison of Continuous Wound Infiltration with Ropivacaine Versus Single-Injection Paravertebral Block After Modified Radical Mastectomy

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of continuous wound infiltration with local anesthetic has not been compared with that of thoracic paravertebral block (PVB) after breast surgery. In this study, we evaluated the analgesic efficacy and morphine consumption of the two techniques after mastectomy. METHODS: Forty-eight patients undergoing modified radical mastectomy with axillary dissection were randomly assigned to either a preoperative PVB with 20 mL of ropivacaine 0.5% (group PVB) or a continuous ropivacaine 0.5% infusion (CRI) at a 2 mL/h rate for each of two multilumen catheters placed subcutaneously at the end of the procedure (group CRI). The catheters were left in place for 24 h postoperatively. A standardized general anesthetic was administered to all patients. Postoperative morphine consumption, pain scores and painful restricted movement of the shoulder for 24 h postoperatively as well as incidence of adverse events, including postoperative nausea and vomiting, were recorded. RESULTS: Morphine consumption was similar between groups (PVB: 42.6 ± 11 vs CRI: 38.7 ± 11 mg in 24 h, P = 0.225). Absolute pain scores were low in both groups. Four hours after surgery, group PVB showed a significant reduction in postoperative pain (PVB: 0 [0–10] vs CRI: 0 [0–30], P = 0.002) and reduced painful restricted movement (P = 0.004), whereas the CRI group had lower pain scores (PVB: 10 [0–30] vs CRI: 0 [0–20], P = 0.034) and painful restricted movement (P = 0.043) 16 and 24 h (PVB: 10 [0–30] vs CRI: 0 [0–30], P = 0.012) after surgery. Postoperative nausea and vomiting was significantly more frequent in the CRI group (P = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Continuous wound infiltration of local anesthetics is an effective alternative to paravertebral analgesia after mastectomy with axillary dissection.
Spatial Control of Ca2+ Signaling by Nicotinic Acid Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate Diffusion and Gradients*

Intracellular Ca2+ is able to control numerous cellular responses through complex spatiotemporal organization. Ca2+ waves mediated by inositol trisphosphate or ryanodine receptors propagate by Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release and therefore do not have an absolute requirement for a gradient in either inositol trisphosphate or cyclic ADP-ribose, respectively. In contrast, we report that although Ca2+ increases induced by nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) are amplified by Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release locally, Ca2+ waves mediated by NAADP have an absolute requirement for an NAADP gradient. If NAADP is increased such that its concentration is spatially uniform in one region of an egg, the Ca2+ increase occurs simultaneously throughout this area, and only where there is diffusion out of this area to establish an NAADP gradient is there a Ca2+ wave. A local increase in NAADP results in a Ca2+ increase that spreads by NAADP diffusion. NAADP diffusion is restricted at low but not high concentrations of NAADP, indicating that NAADP diffusion is strongly influenced by binding to immobile and saturable sites, probably the NAADP receptor itself. Thus, the range of action of NAADP can be tuned by its concentration from that of a local messenger, like Ca2+, to that of a global messenger, like IP3or cyclic ADP-ribose.
Analysis of Degrees of Freedom of Interfering MISO Broadcast Channels

In this paper, we provide a lower and upper bound for the number of degrees of freedom (DOF) of B multiple-input single-output (MISO) broadcast channels (BC) where each base station (BS) equipped with M antennas supports its corresponding K single antenna users suffering from inter-cell interference. We show that two bounds meet with each other when M = 1 or M ≥ K or B >max(M,K)/min(M,K). From the derived result, we learn that the available DOF of the B-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channels is degraded by disabling receive cooperation if and only if M < K and B ≤ max(M,K)/min(M,K). We observe that even for that case, the multiple BCs where interference mitigation should be fully performed at the transmitters due to the distributed receive antennas can achieve the DOF more than 2/3 of the DOF of the MIMO interference channels. In addition, the exact number of DOF is derived for two mutually interfering and deterministic broadcast channels in the presence of cognitive BSs. Our result shows that in two BCs interfering with each other, whether receive cooperation exists or not, it does not affect the DOF if one of two transmitters is a cognitive BS.
Permission accounting in separation logic

A lightweight logical approach to race-free sharing of heap storage between concurrent threads is described, based on the notion of permission to access. Transfer of permission between threads, subdivision and combination of permission is discussed. The roots of the approach are in Boyland's [3] demonstration of the utility of fractional permissions in specifying non-interference between concurrent threads. We add the notion of counting permission, which mirrors the programming technique called permission counting. Both fractional and counting permissions permit passivity, the specification that a program can be permitted to access a heap cell yet prevented from altering it. Models of both mechanisms are described. The use of two different mechanisms is defended. Some interesting problems are acknowledged and some intriguing possibilities for future development, including the notion of resourcing as a step beyond typing, are paraded.
Social affiliation matters: both same-sex and opposite-sex relationships predict survival in wild female baboons

Social integration and support can have profound effects on human survival. The extent of this phenomenon in non-human animals is largely unknown, but such knowledge is important to understanding the evolution of both lifespan and sociality. Here, we report evidence that levels of affiliative social behaviour (i.e. ‘social connectedness’) with both same-sex and opposite-sex conspecifics predict adult survival in wild female baboons. In the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya, adult female baboons that were socially connected to either adult males or adult females lived longer than females who were socially isolated from both sexes—females with strong connectedness to individuals of both sexes lived the longest. Female social connectedness to males was predicted by high dominance rank, indicating that males are a limited resource for females, and females compete for access to male social partners. To date, only a handful of animal studies have found that social relationships may affect survival. This study extends those findings by examining relationships to both sexes in by far the largest dataset yet examined for any animal. Our results support the idea that social effects on survival are evolutionarily conserved in social mammals.
Novel flow apparatus for investigating shear-enhanced crystallization and structure development in semicrystalline polymers

An instrument to study the effects of shearing on the crystallization process in semicrystalline polymers is described. It can impose transient stresses similar to those encountered in polymer processing and provides in situ monitoring of microstructure development during and after cessation of flow. Box-like wall shear stress profiles (rise and fall times under 50 ms with maximum wall shear stress on the order of 0.1 MPa) can be applied for controlled durations. A unique feature of our device is that it accommodates a wide variety of real-time probes of structure such as visible and infrared polarimetry and light and x-ray scattering measurements. The design also allows us to retrieve the sample for ex situ optical and electron microscopy. Data are acquired with millisecond resolution enabling us to record the extent of shear deformation of the polymer melt during the pressure pulse. Our device works with small sample quantities (as little as 5 g; each experiment takes ~ 500 mg) as opposed to the kilogram quantities required by previous instruments capable of imposing comparable deformations. This orders-of-magnitude reduction in the sample size allows us to study model polymers and new developmental resins, both of which are typically available only in gram-scale quantities. The compact design of the shear cell makes it possible to transport it to synchrotron light sources for in situ x-ray scattering studies of the evolution of the crystalline structure. Thus, our device is a valuable new tool that can be used to evaluate the crystallization characteristics of resins with experimental compositions or molecular architectures when subjected to processing-like flow conditions. We demonstrate some of the features of this device by presenting selected results on isotactic polypropylenes.
Morphological analysis for less-resourced languages : Maximum Affix Overlap applied to Zulu

The paper describes a collaboration approach in progress for morphological analysis of less-resourced languages. The approach is based on firstly, a language-independent machine learning algorithm, Maximum Affix Overlap, that generates candidates for morphological decompositions from an initial set of language-specific training data; and secondly, language-dependent post-processing using language specific patterns. In this paper, the Maximum Affix Overlap algorithm is applied to Zulu, a morphologically complex Bantu language. It can be assumed that the algorithm will work for other Bantu languages and possibly other language families as well. With limited training data and a ranking adapted to the language family, the effort for manual verification can be strongly reduced. The machine generated list is manually verified by humans via a web frontend.
Energy Resolution of LGSO Scintillators

Several LGSO samples with different Ce doping were studied in comparison to GSO crystal. The light output, non-proportionality of the light response, energy resolution and intrinsic resolution were measured and compared to the intensity of the afterglow recorded in the second range of time. A high light output of 17000plusmn1700 ph/MeV and a good energy resolution of 6.5plusmn0. 2% for 662 keV gamma rays from a Cs source were obtained for the best sample, doped with 1 mol% of Ce. The energy resolution and, in particularly the intrinsic resolution varied with the concentration of Ce in the tested crystals and were not correlated with their common non-proportionality characteristics. In contrast, the observed correlation of the intrinsic energy resolution of the LGSO crystals and the intensity of their afterglow indicates that the energy resolution of scintillation detectors may be affected by a strong afterglow of the crystals. Thus, it suggests to the manufacturers to make more efforts to reduce afterglow in the crystals.
Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in renal transplant recipients.

INTRODUCTION The cause of the metabolic syndrome (MS) is incompletely understood but represents a complex interaction between genetic, environmental, and metabolic factors, clearly including diet, and level of physical activity. The prevalence of MS is continuously increasing in the general population. Recently it has been found that MS is also common in renal transplant recipients (RTRs). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of MS in a group of Libyan renal transplant recipients, using two different diagnostic criteria. METHODS This study was conducted at the Nephrology Department of the National Heart Center, Tripoli, Libya. We determined the prevalence of MS in a group of renal transplant recipients using both the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. All patients were more than six months post transplantation. Patients with Pre-transplant diabetes mellitus were excluded from the analysis. RESULTS By using the NCEP-ATP III criteria 26 out of 91 patients (28.6%) had the metabolic syndrome. MS was commoner in females than males, affecting 12 out of 35 females (34.3%) and 14 out of 56 males (25%). Using the IDF criteria the metabolic syndrome was diagnosed in 23 patients (25.3%). In this group of patients the most common component of the metabolic syndrome was high blood pressure and the least common was impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of MS in our renal transplant patients is high, affecting females more than males. Key words: International Diabetes Federation; Metabolic Syndrome; NCEP-ATP III; Renal Transplant Recipients.
Abelson kinase (Abl) and RhoGEF2 regulate actin organization during cell constriction in Drosophila

Morphogenesis involves the interplay of different cytoskeletal regulators. Investigating how they interact during a given morphogenetic event will help us understand animal development. Studies of ventral furrow formation, a morphogenetic event during Drosophila gastrulation, have identified a signaling pathway involving the G-protein Concertina (Cta) and the Rho activator RhoGEF2. Although these regulators act to promote stable myosin accumulation and apical cell constriction, loss-of-function phenotypes for each of these pathway members is not equivalent, suggesting the existence of additional ventral furrow regulators. Here, we report the identification of Abelson kinase (Abl) as a novel ventral furrow regulator. We find that Abl acts apically to suppress the accumulation of both Enabled (Ena) and actin in mesodermal cells during ventral furrow formation. Further, RhoGEF2 also regulates ordered actin localization during ventral furrow formation, whereas its activator, Cta, does not. Taken together, our data suggest that there are two crucial preconditions for apical constriction in the ventral furrow: myosin stabilization/activation, regulated by Cta and RhoGEF2; and the organization of apical actin, regulated by Abl and RhoGEF2. These observations identify an important morphogenetic role for Abl and suggest a conserved mechanism for this kinase during apical cell constriction.
No Fear of Commitment: Children’s Incremental Interpretation in English and Japanese Wh-Questions

Much work on child sentence processing has demonstrated that children are able to use various linguistic cues to incrementally resolve temporary syntactic ambiguities, but they fail to use syntactic or interpretability cues that arrive later in the sentence. The present study explores whether children incrementally resolve filler-gap dependencies, using Japanese and English ambiguous wh-questions of the form Where did Lizzie tell someone that she was gonna catch butterflies? , in which one could answer either the telling location (main clause interpretation) or the butterfly-catching location (embedded clause interpretation). Three story-based experiments demonstrate two novel findings on children’s incremental interpretation of filler-gap dependencies. First, we observe that English-speaking adults and children generally prefer the main clause interpretation, whereas Japanese adults and children both prefer the embedded clause interpretation. As the linear order of main clause and embedded clause predicates differs between English (main first, embedded second) and Japanese (embedded first, main second), the results indicate that adults and children actively associate the wh-phrase with the first predicate in the sentence. Second, Japanese children were unable to inhibit their embedded clause interpretation bias when the sentence was manipulated to syntactically block such analyses. The failure to inhibit the preferred interpretation suggests that the wh-phrase was incrementally associated with the embedded clause. On the other hand, when the sentence was manipulated to semantically block a plausible interpretation for the embedded clause wh-association, children were able to overcome their strong embedded clause interpretation bias and favored the main clause interpretation. These findings suggest that syntactic and interpretability cues may have distinct impacts on children’s sentence comprehension processes.
A Lagrange-type projector on the real line

We introduce an interpolation process based on some of the zeros of the mth generalized Freud polynomial. Convergence results and error estimates are given. In particular we show that, in some important function spaces, the interpolating polynomial behaves like the best approximation. Moreover the stability and the convergence of some quadrature rules are proved.
The relationships between plasma total homocysteine and selected atherosclerotic risk factors according to the C677T methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene in Japanese

Background Variation of plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) levels among individuals is modified by 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) genotypes and selected atherosclerotic risk factors. Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Healthy Japanese men (n = 213) and women (n = 242) aged 40–69 years were examined. Results Serum uric acid, hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum creatinine, and men were independently significantly associated with plasma tHcy. The relationship between serum uric acid and plasma tHcy was the strongest in those with the mutant homozygote (VV), but the overall statistical test of interaction was not significant. Conclusions Serum uric acid, hematocrit, hemoglobin, creatinine, and men were determinants of plasma tHcy levels. Further investigations are needed.