Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recurrent Infomax Generates Cell Assemblies, Neuronal Avalanches, and Simple Cell-Like Selectivity

Recently multineuronal recording has allowed us to observe patterned firings, synchronization, oscillation, and global state transitions in the recurrent networks of central nervous systems. We propose a learning algorithm based on the process of information maximization in a recurrent network, which we call recurrent infomax (RI). RI maximizes information retention and thereby minimizes information loss through time in a network. We find that feeding in external inputs consisting of information obtained from photographs of natural scenes into an RI-based model of a recurrent network results in the appearance of Gabor-like selectivity quite similar to that existing in simple cells of the primary visual cortex. We find that without external input, this network exhibits cell assemblylike and synfire chainlike spontaneous activity as well as a critical neuronal avalanche. In addition, we find that RI embeds externally input temporal firing patterns to the network so that it spontaneously reproduces these patterns after learning. RI provides a simple framework to explain a wide range of phenomena observed in in vivo and in vitro neuronal networks, and it will provide a novel understanding of experimental results for multineuronal activity and plasticity from an information-theoretic point of view.
Presleep mood and dream recall.

Results showed that dream recall at home was more likely to occur on mornings preceded by presleep mood ratings that were relatively negative and that this was particularly true for infrequent dream recallers. The results failed to support repression hypotheses of dream recall that derive from the "afterexpulsion" concept of Freud. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that presleep mood affects the salience (vividness, emotionality, etc.), and thus the recallability, of the dream experience. In addition, negative presleep mood was associated with more unpleasant dreams (characterized by threat, helplessness, and vulnerability), especially for subjects reporting lower overall self-confidence.
Antinociceptive interactions between mu-opioid receptor agonists and the serotonin uptake inhibitor clomipramine in rhesus monkeys: role of mu agonist efficacy

: Mu-opioid agonists are effective analgesics but have undesirable effects such as sedation and abuse liability that limit their clinical effectiveness. Serotonergic systems also modulate nociception, and serotonin uptake inhibitors may be useful as adjuncts to enhance analgesic effects and/or attenuate undesirable effects of mu agonists. This study examined effects of the serotonin uptake inhibitor clomipramine on behavioral effects produced in rhesus monkeys by mu agonists with varying efficacy at mu receptors (nalbuphine<morphine<methadone). Clomipramine and each mu agonist were studied alone and in fixed-proportion mixtures in assays of schedule-controlled responding, thermal nociception and capsaicin-induced thermal allodynia. In the assay of schedule-controlled responding, all mu agonists dose-dependently decreased response rates. Clomipramine was inactive alone and did not alter effects of mu agonists. In the assay of thermal nociception, all mu agonists produced dose-dependent antinociception. Clomipramine was inactive alone but produced a proportion-dependent enhancement of the antinociceptive effects of nalbuphine>morphine>methadone. In the assay of capsaicin-induced allodynia, nalbuphine produced dose-dependent anti-allodynia. Clomipramine alone was inactive, but as in the assay of thermal nociception, it produced a proportion-dependent enhancement in the effects of nalbuphine. These findings suggest that serotonin uptake inhibitors can selectively enhance the antinociceptive effects of mu agonists in nonhuman primates. These effects of serotonin uptake inhibitors may be dependent on the proportion of the serotonin uptake inhibitor and the efficacy of the mu agonist. The greatest enhancement was observed with intermediate proportions of clomipramine in combination with the low-efficacy mu agonist nalbuphine. This study assessed interactions between the serotonin uptake inhibitor clomipramine and the low-efficacy mu agonist nalbuphine, the moderate-efficacy mu agonist morphine and the high-efficacy mu agonist methadone in assays of schedule-controlled responding, thermal nociception and capsaicin-induced thermal allodynia. The main findings support the hypothesis that serotonin uptake inhibitors can selectively enhance analgesia-related effects of low- to moderate-efficacy mu agonists. Mixtures of serotonin uptake inhibitors and low- to moderate-efficacy mu agonists may warrant further consideration and development as candidate analgesics. results suggest that time course is less important than mu agonist efficacy as a determinant of interactions between mu agonists and serotonin uptake inhibitors.
Novel Biogenic Aggregation of Moss Gemmae on a Disappearing African Glacier

Tropical regions are not well represented in glacier biology, yet many tropical glaciers are under threat of disappearance due to climate change. Here we report a novel biogenic aggregation at the terminus of a glacier in the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda. The material was formed by uniseriate protonemal moss gemmae and protonema. Molecular analysis of five genetic markers determined the taxon as Ceratodon purpureus, a cosmopolitan species that is widespread in tropical to polar region. Given optimal growing temperatures of isolate is 20–30°C, the cold glacier surface might seem unsuitable for this species. However, the cluster of protonema growth reached approximately 10°C in daytime, suggesting that diurnal increase in temperature may contribute to the moss’s ability to inhabit the glacier surface. The aggregation is also a habitat for microorganisms, and the disappearance of this glacier will lead to the loss of this unique ecosystem.
Neuropsychological Evidence for Case-Specific Reading: Multi-Letter Units in Visual Word Recognition

We describe a patient (GK) who shows symptoms associated with Balint's syndrome and attentional dyslexia. GK was able to read words, but not nonwords. He also made many misidentification and mislocation errors when reporting letters in words, suggesting that his word-naming ability did not depend upon preserved position-coded, letter identification. We show that GK was able to read lower-case words better than upper-case words, but upper-case abbreviations better than lower-case abbreviations. Spacing the letters in abbreviations disrupted identification, as did mixing the case of letters within words. These data cannot be explained in terms of letter-based reading or preserved holistic word recognition. We propose that GK was sensitive to the visual familiarity of adjacent letter forms.
Aalborg Universitet Cognitive Multiple-Antenna Network with Outage and Rate Margins at the Primary System

This paper investigates the problem of spectrally efficient operation of a multiuser uplink cognitive radio system in the presence of a single primary link. The sec ondary system applies opportunistic interference cancelation (OIC) and decode the primary sign al when such an opportunity is created. We derive the achievable rate in the secondary system when OIC i s used. This scheme has a practical significance, since it enables rate adaptation without requ i ing any action from the primary system. The exact expressions for outage probability of the primary user are d erived, when the primary system is exposed to interference from secondary users. Moreover, ap p oximated formulas and tight lower and upper bounds for the ergodic sum-rate capacity of the second ary network are found. Next, the power allocation is investigated in the secondary system for maxi izing the sum-rate under an outage constraint at the primary system. We formulate the power optimization p roblem in various scenarios depending on the availability of channel state information and the typ e of power constraints, and propose a set of simple solutions. Finally, the analytical results are confi rmed by simulations, indicating both the accuracy of the analysis, and the fact that the spectral-efficient, lo w-c mplexity, flexible, and high-performing cognitive radio can be designed based on the proposed scheme s.
Effect of maternal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation on breast milk composition.

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of varying maternal intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22 : 6n-3), in the absence of other dietary polyunsaturates, on breast milk fatty acids. DESIGN AND INTERVENTION Lactating mothers were randomised on day 5 post-partum to groups consuming equal numbers of capsules but containing either placebo or an oil containing DHA (43%) as its only polyunsaturate to receive 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.9, 1.3 g DHA/day. Breast milk fatty acids as well as maternal plasma and erythrocyte phospholipids were assessed at 12 weeks post partum by capillary gas chromatography. RESULTS Breast milk DHA levels ranged from 0.2 to 1.7% of total fatty acids and increased in a dose dependent manner (r2 = 0.89, P < 0.01). Maternal plasma (r2 = 0.71, P < 0.01) and erythrocyte (r2 = 0.77, P < 0.01) phospholipid DHA levels increased and were also strongly associated with dietary dose of DHA. Increasing maternal dietary doses of DHA did not affect breast milk arachidonic acid (AA, 20 : 4n-6) levels or antioxidant status as measured by plasma vitamin A or E levels. CONCLUSIONS Our results have demonstrated that DHA in the diet has a strong, specific and dose-dependent effect on breast milk DHA.
Validating the sensor network calculus by simulations

Network Calculus has been proposed and customized as a framework for worst-case analysis in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). It has been demonstrated that this so-called Sensor Network Calculus (SNC) is an effective network dimensioning tool as it allows us to calculate maximum message transfer delays and communication related energy consumption patterns before network deployment. So far it is unclear how the SNC calculated worst-case delay bounds compare to values experienced in real deployments. Our experiments presented in this paper show that an SNC worst-case delay prediction can be as little as 2.7% above the measured worst-case delay in a typical application scenario. Thus, it can be concluded that the SNC has a very practical relevance for dimensioning wireless sensor networks.
Arterial chemoreceptor reflex and hypertension.

In this issue, Fletcher et al 1 report that repetitive brief hypoxia applied during a 7-hour period per day for up to 35 days causes diurnal elevation of blood pressure in rats. This significant finding examines the mechanism of chronic, reversible arterial hypertension correlated with sleep apnea syndrome.The hemodynamic pattern of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) (blood pressure rise at the nadir of arterial blood oxygen saturation [Sac^] and bradycardia or bradyarrythmias with secondary ventricular tachyarrythmias-) mimics those of the circulatory chemoreceptor reflex response in the absence of breathing and lung inflation. To interpret diurnal elevation of blood pressure after periods of brief hypoxic episodes, recent progress in the elucidation of functional characteristics of arterial chemoreceptors should be considered. In contrast to rapidly adapting baroreceptors, chemoreceptors proved to be facilitated by prolonged hypoxic stimulation. Consequently, resetting of the arterial chemoreceptor reflex is opposite to that of the baroreceptor reflex. In this regard it is surprising that arterial chemoreceptors were long considered irrelevant to hypertension, quite opposite to baroreceptors, which have been and still are a classic field of study in hypertension research. A contribution of the arterial chemoreceptor reflex to mechanisms of primary hypertension was recognized late. " Apparently, the reason for the low level of interest was a common observation that in healthy normoxic subjects, chemoreceptor reflex drive seemed not to influence resting blood pressure and sympathetic activity, unlike ventilation, which is significantly dependent on peripheral chemoreceptor drive. More recently, however, it has been shown in rats that abrupt hyperoxic inactivation of arterial chemoreceptors induced a transient fall of arterial blood pressure and of some sympathetic activity. Sympathoexcitatory chemoreceptor reflex drive may be of significance in aged rats, possibly contributing to an increase in sympathetic activity with aging.
Rapid Whole-Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Isotropic Resolution at 3 Tesla

Isotropic imaging offers the potential of improving lesion detection and imaging efficiency by enabling orthogonal image reformations without loss of spatial resolution. However, lengthy scan times for T1-weighted isotropic data acquisitions have been an impediment to the routine clinical application of this approach. We tested the feasibility of using the improved signal-to-noise ratio at 3 Tesla to perform rapid, whole-brain T1-weighted imaging with isotropic 0.8 mm × 0.8 mm × 0.8 mm (0.51 mm3) voxels. The method was validated in healthy volunteers and patients. Eight healthy subjects were imaged pre- and postcontrast on a 3 Tesla MR system. T1-weighted, 3-dimensional spoiled gradient-echo (3D SPGR) data were acquired at 0.8-mm slice thickness and reconstructed at 2-mm thickness in 3 orthogonal orientations. Scan time was 4 minutes 42 seconds. The technique was compared with inversion recovery-prepared spoiled gradient-echo (SPGR-IR) and 2D spin-echo (SE) for comparable spatial resolution and scan time. It was then tested in comparison with 2D SE in a series of 10 patients with enhancing brain lesions. The 3D SPGR technique provided approximately twice the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of SPGR-IR and 50% greater CNR than 2D SE for discriminating gray and white matter. Image quality ratings, evaluated with nonparametric analyses, were also significantly higher for 3D SPGR in both volunteers (P < 0.05) and patients with enhancing lesions (P < 0.05). Of particular note was the elimination of postcontrast vessel pulsation artifacts, which were commonly present with 2D SE, and more uniform hypointensity of cerebrospinal fluid. Lesion enhancement in patients did not differ significantly for 2D SE and 3D SPGR. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of rapid, whole-brain isotropic imaging at 3 Tesla using submillimeter voxels. Artifacts were minimal, especially compared with 2D SE, whereas CNR was 2-fold better than SPGR-IR. The capability for creating reformatted images in orthogonal orientations from a single isotropic acquisition greatly improves efficiency compared with 2D acquisitions acquired in multiple planes. Although further clinical study is needed in a larger patient cohort, these initial results suggest substantial clinical promise for the technique.
CoRAL: predicting non-coding RNAs from small RNA-sequencing data

The surprising observation that virtually the entire human genome is transcribed means we know little about the function of many emerging classes of RNAs, except their astounding diversities. Traditional RNA function prediction methods rely on sequence or alignment information, which are limited in their abilities to classify the various collections of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). To address this, we developed Classification of RNAs by Analysis of Length (CoRAL), a machine learning-based approach for classification of RNA molecules. CoRAL uses biologically interpretable features including fragment length and cleavage specificity to distinguish between different ncRNA populations. We evaluated CoRAL using genome-wide small RNA sequencing data sets from four human tissue types and were able to classify six different types of RNAs with ∼80% cross-validation accuracy. Analysis by CoRAL revealed that microRNAs, small nucleolar and transposon-derived RNAs are highly discernible and consistent across all human tissue types assessed, whereas long intergenic ncRNAs, small cytoplasmic RNAs and small nuclear RNAs show less consistent patterns. The ability to reliably annotate loci across tissue types demonstrates the potential of CoRAL to characterize ncRNAs using small RNA sequencing data in less well-characterized organisms.
The Influence of Selective Attention to Auditory and Visual Speech on the Integration of Audiovisual Speech Information

Conflicting visual speech information can influence the perception of acoustic speech, causing an illusory percept of a sound not present in the actual acoustic speech (the McGurk effect). We examined whether participants can voluntarily selectively attend to either the auditory or visual modality by instructing participants to pay attention to the information in one modality and to ignore competing information from the other modality. We also examined how performance under these instructions was affected by weakening the influence of the visual information by manipulating the temporal offset between the audio and video channels (experiment 1), and the spatial frequency information present in the video (experiment 2). Gaze behaviour was also monitored to examine whether attentional instructions influenced the gathering of visual information. While task instructions did have an influence on the observed integration of auditory and visual speech information, participants were unable to completely ignore conflicting information, particularly information from the visual stream. Manipulating temporal offset had a more pronounced interaction with task instructions than manipulating the amount of visual information. Participants' gaze behaviour suggests that the attended modality influences the gathering of visual information in audiovisual speech perception.
Warm Is Better: Incubation Temperature Influences Apparent Survival and Recruitment of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa)

Avian parents that physically incubate their eggs must balance demands of self-maintenance with providing the proper thermal environment for egg development. Low incubation temperatures can lengthen the incubation period and produce changes in neonate phenotype that may influence subsequent survival and reproduction. We artificially incubated wood duck (Aix sponsa) eggs at three temperature regimes (low, 35.0; mid, 35.9; and high, 37.3°C) that are within the range of temperatures of naturally-incubated nests. We tested the effect of incubation temperature on duckling body composition, fledging success, the probability that females were recruited to the breeding population, and their subsequent reproductive success. Incubation period was inversely related to incubation temperature, and body mass and lipid mass for newly-hatched ducklings incubated at the lowest temperature were lower than for ducklings produced at higher temperatures. In 2008, ducklings (n = 412) were individually marked and broods (n = 38) containing ducklings from each temperature treatment were placed with wild foster mothers within 24 hrs of hatching. Ducklings incubated at the lowest temperature were less likely to fledge from nest sites than ducklings incubated at the higher temperatures. We recaptured female ducklings as adults when they were either prospecting for nest sites (n = 171; 2009–2011) or nesting (n = 527; 2009–2012). Female ducklings incubated at the lowest temperature were less likely to survive and be recruited to the breeding population than females incubated at higher temperatures. Reproductive success of surviving females also was greater for females that had been incubated at warmer temperatures. To our knowledge, this is the first avian study to link developmental conditions experienced by neonates during incubation with their survival and recruitment to the breeding population, and subsequent reproductive success. These results advance our understanding of incubation as an important reproductive cost in birds and support the potential significance of incubation in influencing the evolution of avian life histories.
EosinophiliaAirway Diseases with Prominent Th 2 Cells Exacerbate Murine Allergic + CD 4 Innate Lymphoid Cells and Antigen-Specific Collaborative Interactions between Type 2

Type-2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) and the acquired CD4 + Th2 and Th17 cells contribute to the pathogenesis of experimental asthma; however, their roles in Ag-driven exacerbation of chronic murine allergic airway diseases remain elusive. In this study, we report that repeated intranasal rechallenges with only OVA Ag were sufficient to trigger airway hyperresponsiveness, prominent eosinophilic inflammation, and significantly increased serum OVA-specific IgG1 and IgE in rested mice that previously developed murine allergic airway diseases. The recall response to repeated OVA inoculation preferentially triggered a further increase of lung OVA-specific CD4 + Th2 cells, whereas CD4 + Th17 and ILC2 cell numbers remained constant. Furthermore, the acquired CD4 + Th17 cells in Stat6 2/2 /IL-17–GFP mice, or innate ILC2s in CD4 + T cell–ablated mice, failed to mount an allergic recall response to OVA Ag. After repeated OVA rechallenge or CD4 + T cell ablation, the increase or loss of CD4 + Th2 cells resulted in an enhanced or reduced IL-13 production by lung ILC2s in response to IL-25 and IL-33 stimulation, respectively. In return, ILC2s enhanced Ag-mediated proliferation of cocultured CD4 + Th2 cells and their cytokine production, and promoted eosinophilic airway inflammation and goblet cell hyperplasia driven by adoptively transferred Ag-specific CD4 + Th2 cells. Thus, these results suggest that an allergic recall response to recurring Ag exposures preferentially triggers an increase of Ag-specific CD4 + Th2 cells, which facilitates the collaborative interactions between acquired CD4 + Th2 cells and innate ILC2s to drive the exacerbation of a murine allergic airway diseases with an eosinophilic phenotype. I n developed countries, exacerbation of allergic asthma often results in significant morbidity (1). The recurrent episodes of allergic asthma are often triggered by repeated allergen exposures that can occur upon a background of chronic allergic inflammation and structural changes (2). Repeated exposures to allergens may mediate the maintenance of a persistent inflam-matory process, which often results in an increased severity of chronic allergic asthma (3). It has long been postulated that lung resident CD4 + Th2 cells induced after primary allergen exposure are responsible for the exacerbation of allergic asthma after al-lergen reexposures (4–6). These Ag-experienced CD4 + Th2 ef-fector memory cells produce IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 that mediate the eosinophilic inflammation that defines a major subphenotype of asthma (7–9). The discovery of the CD4 + Th17 cell lineage and its function in driving airway neutrophilic inflammation has provided insight into …
everaging innovation knowledge management to reate positional advantage in agricultural value hains hanh

This study employs resource advantage theory to identify how beef cattle value chain actors’ resources are translated into the positional advantage and how that then affects their financial performance in an emerging country context. The study tested was designed to understand if: (1) the resources of beef cattle value chain actors are positively related to positional advantage; and (2) positional advantage is positively related to the financial performance of the actors within the value chain. The unit of analysis in this study is a single beef cattle value chain. One hundred and ninety value chain actors were interviewed and the findings appear to indicate that chain actors’ resources are an antecedent to positional advantage in the marketplace and that this market advantage is an antecedent to the superior financial performance of beef cattle value chain. © 2017 Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/