Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression and function of α-smooth muscle actin during embryonic-stem-cell-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation

Three α-muscle actin isoforms are sequentially expressed during in vivo cardiac development. α-Smooth muscle actin is first and transiently expressed, followed by α-skeletal and finally α-cardiac actin. The significance of these transitions in actin gene expression during myogenesis remains to be determined. To understand whether actin isoforms have specific functions during cardiac development and cardiomyocyte contractility, we have hampered α-smooth muscle and α-skeletal actin expression and organization during embryonic stem cell differentiation towards cardiomyocyte. We show that the sequence of actin isoform expression displays similar pattern in the in vitro model and in mouse heart embryogenesis. Treatment with an interfering fusion peptide containing the N-terminal sequence of α-smooth muscle actin during a time window preceding spontaneous beating, prevents proper cardiac sarcomyogenesis, whereas α-skeletal actin-fusion peptide has no effect. Knockdown of α-smooth muscle actin in embryonic stem cells using RNA interference also affects cardiac differentiation. The application of both fusion peptides on beating embryoid bodies impairs frequency. These results suggest specific functional activities for actin isoforms in cardiogenesis and cardiomyocyte contractility.
Praziquantel, Mefloquine-Praziquantel, and Mefloquine-Artesunate-Praziquantel against Schistosoma haematobium: A Randomized, Exploratory, Open-Label Trial

Background Treatment and morbidity control of schistosomiasis relies on a single drug, praziquantel. Hence, there is a pressing need to develop additional therapeutics against schistosomiasis. The antimalarial drug mefloquine shows antischistosomal activity in animal models and clinical trials, which calls for further investigations. Methodology We comparatively assessed the efficacy and tolerability of the following treatments against Schistosoma haematobium in school-aged children in Côte d'Ivoire: (i) praziquantel (40 mg/kg; standard treatment); (ii) mefloquine (25 mg/kg) combined with praziquantel (40 mg/kg); and (iii) mefloquine-artesunate (3× (100 mg artesunate +250 mg mefloquine)) combined with praziquantel (40 mg/kg) (treatments administered on subsequent days). Two urine samples were collected before, and on days 21–22 and 78–79 after the first dosing. Principal Findings Sixty-one children were present on all examination time points and had complete datasets. No difference in efficacy was observed between the three treatment groups on either follow-up. On the 21–22 day posttreatment follow-up, based on available case analysis, cure rates of 33% (95% confidence interval (CI) 11–55%), 29% (95% CI 8–50%), and 26% (95% CI 5–48%) were observed for praziquantel, mefloquine-artesunate-praziquantel, and mefloquine-praziquantel, respectively. The corresponding egg reduction rates were 94% and above. On the second follow-up, observed cure rates ranged from 19% (praziquantel) to 33% (mefloquine-artesunate-praziquantel), and egg reduction rates were above 90%. Praziquantel monotherapy was the best tolerated treatment. In the mefloquine-artesunate-praziquantel group, adverse events were reported by 91% of the participants, and in the mefloquine-praziquantel group, 95% experienced adverse events. With the exception of abdominal pain at moderate severity, adverse events were mild. Conclusions/Significance The addition of mefloquine or mefloquine-artesunate does not increase the efficacy of praziquantel against chronic S. haematobium infection. Additional studies are necessary to elucidate the effect of the combinations against acute schistosomiasis.
AC voltage and current sensorless control of three-phase PWM rectifiers

In this paper, a novel control scheme of three-phase PWM rectifiers eliminating the AC voltage and current sensors is proposed. Both the phase angle and the magnitude of the source voltage are estimated by controlling the deviation between the rectifier current and its model current to be zero. The phase currents can be reconstructed from switching states of the PWM rectifier and the measured DC link currents. To eliminate the calculation time delay effect of the microprocessor, a predictive state observer is employed. The proposed control scheme reduces the system cost and improves its reliability. The feasibility of the proposed AC sensorless technique for PWM rectifiers has been verified through experiments using a high performance DSP chip.
Robust distance measures for face-recognition supporting revocable biometric tokens

This paper explores a form of robust distance measures for biometrics and presents experiments showing that, when applied per "class" they can dramatically improve the accuracy of face recognition. We "robustify'' many distance measures included in the CSU face-recognition toolkit, and apply them to PCA, LDA and EBGM. The resulting performance puts each of these algorithms, for the FERET datasets tested, on par with commercial face recognition results. Unlike passwords, biometric signatures cannot be changed or revoked. This paper shows how the robust distance measures introduce can be used for secure robust revocable biometrics. The technique produces what we call Biotopestrade, which provide public-key cryptographic security, supports matching in encoded form, cannot be linked across different databases and are revocable. Biotopes support a robust distance measure computed on the encoded form that is proven not to decrease, and that may potentially increase, accurately. The approach is demonstrated, to improve performance beyond the already impressive gains from the robust distance measure
Dynamic social power modulates neural basis of math calculation

Both situational (e.g., perceived power) and sustained social factors (e.g., cultural stereotypes) are known to affect how people academically perform, particularly in the domain of mathematics. The ability to compute even simple mathematics, such as addition, relies on distinct neural circuitry within the inferior parietal and inferior frontal lobes, brain regions where magnitude representation and addition are performed. Despite prior behavioral evidence of social influence on academic performance, little is known about whether or not temporarily heightening a person's sense of power may influence the neural bases of math calculation. Here we primed female participants with either high or low power (LP) and then measured neural response while they performed exact and approximate math problems. We found that priming power affected math performance; specifically, females primed with high power (HP) performed better on approximate math calculation compared to females primed with LP. Furthermore, neural response within the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a region previously associated with cognitive interference, was reduced for females in the HP compared to LP group. Taken together, these results indicate that even temporarily heightening a person's sense of social power can increase their math performance, possibly by reducing cognitive interference during math performance.
"Rapid regeneration" in the cat retina: a case for spreading depression

Fundus reflectometry of the cat retina showed that under certain circumstances a rapid increase in density may follow intense bleaching exposures. The spectral characteristics of the density changes indicated that neither rhodopsin nor its bleach products could be responsible for this effect. The poor condition of the animals in which the phenomenon was observed and its conspicuous absence in the majority of the experimental runs suggested that the effect was associated with a process other than the resynthesis of rhodopsin. It was shown that an extrareceptoral event, spreading depression (SD) of the retina, is the most likely source of the rapid spectral change. The well-known tissue alterations associated with SD were induced in the retina independently of pigment density change. The resultant difference spectra resembled those produced when the rapid density increase occurred spontaneously. It seems likely that the abnormal physiological condition of those cats in which the phenomenon is more frequently observed primes the retina for the light-induced generation of spreading depression.
An Intrinsic Bond-Centered Electronic Glass with Unidirectional Domains in Underdoped Cuprates

Removing electrons from the CuO2 plane of cuprates alters the electronic correlations sufficiently to produce high-temperature superconductivity. Associated with these changes are spectral-weight transfers from the high-energy states of the insulator to low energies. In theory, these should be detectable as an imbalance between the tunneling rate for electron injection and extraction—a tunneling asymmetry. We introduce atomic-resolution tunneling-asymmetry imaging, finding virtually identical phenomena in two lightly hole-doped cuprates: Ca1.88Na0. 12CuO2Cl2 and Bi2Sr2Dy0.2Ca0. 8Cu2O8+δ. Intense spatial variations in tunneling asymmetry occur primarily at the planar oxygen sites; their spatial arrangement forms a Cu-O-Cu bond-centered electronic pattern without long-range order but with 4a0-wide unidirectional electronic domains dispersed throughout (a0: the Cu-O-Cu distance). The emerging picture is then of a partial hole localization within an intrinsic electronic glass evolving, at higher hole densities, into complete delocalization and highest-temperature superconductivity.
The development of continuum damage mechanics-based theories for predicting forming limit diagrams for hot stamping applications

This paper presents a novel plane-stress continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model for the prediction of the different shapes of forming limit diagrams (FLCs) for aluminium alloys under hot stamping conditions. Firstly, a set of uniaxial viscoplastic damage constitutive equations is determined from tensile experimental data of AA5754 at a temperature range of 350–550℃ and strain rates of 0.1, 1.0 and 10 s−1. The tests were carried out on Gleeble materials simulator (3800). Based on the analysis of features of FLCs for different materials forming at different temperatures, a plane-stress damage equation is proposed to take account the failure of materials at different stress-state sheet metal forming conditions. In this way, a set of multiaxial viscoplastic damage constitutive equations is formulated. The model is calibrated from the FLC data at temperature of 350℃ and strain rate of 1.0 s−1 for AA5754. A good agreement has been achieved between the experimental and numerical data. The effect of the maximum principal stress, effective stress and hydrostatic stress on the materials failure features and on the shape of FLCs is studied individually and in combination. Using the newly developed plane-stress unified viscoplastic damage constitutive equations, the FLC of materials can be predicted at different temperatures and strain rate forming conditions.
The Functional Link between Area MT Neural Fluctuations and Detection of a Brief Motion Stimulus

Fluctuations of neural firing rates in visual cortex are known to be correlated with variations in perceptual performance. It is important to know whether these fluctuations are functionally linked to perception in a causal manner or instead reflect non-causal processes that arise after the perceptual decision is made. We recorded from middle temporal (MT) neurons from monkey subjects while they detected the random occurrence of a brief 50 ms motion pulse that occurred in either of two (or simultaneously in both) random dot patches located in the same hemisphere. The receptive field parameters of the motion pulse were matched to that preferred by each MT neuron under study. This task contained uncertainty in both space and time because, on any given trial, the subjects did not know which patch would contain the motion pulse or when the motion pulse would occur. Covariations between MT activity and behavior began just before the motion pulse onset and peaked at the maximum neural response. These neural–behavioral covariations were strongest when only one patch contained the motion pulse and were still weakly present when a patch did not contain a motion pulse. A feedforward temporal integration model with two independent detector channels captured both the detection performance and evolution of the neural–behavior covariations over time and stimulus condition. The results suggest that, when detecting a brief visual stimulus, there is a causal relationship between fluctuations in neural activity and variations in behavior across trials.
Exploiting lower face symmetry in appearance-based automatic speechreading

Appearance-based visual speech feature extraction is being widely used in the automatic speechreading and audio-visual speech recognition literature. In its most common application, the discrete cosine transform (DCT) is utilized to compress the image of the speaker’s mouth region-of-interest (ROI), and the highest energy spatial frequency components are retained as visual features. Good generalization performance of the resulting system however requires robust ROI extraction and its consistent normalization, designed to compensate for speaker headpose and other data variations. In general, one expects that the ROI if correctly normalized will be nearly laterally symmetric, due to the approximate symmetry of human faces. We thus argue that forcing lateral ROI symmetry can be beneficial to automatic speechreading, providing a mechanism to compensate for small face and mouth tracking errors, which would otherwise result to incorrect ROI normalization. In this paper, we propose to achieve such ROI symmetry indirectly, by considering the spatial frequency domain and exploiting the DCT properties. In particular, we propose to remove the odd frequency DCT components from the selected visual feature vector. We experimentally demonstrate that, in general, this approach does not hurt speechreading performance, while it reduces computation, since it results to less DCT features. In addition, for the same number of features, as in traditional DCT coefficient selection, the method results in significant speechreading improvements. For the connected-digit automatic speechreading experiments considered, and for low feature dimensionalities, such can reach up to 12% relative reduction in word error rate.
Elevated Circulating PCSK-9 Concentration in Renal Failure Patients is Corrected by Renal Replacement Therapy

Background: A high level of circulating PCSK9 binds to the LDL receptor, reduces its cell's surface density and leads to hypercholesterolemia. The aim of this study was to examine the circulating PCSK9 level in patients with kidney disease. Methods: Out of the patients treated in our Departments we selected: (a) 44 patients with CKD stage 3 and 4 (b) 29 patients with CKD stage 5 on maintenance hemodialysis treatment; and (c) 20 patients after successful renal transplantation. Thirty-four subjects, without CKD formed the control group. Serum biochemical parameters' concentrations were assayed by a certified laboratory. Serum PCSK9 concentration was estimated by a commercially available ELISA kit. Results: The mean serum concentration of PCSK9 in patients with kidney disease was higher than in the control group (238.7 ± 64.5 vs. 536.7 ± 190.4; p < 0.001). A strong negative correlation between serum PCSK9 concentration and eGFR was found (r = -0.66; p < 0.001), as well as between serum concentrations of PCSK9 and total- (r = 0.482; p < 0.05) or LDL-cholesterol (r = 0.533; p < 0.05), but exclusively in patients not receiving statins. The elevated serum concentration of PCSK9 in patients before hemodialysis session declined afterwards, reaching the values observed in patients after kidney transplantation and in the control group. Conclusion: The circulating PCSK9 concentration is increased in patients with CKD; however, this is not accompanied by hypercholesterolemia. The positive correlations between PCSK9/TCh and PCSK9/LDL-Ch have been found only in patients not treated with statins. The elevated circulating PCSK9 level is corrected by maintenance hemodialysis treatment and normalized by a successful kidney transplantation.
New approach for design and verification of a wideband Archimedean spiral antenna for radiometric measurement in biomedical applications

A wideband, body contact, directive beam, circularly polarized, single arm, Archimedean spiral antenna for radiometric temperature measurement inside a human body in S-band and an SAR (specific absorption rate) measurement method using a thermal camera are described in this paper. A new approach of designing the spiral antenna based on using the estimated effective permittivity of a multilayered microstrip line to derive the dimensions of the spiral antenna is proposed. The purpose of using the effective permittivity is to set the position of the active region at the operating frequency (3.5 GHz), which achieves the highest radiometric efficiency. Two simulation models are developed to verify the reflection coefficient (S11) and SAR distribution. The reflection coefficient (S11) of the fabricated antenna is less than -15 dB in the frequency range of 1-4 GHz. A new multilayered, low cost phantom is purposed to be used in SAR measurement. Four layers of sponge soaked with (6 g/ℓ) saline solution are used as a load for measuring SAR distribution of the fabricated antenna. The radiometric efficiency has been estimated from simulations and verified by SAR measurements. By assuming a target of 1 cm diameter, placed 1 cm away from the antenna within a human tissue compatible environment, the highest efficiency is 1.4% at the operating frequency.
Statins and cognitive function in the elderly

Objective: To examine the association of statin drug use on cognitive and MRI change in older adults. Methods: Participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a longitudinal study of people age 65 or older, were classified into three groups determined by whether they were taking statin drugs on a continuous basis, intermittently, or not at all. The untreated group was further divided into categories based on National Cholesterol Education Program recommendations for lipid-lowering treatment. Participants with prevalent or incident clinical TIA or stroke or with baseline Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS) scores at or below 80 were excluded. Outcomes examined included rate of change on the 3MS over an average observational period of 7 years, along with changes in MRI white matter grade and measures of atrophy. Results: Three thousand three hundred thirty-four participants had adequate data for analysis. At baseline, the untreated group in which lipid-lowering drug treatment was recommended were slightly older, less likely to be on estrogen replacement, and had higher serum cholesterol and lower 3MS scores than the statin-treated group. The rate of decline on the 3MS was 0.48 point/year less in those taking statins compared with the untreated group for which treatment was recommended (p = 0.069) and 0.49 point/year less in statin users compared with the group in which lipid-lowering treatment was not recommended (p = 0.009). This effect remained after controlling for serum cholesterol levels. One thousand seven hundred thirty participants with baseline 3MS scores of >80 underwent cranial MRI scans on two occasions separated by 5 years. There was no significant difference in white matter grade change or atrophy measures between groups. Conclusion: Statin drug use was associated with a slight reduction in cognitive decline in an elderly population. This relationship could not be completely explained by the effect of statins on lowering of serum cholesterol.
EGR1, EGR2, and EGR3 activate the expression of their coregulator NAB2 establishing a negative feedback loop in cells of neuroectodermal and epithelial origin

The inducible zinc finger transcription factors EGR1, EGR2, and EGR3 regulate the expression of numerous genes involved in differentiation, growth, and response to extracellular signals. Their activity is modulated in part through NAB2 which is induced by the same stimuli. In melanoma and carcinoma cells EGR1 activates NAB2 expression. In T lymphocytes EGR2 and EGR3 have been shown to inhibit NAB2 expression. Therefore, we investigated the influence of EGR2 and EGR3 on NAB2 expression in melanoma and carcinoma cells. Here, we show that like EGR1, EGR2 and EGR3 induced NAB2 expression in these cells. EGR1 and EGR3 act in concert on the NAB2 promoter and are more potent activators of NAB2 transcription than EGR2. EGR1‐, EGR2‐, and EGR3‐induced NAB2 promoter activity is mediated through similar cis‐regulatory elements and the activation by each EGR is repressed by NAB2. Kinetic studies suggest that induction of EGR1 leads to low NAB2 expression, while EGR2 and EGR3 are necessary for maximal and sustained expression. As already shown for EGR1, reduction of EGR2 or EGR3 expression by siRNAs reduced endogenous NAB2 levels. Depletion of EGR3 also resulted in a reduction of EGR2 levels confirming EGR2 as a target gene of EGR3. Our results suggest that in many cells of neuroectodermal and epithelial origin EGR1, EGR2, and EGR3 activate NAB2 transcription which is in turn repressed by NAB2, thus establishing a negative feedback loop. This points to a complex relationship between the EGR factors and NAB2 expression likely depending on the cellular context. J. Cell. Biochem. 111: 207–217, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of measurement spot size on the accuracy of laser radar devices in industrial metrology

Time-of-flight laser radar devices utilizing a single heterostructure semiconductor laser diode as a light source have a measurement spot diameter from a few millimeters to several centimeters depending on the optics and the required optical output power. Inhomogeneities in the reflectivity and surface profile of a target inside the area illuminated by the laser beam can be a source of error in distance measurement. If inhomogeneities, the intensity profile of the transmitter beam on the target surface and the shape of the received optical pulse in the time domain from a flat homogeneous surface are known, the shape of the received pulse from an non-homogeneous target surface can be calculated. As the measurement spot sweeps over the surface of the target its shape in the time domain varies, causing distance error. If the timing discrimination method used in a laser radar device is known, the distance error can be estimated by means of a numerical analysis. A simple method of estimating the error caused by the finite measurement spot size together with inhomogeneities of the target surface is presented here. A number of real measurement results obtained with a prototype of a commercial laser radar device are presented, together with simulation results. Both sets of results show that a spot size of several centimeters together with large variations in the reflectivity of the target surface can really cause an error of some centimeters in distance measurement.
Twisted jets, motivic measures and orbifold cohomology

We introduce the notion of twisted jets. For a Deligne–Mumford stack $\mathscr{X}$ of finite type over $\mathbb{C}$, a twisted $\infty$-jet on $\mathscr{X}$ is a representable morphism $\mathscr{D} \to \mathscr{X}$ such that $\mathscr{D}$ is a smooth Deligne–Mumford stack with the coarse moduli space Spec$\mathbb{C}[[t]]$. We study a motivic measure on the space of the twisted $\infty$-jets on a smooth Deligne–Mumford stack. As an application, we prove that two birational minimal models with Gorenstein quotient singularities have the same orbifold cohomology as a Hodge structure.