Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dominant-Negative Subunits Reveal Potassium Channel Families That Contribute to M-Like Potassium Currents

M-currents are K+ currents generated by members of the KCNQ family of K+ channels (Wang et al., 1998). However, in some cells, M-like currents may be contaminated by members of other K+ channel gene families, such as the erg family (Meves et al., 1999; Selyanko et al., 1999). In the present experiments, we have used the acute expression of pore-defective mutants of KCNQ3 (DN-KCNQ3) and Merg1a (DN-Merg1a) as dominant negatives to separate the contributions of these two families to M-like currents in NG108-15 neuroblastoma hybrid cells and rat sympathetic neurons. Two kinetically and pharmacologically separable components of M-like current could be recorded from NG108-15 cells that were individually suppressed by DN-Merg1a and DN-KCNQ3, respectively. In contrast, only DN-KCNQ3, and not DN-Merg1a, reduced currents recorded from sympathetic neurons. Pharmacological tests suggested that the residual current in DN-KCNQ3-treated sympathetic neurons was carried by residual KCNQ channels. Ineffectiveness of DN-Merg1a in sympathetic neurons was not caused by lack of expression, as judged by confocal microscopy of Flag-tagged DN-Merg1a. These results accord with previous inferences regarding the roles of erg and KCNQ channels in generating M-like currents. This experimental approach should therefore be useful in delineating the contributions of members of these two gene families to K+ currents in other cells.
Risk factors and clinical features of ovarian pregnancy: a case–control study

Objective To identify risk factors for ovarian pregnancy (OP) and compare clinical features between OP and tubal pregnancy (TP) patients. Design Case–control study. Setting University hospital. Participants A case–control study was conducted from January 2005 to May 2014. Women diagnosed with OP were recruited as the case group (n=71), 145 women with TP and 146 with intrauterine pregnancy (IUP) were matched as controls at a ratio of 1:2:2. Women who refused interviews or provided incomplete information were excluded. Results OP risk was lower than TP risk in women with serological evidence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection (adjusted OR1 0.17, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.52), previous adnexal surgery (adjusted OR1 0.25, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.95), and current levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive use (adjusted OR1 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.78). In vitro fertilisation-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) carried a higher risk of OP (adjusted OR1 12.18, 95% CI 2.23 to 66.58) than natural conception. When Controlled by IUP women, current users of intrauterine devices (IUDs) carried a higher risk of OP than non-users of any contraceptives (adjusted OR2 9.60, 95% CI 1.76 to 42.20). β-Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels on the day of surgery were higher in OP patients than in TP patients (p<0.01). Women with OP were less likely to initially present with vaginal bleeding than those with TP (p=0.02). Moreover, shock (p=0.02), rupture (p<0.01), haemoperitoneum (p<0.01) and emergency laparotomy (p<0.01) were more common in the OP group than in the TP group. Conclusions IVF-ET and IUD use may be risk factors for OP, and OP patients tend to have high β-hCG levels and a poor clinical outcome (shock, rupture, haemoperitoneum and need for emergency laparotomy). Our findings may contribute to the prevention and early diagnosis of OP.
Performance Evaluation And Analytical Comparison Between Glucose Meters And Spectrophotometric Methods For Blood Glucose Determination

Analytical methods comparison for the determination of blood glucose are essential in clinical laboratory practice as it improves the quality of health care through accurate and reliable clinical decision making. This study was done to assess the analytical performance between the Glucose meters and spectrophotometric methods for blood glucosedetermination.The Glucometer method determined glucose by using the Finetest Auto-coding TM Premium(infopia Co., Korea) and was compared with the spectrophotometer( Kenza 240,biolabo france) using paired data of blood samples analysed respectively from208 patients in the hospital.Data analysis was performed using Analyse-it ® Version 4.6 method validation software. The results shows that the mean value of blood glucose concentrationswere higher in by the spectrophotometric method KENZA 240 (5.76 mmol/l) than by the FINE TEST glucose meter (5.27 mmol/l). Result of t-test analysis revealed a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between the pairs of overall measurements by the two methods. Pearson’s analysis revealed a high correlation value (r = 0.946) between KENZA 240 and FINE TEST measurements of blood glucose. Passing-Bablok fit of the regression line provided the equation: FINE TEST (mmol/l) = -0.3071 + 0.9821 KENZA 240 (mmol/l); and slope value (0.9821, 95% CI: 10.9375 to 1.023) supports the high correlation coefficient. The Bland-Altman plot of mean difference expresses high level of agreement between the KENZA 240 and FINE TEST measurements.This studyconcluded that the glucose meters are sufficiently reliable for clinical decision making.
Performance Benefits of Avoiding Head-of-Line Blocking in SCTP

Mitigating the effects of head-of-line blocking (HoLB) was one of the major reasons the IETF SIGTRAN working group developed SCTP, a new transport protocol for PSTN signaling traffic, in the first place. However, studies of the impact of HoLB blocking on TCP and SCTP have given ambiguous results as to whether HoLB has, in fact, any significantly deteriorating effect on transmission delay. To this end, we have carried out a detailed experimental study on the quantitative effects of HoLB. Our study suggests that although HoLB could indeed incur a substantial delay penalty on a small fraction of the messages in an SCTP session, it has only a marginal impact on the average end-to-end transmission delay. We only observed improvements in the range of O% to 18% in average message transmission delay of using unordered delivery as compared to ordered delivery. Furthermore, there was a large variability in between different test runs, which often made the impact of HoLB statistically insignificant
Prevalence of Enhanced Granular Expression of Thrombospondin Type-1 Domain-Containing 7A in the Glomeruli of Japanese Patients with Idiopathic Membranous Nephropathy

Membranous nephropathy (MN) is a leading cause of nephrotic syndrome in adults. Autoantibodies against M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) and thrombospondin type-1 domain-containing 7A (THSD7A), which mainly belong to the IgG4 subclass, were reported as associated antibodies for the development of MN. Although PLA2R is a major target antigen for idiopathic MN, the prevalence of MN patients seropositive for PLA2R in Japan is lower than that in other countries. In this study, we conducted immunohistochemical analysis of the presence of THSD7A and PLA2R in renal specimens of MN patients to estimate the prevalence of THSD7A/PLA2R-related idiopathic MN in Japan. Enhanced granular expression of THSD7A and PLA2R was detected in 9.1% and 52.7%, respectively, of the patients with idiopathic MN. Although none of patients with secondary MN displayed enhanced granular expression of THSD7A, 5.4% of them had enhanced granular expression of PLA2R. In conclusion, the prevalence of enhanced granular expression of THSD7A in the glomeruli of Japanese patients with idiopathic MN was higher than the prevalence of MN patients seropositive for THSD7A in USA and Europe.
A Simple Model of the Air Permeability of Paper

We have developed a simple model of the air permeability of paper and shown that it is in reasonable agreement with experimental results for softwood chemical pulps. The permeability is given as a function of ﬁbre external height and width and ﬁbre volume fraction including the lumen volume if present. The most important conclusion from the model is that the average ﬁbre thickness in the paper is the critical ﬁbre property controlling air permeability. In fact, the theory predicts that the sheet permeability is roughly proportional to the fourth power of the ﬁbre thickness.
Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing

The Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol is intended for use by mobile nodes in an ad hoc network. It offers quick adaptation to dynamic link conditions, low processing and memory overhead, low network utilization, and determines unicast routes to destinations within the ad hoc network. It uses destination sequence numbers to ensure loop freedom at all times (even in the face of anomalous delivery of routing control messages), avoiding problems (such as "counting to infinity") associated with classical distance vector protocols.
The ursa major cluster of galaxies - IV. HI synthesis observations

In this data paper we present the results of an extensive 21 cm-line synthesis imaging survey of 43 spiral galaxies in the nearby Ursa Major cluster using the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. Detailed kinematic information in the form of position-velocity diagrams and rotation curves is presented in an atlas together with HI channel maps, 21 cm continuum maps, global HI profiles, radial HI surface density profiles, integrated HI column density maps, and HI velocity fields. The relation between the corrected global HI linewidth and the rotational velocities V-max and V-flat as derived from the rotation curves is investigated. Inclination angles obtained from the optical axis ratios are compared to those derived from the inclined HI disks and the HI velocity fields. The galaxies were not selected on the basis of their HI content but solely on the basis of their cluster membership and inclination which should be suitable for a kinematic analysis. The observed galaxies provide a well-defined, volume limited and equidistant sample, useful to investigate in detail the statistical properties of the Tully-Fisher relation and the dark matter halos around them.
Triplets of Spikes in a Model of Spike Timing-Dependent Plasticity

Classical experiments on spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) use a protocol based on pairs of presynaptic and postsynaptic spikes repeated at a given frequency to induce synaptic potentiation or depression. Therefore, standard STDP models have expressed the weight change as a function of pairs of presynaptic and postsynaptic spike. Unfortunately, those paired-based STDP models cannot account for the dependence on the repetition frequency of the pairs of spike. Moreover, those STDP models cannot reproduce recent triplet and quadruplet experiments. Here, we examine a triplet rule (i.e., a rule which considers sets of three spikes, i.e., two pre and one post or one pre and two post) and compare it to classical pair-based STDP learning rules. With such a triplet rule, it is possible to fit experimental data from visual cortical slices as well as from hippocampal cultures. Moreover, when assuming stochastic spike trains, the triplet learning rule can be mapped to a Bienenstock–Cooper–Munro learning rule.
On the battle between lag and online gamers

Although online games have been an important Internet activity today, players inevitably suffer from lag from time to time due to the Internet's non-QoS-guaranteed architecture. Here by lag we refer to the phenomena when a game fails to respond to user commands or update the screen in a timely fashion due to long system processing or network delays. Currently, little is known about how game players feel about lag and how they react when encountering lag during game play. In this paper, we present an Internet survey that is designed to understand the following questions: 1) How do players perceive lag, 2) what do players think of the causes of lag, and 3) how do players react to lag. Our results show that game players often struggle with lag, because they are unable to identify the root cause. Therefore, they have to try any combination of possible solutions found on the Internet, blame game companies, or learn to cope. These findings manifest a strong demand for an automatic diagnostic tool that can identify the root cause of lag for gamers.
The Many Meanings of Quality Education: Politics of Targets and Indicators inSDG4

The formulation of the SDG education targets was more inclusive than the processes linked with the MDGs. Key constituencies making representations through the Open Working Group and other consultative processes succeeded in formulating targets that stressed inclusion, quality and equality in all phases of education. However, the development of the global indicators for SDG4, has resulted in metrics that miss many of the values of the targets, most notably with regard to quality and free education and substantive, not simply distributive, meanings of equality. The article analyses why some of these slippages took place, and what potential there may be to mobilise for metrics that better depict the key tenets of the education goal and targets. The analysis thus considers ways forward for exploring measurement of the many meanings of quality and equalities in education, reflecting on numbers as instruments that impose power and hierarchy, and the possibility of using reflections on numbers and indicators for critical dialogue and an enhancement of participation, accountability, and work to change injustices in education.
THE ITERATIVE CONCEPTION OF SET

The two expressions ‘The cumulative hierarchy’ and ‘The iterative conception of sets’ are usually taken to be synonymous. However, the second is more general than the first, in that there are recursive procedures that generate some ill-founded sets in addition to well-founded sets. The interesting question is whether or not the arguments in favour of the more restrictive version – the cumulative hierarchy – were all along arguments for the more general version.
Clinical Validation of an Ultra High-Throughput Spiral Microfluidics for the Detection and Enrichment of Viable Circulating Tumor Cells

Background Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that can be isolated via liquid biopsy from blood and can be phenotypically and genetically characterized to provide critical information for guiding cancer treatment. Current analysis of CTCs is hindered by the throughput, selectivity and specificity of devices or assays used in CTC detection and isolation. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we enriched and characterized putative CTCs from blood samples of patients with both advanced stage metastatic breast and lung cancers using a novel multiplexed spiral microfluidic chip. This system detected putative CTCs under high sensitivity (100%, n = 56) (Breast cancer samples: 12–1275 CTCs/ml; Lung cancer samples: 10–1535 CTCs/ml) rapidly from clinically relevant blood volumes (7.5 ml under 5 min). Blood samples were completely separated into plasma, CTCs and PBMCs components and each fraction were characterized with immunophenotyping (Pan-cytokeratin/CD45, CD44/CD24, EpCAM), fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) (EML4-ALK) or targeted somatic mutation analysis. We used an ultra-sensitive mass spectrometry based system to highlight the presence of an EGFR-activating mutation in both isolated CTCs and plasma cell-free DNA (cf-DNA), and demonstrate concordance with the original tumor-biopsy samples. Conclusions/Significance We have clinically validated our multiplexed microfluidic chip for the ultra high-throughput, low-cost and label-free enrichment of CTCs. Retrieved cells were unlabeled and viable, enabling potential propagation and real-time downstream analysis using next generation sequencing (NGS) or proteomic analysis.
Generalized multilevel function‐on‐scalar regression and principal component analysis

This manuscript considers regression models for generalized, multilevel functional responses: functions are generalized in that they follow an exponential family distribution and multilevel in that they are clustered within groups or subjects. This data structure is increasingly common across scientific domains and is exemplified by our motivating example, in which binary curves indicating physical activity or inactivity are observed for nearly 600 subjects over 5 days. We use a generalized linear model to incorporate scalar covariates into the mean structure, and decompose subject‐specific and subject‐day‐specific deviations using multilevel functional principal components analysis. Thus, functional fixed effects are estimated while accounting for within‐function and within‐subject correlations, and major directions of variability within and between subjects are identified. Fixed effect coefficient functions and principal component basis functions are estimated using penalized splines; model parameters are estimated in a Bayesian framework using Stan, a programming language that implements a Hamiltonian Monte Carlo sampler. Simulations designed to mimic the application have good estimation and inferential properties with reasonable computation times for moderate datasets, in both cross‐sectional and multilevel scenarios; code is publicly available. In the application we identify effects of age and BMI on the time‐specific change in probability of being active over a 24‐hour period; in addition, the principal components analysis identifies the patterns of activity that distinguish subjects and days within subjects.
Effect of defects on the efficiency of a-SiC:H p-i-n based solar cells

In amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) based p-i-n type solar cells, the device performance is limited by various factors. Most important of which is defects in the i-layer and particularly in the p/i interface. We performed I-V measurements on amorphous solar cells in the structure p(a-SiC H)/i(a-SiC:H)/n(a-Si:H) at AM1.5. All parameters are determined such as efficiency and filling factor. In the dark, the static and dynamic parameters of diode are deduced. Defects in the intrinsic layer are evaluated by photothermal deflexion spectroscopy technique. All the measured parameters are used by the solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS 3.2). The structure of solar cells and the experimental conditions were introduced in simulator. The experimental I-V and spectral response characteristics were correlated to the simulated ones. The simulation shows that increase in defects density, reduces the electrical parameters of amorphous solar cells. The effect of the gap value is more important to define the efficiency of the solar cell made by a-SiC:H materials.
Saturn Atmospheric Structure and Dynamics 1

1 Saturn inhabits a dynamical regime of rapidly rotating, internally heated atmospheres similar to Jupiter. Zonal winds 2 have remained fairly steady since the time of Voyager except in the equatorial zone and slightly stronger winds occur at deeper 3 levels. Eddies supply energy to the jets at a rate somewhat less than on Jupiter and mix potential vorticity near westward jets. 4 Convective clouds exist preferentially in cyclonic shear regions as on Jupiter but also near jets, including major outbreaks near 5 35°S associated with Saturn electrostatic discharges, and in sporadic giant equatorial storms perhaps generated from frequent 6 events at depth. The implied meridional circulation at and below the visible cloud tops consists of upwelling (downwelling) at 7 cyclonic (anti-cyclonic) shear latitudes. Thermal winds decay upward above the clouds, implying a reversal of the circulation 8 there. Warm-core vortices with associated cyclonic circulations exist at both poles, including surrounding thick high clouds at 9 the south pole. Disequilibrium gas concentrations in the tropical upper troposphere imply rising motion there. The radiative10 convective boundary and tropopause occur at higher pressure in the southern (summer) hemisphere due to greater penetration 11 of solar heating there. A temperature “knee” of warm air below the tropopause, perhaps due to haze heating, is stronger south 12 of the equator as well. Saturn’s south polar stratosphere is warmer than predicted by radiative models and enhanced in ethane, 13 suggesting subsidence-driven adiabatic warming there. Recent modeling advances suggest that shallow weather layer theories 14 of jet pumping may be viable if water condensation is the source of energy input driving the flow, and that deep convective 15 cylinder models with a sufficiently large tangent cylinder radius can reproduce observed flow features as well. 16
STUDIES OF COLLISION AND COMPRESSION OF PULSED PLASMAS GENERATED BY COAXIAL ACCELERATORS

This paper is about first studies of the collision and compression of plasma sheaths, generated by a coaxial plasma accelerator (CPA). A possible application could be the usage as a pulsed ion source producing high ion currents, coming along with high electron densities. To find the best electrode shape for an ion source, in a first setup, the charge and ion current has been measured. In an optimized experiment with higher discharge energies and Helium as working gas, electron density, temperature and charge states could be estimated. To improve those parameters, the collision of two plasmas generated by two CPA’s facing each other and, alternatively, the compression of a plasma by a glass cone have been investigated. To determine the electron density, the Stark broadening of the Hβ line has been utilized at lower electron densities and the broadening of a copper line at higher values, respectively.
Iranian Seafood Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Fresh Fish

An increasing interest and growth potential has emerged for Norwegian salmon in Iran’s seafood market. Willingness to pay (WTP) for Norwegian salmon, Iranian rainbow trout, and Iranian narrow-barred Spanish mackerel is estimated for seafood consumers in Iran. Marginal effects of taste, convenience, nutrition, and demographic factors on WTP, are also estimated. A survey among 359 food shoppers was conducted in Tehran province, employing a Multiple Price List (MPL) and a stated preferences method. Based on this survey, estimated WTP for Norwegian salmon is $12.54, which is almost half of its current price in the market. The results indicate that WTP for Norwegian salmon is higher among high-income groups; and also taste, nutrition, and consumption frequency can increase this WTP up to $17.45. This implies that businesses can take advantage of the existing opportunities for Norwegian salmon among Iranian seafood consumers by increasing their WTP and balancing the prices accordingly. Differentiating Norwegian salmon with respect to its attributes, and using local seafood stores in wealthy regions as the distribution channel, are the suggested strategies for development of the consumption of Norwegian salmon among Iranian seafood consumers.