Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sex and Gender Differences in Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolic Diseases Divergent effects of ER (cid:2) and ER (cid:3) on ﬂuid intake by female rats are not dependent on concomitant changes in AT 1 R expression or body weight

SD, Daniels D. Divergent effects of ER (cid:2) and ER (cid:3) on ﬂuid intake by female rats are not dependent on concomitant changes in AT 1 R expression or body weight. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 311: R14–R23, 2016. (E 2 ) decreases both wa- ter and saline intakes by female rats. The ER (cid:2) and ER (cid:3) subtypes are expressed in areas of the brain that control ﬂuid intake; however, the role that these receptors play in E 2 ’s antidipsogenic and antinatriorexi- genic effects have not been examined. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that activation of ER (cid:2) and ER (cid:3) decreases water and saline intakes by female rats. We found a divergence in E 2 ’s inhibitory effect on intake: activation of ER (cid:2) decreased water intake, whereas activation of ER (cid:3) decreased saline intake. E 2 decreases expression of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT 1 R), a receptor with known rele- vance to water and salt intakes, in multiple areas of the brain where ER (cid:2) and ER (cid:3) are differentially expressed. Therefore, we tested for agonist-induced changes in AT 1 R mRNA expression by RT-PCR and protein expression by analyzing receptor binding to test the hypothesis that the divergent effects of these ER subtypes are mediated by region-speciﬁc changes in AT 1 R expression. Although we found no changes in AT 1 R mRNA or binding in areas of the brain known to control ﬂuid intake associated with agonist treatment, the experimental results replicate and extend previous ﬁndings that body weight changes mediate alterations in AT 1 R expression in distinct brain regions. Together, the results reveal selective effects of ER subtypes on ingestive behaviors, advancing our understanding of E 2 ’s inhibi- tory role in the controls of ﬂuid intake by female rats. reduced in PPT-treated rats, compared with vehicle-treated rats ( B ). Analysis of drinking microstructure revealed that PPT treatment signiﬁcantly reduced the number of bursts ( C ) and burst size ( D ) during the ﬁrst 3-h bin. During the second 3-h bin, there was no change in burst number ( E ), but PPT treatment signiﬁcantly reduced burst size compared with vehicle treatment ( F ).
Compression Test of Food Gels on Artificial Tongue and Its Comparison with Human Test

An in vitro evaluation system of food texture was developed using artificial tongue and a conventional uniaxial compression apparatus to mimic the tongue-palate compression. Deformation behavior of agar gels on artificial tongues from silicone rubber with three levels of elastic modulus was observed during compression by a nondeformable plate. The results were compared with the oral strategy for size reduction from sensory evaluation by human subjects. Agar gels fractured upon compression when the strain of the gels was larger than that of artificial tongue, whereas they did not when the strain of the gels was equivalent to or smaller than that of the artificial tongue. When apparent elastic modulus of artificial tongue was approximately 5.5 × 104 Pa, fracture profile of the gels corresponded well to human tests. Results suggest that the oral strategy for size reduction might be determined by sensing the relative strain of the gels to the tongue during compression to a somewhat small strain. Practical Applications In an aged society, there is an increasing demand for properly texturized foods for safe consumption by those who have mastication or chewing difficulty. Food of soft texture is often preferred by these people because of easy tongue-palate compression and no need of the teeth mastication. An in vitro evaluation system of food texture developed in the present study provides a simple method for food manufactures in assessing textural acceptability of products without using human subjects. This evaluation system can lead to the innovation of food product design for textural diversity and thus improved quality of life for these disadvantaged populations.
Covert oculo-manual coupling induced by visually guided saccades

Hand pointing to objects under visual guidance is one of the most common motor behaviors in everyday life. In natural conditions, gaze and arm movements are commonly aimed at the same target and the accuracy of both systems is considerably enhanced if eye and hand move together. Evidence supports the viewpoint that gaze and limb control systems are not independent but at least partially share a common neural controller. The aim of the present study was to verify whether a saccade execution induces excitability changes in the upper-limb corticospinal system (CSS), even in the absence of a manual response. This effect would provide evidence for the existence of a common drive for ocular and arm motor systems during fast aiming movements. Single-pulse TMS was applied to the left motor cortex of 19 subjects during a task involving visually guided saccades, and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) induced in hand and wrist muscles of the contralateral relaxed arm were recorded. Subjects had to make visually guided saccades to one of 6 positions along the horizontal meridian (±5°, ±10°, or ±15°). During each trial, TMS was randomly delivered at one of 3 different time delays: shortly after the end of the saccade or 300 or 540 ms after saccade onset. Fast eye movements toward a peripheral target were accompanied by changes in upper-limb CSS excitability. MEP amplitude was highest immediately after the end of the saccade and gradually decreased at longer TMS delays. In addition to the change in overall CSS excitability, MEPs were specifically modulated in different muscles, depending on the target position and the TMS delay. By applying a simple model of a manual pointing movement, we demonstrated that the observed changes in CSS excitability are compatible with the facilitation of an arm motor program for a movement aimed at the same target of the gaze. These results provide evidence in favor of the existence of a common drive for both eye and arm motor systems.
Implementing operations to navigate semantic star schemas

In the last years, lots of work have been devoted to multidimensional modeling, star shape schemas and OLAP operations. However, "drill-across" has not captured as much attention as other operations. This operation allows to change the subject of analysis keeping the same analysis space we were using to analyze another subject. It is assumed that this can be done if both subjects share exactly the same analysis dimensions. In this paper, besides the implementation of an algebraic set of operations on a RDBMS, we are going to show when and how we can change the subject of analysis in the presence of semantic relationships, even if the analysis dimensions do not exactly coincide.
Comparison of Deposition Fluxes Comparison of Modelled and Monitored Deposition Fluxes of Sulphur and Nitrogen to Icp-forest Sites in Europe Bgd Comparison of Deposition Fluxes Bgd Comparison of Deposition Fluxes

The EMEP MSC-W Eulerian chemical transport model, and its predictions of deposition of acidifying and eutrophying pollutants over Europe, play a key role in the development of emission control strategies for the UNECE and EU. It is important that this model is tested against observational data. Such model evaluation is usually conducted using 5 observations from the EMEP monitoring network, which includes around 70 sites with wet deposition measurements in a variety of landscapes. Here we compare the results of the EMEP model with a completely independent data-set, that of the EU/ICP Forest (Level II) monitoring network. Modelled data from 1997 and 2000 were compared with observed deposition data from 160 ICP-Forest plots. 10 In general, similarities between modelled and observed deposition in this study were reasonably good (r 2 values between 0.5–0.8 for most components and years, with mean values across all sites being within 30%), despite the uncertainty in comparing measured plot data with modelled grid data. EMEP tends to give somewhat lower values for the average, median and percentile SO 2− 4 , NO − 3 and NH + 4 wet deposition in the 15 whole deposition gradient compared to ICP, but differences in mean values were within 20% in 1997 and 30% in 2000. Modelled and observed concentrations of SO 2− 4 , NO − 3 and NH + 4 in precipitation are very similar as average (differences of 0–14%), median and percentiles, and the correlation between modelled and observed data is rather high (r 2 =0.50–0.78). Many of the sites showing large discrepancies between EMEP 20 and ICP data were found to have unusually high inter-annual variability in the precipitation amounts registered by ICP, suggesting that some differences may be due to sampling procedures or complex topographic effects. A simple precipitation variability index (PVI) was devised to flag sites with large variability, and many outliers in the chemical comparison were shown to be such sites. The largest discrepancies were 25 seen between EMEP and ICP precipitation amounts and for this component the correlation was very poor (r 2 =0.04–0.23 with all data, and 0.23–0.27 with PVI-filtered data). Although more work is needed to understand these discrepancies, the overall conclu-EGU sion is that the EMEP model performs rather well in reproducing patterns of S and N deposition to European forests.
Familial Correlation of Immunoglobulin G Subclass Responses to Plasmodium falciparum Antigens in Burkina Faso

ABSTRACT Host genes are thought to determine the immune response to malaria infection and the outcome. Cytophilic antibodies have been associated with protection, whereas noncytophilic antibodies against the same epitopes may block the protective activity of the protective ones. To assess the contribution of genetic factors to immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclass responses against conserved epitopes and Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage extracts, we analyzed the isotypic distribution of the IgG responses in 366 individuals living in two differently exposed areas in Burkina Faso. We used one-way analysis of variance and pairwise estimators to calculate sib-sib and parent-offspring correlation coefficients, respectively. Familial patterns of inheritance of IgG subclass responses to defined antigens and P. falciparum extracts appear to be similar in the two areas. We observed a sibling correlation for the IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 responses directed against ring-infected-erythrocyte surface antigen, merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1), MSP-2, andP. falciparum extract. Moreover, a parent-offspring correlation was found for several IgG subclass responses, including the IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 responses directed against conserved MSP-2 epitopes. Our results indicated that the IgG subclass responses against P. falciparum blood-stage antigens are partly influenced by host genetic factors. The localization and identification of these genes may have implications for immunoepidemiology and vaccine development.
Asymmetrical Interleaved DC/DC Switching Converters for Photovoltaic and Fuel Cell Applications—Part 2: Control-Oriented Models

A previous article has presented the members of the asymmetrical interleaved dc/dc switching converters family as very appropriate candidates to interface between photovoltaic or fuel cell generators and their loads because of their reduced ripple and increased current processing capabilities. After a review of the main modeling methods suitable for high-order converters operating, as the asymmetrical interleaved converters (AIC) ones, in discontinuous current conduction mode a full-order averaged model has been adapted and improved to describe the dynamic behavior of AIC. The excellent agreement between the mathematical model predictions, the switched simulations and the experimental results has allowed for satisfactory design of a linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) in a fuel-cell application example, which demonstrates the usefulness of the improved control-oriented modeling approach when the switching converters operate in discontinuous conduction mode.
Stratospheric aerosol measurements by dual polarisation lidar

Abstract. We present measurements of stratospheric aerosol made at Aberystwyth, UK (52.4° N, 4.06° W) during periods of background aerosol conditions. The measurements were made with a lidar system based on a 532nm laser and two polarisation channels in the receiver. When stratospheric aerosol amounts are very small, as at present, this method is, potentially, free of a number of systematic errors that bedevil more commonly-used methods. The method rests on the assumption that the aerosol consists of spherical droplets which do not depolarise the lidar signal, which is valid under most conditions. Maximum lidar ratios in background aerosol of 1.03-1.06 were measured during the period 2001-2004, with integrated backscatter in the range 2-7x10-5sr-1. In January 2003, depolarising aerosol was measured, which invalidated the dual-polarisation measurements. On 10-11 January, the depolarising aerosol was clearly a polar stratospheric cloud (the first lidar observations of such clouds in the British Isles) but the aerosol observed on 7-8 January was too low in altitude and too warm to be a PSC.
Assessing toxicity of nanoparticles using Brachionus manjavacas (Rotifera)

Rotifers are major components of zooplankton in freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems throughout the world and could be useful indicator species, providing valuable insight into the effects of nanoparticles on microinvertebrate grazers. Here we report initial efforts to characterize the immediate and longer‐term effects of nanoparticle exposure on the reproduction of the coastal marine and salt lake rotifer Brachionus manjavacas. We used chemically unreactive fluorescent nanoparticles to probe how size and concentration affects the mode of uptake, distribution within the rotifer body, reproductive rate, feeding behavior, and offspring fitness. Population growth rate (r) was depressed 50% in rotifer populations exposed to 0.30 μg mL−1 of 37‐nm particles, and 89% in populations exposed to 1.1 μg mL−1. Larger particles of identical chemical composition, but with diameters up to 3000 nm, caused no reduction in population growth rate. These larger particles remain confined in the gut, implicating nanoparticle size as a critical factor in the ability to penetrate the gut wall and enter tissues. Transfer of the F1 offspring from nanoparticle exposed maternal females into nanoparticle‐free media demonstrated that nanoparticles are rapidly cleared from the animals with no significant residual adverse effects. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 26: 146–152, 2011.
Succinct backward-DAWG-matching

We consider single and multiple string matching in small space and optimal average time. Our algorithm is based on the combination of compressed self-indexes and Backward-DAWG-Matching (BDM) algorithm. We consider several implementation techniques having different space/time and implementation complexity trade-offs. The experimental results show that our approach has much smaller space requirements than BDM, while being much faster and easier to implement. We show that some of our techniques can boost the search speed of compressed self-indexes as well, using a small amount of additional space.
Dust storm detection for Xingjiang region using Indian National Satellite (INSAT 3A) data

Taklimakan Desert, located in southwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is one of the predominant dust origin in China. Dust is one of the main types of atmospheric aerosol in this region. Emerging remote sensing imagery from geostationary meteorological satellite undeniably becomes an ideal mean for monitoring large regional distribution and intensity of dust storms. Among them, Indian National Satellite (INSAT 3A) is suitable for dust aerosol retrieval and dust storm detection for Xinjiang region as it can provide high spatiotemporal earth observation with a Charge Couple Device (CCD) camera. The camera contains three bands with a spatial resolution of 1km, which are very applicable for AOD retrieval. However, there is still no mature algorithm for the retrieval of AOD over land using INSAT 3A data, though some work have been done with other geostationary satellites [1-4].
A Novel Multifunctional β-N-Acetylhexosaminidase Revealed through Metagenomics of an Oil-Spilled Mangrove

The use of culture-independent approaches, such as metagenomics, provides complementary access to environmental microbial diversity. Mangrove environments represent a highly complex system with plenty of opportunities for finding singular functions. In this study we performed a functional screening of fosmid libraries obtained from an oil contaminated mangrove site, with the purpose of identifying clones expressing hydrolytic activities. A novel gene coding for a β-N-acetylhexosaminidase with 355 amino acids and 43KDa was retrieved and characterized. The translated sequence showed only 38% similarity to a β-N-acetylhexosaminidase gene in the genome of Veillonella sp. CAG:933, suggesting that it might constitute a novel enzyme. The enzyme was expressed, purified, and characterized for its enzymatic activity on carboxymethyl cellulose, p-Nitrophenyl-2acetamide-2deoxy-β-d-glucopyranoside, p-Nitrophenyl-2acetamide-2deoxy-β-d-galactopyranoside, and 4-Nitrophenyl β-d-glucopyranoside, presenting β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, β-glucosidase, and β-1,4-endoglucanase activities. The enzyme showed optimum activity at 30 °C and pH 5.5. The characterization of the putative novel β-N-acetylglucosaminidase enzyme reflects similarities to characteristics of the environment explored, which differs from milder conditions environments. This work exemplifies the application of cultivation-independent molecular techniques to the mangrove microbiome for obtaining a novel biotechnological product.
Live probiotics protect intestinal epithelial cells from the effects of infection with enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC)

Background: The colonic epithelium maintains a life long reciprocally beneficial interaction with the colonic microbiota. Disruption is associated with mucosal injury. Aims: We hypothesised that probiotics may limit epithelial damage induced by enteroinvasive pathogens, and promote restitution. Methods: Human intestinal epithelial cell lines (HT29/cl.19A and Caco-2) were exposed to enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC 029:NM), and/or probiotics (Streptococcus thermophilus (ST), ATCC19258, and Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA), ATCC4356). Infected cells and controls were assessed for transepithelial resistance, chloride secretory responses, alterations in cytoskeletal and tight junctional proteins, and responses to epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulation. Results: Exposure of cell monolayers to live ST/LA, but not to heat inactivated ST/LA, significantly limited adhesion, invasion, and physiological dysfunction induced by EIEC. Antibiotic killed ST/LA reduced adhesion somewhat but were less effective in limiting the consequences of EIEC invasion of cell monolayers. Furthermore, live ST/LA alone increased transepithelial resistance, contrasting markedly with the fall in resistance evoked by EIEC infection, which could also be blocked by live ST/LA. The effect of ST/LA on resistance was accompanied by maintenance (actin, ZO-1) or enhancement (actinin, occludin) of cytoskeletal and tight junctional protein phosphorylation. ST/LA had no effect on chloride secretion by themselves but reversed the increase in basal secretion evoked by EIEC. EIEC also reduced the ability of EGF to activate its receptor, which was reversed by ST/LA. Conclusions: Live ST/LA interact with intestinal epithelial cells to protect them from the deleterious effect of EIEC via mechanisms that include, but are not limited to, interference with pathogen adhesion and invasion. Probiotics likely also enhance the barrier function of naïve epithelial cells not exposed to any pathogen.
Development of a novel electrochemically active membrane and 'smart' material based vibration sensor/damper

Vibration control has been achieved using state-of-the-art 'smart' materials. A 'smart' material has been developed from a metallized ionomer membrane called Nafion. This electroded material can sense mechanical vibrations and generate a voltage response. Electroded Nafion has a unique vibrational damping property. Damping with this material is achieved by dissipating the electrical energy generated as heat. This can be done using an external resistance or optimally by creating an internal conductive path. A prototype accelerometer cell has been developed which shows excellent linear characteristics and high sensitivity. It is found that the most critical element in both of the applications is the sum of the internal and the contact resistances of the electroded Nafion hydrogen pressure cell. Accordingly, a study of the resistance of these Nafion-based cells has been made and the results are included and discussed.
A wait-free queue as fast as fetch-and-add

Concurrent data structures that have fast and predictable performance are of critical importance for harnessing the power of multicore processors, which are now ubiquitous. Although wait-free objects, whose operations complete in a bounded number of steps, were devised more than two decades ago, wait-free objects that can deliver scalable high performance are still rare. In this paper, we present the first wait-free FIFO queue based on fetch-and-add (FAA). While compare-and-swap (CAS) based non-blocking algorithms may perform poorly due to work wasted by CAS failures, algorithms that coordinate using FAA, which is guaranteed to succeed, can in principle perform better under high contention. Along with FAA, our queue uses a custom epoch-based scheme to reclaim memory; on x86 architectures, it requires no extra memory fences on our algorithm's typical execution path. An empirical study of our new FAA-based wait-free FIFO queue under high contention on four different architectures with many hardware threads shows that it outperforms prior queue designs that lack a wait-free progress guarantee. Surprisingly, at the highest level of contention, the throughput of our queue is often as high as that of a microbenchmark that only performs FAA. As a result, our fast wait-free queue implementation is useful in practice on most multi-core systems today. We believe that our design can serve as an example of how to construct other fast wait-free objects.
Wear and T.E.M. Studies of P.E.C.V.D. Diamond-like-Carbon Films

Abstract Diamond-like-carbon (D.L.C.) films are characterized by a low friction coefficient, a high wear resistance and a high corrosion resistance. D.L. C. films can be obtained by P.V. D. , C.V. D. and duplex techniques with solid or gaseous precursors. Depending on the processing, hydrogen concentration ranges between 0 and 60% In this study, hydrogenated D.L. C. has been deposited with a radio frequency system (13.56 MHz) onto a steel substrate. Wear was studied by pin-on-disc testing at room temperature with an alumina counterpart. Interrupted tests were carried out to go into wear mechanisms. Debris were collected after various given sliding times for transmission electron microscopy (T.E.M.) in addition to scanning electron microscopy (S.E.M.) applied to the wear tracks.
Stability of Lattices and the Partition of Arithmetic Quotients

then there are a number of properties it possesses that play an important role in analysis on the quotient Γ\H, for example in the construction of Eisenstein series and the proof of the Selberg trace formula: • The region HY is invariant under the group N as well as the discrete subgroup Γ ∩ P ; • The quotient by N(Γ ∩ P ) is isomorphic to the subset [Y,∞); • for Y ≥ 1, the canonical projection from Γ ∩ P\H to Γ\H when restricted to the quotient Γ ∩ P\HY embeds it as a neighbourhood of the cusp at infinity; • the complement of the image of HY in Γ\H is compact.