Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Conspecifics on the Burrow Occupancy Behavior of Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum)

Abstract The spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) is a pool-breeding species thought to depend on small mammal burrows for survival in terrestrial habitats. We investigated burrow occupancy patterns using laboratory and field experiments where salamanders were housed alone or in pairs, in arenas with either one or two burrows. In the single-burrow field experiment, intruders were significantly less likely than residents to occupy burrows, and the probability of burrow occupancy declined following nighttime rain. However, spotted salamanders frequently co-occupied burrows (mean burrow co-occupancy rate, 59%). In the single-burrow laboratory experiment, mean burrow occupancy rate was 98%, both when salamanders were housed alone and in pairs. However, salamanders housed in pairs with two burrows co-occupied burrows less frequently than expected by chance, and greater size disparity was associated with lower burrow co-occupancy rates. Our results suggest that spotted salamanders may often fail to effectively defend burrows and exclude conspecifics, although avoidance of occupied burrows could, in some contexts, affect spacing in terrestrial habitats.
Fibrogenic Potential of Human Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Injured Liver

Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are currently investigated clinically as cellular therapy for a variety of diseases. Differentiation of MSC toward endodermal lineages, including hepatocytes and their therapeutic effect on fibrosis has been described but remains controversial. Recent evidence attributed a fibrotic potential to MSC. As differentiation potential might be dependent of donor age, we studied MSC derived from adult and pediatric human bone marrow and their potential to differentiate into hepatocytes or myofibroblasts in vitro and in vivo. Following characterization, expanded adult and pediatric MSC were co-cultured with a human hepatoma cell line, Huh-7, in a hepatogenic differentiation medium containing Hepatocyte growth factor, Fibroblast growth factor 4 and oncostatin M. In vivo, MSC were transplanted into spleen or liver of NOD/SCID mice undergoing partial hepatectomy and retrorsine treatment. Expression of mesenchymal and hepatic markers was analyzed by RT-PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry. In vitro, adult and pediatric MSC expressed characteristic surface antigens of MSC. Expansion capacity of pediatric MSC was significantly higher when compared to adult MSC. In co-culture with Huh-7 cells in hepatogenic differentiation medium, albumin expression was more frequently detected in pediatric MSC (5/8 experiments) when compared to adult MSC (2/10 experiments). However, in such condition pediatric MSC expressed alpha smooth muscle more strongly than adult MSC. Stable engraftment in the liver was not achieved after intrasplenic injection of pediatric or adult MSC. After intrahepatic injection, MSC permanently remained in liver tissue, kept a mesenchymal morphology and expressed vimentin and alpha smooth muscle actin, but no hepatic markers. Further, MSC localization merges with collagen deposition in transplanted liver and no difference was observed using adult or pediatric MSC. In conclusion, when transplanted into an injured or regenerating liver, MSC differentiated into myofibroblasts with development of fibrous tissue, regardless of donor age. These results indicate that MSC in certain circumstances might be harmful due to their fibrogenic potential and this should be considered before potential use of MSC for cell therapy.
Prospective, Before-After Cohort Study to Assess the Efficacy of Laser Therapy on Hypertrophic Burn Scars

IntroductionHypertrophic burn scars produce significant morbidity, including itching, pain, stiffness, and contracture. Best practices for management continue to evolve. Lasers have recently been added to treatment algorithms, but indications and efficacy have not been fully defined. We studied the impact of laser therapies on hypertrophic burn scars. MethodsWe conducted a prospective, before-after study in burn patients with hypertrophic scars. Procedures were performed more than 6 months after burn injury and were repeated monthly. The pulsed-dye laser was used for pruritus and erythema, whereas the fractional CO2 laser was used for stiffness and abnormal texture. All procedures were performed in the OR, with anesthesia. Outcomes are as follows: (1) Vancouver Scar Scale (objective changes in pigmentation, erythema, pliability, height; range, 0–15) and (2) UNC Scar Scale (subjective changes in pain, itching, tingling, stiffness; range, 0–12). Before-after scores were compared by Student t test, with significance assigned to P values of <0.05. ResultsDuring 2011, we treated 147 patients (mean age, 26.9 years; mean TBSA, 16.1%) over 415 sessions (2.8 sessions/patient), including pulsed dye laser (n = 327) and CO2 (n = 139), mean surface area of 83 cm2. Etiology included flame (75), scald (37), and other (35). Treatments occurred 16 months (median) and 48 months (mean) after burn injury. Vancouver Scar Scale decreased from 10.4 (SD, 2.4) to 5.2 (1.9) (P < 0.0001). UNC Scar Scale decreased from 5.4 (2.5) to 2.1 (1.7) (P < 0.0001). Mean length of follow-up was 4.7 months. ConclusionsLaser therapies significantly improve both the signs and symptoms of hypertrophic burn scars, as measured by objective and subjective instruments.
Privacy-Preserving Data Aggregation in Mobile Phone Sensing

Mobile phone sensing provides a promising paradigm for collecting sensing data and has been receiving increasing attention in recent years. Different from most existing works, which protect participants' privacy by hiding the content of their data and allow the aggregator to compute some simple aggregation functions, we propose a new approach to protect participants' privacy by delinking data from its sources. This approach allows the aggregator to get the exact distribution of the data aggregation and, therefore, enables the aggregator to efficiently compute arbitrary/complicated aggregation functions. In particular, we first present an efficient protocol that allows an untrusted data aggregator to periodically collect sensed data from a group of mobile phone users without knowing which data belong to which user. Assume there are n users in the group. Our protocol achieves n-source anonymity in the sense that the aggregator only learns that the source of a piece of data is one of the n users. Then, we consider a practical scenario where users may have different source anonymity requirements and provide a solution based on dividing users into groups. This solution optimizes the efficiency of data aggregation and meets all users' requirements at the same time.
THE EFFECT OF HUSBANDS’ FERTILITY PREFERENCES ON COUPLES’ REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR IN RURAL BANGLADESH

Summary Bangladesh society is profoundly gender stratified, and yet male roles in reproductive health processes have not been rigorously investigated. This study examines the association between men’s reproductive health knowledge, attitude and behaviour and their wives’ subsequent reproductive behaviour using longitudinal data from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). A total of 4969 matched husband-and-wife data from a 1998 survey and women’s contraceptive use history data following this survey are used. Results show a significant association between husbands’ fertility preferences and current use of any family planning method. When wives’ background characteristics, and husbands’ background and socioeconomic characteristics are controlled for, the predicted probability of using a method of contraception among non-educated wives whose husbands want more children is 0·49 compared with 0·64 for those whose husbands do not want more children. However, the net effect of husbands’ preference for additional children diminishes as wives’ level of education increases. Among wives who had completed high school, the predicted probability of using a method of contraception is 0·70 for those whose husbands want more children compared with 0·69 for those whose husbands do not want more children.
Effects on bone by the light/dark cycle and chronic treatment with melatonin and/or hormone replacement therapy in intact female mice

Abstract: In this study, the effects of the light/dark cycle, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and nocturnal melatonin supplementation on osteogenic markers and serum melatonin levels were examined in a blind mouse model (MMTV‐Neu transgenic mice). Melatonin levels in this mouse strain (FVB/N) with retinal degeneration (rd−/−) fluctuate in a diurnal manner, suggesting that these mice, although blind, still perceive light. Real‐time RT‐PCR analyses demonstrated that Runx2, Bmp2, Bmp6, Bglap, and Per2 mRNA levels coincide with melatonin levels. The effect of chronic HRT (0.5 mg 17β‐estradiol + 50 mg progesterone in 1800 kcal of diet) alone and in combination with melatonin (15 mg/L drinking water) on bone quality and density was also assessed by histomorphometry and microcomputed tomography, respectively. Bone density was significantly increased (P < 0.05) after 1 yr of treatment with the individual therapies, HRT (22% increase) and nocturnal melatonin (20% increase) compared to control. Hormone replacement therapy alone also increased surface bone, decreased trabecular space, and decreased the number of osteoclasts without affecting osteoblast numbers compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Chronic HRT + melatonin therapy did not significantly increase bone density, even though this combination significantly increased Bglap mRNA levels. These data suggest that the endogenous melatonin rhythm modulates markers important to bone physiology. Hormone replacement therapy with or without nocturnal melatonin in cycling mice produces unique effects on bone markers and bone density. The effects of these therapies alone and combined may improve bone health in women in perimenopause and with low nocturnal melatonin levels from too little sleep, too much light, or age.
The Development of Metabolomic Sampling Procedures for Pichia pastoris, and Baseline Metabolome Data

Metabolic profiling is increasingly being used to investigate a diverse range of biological questions. Due to the rapid turnover of intracellular metabolites it is important to have reliable, reproducible techniques for sampling and sample treatment. Through the use of non-targeted analytical techniques such as NMR and GC-MS we have performed a comprehensive quantitative investigation of sampling techniques for Pichia pastoris. It was clear that quenching metabolism using solutions based on the standard cold methanol protocol caused some metabolite losses from P. pastoris cells. However, these were at a low level, with the NMR results indicating metabolite increases in the quenching solution below 5% of their intracellular level for 75% of metabolites identified; while the GC-MS results suggest a slightly higher level with increases below 15% of their intracellular values. There were subtle differences between the four quenching solutions investigated but broadly, they all gave similar results. Total culture extraction of cells + broth using high cell density cultures typical of P. pastoris fermentations, was an efficient sampling technique for NMR analysis and provided a gold standard of intracellular metabolite levels; however, salts in the media affected the GC-MS analysis. Furthermore, there was no benefit in including an additional washing step in the quenching process, as the results were essentially identical to those obtained just by a single centrifugation step. We have identified the major high-concentration metabolites found in both the extra- and intracellular locations of P. pastoris cultures by NMR spectroscopy and GC-MS. This has provided us with a baseline metabolome for P. pastoris for future studies. The P. pastoris metabolome is significantly different from that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with the most notable difference being the production of high concentrations of arabitol by P. pastoris.
TRAJECTORIES OF CHANGE IN ANXIETY SEVERITY AND IMPAIRMENT DURING AND AFTER TREATMENT WITH EVIDENCE‐BASED TREATMENT FOR MULTIPLE ANXIETY DISORDERS IN PRIMARY CARE

Coordinated Anxiety Learning and Management (CALM) is a model for delivering evidence‐based treatment for anxiety disorders in primary care. Compared to usual care, CALM produced greater improvement in anxiety symptoms. However, mean estimates can obscure heterogeneity in treatment response. This study aimed to identify (1) clusters of participants with similar patterns of change in anxiety severity and impairment (trajectory groups); and (2) characteristics that predict trajectory group membership.
FAST MOVING OBJECTS DETECTION USING iLBP BACKGROUND MODEL

In this paper a new approach for moving objects detection in video surveillance systems is proposed. It is based on iLBP (intensity local binary patterns) descriptor that combines the classic LBP (local binary patterns) and the multiple regressive pseudospectra model. The iLBP descriptor itself is considered together with computational algorithm that is based on the sign image representation. We show that motion analysis methods based on iLBP allow uniformly detecting objects that move with different speed or even stop for a short while along with unattended objects. We also show that proposed model is comparable to the most popular modern background models, but is significantly faster.
Trade Liberalization , Tariff Overhang and Antidumping Filings in Developing Countries +

It has been argued that antidumping (AD) facilitates trade liberalization by serving as a release valve for protectionist pressure. We focus on a group of prominent ADusing developing countries and examine the validity of the pressure release hypothesis. The fact that these new AD users generally began using AD after significant trade liberalization supports the hypothesis. Yet, if pressure exists to reverse liberalization, it is not because products that were subject to AD scrutiny were treated poorly in the liberalization programme. For nearly all major new users products subject to AD investigations do not have unusually low tariffs nor have they experienced unusually large tariff reductions. Our main point is that that AD is not the only policy option. For all countries studied the tariff bindings are weak in the sense that the bound levels exceed the applied levels by a considerable margin. Because of this, developing countries can raise their applied tariffs without running afoul of WTO rules. This is not just a theoretical possibility – we show that for some countries 8 out of 10 HS6 tariffs have been increased in recent years. Countries could certainly increase applied rates for industries that are particularly susceptible to injury from trade. By doing so AD’s vague and economically illogical rules could be reformed without placing other WTO trade liberalization initiatives at risk. The reality is, however, that industries prefer AD because AD duties are often far larger than the bound rates. With the cumulation provision industries can effectively use AD protection against all major import sources. Because AD is not needed as pressure release valve and because it involves high duties against most import sources, AD is likely more damaging to the world trading system than the pressure release valve hypothesis suggests. + Paper is VERY preliminary. Many cites to related literature are missing. This initial draft is just to get our ideas down on paper and is not ready for circulation. * Department of Economics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Email: prusa@rutgers.edu ** World Bank, Email: yli7@worldbank.org 1 Dorothy: Oh, will you help me? Can you help me? Glinda: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas. The Wizard of Oz
Serotonin 1B receptor stimulation reduces D1 receptor agonist-induced dyskinesia

Dopamine replacement therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease leads to deleterious abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs), known as L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA)-induced dyskinesia, which parallels enhanced striatal dopamine D1 receptor-mediated signaling. Recent evidence suggests stimulation of striatal serotonin (5-HT) 1B receptors may reduce D1-mediated signaling. Given this potential antidyskinetic mechanism, male hemiparkinsonian Sprague–Dawley rats received treatments of D1 receptor agonist, SKF81297, (0.8 mg/kg) or L-DOPA (12 mg/kg, subcutaneous injection). Dyskinetic movements were rated using the AIMs scale. Rats were then administered vehicle (100% dimethyl sulfoxide) or the 5-HT1B receptor agonist, CP94253, (1.5 or 3.0 mg/kg, subcutaneous injection), followed by SKF81297 or L-DOPA and rated for AIMs. Results indicate that CP94253 mitigates both L-DOPA and D1 receptor agonist-induced dyskinesia. These findings suggest that 5-HT1B receptor stimulation directly diminishes D1 receptor-mediated dyskinesia, implicating an important target for the treatment of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.
Altered expression of genes involved in GABAergic transmission and neuromodulation of granule cell activity in the cerebellum of schizophrenia patients.

OBJECTIVE Deficits in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling have been described in the prefrontal cortex, limbic system, and cerebellum in individuals with schizophrenia. The purpose of the present study was to further investigate cerebellar gene expression alterations as they relate to decreases in GABAergic transmission by examining the expression of GABAergic markers, N-methyl-d-aspartic-acid (NMDA) receptor subunits, and cerebellum neuromodulators in individuals with schizophrenia. METHOD Subjects were postmortem men with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (N=13) and a postmortem interval-matched non-psychiatric male comparison group (N=13). The authors utilized real-time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to measure mRNA levels of the following GABAergic markers: glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) 65 and 67; GABA plasma membrane transporter-1 (GAT-1); GABA type A (GABA(A)) receptor subunits alpha(6), beta(3), and delta; and parvalbumin. In addition, real-time-quantitative PCR was utilized to assess mRNA levels of the NMDA receptor (NR) subunits NR1, NR2-A, NR2-B, NR2-C, and NR2-D as well as the cerebellar neuromodulators glutamate receptor (GluR)-6, kainate-preferring glutamate receptor subunit-2 (KA2), metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR)-2 and mGluR3, and neuronal nitric oxide synthase. Measurements for mRNA levels were determined using lateral cerebellar hemisphere tissue from both schizophrenia and comparison subjects. RESULTS Schizophrenia subjects showed significant decreases in mRNA levels of GAD(67), GAD(65), GAT-1, mGluR2, and neuronal nitric oxide synthase. Increases in GABA(A)-alpha(6 )and GABA(A)-delta as well as GluR6 and KA2 were also observed. Medication effects on the expression of the same genes were examined in rats treated with either haloperidol (Sprague-Dawley rats [N=16]) or clozapine (Long-Evans rats [N=20]). Both haloperidol and clozapine increased the levels of GAD(67) in the cerebellum and altered the expression of other cerebellar mRNAs. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that GABA transmission is decreased in the cerebellar cortices in individuals with schizophrenia and additional gene expression changes may reflect an attempt to increase GABA neurotransmission at the cerebellar glomerulus.
An offline frequent value encoding for energy-efficient MLC/TLC non-volatile memories

This paper describes a low overhead, offline frequent value encoding (FVE) solution to reduce the write energy in multi-level/triple-level cell (MLC/TLC) non-volatile memories (NVMs). The proposed solution, which does not require any runtime software support, clusters a set of general-purpose applications according to their data frequency profiles and generates a dedicated offline FVE that minimizes write energy for each cluster. Results show that the write energy reduction of evaluation sets - using FVEs generated for training sets - are close (equal) to the best known solution for MLC (TLC) NVM encoding; however, our solution incurs a memory overhead that is 16× (5.7×) less than the best comparable scheme in the literature for MLC (TLC) NVMs.
Effects of habitat quality and size on extinction in experimental populations

Stochastic population theory makes clear predictions about the effects of reproductive potential and carrying capacity on characteristic time-scales of extinction. At the same time, the effects of habitat size and quality on reproduction and regulation have been hotly debated. To trace the causal relationships among these factors, we looked at the effects of habitat size and quality on extinction time in experimental populations of Daphnia magna. Replicate model systems representative of a broad-spectrum consumer foraging on a continuously supplied resource were established under crossed treatments of habitat size (two levels) and habitat quality (three levels) and monitored until eventual extinction of all populations. Using statistically derived estimates of key parameters, we related experimental treatments to persistence time through their effect on carrying capacity and the population growth rate. We found that carrying capacity and the intrinsic rate of increase were each influenced similarly by habitat size and quality, and that carrying capacity and the intrinsic rate of increase were in turn both correlated with time to population extinction. We expected habitat quality to have a greater influence on extinction. However, owing to an unexpected effect of habitat size on reproductive potential, habitat size and quality were similarly important for population persistence. These results support the idea that improving the population growth rate or carrying capacity will reduce extinction risk and demonstrate that both are possible by improving habitat quality or increasing habitat size.
Autonomous locomotion of capsule endoscope in gastrointestinal tract

Autonomous locomotion in gastrointestinal (GI) tracts is achieved with a paddling-based capsule endoscope. For this, a miniaturized encoder module was developed utilizing a MEMS fabrication technology to monitor the position of paddles. The integrated encoder module yielded the high resolution of 0.0025 mm in the linear motion of the paddles. In addition, a PID control method was implemented on a DSP to control the stroke of the paddles accurately. As a result, the average accuracy and the standard deviation were measured to be 0.037 mm and 0.025 mm by a laser position sensor for the repetitive measurements. The locomotive performance was evaluated via ex-vivo tests according to various strokes in paddling. In an in-vivo experiment with a living pig, the locomotion speed was improved by 58% compared with the previous control method relying on a given timer value for reciprocation of the paddles. Finally, the integrated encoder module and the control system allow consistent paddling during locomotion even under loads in GI tract. It provides the autonomous locomotion without intervention in monitoring and controlling the capsule endoscope.