Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Guide to the Dissection of the Dog ( 8 th edition )

The third edition of Avian Medicine has changed substantially, compared with previous editions, and those changes make it a valuable addition to the reference library of any veterinarian who examines and treats birds. Detailed and concise descriptions and illustrations are provided for basic procedures such as blood film and cytologic evaluations, sample collection and storage, and nursing care. Surgical procedures are succinctly described with text and helpful images, as are many common diseases. This book is intended to provide pertinent information in a concise manner for busy practitioners. It is not a comprehensive guide for all subjects, and those interested in detailed information on species-specific anatomy, physiology, or disease will need to consult other reference sources. New to this edition are chapters on behavior and cognition, breeding and neonatal care, oiled bird management, and feather destructive behavior. The sections on analgesia and fluid therapy have been expanded and updated. Whereas the previous editions of the book tended to be primarily focused on raptor medicine with brief mention of other avian species, this edition appears to have a better balance of information among raptors and psittacine, passerine, and other avian species. The tables and appendices in particular have been updated and streamlined, making them much easier to consult, and they now include reference intervals for ECG, echocardiographic, and radiographic evaluations. Overall, this book will be a good reference for anyone interested in avian medicine regardless of experience level. From the detailed information on basic techniques to advanced fracture repair, this edition has something for everyone and is a welcome addition to this reviewer’s bookshelf. Reviewed by Kristin Sinclair, DVM, DABVP Kensington Bird & Animal Hospital LLC Kensington, Conn Avian Medicine and Surgery in Practice: Companion and Aviary Birds (2nd edition) Bob Doneley
Sleep memory processing: the sequential hypothesis

According to the sequential hypothesis (SH) memories acquired during wakefulness are processed during sleep in two serial steps respectively occurring during slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. During SWS memories to be retained are distinguished from irrelevant or competing traces that undergo downgrading or elimination. Processed memories are stored again during REM sleep which integrates them with preexisting memories. The hypothesis received support from a wealth of EEG, behavioral, and biochemical analyses of trained rats. Further evidence was provided by independent studies of human subjects. SH basic premises, data, and interpretations have been compared with corresponding viewpoints of the synaptic homeostatic hypothesis (SHY). Their similarities and differences are presented and discussed within the framework of sleep processing operations. SHY’s emphasis on synaptic renormalization during SWS is acknowledged to underline a key sleep effect, but this cannot marginalize sleep’s main role in selecting memories to be retained from downgrading traces, and in their integration with preexisting memories. In addition, SHY’s synaptic renormalization raises an unsolved dilemma that clashes with the accepted memory storage mechanism exclusively based on modifications of synaptic strength. This difficulty may be bypassed by the assumption that SWS-processed memories are stored again by REM sleep in brain subnuclear quantum particles. Storing of memories in quantum particles may also occur in other vigilance states. Hints are provided on ways to subject the quantum hypothesis to experimental tests.
Model Predictive Control of Capacitor Voltage Balancing for Cascaded Modular DC–DC Converters

Input-series output-series (ISOS) modular dc-dc converters are suitable for applications involving high input and output voltages. Input voltage sharing (IVS) and output voltage sharing (OVS) of the constituent modules must be guaranteed for an ISOS system. A duty cycle-based model predictive control (DC-MPC) scheme is proposed in this paper to achieve IVS and OVS for an ISOS system. The employed switching frequency in the DC-MPC scheme is fixed; duty cycles are optimized and then determined by minimizing a cost function, which is derived from an ISOS system aimed at achieving IVS and OVS. IVS and OVS can, therefore, be obtained by employing the optimized duty cycle within each sampling period. In addition, challenges and disadvantages of directly using traditional MPC to achieve IVS and OVS is briefly discussed, while the proposed DC-MPC can effectively avoid them. Compared with the existing proportional integral-based schemes in the literature, the proposed DC-MPC is better for IVS and OVS because it is a very simple and intuitive approach with lower cost and higher overall dynamic performance. Simulation and experiments are conducted to verify that the proposed DC-MPC scheme works well during both steady and transient states.
Shear-wave elastography improves the specificity of breast US: the BE1 multinational study of 939 masses.

PURPOSE To determine whether adding shear-wave (SW) elastographic features could improve accuracy of ultrasonographic (US) assessment of breast masses. MATERIALS AND METHODS From September 2008 to September 2010, 958 women consented to repeat standard breast US supplemented by quantitative SW elastographic examination in this prospective multicenter institutional review board-approved, HIPAA-compliant protocol. B-mode Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) features and assessments were recorded. SW elastographic evaluation (mean, maximum, and minimum elasticity of stiffest portion of mass and surrounding tissue; lesion-to-fat elasticity ratio; ratio of SW elastographic-to-B-mode lesion diameter or area; SW elastographic lesion shape and homogeneity) was performed. Qualitative color SW elastographic stiffness was assessed independently. Nine hundred thirty-nine masses were analyzable; 102 BI-RADS category 2 masses were assumed to be benign; reference standard was available for 837 category 3 or higher lesions. Considering BI-RADS category 4a or higher as test positive for malignancy, effect of SW elastographic features on area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity after reclassifying category 3 and 4a masses was determined. RESULTS Median participant age was 50 years; 289 of 939 (30.8%) masses were malignant (median mass size, 12 mm). B-mode BI-RADS AUC was 0.950; eight of 303 (2.6%) BI-RADS category 3 masses, 18 of 193 (9.3%) category 4a lesions, 41 of 97 (42%) category 4b lesions, 42 of 57 (74%) category 4c lesions, and 180 of 187 (96.3%) category 5 lesions were malignant. By using visual color stiffness to selectively upgrade category 3 and lack of stiffness to downgrade category 4a masses, specificity improved from 61.1% (397 of 650) to 78.5% (510 of 650) (P<.001); AUC increased to 0.962 (P=.005). Oval shape on SW elastographic images and quantitative maximum elasticity of 80 kPa (5.2 m/sec) or less improved specificity (69.4% [451 of 650] and 77.4% [503 of 650], P<.001 for both), without significant improvement in sensitivity or AUC. CONCLUSION Adding SW elastographic features to BI-RADS feature analysis improved specificity of breast US mass assessment without loss of sensitivity.
Neuroblastoma in monozygotic twins – a case of probable twin-to-twin metastasis

Concordance for neuroblastoma in monozygotic twins has been reported only rarely, and the cause of the shared pathology has not been established. We describe a case of infant monozygotic twins developing tumours that were morphologically, clinically and molecularly indistinguishable, but with a delay of 6 months between times of presentation. Both tumours were metastatic and had amplification of MYCN and deletion at 1p36. Twin 1, who developed neuroblastoma first, had constitutional karyotype abnormalities in at least 5% of peripheral blood mononuclear cells involving 1p and 3p, and a deletion of 1q44 in 21% of cells. Twin 2 had a normal constitutional karyotype and lacked rearrangement or deletion of these regions. We propose an acquired neuroblastoma predisposition specific for twin 1, and in utero metastatic spread of tumour cells to twin 2 via the shared placental circulation. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com
Single Correlator Based UWB Receiver Implemetation Through Channel Shortening Equalizer

Ultra wide band (UWB) signals are very finely spaced in time domain. Due to very narrow pulse width, the UWB receivers are usually implemented through correlators. The complexity and cost of UWB receiver is determined by the number of correlators used. As UWB channels have very long impulse responses as compared to the pulse width, channel shortening can help in reducing the number of correlators and thus enables simple and cost effective implementation of the UWB receiver. In this paper, we present a new channel shortening algorithm which can shorten the dense multipath channels, such as based on IEEE CM 4 model, to just one significant tap. We compare it to maximum shortening signal to noise ratio (MSSNR) and target impulse response (TIR) based minimum mean squared error (MMSE) algorithms and analyze their complexity, consistency and performance on the basis of number of equalizer taps, captured energy, bit error rate (BER) and signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) improvement in a multiuser environment. We show that the proposed algorithm is more consistent in shortening the channel with less number of equalizer taps and its performance is well above MSSNR and MMSE algorithms. Channel shortening to an extent of single tap using proposed algorithm eliminates the necessity of instantaneous template waveform evaluation at the receiver for efficient signal detection. This feature further simplifies the receiver implementation along with single correlator design
Distilling common randomness from bipartite quantum states

The problem of converting noisy quantum correlations between two parties into noiseless classical ones using a limited amount of one-way classical communication is addressed. A single-letter formula for the optimal tradeoff between the extracted common randomness and classical communication rate is obtained for the special case of classical-quantum correlations. The resulting curve is intimately related to the quantum compression with classical side information tradeoff curve Q/sup */(R) of Hayden, Jozsa, and Winter. For a general initial state, we obtain a similar result, with a single-letter formula, when we impose a tensor product restriction on the measurements performed by the sender; without this restriction, the tradeoff is given by the regularization of this function. Of particular interest is a quantity we call "distillable common randomness" of a state: the maximum overhead of the common randomness over the one-way classical communication if the latter is unbounded. It is an operational measure of (total) correlation in a quantum state. For classical-quantum correlations it is given by the Holevo mutual information of its associated ensemble; for pure states it is the entropy of entanglement. In general, it is given by an optimization problem over measurements and regularization; for the case of separable states we show that this can be single-letterized.
Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields induce neural differentiation in bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells

Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) affect numerous biological functions such as gene expression, cell fate determination and even cell differentiation. To investigate the correlation between ELF-EMF exposure and differentiation, bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) were subjected to a 50-Hz electromagnetic field during in vitro expansion. The influence of ELF-EMF on BM-MSCs was analysed by a range of different analytical methods to understand its role in the enhancement of neural differentiation. ELF-EMF exposure significantly decreased the rate of proliferation, which in turn caused an increase in neuronal differentiation. The ELF-EMF-treated cells showed increased levels of neuronal differentiation marker (MAP2), while early neuronal marker (Nestin) was down-regulated. In addition, eight differentially expressed proteins were detected in two-dimensional electrophoresis maps, and were identified using ESI-Q-TOF LC/MS/MS. Among them, ferritin light chain, thioredoxin-dependent peroxide reductase, and tubulin β-6 chain were up-regulated in the ELF-EMF-stimulated group. Ferritin and thioredoxin-dependent peroxide reductase are involved in a wide variety of functions, including Ca2+ regulation, which is a critical component of neurodegeneration. We also observed that the intracellular Ca2+ content was significantly elevated after ELF-EMF exposure, which strengthens the modulatory role of ferritin and thioredoxin-dependent peroxide reductase, during differentiation. Notably, western blot analysis indicated significantly increased expression of the ferritin light chain in the ELF-EMF-stimulated group (0.60 vs. 1.08; P < 0.01). These proteins may help understand the effect of ELF-EMF stimulation on BM-MSCs during neural differentiation and its potential use as a clinically therapeutic option for treating neurodegenerative diseases.
Proper differentiation of photoreceptors and amacrine cells depends on a regulatory loop between NeuroD and Six6

Timely generation of distinct neural cell types in appropriate numbers is fundamental for the generation of a functional retina. In vertebrates, the transcription factor Six6 is initially expressed in multipotent retina progenitors and then becomes restricted to differentiated retinal ganglion and amacrine cells. How Six6 expression in the retina is controlled and what are its precise functions are still unclear. To address this issue, we used bioinformatic searches and transgenic approaches in medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) to characterise highly conserved regulatory enhancers responsible for Six6 expression. One of the enhancers drove gene expression in the differentiating and adult retina. A search for transcription factor binding sites, together with luciferase, ChIP assays and gain-of-function studies, indicated that NeuroD, a bHLH transcription factor, directly binds an ‘E-box’ sequence present in this enhancer and specifically regulates Six6 expression in the retina. NeuroD-induced Six6 overexpression in medaka embryos promoted unorganized retinal progenitor proliferation and, most notably, impaired photoreceptor differentiation, with no apparent changes in other retinal cell types. Conversely, Six6 gain- and loss-of-function changed NeuroD expression levels and altered the expression of the photoreceptor differentiation marker Rhodopsin. In addition, knockdown of Six6 interfered with amacrine cell generation. Together, these results indicate that Six6 and NeuroD control the expression of each other and their functions coordinate amacrine cell generation and photoreceptor terminal differentiation.
Deterministic top-down tree automata: past, present, and future

In strong contrast to their non-deterministic counterparts, deterministic top-down tree automata received little attention in the scientific literature. The aim of this article is to survey recent and less recent results and stipulate new research directions for top-down deterministic tree automata motivated by the advent of the XML data exchange format. In particular, we survey different ranked and unranked top-down tree automata models and discuss expressiveness, closure properties and the complexity of static analysis problems.
Correlation between Discharged Worms and Fecal Egg Counts in Human Clonorchiasis

Background Stool examination by counting eggs per gram of feces (EPGs) is the best method to estimate worm burden of Clonorchis sinensis in infected humans. The present study investigated a correlation between EPGs and worm burden in human clonorchiasis. Methods and Findings A total of 60 residents, 50 egg-positive and 10 egg-negative, in Sancheong-gun, Korea, participated in this worm collection trial in 2006–2009. They were diagnosed by egg positivity in feces using the Kato-Katz method. After administration of praziquantel, they were purged with cathartics on the next day, and then discharged adult worms were collected from their feces. Their EPGs ranged from 0 to 65,544. Adult worms of C. sinensis were collected from 17 egg-positive cases, and the number of worms ranged from 1 to 114 in each individual. A positive correlation between EPGs and numbers of worms was demonstrated (r = 0.681, P<0.001). Worm recovery rates were 9.7% in cases of EPGs 1–1,000 and 73.7% in those of EPGs over 1,000. No worms were detected from egg-negative subjects. Maximum egg count per worm per day was roughly estimated 3,770 in a subject with EPGs 2,664 and 106 collected worms. Conclusions The numbers of the worms are significantly correlated with the egg counts in human clonorchiasis. It is estimated that at least 110 worms are infected in a human body with EPGs around 3,000, and egg productivity of a worm per day is around 4,000.
Changes in Normal-Appearing White Matter Precede Development of White Matter Lesions

Background and Purpose— It is unknown whether white matter lesions (WML) develop abruptly in previously normal brain areas, or whether tissue changes are already present before WML become apparent on MRI. We therefore investigated whether development of WML is preceded by quantifiable changes in normal-appearing white matter (NAWM). Methods— In 689 participants from the general population (mean age 67 years), we performed 2 MRI scans (including diffusion tensor imaging and Fluid Attenuation Inversion Recovery [FLAIR] sequences) 3.5 years apart using the same 1.5-T scanner. Using automated tissue segmentation, we identified NAWM at baseline. We assessed which NAWM regions converted into WML during follow-up and differentiated new WML into regions of WML growth and de novo WML. Fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, and FLAIR intensity of regions converting to WML and regions of persistent NAWM were compared using 3 approaches: a whole-brain analysis, a regionally matched approach, and a voxel-wise approach. Results— All 3 approaches showed that low fractional anisotropy, high mean diffusivity, and relatively high FLAIR intensity at baseline were associated with WML development during follow-up. Compared with persistent NAWM regions, NAWM regions converting to WML had significantly lower fractional anisotropy (0.337 vs 0.387; P<0.001), higher mean diffusivity (0.910×10–3 mm2/s vs 0.729×10–3 mm2/s; P<0.001), and relatively higher normalized FLAIR intensity (1.233 vs –0.340; P<0.001). This applied to both NAWM developing into growing and de novo WML. Conclusions— White matter changes in NAWM are present and can be quantified on diffusion tensor imaging and FLAIR before WML develop. This suggests that WML develop gradually, and that visually appreciable WML are only the tip of the iceberg of white matter pathology.
Optimal Asymmetric Encryption-How to Encrypt with RSA

Given an arbitrary k -bit to k -bit trapdoor permutation f and a hash function, we exhibit an encryption scheme for which (i) any string x of length slightly less than k bits can be encrypted as f ( r x ), where r x is a simple probabilistic encoding of x depending on the hash function; and (ii) the scheme can be proven semantically secure assuming the hash function is “ideal. ” Moreover, a slightly enhanced scheme is shown to have the property that the adversary can create ciphertexts only of strings for which she “knows” the corresponding plaintexts—such a scheme is not only semantically secure but also non-malleable and secure against chosen-ciphertext attack.
Discovery and fine-mapping of adiposity loci using high density imputation of genome-wide association studies in individuals of African ancestry: African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >300 loci associated with measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), but few have been identified through screening of the African ancestry genomes. We performed large scale meta-analyses and replications in up to 52,895 individuals for BMI and up to 23,095 individuals for WHRadjBMI from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC) using 1000 Genomes phase 1 imputed GWAS to improve coverage of both common and low frequency variants in the low linkage disequilibrium African ancestry genomes. In the sex-combined analyses, we identified one novel locus (TCF7L2/HABP2) for WHRadjBMI and eight previously established loci at P < 5×10−8: seven for BMI, and one for WHRadjBMI in African ancestry individuals. An additional novel locus (SPRYD7/DLEU2) was identified for WHRadjBMI when combined with European GWAS. In the sex-stratified analyses, we identified three novel loci for BMI (INTS10/LPL and MLC1 in men, IRX4/IRX2 in women) and four for WHRadjBMI (SSX2IP, CASC8, PDE3B and ZDHHC1/HSD11B2 in women) in individuals of African ancestry or both African and European ancestry. For four of the novel variants, the minor allele frequency was low (<5%). In the trans-ethnic fine mapping of 47 BMI loci and 27 WHRadjBMI loci that were locus-wide significant (P < 0.05 adjusted for effective number of variants per locus) from the African ancestry sex-combined and sex-stratified analyses, 26 BMI loci and 17 WHRadjBMI loci contained ≤ 20 variants in the credible sets that jointly account for 99% posterior probability of driving the associations. The lead variants in 13 of these loci had a high probability of being causal. As compared to our previous HapMap imputed GWAS for BMI and WHRadjBMI including up to 71,412 and 27,350 African ancestry individuals, respectively, our results suggest that 1000 Genomes imputation showed modest improvement in identifying GWAS loci including low frequency variants. Trans-ethnic meta-analyses further improved fine mapping of putative causal variants in loci shared between the African and European ancestry populations.
25 IN VIVO MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY STUDIES OF THE GLUTAMATE AND GABA NEUROTRANSMITTER CYCLES AND FUNCTIONAL NEUROENERGETICS

In the last 5 years there has been a renewed interest in the role of metabolism in supporting brain function. Much of this interest is based on the development of functional positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although often incorrectly described as directly mapping neuronal activity, both functional PET and MRI actually measure changes in either glucose metabolism or physiologic parameters coupled to glucose metabolism such as blood flow and volume (1). A major limitation in interpreting functional imaging is that the relationship between neuronal activity and the neuroenergetic processes supported by glucose metabolism is poorly defined (2,3). The term neuronal activity applies to a spectrum of energyrequiring processes including action potential propagation, neurotransmitter release and uptake, vesicular recycling, and maintenance of membrane potentials (4). All of these processes are involved in short-term neuronal information transfer, and the relative distribution of energy among them remains an open question. There is also uncertainty as to how the different classes of neurons in a region contribute to the overall energy consumption. While an increase in the imaging signal is usually assigned to an increase in neuronal excitation, this interpretation is confounded by both inhibi-