Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of a Lifestyle Intervention in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: The Physical Activity and Nutrition for Diabetes in Alberta (PANDA) Trial

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients often find integrating a new dietary pattern into their lifestyle challenging; therefore, the PANDA (Physical Activity and Nutrition for Diabetes in Alberta) menu plan intervention was developed to help people incorporate the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) nutrition therapy guidelines into their daily lives. The menu plan focused on recipes and foods that were accessible, available and acceptable to Albertans. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention on blood glucose control and dietary adherence and quality among patients with T2D. Participants with T2D (n = 73) enrolled in a single-arm incorporating interactive education based on a four-week menu plan that incorporated the recommendations of the CDA nutrition therapy guidelines. Post-intervention follow-up was conducted at three and six months. After three months, there were beneficial changes in A1c (−0.7%), body mass index (BMI, −0.6 kg/m2), diastolic blood pressure (−4 mmHg), total cholesterol (−63 mg/dL), HDL- (+28 mg/dL) and LDL-cholesterol (−89 mg/dL), Healthy Eating Index (+2.1 score) and perceived dietary adherence (+8.5 score) (all p < 0.05). The significant improvements in A1c, BMI and lipids were maintained at six months. The PANDA menu plan intervention was effective in improving glycemic control and diet quality. The results suggest that a dietary intervention incorporating interactive education sessions focused on menu planning with familiar, accessible foods may be effective for diabetes management.
Delay Analysis of Multichannel Opportunistic Spectrum Access MAC Protocols

We provide a comprehensive delay and queueing analysis for two baseline medium access control protocols for multi-user cognitive radio networks with homogeneous users and channels and investigate the impact of different network parameters on the system performance. In addition to an accurate Markov chain, which follows the queue status of all users, several lower complexity queueing theory approximations are provided. Accuracy and performance of the proposed analytical approximations are verified with extensive simulations. It is observed that using an Aloha-type access to the control channel, a buffering MAC protocol, where in case of interruption the CR user waits for the primary user to vacate the channel before resuming the transmission, outperforms a switching MAC protocol, where the CR user vacates the channel in case of appearance of primary users and then compete again to gain access to a new channel. The reason is that the delay bottleneck for both protocols is the time required to successfully access the control channel, which occurs more frequently for the switching MAC protocol. It is thus shown that a clustering approach, where users are divided into clusters with a separate control channel per cluster, can significantly improve the performance by reducing the competitions over control channel.
Age‐related changes in skeletal muscle reactive oxygen species generation and adaptive responses to reactive oxygen species

Abstract Skeletal muscle generates superoxide and nitric oxide at rest and this generation is increased by contractile activity. In young and adult animals and man, an increase in activities of these species and the secondary products derived from them (reactive oxygen species, ROS) stimulate redox‐sensitive signalling pathways to modify the cellular content of cytoprotective regulatory proteins such as the superoxide dismutases, catalase and heat shock proteins that prevent oxidative damage to tissues. The mechanisms underlying these adaptive responses to contraction include activation of redox‐sensitive transcription factors such as nuclear factor κB (NFκB), activator protein‐1 (AP1) and heat shock factor 1 (HSF1). During ageing all tissues, including skeletal muscle, demonstrate an accumulation of oxidative damage that may contribute to loss of tissue homeostasis. The causes of this increased oxidative damage are uncertain, but substantial data now indicate that the ability of skeletal muscle from aged organisms to respond to an increase in ROS generation by increased expression of cytoprotective proteins through activation of redox‐sensitive transcription factors is severely attenuated. This age‐related lack of physiological adaptations to the ROS induced by contractile activity appears to contribute to a loss of ROS homeostasis and increased oxidative damage in skeletal muscle.
Effects of the new arginase inhibitor N(omega)-hydroxy-nor-L-arginine on NO synthase activity in murine macrophages.

In stimulated murine macrophage, arginase and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) compete for their common substrate, l-arginine. The objectives of this study were (i) to test the new alpha-amino acid N(omega)-hydroxy-nor-l-arginine (nor-NOHA) as a new selective arginase inhibitor and (ii) to elucidate the effects of arginase inhibition on l-arginine utilization by an inducible NOS. Nor-NOHA is about 40-fold more potent than N(omega)-hydroxy-l-arginine (NOHA), an intermediate in the l-arginine/NO pathway, to inhibit the hydrolysis of l-arginine to l-ornithine catalyzed by unstimulated murine macrophages (IC(50) values 12 +/- 5 and 400 +/- 50 microM, respectively). Stimulation of murine macrophages with interferon-gamma and lipopolysaccharide (IFN-gamma + LPS) results in clear expression of an inducible NOS (iNOS) and to an increase in arginase activity. Nor-NOHA is also a potent inhibitor of arginase in IFN-gamma + LPS-stimulated macrophage (IC(50) value 10 +/- 3 microM). In contrast to NOHA, nor-NOHA is neither a substrate nor an inhibitor for iNOS and it appears as a useful tool to study the interplays between arginase and NOS. Inhibition of arginase by nor-NOHA increases nitrite and l-citrulline accumulation for incubation times higher than 12 h, under our conditions. Our results allow the determination of the kinetic parameters of the two competitive pathways and the proposal of a simple model which readily explains the differences observed between experiments. This model readily accounts for the observed effects and should be useful to predict the consequences of arginase inhibition in the presence of an active NOS on l-arginine availability.
Counting CTL

This paper presents a range of quantitative extensions for the temporal logic CTL. We enhance temporal modalities with the ability to constrain the number of states satisfying certain sub-formulas along paths. By selecting the combinations of Boolean and arithmetic operations allowed in constraints, one obtains several distinct logics generalizing CTL. We provide a thorough analysis of their expressiveness and of the complexity of their model-checking problem (ranging from P-complete to undecidable).
Relaxin-Family Peptide Receptors 1 and 2 Are Fully Functional in the Bovine

In most mammals the peptide hormone relaxin is a key physiological component regulating early pregnancy and birth. However, synteny analysis shows that the gene encoding ovarian relaxin-2 is deleted in cows and sheep. While, these ruminants appear to exhibit a relaxin-like physiology, as in other mammals, until now a molecular understanding of this has been lacking. Cloning and expression analysis of the cognate bovine receptor for relaxin, RXFP1, as well as of the structurally related receptor, RXFP2, in female tissues, shows that these are expressed in a similar way to other mammals. RXFP1 transcripts are found in ovarian theca cells, endometrium, and myometrium, whereas RXFP2 transcripts are expressed in ovarian theca cells, oocytes, as well as in myometrium. Transfection of receptor-expressing gene constructs into HEK293 cells indicates that bovine RXFP1 has a greater EC50 at 10–50 nM for porcine or human relaxin, compared to human RXFP1. For bovine RXFP2, in contrast, the EC50 is <1 nM for its cognate ligand, bovine INSL3, but also 10–30 nM for porcine or human relaxin. Functional analysis shows that bovine myometrial cells are able to respond to exogenous relaxin and INSL3 with a significant increase in cAMP. Although expressing mRNA for both RXFP1 and RXFP2, bovine follicular theca cells only respond to INSL3 with a dose-dependent increase in cAMP. Altogether the results suggest that the cow is able to compensate for the missing hormone, and moreover imply that relaxin analogs could offer an important therapeutic option in treating female ruminant infertility.
Voltage stabilization in DC microGrids through coupling-independent Plug-and-Play controllers

This paper addresses the problem of stabilizing voltages in DC microgrids given by the interconnection of Distributed Generation Units (DGUs), power lines and loads. As in [1], we propose a decentralized control architecture where the controller of each DGU can be designed in a Plug-and-Play (PnP) fashion by solving a local Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) problem. However, differently from [1], when a new DGU issues a plug-in request, we no longer require that neighboring units update their local controllers in order to account for new electrical couplings. Indeed, a key feature of the novel approach is that the design of a local controller requires only the knowledge of the dynamics of the corresponding DGU. The proof of closed-loop asymptotic stability combines properties of graph Laplacians, structured Lyapunov functions and LaSalle invariance theorem. Theoretical results are backed up by simulations in PSCAD.
Frame fields

We introduce frame fields, which are a non-orthogonal and non-unit-length generalization of cross fields. Frame fields represent smoothly varying linear transformations on tangent spaces of a surface. We propose an algorithm to create discrete, dense frame fields that satisfy a sparse set of constraints. By computing a surface deformation that warps a frame field into a cross field, we generalize existing quadrangulation algorithms to generate anisotropic and non-uniform quad meshes whose elements shapes match the frame field. With this, our framework enables users to control not only the alignment but also the density and anisotropy of the elements' distribution, resulting in high-quality adaptive quad meshing.
Role of the Alternaria alternata Blue-Light Receptor LreA (White-Collar 1) in Spore Formation and Secondary Metabolism

ABSTRACT Alternaria alternata is a filamentous fungus that causes considerable loss of crops of economically important feed and food worldwide. It produces more than 60 different secondary metabolites, among which alternariol (AOH) and altertoxin (ATX) are the most important mycotoxins. We found that mycotoxin production and spore formation are regulated by light in opposite ways. Whereas spore formation was largely decreased under light conditions, the production of AOH was stimulated 2- to 3-fold. ATX production was even strictly dependent on light. All light effects observed could be triggered by blue light, whereas red light had only a minor effect. Inhibition of spore formation by light was reversible after 1 day of incubation in the dark. We identified orthologues of genes encoding the Neurospora crassa blue-light-perceiving white-collar proteins, a cryptochrome, a phytochrome, and an opsin-related protein in the genome of A. alternata. Deletion of the white-collar 1 (WC-1) gene (lreA) resulted in derepression of spore formation in dark and in light. ATX formation was strongly induced in the dark in the lreA mutant, suggesting a repressing function of LreA, which appears to be released in the wild type after blue-light exposure. In addition, light induction of AOH formation was partially dependent on LreA, suggesting also an activating function. A. alternata ΔlreA was still able to partially respond to blue light, indicating the action of another blue-light receptor system.
Overactive Action Monitoring in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been found to be hyperactive at rest, during symptom provocation, and after commission of errors in cognitive tasks. This hyperactivity might reflect an abnormality in conflict detection, a hypothesized basic mechanism for the action-monitoring function of the ACC. This hypothesis was tested using functional magnetic resonance imaging, by scanning 11 OCD patients and 13 matched control subjects while they performed a version of the continuous-performance task with four trial types that induced graded levels of response conflict. Although a behavioral index of conflict (i.e., accuracy) was similar for patients and control subjects, the ACC activation was increased in patients during high-conflict trials. The error-related activity in the same brain region was also higher in patients, consistent with previous electrophysiological findings. Both conflict- and error-related activity showed trends for positive correlations with severity of OCD symptoms, but not with anxiety. These findings suggest that as part of an overactive action-monitoring system, the ACC is more directly involved in the pathophysiology of OCD than previously thought.
Effects of partial sleep deprivation on within-format and cross-format priming.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sleep on long-term priming. We report the results of a preliminary experiment that enabled us to verify that priming can last for 4 hours, and we also report the results of a study of partial sleep-deprivation. DESIGN Subjects performed 2 tasks: within-format and cross-format priming. SETTINGS Sleep laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Ninety-eight healthy young subjects participated in the 2 studies reported here: 48 in the preliminary experiment and 50 in the sleep-deprivation study. INTERVENTION Testing after a 4-hour diurnal retention interval (Experiment 1) or after an equivalent interval filled with early or late sleep, or corresponding periods of wakefulness (Experiment 2). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS A tachistoscopic identification paradigm, consisting of naming aloud briefly flashed drawings, was used to assess 2 priming conditions: a same-format or within-format condition (in which items were drawings in the study and test phases) and a different- or cross-format condition (in which the symbolic format of the items differed between the 2 phases: words/drawings). In Experiment 1, we revealed significant priming effects in both conditions after a 4-hour interval. In Experiment 2, only same-format priming effects were observed, but their magnitude was smaller than in Experiment 1. There was no significant difference in priming scores between the sleep and wake groups. CONCLUSIONS Sleep does not appear to have a strong effect on priming. Instead, priming appears to be affected by circadian influences.
Assessment of Algorithms for Inferring Positional Weight Matrix Motifs of Transcription Factor Binding Sites Using Protein Binding Microarray Data

The new technology of protein binding microarrays (PBMs) allows simultaneous measurement of the binding intensities of a transcription factor to tens of thousands of synthetic double-stranded DNA probes, covering all possible 10-mers. A key computational challenge is inferring the binding motif from these data. We present a systematic comparison of four methods developed specifically for reconstructing a binding site motif represented as a positional weight matrix from PBM data. The reconstructed motifs were evaluated in terms of three criteria: concordance with reference motifs from the literature and ability to predict in vivo and in vitro bindings. The evaluation encompassed over 200 transcription factors and some 300 assays. The results show a tradeoff between how the methods perform according to the different criteria, and a dichotomy of method types. Algorithms that construct motifs with low information content predict PBM probe ranking more faithfully, while methods that produce highly informative motifs match reference motifs better. Interestingly, in predicting high-affinity binding, all methods give far poorer results for in vivo assays compared to in vitro assays.
Core loss predictions for general PWM waveforms from a simplified set of measured data

A method to generalize square-wave core-loss data to predict core loss with any common rectangular voltage waveform is proposed. An automated measurement system was used to collect the required square-wave core characterization data for ferrite and powdered-iron cores, and to collect additional data to assess the accuracy of the method for other voltage waveforms. Measurement data is presented and the application of the method in power-electronics design is discussed.
The Locus Encompassing the Latency-Associated Transcript of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Interferes with and Delays Interferon Expression in Productively Infected Neuroblastoma Cells and Trigeminal Ganglia of Acutely Infected Mice

ABSTRACT The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency-associated transcript (LAT) is the only abundant viral transcript expressed in latently infected neurons. LAT inhibits apoptosis, suggesting that it regulates latency by promoting the survival of infected neurons. The LAT locus also contains a newly described gene (AL), which is antisense to LAT and partially overlaps LAT encoding sequences. When human (SK-N-SH) or mouse (neuro-2A) neuroblastoma cells were infected with a virus that does not express LAT or AL gene products (dLAT2903), beta interferon (IFN-β) and IFN-α RNA expression was detected earlier relative to the same cells infected with HSV-1 strains that express LAT and AL. Infection of neuro-2A cells with dLAT2903 also led to higher levels of IFN-β promoter activity than in cells infected with wild-type (wt) HSV-1. In contrast, IFN RNA expression was the same when human lung fibroblasts were infected with dLAT2903 or wt HSV-1. When BALB/c mice were infected with dLAT2903, IFN-α and IFN-β RNA expression was readily detected in trigeminal ganglia (TG) 4 days after infection. These transcripts were not detected in TG of mice infected with wt HSV-1 or dLAT2903R (marker-rescued dLAT2903) until 6 days postinfection. When TG single-cell suspensions from infected BALB/c mice were prepared and incubated in vitro with wt HSV-1 as a source of antigen, TG cultures prepared from mice infected with dLAT2903 produced and secreted higher levels of IFN protein than wt HSV-1 or dLAT2903R. Collectively, these studies suggest that the LAT locus interferes with and delays IFN expression.
Erratum: Navigating comics: an empirical and theoretical approach to strategies of reading comic page layouts

*Correspondence: Neil Cohn, Center for Research in Language, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr. Dept. 0526, La Jolla, CA 92093-0526, USA. e-mail: neilcohn@emaki.net Like the sequence of words in written language, comic book page layouts direct images into a deliberate reading sequence. Conventional wisdom would expect that comic panels follow the order of text: left-to-right and down – a “Z-path” – though several layouts can violate this order, such as Gestalt groupings of panels that deny a Z-path of reading. To examine how layouts pressure readers to choose pathways deviating from the Z-path, we presented participants with comic pages empty of content, and asked them to number the panels in the order they would read them. Participants frequently used strategies departing from both the traditional Z-path and Gestalt groupings.These preferences reveal a system of constraints that organizes panels into hierarchic constituents, guiding readers through comic page layouts.
Survey Paper: Location Management in CDMA Network

With the rapid increase in international roaming and highly growing number of cellular subscribers it is important to locate the subscriber both efficiently and accurately not only to reduce the cost but also to decrease the load on MSC and decrease the paging delay. The procedure used by the service provider for both collecting and analyzing the information regarding the subscribers’ location is called location management. Location management comprises of location update and paging schemes. This paper tried to highlight the different location management techniques and paging schemes that are used in CDMA network. This paper also compares their features, merits and demerits. Finally the paper discusses various techniques that are used in order to optimize the location update schemes by categorizing them into two broad groups’ i.e. static location update and dynamic location update. Each group enlists different techniques that are used to decide the update frequency of MS (Mobile System). This study has tried to summarize their underlying concepts and various pros and cons.
Postmenopausal osteoporosis

In a study of 52 266 live singleton deliveries in a total population male babies were delivered at earlier gestations than female. This difference was not due to induc- tion or elective caesarean section. Female babies were more likely to present and be delivered by the breech. When the presentation was cephalic, male babies were much more likely to be delivered by forceps or caesarean section and female babies to deliver spontaneously. component of two oral contraceptives with an identical 30 stg ethinyloes- tradiol component. the as well as the oestrogen component has an aetio-logical role in the rise in blood pressure. There was a significant correlation of blood pressure with duration of current use of oral contraceptive but not with total duration of use. There was also a significant negative correlation of blood pressure with time since oral contraceptives were last taken, and who oral contraceptives over a month previously
A neural network classifier capable of recognizing the patterns of all major subcellular structures in fluorescence microscope images of HeLa cells

MOTIVATION Assessment of protein subcellular location is crucial to proteomics efforts since localization information provides a context for a protein's sequence, structure, and function. The work described below is the first to address the subcellular localization of proteins in a quantitative, comprehensive manner. RESULTS Images for ten different subcellular patterns (including all major organelles) were collected using fluorescence microscopy. The patterns were described using a variety of numeric features, including Zernike moments, Haralick texture features, and a set of new features developed specifically for this purpose. To test the usefulness of these features, they were used to train a neural network classifier. The classifier was able to correctly recognize an average of 83% of previously unseen cells showing one of the ten patterns. The same classifier was then used to recognize previously unseen sets of homogeneously prepared cells with 98% accuracy. AVAILABILITY Algorithms were implemented using the commercial products Matlab, S-Plus, and SAS, as well as some functions written in C. The scripts and source code generated for this work are available at http://murphylab.web. cmu.edu/software. CONTACT murphy@cmu.edu