Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phosphorylation of the effector complex HOPS by the vacuolar kinase Yck3p confers Rab nucleotide specificity for vacuole docking and fusion

The Rab GTPase Ypt7p and its effector complex HOPS participate in catalyzing the fusion of yeast vacuoles. The role of the vacuolar kinase Yck3p in this relation is examined. It is shown how the regulatory ability of the Rab GTPase cycle is enforced only by posttranslational modification of the effector complex HOPS.
Visual Feedback of Intonation I: Effectiveness and Induced Practice Behavior

A description is given of an experiment in which an attempt was made to show that audio-visual feedback is more effective in intonation learning than auditory feedback. The factors in the experiment were feedback mode and practice time. The results showed a significant effect of audio-visual feedback over auditory feedback, whereas practice time did not seem to be a major factor. Feedback modality was shown to influence learning behavior. -
Distribution of services and supports for people with traumatic brain injury in rural and urban Missouri.

New paradigms of disability suggest that many variables interact to influence the community functioning of people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), including injury severity and social, psychological, and environmental factors. Unfortunately, the majority of TBI outcome research to date has primarily focused on injury severity variables (e.g., neuroradiologic findings, loss of consciousness, posttraumatic amnesia) to the exclusion of environmental variables. Limited environmental resources such as rehabilitation professionals, facilities, and services may be significant barriers that affect outcome for people with TBI, particularly for those in rural areas. Using data from Missouri, where 32% of the population lives in rural counties, this study researched the availability of rehabilitation resources for individuals with TBI, with an emphasis on differences between rural and urban areas. Data indicated that there is a scarcity of rehabilitation professionals (i.e., physiatrists, mental health providers, rehabilitation therapists),facilities (i.e., hospitals offering comprehensive rehabilitation therapies), and services (i.e., support groups) in rural areas of the study state. The results suggest that (1) future rehabilitation researchers need to evaluate the impact of accessibility to rehabilitation services and resources on the outcome of people with TBI and (2) TBI health policy administrators need to consider how to increase rehabilitation resources for people with TBI in rural areas, including the use of rural-based training programs, rural debt-forgiveness training programs, and telehealth systems.
Low-dose nesiritide in human anterior myocardial infarction suppresses aldosterone and preserves ventricular function and structure: a proof of concept study

Background: B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP, nesiritide) has anti-fibrotic, anti-hypertrophic, anti-inflammatory, vasodilating, lusitropic and aldosterone-inhibiting properties but conventional doses of BNP cause hypotension, limiting its use in heart failure. Objective: To determine whether infusion of low-dose BNP within 24 h of successful reperfusion for anterior acute myocardial infarction (AMI) would prevent adverse left ventricular (LV) remodelling and suppress aldosterone. Methods: A translational proof-of-concept study was carried out to determine tolerability and biological activity of intravenous BNP at 0.003 and 0.006 μg/kg/min, without bolus started within 24 h of successful reperfusion for anterior AMI. 24 patients with first anterior wall ST elevation AMI and successful revascularisation were randomly assigned to receive 0.003 (n = 12) or 0.006 (n = 12) μg/kg/min of IV BNP for 72 h in addition to standard care during hospitalisation for anterior AMI. Results: Baseline characteristics, drugs and peak cardiac biomarkers for myocardial damage were similar between both groups. Infusion of BNP at 0.006 μg/kg/min resulted in greater biological activity than infusion at 0.003 μg/kg/min as measured by higher mean (SEM) plasma cGMP levels (8.6 (1) vs 5.5 (1) pmol/ml, p<0.05) and suppression of plasma aldosterone (8.0 (2) to 4.6 (1) ng/dl, p<0.05), which was not seen in the 0.003 μg/kg/min group. LV ejection fraction (LVEF) improved significantly from baseline to 1 month (40 (4)% to 54 (5)%, p<0.05) in the 0.006 group but not in the 0.003 group. Infusion of BNP at 0.006 μg/kg/min was associated with a decrease of LV end-systolic volume index (61 (9) to 43 (8) ml/m2, p<0.05) at 1 month, which was not seen in the 0.003 group. No drug-related serious adverse events occurred in either group. Conclusions: 72 h infusion of low BNP at the time of anterior AMI is well tolerated and biologically active. Patients treated with low-dose BNP had improved LVEF and smaller LV end-systolic volume at 1 month.
Modelling the decay of piano sounds

We investigate piano acoustics and compare the theoretical temporal decay of individual partials to recordings of real-world piano notes from the RWC Music Database. We first describe the theory behind double decay and beats, known phenomena caused by the interaction between strings and soundboard. Then we fit the decay of the first 30 partials to a standard linear model and two physically-motivated non-linear models that take into account the coupling of strings and soundboard. We show that the use of non-linear models provides a better fit to the data. We use these estimated decay rates to parameterise the characteristic decay response (decay rates along frequencies) of the piano under investigation. The results also show that dynamics have no significant effect on the decay rate.
QoE Analysis of DASH Cross-Layer Dependencies by Extensive Network Emulation

With the rising importance of video streaming in the Internet, dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) has been established as a key technology for video delivery. Yet, variable network conditions often result in a limited quality of experience (QoE)—with the interrelation of cross-layer network factors and DASH mechanisms widely unexplored. To understand the complex dependencies between DASH configurations and network conditions, we propose a systematic extensive large-scale emulation approach with state-of- the-art QoE metrics. Using this approach with a real DASH player in Mininet, we emulated more than 10, 000 combinations of static and dynamic network conditions and DASH configurations to derive their QoE. The obtained results show that no single DASH configuration provides the highest achievable QoE. Depending on the network conditions, specific combinations of the TCP congestion control, segment sizes and the DASH adaptation algorithm provide higher QoE—showing the possibility of performance improvements in practice. Furthermore, the ex- tensive emulations show a linear relation between delay, loss and QoE that is mostly independent of bandwidth.
Medicago truncatula DMI1 Required for Bacterial and Fungal Symbioses in Legumes

Legumes form symbiotic associations with both mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria called rhizobia. Several of the plant genes required for transduction of rhizobial signals, the Nod factors, are also necessary for mycorrhizal symbiosis. Here, we describe the cloning and characterization of one such gene from the legume Medicago truncatula. The DMI1 (does not make infections) gene encodes a novel protein with low global similarity to a ligand-gated cation channel domain of archaea. The protein is highly conserved in angiosperms and ancestral to land plants. We suggest that DMI1 represents an ancient plant-specific innovation, potentially enabling mycorrhizal associations.
Encoding of goal-relevant stimuli is strengthened by emotional arousal in memory

Emotional information receives preferential processing, which facilitates adaptive strategies for survival. However, the presence of emotional stimuli and the arousal they induce also influence how surrounding non-emotional information is processed in memory (Mather and Sutherland, 2011). For example, seeing a highly emotional scene often leads to forgetting of what was seen right beforehand, but sometimes instead enhances memory for the preceding information. In two studies, we examined how emotional arousal affects short-term memory retention for goal-relevant information that was just seen. In Study 1, participants were asked to remember neutral objects in spatially-cued locations (i.e., goal-relevant objects determined by specific location), while ignoring objects in uncued locations. After each set of objects were shown, arousal was manipulated by playing a previously fear-conditioned tone (i.e., CS+) or a neutral tone that had not been paired with shock (CS–). In Study 1, memory for the goal-relevant neutral objects from arousing trials was enhanced compared to those from the non-arousing trials. This result suggests that emotional arousal helps to increase the impact of top-down priority (i.e., goal-relevancy) on memory encoding. Study 2 supports this conclusion by demonstrating that when the goal was to remember all objects regardless of the spatial cue, emotional arousal induced memory enhancement in a more global manner for all objects. In sum, the two studies show that the ability of arousal to enhance memory for previously encoded items depends on the goal relevance initially assigned to those items.
Architectonic subdivisions of the inferior pulvinar in New World and Old World monkeys

Abstract Architectonic subdivisions of the inferior pulvinar (PI) complex were delineated in New World owl and squirrel monkeys and Old World macaque monkeys. Brain sections were processed for Nissl substance, myelin, cytochrome oxidase (CO), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), calbindin-D28K (Cb), or with the monoclonal antibody Cat-301. In all three primates, we identified the posterior nucleus (PIp) and the medial nucleus (PIm) of previous reports, and divided the previously recognized central nucleus (PIc) into two subdivisions, medial (PIcm) and lateral (PIcl). Each nucleus had several features that allowed it to be readily distinguished. (1) PIp was dark in Cb, and moderately dark in AChE and CO preparations. (2) PIm was Cb light, and AChE and CO dark. (3) PIcm was Cb dark, and AChE and CO light. (4) PIcl was Cb moderate with a scattering of dark neurons, and moderately dark for AChE and CO. (5) In sections processed for Cat-301, PIm in macaque monkeys and PIcm and PIp in squirrel monkeys stained darkly, while little staining was apparent in owl monkeys. The results allowed subdivisions of the inferior pulvinar to be more clearly defined, homologized, and compared across taxa. All monkeys appear to have the same four subdivisions of the PI, although properties vary.
Shape-based pedestrian parsing

We describe a simple model for parsing pedestrians based on shape. Our model assembles candidate parts from an oversegmentation of the image and matches them to a library of exemplars. Our matching uses a hierarchical decomposition into a variable number of parts and computes scores on partial matchings in order to prune the search space of candidate segment. Simple constraints enforce consistent layout of parts. Because our model is shape-based, it generalizes well. We use exemplars from a controlled dataset of poses but achieve good test performance on unconstrained images of pedestrians in street scenes. We demonstrate results of parsing detections returned from a standard scanning-window pedestrian detector and use the resulting parse to perform viewpoint prediction and detection re-scoring.
Validation of Folate-Enriched Eggs as a Functional Food for Improving Folate Intake in Consumers

Functional foods enriched with folate may be beneficial as a means of optimizing folate status in consumers. We recently developed novel eggs enriched with folate through folic acid supplementation of the hen’s feed, but their potential to influence consumer folate status is unknown because the natural folate forms incorporated into the eggs may not necessarily be retained during storage and cooking. This study aimed to determine the stability of natural folates in folate-enriched eggs under typical conditions of storage and cooking. Total folate was determined by microbiological assay following tri-enzyme treatment in folate-enriched eggs and un-enriched (barn and free-range) on the day they were laid, after storage (up to 27 days) and after using four typical cooking methods (boiling, poaching, frying, scrambling) for different durations. On the day of laying, the folate content of enriched eggs was found to be significantly higher than that of un-enriched barn or free-range eggs (mean ± SD; 123.2 ± 12.4 vs. 41.2 ± 2.8 vs. 65.6 ± 18.5 µg/100 g; p < 0.001). Storage at refrigerator and room temperature for periods up to the Best Before date resulted in no significant losses to the folate content of folate-enriched eggs. Furthermore, folate in enriched eggs remained stable when cooked by four typical methods for periods up to the maximum cooking time (e.g., 135 ± 22.5, 133.9 ± 23.0 and 132.5 ± 35.1; p = 0.73, for raw, scrambled for 50 s and scrambled for 2 min, respectively). Thus, natural folates in folate-enriched eggs remain highly stable with little or no losses following storage and cooking. These findings are important because they demonstrate the feasibility of introducing folate-enriched eggs into the diet of consumers as functional foods with enriched folate content. Further studies will confirm their effectiveness in optimizing the biomarker folate status of consumers.
Predictive factors of mortality after PEG insertion: guidance for clinical practice.

BACKGROUND Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is considered the preferred route for long-term enteral feeding. The aim of this study was to determine predictors of an increased mortality risk after PEG insertion. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted during a 13-year period in the gastroenterology department of Erlangen University Hospital. The authors completed a questionnaire with details of demographic data, diagnosis, indication for PEG, type of tube, and cause of death. Patients were contacted regularly at scheduled appointments. RESULTS In total, 787 patients (574 male [72.9%]) underwent PEG placement by the pull technique. The main underlying disease was malignant (75.6%). By the end of the study period, 614 patients had died. The average survival time was 720 days. The 30-, 60-, 90-day and 1-, 3-, and 5-year mortality rates amounted to 6.5%, 9.8%, 13%, 32.1%, 59.3%, and 69.8%, respectively. Predictive factors of increased 30-day mortality were higher age, lower body mass index (BMI), and the presence of diabetes mellitus. The presence of all 3 variables served as an indicator to detect high-risk patients, with a sensitivity of 0.80 and a specificity of 0.64. CONCLUSION Mortality predictors for patients after PEG insertion are higher age, lower BMI, and the presence of diabetes mellitus. To avoid unnecessary and dangerous examinations in high-risk patients, the above-mentioned predictive factors of mortality should be checked before PEG placement.
Evaluation of True Polarization Diversity in Rician-Fading Environments

Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems and reverberation chambers (RCs) have joined roads in recent years. This is due to the recently developed ability of RCs to produce a controllable environment that reduces the cost, time, and effort of evaluating the performance of MIMO handset antennas. This letter explores one of these new capabilities to evaluate systems that use true polarization diversity (TPD). Through a novel post-processing hybrid tool for the transformation of a Rayleigh-fading environment into a Rician one, the performance of TPD systems for different Rician fading is shown. Different arrays will be used for the purposes of comparison. This investigation demonstrates that TPD improves traditional orthogonal polarization also for Rician fading.
Adaptive approaches to relieving broadcast storms in a wireless multihop mobile ad hoc network

In a multihop mobile ad hoc network, broadcasting is an elementary operation to support many applications. In (Ni et al., 1999), it is shown that naively broadcasting by flooding may cause serious redundancy, contention, and collision in the network, which we refer to as the broadcast storm problem. Several threshold-based schemes are shown to perform better than flooding in (Ni et al., 1999). However, how to choose thresholds also poses a dilemma between reachability and efficiency under different host densities. We propose several adaptive schemes, which can dynamically adjust thresholds based on local connectivity information. Simulation results show that these adaptive schemes can offer better reachability as well as efficiency as compared to the results in (Ni et al., 1999).
Swim-Training Changes the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Skeletogenesis in Zebrafish Larvae (Danio rerio)

Fish larvae experience many environmental challenges during development such as variation in water velocity, food availability and predation. The rapid development of structures involved in feeding, respiration and swimming increases the chance of survival. It has been hypothesized that mechanical loading induced by muscle forces plays a role in prioritizing the development of these structures. Mechanical loading by muscle forces has been shown to affect larval and embryonic bone development in vertebrates, but these investigations were limited to the appendicular skeleton. To explore the role of mechanical load during chondrogenesis and osteogenesis of the cranial, axial and appendicular skeleton, we subjected zebrafish larvae to swim-training, which increases physical exercise levels and presumably also mechanical loads, from 5 until 14 days post fertilization. Here we show that an increased swimming activity accelerated growth, chondrogenesis and osteogenesis during larval development in zebrafish. Interestingly, swim-training accelerated both perichondral and intramembranous ossification. Furthermore, swim-training prioritized the formation of cartilage and bone structures in the head and tail region as well as the formation of elements in the anal and dorsal fins. This suggests that an increased swimming activity prioritized the development of structures which play an important role in swimming and thereby increasing the chance of survival in an environment where water velocity increases. Our study is the first to show that already during early zebrafish larval development, skeletal tissue in the cranial, axial and appendicular skeleton is competent to respond to swim-training due to increased water velocities. It demonstrates that changes in water flow conditions can result into significant spatio-temporal changes in skeletogenesis.
Effects of Testosterone Replacement on Response to Sildenafil Citrate

TO THE EDITOR: We agree with Raji and colleagues (1) that the selection of current and former smokers for computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer should target those at greatest risk “to maximize the benefit–harm ratio” (2). We also agree that a multivariate approach to risk assessment is the best way to achieve this goal (3) but question whether the validated Liverpool Lung Project (LLP) model maximizes this ratio as suggested. Although the LLP multivariate model performs better than risk models for lung cancer that use age and smoking history alone (1), it is less clear that this superior performance translates into improved CT screening outcomes. Bach and Gould (4) strongly argued that screening should be limited to persons at greatest risk to avert the greatest number of deaths from lung cancer per person screened. Using the results of the NLST (National Lung Screening Trial), they showed that the absolute number of deaths averted by screening is maximized when the detection rate (or death rate) for lung cancer is maximized. Raji and associates’ study (1) does not show a superior detection rate by using the LLP model, which the authors have estimated to be only 1.0to 1.5-fold higher than that from the NLST criteria (5). If the LLP model does not substantially increase the detection rate of lung cancer (1), it is difficult to see how it will maximize the benefit– harm ratio (4). Given that the LLP model uses more variables and achieves a higher area-under-the-curve performance characteristic than Bach and Gould’s model (which is also externally validated), why might the detection rate not differ from that of the NLST criteria that uses age and smoking history alone? It may be because the arbitrary cutoff of 5% used for selection based on the LLP model is too low. Only validation in a CT screening study will clarify this issue. Using data from PLuSS (Pittsburgh Lung Screening Study), we have shown that, when eligible smokers were stratified according to the presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the detection rate for lung cancer was 5-fold greater in those with this disease (2, 3). Therefore, the absence of COPD in the LLP model may reduce its utility in distinguishing those at highest risk for lung cancer among older heavy smokers. The role of “COPD-related” risk factors in improving detection rates for lung cancer is currently under investigation in the NLST (2).
Relationship between skin phototype and MED in Korean, brown skin

The Fitzpatrick skin classification has been a useful method to categorize cutaneous sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation (UVR), although it was based originally on responses in white skin. Because the relevance of this phototype in brown skin is in question, we investigated skin phototypes of university students by a self‐reporting questionnaire and measured their MEDs in Korean, brown skin. After studying our explanation of the definition of Fitzpatrick skin types, 707 Korean university students answered the questionnaire. We then measured UVB MEDs in 156 randomly selected male students. The order of frequency of skin type was type III (55.0%), IV (29.0%), and V (12.3%) by the questionnaire, with the sun sensitive categories (types I and II) reported only for 3.7%. There was no significant difference in MEDs between types IV and V, and the mean MED of each skin type did not show a monotonic increase with increasing skin type. Subjects with MEDs of 70–90 mJ/cm2 (corresponding to the MED of skin type V, as proposed by Pathak & Fitzpatrick) represented about half or more of the subjects in all categories, even types II and III. Subjects with MEDs lower than 60 mJ/cm2 were more prevalent in types II and III compared with types IV and V We suggest that there is at best a weak relationship between the skin types, by the Fitzpatrick method, and MEDs in Korean, brown skin.
System-Level Assessment of Non-Orthogonal Spectrum Sharing via Transmit Beamforming

We assess the system-level performance of non-orthogonal spectrum sharing achieved via maximum sum-rate (SR), Nash bargaining (NB), and zero-forcing (ZF) transmit beamforming techniques. A look-up table based physical layer abstraction and radio resource management mechanisms (including packet scheduling) are proposed and incorporated in system-level simulations, jointly with other important aspects of network operation. In the simulated scenarios, the results show similar system-level performance of SR (or NB) as ZF in the context of spectrum sharing, when combined with maximum sum-rate (or proportional fair) packet scheduler. Further sensitivity analysis also shows similar behavior of all three beamforming techniques with regard to the impact on system-level performance of neighbor-cell activity level and feedback error. A more important observation from our results is that, under ideal conditions, the performance enhancement of non-orthogonal spectrum sharing over orthogonal spectrum sharing and fixed spectrum assignment is significant.