Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deficiency of PHB complex impairs respiratory supercomplex formation and activates mitochondrial flashes

ABSTRACT Prohibitins (PHBs; prohibitin 1, PHB1 or PHB, and prohibitin 2, PHB2) are evolutionarily conserved and ubiquitously expressed mitochondrial proteins. PHBs form multimeric ring complexes acting as scaffolds in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Mitochondrial flashes (mitoflashes) are newly discovered mitochondrial signaling events that reflect electrical and chemical excitations of the organelle. Here, we investigate the possible roles of PHBs in the regulation of mitoflash signaling. Downregulation of PHBs increases mitoflash frequency by up to 5.4-fold due to elevated basal reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the mitochondria. Mechanistically, PHB deficiency impairs the formation of mitochondrial respiratory supercomplexes (RSCs) without altering the abundance of individual respiratory complex subunits. These impairments induced by PHB deficiency are effectively rescued by co-expression of PHB1 and PHB2, indicating that the multimeric PHB complex acts as the functional unit. Furthermore, downregulating other RSC assembly factors, including SCAFI (also known as COX7A2L), RCF1a (HIGD1A), RCF1b (HIGD2A), UQCC3 and SLP2 (STOML2), all activate mitoflashes through elevating mitochondrial ROS production. Our findings identify the PHB complex as a new regulator of RSC formation and mitoflash signaling, and delineate a general relationship among RSC formation, basal ROS production and mitoflash biogenesis. Summary: The prohibitin (PHB) complex has a novel role in regulating mitoflash activity by affecting respiratory supercomplex formation and, thus, basal mitochondrial ROS production.
Clinical and Radiographic Predictors of Intra-articular Hip Disease in Arthroscopy

Background: The arthroscopic treatment of intra-articular hip disease and associated structural abnormalities continues to evolve. Nevertheless, contemporary diagnostic tools have significant limitations in predicting severity of disease preoperatively. Hypothesis: Clinical characteristics and radiographic parameters correlate with and predict intra-articular disease patterns in patients undergoing hip arthroscopy. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: In sum, 355 hips in 338 patients undergoing hip arthroscopy by a single surgeon were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical characteristics and radiographic findings (on anteroposterior pelvis and frog lateral radiographs) of mild dysplasia, cam, and pincer-type femoroacetabular impingement were compared with intraoperative labral and chondral disease patterns. Results: Labral tears were present in 90.1% of hips, and acetabular cartilage lesions were present in 67.3%, including 41.7% with grade 3 or 4 chondromalacia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found male sex, older age (<30, 30-50, >50 years old), Tönnis osteoarthritis grade, and alpha angle >50° on frog lateral radiograph to be independently associated with increased risk of grade 3 or 4 acetabular chondromalacia (all P < .001). Insidious onset of pain (in contrast to acute onset) was independently associated with the presence of acetabular chondromalacia (P = .002). Cam-type femoroacetabular impingement (alpha angle >50°) was strongly associated with more severe labral disease (P < .001). Findings of acetabular dysplasia and pincer femoroacetabular impingement did not remain significantly associated with acetabular chondral disease in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Several clinical and radiographic characteristics—most notably, male sex, older age, Tönnis grade, and elevated alpha angle—are associated with more severe intra-articular hip disease. The recognition of these associations between clinical and radiographic characteristics and hip disease patterns is important for patient selection, surgical planning, and patient counseling.
Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasms – a report of two cases

1Department of Hematology, Medical University of Łódź Head of Department: prof. Tadeusz Robak, MD, PhD 2Department of Experimental Hematology, Medical University of Łódź Head of Department: prof. Piotr Smolewski, MD, PhD 3Department of Pathology, Medical University of Łódź Head of Department: prof. Radzisław Kordek, MD, PhD 4Department of Cytogenetic, The Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute, Warsaw Head of Department: Barbara Pieńkowska-Grela, MD, PhD
RENO: A high-efficient reconfigurable neuromorphic computing accelerator design

Neuromorphic computing is recently gaining significant attention as a promising candidate to conquer the well-known von Neumann bottleneck. In this work, we propose RENO - a efficient reconfigurable neuromorphic computing accelerator. RENO leverages the extremely efficient mixed-signal computation capability of memristor-based crossbar (MBC) arrays to speedup the executions of artificial neural networks (ANNs). The hierarchically arranged MBC arrays can be configured to a variety of ANN topologies through a mixed-signal interconnection network (M-Net). Simulation results on seven ANN applications show that compared to the baseline general-purpose processor, RENO can achieve on average 178.4× (27.06×) performance speedup and 184.2× (25.23×) energy savings in high-efficient multilayer perception (high-accurate auto-associative memory) implementation. Moreover, in the comparison to a pure digital neural processing unit (D-NPU) and a design with MBC arrays co-operating through a digital interconnection network, RENO still achieves the fastest execution time and the lowest energy consumption with similar computation accuracy.
Obesity and workers' compensation: results from the Duke Health and Safety Surveillance System.

BACKGROUND Obese individuals have increased morbidity and use of health services. Less is known about the effect of obesity on workers' compensation. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) and number and types of workers' compensation claims, associated costs, and lost workdays. METHODS Retrospective cohort study. Participants included 11 728 health care and university employees (34 858 full-time equivalents [FTEs]) with at least 1 health risk appraisal between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2004. The main outcome measures were stratified rates of workers' compensation claims, associated costs, and lost workdays, calculated by BMI, sex, age, race/ethnicity, smoking status, employment duration, and occupational group. The body part affected, nature of the illness or injury, and cause of the illness or injury were also investigated. Multivariate Poisson regression models examined the effects of BMI, controlling for demographic and work-related variables. RESULTS There was a clear linear relationship between BMI and rate of claims. Employees in obesity class III (BMI >/=40) had 11.65 claims per 100 FTEs, while recommended-weight employees had 5.80; the effect on lost workdays (183.63 vs 14.19 lost workdays per 100 FTEs), medical claims costs ($51 091 vs $7503 per 100 FTEs), and indemnity claims costs ($59 178 vs $5396 per 100 FTEs) was even stronger. The claims most strongly affected by BMI were related to the following: lower extremity, wrist or hand, and back (body part affected); pain or inflammation, sprain or strain, and contusion or bruise (nature of the illness or injury); and falls or slips, lifting, and exertion (cause of the illness or injury). The combination of obesity and high-risk occupation was particularly detrimental. CONCLUSIONS Maintaining healthy weight not only is important to workers but should also be a high priority for their employers given the strong effect of BMI on workers' injuries. Complementing general interventions to make all workplaces safer, work-based programs targeting healthy eating and physical activity should be developed and evaluated.
Application of real‐time GPS to earthquake early warning in subduction and strike‐slip environments

We explore the application of GPS data to earthquake early warning and investigate whether the coseismic ground deformation can be used to provide fast and reliable magnitude estimations and ground shaking predictions. We use an algorithm to extract the permanent static offset from GPS displacement time series and invert for the slip distribution on the fault plane, which is discretized into a small number of rectangular patches. We developed a completely “self‐adapting” strategy in which the initial fault plane model is built based on a quick, approximate magnitude estimation and is then allowed to increase in size based on the evolutionary magnitude estimation resulting from the slip inversion. Two main early warning outputs are delivered in real‐time: magnitude and the along‐strike extent of the rupture area. These are finally used to predict the expected ground shaking due to the finite source. We tested the proposed strategy by simulating real‐time environments for three earthquakes. For the Mw 9.0, 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake, our algorithm provides the first magnitude estimate of 8.2 at 39 s after the origin time and then gradually increases to 8.9 at 120 s. The estimated rupture length remains constant from the outset at ~360 km. For the Mw 8.3, 2003 Tokachi‐Oki earthquake, the initial magnitude estimate is 8.5 at 24 s and drops to 8.2 at 40 s with a rupture length of 290 km. Finally, for the Mw 7.2, 2010 El Mayor‐Cucapah earthquake, the magnitude estimate is 7.0 from the outset with a rupture length of 140 km. The accuracy of the ground shaking prediction using the GPS‐based magnitude and finite extent is significantly better than existing seismology‐based point source approaches. This approach would also facilitate more rapid tsunami warnings.
Usability Evaluation of Dwell-free Eye Typing Techniques

Dwelling is an essential task to be performed to select keys from an on-screen keyboard present in the eye typing interface. This selection task can be performed by fixing eye gaze on a key for a prolonged time. Spending sufficient amount of time on each key effectively decreases the overall eye typing rate. To address the problem, researchers proposed mechanisms, which diminish the dwell time. We conducted a within-subject usability evaluation of four dwell-free eye typing techniques. The results of first-time usability study, longitudinal study and subjective evaluation conducted with 15 participants confirm the superiority of controlled eye movement based advanced eye typing method (Adv-EyeK) than the other three techniques.
Study of different operational modes of the IAP 2-port-DOAS instrument for investigation of atmospheric trace gases during CINDI-2 campaign

An instrument for measuring atmospheric trace gases by DOAS method using scattered solar radiation was developed in A.M.Obukhov IAP RAS. The instrument layout is based on the lab Shamrock 303i spectrograph supplemented by 2-port radiation input system employing optical fiber. Optical ports may be used with a fixed telescope or with a scanning MAX-DOAS unit. In September 2016 the IAP instrument participated in the 2nd Cabauw Intercomparison of Nitrogen Dioxide Measuring Instruments (CINDI-2) campaign, held in the Netherlands. About 40 instruments from 26 different organizations performed DOAS measurement of NO2, HCHO and other trace gases during the campaign. During the campaign the optical ports of IAP instrument had telescopes A and B with similar field of view of about 0.3°. Telescope A was always directed to the zenith. Telescope B was directed at 5° elevation angle. Two gratings were installed in the spectrometer. They provide different spectral resolution (FWHM ~0.4 and 0.8 nm respectively) and spectral window width (~70 and ~140 nm respectively). During CINDI-2 campaign we performed test measurements in UV and visible wavelength ranges to investigate instrument stability and retrieval errors of NO2 and HCHO contents. We test four operational mode of the instrument in which we used fixed grating position in UV or visible spectral region, or rotate grating between UV and visible, or change gratings using a turret. Here we present preliminary results of comparison of gas content measured by IAP instrument with the median gas content obtained on the basis of measurements of all groups participated in CINDI-2 campaign. The main goal of the study was the detailed comparison of all four modes of our instrument and understanding of probable biases and errors typical for these modes. It was found that rotation of grating turret does not significantly affected on quality of NO2 DSCD retrieval and is much more significant for HCHO DSCD retrieval.
Influence of Solar Activity on Total Annual Precipitation

The relationship between total annual precipitation and solar activity (sunspot number) were studied based on annual precipitation data from 25 weather stations in Poland that were gathered from 1966 to 2016. The correlation between a yearly sunspot number and a total annual precipitation were analysed by sinusoidal repression analysis. The 5-year smoothest sunspot number and a total annual precipitation for each weather station were taken for final analysis. The parameters of sin curve were calculated by the least square fit method. It is assumed that the frequency is 10.87 years which is a mean spring tidal period of Jupiter and Saturn. The cross correlation between solar activity and total annual precipitation was shown. The difference in year between a minimum yearly sunspot number and a maximum total annual precipitation is assumed as the level of correlation. It is also assumed that high correlation occurs if the difference in question is smaller than 1.5 years, moderate if the difference is higher than 1.5 and smaller than 2.5 years and weak if the difference is higher than 2.5 years. The southern and southwestern regions of Poland give high correlation, central and northern - moderate, and eastern - weak correlations. The presented analysis may be treated as the first step for a more accurate multi-scale harmonic analysis.
Image-Based Study of Interferongenic Interactions between Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells and HSV-Infected Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are well-known for their ability to produce large quantities of interferon-α (IFN-α) in response to viruses. In addition, pDC produce IFN-α in response to HSV-infected cells. We demonstrate that both tonsil and PBMC contain pDC that respond to stimulation with HSV either in suspension or in tonsil tissue-fragment culture. We hypothesized that other DC subsets acquire virus in the periphery and deliver the interferongenic signals to the pDC in the draining lymphoid tissue. As a model for pDC/myeloid DC interaction, we studied the interaction of pDC derived from blood with HSV-infected and uninfected monocyte derived dendritic cells (MDDC). Infected, but not uninfected, MDDC induced IFN-α in pDC. To further study pDC/infected MDDC interactions, we labeled MDDC with fluorescent cell trackers PKH67 or CFSE prior to infection with HSV and co-cultured with pDC. Cells were then analyzed using conventional and imaging flow cytometry. In addition, we infected MDDC with a GFP-expressing HSV prior to co-culture with pDC. Using traditional flow cytometry, we observed that pDC became fluorescent after co-incubation with uninfected or infected, fluorescently labeled MDDC, indicating that MDDC transferred fluorescent protein and membrane to pDC. By imaging flow cytometry, we observed formation of conjugates between pDC and MDDC as well as transfer and internalization of cellular components from the labeled MDDC by pDC, with preferential uptake from, and association with, infected vs. uninfected MDDC. These studies demonstrate that MDDC infected with HSV are able to stimulate IFN-α and chemokine production by pDC through the transfer of cellular materials from the HSV-infected MDDC to the pDC. Together, these observations indicate that heterogeneous populations of DC interact to generate an effective IFN-α response.
An evaluation of XML indexes for structural join

XML queries differ from relational queries in that the former are expressed as path expressions. The efficient handling of structural relationships has become a key factor in XML query processing. Many index-based solutions have been proposed for efficient structural join in XML queries. This work explores the state-of-the-art indexes, namely, <i>B</i><sup>+</sup>-tree, XB-tree and XR-tree, and analyzes how well they support XML structural joins. Experiment results indicate that all three indexes yield comparable performances for non-recursive XML data, while the XB-tree outperforms the rest for highly recursive XML data.
Depth Image-based Techniques for Compression, Transmission and Display of Auto-stereo Video

This paper proposes a novel framework for the processing of auto-stereo video. It is b ased on the video-plus-depth data representation and provides high compatibility with diverse display s. An effective stereo matching algorithm based on the genetic algorithm is adopted to generate the depth map streams for the first and last video streams. The layered coding scheme is proposed to transmit the corresponding layer according to the customer demand and the network performance. Then, the multicast technology and the QoS terminal adaptive technology are adopted for the network transmission approach. Finally, the appropriate depth image-based rendering solution is proposed for the whole framework to generate the virtual views for the displays with different view numbers. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the whole framework. Technical challenges are identified in the end.
Localized Changes in Heat Wave Properties Across the United States

Heat waves are an important type of extreme climate event and directly result in more than 130 deaths per year across the United States. Heat waves have been described by several attributes and combinations which constitute various event typologies. Attributes of heat waves from 10 cities are analyzed over the period 1950–2016 to understand how these attributes determine variability in local heat waves and how climate change affects heat waves across the United States. This study uses eight definitions to differentiate heat waves and tests for temporal trends in key properties of heat waves over the period 1950–2016. At least five harmful attributes of heat waves have increased simultaneously for Dallas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, and Portland.Miami showed the greatest change in heat wave season length, frequency, and timing over the study period. Surprisingly, the greatest mean heat wave intensities above daily thresholds were for Bismarck, ND (+8.2 °C) and Syracuse, NY (+6.5 °C). Similar results across Baltimore, MD, Colorado Springs, CO, Dallas, TX, Des Moines, IA, Miami, FL, New York, NY, Phoenix, AZ, and Portland, OR, are presented to clarify the many quantitative differences in heat wave attributes and variance in quantification approaches across climates. This work explores the nexus of quantitative description and social construction of heat waves through the lens of the various regional metrics to describe heat waves. Ultimately, this assessment will guide the development of various strategies to help communities understand and prepare for heat resilience based on local heat wave components.
Action potential propagation into the presynaptic dendrites of rat mitral cells

1 Dendritic patch‐clamp recordings were obtained from mitral cells in rat olfactory bulb slices, up to 350 μm from the soma. Simultaneous dendritic and somatic whole‐cell recordings indicated that action potentials (APs) evoked by somatic or dendritic current injection were initiated near the soma. Both the large amplitude (100.7 ± 1.1 mV) and the short duration (1.38 ± 0.07 ms) of the AP were maintained as the AP propagated back into the primary mitral cell dendrites. 2 Outside‐out patches isolated from mitral cell dendrites contained voltage‐gated Na+ channels (peak conductance density, 90 pS μm−2 at −10 mV). When an AP was used as a somatic voltage‐clamp command in the presence of 1 μm tetrodotoxin (TTX), the amplitude of the dendritic potential was attenuated to 48 ± 14 mV. This shows that dendritic Na+ channels support the active back‐propagation of APs. 3 Dendritic patches contained voltage‐gated K+ channels with high density (conductance density, 513 pS μm−2 at 30 mV). Dendritic K+ currents were reduced to 35% by 1 mm external tetraethylammonium chloride (TEACl). When an AP was used as a somatic voltage‐clamp command in the presence of TEACl, the dendritic potential was markedly prolonged. This indicates that dendritic K+ channels mediate the fast repolarization of dendritic APs. 4 We conclude that voltage‐gated Na+ and K+ channels support dendritic APs with large amplitudes and short durations that may trigger fast transmitter release at dendrodendritic synapses in the olfactory bulb.
Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase Production in Uropathogens Isolated from Hospitalized Patients with Chronic Pyelonephritis

Background: Increased multidrug resistance of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) compromises the efficacy of treatment of urinary tract infections. Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of ESBL-producing uropathogens from hospitalized patients with chronic pyelonephritis and to identify the presence of genes involved in the resistance. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 105 patients with chronic pyelonephritis, treated in Kharkiv City Clinical Emergency Hospital, Ukraine was carried. Bacterial isolates were collected, antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates was determined by the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method and screening for the presence of blaSHV, blaTEM, blaCTX-M ESBL genes was performed by polymerase chain reaction. Results: 84 (80%) patients had positive urine cultures. Eschеrichia coli wаs the most common microorganism isolated. Among them, 29 (25.2%) were found to be ESBL producers. Out of 53 E. coli isolates, 10 (18.9%), 4 (7.5%) and 6 (11.3%) were identified to carry bla(TEM), bla(SHV) and bla(CTX-M) beta-lactamase genes, respectively. The highest resistance was observed against ampicillin (75.9%), ciprofloxacin (48.3%), levofloxacin (41.4%) and gentamicin (41.4%). Beside this, only meropenem (96.6% susceptibility), nitroxolinum (86.2%) and fosfomycin (72.4%) exhibited a good enough activity against ESBLs-producing urinary strains. Conclusion: Isоlation and detеction of ESBL-prоducing strаins are еssential fоr the sеlection оf the mоst effеctive antibiоtic for the empiric trеatment.
Studying the Relationship between the Attitude to Infertility and Coping Strategies in Couples Undergoing Assisted Reproductive Treatments

Background: Using appropriate coping strategies has a positive influence on moderating mental pressures caused by infertility and the stress during treatment. Using these strategies needs personal skills and they could be influenced by individual's inner psychological and environmental factors. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the attitude toward infertility and coping strategies considering the couple's social and financial situation. Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted on 133 volunteered couples undergoing assisted reproductive treatment. Coping strategies and the attitude toward infertility were assessed using a self-report questionnaire. Higher scores of attitude indicated positive attitudes. Data was analyzed using paired-samples t test and multiple regression model. Results: Independent from demographic information and causes of infertility, using self-blame and self-focused rumination coping strategies were negatively related to attitude toward infertility in both men and women (p<0.05). Also, using self-blame coping strategy had a positive correlation with female infertility and negative correlation with male infertility. Conclusion: Regardless of the economic and social conditions, in infertile couples, downward trend in attitude toward infertility is mostly associated with the use of maladaptive coping strategies.