Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation in the Wideband Regime

The wideband regime of bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) in Gaussian channels is studied. The Taylor expansion of the coded modulation capacity for generic signal constellations at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is derived and used to determine the corresponding expansion for the BICM capacity. Simple formulas for the minimum energy per bit and the wideband slope are given. BICM is found to be suboptimal in the sense that its minimum energy per bit can be larger than the corresponding value for coded modulation schemes. The minimum energy per bit using standard Gray mapping on M-PAM or M 2 -QAM is given by a simple formula and shown to approach - 0.34 dB as M increases. Using the low SNR expansion, a general tradeoff between power and bandwidth in the wideband regime is used to show how a power loss can be traded off against a bandwidth gain.
Altered Mitochondrial Function and Energy Metabolism Is Associated with a Radioresistant Phenotype in Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) is increasingly the standard of care for locally advanced oesophageal cancer. A complete pathological response to CRT is associated with a favourable outcome. Radiation therapy is important for local tumour control, however, radioresistance remains a substantial clinical problem. We hypothesise that alterations in mitochondrial function and energy metabolism are involved in the radioresistance of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). To investigate this, we used an established isogenic cell line model of radioresistant OAC. Radioresistant cells (OE33 R) demonstrated significantly increased levels of random mitochondrial mutations, which were coupled with alterations in mitochondrial function, size, morphology and gene expression, supporting a role for mitochondrial dysfunction in the radioresistance of this model. OE33 R cells also demonstrated altered bioenergetics, demonstrating significantly increased intracellular ATP levels, which was attributed to enhanced mitochondrial respiration. Radioresistant cells also demonstrated metabolic plasticity, efficiently switching between the glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation energy metabolism pathways, which were accompanied by enhanced clonogenic survival. This data was supported in vivo, in pre-treatment OAC tumour tissue. Tumour ATP5B expression, a marker of oxidative phosphorylation, was significantly increased in patients who subsequently had a poor pathological response to neoadjuvant CRT. This suggests for the first time, a role for specific mitochondrial alterations and metabolic remodelling in the radioresistance of OAC.
Adverse Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs

Summary: Because the efficacies of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are often equivalent, selection of an AED is often determined by adverse effects. Differences in methods for labeling adverse effects and in the adverse effect terms themselves, variations in the populations studied, and inconsistent classifications of adverse effects make it difficult to know how to use information on adverse effects to choose an AED. Effort is underway to develop more extensive and internationally acceptable descriptive terms for adverse effects. Comparison of adverse effects in patients taking AEDs with adverse events in control groups is helpful; however, data from controlled studies are often lacking for most AEDs. Because of these limitations, the clinician must adopt a preventative and early detection approach based on some general principles. This review outlines factors to consider for avoiding and detecting AED adverse effects. The occurrence of weight change with AEDs is reviewed extensively, serving to illustrate how the principle factors can be used to avoid and manage adverse effects and where there is need for better studies of the short‐ and long‐term adverse effects of AEDs.
Spatial Distribution of Brucellosis in Small Ruminants of India using Indigenously Developed ELISA Kit

India is a rich niche of ovine germplasm with diverse indigenous and cross breeds. Brucellosis is most contagious, often regionally neglected disease of small ruminants in the country. The current spatial prevalence of brucellosis in small ruminants of the country was not known. A total of 8904 samples [sheep (n1)-4868, goat (n2)-4036] from different states of the country were randomly collected and tested by indigenously developed iELISA kit. True prevalence of disease was found to be 5.5% (95% CI: 4.6-6.3%) and 2.3% (95% CI: 1.5-3.1), in sheep and goat, respectively. The study conclusively unraveled the epidemiological overview of disease at both state and national level. This information is useful for prioritizing regions for vaccination, designing control strategies and improvisation of clinical surveillance system.
TXNIP Regulates Peripheral Glucose Metabolism in Humans

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by defects in insulin secretion and action. Impaired glucose uptake in skeletal muscle is believed to be one of the earliest features in the natural history of T2DM, although underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Methods and Findings We combined human insulin/glucose clamp physiological studies with genome-wide expression profiling to identify thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP) as a gene whose expression is powerfully suppressed by insulin yet stimulated by glucose. In healthy individuals, its expression was inversely correlated to total body measures of glucose uptake. Forced expression of TXNIP in cultured adipocytes significantly reduced glucose uptake, while silencing with RNA interference in adipocytes and in skeletal muscle enhanced glucose uptake, confirming that the gene product is also a regulator of glucose uptake. TXNIP expression is consistently elevated in the muscle of prediabetics and diabetics, although in a panel of 4,450 Scandinavian individuals, we found no evidence for association between common genetic variation in the TXNIP gene and T2DM. Conclusions TXNIP regulates both insulin-dependent and insulin-independent pathways of glucose uptake in human skeletal muscle. Combined with recent studies that have implicated TXNIP in pancreatic β-cell glucose toxicity, our data suggest that TXNIP might play a key role in defective glucose homeostasis preceding overt T2DM.
Carnitine and acetylcarnitine modulate mesenchymal differentiation of adult stem cells

Cellular metabolic activity, especially mitochondrial metabolism, plays a vital role in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation. Metabolism could therefore be an important factor to consider when using engineering technologies to stimulate tissue development and repair. The small metabolite carnitine and its derivative acetylcarnitine affect the activities of several pathways in mitochondrial metabolism, but their influence on cell differentiation has not yet been thoroughly studied. To elucidate the effects of these two small molecules on mesenchymal tissue engineering, we used adult stem cells as a platform in both monolayer and 3D hydrogel culture systems. We investigated the impact of these two small molecules on the differentiation of adult stem cells and analysed gene expression, cell proliferation and extracellular matrix deposition. We found that the molecules reduced adipogenesis but stimulated osteogenesis and chondrogenesis in both culture systems. Our results suggest that carnitine and acetylcarnitine could affect the differentiation rate of adult stem cells by regulating mitochondrial metabolism. The effects of these two small molecules give rise to the possibility of employing such metabolites in tissue‐engineering systems to enhance cell differentiation and tissue development. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus Specifically Binds to and Hydrolyzes 4-O-Acetylated Sialic Acids

ABSTRACT Infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) is the causative agent of infections in farmed Atlantic salmon. ISAV presumably represents a new genus within the Orthomyxoviridae. ISAV has been shown earlier to exhibit a receptor-destroying activity, which was defined as an acetylesterase with unknown specificity. We have analyzed the substrate specificity of the ISAV esterase in detail. Purified ISAV hydrolyzed free 5-N-acetyl-4-O-acetyl neuraminic acid. In addition, the purified 9-O-acetylated sialic acid derivative was also hydrolyzed, but at lower rates. When we used a glycosidically bound substrate, ISAV was unable to hydrolyze 9-O-acetylated sialic acid, which represents the major substrate for the influenza C virus esterase. ISAV completely de-O-acetylated glycoprotein-bound 5-N-acetyl-4-O-acetyl neuraminic acid. Thus, the enzymatic activity of the hemagglutinin-esterase of ISAV is comparable to that of the sialate-4-O-esterases of murine coronaviruses and related group 2 coronaviruses. In addition, we found that ISAV specifically binds to glycoproteins containing 4-O-acetylated sialic acids. Both the ISAV esterase and recombinant rat coronavirus esterase specific for 4-O-acetylated sialic acids hydrolyzed ISAV receptors on horse and rabbit erythrocytes, indicating that this sialic acid represents a receptor determinant for ISAV.
A novel standstill position detection method of PMSM for electric vehicles based on carrier phase-shifted PWM technology

This paper presents the application of carrier phase-shifted PWM technology in the position detection for permanent magnet synchronous motor at standstill position. At the same time, it gives the polarity identification in the rotary frame with detected position from the neutral voltage. The new technique describes the method of carrier phase-shifted PWM technology with neutral voltage. It can detect the motor position from simple measurements of the neutral point voltage of the motor influenced by the variation of inductances with respect to rotor position. Theoretical studies have been carried out and experimental results are implemented to vary rotor position over one electrical cycle for position detection.
Sequential coupling between COPII and COPI vesicle coats in endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi transport

COPI and COPII are vesicle coat complexes whose assembly is regulated by the ARF1 and Sar1 GTPases, respectively. We show that COPI and COPII coat complexes are recruited separately and independently to ER (COPII), pre-Golgi (COPI, COPII), and Golgi (COPI) membranes of mammalian cells. To address their individual roles in ER to Golgi transport, we used stage specific in vitro transport assays to synchronize movement of cargo to and from pre-Golgi intermediates, and GDP- and GTP-restricted forms of Sar1 and ARF1 proteins to control coat recruitment. We find that COPII is solely responsible for export from the ER, is lost rapidly following vesicle budding and mediates a vesicular step required for the build-up of pre-Golgi intermediates composed of clusters of vesicles and small tubular elements. COPI is recruited onto pre-Golgi intermediates where it initiates segregation of the anterograde transported protein vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV-G) from the retrograde transported protein p58, a protein which actively recycles between the ER and pre-Golgi intermediates. We propose that sequential coupling between COPII and COPI coats is essential to coordinate and direct bi-directional vesicular traffic between the ER and pre-Golgi intermediates involved in transport of protein to the Golgi complex.
Communication minimization for in-network processing in body sensor networks: A buffer assignment technique

Body sensor networks are emerging as a promising platform for healthcare monitoring. These systems are composed of battery-operated embedded devices which process physiological data. The reduction in the power consumption is an important factor to increase the lifetime for such systems and to enhance their wearability through reducing the size of the battery. In this paper, we develop an energy-efficient communication scheme that uses buffers to reduce the number of transmissions among the sensor nodes constrained to limited hardware resources. A direct acyclic graph is used to model the information flow. We define a communication optimization problem and solve it using convex optimization techniques. We present results that support the efficiency of the proposed technique.
Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: A grounded theory study of palliative care patients’ understandings, experiences, and preferences

Background: Compassion is considered an essential element in quality patient care. One of the conceptual challenges in healthcare literature is that compassion is often confused with sympathy and empathy. Studies comparing and contrasting patients’ perspectives of sympathy, empathy, and compassion are largely absent. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate advanced cancer patients’ understandings, experiences, and preferences of “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “compassion” in order to develop conceptual clarity for future research and to inform clinical practice. Design: Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and then independently analyzed by the research team using the three stages and principles of Straussian grounded theory. Setting/participants: Data were collected from 53 advanced cancer inpatients in a large urban hospital. Results: Constructs of sympathy, empathy, and compassion contain distinct themes and sub-themes. Sympathy was described as an unwanted, pity-based response to a distressing situation, characterized by a lack of understanding and self-preservation of the observer. Empathy was experienced as an affective response that acknowledges and attempts to understand individual’s suffering through emotional resonance. Compassion enhanced the key facets of empathy while adding distinct features of being motivated by love, the altruistic role of the responder, action, and small, supererogatory acts of kindness. Patients reported that unlike sympathy, empathy and compassion were beneficial, with compassion being the most preferred and impactful. Conclusion: Although sympathy, empathy, and compassion are used interchangeably and frequently conflated in healthcare literature, patients distinguish and experience them uniquely. Understanding patients’ perspectives is important and can guide practice, policy reform, and future research.
Finite-Time Consensus With Disturbance Rejection by Discontinuous Local Interactions in Directed Graphs

In this technical note we propose a decentralized discontinuous interaction rule which allows to achieve consensus in a network of agents modeled by continuous-time first-order integrator dynamics affected by bounded disturbances. The topology of the network is described by a directed graph. The proposed discontinuous interaction rule is capable of rejecting the effects of the disturbances and achieving consensus after a finite transient time. An upper bound to the convergence time is explicitly derived in the technical note. Simulation results, referring to a network of coupled Kuramoto-like oscillators, are illustrated to corroborate the theoretical analysis.
Development and validation of altimeter wind speed algorithms using an extended collocated Buoy/Topex dataset

The development and validation of altimeter wind speed algorithms is investigated following the collation of the largest dataset to-date of coincident altimeter/buoy open ocean measurements. Nonlinear relationships between buoy wind and Topex backscatter are fitted to the 4500 points dataset using least-squares (LSQ). The addition of altimeter significant wave height (SWH) information causes a small but significant reduction of about 10% in root-mean-square (rms) error. The new LSQ algorithms yield significant improvement of the global wind speed bias and rms error compared to earlier models, but describe the wind to backscatter relationship poorly at extreme wind speeds. Best results are obtained with the Gourrion et al. (2000) model, improving on the Witter and Chelton (WC91) (1991) model used operationally. A residual dependence on sea state persists in all wind algorithms, which underestimate winds in young sea conditions on average by 1-1.5 m/s. A case study confirms that ordinary LSQ attribute excessive weight to the peak of the wind speed histogram and yield algorithms with poor performance at extreme winds. Measurement errors are shown to greatly influence the fitted models performance, as accounting for normally distributed errors in both altimeter and buoy measurements with orthogonal distance regressions (ODRs) yields significant improvements.
Morphine induces the release of CCL5 from astrocytes: Potential neuroprotective mechanism against the HIV protein gp120

A number of human immunodeficiency virus type‐1 (HIV) positive subjects are also opiate abusers. These individuals are at high risk to develop neurological complications. However, little is still known about the molecular mechanism(s) linking opiates and HIV neurotoxicity. To learn more, we exposed rat neuronal/glial cultures prepared from different brain areas to opiate agonists and HIV envelope glycoproteins gp120IIIB or BaL. These strains bind to CXCR4 and CCR5 chemokine receptors, respectively, and promote neuronal death. Morphine did not synergize the toxic effect of gp120IIIB but inhibited the cytotoxic property of gp120BaL. This effect was blocked by naloxone and reproduced by the μ opioid receptor agonist DAMGO. To examine the potential mechanism(s) of neuroprotection, we determined the effect of morphine on the release of chemokines CCL5 and CXCL12 in neurons, astrocytes, and microglia cultures. CCL5 has been shown to prevent gp120BaL neurotoxicity while CXCL12 decreases neuronal survival. Morphine elicited a time‐dependent release of CCL5 but failed to affect the release of CXCL12. This effect was observed only in primary cultures of astrocytes. To examine the role of endogenous CCL5 in the neuroprotective activity of morphine, mixed cerebellar neurons/glial cells were immunoneutralized against CCL5 prior to morphine and gp120 treatment. In these cells the neuroprotective effect of opiate agonists was blocked. Our data suggest that morphine may exhibit a neuroprotective activity against M‐tropic gp120 through the release of CCL5 from astrocytes. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Assigning phrase breaks from part-of-speech sequences

This paper presents an algorithm for automatically assigning phrase breaks to unrestricted text for use in a text-to-speech synthesizer. Text is first converted into a sequence of part-of-speech tags. Next a Markov model is used to give the most likely sequence of phrase breaks for the input part-of-speech tags. In the Markov model, states represent types of phrase break and the transitions between states represent the likelihoods of sequences of phrase types occurring. The paper reports a variety of experiments investigating part-of-speech tag-sets, Markov model structure and smoothing. The best setup correctly identifies 79% of breaks in the test corpus.
Mutations in the substrate binding domain of the Escherichia coli 70 kDa molecular chaperone, DnaK, which alter substrate affinity or interdomain coupling.

In Escherichia coli, DnaK is essential for the replication of bacteriophage lambda DNA; this in vivo activity provides the basis of a screen for mutations affecting DnaK function. Mn PCR was used to introduce mutations into residues 405-468 of the C-terminal polypeptide-binding domain of DnaK. These mutant proteins were screened for the ability to propagate bacteriophage lambda in the background of a dnaK deficient cell line, BB1553. This initial screen identified several proteins which were mutant at multiple positions. The multiple mutants were further dissected into single mutants which remained negative for lambda propagation. Four of these single-site mutants were purified and assayed for biochemical functionality. Two single-site mutations, F426S and S427P, are localized in the peptide binding site and display weakened peptide binding affinity. This indicates that the crystallographically determined peptide binding site is also critical for in vivo lambda replication. Two other mutations, K414I and N451K, are located at the edge of the beta-sandwich domain near alpha-helix A. The K414I mutant binds peptide moderately well, yet displays defects in allosteric functions, including peptide-stimulated ATPase activity, ATP-induced changes in tryptophan fluorescence, ATP-induced peptide release, and elevated ATPase activity. The K414 position is close in tertiary structure to the linker region to the ATPase domain and reflects a specific area of the peptide-binding domain which is necessary for interdomain coupling. The mutant N451K displays defects in both peptide binding and allosteric interaction.
Audio-Journey: Efficient Visual+LLM-aided Audio Encodec Diffusion

Despite recent progress, machine learning for the audio domain is limited by the availability of high-quality data. Visual information already presented in a video should complement the information in audio. In this paper, we leverage a state-of-the-art (SOTA) LLM to perform data augmentation, bypassing the need for costly human annotation; We also leverage audio encodec model to allow for extremely efficient adaptation of a pre-trained text-to-image generation latent diffusion model to perform text-to-audio generation. Our approach exemplifies a promising method for augmenting low-resource audio datasets. The samples, models, and implementation will be at https://audiojourney.github. io .
Acceleration of Biliary Cholesterol Secretion Restores Glycemic Control and Alleviates Hypertriglyceridemia in Obese db/db Mice

Objective— Recent studies support a role for cholesterol in the development of obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Mice lacking the ABCG5 ABCG8 (G5G8) sterol transporter have reduced biliary cholesterol secretion and are more susceptible to steatosis, hepatic insulin resistance, and loss of glycemic control when challenged with a high-fat diet. We hypothesized that accelerating G5G8-mediated biliary cholesterol secretion would correct these phenotypes in obese mice. Approach and Results— Obese (db/db) male and their lean littermates were administered a cocktail of control adenovirus or adenoviral vectors encoding ABCG5 and ABCG8 (AdG5G8). Three days after viral administration, measures of lipid and glucose homeostasis were determined, and tissues were collected for biochemical analyses. AdG5G8 increased biliary cholesterol and fecal sterol elimination. Fasting glucose and triglycerides declined, and glucose tolerance improved in obese mice expressing G5G8 compared with mice receiving control adenovirus. These changes were associated with a reduction in phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor 2&agr; and c-Jun N-terminal kinase in liver, suggesting alleviation of endoplasmic reticulum stress. Phosphorylated insulin receptor and protein kinase B were increased, indicating restored hepatic insulin signaling. However, there was no reduction in hepatic triglycerides after the 3-day treatment period. Conclusions— Accelerating biliary cholesterol secretion restores glycemic control and reduces plasma triglycerides in obese db/db mice.
Negotiating for Space?: Collaborative Work Using a Wall Display with Mouse and Touch Input

Wall-sized displays support group work by allowing several people to work both separately and together. However, whether people interact directly through touch input or indirectly through mouse input can have profound effects on collaboration. We present a study that compares how groups collaborate using either multitouch or multiple mice on a wall-display. Participants used both input methods to work on two tasks: a shared-goal task and a mixed-motive task. Results show differences in participants' awareness in collaborative tasks between the two input methods. The results also help understand the physical constraints touch input set on participants' control of actions in collaborative tasks. We discuss how this influences collaboration. Results also show that touch input did not promote more equal participation than mouse input. We contrast the findings to earlier research on wall-display and tabletop collaboration.