Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptation of multi-joint movements during postural disturbances

The objective was to investigate the adaptation of the multi-segmented body movements induced over time by vibratory proprioceptive stimulation of the calf muscles and by galvanic vestibular stimulation. Twelve normal subjects were with eyes open or eyes closed exposed to vibratory stimulation of two different amplitudes and frequencies, or to simultaneously applied galvanic and vibratory stimulation. Multi-input multi-output system identification methods as well as quantitative analysis were applied to the biomechanical experimental data of anteroposterior and lateral body movements and torques induced towards the ground. The immediate adaptive response to the stimulation onset was that the subjects adopted a more rigid posture with coordinated movements of primarily head-shoulder and head-hip body segments. The body-movement amplitudes at all measured sites as well as the amplitudes of the ground support forces decreased over time as a result of another, somewhat slower adaptation process. The subjects required more time to adapt to a rigid movement pattern when the subjects were simultaneously exposed to both galvanic and vibratory stimulation. Moreover, the accuracy of the MIMO model and correlation analysis between measured torque variance and head; shoulder; hip and knee movement variance suggests that force platform recordings reflect both in anteroposterior and lateral direction the body movements at these sites.
How Glitter Relates to Gold: Similarity-Dependent Reward Prediction Errors in the Human Striatum

Optimal choices benefit from previous learning. However, it is not clear how previously learned stimuli influence behavior to novel but similar stimuli. One possibility is to generalize based on the similarity between learned and current stimuli. Here, we use neuroscientific methods and a novel computational model to inform the question of how stimulus generalization is implemented in the human brain. Behavioral responses during an intradimensional discrimination task showed similarity-dependent generalization. Moreover, a peak shift occurred, i.e., the peak of the behavioral generalization gradient was displaced from the rewarded conditioned stimulus in the direction away from the unrewarded conditioned stimulus. To account for the behavioral responses, we designed a similarity-based reinforcement learning model wherein prediction errors generalize across similar stimuli and update their value. We show that this model predicts a similarity-dependent neural generalization gradient in the striatum as well as changes in responding during extinction. Moreover, across subjects, the width of generalization was negatively correlated with functional connectivity between the striatum and the hippocampus. This result suggests that hippocampus–striatal connections contribute to stimulus-specific value updating by controlling the width of generalization. In summary, our results shed light onto the neurobiology of a fundamental, similarity-dependent learning principle that allows learning the value of stimuli that have never been encountered.
Differential uptake and translocation of β‐HCH and dieldrin by several plant species from hydroponic medium

To compare the uptake and translocation of hydrophobic organic chemicals by plant species, the authors performed uptake experiments with β‐1,2,3,4,5,6‐hexachlorocyclohexane (β‐HCH) and 1,2,3,4,10,10‐Hexachloro‐6,7‐epoxy‐1,4,4a,5,6,7,8,8a‐octahydro‐endo‐1,4‐exo‐5,8‐dimethanonaphthalene (dieldrin) using 5 species: Hordeum vulgare, Glycine max, Solanum lycopersicum, Brassica oleracea, and Cucurbita pepo. The present study evaluated uptake ability using root concentration factor (RCF) and translocation ability by transpiration stream concentration factor (TSCF). The RCFs of β‐HCH and dieldrin did not differ remarkably among species, except that the RCF of β‐HCH in B. oleracea was high. The TSCFs of β‐HCH and dieldrin were high in C. pepo, which was not superior in uptake as estimated by RCF. The TSCF of dieldrin in C. pepo was decreased in darkness and was markedly decreased by heating of roots. These results support the hypothesis that transport proteins produced in the root contribute to dieldrin translocation. In contrast, TSCF of β‐HCH was not decreased by these treatments. Therefore, translocation of β‐HCH might not need the contribution of transport proteins. It is possible that C. pepo has a certain function to transport hydrophobic organic chemicals smoothly in root tissues. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:536–544. © 2014 SETAC
Protoporphyrin IX distribution following local application of 5-aminolevulinic acid and its esterified derivatives in the tissue layers of the normal rat colon

Photodynamic diagnosis and especially therapy after sensitization with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is hampered by limitations of uptake and distribution of ALA due to its hydrophilic nature. Chemical modification of ALA into its more lipophilic esters seems to be promising to overcome these problems. The aim of the present study was to investigate the comparative kinetics of protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) fluorescence in rat colonic tissue after topical application of ALA and its esterified derivatives, ALA-hexylester (h-ALA), ALA-methylester (m-ALA) and ALA-benzylester (b-ALA). Fluorescence intensity induced by PPIX in normal colonic tissue was quantified using fluorescence microscopy at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after sensitization. Mucosa exhibited higher fluorescence levels compared to the underlying submucosa or smooth muscle. Peak fluorescence intensities were seen 4 h after local sensitization with 86.0 mol ml–1 ALA (513 ± 0.57 counts per pixel), 6.6 mol ml–1 m-ALA (508 ± 35.50) and 4.8 mol ml–1 h-ALA (532 ± 128.80), and 6 h after sensitization with 4.6 mol ml–1 b-ALA (468 ± 190.27). A 13–18 times lower concentration of ALA esters was required for fluorescence intensities reached with ALA alone. A similar degree of the fluorescence ratio between mucosa and muscularis (5–6:1) was detected for ALA and its derivatives. The time point of the maximum value of this ratio was consistent with peak fluorescence levels for ALA and each ALA-ester. The clinical feasibility and the advantages of topical ALA ester-based fluorescence for detection of malignant and premalignant lesions need further investigations. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com
Hydrostatic models for the rotation of extra-planar gas in disk galaxies

Published in: Phys. Lett. , B 624 (2005) 186-194 Abstract: We show that fluid stationary models are able to reproduce the observed, negative vertical gradient of the rotation velocity of the extra-planar gas in spiral galaxies. We have constructed models based on the simple condition that the pressure of the medium does not depend on density alone (baroclinic instead of barotropic solutions: isodensity and isothermal surfaces do not coincide). As an illustration, we have successfully applied our method to reproduce the observed velocity gradient of the lagging gaseous halo of NGC 891. The fluid stationary models discussed here can describe a hot homogeneous medium as well as a "gas" made of discrete, cold HI clouds with an isotropic velocity dispersion distribution. Although the method presented here generates a density and velocity field consistent with observational constraints, the stability of these configurations remains an open question.
A Slow Outward Current Activated by FMRFamide in Heart Interneurons of the Medicinal Leech

The endogenous neuropeptide FMRFamide (Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2) can accelerate the oscillation of reciprocally inhibitory pairs of interneurons that pace heartbeat in the medicinal leech. A model based on all available biophysical data of a two-cell heart interneuron oscillator provides a theoretical basis for understanding this modulation. Previously observed modulation of K+ currents by FMRFamide cannot account for this acceleratory effect in the model. This observation prompted the present reexamination of K+ currents in heart interneurons. We devised better methods for separation of the various components of K+ current and more accurately measured their activation and deactivation kinetics. Moreover, we demonstrated that FMRFamide activates a previously undetected K+ current (IKF), which has very slow activation and deactivation kinetics. Addition of physiologically measured amounts ofIKF to the model two-cell oscillator can account for the acceleratory effect of FMRFamide.
Deletion of Inducible Nitric-Oxide Synthase in Leptin-Deficient Mice Improves Brown Adipose Tissue Function

Background Leptin and nitric oxide (NO) on their own participate in the control of non-shivering thermogenesis. However, the functional interplay between both factors in this process has not been explored so far. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the impact of the absence of the inducible NO synthase (iNOS) gene in the regulation of energy balance in ob/ob mice. Methods and Findings Double knockout (DBKO) mice simultaneously lacking the ob and iNOS genes were generated, and the expression of molecules involved in the control of brown fat cell function was analyzed by real-time PCR, western-blot and immunohistochemistry. Twelve week-old DBKO mice exhibited reduced body weight (p<0.05), decreased amounts of total fat pads (p<0.05), lower food efficiency rates (p<0.05) and higher rectal temperature (p<0.05) than ob/ob mice. Ablation of iNOS also improved the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism of ob/ob mice. DBKO showed a marked reduction in the size of brown adipocytes compared to ob/ob mutants. In this sense, in comparison to ob/ob mice, DBKO rodents showed an increase in the expression of PR domain containing 16 (Prdm16), a transcriptional regulator of brown adipogenesis. Moreover, iNOS deletion enhanced the expression of mitochondria-related proteins, such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1 α (Pgc-1α), sirtuin-1 (Sirt-1) and sirtuin-3 (Sirt-3). Accordingly, mitochondrial uncoupling proteins 1 and 3 (Ucp-1 and Ucp-3) were upregulated in brown adipose tissue (BAT) of DBKO mice as compared to ob/ob rodents. Conclusion Ablation of iNOS improved the energy balance of ob/ob mice by decreasing food efficiency through an increase in thermogenesis. These effects may be mediated, in part, through the recovery of the BAT phenotype and brown fat cell function improvement.
Strategies for a Direct Characterization of Phosphoproteins on Hydroxyapatite Surfaces

We show in this work how systems formed by phosphoproteins on calcium phosphate surfaces can be directly characterized, in real time, in liquid medium, without the need for elution or labeling. Specifically, we show how this is possible by applying three different techniques: ellipsometry, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, and atomic force microscopy-based friction force spectroscopy. We apply these techniques to study two different model systems, i.e. those formed upon the adsorption of two model phosphoproteins (κ- and ß-casein) on hydroxyapatite (HA) surfaces. Information on the kinetics of adsorption, surface excess, viscoelasticity, water content, thickness of the layers, and protein-surface interaction is provided. Results indicate that both phosphoproteins form homogeneous elastic highly hydrated monolayers on the HA surfaces, the strength of ß-casein layers being higher by approximately a factor of 4. Based on the experimental results, models for the conformation of κ- and ß-casein molecules adsorbed on HA surfaces are proposed.
Inside the Mindful Mind : How Mindfulness Enhances Emotion Regulation Through Improvements in Executive Control

Although the psychological benefits of mindfulness training on emotion regulation are well-documented, the precise mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. In the present account, we propose a new linkage between mindfulness and improved emotion regulation—one that highlights the role played by executive control. Specifically, we suggest that the present-moment awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance that is cultivated by mindfulness training is crucial in promoting executive control because it increases sensitivity to affective cues in the experiential field. This refined attunement and openness to subtle changes in affective states fosters executive control because it improves response to incipient affective cues that help signal the need for control. This, in turn, enhances emotion regulation. In presenting our model, we discuss how new findings in executive control can improve our understanding of how mindfulness increases the capacity for effective emotion regulation.
Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

This is a step-by-step guide to Kant's first work on moral philosophy. "Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals" is considered a standard text in the history of moral philosophy as well as a classic work of moral philosophy in its own right. This guide provides a paragraph-by-paragraph account of the main themes of Kant's moral philosophy and a clear statement of his overall philosophical aims and arguments. It is an essential toolkit for anyone approaching Kant for the first time.
How Shared Preferences in Music Create Bonds Between People

How can shared music preferences create social bonds between people? A process model is developed in which music preferences as value-expressive attitudes create social bonds via conveyed value similarity. The musical bonding model links two research streams: (a) music preferences as indicators of similarity in value orientations and (b) similarity in value orientations leading to social attraction. Two laboratory experiments and one dyadic field study demonstrated that music can create interpersonal bonds between young people because music preferences can be cues for similar or dissimilar value orientations, with similarity in values then contributing to social attraction. One study tested and ruled out an alternative explanation (via personality similarity), illuminating the differential impact of perceived value similarity versus personality similarity on social attraction. Value similarity is the missing link in explaining the musical bonding phenomenon, which seems to hold for Western and non-Western samples and in experimental and natural settings.
Major histocompatibility complex class II molecules induce the formation of endocytic MIIC-like structures

During biosynthesis, major histochompatibility complex class II molecules are transported to the cell surface through a late endocytic multilaminar structure with lysosomal characteristics. This structure did not resemble any of the previously described endosomal compartments and was termed MIIC. We show here that continuous protein synthesis is required for the maintenance of MIIC in B cells. Transfection of class II molecules in human embryonal kidney cells induces the formation of multilaminar endocytic structures that are morphologically analogous to MIIC in B cells. Two lysosomal proteins (CD63 and lamp-1), which are expressed in MIIC of B cells, are also present in the structures induced by expression of major histocompatibility complex class II molecules. Moreover, endocytosed HRP enters the induced structures defining them as endocytic compartments. Exchanging the transmembrane and cytoplasmic tail of the class II alpha and beta chains for that of HLA-B27 does not result in the induction of multilaminar structures, and the chimeric class II molecules are now located in multivesicular structures. This suggests that expression of class II molecules is sufficient to induce the formation of characteristic MIIC-like multilaminar structures.
Effects of agricultural pesticides on the immune system of Rana pipiens and on its resistance to parasitic infection

In the past 30 years, many amphibian species have suffered population declines throughout the world. Mass mortality have been frequently reported, and in several instances, infectious diseases appear to be the cause of death. The role that contaminants could play in these die‐offs through immunotoxic effects has been poorly investigated. In this study, juvenile leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) were exposed for 21 d to a mixture of six pesticides (atrazine, metribuzin, aldicarb, endosulfane, lindane, and dieldrin) and subsequently challenged with a parasitic nematode, Rhabdias ranae. Exposure to the mixture at environmentally realistic concentrations significantly reduced lymphocyte proliferation. Three weeks after the end of the exposure, lymphocyte proliferation had recovered and was stimulated in frogs challenged with parasites with the exception of those previously exposed to the highest concentration. No pesticide effects on phagocytosis and splenocyte numbers were detectable at the end of the exposure period, but these two parameters were diminished 21 d after the infection challenge in frogs previously exposed to the highest levels of pesticides. In these animals, the prevalence of lung infection by R. ranae also tended to be higher. These results suggest that agricultural pesticides can alter the immune response of frogs and affect their ability to deal with parasitic infection.
An uncountable family of nonorbit equivalent actions of _

Recall that two ergodic probability measure preserving (p.m.p.) actions σi for i = 1, 2 of two countable groups Γi on probability measure standard Borel spaces (Xi, μi) are orbit equivalent (OE) if they define partitions of the spaces into orbits that are isomorphic, more precisely, if there exists a measurable, almost everywhere defined isomorphism f : X1 → X2 such that f∗μ1 = μ2 and the Γ1-orbit of μ1almost every x ∈ X1 is sent by f onto the Γ2-orbit of f(x). The theory of orbit equivalence, although underlying the “group measure space construction” of Murray and von Neumann [MvN36], was born with the work of H. Dye who proved, for example, the following striking result [Dy59]: Any two ergodic p.m. p. free actions of Γ1 Z and Γ2 ⊕ j∈N Z/2Z are orbit equivalent. Through a series of works, the class of groups Γ2 satisfying Dye’s theorem gradually increased until it achieved the necessary and sufficient condition: Γ2 is infinite amenable [OW80]. In particular, all infinite amenable groups produce one and only one ergodic p.m. p. free action up to orbit equivalence (see also [CFW81] for a more general statement). By using the notion of strong ergodicity, A. Connes and B. Weiss proved that any nonamenable group without Kazhdan property (T) admits at least two non-OE p.m. p. free ergodic actions [CW80]. The first examples of groups with uncountably many non-OE free ergodic actions was obtained in [BG81], using a somewhat circumstantial construction, based on prior work in [McD69]. Within the circle of ideas brought up by Zimmer’s cocycle super-rigidity [Zi84], certain Kazhdan property (T) lattices of Lie groups such as SL(n, Z), n ≥ 3, were shown to admit uncountably many non-OE free ergodic actions as well (see [GG88]). It is only recently that we learned that this property was shared by all infinite groups with Kazhdan property (T) [Hj02-b], and thanks to another reason (bounded cohomology) by many torsion free finitely generated direct products Γ1×Γ2, including nontrivial (l ≥ 2) products of free groups like Fp1 × Fp2 × · · · × Fpl , pi ≥ 2 [MS02]. On the other hand, the situation for the free groups themselves or SL(2, Z) remained unclear and arouse the interest of producing more non-OE free ergodic actions of Fn than just the two given by [CW80] (more precisely in producing ways
Quantitative evaluation of relevant prosodic factors for text-to-speech synthesis in Spanish

A quantitative comparison of four different proposals for intonation modeling in Spanish is presented. In the framework of a modeling procedure previously introduced by the authors, the stress group is taken as the basic building block and a statistical model is inferred from a corpus for every kind of intonation unit, which is parameterized by means of the four control points of the ﬁtting Bézier function. Applying classical clustering quality assessment metrics to the statistical models predicted under different proposals, an objective comparison is brought among them. From the re-sults, a set of prosodic factors has been taken as the characterization of the stress group and incorporated into a TTS platform, with a reported increase in perceptual and objective quality.
A screen for inducers of bHLH activity identifies pitavastatin as a regulator of p21, Rb phosphorylation and E2F target gene expression in pancreatic cancer

The average survival for patients with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDA) is merely 6 months, underscoring the need for new therapeutic approaches. During PDA progression, pancreatic acinar cells lose activity of the ClassI/II bHLH factors that regulate quiescence. We previously found that promoting transcriptional activity of the Class I bHLH factor E47 in highly aggressive PDA cells induced stable growth arrest in vitro and in vivo. To translate these findings for clinical utility, we developed a high throughput screening platform to identify small molecule inducers of Class I/II bHLH activity. A screen of 4,375 known drugs identified 70 bHLH activators. Prominent among the hits were members of the statin class of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, cholesterol lowering drugs that are also being evaluated in cancer. Studies with pitavastatin in primary patient derived tumor cells and established PDA lines, revealed dose dependent growth inhibition. At the molecular level, pitavastatin induced expression of the cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21 in a cholesterol independent manner, blocked repressive phosphorylation of the Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein at CDK targeted sites, and reduced expression of E2F target genes required for progression through the G1/S boundary. Together, the data provide new insight into mechanisms by which statins constrain proliferation in cancer and establish the effectiveness of a novel screening platform to identify small molecules of clinical relevance in pancreatic cancer.
Assessing Inter-Annotator Agreement for Translation Error Annotation

One of the key requirements for demonstrating the validity and reliability of an assessment method is that annotators be able to apply it consistently. Automatic measures such as BLEU traditionally used to assess the quality of machine translation gain reliability by using human-generated reference translations under the assumption that mechanical similar to references is a valid measure of translation quality. Our experience with using detailed, in-line human-generated quality annotations as part of the QTLaunchPad project, however, shows that inter-annotator agreement (IAA) is relatively low, in part because humans differ in their understanding of quality problems, their causes, and the ways to fix them. This paper explores some of the facts that contribute to low IAA and suggests that these problems, rather than being a product of the specific annotation task, are likely to be endemic (although covert) in quality evaluation for both machine and human translation. Thus disagreement between annotators can help provide insight into how quality is understood. Our examination found a number of factors that impact human identification and classification of errors. Particularly salient among these issues were: (1) disagreement as to the precise spans that contain an error; (2) errors whose categorization is unclear or ambiguous (i.e., ones where more than one issue type may apply), including those that can be described at different levels in the taxonomy of error classes used; (3) differences of opinion about whether something is or is not an error or how severe it is. These problems have helped us gain insight into how humans approach the error annotation process and have now resulted in changes to the instructions for annotators and the inclusion of improved decision-making tools with those instructions. Despite these improvements, however, we anticipate that issues resulting in disagreement between annotators will remain and are inherent in the quality assessment task.