Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MicroRNAs in metabolism

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have within the past decade emerged as key regulators of metabolic homoeostasis. Major tissues in intermediary metabolism important during development of the metabolic syndrome, such as β‐cells, liver, skeletal and heart muscle as well as adipose tissue, have all been shown to be affected by miRNAs. In the pancreatic β‐cell, a number of miRNAs are important in maintaining the balance between differentiation and proliferation (miR‐200 and miR‐29 families) and insulin exocytosis in the differentiated state is controlled by miR‐7, miR‐375 and miR‐335. MiR‐33a and MiR‐33b play crucial roles in cholesterol and lipid metabolism, whereas miR‐103 and miR‐107 regulates hepatic insulin sensitivity. In muscle tissue, a defined number of miRNAs (miR‐1, miR‐133, miR‐206) control myofibre type switch and induce myogenic differentiation programmes. Similarly, in adipose tissue, a defined number of miRNAs control white to brown adipocyte conversion or differentiation (miR‐365, miR‐133, miR‐455). The discovery of circulating miRNAs in exosomes emphasizes their importance as both endocrine signalling molecules and potentially disease markers. Their dysregulation in metabolic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis stresses their potential as therapeutic targets. This review emphasizes current ideas and controversies within miRNA research in metabolism.
Architectural digital images. Quality and emotional evaluation based on the visualization environment

The visualization of architectural images has always been associated with physical models, panels and displays on large format computer screens. However, technological developments in the past decades have produced new interesting devices such as Smartphones or immersive displays. This evolution has created a new workflow that enables on-site management, virtual visualization and decision making through the viewing of information on those devices. In this paper, we will conduct a statistical study to evaluate the emotional differences on visualization architectural images in different environments and the relationship with the quality perceived by the users related with their previously experience in the architectural framework. The results show that factors related to the user such as gender or previous experience with the typology of images, and the type of device, influence the user's emotional reaction.
Take What You Can: Property Rights, Contestability and Conflict

Weak property rights are strongly associated with underdevelopment, low state capacity and civil conflict. In economic models of conflict, outbreaks of violence require two things: the prize must be both valuable and contestable. This paper exploits spatial and temporal variation in contestability of land title to explore the relation between (in)secure property rights and conflict in the Brazilian Amazon. Our estimates suggest that, at the local level, assignment of secure property rights eliminates substantively all land related conflict, even without changes in enforcement. Changes in land use are also consistent with reductions in land related conflict.
Incomplete Stent Apposition After Implantation of Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents or Bare Metal Stents: Insights From the Randomized TAXUS II Trial

Background—The clinical impact of late incomplete stent apposition (ISA) for drug-eluting stents is unknown. We sought to prospectively investigate the incidence and extent of ISA after the procedure and at 6-month follow-up of paclitaxel-eluting stents in comparison with bare metal stents (BMS) and survey the clinical significance of ISA over a period of 12 months. Methods and Results—TAXUS II was a randomized, double-blind study with 536 patients in 2 consecutive cohorts comparing slow-release (SR; 131 patients) and moderate-release (MR; 135 patients) paclitaxel-eluting stents with BMS (270 patients). This intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) substudy included patients who underwent serial IVUS examination after the procedure and at 6 months (BMS, 240 patients; SR, 113; MR, 116). The qualitative and quantitative analyses of ISA were performed by an independent, blinded core laboratory. More than half of the instances of ISA observed after the procedure resolved at 6 months in all groups. No difference in the incidence of late-acquired ISA was observed among the 3 groups (BMS, 5.4%; SR, 8.0%; MR, 9.5%; P=0.306), with a similar ISA volume (BMS, 11.4 mm3; SR, 21.7 mm3; MR, 8.5 mm3; P=0.18). Late-acquired ISA was the result of an increase of vessel area without change in plaque behind the stent. Predictive factors of late-acquired ISA were lesion length, unstable angina, and absence of diabetes. No stent thrombosis occurred in the patients diagnosed with ISA over a period of 12 months. Conclusions—The incidence and extent of late-acquired ISA are comparable in paclitaxel-eluting stents and BMS. ISA is a pure IVUS finding without clinical repercussions.
What can we learn from the recent blood glucose lowering megatrials?

In the past two decades, we have acquired an enormous amount of knowledge regarding the epidemiology, diagnosis, pathophysiology and treatment of type 2 diabetes and its comorbidities. In addition to the earlier landmark blood lipid and blood pressure lowering trials, the latest blood glucose lowering megatrials represent the zenith of this global effort to prevent and control diabetes, and its devastating consequences. Although many of these latter trials have yielded negative results and have shown the narrow risk‐benefit ratio of intensive treatment in patients with advanced disease, the exceedingly low event rates in these high‐risk patients who were carefully monitored and intensively managed made possible in these clinical trial settings have not been emphasized enough. The heterogeneity of the clinical outcomes in these studies further highlight the complexity of diabetes, which is more than managing a disease, but the multiple needs of a patient with multisystem dysfunction. In the final analysis, what transpires from these megatrials is the need to translate the key components of these studies, namely, protocol, team, documentation and monitoring, into our daily clinical practice to enable the care team to stratify risk, define needs, individualize therapy, monitor progress and reinforce compliance in order to achieve positive outcomes. (J Diabetes Invest, doi: 10.1111/j.2040‐1124.2010.00063.x, 2010)
Bandit Convex Optimization: \(\sqrt{T}\) Regret in One Dimension

We analyze the minimax regret of the adversarial bandit convex optimization problem. Focusing on the one-dimensional case, we prove that the minimax regret is $\widetilde\Theta(\sqrt{T})$ and partially resolve a decade-old open problem. Our analysis is non-constructive, as we do not present a concrete algorithm that attains this regret rate. Instead, we use minimax duality to reduce the problem to a Bayesian setting, where the convex loss functions are drawn from a worst-case distribution, and then we solve the Bayesian version of the problem with a variant of Thompson Sampling. Our analysis features a novel use of convexity, formalized as a "local-to-global" property of convex functions, that may be of independent interest.
How ideal are we? Incorporating human limitations into Bayesian models of word segmentation

1. Introduction Word segmentation is one of the first problems infants must solve during language acquisition, where words must be identified in fluent speech. A number of weak cues to word boundaries are present in fluent speech, and there is evidence that infants are able to use many of these, including phonotactics However, with the exception of the last cue, all these cues are language-dependent, in the sense that the infant must know what some of the words of the language are in order to make use of the cue. For example, in order to know what the common stress pattern is for words of her native language, an infant has to know some words already. Since the point of word segmentation is to identify words in the first place, this seems to present a chicken-and-egg problem. Statistical learning has generated a lot of interest because it may be a way out of this problem, by providing an initial language-independent way to identify some words. Since infants appear to use statistical cues earlier than other kinds of cues (Thiessen & Saffran, 2003), statistical learning strategies could indeed be providing an initial bootstrapping for word segmentation. Statistical learning is often associated with transitional probability (Saffran et al., 1996), which has been shown to perform poorly on realistic child-directed speech (calculated over syllables: Gambell & Yang (2006); calculated over phonemes: Brent (1999)). However, a promising alternative approach is Bayesian learning. Researchers have recently shown that Bayesian model predictions are consistent with human behavior in various cognitive domains, including language acquisition (e. (henceforth GGJ) found that Bayesian learners performed very well on the word segmentation problem when given realistic child-directed speech samples, especially when compared to transitional probability learners. One critique of GGJ's model is that it is an " ideal learner " or " rational "
Stand-down and deliver

This article considers the recent and rapid evolution of Pre-Sentence Reports (PSRs) in England and Wales, which has entailed changes in both the speed of production and the mode of delivery of reports prepared by probation teams. The article analyses the main drivers behind these changes before going on to consider the implications for how the quality of contemporary reports should be assessed. It argues for a reconsideration of quality in the PSR context: one which takes into account the structural and cultural changes that have impacted upon PSR production in recent years, is flexible enough to cope with the different forms (oral/written) that reports may take, and takes into account the needs and expectations of the key stakeholders involved in the production and use of reports. It concludes that, in the new court culture of speed, timeliness (as featured in current National Standards) is an important quality for PSRs, but as a sole measure of quality it leaves a great deal to be desired.
Compression of high-quality audio signals using adaptive filterbanks and a zero-tree coder

In this work we present a subband coding system for compressing high-quality audio signals. Two alternative subband decomposition schemes are considered: One consists of time-varying analysis and synthesis filterbanks that adapt their structure to the time-varying properties of the input signal; the other is based on decomposition of each block of samples separately. Both schemes are based on the wavelet packets theory and the best-basis selection algorithm. The coder and decoder used in the system are based on the zero-tree algorithm which was originally developed for coding still images and is adapted here for coding audio signals. The performance of the proposed system is shown to be superior to the MPEG-Audio layer I standard, achieving an improvement of up to 10.6 dB in segmental SNR at output bit rate of 64 kbit/sec and up to 6.5 dB at output bit rate of 128 kbit/sec, for a variety of music signals. However, it turns out that most of the improvement is due to the zero-tree coding algorithm.
Comparison of Precipitable Water Observations in the Near Tropics by GPS, Microwave Radiometer, and Radiosondes

Abstract The sensing of precipitable water (PW) using the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the near Tropics is investigated. GPS data acquired from the Central Weather Bureau’s Taipei weather station in Banchao (Taipei), Taiwan, and each of nine International GPS Service (IGS) stations were utilized to determine independently the PW at the Taipei site from 18 to 24 March 1998. Baselines between Taipei and the other nine stations range from 676 to 3009 km. The PW determined from GPS observations for the nine baseline cases are compared with measurements by a dual-channel water vapor radiometer (WVR) and radiosondes at the Taipei site. Although previous results from other locations show that the variability in the rms difference between GPS- and WVR-observed PW ranges from 1 to 2 mm, a variability of 2.2 mm is found. The increase is consistent with scaling of the variability with the total water vapor burden (PW). In addition, accurate absolute PW estimates from GPS data for baseline lengths between 1500 .
Intermittent Control in Man and Machine

Intermittent control has a long history in the physiological literature and there is strong experimental evidence that some human control systems are intermittent. Intermittent control has also appeared in various forms in the engineering literature. This article discusses a particular mathematical model of Event-driven Intermittent Control which brings together engineering and physiological insights and builds on and extends previous work in this area. Illustrative examples of the properties of Intermittent Control in a physiological context are given together with suggestions for future research directions in both physiology and engineering.
A Measure of Tolerance: Public Attitudes on Sentencing Enhancements for Old and Juvenile Prior Records

ABSTRACT Sentencing policies routinely assign harsher punishment on repeat offenders, yet we know little about public attitudes toward recidivist sentencing premiums—beyond the predictable finding that people are more punitive when the offender is a recidivist. We conducted a survey to explore public reaction to two key inquiries: (1) whether older priors should carry less weight at new sentencing hearings and (2) whether juvenile priors should be counted at adult sentencing hearings. Many sentencing guidelines systems count all prior convictions forever and juvenile priors are almost always included. Results indicate that in contrast to current practice in U.S. guidelines jurisdictions, the public significantly discounts older priors, and favors disregarding at least some juvenile priors. Policy consequences are discussed.
Isotropic Remeshing with Fast and Exact Computation of Restricted Voronoi Diagram

We propose a new isotropic remeshing method, based on Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation (CVT). Constructing CVT requires to repeatedly compute Restricted Voronoi Diagram (RVD), defined as the intersection between a 3D Voronoi diagram and an input mesh surface. Existing methods use some approximations of RVD. In this paper, we introduce an efficient algorithm that computes RVD exactly and robustly. As a consequence, we achieve better remeshing quality than approximation‐based approaches, without sacrificing efficiency. Our method for RVD computation uses a simple procedure and a kd‐tree to quickly identify and compute the intersection of each triangle face with its incident Voronoi cells. Its time complexity is O(mlog n), where n is the number of seed points and m is the number of triangles of the input mesh. Fast convergence of CVT is achieved using a quasi‐Newton method, which proved much faster than Lloyd's iteration. Examples are presented to demonstrate the better quality of remeshing results with our method than with the state‐of‐art approaches.
Role of HO/CO in the Control of Peripheral Circulation in Humans

Experimental studies show that the heme oxygenase/carbon monoxide system (HO/CO) plays an important role in the homeostasis of circulation and in the pathophysiology of hypertension. No data are available on its role in the control of peripheral circulation in humans. We evaluated the effects of inhibition of HO with stannous mesoporphyrin IX (SnMP) (200 μM) locally administered by iontophoresis, on human skin blood flow, evaluated by laser-Doppler flowmetry, in the presence and absence of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition with L-NG-Nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (100 μM). We also evaluated the effect of HO inhibition on vasodilatation induced by acetylcholine (ACh) and vasoconstriction caused by noradrenaline (NA). SnMP and L-NAME caused a similar 20–25% decrease in skin flow. After nitric oxide (NO) inhibition with L-NAME, HO inhibition with SnMP caused a further 20% decrease in skin perfusion. SnMP decreased vasodilatation induced by ACh by about 70%, while it did not affect vasoconstriction to NA. In conclusion, HO/CO participates in the control of peripheral circulation, independently from NO, and is involved in vasodilatation to ACh.
Flexible and efficient Gaussian process models for machine learning

Gaussian process (GP) models are widely used to perform Bayesian nonlinear regression and classification tasks that are central to many machine learning problems. A GP is nonparametric, meaning that the complexity of the model grows as more data points are received. Another attractive feature is the behaviour of the error bars. They naturally grow in regions away from training data where we have high uncertainty about the interpolating function. In their standard form GPs have several limitations, which can be divided into two broad categories: computational difficulties for large data sets, and restrictive modelling assumptions for complex data sets. This thesis addresses various aspects of both of these problems. The training cost for a GP has 0(N3) complexity, where N is the number of training data points. This is due to an inversion of the N x N covariance matrix. In this thesis we develop several new techniques to reduce this complexity to 0(NM2), where M is a user chosen number much smaller than N. The sparse approximation we use is based on a set of M 'pseudo-inputs' which are optimised together with hyperparameters at training time. We develop a further approximation based on clustering inputs that can be seen as a mixture of local and global approximations. Standard GPs assume a uniform noise variance. We use our sparse approximation described above as a way of relaxing this assumption. By making a modification of the sparse covariance function, we can model input dependent noise. To handle high dimensional data sets we use supervised linear dimensionality reduction. As another extension of the standard GP, we relax the Gaussianity assumption of the process by learning a nonlinear transformation of the output space. All these techniques further increase the applicability of GPs to real complex data sets. We present empirical comparisons of our algorithms with various competing techniques, and suggest problem dependent strategies to follow in practice.
Serious leisure qualities and subjective well-being

Abstract This study investigated the qualities of serious leisure in relation to subjective well-being (SWB). A four-step hierarchical regression analysis was conducted using data obtained from 505 individuals who participated in various leisure activities in the Republic of Korea. Age, education, gender, monthly income, monthly leisure expenditure, marital status, and 18 dimensions of serious leisure were used as independent variables. Results showed that education, personal enrichment, self-expression of individual, and self-gratification-enjoyment were significant predictors of SWB. In general, demographic factors accounted for a small percentage of the variance in SWB whereas serious leisure qualities demonstrated significantly more power.
Use-Dependent Inhibition of P2X3 Receptors by Nanomolar Agonist

P2X3 receptors desensitize within 100 ms of channel activation, yet recovery from desensitization requires several minutes. The molecular basis for this slow rate of recovery is unknown. We designed experiments to test the hypothesis that this slow recovery is attributable to the high affinity (< 1 nm) of desensitized P2X3 receptors for agonist. We found that agonist binding to the desensitized state provided a mechanism for potent inhibition of P2X3 current. Sustained applications of 0.5 nm ATP inhibited >50% of current to repetitive applications of P2X3 agonist. Inhibition occurred at 1000-fold lower agonist concentrations than required for channel activation and showed strong use dependence. No inhibition occurred without previous activation and desensitization. Our data are consistent with a model whereby inhibition of P2X3 by nanomolar [agonist] occurs by the rebinding of agonist to desensitized channels before recovery from desensitization. For several ATP analogs, the concentration required to inhibit P2X3 current inversely correlated with the rate of recovery from desensitization. This indicates that the affinity of the desensitized state and recovery rate primarily depend on the rate of agonist unbinding. Consistent with this hypothesis, unbinding of [32P]ATP from desensitized P2X3 receptors mirrored the rate of recovery from desensitization. As expected, disruption of agonist binding by site-directed mutagenesis increased the IC50 for inhibition and increased the rate of recovery.
Inhibition of Mitochondrial Ca 2 Uptake Affects Phasic Release From Motor Terminals Differently Depending on External [ Ca 2 ]

Talbot, Janet D. , Gavriel David, and Ellen F. Barrett. Inhibition of mitochondrial Ca uptake affects phasic release from motor terminals differently depending on external [Ca ]. J Neurophysiol 90: 491–502, 2003. First published April 2, 2003; 10.1152/jn.00012. 2003. We investigated how inhibition of mitochondrial Ca uptake affects stimulation-induced increases in cytosolic [Ca ] and phasic and asynchronous transmitter release in lizard motor terminals in 2 and 0.5 mM bath [Ca ]. Lowering bath [Ca ] reduced the rate of rise, but not the final amplitude, of the increase in mitochondrial [Ca ] during 50-Hz stimulation. The amplitude of the stimulation-induced increase in cytosolic [Ca ] was reduced in low-bath [Ca ] and increased when mitochondrial Ca uptake was inhibited by depolarizing mitochondria. In 2 mM Ca , end-plate potentials (epps) depressed by 53% after 10 s of 50-Hz stimulation, and this depression increased to 80% after mitochondrial depolarization. In contrast, in 0.5 mM Ca the same stimulation pattern increased epps by 3.4-fold, and this increase was even greater (transiently) after mitochondrial depolarization. In both 2 and 0.5 mM [Ca ], mitochondrial depolarization increased asynchronous release during the 50-Hz train and increased the total vesicular release (phasic and asynchronous) measured by destaining of the styryl dye FM2-10. These results suggest that by limiting the stimulation-induced increase in cytosolic [Ca ], mitochondrial Ca uptake maintains a high ratio of phasic to asynchronous release, thus helping to sustain neuromuscular transmission during repetitive stimulation. Interestingly, the quantal content of the epp reached during 50-Hz stimulation stabilized at a similar level ( 20 quanta) in both 2 and 0.5 mM Ca . A similar convergence was measured in oligomycin, which inhibits mitochondrial ATP synthesis without depolarizing mitochondria, but quantal contents fell to 20 when mitochondria were depolarized in 2 mM Ca .