Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coordination of endocytosis at the synaptic periactive zone

Neurons in the central nervous system communicate via specialized junctions called synapses. Neurotransmitter-filled vesicles are clustered at these junctions, where they are released in response to synaptic activity. To sustain reliable neurotransmission the synaptic vesicles are recycled locally. At least two recycling mechanisms, bulk and clathrin-mediated endocytosis, occur in a region adjacent the active zone, the periactive zone. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is dependent on a number of protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions that drive clathrin polymerization, membrane invagination, and scission. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how compensatory endocytosis is coordinated in the synaptic periactive zone. The studies are focused on actin dynamics in the periactive zone, molecular adaptations of the endocytic machinery in synapses with different firing properties, recruitment of endocytic proteins to the periactive zone, and the molecular steps leading to fission of clathrin-coated intermediates. The following conclusions were drawn from the experiments presented in this thesis: • Synaptic activity promotes actin filament formation in the periactive zone and dispersion of synapsin from the synaptic vesicle cluster. Perturbation of synapsin function leads to a disruption of actin filament formation. • Endocytic proteins dynamin, amphiphysin, and intersectin redistribute from the synaptic vesicle cluster to the periactive zone in response to synaptic activity. • Synapses established by axons with a tonic activity pattern have higher levels of synapsin, dynamin, amphiphysin, and intersectin compared to those with phasic activity. This may contribute to the resistance to fatigue displayed by tonic synapses. • Dynamin, amphiphysin, and intersectin are recruited to initial stages during clathrin-coated vesicle formation. • Disruption of amphiphysin’s interaction with coat components by antibodies results in formation of clathrin-coated pits with an abnormal shape. This suggests that amphiphysin is an integral component of the clathrin coat. • Dynamin is recruited to clathrin-coated pits independently of intersectin. However, intersectin is important for the recruitment of dynamin to the fission complex. Taken together these results show that clathrin-mediated membrane retrieval in synapses require coordinated trafficking of endocytic proteins between active and periactive zones.
A Novel Rat Model of Carotid Artery Stenting for the Understanding of Restenosis in Metabolic Diseases

The effects of risk modifiers such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension on vascular healing after stent deployment are largely unknown, because of a lack of an appropriate animal model to study. Since many inbred strains of rats expressing these phenotypes are available, we validated a carotid artery model of in-stent restenosis in the rat. A detailed histomorphometric analysis was performed on 2-cell Multi-LinkTM stents (1.5 × 5 mm) deployed in the common carotid artery of male Wistar rats. Early focal thrombus formation around stent struts with adherent leukocytes was evident by day 3. The number of ED-1-positive macrophages was maximal by day 7 and declined markedly thereafter. Neointimal cell proliferation peaked by day 7 (19.3 ± 6.9) and progressively decreased to <2% by day 60. By day 14, neointimal area was significantly increased (0.39 ± 0.03 vs. 0.18 ± 0.05 mm2 at day 7, p = 0.003) characterized by an enhanced number of α-actin-positive smooth muscle cells surrounded by extracellular matrix rich in versican and hyaluronan. At day 28, neointimal area was maximal accompanied by an appreciable decrease in the staining intensity for hyaluronan and versican. By day 60, neointimal area decreased significantly (0.28 ± 0.04 vs. 0.45 ± 0.07 mm2 at day 28, p = 0.04) independent of a change in cell density. This regression phase was accompanied by a marked increase in elastin fibrils and collagen type I. In summary, vascular healing following carotid artery stenting in the rat parallels that of larger animals; however, it is accelerated relative to humans.
Sand in Early Holocene lake sediments – a microscopic study from Lake Jaczno, northeastern Poland

Deep moraine lakes prevail in northeastern Poland and their sediments serve as a powerful information about past environment. Apart from conventional organic horizons, the sediments may contain clastic and chemically-induced components such as sand, fines or sulphates, thus providing additional insight into the lake history. Sand consists primarily of quartz grains and their study is a well-established method to infer palaeoenvironmental conditions. Quartz grains from lacustrine sediments, however, are still poorly studied. We examined for the first time quartz grains found among organic sediment of Lake Jaczno, northeastern Poland, which deposited before ca 10 700 cal yr BP. By applying the light microscope and scanning electron microscope techniques, we debate about the quartz grain source and discuss possible palaeoenvironmental scenarios. Grains with fresh and sharp edges and diagnostic glacial microtextures coexist with rounded grains with matt surface. Loads of glacial grains originate from the surrounding glaciogenic sediments, which were transported from adjacent steep slopes and further deposited in the lake. Grain rounding and matting, combined with oriented etch pits, result from intense weathering processes associated with a high carbonate content. Part of the microtextures of chemical origin may be due to inflow/outflow activity in the lake. Gypsum crystals occur in the uppermost part of the investigated sediment and likely reflect drier climate conditions at the beginning of the Holocene, which has also been documented in numerous sites in northeastern Poland.
Buckling and Post-buckling Behaviour of Plates with Holes

This paper gives details of theoretical and experimental investigations into the behaviour of simply-supported uniformly compressed square and rectangular plates with central circular holes. The theoretical analysis employs an approximate approach using a combination of Rayleigh-Ritz and finite-element methods. The experimental investigation consisted of a number of experiments on plates with hole diameters from one- to seven-tenths of the plate width. Agreement between experiment and theory is shown to be good at buckling. In the post-buckling range it is found that the theoretical analysis is reasonably accurate for small holes, but loses accuracy when dealing with large holes.
A Study of the Effect of Privacy Assurance Mechanisms on Self-disclosure in Social Networking Sites from the View of Protection Motivation Theory

Users’ information privacy issue becomes an important challenge not only for SNS users but also for the SNS service providers and governing organizations. This study’s objectives are: (1) to study how assurance mechanisms affect SNS users’ self-disclosure intention by applying protection motivation theory (PMT), and (2) to empirically test the perceived privacy concern as part of the PMT in order to predict selfdisclosure on SNS. There are a number of expected contributions for this study. First, this study applies PMT in order to understand how assurance mechanisms applied by SNSs affect users to disclose their personal information. Second, we introduce the customizing privacy as an assurance mechanism which has not been studied in previous literature. Finally, we consider fear component of PMT which has not been studied by previous researchers who applied PMT in this context.
Factors That Modulate Properties of Primary Marine Aerosol Generated From Ambient Seawater on Ships at Sea

Model primary marine aerosol (mPMA) was produced by bubbling clean air through flowing natural seawater in a high‐capacity generator deployed on ships in the eastern North Pacific and western North Atlantic Oceans. Physicochemical properties of seawater and mPMA were quantified to characterize factors that modulated production. Differences in surfactant organic matter (OM) and associated properties including surface tension sustained plumes with smaller bubble sizes, slower rise velocities, larger void fractions, and older surface ages in biologically productive relative to oligotrophic seawater. Production efficiencies for mPMA number (PEnum) and mass (PEmass) per unit air detrained from biologically productive seawater during daytime were greater and mass median diameters smaller than those in the same seawater at night and in oligotrophic seawater during day and night. PEmass decreased with increasing air detrainment rate suggesting that surface bubble rafts suppressed emission of jet droplets and associated mPMA mass. Relative to bubbles emitted at 60 cm depth, PEnum for bubbles emitted from 100 cm depth was approximately 2 times greater. mPMA OM enrichment factors (EFs) and mass fractions based on a coarse frit, fine frits, and a seawater jet exhibited similar size‐dependent variability over a wide range in chlorophyll a concentrations. Results indicate that the physical production of PMA number and mass from the ocean surface varies systematically as interrelated functions of seawater type and, in biologically productive waters, time of day; bubble injection rate, depth, size, and surface age; and physical characteristics of the air‐water interface whereas size‐resolved OM EFs and mass fractions are relatively invariant.
Optimal Scheduling With Vehicle-to-Grid Regulation Service

In a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system, aggregators coordinate the charging/discharging schedules of electric vehicle (EV) batteries so that they can collectively form a massive energy storage system to provide ancillary services, such as frequency regulation, to the power grid. In this paper, the optimal charging/discharging scheduling between one aggregator and its coordinated EVs for the provision of the regulation service is studied. We propose a scheduling method that assures adequate charging of EVs and the quality of the regulation service at the same time. First, the scheduling problem is formulated as a convex optimization problem relying on accurate forecasts of the regulation demand. By exploiting the zero-energy nature of the regulation service, the forecast-based scheduling in turn degenerates to an online scheduling problem to cope with the high uncertainty in the forecasts. Decentralized algorithms based on the gradient projection method are designed to solve the optimization problems, enabling each EV to solve its local problem and to obtain its own schedule. Our simulation study of 1000 EVs shows that the proposed online scheduling can perform nearly as well as the forecast-based scheduling, and it is able to smooth out the real-time power fluctuations of the grid, demonstrating the potential of V2G in providing the regulation service.
Risk Score for Predicting Recurrence in Patients with Ischemic Stroke: The Fukuoka Stroke Risk Score for Japanese

Background: Currently, there are only a few risk scores to predict long-term recurrence of ischemic stroke and no risk score has been developed for the Asian population. The aim of the present study was to develop a new risk score to predict 1-year recurrence in Japanese patients with ischemic stroke and compare it with the other ones. Methods: Data used in this analysis were extracted from the Fukuoka stroke registry (FSR) database, including 3,067 Japanese patients who experienced ischemic stroke. FSR is a multicenter, hospital-based, prospective registry of Japanese patients with acute stroke. Associations between potential clinical variables that could be involved in the increase of risk and recurrence of ischemic stroke within 1 year after initial stroke onset were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses. To calculate risk scores, weighted points proportionally based on standardized coefficient values were assigned to variables that were identified to be significant risks for recurrence by multivariate analysis. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test was used to test agreement between a predicted outcome using a model and an actual observed outcome. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate average cumulative recurrence rates within three risk groups. Intergroup comparisons in recurrence rate among the risk groups were performed using a log-rank test. Results: Univariate and multivariate analyses identified nine significant predictors for 1-year recurrence, to which we assigned the following points: age (65–74 years, 1 point; ≥75 years, 2 points), hypertension (1 point), diabetes mellitus (1 point), smoker (1 point), atrial fibrillation (1 point), cardiac diseases (1 point), chronic kidney disease (1 point), nonlacunar stroke (1 point), and previous ischemic stroke (2 points). The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test demonstrated good agreement between the observed and predicted recurrence rate (χ2 = 2.30, p = 0.97). The ROC curve for the risk score models showed acceptable discriminant power with a C-statistic of 0.636 (95% confidence interval: 0.573–0.698). Trends toward increased risk of recurrence with higher scores were observed. The 1-year recurrence rates were 2.93, 5.83 and 7.96% in low- (≤3 points), intermediate (4–5 points), and high-risk groups (≥6 points), respectively. Kaplan-Meier curves with log-rank test showed a significant difference in recurrence among the three risk groups (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: A new risk score was developed and successfully validated. Our results suggest that this simple risk score enables clinicians to assess 1-year recurrence risk in Japanese patients with ischemic stroke.
Diaphragmatic dysfunction after heart or lung transplantation.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence and outcome of diaphragmatic dysfunction in patients after heart or lung transplantation and to assess the value of bedside sonography for the detection of diaphragmatic dysfunction. METHODS We prospectively evaluated 33 heart transplant recipients and 27 lung transplant recipients by use of sonography of the diaphragm and fluoroscopy. RESULTS Diaphragmatic dysfunction, diagnosed with ultrasonography and confirmed with fluoroscopy, was present in four heart transplant recipients (12.1%) and two lung transplant recipients (7.4%) and such dysfunction led to a statistically significant higher incidence of pneumonia during hospitalization and a nonstatistically significant increased length of intubation compared with patients with normal diaphragmatic function. CONCLUSION Diaphragmatic dysfunction, which can be reliably diagnosed with bedside sonography, is common after heart and lung transplantation and seems to have a negative influence on patient recovery.
Residual Pleural Thickening Is Related to Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Levels in Parapneumonic Pleural Effusions

Background: Many patients with pneumonia develop pleural effusions. Pleural fluid vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels are known to be elevated in complicated parapneumonic effusion and seem to play a major role in the fibrotic process in the pleura. Objectives: To test whether VEGF levels in pleural effusions of infectious origin correlate with the residual pleural thickening. Methods: VEGF levels were measured in the pleural fluid of 45 patients with pleural effusion of infectious origin. Patients were reassessed 3 months after hospital discharge and residual pleural thickening (RPT) was recorded using a simple chest radiograph. Results: Pleural fluid VEGF was higher in empyemas compared to simple parapneumonic and complicated parapneumonic effusions. RPT was higher in patients with empyemas compared to simple parapneumonic effusions. Patients with RPT >2 mm had higher pleural fluid LDH and pleural fluid to serum LDH ratio, lower glucose and pH and higher VEGF levels. However, patients with RPT ≧10 mm differed only in pleural fluid VEGF levels. Pleural fluid VEGF levels correlated to RPT and to pleural fluid pH. VEGF presented moderate performance for the prediction of RPT 3 months after hospital discharge. Its performance was comparable to that of pleural fluid glucose and pH for the development of a radiologically significant RPT >2 mm, whereas it was the only statistically significant predictor of a clinically significant RPT ≧10 mm. Conclusion: VEGF levels are elevated in complicated parapneumonic effusions and empyemas compared to simple parapneumonic effusions and are a significant predictor for the development of clinically significant RPT.
Preferential Enhancement of Sensory and Motor Axon Regeneration by Combining Extracellular Matrix Components with Neurotrophic Factors

After peripheral nerve injury, motor and sensory axons are able to regenerate but inaccuracy of target reinnervation leads to poor functional recovery. Extracellular matrix (ECM) components and neurotrophic factors (NTFs) exert their effect on different neuronal populations creating a suitable environment to promote axonal growth. Here, we assessed in vitro and in vivo the selective effects of combining different ECM components with NTFs on motor and sensory axons regeneration and target reinnervation. Organotypic cultures with collagen, laminin and nerve growth factor (NGF)/neurotrophin-3 (NT3) or collagen, fibronectin and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) selectively enhanced sensory neurite outgrowth of DRG neurons and motor neurite outgrowth from spinal cord slices respectively. For in vivo studies, the rat sciatic nerve was transected and repaired with a silicone tube filled with a collagen and laminin matrix with NGF/NT3 encapsulated in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres (MP) (LM + MP.NGF/NT3), or a collagen and fibronectin matrix with BDNF in PLGA MPs (FN + MP.BDNF). Retrograde labeling and functional tests showed that LM + MP.NGF/NT3 increased the number of regenerated sensory neurons and improved sensory functional recovery, whereas FN + MP.BDNF preferentially increased regenerated motoneurons and enhanced motor functional recovery. Therefore, combination of ECM molecules with NTFs may be a good approach to selectively enhance motor and sensory axons regeneration and promote appropriate target reinnervation.
Cloud Verifier: Verifiable Auditing Service for IaaS Clouds

Cloud computing has commoditized compute, storage, and networking resources creating an on-demand utility. Despite the attractiveness of this new paradigm, its adoption has been stymied by cloud platform's lack of transparency, which leaves customers unsure if their sensitive data and computation can be entrusted to the cloud. While techniques like encryption can protect customers' data at rest, clouds still lack mechanisms for customers to verify that their computations are being executed as expected, a guarantee one could obtain if they were running the computation in their own data center. In this paper, we present the cloud verifier (CV), a flexible framework that cloud vendors can configure to provide cloud monitoring services for customers to validate that their computations are configured and being run as expected in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds. The CV builds a chain of trust from the customer to their hosted virtual machine (VM) instances through the cloud platform, enabling it to check customer-specified requirements against a comprehensive view of both the VM's load-time and run-time properties. In addition, the CV enables cloud vendors to provide more responsive remediation techniques than traditional attestation mechanisms. We built a proof of concept CV for the OpenStack cloud platform whose evaluation demonstrates that a single CV enables over 20,000 simultaneous customers to verify numerous properties with little impact on cloud application performance. As a result, the CV gives cloud customers a low-overhead method for assuring that their instances are running according to their requirements.
A Longitudinal Study of the Reliability of Acupuncture Deqi Sensations in Knee Osteoarthritis

Deqi is one of the core concepts in acupuncture theory and encompasses a range of sensations. In this study, we used the MGH Acupuncture Sensation Scale (MASS) to measure and assess the reliability of the sensations evoked by acupuncture needle stimulation in a longitudinal clinical trial on knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was used as the clinical outcome. Thirty OA patients were randomized into one of three groups (high dose, low dose, and sham acupuncture) for 4 weeks. We found that, compared with sham acupuncture, real acupuncture (combining high and low doses) produced significant improvement in knee pain (P = .025) and function in sport (P = .049). Intraclass correlation analysis showed that patients reliably rated 11 of the 12 acupuncture sensations listed on the MASS and that heaviness was rated most consistently. Overall perceived sensation (MASS Index) (P = .014), ratings of soreness (P = .002), and aching (P = .002) differed significantly across acupuncture groups. Compared to sham acupuncture, real acupuncture reliably evoked stronger deqi sensations and led to better clinical outcomes when measured in a chronic pain population. Our findings highlight the MASS as a useful tool for measuring deqi in acupuncture research.
Interaction between mantle-derived magma and lower arc crust: quantitative reactive melt flow modelling using STyx

Abstract The magmatic processes occurring in the lowermost arc crust play a major role in the evolution of mantle-wedge-derived melt. Geological evidence indicates that mantle-derived magmas and in-situ products of lower crust partial melting are reacting in a pervasive melt system and are eventually extracted towards higher levels of the crust. Resolving the relative contribution of mantle-derived magma and partial melting products of pre-existing crust is essential to: (1) quantify crustal growth rate; (2) better understand the compositional range of arc magmatic series; and (3) constrain the chemical differentiation of the lower crust. In this study, we present STyx, a new modelling tool, coupling melt and heat flow with petrology to explore the dynamics of storage, transfer and hybridization of melts in complex liquid/rock systems. We perform three models representing a magmatic event affecting an amphibolitic lower arc crust in order to quantify the relative contribution between partial melting of the pre-existing crust and fractional crystallization from mantle-derived hydrous-magma. Our models demonstrate that most of the differentiated arc crust is juvenile, deriving from the differentiation of mantle melts, and that pre-existing crust does not significantly contribute to the total thickness of magmatic products.
Tuning the Photocatalytic Activity and Optical Properties of Mesoporous TiO2 Spheres by a Carbon Scaffold

The photoelectrochemical response and catalytic efficiency towards phenol photooxidation of mesoporous titania particles with spherical morphology have been explored. The catalysts were synthesized in two different arrangements using carbon spheres in a dual role as support and morphology director: hollow spherical titania particles and dense structures where the titania shell is surrounding a carbon core. Although the synthesized titania hollow spheres exhibited a similar photoelectrochemical behavior and optical properties than commercial P25, they showed a better photocatalytic response towards phenol photo-oxidation in terms of pollutant mineralization. This behavior cannot be explained in terms of the crystallinity (found to be higher for P25) and has been attributed to both confinement effects in the mesoporosity of these catalysts as well as to the spherical morphology of titania particles. The spherical arrangement of the titania surface would favor the fast motion of the charge carriers and minimize recombination processes. On the other hand, no clear contribution of the carbon phase to the enhanced photocatalytic response, since quite similar performance is observed for the hollow spheres and the core/shell composite. However, separation and filtration of the catalysts become easier for the carbon/titania composite, thereby improving the so-called practical efficiency.