Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural Transitions at Microtubule Ends Correlate with Their Dynamic Properties in Xenopus Egg Extracts

Microtubules are dynamically unstable polymers that interconvert stochastically between growing and shrinking states by the addition and loss of subunits from their ends. However, there is little experimental data on the relationship between microtubule end structure and the regulation of dynamic instability. To investigate this relationship, we have modulated dynamic instability in Xenopus egg extracts by adding a catastrophe-promoting factor, Op18/stathmin. Using electron cryomicroscopy, we find that microtubules in cytoplasmic extracts grow by the extension of a two- dimensional sheet of protofilaments, which later closes into a tube. Increasing the catastrophe frequency by the addition of Op18/stathmin decreases both the length and frequency of the occurrence of sheets and increases the number of frayed ends. Interestingly, we also find that more dynamic populations contain more blunt ends, suggesting that these are a metastable intermediate between shrinking and growing microtubules. Our results demonstrate for the first time that microtubule assembly in physiological conditions is a two-dimensional process, and they suggest that the two-dimensional sheets stabilize microtubules against catastrophes. We present a model in which the frequency of catastrophes is directly correlated with the structural state of microtubule ends.
Metadata Driven Approaches to Facilitate Adaptivity in Personalized eLearning Systems

Personalized eLearning Systems tailor the learning experience to characteristics of individual learners. These tailored course offerings are often comprised of discrete electronic learning resources, such as text snippets, interactive animations, diagrams, and videos. An extension of standard metadata schemas developed for facilitating the discovery and reuse of such adaptive learning resources can also be utilized by the eLearning systems for realizing the adaptivity. An important feature of such reuse supporting adaptive systems is the clear distinction of separate models and components within the teaching process.
Sleep disturbances during pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE To assess sleep patterns and prevalence of sleep disturbances during pregnancy. DESIGN Cross-sectional design; prospective questionnaire. SETTING Outpatient, private obstetric clinic. PARTICIPANTS 127 consecutive patients, with women evaluated at one of four points in pregnancy, 8-12 weeks (n = 37), 18-22 weeks (n = 28), 25-28 weeks (n = 24), and 35-38 weeks (n = 38). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Questionnaire of sleep habits and sleep disturbances. RESULTS A large percentage of the women experienced sleep disturbances during pregnancy, These problems included frequent night wakings, difficulty falling asleep, and symptoms of sleep apnea. Few differences in sleep patterns were found across pregnancy, although women were found to sleep more and nap more by the end of pregnancy. CONCLUSION Sleep disturbances are common during pregnancy, especially late in pregnancy.
Systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of amfepramone and mazindol as a monotherapy for the treatment of obese or overweight patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of amfepramone, fenproporex and mazindol as a monotherapy for the treatment of obese or overweight patients. A systematic review of primary studies was conducted, followed by a direct meta-analysis (random effect) and mixed treatment comparison. Medline and other databases were searched. Heterogeneity was explored through I2 associated with a p-value. Of 739 identified publications, 25 were included in the meta-analysis. The global evaluation of Cochrane resulted in 19 studies with a high level of bias and six with unclear risk. Due to the lack of information in primary studies, direct meta-analyses were conducted only for amfepramone and mazindol. Compared to placebo, amfepramone resulted in higher weight loss in the short-term (<180 days; mean difference (MD) -1.281 kg; p<0.05; I2: 0.0%; p=0.379) and long-term (≥180 days; MD -6.518 kg; p<0.05; I2: 0.0%; p=0.719). Only studies with long-term follow up reported efficacy in terms of abdominal circumference and 5-10% weight reduction. These results corroborated the finding that the efficacy of amfepramone is greater than that of placebo. Treatment with mazindol showed greater short-term weight loss than that with placebo (MD -1.721 kg; p<0.05; I2: 0.9%; p=0.388). However, metabolic outcomes were poorly described, preventing a meta-analysis. A mixed treatment comparison corroborated the direct meta-analysis. Considering the high level of risk of bias and the absence of important published outcomes for anti-obesity therapy assessments, this study found that the evaluated drugs showed poor evidence of efficacy in the treatment of overweight and obese patients. Robust safety data were not identified to suggest changes in their regulatory status.
Real-time experimental validation of nonlinear observer for vehicle dynamics parameters estimation: A laboratory vehicle description

Vehicle safety system has been developed to improve the handling performance of the vehicle and the driving security recently. However, these systems are limited because of the shortage of knowledge of vehicle dynamics variables which can illustrate the vehicle's state and dynamics characteristic. Actually the technologies and economics reasons restrict the acquisition of these variables on the vehicle onboard system. Consequently, we develop the algorithm to estimate these variables using standard sensors in our laboratory. This paper presents our laboratory vehicle and methodology of estimation of the wheel-ground forces. On considering the nonlinearity system, we propose the comparison between the Extended Kalman filter and Particle filter techniques. Particularly we construct our laboratory vehicle which has already equipped with varies of sensors and real-time sampling and processing system. The systems are tested by using our experiment car in real driving situation. The experiment results can demonstrate the performance of our theoretical research and the real-time processing system.
Sensorimotor strategies for recognizing geometrical shapes: a comparative study with different sensory substitution devices

The sensorimotor approach proposes that perception is constituted by the mastery of lawful sensorimotor regularities or sensorimotor contingencies (SMCs), which depend on specific bodily characteristics and on actions possibilities that the environment enables and constrains. Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) provide the user information about the world typically corresponding to one sensory modality through the stimulation of another modality. We investigate how perception emerges in novice adult participants equipped with vision-to-auditory SSDs while solving a simple geometrical shape recognition task. In particular, we examine the distinction between apparatus-related SMCs (those originating mostly in properties of the perceptual system) and object-related SMCs (those mostly connected with the perceptual task). We study the sensorimotor strategies employed by participants in three experiments with three different SSDs: a minimalist head-mounted SSD, a traditional, also head-mounted SSD (the vOICe) and an enhanced, hand-held echolocation device. Motor activity and fist-person data are registered and analyzed. Results show that participants are able to quickly learn the necessary skills to distinguish geometric shapes. Comparing the sensorimotor strategies utilized with each SSD we identify differential features of the sensorimotor patterns attributable mostly to the device, which account for the emergence of apparatus-based SMCs. These relate to differences in sweeping strategies between SSDs. We identify, also, components related to the emergence of object-related SMCs. These relate mostly to exploratory movements around the border of a shape. The study provides empirical support for SMC theory and discusses considerations about the nature of perception in sensory substitution.
The anatomy of choice: active inference and agency

This paper considers agency in the setting of embodied or active inference. In brief, we associate a sense of agency with prior beliefs about action and ask what sorts of beliefs underlie optimal behavior. In particular, we consider prior beliefs that action minimizes the Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence between desired states and attainable states in the future. This allows one to formulate bounded rationality as approximate Bayesian inference that optimizes a free energy bound on model evidence. We show that constructs like expected utility, exploration bonuses, softmax choice rules and optimism bias emerge as natural consequences of this formulation. Previous accounts of active inference have focused on predictive coding and Bayesian filtering schemes for minimizing free energy. Here, we consider variational Bayes as an alternative scheme that provides formal constraints on the computational anatomy of inference and action—constraints that are remarkably consistent with neuroanatomy. Furthermore, this scheme contextualizes optimal decision theory and economic (utilitarian) formulations as pure inference problems. For example, expected utility theory emerges as a special case of free energy minimization, where the sensitivity or inverse temperature (of softmax functions and quantal response equilibria) has a unique and Bayes-optimal solution—that minimizes free energy. This sensitivity corresponds to the precision of beliefs about behavior, such that attainable goals are afforded a higher precision or confidence. In turn, this means that optimal behavior entails a representation of confidence about outcomes that are under an agent's control.
Parotid pleomorphic adenomas: delayed CT enhancement.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Weak or absent CT enhancement in pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland has been observed immediately after i.v. contrast administration. This feature can result in poor lesion conspicuity relative to both normal parotid tissue and other parotid abnormalities. The purpose of this study was to document the delayed CT enhancement characteristics of parotid pleomorphic adenomas and to preliminarily compare these results with the enhancement characteristics of other parotid gland tumors. METHODS Preoperative CT scans from 18 pathologically proved parotid gland neoplasms were reviewed retrospectively. Lesions included eight pleomorphic adenomas, four Warthin's tumors, two squamous cell carcinomas, two mucoepidermoid cancers, one acinic cell carcinoma, and one melanoma metastasis. In all cases, axial CT was performed after the administration of 100 to 150 mL of i.v. contrast material, followed by delayed (average, 24 minutes; range, 13 to 34 minutes) coronal CT scanning. The mean normalized Hounsfield unit (HU) attenuation of each lesion was computed by drawing a region of interest around the entire mass and dividing the resulting HU value by that of the contralateral uninvolved parotid gland. RESULTS For all eight pleomorphic adenomas, the degree of contrast enhancement increased and became progressively more uniform with time. Mean normalized axial lesion enhancement averaged 1.20 +/- 0.35 at 8 minutes, compared with 2.30 +/- 0.66 on the coronal scans at 24 minutes. For the 10 nonpleomorphic adenomas, no significant change was found in either the degree or pattern of contrast enhancement between the immediate and delayed CT scans. In these tumors, peak enhancement was reached early, during axial scanning. CONCLUSION Delayed CT contrast enhancement is observed in parotid pleomorphic adenomas, increasing in both degree and homogeneity with time. This feature may be useful in selecting an appropriate contrast delay when scanning possible pleomorphic adenomas to improve lesion conspicuity and, potentially, to better distinguish these tumors from other parotid abnormalities.
Asymmetric Oscillation Distorts the Perceived Heaviness of Handheld Objects

Weight perception has been of great interest for over three centuries. Most research has been concerned with the weight of static objects, and some illusions have been discovered. Here, we show a new illusion related to the perception of the heaviness of oscillating objects. We performed experiments that involved comparing the weight of two objects of identical physical appearance but with different gross weights and oscillation patterns (vibrating vertically at frequencies of 5 or 9 cycles per second with symmetric and asymmetric acceleration patterns). The results show that the perceived weight of an object vibrating with asymmetric acceleration increases compared to that with symmetric acceleration when the acceleration peaks in the gravity direction. In contrast, almost no heaviness perception change was observed in the anti-gravity direction. We speculate that the reason for the divergence between these results is caused by the differential impact of these two hypothesized perceptual mechanisms as follows: the salience of pulse stimuli appears to have a strong influence in the gravity direction, whereas filling-in could explain our observations in the anti-gravity direction. The study of this haptic illusion can provide valuable insights into not only human perceptual mechanisms but into the design of ungrounded haptic interfaces.
Prosody-dependent acoustic modeling using variable-parameter hidden Markov models

As an effort to make prosody useful in spontaneous speech recognition, we adopt a quasi-continuous prosodic labels and accordingly design a prosody-dependent acoustic model to improve ASR performances. We propose a variable-parameter Hidden Markov Models, modeling the mean vector as a function of the prosody variable through a polynomial regression model. The prosodically-adapted acoustic models are used to re-score the N-best output by a standard ASR, according to the prosody variable assigned by an automatic prosody detector. Experiments on the Buckeye corpus demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
A stochastic MIMO channel model with joint correlation of both link ends

Abstract-This paper presents a novel stochastic channel model for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless radio channels. In contrast to state-of-the-art stochastic MIMO channel models, the spatial correlation properties of the channel are not divided into separate contributions from transmitter and receiver. Instead, the joint correlation properties are modeled by describing the average coupling between the eigenmodes of the two link ends. The necessary and sufficient condition for the proposed model to hold is that the eigenbasis at the receiver is independent of the transmit weights, and vice versa. The authors discuss the mathematical elements of the model, which can be easily extracted from measurements, from a radio propagation point of view and explain the underlying assumption of the model in physical terms. The validation of the proposed model by means of measured data obtained from two completely different measurement campaigns reveals its ability to better predict capacity and spatial channel structure than other popular stochastic channel models.
Interchanging distance and capacity in probabilistic mappings

Harald Racke [STOC 2008] described a new method to obtain hierarchical decompositions of networks in a way that minimizes the congestion. Racke's approach is based on an equivalence that he discovered between minimizing congestion and minimizing stretch (in a certain setting). Here we present Racke's equivalence in an abstract setting that is more general than the one described in Racke's work, and clarifies the power of Racke's result. In addition, we present a related (but different) equivalence that was developed by Yuval Emek [ESA 2009] and is only known to apply to planar graphs.
Identification of Potentially Damaging Amino Acid Substitutions Leading to Human Male Infertility1

Abstract There are a number of known genetic alterations found in men with nonobstructive azoospermia, or testicular failure, such as Y microdeletions and cytogenetic abnormalities. However, the etiology of nonobstructive azoospermia is unknown in the majority of men. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility that unexplained cases of nonobstructive azoospermia are caused by nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the coding regions of autosomal genes associated with sperm production and fertility. Using a candidate gene approach based on genetics of male infertility in mice, we resequenced nine autosomal genes from 78 infertile men displaying testicular failure using custom-made next-generation resequencing chips. Analysis of the data revealed several novel heterozygous nonsynonymous SNPs in four of nine sequenced genes in 14 of 78 infertile men. Eight SNPs in SBF1, three SNPs in LIMK2, two SNPs in LIPE, and one SNP in TBPL1 were identified. All of the novel mutations were in a heterozygous configuration, suggesting that they may be de novo mutations with dominant negative properties.
Effect of Dehydration on Leakage and Membrane Structure in Lotus corniculatus L. Seeds.

Membrane damage as a result of dehydration was studied in Lotus corniculatus L. cv. Carroll seeds which had been pregerminated for 0, 12, and 24 hours prior to dehydration. During reimbibition, desiccation-tolerant (0- and 12-hour) seeds leaked relatively low quantities of all solutes (total electrolytes, potassium, phosphate, sugar, amino acid, and protein). Desiccation-sensitive (24-hour) seeds leaked higher levels, but evidence of selective permeability remained. Membrane damage was not manifested as a complete removal of the diffusion barrier, although its permeability properties were dramatically altered. Consequently, the plasmalemma was not ruptured or torn by the dehydration treatment, but a more subtle structural alteration occurred.The possibility that seed membranes form a hexagonal rather than a lamellar phase at moisture contents below 20% was investigated by x-ray diffraction. Phospholipids were extracted from desiccation-tolerant (0-hour) and desiccation-sensitive (24-hour) seeds and hydrated to 5, 10, 20, and 40% water. This phospholipid-water system was examined using low-and wide-angle x-ray diffraction and was found to be exclusively lamellar, even at 5% water. Consequently, membrane damage and the leakage of cytoplasmic solutes from seeds cannot be explained by the formation of a hexagonal phase by membrane phospholipids.
An iterative optimization technique for robust channel selection in motor imagery based Brain Computer Interface

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) provides a direct communication pathway between brain and computer/machine bypassing the conventional pathway of nerves and muscles. Electroencephalography (EEG) is the most commonly used brain signal acquisition technique in BCI systems. The use of motor imagery (MI) patterns in EEG-based BCI has been proven as an effective method to translate the user's movement intention to commands for controlling external devices. To obtain high classification accuracy of MI, conventional EEG based BCI employ a large number of scalp electrodes. However, this is inconvenient in the clinical scenarios where preparation time is of paramount importance. This paper proposes a channel selection method which utilizes a priori information of the MI task and iteratively optimizes the number of relevant channels, thereby improving the classification accuracy. The proposed method is employed in BCI Competition III dataset IVa and BCI Competition IV, dataset 2a to classify hand and foot MI tasks. The proposed method results in better accuracy than state-of-the-art methods with a significant reduction in the number of channels.
Effect of La_2O_3 substitutions on structure and dielectric properties of Bi_2O_3–ZnO–Nb_2O_5-based pyrochlore ceramics

The effect of La_2O_3 substitutions on structure and dielectric properties of Bi_2O_3 –ZnO–Nb_2O_5-based ceramics was investigated. Bi_1. 5- x La_ x Zn_0. 5(Zn_0.5Nb_1.5)O_7 samples were prepared by conventional ceramic processing technology. The crystal structure of the Bi_1. 5Zn_0. 5(Zn_0.5Nb_1.5)O_7 sample was characterized as a pure cubic pyrochlore. With a lower amount of La_2O_3 substitution, the crystal structures were still cubic pyrochlore. Superlattice x-ray diffraction line was identified for some compositions. With the increasing amount of La_2O_3 substitution, the crystal structure gradually transformed from pure cubic pyrochlore to LaNbO_4 phase. The dielectric properties regularly changed with the structure change. The structure-properties relations of the ceramics are discussed.
EVOLUTION AND INHERITANCE OF EARLY EMBRYONIC PATTERNING IN DROSOPHILA SIMULANS AND D. SECHELLIA

Pattern formation in Drosophila is a widely studied example of a robust developmental system. Such robust systems pose a challenge to adaptive evolution, as they mask variation that selection may otherwise act upon. Yet we find variation in the localization of expression domains (henceforth “stripe allometry”) in the pattern formation pathway. Specifically, we characterize differences in the gap genes giant and Kruppel, and the pair‐rule gene even‐skipped, which differ between the sibling species Drosophila simulans and D. sechellia. In a double‐backcross experiment, stripe allometry is consistent with maternal inheritance of stripe positioning and multiple genetic factors, with a distinct genetic basis from embryo length. Embryos produced by F1 and F2 backcross mothers exhibit novel spatial patterns of gene expression relative to the parental species, with no measurable increase in positional variance among individuals. Buffering of novel spatial patterns in the backcross genotypes suggests that robustness need not be disrupted in order for the trait to evolve, and perhaps the system is incapable of evolving to prevent the expression of all genetic variation. This limitation, and the ability of natural selection to act on minute genetic differences that are within the “margin of error” for the buffering mechanism, indicates that developmentally buffered traits can evolve without disruption of robustness
Hypoglycemic and Hypocholesterolemic Effects of Botryosphaeran from Botryosphaeria rhodina MAMB-05 in Diabetes-Induced and Hyperlipidemia Conditions in Rats

Abstract Botryosphaeran, a water-soluble exopolysaccharide of the β-(1 → 3;1 → 6)-D-glucan type that has been isolated from the culture medium of Botryosphaeria rhodina MAMB-05 grown in submerged fermentation using glucose as the sole carbon source, was previously demonstrated to be non-genotoxic in peripheral blood and bone marrow, and exhibited strong anticlastogenic activity. In the present study, the effects of botryosphaeran were investigated in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats as well as in high-fat diet-fed hyperlipidemic Wistar rats. The plasma glucose level was reduced by 52% in the diabetic group of rats after administration of 12 mg botryosphaeran/kg body weight of the rats (b.w.)/day by gavage over 15 days. A reduction in the median ration intake was accompanied by an increase in the median body weight gain, as well as the efficiency of food conversion. These results demonstrate that botryosphaeran has protective effects by reducing the symptoms of cachexia in Diabetes mellitus. Botryosphaeran administered by gavage at a concentration of 12 mg botryosphaeran/kg b.w. /day over 15 days also reduced the plasma levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol by 18% and 27%, respectively, in hyperlipidemic rats. Based on these findings, we conclude that botryosphaeran possesses hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic properties in conditions of diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia, respectively, and may be used as an oral anti-diabetic agent.