Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cysteine‐string protein in inner hair cells of the organ of Corti: synaptic expression and upregulation at the onset of hearing

Cysteine‐string protein is a vesicle‐associated protein that plays a vital function in neurotransmitter release. We have studied its expression and regulation during cochlear maturation. Both the mRNA and the protein were found in primary auditory neurons and the sensory inner hair cells. More importantly, cysteine‐string protein was localized on synaptic vesicles associated with the synaptic ribbon in inner hair cells and with presynaptic differentiations in lateral and medial olivocochlear terminals — the cell bodies of which lie in the auditory brainstem. No cysteine‐string protein was expressed by the sensory outer hair cells suggesting that the distinct functions of the two cochlear hair cell types imply different mechanisms of neurotransmitter release. In developmental studies in the rat, we observed that cysteine‐string protein was present beneath the inner hair cells at birth and beneath outer hair cells by postnatal day 2 only. We found no expression in the inner hair cells before about postnatal day 12, which corresponds to the period during which the first cochlear action potentials could be recorded. In conclusion, the close association of cysteine‐string protein with synaptic vesicles tethered to synaptic ribbons in inner hair cells and its synchronized expression with the appearance and maturation of the cochlear potentials strongly suggest that this protein plays a fundamental role in sound‐evoked glutamate release by inner hair cells. This also suggests that this role may be common to ribbon synapses and conventional central nervous system synapses.
Recent developments in maser theory

Abstract This review covers selected developments in maser theory since the previous meeting, Cosmic Masers: From Proto-Stars to Black Holes (Migenes & Reid 2002). Topics included are time variability of fundamental constants, pumping of OH megamasers and indicators for differentiating disks from bi-directional outflows.
Big data analytics architecture for real-time traffic control

The advent of Big Data has triggered disruptive changes in many fields including Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The emerging connected technologies created around ubiquitous digital devices have opened unique opportunities to enhance the performance of the ITS. However, magnitude and heterogeneity of the Big Data are beyond the capabilities of the existing approaches in ITS. Therefore, there is a crucial need to develop new tools and systems to keep pace with the Big Data proliferation. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive and flexible architecture based on distributed computing platform for real-time traffic control. The architecture is based on systematic analysis of the requirements of the existing traffic control systems. In it, the Big Data analytics engine informs the control logic. We have partly realized the architecture in a prototype platform that employs Kafka, a state-of-the-art Big Data tool for building data pipelines and stream processing. We demonstrate our approach on a case study of controlling the opening and closing of a freeway hard shoulder lane in microscopic traffic simulation.
Infinite Sequences and Pattern Avoidance

The study of combinatorics on words dates back at least to the beginning of the 20 century and the work of Axel Thue. Thue was the first to give an example of an infinite word over a three letter alphabet that contains no squares (identical adjacent blocks) xx. This result was eventually used to solve some longstanding open problems in algebra and has remarkable connections to other areas of mathematics and computer science as well. In this thesis we primarily study several variations of the problems studied by Thue in his work on repetitions in words, including some recent connections to other areas, such as graph theory. In Chapter 1 we give a brief introduction to the subject of combinatorics on words. In Chapter 2 we use uniform morphisms to construct an infinite binary word that contains no cubes xxx and no squares yy with |y| ≥ 4, thus giving a simpler construction than that of Dekking. We also use uniform morphisms to construct an infinite binary word avoiding all squares except 0, 1, and (01), thus giving a simpler construction than that of Fraenkel and Simpson. We give some new enumeration results for these avoidance properties and solve an open problem of Prodinger and Urbanek regarding the perfect shuffle of infinite binary words that avoid arbitrarily large squares. In Chapter 3 we examine ternary squarefree words in more detail, and in Chapter 4 we study words w satisfying the property that for any sufficiently long subword w ′ of w, w does not contain the reversal of w as a subword. In Chapter 5 we discuss an application of the property of squarefreeness to colourings of graphs. In Chapter 6 we study strictly increasing sequences (a(n))n≥0 of non-negative integers satisfying the equation a(a(n)) = dn. Finally, in Chapter 7 we give a brief conclusion and present some open problems.
Dysregulation of the Right Brain: A Fundamental Mechanism of Traumatic Attachment and the Psychopathogenesis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Objective: This review integrates recent advances in attachment theory, affective neuroscience, developmental stress research, and infant psychiatry in order to delineate the developmental precursors of posttraumatic stress disorder. Method: Existing attachment, stress physiology, trauma, and neuroscience literatures were collected using Index Medicus/Medline and Psychological Abstracts. This converging interdisciplinary data was used as a theoretical base for modelling the effects of early relational trauma on the developing central and autonomic nervous system activities that drive attachment functions. Results: Current trends that integrate neuropsychiatry, infant psychiatry, and clinical psychiatry are generating more powerful models of the early genesis of a predisposition to psychiatric disorders, including PTSD. Data are presented which suggest that traumatic attachments, expressed in episodes of hyperarousal and dissociation, are imprinted into the developing limbic and autonomic nervous systems of the early maturing right brain. These enduring structural changes lead to the inefficient stress coping mechanisms that lie at the core of infant, child, and adult posttraumatic stress disorders. Conclusions: Disorganised-disoriented insecure attachment, a pattern common in infants abused in the first 2 years of life, is psychologically manifest as an inability to generate a coherent strategy for coping with relational stress. Early abuse negatively impacts the developmental trajectory of the right brain, dominant for attachment, affect regulation, and stress modulation, thereby setting a template for the coping deficits of both mind and body that characterise PTSD symptomatology. These data suggest that early intervention programs can significantly alter the intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress disorders.
Peripheral and central markers of inflammation in mild cognitive impairment

There has been accumulating scientific evidence, over the last three decades, of the role of inflammatory processes in the development of Alzheimer? s disease (AD). Population based studies suggest that plasma levels of inflammatory markers are raised in peripheral blood of people with AD. People on long term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have a lower prevalence of AD. Moreover, both animal and human histopathology studies have reported localization of inflammation in brain areas primarily affected by AD pathology. Areas of increased inflammation can be visualized in vivo by Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans using the PK11195 ligand that binds with the benzodiazepine receptor sites of activated microglial cells. Cognitive decline in AD has been shown to correlate with levels of microglial activation using PK11195 PET scans. People with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are known to be at high risk of developing AD.We aimed to investigate the association between peripheral and central markers of inflammation and cognitive decline in a group of people with amnestic MCI.MCI subjects (n=70) underwent cognitive testing, IL-6 and CRP in peripheral blood were measured and repeated after 1 year. A sub group (n=15) was followed up for another year and central brain microglial activation was measured by PET using PK11195 along with cognitive and peripheral inflammatory marker measurement.The mean CRP and IL-6 levels of the cohort increased over one year but the rise was only significant for CRP. No association was detected between inflammatory markers levels and cognition as measured by a battery of cognitive instruments. Group comparisons of the PET cohort with healthy controls (n=5) showed increased PK11195 binding (mean binding potential) in frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, putamen, occipital lobes and significantly increased binding in posterior cingulate gyrus. This study, to our knowledge, is unique in studying makers of inflammation in amnestic MCI participants both in peripheral blood and brain. The results of this study, in the light of current literature, add to the importance of recognition of inflammatory processes in people at risk of developing AD. The results suggest that CRP levels rise significantly over time and are detectable in peripheral blood by using practically simple laboratory techniques. The results also suggest that activated microglia in amnestic MCI patients can be visualized in vivo by using PK11195 PET scans and show higher levels of activation as compared to healthy controls. These finding could be useful in identifying people with malactivated (pro-inflammatory) microglia as potential targets for prevention/early treatment strategies. Further studies with larger samples sizes and long term follow-up are needed to investigate whether these peripheral and central inflammatory markers could shed light on the aetiology of AD and be useful in monitoring disease progression.
Improvement of Lactobacillus plantarum Aerobic Growth as Directed by Comprehensive Transcriptome Analysis

ABSTRACT An aerobic Lactobacillus plantarum culture displayed growth stagnation during early growth. Transcriptome analysis revealed that resumption of growth after stagnation correlated with activation of CO2-producing pathways, suggesting that a limiting CO2 concentration induced the stagnation. Analogously, increasing the CO2 gas partial pressure during aerobic fermentation prevented the temporal growth stagnation.
Relation between heart beat fluctuations and cyclic alternating pattern during sleep in insomnia patients

Insomnia is a condition that affects the nervous and muscular system. Thirty percent of the population between 18 and 60 years suffers from insomnia. The effects of this disorder involve problems such as poor school or job performance and traffic accidents. In addition, patients with insomnia present changes in the cardiac function during sleep. Furthermore, the structure of electroencephalographic A-phases, which builds up the Cyclic Alternating Pattern during sleep, is related to the insomnia events. Therefore, the relationship between these brain activations (A-phases) and the autonomic nervous system would be of interest, revealing the interplay of central and autonomic activity during insomnia. With this goal, a study of the relationship between A-phases and heart rate fluctuations is presented. Polysomnography recording of five healthy subjects, five sleep misperception patients and five patients with psychophysiological insomnia were used in the study. Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) was used in order to evaluate the heart rate dynamics and this was correlated with the number of A-phases. The results suggest that pathological patients present changes in the dynamics of the heart rate. This is reflected in the modification of A-phases dynamics, which seems to modify of heart rate dynamics.
Setting method of specific parameters of a superconducting fault current limiter considering the operation of power system protection-resistance-type and rectifier-type SFCLs in overhead transmission systems

We have developed an EMTP model of a resistance-type and a rectifier-type super-conducting fault current limiter (SFCL) and defined their parameters which a user specifies when he plans to introduce an SFCL into a power system. Using these models, we propose the setting method of these parameters so as not to affect the response of protective relays when SFCLs operate.
Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods

Part one: Revisiting the person-environment fit: Environmental gerontology Urban ageing Ageing in deprived urban areas Part two: Rethinking the person-environment fit: Skid Row? Optimality of 'ageing in place' Case studies: ageing in deprived neighbourhoods Re-conceptualising the person-environmental relationship Refocusing the person-environment fit The way forward: building sustainability Influences and future challenges Conclusion.
Noncredible Explanations of Noncredible Performance on Symptom Validity Tests 5 Paul Green & Thomas Merten

Neuropsychologists measure brain function using standardized tests, or, at least that is the intention. For generations, it was assumed that differences in cognitive ability from one person to another were accurately mirrored by differences in cognitive test scores, although not perfectly because there was some random error. It was assumed that, in nearly all cases, people being administered cognitive tests were trying their best and that low scores reflected low abilities in nearly all cases. Scores in the impaired range were readily interpreted as signs of cognitive deficits and impaired brain function. Error was assumed to be just as likely to lead to an overestimate of brain function as to an underestimate. Only relatively recently was it shown that the assumption that people are trying their best is often wrong, and that low scores frequently do not signify low ability at all because the data are simply invalid (e.g., Fox, 2011; Green, Rohling, LeesHaley, & Allen, 2001; Meyers, Volbrecht, Axelrod, & Reinsch-Boothby, 2011; Stevens, Friedel, Mehren, & Merten, 2008). Invalid test results from poor effort or deliberate underachievement do not occur only in groups where there is an obvious external incentive to appear cognitively impaired, such as those seeking financial compensation for cognitive impairment. Even in groups previously assumed to be highly motivated to do well, effort may be poor, leading to invalid test results. For example, it was assumed that professional athletes being tested cognitively at baseline and then after concussions would try their best. Their motivation was to carry on playing and earning a living. The assumption of valid data and good effort was disproven when an American professional football player, Peyton Manning, admitted that he had deliberately performed poorly at baseline so that his scores after a concussion would look as if there was no impairment, and other players admitted that this was a commonly-used tactic to manipulate the test scores in their favor (Fox59 Sports Staff, 2011). Neuropsychologists now know that, in many different contexts, effort can be low to a degree that is sufficient to invalidate test results, especially if there is an incentive to appear impaired (e.g., Chafetz, 2008; Chafetz, Prentkowski, & Rao, 2011; Flaro, Green, & Robertson, 2007; Sullivan, May, & Galbally, 2007). For that reason, effort testing is increasingly recognized as an essential component of neuropsychological testing (Bush et al., 2005; Heilbronner, Sweet, Morgan, Larrabee, & Millis, 2009).
How We Learn to Make Decisions: Rapid Propagation of Reinforcement Learning Prediction Errors in Humans

Our ability to make decisions is predicated upon our knowledge of the outcomes of the actions available to us. Reinforcement learning theory posits that actions followed by a reward or punishment acquire value through the computation of prediction errors—discrepancies between the predicted and the actual reward. A multitude of neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that rewards and punishments evoke neural responses that appear to reflect reinforcement learning prediction errors [e.g., Krigolson, O. E. , Pierce, L. J., Holroyd, C. B. , & Tanaka, J. W. Learning to become an expert: Reinforcement learning and the acquisition of perceptual expertise. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, 1833–1840, 2009; Bayer, H. M. , & Glimcher, P. W. Midbrain dopamine neurons encode a quantitative reward prediction error signal. Neuron, 47, 129–141, 2005; O'Doherty, J. P. Reward representations and reward-related learning in the human brain: Insights from neuroimaging. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14, 769–776, 2004; Holroyd, C. B. , & Coles, M. G. H. The neural basis of human error processing: Reinforcement learning, dopamine, and the error-related negativity. Psychological Review, 109, 679–709, 2002]. Here, we used the brain ERP technique to demonstrate that not only do rewards elicit a neural response akin to a prediction error but also that this signal rapidly diminished and propagated to the time of choice presentation with learning. Specifically, in a simple, learnable gambling task, we show that novel rewards elicited a feedback error-related negativity that rapidly decreased in amplitude with learning. Furthermore, we demonstrate the existence of a reward positivity at choice presentation, a previously unreported ERP component that has a similar timing and topography as the feedback error-related negativity that increased in amplitude with learning. The pattern of results we observed mirrored the output of a computational model that we implemented to compute reward prediction errors and the changes in amplitude of these prediction errors at the time of choice presentation and reward delivery. Our results provide further support that the computations that underlie human learning and decision-making follow reinforcement learning principles.
Trygg stad : diskurser om kvinnors rädsla i forskning, policyutveckling och lokal praktik

The city is loaded with mystique, expectations and dreams which are both utopian and dystopian. The city is exciting and scaring at the same time, it can protect us but at the same time contains dangerous places and situations. Fear and unsafety have been heavily discussed during the latter part of 1990s in relation to urban environments. This thesis for the doctoral degree of Architecture deals with depictions of fear and safety in the city, more specifically depictions of women's fear and need for safety. The objective of Safe City is to discuss the relationship between pictures of women's fear, safer cities projects and urban planning through a feminist perspective. How is women´s fear dealt with in the local safer cities programmes? The safety discourse is analysed through three parts: 1) academic discourses on fear, i.e. how researchers define and understand fear in relation to the built environment, 2) discourses of safety in policy and guidelines, i.e. how governments and planners who create safer cities- and crime prevention programs, picture the problems of crime and fear, 3) discourses on local practices to implement these safety issues. To accomplish this, I have analysed the underlying theories, the commonly used concepts and the policies that fall within the safety and crime prevention discourse and carried out a case study in Gothenburg, with specific focus on two suburbs, Bergsjon and Tynnered. Four major directions in the discourse have been found 1) women´s fear has been made visible, 2) the city is not only a place of fear but also an arena for emancipating women, 3) crime and social deviance could be solved through changes in the physical environment, 4) we need to accept to a certain degree insecurities, conflicts and unsafe environments in order not to develop segregated cities. I argue that all four perspectives need to be taken into account to reach the best results in safety work. The conclusion also highlights gaps between the different parts of the safety discourse and how these gaps are created and handled.
Long-term outcomes in pediatric renal transplant recipients who survive into adulthood

Background. Long-term results in renal transplant recipients who underwent transplantation as children are often buried within the outcomes of adult centers, leaving a void in our knowledge regarding this unique cohort. The authors aim to describe the long-term outcomes of children who experienced renal failure and subsequently underwent transplantation during childhood and who have now reached adulthood, with an emphasis on social and economic rehabilitation. Methods. Two hundred seventeen children were identified who underwent transplantation between 1967 and 1999. Of those 217, 174 who were born before October 1982 and who would therefore have reached adulthood were selected for study. A questionnaire and consent form were sent to the surviving 132 patients of this subpopulation. Results. Fifty-seven adult survivors answered the questionnaire. No significant differences were found comparing the respondents to the nonrespondents. Nearly half of all respondents were severely short and 27% were obese. Questionnaire respondents had high rates of hypertension, bone and joint symptoms, fractures, hypercholesterolemia, and cataracts. Despite significant remaining health issues, 82% of respondents were employed, 95% reported their health as “fair” or “good,” 61% reported “no” or “minor” physical limitations, and 82% described themselves as “just as” or “more content than others. ” Nearly 50% of the respondents were married, and the overwhelming majority reported satisfaction in their sexual lives. Conclusions. Despite a high retransplantation rate and the presence of significant morbidity, renal transplantation in children can lead to attainment of a productive and satisfying life, with a high degree of rehabilitation in adulthood.
Does birth weight predict childhood diet in the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children?

Study objective: Low birth weight predicts cardiovascular disease in adulthood, and one possible explanation is that children with lower birth weight consume more fat than those born heavier. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate associations between birth weight and childhood diet, and in particular, to test the hypothesis that birth weight is inversely related to total and saturated fat intake. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: South west England. Participants: A subgroup of children enrolled in the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children, with data on birth weight and also diet at ages 8, 18, 43 months, and 7 years (1152, 998, 848, and 771 children respectively). Main results: Associations between birth weight and diet increased in strength from age 8 to 43 months, but had diminished by age 7 years. Fat, saturated fat, and protein intakes were inversely, and carbohydrate intake was positively associated with birth weight at 43 months of age, after adjusting for age, sex, and energy intake. After adjustment for other confounders, all associations were weakened, although there was still a suggestion of a relation with saturated fat (−0.48 (95% CI −0.97, 0.02) g/day per 500 g increase in birth weight. Similar patterns were seen in boys and girls separately, and when the sample was restricted to those with complete data at all ages. Conclusions: A small inverse association was found between birth weight and saturated fat intake in children at 43 months of age but this was not present at 7 years of age. This study therefore provides little evidence that birth weight modifies subsequent childhood diet.