Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sensitization of visceral afferents to bradykinin in rat jejunum in vitro

1 We have investigated the effects of inflammatory mediators on visceral afferent discharge and afferent responses to bradykinin (BK) in rat jejunum using a novel in vitro technique. 2 Prostaglandin E2 (1 μm) augmented responses to BK without affecting basal firing, while histamine (100 μm) and adenosine (100 μm) activated basal discharge and enhanced BK responses. In contrast, 5‐HT (100 μm) increased basal discharge without influencing responses to BK. 3 Afferent discharge induced by histamine was inhibited by both H1 (pyrilamine) and H3 (thioperamide) but not H2 (ranitidine) receptor antagonists at 10 μm. In contrast, sensitization to BK induced by histamine was inhibited by ranitidine (10 μm). 4 Afferent discharge induced by adenosine was blocked by the A1 receptor antagonist DPCPX (10 μm) but remained unaffected by A2A receptor blockade with ZM241385 (10 μm). In contrast, sensitization of BK responses by adenosine was unaffected by both antagonists. Basal discharge and BK‐induced responses were unaffected by the A3 receptor agonist IB‐MECA (1 μm). While involvement of A2B receptors is not excluded, adenosine may activate afferent discharge through A1 receptors, while sensitization to BK could involve a receptor other than A1, A2A or A3, possibly the A2B receptor. 5 Inhibition of cyclo‐oxygenase with naproxen (10 μm) prevented sensitization after histamine but not adenosine. 6 Sensitization was mimicked by dibutyryl cAMP. This occurred without changes in basal firing and was unaffected by naproxen. 7 In conclusion, afferent discharge induced by BK is augmented by histamine, adenosine and PGE2, but not by 5‐HT. Evidence suggests that sensitization involves separate mechanisms from afferent activation. Sensitization may be mediated by increases in cAMP following direct activation by mediators at the nerve terminal or through indirect pathways such as the release of prostaglandins.
Structure-Property Relationships in Polyoxymethylene/Thermoplastic Polyurethane Elastomer Blends

A series of blends of polyoxymethylene (POM) / thermoplastic ester-based polyurethane elastomer (TPU) has been obtained by using a double screw extruder (L/D = 25) in the temperature range of 175-190°C. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was applied to investigate the influence of TPU on the melting and crystallisation of POM; it was found that there is a decrease of the enthalpy of melting with an increase of TPU amount in the blend (up to 10 wt %); enthalpy of fusion also decreases. X-ray diffraction patterns confirm that the crystalline structure of POM remains unaffected after blending with multiphased TPU. Morphology of the blends, investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), showed that TPU is distributed rather uniformly in POM and forms cylindrical-shaped domains of ca. 10 μm length. Homogeneous distribution may be the consequence of existence of specific interactions in form of hydrogen bonding between ether oxygen (POM) and hydrogen from urethane group (TPU) as evidenced by FTIR measurements. Modified morphology contributes to the better mechanical properties; elongation at break increases with an increase of the TPU content in the blend (for TPU content > 10%).
Boosting classifiers for weed seeds identification

The identification and classification of seeds are of major technical and economical importance in the agricultural industry. To automate these activities, like in ocular inspection one should consider seed size, shape, color and texture, which can be obtained from seed images. In this work we complement previous studies on the discriminating power of these characteristics for the unique identification of seeds of 57 weed species. In particular, we discuss the possibility of improving the naive Bayes and artificial neural network classifiers previously developed in order to avoid the use of color features as classification parameters. Morphological and textural seed characteristics can be obtained from black and white images, which are easier to process and require a cheaper hardware than color ones. To this end, we boost the classification methods by means of the AdaBoost.M1 technique, and compare the results obtained with the performance achieved when using color images. We conclude that boosting the naive Bayes and neural classifiers does not fully compensate the discriminating power of color features. However, the improvement in classification accuracy might be enough to make the classifier still acceptable in practical applications.
The mitochondrial protein MTP18 contributes to mitochondrial fission in mammalian cells

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that change morphology by controlled fission and fusion events. Mitochondrial fission is regulated by a conserved protein complex assembled at the outer membrane. Human MTP18 is a novel nuclear-encoded mitochondrial membrane protein, implicated in controlling mitochondrial fission. Upon overexpression of MTP18, mitochondrial morphology was altered from filamentous to punctate structures suggesting excessive mitochondrial fission. Mitochondrial fragmentation was blocked in cells coexpressing either the mitochondrial fusion protein Mfn1 or Drp1K38A, a dominant negative version of the fission protein Drp1. Also, a loss-of function of endogenous MTP18 by RNA interference (RNAi) resulted in highly fused mitochondria. Moreover, MTP18 appears to be required for mitochondrial fission because it is blocked after overexpression of hFis1 in cells with RNAi-mediated MTP18 knockdown. In conclusion, we propose that MTP18 functions as an essential intramitochondrial component of the mitochondrial division apparatus, contributing to the maintenance of mitochondrial morphology.
Motion Regularization for Matting Motion Blurred Objects

This paper addresses the problem of matting motion blurred objects from a single image. Existing single image matting methods are designed to extract static objects that have fractional pixel occupancy. This arises because the physical scene object has a finer resolution than the discrete image pixel and therefore only occupies a fraction of the pixel. For a motion blurred object, however, fractional pixel occupancy is attributed to the object's motion over the exposure period. While conventional matting techniques can be used to matte motion blurred objects, they are not formulated in a manner that considers the object's motion and tend to work only when the object is on a homogeneous background. We show how to obtain better alpha mattes by introducing a regularization term in the matting formulation to account for the object's motion. In addition, we outline a method for estimating local object motion based on local gradient statistics from the original image. For the sake of completeness, we also discuss how user markup can be used to denote the local direction in lieu of motion estimation. Improvements to alpha mattes computed with our regularization are demonstrated on a variety of examples.
Considerations for Stimulus–Response Curves in Stroke: An Investigation Comparing Collection and Analysis Methods

ABSTRACT Stimulus–response curves (SRCs) provide information about the neurophysiological strength of corticospinal connections. The method for measuring and/or drawing meaningful conclusions of SRCs has not been well established in the stroke population. This study sought to characterize the use of an abbreviated SRC in stroke by comparing two data collection and two analysis approaches. SRCs were obtained using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in 25 survivors of stroke. The SRC data were collected with TMS intensities referenced to either motor threshold (MT; 5% increments between 100% and 140% of MT) or stimulator output (5% increments between 30% and 100% output) with peak-to-peak motor evoked potential amplitudes determined and averaged for each intensity level. Data were modeled with a three-parameter sigmoid function and a linear regression and were analyzed with a mixed design analysis of variance. There was no difference in the accuracy of prediction (r2) between the different analyses. There were significant differences in the slope parameters depending on the analysis method, but this was not dependent on the SRC data collection method. A linear regression of the SRC accurately represents the slope of the modeled data and is strongly correlated with the calculated peak slope, yet is less computationally complex than the sigmoid function. This study demonstrates the use of a linear analysis approach for SRCs as outcome measures for stroke studies.
Functional Characterization of Proanthocyanidin Pathway Enzymes from Tea and Their Application for Metabolic Engineering1[W][OA]

Tea contains two anthocyanidin reductases that produce different proportions of two forms of epicatechin. Tea (Camellia sinensis) is rich in specialized metabolites, especially polyphenolic proanthocyanidins (PAs) and their precursors. To better understand the PA pathway in tea, we generated a complementary DNA library from leaf tissue of the blister blight-resistant tea cultivar TRI2043 and functionally characterized key enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of PA precursors. Structural genes encoding enzymes involved in the general phenylpropanoid/flavonoid pathway and the PA-specific branch pathway were well represented in the library. Recombinant tea leucoanthocyanidin reductase (CsLAR) expressed in Escherichia coli was active with leucocyanidin as substrate to produce the 2R,3S-trans-flavan-ol (+)-catechin in vitro. Two genes encoding anthocyanidin reductase, CsANR1 and CsANR2, were also expressed in E. coli, and the recombinant proteins exhibited similar kinetic properties. Both converted cyanidin to a mixture of (+)-epicatechin and (−)-catechin, although in different proportions, indicating that both enzymes possess epimerase activity. These epimers were unexpected based on the belief that tea PAs are made from (−)-epicatechin and (+)-catechin. Ectopic expression of CsANR2 or CsLAR led to the accumulation of low levels of PA precursors and their conjugates in Medicago truncatula hairy roots and anthocyanin-overproducing tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), but levels of oligomeric PAs were very low. Surprisingly, the expression of CsLAR in tobacco overproducing anthocyanin led to the accumulation of higher levels of epicatechin and its glucoside than of catechin, again highlighting the potential importance of epimerization in flavan-3-ol biosynthesis. These data provide a resource for understanding tea PA biosynthesis and tools for the bioengineering of flavanols.
Inferring Functional Groups from Microbial Gene Catalogue with Probabilistic Topic Models

In this paper, based on the functional elements derived from non-redundant CDs catalogue, we show that the configuration of functional groups in meta-genome samples can be inferred by probabilistic topic modeling. The probabilistic topic modeling is a Bayesian method that is able to extract useful topical information from unlabeled data. When used to study microbial samples (assuming that relative abundance of functional elements is already obtained by a homology-based approach), each sample can be considered as a 'document', which has a mixture of functional groups, while each functional group (also known as a 'latent topic') is a weight mixture of functional elements (including taxonomic levels, and indicators of gene orthologous groups and KEGG pathway mappings). The functional elements bear an analogy with 'words'. Estimating the probabilistic topic model can uncover the configuration of functional groups (the latent topic) in each sample. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.
Single-Switch Single-Transformer Cell Voltage Equalizer Based on Forward–Flyback Resonant Inverter and Voltage Multiplier for Series-Connected Energy Storage Cells

Cell voltage equalization is inevitable to ensure years of safe operation of series-connected energy storage cells, such as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors (SCs). Although various kinds of cell voltage equalizers have been proposed, most equalizer topologies require multiple switches and/or a multiwinding transformer, resulting in complex circuitry and poor modularity. In this paper, a single-switch single-transformer equalizer using a forward-flyback resonant inverter (FFRI) with a voltage multiplier is proposed. The required switch count of the proposed equalizer is the minimum without impairing modularity due to the single-switch circuitry with no need for a multiwinding transformer. An experimental equalization test performed for eight SCs connected in series successfully demonstrated the equalization performance of the proposed equalizer. The FFRI can be extended as a “resonant input cell,” and by combining one of resonant input cells and a voltage multiplier, a single-switch resonant equalization charger that is basically a charger with an equalization function is also derived. An experimental charging test using the resonant equalization charger was also performed, and its equalization-charging performance was demonstrated.
Random Access in C-RAN for User Activity Detection With Limited-Capacity Fronthaul

Cloud-radio access network (C-RAN) is characterized by a hierarchical structure, in which the baseband-processing functionalities of remote radio heads (RRHs) are implemented by means of cloud computing at a central unit (CU). A key limitation of C-RANs is given by the capacity constraints of the fronthaul links connecting RRHs to the CU. In this letter, the impact of this architectural constraint is investigated for the fundamental functions of random access and active user equipment (UE) identification in the presence of a potentially massive number of UEs. In particular, the standard C-RAN approach based on quantize-and-forward and centralized detection is compared to a scheme based on an alternative CU-RRH functional split that enables local detection. Both techniques leverage Bayesian sparse detection. Numerical results illustrate the relative merits of the two schemes as a function of the system parameters.
Extrinsic evaluation of sentence alignment systems

Parallel corpora are usually a collection of documents which are translations of each other. To be useful in NLP applications such as word alignment or machine translation, they first have to be aligned at the sentence level. This paper is a user study briefly reviewing several sentence aligners and evaluating them based on the performance achieved by the SMT systems trained on their output. We conducted experiments on two language pairs and showed that using a more advanced sentence alignment algorithm may yield gains of 0.5 to 1 BLEU points.
ATR contributes to telomere maintenance in human cells

Telomere maintenance is essential to preserve genomic stability and involves several telomere-specific proteins as well as DNA replication and repair proteins. The kinase ATR, which has a crucial function in maintaining genome integrity from yeast to human, has been shown to be involved in telomere maintenance in several eukaryotic organisms, including yeast, Arabidopsis and Drosophila. However, its role in telomere maintenance in mammals remains poorly explored. Here, we report by using telomere-fluorescence in situ hybridization (Telo-FISH) on metaphase chromosomes that ATR deficiency causes telomere instability both in primary human fibroblasts from Seckel syndrome patients and in HeLa cells. The telomere aberrations resulting from ATR deficiency (i.e. sister telomere fusions and chromatid-type telomere aberrations) are mainly generated during and/or after telomere replication, and involve both leading and lagging strand telomeres as shown by chromosome orientation-FISH (CO-FISH). Moreover, we show that ATR deficiency strongly sensitizes cells to the G-quadruplex ligand 360A, enhancing sister telomere fusions and chromatid-type telomere aberrations involving specifically the lagging strand telomeres. Altogether, these data reveal that ATR plays a critical role in telomere maintenance during and/or after telomere replication in human cells.
Age and gender factors in user acceptance of healthcare robots

Human-robot interaction (HRI) and user acceptance become critical when service robots start to provide a variety of assistance to users on a personal level. Limited research to date has studied the influence of users' attributes (such as age and gender) on the acceptance of service robots and the implications for HRI design. This paper describes the development of a social interactive healthcare robot named Charles, capable of measuring blood pressure. Using blood pressure monitoring as the service scenario, a user study was conducted to investigate the differences between two age groups (40 to 65 years and over 65 years) in attitudes and reactions before and after their interactions with Charles. The results showed few differences between the two age groups. A significant gender effect was found, with males having a more positive attitude toward robots in healthcare than females. This study reveals the importance of considering gender issues in the design of healthcare robots for older people. Overall, the performance of the robot was rated high, however the participants expressed desires to have more interactiveness and a better voice from the robot. According to our sample, age need not be a barrier to users' acceptance of healthcare robots.
Shape memory characteristics of woven glass fibre fabric reinforced epoxy composite in flexure

Shape memory characteristics of a woven glass fibre fabric reinforced epoxy composite (reinforcement content: 38 vol.%) were assessed in three-point bending mode in a dynamic mechanical analysis device and compared to those of the parent epoxy resin. From unconstrained tests, the shape fixity and recovery ratios and the recovery rate, whereas from constrained tests the recovery stress were determined. The shape fixity and recovery rate decreased due to the glass fibre reinforcement which had, however, no effect on the shape recovery. Major benefit of the woven glass fibre fabric was that the recovery stress could be enhanced by two orders of magnitude in comparison to the neat epoxy. Glass fibre reinforcement was accompanied with a substantial decrease in the failure-free flexural deformability of the composite specimen.
Experimental Validation of a Single DC Bus Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter for Multistring Photovoltaic Systems

For large-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems, the multistring configuration is becoming more and more attractive compared with the classical central inverter, since it results in better energy yield by realizing distributed maximum power point tracking. Among the existing solutions, an attractive topology consists in a single dc bus bar collector cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter. Through the use of a single dc bus bar collector, the CHB inverter presents inherent balanced operation while the multistring PV-system is fully decoupled from the grid-tie inverter. This paper proposes the experimental validation of this structure on a reduced-size single-phase laboratory prototype. Results confirm the interest of the proposed PV multistring architecture.
Predicting Auditory Outcomes From Radiological Imaging in Cochlear Implant Patients With Cochlear Nerve Deficiency.

OBJECTIVE To compare imaging and outcome data in cochlear implant (CI) patients with and without cochlear nerve deficiency (CND). STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study comparing presurgical imaging (via high-resolution computed tomography and three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging) to postsurgical auditory outcomes in CI patients with and without CND. PATIENTS Forty-three CI patients with CND diagnosed according to preoperative imaging were included in the CND group. A control group (non-CND; n = 43) was matched to the CND group in terms of age at implantation, CI device type, preoperative hearing threshold, and sex. RESULTS Across all subjects, internal auditory canal (IAC) diameter, cochlear nerve canal (CNC) diameter, and the number of nerve bundles were significantly correlated with all auditory outcome measures (p < 0.0125 in all cases). Across CND subjects, CNC diameter was significantly correlated with SIR, MUSS, and MAIS-IT/ MAIS scores (p < 0.0125 in all cases). Auditory outcomes were significantly poorer for CND patients with one rather than two nerve bundles. Across non-CND subjects, CNC diameter was significantly correlated only with SIR scores (p < 0.0125). IAC diameter, CNC diameter, and the number of nerve bundles were significantly smaller, and auditory outcomes were significantly poorer for the CND group than for the non-CND group (p < 0.05 in all cases). Results were similar when data only from patients ≤ 5 years old (n = 31) were analyzed. CONCLUSIONS CNC diameter and the number of nerve bundles can significantly predict auditory outcomes for CI patients with CND. The results suggest that presurgical imaging may be useful in predicting CI outcomes for congenitally deaf patients.
Suppression of VCO pulling effects using even-harmonic quiet transmitting circuits

VCO TX pulling could seriously degrade transmitter performance. Unlike previous works that focus on alleviating the problem on the victim side(i.e. VCO or LO generator), we explored methods on suppressing the pulling tone generation at the transmitter side both magnetically and electrically. Magnetic differential structures and harmonic notch are employed for TX inductor/transformer and active circuits to reduce the pulling. Measurement results showed > 25dB reduction of pulling tone at +7dBm output power with <;10.5% DEVM_pk for 8-DPSK bluetooth modulation.