Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cholesterol depletion alters amplitude and pharmacology of vascular calcium-activated chloride channels.

AIMS Calcium-activated chloride channels (CACCs) share common pharmacological properties with Kcnma1-encoded large conductance K(+) channels (BK(Ca) or K(Ca)1.1) and it has been suggested that they may co-exist in a macromolecular complex. As K(Ca)1.1 channels are known to localize to cholesterol and caveolin-rich lipid rafts (caveolae), the present study investigated whether Ca(2+)-sensitive Cl(-) currents in vascular myocytes were affected by the cholesterol depleting agent methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (M-betaCD). METHODS AND RESULTS Calcium-activated chloride and potassium currents were recorded from single murine portal vein myocytes in whole cell voltage clamp. Western blot was undertaken following sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation using protein lysates from whole portal veins. Ca(2+)-activated Cl(-) currents were augmented by 3 mg mL(-1) M-betaCD with a rapid time course (t(0.5) = 1.8 min). M-betaCD had no effect on the bi-modal response to niflumic acid or anthracene-9-carboxylate but completely removed the inhibitory effects of the K(Ca)1.1 blockers, paxilline and tamoxifen, as well as the stimulatory effect of the K(Ca)1.1 activator NS1619. Discontinuous sucrose density gradients followed by western blot analysis revealed that the position of lipid raft markers caveolin and flotillin-2 was altered by 15 min application of 3 mg mL(-1) M-betaCD. The position of K(Ca)1.1 and the newly identified candidate for CACCs, TMEM16A, was also affected by M-betaCD. CONCLUSION These data reveal that CACC properties are influenced by lipid raft integrity.
Downscaling of Precipitation for Lake Catchment in Arid Region in India using Linear Multiple Regression and Neural Networks

In this paper, downscaling models are developed using a Linear Multiple Regression (LMR) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for obtaining projections of mean monthly precipitation to lake-basin scale in an arid region in India. The effectiveness of these techniques is demonstrated through application to downscale the predictand (precipita- tion) for the Pichola lake region in Rajasthan state in India, which is considered to be a climatically sensitive region. The predictor variables are extracted from (1) the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis dataset for the period 1948-2000, and (2) the simulations from the third-generation Canadian Coupled Global Climate Model (CGCM3) for emission scenarios A1B, A2, B1 and COMMIT for the period 2001-2100. The scatter plots and cross- correlations are used for verifying the reliability of the simulation of the predictor variables by the CGCM3. The perform- ance of the linear multiple regression and ANN models was evaluated based on several statistical performance indicators. The ANN based models is found to be superior to LMR based models and subsequently, the ANN based model is applied to obtain future climate projections of the predictand (i.e precipitation). The precipitation is projected to increase in future for A2 and A1B scenarios, whereas it is least for B1 and COMMIT scenarios using predictors. In the COMMIT scenario, where the emissions are held the same as in the year 2000.
KNOWLEDGE AND APPLICATION OF LONG-TERM ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS IN YOUTH ATHLETES: A PILOT STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of an instrument used to identify knowledge and application practices of individuals currently able to apply long-term athletic development principles in youth sport environments (i.e. sport and strength and conditioning coaches, athletic and club directors). Participants completed an online survey regarding their knowledge of the Long-Term Athletic Development Model (LTAD), Developmental Model of Sports Participation (DMSP), and Youth Physical Development model (YPD) and if their training reflects the principles specific to one model over another. Participants included 217 males and 71 females with a mean age of 32.8 + 11.2 years that identified themselves as either a sport coach (n = 134) strength and conditioning coach (n = 108), sport administrator (n = 25), or other (n = 17). A principal component analysis was used on the Likert items that qualified for inclusion based on their KMO and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity values. Eight components were extracted based on the correlation of individual items and relationships between components were identified and discussed. The items were also forced into three components in order to be compared with the sections of the survey. These components were more reliable, although they explained less variance than the original model. Additional research is needed to obtain more reliable data that can be used to evaluate and modify coaching education systems of sport organizations to align with the principles of long-term athletic development outlined in the LTAD, DMSP, and YPD models.
Host Genetics and HIV-1: The Final Phase?

This is a crucial transition time for human genetics in general, and for HIV host genetics in particular. After years of equivocal results from candidate gene analyses, several genome-wide association studies have been published that looked at plasma viral load or disease progression. Results from other studies that used various large-scale approaches (siRNA screens, transcriptome or proteome analysis, comparative genomics) have also shed new light on retroviral pathogenesis. However, most of the inter-individual variability in response to HIV-1 infection remains to be explained: genome resequencing and systems biology approaches are now required to progress toward a better understanding of the complex interactions between HIV-1 and its human host.
On the superneutrality of money in heterogenous-agents model with aggregate shock

This chapter examines the robustness of Sidrauskis (1967) money superneutrality result in a class of heterogenous-agents model with aggregate shocks. I show that superneutrality result no longer holds in this case. Tobin (1965) e¤ect and heterogeneity in ination tax account for the non-superneutrality of money. However, the e¤ects of higher money growth rate on real variables are rather small. The change in money growth rate mostly gets reected in an increase in aggregate price level. The model considered is a version of Krussel and Smith (1997)s model with money and capital as assets. Computationally, this chapter shows that money and its stochastic supply process could be incorporated in the baseline model of Krussel and Smith (1997) by using a similar idea set forth in their paper.
Psychosocial well-being in adulthood in response to systemic barriers in kinship care as experienced during adolescence

ABSTRACT This study reports on the experiences of Black adults who were raised in kinship care during adolescence and its influences on their psychosocial well-being in adulthood. An exploratory, descriptive, instrumental, multiple-case study approach was followed to facilitate retrospective investigation. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted to construct data. The sample comprised of 13 Black adults between the ages of 18 and 42 years. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The themes highlighted the systemic challenges characteristic of the South African context. These include poverty, material deprivation, and its influence on the kinship caregiver’s physical and emotional accessibility. The findings suggest that the implications of the systemic challenges reverberate as forms of structural violence. Many of the participants defend against this, with conscious efforts to emphasize on the constructive outcomes of their experiences. Future research should include multiple case and quantitative studies as well as more longitudinal research.
Hip joint pain referral patterns: a descriptive study.

OBJECTIVE To determine hip joint pain referral patterns. DESIGN Retrospective analysis. Setting. Multicenter. Patients. Fifty-one consecutive patients meeting clinical criteria of a symptomatic hip joint. Interventions. Fluoroscopically guided intra-articular hip joint injection. Outcome Measures. Anatomic pain map before hip injection and visual analog scale both before and after hip injection. RESULTS The hip joint was shown to cause pain in traditionally accepted referral areas to the groin and thigh in 55% and 57% of patients, respectfully. However, pain referral was also seen in the buttock and lower extremity distal to the knee in 71% and 22%, respectively. Foot and knee pain were seen in only 6% and 2% of patients, respectively, while lower lumbar spine referral did not occur. Fourteen pain referral patterns were observed. CONCLUSIONS Buttock pain is the most common pain referral area from a symptomatic hip joint. Traditionally accepted groin and thigh referral areas were less common. Hip joint pain can occasionally refer distally to the foot. Lower lumbar spine referral did not occur.
“We didn’t tell everybody because everybody didn’t need to know”: an examination of parental disability-disclosure of Spina Bifida

Abstract This qualitative study sheds light on the process that parents go through as they learn of a spina bifida diagnosis and the communication strategies that are used to discuss an expected disability diagnosis with others. Interviews with 30 participants discovered that there were immediate disclosures made with family and close friends. Additionally, circumstantial disclosures took place when returning to routine behaviors. Participants described five distinctive criteria that developed a privacy boundary: self-blame, grief, helping others cope, maintaining privacy of child, and stigma. Implications for parents, medical professionals, and communication scholars are discussed.
Promoter DNA Methylation Patterns of Differentiated Cells Are Largely Programmed at the Progenitor Stage

The molecular background for the similarity of mesenchymal progenitor cells from various tissues is unknown. We characterize DNA methylation profiles of RefSeq promoters in relation to gene expression and differentiation in progenitors from adipose tissue, bone marrow, and muscle. Our data support the view of a common origin of mesenchymal progenitors.
Contribution of multiplexing and diversity to ergodic capacity of spatial multiplexing MIMO channels at finite SNR

We show that while the multiplexing effect of the spatial multiplexing MIMO channel has the greatest influence on ergodic capacity at infinite SNR, the contribution of diversity to enhancing ergodic capacity at finite SNR is comparable to or greater than that of multiplexing as the number of antennas increases to a moderate level. For instance, we show that the contribution of diversity to ergodic capacity surpasses that of multiplexing for an equal number of transmit and receive antennas of eight and SNR &#60; 13dB, a possible practical scenario for the upcoming 4G standards such as LTE-Advanced. This result leads us to conclude that the use of spatial multiplexing detection algorithms that extract the full diversity, such as the Maximum Likelihood (ML) algorithm, becomes more crucial when the number of antennas grows to a moderate level.
Quantitative Assessment of the Polymorphisms in the HOTAIR lncRNA and Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis of 8 Case-Control Studies

HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that functions as an oncogenic molecule in different cancer cells. Genetic variants of HOTAIR may affect the activity of certain regulatory factors and further regulate the aberrant expression of HOTAIR, which might be underlying mechanisms that affect tumour susceptibility and prognosis. Recently, several studies have been performed to examine the possible link between polymorphisms in HOTAIR and cancer risk; however, the results have been inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to estimate the associations between HOTAIR polymorphisms (rs920778, rs4759314 and rs1899663) and cancer risk. Eight studies comprising 7,151 cases and 8,740 controls were included in our study. Overall, no significant associations between the HOTAIR polymorphisms (rs920778, rs4759314 and rs1899663) and cancer risk were observed. However, in further stratified analyses, the variant T allele of rs920778 exhibited a significant increased risk of developing digestive cancers (dominant model: OR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.31–1.59). These findings provided evidence that HOTAIR rs920778 may modify the susceptibility to certain cancer types. Further studies incorporating subjects with different ethnic backgrounds combined with re-sequencing of the marked region and functional evaluations are warranted.
A Novel Evolutionary Technique for Multi-objective Power, Area and Delay Optimization in High Level Synthesis of Datapaths

The use of multi-objective approaches in High Level Synthesis has been gaining lot of interest in recent years since the major design objectives such as area, delay and power are mutually conflicting, thereby necessitating trade-offs between different objectives. This paper proposes a methodology for area, power and delay optimization using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA II). A metric based technique has been used to determine the likelihood of a schedule to yield low power solutions during binding. Actual power numbers are not determined since this is computationally expensive. The methodology has been evaluated on standard benchmark Data-Flow Graphs (DFGs) and results indicate that it yields improved solutions with better diversity when compared to a weighted sum GA approach. For the IIR benchmark, it was observed that the NSGA II was able to converge to the true Pareto front obtained from exhaustive search.
Knowledge-System Technology: Ontologies and Problem-Solving Methods

Ontologies and problem-solving methods are promising candidates for reuse in Knowledge Engineering. Ontologies deﬁne domain knowledge at a generic level, while problem-solving methods specify generic reasoning knowledge. Both type of components can be viewed as complementary entities that can be used to conﬁgure new knowledge systems from existing, reusable components
Molecular Hydrogen, Deuterium, and Metal Abundances in the Damped Lyα System at zabs = 3.025 toward Q0347–3819

We have detected in high-resolution spectra of the quasar Q0347-3819 obtained with the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) at the VLT/Kueyen telescope over 80 absorption features in the Lyman and Werner H2 bands at the redshift of a damped Lyα (DLA) system at zabs = 3.025. At the same redshift, numerous absorption lines of atoms and low ions (H I, D I, C II, C II*, N I, O I, Si II, P II, Ar I, Cr II, Fe II, and Zn II) were identified. The zabs = 3.025 system spans over ~80 km s-1 and exhibits a multicomponent velocity structure in the metal lines. The main component at zabs = 3.024855 shows a total H2 column density N(H2) = (4.10 ± 0.21) × 1014 cm-2 and a fractional molecular abundance fH2 = (1.94 ± 0.10) × 10-6 derived from the H2 lines arising from the J = 0-5 rotational levels of the ground electronic vibrational state. In the second strong component at zabs = 3.024684 we were able to set a stringent upper limit to fH2 of 3.3 × 10-9 (3 σ c.l.). The population of the J levels can be represented by a single excitation temperature of Tex = 825 ± 110 K. The ortho-H2 : para-H2 ratio equals 3.1 ± 0.3. This ratio is comparable to that calculated from hot H2 formation upon grain surfaces (ortho-H2 : para-H2 = 3 : 1) but is higher than the "freezeout" quantity (ortho-H2 : para-H2 = 1 : 4) predicted for cosmological epochs at z < 20, implying recent formation of the hydrogen molecules following photodissociation of pristine H2. In the main component the properties of the neutral atoms and low ions can be described with the same broadening parameter b ≃ 3 km s-1 of the H2 cloud. The rate at which UV photons are absorbed in the Lyman and Werner bands is found to be β0 ≃ 2 × 10-9 s-1. Taking into account that similar β0 values are observed in the Galactic diffuse molecular clouds, it shows that the UV radiation fields in the DLA and in the Milky Way are very much alike. We also found the H2 formation rate of RnH ≃ 3 × 10-16 s-1 at zabs = 3.025, which is consistent with observations in the Galactic disk diffuse clouds where nH2 is low. Comparing the relative rotational population ratios of H2 with the measured C II*/C II ratio, we can infer that nH ≃ 6 cm-3 in the main component, which gives a size of D ≃ 14 pc along the line of sight. The mean value of the dust-to-gas ratio estimated for the whole zabs = 3.025 system from the [Cr/Zn] ratio is equal to = 0.032 ± 0.005 (in units of the mean Galactic interstellar medium value). For the first time we unambiguously reveal a pronounced [α-element/iron peak] enhancement of [O,Si/Zn] = 0.6 ± 0.1 (1 σ c.l.) at high redshift. The simultaneous analysis of metal and hydrogen lines leads to D/H = (3.75 ± 0.25) × 10-5. This value is consistent with standard big bang nucleosynthesis if the baryon-to-photon ratio, η, lies within the range 4.37 × 10-10 ≲ η ≲ 5.32 × 10-10, implying 0.016 ≲ Ωbh ≲ 0.020.
Flexibility of Physiological Traits Underlying Inter-Individual Growth Differences in Intertidal and Subtidal Mussels Mytilusgalloprovincialis

Mussel seed (Mytilusgalloprovincialis) gathered from the intertidal and subtidal environments of a Galician embayment (NW, Spain) were maintained in the laboratory during five months to select fast (F) and slow (S) growing mussels. The physiological basis underlying inter-individual growth variations were compared for F and S mussels from both origins. Fast growing seemed to be a consequence of greater energy intake (20% higher clearance and ingestion rate) and higher food absorption rate coupled with low metabolic costs. The enhanced energy absorption (around 65% higher) resulted in 3 times higher Scope for Growth in F mussels (20.5±4.9 J h−1) than S individuals (7.3±1.1 J h−1). The higher clearance rate of F mussels appears to be linked with larger gill filtration surface compared to S mussels. Intertidal mussels showed higher food acquisition and absorption per mg of organic weight (i.e. mass-specific standardization) than subtidal mussels under the optimal feeding conditions of the laboratory. However, the enhanced feeding and digestive rates were not enough to compensate for the initial differences in tissue weight between mussels of similar shell length collected from the intertidal and subtidal environments. At the end of the experiment, subtidal individuals had higher gill efficiency, which probably lead to higher total feeding and absorption rates relative to intertidal individuals.
How does leadership affect student achievement? Results from a national US survey

Using survey responses from a national sample of US teachers, this paper provides insight into 2 questions: (1) Do 3 specific attributes of leadership behavior – the sharing of leadership with teachers, the development of trust relationships among professionals, and the provision of support for instructional improvement – affect teachers' work with each other and their classroom practices? and (2) Do the behaviors of school leaders contribute to student achievement? We tie this investigation of school leader behaviors to 2 additional factors that have also received increasing attention in research because they have been shown to be related to student achievement: professional community and the quality of classroom instruction. Our analysis provides an empirical test of the notion that leadership variables are positively related to student learning. It also suggests that both shared and instructionally focused leadership are complementary approaches for improving schools.
Sexual orientation and psychological distress: Differences by race and gender

ABSTRACT This study investigates interactions between sexual orientation, race, and gender on a measure of psychological distress. There is a known association between sexual orientation minority identity and worse mental health outcomes. There are reasons to believe, however, that this association could vary by race and gender. Prior research considering such moderating effects has been sparse and typically employed small-scale convenience sampling. Using data from the 2013–2015 National Health Interview Survey, this study investigates differences in psychological distress scores between heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and bisexual participants across gender and racial categories. The results indicate a significant three-way interaction between sexual orientation, race, and gender. Specifically, the association between psychological distress and being a gay male is significantly larger for racial minority men than for White men. Although gay and lesbian women have significantly more psychological distress than heterosexual women, this gap is similar for White and racial minority women. Further analyses suggest that the moderating effect found among men is driven primarily by the higher psychological distress scores among Black and Hispanic gay men. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.
Collaborative and Secure Estimation of IP Address Space Utilisation

Our community’s understanding of IPv4 address space exhaustion, and likely pressure for IPv6 adoption, requires knowing how much of the allocated IPv4 space is actively used and how many hosts actually use IPv6. A complete view of the whole IP address space is challenging, due to a mix of privacy concerns and practical measurement challenges. To address this gap we present a collaborative and secure capture-recapture (CR) technique for estimating the IP address space utilisation of the whole Internet. Multiple independent collaborators with observed IP addresses (for example, from server logs) can share their datasets for CR analysis while guaranteeing the privacy of each collaborator’s locally observed addresses. Based on an improved Private Set Intersection Cardinality (PSIC) technique, we demonstrate that our scheme scales well to datasets of 1–2 billion addresses across 5–10 collaborators, with estimation errors below 5%.
Fast Filtration of Bacterial or Mammalian Suspension Cell Cultures for Optimal Metabolomics Results

The metabolome offers real time detection of the adaptive, multi-parametric response of the organisms to environmental changes, pathophysiological stimuli or genetic modifications and thus rationalizes the optimization of cell cultures in bioprocessing. In bioprocessing the measurement of physiological intracellular metabolite levels is imperative for successful applications. However, a sampling method applicable to all cell types with little to no validation effort which simultaneously offers high recovery rates, high metabolite coverage and sufficient removal of extracellular contaminations is still missing. Here, quenching, centrifugation and fast filtration were compared and fast filtration in combination with a stabilizing washing solution was identified as the most promising sampling method. Different influencing factors such as filter type, vacuum pressure, washing solutions were comprehensively tested. The improved fast filtration method (MxP® FastQuench) followed by routine lipid/polar extraction delivers a broad metabolite coverage and recovery reflecting well physiological intracellular metabolite levels for different cell types, such as bacteria (Escherichia coli) as well as mammalian cells chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and mouse myeloma cells (NS0). The proposed MxP® FastQuench allows sampling, i.e. separation of cells from medium with washing and quenching, in less than 30 seconds and is robustly designed to be applicable to all cell types. The washing solution contains the carbon source respectively the 13C-labeled carbon source to avoid nutritional stress during sampling. This method is also compatible with automation which would further reduce sampling times and the variability of metabolite profiling data.