Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning-Induced Plasticity Regulates Hippocampal Sharp Wave-Ripple Drive

Hippocampal sharp wave-ripples (SPW-Rs) and associated place-cell reactivations are crucial for spatial memory consolidation during sleep and rest. However, it remains unclear how learning and consolidation requirements influence and regulate subsequent SPW-R activity. Indeed, SPW-R activity has been observed not only following complex behavioral tasks, but also after random foraging in familiar environments, despite markedly different learning requirements. Because transient increases in SPW-R rates have been reported following training on memory tasks, we hypothesized that SPW-R activity following learning (but not routine behavior) could involve specific regulatory processes related to ongoing consolidation. Interfering with ripples would then result in a dynamic compensatory response only when initial memory traces required consolidation. Here we trained rats on a spatial memory task, and showed that subsequent sleep periods where ripple activity was perturbed by timed electrical stimulation were indeed characterized by increased SPW-R occurrence rates compared with control sleep periods where stimulations were slightly delayed in time and did not interfere with ripples. Importantly, this did not occur following random foraging in a familiar environment. We next showed that this dynamic response was abolished following injection of an NMDA receptor blocker (MK-801) before, but not after training. Our results indicate that NMDA receptor-dependent processes occurring during learning, such as network “tagging” and plastic changes, regulate subsequent ripple-mediated consolidation of spatial memory during sleep.
Visual Psychophysics and Physiological Optics Shape of the Posterior Vitreous Chamber in Human Emmetropia and Myopia

METHODS. Both eyes of 55 adult subjects were studied, 27 with emmetropia (mean spherical error [MSE] ‡ 0.55; <þ0.75 D; mean þ0.09 6 0.36 D) and 28 with myopia (MSE 5.87 6 2.31 D). Cycloplegic refraction was measured with a Shin Nippon autorefractor and anterior chamber depth and axial length with a Zeiss IOLMaster. Posterior vitreous chamber shapes were determined from T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (3.0-T) using procedures previously reported by our laboratory. Three-dimensional surface model coordinates were assigned to nasal, temporal, superior, and inferior quadrants and plotted in two dimensions to illustrate the composite shape of respective quadrants posterior to the second nodal point. Spherical analogues of chamber shape were constructed to compare relative sphericity between refractive groups and quadrants.
Evidence of human metapneumovirus in Australian children

Michael D Nissen,* David J Siebert,† Ian M Mackay,‡ Theo P Sloots,§ Stephen J Withers¶ * Director of Infectious Diseases, Royal Children’s Hospital, Herston Road, Herston, QLD 4029 † Director of Virology, Queensland Health Pathology Service, Royal Brisbane Hospital Complex, QLD; ‡ PhD Research Scholar; § Head, Clinical Virology Research Unit, Sir Albert Sakzewski Viral Research Centre, Royal Children’s Hospital, Herston, QLD; ¶ Director of Paediatrics, Logan Hospital, Logan, QLD. theniss@mailbox.uq. edu.au
Clinical features and prognostic factors of cutaneous vasculitis among dermatology patients in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

BACKGROUND Cutaneous vasculitis is common, yet the risk factors for its chronicity have not been established. OBJECTIVE To describe the clinical spectrum and identify risk factors for chronicity of cutaneous vasculitis. METHODS Retrospective data analysis of 275 patients diagnosed with cutaneous vasculitis from January 2008 to December 2013. RESULTS The mean age was 33.7 (±17.89) years, with female predominance. The majority of patients were Malays (67.3%). Skin biopsy was performed in 110 (40%) patients. The commonest sign was palpable purpura (30.6%). The aetiology remained elusive in 51.3% of patients. Common identifiable causes include infection (19.7%) and connective tissue disease (10.2%). Extracutaneous features were noted in 46.5% of patients. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate and antinuclear antibody were raised in 124 of 170 and 27 of 175 patients with documented results respectively. Cutaneous vasculitis was the presenting symptom in seven patients with newly diagnosed systemic lupus erythematosus. Anti Streptolysin O Titre was positive in 82 of 156 patients with documented results. Despite antibiotics, 31.7% of them had chronic lesions. Prednisolone alone was used in 20% of patients while 16.4% needed steroid-sparing agents. Most patients who needed systemic therapy (62%) had unidentifiable aetiology. Among the 155 patients who remained under follow up, 36.4% had chronic disease, one patient succumbed due to septicaemia, and the rest fully recovered within three months. The presence of ulcerative lesion was significantly associated with developing chronic vasculitis (p=0.003). CONCLUSION The clinical spectrum of cutaneous vasculitis in our population was similar to other studies. Ulcerative lesion predicts a chronic outcome.
Mal de Río Cuarto Virus Infection Triggers the Production of Distinctive Viral-Derived siRNA Profiles in Wheat and Its Planthopper Vector

Plant reoviruses are able to multiply in gramineae plants and delphacid vectors encountering different defense strategies with unique features. This study aims to comparatively assess alterations of small RNA (sRNA) populations in both hosts upon virus infection. For this purpose, we characterized the sRNA profiles of wheat and planthopper vectors infected by Mal de Río Cuarto virus (MRCV, Fijivirus, Reoviridae) and quantified virus genome segments by quantitative reverse transcription PCR We provide evidence that plant and insect silencing machineries differentially recognize the viral genome, thus giving rise to distinct profiles of virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs). In plants, most of the virus genome segments were targeted preferentially within their upstream sequences and vsiRNAs mapped with higher density to the smaller genome segments than to the medium or larger ones. This tendency, however, was not observed in insects. In both hosts, vsiRNAs were equally derived from sense and antisense RNA strands and the differences in vsiRNAs accumulation did not correlate with mRNAs accumulation. We also established that the piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway was active in the delphacid vector but, contrary to what is observed in virus-infected mosquitoes, virus-specific piRNAs were not detected. This work contributes to the understanding of the silencing response in insect and plant hosts.
Gender difference in estrogen receptor alpha promoter hypermethylation and its prognostic value in non‐small cell lung cancer

It has been documented that estrogen receptor (ER) transcription silencing due to hypermethylation is linked to the tumor progression of breast, uterine and prostate cancers. Additionally, ER hypermethylation in lung tumors has been associated with the exposure of specific carcinogens in animal study. The role of hypermethylation‐induced ER transcription silencing in lung tumor progression and its prognostic value for non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients remained unclear. In our study, ER hypermethylation of 123 lung tumors and adjacent normal parts were examined by methylation‐specific PCR (MSP). Estrogen receptor mRNA expression in lung tumors was determined by RT‐PCR. Our data indicated that ER hypermethylation was only detected in lung tumors, but not in adjacent normal lung tissues. This suggests that ER hypermethylation may be associated with lung tumorigenesis. Among the clinical parameters studied, only gender factor was correlated with ER hypermethylation with a higher frequency of ER hypermethylation being in male patients than in female patients (58 vs. 34%, p = 0.01). After being stratified by gender and cigarette smoking status, a similarly high prevalence of ER hypermethylation was found in male smoking and nonsmoking patients (60 vs. 61%) as compared to that of female nonsmoking patients (34%). To investigate if 17‐β estradiol (E2) was responsible for such gender difference in ER hypermethylation, a lung cancer A549 cell with ER hypermethylation and without ER mRNA expression was treated with E2 of various concentrations for defined time intervals to show that an E2 treatment could restore the expression of ER mRNA and eliminate ER hypermethylation. Western blot data also showed that acetylated histone 3 and histone 4 of chromatin were increased significantly by E2 treatment. Thus, E2 can make ER mRNA re‐expression by eliminating ER hypermethylation. To elucidate the prognostic value of ER hypermethylation, Kaplan‐Meier analysis was carried out to show that patients with ER hypermethylation had a poorer prognosis than those without ER hypermethylation. Such prognostic prediction, however, applied only to male (p = 0.0044) patients. Cox regression analysis further showed the feasibility of ER hypermethylation as an independent prognostic factor of NSCLC (p = 0.007). It is possible that antiestrogens may have different therapeutic values for male and female lung cancer patients. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Locally-adaptive loosely-coupled level sets for retinal layer and fluid segmentation in subjects with central serous retinopathy

We present a locally-adaptive approach to segment the fluid and the interfaces between retinal layers in eyes affected by central serous retinopathy based on loosely-coupled level sets. The approach exploits the local attenuation coefficient differences of layers around an interface and introduces auxiliary interfaces to delineate the fluid. Thus, it can handle abrupt attenuation coefficient variations and topology-disrupting anomalies. The method was applied to in-vivo images of retinas acquired by optical coherence tomography. A quantitative comparison with manual annotations shows the method's high accuracy: we obtained a mean absolute deviation for the interfaces of 3.7-8.9 ßm (1-2 pixels) and a Dice coefficient for the fluid segmentation of 0.96.
Annual Distribution Budget in the Beverage Industry: A Case Study

Unicer, a major Portuguese beverage company, improved its tactical distribution planning decisions and study alternative scenarios for its supply strategies and network configuration as result of an operations research OR-driven process. In this paper, we present the decision support system responsible for this new methodology. At the core of this system is a mathematical programming-based heuristic that includes decision variables that address transportation and inventory management problems. Unicer runs a set of production and distribution platforms with various characteristics to fulfill customers demand. The main challenge of our work was to develop a tactical distribution plan, which Unicer calls an annual distribution budget, as realistically as possible without jeopardizing the nature of the strategic and tactical tool. The company had a complex tactical distribution planning problem because of the increasing variety of its stock-keeping units and its need for a flexible distribution network to satisfy its customers, who demand a very fragmented set of products. Atypical flows of finished products from Unicer's distribution centers to its production platforms are a major cause of this complexity, which yields an intricate supply chain. The quality of the solutions we provided and the implementation of a user-friendly interface and editable inputs and outputs for our decision support system motivated company practitioners to use it. Unicer saves approximately two million euros annually and provides better information to its decision makers. As a result, these decision makers now view their operations from a more OR-based perspective.
Human intestinal epithelial cells promote the differentiation of tolerogenic dendritic cells

Objective: In mice, a subpopulation of gut dendritic cells (DCs) expressing CD103 drives the development of regulatory T (Treg) cells. Further, it was recently described that the cross-talk between human intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and DCs helps in maintaining gut immune homeostasis via the induction of non-inflammatory DCs. In this study, an analysis was carried out to determine whether IECs could promote the differentiation of CD103+ tolerogenic DCs, and the function of primary CD103+ DCs isolated from human mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) was evaluated. Methods: Monocyte-derived DCs (MoDCs) and circulating CD1c+ DCs were conditioned or not with supernatants from Caco-2 cells or IECs isolated from healthy donors or donors with Crohn’s disease and analysed for their ability to induce Treg cell differentiation. In some cases, transforming growth factor β (TGFβ), retinoic acid (RA) or thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) were neutralised before conditioning. CD103+ and CD103− DCs were sorted by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) from MLNs and used in Treg cell differentiation experiments. Results: It was found that human IECs promoted the differentiation of tolerogenic DCs able to drive the development of adaptive Foxp3+ Treg cells. This control was lost in patients with Crohn’s disease and paralleled a reduced expression of tolerogenic factors by primary IECs. MoDCs differentiated with RA or IEC supernatant upregulated the expression of CD103. Consistently, human primary CD103+ DCs isolated from MLNs were endowed with the ability to drive Treg cell differentiation. This subset of DCs expressed CCR7 and probably represents a lamina propria-derived migratory population. Conclusions: A population of tolerogenic CD103+ DCs was identified in the human gut that probably differentiate in response to IEC-derived factors and drive Treg cell development.
Prevalence of stroke at high altitude (3380 m) in Cuzco, a town of Peru. A population-based study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We carried out a door-to-door survey on stroke prevalence at high altitude in Cuzco City, a town in the Peruvian Andes located 3380 m above sea level. METHODS AND RESULTS Among the 3246 screened individuals over 15 years old, there were 21 cases of first-ever completed stroke, yielding a crude prevalence ratio of 6.47 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.71 to 8.93 per 1000). The age-adjusted to WHO population point prevalence ratio was 5.74 per 1000 (95% CI, 3.14 to 8.35 per 1000), and the age-adjusted to North American US population point prevalence ratio was 8.58 per 1000 (95% CI, 5.44 to 11.75 per 1000). Multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that age, polycythemia, high consumption of alcohol, and area of residence were associated with stroke prevalence. Our results suggest that the stroke prevalence in the central areas of Cuzco with sedentary people having a relatively high standard of living was higher than that in the peripheral areas with people with a relatively lower standard of living and less sedentary activities (odds ratio, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.4 to 23). CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of stroke suggests that stroke may be a public health problem in developing countries. This study suggests the importance of environmental factors such as altitude and lifestyle in stroke occurrence. The role of these factors should be confirmed and taken into account in future stroke prevalence studies.
Tumor Necrosis Factor–Neuropeptide Y Cross Talk Regulates Inflammation, Epithelial Barrier Functions, and Colonic Motility

Background:Neuro-immune interactions play a significant role in regulating the severity of inflammation. Our previous work demonstrated that neuropeptide Y (NPY) is upregulated in the enteric nervous system during murine colitis and that NPY knockout mice exhibit reduced inflammation. Here, we investigated if NPY expression during inflammation is induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF), the main proinflammatory cytokine. Methods:Using primary enteric neurons and colon explant cultures from wild type and NPY knockout (NPY−/−) mice, we determined if NPY knockdown modulates TNF release and epithelial permeability. Further, we assessed if NPY expression is inducible by TNF in enteric neuronal cells and mouse model of experimental colitis, using the TNF inhibitors-etanercept (blocks transmembrane and soluble TNF) and XPro1595 (blocks soluble TNF only). Results:We found that enteric neurons express TNF receptors (TNFR1 and R2). Primary enteric neurons from NPY−/− mice produced less TNF compared with wild type. Further, TNF activated NPY promoter in enteric neurons through phospho-c-Jun. NPY−/− mice had decreased intestinal permeability. In vitro, NPY increased epithelial permeability through phosphatidyl inositol-3-kinase (PI3-K)-induced pore-forming claudin-2. TNF inhibitors attenuated NPY expression in vitro and in vivo. TNF inhibitor–treated colitic mice exhibited reduced NPY expression and inflammation, reduced oxidative stress, enhanced neuronal survival, and improved colonic motility. XPro1595 had more protective effects on neuronal survival and motility compared with etanercept. Conclusions:We demonstrate a novel TNF–NPY cross talk that modulates inflammation, barrier functions, and colonic motility during inflammation. It is also suggested that selective blocking of soluble TNF may be a better therapeutic option than using anti-TNF antibodies.
Nonuniform frequency sampling with active learning: application to wide-band frequency-domain modeling and design

One must employ many frequency points to synthesize a wide-band time-domain signal scattered or radiated from a given linear device. If the structure is large relative to wavelengths of interest, the large number of required frequency-domain computations may require significant computational resources. An active learning framework is introduced to reduce the number of frequencies needed for frequency-domain numerical computations or measurements. This method is used to optimally select frequency points at which a computation of measurement should be performed, resulting in nonuniform frequency sampling and often a reduced number of total frequency points (vis-a/spl grave/-vis uniform sampling). In this paper we focus on wide-band frequency-domain numerical modeling, demonstrating a reduction in the required number of computations. The method consists of two basic steps, tied to fitting the frequency-domain data to a simple parametric model. One step involves estimation of model parameters using a least-square (LS) algorithm. This process is based on data from frequency points computed thus far by the rigorous numerical model. The next step is to optimally choose the next frequency point for analysis by the numerical model. This new frequency point is selected with the goal of reducing uncertainty in the simplified parametric model (quantified via the Fisher information matrix). Iterating these two steps, a sequence of numerical computations are performed, each at the most informative frequency for learning the parameters of the associated simpler parametric model. After demonstrating this technique with scattering problems, the idea is employed for design of an ultrawide-band antenna. In this design, a genetic algorithm (GA) is employed to optimize the geometry and the resistive loading of an antenna, with the number of required frequency-domain numerical computations reduced by the parametric model and active learning.
Determinants of Degree Performance in UK Universities: A Statistical Analysis of the 1993 Student Cohort

We exploit a unique data-set matching individual-level data for the 1993 cohort of UK university leavers to DfEE school-level data. We analyze the determinants of undergraduate degree performance using an ordered probit regression model, and find that degree performance is influenced positively by A-level score, positively by occupationally-ranked social class background and is significantly worse both for students who had previously attended an Independent school and for male students. We find that the significance of these effects is robust across different subsamples of the population, and we explore the variation in the magnitude of the effects. We also find that very little of the gender performance gap can be explained by gender differences in observed characteristics and that the superior performance of females is reversed only in the case of Oxbridge students. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Intra- and inter-individual variation in flight direction in a migratory butterfly co-vary with individual mobility

SUMMARY Flight direction is a major component of an animal's migratory success. However, few studies have focused on variation in flight direction both between and within individuals, which is likely to be correlated with other traits implied in migration processes. We report patterns of intra- and inter-individual variation in flight direction in the large white butterfly Pieris brassicae. The presence of inter-individual variation in flight direction for individuals tested in the same conditions suggests that this trait is inherited in P. brassicae and we propose that a rapid loss of migratory skills may exist in the absence of selection for migration. The magnitude of intra-individual variation was negatively correlated to two surrogates of the potential for migration: mobility and wing length. Highly mobile and longed-winged individuals within the same family were found to fly in similar directions, whereas less mobile and short-winged individuals displayed divergent flight direction compared with the average direction of their kin. There was also a negative correlation between the variance to the mean flight direction of a family and its average mobility, but no correlation with wing length. We discuss these issues in terms of the evolution of traits potentially implied in both migration and dispersal in P. brassicae.
Establishing a Link Between Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Childhood Physical Abuse

Attention deficit disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADD/ADHD) are found in approximately 5% to 10% of school-aged children. This study examined whether childhood physical abuse was associated with ADD/ADHD. Data were derived from a population-based sample of 13,054 adults from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. We used logistical regression analysis in 2 models, both of which had ADD/ADHD as the criterion variable. There were 7 times higher odds of ADD/ADHD among those who reported they had been abused after controlling for several potential mediating factors, including age, race, gender, and 3 other types of adverse childhood experiences (parental divorce, parental addictions, and long-term parental unemployment) in comparison to those who were not abused. The results of this analysis show a strong link between childhood abuse and ADD/ADHD, an association that requires further study.
Statistical Learning Theory

A machine learning system, in general, learns from the environment, but statistical machine learning programs (systems) learn from the data. This chapter presents techniques for statistical machine learning using Support Vector Machines (SVM) to recognize the patterns and classify them, predicting structured objects using SVM, k-nearest neighbor method for classification, and Naive Bayes classifiers. The artificial neural networks are presented with brief introduction to error-correction rules, Boltzmann learning, Hebbian rule, competitive learning rule, and deep learning. The instance-based learning is treated in details with its algorithm and learning task. The chapter concludes with a summary, and a set of practice exercises.