Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Action of Prolactin on the Sex Accessory Glands of the Male Rat

Summary Prolactin synergizes with testosterone to increase the wet weight of the dorsolateral prostate of the rat and the functional activity of this gland, as indicated by an increase in zinc content. Prolactin, in the absence of testicular androgens, increased the uptake of zinc by the dorsolateral prostate.
A potential approach for mobility prediction using GPS data

In this paper, we investigate the problem of user movement prediction from historical location data. We create an Android application, namely Movement Predictor, that can help to collect location data from registered users by Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. We analyze different kinds of feature vectors and compare three supervised learning models: Markov model, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and decision tree. The experiments show that SVM model can achieve the highest performance (with an accuracy 92%) in comparison with other approaches.
Substance use, sleep and intervention design: insights from qualitative data

Abstract Background: Alcohol and other drug use is associated with poor sleep quality and quantity, but there is limited qualitative research exploring substance users’ experiences of sleep and few psychosocial sleep interventions for them. Aim: To inform the development of psychosocial interventions to improve sleep amongst people reporting drug/alcohol problems. Method: Qualitative data were collected during a sleep survey. Of the 549 drug/alcohol users completing the survey, 188 (34%) provided additional information about their sleep using a free text box. Responses were analysed via Iterative Categorisation. Findings were reviewed with reference to the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW). Results: All data were categorised inductively under five headings: (i) sleep quality; (ii) nature of sleep problems; (iii) sleep and substances; (iv) factors improving sleep quality; (v) factors undermining sleep quality. Substance use undermined sleep, but poor sleep often persisted after substance use had ceased. Sleep problems were diverse; as were the causes of, and strategies for dealing with, those problems. Causes and strategies had biological, psychological, social and environmental roots. Conclusions: The BCW facilitated the identification of intervention components that might improve the sleep of people who use substances. These components relate to education, training, enablement, modelling, service provision, guidelines and environment.
Pathogenesis of Feline Hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism is recognised not only as the commonest endocrine disease of domestic cats but as one of the most frequently diagnosed disorders in small animal practice. Prior to its first definitive diagnosis in 1979, there were few reports of pathological abnormalities in feline thyroid glands and only anecdotal reference to clinical signs that may have been caused by hyperthyroidism. Since that time, there has been a marked increase in the frequency of diagnosis of feline hyperthyroidism. It is unlikely that increased awareness and improved diagnostic capabilities alone account for such a dramatic increase in the prevalence of this disease and it has been suggested that hyperthyroidism is truly a new disease of cats. However, this is complicated by a growing cat population, an increased longevity for cats and possibly, a greater propensity to seek veterinary advice. Thyrotoxicosis arises because of the excess production of the active thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3) and/or thyroxine (T4) from an abnormally functioning thyroid gland. To date, much research has been carried out culminating in a wealth of data on clinical manifestations, diagnostic tests and therapeutic options. Histopathologically, functional adenomatous hyperplasia (adenoma) of one (approximately 30% of cases) or more commonly, both (70% of cases) thyroid lobes is known to be the most common abnormality associated with hyperthyroidism while thyroid carcinoma is rare, accounting for less than 2% of cases. However, the
Instructions for use Title Evaluation of delineation of image details in semiconductor PET utilizing the normalized mutualinformation technique

Title Evaluation of delineation of image details in semiconductor PET utilizing the normalized mutual information technique Author(s) Kubo, Naoki; Hirata, Kenji; Matsuzaki, Kazuki; Morimoto, Yuichi; Takeuchi, Wataru; Hattori, Naoya; Shiga, Tohru; Kuge, Yuji; Tamaki, Nagara Citation Nuclear medicine communications, 35(6): 677-682 Issue Date 2014-06 Doc URL http://hdl.handle. net/2115/59117 Right This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Kubo N. , et al. Evaluation of delineation of image details in semiconductor PET utilizing the normalized mutual information technique. Nuclear Medicine Communications 2014; 35(6), p.677-682. Type article (author version)
A pilot study of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-g-polyethylene glycol and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-g-methylcellulose branched copolymers as injectable scaffolds for local delivery of neurotrophins and cellular transplants into the injured spinal cord.

OBJECT The authors investigated the feasibility of using injectable hydrogels, based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm), lightly cross-linked with polyethylene glycol (PEG) or methylcellulose (MC), to serve as injectable scaffolds for local delivery of neurotrophins and cellular transplants into the injured spinal cord. The primary aims of this work were to assess the biocompatibility of the scaffolds by evaluating graft cell survival and the host tissue immune response. The scaffolds were also evaluated for their ability to promote axonal growth through the action of released brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). METHODS The in vivo performance of PNIPAAm-g-PEG and PNIPAAm-g-MC was evaluated using a rodent model of spinal cord injury (SCI). The hydrogels were injected as viscous liquids into the injury site and formed space-filling hydrogels. The host immune response and biocompatibility of the scaffolds were evaluated at 2 weeks by histological and fluorescent immunohistochemical analysis. Commercially available matrices were used as a control and examined for comparison. RESULTS Experiments showed that the scaffolds did not contribute to an injury-related inflammatory response. PNIPAAm-g-PEG was also shown to be an effective vehicle for delivery of cellular transplants and supported graft survival. Additionally, PNIPAAm-g-PEG and PNIPAAm-g-MC are permissive to axonal growth and can serve as injectable scaffolds for local delivery of BDNF. CONCLUSIONS Based on the results, the authors suggest that these copolymers are feasible injectable scaffolds for cell grafting into the injured spinal cord and for delivery of therapeutic factors.
Combining ability of grain yield and agronomic traits in diverse maize lines with maize streak virus resistance for Eastern Africa region

Combining ability of inbred lines is important information in maize hybrid breeding programs incorporating materials from various germplasm sources. This study was conducted with germplasm varying in their maize streak virus (MSV) reaction, genetic, and geographic origin. In a half diallel cross of six parents, general and specific combining abilities were determined for grain yield, days to silking, ear height and MSV disease resistance. The grain yields of the single crosses were significantly higher from those of the hybrid checks, H614 and H513, which are popular varieties. The importance of both GCA (53%) and SCA (47%) for grain yield was observed, but a preponderance of GCA existed for days to silking, ear height, and MSV disease resistance. The best general combiners for grain yield and MSV resistance were CML197 (0.92, p<0.001) and C92 (-0.61 p<0.001) respectively. The prediction of hybrid performance for grain yield and MSV resistance could be based on GCA alone, but this should be within specific niches since GCA interacted highly with environments.
Isolation and characterization of the mycobacterial phagosome: segregation from the endosomal/lysosomal pathway

Mycobacteria have the ability to persist within host phagocytes, and their success as intracellular pathogens is thought to be related to the ability to modify their intracellular environment. After entry into phagocytes, mycobacteria‐containing phagosomes acquire markers for the endosomal pathway, but do not fuse with lysosomes. The molecular machinery that is involved in the entry and survival of mycobacteria in host cells is poorly characterized. Here we describe the use of organelle electrophoresis to study the uptake of Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) into murine macrophages. We demonstrate that live, but not dead, mycobacteria occupy a phagosome that can be physically separated from endosomal/lysosomal compartments. Biochemical analysis of purified mycobacterial phagosomes revealed the absence of endosomal/lysosomal markers LAMP‐1 and β‐hexosaminidase. Combining subcellular fractionation with two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis, we found that a set of host proteins was present in phagosomes that were absent from endosomal/lysosomal compartments. The residence of mycobacteria in compartments outside the endosomal/lysosomal system may explain their persistence inside host cells and their sequestration from immune recognition. Furthermore, the approach described here may contribute to an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms that determine the intracellular fate of mycobacteria during infection.
Proglacial river stage, discharge, and temperature datasets from the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua River northern tributary, Southwest Greenland, 2008–2011

Abstract. Pressing scientific questions concerning the Greenland ice sheet's climatic sensitivity, hydrology, and contributions to current and future sea level rise require hydrological datasets to resolve. While direct observations of ice sheet meltwater losses can be obtained in terrestrial rivers draining the ice sheet and from lake levels, few such datasets exist. We present a new hydrologic dataset from previously unmonitored sites in the vicinity of Kangerlussuaq, Southwest Greenland. This dataset contains measurements of river stage and discharge for three sites along the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua (Watson) River's northern tributary, with 30 min temporal resolution between June 2008 and July 2011. Additional data of water temperature, air pressure, and lake stage are also provided. Flow velocity and depth measurements were collected at sites with incised bedrock or structurally reinforced channels to maximize data quality. However, like most proglacial rivers, high turbulence and bedload transport introduce considerable uncertainty to the derived discharge estimates. Eleven propagating error sources were quantified, and reveal that largest uncertainties are associated with flow depth observations. Mean discharge uncertainties (approximately the 68% confidence interval) are two to four times larger (p19% to p43%) than previously published estimates for Greenland rivers. Despite these uncertainties, this dataset offers a rare collection of direct measurements of ice sheet runoff to the global ocean and is freely available for scientific use at http://dx.doi. org/10.1594/PANGAEA.762818 .
Effects of porous media, macrophyte type and hydraulic retention time on the removal of organic load and micropollutants in constructed wetlands

ABSTRACT The performance of horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands in the removal of micropollutants from a wastewater treatment plant effluent was evaluated at mesocosm level. Fifteen mesocosms were studied following a modified Latin Square experimental design with six additional points. Three variables at three levels were studied: porous media –PM- (river gravel, fine volcanic gravel and coarse volcanic gravel), macrophyte type –M- (Thypa latiffolia, Phragmites australis, and Cyperus papyrus) and hydraulic retention time –HRT- (1, 3 and 5 days). As response variables the removal percentages of the total organic load of the effluent (BOD5) and the loads of several micropollutants (caffeine, galaxolide, tonalide, alkylphenols and their monoethoxylates and diethoxylates, methyl dihydrojasmonate, sunscreen UV-15 and parsol) were used. The results showed that the systems remove between 70% and 75% of the organic load and that all the micropollutants were degraded at different extents, from 55% to 99%. The HRT was the variable that showed major effects on the treatment process, while M and PM showed no statistically significant differences in the used experimental conditions.
Early afferent signaling in the outer plexiform layer regulates development of horizontal cell morphology

The dendritic patterning of retinal horizontal cells has been shown to be specified by the cone photoreceptor afferents. The present investigation has addressed whether this specification is due to visually dependent synaptic transmission in the outer plexiform layer or to some other early, pre‐visual, neural activity. Individually labeled horizontal cells from dark‐reared mice, as well as from mice carrying a mutation in the Cacna1f gene, which encodes the pore‐forming calcium channel subunit Cav1.4, were assessed for various morphological features. The dark‐reared mice showed no alteration in any of these features, despite showing a compromised maximal voltage response in the electroretinograms. The retinas of Cacna1f mutant mice, by contrast, showed conspicuous morphological changes that mimicked the effects observed previously in coneless transgenic mice. These changes were present as early as postnatal day 10, when the shape and density of the cone pedicles appeared normal. Ultrastructurally, however, the pedicles at this early stage, as well as in maturity, lacked synaptic ribbons and the invaginations associated with postsynaptic processes. These results suggest a role for this calcium channel subunit in ribbon assembly in addition to its role in modulating calcium influx and glutamate release. Together, they suggest a complex cascade of interactions between developing cone pedicles and horizontal cell dendrites involving early spontaneous activity, dendritic attraction, ribbon assembly, and pedicle invagination. J. Comp. Neurol. 506:745–758, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Operator dependence of physician-performed whole-breast US: lesion detection and characterization.

PURPOSE To prospectively examine operator dependence of lesion detection, description, and interpretation when experienced breast radiologists perform whole-breast ultrasonography (US). MATERIALS AND METHODS Institutional review board approval was obtained for the HIPAA-compliant study. Ten women (aged 19-53 years; mean, 37.4 years; 20 breasts) with numerous known breast lesions consented to participate. Eleven breast radiologists, who passed experience and qualification requirements for a screening breast US trial and consented to participate, scanned both breasts in all participants and documented images of each detected lesion and its size, location, features, palpability, and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System final assessment. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to measure agreement on lesion size and location, and kappa statistics were calculated for agreement on features and final assessments compared with consensus. RESULTS Eighty-eight unique lesions were identified by at least two investigators (five to 13 lesions per participant). Mean diameter was 6.7 mm (standard error, 0.4; range, 2-22 mm), and eight lesions (9%) were palpable. Of 968 potential detections (88 lesions, 11 investigators), 536 (55%) detections were made. Individual investigators detected between 43 (49%) and 58 (66%) lesions. Larger lesions were more consistently detected: Detection rates were six of 33 lesions (18%) at 3 mm or smaller; 164 of 374 (43.9%) at 3.1-5 mm; 145 of 275 (52.7%) at 5.1-7 mm; 119 of 176 (67.6%) at 7.1-9 mm; 38 of 44 (86%) at 9.1-11 mm; and 64 of 66 (97%) lesions larger than 11 mm (P < .001). ICCs for clockface, distance from nipple, and individual lesion diameter all exceeded 0.7, indicating high reliability. For shape, margins, and final assessments of solid lesions, kappa values were 0.62, 0.67 (substantial agreement), and 0.52 (moderate agreement), respectively. Of 110 detections of consensus cysts 8 mm and smaller, 15 (14%) detections were considered to be of solid lesions by at least one reader. CONCLUSION Larger lesions (>11 mm) are most consistently detected, with fewer than half of lesions 5 mm or smaller in mean diameter identified; substantial agreement was found for description of lesion size, location, and key features, and moderate agreement was found for lesion management.
Effects of 2‐amino‐4‐phosphonobutyric acid on cells in the distal layers of the tiger salamander's retina.

1. We studied the effects of 2‐amino‐4‐phosphonobutyric acid (APB) on the response properties of rods, horizontal cells and bipolar cells in the isolated, perfused retina of the tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum. A concentration of 100 microM was found to be sufficient to elicit maximal effects. 2. Rods hyperpolarized slightly upon exposure to 100 microM‐APB and their response amplitudes were slightly reduced. The amplitude of the cone‐generated component of the rod's response to 700 nm light was not significantly affected by APB. 3. Horizontal cells hyperpolarized by 2‐5 mV upon exposure to 100 microM‐APB. The rod‐driven component of the horizontal cell response increased in amplitude while the cone‐driven component decreased in amplitude. APB thus causes an increase in voltage gain between rods and horizontal cells and a decrease in cone/horizontal cell gain. These findings can be explained in terms of an APB‐induced reduction in transmitter release from the cones. 4. APB at a concentration of 100 microM caused an increase in the length constant of the horizontal cell syncytium. Our analysis shows this to be due primarily to a 50% reduction in the coupling impedance between the cells of the syncytium. 5. The effects of APB on off‐centre bipolar cells were qualitatively similar to those on horizontal cells. APB increased the amplitudes of rod‐driven responses and reduced those of cone‐driven responses. The length constants, both of the receptive field centre and of the surround, were increased and the strength of the surround relative to the centre was reduced by about 20%. 6. APB abolished the depolarizing light responses of the receptive field centres of on‐centre bipolar cells. A hyperpolarizing response remained whose spatial properties were similar to those of the receptive field surround. We believe this response to reflect a direct (feedforward) input to on‐centre bipolar cells from horizontal cells.
Entomopathogenic Fungus, Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) and Gamma Irradiation Efficiency Against the Greater Wax Moth, Galleria melonella (L.)

Two concentrations of the entomopathogenic fungus, B. bassiana; 10 and 10 spores ml against 48 1 the fourth larval instar of the greater wax moth; G. melonella. There was a positive correlation between the fungal concentration and its lethality for the treated larvae. The larval mortality percentages increased significantly with 10 spores ml as it reached 75.87%, after 96 h from the beginning of the treatment while it 81 scored 44.83% with 10 spores ml after 96 h as compared with 3.33% for the untreated control, when three 41 different oses f gamma irradiation were exposed to the fourth larval instar of G. melonella (50, 100 and 150 Gy) combined with the fungal pathogenicity effect, the efficiency of B. bassiana increased especially when the gamma irradiation dose was increased no adults were produced with both fungal concentrations and 150 Gy gamma irradiation dose. Males were more tolerant than females in all examined treatments. Histological studies were carried out by transversal sections in the midgut of the treated larvae of G. melonella. Obtained micrographs showed great damage in the epithelial layer with increasing the number and size of vacuoles. Fungal spores, hyphal bodies, chlamydospores and blastospores were clearly marked in all treatments. Gamma irradiation combinations with the fungal concentrations increased the damage in the larval midgut.
Entry and Subcontracting in Public Procurement Auctions

We empirically study how the interplay between entry and subcontracting choices is affected by the use of different auction formats in public procurement. The difference-in-differences strategy used exploits a data set of auctions for public works run alternately under first price and average bid auctions. We find that the use of first price auctions causes a marked decline in both entry and subcontracting. We also find that the type of firms entering first price auctions changes with firms becoming more likely to bid jointly with other firms in ad hoc joint ventures.Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi. org/10.1287/mnsc.2014. 2071 . This paper was accepted by Teck-Hua Ho, behavioral economics .
Predicting Arousal , Valence and Dominance with MultiTask Learning

An appealing representation of emotions is the use of emotional attributes such as arousal (passive versus active), valence (negative versus positive) and dominance (weak versus strong). While previous studies have considered these dimensions as orthogonal descriptors to represent emotions, there are strong theoretical and practical evidences showing the interrelation between these emotional attributes. This observation suggests that predicting emotional attributes with a unified framework should outperform machine learning algorithms that separately predict each attribute. This study presents methods to jointly learn emotional attributes by exploiting their interdependencies. The framework relies on multi-task learning (MTL) implemented with deep neural networks (DNN) with shared hidden layers. The framework provides a principled approach to learn shared feature representations that maximize the performance of regression models. The results of within-corpus and cross-corpora evaluation show the benefits of MTL over single task learning (STL). MTL achieves gains on concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) as high as 4.7% for within-corpus evaluations, and 14.0% for cross-corpora evaluations. The visualization of the activations of the last hidden layers illustrates that MTL creates better feature representation. The best structure has shared layers followed by attribute-dependent layers, capturing better the relation between attributes.
Interference Resilient Duty Cycling for Sensor Networks Under Co-Existing Environments

To save energy, wireless sensor networks often run in a low-duty-cycle mode, where the radios of sensor nodes are scheduled between ON and OFF states. For nodes to communicate with each other, low power listening (LPL) and low power probing (LPP) are two types of rendezvous mechanisms. Nodes with LPL or LPP rely on signal strength or probe packets to detect potential transmissions, and then keep the radio-ON for communications. Unfortunately, in co-existing environments, signal strength and probe packets are susceptible to interference, resulting in undesirable radio ON time when the signal strength of interference is above a threshold or a probe packet is interfered. To address the issue, we propose ZiSense, a low duty cycling mechanism resilient to interference. Instead of checking the signal strength or decoding the probe packets, ZiSense detects the ZigBee signals and wakes up nodes accordingly. On sensor nodes with limited information and resource, we carefully study and extract short-term features purely from the time-domain RSSI sequence, and design a rule-based approach to efficiently identify the existence of ZigBee. We theoretically analyze the benefit of ZiSense in different environments and implement a prototype in TinyOS with TelosB motes. We examine ZiSense performance under controlled interference and office environments. The evaluation results show that, compared with the state-of-the-art rendezvous mechanisms, ZiSense significantly reduces the energy consumption.