Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 28-nm dual-port SRAM macro with active bitline equalizing circuitry against write disturb issue

We propose circuit techniques for an 8T dual-port (DP) SRAM to improve its minimum operating voltage (Vddmin). Active bitline equalizing technique improves the write margin whenever a write-disturb occurs. This technique is applicable for both synchronous and asynchronous clock frequencies between ports. We designed and fabricated a 256 kb DP-SRAM macro using 28-nm low-power CMOS technology and achieved low-voltage operation at 0.66 V and 1.4 ns write access time at 25°C, which are 120 mV lower and 40% faster than the conventional performance.
New Tampered Features for Scene and Caption Text Classification in Video Frame

The presence of both caption/graphics/superimposed and scene texts in video frames is the major cause for the poor accuracy of text recognition methods. This paper proposes an approach for identifying tampered information by analyzing the spatial distribution of DCT coefficients in a new way for classifying caption and scene text. Since caption text is edited/superimposed, which results in artificially created texts comparing to scene texts that exist naturally in frames. We exploit this fact to identify the presence of caption and scene texts in video frames based on the advantage of DCT coefficients. The proposed method analyzes the distributions of both zero and non-zero coefficients (only positive values) locally by moving a window, and studies histogram operations over each input text line image. This generates line graphs for respective zero and non-zero coefficient coordinates. We further study the behavior of text lines, namely, linearity and smoothness based on centroid location analysis, and the principal axis direction of each text line for classification. Experimental results on standard datasets, namely, ICDAR 2013 video, 2015 video, YVT video and our own data, show that the performances of text recognition methods are improved significantly after-classification compared to before-classification.
Clinical characteristics and risk factors for a complex first febrile convulsion.

OBJECTIVES To determine the frequency of complex features in febrile convulsion, association of complex febrile convulsion with neurological findings and risk factors associated with complex febrile convulsion. METHODOLOGY Retrospective review of clinical records of 379 patients admitted for their first febrile convulsion over a two-year period. RESULTS Complex features occurred in 37.2% patients. Focal seizures tended to be prolonged as well. There was also significant association between prolonged or focal seizures with presence of neurological abnormalities. The longer the duration of the seizure, the higher was the likelihood of neurological abnormalities. Risk factors associated with a complex first febrile convulsion were: 1) Age of 15 months or less, 2) Birth weight of 2 kg or less and 3) initial temperature of 38 degrees C or less. CONCLUSIONS Any acute febrile convulsion should be abbreviated soonest possible as neurological abnormalities, which may be signs of cerebral insult become more likely with increasing duration of seizures. The risk factors found associated with complex febrile convulsion underline the propensity of the immature, developing brain to abnormal seizure discharges in response to a lower temperature threshold.
Ligand‐dependent serum response factor activation by the human CC chemokine receptors CCR2a and CCR2b is mediated by G proteins of the Gq family

Expression of the human CCR2 receptors, CCR2a and CCR2b, in mammalian cells results in ligand‐dependent changes in the activity of multiple cellular signal transduction pathways, mediated in most cases by pertussis toxin‐sensitive heterotrimeric G proteins of the Gi/o subfamily. In addition, CCR2a and CCR2b receptors have been shown to couple to Gq family members, triggering the canonical activation of phospholipase Cβ isoenzymes. Activation of pertussis toxin‐insensitive Gq proteins by cell‐surface receptors is not only coupled to activation of phospholipase isoenzymes but also to Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factors, which in turn mediate activation of the Rho GTPases. Activated Rho GTPases regulate numerous cellular functions, including the organization of the actin cytoskeleton and gene transcription, such as the transcription factor serum response factor. These findings prompted us to investigate whether CCR2a and/or CCR2b stimulate serum response factor activity. The results presented herein demonstrate that stimulation of human CCR2a‐ or CCR2b‐expressing COS‐7 cells caused a vigorous induction of serum response factor activity. This effect was specifically mediated by Gq and/or G14, as well as Rho A and/or a closely related Rho GTPase. Furthermore, the stimulatory effect of CCR2a and CCR2b and Gαq was sensitive to coexpression of the Gαq‐interacting leukemia‐associated Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor. The findings of the work indicate a role for Gαq and/or Gα14 and in CCR2a/CCR2b‐stimulated Rho A GTPase‐mediated serum response factor activation and introduce a noncanonical pathway activated by CCR2 receptors by coupling to Gq proteins.
Intensive Foreign Language Learning Reveals Effects on Categorical Perception of Sibilant Voicing After Only 3 Weeks

Models of speech learning suggest that adaptations to foreign language sound categories take place within 6 to 12 months of exposure to a foreign language. Results from laboratory language training show effects of very targeted training on nonnative speech contrasts within only 1 to 4 weeks of training. Results from immersion studies are inconclusive, but some suggest continued effects on nonnative speech perception after 6 to 8 years of experience. We investigated this apparent discrepancy in the timing of adaptation to foreign speech sounds in a longitudinal study of foreign language learning. We examined two groups of Danish language officer cadets learning either Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Arabic) or Dari (Afghan Farsi) through intensive multifaceted language training. We conducted two experiments (identification and discrimination) with the cadets who were tested four times: at the start (T0), after 3 weeks (T1), 6 months (T2), and 19 months (T3). We used a phonemic Arabic contrast (pharyngeal vs. glottal frication) and a phonemic Dari contrast (sibilant voicing) as stimuli. We observed an effect of learning on the Dari learners’ identification of the Dari stimuli already after 3 weeks of language training, which was sustained, but not improved, after 6 and 19 months. The changes in the Dari learners’ identification functions were positively correlated with their grades after 6 months. We observed no other learning effects at the group level. We discuss the results in the light of predictions from speech learning models.
Epidemio-allergological study in 155 cases of footwear dermatitis.

BACKGROUND Footwear dermatitis represents a distinct and common group among all types of contact dermatitis cases seen in India. This ailment, however, often remains undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or empirically diagnosed without pinpointing the contributory allergens. AIMS This study was undertaken to detect the epidemio-allergological pattern of footwear dermatitis in India. METHODS A total number of 155 cases with footwear dermatitis were evaluated from July 2005 to June 2006, by detailed history and clinical examination. They were patch tested using Indian Standard Battery (ISB) approved by the Contact and Occupational Dermatoses Forum of India (CODFI) with pre- and post patch-test counseling. RESULTS The proportion of footwear dermatitis was 24.22% (n=155) among a total of 640 patients patch tested during that period. Females [61.93% (n=96)] were commonly affected than males [38.06% (n=59)]. The ages ranged from 8 to 75 years. The age group that predominantly involved was the fifth decade [24.52% (n=38)]. Occupationwise housewives were most commonly involved [47.48 (n=66)]. Contributory allergens in order of frequency were: potassium dichromate, 45.8% (n=71); cobalt chloride, 38.06% (n=59); paraphenylenediamine, 32.25% (n=50); epoxy resin, 20% (n=31); black rubber mix, 20% (n=31); nickel sulfate, 14.83% (n=23); mercaptobenzothiazole, 12.9% (n=20); colophony, 11.6% (n=18); thiuram mix, 10.32 % (n=16); p-tert-butyl-formaldehyde resin, 9.67% (n=15); and formaldehyde, 4.5% (n=7). Among the different categories of footwear allergens, the highest positivity was shown by leather and leather-related chemicals in 61.9% cases (n=96). CONCLUSION Footwear dermatitis, a common dermatosis, is mostly caused by leather processing chemicals, metal buckles, black dyes of shoes and socks, adhesives, plastic, rubber shoes and polishing agents in order of frequency.
U.S. Population Estimates and Correlates of Sexual Abuse of Community-Dwelling Older Adults

We describe the annual prevalence of sexual abuse among community-dwelling older adults in the United States. We also describe factors associated with experiencing sexual abuse. We used data from 24,343 older adults from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System pooled across 18 states. We estimated prevalence of sexual abuse, bivariate distributions, and odds ratio associations across demographic, health, and contextual factors. Our results show that 0.9% of older adults reported experiencing sexual abuse in the previous year. This represents approximately 90,289 community-dwelling older adults. We also report on factors associated with experiencing recent sexual abuse. There was a significant gender by binge drinking interaction, with a stronger association among women. There is a need for health promotion efforts targeted specifically toward older adults, encouraging them to seek services, if possible, after exposure to sexual abuse.
Regional brain glucose metabolism during morning and evening wakefulness in humans: preliminary findings.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The mechanisms that maintain wakefulness across the day, in the face in increasing sleep drive, are largely unknown. The goal of this pilot study was to examine regional relative brain glucose metabolism during morning and evening wakefulness in healthy humans. DESIGN [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scans were conducted during quiet wakefulness in the morning and in the evening. Statistical parametric mapping was used to compare relative regional glucose metabolism during the 2 scans. Subjects also completed subjective ratings of alertness. SETTING University of Pittsburgh General Clinical Research Center and Positron Emission Tomography Facility. PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS Thirteen healthy adults (10 women, 3 men; mean age, 37 years) INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Relative regional glucose metabolism was significantly higher in the evening than in the morning in a large cluster of midline and brainstem structures. Volumes of interest centered on the pontine reticular formation, midbrain reticular formation, midbrain raphe, locus coeruleus, and posterior hypothalamus also showed higher relative metabolism in the evening than in the morning. Relative glucose metabolism was significantly lower in the evening than in the morning in clusters that included structures in the right temporal cortex and occipital lobe, including cuneus and medial occipital gyrus. CONCLUSIONS Evening wakefulness is associated with increased relative metabolism in brainstem and hypothalamic arousal systems and decreased relative metabolism in posterior cortical regions. These patterns may reflect input from the circadian timing system to promote wakefulness, and/or the effects of increasing homeostatic sleep drive.
Deletion is neither sufficient nor necessary for the induction of peripheral tolerance in mature CD8+ T cells

Previous reports have demonstrated clonal deletion of CD8+ T cells during peripheral tolerance induction to tissue antigens. However, direct evidence demonstrating a causal connection between deletion and tolerance has not been reported because of model limitations in which the tissue antigens were expressed in vital organs. Thus, studies were initiated in a mouse model where expression of a membrane‐bound ovalbumin fusion protein (mOVA) was driven by a prostate specific androgen regulated probasin promotor, providing restricted expression in a non‐vital organ where antigen levels can be abrogated through androgen deprivation. Adoptive transfer of mOVA specific CD8+ T cells (OT‐I) was used to assess the development of peripheral tolerance. Proliferation of OT‐I cells was observed, as was partial deletion of transferred OT‐I cells. Although deletion occurred, the long‐term persistence of a stable level of OT‐I cells was observed. Importantly, the persistent OT‐I cells lost antigen responsiveness within 3 weeks of transfer. Castration resulted in loss of high‐level prostate mOVA expression, with a resultant abrogation of tolerance induction, but surprisingly did not affect the deletion rate of OT‐I cells. In contrast, abrogation of deletion through the adoptive transfer of OT‐I cells from third generation CD95‐deficient mice had no effect on tolerance induction. These data demonstrate the necessity for continued expression of tissue antigen throughout the establishment of peripheral tolerance. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate that deletion is neither sufficient nor required for CD8+ T‐cell tolerance to tissue antigens, suggesting that regulatory events independent of deletion are necessary for peripheral tolerance induction to prostate antigens.
Injury and EGF mediate the expression of α6β4 integrin subunits in corneal epithelium

Our goal was to evaluate the role of epidermal growth factor and injury on the expression of integrin subunits alpha6(α6) and beta4(β4). An in vitro wound model was used to evaluate corneal wound repair and cellular migration. Primary rabbit corneal epithelial cell cultures were serum‐starved and injured in the presence or absence of EGF or tyrphostin AG1478, an inhibitor of EGF receptor kinase activity. Repair was monitored morphologically and expression was analyzed using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry accompanied by confocal microscopy. The addition of EGF to cell cultures induced a dose‐dependent increase in beta4 mRNA expression but the constitutive expression of α6 was several fold greater. In the wounded cultures there was a rapid change in expression at the edge of the wound that was enhanced with EGF. In our model there was an increase in β4 and α6 protein in migrating cells. Changes in integrin expression were accompanied by a transient increase in activation of the EGF receptor. The addition of tyrphostin inhibited migration of cells and wound repair, the activation of the EGF receptor and phosphorylation of β4 in the cytoplasm. These data indicate that the activation of the EGF receptor plays a critical role in the regulation of integrin receptors and the mediation of cellular migration. J. Cell. Biochem. 80:397–414, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Discrimination between ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation using the continuous wavelet transform

An efficient and precise discrimination algorithm for the two malign cardiac rhythms, namely VT and VF rhythms, is of great importance in the design of AEDs. The method put forward in the present work exploits the regularity observed in the coefficients of the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) of a VT segment. In a preliminary stage the wavelet analyzing function yielding the best results is selected. The ECG records are then divided in segments of 4.8 seconds where the CWT coefficients are calculated for those scales considered significant. The separation of the peaks in the time evolution of the coefficients is proportional to the cardiac frequency and the amplitude of the peaks is more uniform as the rhythm becomes more regular. The discrimination parameters selected for the algorithm are based on the dispersion of the position and the amplitude of those peaks. The accuracy achieved, 94.74%, improves the results obtained by previously reported methods.
Defocusing microscopy

Transparent objects (phase objects) are not visible in a standard brightfield optical microscope. In order to see such objects the most used technique is phase‐contrast microscopy. In phase‐contrast microscopy the contrast observed is proportional to the optical path difference introduced by the object. If the index of refraction is uniform, phase‐contrast microscopy then yields a measure of the thickness profile of phase objects. We show that by slightly defocusing an optical microscope operating in brightfield, phase objects become visible. We modeled such an effect and show that the image contrast of a phase object is proportional to the amount of defocusing and proportional to the two‐dimensional Laplacian of the optical path difference introduced by the object. For uniform index of refraction, defocusing microscopy then yields a measure of the curvature profile of phase objects. We extended our previous model for thin objects to thick objects. To check our theoretical model, we use as phase objects polystyrene spherical caps and compare their curvature radii obtained by defocusing microscopy (DM) to those obtained with atomic force microscopy (AFM). We also show that for thick curved phase objects one can reconstruct their thickness profiles from DM images. We illustrate the utility of defocusing microscopy in biological systems to study cell motility. In particular, we visualize and quantitatively measure real‐time cytoskeleton curvature fluctuations of macrophages (a cell of the innate immune system). The study of such fluctuations might be important for a better understanding of the engulfment process of pathogens during phagocytosis. Microsc. Res. Tech. 65:159–165, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ontogeny and nutritional programming of uncoupling protein‐2 and glucocorticoid receptor mRNA in the ovine lung

This study investigated the developmental and nutritional programming of uncoupling protein‐2 (UCP2), glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and 11β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11βHSD1) mRNA in the sheep lung from the time of uterine attachment to 6 months of age. The effect of maternal nutrient restriction on lung development was determined in early to mid gestation (i.e. 28–80 days gestation, period of maximal placental growth, and embryonic and pseudoglandular stages of fetal lung development) and late gestation (i.e. 110–147 days gestation, period of maximal fetal growth, and canalicular and saccular stages of fetal lung development). Fetal lungs were sampled at 80 and 140 days (term ∼148 days) gestation, and sheep lungs at 1, 7, 30 days and 6 months. GR and 11βHSD1 mRNA were maximal at 140 days gestation, whereas UCP2 mRNA peaked at 1 day of age and then declined with postnatal age. Maternal nutrient restriction in both early‐to‐mid and late gestation had no effect on lung weight, but increased UCP2, GR and 11βHSD1 mRNA abundance at every sampling age. These findings suggest that the developmental ontogeny of UCP2 mRNA in the ovine lung is under local glucocorticoid hormone action and that maternal nutrient restriction has long‐term consequences for UCP2 and GR mRNA abundance in the lung irrespective of its timing.
Freehand iMRI‐guided large‐gauge core needle biopsy: A new minimally invasive technique for diagnosis of enhancing breast lesions

The lack of reliable methods for minimally invasive biopsy of suspicious enhancing breast lesions has hindered the utilization of contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. In this study, a freehand method was developed for large‐gauge core needle biopsy (LCNB) guided by intraprocedural MRI (iMRI). Twenty‐seven lesions in nineteen patients were biopsied using iMRI‐guided LCNB without significant complications. Diagnostic tissue was obtained in all cases. Nineteen of the 27 lesions were subsequently surgically excised. Histopathologic analysis confirmed that iMRI‐guided LCNB correctly distinguished benign lesions from malignancy in 18 of the 19 lesions. The histology revealed by core biopsy was partially discrepant with surgical biopsy in 2 of the other 19 lesions. Freehand iMRI‐guided LCNB of enhancing breast lesions is promising. Larger studies are needed to determine the smallest lesion that can be sampled reliably and to precisely measure the accuracy of iMRI‐guided LCNB as a minimally invasive tool to diagnose suspicious lesions found by breast MRI. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;13:896–902. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
In vivo activated caspase‐3 cleaves PARP‐1 in rat liver after administration of the hepatocarcinogen N‐nitrosomorpholine (NNM) generating the 85 kDa fragment

We reported previously that treatment of rats with the hepatocarcinogen N‐nitrosomorpholine (NNM) caused severe hepatotoxicity associated with apoptosis of hepatocytes beginning 12 h after administration of NNM. We observed that poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP‐1), one of the major nuclear targets for caspases, was proteolytically degraded generating primarily 64 and 54 kDa fragments. Interestingly, at 20, 30, and 40 h post‐treatment a 85 kDa cleavage product of PARP‐1 resembling that generated by caspase‐3 appeared additionally in hepatocytes. More detailed analysis performed in the present study revealed that the 85 kDa fragment of PARP‐1 was generated in the liver in 10 of 17 (60%) animals examined between 20 and 40 h after NNM administration. The caspase‐3 generated 85 kDa fragment was detected solely in hepatocytes undergoing apoptosis as evidenced by immunostaining performed with the antibody recognizing exclusively PARP‐1 cleaved at position 214/215. The appearance of the 85 kDa fragment of PARP‐1 in the liver nuclei coincided temporally with an significant increase of caspase‐3 activity in hepatocytes. In contrast, in testis samples obtained from the same animals, no changes characteristic for apoptosis such as induction of caspases activity or degradation of nuclear PARP‐1 could be detected. Our results evidence unequivocally that PARP‐1 in liver is not resistant to caspases and can be processed in vivo by activated caspase‐3 producing the p85 kDa fragment. Moreover, the caspase‐3 induced PARP‐1 fragmentation coinciding with the increase of caspase‐3 activity was detected solely in the target organ and exclusively in hepatocytes undergoing apoptosis. Considering the fact that the caspase‐3 mediated PARP‐1 cleavage occurred only in 60% of animals tested between 20 and 40 h, it becomes obvious that the cellular response in vivo to the same trigger(s) strongly varies and may depend on a variety of intrinsic factors. It remains to elucidate which additional factors may be involved in the modulation of cellular response to the strong insults thereby activating different pathways and generating distinct outcomes. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.