Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3D Computational Imaging with Single-Pixel Detectors

Cheap Pix Three-dimensional (3D) images can be captured by, for example, holographic imaging or stereoimaging techniques. To avoid using expensive optical components that are limited to specialized bands of wavelengths, Sun et al. (p. 844; see the Perspective by Faccio and Leach) projected pulses of randomly textured light onto an object. They were able to reconstruct an image of the 3D object by detecting the reflected light with several photodetectors without any need for lenses. The patterned light beams can thus in principle be substituted for light sources of any wavelength. A computational imaging method is used to reconstruct a three-dimensional scene, without the need for lenses. [Also see Perspective by Faccio and Leach] Computational imaging enables retrieval of the spatial information of an object with the use of single-pixel detectors. By projecting a series of known random patterns and measuring the backscattered intensity, it is possible to reconstruct a two-dimensional (2D) image. We used several single-pixel detectors in different locations to capture the 3D form of an object. From each detector we derived a 2D image that appeared to be illuminated from a different direction, even though only a single digital projector was used for illumination. From the shading of the images, the surface gradients could be derived and the 3D object reconstructed. We compare our result to that obtained from a stereophotogrammetric system using multiple cameras. Our simplified approach to 3D imaging can readily be extended to nonvisible wavebands.
A Reconciled Estimate of Glacier Contributions to Sea Level Rise: 2003 to 2009

Melting Away We assume the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are the main drivers of global sea-level rise, but how large is the contribution from other sources of glacial ice? Gardner et al. (p. 852) synthesize data from glacialogical inventories to find that glaciers in the Arctic, Canada, Alaska, coastal Greenland, the southern Andes, and high-mountain Asia contribute approximately as much melt water as the ice sheets themselves: 260 billion tons per year between 2003 and 2009, accounting for about 30% of the observed sea-level rise during that period. The contribution of glaciers to sea level rise is nearly as much as that of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets combined. Glaciers distinct from the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets are losing large amounts of water to the world’s oceans. However, estimates of their contribution to sea level rise disagree. We provide a consensus estimate by standardizing existing, and creating new, mass-budget estimates from satellite gravimetry and altimetry and from local glaciological records. In many regions, local measurements are more negative than satellite-based estimates. All regions lost mass during 2003–2009, with the largest losses from Arctic Canada, Alaska, coastal Greenland, the southern Andes, and high-mountain Asia, but there was little loss from glaciers in Antarctica. Over this period, the global mass budget was –259 ± 28 gigatons per year, equivalent to the combined loss from both ice sheets and accounting for 29 ± 13% of the observed sea level rise.
Altered Fronto-Striato-Thalamic Connectivity in Children with Tourette Syndrome Assessed with Diffusion Tensor MRI and Probabilistic Fiber Tracking

The aim of the study was to determine whether abnormal connectivity of the fronto-striato-thalamic circuit underlies the morphological changes in subcortical structures of patients with Tourette syndrome and to correlate these changes with neurobehavioral measures. A total of 18 children with Tourette syndrome and 12 age-matched healthy controls underwent diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. Tractography of the fronto-striato-thalamic circuit was achieved using probability distribution function of individual voxels. The Tourette syndrome group had significantly lower probability of connection between caudate nucleus and anterior-dorsolateral-frontal cortex on the left (P = .038). Obsessive-compulsive behavior was negatively associated with connectivity score of the left caudate and anterior dorsolateral frontal cortex (P = .01) and was positively associated with connectivity score for the subcallosal gyrus (P = .009) and for the lentiform nucleus (P = .008). The abnormal connectivity among components of the fronto-striato-thalamic circuit bilaterally (ie, seeds on the caudate and thalamus) in patients with Tourette syndrome provides direct evidence for the involvement of these circuits in the pathophysiology.
Drosophila H1 Regulates the Genetic Activity of Heterochromatin by Recruitment of Su(var)3-9

Silencing Transposons Eukaryotic DNA is packaged onto nucleosomes, which are composed of four core histones (H2A, H2B, H3, and H4). Chromatin also contains a fifth histone, H1, which binds to both the core particles and the “linker” DNA that joins adjacent nucleosomes, where it helps chromatin to fold into higher-order structures and generally silences gene expression. In Drosophila germline and somatic cells and tissues, Lu et al. (p. 78) found that the repressive function of H1 in vivo was directed toward transposable elements and independent of small RNA silencing pathways. Instead, H1 acted through direct recruitment of the histone methyltransferase Su(var)3–9, which methylates histone H3 lysine 9, a repressive histone mark. The “fifth” histone, H1, acts to recruit a histone-methylating enzyme to silence specific regions of the genome. Eukaryotic genomes harbor transposable elements and other repetitive sequences that must be silenced. Small RNA interference pathways play a major role in their repression. Here, we reveal another mechanism for silencing these sequences in Drosophila. Depleting the linker histone H1 in vivo leads to strong activation of these elements. H1-mediated silencing occurs in combination with the heterochromatin-specific histone H3 lysine 9 methyltransferase Su(var)3-9. H1 physically interacts with Su(var)3-9 and recruits it to chromatin in vitro, which promotes H3 methylation. We propose that H1 plays a key role in silencing by tethering Su(var)3-9 to heterochromatin. The tethering function of H1 adds to its established role as a regulator of chromatin compaction and accessibility.
Accelerated Head and Body Growth in Infants Later Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comparative Study of Optimal Outcome Children

Previous research has demonstrated accelerated head and body growth during infancy in children with autism spectrum disorders. No study has yet examined head growth in children who lose their autism spectrum disorder diagnoses. Head circumference, length, and weight growth during infancy for 24 children who maintained their diagnoses were compared with 15 children who lost their diagnoses, and to 37 typically developing controls. Results showed that head circumference and weight growth were significantly greater in both autism spectrum disorder groups compared with controls, with no significant differences between autism spectrum disorder groups. However, when length and weight were controlled for, accelerated head growth remained significant in the children who lost their diagnoses. Findings suggest that children who lose their autism spectrum disorder diagnoses and children who maintain their diagnoses show similar head circumference, length, and weight growth trajectories during infancy, although subtle differences in body growth between groups may exist.
Ribosomal Protein SA Haploinsufficiency in Humans with Isolated Congenital Asplenia

Spleen Knockout Explained Isolated congenital asplenia (ICA) is a rare disorder where patients are born without a spleen and are at increased risk of bacterial infection but have no other developmental abnormalities. Through sequence analysis of familial and sporadic cases, Bolze et al. (p. 976, published online 11 April) found that ICA patients carry mutations in the gene encoding ribosomal protein SA and as a result express about half the normal amount of this protein. The mechanism by which reduced expression of a housekeeping protein causes an organ-specific defect remains unclear. A rare human disorder, characterized by the absence of a spleen at birth, is associated with mutations in a ribosomal protein. Isolated congenital asplenia (ICA) is characterized by the absence of a spleen at birth in individuals with no other developmental defects. The patients are prone to life-threatening bacterial infections. The unbiased analysis of exomes revealed heterozygous mutations in RPSA in 18 patients from eight kindreds, corresponding to more than half the patients and over one-third of the kindreds studied. The clinical penetrance in these kindreds is complete. Expression studies indicated that the mutations carried by the patients—a nonsense mutation, a frameshift duplication, and five different missense mutations—cause autosomal dominant ICA by haploinsufficiency. RPSA encodes ribosomal protein SA, a component of the small subunit of the ribosome. This discovery establishes an essential role for RPSA in human spleen development.
Clinical profile of diabetic ketoacidosis in adults

Introduction: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes mellitus. Recent epidemiological studies indicate that hospitalizations for DKA in the U.S. are increasing. Epidemiological studies from India are limited. We undertook this observational study to analyse the clinical profiles of DKA in adults in south India. Methods: This study was conducted in at a tertiary care center in Andhra Pradesh for one year from Aug 2010 to July 2011. Diagnosis of DKA was made by the presence of (1) Plasma glucose level of 250mg/dl or higher (2) Serum bicarbonate level of 15mEq/lt or lower (3) Arterial blood pH of 7.3 or lower or a venous blood pH of 7.25 or lower (4) Presence of moderate or large urine ketones. All the patients were treated with institutional treatment protocol. Results: Of 27 patients, 22(81%) had type2 diabetes and 5(19%) had type 1 DM . 10 were females and 17 males. Age of the patients ranged between 18 to 70 years, with an average of 45.3 years. Precipitating factors were present in 60% of the admissions. Non-compliance or discontinuation of drug therapy was seen in fifty per cent of patients. Average length of hospital stay was slightly longer in type 1 than type 2 DM patients Conclusion: A significant proportion of DKA occurs in patients with type 2 diabetes and many of these cases can be prevented with proper patient education and effective communication with a health care provider during an inter-current illness. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3126/hren.v10i2. 6569 Health Renaissance 2012; Vol 10 (No.2); 80-86
Mechanics of Epithelial Tissue Homeostasis and Morphogenesis

Epithelia are robust tissues that support the structure of embryos and organs and serve as effective barriers against pathogens. Epithelia also chemically separate different physiological environments. These vital functions require tight association between cells through the assembly of junctions that mechanically stabilize the tissue. Remarkably, epithelia are also dynamic and can display a fluid behavior. Cells continuously die or divide, thereby allowing functional tissue homeostasis. Epithelial cells can change shape or intercalate as tissues deform during morphogenesis. We review the mechanical basis of tissue robustness and fluidity, with an emphasis on the pivotal role of junction dynamics. Tissue fluidity emerges from local active stresses acting at cell interfaces and allows the maintenance of epithelial organization during morphogenesis and tissue renewal.
Celiac Disease Presenting as Autism

Gluten-restricted diets have become increasingly popular among parents seeking treatment for children diagnosed with autism. Some of the reported response to celiac diets in children with autism may be related to amelioration of nutritional deficiency resulting from undiagnosed gluten sensitivity and consequent malabsorption. A case is presented of a 5-year-old boy diagnosed with severe autism at a specialty clinic for autistic spectrum disorders. After initial investigation suggested underlying celiac disease and varied nutrient deficiencies, a gluten-free diet was instituted along with dietary and supplemental measures to secure nutritional sufficiency. The patient’s gastrointestinal symptoms rapidly resolved, and signs and symptoms suggestive of autism progressively abated. This case is an example of a common malabsorption syndrome associated with central nervous system dysfunction and suggests that in some contexts, nutritional deficiency may be a determinant of developmental delay. It is recommended that all children with neurodevelopmental problems be assessed for nutritional deficiency and malabsorption syndromes.
Ice-Shelf Melting Around Antarctica

Major Meltdown The ice shelves and floating ice tongues that surround Antarctica cover more than 1.5 million square kilometers—approximately the size of the entire Greenland Ice Sheet. Conventional wisdom has held that ice shelves around Antarctica lose mass mostly by iceberg calving, but recently it has become increasingly clear that melting by a warming ocean may also be important. Rignot et al. (p. 266, published 13 June) present detailed glaciological estimates of ice-shelf melting around the entire continent of Antarctica, which show that basal melting accounts for as much mass loss as does calving. Basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves accounts for as much mass loss as does iceberg calving. We compare the volume flux divergence of Antarctic ice shelves in 2007 and 2008 with 1979 to 2010 surface accumulation and 2003 to 2008 thinning to determine their rates of melting and mass balance. Basal melt of 1325 ± 235 gigatons per year (Gt/year) exceeds a calving flux of 1089 ± 139 Gt/year, making ice-shelf melting the largest ablation process in Antarctica. The giant cold-cavity Ross, Filchner, and Ronne ice shelves covering two-thirds of the total ice-shelf area account for only 15% of net melting. Half of the meltwater comes from 10 small, warm-cavity Southeast Pacific ice shelves occupying 8% of the area. A similar high melt/area ratio is found for six East Antarctic ice shelves, implying undocumented strong ocean thermal forcing on their deep grounding lines.
Central Nervous System Germ Cell Tumors: Classification, Clinical Features, and Treatment With a Historical Overview

Central nervous system germ cell tumors are neoplasms that affect children and young adults. They are subclassified into germinoma and nongerminomatous germ cell tumors. The latter include teratoma (mature teratoma, immature teratoma, teratoma with malignant transformation), choriocarcinoma, embryonal carcinoma, yolk sac tumors, and mixtures of these entities. Germinoma with syncytiotrophoblastic giant cells is a variant of germinoma. Germinomas respond well to radiation therapy, but late sequelae due to irradiation have been reported. The results of radiation treatment alone for nongerminomatous germ cell tumor are not satisfactory. Combination radiochemotherapy has been applied, and this yields a good outcome with less toxicity for germinomas and better survival of nongerminomatous germ cell tumors. This article also discusses other issues, including the controversy regarding spinal irradiation and the treatment of recurrent disease.
Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of High-Frequency Chest Wall Oscillation in Pediatric Patients With Cerebral Palsy and Neuromuscular Diseases: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial

Airway secretions and infections are common in cerebral palsy and neuromuscular diseases. Chest physiotherapy is standard therapy but effort is substantial. High-frequency chest wall oscillation is used in cystic fibrosis but tolerability and safety data in cerebral palsy and neuromuscular disease are limited. A prospective, randomized, controlled trial of high-frequency chest wall oscillation and standard chest physiotherapy was performed in participants with neuromuscular disease or cerebral palsy. Outcome measures included respiratory-related hospitalizations, antibiotic therapy, chest radiographs, and polysomnography. Care-givers were questioned regarding therapy adherence. A total of 28 participants enrolled, 23 completed (12 chest physiotherapy, mean study period 5 months). No adverse outcomes were reported. Adherence to prescribed regimen was higher with high-frequency chest wall oscillation (P = .036). Our data suggest safety, tolerability, and better compliance with high-frequency chest wall oscillation. Improvement in airway clearance may help prevent hospitalizations. Larger controlled trials are required to confirm these results.
Distributed constrained convex optimization and consensus via dual decomposition and proximal minimization

We consider a general class of convex optimization problems over time-varying, multi-agent networks, that naturally arise in many application domains like energy systems and wireless networks. In particular, we focus on programs with separable objective functions, local (possibly different) constraint sets and a coupling inequality constraint expressed as the non-negativity of the sum of convex functions, each corresponding to one agent. We propose a novel distributed algorithm to deal with such problems based on a combination of dual decomposition and proximal minimization. Our approach is based on an iterative scheme that enables agents to reach consensus with respect to the dual variables, while preserving information privacy. Specifically, agents are not required to disclose information about their local objective and constraint functions, nor to assume knowledge of the coupling constraint. Our analysis can be thought of as a generalization of dual gradient/subgradient algorithms to a distributed set-up. We show convergence of the proposed algorithm to some optimal dual solution of the centralized problem counterpart, while the primal iterates generated by the algorithm converge to the set of optimal primal solutions. A numerical example demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed algorithm is also provided.
Mitochondrial Replacement, Evolution, and the Clinic

Mitochondrial replacement therapy might bear health risks, especially for males. Mitochondrial diseases [often caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)] can manifest in a range of severe symptoms, for which there are currently no cures (1). The diseases are passed from mothers to offspring. Intense research efforts have recently focused on a germline therapeutic strategy to prevent the inheritance of disease-causing mitochondria. However, although there has been increased government interest, especially in the United Kingdom, for using this approach to treat patients, there are reasons to believe that it is premature to move this technology into the clinic at this stage.
Widespread Production of Extracellular Superoxide by Heterotrophic Bacteria

Sending Out an ROS The global imprint of biological activity in aquatic environments is often considered a consequence of enzyme-mediated redox reactions that support metabolic activity, such as reducing oxygen during respiration. But some organisms also release redox-active reactive oxygen species (ROS) into the environment—to acquire trace metals or to prevent viral infections—which can influence global processes like nutrient availability and contaminant transport. Photosynthetic organisms like phytoplankton are thought to be the primary biological source of ROS in freshwater and marine environments. However, Diaz et al. (p. 1223, published online 2 May; see the Perspective by Shaked and Rose) now show that a broad range of ecologically and phylogenetically diverse heterotrophic bacteria also produce large quantities of superoxide. Production rates vary widely across 30 common bacterial isolates but in some cases were greater than production rates of phytoplankton. Because these bacteria do not require light to grow, they may be the dominant source of ROS in dark environments like the deep ocean, terrestrial soils, or lake sediments. A broad range of bacteria produce substantial amounts of reactive oxygen species in aquatic ecosystems. [Also see Perspective by Shaked and Rose] Superoxide and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) originate from several natural sources and profoundly influence numerous elemental cycles, including carbon and trace metals. In the deep ocean, the permanent absence of light precludes currently known ROS sources, yet ROS production mysteriously occurs. Here, we show that taxonomically and ecologically diverse heterotrophic bacteria from aquatic and terrestrial environments are a vast, unrecognized, and light-independent source of superoxide, and perhaps other ROS derived from superoxide. Superoxide production by a model bacterium within the ubiquitous Roseobacter clade involves an extracellular oxidoreductase that is stimulated by the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), suggesting a surprising homology with eukaryotic organisms. The consequences of ROS cycling in immense aphotic zones representing key sites of nutrient regeneration and carbon export must now be considered, including potential control of carbon remineralization and metal bioavailability.
Sex trade involvement is associated with elevated HIV incidence among injection drug users in Vancouver

Background: Canada's prostitution laws are under scrutiny, and there has been growing debate about the optimal strategies for reducing the harms associated with prostitution. Methods: We evaluated whether sex trade involvement was associated with elevated HIV incidence in a cohort of injection drug users. HIV incidence rates were calculated using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: At 48 months after enrolment, the rate of HIV was 11.7% among those who did not report baseline sex trade involvement compared to 16.7% among those who did (p = 0.049). The elevated HIV infection rate associated with sex trade involvement was also observed in a Cox model that considered sex trade involvement as a time-updated covariate (relative hazard = 1.51 [95% CI: 1.02–2.25]). Interpretation: These findings should be useful to those currently considering the optimal legal framework for addressing the community and health related harms associated with prostitution in Canada.
An Interferon Paradox

Interferons must balance antiviral actions against immunosuppressive effects during acute and chronic infections. [Also see Reports by Wilson et al. and Teijaro et al.] Type 1 interferons (IFN-α/β) are a major first line of host defense against viral infection. Because of this potent antiviral activity, IFN-based therapies have been developed for chronic infections with hepatitis B and C viruses, as well as for HIV. However, a poorly understood phenomenon has been the persistence of virus despite induction of antiviral immune responses by type 1 IFNs. On page 207 and 202 in this issue, Teijaro et al. (1) and Wilson et al. (2) address this long-standing question and find that IFN-α/β can also suppress the immune system in ways that promote viral persistence. This paradoxical finding should spur a reassessment of the fundamental roles of IFN-α/β during chronic infections.