Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glycolytic inhibition by 2-deoxyglucose reduces hyperglycemia-associated mortality and morbidity in the ischemic rat.

Numerous laboratories have shown that hyperglycemia increases cerebral ischemic damage. This presumably results from increased lactate production and accumulation during ischemia. Although increased tissue lactic acidosis is associated with increased ischemic brain damage, this damage has not been directly linked to glycolytic flux. Because 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) is a competitive inhibitor of glycolysis we tested its ability to reduce hyperglycemia-exacerbated ischemic brain damage. Severe forebrain ischemia was produced by the four-vessel occlusion model in rats. Four rats received 3 g/kg glucose and saline while a second group (n = 5) was injected with 3 g/kg glucose plus 1.6 g/kg 2-DG. A third group (n = 5) was treated with 1 g/kg glucose plus saline and a fourth group (n = 5) received 1 g/kg glucose and 1.6 g/kg 2-DG. All rats were injected i.p. 10 minutes prior to the ischemic insult with the same volume/kg body weight. All rats receiving the high dose of glucose alone (3 g/kg) were dead within 24 hours postischemia. Rats who received 2-DG in addition to 3 g/kg glucose showed only 40% mortality (p = 0.119 Fisher's Exact). 2-DG completely eliminated convulsions during the initial two hours of recovery which was significant (p = 0.008), however, all rats in both groups showed some convulsions by 24 hours postischemia. Among rats receiving the low glucose dose (1 g/kg), none of the rats receiving 2-DG died or convulsed by 24 hours postischemia. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Influence of Credit Constraint on Technical Efficiency of Farm Households in Southeastern Ethiopia

Credit constraint not only affects the purchasing power of farmers to procure farm inputs and cover operating costs in the short run, but also their capacity to make farm-related investments as well as risk behaviour in technology choice and adoption. These, in turn, have influence on technical efficiency of the farmers. Although credit constraint problem has been recognized in economics literature, especially in those dealing with developing countries, little emphasis has been given to its effect on productive efficiency of farmers. In light of this, explicitly considering credit constraint, this paper estimated technical efficiency of credit-constrained (CCFH) and unconstrained farm households (CUFH) by employing a stochastic frontier technique on farm household survey data from Southeastern Ethiopia. The CCFH had mean technical efficiency score of 12% less than that of the CUFH. Given the largest proportion of CCFH in Ethiopian farming population, this gap implies considerable potential loss in output due to inefficient production. Improving technical efficiency of all farm households in general but more of particularly the CCFH is desirable. Additional sources of inefficiency differential between the two groups were also identified, and education level of household heads, land fragmentation and loan size significantly affected technical efficiencies of both groups. Besides, wealth and experience affected the CCFH, and household size affected the CUFH. In general, the results have important implications for credit, education and land policies in developing countries.
Score Level Fusion of Multimodal Biometrics based on Entropy Function

This paper presents the score level fusion of multimodal biometrics using Hanman-Anirban entropy function. Entropy function captures the uncertainty in the scores. The experimental results ascertain that Entropy based score level fusion outperforms over existing methods of score level fusion such as t-norms, sum and max. We have validated our claim on finger-knuckle-print (FKP) dataset consisting of left index, left middle, right index and right middle FKP. The features of FKPs are extracted using the Gabor Wavelet. The implementation is done using MATLAB and the performance of the proposed technique is evaluated using Receiver Operating characteristics (ROC) curve. The proposed score level fusion approach achieves significant improvement in the performance over the individual FKP. We obtain Genuine acceptance rate of 99% with FAR of 0.001 %. General Terms Multimodal Biometrics, Entropy, Authentication.
White adipose tissue distribution and amount are associated with increased white matter connectivity

Abstract Obesity represents a significant public health concern and is linked to various comorbidities and cognitive impairments. Previous research indicates that elevated body mass index (BMI) is associated with structural changes in white matter (WM). However, a deeper characterization of body composition is required, especially considering the links between abdominal obesity and metabolic dysfunction. This study aims to enhance our understanding of the relationship between obesity and WM connectivity by directly assessing the amount and distribution of fat tissue. Whole‐body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was employed to evaluate total adipose tissue (TAT), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), while MR liver spectroscopy measured liver fat content in 63 normal‐weight, overweight, and obese males. WM connectivity was quantified using microstructure‐informed tractography. Connectome‐based predictive modeling was used to predict body composition metrics based on WM connectomes. Our analysis revealed a positive dependency between BMI, TAT, SAT, and WM connectivity in brain regions involved in reward processing and appetite regulation, such as the insula, nucleus accumbens, and orbitofrontal cortex. Increased connectivity was also observed in cognitive control and inhibition networks, including the middle frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex. No significant associations were found between WM connectivity and VAT or liver fat. Our findings suggest that altered neural communication between these brain regions may affect cognitive processes, emotional regulation, and reward perception in individuals with obesity, potentially contributing to weight gain. While our study did not identify a link between WM connectivity and VAT or liver fat, further investigation of the role of various fat depots and metabolic factors in brain networks is required to advance obesity prevention and treatment approaches.
Brain reserve affects the expression of cognitive reserve networks

Abstract Cognitive reserve (CR) explains differential susceptibility of cognitive performance to neuropathology. However, as brain pathologies progress, cognitive decline occurs even in individuals with initially high CR. The interplay between the structural brain health (= level of brain reserve) and CR‐related brain networks therefore requires further research. Our sample included 142 individuals aged 60–70 years. National Adult Reading Test intelligence quotient (NART‐IQ) was our CR proxy. On an in‐scanner Letter Sternberg task, we used ordinal trend (OrT) analysis to extract a task‐related brain activation pattern (OrT slope) for each participant that captures increased expression with task load (one, three, and six letters). We assessed whether OrT slope represents a neural mechanism underlying CR by associating it with task performance and NART‐IQ. Additionally, we investigated how the following brain reserve measures affect the association between NART‐IQ and OrT slope: mean cortical thickness, total gray matter volume, and brain volumes proximal to the areas contained in the OrT patterns. We found that higher OrT slope was associated with better task performance and higher NART‐IQ. Further, the brain reserve measures were not directly associated with OrT slope, but they affected the relationship between NART‐IQ and OrT slope: NART‐IQ was associated with OrT slope only in individuals with high brain reserve. The degree of brain reserve has an impact on how (and perhaps whether) CR can be implemented in brain networks in older individuals.
A novel method of rejection of brood parasitic eggs reduces parasitism intensity in a cowbird host

The hosts of brood parasitic birds are under strong selection pressure to recognize and remove foreign eggs from their nests, but parasite eggs may be too large to be grasped whole and too strong to be readily pierced by the host's bill. Such operating constraints on egg removal are proposed to force some hosts to accept parasite eggs, as the costs of deserting parasitized clutches can outweigh the cost of rearing parasites. By fitting microcameras inside nests, we reveal that the Neotropical baywing (Agelaioides badius), a host of the screaming cowbird (Molothrus rufoaxillaris) and shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), instead circumvents such constraints by kicking parasite eggs out of the nest. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a passerine bird using its feet to remove objects from the nest. Kick-ejection was an all-or-nothing response. Baywings kick-ejected parasite eggs laid before their own first egg and, if heavily parasitized, they ejected entire clutches and began again in the same nest. Few baywings were able to rid their nests of every parasite egg, but their novel ejection method allowed them to reduce the median parasitism intensity by 75 per cent (from four to one cowbird eggs per nest), providing an effective anti-parasite defence.
NICMOS Coronagraphic Observations of the GM Aurigae Circumstellar Disk

We present Hubble Space Telescope Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) coronagraphic observations of the environment in the region of the young star-disk system GM Aurigae. Scattered near-infrared light in two spectral bands (F110W = 1.1 μm and F160W = 1.6 μm) trace the morphology of circumstellar dust to a distance of ∼700 AU from the star. An ∼300 AU radius outwardly flared disk inclined 50°–55° to the plane of the sky surrounded by a tenuous envelope is seen in the NICMOS images, confirming the size and suspected flared nature of the disk suggested by earlier CO and optical observations. The NICMOS images probe the disk region with spatial resolutions of ∼0. ″1 at radial distances of 0. ″35 to ∼4. ″5–5. ″0 from the largely unobscured (Av < 0.5) central star. The midplane of the disk 1. ″3 from GM Aurigae is revealed in silhouette against the previously unseen "lower" portion of the illuminated disk along its minor axis (as projected onto the sky). We comment on surface brightness profiles along the disk major and minor axes, as well as isophotal maps of the disk. From these photometric data we have measured the integrated flux density of the disk, beyond the instrumental inner radius of 0. ″35, as 8.0 and 9.3 mJy (±20%) at F110W and F160W, respectively, corresponding to disk scattering fractions of Ldisk/L* = 0.025 (±20%) in both bands. By fitting the photometric properties of the disk to a scattered-light model, we estimate the disk mass to be ∼0.04 M⊙. Additionally, we find two diffuse red polar lobes along the disk minor axis, likely the result of a bipolar outflow, at distances of ±3. ″8 from GM Aurigae (∼900 AU with our inferred inclination) with peak H-band surface brightnesses of ∼14 μJy arcsec-2. We also note the existence of a broad (∼3″ wide) band of blue material within the NICMOS field of view, spatially coincident with and extending at least 12″ from the northeast outer region of the disk major axis.
Fish community response to habitat variables in two restored side channels of the lower Platte River, Nebraska

Anthropogenic alterations to large rivers ranging from impoundments to channelization and levees have caused many rivers to no longer access the floodplain in a meaningful capacity. Floodplain habitats are important to many riverine fishes to complete their life‐history strategies. The fish community and species of fish that inhabit floodplain habitats are often dictated by the type of habitat and the conditions within that habitat (e.g., temperature, water velocity, depth, and discharge). As mitigation and restoration projects are undertaken, it is imperative that managers understand how various habitat components will affect the fish community in floodplain habitats. We collected fish and habitat data from two restored side channels with different structural designs on the lower Platte River, Nebraska, to determine how habitat variables predicted species diversity and individual species presence. We found a decrease in discharge in the main‐stem river resulted in increased diversity in one of the side channels, with the greatest diversity values occurring during summer. No habitat variables performed well for predicting fish species diversity for an adjacent side channel with more uniform depth and velocity and no groundwater inputs. However, several native riverine fish species in this side channel were shown to be associated with high temperature, dissolved oxygen, main‐stem discharge, and discharge variability. These results highlight the importance of considering the physical design of restored floodplain habitats when attempting to enhance fish communities.
Rapid quantification of 50 fatty acids in small amounts of biological samples for population molecular phenotyping

Efficient quantification of fatty-acid (FA) composition (fatty-acidome) in biological samples is crucial for understanding physiology and pathophysiology in large population cohorts. Here, we report a rapid GC-FID/MS method for simultaneous quantification of all FAs in numerous biological matrices. Within eight minutes, this method enabled simultaneous quantification of 50 FAs as fatty-acid methyl esters (FAMEs) in femtomole levels following the efficient transformation of FAs in all lipids including FFAs, cholesterol-esters, glycerides, phospholipids and sphingolipids. The method showed satisfactory inter-day and intra-day precision, stability and linearity (R2 > 0.994) within a concentration range of 2–3 orders of magnitude. FAs were then quantified in typical multiple biological matrices including human biofluids (urine, plasma) and cells, animal intestinal content and tissue samples. We also established a quantitative structure-retention relationship (QSRR) for analytes to accurately predict their retention time and aid their reliable identification. We further developed a novel no-additive retention index (NARI) with endogenous FAMEs reducing inter-batch variations to 15 seconds; such NARI performed better than the alkanes-based classical RI, making meta-analysis possible for data obtained from different batches and platforms. Collectively, this provides an inexpensive high-throughput analytical system for quantitative phenotyping of all FAs in 8-minutes multiple biological matrices in large cohort studies of pathophysiological effects.
A framework for quantifying the coupling between brain connectivity and heartbeat dynamics: Insights into the disrupted network physiology in Parkinson's disease

Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) often shows disrupted brain connectivity and autonomic dysfunctions, progressing alongside with motor and cognitive decline. Recently, PD has been linked to a reduced sensitivity to cardiac inputs, that is, cardiac interoception. Altogether, those signs suggest that PD causes an altered brain–heart connection whose mechanisms remain unclear. Our study aimed to explore the large‐scale network disruptions and the neurophysiology of disrupted interoceptive mechanisms in PD. We focused on examining the alterations in brain–heart coupling in PD and their potential connection to motor symptoms. We developed a proof‐of‐concept method to quantify relationships between the co‐fluctuations of brain connectivity and cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic activities. We quantified the brain–heart couplings from electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram recordings from PD patients on and off dopaminergic medication, as well as in healthy individuals at rest. Our results show that the couplings of fluctuating alpha and gamma connectivity with cardiac sympathetic dynamics are reduced in PD patients, as compared to healthy individuals. Furthermore, we show that PD patients under dopamine medication recover part of the brain–heart coupling, in proportion with the reduced motor symptoms. Our proposal offers a promising approach to unveil the physiopathology of PD and promoting the development of new evaluation methods for the early stages of the disease.
Towards a High-speed Router-based Anomaly/Intrusion Detection System

Traffic anomalies and attacks are commonplace in today’s networks, and identifying them rapidly and accurately is critical for large networks. With the rapid growth of network bandwidth and fast emergence of new attacks/worms, existing network intrusion detection systems (IDS) are insufficient for the following two reasons. First, they are mostly host-based or located on low-end routers, and not scalable to high-speed networks. However, it is crucial to identify fast propagation of worms in their early phases, which can only possibly be achieved by detection at high speed edge/backbone routers instead of at end hosts. Unfortunately, the existing schemes are not scalable to the link speeds and number of flows for high-speed networks. According to a recent research agenda [7] by DARPA, detection on edge networks is particularly critical, powerful and efficient (without deploying IDSs on all the edge hosts). Second, most of the existing approaches are signature based, which cannot detect unknown attacks. Statistical IDSs are therefore proposed to detect anomalies. Current systems are mostly designed to detect based on the overall traffic, thus they tend to be inaccurate or cannot find real attack flows for mitigation even when spotting anomalies. For instance, the state-of-the-art stateless router-based SYN flooding detection techniques, Change Point Monitoring (CPM), use the statistical behavior of SYN-FIN, or SYN-SYN/ACK packet pairs based on overall traffic for detection [5]. It detects well with pure SYN flooding traffic. However, it suffers high false positives when there is port scan traffic, because port scans can also cause lots of SYN without SYN/ACK or FIN. There are also a few flow-level detection schemes. However most of them are not scalable to high speed networks. For instance, Threshold Random Walk (TRW) can accurately and quickly detect port scans [2], but it is vulnerable to DoS attacks with randomly spoofed IP addresses, which will cause memory overflow because it needs to store the status of every source IP address. It was recently improved by limiting its memory consumption with approximate caches (AC) [6]. However, now spoofed DoS attacks will cause collisions in AC, and make the real port scans undetected. Recently, PCF was recently proposed for scalable network detection [3]. But even when attacks are detected, the attacker or victim is still unknown, making mitigation impossible.
Spectra of D-branes with Higgs vevs

In this paper we continue previous work on counting open string states between D-branes by considering open strings between D-branes with nonzero Higgs vevs, and in particular, nilpotent Higgs vevs, as arise, for example, when studying D-branes in orbifolds. Ordinarily Higgs vevs can be interpreted as moving the D-brane, but nilpotent Higgs vevs have zero eigenvalues, and so their interpretation is more interesting -- for example, they often correspond to nonreduced schemes, which furnishes an important link in understanding old results relating classical D-brane moduli spaces in orbifolds to Hilbert schemes, resolutions of quotient spaces, and the McKay correspondence. We give a sheaf-theoretic description of D-branes with Higgs vevs, including nilpotent Higgs vevs, and check that description by noting that Ext groups between the sheaves modelling the D-branes, do in fact correctly count open string states. In particular, our analysis expands the types of sheaves which admit on-shell physical interpretations, which is an important step for making derived categories useful for physics.
Localization of Epstein-Barr virus envelope glycoproteins on the inner nuclear membrane of virus-producing cells

Epstein-Barr virus-producing cells were used as a model to analyze, with a fracture-immunolabel technique, the distribution, behavior on fracture, and extent of glycosylation of viral transmembrane glycoproteins at the inner nuclear membrane. Surface and fracture immunolabeling with two monoclonal antibodies directed against the carbohydrate or polypeptide portions of the major viral envelope glycoproteins gp350/220 showed the following. (i) The glycoproteins present on the inner and outer nuclear membranes were labeled only with the monoclonal antibody directed against the polypeptide chain, whereas over the surface of virus-producing cells and on mature virions the labeling was dense and uniformly distributed with both monoclonal antibodies. (ii) The glycoproteins were nonuniformly distributed only over the inner nuclear membranes; at the sites of viral budding, the glycoproteins showed a preferential partition with the protoplasmic face. Since fully glycosylated glycoproteins were not present on the nuclear membranes, our observations support the proposed model of herpesvirus maturation. The peculiar distribution and partition on fracture of the envelope glycoproteins on the inner nuclear membrane are similar to those of Sindbis virus envelope glycoproteins on the plasma membrane of infected cells. Therefore, our results suggest that inner nuclear membranes may behave like plasma membranes during viral assembly.
Prostaglandins , Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) is a long chain omega-3 fatty acid that is the primary n-3 fatty acid found in the central nervous system where it plays both a structural and functional role in cells. Because the tissues of interest are generally inaccessible for fatty acid analysis in humans and because precise DHA intake is difficult to determine, surrogate biomarkers are important for defining DHA status. Analysis of total lipid extracts or phospholipids from plasma or erythrocytes by gas chromatography meet the criteria for a useful biomarker of DHA status. Furthermore, both plasma and erythrocyte DHA levels have been correlated with brain, cardiac, and other tissue levels. Use of these biomarkers of DHA status will enable future clinical trials and observational studies to define more precisely the DHA levels required for either disease prevention or other functional benefits. & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Functional coupling between frontal and parietal lobes during recognition memory

Neuroimaging studies have suggested that the frontal and parietal lobes may be important for the process by which we remember information. However, little is known about how these regions exchange information during memory retrieval. We measured EEG synchronisation in the gamma-band (25–55 Hz), a putative measure of functional coupling between brain regions, while human subjects performed a recognition memory task. Fronto-parietal synchrony was increased for true old memories relative to false memories and new items. Our results suggest that synchronization of neuronal responses in the gamma-band may be an important mechanism by which frontal and parietal regions exchange information during the recognition of past events.