Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Effects of early-life stress on cognitive function and hippocampal structure in female rodents

—We tested the eﬀect of early-life stress (ELS) – 24 h maternal deprivation (MD) at postnatal day (PND) 3 – on cognitive performance and hippocampal structure in 12–17-week-old female rats. Behavioral performance was examined in: the Elevated Plus Maze, as an index for general anxiety; the rodent Iowa gambling test, probing reward-based decision making; and the object recognition and object-in-location task, to assess non-stressful contextual memory performance. We further determined hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) volume and cell density as well as adult proliferation and neurogenesis rates. Half of the rats was treated with the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist mifepristone during a critical pre-pubertal developmental window (PNDs 26–28), in an attempt to ameliorate the potentially adverse behavioral consequences of ELS. Neither MD nor treatment with the glucocorticoid antagonist aﬀected behavioral performance of the females in any of the tasks. Also, DG structure, proliferation and neurogenesis were not diﬀerent between the groups. Lack of structural diﬀerences and a behavioral phenotype in non-stressful hippocampus dependent learning tasks ﬁts with the lack of phenotype generally reported after ELS in female but less so in male rodents. As evident from an extensive literature review, female and male animals appear to respond more similarly to early-life adversity when tested in anxiety-related tasks. This agrees with recent ﬁndings in humans suggesting that females may be relatively resilient to the structural/hippocampal eﬀects of childhood maltreatment, but not to the anxiety and mood-related psychopathology for which childhood maltreatment is considered a risk factor. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Early Adver-sity . (cid:1) 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
SAK-HV Triggered a Short-period Lipid-lowering Biotherapy Based on the Energy Model of Liver Proliferation via a Novel Pathway

The accumulations of excess lipids within liver and serum are defined as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and hyperlipemia respectively. Both of them are components of metabolic syndrome that greatly threaten human health. Here, a recombinant fusion protein (SAK-HV) effectively treated NAFLD and hyperlipemia in high-fat-fed ApoE-/- mice, quails and rats within just 14 days. Its triglyceride and cholesterol-lowering effects were significantly better than that of atorvastatin during the observation period. We explored the lipid-lowering mechanism of SAK-HV by the hepatic transcriptome analysis and serials of experiments both in vivo and in vitro. Unexpectedly, SAK-HV triggered a moderate energy and material-consuming liver proliferation to dramatically decrease the lipids from both serum and liver. We provided the first evidence that PGC-1α mediated the hepatic synthesis of female hormones during liver proliferation, and proposed the complement system-induced PGC-1α-estrogen axis via the novel STAT3-C/EBPβ-PGC-1α pathway in liver as a new energy model for liver proliferation. In this model, PGC-1α ignited and fueled hepatocyte activation as an “igniter”; PGC-1α-induced estrogen augmented the energy supply of PGC-1α as an “ignition amplifier”, then triggered the hepatocyte state transition from activation to proliferation as a “starter”, causing triglyceride and cholesterol-lowering effects via PPARα-mediated fatty acid oxidation and LDLr-mediated cholesterol uptake, respectively. Collectively, the SAK-HV-triggered distinctive lipid-lowering strategy based on the new energy model of liver proliferation has potential as a novel short-period biotherapy against NAFLD and hyperlipemia.
Metabolic heterogeneity signature of primary treatment-naïve prostate cancer

To avoid over- or under-treatment of primary prostate tumours, there is a critical need for molecular signatures to discriminate indolent from aggressive, lethal disease. Reprogrammed energy metabolism is an important hallmark of cancer, and abnormal metabolic characteristics of cancers have been implicated as potential diagnostic/prognostic signatures. While genomic and transcriptomic heterogeneity of prostate cancer is well documented and associated with tumour progression, less is known about metabolic heterogeneity of the disease. Using a panel of high fidelity patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models derived from hormone-naïve prostate cancer, we demonstrated heterogeneity of expression of genes involved in cellular energetics and macromolecular biosynthesis. Such heterogeneity was also observed in clinical, treatment-naïve prostate cancers by analyzing the transcriptome sequencing data. Importantly, a metabolic gene signature of increased one-carbon metabolism or decreased proline degradation was identified to be associated with significantly decreased biochemical disease-free patient survival. These results suggest that metabolic heterogeneity of hormone-naïve prostate cancer is of biological and clinical importance and motivate further studies to determine the heterogeneity in metabolic flux in the disease that may lead to identification of new signatures for tumour/patient stratification and the development of new strategies and targets for therapy of prostate cancer.
Predisposing factors and outcome of uncommon yeast species-related fungaemia based on an exhaustive surveillance programme (2002–14)

Objectives Using registry data to compare fungaemia caused by uncommon yeast species (UYS; i.e. other than Candida albicans , Candida glabrata , Candida parapsilosis , Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei ) and C. albicans -related fungaemia can reveal specific predisposing factors of UYS with potential impact on treatment strategies. Methods We analysed 338 episodes of UYS fungaemia prospectively collected from 27 hospitals (Paris, France; 1 October 2002-31 December 2014) and compared these with 1998 single episodes of C. albicans fungaemia using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results The proportion of UYS fungaemia was stable over time. Thirty-five different species were identified (27 ascomycetes, 8 basidiomycetes), 11 had caspofungin MIC 50 >0.25 mg/L and 15 fluconazole MIC 50 >4 mg/L. Haematological malignancies [OR=2.39 (95% CI 1.79-3.18)] and prior exposure to antifungal drugs [OR=1.87 (1.30-2.69)] were independent predisposing factors for UYS infections upon multivariate analysis. However, when considering the genus/species complex level, only infections due to Candida kefyr -related species [OR=4.01 (2.42-6.64)] and to Trichosporon spp. [OR=5.38 (1.72-16.81)] remained associated with haematological malignancies, those due to the GEOTRICHUM group with acute leukaemia [OR=61.29 (19.23-195.36)], and infections with Trichosporon spp. or the GEOTRICHUM group with prior exposure to caspofungin [OR=15.67 (3.62-67.80) and OR=13.17 (3.33-52.03), respectively] but not to fluconazole. The global mortality at day 30 for UYS was similar to that for C. albicans (35.4%, and 39.9%, respectively), but very divergent results were observed according to the specific UYS. Conclusions UYS encompass a high diversity of species, each with its own behaviour and predisposing factors for human infections. This variety makes it important to rapidly identify an isolate to the species level in order to optimize antifungal treatment.
Mouse and Human Monoclonal Antibodies Protect against Infection by Multiple Genotypes of Japanese Encephalitis Virus

ABSTRACT Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) remains a leading cause of viral encephalitis worldwide. Although JEV-specific antibodies have been described, an assessment of their ability to neutralize multiple genotypes of JEV has been limited. Here, we describe the development of a panel of mouse and human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that inhibit infection in cell culture of four different JEV genotypes tested. Mechanism-of-action studies showed that many of these MAbs inhibited infection at a postattachment step, including blockade of virus fusion. Mapping studies using site-directed mutagenesis and hydrogen-deuterium exchange with mass spectrometry revealed that the lateral ridge on domain III of the envelope protein was a primary recognition epitope for our panel of strongly neutralizing MAbs. Therapeutic studies in mice demonstrated protection against lethality caused by genotype I and III strains when MAbs were administered as a single dose even 5 days after infection. This information may inform the development of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies as emerging strains and genotypic shifts become more prevalent. IMPORTANCE Although Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a vaccine-preventable cause of viral encephalitis, the inactivated and live attenuated platforms available are derived from strains belonging to a single genotype (GIII) due to its historical prevalence in areas of JEV epidemics. Related to this, studies with vaccines and antibodies have focused on assessing the in vitro and in vivo protective responses to homologous or heterologous GIII strains. An epidemiological shift in JEV genotype distribution warrants the induction of broadly neutralizing antibody responses that inhibit infection of multiple JEV genotypes. Here, we generated a panel of mouse and human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and evaluated their inhibitory activity, epitope location, and capacity for protection against multiple JEV genotypes in mice. Although Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a vaccine-preventable cause of viral encephalitis, the inactivated and live attenuated platforms available are derived from strains belonging to a single genotype (GIII) due to its historical prevalence in areas of JEV epidemics. Related to this, studies with vaccines and antibodies have focused on assessing the in vitro and in vivo protective responses to homologous or heterologous GIII strains. An epidemiological shift in JEV genotype distribution warrants the induction of broadly neutralizing antibody responses that inhibit infection of multiple JEV genotypes. Here, we generated a panel of mouse and human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and evaluated their inhibitory activity, epitope location, and capacity for protection against multiple JEV genotypes in mice.
On the Optimization of Decode-and-Forward Schemes for Two-Way Asymmetric Relaying

In this paper, we consider a two-way asymmetric relaying channel with unmatched traffics from two sources. Aiming at maximizing the sum rate under a minimum rate constraint, we address the optimization problem (in terms of time and power allocation) for two decode-and-forward (DF) strategies, namely, the decode-and-forward with joint modulation (DF-JM) and the decode-and-forward with network-superposition coding (DF-NSC). Closed-form solutions under different relay settings are presented. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the performance gains due to the optimal resource allocation, as well as the achievable rate gaps between two different DF strategies.
Toward Proxy Re-encryption From Learning with Errors in the Exponent

Proxy re-encryption (PRE) is an important cryptographic primitive used for private information sharing. However, the recent advance in quantum computer has potentially crippled its security, as the traditional decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH)-based PRE is venerable to the quantum attack. Thus, learning with errors (LWE)-based PRE schemes, as a kind of latticebased construction with the inherent quantum-resistant property, has attracted special research interest. Unfortunately, the main drawback of lattice-based public key encryption scheme is noise management after multiplication evaluation. Many cryptographers have been devoted to controlling the expansion of noise. In this line of work, Dagdelen-Gajek-G¨opfert (DGG) put forth the notion of learning with errors in the exponent (LWEE) which is based on lattice and group-theoretic assumption, meanwhile demonstrated a paradigm for constructing efficient quantum resistance public key schemes. In this paper, on top of DGG, we construct a single-bit, single-hop and unidirectional LWEE- based PRE scheme with indistinguishable chosen plaintext attack (IND-CPA) security. To the best of our knowledge, our scheme is the first LWEE-based PRE scheme.
Effect of Home Modification Interventions on the Participation of Community-Dwelling Adults With Health Conditions: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE. This systematic review investigated the role of home modification interventions to improve participation outcomes for community-living adults and older adults. METHOD. Thirty-six articles met the inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies investigated older adult populations and used occupational therapists as interventionists. RESULTS. Strong evidence was found for home modification interventions to improve function for people with a variety of health conditions and for both single and multicomponent interventions that included home modifications to reduce the rate and risk of falls among older adults. Moderate evidence was found for improved caregiving for people with dementia. CONCLUSION. Comprehensive, higher intensity interventions demonstrated greater efficacy to improve occupational performance. Emerging evidence was also found for the role of occupational therapy in providing effective home modification interventions. Implications for occupational therapy practice, education, and research are discussed.
Fabrication of gold nanopillars on gold interdigitated impedance electrodes for biological applications

Abstract Gold nanopillars have been successfully fabricated on top of interdigitated gold electrodes deposited on a Pyrex substrate and these were used for cytotoxicity monitoring on immortalized cells through the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique. These nanopillars were fabricated via contact metal deposition. E-beam lithography was used to define the pattern of nanopillars with dimensions of 150nm diameter and 500nm of distance between their edges in a honeycomb-like structure. These dimensions together with a, relatively, low aspect ratio ( ~50niτi tall) have been chosen in the hope that cell adhesion will be promoted. Cell adhesion to these novel nanopillars is important as their ultimate use will be for cytotoxicity testing of cell cultures. This novel tool could potentially increase the sensitivity of this kind of analysis compared to its plain counterpart.
A self-determination multiple risk intervention trial to improve smokers’ health

AbstractBACKGROUND: Little is known about how interventions motivate individuals to change multiple health risk behaviors. Self-determination theory (SDT) proposes that patient autonomy is an essential factor for motivating change. OBJECTIVE: An SDT-based intervention to enhance autonomous motivation for tobacco abstinence and improving cholesterol was tested. DESIGN: The Smokers’ Health Study is a randomized multiple risk behavior change intervention trial. SETTING: Smokers were recruited to a tobacco treatment center. PATIENTS: A total of 1,006 adult smokers were recruited between 1999 and 2002 from physician offices and by newspaper advertisements. INTERVENTIONS: A 6-month clinical intervention (4 contacts) to facilitate internalization of autonomy and perceived competence for tobacco abstinence and reduced percent calories from fat was compared with community care. Clinicians elicited patient perspectives and life strivings, provided absolute coronary artery disease risk estimates, enumerated effective treatment options, supported patient initiatives, minimized clinician control, assessed motivation for change, and developed a plan for change. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Twelve-month prolonged tobacco abstinence, and change in percent calories from fat and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) from baseline to 18 months. RESULTS: Intention to treat analyses revealed that the intervention significantly increased 12-month prolonged tobacco abstinence (6.2% vs 2.4%; odds ratio [OR]=2.7,P=.01, number needed to treat [NNT]=26), and reduced LDL-C (−8.9 vs −4.1 mg/dL;P=.05). There was no effect on percent calories from fat. CONCLUSIONS: An intervention focused on supporting smokers’ autonomy was effective in increasing prolonged tobacco abstinence and lowering LDL-C. Clinical interventions for behavior change may be improved by increasing patient autonomy and perceived competence.
How Do Apps Work? An Analysis of Physical Activity App Users’ Perceptions of Behavior Change Mechanisms

Background Physical activity apps are commonly used to increase levels of activity and health status. To date, the focus of research has been to determine the potential of apps to influence behavior, to ascertain the efficacy of a limited number of apps to change behavior, and to identify the characteristics of apps that users prefer. Objective The purpose of this study was to identify the mechanisms by which the use of physical activity apps may influence the users’ physical activity behavior. Methods This study used a cross-sectional survey of users of health-related physical activity apps during the past 6 months. An electronic survey was created in Qualtrics’ Web-based survey software and deployed on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Individuals who had used at least one physical activity app in the past 6 months were eligible to respond. The final sample comprised 207 adults living in the United States. 86.0% (178/207) of respondents were between the ages of 26 and 54 years, with 51.2% (106/207) of respondents being female. Behavior change theory informed the creation of 20 survey items relating to the mechanisms of behavior change. Respondents also reported about engagement with the apps, app likeability, and physical activity behavior. Results Respondents reported that using a physical activity app in the past 6 months resulted in a change in their attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and motivation. Engagement with the app (P<.001), frequency of app use (P=.03), and app price (P=.01) were related to the reported impact of the behavior change theory or mechanisms of change. The mechanisms of change were associated with self-reported physical activity behaviors (P<.001). Conclusions The findings from this study provide an overview of the mechanisms by which apps may impact behavior. App developers may wish to incorporate these mechanisms in an effort to increase impact. Practitioners should consider the extent to which behavior change theory is integrated into a particular app when they consider making recommendations to others wishing to increase levels of physical activity.
Analysis of a statistics counter architecture

Packet switches (e.g., IP routers, ATM switches and Ethernet switches) maintain statistics for a variety of reasons: performance monitoring, network management, security, network tracing, and traffic engineering. The statistics are usually collected by counters which might, for example, count the number of arrivals of a specific type of packet, or count particular events, such as when a packet is dropped. The arrival of a packet may lead to several different statistics counters being updated. The number of statistics counters and the rate at which they are updated is often limited by memory technology. A small number of counters may be held in on-chip registers or in (on- or off-chip) SRAM. But often, the number of counters is very large, and hence they need to be stored in off-chip DRAM. However, the large random access times of DRAMs make it difficult to support high bandwidth links. The time taken to read, update and write a single counter would be too large, and worse still multiple counters may need to be updated for each arriving packet. In this paper we consider a specific architecture for storing and updating statistics counters. Smaller sized counters are maintained in fast (potentially on-chip) SRAM, while a large, slower DRAM maintains the full-sized counters. The problem is to ensure that the counter values are always correctly maintained at line-rate. We describe and analyze an optimal counter management algorithm (LCF-CMA), which minimizes the size of the SRAM required while ensuring correct line-rate operation of a large number of counters.
A simple control scheme for a single stage flyback LED driver

This study proposes a simple control scheme for using single‐stage flyback (SSF) converters in lighting source applications for LEDs. Among the advantages of the average current mode is an I/O current ripple that is only one‐half of the critical conduction mode (CRM). This condition helps extend the output capacitor lifetime while lowering the input EMI capacitance input EMI capacitance. The SSF converter proposed in this study operates in continuous conduction mode (CCM). In addition, two sample‐and‐hold (S/H) circuits are placed at the output voltage loop and feed‐forward path, respectively. Since these S/H circuits access the average output current and average feed‐forward voltage, the LED driver is unaffected by the 120‐Hz ripple noise, the total harmonic distortion (THD) is reduced, and the transient response of the output current is improved. Finally, the operation principles and design considerations of the studied LED driver are analyzed and discussed. A laboratory prototype is also designed and tested to verify the feasibility. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Numerical simulations of flow and microstructure in nematic liquid crystalline materials

Liquid crystals are known for their anisotropic characteristics, which lead to a preferred orientation of their molecules in the vicinity of solid surfaces. The ability of liquid crystalline materials to form ordered boundary layers with good load−carrying capacity and outstanding lubricating properties has been widely demonstrated. In order to study the advantages of implementing liquid crystals as lubricants, the steady state / time transient isothermal flow of thermotropic / lyotropic, nematic / chiral nematic liquid crystals between two concentric / eccentric cylinders and in planar Couette geometries were studied numerically. To consider the influence of the microstructure formation / evolution on the macro−scale attributes of the flow, the Leslie−Ericksen and Landau−de Gennes theories were employed. Simplicity of the Leslie−Ericksen theory in capturing the orientational alignment angle of the molecules makes it a viable candidate for modelling the flow of flow−aligning nematic liquid crystals. On the other hand, the Landau−de Gennes nematodynamics equations are well suited for predicting texture formation since defects and disclinations are non−singular solutions of the governing equations. The Landau−de Gennes theory for the liquid crystalline microstructure along with continuity and momentum equations were solved simultaneously using General PDE and Laminar Flow modules of COMSOL Multiphysics. The investigation of flow characteristics and orientation of liquid crystalline molecules for different rotational velocities / shear rates and anchoring angles at the boundaries were presented. Furthermore, nucleation and evolution of singularities in texture of the liquid crystalline materials were tracked over the simulation time. Moreover, alterations in the macro−scale attributes of the flow such as velocity profile, pressure distribution and first normal stress difference along with the evolution of defects were studied inside the liquid crystalline domain. The implementation of Landau−de Gennes nematodynamic governing equations for LCs flow simulations offered an insight in application of these materials as lubricants. It was shown the LCs could provide protection against the wearing mechanism by forming a shielding layer in the vicinity of solid surfaces. Three−dimensional simulations of a simplified prosthetic hip joint