Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patch‐clamp ‘mapping’ of ion channel activity in human sperm reveals regionalisation and co‐localisation into mixed clusters

Ion channels are pivotal to many aspects of sperm physiology and function. We have used the patch clamp technique to investigate the distribution of ion channels in the plasma membrane of the head of human spermatozoa. We report that three types of activity are common in the equatorial and acrosomal regions of the sperm head. Two of these (a chloride‐permeable anion channel showing long stable openings and a second channel which flickered between open and closed states and was dependent upon cyoplasmic factors for activity) were localised primarily to the equatorial segment. A third type, closely resembling the flickering actvivity but with different voltage sensitivity of Popen, was more widely distributed but was not detectable over the anterior acrosome. In the anterior acrosomal area channels were present but showed very low levels of spontaneous activity. A unique feature of channel activity in the sperm equatorial region was co‐localisation into mixed clusters, most patches were devoid of activity but ‘active’ patches typically contained two or more types of activity (in a single 200–300 nM diameter patch). We conclude that ion channels in the sperm membrane show regionalisation of type and activity and that the channels are clustered into functional groups, possibly interacting through local effects on membrane potential. J. Cell. Physiol. 213:801–808. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Platypus: Indoor Localization and Identification through Sensing of Electric Potential Changes in Human Bodies

Platypus is the first system to localize and identify people by remotely and passively sensing changes in their body electric potential which occur naturally during walking. While it uses three or more electric potential sensors with a maximum range of 2 m, as a tag-free system it does not require the user to carry any special hardware. We describe the physical principles behind body electric potential changes, and a predictive mathematical model of how this affects a passive electric field sensor. By inverting this model and combining data from sensors, we infer a method for localizing people and experimentally demonstrate a median localization error of 0.16 m. We also use the model to remotely infer the change in body electric potential with a mean error of 8.8 % compared to direct contact-based measurements. We show how the reconstructed body electric potential differs from person to person and thereby how to perform identification. Based on short walking sequences of 5 s, we identify four users with an accuracy of 94 %, and 30 users with an accuracy of 75 %. We demonstrate that identification features are valid over multiple days, though change with footwear.
Environmental Gap Analysis to Prioritize Conservation Efforts in Eastern Africa

Countries in eastern Africa have set aside significant proportions of their land for protection. But are these areas representative of the diverse range of species and habitats found in the region? And do conservation efforts include areas where the state of biodiversity is likely to deteriorate without further interventions? Various studies have addressed these questions at global and continental scales. However, meaningful conservation decisions are required at finer geographical scales. To operate more effectively at the national level, finer scale baseline data on species and on higher levels of biological organization such as the eco-regions are required, among other factors. Here we adopted a recently developed high-resolution potential natural vegetation (PNV) map for eastern Africa as a baseline to more effectively identify conservation priorities. We examined how well different potential natural vegetations (PNVs) are represented in the protected area (PA) network of eastern Africa and used a multivariate environmental similarity index to evaluate biases in PA versus PNV coverage. We additionally overlaid data of anthropogenic factors that potentially influence the natural vegetation to assess the level of threat to different PNVs. Our results indicate substantial differences in the conservation status of PNVs. In addition, particular PNVs in which biodiversity protection and ecological functions are at risk due to human influences are revealed. The data and approach presented here provide a step forward in developing more transparent and better informed translation from global priorities to regional or national implementation in eastern Africa, and are valid for other geographic regions.
Free Sugars and Total Fat Are Important Characteristics of a Dietary Pattern Associated with Adiposity across Childhood and Adolescence

Background: The importance of dietary sugar compared with fat in the development of obesity is currently a topic of debate. Objective: We aimed to identify dietary patterns (DPs) characterized by high sugar content, high fat content, or both and their longitudinal associations with adiposity during childhood and adolescence. Methods: Participants were 6722 children from the ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) who were born in 1991–1992. DPs were characterized by percentage of total energy intake (%E) from free sugars, %E from total fat, and dietary energy density (DED) and fiber density by using reduced rank regression at 7, 10, and 13 y of age. Total body fat mass was measured at 11, 13, and 15 y of age. Regression analyses were used to adjust for dietary misreporting, physical activity, and maternal social class. Results: Two major DPs were identified: higher z scores for DP1 were associated with greater DED, greater %E from free sugars and total fat, and lower fiber density; higher z scores for DP2 were associated with greater %E from free sugars but lower %E from total fat and DED. A 1-SD increase in z score for DP1 was associated with a mean increase in the fat mass index z score of 0.04 SD units (95% CI: 0.01, 0.07; P = 0.017) and greater odds of excess adiposity (OR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.25; P = 0.038). DP2 was not associated with adiposity. Conclusions: An energy-dense DP high in %E from total fat and free sugars is associated with greater adiposity in childhood and adolescence. This appears to confirm the role of both fat and sugar and provides a basis for food-based dietary guidelines to prevent obesity in children.
Child Neurology Services in Africa

The first African Child Neurology Association meeting identified key challenges that the continent faces to improve the health of children with neurology disorders. The capacity to diagnose common neurologic conditions and rare disorders is lacking. The burden of neurologic disease on the continent is not known, and this lack of knowledge limits the ability to lobby for better health care provision. Inability to practice in resource-limited settings has led to the migration of skilled professionals away from Africa. Referral systems from primary to tertiary are often unpredictable and chaotic. There is a lack of access to reliable supplies of basic neurology treatments such as antiepileptic drugs. Few countries have nationally accepted guidelines either for the management of epilepsy or status epilepticus. There is a great need to develop better training capacity across Africa in the recognition and management of neurologic conditions in children, from primary health care to the subspecialist level.
Discontinuity-aware video object cutout

Existing video object cutout systems can only deal with limited cases. They usually require detailed user interactions to segment real-life videos, which often suffer from both inseparable statistics (similar appearance between foreground and background) and temporal discontinuities (e.g. large movements, newly-exposed regions following disocclusion or topology change). In this paper, we present an efficient video cutout system to meet this challenge. A novel directional classifier is proposed to handle temporal discontinuities robustly, and then multiple classifiers are incorporated to cover a variety of cases. The outputs of these classifiers are integrated via another classifier, which is learnt from real examples. The foreground matte is solved by a coherent matting procedure, and remaining errors can be removed easily by additive spatio-temporal local editing. Experiments demonstrate that our system performs more robustly and more intelligently than existing systems in dealing with various input types, thus saving a lot of user labor and time.
Capturing the semantic structure of documents using summaries in Supplemented Latent Semantic Analysis

Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) is a mathematical technique that is used to capture the semantic structure of documents based on correlations among textual elements within them. Summaries of documents contain words that actually contribute towards the concepts of documents. In the present work, summaries are used in LSA along with supplementary information such as document category and domain information in the model. This modification is referred as Supplemented Latent Semantic Analysis (SLSA) in this paper. SLSA is used to capture the semantic structure of documents using summaries of various proportions instead of entire full-length documents. The performance of SLSA on summaries is empirically evaluated in a document classification application by comparing the accuracies of classification against plain LSA on full-length documents. It is empirically shown that instead of using full-length documents, their summaries can be used to capture the semantic structure of documents. Key–Words: Dimensionality Reduction, Document Classification, Latent Semantic Analysis, Semantic Structure, Singular Value Decomposition.
Finite Element Techniques for Removing the Mixture of Gaussian and Impulsive Noise

The finite element method has become a very powerful and popular tool to solve boundary value problems coming from science and engineering. Here, we consider a scattered data fitting method based on the finite element method and apply the method to remove the mixture of Gaussian and impulsive noise from an image. Numerical results show the performance of the approach.
Western Diet Chow Consumption in Rats Induces Striatal Neuronal Activation While Reducing Dopamine Levels without Affecting Spatial Memory in the Radial Arm Maze

Rats fed high fat diets have been shown to be impaired in hippocampal-dependent behavioral tasks, such as spatial recognition in the Y-maze and reference memory in the Morris water maze (MWM). It is clear from previous studies, however, that motivation and reward factor into the memory deficits associated with obesity and high-fat diet consumption, and that the prefrontal cortex and striatum and neurotransmitter dopamine play important roles in cognitive performance. In this series of studies we extend our research to investigate the effect of a high fat diet on striatal neurochemistry and performance in the delayed spatial win-shift radial arm maze task, a paradigm highly reliant on dopamine-rich brain regions, such as the striatum after high fat diet consumption. Memory performance, neuronal activation and brain dopaminergic levels were compared in rats fed a “Western” (21% fat, 0.15% cholesterol) chow diet compared to normal diet (6% fat, 0.15% cholesterol)-fed controls. Twelve weeks of dietary manipulation produced an increase in weight in western diet-fed rats, but did not affect learning and performance in the delayed spatial win-shift radial arm maze task. Concurrently, there was an observed decrease in dopamine levels in the striatum and a reduction of dopamine turnover in the hippocampus in western diet-fed rats. In a separate cohort of rats Fos levels were measured after rats had been placed in a novel arena and allowed to explore freely. In normal rats, this exposure to a unique environment did not affect neuronal activation. In contrast, rats fed a western diet were found to have significantly increased Fos expression in the striatum, but not prefrontal cortex or hippocampus. Our study demonstrates that while western diet consumption in rats produces weight gain and brain neuronal and neurotransmitter changes, it did not affect performance in the delayed spatial win-shift paradigm in the radial arm maze. We conclude that modeling the cognitive decline-obesity relationship is complex with considerations, of type of memory, behavioral task and dietary intervention (fat, fat and sugar, sugar, and cafeteria diets) all adding to our overall understanding.
Large Cliques in Sparse Random Intersection Graphs

Given positive integers n and m, and a probability measure P on {0, 1, . , m} the random intersection graph G(n,m,P) on vertex set V = {1,2, . , n} and with attribute set W = {w_1, w_2, . , w_m} is defined as follows. Let S_1, S_2, . , S_n be independent random subsets of W such that for any v \in V and any S \subseteq W we have \pr(S_v = S) = P(|S|) / \binom (m, |S|). The edge set of G(n,m,P) consists of those pairs {u,v} V for which S_u and S_v intersect. We study the asymptotic order of the clique number \omega(G(n,m,P)) in random intersection graphs with bounded expected degrees. For instance, in the case m = \Theta(n) we show that if the vertex degree distribution is power-law with exponent \alpha \in (1;2), then the maximum clique is of a polynomial size, while if the variance of the degrees is bounded, then the maximum clique has (ln n)/(ln ln n) (1 + o_P(1)) vertices whp. In each case there is a polynomial algorithm which finds a clique of size \omega(G(n,m,P)) (1-o_P(1)).
Privacy Leaks When You Play Games: A Novel User-Behavior-Based Covert Channel on Smartphones

To protect user privacy, many smartphone systems, such as Android and Windows Phone, adopt the permission-based mechanism in which a user can evaluate the request of private information by a mobile app before installing it. However, recent studies show that the permission-based mechanism is vulnerable to application colluding attacks because two apps, which appear to be harmless individually, can establish a covert channel and use it to leak confidential information. In general, existing known covert channels usually work in a way that one app can modify the status of a system component, while the other can read the status. Even though several covert channel detection schemes have been proposed recently to fight against this type of covert channels, we point out that such designed covert channel detection schemes are not sufficient. In this paper, we demonstrate the possibility of establishing novel covert channels that work in quite different ways, in which one app (e.g., a game) can be designed deliberately such that the user will be induced to voluntarily modify the status of a system component (e.g., a motion sensor), while the other app can read the status of the system component. To validate our design, we implement three covert channels on Android. Our experiments show that these channels can bypass existing detection schemes. Moreover, we also measure the achievable throughput, error rate, and energy consumption in devices. The results demonstrate that our covert channels can achieve a transmission with high accuracy and low energy consumption. Our work sets a new alarm for the security issue of using smartphones.
Subfailure Overstretch Injury Leads to Reversible Functional Impairment and Purinergic P2X7 Receptor Activation in Intact Vascular Tissue

Vascular stretch injury is associated with blunt trauma, vascular surgical procedures, and harvest of human saphenous vein for use in vascular bypass grafting. A model of subfailure overstretch in rat abdominal aorta was developed to characterize surgical vascular stretch injury. Longitudinal stretch of rat aorta was characterized ex vivo. Stretch to the haptic endpoint, where the tissues would no longer lengthen, occurred at twice the resting length. The stress produced at this length was greater than physiologic mechanical forces but well below the level of mechanical disruption. Functional responses were determined in a muscle bath, and this subfailure overstretch injury led to impaired smooth muscle function that was partially reversed by treatment with purinergic receptor (P2X7R) antagonists. These data suggest that vasomotor dysfunction caused by subfailure overstretch injury may be due to the activation of P2X7R. These studies have implications for our understanding of mechanical stretch injury of blood vessels and offer novel therapeutic opportunities.
The case for a low extragalactic gamma-ray background

Measurements of the diffuse extragalactic γ-ray background (EGRB) are complicated by a strong Galactic foreground. Estimates of the EGRB flux and spectrum, obtained by modelling the Galactic emission, have produced a variety of (sometimes conflicting) results. The latest analysis of the EGRET data found an isotropic flux Ix = 1.45±0.05 above 100 MeV, in units of 10−5 ph s−1 cm−2 sr−1. We analyse the EGRET data in search of robust constraints on the EGRB flux, finding the γ-ray sky strongly dominated by Galactic foreground even at high latitudes, with no conclusive evidence for an additional isotropic component. The γ-ray intensity measured towards the Galactic poles is similar to or lower than previous estimates of Ix, even before Galactic foreground subtraction. The high-latitude profile of the γ-ray data is disc-like for 40°|b|70°, and even steeper for |b|70°; overall it exhibits strong Galactic features and is well fit by a simple Galactic model. Based on the |b|>40° data we find that Ix<0.5 at a 99% confidence level, with evidence for a much lower flux. We show that correlations with Galactic tracers, previously used to identify the Galactic foreground and estimate Ix, are not satisfactory; the results depend on the tracers used and on the part of the sky examined, because the Galactic emission is not linear in the Galactic tracers, and exhibits spectral variations across the sky. The low EGRB flux favoured by our analysis places stringent limits on extragalactic scenarios involving γ-ray emission, such as radiation from blazars, intergalactic shocks and production of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. We suggest methods by which future γ-ray missions such as GLAST and AGILE could indirectly identify the EGRB.
3D head pose estimation using the Kinect

Head pose estimation plays an essential role for bridging the information gap between humans and computers. Conventional head pose estimation methods are mostly done in images captured by cameras. However accurate and robust pose estimation is often problematic. In this paper we present an algorithm for recovering the six degrees of freedom (DOF) of motion of a head from a sequence of range images taken by the Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360. The proposed algorithm utilizes a least-squares minimization of the difference between the measured rate of change of depth at a point and the rate predicted by the depth rate constraint equation. We segment the human head from its surroundings and background, and then we estimate the head motion. Our system has the capability to recover the six DOF of the head motion of multiple people in one image. The proposed system is evaluated in our lab and presents superior results.
Human Study of Biatrial Electrical Coupling: Determinants of Endocardial Septal Activation and Conduction Over Interatrial Connections

Background—The relative contribution of the atrial septum and interatrial connections to biatrial activation is a fundamental concept of human cardiac electrophysiology that has yet to be fully characterized. The purpose of the present study was to determine how both atria are coupled electrically. Methods and Results—Twenty patients (16 men; mean age 54±11years) with a history of symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) underwent simultaneous biatrial noncontact mapping before catheter ablation of AF. The multiple electrode array catheters were positioned, respectively, in the left atrium (LA; transseptally) and the right atrium (RA). In all but 2 patients, isopotential maps revealed that endocardial septal activations of the RA and LA were separate, independent, and asynchronous of each other. Interatrial conduction was related to the site of initial atrial depolarization, revealing conduction over Bachmann's bundle in all patients during sinus rhythm, high RA pacing, and pacing from the LA appendage. Pacing from the coronary sinus was associated with conduction over the interatrial connection at the level of the coronary sinus in all patients, and conduction over Bachmann's bundle also occurred in 5 (26%) of 19 patients. Interatrial conduction over the fossa ovalis occurred in only 2 (2%) of the 116 segments analyzed. Conclusions—Electrical coupling of the RA and LA in humans is predominantly provided by muscular connections at the level of Bachmann's bundle and the coronary sinus. The true septum (the fossa ovalis and its limbus) of the RA and LA is asynchronous and discordant, usually without contralateral conduction during sinus rhythm or atrial pacing.
PINE-guided cache replacement policy for location-dependent data in mobile environment

Caching frequently accessed items on the mobile client is an important technique to enhance data availability and to improve data access time. Cache replacement policies are used to find a suitable subset of items for eviction from the cache due to limited cache size. The existing policies rely on Euclidean space and consider Euclidean distance as an important parameter for eviction. However, in practice the position and movement of objects are constrained to spatial networks where the important distance measure is the network distance. In this paper we propose a cache replacement policy, which considers the network density, network distance and probability of access as important factors for eviction. We make use of an already proven technique called Progressive incremental network expansion to compute the network distance more efficiently. A series of simulation experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the policy. Results indicate that the proposed cache replacement scheme performs significantly better than the existing policies FAR and PAID and WPRRP.
Auditory selective attention is enhanced by a task-irrelevant temporally coherent visual stimulus in human listeners

In noisy settings, listening is aided by correlated dynamic visual cues gleaned from a talker's face—an improvement often attributed to visually reinforced linguistic information. In this study, we aimed to test the effect of audio–visual temporal coherence alone on selective listening, free of linguistic confounds. We presented listeners with competing auditory streams whose amplitude varied independently and a visual stimulus with varying radius, while manipulating the cross-modal temporal relationships. Performance improved when the auditory target's timecourse matched that of the visual stimulus. The fact that the coherence was between task-irrelevant stimulus features suggests that the observed improvement stemmed from the integration of auditory and visual streams into cross-modal objects, enabling listeners to better attend the target. These findings suggest that in everyday conditions, where listeners can often see the source of a sound, temporal cues provided by vision can help listeners to select one sound source from a mixture. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.04995. 001