Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Defective mitochondrial respiration, altered dNTP pools and reduced AP endonuclease 1 activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Alzheimer's disease patients

AIMS Accurate biomarkers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are badly needed. Recent reports suggest that dysfunctional mitochondria and DNA damage are associated with AD development. In this report, we measured various cellular parameters, related to mitochondrial bioenergetics and DNA damage, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of AD and control participants, for biomarker discovery. METHODS PBMCs were isolated from 53 patients with AD of mild to moderate degree and 30 age-matched healthy controls. Tests were performed on the PBMCs from as many of these participants as possible. We measured glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration fluxes using the Seahorse Bioscience flux analyzer, mitochondrial ROS production using flow cytometry, dNTP levels by way of a DNA polymerization assay, DNA strand breaks using the Fluorometric detection of Alkaline DNA Unwinding (FADU) assay, and APE1 incision activity (in cell lysates) on a DNA substrate containing an AP site (to estimate DNA repair efficiency). RESULTS In the PBMCs of AD patients, we found reduced basal mitochondrial oxygen consumption, reduced proton leak, higher dATP level, and lower AP endonuclease 1 activity, depending on adjustments for gender and/or age. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals impaired mitochondrial respiration, altered dNTP pools and reduced DNA repair activity in PBMCs of AD patients, thus suggesting that these biochemical activities may be useful as biomarkers for AD.
Introduction : reconsidering detachment.

This volume urges a reconsideration of the productive potential of disconnection, distance and detachment, as ethical, methodological and philosophical commitments. In so doing, we write against the grain of a strong tendency in contemporary social theory and public life. Engagement has, in a wide range of contexts, become a definitive and unquestionable social good, one that encompasses or abuts with a number of other seductive cultural tropes, such as participation, democracy, voice, equality, diversity and empowerment. Conversely, detachment has come to symbolize a range of social harms: authoritarianism and hierarchy, being out of touch, bureaucratic coldness and unresponsiveness, a lack of empathy, and passivity and inaction. Yet as this book will argue, in a wide range of settings detachment is still socially, ethically and politically valued, and the relationship between detachment and engagement is not simple or singular.
Cluster Based Image Steganography Using Pattern Matching

: "Steganography” is a Greek origin word which means “hidden writing”. Steganography word is classified into two parts: Steganos which means “secret or covered” (where you want to hide the secret messages) and the graphic which means “writing” (text). In this paper, a new technique is presented to hide data in which image is used as cover media. The proposed methodology is a combination of two techniques, color clustering and pattern matching. These two techniques are used collectively to introduce a new technique which can be used in steganography. This technique is applied on images which employ lossless compression because hidden data can be lost if lossy compression format image file is used in steganography.
Highly efficient spatiotemporal coherent control in nanoplasmonics on a nanometer-femtosecond scale by time reversal

One of the main problems in nanoplasmonics is the active dynamic control of optical local fields. We propose an efficient method to solve this problem. It allows one to impose coherent control of the spatiotemporal localization of the optical excitation energy in nanoplasmonic systems on the nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal scales. This approach is based on a general idea of time reversal where the nanosystem itself plays the role of an optical antenna and resonator. It is wireless and noninvasive. This method will open up many more fundamental and engineering applications of nanoplasmonics, in particular, to ultrafast computations and information storage on the nanoscale and ultrafast nanoscale spectroscopy.
High-accuracy peak picking of proteomics data

A new peak picking algorithm for the analysis of mass spectrometric (MS) data is presented, which is independent of the underlying machine or ion- ization method and is able to resolve highly convoluted and asymmetric signals. The method uses the multiscale nature of spectrometric data by first detectin g the mass peaks in the wavelet-transformed signal. Then, a given asymmetric peak function is fitted to the raw data. In an optional third stage, the resulting fit can be further improved using techniques from nonlinear optimization. In contrast to currently established techniques (e.g. SNAP, Apex) our algorithm is able to separate overlapping peaks of multiply charged peptides in ESI-MS data of low resolution. Its improved accuracy with respect to peak positions makes it a valu- able preprocessing method for MS-based identification and quantification exper- iments. The method has been validated on a number of different annotated test cases, where it compares favorably in both runtime and accuracy with currently established techniques. An implementation of the algorithm is freely available in our open source framework OpenMS.
Improved search engines and navigation preference in personal information management

Traditionally users access their personal files mainly by using folder navigation. We evaluate whether recent improvements in desktop search have changed this fundamental aspect of Personal Information Management (PIM). We tested this in two studies using the same questionnaire: (a) The Windows Studya longitudinal comparison of Google Desktop and Windows XP Search Companion, and (b) The Mac Studya large scale comparison of Mac Spotlight and Sherlock. There were few effects for improved search. First, regardless of search engine, there was a strong navigation preference: on average, users estimated that they used navigation for 56-68% of file retrieval events but searched for only 4-15% of events. Second, the effect of improving the quality of the search engine on search usage was limited and inconsistent. Third, search was used mainly as a last resort when users could not remember file location. Finally, there was no evidence that using improved desktop search engines leads people to change their filing habits to become less reliant on hierarchical file organization. We conclude by offering theoretical explanations for navigation preference, relating to differences between PIM and Internet retrieval, and suggest alternative design directions for PIM systems.
RCS reduction of active periodical structural scatterer

A model of novel periodical structural scatterer is proposed in this paper. After the operation of wire connection, the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of the diamond patch array has been decreased dramatically from the simulation and experimental results. When the impedance controllable network composed of varactor diodes is loaded between the unit cells, the RCS of scatterer could be tuned by different biasing voltage at L-band frequencies. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of this technology that the RCS of the active scatterer can be reduced more than 10 dB in a wide angle range.
SNAP: A Multi-Stage XML-Pipeline for Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis

This paper describes the SNAP system, which participated in Task 4 of SemEval2014: Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis. We use an XML-based pipeline that combines several independent components to perform each subtask. Key resources used by the system are Bing Liu’s sentiment lexicon, Stanford CoreNLP, RFTagger, several machine learning algorithms and WordNet. SNAP achieved satisfactory results in the evaluation, placing in the top half of the field for most subtasks.
Efficient Hardware Design for Computing Pairings Using Few FPGA In-built DSPs

This paper is devoted to the design of a 258-bit multiplier for computing pairings over Barreto-Naehrig (BN) curves at 128-bit security level. The proposed design is optimized for Xilinx field programmable gate array (FPGA). Each 258-bit integer is represented as a polynomial with five, 65 bit signed integer, coefficients. Exploiting this splitting we designed a pipelined 65-bit multiplier based on new KaratsubaOfman variant using non-standard splitting to fit to the Xilinx embedded digital signal processor (DSP) blocks. We prototype the coprocessor in two architectures pipelined and serial on a Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA using around 17000 slices and 11 DSPs in the pipelined design and 7 DSPs in the serial. The pipelined 128-bit pairing is computed in 1. 8 ms running at 225MHz and the serial is performed in 2.2 ms running at 185MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this implementation outperforms all reported hardware designs in term of DSP use. Keywords-Cryptography, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Modular Multiplication, Non-Standard Splitting, Pairing-Friendly Curves
The Gene Ontology Annotation (GOA) Project—Application of GO in SWISS-PROT, TrEMBL and InterPro

As proteomics research gains momentum, biologists need new ways to access and analyse information on proteins. Many new gene products, from a wide range of species, are being added to the SWISS-PROT Protein Knowledgebase — the world’s most highly annotated protein sequence database — and its supplement, TrEMBL [3]. To fully exploit the potential of these data, the SWISSPROT group at EBI aims to capture all the available biological information related to these sequences and especially components of the human proteome. One important challenge in this endeavour is to make all our databases describe, in a consistent way, what each protein does.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Induces Rapid Phosphorylation of Tight Junction Proteins Occludin and Zonula Occluden 1

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) may have a physiologic role in regulating vessel permeability and contributes to the pathophysiology of diabetic retinopathy as well as tumor development. We set out to ascertain the mechanism by which VEGF regulates paracellular permeability in rats. Intra-ocular injection of VEGF caused a post-translational modification of occludin as determined by a gel shift from 60 to 62 kDa. This event began by 15 min post-injection and was maximal by 45 min. Alkaline phosphatase treatment revealed this modification was caused by a change in occludin phosphorylation. In addition, the quantity of extracted occludin increased 2-fold in the same time frame. The phosphorylation and increased extraction of occludin was recapitulated in retinal endothelial cells in culture after VEGF stimulation. The data presented herein are the first demonstration of a change in the phosphorylation of this transmembrane protein under conditions of increased endothelial permeability. In addition, intra-ocular injection of VEGF also caused tyrosine phosphorylation of ZO-1 as early as 15 min and increased phosphorylation 4-fold after 90 min. In conclusion, VEGF rapidly increases occludin phosphorylation as well as the tyrosine phosphorylation of ZO-1. Phosphorylation of occludin and ZO-1 likely contribute to regulated endothelial paracellular permeability.
Understanding And Reducing Child Malnutrition In Mali: Interim Research Findings For The Project On Linkages Between Child Nutrition And Agricultural Growth (Licnag)

The study of the Linkages between Child Nutrition and Agricultural Growth (LICNAG) seeks to understand the positive and negative repercussions that agricultural-led growth has on children's health and nutritional status. The project's goal is to identify means of strengthening positive linkages between agricultural development and factors that influence child health and nutritional status. To accomplish this, we conducted a study (May 2001 - April 2002) of 750 rural households located in three agricultural systems: an irrigated rice zone in the Office du Niger of the Segou Region, a rain-fed cotton zone in the Sikasso Region, and a traditional millet and sorghum zone in the Mopti Region. This paper reports the results of preliminary analysis using the first six months of survey data. In comparing the irrigated rice zones to other zones, LICNAG results show that (1) per capita income for the parents of children less than four years old is significantly higher than in other zones, (2) women have greater access to and control over income, and (3) rates of wasting and stunting are significantly lower. In the cotton zones income is concentrated in the hands of the heads of large extended families and women have little access to personal income. Reducing the concentration of income and increasing women's income are key challenges in this zone. In the coarse grain production systems of the Mopti Region, adults as well as children are not getting enough to eat. Increasing access to food and income requires measures to reduce price and climatic risk (e.g., water management and transport infrastructure, and diversification of incomes). Households in these regions depend heavily on off-farm income to meet their food needs, particularly remittances from both men and women working as laborers in the Office du Niger irrigated rice zone. As Mali moves forward in its efforts to expand irrigated perimeters in the Office du Niger, it will be important to encourage positive spillover effects from the irrigated rice sector that can contribute to improved food security for households in the neighboring Mopti Region.
Crystal Structure of an EAL Domain in Complex with Reaction Product 5′-pGpG

FimX is a large multidomain protein containing an EAL domain and involved in twitching motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We present here two crystallographic structures of the EAL domain of FimX (residues 438–686): one of the apo form and the other of a complex with 5′-pGpG, the reaction product of the hydrolysis of c-di-GMP. In both crystal forms, the EAL domains form a dimer delimiting a large cavity encompassing the catalytic pockets. The ligand is trapped in this cavity by its sugar phosphate moiety. We confirmed by NMR that the guanine bases are not involved in the interaction in solution. We solved here the first structure of an EAL domain bound to the reaction product 5′-pGpG. Though isolated FimX EAL domain has a very low catalytic activity, which would not be significant compared to other catalytic EAL domains, the structure with the product of the reaction can provides some hints in the mechanism of hydrolysis of the c-di-GMP by EAL domains.
ARVC-Related Mutations in Divergent Region 3 Alter Functional Properties of the Cardiac Ryanodine Receptor

Two single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the type 2 ryanodine receptor (RyR2) leading to the nonsynonymous amino acid replacements G1885E and G1886S are associated with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy in patients who are carrying both of the corresponding RyR2 alleles. The functional properties of HEK293 cell lines isogenically expressing RyR2 mutants associated with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, RyR2-G1885E, RyR2-G1886S, RyR2-G1886D (mimicking a constitutively phosphorylated Ser1886), and the double mutant RyR2-G1885E/G1886S were investigated by analyzing the intracellular Ca2+ release activity resulting from store-overload-induced calcium release. The substitution of serine for Gly1886 caused a significant increase in the cellular Ca2+ oscillation activity compared with RyR2 wild-type-expressing HEK293 cells. It was even more pronounced if glycine 1885 or 1886 was replaced by the acidic amino acids glutamate (G1885E) or aspartate (G1886D). Surprisingly, when both substitutions were introduced in the same RyR2 subunit (RyR2-G1885E/G1886S), the store-overload-induced calcium release activity was nearly completely abolished, although the Ca2+ loading of the intracellular stores was markedly enhanced, and the channel still displayed substantial Ca2+ release on stimulation by 5 mM caffeine. These results suggest that the adjacent glycines 1885 and 1886, located in the divergent region 3, are critical for the function and regulation of RyR2.
Personality Type Influences Attentional Bias in Individuals with Chronic Back Pain

Attentional biases reflect an individual’s selective attention to salient stimuli within their environment, for example an experience of back pain. Eysenck suggests that different personality types show different attentional biases to threatening information. This study is the first to test Eysenck’s theory within a chronic back pain population by investigating the attentional biases of four different personality types using a back pain specific dot-probe paradigm. Participants were 70 volunteers (45 female) recruited from a back rehabilitation program at an NHS Trust. The four groups were selected on their trait anxiety and defensiveness scores: defensive high-anxious; high-anxious; repressor and non-extreme. Participants completed a dot probe task comprising 20 practice trials and 250 experimental trials. The experimental trials contained 100 threat-neutral pairs, 100 positive-neutral pairs and 50 neutral-neutral image pairings. The threat images were taken from the Photograph Series of Daily Activities (PHODA) and the neutral and positive images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) image bank. The results provided partial support for Eysenck’s theory; defensive high-anxious individuals showed an attentional bias for threatening information compared to high-anxious individuals who demonstrated no bias. Repressors showed an avoidant bias to threatening images and an attentional bias to positive stimuli relative to neutral images. The clear difference in responses demonstrated by high-anxious individuals who vary in defensiveness highlight the need for separate investigation of these heterogeneous groups and help to explain the cognitive processes of defensive high-anxious individuals within a pain population. The demonstration of an attentional bias in this group to threatening information could explain why defensive high-anxious individuals are more likely to re-present for treatment.
Surplus Appropriation from R&D and Health Care Technology Assessment Procedures

Given the rapid growth in health care spending that is often attributed to technological change, many private and public institutions are grappling with how to best assess and adopt new health care technologies. The leading technology adoption criteria proposed in theory and used in practice involve so called "cost-effectiveness" measures. However, little is known about the dynamic efficiency implications of such criteria, in particular how they influence the R&D investments that make technologies available in the first place. We argue that such criteria implicitly concern maximizing consumer surplus, which many times is consistent with maximizing static efficiency after an innovation has been developed. Dynamic efficiency, however, concerns aligning the social costs and benefits of R&D and is therefore determined by how much of the social surplus from the new technology is appropriated as producer surplus. We analyze the relationship between cost-effectiveness measures and the degree of surplus appropriation by innovators driving dynamic efficiency. We illustrate how to estimate the two for the new HIV/AIDS therapies that entered the market after the late 1980's and find that only 5% of the social surplus is appropriated by innovators. We show how this finding can be generalized to other existing cost-effectiveness estimates by deriving how those estimates identify innovator appropriation for a set of studies of over 200 drugs. We find that these studies implicitly support a low degree of appropriation as well. Despite the high annual cost of drugs to patients, very low shares of social surplus may go to innovators, which may imply that cost-effectiveness is too high in a dynamic efficiency sense.
Heritability of Intracortical Inhibition and Facilitation

The present twin study investigates heritability of motor cortex excitability, measured by the paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation technique. Specifically, intracortical facilitation (ICF) and inhibition (ICI) and corticospinal excitability were tested in monozygotic (MZ), dizygotic (DZ), and unrelated pairs (UP). Robust ICF and ICI effects were found, with a higher similarity of MZ than DZ and UP pairs. Heritability estimates (h2) were 0.80 for ICI and 0.92 for ICF. However, corticospinal excitability did not show significant differences between MZ and DZ pairs, whereas both significantly differed from UP. Hence, the study provides—for the first time—a clear evidence of heritable individual differences in motor cortex excitability.
Robotic Playmates: Analysing Interactive Competencies of Children with Autism Playing with a Mobile Robot

This chapter discusses two analysis techniques that are bei ng used in order to study how children with autism interact with an autonomous, mobile and ‘social’ robot in a social setting that also involves adults. A quanti t tive technique based on micro-behaviours is outlined. The second technique, Con versation Analysis, provides a qualitative and more detailed investigation of t he sequential order, local context and social situatedness of interaction and co mmunication competencies of children with autism. Preliminary results indic ate the facilitating role of the robot and its potential to be used in autism therapy. 1. The Aurora Project Computers, virtual environments and robots (e.g. [15], [9] ) are increasingly used as interactive learning environments in autism therap y. Since 1998 the Aurora project has studied the development of a mobile, auto nomous and ‘social robot’ as a therapeutic tool for children with autism, s ee e.g. [1] for more background information. Here, the context in which robot-h uman interactions occur is deliberately playful and ‘social’ (involving adul ts). In a series of trials with 8-12 year-old autistic children we established tha t generally children with autism enjoy interacting with the robotic toy, and show more engaging behaviour when playing with the robot as opposed to a non-int erac ive toy [16], [17]. Also, the role of the robot as a social mediator wa s investigated in trials with pairs of autistic children. Results showed a s pectrum of social and non-social play and communication that occurred in robo t-child and child-
The Effect of Back Squat Depth on the EMG Activity of 4 Superficial Hip and Thigh Muscles

The purpose of this study was to measure the relative contributions of 4 hip and thigh muscles while performing squats at 3 depths. Ten experienced lifters performed randomized trials of squats at partial, parallel, and full depths, using 100–125% of body weight as resistance. Electromyographic (EMG) surface electrodes were placed on the vastus medialis (VMO), the vastus lateralis, (VL), the biceps femoris (BF), and the gluteus maximus (GM). EMG data were quantified by integration and expressed as a percentage of the total electrical activity of the 4 muscles. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post hoc tests indicated a significant difference (p < 0.001*, p = 0.056**) in the relative contribution of the GM during the concentric phases among the partial- (16.9%*), parallel- (28.0%**), and full-depth (35.4%*) squats. There were no significant differences between the relative contributions of the BF, the VMO, and the VL at different squatting depths during this phase. The results suggest that the GM, rather than the BF, the VMO, or the VL, becomes more active in concentric contraction as squat depth increases.