Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The fate of metaphase kinetochores is weighed in the balance of SUMOylation during S phase

Genetic evidence suggests that conjugation of Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier proteins (SUMOs) plays an important role in kinetochore function, although the mechanism underlying these observations are poorly defined. We found that depletion of the SUMO protease SENP6 from HeLa cells causes chromosome misalignment, prolonged mitotic arrest and chromosome missegregation. Many inner kinetochore proteins (IKPs) were mis-localized in SENP6-depleted cells. This gross mislocalization of IKPs is due to proteolytic degradation of CENP-I and CENP-H via the SUMO targeted Ubiquitin Ligase (STUbL) pathway. Our findings show that SENP6 is a key regulator of inner kinetochore assembly that antagonizes the cellular STUbL pathway to protect IKPs from degradation during S phase. Here, we will briefly review the implications of our findings and present new data on how SUMOylation during S phase can control chromosome alignment in the subsequent metaphase.
A transmission-aware video quality metric for lossy wireless network

In this paper, we propose a Transmission-aware Quality Metric (TQM) for real-time evaluation of video quality in lossy wireless network. There are two major contributions in our study. Firstly, in order to guarantee the real-time requirements, we considers the impacts of Packet Loss Rate (PLR) and Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) which can be extracted directly from bit-stream, and build TQM by using the relationship of subjective score and these two transmission parameters. Then, the content-aware feature which is achieved from a linear prediction of developed Just Noticeable Distortion (JND), is included in TQM to improve the prediction accuracy by introduce the discrimination of different videos. The verification results show that the predicted video quality measured by Mean Opinion Score (MOS) has a high Pearson correlation for unknown videos under different packet loss schemes (higher than 0.75 in distributed loss and 0.71 in burst loss).
Location-Based Initial Access and Beam Adaptation for Millimeter Wave Systems

This paper proposes optimal beam adaptation (BA) and initial access (IA) algorithms for millimeter wave (mmWave) uplink systems, which make use of the estimated location of user equipment (UE) by access points (APs) rather than using exhausting full beam sweep for the beam direction toward UEs. Based on the location estimation, the optimal beamwidth guaranteeing the highest connection probability is derived for the optimal BA method. The proposed IA procedure selects the best AP not only based on the channel gain but also based on the location estimation, which leads to reduce the outage probability of cell-edge users. Numerical evaluation shows that both BA and IA outperform the conventional procedure in terms of of average achievable rate for the cell edge users, when separately applied. Numerical results are also provided with better performance than conventional systems without BA and IA suggested, for the case when both BA and IA are applied.
Predicting user preferences of environment design: a perceptual mechanism of user interface customisation

ABSTRACT It is a well-known fact that users vary in their preferences and needs. Therefore, it is very crucial to provide the customisation or personalisation for users in certain usage conditions that are more associated with their preferences. With the current limitation in adopting perceptual processing into user interface personalisation, we introduced the possibility of inferring interface design preferences from the user’s eye-movement behaviour. We firstly captured the user’s preferences of graphic design elements using an eye-tracker. Then we diagnosed these preferences towards the region of interests to build a prediction model for interface customisation. The prediction models from eye-movement behaviour showed a high potential for predicting users’ preferences of interface design based on the paralleled relation between their fixation and saccadic movement. This mechanism provides a novel way of user interface design customisation and opens the door for new research in the areas of human–computer interaction and decision-making.
Enhanced dendritic availability of μ‐opioid receptors in inhibitory neurons of the extended amygdala in mice deficient in the corticotropin‐releasing factor‐1 receptor

Activation of the corticotropin‐releasing factor‐1 (CRF‐1) receptor in the anterolateral BNST (BSTal), a key subdivision of the extended amygdala, elicits opiate‐seeking behavior exacerbated by stress. However, it is unknown whether the presence of CRF‐1 affects expression of the μ‐opioid receptor (μ‐OR) in the many GABAergic BSTal neurons implicated in the stress response. We hypothesized that deletion of the CRF‐1 receptor gene would alter the density and/or subcellular distribution of μ‐ORs in GABAergic neurons of the BSTal. We used electron microscopy to quantitatively examine μ‐OR immunogold and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) immunoperoxidase labeling in the BSTal of CRFr‐1 knockout (KO) compared to wild‐type (WT) mice. To assess regional specificity, we examined μ‐OR distribution in dorsal striatum. The μ‐ORs in each region were predominantly localized in dendrites, many of which were GABA‐immunoreactive. Significantly, more cytoplasmic μ‐OR gold particles per dendritic area were observed selectively in GABA‐containing dendrites of the BSTal, but not of the dorsal striatum, in KO compared to WT mice. In both regions, however, significantly fewer GABA‐immunoreactive axon terminals were present in KO compared to WT mice. Our results suggest that the absence of CRF‐1 results in enhanced expression and/or dendritic trafficking of μ‐ORs in inhibitory BSTal neurons. They also suggest that the expression of CRF‐1 is a critical determinant of the availability of GABA in functionally diverse brain regions. These findings underscore the complex interplay between CRF, opioid, and GABA systems in limbic and striatal regions and have implications for the role of CRF‐1 in influencing the pharmacological effects of opiates active at μ‐ORs. Synapse 65:8–20, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of a Summary Score of Cognitive Performance for Use in Trials in Perioperative and Critical Care

Background/Aims: Cognitive dysfunction after medical treatment is increasingly being recognized. Studies on this topic require repeated cognitive testing within a short time. However, with repeated testing, practice effects must be expected. We quantified practice effects in a demographically corrected summary score of a neuropsychological test battery repeatedly administered to healthy elderly volunteers. Methods: The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD) Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (for which a demographically corrected summary score was developed), phonemic fluency tests, and trail-making tests were administered in healthy volunteers aged 65 years or older on days 0, 7, and 90. This battery allows calculation of a demographically adjusted continuous summary score. Results: Significant practice effects were observed in the CERAD total score and in the word list (learning and recall) subtest. Based on these volunteer data, we developed a threshold for diagnosis of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) with the CERAD total score. Conclusion: Practice effects with repeated administration of neuropsychological tests must be accounted for in the interpretation of such tests. Ignoring practice effects may lead to an underestimation of POCD. The usefulness of the proposed demographically adjusted continuous score for cognitive function will have to be tested prospectively in patients.
The Palaces of the Lords of Ychsma: An Archaeological Reappraisal of the Function of Pyramids with Ramps at Pachacamac, Central Coast of Perú

Les palais des Seignears d'Chsma, une re-evaluation archeologique de la fonction des pyramides avec rampes au site Pachacamac, cote centrale du Perou. Les pyramides avec rampes sont des constructions d'adobe qui occupent une place importante du site Pachacamac. Le role et la fonction du site pendant la derniere phase de la periode prehispanique sont lies a ces edifices. Le modele explicatif le plus generalement accepte est fortement base sur les donnees ethnohistoriques. Suivant la presentation de ce modele et de ses implications, je me penche sur les caracteristiques-cles des pyramides avec rampes. Base sur les fouilles de la Pyramide III et l'analyse des donnees disponibles pour les Pyramides I et II, je suggere que les pyramides n'etaient pas des enceintes religieuses, mais plutot des palais de seigneurs locaux. Cette hypothese est renforcee par les donnees ethnohistoriques et me permet d'expliquer d'une maniere simple et claire la fonction et le developpement de Pachacamac avant la conquete Inca.
Imatinib in active diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis: Results of a six-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept pilot study at a single center.

OBJECTIVE To better understand the feasibility of using imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, to treat active diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc). METHODS We performed a 6-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept pilot study of imatinib in patients with active dcSSc. Data on safety, modified Rodnan skin thickness scores (MRSS), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) scores, patient's and physician's global assessments (100-mm visual analog scale), and biomarkers in serum and skin biopsy samples were collected. We used a 4:1 randomization strategy (imatinib 200 mg administered twice a day versus placebo), stratifying according to current use of methotrexate. The plan was to enroll 20 dcSSc patients. RESULTS After enrolling 10 patients (9 receiving active drug and 1 receiving placebo), we found poor tolerability and high rates of adverse events with imatinib, and study enrollment was discontinued. There was no significant difference in the mean MRSS in all patients who took imatinib (31.1 at baseline versus 29.4 at 6 months) or in only those who completed 6 months of imatinib (31.0 at baseline versus 30.3 at 6 months), and there was no difference in the C-reactive protein level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, physician's global assessment, patient's global assessment, response to the Health Transition query, or the HAQ scores between those who did and those who did not complete 6 months of therapy. Side effects were edema, fluid retention, fatigue, nausea, cramps/myalgias, diarrhea, alopecia, and anemia. Most side effects occurred within the first week of treatment, and even when imatinib was reintroduced at a lower dosage (200 mg daily), it was poorly tolerated. Two patients were hospitalized because of side effects of the medication. In general, biomarker levels in plasma and skin did not change. CONCLUSION Imatinib was poorly tolerated, and this could limit its application in SSc. The study was too small to form conclusions about the efficacy of imatinib in SSc.
Efficient Infection Mediated by Viral Receptors Incorporated into Retroviral Particles

ABSTRACT Many host cell surface proteins, including viral receptors, are incorporated into enveloped viruses. To address the functional significance of these host proteins, murine leukemia viruses containing the cellular receptors for Rous sarcoma virus (Tva) or ecotropic murine leukemia virus (MCAT-1) were produced. These receptor-pseudotyped viruses efficiently infect cells expressing the cognate viral envelope glycoproteins, with titers of up to 105 infectious units per milliliter for the Tva pseudotypes. Receptor and viral glycoprotein specificity and functional requirements are maintained, suggesting that receptor pseudotype infection recapitulates events of normal viral entry. The ability of the Tva and MCAT-1 pseudotypes to infect cells efficiently suggests that, in contrast to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 entry, neither of these retroviral receptors requires a coreceptor for membrane fusion. In addition, the ability of receptor pseudotypes to target infected cells suggests that they may be useful therapeutic reagents for directing infection of viral vectors. Receptor-pseudotyped viruses may be useful for identifying new viral receptors or for defining functional requirements of known receptors. Moreover, this work suggests that the production of receptor pseudotypes in vivo could provide a mechanism for expanded viral tropism with potential effects on the pathogenesis and evolution of the virus.
A microPET/CT system for in vivo small animal imaging

A microCT scanner was designed, fabricated and integrated with a previously reported microPET II scanner (Tai et al 2003 Phys. Med. Biol. 48 1519, Yang et al 2004 Phys. Med. Biol. 49 2527), forming a dual modality system for in vivo anatomic and molecular imaging of the mouse. The system was designed to achieve high-spatial-resolution and high-sensitivity PET images with adequate CT image quality for anatomic localization and attenuation correction with low x-ray dose. The system also has relatively high throughput for screening, and a flexible gantry and user interface. X-rays were produced by a 50 kVp, 1.5 mA fixed tungsten anode tube, with a focal spot size of 70 µm. The detector was a 5 × 5 cm2 photodiode detector incorporating 48 µm pixels on a CMOS array and a fast gadolinium oxysulfide (GOS) intensifying screen. The microCT system has a flexible C-arm gantry design with adjustable detector positioning, which acquires CT projection images around the common microPET/CT bed. The design and the initial characterization of the microCT system is described, and images of the first mouse scans with microPET/CT scanning protocols are shown.
General self-esteem and locus of control of young sportsmen

This paper deals with the relationship between some elements of self-concept (general self-esteem and locus of control) and going in for sport in adolescence. The relationship between going in for sport and variables of self-concept (general self-esteem and external locus of control) was investigated in a sample of 300 adolescent boys and girls (150 sportsmen and 150 non-sportsmen). Modification of the Rosenberg’s General self-esteem scale and Bezinovic-Savcic’s Scale of externality were used to measure variables of self-concept. The significant positive correlation between variables of going in for sport and general selfesteem, as well as negative ones between variables of going in for sport and external locus of control were found in the whole sample of subjects and in the sample of boys, but not of girls. The sex role stereotypes and greater importance that the culture puts on success in sport for boys have contributed to such results. The sex differences in correlations between variables of self-concept and going in for sport suggest that going in for sport influences general self-esteem and locus of control in adolescents through social feedback and social evaluation of sport achievement and physical fitness.
Energy-Aware Server Provisioning in Large Scale Video-On-Demand Systems

Video-on-demand has been emerging as a very popular internet service in recent years. But energy consumption is becoming a critical issue as these services scale up. In this paper, we propose an energy-aware server provisioning strategy which dynamically turns on/off servers in order to adaptively tailor active servers to dynamic user load. We initiate a stochastic model which characterizes unique properties such as bandwidth and power consumption of video-on-demand systems. We then employ a measurement-based adaptive online user load predictor and apply large deviation theory to our model to develop global strategy. Simulation confirms that our strategy can lead a significant amount of energy savings with little or no user experience degradation.
Realizing the cognitive potential of children 5-7 with a mathematics focus: post-test and long-term effects of a 2-year intervention.

BACKGROUND In the context of the British Government's policy directed on improving standards in schools, this paper presents research on the effects of a programme intended to promote the cognitive development of children in the first 2 years of primary school (Y1 & 2, aged 5-7 years). The programme is based on earlier work dealing with classroom-based interventions with older children at both primary and secondary levels of schooling. AIM The hypothesis tested is that it is possible to increase the cognitive ability of children by assisting teachers towards that aim in the context of mathematics. A corollary hypothesis is that such an increase would result in an increase in long-term school achievement. SAMPLE The participants were 8 teachers in one local education authority (LEA) and 10 teachers in another. Data were analysed on 275 children present at Year 1 pre-test in 2002 and at long-term Key Stage 2 post-test in 2008. METHOD Two intervention methods were employed: a Y1 set of interactive activities designed around Piagetian concrete operational schemata, and mathematics lessons in both Y1 and Y2 designed from a theory-base derived from both Piaget and Vygotsky. RESULTS At post-test in 2004, the mean effect sizes for cognitive development of the children - assessed by the Piagetian test Spatial Relations - were 0.71 SD in one LEA and 0.60 SD in the other. Five classes achieved a median increase of 1.3 SD. The mean gains over pre-test in 2002 for all children in Key Stage 1 English in 2004 were 0.51 SD, and at Key Stage 2 English in 2008 - the long-term effect - were 0.36 SD, an improvement of 14 percentile points. CONCLUSIONS The main hypothesis was supported by the data on cognitive development. The corollary hypothesis is supported by the gains in English. The implications of this study are that relative intelligence can be increased and is not fixed, and that children can be led into collaborating with each other to the benefit of their own thinking, and that there does exist a theory-based methodology for the improvement of teaching.
Spectroscopy and quantum mechanics of the hydrogen molecular cation: a test of molecular quantum mechanics.

The hydrogen molecular cation is the simplest molecule, consisting of two protons and one electron. It provides a unique opportunity for accurate theoretical calculations, which may be compared with experimental measurements. In addition to Hi, its isotopomers HD+ and Di are included in this review. We concentrate on the developments that have taken place in the last five years and that demonstrate the interaction between experimental and theoretical studies. We describe recent experi­ ments that provide a stringent test for theory and show that the current most accurate calculations can reproduce the experimental results extremely closely. For more details of earlier work, the reader is referred to the reviews by Carrington & Kennedy (1) and by Carrington et al (2). Because the hydrogen molecular ion has only one electron, electron correlation is not of concern; indeed some might dismiss the hydrogen molecular ion as being irrelevant to this central problem of molecular quantum mechanics. However, theory has concentrated instead on non­ adiabatic, relativistic, and radiative effects, all of which must be included in the calculations if experimental results are to be reproduced. Kolos (3) has recently reviewed the hydrogen molecule and addressed the problem of more than one electron as well as nonadiabatic and other effects.
JingleBells: A Repository of Immune-Related Single-Cell RNA–Sequencing Datasets

Recent advances in single-cell RNA–sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology increase the understanding of immune differentiation and activation processes, as well as the heterogeneity of immune cell types. Although the number of available immune-related scRNA-seq datasets increases rapidly, their large size and various formats render them hard for the wider immunology community to use, and read-level data are practically inaccessible to the non-computational immunologist. To facilitate datasets reuse, we created the JingleBells repository for immune-related scRNA-seq datasets ready for analysis and visualization of reads at the single-cell level (http://jinglebells.bgu.ac.il/). To this end, we collected the raw data of publicly available immune-related scRNA-seq datasets, aligned the reads to the relevant genome, and saved aligned reads in a uniform format, annotated for cell of origin. We also added scripts and a step-by-step tutorial for visualizing each dataset at the single-cell level, through the commonly used Integrated Genome Viewer (www.broadinstitute.org/igv/). The uniform scRNA-seq format used in JingleBells can facilitate reuse of scRNA-seq data by computational biologists. It also enables immunologists who are interested in a specific gene to visualize the reads aligned to this gene to estimate cell-specific preferences for splicing, mutation load, or alleles. Thus JingleBells is a resource that will extend the usefulness of scRNA-seq datasets outside the programming aficionado realm.
Absorption of volatile fatty acids from the rumen of lactating dairy cows as influenced by volatile fatty acid concentration, pH and rumen liquid volume

The effect of rumen liquid volume, pH and concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFA) on the rates of absorption of acetic, propionic and butyric acids from the rumen was examined in lactating dairy cows. Experimental solutions introduced into the emptied, washed rumen comprised two different volumes (10 or 30 1), four levels of pH (4.5, 5.4, 6.3, 7.2) and three levels of individual VFA concentrations (20, 50 or 100 mM-acetic, propionic or butyric acid). All solutions contained a total of 170 mM-VFA and an osmotic value of 400 mOsmol/l. Absorption rates were calculated from the disappearance of VFA from the rumen corrected for passage with liquid phase to the omasum. An increase in initial fluid pH caused a reduction in fractional absorption rates of propionic and butyric acids. Increasing the initial pH from 4.5 to 7.2 reduced fractional absorption rates of acetic, propionic and butyric acids from 0.35, 0.67 and 0.85 to 0.21, 0.35 and 0.28/h respectively. The fractional absorption rates of all VFA were reduced (P < 0.05) by an increase in initial rumen volume. The fractional absorption rate of acetic acid was lower (P < 0.05) at an initial concentration of 20 mM than of 50 mM. The fractional absorption rate of propionic acid tended (P < 0.10) to decrease as the level of concentration increased while fractional absorption rate of butyric acid was not affected by butyric acid concentration. These results indicate that relative concentrations of VFA in rumen fluid might not represent relative production rates and that attempts to estimate individual VFA production from substrate digestion must take account of pH and VFA concentration.