Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nicotinamide prevents the development of hyperphosphataemia by suppressing intestinal sodium-dependent phosphate transporter in rats with adenine-induced renal failure.

BACKGROUND Nicotinamide has been shown to inhibit intestinal sodium-dependent phosphate transport activity in normal rats. It was reported recently that type IIb sodium-dependent phosphate co-transporter (NaPi-2b) is a carrier of intestinal phosphate absorption, and that its expression level is regulated by serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)(2)D] and Pi levels in normal rats. However, in chronic renal failure (CRF), serum 1,25(OH)(2)D and Pi levels are often abnormal. In a rat model of CRF, we investigated whether short-term nicotinamide administration was effective in reducing intestinal phosphate absorption and, if so, whether the effect was mediated by intestinal NaPi-2b. METHODS Adenine-induced CRF rats were given a single daily intrapenitoneal administration of nicotinamide or vehicle solution for 6 days, and time course changes in serum Pi, Ca, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine levels were monitored. Intestinal phosphate absorption was examined by oral administration of radiolabelled phosphate on the final day. In addition, NaPi-2b protein content in jejunum brush border membranes was determined. RESULTS Nicotinamide prevented the progressive increase in serum Pi associated with renal failure and significantly inhibited intestinal Pi absorption as assessed by the influx of orally administered radiolabelled phosphate into the circulation. This effect was accompanied by a decrease in NaPi-2b expression in jejunum brush border membranes. In addition, nicotinamide treatment was also associated with less marked elevations in BUN and serum creatinine and a higher creatinine clearance. CONCLUSIONS Nicotinamide inhibited intestinal Pi absorption in a rat model of CRF, at least in part by inhibiting the expression of NaPi-2b, and appeared to protect against the deterioration of renal function.
Reactive Trajectory Tracking for Mobile Robots based on Non Linear Model Predictive Control

In this paper, a nonlinear model predictive tracking (NMPT) controller for mobile robots is presented. The basic idea is to use a motion model for the vehicle and compute in real-time an optimal M-step-ahead control sequence, which minimizes the total M+l step tracking error of the projected motion. In the presence of obstacles, the controller deviates from the reference trajectory by incorporating into the optimization obstacle-distance information from range sensors (e.g., laser scanner, ultrasound). Numerous simulations were performed and the NMPT consistently converged to the desired trajectories and followed them accurately, despite large initial errors and discontinuities in the desired velocities and orientations. The controller's performance depended strongly on parameters such as the optimization horizon M, and the cost-weights assigned to the various tracking errors. The optimization horizon regulates a trade-off between timely obstacle avoidance and tracking quality (large M) vs. consistently fast convergence (small M). The cost-weights affect tracking quality and also the shape of the path, by regulating trade-offs among position, orientation, and velocity errors. Overall, NMPT seems to offer a promising approach for advanced precision guidance applications, and deserves further investigation.
Loop Pipelining for High-Throughput Stream Computation Using Self-Timed Rings

We present a technique for increasing the throughput of stream processing architectures by removing the bottlenecks caused by loop structures. We implement loops as self-timed pipelined rings that can operate on multiple data sets concurrently. Our contribution includes a transformation algorithm which takes as input a high-level program and gives as output the structure of an optimized pipeline ring. Our technique handles nested loops and is further enhanced by loop unrolling. Simulations run on benchmark examples show a 1.3 to 4.9times speedup without unrolling and a 2.6 to 9.7times speedup with twofold loop unrolling
Female crickets trade offspring viability for fecundity

A growing number of studies are suggesting that females can improve the viability of their embryos by mating with multiple males. However, the reason why females should have low rates of embryo viability is puzzling. Here we conduct a quantitative genetic study of maternal effects on embryo viability in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. After controlling for female body size, we find significant additive genetic variance for ovary weight, a measure of fecundity, and egg hatching success, a measure of embryo viability. Moreover, we show a genetic trade‐off between these traits that is predicted from life‐history theory. High rates of embryo mortality in this highly fecund species might therefore be explained by selection favouring an optimum balance between fecundity and embryo viability that maximizes maternal fitness. Paternal effects on female fecundity and embryo viability are often seen as benefits driving the evolution of polyandrous behaviour. However, we raise the alternative possibility that paternal effects might shift females from their naturally selected optimum, and present some support for the notion that sexual conflict over a female's optimal fecundity and embryo viability might generate antagonistic coevolution between the sexes.
Detecting cell division of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria from bright-field microscopy images with hidden conditional random fields

An approach to automatically detect bacteria division with temporal models is presented. To understand how bacteria migrate and proliferate to form complex multicellular behaviours such as biofilms, it is desirable to track individual bacteria and detect cell division events. Unlike eukaryotic cells, prokaryotic cells such as bacteria lack distinctive features, causing bacteria division difficult to detect in a single image frame. Furthermore, bacteria may detach, migrate close to other bacteria and may orientate themselves at an angle to the horizontal plane. Our system trains a hidden conditional random field (HCRF) model from tracked and aligned bacteria division sequences. The HCRF model classifies a set of image frames as division or otherwise. The performance of our HCRF model is compared with a Hidden Markov Model (HMM). The results show that a HCRF classifier outperforms a HMM classifier. From 2D bright field microscopy data, it is a challenge to separate individual bacteria and associate observations to tracks. Automatic detection of sequences with bacteria division will improve tracking accuracy.
‘Falling down the rabbit hole’: The construction of infertility by news media

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate how Canadian print news frames infertility. Background: The way the media frames issues can affect the public’s interpretation of those issues. News coverage often frames health issues as highly alarming with few coping strategies, which tends to elicit fear, worry and avoidance, but no increase in issue knowledge or personal efficacy regarding the health issue. The present study will investigate the framing of infertility-related print news with respect to alarm, coping, medicalisation, genderisation, and identified causes/solutions. Methods: A content analysis was conducted on Canadian print news articles that contained the key word ‘infertility’ in the year 2012 (N = 157). Two independent raters analysed the articles using a pre-determined coding strategy. Results: Just over half of the articles employed alarm frames, and the vast majority of these met the criteria for categorisation as high alarm. The most commonly cited cause of infertility was delayed childbearing and the most frequently presented way to cope with infertility was in vitro fertilisation. Infertility was most often constructed as a women’s issue. Conclusion: Canadian print news media tends to present an alarming portrayal of infertility that adheres to a biomedical perspective that often conflates infertility with involuntary childlessness.
Graph-based ranking algorithms for e-mail expertise analysis

In this paper we study graph--based ranking measures for the purpose of using them to rank email correspondents according to their degree of expertise on subjects of interest. While this complete expertise analysis consists of several steps, in this paper we focus on the analysis of digraphs whose nodes correspond to correspondents (people), whose edges correspond to the existence of email correspondence between the people corresponding to the nodes they connect and whose edge directions point from the member of the pair whose relative expertise has been estimated to be higher. We perform our analysis on both synthetic and real data and we introduce a new error measure for comparing ranked lists.
Calcium-binding protein of the chick chorioallantoic membrane. I. Immunohistochemical localization

The preparation of a specific antiserum (anti-CaBP) against the calcium- binding protein (CaBP) of the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is described. The anti-CaBP appeared to be specific for the CaBP by immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. Application of the anti-CaBP in immunofluorescence histochemistry revealed that the CaBP is present in the CAM only at developmental ages corresponding with the expression of the calcium transport function of the membrane. Furthermore, the CaBP is localized to the ectoderm of the CAM, appears to be exposed to the entire external surface of the ectoderm, and can be shown to be associated with cells enzymatically dissociated from the CAM. These results are consistent with a functional role of the CaBP in the CAM calcium transport process.
An Experiment with the Bilingual Method

Pedagogically an English lesson is analyzable into two activities: (1) an attempt to convey meaning, and (2) an attempt to produce imitation (Dodson 1967, 5f.). This may be viewed from the angle of the learner as an attempt to let him acquire and retain meaning and at the same time to enable him to perfect an imitation response. There is no need to haggle over whether the imitation response is to be a spoken imitation or a written imitation. Even if our aim is to obtain written imitation it is doubtful whether it would be possible without some measure of vocalization (Laskley 1961 in Saporta 112-130). There is of course the view that English is learnt for reading comprehension only, which some naively take to mean that no kind of imitation response whether in speech or writing is necessary. It was assumed for this experiment that even the reading comprehension aim is not possible of attainment without at least one category of imitation response, namely vocalization. Some form of vocalization is found to be necessary even in the teaching of dead languages and in the use of the grammar-translation method as well (Mackey 1965, 142).
Validation de stimuli prosodiques émotionnels chez les Franco-québécois de 50 à 80 ans*

ABSTRACT Few batteries of prosodic stimuli testing have been validated for Quebec-French people. Such validation is necessary to develop auditory-verbal tasks in this population. The objective of this study was to validate a battery of emotional prosodic stimuli for French-Québec aging subjects. The battery of 195 stimuli, which was elaborated by Maurage et al. (2007), is composed of 195 prosodic stimuli and was administrated to 50 healthy Quebecers aged 50-to-80 years. The percentages of good responses were calculated for each stimulus. For each emotion, Cronbach’s alphas were calculated to evaluate the internal consistency of the stimuli. Results showed that among the 195 stimuli, 40 were correctly recognized by at least 80 per cent of the subjects. Anger was the emotion that was most correctly identified by the participants, while recognition of disgust was the least recognised. Overall, this study provides data that will guide the selection of prosodic stimuli in evaluating French-Québécois. RÉSUMÉ Peu de banques de stimuli prosodiques ont été validées chez les Québécois francophones. La validation de ce type de banques est nécessaire pour développer des tâches auditivo-verbales chez cette population. L’objectif de cette étude est de valider une banque de stimuli prosodiques émotionnels auprès de Franco-québécois vieillissants. La banque de 195 stimuli (Maurage, Joassin, Philippot & Campanella, 2007) a été administrée à 50 Québécois sains âgés de 50 à 80 ans. Les pourcentages de bonnes réponses pour chaque stimulus ont été calculés. Pour chaque émotion, des alphas de Cronbach ont été calculés pour évaluer la cohérence interne des stimuli. Quarante des 195 stimuli ont été reconnus correctement par au moins 80 pour cent des participants. L’émotion la mieux reconnue était la colère; le dégoût était la moins bien reconnue. Cette étude fournit des données qui guideront le choix de stimuli prosodiques viables à des fins d’évaluation auprès de Franco-québécois.
Participación política en América Latina: Un análisis desde la perspectiva de género

A pesar de los avances en equidad de genero en America Latina, existe aun una notable brecha en terminos de participacion politica ciudadana. La investigacion en America Latina se ha concentrado en entender la politica como ocupacion, razon por la cual la relacion de los ciudadanos con la politica constituye aun un vacio teorico. Evaluamos los determinantes de la participacion politica en America Latina, analizando a hombres y mujeres por separado. La ocupacion, el ingreso y el estado civil estan correlacionados con la participacion politica femenina, mientras que la confianza en hombres lideres y vivir en una zona urbana resultan ser determinantes en la participacion politica masculina.
DPCM Compression for Real-Time Logging While Drilling Data

Logging while drilling (LWD) is a drilling technique which obtains and transmits the logging data during oil/gas drilling operations. Because of the limited available transmission bandwidth of mud channel, how to improve the bandwidth utilization becomes a critical problem in LWD research. In this paper, by discussing the information entropy of real logging data, we find that the original encoding of logging data is inefficient. To prune the data redundancy effectively and to improve the bandwidth utilization, we propose a novel compression method on the basis of Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM). To further improve the compression efficiency with less information loss, we introduce the adjustable compression parameters for different kinds of logging data. Extensive experiments with the real logging data show that our method can give enough precise results with the compression ratio of 50% at least. The experiment results also show that our algorithm has the advantages of alterable compressing ratio, excellent decode quality and low algorithm complexity.
Relating Hippocampal Circuitry Viewpoint to Function : Recall of Memory Sequences by Reciprocal Dentate – CA 3 Interactions

whereby a synapse is strengthened if there is both pre-synaptic and strong postsynaptic activity. According to neural network theory (Kohonen, 1978; Hopfield, 1982), networks having these properties are capable of storing large numbers of autoassociative memories in their recurrent synapses. Over time, it has become clear that the flow of information through the hippocampus is not strictly serial and The hippocampus is composed of several regions, each that the CA3 network is not the only recurrent network. of which is a network of 10 5 to 10 6 neurons. The pattern Specifically, it was found that CA3 and CA1 pyramidal of excitatory synaptic connections within and between cells cannot only be excited by the preceding network regions has been determined, and the " wiring diagram " but also by direct inputs from the entorhinal cortex (Fig-is shown in Figure 1. The intricacies are striking and beg ure 1). It was also discovered that the dentate region is for explanation, but it remains unclear how the connec-a recurrent network, although a more complicated one tions work together to perform a function. Indeed, more than CA3 (Buckmaster and Schwartzkroin, 1994). Den-generally, the goal of relating network connectivity to tate granule cells excite mossy cells, another type of function has not been achieved for any region of the cell in the dentate gyrus (Scharfman et al., 1990). These vertebrate central nervous system, with the exception cells make modifiable excitatory connections back onto of the retina. For many brain regions, the goal is a distant granule cells (Hetherington et al., 1994; Jackson and one, because not even the function of the region is Scharfman, 1996), thus forming a recurrent network. The known. For the hippocampus, the goal appears attain-final major finding was that the pyramidal cells of CA3 able, because the general function of the hippocampus have axon branches that produce excitatory feedback in memory processes is established. Many models that to the dentate network (Ishizuka et al., 1990; Penttonen relate aspects of hippocampal circuitry to memory func-et al., 1997). Thus, the hippocampus has two recurrent tion have have been proposed, and these have become networks, and these are reciprocally connected (Figure more refined as new information has been learned about 1). There has been no previous proposal for the function the cellular, network, and functional properties of the of this reciprocal connectivity. propose a model that builds on several previous ones In trying …
Healthy Physical Activity Levels Below Recommended Thresholds Two Years After Lumbar Spine Surgery

Study Design. Prospective analysis. Objective. To quantify physical activity after lumbar surgery and identify spine-related variables associated with not meeting recommended activity thresholds. Summary of Background Data. National guidelines recommend ≥150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity activity; however, only 52% of the general population meets this threshold. For patients not participating in exercise/sports, ≥1400 kcal/week of energy expenditure, including from walking, is another threshold. Potential spine-related variables associated with not meeting these thresholds after lumbar surgery have not been described. Methods. Clinical data were collected pre- and intraoperatively for 422 patients. Patients were contacted 2.2 years postoperatively to measure several patient-reported outcomes, including physical activity with the Paffenbarger Physical Activity and Exercise Index. The Paffenbarger Physical Activity and Exercise Index encompasses blocks walked, stairs climbed, and exercise/sports. Minutes/week of activity and total kcal/week were calculated and compared to recommended thresholds. Spine-related variables associated with not meeting thresholds were assessed in multivariable analyses. Results. Mean age was 57 years, 55% were men, 80% had degenerative diagnoses, and 63% had multilevel surgery. Only 35% met ≥1400 kcal/week; in multivariable analysis, not meeting this threshold was associated with revision surgery (OR 0.53, CI 0.30–0.95), surgery at ≥3 levels (OR 0.51, CI 0.31–0.84), and more postoperative back pain (OR 0.38, CI 0.24–0.59) (P <0.05 for all variables). Only 26% met ≥150 minutes/week; in multivariable analysis, not meeting this threshold was associated with degenerative diagnoses (OR 0.53, CI 0.31–0.92), subsequent spine surgery (OR 0.17, CI 0.05–0.58), and more postoperative back pain (OR 0.41, CI 0.25–0.67) (P <0.05 for all variables). All multivariable associations persisted after controlling for demographic characteristics. Conclusion. Physical activity is below population norms after lumbar surgery and is associated with spine-related variables. Patients with stable spine conditions should be encouraged to engage in prudent physical activity to decrease their risk of long-term adverse health outcomes due to inactivity. Level of Evidence: 3
VFAST TCP: A delay-based enhanced version of FAST TCP

This paper is aimed at describing a delay-based endto-end (e2e) congestion control algorithm, called Very FAST TCP (VFAST), which is an enhanced version of FAST TCP. The main idea behind this enhancement is to smoothly estimate the Round-Trip Time (RTT) based on a nonlinear filter, which eliminates throughput and queue oscillation when RTT fluctuates. In this context, an evaluation of the suggested scheme through simulation is introduced, by comparing our VFAST prototype with FAST in terms of throughput, queue behavior, fairness, stability, RTT and adaptivity to changes in network. The achieved simulation results indicate that the suggested protocol offer better performance than FAST TCP in terms of RTT estimation and throughput. Keywords—Fast tcp, RTT, delay estimation, delay-based congestion control, high speed TCP, large bandwidth delay product.
Proinsulin Expression Shapes the TCR Repertoire but Fails to Control the Development of Low-Avidity Insulin-Reactive CD8+ T Cells

NOD mice, a model strain for human type 1 diabetes, express proinsulin (PI) in the thymus. However, insulin-reactive T cells escape negative selection, and subsequent activation of the CD8+ T-cell clonotype G9C8, which recognizes insulin B15-23 via an αβ T-cell receptor (TCR) incorporating TRAV8-1/TRAJ9 and TRBV19/TRBJ2-3 gene rearrangements, contributes to the development of diabetes. In this study, we used fixed TRAV8-1/TRAJ9 TCRα-chain transgenic mice to assess the impact of PI isoform expression on the insulin-reactive CD8+ T-cell repertoire. The key findings were: 1) PI2 deficiency increases the frequency of insulin B15-23–reactive TRBV19+CD8+ T cells and causes diabetes; 2) insulin B15-23–reactive TRBV19+CD8+ T cells are more abundant in the pancreatic lymph nodes of mice lacking PI1 and/or PI2; 3) overexpression of PI2 decreases TRBV19 usage in the global CD8+ T-cell compartment; 4) a biased repertoire of insulin-reactive CD8+ T cells emerges in the periphery regardless of antigen exposure; and 5) low-avidity insulin-reactive CD8+ T cells are less affected by antigen exposure in the thymus than in the periphery. These findings inform our understanding of the diabetogenic process and reveal new avenues for therapeutic exploitation in type 1 diabetes.
Inter-Cell Interference Coordination for Control Channels in LTE Heterogeneous Networks

In heterogeneous cellular networks for mobile communications, small cells are deployed within the coverage range of primary macro cells to provide for a localized capacity boost in traffic hotspots. Sharing of communication channels among the small-cell and macro-cell tiers is spectrally efficient, but causes failures of control signaling and data channels due to unmitigated co-channel interference. Consequently, the small-cell coverage range and capacity deteriorate. In Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, the performance of control channels such as the physical downlink control channels (PDCCH) is of particular concern because they are protected only by simple interference averaging based on pseudo-random subcarrier allocation. Observing that the randomization algorithms are primarily seeded by the physical cell identifiers (PCIs) and cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTIs), we show that efficient interference-aware scheduling of control transmissions can be enabled by optimized allocation of PCIs, C-RNTIs and PDCCH resources. Simulations of a 3 GPP-compliant heterogeneous network show that the small-cell size can be doubled for a better macro-cell traffic offload by trading the number of active PDCCHs for a higher small-cell expansion bias. Alternatively, the small-cell PDCCH capacity can be at least tripled for high-load applications such as Voice over LTE by using selective macro-cell PDCCH muting.