Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preservation of the Positive Lusitropic Effect of &bgr;-Adrenoceptors Stimulation in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: In diabetic cardiomyopathy, diastolic dysfunction results in part from sarcoplasmic reticulum abnormalities affecting both phospholamban and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ uptake (SERCA2a). Consequently, the positive lusitropic effect of &bgr;-adrenoceptors stimulation could be altered, and &bgr;3-adrenoceptor over-expression may play a role, as previously demonstrated with an altered positive inotropic effect. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the &bgr;-adrenergic positive lusitropic effect is altered in diabetic cardiomyopathy, and that &bgr;3-adrenoceptor over-expression is involved. METHODS: &bgr;-adrenergic responses were investigated in vivo (dobutamine-echocardiography) and in vitro (papillary muscle preparation) in healthy and diabetic rats killed 4 (4W) and 12 (12W) wk after IV streptozotocin injection. The effect of &bgr;3-adrenoceptor pathway inhibition by S-cyanopindolol (selective &bgr;3-adrenoceptor antagonist) or by NG-nitro-l-arginine-methyl-ester (nonselective nitric oxide synthase inhibitor) on the lusitropic response to isoproterenol (nonselective &bgr;-adrenoceptors agonist) was studied in vitro. Western blots were performed to quantify the protein expressions of &bgr;1- and &bgr;3-adrenoceptors, phospholamban, and SERCA2a. Data are presented as mean percentages of baseline ± sd. RESULTS: Despite the increased phospholamban/SERCA2a protein ratio and documented diastolic dysfunction, the positive lusitropic effect of &bgr;-adrenoceptors stimulation was preserved in vivo (dobutamine) and in vitro (isoproterenol) in 4W and 12W diabetic, compared with healthy, rats. The &bgr;3-adrenoceptor was up-regulated whereas &bgr;1-adrenoceptor was down-regulated in 4W and 12W diabetic, compared with healthy, rats. Nevertheless, S-cyanopindolol or NG-nitro-l-arginine-methyl-ester had no lusitropic effect. CONCLUSIONS: The positive lusitropic effect of &bgr;-adrenoceptor stimulation was preserved in diabetic cardiomyopathy. &bgr;3-adrenoceptor over-expression does not seem to affect this process.
Effects of ice particle size vertical inhomogeneity on the passive remote sensing of ice clouds

[1] The solar reflectance bi-spectral (SRBS) and infrared split-window (IRSpW) methods are two of the most popular techniques for passive ice cloud property retrievals from multispectral imagers. Ice clouds are usually assumed to be vertically homogeneous in global operational algorithms based on these methods, although significant vertical variations of ice particle size are typically observed in ice clouds. In this study we investigate uncertainties in retrieved optical thickness, effective particle size, and ice water path introduced by a homogeneous cloud assumption in both the SRBS and IRSpW methods, and focus on whether the assumption can lead to significant discrepancies between the two methods. The study simulates the upwelling spectral radiance associated with vertically structured clouds and passes the results through representative SRBS and IRSpW retrieval algorithms. Cloud optical thickness is limited to values for which IRSpW retrievals are possible (optical thickness less than about 7). When the ice cloud is optically thin and yet has a significant ice particle size vertical variation, it is found that both methods tend to underestimate the effective radius and ice water path. The reason for the underestimation is the nonlinear dependence of ice particle scattering properties (extinction and single scattering albedo) on the effective radius. Because the nonlinearity effect is stronger in the IRSpW than the SRBS method, the IRSpW-based IWP tends to be smaller than the SRBS counterpart. When the ice cloud is moderately optically thick, the IRSpW method is relatively insensitive to cloud vertical structure and effective radius retrieval is weighted toward smaller ice particle size, while the weighting function makes the SRBS method more sensitive to the ice particle size in the upper portion of the cloud. As a result, when ice particle size increases monotonically toward cloud base, the two methods are in qualitative agreement; in the event that ice particle size decreases toward cloud base, the effective radius and ice water path retrievals based on the SRBS method are substantially larger than those from the IRSpW. The main findings of this study suggest that the homogenous cloud assumption can affect the SRBS and IRSpW methods to different extents and, consequently, can lead to significantly different retrievals. Therefore caution should be taken when comparing and combining the ice cloud property retrievals from these two methods.
ACCESS-CONTROL AND INTERLOCK-SIGNAL SYSTEMS FOR THE LHD EXPERIMENTAL HALL

Abstract— An access-control system has been developed and installed at the National Institute for Fusion Science. The system uses an interlock-signal system and a group-access-control system to safeguard the operation of the large helical device. In this paper, the access-control system is described along with its features, advantages and disadvantages, and benefits.
The keystroke-level model for user performance time with interactive systems

There are ~eg:N ms:poets of aser~emt,xu{er ~rforma~ce tha~ sys*em designers sh~d sys~emarka{~ ~ e r. This arlic|e prop~yses a ~im~}e m~eL the Neys{T{. >ke-Levd Medea, for predkd~g o,~e aspe~'t M w2rferma:mee: the time i:t takes ,a~ expel u~wr ~;:o perform a givers *az~ m~ a give= eom,p~:{er sys{~a. The model is b.ae~ e~ counting keystrokes :a~d @~er |owdevel operatkms. , i:~c{udir~g the user's ~me=taI ~re~aratioas arid the* system's re Pe e is coded fa ~¢~ge~ of ~e~e {~*rati~as an.d epe~a~r Nm¢~ s~:~ Ce Nve Ne~c~i~s,~ HeurNfic n~}es are :gh'ef~ Nr p'redicti~g ~here men~al prelaara~ie~s ¢~ce~r. When tested against{ data ¢m 1|) diffe:re~ systems, ~N~I's pee~ic~ifye e~f N 2t ~reem fee tMividual ~asks. A= examNe N gia'ee m Rlus{ra{e h(~ NEe m~l . eaa ~ ~aed to pr~dece parametric predie{km.g add brow set~:sifivt{y aaaiysis c:a:a be ~:sexi m redeem ce~e|~. sfo~s in the face of ~mc,e~aia as:sumt~ti~o~:s, Finally, the model ~s e@m~ar~ ~o ~ereral s*mp|er ver,s&ms. "INe N, ter~fiaJ fete ~k~r ~he Keystroke*Level Model i.n gys{em de:skgn is Fhe dcsigs and evaluation of imeracti,~e computer systems sho~ald ~ake imo accnun~ ~he ~o~a! per~brma~<e of the combit~ed ~serocompu~er system. Such an at<:ou~ woukJ reflcc~ the psychological charac~eristic. ~ of users and ~heir imerac~ion wish {he ~ask and the computer. This rarely ncc~. :~rs in any sss~ematic and explicit way, The causes of this fl~ilare may lie partly in amt~de:; ioward doe ~ibi~i~y of dealing s~ccesduily with psy~. chok}gicM factors, such as the belief @m~ i~mmion~ s~,b~ ]ective eaperiesce~ sad anecdote ~brm the only possible bases ff:,r deMing wif~ ~hem Whatever may be ~rue ot' ~hcae more gk:>bat iss:ues~ oae major cau:se is the ab:>ence of g<xxJ analysis ~ools for a,::_~:ssiag combined user. ,<om-purer performance. There exists quite a bit of research retevan~ to ~he area of user-computer performance, b~ mo:s~ of it is preIiminary is m~ture. Pew et aL [14t ia a review o{ ¢3 g<r~e~'~fiaIIy relevant haman-system pertbrmar~ce models~ co~achade "~ha~ is~egrative models of huma~~ p<r%rmance compa~iNe with the requirements ~br representing cors-mand and comrol system ~rR>rmance do so~, exist a~ the present @he. " Ramsey and A~w~. x>d {/51~ after reviewing the human L~c~ors literature pertb~em to computer sys-tem:s, conclude 1hat while ~here exists eno~gh material ~o develop a qualitative 'human factors design guide," ~here is i.asufficient material ~br a "quantitative reference hand book2' This paper presents one s~scific quanti~aive analysis took a simple model for the time it takes a user ~o perform a task wi~. h a given …
ADMM-Based Fast Algorithm for Multi-Group Multicast Beamforming in Large-Scale Wireless Systems

Multi-group multicast beamforming in wireless systems with large antenna arrays and massive audience is investigated in this paper. Multicast beamforming design is a well-known non-convex quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) problem. A conventional method to tackle this problem is to approximate it as a semi-definite programming problem via semi-definite relaxation, whose performance, however, deteriorates considerably as the number of per-group users goes large. A recent attempt is to apply convex-concave procedure (CCP) to find a stationary solution by treating it as a difference of convex programming problem, whose complexity, however, increases dramatically as the problem size increases. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity high-performance algorithm for multi-group multicast beamforming design in large-scale wireless systems by leveraging the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) together with CCP. In specific, the original non-convex QCQP problem is first approximated as a sequence of convex subproblems via CCP. Each convex subproblem is then reformulated as a novel ADMM form. Our ADMM reformulation enables that each updating step is performed by solving multiple small-size subproblems with closed-form solutions in parallel. Numerical results show that our fast algorithm maintains the same favorable performance as state-of-the-art algorithms but reduces the complexity by orders of magnitude.
Semantic parsing based on FrameNet

This paper describes our method based on Support Vector Machines for automatically assigning semantic roles to constituents of English sentences. This method employs four different feature sets, one of which being first reported herein. The combination of features as well as the extended training data we considered have produced in the Senseval-3 experiments an F1-score of 92.5% for the unrestricted case and of 76.3% for the restricted case.
Power and power potentiation among strength-power athletes: preliminary study.

PURPOSE To assess the effects of manipulating the loading of successive sets of midthigh clean pulls on the potentiation capabilities of 7 international-level US weightlifters (4 men, 3 women). METHODS Isometric and dynamic peak-force characteristics were measured with a force plate at 500 Hz. Velocity during dynamic pulls was measured using 2 potentiometers that were suspended from the top of the right and left sides of the testing system and attached to both ends of the bar. Five dynamic-performance trials were used (in the following order) as the potentiation protocol: women at 60, 80, 100, 120, and 80 kg and men at 60, 140, 180, 220, and 140 kg. Trials 2 vs 5 were specifically analyzed to assess potentiation capabilities. Isometric midthigh pulls were assessed for peak force and rate of force development. Dynamic lifts were assessed for peak force (PF), peak velocity (PV), peak power (PP), and rate of force development (RFD). RESULTS Although all values (PF, PV, PP, and RFD) were higher postpotentiation, the only statistically higher value was found for PV (ICC? = .95, P = .011, ? 2 = .69). CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that manipulating set-loading configuration can result in a potentiation effect when heavily loaded sets are followed by a lighter set. This potentiation effect was primarily characterized by an increase in the PV in elite weightlifters.
TUC: Time-Sensitive and Modular Analysis of Anonymous Communication

The anonymous communication protocol Tor constitutes the most widely deployed technology for providing anonymity for user communication over the Internet. Several frameworks have been proposed that show strong anonymity guarantees, none of these, however, are capable of modeling the class of traffic-related timing attacks against Tor, such as traffic correlation and website fingerprinting. In this work, we present TUC: the first framework that allows for establishing strong anonymity guarantees in the presence of time-sensitive adversaries that mount traffic-related timing attacks. TUC incorporates a comprehensive notion of time in an asynchronous communication model with sequential activation, while offering strong compositionality properties for security proofs. We apply TUC to evaluate a novel countermeasure for Tor against website fingerprinting attacks. Our analysis relies on a formalization of the onion routing protocol that underlies Tor and proves rigorous anonymity guarantees in the presence of traffic-related timing attacks.
Dynamic and differential regulation in the microRNA expression in the developing and mature cataractous rat lens

Recent evidence supports a role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in regulating gene expression, and alterations in gene expression are known to affect cells involved in the development of ageing disorders. Using developing rat lens epithelial cells (LECs), we profiled the expression of miRNAs by a microarray‐based approach. Few gene expression changes known to be involved in pathogenesis or cytoprotection were uniquely influenced by miRNA expression. Most miRNAs increased or decreased in abundance (let 7b, let 7c, miR29a, miR29c, miR126 and miR551b) in LECs/lenses during late embryonic and post‐natal development and in cataract. Among them, miR29a, miR29c and miR126 were dramatically decreased in cataractous LECs from Shumiya Cataract Rats (SCRs). Specifically, the cytoskeleton remodelling genes tropomyosin (Tm) 1α and 2β, which have been implicated in the initiation of pathophysiology, were targets of miR29c and were over‐stimulated as demonstrated by inhibitor experiments. In transfection experiments, increasing the level of miR29c caused a corresponding decrease in the expression of Tm1α and 2β, suggesting that miR29c may regulate the translation of Tm1α and 2β. 3′UTR luciferase activity of Tm1α, not 2β, was significantly decreased in miR29c‐transfected mouse LECs. These findings demonstrate changes in miRNAs expression, and target molecules have potential as diagnostic indicators of ageing and as a foundation of miR‐based therapeutics for age‐related diseases.
Obstructing Gangliocytic Paraganglioma in the Third Portion of the Duodenum

Gangliocytic paragangliomas are infrequent tumors almost exclusively found in the second portion of the duodenum. An unusual case of a gangliocytic paraganglioma in the third portion of the duodenum with obstructive symptoms is herein reported. A 16-year-old male patient presented with epigastric pain, postprandial plenitude and reflux. A barium swallow failed to demonstrate abnormalities. Endoscopy showed a pedunculated submucosal tumor, originating at the third duodenal portion and causing partial obstruction. Biopsy was not performed due to the risk of bleeding. CT scan demonstrated a polypoid lesion. Through a transmesocolic approach and an anterior duodenotomy, resection of the tumor was performed. No lymph node or other organ affection was found. Histologic examination revealed a gangliocytic paraganglioma. Immunohistochemical examination was performed. Gangliocytic paragangliomas originating in the third or fourth portion of the duodenum, as in the present case, are extremely rare. Characteristic histologic features including epithelioid cells, spindle-shaped cells and ganglion-like cells were met. The majority of cases manifest with a similar benign behavior. Local resection of the tumor is recommended for these cases. An infrequent case of a gangliocytic paraganglioma located in the third portion of the duodenum, with a less common clinical presentation, is herein reported.
Cationic detergents enable the separation of membrane proteins of Plasmodium falciparum‐infected erythrocytes by 2D gel electrophoresis

The intraerythrocytic stage of Plasmodium falciparum alters the characteristics of its host cell by exporting selected plasmodial proteins. Although it is clear that the physicochemical and immunobiological properties of the host cell are modulated during parasite development, the involved plasmodial proteins and their mode of action are not completely known. Using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or benzyldimethyl‐n‐hexadecylammonium chloride (16‐BAC) for the first dimension and SDS for the second dimension, we separated proteins from membranes of human erythrocytes and of erythrocytes infected with the malaria parasite P. falciparum. Protein spots were analyzed by MALDI‐TOF/TOF MS and annotated in respective 2D master gels. By using the alternative 2D approach, characteristic host cell membrane proteins and, more importantly, membrane‐associated and exported plasmodial proteins were identified that might play a role in parasite‐induced host cell modulation.
Comparative Effectiveness of Oral Antiplatelet Agents in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

In randomized controlled trials, prasugrel and ticagrelor reduced cardiovascular complications in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) compared with clopidogrel. However, limited head‐to‐head comparisons have been conducted across the three antiplatelet agents using real‐world data. The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of three strategies during a 1‐year period after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
MMSE scaling enhances performance in practical lattice codes

We investigate the value of MMSE scaling for practical lattice codes. For ideal lattices, MMSE scaling has been shown to be a key ingredient in achieving the capacity of the AWGN channel. We demonstrate that MMSE scaling enhances the performance, particularly at low SNR, for practical lattice codes. For example, a dimension n = 10000 LDLC lattice exhibits approximately 0.6 dB gain when MMSE scaling is used for a rate of 1 bit/dimension. Furthermore, we provide a novel derivation of the MMSE scaling rule, showing that it emerges naturally from principles of belief propagation decoders which account for the transmit power constraint.
Eye-blink Detection Using Gradient Orientations

State-of-the-art algorithms offer a real-time human face and eye detection which can be used to detect eye-blink. In this paper we present a feature descriptor. Gradient orientations and magnitudes are used to build the feature descriptor. We use the difference between samples of open and closed eyes. Gradient descriptors are further used to train the SVM. SVM can predict the open or closed eye state from the given input data. Due to the knowledge of the state of the eye (open or closed), eye-blink frequency and duration can be computed. These parameters are used to establish the level of sleepiness what can be used to prevent the driver from incoming microsleep.
Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity following Prenatal or Perinatal Brain Injury Predicts Receptive Language Outcome

Early brain injury alters both structural and functional connectivity between the cerebral hemispheres. Despite increasing knowledge on the individual hemispheric contributions to recovery from such injury, we know very little about how their interactions affect this process. In the present study, we related interhemispheric structural and functional connectivity to receptive language outcome following early left hemisphere stroke. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study 14 people with neonatal brain injury, and 25 age-matched controls during passive story comprehension. With respect to structural connectivity, we found that increased volume of the corpus callosum predicted good receptive language outcome, but that this is not specific to people with injury. In contrast, we found that increased posterior superior temporal gyrus interhemispheric functional connectivity during story comprehension predicted better receptive language performance in people with early brain injury, but worse performance in typical controls. This suggests that interhemispheric functional connectivity is one potential compensatory mechanism following early injury. Further, this pattern of results suggests refinement of the prevailing notion that better language outcome following early left hemisphere injury relies on the contribution of the contralesional hemisphere (i.e., the “right-hemisphere-take-over” theory). This pattern of results was also regionally specific; connectivity of the angular gyrus predicted poorer performance in both groups, independent of brain injury. These results present a complex picture of recovery, and in some cases, such recovery relies on increased cooperation between the injured hemisphere and homologous regions in the contralesional hemisphere, but in other cases, the opposite appears to hold.
A performance evaluation of cryptographic algorithms on FPGA and ASIC on RFID design flow

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been widely used in many areas, but security issues still remain. To overcome these issues, RFID authentication protocols based on cryptographic algorithms have been developed. These protocols require implementing cryptographic components on the tag. In this paper, we focus on the lightweight stream ciphers and the lightweight hash functions that are vastly used for the authentication protocols. We implement and evaluate hardware performance of these algorithms on FPGA. Then, we discuss the practicality of FPGA on the design flow of RFID by comparing FPGA and ASIC implementation results of the tag.
Ground Water Contamination with Fluoride and Potential Fluoride Removal Technologies for East and Southern Africa

Ground water is main source of water supply in most rural communities in Africa. It has good microbiological and biological properties in general as such requires minimal treatment. Unfortunately groundwater is sometimes contaminated with naturally occurring chemicals. One such naturally occurring toxicant is fluoride. In some parts of Africa ground water contains high fluoride levels beyond the recommended World Health Organisation upper limit of 1.5 mg/l. It is reported that the East African Rift Valley is a high fluoride area. This region extends from Jordan valley down through Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. High fluoride levels have also been reported in Malawi and The Republic of South Africa. In Kenya high fluoride levels in ground water beyond 5 mg/l and beyond 8 mg/l were reported in 20% and 30% respectively of 1000 samples taken nationally. A survey of fluoride in ground water in Tanzania showed that 30% of the waters used for drinking exceeded 1.5 mg/l fluoride. In Malawi and the Republic of South Africa fluoride levels beyond 1.5 mg/l and occurrence of dental fluorosis have also been reported. Proxy indicators of high fluoride levels in ground water are high pH, pH beyond 7, and high sodium and bicarbonate concentrations in the water. High fluoride waters often have low calcium and magnesium concentrations as such are fairly soft. There are some exceptions of fluoride occurrence that may not adhere to these proxy indicators.
Analysis of EphA4 receptor tyrosine kinase substrate specificity using peptide‐based arrays

Eph receptor tyrosine kinases regulate many important biological processes. In the present study, we explored the substrate specificity of the EphA4 receptor tyrosine kinase using peptide arrays. We define a consensus substrate motif for EphA4 and go on to identify and test a number of potential EphA4 substrates and map their putative site(s) of phosphorylation. Cotransfection studies validate two of the predicted substrates: Nck2 and Dok1. Our findings identify several potential EphA4 substrates and demonstrate the general utility of using peptide arrays to rapidly identify and map protein kinase phosphorylation sites.