Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Foundations of Ultra-Low Power Scale Free Sensor Networks for Cluster to Cluster Communications

This paper introduces a new foundation for ultra-cooperative communications based on very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) channels between mobile sensor nodes grouped in spatially distributed clusters. In this new framework, we define a cluster entity as a sensor network of wireless nodes with, but not limited to, scale-free topology. We define a physical wireless scale-free model for the clusters that extends the abstract scale-free model developed by Barabasi-Albert for network graphs to the wireless channel. Our air interface model is based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with Rayleigh flat fading channels and additive white Gaussian noise. For intracluster communications, we have developed the new concept of consensus in a wireless network framework to improve performance. This new approach is ideal for distributed long-range low power sensor networks with ultra-low power signals well below the noise floor. For a cluster size of 100 nodes, we achieve BER of at an SNR of -25 dB in Rayleigh fading. This method enables reliability in both fading channels for intracluster communications and can support ultra-long range or ultra-low power communications links. We establish the fundamental principles involving the relationship between cluster sizes and communication performance, and illustrate 7× gains in range performance using HATA path loss models.
Is there an association between vitamin D and liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C?

BACKGROUND - Vitamin D is known for its immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties, which are quite relevant in the pathogenesis and treatment of many causes of chronic liver disease. OBJECTIVE - This study aimed to evaluate the association between serum vitamin D levels and the histopathological findings in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. METHODS - Cross-sectional study composed of patients with chronic hepatitis C. All patients underwent vitamin D 25 dosage and anthropometric data analysis. Liver biopsy was performed in a maximum 36-month period before inclusion in the study. RESULTS - Of the 74 patients included in the study, 45 (60.8%) were women, mean age was 57.03±9.24 years, and 63 (85.1%) were white. No association was observed between the serum levels of vitamin D and inflammatory activity (P=0.699) nor with the degree of liver fibrosis (P=0.269). CONCLUSION - In this study, no association was observed between vitamin D and inflammatory activity, as well as the degree of liver fibrosis, in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
GNOM-Mediated Vesicular Trafficking Plays an Essential Role in Hydrotropism of Arabidopsis Roots1[W][OA]

Roots respond not only to gravity but also to moisture gradient by displaying gravitropism and hydrotropism, respectively, to control their growth orientation, which helps plants obtain water and become established in the terrestrial environment. As gravitropism often interferes with hydrotropism, however, the mechanisms of how roots display hydrotropism and differentiate it from gravitropism are not understood. We previously reported MIZU-KUSSEI1 (MIZ1) as a gene required for hydrotropism but not for gravitropism, although the function of its protein was not known. Here, we found that a mutation of GNOM encoding guanine-nucleotide exchange factor for ADP-ribosylation factor-type G proteins was responsible for the ahydrotropism of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), miz2. Unlike other gnom alleles, miz2 showed no apparent morphological defects or reduced gravitropism. Instead, brefeldin A (BFA) treatment inhibited both hydrotropism and gravitropism in Arabidopsis roots. In addition, a BFA-resistant GNOM variant, GNM696L, showed normal hydrotropic response in the presence of BFA. Furthermore, a weak gnom allele, gnomB/E, showed defect in hydrotropic response. These results indicate that GNOM-mediated vesicular trafficking plays an essential role in hydrotropism of seedling roots.
Association of aggressive behavior with altered serotonergic function in patients who are not suicidal.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine whether aggression and serotonergic dysfunction are related in the absence of a history of suicidal behavior. Although serotonergic dysfunction has been implicated in aggressive and impulsive behavior, most studies of such behavior have included individuals with a history of suicide attempts. Low concentrations of CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) have been consistently associated with suicidal behavior, presenting a potential confound in the link between aggression and serotonergic dysfunction. METHOD The authors examined the association between aggression and CSF 5-HIAA concentrations in a group of 64 patients who had different DSM-III-R axis I diagnoses and no past suicidal behavior. Aggressive (N=35) and nonaggressive (N=29) groups were defined by a median split on a six-item history of adulthood aggressive behavior. RESULTS The aggressive group had significantly lower CSF 5-HIAA concentrations than the nonaggressive group. Aggressive individuals also scored significantly higher on self-report measures of hostility, impulsiveness, and sensation seeking. CSF 5-HIAA concentrations, however, did not correlate with self-reported hostility and impulsivity. CONCLUSIONS There is an association between aggressive behavior and serotonergic dysfunction independent of suicidal behavior in patients with axis I disorders who exhibit relatively milder forms of aggressive behavior. Analogous to findings with suicidal behavior, a low concentration of CSF 5-HIAA is related to aggressive behavior but does not show the same relationship to the continuum of aggressive feelings and thoughts.
Irisin and Testosterone in Men with Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract The beneficial effects of testosterone on the metabolism and body composition of men are well established but the exact mechanisms of these effects are not clearly understood. A potential explanation might lie in the hormones, secreted from skeletal muscles, named “myokines”. One such myokine, irisin, has been shown to also have potential beneficial metabolic effects. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the association of serum testosterone with circulating serum irisin levels in men with metabolic syndrome. A total 128 men with metabolic syndrome (MS) based on the IDF criteria participated in the study. Irisin serum concentration was determined by means of ELISA. Mean age±SD of the study participants was 51.8±8.3 years. Seventy percent of the subjects had type 2 diabetes mellitus. Circulating irisin was inversely associated with serum testosterone (r=−0.279, p<0.01) and was significantly higher in subjects with hypogonadism – mean±SD 252.0±147.1 vs.172. 9±92.2 ng/ml (p=0.002). ROC analysis of serum irisin value was determined for distinguishing subjects with hypogonadism (AUC=0.670). In a multiple linear regression model with BMI, FPG, age, and irisin, only BMI (β=−0.228, p=0.004) and irisin (β=−0.170, p=0.045) were variables independently associated with testosterone concentrations. Irisin is negatively associated with serum testosterone in our population sample of men with MS. This might suggest a possible involvement of myokines and testosterone with regards to the human metabolism. As no such data on this association has been reported in the literature thus far, further prospective studies are required to elucidate this correlation.
Leadership in New Zealand the impact of gum boots, the haka, buzzy bees and number 8 wire

bees and number 8 wire. Mrs Lyn Murphy Senior Lecturer in Management Manukau Institute of Technology E-mail lyn.murphy@manukau.ac. nz ABSTRACT This is an exploratory study of leadership behaviours within New Zealand. This paper discusses the environmental factors which impact on the approach and style adopted by leaders in New Zealand. It suggests that approaches to leadership are closely linked to the society in which they operate. A review of the literature compares research undertaken by those living within Australasia and that undertaken on a global basis. The review finds that research undertaken globally clusters New Zealand with countries which share its’ Anglo-Saxon heritage the local research distinguishes differences between Australian and New Zealand leadership styles. This paper discusses environmental factors which impact on the approach and style adopted by leaders in New Zealand. It suggests that approaches to leadership are closely linked to the society in which they operate. It argues that leadership in New Zealand is influenced by; the nature and size of its organisations, bi-culturalism; woman role models and isolation, these are represented by the Kiwi icons: gumboots, the Haka, buzzy bees and number 8 fencing wire.
Changes in the serum, liver, and renal cortical lipids and electrolytes in rabbits with cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity.

BACKGROUND/AIM Cisplatin is an anticancer drug that can induce nephrotoxicity. Its toxicity is associated with dyslipidemia and disturbed electrolyte balance. In the present study we investigated the changes in serum lipid profile and electrolyte levels and their contents in kidney and liver tissues of rabbits treated with cisplatin. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-eight adult male New Zealand White rabbits were used in the experiment. Animals of groups C, P1, and P2 were injected with saline, cisplatin (4.0 mg/kg bw), and cisplatin (6.5 mg/kg bw), respectively, and killed 3 days after the injections. Animals of group R were given cisplatin (6.5 mg/kg bw) and killed after 7 days. All animals were killed after an overnight fast. RESULTS The P2 animals showed reductions in their body weights, significant (P < 0.001) increases in serum creatinine and urea levels, and significant (P < 0.001) drops in cortical alkaline phosphatase activity and necrotic kidney histology. The treatments had no effect on liver function. Moreover, the P2 animals showed increased serum cholesterol, TAG, and elevated LDL-cholesterol, with significant accumulations of the kidney cholesterol and TAG, but no change in serum phospholipid and depleted hepatic cholesterol. Moreover, the P2 animals had depressed serum levels of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and reduced renal cortical calcium and magnesium contents and depressed liver calcium but not magnesium. However, the P1 animals had no significant alterations in their lipid or electrolyte levels. Most of the perturbed parameters returned to normal levels in the recovery group. CONCLUSION Cisplatin nephrotoxicity in rabbits is accompanied by reductions in body weight, secondary dyslipidemia, and reduced serum potassium, calcium, and magnesium with depleted renal cortical magnesium and calcium and accumulated cortical lipids.
Refined Bridging of Microfiber Plugs in Hollow Core Fiber for Sensing Acoustic Vibrations

This letter develops a novel, ultracompact, insulated, and refined fiber-optic device that is based on a pair of tapered fiber plugs that are bridged in a tiny section of a hollow-core fiber (HCF). The proposed fiber plugs are fabricated by a single-mode fiber taper and are inserted into the HCF. Two taper plugs are bridged with each other inside the section of HCF by fusion splicing. The two ends of the HCF are fused to close the hollow core and form a rigid structure. When the fabricated sensor is utilized to sense acoustic vibrations, the tiny vibration sensing element is insulated and protected against the robust HCF, so it not easily damaged or polluted. The experimental results demonstrated favorable responses to vibrations.
Clinical effect of a new liquid dentifrice containing triclosan/copolymer on existing plaque and gingivitis.

BACKGROUND Dentifrices traditionally have been formulated as pastes or gels. However, liquid varieties recently have become available The authors conducted a study to determine whether a fluoridated liquid product with added triclosan and a polyvinyl methyl ether/maleic acid, or PVM/MA, copolymer delivery system is efficacious for the control of supragingival plaque and gingivitis. METHODS The authors conducted a six-month, double-blind, parallel, stratified clinical study in accordance with American Dental Association guidelines for the clinical evaluation of antiplaque/antigingivitis products. Subjects who qualified with a suitable amount of existing plaque and gingivitis were given one of two dentifrices: an "experimental" liquid dentifrice containing 0.3 percent triclosan, 2.0 percent PVM/MA copolymer and 0.243 percent sodium fluoride, or NaF, in a silica base; or a "placebo" dentifrice containing 0.243 percent NaF in a silica base. The authors collected subjects' plaque and gingival index scores at baseline, three months and six months. RESULTS The results of the study indicate that the use of the experimental liquid dentifrice provided a significant reduction in existing levels of plaque and gingivitis as compared with the placebo standard dentifrice. At six months, the experimental group demonstrated a 34.9 percent reduction in plaque formation and a 25.7 percent reduction in gingivitis as compared with the placebo group (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS When compared with the placebo, the experimental dentifrice had a significantly better ability to reduce plaque and gingivitis. When compared with results reported in the literature, this new form of dentifrice achieved results comparable in efficacy to those of traditional dentifrice pastes with matching active ingredients. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS This study confirms that a liquid dentifrice containing a triclosan/copolymer/NaF delivery system is efficacious in its ability to reduce existing plaque and gingivitis.
Are You Talking to Me? Reasoned Visual Dialog Generation Through Adversarial Learning

The visual dialog task requires an agent to engage in a conversation about an image with a human. It represents an extension of the visual question answering task in that the agent needs to answer a question about an image, but it needs to do so in light of the previous dialog that has taken place. The key challenge in visual dialog is thus maintaining a consistent, and natural dialog while continuing to answer questions correctly. We present a novel approach that combines Reinforcement Learning and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANS) to generate more human-like responses to questions. The GAN helps overcome the relative paucity of training data, and the tendency of the typical MLE-based approach to generate overly terse answers. Critically, the GAN is tightly integrated into the attention mechanism that generates human-interpretable reasons for each answer. This means that the discriminative model of the GAN has the task of assessing whether a candidate answer is generated by a human or not, given the provided reason. This is significant because it drives the generative model to produce high quality answers that are well supported by the associated reasoning. The method also generates the state-of-the-art results on the primary benchmark.
Estimating linear regression models in the presence of a censored independent variable

The current study examined the impact of a censored independent variable, after adjusting for a second independent variable, when estimating regression coefficients using ‘naïve’ ordinary least squares (OLS), ‘partial’ OLS and full‐likelihood models. We used Monte Carlo simulations to determine the bias associated with all three regression methods. We demonstrated that substantial bias was introduced in the estimation of the regression coefficient associated with the variable subject to a ceiling effect when naïve OLS regression was used. Furthermore, minor bias was transmitted to the estimation of the regression coefficient associated with the second independent variable. High correlation between the two independent variables improved estimation of the censored variable's coefficient at the expense of estimation of the other coefficient. The use of ‘partial’ OLS and maximum‐likelihood estimation were shown to result in, at most, negligible bias in estimation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the full‐likelihood method was robust under misspecification of the joint distribution of the independent random variables. Lastly, we provided an empirical example using National Population Health Survey (NPHS) data to demonstrate the practical implications of our main findings and the simple methods available to circumvent the bias identified in the Monte Carlo simulations. Our results suggest that researchers need to be aware of the bias associated with the use of naïve ordinary least‐squares estimation when estimating regression models in which at least one independent variable is subject to a ceiling effect. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Measurement and Interpretation of Electrokinetic Phenomena (IUPAC Technical Report)

Abstract In this report, the status quo and recent progress in electrokinetics are reviewed. Practical rules are recommended for performing electrokinetic measurements and interpreting their results in terms of well-defined quantities, the most familiar being the z-potential or electrokinetic potential. This potential is a property of charged interfaces, and it should be independent of the technique used for its determination. However, often the z-potential is not the only property electrokinetically characterizing the electrical state of the interfacial region; the excess conductivity of the stagnant layer is an additional parameter. The requirement to obtain the z-potential is that electrokinetic theories be correctly used and applied within their range of validity. Basic theories and their application ranges are discussed. A thorough description of the main electrokinetic methods is given; special attention is paid to their ranges of applicability as well as to the validity of the underlying theoretical models. Electrokinetic consistency tests are proposed in order to assess the validity of the z-potentials obtained. The recommendations given in the report apply mainly to smooth and homogeneous solid particles and plugs in aqueous systems; some attention is paid to nonaqueous media and less ideal surfaces.
Aspartate Aminotransferase for Synthesis of Transmitter Glutamate in the Medulla Oblongata: Effect of Aminooxyacetic Acid and 2‐Oxoglutarate

Abstract The effects of aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA), a transaminase inhibitor, and 2‐oxoglutarate, a precursor to glutamate by the activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AAT), on slices of rat medulla oblongata, cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and hippocampus were studied. The slices were superfused and electrically stimulated. There was a Ca2+‐dependent stimulus‐evoked release of endogenous glutamate, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA), and β‐alanine in all regions examined. AOAA (10‐4 and 10‐3M) decreased the release of glutamate in the medulla oblongata and cerebellum but not in the hippocampus. l‐Canaline, a specific inhibitor of ornithine aminotransferase, did not affect the glutamate release in the medulla. 2‐Oxoglutarate (10‐3M) increased the release of glutamate in the medulla oblongata and cerebellum but not in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Treatment with AOAA (10‐4M) almost abolished the activities of AAT in all regions studied. AOAA (10‐4 and 10‐3M) increased the stimulus‐evoked release of GABA in the cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and hippocampus, whereas the stimulus‐evoked release of β‐alanine was decreased by this agent in all regions studied. These results suggest the participation of AAT in the synthesis of the transmitter glutamate in the medulla oblongata and cerebellum of the rat.
A systems biology representation of developmental anatomy

The formation of any tissue involves differentiation, cell dynamics and interactions with adjacent tissues. This paper suggests that the complexity of the system as a whole can be represented as a mathematical graph, that is, a set of connected triples of the general form [term] [term]. Computationally, such graphs are widely used for modeling data; visually, they form hierarchies and networks. For morphogenesis, the triples are of the general structure , where nouns cover tissues, molecules and networks and verbs describe processes such as moves, differentiates, grows and apoptoses. The paper considers the general formalism of graphs, where graphs are already used in biology, and how developmental anatomy may be described using this format. Representing morphogenesis as a visual graph is complicated as the formalism has to incorporate tissue types, molecular signals, networks, dynamic processes and some aspects, at least, of tissue geometry. The formation of a capillary sprout is chosen as an example of how this complexity can be represented graphically, with colour used to distinguish tissues and molecules. There are three key benefits, beyond its compactness, in using the graph formalism of morphogenesis to complement experimentation. First, it emphasizes the distributed nature of causality in morphogenesis. Secondly, producing all the triples for the visual graph requires explicit formalization of each aspect of the process, and this, in turn, often exposes gaps in knowledge and so suggests new experiments. Thirdly, once the graph has been formalized, triples can be annotated with associated information or IDs (e.g. cell types, publications, gene‐expression data) that link to external online resources that may be regularly updated. Such annotations allow the graph to be viewed as a self‐maintaining review. The graph approach sees dynamic processes as the drivers of developmental momentum and, because the same processes are used many times during development, it seems appropriate to view them as modules and their underlying networks as genomic subroutines.
Suppression of Alcohol Delirium Tremens by Baclofen Administration: A Case Report

Delirium tremens (DT) is a clinical condition that appears in some patients affected by severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). DT represents a serious complication, being characterized by elevated morbidity and mortality. Benzodiazepines are presently the drug of choice; however their use is related to several side effects. Baclofen is a stereoselective &ggr;-aminobutyric acid (GABAB) receptor agonist. Recent studies show that baclofen is able to suppress alcohol withdrawal symptoms. At present there are no data on the effects of baclofen administration in AWS complicated by DT. Here, we report a case of DT successfully treated with baclofen. This result indicates that the efficacy of baclofen in the treatment of DT should be examined in future clinical trials.