Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Central noradrenergic responsiveness to a clonidine challenge in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: a Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography study

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) may involve hypo-responsiveness of noradrenaline a2 receptors. To test this hypothesis, we used 99mTc-hexa-methyl-propylene-amine-oxime (HMPAO) Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography to measure regional cerebral perfusion in patients with untreated GAD, venlafaxine-treated patients and healthy controls during word generation before and after clonidine. Concurrent psychological and physiological measures supported noradrenergic hypofunction in GAD in some cases. A single-day split-dose technique was used. Images were processed using SPM5 (Institute of Neurology). Factorial analysis revealed no significant results. Exploratory analyses were done. Regional perfusion during verbal fluency differed by group pre-clonidine. Compared with healthy controls, patients with untreated GAD displayed increased perfusion in the left Broca’s area and left occipitotemporal region. Treated GAD patients displayed increased cerebellar perfusion bilaterally. Clonidine was associated with different changes in cerebral perfusion in each group. Increases were seen in the right supra-marginal gyrus in healthy subjects, in the left pre-central gyrus in treated GAD patients and in the right cerebellum and middle frontal gyrus in untreated GAD patients. Despite these differences, the findings were not consistent with a noradrenergic hypo-responsiveness hypothesis, as the treated group showed a different pattern of response rather than a normalization of response.
Brain stimulation modulates the autonomic nervous system, rating of perceived exertion and performance during maximal exercise

Background The temporal and insular cortex (TC, IC) have been associated with autonomic nervous system (ANS) control and the awareness of emotional feelings from the body. Evidence shows that the ANS and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) regulate exercise performance. Non-invasive brain stimulation can modulate the cortical area directly beneath the electrode related to ANS and RPE, but it could also affect subcortical areas by connection within the cortico-cortical neural networks. This study evaluated the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the TC on the ANS, RPE and performance during a maximal dynamic exercise. Methods Ten trained cyclists participated in this study (33±9 years; 171.5±5.8 cm; 72.8±9.5 kg; 10–11 training years). After 20-min of receiving either anodal tDCS applied over the left TC (T3) or sham stimulation, subjects completed a maximal incremental cycling exercise test. RPE, heart rate (HR) and R–R intervals (as a measure of ANS function) were recorded continuously throughout the tests. Peak power output (PPO) was recorded at the end of the tests. Results With anodal tDCS, PPO improved by ∼4% (anodal tDCS: 313.2±29.9 vs 301.0±19.8 watts: sham tDCS; p=0.043), parasympathetic vagal withdrawal was delayed (anodal tDCS: 147.5±53.3 vs 125.0±35.4 watts: sham tDCS; p=0.041) and HR was reduced at submaximal workloads. RPE also increased more slowly during exercise following anodal tDCS application, but maximal RPE and HR values were not affected by cortical stimulation. Conclusions The findings suggest that non-invasive brain stimulation over the TC modulates the ANS activity and the sensory perception of effort and exercise performance, indicating that the brain plays a crucial role in the exercise performance regulation.
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Bio and chemical sensing by a low cost plasmonic platform in plastic optical fibers

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is widely used as a detection principle for many sensors operating in different application fields, such as bio and chemical sensing. When artificial receptors are used for bio/chemicals detection, the film on the metal surface (usually a gold surface) selectively recognizes and captures the analyte present in a liquid sample, so producing a local change in the refractive index at the metal surface. The value of the refractive index change depends on the structure of the analyte molecules [1]. SPR biosensors based on Kretschmann and Otto configurations are usually bulky and require expensive optical equipment, it is not easy to miniaturize them and, in addition, their remote interrogation may be difficult to develop. Jorgenson et al. replaced the prism by a multimode optical fiber [2]. The metal was deposited on the bare core of the fiber. The use of an optical fiber allows for remote sensing and may reduce the cost and the dimensions of the device. Due to the propagation of the light in the fiber, the angle of incidence on the metallic layer exceeds the critical angle, which depends on the refractive indices of both core and cladding components. Therefore SPR only exists for surrounding dielectrics whose refractive index lies in a narrow range. To overcome this drawback, Jorgenson et al. used a polychromatic light source and a spectrograph. This approach results in low cost, easy to implement device and can offer some attractive advantages such as the possibility to be used in the presence of flammable substances and hazardous environments, because of its electricity-free and remote sensing capabilities. Furthermore, because of the small size and non-invasive features, it can be used for medical (self-) diagnosis with the possibility to integrate SPR sensor platforms with optoelectronic devices, eventually leading to “lab on a chip”. In the scientific literature, many different configurations based on SPR in silica optical fibers, have been described [3-6]. On the other hand, for SPR sensor platforms, POFs are especially advantageous due to their excellent flexibility, easy manipulation, great numerical aperture, large diameter, and the fact that plastic is able to withstand smaller bend radii than glass. Furthermore, the advantage of the POF sensors is that they are simpler to manufacture than those based on silica optical fibers [7].
Early-Stage Induction of SWI/SNF Mutations during Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinogenesis

The SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex is frequently inactivated by somatic mutations of its various components in various types of cancers, and also by aberrant DNA methylation. However, its somatic mutations and aberrant methylation in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs) have not been fully analyzed. In this study, we aimed to clarify in ESCC, what components of the SWI/SNF complex have somatic mutations and aberrant methylation, and when somatic mutations of the SWI/SNF complex occur. Deep sequencing of components of the SWI/SNF complex using a bench-top next generation sequencer revealed that eight of 92 ESCCs (8.7%) had 11 somatic mutations of 7 genes, ARID1A, ARID2, ATRX, PBRM1, SMARCA4, SMARCAL1, and SMARCC1. The SMARCA4 mutations were located in the Forkhead (85Ser>Leu) and SNF2 family N-terminal (882Glu>Lys) domains. The PBRM1 mutations were located in a bromodomain (80Asn>Ser) and an HMG-box domain (1,377Glu>Lys). For most mutations, their mutant allele frequency was 31–77% (mean 61%) of the fraction of cancer cells in the same samples, indicating that most of the cancer cells in individual ESCC samples had the SWI/SNF mutations on one allele, when present. In addition, a BeadChip array analysis revealed that a component of the SWI/SNF complex, ACTL6B, had aberrant methylation at its promoter CpG island in 18 of 52 ESCCs (34.6%). These results showed that genetic and epigenetic alterations of the SWI/SNF complex are present in ESCCs, and suggested that genetic alterations are induced at an early stage of esophageal squamous cell carcinogenesis.
Analyzing and Utilizing the Collaboration Structure for Reliable Router-Level Networks

SUMMARY As the Internet represents a key social infrastructure, its reliability is essential if we are to survive failures. Physical connectivity of networks is also essential as it characterizes reliability. There are collaboration structures, which are topological structures where two or more nodes are connected to a node, and collaboration structures are observed in transcriptional regulatory networks and the router-level topologies of ISPs. These collaboration structures are related to the reliability of networks. The main objective of this research is to find whether an increase in collaboration structures would improve reliability or not. We first categorize the topology into a three-level hierarchy for this purpose, i.e., top-level, middle-level, and bottom-level layers. We then calculate the reliability of networks. The results indicate that the reliability of most transcriptional regulatory networks is higher than that of one of router-level topologies. We then investigate the number of collaboration structures. It is apparent that there are much fewer collaboration structures between top-level nodes and middle-level nodes in router-level topologies. Finally, we confirm that the reliability of router-level topologies can be improved by rewiring to increase the collaboration structures between top-level and middle-level
A fault simulation method based on mutated truth table of logic gates

A new fault modeling and simulation method based on VLSI is proposed to evaluate the fault coverage in VLSI accurately. Firstly, inject the circuit-level faults into the logic gates by means of simulation and experiments. Built the fault dictionary consisted of MTTs by analyzing the experimental effect of faults on function. Secondly, considering the MTTs and their weights, a testing coverage model is proposed which is applied to the gate-level fault simulation later. At Last, experiments on standard combinational circuits are done ground on the methods above. The results show that, comparing to the traditional stack-at fault model, the proposed method can better reflect the fault coverage capability of given testing sets.
Developing a Pediatric Palliative Care Program: Addressing the Lack of Baseline Expenditure Information

An estimated 500 000 children annually cope with life-limiting conditions expected to lead to premature death, but little is known about their health care expenditures at the end of life. This information is crucial for health planners to propose pediatric palliative care programs. This study aims to estimate predicted health care expenditures for Medicaid-eligible infants and children across several health service categories. Across these categories, infants and children were predicted to spend about US$110 000 and US$62 000 at the end of life, respectively. About 5% of infants and 8% of children incurred hospice expenditures. Results from the multivariate models suggest that black, non-Hispanic children are less likely than white, non-Hispanic children to use hospice care. Baseline expenditure information from this study can be used to develop integrated pediatric palliative care models. Our findings also suggest that many more children could potentially benefit by using hospice care at the end of life.
Spectrum trading in cognitive radio networks: A market-equilibrium-based approach

Cognitive radio has emerged as a new design paradigm for the next-generation wireless networks. Cognitive radio networks are designed based on the concept of dynamic spectrum sharing where cognitive radio users can opportunistically share the radio spectrum. For example, in case of vertical spectrum sharing, a spectrum owner (or primary user/service) can share (or sell) its licensed spectrum with (to) other users (i.e., secondary users/services). The economics of spectrum sharing, which is referred to as spectrum trading, is the focus of this article. The objective of spectrum trading is to maximize the revenue of the spectrum owner, and at the same time enhance the satisfaction of the cognitive radio users. We first discuss the different network architectures and protocol behaviors for dynamic spectrum sharing as well as the spectrum sharing models. Then the scope of spectrum trading is discussed in the context of different spectrum sharing models. The primary research issues related to spectrum trading in cognitive radio networks are outlined, and the possible solution approaches are discussed. To this end, we introduce a market-equilibrium-based spectrum trading mechanism that uses spectrum demand and supply of the primary and secondary users, respectively. Since spectrum supply is stochastic in nature, a distributed and adaptive learning algorithm is used for the secondary users to estimate spectrum price and adjust the spectrum demand accordingly so that the market equilibrium can be reached.
Type-Directed Synthesis of Products

Software synthesis - the process of generating complete, general-purpose programs from specifications - has become a hot research topic in the past few years. For decades the problem was thought to be insurmountable: the search space of possible programs is far too massive to efficiently traverse. Advances in efficient constraint solving have overcome this barrier, enabling a new generation of effective synthesis systems. Most existing systems compile synthesis tasks down to low-level SMT instances, sacrificing high-level semantic information while solving only first-order problems (i.e., filling integer holes). Recent work takes an alternative approach, using the Curry-Howard isomorphism and techniques from automated theorem proving to construct higher-order programs with algebraic datatypes. My thesis involved extending this type-directed synthesis engine to handle product types, which required significant modifications to both the underlying theory and the tool itself. Product types streamline other language features, eliminating variable-arity constructors among other workarounds employed in the original synthesis system. A form of logical conjunction, products are invertible, making it possible to equip the synthesis system with an efficient theorem-proving technique called focusing that eliminates many of the nondeterministic choices inherent in proof search. These theoretical enhancements informed a new version of the type-directed synthesis prototype implementation, which remained performance-competitive with the original synthesizer. A significant advantage of the type-directed synthesis framework is its extensibility; this thesis is a roadmap for future such efforts to increase the expressive power of the system.
Trypanosoma cruzi invades host cells through the activation of endothelin and bradykinin receptors: a converging pathway leading to chagasic vasculopathy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Independent studies in experimental models of Trypanosoma cruzi appointed different roles for endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) and bradykinin (BK) in the immunopathogenesis of Chagas disease. Here, we addressed the hypothesis that pathogenic outcome is influenced by functional interplay between endothelin receptors (ETAR and ETBR) and bradykinin B2 receptors (B2R).
Massively Parallel Software Rendering for Visualizing Large-Scale Data Sets

We describe two highly scalable, parallel software volume-rendering algorithms - one renders unstructured grid volume data and the other renders isosurfaces. We designed one algorithm for distributed-memory parallel architectures to render unstructured grid volume data. We designed the other for shared-memory parallel architectures to directly render isosurfaces. Through the discussion of these two algorithms, we address the most relevant issues when using massively parallel computers to render large-scale volumetric data. The focus of our discussion is direct rendering of volumetric data.
Correlation of results of pulmonary computed tomography and pathologic findings in mice with Pasteurella-induced pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE To determine correlation between results of computed tomography (CT) versus pathologic examination for determining the volume percentage of affected lung in mice experimentally infected with Pasteurella pneumotropica. ANIMALS 30 adult mice. PROCEDURE After helical CT scans on day 0, mice were inoculated intranasally with P. pneumotropica. Repeat CT scans were performed on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 13. Regions of interest (affected areas) were manually drawn on the CT images, and percentage volume of normal lung was calculated by use of 3 methods: first-day volume, largest volume, and last-day volume. Three mice were euthanatized for pathologic evaluation after each scan day. The lungs were examined with a dissection microscope, and lesion scores were assigned on the basis of percentage volume of pneumonia. Correlation coefficients comparing results of the 3 CT methods with results of gross examination were calculated. RESULTS Lung abnormalities were detected via dissection microscopy by postinfection day 2 and via CT by days 2 or 3. Correlation coefficients for the 3 CT methods of analysis, compared with pathologic findings, were 0.7 via first-day lung volume, 0.8 via largest lung volume, and 0.8 via last-day lung volume. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results of CT correlated well with results of dissection microscopy for estimating percentage volume of lung affected by pneumonia in mice experimentally infected with P. pneumotropica. This method may be useful for longitudinal studies of pneumonia in mice.
Transparent piezoelectric transducers for large area ultrasonic actuators

This work focuses on the fabrication of transparent piezoelectric transducers on glass substrates for ultrasonic actuation. Transparent Lead Titanate Zirconate (PZT) thin films are grown on glass following a sol-gel route and InterDigital Electrodes (IDE) patterned by photolithography. The electrodes design aims to optimize the volume of active piezoelectric material together with the transparency of the actuator stack. The actuator is used in d33 mode offering high transduction capabilities, while the IDE design allows for increasing the area of the actuator in the cm2 range. The results demonstrate that fully transparent actuators with ultrasonic range resonant frequency (∼100kHz) can be fabricated on glass substrates. Direct applications of these actuators are haptic devices for tactile sensation of surface roughness.
Self-Reported Benefits and Risks of Yoga in Individuals with Bipolar Disorder

Background. Although hatha yoga has frequently been recommended for patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and there is preliminary evidence that it alleviates depression, there are no published data on the benefits—and potential risks—of yoga for patients with BD. Thus, the goal of this study was to assess the risks and benefits of yoga in individuals with BD. Methods. We recruited self-identified yoga practitioners with BD (N=109) to complete an Internet survey that included measures of demographic and clinical information and open-ended questions about yoga practice and the impact of yoga. Results. 86 respondents provided sufficient information for analysis, 70 of whom met positive screening criteria for a lifetime history of mania or hypomania. The most common styles of yoga preferred were hatha and vinyasa. When asked what impact yoga had on their life, participants responded most commonly with positive emotional effects, particularly reduced anxiety, positive cognitive effects (e.g., acceptance, focus, or “a break from my thoughts”), or positive physical effects (e.g., weight loss, increased energy). Some respondents considered yoga to be significantly life changing. The most common negative effect of yoga was physical injury or pain. Five respondents gave examples of specific instances or a yoga practice that they believed increased agitation or manic symptoms; five respondents gave examples of times that yoga increased depression or lethargy. Conclusions. Many individuals who self-identify as having BD believe that yoga has benefits for mental health. However, yoga is not without potential risks. It is possible that yoga could serve as a useful adjunctive treatment for BD. (Journal of Psychiatric Practice 2014;20:345–352)
Characterization of Laboratory Scale RIM Machines

The needs for laboratory size reaction injection molding (RIM) equipment are reviewed. Three application areas are identified: process development, chemi cal system development and chemical system research with interface to analyt ical instruments. The size of the machine, its flexibility and quantity of reac tants required for each of these areas is reviewed. Commercially available machines, those described in the literature, and several built at the University of Minnesota are compared. Polyurethane RIM properties from lab scale machines show good agreement with production parts. Our "micro RIM" machine for chemical system research is described in detail. Equations for pressure drop and viscous heating are given.
Self‐Assembled SERS Substrates with Tunable Surface Plasmon Resonances

The fabrication of surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates that are optimized for use with specific laser wavelength–analyte combinations is addressed. In order to achieve large signal enhancement, temporal stability, and reproducibility over large substrate areas at low cost, only self‐assembly and templating processes are employed. The resulting substrates consist of arrays of gold nanospheres with controlled diameter and spacing, properties that dictate the optical response of the structure. Tunability of the extended surface plasmon resonance is observed in the range of 520–1000 nm. It is demonstrated that the enhancement factor is maximized when the surface plasmon resonance is red‐shifted with respect to the SERS instrument laser line. Despite relying on self‐organization, site‐to‐site enhancement factor variations smaller than 10% are obtained.
Tribologically modified surfaces on elastomeric materials

As the result of tribological loading, the properties of the surface of elastomeric materials will alter. This effect has been observed using SEM and EDS analysis of the tread of a used car tyre, where differences in structure between the substrate and the area near the surface were found. To study the effects of tribological loading on the surface properties of elastomers in a more reproducible manner, a pin-on-disk tribometer was employed, using EPDM disks and spherical pins made of 100Cr6 steel. In the tribologically loaded area, a modification of the surface with a thickness ranging between 4 and 8 µm was observed, whilst in the unloaded area such a surface modification was not observed. The mechanical and tribological properties of the modified and unmodified surfaces were analysed using micro-indentations and friction experiments on a nano-tribometer, showing a reduction of the stiffness of the tribo-modified surface as well as altered time-dependent behaviour and a 60% reduction in the coefficient of friction when sliding against steel.