Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of Kv channel expression and neuronal excitability in rat medial nucleus of the trapezoid body maintained in organotypic culture

Principal neurons of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) express a spectrum of voltage‐dependent K+ conductances mediated by Kv1–Kv4 channels, which shape action potential (AP) firing and regulate intrinsic excitability. Postsynaptic factors influencing expression of Kv channels were explored using organotypic cultures of brainstem prepared from P9–P12 rats and maintained in either low (5 mm, low‐K) or high (25 mm, high‐K) [K+]o medium. Whole cell patch‐clamp recordings were made after 7–28 days in vitro. MNTB neurons cultured in high‐K medium maintained a single AP firing phenotype, while low‐K cultures had smaller K+ currents, enhanced excitability and fired multiple APs. The calyx of Held inputs degenerated within 3 days in culture, having lost their major afferent input; this preparation of calyx‐free MNTB neurons allowed the effects of postsynaptic depolarisation to be studied with minimal synaptic activity. The depolarization caused by the high‐K aCSF only transiently increased spontaneous AP firing (<2 min) and did not measurably increase synaptic activity. Chronic depolarization in high‐K cultures raised basal levels of [Ca2+]i, increased Kv3 currents and shortened AP half‐widths. These events relied on raised [Ca2+]i, mediated by influx through voltage‐gated calcium channels (VGCCs) and release from intracellular stores, causing an increase in cAMP‐response element binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation. Block of VGCCs or of CREB function suppressed Kv3 currents, increased AP duration, and reduced Kv3.3 and c‐fos expression. Real‐time PCR revealed higher Kv3.3 and Kv1.1 mRNA in high‐K compared to low‐K cultures, although the increased Kv1.1 mRNA was mediated by a CREB‐independent mechanism. We conclude that Kv channel expression and hence the intrinsic membrane properties of MNTB neurons are homeostatically regulated by [Ca2+]i‐dependent mechanisms and influenced by sustained depolarization of the resting membrane potential.
Interactive Music Applications by MPEG-A Support in Sonic Visualizer

New interactive music services have emerged, despite currently using proprietary file formats. Having a standardized file format could benefit the interoperability between these services. In this regard, the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) issued a new standard, the so called, MPEG-A: Interactive Music Application Format (IM AF). The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and implementation of an IM AF codec and its integration into Sonic Visualiser. In this way, the visualization of the chords or the pitch of the main melody aligned in time with the song's lyrics is achieved. Furthermore, this integration provides the semantic audio research community with a test-bed for further development and comparison of new Sonic Visualiser VAMP plug-ins, e.g., for the conversion of singing voice to text and/or automatic highlighting of lyrics for karaoke applications.
An Alon-Boppana theorem for powered graphs and generalized Ramanujan graphs

The r-th power of a graph modifies a graph by connecting every vertex pair within distance r. This paper gives a generalization of the Alon-Boppana Theorem for the r-th power of graphs, including irregular graphs. This leads to a generalized notion of Ramanujan graphs, those for which the powered graph has a spectral gap matching the derived Alon-Boppana bound. In particular, we show that certain graphs that are not good expanders due to local irregularities, such as Erdos-Renyi random graphs, become almost Ramanujan once powered. A different generalization of Ramanujan graphs can also be obtained from the nonbacktracking operator. We next argue that the powering operator gives a more robust notion than the latter: Sparse Erdos-Renyi random graphs with an adversary modifying a subgraph of log(n)^c$ vertices are still almost Ramanujan in the powered sense, but not in the nonbacktracking sense. As an application, this gives robust community testing for different block models.
Clonal Spread of Streptococcus pyogenes emm44 among Homeless Persons, Rennes, France

To the Editor: Streptococcus pyogenes, or group A streptococci (GAS), are human pathogens responsible for pharyngitis as well as skin and soft tissue infections. Invasive GAS diseases, including bacteremia, cellulitis, and necrotizing fasciitis, are life-threatening, especially when associated with toxic shock syndrome. Several risk factors for GAS infections are known, such as diabetes, immunosuppression, drug use, and skin lesions (1,2).
Prices, Market Definition, and the Effects of Merger: Staples-Office Depot (1997)

On September 4, 1996, the two largest office superstore chains in the United States, Office Depot and Staples, announced their agreement to merge. Seven months later, the Federal Trade Commission voted 4 to 1 to oppose the merger on the grounds that it was likely to harm competition and lead to higher prices in “the market for the sale of consumable office supplies sold through office superstores. ” The merging parties chose to contest the FTC’s actions in court. On June 30, 1997, after a seven-day trial, Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with the FTC and granted a preliminary injunction, effectively dooming the merger. Staples broke new ground in terms of both the economic theory and the type of evidence presented at trial in an antitrust case. The antitrust enforcement agencies had traditionally focused on the increased probability of collusion following a merger as the primary theoretical underpinning for merger policy. In contrast, Staples spotlighted the potential for a merger to have “unilateral effects,” a shift in focus first signaled by the 1992 revision of the Department of Justice and FTC Merger Guidelines. Focusing on the characteristics of individual suppliers, the FTC argued that Staples, Office Depot, and OfficeMax were sufficiently different from other suppliers of office products, and sufficiently close competitors to each other, that the “sale of office supplies through office superstores” could be defined as a market separate from the sale of office supplies in general. In another departure, for evidence of the likely anticompetitive effect of the merger, the FTC relied primarily on direct estimates of the merger’s effect on prices, rather than just predicting that an increase in seller concentration would cause significant (but vaguely specified) price increases. In addition to internal documents describing pricing policies and simple (but powerful) price comparisons between cities where Office Depot and Staples currently competed and those where they did not, the FTC’s evidence on price effects included a large-scale econometric model that predicted the effect of the merger on prices. It also included an “event study” that used stock market data to calculate both the effect of the merger on shareholders and the financial market’s implicit estimate of the effect of the merger on the prices charged by office superstores.
Ternary eutectic growth of nanostructured thermoelectric Ag-Pb-Te materials

Nanostructured Ag-Pb-Te thermoelectric materials were fabricated by unidirectionally solidifying the ternary Ag-Pb-Te eutectic and near-eutectic alloys using the Bridgeman method. Specially, the Bridgman-grown eutectic alloy exhibited a partially aligned lamellar microstructure, which consisted of Ag_5Te_3 and Te phases, with additional 200-600 nm size particles of PbTe. The self-assembled interfaces altered the thermal and electronic transport properties in the bulk Ag-Pb-Te eutectic alloy. Presumably due to phonon scattering from the nanoscale microstructure, a low thermal conductivity (κ = 0.3 W/mK) was achieved of the eutectic alloy, leading to a zT peak of 0.41 at 400 K.
Dynamic Stackelberg Game with Risk-Averse Players: Optimal Risk-Sharing under Asymmetric Information

The objective of this paper is to clarify the interactive nature of the leader-follower relationship when both players are endogenously risk-averse. The analysis is placed in the context of a dynamic closed-loop Stackelberg game with private information. The case of a risk-neutral leader, very often discussed in the literature, is only a borderline possibility in the present study. Each player in the game is characterized by a risk-averse type which is unknown to his opponent. The goal of the leader is to implement an optimal incentive compatible risk-sharing contract. The proposed approach provides a qualitative analysis of adaptive risk behavior profiles for asymmetrically informed players in the context of dynamic strategic interactions modelled as incentive Stackelberg games.
Cost-Effectiveness of Enfuvirtide in Treatment-Experienced Patients With Advanced HIV Disease

Objective:Enfuvirtide (ENF) has been shown to improve short-term virologic responses when given to highly treatment-experienced patients with advanced HIV disease. Because of the high cost of ENF compared with other antiretroviral agents, our objectives were to determine the potential long-term clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of ENF in these patients. Methods:We used a computer simulation model of HIV disease to project life expectancy, quality-adjusted life expectancy, cost, and cost-effectiveness of ENF in treatment-experienced patients. Input data were from the T-20 versus Optimized Regimen Only (TORO) 1 and 2 trials, 2 studies comparing ENF plus an optimized background regimen (OBR) with an OBR alone. Results:ENF plus an OBR increased projected discounted quality-adjusted life expectancy from 45.4 months with an OBR alone to 54.9 months, a difference of 9.5 quality-adjusted life-months. At the current annual ENF cost of $18,500 per year (in 2001 US dollars), the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for ENF plus an OBR was $69,500 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) compared with an OBR alone. When 48-week virologic suppression rates for ENF plus an OBR were varied from a 50% reduction to a 250% increase in the suppression rate attributable to ENF, gains in quality-adjusted life expectancy ranged from 4.5 to 25.9 quality-adjusted life-months compared with an OBR alone, with cost-effectiveness ratios ranging from $97,900 per QALY to $52,300 per QALY gained. If ENF is continued after the HIV RNA level returns to the pretreatment baseline, the cost-effectiveness ratio increases to $168,200 per QALY. Conclusions:In highly treatment-experienced patients, ENF plus an OBR provides substantial gains in quality-adjusted life expectancy compared with an OBR alone. Although ENF plus an OBR is less cost-effective than other commonly used interventions in HIV disease, its use may be justified, given the poor prognosis of these patients and their otherwise limited options for antiretroviral therapy.
The MPK 6-ERF 6-ROS-Responsive cis-Acting Element 7 / GCC Box Complex Modulates Oxidative Gene Transcription and the Oxidative Response in Arabidopsis 1 [ W ] [ OA ]

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been characterized as both important signaling molecules and universal stressors that mediate many developmental and physiological responses. So far, details of the transcriptional mechanism of ROSresponsive genes are largely unknown. In the study reported here, we identified seven potential ROS-responsive cis-acting elements (ROSEs) from the promoters of genes up-regulated by ROS in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We also found that the APETALA2/ethylene-responsive element binding factor6 (ERF6) could bind specifically to the ROSE7/GCC box. Coexpression of ERF6 enhanced luciferase activity driven by ROSE7. The deficient mutants of ERF6 showed growth retardation and higher sensitivity to photodamage. ERF6 interacted physically with mitogen-activated protein kinase6 (MPK6) and also served as a substrate of MPK6. MPK6-mediated ERF6 phosphorylation at both serine-266 and serine-269 affected the dynamic alternation of the ERF6 protein, which resulted in changes in ROS-responsive gene transcription. These data might provide new insight into the mechanisms that regulate ROS-responsive gene transcription via a complex of MPK6, ERF6, and the ROSE7/GCC box under oxidative stress or a fluctuating light environment.
Ivermectin-loaded microparticles for parenteral sustained release: in vitro characterization and effect of some formulation variables

Ivermectin (IVM) is a BCS II drug with potent antiparasitic activity in veterinary applications. In this study, poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and poly(DL-lactide) (PLA) Ivermectin-loaded microparticles were prepared by the simple emulsion (O/W) solvent evaporation method in order to obtain sustained release formulations for parenteral applications. The effects of polymer end-groups (ester or free acid) and the addition of the hydrophilic polyvinylpyrrolidone polymer (PVP) in in vitro drug release profiles were also studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that IVM was present in an amorphous state or as a molecular dispersion within the polymers or theirs mixtures with PVP and that a PVP-drug complex was formed. Drug entrapment efficiency in the microparticles (>90%) was independent of the polymer composition, the end groups and the presence of PVP. However, microscopic (SEM) observations showed that the addition of PVP led to more porous microparticles accompanied by the increased rates of drug release.
MyTeam: Availability Awareness Through the Use of Sensor Data

This paper reports on a four-week study of the usage of myTeam, a prototype that provides availability awareness for distributed work groups through the use of sensor data. Automatically detected information such as presence or absence in office, network connection, mouse and keyboard activity is conveyed along with optional user-added information such as “gone for the day”, or “do not disturb”. The information allows visualization of the availability of colleagues, and supports selection of the best mode for communication for the given context. The results of the study are reported to inform the design of future availability awareness systems.
Sparse Distributed Multitemporal Hyperspectral Unmixing

Blind hyperspectral unmixing jointly estimates spectral signatures and abundances in hyperspectral ima-ges (HSIs). Hyperspectral unmixing is a powerful tool for analyzing hyperspectral data. However, the usual huge size of HSIs may raise difficulties for classical unmixing algorithms, namely, due to limitations of the hardware used. Therefore, some researchers have considered distributed algorithms. In this paper, we develop a distributed hyperspectral unmixing algorithm that uses the alternating direction method of multipliers and ${\ell _{1}}$ sparse regularization. The hyperspectral unmixing problem is split into a number of smaller subproblems that are individually solved, and then the solutions are combined. A key feature of the proposed algorithm is that each subproblem does not need to have access to the whole HSI. The algorithm may also be applied to multitemporal HSIs with due adaptations accounting for variability that often appears in multitemporal images. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using both simulated data and real HSIs.
15 New Projects Bolster Basic Research

China has chosen 15 projects to inaugurate one of the largest basic research programs in the country9s history. The projects, to be announced officially next week, concentrate R&D resources in rapidly growing fields, such as information sciences and biotechnology, that officials expect to contribute significantly to the country9s economic prosperity. The program, which will receive $300 million and run through 2003, is seen as complementing a 1991 initiative aimed at stimulating applied research in strategic areas.
Community Engagement in Diverse Populations for Alzheimer Disease Prevention Trials

The recruitment of asymptomatic volunteers has been identified as a critical factor that is delaying the development and validation of preventive therapies for Alzheimer disease (AD). Typical recruitment strategies involve the use of convenience samples or soliciting participation of older adults with a family history of AD from clinics and outreach efforts. However, high-risk groups, such as ethnic/racial minorities, are traditionally less likely to be recruited for AD prevention studies, thus limiting the ability to generalize findings for a significant proportion of the aging population. A community-engagement approach was used to create a registry of 2311 research-ready, healthy adult volunteers who reflect the ethnically diverse local community. Furthermore, the registry’s actual commitment to research was examined, through demonstrated participation rates in a clinical study. The approach had varying levels of success in establishing a large, diverse pool of individuals who are interested in participating in pharmacological prevention trials and meet the criteria for primary prevention research trials designed to delay the onset of AD. Our efforts suggest that entry criteria for the clinical trials need to be carefully considered to be inclusive of African Americans, and that sustained effort is needed to engage African Americans in pharmacological prevention approaches.
Portfolio Management For New Products

In this fully updated edition of Portfolio Management for New Products, the authors present a rigorous and practical approach to managing a company's product portfolio as you would a financial portfolio-investing for maximum long-term growth. With its field-tested, step-by-step framework, the book provides corporations and managers with the strategies they need to assess and realign their current RD determine which products are most worthy of resource allocation; design and implement a portfolio management process; maximize the value of their portfolios; and recognize and solve challenges as they arise. This book will be an essential resource for any company whose profitability, and very existence, relies on the products it chooses to develop and the speed with which it brings them to the market.
A General Service-Oriented Grid Computing Framework for Global Optimization Problem Solving

Metaheuristics grid (MHGrid) is a service oriented grid application that enables the user to solve almost any global optimization problem using metaheuristics techniques. Two problems potentially limit the generality of MHGrid over the problem type space; having a fixed set of solvers and lacking the solver-problem relation semantics. The set of strategies enforced to resolve these two problems are: offering the solvers as services, enabling the user to define his parallelization model, allowing the user to add his own service and maintaining service-based functionalities on both the middleware layer and application layer. This paper explains the design, architecture and implementation of the SOA that MHGrid endorses that would allow the enforcing of the resolving strategies.
Capital flows and financial assets in emerging markets: determinants, consequences and challenges for central banks: the Malaysian experience

The subject of capital flows has always featured prominently on the agenda of central banks in the emerging market economies in general and Bank Negara Malaysia is no exception. As a recipient of capital inflows, Malaysia has benefited significantly in terms of lower financing costs, increased technological transfers, and higher investment and economic growth. At the same time, however, the relatively smaller size and greater openness of the Malaysian economy renders the country more susceptible to the associated risks and volatilities of financial globalisation. In such an environment, it is recognised that efforts to strengthen and deepen domestic financial markets, adopt sound macroeconomic policies and move toward more flexible exchange rate arrangements, while important, do not necessarily guarantee that one’s economy will be spared the vagaries of large and volatile international capital flows. Therein lies the challenge for Bank Negara Malaysia (and central banks in emerging market economies in general) – to maximise the benefits of capital inflows, while continually strengthening our resilience to the inherent volatility of such flows and maintaining constant vigilance over developments in the capital account and the behaviour of asset prices.
Analysis of the interaction between capesize and panamax freight markets

Without the dry bulk shipping market, world trade, industry and our current lifestyles could not be maintained. The dry bulk market is very dynamic due to interactions of its various components. The purpose of this study is to analyze the linkages between the Capesize market segment and the Panamax market segment in order to understand the price mechanism and the behavior of market participants
UK population based study of severe retinopathy of prematurity: screening, treatment, and outcome

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the few causes of childhood blindness in which severe vision impairment is largely preventable. Ophthalmic screening for ROP is required to identify disease that requires treatment whereby the development of potentially blinding disease can be minimised. Objectives: To make the first UK population based estimate of the incidence of babies with severe ROP (stage 3 or more); to document their clinical characteristics and management and to evaluate the appropriateness of current ROP screening guidelines in the UK. Patients: Cases were recruited through a national surveillance programme with 1 year ophthalmic follow up and data from clinician completed questionnaires. Results: Between 1 December 1997 and 31 March 1999, 233 preterm babies with stage 3 ROP were identified. Severity (location, extent, and presence of plus disease) was associated with degree of prematurity, most severe in the most premature babies. Fifty nine percent were treated. The UK screening protocol was followed in two thirds of cases, but in the remainder it was begun too late or was too infrequent. Three quarters of the cases were followed up at 1 year, and 13% had a severe vision deficit as a result of ROP. Conclusions: Visual deficit as a result of ROP in premature babies continues to be a severe disability in some of the survivors of neonatal intensive care. Further efforts are needed to organise treatment regionally to improve outcome and standards of practice.
Can 'Tight' Groups at Work Be Detrimental? A Theoretical View of Gossip from the Network Tie Strength and Density Perspective

Given the importance of effective communication in organizational settings and the potential destructive impact of gossiping, greater research is needed to isolate those factors that enable negative gossip to occur. Although previous research has examined the effect of social network characteristics on gossip, the focus has not been on assessing the effect of social network tie strength and density on forms of gossip. In this article, we present a new theoretical framework for investigating how social network tie strength and network density can influence the forms of gossip, either negative or positive, in organizations. Our theoretical framework, therefore, provides important implications for theory and managerial practice.