Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opioid antagonist (naltrexone) modulation of cerebellar development: histological and morphometric studies

The role of endogenous opioid systems in preweaning cerebellar development was explored in rats utilizing naltrexone, a potent opioid antagonist. Sprague-Dawley rats were given daily subcutaneous injections of either 1 or 50 mg/kg naltrexone to invoke a temporary or complete blockade, respectively, of opioid receptors throughout the first 3 weeks of postnatal life; animals injected with sterile water served as controls. At weaning (day 21), macroscopic, morphometric, and histological determinations were conducted. In general, 50 mg/kg naltrexone had a stimulatory action on cerebellar development, whereas 1 mg/kg naltrexone had an inhibitory influence. Both sexes were affected comparably. Limits to naltrexone's ability to modulate cerebellar ontogeny were noted, with more latitude existing toward growth enhancement than impairment. The temporal course of ontogeny was generally unaltered in naltrexone-treated rats. Rather, only events that transpired over this period were dramatically affected. The most notable effects in 1 mg/kg naltrexone rats were marked decreases in cerebellar areal dimensions, the content of internal granule neurons, and cellular and tissue differentiation. Characteristics of the 50 mg/kg naltrexone group included increases in cerebellar areal dimensions, neural cell number, content, and size, and structural changes consistent with acceleration in growth and differentiation. Naltrexone influenced both neurons and glia, but only neural cells still being generated during the first 21 d after birth were altered in regard to quantity. Previous evidence has shown the presence of peak levels of endogenous opioids and opioid receptors in the cerebellum during the first weeks of life, as well as demonstrating the presence of enkephalin immunoreactivity on germinative cerebellar cells during postnatal neurogenesis but not in adult counterparts. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
And-1 is required for homologous recombination repair by regulating DNA end resection

Abstract Homologous recombination (HR) is a major mechanism to repair DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Although tumor suppressor CtIP is critical for DSB end resection, a key initial event of HR repair, the mechanism regulating the recruitment of CtIP to DSB sites remains largely unknown. Here, we show that acidic nucleoplasmic DNA‐binding protein 1 (And‐1) forms complexes with CtIP as well as other repair proteins, and is essential for HR repair by regulating DSB end resection. Furthermore, And-1 is recruited to DNA DSB sites in a manner dependent on MDC1, BRCA1 and ATM, down-regulation of And-1 impairs end resection by reducing the recruitment of CtIP to damage sites, and considerably reduces Chk1 activation and other damage response during HR repair. These findings collectively demonstrate a hitherto unknown role of MDC1→And-1→CtIP axis that regulates CtIP-mediated DNA end resection and cellular response to DSBs.
Aerodynamic Stability and the Growth of Triangular Snow Crystals

We describe laboratory-grown snow crystals that exhibit a triangular, plate-like morphology, and we show that the occurrence of these crystals is much more frequent than one would expect from random growth perturbations of the more-typical hexagonal forms. We then describe an aerodynamic model that explains the formation of these crystals. A single growth perturbation on one facet of a hexagonal plate leads to air flow around the crystal that promotes the growth of alternating facets. Aerodynamic effects thus produce a weak growth instability that can cause hexagonal plates to develop into triangular plates. This mechanism solves a very old puzzle, as observers have been documenting the unexplained appearance of triangular snow crystals in nature for nearly two centuries.
Intrusion detection with early recognition of encrypted application

The growing number of threats and attacks, that are also present in encrypted communication, give a great importance to Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS). Some of these attacks have a great impact on service availability. This paper presents a way of detecting these attacks and threats by correctly classifying the early recognized encrypted applications. The proposed architecture uses anomaly detection in comparison with early recognized encrypted applications to determine intrusive and non-intrusive behavior.
Modelling of an electromagnetic levitation system using a neural network

Systems which involve electromagnetic interactions are very difficult to model. Often, when developing controllers for such systems the model which is used is affected by uncertainties or is linearized. Even if these models can be used for the controller design process, they are not well suited for accurate simulations. In this paper, an electromagnetic levitation system is modeled. Based on the observed behavior of the system, a neural network is used to approximate a non-linear parameter in the model of the plant, which otherwise would have been very difficult to model.
Cellular Adhesion Gene SELP Is Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Displays Differential Allelic Expression

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a key event is infiltration of inflammatory immune cells into the synovial lining, possibly aggravated by dysregulation of cellular adhesion molecules. Therefore, single nucleotide polymorphisms of 14 genes involved in cellular adhesion processes (CAST, ITGA4, ITGB1, ITGB2, PECAM1, PTEN, PTPN11, PTPRC, PXN, SELE, SELP, SRC, TYK2, and VCAM1) were analyzed for association with RA. Association analysis was performed consecutively in three European RA family sample groups (Nfamilies = 407). Additionally, we investigated differential allelic expression, a possible functional consequence of genetic variants. SELP (selectin P, CD62P) SNP-allele rs6136-T was associated with risk for RA in two RA family sample groups as well as in global analysis of all three groups (ptotal = 0.003). This allele was also expressed preferentially (p<10−6) with a two- fold average increase in regulated samples. Differential expression is supported by data from Genevar MuTHER (p1 = 0.004; p2 = 0.0177). Evidence for influence of rs6136 on transcription factor binding was also found in silico and in public datasets reporting in vitro data. In summary, we found SELP rs6136-T to be associated with RA and with increased expression of SELP mRNA. SELP is located on the surface of endothelial cells and crucial for recruitment, adhesion, and migration of inflammatory cells into the joint. Genetically determined increased SELP expression levels might thus be a novel additional risk factor for RA.
Interactions between Dorsal and Ventral Root Stimulation on the Generation of Locomotor-Like Activity in the Neonatal Mouse Spinal Cord

Abstract We investigated whether dorsal (DR) and ventral root (VR) stimulus trains engage common postsynaptic components to activate the central pattern generator (CPG) for locomotion in the neonatal mouse spinal cord. VR stimulation did not activate the first order interneurons mediating the activation of the locomotor CPG by sacrocaudal afferent stimulation. Simultaneous stimulation of adjacent dorsal or ventral root pairs, subthreshold for evoking locomotor-like activity, did not summate to activate the CPG. This suggests that locomotor-like activity is triggered when a critical class of efferent or afferent axons is stimulated and does not depend on the number of stimulated axons or activated postsynaptic neurons. DR- and VR-evoked episodes exhibited differences in the coupling between VR pairs. In DR-evoked episodes, the coupling between the ipsilateral and contralateral flexor/extensor roots was similar and stronger than the bilateral extensor roots. In VR-evoked episodes, ipsilateral flexor/extensor coupling was stronger than both the contralateral flexor/extensor and the bilateral extensor coupling. For both types of stimulation, the coupling was greatest between the bilateral L1/L2 flexor-dominated roots. This indicates that the recruitment and/or the firing pattern of motoneurons differed in DR and VR-evoked episodes. However, the DR and VR trains do not appear to activate distinct CPGs because trains of DR and VR stimuli at frequencies too low to evoke locomotor-like activity did so when they were interleaved. These results indicate that the excitatory actions of VR stimulation converge onto the CPG through an unknown pathway that is not captured by current models of the locomotor CPG.
Teicoplanin as an Effective Alternative to Vancomycin for Treatment of MRSA Infection in Chinese Population: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective To evaluate whether teicoplanin could be an alternative to vancomycin for treatment of MRSA infection in Chinese population using a meta-analysis in randomized controlled trials. Methods The following databases were searched: Chinese Biomedical Literature database (CBM), Chinese Journal Full-text database (CNKI), Wanfang database, Medline database, Ovid database and Cochrane Library. Articles published from 2002 to 2013 that studied teicoplanin in comparison to vancomycin in the treatment of MRSA infected patients were collected. Overall effects, publishing bias analysis and sensitivity analysis on clinical cure rate, microbiologic eradication rate and adverse events rate were performed by using Review Manager 5.2 and Stata 11.0 softwares. Results Twelve articles met entry criteria. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the clinical cure rate (risk ratio [RR], teicoplanin vs vancomycin, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.74∼1.19; P = 0.60), microbiological cure rate (risk ratio [RR], teicoplanin vs vancomycin, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.91∼1.07; P = 0.74) and adverse event rate (risk ratio [RR], teicoplanin vs vancomycin, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.40∼1.84; P = 0.70). Conclusions The meta-analysis results indicate that the two therapies are similar in both efficacy and safety, thus teicoplanin can act as an effective alternative to vancomycin for treating patients infected by MRSA.
Principles for transforming to Standard Business Reporting: Lessons learned from the Netherlands

Stricter laws and regulations demand that companies provide business information more timely and accurately to various government agencies. However, this trend increases the administrative burden for companies and the regulatory burden for government agencies. Standard Business Reporting (SBR) is a program that aims to reduce these burdens. Led by government agencies, stakeholders in this program are working towards a national data taxonomy, a single reporting gateway and a secure electronic infrastructure. Anticipated benefits include reduced time and costs for assembling, analyzing and providing business data to government agencies. However, stakeholders face several hurdles that need to be addressed before such benefits can be reaped. Typical hurdles in this transformation include conflicting public and private interests, legal constraints and high security demands. This policy paper presents seven transformation principles gained from the launch of SBR in the Netherlands. The principles are meant to guide stakeholders in proactively dealing with some of the transformation issues that may manifest when launching SBR. While the current scope of SBR is focused on financial reporting, the possibilities for its future application are broader, opening new avenues for digital government research.
Mobility in the Urban Labor Market: A Panel Data Analysis for Mexico

We analyze mobility in urban Mexico between three labor market states: working in the formal sector, working in the informal sector, and not working. A dynamic multinomial logit panel data model with random effects is used, explaining the labor market state of each individual during each time period. The data are drawn from Mexico’s Urban Employment Survey, a quarterly household survey for urban Mexico. While some of the descriptive statistics suggest that informal sector jobs are inferior to formal sector jobs, formal tests cannot reject the null hypothesis of equal transition rates between formal and informal sector jobs for homogeneous groups of workers. Looking at entry and exit into and out of nonemployment, we find that transitions from formal sector jobs to nonemployment were less likely than transitions from informal sector jobs to nonemployment in 1992 but not in 1999, suggesting that employment protection in the formal sector has been reduced.
A Simulation Study of Deep Belief Network Combined with the Self-Organizing Mechanism of Adaptive Resonance Theory

Computer simulation study of brain neuronal networks is an active academic field. Deep Belief Network (DBN) introduces an effective way of training deep neural networks and the Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) puts forward a two-layer competitive network emulating human cognitive processes. In our study, we implement a DBN with the mechanism of ART which benefits from DBN's multi-layer structure and ART's self-organizing stable learning mechanism. Our preliminary results show that the optimal number of layers is relevant to the data learned. The correct reconstruction rate decreases slowly with respect to the volume of data stored.
Reconstruction of gene regulatory networks from short time series high throughput data: Review and new findings

The reconstruction of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) helps to improve the understanding of underlying molecular mechanisms. Many important biological phenomena, such as genetic events involved in cancer proliferation, have been attributed to these correlated gene expressions. The identification of these interactions, some of which carry signatures to clinical relevant physiological effects, sheds light on the development of various clinical applications. For example, breast cancer metastasis can be inferred from the gene networks reconstructed from high throughput data. However, the DNA microarray data usually contain large number of genes but small number of samples, thus the incorporation of the extra dimension in time may lead to further complications in capturing the gene regulations due to the curse of dimensionality. This review focuses on introducing the signal processing community the concept of GRN reconstruction. In particular, we highlight state-of-the-art methodologies and the latest challenges in GRN reconstruction from short time course high throughput data.
Rural Incomes, Inequality and Poverty Dynamics in Kenya

Trends in rural incomes, poverty, and inequality are analyzed using Tegemeo Institute’s four period panel data set spanning 10 years, 1997 to 2007. Households are classified into five groups by their income and poverty paths over the period, providing substantial insight into the heterogeneity of the rural population and the drivers of these dynamic income paths. We find that poverty has fallen substantially and broadly across the country, with those exiting poverty exceeding those falling into poverty by a factor of nearly three. Inequality was analyzed based on income and various assets; it too has fallen substantially and broadly, with every region seeing reduced income inequality and most seeing more equal distributions of land and agricultural assets. Reduced inequality is a key reason that poverty fell in the country even as real average per capita incomes also fell over the period; incomes for the richest 20% fell while those for the bottom 30% rose. Key drivers reducing the likelihood of ever being poor include having more than a primary education, cultivating more land and applying fertilizer on it, and having off-farm income, especially salaries. Key factors making it more likely that you will be poor at some point include having an older head of household, being poor in the past, and working farm kibarua. We also find a strong spatial dimension to poverty levels and some evidence for a spatial dimension to poverty mobility. creating them to those off non-poor into the We their levels (in and changes in and capital
Power-Efficient and Cost-Effective 2-D Symmetry Filter Architectures

This paper presents two-dimensional (2-D) VLSI digital filter structures possessing various symmetries in the filter magnitude response. For this purpose, four Type-1 and four Type-2 power-efficient and cost-effective 2-D magnitude symmetry filter architectures possessing diagonal, fourfold rotational, quadrantal, and octagonal symmetries with reduced number of multipliers and one power-efficient and cost-effective multimode 2-D symmetry filter are given. By combining the identities of the four Type-1 symmetry filter structures, the proposed multimode 2-D symmetry filter is capable of providing four different operation modes: diagonal symmetry mode (DSM), fourfold rotational symmetry mode (FRSM), quadrantal symmetry mode (QSM), and octagonal symmetry mode (OSM). The proposed diagonal, fourfold rotational, quadrantal, and octagonal symmetry filter structures can attain power savings of 16.77%, 36.30%, 22.90%, and 37.73% with respect to that of the conventional 2-D filter design without symmetry. On the other hand, the proposed DSM, FRSM, QSM, and OSM modes can reduce power consumption by 11.01%, 31.42%, 17.53%, and 35.26% compared with that of the conventional 2-D filter design. The proposed multimode filter can result in a 63.25% area reduction compared with the sum of the areas of the four individual Type-1 symmetry filter structures.
Clinical development of nintedanib for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Angiogenesis is an essential process in the development, growth, and metastasis of malignant tumors including lung cancer. Several angiogenesis inhibitors have been developed as potential therapies for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Nintedanib is a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets receptors for vascular endothelial growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, and fibroblast growth factor as well as RET (rearranged during transfection) and Flt3. When administered as monotherapy, nintedanib was well tolerated at doses up to 250 mg or 200 mg twice daily in European and Japanese patients, respectively, with liver toxicity featuring prominently among dose-limiting toxicities in both populations. A recent Phase III trial demonstrated that treatment with the combination of nintedanib and docetaxel resulted in a significant and clinically meaningful improvement in both progression-free survival and overall survival compared with docetaxel alone in predefined NSCLC patients with adenocarcinoma tumor histology. Although the incidence of elevated alanine aminotransferase or aspartate aminotransferase as well as of diarrhea was higher in patients treated with nintedanib plus docetaxel, most of these adverse events were manageable with supportive treatment or dose reduction. The results of completed and ongoing clinical trials of nintedanib monotherapy and combination therapy for the treatment of NSCLC are summarized in this study.
Basic theory and some applications of martingales

This tutorial surveys the fundamental results of the theory of martingales from the perspective of the performance engineer. We will present the fundamental results and illustrate their power through simple and elegant proofs of important and well-known results in performance analysis. The remainder of the tutorial will introduce the martingale functional central limit theorem and semi-martingale decomposition methodology for the characterization and proof of heavy-traffic limit results for Markovian queueing systems.
On the brain-basis of visual consciousness: A sensorimotor account

Much work on the brain basis of vision and visual consciousness rests on the idea that for every conscious state of seeing (for every visual experience) there is a neural substrate whose activation is sufficient to produce it. It is widely supposed, in addition, that the function of this neural substrate is to produce sensory experience by generating a “representation” of what is experienced (Chalmers 2000). On this way of thinking, then, vision is the process in the brain whereby such a representation is produced.
QoS-Aware Radio-and-Fiber (R&F) Access-Metro Networks

Future bimodal fiber-wireless (FiWi) access-metro networks may deploy both radio-over-fiber (RoF) and radio-and-fiber (R&F) technologies. RoF networks are rapidly becoming mature, but they fall short of interworking with distributed wireless MAC protocols such as DCF in widely deployed IEEE 802.11 WLANs. While R&F networks are able to avoid this limitation by means of protocol translation at the optical-wireless interface, recent testbed activities demonstrated that their multimedia QoS performance is far from acceptable, giving rise to various open R&F networking issues. In this paper, we report on our ongoing research activities on providing improved QoS support in R&F access-metro networks by means of (i) hierarchical scheduling and hybrid access control in integrated RPR/WiMAX metro networks, and (ii) hierarchical frame aggregation in integrated EPON/next-generation WLAN-based mesh access networks.
"Where Far Can Be Close": Finding Distant Neighbors In Recommender Systems

Location and its corollary, distance, are critical concepts in social computing. Recommender systems that incorporate location have generally assumed that the utility of locationawareness monotonically decreases as entities get farther apart. However, it is well known in geography that places that are distant \as the crow ies" can be more similar and connected than nearby places (e.g., by demographics, experiences, or socioeconomic). We adopt theory and statistical methods from geography to demonstrate that a more nuanced consideration of distance in which \far can be close" { that is, grouping users with their \distant neighbors" { moderately improves both traditional and location-aware recommender systems. We show that the distant neighbors approach leads to small improvements in predictive accuracy and recommender utility of an item-item recommender compared to a \nearby neighbors" approach as well as other baselines. We also highlight an increase in recommender utility for new users with the use of distant neighbors compared to other traditional approaches.
The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire: Reliability and Validity in a Nationwide Sample of Greek Teachers

The present study examined the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire’s (TEQ) validity and reliability in a sample of 3955 Greek teachers. In order to test the internal consistency reliability, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used and was found satisfactory at 0.72. The sample was randomly split and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in the even subsample, justifying the one-factor solution, with the only discrepancy of the low loading of an item. In the odd subsample a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to confirm the one-factor model identified by the EFA. The chi square test (χ2) of the model was significant (p < 0.05), while the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), the comparative fit index (CFI) and the goodness of fit index (GFI) values were 0.078, 0.969 and 0.960, respectively, further supporting the model’s fit. Student’s t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that women, teachers with children of their own, those working full-time in public schools, those with students who needed special education, and those who had received mental health promotion training, scored higher. Additionally, multiple linear regression analysis revealed that sex, working status, having students who needed special education, and having attended mental health training courses were independently associated with TEQ score. The analyses confirmed that the Greek version of TEQ could be used for researches in Greek educators as a valid and reliable measure of teachers’ empathy.