Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of bombesin receptor subtype-3 and its synthetic agonist on signaling, glucose transport and metabolism in myocytes from patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes

Bombesin receptor subtype-3 (BRS-3) is an orphan G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) member of the bombesin receptor family. Several studies have suggested an association between obesity, alterations in glucose metabolism, diabetes and the BRS-3 receptor. In this study, we focused on patients simultaneously diagnosed with obesity and type 2 diabetes (OB/T2D). The analysis of BRS-3 expression in the skeletal muscle of these patients revealed a marked decrease in the expression of BRS-3 at the mRNA (23.6±1.3-fold downregulation, p<0.0001) and protein level (49±7% decrease, p<0.05) compared to the normal patients (no obesity and diabetes). Moreover, in cultured primary myocytes from patients with OB/T2D, the synthetic BRS-3 agonist, [D-Try6,β-Ala11,Phe13,Nle14]bombesin6–14, significantly increased the phosphorylation levels of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), p90RSK1, protein kinase B (PKB) and p70s6K. Specifically, the ligand at 10−11 M induced the maximal phosphorylation of MAPKs (p42, 159±15% of the control; p44, 166±11% of the control; p<0.0001) and p90RSK1 (148±2% of the control, p<0.0001). The basal phosphorylation levels of all kinases were reduced (p<0.05) in the patients with OB/T2D compared to the normal patients. Furthermore, the BRS-3 agonist stimulated glucose transport, which was already detected at 10−12 M (133±9% of the control), reached maximal levels at 10−11 M (160±9%, p<0.0001) and was maintained at up to 10−8 M (overall mean, 153±7%; p<0.007). This effect was less promiment than that attained with 10−8 M insulin (202±9%, p=0.009). The effect of the agonist on glycogen synthase a activity achieved the maximum effect at 10−11 M (165±16% of the control; p<0.0001), which did not differ from that observed with higher concentrations of the agonist. These results suggest that muscle cells isolated from patients with OB/T2D have extremely high sensitivity to the synthetic ligand, and the effects are particularly observed on MAPK and p90RSK1 phosphorylation, as well as glucose uptake. Moreover, our data indicate that BRS-3 may prove to be useful as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of patients with OB/T2D.
A Support System for the Visually Disabled to Recognize 3D Objects

We have been developing a support system for the visually disabled t,o actively recognize threedimensional objects or environments, an application system of 3D computer vision. This is a total system which has input, processing, and output functions. Using a stereo camera system as an input device allows 3D visual information to be obtained. The visual information is converted into tactile and auditory information which can be understood easily by the visually disabled. As one of the output devices, we have developed an interactive tactile display, which presents visual patterns by tactile pins arranged in two-dimensional format. The pin height can be set to several levels to increase the touch information and to display a 3D surface shape. Also, each pin has a tact switch at the bottom for the user to make the system know the position by pushing it. This paper describes the hardware and software of the system.
MARCKS Regulates Growth and Radiation Sensitivity and Is a Novel Prognostic Factor for Glioma

Purpose: This study assessed whether myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate (MARCKS) can regulate glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) growth, radiation sensitivity, and clinical outcome. Experimental Design: MARCKS protein levels were analyzed in five GBM explant cell lines and eight patient-derived xenograft tumors by immunoblot, and these levels were correlated to proliferation rates and intracranial growth rates, respectively. Manipulation of MARCKS protein levels was assessed by lentiviral-mediated short hairpin RNA knockdown in the U251 cell line and MARCKS overexpression in the U87 cell line. The effect of manipulation of MARCKS on proliferation, radiation sensitivity, and senescence was assessed. MARCKS gene expression was correlated with survival outcomes in the Repository of Molecular Brain Neoplasia Data (REMBRANDT) Database and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Results: MARCKS protein expression was inversely correlated with GBM proliferation and intracranial xenograft growth rates. Genetic silencing of MARCKS promoted GBM proliferation and radiation resistance, whereas MARCKS overexpression greatly reduced GBM growth potential and induced senescence. We found MARCKS gene expression to be directly correlated with survival in both the REMBRANDT and TCGA databases. Specifically, patients with high MARCKS expressing tumors of the proneural molecular subtype had significantly increased survival rates. This effect was most pronounced in tumors with unmethylated O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoters, a traditionally poor prognostic factor. Conclusions: MARCKS levels impact GBM growth and radiation sensitivity. High MARCKS expressing GBM tumors are associated with improved survival, particularly with unmethylated MGMT promoters. These findings suggest the use of MARCKS as a novel target and biomarker for prognosis in the proneural subtype of GBM. Clin Cancer Res; 18(11); 3030–41. ©2012 AACR.
A Finite Element Method for Second Order Nonvariational Elliptic Problems

We propose a numerical method to approximate the solution of second order elliptic problems in nonvariational form. The method is of Galerkin type using conforming finite elements and applied directly to the nonvariational (nondivergence) form of a second order linear elliptic problem. The key tools are an appropriate concept of “finite element Hessian” and a Schur complement approach to solving the resulting linear algebra problem. The method is illustrated with computational experiments on three linear and one quasi-linear PDE, all in nonvariational form.
Cutaneous Water Loss in the Roadrunner and Poor-Will

Avian physiologists have generally assumed that since birds lack sweat glands, cutaneous evaporation is negligible. However, recent data indicate that the skin represents a major avenue of evaporative water loss (EWL) in the Painted Quail (Excalfactoria chinensis), Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus), Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), Zebra Finch (Poephila castanotis) (Bernstein 1969, 1970, 1971a, b), and the Domestic Pigeon (Columba livia) (Smith 1969; Smith and Suthers 1969). Not all birds lose large amounts of water through the skin. SchmidtNielsen et al. (1969) state that the skin plays a minor role in EWL in Ostriches (Struthio camelus), contributing less than 2 percent of total evaporation at 400C. The purpose of this study was to examine cutaneous evaporation in two North American desert-inhabiting birds, the Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) and the Poor-will (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii). Oxygen consumption and EWL have been studied previously in both species over a wide range of ambient temperatures (Bartholomew et al. 1957; Bartholomew et al. 1962; Calder and Schmidt-Nielsen 1967; Lasiewski 1969; Lowe and Hinds 1969).
Developmental regulation of GABAergic signalling in the hippocampus of neuroligin 3 R451C knock-in mice: an animal model of Autism

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) comprise an heterogeneous group of neuro-developmental abnormalities, mainly of genetic origin, characterized by impaired social interactions, communications deficits, and stereotyped behaviors. In a small percentage of cases, ASDs have been found to be associated with single mutations in genes involved in synaptic function. One of these involves the postsynaptic cell adhesion molecule neuroligin (NL) 3. NLs interact with presynaptic neurexins (Nrxs) to ensure a correct cross talk between post and presynaptic specializations. Here, transgenic mice carrying the human R451C mutation of Nlgn3, were used to study GABAergic signaling in the hippocampus early in postnatal life. Whole cell recordings from CA3 pyramidal neurons in slices from NL3R451C knock-in mice revealed an enhanced frequency of Giant Depolarizing Potentials (GDPs), as compared to controls. This effect was probably dependent on an increased GABAergic drive to principal cells as demonstrated by the enhanced frequency of miniature GABAA-mediated (GPSCs), but not AMPA-mediated postsynaptic currents (EPSCs). Changes in frequency of mGPSCs were associated with an acceleration of their decay kinetics, in the absence of any change in unitary synaptic conductance or in the number of GABAA receptor channels, as assessed by peak scaled non-stationary fluctuation analysis. The enhanced GABAergic but not glutamatergic transmission early in postnatal life may change the excitatory/inhibitory balance known to play a key role in the construction and refinement of neuronal circuits during postnatal development. This may lead to behavioral deficits reminiscent of those observed in ASDs patients.
Interestingness and Pruning of Mined Patterns

We study the following question: when can a mined pattern, which may be an association, a correlation, ratio rule, or any other, be regarded as interesting? Previous approaches to answering this question have been largely numeric. Speciically, we show that the presence of some rules may make others redundant, and therefore uninteresting. We articulate these principles and formalize them in the form of pruning rules. Pruning rules, when applied to a collection of mined patterns, can be used to eliminate redundant ones. As a concrete instance, we applied our pruning rules on association rules/positive association rules derived from a census database, and demonstrate that signiicant pruning results.
Large-Eddy Simulation of a Wing–Body Junction Flow

Large-eddy simulations of a wing-body junction flow experimentally studied are presented. Wall junction flows are common in engineering applications, but the flow physics at the corners of the junction is not well understood. Moreover, in these types of flows, the performance of the subgrid-scale models frequently used for large-eddy simulations is not well characterized. To address these issues, large-eddy simulations of the wing–body junction are performed, with multiple levels of grid resolution. Two-dimensional turbulent profiles are generated every time step and introduced to the inlet plane of the computation domain to mimic the unsteady turbulent boundary layer. A Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes calculation is used as a precursor to initialize the flowfield of the large-eddy simulations. Then, large-eddy simulations with the Vreman model is performed and the simulation results are analyzed with respect to three specific goals: compare the computed and measured turbulence statistics in the junction .
Relating software requirements and architectures using problem frames

Problem frames provide a means of analyzing and decomposing problems. They emphasise the world outside of the computer, helping the developer to focus on the problem domain, instead of drifting into inventing solutions. However, even modestly complex problems can force us into detailed consideration of the architecture of the solution. This is counter to the intention of the problem frames approach, which is to delay consideration of the solution space until a good understanding of the problem is gained. We therefore extend problem frames, allowing architectural structures, services and artifacts to be considered as part of the problem domain. Through a case study, we show how this extension enhances the applicability of problem frames in permitting an architecture-based approach to software development. We conclude that, through our extension, the applicability of problem frames is extended to include domains with existing architectural support.
Wireless Multicast Opportunistic Routing with Dual Network Coding

Wireless Multicast is one of the important problems with applications to opportunistic networks, such as delay-tolerant networks (DTNs), personal, pocket-switched networks (PSNs) etc. Network Coding has received many attentions because it improves potential network throughput and robustness by the way of combining multiple packets in the routers and reducing the transmissions. This paper combines network coding with opportunistic routing to improve the throughput of wireless multicast, where an Inter-coding and Intra-coding scheme is introduced to the traditional multicast routing algorithm (OR-DNC, Opportunistic Routing with Dual Network Coding). Compared with traditional multicast routing without coding and MORE-M, OR-DNC performs better in terms of throughput, transmission reduction and coding gain.
Ieee Transactions on Information Forensics and Security an Exploration of Geographic Authentication Schemes

—We design and explore the usability and security of two geographic authentication schemes: GeoPass and GeoPass-Notes. GeoPass requires users to choose a place on a digital map to authenticate with (a location password). GeoPassNotes—an extension of GeoPass—requires users to annotate their location password with a sequence of words that they can associate with the location (an annotated location password). In GeoPassNotes, users are authenticated by correctly entering both a location and an annotation. We conducted user studies to test the usability and assess the security of location passwords and annotated location passwords. The results indicate that both variants are highly memorable, and that annotated location passwords may be more advantageous than location passwords alone due to their increased security and the minimal usability impact introduced by the annotation.
ARImp: A Generalized Adjusted Rand Index for Cluster Ensembles

Adjusted Rand Index (ARI) is one of the most popular measure to evaluate the consistency between two partitions of data sets in the areas of pattern recognition. In this paper, ARI is generalized to a new measure, Adjusted Rand Index between a similarity matrix and a cluster partition (ARImp), to evaluate the consistency between a set of clustering solutions (or cluster partitions) and their associated consensus matrix in a cluster ensemble. The generalization property of ARImp from ARI is proved and its preservation of desirable properties of ARI is illustrated with simulated experiments. Also, we show with application experiments on several real data sets that ARImp can serve as a filter to identify the less effective cluster ensemble methods.
Maximal Capacity Partial Response Signaling

In this paper we investigate partial response signaling (PRS) systems that are intended to operate close to capacity. We show that finding PRS systems with maximal capacity is a rather easy optimization task. We give an alternate way of defining bandwidth for PRS systems based on capacity considerations; this differs considerably from the traditional method based on transmission power. Practical PRS schemes are derived, based on these ideas. Their bit error rate is significantly better than earlier, distance-optimizing schemes.
Muscle mitohormesis promotes cellular survival via serine/glycine pathway flux

Recent studies on mouse and human skeletal muscle (SM) demonstrated the important link between mitochondrial function and the cellular metabolic adaptation. To identify key compensatory molecular mechanisms in response to chronic mitochondrial distress, we analyzed mice with ectopic SM respiratory uncoupling in uncoupling protein 1 transgenic (UCP1‐TG) mice as model of muscle‐specific compromised mitochondrial function. Here we describe a detailed metabolic reprogramming profile associated with mitochondrial perturbations in SM, triggering an increased protein turnover and amino acid metabolism with induced biosynthetic serine/1‐carbon/glycine pathway and the longevity‐promoting polyamine spermidine as well as the trans‐sulfuration pathway. This is related to an induction of NADPH‐generating pathways and glutathione metabolism as an adaptive mitohormetic response and defense against increased oxidative stress. Strikingly, consistent muscle retrograde signaling profiles were observed in acute stress states such as muscle cell starvation and lipid overload, muscle regeneration, and heart muscle inflammation, but not in response to exercise. We provide conclusive evidence for a key compensatory stress‐signaling network that preserves cellular function, oxidative stress tolerance, and survival during conditions of increased SM mitochondrial distress, a metabolic reprogramming profile so far only demonstrated for cancer cells and heart muscle. —Ost, M. , Keipert, S. , van Schothorst, E. M. , Donner, V. , van der Stelt, I. , Kipp, A. P., Petzke, K. ‐J., Jove, M. , Pamplona, R. , Portero‐Otin, M. , Keijer, J., Klaus, S. Muscle mitohormesis promotes cellular survival via serine/glycine pathway flux. FASEB J. 29, 1314‐1328 (2015). www.fasebj. org
The 'Fundamental Attribution Error' is rational in an uncertain world

Others’ internal qualities (e.g. dispositions, attitudes) are not directly observable so we must infer them from behavior. Classic attribution theories agree that we consider both internal qualities and situational pressure when making these judgments. However, one of the most well known ideas in psychology is that social judgments are biased, and we tend to underestimate the pressure that situations exert and overestimate the influence of disposition (known as the Fundamental Attribution Error). We propose that the social judgments made in classic studies of attribution have been interpreted as biased only because they have been compared to an inappropriate benchmark of rationality predicated on the assumption of deterministic dispositions and situations. We show that these results are actually consistent with the behavior of a simple ideal Bayesian observer who must reason about uncertain and probabilistic influences of situations and dispositions.
Cold Plasma Surface Treatment of UHMWPE Membranes to Improve Fouling Characteristics

The influence of cold plasma internal surface treatment on the fouling characteristics of UHMWPE membranes was investigated. Two sets of sintered tubular UHMWPE membranes were manufactured. One set of membranes was prepared with as-received powdered UHMWPE and another set was prepared with the same powder sieved through #200 mesh. The tubular membranes were obtained by sintering the UHMWPE powders at 180°C for 130 min, and were characterized by SEM, contact angle and flow permeation. The flow permeation measurement was conducted in a locally built apparatus and the amount of permeated fluid was determined by gravimetry, as a function of time. Water collected from a local source was used in the tests. Modification of the membrane internal surface was achieved by methane cold plasma treatment, applied during 60 min. The data indicates for both membranes, fouling was reduced after plasma modification and that the effect was more pronounced for the membranes prepared with the sieved UHMWPE powder. This behavior was associated to the increased surface tension (after plasma modification) leading to solid particle repulsion by the membrane surfaces and to a better plasma surface modification on the smaller grain sizes displayed by the membranes prepared with the #200 mesh sieved UHMWPE powder.
An Efficient Preprocessing Methodology of Log File for Web Usage Mining

Now a day, WWW has become important and huge data storage. All users’ activities will be stored in log file. The log file shows the interest on the particular website. With a wide usage of internet, the log file size is growing rapidly. Web mining is the process of extracting information from web data. The raw log file won’t reveal the users’ accessing pattern. Thus, preprocessing has become an important process in web mining. Web Usage Mining is the important domain area of web mining to extract and analyze the usage pattern of users from the server log file. The quality of the input decides the quality of the output. Preprocessing is the noteworthy process before mining the interesting information from data. In this paper we have implemented the preprocessing techniques to convert the log file into user sessions which are suitable for mining and reduce the size of session file by filtering the least requested pages.
Entryway detection algorithm using Kinect's depth camera for UAV application

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are gaining popularity in aiding search and rescue teams in the wake of a disaster. When searching through ruins such as a collapsed building or a building under fire, it is almost impossible for the first rescue team to navigate inside the ruins in search for survivors. Small UAVs such as the quadcopter which is equipped with autonomous capabilities has the potential to navigate through the unknown ruins. One of the basic building blocks for any autonomous vehicle is a fast-detection sensor for detection and avoidance of obstacles. Payload and cost should also be considered when choosing the right sensor. In this study, a feature extraction algorithm using Microsoft Kinect depth camera is presented for application on a quadcopter operating in an indoor environment. The main objective of this project is to develop an algorithm that could detect entryway openings, based on the inputs from a Microsoft Kinect camera that will be mounted on a quadcopter. The algorithm is tested in a T-junction corridor of an office building, with objects such as walls, doors, glass, corridors, and fire extinguisher boxes occupying the space. The algorithm successfully detects all objects by using the depth information of each pixel in relative to other pixels. The ratio of each depth area is calculated to differentiate the entryway from the rest of the objects. The analysis reveals that the accepted ratio for entryway detection is 0.701 with +−5% error while values not within this range are considered as obstacles.
Practical Universal Decoding for Combined Routing and Compression in Network Coding

Minimum-entropy decoding is a universal decoding algorithm used in decoding block compression of discrete memoryless sources as their multiterminal counterparts, such as the Slepian-Wolf problem. It has recently been shown that such an algorithm can be applied for combined distributed compression and distributed routing in a randomized distributed network coding framework. The ‘method of types’ shows that there exist linear codes that when applied with such an algorithm, can attain the same error exponent as that of a maximum-likelihood decoder. Owing to the algorithm being generally NP-hard, the traditional rationale for discussing this technique has been mostly theoretical pursuit. Here we discuss practical approximation algorithms to minimum-entropy decoding by using ideas from linear programming. We exploit two main facts. First, the ‘method of types’ shows that that the number of distinct types is polynomial in the block length n. Second, recent results in the optimization literature have illustrated polytope projection algorithms whose complexity is a function of the number of vertices of the polytope projection. Combining these two ideas, we leverage recent results on linear programming as a relaxation for error correcting codes to construct polynomial complexity algorithms for this setting.