Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A fine-structural study of conidium initiation in Stemphylium botryosum Wallroth.

Conidia and conidiophores from synchronously sporulating cultures of Stemphylium botryosum were fixed and embedded at successive intervals for examination under the electron microscope. The spore initial arises as a small bud at the tip of the conidiophore, and no discontinuity between the conidiophore wall and the spore can be detected. The single-celled bud and the tip cell of the conidiophore have very similar cytoplasmic features. Besides the usual cellular organelles, irregularly shaped electron-transparent areas in which membrane systems seem to perform some internal secretory activity between the leaflets themselves are present. Globules of the slightly electron-dense material originating in these specialized areas can also be found next to the plasma membrane where they are released and presumably participate in wall formation. Such a secretory system has not been described before and may be of particular importance in higher fungi which are known to lack a true Golgi apparatus.
Norepinephrine in the Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for Amphetamine-Induced Reward and Mesoaccumbens Dopamine Release

Increasing evidence points to a major involvement of cortical areas in addictive mechanisms. Noradrenergic transmission in the medial prefrontal cortex (mpFC) has been shown to affect the motor effects of amphetamine, although there is no evidence of its involvement in the rewarding effects of this psychostimulant. The present experiments were aimed at investigating the possibility of a selective involvement of prefrontal cortical norepinephrine (NE) in the rewarding–reinforcing effects of amphetamine. To do so, we evaluated the effects of mpFC NE selective depletion in mice of C57BL/6J inbred strain, a background commonly used in molecular approaches that is known to be highly susceptible to the rewarding effects of the psychostimulant. In a first set of experiments, we demonstrated the absence of amphetamine-induced conditioned place preference in mice bearing prefrontal NE depletion. In a second series of experiments, we demonstrated that the same lesion dramatically reduced amphetamine-induced mesoaccumbens dopamine release as measured by intracerebral microdialysis. These results indicate that noradrenergic prefrontal transmission, by allowing increased dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens induced by amphetamine, is a critical factor for the rewarding–reinforcing effects of this drug.
Searching with quantization: approximate nearest neighbor search using short codes and distance estimators

We propose an approximate nearest neighbor search method based on quantization. It uses, in particular, product quantizer to produce short codes and corresponding distance estimators approximating the Euclidean distance between the orginal vectors. The method is advantageously used in an asym- metric manner, by computing the distance between a vector and code, unlike competing techniques such as spectral hashing that only compare codes. Our approach approximates the Euclidean distance based on memory e- cient codes and, thus, permits ecient nearest neighbor search. Experiments performed on SIFT and GIST image descriptors show excellent search accuracy. The method is shown to outperform two state-of-the-art approaches of the lit- erature. Timings measured when searching a vector set of 2 billion vectors are shown to be excellent given the high accuracy of the method.
Functional Limitations of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Limit Type I Interferon, T Cell Responses and Virus Control in Early Life

Infant mortality from viral infection remains a major global health concern: viruses causing acute infections in immunologically mature hosts often follow a more severe course in early life, with prolonged or persistent viral replication. Similarly, the WE strain of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV-WE) causes acute self-limiting infection in adult mice but follows a protracted course in infant animals, in which LCMV-specific CD8+ T cells fail to expand and control infection. By disrupting type I IFNs signaling in adult mice or providing IFN-α supplementation to infant mice, we show here that the impaired early life T cell responses and viral control result from limited early type I IFN responses. We postulated that plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC), which have been identified as one major source of immediate-early IFN-I, may not exert adult-like function in vivo in the early life microenvironment. We tested this hypothesis by studying pDC functions in vivo during LCMV infection and identified a coordinated downregulation of infant pDC maturation, activation and function: despite an adult-like in vitro activation capacity of infant pDCs, the expression of the E2-2 pDC master regulator (and of critical downstream antiviral genes such as MyD88, TLR7/TLR9, NF-κB, IRF7 and IRF8) is downregulated in vivo at baseline and during LCMV infection. A similar pattern was observed in response to ssRNA polyU, a model ligand of the TLR7 viral sensor. This suggests that the limited T cell-mediated defense against early life viral infections is largely attributable to / regulated by infant pDC responses and provides incentives for novel strategies to supplement or stimulate immediate-early IFN-α responses.
Vertical WLAN handover algorithm and protocol to improve the IPTV QoS of the end user

The appearance of several IEEE 802.11 variants made possible the availability of many wireless local area network access options for end users in the same location. Network requirements for IPTV service become higher when the quality of the delivered video is higher. Moreover, in wireless networks the network performance is highly degraded when there is high number of users. In this paper, we propose a protocol and algorithm that makes to handover IPTV users to the best available WLAN when the QoS parameters received by the end user reaches a threshold. It guarantees anytime the highest QoS for the user. Real measurements show that the vertical handover performed by the user is performed without noticing it. This algorithm is highly appropriate for mobile users.
Increase in Oxidative Stress but Not in Antioxidant Capacity with Advancing Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease

Background/Aims: Increased oxidative stress in chronic kidney disease (CKD) was suggested to be both a cause and an effect of renal injury. However, the evolution of oxidant stress from early stages of renal function decline is not fully clear. This study aimed to determine the oxidant-antioxidant balance across the whole range of renal function. Methods: A total of 116 patients with CKD (85 predialysis patients divided into groups according to CKD stage, and 31 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on hemodialysis treatment), as well as 29 healthy subjects were evaluated. Plasma levels of 15-F2t-isoprostane (15-F2t-IsoP), a valid marker of oxidant stress, as well as total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and serum levels of vitamin E were measured in all participants. Results: Plasma 15-F2t-IsoP levels were higher in predialysis and ESRD patients compared to healthy subjects and were progressively increasing with advancing CKD stages (p < 0.001). In contrast, plasma TAC was similar between healthy subjects and predialysis patients, and presented a small reduction in ESRD patients (p < 0.001). Vitamin E levels were higher in healthy subjects compared to any other group (p < 0.001) and slightly higher in ESRD patients compared to predialysis patients (p < 0.01), but did not differ significantly between the groups of predialysis patients. Plasma 15-F2t-IsoP levels were inversely correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate in predialysis patients (r = –0.65, p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study shows that 15-F2t-IsoP levels increase progressively with advancing CKD stages, whereas TAC and vitamin E levels remain rather stable with the loss of renal function and change only in patients with ESRD.
PEGylated Phospholipid Micelle-Encapsulated Near-Infrared PbS Quantum Dots for in vitro and in vivo Bioimaging

Surface modification and functionalization of bioconjugated quantum dots (QDs) has drawn great attention for the past few years due to their wide applications in biomedical research. In this contribution, we demonstrate the use of PEGylated phospholipid micelles to encapsulate near infrared emitting ultra-small lead sulfide (PbS) QDs for in vitro and in vivo imaging. The cytotoxicity of the micelle-encapsulated QDs formulation was evaluated using MTS assay and histological analysis studies. We have found that upon encapsulating the QDs with phospholipid micelle, the toxicity of the PbS QDs is reduced, from which we envision that the PEGylated phospholipid micelle-encapsulated PbS QDs formulation can be used as theranostics probes for some selected applications in cell imaging and small animals study.
Approximate Bayes factors for generalized linear models

Ways of obtaining approximate Bayes factors for generalized linear models are proposed. ,basedon aSYllthesisof the Laplace method for integrals (Tierney and Kadaae, 1986) with the robllst Bayesi(Ul vie\Vpoint (Berger and Sellke, 1987). This permits the calculation ofthe . posterior probabilities of all the models considered, thus overcoming the difficulties associated with multiple inference and non-nested models. It provides ways of comparing link functions as well as sets of covariates, The method is applied to a binary response example, involving the effects of ability, social class, and type of school on educational transitions in Ireland.
Image inpainting based on image segmentation and segment classification

We present a new inpainting algorithm that is based on image segmentation and segment classification. First, we employ the mean shift algorithm to segment the input image. Then, we divide the original inpainting problem to be either one of the two problems: Large Segment Inpainting problem or Non-uniform Segments inpainting problem. The reason we do that is that human eye is more discerning to the errors in the structure and texture propagation of a large-uniform regions with less details while it is less discerning to errors in non-uniform regions with more details. We propose a novel algorithm for each one of the problems- Large Segment Inpainting and Non-uniform Segments inpainting- according to the main features of each one. The experimental results show the advantage of our technique which produces output images with better perceived visual quality.
Optimizing burst erasure correction of LDPC codes by interleaving

The performance of iterative decoding of low density parity check (LDPC) codes over binary erasure channels can be completely characterized by the study of stopping sets. Therefore, the burst erasure correction capability of a given LDPC code can be readily quantified by searching for stopping sets within consecutive bit nodes. In this work we study the optimal permutation of the bit nodes that will result in the maximum possible burst erasure correction capability for a given LDPC code. Noting that this is essentially a combinatorial optimization problem that is highly likely to be NP-hard, we adopt a simulated annealing based approach for finding the optimal permutation. We present bounds based on stopping sets that limit the burst erasure correction capability. As part of our results, we provide interleavers that greatly improve the burst erasure correction capability of protograph quasi-cyclic LDPC codes used in the WiMax standard.
Peripheral auditory maturation : analysis of the amplitudes of the distortion product otoacoustic emissions in preterm and term neonates

Purpose: To compare preterm and term neonates in relation to the presence and amplitude of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAEs), as well as to characterize them regarding risk indicators for hearing loss. Methods: Study realized by the analysis of the DPOAEs (frequencies of 2000, 3000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 Hz) and risk indicators for hearing loss. The neonates were grouped according to the gestational age. The results were analyzed by ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-square tests (5%). Results: The sample consisted of 109 neonates (218 ears) in homogenous distribution related to gender and preterm/term classification. A high risk for hearing loss was observed in 40.4% of the infants. From the risk indicators for hearing loss, the most common were the duration of the stay in incubators and intensive care units (ICU) longer than five days. The DPOAEs were present in 209 ears (95.9%). The absence of responses to DPOEAs was significantly more frequent in groups with lower gestational age. It was observed an increase of the amplitudes of the DPOEAs with the increase of the gestational age, except for the frequency of 8000 Hz in the left ear. There were no differences between ears and genders regarding the presence and amplitude of the DPOAEs. Conclusion: There are differences between preterm and term groups in relation to the presence and amplitude of the DPOAEs: higher probability of failure in the groups with lower gestational age and (nonlinear) increase of the amplitudes with the increase of the gestational age. The findings suggest the phenomenon of maturation of the peripheral auditory system.
Genetic and Biochemical Analysis of Phosphatase Activity of Escherichia coli NRII (NtrB) and Its Regulation by the PII Signal Transduction Protein

ABSTRACT Mutant forms of Escherichia coli NRII (NtrB) were isolated that retained wild-type NRII kinase activity but were defective in the PII-activated phosphatase activity of NRII. Mutant strains were selected as mimicking the phenotype of a strain (strain BK) that lacks both of the related PII and GlnK signal transduction proteins and thus has no mechanism for activation of the NRII phosphatase activity. The selection and screening procedure resulted in the isolation of numerous mutants that phenotypically resembled strain BK to various extents. Mutations mapped to the glnL (ntrB) gene encoding NRII and were obtained in all three domains of NRII. Two distinct regions of the C-terminal, ATP-binding domain were identified by clusters of mutations. One cluster, including the Y302N mutation, altered a lid that sits over the ATP-binding site of NRII. The other cluster, including the S227R mutation, defined a small surface on the “back” or opposite side of this domain. The S227R and Y302N proteins were purified, along with the A129T (NRII2302) protein, which has reduced phosphatase activity due to a mutation in the central domain of NRII, and the L16R protein, which has a mutation in the N-terminal domain of NRII. The S227R, Y302N, and L16R proteins were specifically defective in the PII-activated phosphatase activity of NRII. Wild-type NRII, Y302N, A129T, and L16R proteins bound to PII, while the S227R protein was defective in binding PII. This suggests that the PII-binding site maps to the “back” of the C-terminal domain and that mutation of the ATP-lid, central domain, and N-terminal domain altered functions necessary for the phosphatase activity after PII binding.
The deadenylating nuclease (DAN) is involved in poly(A) tail removal during the meiotic maturation of Xenopus oocytes

Exonucleolytic degradation of the poly(A) tail is often the first step in the decay of eukaryotic mRNAs and is also used to silence certain maternal mRNAs translationally during oocyte maturation and early embryonic development. We previously described the purification of a poly(A)‐specific 3′‐exoribonuclease (deadenylating nuclease, DAN) from mammalian tissue. Here, the isolation and functional characterization of cDNA clones encoding human DAN is reported. Recombinant DAN overexpressed in Escherichia coli has properties similar to those of the authentic protein. The amino acid sequence of DAN shows homology to the RNase D family of 3′‐exonucleases. DAN appears to be localized in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. It is not stably associated with polysomes or ribosomal subunits. Xenopus oocytes contain nuclear and cytoplasmic DAN isoforms, both of which are closely related to the human DAN. Anti‐DAN antibody microinjected into oocytes inhibits default deadenylation during progesterone‐induced maturation. Ectopic expression of human DAN in enucleated oocytes rescues maturation‐specific deadenylation, indicating that amphibian and mammalian DANs are functionally equivalent.
Comparison of two hyaluronan drugs in patients with advanced osteoarthritis of the knee. A prospective, randomized, double-blind study with long term follow-up.

OBJECTIVES To compare the long-term effects of high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HA) applications in severe (Kellgren Lawrence stage III) osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. METHODS In a prospective clinical trial 184 knees (92 patients) with radiographic Kellgren Lawrence stage III OA were randomized to receive either 3 intra-articular high molecular weight HA (Hylan G-F 20) injections or 3 low molecular weight HA (Orthovisc) injections at one-week intervals. Patients were evaluated by the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Knee Score and were followed-up for 12 months. RESULTS The total HSS score in high molecular weight HA patients improved from 71.8+/-11.6 to 86.7+/-11.6 and in low molecular weight HA patients from 66.7+/-11.0 to 86.6+/-9.1 at the end of the trial (p < 0.01). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups and both had improved in all parameters at the latest follow-up (p = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS Three intra-articular injections at intervals of 1 week of both HA preparations resulted in a pronounced reduction in pain and improved function as measured by the HSS score during a period of 52 weeks, without complications.
Complete Process for Target Form Self-Replication from Homogeneous Self-Reconfigurable Robot Modules

We describe a complete system for the autonomous selfreplication of multiple instances of an user-defined target robot form using self-reconfigurable robots. We describe the tools that are required, the steps of the assembly process, and the work required to realize a working system. We show how this system is practical for a real self-reconfigurable robot system. We give some experimental results that show the feasibility of the system and describe future work required to give a complete demonstration.
Decreased ventral anterior cingulate cortex activity is associated with reduced social pain during emotional support

Abstract People feel psychological pain when they are excluded, and this pain is often attenuated when emotional support is received. It is therefore likely that a specific neural mechanism underlies the detection of social exclusion. Similarly, specific neural mechanisms may underlie the beneficial effects of emotional support. Although neuroimaging researchers have recently examined the neural basis of social pain, there is presently no agreement as to which part of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is involved in the perception and modulation of social pain. We hypothesized that activity in those brain regions that are associated with social pain would be correlated with decrements in social pain induced by emotional support. To examine the effects of emotional support on social pain caused by exclusion, we conducted an fMRI study in which participants played a virtual ball-tossing game. Participants were initially included and later excluded from the game. In the latter half of the session from which participants were excluded, participants received emotionally supportive text messages. We found that emotional support led to increased activity in the left lateral/medial prefrontal cortices and some temporal regions. Those individuals who experienced greater attenuation of social pain exhibited lower ventral ACC and higher left lateral prefrontal cortex activation. These results suggest that the ventral ACC underlies social pain, and that emotional support enhances prefrontal cortex activity, which in turn may lead to a weakened affective response.
Data-Driven Event Triggering for IoT Applications

Event-triggering (ET) is an up-and-coming technological paradigm for monitoring, optimization, and control in the Internet of Things (IoT) that achieves improved levels of operational efficiency. This paper first defines the envisioned ET architecture for the IoT domain. It then classifies and reviews the various different ET approaches obtained from the available literature for the three phases of ET, namely behavior modeling, event detection, and event handling. Thereafter, a novel data-driven technique is developed to address all three phases of ET in an efficient and reliable manner. Finally, the applicability of the proposed data-driven technique is showcased in a real-world public transport scenario, demonstrating a substantial improvement in energy and spectrum efficiency compared to existing periodic techniques.
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF CAR IGNITION ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM BASED ON FACE RECOGNITION TECHNIQUE

Automotive theft has been a persisting problem driving modern automotive designs in search of technologies to provide high security to the user. There are various methods to digitally authenticate the identity of the user, by means of non-biometric and/or biometric systems. A biometric based ID allows for the verification of “who you claim to be” based on “who you are”, in addition to checking for “what you have” (keys), or “what you know” (password). To incorporate an increased level of security, the state-of-the-art Face Recognition System (FRS) can be used which improves the accuracy with the added feature of being easy to use and maintainable for automobiles. This paper deals with the design and development of a real time face recognition based car ignition access control system. The developed system consists of an FRS and an ignition controller unit. The FRS unit goes through the process of image data retrieval, image compression and face recognition. The captured test image passes through the face detector, where full face template matching approach has been used. The result of face detector is passed to the face compression block where an economic representation of face is implemented by applying the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) algorithm. For classifying and recognizing the test data accurately, the Euclidean-norm distance classifier is used. The Face Recognition Controller (FRC) is interfaced to the ignition controller system over CAN network. If the test face is of an authorized user, the FRC will transmit the user ID to the ignition controller and to the comfort management system allowing the user to start the car and alter the mirror position to the pre-set value. The functionality of the integrated FRS with ignition control system is tested efficiently. The developed FRS is also tested and validated for different test cases involving varied facial expression, pose occluded face and skin color variations. The car ignition control unit of the developed system is also extended for the concept of security cum automatic comfort management system.