Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serine Protease HtrA1 Associates with Microtubules and Inhibits Cell Migration

ABSTRACT HtrA1 belongs to a family of serine proteases found in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans. Bacterial HtrA1 (DegP) is a heat shock-induced protein that behaves as a chaperone at low temperature and as a protease at high temperature to help remove unfolded proteins during heat shock. In contrast to bacterial HtrA1, little is known about the function of human HtrA1. Here, we report the first evidence that human HtrA1 is a microtubule-associated protein and modulates microtubule stability and cell motility. Intracellular HtrA1 is localized to microtubules in a PDZ (PSD95, Dlg, ZO1) domain-dependent, nocodazole-sensitive manner. During microtubule assembly, intracellular HtrA associates with centrosomes and newly polymerized microtubules. In vitro, purified HtrA1 promotes microtubule assembly. Moreover, HtrA1 cosediments and copurifies with microtubules. Purified HtrA1 associates with purified α- and β-tubulins, and immunoprecipitation of endogenous HtrA1 results in coprecipitation of α-, β-, and γ-tubulins. Finally, downregulation of HtrA1 promotes cell motility, whereas enhanced expression of HtrA1 attenuates cell motility. These results offer an original identification of HtrA1 as a microtubule-associated protein and provide initial mechanistic insights into the role of HtrA1 in theregulation of cell motility by modulating microtubule stability.
Transcriptional and Functional Plasticity Induced by Chronic Insulin Exposure in a Mast Cell-Like Basophilic Leukemia Cell Model

Objective Secretory granules (SG) and lipid bodies (LB) are the primary organelles that mediate functional responses in mast cells. SG contains histamine and matrix-active proteases, while LB are reservoirs of arachidonic acid and its metabolites, precursors for rapid synthesis of eicosanoids such as LTC4. Both of these compartments can be dynamically or ontologically regulated, with metabolic and immunological stimuli altering lipid body content and granule numbers responding to contextual signals from tissue. We previously described that chronic in vitro or in vivo hyperinsulinemia expands the LB compartment with a concomitant loss of SG capacity, suggesting that this ratio is dynamically regulated. The objective of the current study is to determine if chronic insulin exposure initiates a transcriptional program that biases model mast cells towards a lipogenic state with accompanying loss of secretory granule biogenesis. Methods We used a basophilic leukemic cell line with mucosal mast cell-like features as a model system. We tested the hypothesis that chronic insulin exposure initiates a transcriptional program that biases these model mast cells towards a lipogenic state with accompanying loss of secretory granule biogenesis. Transcriptional arrays were used to map gene expression patterns. Biochemical, immunocytochemical and mediator release assays were used to evaluate organelle numbers and functional responses. Results In a mucosal mast cell model, the rat basophilic leukemia line RBL2H3, mast cell granularity and SG numbers are inversely correlated with LB numbers. Chronic insulin exposure appears to modulate gene networks involved in both lipid body biogenesis and secretory granule formation. Western blot analysis confirms upregulation of protein levels for LB proteins, and decreases in proteins that are markers for SG cargo. Conclusions The levels of insulin in the extracellular milieu may modify the phenotype of mast cell-like cells in vitro.
Adaptive regulation of sampling rates for power efficient embedded control system design

In recent times adaptive regulation of sampling rates has gained significant attention in research community and researchers has demonstrated it's effectiveness in embedded control applications from different perspectives. In low power embedded control systems, the sampling rate of the control tasks has a direct relationship with control performance and power consumption. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of improving the power efficiency of low power embedded control systems by regulating the sampling rate of the control tasks. On this regard, we present algorithmic approaches for on-line regulation of sampling rates of the control task under some power-performance trade-off. We present elaborative results which demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed approaches.
Do anthropometrics, biomechanics, and laterality explain V1 side preference in skiers?

PURPOSE In cross-country (XC) skiing, the V1 and V2 alternate skate techniques are asymmetric, and skiers can choose either the right or left side for pole support. The overall purpose of this study was to investigate V1 side preference in elite XC skiers, notably by documenting V1 skate side preference, dominant and nondominant V1 peak speeds, left- to right-side differences (Δ L-R) in laboratory-based measurements, and relationships between side preference data. METHODS Sixteen male elite XC skiers completed one incremental speed test using V1 on their dominant side and another incremental speed test using V1 on their nondominant side while roller-skiing on a treadmill. During these tests, V1 peak speed, pole forces, and plantar forces were measured. A whole-body dual-energy x-ray absortiometry (DXA) scan measured anthropometric parameters and questionnaires established side preference for V2 alternate, overall laterality in XC skiing, handedness, footedness, and injury prevalence. RESULTS Left-to-right V1 side preference was equally distributed among skiers. V1 peak speed was approximately 4.5% greater on the dominant versus nondominant sides. V1 peak Δ L-R were positively related to Δ L-R in V1-dominant peak pole forces only. Questionnaire data indicated that more skiers preferred V2 alternate right, with moderate correlations between preferred V1 and V2 alternate sides. The expression of a dominant side in V1 and V2 alternate increased as skiing speed increased from moderate to 15-km endurance-race to sprint-race speeds. However, no relationships were established between V1 or V2 side preference and handedness, footedness, or number of one-sided injuries. CONCLUSIONS Δ L-R in measurements provide limited explanations for V1 side preferences in elite XC skiers. In fact, no systematic relations exist between V1 side preferences and anthropometric, biomechanical, or questionnaire data.
Multi-scale stochastic simulation for diffusive molecular communication

Recently, hybrid models have emerged that combine microscopic and mesoscopic regimes in a single stochastic reaction-diffusion simulation. Microscopic simulations track every individual molecule and are generally more accurate. Mesoscopic simulations partition the environment into subvolumes, track when molecules move between adjacent subvolumes, and are generally more computationally efficient. In this paper, we present the foundation of a multi-scale stochastic simulator from the perspective of molecular communication, for both mesoscopic and hybrid models, where we emphasize simulation accuracy at the receiver and efficiency in regions that are far from the communication link. Our multi-scale models use subvolumes of different sizes, between which we derive the diffusion event transition rate. Simulation results compare the accuracy and efficiency of traditional approaches with that of a regular hybrid method and with those of our proposed multi-scale methods.
From Oscillatory Transcranial Current Stimulation to Scalp EEG Changes: A Biophysical and Physiological Modeling Study

Both biophysical and neurophysiological aspects need to be considered to assess the impact of electric fields induced by transcranial current stimulation (tCS) on the cerebral cortex and the subsequent effects occurring on scalp EEG. The objective of this work was to elaborate a global model allowing for the simulation of scalp EEG signals under tCS. In our integrated modeling approach, realistic meshes of the head tissues and of the stimulation electrodes were first built to map the generated electric field distribution on the cortical surface. Secondly, source activities at various cortical macro-regions were generated by means of a computational model of neuronal populations. The model parameters were adjusted so that populations generated an oscillating activity around 10 Hz resembling typical EEG alpha activity. In order to account for tCS effects and following current biophysical models, the calculated component of the electric field normal to the cortex was used to locally influence the activity of neuronal populations. Lastly, EEG under both spontaneous and tACS-stimulated (transcranial sinunoidal tCS from 4 to 16 Hz) brain activity was simulated at the level of scalp electrodes by solving the forward problem in the aforementioned realistic head model. Under the 10 Hz-tACS condition, a significant increase in alpha power occurred in simulated scalp EEG signals as compared to the no-stimulation condition. This increase involved most channels bilaterally, was more pronounced on posterior electrodes and was only significant for tACS frequencies from 8 to 12 Hz. The immediate effects of tACS in the model agreed with the post-tACS results previously reported in real subjects. Moreover, additional information was also brought by the model at other electrode positions or stimulation frequency. This suggests that our modeling approach can be used to compare, interpret and predict changes occurring on EEG with respect to parameters used in specific stimulation configurations.
Rate Adaptation, Scheduling, and Mode Selection in D2D Systems With Partial Channel Knowledge

Device-to-device (D2D) communication enables simultaneous data transmissions by cellular users (CU) and D2D user pairs, but at the expense of additional interference between them. The literature on resource allocation in D2D systems often assumes that the base station (BS) has complete channel state information (CSI) about all the links between all the users in a cell. However, acquiring the CSI of cross links between the CUs and the D2D receivers is a critical bottleneck because the number of cross links is the product of the number of CUs and D2D pairs. We study a novel partial CSI model in which the overhead of feeding back the CSI of the cross links is much lower. For a cell with one D2D pair and multiple CUs, we propose a novel throughput-optimal joint mode selection, user scheduling, and rate adaptation policy that exploits information about the statistics of the cross links and incorporates inter-cell interference. We derive closed-form expressions for the feedback-conditioned goodput for the underlay mode, which drives this optimal policy. We also present extensions that incorporate user fairness, quantized CSI, and multiple D2D pairs and multiple subchannels.
Knee Frontal-Plane Biomechanics in Adults With or Without Bone Marrow Edema-Like Lesions After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury.

CONTEXT Lateral subchondral bone bruises (BBs) occur frequently with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. These BBs are associated with pain during weight bearing, leading individuals to increase medial tibiofemoral loading to alleviate pain laterally. Increased medial tibiofemoral loading may precipitate the development or progression of posttraumatic osteoarthritis; however, no in vivo biomechanical data exist to confirm that lateral BBs increase medial tibiofemoral loading as measured by the external knee-adduction moment (KAM). OBJECTIVE To determine whether lateral BBs after ACL injury increase the external KAM during walking. DESIGN Descriptive laboratory study. SETTING University research laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS Eleven volunteers with an ACL injury (age = 20.36 ± 4.03 years, height = 177.60 ± 8.59 cm, mass = 79.70 ± 16.33 kg), 12 with an ACL injury and a lateral BB (ACL + BB; age = 19.25 ± 5.58 years, height = 170.71 ± 9.40 cm, mass = 66.79 ± 11.91 kg), and 12 healthy controls (age = 19.67 ± 5.19 years, height = 173.29 ± 11.58 cm, mass = 67.07 ± 11.25 kg) participated. INTERVENTION(S) We recorded peak KAM during 3 walking trials (1.1 ± 0.6 m/s) in which participants walked over a force platform located in the field of view of a motion-capture system. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Peak KAM was calculated during the first half of stance using standard inverse-dynamics analysis, averaged across trials, and examined via 1-way analysis of variance. Knee pain and function were determined from the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form and compared among groups via the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS Peak KAM did not differ among groups (ACL injury = 0.14 ± 0.07 Nm·kg-1·m-1, ACL + BB = 0.21 ± 0.08 Nm·kg-1·m-1, control = 0.20 ± 0.08 Nm·kg-1·m-1; F2,35 = 3.243, P = .052). Knee-pain frequency and severity were greater in the ACL-injury (frequency = 2.55 ± 1.81, severity = 3.36 ± 1.75; both P < .001) and ACL + BB (frequency = 3.58 ± 2.81, severity = 4.08 ± 3.20; both P < .001) groups than in the control group (frequency = 0.00 ± 0.00, severity = 0.00 ± 0.00). Knee function was greater in the control group (100.00 ± 0.00) than in the ACL-injury (59.35 ± 17.31; P < .001) and ACL + BB (46.46 ± 25.85; P < .001) groups. CONCLUSIONS The ACL + BB groups did not walk with a greater external KAM than the ACL-injury or control groups. Thus, lateral tibiofemoral BB did not influence knee frontal-plane loading after ACL injury.
The Neurocognitive Cost of Enhancing Cognition with Methylphenidate: Improved Distractor Resistance but Impaired Updating

A balance has to be struck between supporting distractor-resistant representations in working memory and allowing those representations to be updated. Catecholamine, particularly dopamine, transmission has been proposed to modulate the balance between the stability and flexibility of working memory representations. However, it is unclear whether drugs that increase catecholamine transmission, such as methylphenidate, optimize this balance in a task-dependent manner or bias the system toward stability at the expense of flexibility (or vice versa). Here we demonstrate, using pharmacological fMRI, that methylphenidate improves the ability to resist distraction (cognitive stability) but impairs the ability to flexibly update items currently held in working memory (cognitive flexibility). These behavioral effects were accompanied by task-general effects in the striatum and opposite and task-specific effects on neural signal in the pFC. This suggests that methylphenidate exerts its cognitive enhancing and impairing effects through acting on the pFC, an effect likely associated with methylphenidate's action on the striatum. These findings highlight that methylphenidate acts as a double-edged sword, improving one cognitive function at the expense of another, while also elucidating the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these paradoxical effects.
Direct oral provocation tests in non‐immediate mild cutaneous reactions related to beta‐lactam antibiotics

Skin testing has a limited role in the diagnosis of non‐immediate beta‐lactam hypersensitivity in children. The aim of this study was to report the results of oral provocation tests performed without skin tests in children with non‐immediate mild cutaneous reactions without systemic symptoms caused by beta‐lactam antibiotics.
ROBLEM IN A SYNCHRONOUS SGD

Gradient descent can be effectively distributed across multiple workers via data parallelism or model parallelism. A common goal among all approaches is to minimize worker idle time. Parameter synchronization, such as after each minibatch in SGD, requires the parameter server to wait for the slowest worker to reply before applying an update. There is a fully asynchronous method (Dean et al., 2012), originally termed Downpour SGD, which minimizes worker idle time by allowing gradients computed on stale parameters to be sent to the parameter server. In practice, direct usage of asynchronous SGD leads to added noise during training from stale gradients (referred as the ”delayed gradient problem”), which nontrivially decreases test accuracy. Delay compensation, such as that detailed by Zheng et al. (2016a), as well as various warm-start schemes, can help convergence. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the failure modes of ASGD due to delayed gradients under broad sweeps of hyperparameter selections. With a convolutional model, we find that learning rate and batch size selection are the majorizing factors in whether delayed gradients significantly reduce test accuracy. Careful selection of learning rate and batch size, or use of adaptive learning rate methods, is effective in minimizing the delayed gradient problem up to a large (n = 257) number of workers.
Study of the cellular structure heterogeneity and anisotropy of polypropylene and polypropylene nanocomposite foams

This article presents the analysis of the processing parameters influence on the foaming behavior and cellular structure of PP-montmorillonite foams. Polypropylene nanocomposites containing 5.0 phr of an organically-modified montmorillonite (MMT) were initially melt-compounded in a twin-screw extruder with azodicarbonamide (ADC) and later foamed using a one-step compression-molding process. The cellular structure and morphology of the foams was assessed using both scanning and transmission electron microscopies. A time-dependant double-effect was observed during foaming: (1) first of all, the melt strength of the polymer, too high for shorter times, not allowing full cell growth, and too low for high foaming times due to thermal oxidation; (2) and polymer degradation, clearly observed for very high foaming times, directly affecting polymer's melt resistance. Comparatively, PP-MMT foams exhibited a broader foaming time processing window, a more isometric type of cellular structure and decreased open-cell contents, indicating an effective nucleation and cell wall stabilization induced by the exfoliated MMT particles. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers
UAV quadrotor implementation: A case study

Experience gained in modifying and implementing a quadrotor, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), is presented. Their design can be divided into three main parts: Mechanical structure, electronics circuitry, and embedded algorithms. Therefore, quadrotors present an excellent platform where students can learn synergetic design of mechatronic systems. This paper provides a practical experience in modifying an existing Remote Control (RC) quadrotor kit for autonomous operations. Specifically, a second microcontroller was programmed and interfaced with the original circuitry kit in order to bypass the RC commands and accept tasks according to functions embedded in the new controller. The importance of the work was the ability to modify an existing hobbyist quadrotor to accept new operations.
DYNAMIC PARTICLE SYSTEMS FOR OBJECT STRUCTURE EXTRACTION

A new deformable model based on the use of a particle system is introduced. By defining the local behavior of each particle, the system behaves as an active contour model showing a variable topology and regularization properties. The efficiency of the particle system is illustrated by two applications: the first one concerns the use of the system as a skeleton extractor based on the propagation of particles inside a treeshaped object. Using this method, it is possible to generate a cartography of structures such as veins or channels. In a second illustration, the system avoids the problem of initialization of a piecewise cubic Bspline network used to straighten curved text lines.
Gene Networks Underlying Convergent and Pleiotropic Phenotypes in a Large and Systematically-Phenotyped Cohort with Heterogeneous Developmental Disorders

Readily-accessible and standardised capture of genotypic variation has revolutionised our understanding of the genetic contribution to disease. Unfortunately, the corresponding systematic capture of patient phenotypic variation needed to fully interpret the impact of genetic variation has lagged far behind. Exploiting deep and systematic phenotyping of a cohort of 197 patients presenting with heterogeneous developmental disorders and whose genomes harbour de novo CNVs, we systematically applied a range of commonly-used functional genomics approaches to identify the underlying molecular perturbations and their phenotypic impact. Grouping patients into 408 non-exclusive patient-phenotype groups, we identified a functional association amongst the genes disrupted in 209 (51%) groups. We find evidence for a significant number of molecular interactions amongst the association-contributing genes, including a single highly-interconnected network disrupted in 20% of patients with intellectual disability, and show using microcephaly how these molecular networks can be used as baits to identify additional members whose genes are variant in other patients with the same phenotype. Exploiting the systematic phenotyping of this cohort, we observe phenotypic concordance amongst patients whose variant genes contribute to the same functional association but note that (i) this relationship shows significant variation across the different approaches used to infer a commonly perturbed molecular pathway, and (ii) that the phenotypic similarities detected amongst patients who share the same inferred pathway perturbation result from these patients sharing many distinct phenotypes, rather than sharing a more specific phenotype, inferring that these pathways are best characterized by their pleiotropic effects.
Bias in request for medical care and impact on outcome during office and non‐office hours in stroke patients

Background and purpose: We compared characteristics and treatment success of ischaemic stroke patients admitted during daytime on working days (office hours) with patients admitted on weekend or nighttime (non‐office hours) to test if differences in presentation or restraints of medical care during non‐office hours determine outcome in stroke patients.
Reinforcement of Piezoelectric Polymers with Carbon Nanotubes: Pathway to Next-generation Sensors

Piezoelectric polymers such as poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) are being currently utilized as low-cost sensors in many structural vibration control applications and measurements. Their low electromechanical coupling coefficient, however, has always been a concern when utilized in different applications. In order to remedy this, carbon nanotubes, known for their extraordinary properties, can be mixed with such piezoelectric polymers as they have the potential to improve the electromechanical response of these polymers. Along this line of reasoning, different types of nanotubes; namely, single-walled and multiwalled are blended with a copolymer of PVDF. Through extensive experimental vibration testing and theoretical verification, it is found that the nanotube-based polymers yield better response characteristics than those of the plain piezoelectric polymers. More specifically, it is demonstrated that the dominant mechanism responsible for improved sensing performance is the increased Young’s modulus of elasticity of the nanotube-based polymer for the samples considered here. The significant change in properties of these piezoelectric polymers with different fabrication conditions and nanotube addition, though provokes doubts about standardization, creates a pathway for the development of next-generation sensors with enhanced or entirely new properties.