Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early nutritional stress impairs development of a song-control brain region in both male and female juvenile song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) at the onset of song learning

Birdsong is a sexually selected trait and is often viewed as an indicator of male quality. The developmental stress hypothesis proposes a model by which song could be an indicator; the time during early development, when birds learn complex songs and/or local variants of song, is of rapid development and nutritional stress. Birds that cope best with this stress may better learn to produce the most effective songs. The developmental stress hypothesis predicts that early food restriction should impair development of song-control brain regions at the onset of song learning. We examined the effect of food restriction on song-control brain regions in fledgling (both sexes, 23–26 days old) song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Food restriction selectively reduced HVC volume in both sexes. In addition, sex differences were evident in all three song-control regions. This study lends further support to a growing body of literature documenting a variety of behavioural, physiological and neural detriments in several songbird species resulting from early developmental stress.
A 100nm Double-Stacked 500MHz 72Mb Separate-I/O Synchronous SRAM with Automatic Cell-Bias Scheme and Adaptive Block Redundancy

As multi-core processors become mainstream, the demand for high-density cache memories has increased. Conventional 6T-cell-based SRAMs do not provide enough density for this trend, although they do have the desirable feature of high-speed access. To overcome the density limitation, an SRAM using a double- stacked S3 (stacked single-crystal Si) SRAM cell was introduced for mobile applications. This work demonstrates a high-speed SRAM using double-stacked-cell. From the process point of view, our design uses fully proven technologies for mass production at the sacrifice of cell size.From a circuit-design perspective, three schemes are introduced. They are automatic cell bias (ACB) for managing the current of SRAM cell transistors by controlling cell bias, adaptive block redundancy (ABR) for dealing with various defects from the new cell technology, and wordline pulse-width regulation (WPR) for adjusting wordline pulse-width according to cycle time.
Mapping Land Cover and Estimating the Grassland Structure in a Priority Area of the Chihuahuan Desert

A field characterization of the grassland vegetation structure, represented by the coverage of grass canopy (CGC) and the grass height, was carried out during three years (2009–2011) in a priority area for the conservation of grasslands of North America. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM5) images were selected and the information of reflectance was obtained based on the geographical location of each field-sampling site. Linear models, constructed with field and satellite data, with high coefficients of determination for CGC (R2 = 0.81, R2 = 0.81 and R2 = 0.72) and grass height (R2 = 0.82, R2 = 0.79 and R2 = 0.73) were obtained. The maps showed a good level of CGC (>25%) and grass height (>25 cm), except for the year 2009, which presented the lowest values of grass height in the area. According to the Kappa Index, a moderate concordance among the three CGC maps was presented (0.49–0.59). Conversely, weak and moderate concordances were found among the grass height maps (0.36–0.59). It was observed that areas with a high CGC do not necessarily correspond to areas with greater grass height values. Based on the data analyzed in this study, the grassland areas are highly dynamic, structurally heterogeneous and the spatial distribution of the variables does not show a definite pattern. From the information generated, it is possible to determine those areas that are the most important for monitoring to then establish effective strategies for the conservation of these grasslands and the protection of threatened migratory bird species.
Genetic variation in male attractiveness: It is time to see the forest for the trees

Female choice based on multiple male traits, rather than on any single one, has been reported in many species and may well be a rule rather than an exception. However, the implications this has for selection acting on choosiness itself remain underappreciated. We argue that this constitutes one of the important impediments to our understanding of the evolution of mate choice. We discuss this issue primarily in the context of the Fisherian model of sexual selection. We review theory and empirical data, showing how the crucial parameter of the model—genetic variation in male attractiveness—can be estimated when attractiveness is a function of multiple traits. Based on the reviewed theory, we show how relying on individual male traits, instead of overall attractiveness, can produce biased estimates of Fisherian benefits of female choice. This bias can be substantial, especially when many traits contribute to male attractiveness. We discuss a number of methodological issues that, we hope, will stimulate future studies and help resolving the long‐standing mystery of mate choice.
A Comparison of Export Marketing Behavior of Canadian and Austrian High-Tech Firms

Export marketing behavior of high-tech companies in Canada and Austria is examined. T-test analysis was used to compare export marketing expertise, information sources, and market research, and the findings are discussed in the context of the competitive climate for high-tech products. Results show that Austrian companies are more culturally attuned than Canadian companies and that the latter are more inwardly focused. Each group appears to emphasize different areas of expertise and market research activities. Conclusions and implications for exporters of high-tech products and researchers are offered.
Transcript Analysis of Early Nodulation Events in Medicago truncatula12[W]

Within the first 72 h of the interaction between rhizobia and their host plants, nodule primordium induction and infection occur. We predicted that transcription profiling of early stages of the symbiosis between Medicago truncatula roots and Sinorhizobium meliloti would identify regulated plant genes that likely condition key events in nodule initiation. Therefore, using a microarray with about 6,000 cDNAs, we compared transcripts from inoculated and uninoculated roots corresponding to defined stages between 1 and 72 h post inoculation (hpi). Hundreds of genes of both known and unknown function were significantly regulated at these time points. Four stages of the interaction were recognized based on gene expression profiles, and potential marker genes for these stages were identified. Some genes that were regulated differentially during stages I (1 hpi) and II (6–12 hpi) of the interaction belong to families encoding proteins involved in calcium transport and binding, reactive oxygen metabolism, and cytoskeleton and cell wall functions. Genes involved in cell proliferation were found to be up-regulated during stages III (24–48 hpi) and IV (72 hpi). Many genes that are homologs of defense response genes were up-regulated during stage I but down-regulated later, likely facilitating infection thread progression into the root cortex. Additionally, genes putatively involved in signal transduction and transcriptional regulation were found to be differentially regulated in the inoculated roots at each time point. The findings shed light on the complexity of coordinated gene regulation and will be useful for continued dissection of the early steps in symbiosis.
The attributes of medical event-reporting systems: experience with a prototype medical event-reporting system for transfusion medicine.

OBJECTIVE To design, develop, and implement a prototype medical event-reporting system for use in transfusion medicine to improve transfusion safety by studying incidents and errors. METHODS The IDEALS concept of design was used to identify specifications for the event-reporting system, and a Delphi and subsequent nominal group technique meetings were used to reach consensus on the development of the system. An interdisciplinary panel of experts from aviation safety, nuclear power, cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, and education and representatives of major transfusion medicine organizations participated in the development process. Setting. - Three blood centers and three hospital transfusion services implemented the reporting system. RESULTS A working prototype event-reporting system was recommended and implemented. The system has seven components: detection, selection, description, classification, computation, interpretation, and local evaluation. Its unique features include no-fault reporting initiated by the individual discovering the event, who submits a report that is investigated by local quality assurance personnel and forwarded to a nonregulatory central system for computation and interpretation. CONCLUSIONS An event-reporting system incorporated into present quality assurance and risk management efforts can help organizations address system structural and procedural weakness where the potential for errors can adversely affect health care outcomes. Input from the end users of the system as well as from external experts should enable this reporting system to serve as a useful model for others who may develop event-reporting systems in other medical domains.
Cytokines and growth factors during and after a wrestling season in adolescent boys.

PURPOSE Brief periods of aerobic exercise training lead to reductions, rather then the expected increases in circulating IGF-I. We hypothesized that intense exercise training in adolescents initially leads to simultaneous increases in proinflammatory cytokines and decreases in activity of the GH/IGF-I axis; and that as exercise training proceeds, levels of proinflammatory cytokines become reduced, and a rebound in IGF-I ensues leading to the higher IGF-I levels. METHOD To test this, we evaluated the GH/IGF-I axis and levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-1ra), body composition, and fitness in 13 healthy adolescent boys (mean age 15.9 +/- 0.3 yr) over the course of a high-school wrestling season. Subjects were tested preseason, midseason (6 wk), peak season (12-14 wk), and 4 wk postseason. RESULTS No significant weight loss was noted throughout the season. During the wrestling season (mid and peak) both total (P < 0.046) and free (P < 0.002) IGF-I levels decreased, whereas proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1ra, P < 0.005; IGFBP-1, P < 0.013; and IGFBP-2, P < 0.025) increased. GHBP (P < 0.018) levels also decreased during the season. In the postseason, there were significant increases in GHBP, and free and total IGF-I, whereas proinflammatory cytokines decreased. CONCLUSIONS An initial catabolic-type hormonal response occurs with intense exercise training in adolescents. This is followed by a rebound in circulating growth factors when the period of heavy training ceases.
Analysis of growth of multicellular tumour spheroids by mathematical models

Abstract. We wished to determine the applicability of previously proposed deterministic mathematical models to description of growth of multicellular tumour spheroids. The models were placed into three general classes: empirical, functional and structural. From these classes, 17 models were applied systematically to growth curves of multicellular tumour spheroids used as paradigms of prevascular and microregional tumour growth. The spheroid growth curves were determined with uniquely high density of m'easurements and high precision. The theoretical growth curves obtained from the models were fitted by the weighted least‐squares method to the 15 measured growth curves, each corresponding to a different cell line. The classical growth models such as von Berta‐lanffy, logistic and Gompertz were considered as nested within more general models. Our results demonstrate that most models fitted the data fairly well and that criteria other than statistical had to be used for final selection. The Gompertz, the autostim‐ulation and the simple spheroid models were the most appropriate for spheroid growth in the empirical, functional and structural classes of models, respectively. We also showed that some models (e.g. logistic, von Bertalanffy) were clearly inadequate. Thus, contrary to the widely held belief, the sigmoid character of a three or more parameter growth function is not sufficient for adequate fits.
A Role for Saccharomyces cerevisiae Tpa1 Protein in Direct Alkylation Repair*

Background: Fe(II)/2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent dioxygenases repair alkyl-base lesions of DNA. Results: Tpa1 is a Fe(II)/2OG-dependent dioxygenase and mediates alkyl-base repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and deleting TPA1 with DNA glycosylase MAG1 had a synergistic effect on the susceptibility to methylation-induced toxicity. Conclusion: Tpa1 protein plays a crucial role in DNA alkylation repair. Significance: Our results provide the first evidence of direct alkylation repair by any Fe(II)/2OG-dependent dioxygenases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Alkylating agents induce cytotoxic DNA base adducts. In this work, we provide evidence to suggest, for the first time, that Saccharomyces cerevisiae Tpa1 protein is involved in DNA alkylation repair. Little is known about Tpa1 as a repair protein beyond the initial observation from a high-throughput analysis indicating that deletion of TPA1 causes methyl methane sulfonate sensitivity in S. cerevisiae. Using purified Tpa1, we demonstrate that Tpa1 repairs both single- and double-stranded methylated DNA. Tpa1 is a member of the Fe(II) and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase family, and we show that mutation of the amino acid residues involved in cofactor binding abolishes the Tpa1 DNA repair activity. Deletion of TPA1 along with the base excision repair pathway DNA glycosylase MAG1 renders the tpa1Δmag1Δ double mutant highly susceptible to methylation-induced toxicity. We further demonstrate that the trans-lesion synthesis DNA polymerase Polζ (REV3) plays a key role in tolerating DNA methyl-base lesions and that tpa1Δmag1revΔ3 triple mutant is extremely susceptible to methylation-induced toxicity. Our results indicate a synergism between the base excision repair pathway and direct alkylation repair by Tpa1 in S. cerevisiae. We conclude that Tpa1 is a hitherto unidentified DNA repair protein in yeast and that it plays a crucial role in reverting alkylated DNA base lesions and cytotoxicity.
Session Introduction

Given the exponential growth of biomedical data, researchers are faced with numerous challenges in extracting and interpreting information from these large, high-dimensional, incomplete, and often noisy data. To facilitate addressing this growing concern, the "Patterns in Biomedical Data-How do we find them? " session of the 2017 Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB) is devoted to exploring pattern recognition using data-driven approaches for biomedical and precision medicine applications. The papers selected for this session focus on novel machine learning techniques as well as applications of established methods to heterogeneous data. We also feature manuscripts aimed at addressing the current challenges associated with the analysis of biomedical data.
Practical challenges of integrating synchrophasor applications into an EMS

With the exploding growth of synchrophasor PMU data in utility control centers, there is an increased emphasis on successful integration of existing model-based Energy Management Systems (EMS) applications with the new complementary PMU measurement-based applications. This is necessary to gain confidence of the newly integrated data, while embracing these new measurement-based tools and techniques. These new generation of synchrophasor applications have moved beyond prototype to the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage. Once validated and accepted by end users, field installation and training, the tools will become part of the day-to-day, production EMS. The synchrophasor applications include Linear State Estimator (LSE), Oscillation Detection, Voltage Stability indicators, etc. Enhanced tools to validate results and advanced simulation tools for training are other areas for development. The integration tasks pose many challenges and are addressed in this paper.
Acute tympanic membrane perforations and the early immunological response in rats

Conclusions: This study showed that macrophages, B cells, and T cells occurred at different frequencies, localizations, and times after acute laser tympanic membrane perforation. Immunological cells were most prevalent in the proliferative mass adjacent to the annulus region. The cellular immunological response in freshly perforated eardrums was unexpectedly aggressive. Objectives: To study the occurrence of immunocompetent cells during the healing process of fresh perforated tympanic membranes. The information could be used to develop alternative outpatient procedures in the cure of chronic perforations, replacing conventional surgery. Materials and methods: A laser myringotomy was carried out in Sprague-Dawley rats, which were sacrificed at 3 and 6 days after the myringotomy. Tympanic membrane sections were stained immunohistochemically according to the avidin-biotin method, targeting macrophages, B cells, and T cells. Semi-quantification was performed; positive cells were counted and mean values were calculated. Results: Macrophages and B cells were most frequent at day 6 and T cells at day 3 after laser myringotomy. B cells were the most prevalent studied cell type. T cells peaked at day 3, after which they decreased in number. Most immunocompetent cells were observed in the proliferative mass at the edge of the perforation.
Compressive sensing could accelerate 1H MR metabolic imaging in the clinic.

PURPOSE To retrospectively evaluate the fidelity of magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopic imaging data preservation at a range of accelerations by using compressed sensing. MATERIALS AND METHODS The protocols were approved by the institutional review board of the university, and written informed consent to acquire and analyze MR spectroscopic imaging data was obtained from the subjects prior to the acquisitions. This study was HIPAA compliant. Retrospective application of compressed sensing was performed on 10 clinical MR spectroscopic imaging data sets, yielding 600 voxels from six normal brain data sets, 163 voxels from two brain tumor data sets, and 36 voxels from two prostate cancer data sets for analysis. The reconstructions were performed at acceleration factors of two, three, four, five, and 10 and were evaluated by using the root mean square error (RMSE) metric, metabolite maps (choline, creatine, N-acetylaspartate [NAA], and/or citrate), and statistical analysis involving a voxelwise paired t test and one-way analysis of variance for metabolite maps and ratios for comparison of the accelerated reconstruction with the original case. RESULTS The reconstructions showed high fidelity for accelerations up to 10 as determined by the low RMSE (< 0.05). Similar means of the metabolite intensities and hot-spot localization on metabolite maps were observed up to a factor of five, with lack of statistically significant differences compared with the original data. The metabolite ratios of choline to NAA and choline plus creatine to citrate did not show significant differences from the original data for up to an acceleration factor of five in all cases and up to that of 10 for some cases. CONCLUSION A reduction of acquisition time by up to 80%, with negligible loss of information as evaluated with clinically relevant metrics, has been successfully demonstrated for hydrogen 1 MR spectroscopic imaging.
Unilateral neck exploration under local anesthesia: the approach of choice for asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism.

BACKGROUND Conventional parathyroidectomy involves a bilateral neck exploration with the patient under general anesthesia with a thorough search for all parathyroid tissue. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of unilateral neck exploration under local anesthesia in patients with asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism (first-degree hyperparathyroidism). METHODS Of 679 patients who underwent parathyroidectomy for first-degree hyperparathyroidism from July 1989 to June 1997, 230 asymptomatic patients underwent unilateral neck exploration under local anesthesia. Selection criteria for this approach included the successful identification of a solitary parathyroid adenoma on preoperative imaging, no thyroid disease, and no family history of multiple endocrine neoplasia. Intact parathyroid hormone levels were monitored during the operation. RESULTS Total serum calcium levels were normal in 220 patients (96%) 3 to 6 months after surgery. Ten patients (4%) experienced persistent hypercalcemia, 8 of whom had multiple gland disease and 2 of whom had false-positive imaging. Two of these patients underwent bilateral neck exploration under general anesthesia and were cured, although 8 patients remained asymptomatic and were followed up non-operatively. The mean operating time was 30 minutes (range, 12-65 minutes). There were two complications (0.87%) including one wound hematoma and one transient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy. CONCLUSIONS Unilateral neck exploration under local anesthesia is an efficacious and safe approach to the treatment of first-degree hyperparathyroidism and should be considered in all patients with asymptomatic disease.
A multicenter study for a single, three-step laser treatment for cellulite using a 1440-nm Nd:YAG laser, a novel side-firing fiber, and a temperature-sensing cannula.

BACKGROUND Historically, treatments for cellulite have not been able to address all of its physiological components and require multiple sessions. OBJECTIVE The authors evaluate the safety and efficacy of a single, subdermal procedure to treat the underlying structure of cellulite. METHODS Fifty-seven patients underwent a 3-step cellulite treatment with a 1440-nm Nd:YAG laser with a side-firing fiber and temperature-sensing cannula. Efficacy was measured by the ability of blinded evaluators to distinguish baseline photos from those taken at 3 and 6 months posttreatment, as well as their rating of the results on a 5-point, 2-category ordinal photonumeric scale when comparing baseline photos to those taken at 2, 3, and 6 months posttreatment. Patient and physician satisfaction was assessed based on completion of a satisfaction survey at 2, 3, and 6 months posttreatment. Adverse events (AE) were recorded throughout the study. RESULTS At 6 months posttreatment, blinded evaluators rated at least a 1-point improvement in the appearance of cellulite in 96% of treated sites. Blinded evaluators were also able to correctly identify baseline versus posttreatment photos in 95% of cases. At least 90% of patients and physicians reported satisfaction with the results of treatment throughout 6 months. AE were mild in intensity and transient to treatment. CONCLUSIONS A single, 3-step, minimally invasive laser treatment using a 1440-nm Nd:YAG laser, side-firing fiber, and temperature-sensing cannula to treat the underlying structure of cellulite proved to be safe and maintained effectiveness at least 6 months posttreatment. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2.