Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endocannabinoid signaling in hypothalamic circuits regulates arousal from general anesthesia in mice

Consciousness can be defined by two major attributes: awareness of environment and self, and arousal, which reflects the level of awareness. The return of arousal after general anesthesia presents an experimental tool for probing the neural mechanisms that control consciousness. Here we have identified that systemic or intracerebral injection of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor (CB1R) antagonist AM281 into the dorsomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (DMH) — but not the adjacent perifornical area (Pef) or the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus (VLPO) — accelerates arousal in mice recovering from general anesthesia. Anesthetics selectively activated endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling at DMH glutamatergic but not GABAergic synapses, leading to suppression of both glutamatergic DMH-Pef and GABAergic DMH-VLPO projections. Deletion of CB1R from widespread cerebral cortical or prefrontal cortical (PFC) glutamatergic neurons, including those innervating the DMH, mimicked the arousal-accelerating effects of AM281. In contrast, CB1R deletion from brain GABAergic neurons or hypothalamic glutamatergic neurons did not affect recovery time from anesthesia. Inactivation of PFC-DMH, DMH-VLPO, or DMH-Pef projections blocked AM281-accelerated arousal, whereas activation of these projections mimicked the effects of AM281. We propose that decreased eCB signaling at glutamatergic terminals of the PFC-DMH projection accelerates arousal from general anesthesia through enhancement of the excitatory DMH-Pef projection, the inhibitory DMH-VLPO projection, or both.
Low-cost microbioreactor for high-throughput bioprocessing.

The design of a microbioreactor is described. An optical sensing system was used for continuous measurements of pH, dissolved oxygen, and optical density in a 2 mL working volume. The K(L)a of the microbioreactor was evaluated under different conditions. An Escherichia coli fermentation in both the microbioreactor and a standard 1 L bioreactor showed similar pH, dissolved oxygen, and optical density profiles. %The low cost of the microbioreactor, detection system, and the small volume of the fermentation broth provide a basis for development of a multiple-bioreactor system for high-throughput bioprocess optimization.
An ensemble classification approach for automated diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment

Effective and robust detection of Alzheimer disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is a prodromal stage of AD, has attracted a lot of attention in the recent years. So far, multiple feature types such as hippocampal volume and shape, voxel based morphometry, and cortical thickness based features extracted from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been proved to be effective for the diagnosis of MCI and AD. This work specifically deals with the features calculated from cortical surface. In particular, the techniques based on regional features of cortical surface poorly reveal the spatial variation in the cortical thickness, and the features defined on vertices are noise sensitive due to the large number of dimensions in MRI data. In this study, we present an ensemble classification framework developed on the average and vertex-wise features of cortical thickness. Furthermore, we also combine thickness based features with volume based features of cortex. The features were reduced using F-Score feature selection method prior to classification. The proposed technique has been tested on a dataset of 60 AD, 60 MCI, and 60 normal controls (NC) from Alzheimer Disease Neuro imaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset, and improvement in performance has been observed compared to previously reported studies in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and kappa statistics. The results show that the proposed feature selection coupled with ensemble classification significantly improves performance.
Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Basis for Effective Argatroban Dosing in Pediatrics

The objective was to characterize the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of argatroban in pediatric patients and derive dosing recommendations. An open‐label multicenter trial was conducted in pediatric patients (n = 18 from birth to 16 years). A population modeling approach was used to characterize pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of argatroban in pediatric patients. Simulations were performed to derive a dosing regimen for pediatric patients. The estimated clearance of argatroban in pediatric patients was 2‐fold lower than that in healthy adults. Body weight was significant predictor of argatroban clearance. The clearance in a typical 20‐kg pediatric patient was 3.1 L/h. In 4 patients with elevated serum bilirubin levels, the estimated clearance was 0.6 L/h. Effect on activated plasma thromboplastin time (aPTT) was found to be concentration dependent. Simulations suggested that a starting dose of 0.75 μg/kg/min in pediatric patients was comparable in performance to 2.0 μg/kg/min approved in adults for attaining target aPTT and risk for bleeding. A dose increment step size of 0.25 μg/kg/min was suitable for titration. The PK/PD of argatroban was reasonably characterized in pediatrics. Plasma concentration—aPTT relationship was used to derive a safe starting dose and titration scheme for the first time in pediatric patients and was incorporated into the US prescribing information for argatroban.
Composition Shift of the Mixtures R-125/236fa (49

A shift in the composition of a refrigerant mixture in a refrigerating circuit is a phenomenon related to the thermophysical properties of the mixture and lubricating oil, the refrigerant/lubricant mass ratio in the circuit, and the features of the plant concerned. This phenomenon may also be accentuated by any leakage or by unsuitable charging procedures. This paper gives a detailed description of a method for measuring the circulating composition of a mixture. The method calls for the use of a gas chromatograph cmmected directly to the circuit so as to enable in-line analyses. Measurements were taken using two mixtures with different behavior, i.e. a zeotropic mixture with a wide glide, R-125/236fa (49.4/50.6), and an azeotropic mixture, R-509A (R-22/218 (44/56]). The mixtures were charged in a circuit with a dry evaporator and no receivers. The compressor was lubricated with POE oil. The composition of the mixture in the liquid phase was measured at the condenser outlet and the composition in the vapor phase was measured at the compressor discharge. The concentration of the low boiling component shifted at most from 49.4% to 54.5% in the case of the zeotropic mixture and from 44.0% to 37.8% in the case of the azeotropic mixture. INTRODUCTION Unlike the situation in the past, synthetic refrigerants will soon almost all be mixtures, with the sole certain exception of R -134a; the situation is very different for natural refrigerants, for which there is expected to be a prevalent use of pure fluids. The composition of the refrigerant mixtures, be they zeotropic or azeotropic, is a parameter of fundamental importance not only for the design of refrigeration systems, but also for their subsequent operation. In fact, the composition may undergo accidental or controlled change, the entity of which depends on the type of refrigerating circuit the mixtures are used in, the type of lubricating oil they are coupled with, the part of circuit being monitored, the operating conditions, the reliability of the circuit's seal and the type of charging procedure adopted. For the sake of clarity, the following terms are defined: the rated composition is the composition of the mixture as declared by the manufacturer; the charged composition is the composition of the mixture actually charged in the circuit; the circulating composition is the composition of the mixture in the single-phase flow sections of the refrigerating circuit. Composition shift is used to mean the difference between the circulating composition and the charged composition. What inevitably causes a composition shift is the glide (in the case of zeotropic mixtures) and the differential solubility of the mixture's components in the oil (for both zeotropic and azeotropic mixtures) [1, 2, 3, 4]. This composition shift could lead to more or less significant variations in the circuit's operating conditions. The performance ofthe plant could thus change considerably and critical conditions could develop if the mixture includes flammable components.
Relationship between regulatory pattern of gene expression level and gene function

Regulation of gene expression levels is essential for all living systems and transcription factors (TFs) are the main regulators of gene expression through their ability to repress or induce transcription. A balance between synthesis and degradation rates controls gene expression levels. To determine which rate is dominant, we analyzed the correlation between expression levels of a TF and its regulated gene based on a mathematical model. We selected about 280,000 expression patterns of 355 TFs and 647 regulated genes using DNA microarray data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data repository. Based on our model, correlation between the expressions of TF–regulated gene pairs corresponds to tuning of the synthesis rate, whereas no correlation indicates excessive synthesis and requires tuning of the degradation rate. The gene expression relationships between TF–regulated gene pairs were classified into four types that correspond to different gene regulatory mechanisms. It was surprising that fewer than 20% of these genes were governed by the familiar regulatory mechanism, i.e., through the synthesis rate. Moreover, we performed pathway analysis and found that each classification type corresponded to distinct gene functions: cellular regulation pathways were dominant in the type with synthesis rate regulation and terms associated with diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease were dominant in the type with degradation rate regulation. Interestingly, these diseases are caused by the accumulation of proteins. These results indicated that gene expression is regulated structurally, not arbitrarily, according to the gene function. This funding is indicative of a systematic control of transcription processes at the whole-cell level.
Designing a Reconfigurable MC-CDMA for Beyond 3G Applications

In this paper, the architecture and the design of a reconfigurable demonstrator for a downlink multicarrier-CDMA (MC-CDMA) based beyond 3G mobile radio system will be presented. This development is performed in the scope of the French PALMYRE project [1]. The main goal of this study is the demonstration of a RF band MC-CDMA modem. The architecture is based on heterogeneous plate-form based on modular SUNDANCE engineering solution for the base band part and an additional modular system for RF interface.
Méthodologie de transformation d'un thesaurus en une ontologie de domaine

Information Retrieval techniques make use of terms that are automatically extracted from documents; these terms are used to give information access. In this paper we propose an approach to enrich semantically this extraction by adding knowledge from thesauri. More specifically, the methodology we promote in this paper aims at transforming a thesaurus into a domain ontology which will then be used to semantically index documents (indexes are concepts rather than terms). We also propose techniques that implement this transformation as well as an evaluation in the field of astronomy.
Inhibition of Keratinocyte Apoptosis by IL-15: A New Parameter in the Pathogenesis of Psoriasis?1

Keratinocytes (KC) are important source of and targets for several cytokines. Although KC express IL-15 mRNA, the functional effects of IL-15 on these epithelial cells remain to be dissected. Investigating primary human foreskin KC and HaCaT cells, we show here by semiquantitative RT-PCR and flow cytometric analysis that both translate IL-15 and IL-15R mRNA and express IL-15 and IL-15Rα protein on the cell surface, suggesting that human KC can employ IL-15 for juxtacrine signaling. While IL-15 exerted no significant effect on KC proliferation and IL-6 or IL-8 secretion, IL-15 inhibited both anti-Fas and methylcellulose-induced KC apoptosis in vitro. This is in line with the recognized potent anti-apoptotic effects of IL-15. IL-2, whose receptor shares two components with the IL-15R, failed to inhibit KC apoptosis. Together with the role of IL-15 in sustaining chronic immune reactions, this invited the question of whether a reduction of KC apoptosis by IL-15 may be involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, a chronic hyperproliferative inflammatory skin disease characterized by abnormally low KC apoptosis in the epidermis. Remarkably, compared with nonlesional psoriatic skin and skin of healthy volunteers, lesional psoriatic epidermis showed high IL-15 protein expression in the epidermis and enhanced binding activity for IL-15. Therefore, antagonizing the inhibitory effects of IL-15 on KC apoptosis deserves exploration as a novel therapeutic strategy in psoriasis management.
CStorage: Distributed Data Storage in Wireless Sensor Networks Employing Compressive Sensing

In this paper, we propose CStorage a fully distributed and efficient data storage scheme for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) based on compressive sensing (CS) techniques. CStorage requires much smaller number of transmissions compared to existing algorithms by exploiting the compressibility of the natural signals along with the broadcast property of wireless channels. In CStorage, after the probabilistic readings dissemination phase, each node obtains one compressed sample (measurement) of the network's readings. Later, a data collector can query a small number measurements and recover all sensors' readings employing CS. We find the optimal parameters of CStorage and evaluate its performance.
An Algorithm of Fast Generating Reversible Progressive Meshes

On the basis of analyzing the existing progressive mesh (PM) methods, this paper proposes a new structure of a mesh to simplify information record and a new progressive mesh generating algorithm based on edge-collapsed mesh simplification method. In this algorithm, the ambiguous problem in PM technology is solved, and the speed of generating progressive meshes is improved largely.
Reading Between the Spikes of the Hypothalamic Neural Code

Reading the spike coding of hypothalamic neurones presents a considerable challenge because they exhibit highly irregular firing patterns. Electrophysiologists working in the motor and sensory systems, in which neurones fire more regularly, have devised satisfactory methods to describe the firing of cells, although the statistical assumptions that underlie the methods do not apply to hypothalamic neurones. Measurement of neural activity is nevertheless vital to characterise the activity of neuroendocrine cells. It has thus become necessary to develop methods suitable for the analysis of the highly irregular spike discharge patterns of both spontaneous and stimulus‐evoked firing of hypothalamic neurones. We review techniques used to meet this challenge and demonstrate their considerable capacity to address important physiological questions. We also introduce a novel approach for valid statistical estimation of the information conveyed by the response of a single neurone to a periodic stimulus. The approach demonstrated significant diurnal rhythms of synaptic connectivity between hypothalamic nuclei.
Poverty Impact of Rising Maize Prices in Kenya

The recent hike in food prices has been of great concern to policymakers, international organisations and donor agencies. In this paper we discuss, both from a partial and general equilibrium perspective, the impact of the recent price increase on maize on Kenyan households. Simulating a 100% increase in maize prices, we find that the headcount ratio in urban areas increased by 3-4 percentage unit points, depending on the size of windfall gain to producers. Based on the assumption that the price shock is passed through in total to the farmers, food poverty in the rural areas could be reduced by almost 14%. If incomes are not passed through, rural food poverty would increase quite significantly in some provinces. It is the poorest of the poor in both urban and rural areas who are most adversely affected. Policy reforms, which would reduce marketing margins and fertiliser prices, would be important factors in promoting a positive impact on performance in the maize sector. The regional maize trade within East Africa seems to have a role to play, and exploring the impact of total integration of the maize markets could be a topic of further research.
Synthesis and Reactivity of 6,7‐dihydrogeranylazides: Reagents for Primary Azide Incorporation into Peptides and Subsequent Staudinger Ligation

Protein farnesyltransferase (PFTase) catalyzes the attachment of a geranylazide moiety to a peptide substrate, N‐dansyl‐GCVIA. Because geranylazide is actually a mixture of isomeric, interconverting primary and secondary azides, incorporation of this isoprenoid into peptides can potentially result in a corresponding mixture of prenylated peptides. Here, we first examined the reactivity of geranyl azide in a model Staudinger reaction and determined that a mixture of products is formed. We then describe the synthesis of 6,7‐dihydrogeranylazide diphosphate and demonstrate that this compound allows exclusive incorporation of a primary azide into a peptide. The resulting azide‐containing peptide was derivatized with a triphenylphosphine‐based reagent to generate an O‐alkyl imidate‐linked product. Finally, we show, using a series of model reactions, that the Staudinger ligation frequently produces small amounts of O‐alkyl imidate products in addition to the major amide‐linked products. Thus, the alkoxyimidates we have observed as the exclusive products in the reactions of peptides containing prenylated azides also appear to be a common type of product formed using other azide‐containing reactants, although at greatly reduced levels. This method for chemical modification of the C‐terminus of a protein should be useful for a variety of applications in protein chemistry.
How the Illicit Drug Economy Contributes to HIV Risk in St Vincent and the Grenadines

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is the largest marijuana producer in the Eastern Caribbean. As the European Union has phased out preferred access for its banana crop, marijuana has become one of the main sources of income and a safety net for many young men, in particular. HIV is a problem for youth in SVG where 60% of the population and 50% of cumulative AIDS cases are among individuals under 30 years of age. To explore the relationship between the economic context and HIV, we used rapid appraisal methods including field observations, interviews, and focus groups with 43 key informants. We found that the marijuana-related economy has contributed to social conditions favoring HIV transmission among young people in several interrelated ways. A lively youth culture exists which includes frequent parties, heavy drinking, sex with multiple partners, and the desire to be seen with the best material goods. Men with access to money are able to attract younger partners for parties and sex. Condoms are infrequently used. We conclude that reducing HIV risk will require structural interventions to reduce discrimination and increase economic opportunity.
Using occlusion models to evaluate scale-space processors

There are several systems that are claimed to generate scale-spaces but how do they compare? This paper examines four significant contenders using both synthetic and real models of occlusion in images. We find that anisotropic diffusion, while effective at removing noise, is not suitable for the estimation of position or scale of simple objects. Linear diffusion may be used for scale selection but has poor performance in occlusion and noise. Of the morphological scale-spaces that we discuss, we find that filtering with flat, connected set structuring elements is not only quicker to compute than diffusion-based scale-spaces, but the results are also perturbed less in the presence of common image distortions such as noise or occlusion.
Growth-Mark Formation and Chronology of Two Neotropical Anuran Species

Abstract In amphibians from tropical or subtropical regions well-expressed growth marks in bone could be expected because of the existence of strong dry/wet seasons, but little evidence is available. Additionally, temporal patterns of growth-mark formation may be a function of genetic and environmental factors. We used skeletochronology and a laboratory experiment to tease apart both causal sources, establishing direct correspondence between an observed pattern of bone growth and the actual age of Ceratophrys cranwelli and Dermatonotus muelleri from the subtropical Argentinean Chaco. Also, we describe the growth by application of the von Bertalanffy model. Growth rates decreased in both species, tending to reach asymptotic values at age 8–10 months after metamorphosis. Both species clearly exhibited haematoxylinophilic lines of arrested growth (LAG) after one year growing in captivity. These results reinforce the hypothesis that in subtropical climates the LAG formation is ultimately caused by a general intrinsic (genetic) control.
Constructing Control-Flow-Based Testing Tools for Web Application

Flexible and rich application frameworks of Web-based software design make Web-based applications more prevalent in both Internet and Intranet environments. Programmers enjoy various of Web application frameworks whose support ranging from simple user interactions based on plain client-server model, to complicated distributed-object computations based on CORBA. The varity gives user the flexibility to decide a proper framework, and leads to the demands of new support tools and testing framework to test and maintain Web applications. In this paper, a architecture is proposed to support the testing of web-based applications. The architecture covers application model extraction, test execution automation, and test design automation. In addition, a graph-based application model is also presented to model the behavior of web-based applications. With the graphic presentation, several traditional software testing techniques are extended to test Web-based applications.
Real-time dynamic vehicle detection on resource-limited mobile platform

Given the rapid expansion of car ownership worldwide, vehicle safety is an increasingly critical issue in the automobile industry. The reduced cost of cameras and optical devices has made it economically feasible to deploy front-mounted intelligent systems for visual-based event detection. Prior to vehicle event detection, detecting vehicles robustly in real time is challenging, especially conducting detection process in images captured by a dynamic camera. Therefore, in this paper, a robust vehicle detector is developed. Our contribution is three-fold. Road modeling is first proposed to confine detection area for maintaining low computation complexity and reducing false alarms as well. Haar-like features and eigencolors are then employed for the vehicle detector. To tackle the occlusion problem, chamfer distance is used to estimate the probability of each individual vehicle. AdaBoost algorithm is used to select critical features from a combined high dimensional feature set. Experiments on an extensive dataset show that our proposed system can effectively detect vehicles under different lighting and traffic conditions, and thus demonstrates its feasibility in real-world environments.