Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation-dependent redistribution of the adhesion plaque protein, talin, in intact human platelets [published erratum appears in J Cell Biol 1990 Mar;110(3):865]

Talin is a high molecular weight protein localized at adhesion plaques in fibroblasts. It binds vinculin and integrin and appears to participate in generating a transmembrane connection between the extracellular matrix and the cytoskeleton. We have recently shown that talin is an abundant protein in platelets, cells highly specialized for regulated adhesion. Although talin constitutes greater than 3% of the total protein in intact human platelets, its location within the cells had not been defined. In the work reported here, we have investigated the distribution of talin in resting and activated human platelets by immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy. We have found that talin undergoes an activation-dependent change in its subcellular location. In resting platelets, which are nonadhesive, talin is uniformly distributed throughout the cytoplasm. In contrast, in thrombin- and glass-activated, substratum-adherent platelets, talin is concentrated at the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane. This dramatic, regulated redistribution of talin raises the possibility that talin plays a role in the controlled development of platelet adhesion.
A week-long meditation retreat decouples behavioral measures of the alerting and executive attention networks

Previous studies have examined the influence of meditation on three functionally different components of attention: executive control, alerting, and orienting. These studies have consistently found that meditation training improves both executive attention and alerting, but there has not been a consistent and clear effect of meditation training on orienting. In addition, while previous studies have shown that the functional coupling of the alerting and executive networks increases the processing of task irrelevant stimuli, it is unknown if participating in a meditation retreat can decouple these components of attention and lead to improved performance. The current study investigated the influence of a week-long intensive meditation retreat on three components of attention by randomly assigning participants to either pre- or postretreat testing groups. A modified attention network test (ANT) was used. Executive attention was measured as the difference in response time (RT) between congruent and incongruent task irrelevant flankers (conflict effect). Reflexive and volitional orienting were measured by manipulating cue validity and stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). The coupling of executive attention and alerting was measured by examining flanker interference as a function of the SOA of an alerting cue. The meditation retreat improved task based indices of executive attention, but not reflexive or volitional orienting. There was clear behavioral evidence of coupling between executive attention and alerting in the preretreat group, as the conflict effect peaked when an alerting cue was presented 300 ms before the target. Importantly, there was no increase in the conflict effect for the postretreat group. This is consistent with the notion that the retreat decoupled the executive and alerting networks. These results suggest that previously reported improvements in the executive and alerting networks after meditation training might be mediated by the same underlying mechanism.
Inhibition of Glutamate Receptor 2 Translation by a Polymorphic Repeat Sequence in the 5′-Untranslated Leaders

Previous studies have identified multiple transcription initiation sites for the glutamate receptor 2 (GluR2) gene, resulting in a heterogeneous population of GluR2 transcripts in vivo that differ in the length of their 5′-untranslated leaders (5′-UTR). We designed a series of monocistronic and dicistronic GluR2 cDNA constructs that model the natural in vivo transcripts and investigated their translation efficiencies in rabbit reticulocyte lysates, Xenopus oocytes, and primary cultured neurons. Transcripts containing long 5′ leaders (429 and 481 bases) were translated poorly compared with those with shorter leaders (341 or fewer bases). None of the five initiation codons in the 5′-UTR or the leader length per se were responsible for translation regulation. Rather, control of translation was mediated by a sequence containing a 34–42 nucleotide imperfect GU repeat predicted to form secondary structure in vivo. This translation suppression domain is included in some but not all rat and human GluR2 transcripts in vivo, depending on the site of transcription initiation. Rat cortex GluR2 transcripts that lack the translation suppression sequence were preferentially associated with polyribosomes. Furthermore, the GU-repeat cluster was found to be polymorphic in humans, raising the possibility that expansion or contraction of the GU-repeat cluster in certain populations might modify the level of GluR2 protein expression in neurons.
Coordinated Transmission with Block Diagonalization in MIMO Broadcast

In this paper, we investigate coordinated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission schemes in an interference-limited cellular downlink. We propose a novel block diagonalization (BD) scheme which is combined with zero-forcing (ZF) criterion. In the scheme, multi-user interference is mitigated by BD while interference among spatial data streams for a user is mitigated by ZF. Also an efficient power allocation is proposed. Sum rate is largely increased by combining the novel coordinated scheme with the power allocation. Computer simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed coordinated scheme and its corresponding power allocation.
Pricing Interest-Rate Derivatives: A Fourier-Transform Based Approach

A General Multi-Factor Model of the Term Structure of Interest Rates and the Principles of Characteristic Functions. - Theoretical Prices of European Interest-Rate Derivatives. - Three Fourier Transform-Based Pricing Approaches. - Payoff Transformations and the Pricing of European Interest-Rate Derivatives. - Numerical Computation of Model Prices. - Jump Specifications for Affine Term-Structure Models. - Jump-Enhanced One-Factor Interest-Rate Models. - Jump-Enhanced Two-Factor Interest-Rate Models. - Non-Affine Term-Structure Models and Short-Rate Models with Stochastic Jump Intensity. - Conclusion.
Heterogeneous web data search using relevance-based on the fly data integration

Searching over heterogeneous structured data on the Web is challenging due to vocabulary and structure mismatches among different data sources. In this paper, we study two existing strategies and present a new approach to integrate additional data sources into the search process. The first strategy relies on data integration to mediate mismatches through upfront computation of mappings, based on which queries are rewritten to fit individual sources. The other extreme is keyword search, which does not require any up-front investment, but ignores structure information. Building on these strategies, we present a hybrid approach, which combines the advantages of both. Our approach does not require any upfront data integration, but also leverages the fine grained structure of the underlying data. For a structured query adhering to the vocabulary of just one source, the so-called seed query, we construct an entity relevance model (ERM), which captures the content and the structure of the seed query results. This ERM is then aligned on the fly with keyword search results retrieved from other sources and also used to rank these results. The outcome of our experiments using large-scale real-world data sets suggests that data integration leads to higher search effectiveness compared to keyword search and that our new hybrid approach consistently exceeds both strategies.
Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Is Involved in Ectopic Endometrial Tissue Growth and Peritoneal-Endometrial Tissue Interaction In Vivo: A Plausible Link to Endometriosis Development

Pelvic inflammation is a hallmark of endometriosis pathogenesis and a major cause of the disease's symptoms. Abnormal immune and inflammatory changes may not only contribute to endometriosis-major symptoms, but also contribute to ectopic endometrial tissue growth and endometriosis development. A major pro-inflammatory factors found elevated in peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis and to be overexpressed in peritoneal fluid macrophages and active, highly vascularized and early stage endometriotic lesions, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) appeared to induce angiogenic and inflammatory and estrogen producing phenotypes in endometriotic cells in vitro and to be a possible therapeutic target in vivo. Using a mouse model where MIF-knock out (KO) mice received intra-peritoneal injection of endometrial tissue from MIF-KO or syngeneic wild type (WT) mice and vice versa, our current study revealed that MIF genetic depletion resulted in a marked reduction ectopic endometrial tissue growth, a disrupted tissue structure and a significant down regulation of the expression of major inflammatory (cyclooxygenease-2), cell adhesion (αv and β3 integrins), survival (B-cell lymphoma-2) and angiogenic (vascular endothelial cell growth) factorsrelevant to endometriosis pathogenesis, whereas MIF add-back to MIF-KO mice significantly restored endometriosis-like lesions number and size. Interestingly, cross-experiments revealed that MIF presence in both endometrial and peritoneal host tissues is required for ectopic endometrial tissue growth and pointed to its involvement in endometrial-peritoneal interactions. This study provides compelling evidence for the role of MIF in endometriosis development and its possible interest for a targeted treatment of endometriosis.
Income Distribution Polarization and Economic Growth: Channels and Effects

Developing and transitional economies usually experience high levels of income polarization during the period of transition and rapid economic growth. Understanding and quantifying its effects on the economy is important to developmental strategies. In this paper, we study the effect of income distribution polarization on GDP growth and its transmission channels. We also suggest some strategies to deal with the problem in view of our results and the experiences of income redistribution policies in developed countries.
Using the TIDieR Checklist to Standardize the Description of a Functional Strength Training Intervention for the Upper Limb After Stroke

Background and Purpose: Published reports of intervention in randomized controlled trials are often poorly described. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist has been recently developed to improve the reporting of interventions. The aim of this article is to describe a therapy intervention used in the stroke rehabilitation trial, “Clinical Efficacy of Functional Strength Training for Upper Limb Motor Recovery Early After Stroke: Neural Correlates and Prognostic Indicators” (FAST-INdICATE), using TIDieR. Methods: The functional strength training intervention used in the FAST-INdICATE trial was described using TIDieR so that intervention can be replicated by both clinicians, who may implement it in practice, and researchers, who may deliver it in future research. The usefulness of TIDieR in the context of a complex stroke rehabilitation intervention was then discussed. Results and Discussion: The TIDieR checklist provided a systematic way of describing a treatment intervention used in a clinical trial of stroke rehabilitation. Clarification is needed regarding several aspects of the TIDieR checklist, including in which section to report about the development of the intervention in pilot studies, results of feasibility studies; overlap between training and procedures for assessing fidelity; and where to publish supplementary material so that it remains in the public domain. Conclusions: TIDieR is a systematic way of reporting the intervention delivered in a clinical trial of a complex intervention such as stroke rehabilitation. This approach may also have value for standardizing intervention in clinical practice. Video abstract available for more insights from the authors (see Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A131).
Soluble Rank Ligand Produced by Myeloma Cells Causes Generalised Bone Loss in Multiple Myeloma

Patients with multiple myeloma commonly develop focal osteolytic bone disease, as well as generalised osteoporosis. The mechanisms underlying the development of osteoporosis in patients with myeloma are poorly understood. Although disruption of the RANKL/OPG pathway has been shown to underlie formation of focal osteolytic lesions, its role in the development of osteoporosis in myeloma remains unclear. Increased soluble RANKL in serum from patients with myeloma raises the possibility that this molecule plays a key role. The aim of the present study was to establish whether sRANKL produced by myeloma cells contributes directly to osteoporosis. C57BL/KaLwRij mice were injected with either 5T2MM or 5T33MM murine myeloma cells. 5T2MM-bearing mice developed osteolytic bone lesions (p<0.05) with increased osteoclast surface (p<0.01) and reduced trabecular bone volume (p<0.05). Bone volume was also reduced at sites where 5T2MM cells were not present (p<0.05). In 5T2MM-bearing mice soluble mRANKL was increased (p<0.05), whereas OPG was not altered. In contrast, 5T33MM-bearing mice had no changes in osteoclast surface or trabecular bone volume and did not develop osteolytic lesions. Soluble mRANKL was undetectable in serum from 5T33MM-bearing mice. In separate experiments, RPMI-8226 human myeloma cells were transduced with an human RANKL/eGFP construct, or eGFP alone. RPMI-8226/hRANKL/eGFP cells, but not RPMI-8226/eGFP cells, stimulated osteoclastic bone resorption (p<0.05) in vitro. Sub-cutaneous injection of NOD/SCID mice with RPMI-8226/hRANKL/eGFP or RPMI-8226/eGFP cells resulted in tumour development in all mice. RPMI-8226/hRANKL/eGFP-bearing mice exhibited increased serum soluble hRANKL (p<0.05) and a three-fold increase in osteoclast number (p<0.05) compared to RPMI-8226/eGFP-bearing mice. This was associated with reduced trabecular bone volume (27%, p<0.05), decreased trabecular number (29%, p<0.05) and increased trabecular thickness (8%, p<0.05). Our findings demonstrate that soluble RANKL produced by myeloma cells causes generalised bone loss, suggesting that targeting RANKL may prevent osteoporosis in patients with myeloma.
RESEARCH: Cognitive Rehabilitation for Bipolar Disorder: An Open Trial for Employed Patients with Residual Depressive Symptoms

Bipolar disorder is characterized by recurrent episodes of depression and/or mania along with interepisodic mood symptoms that interfere with psychosocial functioning. Despite periods of symptomatic recovery, individuals with bipolar disorder often continue to experience impairments in psychosocial functioning, particularly occupational functioning. Two determinants of psychosocial functioning of euthymic (neither fully depressed nor manic) individuals with bipolar disorder are residual depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment (i.e., difficulties with executive functioning, attention, and memory). The present study explored whether a new cognitive remediation (CR) treatment designed to treat residual depressive symptoms and, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, address cognitive impairment would be associated with improvement in psychosocial functioning in individuals with bipolar disorder. Following a neuropsychological and clinical assessment 18 individuals with DSM‐IV bipolar disorder were treated with 14 individual sessions of CR. Results indicated that at the end of treatment, as well as at the 3‐months follow‐up, patients showed lower residual depressive symptoms, and increased occupational, as well as overall psychosocial functioning. Pretreatment neuropsychological impairment predicted treatment response. Improvements in executive functioning were associated with improvements in occupational functioning. These findings suggest that treating residual depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment may be an avenue to improving occupational and overall functioning in individuals with bipolar disorder.
Programmable Order-Preserving Secure Index for Encrypted Database Query

The database services on cloud are appearing as an attractive way of outsourcing databases. When a database is deployed on a cloud database service, the data security and privacy becomes a big concern for users. A straightforward way to address this concern is to encrypt the database. However, an encrypted database cannot be easily queried. In this paper, we propose an order-preserving scheme for indexing encrypted data, which facilitates the range queries over encrypted databases. The scheme is secure since it randomizes each index with noises, such that the original data cannot be recovered from indexes. Moreover, our scheme allows the programmability of basic indexing expressions and thus the distribution of the original data can be hidden from the indexes.
Combining Focus Measures through Genetic Algorithm for Shape from Focus

For the reconstruction of three-dimensional (3D) shape of microscopic objects different focus measure operators have been employed. It is difficult to compute accurate depth map using a single focus measure due to different type of texture. Moreover, real images with diverse types of illumination and contrast lead to the erroneous depth map estimation through a single focus measure. So to address this problem, we have used spatial focus measure operators in conjunction with genetic algorithm for accurate depth map estimation. Genetic algorithm uses the output of the focus measure operators and using weight updating method accurately estimates the depth maps of real world objects. The performance of the developed method is then evaluated by using both the synthetic and real world image sequences. The experimental results show that the proposed method is more useful in computing accurate depth maps as compared to the existing SFF methods.
Delegation and Agency in International Organizations: Distribution, information, and delegation to international organizations: the case of IMF conditionality

States delegate authority to international organizations (IOs) for many reasons. Incentives to delegate fall under the general heading of informational concerns, such as monitoring behavior or providing scientific expertise, and distributional concerns, making sure that policies reflect major state interests. This chapter elaborates the informational and distributional logics of delegation, draws observable implications from them, and uses these propositions to examine the development of policies regarding conditionality within the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Some would argue that the IMF has achieved greater agency or autonomy than IOs in any other sphere of activity. I use the definition of autonomy presented in the introduction to this volume: the range of potential independent action available to the agent (I also sometimes use the term agency to refer to the same concept). Initially, the IMF was merely a set of rules regulating member state behavior rather than an organization with any autonomy. However, it quickly transformed into an active organization. Much of this transformation took place via debates about the use of Fund resources by members, leading to the practice of conditionality. I begin by setting out two potential sources of variation in the autonomy of IOs: distributional conflict and the demand for information. I develop a number of expectations about how the delegation of authority should vary in response to the concerns. In the IMF, these concerns take the form of divergence of preferences among the executive directors (EDs) and private information held by the staff.
A Partial Correlation Statistic Structure Learning Algorithm Under Linear Structural Equation Models

A new algorithm, the Partial Correlation Statistic (PCS) algorithm, is presented for structure learning under linear Structural Equation Models. The PCS algorithm can deal with continuous data following linear arbitrary distribution rather than only a Gaussian distribution. This paper makes two specific contributions. First, for linear arbitrarily distributed datasets, which are generated by the linear structural equation models, if the sample size is sufficiently large, partial correlation coefficient statistic is proved to follow a Student's t-distribution. Second, the PCS algorithm combines hypothesis testing of partial correlation statistic and local learning to select potential neighbors of the target node. This significantly reduces the search space and achieves good time performance. The PCS algorithm does not need to choose optimal threshold of partial correlation by large amount of experiments. Especially, the PCS algorithm redefines the relevance from statistic theory and measure the relevance of the variables based on <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="yang-ieq1-2578315.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-value. The effectiveness of the algorithm is compared with current state of the art methods on seven networks. A simulation shows that the PCS algorithm outperforms existing algorithms in terms of both accuracy and time performance on average.
A novel approach for optimal allocation of distributed generations based on static voltage stability margin

This paper presents a newly developed approach to find the optimal location of distributed generations (DGs) to improve power system voltage stability margin and reduce losses incorporating the constraints. The loadability limit index is used to assess the static voltage stability security margin, which is associated with the point of voltage collapse limit. Based on this, a toolbox is developed to recognize the loadability margin in power networks. Finally, the mentioned problem is modeled as a nonlinear and multiobjective optimization problem. The proposed method establishes a tradeoff between the security index and power losses in DG placement using the hybrid particle swarm optimization (HPSO) algorithm method to reach the best performance and acceptable operation. The simulations are performed on IEEE 14- and IEEE 30-bus test systems to find the optimal location of the DGs. The results are compared with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to ascertain the effectiveness.
Utilizing Kriging to Generate a NLOS Error Correction Map for Network Based Mobile Positioning

Network mobilephone-based positioning experiences degradation of location accuracy due to localised non-line-of-sight (NLOS) signal propagation. This is well known to be a major source of error in network-based mobilephone positioning. NLOS error systematically causes the Mobile Station (MS) to appear further away from the base station than it actually is, thereby increasing the positioning error. One method to mitigate the effect of NLOS error is to generate a NLOS error correction map, and then use the correction map to rectify the distorted MS location. The correction map can be generated using the following procedure: (1) estimating the NLOS errors at points where the real positions can be obtained utilising other information such as the points very near BTS (Base Transceiver Station) and the intersections of streets, or the location where the measurement has been made; and (2) interpolating or extrapolating the errors to specific points that we are interested in. Assuming some reference points have been obtained, this paper utilises kriging, an estimation technique that is widely used in mining, to generate the correction map. Theoretically kriging can also be used wherever a continuous measure is made on a sample at a particular location in space or time. Using simulations with a typical dense urban environment assumption, the feature of the NLOS error variogram is analysed and different models of the variogram are compared. The correction map of NLOS error is generated using some 'sampled' points, and compared with the 'true' NLOS error map to show the efficiency of kriging.