Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A fluorescent sphingolipid binding domain peptide probe interacts with sphingolipids and cholesterol-dependent raft domainss⃞s⃞ The online version of this article (available at http://www.jlr.org) contains supplementary data in the form of four figures. Published, JLR Papers in Press, February 8, 20

We have designed a tagged probe [sphingolipid binding domain (SBD)] to facilitate the tracking of intracellular movements of sphingolipids in living neuronal cells. SBD is a small peptide consisting of the SBD of the amyloid precursor protein. It can be conjugated to a fluorophore of choice and exogenously applied to cells, thus allowing for in vivo imaging. Here, we present evidence to describe the characteristics of the SBD association with the plasma membrane. Our experiments demonstrate that SBD binds to isolated raft fractions from human neuroblastomas and insect neuronal cells. In protein-lipid overlay experiments, SBD interacts with a subset of glycosphingolipids and sphingomyelin, consistent with its raft association in neurons. We also provide evidence that SBD is taken up by neuronal cells in a cholesterol- and sphingolipid-dependent manner via detergent-resistant microdomains. Furthermore, using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to assay the mobility of SBD in live cells, we show that SBD's behavior at the plasma membrane is similar to that of the previously described raft marker cholera toxin B, displaying both a fast and a slow component. Our data suggest that fluorescently tagged SBD can be used to investigate the dynamic nature of glycosphingolipid-rich detergent-resistant microdomains that are cholesterol-dependent.
Evaluating the Potential Bioactivity of a Novel Compound ER1626

Background ER1626, a novel compound, is a derivate of indeno-isoquinoline ketone. This study was designed to evaluate the biological activity and potential anti-tumor mechanism of ER1626. Method MTT assay, scratch assay and flow cytometry were used to determine cell proliferation, cell migration and cell cycle distribution as well as cell apoptosis on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and endometrial cancer Ishikawa cells. We also explored the antiangiogenic effect of ER1626 on HUVEC cells and chicken embryos. The expression of estrogen receptor protein was investigated with western-blot analysis. Results ER1626 down-regulated the expression of estrogen receptor α protein and up-regulated β protein in MCF-7 and Ishikawa cells. The value of IC50 of ER1626 on MCF-7 and Ishikawa cells were respectively 8.52 and 3.08 µmol/L. Meanwhile, ER1626 decreased VEGF secretion of MCF-7 and Ishikawa cells, disturbed the formation of VEGF-stimulated tubular structure in HUVEC cells, and inhibited the angiogenesis on the chicken chorioallantoic membrane. Scratch assay revealed that ER1626 suppressed the migration of MCF-7, Ishikawa and HUVEC cells. In addition to induction tumor cell apoptosis, ER1626 arrested cell cycle in G1/G0 phase in MCF-7 cells and G2/M phase in Ishikawa cells. Conclusion In conclusion, our results demonstrated that ER1626 has favorable bioactivities to be a potential candidate against breast cancer and angiogenesis.
Summary Writing: A Multi-Grade Study of French-Immersion and Francophone Secondary Students

Summaries produced by FL1 and FL2 secondary students were compared according to ten variables evaluating the written texts. A total of 400 students, 50 at each grade level from Senior 1 to Senior 4 in both programmes, participated in the study. Statistical analyses included ANOVA, t -tests, and correlation analysis of variables exploring both the language (organisation, style, language usage, objectivity, and holistic score) and the content (main ideas, secondary ideas, integration of ideas, and fidelity to the text) of the summaries. The findings suggest that FL2 students include more main ideas in their summaries than FL1 students, but they also differentiate poorly between these and secondary ideas in the text. At the beginning of the secondary programme, FL2 students also tend to include more inaccuracies in their summaries and are weaker than FL1 students with respect to language usage and style. By the end of secondary, the students in these programmes differ only in the stylistic elements of the written summaries. The summaries written by FL1 students were also better organised as they progressed through the secondary programme, whereas those of FL2 students did not show the same improvements over time.
Optimal multisensory decision-making in a reaction-time task

Humans and animals can integrate sensory evidence from various sources to make decisions in a statistically near-optimal manner, provided that the stimulus presentation time is fixed across trials. Little is known about whether optimality is preserved when subjects can choose when to make a decision (reaction-time task), nor when sensory inputs have time-varying reliability. Using a reaction-time version of a visual/vestibular heading discrimination task, we show that behavior is clearly sub-optimal when quantified with traditional optimality metrics that ignore reaction times. We created a computational model that accumulates evidence optimally across both cues and time, and trades off accuracy with decision speed. This model quantitatively explains subjects's choices and reaction times, supporting the hypothesis that subjects do, in fact, accumulate evidence optimally over time and across sensory modalities, even when the reaction time is under the subject's control. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.03005. 001
Efficient Broadband Simulation of Fluid-Structure Coupling for Membrane-Type Acoustic Transducer Arrays Using the Multilevel Fast Multipole Algorithm

A boundary element model provides great flexibility for the simulation of membrane-type micromachined ultrasonic transducers (MUTs) in terms of membrane shape, actuating mechanism, and array layout. Acoustic crosstalk is accounted for through a mutual impedance matrix that captures the primary crosstalk mechanism of dispersive-guided modes generated at the fluid-solid interface. However, finding the solution to the fully populated boundary element matrix equation using standard techniques requires computation time and memory usage that scales by the cube and by the square of the number of nodes, respectively, limiting simulation to a small number of membranes. We implement a solver with improved speed and efficiency through the application of a multilevel fast multipole algorithm (FMA). By approximating the fields of collections of nodes using multipole expansions of the free-space Green's function, an FMA solver can enable the simulation of hundreds of thousands of nodes while incurring an approximation error that is controllable. Convergence is drastically improved using a problem-specific block-diagonal preconditioner. We demonstrate the solver's capabilities by simulating a 32-element 7-MHz 1-D capacitive MUT (CMUT) phased array with 2880 membranes. The array is simulated using 233280 nodes for a very wide frequency band up to 50 MHz. For a simulation with 15210 nodes, the FMA solver performed ten times faster and used 32 times less memory than a standard solver based on LU decomposition. We investigate the effects of mesh density and phasing on the predicted array response and find that it is necessary to use about seven nodes over the width of the membrane to observe convergence of the solution-even below the first membrane resonance frequency-due to the influence of higher order membrane modes.
The Effect of Plant Extracts on In-vitro Ruminal Fermentation, Methanogenesis and Methane-related Microbes in the Rumen

The effect on methanogens attached to the surface of rumen ciliate protozoa by the addition of plant extracts (pine needles and ginkgo leaves) was studied with particular reference to their effectiveness for decreasing methane emission. The plant extracts (pine needles and ginkgo leaves) were added to an in vitro fermentation incubated with rumen fluid. The microbial population including bacteria, ciliated-associated methanogen, four different groups of methanogens and Fibrobacter succinogenes were quantified by using the real-time PCR. Gas profiles including methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and runinal fermentation characteristics were observed in vitro. The methane emission from samples with an addition of individual juices from pine needles, ginkgo leaves and 70% ethanol extract from ginko leaves was significantly lower (p<0.05, 27.1, 28.1 and 28.1 vs 34.0 ml/g DM) than that of the control, respectively. Total VFAs in samples with an addition of any of the plant extracts were significantly lower than that of the control (p<0.05) as well. The order Methanococcales and the order Methanosarcinales were not detected by using PCR in any incubated mixtures. The ciliate-associated methanogens population decreased from 25% to 49% in the plant extacts as compared to control. We speculate that the supplementation of juice from pine needles and ginkgo leaves extract (70% ethanol extract) decreased the protozoa population resulting in a reduction of methane emission in the rumen and thus inhibiting methanogenesis. The order Methanobacteriales community was affected by addition of all plant extracts and decreased to less than the control, while the order Methanomicrobiales population showed an increase to more than that of the control. The F. succinogenes, the major fibrolytic microorganism, population in all added plant extracts was increased to greater than that of the control. In conclusion, pine needles and ginkgo leaves extracts appear to have properties that decrease methanogenesis by inhibiting protozoa species and may have a potential for use as additives for ruminants.
Fine-grained Access Control Enabling Privacy Support in Wireless Sensor Networks (Extended Abstract)

The deployment of wireless sensor networks may endanger the privacy of people monitored on purpose or unintentionally. To enhance the control of the surveilled people over their privacy, we propose to introduce a fine-grained access control scheme on monitored data. Towards this end, we design an architecture relying on granular access control and filtering of relevant information, which can be easily integrated with existing wireless sensor networks.
Oral administration of lipopolysaccharide exacerbates collagen-induced arthritis in mice.

We investigated whether oral administration of LPS exacerbated collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice, which was an experimental model of autoimmune disease. CIA was induced by s.c. injection of type II collagen emulsified with CFA into the base of the tail (day 0) followed by a booster injection on day 21. To examine the ability of LPS to exacerbate CIA, varying doses of LPS were orally administered on day 50. The results showed that administration of LPS was followed by reactivation of CIA in a dose-related fashion. Histologically, on day 55 there were marked edema of synovium proliferated by day 50, new formation of fibrin, and intense infiltration of neutrophils accompanied with a large number of mononuclear cells. Severe destruction of cartilage and subchondral bone was also observed on day 70. The reactivation of CIA by oral administration of LPS was associated with increase in anti-type II collagen IgG and IgG2a Abs as well as varying kinds of cytokines including IL-12, IFN-gamma, IL-1beta, and TNF-alpha. Polymyxin B sulfate given either orally or i.v. suppressed the recurrence of CIA. Increased amounts of LPS were found in sera of mice given the endotoxin orally. LPS from Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, and Klebsiella pneumoniae and its component, lipid A from Escherichia coli, also reactivated the disease. These findings suggest that LPS from intestinal bacteria may play a role in the exacerbation of autoimmune joint inflammation.
Simultaneous and sequential approaches for propagation-based matching

Pixel matching is an important step in 3D reconstruction. Among all existing methods, we take a closer look at the ones using seed propagation. They start from a set of reliable matches (seeds) and look for a correspondent of the neighbors of a seed in the neighborhood of this seed correspondent. There are two kinds of approaches: sequential and simultaneous. In this paper, we give a state of the art of these methods and we propose to improve the simultaneous one. This is done in two steps using two correlation measures. One of these is robust to occlusions near depth discontinuities. We also propose a comparative study of these different approaches.
Outcome of surgery for end-stage ankle arthritis

Background: Ankle arthrodesis (AA) and total ankle replacement (TAR) are the two most common surgical treatment options for painful end-stage ankle arthritis. Currently no general guidelines are available to determine which procedure is best for a specific patient. AA has been the gold standard for a long time, resulting in pain relief and good function, but modern TAR has become a feasible alternative. So far no high-level studies are available and not a single RCT comparing outcomes of AA with TAR. Aims: To analyze patient-reported outcomes after primary TAR and bilateral AA, patient-reported outcomes and failure rate after revision TAR and salvage arthrodesis (SA) following TAR failure in the Swedish Ankle Registry by PROMs (EQ-5D, SF-36, SEFAS and a question on satisfaction with the surgical result). Results: After primary TAR, all scores improved from preoperative to 24 months after surgery (p 0.001), and 71% of the patients were satisfied with the surgical result. Postoperative SEFAS and satisfaction correlated positively with age and preoperative SEFAS, whereas we found no associations between diagnosis or prosthetic design with outcome. Revision TAR was followed by low functional scores, and only 50% of the patients were satisfied. Estimated 5year survival of revision TAR was 76% and 10-year survival 55%. SA was followed by similar and low functional scores as after revision TAR but a significantly lower reoperation risk (p < 0.05). Bilateral AA was followed by patient-reported outcome scores similar to primary TAR and 91% of the patients were satisfied. Patients with isolated tibiotalar arthrodesis in general scored higher than those with tibio-talocalcaneal arthrodesis. Conclusion: Primary TAR and bilateral AA seemed to have a positive impact on patient-reported outcomes in terms of foot and ankle function and general health, and most patients were satisfied with their result after these procedures. However, after TAR failure, the two salvage procedures revision TAR and SA both resulted in similar low outcome scores and low satisfaction. Revision TAR was however associated with a significantly higher reoperation rate than SA. Until studies show true benefit of revision TAR over SA, we favor SA for failed TAR. Further investigation has to be done to analyze which patients are best suited for primary TAR and for AA, preferably by means of RCT studies.
A 76 dB$\Omega $ 1.7 GHz 0.18 $\mu$ m CMOS Tunable TIA Using Broadband Current Pre-Amplifier for High Frequency Lateral MEMS Oscillators

This paper reports on the design and characterization of a high-gain tunable transimpedance amplifier (TIA) suitable for gigahertz oscillators that use high-Q lateral micromechanical resonators with large motional resistance and large shunt parasitic capacitance. The TIA consists of a low-power broadband current pre-amplifler combined with a current-to-voltage conversion stage to boost the input current before delivering it to feedback voltage amplifiers. Using this approach, the TIA achieves a constant gain of 76 dB-Ohm up to 1.7 GHz when connected to a 2 pF load at the input and output with an input-referred noise below 10 pA/√(Hz) in the 100 MHz to 1 GHz range. The TIA is fabricated in a 1P6M 0.18 μm CMOS process and consumes 7.2 mW. To demonstrate its performance in high frequency lateral micromechanical oscillator applications, the TIA is wirebonded to a 724 MHz high-motional resistance (Qunloaded ≈ 2000, Rm ≈ 750 Ω, CP ≈ 2 pF) and a 1.006 GHz high-parasitic (Qunloaded ≈ 7100, Rm ≈ 150 Ω, CP ≈ 3.2 pF) AIN-on-Silicon resonator. The 724 MHz and 1.006 GHz oscillators achieve phase-noise better than -87 dBc/Hz and -94 dBc/Hz @ 1 kHz offset, respectively, with a floor around -154 dBc/Hz. The 1.006 GHz oscillator achieves the highest reported figure of merit (FoM) among lateral piezoelectric micromechanical oscillators and meets the phase-noise requirements for most 2G and 3G cellular standards including GSM 900 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz, and HSDPA.
The Construct Validity of Scores on the Ways of Coping Questionnaire: Confirmatory Analysis of Alternative Factor Structures

One of the most widely used measures of coping is the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Despite its widespread use, evidence regarding the construct validity of WCQ scores is limited and inconclusive, due primarily to the use of exploratory factor analyses to examine WCQ data and the absence of evidence regarding the correspondence between the WCQ and coping dimensions specified a priori by Lazarus's transactional theory. The present study uses confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate alternative factor structures for the WCQ, based on previous exploratory factor analyses and a priori coping dimensions derived from Lazarus's theory. Results provide little support for the factor structures examined.
Testing Expected Shortfall Models for Derivative Positions

In this paper we test several risk management models for computing expected shortfall for one-period hedge errors of hedged derivatives positions.Contrary to value-at-risk, expected shortfall cannot be tested using the standard binomial test, since we need information of the distribution in the tail.As derivatives positions change characteristics and thereby the size of risk exposures over time one cannot apply the standard tests based on stationarity.To overcome this problem, we present a transformation procedure.For comparison purposes the tests are also performed for value-at-risk.
Early Identification of Future Executives: A Functional Approach

Silzer and Church suggest: ‘‘The future use of potential to meet business needs is promising. ’’ They discuss at length the upside promise but fail to discuss the downside risks of using such an ambiguous hypothetical construct. This paper will cite the often harmful career situations because of the downside of potential and offer a less ambiguous construct called ‘‘readiness assessment. ’’ Apparently, the ‘‘potential’’ of an experienced manager for successfully filling senior roles in the mid-term future is defined as any combination of trait and other variables that are assumed to predict this future event. This definition is made more complex by allowing the equation to include education, development, other experiences, and their interactions. To state that the construct of ‘‘potential competence’’ has surplus meaning seems to be appropriate. Until relevant critical competence is empirically demonstrated, it must be only a supposition. As an alternative, the functional approach focuses first on the criterion problem by empirically measuring the critical functions specific to the organization’s senior positions and finding ways to allow candidates to demonstrate their capacity on the most ecologically valid (natural) and standardized management problem scenarios. The functional perspective seeks the
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

Background: The text descriptions in electronic medical records are a rich source of information. We have developed a Health Information Text Extraction (HITEx) tool and used it to extract key findings for a research study on airways disease. Methods: The principal diagnosis, co-morbidity and smoking status extracted by HITEx from a set of 150 discharge summaries were compared to an expert-generated gold standard. Results: The accuracy of HITEx was 82% for principal diagnosis, 87% for co-morbidity, and 90% for smoking status extraction, when cases labeled "Insufficient Data" by the gold standard were excluded. Conclusion: We consider the results promising, given the complexity of the discharge summaries and the extraction tasks.
Breaching the Contract: Aggressive Interpersonal Behaviors in Paternalistic Relationships

ABSTRACT The study examined student evaluations (N = 221) of frequency and impact of negative interpersonal behaviors by academic faculty and other students. As expected, negative behaviors by faculty was rated as less frequent but as more upsetting than those carried out by fellow students. The impact of such behaviors was not affected by the setting in which they occurred. However, students with a strong power motivation perceived negative behaviors by faculty as more upsetting than did students with a weak power motivation. The findings highlight the importance of covert restrictions on the exploitation of the potential power intrinsic in paternalistic relationships.
An examination of the job demand-control-support model with various occupational strain indicators

Abstract In this study the Job Demand-Control-Support model is examined using four occupational strain indicators: (psycho) somatic complaints, psychological distress, job dissatisfaction, and absenteeism. In two samples from the Dutch working population (total n=4000), the results of three strain indicators support the iso-strain hypothesis: high time pressure, low control, and low social support are associated with lower well-being. For absenteeism the iso-strain hypothesis is not confirmed, as this outcome is only associated with low control and low social support. Analyses examining the potential buffering effects of control and support on the impact of high demands indicate that various forms of control can moderate the impact of high demands, but only consistently do so in circumstances of high supervisor support. The main conclusion on the basis of these results is that the focus should not exclusively be on job control. The social support dimension should be included in future research on occupational stress, as well as in efforts to create ‘healthier work’.
CMfinder - a covariance model based RNA motif finding algorithm

MOTIVATION The recent discoveries of large numbers of non-coding RNAs and computational advances in genome-scale RNA search create a need for tools for automatic, high quality identification and characterization of conserved RNA motifs that can be readily used for database search. Previous tools fall short of this goal. RESULTS CMfinder is a new tool to predict RNA motifs in unaligned sequences. It is an expectation maximization algorithm using covariance models for motif description, featuring novel integration of multiple techniques for effective search of motif space, and a Bayesian framework that blends mutual information-based and folding energy-based approaches to predict structure in a principled way. Extensive tests show that our method works well on datasets with either low or high sequence similarity, is robust to inclusion of lengthy extraneous flanking sequence and/or completely unrelated sequences, and is reasonably fast and scalable. In testing on 19 known ncRNA families, including some difficult cases with poor sequence conservation and large indels, our method demonstrates excellent average per-base-pair accuracy--79% compared with at most 60% for alternative methods. More importantly, the resulting probabilistic model can be directly used for homology search, allowing iterative refinement of structural models based on additional homologs. We have used this approach to obtain highly accurate covariance models of known RNA motifs based on small numbers of related sequences, which identified homologs in deeply-diverged species.