Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fetal surgery for myelomeningocele: progress and perspectives

Myelomeningocele (MMC), one of the most common congenital malformations, can result in severe lifelong disabilities, including paraplegia, hydrocephalus, Chiari II malformation, bowel and bladder dysfunction, skeletal deformations, and neurocognitive impairment. Experimental studies provide compelling evidence that the neurological deficits associated with MMC are not simply caused by incomplete neurulation but rather by the prolonged exposure of the vulnerable neural elements to the intrauterine environment. MMC is the first non‐lethal anomaly considered for fetal surgical intervention, necessitating a careful analysis of risks and benefits. Retrospective and prospective randomized studies suggest that fetal surgery of MMC before 26 weeks of gestation may preserve neuromotor function, reverse hindbrain herniation, and reduce the need for ventriculoperitoneal shunting. However, these studies also demonstrate that fetal surgery is associated with significant maternal and fetal risks. Consequently, additional research is necessary to further elucidate the pathophysiology of MMC, to define the ideal timing and technique of fetal closure, and to evaluate the long‐term implications of prenatal intervention.
Improved Output Power of InGaN LEDs by Lateral Overgrowth on Si-Implanted n-GaN Surface to Form Air Gaps

In this paper, air gaps were embedded in the n-GaN layer to improve light output power of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Si ions (Si±28) were implanted on the n-GaN surface, causing a lattice constant disorder. Therefore, the GaN grown on the Si-implanted areas had a lower growth rate than the implantation-free regions. Without using a dielectric thin film, lateral epitaxial overgrowth technique was used to form air gaps above the implanted regions and below the active layers of InGaN LEDs. We proposed the growth mechanisms of GaN layer on the Si-implanted GaN templates and characterized the InGaN-based LEDs with embedded air gaps array. With a 20-mA current injection, experimental results indicate that light output power (LOP) of the proposed LEDs was enhanced by 36%, compared with those of the conventional LEDs. This enhancement can be attributed to the light scattering at the textured GaN/gap interfaces to increase the effective light escape cone in the LEDs. Based on ray tracing simulation, if the height and the width of bottom of gaps were increased to 3 μm, the Lop could be enhanced over 70%.
Continuous positive airway pressure: scientific and clinical rationale

Purpose of review To present recent data on the role of noninvasive ventilation in the respiratory management of newborn infants. Recent findings Noninvasive ventilation is growing in popularity but is applied using widely varying devices and settings. Although short-term physiological advantages were reported for bubble and variable-flow continuous positive airways pressure, neither has convincingly shown superior clinically important outcomes. Continuous positive airways pressure may be used as the initial mode of support for very preterm infants but increased rates of pneumothorax in infants not receiving surfactant are a concern. Methods of administering surfactant without endotracheal intubation deserve further study. Nasal intermittent positive-pressure ventilation shows promise as a primary treatment for respiratory distress syndrome. Optimal pressure settings for continuous positive airways pressure and nasal intermittent positive-pressure ventilation remain uncertain. Summary Noninvasive ventilation has partially fulfilled its promise as a gentler alternative to ventilation via an endotracheal tube. Appropriately designed randomized clinical trials are required to determine the best nasal interfaces and pressure generators.
Improving the Performance of Batch-Driven Distributed Systems Using Genetic Algorithms , Artificial Neural Networks and Bayesian Networks

Large-scale distributed systems used to run a long, predictable series of operations on a recurring basis (batchdriven systems) are a prime target for optimization to reduce resource usage or time consumption, since even a small improvement may yield large dividends over time. Machine learning techniques are a good way to approach this optimization problem since there are typically many variables that interact in unknown ways. This paper discusses a practical approach to optimizing an existing realworld system using an artificial neural network for simulation, a genetic algorithm for exploration, and a Bayesian network for human presentation and generalization.
Forecasting Holding Periods for Leveraged ETFs Using Decay Thresholds: Theory and Applications

Due to the interplay between daily rebalancing and volatility, Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) may experience a cumulative return different from the product of their daily leverage ratio and the periodic index return. When the leveraged ETF’s return over a particular time frame minus the leverage ratio of the ETF multiplied by the underlying index return is negative, we refer to it as decay. The quantity of this decay is influenced by the daily leverage ratio, time, index return, and volatility. This study quantifies the tradeoffs these variables have on decay, and derives maximum holding periods given an investor's decay threshold under various volatility environments. While the majority of studies suggest short holding periods for leveraged ETFs, this paper asserts that extended holding periods can be justified depending on volatility levels and an investor's willingness to accept a certain level of decay. For decay thresholds of only -2% and low volatility levels, holding periods beyond 6 months can be justified for some leveraged funds. Empirically, forecasted decay over a 3-month period based on the Russell 1000 and using a GARCH (1, 1) volatility estimate rarely underestimates actual decay. Through 2007, the average justified holding period for all but the -3x fund generally exceeded 4 months. During the financial crisis, justified holding periods decreased dramatically.
EFFECTS OF DIFFERENTIAL POLLEN‐TUBE GROWTH ON HYBRIDIZATION IN THE LOUISIANA IRISES

To elucidate the importance of hybridization in evolution, it is necessary to understand the processes that affect hybridization frequency in nature. Here we focus on postpollination, prefertilization isolating mechanisms using two hybridizing species of Louisiana iris as a study system. We compared the effects of differential pollen‐tube growth on the frequency of F1 hybrid formation in experimental crosses between Iris fulva and Iris hexagona. Analyses of seed production in fruits from pure conspecific and heterospecific pollinations revealed that more seeds were produced in the top half than the bottom half of fruits for all four crosses. Heterospecific pollen was applied to flowers of each species at zero to 24 h prior to conspecific pollen, thereby giving a head start to the foreign pollen. Using diagnostic isozyme markers, the frequency of hybrid progeny was examined at the level of the whole fruit and separately for the top and bottom halves of fruits. In both species, the proportion of hybrid seeds per fruit increased significantly with increasing head starts, suggesting that differences in pollen‐tube growth rates affect the frequency of hybridization. In I. fulva fruits, the increase in hybrid seeds occurred in both halves of the fruits, but in I. hexagona an increase was only detected in the top half of fruits. These findings are consistent with a model that assumes attrition of pollen tubes due to the greater length of I. hexagona styles. While pollen‐tube growth rate appears to be the most important factor affecting hybridization frequency in I. fulva, both pollen‐tube growth rate and pollen‐tube attrition appear to be important in I. hexagona.
The business model of solid waste management in Sweden – a case study of two municipally-owned companies

This paper describes the business model of municipally-owned MSW (municipal solid waste) companies in Sweden. A comparative study of two of these companies shows that they combine three types of activities: public service activities that collect solid waste from households, commercial establishments, and industry; processing activities that transform this waste; and marketing activities that enable products and recycled material to re-enter the economy. The historical success of the two companies rests on their ability to create value by combining these three distinct yet mutually dependent types of activities. However, an ongoing legal controversy may develop into a threat to this business model and to the entire organization of Swedish waste management.
Marital relationships in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Abstract Our objective was to determine change over time in quality of marital relationships of people with ALS (pwALS). Fifty pwALS and their spouse carers completed measures of marital intimacy, pwALS's functional status, their own psychological status, and beliefs about the pwALS's illness. Twenty-seven dyads completed two further assessments, at six-monthly intervals. Post-ALS diagnosis ratings of current marital relationship did not change over time for pwALS or their spouses. However, spouse carers' ratings of their current marital relationship were lower than their ratings prior to illness onset. After adjusting for the pre-illness marital relationship, pwALSs' current ratings of their marital relationship were initially predicted by their self-rated psychosocial functional impairment and satisfaction with their personal relationships, and subsequently by levels of self-esteem. After adjusting for ratings of the pre-illness marital relationship, carers' current marital intimacy scores at first and second interview were predicted by ratings of the patients' psychosocial functional impairment and by feelings of burden at the third interview. In conclusion, quality of the pre-illness marital relationship is a significant predictor of ongoing marital relationship in both pwALS and their spouse carers. Additionally, social and psychological rather than disease symptoms are important predictors of marital relationship quality after ALS diagnosis.
Inhibition dominates in shaping spontaneous CA3 hippocampal network activities in vitro

We have assessed the balance of excitation and inhibition in in vitro rodent hippocampal slices exhibiting spontaneous, basal sharp waves (bSPWs). A defining signature of a network exhibiting bSPWs is the rise and fall in local field activities with frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 4.5 Hz. This variation of extracellular local field activities manifests at the intracellular level as postsynaptic potentials (PSPs). In correspondence with the local field bSPWs, we consider “sparse” and “synchronous” parts of bSPWs at the intracellular level. We have used intracellular data of bSPW‐associated PSPs together with mathematical extraction techniques to quantify the mean and variance of synaptic conductances that a neuron experiences during bSPW episodes. We find that inhibitory conductances dominate in pyramidal cells and in a putative interneuron, and that inhibitory variances are much greater than excitatory ones during synchronous parts of bSPWs. Specifically, we find that there is at least a twofold increase in inhibitory conductance dominance from “sparse” to “synchronous” bSPW states and that this transition is associated with inhibitory fluctuations of greater than 10% of the change in mean inhibitory conductance. On the basis of our findings, we suggest that such inhibitory fluctuations during transition may be a physiological feature of systems expressing such population activities. In summary, our results provide a quantified basis for understanding the interaction of excitatory and inhibitory neuronal subpopulations in bSPW activities. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Quantize and forward cooperative communication: Joint channel and frequency offset estimation

Cooperative communication systems can effectively be used to combat fading. A cooperative protocol that can be used with half-duplex terminals is the quantize and forward (QF) protocol, in which the relay quantizes the information received from the source before forwarding it to the destination. Most studies on the QF protocol are carried out under the assumption of perfect channel state information (CSI) at the destination, which is not often the case in real-life systems. Therefore, in the present contribution, the effect of incomplete CSI is analyzed for flat Rayleigh fading channels with a frequency offset. To limit the complexity of the estimation, the destination terminal assumes that the relay operates in an amplify and forward (AF) mode. By using the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm to refine the initial pilot-based estimates, the resulting error performance can be made very close to that of a system with perfect CSI.
Antimalarial Activity of Phenylthiazolyl-Bearing Hydroxamate-Based Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors

ABSTRACT The antimalarial activity and pharmacology of a series of phenylthiazolyl-bearing hydroxamate-based histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) was evaluated. In in vitro growth inhibition assays approximately 50 analogs were evaluated against four drug resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The range of 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) was 0.0005 to >1 μM. Five analogs exhibited IC50s of <3 nM, and three of these exhibited selectivity indices of >600. The most potent compound, WR301801 (YC-2-88) was shown to cause hyperacetylation of P. falciparum histones, which is a marker for HDAC inhibition in eukaryotic cells. The compound also inhibited malarial and mammalian HDAC activity in functional assays at low nanomolar concentrations. WR301801 did not exhibit cures in P. berghei-infected mice at oral doses as high as 640 mg/kg/day for 3 days or in P. falciparum-infected Aotus lemurinus lemurinus monkeys at oral doses of 32 mg/kg/day for 3 days, despite high relative bioavailability. The failure of monotherapy in mice may be due to a short half-life, since the compound was rapidly hydrolyzed to an inactive acid metabolite by loss of its hydroxamate group in vitro (half-life of 11 min in mouse microsomes) and in vivo (half-life in mice of 3.5 h after a single oral dose of 50 mg/kg). However, WR301801 exhibited cures in P. berghei-infected mice when combined at doses of 52 mg/kg/day orally with subcurative doses of chloroquine. Next-generation HDACIs with greater metabolic stability than WR301801 may be useful as antimalarials if combined appropriately with conventional antimalarial drugs.
Multirate Signal Processing: Some Useful Graphical Results

Multirate signal processing is a phenomenon in which the sampling rate of the signal is changed in order to increase the efficiency of the various signal processing operations. Undersampling, reduces the sampling rate, whereas oversampling, followed by interpolation, increases the sampling rate. The ability to process signals at multiple sampling rates has made it possible to reduce the costs and improve performance. In this paper a basic overview of sampling is presented. Then different possibilities have been explored in terms of undersampling and oversampling. Graphical interpretations have led to some interesting results.
Hydrophilic and lipophilic moisturizers have similar penetration profiles but different effects on SC water distribution in vivo

Abstract: Dry skin is often treated with hydrophilic and/or lipophilic moisturizers. Hydrophilic moisturizers must penetrate the stratum corneum (SC) deeply to function properly, whereas lipophilic moisturizers should remain in the upper SC layers. In this study, both types of moisturizers were applied on volunteers for 3 h, after which the relative amount of moisturizer and the water distribution in the SC were determined using attenuated total reflectance‐Fourier transform infrared (ATR‐FTIR) spectroscopy in combination with tape‐stripping. The results show that while hydrophilic moisturizers penetrate much more readily than lipophilic moisturizers, the latter are abundantly present in the upper regions of the SC. It was also observed that a 3‐h treatment with lipophilic moisturizer did not result in increased water levels in the SC, whereas hydrophilic moisturizers retained water where they are located. The results suggest that upon prolonged application, adequate amounts of moisturizer can be obtained in those regions where they may cause moisturization in the central part of the SC. However, a single application of 3 h is probably too short to exert increased hydration as measured with ATR‐FTIR.
Unreliability Cost Assessment of an Electric Power System Using Reliability Network Equivalent Approaches

Unreliability cost evaluation of an entire power system provides a set of indices that can be used by a system planner to balance the investments in different segments of the system in order to provide acceptable load point reliability. This paper utilizes reliability network equivalent techniques to evaluate the customer load point unreliability cost indices caused by outages in different segments of the power system. The equivalent multistate generator (EMG), the equivalent mutistate lateral section (EMLS), and the equivalent multistate series element (EMSE) are introduced. The percentage distribution of unreliability costs for system segments is determined to find the weak segments in the system. A test system is analyzed to illustrate the application of these techniques.
Advances in protein complex analysis using mass spectrometry

Proteins often function as components of larger complexes to perform a specific function, and formation of these complexes may be regulated. For example, intracellular signalling events often require transient and/or regulated protein–protein interactions for propagation, and protein binding to a specific DNA sequence, RNA molecule or metabolite is often regulated to modulate a particular cellular function. Thus, characterizing protein complexes can offer important insights into protein function. This review describes recent important advances in mass spectrometry (MS)‐based techniques for the analysis of protein complexes. Following brief descriptions of how proteins are identified using MS, and general protein complex purification approaches, we address two of the most important issues in these types of studies: specificity and background protein contaminants. Two basic strategies for increasing specificity and decreasing background are presented: whereas (1) tandem affinity purification (TAP) of tagged proteins of interest can dramatically improve the signal‐to‐noise ratio via the generation of cleaner samples, (2) stable isotopic labelling of proteins may be used to discriminate between contaminants and bona fide binding partners using quantitative MS techniques. Examples, as well as advantages and disadvantages of each approach, are presented.
A high-precision temperature measurement system based on noise cancellation

Weak signal detection is a major problem in the signal processing. The paper proposes a method, in which the combination of hardware compensation and the corresponding algorithm cancellation are used to overcome the noise drifts and improve the detection accuracy of the high-precision temperature measurement system. A high-precision temperature measurement system is designed, platinum resistor PT1000, used as the temperature sensor, is in series with reference resistor and driven by constant-current source, which efficiently eliminates the effects of lead resistance and self-heating. A Discrete Gaussian noise model is established based on this hardware system. After the sampling signal is amplified, the A/D conversion is taken, then the temperature drifts correction is taken through SCM software and the noise cancellation algorithm is used by the host computer, solving the problems of drifts and noise and achieving better precision and stability. The experimental results show that this method greatly improves the accuracy and stability of the temperature measurement system and the measurement error is less than 0.007°C. Moreover, the standard deviation is less than 0.005°C.
KiloCore: A 32-nm 1000-Processor Computational Array

A processor array containing 1000 independent processors and 12 memory modules was fabricated in 32-nm partially depleted silicon on insulator CMOS. The programmable processors occupy 0.055 mm2 each, contain no algorithm-specific hardware, and operate up to an average maximum clock frequency of 1.78 GHz at 1.1 V. At 0.9 V, processors operating at an average of 1.24 GHz dissipate 17 mW while issuing one instruction per cycle. At 0.56 V, processors operating at an average of 115 MHz dissipate 0.61 mW while issuing one instruction per cycle, resulting in an energy consumption of 5.3 pJ/instruction. On-die communication is performed by complementary circuit and packet-based networks that yield a total array bisection bandwidth of 4.2 Tb/s. Independent memory modules handle data and instructions and operate up to an average maximum clock frequency of 1.77 GHz at 1.1 V. All processors, their packet routers, and the memory modules contain unconstrained clock oscillators within independent clock domains that adapt to large supply voltage noise. Compared with a variety of Intel i7s and Nvidia GPUs, the KiloCore at 1.1 V has geometric mean improvements of 4.3 $\times$ higher throughput per area and 9.4 $\times$ higher energy efficiency for AES encryption, 4095-b low-density parity-check decoding, 4096-point complex fast Fourier transform, and 100-B record sorting applications.
Executive Compensation , Macroeconomic Conditions , and Cash Flow Cyclicality

* This paper is based on the second chapter of my dissertation at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. I am grateful to my advisors Rüdiger Fahlenbrach and Erwan Morellec for invaluable guidance and constant support. I would also like to acknowledge comments from Michael Albert, Pierre Collin-Dufresne, Giuliano Curatola, Giang N. Hoang, Roberto Marfè, René M. Stulz, Alexander F. Wagner, Jing Wang, Michael Weisbach, Alexei Zhdanov, and Francesca Zucchi, as well as the seminar participants at the SFI PhD Corporate Finance Workshop in Lugano and the Ohio State University (PhD seminar). All errors are my own.
Nerve growth factor enhances voltage‐gated Na+ channel activity and Transwell migration in Mat‐LyLu rat prostate cancer cell line

The highly dynamic nature of voltage‐gated Na+ channel (VGSC) expression and its controlling mechanism(s) are not well understood. In this study, we investigated the possible involvement of nerve growth factor (NGF) in regulating VGSC activity in the strongly metastatic Mat‐LyLu cell model of rat prostate cancer (PCa). NGF increased peak VGSC current density in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner. NGF also shifted voltage to peak and the half‐activation voltage to more positive potentials, and produced currents with faster kinetics of activation; sensitivity to the VGSC blocker tetrodotoxin (TTX) was not affected. The NGF‐induced increase in peak VGSC current density was suppressed by both the pan‐trk antagonist K252a, and the protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor KT5720. NGF did not affect the Nav1.7 mRNA level, but the total VGSC α‐subunit protein level was upregulated. NGF potentiated the cells' migration in Transwell assays, and this was not affected by TTX. We concluded that NGF upregulated functional VGSC expression in Mat‐LyLu cells, with PKA as a signaling intermediate, but enhancement of migration by NGF was independent of VGSC activity. J. Cell. Physiol. 210: 602–608, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.