Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anthropometric and metabolic correlates of sympathetic nervous system activation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with increased metabolic risk and hypertension, which may relate to enhanced sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation. The cerebral pathways involved in this process are not known. Aims: (1) To compare blood pressure and SNS activation in response to isometric forearm contraction (IFC) between PCOS and control groups. (2) To identify and compare the neuronal signatures of this response. (3) To investigate metabolic and anthropometric correlates of SNS activation. Methods: 20 PCOS (age 29.8 yrs, BMI 26.1 kg/ m²) and 20 matched controls (age 29.7 yrs, BMI 26.1 kg/ m²; p=NS) were studied. Out-of-scanner tests: measurement of mean blood pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) responses to 30% IFC for 180 seconds; baseline and post-task catecholamines, and microneurography (MSNA) in a subgroup of 8 PCOS and 8 controls. In-scanner: Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI using an identical block paradigm design for IFC, BOLD signalcorrelating to MAP responses (threshold Z>2.3, corrected cluster threshold p=0.05). Results: IFC elicited an increase in HR and MAP in PCOS and controls but these did not differ between groups (p=0.16[HR] and p=0.06[MAP]). Adrenaline increased significantly post-IFC in PCOS (0.68 to 1.23ng/mL p<0.001) but not in controls (0.77 to 0.99ng/mL p=0.14). MSNA burst frequency increased by 68% in the PCOS group compared to 11.9% in controls (p=0.002). Brain activation indexed by the BOLD signal in response to IFC was significantly greater in the PCOS group compared to the control group in the right orbitofrontal cortex (p<0.0001), left angular gyrus and lateral occipital cortex (p=0.04). When the BOLD signal was separately corrected for insulin sensitivity, BOLD signal in the right orbitofrontal cortex was no longer significant. Conclusions: PCOS is associated with enhanced SNS activation and increased regional brain activation in response to IFC. The right orbitofrontal cortex BOLD signal change in the PCOS group is associated with insulin sensitivity.
A D-brane landscape on Calabi-Yau manifolds

We explore the dynamics of nonsupersymmetric D-brane configurations on Calabi-Yau orientifolds with fluxes. We show that supergravity D-terms capture supersymmetry breaking effects predicted by more abstract ? -stability considerations. We also investigate the vacuum structure of such configurations in the presence of fluxes. Based on the shape of the potential, we argue that metastable nonsupersymmetric vacua can be in principle obtained by tuning the values of fluxes.
An area efficient programmable built-in self-test for embedded memories using an extended address counter

Programmable memory built-in self-tests (BIST) have increased test flexibility but result in large area overhead. In this research, a new finite state machine (FSM) based programmable memory BIST that can select march algorithms was proposed in order to overcome this problem. The proposed BIST efficiently generates various march algorithms utilizing an extended address counter while also taking into consideration the characteristics of the march algorithms. The experimental results of this research indicated that the proposed BIST improved test flexibility and resulted in a smaller area overhead, as compared to the results of previous studies.
Capacity Achieving Codes for the Wire Tap Channel with Applications to Quantum Key Distribution

With the advent of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, p erfect (i.e. information-theoretic) security can now be ac hieved for distribution of a cryptographic key. QKD systems and sim ilar protocols use classical error-correcting codes for bo th error correction (for the honest parties to correct errors) and pr ivacy amplification (to make an eavesdropper fully ignorant ). From a coding perspective, a good model for such a setting is the wir tap channel system introduced by Wyner in 1975. In this pape r, we study fundamental limits and coding methods for wire tap c hannel systems. We provide a novel proof for the secrecy capa city theorem for wire tap channels and show how capacity achievin g codes can be used to achieve the secrecy capacity for any wir etap channel. We also consider binary erasure channel and binary symmetric channel special cases for the wiretap channel sys tem and propose specific practical codes. In some cases our designs a chieve the secrecy capacity and in others the codes provide c omplete security at rates below secrecy capacity in some specific cas es. I. I NTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION The notion of communication with perfect security was define d in information-theoretic terms by Shannon [1]. Suppose a k-bit messageM is to be transmitted securely from Alice to Bob across a publi c channel. Perfect security is said to be achieved if the encoding of M into a transmitted wordX is such that the mutual information I(M;X) = 0. From this definition, Shannon concluded that Alice and Bob should nece ssarily sharek bits of key for achieving perfect security. An alternative notion of communication with perfect securi ty was introduced by Wyner [2]. Wyner introduced the wire tap channel, which has matured into a system depicted in Fig. 1. In a wire tap channel system, the honest parties Alice and Bob are separated by a channel C1 called the main channel. The important modification when compared to Shannon’s study of security is that any eavesdropper Eve observes informati on transmitted by Alice through another channel C2 called th e wiretapper’s channel. C1 and C2 are assumed to be discrete me moryl ss channels (DMCs). Suppose Alice and Bob try to Alice X
Anxiety in cancer patients

Anxiety is common in cancer patient populations, and must often initially be recognized and managed by cancer care professionals. This article reviews the recent oncology and mental health literature on anxiety. The aim is to help those involved in cancer patient care who are not specialists in mental health to understand the nature of anxiety, and discriminate morbid from normal anxiety. We review recent research into the association of anxiety with events during diagnosis and management of cancer, highlighting the importance of the meaning of events to an individual as an important factor in making people anxious. Lastly we review management strategies which might be used by cancer care professionals, in particular the importance of an awareness of specific patterns of communication which may alleviate or maintain anxiety for some cancer patients. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign
Application Layer Time Synchronization Utilizing Symbol Timing Recovery in Wireless Sensor Networks

Information sharing, scheduling and organization in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is highly dependent upon achieving the same notion of time. Hence timing synchronization becomes a vital concern in most of the distributed wireless networks. Similarly, different layers of a network also need to synchronize among themselves for efficient performance and energy optimization. Bandwidth, energy consumption and storage capacity along with the high density of nodes are some of the practices limitations present in the WSNs. Symbol timing recovery (physical layer time synchronization) is used in this work for time synchronization at the application layer to achieve higher energy conservation.
Advances and Developments in the Use of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells – A Few Considerations

One less visited area in musculoskeletal stem cell research is the effects of donor age on quality of stem cells. The prevalence of degenerative orthopaedic conditions is large, and the older population is likely to receive great benefit from stem cell therapies. There are many known growth factors involved in controlling and influencing stem cell growth which are also related to cell senescence. Of which, expressions are found to be altered in mesenchymal stem cells from older donors. Considerations must also be taken of these mechanisms which also have a role in cell cycle and tumour suppression.
Partial Decode-Forward Binning Schemes for the Causal Cognitive Relay Channels

The causal cognitive relay channel (CRC) has two sender-receiver pairs, in which the second sender obtains information from the first sender causally and assists the transmission of both senders. In this paper, we study both the full- and half-duplex modes. In each mode, we propose two new coding schemes built successively upon one another to illustrate the impact of different coding techniques. The first scheme called partial decode-forward binning (PDF-binning) combines the ideas of partial decode-forward relaying and Gelfand-Pinsker binning. The second scheme called Han-Kobayashi partial decode-forward binning (HK-PDF-binning) combines PDF-binning with Han-Kobayashi coding by further splitting rates and applying superposition coding, conditional binning and relaxed joint decoding. In both schemes, the second sender decodes a part of the message from the first sender, then uses Gelfand-Pinsker binning technique to bin against the decoded codeword, but in such a way that allows both state nullifying and forwarding. For the Gaussian channels, this PDF-binning essentializes to a correlation between the transmit signal and the binning state, which encompasses the traditional dirty-paper-coding binning as a special case when this correlation factor is zero. We also provide the closed-form optimal binning parameter for each scheme. The 2-phase half-duplex schemes are adapted from the full-duplex ones by removing block Markov encoding, sending different message parts in different phases and applying joint decoding across both phases. Analysis shows that the HK-PDF-binning scheme in both modes encompasses the Han-Kobayashi rate region and achieves both the partial decode-forward relaying rate for the first sender and interference-free rate for the second sender. Furthermore, this scheme outperforms all existing schemes.
Mechanistic Model to Replace Hodgkin-Huxley Equations

In this paper we construct a mathematical model for excitable membranes by introducing circuit characteristics for ion pump, ion current activation, and voltage-gating. The model is capable of reestablishing the Nernst resting potentials, all-or-nothing action potentials, absolute refraction, anode break excitation, and spike bursts. We propose to replace the Hodgkin-Huxley model by our model as the basis template for neurons and excitable membranes.
Non-invasive monitoring of compression therapy: a report of three cases with venous insufficiency.

Sir, Skin oedema is believed to have a negative effect on wound healing and to contribute to skin necrosis and the development of leg ulceration (1, 2). To understand the pathologic signi® cance of oedema, it is important to be able to determine the quantity of uid content and its localization in the skin. High-frequency ultrasonography visualizes oedema as areas of reduced echogenicity in skin images (3, 4). In the post-thrombotic syndrome and lipodermatosclerosis, the drop in echogenicity is present mainly in the subepidermal region; in lymphoedema, echogenicity decreases in the entire dermis, whereas in cardiac insuf® ciency echogenicity decreases in the lower portion of the dermis (5, 6). Since the upper part of the dermis is a site of intensive metabolism (7), oedema localized in this layer might be particularly deleterious. In this study, we used high-frequency ultrasonography to quantify the reduction of dermal oedema after use of two types of compression bandages in three patients with venous insuf® ciency.
LU, QR and Cholesky Factorizations using Vector Capabilities of GPUs

We present performance results for dense linear algebra using the 8-series NVIDIA GPUs. Our matrix-matrix multiply routine (GEMM) runs 60% faster than the vendor implementation in CUBLAS 1.1 and approaches the peak of hardware capabilities. Our LU, QR and Cholesky factorizations achieve up to 80–90% of the peak GEMM rate. Our parallel LU running on two GPUs achieves up to ~300 Gflop/s. These results are accomplished by challenging the accepted view of the GPU architecture and programming guidelines. We argue that modern GPUs should be viewed as multithreaded multicore vector units. We exploit blocking similarly to vector computers and heterogeneity of the system by computing both on GPU and CPU. This study includes detailed benchmarking of the GPU memory system that reveals sizes and latencies of caches and TLB. We present a couple of algorithmic optimizations aimed at increasing parallelism and regularity in the problem that provide us with slightly higher performance.
Water Organization and Dynamics on Mineral Surfaces Interrogated by Graph Theoretical Analyses of Intermolecular Chemical Networks

Intermolecular chemical networks defined by the hydrogen bonds formed at the α-quartz|water interface have been data-mined using graph theoretical methods so as to identify and quantify structural patterns and dynamic behavior. Using molecular-dynamics simulations data, the hydrogen bond (H-bond) distributions for the water-water and water-silanol H-bond networks have been determined followed by the calculation of the persistence of the H-bond, the dipole-angle oscillations that water makes with the surface silanol groups over time, and the contiguous H-bonded chains formed at the interface. Changes in these properties have been monitored as a function of surface coverage. Using the H-bond distribution between water and the surface silanol groups, the actual number of waters adsorbed to the surface is found to be 0.6 H2O/10 A2, irrespective of the total concentration of waters within the system. The unbroken H-bond network of interfacial waters extends farther than in the bulk liquid; however, it is more fluxional at low surface coverages (i.e., the H-bond persistence in a monolayer of water is shorter than in the bulk) Concentrations of H2O at previously determined water adsorption sites have also been quantified. This work demonstrates the complementary information that can be obtained through graph theoretical analysis of the intermolecular H-bond networks relative to standard analyses of molecular simulation data.
A Tumor initiating cell-enriched prognostic signature for HER2+:ERα− breast cancer; rationale, new features, controversies and future directions

The high intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity of many types of cancers, including breast cancer (BC), poses great challenge to development of subtype-specific prognosis. In BC, the classification of tumors as either ERα+ (Luminal A and Luminal B), HER2+ (ERα+ or ERα−) or triple-negative (TNBC)(Basal-like, claudin-low) guides both prognostication and therapy. Indeed, prognostic signatures for ERα+ BC are being incorporated into clinical use. However, these signatures distinguish between luminal A (low risk) and Luminal B (high risk) BC; signatures that identify low/high risk patients with luminal B BC are yet to be developed. Likewise, no signature is in clinical use for HER2+ or TNBC. The major obstacles to development of robust signatures stem from diversity of BC, clonal evolution and heterogeneity within each subtype. We have recently generated a prognostic signature for HER2+:ERα− BC based on the identification of genes that were differentially expressed in a tumor-initiating cell (TIC)-enriched fraction versus non-TIC fraction from a mouse model of HER2+ BC (MMTV-Hers/Neu). Here we describe the rationale behind development of this prognosticator, and present new features of the signature, including elevated PI3K pathway activity and low TNFalpha and IFNgamma signaling in high-risk tumors. In addition, we address controversies in the field such as whether random gene expression signatures significantly associate with cancer outcome. Finally, we suggest a guideline for development of prognostic signatures and discuss future directions.
Partial state estimation: A new design approach

There are three different approaches for functional observer design for Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) systems within the literature. One of the most common methods has been proposed by Aldeen [1] and further developed by others. We found several examples in which the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a functional observer are actually not sufficient for this methodology. This finding motivated us to develop a new methodology for designing functional observers. Our new method provides enough degrees of freedom for the observer design parameter and it improves the weakness within the Aldeen's method in solving the observer coupled matrix equations. In this paper, we present the reason and an example to show the insufficiency of the former method. Furthermore, we present our new developed methodology. An illustrative algorithm also describes the design procedure step by step. A numerical example and simulation results support our findings and performance of the proposed method.
Empirical Evidence on Spatial Contagion between Financial Markets

We say that there is contagion from market X to market Y if there is more dependence between X and Y when X is doing badly than when X exhibits typical performance, that is, if there is more dependence at the loss tail distribution of X than at its center. This alternative definition of contagion between financial markets was introduced in Bradley and Taqqu (2004), where a test for contagion based on local correlation was presented. Using this test, we find evidence of contagion from the US equity markets to equity markets of several developed countries. We also find evidence of flight to quality from the US equity market to the US government bond market. We make the software written in support of this work freely available and describe its use in the appendix.
Hardware-Directed Feature Detection for Video Stitching in Intelligent Transportation

Intelligent transportation is expected to be a part of smart cities in the near future. Vehicles equipped with multiple cameras that convey traffic information to the driver would be an important part of transportation. In this paper, we consider the problem of hardware-efficient stitching of videos captured by multiple cameras. An approach based on detection of interest points in all the video streams to be stitched is proposed. A VLSI architecture for interest point detection is developed. An architecture for display of two video streams is also presented. The proposed architecture has been implemented on an FPGA and data on device utilization is presented.
Larval desperation and histamine: how simple responses can lead to complex changes in larval behaviour

SUMMARY Some marine invertebrate larvae expand the range of settlement cues to which they will respond as they age. How do relatively simple larvae achieve such complex changes in behaviour? Larvae of the Australian sea urchin Holopneustes purpurascens settle and metamorphose specifically in response to a settlement cue, dissolved histamine, produced by the host alga Delisea pulchra. Older H. purpurascens larvae appear to accept a wider range of host algae, which contain far less histamine than D. pulchra, than newly competent larvae. We tested the hypothesis that older H. purpurascens larvae accept a greater range of host algae by metamorphosing in response to lower concentrations of histamine. We compared the response of newly competent and older larvae to a range of histamine concentrations in settlement assays. Larval age strongly affected the minimum concentration of histamine that induced metamorphosis in H. purpurascens, with older larvae responding to lower concentrations of histamine than newly competent larvae. Older larvae were more sensitive to lower concentrations of histamine yet still maintained a stringent requirement for exposure to histamine in order to metamorphose. In addition, older larvae metamorphosed after shorter exposure periods to histamine than did younger larvae. By using histamine concentration as a proxy for specific habitat cues, H. purpurascens larvae appear to expand their range of settlement preferences with age by simply changing their sensitivity to a single settlement cue. Overall, our results show that marine invertebrate larvae can exhibit surprisingly complex changes in behaviour via simple changes in their response to a single cue.
Intracellular translocation of fluorescent sphingolipids in cultured fibroblasts: endogenously synthesized sphingomyelin and glucocerebroside analogues pass through the Golgi apparatus en route to the plasma membrane

When monolayer cultures of Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts are briefly incubated at 2 degrees C with the fluorescent sphingolipid analogue, C6- NBD-ceramide (N- [7-(4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole)] aminocaproyl sphingosine), fluorescent labeling of the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and nuclear envelope occur. During further incubation at 37 degrees C, the Golgi apparatus, and later the plasma membrane, become intensely fluorescent. Within this period, the C6-NBD-ceramide is converted to equal amounts of fluorescent sphingomyelin and glucocerebroside (Lipsky, N. G., and R. E. Pagano, 1983, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 80:2608-2612). In the present study, the intracellular translocation of these metabolites and their subsequent appearance at the plasma membrane were investigated by fluorescence microscopy, the addition of the ionophore monensin, and the technique of "back exchange," in which the amounts and types of fluorescent lipids present at the cell surface are identified after their transfer from the cell surface into recipient vesicles. In control cells, the amount of fluorescent glucocerebroside and sphingomyelin that could be removed from the cell surface by back exchange increased during incubation at 37 degrees C, correlating with the increased fluorescence of the plasma membrane observed by microscopy. In the presence of 10 microM monensin, visible labeling of the plasma membrane was greatly diminished, whereas the Golgi apparatus became highly fluorescent and distended. The ability to remove fluorescent metabolites from the cell surface by back exchange was significantly but reversibly inhibited by monensin. Monensin also increased the total amount of fluorescent sphingomyelin, but not the glucocerebroside found in cells. Subcellular fractions were assayed for their ability to convert radiolabeled and fluorescent ceramides to the corresponding sphingomyelins and glucocerebrosides. The activities of parallel fractions coincided, suggesting that the presence of the NBD moiety did not affect the cellular metabolism of ceramide. Furthermore, the major peak of sphingomyelin- and glucocerebroside-synthesizing activity appeared to coincide with an enriched Golgi fraction. These results strongly suggest that fluorescent sphingomyelin was not synthesized at the plasma membrane as has recently been suggested for endogenous sphingomyelin. Rather, both the sphingomyelin and glucocerebroside analogues were synthesized intracellularly from C6-NBD-ceramide and translocated through the Golgi apparatus to the cell surface.