Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphine administration selectively facilitates social play in common marmosets.

Common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) form extended families, and several cohorts of young may reside together. Play is shown extensively among the offspring. We hypothesized that opiate activity modulates social play, and predicted that administration of morphine (0.5 mg/kg) would facilitate social play, whereas pretreatment with naloxone (0.5 mg/kg) would block morphine's effects. Morphine administration was associated with significantly increased social play, and the effect of morphine was attributable to the focal subject, since play initiated by others was unaffected by treatment. Non-social categories of play, such as object manipulation and locomotor play, and affiliative behaviors, such as time spent huddled, were unaffected by treatment. Twittering and play face, behaviors used by young during play, also increased after morphine administration. Pretreatment with naloxone blocked morphine's effects. Total activity was significantly increased by morphine administration. We conclude that social play is specifically facilitated by opiate activation, whereas other categories of play behavior and social behavior were unaffected by morphine. Thus, social play represents a distinct category of social behavior in juvenile common marmosets with regulatory processes that are unique from other types of social behavior.
Prospect for kidney bioengineering: shortcomings of the status quo

Introduction: Dialysis and renal transplantation are the only two therapeutic options offered to patients affected by end-stage kidney disease; however, neither treatment can be considered definitive. In fact, dialysis is able to replace only the filtration function of the kidney without substituting its endocrine and metabolic roles, and dramatically impacts on patient’s quality of life. On the other hand, kidney transplantation is severely limited by the shortage of transplantable organs, the need for immunosuppressive therapies and a narrow half-life. Regenerative medicine approaches are promising tools aiming to improve this condition. Areas covered: Cell therapies, bioartificial kidney, organ bioengineering, 3D printer and kidney-on-chip represent the most appealing areas of research for the treatment of end-stage kidney failure. The scope of this review is to summarize the state of the art, limits and directions of each branch. Expert opinion: In the future, these emerging technologies could provide definitive, curative and theoretically infinite options for the treatment of end-stage kidney disease. Progress in stem cells-based therapies, decellularization techniques and the more recent scientific know-how for the use of the 3D printer and kidney-on-chip could lead to a perfect cellular-based therapy, the futuristic creation of a bioengineered kidney in the lab or to a valid bioartificial alternative.
Assessment of Helicobacter pylori Gene Expression within Mouse and Human Gastric Mucosae by Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase PCR

ABSTRACT Despite increasing knowledge on the biology of Helicobacter pylori, little is known about the expression pattern of its genome during infection. While mouse models of infection have been widely used for the screening of protective antigens, the reliability of the mouse model for gene expression analysis has not been assessed. In an attempt to address this question, we have developed a quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) that allowed the detection of minute amounts of mRNA within the gastric mucosa. The expression of four genes, 16S rRNA, ureA (encoding urease A subunit), katA (catalase), and alpA (an adhesin), was monitored during the course of a 6-month infection of mice and in biopsy samples from of 15 infected humans. We found that the selected genes were all expressed within both mouse and human infected mucosae. Moreover, the relative abundance of transcripts was the same (16S rRNA > ureA >katA > alpA), in the two models. Finally, results obtained with the mouse model suggest a negative effect of bacterial burden on the number of transcripts of each gene expressed per CFU (P < 0.05 for 16S rRNA, alpA, andkatA). Overall, this study demonstrates that real-time RT-PCR is a powerful tool for the detection and quantification ofH. pylori gene expression within the gastric mucosa and strongly indicates that mice experimentally infected with H. pylori provide a valuable model for the analysis of bacterial gene expression during infection.
Chapter 3 African American Males in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program: Outcomes and Processes

Intervention strategies to increase participation and success in STEM areas vary depending on the specific goals of programs and presumably, their funding. Matyas (1991) focused on minority engineering programs and found that successful programs tend to contain the following elements: (a) assistance with admission procedures;, (b) assistance with student matriculation; (c) academic support services; (d) student study center; (e) linkage of students with minority student organizations in engineering; and (f) summer engineering jobs. A recent, systematic review by a panel of experts identified eight design principles that underpin exemplary and promising higher education-based STEM interventions: (a) institutional leadership; (b) targeted recruitment; (c) engaged faculty; (d) personal attention; (e) peer support; (f) enriched research experience; (g) bridging to the next level; and (h) continuous evaluation (BEST, 2004).
Identification of chondrocyte proliferation following laser irradiation, thermal injury, and mechanical trauma

Cartilage has a limited regenerative capacity, and there are a lack of reliable techniques and methods to stimulate growth of new tissue to treat degenerative diseases and trauma. This study focused on identifying chondrocyte cell proliferation in ex vivo cartilage tissue following heating Nd:YAG laser using whole‐mount analysis and flow cytometry, and compared findings with results produced by contact, and water bath heating methods, mechanical injury, and the addition of transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β).
Fully Automatic Deformable Model Integrating Edge, Texture and Shape - Application to Cardiac Images Segmentation

This article presents a fully automatic left ventricle (LV) segmentation method on MR images by means of an implicit deformable model (Level Set) in a variational context. For these parametrizations, the degrees of freedom are: initialization and functional energy. The first is often delegated to the practician. To avoid this human intervention, we present an automatic initialisation method based on the Hough transform exploiting spatio-temporal information. Generally, energetic functionals integrate edges, regions and shape terms. We propose to bundle an edge-based energy computed by feature asymmetry on the monogenic signal, a regionbased energy capitalizing on image statistics (Weibull model) and a shape-based energy constrained by the myocardium thickness. The presence of multiple tissues implies data non-stationarity. To best estimate distribution parameters over the regions and regarding anatomy, we propose a deformable model maximizing locally and globally the log-likelihood. Finally, we evaluate our method on MICCAI 09 Challenge data.
NF-κB Regulation of YY1 Inhibits Skeletal Myogenesis through Transcriptional Silencing of Myofibrillar Genes

ABSTRACT NF-κB signaling is implicated as an important regulator of skeletal muscle homeostasis, but the mechanisms by which this transcription factor contributes to muscle maturation and turnover remain unclear. To gain insight into these mechanisms, gene expression profiling was examined in C2C12 myoblasts devoid of NF-κB activity. Interestingly, even in proliferating myoblasts, the absence of NF-κB caused the pronounced induction of several myofibrillar genes, suggesting that NF-κB functions as a negative regulator of late-stage muscle differentiation. Although several myofibrillar promoters contain predicted NF-κB binding sites, functional analysis using the troponin-I2 gene as a model revealed that NF-κB-mediated repression does not occur through direct DNA binding. In the search for an indirect mediator, the transcriptional repressor YinYang1 (YY1) was identified. While inducers of NF-κB stimulated YY1 expression in multiple cell types, genetic ablation of the RelA/p65 subunit of NF-κB in both cultured cells and adult skeletal muscle correlated with reduced YY1 transcripts and protein. NF-κB regulation of YY1 occurred at the transcriptional level, mediated by direct binding of the p50/p65 heterodimer complex to the YY1 promoter. Furthermore, YY1 was found associated with multiple myofibrillar promoters in C2C12 myoblasts containing NF-κB activity. Based on these results, we propose that NF-κB regulation of YY1 and transcriptional silencing of myofibrillar genes represent a new mechanism by which NF-κB functions in myoblasts to modulate skeletal muscle differentiation.
A COMPARISON OF PSYCHOSOCIAL BARRIERS AMONG WELFARE RECIPIENTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR DRUG TREATMENT

Implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) presents welfare recipients with time-limited benefits and work requirements. However, it is estimated that over 140,000 welfare recipients meet the DSM-IV criteria for “drug dependence”. In this study, samples of chronic drug using and non-drug using female TANF recipients were compared with regard to: current employment, psychological functioning, self-perceived employment skills, barriers to employment, and need for help in seeking employment. It was found that non-drug using study participants were significantly more likely to be employed and reported significantly higher self-perceived work skills than users. Chronic users reported significantly greater barriers to seeking employment. [Translations are provided in the International Abstracts Section of this issue. ]
Restoring Sesamoid Position in Scarf Osteotomy: A Learning Curve.

Incomplete reduction of the sesamoid is a known risk factor for recurrence of the deformity after scarf osteotomy for correction of hallux valgus. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a learning curve exists for successfully restoring the sesamoid position in scarf osteotomy. We reviewed 71 consecutive cases (71 feet) of scarf osteotomy performed on female patients during a 2.5-year period by the same surgeon. The cases were divided into 3 groups according to the date of surgery, with the first 24 cases assigned to group 1, the next 24 to group 2, and the last 23 to group 3. We compared the median sesamoid position of the 3 groups at 6 weeks postoperatively and patient reported satisfaction at 6 months postoperatively. The sesamoid position ranged from 1 to 7, using the Hardy and Clapham classification system. The median sesamoid position for all patients had improved from 7 preoperatively to 2 postoperatively. The postoperative sesamoid position was significantly better for the second and third groups than for the first (p < .05), and 92% of the patients were satisfied with the procedure. We have concluded that a learning curve to optimally restoring the position of the sesamoid in scarf osteotomy is present and that this has a direct effect on reducing the risk of recurrence of the deformity.
Digital Signal Processing

This paper, presents a robust voice activity detection (VAD) technique based on wavelet packet. In this technique sub-bands and their amplitudes are represented as the vectors for each sample time in order to ﬁnd a new feature from the frequency and amplitude changes. On the other hand, the multi-resolution analysis property of the wavelet packet transform (WPT), the voiced, unvoiced, and transient components of speech can be distinctly discriminated. Then, a new feature extraction method is implemented based on observations of the angles between vectors. This feature extraction method retains most unvoiced sounds in a voice active frame. Experimental results show that the proposed WT feature parameter can extract the speech activity under poor SNR conditions and that it is also insensitive to variable-level of noise.
Retrieval of Wind Wave Elevation Spectra From Sunglint Data

A new expression for the mean value of ocean surface sunglint, modeled as a binary-valued random process, is calculated. Multiple sunglint realizations are generated by applying the specular condition for particular viewing geometries to ocean surface elevations with Gaussian roughness spectra. The sunglint mean value is used to determine the relationship between the second-order statistics of the surface slope and sunglint random processes, and this relationship is successfully inverted to retrieve the slope autocorrelation and power spectrum from the simulated sunglint data. The inversion model is then applied to an image recorded coincident with the NASA AIRSAR PACRIM2 field campaign, to retrieve the 1-D elevation power spectrum.
Classification of urban LiDAR data using conditional random field and random forests

In this work we address the task of contextual classification of an airborne LiDAR point cloud. For that purpose, we integrate a Random Forest classifier into a Conditional Random Field (CRF) framework. A CRF has been shown to deliver good results discerning multiple classes. It is a flexible approach for obtaining a reliable classification even in complex urban scenes. The incorporation of multi-scale features improves the results further. Based on the classification results, 2D building and tree objects are generated and evaluated by the benchmark of ISPRS WG III/4.
Biochemical characterization of Escherichia coli temperature-sensitive dnaB mutants dnaB8, dnaB252, dnaB70, dnaB43, and dnaB454

By use of PCR, the dnaB genes from the classical temperature-sensitive dnaB mutants PC8 (dnaB8), RS162 (dnaB252), CR34/454 (dnaB454), HfrH165/70 (dnaB70), and CR34/43 (dnaB43) were isolated. The mutant genes were sequenced, and single amino acid changes were identified in all cases. The mutant DnaB proteins were overexpressed in BL21 (DE3) cells by using the T7 based pET-11c expression vector system. The purified proteins were compared in regard to activities in the general priming reaction of primer RNA synthesis (with primase and single-stranded DNA [ssDNA] as the template), ATPase activity, and helicase activity at permissive (30 degrees C) and nonpermissive (42 degrees C) temperatures. The DnaB252 mutation is at amino acid 299 (Gly to Asp), and in all in vitro assays the DnaB252 protein was as active as the wild-type DnaB protein at both 30 and 42 degrees C. This region of the DnaB protein is believed to be involved in interaction with the DnaC protein. The dnaB8, dnaB454, and dnaB43 mutations, although independently isolated in different laboratories, were all at the same site, changing amino acid 130 from Ala to Val. This mutation is in the hinge region of the DnaB protein domains and probably induces a temperature-sensitive conformational change. These mutants have negligible primer RNA synthesis, ATPase activity, and helicase activity at the nonpermissive temperature. DnaB70 has a mutation at amino acid 242 (Met to Ile), which is close to the proposed ATP binding site. At 30 degrees C this mutant protein has a low level of ATPase activity (approximately 25% of that of the wild type) which is not affected by high temperature. By using a gel shift method that relies upon ssDNA substrates containing the photoaffinity analog 5-(N-(p-azidobenzoyl)-3-aminoallyl)-dUMP, all mutant proteins were shown to bind to ssDNA at both 30 and 42 degrees C. Their lack of other activities at 42 degrees C, therefore, is not due to loss of binding to the ssDNA substrate.
Motion segmentation using curve fitting on Lagrangian particle trajectories

In this paper we present a segmentation algorithm to extract foreground object motion in a moving camera scenario without any preprocessing step such as tracking selected features, video alignment, or foreground segmentation. By viewing it as a curve fitting problem on advected particle trajectories, we use RANSAC to find the polynomial that best fits the camera motion and identify all trajectories that correspond to the camera motion. The remaining trajectories are those due to the foreground motion. By using the superposition principle, we subtract the motion due to camera from foreground trajectories and obtain the true object-induced trajectories. We show that our method performs on par with state-of-the-art technique, with an execution time speed-up of 10x-40x. We compare the results on real-world datasets such as UCF-ARG, UCF Sports and Liris-HARL. We further show that it can be used toper-form video alignment.
Validation of a GATE Model of  $^{176}$Lu Intrinsic Radioactivity in LSO PET Systems

The effects of the intrinsic activity of lutetium-based scintillators used in PET imaging such as LSO have been well documented and are not usually a concern in most in vivo situations. This activity can, however, become an issue when using a wide energy window or in low count rate scenarios as seen in cell trafficking studies in small animal imaging. To date there has been no systematic validation of Monte Carlo simulations that compare a model of intrinsic 176Lu activity to measured data, making it difficult to include these effects in simulations of proposed scanners. This work seeks to validate a GATE model of intrinsic 176Lu activity against results from a bench-top system of two detector modules from a Siemens Inveon preclinical PET system and also against results from a complete Inveon system. The bench-top measurements and simulations agree well in terms of both count rates and energy spectra, with small differences in the photopeak positions at 202 and 307 keV attributed to LSO non-proportionality, which is not modeled. Measurements and simulations for the full Inveon system exhibited similar discrepancies at low energies attributed to LSO non-proportionality as well as non-uniform detector triggering. For energy thresholds above 200 keV the simulation and measurements exhibited good agreement in count rates and energy spectra. Simulations are performed demonstrating the effect of the intrinsic activity on the minimum detectable activity for the Inveon system, demonstrating agreement with previously published measured results. The results demonstrate that this GATE model of 176Lu activity can be used to accurately simulate the effects of this intrinsic activity in PET systems.
Advances in chiral separations by nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis

NACE is an alternative technique to aqueous CE in the chiral separations of partially soluble racemates. Besides, partially water‐soluble or insoluble chiral selectors may be exploited in the enantiomeric resolution in NACE. The high reproducibility due to low Joule heat generation and no change in BGE concentration may make NACE a routine analytical technique. These facts attracted scientists to use NACE for the chiral resolution. The present review describes the advances in the chiral separations by NACE and its application in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis. The emphasis has been given to discuss the selection of the chiral selectors and organic solvents, applications of NACE, comparison between NACE and aqueous CE, and chiral recognition mechanism. Besides, efforts have also been made to predict the future perspectives of NACE.
Power industry investment, electricity production and economic growth in China: Relationship and forecast

This paper attempts to investigate the relationship between power plant investment, electricity production and economic growth in China, and forecasts at least 5 years, using modern econometrics techniques and software for the period 1980–2009. The paper applies unit root test, Johansen cointegration test and vector error correction model for the past 30 years data, which include GDP, power industry investment, electricity production and installed capacity. It also investigates the non-stationary relationship between these data and makes them become stationary by difference method to create stationary vector autoregressive model. The impulse response is also used to obtain the response between each data. The empirical results show that power industry investment, electricity production, installed capacity and GDP have certain relationships. Power plant investors can forecast economic growth according to past value of investment, and predict future electricity consumption by past GDP. It may help investors to investment rationally, not randomly. The paper also gives some suggestions to government and investors.
Two-trap-assisted tunneling model for post-breakdown I-V characteristics in ultrathin silicon dioxide

This paper investigated the degradation and breakdown characteristics of an ultrathin silicon dioxide film by using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) with repetitive ramped voltage stress (RVS). Two-step oxide degradation was determined from the measured current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and topographies. In the first step, bond breaking and negative-charge accumulation near the SiO/sub 2//Si interface causes oxide thinning and an effective increase in SiO/sub 2//Si barrier height. In this step, hard breakdown (HBD) actually does not occur until permanent damage is produced within the oxide during the second step after several times of repetitive RVS. The permanent damage produced inside the oxide film is in the form of traps, which will cause the crooked I-V curves and a larger I-V shift along the voltage axis. A two-trap-assisted tunneling (TTAT) model was proposed to explain the postbreakdown I-V behaviors. In this model, two isolated traps were generated in the oxide after breakdown. The trap location of the nearer traps determines the bending of the postbreakdown I-V curves and that of the farther traps causes the I-V oxide voltage shift along the voltage axis. The model fits the measured postbreakdown I-V curves well when the locations of both the nearer trap and the farther trap are chosen correctly.
THE TERM STRUCTURE OF INTEREST RATES: A TEST OF THE EXPECTATIONS HYPOTHESIS

THE LAST TEN YEARS have witnessed an active interest in the term structure of interest rates. While the proliferation of studies has failed to lead to a widely accepted view, work by D. Meiselman [27], J. Wood [39], F. Modigliani and R. Sutch [28] [29] [30] and others have found evidence tosupport the contention that the term structure is determined by some version of the "expectations" hypothesis. ' These studies differ primarily on specific hypothesis about the formation of expectations in the bond market. The expectations hypothesis has also been expanded to include the existence of liquidity, premiums [5] [25]. One of the most novel and important contributions to the term structure discussion in the last several years has been made by R. Roll [32] and T. J. Sargent [36]. Based on the theory of forward prices! developed by P. Samuelson [34] and B. Mandelbrot [26], a very general model of stochastic price change is employed to provide a framework for studying various hypotheses about the term structure. The chief characteristic of the model is the requirement that the bond market be "efficient," to use Roll's terminology. That is, whatever mechanism is used to form expectations, it must be based on all of the available market information. The primary difference between the Roll-Sargent formulation of the expectations hypothesis and earlier formulations resides in the explicit recognition that information be efficiently incorporated into expectations of future rates of interest. According to Sargent, the expectations hypothesis is in reality two hypotheses: (1) the yield structure is determined by expected future rates of interest and (2), expectations are formed within the context of an efficient market. Failure to require that expectations be rational allows the expectations hypothesis to become