Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of sustained exercise and hypoxia upon oxygen tensions in the red muscle of rainbow trout

SUMMARY Teleost fish possess discrete blocks of oxidative red muscle (RM) and glycolytic white muscle, whereas tetrapod skeletal muscles are mixed oxidative/glycolytic. It has been suggested that the anatomy of RM in teleost fish could lead to higher intramuscular O2 partial pressures (PO2) than in mammalian skeletal muscles. This study provides the first direct experimental support for this suggestion by using novel optical fibre sensors to discover a mean (± s.e.m., N=6) normoxic steady-state red muscle PO2 (PrmO2) of 61±10 mmHg (1 mmHg=133.3 Pa) in free-swimming rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. This is significantly higher than literature reports for mammalian muscles, where the PO2 never exceeds 40 mmHg. Aerobic RM powers sustained swimming in rainbow trout. During graded incremental exercise, PrmO2 declined from 62±5 mmHg at the lowest swim speed down to 45±3 mmHg at maximum rates of aerobic work, but then rose again to 51±5 mmHg at exhaustion. These measurements of PrmO2 during exercise indicated, therefore, that O2 supply to the RM was not a major limiting factor at exhaustion in trout. The current study found no evidence that teleost haemoglobins with a Root effect cause extremely elevated O2 tensions in aerobic tissues. Under normoxic conditions, PrmO2 was significantly lower than arterial PO2 (119±5 mmHg), and remained lower when the arterial to tissue PO2 gradient was reduced by exposure to mild hypoxia. When two sequential levels of mild hypoxia (30 min at a water PO2 of 100 mmHg then 30 min at 75 mmHg) caused PaO2 to fall to 84±2 mmHg then 61±3 mmHg, respectively, this elicited simultaneous reductions in PrmO2, to 51±6 mmHg then 41±5 mmHg, respectively. Although these hypoxic reductions in PrmO2 were significantly smaller than those in PaO2, the effect could be attributed to the sigmoid shape of the trout haemoglobin–O2 dissociation curve.
Alpha (1,2) Fucosylated Glycoepitopes from Invertebrates to Humans

Glycans participate in bio-communication, such as cell to cell recognition, sperm-egg recognition and embryonic development because they have the property of storing biological signals in forms that can be identified by other biological systems, such as anti-glycan antibodies and glycan binding proteins or lectins. Aberrant arise at the cell surface in many diseases, including cancer, and altered carbohydrate moieties are indicated as mediators of tumorigenicity and invasiveness. Alpha-L-fucopyranosyl residues are immunodeterminant, playing an important role in the glyco-language; this is especially true of residues alpha(1,2)-linked to a galactose, that frequently exist as terminal modifications of N-glycans, O-glycans or glycolipids. The H antigen is the product of the enzyme that adds fucose to galactose residues by an alpha(1,2)-linkage. We report work in which we demonstrated the presence and role of alpha(1,2)fucose-containing glycoepitopes in biocommunication between egg and sperm in two invertebrate species, the tunicate Ciona intestinalis and the mollusk Unio elongatulus. In the mollusk the structure of the fucosylated epitopes involved in sperm recognition in the context of the blood group H-antigen was confirmed by MS/MS data. Using an antibody raised against the bio-communicating glycoprotein of the Unio oocyte, the epitope of which was demonstrated to contain the alpha(1,2) fucosylated O-glycans, we detected the same or a very similar epitope in nucleolin, a protein expressed in highly proliferating and cancer cells in humans, known to act as a shuttle between the cell surface and nucleus. We suggest that the glycosylation machinery used to build up the alpha(1,2)fucosyl-containing glycoepitope of the Unio egg, is re-stored in cancer cells.
Beyond Convex Optimization: Star-Convex Functions

We introduce a polynomial time algorithm for optimizing the class of star-convex functions, under no restrictions except boundedness on a region about the origin, and Lebesgue measurability. The algorithm’s performance is polynomial in the requested number of digits of accuracy, exponentially faster than the previous best known algorithm of Nesterov and Polyak that further requires Lipschitz second differentiability of the function [14]. Star-convex functions constitute a rich class of functions generalizing convex functions, including, for example: for any convex (or star-convex) functions f , g, with global minima f(0) = g(0) = 0, their power mean h(x) = ( f(x)+g(x) 2 1/p is star-convex, for any real p, defining powers via limits as appropriate. Star-convex functions arise as loss functions in non-convex machine learning contexts, including, for data points Xi, parameter vector θ, and exponent p ∈ (0, 1), the loss function hθ,X(θ̂) = ( ∑ i |(θ̂ − θ) ·Xi| 1/p . Further, for any function g > 0 on the surface of the unit sphere (including discontinuous, or pathological functions that have different behavior at rational vs. irrational angles), the star-convex function h(x) = ||x||2 · g (
Using efficiently autoregressive estimation in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are widely deployed nowadays on a large variety of applications. The major goal of a WSN is to collect information about a set of phenomena. Such process is non trivial since batteries' life is limited and thus wireless transmissions as well as computing operations must be minimized. A common task in WSNs is to estimate the sensed data and to spread the estimated samples over the network. Thus, time series estimation mechanisms are vital on this type of processes so as to reduce data transmission. In this paper, we assume a single-hop clustering mechanism in which sensor nodes are grouped into clusters and communicate with a sink through a single hop. We propose a couple of autoregressive mechanisms to predict local sensed samples in order to reduce wireless data communication. We compare our proposal with a model called EEE that has been previously proposed in the literature. We prove the efficiency of our algorithms with real samples publicly available and show that they outperform the EEE mechanism.
The impact of welfare advice in primary care: a qualitative study

This qualitative study documents the perceived impact of welfare advice on the health and circumstances of people living on low incomes; assesses the acceptability of a primary care based welfare advice service provided by the Citizen's Advice Bureaux; identifies a range of relevant and appropriate health and social outcome measures for evaluating primary care welfare advice services; and builds theory concerning socio-economic position and health. Findings are based on semi-structured interviews with eleven recipients of welfare advice whose resources increased following consultation with a welfare advice worker. Respondents reported positive effects on financial, material and social circumstances and health, in particular reduced stress and anxiety, better sleeping patterns; reversal of weight loss; changes in medication; reduced contact with the primary care team; reduction or cessation of smoking, improved diet and physical activity. Participants characterised the effects of welfare advice in terms of releasing them from a burden or pressure and giving greater choice and control over circumstances. We hypothesise that improvements in health-related quality of life may be mediated by reduced stress, the adoption of more advantageous social arrangements and healthier behaviours. These changes seem to enable greater choice and control over circumstances. The study has enabled the development of an empirically testable theoretical model; adds to evidence suggesting that welfare advice has an important impact on health; and confirms that primary health care provides an important route for potential claimants. The study has formed the basis for a formal outcome evaluation using an appropriate trail design in order to establish the evidence base for welfare advice as a health intervention in primary care.
Emergence of evolutionary interaction with voice and motion between two robots using RNN

We propose a model of evolutionary interaction between two robots where signs used for communication emerge through mutual adaptation. Signs used in human interaction, e.g., language, gestures and eye contact change and evolve in form and meaning through repeated use. To create flexible human-like interaction systems, it is necessary to deal with signs as a dynamic property and to construct a framework in which signs emerge from mutual adaptation by agents. Our target is multi-modal interaction using voice and motion between two robots where a voice/motion pattern is used as a sign referring to a motion/voice pattern. To enable evolutionary signs (voice and motion patterns) to be recognized and generated, we utilized a dynamics model: Multiple Timescale Recurrent Neural Network (MTRNN). To enable the robots to interpret signs, we utilized hierarchical neural networks, which transform dynamics model parameters of voice/motion into those of motion/voice. In our experiment, two robots modified their own interpretation of signs constantly through mutual adaptation in interaction where they responded to the other's voice with motion one after the other. As a result of the experiment, we found that the interaction kept evolving through the robots' repeated and alternate miscommunications and re-adaptations, and this induced the emergence of diverse new signs that depended on the robots' body dynamics through the generalization capability of MTRNN.
Striatal neuroadaptation and rescue of locomotor deficit by l‐dopa in aphakia mice, a model of Parkinson's disease

Preferential neurodegeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral substantia nigra of the midbrain is a hallmark of Parkinson's disease. The homeobox transcription factor Pitx3 is similarly and selectively expressed in the same neurons. Pitx3 deficiency in a natural mouse mutant, the aphakia mouse, was correlated with the loss of these neurons and with a deficit in locomotor activity. We now report that the locomotor deficit of aphakia mice is established by 40 days of age and that it can be rescued by injection of l‐dopa. We further show that downstream striatal correlates of the midbrain neuronal losses in aphakia mice, as assessed by dopamine transporter binding and expression of dopamine receptors, enkephalin, dynorphin and neurotensin, are highly similar to neuroadaptive responses observed following rapid neurodegeneration induced by neurotoxin administration in adult animals or following the progressive neurodegenerative processes as seen in Parkinson patients. Taken collectively, these data support the idea that the aphakia mice represent a selective model of dopaminergic deficiency that closely resembles the midbrain and striatal neuropathology associated with Parkinson's disease, and this suggests that these mice are a good model to assess therapies for Parkinson's disease as well as to understand the susceptibility of these neurons to neurodegeneration.
The new design of the THz streak camera at PSI

SwissFEL is the Free Electron Laser (FEL) facility under construction at the Paul Scherrer institute (PSI), aiming to provide users with X-ray pulses of lengths down to 2 femtoseconds at standard operation. The measurement of the length of the FEL pulses and their arrival time relative to the experimental laser is crucial for the pump-probe experiments carried out in such facilities. This work presents a new device that measures hard X-ray FEL pulses based on the THz streak camera concept. It describes the prototype setup called pulse arrival and length monitor (PALM) developed at PSI and tested in Spring-8 Angstrom Compact Free Electron Laser (SACLA) in Japan. Based on the first results obtained from the measurements, we introduce the new improved design of the second generation PALM setup that is currently under construction and will be used in SwissFEL photon diagnostics.
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Heat-Shock Protein 90 Inhibitors: Geldanamycin Derivatives with Broad Antiviral Activities

Background: Previous studies have suggested that geldanamycin (GA) inhibits the replication of several viruses in vitro. Here, we aimed to synthesize and evaluate the antiviral activity of 17-amino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin derivatives. Methods: A series of 17-substituted and 17-,19-disubstituted GA derivatives were screened for antiviral activities against eight different viral strains, including herpesvirus, hepatitis virus, retrovirus and picornavirus. Results: Most of the tested compounds showed inhibitory activity against the viruses and showed reduced cytotoxicity in vitro as compared with the parent compound GA. In vivo efficacy evaluation results showed that compound 6 noticeably inhibited duckling hepatitis B virus DNA replication in duckling serum after oral administration. Viral rebound did not occur after termination of the treatment. The modified GA derivatives also showed median lethal dose values that were higher than that of the parent GA in mice intraperitoneally treated with the study compounds. Conclusions: Targeting heat-shock protein 90 could be a new antiviral approach that is not prone to the development of drug resistance. The 17-amino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin derivatives could be novel agents with potential antiviral activity.
Automatic Syntactic Segment Filtration for Mass Syntax Corpus with Mutual Information

Syntactic analysis (Syntactic parsing) is an important method in the natural language processing. The Syntactic parsing aims to find a linguistic structure of a sentence with the knowledge of a certain grammar. The constituent parser which can build hierarchical structure with the phrase segments is the most popular method in nowadays NLP applications. Many approaches have been done to the parsing algorithms to improve the precision and recall of the found syntactic segments. In this paper, we propose a novel method to greatly improve the precision of the syntactic segments without dig into the parsing algorithms. The method is introduced as a post-processing which filters the syntactic segments according to their mutual information with the context. The new method can obtain a high confidential subset from a mass syntax corpus and is independent with the parsing algorithms. The effectiveness of the approach is validated by the experimental results.
Sens et normes font-ils bon ménage dans les organisations ?

Title: Are sense and norms compatibles in organizations? Abstract: Using symbolic interactionism, an interpretative approach and a methodology between ethnography and grounded theory, I analyse how norms at work make sense in organizations. I study the way people use administrative tools in a very widespread work, the management of information. By crossing actions, intentions and justifications from six fields, it becomes evident that the administrative tools which are a materialization of norms issued as proscriptions leave some leeway for interpretation. Thus they are more flexible, relevant and evolving than those which translate prescriptions, more numerous and less well adapted.
Progressive Thinning of Visual Motion Area in Lower Limb Amputees

Accumulating evidence has indicated that amputation or deafferentation of a limb induces functional or structural reorganization in the visual areas. However, the extent of the visual areas involved after lower limb amputation remains uncertain. In this investigation, we studied 48 adult patients with unilateral lower limb amputation and 48 matched healthy controls using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Template-based regions of interest analysis was implemented to detect the changes of cortical thickness in the specific visual areas. Compared with normal controls, amputees exhibited significantly lower thickness in the V5/middle temporal (V5/MT+) visual area, as well as a trend of cortical thinning in the V3d. There was no significant difference in the other visual areas between the two groups. In addition, no significant difference of cortical thickness was found between patients with amputation at different levels. Across all amputees, correlation analyses revealed that the cortical thickness of the V5/MT+ was negatively correlated to the time since amputation. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the amputation of unilateral lower limb could induce changes in the motor-related visual cortex and provide an update on the plasticity of the human brain after limb injury.
Metabolic Tumor Volume Assessed by 18F-FDG PET/CT for the Prediction of Outcome in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

18F-FDG PET/CT allows the direct measurement of metabolic tumor burden in a variety of different malignancies. The aim of this study was to assess whether metabolic tumor volume (MTV) determined by 18F-FDG PET/CT could be used in the prediction of progression-free and overall survival in multiple myeloma patients. Methods: Forty-seven patients (18 women, 29 men; mean age ± SD, 63 ± 11 y) with stage IIIA disease who had undergone whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT were retrospectively evaluated. Images underwent a 3-dimensional region-of-interest analysis including all focal lesions with a maximum standardized uptake value > 2.5. The MTV of each lesion was calculated using an automated contouring program based on the standardized uptake value and developed with a threshold of 40% of the maximum standardized uptake value. The total MTV of each patient was defined as the sum of metabolic volume of all focal lesions. Patients were treated and then subjected to a mean follow-up period of 24 mo. Results: In the 47 patients studied, MTV range was 1.3–316.3 mL, with a median of 23.7 mL. A direct, significant correlation was found between MTV and the percentage of diffuse infiltration of bone marrow by plasma cells (r = 0.46, P = 0.006), whereas hemoglobin levels were inversely correlated with MTV (r = −0.56, P = 0.0001). At follow-up, patients who developed progressive disease (n = 18) showed a significantly higher MTV (74.7 ± 19.3 vs. 29.8 ± 5.1 mL, P = 0.009) than patients without progressive disease (n = 29). Furthermore, patients who died of myeloma (n = 9) had a significantly higher MTV (123.2 ± 30.6 vs. 28.9 ± 4.2 mL, P = 0.0001) than survivors (n = 38). No differences in age, plasma cell infiltration, M protein, albumin, β2-microglobulin, performance status, International Staging System score, and presence or absence of a bone marrow transplant were found between groups. The MTV cutoff level was determined by receiver-operating-characteristic curve analysis, and the best discriminative value found for predicting progression-free and overall survival was 42.2 and 77.6 mL, respectively. By Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank testing, progression-free and overall survival at follow-up were significantly better in patients showing an MTV lower than the cutoff than in those having an MTV higher than the cutoff (χ2 = 3.9, P = 0.04, and χ2 = 56.3, P < 0.0001, respectively). Conclusion: The direct measurement of tumor burden obtained by calculating MTV on 18F-FDG PET/CT images may be used in the prediction of progression-free and overall survival in myeloma patients.
From Sport Culture to the Social World of the “Good PT”

This research explores the career development of men who cross over into the historically female occupation of physical therapy, drawing from a critical feminist perspective on sport, work, and the gender order. Data gathered from thirty-two semistructured interviews with early- and mid-career men indicate that a traditional emphasis on athleticism shaped men's career entry and early specialty choices. Men in physical therapy described a “good physical therapist” as displaying both stereotypically masculine and feminine traits. Although athleticism shaped men's abilities to comfortably accept alternative masculinities in the form of caring work, early-career specialty choices reinforced hegemonic patterns of occupational segregation. Implications for gender equality at work are discussed and limitations to feminist perspectives are noted.
Beam Focusing Using Backward-Radiating Waves on Conformal Leaky-Wave Antennas Based on a Metal Strip Grating

In this paper, several conformal leaky-wave antennas (CLWAs) are designed, which utilize backward radiating waves to focus the beam. They employ a metal strip grating (MSG) in order to introduce the required phase constant (β) on a curved aperture to compensate for the defocusing due to the curvature. The required β is obtained by modulating the distance between adjacent strips/slots to scan the beam toward broadside. Using backward waves with a modulated MSG on a smoothly curved CLWA is a novel design. Using a backward wave allows for a doubling of the aperture size as compared to the forward-wave case. This, in turn, leads to a doubling of the directivity. A simple two-dimensional (2-D) Fourier-series model is used to explain the radiation physics. Full-wave analyses using the FEKO and HFSS software packages are carried out to design and analyze these CLWAs in 2-D and three-dimensional (3-D), and to verify the concept. A CLWA with a focused backward wave, supported by a modulated MSG, is fabricated and tested. The calculations and experimental results confirm that directive beaming is possible with a backward wave on a curved, modulated MSG.
Operational SAR Sea-Ice Image Classification

Thousands of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sea-ice images are systematically processed every year in support of operational activities such as ship navigation and environmental monitoring. An automated approach that generates pixel-level sea-ice image classification is required since manual pixel-level classification is not feasible. Currently, using a standardized approach, trained ice analysts manually segment full SAR scenes into smaller polygons to record ice types and concentrations. Using these data, pixel-level classification can be achieved by initial unsupervised segmentation of each polygon, followed by automatic sea-ice labeling of the full scene. A fully automated Markov random field model that is used to assign labels to all segmented regions in the full scene has been designed and implemented. This approach is the first known successful end-to-end process for operational SAR sea-ice image classification. In addition, a novel performance evaluation framework has been developed to validate the segmentation and labeling of SAR sea-ice images. A trained sea-ice expert has conducted an arms length evaluation using this framework to generate a set of full-scene reference images used for testing. Testing demonstrates operational success of the labeling approach.
VAMOS: Virtualization Aware Middleware

Machine virtualization is undoubtedly useful, but does not come cheap. The performance cost of virtualization, for I/O intensive workloads in particular, can be heavy. Common approaches to solving the I/O virtualization overhead focus on the I/O stack, thereby missing optimization opportunities in the overall stack. We propose VAMOS, a novel software architecture for middleware, which runs middleware modules at the hypervisor level. VAMOS reduces I/O virtualization overhead by cutting down on the overall number of guest/hypervisor switches for I/O intensive workloads. Middleware code can be adapted to VAMOS at only a modest cost, by exploiting existing modular design and abstraction layers. Applying VAMOS to a database workload improved its performance by up to 32%.