Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alteration of CaBP Expression Pattern in the Nucleus Magnocellularis following Unilateral Cochlear Ablation in Adult Zebra Finches

Songbirds have the rare ability of auditory-vocal learning and maintenance. Up to now, the organization and function of the nucleus magnocellularis (NM), the first relay of the avian ascending auditory pathway is largely based on studies in non-vocal learning species, such as chickens and owls. To investigate whether NM exhibits different histochemical properties associated with auditory processing in songbirds, we examined the expression patterns of three calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs), including calretinin (CR), parvalbumin (PV) and calbindin-D28k (CB), and their relations to auditory inputs in NM in adult zebra finches. We found enriched and co-localized immunostaining of CR, PV and CB in the majority of NM neurons, without neuronal population preference. Furthermore, they were sensitive to adult deafferentation with differential plasticity patterns. After unilateral cochlear removal, CR staining in the ipsilateral NM decreased appreciably at 3 days after surgery, and continued to decline thereafter. PV staining showed down-regulation first at 3 days, but subsequently recovered slightly. CB staining did not significantly decrease until 7 days after surgery. Our findings suggest that the three CaBPs might play distinct roles in association with auditory processing in zebra finches. These results are in contrast to the findings in the NM of chickens where CR is the predominant CaBP and deafferentation had no apparent effect on its expression. Further extended studies in other avian species are required to establish whether the difference in CaBP patterns in NM is functionally related to the different auditory-vocal behaviors.
Multicenter investigation of lifestyle‐related diseases and visceral disorders in thalidomide embryopathy at around 50 years of age

Background In utero exposure to thalidomide causes a wide range of birth defects, including phocomelia, hearing loss and visceral disorders, known as thalidomide embryopathy (TE). Fifty years after the first report of TE, we conducted the first cross‐sectional multicenter study to investigate the development of lifestyle‐related diseases and identify risk factors for visceral disorders in subjects with TE. Methods Seventy‐six cases with TE (31 men, 45 women) underwent medical examinations between 2011 and 2014 to determine the types of TE‐related anomalies (limbs, auditory organs, or visceral organs) and lifestyle‐related diseases present. Logistic multiple regression analyses, adjusted for gender and age, were conducted between TE and lifestyle‐related diseases and to evaluate association between block vertebra and gallbladder aplasia. Results Fatty liver (FL), nonalcoholic FL disease and dyslipidemia were detected in 52.6%, 35.0%, and 23.7% of subjects, respectively, with higher incidences among men. Dyslipidemia was detected in 40.0% of subjects with FL and was significantly associated with FL (odds ratio = 8.86; p = 0.008). Block vertebrae were detected in 44.4% of subjects with gallbladder aplasia, and this association was significant (odds ratio = 9.96; p = 0.006). Conclusion Subjects with TE have also a risk for lifestyle‐related disease as well as the general Japanese population. In addition, cervical spine radiography and magnetic resonance imaging are recommended to assess block vertebrae in subjects with TE with gallbladder aplasia who develop shoulder pain. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 103:787–793, 2015. © 2015 The Authors Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Performance of Cooperative Multi-Hop Wireless Systems over Log-Normal Fading Channels

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in antenna sharing systems, and many analytical frameworks have been developed to analyze the performance of various relying protocols in a variety of propagation environments. However, among the different propagation scenarios, the less investigated are those characterized by log-normal fading. Motivated by this consideration, we propose a comprehensive framework for performance analysis of multi-hop multi-branch wireless systems over log-normal fading channels. More specifically, the developed framework allows to estimate the performance of amplify and forward (AF) relay methods for both channel state information (CSI-) assisted analog relays, and semi-blind and blind analog relays. In particular, the contribution of the paper is twofold: i) first of all, by relying on the Gauss quadrature rule (GQR) representation of the moment generation function (MGF) for a log-normal distribution, we develop very accurate formulas for important performance indexes; ii) then, in order to simplify the computational burden of the former framework for some system setups, we also propose an approximation, which is based on the improved Schwartz-Yeh (I-SY) method. We show with numerical and simulation results that the proposed approximation provides a good trade-off between accuracy and complexity.
Expression of Activated Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 Predicts Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in and Angiogenic Phenotype of Human Gastric Cancer

Purpose: Angiogenic behavior is a critical aspect of cancer biology and subject to regulation by multiple molecular pathways. Because the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) transcription factor regulates multiple genes important to angiogenesis, we sought to determine whether Stat3 expression is related to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and microvessel density (MVD) in gastric cancer and whether these factors predict survival in gastric cancer patients. Experimental Design: The expression of Stat3 and VEGF was determined by immunohistochemistry using archival tissues from 86 cases of resected human gastric cancer and confirmed by Western blot analysis. Angiogenic phenotype was determined by CD34 staining and microvessel counting. Results: Stat3 expression correlated with VEGF expression and MVD. In univariate survival analyses, Stat3 expression (P = 0.013) and MVD (P = 0.036) were associated with inferior survival. However, when Stat3 expression, VEGF expression, MVD, stage, completeness of resection, Lauren's histologic classification, and age were entered into a Cox proportional hazards model, only strong Stat3 expression (P = 0.049) and advanced stage (P < 0.01) were independently prognostic of poor survival. Furthermore, genetically enforced alterations of activated Stat3 expression led to altered VEGF expression and angiogenic potential in human gastric cancer cells. Conclusion: Dysregulated Stat3 activation may play an important role in VEGF overexpression and elevated angiogenic phenotype in gastric cancer and contribute to gastric cancer development and progression.
On the difference between analysis and design, and why it is relevant for the interpretation of models in Model Driven Engineering

In this paper we try to clarify the confusions that lie around the widely used terms “analysis model” and “design model” in software engineering. In our experience, these confusions are the root of some difficulties that practitioners encounter in system modeling, and sometimes lead to bad engineering practices. Our approach consists of placing the duality of analysis and design within a three-dimensional modeling space. Models are classified according to the reality they represent (first dimension), the purpose of the model (second dimension) and the abstraction level expressed in the model (third dimension). This classification facilitates the interpretation of models and the comprehension of model transformations as shiftings within this space.
Simple, Sensitive and Rapid Spectrophotometric Determination of Albendazole Based on Redox and Complex Formation Using N-Bromosuccinimide

-1 cm -1 for method A and method B, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) are also reported for both methods. The RSD values for intra-day and inter-day precision studies were less than 2.0 and 3.0%, respectively. Both the methods were applied to the determination of ABZ in tablet preparations and the results were satisfactory, and were comparable with those obtained by the reference method. The accuracy and reliability of the proposed methods were further ascertained by recoveries studies, and the recoveries of the spiked drug ranged between 98.5 and 103.2%.
Likelihood-Field-Model-Based Vehicle Pose Estimation with Velodyne

Dynamic vehicle tracking is an important module for Autonomous Land Vehicle (ALV) navigation in outdoor environments. The key step for a successful tracker is to accurately estimate the pose of the vehicle. In this paper, we present a novel real-time vehicle pose estimation algorithm based on the likelihood field model built on the Velodyne LIDAR data. The likelihood field model is adopted to weight the particles, which represent the potential poses, drawn around the location of the target vehicle. Importance sampling which is speeded up with the Scaling Series algorithm, is then exploited to choose the best particle as the final vehicle's pose. The performance of the algorithm is validated on the data collected by our own ALV in various urban environments.
A Modified Particle Swarm Optimization Using FCM for Moving Peaks Benchmark

Many optimization problems in real world are dynamic and they are changing over time. For resolving these problems, many different algorithms have been proposed. One of these, is PSO algorithm which has well supported its ability in resolving static problems. But this algorithm has some problems in dynamic environments. In this paper, an improved PSO algorithm with inertia parameter has been proposed for dynamic environments which increase the convergence speed of algorithm in getting close toward optimizations. In the proposed algorithm, in order to prevent excessive compression of groups at the end of each iteration, the distance between each group is measured and if this distance is lower than a threshold which is adjusted by a dynamic clustering, the worse group will be eliminated. When some changes is observed in the environment, first the particles’ memory is evaluated, then the particles are distributed inside a super globe with the best particle in the center to increase the group diversity. In order to optimize the results, a local search is applied around the best particle of the group. For evaluating the proposed algorithm, moving peaks benchmark was used. The findings showed that the proposed method operates better than other methods.
Contextual reasoning distilled

In this paper we provide a foundation of a theory of contextual reasoning from the perspective of a theory of knowledge representation. Starting from the so-called metaphor of the box, we firstly show that the mechanisms of contextual reasoning proposed in the literature can be classified into three general forms (called localized reasoning, push and pop, and shifting). Secondly, we provide a justification of this classification, by showing that each mechanism corresponds to operating on a fundamental dimension along which context dependent representations may vary (namely, partiality, approximation and perspective). From the previous analysis, we distill two general principles of a logic of contextual reasoning. Finally, we show that these two principles can be adequately formalized in the framework of MultiContext Systems. In the last part of the paper, we provide a practical illustration of the ideas discussed in the paper by formalising a simple scenario, called the Magic Box problem.
Older male carers and the positive aspects of care

ABSTRACT Older men are becoming more visible in care-giving research but there are still few studies that focus expressly on the extent to which care-giving has made positive contributions to their life and has been rewarding. Drawing on data from in-depth personal interviews, this Portuguese study analyses the positive statements in the personal descriptions of the care-giving experience of 53 elderly men who were caring for chronically-ill wives. It also explores the differences between the positive references made by the men who were caring for a wife who had dementia and those made by men whose wives had physical impairments. Using open coding and content analysis, positive aspects were identified in 32 of the 53 care-giving situations. The most prevalent themes were ‘satisfaction’ and ‘perceived social honour’. The findings show that positive returns from the caring experience and role were strongly associated with previous good marital relationships and the husband's good self-rated health, and manifested in both specific coping strategies and global and situational meaning-making processes. The study demonstrates that much more can be learnt about the positive dimensions of care in older men's lives, and that such understanding can inform and strengthen formal and therapeutic support.
Bag-of-Tasks applications scheduling on volunteer desktop grids with adaptive information dissemination

In this paper, we explore the problem of scheduling multiple concurrent Bag-of-Tasks (BoT) applications in unstructured peer-to-peer (P2P) volunteer desktop grids built around a super-peer framework. Resource availability information is exchanged among the super-peers using a light-weight threshold-driven gossip protocol with the aim of minimizing the resource discovery overhead. We present a comprehensive study of the properties of fixed threshold and adaptive threshold based gossiping mechanisms using detailed simulation experiments. Our results indicate that while gossiping with fixed threshold reflects resource usage effectively in a scalable network, an adaptive gossip threshold mechanism based on a simple feedback mechanism considering system state adapts much better to a volatile environment with small latency, reduced overhead and yields better system performance compared to fixed threshold protocols.
Normal Variations in Personality Are Associated with Coital Orgasmic Infrequency in Heterosexual Women: a Population-based Study

Introduction. As many as 20–30% of women report an inability to orgasm during sexual intercourse. Some female sexual problems have been reported to cluster with psychological and social problems. Underlying personality type may play a role in the development or maintenance of such problems. Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate whether certain domains of personality are associated with female coital orgasmic infrequency. To our knowledge this is the first such study in a large unselected population. Methods. A total of 2632 women (mean age 51) from the TwinsUK registry completed questionnaires relating to personality and sexual behavior. Personality domains were assessed using the validated Ten-Item Personality Index (TIPI). Coital orgasmic frequency was measured using a seven-point Likert scale. Main Outcome Measures. Using logistic regression, we investigated whether variations in five domains of personality are associated with female coital orgasmic infrequency. Discordant twin analysis was used to verify findings. and not being open to new experience (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.6–3.6) were significantly associated with orgasmic infrequency, whereas indices of agreeableness and conscientiousness were not significantly associated with orgasm frequency. Conclusion. Specific personality subtypes appear to be significant risk factors for orgasmic infrequency. Consideration of these behavioral risk factors may need to be incorporated into research into female orgasmic disorder, and possible approaches to its treatment. variations in personality are associated with coital orgasmic infrequency in heterosexual women: A population-based study.
Imaging rapid redistribution of sensory-evoked depolarization through existing cortical pathways after targeted stroke in mice

Evidence suggests that recovery from stroke damage results from the production of new synaptic pathways within surviving brain regions over weeks. To address whether brain function might redistribute more rapidly through preexisting pathways, we examined patterns of sensory-evoked depolarization in mouse somatosensory cortex within hours after targeted stroke to a subset of the forelimb sensory map. Brain activity was mapped with voltage-sensitive dye imaging allowing millisecond time resolution over 9 mm2 of brain. Before targeted stroke, we report rapid activation of the forelimb area within 10 ms of contralateral forelimb stimulation and more delayed activation of related areas of cortex such as the hindlimb sensory and motor cortices. After stroke to a subset of the forelimb somatosensory cortex map, function was lost in ischemic areas within the forelimb map center, but maintained in regions 200–500 μm from blood flow deficits indicating the size of a perfused, but nonfunctional, penumbra. In many cases, stroke led to only partial loss of the forelimb map, indicating that a subset of a somatosensory domain can function on its own. Within the forelimb map spared by stroke, forelimb-stimulated responses became delayed in kinetics, and their center of activity shifted into adjacent hindlimb and posterior-lateral sensory areas. We conclude that the focus of forelimb-specific somatosensory cortex activity can be rapidly redistributed after ischemic damage. Given that redistribution occurs within an hour, the effect is likely to involve surviving accessory pathways and could potentially contribute to rapid behavioral compensation or direct future circuit rewiring.
Heart Failure in ALLHAT: Did Blood Pressure Medication at Study Entry Influence Outcome?

Lower heart failure (HF) rates in individuals taking chlorthalidone vs amlodipine, lisinopril, or doxazosin were unanticipated in the Antihypertensive and Lipid‐Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT). HF differences appeared early, leading to questions about the possible influence of pre‐enrollment antihypertensive drugs. A post hoc study evaluated hospitalized HF events. During year 1479 individuals had HF, with pre‐entry antihypertensive medication data obtained on 301 patients (63%). Case‐only analysis examined interactive effects (interaction odds ratio [OR, ratio of ORs]) of previous medication and ALLHAT treatment on HF outcomes, eg, did treatment effect differ by pre‐entry antihypertensive class? Among cases, 39%, 37%, 17%, and 47% were taking pre‐entry diuretics, angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors, β‐blockers, and calcium channel blockers, respectively. Interaction OR for year 1 HF for amlodipine vs chlorthalidone for patients taking vs not taking diuretics pre‐entry was 1.08 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53–2.21; P=.83); for lisinopril vs chlorthalidone, 1.33 (95% CI, 0.65–2.74; P=.44); and for doxazosin vs chlorthalidone, 1.13 (95% CI, 0.57–2.25; P=.73). Controlling for other pre‐entry antihypertensives yielded similar results. There was no significant evidence that pre‐entry drug type explained observed hospitalized HF differences by ALLHAT treatment.
QoS provisioning in wireless video sensor networks: a dynamic power management framework

Recent technological advances in microelectronics and nano-systems technologies have made it feasible to equip wireless sensor nodes with small low-cost cameras to capture and transmit video. Wireless video sensor networks are gaining popularity due to numerous potential applications such as video surveillance, environmental and habitat monitoring, and so on. However, due to the limited battery available in wireless video sensor nodes, provisioning of QoS in such a network is a challenging task. We provide a survey on the major issues related to QoS provisioning in wireless video sensor networks and possible solution approaches. A dynamic power management framework is proposed for a wireless video sensor node to improve energy saving performance so that the lifetime of the sensor node can be increased. This framework considers the video traffic arrival process in the sensor node, the sleep and wakeup processes in the camera and wireless transceiver electronics, the queue status, and the wireless channel condition. Performance analysis results show that the proposed mechanism can achieve considerable energy saving in a sensor node while providing a target level of QoS performance.
An adaptive tuning model for cognitive info-communication channels

Cognitive infocommunication channels are abstract channels which use sensory substitution to convey structured perceptual information via any number of sensory modalities. Our goal is to develop engineering systems for the remote teleoperation of robots using sensory substitution to convey feedback information in meaningful ways. Such applications could help reduce the cognitive load for the user on the one hand, and help alleviate the effect of control instabilities and hidden parameters on the other. In this paper, we present a tensor algebraic approach for the compact representation of complete sensory substitution channels. Using HOSVD, we transform our representations into canonical, granular forms. Through a combination of rank-reduction and error compensation techniques, we propose an adaptive tuning model that can be used for iterative parameter space exploration, thus enabling users to explore the generated sensory substituted signals in a more intuitive fashion.
Design of Irregular Quasi-Cyclic LDPC Codes

Abstract-In this paper, a novel methodology for design irregular quasi-cyclic LDPC codes is presented. The quasi-cyclic structure facilitates encoder and decoder implementation through shift-register-based circuits. The irregularity characteristic improves the code performance in waterfall region. The structure imposed on the bipartite graphs together with shifting matrix, Lead to a class of this code suitable for fast iterative decoding. The construction method results in a class of quasi-cyclic LDPC codes with girth of at least 6.The simulation results show, using the Sum Productive Decoder, this kinds of codes having excellent performance on the additive white Gaussian noise channels .
Comparison of Medical Therapy Alone to Medical Therapy with Surgical Treatment of Peritonsillar Abscess

Objective This study was performed to determine whether the efficacy and safety of medical management of uncomplicated peritonsillar abscess (PTA) presenting in the emergency department is equivalent to medical plus surgical therapy. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG). Subjects and Methods Upon successful completion of a prospective study comparing medical treatment (MT) to surgical treatment (ST) of PTA in 2008, MT was adopted by 12 SCPMG centers while 7 centers continued standard surgical drainage. Clinical outcomes are now reviewed on a random sampling of 211 patients with PTA treated with MT and 96 patients treated with ST between 2008 and 2013 at the respective medical centers. Patients were treated with intravenous (IV) fluids, weight-appropriate IV ceftriaxone, clindamycin, and dexamethasone, and then discharged on clindamycin × 10 days (MT). Patients in the ST group received MT but also surgical drainage. Primary end points were complication rates and failure rates. Results MT and ST resulted in no significant difference in treatment success or complications. However, patients in the MT group obtained significantly less liquid opioid prescriptions (MT, 30.8 ± 5.65; ST, 77.75 ± 13.41; P < .0001), reported fewer sore days (MT, 4.48 ± 0.27; ST, 5.77 ± 0.49; P = .0004), and required less days off from work (MT, 3.4 ± 0.44; ST, 4.9 ± 0.82; P = .044). Conclusions Compared to ST, MT appears to be equally safe and efficacious, with less pain, opioid use, and days off work, especially if patients with PTA present without trismus. MT for PTAs reduces the possibility of surgical complications, as well as the cost and inconvenience associated with ST.