Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wnt Signaling Regulates Hepatic Metabolism

Nutrient deprivation triggers β-catenin–dependent expression of genes encoding gluconeogenic enzymes. β-Catenin for Gluconeogenesis In the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, binding of Wnt ligands to receptors stabilizes β-catenin, leading to the initiation of gene transcription by β-catenin in the nucleus. The role of the Wnt signaling pathway has been well established in developmental processes; however, growing evidence also implicates this pathway in the regulation of metabolism. Liu et al. found that hepatic deletion of β-catenin in mice decreased gluconeogenesis (the process by which the liver produces glucose) and serum glucose concentrations. More β-catenin interacted with the transcription factor FoxO1 (which is involved in transcriptional responses to insulin signaling) in hepatocytes from starved compared to fed mice, an interaction that promoted the transcriptional activation of genes encoding gluconeogenic enzymes. In obese mice, hepatic deletion of β-catenin improved overall glucose tolerance and reduced hepatic gluconeogenesis. Thus, therapies that target β-catenin function in the liver could be used to treat metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The contribution of the Wnt pathway has been extensively characterized in embryogenesis, differentiation, and stem cell biology but not in mammalian metabolism. Here, using in vivo gain- and loss-of-function models, we demonstrate an important role for Wnt signaling in hepatic metabolism. In particular, β-catenin, the downstream mediator of canonical Wnt signaling, altered serum glucose concentrations and regulated hepatic glucose production. β-Catenin also modulated hepatic insulin signaling. Furthermore, β-catenin interacted with the transcription factor FoxO1 in livers from mice under starved conditions. The interaction of FoxO1 with β-catenin regulated the transcriptional activation of the genes encoding glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), the two rate-limiting enzymes in hepatic gluconeogenesis. Moreover, starvation induced the hepatic expression of mRNAs encoding different Wnt isoforms. In addition, nutrient deprivation appeared to favor the association of β-catenin with FoxO family members, rather than with members of the T cell factor of transcriptional activators. Notably, in a model of diet-induced obesity, hepatic deletion of β-catenin improved overall metabolic homeostasis. These observations implicate Wnt signaling in the modulation of hepatic metabolism and raise the possibility that Wnt signaling may play a similar role in the metabolic regulation of other tissues.
Morphing: The Linkage between Inward Private Equity and Outward Venture

s Private equity is impacting the global economy and competitive landscape of multinational enterprises (MNEs) worldwide. In this pioneering study we find an important new pattern for global inter-firm connections: an inward private equity investment is inductive for emerging MNEs to conduct outward venture. This inward-outward linkage implies that emerging MNEs are more likely to undergo a series of organizational changes after receiving private equity investments. These changes include restructuring their boards of directors, rebuilding their top management teams, reconfiguring their corporate resources, reframing the industry structure, and altering competitive dynamics. These organizational changes induce emerging MNEs to modify their strategies such as speeding up the internationalization process, locating additional outward ventures in advanced economies, and choosing more complex entry modes, particularly cross-border M&As. We describe this type of evolving internationalization of emerging MNEs as a “morphing” process with in-depth case studies on emerging Chinese MNEs including Lenovo, Zoomlion, Geely, Alibaba.com, Huawei, NVC Lighting, and BYD.
A robust neural network design for detecting changes from multispectral satellite imagery

The advent of very high spatial resolution optical satellite imagery has greatly increased our ability to monitor land cover changes in urban environments where the spatial resolution plays a key role related to the detection of fine-scale objects such as a single house or small structures. At the same time, very high spatial resolution imagery presents a new challenge over other satellite systems, in that a relatively large amount of data must be analyzed and corrected for registration and classification errors to identify the land cover changes, commonly resulting in a very extensive manual work. To improve on this situation we have developed a new method for land surface change detection that greatly reduces the human effort needed to remove the errors that occur with many methods applied to very high spatial resolution imagery. This change detection algorithm is based on Neural Networks and it is able to exploit in parallel both the multi-band and the multi-temporal data to discriminate between real changes and false alarms. In general the classification errors are reduced by a factor of 2-3 using this new method over a simple Post Classification Comparison based on a neural network classification of the same images.
RFID based Location in Closed Rooms - Implementation of a Location Algorithm using a Passive UHF-RFID System

This paper presents a new concept for determining the location of an RFID-tag without any additional hardware. For this positioning system standard RFID components with passive RFID-tags within the UHF range are used. The measurement is based on a location algorithm which makes use of the RSSI value of the UHF reader. The RSSI value is the return signal strength indicator and, as it is shown in the paper in hand, this signal correlates to the distance between the RFID tag and the antenna of the reader. This positioning system is especially useful indoors, where other positioning systems may not work. For this reason it could prove very useful in various logistics applications. The maximum distance from antenna to the tag is approximately between 0.5 m and 3 m. To this end a special algorithm is used to obtain stable calculation results. A minimum of two antennas is needed to get a two-dimensional location.
Pedestrian planning and the challenges of instrumental rationality in transport planning: emerging strategies in three Swedish municipalities

Abstract Despite having been subject to a strong and many-sided critique, instrumental rationality persists as paramount in transport planning practice and research. This paper argues that it is crucial to acknowledge the prescriptive and normative facet of instrumental rationality in order to understand its impact on transport planning. The aim is to explore to what extent pedestrian planning – within a specific geographical context – has subscribed to the methods employed within the limits of instrumental rationality. The study draws on data from interviews with urban and transport planners in three municipalities in the southern part of Sweden (Malmö, Lund, and Helsingborg) together with those municipalities’ urban and transport planning strategies. The material is analysed through three aspects related to (1) who the road user is in the realm of instrumental rationality, (2) what kind of knowledge is of interest within instrumental rationality and (3) how instrumental rationality takes physical form. The analysed material displays walking as increasingly being included in planning exercises and general design guidelines. However, these efforts do not form a consistent and thought-out strategy proceeding from instrumental rationality. Walking remains seemingly excluded from many methods defining this concept. Furthermore, the means are not described as explicitly related to certain ends, or vice versa.
Single-Switch Coupled-Inductor-Based Two-Channel LED Driver With a Passive Regenerative Snubber

In this paper, a single-switch coupled-inductor-based two-channel light-emitting diode (LED) driver with a passive regenerative snubber is presented. In the proposed LED driver, the energy-transferring capacitor is not only used to step up the voltage gain but also to achieve the current balance among LED strings. Moreover, a passive regenerative snubber is added not only to recycle the leakage inductance energy but also to improve the voltage gain. As compared with the prior work, only one switch is required. Thus, the configuration of the proposed LED driver is simpler. Since the proposed LED driver has a higher voltage gain than the prior work, the turns ratio of the proposed LED driver can be lower. Thus, the magnetic core size can be reduced. In addition, both LED drivers have the same component count. Finally, the operating principle, analysis, and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed LED driver.
Structure and Function of Plasmid pColD157 of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 and Its Distribution among Strains from Patients with Diarrhea and Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome

ABSTRACT In this study, pColD157, a 6.7-kb colicinogenic plasmid of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 strain CL40cu, was characterized by restriction mapping and determination of its complete nucleotide sequence. The sequence consists of 6,675 bp and shows a high degree of similarity to the nucleotide sequence of colicinogenic plasmids pColD-CA23 and pColK. Seven potential genes were located on pColD157, three of which were closely related (>97.9%) to the colicin D structural gene and the corresponding immunity and lysis genes of plasmid pColD-CA23, and these were therefore designatedcda, cdi, and cdl, respectively, using the reference extension -CL40 for differentiation. The adjacent 3′ region is related to the origin of replication of pColD-CA23. In contrast, the remaining part of the plasmid harbors a cluster of genes, closely related to the mobilization genes of pColK, which is followed by a 0.3-kb stretch homologous to the pColK resolution function. These determinants were designated mbdA, mbdB,mbdC, and mbdD and cdr, respectively. Southern blot analysis was performed with a probe specific for the cda gene of pColD157 and two groups of EHEC O157:H7 isolates from patients with diarrhea or hemolytic-uremic syndrome resident in Germany. Whereas 16 of 46 E. coli O157 strains isolated between 1987 and 1991 harbored plasmid pColD157, only 1 of 50 strains isolated during 1996 carried this plasmid. In addition, all strains harboring plasmid pColD157 were shown to have colicinogenic activity.
Current and historical perspectives on methodological flaws in processing umbilical cord blood

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) hematopoietic stem cells (HSC‐CD34+) are valuable for treating malignant or nonmalignant disease. Processing UCB by HESPAN‐6% and anti‐CD34‐Miltenyi particles provides insufficient cells for treating adults. Physicochemical‐electrokinetic studies on UCB‐mononuclear cells (MNCs) under conditions of delayed processing, ice or very low temperatures, and some cell separation media identified artifacts introduced by procedures. Adsorption of biomaterials from cell damage by temperature, degradation products after using enzymes, harsh reagents, dithiothreitol, and HESPAN affect cell properties and distribution. Miltenyi particles internalized by cells could release iron that accumulating in liver or spleen would then risk toxicity. Summary topics included the effects of temperature, HESPAN (fast sedimenting agent), glycoproteases, DNase, and dithiothreitol risk affecting cell receptors in recognition, “homing,” leading to possible unintended iatrogenic bioeffects should such cells be transfused into humans. The loss of undetectable and uncaptured low CD34 antigen–bearing cells by Miltenyi particles seems to occur when the current methods of isolation of CD34+ cells and other cells are critically assessed. The purpose here is to highlight and suggest avoiding the procedural flaws involved. Preventing ice temperatures avoids ice‐damaged platelets releasing biomaterials that are adsorbed on cells altering UBC‐MNCs/HSC properties and cell loss. Omitting the positive selection with antibody‐linked Miltenyi particles obviates the use of harsh reagents to release the cells. Internalized Miltenyi particles are a toxicity hazard that needs investigations. Achieving approximately 5% yields of CD34+ cells (153 × 105/110 mL cord‐placenta blood) is a major advance holding great promise, for the first time increasing the prospect of stem cell therapy of 70‐kg adults, using a single UCB donation (with dose of 1.5 × 105 cells/kg) and considerably cheaper cultured red blood cells manufacture (multiple packs/2 × 1012).
Independent component analysis of functional networks for response inhibition: Inter‐subject variation in stop signal reaction time

Cognitive control is a critical executive function. Many studies have combined general linear modeling and the stop signal task (SST) to delineate the component processes of cognitive control. For instance, by contrasting stop success (SS) and stop error (SE) trials in the SST, investigators examined regional responses to stop signal inhibition. In contrast to this parameterized approach, independent component analysis (ICA) elucidates brain networks subserving cognitive control. In our earlier work of 59 adults performing the SST during fMRI, we characterized six independent components (ICs). However, none of these ICs correlated with stop signal performance, raising questions about their behavioral validity. Here, in a larger sample (n = 100), we identified and explored 23 ICs for correlation with the stop signal reaction time (SSRT), a measure of the efficiency of response inhibition. At a corrected threshold (P < 0.0005), a paracentral lobule‐midcingulate network and a left inferior parietal‐supplementary motor‐somatomotor network showed a positive correlation between SE beta weight and SSRT. In contrast, a midline cerebellum–thalamus–pallidum network showed a negative correlation between SE beta weight and SSRT. These findings suggest that motor preparation and execution prolongs the SSRT, likely via an interaction between the go and stop processes as suggested by the race model. Behaviorally, consistent with this hypothesis, the difference in G and SE reaction times is positively correlated with SSRT across subjects. These new results highlight the importance of cognitive motor regions in response inhibition and support the utility of ICA in uncovering functional networks for cognitive control in the SST. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3289–3302, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Rapid Screening Test on Dried Blood for the Neonatal Diagnosis of Tyrosinemia Type I

Background: Tyrosinemia is an inherited metabolic disorder characterized by elevated levels of tyrosine and its metabolites in plasma. Without treatment, the disease will progress to hepatic and renal failure, so that without liver transplantation will cause death in less than 10 years of age. So, early diagnosis and treatment can be life saving and crucial. It means that with early treatment starting in the neonatal period, the patient can have normal life with very few restrictions in diets containing tyrosine and phenylalanine. Objectives: In this study we wanted to evaluate an easy to perform, rapid and sensitive qualitative test with low cost, as a part of neonatal screening tests to help early diagnosis and treatment of hereditary tyrosinemia. Patients and Methods: In this cross sectional study, during the study period (2013 - 2014), 100 patients were selected. Fifty three (53) of these patients had proven tyrosinemia and the other 47 cases biliary atresia, paucity of intrahepatic bile ducts, cytomegalovirus (CMV) hepatitis, galactosemia and storage diseases. Results: There were 2 false negative and 14 false positive cases of hereditary tyrosinemia (HT-1) in the test. Six cases of biliary atresia, 7 cases of paucity of intrahepatic bile ducts and one patient with cytomegalovirus (CMV) hepatitis were falsely positive with the test. Sensitivity of the test was 96.23%, specificity 71.43%, positive predictive value (PPV) 78.46%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 94.59%. Conclusions: This rapid qualitative test on dried blood sample is an easy, cheap, and feasible method for the screening of hereditary tyrosinemia in neonatal period.
Electrostatic actuated interference filters as optical switches for projection display applications

Optical elements for modulating light based on switchable interference filters are described. Such types of elements could be designed for use in reflection and, unlike micro mirrors, in transmission as well, which often simplifies the design of optical systems. Switching elements based on LPCVD silicon nitride membranes were developed for use in reflection. The switches show optimum performance around the wavelength they are designed for. Efficiencies (fractions of the incident light that is passing the switch) of bout 70% were measured for the design wavelength. First samples for use in trans-mission have been manufactured on quartz substrates.
The Pedagogical Implications of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 tools like blogs, Wikis, and podcasts are new to the vocabulary of language acquisition. Teachers and students who take full advantage of these emerging tools will participate in more dynamic, immediate, and communicative environments that provide opportunities for meaningful experiences through social constructivist learning. This chapter aims to bring perspectives rooted in educational theory to a domain too often dominated by the technological implications of its tools and argues that social constructivism is the pedagogical paradigm for learning and teaching facilitated by the next generation of Web technology. It reviews basic theoretical tenets and discusses their implications. Social constructivism lays the foundation for learning environments that foster the participation of students and teachers in today’s knowledge and information-based society to their full potential.
Rank-One Approximation to High Order Tensors

The singular value decomposition (SVD) has been extensively used in engineering and statistical applications. This method was originally discovered by Eckart and Young in [Psychometrika, 1 (1936), pp. 211--218], where they considered the problem of low-rank approximation to a matrix. A natural generalization of the SVD is the problem of low-rank approximation to high order tensors, which we call the multidimensional SVD. In this paper, we investigate certain properties of this decomposition as well as numerical algorithms.
Reduced kinase activity of polo kinase Cdc5 affects chromosome stability and DNA damage response in S. cerevisiae

ABSTRACT Polo-like kinases (PLKs) control several aspects of eukaryotic cell division and DNA damage response. Remarkably, PLKs are overexpressed in several types of cancer, being therefore a marker of bad prognosis. As such, specific PLK kinase activity inhibitors are already used in clinical trials and the regulation of PLK activation is a relevant topic of cancer research. Phosphorylation of threonine residues in the T-loop of the kinase domain is pivotal for PLKs activation. Here, we show that T238A substitution in the T-loop reduces the kinase activity of Cdc5, the only PLK in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with minor effect on cell growth in unperturbed conditions. However, the cdc5-T238A cells have increased rate of chromosome loss and gross chromosomal rearrangements, indicating altered genome stability. Moreover, the T238A mutation affects timely localization of Cdc5 to the spindle pole bodies and blocks cell cycle restart after one irreparable double-strand break. In cells responding to alkylating agent metylmethane sulfonate (MMS), the cdc5-T238A mutation reduces the phosphorylation of Mus81-Mms4 resolvase and exacerbates the MMS sensitivity of sgs1Δ cells that accumulate Holliday junctions. Of importance, the previously described checkpoint adaptation defective allele, cdc5-ad does not show reduced kinase activity, defective Mms4 phosphorylation and genetic interaction with sgs1Δ. Our data define the importance of regulating Cdc5 activity through T-loop phosphorylation to preserve genome integrity and respond to DNA damage.
The U.S. Lodging Industry

T his feature explores the operation of individual markets. Patterns of behavior in markets for specific goods and services offer lessons about the determinants and effects of supply and demand, market structure, strategic behavior, and government regulation. Suggestions for future columns and comments on past ones should be sent to James R. Hines Jr., c/o Journal of Economic Perspectives, Department of Economics, University of Michigan, 611 Tappan Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1220.
Adverse Events After the Use of Benznidazole in Infants and Children With Chagas Disease

BACKGROUND: Chagas disease is caused by infection with Trypanosoma cruzi. In adults, treatment with benznidazole is associated with a high incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). However, in infants and children, treatment with benznidazole seems associated with a lower incidence and decreased severity of ADRs, but these effects have not been clearly characterized. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe ADRs observed in infants and children treated with benznidazole. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of infants and children in Argentina with Chagas disease treated with benznidazole. RESULTS: A total of 107 infants and children diagnosed with asymptomatic Chagas disease (mean age: 6.9 years) were enrolled in the study. Sixty-two events (in 44 children) were considered benznidazole related. Mean ADR duration was 8.2 days. ADRs were mild (80.6%), moderate (16%), or severe (3.2%). Most (77.3%) ADRs were in children older than 7 years. Skin was the organ with the highest incidence of ADRs (21%), followed by the central nervous system (9%) and the gastrointestinal tract (8.5%). Also, the ADR rate was lower in infants and toddlers compared with older children (18% vs 53%) (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with benznidazole was well tolerated in children. Most ADRs were mild and did not require treatment suspension. A strong association was observed between ADR incidence and patient age, and most ADRs occurred in children older than 7 years. We believe that anxiety over potential severe ADRs in children with Chagas disease is not justified and should not be an obstacle to using benznidazole.
Temporal correlation based sparse channel estimation for TDS-OFDM in high-speed scenarios

Accurate channel estimation is essential for time domain synchronous OFDM (TDS-OFDM), which is a key enabling technology in digital terrestrial multimedia broadcasting (DTMB) standard. However, conventional channel estimation schemes for TDS-OFDM systems suffer from the obvious performance loss in high-speed scenarios. In this paper, by exploiting the temporal correlation of wireless channels, we propose a sparse channel estimation scheme to improve the channel estimation performance for TDS-OFDM systems in high-speed scenarios. Specifically, we first propose an overlap-add method of the received time-domain training sequences (TSs) to acquire the rough channel estimation, whereby the temporal correlation of wireless channels is exploited to improve the estimation performance of time-varying channels. Then, a priori information aided matching pursuit (PIA-MP) algorithm is proposed to acquire the accurate channel estimation with low complexity, whereby the priori information from the rough channel estimation is utilized to further improve the channel estimation accuracy. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is superior to the state-of-the-art schemes in high-speed scenarios, especially under severe multipath channels with long delay spread.