Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drosophila models reveal novel insights into mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration

The SAGA chromatin modifying complex functions as a transcriptional coactivator for a large number of genes, and SAGA dysfunction has been linked to carcinogenesis and neurodegenerative disease. The protein complex is comprised of approximately 20 subunits, arranged in a modular fashion, and includes 2 enzymatic subunits: the Gcn5 acetyltransferase and the Non-stop deubiquitinase. As we learn more about SAGA, it becomes evident that this complex functions through sophisticated mechanisms that support very precise regulation of gene expression. Here we describe recent findings in which a Drosophila loss-of-function model revealed novel mechanisms for regulation of SAGA-mediated histone H2B deubiquitination. This model also yielded novel and surprising insights into mechanisms that underlie progressive neurodegenerative disease. Lastly, we comment on the utility of Drosophila as a model for neurodegenerative disease through which crucial and conserved mechanisms may be revealed.
Decentralized cooperative user in opportunistic spectrum access system

Cooperative sensing is one solution for fading, hidden node problems, and uncertainty noises in primary signal detection. In this case, each secondary user (SU) senses available channel and exchanges their local sensing results to decide which channel can be accessed. Subsequently, this technique is capable to reduce sensing errors and lead to the throughput improvement. In this paper, we investigate decentralized cooperative user (DCU) with limited sensing capability under Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP). It models license spectrum opportunities as Markov discrete process where the idle and busy state of spectrum is represented by 0 and 1. Each SU with limited sensing capability detect primary channel under the constraints of collision allowable by primary user (PU) and reduce the interference to PU activity. SUs exchanges their sensing results based on the local observation. To validate this work, the performance of DCU is compared with single user sensing and random cooperative user (RCU).
Non-standard quantum so(2,2) and beyond

A new 'non-standard' quantization of the universal enveloping algebra of the split (natural) real form so(2,2) of D2 is presented. Some (classical) graded contractions of so(2,2) associated to a Z2*Z2 grading are studied, and the automorphisms defining this grading are generalized to the quantum case, thus providing quantum contractions of this algebra. This produces a new family of 'non-standard' quantum algebras. Some of these algebras can be realized as (2+1) kinematical algebras; we explicitly introduce a new deformation of Poincare algebra, which is naturally linked to the null plane basis. Another realization of these quantum algebras as deformations of the conformal algebras for the two-dimensional Euclidean, Galilei and Minkowski spaces is given, and its new properties are emphasized.
Deregulated expression of cytoskeleton related genes in the spinal cord and sciatic nerve of presymptomatic SOD1G93A Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis mouse model

Early molecular events related to cytoskeleton are poorly described in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), especially in the Schwann cell (SC), which offers strong trophic support to motor neurons. Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) tool identified cytoskeleton-related genes by employing the Cellular Component Ontology (CCO) in a large gene profiling of lumbar spinal cord and sciatic nerve of presymptomatic SOD1G93A mice. One and five CCO terms related to cytoskeleton were described from the spinal cord deregulated genes of 40 days (actin cytoskeleton) and 80 days (microtubule cytoskeleton, cytoskeleton part, actin cytoskeleton, neurofilament cytoskeleton, and cytoskeleton) old transgene mice, respectively. Also, four terms were depicted from the deregulated genes of sciatic nerve of 60 days old transgenes (actin cytoskeleton, cytoskeleton part, microtubule cytoskeleton and cytoskeleton). Kif1b was the unique deregulated gene in more than one studied region or presymptomatic age. The expression of Kif1b [quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)] elevated in the lumbar spinal cord (40 days old) and decreased in the sciatic nerve (60 days old) of presymptomatic ALS mice, results that were in line to microarray findings. Upregulation (24.8 fold) of Kif1b was seen in laser microdissected enriched immunolabeled motor neurons from the spinal cord of 40 days old presymptomatic SOD1G93A mice. Furthermore, Kif1b was dowregulated in the sciatic nerve Schwann cells of presymptomatic ALS mice (60 days old) that were enriched by means of cell microdissection (6.35 fold), cell sorting (3.53 fold), and primary culture (2.70 fold) technologies. The gene regulation of cytoskeleton molecules is an important occurrence in motor neurons and Schwann cells in presymptomatic stages of ALS and may be relevant in the dying back mechanisms of neuronal death. Furthermore, a differential regulation of Kif1b in the spinal cord and sciatic nerve cells emerged as key event in ALS.
THE CHORE WARS: HOUSEHOLD BARGAINING AND LEISURE TIME

Stress over the use of time is a hallmark of American life today. We analyze the role of bargaining in explaining how spouses divide up leisure and chore time. Unlike many other outcomes of household decision-making, time use is easy to observe and to assign to individuals using data from the new American Time Use Survey. Moreover, the ATUS provides a measure of the hourly wage, which we use as a proxy for bargaining power. These factors make for a powerful test of bargaining models. We estimate the effect of a spouse’s relative wages on time use during the weekend, when substitution effects from wages should be much smaller, and controlling for household income, to deal with income effects of wages. We undertake several strategies to isolate the effect of bargaining from that of specialization. We find that, as wives’ relative wages in two-earner households rise, they enjoy significantly more leisure and spend significantly less time doing chores. A one-standard deviation increase in wives’ wage share leads to 18.6 more minutes of total leisure and 14.5 minutes less of chores on a weekend day. While somewhat small relative to total time available, these effects are concentrated in particular leisure activities (especially general relaxing and watching TV) and chores (cooking and cleaning). Wives also spend more time with family members as their relative wages rise, while the reverse is true for husbands. These results hold up when we limit the sample to households in which both spouses work full-time, which reduces potentially confounding influences arising from specialization or non-separability of weekday and weekend time use. The estimated bargaining effects are largest for childless couples, for whom specialization is least likely to be important.
A method to control phosphoinositides and to analyze PTEN function in living cells using voltage sensitive phosphatases

Voltage sensitive phosphatases (VSPs), including engineered voltage sensitive PTEN, are excellent tools to rapidly and reversibly alter the phosphoinositide (PI) content of the plasma membrane in vivo and study the tumor suppressor PTEN. However, widespread adoption of these tools is hampered by the requirement for electrophysiological instrumentation to control the activity of VSPs. Additionally, monitoring and quantifying the PI changes in living cells requires sophisticated microscopy equipment and image analysis. Here we present methods that bypass these obstacles. First, we explore technically simple means for activation of VSPs via extracellularly applied agents or light. Secondly, we characterize methods to monitor PI(4,5)P2 and PI(3,4,5)P3 levels using fluorescence microscopy or photometry in conjunction with translocation or FRET based PI probes, respectively. We then demonstrate the application of these techniques by characterizing the effect of known PTEN mutations on its enzymatic activity, analyzing the effect of PTEN inhibitors, and detecting in real time rapid inhibition of protein kinase B following depletion of PI(3,4,5)P3. Thus, we established an approach that does not only allow for rapidly manipulating and monitoring PI(4,5)P2 and PI(3,4,5)P3 levels in a population of cells, but also facilitates the study of PTEN mutants and pharmacological targeting in mammalian cells.
Control of Fractional-Order Nonlinear Systems: A Review

This paper deals with the control of the fractional -order nonlinear systems. A list of the control str ategies as well as synchronization of the chaotic systems is presen t d. An illustrative example of sliding mode contro l (SMC) of the fractional-order (commensurate and incommensurate) fina ncial system is described and commented together wi th the simulation results.
Emphysema versus Chronic Bronchitis in COPD: Clinical and Radiologic Characteristics

Background and Objectives: In clinical practice, spirometry plays a key role in the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), however, it provides no information about structural pulmonary abnormality. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there is a relation between the clinical criteria and chest radiography or CT studies in differentiating chronic bronchitis from emphysema in COPD. Patients and methods: In a prospective study, data analysis on 165 COPD subjects who were enrolled between September, 2011 and December 2012 was completed. Data were collected including clinical characteristics of stable COPD, pulmonary function tests, chest X-ray and multidetector computerized tomography (MDCT) findings. Results: Emphysema was diagnosed in 90 (55%) of 165 CT scans. The median emphysema score was 58 (range 48 - 72) and significantly correlated with lower FEV1 values (r = 0.542, p = 0.003). In chronic bronchitis, bronchial wall thickening was diagnosed approximately as often in chest radiography (56%) as in CT (64%) as a major finding. Body mass index (BMI), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), and diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DL,CO) were significantly lower, whereas total lung capacity (TLC) was higher in patients with emphysema. Cardiovascular diseases and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) were more common in chronic bronchitis group. Conclusions: Chest radiography is a valuable, inexpensive means of diagnosing emphysema or bronchial wall thickening in chronic bronchitis. Emphysematous patients show a worse pulmonary function and a greater dyspnea. Greater comorbidity in chronic bronchitis may require specific treatment strategies in this subgroup.
Dengue Patients Exhibit Higher Levels of PrM and E Antibodies Than Their Asymptomatic Counterparts

Dengue virus infection is a common tropical disease which often occurs without being detected. These asymptomatic cases provide information in relation to the manifestation of immunological aspects. In this study, we developed an ELISA method to compare neutralizing effects of dengue prM and E antibodies between dengue patients and their asymptomatic household members. Recombinant D2 premembrane (prM) was constructed, cloned, and tested for antigenicity. The recombinant protein was purified and tested with controls by using an indirect ELISA method. Positive dengue serum samples with their asymptomatic pair were then carried out onto the developed ELISA. In addition, commercially available recombinant envelope (E) protein was used to develop an ELISA which was tested with the same set of serum samples in the prM ELISA. Asymptomatic individuals showed preexisting heterotypic neutralizing antibodies. The recombinant prM was antigenically reactive in the developed ELISA. Dengue patients had higher prM and E antibodies compared to their household members. Our study highlights the neutralizing antibodies levels with respect to dengue prM and E between dengue patients and asymptomatic individuals.
On the use of flame analysis and optical variables for an optimized operation in ladle furnace preheating process

In this work, the theoretical fundamentals and the experimental results of combustion control for a ladle furnace preheating process are presented, featured by a high fuel consumption and their subsequent high operational temperatures. The ladle furnace preheating process maximize the ladle's inner refractory temperature, via combustion. The highlights of the closed loop solution are the flame spectrum analysis, the calculation of a set of optical variables and the process optimization using the optical information. These optical variables of flame temperature and radiation, are used as the inputs of an inferential sensor of the key process variable: refractory temperature. Simulation via a Hammerstein first-order model and the experimental results, reveals the suitability of the proposed approach. We obtain near 9% increase with respect to the conventional open-loop operation, for the refractory temperature.
Insight in Schizophrenia: Involvement of Self-Reflection Networks?

Background: Impaired insight is a common feature in psychosis and an important predictor of variables such as functional outcome, prognosis, and treatment adherence. A cognitive process that may underlie insight in psychosis is self-reflection, or the conscious evaluation of one’s traits and characteristics. The current study aims to investigate the neural correlates of self-reflective processing and its relationship with insight in schizophrenia. Methods: Forty-seven schizophrenia patients and 21 healthy controls performed a self-reflection task in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The tasks comprised a self-reflection, close other-reflection, and a semantic (baseline) condition. Insight scores were obtained with the Schedule of Assessment of Insight Expanded. In addition, cognitive insight scores were obtained (Beck Cognitive Insight Scale [BCIS]). Results: Schizophrenia patients demonstrated less activation in the posterior cingulate cortex in the self- and other-reflection conditions and less activation in the precuneus in the other-reflection condition compared with healthy controls. Better insight was associated with greater response in the inferior frontal gyrus, anterior insula, and inferior parietal lobule during self-reflection. In addition, better cognitive insight was associated with higher activation in ventromedial prefrontal cortex during self-reflection. Conclusion: In the current study, evidence for a relationship between self-reflection and insight in patients with schizophrenia was found in brain areas related to self-reflection, self/other distinction and source attribution. The findings support the rationale for a treatment that is currently under evaluation, which attempts to increase insight by enhancing self-reflection.
Discretization of transfer operators using a sparse hierarchical tensor basis - the Sparse Ulam method

The global macroscopic behaviour of a dynamical system is encoded in the eigenfunctions of a certain transfer operator associated to it. For systems with low dimensional long term dynamics, efficient techniques exist for a numerical approximation of the most important eigenfunctions, cf. DeJu99a. They are based on a projection of the operator onto a space of piecewise constant functions supported on a neighborhood of the attractor - Ulam's method. In this paper we develop a numerical technique which makes Ulam's approach applicable to systems with higher dimensional long term dynamics. It is based on ideas for the treatment of higher dimensional partial differential equations using sparse grids. We develop the technique, establish statements about its complexity and convergence and present two numerical examples.
A type-driven approach to concrete meta programming.

textabstractApplications that manipulate programs as data are called meta programs. Examples of meta programs are compilers, source-to-source translators and code generators. Meta programming can be supported by the ability to represent program fragments in concrete syntax instead of abstract syntax. The resulting meta programs are far more self-documenting because ``what you see is what you manipulate''. One caveat in concrete meta programming is the syntactic separation between the meta language and the manipulated language. Conventional scanning and parsing technologies have a hard time distinguishing the two levels. To aid in solving this problem, many meta programming systems use quoting and escaping to indicate precisely where level switches occur. These ``syntactic hedges'' can heavily obfuscate the concrete program fragments. In practice, it leads to programmers avoiding the use of concrete syntax for the bigger or more deeply nested program fragments. This paper contributes by removing the technical need for quotes and escapes, allowing more ``what you see is what you manipulate'' than before in meta programming applications. The method is based on typing mechanisms
State of the Art for Low-Noise Amplifiers in Wireless Transceivers; two new wideband all-active LNAs in SiGe-BiCMOS technology

The aim of this paper is three-fold. First, it introduces the low-noise amplifier, its relevance in modern wireless communications receivers and the performance expected of it. Then, it presents an exhaustive review of the existing topologies, presenting their advantages and shortcomings. And finally, it introduces a new class of LNAs, based on current conveyors, describing the founding principle and the performances of two new LNAs, one single-ended and the other differential. Both these new LNAs offer the following notable advantages over existent topologies: total absence of passive elements (and the smallest LNAs in their respective classes); wideband performance, with stable frequency responses from 0 to 3GHz; easy gain control over wide ranges (0 to 20dB). Comparisons with other topologies prove that the new class of LNA implementations greatly advances the state of the art. These amplifiers are ideally suited to today’s multi-band receivers.
Impact of large‐scale climate extremes on biospheric carbon fluxes: An intercomparison based on MsTMIP data

Understanding the role of climate extremes and their impact on the carbon (C) cycle is increasingly a focus of Earth system science. Climate extremes such as droughts, heat waves, or heavy precipitation events can cause substantial changes in terrestrial C fluxes. On the other hand, extreme changes in C fluxes are often, but not always, driven by extreme climate conditions. Here we present an analysis of how extremes in temperature and precipitation, and extreme changes in terrestrial C fluxes are related to each other in 10 state‐of‐the‐art terrestrial carbon models, all driven by the same climate forcing. We use model outputs from the North American Carbon Program Multi‐scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP). A global‐scale analysis shows that both droughts and heat waves translate into anomalous net releases of CO2 from the land surface via different mechanisms: Droughts largely decrease gross primary production (GPP) and to a lower extent total respiration (TR), while heat waves slightly decrease GPP but increase TR. Cold and wet periods have a smaller opposite effect. Analyzing extremes in C fluxes reveals that extreme changes in GPP and TR are often caused by strong shifts in water availability, but for extremes in TR shifts in temperature are also important. Extremes in net CO2 exchange are equally strongly driven by deviations in temperature and precipitation. Models mostly agree on the sign of the C flux response to climate extremes, but model spread is large. In tropical forests, C cycle extremes are driven by water availability, whereas in boreal forests temperature plays a more important role. Models are particularly uncertain about the C flux response to extreme heat in boreal forests.
The incidence and outcome of major complication following conventional TAE/TACE for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract To investigate the incidence and outcome of major complication following conventional transarterial embolization/chemoembolization (TAE/TACE) therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). From May 2010 to May 2016, all patients with major complication following conventional TAE/TACE for HCC were included. Major complication was defined as admission to a hospital for therapy, an unplanned increase in the level of care, prolonged hospitalization, permanent adverse sequelae, or death after conventional TAE/TACE therapy by Society of Interventional Radiology. During the study period, a total of 2863 TAE/TACE procedures were performed among 1120 patients, and a total of 24 patients (21 male and 3 female) developed major complication with the incidence of 2.1% (24/1120) per patient and 0.84% (24/2863) per TAE/TACE procedure. The major complications were liver rupture (n = 6), liver abscess (n = 5), femoral artery pseudoaneurysm (n = 3), cholecystitis (n = 2), biloma (n = 2), pulmonary embolism (n = 2), and 1 each of the following: cerebral lipiodol embolism, tumor lysis syndrome, partial intestinal obstruction, gallbladder perforation. The mean interval from last TAE/TACE procedure to the diagnosis of major complication was 11.1 ± 7.7 days. The treatments of the complications were conservative treatment (n = 12), conservative treatment plus percutaneous drainage (n = 3), ultrasound-guided thrombin injection (n = 3), conservative treatment plus TAE (n = 2), and conservative treatment plus surgery (n = 2). Of the 24 patients, 20 patients were recovered, and remaining 4 patients were died of major complications; therefore, the mortality rate of major complication was 16.7% (4/24). Major complication following conventional TAE/TACE therapy is uncommon; the outcomes are benign of most major complications, but some are mortality.
Democratization and Educational Decentralization in Spain: A Twenty Year Struggle for Reform. Country Studies: Education Reform and Management Publication Series.

Little more than two decades following the death of General Francisco Franco, Spain celebrated its transition from the most centralized, to one of the most decentralized nations in Europe - in government, and in education. Few countries, if any in modern times, can boast a similar success. The objective of this study is to describe, and analyze the strengths, and weaknesses of a complex, and comprehensive reform that ultimately resulted in a successful, but uneasy transfer of authority, and financial resources, from the center, to the regions. While the reform in law, and policy set out to construct a decentralized educational system, that would be responsive to a state, and regional shared governance process (de jure), the study explains the actual outcome (de facto) which appears to have gone considerably beyond the original intent. This outcome is particularly interesting because decentralization initiatives, typically deliver much less than originally promised. In tracing the change process, this paper examines the turbulent political, economic, and organizational complexities of the reform as it: reacts against the concentrated centralism of the Franco years (1939-1975); makes the transition from autocratic, to democratic government (1975-1982); survives a dramatic shift to political left (1982-1996); and, endures the trauma of shift to the political right (1996-).