Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of the Motor and Tail Domains of Class III Myosins on Regulating the Formation and Elongation of Actin Protrusions*

Class III myosins (MYO3A and MYO3B) are proposed to function as transporters as well as length and ultrastructure regulators within stable actin-based protrusions such as stereocilia and calycal processes. MYO3A differs from MYO3B in that it contains an extended tail domain with an additional actin-binding motif. We examined how the properties of the motor and tail domains of human class III myosins impact their ability to enhance the formation and elongation of actin protrusions. Direct examination of the motor and enzymatic properties of human MYO3A and MYO3B revealed that MYO3A is a 2-fold faster motor with enhanced ATPase activity and actin affinity. A chimera in which the MYO3A tail was fused to the MYO3B motor demonstrated that motor activity correlates with formation and elongation of actin protrusions. We demonstrate that removal of individual exons (30–34) in the MYO3A tail does not prevent filopodia tip localization but abolishes the ability to enhance actin protrusion formation and elongation in COS7 cells. Interestingly, our results demonstrate that MYO3A slows filopodia dynamics and enhances filopodia lifetime in COS7 cells. We also demonstrate that MYO3A is more efficient than MYO3B at increasing formation and elongation of stable microvilli on the surface of cultured epithelial cells. We propose that the unique features of MYO3A, enhanced motor activity, and an extended tail with tail actin-binding motif, allow it to play an important role in stable actin protrusion length and ultrastructure maintenance.
Multishot diffusion‐weighted FSE using PROPELLER MRI

A method for obtaining diffusion‐weighted images that are free from the artifacts associated with echo‐planar acquisitions, such as signal pile‐up and geometric warping, is introduced. It uses an ungated, multishot fast spin‐echo (FSE) acquisition that is self‐navigated. The phase of the refocusing pulses is alternated to minimize non‐Carr‐Purcell‐Meiboom‐Gill (CPMG) artifacts. Several reconstruction methods are combined to make this method robust against motion artifacts. Examples are shown of clinical diffusion‐weighted imaging and high‐resolution diffusion tensor imaging. Magn Reson Med 47:42–52, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Increase of Total Body Water With Decrease of Body Mass While Running 100 km Nonstop—Formation of Edema?

We investigated whether ultraendurance runners in a 100-km run suffer a decrease of body mass and whether this loss consists of fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, or total body water. Male ultrarunners were measured pre- and postrace to determine body mass, fat mass, and skeletal muscle mass by using the anthropometric method. In addition, bioelectrical impedance analysis was used to determine total body water, and urinary (urinary specific gravity) and hematological parameters (hematocrit and plasma sodium) were measured in order to determine hydration status. Body mass decreased by 1.6 kg (p < .01), fat mass by 0.4 kg (p < .01), and skeletal muscle mass by 0.7 kg (p < .01), whereas total body water increased by 0.8 L (p < .05). Hematocrit and plasma sodium decreased significantly (p < .01), whereas plasma urea and urinary specific gravity (USG) increased significantly (p < .01). The decrease of 2.2% body mass and a USG of 1.020 refer to a minimal dehydration. Our athletes seem to have been relatively overhydrated (increase in total body water and plasma sodium) and dehydrated (decrease in body mass and increase in USG) during the race, as evidenced by the increased total body water and the fact that plasma sodium and hematocrit were lower postrace than prerace. The change of body mass was associated with the change of total body water (p < .05), and we presume the development of
Selective Expression of Huntingtin-associated Protein 1 in β-Cells of the Rat Pancreatic Islets

Huntingtin-associated protein-1 (HAP1) was initially identified as a binding partner of huntingtin, the Huntington's disease protein. Based on its preferred distribution among neurons and endocrine cells, HAP1 has been suggested to play roles in vesicular transportation in neurons and hormonal secretion of endocrine cells. Given that HAP1 is selectively expressed in the islets of rat pancreas, in this study, we analyzed the expression pattern of HAP1 in the islets. In rats injected intraperitoneally with streptozotocin, which can selectively destroy β-cells of the pancreatic islets, the number of HAP1 immunoreactive cells was dramatically decreased and was accompanied by a parallel decrease in the number of insulin-immunoreactive cells. Immunofluorescent double staining of pancreas sections showed that, in rat islets, HAP1 is selectively expressed in the insulin-immunoreactive β-cells but not in the glucagon-immunoreactive α-cells and somatostatin immunoreactive δ-cells. In isolated rat pancreatic islets, ×80% of cells expressed both HAP1 and insulin. Expression of HAP1 in the INS-1 rat insulinoma cell line was also demonstrated by immunofluorescent staining. Western blotting further revealed that HAP1 in both the isolated rat pancreatic islets and the INS-1 cells also has two isoforms, HAP1A and HAP1B, which are the same as those in the hypothalamus. These results demonstrated that HAP1 is selectively expressed in β-cells of rat pancreatic islets, suggesting the involvement of HAP1 in the regulation of cellular trafficking and secretion of insulin.
Low-power adaptive edge decision feedback equalizer for serial links with 4PAM signaling

This paper presents a low-power adaptive edge decision feedback equalizer (DFE) for 10 giga-bits-per-second (Gbps) serial links with 4 PAM (pulse-amplitude-modulation) signaling. Optimal tap coefficients are obtained adaptively using a sign-sign least-mean-square (SS-LMS) algorithm that minimizes the jitter of equalized data. Low-voltage-differential-signaling (LVDS) tap generators that double DFE strength without increasing power consumption are used. Power reduction is also achieved by only activating the tap generator corresponding to the incoming data and sharing slicers for determining data state, the sign of data jitter, and bang-bang phase detection. A frequency locked-loop locked to an external frequency reference and a bang-bang phase-locked loop locked to the edge of equalized data, both sharing the same active inductor ring oscillator with separate frequency and phase tunings, are employed for clock recovery. The effectiveness of the proposed edge DFE is validated using a 10 Gbps 4PAM serial link designed in a 65 nm CMOS technology over a wire channel with 12 dB loss at baud-rate frequency. Simulation results demonstrated that the proposed adaptive edge DFE is capable of achieving 46% vertical opening and 60\% horizontal eye-opening while consuming 26.24 mW.
Using latent Dirichlet allocation to improve text classification performance of support vector machine

Text classification is an important task in natural language processing that aims to determine the category of a document. In the simplest settings, we adopt the bag-of-words model and convert documents in the corpus into term frequency vectors so that the classifier can process them. Because the bag-of-words model retains only the number of occurrences of each individual term, the classifier cannot use other syntactic and semantic information, which may lead to inaccurate classification results. In order to improve the accuracy of text classification, we use latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to extract the topic information so that we can add topic related features into the feature set representing the document. We explore different forms of term frequency and topic information and treat them as features for the support vector machine (SVM). The experimental results on three corpora indicate that the combined features can enhance the text classification accuracy.
An acoustic echo cancellation scheme based on particle swarm optimization algorithm

This paper deals with the problem of echo cancellation of speech signals in an acoustic environment. In this regard, generally, different adaptive filter algorithms are employed, which may lack the flexibility of controlling the convergence rate, number of iterations, range of variation of filter coefficients, and tolerance consistency. In order to overcome these problems, unlike conventional approaches, we formulate the task of echo cancelation as a coefficient optimization problem whereby we introduce the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. In this case, the PSO is designed to perform the error minimization in frequency domain. From extensive experimentations, it is shown that the proposed PSO based acoustic echo cancellation method provides high echo cancellation performance in terms of echo return loss enhancement with a faster convergence rate in comparison to that obtained by some of the state-of-the-art methods.
Combining a large sentiment lexicon and machine learning for subjectivity classification

Most previous work on subjectivity/sentiment classification bases on either machine learning techniques (such as SVM, Maximum Entropy, Naive Bayes, etc.) or general sentiment lexicons. This paper presents a novel approach to combine a large sentiment lexicon and machine learning techniques for opinion analysis: 1) a large sentiment lexicon is automatically adjusted according to training data; 2) machine learning techniques are used to learn models on training data; 3) the results given by machine learning classifiers and the supervised lexicon-based classifier are combined to get better results. The experiments with the NTCIR data show that our approach significantly outperforms the baselines on subjectivity classification, i.e. the adjusted large sentiment lexicon shows good performance and its combination with machine learning techniques shows further improvement.
Use of a Silk Fibroin-Chitosan Scaffold to Construct a Tissue-Engineered Corneal Stroma

Purpose: To construct a scaffold using silk fibroin (SF) and chitosan (CS) that could replace the corneal stroma with the biological characteristics of the scaffold materials still intact. Methods: To develop an organotypic corneal stroma, SF and CS were chosen to synthesise the tissue-engineered bioscaffold. We cultured primary rabbit corneal epithelial cells and corneal stromal cells in vitro. Keratocytes were used to assess cytotoxicity on SF-CS (SFCS) blends, which was determined by a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. The corneal lamellar scaffolds were developed with sequential culture techniques to form cell-scaffold constructs. Implantation was tested in 15 New Zealand White rabbits. The corneal substitutes were analysed by light and electron microscopy. Results: The reconstructed lamellar cornea was comparable to native tissue, with high levels of K3/12 expression in the corneal epithelial cells and vimentin in the stromal cells; moreover, the morphology and the position of the cells could be distinguished by histological methods. There was no sign of any immune reaction in or around the transplanted discs 12 weeks after implantation. Conclusion: A SFCS scaffold might be a suitable blend for corneal tissue engineering.
Long-term Effects of Femoral Derotation Osteotomies: An Evaluation Using Three-Dimensional Gait Analysis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of the femoral derotation osteotomy (FDO) in the ambulatory patient with cerebral palsy (CP). The effectiveness of the FDOs were evaluated using three-dimensional gait analysis just before surgery (P0), 1 year after surgery (P1), and 5 years after surgery (P2). A total of 20 patients (27 sides) with CP were evaluated. Related physical examination and motion measures showed significant improvements at P1 that were maintained at P2. Mean maximum internal hip rotation at P0 of 77° ± 9° decreased to 53° ± 8° at P1 and was maintained at 58° ± 11° at P2. Mean maximum external hip rotation at P0 of 21° ± 11° increased to 35° ± 15° at P1 and was maintained at 32° ± 13° at P2. Mean femoral anteversion at P0 of 63° ± 9° was reduced to 26° ± 15° and was maintained at 31° ± 13° at P2. During gait, mean hip rotation in stance at P0 of 20° ± 8° was decreased to 2° ± 10° at P1 and was maintained at 4° ± 5° at P2. There were associated significant foot progression changes from an internal progression mean of 5° ± 17° at P0 to −11° ± 17° at P1 that were maintained at −12° ± 5° at P2. The findings suggest that the FDO is a viable and lasting treatment option for the correction of anteversion and associated internal hip rotation during gait in children with CP.
Structure and Epigenetics of Nucleoli in Comparison With Non-nucleolar Compartments

The nucleolus is a nuclear compartment that plays an important role in ribosome biogenesis. Some structural features and epigenetic patterns are shared between nucleolar and non-nucleolar compartments. For example, the location of transcriptionally active mRNA on extended chromatin loop species is similar to that observed for transcriptionally active ribosomal DNA (rDNA) genes on so-called Christmas tree branches. Similarly, nucleolus organizer region–bearing chromosomes located a distance from the nucleolus extend chromatin fibers into the nucleolar compartment. Specific epigenetic events, such as histone acetylation and methylation and DNA methylation, also regulate transcription of both rRNA- and mRNA-encoding loci. Here, we review the epigenetic mechanisms and structural features that regulate transcription of ribosomal and mRNA genes. We focus on similarities in epigenetic and structural regulation of chromatin in nucleoli and the surrounding non-nucleolar region and discuss the role of proteins, such as heterochromatin protein 1, fibrillarin, nucleolin, and upstream binding factor, in rRNA synthesis and processing.
Fiber Wireless Transmission of 8.3-Gb/s/ch QPSK-OFDM Signals in 75–110-GHz Band

In this letter, we present a scalable high-speed W-band (75-110-GHz) fiber wireless communication system. By using an optical frequency comb generator, three-channel 8.3-Gb/s/ch optical orthogonal frequency-division-multiplexing (OOFDM) baseband signals in a 15-GHz bandwidth are seamlessly translated from the optical to the wireless domain. The W-band wireless carrier is generated from heterodyne mixing the OOFDM baseband signal with a free-running laser. A W-band electronic down-converter and a digital signal processing-based receiver are used. Three-channel QPSK-OFDM W-band wireless signals are transmitted over 0.5- and 2-m air distance with and without 22.8-km single-mode fiber, respectively, with achieved performance below the forward error correction limit.
Localized solution structure refinement of an F45W variant of ubiquitin using stochastic boundary molecular dynamics and NMR distance restraints

The local structure within an 8‐Å radius around residue 45 of a recombinant F45W variant of human ubiquitin has been determined using 67 interproton distance restraints measured by two‐dimensional proton NMR. Proton chemical shift evidence indicates that structural perturbations due to the F45W mutation are minimal and limited to the immediate vicinity of the site of mutation. Simulated annealing implemented with stochastic boundary molecular dynamics was applied to refine the structure of Trp 45 and 10 neighboring residues. The stochastic boundary method allowed the entire protein to be reassembled from the refined coordinates and the outlying unrefined coordinates with little distortion at the boundary. Refinement began with four low‐energy indole ring orientations of F45W‐substituted wild‐type (WT) ubiquitin crystal coordinates. Distance restraints were derived from mostly long‐range NOE cross peaks with 51 restraints involving the Trp 45 indole ring. Tandem refinements of 64 structures were done using either (1) upper and lower bounds derived from qualitative inspection of NOE cross‐peak intensities or (2) quantitative analysis of cross‐peak heights using the program MARDIGRAS. Though similar to those based on qualitative restraint, structures obtained using quantitative NOE analysis were superior in terms of precision and accuracy as measured by back‐calculated sixth‐root R factors. The six‐membered portion of the indole ring is nearly coincident with the phenyl ring of the WT and the indole NH is exposed to solvent. Accommodation of the larger ring is accompanied by small perturbations in the backbone and a 120° rotation of the x2 dihedral angle of Leu 50.
Measurement of Plasma-Derived Substance P: Biological, Methodological, and Statistical Considerations

ABSTRACT The undecapeptide substance P (SP) is a member of the tachykinin family of neurotransmitters, which has a pivotal role in the regulation of inflammatory and immune responses. One of the major barriers to the study of the in vivo role of SP in a number of immune disorders is the accurate measurement of SP in fluids. This is reflected in the variability of reported SP levels in serum and plasma of humans in both healthy and diseased states. This study was initiated in order to identify sources of variability by the comparative evaluation of the influences of sample preparation and analytical detection methods on the measurement of SP in plasma. The results indicate that sample preparation (peptide extraction versus no extraction) and the choice of analytical method for SP quantitation may yield significantly different values and may contribute to the variability in SP values reported in the literature. These results further emphasize the need for careful consideration in the selection of methods for SP quantitation, as well as caution in the interpretation and comparison of data reported in the literature.
Doğrudan Yabancı Yatırımların Ekonomik Büyüme ve İstihdama Etkisi:Türkiye Uygulaması (1980‐2010)

In this study, for determining the relationship among foreign direct investment, economic growth and employment, we used the datum between 1980‐2010 from Turkey. The used variables were tested and results were eva‐luated. Also, Granger causality test was used to determine the relation between foreign direct investment and economic gowth. As a result, eventhough a long term relation between for‐eign direct investment and economic growth is found, there is no relation between foreign direct investment and employment. On the other hand, there is a two‐way causality between foreign direct investment and economic growth.
Health care expenditures associated with overweight and obesity among US adults: importance of age and race.

OBJECTIVES We estimated health care expenditures associated with overweight and obesity and examined the influence of age, race, and gender. METHODS Using 1998 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data, we employed 2-stage modeling to estimate annual health care expenditures associated with high body mass index (BMI) and examine interactions between demographic factors and BMI. RESULTS Overall, the mean per capita annual health care expenditure (converted to December 2003 dollars) was $3338 before adjustment. While the adjusted expenditure was $2127 (90% confidence interval [CI]=$1927, $2362) for a typical normal-weight White woman aged 35 to 44 years, expenditures were $2358 (90% CI=$2128, $2604) for women with BMIs of 25 to 29.9 kg/m(2), $2873 (90% CI=$2530, $3236) for women with BMIs of 30 to 34.9 kg/m(2), $3058 (90% CI=$2529, $3630) for women with BMIs of 35 to 39.9 kg/m(2), and $3506 (90% CI=$2912, $4228) for women with BMIs of 40 kg/m(2) or higher. Expenditures related to higher BMI rose dramatically among White and older adults but not among Blacks or those younger than 35 years. We found no interaction between BMI and gender. CONCLUSIONS Health care costs associated with overweight and obesity are substantial and vary according to race and age.
High Performance Monolithically Integrated GaN Driving VMOSFET on LED

This letter reports the monolithic integration of GaN-based driving vertical metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (VMOSFET) on light-emitting diode (LED) with high output current density and bright-ness. By selectively regrowing a simple p- and n-GaN bilayer on top of an LED wafer, the VMOSFET was realized with an n/p/n structure and intrinsically connected with the LED through the bottom conductive n-GaN layer. During the fabrication, a tetramethylammonium hydride wet etch technique was employed to smoothen the sidewall channel surface of the VMOSFET and to enhance its channel electron mobility, consequently achieving a high output current density exceeding 1.4 kA/cm2. The integrated VMOSFET-LED exhibited a high light output power of 8.5 mW or 9.4 W/cm2 with a modulated injection current of 10 mA through the VMOSFET, showing a great potential of such integration scheme for a variety of smart-lighting applications.
Enhanced method to improve the performance of active noise control system

Active noise control utilizes the artificial noise to cancel the undesired noise. This technique generates the anti-noise signal with the same magnitude and 180°phase shift to the undesired noise, to destructively interfere the undesired noise. Many researchers have employed the FXLMS algorithm to design the ANC system because of its simplicity. However, the fluctuation of secondary path in FXLMS algorithm was less discussed in these papers. This paper proposes a novel filtered-X adaptive filtering with averaging (FXAFA) algorithm for active noise control (ANC) system. A variable step size (VSS) method is also presented. Combining both schemes, this paper controls an ANC system with good robustness especially when the secondary path varied during the control process. Several computer simulations results show the effectiveness.
[Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in patients with cardiac pacemakers. Experimental and clinical investigations at 1.5 Tesla].

PURPOSE In-vitro and In-vivo evaluation of feasibility and safety of MRI of the brain at 1.5 T in patients with implanted pacemakers (PM). MATERIALS AND METHODS 24 PM models and 45 PM electrodes were tested In-vitro with respect to translational forces, heating of PM leads, behaviour of reed switch (activated vs. deactivated) and function at a 1.5 T MRI-system (actively shielded, maximum field gradient: 30 mT/m; rise time: 150 T/m/s). Based on these results, 63 MRI examinations in 45 patients with implanted PM were performed. Prior to MRI the PM were re-programmed in an asynchronous mode. The maximum SAR of MRI-sequences was limited to 1.2 W/kg. Continuous monitoring of ECG and pulse oximetry was performed during MRI. PM inquiry was performed prior to MRI, immediately after MRI and -- to assess long-term damages -- three months after the MRI exams, including determination of stimulation thresholds to assess potential thermal myocardial injuries at the lead tips. RESULTS Translational forces (F (max) < or = 560 mN) and temperature increase (DeltaT (max) < or = 2.98 degrees C) were in a range which does not represent a safety concern from a biophysical point of view. No changes to the programmed parameters of the PM or damage of PM components were observed neither In-vitro (n = 0/24) nor In-vivo (n = 0/63). Despite the strong magnetic field, the reed switch remained deactivated in 54 % (13/24) of the cases during In-vitro simulated MRI exams of the brain. All patient studies (n = 63/63) could be completed without any complications. Atrial and ventricular stimulation thresholds (expressed as pulse duration at 2-fold rheobase) did not change significantly immediately post-MRI nor in the 3 months follow-up (pre-MRI: 0.17 ms +/- 0.13 ms, post-MRI: 0.18 ms +/- 0.14 ms, 3 months follow-up: 0.17 ms +/- 0.12 ms). CONCLUSION MRI of the brain at 1.5 Tesla can be safely performed in carefully selected clinical circumstances when appropriate strategies are used (re-programming the PM to an asynchronous mode, continuous monitoring of ECG and pulse oximetry, limiting the SAR value of the MRI sequences, cardiological stand-by). Based on these studies, implanted PM should not longer be regarded as an absolute contraindication for MRI at 1.5 T.