Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FasL (CD95L/APO-1L) Resistance of Neurons Mediated by Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase-Akt/Protein Kinase B-Dependent Expression of Lifeguard/Neuronal Membrane Protein 35

The contribution of Fas (CD95/APO-1) to cell death mechanisms of differentiated neurons is controversially discussed. Rat cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) express high levels of Fas in vitro but are resistant to FasL (CD95L/APO-1L/CD178)-induced apoptosis. We here show that this resistance was mediated by a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase)-Akt/protein kinase B (PKB)-dependent expression of lifeguard (LFG)/neuronal membrane protein 35. Reduction of endogenous LFG expression by antisense oligonucleotides or small interfering RNA lead to increased sensitivity of CGNs to FasL-induced cell death and caspase-8 cleavage. The inhibition of PI 3-kinase activity sensitized CGNs to FasL-induced caspase-8 and caspase-3 processing and caspase-dependent fodrin cleavage. Pharmacological inhibition of PI 3-kinase, overexpression of the inhibitory protein IκB, or cotransfection of an LFG reporter plasmid with dominant-negative Akt/PKB inhibited LFG reporter activity, whereas overexpression of constitutively active Akt/PKB increased LFG reporter activity. Overexpression of LFG in CGNs interfered with the sensitization to FasL by PI 3-kinase inhibitors. In contrast to CGNs, 12 glioma cell lines, which are sensitive to FasL, did not express LFG. Gene transfer of LFG into these FasL-susceptible glioma cells protected against FasL-induced apoptosis. These results demonstrate that LFG mediated the FasL resistance of CGNs and that, under certain circumstances, e.g., inhibition of the PI 3-kinase-Akt/PKB pathway, CGNs were sensitized to FasL.
Adaptive Modulation for OFDM Systems

The goal for the fourth generation (4G) of mobile communications system is to seamlessly integrate a wide variety of communication services such as high speed data, video and multimedia traffic as well as voice signals. One of the promising approaches to 4G is adaptive OFDM (AOFDM). In AOFDM, adaptive transmission scheme is employed according to channel fading condition with OFDM to improve the performance. In this paper, we have considered only adaptive modulation. First we have investigated the OFDM system performance of uncoded adaptive modulation using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and phase shift keying (PSK). To further enhance the system, we employ convolutional coding to OFDM system. The obtained results show that a significant improvements in terms of bit error rate (BER) and throughput can be achieved demonstrating the superiority of the adaptive modulation schemes compared to fixed transmission schemes.
Disordered adrenocorticotropin secretion in women with major depression.

CONTEXT Major depression is accompanied by activation of the hypothalamic pituitary axis and evidence of abnormalities in circadian and ultradian hormone rhythms. In addition, diminished negative feedback of cortisol on ACTH has been found. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to compare ACTH and cortisol hormonal patterns in women with major depression with normal control women. DESIGN This was a case control study. SETTING The study was conducted at a general clinical research center. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS Healthy, drug-free, premenopausal women with major depression and age and menstrual cycle day-matched healthy control women were included in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE ACTH and cortisol data were measured every 10 min for 24 h analyzed with approximate entropy and cross-approximate entropy to determine orderliness of hormone secretion and relationship between ACTH and cortisol in terms of feedforward and feedback synchrony. RESULTS Depressed women manifested increased approximate entropy, indicating more disorderly secretion, of ACTH and elevated forward cross-approximate entropy of ACTH on cortisol, denoting unopposed ACTH drive. CONCLUSIONS These data support other evidence of hormonal rhythm abnormalities in depression and are compatible with accentuated feedforward drive by ACTH.
Susceptibility to winter vomiting disease: a sweet matter

Norovirus, the cause of winter vomiting disease, has emerged in recent years to be a major cause of sporadic and epidemic gastroenteritis worldwide. The virus has been estimated to cause >200 000 deaths each year in developing countries. Although the virus is highly contagious, volunteer and field studies have shown that a subset of individuals appears resistant to infections. A single nucleotide mutation (G428A) in the fucosyltransferase gene (FUT2) on chromosome 19 provides strong protection from infection in 20% of the white population. Histo‐blood group ABO(H) antigens with terminal fucose are believed to function as receptors for human norovirus in the gastrointestinal tract, but also negatively charged potential receptors have been identified. Norovirus infection is a unique example where a single nucleotide mutation in a fucosyltransferase gene plays a crucial role in susceptibility to one of the most common viral diseases. This review discusses the role of host genetics and carbohydrate structures in susceptibility to winter vomiting disease. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Active crosstalk cancellation for next-generation single-ended memory interfaces

A technique to cancel forward crosstalk in densely routed, single-ended memory interfaces is presented. In this paper, the reference system bus was derived from a modern DDR3 motherboard, designed for operation at 1.6Gbps. Based on the available routing resources, the paper explores potential modifications of the main section of motherboard lines to determine if a combination of physical changes and active crosstalk cancellation can extend bus signaling rates into the next-generation. The various system configurations are compared at signaling rates up to 4.0Gbps. This crosstalk cancellation technique is evaluated by simulation.
Neural and Behavioural Effects of the Ginkgo biloba Leaf Extract Egb 761

Numerous studies have documented the cognitive-enhancing effects of standardized Ginkgo biloba leaf extracts (Gingko) both in humans and in rodents. In addition to its antioxidant and platelet-activating factor inhibiting properties, Ginkgo has been shown to protect cellular membrane fluidity, to enhance cerebral blood flow and microcirculation, and to modulate cholinergic system functioning, properties that have been suggested to underlie its cognitive-enhancing effects. However, the possible neurogenic-enhancing effects of Ginkgo on adult hippocampal neurogenesis as a possible mechanism underlying its nootropic effects have not been evaluated. The experiments discussed in the present thesis assessed such a possibility. Chapter 1 reviews studies that have evaluated the nootropic effects of Ginkgo in humans and in rodents. The anti-stress properties of Ginkgo as well as several molecular mechanisms proposed to account for its beneficial effects on central nervous system functioning are also discussed. Experiments presented in Chapter 2 used c-Fos immunoreactivity to characterize functional activity in selected brain regions following acute oral (150 mg/kg) and intraperitoneal (2.5-25 mg/kg, i.p.) administration of Ginkgo. Both routes of administration increased c-Fos immunoreactivity in the insular cortex and amygdala. However, some additional regions including the nucleus accumbens and dentate gyrus showed increased c-Fos immunoreactivity only in response to parenteral administration. Experiments presented in Chapter 3 evaluated the possible neurogenic properties of Ginkgo. The anxiolytic effects of the extract using the elevated plus maze, light/dark emergence and social interaction tests were also assessed. Acute administration of
Neutrophil Extracellular Trap (NET)-Mediated Killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Evidence of Acquired Resistance within the CF Airway, Independent of CFTR

The inability of neutrophils to eradicate Pseudomonas aeruginosa within the cystic fibrosis (CF) airway eventually results in chronic infection by the bacteria in nearly 80 percent of patients. Phagocytic killing of P. aeruginosa by CF neutrophils is impaired due to decreased cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) function and virulence factors acquired by the bacteria. Recently, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), extracellular structures composed of neutrophil chromatin complexed with granule contents, were identified as an alternative mechanism of pathogen killing. The hypothesis that NET-mediated killing of P. aeruginosa is impaired in the context of the CF airway was tested. P. aeruginosa induced NET formation by neutrophils from healthy donors in a bacterial density dependent fashion. When maintained in suspension through continuous rotation, P. aeruginosa became physically associated with NETs. Under these conditions, NETs were the predominant mechanism of killing, across a wide range of bacterial densities. Peripheral blood neutrophils isolated from CF patients demonstrated no impairment in NET formation or function against P. aeruginosa. However, isogenic clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa obtained from CF patients early and later in the course of infection demonstrated an acquired capacity to withstand NET-mediated killing in 8 of 9 isolates tested. This resistance correlated with development of the mucoid phenotype, but was not a direct result of the excess alginate production that is characteristic of mucoidy. Together, these results demonstrate that neutrophils can kill P. aeruginosa via NETs, and in vitro this response is most effective under non-stationary conditions with a low ratio of bacteria to neutrophils. NET-mediated killing is independent of CFTR function or bacterial opsonization. Failure of this response in the context of the CF airway may occur, in part, due to an acquired resistance against NET-mediated killing by CF strains of P. aeruginosa.
The Denoising Based on the Fusion Method of Kalman Filter and EMD

In this paper, the structure of multi-scale decomposition and reconstruction of empirical mode decomposition (EMD) theory is defined. Through the combination of Kalman and EMD theory, a new Kalman-EMD dynamic deformation data de-noising model is proposed. The model is presented to reduce noise of deformation series. Then, simulated data and real data(i.e.,GPS data)are used to test the method separately. The following conclusions are drawn from these tests: Kalman and EMD method can better mitigate the random errors which hide in periodic signal; After significantly mitigating the influence of multi-path and others errors by the new mode. The results show that the Kalman-EMD model has relative advantage.
Class-Based Contextual Modeling for Handwritten Arabic Text Recognition

In this paper we will present our investigations related to contextual modeling for HMM-based handwritten Arabic text recognition. We will, first, discuss the justifications and the need for contextual modeling for handwritten Arabic text recognition. Next, we will discuss the issues related to contextual modeling for Arabic text recognition. Finally, we will present our novel class-based contextual modeling for HMM-based handwritten Arabic text recognition. Experiment results on word recognition tasks show improvements in word recognition rates when compared to using standard contextual HMMs. Moreover, the recognizers are significantly more compact as compared to the standard contextual HMM systems.
Finding frequent co-occurring terms in relational keyword search

Given a set Q of keywords, conventional keyword search (KS) returns a set of tuples, each of which (i) is obtained from a single relation, or by joining multiple relations, and (ii) contains all the keywords in Q. This paper proposes a relevant problem called frequent co-occurring term (FCT) retrieval. Specifically, given a keyword set Q and an integer k, a FCT query reports the k terms that are not in Q, but appear most frequently in the result of a KS query with the same Q. FCT search is able to discover the concepts that are closely related to Q. Furthermore, it is also an effective tool for refining the keyword set Q of traditional keyword search. While a FCT query can be trivially supported by solving the corresponding KS query, we provide a faster algorithm that extracts the correct results without evaluating any KS query at all. The effectiveness and efficiency of our techniques are verified with extensive experiments on real data.
Using Genetic Algorithm for Eye Detection and Tracking in Video Sequence

We propose a high-speed size and orientation invariant eye tracking method, which can acquire numerical parameters to represent the size and orientation of the eye. In this paper, we discuss that high tolerance in human head movement and real-time processing that are needed for many applications, such as eye gaze tracking. The generality of the method is also important. We use template matching with genetic algorithm, in order to overcome these problems. A high speed and accuracy tracking scheme using Evolutionary Video Processing for eye detection and tracking is proposed. Usually, a genetic algorithm is unsuitable for a realtime processing, however, we achieved real-time processing. The generality of this proposed method is provided by the artificial iris template used. In our simulations, an eye tracking accuracy is 97.9% and, an average processing time of 28 milliseconds per frame.
Literature Review on Needs of Upper Limb Prosthesis Users

The loss of one hand can significantly affect the level of autonomy and the capability of performing daily living, working and social activities. The current prosthetic solutions contribute in a poor way to overcome these problems due to limitations in the interfaces adopted for controlling the prosthesis and to the lack of force or tactile feedback, thus limiting hand grasp capabilities. This paper presents a literature review on needs analysis of upper limb prosthesis users, and points out the main critical aspects of the current prosthetic solutions, in terms of users satisfaction and activities of daily living they would like to perform with the prosthetic device. The ultimate goal is to provide design inputs in the prosthetic field and, contemporary, increase user satisfaction rates and reduce device abandonment. A list of requirements for upper limb prostheses is proposed, grounded on the performed analysis on user needs. It wants to (i) provide guidelines for improving the level of acceptability and usefulness of the prosthesis, by accounting for hand functional and technical aspects; (ii) propose a control architecture of PNS-based prosthetic systems able to satisfy the analyzed user wishes; (iii) provide hints for improving the quality of the methods (e.g., questionnaires) adopted for understanding the user satisfaction with their prostheses.
Sub-MICs of Azithromycin Decrease Biofilm Formation of Streptococcus suis and Increase Capsular Polysaccharide Content of S. suis

Streptococcus suis (S. suis) caused serious disease symptoms in humans and pigs. S. suis is able to form thick biofilms and this increases the difficulty of treatment. After growth with 1/2 minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of azithromycin, 1/4 MIC of azithromycin, or 1/8 MIC of azithromycin, biofilm formation of S. suis dose-dependently decreased in the present study. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed the obvious effect of azithromycin against biofilm formation of S. suis. Especially, at two different conditions (1/2 MIC of azithromycin non-treated cells and treated cells), we carried out comparative proteomic analyses of cells by using iTRAQ technology. Finally, the results revealed the existence of 19 proteins of varying amounts. Interestingly, several cell surface proteins (such as ATP-binding cassette superfamily ATP-binding cassette transporter (G7SD52), CpsR (K0FG35), Cps1/2H (G8DTL7), CPS16F (E9NQ13), putative uncharacterized protein (G7SER0), NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G5L259), putative uncharacterized protein (G7S2D6), amino acid permease (B0M0G6), and NsuB (G5L351)) were found to be implicated in biofilm formation. More importantly, we also found that azithromycin affected expression of the genes cps1/2H, cpsR and cps16F. Especially, after growth with 1/2 MIC of azithromycin and 1/4 MIC of azithromycin, the capsular polysaccharide content of S. suis was significantly higher.
Optimal reactive power dispatch involving SMES by Cuckoo search algorithm

In this paper a superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) along with synchronous generators & shunt capacitors are used for optimal reactive power dispatch in case of a standard IEEE 30 bus test system. The use of the SMES has shown excellent improvement of the stability of the system in form of reduced voltage deviation. The total real power loss has been found to be reduced by 36.95% and voltage deviation of load bus is reduced by 9.92% in comparison to the use of the conventional equipment like shunt capacitor. Cuckoo search algorithm for its excellent convergence characteristics is used for the optimization purpose.
Search Behavior Based Latent Semantic User Segmentation for Advertising Targeting

The popularity of internet usage greatly motivates the online advertising activities. Compared to advertising on traditional media, online advertising has rich information as well as necessary techniques to achieve precise user targeting. This rich information includes the search behaviors of a user, such as queries issued, or the ads clicked by the user. For popular websites with large number of active users, ad delivery targeting at individual users puts too much burden on the system. User segmentation is an alternative way to relieve this burden by grouping users of similar interests together, then the ad delivery system targets the user segments to display relevant ads, instead of individual users. Existing user segmentation work either adapts clustering methods without considering the hidden semantics embedded in the data, such as K-means, or treats users as data instance and clusters users indirectly even if the latent semantics is incorporated into the transformed data, such as PLSA or LDA. In this paper, we present a search behavior based latent semantic user segmentation method and validate its effectiveness on new ads. Instead of treating users as data instances, they are used as attributes of user issued queries or clicked ads which are considered to be data instances. LDA is then applied to this data set to directly obtain the user segments. Compared to popular K-means clustering, our approach achieves higher CTR values on new ads, with only simple search information.
PARENTAL ALIENATION: NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILDREN

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Douglas Darnall is a practicing licensed psychologist and the CEO of PsyCare, Inc., an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Youngstown, Ohio. He is the author of DIVORCE CASUALTIES: PROTECTING YOUR CHILDREN FROM PARENTAL ALIENATION (Taylor Publishing Company, 1998). In the following essay, Dr. Darnall, drawing largely from his book, discusses how attorneys and judges can serve clients by recognizing, dealing with, and seeking to stop and prevent parental alienation. Because the essay is based largely on Dr. Darnall’s book and because he is not a legal or academic professional, a bibliography of sources employed in his book appears at the end of the essay instead of traditional footnotes.
Modified HPLC-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry method for HbA1c based on IFCC reference measurement procedure.

BACKGROUND Monitoring of hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) is important in the management of diabetes. The IFCC reference measurement procedure for HbA(1c) is based on the ratio of glycated to nonglycated N-terminal hexapeptides of the beta-chains of hemoglobin after digestion with Glu-C endoproteinase. We developed a modification of the original reference measurement procedure with HPLC-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (ESI/MS). METHOD We performed chromatographic separation of the hexapeptides using a C12 reversed-phase column and a binary gradient system consisting of a mixture of H(2)O/acetonitrile/formic acid. RESULTS Using this method, we obtained higher signal intensities and improved system stability compared with the reference measurement procedure. In the range of 3% to 14% HbA(1c), intralaboratory CVs were 0.71% to 1.86%. Deviations from IFCC target values were -0.87 to 1.00 relative %. These values fulfill acceptability criteria for HbA(1c) determination set by the IFCC Working Group on HbA(1c) Standardization. CONCLUSIONS This procedure for the determination of HbA(1c) improves the existing reference measurement procedure.
Distributed cooperative control of multi flywheel energy storage system for electrical vehicle fast charging stations

Plug-in electrical vehicles will play a critical role in future smart grid and sudden connection of electrical vehicles chargers may cause huge power-peaks with high slew-rates on grid. In order to cope with this issue, this paper applies a distributed cooperative control for fast charging station with dedicated paralleled flywheel-based energy storage system. The distributed DC-bus signaling method is employed in the power coordination of grid and flywheel converters, and a distributed secondary controller generates DC voltage correction term to adjust the local voltage set-point through a dynamic consensus based voltage observer by communicating with its neighbors. The control system can realize the power balancing and DC voltage regulation with low reliance on communications. Finally, real-time hardware-in-the-loop results have been reported in order to verify the feasibility of proposed approach.
An Intuitive Justification and a Simplified Implementation of the MAP Decoder for Convolutional Codes

An intuitive shortcut to understanding the maximum a posteriori (MAP) decoder is presented based on an approximation. This is shown to correspond to a dual-maxima computation combined with forward and backward recursions of Viterbi algorithm computations. The logarithmic version of the MAP algorithm can similarly be reduced to the same form by applying the same approximation. Conversely, if a correction term is added to the approximation, the exact MAP algorithm is recovered. It is also shown how the MAP decoder memory can be drastically reduced at the cost of a modest increase in processing speed.
Global and local parameter estimation of a model of the electrical activity of the heart

In this article we study the problem of estimating the parameters of an electrical model of the heart from a temporal recording of extracellular potentials. The chosen model is the reaction-diffusion model on the action potential proposed by Aliev and Panfilov. The strategy consists in building an error criterion based upon a comparison of depolarization fronts between the model and the measures. This error criterion is minimized by a global and then local adjustment of the model parameters. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated on simulated and real measures on a canine heart.