Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Krüppel-like Factor 7 engineered for transcriptional activation promotes axon regeneration in the adult corticospinal tract

Axon regeneration in the central nervous system normally fails, in part because of a developmental decline in the intrinsic ability of CNS projection neurons to extend axons. Members of the KLF family of transcription factors regulate regenerative potential in developing CNS neurons. Expression of one family member, KLF7, is down-regulated developmentally, and overexpression of KLF7 in cortical neurons in vitro promotes axonal growth. To circumvent difficulties in achieving high neuronal expression of exogenous KLF7, we created a chimera with the VP16 transactivation domain, which displayed enhanced neuronal expression compared with the native protein while maintaining transcriptional activation and growth promotion in vitro. Overexpression of VP16-KLF7 overcame the developmental loss of regenerative ability in cortical slice cultures. Adult corticospinal tract (CST) neurons failed to up-regulate KLF7 in response to axon injury, and overexpression of VP16-KLF7 in vivo promoted both sprouting and regenerative axon growth in the CST of adult mice. These findings identify a unique means of promoting CST axon regeneration in vivo by reengineering a developmentally down-regulated, growth-promoting transcription factor.
Radiolabeled Small-Molecule Ligands for Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen: In vivo Imaging in Experimental Models of Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a cell surface protein that is overexpressed in prostate cancer, including hormone-refractory and metastatic disease. Our goal in this study was to develop a series of PSMA-based imaging agents for clinical use. Experimental Design: We have synthesized and evaluated the in vivo biodistribution of two radiolabeled urea derivatives that have high affinity for PSMA in severe combined immunodeficient mice harboring MCF-7 (breast, PSMA-negative), PC-3 (prostate, PSMA-negative), and LNCaP (prostate, PSMA-positive) xenografts. Radiopharmaceutical binding selectivity and tumor uptake were also evaluated in vivo using dedicated small animal positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, and gamma scintigraphic imaging devices. N-[N-[(S)-1,3-dicarboxypropyl]carbamoyl]-S-[11C]methyl-l-cysteine ([11C]DCMC Ki, 3.1 nmol/L) and N-[N-[(S)-1,3-dicarboxypropyl]carbamoyl]-S-3-[125I]iodo-l-tyrosine ([125C]DCIT Ki, 1.5 nmol/L) were synthesized using [11C]CH3I and with [125I]NaI/Iodogen, respectively. Results: At 30 minutes postinjection, [11C]DCMC and [125I]DCIT showed tumor/muscle ratios of 10.8 and 4.7, respectively, with clear delineation of LNCaP-derived tumors on imaging. MCF-7- and PC-3-derived tumors showed significantly less uptake of [11C]DCMC or [125I]DCIT. Conclusion: These results show the feasibility of imaging PSMA-positive prostate cancer using low molecular weight agents.
Approximating Directed Multicuts

The seminal paper of Leighton and Rao (1988) and subsequent papers presented approximate min-max theorems relating multicommodity flow values and cut capacities in undirected networks, developed the divide-and-conquer method for designing approximation algorithms, and generated novel tools for utilizing linear programming relaxations. Yet, despite persistent research efforts, these achievements could not be extended to directed networks, excluding a few cases that are ““symmetric” and therefore similar to undirected networks. This paper is an attempt to remedy the situation. We consider the problem of finding a minimum multicut in a directed multicommodity flow network, and give the first nontrivial upper bounds on the max flow-to-min multicut ratio. Our results are algorithmic, demonstrating nontrivial approximation guarantees.
Human-like motion based on a geometrical inverse kinematics and energetic optimization

For humanoid robotics the cooperation with human beings makes human like behavior indispensable. The robots of our days have to feature human like form and structure. But, more importantly its ways of motion and reactions should be like that expected with human. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for solving the human arm inverse kinematics problem (position and orientation). The proposed method eliminates the singular configurations faced in the classical inverse kinematics methods. Our algorithm is based on the choice of a special reference frames in the workspace of the different parts of human arm. The geometrical projection in local frames gives the aimed results. The proposed redundancy resolution criterion for 7ddl human like arm is obtained through an energetic optimization. The proposed algorithm could be used for humanoid robots arm, in upper limb prosthesis application, as well as in computer animations. It gives the solution for the inverse kinematics of the arm. Simulation results within ADAMS software are presented. Our study takes the result of a detailed grasping research which gives an associated object reference frame indicating the way to grasp the object.
On Improving Deep Reinforcement Learning for POMDPs

Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) recently emerged as one of the most competitive approaches for learning in sequential decision making problems with fully observable environments, e.g., computer Go. However, very little work has been done in deep RL to handle partially observable environments. We propose a new architecture called Action-specific Deep Recurrent Q-Network (ADRQN) to enhance learning performance in partially observable domains. Actions are encoded by a fully connected layer and coupled with a convolutional observation to form an action-observation pair. The time series of action-observation pairs are then integrated by an LSTM layer that learns latent states based on which a fully connected layer computes Q-values as in conventional Deep Q-Networks (DQNs). We demonstrate the effectiveness of our new architecture in several partially observable domains, including flickering Atari games.
Zorua: A holistic approach to resource virtualization in GPUs

This paper introduces a new resource virtualization framework, Zorua, that decouples the programmer-specified resource usage of a GPU application from the actual allocation in the on-chip hardware resources. Zorua enables this decoupling by virtualizing each resource transparently to the programmer. The virtualization provided by Zorua builds on two key concepts - dynamic allocation of the on-chip resources and their oversubscription using a swap space in memory. Zorua provides a holistic GPU resource virtualization strategy, designed to (i) adaptively control the extent of oversubscription, and (ii) coordinate the dynamic management of multiple on-chip resources (i.e., registers, scratchpad memory, and thread slots), to maximize the effectiveness of virtualization. Zorua employs a hardware-software code-sign, comprising the compiler, a runtime system and hardware-based virtualization support. The runtime system leverages information from the compiler regarding resource requirements of each program phase to (i) dynamically allocate/deallocate the different resources in the physically available on-chip resources or their swap space, and (ii) manage the tradeoffbetween higher thread-level parallelism due to virtualization versus the latency and capacity overheads of swap space usage. We demonstrate that by providing the illusion of more resources than physically available via controlled and coordinated virtualization, Zorua offers several important benefits: (i) Programming Ease. Zorua eases the burden on the programmer to provide code that is tuned to efficiently utilize the physically available on-chip resources. (ii) Portability. Zorua alleviates the necessity of re-tuning an application's resource usage when porting the application across GPU generations. (iii) Performance. By dynamically allocating resources and carefully oversubscribing them when necessary, Zorua improves or retains the performance of applications that are already highly tuned to best utilize the hardware resources. The holistic virtualization provided by Zorua can also enable other uses, including fine-grained resource sharing among multiple kernels and low-latency preemption of GPU programs.
Image-guided streamline placement

Accurate control of streamline density is key to producing several effective forms of visualization of two-dimensional vector fields. We introduce a technique that uses an energy function to guide the placement of streamlines at a specified density. This energy function uses a low-pass filtered version of the image to measure the difference between the current image and the desired visual density. We reduce the energy (and thereby improve the placement of streamlines) by (1) changing the positions and lengths of streamlines, (2) joining streamlines that nearly abut, and (3) creating new streamlines to fill sufficiently large gaps. The entire process is iterated to produce streamlines that are neither too crowded nor too sparse. The resulting streamlines manifest a more hand-placed appearance than do regularlyor randomly-placed streamlines. Arrows can be added to the streamlines to disambiguate flow direction, and flow magnitude can be represented by the thickness, density, or intensity of the lines. CR Categories: I.3. 3 [Computer Graphics]: Picture/Image generation; I.4. 3 [Image Processing]: Enhancement. Additional
Stimulatory Effect of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor on Proliferation and Migration of Porcine Trophectoderm Cells and Their Regulation by the Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase-AKT and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Cell Signaling Pathways1

ABSTRACT Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent stimulator for angiogenesis, is likely to regulate implantation by stimulating endometrial angiogenesis and vascular permeability. In addition to known angiogenetic effects, VEGF has been suggested to participate in development of the early embryo as a mediator of fetal-maternal dialogue. Current studies have determined VEGF in terms of its role in endometrial vascular events, but VEGF-induced effects on the peri-implantation conceptus (embryo and extraembryonic membranes) remains unknown. In the present study, endometrial VEGF, VEGF receptor-1 (VEGFR-1), and VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) mRNAs increased significantly during the peri-implantation period of pregnancy as compared to the estrous cycle. Expression of VEGF, VEGFR-1, and VEGFR-2 mRNAs was abundant in endometrial luminal and glandular epithelia, endothelial blood vessels, and scattered cells in the stroma and conceptus trophectoderm. In addition, porcine trophectoderm (pTr) cells treated with VEGF exhibited increased abundance of phosphorylated (p)-AKT1, p-ERK1/2, p-p70RSK, p-RPS6, and p-4EBP1 in a time-dependent manner. The addition of U0126, an inhibitor of ERK1/2, inhibited VEGF-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation, but AKT1 phosphorylation was not affected. The addition of LY294002, a PI3K inhibitor, decreased VEGF-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and AKT1. Furthermore, VEGF significantly stimulated proliferation and migration of pTr cells, but these effects were blocked by SB203580, U0126, rapamycin, and LY294002, which inhibit p38 MAPK, ERK1/2, mTOR, and PI3K, respectively. These results suggest that VEGF is critical to successful growth and development of pTr during early pregnancy and that VEGF-induced stimulatory effect is coordinately regulated by multiple cell signaling pathways, including PI3K-AKT1 and MAPK signaling pathways.
Poly[diaqua(μ2-oxalato-κ4 O 1,O 2:O 1′,O 2′)(μ2-pyrazine-2-carboxylato-κ3 N 1,O:O′)cerium(III)]

In the hydrothermally synthesized title compound, [Ce(C5H3N2O2)(C2O4)(H2O)2]n, the CeIII ion is coordinated by four O atoms from two different oxalate ligands, three O atoms from two symmetry-related pyrazine-2-carboxylate ligands, two O atoms from two water melecules and one N atom from a pyrazine-2-carboxylate ligand in a distorted bicapped square-antiprismatic coordination geometry. The oxalate and pyrazine-2-carboxylate ligands bridge the CeIII ions, forming a two-dimensional structure. In addition, intermolecular O—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds connect the two-dimensional structure into a three-dimensional network.
Studying Smart Spaces Using an "Embiquitous" Computing Analogy

Recognizing that the fields of pervasive computing and smart spaces are still evolving, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has adopted a unique approach to teaching these and related concepts in its graduate-level course, "ECEN 725: Pervasive Computing Systems. " The teaching approach attempts to formalize the study and development of pervasive computing by leveraging knowledge of formal methods and tools from other, more mature computer engineering fields. Specifically, the course is taught in the context of an analogy drawn between the fields of embedded computing and pervasive computing. This department is part of a special issue on smart spaces.
Dissociation of Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity With Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease Other Than Hypertension: A Systematic Review

Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), a measure of large artery stiffness, is an important predictor of cardiovascular events. This has been attributed to it being an integrative measure of the impact of cardiovascular risk factors on the arterial wall. Pulse wave velocity is strongly associated with age and blood pressure. However, findings with regard to its relation with other risk factors have been inconsistent. We performed a systematic review of cross-sectional published literature reporting independent associations of cfPWV in multivariable regression models. Articles were selected from a PubMed search using a prespecified search strategy. Studies were included if they did the following: (1) measured cfPWV; (2) reported on associations with cfPWV from regression models; and (3) considered age and blood pressure in the model. From 637 retrieved articles, 65 met our inclusion criteria, and 12 studies were included from reference searches. Age and blood pressure were consistently independently associated with cfPWV (91% and 90% of studies, respectively). Diabetes mellitus was associated with cfPWV in 52% studies, but the strength of the association was low. The majority of studies found no independent association between cfPWV and sex, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, smoking, or body mass index. The contribution of risk factors other than age and blood pressure to cfPWV is, thus, small or insignificant. The prognostic value of cfPWV may relate to a process of arterial ageing unrelated to classic risk factors other than hypertension.
Towards a true energetically sustainable WSN: A case study with prediction-based data collection and a wake-up receiver

One of the most challenging goals of many wireless sensor network (WSN) deployments is the reduction of energy consumption to extend system lifetime. This paper considers a novel combination of techniques that address energy savings at the hardware and application levels: wake-up receivers and node-level power management, plus prediction-based data collection. Individually, each technique can achieve significant energy savings, but in combination, the results are impressive. This paper presents a case study of these techniques as applied in a road tunnel for light monitoring. Preliminary results show the potential for two orders of magnitude reduction in power consumption. This savings of 380 times allows the creation of an energetically sustainable system by considering integration with a simple, photovoltaic energy harvester.
Phycocyanin‐specific absorption coefficient: Eliminating the effect of chlorophylls absorption

The applicability of algorithms for estimation of phycocyanin (PC) concentration based on light spectral reflectance heavily depends on the specific absorption of the pigment. But the determination of PC‐specific absorption coefficient is not a straightforward task, as PC optical activity is overlapped by absorption of chlorophylls. The aim of our study was to determine aPC* (625)—the specific absorption coefficient of PC at 625 nm, in samples with PC concentrations ranging from 0.5 mg m−3 to 126.4 mg m−3 and varying proportions of chlorophylls a, b, and c in the samples. The effect of chlorophylls was subtracted from total absorption at 625 nm using Chl a absorption at 675 nm as a reference; the contribution of the chlorophylls was computed on the basis of their relative absorption at 625 nm and concentrations. The major effect on the precision of aPC* (625) determination was imposed by Chl a absorption, but the effect of the accessory chlorophylls ought to be accounted for in order to arrive at reliable PC‐specific absorption values. aPC* (625) varied widely, from 0.002 mg m−2 to 0.027 mg m−2, and decreased with increase of PC concentration. As PC concentration exceeded 10 mg m−3, aPC* (625) was almost invariable, slightly oscillating around 0.007 mg m−2 and similar to PC specific absorption coefficient estimated by alternative methods. It is clear that a universal value is unfeasible, but aPC* (625) of 0.007–0.008 mg m−2 seems an appropriate value for use in algorithms destined for estimation of phycocyanin in typical mesotrophic and eutrophic inland waters dominated by cyanobacteria.
Radio‐Frequency Plasma Spraying of Ceramics

This study was aimed at developing a novel spraying process using a radio-frequency (rf) plasma. Experiments of Al2O3 and ZrO2–8 wt% Y2O3 spraying showed that the initial powder size was the most important parameter for depositing dense coatings. The optimum powder sizes of Al2O3 and ZrO2–8 wt% Y2O3 were considered to be around 100 and 80 μm, respectively. The use of such large-size powders compared with those used by conventional dc plasma spraying made it possible to deposit adherent ceramics coatings of 150 to 300 μm on as-rolled SS304 substrates. It was also shown that low particle velocity of about 10 m/s, which is peculiar to rf plasma spraying, was sufficient for particle deformation, though it imposed a severe limitation on the substrate position. These experimental results have proved that rf plasma spraying is an effective process and must be a strong candidate to open new fields of spraying applications.
Hypercapnia Reversibly Suppresses Low-Frequency Fluctuations in the Human Motor Cortex during Rest Using Echo–Planar MRI

Using magnetic resonance (MR) echo–planar imaging (EPI), we recently demonstrated the presence of low-frequency fluctuations (<0.1 Hz) in MR signal intensity from the resting human brain that have a high degree of temporal correlation (p < 10–3) within and across associated regions of the sensorimotor cortex. These fluctuations in MR signal intensity are believed to arise from fluctuations in capillary blood flow and oxygenation. A substantial overlap between the activation map generated by bilateral finger tapping and temporally-correlated voxels from the sensorimotor cortex obtained during rest was observed. In the work reported here, we investigated whether respiratory hypercapnia, which is known to suspend spontaneous oscillations in regional cerebral blood flow, influences these low-frequency fluctuations. The magnitude of low-frequency fluctuations was reversibly diminished during hypercapnia, resulting in a substantial decrease of the temporal correlation both within and across contralateral hemispheres of the sensorimotor cortex. After the breathing mixture was returned to ambient air, the magnitude and spatial extent of the temporal correlation of low-frequency fluctuations returned to normal. Results of this study support the hypothesis that low-frequency physiological fluctuations observed by MR in the human cortex and spontaneous flow oscillations observed in early studies by laser–Doppler flowmetry (LDF) in the cortex of the rat are identical and are secondary to fluctuations in neuronal activity.
Fusion of Haptic and Gesture Sensors for Rehabilitation of Bimanual Coordination and Dexterous Manipulation

Disabilities after neural injury, such as stroke, bring tremendous burden to patients, families and society. Besides the conventional constrained-induced training with a paretic arm, bilateral rehabilitation training involves both the ipsilateral and contralateral sides of the neural injury, fitting well with the fact that both arms are needed in common activities of daily living (ADLs), and can promote good functional recovery. In this work, the fusion of a gesture sensor and a haptic sensor with force feedback capabilities has enabled a bilateral rehabilitation training therapy. The Leap Motion gesture sensor detects the motion of the healthy hand, and the omega.7 device can detect and assist the paretic hand, according to the designed cooperative task paradigm, as much as needed, with active force feedback to accomplish the manipulation task. A virtual scenario has been built up, and the motion and force data facilitate instantaneous visual and audio feedback, as well as further analysis of the functional capabilities of the patient. This task-oriented bimanual training paradigm recruits the sensory, motor and cognitive aspects of the patient into one loop, encourages the active involvement of the patients into rehabilitation training, strengthens the cooperation of both the healthy and impaired hands, challenges the dexterous manipulation capability of the paretic hand, suits easy of use at home or centralized institutions and, thus, promises effective potentials for rehabilitation training.
Role of Micro-organisms in Caries Etiology

The microbial etiology of dental caries is discussed in terms of the dynamic relationship among the dental plaque microbiota, dietary carbohydrate, saliva, and the pH-lowering and cariogenic potential of dental plaque. The evidence supports a concept of caries as a dietary carbohydrate-modified bacterial infectious disease. Its key feature is a dietary carbohydrate-induced enrichment of the plaque microbiota with organisms such as the mutans streptococci and lactobacilli which causes an increase of plaque's pH-lowering and cariogenic potential. The shift in the plaque proportions of these organisms appears to be related to their relatively high acid tolerance. A large body of evidence also supports a major effect of saliva on caries development. Integration of salivary effects with the concept of caries as a dietary carbohydrate-modified bacterial infectious disease suggests a broader concept whichincludes a major role of saliva in the regulation of the exposure of tooth surfaces to carbohydrate and of plaque acidity and, hence, the microbial composition and the pH-lowering and cariogenic potential of dental plaque. It is proposed that caries occurs preferentially in dentition sites characterized by a relatively high exposure to carbohydrate and diminished salivary effects. Some implications of this concept are discussed.