Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phosphoinositide Turnover Associated with Synaptic Transmission

Abstract: Although pharmacological stimulation of a wide variety of transmitter receptors triggers phosphoinositide (PI) turnover, little is known about the type of synaptic activity required to activate this system. To investigate this question, we have used primary cultures of embryonic cortical neurons, which develop functional glutamate and GABA synapses during maturation in vitro. Mature cultures display spontaneous synaptic activity that is totally suppressed by tetrodotoxin (TTX). PI turnover, assayed by the lithium‐sensitive accumulation of [3H]CDP‐diacylglycerol, was readily detected under basal conditions and was abolished by TTX. Increased excitatory synaptic activity induced by picrotoxin, an antagonist of GABAA receptor‐mediated inhibition, further stimulated PI turnover. Similar results were obtained when PI turnover was assayed using [3H]inositol labeling. With either assay, the magnitude of synaptically induced PI turnover was comparable to maximal responses produced by muscarinic receptor stimulation. Although a component of the spontaneous synaptic currents is sensitive to N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA)‐preferring glutamate receptor antagonists, blockade of NMDA receptors did not affect PI turnover associated with synaptic transmission. To assess the time course of synaptically mediated PI turnover, the amplitude and duration of spontaneous synaptic currents were reduced by lowering the extracellular Ca2+ concentration from 2.25 to 0.5 mM, a maneuver that suppresses basal PI turnover. Increases in PI turnover were detected as early as 5 min following restoration of the extracellular Ca2+ concentration to 2.25 mM. Taken together, these findings indicate that activation of the PI system is associated with physiological levels of glutamatergic synaptic transmission.
Zonal asymmetry of the Antarctic Oscillation

[1] In this research, the zonal asymmetry of the southern annular mode, or the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), is studied. It is indicated that apparent zonal asymmetry exists in the normalized sea level pressure differences between the middle and high latitudes during the boreal summer, among different longitudes, especially between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Results show that the Southern Oscillation (SO) is responsible for part of the zonal asymmetry in AAO. The Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere parts of AAO are correlated at 0.23 and 0.52 respectively for the period of 1959– 1998 before and after the linear regressions on the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) have been removed from the time series. The paper also discusses the relationship between the precipitation in the East Asia and the AAO before and after removing the linear regressions on SO index (SOI), indicating the stable relationship between the East Asian precipitation and the zonal symmetric component of AAO. Citation: Fan, K. (2007), Zonal asymmetry of the Antarctic Oscillation, Geophys. Res. Lett. , 34, L02706, doi:10.1029/2006GL028045.
Transient receptor potential melastatin‐related 7 channel is overexpressed in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas and regulates human pancreatic cancer cell migration

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer with a tendency to invade surrounding healthy tissues, leading to a largely incurable disease. Despite many advances in modern medicine, there is still a lack of early biomarkers as well as efficient therapeutical strategies. The melastatin‐related transient receptor potential 7 channel (TRPM7) is a nonselective cation channel that is involved in maintaining Ca2+ and Mg2+ homeostasis. It has been recently reported to regulate cell differentiation, proliferation and migration. However, the role of TRPM7 in PDAC progression is far to be understood. In our study, we show that TRPM7 is 13‐fold overexpressed in cancer tissues compared to the healthy ones. Furthermore, TRPM7 staining is stronger in tumors with high grade, suggesting a correlation between TRPM7 expression and PDAC progression. Importantly, TRPM7 expression is inversely related to patient survival. In BxPC‐3 cell line, dialyzing the cytoplasm during the patch‐clamp whole‐cell recording with a 0‐Mg2+ solution activated a nonselective current with a strong outward rectification. This cation current is inhibited by intracellular Mg2+ and by TRPM7 silencing. The downregulation of TRPM7 by small interference RNA dramatically inhibited intracellular Mg2+ fluorescence and cell migration without affecting cell proliferation, suggesting that TRPM7 contributes to Mg2+ entry and cell migration. Moreover, external Mg2+ following TRPM7 silencing fully restored the cell migration. In summary, our results indicate that TRPM7 is involved in the BxPC‐3 cell migration via a Mg2+‐dependent mechanism and may be a potential biomarker of poor prognosis of PDAC.
Operating Conditions Monitoring for High Power Density and Cost-Effective Resonant Power Converters

Resonant power conversion is a key enabling technology for many high-performance and high-efficiency systems. Induction heating is an example of such systems, which outperforms conventional heating technologies, leading to a wide spectrum of industrial, domestic, and medical applications. In order to ensure the proper operation of the resonant converter, accurate converter operation monitoring techniques are required. This paper proposes an effective monitoring technique based on the measurement of the resonant capacitor voltage. The proposed monitoring system provides essential information regarding the output power, soft-switching conditions, and input voltage, while featuring a cost-effective implementation. The proposed technique is validated through an FPGA-controlled resonant power converter applied to induction heating, proving the feasibility of this proposal.
Topological research and comparison of low harmonic input three-phase rectifier with passive auxiliary circuit

A novel passive correction approach is proposed in this paper. By adding a passive auxiliary circuit to the ac side of the rectifier with dc-side C filter, the input currents and power factor can be improved. According to distinctive configurations of the auxiliary circuits, eight low harmonic input rectifier topologies are derived. Three rectifier topologies with better comprehensive performance are deeply analyzed and compared in operation principle, auxiliary circuit design and characteristic discussion. Experimental results from the prototypes are shown to confirm the validity of the analysis and the feasibility of the proposed approach.
Sound processing using reconfigurable hardware and wavelets in wearable device application

A wearable device based on reconfigurable system using the PsoC mixed-signal controllers is proposed. Lung sound is monitored using a chest microphone from what after a filtering process we extract the information that contribute to four types of lung disease detection. We use the wavelet coefficients in order to extract the patterns that identify the lung disease. Neuro-fuzzy decision system implemented software is used in order to detect and alert the patient. A wireless communication based bluetooth™ chip is used to connect a wearable device to micro server that uses the TCP/IP protocol in order to communicate with the medic. Experimentally results are presented and future research direction is taken into account.
QoS-Aware Virtual Infrastructures Allocation on SDN-Based Clouds

Virtualization of computing and communication infrastructureswere disseminated as possible solutions for networksevolution and deployment of new services on clouddata centers. Although promising, their effective applicationfaces obstacles, mainly caused by rigidity on the managementof communication resources. Currently, the Software-DefinedNetworks (SDN) paradigm has been popularizing customizationand flexibility in network management due to separationof control and data planes. However, benefits introduced bySDN are not trivially applied to Virtual Infrastructures (VIs)provisioning on SDN-based cloud providers. An allocationmechanism needs joint information of control and data planesin order to deliver Quality-of-Service (QoS)-aware mappingswhile achieving provider objectives. In this work, we formulatethe online VI allocation on SDN-based cloud data centers as aMixed Integer Program (MIP). Following, integer constraintsare relaxed to obtain a linear program, and rounding techniquesare applied. The mechanism performs VI allocation consideringlatency, bandwidth, and virtual machine requirements. The results indicate that the VIs mean internal latency can bereduced while simultaneously enforcing other QoS constraints.
Equity Versus Bail-In Debt in Banking: An Agency Perspective

We examine the optimal size and composition of banks’ total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC). Optimal size is driven by the trade-off between providing liquidity services through deposits and minimizing deadweight default costs. Optimal composition (equity vs. bail-in debt) is driven by the relative importance of two incentive problems: risk shifting (mitigated by equity) and private benefit taking (mitigated by debt). Our quantitative results suggest that TLAC size in line with current regulation is appropriate. However, an important fraction of it should consist of bail-in debt because such buffer size makes the costs of risk-shifting relatively less important at the margin.
Distance perception during cooperative virtual locomotion

Virtual distances are often misperceived, though most past research ignores co-located cooperative systems. Because active locomotion plays a role in spatial perception, cooperative viewpoint control may impact perceived distances. Additionally, the center of projection is generally optimized for a single tracked user, meaning that a single action will result in different visual feedback for each user. We describe a study investigating the effect of a co-located cooperative locomotion interface on virtual distance perception. Results indicate that a slight center-of-projection offset did affect distance estimates for the untracked user, but that the cooperation actions themselves did not play a role. This study brings new insights to designing interfaces which facilitate accurate spatial perception in cooperative applications.
Effects of polymorphisms in DGAT1 and LEP genes on milk traits in Holstein primiparous cows

The genes encoding the diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase (DGAT1) and leptin (LEP) became a functional candidate genes for lactation traits in cows. Several studies associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in these genes with fat and protein content in milk, fat and protein yield, milk yield and some reproductive traits. Three reported SNPs in these genes were investigated in our study (DGAT1-K232A, LEP-R25C, LEP-A80V). One hundred and sixty-three primiparous dairy cows from one farm were genotyped. The milk yield, fat and protein yield, fat and protein content and the age at first calving were recorded. The frequencies of alleles and genotypes were assessed. The effect of genotypes on milk traits and age at first calving were studied using linear models. The assumption of the different allele frequencies resulting from selection aimed at milk yield was proved in DGAT1 and LEP-A80V. The significant effect (P<0.01) of DGAT1 polymorphism was estimated only for the fat content. No significant effect of individual LEP polymorphism on milk trait or age at first calving was estimated. No significant effect of combination of LEP polymorphisms was estimated for those traits. The effect of DGAT1 on the age at first calving was indicated.
Competitive Author Profiling Using Compression-Based Strategies

Author profiling consists in determining some demographic attributes — such as gender, age, nationality, language, religion, and others — of an author for a given document. This task, which has applications in fields such as forensics, security, or marketing, has been approached from different areas, especially from linguistics and natural language processing, by extracting different types of features from training documents, usually content — and style-based features. In this paper we address the problem by using several compression-inspired strategies that generate different models without analyzing or extracting specific features from the textual content, making them style-oblivious approaches. We analyze the behavior of these techniques, combine them and compare them with other state-of-the-art methods. We show that they can be competitive in terms of accuracy, giving the best predictions for some domains, and they are efficient in time performance.
Structure‐Activity Relationships for the Inhibition of Lipid Peroxidation and the Scavenging of Free Radicals by Synthetic Symmetrical Curcumin Analogues

A number of ring substituted analogues of curcumin were synthesized. Their antioxidant properties were studied using three models, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, scavenging of 1,1′‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′‐azinobis(3‐ethyl‐benzthiazoline‐6‐sulphonate radical (ABTS+).
The Effect of Kinetic Properties on Statistical Variations of Ultrasound Signals Backscattered from Flowing Blood

Yet very little is known about the effect of “black hole” (BH) phenomenon on backscattering signal statistics under the laminar flow. To further explore this issue, measurements were performed from the porcine blood (with hematocrits of 20 and 50%) circulating in a mock flow loop under various steady flows at velocities ranged from 15 to 122 mm/s using a 10 MHz ultrasonic transducer. Results showed that the BH was apparent for the 50% blood flowing at a low velocity. The BH tended to be decreased with the increase of flow velocity and that it was hardly observed from the 20% blood. The probability density function of signals backscattered from blood tended to distribute as pre-Rayleigh statistics and the Nakagami parameter was less than 1. The spatial distribution of red cell aggregation in the flow tube is a predominant factor leading to statistical variations of ultrasonic backscattering in the flowing blood.
Strain Differences Influence N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Subunit Gene Expression in the Olfactory Bulb of an Allergic Mouse Model following Toluene Exposure

Objective: Genetic variation is a causative factor in differing sensitivities to environmental chemicals. The present study explored whether differences in mouse strains influence N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor expression in the olfactory bulb after low-level toluene exposure. Methods: Ten-week-old male C3H/HeN (H-2k), BALB/c (H-2d) and C57BL/10 (H-2b) mice were exposed to 0, 5, 50 or 500 ppm of toluene for 6 h per day, 5 days per week for 6 weeks. Because individuals with allergic disease are more susceptible to volatile organic compound exposure, the animals of each strain were divided into 2 main groups, a non-allergy (NAG) group and an allergy (AG) group. The AG groups were stimulated with ovalbumin before toluene exposure. The mRNA levels of NMDA receptor subunits (NR1, NR2A and NR2B) in the olfactory bulbs of the NAG and AG groups were examined using real-time RT-PCR. Results: In C3H/HeN mice, the expression levels of NR1 and NR2B mRNA decreased significantly in the AG group exposed to 500 ppm of toluene; in the NAG group, however, the NR2A mRNA level increased significantly in mice exposed to 50 ppm while the NR2A and NR2B mRNA levels decreased significantly in mice exposed to 500 ppm of toluene. No significant changes were observed in the NAG groups of BALB/c or C57BL/10 mice. However, in the BALB/c mice, the mRNA levels of NR1, NR2A and NR2B decreased significantly in the AG group exposed to 500 ppm of toluene. Conclusion: Mammalian strain differences in NMDA receptor expression after allergic stimulation can be observed in the mouse olfactory bulb after toluene exposure.
Moderate- vs high-dose methadone in the treatment of opioid dependence: a randomized trial.

CONTEXT Methadone hydrochloride treatment is the most common pharmacological intervention for opioid dependence, and recent interest has focused on expanding methadone treatment availability beyond traditional specially licensed clinics. However, despite recommendations regarding effective dosing of methadone, controlled clinical trials of higher-dose methadone have not been conducted. OBJECTIVE To compare the relative clinical efficacy of moderate- vs high-dose methadone in the treatment of opioid dependence. DESIGN A 40-week randomized, double-blind clinical trial starting in June 1992 and ending in October 1995. SETTING Outpatient substance abuse treatment research clinic at the Johns Hopkins University Bayview Campus, Baltimore, Md. PARTICIPANTS One hundred ninety-two eligible clinic patients. INTERVENTION Daily oral methadone hydrochloride in the dose range of 40 to 50 mg (n = 97) or 80 to 100 mg (n = 95), with concurrent substance abuse counseling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Opioid-positive urinalysis results and retention in treatment. RESULTS By intent-to-treat analysis through week 30 patients in the high-dose group had significantly lower rates of opioid-positive urine samples compared with patients in the moderate-dose group (53.0% [95% confidence interval [CI], 46.9%-59.2%] vs 61.9% [95% CI, 55.9%-68.0%]; P = .047. These differences persisted during withdrawal from methadone. Through day 210 no significant difference was evident between dose groups in treatment retention (high-dose group mean retention, 159 days; moderate-dose group mean retention, 157 days). Nineteen (33%) of 57 patients in the high-dose group and 11 (20%) of 54 patients in the moderate-dose group completed detoxification. CONCLUSIONS Both moderate- and high-dose methadone treatment resulted in decreased illicit opioid use during methadone maintenance and detoxification. The high-dose group had significantly greater decreases in illicit opioid use.
Increasing robustness of pairwise methods for effective connectivity in magnetic resonance imaging by using fractional moment series of BOLD signal distributions

Estimating causal interactions in the brain from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data remains a challenging task. Multiple studies have demonstrated that all current approaches to determine direction of connectivity perform poorly when applied to synthetic fMRI datasets. Recent advances in this field include methods for pairwise inference, which involve creating a sparse connectome in the first step, and then using a classifier in order to determine the directionality of connection between every pair of nodes in the second step. In this work, we introduce an advance to the second step of this procedure, by building a classifier based on fractional moments of the BOLD distribution combined into cumulants. The classifier is trained on datasets generated under the dynamic causal modeling (DCM) generative model. The directionality is inferred based on statistical dependencies between the two-node time series, for example, by assigning a causal link from time series of low variance to time series of high variance. Our approach outperforms or performs as well as other methods for effective connectivity when applied to the benchmark datasets. Crucially, it is also more resilient to confounding effects such as differential noise level across different areas of the connectome.Author SummaryEstimating causal interactions from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is a formidable task. Recent advances in this field include methods for pairwise inference. In the first step of this procedure, connections are revealed by means of functional connectivity. In the second step, every detected connection is analyzed separately to reveal the direction of the causal links. We introduce an advance to the second step of this procedure by building a classifier based on the novel concept of fractional moments of the BOLD distribution combined into cumulants. The classifier is trained on datasets generated under the dynamic causal modeling (DCM) generative model. Using fractional cumulants gives a measure resilient to confounding effects such as differential noise levels across different areas of the connectome.
Economics of Veterinary Services Delivery among Commercial Poultry Farmers in a Market-Driven Economy: Evidence from Delta State, Nigeria

The economics of veterinary services delivery among commercial poultry farmers was investigated using primary data collected from 60 respondents (50 commercial poultry farmers and 10 veterinary officers) with the aid of structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using a combination of descriptive statistics (i.e. mean, percentage, standard deviation, table) and inferential statistics (i.e. multiple regression model). The results of the study showed that though the veterinary services delivery was structured into public and private sectors majority (60.9%) of the commercial poultry farmers demanded and obtained veterinary services from the public sector. The estimated cost function of commercial poultry farm in the study area revealed that the cost of veterinary services significantly affected the total cost of poultry output (p = 0.01). The estimated demand function for veterinary services indicated that the scale of production and distance to the nearest veterinary office were the significant determinants of the demand for veterinary services in the study area. The finding of the study further revealed that the propensity to supply veterinary services was mainly influenced by demand of poultry farmers (0.8) and effective price that they are willing to pay (0.8). It was recommended among others that private individuals should be encouraged by policy to participate in veterinary services delivery. The issue of veterinary services should be considered important in an y development programme in the poultry industry in Delta State, Nigeria.
MEDICAL HISTORY—DO WE USE IT WISELY?

S FROM MEDJ('AI, 1,ITEHATl'RI<JMedicine 672 BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOelATION NEWSScientific 674 Not lee 675 MEDICAL HISTORY-DO WE USE IT WISELY? By R. A. O'BRIEN, C.B. E" M.D., Queensland Institute 0/ Medical Research,
Designing a Low-Cost Mattress Sensor for Automated Body Position Classification

Determination of body position on a mattress in a clinical setting is important for both diagnosis of sleep disorders and management and prevention of pressure sores. At present, patient body position is measured by visual inspection or by post analysis of either a video monitoring system or expensive, high-resolution arrays of pressure sensors. Due to the high cost and time consumption, often the alternative, a set of accelerometers tethered to the patient is used. However, these accelerometers only provide directional orientation of the patient torso, and yield little information regarding the total body position. We present in this paper a design for a low-cost sensor mat that combines a minimum number of sensors with a feed-forward neural net for autonomous detection and distinction of body position into a set of discrete patterns
FuzzyDES or how DES Met Bousi-Prolog

This article describes the implementation of the fuzzy deductive database system FuzzyDES, where concepts underlying the fuzzy logic programming system Bousi∼Prolog are adapted and improved to be transferred to the DES deductive database system. We take advantage of the DES tabled-based implementation to propose new methods for rule compiling and t-closure computing, developing a terminating query answering system with graded rules. A description of the system, an example, and a link to a publicly-available, comprehensive system are provided.