Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alcohol Exposure Decreases CREB Binding Protein Expression and Histone Acetylation in the Developing Cerebellum

Background Fetal alcohol exposure affects 1 in 100 children making it the leading cause of mental retardation in the US. It has long been known that alcohol affects cerebellum development and function. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings We demonstrate that CREB binding protein (CBP) is widely expressed in granule and Purkinje neurons of the developing cerebellar cortex of naïve rats. We also show that exposure to ethanol during the 3rd trimester-equivalent of human pregnancy reduces CBP levels. CBP is a histone acetyltransferase, a component of the epigenetic mechanism controlling neuronal gene expression. We further demonstrate that the acetylation of both histone H3 and H4 is reduced in the cerebellum of ethanol- treated rats. Conclusions/Significance These findings indicate that ethanol exposure decreases the expression and function of CBP in the developing cerebellum. This effect of ethanol may be responsible for the motor coordination deficits that characterize fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
Radial basis function neural network based PID control for quad-rotor flying robot

It is difficult for flying robots with a conventional PID controller to fly stably with external disturbances such as wind. Thus, a flight control method that can change the control parameters of a conventional PID controller according to the external disturbances is described in this paper. The control parameters of the PID controller are automatically adjusted based on a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN). The experimental results show that the control method is capable of effectively dealing with external disturbances.
Identifying Unsafe Videos on Online Public Media using Real-time Crowdsourcing

Due to the significant growth of social networking and human activities through the web in recent years, attention to analyzing big data using real-time crowdsourcing has increased. This data may appear in the form of streaming images, audio or videos. In this paper, we address the problem of deciding the appropriateness of streaming videos in public media with the help of crowdsourcing in real-time.
Dissimilar Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Bone Marrow, Umbilical Cord Blood, and Adipose Tissue

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been investigated as promising candidates for use in new cell-based therapeutic strategies such as mesenchyme-derived tissue repair. MSCs are easily isolated from adult tissues and are not ethically restricted. MSC-related literature, however, is conflicting in relation to MSC differentiation potential and molecular markers. Here we compared MSCs isolated from bone marrow (BM), umbilical cord blood (UCB), and adipose tissue (AT). The isolation efficiency for both BM and AT was 100%, but that from UCB was only 30%. MSCs from these tissues are morphologically and immunophenotypically similar although their differentiation diverges. Differentiation to osteoblasts and chondroblasts was similar among MSCs from all sources, as analyzed by cytochemistry. Adipogenic differentiation showed that UCB-derived MSCs produced few and small lipid vacuoles in contrast to those of BM-derived MSCs and AT-derived stem cells (ADSCs) (arbitrary differentiation values of 245.57 ± 943 and 243.89 ± 145.52 μm2 per nucleus, respectively). The mean area occupied by individual lipid droplets was 7.37 μm2 for BM-derived MSCs and 2.36 μm2 for ADSCs, a finding indicating more mature adipocytes in BM-derived MSCs than in treated cultures of ADSCs. We analyzed FAPB4, ALP, and type II collagen gene expression by quantitative polymerase chain reaction to confirm adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic differentiation, respectively. Results showed that all three sources presented a similar capacity for chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation and they differed in their adipogenic potential. Therefore, it may be crucial to predetermine the most appropriate MSC source for future clinical applications.
The use of cloud computing in AMI system architecture

The article describes a new concept of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system architecture with a cloud computing technology. Each smart meter will be equipped with a Wi-Fi module and a power-line communication (PLC) module. The PLC technology will be used to send control and configuration signals and for administrative purposes. This is a completely new approach in a relation to the currently implemented in Poland and in many European countries solutions in AMI systems. This AMI system architecture can be used in cities.
The Development of Philippine Cities Before 1900

Cities and towns first developed in the Philippines as a product of Spanish rule and Roman Catholic mission activity. In this context a new three tiered hierarchy of settlements was established above the preexisting village level. Elements of social and spatial segregation derived from Mexico were imposed in these settlements. Due to a lack of economic base, the towns set up to serve as regional centers soon declined. Substantial provincial urbanism appeared only with the rise of commerce and commercial agriculture during the nineteenth century. Manila achieved early predominance as a combined result of its ecclesiastical-administrative position and its role as the principal entrepot in the trade of Mexican silver for Chinese goods. Despite the collapse of that trade, Manila retained its primate position by becoming the chief point of import and distribution for Western manufacturers as well as a major collecting area for the export of agricultural commodities
A family of null models to distinguish between environmental filtering and biotic interactions in functional diversity patterns.

QUESTIONS Traditional null models used to reveal assembly processes from functional diversity patterns are not tailored for comparing different spatial and evolutionary scales. In this study, we present and explore a family of null models that can help disentangling assembly processes at their appropriate scales and thereby elucidate the ecological drivers of community assembly. LOCATION French Alps. METHODS Our approach gradually constrains null models by: (1) filtering out species not able to survive in the regional conditions in order to reduce the spatial scale, and (2) shuffling species only within lineages of different ages to reduce the evolutionary scale of the analysis. We first tested and validated this approach using simulated communities. We then applied it to study the functional diversity patterns of the leaf-height-seed strategy of plant communities in the French Alps. RESULTS Using simulations, we found that reducing the spatial scale correctly detected a signature of competition (functional divergence) even when environmental filtering produced an overlaying signal of functional convergence. However, constraining the evolutionary scale did not change the identified functional diversity patterns. In the case study of alpine plant communities, investigating scale effects revealed that environmental filtering had a strong influence at larger spatial and evolutionary scales and that neutral processes were more important at smaller scales. In contrast to the simulation study results, decreasing the evolutionary scale tended to increase patterns of functional divergence. CONCLUSION We argue that the traditional null model approach can only identify a single main process at a time and suggest to rather use a family of null models to disentangle intertwined assembly processes acting across spatial and evolutionary scales.
Molecular diagnosis of CNS viral infections

Diagnostic CSF PCR assays in viral CNS infections Identifying the agent responsible for suspected cases of viral central nervous system (CNS) infection poses tremendous diagnostic challenges, and a specific organism is identified in only ∼30% of cases of suspected viral encephalitis.1 Traditionally, definitive diagnosis has depended on: 1) culture of virus from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or brain tissue; 2) identification of viral particles, inclusions, antigen, or nucleic acid in brain tissue; or 3) demonstration of virus specific intrathecal antibody synthesis. The ability to amplify small amounts of viral nucleic acid from CSF using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique has revolutionised the diagnosis of viral CNS infections. CSF PCR is rapid, inexpensive, and only minimally invasive. Unfortunately, validation of the sensitivity and specificity of CSF PCR by comparison to a “gold standard” such as brain biopsy, is only rarely available.2,3 False positive CSF PCR …
An international phase II trial of single-agent lenalidomide for relapsed or refractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

BACKGROUND Lenalidomide is an immunomodulatory agent with antitumor activity in B-cell malignancies. This phase II trial aimed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of lenalidomide in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), follicular grade 3 lymphoma (FL-III), or transformed lymphoma (TL). METHODS Patients received oral lenalidomide 25 mg on days 1-21 every 28 days as tolerated or until progression. The primary end point was overall response rate (ORR). RESULTS Two hundred and seventeen patients enrolled and received lenalidomide. The ORR was 35% (77/217), with 13% (29/217) complete remission (CR), 22% (48/217) partial remission, and 21% (45/217) with stable disease. The ORR for DLBCL was 28% (30/108), 42% (24/57) for MCL, 42% (8/19) for FL-III, and 45% (15/33) for TL. Median progression-free survival for all 217 patients was 3.7 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.7-5.1]. For 77 responders, the median response duration lasted 10.6 months (95% CI 7.0-NR). Median response duration was not reached in 29 patients who achieved a CR and in responding patients with FL-III or MCL. The most common adverse event was myelosuppression with grade 4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia in 17% and 6%, respectively. CONCLUSION Lenalidomide is well tolerated and produces durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Characterization of 176Lu background in LSO-based PET scanners

LSO and LYSO are today the most common scintillators used in positron emission tomography. Lutetium contains traces of 176Lu, a radioactive isotope that decays β− with a cascade of γ photons in coincidence. Therefore, Lutetium-based scintillators are characterized by a small natural radiation background. In this paper, we investigate and characterize the 176Lu radiation background via experiments performed on LSO-based PET scanners. LSO background was measured at different energy windows and different time coincidence windows, and by using shields to alter the original spectrum. The effect of radiation background in particularly count-starved applications, such as 90Y imaging, is analysed and discussed. Depending on the size of the PET scanner, between 500 and 1000 total random counts per second and between 3 and 5 total true coincidences per second were measured in standard coincidence mode. The LSO background counts in a Siemens mCT in the standard PET energy and time windows are in general negligible in terms of trues, and are comparable to that measured in a BGO scanner of similar size.
A micro-architecture design for the 32-bit VLIW DSP processor core

Digital signal processing plays an important role in human life nowadays with various applications such as speech recognition, medical imaging, oil prospecting, etc. However, those applications cannot achieve high performance in general-purpose processors due to specific digital signal processing algorithms including Fourier transform, digital filtering, etc. Hence, the emergence of digital signal processors (DSPs) can be considered as urgent and timely solution as the strong optimizations of their architectures aim at maximizing the performance of those applications. In this work, we present a micro-architecture design of the 32-bit VLIW DSP Processor core based on the proposed top-level architecture and instruction set architecture in our previous work. This micro-architecture is then implemented by using the Verilog HDL and simulated in Altera ModelSim tool.
DNA methylation by CcrM activates the transcription of two genes required for the division of Caulobacter crescentus

DNA methylation regulates many processes, including gene expression, by superimposing secondary information on DNA sequences. The conserved CcrM enzyme, which methylates adenines in GANTC sequences, is essential to the viability of several Alphaproteobacteria. In this study, we find that Caulobacter crescentus cells lacking the CcrM enzyme accumulate low levels of the two conserved FtsZ and MipZ proteins, leading to a severe defect in cell division. This defect can be compensated by the expression of the ftsZ gene from an inducible promoter or by spontaneous suppressor mutations that promote FtsZ accumulation. We show that CcrM promotes the transcription of the ftsZ and mipZ genes and that the ftsZ and mipZ promoter regions contain a conserved CGACTC motif that is critical to their activities and to their regulation by CcrM. In addition, our results suggest that the ftsZ promoter has the lowest activity when the CGACTC motif is non‐methylated, an intermediate activity when it is hemi‐methylated and the highest activity when it is fully methylated. The regulation of ftsZ expression by DNA methylation may explain why CcrM is essential in a subset of Alphaproteobacteria.
The BXI Interconnect Architecture

BXI, Bull eXascale Interconnect, is the new interconnection network developed by Atos for High Performance Computing. In this paper, we first present an overview of the BXI network. The BXI network is designed and optimized for HPC workloads at very large scale. It is based on the Portals 4 protocol and permits a complete offload of communication primitives in hardware, thus enabling independent progress of computation and communication. We then describe the two BXI ASIC components, the network interface and the BXI switch, and the BXI software environment. We finally explain how the Bull exascale platform integrates BXI to build a large scale parallel system and we give some performance estimations.
Identification of BAIAP2 (BAI-associated protein 2), a novel human homologue of hamster IRSp53, whose SH3 domain interacts with the cytoplasmic domain of BAI1

BAI1 (brain-specific angiogenesis inhibitor 1) was originally isolated as a p53-target gene specifically expressed in brain. To clarify its function, we have been searching for cellular proteins that associate with the cytoplasmic domain of BAI1. Using its intracellular carboxyl terminus as “bait” in a yeast two-hybrid system, we isolated a cDNA clone named BAIAP2 whose nucleotide sequence would encode a 521-amino acid protein showing significant homology to a 58/53-kDa substrate of insulin-receptor kinase in the hamster. As the expression profile of BAIAP2 examined by Northern blot analysis was almost identical to that of BAI1, BAIAP2 appears to be active mainly in neurons. In vitro binding assays confirmed that a proline-rich cytoplasmic fragment of BAI1 interacted with the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain of BAIAP2. Double-color immunofluorescent analysis revealed that BAIAP2 was localized at the cytoplasmic membrane when it was coexpressed with BAI1 in COS-7 cells; BAIAP2 not associated with BAI1 was diffused in the cytoplasm. Predominant localization of BAI1 protein in a sub-cellular fraction enriched in growth cones indicated a possible role of BAI1 as a cell adhesion molecule inducing growth cone guidance. As a protein partner of BAI1, BAIAP2 may represent an important link between membrane and cytoskeleton in the process of neuronal growth.
Trisomy of the G protein-coupled K+ channel gene, Kcnj6, affects reward mechanisms, cognitive functions, and synaptic plasticity in mice

G protein-activated inwardly rectifying K+ channels (GIRK) generate slow inhibitory postsynaptic potentials in the brain via Gi/o protein-coupled receptors. GIRK2, a GIRK subunit, is widely abundant in the brain and has been implicated in various functions and pathologies, such as learning and memory, reward, motor coordination, and Down syndrome. Down syndrome, the most prevalent cause of mental retardation, results from the presence of an extra maternal chromosome 21 (trisomy 21), which comprises the Kcnj6 gene (GIRK2). The present study examined the behaviors and cellular physiology properties in mice harboring a single trisomy of the Kcnj6 gene. Kcnj6 triploid mice exhibit deficits in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory, altered responses to rewards, hampered depotentiation, a form of excitatory synaptic plasticity, and have accentuated long-term synaptic depression. Collectively the findings suggest that triplication of Kcnj6 gene may play an active role in some of the abnormal neurological phenotypes found in Down syndrome.
Transformation Based Walking Speed Normalization for Gait Recognition

Humans are able to recognize small number of people they know well by the way they walk. This ability represents basic motivation for using human gait as the means for biometric identification. Such biometric can be captured at public places from a distance without subject’s collaboration, awareness or even consent. Although current approaches give encouraging results, we are still far from effective use in practical applications. In general, methods set various constraints to circumvent the influence factors like changes of view, walking speed, capture environment, clothing, footwear, object carrying, that have negative impact on recognition results. In this paper we investigate the influence of walking speed variation to different visual based gait recognition approaches and propose normalization based on geometric transformations, which mitigates its influence on recognition results. With the evaluation on MoBo gait dataset we demonstrate the benefits of using such normalization in combination with different types of gait recognition approaches.
Autonomous navigation based on stellar refraction for elliptic orbit spacecraft

This paper proposes a novel method based on stellar refraction to create a dynamic stellar catalogue for autonomous navigation and presents a principle of stellar choosing. Then, through the unscented Kalman filter, it analyses the applicability and the navigational accuracy that uses the stellar refraction method on the elliptic orbit spacecraft. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method and principle are simple and utility; the autonomous navigation method based on stellar refraction still has good applicability for elliptic orbit.
Cross-Lingual and Ensemble MLPs Strategies for Low-Resource Speech Recognition

Recently there has been some interest in the question of how to build LVCSR systems for the low-resource languages. The scenario we focus on here is having only one hour of acoustic training data in the “target” language, but more plentiful data in other languages. This paper presents approaches using MLP based features: we construct a low-resource system with additional sources of information from the non-target languages to train the cross-lingual MLPs. A hierarchical architecture and multi-stream strategy are applied on the cross-lingual phone level, to improve the neural network more discriminatively. Additionally, an elaborate ensemble system with various acoustic feature streams and context expansion lengths is proposed. After system combination with these two strategies we get significant improvements of more than 8% absolute versus a conventional baseline in this low-resource scenario with only one hour of target training data.
Bibliometrie als Bewertungsgrundlage für Wissenschaftler : Eine neue Kernkompetenz in Bibliotheken

Die Arbeit untersucht die Moglichkeiten der Verwendung bibliometrischer Indikatoren und Methoden, um einen Wissenschaftler und seine Forschungsergebnisse zu bewerten. Als Grundlage wird im ersten Teil Bibliometrie von ihren Nachbardisziplinen abgegrenzt und ihr Anwendungsbereich fur die Arbeit verdeutlicht. Der zweite Teil beginnt mit der Darstellung und der Analyse eines Wissenschaftlers auf Grundlage bibliometrischer Methoden und Indikatoren. Die Ergebnisse werden anhand von Forschungsfragen aufbereitet und interpretiert. Auserdem wird die Verwendung bibliometrischer als Bewertungsgrundlage fur Wissenschaftler mit Hilfe der vorgestellten Theorien und in Verbindung mit den Ergebnissen der durchgefuhrten Analyse beurteilt. Als Resultat steht die Erkenntnis, dass Wissenschaftler anhand bibliometrischer und formaler Kriterien bewerten werden konnen. Der dritte Teil ubertragt die Ergebnisse der ersten beiden Teile in einen bibliothekarischen Kontext. Es werden Gefahren und Chancen aufgezeigt und Empfehlungen fur die Praxis gegeben. Der letzte Teil betrachtet die Bibliometrie innerhalb der Veranderungen, die mit den Anderungen des Publikationsprozesses einher gehen.
A Bioinformatical Approach to Study the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport (ESCRT) Machinery in Protozoan Parasites: The Entamoeba histolytica Case

1.1 The potential of bioinformatics for the study of protein structure and function Proteins are macromolecules formed by amino acid polymers that regulate cellular functions. Each protein is composed by the repetition and combination of 20 different amino acids, whose order is determined by the genetic code. To perform their biological functions, proteins fold into one or more specific spatial conformations, determined by non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, ionic interactions, Van der Waals forces and hydrophobic packing, and covalent interactions, such as disulfide bonds (Chiang et al., 2007). Determining the structure and function of a protein is a milestone of many aspects of modern biology to understand its role in cell physiology. Bioinformatics is the research, development or application of computational approaches for expanding the use of biological, medical, behavioral or health-related data. It also includes those tools to acquire, store, organize, archive, analyze or visualize infomation. Over the past years, bioinformatical tools have been widely used for the prediction and study of protein biology. Moreover, bioinformatical tools have revealed the existence of protein “interactomes”, demonstrating the interaction among distinct biomolecules (protein-protein, protein-lipids, protein-carbohydrates, etc.) to perform cellular processes (Kuchaiev & Przulj, 2011). During the last decades, genome sequencing projects together with bioinformatics programs and algorithms have enormously contributed to understand protein structure, protein interactions and protein functions. At present, over six million unique protein sequences have been deposited in public databases, and this number is increasing rapidly. Meanwhile, despite the progress of high-throughput structural genomics initiatives, just over 50,000 protein structures have been experimentally determined (Kelley & Sterberg, 2009). The greatest challenge the molecular biology community is facing today is to analyze the wealth of data that has been produced by the genome sequencing projects, where bioinformatics