Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antioxidants inhibit ATP-sensitive potassium channels in cerebral arterioles.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite are capable of generating hydroxyl radical and are commonly suspected as sources of this radical in tissues. It would be useful to distinguish the source of hydroxyl radical in pathophysiological conditions and to clarify the mechanisms by which antioxidants modify vascular actions of oxidants. METHODS We investigated the effect of three antioxidants--dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), salicylate, and L-cysteine--on the cerebral arteriolar dilation caused by topical application of hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite in anesthetized cats equipped with cranial windows. We also tested the effect of these antioxidants on the vasodilation caused by pinacidil and cromakalim, two known openers of ATP-sensitive potassium channels. RESULTS DMSO was more effective in inhibiting dilation from hydrogen peroxide, whereas salicylate and L-cysteine were more effective in inhibiting dilation from peroxynitrite. All three antioxidants inhibited dilation in concentrations that were remarkably low (< 1 mmol/L). All three antioxidants inhibited vasodilation from two known potassium channel openers, pinacidil and cromakalim. Their effect was specific because they did not affect dilation from adenosine or nitroprusside. CONCLUSIONS The findings show that antioxidants block ATP-sensitive potassium channels in cerebral arterioles. This appears to be the mechanism by which antioxidants inhibit the dilation from hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite and not through scavenging of a common intermediate, ie, hydroxyl radical. The differences between effectiveness in inhibiting dilation from hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite by various antioxidants suggest that hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite act at two different sites, one in a water-soluble environment and the other in a lipid-soluble environment.
Different Human Copper-Zinc Superoxide Dismutase Mutants, SOD1G93A and SOD1H46R, Exert Distinct Harmful Effects on Gross Phenotype in Mice

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a heterogeneous group of fatal neurodegenerative diseases characterized by a selective loss of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Creation of transgenic mice expressing mutant Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1), as ALS models, has made an enormous impact on progress of the ALS studies. Recently, it has been recognized that genetic background and gender affect many physiological and pathological phenotypes. However, no systematic studies focusing on such effects using ALS models other than SOD1G93A mice have been conducted. To clarify the effects of genetic background and gender on gross phenotypes among different ALS models, we here conducted a comparative analysis of growth curves and lifespans using congenic lines of SOD1G93A and SOD1H46R mice on two different genetic backgrounds; C57BL/6N (B6) and FVB/N (FVB). Copy number of the transgene and their expression between SOD1G93A and SOD1H46R lines were comparable. B6 congenic mutant SOD1 transgenic lines irrespective of their mutation and gender differences lived longer than corresponding FVB lines. Notably, the G93A mutation caused severer disease phenotypes than did the H46R mutation, where SOD1G93A mice, particularly on a FVB background, showed more extensive body weight loss and earlier death. Gender effect on survival also solely emerged in FVB congenic SOD1G93A mice. Conversely, consistent with our previous study using B6 lines, lack of Als2, a murine homolog for the recessive juvenile ALS causative gene, in FVB congenic SOD1H46R, but not SOD1G93A, mice resulted in an earlier death, implying a genetic background-independent but mutation-dependent phenotypic modification. These results indicate that SOD1G93A- and SOD1H46R-mediated toxicity and their associated pathogenic pathways are not identical. Further, distinctive injurious effects resulted from different SOD1 mutations, which are associated with genetic background and/or gender, suggests the presence of several genetic modifiers of disease expression in the mouse genome.
Cerebrospinal fluid tau protein as a biochemical marker for Alzheimer’s disease: a community based follow up study

OBJECTIVES Biochemical markers for Alzheimer’s disease would be of great value, especially to help in diagnosis early in the course of the disease. A pronounced increase in CSF tau protein (CSF-tau) is found in most patients with Alzheimer’s disease. However, the specificity has to be further studied, as an increase in CSF-tau has also been found in other dementias, especially in vascular dementia. As most previous CSF studies have been based on selected inpatients, it was considered of special interest to examine the diagnostic potential of CSF-tau in a community population based sample of consecutive patients with dementia. Such patient material has been examined at the Piteå River Valley Hospital in Northern Sweden since 1986, and includes all those with memory disturbances in the community. The aim was also to study if an increase in CSF-tau is found early in the disease process, and whether CSF-tau changes during the progression of disease. METHODS Participants: Community population based sample of 75 demented patients (43 with Alzheimer’s disease, 21 with vascular dementia, and 11 with mixed Alzheimer’s disease/vascular dementia), 18 healthy subjects, and 18 neurological controls. A follow up investigation (including analysis of a new CSF sample) was performed in all patients after about one year. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Concentrations of total (both normal tau and PHF-tau) tau in CSF, clinical measures (duration and severity of dementia), and apoE polymorphism. RESULTS CSF-tau was markedly increased in Alzheimer’s disease, 41/43 (95%) patients had values above the cut off level (mean+2 SD) in controls (306 pg/ml). High CSF-tau concentrations were also found in most patients with vascular dementia, preferentially in patients with vascular dementia without progressive leukoaraiosis on CT, whereas patients with vascular dementia with progressive leukoaraiosis had normal CSF-tau. Concentrations of CSF-tau were stable at one year follow up in both patients with Alzheimer’s disease and patients with vascular dementia, and there was no correlation between CSF-tau and either duration or severity of dementia. CONCLUSIONS The findings confirm the high sensitivity of CSF-tau for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but high CSF-tau was also found in vascular dementia, resulting in a lower specificity. However, high CSF-tau is preferentially found in patients with vascular dementia without progressive leukoaraiosis, which may constitute a group with concomitant Alzheimer’s disease pathology. High CSF-tau may be present during the whole course of the disease in Alzheimer’s disease. Possibly, therefore, the same high CSF-tau concentrations may be present before the onset of clinical dementia. Follow up studies on such patients will tell whether analysis of CSF-tau is useful as a biochemical marker for early Alzheimer’s disease.
Abundance of Terrestrial Gymnamoebae at a Northeastern U. S. Site: A Four-year Study, Including the El Niño Winter of 1997–1998

Abstract The abundance, sizes, and when appropriate, diversity of gymnamoebae were documented at approximately monthly intervals for four years (1995–1998) at a grassy, terrestrial site slightly upslope from a freshwater pond. Soil samples were analyzed for viable gymnamoebae using a standard laboratory culturing protocol. The mean density of gymnamoebae based on the total data set was ca.1,600/g (s.e. ± 190). Minimum densities of gymnamoebae (156/g) occurred in January 1995, and a maximum for the sampling period (5,838/g) occurred in July 1997, when a rainy period followed an extended period of drought. Among the environmental variables monitored (precipitation, soil moisture, organic content, and temperature) only precipitation correlated significantly with abundance of gymnamoebae (r = 0.34, p = 0.02). During the mild, moist El Niño winter of 1997–1998, a larger than usual number of gymnamoebae was recorded at the site (∼3,800/g) compared to a mean density of ∼900/g for comparable periods in preceding years. The mean sizes were also larger. Since gymnamoebae are increasingly recognized as major members of soil microbial communities enhancing soil fertility through nutrient mineralization, it is important to document environmental variables that influence their abundance and activity in terrestrial ecosystems.
Boredom, Immersion, Flow : A pilot study investigating player experience

Designing and evaluating gameplay experience comes to life after measures for player experience have been found. This paper describes a pilot study measuring game experience with a set of game stimuli especially designed for different player experiences. Gameplay experience is measured using self-report questionnaires after each play session. Results of the questionnaires are then separately compared to design intentions and player evaluations. Our experiment shows that gameplay experience can be assessed with a high reliability for certain gameplay features.
New and emerging biomarkers of heart failure

Heart failure (HF) may be considered as the fatal finishing line of all cardiovascular disorders. There is not a single diagnostic test for HF, and its diagnosis relies on clinical judgment based on a combination of history, physical examination, and appropriate investigations. For these reasons, the accuracy of diagnosis by clinical means alone is often inadequate. Despite the enormous advances in understanding and treatment that have taken place during the last 50 years, HF continues to have a poor prognosis. Diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with HF depend on the availability of specific, accurate, and effective disease or risk markers. Thus, there is an increasing interest in the development of new cardiovascular biomarkers, and, consequently, a great number of laboratory tests have recently been proposed for their assay. In this review, we briefly discuss the characteristics of an ideal HF biomarker and describe the analytical performance and clinical relevance of available biomarker assay methods, comparing their performances with that of an ideal biomarker for HF. Finally, we present a scheme to search for more efficient diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for HF.
Prosody in Alaryngeal Speech

Effective speech communication relies on a speaker’s ability to convey a message. The most basic requirement for speech is a sound source, normally the larynx (voice box). The normal speaker depends on the fine-tuning capabilities of the larynx to vary F0, intensity and duration, which are essential to convey the prosodic structure of an utterance. Pitch changes, for example, accentuate the important words in a sentence. Words are also lengthened or pauses inserted after words to signal the end of a phrase or sentence. The research presented in this dissertation focused on speakers who have had a laryngectomy (surgical removal of the larynx). These alaryngeal speakers rely on an alternative sound source, namely mucosa and muscle situated at the entrance to the esophagus. Alaryngeal speakers’ control over this alternative voice is limited. A series of perception experiments revealed that alaryngeal speakers who were able to vary the relevant prosodic cues consistently, conveyed prosodic intent more accurately than speakers who could not. However, speakers who had no, or no consistent control over the relevant prosodic cues, often managed to signal, for example, the intended accented word, or managed to conveye the correct phrasing. This was achieved by manipulating, albeit inconsistently, other – sometimes unexpected – prosodic cues that are not normally associated with the prosodic function in question. It is therefore important to investigate which prosodic cues are still present in an alaryngeal speaker’s speech. Through subsequent training of those cues that are still available, it might be possible to improve the speaker’s overall communicative effectiveness.
Study of voltage unbalance conditions based on the behavior of the complex voltage unbalance factor (CVUF)

In this paper, an analysis of the complex voltage unbalance factor (CVUF) in three-phase lines is offered, in order to orientate future experiments in the study of the effects of voltage unbalance. The geometrical loci for constant magnitudes of the CVUF are presented, considering that the angles of the voltages are constant, and considering that the magnitudes of the voltages are constant. Furthermore, a correlation coefficient study is made between the CVUF and the negative- and positive-sequence voltage components (V2 and V1, respectively). The intention here is to determine the influence of the voltage components sequences on the magnitude and angle of the CVUF. Based on the studies described above, a series of unbalanced voltage conditions is suggested, serving as orientation for future laboratory experiments, which could lead to a better understanding of the relation between the voltage unbalance condition and its effects.
No belief propagation required: Belief space planning in high-dimensional state spaces via factor graphs, the matrix determinant lemma, and re-use of calculation

We develop a computationally efficient approach for evaluating the information-theoretic term within belief space planning (BSP), where during belief propagation the state vector can be constant or augmented. We consider both unfocused and focused problem settings, whereas uncertainty reduction of the entire system or only of chosen variables is of interest, respectively. State-of-the-art approaches typically propagate the belief state, for each candidate action, through calculation of the posterior information (or covariance) matrix and subsequently compute its determinant (required for entropy). In contrast, our approach reduces runtime complexity by avoiding these calculations. We formulate the problem in terms of factor graphs and show that belief propagation is not needed, requiring instead a one-time calculation that depends on (the increasing with time) state dimensionality, and per-candidate calculations that are independent of the latter. To that end, we develop an augmented version of the matrix determinant lemma, and show that computations can be re-used when evaluating impact of different candidate actions. These two key ingredients and the factor graph representation of the problem result in a computationally efficient (augmented) BSP approach that accounts for different sources of uncertainty and can be used with various sensing modalities. We examine the unfocused and focused instances of our approach, and compare it with the state of the art, in simulation and using real-world data, considering problems such as autonomous navigation in unknown environments, measurement selection and sensor deployment. We show that our approach significantly reduces running time without any compromise in performance.
Optimal Learning Rates for Localized SVMs

One of the limiting factors of using support vector machines (SVMs) in large scale applications are their super-linear computational requirements in terms of the number of training samples. To address this issue, several approaches that train SVMs on many small chunks separately have been proposed in the literature. With the exception of random chunks, which is also known as divide-and-conquer kernel ridge regression, however, these approaches have only been empirically investigated. In this work we investigate a spatially oriented method to generate the chunks. For the resulting localized SVM that uses Gaussian kernels and the least squares loss we derive an oracle inequality, which in turn is used to deduce learning rates that are essentially minimax optimal under some standard smoothness assumptions on the regression function. In addition, we derive local learning rates that are based on the local smoothness of the regression function. We further introduce a data-dependent parameter selection method for our local SVM approach and show that this method achieves the same almost optimal learning rates. Finally, we present a few larger scale experiments for our localized SVM showing that it achieves essentially the same test error as a global SVM for a fraction of the computational requirements. In addition, it turns out that the computational requirements for the local SVMs are similar to those of a vanilla random chunk approach, while the achieved test errors are significantly better.
Models for Audiovisual Fusion in a Noisy-Vowel Recognition Task

This paper presents a study of models for audiovisual (AV) fusion in a noisy-vowel recognition task. We progressively elaborate audiovisual models in order to respect the major principle demonstrated by human subjects in speech perception experiments (the “synergy” principle): audiovisual identification should always be more efficient than auditory-alone or visual-alone identification. We first recall that the efficiency of audiovisual speech recognition systems depends on the level at which they fuse sound and image: four AV architectures are presented, and two are selected for the following of the study. Secondly, we show the importance of providing a contextual input linked to the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in the fusion process. Then we propose an original approach using an efficient nonlinear dimension reduction algorithm (“curvilinear components analysis”) in order to increase the performances of the two AV architectures. Furthermore, we show that this approach allows an easy and efficient estimation of the reliability of the audio sensor in relation to SNR, that this estimation can be used to control the AV fusion process, and that it significantly improves the AV performances. Hence, altogether, nonlinear dimension reduction, context estimation and control of the fusion process enable us to respect the “synergy” criterion for the two most used architectures.
Neoliberal austerity and the marketisation of elderly care

Taking the recent debate on austerity as a starting point, this paper discusses contradictions in current processes of neoliberalisation using the marketisation of elderly care in Switzerland as an example. Just as in other countries, an austerity rationality in public spending and the neoliberal restructuring of public health services paved the way for the emergence of private suppliers of 24 hours home care. These new agencies hire migrant women from Eastern European countries and sell packaged care services to the elderly. In so doing, they play a key role in reconfiguring care according to a market logic. They shape the working conditions of live-in migrant care workers and the definition of care itself as a marketable good. In our paper, we analyse the strategies of these new corporate intermediaries based on a market analysis and on interviews with their representatives. We argue that the marketisation of elderly care in Switzerland is illustrative of today's neoliberalism in that it combines progressive and regressive aspects and owes its emergence to its ambiguous entanglement with many other discourses. The paper illustrates how the transformation of the home into a new space of commercialised care relies on the production and economic valorisation of social and mobility differentials.
Fis activates the RpoS-dependent stationary-phase expression of proP in Escherichia coli

Fis is a general nucleoid-associated protein in Escherichia coli whose expression is highly regulated with respect to growth conditions. A random collection of transposon-induced lac fusions was screened for those which give increased expression in the presence of Fis in order to isolate a ProP-LacZ protein fusion. We find that proP, which encodes a low-affinity transporter of the important osmoprotectants proline and glycine betaine, is transcribed from two promoters. proP1 is transiently induced upon subculture and is upregulated by increases in medium osmolarity. As cells enter stationary phase, a second promoter, proP2, is strongly induced. This promoter can also be induced by high medium osmolarity in exponential phase. The activity of proP2 depends on Fis and the stationary-phase sigma factor sigmas. In the presence of Fis, proP2 expression is increased over 50-fold, as judged by the LacZ activity of cells carrying the proP-lacZ fusion as well as by direct RNA analysis, making this the most strongly activated promoter by Fis that has been described. Two Fis binding sites centered at positions -41 (site I) and -81 (site II) with respect to the transcription initiation site of P2 have been defined by DNase I footprinting. Mutations in site I largely abolish stationary-phase activation, while mutations at site II have a minor effect, suggesting that direct binding of Fis to site I is important for Fis-mediated activation of this promoter. In addition to Fis and sigmas, sequences located over 108 bp upstream of the proP2 transcription initiation site are required for efficient expression.
Using mixed integer optimisation to select variables for a store choice model

This paper develops a store choice model to investigate consumers' store choice behaviour through the use of actual scanner panel data. For this purpose, we use the variable selection method proposed by Sato et al. 2015, which is based on mixed integer optimisation for logistic regression. Computational results demonstrated that when the Akaike information criterion is used as a goodness-of-fit measure, our approach yields a predictive performance better than that obtained using the common stepwise method of variable selection. Moreover, we clarified store choice factors by analysing the results of variable selection.
Characterization of Nitrifying, Denitrifying, and Overall Bacterial Communities in Permeable Marine Sediments of the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico

ABSTRACT Sandy or permeable sediment deposits cover the majority of the shallow ocean seafloor, and yet the associated bacterial communities remain poorly described. The objective of this study was to expand the characterization of bacterial community diversity in permeable sediment impacted by advective pore water exchange and to assess effects of spatial, temporal, hydrodynamic, and geochemical gradients. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) was used to analyze nearly 100 sediment samples collected from two northeastern Gulf of Mexico subtidal sites that primarily differed in their hydrodynamic conditions. Communities were described across multiple taxonomic levels using universal bacterial small subunit (SSU) rRNA targets (RNA- and DNA-based) and functional markers for nitrification (amoA) and denitrification (nosZ). Clonal analysis of SSU rRNA targets identified several taxa not previously detected in sandy sediments (i.e., Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, and Firmicutes). Sequence diversity was high among the overall bacterial and denitrifying communities, with members of the Alphaproteobacteria predominant in both. Diversity of bacterial nitrifiers (amoA) remained comparatively low and did not covary with the other gene targets. TRFLP fingerprinting revealed changes in sequence diversity from the family to species level across sediment depth and study site. The high diversity of facultative denitrifiers was consistent with the high permeability, deeper oxygen penetration, and high rates of aerobic respiration determined in these sediments. The high relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria in RNA clone libraries suggests that this group may be poised to respond to short-term periodic pulses of growth substrates, and this observation warrants further investigation.