Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Map of a Placenta-specific Enhancer of the Human Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor Gene*

We recently reported a placenta-specific enhancer in the human leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) gene and now show detailed characterization of the 226-base pair enhancer (−4625/−4400 nucleotides). Four of twenty-two mutants in linker analysis showed reduced promoter activities to 45, 30, 10, and 10%, respectively. Specific binding of region A (−4617/−4602) with nuclear extract was competed by a known Oct-1 oligo and supershifted by Oct-1 antibody. Specific binding of region B (−4549/−4535) was competed by a GATA oligo, but could not be supershifted by four GATA antibodies. Nevertheless, mutagenesis showed that critical bases in region B were identical to the GATA core motif, indicating that region B may bind to a novel GATA family transcription factor. The other two adjacent regions designated as region C (−4464/−4445) showed no known consensus binding sites, and their specific placental JEG-3 nuclear extract binding was not evident in nonplacental nuclear extracts and was not competed by a trophoblast specific element (TSE), indicating that region C is a novel placenta-specific element (PSE, CATTTCCTGAACTAGTTTTT). Footprinting localized the binding boundary of PSE-binding protein (PSEB), and three Gs were found to be important for specific PSE binding. UV cross-linking showed that PSEB had a molecular mass of ∼160 kDa, substituting the PSE with two previously reported placenta elements TSE or chorionic somatomammotropin enhancer factor 1 (CSEF-1) motifs resulted in markedly different promoter activities, indicating that PSEB is indeed different from TSE binding protein or CSEF-1. These results are the first demonstration that a novel PSE is the major element for placenta-specific enhancer activity in humanLIFR gene.
Assessment of Volume Status of Hemodialysis Patients using Sonographic Lung Comets

Background: Fluid balance is important in patients with renal impairment and undergoing hemodialysis. ‘‘Dry’’ weight is usually assessed clinically, and also, bioimpedance is considered reliable. The use of chest ultrasound to detect lung water received growing attention in clinical research in intensive care patients and in patients with heart failure. Recently ultrasonographic lung comets (counting B-lines artifact) evaluates extravascular lung water while ultrasonography of inferior vena cava (IVC) estimates central venous pressure, so ultrasound is considered as a useful tool to evaluate the hydration status of hemodialysis patients. Objectives: The study was designed to use lung ultrasound to assess lung congestion before and after a dialysis session in correlation to clinical signs and symptoms and the achieved dry weight in end stage renal disease patients on maintenance hemodialysis.
Wave propagation in media having negative permittivity and permeability.

Wave propagation in a double negative (DNG) medium, i.e., a medium having negative permittivity and negative permeability, is studied both analytically and numerically. The choices of the square root that leads to the index of refraction and the wave impedance in a DNG medium are determined by imposing analyticity in the complex frequency domain, and the corresponding wave properties associated with each choice are presented. These monochromatic concepts are then tested critically via a one-dimensional finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation of the propagation of a causal, pulsed plane wave in a matched, lossy Drude model DNG medium. The causal responses of different spectral regimes of the medium with positive or negative refractive indices are studied by varying the carrier frequency of narrowband pulse excitations. The smooth transition of the phenomena associated with a DNG medium from its early-time nondispersive behavior to its late-time monochromatic response is explored with wideband pulse excitations. These FDTD results show conclusively that the square root choice leading to a negative index of refraction and positive wave impedance is the correct one, and that this choice is consistent with the overall causality of the response. An analytical, exact frequency domain solution to the scattering of a wave from a DNG slab is also given and is used to characterize several physical effects. This solution is independent of the choice of the square roots for the index of refraction and the wave impedance, and thus avoids any controversy that may arise in connection with the signs of these constituents. The DNG slab solution is used to critically examine the perfect lens concept suggested recently by Pendry. It is shown that the perfect lens effect exists only under the special case of a DNG medium with epsilon(omega)=mu(omega)=-1 that is both lossless and nondispersive. Otherwise, the closed form solutions for the field structure reveal that the DNG slab converts an incident spherical wave into a localized beam field whose parameters depend on the values of epsilon and mu. This beam field is characterized with a paraxial approximation of the exact DNG slab solution. These monochromatic concepts are again explored numerically via a causal two-dimensional FDTD simulation of the scattering of a pulsed cylindrical wave by a matched, lossy Drude model DNG slab. These FDTD results demonstrate conclusively that the monochromatic electromagnetic power flow through the DNG slab is channeled into beams rather then being focused and, hence, the Pendry perfect lens effect is not realizable with any realistic metamaterial.
SmartSketcher: sketch-based image retrieval with dynamic semantic re-ranking

We present a sketch-based image retrieval system, designed to answer arbitrary queries that may go beyond searching for predefined object or scene categories. While sketching is fast and intuitive to formulate visual queries, pure sketch-based image retrieval often returns many outliers because it lacks a semantic understanding of the query. Our key idea is to combine sketch-based queries with inter-active, semantic re-ranking of query results. We leverage progress in deep learning and use a feature representation learned for image classification for re-ranking. This allows us to cluster semantically similar images, re-rank based on the clusters, and present more meaningful query results to the user. We report on two large-scale benchmarks and demonstrate that our re-ranking approach leads to significant improvements over the state of the art. Finally, a user study designed to evaluate a practical use case confirms the benefits of our approach.
Three‐dimensional kinematics of glenohumeral elevation

To help resolve longstanding uncertainties about kinematics of the shoulder, we studied three‐dimensiona glenohumeral joint motion during arm elevation. A magnetic tracking system was used to monitor the threedimensional orientation of the humerus with respect to the scapula. Appropriate coordinate transformations were then performed for the calculation of glenohumeral joint rotation based on the defined Eulerian angle. The effects of the plane of elevation and the humeral rotation on the magnitude of arm elevation were documented. The maximum humeral elevation at the glenohumeral joint took place in a plane anterior to the scapular plane. Maximum elevation in all planes anterior to the scapular plane required external axial rotation of the humerus. Conversely, internal axial rotation was necessary for maximum elevation posterior to the scapular plane. Quantifying the obligatory axial rotation explains the relationship of internal and external rotation with maximum elevation.
A hardware-software codesign methodology for DSP applications

The authors describe a systematic, heterogeneous design methodology using the Ptolemy framework for simulation, prototyping, and software synthesis of systems containing a mixture of hardware and software components. They focus on signal-processing systems in which the hardware typically consists of custom data paths, finite-state machines (FSMs), glue logic and programmable processors. The software is one or more embedded programs running on the programmable components. <<ETX>>
Multicenter Evaluation of the New Automated Enzymun-Test Anti-HIV 1 + 2 + Subtyp O

ABSTRACT An international multicenter study was performed to evaluate a new, automated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) third-generation antibody assay. The Enzymun-Test Anti-HIV 1 + 2 + Subtyp O showed 100% sensitivity and 99.8% specificity among 11,172 samples from hospitalized patients and blood donors. For early HIV antibody detection in seroconversion panels, Enzymun-Test showed a sensitivity equivalent to that of the Abbott Recomb. HIV-1/HIV-2 3rd Gen. assay.
Injection locking conditions under small periodic excitations

Injection locking of oscillators subject to small periodic excitations is derived from existence conditions of the solution of the small signal harmonic balance degenerate system. The resulting expression for the locking range can be applied to any oscillator circuit with arbitrary periodic injection waveform, and can be easily implemented into a circuit simulator. The application of the general expression to some special cases is considered, and comparison with known results is given. Theoretical results are confirmed by SPICE simulations.
Spatial Variability of Root Knot Nematodes in Relation to Within Field Variability of Soil Properties

Site-specific management (SSM) of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fields under risk of southern root-knot nematode [M. incognita] (RKN) infection may offer producers better management of on-farm resources and optimization of profitability. However, it requires the study of RKN spatio-temporal variability and the identification of surrogate data spatially correlated with its occurrence. The objectives of this study were (i) determine the magnitude, extent, and changes through time on the spatial variability of RKN at the field scale, (ii) establish the relationship between RKN occurrence and the spatial variability of soil physical and chemical properties, and (iii) delineate areas at risk for RKN based on surrogate data. The spatial relations between soil physical properties (soil electrical conductivity - ECa, slope, and elevation) and soil chemical properties (P, K, Ca, Mg, and soil pH) on RKN population density were studied in two cotton fields planted in southern Georgia, USA, in 2006. The spatio-temporal variability of the RKN was studied through semivariograms. The spatial correlation between RKN and soil properties was studied through canonical correlation and cross-correlograms. Soil properties highly correlated with RKN population density were entered into an ordinary logistic regression model to create a map of probability risk for RKN population density over a specific threshold value. The aggregated pattern of the RKN facilitated the segregation of RKN risk areas based on low values of ECa.
The genetic structure of Zootoca vivipara (Lichtenstein, 1823) populations did not support the existence of a north - south corridor of the VB haplogroup in eastern Hungary

The Eurasian common lizard, Zootoca vivipara (Lichtenstein, 1823) has seven haplogroups. A north- south corridor of the VB haplogroup across eastern Hungary and western Romania has recently been suggested. We tested this hypothesis by sequencing a fragment (appr. 400 bp) of the protein encoding cytochrome b gene of the mtDNA. All four previously known haplogroups were detected in the country but along the eastern border with Romania only the VU haplogroup was found. As such, either the proposed corridor is narrower and lies further to the east, in Romania, or the haplogroup distribution area is discontinuous between eastern Slovakia - western Ukraine and the Balkan.
Acetyladenylate plays a role in controlling the direction of flagellar rotation.

Cells of Escherichia coli deleted for genes that code for the transducers and all the known cytoplasmic Che proteins except CheY responded reversibly to the addition of acetate by spinning their flagellar motors clockwise. By varying growth conditions and using metabolic inhibitors and mutants deficient in acetate metabolism, this effect was shown to require acetate-CoA synthetase [acetate:CoA ligase (AMP-forming); EC 6.2. 1.1], an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of acetyl-CoA from acetate by an acetyladenylate intermediate. A mutant deficient in this enzyme but retaining the chemotaxis genes was deficient for chemotaxis. Thus, acetyladenylate appears to play a role in generating clockwise rotation at the level of CheY or the motor.
Identifying Canadian Regional Business Cycles using the Friedmand Plucking Model

Following the methodology used by Kim and Nelson (1999b), I find estimates of the permanent and transitory components for Canadian regions based on the Friedman model of business fluctuations. The empirical results support the theoretical predictions that negative transitory shocks hit the economy putting down the real regional output. After that, the regional economy enters in a recovery phase and after this it is operating again near to the trend ceiling level. Using the estimated filtered probabilities, a chronology of the regional business cycles is presented. It shows that there are clear and particular episodes corresponding to the regional dynamics which are not necessarily present at the aggregate level.
Enhancement of mouse sperm motility by the PI3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 does not result in toxic effects on preimplantation embryo development.

BACKGROUND A reduced number of progressively motile sperm (as may occur in cases of asthenozoospermia or when cryopreserved spermatozoa are used for fertilization) limits the possibility of applying various assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs). We previously showed that incubation of sperm with the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002 increases sperm progressive motility and enhances the number of sperm recovered by capacitation protocols used in ART. METHODS AND RESULTS In the present study, we investigate the motility-enhancing effects of this compound in epididymal mouse sperm, and examine the use of the mouse system to investigate the effect of LY294002 on oocyte fertilization and preimplantation embryo development. Our results show that neither pre-incubation of mouse spermatozoa with the inhibitor during in vitro capacitation nor the direct addition of LY294002 to the sperm-oocyte mixture significantly affects the process of fertilization and preimplantation development of embryos produced even when they developed in the presence of LY294002. CONCLUSIONS The present data encourage the design of new drugs based on the molecular structure of LY294002, which may open up new options for the in vitro treatment of human/animal asthenozoospermia.
Managing the UK National Debt 1694-2017

We construct a new monthly dataset for UK government debt over the period 1694 to 2017 based on price and quantity data for each individual bond issued. This enables us to examine long run fiscal sustainability using the theoretically relevant variable of the market value of debt, and investigate the historical importance of debt management. We find the general implications of the tax smoothing literature are replicated in our data, especially around financing wars, although we find major shifts over time in how fiscal sustainability is achieved. Before the 20th century, governments continued to pay bond holders a high rate of return and achieved sustainability through running fiscal surpluses but since then governments have relied on low growth adjusted real interest rates. The optimal debt management literature tends to favour the use of long bonds but we find the government would have been better off over the 20th century issuing short bonds. The contrast with the literature occurs because of an upward sloping yield curve and long bonds rarely providing fiscal insurance. This is particularly true during periods of financial crises when falling interest rates lead to sharp rises in the price of long bonds, making them an expensive form of finance. We examine the robustness of our conclusions to liquidity effects, rollover risks, buyback operations and leverage. In general, these do suggest a greater role for long bonds but do not overturn an issuance strategy based mainly on short term bonds.
Search using social media structures

Social applications on the Web have appeared as communication spaces for sharing knowledge and information. In particular, social applications can be considered valuable information sources because information in the applications is not only easily accessible but also revealing in that the information accrues via interactions between people. In this work, we address methods for finding relevant information in social media applications that use unique properties of these applications. In particular, we focus on three unique structures in social media: hierarchical structure, conversational structure, and social structure. Hierarchical structures are used to organize information according to certain rules. Conversational structures are formed by interactions within communities such as replies. Social structures represent social relationships among community members. These structures are designed to organize information and encourage people to participate in discussions in social applications. Accordingly, contexts extracted from these structures can be used to improve the effectiveness of search in social media relative to representations based solely on text content. To exploit these structures in retrieval frameworks, we need to address three challenges as follows. First, we should discover each structure because it is often obscure. Second, we need to extract relevant contexts from each structure because not all the contexts in a structure are relevant for retrieval. Last, we should represent each context or their combinations in a representation framework so that they can be encoded as retrieval components such as documents. In this work, we introduce an effective representation framework for multiple contexts. We then discuss how to discover or define each structure and how to extract relevant contexts from the structure. Using the representation framework, these relevant contexts are integrated into retrieval algorithms. To demonstrate that these structures can improve search in social media, the retrieval models and frameworks incorporating these structures are evaluated through experiments using data collections gathered from a variety of social media applications. In addition, we address two minor challenges related to social media search. First, it is not always easy to find relevant information from relevant objects if the objects are large. Accordingly, we address identification of relevant substructures in such objects. Second, text reuse structures are important since these structures have the potential to affect various retrieval tasks. In this thesis, we introduce text reuse structures and analyze text reuse patterns in real social applications.
Screening for liver disease using non‐invasive biomarkers (FibroTest, SteatoTest and NashTest) in patients with hyperlipidaemia

Mortality related to complications of cirrhosis is increasing in patients with insulin‐resistance factors. Hyperlipidaemic patients have multiple risk factors of insulin resistance. It is impossible to perform liver biopsy in such a large number of hyperlipidaemic patients to identify patients with advanced liver fibrosis or with steatohepatitis (non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH).
Memristor model for simulating large circuits for massively-parallel analog computing

The model of memristor described in the paper is designed for building models of large networks for analog computations. A circuit containing thousands of memristors for finding the shortest path in a complicated maze is a typical example. The model is designed to meet the following criteria: 1. It is a model of HP memristor with linear dopant drift while respecting the physical bounds of the internal state variable. 2. Reliable operation in the SPICE environment also when simulating extremely large networks. 3. Minimization of the simulation time while computing bias points and during transient analyses. A benchmark circuit for testing the applications of various complexities is presented. The results confirm a perfect operation of the model also in applications containing thousands of memristors.
Nonlinear least-square iteration for calibrating gyroscopic drift error coefficients based on vibration table

This work presents a nonlinear least-square iterative algorithm for calibrating gyroscopic drift error based on vibration test. According to the practical data analysis of the output acceleration of vibration table, the output acceleration errors are verified to be periodic harmonic errors with certain harmonic amplitudes in repetitively tests when the running frequency of vibration table is invariable. However, the present researches pay little attention on gyroscope calibration that is affected by the periodic errors. In this paper, the periodic harmonic acceleration errors are considered, and the nonlinear least-square iteration algorithm is applied to deal with the periodic harmonic errors. Simulation shows that the solution obtained by nonlinear least-square iterative algorithm is much better than that solved by linear least-square method.
Would the addition of TENS to exercise training produce better physical performance outcomes in people with knee osteoarthritis than either intervention alone?

Objective: To examine if the addition of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to exercise training would produce better physical outcomes than TENS or exercise alone in people with knee osteoarthritis. Design: Sixty-two subjects were randomly allocated to four groups. Interventions: Patients received either (1) TENS, (2) placebo stimulation, (3) exercise training, or (4) TENS and exercise training five days a week for four weeks. Main outcome measures: The isometric peak torque, spatiotemporal gait parameters and range of knee movement were assessed in treatment session1, session10 and session20 and the four-week follow-up. Results: By session20, the TENS and exercise group demonstrated an average of 26.6% cumulative gain in the knee extensor peak torque for the different knee positions (all p < 0.05). Although the between-group difference was short of being statistically significant, the gain found in the TENS and exercise group was greater than that found in the other three groups. The TENS and exercise group also tended to show greater cumulative increase in stride length (12.6%, p-0.006), walking cadence (9.3%, p-0.098) and gait velocity (22.4%, p-0.034) than the other groups. By session20, it was the only group that produced a significant increase in the range of knee motion during walking (12.0%,p-0.000). The TENS group and the exercise group both demonstrated some improvements in the above physical outcomes, but negligible change was found in the group receiving placebo stimulation (all p > 0.05). Conclusion: No significant difference was found among the four treatment protocols, but the addition of TENS to exercise training tended to produce the best overall improvement in physical outcomes in people with knee osteoarthritis.