Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of age and gene dose on skeletal muscle sodium channel gating in mice deficient in myotonic dystrophy protein kinase

Myotonic muscular dystrophy (DM) is characterized by abnormal skeletal muscle Na channel gating and reduced levels of myotonic dystrophy protein kinase (DMPK). Electrophysiological measurements show that mice deficient in Dmpk have reduced Na currents in muscle. We now find that the Na channel expression level is normal in mouse muscle partially or completely deficient in Dmpk. Reduced current amplitudes are not changed by age or gene dose, and the reduction is not due to changes in macroscopic or microscopic gating kinetics. The mechanism of abnormal membrane excitability in DM may in part be silencing of muscle Na channels due to Dmpk deficiency. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Muscle Nerve 25: 000–000, 2002
Fisher information matrix for non‐linear mixed‐effects models: evaluation and application for optimal design of enoxaparin population pharmacokinetics

We address the problem of the choice and the evaluation of designs in population pharmacokinetic studies that use non‐linear mixed‐effects models. Criteria, based on the Fisher information matrix, have been developed to optimize designs and adapted to such models. We optimize designs under different constraints and evaluate them for a population pharmacokinetics study, within a new phase III trial of enoxaparin, a low molecular weight heparin. To do this, we approximate the expression of the Fisher information matrix for non‐linear mixed‐effects models including the residual error variance as a parameter to be estimated. We use the Fedorov–Wynn algorithm to minimize the inverse of the determinant of this matrix as required by the D‐optimality criterion. Two optimal designs, as well as a design defined by pharmacologists, are evaluated by the simulation of 30 replicated data sets with NONMEM; all designs involve 220 patients with four measurements per patient. We also evaluate the relevance of the standard errors of estimation given from the Fisher information matrix by comparison with those given by NONMEM. The three designs provide more precise population parameter estimates; the optimal design gives the best precision and offers a simple clinical implementation. The expected standard errors given by the information matrix are close to those obtained by NONMEM on the simulation. Moreover, the proposed criterion of D‐optimality appears to be a good measure to compare designs for population studies. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A New Neural Network Architecture with Associative Memory, Pruning and Order-Sensitive Learning

A new paradigm of neural network architecture is proposed that works as associative memory along with capabilities of pruning and order-sensitive learning. The network has a composite structure wherein each node of the network is a Hopfield network by itself. The Hopfield network employs an order-sensitive learning technique and converges to user-specified stable states without having any spurious states. This is based on geometrical structure of the network and of the energy function. The network is so designed that it allows pruning in binary order as it progressively carries out associative memory retrieval. The capacity of the network is 2n, where n is the number of basic nodes in the network. The capabilities of the network are demonstrated by experimenting on three different application areas, namely a Library Database, a Protein Structure Database and Natural Language Understanding.
Hidden surveillance by Web sites: Web bugs in contemporary use

When a Web browser navigates to a Web page, it usually has to process several distinct network transactions, each referring to a different part of the requested page. These parts include the main HTML source of a Web page and any of its images, scripts, layers, CSS, Java applets, ActiveX objects, etc. Each of these “clickstream” transactions is usually recorded in a remote Web server log file. These log files can be later examined in order to better understand visitor traffic patterns, interests, site problems, and even break-in attempts. Each of these logging and analysis purposes amounts to a form of user surveillance, some more intrusive than others.
Chronic Effects of Different Between-Set Rest Durations on Muscle Strength in Nonresistance Trained Young Men

Gentil, P, Bottaro, M, Oliveira, E, Veloso, J, Amorim, N, Saiuri, A, and Wagner, DR. Chronic effects of different between-set rest durations on muscle strength in nonresistance trained young men. J Strength Cond Res 24(1): 37-42, 2010-The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of different between-set rest interval durations on muscle strength after 12 weeks of resistance training. After baseline tests, 34 nonresistance trained college-aged men were matched and randomly assigned to 2 groups. Both groups trained twice a week and performed the same exercises and the same work output with 2 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions until volitional fatigue. One group (n = 18, 21.4 ± 3.2 yr; 73.8 ± 14.0 kg; 175.9 ± 7.8 cm) used short-rest intervals (SR) with a work rest ratio of approximately 1:3; the other (n = 16, 22.4 ± 2.6 yr; 73.1 ± 13.6 kg; 171.9 ± 8.2 cm) used long-rest intervals (LR) with a work rest ratio of approximately 1:6. Leg press and bench press 1 repetition maximum (1RM) were measured at baseline and after the end of the training period. The increases in 1RM for bench press were 14.4 ± 8.1% for the SR group and 10.5 ± 6.4% for the LR group (p < 0.05). For the leg press, the increases were 17.5 ± 9.2% with SR training and 17.8 ± 12.3% for the LR group (p < 0.05). The results did not reveal significant differences between SR and LR for the bench press or leg press 1RM (p > 0.05). Our data suggest that gains in maximum strength in nontrained men are not dependent on the length of the rest interval between sets. Therefore, personal trainers and strength coaches can advise beginning lifters to use short rest intervals to make best use of their time in the weight room.
Assessment of marine ecosystem services indicators: Experiences and lessons learned from 14 European case studies

This article shares the experiences, observations, and discussions that occurred during the completing of an ecosystem services (ES) indicator framework to be used at European Union (EU) and Member States' level. The experience base was drawn from 3 European research projects and 14 associated case study sites that include 13 transitional‐water bodies (specifically 8 coastal lagoons, 4 riverine estuaries, and 1 fjord) and 1 coastal‐water ecosystem. The ES pertinent to each case study site were identified along with indicators of these ES and data sources that could be used for mapping. During the process, several questions and uncertainties arose, followed by discussion, leading to these main lessons learned: 1) ES identification: Some ES that do not seem important at the European scale emerge as relevant at regional or local scales; 2) ES indicators: When direct indicators are not available, proxies for indicators (indirect indicators) might be used, including combined data on monitoring requirements imposed by EU legislation and international agreements; 3) ES mapping: Boundaries and appropriate data spatial resolution must be established because ES can be mapped at different temporal and spatial scales. We also acknowledge that mapping and assessment of ES supports the dialogue between human well‐being and ecological status. From an evidence‐based marine planning‐process point of view, mapping and assessment of marine ES are of paramount importance to sustainable use of marine natural capital and to halt the loss of marine biodiversity. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:726–734. © 2016 SETAC
Do Australian fund managers create value ?

I apply a cross-sectional bootstrap resampling technique to explicitly control for luck and the common risk factors that influence the returns of Australian equity mutual funds. I find strong evidence that a small proportion of predominantly small-cap funds exhibit strong performance that cannot be explained by chance or exposure to risk. At the other end of the distribution, I find that the poorest funds perform ‘less worse’ than what is predicted by chance alone, but identify a large number of mediocre funds (e.g. those who perform marginally above their benchmarks) who perform worse than what would be expected solely by chance. I generalise these results to develop a new method to approximate the value created by managed funds, which for the funds included in this study I estimate at $95 million a month, compared to the aggregate net assets under management of $150 billion. The study also calls into question the findings of previous Australian studies—all of which have used a parametric approach to evaluate mutual fund performance leading to a negatively biased number of both outperforming and underperforming funds. The code for all of the empirical work performed in this study was written by Matthew Martineer on Stata. The 113K . do file, as well the three . dta files containing the main results can be downloaded from http://research.economics. unsw.edu. au/richardholden/miscellania/martineer.zip
High resolution TCSPC lifetime imaging

Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) fluorescence lifetime imaging in laser scanning microscopes can be combined with a multi-detector technique that allows to record time-resolved images in several wavelength channels simultaneously. The technique is based on a multi-dimensional histogramming process that records the photon density versus the time within the fluorescence decay function, the x-y coordinates of the scanning area and the detector channel number. It avoids any time gating or wavelength switching and therefore yields a near-ideal counting efficiency. We show an instrument that records dual wavelength lifetime images with up to 512 x 512 pixels, and single wavelength lifetime images with up to 1024 x 1024 pixels. It resolves the components of double-exponential decay functions down to 30 ps, and works at the full scanning speed of a two-photon laser scanning microscope. The performance of the instrument is demonstrated for simultaneous lifetime imaging of the donor and acceptor fluorescence in CFP/YFP FRET systems and for tissue samples stained with several fluorophores.
Common clonal origin of lymphocytes and plasma cells in splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes

In two‐thirds of patients with splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes (SLVL) a small amount of M‐protein can be detected in association with the presence of plasma cells in the peripheral blood (PB) and/or bone marrow (BM). However, it is not known whether lymphoma cells and plasma cells originate from the same clone. In this report we describe a case of SLVL which was characterized by the presence of marked monoclonal gammopathy (IgG‐κ 90 g/l) and increased plasma cells in the BM. In an attempt to elucidate the origin of lymphoma cells and plasma cells, we performed morphological, cytogenetic and molecular studies on PB mononuclear cells (PBMNC) without plasma cells and BMMNC containing 10% plasma cells from this patient.
Intelligent Diagnosis of Asthma Using Machine Learning Algorithms

Data mining in healthcare is a very important field in diagnosis and in deeper understanding of medical data. Health data mining intends to solve realworld problems in diagnosing and treating diseases. One of the most important applications of data mining in the domain of machine learning is diagnosis, and this type of diagnosis of the disease asthma is a notable challenge due to the lack of sufficient knowledge of physicians concerning this disease and because of the complexity of asthma. The purpose of this research is the skillful diagnosis of asthma using efficient algorithms of machine learning. This study was conducted on a dataset consisting of 169 asthmatics and 85 non asthmatics visiting the Imam Khomeini and MasseehDaneshvari Hospitals of Tehran. The algorithms of k – nearest neighbors , random forest , and support vector machine, together with pre – processing and efficient training were implemented on this dataset ,and the degrees of accuracy and specificity of the system used in our study were calculated compared with each other and with those of previous research. From among the different values for neighborhood, the highest degree of specificity was achieved with five neighbors. Our method was investigated together with other methods of machine learning and similar research, and the ROC curve was plotted, too. Other methods achieved suitable results as well, and they can be relied on. Therefore, we propose our approach based on the knearest algorithm together with pre-processing based on the Relief – F strategy and the Cross Fold data sampling as an efficient method in artificial intelligence with the purpose of data mining for the classification and differential diagnosis of diseases.
The DASDBS Project: Objectives, Experiences, and Future Prospects

A retrospective of the Darmstadt database system project, also known as DASDBS, is presented. The project is aimed at providing data management support for advanced applications, such as geo-scientific information systems and office automation. Similar to the dichotomy of RSS and RDS in System R, a layered architectural approach was pursued: a storage management kernel serves as the lowest common denominator of the requirements of the various applications classes, and a family of application-oriented front-ends provides semantically richer functions on top of the kernel. The lessons that were learned from building the DASDBS system are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on the following issues: the role of nested relations, the experiences with using object buffers for coupling the system with the programming-language environment and the learning process in implementing multilevel transactions. >
Higher-dimensional targeting.

This paper describes a procedure to steer rapidly successive iterates of an initial condition on a chaotic attractor to a small target region about any prespecified point on the attractor using only small controlling perturbations. Such a procedure is called targeting. '' Previous work on targeting for chaotic attractors has been in the context of one- and two-dimensional maps. Here it is shown that targeting can also be done in higher-dimensional cases. The method is demonstrated with a mechanical system described by a four-dimensional mapping whose attractor has two positive Lyapunov exponents and a Lyapunov dimension of 2.8. The target is reached by making very small successive changes in a single control parameter. In one typical case, 35 iterates on average are required to reach a target region of diameter 10[sup [minus]4], as compared to roughly 10[sup 11] iterates without the use of the targeting procedure.
Inhibition of Immune Synapse by Altered Dendritic Cell Actin Distribution: A New Pathway of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Immune Regulation

Immune synapse formation between dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells is one of the key events in immune reaction. In immunogenic synapses, the presence of fully mature DCs is mandatory; consequently, the modulation of DC maturation may promote tolerance and represents a valuable therapeutic approach in autoimmune diseases. In the field of cell therapy, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been extensively studied for their immunoregulatory properties, such as inhibiting DC immunogenicity during in vitro differentiation and ameliorating in vivo models of autoimmune diseases (e.g., experimental allergic encephalomyelitis). MSCs seem to play different roles with regard to DCs, depending on cell concentration, mechanism of stimulation, and accompanying immune cells. The aim of this work was to elucidate the immunogenic effects of MSC/DC interactions during DC activation (LPS stimulation or Ag loading). Human monocyte-derived DCs, bone marrow-derived MSCs, and circulating lymphocytes obtained from healthy donors, as well as the laboratory-generated influenza virus hemagglutinin-derived peptide, aa 306–318 peptide-specific T cell line were used for this study. We demonstrate that MSCs mediate inhibition of DC function only upon cell–cell contact. Despite no modification observed in cell phenotype or cytokine production, MSC-treated DCs were unable to form active immune synapses; they retained endocytic activity and podosome-like structures, typical of immature DCs. The transcriptional program induced by MSC–DC direct interaction supports at the molecular pathway level the phenotypical features observed, indicating the genes involved into contact-induced rearrangement of DC cytoskeleton.
Do patients achieve normal gait patterns 3 years after total knee arthroplasty?

STUDY DESIGN Longitudinal cross-sectional study. BACKGROUND In the early stages after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), quadriceps strength of the operated limb decreases and is substantially less than that of the nonoperated limb. This asymmetry in strength is related to asymmetrical movement patterns that increase reliance on the nonoperated limb. Over time, quadriceps strength in the operated limb increases but remains less than that in age-matched controls without knee pathology, whereas the quadriceps strength in the nonoperated limb gradually decreases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in quadriceps strength and function of both limbs up to 3 years after TKA and to evaluate change in interlimb kinematic and kinetic parameters over time compared to that in age-matched individuals without knee pathology. METHODS Fourteen individuals after TKA and 14 healthy individuals matched for age, weight, height, and sex participated in the study. Outcome measures included kinematics, kinetics, quadriceps strength, and functional performance. RESULTS In participants who underwent TKA, quadriceps strength was significantly different between limbs at 3 months and 1 year after TKA, but not at 3 years after TKA. In this group, there was also a significant improvement in self-reported function between 3 months and 1 year after TKA, but a significant decrease between years 1 and 3 for the physical component summary score of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. In the TKA group, there were few interlimb differences in joint kinematics and kinetics 3 years after TKA, which may be attributed to a combination of worsening in the nonoperated limb, as well as improvement in the operated limb. Differences between participants without knee pathology and those 3 years after TKA still existed for kinematic, kinetic, and spatiotemporal variables. CONCLUSION As interlimb differences in quadriceps strength decrease after TKA, there are concomitant symmetrical improvements in temporospatial and kinetic gait parameters. The symmetry 3 years after TKA in quadriceps strength is primarily the result of progressive weakness in the nonoperated limb.
Uso de la simulación en Cartografía: conceptos básicos y aplicaciones

Este trabajo muestra las ideas y relaciones basicas de la simulacion asi como los aspectos mas importantes para controlar dicho proceso. Se incluye un amplio abanico de ejemplos de aplicacion de esta tecnica en el ambito de la Cartografia y de los SIG. La simulacion es una tecnica muy interesante para su aplicacion en investigacion basica en Cartografia, para el control de calidad y para la adquisicion de conocimiento sobre procesos SIG y de la produccion cartografica.
Development of hand posture recognition system for finger gaming robot

Having a drinking game during a meal or friendly gathering is one of the unique dining practices among the Chinese. Our team has developed a fully automated finger gaming robot, which may bring an all new technological entertainment experience to the dining industry. According to the rules of finger gaming, winning or losing will depend on the combination of the numbers called out and the hand gestures made by both parties. The key to successfully developing a fully autonomous finger gaming robot is in how to make the robot quickly and accurately recognize the hand gesture of the other player. The goal of this research is to develop a hand gesture recognition system for use on a finger gaming robot by finding the optimum quantity and position of cameras as well as by developing an image analysis algorithm for quickly recognizing the finger flexing positions.
Observing the effect of interprocess communication in auto controlled ant colony optimization‐based scheduling on computational grid

Computational grids allow the sharing of geographically distributed computational resources in an efficient, reliable, and secure manner. Grid is still in its infancy, and there are many problems associated with the computational grid, namely job scheduling, resource management, information service, information security, routing, fault tolerance, and many more. Scheduling of jobs on grid nodes is an NP‐class problem warranting for heuristic and meta‐heuristic solution approach. In the proposed work, a meta‐heuristic technique, auto controlled ant colony optimization, has been applied to solve this problem. The work observes the effect of interprocess communication in process to optimize turnaround time of the job. The proposed model has been simulated in Matlab. For the different scenarios in computational grid, results have been analyzed. Result of the proposed model is compared with another meta‐heuristic technique genetic algorithm that has been applied for the same purpose. It is found that auto controlled ant colony optimization not only gives better solution in comparison to genetic algorithm, but also converges faster because initial solution itself is good because of constructive and decision‐based policy adapted by the former. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Genetically Modified Organisms

This report provides information about: 1) workload information for the office’s toxicologists since 1990 in consulting and reviewing federal permit applications, and 2) the need for statutory direction and additional resources to undertake the evaluation and tracking of potential human and environmental hazards associated with the development, manufacture, use, or consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).