Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of a role for noradrenaline in the neurochemical and behavioural effects of an established and putative target for antianxiety/antidepressant drugs: a microdialysis and behavioural study in rats and NK1 receptor knockout mice.

The precise neurochemical effects of antidepressants that underlie their efficacy remain unclear. Many antidepressants modulate noradrenaline transmission in vivo. However, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and NK1 receptor antagonists target 5-HT and substance P transmission, respectively. Whether effects on noradrenaline neurones contribute to the efficacy of these drugs has been largely neglected. This study investigates modulation of central NA transmission by an SSRI (fluoxetine) in rats and by NK1 receptor ablation in mice. NK1 'knockout' mice are used as a model for lifelong inhibition of the NK1 receptor. Changes in noradrenaline transmission were determined using in vivo microdialysis to sample the extracellular noradrenaline concentration (efflux). Noradrenaline-related behavioural effects of these treatments were determined using a modified light/dark exploration test. Systemic fluoxetine increased noradrenaline efflux in two brain regions (frontal cortex and hypothalamus). The effect was inconsistent, echoing the 5-HT response to SSRIs. Fluoxetine reduced noradrenaline efflux after partial lesioning of noradrenergic axon terminals (by DSP-4), suggesting an inhibitory action upstream of these terminals. Locally infused (retrodialysis) fluoxetine augmented noradrenaline efflux in the terminal field. Whereas 50uM fluoxetine elevated efflux in both regions, 5uM infusion increased efflux in the frontal cortex only. This effect was 5-HT-dependent (i.e. 5-HT synthesis inhibition with pCPA blocked the response). However, this increase was not secondary to inhibition of 5-HT reuptake (since the more potent and selective SSRI, citalopram, did not change noradrenaline efflux). Thus, fluoxetine has opposing effects on noradrenaline efflux, probably at cell bodies and terminals. The balance of processes could underlie its variable effects. Fluoxetine reduced locomotor activity of DSP-4-pretreated rats in the novel compartment of the exploration box, suggesting a noradrenaline-related effect on behaviour. A 5-HT-related effect of fluoxetine was also found (reduced locomotor activity in the dark compartment), since this was abolished by pCPA.
Human Cyclin a Is Required for Mitosis until Mid Prophase

We have used microinjection and time-lapse video microscopy to study the role of cyclin A in mitosis. We have injected purified, active cyclin A/cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) into synchronized cells at specific points in the cell cycle and assayed its effect on cell division. We find that cyclin A/CDK2 will drive G2 phase cells into mitosis within 30 min of microinjection, up to 4 h before control cells enter mitosis. Often this premature mitosis is abnormal; the chromosomes do not completely condense and daughter cells fuse. Remarkably, microinjecting cyclin A/CDK2 into S phase cells has no effect on progress through the following G2 phase or mitosis. In complementary experiments we have microinjected the amino terminus of p21Cip1/Waf1/Sdi1 (p21N) into cells to inhibit cyclin A/CDK2 activity. We find that p21N will prevent S phase or G2 phase cells from entering mitosis, and will cause early prophase cells to return to interphase. These results suggest that cyclin A/CDK2 is a rate-limiting component required for entry into mitosis, and for progress through mitosis until late prophase. They also suggest that cyclin A/CDK2 may be the target of the recently described prophase checkpoint.
Line Current Distortion Compensation for DCM/CRM Boost PFC Converters

This paper proposes a line current distortion compensation method, which is a fusion of the conventional variable on-time (VOT) control and the average current mode (ACM) control, for DCM/CRM boost PFC converter with zero current switching (ZCS)/zero voltage switching (ZVS)/valley switching (VS)/switching frequency limitation (SFL) functions. In this paper, the mathematical analyses of the line current distortion for the DCM/CRM boost PFC converter with ZCS/ZVS/VS/SFL functions are also derived to explain the causes of the line current distortion. In order to increase efficiency, the ZVS/VS/SFL functions are needed but the line current will be further distorted. To compensate the distorted line current, the ACM-based VOT (ABVOT) control for the DCM/CRM boost PFC converter is proposed. In addition, the constant-on-time-based noise-immunity S/H method is proposed to replace the multiplier, which is always needed for the conventional ACM-based control. The performance of the proposed ABVOT control with S/H method will be demonstrated by simulation and experiment results.
Inverse Electrode Placement May Help to Improve Electrotherapeutic Effects in the Field of Chronic Pain Management

Received May 31, 2016. Revised June 24, 2016. Accepted June 27, 2016. Correspondence to: Sukumar Shanmugam Department of Neuro-Physiotherapy, Nitte Institute of Physiotherapy, Deralakatte, Mangalore, Karnataka 575 018, India Tel: +91-824-2202443, Fax: +91-824-2202443, E-mail: suku729@gmail.com This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright c The Korean Pain Society, 2016 LETTER TO EDITORS
Lessons Learned from Developing a Bluetooth Multiplayer-Game

Gaming applications in ubiquitous computing environments will be in need of wireless communication facilities. In this paper, we outline advantages and drawbacks of Bluetooth. As a first step, we examine general issues of gaming applications in ubiquitous computing environments. Afterwards, we show how Bluetooth can cope with these issues. Furthermore, we describe two prototype applications: a Bluetooth-based multiplayer card game and a Bluetooth advertising pillar.
Dynamic analysis of java applications for multithreaded antipatterns

Formal verification is not always applicable to large industrial software systems due to scalability issues and difficulties in formal model and requirements specification. The scalability and model derivation problems could be alleviated by runtime trace analysis, which combines both testing and formal verification. We implement and compare an ad-hoc custom approach and a formal approach to detect common bug patterns in multithreaded Java software. We use the tracing platform of the Eclipse IDE and state-of-the-art model checker Spin.
Echo State Networks for Proactive Caching in Cloud-Based Radio Access Networks With Mobile Users

In this paper, the problem of proactive caching is studied for cloud radio access networks (CRANs). In the studied model, the baseband units (BBUs) can predict the content request distribution and mobility pattern of each user and determine which content to cache at remote radio heads and the BBUs. This problem is formulated as an optimization problem, which jointly incorporates backhaul and fronthaul loads and content caching. To solve this problem, an algorithm that combines the machine learning framework of echo state networks (ESNs) with sublinear algorithms is proposed. Using ESNs, the BBUs can predict each user’s content request distribution and mobility pattern while having only limited information on the network’s and user’s state. In order to predict each user’s periodic mobility pattern with minimal complexity, the memory capacity of the corresponding ESN is derived for a periodic input. This memory capacity is shown to capture the maximum amount of user information needed for the proposed ESN model. Then, a sublinear algorithm is proposed to determine which content to cache while using limited content request distribution samples. Simulation results using real data from Youku and the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications show that the proposed approach yields significant gains, in terms of sum effective capacity, that reach up to 27.8% and 30.7%, respectively, compared with two baseline algorithms: random caching with clustering and random caching without clustering.
Obstetrical referrals by traditional birth attendants.

BACKGROUND In Pakistan 90% of births are conducted by TBA's. In most cases, TBA's are unable to diagnose the complications and are often unable to take decisions on timely referral. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, nature and outcome of life threatening obstetrical conditions in referrals by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). METHODS This Observational, Descriptive study was conducted from January to December 2007, in the obstetrical unit of Fatima Hospital, Baqai Medical University, a tertiary care community based hospital. The study included patients referred by TBA's who developed life threatening obstetric conditions (LTOCs). RESULTS Total 64 patients were referred by TBA's. The prevalence was 7.8%. Out of them, 53 (82.8%) patients admitted with life threatening obstetric conditions. The near-miss morbidities and mortalities were 45 (84.9%) and 8 (15%) respectively. Maternal mortality to Near-miss morbidity ratio was 1:6. Obstructed labour caused near-miss morbidity in 32 (60.3%) patients with no mortality. Postpartum haemorrhage as life threatening condition developed in 16 (30.1%) patients with 10 (18.8%) near-miss morbidities and 6 (11.3%) mortalities. Puerperal sepsis accounted for 1 (1.88%) near-miss morbidity and 2 (3.76%) mortalities. The mortality index for puerperal sepsis is (66.6%) almost double of postpartum haemorrhage (37.5%). CONCLUSION Mortality to near miss morbidity ratio is high. Misidentification and late referrals of complicated cases by TBA's were responsible for near-miss morbidities and mortalities.
LANDSCAPES IMPACTED BY LIGHT

Abstract. The gradual spread of urbanization, the phenomenon known under the term urban sprawl, has become one of the paradigms that have characterized the urban development since the second half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century. However, there is no unanimous consensus about what means "urbanization". The plurality of forms of human settlement on the planet difficult to identify the urbanization processes. The arrival of electrification to nearly every corner of the planet is certainly the first and more meaningful indicator of artificialization of land. In this sense, the paper proposes a new methodology based on the analysis of the satellite image of nighttime lights designed to identify the highly impacted landscapes worldwide and to build an index of Land Impacted by Light per capita (LILpc) as an indicator of the level of urbanization. The used methodology allows the identification of different typologies of urbanized areas (villages, cities or metropolitan areas), as well as “rural”, “rurban”, “periurban” and “central” landscapes. The study identifies 186,134 illuminated contours (urbanized areas). In one hand, 404 of these contours could be consider as real “metropolitan areas”; and in the other hand, there are 161,821 contours with less than 5,000 inhabitants, which could be identify as “villages”. Finally, the paper shows that 44.5 % live in rural areas, 15.5 % in rurban spaces, 26.2 % in suburban areas and only 18.4 % in central areas.
Breaking New Ground: Soil Communities and Exotic Plant Invasion

Abstract As exotic plant species invade ecosystems, ecologists have been attempting to assess the effects of these invasions on native communities and to determine what factors influence invasion processes. Although much of this work has focused on aboveground flora and fauna, structurally and functionally diverse soil communities also can respond to and mediate exotic plant invasions. In numerous ecosystems, the invasion of exotic plant species has caused major shifts in the composition and function of soil communities. Soil organisms, such as pathogenic or mutualistic fungi, have direct effects on the establishment, growth, and biotic interactions of exotic plants. An integrated understanding of how aboveground and belowground biota interact with exotic plants is necessary to manage and restore communities invaded by exotic plant species.
Efficient Data Transport in Wireless Overlay Networks

Wireless data access for nomadic users is predicted to be a major growth direction for the future Internet. However, no single existing wireless technology fits all user requirements at all times. Instead, several overlaying wireless networks can provide best possible data delivery service. Nomadic users can run interactive, conversational, streaming, and background applications that rely on end-to-end transport protocols to communicate over unreliable wireless links. Achieving efficient data transport in wireless overlay networks implies meeting Quality of Service requirements of applications while preserving radio resources, battery power, and friendliness to other flows on the Internet. Events such as delay spikes, bandwidth oscillation, and connectivity outages are difficult to prevent in the heterogeneous and dynamic wireless environment. For instance, delay spikes can be caused by handovers, higher priority voice calls, and link layer retransmissions. Furthermore, link characteristics can change by an order of magnitude when a handover is executed between overlay networks. Such disruptive events can cause delivery of duplicate, stale, aborted data, and low utilization of the wireless link. Achieving efficient data transport in this environment demands coordinated efforts from the link layer and from end-to-end transport protocols. In this dissertation, existing and emerging wireless networks are examined through measurements and simulations. We paid special attention to the models used in simulations. We studied end-to-end transport of real-time and non-real-time data. For non-real-time data, TCP is a highly suitable transport protocol when profiled with state-of-the-art features and when its robustness to delay spikes is improved. We measured the response of different TCP variants to delay spikes and developed mechanisms to alleviate negative effects of spurious timeouts in TCP. Delay spikes in the network can often make real-time data useless to the receiver. For streaming and conversational traffic we suggested using a transport protocol that incorporates an explicit lifetime into packet headers. The Lifetime Packet Discard eliminates stale and duplicate data delivery over the wireless link that preserves radio resources and battery power of wireless users. An inter-system handover can cause an abrupt change in the link bandwidth and latency. It is hard for end-to-end congestion control to adapt promptly to such changes. This is especially a concern for slowly responsive congestion control algorithms, such as TCP-Friendly Rate Control (TFRC), that are designed to provide a smooth transmission rate for real-time applications and therefore are less responsive to changes in network conditions than TCP. We measured the performance of TFRC and TCP flows during vertical handovers in overlay networks in a testbed and using a simulator. Overbuffering and an explicit handover notification are shown to improve transport performance during vertical handovers. Computing Reviews (1998)
Cystic fibrosis–adapted Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing lasR mutants cause hyperinflammatory responses

Cystic fibrosis–adapted Pseudomonas aeruginosa lasR quorum sensing mutants cause hyperinflammation contributing to chronic lung disease. Cystic fibrosis lung disease is characterized by chronic airway infections with the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and severe neutrophilic pulmonary inflammation. P. aeruginosa undergoes extensive genetic adaptation to the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung environment, and adaptive mutations in the quorum sensing regulator gene lasR commonly arise. We sought to define how mutations in lasR alter host-pathogen relationships. We demonstrate that lasR mutants induce exaggerated host inflammatory responses in respiratory epithelial cells, with increased accumulation of proinflammatory cytokines and neutrophil recruitment due to the loss of bacterial protease–dependent cytokine degradation. In subacute pulmonary infections, lasR mutant–infected mice show greater neutrophilic inflammation and immunopathology compared with wild-type infections. Finally, we observed that CF patients infected with lasR mutants have increased plasma interleukin-8 (IL-8), a marker of inflammation. These findings suggest that bacterial adaptive changes may worsen pulmonary inflammation and directly contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of chronic lung disease in CF patients.
HELM: Highly Efficient Learning of Mixed copula networks

Learning the structure of probabilistic graphical models for complex real-valued domains is a formidable computational challenge. This inevitably leads to significant modelling compromises such as discretization or the use of a simplistic Gaussian representation. In this work we address the challenge of efficiently learning truly expressive copula-based networks that facilitate a mix of varied copula families within the same model. Our approach is based on a simple but powerful bivariate building block that is used to highly efficiently perform local model selection, thus bypassing much of computational burden involved in structure learning. We show how this building block can be used to learn general networks and demonstrate its effectiveness on varied and sizeable real-life domains. Importantly, favorable identification and generalization performance come with dramatic runtime improvements. Indeed, the benefits are such that they allow us to tackle domains that are prohibitive when using a standard learning approaches.
Propagule pressure and persistence in experimental populations

Average inoculum size and number of introductions are known to have positive effects on population persistence. However, whether these factors affect persistence independently or interact is unknown. We conducted a two-factor experiment in which 112 populations of parthenogenetic Daphnia magna were maintained for 41 days to study effects of inoculum size and introduction frequency on: (i) population growth, (ii) population persistence and (iii) time-to-extinction. We found that the interaction of inoculum size and introduction frequency—the immigration rate—affected all three dependent variables, while population growth was additionally affected by introduction frequency. We conclude that for this system the most important aspect of propagule pressure is immigration rate, with relatively minor additional effects of introduction frequency and negligible effects of inoculum size.
The Effects of Measuring Emotion: Physiological Reactions to Emotional Situations Depend on whether Someone Is Asking

Measurement effects exist throughout the sciences–the act of measuring often changes the properties of the observed. We suggest emotion research is no exception. The awareness and conscious assessment required by self-report of emotion may significantly alter emotional processes. In this study, participants engaged in a difficult math task designed to induce anger or shame while their cardiovascular responses were measured. Half of the participants were asked to report on their emotional states and appraise their feelings throughout the experiment, whereas the other half completed a control questionnaire. Among those in the anger condition, participants assigned to report on their emotions exhibited qualitatively different physiological responses from those who did not report. For participants in the shame condition, there were no significant differences in physiology based on the self-report manipulation. The study demonstrates that the simple act of reporting on an emotional state may have a substantial impact on the body’s reaction to an emotional situation.
Tumor Escape from Endogenous, Extracellular Matrix–Associated Angiogenesis Inhibitors by Up-Regulation of Multiple Proangiogenic Factors

Purpose: Thrombospondin-1 (Tsp1), endostatin, and tumstatin are extracellular matrix–associated proteins that inhibit angiogenesis. We examined the mechanisms by which tumor cells may bypass the antiangiogenic effects of these endogenous regulators. Experimental Design: CT26 colon and RenCa renal carcinoma cells were stably transfected with Tsp1, endostatin, or tumstatin cDNA. Subcutaneous and metastatic tumor growth in syngeneic mice was analyzed. Expression of proangiogenic factors in resulting tumors was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. The combination of Tsp1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor-2 inhibition was also examined. Results: There was significant suppression of angiogenesis in flank tumors and liver metastases formed from cells overexpressing Tsp1, endostatin, or tumstatin. However, all tumors ultimately escaped angiogenesis inhibition. The combination of all three angiogenesis inhibitors had no additive effect beyond overexpression of a single inhibitor. Using quantitative real-time PCR, we found that VEGF and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-A levels were routinely up-regulated at least 5-fold in all CT26 tumors overexpressing any antiangiogenic protein, and there were variable increases in angiopoietin 2 (Ang2), basic fibroblast growth factor, and PDGF-B. In contrast, RenCa tumors, which have high baseline levels of VEGF and PDGF-B, relied on basic fibroblast growth factor, Ang1, and PDGF-A up-regulation to counteract Tsp1 overexpression. Growth of CT26 cells with Tsp1 overexpression was suppressed when anti–VEGFR-2 treatment was added. Conclusions: Cancer cells with overexpression of three different endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor eventually escape angiogenesis inhibition by up-regulation of various proangiogenic factors. Tsp1, endostatin, and tumstatin may be functionally redundant in this system. These endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors are likely best used in combination with the blockade of proangiogenic pathways or with traditional chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
NTW-MT: a Multi-threaded Simulator for Reaction Diffusion Simulations in NEURON

This paper describes a parallel discrete event simulator, Neuron Time Warp-Multi Thread (NTW-MT), developed for the simulation of reaction diffusion models of neurons. The simulator was developed as part of the NEURON project and is intended to be included in NEURON. It relies upon a stochastic discrete event model developed for chemical reactions. NTW-MT is optimistic and thread-based, in which communication latency among threads within the same process is minimized by pointers. We investigate the performance of NTW-MT on a reaction-diffusion model for the transmission of calcium waves in a neuron. Calcium plays a fundamental role in the second messenger system of a neuron. However, the mechanism by which calcium waves are transmitted is not entirely understood. Stochastic models are more realistic than deterministic models for small populations of ions such as those found in apical dendrites. To be more precise, we simulate a stochastic discrete event model for calcium wave propagation on an unbranched apical dendrite of a hippocampal pyramidal neuron. We examine the performance of NTW-MT on this calcium wave model and compare it to the performance of (1) a process based optimistic simulator and (2) a threaded simulator which uses a single priority (SQ) queue for each thread. Our multi-threaded simulator is shown to achieve superior performance to these simulators.