Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BDNF effects on functional recovery across motor behaviors after cervical spinal cord injury.

Unilateral C2 cervical spinal cord hemisection (SH) disrupts descending excitatory drive to phrenic motor neurons, thereby paralyzing the ipsilateral diaphragm muscle (DIAm) during ventilatory behaviors. Recovery of rhythmic DIAm activity ipsilateral to injury occurs over time, consistent with neuroplasticity and strengthening of spared synaptic inputs to phrenic motor neurons. Localized intrathecal delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to phrenic motor neurons after SH enhances recovery of eupneic DIAm activity. However, the impact of SH and BDNF treatment on the full range of DIAm motor behaviors has not been fully characterized. We hypothesized that all DIAm motor behaviors are affected by SH and that intrathecal BDNF enhances the recovery of both ventilatory and higher force, nonventilatory motor behaviors. An intrathecal catheter was placed in adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats at C4 to chronically infuse artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) or BDNF. DIAm electromyography (EMG) electrodes were implanted bilaterally to record activity across motor behaviors, i.e., eupnea, hypoxia-hypercapnia (10% O2 and 5% CO2), sighs, airway occlusion, and sneezing. After SH, ipsilateral DIAm EMG activity was evident in only 43% of aCSF-treated rats during eupnea, and activity was restored in all rats after BDNF treatment. The amplitude of DIAm EMG (root mean square, RMS) was reduced following SH during eupnea and hypoxia-hypercapnia in aCSF-treated rats, and BDNF treatment promoted recovery in both conditions. The amplitude of DIAm RMS EMG during sighs, airway occlusion, and sneezing was not affected by SH or BDNF treatment. We conclude that the effects of SH and BDNF treatment on DIAm activity depend on motor behavior. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study demonstrates that after unilateral C2 spinal cord hemisection (SH), there are differences in the spontaneous recovery of diaphragm (DIAm) electromyographic activity during ventilatory compared with more forceful, nonventilatory motor behaviors. Furthermore, we show that intrathecal delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) at the level of the phrenic motor neuron pool enhances recovery of ipsilateral DIAm activity following SH, exerting main effects on recovery of ventilatory but not higher force, nonventilatory behaviors.
Determining Reheating Temperature at Colliders with Axino or Gravitino Dark Matter

After a period of inflationary expansion, the Universe reheated and reached full thermal equilibrium at the reheating temperature T_R. In this work we point out that, in the context of effective low-energy supersymmetric models, LHC measurements may allow one to determine T_R as a function of the mass of the dark matter particle assumed to be either an axino or a gravitino. An upper bound on their mass may also be derived.
An immune-based approach to university course timetabling: Immune network algorithm

The university course timetabling is known to be a highly constrained optimization problem. The main difficulty is to obtain a conflict-free schedule within a limited number of timeslots and rooms. Many different approaches, including evolutionary algorithms, tabu search, simulated annealing, and their hybrids are developed for solving many different types of course timetabling problems. The immune network algorithm, an algorithm inspired by the immune system, has successfully been applied to fault recognition, data analysis, and optimization. This paper presents an immune network algorithm for the university course timetabling with the main objective to show that the algorithm may be tailored for educational timetabling. The experimental results, using three benchmark course datasets, have significantly shown the effectiveness of the algorithm by producing good quality course timetables. For future work, other artificial immune algorithms, such as negative selection, will be applied to university course timetabling using the same course datasets.
Titanium as a Reconstruction and Implant Material in Dentistry: Advantages and Pitfalls

Commercial pure titanium (cpTi) has been the material of choice in several disciplines of dentistry due to its biocompatibility, resistance to corrosion and mechanical properties. Despite a number of favorable characteristics, cpTi as a reconstruction and oral implant material has several shortcomings. This paper highlights current knowledge on material properties, passive oxidation film formation, corrosion, surface activation, cell interactions, biofilm development, allergy, casting and machining properties of cpTi for better understanding and potential improvement of this material for its clinical applications.
The application of lateral force microscopy to particle removal in aqueous polymer solutions

Abstraet-An atomic force microscope (AFM) has been used to examine the effect of a typical polymeric dispersant on the adhesion between an iron oxide sphere and a silicon wafer in the presence and absence of shear. Two separate methods for the determination of the lateral spring constant (k1) of AFM cantilevers were employed. Determination of k1 allows the absolute, rather than relative, shear force to be extracted from the lateral force output of the AFM. A comparison is made between the pull-off force (no shear) and the lateral force as the dispersant concentration and loading force are varied. While in both cases the magnitude of the forces decrease with increasing dispersant concentration, the effect is much less marked for the lateral force. A linear increase in removal forces with increasing loading force was observed. For a given load, the removal force is typically an order of magnitude smaller in the presence of shear.
The characteristics of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma: an analysis of 1317 cases in southeastern China

Aim of the study To research the demographic and histopathological features of ESCC in southeastern China. Material and methods We retrospectively reviewed the ESCC cases in the biobank of the National Engineering Centre for Biochip in Shanghai, which cooperates with lots of hospitals and research institutions in southeastern China. The patients were pathologically confirmed as having ESCC. The demographic and histopathological features of these cases were analysed subsequently. Results A total of 1317 patients were enrolled. The overall male: female ratio was 2.88: 1. 74.34% of these cases occurred in people aged between 50–70 years. Dysphagia was the most common symptom, which accounted for 93.40% of all the patients. Stage II and III were predominant (79.73%). 72.89% of patients had a tumour length greater than 3 cm. Most of the tumours (65.83%) were located in middle third of the oesophagus. There was a significant difference among the tumour stage, length, and location in different sex groups (P < 0.05), but not between different age groups (P > 0.05). In males, ESCC is usually located in the lower parts, with a longer tumour length and higher tumour stage. 24.15% of patients had lymph nodes ratio (LNR) > 0.2. Conclusions In our analysis, dysphagia was more common in ESCC patients, to whom more attention should be paid. Additionally, males had a higher incidence, with longer and more distant disease, which gives a poor prognosis.
Design of Iterative Sliding Mode Observer for Sensorless PMSM Control

This brief proposes an iterative sliding mode observer (ISMO) for the robust sensorless control of a permanent magnet synchronous motor with variable parameters. In the conventional SMO, a low-pass filter and an additional position compensator for the rotor are used to reduce the chattering coming from the switching by means of a signum function. It is shown that the chattering can be further reduced by using a sigmoid function as the switching function in the observer. This observer is faster in estimating the velocity and position of the rotor than the traditional adaptive SMO, since it does not include the integral operations for the low-pass filter. The proposed ISMO also improves the performance in estimating the motor speed and angle by reducing the estimation error in the back electromotive force by iteratively applying the observer in the sensorless operation. The stability of the proposed SMO is verified by the Lyapunov function in determining the observer gain, and the validity of the observer is demonstrated by simulations and experiments.
Recent nonhybrid origin of sunflower ecotypes in a novel habitat

The genomics of local adaptation is an increasingly active field, providing insights into the forces driving ecological speciation and the repeatability of evolution. Demography and gene flow play an important role in determining the paths by which parallel evolution occurs and the genomic signatures of adaptation. In the annual sunflowers, hybridization between species has repeatedly led to the colonization of extreme habitats, such as sand dunes. In a new case of adaptation to sand dunes that occurs in populations of H. petiolaris growing at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (Colorado), we wished to determine the age and long‐term migration patterns of the system, as well as its ancestry. We addressed these questions with restriction‐associated DNA (RAD) sequence data, aligned to a reference transcriptome. In an isolation with migration model using RAD sequences, coalescent analysis showed that the dune ecotype originated since the last ice age, which is very recent compared with the hybrid dune species, H. anomalus. Large effective population sizes and substantial numbers of gene migrants per generation between dune and nondune ecotypes explained the highly heterogeneous divergence observed among loci. Analysis of RAD‐derived SNPs identified heterogeneous divergence between the dune and nondune ecotypes, as well as identifying its nearest relative. Our results did not support the hypothesis that the dune ecotype has hybrid ancestry, suggesting that adaptation of sunflowers to dunes has occurred by multiple mechanisms. The ancestry and long‐term history of gene flow between incipient sunflower species provides valuable context for our understanding of ecological speciation and parallel adaptation.
Fabrication of hundreds of field effect transistors on a single carbon nanotube for basic studies and molecular devices

High-throughput fabrication of carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNTFETs) with uniform properties has been a challenge since they were first fabricated in 1998. Here, the authors report a novel fabrication method to produce a 1 × 1 cm2 chip with over 700 CNTFETs fabricated around one single carbon nanotube (CNT). This large number of devices allows us to study the stability and uniformity of CNTFET properties. The authors grow flow-aligned CNTs on a SiO2/Si substrate by chemical vapor deposition and locate a single long CNT (as long as 1 cm) by scanning electron microscopy. Two photolithography steps are then used, first to pattern contacts and bonding pads, and next to define a mask to ‘burn’ away additional nanotubes by oxygen plasma etch. A fabrication yield of ∼72% is achieved. The authors present statistics of the transport properties of these devices, which indicates that all the CNTFETs share the same threshold voltage, and similar on-state conductance. These devices are then used to measur.
Snf1 Protein Kinase Regulates Phosphorylation of the Mig1 Repressor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT In glucose-grown cells, the Mig1 DNA-binding protein recruits the Ssn6-Tup1 corepressor to glucose-repressed promoters in the yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae. Previous work showed that Mig1 is differentially phosphorylated in response to glucose. Here we examine the role of Mig1 in regulating repression and the role of the Snf1 protein kinase in regulating Mig1 function. Immunoblot analysis of Mig1 protein from a snf1 mutant showed that Snf1 is required for the phosphorylation of Mig1; moreover, hxk2 andreg1 mutations, which relieve glucose inhibition of Snf1, correspondingly affect phosphorylation of Mig1. We show that Snf1 and Mig1 interact in the two-hybrid system and also coimmunoprecipitate from cell extracts, indicating that the two proteins interact in vivo. In immune complex assays of Snf1, coprecipitating Mig1 is phosphorylated in a Snf1-dependent reaction. Mutation of four putative Snf1 recognition sites in Mig1 eliminated most of the differential phosphorylation of Mig1 in response to glucose in vivo and improved the two-hybrid interaction with Snf1. These studies, together with previous genetic findings, indicate that the Snf1 protein kinase regulates phosphorylation of Mig1 in response to glucose.
Jembrana Disease Virus Tat Can Regulate Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Long Terminal Repeat-Directed Gene Expression and Can Substitute for HIV Tat in Viral Replication

ABSTRACT Jembrana disease virus (JDV) is a bovine lentivirus genetically similar to bovine immunodeficiency virus; it causes an acute and sometimes fatal disease in infected animals. This virus carries a very potent Tat that can strongly activate not only its own long terminal repeat (LTR) but also the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) LTR. In contrast, HIV Tat cannot reciprocally activate the JDV LTR (H. Chen, G. E. Wilcox, G. Kertayadnya, and C. Wood, J. Virol. 73:658–666, 1999). This indicates that in transactivation JDV Tat may utilize a mechanism similar to but not the same as that of the HIV Tat. To further study the similarity of JDV and HIV tat in transactivation, we first tested the responses of a series of HIV LTR mutants to the JDV Tat. Cross-transactivation of HIV LTR by JDV Tat was impaired by mutations that disrupted the HIV type 1 transactivation response element (TAR) RNA stem-loop structure. Our results demonstrated that JDV Tat, like HIV Tat, transactivated the HIV LTR at least partially in a TAR-dependent manner. However, the sequence in the loop region of TAR was not as critical for the function of JDV Tat as it was for HIV Tat. The competitive inhibition of Tat-induced transactivation by the truncated JDV or HIV Tat, which consisted only of the activation domain, suggested that similar cellular factors were involved in both JDV and HIV Tat-induced transactivation. Based on the one-round transfection assay with HIV tat mutant proviruses, the cotransfected JDV tat plasmid can functionally complement the HIV tat defect. To further characterize the effect of JDV Tat on HIV, a stable chimeric HIV carrying the JDV tat gene was generated. This chimeric HIV replicated in a T-cell line, C8166, and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which suggested that JDV Tat can functionally substitute for HIV Tat. Further characterization of this chimeric virus will help to elucidate how JDV Tat functions and to explain the differences between HIV and JDV Tat transactivation.
Resting-state EEG correlates of motor learning performance in a force-field adaptation task

Recent BCI-based stroke rehabilitation studies focus on exploiting information obtained from sensorimotor EEG activity. In the present study, to extend this focus beyond sensorimotor rhythms, we investigate associative brain areas that are also related with motor learning skills. Based on experimental data from twenty-one healthy subjects, resting-state EEG recorded prior to the experiment was used to predict motor learning performance during a force-field adaptation task in which subjects performed center-out reaching movements disturbed by an external force-field. A broad resting-state beta-power configuration was found to be predictive of motor adaptation rate. Our findings suggest that resting EEG beta-power is an indicator of subjects' ability to learn new motor skills and adapt to different sensorimotor states. This information can be further exploited in a novel BCI-based stroke rehabilitation approach we propose.
Intracellular events and signaling pathways involved in sperm acquisition of fertilizing capacity and acrosome reaction.

Two processes, namely capacitation and acrosome reaction, are of fundamental importance in the fertilization of oocyte by spermatozoon. Physiologically occurring in the female genital tract, capacitation is a complex process, which renders the sperm cell capable for specific interaction with the oocyte. During capacitation, modification of membrane characteristics, enzyme activity and motility properties of spermatozoa render these cells able to penetrate oocyte investments and responsive to stimuli that induce acrosome reaction prior to fertilization. Physiological acrosome reaction occurs upon interaction of the spermatozoon with the zona pellucida protein ZP3. This is followed by liberation of several acrosomal enzymes and other constituents that facilitate penetration of the zona and expose molecules on the sperm equatorial segment that allows fusion of sperm membrane with the oolemma. The molecular mechanisms and the signal transduction pathways mediating the processes of capacitation and acrosome reaction have been partially defined, and appear to involve modifications of intracellular calcium and other ions, lipid transfer and phospholipid remodeling in sperm plasma membrane as well as changes in protein phosphorylation. Some of the kinases and phosphorylated proteins that are involved in the processes of capacitation and acrosome reaction have been now characterized. Characterization of sperm receptors to physiological inducers of acrosome reaction is in progress. This review summarizes the main signal transduction pathways involved in capacitation and acrosome reaction.Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying sperm DNA fragmentation are also briefly reviewed.
Identification and subcellular localization of the enzymes effecting penetration of the zona pellucida by rabbit spermatozoa.

A sucrose density gradient centrifugation procedure for separating the subcellular components of washed and sonicated rabbit epididymal spermatozoa has been developed and applied to the subcellular localization of several sperm enzymes, including the acrosomal enzymes involved in penetrationofthe zona pellucida by the spermatozoon. These zona penetration enzymes were identified as hyaluronidase and a trypsin-like enzyme. They were extracted as a single complex, which sedimented in a sucrose gradient in the vicinity of proteins with molecular weights of 59,000. The combined action of these two enzymes in the acrosomal extract produces a rapid and complete dissolution of the
Ber Performance Analytical Approach for Conventional DFT and DWT for Different Modulation Techniques using SUI Channel in OFDM

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is of the strong prospects as a future wireless communication system. Improved spectral efficiency has been found in OFDM based on DFT, has a good orthogonality but inter symbol interference (ISI) and inter carrier interference (ICI) degrade the performance. ISI and ICI can be improved by using cyclic prefix (CP). About 20% of bandwidth is consumed by CP. For preferable performance DWT based OFDM gives better outlook than DFT based OFDM. Three advantages of using DWT are desirable signal to noise ratio, desirable data rate and below per power requirement are given by wavelet based OFDM. Comparison of performances of BER using practical channel model known as Stanford University Interim (SUI) is given in this paper. Consideration to QPSK, 4QAM, 8QAM, 16-QAM, 32QAM, 64-QAM, 128QAM and 256 QAM has been given in modeling. Channel condition and modulation are the precursors given for the selection of particular performance.
Medical Care Spending and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Workers' Compensation Reforms

Medical care represents an important component of workers' compensation benefits with the potential to improve health and post-injury labor outcomes, but little is known about the relationship between medical care spending and the labor outcomes of injured workers. We exploit the 2003--2004 California workers' compensation reforms which reduced medical spending disproportionately for workers incurring low back injuries. We link administrative claims data to earnings records for injured workers and their uninjured coworkers. We find that workers with low back injuries experienced a 7.6 percent post-reform decline in medical care, and an 8.1 percent drop in post-injury earnings relative to other injured workers.
An Improved Joint Target Tracking and Classification Algorithm Based on Data Fusion

This paper addresses the problem of the joint target tracking and classification based on data fusion. In traditional methods, a separate suite of sensors and system models are used, target tracking and target classification are usually treated as separate problems. In our JTC framework, the link between target state and class is considered and the feasibility of JTC techniques is discussed. The tracking accuracy and classification probability are improved to some extent with the more accurate classification results from classifier based on data fusion feedback to state filter.
Design of a modular snake robot

Many factors such as size, power, and weight constrain the design of modular snake robots. Meeting these constraints requires implementing a complex mechanical and electrical architecture. Here we present our solution, which involves the construction of sixteen aluminum modules and creation of the Super Servo, a modified hobby servo. To create the Super Servo, we have replaced the electronics in a hobby servo, adding such components as sensors to monitor current and temperature, a communications bus, and a programmable microcontroller. Any robust solution must also protect components from hazardous environments such as sand and brush. To resolve this problem we insert the robots into skins that cover their surface. Functions such as climbing the inside and outside of a pipe add a new dimension of interaction. Thus we attach a compliant, high-friction material to every module, which assists in tasks that require gripping. This combination of the mechanical and electrical architectures results in a robust and versatile robot.
Efficient User Authentication and Key Agreement with User Privacy Protection

Using smart cards, remote user authentication and key agreement can be simplified, flexible, and efficient for creating a secure distributed computers environment. Addition to user authentication and key distribution, it is very useful for providing identity privacy for users. In this paper, we propose novel user authentication and key agreement schemes with privacy protection. We first propose a single-server scheme and then apply this scheme to a multi-server environment. The main merits include: (1) the privacy of users can be ensured; (2) a user can freely choose his own password; (3) the computation and communication cost is very low; (4) servers and users can authenticate each other; (5) it generates a session key agreed by the server and the user; (6) our proposed schemes are nonce-based schemes which does not have a serious time-synchronization problem.