Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induction of oxidative stress causes functional alterations in mouse urothelium via a TRPM8-mediated mechanism: implications for aging

The incidence of bladder conditions such as overactive bladder syndrome and its associated urinary incontinence is highly prevalent in the elderly. However, the mechanisms underlying these disorders are unclear. Studies suggest that the urothelium forms a ‘sensory network’ with the underlying innervation, alterations in which, could compromise bladder function. As the accumulation of reactive oxygen species can cause functional alterations with age, the aim of this study was to investigate whether oxidative stress alters urothelial sensory signalling and whether the mechanism underlying the effect of oxidative stress on the urothelium plays a role in aging. Five‐month‐old(young) and 24‐month‐old (aged) mice were used. H2O2, used to induce oxidative stress, resulted in an increase in bladder afferent nerve activity and urothelial intracellular calcium in preparations from young mice. These functional changes were concurrent with upregulation of TRPM8 in the urothelium. Moreover, application of a TRPM8 antagonist significantly attenuated the H2O2‐induced calcium responses. Interestingly, an upregulation of TRPM8 was also found in the urothelium from aged mice, where high oxidative stress levels were observed, together with a greater calcium response to the TRPM8 agonist WS12. Furthermore, these calcium responses were attenuated by pretreatment with the antioxidant N‐acetyl‐cysteine. This study shows that oxidative stress affects urothelial function involving a TRPM8‐mediated mechanism and these effects may have important implications for aging. These data provide an insight into the possible mechanisms by which oxidative stress causes physiological alterations in the bladder, which may also occur in other organs susceptible to aging.
Proposed diagnostic criteria for the Brugada syndrome: consensus report.

Asyndrome characterized by ST-segment elevation in right precordial leads (V1 to V3) that is unrelated to ischemia, electrolyte disturbances, or obvious structural heart disease was reported as early as 1953,1 but was first described as a distinct clinical entity associated with a high risk of sudden cardiac death in 1992.2–4⇓⇓ The Brugada syndrome is a familial disease that displays an autosomal dominant mode of transmission, with incomplete penetrance and an incidence ranging between 5 and 66 per 10 000. In regions of Southeast Asia where it is endemic, the clinical presentation of Brugada syndrome is distinguished by a male predominance (8:1 ratio of male:female) and the appearance of arrhythmic events at an average age of 40 years (range: 1 to 77 years). 2,5⇓ Although a number of candidate genes are considered plausible, thus far the syndrome has been linked only to mutations in SCN5A , the gene encoding for the α subunit of the sodium channel.6 A number of ambiguities exist concerning the diagnosis of Brugada syndrome. The electrocardiographic signature of the syndrome is dynamic and often concealed, but can be unmasked by potent sodium channel blockers such as flecainide, ajmaline, and procainamide,7 although the specificity of this effect for uncovering patients at risk for sudden death has been an issue of concern. A recent report by Remme et al8 has shown that the number of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation patients diagnosed as having Brugada syndrome is a sensitive function of the diagnostic criteria applied. What are the proper diagnostic criteria for identifying Brugada syndrome? A definitive answer to this question has been out of reach and is the reason for the establishment of a special Arrhythmia Working Group of the European Society of Cardiology that met from August 31 to …
Locating Sequence Blocks using Logical Match

In 2011, Sanil et al put forward the concept of Logical Matching Strategy. This technique helps to locate repeating blocks of sequential pattern of finite length. The paper explains the experimental verification of the logical match by using the data of various trinucleotide repeat diseases. KeywordsLogical Matching Strategy, Sequence Pattern, Trinucleotide Repeat, Tandem Repeat.
Robust underdetermined blind audio source separation of sparse signals in the time-frequency domain

We address the problem of blind source separation in the underdetermined and instantaneous mixture case. The proposed method is based on an algorithm developed by Aissa-El-Bey and al. This algorithm requires a good choice of the noise threshold and does not take into account the noise contribution in the inversion process. In order to overcome these drawbacks, this paper presents a robust underdetermined blind source separation approach. Robustness is achieved by estimating the noise standard deviation and using this estimate in the inversion process and the expression of the noise threshold. The good performance of the proposed method is shown by comparison with state-of-the-art methods.
Nitric Oxide Deficiency and Increased Adenosine Response of Afferent Arterioles in Hydronephrotic Mice With Hypertension

Afferent arterioles were used to investigate the role of adenosine, angiotensin II, NO, and reactive oxygen species in the pathogenesis of increased tubuloglomerular feedback response in hydronephrosis. Hydronephrosis was induced in wild-type mice, superoxide dismutase-1 overexpressed mice (superoxide-dismutase-1 transgenic), and deficient mice (superoxide dismutase-1 knockout). Isotonic contractions in isolated perfused arterioles and mRNA expression of NO synthase isoforms, adenosine, and angiotensin II receptors were measured. In wild-type mice, NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) did not change the basal arteriolar diameter of hydronephrotic kidneys (−6%) but reduced it in control (−12%) and contralateral arterioles (−43%). Angiotensin II mediated a weaker maximum contraction of hydronephrotic arterioles (−18%) than in control (−42%) and contralateral arterioles (−49%). The maximum adenosine-induced constriction was stronger in hydronephrotic (−19%) compared with control (−8%) and contralateral kidneys (±0%). The response to angiotensin II became stronger in the presence of adenosine in hydronephrotic kidneys and attenuated in contralateral arterioles. l-NAME increased angiotensin II responses of all of the groups but less in hydronephrotic kidneys. The mRNA expression of endothelial NO synthase and inducible NO synthase was upregulated in the hydronephrotic arterioles. No differences were found for adenosine or angiotensin II receptors. In superoxide dismutase-1 transgenic mice, strong but similar l-NAME response (−40%) was observed for all of the groups. This response was totally abolished in arterioles of hydronephrotic superoxide dismutase-1 knockout mice. In conclusion, hydronephrosis is associated with changes in the arteriolar reactivity of both hydronephrotic and contralateral kidneys. Increased oxidative stress, reduced NO availability, and stronger reactivity to adenosine of the hydronephrotic kidney may contribute to the enhanced tubuloglomerular feedback responsiveness in hydronephrosis and be involved in the development of hypertension.
A Bayesian Network model for accidental oil outflow in double hull oil product tanker collisions

This paper proposes a Bayesian belief network (BBN) model for the estimation of accidental oil outflow in a ship-ship collision where a product tanker is struck. The intended application area for this model is maritime traffic risk assessment, i.e. in a setting in which the uncertainty regarding the specific vessel characteristics is high. The BBN combines a model for linking relevant variables of the impact scenario to the damage extent with a model for estimating the tank layouts based on limited information regarding the ship, as typically available from data from the Automatic Information System (AIS). The damage extent model, formulated as a logistic regression model and based on a mechanical engineering model for the coupled inner-outer dynamics problem of two colliding ships, is implemented in a discretized version in the BBN. The model for estimating the tank layout is applied for a representative set of product tankers typically operating in the Baltic Sea area. The methodology for constructing the BBN is discussed and results are shown.
Statistical Machine Translation from English to Malayalam

In this paper we present an overview of a system that translates English into Malayalam by means of Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) models. The knowledge source that is used to build the translation system includes a monolingual corpus of Malayalam and a bilingual corpus of English/ Malayalam. Various pre-processing mechanisms like suffix separation of words in the Malayalam sentence and stop word elimination from the Malayalam corpus has proven to be effective in bringing about better training results. In the translation process, a set of syntactic tags are coupled with the words in the English sentence to signify the parts of speech factor. The order conversion rules, which is applied to the tagged English sentence, aids in bridging the disparity that exist between the sentence structure of the English and Malayalam language. Post editing technique such as formulating mending rules for Malayalam enhances the quality of the statistical outcome of the SMT system. By this approach of imparting morphological knowledge into SMT and by forming hand crafted rules to achieve precise output, we were able to produce reasonably good Malayalam sentences even with a limited amount of bilingual training data.
High gain observer design for a class of MIMO non uniformly observable uncertain systems

A high gain observer is proposed for a class of MIMO non uniformly observable systems including uncertainties. The gain of the proposed observer is issued from the resolution of a Lyapunov differential equation and its tuning can be achieved through the choice of a single scalar parameter. The observer design is made under an appropriate set of conditions given in terms of appropriate excitation. It is shown that in the absence of uncertainties, the observation error converges exponentially to zero. In the case where the uncertainties are bounded, this error can be made as small as desired by choosing high values of the observer design parameter. Simulation results are given for illustration purposes.
Women as Co‐Offenders: Pathways into Crime and Offending Motivations

This article reports on a qualitative study in the UK of women as co-offenders, their pathways into crime and offending motivations. What was found in the analysis of the women’s narratives was that whilst co-offending relationships were a central pathway into offending, this often intersected with other circumstances in the women’s lives, including drug addiction, socio-economic circumstances and ‘significant life events’. These findings suggest work with this cohort of women must recognise the complexities and contexts of co-offending to understand and accurately represent women’s experiences.
Air-sea disequilibrium enhances ocean carbon storage during glacial periods

Temperature and iron fertilization are more important in driving glacial-interglacial CO2 cycles than previously thought. The prevailing hypothesis for lower atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations during glacial periods is an increased efficiency of the ocean’s biological pump. However, tests of this and other hypotheses have been hampered by the difficulty to accurately quantify ocean carbon components. Here, we use an observationally constrained earth system model to precisely quantify these components and the role that different processes play in simulated glacial-interglacial CO2 variations. We find that air-sea disequilibrium greatly amplifies the effects of cooler temperatures and iron fertilization on glacial ocean carbon storage even as the efficiency of the soft-tissue biological pump decreases. These two processes, which have previously been regarded as minor, explain most of our simulated glacial CO2 drawdown, while ocean circulation and sea ice extent, hitherto considered dominant, emerge as relatively small contributors.
Selective serotonergic excitation of callosal projection neurons

Serotonin (5-HT) acting as a neurotransmitter in the cerebral cortex is critical for cognitive function, yet how 5-HT regulates information processing in cortical circuits is not well understood. We tested the serotonergic responsiveness of layer 5 pyramidal neurons (L5PNs) in the mouse medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and found three distinct response types: long-lasting 5-HT1A (1A) receptor-dependent inhibitory responses (84% of L5PNs), 5-HT2A (2A) receptor-dependent excitatory responses (9%), and biphasic responses in which 2A-dependent excitation followed brief inhibition (5%). Relative to 5-HT-inhibited neurons, those excited by 5-HT had physiological properties characteristic of callosal/commissural (COM) neurons that project to the contralateral cortex. We tested whether serotonergic responses in cortical pyramidal neurons are correlated with their axonal projection pattern using retrograde fluorescent labeling of COM and corticopontine-projecting (CPn) neurons. 5-HT generated excitatory or biphasic responses in all 5-HT-responsive layer 5 COM neurons. Conversely, CPn neurons were universally inhibited by 5-HT. Serotonergic excitation of COM neurons was blocked by the 2A antagonist MDL 11939, while serotonergic inhibition of CPn neurons was blocked by the 1A antagonist WAY 100635, confirming a role for these two receptor subtypes in regulating pyramidal neuron activity. Selective serotonergic excitation of COM neurons was not layer-specific, as COM neurons in layer 2/3 were also selectively excited by 5-HT relative to their non-labeled pyramidal neuron neighbors. Because neocortical 2A receptors are implicated in the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia, we propose that COM neurons may represent a novel cellular target for intervention in psychiatric disease.
Efficient Algorithms for Probabilistic Spatial Queries in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

With the proliferation of wireless communication and sensor technology, the importance of location-based applications has tremendously increased. In order to support these applications, services that implement algorithms for the efficient processing of spatial queries, such as range and k-nearest neighbor queries, are definitely beneficial. In this paper, we propose definitions of probabilistic range and k-nearest neighbor query semantics that take into account the inaccurate position information acquired from positioning systems. We introduce efficient algorithms for distributed storage of the dynamic information captured by positioning sensors on mobile network nodes, and for processing the aforementioned queries in mobile ad hoc networks. We show by evaluation that the studied algorithms incur small communication costs, and that the query algorithms return accurate results in a timely manner
Comparisons and Combined Application of Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Real-time Shear Wave Elastography in Diagnosis of Thyroid Nodules

Purpose Two-dimensional and three-dimensional real-time shear wave elastography (2D+3D SWE) represents a new technology for the quantification of tissue elasticity. This study investigated whether they could be performed to differentiate between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Methods Conventional B-mode ultrasound, 2D and 3D SWE were performed in 96 patients with 97 thyroid nodules with pathology results. Results All the elastography values of 2D&3D SWE in malignant thyroid nodules were higher than those in benign nodules. These two elastography methods alone could not improve diagnostic value comparing to B-mode ultrasound significantly. However, B-mode US + 2D SWE (TI-RADS ≥ 4c or S-Emean ≥ 23.75 kPa, suspicious), B-mode US + 3D SWE (TI-RADS ≥ 4c or 3D-T-Emean ≥ 20.75 kPa, suspicious), B-mode US + 2D + 3D SWE (TI-RADS ≥ 4c or S-Emean ≥ 23.75 kPa or 3D-T-Emean ≥ 20.75 kPa, suspicious) had higher sensitivity and accuracy values than those of 3 methods alone but lower specificity values. Among them, B-mode ultrasound + 2D SWE had the highest sensitivity, NPV, accuracy and Youden's index (0.881, 0.788, 0.804 and 0.57). Conclusions 2D SWE or 3D SWE alone could not improve the diagnostic value of differentiating malignant from benign thyroid nodules comparing to conventional B-mode ultrasound. But combination methods could improve the diagnostic value, especially B-mode US + 2D SWE.
When Kerry Met Sally: Politics and Perceptions in the Demand for Movies - Online Appendix

Movie producers and exhibitors make various decisions requiring an understanding of moviegoer's preferences at the local level. Two examples of such decisions are exhibitors' allocation of screens to movies and producers' allocation of advertising across different regions of the country. This study presents a predictive model of local demand for movies with two unique features. First, arguing that consumers' political tendencies have an unutilized predictive power for marketing models, we allow consumers' heterogeneity to depend on their voting tendencies. Second, instead of relying on the commonly used genre classifications to characterize movies, we estimate latent movie attributes. These attributes are not determined a priori by industry professionals but rather reflect consumers' perceptions, as revealed by their moviegoing behavior. Box-office data over five years from 25 counties in the U.S. Midwest provide support for this model. First, consumers' preferences are related to their political tendencies. For example, we find that counties that voted for congressional Republicans prefer movies starring young, Caucasian, female actors over those starring African American, male actors. Second, perceived attributes provide new insights into consumers' preferences. For example, one of these attributes is the movie's degree of seriousness. Finally, and most importantly, the two improvements proposed here have a meaningful impact on forecasting error, decreasing it by 12.6%. This paper was accepted by Pradeep Chintagunta, marketing.
Invited review: Theories of aging.

Several factors (the lengthening of the average and, to a lesser extent, of the maximum human life span; the increase in percentage of elderly in the population and in the proportion of the national expenditure utilized by the elderly) have stimulated and continue to expand the study of aging. Recently, the view of aging as an extremely complex multifactorial process has replaced the earlier search for a distinct cause such as a single gene or the decline of a key body system. This minireview keeps in mind the multiplicity of mechanisms regulating aging; examines them at the molecular, cellular, and systemic levels; and explores the possibility of interactions at these three levels. The heterogeneity of the aging phenotype among individuals of the same species and differences in longevity among species underline the contribution of both genetic and environmental factors in shaping the life span. Thus, the presence of several trajectories of the life span, from incidence of disease and disability to absence of pathology and persistence of function, suggest that it is possible to experimentally (e.g., by calorie restriction) prolong functional plasticity and life span. In this minireview, several theories are identified only briefly; a few (evolutionary, gene regulation, cellular senescence, free radical, and neuro-endocrineimmuno theories) are discussed in more detail, at molecular, cellular, and systemic levels.
Unsupervised features extraction from asynchronous silicon retina through Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity

In this paper, we present a novel approach to extract complex and overlapping temporally correlated features directly from spike-based dynamic vision sensors. A spiking neural network capable of performing multilayer unsupervised learning through Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity is introduced. It shows exceptional performances at detecting cars passing on a freeway recorded with a dynamic vision sensor, after only 10 minutes of fully unsupervised learning. Our methodology is thoroughly explained and first applied to a simpler example of ball trajectory learning. Two unsupervised learning strategies are investigated for advanced features learning. Robustness of our network to synaptic and neuron variability is assessed and virtual immunity to noise and jitter is demonstrated.
Spring-mass model application to engineering NURBS surface reconstruction

In this paper an original application of spring-mass based model to NURBS surface reconstruction from point clouds is described. In last few years spring-mass models have been largely and successfully applied in Computer Animation for cloth simulation, but their application has been limited to non-Engineering fields. Following the physical metaphor of laying a cloth over a non-structured set of spatial points and yielding an optimised collision detection algorithm, a C++ code, named CloSReEng (Cloth Simulation Reverse Engineering) has been developed and tested. During the reconstruction procedure a spring-mass network (NURBS surface where control points have masses self connected with springs) is pushed on point cloud by forces on masses. Once a part of the network gets in contact with a point, the cloth is constrained to this point and the procedure is stopped when the whole network has gained the equilibrium status. Several tests of CloSReEng software have demonstrated the high quality of surface reconstruction (1/1000 error maximum) with acceptable computing time. Thus the proposed method could be considered an interesting alternative to classical techniques.
Slow oscillations of membrane potential in interneurons that control heartbeat in the medicinal leech

In the preceding paper (Arbas and Calabrese, 1987), we identified several properties that contribute to the activity of neurons (HN cells) that control heartbeat in the medicinal leech. Premotor HN (7) interneurons, which do not generate the heartbeat rhythm, exhibit Na+- dependent fast action potentials, Ca2+-mediated plateau potentials in the absence of Na+, and hyperpolarization-activated “restorative” changes in membrane potential that depolarize the membrane potential on hyperpolarization due to injected currents or synaptic inhibition. HN interneurons of ganglia 3 and 4 (i.e., timing oscillator interneurons) exhibit all of the properties described for HN (7) interneurons and have the additional characteristic that they are connected in oscillatory circuits. Reciprocal oscillations in membrane potential occurred in the bilateral HN interneurons (3) and (4) in the presence of elevated Ca2+ that were independent of Na+ -mediated action potentials. Their ability to oscillate in this way is based on 3 parameters: (1) production of a regenerative plateau potential by one of the pair of HN neurons in either ganglion, (2) inhibition of the contralateral HN neuron by the HN neuron in plateau, and (3) a phase transition mediated by escape from inhibition by the hyperpolarized HN neuron. The conductances responsible for restorative membrane potential shifts activated by hyperpolarization during synaptic inhibition may mediate the escape from inhibition that times the phase transition of the 2 HN neurons.