Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overexpressing sperm surface beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase in transgenic mice affects multiple aspects of sperm-egg interactions

Sperm surface beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase (GalTase) mediates fertilization in mice by binding to specific O-linked oligosaccharide ligands on the egg coat glycoprotein ZP3. Before binding the egg, sperm GalTase is masked by epididymally derived glycosides that are shed from the sperm surface during capacitation. After binding the egg, sperm- bound oligosaccharides on ZP3 induce the acrosome reaction by receptor aggregation, presumably involving GalTase. In this study, we asked how increasing the levels of sperm surface GalTase would affect sperm-egg interactions using transgenic mice that overexpress GalTase under the control of a heterologous promoter. GalTase expression was elevated in many tissues in adult transgenic animals, including testis. Sperm from transgenic males had approximately six times the wild-type level of surface GalTase protein, which was localized appropriately on the sperm head as revealed by indirect immunofluorescence. As expected, sperm from transgenic mice bound more radiolabeled ZP3 than did wild-type sperm. However, sperm from transgenic animals were relatively unable to bind eggs, as compared to sperm from wild-type animals. The mechanistic basis for the reduced egg-binding ability of transgenic sperm was attributed to alterations in two GalTase-dependent events. First, transgenic sperm that overexpress surface GalTase bound more epididymal glycoside substrates than did sperm from wild-type mice, thus masking GalTase and preventing it from interacting with its zona pellucida ligand. Second, those sperm from transgenic mice that were able to bind the zona pellucida were hypersensitive to ZP3, such that they underwent precocious acrosome reactions and bound to eggs more tenuously than did wild-type sperm. These results demonstrate that sperm-egg binding requires an optimal, rather than maximal, level of surface GalTase expression, since increasing this level decreases sperm reproductive efficiency both before and after egg binding. Although sperm GalTase is required for fertilization by serving as a receptor for the egg zona pellucida, excess surface GalTase is counterproductive to successful sperm-egg binding.
On the Impact of Local Feedbacks in the Central Pacific on the ENSO Cycle

Abstract While sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the eastern equatorial Pacific are dominated by the thermocline feedback, in the central equatorial Pacific local wind effects, such as zonal advection, are important as well. El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) simulations with a linear model improve markedly if these effects are included as a local wind stress feedback on SST. An atmosphere model that reacts both to eastern and central Pacific SST anomalies is needed for producing a realistic ENSO cycle. First, simulations are studied of a linear 1.5-layer reduced-gravity ocean model and a linear SST anomaly equation, forced by observed monthly wind stress. If only the thermocline feedback is present in the SST equation, SST can be simulated well in the eastern Pacific, but, contrary to observations, central Pacific SST is out of phase with the eastern Pacific. If a wind stress feedback is added in the SST equation, as a term proportional to the zonal wind stress, correlations between observed an.
Wilting and inoculation of Lactobacillus buchneri on intercropped triticale-fava silage: effects on nutritive, fermentative and aerobic stability characteristics

This study investigated the effects of wilting and Lactobacillus buchneri inoculation on fermentation end products, DM recovery, nutritive characteristics and aerobic stability in organically grown triticale-fava bean intercrop silages. For this purpose, a bi-crop of triticale (× Triticosecale Wittm.) and fava bean (Vicia faba L.) was established on an old low-input mixed sward (Lolium perenne-Trifolium repens). The association of triticale and fava bean in winter crops and wilting forages before ensiling improved ensilability characteristics. Wilting for 24 hours before ensiling avoided effluent losses during the fermentation process and reduced ammonia nitrogen production. Inoculation with Lactobacillus buchneri 40788, for a final application rate of 1×10 5 cfu g -1 of fresh forage ensiled in laboratory silos during 80 days, promoted a higher CP concentration. Furthermore, it promoted changes in the concentration of fermentation end products, decreasing lactic acid and increasing acetic and propionic acids. The effects of Lactobacillus buchneri on aerobic stability were not confirmed in this study. Wilting depressed, but did not inhibit the activity of Lactobacillus buchneri in the fermentation process.
Local vanadium release from a calcium sulfate carrier accelerates fracture healing

This study evaluated the efficacy of using calcium sulfate (CaSO4) as a carrier for intramedullary delivery of an organic vanadium salt, vanadyl acetylacetonate (VAC) after femoral fracture. VAC can act as an insulin‐mimetic and can be used to accelerate fracture healing in rats. A heterogenous mixture of VAC and CaSO4 was delivered to the fracture site of BB Wistar rats, and mechanical testing, histomorphometry, micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT) were performed to measure healing. At 4 weeks after fracture, maximum torque to failure, effective shear modulus, and effective shear stress were all significantly higher (p < 0.05) in rats treated with 0.25 mg/kg VAC–CaSO4 as compared to carrier control rats. Histomorphometry found a 71% increase in percent cartilage matrix (p < 0.05) and a 64% decrease in percent mineralized tissue (p < 0.05) at 2 weeks after fracture in rats treated with 0.25 mg/kg of VAC–CaSO4. Micro‐CT analyses at 4 weeks found a more organized callus structure and higher trending maximum connected z‐ray. fraction for VAC–CaSO4 groups. Evaluation of radiographs and serial histological sections at 12 weeks did not show any evidence of ectopic bone formation. As compared to previous studies, CaSO4 was an effective carrier for reducing the dose of VAC required to accelerate femoral fracture healing in rats. © 2013 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 32:727–734, 2014.
Last Words: On the Problem of Theoretical Terms in Empirical Computational Linguistics

Philosophy of science has pointed out a problem of theoretical terms in empirical sciences. This problem arises if all known measuring procedures for a quantity of a theory presuppose the validity of this very theory, because then statements containing theoretical terms are circular. We argue that a similar circularity can happen in empirical computational linguistics, especially in cases where data are manually annotated by experts. We define a criterion of T-non-theoretical grounding as guidance to avoid such circularities, and exemplify how this criterion can be met by crowdsourcing, by task-related data annotation, or by data in the wild. We argue that this criterion should be considered as a necessary condition for an empirical science, in addition to measures for reliability of data annotation.
Family Structure and Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Cross-National Effects of Polygyny

This study applies multilevel logistic regression to Demographic and Health Survey data from 22 sub-Saharan African countries to examine whether the relationship between child mortality and family structure with a specific emphasis on polygyny varies cross-nationally and over time. Hypotheses were developed on the basis of competing theories on the relationship between child health and family structure. Although children of mothers in polygynous marriages are more likely to die than those of mothers in monogamous unions the relationship is constant across time. Familial factors including education socioeconomic status (SES) and urban residence accounted for most of the observed cross-national variation associated with polygyny. Consequently improving maternal education and household SES would greatly benefit child health in sub-Saharan Africa. (authors)
On the detection of acoustic and electromagnetic signals before fracture of dielectric crystalline materials

The acoustic and electromagnetic emission detected during the uniaxial compression and before the catastrophic failure of dielectric crystalline materials is investigated in this letter. In particular, an appropriate experimental and measuring setup has been developed and used to simultaneously detect and monitor in both large and small scale the time series of acoustic and electromagnetic pulses emitted during deformation of a compressed LiF crystal sample, allowing a plausible mechanism of their origin to be suggested.
Sclera Recognition - A Survey

This paper presents a survey on sclera-based biometric recognition. Among the various biometric methods, sclera is one of the novel and promising biometric techniques. The sclera, a white region of connective tissue and blood vessels, surrounds the iris. A survey of the techniques available in the area of sclera biometrics will be of great assistance to researchers, and hence a comprehensive effort is made in this article to discuss the advancements reported in this regard during the past few decades. As a limited number of publications are found in the literature, an attempt is made in this paper to increase awareness of this area so that the topic gains popularity and interest among researchers. In this survey, a brief introduction is given initially about the sclera biometric, which is subsequently followed by background concepts, various pre-processing techniques, feature extraction and finally classification techniques associated with the sclera biometric. Benchmarking databases are very important for any pattern recognition related research, so the databases related with this work is also discussed. Finally, our observations, future scope and existing difficulties, which are unsolved in sclera biometrics, are discussed. We hope that this survey will serve to focus more researcher attention towards the emerging sclera biometric.
Role of interface bonding in spin-dependent tunneling (invited)

Measured positive values of the spin polarization of the tunneling current from 3d ferromagnetic metals are commonly explained by the dominant s-electron contribution based on symmetry considerations for bulk materials, ignoring the influence of the interfaces. In this work, three different models are considered which suggest that the spin polarization is primarily determined by the electronic and atomic structures of the ferromagnet/insulator interfaces rather than by the bulk properties. A simple tight-binding model demonstrates that the existence of interface states and their contribution to the tunneling current depend on the degree of hybridization between the orbitals on metal and insulator atoms. The decisive role of the interface bonding is further supported by considering spin-dependent tunneling from oxidized Co surfaces through vacuum and in Co∕Al2O3∕Co tunnel junctions within the first-principles Green’s-function approach. For the oxidized Co surface it is found that the Co–O bonding at the su.
Approximate computing and the quest for computing efficiency

Diminishing benefits from technology scaling have pushed designers to look for new sources of computing efficiency. Multicores and heterogeneous accelerator-based architectures are a by-product of this quest to obtain improvements in the performance of computing platforms at similar or lower power budgets. In light of the need for new innovations to sustain these improvements, we discuss approximate computing, a field that has attracted considerable interest over the last decade. While the core principles of approximate computing - computing efficiently by producing results that are good enough or of sufficient quality - are not new and are shared by many fields from algorithm design to networks and distributed systems, recent e? orts have seen a percolation of these principles to all layers of the computing stack, including circuits, architecture, and software. Approximate computing techniques have also evolved from ad hoc and application-specific to more broadly applicable, supported by systematic design methodologies. Finally, the emergence of workloads such as recognition, mining, search, data analytics, inference and vision are greatly increasing the opportunities for approximate computing. We describe the vision and key principles that have guided our work in this area, and outline a holistic cross-layer framework for approximate computing.
A phase 2 trial of ponatinib in Philadelphia chromosome-positive leukemias.

BACKGROUND Ponatinib is a potent oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor of unmutated and mutated BCR-ABL, including BCR-ABL with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor-refractory threonine-to-isoleucine mutation at position 315 (T315I). We conducted a phase 2 trial of ponatinib in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-positive ALL). METHODS We enrolled 449 heavily pretreated patients who had CML or Ph-positive ALL with resistance to or unacceptable side effects from dasatinib or nilotinib or who had the BCR-ABL T315I mutation. Ponatinib was administered at an initial dose of 45 mg once daily. The median follow-up was 15 months. RESULTS Among 267 patients with chronic-phase CML, 56% had a major cytogenetic response (51% of patients with resistance to or unacceptable side effects from dasatinib or nilotinib and 70% of patients with the T315I mutation), 46% had a complete cytogenetic response (40% and 66% in the two subgroups, respectively), and 34% had a major molecular response (27% and 56% in the two subgroups, respectively). Responses were observed regardless of the baseline BCR-ABL kinase domain mutation status and were durable; the estimated rate of a sustained major cytogenetic response of at least 12 months was 91%. No single BCR-ABL mutation conferring resistance to ponatinib was detected. Among 83 patients with accelerated-phase CML, 55% had a major hematologic response and 39% had a major cytogenetic response. Among 62 patients with blast-phase CML, 31% had a major hematologic response and 23% had a major cytogenetic response. Among 32 patients with Ph-positive ALL, 41% had a major hematologic response and 47% had a major cytogenetic response. Common adverse events were thrombocytopenia (in 37% of patients), rash (in 34%), dry skin (in 32%), and abdominal pain (in 22%). Serious arterial thrombotic events were observed in 9% of patients; these events were considered to be treatment-related in 3%. A total of 12% of patients discontinued treatment because of an adverse event. CONCLUSIONS Ponatinib had significant antileukemic activity across categories of disease stage and mutation status. (Funded by Ariad Pharmaceuticals and others; PACE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01207440 .).
Receptor-Associated Kinase Expression Lipopolysaccharide: Alterations in IL-1 Cells in Response to CpG DNA and Cross-Hyporesponsiveness of RAW264.7 CpG DNA Induces Self and

Exposure of macrophages to LPS induces a state of hyporesponsiveness to subsequent challenge with LPS. It has not been known whether previous exposure to CpG DNA induces a similar suppressive response to subsequent stimulation with CpG DNA. In the present study, we demonstrate that pretreatment with CpG DNA induces suppression of cytokine release in a murine macrophage-like cell RAW264.7 in response to subsequent challenge by CpG DNA. Additionally, CpG DNA-mediated activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases, including c-Jun NH 2 -terminal kinase, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and p38, and activation of transcription factors AP-1, CREB, NF- (cid:1) B, and STAT1 are greatly suppressed in the cells pre-exposed to CpG DNA. Pretreatment with CpG DNA also partially inhibited LPS-mediated production of cytokines and activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and transcription factors. Neither LPS nor CpG DNA treatment inhibited Toll-like receptor 4, MD2, Toll-like receptor 9, myeloid differentiation factor 88, Toll/IL-1R domain-containing adaptor protein, Tollip, and TNF- (cid:2) receptor-associated factor 6 expression. Interestingly, CpG DNA or LPS stimulation led to the inhibition of IL-1R-associated kinase expression. These results indicate that CpG DNA-induced refractory of RAW264.7 cells may be, at least in part, due to suppressed IL-1R-associated kinase expression. The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 170: 1052–1061.
Accuracy Assessment in Structure from Motion 3d Reconstruction from Uav-Born Images: the Influence of the Data Processing Methods

Abstract. The evolution of Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques and their integration with the established procedures of classic stereoscopic photogrammetric survey have provided a very effective tool for the production of three-dimensional textured models. Such models are not only aesthetically pleasing but can also contain metric information, the quality of which depends on both survey type and applied processing methodologies. An open research topic in this area refers to checking attainable accuracy levels. The knowledge of such accuracy is essential, especially in the integration of models obtained through SfM with other models derived from different sensors or methods (laser scanning, classic photogrammetry .). Accuracy checks may be conducted by either comparing SfM models against a reference one or measuring the deviation of control points identified on models and measured with classic topographic instrumentation and methodologies. This paper presents an analysis of attainable accuracy levels, according to different approaches of survey and data processing. For this purpose, a survey of the Church of San Miniato in Marcianella (Pisa, Italy), has been used. The dataset is an integration of laser scanning with terrestrial and UAV-borne photogrammetric surveys; in addition, a high precision topographic network was established for the specific purpose. In particular, laser scanning has been used for the interior and the exterior of the church, with the exclusion of the roof, while UAVs have been used for the photogrammetric survey of both roof, with horizontal strips, and facade, with vertical strips.
The Molecular Phenotype of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Theca Cells and New Candidate PCOS Genes Defined by Microarray Analysis*

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 5% of reproductive aged women and is the leading cause of anovulatory infertility. A hallmark of PCOS is excessive theca cell androgen secretion, which is directly linked to the symptoms of PCOS. Our previous studies demonstrated that theca cells from PCOS ovaries maintained in long term culture persistently secrete significantly greater amounts of androgens than normal theca cells, suggesting an intrinsic abnormality. Furthermore, previous studies suggested that ovarian hyperandrogenemia is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. However, the genes responsible for ovarian hyperandrogenemia of PCOS have not been identified. In this present study, we carried out microarray analysis to define the gene networks involved in excess androgen synthesis by the PCOS theca cells in order to identify candidate PCOS genes. Our analysis revealed that PCOS theca cells have a gene expression profile that is distinct from normal theca cells. Included in the cohort of genes with increased mRNA abundance in PCOS theca cells were aldehyde dehydrogenase 6 and retinol dehydrogenase 2, which play a role in all-trans-retinoic acid biosynthesis and the transcription factor GATA6. We demonstrated that retinoic acid and GATA6 increased the expression of 17α-hydroxylase, providing a functional link between altered gene expression and intrinsic abnormalities in PCOS theca cells. Thus, our analyses have 1) defined a stable molecular phenotype of PCOS theca cells, 2) suggested new mechanisms for excess androgen synthesis by PCOS theca cells, and 3) identified new candidate genes that may be involved in the genetic etiology of PCOS.
Reliability and failure physics of GaN HEMT, MIS-HEMT and p-gate HEMTs for power switching applications: Parasitic effects and degradation due to deep level effects and time-dependent breakdown phenomena

Recent studies on the reliability of power Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs), Metal Insulator Semiconductor-HEMTs (MISHEMTs) and p-gate HEMTs are reviewed. When submitted to high electric field values, gate and insulating dielectrics as well as defective epitaxial layers are prone to time dependent breakdown mechanisms, charge trapping phenomena and generation of deep levels or interface states. This may originate degradation effects such as threshold voltage shifts and gate-drain or drain-source catastrophic breakdown. For most mechanisms, time to failure follows a Weibull distribution and lifetime extrapolation is possible using Arrhenius law and common electric field acceleration models.
Association between emotional intelligence and marital quality of married couples

Studies in the west have suggested a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and marital quality among couples; however there is not much research conducted in India. It is evident that marital quality is affected by the culture which creates skepticism if the results from the west are borrowed to the Indian context. This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and marital quality of couples and to analyze which domain of emotional intelligence was the best predictor of marital quality among husbands and wives. Forty four couples from Bangalore city, Indians were analyzed. Mangal Emotional Intelligence Inventory (2009) and Marital Quality Scale by Shah (1995) were used to measure emotional intelligence and marital quality respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient method and regression model were used to analyze the data. The results indicated a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and marital quality among couples. Among all the sub-domains of emotional intelligence, intrapersonal awareness was the single most predictor of perceived marital quality of both husbands and wives. This study might open the discourse on the relationship of emotional intelligence & marital quality in Indian context and it might as well be relevant in emphasizing the role of emotional intelligence in marital quality.
Downregulated long non-coding RNA CLMAT3 promotes the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells by targeting regulators of the cell cycle pathway

Over-expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA)-CLMAT3 is significantly associated with colorectal liver metastasis and is an independent predictor of poor survival for colorectal cancer patients. However, as little is known regarding the role of this gene in the proliferation of colorectal cancer in vitro, we investigated the involvement of lncRNA-CLMAT3 in colorectal cancer cell proliferation. In this study, we demonstrate that lncRNA-CLMAT3 expression was significantly increased in colorectal cancer cells compared with a normal intestinal mucous cell line and that inhibition of lncRNA-CLMAT3 suppressed colorectal cancer cell proliferation in vitro. We also found that this reduced colorectal cancer cell proliferation due to lncRNA-CLMAT3 knockdown is associated with G0/G1 cell-cycle arrest induction and apoptosis enhancement. Furthermore, lncRNA-CLMAT3 knockdown enhanced Cdh1 expression and resulted in p27Kip accumulation via increased Skp2 protein ubiquitination. Taken together, our findings suggest that reducing lncRNA-CLMAT3 inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation by affecting cell cycle components.