Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endogenous Regulators of G Protein Signaling Differentially Modulate Full and Partial μ-Opioid Agonists at Adenylyl Cyclase as Predicted by a Collision Coupling Model

Regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins accelerate the endogenous GTPase activity of Gαi/o proteins to increase the rate of deactivation of active Gα-GTP and Gβγ signaling molecules. Previous studies have suggested that RGS proteins are more effective on less efficiently coupled systems such as with partial agonist responses. To determine the role of endogenous RGS proteins in functional responses to μ-opioid agonists of different intrinsic efficacy, Gαi/o subunits with a mutation at the pertussis toxin (PTX)-sensitive cysteine (C351I) and with or without a mutation at the RGS binding site (G184S) were stably expressed in C6 glioma cells expressing a μ-opioid receptor. Cells were treated overnight with PTX to inactivate endogenous G proteins. Maximal inhibition of forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase by the low-efficacy partial agonists buprenorphine and nalbuphine was increased in cells expressing RGS-insensitive GαoCIGS, Gαi2CIGS, or Gαi3CIGS compared with their GαCI counterparts, but the RGS-insensitive mutation had little or no effect on the maximal inhibition by the higher efficacy agonists DAMGO and morphine. The potency of all the agonists to inhibit forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase was increased in cells expressing RGS-insensitive GαoCIGS, Gαi2CIGS, or Gαi3CIGS, regardless of efficacy. These data are comparable with predictions based on a collision coupling model. In this model, the rate of G protein inactivation, which is modulated by RGS proteins, and the rate of G protein activation, which is affected by agonist intrinsic efficacy, determine the maximal agonist response and potency at adenylyl cyclase under steady state conditions.
Preoperative 3D-reconstructions of ultrafast-CT images for the planning of minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass operation (MIDCAB).

BACKGROUND The direct left internal mammary artery (LIMA) bypass to the left anterior descending (LAD) without the use of extracorporal circulation through a small anterolateral thoracotomy has become established among the minimally invasive techniques in cardiac surgery. Technical difficulties may occur in patients with an enlarged left ventricle and subsequent lateral positioning of the LAD, a small LAD, or a small LIMA. We used electron beam tomography (EBT) for preoperative visualization of the topographical structures to seek out patients with potential technical difficulties. METHODS Eighteen patients, mean age 62 +/- 13 years, were entered in this study; in all cases the indication for revascularization was a significant stenosis of the LAD. Preoperatively an ECG-triggered EBT was performed. Following the image acquisition, a three-dimensional reconstruction of the data was performed. The LIMA, LAD, first diagonal branch, and chest wall were stained different colors for better visualization. Surgery was performed using a left anterolateral mini-thoracotomy and through this access, the LIMA was dissected and anastomosed using a stabilizer without the use of extracorporal circulation. RESULTS In all but one of the 18 patients who had a preoperative EBT, the minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) procedure was successfully performed using an anterolateral mini-thoracotomy. Based on the results of the EBT, the 5 centimeter incision was done parasternally in six patients, and more laterally (2-4 cm parasternally) in the other eleven cases. In 13 patients the access penetrated the fourth intercostal space; in four cases the fifth intercostal space was used. In one patient EBT revealed a very laterally positioned and diffusely arteriosclerotic LAD so the patient was operated using a median sternotomy, but without the use of extracorporal circulation. In all 18 patients the preoperatively acquired information of the anatomical topography was confirmed intraoperatively. One case without a preoperative EBT had to be converted to a conventional procedure due to a small, intramyocardial LAD and a very small LIMA. Postoperative angiography revealed patent LIMA grafts and uneventful anastomoses. CONCLUSIONS For minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) the topography of the LIMA, LAD and intercostal spaces is of major importance. Using the ECG-triggered EBT with subsequent three-dimensional reconstruction these relationships can be visualized. This enables an individual planning of the operation and a minimalization of the skin incision.
Psychological treatments in intellectual disability: the challenges of building a good evidence base

Summary Psychological treatments are widely used for the management of mental health and behavioural problems in people with intellectual disabilities. The evidence base, including the cost-effectiveness of such interventions, is limited. This editorial explores the current evidence base and analyses its strengths and limitations. The editorial also highlights current problems in conducting randomised controlled trials in this area and suggests a way forward.
The degree‐preserving spanning tree problem in strongly chordal and directed path graphs

Suppose G is a connected graph and T a spanning tree of G. A vertex v ε V(G) is said to be a degree‐preserving vertex if its degree in T is the same as its degree in G. The degree‐preserving spanning tree problem is to find a spanning tree T of a connected graph G such that the number of degree‐preserving vertices is maximized. The purpose of this article is to provide an O(m.α(m,n))‐time algorithm for the degree‐preserving spanning tree problem in strongly chordal graphs, where α is the inverse of Ackermann's function. Furthermore, we present an O(m + n)‐time algorithm in directed path graphs. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2010
Sensor network design for the estimation of spatially distributed processes

Sensor network design for the estimation of spatially distributed processes In a typical moving contaminating source identification problem, after some type of biological or chemical contamination has occurred, there is a developing cloud of dangerous or toxic material. In order to detect and localize the contamination source, a sensor network can be used. Up to now, however, approaches aiming at guaranteeing a dense region coverage or satisfactory network connectivity have dominated this line of research and abstracted away from the mathematical description of the physical processes underlying the observed phenomena. The present work aims at bridging this gap and meeting the needs created in the context of the source identification problem. We assume that the paths of the moving sources are unknown, but they are sufficiently smooth to be approximated by combinations of given basis functions. This parametrization makes it possible to reduce the source detection and estimation problem to that of parameter identification. In order to estimate the source and medium parameters, the maximum-likelihood estimator is used. Based on a scalar measure of performance defined on the Fisher information matrix related to the unknown parameters, which is commonly used in optimum experimental design theory, the problem is formulated as an optimal control one. From a practical point of view, it is desirable to have the computations dynamic data driven, i.e., the current measurements from the mobile sensors must serve as a basis for the update of parameter estimates and these, in turn, can be used to correct the sensor movements. In the proposed research, an attempt will also be made at applying a nonlinear model-predictive-control-like approach to attack this issue.
TRACKING MYOCARDIAL DEFORMATION USING SPATIALLY-CONSTRAINED VELOCITIES

This work proposes a unified framework to track the deformation of the myocardium using velocity fields and boundary information. The deformation of the myocardium is characterized by a deforming mesh. A general framework for locally regularizing the velocity field has been developed. The tracking is modeled as an estimation problem which makes it possible to properly take into account uncertainties in the velocity and boundary measurements. The results of experiments conducted on phantom data and on in vivo data demonstrate the strength of the approach.
Information Value in a Dual-channel Supply Chain under Revenue Sharing Contract

This paper assesses the impact of sharing customers’ channel preference information on pricing and performance in a dual channel supply chain, where the supplier opens a direct channel and a traditional retailer owns a retail channel. Both the supplier and the retailer perform their forecasting demands based on the ratio of consumers’ preferences in the direct channel when we consider the characteristics of consumers’ purchase in electronic commerce, while the supplier as a Stackelberg leader designs a revenue sharing contract with the retailer to share the profits in his direct channel. The two scenarios are analyzed under complete information and incomplete information on the ratio of consumers’ preferences in the direct channel. The paper finds that information sharing always benefits the supplier, but may hurt the retailer. Therefore, the supplier should design the revenue sharing contract to incent the retailer to share her information. Moreover, the paper obtains the conditions under which the retailer is willing to share her information with the supplier. Key–Words: Supply chain management; Online channel; Revenue sharing contract; Information sharing; Consumer channel preference; Stackelberge game
Relaxed Cross-lingual Projection of Constituent Syntax

We propose a relaxed correspondence assumption for cross-lingual projection of constituent syntax, which allows a supposed constituent of the target sentence to correspond to an unrestricted treelet in the source parse. Such a relaxed assumption fundamentally tolerates the syntactic non-isomorphism between languages, and enables us to learn the target-language-specific syntactic idiosyncrasy rather than a strained grammar directly projected from the source language syntax. Based on this assumption, a novel constituency projection method is also proposed in order to induce a projected constituent tree-bank from the source-parsed bilingual corpus. Experiments show that, the parser trained on the projected treebank dramatically outperforms previous projected and unsupervised parsers.
Vascular targets for cannabinoids: animal and human studies

Application of cannabinoids and endocannabinoids to perfused vascular beds or individual isolated arteries results in changes in vascular resistance. In most cases, the result is vasorelaxation, although vasoconstrictor responses are also observed. Cannabinoids also modulate the actions of vasoactive compounds including acetylcholine, methoxamine, angiotensin II and U46619 (thromboxane mimetic). Numerous mechanisms of action have been proposed including receptor activation, potassium channel activation, calcium channel inhibition and the production of vasoactive mediators such as calcitonin gene‐related peptide, prostanoids, NO, endothelial‐derived hyperpolarizing factor and hydrogen peroxide. The purpose of this review is to examine the evidence for the range of receptors now known to be activated by cannabinoids. Direct activation by cannabinoids of CB1, CBe, TRPV1 (and potentially other TRP channels) and PPARs in the vasculature has been observed. A potential role for CB2, GPR55 and 5‐HT1A has also been identified in some studies. Indirectly, activation of prostanoid receptors (TP, IP, EP1 and EP4) and the CGRP receptor is involved in the vascular responses to cannabinoids. The majority of this evidence has been obtained through animal research, but recent work has confirmed some of these targets in human arteries. Vascular responses to cannabinoids are enhanced in hypertension and cirrhosis, but are reduced in obesity and diabetes, both due to changes in the target sites of action. Much further work is required to establish the extent of vascular actions of cannabinoids and the application of this research in physiological and pathophysiological situations.
Software Reliability Assessment by using Neural Networks with Fuzzy Logic based Systems

Software is often a key component of the high technology systems that are so common in modern society. High reliable software is critical both to software industries and the end users of the developed software, and also for the social community generally, because failures of software can cause major disruption to business and can even threaten emergency service. It is a challenge to be able to enhance the quality of a model early enough to prevent problems from fault later in the life cycle because it is much more costeffective to correct software faults early in the development process than later when they cause failure. This is why building software reliability growth models have gained considered importance in assessing reliability of software products. In our paper, we proposed an approach for assessing the software reliability by using different machine learning techniques like neural-networks, fuzzy logic etc., to measure the software errors to improve the Software Reliability at different phases of Software Development Life Cycle(SDLC).
Label-bag based Graph Anonymization via Edge Addition

Privacy-preserving publishing of graph data, such as social networks, has been gaining much public attention in recent years due to the growing demands for publishing graph data containing privacy information. Most of the existing approaches for graph anonymization deal with unlabeled graphs, while labeled graphs have useful real-life applications. However it is proven that k-anonymity problem edge-labeled graphs is computationally expensive. In this paper, we devise a greedy heuristic based approach for k-anonimity problem over edge-labeled graphs. More precisely, we deal with some utility metrics to achieve better anonymization results. To show the effectiveness of the proposed schemes, we conduct a set of experimental evaluations using synthetic and real datasets. The results reveal that our proposed scheme can successfully anonymize edge-labeled graphs. We also assess how the utility of the anonymized graphs is affected by the proposed algorithms.
Diet, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors as risk factors for overweight in adolescence.

BACKGROUND The proportion of overweight adolescents has increased, but the behavioral risk factors for overweight youth are not well understood. OBJECTIVE To examine how diet, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors relate to overweight status in adolescents. DESIGN AND SETTING Baseline data from the Patient-Centered Assessment and Counseling for Exercise Plus Nutrition Project, a randomized controlled trial of adolescents to determine the effects of a clinic-based intervention on physical activity and dietary behaviors. PARTICIPANTS A total of 878 adolescents aged 11 to 15 years, 42% of whom were from minority backgrounds. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Centers for Disease Control and Prevention body mass index-for-age percentiles divided into 2 categories: normal weight (<85th percentile) and at risk for overweight plus overweight (AR + O) (>or=85th percentile). RESULTS Overall, 45.7% of the sample was classified as AR + O with a body mass index for age at the 85th percentile or higher. More girls from minority backgrounds (54.8%) were AR + O compared with non-Hispanic white girls (42%) (chi(2)(1) = 7.6; P =. 006). Bivariate analyses indicated that girls and boys in the AR + O group did fewer minutes per day of vigorous physical activity, consumed fewer total kilojoules per day, and had fewer total grams of fiber per day than those in the normal-weight group. Boys in the AR + O group also did fewer minutes per day of moderate physical activity and watched more minutes per day of television on nonschool days than normal-weight boys. Final multivariate models indicated that independent of socioeconomic status (as assessed by household education level), girls had a greater risk of being AR + O if they were Hispanic or from another minority background (odds ratio [OR] = 1.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-2.49) and a reduced risk of being AR + O as minutes per day of vigorous physical activity increased (OR = 0.93; 95% CI, 0.89-0.97). A low level of vigorous physical activity was the only significant risk factor for boys being AR + O (OR = 0.92; 95% CI, 0.89-0.95). Analyses based on meeting behavioral guidelines supported these findings and showed that failing to meet the 60 min/d moderate to vigorous physical activity guideline was associated with overweight status for both girls and boys. In addition, boys who failed to meet sedentary behavior and dietary fiber guidelines were more likely to be overweight. CONCLUSIONS Of the 7 dietary and physical activity variables examined in this cross-sectional study, insufficient vigorous physical activity was the only risk factor for higher body mass index for adolescent boys and girls. Prospective studies are needed to clarify the relative importance of dietary and physical activity behaviors on overweight in adolescence.
High-Profile Flow Diverter (Silk) Implantation in the Basilar Artery: Efficacy in the Treatment of Aneurysms and the Role of the Perforators

Background and Purpose— The introduction of flow diverters (FDs) has expanded the possibilities for reconstructive treatment of difficult intracranial aneurysms. Concern remains as to the long-term patency of the perforating arteries and side branches covered during stent placement. Our purpose was to evaluate the performance of and early effect on covered branches after implantation of the Silk FD in the treatment of basilar artery aneurysms. Methods— Twelve patients with an aneurysm of the basilar artery that was treated by implantation of the Silk FD were included in our retrospective study. Both unruptured and previously ruptured, formerly untreated, and recurrent aneurysms were treated. During follow-up, patients were monitored for clinical evolution, patency of the covered vessels, and aneurysmal obliteration. Results— Of the 2 ruptured aneurysms, 1 was initially treated by FD implantation. The FD covered the basilar bifurcation and the origin of a P1 segment of the posterior cerebral artery in 9 cases, the origin of the superior cerebellar artery in 9, and of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery in 3. There was 1 acute basilar artery occlusion a few hours after FD implantation. During a mean follow-up of 16 weeks, 3 patients experienced a symptomatic neurologic event. Conclusions— Implantation of the Silk FD in the basilar artery was feasible and well tolerated in most cases to date. However, late ischemic events affecting perforating arteries may occur after FD implantation, suggesting that the indication should be restricted to otherwise untreatable aneurysms in this location.
Sometimes Less is More: Are Process Modeling Languages Overly Complex?

Modern business process modeling languages such as BPMN or EPC provide users with more constructs to represent real world situations than their predecessors such as IDEF or Petri Nets. But this apparent increase in expressiveness is accompanied by an increase in language complexity. In practice many organizations choose to only use a subset of the available modeling constructs. Using a well established ontology-based theory of representation, we analyze how this voluntary restriction affects the expressiveness and complexity of the resulting modeling vocabulary. We compare our empirical findings with two notation sets of the popular language BPMN - the core and full set. Our findings indicate that users are willing to accept ambiguity among modeling constructs and that the full element set of BPMN adds little expressiveness at the expense of considerably decreased ontological clarity. The findings are a first step towards an understanding of an optimal cost-effectiveness ratio for process modeling languages both in theory and practice.
Segmentation of fMRI based on graph space construction

The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is an advanced medical imaging technique based on blood oxygen level dependence (BOLD), which has the higher time and the spatial resolution. Because the BOLD-fMRI signal changes only about 0.5–2%, how to examine and locate the functional activation signal from those selected images with low signal to noise ratio accurately and reliably is the open question. In this paper, based on phase space construction, the proposed activation lags between pictures are estimated by the minimum mutual information principle. Then, the image as the activation reachs to stability is obtained for further clustering analysis. Finally, an image segmentation algorithm based on pulse-coupled neural network (PCNN) is presented in this paper. PCNN dynamically evaluates similarity between any two samples owing to the outstanding centralization characteristic based on the vicinity in space and the comparability of brightness. It has higher accuracy and faster performance than those classical clustering algorithms. Experimental results with fMRI images have shown the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Coherence : What It Is and Why It Should Guide School Improvement Policy

We present the concept of instructional program coherence and explain why school improvement frameworks that incorporate instructional program coherence are more likely to advance student achievement than multiple, unrelated efforts. We present evidence that Chicago elementary schools with stronger instructional program coherence make higher gains in student achievement. We also share observations on how, in specific schools, principals and external partners directed key school resources toward the development of instructional program coherence. In closing, we discuss factors within the educational system that discourage instructional program coherence and suggest ways that school leaders, school improvement partners, and policymakers can support greater instructional program coherence.
Light Extraction Improvement of 400 nm Wavelength GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diode by Textured Structures

We fabricated the GaNLED emitting 400 nm wavelength and improved the optical extraction efficiency by making surface patterns on n-GaN layer and ITO layer above p-GaN. In addition, the light reflection metal under the n and p pad is made and the light reflection metal is installed on the backside of the chip. The light extraction efficiency is increased by 20 % with texturing n-GaN layer and 18% with texturing ITO layer at 20 mA. Compared to planar-surface LED, the light extraction efficiency for surface texturing both n-GaN and ITO is increased by 32% at 20mA.