Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opposite Membrane Potential Changes Induced by Glucose Deprivation in Striatal Spiny Neurons and in Large Aspiny Interneurons

We have studied the electrophysiological effects of glucose deprivation on morphologically identified striatal neurons recorded from a corticostriatal slice preparation. The large majority of the recorded cells were spiny neurons and responded to aglycemia with a slow membrane depolarization coupled with a reduction of the input resistance. In voltage-clamp experiments aglycemia caused an inward current. This current was associated with a conductance increase and reversed at −40 mV. The aglycemia-induced membrane depolarization was not affected by tetrodotoxin (TTX) or 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione plus aminophosphonovalerate, antagonists acting respectively on AMPA and NMDA glutamate receptors. Also, the intracellular injection of bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetra-acetic acid, a calcium (Ca2+) chelator, and low Ca2+/high Mg2+-containing solutions failed to reduce this phenomenon. Conversely, it was reduced by lowering external sodium (Na+) concentration. A minority of the recorded cells had the morphological characteristics of large aspiny interneurons and the electrophysiological properties of “long-lasting afterhyperpolarization (LA) cells. ” These cells responded to aglycemia with a membrane hyperpolarization/outward current that was coupled with an increased conductance. This current was not altered by TTX, blockers of ATP-dependent potassium (K+) channels, and adenosine A1 receptor antagonists, whereas it was reduced by solutions containing low Ca2+/high Mg2+. This current reversed at −105 mV and was blocked by barium, suggesting the involvement of a K+ conductance. We suggest that the opposite membrane responses of striatal neuronal subtypes to glucose deprivation might account for their differential neuronal vulnerability to aglycemia and ischemia.
Cytotype Regulation Facilitates Repression of Hybrid Dysgenesis by Naturally Occurring KP Elements in Drosophila melanogaster

P elements inserted in the Telomere Associated Sequences (TAS) at the left end of the X chromosome are determiners of cytotype regulation of the entire P family of transposons. This regulation is mediated by Piwi-interacting (pi) RNAs derived from the telomeric P elements (TPs). Because these piRNAs are transmitted maternally, cytotype regulation is manifested as a maternal effect of the TPs. When a TP is combined with a transgenic P element inserted at another locus, this maternal effect is strengthened. However, when certain TPs are combined with transgenes that contain the small P element known as KP, stronger regulation arises from a zygotic effect of the KP element. This zygotic effect is observed with transgenic KP elements that are structurally intact, as well as with KP elements that are fused to an ancillary promoter from the hsp70 gene. Zygotic regulation by a KP element occurs only when a TP was present in the maternal germ line, and it is more pronounced when the TP was also present in the grand-maternal germ line. However, this regulation does not require zygotic expression of the TP. These observations can be explained if maternally transmitted piRNAs from TPs enable a polypeptide encoded by KP elements to repress P element transposition in zygotes that contain a KP element. In nature, repression by the KP polypeptide may therefore be facilitated by cytotype-mediating piRNAs.
Development of an Integrated Energy Vocabulary and the Possibilities for On-line Subject Switching

This paper describes the development of an integrated vocabulary of energy terminology and it explores the potential for a fully developed energy vocabulary conversion guide. Eleven vocabularies were analyzed and integrated: AIP, CA, API, GA, INIS, TEST, GEOR, El, PA, DDC, and NASA. The following major concepts were considered within the scope: energy sources (fuels); derived products; exploration, production and processing; energy conversion; energy transportation, transmission and distribution; energy consumption, utilization, and conservation; power generation; energy storage; energy policy and legislation; environmental impacts; transportation modes (land, air, sea); propulsion systems; consuming sectors and economics; and international supply and consumption. The methodology consisted of 1) establishing term selection criteria, 2) analyzing individual system vocabularies for energy‐related terms, 3) processing energy subsets and 4) reviewing the integrated product and generating a final vocabulary. Three broad problem areas were identified during the study: 1) energy definition, 2) analyst viewpoint variances, 3) thesaurus format/convention variances. The conceptualization, identification, and selection of energy terms was especially difficult in several subject disciplines, including such areas as engineering materials, mathematics, electronics, explosives, psychology and other social sciences. Five types of synonym construction were encountered. It was concluded that vocabulary conversion, which permits subject switching, offers some degree of inter‐system compatibility. Conversion is the ability to retrieve all documents on a given subject from all available (and appropriate) data bases with a single query. When coupled with development of a standard system protocol, full information‐resource utilization will be possible. A prototype conversion guide (synonym table) was constructed for further study. One of the significant findings was that, without any additional intellectual efforts, conversion can be increased from 28 percent (exact match only) to 46 percent using exact match plus singular‐plural equivalencies, plus synonym expansion.
Distinct and Overlapping Sets of SUMO-1 and SUMO-2 Target Proteins Revealed by Quantitative Proteomics*S

The small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) family in vertebrates includes three different family members that are conjugated as post-translational modifications to target proteins. SUMO-2 and -3 are nearly identical but differ substantially from SUMO-1. We used quantitative proteomics to investigate the target protein preferences of SUMO-1 and SUMO-2. HeLa cells were established that stably express His6-SUMO-1 or His6-SUMO-2. These cell lines and control HeLa cells were labeled with stable arginine isotopes, and His6-SUMOs were enriched from lysates using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. 53 SUMO-conjugated proteins were identified, including 44 novel SUMO targets. 25 proteins were preferentially conjugated to SUMO-1, 19 were preferentially conjugated to SUMO-2, and nine proteins were conjugated to both SUMO-1 and SUMO-2. SART1 was confirmed by immunoblotting to have both SUMO-1- and SUMO-2-linked forms at similar levels. SUMO-1 and SUMO-2 are thus shown to have distinct and overlapping sets of target proteins, indicating that SUMO-1 and SUMO-2 may have both redundant and non-redundant cellular functions. Interestingly, 14 of the 25 SUMO-1-conjugated proteins contain zinc fingers. Although both SUMO family members play roles in many cellular processes, our data show that sumoylation is strongly associated with transcription because nearly one-third of the identified target proteins are putative transcriptional regulators.
Work and family characteristics as determinants of socioeconomic and sex inequalities in sleep: The Japanese Civil Servants Study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To clarify whether socioeconomic and sex inequalities in poor sleep quality are explained by socioeconomic and sex differences in work and family characteristics. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS Three thousand five hundred fifty-six employees (2397 men and 1159 women) aged 20 to 65 years in local government in Japan. MEASUREMENTS Respondents completed a self-administered questionnaire that asked about sleep quality, as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; work characteristics, as measured by the job-demand-control-support model, work hours, and shift work; and family characteristics, such as family structure and family-work conflicts. RESULTS Lower control at work, higher work demands, lower social support, shorter and longer working hours, shift work, being single, higher family-to-work conflict, and higher work-to-family conflict were independently associated with poorer sleep quality in both men and women. In men, the age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of low-grade employees for poor sleep quality was 1.64 (95% confidence interval: 1.14-2.36) in comparison with high-grade employees. The difference in sleep was attenuated when work and family characteristics were adjusted for (OR=1.25 [0.84-1.86]). Among women, there was no significant grade difference in sleep. Women tended to have poorer sleep quality than men (the age-adjusted OR=1.75 [1.49-2.06]). The sex difference was attenuated and no longer significant when adjustments were made for work and family characteristics (OR=1.04 [0.85-1.27]). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that work and family characteristics may be important for reducing socioeconomic and sex inequalities in sleep. Sex differences in the pattern of socioeconomic inequalities in sleep deserve further research.
A state-space approach to analysis of almost periodic nonlinear systems with sector nonlinearities

The nonlinear system considered in this paper consists of two components-a linear system and a time-varying nonlinear element in the feedback connection-and is almost periodic. It is shown using a state-space approach (or Lyapunov approach) that if the well-known circle criterion is satisfied, then there exists an almost periodic solution which is uniformly asymptotically stable in the large. Furthermore, it is also shown that the spectra of the almost periodic solution can be characterized by those of the input and the time-varying nonlinearity.
3D-assisted Facial Texture Super-Resolution

In this paper we propose a new framework for super-resolving facial images under arbitrary pose. While example-based super-resolution methods have demonstrated impressive results for face super-resolution under given pose and imaging conditions, they have limitations dealing with different poses and illuminations. Due to these limitations their application to face super-resolution in generalized situations is either impractical or sub-optimal. The proposed framework utilizes a 3D morphable face model in order to address the problem of face super-resolution under arbitrary pose. This framework does not assume any pre-defined pose for the subject thus it can be readily applied to any pose. The main contribution of this work is defining a framework in which a 3D morphable model can be used in conjunction with any of the example-based super-resolution methods. Experimental results prove the potential power of this method in face superresolution and its application to face recognition.
High performance SQL through low-level system integration

NonStop SQL [TM] achieves high performance through an implementation which integrates SQL record access with the pre-existing disk I/O and transaction management subsystems, and moves SQL function downward from the client to the server level of these subsystems. System integration and movement of function to the server reduce message traffic and CPU consumption by putting SQL optimizations at the lower levels of the system. Examples of such optimizations are message traffic savings by filtering data and applying updates at the data source, I/O savings by SQL-optimized buffer pool management, and locking and transaction journaling techniques which take advantage of SQL semantics. Achieving message traffic reduction is particularly important in a distributed, non shared-memory architecture such as the Tandem NonStop System. The result of this implementation is an SQL system which matches the performance of the pre-existing DBMS, while inheriting such pre-existing architecturally-derived features as high availability, transaction-based data integrity, and distribution of both data and execution.
Sperner's Lemma Implies Kakutani's Fixed Point Theorem

Kakutani’s fixed point theorem has many applications in economics and game theory. One of its most well-known applications is in John Nash’s paper [8], where the theorem is used to prove the existence of an equilibrium strategy in n-person games. Sperner’s lemma, on the other hand, is a combinatorial result concerning the labelling of the vertices of simplices and their triangulations. It is known that Sperner’s lemma is equivalent to a result called Brouwer’s fixed point theorem, of which Kakutani’s theorem is a generalization. A natural question that arises is whether we can prove Kakutani’s fixed point theorem directly using Sperner’s lemma without going through Brouwer’s theorem. The objective of this thesis to understand Kakutani’s theorem, Sperner’s lemma, and how they are related. In particular, I explore ways in which Sperner’s lemma can be used to prove Kakutani’s theorem and related results.
ANÁLISE ESPAÇO-TEMPORAL DAS MUDANÇAS NA COBERTURA VEGETAL E DO USO E OCUPAÇÃO DO SOLO DO PARQUE ESTADUAL ALTAMIRO DE MOURA PACHECO (GO)

A expansao da fronteira agricola no Brasil tem sido alvo de grandesdiscussoes na comunidade cientifica, uma vez que, o seu crescimento desordenado eacelerado vem gerando para o meio ambiente, consequencias drasticas, tais como:destruicao de vegetacao nativa, fragmentacao de habitats, exploracao indiscriminada dosrecursos naturais e perda irreversivel de recursos geneticos (GREGGIO et al., 2009). Desta forma, intervencoes antropicas em ambientes naturais se demonstram capazes decausar efeitos deleterios para a biodiversidade, gerando extincao de especies da flora efauna, mudancas climaticas em escala local, erosao de solos e poluicao de cursos d’agua(FERREIRA; DIAS, 2004). A tematica relacionada ao avanco predatorio da agropecuaria nosecossistemas brasileiros, nao ocorre de forma diferente para o bioma Cerrado. O Cerradopossui elevado potencial hidrico, topografia suave e solos favoraveis as praticas daagropecuaria, alem de ser detentor de uma biodiversidade bastante rica. Taiscaracteristicas, aliadas aos investimentos governamentais em infra-estrutura urbana, temalterado as paisagens naturais pertencentes ao bioma, criando fragmentos antropicosocupados principalmente por areas de plantio e por pastagens voltadas para a criacao degado (SANO et al., 2002).
A cost-effectiveness analysis of total hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis of the hip.

OBJECTIVE To quantify the trade-off between the expected increased short- and long-term costs and the expected increase in quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) associated with total hip arthroplasty (THA) for persons with functionally significant hip osteoarthritis. DESIGN A cost-effectiveness study was performed from the societal perspective by constructing stochastic tree, decision analytic models designed to estimate lifetime functional outcomes and costs of THA and nonoperative managements. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES A modified four-state American College of Rheumatology functional status classification was used to measure effectiveness. These functional classes were assigned utility values to allow the relative effectiveness of THA to be expressed in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Lifetime costs included costs associated with primary and potential revision surgeries and long-term care costs associated with the functionally dependent class. DATA USED IN THE COST-EFFECTIVENESS MODEL: Probability and incidence rate data were summarized from the literature. The THA hospital cost data were obtained from local teaching hospitals' cost accounting systems. Estimates of recurring medical costs for functionally significant hip osteoarthritis and for custodial care were derived from the literature. RESULTS The THA cost-effectiveness ratio increases with age and is higher for men than for women. In the base-case scenario for 60-year-old white women who have functionally significant but not dependent hip osteoarthritis, the model predicts that THA is cost saving because of the high costs of custodial care associated with dependency due to worsening hip osteoarthritis and that the procedure increases QALE by about 6.9 years. In the base-case scenario for men aged 85 years and older, the average lifetime cost associated with THA is $9100 more than nonoperative management, with an average increase in QALE of about 2 years. Thus, the THA cost-effectiveness ratio for men aged 85 years and older is $4600 per QALY gained, less than that of procedures intended to extend life such as coronary artery bypass surgery or renal dialysis. Worst-case analysis suggests that THA remains minimally cost-effective for this oldest age category ($80,000/QALY) even if probabilities, rates, utilities, costs, and the discount rate are simultaneously varied to extreme values that bias the analysis against surgery. CONCLUSIONS For persons with hip osteoarthritis associated with significant functional limitation, THA can be cost saving or, at worst, cost- effective in improving QALE when both short- and long-term outcomes are considered. Further research is needed to determine whether this procedure is actually being used in this cost-effective manner, especially in older age categories.
Capecitabine plus Cisplatin treatment for advanced gastric cancer in a patient with hepatic impairment secondary to metastases.

A 73-year-old female with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) wasreferred to our hospital. She had visited a clinic with complaints ofpassing brown urine for 2 weeks. Her blood test showed hyperbil-irubinemia with 10.7 mg/dL of serum total bilirubin and 8.4 mg/dLof direct bilirubin, and liver and biliary enzymes including aspartateaminotransferase (AST; 389 IU/mL), alanine aminotransferase(ALT; 504 IU/mL), alkaline phosphatase (ALP; 3,256 IU/mL), and
Group Size and Nest Spacing Affect Buggy Creek Virus (Togaviridae: Alphavirus) Infection in Nestling House Sparrows

The transmission of parasites and pathogens among vertebrates often depends on host population size, host species diversity, and the extent of crowding among potential hosts, but little is known about how these variables apply to most vector-borne pathogens such as the arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses). Buggy Creek virus (BCRV; Togaviridae: Alphavirus) is an RNA arbovirus transmitted by the swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius) to the cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and the introduced house sparrow (Passer domesticus) that has recently invaded swallow nesting colonies. The virus has little impact on cliff swallows, but house sparrows are seriously affected by BCRV. For house sparrows occupying swallow nesting colonies in western Nebraska, USA, the prevalence of BCRV in nestling sparrows increased with sparrow colony size at a site but decreased with the number of cliff swallows present. If one nestling in a nest was infected with the virus, there was a greater likelihood that one or more of its nest-mates would also be infected than nestlings chosen at random. The closer a nest was to another nest containing infected nestlings, the greater the likelihood that some of the nestlings in the focal nest would be BCRV-positive. These results illustrate that BCRV represents a cost of coloniality for a vertebrate host (the house sparrow), perhaps the first such demonstration for an arbovirus, and that virus infection is spatially clustered within nests and within colonies. The decreased incidence of BCRV in sparrows as cliff swallows at a site increased reflects the “dilution effect,” in which virus transmission is reduced when a vector switches to feeding on a less competent vertebrate host.
A METHOD OF CREATING A NEW SPEAKER’S VOICEFONT IN A TEXT-TO-SPEECH SYSTEM

This paper presents a method of creating a new speaker’s voice database ( VoiceFont ) by which the voice of the donor speaker can be synthesized for mimicking in a text-to-speech system. A VoiceFont creation system, “ VoiceFont Builder ”, is developed to make the creation process easier and more effective than current systems. The voice feature extraction applied in the system is a simple but powerful method that makes the most of the target speech synthesizer. Using a VoiceFont obtained, we conducted experiments on F0 contour generation in view of reproducing that of the donor speaker’s voice.
Efficient Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Frequency Multipliers Using Nonlinear Transmission Lines in CMOS Technology

Frequency multipliers are an attractive solution for signal generation in CMOS near and above cutoff frequencies (fmax) of active devices. This work focuses on nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) based frequency multipliers, which can be employed for high output power and broadband operation. The performance of an NLTL-based multiplier is limited by the phase mismatch at frequencies of interest caused by dispersion. We propose an alternate NLTL and engineer dispersion to eliminate phase mismatch between desired harmonics. We build two prototypes. First, a 20-GHz frequency doubler is implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process. Second, to show the feasibility of our approach near fmax, a 100-GHz frequency tripler is demonstrated in a 130-nm CMOS process (fmax <; 130 GHz). The achieved conversion loss is 3.5 and 12.2 dB for the doubler and tripler, respectively. The frequency tripler generates maximum power of -1.5 dBm. The relative bandwidth of the doubler and tripler is about 23% and 12.3%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the frequency tripler outperforms any previously reported work implemented in a 130-nm CMOS at or above 100 GHz in terms of output power and bandwidth.
Expression of Chicken Troponin T Isoforms in Cultured Muscle Cells

Abstract Cells prepared from chicken skeletal muscles of different developmental stages were cultured to study their troponin T isoform expression, using antisera specific to the fast- and slow-muscle-type isoforms. We found that the cultured myogenic cells from chickens and chick embryos were classified into two types, fast type and fast/slow type in which fast- and slow-muscle-type isoforms were coexpressed. Cells expressing only slow-muscle-type troponin T isoforms could not be found. Most cells prepared from pectoralis major (fast muscle) and gastrocnemius (mixed muscle) of 11-day old embryos belonged to the latter, with only a small fraction belonging to the former. The percentage of fast type cells in those cells prepared from pectoralis major increased along development to over 90% by the 17th day of incubation, while, in the cells prepared from gastrocnemius, it reached a plateau of 30-40% by the 13th day of incubation. All the cells from anterior latissimus dorsi (slow muscle) belonged to the fast/slow type. Ratios of these two types of muscle cells varied depending on their origins and stages. The in vitro expression of troponin T isoforms was different from the in vivo expression, and each muscle seems to be determined differently in the composition of cell types during the developmental course.