Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Astroglial modulation of transient potassium current development in cultured mouse hippocampal neurons

Hippocampal neurons exhibit three voltage-gated potassium currents, two transient currents and a delayed rectifier, that influence numerous aspects of electrogenesis including action potential duration and accommodation to sustained depolarization. These currents, termed A-, D- , and K-currents, respectively, can be distinguished based on kinetics, steady state inactivation characteristics, and sensitivity to 4- aminopyridine (see Wu and Barish, 1992b). We have compared the voltage- gated potassium currents in voltage-clamped pyramidally shaped cultured hippocampal neurons growing on or touching glial fibrillary acidic protein-expressing astroglia (termed on-glia or touching-glia neurons, respectively) with those in similar neurons growing directly on a coated glass substrate (termed off-glia neurons). We observed differences in the wave forms of total potassium current that correlated with the extent of astroglial contact. After 5–7 d in culture, A-current amplitude in off-glial neurons was approximately 19% of that of neurons growing in the normal (for culture) on-glia configuration. D-current amplitude tended to be larger in these off- glia neurons. Neurons in contact with astroglia had greater membrane area than off-glia neurons. Comparison of current densities (current at a fixed voltage normalized to capacitance and expressed in units of pA/pF) indicated that A-currents were the major component of transient potassium current in on- and touching-glia neurons, while D-currents were more dominant in off-glia neurons. Astroglia influenced membrane currents by a surface- or extracellular matrix-associated mechanism, rather than by free diffusion of a soluble factor, as differences were observed between closely adjacent neurons on the same coverslip. Living glia were required, as potassium currents in neurons grown on dried or methanol-fixed glia resembled those of off-glia neurons. On-glia neurons in cultures treated with an RNA synthesis inhibitor [DRB (5,6- dichloro-1-beta-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole)] for 5–7 d had reduced whole-cell capacitance and A-current amplitude. This effect was localized to DRB actions on underlying astroglia, not on the neurons. Action potentials elicited by current injection varied with astroglial contact. In on-glia neurons with relatively larger A-currents a delay was seen in the onset of firing after depolarization. In contrast, action potentials in off-glia neurons rose smoothly after initiation of depolarization. We conclude that astrocytes modulate the appearance of transient potassium currents in hippocampal pyramidal neurons by inducing development of A-current. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Assessing Models of Case Management:: An Empirical Approach

No studies have assessed whether different models of case management are being implemented. The purpose of this study was to see if case management services given to a sample of chronically mentally ill adults followed any or all of the models postulated by Ross (1980) -Minimal, Coordination, or Comprehensive. Analysis of service data showed that case management services were given according to all three models. Implications for case management practice and for research are discussed.
Impact of social value orientation on energy conservation in different behavioral domains

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between social value orientation and energy conservation over different energy consumption domains. Additionally, the impact of type of energy conservation measure (curtailment vs. energy efficiency) was investigated. Data were derived from a mail survey of Swiss households (N = 1,209). It was expected that social value orientation and type of conservation measure affect conservation behavior. Confirming our hypotheses, prosocials reported more energy conservation—in the housing, mobility, and food domain—compared with individualists and competitors. As assumed, the difference in energy conservation between the three social value orientations was found for curtailment behaviors, but not for energy efficiency behaviors requiring no change in habits. Results and implications are discussed.
Generic multi-document summarization using cluster refinement and NMF

In this paper, a generic summarization method that uses cluster refinement and NMF is introduced to extract meaningful sentences from documents. The proposed method uses cluster refinement to improve the quality of document clustering since it helps us to remove dissimilarity information easily and avoid biased inherent semantics of documents to be reflected in clusters by NMF. In addition, it uses the weighted semantic variable to select meaningful sentences because the extracted sentences are well covered with the major topics of document. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has better performance than other methods that use the other methods.
Effect of endurance training on sedentary energy expenditure measured in a respiratory chamber.

The effect of endurance training on 24-h energy expenditure (EE), basal metabolic rate (BMR), sleeping metabolic rate (SMR), and the thermic effect of food (TEF) was assessed in a respiratory chamber where only spontaneous physical activity (SPA) was allowed. Results from 20 highly trained male endurance athletes (25 +/- 5 yr, 178 +/- 7 cm, 70 +/- 8 kg body wt, 64 +/- 7 kg fat-free mass) were compared with those of 43 untrained males who were matched for age (28 +/- 6 yr), height (175 +/- 5 cm), weight (73 +/- 13 kg), and fat-free mass (62 +/- 8 kg). Subjects were admitted to a metabolic ward, fed a weight-maintenance diet, and refrained from physical activity for at least 2 days before measurements. No significant differences were found with respect to 24-h EE (2,126 +/- 186 vs. 2,154 +/- 245 kcal), BMR (1,808 +/- 342 vs. 1,709 +/- 329 kcal), SMR (1,523 +/- 120 vs. 1,555 +/- 188 kcal), or TEF (24.9 +/- 9.2 vs. 21.3 +/- 6.7% of ingested calories; these values included the energy cost of arousal) between trained and untrained subjects, respectively, before or after adjusting for differences in body composition. Neither the 24-h respiratory quotient nor the level of SPA differed between the two groups. No relationship was found between maximal aerobic capacity and metabolic rate adjusted for differences in fat-free mass and fat mass. These results do not support an effect of fitness level on EE measured under sedentary conditions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Leipzig: A destination for transnational migrants in creative and knowledge-intensive indusries? The view of transnational migrants

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Adaptive Sink Mobility in Event-Driven Densely Deployed Wireless Sensor Networks

Optimizing energy consumption in wireless sensor networks is of paramount importance. There is a recent trend to deal with this problem by introducing mobile elements (sensors or sink nodes) in the network. The majority of these approaches assume time-driven scenarios and/or singlehop communication between participating nodes. However, there are several real-life applications for which an event-based and multi-hop operation is more appropriate. In this paper we propose to adaptively move the sink node inside the covered region, according to the evolution of current events, so as to minimize the energy consumption incurred by the multihop transmission of the event-related data. Both analytical and simulation results are given for two optimization strategies: minimizing the overall energy consumption, and minimizing the maximum load on a specific sensor respectively. We show that by adaptively moving the sink, significant power saving can be achieved, prolonging the lifetime of the network.
Rapid isolation and characterization of the yeast proteasome regulatory complex.

The 26S proteasome, which catalyzes degradation of ubiquitinated proteins, is composed of the 20S proteasome and the 19S complex. Recently, it has been reported that the 26S complex can be dissociated into the lid complex and the 20S-proteasome-base complex in a mutant yeast and that the lid complex is required for ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. In the present study, we established methods for rapid isolation of the 19S complex, the lid complex, and the base complex from wild-type yeast. The isolated 19S complex was capable of binding to the 20S proteasome to reconstitute the 26S proteasome. In contrast with the previously reported result showing that Rpn10, a multiubiquitin chain binding subunit, is a component of the base complex, we present evidence that the lid complex isolated from wild-type yeast contains Rpn10.
fbpABC Gene Cluster in Neisseria meningitidis Is Transcribed as an Operon

ABSTRACT The neisserial fbpABC locus has been proposed to constitute a single transcriptional unit. To confirm this operonic arrangement, transcription assays using reverse transcriptase PCR amplification were conducted with Neisseria meningitidis. The presence of fbpAB and fbpBC transcripts obtained by priming cDNA synthesis with anfbpC-sequence-specific oligonucleotide indicates thatfbpABC is organized as a single expression unit. The ratio of fbpA to fbpABC mRNA was approximately between 10- to 20-fold, as determined by real-time quantitative PCR.
AKHMEDOV and PARK 2 . First family with positive signature

We construct new families of symplectic 4-manifolds with nonnegative signature that are interesting with respect to the geography problem. In particular, we construct an irreducible symplectic 4-manifold that is homeomorphic to mCP#mCP for each odd integer m satisfying m ≥ 49.
EFFICIENT ALGORITHMS FOR MULTI-LAYER UNICAST AND MULTICAST ROUTING IN OPTICAL NETWORKS

The amount of traffic transported over the Internet is growing year by year. According to the latest forecast this trend will not be changed in the near future. As the end users have gotten accustomed to the current level of service of Internet access – its bandwidth and reliability –, they will not except any decrease in the overall Quality of Service (QoS) without the decrease of their fee. Moreover, the competition for users is getting stronger and stronger with the introduction of new technologies between the different Internet Service Providers (ISP). These, in the end, lower the revenue of the ISPs if no new service is offered. To serve these demands – higher overall bandwidth with the same or even higher reliability for less money – two options should be considered: • building of new infrastructure or extending existing infrastructure, • application of new technologies that may increase the throughput. The former is more expensive, increases both the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and the Operational Expenditure (OPEX) as well. Even though this option cannot be avoided, it should be minimized. Within the latter possibility – application of new technologies – there are two more sub-options: better traffic organization and applying new technologies. In this Dissertation I address both the problem of better traffic organization and the application of new technologies. It was shown by many researches that the overall bandwidth consumption of a network can be significantly lowered with the proper utilization of multicasting. The fact that more than one destinations share the same transportation unit – wavelength, sub-wavelength, etc. – makes it really vulnerable for any kind of failure. The problem of protection and restoration of multicast demands in case of single link failure is a well investigated topic, many interesting methods have been proposed. However, there has not been any deep comparison of different restoration technologies, based on their speed and cost effectiveness. I will compare different restoration approaches and show that the speed is the most important factor of the process. According to these the most important question in connection with restoration is the Mean Down Time (MDT) of services – the time that is needed to reestablish the connection –, while the common drawback of different protection methods are their tendency to be resource wasteful. I will propose a combined approach that will provide lowMDT with the minimal amount of reserved resource. One of the latest trends within the industry is to try to use fully optical routing wherever it is possible. This can be achieved by the introduction of new equipment, like optical splitters, optical amplifiers, etc.,
An improved differential evolution algorithm with priority calculation for unit commitment problem

Unit Commitment Problem (UCP) is a high-dimensional, discrete and non-linear optimization problem which is complicated so that it is difficult to find the optimal solution. This paper proposes a new method, called improved priority differential evolution (IPDE), based on differential evolution algorithm and priority calculation to solve UCP. We increased the speed of convergence and the accuracy of solution by means of adjusting individual, using penalty function and calculating priority. Compared with other algorithms, IPDE obtains better feasible solutions in different complexity.
Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations

1. Introduction 2. Theorizing Translingual Practice 3. Recovering Translingual Practices 4. English as Translingual 5. Translingual Negotiation Strategies 6. Pluralizing Academic Writing 7. Negotiating Translingual Literacy 8. Reconfiguring Translocal Spaces 9. Developing Performative Competence 10. Toward a Dialogical Cosmopolitanism Notes References
Evaluation of the strength-size relationship in vivo using various muscle size indices.

PURPOSE It is well accepted that maximum strength is related to muscle size. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether anthropometric or dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) estimates of muscle size were valid predictors of plantar flexor maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) strength and could be used in lieu of more sophisticated techniques (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)). Additionally, we compared the relationship among MVC and three MRI-determined muscle size measures; anatomical (ACSA) and physiological (PCSA) cross-sectional areas; and muscle volume (VOLm). METHODS We measured plantar flexor MVC at 1.83 rad and various indices of muscle size: 1) body weight, 2) total body lean mass (LM) (DEXA), 3) lower leg LM (DEXA), 4) lower leg circumference, 5) estimated muscle+bone cross-sectional area (CSA) from circumference and calf skin-fold, 6) triceps surae ACSA, 7) triceps surae PCSA, and (8) triceps surae volume (VOLm), in 39 premenopausal women (mean +/- SD: 36 +/- 8 yr, 165 +/- 6 cm, and 65 +/- 9 kg). RESULTS Zero-order correlations showed significant (P < 0.05) associations between MVC and total body LM (r = 0.365), lower leg LM (r = 0.381), circumference (r = 0.584), estimated muscle+bone CSA (r = 0.447), ACSA (r = 0.733), PCSA (r = 0.715), and VOLm (r = 0.649). By using the Fisher Z-transformation, ACSA and PCSA correlated significantly higher with MVC (P < 0.05) than anthropometric and DEXA indices. Further, only ACSA and PCSA regressed to the origin, indicating the ability to predict MVC was greatest with these two measures. CONCLUSIONS The MRI-determined muscle size indices, which were specific to the triceps surae, correlated with strength better than whole limb anthropometric and DEXA indices. In this group of women, both ACSA and PCSA appeared superior to VOLm for predicting strength. PCSA was not found to be more precise than ACSA. ACSA appears to provide adequate precision for estimating plantar flexor specific tension in vivo.
Antimicrobials: Modes of Action and Mechanisms of Resistance

After six decades of widespread antibiotic use, bacterial pathogens of human and animal origin are becoming increasingly resistant to many antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial resistance develops through a limited number of mechanisms: (a) permeability changes in the bacterial cell wall/membrane, which restrict antimicrobial access to target sites; (b) active efflux of the antimicrobial from the cell; (c) mutation in the target site; (d) enzymatic modification or degradation of the antimicrobial; and (e) acquisition of alternative metabolic pathways to those inhibited by the drug. Numerous bacterial antimicrobial resistance phenotypes result from the acquisition of external genes that may provide resistance to an entire class of antimicrobials. These genes are frequently associated with large transferable extrachromosomal DNA elements called plasmids, on which may be other mobile DNA elements such as transposons and integrons. An array of different resistance genes may accumulate on a single mobile element, presenting a situation in which multiple antibiotic resistance can be acquired via a single genetic event. The versatility of bacterial populations in adapting to toxic environments, along with their facility in exchanging DNA, signifies that antibiotic resistance is an inevitable biological phenomenon that will likely continue to be a chronic medical problem. Successful management of current antimicrobials, and the continued development of new ones, is vital to protecting human and animal health against bacterial pathogens.
Insufficient Sleep in Adolescents and Young Adults: An Update on Causes and Consequences

Chronic sleep loss and associated sleepiness and daytime impairments in adolescence are a serious threat to the academic success, health, and safety of our nation’s youth and an important public health issue. Understanding the extent and potential short- and long-term repercussions of sleep restriction, as well as the unhealthy sleep practices and environmental factors that contribute to sleep loss in adolescents, is key in setting public policies to mitigate these effects and in counseling patients and families in the clinical setting. This report reviews the current literature on sleep patterns in adolescents, factors contributing to chronic sleep loss (ie, electronic media use, caffeine consumption), and health-related consequences, such as depression, increased obesity risk, and higher rates of drowsy driving accidents. The report also discusses the potential role of later school start times as a means of reducing adolescent sleepiness.
Cross-protective immunity can account for the alternating epidemic pattern of dengue virus serotypes circulating in Bangkok

Dengue virus, the causative agent of dengue fever and its more serious manifestation dengue hemorrhagic fever, is widespread throughout tropical and subtropical regions. The virus exists as four distinct serotypes, all of which have cocirculated in Bangkok for several decades with epidemic outbreaks occurring every 8–10 years. We analyze time-series data of monthly infection incidence, revealing a distinctive pattern with epidemics of serotypes 1, 2, and 3 occurring at approximately the same time and an isolated epidemic of serotype 4 occurring in the intervening years. Phylogenetic analysis of virus samples collected over the same period shows that clade replacement events are linked to the epidemic cycle and indicates that there is an interserotypic immune reaction. Using an epidemic model with stochastic seasonal forcing showing 8- to 10-year epidemic oscillations, we demonstrate that moderate cross-protective immunity gives rise to persistent out-of-phase oscillations similar to those observed in the data, but that strong or weak cross-protection or cross-enhancement only produces in-phase patterns. This behavior suggests that the epidemic pattern observed in Bangkok is the result of cross-protective immunity and may be significantly altered by changes in the interserotypic immune reaction.
A Biased Competition Theory of Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Interaction with Tumor Nodules

The dynamics of the interaction between Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL) and tumor cells has been addressed in depth, in particular using numerical simulations. However, stochastic mathematical models that take into account the competitive interaction between CTL and tumors undergoing immunoediting, a process of tumor cell escape from immunesurveillance, are presently missing. Here, we introduce a stochastic dynamical particle interaction model based on experimentally measured parameters that allows to describe CTL function during immunoediting. The model describes the competitive interaction between CTL and melanoma cell nodules and allows temporal and two-dimensional spatial progression. The model is designed to provide probabilistic estimates of tumor eradication through numerical simulations in which tunable parameters influencing CTL efficacy against a tumor nodule undergoing immunoediting are tested. Our model shows that the rate of CTL/tumor nodule productive collisions during the initial time of interaction determines the success of CTL in tumor eradication. It allows efficient cytotoxic function before the tumor cells acquire a substantial resistance to CTL attack, due to mutations stochastically occurring during cell division. Interestingly, a bias in CTL motility inducing a progressive attraction towards a few scout CTL, which have detected the nodule enhances early productive collisions and tumor eradication. Taken together, our results are compatible with a biased competition theory of CTL function in which CTL efficacy against a tumor nodule undergoing immunoediting is strongly dependent on guidance of CTL trajectories by scout siblings. They highlight unprecedented aspects of immune cell behavior that might inspire new CTL-based therapeutic strategies against tumors.
A Non-invasive Methodology for Fetal Monitoring during Pregnancy

Summary Objectives: This paper describes a methodology for the monitoring of the fetal cardiac health status during pregnancy, through the effective and non-invasive monitoring of the abdominal ECG signals (abdECG) of the mother. Methods: For this purpose, a three-stage methodology has been developed. In the first stage, the fetal heart rate (fHR) is extracted from the abdECG signals, using nonlinear analysis. Also, the eliminated ECG (eECG) is calculated, which is the abdECG after the maternal QRSs elimination. In the second stage, a blind source separation technique is applied to the eECG signals and the fetal ECG (fECG) is obtained. Finally, monitoring of the fetus is implemented using features extracted from the fHR and f ECG, such as the T/QRS ratio and the characterization of the fetal ST waveforms. Results: The methodology is evaluated using a dataset of simulated multichannel abdECG signals: 94.79% accuracy for fHR extraction, 92.49% accuracy in T/QRS ratio calculation and 79.87% in ST waveform classification. Conclusions: The novel non-invasive proposed methodology is advantageous since it offers automated identification of fHR and fECG and automated ST waveform analysis, exhibiting a high diagnostic accuracy.