Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dok-1 and Dok-2 are negative regulators of lipopolysaccharide-induced signaling

Endotoxin, a bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), causes fatal septic shock via Toll-like receptor (TLR)4 on effector cells of innate immunity like macrophages, where it activates nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases to induce proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Dok-1 and Dok-2 are adaptor proteins that negatively regulate Ras–Erk signaling downstream of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs). Here, we demonstrate that LPS rapidly induced the tyrosine phosphorylation and adaptor function of these proteins. The stimulation with LPS of macrophages from mice lacking Dok-1 or Dok-2 induced elevated Erk activation, but not the other MAP kinases or NF-κB, resulting in hyperproduction of TNF-α and nitric oxide. Furthermore, the mutant mice showed hyperproduction of TNF-α and hypersensitivity to LPS. However, macrophages from these mutant mice reacted normally to other pathogenic molecules, CpG oligodeoxynucleotides, poly(I:C) ribonucleotides, or Pam3CSK4 lipopeptide, which activated cognate TLRs but induced no tyrosine phosphorylation of Dok-1 or Dok-2. Forced expression of either adaptor, but not a mutant having a Tyr/Phe substitution, in macrophages inhibited LPS-induced Erk activation and TNF-α production. Thus, Dok-1 and Dok-2 are essential negative regulators downstream of TLR4, implying a novel PTK-dependent pathway in innate immunity.
Optimization and effects of different culture conditions on growth of Halomicronema hongdechloris – a filamentous cyanobacterium containing chlorophyll f

A chlorophyll f containing cyanobacterium, Halomicronema hongdechloris (H. hongdechloris) was isolated from a stromatolite cyanobacterial community. The extremely slow growth rate of H. hongdechloris has hindered research on this newly isolated cyanobacterium and the investigation of chlorophyll f-photosynthesis. Therefore, optimizing H. hongdechloris culture conditions has become an essential requirement for future research. This work investigated the effects of various culture conditions, essential nutrients and light environments to determine the optimal growth conditions for H. hongdechloris and the biosynthetic rate of chlorophyll f. Based on the total chlorophyll concentration, an optimal growth rate of 0.22 ± 0.02 day-1(doubling time: 3.1 ± 0.3 days) was observed when cells were grown under continuous illumination with far-red light with an intensity of 20 μE at 32°C in modified K + ES seawater (pH 8.0) with additional nitrogen and phosphor supplements. High performance liquid chromatography on H. hongdechloris pigments confirmed that chlorophyll a is the major chlorophyll and chlorophyll f constitutes ~10% of the total chlorophyll from cells grown under far-red light. Fluorescence confocal image analysis demonstrated changes of photosynthetic membranes and the distribution of photopigments in response to different light conditions. The total photosynthetic oxygen evolution yield per cell showed no changes under different light conditions, which confirms the involvement of chlorophyll f in oxygenic photosynthesis. The implications of the presence of chlorophyll f in H. hongdechloris and its relationship with the ambient light environment are discussed.
Social Task Regulation in the Dimorphic Ant, Pheidole pallidula: the Influence of Caste Ratio

Abstract We investigated whether the physical castes of the dimorphic ant Pheidole pallidula (Nylander) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), are involved in determining within-nest activities and how their social investment in everyday tasks is influenced by large changes in the colony's caste ratio. Although the large-headed majors are morphologically distinct from minors, they are similar in size, exhibit similar behavioral repertoires and carry out nearly the same tasks as minors. Changes, even large ones, in the colony's caste ratio have no significant effect on the repertoire size of either caste. Majors do not compensate for the depletion of minors by expanding their repertoire or increasing their activity level. Instead of being an idle stand-by caste as suggested for other Pheidole specie s, P. pallidula majors are nearly as totipotent as minors. Moreover, their performance rate of social behaviors is remarkably high and constant regardless of the colony caste ratio. Such high investment of the major caste helps the colony to keep social behaviors at a baseline even in colonies undergoing large demographic changes. Alternative schemes of social regulation in polymorphic ant species are discussed. A possible methodological bias accounting for between-species differences in the level of majors' specialization is described.
Chromatic and luminance interactions in spatial contrast signals

We report VEP studies which delineate interactions between chromatic and luminance contrast signals. We examined responses to sinusoidal luminance gratings undergoing 4-Hz square-wave contrast reversal, upon which standing gratings with various admixtures of luminance and chromatic contrast were alternately superimposed and withdrawn. The presence of the standing grating induced a VEP component at the fundamental frequency of the contrast-reversal grating. This VEP component appeared without any appreciable lag, and did not vary in amplitude over the 4 s during which the standing grating was present. The observed fundamental response differed from the fundamental component that would be expected from the known interaction between the luminance component of the standing grating with the modulated grating (Bodis-Wollner et al., 1972; Bobak et al., 1988), in three ways: (1) The fundamental response was not nulled for standing gratings that were isoluminant or near-isoluminant. (2) The chromatic dependence of the fundamental response implied an S-cone input to the interaction. (3) No single mechanism (driven by a linear combination of cone signals) could account quantitatively for the size of this response, particularly when the standing grating strongly modulated two cones in phase.
Multi-objective Full Model Selection in temporal databases: Optimizing time and performance

In this paper, a multi-objective approach to address the Full Model Selection (FMS) problem in temporal databases is presented. FMS problem is defined as a multi-objective problem where Cross Validation Error Rate (CVER) and the spent runtime (RT) of each candidate model are considered as objectives to be optimized through the well-known NSGA-II algorithm. The intuitive idea is to select competitive models that are not too computationally expensive. Four strategies for preferences handling from the Pareto front obtained by the proposed approach called N2FMS (NSGA-II for FMS) are compared, where three of them are ensemble solutions and the last one is the selection of the nearest solution to a reference point, which results to be the best strategy. The overall assessment suggests that N2FMS is an useful tool to find competitive models and it is capable of suggesting solutions with a lower runtime and competitive error rate.
Estimation of percentage body fat in 6- to 13-year-old children by skinfold thickness, body mass index and waist circumference

We evaluated the accuracy of skinfold thicknesses, BMI and waist circumference for the prediction of percentage body fat (PBF) in a representative sample of 372 Swiss children aged 6–13 years. PBF was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. On the basis of a preliminary bootstrap selection of predictors, seven regression models were evaluated. All models included sex, age and pubertal stage plus one of the following predictors: (1) log-transformed triceps skinfold (logTSF); (2) logTSF and waist circumference; (3) log-transformed sum of triceps and subscapular skinfolds (logSF2); (4) log-transformed sum of triceps, biceps, subscapular and supra-iliac skinfolds (logSF4); (5) BMI; (6) waist circumference; (7) BMI and waist circumference. The adjusted determination coefficient (R _{adj}^{2} ) and the root mean squared error (RMSE; kg) were calculated for each model. LogSF4 (R _{adj}^{2} 0·85; RMSE 2·35) and logSF2 (R _{adj}^{2} 0·82; RMSE 2·54) were similarly accurate at predicting PBF and superior to logTSF (R _{adj}^{2} 0·75; RMSE 3·02), logTSF combined with waist circumference (R _{adj}^{2} 0·78; RMSE 2·85), BMI (R _{adj}^{2} 0·62; RMSE 3·73), waist circumference (R _{adj}^{2} 0·58; RMSE 3·89), and BMI combined with waist circumference (R _{adj}^{2} 0·63; RMSE 3·66) (P < 0·001 for all values of R _{adj}^{2} ). The finding that logSF4 was only modestly superior to logSF2 and that logTSF was better than BMI and waist circumference at predicting PBF has important implications for paediatric epidemiological studies aimed at disentangling the effect of body fat on health outcomes.
Ccpg1, a Novel Scaffold Protein That Regulates the Activity of the Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Dbs

ABSTRACT Dbs is a Rho-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor (RhoGEF) with in vitro exchange activity specific for RhoA and Cdc42. Like many RhoGEF family members, the in vivo exchange activity of Dbs is restricted in a cell-specific manner. Here we report the characterization of a novel scaffold protein (designated cell cycle progression protein 1 [Ccpg1]) that interacts with Dbs and modulates its in vivo exchange specificity. When coexpressed in mammalian cells, Ccpg1 binds to the Dbl homology/pleckstrin homology domain tandem motif of Dbs and inhibits its exchange activity toward RhoA, but not Cdc42. Expression of Ccpg1 correlates with the ability of Dbs to activate endogenous RhoA in cultured cells, and suppression of endogenous Ccpg1 expression potentiates Dbs exchange activity toward RhoA. The isolated Dbs binding domain of Ccpg1 is not sufficient to suppress Dbs exchange activity on RhoA, thus suggesting a regulatory interaction. Ccpg1 mediates recruitment of endogenous Src kinase into Dbs-containing complexes and interacts with the Rho family member Cdc42. Collectively, our studies suggest that Ccpg1 represents a new class of regulatory scaffold protein that can function as both an assembly platform for Rho protein signaling complexes and a regulatory protein which can restrict the substrate utilization of a promiscuous RhoGEF family member.
Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication Principles3D Vector-Raster Data Integration Model Based on View Dependent Quadtree and GPU Friendly Rendering Algorithm

In this paper, a 3D spatial data model based on vector and raster integration is presented, which encompasses both very large terrains and very detailed features, and a GPU friendly scheme to generate not only texture, but also the shape of the terrain. We rely on a view dependent quadtree refinement scheme. New quads are generated when needed and cached on the GPU. For each quad we produce on the GPU an appearance texture, based on the features vector description and their associated shaders. Adaptive refinement, procedural vector features and a mipmap pyramid provide three LOD mechanisms for small, medium and large scale quads. Our results show high performance with high visual quality.
A combinatorial characterization of smooth LTCs and applications

The study of locally testable codes (LTCs) has benefited from a number of nontrivial constructions discovered in recent years. Yet, we still lack a good understanding of what makes a linear error correcting code locally testable and as a result we do not know what is the rate‐limit of LTCs and whether asymptotically good linear LTCs with constant query complexity exist. In this paper, we provide a combinatorial characterization of smooth locally testable codes, which are locally testable codes whose associated tester queries every bit of the tested word with equal probability. Our main contribution is a combinatorial property defined on the Tanner graph associated with the code tester (“well‐structured tester”). We show that a family of codes is smoothly locally testable if and only if it has a well‐structured tester.
Chinese Exchange Rate Regimes and the Optimal Basket Weights for the Rest of East Asia

China has recently announced its intention to fundamentally reform its currency regime in the future. This paper studies how the country's choice of its exchange rate regime interacts with the rest of East Asia's choice. For that purpose, I build a four country new open economy macroeconomic model that consists of East Asia, China, Japan and the US. It is assumed that both East Asia and China peg their respective currencies to certain weighted averages of the Japanese yen and the US dollar. Each side takes the other's choice as given and chooses its own basket weight. The game is characterized by strategic complementarity. It is shown that the currency in which the traded goods prices are quoted plays an important role. The paper considers two alternative cases, the standard producer currency pricing (PCP) case and the vehicle currency pricing (VCP) case in which all the prices of traded goods are preset in the units of US dollars. In the PCP case, trade volume is the important determinant of the equilibrium basket weights, and the balances of trade are inconsequential. However, in the VCP case, trade balances between the four economies are shown to play an important role. Under VCP, and starting from realistic initial trade balances, the equilibrium basket weights far exceed what are implied by Japan's presence in international trade.
Globalisation, Industrial Restructuring and Labour Standards: Where India Meets the Global

Introduction The Scale Profit and Wage Distribution Institutions and Organisations Wage-Productivity and Labour Market Flexibility Global 'Subject' and Local 'Object' Wage Distribution Skills 'Mismatch'? Indian Corporate Sector Profitability, Wage Bargaining, and 'Limits' - Contesting Grounds of /f003Cash/f001 Labour Standards Globalisation and Labour Standards The 'Agenda' Beyond WTO
Isosurface extraction and interpretation on very large datasets in geophysics

In order to deal with the heavy trend in size increase of volumetric datasets, research in isosurface extraction has focused in the past few years on related aspects such as surface simplification and load balanced parallel algorithms. We present in this paper a parallel, bloc-wise extension of the tandem algorithm [Attali et al. 2005], which simplifies on the fly an isosurface being extracted. Our approach minimizes the overall memory consumption using an adequate bloc splitting and merging strategy and with the introduction of a component dumping mechanism that drastically reduces the amount of memory needed for particular datasets such as those encountered in geophysics. As soon as detected, surface components are migrated to the disk along with a meta-data index (oriented bounding box, volume, etc) that will allow further improved exploration scenarios (small components removal or particularly oriented components selection for instance). For ease of implementation, we carefully describe a master and slave algorithm architecture that clearly separates the four required basic tasks. We show several results of our parallel algorithm applied on a 7000x1600x2000 geophysics dataset.
Effect of Slug-Mediated Down-Regulation of E-Cadherin on Invasiveness and Metastasis of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Cells

Background Slug has been found to promote migration and invasion of many cancer cells, including anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC). Thus, targeting Slug expression could provide new approaches for the treatment of patients with ATC. Material/Methods Small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting Slug (Slug siRNA) was used to construct clonal derivatives in the metastatic ATC SW1736 cells. Slug cDNA transfection was used to restore the Slug expression in the Slug siRNA-transfected SW1736 cells (Slug siRNA/SW1736). E-cadherin siRNA was used to inhibit E-cadherin expression in the Slug siRNA/SW1736 cells. The SW1736 cell migration, invasion, and signaling pathway was analyzed in vitro. Furthermore, the stable Slug siRNA-transfected SW1736 clones were used for the lung metastasis assay in an in vivo mouse model. Results Targeting Slug expression in SW1736 cells showed a 45% decrease in migration and an 85% decrease in invasiveness in vitro. Knockdown of E-cadherin by E-cadherin siRNA transfection or Slug overexpression by Slug cDNA transfection restored the invasive and migrative ability in SW1736 cells. In addition, we found an 80% decrease in the number of macroscopic lung metastases nodes of mice by in vivo analysis. Western blot assay showed that Slug expression was inhibited and E-cadherin expression was increased in the Slug siRNA-transfected tumors. Conclusions Targeting Slug signaling pathway is effective in preventing lung metastasis in ATC.
Allatostatin modulates skeletal muscle performance in crustaceans through pre‐ and postsynaptic effects

Allatostatins, originally identified in insects as peptide inhibitors of juvenile hormone biosynthesis, are regarded as potent inhibitory regulators of intestinal muscles in insects and crustaceans. However, accumulating data indicate that allatostatins might also be involved in modulation of skeletal neuromuscular events. We show that most ganglia of two isopod crustaceans (Idotea baltica and I. emarginata) contain pairs of large, allatostatin‐immunoreactive motor neurons which supply several segmental muscles. Among them are the dorsal extensor muscles, of which some fibres receive immunoreactive, varicose innervation. We demonstrate, on identified muscle fibres, that allatostatin exerts a twofold inhibitory effect: it reduces contractions of single voltage‐clamped fibres, and it decreases the amplitude of evoked excitatory junctional currents recorded from individual release boutons. No change in excitation‐contraction threshold or in passive membrane parameters was observed. As the amplitude of miniature currents generated by spontaneously released single transmitter quanta was not changed, the inhibitory effect of the peptide on junctional currents must be of presynaptic origin. Supportive results were obtained on leg muscles of the crab Eriphia spinifrons, where allatostatin decreased evoked synaptic currents by reducing the mean number of transmitter quanta released by presynaptic depolarization without affecting the amplitudes of currents generated by single quanta. This effect of allatostatin was similar for two functionally different neurons, the slow and the fast closer excitor.
Grand Challenge: GraphCEP - Real-time Data Analytics Using Parallel Complex Event and Graph Processing

In recent years, the proliferation of highly dynamic graph-structured data streams fueled the demand for real-time data analytics. For instance, detecting recent trends in social networks enables new applications in areas such as disaster detection, business analytics or health-care. Parallel Complex Event Processing has evolved as the paradigm of choice to analyze data streams in a timely manner, where the incoming data streams are split and processed independently by parallel operator instances. However, the degree of parallelism is limited by the feasibility of splitting the data streams into independent parts such that correctness of event processing is still ensured. In this paper, we overcome this limitation for graph-structured data by further paral-lelizing individual operator instances using modern graph processing systems. These systems partition the graph data and execute graph algorithms in a highly parallel fashion, for instance using cloud resources. To this end, we pro-pose a novel graph-based Complex Event Processing system GraphCEP and evaluate its performance in the setting of two case studies from the DEBS Grand Challenge 2016.
Convergence des politiques macroéconomiques et croissance économique en UEMOA

La convergence des politiques macroeconomiques est aujourd’hui, dans un contexte de recession durable, au centre des debats, dans les pays europeens, principaux bailleurs de fonds des pays de l’UEMOA. Elle provoque une incoherence derangeante dans les pays de cette zone monetaire qui, pour des raisons historiques, ont adopte comme monnaie d’ancrage l’euro et recherche une croissance forte et durable. Cette these propose une reflexion approfondie sur la relation entre le respect des criteres de convergence et la croissance economique, en UEMOA. Nous avons, dans une premiere partie, etudie cette convergence tout en mettant en evidence les obstacles a l’enchainement vertueux entre cette derniere et la croissance economique. Dans la seconde partie, nous avons recherche les solutions susceptibles d’ameliorer la capacite des pays a converger et a accelerer leur croissance. Nous concluons qu’il faut desserrer les contraintes monetaires et budgetaires et accompagner ces mesures par la mise en œuvre d’une solidarite inter-pays/inter-autorites. Leur efficacite peut etre accrue par une extension de l’espace economique, commencant par un pole de convergence, et la prise en charge communautaire de la stabilite sociale.
Single-input single-output EMG-based musculoskeletal modeling for hand tremulous motion

Musculoskeletal system modeling is one of the most challenging problems in rehabilitation engineering, especially when body part position or motion control is involved. Musculoskeletal system is known to be highly nonlinear due to complicated actuation mechanism of the muscle fiber to generate observable / measurable motion. Numerous researchers have proposed models with different approaches to meet the requirements for various applications. Complicated models are usually corresponding to complicated model parameters identification methods or procedures. A simple procedure for identification of the model parameters is preferred in most of modeling related to control problems.
Transitional Vertebra and Spina Bifida Occulta Related with Chronic Low Back Pain in a Young Patient

Bertolotti’s syndrome (BS) must be considered as a differential diagnosis in a young patient presenting with low back pain (LBP). We present a case of a 26-year-old male complaining of mild chronic LBP for six years, radiating to his left thigh for the past six months. He has been taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with skeletal muscle relaxants for pain relief. The X-ray and computed tomography (CT) imagings showed congenital enlargement of the left transverse process of the fifth lumbar (L5) vertebra forming pseudo-articulation with the sacrum and unilateral pars interarticularis defect at the L4 level on the left side, respectively. He has managed with gabapentin 100 mg three times a day for his neuropathic left leg pain. On follow-up, the patient reported that his pain has improved with gabapentin and it decreased from 8/10 to 4/10 on the visual analogue scale.
Structural breaks, demand for money and monetary policy in Fiji

This article fills a gap in the empirical work on the demand for money in Fiji. We allowed for structural breaks in the cointegrating equation, within the Gregory and Hansen framework, and found that there is a cointegrating relationship between real narrow money, real income and the nominal rate of interest in three types of structural break models. However, only the model with an intercept shift for the 1987 political coup yields a meaningful cointegrating relationship. Allowing for this break, we found that the demand for money in Fiji is stable. Using our estimates the successes and failures of monetary policy are analysed.