Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fertility preservation for young people treated with cancer: What are the attitudes and knowledge of clinicians?

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Biomechatronic design and development of a legged rat robot

This paper describes the biomechatronic design of a legged rat robot, to be used in experiments on rat behavior. The rat robot has been designed so as to possess leg and body motion similar to those of real rats and to show the capability of rat-like simple behaviors, like walking and pushing a lever. The rat robot has 4 legs with 3 DOF (2 active and 1 passive) for each leg and 1 additional DOF allowing robot spine torsion. A cable and pulley mechanism allows the two front legs of the robot to perform manipulation tasks like pushing levers and buttons in a smooth and natural way, as not only the geometry and mass of the legs are similar to those of real rats, but also because the cables act, from an anatomical and physiological point of view, like the triceps muscle with the knee tendon structure. An interaction experiment, using our rat robot and two different real rats (control and experimental subject) has been conducted to verify the capability of the robotic rat to interact and teach simple tasks to the real rat.
Tolerance to the Effect of Morphine on Intestinal Transit 1

Introduction. The repeated or “chronic” injection of a narcotic analgesic, exemplified by morphine, often results in the phenomena of tolerance and physical dependence (1-3). In regard to the gastrointestinal tract, however, the responses to repeated administration of morphine are not clear. Tolerance to the effects of morphine on intestinal contractions in vitro appears to develop. The isolated ileum of the guinea pig is inhibited by morphine and tolerance develops to this inhibition (4). Also, tolerance develops to morphine's stimulation of dog isolated small intestine (5). On the other hand, results on the development of tolerance to the intestinal actions of morphine in vivo are meager and conflicting. Miller and Plant monitored intraluminal pressures from the intestines of unanesthetized dogs and found that tolerance did not develop to the stimulatory effects of morphine (6). In contrast, Thor et al. monitored the myoelec-tric activity of the small bowel of the unanesthetized dog and found that tolerance did develop to the stimulant action of morphine (7). Motility functions of the small intestine can be investigated by following the transit of a nonabsorbable marker. Alterations in transit are believed to be secondary to changes in the contractile patterns of the small intestinal musculature. This study was designed to: (i) assess quantitatively whether acute injections of morphine affect intestinal transit in unanesthetized rats, and (ii) determine whether prior treatment of the rats with repeated injections of morphine produces tolerance to the observed effects. Materials and methods. Intraduodenal catheters were implanted in 32 Sprague-Dawley rats (Sprague-Dawley, Madison, Wis.) weighing 203 ± 4 g (mean ± SE). Details of implantation have been reported (8). Briefly, the animals were anesthetized with 20 mg of ketamine hydrochloride (Ke-taject, Bristol Laboratories, Syracuse, N.Y.) administered intraperitoneally.
Fractional-bit and value-location lossless encoding in G.711.0 coder

The paper describes two lossless coding tools employed in the new ITU-T G.711. 0 Recommendation: fractional-bit and value-location encoding. Instead of encoding each sample individually as done in G.711, the fractional-bit coding tool identifies the total number of signal levels that exist within an input frame and then combines several samples for joint encoding with fractional-bits per sample. The value-location tool encodes positions of all values within an input frame that differ from a reference value. The method efficiently represents an input frame as a sum of value-location code vectors that are sequentially encoded using Rice, binary, or explicit location encoding. Presented results illustrate how the described coding techniques were adopted for usage within the new ITU-T G.711. 0 standard.
Accident Analysis and Prevention

In the future, vehicles will be able to warn drivers of hidden dangers before they are visible. Speciﬁc warning information about these hazards could improve drivers’ reactions and the warning effectiveness, but could also impair them, for example, by additional cognitive-processing costs. In a driving simulator study with 88 participants
Reduction of fertility in female mice iso-immunized with a sub-cellular sperm fraction.

Female mice were immunized with supernatant and sediment fractions of mouse sperm (sediment fraction contained a homogeneous suspension of nuclear material from the sperm head). The effect of the various sperm antigen preparations on fertility was evaluated in terms of litter size and percentage of fertilized eggs. Alum precipitated supernatant fractions reduced the number of offspring both in the first litter and in the first 2 litters combined; if the supernatant was not alum precipitated the decrease in litter size was not significant. This reduction persisted during 6 months postimmunization. Following reimmunization the number of mice showing less than 100% fertilization was significantly lower in controls than in those injected either with the supernatant or with whole spermatozoa. Mice injected with sediment were no different from the controls. Decline in litter size appeared to be due to a failure of eggs to be fertilized.
SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK1

A disease with striking clinical and pathologic similarities to the spongiform encephalopathies is described in six Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) maintained in wildlife facilities in Colorado and Wyoming. Clinical signs included behavioral alterations and progressive weight loss over a period of weeks or months. Consistent microscopic lesions were limited to the central nervous system and characterized by widespread spongiform transformation of the neuropil, intracytoplasmic vacuoles in neuronal perikaryons, and astrocytic hypertrophy and hyperplasia.
Proteomics Shows New Faces for the Old Penicillin Producer Penicillium chrysogenum

Fungi comprise a vast group of microorganisms including the Ascomycota (majority of all described fungi), the Basidiomycota (mushrooms or higher fungi), and the Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota (basal or lower fungi) that produce industrially interesting secondary metabolites, such as β-lactam antibiotics. These compounds are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs world-wide. Since Fleming's initial discovery of Penicillium notatum 80 years ago, the role of Penicillium as an antimicrobial source became patent. After the isolation of Penicillium chrysogenum NRRL 1951 six decades ago, classical mutagenesis and screening programs led to the development of industrial strains with increased productivity (at least three orders of magnitude). The new “omics” era has provided the key to understand the underlying mechanisms of the industrial strain improvement process. The review of different proteomics methods applied to P. chrysogenum has revealed that industrial modification of this microorganism was a consequence of a careful rebalancing of several metabolic pathways. In addition, the secretome analysis of P. chrysogenum has opened the door to new industrial applications for this versatile filamentous fungus.
Prevalence of Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis and Eczema among Lebanese Adolescents

Objective. Studies on allergic diseases remain scarce in Lebanon. The aim of the present study was to determine prevalence and characteristics of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema among Lebanese school children. Methods. The study was cross-sectional in design performed on a convenient sample of 3,115 students (13–14 yr) selected from 13 schools in 5 Lebanese provinces. Students were asked to complete the Arabic version of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire. Logistic regression was performed to assess the characteristics of having asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in the past year. Results. The prevalence of ever having asthma, rhinitis and eczema was 8.3%, 45.2% and 12.8% respectively, while the prevalence of the symptoms of these diseases in the past year was 24.1%, 38.6% and 20.9%, respectively. Residing in the South and the North provinces of Lebanon and living in a busy area increased the likelihood of developing asthma and rhinitis. Higher rates of asthma and eczema, however, was noted among students going to private schools (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3–2.1 and OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0–1.7, respectively). Passive smoking was significantly associated with asthma only (OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1–1.7). In addition to the above, the odds of having any of the three outcomes increases to at least 2.4-fold when accompanied by another allergic disease. Conclusions. Allergic diseases are highly prevalent in Lebanon and are catching up with the rates of developed countries. Moreover, the role of each of the three diseases in the existence of the other two had the greatest impact on their prevalence.
Tubuloglomerular feedback dynamics and renal blood flow autoregulation in rats.

To decide whether tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) can account for renal autoregulation, we tested predictions of a TGF simulation. Broad-band and single-frequency perturbations were applied to arterial pressure; arterial blood pressure, renal blood flow and proximal tubule pressure were measured. Data were analyzed by linear systems analysis. Broad-band forcings of arterial pressure were also applied to the model to compare experimental results with simulations. With arterial pressure as the input and tubular pressure, renal blood flow, or renal vascular resistance as outputs, the model correctly predicted gain and phase only in the low-frequency range. Experimental results revealed a second component of vascular control active at 100-150 mHz that was not predicted by the simulation. Forcings at single frequencies showed that the system behaves linearly except in the band of 33-50 mHz in which, in addition, there are autonomous oscillations in TGF. Higher amplitude forcings in this band were attenuated by autoregulatory mechanisms, but low-amplitude forcings entrained the autonomous oscillations and provoked amplified oscillations in blood flow, showing an effect of TGF on whole kidney blood flow. We conclude that two components can be detected in the dynamic regulation of renal blood flow, i.e., a slow component that represents TGF and a faster component that most likely represents an intrinsic vascular myogenic mechanism.
Regulated IRE1‐dependent decay participates in curtailing immunoglobulin secretion from plasma cells

Inositol‐requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) is a kinase and ribonuclease that executes the splicing of X box binding protein 1 (XBP‐1) mRNA in response to the accumulation of unfolded protein in the ER, a signal cascade termed the unfolded protein response. Recently, IRE1 has been implicated in mRNA and miRNA cleavage and degradation, a pathway termed regulated IRE1‐dependent decay (RIDD). Deletion of XBP‐1 in the liver and pancreas strongly enhances RIDD by upregulating IRE1 protein levels and enhancing its ribo‐nuclease activity. Because XBP‐1 is essential for generating plasma cells with developed secretory capacity, we sought to evaluate the contribution of RIDD to this regulation. Mice were conditionally deleted for XBP‐1 and/or IRE1 in their B‐cell lineage. Similarly to the liver, deletion of XBP‐1 induces IRE1 expression in LPS‐treated B cells. In vitro, IRE1 cleaves the mRNA of secretory μ chains, which explains the reduction in secretory μ mRNA and its synthesis in XBP‐1 KO plasma cells. In accordance, the IgM response is partially restored in XBP‐1/IRE1 double KO mice relative to XBP‐1 KO mice. Interestingly, the IgG1 response is reduced to a similar level in XBP‐1 KO, IRE1 KO, and their double knockout animals. Our data demonstrate a specific contribution by RIDD in curtailing immunoglobulin synthesis and secretion.
S100A6 and c-Kit-Positive Spindle Cell Melanoma of the Dorsal Foot

Spindle cell melanoma, which is a rare form of melanoma, is clinically and histopathologically difficult to diagnose from a variety of nonmelanocytic spindle cell tumors. We describe a 42-year-old Japanese woman with amelanotic melanoma that comprised spindle cells with positive c-kit and S100A6 staining. The use of c-kit and S100A6 might be useful for improving the diagnosis.
Web-based mailing list administration on RMX

The Rule-based e-Mail eXchange system, also known as RMX, is a mail transfer agent that transfers emails based on user-defined rules, which are applied to a relational database. It is a novel way of sending email to various groups of people, compared to conventional email. However, the creation of the RMX operating environment is not simple and is relatively costly. Furthermore, in order to use the system, users must have a knowledge of the database and invoke the system using a command line interface. Consequently, RMX users cannot perform operations intuitively. To address these concerns, we develop two web applications to easily provide RMX as a service and RMX as a platform. As a result, users can intuitively deploy mailing lists using RMX and incorporate RMX to other web applications and utilize RMX with considerably reduced cost in the operating environment.
Processes shaping gut microbiota diversity in allopatric populations of the endemic lizard Podarcis lilfordi from Menorcan islets (Balearic Islands)

ABSTRACT Compositional variation of the gut microbiota across host allopatric populations can reflect both adaptation and stochasticity since the time of separation. Major factors shaping this variation include the host phylogeographic and demographic history, the microbiota inheritance, environmental inputs and dispersal of bacteria. Here we explored the impact of these factors in driving gut community diversity in seven allopatric populations of the omnivorous lizard Podarcis lilfordi from the Menorcan coastal islets, all descending from an ancestral mainland population. Using 16S rRNA Illumina sequencing, we showed that ‘islet' and ‘age' (time since islet separation from mainland) were the only significant variables in microbial community clustering, suggesting a partial islet‐restricted diversification following these lizards phylogeography. Despite a significant variation, islets/populations were characterized by a remarkably low bacterial uniqueness (2.4% of total OTUs) and a minor differential enrichment of taxa, indicating a negligible impact of local inputs and important host common constraints. Overall, the extant pattern of similarity/dissimilarity among islets is compatible with partial retention of the ancestral mainland microbial pool, with differences among islets potentially explained by a differential loss of bacteria following population fragmentation and bottlenecks (i.e. ecological drift). While more quantitative data are needed to validate this hypothesis, this study unveils the importance of considering both neutral and niche‐driven processes in driving contemporary patterns of gut metacommunity diversity.
Spatial patterns of Anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) eggs and larvae in relation to pCO2 in the Peruvian upwelling system

Large and productive fisheries occur in regions experiencing or projected to experience ocean acidification. Anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) constitute the world's largest single-species fishery and live in one of the ocean's highest pCO2 regions. We investigated the relationship of the distribution and abundance of Anchoveta eggs and larvae to natural gradients in pCO2 in the Peruvian upwelling system. Eggs and larvae, zooplankton, and data on temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a and pCO2 were collected during a cruise off Peru in 2013. pCO2 ranged from 167–1392 µatm and explained variability in egg presence, an index of spawning habitat. Zooplankton abundance explained variability in the abundance of small larvae. Within the main spawning and larva habitats (6–10°S), eggs were found in cool, low-salinity, and both extremely low (less than 200 µatm) and high (more than 900 µatm) pCO2 waters, and larvae were collected in warmer, higher salinity, and moderate (400–600 µatm) pCO2 waters. Our data support the hypothesis that Anchoveta preferentially spawned at high pCO2 and these eggs had lower survival. Enhanced understanding of the influence of pCO2 on Anchoveta spawning and larva mortality, together with pCO2 measurements, may enable predictions of ocean acidification effects on Anchoveta and inform adaptive fisheries management.
Mapping the courtship neuronal circuit of Drosophila melanogaster

Das Balzverhalten von Mannchen der Art Drosophila melanogaster ist ein angeborenes Verhalten, das aus einer Sequenz stereotyper Verhaltensmuster besteht. Neurone, die das Gen fruitless exprimieren, sind fur die normale Auspragung dieses Verhaltens verantwortlich. Diese Neurone liegen in bestimmten Regionen des Gehirns und ventralen Nervensystems der Fruchtfliege. Es gibt Hinweise darauf, dass fruitless Neurone des Zentralnervensystems miteinander verschaltet sind und unterschiedliche Eigenschaften aufweisen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es diese unterschiedlichen Klassen von Neuronen anatomisch zu beschreiben. Um dies zu Erreichen wurden die einzelnen Klassen von fruitless Neuronen mit der FLP-in Technik spezifisch markiert. Obwohl die Zellkorper der fruitless Neurone im gesamte Zentralnervensystem anzufinden sind, zeigen sie stereotype Projektionen der Axone sowie dendritische Verastelungen, die auf bestimmte Areale des Neuropils beschrankt sind. Eine anatomische Karte dieses neuronalen Netzwerkes wurde durch Analyse der Verzweigungen jeder Neuronenpopulation konstruiert. Die Komponenten dieses Netzwerkes sind in jeder Stufe der Informationsverarbeitung anzutreffen. Dazu gehoren die sensorische Verarbeitung, die Informationsintegration sowie die Kontrolle und Umsetzung motorischer Signale. Die Art und Weise der neuronalen Verzweigungen unterstutzt die Hypothese, dass fruitless Neurone mannigfaltig miteinander verknupft sind. Diese anatomische Karte ermoglicht sowohl das Verstandnis der Organisation als auch die funktionelle Analyse der Verschaltung von fruitless Neuronen im Nervensystem von Drosophila melanogaster.
COERULEAR ACTIVATION BY CRH AND ITS ROLE IN HYPERTENSION INDUCED BY PRENATAL MALNUTRITION IN THE RAT

The effects of intracoerulear CRH and intraparaventricular prazosin on systolic pressure, diastolic pressure and heart rate were studied in prenatally malnourished hypertensive rats. At day 40 of life, (i) malnourished rats showed enhanced systolic pressure, heart rate, and plasma corticosterone; (ii) intracoerulear CRH increased systolic pressure and heart rate only in controls; (iii) intraparaventricular prazosin decreased systolic pressure and heart rate only in malnourished rats; (iv) in controls, prazosin did not prevent the stimulatory effect of CRH on the cardiovascular parameters; in malnourished rats, prazosin allowed CRH regain its stimulatory effects. Thus, coerulear activation by CRH would be involved in hypertension and tachycardia developed by prenatally malnourished animals.
A three-step interaction pattern for improving discoverability in finger identification techniques

Identifying which fingers are in contact with a multi-touch surface provides a very large input space that can be leveraged for command selection. However, the numerous possibilities enabled by such vast space come at the cost of discoverability. To alleviate this problem, we introduce a three-step interaction pattern inspired by hotkeys that also supports feed-forward. We illustrate this interaction with three applications allowing us to explore and adapt it in different contexts.
Circulating CD14++CD16+ Monocyte Subsets as a Surrogate Marker of the Therapeutic Effect of Corticosteroid Therapy in Patients With Cardiac Sarcoidosis.

BACKGROUND We aimed to evaluate whether specific monocyte subsets could serve as surrogate markers of disease activity in cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) evaluated by 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET). METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 28 patients with CS (8 men; mean age: 61±9 years) diagnosed according to consensus criteria. We divided the patients into 2 groups: known CS receiving corticosteroid therapy (Rx(+); n=13) and new-onset CS (Rx(-); n=15), and analyzed 3 distinct monocyte subsets (CD14+CD16-, CD14++CD16+, and CD14+ -CD16+). Monocyte subsets were also analyzed in 10 Rx(-) patients before and 12 weeks after starting corticosteroid therapy. Inflammatory activity was quantified by 18F-FDG PET using the coefficient of variation (COV) of the standardized uptake value (SUV). The proportion of CD14++CD16+ monocytes in Rx(+) patients (10.8 [0.2-23.5] %) was significantly lower than in Rx(-) patients (23.0 [11.5-38.4] %, P=0.001). After corticosteroid therapy, the COV of the SUV was significantly improved from 0.32 [0.14-0.62] to 0.17 [0.04-0.43] (P=0.017). The proportion of CD14++16+ monocytes showed a significant decrease from 22.2 [8.8-38.4] % to 8.4 [1.8-16.8] % (P=0.001). The decrease in the proportion of CD14++16+ monocytes significantly correlated with the decrease in the COV of the SUV (r=0.495, P=0.027). CONCLUSIONS CD14++16+ monocytes are a possible surrogate marker of the therapeutic effect of corticosteroid therapy in CS.
Analysis of FPGA/FPIC switch modules

Switch modules are the most important component of the routing resources in FPGAs/FPICs. Previous works have shown that switch modules with higher routability result in better area performance for practical applications. We consider in this paper an FPGA/FPIC switch-module analysis problem: the inputs consist of a switch-module description and the number of nets required to be routed through the switch module; the question is to determine if there exists a feasible routing for the routing requirements on the switch module. As a fundamental problem for the analysis of switch modules, this problem is applicable to the design and routability evaluation of FPGA/FPIC switch modules and FPGA/FPIC routing. We present a network-flow-based approximation algorithm for this problem. Based on mathematical analyses, we show that this algorithm has provably good performance with the bounds 5 and 5/4 away from the optima for two types of switch modules, respectively. Extensive experiments show that this algorithm is highly accurate and runs very efficiently.