Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A mouse model for distal renal tubular acidosis reveals a previously unrecognized role of the V-ATPase a4 subunit in the proximal tubule

The V‐ATPase is a multisubunit complex that transports protons across membranes. Mutations of its B1 or a4 subunit are associated with distal renal tubular acidosis and deafness. In the kidney, the a4 subunit is expressed in intercalated cells of the distal nephron, where the V‐ATPase controls acid/base secretion, and in proximal tubule cells, where its role is less clear. Here, we report that a4 KO mice suffer not only from severe acidosis but also from proximal tubule dysfunction with defective endocytic trafficking, proteinuria, phosphaturia and accumulation of lysosomal material and we provide evidence that these findings may be also relevant in patients. In the inner ear, the a4 subunit co‐localized with pendrin at the apical side of epithelial cells lining the endolymphatic sac. As a4 KO mice were profoundly deaf and displayed enlarged endolymphatic fluid compartments mirroring the alterations in pendrin KO mice, we propose that pendrin and the proton pump co‐operate in endolymph homeostasis. Thus, our mouse model gives new insights into the divergent functions of the V‐ATPase and the pathophysiology of a4‐related symptoms.
Low-frequency noise and hysteresis in graphene field-effect transistors on oxide S.A.

The authors report measurements of low-frequency noise and hysteresis in graphene monolayer and bilayer field-effect transistors (FETs) fabricated on 90 and 290 nm oxidised silicon substrates. The authors observe hysteresis induced by stressing the oxide up to fields of 2 MV/cm and have characterised the hysteresis against stress time and sample temperature. Low-frequency current noise with a 1/ f 2 spectral density arises from the drift of neutrality point voltage, and subsequent drift of graphene FET channel current. A simple model of charge trapping at the graphene-oxide interface and thermally activated ion motion accounts for the temperature dependence of the observed hysteresis.
A study of active queue management for congestion control

In this work, we investigate mechanisms for Internet congestion control in general, and random early detection (RED) in particular. We first study the current proposals for RED implementation and identify several structural problems such as producing large traffic oscillations and introducing unnecessary overhead in the fast path forwarding. We model RED as a feedback control system and discover fundamental laws governing the traffic dynamics in TCP/IP networks. Based on this understanding, we derive a set of recommendations for the architecture and implementation of congestion control modules in routers, such as RED.
Asynchronous Except ions in Concurrent Object-Oriented Programming

Exceptions in concurrent object-oriented languages with asynchronous call semantics may raise a serious problem in certain situations. Since separate calls are asynchronous it might happen that the context of the enclosing routine, from which the asynchronous call was launched, has been already left and hence any exception raised by the asynchronous call can not be handled anymore by the enclosing routine. In this paper we present a practical solution for this problem, which relies on the notion of busy processors.
Comparison of mononuclear cell proteins and plasma proteins before and during parturition by two dimensional electrophoresis

Two dimensional electrophoresis is a technique whereby protein sources are organized by molecular weight and electrical charge on a polyacrylamide gel. To detect changes that may be associated with the onset of parturition, we compared electrophoresis patterns of mononuclear cell proteins and plasma proteins before and during active labor. Mononuclear cells and plasma were obtained from 5 pregnant volunteers. It appears that A-1 apolipoprotein, identified by Western Blot analysis, is increased in mononuclear cells during active labor. Conversely, a decrease in the concentration of A-1 apolipoprotein was seen in plasma during parturition. These "normal" protein patterns can now be compared with those observed in pathologic conditions including preterm labor and may allow early detection of disease by protein abnormalities before clinical signs and symptoms develop.
When Giving Feels Good

Who benefits most from making sacrifices for others? The current study provides one answer to this question by demonstrating the intrinsic benefits of sacrifice for people who are highly motivated to respond to a specific romantic partner’s needs noncontingently, a phenomenon termed communal strength. In a 14-day daily-experience study of 69 romantic couples, communal strength was positively associated with positive emotions during the sacrifice itself, with feeling appreciated by the partner for the sacrifice, and with feelings of relationship satisfaction on the day of the sacrifice. Furthermore, feelings of authenticity for the sacrifice mediated these associations. Several alternative hypotheses were ruled out: The effects were not due to individuals higher in communal strength making qualitatively different kinds of sacrifices, being more positive in general, or being involved in happier relationships. Implications for research and theory on communal relationships and positive emotions are discussed.
Oxygen or cooling, to make a decision after acute ischemia stroke

The presence of a salvageable penumbra, a region of ischemic brain tissue with sufficient energy for short-term survival, has been widely agreed as the premise for thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which remains the only United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment for acute ischemia stroke. However, the use of tPA has been profoundly constrained due to its narrow therapeutic time window and the increased risk of potentially deadly hemorrhagic transformation (HT). Blood brain barrier (BBB) damage within the thrombolytic time window is an indicator for tPA-induced HT and both normobaric hyperoxia (NBO) and hypothermia have been shown to protect the BBB from ischemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, providing the O2 as soon as possible (NBO treatment), freezing the brain (hypothermia treatment) to slow down ischemia-induced BBB damage or their combined use may extend the time window for the treatment of tPA. In this review, we summarize the protective effects of NBO, hypothermia or their use combined with tPA on ischemia stroke, based on which, the combination of NBO and hypothermia may be an ideal early stroke treatment to preserve the ischemic penumbra. Given this, there is an urge for large randomized controlled trials to address the effect.
Understanding research trends in conferences using paperLens

PaperLens is a novel visualization that reveals trends, connections, and activity throughout a conference community. It tightly couples views across papers, authors, and references. PaperLens was developed to visualize 8 years (1995-2002) of InfoVis conference proceedings and was then extended to visualize 23 years (1982-2004) of the CHI conference proceedings. This paper describes how we analyzed the data and designed PaperLens. We also describe a user study to focus our redesign efforts along with the design changes we made to address usability issues. We summarize lessons learned in the process of design and scaling up to the larger set of CHI conference papers.
An improved K-means algorithm using modified cosine distance measure for document clustering using Mahout with Hadoop

In this paper, we have proposed a novel K-means algorithm with modified Cosine Distance Measure for clustering of large datasets like Wikipedia latest articles and Reuters dataset. We are customizing Cosine Distance Measure for computing similarity between objects for improving cluster quality. Our method will calculate the similarity between objects by Cosine Distance Measure and then try to bring distance more closer by squaring the distance if it is between 0 to 0.5 else increase it. It will result in minimum Intra-cluster and maximizes Inter-cluster distance value. We are measuring cluster quality in term of Inter and Intra-cluster distances, good Feature weighting such as TF-IDF, Cluster Size and Top terms of the clusters. We have compared K-means algorithm by Cosine and modified Cosine Distance measure by setting performance metric such as Inter-cluster and Intra-cluster distances, Cluster size, Execution time etc. Our experimental result shows in minimizing Intra-cluster by 0.016% and maximizing Inter-cluster distance by 0.012%, reducing the cluster size by 1.5% and reducing sequence file size by 4%, that will result in good cluster quality.
Materials mechanical size effects: a review

Abstract Knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of materials is essential in materials science and applied mechanics. At small sizes, this behaviour shows significant departures from the classical elastic–plastic model. The strength of a material increases either when the structure is small or when only a small volume is under strain: the so called size effect. Intrinsic size effects arise due to microstructural constraints, such as grain size or second phase particle precipitation. Extrinsic size effects are caused by dimensional constraints. These extrinsic constraints might be due to small sample size, where dislocation motion and other physical mechanisms are affected by the presence of a surface or interface, or due to small strained volume, where the dimensional constraint arises from the testing system. Generally, both sample size and strained volume constrain deformation. Interactions between intrinsic and extrinsic size effects are particularly interesting, though current understanding of this topic is limited. The purpose of the present review is to survey small scale strengthening phenomena and to assess the merits of classical and current mechanisms proposed to explain these effects. Practical applications of size effects are briefly reviewed.
The Insulation Design of 154 kV HTS Transformer and on Load Tap Changers

The HTS transformer is one of the promising HTS power applications that are expected to be commercialized in the near future. Among the auxiliary functions of a transformer, the voltage regulation function is known to be the most important one. For the voltage regulation of HTS transformers, they are normally equipped with the on-load tap changers (OLTC). It is also required that, in order to develop a HTS transformer as a complete system, not only the basic technologies for all the components including OLTC and bushing, but also the technologies for the insulation of these components at a cryogenic temperature should be well established as applicable. Taking such facts into account, the breakdown characteristics of the insulation components have been evaluated for such application areas as turn-to-turn insulation, layer-to-layer insulation, c, drive shaft-to-drive shaft insulation, tap connecting terminal insulation and others. In overall, this paper discusses the electric insulation design and experimental results with regard to HTS transformer, OLTC and bushing.
Inactivation of GSK3β and activation of NF-κB pathway via Axl represents an important mediator of tumorigenesis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Deregulation of Axl in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with potential therapeutic implications is described for the first time. This paper also sheds light on the understanding of how Axl regulates OSCC development in vitro and in vivo. Axl expression leads to an Akt-dependent regulation of glycogen synthase kinase 3β activity and the nucluear factor kappaB (NF-κB) pathway, affecting the epithelial–mesenchymal transition.
Infection of brain microglial cells by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 is CD4 dependent

In the central nervous system of AIDS patients, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects primarily microglia, a cell type of bone marrow origin. Moreover, microglial cells isolated from adult human brain support the replication of macrophage-adapted strains of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) (B.A. Watkins, H.H. Dorn, W.B. Kelly, R.C. Armstrong, B. Potts, F. Michaels, C.V. Kufta, and M. Dubois-Dalcq, Science 249:549-553, 1990). To determine whether the CD4 receptor, which is expressed in brain, mediates the entry of HIV-1 in microglial cells, we analyzed CD4 transcript expression in cultured microglia using highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction detection of cDNAs synthesized from RNA. With this method, CD4 transcripts could be detected in cultured microglia--as well as in various human brain regions and cultured macrophages used as positive controls--along with transcripts for the LDL and Fc receptors which are characteristic of cells of the macrophage lineage. We then attempted to block viral entry into microglial cells using anti-CD4 antibodies or soluble CD4 (sCD4), which recognize binding sites on CD4 and HIV-1 glycoprotein gp120, respectively. Cultures were pretreated with blocking antibodies (Leu-3a, OKT4A) or virus was preincubated with sCD4 prior to infection with HIV-1 strain AD87(M) or BaL. With either viral strain, these treatments resulted in the prevention of infection or significant and dose-dependent reduction in the number of infected cells and in the levels of reverse transcriptase or p24 antigen released in the medium. Thus, brain-derived microglial cells, which are the primary target of HIV-1 infection in the brain, express the CD4 receptor and this receptor is effectively used for viral entry in vitro.
N-acetyl-aspartate, total creatine, and myo-inositol in the epileptogenic human hippocampus

Background: Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) is characterized by hippocampal atrophy, decreased N-acetyl-aspartate, and a low N-acetyl-aspartate/total creatine ratio, often attributed to neuron loss and gliosis. Qualitative studies reported that N-acetyl-aspartate content was significantly lower in hippocampal sclerosis. Objective: It was proposed to measure the effects of neuron loss and gliosis on the hippocampal content of N-acetyl-aspartate, total creatine, and myo-inositol in mTLE. Methods: Twenty hippocampal specimens were obtained during temporal lobectomy and frozen quickly. Perchloric acid extracts of the small metabolites were prepared and analyzed by proton MRS at 11.75 T. Adjacent samples were used for cell counts. Results: There were no significant associations between hippocampal neuron loss and the cellular content of N-acetyl-aspartate, total creatine, or myo-inositol, despite more than a threefold difference in neuron loss and a twofold increase in glial density. Metabolite concentrations varied two- to fourfold. Variation in the cellular content of total creatine accounted for more than three-quarters of the rank-order variance of the N-acetyl-aspartate concentrations. There were no associations between myo-inositol and N-acetyl-aspartate or total creatine. Overall, mean N-acetyl-aspartate levels were below those reported by in vivo MRS studies of control subjects. Conclusions: These data suggest that decreased N-acetyl-aspartate in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy reflects altered mitochondrial metabolism, not merely neuron loss or gliosis. It is hypothesized that the altered N-acetyl-aspartate and creatine metabolism could reflect mitochondrial dysfunction or proliferation of immature glial cells that could contribute to the epileptogenic state.
An alternative route to robustness: The relationship between assortativity, in-components, and characteristic path length in gene regulatory networks

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) comprise the interacting genes and gene products that drive genetic regulation within the cell. Because of the vital role they play in producing cell function, GRNs are robust to a variety of perturbations, including genetic mutation. There are multiple underlying causes for this robustness, including topological properties of GRNs, such as their degree distribution. Another topological property, assortativity, has recently been attributed to the robustness of GRNs. Assortative GRNs were found to have smaller in-components (ICs) than their disassortative counterparts, and this led to increased robustness to multiple types of genetic mutation. However, some assortative GRNs lacked the distinctive small ICs, yet were still robust. This suggests that assortativity affects robustness via multiple mechanisms, and unraveling these is a necessary step for understanding which specific features of GRNs give rise to their robustness. Here, we uncover a separate route by which assortativity affects robustness, whereby assortativity influences the characteristic path length of the GRN, which in turn alters robustness.
MEMS IMU Carouseling for Ground Vehicles

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) gyroscopes have advantageous properties for orientation sensing and navigation as they are small, low cost, and consume little power. However, the significant noise at low frequencies results in large orientation errors as a function of time. Controlled physical rotation of the gyroscope can be used to remove the constant part of the gyro errors and reduce low-frequency noise. As adding motors for this would increase the system cost, it would be advantageous to attach gyros to a rotating platform that is already built in the vehicle. In this paper, we present theory and results for novel navigation systems where an inertial measurement unit (IMU) is attached to the wheel of a ground vehicle. The results show that a low-cost MEMS IMU can provide a very accurate navigation solution using this placement option.
Large eddy simulation of propeller crashback

The large eddy simulation methodology is applied to predict the flow around a marine propeller in the forward and crashback modes of operation. A non-dissipative, robust numerical algorithm developed by Mahesh et al.(2004, J. Comput. Phys., 197: 215-240) for unstructured grids was extended to include the effect of rotating frame of reference. The thrust and torque coefficients obtained from the simulation are compared to experimental data and good agreement is observed. The crashback simulations show the presence of a highly unsteady ring-vortex, and unsteady loads on the propeller.
A "Plug-and-Play' Framework to Enhance Heterogeneity and Versatility in Delay Tolerant Networks

In Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN), the presence of additional multiple network access interfaces for nodes is beneficial when overcoming intermittent connectivity as well as interoperability issues in heterogeneous network access technologies. We propose a framework that is versatile enough to practically handle any type of network access for DTN node. Our framework allows the expansion of a DTN node’s access capability via node cascading, and/or connection to multiple subnets of different access technologies, and establishing multiple parallel links between two DTN nodes using multiple network access interfaces. The versatility derived from our framework is crucial in operational scenarios, providing users various ways to reconnect to the network.
Hemodynamic responses on prefrontal cortex related to meditation and attentional task

Recent neuroimaging studies state that meditation increases regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The present study employed functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to evaluate the relative hemodynamic changes in PFC during a cognitive task. Twenty-two healthy male volunteers with ages between 18 and 30 years (group mean age ± SD; 22.9 ± 4.6 years) performed a color-word stroop task before and after 20 min of meditation and random thinking. Repeated measures ANOVA was performed followed by a post hoc analysis with Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons between the mean values of “During” and “Post” with “Pre” state. During meditation there was an increased in oxy-hemoglobin (ΔHbO) and total hemoglobin (ΔTHC) concentration with reduced deoxy-hemoglobin (ΔHbR) concentration over the right prefrontal cortex (rPFC), whereas in random thinking there was increased ΔHbR with reduced total hemoglobin concentration on the rPFC. The mean reaction time (RT) was shorter during stroop color word task with concomitant reduction in ΔTHC after meditation, suggestive of improved performance and efficiency in task related to attention. Our findings demonstrated that meditation increased cerebral oxygenation and enhanced performance, which was associated with activation of the PFC.
Woven Graph Codes: Asymptotic Performances and Examples

Constructions of woven graph codes based on constituent block and convolutional codes are studied. It is shown that within the random ensembles of such codes based on s-partite, s-uniform hypergraphs, where s depends only on the code rate, there exist codes satisfying the Gilbert-Varshamov (GV) and the Costello lower bound on the minimum distance and the free distance, respectively. A connection between regular bipartite graphs and tailbiting (TB) codes is shown. Some examples of woven graph codes are presented. Among them, an example of a rate Rwg=1/3 woven graph code with dfree=32 based on Heawood's bipartite graph, containing n=7 constituent rate Rc=2/3 convolutional codes with overall constraint lengths ¿c =5, is given.
Membrane Computing and Graphical Operating Systems

In this paper a comparison is provided between the membrane computing systems and the graphical interfaces of operating systems. A membrane computing system is a computing model using massive parallelism inspired by the functioning of living cells. The graphical schemes of these computing devices look like the windows of a graphical operating system representing programs running parallel on the computer. Both similarities and difierences of membrane-systems and graphical operating systems are detailed as well as some possible simulation methods.