Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preserved Fertility in a Patient with Gynecomastia Associated with the p.Pro695Ser Mutation in the Androgen Receptor

The androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is described as a dysfunction of the androgen receptor (AR) in 46,XY individuals, which can be associated with mutations in the AR gene or can be due to unknown mechanisms. Different mutations in AIS generally cause variable phenotypes that range from a complete hormone resistance to a mild form usually associated with male infertility. The purpose of this study was to search for mutations in the AR gene in a fertile man with gynecomastia and to evaluate the influence of the mutation on the AR transactivation ability. Sequencing of the AR gene revealed the p.Pro695Ser mutation. It is located within the AR ligand-binding domain. Bioinformatics analysis indicated a deleterious role, which was verified after testing transactivation activity and N-/C-terminal (N/C) interaction by in vitro expression of a reporter gene and 2-hybrid assays. p.Pro695Ser showed low levels of both transactivation activity and N/C interaction at low dihydrotestosterone (DHT) conditions. As the ligand concentration increased, both transactivation activity and N/C interaction also increased and reached normal levels. Therefore, this study provides functional insights for the p.Pro695Ser mutation described here for the first time in a patient with mild AIS. The expression profile of p.Pro695Ser not only correlates to the patient's phenotype, but also suggests that a high-dose DHT therapy may overcome the functional deficit of the mutant AR.
Seeding Change: The Challenges of Transfer and Transformation of Educational Practice and Research in Physics (Part II)

Academia appears to do a remarkable job at producing the next generation of research faculty. The long‐anticipated shortage of well‐qualified researchers has not appeared. At the same time, while there are calls to reform educational practices in college and university classrooms, we are not widely preparing our future faculty to develop or implement these research‐based educational practices. What mechanisms exist to foster the development of such practices and promote the field of PER more generally? These coupled papers examine the interrelated problems of supporting the development of the field, and the ‘transfer’ of what is known from PER to the more general populace of physics instructors. The first of these coupled papers outlines a framework of professionalism and faculty attitudes that is applied in the second paper in order to examine two programs designed to address the challenges of including education into the broader physics culture.
Estimating the size of the human interactome

After the completion of the human and other genome projects it emerged that the number of genes in organisms as diverse as fruit flies, nematodes, and humans does not reflect our perception of their relative complexity. Here, we provide reliable evidence that the size of protein interaction networks in different organisms appears to correlate much better with their apparent biological complexity. We develop a stable and powerful, yet simple, statistical procedure to estimate the size of the whole network from subnet data. This approach is then applied to a range of eukaryotic organisms for which extensive protein interaction data have been collected and we estimate the number of interactions in humans to be ≈650,000. We find that the human interaction network is one order of magnitude bigger than the Drosophila melanogaster interactome and ≈3 times bigger than in Caenorhabditis elegans.
A search for counterparts of γ-ray pulsars detected by the FERMI Large Area Telescope

Aims. A group of new γ−ray pulsars has recently been detected by FERMI Large Area Telescope (LAT) in a blind search. In this paper, we report the results from searching for the multi-wavelength counterparts of these pulsars. Methods. To search for their counterparts, we have cross-correlated the FERMI LAT Bright γ-ray Source List with the XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalogue (SSC), data archives of Chandra and NRAO/VLA Sky Survey as well as USNO-B1.0 optical source catalogue. Results. We report the identification of an X-ray source in the XMM-Newton SSC, 2XMM J202131.0+402645, located within the 95% confidence circle of 0FGL J2021.5+4026. With an independent archival Chandra observation, we do not find any variability of this X-ray source. Together with the non-detection of any associated optical counterpart and its X-ray hardness, we suggest 2XMM J202131.0+402645 to be the only possible X-ray counterpart located in the error circle of 0FGL J2021.5+4026. This identification provides an X-ray position with arc-second accuracy, RA (J2000) = 202130. 553, Dec (J2000) = +40◦26′46. ′′89 (with uncertainties δRA=1.18” and δDec=0.84”), which is helpful in facilitating further investigations. In the radio sky survey data, an elliptical excess as well as an orthogonal jet-like structure have been identified in the error circle of 0FGL J2021.5+4026, which have morphologies similar to that of known pulsar wind nebulae.
Performance of laying hens as affected by split time and split composition dietary regiments using ground and unground cereals.

A factorial experiment was conducted to study the effects on the performance of White Leghorn X Australorp laying hens of diets based on unground cereal grains, small morning and large afternoon meals, and morning and afternoon meals of different composition. From 10 to 21 weeks of age the pullets' food intake was restricted, using either a diet in which the wheat fraction (600 g/kg) was unground or a fully ground diet of similar composition. In the laying period the birds received either a diet (U) in which the limestone was granulated and most of the cereal fraction (wheat and oats or wheat and sorghum) was unground or a fully ground diet (G) of similar composition. Both laying diets were offered ad libitum (A), with 25% issued in the morning and 75% in the late afternoon (T) or as a protein concentrate (250 g/kg of total diet) in the morning and cereal/limestone fraction (750 g/kg) in the late afternoon (C). Rearing and laying performance were unaffected by rearing diet. Laying diet U resulted in a 5.2% increase in food intake and a 0.9 g increase in average egg weight compared with diet G. From 21 to 56 weeks of age, when the cereal/limestone fraction of the diet included oats (240 g/kg of total diet), diet U resulted in fewer (4.8/bird) eggs and a lower financial margin than diet G. From 56 to 80 weeks of age, when oats were replaced by sorghum, this trend was reversed (-3.5 eggs). Birds on diet C produced fewer (16.9) eggs of lower (1.5 g) average weight than birds on diet A, ate less (1.39 kg) food and had a lower financial margin. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Distribution and kinetics of membrane dielectric polarization. II. Frequency domain studies of gating currents

We have studied the admittance of the membrane of squid giant axon under voltage clamp in the absence of ionic conductances in the range of 0-12 kHz for membrane potentials (V) between --130 and 70 mV. The admittance was measured at various holding potentials (HP) or 155 ms after pulsing from a given holding potential. Standard P/4 procedure was used to study gating currents in the same axons. We found that the membrane capacity Cm (omega) is voltage as well as frequency dependent. For any given V, the voltage-dependent part of the membrane capacitance has a maximum as the frequency approaches zero and requires at least a two-time constant equivalent circuit to be described. When the holding potential is varied, the voltage-dependent capacitance follows a bell- shaped curve with a maximum change of 0.15 muF/cm2 at about --60 mV. With the pulse method, the maximum is at --40 mV for HP = --70 and it shifts to --70 mV for HP = 0. The shift in the maximum of the voltage- dependent capacitance is consistent with the shift in the charge (Q) vs. V curve observed in our experiments with regular P/4 procedure when the HP is varied. Our data can be explained qualitatively by a four- state model for the sodium channel gating, where a charged particle can move within the field and interact with another particle not affected by the field.
Cognitive Factors of Using Health Apps: Systematic Analysis of Relationships Among Health Consciousness, Health Information Orientation, eHealth Literacy, and Health App Use Efficacy

Background Interest in smartphone health apps has been increasing recently. However, we have little understanding of the cognitive and motivational factors that influence the extent of health-app use. Objective This study aimed to examine the effects of four cognitive factors—health consciousness, health information orientation, eHealth literacy, and health-app use efficacy—on the extent of health-app use. It also explored the influence of two different use patterns—information and information-behavior use of health apps—with regard to the relationships among the main study variables. Methods We collected and analyzed 765 surveys in South Korea. According to the results, there was a negligible gender difference: males (50.6%, 387/765) and females (49.4%, 378/765). All participants were adults whose ages ranged from 19 to 59. In order to test the proposed hypotheses, we used a path analysis as a specific form of structural equation modeling. Results Through a path analysis, we discovered that individuals’ health consciousness had a direct effect on their use of health apps. However, unlike the initial expectations, the effects of health information orientation and eHealth literacy on health-app use were mediated by health-app use efficacy. Conclusions The results from the path analysis addressed a significant direct effect of health consciousness as well as strong mediating effects of health-app use efficacy. These findings contribute to widening our comprehension of the new, digital dimensions of health management, particularly those revolving around mobile technology.
Functional morphology of insect mechanoreceptors

This paper reviews the structure and function of insect mechanoreceptors with respect to their cellular, subcellular, and cuticular organization. Four types are described and their function is discussed: 1, the bristles; 2, the trichobothria; 3, the campaniform sensilla; and 4, the scolopidia. Usually, bristles respond to touch, trichobothria to air currents and sound, campaniform sensilla to deformation of the cuticle, and scolopidia to stretch. Mechanoreceptors are composed of four cells: a bipolar sensory neuron, which is enveloped by the thecogen, the trichogen, and the tormogen cells. Apically, the neuron gives off a ciliary dendrite which is attached to the stimulus‐transmitting cuticular structures. In types 1–3, the tip of the dendrite contains a highly organized cytoskeletal complex of microtubules, the “tubular body,” which is connected to the dendritic membrane via short rods, the “membrane‐integrated cones” (MICs). The dendritic membrane is attached to the cuticle via fine attachment fibers. The hair‐type sensilla (types 1, 2) are constructed as first‐order levers, which transmit deflection of the hair directly to the dendrite tip. In campaniform sensilla (type 3), there is a cuticular dome instead of a hair and the dendrite is stimulated by deformation of the cuticle. In these three types, a slight lateral compression of the dendrite tip is most probably the effective stimulus. In scolopidia, the dendritic membrane is most probably stimulated by stretch. On the subcellular level, connectors between the cytoskeleton, the dendritic membrane, and extracellular (cuticular) structures are present in all four types and are thought to be engaged in membrane depolarization. Microsc. Res. Tech. 39:506–531, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An alternative Gospel of structure: order, composition, processes

We survey some basic mathematical structures, which arguably are more primitive than the structures taught at school. These structures are orders, with or without composition, and (symmetric) monoidal categories. We list several `real life' incarnations of each of these. This paper also serves as an introduction to these structures and their current and potentially future uses in linguistics, physics and knowledge representation.
Incentive Design for Free But No Free Disposal Services: The Case of Personalization under Privacy Concerns

Personalization under Privacy Concerns Ramnath K. Chellappa* Ramnath_Chellappa@bus.emory. edu Shivendu Shivendu shivendu@usc.edu * 1300 Clifton Road, Goizueta Business School, Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322-2710 Abstract Online personalization services belong to a class of economic goods with “no-freedisposal” (NFD) property, where due to privacy concerns more services is not always preferred to less. Therefore, even if these services are offered for free, online vendors find only a subset of services being used and thus acquire a reduced amount of preference and usage information. Vendors have invested in sophisticated technologies such as browser-embedded toolbars to have greater control in designing mechanisms for consumers’ usage of these services. This paper analyzes a monopolist’s optimal contract designs for personalization services under information asymmetry in a market where consumers are heterogeneous in their concern for privacy. Our analyses reveal several interesting results some of which are counter to those observed in other information goods market with zero marginal cost. Not surprisingly, under full information the vendor strictly prefers a variable to fixed contract as he can discriminate in the former and finds that under certain condition providing coupons or incentives with usage to be profit improving. However when considering services-only contracts under asymmetry, a fixed contract is optimal under certain conditions and surprisingly for some markets, a consumer-welfare maximizing contract emerges to be superior for the monopolist. An interesting aspect of the fixed contract is that when the vendor engages in couponing he continues to serve the same proportion of consumers as in the services-only case, even if consumer welfare, producer surplus and social welfare are all higher with incentives. We show that a purely usage-based contract is suboptimal even when marginal costs are zero, as the monotonicity constraints on incentives become binding. As a result we develop a bunched solution that is weakly superior to all other contracts; interestingly our results shows that an optimal truth revealing contract requires more incentives need to be paid to consumers that value personalization over privacy than the intuitive view that couponing is effective as a tool to bring in privacy-seekers to participate in the market.
Using Visual Features to Improve Tag Suggestions in Image Sharing Sites

Social media sharing sites such as Flickr or YouTube have become immensely popular. Besides sharing actual content, users also share annotations describing or classifying the contents they publish. Although tagging is easy, annotation still is a laborious task that can be made easier by suggesting meaningful additional tags to the user automatically. In this position paper we propose a system architecture and process for supporting annotation by tag suggestion to increase the quality and quantity of social annotations. The goal is not to tag previously untagged images in a completely automatic way, but instead to extend the amount and completeness of annotations by supporting the user in the process of adding further tags.
Establishment and functioning of intrathymic microenvironments

Summary: The thymus supports the production of self‐tolerant T cells from immature precursors. Studying the mechanisms regulating the establishment and maintenance of stromal microenvironments within the thymus therefore is essential to our understanding of T‐cell production and ultimately immune system functioning. Despite our ability to phenotypically define stromal cell compartments of the thymus, the mechanisms regulating their development and the ways by which they influence T‐cell precursors are still unclear. Here, we review recent findings and highlight unresolved issues relating to the development and functioning of thymic stromal cells.
A multiscale relaxation algorithm for SNR maximization in nonorthogonal subband coding

Develops a technique for improving the applicability of complete, nonorthogonal, multiresolution transforms to image coding. As is well known, the L(2) norm of the quantization errors is not preserved by nonorthogonal transforms, so the L(2) reconstruction error may be unacceptably large. However, given the quantizers and synthesis filters, the authors show that this artifact can be eliminated by formulating the coding problem as that of minimizing the L(2) reconstruction error over the set of possible encoded images. With this new formulation, the coding problem becomes a high-dimensional, discrete optimization problem and features a coupling between the redundancy-removing and quantization operations. A practical solution to the optimization problem is presented in the form of a multiscale relaxation algorithm, using inter- and intrascale quantization noise feedback filters. Bounds on the coding gain over the standard coding technique are derived. A simple extension of the algorithm allows for the use of a weighted L(2) error criterion and deadband (non-MMSE) quantizers. Experiments using biorthogonal spline filter banks demonstrate appreciable SNR gains over the standard coding technique, and comparable visual improvements.
E-participation and Governance: Widening the net

: As a solution to declining political and civic participation, many governments are seeking to increase the number of citizens who participate in policy-making and governance. Contrary to early expectations, recent research suggests that new information and communications technologies (ICTs) may not increase participation rates in formal organisations, and so may not improve participation rates. The Mobhaile project in Ireland is an example of a local government initiative which combines service provision (‘e-government’) functions and facilities for voluntary, community and business organisations that enhance social capital in local communities, while also enabling civic participation functions (‘e-governance’), in a single web-based geographical interface. Such projects enable citizens to access government services and encourages them, as part of this process, to also participate in local activities that build social capital in the community. The resulting mix can be an effective basis for greater political and civic participation.
Proteome Analysis of Streptococcus thermophilus Grown in Milk Reveals Pyruvate Formate-Lyase as the Major Upregulated Protein

ABSTRACT We investigated the adaptation to milk of Streptococcus thermophilus LMG18311 using a proteomic approach. Two-dimensional electrophoresis of cytosolic proteins were performed after growth in M17 medium or in milk. A major modification of the proteome concerned proteins involved in the supply of amino acids, like the peptidase PepX, and several enzymes involved in amino acid biosynthesis. In parallel, we observed the upregulation of the synthesis of seven enzymes directly involved in the synthesis of purines, as well as formyl-tetrahydrofolate (THF) synthetase and serine hydroxy-methyl transferase, two enzymes responsible for the synthesis of compounds (THF and glycine, respectively) feeding the purine biosynthetic pathway. The analysis also revealed a massive increase in the synthesis of pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL), the enzyme which converts pyruvate into acetyl coenzyme A and formate. PFL has been essentially studied for its role in mixed-acid product formation in lactic acid bacteria during anaerobic fermentation. However, formate is an important methyl group donor for anabolic pathway through the formation of folate derivates. We hypothesized that PFL was involved in purine biosynthesis during growth in milk. We showed that PFL expression was regulated at the transcriptional level and that pfl transcription occurred during the exponential growth phase in milk. The complementation of milk with formate or purine bases was shown to reduce pfl expression, to suppress PFL synthesis, and to stimulate growth of S. thermophilus. These results show a novel regulatory mechanism controlling the synthesis of PFL and suggest an unrecognized physiological role for PFL as a formate supplier for anabolic purposes.
A Wireless Intrusion Detection System for 802.11 networks

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) deployment is increasing rapidly. At the same time, WLANs have become an attractive target for many potential attackers. In spite of that, the de facto standard used to implement most WLANs (IEEE 802.11) has what appear to be residual vulnerabilities related to identity spoofing. In this paper, a pragmatic study of two common attacks on the standard is conducted. These attacks are then implemented on test beds to learn attack behavior. Finally, novel attack signatures and techniques to detect these attacks are devised and implemented in a proof of concept Wireless Intrusion Detection System (WIDS).
Designing photovoltaic cells for indoor energy harvesting systems

Recent research focuses on developing photovoltaic cells that are optimized for indoor conditions and therefore suitable for photovoltaic energy harvesting in micro systems. The available conditions for indoor photovoltaic cells are investigated and discussed concerning intensity and spectra. The influence of the parallel and series resistances on the efficiency of crystalline and amorphous Silicon devices with decreasing intensity are discussed and compared to simulations with the two diode model. For low intensities as present indoors (<; 1 mW cm-2) the parallel resistance restricts the achievable efficiency and needs therefore to be optimized.
Implementation of MPEG-2 video compression artifact reduction system on GPU

In this paper, we present our study on an MPEG-2 video compression noise reduction system that is based on the total variation regularization method and that uses the GPU. This system is very effective in removing image compression noise without losing picture sharpness. The problem with applying the total variation regularization method to motion pictures is the huge computational cost. Therefore, we implemented this system on the GPU, which is capable of massive computation in parallel, and we measured how fast it is processed. The experimental results show that the processing time of our system for Full HD images on the GPU is 7.81 ms, which is less than the 16.7 ms, for one frame time of HDTV. This result shows that our system can be applied to consumer devices such as HDTVs and PCs. Our system enables the adoption of noise removal for the next-generation HDTVs with 4K × 2K panels.
Observability for hybrid systems

The notion of generic final-state asymptotically determinable hybrid system is introduced. Then, sufficient conditions for a linear hybrid system to be generic final-state asymptotically determinable are given. These conditions show that generic final-state asymptotic determinability can be verified even if each of the continuous subsystems of the hybrid system is not observable. More precisely, these conditions are related to the minimum and maximum sojourn time in each location as well as on the dimension and orientation of the unobservable subspaces and on the reset mappings between them.