Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visualization of Slow Axonal Transport in Vivo

In axons, cytoskeletal constituents move by slow transport. However, it remains controversial whether axonal neurofilaments are dynamic structures in which only subunits are transported or whether filaments assemble in the proximal axon and are transported intact as polymers to the axon terminus. To investigate the form neurofilament proteins take during transport, neurons of transgenic mice lacking axonal neurofilaments were infected with a recombinant adenoviral vector encoding epitope-tagged neurofilament M. Confocal and electron microscopy revealed that the virally encoded neurofilament M was transported in unpolymerized form along axonal microtubules. Thus, neurofilament proteins are probably transported as subunits or small oligomers along microtubules, which are major routes for slow axonal transport.
Apical extrusion of debris using reciprocating files and rotary instrumentation systems

Background: To compare the preparation time and amount of apically extruded debris after the preparation of root canals in extracted human teeth using the reciprocating files and rotary nickel-titanium systems. Procedure: Sixty extracted human mandibular premolars were used. The root canals were instrumented using reciprocating (WaveOne, Reciproc, SafeSider) or rotary motion (Typhoon, ProTaper Universal, Mtwo), and the debris produced was collected in glass vials. The remaining debris was assessed using a microbalance and statistically analyzed using the one-way ANOVA and Duncan multiple range tests at a significance level of P < 0.05. The time required to prepare the canals with different instruments was also recorded. Results: The Reciproc group produced significantly less debris when compared to the Typhoon group (P < 0.05), and instrumentation with the single-file systems was significantly faster than in the multi-file systems (P < 0.05). The WaveOne group extruded significantly more debris per unit of time than the other groups, with the exception of the Typhoon group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: According to our study, all systems caused apical debris extrusion. However, the Reciproc group was associated with less debris extrusion when compared to the other groups.
Sex Differences in Epidemiology and Risk Factors of Acute Coronary Syndrome in Chinese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Long-Term Prospective Cohort Study

Objective Diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are at higher risk of poor outcome than are non-diabetic patients with ACS. Few studies have focused on sex-related ACS incidence, ACS-related mortality or risk factors to affects sex specific ACS in Chinese with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Based on a hospital-based cohort of Chinese patients with T2DM, we aimed to investigate whether there was sex difference in ACS or ACS-related mortality or risk factors of ACS. Methods Totally 2,135 Hong Kong Chinese with T2DM were recruited during 1994-1996 and followed up until August 2012. We systematically analyzed sex-related ACS incidence and ACS-related mortality and risk factors with χ2-squared test, descriptive statistics and survival analysis. Results Regular follow-up was completed in 2,105 subjects (98.6%), with a median period of 14.53 years. The occurrence of ACS was recorded among 414 patients (19.7%) and ACS-related death among 104 patients (4.9%). ACS incidences increased with age in both men and women, and men had a higher prevalence of ACS than women across different age categories and different follow-up periods (log rank χ2=20.32, P<0.001). The transition of ACS incidences from slow to rapid increase were about 5 years earlier in men (at 51-55 years) than in women (55-60 years). Among ACS patients, cumulative ACS-related mortalities was similar between men and women (log rank χ2=0.063, P=0.802). Besides age and albuminuria, different profiles of risk factors accounted for the occurrence of ACS between men and women. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated sex differences in ACS incidence and risk factors, but not in ACS-related mortality in Chinese patients withT2DM. These findings suggest that screening and prevention campaigns should be optimized for men and women, which may help to identify diabetic patients at higher risk of coronary heart disease.
Service delivery interventions to improve adolescents' linkage, retention and adherence to antiretroviral therapy and HIV care

Adolescents living with HIV face substantial difficulties in accessing HIV care services and have worse treatment outcomes than other age groups. The objective of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of service delivery interventions to improve adolescents' linkage from HIV diagnosis to antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, retention in HIV care and adherence to ART.
Analysis of FEV1 Decline in Relatively Healthy Heavy Smokers: Implications of Expressing Changes in FEV1 in Relative Terms

Abstract Progressive decline in lung function has been widely accepted as the hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, recent evidence indicates that the rate of decline measured as decline in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) is higher in mild to moderate COPD than in severe COPD. Usually changes in FEV1 are measured in ml that is “absolute”; however, changes can also be measured “relative” as a percentage of the actual FEV1. We hypothesize that relative measurements could be more appropriate than absolute measurements for describing changes in lung function. We analyzed data from 3,218 relatively healthy heavy smokers who participated in the Danish Lung Cancer Screening Trial. The influences of age, sex, height, body mass index, smoking, and severity of airflow limitation on FEV1 were analyzed in mixed effects models. In absolute terms those with the best lung function consistently showed the steepest decline, whereas in relative terms most fast decliners are found among those with low lung function. Measuring changes in relative terms implied statistically significant acceleration of decline with advancing age, smoking (pack-years) and severity of airflow limitation. Relative measurements may lead to a better understanding of changes in lung function. Smoking and severity of airflow limitation speed up the loss of lung function, and this emphasizes the importance of abstaining from smoking the sooner the better. Measuring changes in relative terms could have important implications for the interpretation of results from clinical trials where FEV1 is the primary outcome. DLCST; www.ClinicalTrials. org, registration number: NCT00496977.
Staphylococcus aureus Infections in US Veterans, Maryland, USA, 1999–20081

Trends in Staphylococcus aureus infections are not well described. To calculate incidence in overall S. aureus infection and invasive and noninvasive infections according to methicillin susceptibility and location, we conducted a 10-year population-based retrospective cohort study (1999-2008) using patient-level data in the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System. We found 3,674 S. aureus infections: 2,816 (77%) were noninvasive; 2,256 (61%) were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA); 2,517 (69%) were community onset, and 1,157 (31%) were hospital onset. Sixty-one percent of noninvasive infections were skin and soft tissue infections; 1,112 (65%) of these were MRSA. Ten-year averaged incidence per 100,000 veterans was 749 (± 132 SD, range 549-954) overall, 178 (± 41 SD, range 114-259) invasive, and 571 (± 152 SD, range 364-801) noninvasive S. aureus infections. Incidence of all S. aureus infections significantly increased (p<0.001), driven by noninvasive, MRSA, and community-onset infections (p<0.001); incidence of invasive S. aureus infection significantly decreased (p<0.001).
Large eddy simulations of combustion instabilities in premixed flames

Our objective is to build a complete tool, based on large eddy simulations, to determine the forced response of a turbulent premixed burner, which is the missing information in models describing combustion instabilities. The developed code includes: (1) a chemistry model based on a new reduction technique (ICC) for propane and methane; (2) a flame thickening approach to handle flame turbulence interactions; and (3) specific boundary conditions to control and measure acoustic wave reflections on inlets and outlets. The chemistry reduction is derived and validated by comparison with full schemes/full transport results obtained from stagnation point flame codes. The flame thickening approach requires subgrid scale parameterization derived from flame/vortex interactions DNS. The code itself is a compressible parallel finite volume solver able to handle hybrid grids. The combustor forced response to acoustic wave excitations and to equivalence ratio modulations is compared in the geometry where experimental data are available (Poinsot et al., 1987).
Dual–Task Slowing and the Effects of Cross–Task Compatibility

Recent studies have shown that visual encoding requires central processing, evidenced in the form of dual–task interference on response processes of a reaction time (RT) task. We report two experiments examining such dual–task interference: (1) at global level, to establish that visual encoding indeed requires central processing; and (2) at code level, to see whether two tasks may share the same representational codes. To this end, we manipulated the compatibility relation between the response codes for an auditory choice RTtask and the stimulus codes for a logically independent visual motion detection task. The results showed significant dual–task slowing of the response for the auditory task, demonstrating the interference at a global level. The effects of cross–task compatibility (CTC) were obtained at the short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), showing that the RTs were faster for compatible trials. Furthermore, the CTC effect remained even when the visual stimulus did not need to be “consolidated” (Jolicoeur & Dell'Acqua, 1998) for reporting, while the response postponement effect was greatly reduced. We interpret these results as indicating that the present two tasks share both “central” processes and common representational codes, but that these two levels of dual–task interference can be dissociated.
Design and simulation of a mobile ad-hoc network in HLA environment

This paper presents a generalized design for MANET simulations to support any kind of widespread adoption, and standardized to allow universal interoperability, along with flexibility to permit runtime extension of its ontology. Traditional network simulation models often lack these desirable properties. IEEE's standard 1516 for simulation and modeling fulfill the need for a standard of the kind that has these desirable properties. MANET simulations always require simulated environment provided by some tools like OMNET, OPNET and NS2. Making such simulations HLA compliant, HLA Federation rule 3 depicts need of direct interfacing of federates with RTI. However, HLA doesn't address how this interfacing will be done. Proposed interface between MANET nodes and RTI is provided; each MANET node present in the OMNET is wrapped by the HLA layer. This approach will be incredibly beneficial for the researchers those are designing HLA based simulations in which MANET plays an active role and performance of MANET may affect overall simulation results e.g. mobile radar and disaster management simulations.
The Different Effects of Vinblastine Sulfate and Nitrogen Mustard Upon Neutrophil Kinetics in the Dog.∗

Summary Dogs were given nitrogen mustard (HN2) and radioactive diisopropylfluo-rophosphate (DFP32) and the type of neutropenia which developed, whether of “early” or “late” onset, was correlated with changes observed in the blood granulocyte specific activity (BGSA) curve. The duration of phase X+II of the BGSA curve measures the time required for the storage pool of the marrow to empty by releasing cells to the blood. In dogs developing “late” onset neutropenia there was an abnormally short phase I+II while in those developing “early” onset neutropenia phase I+II was normal. These results were compared with those reported previously in vinblastine sulfate treated dogs. It was concluded that dogs with “early” onset neutropenia after HN2 must have developed a defect leading to an abnormally low rate of output cells from the marrow granulocyte reserve (MGR) to the blood. Reduced output developed despite the presence of enough cells in the MGR to maintain a normal rate of output.
Estrogen receptors, estradiol, and diethylstilbestrol in early development: the mouse as a model for the study of estrogen receptors and estrogen sensitivity in embryonic development of male and female reproductive tracts.

To date, there is no conclusive evidence that ERs are present in preimplantation embryos. There are reports that estrogen is made by the rabbit blastocyst (61), and estrogens have been used to induce implantation in mice (62), but whether estrogens act through ERs in the embryo or in the maternal uterus is not known. ERs may be present in early embryos, but if so, levels are below the methods of detection used thus far. Perhaps with more sensitive immunodetection methods, it may be possible to detect ERs in embryos if they are present. Using PCR, messenger RNA for ER has been detected as early as the oocyte stage in mouse embryos (Q. Hou and J. Gorski, unpublished results). This was confirmed recently by Wu et al. (83a). Figure 7 shows a model for the pattern of ER expression in the developing mouse fetus based on the various reports discussed in this review. ERs are present in the 10-day mouse fetus, possibly in the developing ambisexual reproductive tract. Analysis of seven individual 10-day-old fetuses taken from the same litter showed similar levels of an immunostained protein the size of the ER in each fetus (57). The pattern of expression of ER between implantation and the development of the reproductive tract may be the same in male and female mice. Estrogen, acting through ERs, may be one factor (of many) that determines which cells are destined to be part of the indifferent reproductive tract. We were not able to isolate fetal mouse reproductive tracts at an indifferent stage (day 10) due to their very small size. One way to study ER in the indifferent reproductive tract would be to examine these tissues in a larger animal, such as the bovine, using similar immunodetection methods. The distribution of ER in the fetal mouse reproductive tract on fetal days 13 (before sexual differentiation) and 15 (initiation of sexual differentiation) is similar in males and females (71, 72). Thus, estrogen does not appear to be responsible for the initiation of sexual differentiation. Early experiments by Jost (41) showed that removal of the gonad from male or female rabbit fetuses resulted in the female phenotype, which lent weight to the hypothesis that ovarian hormones are not critical in the development of the female phenotype, whereas testicular hormones are essential for the development of the male phenotype. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Life‐history differences across latitude in common side‐blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana)

Abstract Life‐history strategies are known to shift with latitude in many species. While life‐history variation related to body size, reproductive investment, and behavior has been studied for years, another crucial life‐history component is the immune system, which can influence an animal's survival. We measured selected life‐history traits in side‐blotched lizards in southern Utah and Oregon in the field for two consecutive years and conducted a common‐garden experiment in the laboratory to determine how organisms from different latitudes optimize either immunity or reproduction. We observed lizards from southern populations, which are known to be shorter‐lived, had lower immune function during reproduction when compared to northern lizards in 2012, but the relationship reversed in the following year. Our laboratory study revealed that southern lizards healed cutaneous wounds faster and had higher microbiocidal ability when compared to their northern counterparts, but lost mass doing so. The northern lizards ate more than the southern ones and maintained their body mass. It is possible that northern lizards are better adapted to taking advantage of available food resources. Alternatively, southern lizards may have exhibited sickness behavior in response to an immune challenge or reacted more strongly to the stress of captivity. We found differences in life‐history strategies used by animals from different latitudes, and that these changes can shift within a population depending on the weather conditions of the year. Furthermore, when taken from the field and placed into a common‐garden environment, some of these differences in strategy appear to be intrinsic to the animals (i.e., whether they came from southern or northern populations).
Anaplastic transformation from papillary thyroid carcinoma with increased serum CA19‐9

A 24‐year‐old woman presented with anaplastic transformation from papillary thyroid carcinoma with increased serum CA19‐9. The patient had been diagnosed as having papillary thyroid carcinoma with lung metastasis at 11 years of age. She received a total thyroidectomy with cervical lymph node dissection followed by iodine‐131 (131I) therapy over 12 years, but died due to sudden onset of rapid dissemination. Elevated serum CA19‐9 was detected in the terminal stage, and anaplastic transformation was confirmed by post‐mortem examination. Although there are few clinical reports suggesting a prognostic indicator for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, CA19‐9 may be a useful serum marker for this tumor. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2005; 45:64–67. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A polyhedral analysis of the capacitated edge activation problem with uncertain demands

The capacitated edge activation problem consists of activating a minimum cost set of capacitated edges to ensure the routing of some traffic demands. If the demands are subject to uncertainty, we speak of the robust capacitated edge activation problem. We consider a capacity formulation of the problem and investigate, from a polyhedral perspective, the similarities and the differences between the robust capacitated edge activation and the robust network loading polyhedron, as well as between the polyhedra corresponding to different routing and flows policies.
Core and skin surface temperature course after normothermic and hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass and its impact on extubation time

Background and objective: Cardiopulmonary bypass is associated with temperature pertubations that influence extubation time. Common extubation criteria demand a minimum value of core temperature only. The aim of this prospective study was to test the hypothesis that changes in core and skin surface temperature are related to extubation time in patients following normothermic and hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass. Methods: Forty patients undergoing cardiac surgery were studied; 28 patients had normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (nasopharyngeal temperature >35.5°C) and 12 had hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (28–34°C). In the intensive care unit, urinary bladder temperature and skin surface temperature gradient (forearm temperature minus fingertip temperature: >0°C =vasoconstriction, ≤0°C =vasodilatation) were measured at 30‐min intervals for 10 h postoperatively. At the same intervals, the patients were evaluated for extubation according to common extubation criteria. Results: On arrival in the intensive care unit the mean urinary bladder temperature was 36.8 ± 0.5°C in the normothermic group and 36.4±0.3°C in the hypothermic group (P = 0.014). The skin surface temperature gradient indicated severe vasoconstriction in the both groups. The shift from vasoconstriction to vasodilatation was faster in normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass patients (138±65 min) than in patients after hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (186±61 min, P = 0.034). There was a linear relation between the time to reach a skin surface temperature gradient = 0°C and extubation time (r2 = 0.56, normothermic group; r2 = 0.82, hypothermic group). Conclusions: The transition from peripheral vasoconstriction to vasodilatation is related to extubation time in patients following cardiac surgery under normothermic as well as hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.
Software-defined Networking-based DDoS Defense Mechanisms

Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS) is recognized to be one of the most catastrophic attacks against various digital communication entities. Software-defined networking (SDN) is an emerging technology for computer networks that uses open protocols for controlling switches and routers placed at the network edges by using specialized open programmable interfaces. In this article, a detailed study on DDoS threats prevalent in SDN is presented. First, SDN features are examined from the perspective of security, and then a discussion on SDN security features is done. Further, two viewpoints on protecting networks against DDoS attacks are presented. In the first view, SDN utilizes its abilities to secure conventional networks. In the second view, SDN may become a victim of the threat itself because of the centralized control mechanism. The main focus of this research work is on discovering critical security implications in SDN while reviewing the current ongoing research studies. By emphasizing the available state-of-the-art techniques, an extensive review of the advancement of SDN security is provided to the research and IT communities.
Control architecture of power systems: Modeling of purpose and function

Many new technologies with novel control capabilities have been developed in the context of “smart grid” research. However, often it is not clear how these capabilities should best be integrated in the overall system operation. New operation paradigms change the traditional control architecture of power systems and it is necessary to identify requirements and functions. How does new control architecture fit with the old architecture? How can power system functions be specified independent of technology? What is the purpose of control in power systems? In this paper, a method suitable for semantically consistent modeling of control architecture is presented. The method, called Multilevel Flow Modeling (MFM), is applied to the case of system balancing. It was found that MFM is capable of capturing implicit control knowledge, which is otherwise difficult to formalize. The method has possible future applications in agent-based intelligent grids.
Myosin subfragment binding for the localization of actin-like microfilaments in cultured cells. A light and electron microscope study

Fluorescein-labeled heavy meromyosin subfragment-1 (F-S-1) has been purified by ion exchange chromatography and characterized in terms of its ability to bind specifically to actin. F-S-1 activates the Mg++- adenosine triphosphatase activity of rabbit skeletal muscle actin and decorates actin as shown by negative stains and thin sections of rabbit actin and rat embryo cell microfilament bundles, respectively. Binding of F-S-1 to cellular structures is prevented by pyrophosphate and by competition with excess unlabeled S-1. The F-S-1 is used in light microscope studies to determine the distribution of actin-containing structures in wnterphase and mitotic rat embryo and rat kangaroo cells. Interphase cells display the familiar pattern of fluorescent stress fibers. Chromosome-to-pole fibers are fluorescent in mitotic cells. The glycerol extraction procedures employed provide an opportunity to examine cells prepared in an identical manner by light and electron microscopy. The latter technique reveals that actin-like microfilaments are identifiable in spindles of glycerinated cells before and after addition of S-1 or HMM. In some cases, microfilaments appear to be closely associated with spindle microtubles. Comparison of the light and electron microscope results aids in the evaluation of the fluorescent myosin fragment technique and provides further evidence for possible structural and functional roles of actin in the mitotic apparatus.