Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lethal giant larvae 2 regulates development of the ciliated organ Kupffer’s vesicle

Motile cilia perform crucial functions during embryonic development and throughout adult life. Development of organs containing motile cilia involves regulation of cilia formation (ciliogenesis) and formation of a luminal space (lumenogenesis) in which cilia generate fluid flows. Control of ciliogenesis and lumenogenesis is not yet fully understood, and it remains unclear whether these processes are coupled. In the zebrafish embryo, lethal giant larvae 2 (lgl2) is expressed prominently in ciliated organs. Lgl proteins are involved in establishing cell polarity and have been implicated in vesicle trafficking. Here, we identified a role for Lgl2 in development of ciliated epithelia in Kupffer’s vesicle, which directs left-right asymmetry of the embryo; the otic vesicles, which give rise to the inner ear; and the pronephric ducts of the kidney. Using Kupffer’s vesicle as a model ciliated organ, we found that depletion of Lgl2 disrupted lumen formation and reduced cilia number and length. Immunofluorescence and time-lapse imaging of Kupffer’s vesicle morphogenesis in Lgl2-deficient embryos suggested cell adhesion defects and revealed loss of the adherens junction component E-cadherin at lateral membranes. Genetic interaction experiments indicate that Lgl2 interacts with Rab11a to regulate E-cadherin and mediate lumen formation that is uncoupled from cilia formation. These results uncover new roles and interactions for Lgl2 that are crucial for both lumenogenesis and ciliogenesis and indicate that these processes are genetically separable in zebrafish.
Epstein–Barr virus strains and variations: Geographic or disease‐specific variants?

The Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV) is associated with the development of several diseases, including infectious mononucleosis (IM), Burkitt's Lymphoma (BL), Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, and other neoplasias. The publication of EBV genome 1984 led to several studies regarding the identification of different viral strains. Currently, EBV is divided into EBV type 1 (B95‐8 strain) and EBV type 2 (AG876 strain), also known as type A and type B, which have been distinguished based upon genetic differences in the Epstein–Barr nuclear antigens (EBNAs) sequence. Several other EBV strains have been described in the past 10 years considering variations on EBV genome, and many have attempted to clarify if these variations are ethnic or geographically correlated, or if they are disease related. Indeed, there is an increasing interest to describe possible specific disease associations, with emphasis on different malignancies. These studies aim to clarify if these variations are ethnic or geographically correlated, or if they are disease related, thus being important to characterize the epidemiologic genetic distribution of EBV strains on our population. Here, we review the current knowledge on the different EBV strains and variants and its association with different diseases. J. Med. Virol. 89:373–387, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Industrial implementation of a fuzzy logic controller for brushless DC motor drives using the PicoMotion control framework

Modern industry requires an improved motor performance and the permanent magnet brushless DC (BLDC) motors are especially appropriate for applications that require a high level of accuracy and performance. The advanced control strategies when applied into BLDC motor drive systems may further enhance their performance. However, these methods are relatively complex and computationally intensive, which may hamper the implementation. Fuzzy logic control algorithm has been developed in this investigation and embedded into a commercially available motion control system for the position control of BLDC motors. BLDC motor drives offered by PicoMotion Inc. and Motion Control Framework software platform have been selected for the experiments due to their compactness, flexibility and the open hardware and software concept they have been created upon. The obtained comparative results with respect to the built in PI control law have confirmed that the implementation of more advanced control strategies on inexpensive hardware and software platforms, nowadays available on the market for the control of BLDC motors, can be practically feasible and can enhance their performance.
Auditory Saltation in the Vertical Midsagittal Plane

Auditory saltation is an illusion in which a train of clicks, the first half of which is presented at one location and the other half of which is presented from a second location, is perceived as originating not only from the anchor points, but also from locations between them. That is, intermediate members of the series of clicks have their spatial locations systematically misperceived. In the present study, auditory saltation was examined for the first time in the vertical midsagittal plane. Subjects rated the perceived continuity of motion for 8-click trains systematically varied in inter-click interval (ICI), direction of motion (up, down), and trial type (‘saltation’ versus ‘real’ motion). In all listeners, saltation stimuli supported robust saltation, but only for trials with ICIs less than about 120 ms. Real motion was rated as continuous for all ICIs. These data indicate that the auditory-saltation illusion can exploit monaural stimulus cues for source location in the generation of the illusory motion percept.
Using Scaled Embedded Distances to Generate Metrics for R 2

A metric on a set A is a symmetric function which defines a nonnegative distance between any two points of A, such that the triangle inequality is fulfilled. Given a set of points, called sites, the metric can be used to generate Voronoi diagrams which capture the nearest point information. We present a new class of metrics on R, which we call the scaled embedding-generated (SEG) metric. These metrics are defined with the help of a smooth one-to-one embedding of R into R and an additional scalar-valued function which is used to re-scale the distances. We describe a possible construction of an SEG metric which is based on the GaußNewton algorithm. More precisely, we show how to generate a spline embedding, which approximates a given distance graph on a finite set of points in R, in the sense of least squares. Distances are required to satisfy the generalized polygon inequality. The framework is used to define a new type of Voronoi diagram in R, which is possibly anisotropic as it allows for different distance functions for the sites. We explain a simple method to compute such Voronoi diagrams. Several examples of diagrams resulting from different SEG metrics are presented.
Construction of self assembling scaffold of decellularized cardiac ecm and fibrin for the treatment of myocardial infarction

Cardiac tissue engineering aims at restoring cell compartment along with myocardial extracellular microenvironment. Even though countless combinations of synthetic or biological scaffolds and stem/progenitor cells of various origin have been tested so far, the most suitable candidate is yet to be found. With the aim to develop a natural injectable self-assembling scaffold able to be serve as both three-dimensional platform and stem/progenitor cell delivery method, we assembled fibrin gels incorporating Cardiac Primitive Cells (CPC) and cardiac decellularized extracellular matrix (d-ECM). Cryosections of cardiac ECM were decellularized and d-ECM was lyophilized and solubilized. d-ECM solution was mixed with the fibrin solution carrying Cardiac Primitive Cells (CPC) isolated from adult heart and allowed to gel at 37°C. Several Fibrin to Matrix ratios (F: M) were tested to determine the ideal composition in terms of time of gelling and three-dimensional (3D) architecture. Gels were cultured for three days, then fixed and processed as tissues for histological study. Histochemistry revealed the presence of viable CPC in the gels whose architecture varied from densely packed to very loose. Due to time of gelling and to concentration of fibrin, the distribution of CPC in the scaffold was even only in the gel with F:M of 1:1. According to our results, the combination of CPC with fibrin and d-ECM at F:M of 1:1, being injectable and self-assembling at body temperature, provides an attracting alternate to bioconstructs.
Supersymmetric backgrounds from generalized Calabi‐Yau manifolds

We show that the supersymmetry transformations for type II string theories on six‐manifolds can be written as differential conditions on a pair of pure spinors, the exponentiated Kähler form eiJ and the holomorphic form O. The equations are explicitly symmetric under exchange of the two pure spinors and a choice of even or odd‐rank RR field. This is mirror symmetry for manifolds with torsion. Moreover, RR fluxes affect only one of the two equations: eiJ is closed under the action of the twisted exterior derivative in IIA theory, and similarly O is closed in IIB. This means that supersymmetric SU(3)‐structure manifolds are always complex in IIB while they are twisted symplectic in IIA. Modulo a different action of the B‐field, these are all generalized Calabi‐Yau manifolds, as defined by Hitchin.
Tumour‐infiltrating T‐cell subsets, molecular changes in colorectal cancer, and prognosis: cohort study and literature review

The abundance of tumour‐infiltrating T‐cells has been associated with microsatellite instability (MSI) and a favourable prognosis in colorectal cancer. However, numerous molecular alterations have been associated with clinical outcome, and potentially confounding the biological and prognostic significance of tumour‐infiltrating T‐cells. We utilized a database of clinically and molecularly‐annotated colon and rectal carcinoma cases (N = 768; stage I–IV) in two prospective cohort studies (the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow‐up Study) and quantified the densities of CD3+, CD8+, CD45RO+ (PTPRC), and FOXP3+ cells within neoplastic epithelial areas using an Ariol image analysis system and tissue microarray. We used Cox proportional hazard models to compute the mortality hazard ratio, adjusting for clinical and molecular features including KRAS, BRAF, and PIK3CA mutations, MSI, CIMP, and LINE‐1 hypomethylation. The densities of CD8+, CD45RO+, and FOXP3+ cells were significantly associated with patient survival in univariate analyses ($p_{\rm{trend}} < 0.007$). In the multivariate model, tumour‐infiltrating CD45RO+‐cell density, but not CD3+, CD8+ or FOXP3+‐cell density, was significantly associated with survival (p = 0.0032). In multivariate linear regression analysis, MSI‐high (p < 0.0001) and high‐level tumour LINE‐1 methylation (p = 0.0013) were independently associated with higher CD45RO+‐cell density. The survival benefit associated with CD45RO+ cells was independent of MSI and LINE‐1 status. In conclusion, tumour‐infiltrating CD45RO+‐cell density is a prognostic biomarker associated with longer survival of colorectal cancer patients, independent of clinical, pathological, and molecular features. In addition, MSI‐high and tumour LINE‐1 methylation level are independent predictors of CD45RO+‐cell density. Our data offer a possible mechanism by which MSI confers an improved clinical outcome and support efforts to augment the host immune response in the tumour microenvironment as a strategy of targeted immunotherapy. Copyright © 2010 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Tricyclic nested electromagnetic bandgap structure characterized with broad stopband bandwidth and deep noise suppression

A novel tricyclic nested electromagnetic bandgap (TN-EBG) structure has been proposed to restrain the simultaneous switching noise (SSN) in high-speed digital systems. The presented TN-EBG structure was fabricated and measured based on the simulated performance of the configuration. It is found that the measured S-parameters are in good agreement with the simulated ones. Also, it is observed that an ultra-wide bandgap has been achieved, which almost ranges from 1 to 27 GHz with the noise suppression at −50 dB. Especially for the stopband width spanning from 1.1 to 21.6 GHz, the suppression depth level reaches up to−60 dB. The derived electric field distribution images have clearly exhibited the operation mechanism of the TN-EBG structure for SSN mitigation within the different frequency regions.
Effect of inhibition of lipolysis on heart failure following acute coronary occlusion in the dog.

The extent and severity of myocardial ischaemic injury produced by acute coronary artery occlusion has been found to be effectively reduced by inhibiting hormone sensitive lipase activity. Results suggest that the 'power failure' induced by occlusion of a major coronary artery is less severe during antilipolytic treatment than during control occlusion without treatment.
Radar-only localization and mapping for ground vehicle at high speed and for riverside boat

The use of a rotating range sensor in high speed robotics creates distortions in the collected data. Such an effect is, in the majority of studies, ignored or considered as noise and then corrected, based on proprioceptive sensors or localization systems. In this study we consider that distortion contains the information about the vehicle's displacement. We propose to extract this information from distortion without any other information than exteroceptive sensor data. The only sensor used for this work is a panoramic Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar called K2Pi. No odometer, gyrometer or other proprioceptive sensor is used. The idea is to resort to velocimetry by analyzing the distortion of the measurements. As a result, the linear and angular velocities of the mobile robot are estimated and used to build, without any other sensor, the trajectory of the vehicle and then the radar map of outdoor environments. In this paper, radar-only localization and mapping results are presented for a ground vehicle and a riverbank application. This work can easily be extended to other slow rotating range sensors.
The dispersion of superposition coding for Gaussian broadcast channels

In this paper, we analyze the performance of superposition coding for Gaussian broadcast channels with finite blocklength. To this end, we adapt two different achievability bounds, the dependence testing and the κβ bounds introduced by Polyanskiy et al. in 2010 to the broadcast setting. The distinction between these bounds lies in fixing either the input or the output distributions of the channel. For the first case of the dependence testing bound, an upper bound on the average error probability of the system is derived whereas for the latter, lower bounds on the maximal code sizes of each user are presented.1
Learning from errors: Detecting ZigBee interference in WiFi networks

In this work we show how to detect ZigBee interference on commodity WiFi cards by monitoring the reception errors, such as synchronization errors, invalid header formats, too long frames, etc., caused by ZigBee transmissions. Indeed, in presence of non-WiFi modulated signals, the occurrence of these types of errors follows statistics that can be easily recognized. Moreover, the duration of the error bursts depends on the transmission interval of the interference source, while the error spacing depends on the receiver implementation. On the basis of these considerations, we propose the adoption of hidden Markov chains for characterizing the behavior of WiFi receivers in presence of controlled interference sources (training phase) and then run-time recognizing the most likely cause of error patterns. Experimental results prove the effectiveness of our approach for detecting ZigBee interference.
Lactacystin decreases amyloid‐β peptide production by inhibiting β‐secretase activity

The human amyloid precursor protein (APP) is processed by the nonamyloidogenic and the amyloidogenic catabolic pathways. The sequential cleavage of APP by the β‐ and γ‐secretase activities, known as the amyloidogenic processing of APP, leads to the formation of the amyloid‐β peptide (Aβ). Aβ is the main constituent of the amyloid core of senile plaques, a typical hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. In addition to secretases, other cellular proteolytic activities, like the proteasome, might participate in the metabolism of APP. We investigated the consequence of proteasome inhibition on the amyloidogenic processing of human APP. CHO cells and primary cultures of rat cortical neurons expressing human APP or a protein corresponding to its β‐cleaved C‐terminal fragment (C99) were treated with lactacystin, an irreversible inhibitor of the chymotrypsin‐like activity of the proteasome. Lactacystin significantly decreased the level of Aβ produced from APP in both cellular models, whereas the production of Aβ from C99 was not affected. Lactacystin did not inhibit γ‐secretase activity but was found to inhibit the β‐cleavage of APP, leading to a proportional decrease in Aβ production. Although lactacystin did not inhibit the catalytic activity of recombinant BACE1, a decrease in neuronal β‐secretase activity was measured after treatment with lactacystin. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
From Neural Responses to Population Behavior

Can neural responses of a small group of individuals predict the behavior of large-scale populations? In this investigation, brain activations were recorded while smokers viewed three different television campaigns promoting the National Cancer Institute’s telephone hotline to help smokers quit (1-800-QUIT-NOW). The smokers also provided self-report predictions of the campaigns’ relative effectiveness. Population measures of the success of each campaign were computed by comparing call volume to 1-800-QUIT-NOW in the month before and the month after the launch of each campaign. This approach allowed us to directly compare the predictive value of self-reports with neural predictors of message effectiveness. Neural activity in a medial prefrontal region of interest, previously associated with individual behavior change, predicted the population response, whereas self-report judgments did not. This finding suggests a novel way of connecting neural signals to population responses that has not been previously demonstrated and provides information that may be difficult to obtain otherwise.
Identification and Characterization of Two Novel bla KLUC Resistance Genes through Large-Scale Resistance Plasmids Sequencing

Plasmids are important antibiotic resistance determinant carriers that can disseminate various drug resistance genes among species or genera. By using a high throughput sequencing approach, two groups of plasmids of Escherichia coli (named E1 and E2, each consisting of 160 clinical E. coli strains isolated from different periods of time) were sequenced and analyzed. A total of 20 million reads were obtained and mapped onto the known resistance gene sequences. As a result, a total of 9 classes, including 36 types of antibiotic resistant genes, were identified. Among these genes, 25 and 27 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) appeared, of which 9 and 12 SNPs are nonsynonymous substitutions in the E1 and E2 samples. It is interesting to find that a novel genotype of bla KLUC, whose close relatives, bla KLUC-1 and bla KLUC-2, have been previously reported as carried on the Kluyvera cryocrescens chromosome and Enterobacter cloacae plasmid, was identified. It shares 99% and 98% amino acid identities with Kluc-1 and Kluc-2, respectively. Further PCR screening of 608 Enterobacteriaceae family isolates yielded a second variant (named bla KLUC-4). It was interesting to find that Kluc-3 showed resistance to several cephalosporins including cefotaxime, whereas bla KLUC-4 did not show any resistance to the antibiotics tested. This may be due to a positively charged residue, Arg, replaced by a neutral residue, Leu, at position 167, which is located within an omega-loop. This work represents large-scale studies on resistance gene distribution, diversification and genetic variation in pooled multi-drug resistance plasmids, and provides insight into the use of high throughput sequencing technology for microbial resistance gene detection.
High magnetic field water and metabolite proton T1 and T2 relaxation in rat brain in vivo

Comprehensive and quantitative measurements of T1 and T2 relaxation times of water, metabolites, and macromolecules in rat brain under similar experimental conditions at three high magnetic field strengths (4.0 T, 9.4 T, and 11.7 T) are presented. Water relaxation showed a highly significant increase (T1) and decrease (T2) with increasing field strength for all nine analyzed brain structures. Similar but less pronounced effects were observed for all metabolites. Macromolecules displayed field‐independent T2 relaxation and a strong increase of T1 with field strength. Among other features, these data show that while spectral resolution continues to increase with field strength, the absolute signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) in T1/T2‐based anatomical MRI quickly levels off beyond ∼7 T and may actually decrease at higher magnetic fields. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Latest Trends in Corporate Performance Measurement

All organisations continually evolve, so it comes as no surprise that their performance measurement systems go through various stages of evolution too. A European research report (Gates and Kulik, 1999) found that approximately three-quarters of companies investigated had changed their performance measurement systems during the previous three years and expected to keep changing them in the future.
An Empirical Study of Speech Processing in the Brain by Analyzing the Temporal Syllable Structure in Speech-input Induced EEG

Clinical applicability of electroencephalography (EEG) is well established, however the use of EEG as a choice for constructing brain computer interfaces to develop communication platforms is relatively recent. To provide more natural means of communication, there is an increasing focus on bringing together speech and EEG signal processing. Quantifying the way our brain processes speech is one way of approaching the problem of speech recognition using brain waves. This paper analyses the feasibility of recognizing syllable level units by studying the temporal structure of speech reflected in the EEG signals. The slowly varying component of the delta band EEG(0.3-3Hz) is present in all other EEG frequency bands. Analysis shows that removing the delta trend in EEG signals results in signals that reveals syllable like structure. Using a 25 syllable framework, classification of EEG data obtained from 13 subjects yields promising results, underscoring the potential of revealing speech related temporal structure in EEG.
Lessons from Fragile X Regarding Neurobiology, Autism, and Neurodegeneration

ABSTRACT. The fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1) mutation causes two disorders: fragile X syndrome (FXS) in those with the full mutation and the fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) in some older individuals with the premutation. FXS is caused by a deficiency of the FMR1 protein (FMRP) leading to dysregulation of many genes that create a phenotype with ADHD, anxiety, and autism. FXTAS is caused by the elevation of FMR1-mRNA to levels 2 to 8 times normal in the premutation. This causes an RNA gain of function toxicity leading to brain atrophy, white matter disease, neuronal and astrocytic inclusion formation, and subsequent ataxia, intention tremor, peripheral neuropathy, and cognitive decline. The neurobiology and pathophysiology of FXS and FXTAS are described in detail.
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM LIMITS IN BOHMIAN QUANTUM COSMOLOGY

In this paper we have investigated the classical limit in Bohmian quantum cosmology. It is observed that in the quantum regime where the quantum potential is greater than the classical one, one has an expansion in terms of negative powers of the Planck constant. But in the classical limit there are regions having positive powers of the Planck constant, and regions having negative powers and also regions having both. The conclusion is that the Bohmian classical limit cannot be obtained by letting the Planck constant goes to zero.