Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Priming mobilized peripheral blood mononuclear cells with the "activated platelet supernatant" enhances the efficacy of cell therapy for myocardial infarction of rats.

AIM Various methods are used to augment the efficacy of cell therapy in myocardial infarction (MI). In this study, we used the "activated platelet supernatant (APS)" to prime autologous "granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized peripheral blood mononuclear cells ((mob) PBMCs)" and investigated the efficacy of cell-based therapy in MI. METHOD Rat (mob) PBMCs were isolated after daily subcutaneous injections of G-CSF at 100 μg/kg for 3 days. APS was isolated separately after activating rat platelets with thrombin 0.5 U/mL for 2 hours. Priming was performed with APS for 6 hours. To check the paracrine effect of primed (mob) PBMCs, we used the 36-hour culture supernatant of the primed cells. A rat MI model was used for an in vivo model. RESULT Cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-10, and TGFβ were 3.7±0.9-fold, 3.4±1.2-fold, and 1.2±0.1-fold higher in APS, respectively, compared with naïve platelet supernatant. By APS priming, (mob) PBMCs showed M2 polarization and upregulation of angiogenic molecules (i.e., TEK, IL-10, CXCL1, and CX3CR1). APS-primed (mob) PBMCs had a 2.3-fold increased adhesion ability, induced by upregulated integrins. Rat endothelial cells cultured in the 36-hour culture supernatant of APS-primed (mob) PBMCs showed a 1.6-fold augmented proliferation and capillary network formation. In vivo transplantation of APS-primed (mob) PBMCs into rat MI models showed a significant trend of reduction in fibrosis area (P=.001) and wall thinning (P=.030), which lead to improvement in cardiac function measured by echocardiography. CONCLUSION Our data reveal that APS priming can enhance the wound-healing potential of (mob) PBMCs. APS priming may be a promising method for cell-based therapy of MI.
Research Outline at UC-Berkeley

Due to global climate change and the security of energy supplies, a major scientific challenge of the 21st century is to change our current fossil-fuel-based economy to the one that is more sustainable. Among the various sources of renewable energy, solar energy is essentially unlimited and consequently, one of the most promising sources to meet the world’s growing energy demand. Solar photovoltaic systems can convert directly photons to electrical power, but the main limitations with present solar cells are their high material cost and low conversion efficiencies. Another attractive solution to the energy problem is to harness heat sources such as geothermal heat, solar heat and waste heat dissipated in energy conversion processes. Thermoelectric and thermophotovoltaic systems are both capable of directly converting heat into electricity, but again, the main barrier is their low efficiency. With many advances in nanostructured materials and nanoscale designs, it is clear that nanoscale engineering will play an important role in resolving these issues for solar and thermal energy conversion. During my PhD study at MIT, I have carried out both theoretical and experimental research on nanoscale energy transport/conversion including nanoscale thermal radiation, optical and thermal characterization of nanostructures, and molecular gas transport in hard drive. My broad research experience, together with interdisciplinary education with a focus in nanotechnology and energy, positions me well to continue my contributions in our quest to transit our energy infrastructure into one that is more efficient and renewable. In an effort to provide practical solutions to the global energy problem, my proposed research in Professor Xiang Zhang’s group at University of California-Berkeley will cover two main areas:
Nonlinear optimal control: Numerical approximations via moments and LMI-relaxations

We consider the class of nonlinear optimal con- trol problems with all data (differential equation, state and control constraints, cost) being polynomials. We provide a simple hierarchy of LMI-relaxations whose optimal values form a nondecreasing sequence of lower bounds on the optimal value. Preliminary results show that good approximations are obtained with few moments. I. INTRODUCTION In general, solving a general nonlinear optimal control problem (OCP) is a difficult challenge, despite powerfull theoretical tools are available, e.g. the maximum principle and Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman optimality equation. How- ever there exist many numerical methods to approximate the solution of a given optimal control problem. For in- stance, Multiple shooting techniques which solve two-point boundary value problems as decribed in e.g. (17), (7), or direct methods, as in e.g. (18), (5), (6), which for instance, use descent algorithms, among others. Contribution. In this paper, we consider the particular class of nonlinear OCPs for which all data describing the problem (dynamics, state and control constraints) are polynomials. We propose a completely different approach to provide a good approximation of (only) the optimal value of the OCP, via a sequence of increasing lower bounds. As such, it could be seen as a complement to the above shooting or direct methods which provide an upper bound, and when the sequence of lower bounds converges to the optimal value, a test of their efficiency. We first adopt an infinite-dimensional linear program- ming (LP) formulation based on the Hamilton-Jacobi- Bellman equation, as developed in e.g. Hernandez- Hernandez et al. (11). We then follow a numerical approx- imation scheme (a relaxation of the original LP) in the vein but different from the general framework developed in Hernandez and Lasserre (10) for infinite-dimensional linear programs. Our contribution is to here exploit the fact that all data are polynomials to provide a hierarchy of semidefinite programming (SDP) (or, LMI) relaxations, whose optimal values form a monotone nondecreasing sequence of lower bounds on the optimal value of the OCP. The first numerical experiments show that good approximations are obtained early in the hierarchy, i.e., with few moments, confirming
Embodied Perception and the Economy of Action

Perception informs people about the opportunities for action and their associated costs. To this end, explicit awareness of spatial layout varies not only with relevant optical and ocular-motor variables, but also as a function of the costs associated with performing intended actions. Although explicit awareness is mutable in this respect, visually guided actions directed at the immediate environment are not. When the metabolic costs associated with walking an extent increase—perhaps because one is wearing a heavy backpack—hills appear steeper and distances to targets appear greater. When one is standing on a high balcony, the apparent distance to the ground is correlated with one's fear of falling. Perceiving spatial layout combines the geometry of the world with behavioral goals and the costs associated with achieving these goals.
Windows‐based simulation software as an aid to learning

Simulation is one of the most widely used tools within management science. The teaching of simulation has traditionally involved theory and practical model development. With the advent of modern software, practical model development can be undertaken with very little knowledge of simulation theory. This enables students who are more able in model building to develop their capabilities in this area and use their strengths to help develop the theoretical knowledge as they progress. This paper demonstrates how a little knowledge of the principles of simulation has been used to help students to develop working models by prototyping.
Priorización de problemas en las agendas legislativas autonómicas: instituciones y preferencias políticas

This article analyzes the legislative agenda of four regional governments – Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country– from 1982 to 2007. The goal is to explain to what extent changes in the prioritization of issues are related to institutional factors, such as changes in the distribution of competences and Europeanization, or political factors, like party preferences. The analysis illustrates that from the early nineties regional governments are increasingly paying attention to different issues, and that this process can not only be explained by taking into account the formal distribution of competences between central and regional governments. The delegation of power to the European Union does not contribute either to an increasing convergence of regional legislative agendas, not even for those issues more Europeanized. The institutional context constrains government’s capacity to regulate specific issues, but party preferences are important to understand why there are similarities or differences among regional agendas.
Can Complex Cellular Processes be Governed by Simple Linear Rules?

Complex living systems have shown remarkably well-orchestrated, self-organized, robust, and stable behavior under a wide range of perturbations. However, despite the recent generation of high-throughput experimental datasets, basic cellular processes such as division, differentiation, and apoptosis still remain elusive. One of the key reasons is the lack of understanding of the governing principles of complex living systems. Here, we have reviewed the success of perturbation-response approaches, where without the requirement of detailed in vivo physiological parameters, the analysis of temporal concentration or activation response unravels biological network features such as causal relationships of reactant species, regulatory motifs, etc. Our review shows that simple linear rules govern the response behavior of biological networks in an ensemble of cells. It is daunting to know why such simplicity could hold in a complex heterogeneous environment. Provided physical reasons can be explained for these phenomena, major advancement in the understanding of basic cellular processes could be achieved.
Morphable Resistive Memory Optimization for Mobile Virtualization

Virtualization offers significant benefits, such as better isolation and security for mobile systems. However, the limited amount of memory and virtualization's memory-demanding nature make it challenging to virtualize mobile systems efficiently. In this paper, we utilize morphable resistive memories to design a high-performance mobile system with an extensible memory space. With morphable resistive memories, a simple and effective page management technique, Balloonfish, is proposed to convert the memory cell state between multilevel and single-level for achieving a balance between performance and memory space. First, an application-specific page allocation is proposed for managing morphable resistive memories in virtualized mobile systems. Besides, we use a balloon-style algorithm to balance memory allocation among multiple virtual machines. Our evaluation based on the Samsung Exynos 5250 system-on-chip with various real Android applications shows that our system achieves 28.63% performance improvement compared with the baseline scheme.
Lifelong Learning in Late Modernity: The Challenges to Society, Organizations, and Individuals

Lifelong learning has recently re-emerged as one of the "hottest" topics in public discussion about the organization of education and training for adults in the 21st century. The almost unopposed return of "lifelong learning" to the policy agenda demands an analysis of the dynamics of what is now generally understood as "late modernity. " This paper examines current theories of late modern societies in terms of their implications for understanding the pre-eminence of lifelong learning. It argues that late modernity is the period of social development in which lifelong learning becomes the necessary. condition of survival. Societies, organizations and individuals have to learn in order to survive in the lifelong learning society. In particular the focus is upon the implications of new theoretical perspectives for the formulation of key research questions about adult and continuing education in the "lifelong learning society. " The first section addresses key theoretical perspectives in the literature of late modernity. Attention then turns to issues concerning the societal organization of social allocation and the distribution of opportunities to participate in lifelong learning. This is followed by a discussion of the emergence of learning organization as specific arenas for the location of lifelong learning in late modern societies. Attention is focused subsequently on the biographical competencies which individuals require in order to manage their learning careers and participation in lifelong learning.
The attainment and progress of twins at the start of school

Summary This paper considers cognitive differences between twins and other higher multiple births when they start school and their progress in reading and maths during the first year at school. The data came from the Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) project which has developed an on‐entry assessment designed to provide a solid base against which the relative progress (value added) of pupils can be measured. Some of the findings were surprising, in that they appeared to be in conflict with some earlier work, but there was also some agreement. Additionally, teachers were asked to assess pupils on the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) scale at the end of their first year in school, and this information was used to check out an earlier rinding that twins were more prone to score highly on this scale.
Gender, Power, and Intimacy

Feminist family therapy has been notably silent on the issue of intimacy between women and men, focusing instead on issues of equity and justice. But an imbalance of power between marital partners is not only unjust, it also inhibits intimacy. Using the Family FIRO model as an analytic tool, we explain the connection between power and intimacy, and describe how specific gendered patterns in marriage may create a context which cannot sustain the intimacy desired by many married couples. Conceptually, this paper suggests a way to talk about intimacy within a feminist model by connecting it organically to issues of equity and justice. Clinically, this paper suggests that therapists can embrace and work with the yearning of many women and men for more emotional intimacy in their marriages by helping them see the inextricable links between their equality and their intimacy.
Surveying determinants of protein structure designability across different energy models and amino-acid alphabets: A consensus

A variety of analytical and computational models have been proposed to answer the question of why some protein structures are more “designable” (i.e., have more sequences folding into them) than others. One class of analytical and statistical-mechanical models has approached the designability problem from a thermodynamic viewpoint. These models highlighted specific structural features important for increased designability. Furthermore, designability was shown to be inherently related to thermodynamically relevant energetic measures of protein folding, such as the foldability F and energy gap Δ10. However, many of these models have been done within a very narrow focus: Namely, pair–contact interactions and two-letter amino-acid alphabets. Recently, two-letter amino-acid alphabets for pair–contact models have been shown to contain designability artifacts which disappear for larger-letter amino-acid alphabets. In addition, a solvation model was demonstrated to give identical designability results to previous.
Combination of V106I and V179D Polymorphic Mutations in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reverse Transcriptase Confers Resistance to Efavirenz and Nevirapine but Not Etravirine

ABSTRACT Etravirine (ETV) is a second-generation nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor (NNRTI) introduced recently for salvage antiretroviral treatment after the emergence of NNRTI-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Following its introduction, two naturally occurring mutations in HIV-1 RT, V106I and V179D, were listed as ETV resistance-associated mutations. However, the effect of these mutations on the development of NNRTI resistance has not been analyzed yet. To select highly NNRTI-resistant HIV-1 in vitro, monoclonal HIV-1 strains harboring V106I and V179D (HIV-1V106I and HIV-1V179D) were propagated in the presence of increasing concentrations of efavirenz (EFV). Interestingly, V179D emerged in one of three selection experiments from HIV-1V106I and V106I emerged in two of three experiments from HIV-1V179D. Analysis of recombinant HIV-1 clones showed that the combination of V106I and V179D conferred significant resistance to EFV and nevirapine (NVP) but not to ETV. Structural analysis indicated that ETV can overcome the repulsive interactions caused by the combination of V106I and V179D through fine-tuning of its binding module to RT facilitated by its plastic structure, whereas EFV and NVP cannot because of their rigid structures. Analysis of clinical isolates showed comparable drug susceptibilities, and the same combination of mutations was found in some database patients who experienced virologic NNRTI-based treatment failure. The combination of V106I and V179D is a newly identified NNRTI resistance pattern of mutations. The combination of polymorphic and minor resistance-associated mutations should be interpreted carefully.
Attitudes towards high achievers in public life: Attributions, deservingness, personality, and affect

Abstract This study investigated subjects' attitudes towards nine vary prominent Australian public figures from the three domains of politics, sport, and entertainment. Results from a large sample of University students (N = 377) showed that subjects were more pleased about the success of the high achievers and more sorry, less pleased, and more disturbed about a hypothetical fall from their high positions. when the high achievement was attributed to internal causes, when it was seen to be deserved, and when the high achievers were judged to possess positive rather than negative personality charecteristics. High achievers were seen to deserve their high position more when their success was attributed more to internal causes and less to external assistance and when they were judged favourably as persons. Subject reported feeling more sorry, less pleased, and more disturbed about a hypothetical fall for which the high achievers were not responsible. Reviews results involving tall poppy attitudes, global sel.
Evaluation of risk of hemorrhagic transformation in local intra-arterial thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke by initial SPECT.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Thrombolytic therapy was carried out on patients with acute ischemic stroke, and the risk of hemorrhagic transformation was evaluated from the residual cerebral blood flow (CBF) by pretherapeutic single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS Local intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy was carried out using urokinase or recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) within 6 hours from the onset in 34 patients in whom no hypodensity areas were observed on the initial computed tomography examination. In the 20 patients with carotid territory occlusion who underwent 99mTc-labeled hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) SPECT, the residual CBF of the ischemic region was evaluated semiquantitatively by calculating two parameters: the ischemic regional activity to cerebellar activity ratio (R/CE ratio) and asymmetry index (AI). RESULTS The occluded vessels could be recanalized in 22 (92%) of the 24 patients in the urokinase group and in all 10 of the patients in the rt-PA group. Hemorrhagic transformation appeared in 4 patients in the urokinase group and 3 patients in the rt-PA group. Among the 20 patients who underwent SPECT before the treatment, the residual CBF was lower in the 5 patients who developed hemorrhagic transformation than in the 15 who did not (P < .05). Hemorrhagic transformation occurred in all patients with R/CE ratio of less than 0.35 and AI of more than 1.5. CONCLUSIONS The risk of hemorrhagic transformation after recanalization of occluded vessels by local intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy was considered to be high when the pretherapeutic residual CBF was markedly reduced.
Acculturation in relation to the acquisition of a second language

Abstract Learners who begin to acquire a second language (L2) in a naturalistic environment after puberty are thought to be constrained by biological age factors and to have greater difficulty obtaining native-like L2. However, the extant literature suggests that L2 acquisition may be positively affected by post-maturational factors, such as acculturation. This exploratory study examined the relationship between acculturation and L2 acquisition on Chinese–English late learners. Chinese students who arrived in the USA after puberty were examined to see whether the acculturation process towards US society was associated with higher speaking proficiency levels and more native-like pronunciation of English language. The results suggest that acculturation relates to speaking proficiency but not pronunciation.
Somatoform disorders: time for a new approach in DSM-V.

OBJECTIVE DSM-III introduced somatoform disorders as a speculative diagnostic category for somatic symptoms "not explained by a general medical condition. " Although retained and enlarged in DSM-IV, somatoform disorders have been the subject of continuing criticism by both professionals and patients. The extended period of preparation for DSM-V offers an important opportunity to reconsider the category of somatoform disorders. METHOD Exploration of the diverse aims of a diagnostic classification indicates that the authors must not only address the conceptual and practical problems associated with this category but also reconcile it with the parallel medical descriptive classification of functional symptoms and syndromes. RESULTS The existing somatoform disorders categories require modification. The authors favor the radical option of the abolition of the categories. Diagnoses currently within somatoform disorders could be redistributed into other groupings, and the disorders currently defined solely by somatic symptoms could be placed on axis III as "functional somatic symptoms and syndromes. " Greater use could be made of "psychological factors affecting medical condition" on axis I. The authors suggest supplementing the diagnosis of functional somatic symptoms with a multiaxial formulation. CONCLUSIONS The authors promote a classification of somatic symptoms in DSM-V that is compatible with that used in general medicine and offers new opportunities both for research into the etiology and treatment of symptoms and for the greater integration of psychiatry into general medical practice.
The Effect of Gluteal Taping on Posture and Balance During Standing in Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

The subjects of this study were 13 children (six females, seven males; mean aged 8.5) with hemiplegic CP who were gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) level I. The change of posture and balance during standing before and after gluteal taping were measured using inclinometer, gross motor function measure, and functional reaching test. The collected data were analyzed using the paired t-test. †Corresponding Author : ibobath@hanmail.netThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.