Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The nature of alarm communication in Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Blattodea: Termitoidea: Termitidae): the integration of chemical and vibroacoustic signals

ABSTRACT Alarm signalling is of paramount importance to communication in all social insects. In termites, vibroacoustic and chemical alarm signalling are bound to operate synergistically but have never been studied simultaneously in a single species. Here, we inspected the functional significance of both communication channels in Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), confirming the hypothesis that these are not exclusive, but rather complementary processes. In natural situations, the alarm predominantly attracts soldiers, which actively search for the source of a disturbance. Laboratory testing revealed that the frontal gland of soldiers produces a rich mixture of terpenoid compounds including an alarm pheromone. Extensive testing led to identification of the alarm pheromone being composed of abundant monoterpene hydrocarbons (1S)-α-pinene and myrcene, along with a minor component, (E)-β-ocimene. The vibratory alarm signalling consists of vibratory movements evidenced as bursts; a series of beats produced predominantly by soldiers. Exposing termite groups to various mixtures containing the alarm pheromone (crushed soldier heads, frontal gland extracts, mixture of all monoterpenes, and the alarm pheromone mixture made of standards) resulted in significantly higher activity in the tested groups and also increased intensity of the vibratory alarm communication, with the responses clearly dose-dependent. Lower doses of the pheromone provoked higher numbers of vibratory signals compared to higher doses. Higher doses induced long-term running of all termites without stops necessary to perform vibratory behaviour. Surprisingly, even crushed worker heads led to low (but significant) increases in the alarm responses, suggesting that other unknown compound in the worker's head is perceived and answered by termites. Our results demonstrate the existence of different alarm levels in termites, with lower levels being communicated through vibratory signals, and higher levels causing general alarm or retreat being communicated through the alarm pheromone. Summary: We inspected the functional significance of both vibroacoustic and chemical communication channels in Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), confirming the hypothesis that these are not exclusive but rather complementary processes.
Minor Compensatory Changes in SAGE Mdr1a (P-gp), Bcrp, and Mrp2 Knockout Rats Do Not Detract from Their Utility in the Study of Transporter-Mediated Pharmacokinetics

Mdr1a-, Bcrp-, and Mrp2-knockout rats are a more practical species for absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) studies than murine models and previously demonstrated expected alterations in the pharmacokinetics of various probe substrates. At present, gene expression and pathology changes were systematically studied in the small intestine, liver, kidney, and brain tissue from male SAGE Mdr1a, Bcrp, and Mrp2 knockout rats versus wild-type Sprague-Dawley controls. Gene expression data supported the relevant knockout genotype. As expected, Mrp2 knockout rats were hyperbilirubinemic and exhibited upregulation of hepatic Mrp3. Overall, few alterations were observed within 112 ADME-relevant genes. The two potentially most consequential changes were upregulation of intestinal carboxylesterase in Mdr1a knockouts and catechol-O-methyltransferase in all tissues of Bcrp knockout rats. Previously reported upregulation of hepatic Mdr1b P-glycoprotein in proprietary Wistar Mdr1a knockout rats was not observed in the SAGE counterpart investigated herein. Relative liver and kidney weights were 22–53% higher in all three knockouts, with microscopic increases in hepatocyte size in Mdr1a and Mrp2 knockout rats and glomerular size in Bcrp and Mrp2 knockouts. Increased relative weight of clearing organs is quantitatively consistent with reported increases in the clearance of drugs that are not substrates of the knocked-out transporter. Overall, SAGE knockout rats demonstrated modest compensatory changes, which do not preclude their general application to study transporter-mediated pharmacokinetics. However, until future studies elucidate the magnitude of functional change, caution is warranted in rare instances of extensive metabolism by catechol-O-methyltransferase in Bcrp knockouts and intestinal carboxylesterase in Mdr1a knockout rats, specifically for molecules with free catechol groups and esters subject to gut-wall hydrolysis.
Efficient sampling for spatial uncertainty quantification in multibody system dynamics applications

We present two methods for efficiently sampling the response (trajectory space) of multibody systems operating under spatial uncertainty, when the latter is assumed to be representable with Gaussian processes. In this case, the dynamics (time evolution) of the multibody systems depends on spatially indexed uncertain parameters that span infinite‐dimensional spaces. This places a heavy computational burden on existing methodologies, an issue addressed herein with two new conditional sampling approaches. When a single instance of the uncertainty is needed in the entire domain, we use a fast Fourier transform technique. When the initial conditions are fixed and the path distribution of the dynamical system is relatively narrow, we use an incremental sampling approach that is fast and has a small memory footprint. Both methods produce the same distributions as the widely used Cholesky‐based approaches. We illustrate this convergence at a smaller computational effort and memory cost for a simple non‐linear vehicle model. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Correction of MR k-space data corrupted by spike noise

Magnetic resonance images are reconstructed from digitized raw data, which are collected in the spatial-frequency domain (also called k-space). Occasionally, single or multiple data points in the k-space data are corrupted by spike noise, causing striation artifacts in images. Thresholding methods for detecting corrupted data points can fail because of small alterations, especially for data points in the low spatial frequency area where the k-space variation is large. Restoration of corrupted data points using interpolations of neighboring pixels can give incorrect results. The authors propose a Fourier transform method for detecting and restoring corrupted data points using a window filter derived from the striation-artifact structure in an image or an intermediate domain. The method provides an analytical solution for the alteration at each corrupted data point. It can effectively restore corrupted k-space data, removing striation artifacts in images, provided that the following 3 conditions are satisfied. First, a region of known signal distribution (for example, air background) is visible in either the image or the intermediate domain so that it can be selected using a window filter. Second, multiple spikes are separated by the full-width at half-maximum of the point spread function for the window filter. Third, the magnitude of a spike is larger than the minimum detectable value determined by the window filter and the standard deviation of k-space random noise.
Tamoxifen Therapy in Breast Cancer: Do Apolipoprotein E Genotype and Menopausal State Affect Plasma Lipid Changes Induced by the Drug?

Objective This study examines the lipid profile change produced in response to tamoxifen (TAM) treatment, and its possible relationship with both apolipoprotein E genotype and menopausal state in patients with breast cancer. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 86 Spanish women with breast cancer before initiating TAM treatment and in the following 6, 12 and 18 months of treatment. Plasma lipid levels (total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol) were determined using an automatic analyzer. Genotypes for apolipoprotein E (ApoE) were identified by PCR-RFLP using the HhaI enzyme. Results In all patients, significant reductions in total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations and a significant increase in triglyceride concentrations were observed after 6, 12, and 18 months of TAM treatment compared to baseline (p<0.01 for each time point). In the subset of APOE4-negative patients, triglyceride concentrations also significantly increased after 6, 12, and 18 months of treatment (p=0.019, p=0.045, p=0.001, respectively), while APOE4-positive patients showed no significant lipid changes at 12 and 18 months. However, after 18 months of TAM treatment the overall triglyceride concentrations had risen by 24.75% in APOE4-negative patients vs 29.9% in APOE4-positive patients. In postmenopausal women, significant reductions in total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and LDL/HDL ratios were observed at each time point (p<0.020 for each). Conclusions TAM treatment induced similar plasma triglyceride increases in patients with positive or negative APOE genotype. Compared to premenopausal patients, postmenopausal breast cancer patients showed a more beneficial lipid profile change in response to treatment.
Prediagnostic Leptin, Adiponectin, C-Reactive Protein, and the Risk of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

Obesity has been associated with an increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Adipokines and systemic inflammation have been hypothesized to underlie this association. In a case–control study nested within the Multiethnic Cohort, conditional logistic regression was used to calculate the ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for postmenopausal breast cancer associated with prediagnostic levels of serum leptin, adiponectin, the leptin:adiponectin ratio, and C-reactive protein (CRP). The 706 cases and 706 controls were matched on ethnicity, location (Hawaii or Los Angeles), birth year, date and time of blood draw, hours fasting before blood draw, and hormone replacement therapy use at blood draw. Higher circulating levels of leptin [ORQ4 vs. Q1, 1.94 (1.37–2.75); Ptrend ≤ 0.001), the leptin:adiponectin ratio [OR, 1.91 (1.36–2.68); Ptrend = 0.005], and CRP [OR, 1.41 (1.01–1.96); Ptrend = 0.014] were associated with an increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. The positive associations for these markers remained after adjustment for body mass index (BMI). No associations were detected for adiponectin. These data suggest that adipokines and systemic inflammation may be associated with the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer independently of BMI. Further prospective studies examining the role of adipokines and inflammatory processes in the etiology of postmenopausal breast cancer are warranted. Cancer Prev Res; 6(3); 188–95. ©2013 AACR.
3D ultrafast ultrasound imaging in vivo

Very high frame rate ultrasound imaging has recently allowed for the extension of the applications of echography to new fields of study such as the functional imaging of the brain, cardiac electrophysiology, and the quantitative imaging of the intrinsic mechanical properties of tumors, to name a few, non-invasively and in real time. In this study, we present the first implementation of Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging in 3D based on the use of either diverging or plane waves emanating from a sparse virtual array located behind the probe. It achieves high contrast and resolution while maintaining imaging rates of thousands of volumes per second. A customized portable ultrasound system was developed to sample 1024 independent channels and to drive a 32 × 32 matrix-array probe. Its ability to track in 3D transient phenomena occurring in the millisecond range within a single ultrafast acquisition was demonstrated for 3D Shear-Wave Imaging, 3D Ultrafast Doppler Imaging, and, finally, 3D Ultrafast combined Tissue and Flow Doppler Imaging. The propagation of shear waves was tracked in a phantom and used to characterize its stiffness. 3D Ultrafast Doppler was used to obtain 3D maps of Pulsed Doppler, Color Doppler, and Power Doppler quantities in a single acquisition and revealed, at thousands of volumes per second, the complex 3D flow patterns occurring in the ventricles of the human heart during an entire cardiac cycle, as well as the 3D in vivo interaction of blood flow and wall motion during the pulse wave in the carotid at the bifurcation. This study demonstrates the potential of 3D Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging for the 3D mapping of stiffness, tissue motion, and flow in humans in vivo and promises new clinical applications of ultrasound with reduced intra—and inter-observer variability.
Design of sparse digital differentiator using orthogonal matching pursuit method

In this paper, a new method is presented to design the sparse digital differentiator which is useful to determine and estimate the derivatives of given signal. First, the design problem is formulated a constrained ℓ0 minimization problem. Then, the orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm is used to solve this optimization problem efficiently. As a result, the sparsity of filter coefficients and error of magnitude response can be controlled by suitably choosing the prescribed design parameter. Finally, several examples are demonstrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed design method.
Face Sketch Synthesis From a Single Photo–Sketch Pair

Face sketch synthesis is crucial in many practical applications, such as digital entertainment and law enforcement. Previous methods relying on many photo–sketch pairs have made great progress. State-of-the-art face sketch synthesis algorithms adopt Bayesian inference (BI) (e.g., Markov random fields) to select local sketch patches around corresponding position from a set of training data. However, these methods have two limitations: 1) they depend on many training photo–sketch pairs and 2) they cannot tackle nonfacial factors (e.g., hairpins, glasses, backgrounds, and image size) if these factors are excluded in training data. In this paper, we propose a novel face sketch synthesis method that is capable of handling nonfacial factors only using a single photo–sketch pair from coarse to fine. Our method proposes a cascaded image synthesis (CIS) strategy and integrates sparse representation-based greedy search (SRGS) and BI for face sketch synthesis. We first apply SRGS to select candidate sketch patches from the whole training photo–sketch pairs sampled from the only photo–sketch pair. We then employ BI to estimate an initial sketch. Afterward, the input photo and the estimated initial sketch are taken as an additional photo–sketch pair for training. Finally, we adopt CIS with the given two photo–sketch pairs to further improve the quality of the initial sketch. The experimental results on several databases demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
In Vitro Characterization of the Type I Toxin-Antitoxin System bsrE/SR5 from Bacillus subtilis*

BsrE/SR5 is a new type I toxin/antitoxin system located on the prophage-like region P6 of the Bacillus subtilis chromosome. The bsrE gene encoding a 30-amino acid hydrophobic toxin and the antitoxin gene sr5 overlap at their 3′ ends by 112 bp. Overexpression of bsrE causes cell lysis on agar plates. Here, we present a detailed in vitro analysis of bsrE/SR5. The secondary structures of SR5, bsrE mRNA, and the SR5/bsrE RNA complex were determined. Apparent binding rate constants (kapp) of wild-type and mutated SR5 species with wild-type bsrE mRNA were calculated, and SR5 regions required for efficient inhibition of bsrE mRNA narrowed down. In vivo studies confirmed the in vitro data but indicated that a so far unknown RNA binding protein might exist in B. subtilis that can promote antitoxin/toxin RNA interaction. Using time course experiments, the binding pathway of SR5 and bsrE RNA was elucidated. A comparison with the previously well characterized type I TA system from the B. subtilis chromosome, bsrG/SR4, reveals similarities but also significant differences.
Recent Advances in Nanotechnology: Potential Prospects in Neuromedicine and Neurosurgery

The advent and popularity of minimal access surgeries and micro-medicine techniques incur the current surge in the utilization of nanotechnology and nanodevices in medical fields. It is obvious that the observed marked increase in nanotechnology research and developments provides a future avenue that portrayed the destiny of neuromedicine and neurosurgery. In fact, it has been the cause for the realization of several potential benefits such as new procedures and therapeutic options for nervous system neoplasia, brain implantation, neuroprotection, nerve nanorepair, efficient drug delivery, nano diagnostic of neurological disease and disorders, nanoimaging, neurological manipulation using nanorobots and nanowires, real- time recording using nanowires arrays and nanocircuits etc. Certainly, nanotechnology is providing a future platform for further research and development in neuroscience and neurosurgery. However, despite the significant advances provided by nanotechnology in terms of neurosurgical procedures, modern neuroimaging and contrast media; still some significant limitations exist. Thus, the applications of nanotechnology in the field of neurosurgery and neuroscience need to be precisely understandable for more transparent and honest solutions to foster their medical potentials. This review examines the recent developments and potentials of the utilization of nanotechnology in Neuromedicine and Neurosurgery.
Comparative Transcriptional and Genomic Analysis of Plasmodium falciparum Field Isolates

Mechanisms for differential regulation of gene expression may underlie much of the phenotypic variation and adaptability of malaria parasites. Here we describe transcriptional variation among culture-adapted field isolates of Plasmodium falciparum, the species responsible for most malarial disease. It was found that genes coding for parasite protein export into the red cell cytosol and onto its surface, and genes coding for sexual stage proteins involved in parasite transmission are up-regulated in field isolates compared with long-term laboratory isolates. Much of this variability was associated with the loss of small or large chromosomal segments, or other forms of gene copy number variation that are prevalent in the P. falciparum genome (copy number variants, CNVs). Expression levels of genes inside these segments were correlated to that of genes outside and adjacent to the segment boundaries, and this association declined with distance from the CNV boundary. This observation could not be explained by copy number variation in these adjacent genes. This suggests a local-acting regulatory role for CNVs in transcription of neighboring genes and helps explain the chromosomal clustering that we observed here. Transcriptional co-regulation of physical clusters of adaptive genes may provide a way for the parasite to readily adapt to its highly heterogeneous and strongly selective environment.
The impact of an experimental manipulation of maternal involvement on children's anxiety and avoidant behaviours

Background: There is a growing body of literature supporting the association between maternal overinvolvement and child anxiety. Theory also suggests that perceived control in children acts as a mediator between overinvolvement and child anxiety. To date, only two experimental manipulation studies have sought to establish causal links in this relationship. This study aimed to establish whether firstly, maternal overinvolvement induces child anxiety and avoidant behaviour, and secondly, whether a child’s perceived control mediates this relationship. Method: This study used an experimental repeated-measures design. 38 children aged 8-11 years completed difficult tangram puzzles, in both a high involvement and low involvement condition. Mother’s were instructed on how much involvement to give in each condition. Dependent variables were self-report anxiety and perceived control, and observed avoidant behaviour. Results: Contrary to the research hypotheses, children showed significantly lower levels of avoidance in the high involvement condition than in the low involvement condition. There was a trend towards a significantly lower level of self-report anxiety in the high involvement condition. Children reported significantly lower levels of perceived control in the high involvement condition, although this was not related to increased anxiety or avoidance. Conclusions: The results do not support models that propose overinvolvement causes child anxiety. A mediational model between perceived control, parental overinvolvement and child anxiety was unable to be tested due to the contrary findings. Methodological limitations were identified and areas for future research suggested. An experimental manipulation of maternal overinvolvement 3 Table of
Efficient video transmission in D2D assisted mobile cloud networks

The increasing popularity of smart mobile devices and the rise of online services has increased the requirements for efficient dissemination of social video contents. In this paper, we study the problem of distributing video from cloud server to users in partially connected cooperative D2D network using network coding. In such a scenario, the transmission conflicts occur from simultaneous transmissions of multiple devices, and the scheduling decision should be made not only on the encoded packets but also on the set of transmitting devices. We analyze the lower bound and give an integer linear formulation of the joint optimization problem over the set of transmitting devices and the packet combinations. We also propose a heuristic solution for this setup using a conflict graph and local graph at every device. Simulation results show that our coding scheme significantly reduces the number of transmission slots, which will increase the efficiency of video delivery.
Laser attacks on integrated circuits: From CMOS to FD-SOI

The use of a laser as a means to inject errors during the computations of a secure integrated circuit (IC) for the purpose of retrieving secret data was first reported in 2002. Since then, a lot of research work, mainly experimental, has been carried out to study this threat. This paper reports research conducted, in the framework of the french national project LIESSE, to obtain an electrical model of the laser effects on CMOS ICs. Based on simulation, a first model permitted us to draw the laser sensitivity map of a SRAM cell. It demonstrates a very close correlation with experimental measures. We also introduce the preliminary results we gathered to build a similar electrical model for FD-SOI circuits. FD-SOI technology is expected to be less sensitive to laser than CMOS.
The place of premedication in pediatric practice

Behind the multiple arguments for and against the use of premedication, sedative drugs in children is a noble principle that of minimizing psychological trauma related to anesthesia and surgery. However, several confounding factors make it very difficult to reach didactic evidence‐based conclusions. One of the key confounding issues is that the nature of expectations and responses for both parent and child vary greatly in different environments around the world. Studies applicable to one culture and to one hospital system (albeit multicultural) may not apply elsewhere. Moreover, the study of hospital‐related distress begins at the start of the patient’s journey and ends long after hospital discharge; it cannot be focused completely on just the moment of anesthetic induction. Taking an example from actual practice experience, the trauma caused by the actual giving of a premedication to a child who absolutely does not want it and may struggle may not be recorded in a study but could form a significant component of overall effect and later psychological pathology. Clearly, attitudes by health professionals and parents to the practice of routine pediatric premedication, vary considerably, often provoking strong opinions. In this pro–con article we highlight two very different approaches to premedication. It is hoped that this helps the reader to critically re‐evaluate a practice, which was universal historically and now in many centers is more selective.