Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of exercise training on white adipose tissue remodeling in cancer cachexia

Exercise training has been claimed for its capability of inducing several beneficial adaptations, not only on healthy individuals, but also on a large range of pathologies, cancer included. In the cancer cachexia (CC) set, however, exercise may represent a “double-edged sword”. If by one hand patients may benefit from the many healthy effects induced by exercise training, by other hand, some evidences are pointing exercise as a promoter of the browning that occurs in white adipose tissue (WAT). Indeed, exercise seems to be capable of upregulate the expression of UCP1 and PGC-1α, which can contribute to further enhance the energy expenditure experienced by subjects with CC. This apparent dichotomy makes exercise an interesting and crucial variable to be studied on adipose tissue remodeling level in the cancer cachexia set. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of endurance exercise on the WAT remodeling taking place on cancer-related cachexia. To do it so, a treadmill exercise protocol was implemented in two pre-clinical models, of mammary and prostate cancer using female Sprague-Dawley rats and male Wistar Unilever rats, respectively. Retroperitoneal tissue samples were collected and its protein content, regarding some selected markers of browning and metabolism, were analyzed. In addition, a histological evaluation, aiming to analyze the crosssectional area and adipocytes number, as well as other remodeling process occurring on WAT, was performed on rats bearing prostate cancer. The obtained results suggested that endurance exercise does not worsen or ameliorates the energy expenditure and the metabolic impairment scenario taking over WAT in cancer cachexia, once no alterations were detected in the expression levels of the analyzed markers. Nevertheless, alterations regarding adipocytes morphology, characterized by a significant decrease of adipocytes areas, was notice for the animals subjected to the endurance exercise protocol. These findings highlight exercise capacity in inducing adaptations on the adipose tissue and evidence exercise practice as a potential beneficial tool on the managing of cancer cachexia.
ZnO as transparent conducting oxide by Atomic Layer Deposition

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) films were deposited on SiO2/Si and glass substrates by Atomic Layer Deposition using Diethylzinc (DEZ) as the metal precursor and Water (H2O) as the oxidant over a temperature range of 75°C to 225°C. Here we demonstrated self limiting behavior of the Atomic Layer Deposition and the linear growth of the deposited films by in-situ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) study. The maximum growth rate was found to be ~1.8 to 2 Å per ALD cycle. The as deposited crystalline ZnO films were found to be c-axis preferentially oriented with dense microstructures, homogeneous grain sizes and low surface roughness. We developed ZnO as ~ 80% transparent conductor with carrier density ca. 1021 cm-3 and a controllable resistivity from the intrinsic level (highly insulating) to 10-3 Ω-cm without any intentional doping.
Shapes and distributions of the catecholamine‐accumulating neurons in the rabbit retina

Rabbit retinas were fixed with mixed aldehydes and examined for the fluorescence of catecholamines. Labeled cell bodies were present in the layer of the amacrine cells. A band of fluorescent processes was present in layer 1 of the inner plexiform layer. Weaker labeling was present in two deeper strata, one near the middle of the inner plexiform layer (presumably layer 3) and one at the juction of layers 4 and 5. Immunohistochemistry showed tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) to be present in the same cells and the same strata of the inner plexiform layer as the endogenous catecholamines. Exposing the retina to exogenous dopamine or norepinephrine resulted in stronger labeling in the middle and deep levels of the inner plexiform layer. At the same time a second population of amacrine cell bodies became visible.
Role of Human‐Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell‐Derived Spinal Cord Astrocytes in the Functional Maturation of Motor Neurons in a Multielectrode Array System

The ability to generate human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neural cells displaying region-specific phenotypes is of particular interest for modeling central nervous system (CNS) biology in vitro. We describe a unique method by which spinal cord hiPSC-derived astrocytes (hiPSC-A) are cultured with spinal cord hiPSC-derived motor neurons (hiPSC-MN) in a multielectrode array (MEA) system to record electrophysiological activity over time. We show that hiPSC-A enhance hiPSC-MN electrophysiological maturation in a time-dependent fashion. The sequence of plating, density, and age in which hiPSC-As are co-cultured with MN, but not their respective hiPSC line origin, are factors that influence neuronal electrophysiology. When compared to co-culture with mouse primary spinal cord astrocytes, we observe an earlier and more robust electrophysiological maturation in the fully human cultures, suggesting that the human origin is relevant to the recapitulation of astrocyte/motor neuron cross-talk. Finally, we test pharmacological compounds on our MEA platform and observe changes in electrophysiological activity which confirm hiPSC-MN maturation. These findings are supported by immunocytochemistry and real time PCR studies in parallel cultures demonstrating human astrocyte mediated changes in the structural maturation and protein expression profiles of the neurons. Interestingly, this relationship is reciprocal and co-culture with neurons influences astrocyte maturation as well. Taken together these data indicate that in a human in vitro spinal cord culture system, astrocytes alter hiPSC-MN maturation in a time-dependent and species specific manner and suggest a closer approximation of in vivo conditions. Main Points We developed a method for the co-culture of human iPSC-A/MN for multielectrode array recordings. The morphological, molecular, pharmacological, and electrophysiological characterization of the co-cultures suggests bidirectional maturation.
Social Network Privacy for Attribute Disclosure Attacks

Increasing research on social networks stresses the urgency for producing effective means of ensuring user privacy. Represented ubiquitously as graphs, social networks have a myriad of recently developed techniques to prevent identity disclosure, but the equally important attribute disclosure attacks have been neglected. To address this gap, we introduce an approach to anonymize social networks that have labeled nodes, $\alpha$-proximity, which requires that the label distribution in every neighbourhood of the graph be close to that throughout the entire network. We present an effective greedy algorithm to achieve $\alpha$-proximity and experimentally validate the quality of the solutions it derives.
Crohn's Disease: A Comparative Prospective Study of Transabdominal Ultrasonography, Small Intestine Contrast Ultrasonography, and Small Bowel Enema

Background: Small intestine contrast ultrasonography (SICUS), when performed after distention of the small bowel lumen with an iso‐osmolar polyethylene glycol electrolyte‐balanced solution, shows high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (97%) in detecting small bowel abnormalities in patients who have not received a diagnosis but in whom there is a suspicion of intestinal diseases. The diagnostic yield of SICUS remains to be established in detecting small bowel lesions in patients with proven Crohn's disease (CD) in comparison with transabdominal ultrasonography (TUS), and in relationship to the experience of the operator, using small bowel enema (SBE) as the “gold standard. ” Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of SICUS, when performed by a sonologist with 1 year of experience, and TUS, when performed by a sonologist with 10 years of experience, compared to SBE in the assessment of the site, extension, and stenosis of small intestinal lesions in CD patients. Patients and Methods: A total of 28 consecutive patients (men, 16; women, 12; age range, 21 to 60 yr) with a diagnosis of CD underwent TUS and SICUS, which were performed by 2 sonologists who were unaware of the radiologic findings, on the same day. SICUS was performed after the ingestion of 375 mL of a polyethylene glycol contrast solution. A standard SBE was performed on a different day by an expert radiologist who was unaware of the sonographic findings. Results: Sensitivities in the detection of small bowel lesions were 96% for TUS and 100% for SICUS. Compared with SBE, SICUS detected the presence of 4 lesions in the jejunum that had been missed by TUS. The mean (±SD) extent of the ileal disease was 22 ± 12.5 cm when measured during SBE, 14.5 ± 8.6 cm when measured during TUS, and 19.5 ± 12.5 cm when measured during SICUS [P = 0.05 (SICUS versus SBE)]. The correlation of the extension of the lesions between SICUS and SBE (r = 0.88) was better than that between TUS and SBE (r = 0.64). The sensitivities of TUS and SICUS in the detection of at least 1 stricture were 76% and 94%, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity in assessing prestenotic dilatation were 50% and 100%, respectively, at TUS, and 100% and 90%, respectively, at SICUS. Conclusion: In inexperienced hands, SICUS is a more accurate technique for assessing CD lesions, and the accuracy is better than that of TUS performed by an expert sonologist. The use of SICUS, instead of SBE, could be indicated for the follow‐up of patients with CD.
Localized Mobility Management for SDN-Integrated LTE Backhaul Networks

Small cell (SCell) and Software Define Network (SDN) are two key enablers to meet the evolutional requirements of future telecommunication networks, but still on the initial study stage with lots of challenges faced. In this paper, the problem of mobility management in SDN-integrated LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile backhaul network is investigated. An 802.1ad double tagging scheme is designed for traffic forwarding between Serving Gateway (S-GW) and SCell with QoS (Quality of Service) differentiation support. In addition, a dynamic localized forwarding scheme is proposed for packet delivery of the ongoing traffic session to facilitate the mobility of UE within a dense SCell network. With this proposal, the data packets of an ongoing session can be forwarded from the source SCell to the target SCell instead of switching the whole forwarding path, which can drastically save the path-switch signalling cost in this SDN network. Numerical results show that compared with traditional path switch policy, more than 50% signalling cost can be reduced, even considering the impact on the forwarding path deletion when session ceases. The performance of data delivery is also analysed, which demonstrates the introduced extra delivery cost is acceptable and even negligible in case of short forwarding chain or large backhaul latency.
Prearrest administration of low-molecular-weight heparin in porcine cardiac arrest: Hemodynamic effects and resuscitability*

Objective:Both animal and human studies demonstrate activation of coagulation during cardiac arrest. Prearrest anticoagulation is used routinely in many experimental studies. We studied the hemodynamic effects of prearrest anticoagulation with a low-molecular-weight heparin suitable for clinical use during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in pigs. Design:Randomized and blinded experimental animal study. Setting:University hospital-affiliated research laboratory. Subjects:Sixteen female domestic pigs. Interventions:Three minutes before electrically induced ventricular fibrillation, enoxaparin 1 mg/kg or physiologic saline was blinded and administered intravenously. After 10 mins of untreated ventricular fibrillation, advanced cardiac life support was initiated with continuous mechanical chest compressions and interposed manual ventilation with 100% oxygen. Epinephrine was administered after 2 mins of advanced cardiac life support followed by attempted defibrillation 1 min thereafter. Advanced cardiac life support was continued for 10 mins following international guidelines. Electrocardiogram was recorded continuously and ventricular fibrillation waveform was analyzed (median slope). Animals with return of spontaneous circulation were observed for ten more minutes. Blood specimens were drawn for analysis of coagulation activation (thrombin-antithrombin complex) and drug effect (anti-factor Xa activity). Measurements and Main Results:Six of eight (75%) pigs in each group achieved return of spontaneous circulation. Thrombin-antithrombin complex levels were significantly lower in pigs that received enoxaparin. There was no significant difference either in measured hemodynamics between the groups during advanced cardiac life support and after return of spontaneous circulation or in median slope values during ventricular fibrillation. Epinephrine caused a significant decrease in femoral and increase in cerebral cortical blood flow with no difference between the groups. Conclusions:Prearrest anticoagulation with enoxaparin did not influence either hemodynamics during advanced cardiac life support and after return of spontaneous circulation or the frequency of return of spontaneous circulation in porcine cardiac arrest.
Motivational interviewing and self-determination theory in a web-based computer tailored physical activity intervention: A randomized controlled trial

Objective: This study explores whether a web-based physical activity (PA) intervention grounded in self-determination theory (SDT) and motivational interviewing (MI) is more effective and better appreciated than a traditional web-based PA intervention. Design: A randomized controlled trial was conducted, comparing (1) I Move; a web-based PA intervention based on SDT and MI, (2) Active Plus; a traditional web-based PA intervention and (3) a waiting list control condition. Main outcome measures: Weekly minutes of moderate to vigorous PA and weekly days with ≥30 min PA were measured through self-report at baseline and at 3 and 6 months from baseline. Results: I Move achieved a small, but significant increase in weekly minutes of moderate to vigorous PA, while Active Plus did not have a significant impact on this outcome. Both interventions were effective in increasing weekly days with ≥30 min PA, whereas Active Plus yielded a greater effect on this outcome. Conclusion: Overall, the web-based PA intervention grounded in SDT and MI did not outperform the traditional web-based PA intervention. Further research should reveal whether this type of intervention is profitable for long-term maintenance of PA levels.
CONTROL OF A BRACHIATION ROBOT WITH A SINGLE UNDERACTUATED JOINT USING NONLINEAR MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL

Abstract In this paper we present the control of an underactuated brachiation robot with only one unactuated joint using the nonlinear model based predictive approach for the motion control. The robot used has 3 links, i. e. , two arms and a body. We adopt the MPC to control the underactuated brachiation robot due to its advantages, mainly the construction of an optimal stabilizing control law and due to its ability to consider, in a direct way, the constraints into the optimization problem. At the end we present computational simulations with their respective results and we highlight some important considerations.
Molecular alterations associated with bladder cancer initiation and progression

Bladder cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed non-cutaneous solid malignancy, and the second most commonly diagnosed genitourinary malignancy amongst people living in the United States, where it is estimated that more than 61,000 new cases of bladder cancer will be diagnosed in the year 2008. Approximately 90% of malignant tumors arising in the urinary bladder are of epithelial origin, the majority being transitional cell carcinomas. Early stage bladder tumors have been classified into two groups with distinct behavior and unique molecular profiles: low grade tumors (always papillary and usually superficial), and high-grade tumors (either papillary or non-papillary, and often invasive). Clinically, superficial bladder tumors (stages Ta and Tis) account for 75% to 85% of neoplasms, while the remaining 15% to 25% are invasive (T1, T2-T4) or metastatic lesions at the time of initial presentation. Studies from the author's group and others have revealed that distinct genotypic and phenotypic patterns are associated with early versus late stages of bladder cancer. Most importantly, early superficial diseases appear to segregate into two main pathways. Superficial papillary bladder tumors are characterized by gain-of-function mutations, mainly affecting classical oncogenes such as RAS and FGFR3. Deletions of chromosome 9, mainly allelic losses on the long arm (9q) are also frequent events in these tumors. Such genetic alterations are observed in most if not all superficial papillary non-invasive tumors (Ta), but only in a small subset of invasive bladder neoplasms. Flat carcinoma in situ (Tis) and invasive tumors are characterized by loss-of-function mutations, affecting the prototype tumor suppressor genes, including p53, RB and PTEN. These alterations are absent or very rare in the Ta tumors analyzed, but have been frequently identified in invasive bladder carcinomas. Based on these data, a novel model for bladder tumor progression has been proposed in which two separate genetic pathways characterize the evolution of superficial bladder neoplasms. Numerous individual molecular markers have been identified in the tissue specimens that correlate to some extent with tumor stage, and possibly with prognosis in bladder cancer. However, these molecular prognosticators do not play a role in the clinical routine management of patients with bladder tumors, mainly due to lack of large prospective validation studies. Thus, the need for development of specific tissue and serum tumor markers for prognostic stratification remains. The advent of high-throughput microarrays technologies allows comprehensive discovery of targets relevant in bladder cancer progression, which could be translated into new approaches for drug and biomarker development. Further investigation is warranted to define novel biomarkers specific for bladder cancer patients based on the molecular alterations of tumor progression, and multiplexed strategies for clinical management.
A Dual-Band High-Gain Base-Station Antenna for WLAN and WiMAX Applications

A dual-band base-station antenna with high gain is proposed in this letter. The antenna consists of a pair of planar patches and vertical shorted patches. Each of the two planar patches is composed of three U-shaped slots that differ in size. The bigger U-shaped slots that are connected to vertical patches operate at high frequency (3.5 GHz), and the smaller ones work at low frequency (2.4 GHz), which can be applied to wireless local area network (WLAN) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) operations. This antenna also exhibits high gains of near 8.0 and 11.0 dBi at the low and high working frequencies, respectively. Good cross-polarization performance is also verified by measured results. It is also demonstrated that the two working bands can be flexibly controlled by suitable changes of corresponding parameters of U-shaped arms.
Real life information retrieval (panel): commercial search engines

The worId of commercial search engines is surprisingly little covered in the literature, e.g. the devices needed to cope with searching for extremely frequent terms, efficient coding for partial word searching, and fielded searching. This panel is made up of people who have written large search systems and will give them (and the audience) a chance to discuss the technical and practical details of large search systems. Content representation in large systems is now a major topic as we try to move beyond simple word matching for searching. As the different Web searching systems compete, they try to offer better search quality through a variety of techniques. This includes concept searching using both manual aids and automatic detection. The panelists will be able to discuss how this is done and what kinds of progress are being made. This panel will provide insight into the practical situation in the industry today, and what kinds of technology are used in searching and why.
Global optimality of approximate dynamic programming and its use in non-convex function minimization

This study investigates the global optimality of approximate dynamic programming (ADP) based solutions using neural networks for optimal control problems with fixed final time. Issues including whether or not the cost function terms and the system dynamics need to be convex functions with respect to their respective inputs are discussed and sufficient conditions for global optimality of the result are derived. Next, a new idea is presented to use ADP with neural networks for optimization of non-convex smooth functions. It is shown that any initial guess leads to direct movement toward the proximity of the global optimum of the function. This behavior is in contrast with gradient based optimization methods in which the movement is guided by the shape of the local level curves. Illustrative examples are provided with single and multi-variable functions that demonstrate the potential of the proposed method. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Temporal Information Processing in Short- and Long-Term Memory of Patients with Schizophrenia

Cognitive deficits of patients with schizophrenia have been largely recognized as core symptoms of the disorder. One neglected factor that contributes to these deficits is the comprehension of time. In the present study, we assessed temporal information processing and manipulation from short- and long-term memory in 34 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 34 matched healthy controls. On the short-term memory temporal-order reconstruction task, an incidental or intentional learning strategy was deployed. Patients showed worse overall performance than healthy controls. The intentional learning strategy led to dissociable performance improvement in both groups. Whereas healthy controls improved on a performance measure (serial organization), patients improved on an error measure (inappropriate semantic clustering) when using the intentional instead of the incidental learning strategy. On the long-term memory script-generation task, routine and non-routine events of everyday activities (e.g., buying groceries) had to be generated in either chronological or inverted temporal order. Patients were slower than controls at generating events in the chronological routine condition only. They also committed more sequencing and boundary errors in the inverted conditions. The number of irrelevant events was higher in patients in the chronological, non-routine condition. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia imprecisely access temporal information from short- and long-term memory. In short-term memory, processing of temporal information led to a reduction in errors rather than, as was the case in healthy controls, to an improvement in temporal-order recall. When accessing temporal information from long-term memory, patients were slower and committed more sequencing, boundary, and intrusion errors. Together, these results suggest that time information can be accessed and processed only imprecisely by patients who provide evidence for impaired time comprehension. This could contribute to symptomatic cognitive deficits and strategic inefficiency in schizophrenia.