Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Myo10 is a key regulator of TNT formation in neuronal cells

Summary Cell-to-cell communication is essential in multicellular organisms. Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) have emerged as a new type of intercellular spreading mechanism allowing the transport of various signals, organelles and pathogens. Here, we study the role of the unconventional molecular motor myosin-X (Myo10) in the formation of functional TNTs within neuronal CAD cells. Myo10 protein expression increases the number of TNTs and the transfer of vesicles between co-cultured cells. We also show that TNT formation requires both the motor and tail domains of the protein, and identify the F2 lobe of the FERM domain within the Myo10 tail as necessary for TNT formation. Taken together, these results indicate that, in neuronal cells, TNTs can arise from a subset of Myo10-driven dorsal filopodia, independent of its binding to integrins and N-cadherins. In addition our data highlight the existence of different mechanisms for the establishment and regulation of TNTs in neuronal cells and other cell types.
Journal of Central Nervous System Disease Mood Disorders, Circadian Rhythms, Melatonin and Melatonin Agonists

Open Access Full open access to this and thousands of other papers at Abstract: Recent advances in the understanding of circadian rhythms have led to an interest in the treatment of major depressive disorder with chronobiotic agents. Many tissues have autonomous circadian rhythms, which are orchestrated by the master clock, situated in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SNC). Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-hydroxytryptamine) is secreted from the pineal gland during darkness. Melatonin acts mainly on MT1 and MT2 receptors, which are present in the SNC, regulating physiological and neuroendocrine functions , including circadian entrainment, referred to as the chronobiotic effet. Circadian rhythms has been shown to be either misaligned or phase shifted or decreased in amplitude in both acute episodes and relapse of major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder. Manipulation of circadian rhythms either using physical treatments (such as high intensity light) or behavioral therapy has shown promise in improving symptoms. Pharmacotherapy using melatonin and pure melatonin receptor agonists, while improving sleep, has not been shown to improve symptoms of depression. A novel antidepressant, agomelatine, combines 5HT2c antagonist and melatonin agonist action, and has shown promise in both acute treatment of MDD and in preventing relapse.
Characteristics of energy intake under-reporting in French adults

Energy intake under-reporting (UR) is a concern in nutritional epidemiological studies, as it may distort the relationships between dietary habits and health. Although UR is known to be associated with certain characteristics, few studies have investigated them in France. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to assess the prevalence and characteristics of UR in French adults. UR was defined according to Goldberg's classification. A sample of 1567 adults was drawn from the nationally representative French dietary survey (Individuelle Nationale des Consommations Alimentaires 2 2006–7). Food intake (7 d record), dietary habits, socio-economic status, region of residence, sedentary behaviour and weight perception variables were assessed. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the associations between UR and a number of covariates. The overall prevalence of UR was 22·5 %, similar in men and women. In both sexes, UR was positively associated with overweight and protein intake and inversely associated with age. In women, UR was associated with eating lunch in the office, poor perception of diet quality and sedentary behaviour and was inversely associated with educational level, residence in the Paris region, cereal product intake and eating lunch in a friend's or family member's home. In men, UR was positively associated with a history of slimming and inversely associated with dairy product intake and eating lunch at a staff canteen. In conclusion, UR is prevalent in French adults and is associated with several different characteristics. It is important to take account of UR when investigating diet–disease associations in adults.
Optimal Control of Markov Processes.

Abstract : The purpose of this article is to give an overview of some recent developments in optimal stochastic control theory. Broadly speaking, stochastic control theory deals with models of systems whose evolution is affected both by certain random influences and also by certain inputs chosen by a controller. The authors are concerned here only with state-space formulations of control problems in continuous time. Moreover, the authors consider only markovian control problems in which the state x sub t of the process being controlled is Markov provided the controller follows a Markov control policy. They mainly discuss the case of continuously acting control, in which at each time t a control u sub t is applied to the system.
An EM- and wavelet-based multi-band image restoration approach

This work presents a restoration approach with two available observations of the same scene, each with specific spatial and spectral resolutions. The proposed restoration approach is based on a multi-band image restoration scheme employing Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm and implemented in wavelet domain. It can be easily applied in hyperspectral and multispectral image fusion and restoration to acquire image with both high spatial and spectral resolutions. Simulation experiment is employed to validate the proposed approach. A performance comparison is made with its counterparts in image domain.
Social Thinking Skills and Cooperative Learning for Students with Autism

The purpose of this article is to describe how cooperative learning (CL) can be used in conjunction with social-thinking skills to address the learning needs of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Cooperative learning is a pedagogical model in which students work together to solve a problem and complete a task. It is designed to maximize each student's learning experiences. Social thinking encourages students to navigate CL by framing activities through perspective taking and understanding the actions of their peers. Teachers can use social thinking strategies to assist students to attain the desired goals by breaking down the skills so they can work in their CL groups. Strategies for introducing social thinking skills within the CL structure will be presented via a case scenario.
Impact of pulmonary rehabilitation on psychosocial morbidity in patients with severe COPD.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on psychosocial morbidity, functional exercise capacity, and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with severe COPD. DESIGN A prospective, randomized, controlled trial with blinding of outcome assessment and data analysis. SETTING A tertiary-care respiratory service. PATIENTS Forty patients (mean age, 65 +/- 8 years [+/- SD]) with severe chronic flow limitation (FEV(1), 35 +/- 13%) without respiratory failure (Pao(2), 72 +/- 9 mm Hg; Paco(2), 42 +/- 5 mm Hg) were randomized either to a control group or to a PR group (PRG). INTERVENTIONS Sixteen weeks of PR that included breathing retraining and exercise. MEASUREMENTS At baseline and 16 weeks, we evaluated psychosocial morbidity using two questionnaires (the Millon Behavior Health Inventory [MBHI] and the Revised Symptom Checklist [SCL-90-R]) and measured 6-min walk distance (6WMD) and HRQL using the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ). RESULTS We found differences in favor of the PRG in the following MBHI domains: introversive, forceful, and sensitive personality styles (all p </= 0.05) and chronic tension (p </= 0.01). Results of the depression, hostility, global severity, positive symptom distress index (all p </= 0.01), somatization, anxiety, psychoticism, and positive symptom (all p </= 0.05) domains of the SCL-90-R favored the PRG. We also found statistically and clinically significant differences between groups in 6MWD (85 m; p < 0.01) and in two domains of the CRQ: dyspnea (1.0; p < 0.01) and mastery (0.6; p < 0.05). The other two domains of CRQ showed strong trends in favor of PRG: 0.7 for both fatigue and emotional function (minimal important difference, 0.5). CONCLUSIONS PR may decrease psychosocial morbidity in COPD patients even when no specific psychological intervention is performed. Findings from this study also confirm the positive impact of PR on functional exercise capacity and HRQL.
A Conserved Multi-Gene Family Induces Cross-Reactive Antibodies Effective in Defense against Plasmodium falciparum

Background Two related merozoite surface proteins, MSP3 and MSP6, have previously been identified as targets of antibody-dependent cellular inhibition (ADCI), a protective mechanism against Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Both MSP3 and MSP6 share a common characteristic small N-terminal signature amino-acid stretch (NLRNA/G), a feature similar to MSP3-like orthologs identified in other human and primate malaria parasites. Methods/Results This signature amino-acid sequence led to the identification of eight ORFs contiguously located on P. falciparum chromosome 10. Our subsequent investigations on their expression, localization, sequence conservation, epitope sharing, immunogenicity and the functional role of antibodies in defense are reported here. Six members of P. falciparum MSP3-multigene family share similar sequence organization within their C-terminal regions, are simultaneously expressed as merozoite surface proteins and are highly conserved among parasite isolates. Each of these proteins is a target of naturally occurring antibodies effective at parasite killing in ADCI assays. Moreover, both naturally occurring antibodies and those generated by immunization display cross-reactivity with other members of the family and exhibit varied binding avidities. Conclusions/Significance The unusual characteristics of the MSP3 multi-gene family lead us to hypothesize that the simultaneous expression of targets eliciting cross-reactive antibody responses capable of controlling parasite densities could represent an immune process selected through evolution to maintain homeostasis between P. falciparum and human hosts; a process that allows the continuous transmission of the parasite without killing the host. Our observations also have practical consequences for vaccine development by suggesting MSP3 vaccine efficacy might be improved when combined with the various C-terminus regions of the MSP3 family members to generate a wider range of antibodies acting and to increase vaccine immunogenicity in varied human genetic backgrounds.
Morphological segmentation of markings for inspection of IC packages under complex backgrounds

In the process of packaging integrated circuits (ICs), special markings are drawn to indicate the defective chips detected by test & inspection equipments. During the automated optical inspection process, these markings are detected and identified by the inspection equipment for a special treatment of detective IC packages. The marking is sometimes difficult to segment by the imaging device due to the complex background features among which the marking is drawn, such as circuit features and other graphic features. In this paper, we develop several marking segmentation algorithms based on grayscale hit-or-miss morphological transformation operations. The markings are assumed of known width different from other background features and of detectable contrast from background. Performance of the newly developed algorithms are extensively tested and compared with simple well-known morphological algorithms and the result shows equal or better segmentation accuracy.
The Set Union Problem With Unlimited Backtracking

An extension of the disjoint set union problem is considered, where the extra primitive backtrack($i$) can undo the last $i$ unions not yet undone. Let $n$ be the total number of elements in all the sets. A data structure is presented that supports each union and find in $O(\log n/\log \log n)$ worst-case time and each backtrack($i$) in $O(1)$ worst-case time, irrespective of $i$. The total space required by the data structure is $O(n)$. A byproduct of this construction is a partially persistent data structure for the standard set union problem, capable of supporting union, find, and find-in-the-past operations, each in $O(\log n/\log \log n)$ worst-case time. All these upper bounds are tight for the class of separable-pointer algorithms as well as in the cell probe model of computation.
Molecular Dissection of the Rho-associated Protein Kinase (p160ROCK)-regulated Neurite Remodeling in Neuroblastoma N1E-115 Cells

A critical role for the small GTPase Rho and one of its targets, p160ROCK (a Rho-associated coiled coil-forming protein kinase), in neurite remodeling was examined in neuroblastoma N1E-115 cells. Using wild-type and a dominant-negative form of p160ROCK and a p160ROCK-specific inhibitor, Y-27632, we show here that p160ROCK activation is necessary and sufficient for the agonist-induced neurite retraction and cell rounding. The neurite retraction was accompanied by elevated phosphorylation of myosin light chain and the disassembly of the intermediate filaments and microtubules. Y-27632 blocked both neurite retraction and the elevation of myosin light chain phosphorylation in a similar concentration-dependent manner. On the other hand, suppression of p160ROCK activity by expression of a dominant-negative form of p160ROCK induced neurites in the presence of serum by inducing the reassembly of the intermediate filaments and microtubules. The neurite outgrowth by the p160ROCK inhibition was blocked by coexpression of dominant-negative forms of Cdc42 and Rac, indicating that p160ROCK constitutively and negatively regulates neurite formation at least in part by inhibiting activation of Cdc42 and Rac. The assembly of microtubules and intermediate filaments to form extended processes by inhibitors of the Rho–ROCK pathway was also observed in Swiss 3T3 cells. These results indicate that Rho/ROCK-dependent tonic inhibition of cell process extension is exerted via activation of the actomysin-based contractility, in conjunction with a suppression of assembly of intermediate filaments and microtubules in many cell types including, but not exclusive to, neuronal cells.
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1457 Gas Exchange over Aquatic Interfaces and its Importance for Greenhouse Gas Emission

Kokic, J. 2017. Gas Exchange over Aquatic Interfaces and its Importance for Greenhouse Gas Emission. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1457. 49 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-9764-4. Aquatic ecosystems play a substantial role in global cycling of carbon (C), despite covering only about 4% of the earth surface. They emit large amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere, comparable to the amount of C stored annually in terrestrial ecosystems. In addition, C can be buried in lake sediments. Headwater systems are located at the interface of the terrestrial and aquatic environment, and are first in line to process terrestrial C and throughout its journey through the aquatic continuum. The uncertainties in global estimates of aquatic GHG emissions are largely related to these headwater systems, as they are highly variable in time and space, and underrepresented in global assessments. The overall aim of this thesis was therefore to study GHG exchange between sediment, water and air in headwater systems, from both an ecosystem perspective and at the small scale of physical drivers of gas exchange. This thesis demonstrates that carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from headwater systems, especially streams, was the main pathway of C loss from surface waters from a lake catchment. Of the total aquatic CO2-emission of the catchment, 65% originated from stream systems that covered only 0.1% of the total catchment area. The gas transfer velocity (k) was the main driver of stream CO2-emission, but there was a high variability in k on small spatial scales (meters). This variability may have implications for upscaling GHG emissions, especially when using scaled k estimates. Lake sediments only contributed 16% to total lake C emission, but in reality, sediment C emission is probably even lower because experimentally determined sediment C flux returns high estimates that are biased since artificially induced turbulence enhances C flux rates beyond in-situ conditions. When sediment C flux is estimated in-situ, in natural bottom water turbulence conditions, flux rates were lower than those estimated experimentally. Conclusively, this thesis shows that GHG emissions from small aquatic ecosystems are dominant over other aquatic C fluxes and that our current knowledge regarding the physical processes controlling gas exchange from different small aquatic systems is limited, implying an inherent uncertainty of GHG emission estimates from small aquatic ecosystems.
Intelligent C.A.D. based system for C.N.C. machine controlling by genetic algorithms

This paper proposes a C.A.D. based system to control a C.N. C. machine. An intelligent system integrated with C.A.D. software and C.N. C. technology, optimizes the machining cutting path by deciding the most effective solution. Features and geometric parameters are exported from C.A.D. part drawing and used to control the machine motion to cut the part. With the use of Genetic algorithms the cutting path will be optimized to the shortest time. The C.N. C. system is able to decide for the best solution between cutting trajectories, determined by the product's C.A.D. model. The proposed system is developed under Visual C++ environment and includes several function. The efficiency of C.N. C. machining is improved and the cutting time is reduced.
Carbohydrate Dextran B512 Responses to the Thymus-Independent Formation in the Generation of Immune Role of T Cells and Germinal Center

Immunization with the thymus-independent (TI) Ag native dextran (DX) B512 induces germinal center (GC) formation in the spleen. However, despite this GC formation, the anti-DX response is poor, and no afﬁnity maturation can be observed. Using cholera toxin (CT) as an adjuvant, splenic as well as humoral responses to DX are improved. In this study, we investigated immune responses against DX in mice lacking TNF receptor I and in athymic mice. The adjuvant effect of CT on these responses was also evaluated. Mice lacking the TNF receptor I allowed us to investigate the role of follicular dendritic cell networks and GC formation in the spleen for the generation of Ab responses to DX, whereas we could investigate the role of T cells in GC development to TI Ags using athymic mice. We found that the humoral immune response to TI DX B512 was not dependent upon T cells or the presence of GCs, although GC development occurred after DX immunization. However, T cells were required for this GC formation, since athymic mice could not develop GCs after immunization with DX. We also show that even if CT is able to directly activate B cells when administered as an adjuvant, the major effect may require T cell participation; this is also the case for TI Ags. In contrast, CT adjuvancy is independent of GC formation. The Journal of Immunology, 1998, 161: 4646–4651.
A novel rectification framework for coaxial omni-directional stereo

Epipolar rectification greatly simplifies the stereo matching which is important for vision based robotics navigation. In this paper we propose a novel rectification algorithm for coaxial omni-directional stereo system, i.e. systems aligned on the same axis of symmetry. The essential matrix is derived and computed for an arbitrary omni-directional stereo configuration based on Taylor model firstly. Using the one-to-one corresponding relationship between epipolar curve and its tangential space, we rectify the system to the direction of the line connecting two cameras' centers. This step removes the translation misalignment. After that, the corresponding points are constraint to the radial line. Image-resample based on the essential matrix compensates the rotation misalignment and makes corresponding points lie on the same scan column. The proposed algorithm is only performed on image plane so that the computation time and error caused by multi-projections in 3D space are decreased. Finally, experimental results on simulation and real data illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy of our algorithm.
Modelling Context to Solve Conflicts in SentiWordNet

Sentiment analysis and affect detection algorithms are generally based on annotated data, structured into dictionaries, ontologies or word nets. Among other research problems, two issues are considered very important in this field: 1) word sense disambiguation and 2) accuracy of affect detection. Most of the current approaches use annotated resources based on word nets. Their structure, founded on synonymic relations, makes the disambiguation process very difficult. Our model uses contextonyms, which simplify the decision process. Therefore, the disambiguation issue is transformed into a context matching problem. The second focus is on the manual annotation of the data followed by a semantic valence propagation. This approach enables the generation of new affective labels from a set of initial ones, through the expansion process. Unfortunately, this is usually done to the detriment of precision. We use an existing linguistic resource, SentiWordNet, which is one of the largest dictionaries available for sentiment analysis. Using our disambiguation model, we manage to solve all the SentiWordNet ambiguities and inconsistencies, which increases the accuracy of the classification process. This is the first of our major contributions. Second, we manage to reduce the disagreement percentage computed against well known linguistic resources to less than half of the original rate.
Long-Range Modulation of Chain Motions within the Intrinsically Disordered Transactivation Domain of Tumor Suppressor p53

The tumor suppressor p53 is a hub protein with a multitude of binding partners, many of which target its intrinsically disordered N-terminal domain, p53-TAD. Partners, such as the N-terminal domain of MDM2, induce formation of local structure and leave the remainder of the domain apparently disordered. We investigated segmental chain motions in p53-TAD using fluorescence quenching of an extrinsic label by tryptophan in combination with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (PET-FCS). We studied the loop closure kinetics of four consecutive segments within p53-TAD and their response to protein binding and phosphorylation. The kinetics was multiexponential, showing that the conformational ensemble of the domain deviates from random coil, in agreement with previous findings from NMR spectroscopy. Phosphorylations or binding of MDM2 changed the pattern of intrachain kinetics. Unexpectedly, we found that upon binding and phosphorylation chain motions were altered not only within the targeted segments but also in remote regions. Long-range interactions can be induced in an intrinsically disordered domain by partner proteins that induce apparently only local structure or by post-translational modification.