Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lotus japonicus CASTOR and POLLUX Are Ion Channels Essential for Perinuclear Calcium Spiking in Legume Root Endosymbiosis[W]

The mechanism underlying perinuclear calcium spiking induced during legume root endosymbioses is largely unknown. Lotus japonicus symbiosis-defective castor and pollux mutants are impaired in perinuclear calcium spiking. Homology modeling suggested that the related proteins CASTOR and POLLUX might be ion channels. Here, we show that CASTOR and POLLUX form two independent homocomplexes in planta. CASTOR reconstituted in planar lipid bilayers exhibited ion channel activity, and the channel characteristics were altered in a symbiosis-defective mutant carrying an amino acid replacement close to the selectivity filter. Permeability ratio determination and competition experiments reveled a weak preference of CASTOR for cations such as potassium over anions. POLLUX has an identical selectivity filter region and complemented a potassium transport–deficient yeast mutant, suggesting that POLLUX is also a potassium-permeable channel. Immunogold labeling localized the endogenous CASTOR protein to the nuclear envelope of Lotus root cells. Our data are consistent with a role of CASTOR and POLLUX in modulating the nuclear envelope membrane potential. They could either trigger the opening of calcium release channels or compensate the charge release during the calcium efflux as counter ion channels.
End-to-End Support for QoS-Aware Service Selection, Binding, and Mediation in VRESCo

Service-Oriented Computing has recently received a lot of attention from both academia and industry. However, current service-oriented solutions are often not as dynamic and adaptable as intended because the publish-find-bind-execute cycle of the Service-Oriented Architecture triangle is not entirely realized. In this paper, we highlight some issues of current web service technologies, with a special emphasis on service metadata, Quality of Service, service querying, dynamic binding, and service mediation. Then, we present the Vienna Runtime Environment for Service-Oriented Computing (VRESCo) that addresses these issues. We give a detailed description of the different aspects by focusing on service querying and service mediation. Finally, we present a performance evaluation of the different components, together with an end-to-end evaluation to show the applicability and usefulness of our system.
Effective boundary conditions for syncytial tissues

This study derives effective boundary conditions for potentials and currents on the interface between syncytial tissue and a surrounding volume conductor. The derivation is based on an idealized representation of the syncytium as a network of interconnected cells arranged periodically in space. The microscopic model of an interface assumes that the extracellular fluid is in direct contact with the outside volume conductor and that the inside of the cells is separated from the outside by the membrane. From this microscopic model, a homogenization process and boundary layer analysis derive effective boundary conditions applicable to macroscopic volume-averaged potentials. These effective boundary conditions call for the extracellular potential and current density to be continuous with the potential and current density in the volume conductor, and for the intracellular current to vanish. Hence, the long-debated appropriate boundary conditions for the bidomain model are established. <<ETX>>
Microdynamics in stationary complex networks

Many complex systems, including networks, are not static but can display strong fluctuations at various time scales. Characterizing the dynamics in complex networks is thus of the utmost importance in the understanding of these networks and of the dynamical processes taking place on them. In this article, we study the example of the US airport network in the time period 1990–2000. We show that even if the statistical distributions of most indicators are stationary, an intense activity takes place at the local (“microscopic”) level, with many disappearing/appearing connections (links) between airports. We find that connections have a very broad distribution of lifetimes, and we introduce a set of metrics to characterize the links' dynamics. We observe in particular that the links that disappear have essentially the same properties as the ones that appear, and that links that connect airports with very different traffic are very volatile. Motivated by this empirical study, we propose a model of dynamical networks, inspired from previous studies on firm growth, which reproduces most of the empirical observations both for the stationary statistical distributions and for the dynamical properties.
Remodelación cardíaca e inflamación

Resumen La remodelacion cardiaca es una respuesta progresiva del corazon al dano agudo y cronico sin importar su etiologia. Este proceso es caracterizado por cambios en el tamano, en la forma y en la funcion del corazon y esta asociado a un mal pronostico en pacientes con insuficiencia cardiaca. El infarto agudo del miocardio es la causa mas comun del proceso de remodelado. En los primeros minutos posteriores al dano en la zona isquemica existe un importante aumento en la sintesis y liberacion de citocinas proinflamatorias como el factor de necrosis tumoralalfa (TNF-α) la interleucina-6 (IL-6), la interleucina-1-beta (IL-1β) y el factor de crecimiento transformante-1-beta (TGF-1β). Esta liberacion aguda de citocinas podria regular la sobrevivencia o el proceso de apoptosis de los miocitos en la zona infartada y, sus efectos inotropicos negativos pudieran representar una respuesta adaptativa para delimitar el dano y para disminuir la demanda de energia del miocardio. Esta significativa regulacion a la alta de las citocinas proinflamatorias puede extenderse a la zona no infartada y disparar una segunda fase de niveles elevados de citocinas que promueven la fibrosis intersticial y la deposicion de colagena en el miocardio no infartado contralateral llevando a un ventriculo disfuncional. Este articulo revisa los reportes recientes que apoyan la idea de un papel cardioprotector para esta respuesta inflamatoria primaria y un papel deletereo a largo plazo de la respuesta tardia que media la fibrosis caracteristica del proceso de remodelacion. Summary CARDIAC REMODELING AND INFLAMMATION
Integrated polymer micro-ring resonators for optical sensing applications

Micro-resonators (MR) have become a key element for integrated optical sensors due to their integration capability and their easy fabrication with low cost polymer materials. Nowadays, there is a growing need on MRs as highly sensitive and selective functions especially in the areas of food and health. The context of this work is to implement and study integrated micro-ring resonators devoted to sensing applications. They are fabricated by processing SU8 polymer as core layer and PMATRIFE polymer as lower cladding layer. The refractive index of the polymers and of the waveguide structure as a function of the wavelength is presented. Using these results, a theoretical study of the coupling between ring and straight waveguides has been undertaken in order to define the MR design. Sub-micronic gaps of 0.5 μm to 1 μm between the ring and the straight waveguides have been successfully achieved with UV (i-lines) photolithography. Different superstrates such as air, water, and aqueous solutions with glucose at d.
Simultaneous intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide and tissue plasminogen activator for central retinal vein occlusion: a pilot study

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and safety of simultaneous intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for macular oedema associated with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO). Methods Twenty eyes of 20 patients with CRVO were enrolled. A mixture of TA (4 mg) and tPA (25 μg) was injected into the vitreous of 20 eyes with CRVO. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and macular thickness before and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the procedure were measured. Results The BCVA improved three lines or more in 65%, 55%, 55% and 53% of eyes and the mean macular thickness decreased from 1072 μm to 455, 450, 480 and 409 μm (p<0.001) at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. Fifteen (75%) of the 20 eyes required at least one additional injection to prevent a recurrence of macular oedema. The intraocular pressure increased in four eyes. Conclusion Overall, intravitreal injection of the TA/tPA mixture improved the BCVA by three lines or more in at least 50% of eyes and decreased the mean macular thickness at four time points without serious side effects. A randomised clinical trial is necessary to evaluate the efficacy of this treatment.
Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and noise exposure of baristas

Abstract Objective: To examine the daily noise exposure of baristas working in cafés, and to measure their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding hearing conservation and perceptions of noise in their work environment. Design: Fifteen baristas from six cafés in Portland completed the Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors questionnaire, a sound disturbance survey, and a structured interview to document perceptions of noise in the work environment. To measure daily noise exposure, a subset of eight participants wore a personal dosimeter for three different work shifts. Study sample: A total of 11 females and four males, aged between 19 and 36 years old (mean: 26.3, SD: 4.6) recruited from independently owned cafés in the Portland metro area. Results: Dosimetry measurements revealed Leq measurements between 71 and 83 dBA, with noise doses ranging from 4% to 74%, indicating that baristas are not exposed to sound levels above the regulatory criterion. Questionnaire results indicated that baristas have low awareness about the hazards of noise, are not opposed to hearing conservation, and rarely use hearing protection when engaged in noisy activities. Conclusions: Baristas here lacked the pertinent education and motivation to commit to invaluable hearing conservation practices.
Residual Stress Reversal in Highly Strained Shot Peened Structural Elements. Degree awarded by Florida Univ.

The purpose of this research was to further the understanding of a crack initiation problem in a highly strained pressure containment housing. Finite Element Analysis methods were used to model the behavior of shot peened materials undergoing plastic deformation. Analytical results are in agreement with laboratory tensile tests that simulated the actual housing load conditions. These results further validate the original investigation finding that the shot peened residual stress had reversed, changing from compressive to tensile, and demonstrate that analytical finite element methods can be used to predict this behavior.
Elevated Cystine Levels in Cultured Skin Fibroblasts From Patients With I-Cell Disease

Summary: Cultured skin fibroblasts from patients with I-cell disease (mucolipidosis II) exhibit multiple deficiency of acid hydrolase activities associated with a defect in the mechanism of packaging of these enzymes into lysosomes. The authors have examined such cells to ascertain whether the impairment of lysosomal function is of so broad a nature as to result in the storage of the amino acid cystine in a manner similar to that seen in cells derived from patients with cystinosis, an unrelated lysosomal storage disease of unknown etiology. Of 10 I-cell lines examined by automated amino acid analysis, seven were found to possess abnormally high levels of total free cyst(e)ine (i.e., greater than 1 nmole 1/2 Cys/mg protein). The mean half-cystine content of those I-cell lines subjected to multiple analysis ranged from 3–10 nmole/mg protein, levels which are comparable to those seen in homozygous cystinotic cells. The cystine content of several of these lines appeared to increase with subculture.Cultured fibroblasts from two patients with the biochemically similar, but clinically less severe, mucolipidosis III (pseudo-Hurler polydystrophy) exhibited normal to marginally elevated levels of cystine, whereas cells from individuals with three different muco-polysaccharide storage disorders contained normal levels of the amino acid.It was concluded that cystine, and not cysteine, was the predominant form of this amino acid in these cells because previous reaction of I-cell extracts with N-ethylmaleimide did not alter the observed cystine levels. The further identification of excess cystine in these cells was corroborated by analytical results obtained with a highly specific cystine-binding protein method as well as by high-voltage electrophoresis of extracts from cells pulsed with 35Scystine.Comparative analysis of intracellular amino acids in normal and I-cell fibroblasts indicated that the elevation of cystine seen in the latter was unique to this amino acid and did not reflect a generalized increase in the total free amino acid content of these mutant cells.Speculation: Cystinosis has been classified as a lysosomal storage disorder on the basis of cytologic and other evidence pointing to the intralysosomal localization of the stored cystine in cells from affected individuals. The fact that the principal enzyme function in lysosomes, viz., hydrolysis, is not known to play a role in the metabolic disposition of cystine sets this abnormality apart from the more typical lysosomal storage disorder and raises questions concerning the precise relation of lysosomal function to the pathogenesis of cystinosis. The present finding that I-cell fibroblasts, which are characterized by a broad spectrum of acid hydrolase deficiencies, also exhibit abnormally elevated cystine levels, appears to strengthen this relationship. However, further experiments will be necessary to determine whether the abnormal cystine levels in these two disorders arise from a common or related defect.
A Discipline by Any Other Name

The paper by Staggers and Thompson in this issue enriches the ongoing challenge of defining the field of medical informatics. Medical informatics is a maturing field whose research base is well grounded in the basic sciences of computation, information, and decision making; the full range of bench and social sciences supporting health care; the clinical sciences, including medicine, nursing, and pharmacy; and the practical realities of developing and deploying information systems for patient care. The Staggers and Thompson paper takes the perspective of a single clinical discipline, nursing, and explores the development of informatics in that context. It is important in nursing, as in any basic or clinical health science, to systematically examine how a derived field, such as medical informatics, grows and develops within its …
Deriving energy from far field RF signal

Energy requirement has been increasing tremendously over time. This paper presents the use of RF signals as an alternative source of energy harvesting. The radio frequency signals are captured by the charge pump circuit and converted into a required DC voltage. A suitable hardware is designed and implemented successfully. Moreover, the circuit is tested using the Multisim software. The presented circuit can be used in various applications like mobile charging, power supply, etc.
Palliative Care in Developing Countries

Contemporary medical knowledge is sufficient to control the suffering of most of the millions of terminally patients in the world if applied appropriately. However, palliative care is still unavailable to most patients in developing countries. Effective models of palliative care delivery that have been tested in developed countries seldom apply to the developing world where poverty, extended families, and insufficient health infrastructure require the adaptation of such care to local cultures and circumstances. Research from developing countries is therefore needed to develop, implement, and monitor the delivery of palliative care in ways that are feasible in resource-poor settings and acceptable to local populations. Palliative care research shares most of the obstacles common to health research in the developing world. Additional obstacles include a lack of consideration of palliative care as part of cancer control strategies and the low political acceptability of such care because it involves the use of opioid analgesics. Coordinated research efforts through active networking and common protocols would increase the visibility of the discipline, provide answers relevant to the local contexts, and assist in expanding palliative care services across the developing world.
Mobilizing Instruction in a Second-Language Context: Learners’ Perceptions of Two Speech Technologies

We report the results of two empirical studies that investigated the use of mobile text-to-speech synthesizers (TTS) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) as tools to promote the development of pronunciation skills in L2 French. Specifically, the study examined learners’ perceptions of the pedagogical use of these tools in learning a French segment (the vowel /y/, as in tu ‘you’) and a suprasegmental feature (across-word resyllabification/liaison, observed in petit enfant ‘small child’), in a mobile-assisted context. Our results indicate that, when used in a “learn anytime anywhere” mobile setting, the participants believe that they have: (1) increased and enhanced access to input; and (2) multiple opportunities for speech output and (3) for the development of prediction skills. Interestingly, these findings meet the requirements for successful L2 learning, one that recommends the inclusion of pedagogical activities that promote exposure to input (Nation & Newton 2009), multiple opportunities for output (Swain 1995), and the development of prediction skills (Dickerson 2015) to foster learner autonomy and, consequently, to maximize classroom time by extending the reach of the classroom. Our findings also indicate that participants recognize the pedagogical importance of TTS and ASR, and enjoy the mobile-enhanced learning environment afforded by these two technologies.
The Value of IT-Enabled Retailer Learning: Personalized Product Recommendations and Customer Store Loyalty in Electronic Markets

Recent research has acknowledged the key role of information technology in helping build stronger and more enduring customer relationships. Personalized product recommendations (PPRs) adapted to individual customers' preferences and tastes are one IT-enabled strategy that has been widely adopted by online retailers to enhance customers' shopping experience. Although many online retailers have implemented PPRs on their electronic storefronts to improve customer retention, empirical evidence for the effects of PPRs on retention is sparse, and the limited anecdotal evidence is contradictory. We draw upon the household production function model in the consumer economics literature to develop a theoretical framework that explains the mechanisms through which PPRs influence customer store loyalty in electronic markets. We suggest that retailer learning that occurs as a result of customer knowledge obtained to enable personalization influences the efficiency of the online product brokering activity. Data collected from a two-phase lab experiment with 253 student subjects where the quality of PPRs was manipulated are used to empirically test the predictions of the theoretical model. Empirical analyses of the data indicate that retailer learning reflected in higher quality PPRs is associated with lower product screening cost, but higher product evaluation cost. We further find that higher quality PPRs are associated with greater value derived by consumers from the online product brokering activity in terms of higher decision making quality, which is positively associated with repurchase intention. The paper presents the implications, limitations, and contributions of this study along with areas for future research.
Development and survival of immature Culex annulirostris mosquitoes in southeast Queensland

Abstract. The rates of development and survival of the immature stages of Culex annulirostris were studied in three different breeding sites in the Brisbane area of southeast Queensland: a temporary rain‐filled pool (TP), a semi‐permanent pool (SPP), and an area of flooded grassland (FG) arising from the overflow of a permanent pond. Parallel observations were made on larvae and pupae either exposed to predation or in predator‐free cages for 12 and 15 consecutive days respectively. Development was fastest and survival highest in the warmer TP. Average daily mortality of larvae (L) and pupae (P) was TP: L 8.3%, P 9.5%; SPP: L 25.2%, P 34.6%; FG: L 18.8%, P 35.4%. From life‐tables and survivorship curves, survival from first instar to adult was TP 34.8%, SPP 2.0% and FG 4.2%. Mortality from predation was TP 43.2%, SPP 68.7% and FG 69.1 %. Predator density was TP 0.32, SPP 1.48 and FG 1.76 per 300ml sample.
Automating Game Design In Three Dimensions

We describe ANGELINA-5, a new iteration of the AN- GELINA framework for investigating and building software which automates the process of videogame design. ANGELINA-5 is the first automated game design tool that produces 3D games. We outline here the system’s structure, the challenges inherent in building an auto- mated game designer in a modern game engine, and we discuss the future research directions for the project.
Reduced levels of acetylcholine receptor expression in chick ciliary ganglion neurons developing in the absence of innervation

Chick ciliary ganglion neurons receive innervation from a single source, the accessory oculomotor nucleus (AON), and nicotinic ACh receptors (AChRs) mediate chemical synaptic transmission through the ganglion. Previous experiments examining the developmental expression of AChRs in embryonic chick ciliary ganglion neurons in situ have shown that AChR levels increase substantially in the neurons at the time of innervation. Prior to synapse formation, few AChRs are detected in the neurons. In the present experiments, the role of presynaptic inputs in inducing an increase in AChRs was established by examining AChR levels in ciliary ganglion neurons that have been deprived of innervation by surgical ablation of the AON prior to synapse formation. AChR levels were dramatically reduced in neurons of input-deprived ganglia as compared to control innervated neurons at all developmental stages examined from embryonic day (ED) 5 to ED 12 as determined by indirect immunocytochemical labeling of frozen ganglion sections with the anti- AChR monoclonal antibody mAb 35, and light microscopy. In contrast, neuronal somata of input-deprived and control ganglia had equivalent levels of immunolabeling for three other components, a transmembrane glycoprotein of synaptic vesicles, SV2, and two microtubule-associated proteins, MAP 1B and MAP 2, from ED 5 up to ED 10. The results demonstrate that presynaptic inputs specifically increase the levels of AChR expression in developing neurons. In addition, changes in the levels of immunolabeling for AChRs, SV2, MAP 1B, and MAP 2 in neuronal somata after ED 10 demonstrate that other major developmental events also influence the levels of these components in neurons. Declines in the intensity of AChR, SV2, MAP 1B, and MAP 2 immunolabeling within a subset of neuronal somata in both operated and control ganglia at ED 10 and 12 coincide with the period of neuronal cell death. Increases in AChR labeling in the rest of the neuronal population of input-deprived ganglia at ED 12 suggest that, in addition to innervation, synapse formation with the peripheral target tissue influences AChR levels in developing neurons in situ.