Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How antidepressant drugs act: A primer on neuroplasticity as the eventual mediator of antidepressant efficacy

Depression is conventionally viewed as a state of chemical imbalance, and antidepressants are suggested to act through increasing monoaminergic neurotransmission. These views are currently considered simplistic. This article examines the animal and human literature on the neurohistological mechanisms underlying stress, depression and antidepressant treatment. Pathological stress and depression are associated with changes such as loss of dendritic spines, shrinkage of the dendritic tree and loss of synapses in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. There is also a decrease in glia. Apoptosis may occur under extreme circumstances. In contrast, there is increased dendritic arborization and synaptogenesis in the amygdala. Antidepressant treatment protects against and even reverses some but not all of these stress-induced neurohistological changes. Pathological stress results in an aberrant neuroplasticity response characterized by abnormally increased activity in the amygdala and by impaired functioning of the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and downstream structures. This aberrant neuroplasticity response directly explains most of the clinical symptoms of depression. Antidepressant treatment protects against stress-induced pathoplastic neurohistological and neurocognitive changes. Antidepressant treatment also restores functional neuroplasticity in stressed organisms and, thereby, presumably, facilitates re-adaptation through learning and memory mechanisms. Thus, the stress–depression syndrome and the therapeutic and prophylactic efficacy of antidepressant treatments can be explained through a hardwiring analogy. In this context, glutamate is an important neurotransmitter.
Communicating During Learning

This work studies the effects of communicating during learning. It focuses on the exchange of information between teams of agents that are solving similar problems at different locations using different learning algorithms. The objectives are: 1) assert the benefits and costs of different types of information-exchange during learning; 2) compare this process in heterogeneous versus homogeneous environments. By “heterogeneous” we mean that each team of agents uses a different learning algorithm. The experiments reported here use the Predator-Prey problem as a test-case. We conclude that: Exchange of information can benefit learning performance, at the expense of communication and offline processingtime; Heterogeneous systems coupled with role-attribution show only a slight improvement of performance over homogeneous ones in the chosen test-case.
Output Strictly Local Functions

This paper characterizes a subclass of subsequential string-to-string functions called Output Strictly Local (OSL) and presents a learning algorithm which provably learns any OSL function in polynomial time and data. This algorithm is more efficient than other existing ones capable of learning this class. The OSL class is motivated by the study of the nature of string-to-string transformations, a cornerstone of modern phonological grammars.
Automatic Differentiation in Myia

Automatic differentiation is an essential feature of machine learning frameworks. However, its implementation in existing frameworks often has limitations. In dataflow programming frameworks such as Theano or TensorFlow the representation used makes supporting higher-order gradients difficult. On the other hand, operator overloading frameworks such as PyTorch are flexible, but do not lend themselves well to optimization. With Myia, we attempt to have the best of both worlds: Building on the work by Pearlmutter and Siskind we implement a first-order gradient operator for a subset of the Python programming language.
Dynamic Activation Policies for Event Capture with Rechargeable Sensors

We consider the problem of event capture by a rechargeable sensor network. We assume that the events of interest follow a renewal process whose event inter-arrival times are drawn from a general probability distribution, and that a stochastic recharge process is used to provide energy for the sensors' operation. Dynamics of the event and recharge processes make the optimal sensor activation problem highly challenging. In this paper we first consider the single-sensor problem. Using dynamic control theory, we consider a full-information model in which, independent of its activation schedule, the sensor will know whether an event has occurred in the last time slot or not. In this case, the problem is framed as a Markov decision process (MDP), and we develop a simple and optimal policy for the solution. We then further consider a partial-information model where the sensor knows about the occurrence of an event only when it is active. This problem falls into the class of partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDP). Since the POMDP's optimal policy has exponential computational complexity and is intrinsically hard to solve, we propose an efficient heuristic clustering policy and evaluate its performance. Finally, our solutions are extended to handle a network setting in which multiple sensors collaborate to capture the events. We provide extensive simulation results to evaluate the performance of our solutions.
The Validity of BMI as an Indicator of Body Fatness and Risk Among Children

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Although the prevalence of childhood obesity, as assessed by BMI (kg/m2), has tripled over the last 3 decades, this index is a measure of excess weight rather than excess body fatness. In this review we focus on the relation of BMI to body fatness and health risks, particularly on the ability of BMI for age ≥95th Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] percentile to identify children who have excess body fatness. We also examine whether these associations differ according to race/ethnicity and whether skinfold and circumference measurements provide additional information on body fatness or health risks. RESULTS: The accuracy of BMI varies according to the degree of body fatness. Among relatively fat children, BMI is a good indicator of excess adiposity, but differences in the BMIs of relatively thin children can be largely due to fat-free mass. Although the accuracy of BMI in identifying children with excess body fatness depends on the chosen cut points, we have found that a high BMI-for-age has a moderately high (70%–80%) sensitivity and positive predictive value, along with a high specificity (95%). Children with a high BMI are much more likely to have adverse risk factor levels and to become obese adults than are thinner children. Skinfold thicknesses and the waist circumference may be useful in identifying children with moderately elevated levels of BMI (85th to 94th percentiles) who truly have excess body fatness or adverse risk factor levels. CONCLUSION: A BMI for age at ≥95th percentile of the CDC reference population is a moderately sensitive and a specific indicator of excess adiposity among children.
Reducing Congestion Effects in Wireless Networks by Multipath Routing

We propose a solution to improve fairness and increase throughput in wireless networks with location information. Our approach consists of a multipath routing protocol, biased geographical routing (BGR), and two congestion control algorithms, in-network packet scatter (IPS) and end-to-end packet scatter (EPS), which leverage BGR to avoid the congested areas of the network. BGR achieves good performance while incurring a communication overhead of just 1 byte per data packet, and has a computational complexity similar to greedy geographic routing. IPS alleviates transient congestion by splitting traffic immediately before the congested areas. In contrast, EPS alleviates long term congestion by splitting the flow at the source, and performing rate control. EPS selects the paths dynamically, and uses a less aggressive congestion control mechanism on non-greedy paths to improve energy efficiency. Simulation and experimental results show that our solution achieves its objectives. Extensive ns-2 simulations show that our solution improves both fairness and throughput as compared to single path greedy routing. Our solution reduces the variance of throughput across all flows by 35%, reduction which is mainly achieved by increasing throughput of long-range flows with around 70%. Furthermore, overall network throughput increases by approximately 10% Experimental results on a 50- node testbed are consistent with our simulation results, suggesting that BGR is effective in practice.
Electrolyte and Water Balance of the Early Avian Embryo: Effects of Egg Turning

Formation of sub-embryonic fluid (SEF) is a key aspect of the physiology of the early avian embryo.Here we review the process of SEF formation and the factors which influence its composition and the rate of SEF production and depletion in the Japanese quail and domestic fowl.There is particular emphasis on the role of turning of the egg during incubation and we briefly consider the broader role of egg turning during avian incubation. The bulk of the review deals with the growth of the area vasculosa of the yolk sac membrane, the cellular processes of SEF formation, and the water and electrolyte physiology of the avian embryo during the first half of incubation.We conclude with a brief discussion of the areas for future investigation.
Network Management Requirements for MPLS-based Transport Networks

This document specifies the requirements necessary to manage the elements and networks that support an MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS- TP). This document is a product of a joint International Telecommunications Union - Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) effort to include a MPLS Transport Profile within the IETF MPLS architecture. The requirements are driven by the management functionality needs defined by ITU-T for packet transport networks.
In vivo Evaluation of Anti-malarial Activity of Stem and Root Extracts of Erythrina abyssinica

Aims: The aim of the study was to determine the in vivo anti-malarial activity of stem and root extracts of E. abyssinica using the 4-day suppressive in vivo anti-malarial test. Methodology: Female mice weighing approximately 20±2 g were intra-peritoneally injected with mice passaged Plasmodium berghei parasites. The extracts were then administered orally 2 h post-infection and, subsequently, daily for 4 days. On the 4th day, blood smears were prepared from all the mice, stained with giemsa and parasitaemia as well as chemosuppression determined. Results: Comparatively, the root extracts exhibited higher chemosuppression than stem extracts and the level of chemosuppression was dose dependent being the highest at 50 mg/kg and lowest at 12.5 mg/kg. Survival time in extract treated and chloroquine treated groups was 2 to 3 fold higher than the –ve control. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the root extracts are more efficacious in suppressing the development of full blown malaria compared to stem extracts and may be a useful candidate in managing malaria in future.
Discussion Economics Dynamics of Output Growth, Consumption and Physical Capital in Two-Sector Models of Endogenous Growth

This paper studies how spouses' life satisfaction levels are correlated. Using the British Household Panel Survey, it tests whether the observed positive correlation in life satisfaction is due to assortative mating, shared social environment, or spillover effect of well-being between partners. There is evidence of a positive and statistically important correlation between partners’ well-being, even after controlling for omitted individual fixed effects and allowing cross-equation residuals to be correlated. This is consistent with the idea of well-being spillovers within marriage. Moreover, consistent with the spillover effect model, marital dissolution at t +1 is negatively correlated with partners’ life satisfaction at t .
Deciphering the genetic basis of animal domestication

Genomic technologies for livestock and companion animal species have revolutionized the study of animal domestication, allowing an increasingly detailed description of the genetic changes accompanying domestication and breed development. This review describes important recent results derived from the application of population and quantitative genetic approaches to the study of genetic changes in the major domesticated species. These include findings of regions of the genome that show between-breed differentiation, evidence of selective sweeps within individual genomes and signatures of demographic events. Particular attention is focused on the study of the genetics of behavioural traits and the implications for domestication. Despite the operation of severe bottlenecks, high levels of inbreeding and intensive selection during the history of domestication, most domestic animal species are genetically diverse. Possible explanations for this phenomenon are discussed. The major insights from the surveyed studies are highlighted and directions for future study are suggested.
Cardiac structure and function in the obese: a cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging study.

BACKGROUND Obesity is a major health problem in the Western world. Among obese subjects cardiac pathology is common, but conventional noninvasive imaging modalities are often suboptimal for detailed evaluation of cardiac structure and function. We investigated whether cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) can better characterize possible cardiac abnormalities associated with obesity, in the absence of other confounding comorbidities. METHODS In this prospective cross-sectional study, CMR was used to quantify left and right ventricular volumes, ejection fraction, mass, cardiac output, and apical left ventricular rotation in 25 clinically healthy obese men and 25 age-matched lean controls. RESULTS Obese subjects had higher left ventricular mass (203 +/- 38 g vs. 163 +/- 22 g, p < 0.001), end-diastolic volume (176 +/- 29 mL vs. 156 +/- 25 mL, p < 0.05), and cardiac output (8.2 +/- 1.2 L/min vs. 6.4 +/- 1.3 L/min, p < 0.001). The obese also had increased right ventricular mass (105 +/- 25 g vs. 87 +/- 18 g, p < 0.005) and end-diastolic volume (179 +/- 36 mL vs. 155 +/- 28 mL, p < 0.05). When indexed for height, differences in left and right ventricular mass, and left ventricular end-diastolic volume remained significant. Apical left ventricular rotation and rotational velocity patterns were also different between obese and lean subjects. CONCLUSIONS Obesity is independently associated with remodeling of the heart. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging identifies subtle cardiac abnormalities and may be the preferred imaging technique to evaluate cardiac structure and function in the obese.
A reference map of the human protein interactome

Global insights into cellular organization and function require comprehensive understanding of interactome networks. Similar to how a reference genome sequence revolutionized human genetics, a reference map of the human interactome network is critical to fully understand genotype-phenotype relationships. Here we present the first human “all-by-all” binary reference interactome map, or “HuRI”. With ~53,000 high-quality protein-protein interactions (PPIs), HuRI is approximately four times larger than the information curated from small-scale studies available in the literature. Integrating HuRI with genome, transcriptome and proteome data enables the study of cellular function within essentially any physiological or pathological cellular context. We demonstrate the use of HuRI in identifying specific subcellular roles of PPIs and protein function modulation via splicing during brain development. Inferred tissue-specific networks reveal general principles for the formation of cellular context-specific functions and elucidate potential molecular mechanisms underlying tissue-specific phenotypes of Mendelian diseases. HuRI thus represents an unprecedented, systematic reference linking genomic variation to phenotypic outcomes.
Cold tolerance triggered by soluble sugars: a multifaceted countermeasure

In their natural habitat, plants are continuously challenged by adverse environmental conditions. Among them, cold stress (CS) is a major environmental factor limiting agricultural productivity and geographic distribution (Chinnusamy et al., 2007). In this respect, chilling (15-0°C) and freezing (<0°C) stress should be distinguished (Thomashow, 2010). CS responses at the cellular level are characterized by an extensive reprogramming of gene expression and metabolic fluxes (Stitt and Hurry, 2002; Miura and Furumoto, 2013). Clearly, these modifications are mainly linked to the onset of tolerance mechanisms, which ultimately lead to acclimation. Several metabolites are known to contribute to this process, including amino acids, polyamines, polyols, and soluble sugars (Krasensky and Jonak, 2012 and references therein). Among them, particular focus was recently given to understand the multifunctional role of soluble sugars in enhancing cold tolerance (Nagele and Heyer, 2013).
Calcium in ischemic cell death.

BACKGROUND This review article deals with the role of calcium in ischemic cell death. A calcium-related mechanism was proposed more than two decades ago to explain cell necrosis incurred in cardiac ischemia and muscular dystrophy. In fact, an excitotoxic hypothesis was advanced to explain the acetylcholine-related death of muscle end plates. A similar hypothesis was proposed to explain selective neuronal damage in the brain in ischemia, hypoglycemic coma, and status epilepticus. SUMMARY OF REVIEW The original concepts encompass the hypothesis that cell damage in ischemia-reperfusion is due to enhanced activity of phospholipases and proteases, leading to release of free fatty acids and their breakdown products and to degradation of cytoskeletal proteins. It is equally clear that a coupling exists between influx of calcium into cells and their production of reactive oxygen species, such as . O2, H2O2, and . OH. Recent results have underscored the role of calcium in ischemic cell death. A coupling has been demonstrated among glutamate release, calcium influx, and enhanced production of reactive metabolites such as . O2-, . OH, and nitric oxide. It has become equally clear that the combination of . O2- and nitric oxide can yield peroxynitrate, a metabolite with potentially devastating effects. The mitochondria have again come into the focus of interest. This is because certain conditions, notably mitochondrial calcium accumulation and oxidative stress, can trigger the assembly (opening) of a high-conductance pore in the inner mitochondrial membrane. The mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) pore leads to a collapse of the electrochemical potential for H+, thereby arresting ATP production and triggering production of reactive oxygen species. The occurrence of an MPT in vivo is suggested by the dramatic anti-ischemic effect of cyclosporin A, a virtually specific blocker of the MPT in vitro in transient forebrain ischemia. However, cyclosporin A has limited effect on the cell damage incurred as a result of 2 hours of focal cerebral ischemia, suggesting that factors other than MPT play a role. It is discussed whether this could reflect the operation of phospholipase A2 activity and degradation of the lipid skeleton of the inner mitochondrial membrane. CONCLUSIONS Calcium is one of the triggers involved in ischemic cell death, whatever the mechanism.
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO LOWER CANCER SCREENING UTILIZATION IN A SUB-SAMPLE OF UNITED WAY 2-1-1 CALLERS

Socioeconomic disparities are associated with increased cancer mortality. Area-level neighborhood problems have been found to influence cancer screening behavior, but few studies have explored the effects of perceived neighborhood problems on cancer screening. The aim of this project was to examine the association between perceived neighborhood problems and colorectal, cervical and breast cancer screening among United Way 2-1-1 callers. The current study was a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a larger CPRIT-funded parent study. We used logistic regression to examine the relationship between perceived neighborhood problems and colorectal, cervical, and breast cancer screening, adjusting for individual-level demographic variables. The results of the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios indicated that perceived neighborhood problems were not associated with colorectal, cervical, or breast cancer screening. Participants with insurance had higher odds of being screened for colorectal cancer (aOR= 3.28, 95% CI = 1.61, 6.72), cervical cancer (aOR= 2.18, 95% CI = 1.64, 2.92), and breast cancer (aOR= 5.68, 95% CI = 3.42, 9.42). Participants with an annual income below $10,000 had higher odds of being screened for colorectal cancer (aOR= 0.41, 95% CI = 0.17, 0.93).
Leaf Area Estimation of Garden Boldo From Linear Dimensions

The objective of this work was to determine a mathematical equation using linear measures that allows estimating a leaf area of the specie Plectranthus barbatus Andrews, a plant with medicinal properties popularly known as garden boldo. For this was performed a direct measurement of the leaf blade considering the length (L) along the midrib and the maximum width (W) perpendicular to the midrib of 500 leaves of different specimens and the observed foliar area (OLA), which were obtained by digitized images. A regression study with linear, quadratic, potential and exponential models was performed using a random sample of 400 from the evaluated leaves using OLA as a function of L, W or LW and then obtaining the estimated leaf area (ELA) of each model. From the remaining 100 leaves a validation of the tested models was performed using ELA as a function of OLA in a simple linear regression. From the residues between ELA and OLA the root-square-mean error and Willmot index (d) was obtained and the normality was verified. The parameters used for validation were: statistically linear and angular coefficient equal to zero and one respectively; coefficient of determination closest to the unit; RQME closer to zero; d index closest to the unit; normal distribution of residues. The equation that best represents the estimated leaf area of the garden boldo is ELA = 0.1389 + 0.6779 (LW).