Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Translocation of the glucose transporter (GLUT4) to the cell surface in permeabilized 3T3-L1 adipocytes: effects of ATP insulin, and GTP gamma S and localization of GLUT4 to clathrin lattices

Insulin stimulates the movement of two glucose transporter isoforms (GLUT1 and GLUT4) to the plasma membrane (PM) in adipocytes. To study this process we have prepared highly purified PM fragments by gently sonicating 3T3-L1 adipocytes grown on glass coverslips. Using confocal laser immunofluorescence microscopy we observed increased PM labeling for GLUT1 (2.3-fold) and GLUT4 (eightfold) after insulin treatment in intact cells. EM immunolabeling of PM fragments indicated that in the nonstimulated state GLUT4 was mainly localized to flat clathrin lattices. Whereas GLUT4 labeling of clathrin lattices was only slightly increased after insulin treatment, labeling of uncoated PM regions was markedly increased with insulin. These data suggest that GLUT4 recycles from the cell surface both in the presence and absence of insulin. In streptolysin-O permeabilized adipocytes, insulin, and GTP gamma S increased PM levels of GLUT4 to a similar extent as observed with insulin in intact cells. In the absence of an exogenous ATP source the magnitude of these effects was considerably reduced. Removal of ATP per se caused a significant increase in cell surface levels of GLUT4 suggesting that ATP may be required for intracellular sequestration of these transporters. When insulin and GTP gamma S were added together, in the presence of ATP, PM GLUT4 levels were similar to levels observed when either insulin or GTP gamma S was added individually. Addition of GTP gamma S was able to overcome this ATP dependence of insulin- stimulated GLUT4 movement. GTP gamma S had no effect on constitutive secretion of adipsin in permeabilized cells. In addition, there was no effect of insulin or GTP gamma S on GLUT4 movement to the PM in noninsulin sensitive streptolysin-O-permeabilized 3T3-L1 fibroblasts overexpressing GLUT4. We conclude that the insulin-stimulated movement of GLUT4 to the cell surface in adipocytes may require ATP early in the insulin signaling pathway and a GTP-binding protein(s) at a later step(s). We propose that the association of GLUT4 with clathrin lattices may be important in maintaining the exclusive intracellular location of this transporter in the absence of insulin.
Therapy of Gastroesophageal Reflux: Evidence-Based Approach to Antireflux Surgery

Background: Due to the chronic, relapsing nature of gastroesophageal reflux disease, lifelong therapeutic options have to be considered and recommended in many patients. Accordingly, surgical repair has to be evaluated based on modern, evidence-based methodologies. Methods: A careful review has been carried out of the relevant surgical literature also including trials incorporating direct comparisons between medical and surgical therapies. The outcome of such a survey has been structured according to the grading of evidence from highest grade I to the lowest III. Results: Grade I evidence exists to show that antireflux surgery is more effective than proton pump inhibition in the control of reflux-related symptoms. Side effects are burdening surgical repair, many of which do not decrease over time. Data are not consistent to show any benefit of surgery whenever health economic outcomes are required. Minor differences are in favor of laparoscopic operations and it does matter who is doing the operation and how the repair is completed. Better data are requested to assess the true long-term efficacy (>10 years) of corresponding operations. Conclusion: Antireflux surgery is an effective and durable therapeutic modality in the long-term management of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Incorporating Pragmatics in English Language Teaching: To What Extent Do EFL Course Books Address Speech Acts?

Investigating the presence and presentation of speech acts in course books may be significant in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) environment since in most cases, students rely on them for pragmatic input. Though a large body of research has dealt with the speech acts, relatively little research has been conducted to examine the speech acts in English course books. To fill in this gap, this study aimed to investigate how complaints, apologies and suggestions were presented in EFL course books. To this end, a content analysis on 17 course books of different language proficiency levels (i.e. from beginner to advanced) was conducted to find out (i) whether the course books included the aforementioned speech acts (ii) the range and frequencies of linguistic strategies used to perform these speech acts and (iii) whether their frequency showed variation across all proficiency levels. The findings have clear implications for course book writers, publishers and language teachers. The findings are presented and implications are made.
Long‐Term effects of multichannel cochlear implant usage

A major concern regarding multichannel (multi‐electrode) cochlear prosthesis usage has been the possibility of long‐term deleterious physiological effects such as the degeneration of spiral ganglion cells, neuronal degeneration, and new bone formation. These effects, if present, would become evident in the deterioration of hearing sensation and performance of the cochlear implant recipient on a battery of audiologic tests.
Early repolarization in Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome: prevalence and clinical significance.

AIMS Idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF) with early repolarization (ER) has recently been reported; however, ER is a common finding in healthy subjects and is also found sporadically in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. The present study was designed to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of ER in patients with WPW syndrome. METHODS AND RESULTS One hundred and eleven patients with WPW syndrome were studied retrospectively. Early repolarization was defined as QRS slurring or notching with J-point elevation ≥ 1 mm. The prevalence of ER was determined before and after successful catheter ablation. Before ablation, ER was found in 35 of 75 patients with a left free wall, 6 of 23 with a right free wall, and 7 of 13 with a septal accessory pathway (48 of 111, 43% as a whole). Early repolarization was always observed in leads with positive deflection of the initial part of the delta wave. After successful ablation of accessory pathways, ER was preserved in 28 (25%), disappeared in 20 (18%), and newly developed in 8 (7%) patients. In the remaining 55 (50%) patients, ER was not observed either before or after ablation. In patients with persistent ER, the amplitude and width of ER were significantly decreased 3-7 days after the ablation (1.7 ± 0.7 vs. 1.4 ± 0.6 mm, P < 0.005 and 42 ± 11 vs. 34 ± 9 ms, P < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION In patients with WPW syndrome, ER could be partly related to early depolarization through the accessory pathway. However, persistent ER and new ER appearing after the ablation were frequently found. Therefore, in these patients, mechanisms other than early depolarization may be involved in the genesis of ER.
A step towards transparent integration of input-consciousness into dynamic program optimizations

Dynamic program optimizations are critical for the efficiency of applications in managed programming languages and scripting languages. Recent studies have shown that exploitation of program inputs may enhance the effectiveness of dynamic optimizations significantly. However, current solutions for enabling the exploitation require either programmers' annotations or intensive offline profiling, impairing the practical adoption of the techniques. This current work examines the basic feasibility of transparent integration of input-consciousness into dynamic program optimizations, particularly in managed execution environments. It uses transparent learning across production runs as the basic vehicle, and investigates the implications of cross-run learning on each main component of input-conscious dynamic optimizations. It proposes several techniques to address some key challenges for the transparent integration, including randomized inspection-instrumentation for cross-user data collection, a sparsity-tolerant algorithm for input characterization, and selective prediction for efficiency protection. These techniques make it possible to automatically recognize the relations between the inputs to a program and the appropriate ways to optimize it. The whole process happens transparently across production runs; no need for offline profiling or programmer intervention. Experiments on a number of Java programs demonstrate the effectiveness of the techniques in enabling input-consciousness for dynamic optimizations, revealing the feasibility and potential benefits of the new optimization paradigm in some basic settings.
New lower bounds for Hopcroft's problem

AbstractWe establish new lower bounds on the complexity of the following basic geometric problem, attributed to John Hopcroft: Given a set ofn points andm hyperplanes in $$\mathbb{R}^d $$ , is any point contained in any hyperplane? We define a general class ofpartitioning algorithms, and show that in the worst case, for allm andn, any such algorithm requires time Ω(n logm + n2/3m2/3 + m logn) in two dimensions, or Ω(n logm + n5/6m1/2 + n1/2m5/6 + m logn) in three or more dimensions. We obtain slightly higher bounds for the counting version of Hopcroft's problem in four or more dimensions. Our planar lower bound is within a factor of 2O(log*(n+m)) of the best known upper bound, due to Matoušek. Previously, the best known lower bound, in any dimension, was Ω(n logm + m logn). We develop our lower bounds in two stages. First we define a combinatorial representation of the relative order type of a set of points and hyperplanes, called amonochromatic cover, and derive lower bounds on its size in the worst case. We then show that the running time of any partitioning algorithm is bounded below by the size of some monochromatic cover. As a related result, using a straightforward adversary argument, we derive aquadratic lower bound on the complexity of Hopcroft's problem in a surprisingly powerful decision tree model of computation.
Phenolics and Plant Allelopathy

Phenolic compounds arise from the shikimic and acetic acid (polyketide) metabolic pathways in plants. They are but one category of the many secondary metabolites implicated in plant allelopathy. Phenolic allelochemicals have been observed in both natural and managed ecosystems, where they cause a number of ecological and economic problems, such as declines in crop yield due to soil sickness, regeneration failure of natural forests, and replanting problems in orchards. Phenolic allelochemical structures and modes of action are diverse and may offer potential lead compounds for the development of future herbicides or pesticides. This article reviews allelopathic effects, analysis methods, and allelopathic mechanisms underlying the activity of plant phenolic compounds. Additionally, the currently debated topic in plant allelopathy of whether catechin and 8-hydroxyquinoline play an important role in Centaurea maculata and Centaurea diffusa invasion success is discussed. Overall, the main purpose of this review is to highlight the allelopacthic potential of phenolic compounds to provide us with methods to solve various ecology problems, especially in regard to the sustainable development of agriculture, forestry, nature resources and environment conservation.
The effect of intravenous ethanol on the bactericidal activity of human serum.

Serious gram-negative bacterial infections (e.g. pneumonias caused by Escherichia coli, Hemophilus influenzae, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) are encountered with increased frequency in chronic alcoholics. `3 Normal human serum is bactericidal for many strains of gram-negative bacteria. '" A decrease in serum bactericidal activity might render the host more susceptible to infection caused by these organisms. Studies by Kaplan and Braude6 on two human volunteers suggested that the bactericidal activity of serum was decreased against a strain of Escherichia coli and a strain of Hemophilus influensae following ingestion of ethanol (ethyl alcohol). The present study was undertaken to extend the studies of Kaplan and Braude and to determine if ethanol administered intravenously to normal human volunteers alters the bactericidal activity of serum.
Développement d’une méthode d’optimisation multiobjectif pour la construction bois : prise en compte du confort des usagers, de l’impact environnemental et de la sécurité de l’ouvrage

Les pays industrialises cherchent aujourd’hui a reduire leur consommation d'energie et a utiliser des matieres premieres de substitution, notamment renouvelables dont le bois fait partie. Pour promouvoir son usage, le developpement de methodes favorisant son recours dans les systemes constructifs pour la construction multietage est necessaire.La conception d’un bâtiment est multicritere. Des objectifs contradictoires sont a optimiser simultanement. Des solutions de compromis Pareto-optimaux sont par exemple recherchees entre l’atteinte des meilleures performances d’usage et la limitation de l’impact environnemental du bâtiment. Ces travaux portent ainsi sur le developpement d’une methode d’optimisation multiobjectif de systemes constructifs bois adaptes au multietage.Des objectifs de maximisation du confort vibratoire des planchers et de minimisation des besoins de chauffage, d’inconfort thermique, de potentiel de rechauffement climatique et d’energie grise sont pris en compte. La methode repose sur un algorithme d’optimisation multiobjectif par essaim particulaire capable de proposer un ensemble de solutions non-dominees constituant le front de Pareto. L’espace des solutions est contraint par des exigences reglementaires necessaires a la securite de l’ouvrage. L’ensemble des fonctions-objectif est modelise sous forme de fonctions analytiques. Les sorties d’interet du modele de simulation thermique dynamique sont substituees par des metamodeles.La methode developpee est mise en oeuvre sur un cas d’etude. Les resultats obtenus offrent une grande diversite dans un panel de 20 000 solutions optimales. Ces resultats constituent un support de discussion entre les differents acteurs d’un projet de construction.
A cooperative MAC protocol in multi-channel wireless ad hoc networks

Many multi-channel Media Access Control (MAC) protocols have been studied in the past decade. With an eye to hardware cost and device capability, many researchers have proposed protocols using only one transceiver, even though the potential capacity of a multiple-transceiver network is higher than that of one with a single transceiver. In this paper, we introduce a novel, cooperative, multi-channel MAC protocol that incorporates the concept of cooperative communication into multi-channel MAC protocols, enabling a single transceiver to carry out the work of multiple transceivers. The proposed protocol, based on the well-known Slotted Seeded Channel Hopping (SSCH) multi-channel protocol, requires only one transceiver per device. For use in an IEEE 802.11 multi-channel multi-hop wireless network environment, our approach selects a relay node to become a virtual node with an intermediate node. We also design a channel assignment mechanism to let the virtual node transmit and receive data simultaneously on different channels, thus improving network performance. Simulation results show that our protocol significantly outperforms the original SSCH in terms of network capacity and average packet delay.
Using fuzzy logic to represent security policies in the multipolicy paradigm

Fuzzy logic is a promising way to represent non-traditional policies, like privacy, integrity and availability. Its vagueness and use of continuous data fit better with many non-military enterprise policy requirements. The theoretical foundation needed for development and assurance of computer systems has been worked out in an extensive literature, but more attention needs to be paid to its use in trusted systems. It is appropriate to use fuzzy logic for implementing aspects of the Multipolicy Paradigm.
Improved Detection of Common Variants Associated with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Using Pleiotropy-Informed Conditional False Discovery Rate

Several lines of evidence suggest that genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have the potential to explain more of the “missing heritability” of common complex phenotypes. However, reliable methods to identify a larger proportion of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that impact disease risk are currently lacking. Here, we use a genetic pleiotropy-informed conditional false discovery rate (FDR) method on GWAS summary statistics data to identify new loci associated with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorders (BD), two highly heritable disorders with significant missing heritability. Epidemiological and clinical evidence suggest similar disease characteristics and overlapping genes between SCZ and BD. Here, we computed conditional Q–Q curves of data from the Psychiatric Genome Consortium (SCZ; n = 9,379 cases and n = 7,736 controls; BD: n = 6,990 cases and n = 4,820 controls) to show enrichment of SNPs associated with SCZ as a function of association with BD and vice versa with a corresponding reduction in FDR. Applying the conditional FDR method, we identified 58 loci associated with SCZ and 35 loci associated with BD below the conditional FDR level of 0.05. Of these, 14 loci were associated with both SCZ and BD (conjunction FDR). Together, these findings show the feasibility of genetic pleiotropy-informed methods to improve gene discovery in SCZ and BD and indicate overlapping genetic mechanisms between these two disorders.
Linearization: Students Forget the Operating Point

Linearization is a standard part of modeling and control design theory for a class of nonlinear dynamical systems taught in basic undergraduate courses. Although linearization is a straight-line methodology, it is not applied correctly by many students since they often forget to keep the operating point in mind. This paper explains the topic and suggests a way to improve the teaching of the methodology in control courses. The idea is presented on a model of an inverted pendulum on a cart-a classical laboratory model used in the control theory education process.
Discovery of non-climacteric and suppressed climacteric bud sport mutations originating from a climacteric Japanese plum cultivar (Prunus salicina Lindl.)

Japanese plums are classified as climacteric; however, some economically important cultivars selected in California produce very little ethylene and require long ripening both “on” and “off” the tree to reach eating-ripe firmness. To unravel the ripening behavior of different Japanese plum cultivars, ripening was examined in the absence (air) or in the presence of ethylene or propylene (an ethylene analog) following a treatment or not with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP, an ethylene action inhibitor). Detailed physiological studies revealed for the first time three distinct ripening types in plum fruit: climacteric, suppressed-climacteric, and non-climacteric. Responding to exogenous ethylene or propylene, the slow-softening supressed-climacteric cultivars produced detectable amounts of ethylene, in contrast to the novel non-climacteric cultivar that produced no ethylene and softened extremely slowly. Genetic analysis using microsatellite markers produced identical DNA profiles for the climacteric cultivars “Santa Rosa” and “July Santa Rosa,” the suppressed-climacteric cultivars “Late Santa Rosa,” “Casselman,” and “Roysum” and the novel non-climacteric “Sweet Miriam,” as expected since historic records present most of these cultivars as bud-sport mutations derived initially from “Santa Rosa. ” This present study provides a novel fruit system to address the molecular basis of ripening and to develop markers that assist breeders in providing high-quality stone fruit cultivars that can remain “on-tree,” increasing fruit flavor, saving harvesting costs, and potentially reducing the need for low-temperature storage during postharvest handling.
A further study in the data partitioning approach for frequent itemsets mining

Frequent itemsets mining is well explored for various data types, and its computational complexity is well understood. Based on our previous work by Nguyen and Orlowska (2005), this paper shows the extension of the data pre-processing approach to further improve the performance of frequent itemsets computation. The methods focus on potential reduction of the size of the input data required for deployment of the partitioning based algorithms.We have made a series of the data pre-processing methods such that the final step of the Partition algorithm, where a combination of all local candidate sets must be processed, is executed on substantially smaller input data. Moreover, we have made a comparison among these methods based on the experiments with particular data sets.
Hill-Based Model as a Myoprocessor for a Neural Controlled Powered Exoskeleton Arm - Parameters Optimization

The exoskeleton robot, serving as an assistive device worn by the human (orthotic), functions as a human-amplifier. Setting the human machine interface (HMI) at the neuro-muscular level may lead to seamless integration and an intuitive control of the exoskeleton arm as a natural extension of the human body. At the core of the exoskeleton HMI there is a myoprocessor. It is a model of the human muscle, running in real-time and in parallel to the physiological muscle, that predicts joint torque as a function of the joint kinematics and neural activation levels. The study is focused on developing a myoprocessor based on the Hill phenomenological muscle model. Genetic algorithms were used to optimize model internal parameters using an experimental database that provides inputs to the model and allows for performance assessment. The results indicate high correlation between joint moment predictions of the model and the measured data. Consequently, the myoprocessor seems an adequate model, sufficiently robust for further integration into the exoskeleton control system.
Another bijection between $2$-triangulations and pairs of non-crossing Dyck paths

A $k$-triangulation of the $n$-gon is a maximal set of diagonals of the $n$-gon containing no subset of $k+1$ mutually crossing diagonals. The number of $k$-triangulations of the $n$-gon, determined by Jakob Jonsson, is equal to a $k \times k$ Hankel determinant of Catalan numbers. This determinant is also equal to the number of $k$ non-crossing Dyck paths of semi-length $n-2k$. This brings up the problem of finding a combinatorial bijection between these two sets. In FPSAC 2007, Elizalde presented such a bijection for the case $k=2$. We construct another bijection for this case that is stronger and simpler that Elizalde's. The bijection preserves two sets of parameters, degrees and generalized returns. As a corollary, we generalize Jonsson's formula for $k=2$ by counting the number of $2$-triangulations of the $n$-gon with a given degree at a fixed vertex.