Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The microenvironment created by non-blocking embryos in aggregates may rescue blocking embryos via cell–embryo adherent contacts

Summary Under our culture conditions, mouse embryos from the BALB/c inbred mouse strain develop successfully in culture only from the late 2-cell stage onwards (so-called 2-cell block), whether or not EDTA is added to the culture medium. (CBA × C57BL) F2 embryos do not exhibit a 2-cell block. Medium conditioned by culture of non-blocking embryos from the 2-cell to the 8-cell stage did not improve the development of blocking embryos, nor did co-culture of blocking and non-blocking embryos, with or without conditioned medium. On the other hand phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-assisted aggregation of an early 2-cell BALB/c embryo with five surrounding non-blocking F2 embryos (2-cell or 8-cell) or five BALB/c 8-cell embryos allowed the early 2-cell BALB/c embryos to develop into blastocysts within 72 h. Aggregation of blocking BALB/c 2-cell embryos with each other had no ‘rescue’ effect. When blocking and non-blocking 2-cell embryos were aggregated together, an integrated blastocyst was formed; but when the early 2-cell BALB/c embryos were aggregated with non-blocking 8-cell embryos, the blocking embryos formed a separate small blastocyst, which nonetheless retained adherent contact with the non-blocking embryos throughout the culture period. Ultrastructural analysis showed that 2-cell embryos aggregated with the aid of PHA form close adherent cell contacts up to several micrometres in length.
On the Complexity of Scheduling in Half-Duplex Diamond Networks

We consider an n-relay Gaussian diamond network where a source communicates to a destination with the help of n half-duplex relays. Achieving rates close to the capacity of this network requires to employ all the n relays under an optimal transmit/receive schedule. Even for the moderate values of n, this can have significant operational complexity as the optimal schedule may possibly have 2n different states for the network (since each of the relays can be in either transmitting or receiving mode). In this paper, we investigate whether a significant fraction of the network capacity can be achieved by using transmit/receive schedules that have only few active states and by using only few relays. First, we conjecture that the approximately optimal schedule has at most n+1 states instead of the 2n possible states. We prove this conjecture for networks of size n ≤ 6 by developing a proof strategy and implementing it computationally. Second, we show that routing strategies that only employ the point-to-point communication and two of the relays with a half-duplex schedule that has only two active states can achieve at least half the capacity (approximately) of the network. Techniques from linear programming and submodular functions are used to derive the results.
An empirical evaluation of graspable user interfaces: towards specialized, space-multiplexed input

This paper reports on the experimental evaluation of a Graspable User Interface that employs a "spacemultiplexing" input scheme in which each function to be controlled has a dedicated physical transducer, each occupying its own space. This input style contrasts the more traditional "time-multiplexing" input scheme which uses one device (such as the mouse) to control different functions at different points in time. A tracking experiment was conducted to compare a traditional GUI design with its time-multiplex input scheme versus a Graspable UI design having a space-multiplex input scheme. We found that the space-multiplex conditions out perform the time-multiplex conditions. In addition, we found that the use of specialized physical form factors for the input devices instead of generic form factors provide a performance advantage. We argue that the specialized devices serve as both visual and tactile functional reminders of the associated tool assignment as well as facilitate manipulation due to the customized form factors.
CryptoManiac: a fast flexible architecture for secure communication

The growth of the Internet as a vehicle for secure communication and electronic commerce has brought cryptographic processing performance to the forefront of high throughput system design. This trend will be further underscored with the widespread adoption of secure protocols such as secure IP (IPSEC) and virtual private networks (VPNs). In this paper, we introduce the CryptoManiac processor, a fast and flexible co-processor for cryptographic workloads. Our design is extremely efficient; we present analysis of a 0.25 um physical design that runs the standard Rijndael cipher algorithm 2.25 times faster than a 600 MHz Alpha 21264 processor. Moreover, our implementation requires 1/100/sup th/ the area and power in the same technology. We demonstrate that the performance of our design rivals a state-of-the-art dedicated hardware implementation of the 3DES (triple DES) algorithm, while retaining the flexibility to simultaneously support multiple cipher algorithms. Finally, we define a scalable system architecture that combines CryptoManiac processing elements to exploit inter-session and inter-packet parallelism available in many communication protocols. Using I/O traces and detailed timing simulation, we show that chip multiprocessor configurations can effectively service high throughput applications including secure web and disk I/O processing.
Prior exercise and postprandial substrate extraction across the human leg.

Prior exercise decreases postprandial plasma triacylglycerol (TG) concentrations, possibly through changes to skeletal muscle TG extraction. We measured postprandial substrate extraction across the leg in eight normolipidemic men aged 21-46 yr. On the afternoon preceding one trial, subjects ran for 2 h at 64 +/- 1% of maximal oxygen uptake (exercise); before the control trial, subjects had refrained from exercise. Samples of femoral arterial and venous blood were obtained, and leg blood flow was measured in the fasting state and for 6 h after a meal (1.2 g fat, 1.2 g carbohydrate/kg body mass). Prior exercise increased time averaged postprandial TG clearance across the leg (total TG: control, 0.079 +/- 0.014 ml.100 ml tissue(-1). min(-1) ; exercise, 0.158 +/- 0.023 ml.100 ml tissue(-1). min(-1), P <0.01), particularly in the chylomicron fraction, so that absolute TG uptake was maintained despite lower plasma TG concentrations (control, 1.53 +/- 0.13 mmol/l; exercise, 1.01 +/- 0.16 mmol/l, P < 0.001). Prior exercise increased postprandial leg blood flow and glucose uptake (both P < 0.05). Mechanisms other than increased leg TG uptake must account for the effect of prior exercise on postprandial lipemia.
Pichia sorbitophila, an Interspecies Yeast Hybrid, Reveals Early Steps of Genome Resolution After Polyploidization

Polyploidization is an important process in the evolution of eukaryotic genomes, but ensuing molecular mechanisms remain to be clarified. Autopolyploidization or whole-genome duplication events frequently are resolved in resulting lineages by the loss of single genes from most duplicated pairs, causing transient gene dosage imbalance and accelerating speciation through meiotic infertility. Allopolyploidization or formation of interspecies hybrids raises the problem of genetic incompatibility (Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller effect) and may be resolved by the accumulation of mutational changes in resulting lineages. In this article, we show that an osmotolerant yeast species, Pichia sorbitophila, recently isolated in a concentrated sorbitol solution in industry, illustrates this last situation. Its genome is a mosaic of homologous and homeologous chromosomes, or parts thereof, that corresponds to a recently formed hybrid in the process of evolution. The respective parental contributions to this genome were characterized using existing variations in GC content. The genomic changes that occurred during the short period since hybrid formation were identified (e.g., loss of heterozygosity, unilateral loss of rDNA, reciprocal exchange) and distinguished from those undergone by the two parental genomes after separation from their common ancestor (i.e., NUMT (NUclear sequences of MiTochondrial origin) insertions, gene acquisitions, gene location movements, reciprocal translocation). We found that the physiological characteristics of this new yeast species are determined by specific but unequal contributions of its two parents, one of which could be identified as very closely related to an extant Pichia farinosa strain.
Lysosomotropic Properties of Weakly Basic Anticancer Agents Promote Cancer Cell Selectivity In Vitro

Drug distribution in cells is a fundamentally important, yet often overlooked, variable in drug efficacy. Many weakly basic anticancer agents accumulate extensively in the acidic lysosomes of normal cells through ion trapping. Lysosomal trapping reduces the activity of anticancer drugs, since anticancer drug targets are often localized in the cell cytosol or nucleus. Some cancer cells have defective acidification of lysosomes, which causes a redistribution of trapped drugs from the lysosomes to the cytosol. We have previously established that such differences in drug localization between normal and cancer cells can contribute to the apparent selectivity of weakly basic drugs to cancer cells in vitro. In this work, we tested whether this intracellular distribution-based drug selectivity could be optimized based on the acid dissociation constant (pKa) of the drug, which is one of the determinants of lysosomal sequestration capacity. We synthesized seven weakly basic structural analogs of the Hsp90 inhibitor geldanamycin (GDA) with pKa values ranging from 5 to 12. The selectivity of each analog was expressed by taking ratios of anti-proliferative IC50 values of the inhibitors in normal fibroblasts to the IC50 values in human leukemic HL-60 cells. Similar selectivity assessments were performed in a pair of cancer cell lines that differed in lysosomal pH as a result of siRNA-mediated alteration of vacuolar proton ATPase subunit expression. Optimal selectivity was observed for analogs with pKa values near 8. Similar trends were observed with commercial anticancer agents with varying weakly basic pKa values. These evaluations advance our understanding of how weakly basic properties can be optimized to achieve maximum anticancer drug selectivity towards cancer cells with defective lysosomal acidification in vitro. Additional in vivo studies are needed to examine the utility of this approach for enhancing selectivity.
Technology mapping for reliability enhancement in logic synthesis

Reliability enhancements are traditionally implemented through redundancies at the system level or through the use of harden-cell-designs at the circuit level. Reliability is commonly ignored during the logic synthesis step. A major reason for this is the fact that constructing a cost function to measure sensitivity to faults at the logic synthesis level is complex. The work presented in this paper addresses one important aspect of synthesis for high reliability. It focuses on the problem of mapping a technology independent circuit to a technology specific one, using gates from a given library, with fault sensitivity as an optimization metric. We believe that the difficulty in obtaining accurate metrics of fault sensitivity at the technology independent level makes it hard to optimize at this level, thus technology dependent mapping offers a direct method to improve reliability. In this paper, we present a concept named "effective fault area" for mapping onto library gates. Along with this concept, we adopt a Markov-model based analytical method to accurately estimate fault sensitivity during mapping with a low computational overhead. Several benchmark results show that the average reliability improvement is about 20.7% at the cost of 12.1% increase in delay.
Analysis of Fractional Differential Equations

We discuss existence, uniqueness, and structural stability of solutions of nonlinear differential equations of fractional order. The differential operators are taken in the Riemann–Liouville sense and the initial conditions are specified according to Caputo's suggestion, thus allowing for interpretation in a physically meaningful way. We investigate in particular the dependence of the solution on the order of the differential equation and on the initial condition, and we relate our results to the selection of appropriate numerical schemes for the solution of fractional differential equations.
Psychiatry and same sex marriage : are we involved? : guest editorial

Extracted from text . South African Psychiatry Review ? May 2006 69 GUEST EDITORIAL S Afr Psychiatry Rev 2006;9:69-71 On 1 December 2005, the Constitutional Court made a judgement legalising same-sex marriages, effectively making South Africa one of just five countries worldwide that have removed legal barriers to gay and lesbian unions. The ruling includes the right to adopt children for gay and lesbian couples. The only restriction recognised by the Court was that marriage officers could refuse to marry homosexual couples if it was against their conscience. South Africa is now the first African nation to parallel heterosexual and homosexual relationships in .
Predicting the Use of Aggressive Behaviour among Canadian Amateur Hockey Players: A Psychosocial Examination

Predicting the use of Aggressive Behaviour Among Canadian Amateur Hockey Players: A Psychosocial Examination CHRIS J. GEE Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Department of Exercise Sciences, University of Toronto In the wake of 21 year old Don Sanderson’s death (January 1, 2009), the direct result of head injuries sustained during an on-ice hockey fight, the social and political appetite for eliminating violence in amateur hockey appears to be at an all time high. Unfortunately, due to a variety of methodological and conceptual limitations previous research is currently unable to provide a unified and valid explanation for sport-specific aggression (Kirker, Tenenbaum, & Mattson, 2000). One of the primary impediments facing our understanding of sport-specific aggression is the descriptive and fragmented nature of the current body of literature. Over the years a number of independent lines of research have been undertaken, through which several psychological and social factors have been identified as potential determinants. However, in many cases these constructs have yet to be tested against athletes’ actual aggressive behaviour in sport and thus their predictive contribution to our understanding is still unknown. Consequently, the purpose of the current investigation was to assess the predictive influence of several commonly cited psychosocial constructs on amateur hockey players actual within-competition use of aggressive behaviour over a competitive season. A trait aggressive personality disposition emerged as the strongest and most stable predictor of athletes’ aggressive behaviour, accounting for 10 – 40% of the statistical variance depending upon the age and competitive level of the athletes under investigation. Differences in the overt expression
Virtual Objects on the Internet of Things

As technology advances more and more "things" began to appear in digital format, such as: tickets, agendas, books, electronic purses, etc. Internet of things encourages communication and integration of physical objects with each other and people to automate tasks and improve efficiency. Digital objects like physicists should be part of Internet of Things but the different structures of these digital objects causes in most cases these digital objects can interact only with specific applications that know the specific format. Based on the problems in this paper proposes a structure that supports the generic construction of virtual objects irrespective of their business logic and their integration with other applications and "things".
Biocompatible fluorescent nanoparticles for in vivo stem cell tracking

Efficient application of stem cells to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases requires safe cell tracking to follow stem cell fate over time in the host environment after transplantation. In this work, for the first time, fluorescent and biocompatible methyl methacrylate (MMA)-based nanoparticles (fluoNPs) were synthesized through a free-radical co-polymerization process with a fluorescent macromonomer obtained by linking Rhodamine B and hydroxyethyl methacrylate. We demonstrate that the fluoNPs produced by polymerization of MMA–Rhodamine complexes (1) were efficient for the labeling and tracking of multipotent human amniotic fluid cells (hAFCs); (2) did not alter the main biological features of hAFCs (such as viability, cell growth and metabolic activity); (3) enabled us to determine the longitudinal bio-distribution of hAFCs in different brain areas after graft in the brain ventricles of healthy mice by a direct fluorescence-based technique. The reliability of our approach was furthermore confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging analyses, carried out by incubating hAFCs with both superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and fluoNPs. Our data suggest that these finely tunable and biocompatible fluoNPs can be exploited for the longitudinal tracking of stem cells.
Estimating Chair Pose Using ConvNets

The goal of our project is to align 3D models of chairs to 2D scene images containing chairs. In order to solve the alignment problem, we need to determine the translation, scale and rotation of the 3D object that maps it to the 2D image. For the purposes of this project we limit the scope to only azimuth orientation. We train a convolutional neural network on 64x64 rendered RGB chair images to predict the orientation of a previously unseen input. Our convolutional neural network consists of two convolutional layers with max pooling and ReLU activation functions and two fully connected layers also with ReLU activation functions. This simple architecture yielded surprisingly good results giving us 99% precision on the testing set. We evaluate the model on both a set of clean product images obtained from Bing and on cluttered natural images from the PASCAL VOC dataset and present a webcam interface that predicts chair orientation at interactive rates.
Metaphor as the Creative Origin of Lexical Ambiguity in English and Japanese

A metaphor is a word or phrase applied to an object or concept that it does not literally denote, in order to suggest a comparison with another object or concept. Psychology and linguistics have been particularly interested in metaphor of late, because of current research in linguistic per­ formance and the processes involved in the comprehension of metaphor. Cognitive psychologists are concerned with when and why people use metaphors, and with how they understand them. The psychologist is concerned with the processes presumed to underlie their use and comprehen­ sion, and how, if at all, these processes differ from and are related to those involved in literal uses of language. The linguist, on the other hand, is concerned with the formal properties of metaphors and the semantic and pragmatic relations that they have to their literal counterparts (Ortony, 1980).
Dependence of antibody gene diversification on uracil excision

Activation-induced deaminase (AID) catalyses deamination of deoxycytidine to deoxyuridine within immunoglobulin loci, triggering pathways of antibody diversification that are largely dependent on uracil-DNA glycosylase (uracil-N-glycolase [UNG]). Surprisingly efficient class switch recombination is restored to ung−/− B cells through retroviral delivery of active-site mutants of UNG, stimulating discussion about the need for UNG's uracil-excision activity. In this study, however, we find that even with the overexpression achieved through retroviral delivery, switching is only mediated by UNG mutants that retain detectable excision activity, with this switching being especially dependent on MSH2. In contrast to their potentiation of switching, low-activity UNGs are relatively ineffective in restoring transversion mutations at C:G pairs during hypermutation, or in restoring gene conversion in stably transfected DT40 cells. The results indicate that UNG does, indeed, act through uracil excision, but suggest that, in the presence of MSH2, efficient switch recombination requires base excision at only a small proportion of the AID-generated uracils in the S region. Interestingly, enforced expression of thymine-DNA glycosylase (which can excise U from U:G mispairs) does not (unlike enforced UNG or SMUG1 expression) potentiate efficient switching, which is consistent with a need either for specific recruitment of the uracil-excision enzyme or for it to be active on single-stranded DNA.
STAT4 and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease with a substantial genetic component. Susceptibility to disease has been linked with a region on chromosome 2q. METHODS We tested single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in and around 13 candidate genes within the previously linked chromosome 2q region for association with rheumatoid arthritis. We then performed fine mapping of the STAT1-STAT4 region in a total of 1620 case patients with established rheumatoid arthritis and 2635 controls, all from North America. Implicated SNPs were further tested in an independent case-control series of 1529 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and 881 controls, all from Sweden, and in a total of 1039 case patients and 1248 controls from three series of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. RESULTS A SNP haplotype in the third intron of STAT4 was associated with susceptibility to both rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. The minor alleles of the haplotype-defining SNPs were present in 27% of chromosomes of patients with established rheumatoid arthritis, as compared with 22% of those of controls (for the SNP rs7574865, P=2.81x10(-7); odds ratio for having the risk allele in chromosomes of patients vs. those of controls, 1.32). The association was replicated in Swedish patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (P=0.02) and matched controls. The haplotype marked by rs7574865 was strongly associated with lupus, being present on 31% of chromosomes of case patients and 22% of those of controls (P=1.87x10(-9); odds ratio for having the risk allele in chromosomes of patients vs. those of controls, 1.55). Homozygosity of the risk allele, as compared with absence of the allele, was associated with a more than doubled risk for lupus and a 60% increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis. CONCLUSIONS A haplotype of STAT4 is associated with increased risk for both rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, suggesting a shared pathway for these illnesses.