Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modes of Initiation and Propagation of Spikes in the Branching Axons of Molluscan Central Neurons

A study has been made of Aplysia nerve cells, mainly in the pleural ganglia, in which the main axon divides into at least two branches in the neighbourhood of the soma. Conduction between these branches was investigated by intracellular recordings from the soma following antidromic stimulation via the nerves containing the axonal branches. It has been shown that transmission between separate branches need not involve discharge of the soma but only of the axonal region between the soma and the origin of the branches. In some cells, the spike may fail to invade the other axonal branch, whereas transmission in the opposite direction is readily achieved. Often spikes in none of the branches are transmitted to the others, unless facilitated. Indications about the geometry of the neuron in the vicinity of the soma may be obtained from the study of the relative size of the A spikes originated in different branches. These observations, together with the presence of different sizes of A spikes, produced by orthodromic stimulation, provide evidence that spikes initiated at separate axonal "trigger zones" of Aplysia neurons may be conducted selectively to the effectors or other neurons innervated by the particular branch.
Phenolic Constituents from the Lichen Parmotrema stuppeum (Nyl.) Hale and Their Antioxidant Activity

Lichen, Parmotrema stuppeum (P. stuppeum ) was successively extracted with benzene and acetone. Both the extracts were fractionated on 1 % oxalic acid impregnated silica gel column to obtain four phenolic com pounds. The structures of com pounds were identified by 1H and 13C NMR spectra as methyl orsenillate, orsenillic acid, atranorin and lecanoric acid respectively. Antioxidant activity of benzene extract, acetone extract and isolated com pounds w ere evaluated in a β-carotene-linoleate model system. The pure com pounds showed moderate antioxidant activity. This is the first report on the isolation and characterisation of com pounds from the lichen P. stuppeum as well as on their antioxidant activity.
Studies on the reliability and reserve capacity of electric power system with wind power integration

The reliability of power system will obviously be influenced by wind farms connected because of the volatility of wind power. With the increase of wind power penetration, it's necessary to research the influence of wind power integration on the reliability level of system and how much reserve capacity should we increase in order to stabilize the influence of wind power on power system reliability. In this paper a reliability evaluation model is built by Monte Carlo method and also a reserve optimization model, which can be used to analyze changes of system reliability in conditions of different grid-connected wind farms, and to find out the optimum of system reserve to achieve unifying the maximum utilization of new energy and meanwhile high reliability of power system.
Design and evaluation of prophylactic interventions using infectious disease incidence data from close contact groups

Summary. Prophylaxis of contacts of infectious cases such as household members and treatment of infectious cases are methods to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. We develop a method based on maximum likelihood to estimate the efficacy of such interventions and the transmission probabilities. We consider both the design with prospective follow‐up of close contact groups and the design with ascertainment of close contact groups by an index case as well as randomization by groups and by individuals. We compare the designs by using simulations. We estimate the efficacy of the influenza antiviral agent oseltamivir in reducing susceptibility and infectiousness in two case‐ascertained household trials.
Isolation and Identification of a Novel Rabies Virus Lineage in China with Natural Recombinant Nucleoprotein Gene

Rabies virus (RABV) causes severe neurological disease and death. As an important mechanism for generating genetic diversity in viruses, homologous recombination can lead to the emergence of novel virus strains with increased virulence and changed host tropism. However, it is still unclear whether recombination plays a role in the evolution of RABV. In this study, we isolated and sequenced four circulating RABV strains in China. Phylogenetic analyses identified a novel lineage of hybrid origin that comprises two different strains, J and CQ92. Analyses revealed that the virus 3′ untranslated region (UTR) and part of the N gene (approximate 500 nt in length) were likely derived from Chinese lineage I while the other part of the genomic sequence was homologous to Chinese lineage II. Our findings reveal that homologous recombination can occur naturally in the field and shape the genetic structure of RABV populations.
Intraspinal Therapy Using Methylprednisolone Acetate‐Twenty‐Three Years of Clinical Controversy

The intraspinal use of methylprednisolone acetate (Depo-Medrol, Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo MI) began in 1960, followed 10 years later by reports of complications. In 1960, methylprednisolone acetate was first injected by the epidural route to treat low-back syndromes. Then in 1961, the intrathecal route was more widely used to treat arachnoiditis and multiple sclerosis. Epidural therapy again came into general use in 1980 for the treatment of the failed-back syndrome because intrathecal therapy was virtually abandoned after 10 years of spirited scientific controversy. Epidural sterold therapy is now employed extensively, and there are many sanguine reports of its efficacy in treating chronic pain secondary to the failed-back syndrome, but there have also been reports of complications. This review was prompted by recent manufacturer warnings, as well as by an ongoing heated controversy in Australia regarding its use epidurally. During the last 30 years, one can deine 5 instructive historical parallels between intrathecal and epidural steroid therapy, and this historicity points up several principles that should govern any further epidural therapy with methylprednisolone acetate. This critical chronologic review surveys neurosurgical use from 1960 to 1970, neurologic use from 1970 to 1980, and anesthesiology use from 1980 to present.
Nonlinear Precoders for Massive MIMO Systems with General Constraints

We introduce a class of nonlinear least square error precoders with a general penalty function for multiuser massive MIMO systems. The generality of the penalty function allows us to consider several hardware limitations including transmitters with a predefined constellation and restricted number of active antennas. The large-system performance is then investigated via the replica method under the assumption of replica symmetry. It is shown that the least square precoders exhibit the "marginal decoupling property" meaning that the marginal distributions of all precoded symbols converge to a deterministic distribution. As a result, the asymptotic performance of the precoders is described by an equivalent single-user system. To address some applications of the results, we further study the asymptotic performance of the precoders when both the peak-to-average power ratio and number of active transmit antennas are constrained. Our numerical investigations show that for a desired distortion at the receiver side, proposed forms of the least square precoders need to employ around %35\%$ fewer number of active antennas compared to cases with random transmit antenna selection.
On the Impact of User Feedback on Energy Consumption

The energy consumption of mobile devices is of increasing importance for users, developers and vendors. Frequent recharging cycles have an impact onto the mobility of a device and thus, on user experience. While hardware and software are known to have an impact on energy consumption, user behaviour (when and how a device is used) is often not in the focus of attention. Research in on “smart-metering” has shown that user behaviour is a non-negligible impact factor. This paper reports about the results of an ongoing study on the impact of user feedback onto the energy consumption of mobile devices (i.e. Smartphones). The hypothesis being, that the frequent provision of energy-related feedback on user actions will significantly reduce energy utilization. First results support this hypothesis and indicate that feedback frequency and feedback clearly linked to specific user activities are key in this regard.
Parsing Aligned Parallel Corpus by Projecting Syntactic Relations from Annotated Source Corpus

Example-based parsing has already been proposed in literature. In particular, attempts are being made to develop techniques for language pairs where the source and target languages are different, e.g. Direct Projection Algorithm (Hwa et al., 2005). This enables one to develop parsed corpus for target languages having fewer linguistic tools with the help of a resource-rich source language. The DPA algorithm works on the assumption of Direct Correspondence which simply means that the relation between two words of the source language sentence can be projected directly between the corresponding words of the parallel target language sentence. However, we find that this assumption does not hold good all the time. This leads to wrong parsed structure of the target language sentence. As a solution we propose an algorithm called pseudo DPA (pDPA) that can work even if Direct Correspondence assumption is not guaranteed. The proposed algorithm works in a recursive manner by considering the embedded phrase structures from outermost level to the innermost. The present work discusses the pDPA algorithm, and illustrates it with respect to English-Hindi language pair. Link Grammar based parsing has been considered as the underlying parsing scheme for this work.
Early Identification of HIV: Empirical Support for Jail-Based Screening

Background Although routine HIV testing is recommended for jails, little empirical data exist describing newly diagnosed individuals in this setting. Methods Client-level data (CLD) are available on a subset of individuals served in EnhanceLink, for the nine of the 10 sites who enrolled newly diagnosed persons in the client level evaluation. In addition to information about time of diagnosis, we analyzed data on initial CD4 count, use of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and linkage to care post discharge. Baseline data from newly diagnosed persons were compared to data from persons whose diagnoses predated jail admission. Results CLD were available for 58 newly diagnosed and 708 previously diagnosed individuals enrolled between 9/08 and 3/11. Those newly diagnosed had a significantly younger median age (34 years) when compared to those previously diagnosed (41 years). In the 30 days prior to incarceration, 11% of those newly diagnosed reported injection drug use and 29% reported unprotected anal intercourse. Median CD4 count at diagnosis was 432 cells/mL (range: 22–1,453 cells/mL). A minority (21%, N = 12) of new diagnoses started antiretroviral treatment (ART) before release; 74% have evidence of linkage to community services. Conclusion Preliminary results from a cross-sectional analysis of this cohort suggest testing in jails finds individuals early on in disease progression. Most HIV+ detainees did not start ART in jail; therefore screening may not increase pharmacy costs for jails. Detainees newly diagnosed with HIV in jails can be effectively linked to community resources. Jail-based HIV testing should be a cornerstone of “test and treat” strategies.
The Protective Effect of Sodium Ferulate and Oxymatrine Combination on Paraquat-induced Lung Injury

Experimental evidence suggested that sodium ferulate (SF) and oxymatrine (OMT) combination had synergistic anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. We hypothesized that SF and OMT combination treatment might have protective effects on paraquat-induced acute lung injury. In our study, the Swiss mice were randomly divided into seven groups, including control, paraquat (PQ), SF (6.2 mg/Kg/day); OMT (13.8 mg/Kg/day) and three SF+OMT groups (3.1 + 6.9; 6.2 + 13.8 and 12.3 + 27.7 mg/Kg/day). The mortality and death time were monitored. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into seven groups including control, PQ, SF (3.1 mg/Kg/day); OMT (6.9 mg/Kg/day) and three SF+OMT groups (1.6 + 3.4; 3.1 + 6.9 and 6.2 + 13.8 mg/Kg/day). The lung wet/dry weight (W/D) ratio, lung histopathologic changes, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxidase dismutase (SOD) were analysed. Compared with PQ group, the mortality significantly decreased and the death time prolonged in SF and OMT combination treatment groups of mice. Also in SF and OMT combination treatment groups of rats, the increased lung W/D ratio and histopathological score induced by PQ injection were significantly decreased; the levels of CRP, IL-6, NF-κB and MDA in serum and lung homogenate were significantly decreased; the SOD activities in serum and lung homogenate were improved. These results suggested that SF and OMT combination had an obvious protective effect on PQ-induced lung injury. The anti-inﬂammatory and antioxidant effect might be involved in the mechanism.
Lipids in Health and Disease

Background: The purpose of this investigation was to determine the influence of analytical method on reported concentrations of plasma lipids and lipoproteins, and to determine if there are clinical implications of any potential differences on identification of the metabolic syndrome dyslipidemia, CVD risk stratification and classification of LDL subclass phenotype. Results: Plasma triglyceride (TG) concentrations were 1.09 ± 0.06 and 1.17 ± 0.06 mmol/L and plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations were 1.09 ± 0.03 vs 1.19 ± 0.03 mmol/L (both p < 0.05) from 113 duplicate samples sent to two laboratories utilizing different lipid and lipoprotein analytical methods (LABS 1 and 2, respectively). Plasma total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations were also significantly different between laboratories. Spearman rho correlations indicate excellent agreement of TG and HDL-C determined by the two laboratories (r = 0.96, TG; r = 0.91, HDL-C, both p < 0.001). Eleven vs. 14 individuals met the TG criteria and 70 vs. 48 met HDL-C metabolic syndrome criteria with LAB 1 and 2, respectively. Apoprotein B concentration (LAB 1) and LDL particle number (LAB 2) were highly correlated. (r = 0.92, P < 0.01). LAB 2 characterized more individuals as LDL pattern B phenotype, as compared to LAB 1 (30 vs. 14%, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Different plasma lipid and lipoprotein analytical techniques yield results which are highly correlated, yet significantly different, which suggests a consistent measurement difference. This difference has clinical implications, in that the proportion of individuals identified as meeting the metabolic syndrome dyslipidemia criteria, "at risk" based upon apo B or LDL particle number, and the LDL pattern B phenotype will differ based upon choice of analytical method. Background The metabolic syndrome is a condition in which several abnormalities (hypertension, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and impaired fibrinolysis) are clustered together with elevated abdominal visceral fat as the central feature. Individuals with the metabolic syndrome, estimated to be approximately 24% of US adults, are at increased risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD)[13]. One objective of the clinical management of the metabolic syndrome is the treatment of dyslipidemia, which is characterized by blood triglyceride (TG) concentrations above 1.69 mmol/L (150 mg/dl) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations below 1.03 mmol/L (40 mg/dl) in men and 1.29 mmol/L (50 mg/dl) in women [4]. Published: 31 January 2006 Lipids in Health and Disease 2006, 5:3 doi:10.1186/1476-511X-5-3 Received: 19 December 2005 Accepted: 31 January 2006 This article is available from: http://www.lipidworld. com/content/5/1/3 © 2006 Davy and Davy; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
A Neural Network Model of Metric Perception and Cognition in the Audition of Functional Tonal Music

In our previous work we proposed a theory of cognition of tonal music based on control of expectations and created a model to test the theory using a hierarchical sequential neural network. The net learns metered and rhythmecized functional tonal harmonic progressions allowing us to measure uctuations in the degree of realized expectation (DRE). Preliminary results demonstrated the necessity of including metric information in the model in order to obtain more realistic results for the model of the DRE. This was achieved by adding two units representing periodic index of meter to the input layer. In this paper we describe signi cant extensions to the architecture. Speci cally, our goal was to represent more general meter tracking strategies and consider their implications as cognitive models. The output layer of the sub-net for metric information is fully connected to the hidden layer of sequential net. This output layer includes pools of three and four units representing duple and triple metric indices. Thus the sub-net was able to in uence the resulting DRE, that was expected by the net. Moreover, by including multiple metric parsings in the output layer the net re ects con icts between parallel possible interpretations of meter. This output was fed back into the sub-net to in uence the next predictions of the DRE and the meter. In addition, the target harmony element was fed into the context instead of the actual output, thus simulating the interactive in uences of harmonic rhythm and meter.
CtIP and MRN promote non-homologous end-joining of etoposide-induced DNA double-strand breaks in G1

Topoisomerases class II (topoII) cleave and re-ligate the DNA double helix to allow the passage of an intact DNA strand through it. Chemotherapeutic drugs such as etoposide target topoII, interfere with the normal enzymatic cleavage/re-ligation reaction and create a DNA double-strand break (DSB) with the enzyme covalently bound to the 5′-end of the DNA. Such DSBs are repaired by one of the two major DSB repair pathways, non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination. However, prior to repair, the covalently bound topoII needs to be removed from the DNA end, a process requiring the MRX complex and ctp1 in fission yeast. CtIP, the mammalian ortholog of ctp1, is known to promote homologous recombination by resecting DSB ends. Here, we show that human cells arrested in G0/G1 repair etoposide-induced DSBs by NHEJ and, surprisingly, require the MRN complex (the ortholog of MRX) and CtIP. CtIP's function for repairing etoposide-induced DSBs by NHEJ in G0/G1 requires the Thr-847 but not the Ser-327 phosphorylation site, both of which are needed for resection during HR. This finding establishes that CtIP promotes NHEJ of etoposide-induced DSBs during G0/G1 phase with an end-processing function that is distinct to its resection function.
Development of green composites of poly (vinyl alcohol) reinforced with microcrystalline cellulose derived from sago seed shells

Reinforcing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with biopolymers like microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) provides interesting route for the preparation of green composites. In this study, PVA and MCC from sago seed shell in different weight% were prepared by intense sonication followed by solution casting into glass plate. Composites were prepared by adding 1, 2 and 3 weight% of MCC, which were characterized using FTIR, ATR-FTIR, XRD, TGA, DSC, SEM, AFM, UV-Vis, and mechanical testing. Particle size distribution of used MCC was analyzed by DLS. ATR-FTIR spectra reveal the incorporation of MCC into the polymer matrix through hydrogen bonding. XRD pattern shows the decrease in relative intensity compared to PVA film and broadening of peaks at different MCC concentrations. DSC analysis reveals the variations in the glass transition temperature. In addition to lowering in melting temperature, changes in shape and area are attributed to the different degrees of crystallinity due to the existence of polymer-polymer interactions between PVA and MCC. The results obtained from ATR-FTIR, XRD and DSC substantiate each other. TGA results reveal the increased thermal stability compared to the PVA film. The SEM analysis shows the uniform distribution for lower loading, which is further supported by AFM. UV-Visible spectra reveal the good transparency of prepared films. Mechanical testing was also performed, in which 1 weight% gained tensile strength. The TGA and mechanical testing results showed that MCC as reinforcement in PVA film can improve thermal and mechanical strength. DLS measurements show that the particle size of MCC is >100 nm. POLYM. COMPOS. , 2017. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers
Selective laser sintering of negative stiffness mesostructures for recoverable, nearly-ideal shock isolation

Honeycomb materials are well known for providing lightweight stiffness, strength, and energy absorption capabilities. For most honeycomb materials, energy absorption occurs when individual cells collapse progressively. Although it is possible for honeycombs with very low relative density to collapse via elastic buckling, honeycombs with typical relative densities collapse due to plastic yielding and buckling of the cell walls, such that the energy absorption is nonrecoverable. In this paper, mono-stable negative stiffness unit cells are investigated for constructing honeycomb mesostructures with high levels of recoverable energy absorption. Negative stiffness is achieved by incorporating curved beams into each unit cell. When subject to transverse loading, the curved beams exhibit negative stiffness behavior as they transition from one curved geometry to another in a snap-through type of motion that absorbs energy elastically at a relatively constant plateau stress. The plateau stress at which this energy absorption occurs can be tailored via the geometry of the unit cell. Preliminary experiments indicate that the structures can absorb significant amounts of energy by requiring nearlyconstant-force to increase deformation as the structure transitions between snap-through configurations. Unlike traditional honeycombs, the negative stiffness mesostructures are selfresettable and therefore reusable. Using SLS as a means of fabrication, they can also be customized for specific shock events and even functionally graded to offer shock isolation for transient loads of various amplitudes.
Fallout from the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster and Congenital Malformations in Europe

Abstract Investigators estimate that the population exposure that resulted from the Chernobyl fallout is in the range of natural background radiation for most European countries. Given current radiobiologic knowledge, health effects—if any—would not be measurable with epidemiologic tools. In several independent reports, however, researchers have described isolated peaks in the prevalence of congenital malformations in the cohort conceived immediately after onset of the fallout. The consistency of the time pattern and the specific types of malformation raise concern about their significance. In this study, the author summarizes findings from Turkey, Belarus, Croatia, Finland, Germany, and other countries, and implications for radiation protection and public health issues are discussed.