Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Habitat variation and wing coloration affect wing shape evolution in dragonflies

Habitats are spatially and temporally variable, and organisms must be able to track these changes. One potential mechanism for this is dispersal by flight. Therefore, we would expect flying animals to show adaptations in wing shape related to habitat variation. In this work, we explored variation in wing shape in relation to preferred water body (flowing water or standing water with tolerance for temporary conditions) and landscape (forested to open) using 32 species of dragonflies of the genus Trithemis (80% of the known species). We included a potential source of variation linked to sexual selection: the extent of wing coloration on hindwings. We used geometric morphometric methods for studying wing shape. We also explored the phenotypic correlation of wing shape between the sexes. We found that wing shape showed a phylogenetic structure and therefore also ran phylogenetic independent contrasts. After correcting for the phylogenetic effects, we found (i) no significant effect of water body on wing shape; (ii) male forewings and female hindwings differed with regard to landscape, being progressively broader from forested to open habitats; (iii) hindwings showed a wider base in wings with more coloration, especially in males; and (iv) evidence for phenotypic correlation of wing shape between the sexes across species. Hence, our results suggest that natural and sexual selection are acting partially independently on fore‐ and hindwings and with differences between the sexes, despite evidence for phenotypic correlation of wing shape between males and females.
APPENDIX Projections in Model Space: Multi-model Inference Beyond Model Averaging

A reviewer of the manuscript challenged us to do two things: First, to move beyond simple likelihood ratio examples and show how evidential ideas are used in the practice of science. And, second to solve some deep problem in ecology using this framework. To answer the first challenge, we discuss information criteria differences as a natural extension of the likelihood ratio that overcomes many of the complexities of real data analysis. To answer the second more substantive challenge, we then extend the information criterion model comparison framework to much more effectively utilize the information in multiple models, and contrast this approach with model averaging, the currently dominant method of incorporating information from multiple models (Burnham and Anderson, 2002). Model averaging is a confirmation based approach.
Intrahepatic Transplanted Islets in Humans Secrete Insulin in a Coordinate Pulsatile Manner Directly Into the Liver

Intrahepatic islet transplantation is an experimental therapy for type 1 diabetes. In the present studies, we sought to address the following questions: 1) In humans, do intrahepatic transplanted islets reestablish coordinated puslatile insulin secretion? and 2) To what extent is insulin secreted by intrahepatic transplanted islets delivered to the hepatic sinusoids (therefore effectively restoring a portal mode of insulin delivery) versus delivered to the hepatic central vein (therefore effectively providing a systemic form of insulin delivery)? To address the first question, we examined insulin concentration profiles in the overnight fasting state and during a hyperglycemic clamp (∼150 mg/dl) in 10 recipients of islet transplants and 10 control subjects. To address the second question, we measured first-pass hepatic insulin clearance in two recipients of islet autografts after pancreatectomy for pancreatitis versus five control subjects by direct catheterization of the hepatic vein. We report that coordinate pulsatile insulin secretion is reestablished in islet transplant recipients and that glucose-mediated stimulation of insulin secretion is accomplished by amplification of insulin pulse mass. Direct hepatic catheterization studies revealed that intrahepatic islets in humans do deliver insulin directly to the hepatic sinusoid because ∼80% of the insulin is extracted during first pass. In conclusion, intrahepatic islet transplantation effectively restores the liver to pulsatile insulin delivery.
Reaction time to temporally-displaced phoneme targets in continuous speech.

In seven experiments, reaction time (RT) was recorded to phoneme targets in sentences. By means of tape splicing or other experimental interventions preceding the target, speech information was or was not discarded, and targets were either temporally displaced "early" or "late" or remained on time. " RT to displaced targets was slower than to on-time targets, except when the tape-splicing manipulation in effect presented coarticulatory target information in advance, in which case RT was faster than RT to on-time targets. The latter manipulation also produced faster RT than RT to the same targets in the original sentence, that is, that containing no experimental intervention at all. In three of the experiments, half the targets were contained in stressed syllables, half in unstressed syllables. Stressed and unstressed targets were affected differently, depending upon practice and other factors. Results were interpreted in terms of listener expectancies based on timing redundancy in continuous speech. They indicate an interaction between the effects of segmental and suprasegmental cues during ongoing perception.
A Novel Genetic Programming Approach for Inferring Gene Regulatory Network

Computational intelligence (CI) techniques are well suited to many of the problems arising in biology as they have flexible information processing capabilities for handling huge volume of real life data with noise, ambiguity, missing values, and so on. To process the executed knowledge through CI approaches needs techniques from computer science & engineering, mathematics and statistics. It involves in- depth study with in the areas of genomic signals, gene regulation and homeostatic regulation. The evolutionary computing techniques like genetic programming plays vital role to effectively resolve several crucial problems related to genomics. The core objective of this work is to study and model the different regulation mechanisms involved in the living organisms and propose accurate evolutionary algorithms for inferring Gene Regulatory Networks.
From Pre-Clinical Studies to Clinical Trials: Generation of Novel Therapies for Pregnancy Complications

Complications of pregnancy represent a significant disease burden, with both immediate and lasting consequences for mother and baby. Two key pregnancy complications, fetal growth restriction (FGR) and preeclampsia (PE), together affect around 10%–15% of all pregnancies worldwide. Despite this high incidence, there are currently no therapies available to treat these pregnancy disorders. Early delivery remains the only intervention to reduce the risk of severe maternal complications and/or stillbirth of the baby; however early delivery itself is associated with increased risk of neonatal mortality and morbidity. As such, there is a pressing need to develop new and effective treatments that can prevent or treat FGR and PE. Animal models have been essential in identifying and screening potential new therapies in this field. In this review, we address recent progress that has been made in developing therapeutic strategies for pregnancy disorders, some of which are now entering clinical trials.
Perfect Equilibria in a Negotiation Model with Different Time Preferences

There has been a long debate on equilibrium characterization in the negotiation model when players have different time preferences. We show that players behave quite differently under different time preferences than under common time preferences. Conventional analysis in this literature relies on the key assumption that all continuation payoffs are bounded from above by the bargaining frontier. However, when players have different time preferences, intertemporal trade may lead to continuation payoffs above the bargaining frontier. We provide a thorough study of this problem without imposing the conventional assumption. Our results tie up all the previous findings, and also clarify the controversies that arose in the past.
A novel 5-axis robot for printing high resolution pictures from media on 3D wide surfaces

A novel 5-axis robot for industrial large printing applications is presented in this paper. The robot was developed at the LMS1 from Poitiers University and an international patent [1] was deposited for this invention in 2006. It concerns large format three-dimensional printing on a fixed surface, like trailer tarpaulin for example. The robot is composed by an inkjet printing block and a device to dry the ink sprayed onto the surface. Kinematics of the mechanical device with 5 degrees of freedom was studied to position and orientate the printheads onto the surface to be printed. The structure of the robot is simple with high speed capability and printing resolution. The working principle and mechanical structure are described and the geometrical model and control of the robot are also discussed. Finally printing results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed 3D printing robot.
e_motions in process

This research project maps virtual emotions. Rauch uses 3D-surface capturing devices to scan facial expressions in (stuffed) animals and humans, which she then sculpts with the Phantom Arm/ SensAble FreeForm device in 3D virtual space. The results are rapidform printed objects and 3D animations of morphing faces and gestures. Building on her research into consciousness studies and emotions, she has developed a new artwork to reveal characteristic aspects of human emotions (i.e. laughing, crying, frowning, sneering, etc.), which utilises new technology, in particular digital scanning devices and special effects animation software. The proposal is to use a 3D high-resolution laser scanner to capture animal faces and, using the data of these faces, animate and then combine them with human emotional facial expressions. The morphing of the human and animal facial data are not merely layers of the different scans but by applying an algorithmic programme to the data, crucial landmarks in the animal face are merged in order to match with those of the human. The results are morphings of the physical characteristics of animals with the emotional characteristics of the human face in 3D. The focus of this interdisciplinary research project is a collaborative practice that brings together researchers from UCL in London and researchers at OCAD University’s data and information visualization lab. Rauch uses Darwin’s metatheory of the continuity of species and other theories on evolution and internal physiology (Ekman et al) in order to re-examine previous and new theories with the use of new technologies, including the SensAble FreeForm Device, which, as an interface, allows for haptic feedback from digital data.
[Spontaneous portal vein thrombosis associated with acute cytomegalovirus infection in an immunocompetent patient].

BACKGROUND Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) generally results from a local cause (hepatocellular and pancreatic carcinoma). Spontaneous PVT related to a general cause is less common. We report here a case of spontaneous PVT associated with acute cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in an immunocompetent patient. CASE REPORT A 31-year-old white female was admitted with fever and lymph node enlargement. The patient was a heavy smoker and was taking oral contraception. Blood tests revealed an inflammatory syndrome. Liver enzymes were elevated (2N) and platelet count was 118 G/l. Abdominal ultrasonography disclosed partial portal thrombosis. Computed tomography did not show any evidence of a hepatic or pancreatic mass. Protein S, protein C, and anti-thrombin III levels were normal. No antiphospholipid antibodies, no mutation for factors II and V and no abnormality suggestive of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria at flow cytometry could be demonstrated. Acute CMV infection was diagnosis with positive viremia (PCR). The patient was given anticoagulation treatment and has done well with no relapse. CONCLUSION Cytomegalovirus, by damaging endothelial cells, is thought to trigger a cascade of events leading to deep vein thrombosis. CMV infection does not appear to act alone on endothelial cells but rather behaves as an associated factor.
Tomographic analysis of high-rise buildings using TerraSAR-X spotlight data with compressive sensing approach

Modern spaceborne SAR sensors provide geometric resolutions well below one meter. In data of this kind, many features of urban objects become visible. However, because of the intrinsic side-looking geometry of SAR sensors, layover and foreshortening issues inevitably arise, especially in dense urban areas. SAR tomography provides a new way of overcoming these problems by exploiting the back-scattering property for each pixel. However, traditional non-parametric spectral estimators are limited by their poor elevation resolution, which is not comparable to the azimuth and slant-range resolution. In order to improve the estimated elevation resolution, super-resolution techniques, like compressive sensing, are introduced to SAR tomographic processing. In this paper, we analyze the performance of the compressive sensing approach in SAR tomographic analysis. Numerical experiments on simulated signals and real TerraSAR-X spotlight data are given, which demonstrate the robustness and super-resolution power of compressive sensing.
A prospective, randomized, parallel group, controlled study of the effect of intensity of speech and language therapy on early recovery from poststroke aphasia

Objective: To examine whether the amount of speech and language therapy influences the recovery from poststroke aphasia. Setting: A hospital stroke unit and community. Design: A prospective, randomized controlled trial. Intervention: Aphasic stroke patients were randomly allocated to receive 5 hours (intensive therapy group, n=51) or 2 hours (standard therapy group) of speech and language therapy per week for 12 consecutive weeks starting as soon as practicable after the stroke. Another 19 patients were recruited for 2 hours per week of therapy and were treated by National Health Service (NHS) staff (NHS group). Outcome measure and assessment: The Western Aphasia Battery. Assessments were made blind to randomization at baseline and 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks after the start of therapy. Data were analysed by intention to treat. Results: The mean (SD) Western Aphasia Battery score at week 12 for the intensive, standard and NHS groups was 70.3 (26.9), 66.2 (26.2) and 58.1 (33.7), respectively. There was no treatment effect of intensive therapy (P > 0.05), but there was a statistically significant difference between the standard study and the NHS groups (P = 0.002 at week 12 and 0.01 at week 24). Conclusions: Intensive speech and language therapy (as delivered in this study) did not improve the language impairment significantly more than the `standard' therapy which averaged 1.6 hours/week. The improvement in aphasia was least in patients who were in the NHS group. These patients received 0.57 (0.49) hours of therapy per week.
Using Gaussian process regression to denoise images and remove artefacts from microarray data

Using Gaussian process regression to denoise images and remove artefacts from microarray data Peter Junteng Liu Master of Science Graduate Department of Computer Science University of Toronto 2007 Natural image denoising is a well-studied problem of computer vision, but still eludes sufficiently good solutions. Removing spatial artefacts from DNA microarray data is of significant practical importance to biologists, but overly simple methods are commonly used. We show that the two seemingly disparate problems of image denoising and spatial artefact removal from DNA microarrays can be solved using similar algorithms when the problems are viewed as a decomposition of the data into spatially-independent and spatially-dependent components. We discuss previously used methods and how Gaussian processes for regression (GPR) may be used to solve both problems. We present a new method employing a novel covariance function for use in GPR in the special case of twodimensional grid data. Finally, we show that our new method compares well with popular previous methods in both image denoising and microarray artefact removal applications.
Acute Regulation of the Glycerophospholipid Composition of The Membranes of Mammalian Cells. The First Comprehensive Model

Is unclear how mammalian cells maintain the complex glycerophospholipid (GPL) compositions of their various membranes. Here we propose the first comprehensive model that suggests how this could be accomplished. The model is based on the idea that there are a limited number of GPL compositions that are energetically more favorable than the other compositions, i.e., those (optimal) compositions represent local free energy minima. Thus, the GPL composition of a membrane has a natural tendency to settle in one of the optimal composition. When the mole fraction of an GPL class exceeds that in an optimal composition, its chemical activity abruptly increases, which (i) increases its propensity to efflux from the membranes thus making it susceptible for hydrolysis by homeostatic phospholipases; (ii) increases its potency to inhibit its own biosynthesis via a feedback mechanism; (iii) enhances its conversion to another GPL class via “head group remodeling” or (iv) enhances its translocation to another membrane. These four processes may act separately or simultaneously to maintain GPL homeostasis.
Excess Sudden Cardiac Deaths after Short-Term Clarithromycin Administration in the CLARICOR Trial: Why Is This So, and Why Are Statins Protective?

Objectives: To elucidate potential mechanisms for the clarithromycin-induced excess mortality observed in the CLARICOR trial during 2.6 year follow-up of patients with stable coronary artery disease. Methods: Cox analyses using out-of-hospital death as a proxy for sudden death compared to in-hospital (nonsudden) death. Result: In 100 of 189 (53%) cardiovascular (CV) deaths in which it was possible to examine the question, there was a strong association between place of death and the classification of CV death as sudden or not-sudden. The excess mortality in the clarithromycin group was confined to sudden CV death in patients not on statins at trial entry (HR: 2.61, 95% CI: 1.69–4.05, p < 0.0005). Other categories of deaths showed no marked drug-placebo difference. Conclusions: Short-term clarithromycin administration was significantly associated with increased risk of sudden CV death in stable coronary heart disease patients not using statins.
Time course of episodes of definitive vertigo in Meniere's disease.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the frequency and duration of episodes of definitive vertigo in Ménière's disease. DESIGN Prospective longitudinal study. SETTING Multiple tertiary referral centers. PATIENTS Five hundred ten individuals from 8 hospitals that met the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery diagnostic criteria for definitive Ménière's disease. INTERVENTION Conservative treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Frequency and duration of episodes of definitive vertigo during follow-up. RESULTS Ménière's disease affects both sexes and both ears equally, with onset generally in the fourth decade of life. The number of episodes of vertigo is greater in the first few years of the disease. Although episodes of vertigo that last longer than 6 hours are less frequent than shorter episodes, they occur with similar frequency throughout the natural course of the disease. The percentage of patients without episodes of vertigo increases as the disease progresses, and 70% of patients who did not have an episode of vertigo for 1 year will continue to be free of episodes during the following year. Thus, there is a relationship between the frequency of episodes in consecutive years, although this association decreases rapidly as the number of years increases. CONCLUSION The frequency of definitive episodes of vertigo in Ménière's disease decreased during follow-up, and many individuals reached a steady-state phase free of vertigo.
Optimum joint transmit-receive linear processing for vectored DSL transmission with QoS requirements

A digital subscriber line (DSL) system is considered, in which a subset of the twisted-pair copper wires within a bundle can perform a joint processing at both sides of the communication system (e.g., links between central offices and remote terminals or between central offices and private networks). The DSL channel is treated as a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system over which many substreams are established. It is assumed that the signal constellation to be used at each substream is given with a corresponding quality of service (QoS) constraint, e.g., to guarantee a certain error probability. The aim was to optimally design joint transmit-receive linear processing to satisfy the QoS requirements with minimum transmit power. A novel multi-level water-filling algorithm is proposed to solve the problem very efficiently in practice. Numerical results were obtained from simulations using realistic DSL MIMO channel models recently developed.
Where is my next hop? The case of Indian Ocean Islands

Internet has become a foundation of our modern society. However, all regions or countries do not have the same Internet access regarding quality especially in the Indian Ocean Area (IOA). To improve this quality it is important to have a deep knowledge of the Internet physical and logical topology and associated performance. However, these knowledges are not shared by Internet service providers. In this paper, we describe a large scale measurement study in which we deploy probes in different IOA countries, we generate network traces, develop a tool to extract useful information and analyze these information. We show that most of the IOA traffic exits through one point even if there exists multiple exit points.
Guest Editorial: Enabling Technologies for Parkinson's Disease Management

The papers in this special issue focus on the management of Parkinson's disease (PD). PD is the most common neurological movement disorder with a prevalence of up to 2% in the elderly. The cardinal motor symptoms bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor, and postural instability define the diagnosis of the PD.
The Past, Present, and Potential Future of Sodium Channel Block as an Atrial Fibrillation Suppressing Strategy

Abstract: Despite major advances in arrhythmia therapy, atrial fibrillation (AF) remains a challenge. A significant limitation in AF management is the lack of safe and effective drugs to restore and/or maintain sinus rhythm. The rational design of a new generation of AF-selective Na+ channel blockers (NCBs) is emerging as a promising AF-suppressing strategy. Recent theoretical and experimental advances have generated insights into the mechanisms underlying AF maintenance and termination by antiarrhythmic drugs. Our understanding of antiarrhythmic drug-induced proarrhythmia has also grown in sophistication. These discoveries have created new possibilities in therapeutic targeting and renewed interest in improved NCB antiarrhythmic drugs. Recently described differences in atrial versus ventricular electrophysiology can be exploited in the prospective design of atrial-selective NCBs. Furthermore, state-dependent block has been shown to be an important modulator of NCB rate selectivity. Together, differential atrial–ventricular electrophysiological actions and state-dependent block form the backbone for the rational design of an AF-selective NCB. Synergistic combinations incorporating both NCB and block of K+ currents may allow for further enhancement of AF selectivity. Future work on translating these basic research advances into the development of an optimized AF-selective NCB has the potential to provide safer and more effective pharmacotherapeutic options for AF, thereby fulfilling a major unmet clinical need.