Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of Locomotion in Adult Chronic Spinal Rats Is Achieved by Transplantation of Embryonic Raphe Cells Reinnervating a Precise Lumbar Level

Traumatic lesions of the spinal cord yield a loss of supraspinal control of voluntary locomotor activity, although the spinal cord contains the necessary circuitry to generate the basic locomotor pattern. In spinal rats, this network, known as central pattern generator (CPG), was shown to be sensitive to serotonergic pharmacological stimulation. In previous works we have shown that embryonic raphe cells transplanted into the sublesional cord of adult rats can reinnervate specific targets, restore the lesion-induced increase in receptor densities of neurotransmitters, promote hindlimb weight support, and trigger a locomotor activity on a treadmill without any other pharmacological treatment or training. With the aim of discriminating whether the action of serotonin on CPG is associated to a specific level of the cord, we have transplanted embryonic raphe cells at two different levels of the sublesional cord (T9 and T11) and then performed analysis of the kinematic and EMG activity synchronously recorded during locomotion. Locomotor performances were correlated to the reinnervated level of the cord and compared to that of intact and transected nontransplanted animals. The movements expressed by T11 transplanted animals correspond to a well defined locomotor pattern comparable to that of the intact animals. On the contrary, T9 transplanted animals developed limited and disorganized movements as those of nontransplanted animals. The correlation of the locomotor performances with the level of reinnervation of the spinal cord suggests that serotonergic reinnervation of the L1-L2 level constitutes a key element in the genesis of this locomotor rhythmic activity. This is the firstin vivo demonstration that transplanted embryonic raphe cells reinnervating a specific level of the cord activate a locomotor behavior.
The Transient Nature of Bunyamwera Orthobunyavirus NSs Protein Expression: Effects of Increased Stability of NSs Protein on Virus Replication

The NSs proteins of bunyaviruses are the viral interferon antagonists, counteracting the host's antiviral response to infection. During high-multiplicity infection of cultured mammalian cells with Bunyamwera orthobunyavirus (BUNV), NSs is rapidly degraded after reaching peak levels of expression at 12hpi. Through the use of inhibitors this was shown to be the result of proteasomal degradation. A recombinant virus (rBUN4KR), in which all four lysine residues in NSs were replaced by arginine residues, expresses an NSs protein (NSs4KR) that is resistant to degradation, confirming that degradation is lysine-dependent. However, despite repeated attempts, no direct ubiquitylation of NSs in infected cells could be demonstrated. This suggests that degradation of NSs, although lysine-dependent, may be achieved through an indirect mechanism. Infection of cultured mammalian cells or mice indicated no disadvantage for the virus in having a non-degradable NSs protein: in fact rBUN4KR had a slight growth advantage over wtBUNV in interferon-competent cells, presumably due to the increased and prolonged presence of NSs. In cultured mosquito cells there was no difference in growth between wild-type BUNV and rBUN4KR, but surprisingly NSs4KR was not stabilised compared to the wild-type NSs protein.
A Review on Antibacterial, Antiviral, and Antifungal Activity of Curcumin

Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae family) and its polyphenolic compound curcumin have been subjected to a variety of antimicrobial investigations due to extensive traditional uses and low side effects. Antimicrobial activities for curcumin and rhizome extract of C. longa against different bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites have been reported. The promising results for antimicrobial activity of curcumin made it a good candidate to enhance the inhibitory effect of existing antimicrobial agents through synergism. Indeed, different investigations have been done to increase the antimicrobial activity of curcumin, including synthesis of different chemical derivatives to increase its water solubility as well ass cell up take of curcumin. This review aims to summarize previous antimicrobial studies of curcumin towards its application in the future studies as a natural antimicrobial agent.
Cognitive Conflict, Transmission, and Justification: Conservation Attainment through Dyadic Interaction

Abstract Seventy-seven nonconserver-conserver dyads and 53 nonconserver-nonconserver dyads were given a conservation of length task which encouraged conflicting judgments from the nonconserving dyad. Ss were boys and girls aged 4 through 8. Control tasks for social dominance/compliance were also administered. All sessions were videotaped. The nonconserver-nonconserver dyads did not tend to produce the correct answer by perspective coordination and showed little posttest gain. Nonconservers who had been paired with conservers showed posttest gain on length, mass, liquid, and number conservation problems. Being the winner of an interaction session was associated with opposing the partner's judgment and with producing justifications in conserver-nonconserver dyads, but only with social compliance in nonconserver-nonconserver dyads. Justifications in support of conservation judgments were invariably by logical principles but very rarely so in support of nonconservation judgments. The results are discussed in .
Performance evaluation method for environment recognition of mobile robot employing video database

It is needed to evaluate how well the robot recognizes its environments while it is moving along the path to perform intended tasks. In general, the behavioral patterns of robot when it encounters sudden obstacles in a given environment may depend upon the obstacle avoidance algorithms that are programmed into the robot. In order to evaluate the performance of the environment recognition, we constructed the video image database sets which are photographed by both color image and depth image. We showed that the proposed performance evaluation method could be utilized effectively in evaluating the recognition performance of a robot.
Maternal Ratings of Temperament and Operant Learning in Two- to Three-Month-Old Infants.

DUNST, CARL J., and LINGERFELT, BARBARA. Maternal Ratings of Temperament and Operant Learning in Twoto Three-Month-Old Infants. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1985, 56, 555-563. The relation between maternal ratings of temperament and operant learning was examined in 18 2-3-month-old infants. Subjects participated in a conjugate reinforcement experiment to assess their learning capabilities. Mothers of the subjects completed the Carey and McDevitt Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire 2-3 days before the learning study. 2 temperament dimensions-rhythmicity and persistence-emerged as significant correlates of rates of learning during the conditioning phase of the study. The notion of psychobiological preparedness is discussed in terms of explaining how individual differences in behavioral styles may constrain or enhance learning capabilities.
Perinatal Significance of Isolated Maternal Hypothyroxinemia Identified in the First Half of Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To establish pregnancy-specific free thyroxine thresholds and to assess perinatal effects associated with isolated maternal hypothyroxinemia identified in the first half of pregnancy. METHODS: Stored serum samples from 17,298 women who previously underwent thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) screening in the first half of pregnancy were analyzed for free thyroxine (T4) concentrations and thyroid peroxidase antibodies. Women with a free T4 below 0.86 ng/dL but a normal-range TSH were identified to have isolated maternal hypothyroxinemia. Pregnancy outcomes in these women were compared to those with a normal TSH and free T4. Thyroid peroxidase antibody status and the relationship between TSH and free T4 were analyzed for these women and women with subclinical hypothyroidism. RESULTS: Isolated maternal hypothyroxinemia was identified in 233 women (1.3%). There were not any excessive adverse pregnancy outcomes in these women. Positive thyroid peroxidase antibody assays (greater than 50 international units/mL) were similar in normal women (4%) and those with isolated hypothyroxinemia (5%) but were greater in women with subclinical hypothyroidism (31%, P<.001). There was a negative correlation between TSH and free T4 in normal women (rs=–0.19, P<.001) and those with subclinical hypothyroidism (rs=–0.11, P=.007). The correlation in women with isolated hypothyroxinemia was not significant. CONCLUSION: Isolated maternal hypothyroxinemia has no adverse effects on perinatal outcome. Moreover, unlike subclinical hypothyroidism, there was a low prevalence of thyroid peroxidase antibodies and no correlation between TSH and free T4 levels in women with hypothyroxinemia, leading us to question its biological significance. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
False Positive Functional Analysis Results as a Contributor of Treatment Failure During Functional Communication Training

Research has shown that functional analysis results are beneficial for treatment selection because they identify reinforcers for severe behavior that can then be used to reinforce replacement behaviors either differentially or noncontingently. Theoretically then, if a reinforcer is identified in a functional analysis erroneously, a well researched intervention strategy might fail even when implemented with high integrity. Many studies have demonstrated that functional communication training (FCT) is an effective treatment in reducing severe behaviors while simultaneously shaping an alternative communication response. However, few published studies have systematically evaluated the reasons that underlie failure to acquire the alternative response. In the current study, a functional analysis identified attention as the reinforcer for aggression. FCT to replace aggression was attempted using several different training methods. When aggression persisted and the participant failed to acquire the response to access attention, further functional analyses were conducted. Results of follow-up analyses determined that the participant's aggressive behavior was maintained by attention that led to access to a tangible item or preferred activity. When FCT produced attention to a preferred activity, the participant's aggression reduced to near zero levels. Results of the followup analyses and the combined reinforcers in FCT highlight the utility of an alternative model of functional analysis, and a process for determining when follow-up analysis versus modification of intervention strategies is required.
SNAP: SNowbAll multi-tree Pushing for Peer-to-Peer Media Streaming

Given the respective advantages of the two complimentary techniques for peer-to-peer media streaming (namely tree-based push and mesh-based pull), there is a strong trend of combining them into a hybrid streaming system. Backed by recently proposed mechanisms to identify stable peers, such a hybrid system usually consists of backbone trees formed by the stable peers and other overlay structures in the second tier to accommodate the remaining peers. In this paper, we embrace the hybrid push-pull structure for peer-to-peer media streaming. Our protocol is dominated by a multi-tree push mechanism to minimize the delay in the backbone and is complemented by other overlay structures to cope with peer dynamics. What mainly distinguishes our multi-tree pushing from the conventional ones is an unbalanced tree design guided by the so called snow-ball streaming, which has a provable minimum delay and can be smoothly "melded" with virtually any other existing overlay structures lying in the second tier. We design algorithms to construct and maintain our SNowbAll multi-tree Pushing (SNAP) overlay, and we also illustrate how to smoothly weld the SNAP backbone with the second tier. Finally, we perform simulations in ns-2; the results indicate that our approach outperforms a recently proposed hybrid streaming system.
Adhesion Proteins - An Impact on Skeletal Myoblast Differentiation

Formation of mammalian skeletal muscle myofibers, that takes place during embryogenesis, muscle growth or regeneration, requires precise regulation of myoblast adhesion and fusion. There are few evidences showing that adhesion proteins play important role in both processes. To follow the function of these molecules in myoblast differentiation we analysed integrin alpha3, integrin beta1, ADAM12, CD9, CD81, M-cadherin, and VCAM-1 during muscle regeneration. We showed that increase in the expression of these proteins accompanies myoblast fusion and myotube formation in vivo. We also showed that during myoblast fusion in vitro integrin alpha3 associates with integrin beta1 and ADAM12, and also CD9 and CD81, but not with M-cadherin or VCAM-1. Moreover, we documented that experimental modification in the expression of integrin alpha3 lead to the modification of myoblast fusion in vitro. Underexpression of integrin alpha3 decreased myoblasts' ability to fuse. This phenomenon was not related to the modifications in the expression of other adhesion proteins, i.e. integrin beta1, CD9, CD81, ADAM12, M-cadherin, or VCAM-1. Apparently, aberrant expression only of one partner of multiprotein adhesion complexes necessary for myoblast fusion, in this case integrin alpha3, prevents its proper function. Summarizing, we demonstrated the importance of analysed adhesion proteins in myoblast fusion both in vivo and in vitro.
Active Strobe Imager for Visualizing Dynamic Behavior of Tumors

This paper newly proposes the active strobe imager (ASI) that can visualize the dynamic behaviors of internal organ to medical doctors within Human dynamic eye sight, so that they can get a hint for detecting the location of tumors in real time during operation. The ASI is composed of a nozzle for supplying a pulsated air jet to an internal organ, a strobe system for visualizing the dynamic behaviors, a camera for capturing the image at the moment of strobe flashing, and a monitor for displaying the dynamic motion of internal organ, respectively. Without the assistance of strobe, medical doctors can not see what is really happening in real time, since the frequency of air jet is even more than the range of human dynamic eye sight. After explaining the basic principle, we show a couple of experiments for both artificial and real human lungs. Through these experiments, we newly found that the ASI is really helpful for discovering tumors or other diseases hidden in internal organs. Movies are available in Website.
Teach for Australia (TFA): can it overcome educational disadvantage?

This paper considers an alternative teacher certification pathway known as Teach for Australia (TFA) that is currently operating in the Australian state of Victoria. A discursive approach informed by critical theory is used in the paper to critically examine the specific case of TFA as an alternative teacher certification pathway charged with improving student learning outcomes and reducing educational disadvantage. The problematization of educational programmes such as TFA, including specific terms and statements found in TFA documentation, features prominently in the paper alongside the political and economic policy context of public education. The argument and central contention of the paper is that TFA will not overcome educational disadvantage; nor will it over time improve student learning outcomes.
Low dose chemotherapeutic drugs without overt cytotoxic effects decrease the secretion of VEGF by cultured human tumor cells: a tentative relationship between drug type and tumor cell type response.

BACKGROUND The metronomic use of chemotherapeutic drugs is presumed to have anti-angiogenic effect. In the current study, we aimed to test the effects of lower doses of cytotoxic agents on VEGF secretion from tumor cell lines. METHODS We tested the cytotoxic effects of widely used chemotherapeutic drugs including 5-florouracil, irinotecan, oxaliplatin, paclitaxel and docetaxel in tumor cell lines, MCF-7 (human breast cancer cell line) HT-29 (human colon cancer cell line) and a primary gastric cancer cell line and calculated the IC50 values. We've also assayed the effects of the lower doses of chemotherapeutic drugs on the levels of VEGF secreted by tumor cells in vitro. RESULTS The human primary gastric cancer cells were more resistant to 5-FU and oxaliplatin than the HT29 and MCF-7 cell lines (p < 0.001). No significant differences were noticed in terms of the IC50 values of the irinotecan, docetaxel and paclitaxel among the studied tumor cell lines (p > 0.05). The test drugs yielded significant decreases in VEGF levels at the doses of -2 log of IC50 values in MCF-7 and primary gastric cancer cell lines. While 5-florouracil did not inhibit the VEGF secretion of HT-29 cell line, irinotecan, oxaliplatin, docetaxel and paclitaxel significantly decreased the levels of secreted VEGF. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that lower doses of chemotherapeutic drugs decrease VEGF secretion from tumor cells without causing substantial cell killing. The data suggest the occurrence of a kind of selective drug-tumor cell type relationship.
A cryptographically sound Dolev-Yao style security proof of an electronic payment system

We present the first cryptographically sound Dolev-Yao-style security proof of a comprehensive electronic payment system. The payment system is a slightly simplified variant of the 3KP payment system and comprises a variety of different security requirements ranging from basic ones like the impossibility of unauthorized payments to more sophisticated properties like disputability. We show that the payment system is secure against arbitrary active attacks, including arbitrary concurrent protocol runs and arbitrary manipulation of bitstrings within polynomial time if the protocol is implemented using provably secure cryptographic primitives. Although we achieve security under cryptographic definitions, our proof does not have to deal with probabilistic aspects of cryptography and is hence within the scope of current proof tools. The reason is that we exploit a recently proposed Dolev-Yao-style cryptographic library with a provably secure cryptographic implementation. Together with composition and preservation theorems of the underlying model, this allows us to perform the actual proof effort in a deterministic setting corresponding to a slightly extended Dolev-Yao model.
Effect of Artificial Scotomas on Open-Loop Disparity Vergence Eye Movements

Purpose To investigate the effect of an artificial scotoma on open-loop disparity vergence responses (DVRs) and vergence control mechanisms, we examined open-loop DVRs to disparity stimuli using monocular artificial scotomas in normal subjects. Methods Using a mirror haploscope with two computer monitors, we delivered disparity stimuli on a pair of random dot patterns subtending 40 by 30 degrees at 47 cm from each eye. The scotomas were black circles located in the center of a random dot pattern for the left eye. Eye movements of both eyes were recorded with a magnetic search coil system. Results We first found that the amplitudes of DVRs were gradually decreased and the latency of DVRs was moderately increased as the size of the scotomas was increased. Second, monocular responses from each eye were symmetrical although the stimuli to each eye were asymmetrical. Conclusions The results suggest that the monocular eye movements in disparity vergence are controlled by a binocular central mechanism, not driven separately by monocular inputs in the open-loop window.
Carving secure wi-fi zones with defensive jamming

With rampant deployment of wireless technologies such as WLAN, information leakage is increasingly becoming a threat for its serious adopters such as enterprises. Research on antidotes has been mainly focused on logical measures such as authentication protocols and secure channels, but an inside collaborator can readily circumvent such defenses and wirelessly divert the classified information to a conniver outside. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to the problem that forges a walled wireless coverage, a secure Wi-Fi zone in particular. Inspired by the fact that jamming as an attack is inherently difficult to defeat, we turn the table and use it as a defensive weapon to fend off the covert illegal access from outside. To validate the proposed approach, we conduct extensive outdoor experiments with the IEEE 802.11g Wi-Fi adapters. The measurements show that the forged secure zones match well with the model prediction and that the defensive jamming approach can indeed be used to protect wireless networks against information leakage. Lastly, we propose the algorithms to configure defensive jammers in arbitrary geometry.
ZOMBILINGO: eating heads to perform dependency syntax annotation (ZOMBILINGO : manger des têtes pour annoter en syntaxe de dépendances) [in French]

This paper presents ZOMBILINGO, a Game With A Purpose (GWAP) that allows for the dependency syntax annotation of French corpora. The created resource is freely available on the game Web site. Mots-clés : jeux ayant un but, complexité, annotation, syntaxe en dépendances.
Dual therapy with the nonstructural protein 5A inhibitor, daclatasvir, and the nonstructural protein 3 protease inhibitor, asunaprevir, in hepatitis C virus genotype 1b–infected null responders

Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and previous null response to pegylated interferon (Peg‐IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) have limited therapeutic options. HCV genotype 1 is the most common worldwide and the most difficult to treat; genotype 1b is the most common subtype of genotype 1 outside North America. The enhanced antiviral activity achieved by combining two direct‐acting antiviral (DAA) agents may improve clinical outcomes. This open‐label, phase IIa study included 10 patients with chronic HCV genotype 1b infection and previous null response (<2 log10 reduction in HCV RNA after 12 weeks) to Peg‐IFN and RBV. Patients received dual DAA treatment for 24 weeks with the nonstructural protein 5A replication complex inhibitor, daclatasvir (60 mg once‐daily), and the nonstructural protein 3 protease inhibitor, asunaprevir (initially 600 mg twice‐daily, then subsequently reduced to 200 mg twice‐daily). The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of patients with sustained virologic response (SVR) at 12 weeks post‐treatment (SVR12). Nine patients completed 24 weeks of treatment; 1 patient discontinued treatment after 2 weeks. In the 9 patients who completed the full course of treatment, HCV RNA was undetectable at week 8 and remained undetectable through the end of treatment; all 9 patients achieved SVR12 and SVR24. HCV RNA also remained undetectable post‐treatment in the patient who discontinued after 2 weeks. There was no viral breakthrough. Diarrhea and headache, generally mild, were the most common adverse events; transaminase elevations were reported in 3 patients, but did not result in discontinuation. Conclusions: Dual therapy with daclatasvir and asunaprevir, without Peg‐IFN and RBV, can achieve high SVR rates in difficult‐to‐treat patients with HCV genotype 1b infection and previous null response to Peg‐IFN and RBV. (HEPATOLOGY 2011)