Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polo-like Kinase1 Is Required for Recruitment of Dynein to Kinetochores during Mitosis*

Kinetochore dynein has been implicated in microtubule capture, correcting inappropriate microtubule attachments, chromosome movement, and checkpoint silencing. It remains unclear how dynein coordinates this diverse set of functions. Phosphorylation is responsible for some dynein heterogeneity (Whyte, J., Bader, J. R., Tauhata, S. B., Raycroft, M., Hornick, J., Pfister, K. K., Lane, W. S., Chan, G. K., Hinchcliffe, E. H., Vaughan, P. S., and Vaughan, K. T. (2008) J. Cell Biol. 183, 819–834), and phosphorylated and dephosphorylated forms of dynein coexist at prometaphase kinetochores. In this study, we measured the impact of inhibiting polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) on both dynein populations. Phosphorylated dynein was ablated at kinetochores after inhibiting Plk1 with a small molecule inhibitor (5-Cyano-7-nitro-2-(benzothiazolo-N-oxide)-carboxamide) or chemical genetic approaches. The total complement of kinetochore dynein was also reduced but not eliminated, reflecting the presence of some dephosphorylated dynein after Plk1 inhibition. Although Plk1 inhibition had a profound effect on dynein, kinetochore populations of dynactin, spindly, and zw10 were not reduced. Plk1-independent dynein was reduced after p150Glued depletion, consistent with the binding of dephosphorylated dynein to dynactin. Plk1 phosphorylated dynein intermediate chains at Thr-89 in vitro and generated the phospho-Thr-89 phospho-epitope on recombinant dynein intermediate chains. Finally, inhibition of Plk1 induced defects in microtubule capture and persistent microtubule attachment, suggesting a role for phosphorylated dynein in these functions during prometaphase. These findings suggest that Plk1 is a dynein kinase required for recruitment of phosphorylated dynein to kinetochores.
Autoantibodies to autonomic nerves associated with cardiac and peripheral autonomic neuropathy.

OBJECTIVE This study examines whether autonomic nerve autoantibodies (ANabs) are associated with development of autonomic neuropathy using a prospective study design. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A group of type 1 diabetic patients were followed prospectively with regard to autonomic nerve function on four occasions. At the third examination, 41 patients were tested for ANabs (complement-fixing autoantibodies to the sympathetic ganglion, vagus nerve, and adrenal medulla), and the results were related to cardiac autonomic nerve function (heart rate variation during deep breathing [expiration/inspiration ratio] and heart-rate reaction to tilt [acceleration and brake index]) and to peripheral sympathetic nerve function (vasoconstriction after indirect cooling [vasoconstriction index]). RESULTS ANabs were detected in 23 of 41 (56%) patients at the third examination. Compared with patients without ANabs (ANabs-), patients with ANabs (ANabs+) showed significantly higher frequencies of at least one abnormal cardiac autonomic nerve function test at the third examination (17 of 23 [74%] vs. 7 of 18 [39%]; P = 0.03) and fourth examination (15 of 21 [71%] vs. 4 of 16 [25%]; P < 0.01). In contrast, there was no similar difference at the first or second examination. The relative risk for ANabs(+) patients to develop cardiac autonomic neuropathy at follow-up was 7.5 (95% CI 1.72-32.80). The vasoconstriction index was more abnormal in ANabs+ than in ANabs- patients at the fourth examination (median 1.40 [interquartile range 1.58] vs. 0.35 [2.05]; P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS ANabs were associated with future development of cardiac and peripheral autonomic neuropathy in diabetic patients, implying an etiological relationship between nervous tissue autoimmunity and these diabetes complications.
Universal dynamic tracking control law for mobile robot trajectory tracking

This manuscript presents a universal control law for a class of complex dynamic systems, such as mobile robots. The trajectory tracking problem is among the major problems in the field of robotics. The proposed universal control law solves the trajectory tracking problem of mobile robots. Despite a large body of research on developing robot's control laws conducted in the literature, the dynamic effects of robots are often not taken into consideration while deriving control laws that define their trajectories. In most cases, the robot's trajectory tracking and/or stabilization problems are addressed based on its kinematic model due to simplicity. Therefore, the need for a universal control law based on the robot's dynamic and/or kinematic model is significant. Even though the feedback control theory is well-established in the field of robotics, the control laws for dynamic systems are typically more complex than system models themselves. Furthermore, control laws are required to be adapted depending on models of different mobile robot systems. Here, the development of universal control law is underscored, i.e., the paper is aimed at developing universal dynamic tracking control law that solves the trajectory tracking problem of a class of mobile robots. The controller is tested through a set of computer simulations using a differential drive mobile robot operating in an indoor planar environment.
Pricing of volatility derivatives using 3/2-stochastic models

Analytic solutions are found for prices of both variance and volatility swaps and VIX options under new 3/2stochastic models for the dynamics of the underlying assets. The main features of the new stochastic differential equations are an empirically validated cv3/2 diffusion term, a nonlinear drift providing a balancing effect of a stronger mean reversion with high volatility, and for the case of the variance and volatility swaps, a free function of time as a moving target in the reversion term, allowing additional flexibility for model calibration against market data.
The Behavioural Effects of Perspective-Taking: The Influence of Group Membership and Stereotype Threat

Perspective-taking induced self-other overlap in cognitive representations has been lauded as a mechanism which promotes social bonds. The application of self (perspective-taker) to other (target of perspective-taking) leads to reduced stereotyping and prejudice, while the application of other to self increases the stereotypical behaviour of the perspective-taker (in line with the target stereotype). However, three experiments presented in this thesis suggest that this is not always the case when perspective-taker and target belong to different stereotyped groups. Focusing on the stereotype of women and maths, Experiment 1 found that perspective-taking when the perspective-taker and target belonged to different stereotyped groups did not result in behaviour consistent with the target-stereotype. Furthermore, evidence of behavioural contrast was found. Experiment 2 further examined the behavioural effects of perspective-taking when the perspective-taker was negatively stereotyped and the target was positively stereotyped; consistent with the first experiment, contrast effects were found following perspective-taking. Given the findings of the first two experiments, hypotheses regarding the outcome of an intervention designed to reduce stereotype threat using perspective-taking were revised (Experiment 3). Findings of Experiment 3 were consistent with Experiments 1 and 2, in that perspective-taking when the target was positively stereotyped did not reduce stereotype threat for women (negatively stereotyped). The findings of the three experiments were interpreted in line with the prime-to-behaviour literature, and specifically, behavioural contrast effects following priming with exemplars.
Ethnic Differences in Weight Loss and Diabetes Remission After Bariatric Surgery

OBJECTIVE It has been postulated that the effectiveness of bariatric surgery varies between ethnic groups. However, data regarding this topic are inconclusive, as most studies included few patients from minority groups. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the difference in percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL) 1–2 years after bariatric surgery in people of African and Caucasian descent. We also studied differences in diabetes mellitus (DM) remission. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We performed a MEDLINE and EMBASE search for studies reporting %EWL and/or DM remission after bariatric surgery and including both African Americans and Caucasians. The 613 publications obtained were reviewed. We included 14 studies (1,087 African Americans and 2,714 Caucasians); all provided data on %EWL and 3 on DM remission. We extracted surgery type, %EWL, and DM remission 1–2 years after surgery. After analyzing %EWL for any surgery type, we performed subanalyses for malabsorptive and restrictive surgery. RESULTS The overall absolute mean %EWL difference between African Americans and Caucasians was −8.36% (95% CI −10.79 to −5.93) significantly in favor of Caucasians. Results were similar for malabsorptive (−8.39% [−11.38 to −5.40]) and restrictive (−8.46% [−12.95 to −3.97]) surgery. The remission of DM was somewhat more frequent in African American patients than in Caucasian patients (1.41 [0.56–3.52]). However, this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS In %EWL terms, bariatric surgery is more effective in Caucasians than in African Americans, regardless of procedure type. Further studies are needed to investigate the exact mechanisms behind these disparities and to determine whether ethnic differences exist in the remission of comorbidities after bariatric surgery.
Plasminogen- and Fibronectin-binding Protein B Is Involved in the Adherence of Streptococcus pneumoniae to Human Epithelial Cells*

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The ability of this bacterium to adhere to epithelial cells is considered as an essential early step in colonization and infection. By screening a whole genome phage display library with sera from infected patients, we previously identified three antigenic fragments matching open reading frame spr0075 of the strain R6 genome. This locus encodes for an ∼120-kDa protein, herein referred to as plasminogen- and fibronectin-binding protein B (PfbB), which displays an LPXTG cell wall anchoring motif and six repetitive domains. In this study, by using isogenic pfbB-deleted mutants of the encapsulated D39 and of the unencapsulated DP1004 type 2 pneumococcal strains, we show that PfbB is involved in S. pneumoniae adherence to various epithelial respiratory tract cell lines. Our data suggest that PfbB directly mediates bacterial adhesion, because fluorescent beads coated with the recombinant PfbB sp17 fragment (encompassing one of the six repetitive domains and the C-terminal region) efficiently bound to epithelial cells. Mutants lacking PfbB bound to fibronectin and plasminogen considerably less efficiently than wild type bacteria, whereas sp17-coated beads specifically bound to both of these substrates. Taken together, our data suggest that, by directly interacting with fibronectin, PfbB significantly increases the ability of S. pneumoniae to adhere to human epithelial cells.
Acquisition of action potentials with ultra-low sampling rates

We introduce finite rate of innovation (FRI) based spike acquisition, a new approach to the sampling of action potentials. Drawing from emerging theory on sampling FRI signals, our process aims to acquire the precise shape and timing of spikes from electrodes with single or multiunit spiking activity using sampling rates of 1000 Hz or less. The key insight is that action potentials are essentially stereotyped pulses that are generated by neurons at a rate limited by an absolute refractory period. We use this insight to push sampling below the Nyquist rate. Our process is a parametric method distinct from compressed sensing (CS). In its full implementation, this process could improve spike-based devices for neuroscience and medicine by reducing energy consumption, computational complexity, and hardware demands.
Relation of Chronotype to Sleep Complaints in the General Finnish Population

Individuals show variation in their preference for the daily timing of activities. In this study the authors analyzed whether chronotypes associate with sleep duration and sleep-related complaints. The authors used the National FINRISK Study 2007 Survey data on 3696 women and 3162 men, representative of the Finnish population aged 25 yrs and older, for the assessment of chronotype and self-reported sleep. Evening types experienced insomnia symptoms, had nightmares, and had used recently hypnotics significantly more often than other chronotypes among both men and women. In a multinominal logistic regression model predicting insufficient sleep, the association of eveningness with insufficient sleep was not abolished after adjustment for sex, age, and sleep duration. The prevalence of short sleepers was significantly higher in evening types among men than among women, whereas that of long sleepers was significantly higher in evening types among both men and women, as compared with the other chronotypes. These results indicate that eveningness predisposes individuals to a range of sleep complaints. (Author correspondence: ilona.merikanto@helsinki.fi)
Just health care rationing: a democratic decisionmaking approach.

Michael S. was born in 1984 to unmarried teenage parents who were without health insurance. He was born with necrotic small bowel syndrome. Surgery at-birth determined that he would not be able to process food in the normal way. Hence, he would have to remain in an intensive care unit, fed via total parenteral nutrition (TPN). After six months the hospital administrator approached the attending physician and pointed out that Michael was responsible for $250,000 in uncompensated care costs. Michael could live another six to eighteen months, which would mean potential uncompensated care costs of one million dollars. The administrator reminded the physician that this was the only hospital in town that provided charity care to the poor, and that if Michael remained in the hospital then the emergency room would have to be closed to all the poor, except those with true life-threatening medical problems. The state was willing to care for Michael and place him in a nursing home, but it would not provide TPN, which would mean Michael would die of infection and/or starvation within two weeks. 1
Existence and global stability of equilibrium point for delayed competitive neural networks with discontinuous activation functions

In this article, the issue of global stability is discussed for competitive neural networks with time-varying delay and discontinuous activation functions. First, a sufficient criterion is presented towards the existence and global asymptotic stability of an equilibrium point (EP), by employing the Leray–Schauder alternative theorem, linear matrix inequality technique and generalised Lyapunov function method. In particular, for the case where the activation functions are monotonic increasing, the above criterion also ensures the global exponential stability of an EP. Second, based on the properties of M-matrix, topological degree theory of set-valued map and generalised Lyapunov function method, some sufficient conditions are derived for checking the existence and global exponential stability of an EP. In doing so, the viability problem is investigated and the obtained results are delay-dependent and independent of each other. Finally, two examples with simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of our results.
Nanomaterial-Enabled Neural Stimulation

Neural stimulation is a critical technique in treating neurological diseases and investigating brain functions. Traditional electrical stimulation uses electrodes to directly create intervening electric fields in the immediate vicinity of neural tissues. Second-generation stimulation techniques directly use light, magnetic fields or ultrasound in a non-contact manner. An emerging generation of non- or minimally invasive neural stimulation techniques is enabled by nanotechnology to achieve a high spatial resolution and cell-type specificity. In these techniques, a nanomaterial converts a remotely transmitted primary stimulus such as a light, magnetic or ultrasonic signal to a localized secondary stimulus such as an electric field or heat to stimulate neurons. The ease of surface modification and bio-conjugation of nanomaterials facilitates cell-type-specific targeting, designated placement and highly localized membrane activation. This review focuses on nanomaterial-enabled neural stimulation techniques primarily involving opto-electric, opto-thermal, magneto-electric, magneto-thermal and acousto-electric transduction mechanisms. Stimulation techniques based on other possible transduction schemes and general consideration for these emerging neurotechnologies are also discussed.
Dynamical systems of interacting units: Information transport and higher order structures

How can one model, characterize and analyse systems consisting of a large number of interacting units? This thesis addresses various related aspects of this issue using dynamical systems theory. The thesis is constituted by four papers presenting the main findings as well as an introductory part giving the context of the work.In Paper I, we use evolutionary game theory to study a social dilemma where a group can obtain a collective benefit, but only if a threshold on the number of members willing to cooperate at a personal cost is met. The replicator dynamics of our model has interesting features, including catastrophic events. We also generalize the analysis to other n-player games.In Paper II, we introduce several new concepts and principles for describing and studying hierarchicalmultilevel systems with interactions both between groups and among individual units. We illustrate these concepts through defining a class of systems called higher order cellular automata, and discuss new phenomena and patterns of behaviour found in these systems.In Paper III, we introduce a local information measure for one-dimensional lattice systems in order to characterize the coherent structures emerging from the dynamics of higher order cellular automata as well as ordinary cellular automata. A further objective is to investigate to what extent information can be viewed as a local quantity in such systems. We demonstrate the applicability of our informationmeasure to these problems.Paper IV is a continuation of Paper III. We show that local information is a locally conserved quantity in the important class of surjective cellular automata and provide bounds on the information transport.The novel concepts and findings of the thesis may lead to an improved understanding of various phenomena found in systems of interacting units, and in particular systems with amultilevel dynamics.
Hierarchical timed abstract state machines for WCET estimation

In this paper, we present an extension of the abstract state machines suited for the modelling of complex processors in the context of system verification. Besides processor simulation, the goal of our model is to provide a base for worst-case execution time estimation, providing abstraction capabilities that enable the scaling of analysis. The main difference between our model and other ASM extensions is that we define time as a mean to enable time accurate runs and hierarchical abstraction levels of components, while staying the closest possible to the original ASM mathematical foundation. The model is also designed to dynamically choose a suited component definition in order to adapt to information precision on data values. The time extension helps modelling non-instantaneous actions, which is essential for real-time systems. Adaptable precision and separation of the analysis from the model of the processor will prove well suited for integration into a worst-case execution time estimation tool.
Beyond dummy variables and sample selection: what health services researchers ought to know about race as a variable.

OBJECTIVE This article addresses the definitional and methodological problems associated with the most common uses of race as a variable in health research. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Although often used in health services research, race is a poorly understood concept because it lacks conceptual clarity. Moreover, the measurement problems with race have not yet been adequately addressed. As a result, many quantitative models that attempt to explain race differences are inadequate to inform health or social policy. CONCLUSIONS Researchers should treat the race variable with the same degree of caution and skepticism with which it treats any other variable.
Kinesin-1 regulates dendrite microtubule polarity in Caenorhabditis elegans

In neurons, microtubules (MTs) span the length of both axons and dendrites, and the molecular motors use these intracellular ‘highways' to transport diverse cargo to the appropriate subcellular locations. Whereas axonal MTs are organized such that the plus-end is oriented out from the cell body, dendrites exhibit a mixed MTs polarity containing both minus-end-out and plus-end-out MTs. The molecular mechanisms underlying this differential organization, as well as its functional significance, are unknown. Here, we show that kinesin-1 is critical in establishing the characteristic minus-end-out MT organization of the dendrite in vivo. In unc-116 (kinesin-1/kinesin heavy chain) mutants, the dendritic MTs adopt an axonal-like plus-end-out organization. Kinesin-1 protein is able to cross-link anti-paralleled MTs in vitro. We propose that kinesin-1 regulates the dendrite MT polarity through directly gliding the plus-end-out MTs out of the dendrite using both the motor domain and the C-terminal MT-binding domain. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.00133. 001
Circumscription and Taxonomic Arrangement of Nigroboletus roseonigrescens Gen. Et Sp. Nov., a New Member of Boletaceae from Tropical South–Eastern China

Nigroboletus is proposed as a novel genus in family Boletaceae, subfamily Boletoideae, to include N. roseonigrescens, a new boletoid species from tropical environment in south–eastern China. Detailed morphological description, color pictures of both fresh basidiomes in habitat and dried material along with photomicrographs and line drawings of the main anatomical features are provided, supported by a comprehensive phylogeny based on multigene molecular analysis (nrITS, nrLSU, rpb1, rpb2 and tef1-α datasets). Taxonomic placement and evolutionary relationships of Nigroboletus are investigated.