Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast transient networks in spontaneous human brain activity

To provide an effective substrate for cognitive processes, functional brain networks should be able to reorganize and coordinate on a sub-second temporal scale. We used magnetoencephalography recordings of spontaneous activity to characterize whole-brain functional connectivity dynamics at high temporal resolution. Using a novel approach that identifies the points in time at which unique patterns of activity recur, we reveal transient (100–200 ms) brain states with spatial topographies similar to those of well-known resting state networks. By assessing temporal changes in the occurrence of these states, we demonstrate that within-network functional connectivity is underpinned by coordinated neuronal dynamics that fluctuate much more rapidly than has previously been shown. We further evaluate cross-network interactions, and show that anticorrelation between the default mode network and parietal regions of the dorsal attention network is consistent with an inability of the system to transition directly between two transient brain states. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.01867. 001
Dietary deprivation of each essential amino acid induces differential systemic adaptive responses in mice.

SCOPE Dietary deprivation of essential amino acids (EAAs) in mammals is known to cause reductions in food intake and body weight. The aim of this study was to determine whether and how mice respond to deprivation of individual EAA species. METHODS AND RESULTS Dietary deprivation of any single EAA (not non-EAA) in mice led to progressive weight loss in the order of Ile(-) > Val(-) > Thr(-) > Leu(-) > Trp(-) > His(-) > Phe(-) > Met(-) > Lys(-) , which correlated with the reduction in food intake. Decreased levels of the deprived EAAs as well as increased levels of all or some of the other amino acids were detected in the serum, although these levels differed among the diets examined. Serum biochemistry identified significant increases in creatine phosphokinase, blood urea nitrogen, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase, and decreases in glucose and triglycerides; computed tomography revealed a marked reduction in abdominal/femoral fat and muscle depots; histology identified diffuse myofiber atrophy in the rectus femoris muscle, all in that approximate order. In contrast, amino acid response, autophagy, and ubiquitination marker genes as well as amino acid transporter genes were induced in both deprived EAA-specific and tissue-specific manners. CONCLUSION Dietary deprivation of individual EAAs induced systemic adaptive responses that differed in magnitude and molecular machinery.
MORAP: a modular robotic arm platform for teaching and experimenting with equation-based modeling languages

Equation-based object-oriented (EOO) modeling and simulation techniques have in the last decades gained significant attention both in academia and industry. One of the key properties of EOO languages is modularity, where different components can be developed independently and then connected together to form a complete acausal model. However, extensive modeling without explicit model validation together with a real physical system can result in incorrect assumptions and false conclusions. In particular, in an educational and research setting, it is vital that students experiment both with equation-based models and the real system that is being modeled. In this work-in-progress paper, we present a physical experimental robotic arm platform that is designed for teaching and research. Similar to EOO models, the robotic arm is modular, meaning that its parts can be reconfigured and composed together in various settings, and used for different experiments. The platform is completely open source, where electronic schematics, CAD models for 3D printing, controller software, and component specifications are available on GitHub. The vision is to form a community, where new open source components are continuously added, to enable an open and freely available physical experimental platform for EOO languages.
Learning in Abstract Memory Schemes for Dynamic Optimization

We investigate an abstraction based memory scheme for evolutionary algorithms in dynamic environments. In this scheme, the abstraction of good solutions (i.e., their approximate location in the search space) is stored in the memory instead of good solutions themselves and is employed to improve future problem solving. In particular, this paper shows how learning takes place in the abstract memory scheme and how the performance in problem solving changes over time for different kinds of dynamics in the fitness landscape. The experiments show that the abstract memory enables learning processes and efficiently improves the performance of evolutionary algorithms in dynamic environments.
Climatic and synoptic characterization of heat waves in Brazil

According to the latest global and regional circulation models, the probability of occurrence of large heat waves (HWs), such as the 2003 European or the 2010 Russian events will increase significantly in the following decades under most climate scenarios. Currently, there are numerous studies for the Northern Hemisphere characterizing HWs and evaluating their impacts in several areas such as public health, economy, and agriculture. However, over South America, and in particular for Brazil, similar analysis is lacking despite its large geographical extension and numerous population potentially affected. Here we perform an assessment of HW events and characteristics recorded in six large Brazilian cities during the last five decades. The performed analysis reveals the existence of positive and significant trends in HW frequency since the 1980s, particularly for the cities of São Paulo, Manaus, and Recife. Over the last decades, Brasília was the city that recorded the highest number of days per year under a HW regime, contrasting with Rio de Janeiro that recorded the lowest value. The assessment of the large‐scale atmospheric circulation patterns associated with summer HWs, indicated for Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília the presence of well‐marked concentric and positive 500 hPa geopotential height anomalies followed by positive 850 hPa temperature anomalies. These anomalies are likely associated with quasi‐stationary anticyclonic systems promoted by anomalous westward displacements of the South Atlantic Subtropical High System which are related to a weakening of other transients (and non‐transient) systems such the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the South Atlantic Convergence Zone. For Manaus, the identified anomalies are linked to a northward displacement of the ITCZ. This configuration is compatible with an increase in solar radiative pattern and decreased soil moisture, enhancing surface temperature values, possibly associated with positive feedback mechanisms between soil and the atmosphere.
Computational Complexity of Statistical Machine Translation

In this paper we study a set of problems that are of considerable importance to Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) but which have not been addressed satisfactorily by the SMT research community. Over the last decade, a variety of SMT algorithms have been built and empirically tested whereas little is known about the computational complexity of some of the fundamental problems of SMT. Our work aims at providing useful insights into the the computational complexity of those problems. We prove that while IBM Models 1-2 are conceptually and computationally simple, computations involving the higher (and more useful) models are hard. Since it is unlikely that there exists a polynomial time solution for any of these hard problems (unless P = NP and P#P = P), our results highlight and justify the need for developing polynomial time approximations for these computations. We also discuss some practical ways of dealing with complexity.
Cut-Set Bounds on Network Information Flow

Explicit characterization of the capacity region of communication networks is a long-standing problem. While it is known that network coding can outperform routing and replication, the set of feasible rates is not known in general. Characterizing the network coding capacity region requires the determination of the set of all entropic vectors. Furthermore, computing the explicitly known linear programming bound is infeasible in practice due to an exponential growth in complexity as a function of network size. This paper focuses on the fundamental problems of characterization and computation of outer bounds for multi-source multi-sink networks. Starting from the known local functional dependence induced by the communication network, we introduce the notion of irreducible sets, which characterize implied functional dependence. We provide recursions for the computation of all maximal irreducible sets. These sets act as information-theoretic bottlenecks, and provide an easily computable outer bound for networks with correlated sources. We extend the notion of irreducible sets (and resulting outer bound) for networks with independent sources. We compare our bounds with existing bounds in the literature. We find that our new bounds are the best among the known graph theoretic bounds for networks with correlated sources and for networks with independent sources.
Changing patterns of serotypes and antimicrobial susceptibilities of Shigella species isolated from children in Calcutta, India.

Shigellosis occurs both in epidemic and endemic fbms in children and remains a major public health problem in developlng countries. Over the past decades, Shigella spp. have become progressively resistant to most of the widely used and inexpensive antimicrobials ( 1 ). Moreover, changes in the incidence of Shigella subgroups from time to time makes it difficult to formulate a drug of choice for shigellosis (2). The present study reports the distribution of Shigella subgroups and the antimicrobial susceptibility pattem of Shigella spp. isolated from children in Calcutta, India. From January 1998 to December 2000, a total of675 stool samples were collected from children suffering from acute
Using computer vision to access appliance displays

People who are blind or visually impaired face difficulties accessing a growing array of everyday appliances, needed to perform a variety of daily activities, because they are equipped with electronic displays. We are developing a "Display Reader" smartphone app, which uses computer vision to help a user acquire a usable image of a display, to address this problem. The current prototype analyzes video from the smartphone's camera, providing real-time feedback to guide the user until a satisfactory image is acquired, based on automatic estimates of image blur and glare. Formative studies were conducted with several blind and visually impaired participants, whose feedback is guiding the development of the user interface. The prototype software has been released as a Free and Open Source (FOSS) project.
Cannabinoid receptors and their ligands.

There are at least two types of cannabinoid receptors, CB(1) and CB(2), both coupled to G proteins. CB(1) receptors exist primarily on central and peripheral neurons, one of their functions being to modulate neurotransmitter release. CB(2) receptors are present mainly on immune cells. Their roles are proving more difficult to establish but seem to include the modulation of cytokine release. Endogenous agonists for cannabinoid receptors (endocannabinoids) have also been discovered, the most important being arachidonoyl ethanolamide (anandamide), 2-arachidonoyl glycerol and 2-arachidonyl glyceryl ether. Other endocannabinoids and cannabinoid receptor types may also exist. Although anandamide can act through CB(1) and CB(2) receptors, it is also a vanilloid receptor agonist and some of its metabolites may possess yet other important modes of action. The discovery of the system of cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoids that constitutes the "endocannabinoid system" has prompted the development of CB(1)- and CB(2)-selective agonists and antagonists/inverse agonists. CB(1)/CB(2) agonists are already used clinically, as anti-emetics or to stimulate appetite. Potential therapeutic uses of cannabinoid receptor agonists include the management of multiple sclerosis/spinal cord injury, pain, inflammatory disorders, glaucoma, bronchial asthma, vasodilation that accompanies advanced cirrhosis, and cancer. Following their release onto cannabinoid receptors, endocannabinoids are removed from the extracellular space by membrane transport and then degraded by intracellular enzymic hydrolysis. Inhibitors of both these processes have been developed. Such inhibitors have therapeutic potential as animal data suggest that released endocannabinoids mediate reductions both in inflammatory pain and in the spasticity and tremor of multiple sclerosis. So too have CB(1) receptor antagonists, for example for the suppression of appetite and the management of cognitive dysfunction or schizophrenia.
A new de novo Notch3 mutation causing CADASIL

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leucoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is one of the most common hereditary forms of stroke, and migraine with aura, mood disorders, or dementia, are also frequently found in these patients. Missense mutations in the Notch3 gene that create or destroy cysteine residues, have been found in most cases with a family history of the disease, although a few sporadic cases harbouring Notch3 mutations have also been described. Here, we describe a 44‐year‐old patient with clinical features of CADASIL who was a carrier of a new Notch3 mutation: cys128→gly. Both parents were alive and healthy, and negative for the mutation. This case illustrates the interest of analysing the Notch3 gene in cases with clinical features of CADASIL, even in the absence of a family history of the disease.
Hyper-heuristic Based Resource Scheduling in Grid Environment

An efficient management of the resources in Grid computing crucially depends on the efficient mapping of the jobs to resources according to the user's requirements. Grid resources scheduling has become a challenge in the computational Grid. The mapping of the jobs to appropriate resources for execution of the application in Grid computing is an NP-Complete problem. In this paper, hyper-heuristic based resource scheduling algorithm is designed to effectively schedule the jobs on available resources in a Grid environment. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using the GridSim toolkit. Empirical results illustrate that our algorithm outperformed the existing algorithm by minimizing cost and make span of user's submitted applications.
Far-field-current relationship based on the TL model for lightning return strokes to elevated strike objects

New general expressions relating lightning return stroke currents and far radiated electric and magnetic fields are proposed, taking into account the effect of an elevated strike object, whose presence is included as an extension to the transmission line (TL) model. Specific equations are derived for the case of tall and electrically short objects. The derived expressions show that, for tall structures (when the round-trip propagation time from top to bottom within the tower is greater than the current zero-to-peak risetime), the far field is enhanced through a factor with respect to an ideal return stroke initiated at ground level. The enhancement factor can be expressed in terms of the return stroke wavefront speed v, the speed of light in vacuum c, and the current reflection coefficient at the top of the elevated strike object. For typically negative values of this top reflection coefficient, lightning strikes to tall towers result in a significant enhancement of the far electromagnetic field. Expressions relating the far electromagnetic field and the return stroke current are also presented for electrically short towers and for very long return stroke current wavefronts. For the case of return strokes initiated at ground level (h=0), these expressions represent a generalization of the classical TL model, in which the reflections at the ground are now taken into account. We describe also simultaneous measurements of return stroke current and its associated electric and magnetic fields at two distances related with lightning strikes to the 553-m-high Toronto Canadian National (CN) Tower performed during 2000 and 2001. The derived expressions for tall strike objects are tested versus obtained sets of simultaneously measured currents and fields associated with lightning strikes to the CN Tower, and a reasonable agreement is found. Additionally, it is shown that the peak of the electromagnetic field radiated by a lightning strike to a 553-m-high structure is relatively insensitive to the value of the return stroke velocity, in contrast to the lightning strikes to ground.
Chronic disease and infant nutrition: is it significant to public health?

Abstract Objective To assess the public health significance of premature weaning of infants from breast milk on later-life risk of chronic illness. Design A review and summary of recent meta-analyses of studies linking premature weaning from breast milk with later-life chronic disease risk is presented followed by an estimation of the approximate exposure in a developed Western country, based on historical breast-feeding prevalence data for Australia since 1927. The population-attributable proportion of chronic disease associated with current patterns of artificial feeding in infancy is estimated. Results After adjustment for major confounding variables, current research suggests that the risks of chronic disease are 30–200 % higher in those who were not breast-fed compared to those who were breast-fed in infancy. Exposure to premature weaning ranges from 20 % to 90 % in post-World War II age cohorts. Overall, the attributable proportion of chronic disease in the population is estimated at 6–24 % for a 30 % exposure to premature weaning. Conclusions Breast-feeding is of public health significance in preventing chronic disease. There is a small but consistent effect of premature weaning from breast milk in increasing later-life chronic disease risk. Risk exposure in the Australian population is substantial. Approximately 90 % of current 35–45-year-olds were weaned from breast-feeding by 6 months of age. Encouraging greater duration and exclusivity of breast-feeding is a potential avenue for reducing future chronic disease burden and health system costs.
Gender‐related differences in antiplatelet treatment patterns and outcome: Insights from the GReekAntiPlatElet Registry

AIMS Data on the clinical impact of gender in "real-life" patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), receiving clopidogrel, prasugrel, or ticagrelor are limited. We aimed to investigate sex-based differences in clinical outcome of those patients. METHODS In a prospective, observational, multicenter, cohort study, 2047 patients were recruited into the GReekAntiPlatElet (GRAPE) Registry and were followed up until 1 year for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, composite of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, urgent revascularization, and stroke) and bleeding events (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium [BARC] classification). RESULTS Women (n=360, 17.6%) were more frequently administered clopidogrel (rather than novel P2Y12 receptor antagonists) at PCI hospital and at discharge. MACE occurred in 9.2% and 8.1% of women and men, respectively and did not differ significantly by gender. Rate of observed bleeding BARC any type was 57.2% and 44.4% in women and men, respectively. Following adjustment, only differences in BARC any type and BARC type 1 events remained significant, with higher rates observed between women: hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) 1.51 (1.23-1.85) and 1.58 (1.27-1.96), respectively, P<. 001 for both. CONCLUSIONS In a contemporary "real-life" cohort of patients with ACS treated with PCI and focusing on antiplatelet treatment 1-year ischemic outcome does not differ by gender, while women do present more frequently not actionable bleeding events.
Toward a comprehensive care of HIV patients: finding a strategy to detect depression in a Spanish HIV cohort

ABSTRACT Depression is a common but frequently undiagnosed feature in individuals with HIV infection. To find a strategy to detect depression in a non-specialized clinical setting, the overall performance of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the depression identification questions proposed by the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) guidelines were assessed in a descriptive cross-sectional study of 113 patients with HIV infection. The clinician asked the two screening questions that were proposed under the EACS guidelines and requested patients to complete the HADS. A psychiatrist or psychologist administered semi-structured clinical interviews to yield psychiatric diagnoses of depression (gold standard). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for the HADS-Depression (HADS-D) subscale indicated that the best sensitivity and specificity were obtained between the cut-off points of 5 and 8, and the ROC curve for the HADS-Total (HADS-T) indicated that the best cut-off points were between 12 and 14. There were no statistically significant differences in the correlations of the EACS (considering positive responses to one [A] or both questions [B]), the HADS-D ≥ 8 or the HADS-T ≥ 12 with the gold standard. The study concludes that both approaches (the two EACS questions and the HADS-D subscale) are appropriate depression-screening methods in HIV population. We believe that using the EACS-B and the HADS-D subscale in a two-step approach allows for rapid, assumable and accurate clinical diagnosis in non-psychiatric hospital settings.
Hidden logistic linear regression for support vector machine based phone verification

Phone veriﬁcation approach to mispronunciation detection us-ing a combination of Neural Network (NN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) has been shown to yield improved veriﬁcation performance. This approach uses a NN to predict the HMM state posterior probabilities. The average posterior probability vectors computed over each phone segment are used as input features to a SVM back-end to generate the ﬁnal veriﬁcation scores. In this paper, a novel Hidden Logistic Feature (HLF) for SVM back-end is proposed, where the sigmoid activations from the hidden layer that contain rich information of the NN is used instead of the output layer and the generation of HLFs can be interpreted as a Hidden Logistic Linear Regression process. Experiments on the TIMIT database show that the proposed HLF gives the lowest Equal Error Rate of 3.63%.
Luminally Acting Agents for Constipation Treatment: A Review Based on Literatures and Patents

Constipation is one of the most frequently reported gastrointestinal (GI) disorders that negatively impacts quality of life and is associated with a significant economic burden to the patients and society. Traditional treatments including lifestyle modification and laxatives are often ineffective in the more severe forms of constipation and over the long term. New medications targeting at intestinal chloride channels and colonic serotonin receptors have been demonstrated effective in recent years. Emerging agents focusing on improving intestinal secretion and/or colonic motility have been shown effective in animal models and even in clinical trials. Recognization of the role of cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) and calcium-activated chloride channels (CaCCs) in intestine fluid secretion and motility modulation makes CFTR and CaCCs promising molecule targets for anti-constipation therapy. Although there are multiple choices for constipation treatment, there is still a recognized need for new medications in anti-constipation therapy. The present review covers the discovery of luminally acting agents for constipation treatment described in both patents (2011–present) and scientific literatures.