Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of expiratory flow limitation in determining lung volumes and ventilation during exercise.

We determined the role of expiratory flow limitation (EFL) on the ventilatory response to heavy exercise in six trained male cyclists [maximal O2 uptake = 65 +/- 8 (range 55-74) ml. kg-1. min-1] with normal lung function. Each subject completed four progressive cycle ergometer tests to exhaustion in random order: two trials while breathing N2O2 (26% O2-balance N2), one with and one without added dead space, and two trials while breathing HeO2 (26% O2-balance He), one with and one without added dead space. EFL was defined by the proximity of the tidal to the maximal flow-volume loop. With N2O2 during heavy and maximal exercise, 1) EFL was present in all six subjects during heavy [19 +/- 2% of tidal volume (VT) intersected the maximal flow-volume loop] and maximal exercise (43 +/- 8% of VT), 2) the slopes of the ventilation (DeltaVE) and peak esophageal pressure responses to added dead space (e.g., DeltaVE/DeltaPETCO2, where PETCO2 is end-tidal PCO2) were reduced relative to submaximal exercise, 3) end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) increased and end-inspiratory lung volume reached a plateau at 88-91% of total lung capacity, and 4) VT reached a plateau and then fell as work rate increased. With HeO2 (compared with N2O2) breathing during heavy and maximal exercise, 1) HeO2 increased maximal flow rates (from 20 to 38%) throughout the range of vital capacity, which reduced EFL in all subjects during tidal breathing, 2) the gains of the ventilatory and inspiratory esophageal pressure responses to added dead space increased over those during room air breathing and were similar at all exercise intensities, 3) EELV was lower and end-inspiratory lung volume remained near 90% of total lung capacity, and 4) VT was increased relative to room air breathing. We conclude that EFL or even impending EFL during heavy and maximal exercise and with added dead space in fit subjects causes EELV to increase, reduces the VT, and constrains the increase in respiratory motor output and ventilation.
Identification of the Interactors of Human Nibrin (NBN) and of Its 26 kDa and 70 kDa Fragments Arising from the NBN 657del5 Founder Mutation

Nibrin (also named NBN or NBS1) is a component of the MRE11/RAD50/NBN complex, which is involved in early steps of DNA double strand breaks sensing and repair. Mutations within the NBN gene are responsible for the Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS). The 90% of NBS patients are homozygous for the 657del5 mutation, which determines the synthesis of two truncated proteins of 26 kDa (p26) and 70 kDa (p70). Here, HEK293 cells have been exploited to transiently express either the full-length NBN protein or the p26 or p70 fragments, followed by affinity chromatography enrichment of the eluates. The application of an unsupervised proteomics approach, based upon SDS-PAGE separation and shotgun digestion of protein bands followed by MS/MS protein identification, indicates the occurrence of previously unreported protein interacting partners of the full-length NBN protein and the p26 fragment containing the FHA/BRCT1 domains, especially after cell irradiation. In particular, results obtained shed light on new possible roles of NBN and of the p26 fragment in ROS scavenging, in the DNA damage response, and in protein folding and degradation. In particular, here we show that p26 interacts with PARP1 after irradiation, and this interaction exerts an inhibitory effect on PARP1 activity as measured by NAD+ levels. Furthermore, the p26-PARP1 interaction seems to be responsible for the persistence of ROS, and in turn of DSBs, at 24 h from IR. Since some of the newly identified interactors of the p26 and p70 fragments have not been found to interact with the full-length NBN, these interactions may somehow contribute to the key biological phenomena underpinning NBS.
Vitamin D Levels Do Not Predict Risk of Metatarsal Fractures

Introduction. In the literature, there is conflicting data regarding the relationship between vitamin D and fractures. Reports on the effects of vitamin D levels on pathologies of the foot and ankle are limited. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in patients who have sustained low-energy metatarsal fractures compared to foot or ankle sprains without osseous involvement. Methods. Between May 2012 and August 2014, vitamin D levels and demographic data were collected prospectively in a total of 99 patients; 71 with metatarsal fractures and 28 with sprains, both from a low-energy mechanism of injury. Data between the metatarsal fracture group and sprain group were compared through univariate and multivariate analyses. Results. Mean vitamin D in the fracture group was 26.9 ng/mL (range = 78.0-4.3), and in the sprain group it was 27.1 ng/mL (range = 64.1-8.3; P = .93). Vitamin D insufficiency (<30 ng/mL) was present in 47 (66%) of fracture patients and 20 (71%) of sprain patients (P = .81). Conclusion. A high incidence of hypovitaminosis D was seen in all foot and ankle patients. There was no difference in mean vitamin D level or incidence of vitamin D insufficiency between patients with metatarsal fractures or sprains resulting from similar low-energy mechanisms. Levels of Evidence: Level III: Prospective, case-control study
Discrete Reflection Groups in Lobachevsky Spaces

The construction of discrete groups of motions of ^-dimensional Lobachevsky space L is reduced in principle to constructing their fundamental polyhedra, together with the generating motions superposing the (n —l)-dimensional faces pairwise. By means of this method, H. Poincaré [25] described all finitely generated discrete groups of motions of Lobachevsky plane. In the memoir on Kleinian groups [26] he outlined an analogous program for 3-dimensional Lobachevsky space. Poincaré's method was strictly proved and generalized in different directions by A. D. Aleksandrov [1], B. Maskit [16], and others. Recently Gr. D. Mostow [19] used it brilliantly to construct several discrete groups of motions of the complex hyperbolic plane. However, in Lobachevsky spaces of dimensions > 3 this method was used successfully only for groups generated by reflections with respect to hyperplanes (so-called reflection groups) and to its subgroups of finite index. In other cases metric conditions on the fundamental polyhedron are usually so complicated and combinatorial conditions are so non-unique that constructing the required polyhedra seems almost hopeless. It is more realistic, by using Poincaré's method, to check the discreteness of groups discovered for other reasons, for example, within the framework of Thurston's ideology [31].
Pre- and Post-Launch Spatial Quality of the Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) for the Landsat 8 platform was designed and built at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). TIRS data will extend the data record for thermal observations from the heritage Landsat sensors, dating back to the launch of Landsat 4 in 1982. The two-band (10.9 and 12.0 μm) pushbroom sensor with a 185 km-wide swath uses a staggered arrangement of quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIPs) arrays. The required spatial resolution is 100 m for TIRS, with the assessment of crop moisture and water resources being science drivers for that resolution. The evaluation of spatial resolution typically relies on a straight knife-edge technique to determine the spatial edge response of a detector system, and such an approach was implemented for TIRS. Flexibility in the ground calibration equipment used for TIRS thermal-vacuum chamber testing also made possible an alternate strategy that implemented a circular target moved in precise sub-pixel increments across the detectors to derive the edge response. On-orbit, coastline targets were developed to evaluate the spatial response performance. Multiple targets were identified that produced similar results to one another. Even though there may be a slight bias in the point spread function (PSF)/modulation transfer function (MTF) estimates towards poorer performance using this approach, it does have the ability to track relative changes for monitoring long-term instrument status. The results for both pre- and post-launch response analysis show general good agreement and consistency with edge slope along-track values of 0.53 and 0.58 pre- and post-launch and across-track values 0f 0.59 and 0.55 pre- and post-launch.
Toward an integrative view of Optineurin functions

This review highlights recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms of Optineurin (Optn) action and its implication in diseases. Optn has emerged as a key player regulating various physiological processes, including membrane trafficking, protein secretion, cell division and host defense against pathogens. Furthermore, there is growing evidence for an association of Optn mutations with human diseases such as primary open-angle glaucoma, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Paget’s disease of bone. Optn functions depend on its precise subcellular localization and its interaction with other proteins. Here, we review the mechanisms that allow Optn to ensure a timely and spatially coordinated integration of different physiological processes and discuss how their deregulation may lead to different pathologies.
Iterative Joint Channel Estimation and Multiuser Detection for Wireless MIMO-OFDM Systems: Performance in a Real Indoor Scenario

An iterative receiver for multiple-input multiple- output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless systems is presented and tested on channel measurements from a real indoor scenario. The receiver jointly performs channel estimation and multiuser detection, with soft information iteratively provided by the singleuser decoders. Results for the performance are presented in terms of bit error rate (BER) and relative minimum mean square error (MMSE) vs signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Comparison with the single-user bound (SUB) shows a loss in performance due to frequency correlation.
Speech-based interaction: myths, challenges, and opportunities

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research has for long been dedicated to better and more naturally facilitating information transfer between humans and machines. Unfortunately, humans' most natural form of communication, speech, is also one of the most difficult modalities to be understood by machines. This is largely due to speech being the highest-bandwidth communication channel we possess. As such, significant research efforts, from engineering, to linguistic, and to cognitive sciences, have been spent during the past several decades on improving machines' ability to understand speech. Yet, the MobileHCI community (and HCI in general) has been relatively timid in embracing this modality as a central focus of research. This can be attributed in part to the relatively discouraging levels of accuracy in understanding speech, in contrast with often-unfounded claims of success from industry, but also to the intrinsic difficulty of designing and especially evaluating speech and natural language interfaces. The goal of this course is to inform the MobileHCI community of the current state of speech and natural language research, to dispel some of the myths surrounding speech-based interaction, as well as to provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to learn more about how speech recognition and speech synthesis work, what are their limitations, and how they could be used to enhance current interaction paradigms. Through this, we hope that MobileHCI researchers and practitioners will learn how to combine recent advances in speech processing with user-centred principles in designing more usable and useful speech-based interactive systems.
Robust high-throughput prokaryote de novo assembly and improvement pipeline for Illumina data

The rapidly reducing cost of bacterial genome sequencing has lead to its routine use in large scale microbial analysis. Though mapping approaches can be used to find differences relative to the reference, many bacteria are subject to constant evolutionary pressures resulting in events such as the loss and gain of mobile genetic elements, horizontal gene transfer through recombination and genomic rearrangements. De novo assembly is the reconstruction of the underlying genome sequence, an essential step to understanding bacterial genome diversity. Here we present a high throughput bacterial assembly and improvement pipeline that has been used to generate nearly 20,000 draft genome assemblies in public databases. We demonstrate its performance on a public data set of 9,404 genomes. We find all the genes used in MLST schema present in 99.6% of assembled genomes. When tested on low, neutral and high GC organisms, more than 94% of genes were present and completely intact. The pipeline has proven to be scalable and robust with a wide variety of datasets without requiring human intervention. All of the software is available on GitHub under the GNU GPL open source license. DATA SUMMARY The assembly pipeline software is available from Github under the GNU GPL open source license; (url - https://github.com/sanger-pathogens/vr-codebase) The assembly improvement software is available from Github under the GNU GPL open source license; (url - https://github.com/sanger-pathogens/assembly_improvement) Accession numbers for 9,404 assemblies are provided in the supplementary material. The Bordetella pertussis sample has sample accession ERS1058649, sequencing reads accession ERR1274624 and assembly accessions FJMX01000001-FJMX01000249. The Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Pullorum sample has sample accession ERS1058652, sequencing reads accession ERR1274625 and assembly accession FJMV01000001-FJMV01000026. The Staphylococcus aureus sample has sample accession ERS1058648, sequencing reads accession ERR1274626 and assembly accessions FJMW01000001-FJMW01000040. I/We confirm all supporting data, code and protocols have been provided within the article or through supplementary data files. ☑ IMPACT STATEMENT The pipeline described in this paper has been used to assemble and annotate 30% of all bacterial genome assemblies in GenBank (18,080 out of 59,536, accessed 16/2/16). The automated generation of de novo assemblies is a critical step to explore bacterial genome diversity. MLST genes are found in 99.6% of cases, making it at least as good as existing typing methods. In the test genomes we present, more than 94% of genes are correctly assembled into intact reading frames.
Analysis of Distribution of Polyvinyl Alcohol Hydrogel Nanocrystalline by using SAXS Synchrotron

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel has been successfully synthesized through freezing-thawing (F-T) process by using time-variation. This work is aimed to investigate the distribution of nanocrystalline from the hydrogel. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, Differential Thermal Analysis/Thermogravimetric (DTA/TG), and Synchrotron Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) were used as the instruments in characterizing the PVA hydrogel, respectively to observe the frequency of absorption, thermal degradation, and structural dimensions. The functional groups which represent the PVA polymer chains were verified on the wavenumber of 1450-1480 cm-1 and 850-870 cm-1 which is in accordance with the stretching of –CH2 vibration mode. The absorption band of PVA polymer chains was also found on the wavenumber of 1090-1150 cm-1 which is in accordance with the stretching of carboxyl vibration mode (CO), and this wavenumber gave a contribution towards the crystallinity of PVA polymer. Furthermore, the PVA polymer only interacted with the distilled water in the sample of PVA hydrogel without experiencing any chemical interactions between the PVA polymer and other substances. Meanwhile, the graphic of PVA hydrogel thermal degradation shows three thermal decompositions which are indicated by three areas in which there was sample weight loss. The second decomposition with sample weight loss was equivalent to 61.62%-73.04% occurred at the temperature of 282-376 °C which became the highest sample weight loss due to polymer chain degradation. Teubner-Strey and Beaucage models were used to analyze the characterization of structural dimension and distribution of PVA Hydrogel nanocrystalline with SAXS Synchrotron. With a high compatibility between the model data and the experiment, the average structural dimension of PVA hydrogel nanocrystalline is the equivalent of 3.96 nm, with an inter-crystalline average distance of 16.9 nm. These results indicate that PVA hydrogel is very potential to be applied as a primary material for human implants.
Investigation on Tolerances of Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW)

In this paper, the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is investigated into the effects of tolerances using the sensitivity approach. The changes in characteristics of transmission line due to the tolerances of its parameters have been analyzed to evaluate the worst case behavior. A set of sensitivity curves are given to help the design procedure and used to determine the tradeoff between performances and tolerances. The results from the present investigations have shed new light on design criteria. For instant, a low-impedance SIW is less sensitivity to tolerances in parameters and preferred to be chosen in consideration. The inverse problem is also studied to evaluate the required accuracies for the fabrications and substrates with a prescribed VSWR value. Computations for others conventional planar transmission lines are compared with the SIW, which have been demonstrated that an SIW transmission line is the less sensitive one.
Cortical network from human embryonic stem cells

The connection of embryonic stem cell technology and developmental biology provides valuable tools to decipher the mechanisms underlying human brain development and diseases, especially among neuronal populations, that are not readily available in primary cultures. It is obviously the case of neurons forming the human cerebral cortex. In the images that are presented, the neurons were generated in vitro from human embryonic stem cells via forebrain‐like progenitors. Maintained in culture for prolonged time, they acquired a mainly glutamatergic phenotype and morphological characteristics of cortical pyramidal neurons, including dendritic spines, and formed spectacular networks.
Towards Building Secure Software Systems

Software security breaches are now very extremely common and a larger percentage is caused by software design defects. Since individuals and organizations now completely depend on software systems for their day-to-day operations, it is then important to produce secure software products. This paper discusses the problems of producing secure software products and provides a model for improving software security. The model – Secure Software Development Model (SSDM), is unified model that integrates security engineering with software engineering so as to ensure effective production of secure software products. Supporting structure in form of laws is also presented to guide developers throughout the development process. We then present our experience that validates the model.
Targeted reintegration of expatriate brains into developing countries of origin: the EEC-IOM experience in Central America.

"The present article.reviews the major findings of the end-evaluation of the EEC-IOM project in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Panama, a five-year scheme funded by the Commission of the European Communities (EEC) and implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to promote a selective and development-oriented return of Latin American professionals to Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The core objectives of this evaluation, undertaken in September-December 1989, were to assess the project's contribution to local socioeconomic, scientific and technological development through the selective supply of expatriate professionals to developing institutions operating in so-defined priority areas; to identify the returnees' personal reintegration patterns at the professional, socioeconomic and family-related levels; and to measure the project's cost effectiveness. " (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)
Genetic instability and DNA amplification in Streptomyces lividans 66

Streptomyces lividans 66 exhibits genetic instability, involving sequential loss of resistance to chloramphenicol (Cams) and subsequent mutation of argG. Associated with this instability is the amplification of a 5.7-kilobase (kb) amplified DNA sequence (ADS). We have characterized a second, independent pathway of genetic instability, involving sequential loss of resistance to tetracycline (Tets) followed by mutation in nitrogen assimilation (Ntr). We detected DNA amplification in many of these mutant strains, as well as other reiterations coresident with the 5.7-kb ADS in Cams Arg mutants. However, in contrast to the 5.7-kb ADS, none of the novel elements were observed to amplify at high frequency. The mutation of argG is due to a deletion, one endpoint of which is defined by the 5.7-kb ADS. This amplification derives from a structure, the tandemly duplicated amplifiable unit of DNA (AUD), present in the wild-type genome. We found that progenitor strains containing just a single-copy AUD failed to reproducibly generate amplification of this element in Cams argG mutants, and DNA deletion endpoints proximal to the element were found to be unspecific. These results suggest that a duplicated AUD structure is required for high-frequency amplification and that this reiteration can subsequently buffer the extent of deletion formation in the relevant chromosomal region.