Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Depth of Oblivious Parallel RAM T -

Oblivious Parallel RAM (OPRAM), first proposed by Boyle, Chung, and Pass, is the natural parallel extension of Oblivious RAM (ORAM). OPRAM provides a powerful cryptographic building block for hiding the access patterns of programs to sensitive data, while preserving the paralellism inherent in the original program. All prior OPRAM schemes adopt a single metric of “simulation overhead” that characterizes the blowup in parallel runtime, assuming that oblivious simulation is constrained to using the same number of CPUs as the original PRAM. In this paper, we ask whether oblivious simulation of PRAM programs can be further sped up if the OPRAM is allowed to have more CPUs than the original PRAM. We thus initiate a study to understand the true depth of OPRAM schemes (i.e., when the OPRAM may have access to unbounded number of CPUs). On the upper bound front, we construct a new OPRAM scheme that gains a logarithmic factor in depth and without incurring extra blowup in total work in comparison with the state-of-the-art OPRAM scheme. On the lower bound side, we demonstrate fundamental limits on the depth any OPRAM scheme — even when the OPRAM is allowed to have an unbounded number of CPUs and blow up total work arbitrarily. We further show that our upper bound result is optimal in depth for a reasonably large parameter regime that is of particular interest in practice.
Localisation of Tricyclic Antidepressant Binding Sites on Serotonin Nerve Terminals

Abstract: High‐affinity specific [3H]imipramine binding has been demonstrated in the brain and platelets of various species including man. Electrolytic lesion of the rat dorsal raphe, which resulted in a significant decrease in the endogenous levels of serotonin produced a reduction in the density of [3H]imipramine binding sites in the hypothalamus and cortex. The affinity constants were unchanged. These results suggest that [3H]imipramine binding sites are located on serotonin nerve terminals.
Self-certified public key implicit certificate scheme for drivers' anonymity in Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication networks

In Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication networks, vehicles will broadcast their safety-critical information, such as speed, position and direction, to alert nearby vehicles of possible collisions. The use of a standard public key certificate to secure the broadcast of the safety-critical information will allow unauthorized entities to identify and trace movements and locations a driver visits using the driver's unique public key in the certificate. In this paper, we propose a self-certified public key implicit certificate scheme for use in V2V communication networks to preserve the anonymity of drivers. In our proposed scheme, recipients of a broadcasted message in V2V communication networks can authenticate and validate the integrity of the message without identifying the transmitter. In case of a dispute and malicious activities, the identity of the vehicle which broadcasted the disputed message can be revealed only by a trusted authority. Using an elliptic-curve key-length of 256 bits, we show that our proposed scheme adds 238 bytes to the vehicle's safety-critical information in the broadcasted message.
The archaeology of apoptosis

Human death has been recognised as a significant personal and social event for many thousands of years, and classical archaeologists have revealed the changing complexity of rituals associated with it. The study of cell death, however, is a much more recent event, although many of the molecular pathways involved have now been identified, at least in mammalian systems. In studying the loss of cells, the use of the term ‘death’ is, perhaps, not altogether appropriate both since it carries the cultural resonance associated with bodily death, and because we do not study cell death itself, but rather the processes that lead up to it. Mammalian cell death processes are complex and involve a dynamic equilibrium between death promoting and death inhibiting factors, suggesting that some components of death pathways may have a paradoxical survival function. Since parasites must survive an often hostile environment, they may be a useful model to study whether component molecules of mammalian death pathways originally formed modules of parasite survival strategies, and whether survival and death pathways coevolved.
SIGNIFICANCE OF ANTEPARTUM CARDIOTOCOGRAPHY IN NORMAL PREGNANCY

Antepartum cardiotocographs (CTGs) were obtained at weekly intervals from 34 weeks onwards and twice weekly from 40 weeks onwards in 91 strictly normal pregnancies. The Fischer score was used to assess the 594 CTGs obtained. Ominous patterns were not encountered but 7.2 per cent of CTGs showed a suspicious pattern. Absence of accelerations and an oscillatory amplitude of less than 10 beats/minute contributed to respectively 95 and 88 per cent of these patterns. The combination of reduced variability and absence of accelerations accounted for 84 per cent of suspicious CTGs. This pattern is compatible with normal pregnancy even when fetal movements are present. One‐third (37 per cent) of perfectly normal pregnancies had a suspicious CTG on at least one occasion and in 9 per cent of cases it was found twice or more. This should be borne in mind when using antepartum CTG in the surveillance of high‐risk pregnancy.
European multi-centre study of the Nucleus Hybrid L24 cochlear implant

Abstract Objectives: To investigate the preservation of residual hearing in subjects who received the Nucleus Hybrid L24 cochlear implant. To investigate the performance benefits up to one year post-implantation in terms of speech recognition, sound quality, and quality of life. Design: Prospective, with sequential enrolment and within-subject comparisons. Post-operative performance using a Freedom Hybrid sound processor was compared with that of pre-operative hearing aids. Study sample: Sixty-six adult hearing-impaired subjects with bilateral severe-to-profound high frequency hearing loss. Results: Group median increase in air-conduction thresholds in the implanted ear for test frequencies 125–1000 Hz was < 15 dB across the population; both immediately and one year post-operatively. Eighty-eight percent of subjects used the Hybrid processor at one year post-op. Sixty-five percent of subjects had significant gain in speech recognition in quiet, and 73% in noise (≥ 20 percentage points/2 dB SNR). Mean SSQ subscale scores were significantly improved (+ 1.2, + 1.3, + 1.8 points, p < 0.001), as was mean HUI3 score (+ 0.117, p < 0.01). Combining residual hearing with CI gave 22−26 %age points mean benefit in speech recognition scores over CI alone (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Useful residual hearing was conserved in 88% of subjects. Speech perception was significantly improved over preoperative hearing aids, as was sound quality and quality of life.
Heightened pressor effect and dipsogenicity to intracerebroventricularly applied angiotensin II and III in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The effect of acute intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injections of angiotensin II and III (ANG II and ANG III; 0, 1, 10 and 100 pmol in 2 microliters artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on blood pressure and water consumption was investigated in Okamoto-Aoki spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) normotensive controls. Heightened sensitivity to i.c. v. ANG II and ANG III was observed in the SHR compared with the WKY and SD strains (P less than 0.001), for both pressor and drinking responses. In addition, i.c. v. treatment with an aminopeptidase B inhibitor, bestatin (20 nmol in 1 microliter artificial CSF) significantly potentiated the heightened pressor response to i.c. v. -injected ANG II and ANG III (100 pmol) in SHR and to a lesser degree in WKY animals compared with SD controls (P less than 0.001). These results suggest that a dysfunction in central aminopeptidase activity results in an extended life of endogenous angiotensins, and perhaps other peptides that may contribute to the high blood pressure seen in this animal model of human essential hypertension.
Cytochrome c release from rat brain mitochondria is proportional to the mitochondrial functional deficit: implications for apoptosis and neurodegenerative disease

Apoptosis may be initiated in neurons via mitochondrial release of the respiratory protein, cytochrome c. The mechanism of cytochrome c release has been studied extensively, but little is known about its dynamics. It has been claimed that release is all‐or‐none, however, this is not consistent with accumulating evidence of cytosolic mechanisms for ‘buffering’ cytochrome c. This study has attempted to model an underlying disease pathology, rather than inducing apoptosis directly. The model adopted was diminished activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I, a recognized feature of Parkinson's disease. Titration of rat brain mitochondrial respiratory function, with the specific complex I inhibitor rotenone, caused proportional release of cytochrome c from isolated synaptic and non‐synaptic mitochondria. The mechanism of release was mediated, at least in part, by the mitochondrial outer membrane component Bak and voltage‐dependent anion channel rather than non‐specific membrane rupture. Furthermore, preliminary data were obtained demonstrating that in primary cortical neurons, titration with rotenone induced cytochrome c release that was subthreshold for the induction of apoptosis. Implications for the therapy of neurodegenerative diseases are discussed.
The Assumptions of Isochronal Cardiac Mapping

Isochronal maps of cardiac activation are commonly used to study the mechanisms and to guide the ablative therapies of arrhythmias. Little has been written about the assumptions implicit in the construction and use of isochronal cardiac maps. These assumptions include the following: (1) the location of the recording electrodes is known with sufficient accuracy to determine the mechanism of an arrhythmia or to guide therapy; (2) a single, discrete activation time can be assigned to each recording electrode location; (3) the presence or absence of activation at an electrode site can be reliably ascertained, and when activation is present, the time of activation can be determined with sufficient accuracy to specify the mechanism of an arrhythmia or to guide therapy; and (4) the recording electrodes are close enough together that the activation sequence can be estimated with sufficient accuracy to determine the mechanism of an arrhythmia or to guide therapy. The manuscript reviews evidence that these assumptions may not always be true, and when they are not, the isochronal map may be misleading.
Disease progression model in subjects with mild cognitive impairment from the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative: CSF biomarkers predict population subtypes.

AIM The objective is to develop a semi-mechanistic disease progression model for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects. The model aims to describe the longitudinal progression of ADAS-cog scores from the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative trial that had data from 198 MCI subjects with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) information who were followed for 3 years. METHOD Various covariates were tested on disease progression parameters and these variables fell into six categories: imaging volumetrics, biochemical, genetic, demographic, cognitive tests and CSF biomarkers. RESULTS CSF biomarkers were associated with both baseline disease score and disease progression rate in subjects with MCI. Baseline disease score was also correlated with atrophy measured using hippocampal volume. Progression rate was also predicted by executive functioning as measured by the Trail B-test. CONCLUSION CSF biomarkers have the ability to discriminate MCI subjects into sub-populations that exhibit markedly different rates of disease progression on the ADAS-cog scale. These biomarkers can therefore be utilized for designing clinical trials enriched with subjects that carry the underlying disease pathology.
Restructuring program identifier names

The identifiers chosen by programmers as entity names contain valuable information. They are often the starting point for the program understanding activities, especially when high level views, like the call graph, are available. An approach for the restructuring of program identifier names is proposed, aimed at improving their meaningfulness. It considers two forms of standardization, associated respectively to the lexicon of the composing terms and to the syntax of their arrangement. Automatic and semiautomatic techniques are described which can help the restructuring intervention. Their application to a real world case study is also presented.
Hand Gesture Recognition for Table-Top Interaction System

Hand interface is well known for its intuition and convenience. User can use their real hands to interact with the system without any assistant device. In this paper, we propose a method which uses vision-based hand interface for table-top interaction system. To do this, first, we find skin region in camera image. But the result might include false-regions which are likely to skin-color, so we use region-based segmentation. To use PCA, a method of hand gesture recognition, we have to split detected region into hand region and arm region, then eliminate hand yaw angle component. We demonstrated the usefulness and possibilities of our method by developing 'omok' game and testing in table-top interaction system.
Oxytalan fibre formation in the cornea: a light and electron microscopical study

Oxytalan is a fibrillar protein possessing some of the staining and ultrastructural properties of developing elastic tissue. In a study of human corneae we failed to find fibers of this type in five normal specimens but found them in each of 16 examples of keratoconus and 13 cases of post‐traumatic or post‐inflammatory scarring. In two cases the microfibrillar nature of the deposits was confirmed by electron microscopy, individual microfibrils measuring 10–12 nm in diameter and having profiles suggestive of a tubular structure. Oxytalan formation was intimately associated with the basal lamina of the covering epithelium with, in areas showing disruption of Bowman's layer and scarring, some extension into the superficial collagenous stroma.
Local Synthesis of Proteins at Synaptic Sites on Dendrites: Role in Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Consolidation?

Long-lasting forms of memory are thought to be mediated by modifications in synapses that are induced by particular patterns of activity, take time to be established (consolidated), and involve new gene expression. The molecular mechanisms underlying such long-lasting synaptic modifications remain to be defined. Here, we focus on new findings regarding synapse-specific gene expression and especially the intracellular transport and synaptic targeting of the mRNA for a recently identified immediate early gene called activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc). Arc mRNA is transported into dendrites after episodes of neuronal activation. The newly synthesized Arc mRNA localizes selectively at synapses that have experienced particular patterns of activity, and this targeting depends on NMDA receptor activation. Arc protein is assembled into the postsynaptic junction, and Arc expression is strongly induced by brief behavioral experiences in select populations of neurons. These features of Arc induction and trafficking reveal novel cellular mechanisms that are well suited to mediate long-term synapse-specific modifications. We will review findings from other laboratories that both LTP and memory are disrupted when Arc induction is blocked, and we will discuss the possibility that Arc protein may play a key role in activity-dependent synaptic modification.
Optical and Infrared Colors of Stars Observed by the Two Micron All Sky Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We discuss optical and infrared photometric properties of stars matched in the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) commissioning data for ∼50 deg2 of sky along the celestial equator centered at l = 150°, b = -60°. About 98% (∼63,000) of objects listed in the 2MASS Point Source Catalog in the analyzed area are matched within 2″ to an SDSS source. The matched sources represent 8% of the ∼800,000 SDSS sources in this area. They are predominantly red sources, as expected, and 15% of them are resolved in SDSS imaging data although they are detected as point sources in 2MASS data. The distribution of positional discrepancies for the matched sources and the astrometric statistics for the multiply observed SDSS sources imply that the astrometric accuracy of both surveys is about 0. ″1 per coordinate (rms). For about 14,000 stars with the smallest photometric errors (≲10%) in both surveys, we present optical and infrared color-magnitude and color-color diagrams. We use optical (SDSS) colors to identify the stellar spectral sequence and show that stars of different spectral types can have similar infrared colors, thus making the classification of stars based on only 2MASS data very difficult. However, a broad separation into "early" and "late" spectral types (relative to type K0) is possible with a reliability of ∼95% even with 2MASS colors alone. The distributions of matched sources in color-magnitude and color-color diagrams are compared with the predictions of a stellar population synthesis code. We find that the models are in fair overall agreement with the data. In particular, the total number counts agree to better than 10%, and the morphologies of the color-magnitude and color-color diagrams appear similar. The most significant discrepancies are found for the number ratio of "early" to "late" type stars (by about a factor of 2) and in the colors of M stars (up to 0.2 mag). The first disagreement indicates that some parameters of the standard Galactic structure model and/or initial mass function can be improved, and the second disagreement emphasizes known difficulties with the modeling of stellar atmospheres for cool stars.
Genetic Changes That Correlate with Reduced Susceptibility to Daptomycin in Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Daptomycin is a lipopeptide antibiotic with potent activity against gram-positive bacteria. Complete-genome comparisons of laboratory-derived Staphylococcus aureus with decreased susceptibility to daptomycin and their susceptible parent were used to identify genes that contribute to reduced susceptibility to daptomycin. Selective pressure of growth in sublethal concentrations of daptomycin resulted in the accumulation of mutations over time correlating with incremental decreases in susceptibility. Single point mutations resulting in amino acid substitutions occurred in three distinct proteins: MprF, a lysylphosphatidylglycerol synthetase; YycG, a histidine kinase; and RpoB and RpoC, the β and β′ subunits of RNA polymerase. Sequence analysis of mprF, yycF, yycG, rpoB, and rpoC in clinical isolates that showed treatment-emergent increases in daptomycin MICs revealed point mutations in mprF and a nucleotide insertion in yycG, suggesting a role for these genes in decreased susceptibility to daptomycin in the hospital setting.
Can robots help each other to plan optimal paths in dynamic maps?

Mobile robots need to plan an optimal and collision-free path in complex environments to the various service locations in the map. Robot perception is limited to sensor range and hence robots are only aware of the obstacles within the range of its sensor. Moreover, the knowledge of new obstacles observed by each robot is kept local to itself. Due to these limitations, robots are often unaware of the new obstacles or path blockages in remote sections of the map. We proposed a knowledge sharing architecture in which the robots share the knowledge of new obstacles and blocked paths with each other. This enables the robots to update their map with the new and remote obstacles, and plan efficient paths with the timely information. This eliminates the need for re-planning of paths in traditional navigation methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method is efficient for multi-robot navigation in large and dynamic maps.
Effect of long-term treatment with enalapril in streptozotocin diabetic and DOCA hypertensive rats.

We studied the effects of long-term treatment with enalapril (5 mg/kg/day orally) on various biochemical and cardiovascular complications in streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic and deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) hypertensive rats. Female Wistar rats made diabetic or hypertensive or both by streptozotocin (STZ; 45 mg/kg) or deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA; 10 mg/kg, p.o., daily) or both. Enalapril (5 mg/kg) was administered daily by the oral route for 6 weeks. At the end of 6 weeks, blood samples were taken to analyze glucose, insulin, and lipids. Blood pressure and heart rate were recorded by a noninvasive technique, and cardiac functions were recorded by Neely's working heart preparation. Injection of STZ produced severe glycosuria (>2%), hyperglycemia, hypoinsulinemia, and loss of body weight. It also produced hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension, bradycardia, and decreased left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) and increase in angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) in left ventricular tissue. DOCA by itself did not produce any change in blood glucose but reduced serum insulin levels in nondiabetic animals. However, in the diabetic group, DOCA reduced blood sugar levels. Treatment with enalapril prevented an increase in the blood pressure and the heart weight. Decrease in the heart rate, reduction in LVDP, and increase in intracardiac activity were observed in diabetic rats; these were also prevented by enalapril treatment. Enalapril had no effect on plasma glucose and did not modify plasma insulin levels in diabetic animals. The effects of STZ and DOCA together were not additive on the investigated parameters, and enalapril was similarly efficient in diabetic and diabetic hypertensive animals.