Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Confocal Microscopy and Computer‐assisted Image Reconstruction of Astrocytes in the Mammalian Retina

The distribution of astrocytes in the vascularized retina of pigs, rats and cats was investigated by confocal microscopy and computer‐assisted image processing. In whole mounts, immunocytochemical identification was done by staining astrocytes for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and blood vessels for α‐smooth muscle actin or collagen IV. Double‐staining was followed through consecutive optical sections and made it possible to precisely align the two markers in the inner retina. The resulting computer‐assisted image reconstructions revealed asymmetric ensheathment of blood vessels by GFAP‐positive fibres. The ultrastructural basis for this asymmetry, as studied by electron microscopy, was found to be different in pigs and cats. In the pig, astrocytes firmly ensheathed the vessel circumference, but glial filaments were much more abundant on the vitreal and lateral than on the scleral side. By contrast, in the cat astrocytes were generally confined to regions occupied by axonal bundles and constituted only part of the vascular glia limitans, else formed by Müller cells. Moreover, our observations unambiguously showed that individual astrocytes maintained simultaneous contact with axons and blood vessels and lined the vitreous body. The physical links provided by astrocytes suggest that they are able to function as central communicating elements between ganglion cells, the vasculature and the vitreous body.
Using Cognitive Artifacts to Bridge the Tool-Agent Divide

A fundamental hurdle in building intelligent systems is in acquiring enough information about a user and her context, in a form that the system can use, without impairing the usability of the system. A variety of interaction paradigms have been explored in this regard – agents, spoken language understanding, the incorporation of biometrics and other interaction modalities – that aim to make interaction more natural for the user. In contrast to these efforts, we have studied how structure can be added to a system to improve the user’s performance in the domain task. In this paper, we demonstrate how this structure can then be leveraged to provide useful intelligent support. Our domain of investigation is a groupware system, and we show how structured support for co-referencing activity can be used by the system to infer user intent. We also provide empirical results demonstrating the effectiveness of an adaptive component that is built on the intent inferencing procedure.
Dimerization of CXCR 4 in living malignant cells : control of cell migration by a synthetic peptide that reduces homologous CXCR 4 interactions

Chemokine receptor CXCR4 (CD184) may play a role in cancer metastasis and is known to form homodimers. However, it is not clear how transmembrane regions (TM) of CXCR4 and receptor homotypic interactions affect the function of CXCR4 in living cells. Using confocal microscopy and flow cytometric analysis, we showed that high levels of CXCR4 are present in the cytoplasm, accompanied by lower expression on the cell surface in CXCR4 transfectants, tumor cells, and normal peripheral blood lymphocytes. CXCR4 homodimers were detected in tumor cells, both on the cell surface membrane and in the cytoplasm using fluorescence resonance energy transfer and photobleaching fluorescence resonance energy transfer to measure energy transfer between CXCR4-CFP and CXCR4-YFP constructs. Disruption of lipid rafts by depletion of cholesterol with methyl-B-cyclodextrin reduced the interaction between CXCR4 molecules and inhibited malignant cell migration to CXCL12/SDF-1A. A synthetic peptide of TM4 of CXCR4 reduced energy transfer between molecules of CXCR4, inhibited CXCL12-induced actin polymerization, and blocked chemotaxis of malignant cells. TM4 also inhibited migration of normal monocytes toward CXCL12. Reduction of CXCR4 energy transfer by the TM4 peptide and methyl-B-cyclodextrin indicates that interactions between CXCR4s may play important roles in cell migration and suggests that cell surface and intracellular receptor dimers are appropriate targets for control of tumor cell spread. Targeting chemokine receptor oligomerization and signal transduction for the treatment of cancer, HIV-1 infections, and other CXCR4 mediated inflammatory conditions warrants further investigation. [Mol Cancer Ther 2006;5(10):2474–83]
Use of Amplatzer occlusion devices to occlude Fontan baffle leaks during fenestration closure procedures

The authors describe the use of Amplatzer occlusion devices to successfully occlude Fontan baffle leaks in three patients. These additional right to left shunts were recognized at the time of elective transcatheter closure of surgically created fenestrations. A common site of baffle leak is described at the base of the right atrial appendage. This suture line serves to exclude the right atrial appendage from Fontan baffle flow and lies within the corrugated surface of the pectinate muscles, making it particularly vunerable to baffle leaks over time. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Enhancing the efficacy of behavior therapy for obesity: effects of aerobic exercise and a multicomponent maintenance program.

Tested whether the efficacy of behavior therapy for obesity might be improved by the programmatic additions of an aerobic exercise regimen during treatment and a multicomponent maintenance program following treatment. 14 male and 76 female obese 22–60 yr olds were randomly assigned to 2 treatment conditions (behavior therapy or behavior therapy plus aerobic exercise) and 2 posttreatment conditions (no further contact or a multicomponent maintenance program). The exercise regimen consisted of 80 min/week of brisk walking or stationary cycling. The maintenance program included therapist contact by telephone and mail and peer self-help group meetings. At posttreatment, Ss in the behavior therapy plus aerobic exercise condition lost significantly more weight than those who received behavior therapy only. Over an 18-mo follow-up period, maintenance program participants demonstrated significantly better weight-loss progress than Ss in the no-further-contact condition.
Design Considerations on Power, Performance, Reliability and Yield in 3D NAND Technology

SUMMARY This paper discusses design challenges and possible solutions for 3D NAND. A 3D NAND array inherently has a larger parasitic capacitance and thereby critical area in terms of product yield. To mitigate such issues associated with 3D NAND technology, array control and divided array architecture for improving reliability and yield and for reducing area overhead, program time, energy per bit and array noise are proposed.
Synthesis of Stimuli-Responsive Microgels for In Vitro Release of Diclofenac Diethyl Ammonium

Thermal and dual stimuli-responsive microspheres (pH and temperature) were prepared by free radical polymerization of methacrylate bovine serum albumin (BSA-MA) as cross-linker and sodium methacrylate (NaMA) and/or N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), as hydrophilic/pH-sensitive and thermo-responsive monomers, respectively. Microgels were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, morphological analysis, particle size distribution and determination of swelling properties. The network density and the shape of the microgels were found to depend on the concentration of the reactive species in the polymerization feed. Thermal analyses were performed to determine lower critical solution temperature values, which become close to the body temperature by increasing the content of the hydrophilic moieties in the network. In order to test the preformed materials as drug carriers, in vitro release studies of Diclofenac diethyl ammonium salt were performed. For all the co-polymers, a predominant drug release in the collapsed state was observed, while below the microgel transition temperature, a drug release through the swollen network occurs. The data recorded during the release tests demonstrated that the pH of the surrounding environment influences the drug release more than the temperature of the imbibing medium.
A Channel Characteristics Projection Method in MISO Systems

This paper proposes a new approach to enhance the security of MISO systems. A channel characteristics projection method is developed to secure MISO systems at the physical layer. Transmission secrecy can be guaranteed by randomness introduced by the authorized channel characteristics projection, which generates a pair of projection vectors randomly chosen as transmitting beam-former. While the inner-product between authorized channel characteristics and transmitting beam-former is always constant, the eavesdropper's one is randomly changed. Extensive simulations are conducted to demonstrate the proposed method.
Comparison between polymerase chain reaction and fungal culture for the detection of fungi in patients with chronic sinusitis and normal controls

Conclusion PCR using panfungal gene primers is a more sensitive method for fungus detection than fungus culture, both in patients with chronic sinusitis and in normal controls. The presence of fungi alone, however, was insufficient to implicate them as pathogens in chronic sinusitis. Objective Previous findings have suggested that polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods are more sensitive and reliable than conventional culture methods for the detection of fungal DNA. We therefore compared these methods in 82 patients with chronic sinusitis and 40 normal controls. Material and methods The noses of the subjects were irrigated with sterile saline, and the samples collected. The sediment from each irrigation was used for fungus culture and PCR analysis. Results PCR analysis using panfungal gene primers showed that 76/82 (92.5%) patients with chronic sinusitis and 39/40 (97.5%) normal controls were positive. In contrast, fungus cultures were positive in 19/82 (23.2%) patients with chronic sinusitis and 12/40 (30.0%) normal controls. We observed no significant between-group differences in the prevalence of fungus or in the fungal species detected.
Low threshold T‐type calcium current in rat embryonic chromaffin cells

1 The gating kinetics and functions of low threshold T‐type current in cultured chromaffin cells from rats of 19–20 days gestation (E19‐E20) were studied using the patch clamp technique. Exocytosis induced by calcium currents was monitored by the measurement of membrane capacitance and amperometry with a carbon fibre sensor. 2 In cells cultured for 1–4 days, the embryonic chromaffin cells were immunohistochemically identified by using polyclonal antibodies against dopamine β‐hydroxylase (DBH) and syntaxin. The immuno‐positive cells could be separated into three types, based on the recorded calcium current properties. Type I cells showed exclusively large low threshold T‐type current, Type II cells showed only high voltage activated (HVA) calcium channel current and Type III cells showed both T‐type and HVA currents. These cells represented 44 %, 46 % and 10 % of the total, respectively. 3 T‐type current recorded in Type I cells became detectable at −50 mV, reached its maximum amplitude of 6.8 ± 1.2 pA pF−1 (n= 5) at −10 mV and reversed around +50 mV. The current was characterized by criss‐crossing kinetics within the −50 to −30 mV voltage range and a slow deactivation (deactivation time constant, τd= 2 ms at −80 mV). The channel closing and inactivation process included both voltage‐dependent and voltage‐independent steps. The antihypertensive drug mibefradil (200 nm) reduced the current amplitude to about 65 % of control values. Ni2+ also blocked the current in a dose‐dependent manner with an IC50 of 25 μm. 4 T‐type current in Type I cells did not induce exocytosis, while catecholamine secretion by exocytosis could be induced by HVA calcium current in both Type II and Type III cells. The failure to induce exocytosis by T‐type current in Type I cells was not due to insufficient Ca2+ influx through the T‐type calcium channel. 5 We suggest that T‐type current is expressed in developing immature chromaffin cells. The T‐type current is replaced progressively by HVA calcium current during pre‐ and post‐natal development accompanying the functional maturation of the exocytosis mechanism.
Time and frequency synchronisation in all-optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems

In all-optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (AO-OFDM) systems, symbol time misalignment (STM) and subcarrier frequency offset (ScFO) result in intercarrier-interference and intersymbol interference, leading to degradation of bit error rate (BER) performance. In this study, an analytical study of the impacts of STM and ScFO on AO-OFDM system performance is conducted. In the presence of STM and ScFO, AO-OFDM system performance is evaluated with the number of subcarriers (N SC), cyclic prefix requirements and receiver bandwidth (BWRX ). For AO-OFDM system without CP, results show that the STM gives higher BER than the ScFO. To keep the BER below 10 − 3 in AO-OFDM systems with on-off keying-modulated three optical subcarriers and homodyne detection with BWRX = 30 GHz, the maximum acceptable relative deviations for the STM and the ScFO are 11 and 14%, respectively.
Sec 22 regulates ER morphology but not autophagy and is required for eye development in Drosophila

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a highly dynamic organelle that plays a critical role in many cellular processes. Abnormal ER morphology is associated with some human diseases, although little is known regarding how ER morphology is regulated. Using a forward genetic screen to identify genes that regulated ER morphology in Drosophila, we identified a mutant of Sec22, the orthologs of which in yeast, plants, and humans are required for ER to Golgi trafficking. However, the physiological function of Sec22 has not been previously investigated http://www.jbc. org/cgi/doi/10.1074/jbc.M115.640920 The latest version is at JBC Papers in Press. Published on February 10, 2015 as Manuscript M115.640920
Comparison of ship detection algorithms using ALOS-PALSAR, ground-based maritime radar, and AIS

MLCC (Multi-Look Cross-Correlation) is a useful technique to extract the images of ships embedded in sea clutter from SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data. However, the previous MLCC has a difficulty of detecting small ships since SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) is not high enough. Therefore, we developed a new Improved MLCC (IMLCC) to increase SNR to extract small boats. Although the IMLCC method increased SNR, there still remained some highly correlated noises in the coherence images caused by strong radar backscatter from sea surface. In order to improve the IMLCC algorithm further, we propose a new method of applying Lognormal-CFAR (Constant False Alarm Rate) to IMLCC coherence images. The results using ALOS-PALSAR (Advanced Land Observing Satellite-Phased Array L-band SAR) data showed substantial improvement in SNR and detection rate.
Origins of the Technology Experience Curve In 1936 , the aeronautical engineer

The use of log-linear experience curves (or learning curves) relating reductions in the unit cost of energy and environmental technologies to their cumulative production or installed capacity has become a common method of representing endogenous technical change in energy-economic models used for policy analysis. Yet, there are significant uncertainties in such formulations whose impact on key model results have been insufficiently examined or considered. This paper characterizes and discusses the major types of uncertainties and their implications. We first review the literature on theoretical and empirical foundations for the log-linear experience curve formulation and its implied causality. We then review the recent literature presenting other models of causality and evidence for other (non-linear) shapes of an experience curve. The latter includes data on historical cost trends in the early deployment of environmental technologies for power plants, which depart substantially from the log-linear model. Ignoring these and other types of uncertainties that are discussed can result in erroneous or misleading model conclusions with policy implications. Suggestions are offered on ways to improve the characterization and reporting of uncertainties and their impact on the results of energy-economic models.
A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th Century: From the Catwalk to the Sidewalk

The twentieth century saw the effective end of haute couture, the rise of prêt a porter and, finally, the triumph of street fashion. A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th Century unravels the complexities and contradictions behind these changes to chart the history of modern fashion. What caused the demise of haute couture in the twentieth century? What does the 'democratization' of fashion actually mean? Which key designers bridged the gap between 'couture', with its associations of elite class and taste, and 'street style', a product of tribalism and of popular culture and protest? If fashion imitates art and art imitates life, does life imitate fashion do we wear the clothes or do the clothes wear us? Setting fashion within its social, cultural and artistic context, A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th Century presents an engaging history of the interplay between commerce and culture, technology and aesthetics, popular culture and pastiche, and fashion and anti-fashion.
Hybrid-integrated RF MEMS-based reference oscillator using a silicon-ceramic composite substrate

In this paper, the design of a RF MEMS oscillator on a silicon-ceramic composite substrate using a high-Q Lamb-wave resonator as frequency-selective device is described. The MEMS resonator is designed on a 1.8 μm thick piezoelectric AlN layer, deposited on silicon using thin-film processes. The finite-element simulation results of the resonator structure are presented, and the derivation of the electrical equivalent-circuit is described. The active part of the MEMS oscillator, which was laid out in a Pierce topology, has been integrated in an application-specific integrated circuit fabricated in CMOS technology. Both, amplifying and frequency-selective parts are hybrid-integrated on a unique silicon-ceramic composite substrate, which enables a very compact high-quality module design with minimal parasitics. The MEMS oscillator serves as a technology demonstrator combining the advantages of microelectronic and microelectromechanical components towards a compact and power-efficient hybrid technology, e.g. for mobile communications or wireless sensors.
Adaptive modelling strategy for continuous multi-objective optimization

The Pareto optimal set of a continuous multi- objective optimization problem is a piecewise continuous manifold under some mild conditions. We have recently developed several multi-objective evolutionary algorithms based on this property. However, the modelling methods used in these algorithms are rather costly. In this paper, a cheap and effective modelling strategy is proposed for building the probabilistic models of promising solutions. A new criterion is proposed for measuring the convergence of the algorithm. The locality degree of each local model is adjusted according to the proposed convergence criterion. Experimental results show that the algorithm with the proposed strategy is very promising.
Comment on 'Measurement and relevance of maximum metabolic rate in fishes by Norin & Clark (2016)'.

In the recent special issue pertaining to metabolic rates, Norin & Clark (2016) were given the difficult task of defining and providing guidance on the estimation of maximum aerobic metabolic rate (MMR) in fishes while also interpreting the ecological relevance of past investigations. As relatively new practitioners in comparative and conservation physiology, we were enthused by the prospect of having a clear set of comprehensive definitions and guidelines to work from. The authors certainly provided some useful guidance, i.e. by acknowledging the need for precision when measuring rate of oxygen uptake (ṀO2) and the importance of selecting the appropriate methodology for the species of interest. A more precise definition and thorough discussion of how to estimate MMR would, however, be beneficial. Furthermore, we were compelled to emphasize that great care is needed when using Q10 temperature coefficients to scale MMR. The authors defined MMR as ‘. the maximum rate of oxygen consumption (ṀO2max). ’, and stated that it was ‘. typically used to represent the maximum rate of aerobic metabolism. ’. While later in the article the authors do address some significant issues with the use of ṀO2max to represent the maximum aerobic metabolic rate, these limitations and others that were not addressed are fundamental to a comprehensive understanding of MMR and should, therefore, receive further attention. The primary issue with this definition is that the rate of oxygen uptake from the external environment is not the same as metabolic rate, a fact well established by Fry (1947) (Claireaux & Chabot, 2016). Rather, the rate of oxygen uptake can only be assumed to be proportional to aerobic metabolic rate when a fish is in a steady state (Wood & Perry, 1985), but even then, mitochondrial uncoupling likely accounts for a portion of the cellular oxygen consumption (Rolfe & Brown, 1997; Hulbert & Else, 2004). During fatiguing or exhaustive exercise fish are not in a steady state, internal energy stores (O2 and high-energy phosphates) are depleted as they transition to anaerobic metabolism and are rapidly replenished post exercise (Scarabello et al.,
Context-Dependent Role of IKKβ in Cancer

Inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit beta (IKKβ) is a kinase principally known as a positive regulator of the ubiquitous transcription factor family Nuclear Factor-kappa B (NF-κB). In addition, IKKβ also phosphorylates a number of other proteins that regulate many cellular processes, from cell cycle to metabolism and differentiation. As a consequence, IKKβ affects cell physiology in a variety of ways and may promote or hamper tumoral transformation depending on hitherto unknown circumstances. In this article, we give an overview of the NF-κB-dependent and -independent functions of IKKβ. We also summarize the current knowledge about the relationship of IKKβ with cellular transformation and cancer, obtained mainly through the study of animal models with cell type-specific modifications in IKKβ expression or activity. Finally, we describe the most relevant data about IKKβ implication in cancer obtained from the analysis of the human tumoral samples gathered in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC).
On the correlation between heterozygosity and fitness in natural populations

Three primary hypotheses currently prevail for correlations between heterozygosity at a set of molecular markers and fitness in natural populations. First, multilocus heterozygosity–fitness correlations might result from selection acting directly on the scored loci, such as at particular allozyme loci. Second, significant levels of linkage disequilibrium, as in recently bottlenecked‐and‐expanded populations, might cause associations between the markers and fitness loci in the local chromosomal vicinity. Third, in partially inbred populations, heterozygosity at the markers might reflect variation in the inbreeding coefficient and might associate with fitness as a result of effects of homozygosity at genome‐wide distributed loci. Despite years of research, the relative importance of these hypotheses remains unclear. The screening of heterozygosity at polymorphic DNA markers offers an opportunity to resolve this issue, and relevant empirical studies have now emerged. We provide an account of the recent progress on the subject, and give suggestions on how to distinguish between the three hypotheses in future studies.