Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intracellular distribution of transgenic bacterial β‐galactosidase in central nervous system neurons and neuroglia

Bacterial β‐galactosidase is widely used as a marker for gene expression and in cell tracing experiments. In a survey of three transgenic mouse lines expressing β‐galactosidase in the central nervous system (CNS) under the control of different promotors, we find substantial variation in the intracellular distribution of the lacZ protein. In line MβP5, transgene β‐galactosidase expression is driven by a promoter/enhancer fragment from the oligodendrocyte‐specific myelin basic protein gene; however, electron microscopy of histochemically stained preparations revels transgene expression not only in oligodendrocytes but also in some neurons. Immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase staining show the β‐galactosidase protein distributed throughout the perikaryal cytoplasm of oligodendrocytes and in processes reaching to myelin sheaths. By contrast, immunoreactive protein appears restricted in neurons to one or a few small perikaryal immunoreactive granules. The granules are visible in the electron microscope as amorphous inclusion bodies of moderate electron density and lack a limiting membrane. Histochemical staining patterns with X‐gal and Bluo‐gal echoed the protein distribution: diffuse distribution of enzyme protein yielded cells filled with substrate, while punctate enzyme distribution yielded restricted or punctate histochemical staining. Examination of two other lines using different promoter/enhancers to drive expression in the CNS showed both diffuse and punctate β‐galactosidase immunolocalization and histochemical staining. The amount of protein synthesized or other properties, yet unidentified, intrinsic to the target cells may determine the intracellular distribution of β‐galactosidase. In retroviral marking studies, clone members have been identified as those cells filled with X‐gal reaction product. This approach may underestimate both clone size and the minimum number of divisions separating the members of each clone. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
OpenCL 2.0 Compiler Adaptation on LLVM for PTX Simulators

OpenCL continues to gather momentum on both desktop and mobile devices. The new features of OpenCL 2.0 provides developers better expressive power in programming heterogeneous computing environments. Currently in the experimental simulation environment, gem5-gpu only supports CUDA, but GPGPU-Sim can support OpenCL by compiling OpenCL kernel code to PTX using real GPU driver. However, this driver compilation in GPGPU-Sim only can support up to OpenCL 1.2. To support OpenCL 2.0, it is necessary to extend the compiler to enable the compilation of OpenCL 2.0 kernel code to PTX. In this paper, our experience in enabling the compiler flow is reported. In OpenCL 2.0, it provides new features such as dynamic parallelism, work-group built-in functions, extend atomic builtin functions, and so on. The proposed compiler that is modified from Low Level Virtual Machine (LLVM) extends such features for enhancing the emulator to support OpenCL 2.0. After the compiler is modified, it can support dynamic parallelism, workgroup built-in functions and extend atomic built-in functions. Using existing dynamic parallelism APIs in CUDA to implement OpenCL 2.0 enqueue kernel and revise compilation scheme in clang. Furthermore, the proposed compiler also creates local buffers for each work group to use for work-group builtin functions, and adds atomic built-in functions with memory order and memory scope for OpenCL 2.0 in NVPTX. From benchmarks, the proposed compiler can support the claim target.
Bilinear system approximation-based inverted pendulum stabilization in three dimensions

This paper considers inverse optimal control design for an inverted pendulum with three-dimensional movements. We show that the inverted pendulum model can be transformed into the bilinear system via a quadratic approximation and coordinate/input transformations. Then, the inverse optimal controller proposed in one of our previous works is applied to the resulting bilinear system. We next show that the present scheme has a better performance than traditional linear optimal control for linearly approximated systems by effectively utilizing the vertical movement of the pendulum system. This result is confirmed by conducting numerical simulations.
Personal, Social and Environmental Factors regarding Fruit and Vegetable Intake among Schoolchildren in Nine European Countries

Background/Aims: Children in Europe are consuming less fruit and vegetables than recommended. Knowledge about the potential determinants of fruit and vegetable intake is vital to understand discrepancies in intake and to guide interventions. The aim of the present study was to assess personal, social and environmental factors regarding fruit and vegetable intake among 11- to 12-year-old children in Europe. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken, with nationally or regionally representative samples of in total 13,305 children (mean age 11.4 years) from nine European countries. Pupils in the classroom completed a self-administered questionnaire measuring fruit and vegetable intake and personal, social and environmental factors during one school lesson. Age-adjusted covariance analyses were carried out by gender, for the full sample and for each country separately. Proportions responding positively to the constructs are presented. Results: Overall, European children held a positive attitude towards fruit and vegetable intake. For some constructs, large between-country differences were found. Children had a more positive attitude towards fruit than towards vegetables, and girls were on average more positive than boys. The children perceived their social environment as supportive towards fruit and vegetable intake. They reported good to very good availability of fruit and vegetables at home. However, availability at school and during leisure time activities seemed to be low, both for fruit and for vegetables. Conclusion: A large majority of the children reported positively to the personal and social factors regarding fruit and vegetable intake. As regards availability of fruit and vegetables at school and leisure time, and accessibility of fruit and vegetables at home, there is room for improvement.
[Digestive and hemorrhage complications of low-dose aspirin].

INTRODUCTION The gastro-intestinal (GI) toxicity associated with high dose aspirin has been fully demonstrated, but remains poorly elucidated at low doses i.e., less than 500 mg/day. Such toxicity is relatively difficult to study because lesional and/or bleeding GI complications are not always well described in studies. The objective of this review is to compile a documented inventory of GI complications induced by low-dose aspirin. METHODOLOGY This review is based on a detailed review of randomized studies, case-control and cohort studies which aim to study the GI toxicity of low-dose aspirin. These studies have been selected based on specific criteria from works published from 1983 to 2003 (PubMed). RESULTS In 8 randomized, placebo-controlled or group-controlled studies, erosions, in particular gastric erosions, are more frequent in the elderly than in younger subjects. On the other hand, the prevalence of gastric and duodenal ulcers does not appear to be significantly increased except in specific cases. The most significant complications are GI bleeding described only in 3% of cases. Among randomized studies which have evaluated the cardiovascular and neurological usefulness of low-dose aspirin, 16 have evaluated GI safety and tolerability as a secondary end-point. These studies demonstrated a non-significant increase in esophageal, gastric and duodenal ulcers during treatment with low-dose aspirin (Odds Ratio = 1.22, P = 0.08), but a significant increase in bleeding ulcers (Odds Ratio = 1.77, P = 0.04). These complications seem to occur in rare cases (less than 3% of patients) and often seem minor. Nevertheless, ulcers have been less studied than bleeding because few endoscopic analyses have been performed in these studies. The gastro-duodenal bleeding related to erosions or ulcers are significantly more frequent with Odds Ratios between 1.3 and 3.3 (P < 0.05). There are 8 case-controlled studies and 1 cohort follow-up study which confirm the increased GI risk with low-dose aspirin. GI bleeding adverse effects related mainly to gastro-duodenal ulcers are more frequent in case of the regular use of aspirin. CONCLUSION The GI risk exists, starting with the lowest doses and appears to be dose-dependent. The lesional complications consist mainly of erosive lesions, most often gastric, and rarely true ulcers. Cases of bleeding appear more frequent, but generally are minor. This risk should be taken into account by the prescribing physician and the patient should be informed when treatment with low-dose aspirin is initiated.
An Extrinsic Optical Fiber Bending Sensor: A Theoretical Investigation and Validation

This paper presents the theoretical investigation and experimental validation of an extrinsic optical fiber bending sensor based on intensity modulation with automatic compensation. The proposed optical fiber bending sensor can measure continuous bending movement in flexion, extension, and lateral directions, simultaneously. The theoretical study is significant in choosing the most suitable parameter values for the sensor so that its sensitivity and working range are applicable for spine monitoring application. The fabricated bending sensor also shows a minimum signal fluctuation due to temperature effect.
Re-examination of the psychometric characteristics of the La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale.

The purpose of this study was to provide further psychometric testing of the 41-item La Monica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale (LOPSS). Data were drawn from three studies designed to study a model of nurse specialist transitional care (n = 307). Previously, the scale had been tested with oncology patients. This study included three groups of nononcologic female patients. Potential scores on the LOPSS range from 41 to 205; actual scores ranged from 93 to 205, with a mean of 175 (SD = 24), indicating a positively skewed distribution. Coefficient alpha for the entire scale was . 98. An examination of the individual items indicated that the LOPSS might be shortened without subsequent loss of information. Thirteen items with low item-total correlations or low variability were dropped. The resulting 28-item scale had a mean of 118.7 and a SD of 17.3. Coefficient alpha was . 97. The results of a factor analysis of the revised scale were similar to those reported by La Monica, Oberst, Madea, and Wolf (1986). The results indicate that the scale is useful for nononcologic patients. The difficulty remains the positively skewed distribution of scores. More sensitive items need to be developed.
Serial assessment of peak VO2 and VO2 kinetics early after heart transplantation.

PURPOSE Serial evaluation of aerobic metabolism and exercise tolerance early after heart transplantation (HT). METHODS Fifteen heart transplant recipients (HTR), aged 52.0 +/- 9.9 yr (mean +/- SD), not undergoing structured rehabilitation programs, were tested two to four times during the first 2 yr post-HT. As a reference, a group of 11 healthy untrained controls (C) was utilized. Peak heart rate (peak HR), peak O2 uptake (peak VO2), and ventilatory threshold (VT) were determined during incremental bicycle exercise to voluntary exhaustion. VO2 kinetics were evaluated during constant-load exercise below VT, with determination of the duration of the "cardiodynamic" component (TDp) and of the time constant of the "primary" component (taup). RESULTS Peak VO2 (L.min-1) was positively related to months post-HT (y=1.17 + 0.02x, P=0.003), and it increased by approximately 30% during the investigated period, although values in HTR were lower than in C (2.19 +/- 0.24). Peak HR was lower in HTR (136 +/- 15 beats.min-1) than in C (168 +/- 5), and it was not related to time post-HT. TDp was longer in HTR (31.4 +/- 6.3 s) than in C (23.2 +/- 6.1), and it was not related to time post-HT. A subgroup of HTR with markedly longer taup during the first months post-HT showed a significant decrease of this parameter as a function of time post-HT. CONCLUSIONS Aerobic metabolism is impaired in HTR. Both central (cardiovascular) and peripheral (skeletal muscle) factors contribute to the reduced exercise tolerance. HTR showed, during the first 2 yr post-HT, a significant increase in peak VO2 and (in the patients with the slowest VO2 kinetics during the first months after HT) a significant improvement of the VO2 kinetics. The main gains seem to occur at the peripheral level.
Constitutive activation of MAP kinase kinase (MEK1) is critical and sufficient for the activation of MMP-2.

We investigated the role of MEK1 signaling in MMP-2 activation by use of constitutive active/dominant negative forms of MEK1 and MEK1-specific inhibitor. We found that cell transformation with active forms of MEK1 dramatically increased secretion and proteolytic activation of MMP-2 and subsequently stimulated invasiveness of cells. Contrary, expression of dominant negative form of MEK1 in v-src-transformed cells or in Con A-activated cells resulted in the suppression of the augmented secretion and proteolytic activation of MMP-2. In addition, treatment of v-src-transformed cells with PD98059, a MEK1-specific inhibitor, strongly suppressed the secretion and activation of MMP-2, whereas treatment with wortmannin, a PI3 kinase inhibitor, showed no clear effect on MMP-2 secretion. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that MEK-MAP kinase signaling, but not PI3 kinase signaling, plays a critical role in the activation of MMP-2 secretion and, subsequently, in the invasiveness of v-src-transformed cells.
Vascular abnormalities in primary amyloidosis.

AIMS Primary amyloidosis (AL) is a systemic disease; however, there is limited information regarding the presence and character of vascular abnormalities. METHODS AND RESULTS Validated ultrasound techniques were used to prospectively determine carotid artery intimal-medial thickness (IMT) and brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in 59 consecutive AL patients and 17 age-similar, healthy, asymptomatic volunteers (CON). Carotid IMT was increased in AL when compared with CON (0.07 +/- 0.02 vs. 0.04 +/- 0.01 mm, P < 0.01). Similarly, brachial artery FMD was significantly lower in AL when compared with CON subjects (3 +/- 7 vs. 12 +/- 8%, P < 0.01). Multivariable analysis revealed that AL was associated with larger IMT and lower FMD after controlling for several confounding variables. However, within AL cases, there was not a significant association of cardiac vs. non-cardiac involvement with IMT or FMD (P = 0.1 and 0.2, respectively). CONCLUSION AL is associated with abnormal vascular morphology and endothelial dysfunction. Vascular abnormalities do not appear to be related to echocardiographic evidence of cardiac involvement.
3D Gray Level Moment Invariants: A Novel Shape Representation

D moment invariants are traditionally based on region characteristics and the location of every pixel point, this will cause high calculation cost. In this paper, a novel shape representation named 3D gray level moment invariants is constructed.Some properties of the new representation including the independence of the translation, scaling and rotation transforms are proved.Experiments indicate an encouraging high recognition rates without reducing the recognition performance compared with traditional methods.
Liquid Monitoring System in Industrial Tanks with Ultrasonic Sensor

Recent advances in areas such as microelectronic, digital electronic, and wireless communications enable the development of low cost sensors with energy efficiency and small scale. In this work, a prototype of a monitoring system for liquids in industrial tanks with an ultrasonic sensor is developed. A software that interpret readings from the ultrasonic sensor is also designed and the proposed system is used to monitor the liquid volume inside the tanks. An open–source platform called Arduino is considered for the hardware in order to manage and interpret data from the sensor. Experiments with a rectangular base tank filled with water showed that the proposed monitoring system is efficient, since the volume sensed closely reaches the real one. Keywords— Liquid Monitoring, Ultrasonic Sensor, Arduino.
Superparamagnetic iron oxide: clinical application as a contrast agent for MR imaging of the liver.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide (ferrite) particles were evaluated as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. In this pilot study, doses ranging from 10 to 50 mumol/kg were administered intravenously to 15 patients. Ferrite-enhanced images of the liver obtained with standard pulse sequence techniques significantly increased the number of hepatic lesions detected (P less than .01) and reduced the threshold size for detection to 3 mm (P less than .01). The improved clinical performance of ferrite-enhanced images correlated with significant increases in measured contrast-to-noise ratios (P less than .01). Degradation of superparamagnetic activity and/or clearance of ferrite from the liver was demonstrated as early as 12 hours after injection, suggesting that the lack of chronic toxicity observed in animal studies may be reproduced in humans. These initial clinical results appear to confirm extensive preclinical data indicating that ferrite administered at a dose of 20 mumol/kg has the potential to significantly improve the performance of abdominal MR imaging.
A Low-Loss Surface Plasmonic Bragg Grating

A low-loss Bragg grating structure based on insulator-metal-insulator surface plasmonic waveguide is investigated theoretically. Performance of the gratings is simulated by rigorous numerical methods and interesting features, such as low scattering and absorption losses and more symmetrical reflection spectra, etc., are demonstrated against key design parameters.
THz transmission using QAM-16 and 32 Gbit/s on 25m

We investigate in this work THz transmission using photonic devices at emission and Schottky-based receivers. At 385 GHz and 25 meters distance, up to 32 Gbit/s signal have been achieved with a clearly defined constellations with a single THz carrier and polarization. The link established works in Line-of-sight and features a high directivity.
Maidese Versus Motherese — Is The Language Input of Child and Adult Caregivers Similar?

This paper considers whether there is any difference in the amount and characteristics of language addressed to infants by their primary caregivers, the maid and the mother, in a society where multiple caregiving is commonplace. It also considers any possible effect on motherese of the mothers' belief in reincarnation. The language of 16 mothers and their 16 maids with 12-month old infants, was analyzed. There were significant differences in the amount of language and types of utterances, but few differences in the functions of the utterances or topics introduced.
Relevance Feedback on Keyword Space for Interactive Information Retrieval

The relevance feedback techniques have been studied in the field of document retrieval, aiming to generate appropriate queries for users’ information needs. Conventional relevance feedback techniques are performed on document space, while the resultant queries should be represented in keyword space. In this paper, it is proposed to perform relevance feedback on keyword space. The relevance feedback is supposed to work with interactive keyword map system, which visualizes the relationship between keywords extracted from retrieved results. As the first step for realizing relevance feedback based on interactive keyword map, this paper also proposes the algorithm for extracting the pair of keywords that reflects a user’s interest from the keyword map. Experimental results are given for showing how the algorithm works on the keyword map that is modified by the user.
Employee share ownership and organisational performance: a tentative opening of the black box

Purpose – A range of studies have shown that performance is typically higher in organisations with employee share ownership (ESO) schemes in place. Many possible causal mechanisms explaining this relationship have been suggested. These include a reduction in labour turnover, synergies with other forms of productivity-enhancing communication and participation schemes, and synergies with employer-provided training. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper empirically assesses these potential linkages using data from the 2004 and 2011 British Workplace Employment Relations Surveys, and provides comparisons with earlier analyses conducted on the 1990 and 1998 versions of the survey. Findings – Substantial differences are found between the 2004 and 2011 results: a positive relationship between ESO and workplace productivity and financial performance, observed in 2004, is no longer present in 2011. In both years, ESO is found to have no clear relationship with labour turnover, and there is no significant association between turnover and performance. There is, however, a positive moderating relationship with downward communication schemes in 2004 and in 2011 in the case of labour productivity. There is no corresponding relationship for upward involvement schemes. Research limitations/implications – The results are only partially supportive of extant theory and its various predictions, and the relationship between ESO and performance seems to have weakened over time. Originality/value – The study further questions the rhetoric offered in support of wider ESO.
Integrated High-Frequency Power Converters Based on GaAs pHEMT: Technology Characterization and Design Examples

The potential of GaAs pHEMT technology for high-frequency power-switching applications is discussed within the context of integrated power supplies for portable wireless systems. Various technology considerations are presented, including the optimization of the power-switching transistor and passives integration. Two design examples for integrated dc-dc converters are implemented in a 0.5-μm GaAs E/D pHEMT process. The first uses coupled inductors to reduce the current ripple and enhance the dynamic performance of the converter. The two-phase, 0.5 A/phase converter occupies 2 mm × 2.1 mm without the output network. An 8.7-nH filter coupled inductor is implemented in 65-μm-thick top copper metal layer, and flip-chip bonded to the dc-dc converter board. The presented converter converts 4.5-V input to 3.3-V output at 150-MHz switching frequency with a measured power efficiency of 84%, which is one of the highest efficiencies reported to date for similar current/voltage ratings. The second example is a hysteric controlled, 100-MHz switching frequency single-phase GaAs pHEMT buck converter designed to drive power amplifier loads. The design can deliver up to 37-dB·m output power and has a peak efficiency of 88% and a 3-dB bandwidth of 14.5 MHz.