Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficiency of energy utilisation and voluntary feed intake in ruminants

Energy requirements of animals are most readily expressed in terms of net energy (NE), while the energy yield of feed is, at least initially, expressed in terms of metabolisable energy (ME). Energy evaluation systems ‘translate’ NE requirements into ME requirements (ME systems) or assign NE values to feeds (NE systems). Efficiency of ME utilisation is higher for maintenance than for production and the NE yield of a feed varies, therefore, with ME intake. In addition, energetic efficiency for maintenance and production is thought to be different for lactating and non-lactating animals and to be affected by diet quality. As a result, there are currently many national energy evaluation systems that are complex, differ in their approach and are, as a result, difficult to compare. As ruminants in most production systems are fed ad libitum, this is also the most appropriate intake level at which to estimate energetic efficiency. Analyses of older as well as more recent data suggest that ad libitum feeding (i) abolishes the effects of diet quality on energetic efficiency (almost) completely, (ii) abolishes the differences between lactating and non-lactating animals (almost) entirely and (iii) results in overall energetic efficiencies that are always close to 0.6. The paper argues that there is now sufficient information to develop an international energy evaluation system for ad libitum fed ruminants. Such a system should (i) unify ME and NE systems, (ii) avoid the systematic bias and large errors that can be associated with current systems (iii) be simpler than current systems and (iv) have as a starting point a constant efficiency of ME utilisation, with a value of around 0.6. The remarkably constant efficiency of ME utilisation in ad libitum fed ruminants could be the result of energetic efficiency as well as feed intake regulation being affected by the same variables or of a direct role of energetic efficiency in feed intake regulation. Models to predict intake on the basis of the latter hypothesis are already available for non-reproducing ruminants but remain to be developed for reproducing animals.
Signet-ring cell change in pseudomembranous colitis versus signet-ring cell carcinoma.

To the Editor: We read with interest the recent article by Wang et al comparing the morphologic and phenotypic features of 14 cases of signet-ring cell change (SCC) nonneoplastic conditions with those of signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCA). Signet-ring cells are usually associated with mucus-producing malignant epithelial tumors; however, they also may be found in nonepithelial neoplasms and in reactive conditions in a variety of locations. Thus, the occurrence of benign signet-ring cells in colon may greatly increase the risk of a diagnostic mistake, especially in small, endoscopic biopsies and in patients with a history of colonic carcinoma as occurred in two cases. A few months earlier, our group reported the clinical, microscopic, and immunohistochemical features of 2 cases of pseudomembranous colitis showing SCC, with revision of 4 other previous cases. In our cases, the signet-ring cells were mucicarmine-positive, and their immunoprofile agreed with the finding of Wang et al regarding the usefulness of Ki-67, E-cadherin, and p53 to differentiate SCC from SRCA. Additionally, we pointed out that immunohistochemical studies for collagen IV and laminin could be helpful to show that signet-ring cells are inside the crypts completely surrounded by intact basal lamina. The article by Wang et al also was focused on determining the incidence of SCC in pseudomembranous colitis, which was of 28%, with none of these 50 patients having associated toxic megacolon. This unexpectedly high incidence of SCC was probably because of a lack of meticulousness in the microscopic study of surgical specimens from previously clinically diagnosed nonneoplastic conditions. Importantly, although some authors have claimed that the presence of SCC in pseudomembranous colitis can be associated with a fulminant course, our findings do not support this hypothesis. In the Wang et al series, the patient with fulminant ulcerative colitis had extensive areas of SCC. Unfortunately, these authors do not mention the presence of SCC in pseudomembranous colitis as a putative factor worsening the clinical course of the disease.
Guest Editorial Special Issue on Hybrid Intelligence for Internet of Vehicles

The papers in this special section focus on hybrid intelligence for the Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV). IoV refers to dynamic mobile communication systems that communicate between vehicles and public networks using vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-road, vehicle-to-human, and vehicle-to-sensor interactions. It enables information sharing and the gathering of information on vehicles, roads, and their surroundings. Moreover, it features the processing, computing, sharing, and secure release of information onto information platforms. Based on this data, the system can effectively guide and supervise vehicles and provide abundant multimedia and mobile Internet application services. The major subjects of these papers cover methodologies, modeling, analysis, and newly introduced communication technologies and applications. More specifically, main topics are computational intelligence for ambient-assisted driving, human behavior analysis, modeling and understanding, driver’s activity recognition, processing of sensor data, vehicle communication, information security, mobile social networks, and machine learning. All of these papers not only provide novel ideas and state-of-the-art techniques in the field, but also stimulate future research in the sustainable environment.
Flexibility in the ABC transporter MsbA: Alternating access with a twist

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are integral membrane proteins that translocate a wide variety of substrates across cellular membranes and are conserved from bacteria to humans. Here we compare four x-ray structures of the bacterial ABC lipid flippase, MsbA, trapped in different conformations, two nucleotide-bound structures and two in the absence of nucleotide. Comparison of the nucleotide-free conformations of MsbA reveals a flexible hinge formed by extracellular loops 2 and 3. This hinge allows the nucleotide-binding domains to disassociate while the ATP-binding half sites remain facing each other. The binding of the nucleotide causes a packing rearrangement of the transmembrane helices and changes the accessibility of the transporter from cytoplasmic (inward) facing to extracellular (outward) facing. The inward and outward openings are mediated by two different sets of transmembrane helix interactions. Altogether, the conformational changes between these structures suggest that large ranges of motion may be required for substrate transport.
Plug-configure-Play Service-oriented Gateway - For Fast and Easy Sensor Network Application Development

Sensor Networks are typically designed for specific applications. We propose to transfer applicationspecific tasks from internal sensor networks to external applications, and making sensor networks universal infrastructure connected with gateways. This paper illustrates how we make the development of external sensor network applications fast and easy through our elaborately-designed gateway. Our “smart” gateway is resource-oriented other than just interconnects different networks transparently. It encapsulates the data, capabilities and information of heterogeneous sensor networks to homogenous resources. Besides, the gateway is plug-configure-play in the sense that it’s a common gateway for any type of sensor networks. A universal program and information related with specific sensor networks are separated in the gateway, and you can update the information (i.e., configuration) easily. In this paper, we realize and verify our ideas in
Obsessive-compulsive disorder in a birth cohort of 18-year-olds: prevalence and predictors.

OBJECTIVE To report descriptive epidemiological information on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in an unselected birth cohort of 930 males and females, aged 18 years. METHOD An epidermiological study of the prevalence of self-reported OCD at age 18, and a longitudinal analysis of the prospective predictors of OCD. RESULTS Using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, the authors found a 1-year prevalence rate of 4%, with a male-female ratio of 0.7:1. The majority of OCD cases met criteria for a comorbid disorder, most commonly depression (62%), social phobia (38%), and substance dependence (alcohol 24%, marijuana 19%). CONCLUSIONS Data collected on the sample from birth to age 18 years indicated that many childhood risk factors theorized in the literature did not predict OCD in this sample. However, a history of depression and substance use were prospective risk factors for OCD.
Do Liquidated Damages Encourage Breach? A Psychological Experiment

This paper offers experimental evidence that parties are more willing to exploit efficient breach opportunities when the contract in question includes a liquidated damages clause. The moral obligations entailed by a contractual promise implicate unusually robust moral intuitions, which may deter parties from breaching even when there is an economic incentive to do so. However, those intuitions are not immutable. Decision researchers have found experimental evidence that, when social norms are in conflict with efficiency incentives, a more explicit incentive structure leads to more self-interested behavior. Liquidated damages are a means of making the sanction for breach explicit within a contract. The hypothesis of this research is that parties will be less resistant to breaching a contract that includes a liquidated damages clause. In a series of web-based questionnaires, subjects read contracts scenarios involving efficient breach opportunities. Subjects were asked to imagine themselves in the position of the promisor, and to indicate in each case the lowest offer that they would accept (from a hypothetical third-party offeror) to breach each contract. Subjects were randomly assigned to read either that their contract had a liquidated damages clause specifying damages for breach, or they were assigned to read an identical scenario in which the same damages were said to be "required by the law of contracts. " Subjects in the liquidated damages condition gave much lower willingness-to-accept responses; they were willing to breach for less money. This was true even when the liquidated damages clause included a slight penalty on top of the promisee's expected loss. I argue that a liquidated damages clause clarifies the respective normative expectations of the parties, permitting efficient breach without repudiation of the mutual understanding.
The DCM stability issue of voltage regulators using a current-mode constant on-time controller control

In recent years, constant on-time (COT) controllers for voltage regulators have received much attention because of their characteristics of high conversion efficiency under light-load conditions. Among the varieties of COT controllers, the current-mode version in combination with a DC output voltage offset correction (OC) circuit is considered in this paper. In the past, discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM) operation has been considered trivial and there was no stability problem under such a condition. But it was observed, in practice, instability can occur under such a condition. And it is critically important to have a rigorous stability analysis because the converter is usually in DCM operation under light-load condition. Describing function approach was usually used to obtain the stability behavior of the converter in which the duty cycle modulator is ripple-based, but it is infeasible under DCM operation. In this paper, a different approach, a time-domain analysis, is used to establish the stability criterion. The criterion is verified and proven to be useful for minimizing the controller chip area of the RC filter in the OC circuit.
A feasibility study of awake videolaryngoscope‐assisted intubation in patients with periglottic tumour using the channelled King Vision® videolaryngoscope

Airway management in patients with periglottic tumour is a high‐risk procedure with potentially serious consequences. There is no consensus on how best to secure the airway in this group of patients. We conducted a feasibility study of awake tracheal intubation using a King Vision® videolaryngoscope with a channelled blade in a cohort of 25 patients, with a periglottic tumour requiring diagnostic or radical surgery. We used 10% and 4% lidocaine to topicalise the airway and midazolam and remifentanil for sedation. We recorded the success rate, number of attempts, time to obtain glottic view, time to intubation and complications. Twenty‐three of the 25 patients (92%, 95%CI 75–98%) were intubated with the awake videolaryngoscope‐assisted technique, with 17/23 (74%, 95%CI 54–87%) intubations achieved at the first attempt. Five patients required two and one patient, three attempts at intubation. Two patients (8%, 95%CI 2–25%) could not tolerate the procedure due to inadequate topical anaesthesia. Median (IQR [range]) times to obtain glottic view and to intubate were 19 (17–22 [10–30]) s and 49 (42–71 [33–107]) s, respectively. Traces of blood in the airway were observed in 4/25 (16%, 95%CI 6–35%) patients. Although airway management in this group of patients was expected to be difficult, successful awake intubation with the King Vision videolaryngoscope was achieved in the majority of patients within less than a minute. This study highlights a number of potential advantages of awake videolaryngoscope‐assisted intubation over other awake methods of securing the airway in patients with upper airway obstruction due to periglottic mass.
Rats do react to stimulus omission.

1. The great majority of data supporting the hypothesis of a system capable of comparing current sensorial inputs with an internal representation of the environment comes from studies about exploratory activity to new stimuli or to manipulation of features of a familiar stimulus. On the other hand, these data could also be explained simply by arousal constructs. In this context, demonstrations of exploratory behavior to the absence of a previously presented stimulus (i.e., stimulus omission) would provide stronger support for the idea of a comparator. 2. To test the reaction of rats to the absence of a stimulus, rats were submitted to 7 exploratory trials in an open-field. In the 1st trial there were only two patterns on the apparatus wall. In trials 2-6 a stimulus was presented in a designated area of the field. Finally, in the 7th trial this stimulus was omitted. Results showed that the animals reacted to the stimulus omission by spending more time in the stimulus presentation place during the 7th trial than 1) in the 1st trial (also without stimulus), 2) in the 6th trial (last trial with a stimulus present), and 3) in 3 neutral sectors of the same size as the stimulus presentation place, during the 7th trial. 3. These data indicate that rats do react to the absence of a familiar stimulus and provide strong support for the existence of a Comparator System since the rats responded to "something that wasn't there anymore", a response that could only be due to a reaction triggered by a mismatch between internal representation of the environment and its present state.
Convex interpolation and performance estimation of first-order methods for convex optimization

The goal of this thesis is to show how to derive in a completely automated way exact and global worst-case guarantees for first-order methods in convex optimization. To this end, we formulate a generic optimization problem looking for the worst-case scenarios. The worst-case computation problems, referred to as performance estimation problems (PEPs), are intrinsically infinite-dimensional optimization problems formulated over a given class of objective functions. To render those problems tractable, we develop (smooth and non-smooth) convex interpolation framework, which provides necessary and sufficient conditions to interpolate our objective functions. With this idea, we transform PEPs into solvable finite-dimensional semidefinite programs, from which one obtains worst-case guarantees and worst-case functions, along with the corresponding explicit proofs. PEPs already proved themselves very useful as a tool for developing convergence analyses of first-order optimization methods. Among others, PEPs allow obtaining exact guarantees for gradient methods, along with their inexact, projected, proximal, conditional, decentralized and accelerated versions.
Nanopore-facilitated, voltage-driven phosphatidylserine translocation in lipid bilayers—in cells and in silico

Nanosecond, megavolt-per-meter pulses—higher power but lower total energy than the electroporative pulses used to introduce normally excluded material into biological cells—produce large intracellular electric fields without destructively charging the plasma membrane. Nanoelectropulse perturbation of mammalian cells causes translocation of phosphatidylserine (PS) to the outer face of the cell, intracellular calcium release, and in some cell types a subsequent progression to apoptosis. Experimental observations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of membranes in pulsed electric fields presented here support the hypothesis that nanoelectropulse-induced PS externalization is driven by the electric potential that appears across the lipid bilayer during a pulse and is facilitated by the poration of the membrane that occurs even during pulses as brief as 3 ns. MD simulations of phospholipid bilayers in supraphysiological electric fields show a tight association between PS externalization and membrane pore formation on a nanosecond time scale that is consistent with experimental evidence for electropermeabilization and anode-directed PS translocation after nanosecond electric pulse exposure, suggesting a molecular mechanism for nanoelectroporation and nanosecond PS externalization: electrophoretic migration of the negatively charged PS head group along the surface of nanometer-diameter electropores initiated by field-driven alignment of water dipoles at the membrane interface.
Approche hybride à base d'ontologie pour le clustering par contraintes

Les methodes de clustering semi supervise font tres souvent usage de contraintes afin de repondre au mieux aux besoins des utilisateurs. Cependant, dans des domaines comme le traitement et l'interpretation d'images satellites, la generation de ces contraintes est couteuse et demande une grande expertise du domaine. Dans cet article, nous presentons une approche hybride qui exploite en amont les ontologies pour automatiser la generation des contraintes pour le clustering et introduire une labellisation semantique des clusters. L'objectif est de disposer d'une brique ontologique qui va permettre d'etiqueter semantique-ment une partie du jeu de donnees en se basant sur des mecanismes de raison-nement deductif, puis d'utiliser les resultats de ce raisonnement pour (i) generer des contraintes qui vont guider le clustering, (ii) etiqueter semantiquement les clusters obtenus avec les concepts de l'ontologie. Nous avons applique notre ap-proche a la classification d'images satellites et les resultats obtenus valident la capacite de notre approche a ameliorer le clustering sans l'utilisation de donnees etiquetees ni l'intervention manuelle de l'expert.
Long‐Term Outcome of Catheter Ablation in Atrial Fibrillation Patients with Coexistent Metabolic Syndrome and Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Impact of Repeat Procedures versus Lifestyle Changes

Metabolic syndrome (MS) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are well‐known independent risk factors for atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence. This study evaluated ablation outcome in AF patients with coexistent MS and OSA and influence of lifestyle modifications (LSM) on arrhythmia recurrence.
Viscoelastic effects on drop deformation in a converging pipe flow

This paper reports finite-element simulations of drop deformation in converging flows in an axisymmetric conical geometry. The moving interface is captured using a diffuse-interface model and accurate interfacial resolution is ensured by adaptive refinement of the grid. We have explored the effects of viscoelasticity on drop deformation when either the drop or the matrix is a Giesekus fluid. Contrary to the popular belief that viscoelasticity in the drop hinders deformation and that in the matrix enhances deformation, we predict a more complex picture in which viscoelasticity in either component may suppress or promote drop deformation depending on the capillary number Ca and the drop-to-matrix viscosity ratio β. Smaller Ca and β are conducive to the behavior mentioned above, while large Ca and β may produce the opposite effect. Both trends are explained by the reaction of the polymer stress to the inhomogeneous and transient deformation in the converging flow field. Finally, this understanding reconciles.
Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort): a non-selective reuptake inhibitor? A review of the recent advances in its pharmacology

Hypericum possesses a unique pharmacology in that it displays the pharmacology of many classes of antidepressants and new mechanisms not typical of standard antidepressants. The most potent of all its action is the moderate to high potency for inhibition of the reuptake of monoamines, serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline and the amino-acid neurotransmitters GABA and glutamate. Unlike standard reuptake inhibitors, hypericum exerts this reuptake inhibition non-competitively by enhancing intracellular Na+ ion concentrations. At a receptor level, chronic treatment with hypericum downregulates β1-adrenoceptor, upregulates post-synaptic 5-HT1A receptors and 5-HT2 receptors. Although the major constituent responsible for the antidepressant effect is thought to be hyperforin, other constituents such as hypericin, pseudohypericin, flavonoids and oligomeric procyanidines may also play a direct or indirect role. While reuptake inhibition may more than likely be responsible for most of the antidepressant effect, other mechanisms may also contribute alone or in combination to exert the overall antidepressant action.
ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO ANTITETANUS SERUM

the complicated investigations Wartenberg would have discouraged. One trigeminal root had been decompressed; other authors had explored the trigeminal nerve to exclude tumours. Papers still continue to appear describing various aspects of interstitial neuritis as though they are rarities. R. A. Taylor' has described five generations involving 119 patients with "heredofamilial mononeuritis multiplex with brachial predilection". S. S. Jolly and A. Singh" have reported 20 cases of "neuralgic amyotrophy of the lower limbs", in which all biochemical and radiological investigations had revealed no abnormalities. D. W. Mulder, J. R. Calverley and R. H. Miller" in a very recent article have moved a long way in the direction of Wartenberg. They state that "autogenous mononeuropathy" is virtually the same disease whatever nerve is attacked; it often appears in healthy patients but may complicate systemic disease. The correct diagnosis, they say, depends on awareness of the disorder, and prevents the direction of extensive and expensive treatment to the wrong area.