Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
1 2 3 High-efficiency optogenetic silencing with soma-targeted anion-4 conducting channelrhodopsins 5 6 7 8

24 Optogenetic silencing allows time-resolved functional interrogation of defined neuronal populations. 25 However, the limitations of inhibitory optogenetic tools impose stringent constraints on experimental 26 paradigms. The high light power requirement of light-driven ion pumps and their effects on intracellular 27 ion homeostasis pose unique challenges, particularly in experiments that demand inhibition of a 28 widespread neuronal population in vivo. Guillardia theta anion-conducting channelrhodopsins (GtACRs) 29 are promising in this regard, due to their high single-channel conductance and favorable photon-ion 30 stoichiometry. However, GtACRs show poor membrane targeting in mammalian cells, and the activity of 31 such channels can cause transient excitation in the axon due to an excitatory chloride reversal potential 32 in this compartment. Here we address both problems by enhancing membrane targeting and subcellular 33 compartmentalization of GtACRs. The resulting GtACR-based optogenetic tools show improved 34 photocurrents, greatly reduced axonal excitation, high light sensitivity and rapid kinetics, allowing highly 35 efficient inhibition of neuronal activity in the mammalian brain. 36
A novel cell technology using N-doped GeSbTe films for phase change RAM

The Ge/sub 2/Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 5/ (GST) thin film is well known to play a critical role in PRAM (Phase Change Random Access Memory). Through device simulation, we found that high-resistive GST is indispensable to minimize the writing current of PRAM. For the first time, we tried to increase the GST resistivity by doping nitrogen. Doping nitrogen to GST successfully reduced writing current. Also, the cell endurance has been enhanced with grain growth suppression effect of dopant nitrogen.
Deletion of Atf6α impairs astroglial activation and enhances neuronal death following brain ischemia in mice

To dissect the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and unfolded protein response in brain ischemia, we investigated the relevance of activating transcription factor 6α (ATF6α), a master transcriptional factor in the unfolded protein response, after permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in mice. Enhanced expression of glucose‐regulated protein78, a downstream molecular chaperone of ATF6α, was observed in both neurons and glia in the peri‐infarct region of wild‐type mice after MCAO. Analysis using wild‐type and Atf6α−/− mice revealed a larger infarct volume and increased cell death in the peri‐ischemic region of Atf6α−/− mice 5 days after MCAO. These phenotypes in Atf6α−/− mice were associated with reduced levels of astroglial activation/glial scar formation, and a spread of tissue damage into the non‐infarct area. Further analysis in mice and cultured astrocytes revealed that signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3)‐glial fibrillary acidic protein signaling were diminished in Atf6α−/− astrocytes. A chemical chaperone, 4‐phenylbutyrate, restored STAT3‐glial fibrillary acidic protein signaling, while ER stressors, such as tunicamycin and thapsigargin, almost completely abolished signaling in cultured astrocytes. Furthermore, ER stress‐induced deactivation of STAT3 was mediated, at least in part, by the ER stress‐responsive tyrosine phosphatase, TC‐PTP/PTPN2. These results suggest that ER stress plays critical roles in determining the level of astroglial activation and neuronal survival after brain ischemia.
Low power secure AES S-box using adiabatic logic circuit

Numerous works on advanced encryption standard (AES) S-box architecture have been done using composite field arithmetic in Galois field. However, to the best of our knowledge, less information is available on both a secure circuit and the low power consumption. In this work, we implement our previous proposed charge-sharing symmetric adiabatic logic (CSSAL) in an 8-bit S-box circuit using multi-stage positive polarity Reed-Muller (PPRM) representation over composite field technique. The logic sharing method for frequently same logic function usage in the combination logic is applied. Consequently, the low-complexity, high resistive and the low-power consumption are achieved. The results in this paper are obtained from the SPICE simulation with 0.18-μm 1.8-V standard CMOS technology at operating frequency of 1.25-70 MHz. Base on the logic speed, security performance and low-power requirement, we deduce that our proposed logic is applicable for contactless smart cards, RFID tags, and wireless sensors.
Pharmacogenetics of responses to alcohol and genes that influence alcohol drinking.

OBJECTIVE There is now compelling evidence for genetic influence on susceptibility to alcoholism. This article presents results from studies qualifying alcoholism as a pharmacogenetic disorder of the brain. METHOD Studies from the author's research group and other investigators, of human subjects and experimental animal models, are reviewed. Included are experiments on the pharmacogenetics (elimination and metabolism) and pharmacodynamics (initial response, tolerance and dependence) of ethanol. RESULTS Studies in humans have reliably shown that the genes for the principal enzymes of alcohol metabolism influence drinking behavior and alcoholism risk. Notably, the functional genetic variants of alcohol dehydrogenase that exhibit high alcohol oxidizing activity, and the genetic variant of aldehyde dehydrogenase that exhibits low acetaldehyde oxidizing activity, protect against heavy drinking and alcoholism. Extensive studies of inbred and selectively bred experimental rodent models with alcohol drinking preference, tolerance development and alcohol withdrawal susceptibility have shown strong genetic influence on these responses to ethanol. Neuroanatomical, neurochemical and genetic studies have shown the involvement of serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, gamma-aminobutyric acid and opioid pathways in these actions of ethanol. Genetic studies, including association and genome-wide survey studies in both humans and rodents, implicate serotonin 1b receptor, dopamine D2 receptor, tryptophan hydroxylase and neuropeptide Y as candidate targets of genetic susceptibility in these pharmacodynamic actions of ethanol. CONCLUSIONS There are genetic predisposing factors for alcoholism. Nonspecific susceptibility factors include personality traits characterized by behavioral inhibition (e.g., novelty-seeking and impulsivity). These genetically influenced traits interact with other, also genetically influenced, traits involved in the metabolism and pharmacodynamic effects of alcohol, and this interaction forms the basis for nominating alcoholism as a pharmacogenetic disease. Clearly, there are also many environmental factors that influence drinking behavior. Individuals have different sets of susceptibility genes and experience different kinds of environmental provocation. These factors underlie the heterogeneity and complexity of the clinical phenotype of alcoholism.
MFCC based recognition of repetitions and prolongations in stuttered speech using k-NN and LDA

Stuttering is a speech disorder in which the normal flow of speech is disrupted by occurrences of dysfluencies, such as repetitions, interjection and so on. There are a high proportion of repetitions and prolongations in stuttered speech, usually at the beginning of sentences. Consequently, acoustic analysis can be used to classify the stuttered events. This paper describes particular stuttering events to be located as repetitions and prolongations in stuttered speech with feature extraction algorithm. The well known Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) feature extraction is implemented to test its effectiveness in recognizing prolongations and repetitions in a stuttered speech. In this work, two classifiers such as Linear Discriminant Analysis based classifier (LDA) and ¿-nearest neighbors (Λ-1Ν1Ν) are employed and ¿-fold cross-validation was applied to measure classifiers performances. The result of this work shows that the MFCC and classifiers (LDA and Λ-1Ν1Ν) can be used for recognition of repetitions and prolongations in stuttered speech with the average accuracy of 90%.
Communication in Cartels ∗

We study the role of communication within a cartel. Our analysis is carried out in Stigler’s (1964) model of oligopoly with secret price cuts. This is a repeated game with private monitoring since in the model, firms observe neither the prices nor the sales of their rivals. For a fixed discount factor, we identify conditions under which there are equilibria with "cheap talk" communication that result in near-perfect collusion– profits are close to those of a monopolist– whereas all equilibria without such communication are bounded away from this outcome. Thus, in our model, communication leads to higher prices and profits. JEL classification: C73, D43
SipC multimerization promotes actin nucleation and contributes to Salmonella‐induced inflammation

Actin nucleation is the rate‐limiting step in actin assembly and is regulated by actin‐binding proteins and signal transduction molecules. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium exploits actin dynamics by reorganizing the host actin cytoskeleton to facilitate its own uptake. SipC is a Salmonella actin‐binding protein that nucleates actin filament formation in vitro. The molecular mechanism by which SipC nucleates actin is not known. We show here that SipC199–409 forms multimers to promote actin nucleation. We found that wild‐type SipC199–409 forms dimers and multimers while SipC199–409#1, a nucleation mutant, is less efficient in dimer and multimer formation. Biochemical analysis suggested that SipC199–409 might form parallel dimers in an extended conformation. Furthermore, a mutant Salmonella strain that was defective in forming the SipC multimer and deficient in actin nucleation failed to cause severe colitis in a mouse model. These results allow us to present a model in which SipC forms multimers to promote actin nucleation.
An Empirical Analysis of Child Care Demand in Switzerland

This paper analyzes the demand of Swiss families for child care facilities. A choice experiment is used to study the effects of the facilities' characteristics as well as socio-economic factors on the selected child care mode. The experimental data are analyzed using a discrete choice model with multinomial logit specification. The results suggest that the demand for extra-familial day care could be considerably higher than that observed from the actual choices constrained by insufficient provision of affordable day care. The price, access, and the quality of service as well as parents' income and education have important impacts on the choice of the mode of care.
Cortical and brain stem afferents to the ventral thalamic nuclei of the cat demonstrated by retrograde axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase

After horseradish peroxidase (HRP) injections into various parts of the ventral thalamic nuclear group and its adjacent areas, the distribution of labeled neurons was compared in the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and the brain stem. The major differences in distribution patterns were as follows: Injections of HRP into the lateral or ventrolateral portions of the ventroanterior and ventrolateral nuclear complex of the thalamus (VA‐VL) produced retrogradely labeled neurons consistently in area 4γ (lateral part of the anterior and posterior sigmoid gyri, lateral sigmoid gyrus and the lateral fundus of the cruciate sulcus), the medial division of posterior thalamic group (POm), suprageniculate nucleus (SG) and anterior pretectal nucleus ipsilaterally, and in the nucleus Z of the vestibular nuclear complex bilaterally.
Hardware/software co-simulator for ASIC DSP chips

A hardware/software co-simulator has been developed for a video processing SOC. The simulator is composed of a PC and a FPGA board. The simulator realizes seamless connection between software on a PC and hardware circuits in a FPGA chip. Therefore, partial VLSI design is possible within the software. As modification on both software system and FPGA circuits are easy and as the simulation speed is about the same to that of system program in a high level language, simultaneous optimization of system architecture and LSI design becomes possible. The effective use of the simulator is shown by the partial implementation of an image enhancement system as an example.
AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF DOMESTIC AND EXTERNAL DETERMINANTS OF INFLATION IN PAKISTAN

In this study ARDL approach is applied for estimating the long-run and short-run relationship among the variables using annual data for the period 1972-2010. The results show that in the long-run money supply growth, lagged inflation, foreign inflation and dummy variable for global financial crises 2008 have positive and significant impact on inflation in Pakistan. Further, except money supply all the variables affect inflation in the short-run. The significant and negative coefficient of lagged error correction term is an indication of the convergence towards long-run equilibrium. The study recommends that in rapidly globalizing world, serious considerations need to be given by policy makers to external shocks like foreign inflation and global crises for formulating policies which help in controlling inflation in Pakistan.
Automatic and controlled processes in behavioural control: Implications for personality psychology

This paper highlights a number of unresolved theoretical issues that, it is argued, continue to impede the construction of a viable model of behavioural control in personality psychology. It is contended that, in order to integrate motivation, emotion, cognition and conscious experience within a coherent framework, two major issues need to be recognised: (a) the relationship between automatic (reflexive) and controlled (reflective) processing and (b) the lateness of controlled processing (including the generation of conscious awareness)—phenomenally, such processing seems to ‘control’ behaviour, but experimentally it can be shown to postdate the behaviour it represents. The implications of these two major issues are outlined, centred on the need to integrate theoretical perspectives within personality psychology, as well as the greater unification of personality psychology with general psychology. A model of behavioural control is sketched, formulated around the concept of the behavioural inhibition system (BIS), which accounts for: (a) why certain stimuli are extracted for controlled processing (i.e. those that are not ‘going to plan’, as detected by an error mechanism) and (b) the function of controlled processing (including conscious awareness) in terms of adjusting the cybernetic weights of automatic processes (which are always in control of immediate behaviour) which, then, influence future automatically controlled behaviour. The relevance of this model is illustrated in relation to a number of topics in personality psychology, as well related issues of free‐will and difficult‐to‐control behaviours. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
V-band flip-chip pHEMT balanced power amplifier with CPWGMS-CPWG topology and CPWG Lange couplers

A V-band balanced two-stage power amplifier MMICs with Lange couplers is demonstrated using 0.15 µm GaAs pHEMT technology in this paper. A CPWG-MS-CPWG topology with via holes at the transistors as the transition between coplanar waveguide with backside ground (CPWG) and microstrip (MS) is employed for the two-stage amplifier. CPWG is applied to realize the flip-chip transition interface for both input and output ports of the amplifier and interstage MS matching has the advantage of small size. The structure parameters of the CPWG Lange coupler and matching network are designed and optimized for power combining. Finally, a 60-GHz balanced two-stage power amplifier using a CPWG-MS-CPWG structure delivers the small signal gain of 18 dB, OP1dB of 12 dBm and Psat of 15 dBm.
Enterprise App Stores for Mobile Applications - Development of a Benefits Framework

Mobile devices and apps have changed the way consumers perceive and use IT. As mobile apps are easy to use and to procure, they have begun to enter the corporate world “under the radar” outside of the control of the IT unit. Employees bring their own mobile devices (BYOD) and apps to do their work – which raises various problems. As a counter-measure, firms have launched BYOD programs and set up Enterprise App Stores (EAS) where their employees can install certified and licensed apps under the firm’s control. This paper aims to take a first step in scientifically exploring this new concept of EAS and exploratively develops a benefits framework which can serve as foundation for the conceptualization and empirical investigation of EAS value and adoption by future works.
Nuclear Factor B Functions as a Negative Regulator for the Rat Androgen Receptor Gene and NF-B Activity Increases during the Age-dependent Desensitization of the Liver (*)

Transcriptional regulation of the steroid hormone receptor genes plays a central role in temporal changes of target cell sensitivity during development, maturation, and aging. Sequence-specific DNA-protein interactions mediate these regulatory functions. Progressive 5′ deletion of the rat androgen receptor (rAR) gene immediately beyond the −572 base pair (bp) region causes a marked increase in its promoter activity. DNase I footprinting with nuclear proteins revealed a protected area encompassing −574- to −554-bp positions that begins with a perfectly palindromic nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) motif. Electrophoretic mobility shift analyses (EMSA) showed that the decameric rAR NF-κB site at positions −574 to −565 cross-competes with the authentic κ immunoglobulin light chain enhancer for specific protein binding. Supershift with specific antibodies to NF-κB subunits confirmed that the two retarded bands observed in the EMSA with the labeled rAR probe are due to p50/p65 and p50/p50 dimers of the NF-κB/Rel proteins. Fragments of rAR promoter with either deletion or point mutation of the NF-κB site are found to be about 2- to 3-fold more effective as compared to the wild type control in driving a heterologous reporter gene in cellulo. Thus, unlike most other known cases, NF-κB acts as a negative regulator for the rAR gene. The physiological relevance of this repressor function is evident from a 10-fold increase in the p50/p50 form of the NF-κB activity in the liver of aged rats exhibiting hepatic androgen desensitization. The newly identified repressor element is a rare example of a naturally occurring perfect palindromic binding motif for the NF-κB/Rel family of transcription factors. This repressor factor and the positively acting age-dependent factor, ADF, described earlier (Supakar, P. C., Song, C. S., Jung, M. H., Slomczynska, M. A., Kim, J.-M., Vellanoweth, R. L., Chatterjee, B. & Roy, A. K.(1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 26400-26408) function to coordinate the tissue-specific down-regulation of the rAR gene during aging.
Metastasis suppressor genes: signal transduction, cross-talk and the potential for modulating the behavior of metastatic cells

In the past decade, research from various disciplines has stimulated a re-evaluation of our ideas of how cancers metastasize. Two important findings have been fundamental to this re-evaluation: that cancer cells are subject to growth regulation at the secondary site and that a specific class of proteins suppresses the metastatic phenotype. These proteins are encoded by metastasis suppressor genes, which are operationally defined as genes that suppress in vivo metastasis without inhibiting primary tumor growth when transfected into metastatic cell lines and injected into experimental animals. Recent biochemical studies have shown that certain metastasis suppressor proteins participate in highly conserved signal transduction cascades that mediate cellular responses to growth factors, cytokines and cellular stresses. Further elucidation of the biochemical foundations of these pathways coupled with strong in vivo studies should give us insight into the mechanisms of cancer metastasis, and may hold important implications for the future of cancer staging and therapy, using both existing and novel modalities.
Structural Brain Network Reorganization in Patients with Neuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus have worse outcomes compared with those with systemic lupus erythematosus. A better understanding of the mechanisms of neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus could potentially improve diagnosis and management. The goal of this study was to investigate the differences in the structural brain network of patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus compared with patients with systemic lupus erythematosus by using brain connectivity analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited 20 subjects for each patient cohort and age-matched healthy controls. The topology and efficiency of the network and the characteristics of various brain hubs were investigated by using brain connectivity analysis of diffusion MR imaging data. RESULTS: There were more extensive reorganizations in the structural brain network of patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus than in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. For example, the network of the former had significantly decreased clustering coefficient and local efficiency. They also had significantly lower nodal efficiency in the superior temporal gyrus (P = .046) and middle temporal gyrus (P = .041). CONCLUSIONS: Our results hint at a plausible relationship between the neuropsychiatric symptoms and reorganization of the structural brain network of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Brain connectivity analysis may be a potential tool to subtype these patients.
Academics in the aisles: Establishing a university-supermarket partnership

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the US is a serious public health problem. Supermarkets in the US are responding to the obesity epidemic by providing the unique asset of food, pharmacy and registered dietitians in one location to help grocery shoppers manage diseases and improve nutrition. Recent studies report that supermarket point-of-purchase interventions focusing on improving healthy food purchasing behaviours are feasible and potentially efficacious. We describe our experiences and lessons learned while developing a university-supermarket partnership and pilot testing a supermarket POP intervention (Healthstyles-Eat Smart©) prior to its dissemination throughout the region. Barriers to and facilitators of developing university-supermarket partnerships and strategies to increase the feasibility of supermarket POP research are discussed. We conclude that strong university-supermarket partnerships are essential to conducting supermarket intervention research and are worth the time and effort it takes to build them. Keywords: Fruit and vegetable purchases, point-of-purchase intervention, supermarket partnership, shopping behaviour