Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Birth of Parthenote Mice Directly from Parthenogenetic Embryonic Stem Cells

Mammalian parthenogenetic embryos are not viable and die because of defects in placental development and genomic imprinting. Parthenogenetic ESCs (pESCs) derived from parthenogenetic embryos might advance regenerative medicine by avoiding immuno‐rejection. However, previous reports suggest that pESCs may fail to differentiate and contribute to some organs in chimeras, including muscle and pancreas, and it remains unclear whether pESCs themselves can form all tissue types in the body. We found that derivation of pESCs is more efficient than of ESCs derived from fertilized embryos, in association with reduced mitogen‐activated protein kinase signaling in parthenogenetic embryos and their inner cell mass outgrowth. Furthermore, in vitro culture modifies the expression of imprinted genes in pESCs, and these cells, being functionally indistinguishable from fertilized embryo‐derived ESCs, can contribute to all organs in chimeras. Even more surprisingly, our study shows that live parthenote pups were produced from pESCs through tetraploid embryo complementation, which contributes to placenta development. This is the first demonstration that pESCs are capable of full‐term development and can differentiate into all cell types and functional organs in the body. STEM CELLS 2009;27:2136–2145
Spatio-temporal Tensor Multi-Task Learning for Precision Fertilisation with Real-world Agricultural Data

Precision fertilisation is the application of target variable fertilisation techniques based on soil fertility variations in specific regions. Precise fertilisation can help to balance soil nutrients, conserve fertiliser, prevent pollution, and boost crop yields. The lack of agricultural data is a key reason limiting the application of machine learning methods in agriculture. Due to the low-level network technology in farms, it is difficult to obtain diverse and complete agricultural data. The existing agricultural data is typically unstructured and difficult to mine. In this article, we extracted real-world agricultural dataset from four real farms with winter wheat and it includes different types of factors describing agriculture, such as climate, soil nutrients, crop yield information. Moreover, we present a novel multi-task learning (MTL) approach based on a tensor built of farm data to efficiently prediction both the amount and time of base fertiliser and topdressing. Specifically, real-world agricultural measurements (such as climate data, soil nutrients, etc.) are encoded into a three-dimensional tensor, and a set of interpretable temporal and spatial latent factors is extracted from the raw data through tensor decomposition. The latent factors are then utilised to train the spatio-temporal tensor prediction model. We have conducted extensive experiments utilising the real-world agricultural dataset. The experimental results show that our proposed methods have superior accuracy and stability in fertilisation prediction compared to state-of-the-art regression methods.
Optimal Balancing Transaction Mechanism for Dynamic Storage Management in Smart Grid

This paper proposes an optimal balancing transaction mechanism for dynamic storage management in smart grids in order to minimize the imbalance penalty charge of the grid in the wholesale electricity market. The proposed mechanism guarantees that the optimal power charge control profiles of the storage devices constitute a dynamic market equilibrium with a real-time pricing mechanism in a distributed fashion. Under the linear-quadratic dynamic grid model, the optimal design of the reference adjustment to modify the real-time pricing mechanism is analytically derived. The effectiveness of our proposed mechanism is also illustrated through simulation with real demand data.
Entangling the Spatial Properties of Laser Beams

Position and momentum were the first pair of conjugate observables explicitly used to illustrate the intricacy of quantum mechanics. We have extended position and momentum entanglement to bright optical beams. Applications in optical metrology and interferometry require the continuous measurement of laser beams, with the accuracy fundamentally limited by the uncertainty principle. Techniques based on spatial entanglement of the beams could overcome this limit, and high-quality entanglement is required. We report a value of 0.51 for inseparability and 0.62 for the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen criterion, both normalized to a classical limit of 1. These results are a conclusive optical demonstration of macroscopic position and momentum quantum entanglement and also confirm that the resources for spatial multimode protocols are available.
Efficient Specification of Interneurons from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells by Dorsoventral and Rostrocaudal Modulation

GABAergic interneurons regulate cortical neural networks by providing inhibitory inputs, and their malfunction, resulting in failure to intricately regulate neural circuit balance, is implicated in brain diseases such as Schizophrenia, Autism, and Epilepsy. During early development, GABAergic interneuron progenitors arise from the ventral telencephalic area such as medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) and caudal ganglionic eminence (CGE) by the actions of secreted signaling molecules from nearby organizers, and migrate to their target sites where they form local synaptic connections. In this study, using combinatorial and temporal modulation of developmentally relevant dorsoventral and rostrocaudal signaling pathways (SHH, Wnt, and FGF8), we efficiently generated MGE cells from multiple human pluripotent stem cells. Most importantly, modulation of FGF8/FGF19 signaling efficiently directed MGE versus CGE differentiation. Human MGE cells spontaneously differentiated into Lhx6‐expressing GABAergic interneurons and showed migratory properties. These human MGE‐derived neurons generated GABA, fired action potentials, and displayed robust GABAergic postsynaptic activity. Transplantation into rodent brains results in well‐contained neural grafts enriched with GABAergic interneurons that migrate in the host and mature to express somatostatin or parvalbumin. Thus, we propose that signaling modulation recapitulating normal developmental patterns efficiently generate human GABAergic interneurons. This strategy represents a novel tool in regenerative medicine, developmental studies, disease modeling, bioassay, and drug screening. Stem Cells 2014;32:1789–1804
Eficacia de ibuprofeno y paracetamol como antitérmicos

Objetivo El objetivo del estudio es analizar comparativamente la eficacia de ibuprofeno y paracetamol, y evaluar la possible repercusion sobre la misma de sexo, peso, talla y enfermedad subyacente. Pacientes y metodos Se recogieron los datos de filiacion de 166 ninos con temperatura axilar igual o superior a 38 °C. Se administraron 15 mg/kg de paracetamol a 80 de ellos y 7 mg/kg de ibuprofeno a 86. Se recogio despues la temperatura que presentaban a los 60, 120, 180 y 240 min de su administracion. Con estos datos se realizo un analisis estadistico, incluyendo un analisis de datos apareados. Resultados Ibuprofeno y paracetamol consiguieron dejar afebriles en algun momento del estudio al 90 % de los ninos. El 74% de los pacientes permanecieron afebriles 4 h despues de administrarlos. En la muestra global, las temperaturas obtenidas con ibuprofeno frente a paracetamol fueron:37,66 ± 0,73 frente a 37,80 ± 0,65 (p = 0,22) a la hora de su administracion; 37,09 ± 0,83 frente a 37,29 ± 0,71 a las 2 h; 37,12 ± 1,05 frente a 37,28 ± 0,87 (p = 0,64) a las 3 h; 37,40 ± 1,12 frente a 37,46 ± 1,00 (p = 0,72) a las 4 h. La maxima velocidad de descenso se alcanzo durante los primeros 60 min (–1,32 ± 0,83 para ibuprofeno frente a –1,09 ± 0,77 con paracetamol; p = 0,10). En cuanto al factor edad, en los ninos de edad comprendida entre 5 y 12 anos se lograron temperaturas significativamente menores con ibuprofeno que con paracetamol (38,00 ± 0,65 frente a 37,45 ± 0,43 [p = 0,02] en la primera hora; 36,71 ± 0,66 frente a 37,60 ± 0,93 [p = 0,01] en la segunda hora; 36,80 ± 0,79 frente a 37,67 ± 1,12 [p = 0,03] en la tercera hora). El analisis de datos en funcion del peso,sexo y enfermedad no mostro diferencias significativas. Conclusiones Ibuprofeno y paracetamol demostraron ser efectivos a la hora de descender la temperatura. Ambos farmacos mostraron una eficacia antitermica similar, salvo en los ninos mayores de 5 anos, donde se demostro mayor eficacia con ibuprofeno. Peso, sexo y enfermedad de base no determinaron diferencias de eficacia.
Scientists as citizens and knowers in the detection of deforestation in the Amazon

This paper examines how scientists deal with tensions emerging from their role as providers of objective knowledge and as citizens concerned with how their research influences policy and politics in Brazil. This is accomplished through an ethnographic account of scientists using remote sensing technology, of their knowledge-making activities and of the broader socio-political controversies that permeate the detection of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Strategies for mitigating uncertainty are central aspects of the knowledge practices analyzed, bringing controversies ‘external’ to the laboratory ‘into’ the lab, making these boundaries conceptually problematic. In particular, the anticipation of alternative interpretations of rainforest cover is a crucial way that scientists bring the world into the lab, helping to shed light on how scientists, usually seen and analyzed as isolated, are in fact often in constant dialogue with the broader political controversies related to their work. These insights help question the idea that the monitoring of deforestation through remote sensing is a form of secluded research, drawing a more complex picture of the dual role of scientists as knowledge producers and concerned citizens.
Pax3 and Tbx5 Specify Whether PDGFRα+ Cells Assume Skeletal or Cardiac Muscle Fate in Differentiating Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) represent an ideal model to study how lineage decisions are established during embryonic development. Using a doxycycline‐inducible mouse ESC line, we have previously shown that expression of the transcriptional activator Pax3 in early mesodermal cells leads to the robust generation of paraxial mesoderm progenitors that ultimately differentiate into skeletal muscle precursors. Here, we show that the ability of this transcription factor to induce the skeletal myogenic cell fate occurs at the expenses of the cardiac lineage. Our results show that the PDGFRα+FLK1− subfraction represents the main population affected by Pax3, through downregulation of several transcripts encoding for proteins involved in cardiac development. We demonstrate that although Nkx2–5, Tbx5, and Gata4 negatively affect Pax3 skeletal myogenic activity, the cardiac potential of embryoid body‐derived cultures is restored solely by forced expression of Tbx5. Taking advantage of this model, we used an unbiased genome‐wide approach to identify genes whose expression is rescued by Tbx5, and which could represent important regulators of cardiac development. These findings elucidate mechanisms regulating the commitment of mesodermal cells in the early embryo and identify the Tbx5 cardiac transcriptome. Stem Cells 2014;32:2072–2083
The Global Stoichiometry of Litter Nitrogen Mineralization

Plant residue decomposition and the nutrient release to the soil play a major role in global carbon and nutrient cycling. Although decomposition rates vary strongly with climate, nitrogen immobilization into litter and its release in mineral forms are mainly controlled by the initial chemical composition of the residues. We used a data set of ∼2800 observations to show that these global nitrogen-release patterns can be explained by fundamental stoichiometric relationships of decomposer activity. We show how litter quality controls the transition from nitrogen accumulation into the litter to release and alters decomposers' respiration patterns. Our results suggest that decomposers lower their carbon-use efficiency to exploit residues with low initial nitrogen concentration, a strategy used broadly by bacteria and consumers across trophic levels.
Anomalous Type 17 Response to Viral Infection by CD8+ T Cells Lacking T-bet and Eomesodermin

When intracellular pathogens invade mammalian hosts, naïve CD8+ T cells differentiate into cytotoxic killers, which lyse infected target cells and secrete cytokines that activate intracellular microbicides. We show that CD8+ T cells deficient in the transcription factors T-bet and eomesodermin (Eomes) fail to differentiate into functional killers required for defense against lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Instead, virus-specific CD8+ T cells lacking both T-bet and Eomes differentiate into an interleukin-17–secreting lineage, reminiscent of the helper T cell fate that has been implicated in autoimmunity and extracellular microbial defense. Upon viral infection, mice with T cells lacking both T-bet and Eomes develop a CD8+ T cell–dependent, progressive inflammatory and wasting syndrome characterized by multi-organ infiltration of neutrophils. T-bet and Eomes, thus, ensure that CD8+ T cells adopt an appropriate course of intracellular rather than extracellular destruction.
SHOULDER INJURIES IN HIGHLY TRAINED COMPETITIVE SWIMMERS

Background The shoulder is the most commonly injured joint among competitive swimmers, and there are suggestions that sex, swimming stroke and level or training/competition are risk factors, but previous studies are inconclusive and have used small cohorts and/or relatively low level competitors. Objectiv To document the incidence, nature, severity and location of shoulder injuries in competitive highly trained swimmers, and whether these factors were influenced by sex, swimming stroke and level of competition. Design Retrospective study. Setting Swimming competitions and clubs. Participants 132 young competitive adult swimmers (61 females, 71 males; age, 21±2 yrs; body mass: 73±11kg; current training volume, 16±4 hrs/wk; competitive history 9±3 years). Risk factor assessment Participants completed a retrospective questionnaire concerning their age, sex, competitive standard, primary stroke, recent training volume. Main outcome measurements They also recorded their experience of shoulder injury incidence (new injury, recurrence), time loss severity (mild, moderate, severe), nature of injury onset (acute/chronic) and location (left, right, both). Results 99 swimmers (74%) had experienced shoulder injury, collectively reporting 124 unique injuries, and >50% of these injuries had recurred at least once. 22% of swimmers were currently experiencing shoulder pain, and 10% were currently receiving treatment for shoulder injury. Injury incidence was not influenced by sex (P=.223) or competitive standard (P=.415). There were more chronic than acute injuries (86 vs 38; P=.001). There were tendencies for more injuries to the right than left shoulder (65 vs 43, P=.066), and for a higher incidence of severe injuries than expected (P=.053). Shoulder injury was 50% lower for breaststroke swimmers, but this difference was not significant P=. 245). Conclusions Injury incidence was not influenced by sex or level of competition, but was 50% lower for breaststroke swimmers. Despite the symmetrical nature of swimming the right shoulder seems to be at greater risk of injury.
Myb Permits Multilineage Airway Epithelial Cell Differentiation

The epithelium of the pulmonary airway is specially differentiated to provide defense against environmental insults, but also subject to dysregulated differentiation that results in lung disease. The current paradigm for airway epithelial differentiation is a one‐step program whereby a p63+ basal epithelial progenitor cell generates a ciliated or secretory cell lineage, but the cue for this transition and whether there are intermediate steps are poorly defined. Here, we identify transcription factor Myb as a key regulator that permits early multilineage differentiation of airway epithelial cells. Myb+ cells were identified as p63− and therefore distinct from basal progenitor cells, but were still negative for markers of differentiation. Myb RNAi treatment of primary‐culture airway epithelial cells and Myb gene deletion in mice resulted in a p63− population with failed maturation of Foxj1+ ciliated cells as well as Scbg1a1+ and Muc5ac+ secretory cells. Consistent with these findings, analysis of whole genome expression of Myb‐deficient cells identified Myb‐dependent programs for ciliated and secretory cell differentiation. Myb+ cells were rare in human airways but were increased in regions of ciliated cells and mucous cell hyperplasia in samples from subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Together, the results show that a p63− Myb+ population of airway epithelial cells represents a distinct intermediate stage of differentiation that is required under normal conditions and may be heightened in airway disease. Stem Cells 2014;32:3245–3256
Love wave acoustic sensor response in high turbidity liquid environment

The feasibility of Love Wave (LW) acoustic sensors for sensing applications in liquid medium has been well demonstrated in numerous works. However, such promising devices need to be investigated in-situ, and thus with realistic liquids such as turbid river waters. Our goal is to study the response of LW sensors in turbid liquids for operation in “Amazonian” and “Aquitaine” rivers. These complex liquids have both mechanical and electrical parameters that can influence the sensor, which can be detected by its multi-physical response. Our experiments with LW sensors in Formazine based turbid solutions have shown their effective operation up to turbidity as high as 4000 FTU, and the promising use of Surface acoustic wave devices for biochemical detection.
Sauropod Gigantism

S auropod dinosaurs were the largest animals ever to inhabit the land (see the figure). At estimated maximum body masses of 50 to 80 metric tons, they surpassed the largest terrestrial mammals and nonsauropod dinosaurs by an order of magnitude. With body lengths of more than 40 m and heights of more than 17 m, their linear dimensions also remain unique in the animal kingdom. From their beginnings in the Late Triassic (about 210 million years ago), sauropods diversified into about 120 known genera. They dominated ecosystems for more than 100 million years from the Middle Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous, setting a record that mammalian herbivores will only match if they can double their current geological survival time. Thus, sauropods were not only gigantic but also, in evolutionary terms, very successful. Recent advances bring us closer to understanding the enigma of their gigantism (1–3). Extrinsic causes have repeatedly been advanced to explain the success of sauropod dinosaurs and the gigantism seen in the dinosaur era. However, physical and chemical conditions in the Mesozoic (250 to 65 million years ago) were probably less favorable for plant and animal life than they are today; for example, atmospheric O 2 concentrations were much lower (4). The variation of other factors (such as land mass size, ambient temperature, and atmospheric CO 2 concentrations) through time is not tracked by variations in sauropod body size (2,5). Thus, the clue to sauropod gigantism must lie in their unusual biology (see the figure). Sauropods had an elephantine body supported by four columnar legs and ending in a long tail. From the body arose a long neck bearing a small skull. Sauropods exhibit diverse oral, dental, and neck designs, indicating dietary niche differentiation; this variety makes reliance on any particular food source (6) as the reason for gigantism unlikely. However, one evolutionarily primitive character truly sets sauropods apart: In contrast to mammals and advanced bird-hipped dinosaurs (duck-billed and horned dinosaurs), they did not masticate their food; nor did they grind it in a gastric mill, as did some other herbivorous dinosaurs (7). Because gut capacity increases with body mass (8), the enormous gut capacity of sauropods would have guaranteed the long digestion times (6) necessary for degrading unchewed plant parts, even at a relatively high food intake. The lack of a masticatory apparatus allowed sauropod heads to remain small and was one prerequisite for their long neck to How did sauropod dinosaurs reach body sizes that remain unsurpassed in land-living animals? Sauropod Gigantism
A Review of the Use of Therapeutic Communities With Sexual Offenders

Sexual offender treatment programmes are often facilitated in secure settings such as prisons or psychiatric hospitals, which are not ideal environments for such treatment. Arguably, however, when these environments are structured as therapeutic communities (TCs), opportunities are created to enhance the effectiveness of treatment. This article describes the concept of a TC, its operating principles and rationale, as well as the benefits and rationale for establishing TCs in conjunction with cognitive—behavioural treatment with sexual offenders. This is discussed in terms of the potential of TCs to improve targeting of treatment content, to enhance treatment process, to provide optimal environments for therapeutic gain, and to provide a broad therapeutic framework for treating sexual offenders. The article reviews and summarizes what evidence exists for the use of TCs with both non-sexual offenders and sexual offenders. Finally, it highlights the gaps in our knowledge of the use of TCs to inspire further empirical and conceptual consideration of these issues.
An energy-efficient super-regenerative ASK receiver with a ΔΣ-based pulse-width demodulator

An energy-efficient ASK receiver (RX) designed for bio-medical application is presented. The RX is based on the super-regenerative architecture and incorporates a fast frequency calibration and a ΔΣ-based pulse-width demodulator (ΔΣ-based PWD) to enhance the pulse-width resolution of the demodulator. This RX is designed to operate at the 400-MHz band. The proposed fast frequency calibration based on the SAR algorithm can accomplish the frequency calibration in 12 reference cycles. The proposed ΔΣ-based PWD can be viewed as a pulse-width domain ΔΣ modulator which improves the performance of the demodulator. Realized in a 0.18-μm CMOS process, this RX draws 1.37 mA from a 1-V supply. With a 1-Mbps data rate, the RX achieves an energy efficiency of 1.37 nJ/bit and −75 dBm sensitivity.
A 20GHz ILFD with locking range of 31% for divide-by-4 and 15% for divide-by-8 using progressive mixing

This paper proposes Progressive Mixing Injection Locked Frequency Divider (PMILFD) technique that enhances the locking range for higher division ratios. The wide locking range is achieved through the use of progressive mixing approach contrary to the conventional method that uses direct mixing to generate the injection signal. This allows for the use of lower and much stronger harmonics in the mixing process resulting in a stronger injection effect. Two 20GHz PMILFDs were designed based on this approach to perform division by 4 and 8 using 65nm CMOS process. The divide-by-4 PMILFD achieves a 7.9GHz (31.4%) locking range and the divide-by-8 achieves 3.4GHz (15.5%) while consuming 3.9mW and 7.1mW, respectively.