Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laser capture microdissection analysis of gene expression in macrophages from atherosclerotic lesions of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice

Macrophage foam cells are integral in the development of atherosclerotic lesions. Gene expression analysis of lesional macrophage foam cells is complicated by the cellular heterogeneity of atherosclerotic plaque and the presence of lesions of various degrees of severity. To overcome these limitations, we tested the ability of laser capture microdissection (LCM) and real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR to selectively analyze RNA from lesional macrophages of apolipoprotein E (apoE)-deficient mice. Proximal aortic tissue sections were immunostained for macrophagespecific CD68/macrosialin by a rapid (≈15-min) protocol. Alternating sections from each animal were used to isolate RNA either from entire sections (analogous to isolation from whole tissue) or by LCM selection of CD68-positive cells. We measured the mRNA levels of CD68, a macrophage-specific marker, α-actin, a smooth muscle cell marker, and cyclophilin A, a control gene. Compared with whole sections, CD68 mRNA levels were greatly enriched (33.6-fold) in the laser-captured lesional macrophages. In contrast to whole sections, LCM-derived RNA had undetectable levels of α-actin. To illustrate the ability of this method to measure changes in lesional macrophage gene expression, we injected 100 μg of lipopolysaccharide i.p. into apoE-deficient mice and detected in laser-captured lesional macrophages increased mRNA expression for vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (11.9-, 32.5-, and 31.0-fold, respectively). By selectively enriching foam cell RNA, LCM provides a powerful approach to study the in situ expression and regulation of atherosclerosis-related genes. This approach will allow the study of macrophage gene expression under various conditions of plaque formation, regression, and response to genetic and environmental perturbations.
Toyota's violin-playing robot

Purpose – The paper aims to report on Toyota's violin‐playing robot and Toyota's strategy for its “partner robot” business for the future.Design/methodology/approach – The work is based on an interview with the R&D team of Toyota.Findings – The paper finds that, in view of Toyota's robot business as a core business for the future, the company is devoting huge resources in the development of fundamental technologies that should support service robotics. The violin robot is not the goal of Toyota, but only a demonstration of Toyota's ongoing research and development on dexterity.Originality/value – The paper elaborates how the violin‐playing robot plays a violin.
Interactive image segmentation

Segmentation of objects from still images has many practical applications. In the past decade, combinatorial graph cut algorithms have been successfully applied to get fairly accurate object segmentation, along with considerable reduction in the amount of user interaction required. In particular, the Grabcut algorithm has been found to provide satisfactory results for a wide variety of images. This work is an extension to the Grabcut algorithm. The Grabcut algorithm uses Gaussian mixture models to fit the color data. The number of Gaussian components used in mixture model is however fixed. We apply an unsupervised algorithm for estimating the number of Gaussian components to be used for the models. The results obtained show that segmentation accuracy is increased by estimating the Gaussian components required, prior to applying the Grabcut algorithm.
Analysis of an SVEIR model with age-dependence vaccination, latency and relapse

In this paper, we propose an epidemic model with age-dependence vaccination, latency and relapse. We derive the positivity and boundedness of solutions and find the basic reproduction number. Asymptotic smoothness, the existence of global compact attractor and uniform persistence of the model are investigated. By constructing Lyapunov functionals, we establish global stability of the equilibria in a threshold type. c ©2017 All rights reserved.
Association between VDR Gene Polymorphism and HBV Related HCC

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 85% to 90% of primary liver cancers. The majority of these cases are related to chronic viral hepatitis. Several VDR gene single nucleotide restriction(SNP) have been described in association with neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases. The aim of this study was to explore the association between VDR polymorphism and development of HCC and liver cirrhosis in chronically HBV infected patients. The study included 152 patients with chronic HBV and 50 healthy subjects as controls. HBV Patients were divided into three groups (59 chronic HBV infected patients without cirrhosis, 48 chronic HBV with cirrhosis and 55 chronic HBV with HCC). For all patients liver enzymes and serum AFP were measured. DNA was extracted from peripheral whole blood. VDR polymorphism was detected by the polymerase chain reaction technique followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. The genotype frequencies of VDR FokI C>T polymorphism were significantly different among the studied groups. HCC patients and HBV patients with cirrhosis had higher prevalence of FokI TT genotype than HBV patients without cirrhosis and controls. The VDR FokI TT polymorphisms was associated with significant increased risk of HBV-related HCC however, due to the marginal significance and study limitations, larger well-designed epidemiological studies are recommended to confirm these findings.
Real-time Doppler/Doppler Rate Derivation for Dynamic Applications

Precise GPS velocity and acceleration determination relies on Doppler and/or Doppler rate observations. There are no direct Doppler rate measurements in GPS. Although every GPS receiver measures Doppler shifts, some receivers output only "raw" Doppler shift measurements and some don't output any at all. In the absence of raw Doppler and Doppler rate measurements, a differentiator is necessary to derive them from other GPS measurements such as the carrier phase observations. For real-time dynamic applications, an ideal differentiator should have a wideband frequency response to cover all the dynamics. It should also have a group delay as short as possible. In addition, a low-order differentiator is more favourable for easy implementation. This paper provides an overview of methods in differentiator design for applications of GPS velocity and acceleration determination. Low-order Finite Impulse Response (FIR) differentiators proposed by Kavanagh are introduced. A class of first-order Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) differentiators are developed on the basis of Al-Alaoui's novel differentiator. For noise attenuation, it is proposed to selectively use Kavangagh's FIR differentiators, and the first-order IIR filters derived for adaptation to different dynamics.
The Influence of El Nino on the Spring Fallout of Asian Bird Species at Attu Island

Abstract Several studies have documented the effect of the recent secular climate warming on the distributions and geographical ranges of birds. Here the authors report the strong impact of a recurring climatic pattern in the equatorial Pacific, the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle of warm (El Nino) and cold (La Nina) events, on spring migrants along the Far Eastern flyway in northeast Asia. In El Nino years, an unusually large number of birds that use the flyway are observed at Attu Island, westernmost of the Aleutian Islands, nearly 960 km away from the Asian coast. This study is based on a 20-yr dataset documenting the year-to-year variation of Asian birds arriving on Attu in the spring season and uses a three-phased analytical methodology to examine climate impacts on bird movements and populations. The authors offer evidence that birds are displaced toward the Attu area in strong eastward-moving storms. They also present results from a reverse trajectory model that was used to simulate traje.
A simple deadbeat current control for single-phase transformerless inverters with LCL filter

Single-phase grid-connected converters are nowadays normally adopted in low-power and domestic applications. In order to improve the efficiency, while keeping the total cost of the system low, the converters are usually designed without an insulation transformer. Recently, these converters have witnessed an increased interest due to the widespread diffusion of renewable energy sources. In order to ensure the compliance with the international regulation for the grid connection, the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the grid current must be maintained below specific thresholds indicated by the standards. For this reason, LCL filters allow to obtain a greater harmonic attenuation than a simple inductive filter. This paper proposes a deadbeat current control, specifically tailored for this application, which can ensure optimal reference tracking, rejection of the grid voltage disturbance and low computational effort. Simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
8. Food Safety Issues and the Microbiology of Poultry

Poultry, including broilers, turkey, duck, and quail, rank in third place among products incriminated in foodhorne illness. For the United States, annual per capita poultry consumption (73.5 lb) is highest among the meat groups, exceeding beef (62.4 lb) and pork (46.4 lb) (USDA-ARS. 2007). In 1996-1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) conducted nationwide microbial baseline surveys of beef, hogs, poultry, and turkey carcasses (Table 1). The data show the highest contamination Of poultry carcasses, including broilers and turkeys, with Campvlohacter ('--90%), Salmonella ('--20%), and L. m000cvfogene.v. FSIS baseline of ground products sinlilarly recovered Salmonella in ground chicken (44.6%) and in ground turkey (499%) meat (USDA-FSIS, continuously updated-h). Performance standards for Salmonella, based on these national surveys, are in place with a limit for carcass contamination of 18.2% of turkeys and 20% of broilers. Campvlohacrer performance standards are pending.
AHP-Logit Based Decision-making Scheme for Competitive Electricity Retailer

In the competitive electricity retail market,the retailers have lost their monopoly,so they not only have to face the uncertainty from spot market price and user demand,but also have to face the risk of losing their customers if the selling price is not competitive enough. To overcome the shortage of traditional decision-making method,this research analyzes the sale price influence on market share based on AHP-Logit method as well as VaR( value-at-risk)methodology,and then establishes a portfolio decision-making model of sale price and electricity procurement for retailers with different risk preferences,aiming at maximal corporate utility. The calculation simulation based on PJM data further expounds the effects of open retail market environment on retailing companies.
Sound production in the collared dove: a test of the 'whistle' hypothesis

The mechanism of sound production in the collared dove Streptopelia decaocto was studied to test the validity of the 'whistle' model and to analyze the role of vocal tract resonances. In this study, the vocalizations of six male adult doves were recorded both in normal air and in a mixture of 80 % helium and 20 % oxygen (heliox). Depending on the way in which the syrinx operates, the spectral structure of the vocalizations is expected to show specific changes in heliox. The effects of heliox differed substantially depending on the type of vocal element. Except for a significant decrease in amplitude, unmodulated elements, i.e. elements with a constant frequency, were relatively unaffected by heliox. In contrast, modulated elements, i.e. elements with an abrupt increase in frequency, showed a gradual increase in frequency with increasing helium concentration. This specific increase in frequency stopped when the modulation frequency was 1.5 times the base frequency, even when the helium concentration was increased further. In some individuals, a frequency band of half the base frequency was also observed. In general, the proportion of modulated elements also showed a significant decrease. The lack of change in the fundamental frequency of the unmodulated elements and in the base frequency of the modulated elements indicates that these vocalizations are not produced like a whistle. It is more likely that they are the result of vibration of the syringeal membranes. Generally, vocal tract resonances do not play an active role in the modification of vocalizations, although they might enhance the fundamental frequency passively. The results suggest that the almost pure tonal vocalizations are produced as such in the syrinx and undergo limited modification when passing through the vocal tract. The effect of heliox on the modulation frequency suggests (1) that different sound-producing mechanisms may underlie different types of vocalizations, and (2) that resonance properties of the vocal system may be involved in the production or modification of the modulation frequency.
Reverse conducting-IGBTs initial snapback phenomenon and its analytical modelling

Analytical models have been proposed to describe the onset current density for the initial snapback in the transistor on-state mode and in the blocking state of reverse conducting-insulated gate bipolar transistors (RC-IGBT) for the stripe and cylindrical designs of the anode shorts. In cylindrical case, there are two possible ways in designing the anode shorts and the authors have proposed an analytical model for each of them. The considered RC-IGBTs are vertical with soft punch-through type buffer designs. The analytical model has been evaluated with the aid of 2-D device simulations and measurements. The authors have investigated the initial snapback phenomenon for different voltage class devices at a given technology (anode and buffer profiles) and found out that the snapback voltage increases with the blocking capability but not the snapback current density. The authors have also observed that the initial snapback phenomenon is more pronounced at lower temperatures. From the analytical model as well as simulation and measurement results, the authors have found that for a given voltage class and technology, the p + -anode width is the only remaining design degree of freedom which determines the initial snapback. The adjustment of the on-state losses can then be done with the proportion of the n + -short region.
Determining the anaerobic threshold in water aerobic exercises: a comparison between the heart rate deflection point and the ventilatory method.

AIM The aim of this study was to compare the cardiorespiratory variables corresponding to the anaerobic threshold (AT) between different water-based exercises using two methods of determining the AT, the heart rate deflection point and ventilatory method, and to correlate the variables in both methods. METHODS Twenty young women performed three exercise sessions in the water. Maximal tests were performed in the water-based exercises stationary running, frontal kick and cross country skiing. The protocol started at a rate of 80 cycles per minute (cycle.min-1) for 2 min with subsequent increments of 10 cycle.min-1 every minute until exhaustion, with measurements of heart rate, oxygen uptake and ventilation throughout test. After, the two methods were used to determine the values of these variables corresponding to the AT for each of the exercises. Comparisons were made using two-way ANOVA for repeated measures with Bonferroni's post hoc test. To correlate the same variables determined by the two methods, the intra-class correlation coefficient test (ICC) was used. RESULTS For all the variables, no significant differences were found between the methods of determining the AT and the three exercises. Moreover, the ICC values of each variable determined by the two methods were high and significant. CONCLUSION The estimation of the heart rate deflection point can be used as a simple and practical method of determining the AT, which can be used when prescribing these exercises. In addition, these cardiorespiratory parameters may be determined performing the test with only one of the evaluated exercises, since there were no differences in the evaluated variables.
Factors influencing cutaneous directional sensitivity.

The influence of stimulus velocity and traverse length on the ability of human subjects to indicate in which of two opposite directions a brush moved along the skin was determined using a forced choice procedure. Stimulus velocities ranged from 0.75 to 250 cm/sec, and traverse lengths ranged from 0.5 to 6 cm; measurements were made on both the thenar eminence and the preaxial upper arm. Performance was expressed in terms of "critical traverse length" i.e., that traverse length at which, for a given velocity, the subject would correctly identify the direction of brush motion on 75% of the trials. The data indicate that the capacity to identify direction of tactile stimulus motion increases with traverse length and is optimal for velocities between 3 and 25 cm/sec. The overall level of performance was better on the thenar than on the upper arm.
A randomized study of family-focused psychoeducation and pharmacotherapy in the outpatient management of bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND Bipolar patients are at risk for relapses of their illness even when undergoing optimal pharmacotherapy. This study was performed to determine whether combining family-focused therapy (FFT) with pharmacotherapy during a postepisode interval enhances patients' mood stability during maintenance treatment. METHODS In a randomized controlled trial, 101 bipolar patients were assigned to FFT and pharmacotherapy or a less intensive crisis management (CM) intervention and pharmacotherapy. Outcome assessments were conducted every 3 to 6 months for 2 years. Participants (mean +/- SD age, 35.6 +/- 10.2 years) were referred from inpatient or outpatient clinics after onset of a manic, mixed, or depressed episode. FFT consisted of 21 sessions of psychoeducation, communication training, and problem-solving skills training. Crisis management consisted of 2 sessions of family education plus crisis intervention sessions as needed. Both protocols lasted 9 months. Patients received pharmacotherapy for 2 study years. Main outcome measures included time to relapse, depressive and manic symptoms, and medication adherence. RESULTS Rates of study completion did not differ across the FFT (22/31, 71%) and CM groups (43/70, 61%). Patients undergoing FFT had fewer relapses (11/31, 35%) and longer survival intervals (mean +/- SD, 73.5 +/- 28.8 weeks) than patients undergoing CM (38/70, 54%; mean +/- SD, 53.2 +/- 39.6 weeks; hazard ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.20-0.75; P =.003; intent to treat). Patients undergoing FFT showed greater reductions in mood disorder symptoms and better medication adherence during the 2 years than patients undergoing CM. CONCLUSION Combining family psychoeducation with pharmacotherapy enhances the postepisode symptomatic adjustment and drug adherence of bipolar patients.
Coenzyme Q10 and Adverse Effects of Statins

Background: Current evidence has established that statins are potent and effective agents with several pleiotropic effects in the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Statins may have toxic effects, if given in higher doses and in combination. Design: Literature review. Methods: An Internet search and discussions with colleagues. Results: The 1990s have been called the ‘statin decennial’ and the Nobel laureates suggested ‘CAD: eliminated with statins’. Statins were also proclaimed as wonder drugs, influencing a wide range of physiological, biochemical and biological functions. The list appears to be long and includes hypolipidaemic, vasodilative, antithrombotic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, anticoagulant, angiogenic and bone formation inducing functions. In January 2002, the television network CNN announced in a dispatch from London that deaths resulting from the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia with cerivastatin (Baycol) have now exceeded 100. Concerned Americans discussed this issue in May 2002, and published advice with the intention of summarizing for professionals current knowledge about statin use, focusing on myopathy. The criteria for the diagnosis of myopathy are not concerned with the symptoms of patients in the absence of raised muscle enzymes. Coenzyme Q10 is not considered in prophylaxis because one study showed no decrease in coenzyme Q10 in muscles in the presence of toxicity, although some studies indicated a reduction in serum levels. Conclusion: Several studies have reported a significant reduction in serum coenzyme Q10 in patients taking statins. Such concern was also expressed by the International College of Cardiology at their meeting in April 2002; it was proposed that coenzyme Q10 should be considered in the prevention as well as the treatment of statin intoxication.
An Integrated Incentive Mechanism for Device to Device (D2D)-Enabled Cellular Traffic Offloading

Cooperative content offloading is a promising technology to relieve the heavy burden of wireless cellular networks, and meanwhile can improve the quality of downloading services. While various optimization frameworks have been intensively studied (e.g., maximizing the amount of cellular traffic that can be offloaded, etc.), little attention has been given to how to systematically accommodate various stakeholders' rational behaviors and incentivize their cooperation. In this paper, we propose an integrated incentive mechanism which incorporates the utilities of three rational stakeholders in traffic offloading: cellular provider and end users including waiting users and downloading users. This incentive mechanism explicitly includes two components. In the first component of reverse auction based incentive mechanism, the cellular provider can classify the general users into downloading users and waiting users, and the waiting users can get some rewards for waiting some time (i.e., delaying their downloading through cellular provider). Besides being involved in the reverse auction phase, in the second component of charge policy based incentive mechanism, the waiting users can obtain data from the downloading user in D2D way, and pay both downloading user and per intermediate node on the delivery path with parts of rewards earned from cellular providers. Preliminary theoretical analysis illustrates this integrated incentive mechanism has the following features: Cellular provide can offload traffic with minimum cost, users in reverse auction will truthfully report their valuations on traffic loading, downloading users can obtain extra reward from waiting users in sybil-proof way (i.e., thwarting edge insertion attack).