pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
fMRI neurofeedback of higher visual areas and perceptual biases.

The self-regulation of brain activation via neurofeedback training offers a method to study the relationship between brain areas and perception in a more direct manner than the conventional mapping of brain responses to different types of stimuli. The current proof-of-concept study aimed to demonstrate that healthy volunteers can self-regulate activity in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) over the fusiform face area (FFA). Both areas are involved in higher order visual processing and are activated during the imagery of scenes and faces respectively. Participants (N=9) were required to upregulate PPA relative to FFA activity, and all succeeded at the task, with imagery of scenes being the most commonly reported mental strategy. A control group (N=8) underwent the same imagery and testing procedure, albeit without neurofeedback, in a mock MR scanner to account for any non-specific training effects. The upregulation of PPA activity occurred concurrently with activation of prefrontal and parietal areas, which have been associated with ideation and mental image generation. We tested whether successful upregulation of the PPA relative to FFA had consequences on perception by assessing bistable perception of faces and houses in a binocular rivalry task (before and after the scanning sessions) and categorisation of faces and scenes presented in transparent composite images (during scanning, interleaved with the self-regulation blocks). Contrary to our expectations, upregulation of the PPA did not alter the duration of face or house perception in the rivalry task and response speed and accuracy in the categorisation task. This conclusion was supported by the results of another control experiment (N=10 healthy participants) that involved intensive exposure to category-specific stimuli and did not show any behavioural or perceptual changes. We conclude that differential self-regulation of higher visual areas can be achieved, but that perceptual biases under conditions of stimulus rivalry are relatively robust against such internal modulation of localised brain activity. This study sets the basis for future investigations of perceptual and behavioural consequences of localised self-regulation of neural activity
New methods for investigating slag heaps: intergrating geoprospection, excavation and quantitative methods at Meroe, Sudan

This paper describes a multifaceted approach to the investigation of iron slag heaps, focusing on one of the slag heaps at the Royal City of Meroe in Sudan. This study marries together geoprospection data (gradiometry and electrical resistivity transects), topographic data and quantitative excavation data, to provide an analysis and comparison of the total volume, slag component and slag composition of a slagheap. Significantly, the results demonstrate the limitations of using a topographic only model, but also demonstrate how volumetric modelling must be integrated within quantitative characterisation of slagheap composition. In this case, quantitative sampling of the slag deposits revealed the composition of the slag assemblage was dominated by a newly defined category of slag which has major implications for reconstructing iron technologies in the Meroitic civilisation. This research highlights the dangers of applying simplistic models and basic investigative strategies to iron slag heaps and furthers the debate on applying volumetric modelling and excavation sampling to unexcavated areas of the finite and important resource of archaeometallurgical deposit sequences
One-loop corrections to $h\to b\bar b$ and $h\to \tau\bar \tau$ decays
  in the Standard Model Dimension-6 EFT: four-fermion operators and the
  large-$m_t$ limit

We calculate a set of one-loop corrections to $h\to b\bar b$ and $h\to
\tau\bar \tau$ decays in the dimension-6 Standard Model effective field theory
(SMEFT). In particular, working in the limit of vanishing gauge couplings, we
calculate directly in the broken phase of the theory all large logarithmic
corrections and in addition the finite corrections in the large-$m_t$ limit.
Moreover, we give exact results for one-loop contributions from four-fermion
operators. We obtain these corrections within an extension of the widely used
on-shell renormalisation scheme appropriate for SMEFT calculations, and show
explicitly how UV divergent bare amplitudes from a total of 21 different SMEFT
operators are rendered finite within this scheme. As a by-product of the
calculation, we also compute to one-loop order the logarithmically enhanced and
finite large-$m_t$ corrections to muon decay in the limit of vanishing gauge
couplings, which is necessary to implement the $G_F$ input parameter scheme
within the SMEFT.Comment: 38 pages. Matches journal version and includes extended discussion in
  phenomenology sectio
SUSY effects in $R_b$: revisited under current experimental constraints

In this note we revisit the SUSY effects in $R_b$ under current experimental
constraints including the LHC Higgs data, the $B$-physics measurements, the
dark matter relic density and direct detection limits, as well as the precision
electroweak data. We first perform a scan to figure out the currently allowed
parameter space and then display the SUSY effects in $R_b$. We find that
although the SUSY parameter space has been severely restrained by current
experimental data, both the general MSSM and the natural-SUSY scenario can
still alter $R_b$ with a magnitude sizable enough to be observed at future
$Z$-factories (ILC, CEPC, FCC-ee, Super $Z$-factory) which produce
$10^9-10^{12}$ $Z$-bosons. To be specific, assuming a precise measurement
$\delta R_b = 2.0 \times 10^{-5}$ at FCC-ee, we can probe a right-handed stop
up to 530 GeV through chargino-stop loops, probe a sbottom to 850 GeV through
neutralino-sbottom loops and a charged Higgs to 770 GeV through the Higgs-top
quark loops for a large $\text{tan}\beta$. The full one-loop SUSY correction to
$R_b$ can reach $1 \times 10^{-4}$ in natural SUSY and $2 \times 10^{-4}$ in
the general MSSM.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figures, new figures adde
Observation of the full 12-hour-long transit of the exoplanet HD80606b: Warm-Spitzer photometry and SOPHIE spectroscopy

Copyright © ESO, 2010We present new observations of a transit of the 111.4-day-period exoplanet HD 80606b. Due to this long orbital period and to the orientation of the eccentric orbit (e = 0.9), HD 80606b's transits last for about 12 hours. This makes the observation of a full transit practically impossible from a given ground-based observatory. With the Spitzer Space Telescope and its IRAC camera on the post-cryogenic mission, we performed a 19-h photometric observation of HD 80606 that covers the full 2010 January 13-14 transit as well as off-transit references immediately before and after the event. We complement these photometric data by new spectroscopic observations that we simultaneously performed with SOPHIE at the Haute-Provence Observatory. This provides radial velocity measurements of the first half of the transit that was previously uncovered with spectroscopy. This new dataset allows the parameters of this singular planetary system to be significantly refined. We obtained a planet-to-star radius ratio Rp/R* = 0.1001 ± 0.0006 that is more accurate but slightly lower than the one measured from previous ground observations in the optical. We found no astrophysical interpretations able to explain this difference between optical and infrared radii; we rather favor underestimated systematic uncertainties, maybe in the ground-based composite light curve. We detected a feature in the Spitzer light curve that could be due to a stellar spot. We also found a transit timing about 20 minutes earlier than the ephemeris prediction; this could be caused by actual transit-timing variations due to an additional body in the system, or again by underestimated systematic uncertainties. The actual angle between the spin-axis of HD 80606 and the normal to the planetary orbital plane is found to be near 40° thanks to the fit of the Rossiter-McLaughlin anomaly, with a sky-projected value λ = 42° ± 8°. This allows scenarios with aligned spin-orbit to be definitively rejected. Over the twenty planetary systems with measured spin-orbit angles, a few are misaligned; this is probably the signature of two different evolution scenarios for misaligned and aligned systems, depending whether or not they experienced gravitational interaction with a third body. As in the case of HD 80606, most of the planetary systems including a massive planet are tilted; this could be the signature of a separate evolution scenario for massive planets compared with Jupiter-mass planets.CNRS/INSUSwiss National Science FoundationFrench National Research AgencyCNESEuropean Research Council/European Community under the FP7Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), PortugalFCT/MCTES (Portugal)POPH/FSE (EC
Extinction of cue-evoked drug-seeking relies on degrading hierarchical instrumental expectancies.

Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tCopyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.There has long been need for a behavioural intervention that attenuates cue-evoked drug-seeking, but the optimal method remains obscure. To address this, we report three approaches to extinguish cue-evoked drug-seeking measured in a Pavlovian to instrumental transfer design, in non-treatment seeking adult smokers and alcohol drinkers. The results showed that the ability of a drug stimulus to transfer control over a separately trained drug-seeking response was not affected by the stimulus undergoing Pavlovian extinction training in experiment 1, but was abolished by the stimulus undergoing discriminative extinction training in experiment 2, and was abolished by explicit verbal instructions stating that the stimulus did not signal a more effective response-drug contingency in experiment 3. These data suggest that cue-evoked drug-seeking is mediated by a propositional hierarchical instrumental expectancy that the drug-seeking response is more likely to be rewarded in that stimulus. Methods which degraded this hierarchical expectancy were effective in the laboratory, and so may have therapeutic potential.MRCESC
Direct prediction of profiles of sequences compatible to a protein structure by neural networks with fragment-based local and energy-based nonlocal profiles

Locating sequences compatible with a protein structural fold is the well-known inverse protein-folding problem. While significant progress has been made, the success rate of protein design remains low. As a result, a library of designed sequences or profile of sequences is currently employed for guiding experimental screening or directed evolution. Sequence profiles can be computationally predicted by iterative mutations of a random sequence to produce energy-optimized sequences, or by combining sequences of structurally similar fragments in a template library. The latter approach is computationally more efficient but yields less accurate profiles than the former because of lacking tertiary structural information. Here we present a method called SPIN that predicts Sequence Profiles by Integrated Neural network based on fragment-derived sequence profiles and structure-derived energy profiles. SPIN improves over the fragment-derived profile by 6.7% (from 23.6 to 30.3%) in sequence identity between predicted and wild-type sequences. The method also reduces the number of residues in low complex regions by 15.7% and has a significantly better balance of hydrophilic and hydrophobic residues at protein surface. The accuracy of sequence profiles obtained is comparable to those generated from the protein design program RosettaDesign 3.5. This highly efficient method for predicting sequence profiles from structures will be useful as a single-body scoring term for improving scoring functions used in protein design and fold recognition. It also complements protein design programs in guiding experimental design of the sequence library for screening and directed evolution of designed sequences. The SPIN server is available at http://sparks-lab.org
A dominant mutation in the gene encoding the erythroid transcription factor KLF1 causes a congenital dyserythropoietic anemia.

International audienceThe congenital dyserythropoietic anemias (CDAs) are inherited red blood cell disorders whose hallmarks are ineffective erythropoiesis, hemolysis, and morphological abnormalities of erythroblasts in bone marrow. We have identified a missense mutation in KLF1 of patients with a hitherto unclassified CDA. KLF1 is an erythroid transcription factor, and extensive studies in mouse models have shown that it plays a critical role in the expression of globin genes, but also in the expression of a wide spectrum of genes potentially essential for erythropoiesis. The unique features of this CDA confirm the key role of KLF1 during human erythroid differentiation. Furthermore, we show that the mutation has a dominant-negative effect on KLF1 transcriptional activity and unexpectedly abolishes the expression of the water channel AQP1 and the adhesion molecule CD44. Thus, the study of this disease-causing mutation in KLF1 provides further insights into the roles of this transcription factor during erythropoiesis in humans
Assessment of a percutaneous iliosacral screw insertion simulator.

International audienceBACKGROUND: Navigational simulator use for specialized training purposes is rather uncommon in orthopaedic and trauma surgery. However, it reveals providing a valuable tool to train orthopaedic surgeons and help them to plan complex surgical procedures. PURPOSE: This work's objective was to assess educational efficiency of a path simulator under fluoroscopic guidance applied to sacroiliac joint percutaneous screw fixation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated 23 surgeons' accuracy inserting a guide-wire in a human cadaver experiment, following a pre-established procedure. These medical trainees were defined in three prospective respects: novice or skilled; with or without theoretical knowledge; with or without surgical procedure familiarity. Analysed criteria for each tested surgeon included the number of intraoperative X-rays taken in order to achieve the surgical procedure as well as an iatrogenic index reflecting the surgeon's ability to detect any hazardous trajectory at the time of performing said procedure. RESULTS: An average number of 13 X-rays was required for wire implantation by the G1 group. G2 group, assisted by the simulator use, required an average of 10 X-rays. A substantial difference was especially observed within the novice sub-group (N), with an average of 12.75 X-rays for the G1 category and an average of 8.5 X-rays for the G2 category. As far as the iatrogenic index is concerned, we were unable to observe any significant difference between the groups
GOODS-Herschel: identification of the individual galaxies responsible for the 80–290 μm cosmic infrared background

International audienceAims. We propose a new method of pushing Herschel to its faintest detection limits using universal trends in the redshift evolution of the far infrared over 24 μm colours in the well-sampled GOODS-North field. An extension to other fields with less multi-wavelength information is presented. This method is applied here to raise the contribution of individually detected Herschel sources to the cosmic infrared background (CIRB) by a factor 5 close to its peak at 250 μm and more than 3 in the 350 and 500 μm bands.Methods. We produce realistic mock Herschel images of the deep PACS and SPIRE images of the GOODS–North field from the GOODS-Herschel key program and use them to quantify the confusion noise at the position of individual sources, i.e., estimate a “local confusion noise”. Two methods are used to identify sources with reliable photometric accuracy extracted using 24 μm prior positions. The clean index (CI), previously defined but validated here with simulations, which measures the presence of bright 24 μm neighbours and the photometric accuracy index (PAI) directly extracted from the mock Herschel images.Results. Both methods converge to comparable depths and fractions of the CIRB resolved into sources individually detected with Herschel. After correction for completeness, thanks to our mock Herschel images, individually detected sources make up as much as 54% and 60% of the CIRB in the PACS bands down to 1.1 mJy at 100 μm and 2.2 mJy at 160 μm and 55, 33, and 13% of the CIRB in the SPIRE bands down to 2.5, 5, and 9 mJy at 250 μm, 350 μm, and 500 μm, respectively. The latter depths improve the detection limits of Herschel by factors of 5 at 250 μm, and 3 at 350 μm and 500 μm as compared to the standard confusion limit. Interestingly, the dominant contributors to the CIRB in all Herschel bands appear to be distant siblings of the Milky Way (z ~ 0.96 for λ< 300 μm) with a stellar mass of M⋆ ~ 9 × 1010M⊙
Disk and wind interaction in the young stellar object MWC 297 spatially resolved with VLTI/AMBER

13 pages; to be published in A&A; Acceptance day: 11/10/2005International audienceThe young stellar object MWC 297 is an embedded B1.5Ve star exhibiting strong hydrogen emission lines and a strong near-infrared continuum excess. This object has been observed with the VLT interferometer equipped with the AMBER instrument during its first commissioning run. VLTI/AMBER is currently the only near infrared interferometer which can observe spectrally dispersed visibilities. MWC 297 has been spatially resolved in the continuum with a visibility of $0.50^{+0.08}_{-0.10}$ as well as in the Brgamma emission line where the visibility decrease to a lower value of $0.33\pm0.06$. This change in the visibility with the wavelength can be interpreted by the presence of an optically thick disk responsible for the visibility in the continuum and of a stellar wind traced by the Brgamma emission line and whose apparent size is 40% larger. We validate this interpretation by building a model of the stellar environment that combines a geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disk model consisting of gas and dust, and a latitude-dependent stellar wind outflowing above the disk surface. The continuum emission and visibilities obtained from this model are fully consistent with the interferometric AMBER data. They agree also with existing optical, near-infrared spectra and other broad-band near-infrared interferometric visibilities. We also reproduce the shape of the visibilities in the Brgamma line as well as the profile of this line obtained at an higher spectral resolution with the VLT/ISAAC spectrograph, and those of the Halpha and Hbeta lines. The disk and wind models yield a consistent inclination of the system of approximately 20 degrees. A picture emerges in which MWC 297 is surrounded by an equatorial flat disk that is possibly still accreting and an outflowing wind which has a much higher velocity in the polar region than at the equator. The VLTI/AMBER unique capability to measure spectral visibilities therefore allows us for the first time to compare the apparent geometry of a wind with the disk structure in a young stellar system
Direct constraint on the distance of Gamma2 Velorum from AMBER/VLTI observations.

International audienceIn this work, we present the first AMBER observations, of the Wolf-Rayet and O (WR+O) star binary system y² Velorum. The AMBER instrument was used with the telescopes UT2, UT3, and UT4 on baselines ranging from 46m to 85m. It delivered spectrally dispersed visibilities, as well as differential and closure phases, with a resolution R = 1500 in the spectral band 1.95-2.17 micron. We interpret these data in the context of a binary system with unresolved components, neglecting in a first approximation the wind-wind collision zone flux contribution. We show that the AMBER observables result primarily from the contribution of the individual components of the WR+O binary system. We discuss several interpretations of the residuals, and speculate on the detection of an additional continuum component, originating from the free-free emission associated with the wind-wind collision zone (WWCZ), and contributing at most to the observed K-band flux at the 5% level. The expected absolute separation and position angle at the time of observations were 5.1±0.9mas and 66±15° respectively. However, we infer a separation of 3.62+0.11-0.30 mas and a position angle of 73+9-11°. Our analysis thus implies that the binary system lies at a distance of 368+38-13 pc, in agreement with recent spectrophotometric estimates, but significantly larger than the Hipparcos value of 258+41-31 pc
Relative equity market valuation conditions and acquirers’ gains

We examine whether the relative equity market valuation conditions (EMVCs) in the countries of merging firms help acquirers’ managers to time the announcements of both domestic and foreign targets. After controlling for several deal- and merging firm-specific features we find that the number of acquisitions and acquirers’ gains are higher during periods of high-EMVCs at home, irrespective of the domicile of the target. We also find that the higher gains of foreign target acquisitions realized during periods of high-EMVCs at home stem from acquiring targets based in the RoW (=World-G7), rather than the G6 (=G7-UK) group of countries. We argue that this is due to the low correlation of EMVCs between the UK (home) and the RoW group of countries. However, these gains disappear or even reverse during the post-announcement period. Moreover, acquisitions of targets domiciled in the RoW (G6) countries yield higher (lower) gains than acquisitions of domestic targets during periods of high-EMVCs at home. This suggests that the relative EMVCs between the merging firms’ countries allow acquirers’ managers to time the market and acquire targets at a discount, particularly in countries in which acquirers’ stocks are likely to be more overvalued than the targets’ stocks.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Innate immune humoral factors, C1q and factor H, with differential pattern recognition properties, alter macrophage response to carbon nanotubes.

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at\ud
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nano.2015.06.009.Interaction between the complement system and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can modify their intended biomedical applications. Pristine and derivatised CNTs can activate complement primarily via the classical pathway which enhances uptake of CNTs and suppresses pro-inflammatory response by immune cells. Here, we report that the interaction of C1q, the classical pathway recognition molecule, with CNTs involves charge pattern and classical pathway activation that is partly inhibited by factor H, a complement regulator. C1q and its globular modules, but not factor H, enhanced uptake of CNTs by macrophages and modulated the pro-inflammatory immune response. Thus, soluble complement factors can interact differentially with CNTs and alter the immune response even without complement activation. Coating CNTs with recombinant C1q globular heads offers a novel way of controlling classical pathway activation in nanotherapeutics. Surprisingly, the globular heads also enhance clearance by phagocytes and down-regulate inflammation, suggesting unexpected complexity in receptor interaction.\ud
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From the Clinical Editor\ud
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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) maybe useful in the clinical setting as targeting drug carriers. However, it is also well known that they can interact and activate the complement system, which may have a negative impact on the applicability of CNTs. In this study, the authors functionalized multi-walled CNT (MWNT), and investigated the interaction with the complement pathway. These studies are important so as to gain further understanding of the underlying mechanism in preparation for future use of CNTs in the clinical setting.L.P., A.G.T., L.K., G.S. and U.K. thank Brunel University London for strategic Infrastructure funding. H.A.K. acknowledges the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding via Group No. RGP-009.Peer-reviewedPublisher Versio