Review of the Proposed Reserve Markets in New England

ISO New England proposes reserve markets designed to improve the existing forward reserve market and improve pricing during real-time reserve shortages. We support all of the main elements of the proposal. For example, we agree that little is gained by allowing reserve availability bids in the day-ahead market. Doing so greatly increases the complexity of the market without the prospect of more efficient pricing. Rather, offline reserves are most efficiently priced and awarded well in advance, as is done by the improved forward reserve market.Auctions; Multiple Object Auctions; Electricity Auctions

Strategies to Improve Music Perception in Cochlear Implantees

Cochlear implants have been an effective device for the management of patients with total or profound hearing loss over the past few decades. Significant improvements in speech and language can be observed in implantees following rehabilitation. In spite of remarkable linguistic perception, however, it is difficult for these patients to enjoy music although we did see some “superstars” for music performance in our patients. This article aimed to clarify current opinions on the strategies to improve music perception ability in this population of subjects. In part I, we included one of our previous work (Chen et al., 2010) talking about the effect of music training on pitch perception in prelingually deafened children with a cochlear implant. In part II, other factors related to the improvement of music perception in cochlear implantees were discussed, including residual hearing, bimodal hearing, and coding strategies. Evidences from results of our researches and from literature review will both be presented.18 page(s

A Systematic Hardware Sharing Method for Unified Architecture Design of H.264 Transforms

Multitransform techniques have been widely used in modern video coding and have better compression efficiency than the single transform technique that is used conventionally. However, every transform needs a corresponding hardware implementation, which results in a high hardware cost for multiple transforms. A novel method that includes a five-step operation sharing synthesis and architecture-unification techniques is proposed to systematically share the hardware and reduce the cost of multitransform coding. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method, a unified architecture is designed using the method for all of the six transforms involved in the H.264 video codec: 2D 4 × 4 forward and inverse integer transforms, 2D 4 × 4 and 2 × 2 Hadamard transforms, and 1D 8 × 8 forward and inverse integer transforms. Firstly, the six H.264 transform architectures are designed at a low cost using the proposed five-step operation sharing synthesis technique. Secondly, the proposed architecture-unification technique further unifies these six transform architectures into a low cost hardware-unified architecture. The unified architecture requires only 28 adders, 16 subtractors, 40 shifters, and a proposed mux-based routing network, and the gate count is only 16308. The unified architecture processes 8 pixels/clock-cycle, up to 275 MHz, which is equal to 707 Full-HD 1080 p frames/second

Review of the Proposed Reserve Markets in New England

ISO New England proposes reserve markets designed to improve the existing forward reserve market and improve pricing during real-time reserve shortages. We support all of the main elements of the proposal. For example, we agree that little is gained by allowing reserve availability bids in the day-ahead market. Doing so greatly increases the complexity of the market without the prospect of more efficient pricing. Rather, offline reserves are most efficiently priced and awarded well in advance, as is done by the improved forward reserve market

Orthogonal Tip-to-Tip Nanocapillary Alignment Allows for Easy Detection of Fluorescent Emitters in Femtomolar Concentrations

Here we present the realization of a novel fluorescence detection method based on the electromigration of fluorescent molecules within a nanocapillary combined with the laser excitation through a platinum (Pt)-coated nanocapillary. By using the Pt nanocapillary assisted focusing of a laser beam, we completely remove the background scattering on the tip of the electrophoretic nanocapillary. In this excitation geometry, we demonstrate a 1000-fold sensitivity enhancement (1.0 nM to 1.0 pM) compared to the detection in microcapillaries with epifluorescence illumination and fluorescence spectrophotometry. Due to a significant electroosmotic flow, we observe a decelerating migration of DNA molecules close to the tip of the electrophoretic nanocapillary. The reduced DNA translocation velocity causes a two-step stacking process of molecules in the tip of the nanocapillary and can be used as a way to locally concentrate molecules. The sensitivity of our method is further improved by a continuous electrokinetic injection of DNA molecules followed by sample zone stacking on the tip of the nanocapillary. Concentrations ranging from 0.1 pM to 1.0 fM can be directly observed on the orifice of the electrophoretic nanocapillary. This is a 1000-fold improvement compared to traditional capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence

The Combination of Functional and Structural MRI Is a Potential Screening Tool in Alzheimer’s Disease

Introduction: This study aimed to survey the discrimination power of parameters from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on PET (FDG-PET), structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and functional MRI in high- and low-risk subjects or in converters and stable subjects of normal and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) statuses.Methods: We used baseline resting-state functional MRI (rfMRI) from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset to analyze functional networks and recorded subjects’ characteristics and results of the CSF study, FDG-PET, and structural MRI from the ADNI website. All parameters were evaluated based on the between-group difference among normal (NC), MCI, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) groups. The parameters other than CSF results were included to study the difference between high- and low-AD-risk subjects in NC or MCI groups, based on CSF results. On the basis of two-year follow-up conditions, all parameters were compared between stable subjects and converters in NC and MCI.Results: CSF biomarkers, FDG-PET, structural MRI, and functional MRI are all able to differentiate AD from MCI or NC but not between MCI and NC. As compared with low-AD-risk subjects, high-risk subjects present decreased FDG-PET in both MCI and NC groups but structural MRI change only in MCI status and rfMRI alteration only in NC status. As compared with stable subjects, converters have decreased FDG-PET, functional network changes, and structural changes in both MCI and NC groups.Conclusion: The combination of functional and structural MRI is a safer screening tool but with similar power as FDG-PET to reflect CSF change in the AD pathological process and to identify high-risk subjects and converters in NC and MCI

Low-cell-number, single-tube amplification (STA) of total RNA revealed transcriptome changes from pluripotency to endothelium

Table S1. Summary of the sequencing results. The alignments against the GRCh38 genome assembly (Aligned Reads) were counted for exon reads (exon) and transcript reads based on GENCODE v22. Intronic counts (intron) were defined by transcript counts minus exon ones. Nontranscript reads were used to obtain tRNA counts (tRNA) based on the tRNA database of GENCODE v22. Nontranscript and non-tRNA reads were used for counts on repetitive sequences (repeats) based on RepeatMasker. Those not belonging to any category were defined as unannotated reads (unannotated). The counting of exonic features was based on the “gene_type” attribute in GENCODE v22. The percentages of mature miRNA reads were defined by reads aligned exclusively to the mature “miRNA” feature divided by reads aligned to the “miRNA_primary_transcript” feature of miRBase v21. (DOCX 42 kb

Potential Therapeutic Role of Hispidulin in Gastric Cancer through Induction of Apoptosis via NAG-1 Signaling

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers due to poor prognoses and high mortality rates worldwide. However, an effective chemotherapeutic drug without side effects remains lacking. Saussurea involucrata (SI) Kar. et Kir., also known as snow lotus, grows in mountainous rocky habitats at 2600 m elevation in the Tian Shan and A’er Tai regions of China. The ethyl acetate extract of SI had been shown to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in various tumor cells. In this study, we demonstrated that Hispidulin, active ingredients in SI, inhibits the growth of AGS gastric cancer cells. After Hispidulin treatment, NAG-1 remained highly expressed, whereas COX-2 expression was downregulated. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that Hispidulin induces G1/S phase arrest and apoptosis in time- and concentration-dependent manners. G1/S arrest correlated with upregulated p21/WAF1 and p16 and downregulated cyclin D1 and cyclin E, independent of p53 pathway. In addition, Hispidulin can elevate Egr-1 expression and ERK1/2 activity, whereas ERK1/2 inhibitor markedly attenuated NAG-1 mediated apoptosis. Taken together, Hispidulin can efficiently activate ERK1/2 signaling followed by NAG-1 constitutive expression and trigger cell cycle arrest as well as apoptosis in cancer cell. It can be a potential compound for combination therapy of gastric cancer in the future

Neoadjuvant Carboplatin/Paclitaxel versus 5-Fluorouracil/Cisplatin in Combination with Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma:A Multicenter Comparative Study

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The most beneficial neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for Asian patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma remains uncertain. Using propensity score matching by inverse probability of treatment weighting to balance the baseline variables, the neoadjuvant carboplatin/paclitaxel (CROSS) regimen versus the cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (PF) regimen in combination with 41.4–50.4 Gy of radiotherapy were compared. We found that Taiwanese patients treated with the CROSS regimen (Carboplatin + Paclitaxel + 41.4–45.0 Gy) had less treatment-related complications and more favorable survival figures. Collectively, these results suggest that CROSS is safe and effective. ABSTRACT: Background: The most beneficial neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) combination for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Asia remains uncertain. Herein, we compared the neoadjuvant carboplatin/paclitaxel (CROSS) regimen versus the cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (PF) regimen in combination with 41.4–50.4 Gy of radiotherapy. Methods: Patients were stratified according to their nCRT regimen: CROSS + 41.4–45.0 Gy (CROSS), PF + 45.0 Gy (PF4500) or PF + 50.4 Gy (PF5040). Propensity score matching by inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to balance the baseline variables. Results: Before IPTW, a total of 334 patients were included. The lowest chemotherapy completion rate was observed in the PF5040 group (76.2% versus 89.4% and 92.0% in the remaining two groups, respectively). Compared with CROSS, both PF groups showed more severe weight loss during nCRT and a higher frequency of post-esophagectomy anastomotic leaks. The use of PF5040 was associated with the highest rate of pathological complete response (45.3%). While CROSS conferred a significant overall survival benefit over PF4500 (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.05 to 1.62, p = 0.018), similar survival figures were observed when compared with PF5040 (HR = 1.17, 95% CI = 0.94 to 1.45, p = 0.166). Conclusions: The CROSS regimen conferred a significant survival benefit over PF4500, although the similar survival figures were similar to those observed with PF5040. Considering the lower incidences of severe weight loss and post-esophagectomy anastomotic leaks, CROSS represents a safe and effective neoadjuvant treatment for Taiwanese patients with ESCC