Filter and nested-lattice code design for fading MIMO channels with side-information

Linear-assignment Gel'fand-Pinsker coding (LA-GPC) is a coding technique for channels with interference known only at the transmitter, where the known interference is treated as side-information (SI). As a special case of LA-GPC, dirty paper coding has been shown to be able to achieve the optimal interference-free rate for interference channels with perfect channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). In the cases where only the channel distribution information at the transmitter (CDIT) is available, LA-GPC also has good (sometimes optimal) performance in a variety of fast and slow fading SI channels. In this paper, we design the filters in nested-lattice based coding to make it achieve the same rate performance as LA-GPC in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels. Compared with the random Gaussian codebooks used in previous works, our resultant coding schemes have an algebraic structure and can be implemented in practical systems. A simulation in a slow-fading channel is also provided, and near interference-free error performance is obtained. The proposed coding schemes can serve as the fundamental building blocks to achieve the promised rate performance of MIMO Gaussian broadcast channels with CDIT or perfect CSITComment: submitted to IEEE Transactions on Communications, Feb, 200

Multi-user lattice coding for the multiple-access relay channel

This paper considers the multi-antenna multiple access relay channel (MARC), in which multiple users transmit messages to a common destination with the assistance of a relay. In a variety of MARC settings, the dynamic decode and forward (DDF) protocol is very useful due to its outstanding rate performance. However, the lack of good structured codebooks so far hinders practical applications of DDF for MARC. In this work, two classes of structured MARC codes are proposed: 1) one-to-one relay-mapper aided multiuser lattice coding (O-MLC), and 2) modulo-sum relay-mapper aided multiuser lattice coding (MS-MLC). The former enjoys better rate performance, while the latter provides more flexibility to tradeoff between the complexity of the relay mapper and the rate performance. It is shown that, in order to approach the rate performance achievable by an unstructured codebook with maximum-likelihood decoding, it is crucial to use a new K-stage coset decoder for structured O-MLC, instead of the one-stage decoder proposed in previous works. However, if O-MLC is decoded with the one-stage decoder only, it can still achieve the optimal DDF diversity-multiplexing gain tradeoff in the high signal-to-noise ratio regime. As for MS-MLC, its rate performance can approach that of the O-MLC by increasing the complexity of the modulo-sum relay-mapper. Finally, for practical implementations of both O-MLC and MS-MLC, practical short length lattice codes with linear mappers are designed, which facilitate efficient lattice decoding. Simulation results show that the proposed coding schemes outperform existing schemes in terms of outage probabilities in a variety of channel settings.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figure

Low Intensity of Running Favors for Anabolic Response after Resistance Exercise

Purpose: Whether active or passive recovery after resistance exercise may affect anabolic and catabolic response is not clear. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of active (moderate or low intensity running) and passive (rest) recovery after resistance exercise on testosterone, cortisol and testosterone/cortisol ratio (T/C) responses. Methods: By counter-balanced design, nine recreationally active males (age: 23.89 ± 0.86 yrs of age; height: 172.89 ± 1.30 cm; weight: 68.37 ± 2.72 kg; VO2max: 56.56 ± 1.70 ml/kg/min) completed three tests including: 65% VO2max running (moderate intensity, RM), 40% VO2max running (low intensity, RL) and passive rest (RR) following 3sets of four resistance exercises (bench press, leg extension, front lat pulldown and leg curl, 12 repetitions at 60%1RM with 2min rest among all sets and exercises). In order to evaluate the systemic anabolic status, we measured plasma testosterone, cortisol and T/C ratio before resistance exercise (baseline), immediately after either active or passive recovery (post), and 30min after recovery (rest). Results: In RM group, T/C was significantly lower (decrease 18.5%, p\u3c.05) than baseline at rest. In RL group, T/C was significantly higher (increase 79.1% at post and increase 123.2% at rest, p\u3c.05) than baseline at post and rest, respectively. At rest, the T/C of RL was higher than RM (RM: 0.49 ± 0.12, RL: 1.08 ± 0.19, p\u3c.05). Conclusions: Resistance exercise and low intensity aerobic exercise is more favorable to enhance anabolic response during post-exercise recovery

Early utilization of hypertonic peritoneal dialysate and subsequent risks of non-traumatic amputation among peritoneal dialysis patients: a nationwide retrospective longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: The hemodialysis (HD) population has a particularly high incidence of amputation, which is likely associated with decreased tissue oxygenation during HD. However, information about the risk factors leading to amputation in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients is limited. Here, we have investigated the association between the use of hypertonic peritoneal dialysate (HPD) and subsequent amputation in PD patients. METHODS: Based on the data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance research database, this observational cohort study enrolled 203 PD patients who had received HPD early during treatment and had not undergone amputation and 296 PD controls who had not undergone amputation. Subjects were followed through until the end of 2009 and the event rates of new non-traumatic amputation were compared between groups. RESULTS: The incidence of amputation was 3 times higher for the HPD cohort than for the comparison cohort (23.68 vs. 8.01 per 1000 person-years). The hazard ratio (HR) for this group, estimated using a multivariable Cox model, was 2.48 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06–5.79). The HR for patients with both diabetes and early adoption of HPD increased to 44.34 (95% CI = 5.51-357.03), compared to non-HPD non-diabetic PD controls. CONCLUSION: Early utilization of HPD in PD patients is associated with increasing risk of amputation; this risk considerably increases for those with concomitant diabetes

Functional annotation of proteomic data from chicken heterophils and macrophages induced by carbon nanotube exposure

With the expanding applications of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in biomedicine and agriculture, questions about the toxicity and biocompatibility of CNT in humans and domestic animals are becoming matters of serious concern. This study used proteomic methods to profile gene expression in chicken macrophages and heterophils in response to CNT exposure. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis identified 12 proteins in macrophages and 15 in heterophils, with differential expression patterns in response to CNT co-incubation (0, 1, 10, and 100 µg/mL of CNT for 6 h) (p < 0.05). Gene ontology analysis showed that most of the differentially expressed proteins are associated with protein interactions, cellular metabolic processes, and cell mobility, suggesting activation of innate immune functions. Western blot analysis with heat shock protein 70, high mobility group protein, and peptidylprolyl isomerase A confirmed the alterations of the profiled proteins. The functional annotations were further confirmed by effective cell migration, promoted interleukin-1β secretion, and more cell death in both macrophages and heterophils exposed to CNT (p < 0.05). In conclusion, results of this study suggest that CNT exposure affects protein expression, leading to activation of macrophages and heterophils, resulting in altered cytoskeleton remodeling, cell migration, and cytokine production, and thereby mediates tissue immune responses

Differentiation of Foot-and-Mouth Disease-Infected pigs from Vaccinated Pigs Using Antibody-Detecting Sandwich ELISA

The presence of serum antibodies for nonstructural proteins of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) can differentiate FMDV-infected animals from vaccinated animals. In this study, a sandwich ELISA was developed for rapid detection of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) antibodies; it was based on an Escherichia coli-expressed, highly conserved region of the 3ABC nonstructural protein of the FMDV O/TW/99 strain and a monoclonal antibody derived from the expressed protein. The diagnostic sensitivity of the assay was 98.4%, and the diagnostic specificity was 100% for naïve and vaccinated pigs; the detection ability of the assay was comparable those of the PrioCHECK and UBI kits. There was 97.5, 93.4 and 66.6% agreement between the results obtained from our ELISA and those obtained from the PrioCHECK, UBI and CHEKIT kits, respectively. The kappa statistics were 0.95, 0.87 and 0.37, respectively. Moreover, antibodies for nonstructural proteins of the serotypes A, C, Asia 1, SAT 1, SAT 2 and SAT 3 were also detected in bovine sera. Furthermore, the absence of cross-reactions generated by different antibody titers against the swine vesicular disease virus and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was also highlighted in this assay's specificit

High expression FUT1 and B3GALT5 is an independent predictor of postoperative recurrence and survival in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Cancer may arise from dedifferentiation of mature cells or maturation-arrested stem cells. Previously we reported that definitive endoderm from which liver was derived, expressed Globo H, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4. In this study, we examined the expression of their biosynthetic enzymes, FUT1, FUT2, B3GALT5 and ST3GAL2, in 135 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues by qRT-PCR. High expression of either FUT1 or B3GALT5 was significantly associated with advanced stages and poor outcome. Kaplan Meier survival analysis showed significantly shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) for those with high expression of either FUT1 or B3GALT5 (P = 0.024 and 0.001, respectively) and shorter overall survival (OS) for those with high expression of B3GALT5 (P = 0.017). Combination of FUT1 and B3GALT5 revealed that high expression of both genes had poorer RFS and OS than the others (P &lt; 0.001). Moreover, multivariable Cox regression analysis identified the combination of B3GALT5 and FUT1 as an independent predictor for RFS (HR: 2.370, 95% CI: 1.505-3.731, P &lt; 0.001) and OS (HR: 2.153, 95% CI: 1.188-3.902, P = 0.012) in HCC. In addition, the presence of Globo H, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4 in some HCC tissues and their absence in normal liver was established by immunohistochemistry staining and mass spectrometric analysis

The potential impact of primary headache disorders on stroke risk

Distribution of PHDs. (DOC 55 kb

Does Long-Term Use of Silver Nanoparticles Have Persistent Inhibitory Effect on H. pylori Based on Mongolian Gerbil’s Model?

It is urgent to find alternative agents due to increasing failure rate of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication. The study surveyed the long-term effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) on H. pylori based on Mongolian gerbil's model