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Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), a sideways curvature of the spine, is sexually dimorphic, with increased incidence in females. A genome-wide association study identified a female-specific AIS susceptibility locus near the PAX1 gene. Here, we use mouse enhancer assays, three mouse enhancer knockouts, and subsequent phenotypic analyses to characterize this region. Using mouse enhancer assays, we characterize a sequence, PEC7, which overlaps the AIS-associated variant, and find it to be active in the tail tip and intervertebral disc. Removal of PEC7 or Xe1, a known sclerotome enhancer nearby, or deletion of both sequences lead to a kinky tail phenotype only in the Xe1 and combined (Xe1+PEC7) knockouts, with only the latter showing a female sex dimorphic phenotype. Extensive phenotypic characterization of these mouse lines implicates several differentially expressed genes and estrogen signaling in the sex dimorphic bias. In summary, our work functionally characterizes an AIS-associated locus and dissects the mechanism for its sexual dimorphism.

Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy is a continuously growing approach to stimulating healing and reducing inflammation and pain. However, its effects in the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering are still under investigation. Studying PBM effects on the regenerative capacity of zebrafish can allow the application of novel clinical approaches where the impact of PBM will be cross‐linked with the stem‐cell therapeutic approaches. This study was done to establish an in‐vivo experimental setup for studying the effects of laser and ultraviolet therapy on zebrafish caudal‐fin regeneration and vascularization. Thirty zebrafish were randomly and equally allocated into three groups. The caudal‐fins of all zebrafish were amputated under anaesthesia. In the first control group, the caudal‐fin was only monitored until fully regenerated. In the second group, the amputated‐fin was irradiated with ultraviolet. Finally, in the third group, the amputated‐fin was irradiated with laser. Caudal‐fin regeneration and vascularization were assessed at days 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 in all fish. In terms of regeneration, the results indicated that it is possible to discriminate the regenerative effect of laser with the experimental setup as laser therapy showed a statistically significant difference when compared to control‐group. It was also found that regenerative stimulation of the group that received ultraviolet therapy showed significant difference when compared to the control group. In terms of vascularization, there was a statistically significant difference in all groups of the study, which may suggest that laser as well as ultraviolet have limited effects in terms of improving vascularization. This study presented a novel, simple and inexpensive method for the assessment of PBM effects on zebrafish. Laser and ultraviolet therapy appeared to act as regenerative stimulators for caudal‐fin regeneration of zebrafish. However, laser therapy results were, to some extent, better than ultraviolet therapy. This novel in‐vivo design of the experiment led to more rapid and reproducible results than in‐vitro experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dinosaur locomotion and biomechanics, especially of their pelvic girdles and hindlimbs, have been analyzed in numerous studies. However, detailed volumetric musculoskeletal models of their tails are rarely developed. Here, we present the first detailed threedimensional volumetric reconstruction of the caudal epaxial and hypaxial musculature of the Late Jurassic sauropod Giraffatitan brancai, and highlight the importance and necessity of 3D modeling in musculoskeletal reconstructions. The tail of this basal macronarian is relatively short compared to diplodocids and other coexisting macronarians. The center of mass lies well in front of the hindlimbs, which support only ca. half the body weight. Still, our reconstruction suggests a total weight for the entire tail of ca. 2500 kg. We conclude that the hypaxial and tail-related hindlimb muscles (most specifically the M. caudofemoralis longus and its counterpart the M. ilioischiocaudalis) in Giraffatitan were well developed and robustly built, compensating for the shorter length of the M. caufodemoralis longus, the main hindlimb retractor muscle, in comparison with other sauropods. Our methodology allows a better-constrained reconstruction of muscle volumes and masses in extinct taxa, and thus force and weight distributions throughout the tail, than non-volumetric approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotaviruses (RVs) are classified into nine species, A–D and F–J, with species A being the most studied. In rotavirus of species A (RVA), replication occurs in viroplasms, which are cytosolic globular inclusions composed of main building block proteins NSP5, NSP2, and VP2. The co-expression of NSP5 with either NSP2 or VP2 in uninfected cells leads to the formation of viroplasm-like structures (VLSs). Although morphologically identical to viroplasms, VLSs do not produce viral progeny but serve as excellent tools for studying complex viroplasms. A knowledge gap exists regarding non-RVA viroplasms due to the lack of specific antibodies and suitable cell culture systems. In this study, we explored the ability of NSP5 and NSP2 from non-RVA species to form VLSs. The co-expression of these two proteins led to globular VLSs in RV species A, B, D, F, G, and I, while RVC formed filamentous VLSs. The co-expression of NSP5 and NSP2 of RV species H and J did not result in VLS formation. Interestingly, NSP5 of all RV species self-oligomerizes, with the ordered C-terminal region, termed the tail, being necessary for self-oligomerization of RV species A–C and G–J. Except for NSP5 from RVJ, all NSP5 interacted with their cognate NSP2. We also found that interspecies VLS are formed between closely related RV species B with G and D with F. Additionally, VLS from RVH and RVJ formed when the tail of NSP5 RVH and RVJ was replaced by the tail of NSP5 from RVA and co-expressed with their respective NSP2. IMPORTANCE Rotaviruses (RVs) are classified into nine species, A–D and F–J, infecting mammals and birds. Due to the lack of research tools, all cumulative knowledge on RV replication is based on RV species A (RVA). The RV replication compartments are globular cytosolic structures named viroplasms, which have only been identified in RV species A. In this study, we examined the formation of viroplasm-like structures (VLSs) by the co-expression of NSP5 with NSP2 across RV species A to J. Globular VLSs formed for RV species A, B, D, F, G, and I, while RV species C formed filamentous structures. The RV species H and J did not form VLS with their cognates NSP5 and NSP2. Similar to RVA, NSP5 self-oligomerizes in all RV species, which is required for VLS formation. This study provides basic knowledge of the non-RVA replication mechanisms, which could help develop strategies to halt virus infection across RV species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris) is an endangered species, endemic to the San Francisco Bay Estuary, that co‐occurs with the more broadly distributed species, the western harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis). Despite their considerable external morphological similarities, the northern subspecies of salt marsh harvest mice have relatively longer and thicker tails than do western harvest mice, which may be related to their abilities to climb emergent marsh vegetation to avoid tidal inundation. We used micro‐CT to compare post‐cranial skeletal anatomy between the salt marsh and western harvest mouse, to examine whether the salt marsh harvest mouse's restriction to brackish marshes is associated with skeletal adaptations for scansorial locomotion. We found that salt marsh harvest mice exhibited a deeper 3rd caudal vertebra, a more caudally located longest tail vertebra, craniocaudally longer tail vertebrae, and a longer digit III proximal phalanx than western harvest mice. These phalangeal and vertebral characteristics are known to decrease body rotations during climbing, increase contact with substrates, and decrease fall susceptibility in arboreal mammals, suggesting that the salt marsh harvest mouse may be morphologically specialized for scansorial locomotion, adaptive for its dynamic wetland environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary In this clinical commentary, the various pathologies occurring in the tail region of horses and foals are briefly summarised, followed by a discussion of angular deviations of the tail and the possibilities of their correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing popularity of LLM-based chatbots combined with their reliance on power-hungry GPU infrastructure forms a critical challenge for providers: minimizing energy consumption under Service-Level Objectives (SLOs) that ensure optimal user experience. Traditional energy optimization methods fall short for LLM inference due to their autoregressive architecture, which renders them incapable of meeting a predefined SLO without energy overprovisioning. This autoregressive nature however, allows for iteration-level adjustments, enabling continuous fine-tuning of the system throughout the inference process. In this letter, we propose a solution based on iteration-level GPU Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS), aiming to reduce the energy impact of LLM serving, an approach that has the potential for more than 22.8% and up to 45.5% energy gains when tested in real world situations under varying SLO constraints. Our approach works on top of existing LLM hosting services, requires minimal profiling and no intervention to the inference serving system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary A 1‐week‐old Warmblood female foal was presented for evaluation of an angular deviation of the tail to the left. The foal was able to defaecate normally. Manual straightening of the tail was possible but not completely to its normal position. Radiology revealed a growth deformity of coccygeal vertebrae 6 and 7 (CoV). Spontaneous correction of the tail angle was not expected, and surgical correction was advised. At that moment, the owner decided to wait and the operation was postponed until further notice. After 10 weeks, surgical correction of the angular deviation was undertaken by transphyseal screw placement with hemicircumferential periosteal transection and elevation on the left side of both vertebrae as well as inserting a temporary external fixator in which the end was distracted. Three weeks after surgery, the pins were removed. At the follow‐up examination 12 months after initial surgery, the deviation was nearly corrected and reduced to ca. 10 degrees deviation, and the owner was satisfied with the obtained result. No loss of sensory or motor function had occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of inflammation on tail and limb amputation in lizards is believed to inhibit regeneration. In support of previous studies, the present experimental and immunohistochemical analysis has detected some markers (CD3, CD5, MHCII) of mammalian T‐lymphocytes and macrophages of inflammatory type in three different conditions where inflammation is activated. Bioinformatics comparisons indicate that the employed antibodies cross‐react with lizard cells. While in regenerating tails few or no immune cells are seen, in microbial‐infected and non‐regenerating tails, a massive infiltration of mast cells, sparse macrophages and T‐lymphocytes is present. In healing limbs, immunolabelled cells likely represented by macrophages and lymphocytes remain in healing tissues of the stump for 2–3 weeks. In the regenerating blastema after heat cauterization of the apical region, a massive infiltration of mast cells and granulocytes occurs at 1–3 days post‐injury and a scarring outgrowth is later formed. Although the three markers appear not discriminate the types of immune‐cells in lizard, they confirms that immunolabelled cells expressing markers of inflammation are produced in large number in the tail or limbs with strong inflammatory condition. Coupled with previous studies, the present observations support the idea that a high inflammation attracting numerous mast‐cells, inflammatory macrophages and T‐lymphocyte inhibits regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study aims to standardize the clinical and complementary examination using surface electromyography (EMG) to assess the neuromuscular function of the equine tail. Firstly, clinical examinations of the tails and EMG measurements were performed on ten healthy animals without any tail interference or manipulation. This initial experiment aimed to establish a baseline for clinical examination and EMG results. The animals underwent tail nerve plexus blockade in the second experiment using an anesthetic agent. The objective compares the clinical examination and EMG findings between the anesthetized and non-manipulated tails. Finally, two animals were used in the third experiment, where peripheral infiltration of the tail nerve plexuses was performed using a neurolytic agent. The study successfully obtained a pattern for the clinical examination of a healthy equine tail and established a pattern for the clinical examination of a tail after infiltration with anesthetic and neurolytic agents. Significant differences were observed in the clinical examination before and after the application of local anesthesia, as well as in the EMG values before and after local infiltration with anesthetic (P=0.04) and neurolytic agent (P=0.03). The presented study introduces a clinical examination protocol that utilizes surface electromyography as a diagnostic tool for cauda equina block.

Tail autotomy is rare among mammals, mainly observed in rodents. This note reports two new cases in the Colombian Speckled Tree Rat (Pattonomys semivillosus) and Hummelinck’s vesper mouse (Calomys hummelincki). P. semivillosus displays real autotomy, dropping its entire tail when grabbed, akin to lizard behavior. C. hummelincki exhibits fake autotomy, shedding only the tail tip, exposing the last eight vertebrae. These observations add to the limited knowledge of autotomy in rodents, increasing the known species count to 49.

Small vertebrates, such as geckos, often use their tails to regulate their posture after take-off and suppress abnormal rotations in mid-air (such as sliding and falling). However, research on tail function before take-off remains scarce, particularly when animals overcome gravity to jump upward. This study examined tailed and tailless geckos' ability to jump over obstacles. The tails swung up and reached their upper limits during take-off, corresponding to a continuous increase in their trunk elevation angle. Compared to tailless geckos, geckos with intact tails had lower body and tail angular velocities. In addition, tailed geckos achieved larger take-off angles and higher jumps; moreover, their take-off angles were consistent with their velocity angles. Theoretical analyses demonstrated that the tail and its upward swing before take-off could benefit lifting the forelimb and hindlimbs off the ground, expanding the stability area of their centre of mass (COM). A robot prototype verified the effect of the tail and its swing on trunk elevation before take-off. Other parameters, such as the posture of the hindlimbs (support length and angle) and initial angle of the trunk, affect posture regulation. This study significantly extends our knowledge in animal locomotion and provides indispensable information for improving robot jumping ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As amniote vertebrates, lizards are the most closely related organisms to humans capable of appendage regeneration. Lizards can autotomize, or release their tails as a means of predator evasion, and subsequently regenerate a functional replacement. Green anoles (Anolis carolinensis) can regenerate their tails through a process that involves differential expression of hundreds of genes, which has previously been analyzed by transcriptomic and microRNA analysis. To investigate protein expression in regenerating tissue, we performed a whole proteomic analysis of regenerating tail tip and base. This is the first proteomic data set available for any anole lizard. We identified a total of 2646 proteins—976 proteins only in the regenerating tail base, 796 only in the tail tip, and 874 in both tip and base. For over 90% of these proteins in these tissues, we were able to assign a clear orthology to gene models in either the Ensembl or NCBI databases. For 13 proteins in the tail base, 9 proteins in the tail tip, and 10 proteins in both regions, the gene model in Ensembl and NCBI matched an uncharacterized protein, confirming that these predictions are present in the proteome. Ontology and pathways analysis of proteins expressed in the regenerating tail base identified categories, including actin filament‐based process, ncRNA metabolism, regulation of phosphatase activity, small GTPase‐mediated signal transduction, and cellular component organization or biogenesis. Analysis of proteins expressed in the tail tip identified categories, including regulation of organelle organization, regulation of protein localization, ubiquitin‐dependent protein catabolism, small GTPase‐mediated signal transduction, morphogenesis of epithelium, and regulation of biological quality. These proteomic findings confirm pathways and gene families activated in tail regeneration in the green anole as well as identify uncharacterized proteins whose role in regrowth remains to be revealed. This study demonstrates the insights that are possible from the integration of proteomic and transcriptomic data in tail regrowth in the green anole, with potentially broader application to studies in other regenerative models. KEY POINTS: This research is highly interdisciplinary, combining our previous analyses with these most recent findings: Appendage regeneration is a conserved trait among vertebrates and has been characterized in animals ranging from teleost fish (zebrafish), urodele amphibians (axolotl), anuran amphibians (Xenopus frog), squamate reptiles (various species of lizards), and even crocodilians (American alligator).Comparative genomic and proteomic analysis of this process allows us to identify the genetic pathways and cellular processes under evolutionary selection for this regrowth capacity. Activating these conserved genetic pathways and cellular processes will be critical to developing regenerative medical therapies in humans.The identification of proteins expressed in regeneration extends analyses based only on predicted proteins from transcriptomic analysis, and permits integration with protein‐expression studies of regrowing nervous and musculoskeletal structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphibians such as salamanders and the African clawed frog Xenopus are great models for regeneration studies because they can fully regenerate their lost organs. While axolotl can regenerate damaged organs throughout its lifetime, Xenopus has a limited regeneration capacity after metamorphosis. The ecotropic viral integrative factor 5 (Evi5) is of great interest because its expression is highly upregulated in the limb blastema of axolotls, but remains unchanged in the fibroblastema of post-metamorphic frogs. Yet, its role in regeneration-competent contexts in Xenopus has not been fully analyzed. Here we show that Evi5 is upregulated in Xenopus tadpoles after limb and tail amputation, as in axolotls. Down-regulation of Evi5 with morpholino antisense oligos (Mo) impairs limb development and limb blastema formation in Xenopus tadpoles. Mechanistically, we show that Evi5 knockdown significantly reduces proliferation of limb blastema cells and causes apoptosis, blocking the formation of regeneration blastema. RNA-sequencing analysis reveals that in addition to reduced PDGFα and TGFβ signaling pathways that are required for regeneration, evi5 Mo downregulates lysine demethylases Kdm6b and Kdm7a. And knockdown of Kdm6b or Kdm7a causes defective limb regeneration. Evi5 knockdown also impedes tail regeneration in Xenopus tadpoles and axolotl larvae, suggesting a conserved function of Evi5 in appendage regeneration. Thus, our results demonstrate that Evi5 plays a critical role in appendage regeneration in amphibians.

A frameshift deletion variant in the Wnt pathway gene dishevelled 2 (DVL2) is associated with a truncated, kinked tail ("screw tail") in English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and Boston Terriers. These breeds are also characterized by distinctive morphological traits, including a wide head, flat face and short-limbed dwarfism, which are characteristic of Robinow syndrome in humans, caused by defects in genes such as DVL1 and DVL3. Based on these phenotypic and genetic similarities, it has previously been hypothesized that the canine DVL2 variant results in a syndromic phenotype called the Robinow-like syndrome. In our study, we investigated the distribution of the DVL2 variant in 1954 dogs from 15 breeds, identifying breeds with allele variation and enabling the dissection of the genotype-phenotype correlation for the first time. With CT examinations in American Staffordshire Terriers, we confirmed that the DVL2 allele is associated with caudal vertebral malformations and a brachycephalic phenotype. We also hypothesize that the variant may be linked to additional health conditions, including brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome and congenital heart defects. Altogether, our study strengthens the role of DVL2 as one of the contributors to the "bulldog type" morphology and features on the spectrum of human Robinow syndrome.

The wings, legs, and tail in Darwin's finches show many clear adaptations to different types of locomotion used during foraging. We use size scaling to analyse how various characters vary with body mass to clarify dimensional relationships. The selective advantage of a character is judged in terms of energy savings. The wing aspect ratio (4.6–4.9) is very low, so the energy costs for flight are high. Low body mass , low wing loading , and short arm wings in the warbler finch, small tree finch, and small ground finch promote agility and manoeuvrability among vegetation, along with short wings in the warbler finch. Evolution towards a shorter arm wing seems to be favoured in the smaller finch species. Long legs , long toes , and long curved claws are adaptations for climbing/clinging locomotion without tail support (woodpecker finch, small and large tree finches, cactus finch but having short legs). Selection for longer legs seems to act towards a lengthening of the tarsometatarsus. The climbing technique in the woodpecker finch is described. We discuss how the diversification in the beaks relates to the locomotion organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-energy heavy ions produced by accelerators are used in industrial and medical applications. Recently carbon ions have been used in the treatment of cancerous tumors. Heavy ions by the spallation process will activate the soft tissue components before tumors. In this research by GEANT4 toolkit and MCNPX code simulation were tried to calculate the secondary particles and radioactive elements produced in the soft tissue around tumors by the carbon ions spallation process. In the MCNPX code, the F8 tally card with the FT8 command was used to extract the activation and spallation information of secondary particles in the Z1=1 to Z2=25 atomic numbers range. It was shown that a wide range of radioactive elements was produced in healthy tissues in carbon therapy. In addition to produced secondary particles, the Be-10 and C-14 radioactive elements were produced in high-energy carbon ions in soft tissue. Also, the GEANT4 toolkit result of produced secondary particles dosimetry was shown that the secondary particles dose per carbon ion is between 1.66 to 33.54 nGy for carbon ion energy between 1140 to 5160 MeV. The tail for 3480, 4080, and 5160 MeV of carbon ion energy are 0.12, 1.01, and 11 cm respectively. The carbon ion beam divergence increases with beam energy and achieve to 33 mm for 5160 MeV carbon ion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the growth performance, water consuming pattern, digestibility, and carcass traits of Lori-Bakhtiari (LORI) and Romanov-Lori-Bakhtiari (CROSSbred) lambs under water restriction conditions. Twenty lambs (10 heads per genotype) with an average weight of 31±2.5 and an age of 8±2 months were used in four treatments with 5 replications in each in a completely randomized design with 2×2 factorial. Water-restricted (WR) lambs had free access to water for only one hour a day. All lambs were slaughtered after six weeks. Feed intake, daily weight gain and final weight were not affected by genotype and access to water, while water intake (p=0.001) and water to feed ratio (p=0.02) were significantly dropped with water restriction. Water-restricted lambs consumed almost 90 percent of their water intake in the first five minutes. Nutrients digestibility was not affected by the treatments, but the amount of fecal dry matter was significantly high in water restricted groups (p=0.03). Carcass weight and yield were not affected by the treatments, but the percentage and weight of tails in the CROSSbred lambs were lower (p≤0.0001), but part of this decrease was compensated by higher fat thickness (p=0.05) and visceral fat (p=0.03). The overall results of this study showed that genotype and water restriction did not significantly affect growth performance, so CROSSbred lambs can be used in water restricted area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aeroelastic instability is the mutual interaction of aerodynamic, structural, and inertial forces that can cause the flutter in aircraft structures. In this research, applying the coupling of a flutter with two degrees of freedom and the finite-element method, to a symmetric airfoil section of an aircraft tail, the flutter speed is investigated. The geometry and thickness of tail skin and isotropic and layups of composite materials are effective parameters of the torsional and bending stiffnesses of the airfoil section studied using the finite-element method. Lagrange's equation is used to analyze the aeroelastic instability of the tail. Finally, the impact of the effective parameters on the flutter speed and instability of tail are discussed. The results obtained show that, at the same thickness, the flutter speed of angle-ply layups is higher than of quasi-isotropic composite laminates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Corrigendum: The tail of the Late Jurassic sauropod Giraffatitan brancai" addresses an error in the Data Availability Statement of a previous publication. The corrected statement provides a link to access the 3D models and files related to the study. The authors emphasize that this correction does not impact the scientific conclusions of the original article. The study was conducted by researchers from various institutions in Germany and the United Kingdom. [Extracted from the article]

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been widely used both in military and civil across the world in recent years. Nevertheless, their design always involves complex design optimization variables and decisions. Therefore, this paper aims to guide through the designing, manufacturing, and testing of an electrically powered radio-controlled aircraft for achieving a take-off, cruise, safe landing and carrying the highest payload possible. The whole process involves several phases, design phase, structural analysis, performance analysis, materials used, manufacturing, and finally aircraft testing. The final aircraft was designed with an empty weight and maximum take-off weight of 15.43 Ibs and 33.07 Ibs respectively while the wingspan, cruising speed and maximum speed were 70.1 in., 46 ft/s and 78 ft/sec respectively with a total take-off distance of 100 ft.

Microscopy suggests that glutathione S‐transferase is stored in large granules of myeloid cells in bone marrow and sparse granulocytes of the regenerating tail of lizard. Acta Zoologica (Stockolm). Tail regeneration in lizards occurs after an immune‐privileged blastema and is formed where various immunosuppressive cells and biomolecules keep inflammation low. Molecules that limit inflammation may include glutathione and glutathione S‐transferase (GST). These molecules reduce reactive oxidative species (ROS) and detoxify extraneous molecules. In the present study, the presence of GST has been analysed in the early phases of tail regeneration in the lizard Podarcis muralis. Using a rabbit polyclonal antibody directed against epitopes present in GST of P. muralis, a light and electron microscopy immunohistochemical and Western blotting study has been done. The study detected proteins of 25 and 32 kDa in pale‐medium electron‐dense and large granules present in promyelocytes and myelocytes of likely basophilic or eosinophilic fate that is present in the bone marrow of tail vertebrae. These cells are still proliferating and give rise to basophilic or eosinophilic granulocytes that also migrate into the regenerating tail. The enzyme stored in granules of promyelocytes and myelocytes is also localized in the cytoplasm of granulocytes present in the regenerating blastema‐cone, basophilic or/and eosinophilic. It is suggested that these granulocytes in the blastema reduce ROS and detoxify potentially inflammatory metabolites, contributing with other molecules to limit inflammation and favour regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tail regeneration in the gecko Sphaerodactylus argus shows that the formation of an axial elastic skeleton is functional for the new tail (Acta Zoologica, Stockolm). The present autoradiographic and immunohistochemical study describes tail regeneration and formation of the axial skeleton in early regenerating tails of the Jamaican red‐tailed gecko, Sphaerodactylus argus. Cell proliferation, studied by tritiated thymidine, shows intense labelling mainly in forming scales and differentiating cartilaginous, muscle and ependymal cells of the regenerating spinal cord, while the labelling is more diffuse in the apical blastema and proximal connective tissues. The slow apical proliferation maintains the tail front growing while in more proximal regions, cells initiate differentiation, losing thymidine‐labelling. Cell proliferation is maximal at the beginning of scales, muscles and cartilage formation. Scales are regenerated following migration into the dermis of tritiated thymidine‐labelled keratinocytes to form epithelial pegs that later split and give rise new scales. Differentiation of new corneous layers begins underneath the external corneous epidermis, starting with a shedding layer followed by a beta‐layer that accumulates corneous beta proteins. Intense proliferation of apical myoblasts gives rise to long myotubes and segmented muscles. The vertebral column is substituted with a cartilaginous tube made of turgid chondrocytes accumulating chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan and elastin. Therefore, the regenerated tail remains flexible and capable of curling to maintain efficient the climbing ability in these geckos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The framework of differential privacy protects an individual’s privacy while publishing query responses on congregated data. In this work, a new noise addition mechanism for differential privacy is introduced where the noise added is sampled from a hybrid density that resembles Laplace in the centre and Gaussian in the tail. With a sharper centre and light, sub-Gaussian tail, this density has the best characteristics of both distributions. We theoretically analyze the proposed mechanism, and we derive the necessary and sufficient condition in one dimension and a sufficient condition in high dimensions for the mechanism to guarantee $(\epsilon,\delta)$ -differential privacy. Numerical simulations corroborate the efficacy of the proposed mechanism compared to other existing mechanisms in achieving a better trade-off between privacy and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryogenic semiconductor device models are essential in designing control systems for quantum devices and in benchmarking the benefits of cryogenic cooling for high-performance computing. In particular, the saturation of subthreshold swing due to band tails is an important phenomenon to include in low-temperature analytical MOSFET models as it predicts theoretical lower bounds on the leakage power and supply voltage in tailored cryogenic CMOS technologies with tuned threshold voltages. Previous physics-based modeling required to evaluate functions with no closed-form solutions, defeating the purpose of fast and efficient model evaluation. Thus far, only the empirically proposed expressions are in closed form. This article bridges this gap by deriving a physics-based and closed-form model for the full saturating trend of the subthreshold swing from room down to low temperature. The proposed model is compared against experimental data taken on some long and short devices from a commercial 28-nm bulk CMOS technology down to 4.2 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empirical investigation of the underwriting profits of six major insurance lines in the US market during 1956–2016 suggests that the data generating process of underwriting profits follows a first‐order autoregressive process for less regulated business lines, whereas highly regulated business lines follow a second‐order autoregressive process. This study verified the long‐run relationships between risk‐free interest rates and underwriting profits for individual lines. Specifically, the long‐run sensitivities of interest rates for less regulated long‐tail lines were greater than those for other lines. We also found that the length of tail acted as a crucial part of the feedback dynamics. The shorter the tails, the greater the tendency to go back to equilibrium, while the longer the tails, the smaller the tendency. In addition, an analysis of cumulative dynamic multipliers showed that the adjustment patterns for the lagged effects of interest rates varied for each business line. The pricing strategies and the safety loading activities of different individual lines were also discussed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Louisiana pine snake, Pituophis ruthveni, is a cryptic, federally threatened snake species with several fragmented populations in Louisiana and Texas, USA. There are currently four captive breeding populations in zoos in the USA; however, little scientific data exists on their life history and anatomy. Accurate sex determination and identification of normal reproductive anatomy are an essential part of a veterinary exam and conservation programs. The authors had encountered various cases of sex misidentification in this species that were attributed to lack of lubrication of the sexing probes and enlarged musk glands. Anecdotal observation led to a hypothesis of sexual dimorphism based on body and tail shape. To test this hypothesis, we measured body length, tail length and width, and body to tail taper angle in 15 P. ruthveni (9 males and 6 females). We also obtained tail radiographs of all animals to document the presence of mineralized hemipenes. Significant dimorphism was identified in relative tail length, width, and taper angle; females consistently exhibited a more acute taper angle. Contrary to previous studies in other Pituophis species, a male‐biased sexual size dimorphism was not identified. Mineralized hemipenes were confirmed in all males (a newly described trait in this species), and we found that the lateral view was consistently more reliable for identification of hemipenes compared to the ventrodorsal view. This information contributes to the scientific community's understanding of this species and is of use to biologists and veterinarians working toward conservation of this threatened species. Highlights: We confirmed the presence of mineralized hemipenes as a normal attribute in male Louisiana pine snakes which can be used to differentiate them from females on radiographs.Louisiana pine snakes exhibit sexual dimorphism in the relative tail length and angle of the tail taper between males and females.Contrary to previous studies of sexual dimorphism in Pituophis species, male‐biased sexual size dimorphism was not identified within these populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep learning technologies have been successfully applied to hyperspectral (HS) image classification with remarkable performance. However, compared with traditional machine learning methods, neural networks usually need more data. In remote sensing (RS) research, obtaining a large number of labeled HS data is very difficult and expensive work. Simultaneously, the distribution of feature information is bound to be unbalanced, and tends to conform to the long tail. At present, the neighborhood information of unlabeled samples is usually ignored in HS image classification tasks based on semi-supervised learning. In this letter, we propose a new semi-supervised long-tail learning framework based on spatial neighborhood information (SLN-SNI), which can complete the HS image classification task under unbalanced small sample data. Specifically, a new semi-supervised learning strategy is proposed. On this basis, a new method to determine the label of unlabeled samples based on spatial neighborhood information (SNI) is proposed. The coarse classification results divided into three situations are judged again, and the accuracy of pseudo labels is improved. The performance of the proposed method is tested on three public HS image datasets. Compared with the current advanced methods have achieved a certain improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airlines are known to compete for passengers, and airline profitability heavily depends on the ability to estimate passenger demand, which in turn depends on flight schedules, fares, and the number of seats available at each fare, across all airlines. Interestingly, such competitive interactions and passenger substitution effects may not be limited to the planning stages. Existing regulations in some countries and regions impose monetary compensations to passengers in case of disruptions, altering the way they perceive the utility of other travel alternatives after the disruption starts. These passenger rights regulations may act as catalysts of passengers' response to recovered schedules. Ignoring such passenger response behavior under operational disruptions may lead airlines to develop subpar recovery schedules. We develop a passenger response model and embed it into a novel integrated optimization approach that recovers airline schedules, aircraft, and passenger itineraries while endogenizing the impacts of airlines' decisions on passenger compensation and passenger response. We also develop an original solution approach, involving exact linearization of the nonlinear passenger cost terms, combined with delayed constraint generation for ensuring aircraft maintenance feasibility and an acceleration technique that penalizes deviations from planned schedules. Computational results on real-world problem instances from two major European airlines are reported, for scenarios involving disruptions, such as delayed flights, airport closures, and unexpected grounding of aircraft. Our approach is found to be tractable and scalable, producing solutions that are superior to airline's actual decisions and highly robust in the face of passenger response uncertainty. Of particular relevance to the practitioners, our simulation results highlight that accounting for passengers' disruption response behaviors, even in a highly approximate manner, yields significant benefits to the airline compared with not accounting for them at all, which is the current state-of-the-art. Funding: This work was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación [Grant PID2020-112967GB-C33], the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain [Grant TRA2016-76914-C3-3-P], and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain [Grant CAS19/00036]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Thyroid hormone (triiodothyronine [T3]) is essential for development and organ metabolism in all vertebrates. T3 has both genomic and nongenomic effects on target cells. While much has been learnt on its genomic effects via T3 receptors (TRs) in vertebrate development, mostly through TR-knockout and TR-knockin studies, little is known about the effects of T3 on gene expression in animals in the absence of TR. We have been studying Xenopus metamorphosis as a model for mammalian postembryonic development, a period around birth when plasma T3 level peaks and many organs/tissues mature into their adult forms. We have recently generated TR double knockout (TRDKO) Xenopus tropicalis animals. This offers an opportunity to compare the effects of T3 on global gene expression in tadpole tissues in the presence or absence of TR. Methods: We analyzed the effects of T3 on gene expression in tadpole tail and intestine by using RNA-seq analysis on wild-type and TRDKO tadpoles with or without T3 treatment. Results: We observed that removing TRs reduced the number of genes regulated by T3 in both organs. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses revealed that T3 affected distinct biological processes and pathways in wild-type and TRDKO tadpoles. Many GO terms and KEGG pathways that were enriched among genes regulated in wild-type tissues are likely involved in mediating the effects of T3 on metamorphosis, for example, those related to development, stem cells, apoptosis, and cell cycle/cell proliferation. However, such GO terms and pathways were not enriched among T3-regulated genes in TRDKO tadpoles. Instead, in TRDKO tadpoles, GO terms and pathways related to "metabolism" and "immune response" were highly enriched among T3-regulated genes. We further observed strong divergence in the TR-independent nongenomic effects of T3 in the intestine and tail. Conclusions: Our data suggest that T3 has distinct and organ-dependent effects on gene expression in developing tadpoles. The TR-mediated effects are consistent with the metamorphic changes, in agreement with the fact that TR is necessary and sufficient to mediate the effects of T3 on metamorphosis. T3 appears to have a major effect on metabolism and immune response via TR-independent nongenomic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft robotics can be used not only as a means of achieving novel, more lifelike forms of locomotion, but also as a tool to understand complex biomechanics through the use of robotic model animals. Herein, the control of the undulation mechanics of an entirely soft robotic subcarangiform fish is presented, using antagonistic fast‐PneuNet actuators and hyperelastic eutectic gallium–indium (eGaIn) embedded in silicone channels for strain sensing. To design a controller, a simple, data‐driven lumped parameter approach is developed, which allows accurate but lightweight simulation, tuned using experimental data and a genetic algorithm. The model accurately predicts the robot's behavior over a range of driving frequencies and a range of pressure amplitudes, including the effect of antagonistic co‐contraction of the soft actuators. An amplitude controller is prototyped using the model and deployed to the robot to reach the setpoint of a tail‐beat amplitude using fully soft and real‐time strain sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: It is common for sheep to have tails docked as lambs, predominantly to reduce flystrike. It is recommended that tails are docked long enough to cover the vulva in ewes and at a similar length in males. There are many ways that tail length in sheep is described and measured, but there is a lack of congruency across the different description and measurement methods. This study aimed to investigate the reliability of three common ways to measure and describe docked sheep tail length, using 99 Merino ewes, 51 yearlings (1.4-year-olds) and 48 weaners (5-month-olds). Length and vulva cover assessment were the methods with the most reliable results, joint palpation was the least reliable method of tail measurement. The tails in this sample that were of the recommended length, covering the vulva, measured 10.8–16.2 mm longer than tails not covering the vulva, at 63.7 mm for weaners and 57.6 mm for yearlings on average, and contained more than two coccygeal vertebrae. This research presents two reliable methods of sheep tail measurement for two age groups and provides a foundation for future research into method refinement and tail length monitoring. Docking sheep tails is a long-standing practice that, when done at the recommended length, reduces the risk of flystrike. The recommended length is to cover the vulva of ewes and to a similar length in males. This length is often equated to three coccygeal joints left intact, and there are many other ways the recommended length is described by researchers, industry, and government. This study compared the observer consistency and retest consistency using three different tail length measurement methods: vulva cover assessment, length (mm), and joint palpation. The tails of 51 yearling and 48 weaner Merino ewes were assessed by two observers. Length and vulva cover assessment methods provided the most reliable results, and joint palpation was the least reliable method of tail measurement. In the sample, tails that covered the vulva of yearlings and weaners measured 57.6 mm (n = 14) and 63.7 mm (n = 30) on average, respectively, and contained two coccygeal joints (more than two coccygeal vertebrae). Tails that did not cover the vulva of yearlings and weaners measured 41.3 mm (n = 36) and 52.8 mm (n = 17) on average, respectively, and had less than two coccygeal joints. The two most reliable methods enable valid comparison to the best practice recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the paleopathology of the vertebrae provide an interesting, oblique approach to their paleobiology and even paleoethology. They tell us about possible ethological causes such as accidental blows with objects, social interactions within a group, and defense against predators, etc. There are numerous works on the anatomical and phylogenetic aspects of sauropod dinosaurs, and in recent years paleopathological studies have also increased. Here, we describe the injuries recorded in the caudal vertebrae of two indeterminate titanosaurids, and undertake a compilation and analysis of the pathological fossil record worldwide, focusing on the tails of sauropods. Two pathologies have been identified as present in the indeterminate titanosaurids under study: a possible case of spondyloarthropathy in MAU-Pv-LI-601, and a case of suppurative spinal osteomyelitis in MAU-Pv-LJ-472/1. Both titanosaurids are from Gondwana. In the world registry of pathologies associated with the tails of sauropod dinosaurs, it is observed that titanosaurs are the sauropods with the highest percentage of diagnosed pathologies (69% including the two new records from the province of Neuquén) and that all of these have been described in Gondwanan specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic dog breeds exhibit remarkable morphological variations that result from centuries of artificial selection and breeding. Identifying the genetic changes that contribute to these variations could provide critical insights into the molecular basis of tissue and organismal morphogenesis. Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and Boston Terriers share many morphological and disease-predisposition traits, including brachycephalic skull morphology, widely set eyes and short stature. Unlike other brachycephalic dogs, these breeds also exhibit vertebral malformations that result in a truncated, kinked tail (screw tail). Whole genome sequencing of 100 dogs from 21 breeds identified 12.4 million bi-allelic variants that met inclusion criteria. Whole Genome Association of these variants with the breed defining phenotype of screw tail was performed using 10 cases and 84 controls and identified a frameshift mutation in the WNT pathway gene DISHEVELLED 2 (DVL2) (Chr5: 32195043_32195044del, p = 4.37 X 10-37) as the most strongly associated variant in the canine genome. This DVL2 variant was fixed in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs and had a high allele frequency (0.94) in Boston Terriers. The DVL2 variant segregated with thoracic and caudal vertebral column malformations in a recessive manner with incomplete and variable penetrance for thoracic vertebral malformations between different breeds. Importantly, analogous frameshift mutations in the human DVL1 and DVL3 genes cause Robinow syndrome, a congenital disorder characterized by similar craniofacial, limb and vertebral malformations. Analysis of the canine DVL2 variant protein showed that its ability to undergo WNT-induced phosphorylation is reduced, suggesting that altered WNT signaling may contribute to the Robinow-like syndrome in the screwtail breeds.

The phage life cycle is a multi-stage process initiated by the recognition and attachment of the virus to its bacterial host. This adsorption step depends on the specific interaction between bacterial structures acting as receptors and viral proteins called Receptor Binding Proteins (RBP). The adsorption process is essential as it is the first determinant of phage host range and a sine qua non condition for the subsequent conduct of the life cycle. In phages belonging to the Caudoviricetes class, the capsid is attached to a tail, which is the central player in the adsorption as it comprises the RBP and accessory proteins facilitating phage binding and cell wall penetration prior to genome injection. The nature of the viral proteins involved in host adhesion not only depends on the phage morphology (i.e., myovirus, siphovirus, or podovirus) but also the targeted host. Here, we give an overview of the adsorption process and compile the available information on the type of receptors that can be recognized and the viral proteins taking part in the process, with the primary focus on phages infecting Gram-positive bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colored 3 Jones polynomials J (n 1 , n 2) 3 (L ; q) are given by a link and an (n 1 , n 2) -irreducible representation of 3 . In general, it is hard to calculate J (n 1 , n 2) 3 (L ; q) for an oriented link L. However, we calculate the one-row-colored 3 Jones polynomials J (n , 0) 3 (P (α , β , γ) ; q) for three-parameter families of oriented pretzel links P (α , β , γ) by using Kuperberg's linear skein theory by setting n 2 = 0. Furthermore, we show the existence of the tails of J (n , 0) 3 (P (2 α + 1 , 2 β + 1 , 2 γ) ; q) for the alternating pretzel knots P (2 α + 1 , 2 β + 1 , 2 γ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, distributed learning approaches have been studied for using data from multiple sources without sharing them, but they are not usually suitable in applications where each client carries out different tasks. Meanwhile, Transformer has been widely explored in computer vision area due to its capability to learn the common representation through global attention. By leveraging the advantages of Transformer, here we present a new distributed learning framework for multiple image processing tasks, allowing clients to learn distinct tasks with their local data. This arises from a disentangled representation of local and non-local features using a task-specific head/tail and a task-agnostic Vision Transformer. Each client learns a translation from its own task to a common representation using the task-specific networks, while the Transformer body on the server learns global attention between the features embedded in the representation. To enable decomposition between the task-specific and common representations, we propose an alternating training strategy between clients and server. Experimental results on distributed learning for various tasks show that our method synergistically improves the performance of each client with its own data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid hormone (T3) is essential for normal development and metabolism, especially during postembryonic development, a period around birth in mammals when plasma T3 levels reach their peak. T3 functions through two T3 receptors, TRα and TRβ. However, little is known about the tissue‐specific functions of TRs during postembryonic development because of maternal influence and difficulty in manipulation of mammalian models. We have studied Xenopus tropicalis metamorphosis as a model for human postembryonic development. By using TRα knockout (Xtr·thratmshi) tadpoles, we have previously shown that TRα is important for T3‐dependent intestinal remodeling and hindlimb development but not tail resorption during metamorphosis. Here, we have identified genes bound by TR in premetamorphic wild‐type and Xtr·thratmshi tails with or without T3 treatment by using chromatin immunoprecipitation–sequencing and compared them with those in the intestine and hindlimb. Compared to other organs, the tail has much fewer genes bound by TR or affected by TRα knockout. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that among the genes bound by TR in wild‐type but not Xtr·thratmshi organs, fewer gene ontology (GO) terms or biological pathways related to metamorphosis were enriched in the tail compared to those in the intestine and hindlimb. This difference likely underlies the drastic effects of TRα knockout on the metamorphosis of the intestine and hindlimb but not the tail. Thus, TRα has tissue‐specific roles in regulating T3‐dependent anuran metamorphosis by directly targeting the pathways and GO terms important for metamorphosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In distributed key-value stores, multiple replica servers are always available for each key-value access operation when the eventual consistency model is employed. Accordingly, the completion times of the key-value access operations generated by an end-user request at different servers may be of great difference, especially when the replica servers are heterogeneous and have time-varying performance. Accordingly, the replica selection algorithm is crucial to cut the response time of end-user requests. The main challenge of making replica selection for each light-weighted key-value access operation is to timely know the status of replica serves. Recently, the adaptive replica selection algorithm C3 suggests guiding the replica selection with the piggybacked information of replica server in the returned “value”. Although C3 has good performance, the poor timeliness of feedback information makes a large performance gap between C3 and the ideal replica selection algorithm. To narrow this gap, the Accelerated Information Dissemination (AID) mechanism is proposed in this paper. Specifically, AID removes the bottleneck of information dissemination at the “slow” servers by letting both “client” and “replica server” store the records about the status of replica servers and both “key” and “value” piggyback multiple records. AID is implemented in Cassandra and evaluated by experiments and large scale simulations. The results show AID can significantly improve the timeliness of feedback information, especially when the number of nodes is large. Accordingly, AID helps C3 to greatly reduce the latency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost all prehistoric rock art in North America can be relatively dated by style, motif, scientific methods (e.g. carbon dating of organic pigments used in pictographs), oral traditions or, in other cases, the archaeological process. Absolute dates, however, are rare to non-existent. This dilemma tentatively changed with the discovery of a comet pictograph in New Mexico and subsequent investigation led by a team from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Their determination was that the pictograph firmly depicted the Great Comet of 1264 AD. It remained a sole rarity until almost a decade later when serendipity played a role while attending the 2022 Eastern States Rock Art and Research Association conference in St. Louis. During an afternoon presentation, it was learned that, in Pennsylvania, there is a petroglyph of what is unambiguously a comet pecked into a boulder resting midstream of the nearly mile-wide Lower Susquehanna River. Almost more remarkable is that this image may well represent the same comet, i.e. the Great Comet of 1264 AD. Furthermore, because the comet nucleus is depicted near or in conjunction with a waning crescent moon at both sites, the event depicted in the rock art images by two eye witnesses, though separated by 1700 miles, can be dated to the early to late morning of August 17, 1264 AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented Intelligence of Things empowered by knowledge graph drives cognitive intelligence for smart enterprise management systems (EMS). Knowledge fusion technology can effectively integrate knowledge from different sources, thereby improving the accuracy and richness of the knowledge graph, which is of great significance to the sustainable development of smart EMS. Traditional machine learning methods on graphs face challenges in the fusion of complex and multirelational enterprise knowledge graphs due to inherent defects in relation semantic and local structure information capturing. In order to break through these limitations and improve EMS knowledge graphs, we propose tensor-based graph attention networks for multirelational graph representation learning (MR-GAT), and apply it to the critical tasks in knowledge fusion: Entity and relation alignment. Specifically, we innovatively adopt tensor operations to adequately model the interactions between entities and relations in EMS knowledge graph to learn more accurate representations. Additionally, we propose a relation attention mechanism, which focuses on assigning weights in the process of aggregating local semantic information for relation learning in an EMS knowledge graph. Furthermore, we develop a joint entity and relation alignment framework by utilizing the proposed multirelational graph attention networks to improve the accuracy of knowledge fusion. Experimental evaluations on three datasets present that the proposed approach outperforms the baseline models by about 1.4% on average in terms of the mean reciprocal rank metric, which demonstrates the superior ability of the proposed MR-GAT in representation learning for knowledge fusion in smart EMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After few days from tail amputation in lizards the stump is covered with mesenchymal cells accumulated underneath a wound epidermis and forms a regenerative blastema. During migration, some keratinocytes transit from a compact epidermis into relatively free keratinocytes in a process of "epithelial to mesenchymal transition" (EMT). EMT is also induced after damaging the regenerating epidermis by cauterization, whereas keratinocytes detach and migrate as mesenchymal‐like cells among the superficial blastema cells and reconstruct a wound epidermis after about a week from the damage. In normal amputation or after cauterization, no malignant transformation is observed during the transition and migration of keratinocytes. Immunolabeling for markers of EMT confirms the histological description and shows a unique pattern of expression for l‐CAM (E‐cadherin), N‐CAM, and SNAIL‐1 and ‐2 (SLUG). These proteins are present in the cytoplasm and nuclei of migrating keratinocytes. It is hypothesized that the nuclear labeling for E‐cadherin coupled to cytoplasmic SNAIL‐labeling is somehow related to an initially regulated EMT. After the migrating keratinocytes have reached confluence over the stump, they reverse into a "mesenchymal to epithelial transition" (MET) forming the wound epidermis. The basal layers of the apical wound epidermis of the blastema show some nuclear E‐cadherin labeling, while the tail regenerates. It is hypothesized that, together with other tumor suppressors proteins, the apical epidermis and mesenchyme are kept under a tight proliferative control, while in proximal regions the prevalent effect of tumor suppressors determine the differentiation of the new tail tissues. Research Highlights: −Few days after tail amputation, lizard keratinocytes migrate over the stump forming a wound epidermis. −Migrating keratinocytes express Snails, E‐cadherin, and N‐cam during a process of epithelial mesenchymal transformation (EMT). −After blastema cauterization and initial cell death, the surviving keratinocytes migrate and recover the blastema by EMT. −Also migrating keratinocytes after cauterization are immunolabeled for Snail, E‐cadherin, and N‐CAM. −E‐cadherin/Snail/N‐cam also show a nuclear localization that may be associated to the control of EMT avoiding metastatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the convergence rates of $k$ nearest neighbor density estimation method, under $\ell _{\alpha} $ norm with $\alpha \in [1,\infty]$. Our analysis includes two different cases depending on whether the support set is bounded or not. In the first case, the probability density function has a bounded support. We show that if the support set is known, then the kNN density estimator is minimax optimal under $\ell _{\alpha} $ with both $\alpha \in \big[1,\infty\big)$ and $\alpha =\infty $. If the support is unknown, the kNN density estimator is still minimax optimal under $\ell _{1}$ , but is suboptimal under $\ell _{\alpha} $ for $\alpha >1$ , and not consistent under $\ell _\infty $. In the second case, the support is unbounded and the probability density function is smooth everywhere. Moreover, the Hessian is assumed to decay with the density values. For this case, our result shows that the $\ell _\infty $ error of kNN density estimation is nearly minimax optimal. The $\ell _{\alpha} $ error for the original kNN density estimator is not consistent. To address this issue, we design a new adaptive kNN estimator, which can select different $k$ for different samples. Using this adaptive estimator, the $\ell _{\alpha} $ bound is minimax optimal. For comparison, we show that the popular kernel density estimator is not minimax optimal for this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]