Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cholinergic modulation of the basal L‐type calcium current in ferret right ventricular myocytes

The effects of the cholinergic muscarinic agonist carbachol (CCh) on the basal L‐type calcium current, ICa,L, in ferret right ventricular (RV) myocytes were studied using whole cell patch clamp. CCh produced two major effects: (i) in all myocytes, extracellular application of CCh inhibited ICa,L in a reversible concentration‐dependent manner; and (ii) in many (but not all) myocytes, upon washout CCh produced a significant transient stimulation of ICa,L (‘rebound stimulation’). Inhibitory effects could be observed at 1 × 10−10m CCh. The mean steady‐state inhibitory concentration‐response relationship was shallow and could be described with a single Hill equation (maximum inhibition = 34.5 %, IC50= 4 × 10−8m, Hill coefficient n= 0.60). Steady‐state inhibition (1 or 10 μM CCh) had no significant effect on ICa,L selectivity or macroscopic (i) activation characteristics, (ii) inactivation kinetics, (iii) steady‐state inactivation or (iv) kinetics of recovery from inactivation. Maximal inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity (preincubation of myocytes in 1 mm l‐NMMA (NG‐monomethyl‐l‐arginine) + 1 mm l‐NNA (NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine) for 2–3 h plus inclusion of 1 mm l‐NMMA + 1 mm l‐NNA in the patch pipette solution) produced no significant attenuation of the CCh‐mediated inhibition of ICa,L. Protocols involving (i) the nitric oxide (NO) scavenger PTIO (2‐phenyl‐4,4,5,5,‐tetramethylimidazoline‐1‐oxyl‐3‐oxide; 200 μM), (ii) imposition of a ‘cGMP clamp’ (100 μM 8‐Bromo‐cGMP), and (iii) inhibition of soluble guanylyl cyclase (ODQ (1H‐[1,2,4,]oxadiazolo(4,3,‐a)quinoxalin‐1‐one), 50 μM) all failed to attenuate CCh‐mediated inhibition of Ica,L. While CCh consistently inhibited basal ICa,L in all RV myocytes studied, not all myocytes displayed rebound stimulation upon CCh washout. However, there was no difference between CCh‐mediated inhibition of ICa,L between these two RV myocyte types, and in myocytes displaying rebound stimulation neither ODQ nor 8‐Bromo‐cGMP (8‐Br‐cGMP) altered the effect. We conclude that NO production, activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase, or changes in intracellular cGMP levels are not obligatorily involved in muscarinic‐mediated modulation of basal ICa,L in ferret RV myocytes.
Mps1 Activation Loop Autophosphorylation Enhances Kinase Activity*

The Mps1 protein kinase is required for proper assembly of the mitotic spindle, checkpoint signaling, and several other aspects of cell growth and differentiation. Mps1 regulation is mediated by cell cycle-dependent changes in transcription and protein level. There is also a strong correlation between hyperphosphorylated mitotic forms of Mps1 and increased kinase activity. We investigated the role that autophosphorylation plays in regulating human Mps1 (hMps1) protein kinase activity. Here we report that hyperphosphorylated hMps1 forms are not the only active forms of the kinase. However, autophosphorylation of hMps1 within the activation loop is required for full activity in vitro. Mass spectrometry analysis of de novo synthesized enzyme in Escherichia coli identified autophosphorylation sites at residues Thr675, Thr676, and Thr686, but phosphatase-treated and reactivated enzyme was only phosphorylated on Thr676. Mutation of Thr676 in hMps1 or the corresponding Thr591 residue within yeast Mps1 reduces kinase activity in vitro. We find that overexpression of an hMps1-T676A mutation inhibits centrosome duplication in RPE1 cells. Likewise, yeast cells harboring mps1-T591A as the sole MPS1 allele are not viable. Our data strongly support the conclusion that site-specific Mps1 autophosphorylation within the activation loop is required for full activity in vitro and function in vivo.
Assessment of whole spine vertebral bone marrow fat using chemical shift‐encoding based water‐fat MRI

The assessment of bone marrow composition has recently gained significant attention due to its association with bone loss pathophysiology and cancer therapy‐induced bone marrow damage. The purpose of our study was to investigate the anatomical variation of the vertebral bone marrow fat using chemical shift‐encoding based water‐fat MRI and to assess the repeatability of these measurements.
Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein-Deficient Mice Have Normal Skeletal Development

ABSTRACT Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) belongs to the thrombospondin family and is a homopentamer primarily expressed in cartilage. Mutations in the COMP gene result in the autosomal dominant chondrodysplasias pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) and some types of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED), which are characterized by mild to severe short-limb dwarfism and early-onset osteoarthritis. We have generated COMP-null mice to study the role of COMP in vivo. These mice show no anatomical, histological, or ultrastructural abnormalities and show none of the clinical signs of PSACH or MED. Northern blot analysis and immunohistochemical analysis of cartilage indicate that the lack of COMP is not compensated for by any other member of the thrombospondin family. The results also show that the phenotype in PSACH/MED cartilage disorders is not caused by the reduced amount of COMP.
Mapping the Alzheimer’s Brain with Connectomics

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. As an incurable, progressive, and neurodegenerative disease, it causes cognitive and memory deficits. However, the biological mechanisms underlying the disease are not thoroughly understood. In recent years, non-invasive neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques [e.g., structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion MRI, functional MRI, and EEG/MEG] and graph theory based network analysis have provided a new perspective on structural and functional connectivity patterns of the human brain (i.e., the human connectome) in health and disease. Using these powerful approaches, several recent studies of patients with AD exhibited abnormal topological organization in both global and regional properties of neuronal networks, indicating that AD not only affects specific brain regions, but also alters the structural and functional associations between distinct brain regions. Specifically, disruptive organization in the whole-brain networks in AD is involved in the loss of small-world characters and the re-organization of hub distributions. These aberrant neuronal connectivity patterns were associated with cognitive deficits in patients with AD, even with genetic factors in healthy aging. These studies provide empirical evidence to support the existence of an aberrant connectome of AD. In this review we will summarize recent advances discovered in large-scale brain network studies of AD, mainly focusing on graph theoretical analysis of brain connectivity abnormalities. These studies provide novel insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of AD and could be helpful in developing imaging biomarkers for disease diagnosis and monitoring.
Central Myxoma / Myxofibroma of the Jaws: A Clinico-Epidemiologic Review

Introduction: Myxomas are a group of benign rare tumors of connective-tissue origin that occur in both hard (central) and soft tissues of the body. The aim of this study is to highlight our experience in the management of central myxoma of the jaw, with emphasis on its clinic-epidemiologic features as seen in our environment. Materials and Methods: All patients who were managed for central myxoma of the jaw at the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department of a regional University Teaching Hospital between September 1997 and October 2015 were retrospectively studied. Details sourced included age, sex, site of tumor, duration, signs/symptoms, treatment given, and complications. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and Microsoft Excel 2007 (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA). Results from descriptive statistics were represented in the form of tables and charts, with a test for significance (ρ) using Pearson Chi-square (χ2) set at 0.05. Results: A total of 16 patients were managed within the period reviewed, consisting of 10 (62.5%) females and six (37.5%) males, giving a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.7. The ages of patients ranged from 5 to 70 years, with a mean of 27.06±15.45 years. The mandible accounted for nine (56.3%) cases and the maxilla for six (37.5%) cases, while a combination of the maxilla and the zygoma were involved in one (6.3%) case. Bucco-lingual or bucco-palatal expansion were the most common presentation (six [46.2%] cases each). Histological assessment of tissue specimens showed that fibromyxoma accounted for seven (43.8%) cases, while the remaining nine (56.3%) cases were diagnosed as myxoma. All patients had jaw resections, and these consisted of mandibulectomies in nine (60.0%) patients and maxillectomies in six (40.0%) patients. The duration of hospital stay ranged from 5 to 29 days, with a mean of 17.86±7.68 days. Complications were noted in three patients, and all were surgical wound infections. Conclusion: Most patients in our environment present late with large tumors and are usually not compliant with follow-up review. Thus, a radical approach is favored in most patients.
Health-related quality of life in adolescents with congenital heart disease

Abstract Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the health-related quality of life of adolescents with congenital heart disease, describing health-related quality of life according to the diagnosis and severity of congenital heart disease, identified by variables such as the presence of symptoms, surgical interventions, use of medication, and residual lesion. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 203 adolescents with congenital heart disease attended at the Pediatric Cardiology ambulatory of a reference hospital in Brazil. The Brazilian version of the questionnaire KIDSCREEN-27 was used for the assessment of health-related quality of life. Information related to the congenital heart disease diagnosis and clinical variables were collected from the medical records of the patients. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between acyanotic and cyanotic groups, as well as for the different diagnosis of congenital heart disease. A trend for better health-related quality of life in the dimension of Psychological Well-Being (p=0.054) was found in the groups with surgical intervention and use of medication. Adolescents that referred a good general health presented significantly better results in all dimensions of health-related quality of life, except for Autonomy and Parent Relation, than those who presented clinical symptoms (p<0.05). Conclusions: Type of congenital heart disease and initial diagnosis did not seem to affect the perception of health-related quality of life, corroborating findings of several studies. Surgical interventions and the use of medication can improve previous clinical status, and therefore it seems to be beneficial in terms of Psychological Well-Being. The presence of clinical symptoms was the variable that caused the largest impact on the perception of health-related quality of life, possibly because of the impairment they bring to the daily lives of these patients.
Effect of phosphogypsum on strength of lime stabilized expansive soil

The use of phosphogypsum as an additive to lime, to enhance its performance in soil stabilization, is analyzed in this paper. Phosphogypsum is a by-product of the phosphate rock processing during production of phosphoric acid. Expansive soil samples used in this paper were stabilized using three different lime proportions: initial lime consumption, optimum lime content, and less than initial lime consumption. The results reveal that the addition of phosphogypsum to lime led to improvement of both the early and late strength of stabilized soil.
Isolating failure causes through test case generation

Manual debugging is driven by experiments—test runs that narrow down failure causes by systematically confirming or excluding individual factors. The BUGEX approach leverages test case generation to systematically isolate such causes from a single failing test run—causes such as properties of execution states or branches taken that correlate with the failure. Identifying these causes allows for deriving conclusions as: “The failure occurs whenever the daylight savings time starts at midnight local time. ” In our evaluation, a prototype of BUGEX precisely pinpointed important failure explaining facts for six out of seven real-life bugs.
"C" trigonocephaly syndrome: clinical variability and possibility of surgical treatment.

We report on 3 new cases of C trigonocephaly syndrome. In addition to the findings characteristic of this condition, one of the patients also had a large omphalocele. This patient was referred from a suburban hospital with a diagnosis of Down syndrome, stressing the fact that C syndrome is still under-recognized and underdiagnosed. Another patient was diagnosed at birth and immediately submitted to craniosynostectomy. A second operation was performed 7 months later resulting in normal brain growth and close to normal psychomotor development at 3 years, in contrast to the third patient, who was not treated surgically and was severely retarded at 4 years.
Transmit-Diversity-Assisted Space-Shift Keying for Colocated and Distributed/Cooperative MIMO Elements

Space-shift keying (SSK) modulation is a recently proposed multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) technique, which activates only a single transmit antenna during each time slot and uses the specific index of the activated transmit antenna to implicitly convey information. Activating a single antenna is beneficial in terms of eliminating the interchannel interference and mitigates the peak-to-mean power ratio while avoiding the need for synchronization among transmit antennas. However, this benefit is achieved at a sacrifice, because the transmit diversity gain potential of the multiple transmit antennas is not fully exploited in existing SSK-assisted systems. Furthermore, a high-SSK throughput requires the transmitter to employ a high number of transmit antennas, which is not always practical. Hence, we propose four algorithms-open-loop space-time space-shift keying (ST-SSK), closed-loop feedback-aided phase rotation, feedback-aided power allocation, and cooperative ST-SSK-to achieve a diversity gain. The performance improvements of the proposed schemes are demonstrated by Monte Carlo simulations for spatially independent Rayleigh fading channels. Their robustness to channel estimation errors is also considered. We advocate the proposed ST-SSK techniques, which can achieve a transmit diversity gain of about 10 dB at a bit error rate (BER) of 10-5, at the cost of imposing a moderate throughput loss that is dedicated to a modest feedback overhead. Furthermore, our proposed ST-SSK scheme lends itself to efficient communication, because the deleterious effects of deep shadow fading no longer impose spatial correlation on the signals that are received by the antennas, which cannot readily be avoided by colocated antenna elements.
Reproductive health in women with serious mental illnesses.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To determine what problems female psychiatric patients have in terms of reproductive health. BACKGROUND The reproductive health problems faced by female psychiatric patients are matters that have been neglected in the areas of both psychiatry and women's health. This study aims to make a contribution from Turkey to the literature in this neglected field. DESIGN The study is descriptive and was conducted with 292 female patients treated in an acute inpatient psychiatric ward. METHODS Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and a questionnaire based on the literature and prepared by the researchers which was designed to determine the kinds of reproductive health issues the patients were experiencing. RESULTS It was found that compared with healthy women, the distinctive features of the participants in terms of sexuality were more negative; in particular, patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder were more likely to have been forced by their partners to have sex, they had suffered from rape or sexually transmitted diseases, the majority of those who had previous sexual experience had tried to use contraceptives but had been unable to continue using them, they were most likely to choose the method of withdrawal for contraception, their rates of pregnancy and abortion were high, they received less antenatal care, and they were more likely to have smoked during pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS It was found that female patients with psychiatric disorders had more negative attributes with regard to marriage, sexuality, family planning, maternal characteristics and pregnancy, compared with a corresponding healthy population. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The results of this study may be useful for nurses in the clinical field for calling an attention and raising an awareness of the reproductive health problems of women with psychiatric disorders, taking the necessary preventive measures, and developing damage-reducing strategies.
Quantifying and Addressing Parameter Indeterminacy in the Classical Twin Design

Abstract The classical twin design (CTD) is the most common method used to infer genetic and environmental causes of phenotypic variation. As has long been acknowledged, different combinations of the common environment/assortative mating, and additive, dominant, and epistatic genetic effects can lead to the same observed covariation between twin pairs, meaning that there is an inherent indeterminacy in parameter estimates arising from the CTD. The CTD circumvents this indeterminacy by assuming that higher-order epistasis is negligible and that the effects of either dominant genetic variation or the common environment are nonexistent. These assumptions, however, lead to consistent biases in parameter estimation. The current paper quantifies these biases and discusses alternative strategies for dealing with parameter indeterminacy in twin designs. One strategy is to model the similarity among other relatives in addition to twins (extended twin-family designs), which reduces but does not eliminate indeterminacy in parameter estimates. A more general strategy, applicable to all twin designs, is to present the parameter indeterminacy explicitly, as in a graph. Presenting the space of mathematically equally likely parameter values is important, not only because it aids the proper interpretation of twin design findings, but also because it keeps behavioral geneticists themselves mindful of methodological assumptions that can easily go unexamined.
Pyroelectric energy conversion using PLZT ceramics and the ferroelectric–ergodic relaxor phase transition

This paper is concerned with direct conversion of waste heat into electricity by executing the Olsen cycle on lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) ceramics undergoing a relaxor–ferroelectric phase transition. The Olsen cycle consists of two isothermal and two isoelectric field processes. First, the temperature-dependent dielectric properties were measured for x/65/35 PLZT. The polarization transition temperature of x/65/35 PLZT was found to decrease from 240 to 10 °C as x increased from 5 to 10 mol%. This suggests that the different compositions should be operated over different temperature ranges for maximum thermal to electrical energy conversion. The energy and power densities generated by the Olsen cycle using x/65/35 PLZT samples were measured by successively dipping the samples in isothermal dielectric oil baths. Large energy and power densities were obtained when the samples underwent the ergodic relaxor–ferroelectric phase transition. A maximum energy density of 1014 J l−1 per cycle was obtained with a 190 μm thick 7/65/35 PLZT sample cycled at 0.026 Hz between 30 and 200 °C and between 0.2 and 7.0 MV m−1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest pyroelectric energy density ever demonstrated experimentally with ceramics, single crystals, or polymers. A maximum power density of 48 W l−1 was achieved using a 200 μm thick 6/65/35 PLZT sample for temperatures between 40 and 210 °C and electric fields between 0 and 8.5 MV m−1 at a frequency of 0.060 Hz. The maximum applied electric field and temperature swings of these materials were physically limited by dielectric breakdown and thermomechanical stress.
Theory of cosmic ray and gamma-ray production in the supernova remnant RX J0852.0-4622

Aims. The properties of the Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) RX J0852.0-4622 are theoretically analysed. Methods. An explicitly time-dependent, nonlinear kinetic model of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in SNRs is used to describe the properties of SNR RX J0852.0-4622, the accelerated CRs and the nonthermal emission. The source is assumed to be at a distance of ~1 kpc in the wind bubble of a massive progenitor star. An estimate of the thermal X-ray flux in such a configuration is given. Results. We find that the overall synchrotron spectrum of RX J0852.0-4622 as well as the filamentary structures in hard X-rays lead to an amplified magnetic field B > 100 muG in the SNR interior. This implies that the leptonic very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission is suppressed, and that the VHE gamma-rays are hadronically dominated. The energy spectrum of protons produced over the life-time of the remnant until now may well reach ''knee'' energies. The derived gamma-ray morphology is consistent with the H.E. S.S. measurements. The amount of energy in energetic particles corresponds to about 35% of the hydrodynamic explosion energy. A remaining uncertainty concerns the thermal X-ray flux at 1 keV. A rough estimate, possibly not quite appropriate for the assumed wind bubble configuration, results in it being larger than the nonthermal flux at this energy. Conclusions. It is concluded that this SNR expanding into the wind bubble of a massive star in a dense gas environment can be a hadronic gamma-ray source that is consistent with all existing multi-wavelength constraints, except possibly the thermal X-ray emission.
Learning styles of postsecondary students enrolled in vocational technical institutes

This article reports a study that sought to determine if there was a predominant learning style amongst students enrolled in postsecondary technical education institutes in Arkansas. Students enrolled in business education, health occupations, and trade and industrial education were measured using the Gregorc Style Delineator. The study investigated whether there were significant differences in learning styles among students with different characteristics in relation to program area, work experience, and gender. The findings and the literature review of the study indicate that concrete sequential is the most predominant learning style among this group of students. The report outlines the methodology, including the instrumentation and the method of data analysis, and presents a discussion of the results. The authors recommend that teachers identify their own learning styles along with those of their students, and program classroom activities to suit a variety of learning styles.
Investigations on Speaking Mode Discrepancies in EMG-Based Speech Recognition

In this paper we present our recent study on the impact of speaking mode variabilities on speech recognition by surface electromyography (EMG). Surface electromyography captures the electric potentials of the human articulatory muscles, which enables a user to communicate naturally without making any audible sound. Our previous experiments have shown that the EMG signal varies greatly between different speaking modes, like audibly uttered speech and silently articulated speech. In this study we extend our previous research and quantify the impact of different speaking modes by investigating the amount of mode-specific leaves in phonetic decision trees. We show that this measure correlates highly with discrepancies in the spectral energy of the EMG signal, as well as with differences in the performance of a recognizer on different speaking modes. We furthermore present how EMG signal adaptation by spectral mapping decreases the effect of the speaking mode.