Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuroprotective and neurorescue effects of eggplant extract in 6-OHDAinduced Parkinson's rat model

Objective: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common progressive neurodegenerative disorders. Though the exact etiology of PD is largely unknown, oxidative stress has been reported to play an important role in PD. Nowadays, natural products have gained attention as an alternate therapy to delay the onset of neurodegeneration. The aim of the current study was to assess the neuroprotective and neurorescue potential of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L) Extract (EE) in 6-OHDA-induced Parkinsonian rat model. Materials and Methods: The filtered crude extract of eggplant fruit was prepared and their total flavonoids content was analysed by aluminium chloride (AlCl3) method. Free radical scavenging activity was determined by DPPH assay. Neuroprotective activity was performed on Wistar healthy male models. Phytochemical analysis was carried out by LC/MS analysis. Results: Our results indicated the presence of substantial amounts of phenolics and flavonoids in EE, suggestive of potent free radical scavenging activity. Antioxidant assays revealed that EE exhibits significant ROS scavenging activity. Neurobehavioral analysis showed corrected circling behaviour induced by D-amphetamine and spontaneous locomotor activity in the animals that received EE before or after the 6-OHDA lesioning. Treatment of EE before or after the 6-OHDA lesioning significantly restored the altered levels of oxidative markers in the substantia nigra as well as levels of antioxidant enzymes in the striatum regions of rat brain. Additionally, EE also restored levels of dopamine and dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid and increased expression of tyrosine hydroxylase in the ipsilateral striatum region of the 6-OHDA intoxicated rat brain. Finally LC/MS analysis of the extract revealed the presence of several flavonoids such as kaempferol, quercetin, naringenin and phenolics such as gallic acid, caffeoyl putrescine, and 5-caffeoylquinic acid. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings indicate that the EE has both neuroprotective as well as neurorescue effects in 6-OHDA-induced Parkinson’s in rat model which could potentially be due to the presence of antioxidant flavonoids and phenolics.
Role of High-Mobility Group Box 1 Protein in the Pathogenesis of Intestinal Barrier Injury in Rats With Severe Acute Pancreatitis

Objective: To investigate the role of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in the development of intestinal barrier injury of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and to examine the effect of ethyl pyruvate (EP) on intestinal inflammation in rats with SAP. Methods: Rats were randomly divided into the following experimental groups: control, SAP, and EP treated. Then, the distal ileum was harvested for morphological studies, streptavidin-peroxidase immunohistochemistry examination, and Western blot analysis. The concentrations of plasma amylase, endotoxin, and diamine oxidase (DAO) and the activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the intestine were determined. Results: We found that the expression of HMGB1 was up-regulated in the ileal mucosa within 6 hours and then remained elevated for more than 48 hours after SAP. Meanwhile, the levels of plasma amylase, endotoxin, and DAO and the activity of MPO in the intestinal mucosa were rapidly increased after SAP. Whereas treatment with EP significantly decreased the expression of intestinal HMGB1, the levels of plasma amylase, endotoxin, and DAO ameliorated the activity of MPO in the intestine in SAP rats. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that HMGB1 participates in intestinal barrier injury in SAP and EP might play a therapeutic role in intestinal inflammation in this SAP model.Abbreviations: SAP - severe acute pancreatitis, EP - ethyl pyruvate, HMGB1 - high-mobility group box 1, DAO - diamine oxidase, MPO - myeloperoxidase
Asynchrony in the cognitive and lexical development of young children with Williams syndrome

The present study investigates whether five-to-six-year-old children with Williams syndrome (N=8) can form new object categories based on naming information alone, and compares them with five groups of typically developing children aged 2;0 to 6;0 (N=34 children). Children were presented with triads of dissimilar objects; all objects in a triad were labelled, two of them with the same pseudoname. Name-based categorization was evaluated through object selection. Performance was above chance level for all groups. Performance reached a ceiling at about 4;0 for the typically developing children. For the children with Williams Syndrome, performance remained below chronological age level. The present results are discussed in light of previous findings of a failure to perform name-based categorization in younger children with Williams syndrome and the persistent asynchrony between cognitive and lexical development in this disorder.
Expression of Members of the 28-Kilodalton Major Outer Membrane Protein Family of Ehrlichia chaffeensis during Persistent Infection

ABSTRACT The 28-kDa immunodominant outer membrane proteins (P28 OMPs) of Ehrlichia chaffeensis are encoded by a multigene family. As an indirect measure of the in vivo expression of the members of the p28 multigene family of E. chaffeensis, sera from two beagle dogs experimentally infected with E. chaffeensis were evaluated for the presence of specific antibodies to P28 OMPs by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Antigenic peptides unique to each of the P28s were identified within the first hypervariable region of each P28 OMP. Serological responses to peptides derived from all P28 OMPs were detected from day 30 postinoculation to day 468 and from day 46 until day 159 in the two beagles. Although antibody titers to the peptides fluctuated, the peak response to all of the peptides appeared simultaneously in each dog. The antibody responses to another outer membrane protein of E. chaffeensis (GP120) showed similar temporal and quantitative changes. These data suggest that the P28 OMPs are expressed concurrently during persistent Ehrlichia infection.
Generalized Proportional Fair Scheduling in Third Generation Wireless Data Networks

In 3G data networks, network operators would like to balance system throughput while serving users in a fair manner. This is achieved using the notion of proportional fairness. However, so far, proportional fairness has been applied at each base station independently. Such an approach can result in non-Pareto optimal bandwidth allocation when considering the network as a whole. Therefore, it is important to consider proportional fairness in a network-wide context with user associations to base stations governed by optimizing a generalized proportional fairness objective. In this paper, we take the first step in formulating and studying this problem rigorously. We show that the general problem is NP-hard and it is also hard to obtain a close-to-optimal solution. We then consider a special case where multi-user diversity only depends on the number of users scheduled together. We propose efficient offline optimal algorithms and heuristic-based greedy online algorithms to solve this problem. Using detailed simulations based on the base station layout of a large service provider in the U.S., we show that our simple online algorithm, which assigns a newly arrived user to a base station that improves the generalized proportional fairness objective the most without changing existing users’ association, is very close to the offline optimal solution. The greedy algorithm can achieve significantly better throughput and fairness in heterogeneous user distributions, when compared to the approach that assigns a user to the base station with the best signal strength.
Quality Expectation-Variance Tradeoffs in Crowdsourcing Contests

We examine designs for crowdsourcing contests, where participants compete for rewards given to superior solutions of a task. We theoretically analyze tradeoffs between the expectation and variance of the principal's utility (i.e. the best solution's quality), and empirically test our theoretical predictions using a controlled experiment on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Our evaluation method is also crowdsourcing based and relies on the peer prediction mechanism. Our theoretical analysis shows an expectation-variance tradeoff of the principal's utility in such contests through a Pareto efficient frontier. In particular, we show that the simple contest with 2 authors and the 2-pair contest have good theoretical properties. In contrast, our empirical results show that the 2-pair contest is the superior design among all designs tested, achieving the highest expectation and lowest variance of the principal's utility.
Association of General and Central Obesity and Atopic and Nonatopic Asthma in US Adults

Objective. To examine the association of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with the prevalence of asthma by atopic status and sex using nationally representative data in the US. Methods. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2006 data were analyzed using areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUCs) and multivariate logistic regression models. Results. Women had higher AUCs (0.59–0.64) than men (0.50–0.58) across anthropometric indices and asthma outcomes. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and smoking status, only WHtR was positively associated with atopic asthma in both sexes (odds ratio per 1 SD [95% confidence interval]: men, 1.018 [1.004, 1.032], p = .01; women, 1.018 [1.006, 1.030], p = .003), and the associations persisted after further adjustment of BMI. Only in women was nonatopic asthma significantly associated with every 1 SD increase of BMI (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: 1.018 [1.006, 1.030], p = .003), WC (1.018 [1.006, 1.030], p = .004), and WHtR (1.016 [1.004, 1.028], p = .008). Conclusions. Using US national data, this study adds to the emerging evidence suggesting two possible distinct phenotypes: (1) obese men and women with atopic asthma and (2) obese women with nonatopic asthma. The mechanistic and therapeutic implications of these findings warrant further investigation.
They Have Tied Me to a Stake

You had to see it to believe it. I mean, we’re sitting people in this new class, and I really can’t think I’m the o dering what exactly qualitative research is all about an walked in carrying a box of coat hangers? Why? And w got to do with this book he wanted us to read? He stand without a single word of explanation and then he quote Stenhouse and says “I have a fear of lecturing lest you suddenly my interest is piqued because I’d read that book he’d recommended and, to be honest, I hadn’t liked it. I had no real idea what it was saying or why it wasn’t saying it. It was like—Oh, I don’t know. Like it had just been scribbled down because the publisher’s deadline was up. That’s it: it was unfinished and I figured that there had to be more to it than that. It’s funny, but one of the reasons I read English as an undergrad was that I wanted to find out more about literature than just how the book ended. And here I was with this thing and here was the chance I’m won hell is th rade tha lesson? I told to r book tha us all a research sense. Bu us that tell us a you know it’s going to figure it out for myself and I suppose that’s what this what do I think of qualitative research after reading St Study Research? In its own way, it’s about change: chan a look at whether it’s possible for these different attitud 10.1177/1077800406295628
High mobile phone ownership, but low Internet and email usage among pregnant, HIV-infected women attending antenatal care in Johannesburg

We investigated mobile phone usage amongst HIV-positive pregnant women attending antenatal services in a primary care clinic in Johannesburg (n = 50). We conducted a semi-structured interview and asked them about their mobile phone, Internet and email use. The median age of the women was 28 years, 36% had moved one or more times in the past year, and most were employed or recently employed, albeit earning low wages. Nearly all women (94%) reported that they did not share their phone and 76% of the SIM cards were registered to the woman herself. The median time with the current phone was one year (range 1 month-6 years) and the median time with the current phone number was three years (range 1 month-13 years). Even though 42% of the participants were from outside South Africa, they all had mobile phone numbers local to South Africa. About one-third of respondents reported Internet use (30%) and about one-fifth reported using email (18%). Overall, 20% accessed the Internet and 10% accessed email on their mobile phone. Mobile phone interventions are feasible amongst HIV-positive pregnant women and may be useful in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). Email and Internet-based interventions may not yet be appropriate.
Folic Acid-Based Intervention in Non-ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes

Homocysteinemia is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Folic acid combined with vitamins B6 and B12 is effective in lowering homocysteine levels. This randomized placebo-controlled study was designed to determine the effect of a folic acid-based supplement on secondary prevention of clinical events in non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes. The study comprised 240 patients with either unstable angina or non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction in the previous 2 weeks who were randomized to a folate group (n = 116) or a placebo group (n = 124). The folate group received 1 mg folic acid, 400 μg vitamin B12, and 10 mg vitamin B6 daily. Clinical outcomes within 6 months were assessed. The composite endpoint of death, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and serious re-hospitalization was significantly higher in the folate group; serious re-hospitalization alone was significantly higher in this group. Advanced age and diabetes increased susceptibility to the composite outcome. Folic acid-based supplementation is not beneficial and may even be harmful in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with unstable angina and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Further studies on the safety of such supplements are suggested. Controlled Clinical Trials Registry no. ISRCTN30249553.
Constraints on the Ionization Balance of Hot-Star Winds from FUSE Observations of O Stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spectra for 25 O stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We analyze wind profiles for the resonance lines from C III, N III, S IV, P V, S VI, and O VI in the FUSE range using a "Sobolev with exact integration" method. In addition, the available data from either IUE or the Hubble Space Telescope for the resonance lines of Si IV, C IV, and N V are also modeled. Because several of the FUSE wind lines are unsaturated, the analysis provides meaningful optical depths (or equivalently, mass-loss rate times ionization fractions, Ṁ q) as a function of normalized velocity, w = v/v∞. Ratios of Ṁq (which are independent of Ṁ) determine the behavior of the relative ionization as a function of w. The results demonstrate that, with the exception of O VI in all stars and S VI in the later stars, the ionization in the winds shifts toward lower ionization stages at higher w (contrary to the expectations of the nebular approximation). This result implies that the dominant production mechanism for O VI and S VI in the late O stars differs from the other ions. Using the Vink et al. relationship between stellar parameters and mass-loss rate, we convert the measurements into mean ionization fractions for each ion, ⟨qi⟩. Because the derived ion fractions never exceed unity, we conclude that the derived values of Ṁ are not too small. However, q(P V), which is expected to be the dominant stage of ionization in some of these winds, is never greater than 0.20. This implies that either the calculated values of Ṁ are too large, the assumed abundance of phosphorus is too large, or the winds are strongly clumped. The implications of each possibility are discussed. Correlations between the mean ion fractions and physical parameters such as Teff, v∞, and the mean wind density, ⟨ρ⟩, are examined. Two clear relationships emerge. First, as expected, the mean ionization fraction of the lower ions (C III, N III, Si IV, S IV) decreases with increasing Teff. Second, the mean ion fraction of S VI in the latest stars and O VI in all stars increases with increasing v∞. This reaffirms the notion, first introduced by Cassinelli & Olson, that O VI is produced nonradiatively. Finally, we discuss specific characteristics of three stars, BI 272, BI 208, and Sk -67°166. For BI 272, the ionic species present in its wind suggest it is much hotter than its available (uncertain) spectral type of O7: II-III:. In the case of BI 208, our inability to fit its observed profiles suggests that its wind is not spherically symmetric. For Sk -67°166, quantitative measurements of its line strengths confirm the suggestion by Walborn et al. that it is a nitrogen-rich O star.
Colonization and Transmission of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 in Nursery Piglets

ABSTRACT A transmission experiment was performed to evaluate the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) ST398 in nursery piglets. Reproduction ratios (R0) in three experimental groups were found to vary between 3.92 and 52.54, indicating that after introduction, MRSA ST398 will spread easily among weaned piglets, with a tendency to become established.
Bone development.

Early development of the vertebrate skeleton depends on genes that pattern the distribution and proliferation of cells from cranial neural crest, sclerotomes, and lateral plate mesoderm into mesenchymal condensations at sites of future skeletal elements. Within these condensations, cells differentiate to chondrocytes or osteoblasts and form cartilages and bones under the control of various transcription factors. In most of the skeleton, organogenesis results in cartilage models of future bones; in these models cartilage is replaced by bone by the process of endochondral ossification. Lastly, through a controlled process of bone growth and remodeling the final skeleton is shaped and molded. Significant and exciting insights into all aspects of vertebrate skeletal development have been obtained through molecular and genetic studies of animal models and humans with inherited disorders of skeletal morphogenesis, organogenesis, and growth.
School Choice: The Struggle for the Soul of American Education

School choice has aroused more public passion than any other school reform movement. This book clarifies a number of issues surrounding this hotly debated topic. Drawing on interviews and analyses of school choice research, Peter Cookson examines a variety of school choice plans around the nation and analyzes their outcome in terms of student achievement, school improvement, and the rights of the citizenry. Arguing that school choice can be a useful tactic of educational reform, he offers an innovative proposal for its implementation.
Cannabinoid Addiction: Behavioral Models and Neural Correlates

The use of cannabis sativa preparations as recreational drugs can be traced back to the earliest civilizations. However, animal models of cannabinoid addiction allowing the exploration of neural correlates of cannabinoid abuse have been developed only recently. We review these models and the role of the CB1 cannabinoid receptor, the main target of natural cannabinoids, and its interaction with opioid and dopamine transmission in reward circuits. Extensive reviews on the molecular basis of cannabinoid action are available elsewhere (Piomelli et al., 2000;Schlicker and Kathmann, 2001).
A Study of Mechanics in Brittle–Ductile Cutting Mode Transition

This paper presents an investigation of the mechanism of the brittle–ductile cutting mode transition from the perspective of the mechanics. A mechanistic model is proposed to analyze the relationship between undeformed chip thickness, deformation, and stress levels in the elastic stage of the periodic chip formation process, regarding whether brittle or ductile mode deformation is to follow the elastic stage. It is revealed that, the distance of tool advancement required to induce the same level of compressive stress decreases with undeformed chip thickness, and thereby the tensile stress below and behind the tool decreases with undeformed chip thickness. As a result, the tensile stress becomes lower than the critical tensile stress for brittle fracture when the undeformed chip thickness becomes sufficiently small, enabling the brittle–ductile cutting mode transition. The finite element method is employed to verify the analysis of the mechanics on a typical brittle material 6H silicon carbide, and confirmed that the distance of the tool advancement required to induce the same level of compressive stress becomes smaller when the undeformed chip thickness decreases, and consequently smaller tensile stress is induced below and behind the tool. The critical undeformed chip thicknesses for brittle–ductile cutting mode transition are estimated according to the proposed mechanics, and are verified by plunge cutting experiments in a few crystal directions. This study should contribute to better understanding of the mechanism of brittle–ductile cutting mode transition and the ultra-precision machining of brittle materials.
Un nouveau regard sur la chute du ne en français parlé tourangeau: s'agit-il d'un changement en cours?

Quoique la norme du francais standard prescrive le double marquage de la negation dans le syntagme verbal ( ne . . . pas ), l'usage contemporain veut que le francais parle laisse tomber la premiere marque ( ne ). Dans un article de 1981 qui s'appuyait sur un corpus de francais oral enregistre a Tours en 1976, Ashby avait mis en lumiere une forte co-variation entre la chute du ne et l'âge du locuteur, les jeunes omettant beaucoup plus souvent le ne que les personnes plus âgees. Cette distribution semble relever d'un changement en temps apparent. Pourtant, comme le signale Labov (1994), un trait linguistique plus frequent chez les jeunes ne represente pas necessairement un changement en cours. On peut supposer qu'il s'agit d'un phenomene lie a l'effet de generation (age grading), phenomene dans lequel les locuteurs alterent leur comportement linguistique au cours de leur vie tandis que la grammaire de la communaute ne change pas. De maniere a trancher entre les deux hypotheses (d'un cote, changement en cours; de l'autre, effet de generation), cette etude etablit une comparaison des distributions de la variable ( ne ) a deux epoques differentes: le corpus tourangeau de 1976 est double d'un nouveau corpus enregistre en 1995 au meme endroit. Cette comparaison demontre que, sur le plan du temps reel, la chute du ne s'est acceleree, ce qui sous-tend donc l'hypothese du changement en cours.