Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated Fusiform Cell Activity in the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus of Chinchillas with Psychophysical Evidence of Tinnitus

Chinchillas with psychophysical evidence of chronic tinnitus were shown to have significantly elevated spontaneous activity and stimulus-evoked responses in putative fusiform cells of the dorsal cochlear nuclei (DCN). Chinchillas were psychophysically trained and tested before and after exposure to a traumatic unilateral 80 dB (sound pressure level) 4 kHz tone. Before exposure, two groups were matched in terms of auditory discrimination performance (noise, and 1, 4, 6, and 10 kHz tones). After exposure, a single psychophysical difference emerged between groups. The exposed group displayed enhanced discrimination of 1 kHz tones (p = 0.00027). Postexposure discrimination of other stimuli was unaffected. It was hypothesized that exposed animals experienced a chronic subjective tone (i.e., tinnitus), resulting from their trauma, and that features of this subjective tone were similar enough to 1 kHz to affect discrimination of 1 kHz objective signals. After psychophysical testing, single-unit recordings were obtained from each animal's DCN fusiform cell layer. Putative fusiform cells of exposed animals showed significantly (p = 0.0136) elevated spontaneous activity, compared with cells of unexposed animals. Putative fusiform cells of exposed animals showed a greater stimulus-evoked response to tones at 1 kHz (p = 0.0000006) and at characteristic-frequency (p = 0.0000009). This increased activity was more pronounced on the exposed side. No increase in stimulus-evoked responses was observed to other frequencies or noise. These parallel psychophysical and electrophysiological results are consistent with the hypothesis that chronic tonal tinnitus is associated with, and may result from, trauma-induced elevation of activity of DCN fusiform cells.
Doxorubicin-induced chronic cardiotoxicity and its protection by liposomal administration.

The chronic cardiotoxicity of doxorubicin as a free drug or entrapped in positive and negative liposomes was morphologically evaluated in mice treated seven times i.v. at a dose of 4 mg/kg. Liposomes were composed of phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, and stearylamine (positive charge) or phosphatidylserine (negative charge). Administration of free doxorubicin caused a pattern of cardiac damage characterized by loss of myofiber elements, mitochondrial damage, nuclear abnormalities, swollen and distended sarcoplasmic reticulum leading to vacuolization, and increasing myeloid body accumulation. Cardiac tissues of mice treated with doxorubicin entrapped in negatively charged liposomes demonstrated pronounced loss of filaments, enlarged mitochondria, disruptive loss of crests, and expanded nuclear membrane. However, electron microscopic examination of the cardiac muscles of mice treated with positive liposomes demonstrated a significant protection from drug-induced toxicity, with only minor loss of parallel fibrillar arrangement and myofilaments in limited focal areas. The majority of the tissue demonstrated normal vasculature and intercalation of myocytes as compared to control groups. The mean qualitative and quantitative scores of toxic lesions for free doxorubicin and entrapped in negative liposomes are 2.7 and 2.23, respectively. However, the mean score for the group of mice treated with positive liposomes is only 1.12, showing a better than 2-fold scoring protection of both the extent and severity of cardiac lesions.
Environmentally Induced Positive Affect: Its Impact on Self‐Efficacy, Task Performance, Negotiation, and Conflict1

Male and female subjects performed several tasks either in the presence or absence of an environmental source of positive affect (pleasant artificial scents produced by two commercially manufactured air-fresheners). Consistent with the findings of previous research on the impact of positive affect, results indicated that several aspects of subjects' behavior were influenced by this variable. Participants exposed to pleasant scents set higher goals on a clerical coding task and were more likely to adopt an efficient strategy for performing this task than subjects not exposed to such conditions. In addition, males (but not females) reported higher self-efficacy in the presence of pleasant artificial scents than in their absence. Participants exposed to pleasant scents also set higher monetary goals and made more concessions during face-to-face negotiations with an accomplice. Finally, subjects exposed to pleasant scents reported weaker preferences for handling future conflicts with the accomplice through avoidance and competition. Analyses of covariance suggested that these differences stemmed largely from contrasting levels of positive affect among subjects in the neutral and pleasant scent conditions. Together, these results suggest that pleasant artificial scents may provide a potentially useful means for enhancing the environmental quality of work settings, and hence the performance and attitudes of persons in them.
Performance evaluation of a selective cooperative scheme for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks are becoming popular in many industrial and civilian application areas. The need is to improve the performance of such systems that can be significantly done by using adaptive cooperative diversity (SCA) technique, which is basically a cross-layer design that combines truncated ARQ at the link layer and cooperative diversity at the physical layer. In addition to it, LEACH protocol gives advantage of utilizing randomized rotation of local cluster-heads to evenly distribute the energy load among the sensors in the network. This paper proposes an integrated system, SCA with LEACH and evaluates its performance with LEACH with truncated ARQ system. Comparison is done based on network lifetime and packet loss rate of system under varying propagation scenarios, number of retransmissions, initial energy by node and network size. Simulation results show better performances with various achieved thresholds.
A Survey of Teacher-Student Style Mismatches

An important aspect of the differences among students hasto do with their learning style. As with learning style, theconcept of teaching style is also important since a stylisticmismatch between teacher and student may determinehow well they get along, with important consequencesfor the learning process. This study is intended to findif there are serious teacher-student style mismatches incollege teaching. Four teachers and one hundred fiftysevencollege students are involved in this study. All ofthem are asked to complete the questionnaire designedby Juan Du (2003) to measure their teaching styles andlearning styles. Besides the questionnaire the presentauthor has designed an interview so as to get qualitativedata concerning the learning styles, the teaching stylesand mismatches between them. Key words: Individual difference; Learning style;Teaching style
Occurrence, causes, and outcome of delirium in patients with advanced cancer: a prospective study.

CONTEXT Delirium impedes communication and contributes to symptom distress in patients with advanced cancer. There are few prospective data on the reversal of delirium in this population. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the occurrence, precipitating factors, and reversibility of delirium in patients with advanced cancer. DESIGN Prospective serial assessment in a consecutive cohort of 113 patients with advanced cancer. Precipitating factors were examined using standardized criteria; 104 patients met eligibility criteria. SETTING Acute palliative care unit in a university-affiliated teaching hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Delirium occurrence and reversal rates, duration, and patient survival. Strengths of association of various precipitating factors with reversal were expressed as hazard ratios (HRs) in univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS On admission, delirium was diagnosed in 44 patients (42%), and of the remaining 60, delirium developed in 27 (45%). Reversal of delirium occurred in 46 (49%) of 94 episodes in 71 patients. Terminal delirium occurred in 46 (88%) of the 52 deaths. In univariate analysis, psychoactive medications, predominantly opioids (HR, 8.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.13-36.74), and dehydration (HR, 2.35; 95% CI, 1.20-4.62) were associated with reversibility. Hypoxic encephalopathy (HR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.19-0.80) and metabolic factors (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.21-0.91) were associated with nonreversibility. In mulitivariate analysis, psychoactive medications (HR, 6.65; 95% CI, 1.49-29.62), hypoxic encephalopathy (HR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.15-0.70), and nonrespiratory infection (HR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.08-0.64) had independent associations. Patients with delirium had poorer survival rates than controls (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS Delirium is a frequent, multifactorial complication in advanced cancer. Despite its terminal presentation in most patients, delirium is reversible in approximately 50% of episodes. Delirium precipitated by opioids and other psychoactive medications and dehydration is frequently reversible with change of opioid or dose reduction, discontinuation of unnecessary psychoactive medication, or hydration, respectively.
Taxable Income, Future Earnings, and Equity Values

We investigate the ability of a tax‐based fundamental—the ratio of tax‐to‐book income—to predict earnings growth and stock returns and to explain the earnings‐price ratio. This tax fundamental reflects both temporary and permanent book‐tax differences as well as tax accruals, such as changes in the tax valuation allowance. We find that the tax‐to‐book income ratio predicts subsequent five‐year earnings changes, both before and after the implementation of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 109 in 1993. For the pre‐SFAS No. 109 period, the tax information is unrelated to contemporaneous earnings‐price ratios and strongly related to subsequent stock returns. Conversely, for the post‐SFAS No. 109 period, the tax fundamental is strongly related to contemporaneous earnings‐price ratios and only weakly related to subsequent stock returns, indicating improvement over time in investors' perceptions of the implications of the tax information for future earnings. Deferred taxes, a component of ou.
The amygdala: Neurobiological aspects of emotion, memory, and mental dysfunction.

Anatomical Organization of the Primate Amygdaloid Complex Distribution of Monoamines Within the Amygdala Neurophysiology and Functions of the Primate Amygdala Emotional Neurophysiology of the Human Amygdala: Myth, Metaphor and Mechanism The Role of the Amygdala in Conditioned Fear Stomach Pathology and the Amygdala The Amygdala and Social Behaviour Meidal Temporal Lobe Structures Contributing to Recognition Memory: The Amygdaloid Complex Versus the Rhinal Cortex The Functional Effects of Amygdala Lesions in Humans Kindling and the Amygdala. (Part contents)
In fl uence of management and physiological factors on somatic cell count in raw cow milk in Kosova

BYTYQI, H. , U. ZAUGG, K. SHERIFI, A. HAMIDI, M. GJONBALAJ, S. MUJI, H. MEHMETI: Infl uence of management and physiological factors on somatic cell count in raw cow milk in Kosova. Vet. arhiv 80, 173-183, 2010. ABSTRACT The main aim of this research was to study the effect of somatic cell count (SCC/mL) in raw milk in some cattle dairy farms according to the existing standards for raw milk quality in Kosovo. The results derive from 2203 individual samples from milk recording laboratory analyses in the period August 2007-February 2008. The GLM model was used to analyze the effect of different variables on the presence of SCC in raw milk. The effect of all variables was considered as a fi xed. The overall results show that herd (P<0.0001), breed (P<0.0004), month of the year (P<0.0001) and lactation number (P<0.0005), respectively, had a signifi cant effect on the presence of SCC. According to the existing legislation in regard to the quality of raw milk for 2008 and 2009 the results gained show that if the milk quality produced continues to be the same then about 78.45% for 2008 and 70.88% for 2009, respectively, will belong to extra class milk quality (SCC/mL<300.000, SCC/mL<200.000). While about 11.31% for 2008 and 16.61% for 2009 will belong to poor quality milk-below standard (SCC/mL<600.000, SCC/mL<400.000). Although the presence rate of SCC on raw milk tends to be relatively low, it cannot by any means be underestimated bearing in mind that a high rate of SCC in raw milk is negatively correlated with farmers’ profi t, consumer food safety and overall animal health.
Variability of Respiration and Metabolism: Responses to Submaximal Cycling and Running

Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to examine day-to-day variations in metabolic measurements during submaximal exercise. Ten male subjects (five cyclists, five runners) randomly performed four cycling (CYC) and four running (RUN) trials. CYC trials were conducted on a bicycle ergometer at 100 W, 150 W, and 200 W; and RUN trials at treadmill velocities of 170, 200, and 230 m/min. Oxygen consumption ([Vdot]O 2 ) and minute ventilation ([Vdot]E) were recorded each minute by a computer-based system. Blood lactic acid (HLA) was sampled from an antecubital vein at 3-min post exercise. No significant differences (p > .05) were found between cyclists and runners in [Vdot]O 2 , [Vdot]E, or HLA at any workload. The mean coefficients of total variation (CVt = SD/[Xdot] · 100%) for [Vdot]O 2 were 4.42% (CYC) and 3.80% (RUN); mean CVt for [Vdot]E were 3.86% (CYC) and 4.82% (RUN); mean CVt for HLA were 13.4% (CYC) and 16.3% (RUN). Significant day-to-day differences (p < .05) were found in [Vdot]O 2 of cycl.
Agreement between patient report and medical record review for medications used for rheumatoid arthritis: the accuracy of self-reported medication information in patient registries.

OBJECTIVE With the growth in patient registries in rheumatic disease research, it is important to validate the collected information. We examined the convergent validity of self-reported medication use for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS In the setting of the Brigham Rheumatoid Arthritis Sequential Study (BRASS), a large registry of patients with RA, we examined the agreement between patients' self-report of current and past RA medication use and information from medical records. For a sample of patients in BRASS, these 2 sources of information were compared using the kappa statistic as well as the percent agreement. RESULTS The 91 patients selected for assessment were typical of a prevalent RA cohort: >80% were women and the mean disease duration was 16 years. The agreement for current medication use was excellent, ranging from 0.71 for sulfasalazine to 0.96 for methotrexate. However, for past medication use agreement was lower, ranging from 0.13 for methotrexate to 0.74 for aurothioglucose. The weighted kappa for cumulative oral glucocorticoid dose was 0.67. CONCLUSION Self-report of current medication use and cumulative oral glucocorticoid dose appears to have moderate to excellent validity. However, self-report of past medication use may not be valid.
An Efficient Proximal-Gradient Method for Single and Multi-task Regression with Structured Sparsity

We consider the optimization problem of learning regression models with a mixed-norm penalty that is defined over overlapping groups to achieve structured sparsity. It has been previously shown that such penalty can encode prior knowledge on the input or output structure to learn an structuredsparsity pattern in the regression parameters. However, because of the non-separability of the parameters of the overlapping groups, developing an efficient optimization method has remained a challenge. An existing method casts this problem as a second-order cone programming (SOCP) and solves it by interior-point methods. However, this approach is computationally expensive even for problems of moderate size. In this paper, we propose an efficient proximal-gradient method that achieves a faster convergence rate and is much more efficient and scalable than solving the SOCP formulation. Our method exploits the structure of the non-smooth structured-sparsity-inducing norm, introduces its smooth approximation, and solves this approximation function instead of optimizing the original objective function directly. We demonstrate the efficiency and scalability of our method on simulated datasets and show that our method can be successfully applied to a very large-scale dataset in genetic association analysis.
Test-driven development concepts, taxonomy, and future direction

Test-driven development creates software in very short iterations with minimal upfront design. This strategy requires writing automated tests prior to developing functional code in small, rapid iterations. Although developers have been applying TDD in various forms for several decades, this software development strategy has continued to gain increased attention as one of the core extreme programming practices.
Recent results on compound wire-tap channels

The compound wire-tap channel is studied, which is based on Wynerpsilas wire-tap model with both the channel from the source to the destination and the channel from the source to the wire-tapper taking a number of states. No matter which states occur for the two channels, the source wishes to guarantee that the destination decodes its message successfully and that the wire-tapper does not obtain the source message. The semideterministic compound wire-tap channel is first studied, in which the channel from the source to the destination is deterministic and has only one state. The secrecy capacity is obtained. An example parallel Gaussian compound wire-tap channel is then studied, in which both channels have two states. Three schemes are studied, and it is shown that introducing randomness either into the source message or into the encoder achieves the maximal secrecy degree of freedom. Both channels studied in this paper demonstrate that creating an auxiliary input, and hence adding a prefix channel from this auxiliary input to the actual channel input, improves the secrecy rate.
Effect of Corticosteroids on Hemostasis and Pulmonary Arterial Pressure during Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbation

Background: Hemodynamic and hemostatic abnormalities are reportedly frequent in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Objectives: We investigated the changes in systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PAPs) and hemostatic status and the effects of systemic steroid treatment (SST) during COPD exacerbation. Methods: Consecutive 26 male and 4 female patients as well as 10 controls were enrolled. The nonsteroid treatment (NST) group received standard treatment without steroids, and the other group received additional SST. Initial values of blood gases, spirometry and PAPs, P-selectin, D-dimer and fibrinogen levels, activities of thrombocyte aggregation, antithrombin III (AT III), protein C (PC), protein S, activated PC resistance (APCR), prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time were obtained and compared with values at day 10. Results: Improvement in spirometry and blood gases was more prominent with SST. At presentation, patients had higher PAPs, P-selectin, D-dimer and fibrinogen but lower AT III levels than controls. PAPs and fibrinogen levels significantly decreased in the SST group while P-selectin levels further increased in the NST group. The D-dimer level significantly decreased in both groups. Means of AT III, PC and protein S increased in the SST and decreased in the NST group, but only the decrease in PC in the NST group was meaningful. Compared with the controls, AT III levels in the NST group and activated PC resistance in the SST group were significantly decreased. Thrombocyte aggregation tests suggested an incline after 10 days in both groups. Conclusions: We suggest that in patients with COPD exacerbation, addition of systemic corticosteroids to treatment results in better outcome in normalization of PAPs, hemostasis, pulmonary functions and blood gases.
Comparative Evaluation Of Scientific Temper And Academic Achievement Among Adolescent Students (J&K)

The present research work entitled “Comparative evaluation of Scientific Temper and Academic Achievement among adolescents in Jammu & Kashmir” was carried out with the objectives to study and evaluate the scientific temperament and academic achievements among adolescents in J & K (Anantnag). A group of 180 adolescents (100 boys and 80 girls) was recruited from both government and private institutions in the study via a stratified random sampling technique. The data were collected using a scientific attitude questionnaire and analysed using mean, S.D and t-test. The findings of the study indicated that the scientific attitude and academic achievement of the boy and girl students (gender) as well as the students from rural and urban areas (locality) and from government and private institutions differed significantly. Boys were found to be a more efficient scorer than girls (p<0.05). Adolescents from urban areas were found to be more efficient than rural ones (p<0.05). Adolescents belonging to Private colleges showed better mean score than government colleges (p<0.05). Recommendations were made upon the conceptualization of scientific temper as well as a plan of action to promote it in better academic achievements among all adolescents. The present paper attempts how to develop a ''Scientific Temper'' in the Indian context, and how to achieve the innovativeness and achieved in a period of stress and strain through a proper guidance.
Identity and School Adjustment: Revisiting the "Acting White" Assumption

It has long been offered as an explanation for the achievement gap between White and African American students, that African American youth would do better if they adopted a Eurocentric cultural values system. Unfortunately, this theory, along with a great amount of the established literature on minority youth identity development, depends on a deficit-oriented perspective to explain the discrepancy between African American and White students. This is problematic because the perspective denies minority youth a culturally specific normative developmental perspective of their own, and instead, compares their experience to the normative developmental processes observed in White children. This article invalidates that perspective with a Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (Spencer, 1995) approach to a study of African American secondary school students. These students, contrary to the traditionally offered "acting White" assumption, show high self-esteem and achievement goals in conjunction with high Afrocentricity. Further discussion of the study stresses the importance of considering the undeniable influence of culture and context. It makes obvious the need for researchers and policymakers to focus on the contextual challenges facing these youths to have a better understanding of and to institute better teaching strategies for African American youth and minority youth in general.