Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Restricted Basilar Papillar Lesions and Hair Cell Regeneration on Auditory Forebrain Frequency Organization in Adult European Starlings

The frequency organization of neurons in the forebrain Field L complex (FLC) of adult starlings was investigated to determine the effects of hair cell (HC) destruction in the basal portion of the basilar papilla (BP) and of subsequent HC regeneration. Conventional microelectrode mapping techniques were used in normal starlings and in lesioned starlings either 2 d or 6–10 weeks after aminoglycoside treatment. Histological examination of the BP and recordings of auditory brainstem evoked responses confirmed massive loss of HCs in the basal portion of the BP and hearing losses at frequencies >2 kHz in starlings tested 2 d after aminoglycoside treatment. In these birds, all neurons in the region of the FLC in which characteristic frequencies (CFs) normally increase from 2 to 6 kHz had CF in the range of 2–4 kHz. The significantly elevated thresholds of responses in this region of altered tonotopic organization indicated that they were the residue of prelesion responses and did not reflect CNS plasticity. In the long-term recovery birds, there was histological evidence of substantial HC regeneration. The tonotopic organization of the high-frequency region of the FLC did not differ from that in normal starlings, but the mean threshold at CF in this frequency range was intermediate between the values in the normal and lesioned short-recovery groups. The recovery of normal tonotopicity indicates considerable stability of the topography of neuronal connections in the avian auditory system, but the residual loss of sensitivity suggests deficiencies in high-frequency HC function.
The Role of Semantics in Recognizing Textual Entailment

Systems designed to recognize textual entailment typically employ both syntax and semantics. Our goal in this paper is to explore the degree to which semantics alone can be used to accurately detect entailment so that we can gain a better understanding of this single component within an entailment system. This paper reports the knowledge-bases considered and selected for person names, locations and organizations and the results of the system when used on the Recognizing Textual Entailment (RTE) Track of the Text Analysis Conference (TAC).
AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL VALUE ORIENTATIONS AND KNOWLEDGE ASYMMETRY IN THE FORMULATION OF ADVICE

People seek advice so as to improve the quality of their decisions. But is the advice provided of a consistent quality in all circumstances? We suggest it is not and contend that advice formulation is a selective process, with the quality of advice being shaped by a number of factors, including the social value orientations of the advisors and knowledge asymmetry between advisors and their clients. Results of a pilot study suggested advice optimality was influenced by knowledge asymmetry between the parties but not by the social value orientations of the advisors. Prosocials were found to exhibit the same type of strategic behavior observed in competitors.
The lung and carbon dioxide: implications for permissive and therapeutic hypercapnia

Although acute respiratory acidosis may be a sign of impending respiratory failure in spontaneously breathing patients, it is commonly encountered in intubated patients with acute lung injury (ALI). This is especially the case now that limiting tidal volumes and airway pressures have been proven to reduce mortality in ALI, presumably by reducing additional lung injury caused by mechanical ventilation itself 1. A respiratory acidosis arising from lung-protective ventilation strategies has been termed permissive hypercapnia 2–5. As the name indicates, permissive hypercapnia has been regarded as an inconvenient side-effect that must be tolerated in order to realise the mortality benefits of a low lung-stretch strategy. There is growing evidence that hypercapnic acidosis may itself minimise or reduce lung injury as a result of suppressing inflammatory events. The mechanism(s) for this effect is (are) not entirely known. Nonetheless, there was sufficient suggestive data from cell culture and isolated organ studies over the past two decades for Laffey and Kavanagh 6 not only to support the use of permissive hypercapnia but also to advocate the use of “therapeutic hypercapnia” through the addition of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the inspired gas. In addition to the possibility of improved outcomes due to anti-inflammatory effects, hypercapnic acidosis has effects on ventilation-perfusion matching that improve gas exchange. Therapeutic hypercapnia has previously been shown to increase arterial oxygenation by this mechanism in normal animals 7, 8 and in a sheep model of Klebsiella pneumonia 9. The only study of changes in gas exchange with permissive hypercapnia in humans with ALI showed an increase in shunt 10. This was most likely due to a reduction in tidal volume used to produce a hypercapnic acidosis than to permissive hypercapnia itself. Thus, the effects of hypercapnic acidosis on ventilation, perfusion, and their regional …
The (Dis)Pleasures of Creativity: Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate during Divergent and Convergent Thinking Depends on Individual Differences in Positive and Negative Affect

Previous research has demonstrated that individual differences in affect and motivation predict divergent and convergent thinking performance, two thinking processes involved in creative idea generation. Individual differences in affect and motivation also predict spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) during divergent and convergent thinking; and sEBR predicts divergent and convergent thinking performance. The present study investigates experimentally whether the relationship between sEBR and divergent and convergent thinking depends on individual differences in affect and motivation. Eighty-two participants completed the Emotion/motivation-related Divergent and Convergent thinking styles Scale (EDICOS; Soroa et al., 2015), performed the alternative uses task (AUT; divergent thinking) or the remote associates task (RAT; convergent thinking), while their sEBR was captured with an eye-tracker. The results showed that individual differences in positive affect positively correlated with sEBR for the AUT, whereas individual differences in negative affect positively correlated with sEBR for the RAT. Furthermore, the interaction between individual differences in positive and negative affect predict divergent and convergent thinking performance. The contribution of our study is therefore that individual differences in positive and negative affect can both positively correlate with sEBR during divergent and convergent thinking; and that this predicts divergent and convergent thinking performance.
Qualitative behaviour of some simple networks

Some classical neural network systems including the Hartline-Ratliff system, the Linsker system, and the general sigmoid dynamics, are reconsidered within a more general class of dynamical systems. For synchronous dynamics the existence, uniqueness, local and global stability of stationary points is investigated. For asynchronous dynamics a convergence theorem is proved. The application of the theory of quasimonotone flows leads to some insights so far not widespread in network theory.
Basement membrane regulates fibronectin organization using sliding focal adhesions driven by a contractile winch

We have discovered that basement membrane and its major components can induce rapid, strikingly robust fibronectin organization. In this new matrix assembly mechanism, α5β1 integrin-based focal adhesions slide actively on the underlying matrix towards the ventral cell center through the dynamic shortening of myosin IIA-associated actin stress fibers to drive rapid fibronectin fibrillogenesis distal to the adhesion. This mechanism contrasts with classical fibronectin assembly based on stable/fixed-position focal adhesions containing αVβ3 integrins plus α5β1 integrin translocation into proximal fibrillar adhesions. On basement membrane components, these sliding focal adhesions contain standard focal adhesion constituents but completely lack classical αVβ3 integrins. Instead, peripheral α3β1 or α2β1 adhesions mediate initial cell attachment, but over time are switched to α5β1 integrin-based sliding focal adhesions to assemble fibronectin matrix. This basement membrane-triggered mechanism produces rapid fibronectin fibrillogenesis, providing a mechanistic explanation for the well-known widespread accumulation of fibronectin at many organ basement membranes.
High-Fat Diet Induces Hepatic Insulin Resistance and Impairment of Synaptic Plasticity

High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is associated with insulin resistance, which may affect brain synaptic plasticity through impairment of insulin-sensitive processes underlying neuronal survival, learning, and memory. The experimental model consisted of 3 month-old C57BL/6J mice fed either a normal chow diet (control group) or a HFD (60% of calorie from fat; HFD group) for 12 weeks. This model was characterized as a function of time in terms of body weight, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, HOMA-IR values, and plasma triglycerides. IRS-1/Akt pathway was assessed in primary hepatocytes and brain homogenates. The effect of HFD in brain was assessed by electrophysiology, input/output responses and long-term potentiation. HFD-fed mice exhibited a significant increase in body weight, higher fasting glucose- and insulin levels in plasma, lower glucose tolerance, and higher HOMA-IR values. In liver, HFD elicited (a) a significant decrease of insulin receptor substrate (IRS-1) phosphorylation on Tyr608 and increase of Ser307 phosphorylation, indicative of IRS-1 inactivation; (b) these changes were accompanied by inflammatory responses in terms of increases in the expression of NFκB and iNOS and activation of the MAP kinases p38 and JNK; (c) primary hepatocytes from mice fed a HFD showed decreased cellular oxygen consumption rates (indicative of mitochondrial functional impairment); this can be ascribed partly to a decreased expression of PGC1α and mitochondrial biogenesis. In brain, HFD feeding elicited (a) an inactivation of the IRS-1 and, consequentially, (b) a decreased expression and plasma membrane localization of the insulin-sensitive neuronal glucose transporters GLUT3/GLUT4; (c) a suppression of the ERK/CREB pathway, and (d) a substantial decrease in long-term potentiation in the CA1 region of hippocampus (indicative of impaired synaptic plasticity). It may be surmised that 12 weeks fed with HFD induce a systemic insulin resistance that impacts profoundly on brain activity, i.e., synaptic plasticity.
‘And all of a sudden, it became my rescue’: language and agency in transnational families in Norway

ABSTRACT This article examines, how agency is constructed by members of two transnational families living in Norway in biographically oriented interviews. We understand agency as realised on the intertwined levels of grammar and meta-agentive discourse. Reports of speakers’ lived language experience and their experiences with family language policies are analysed to demonstrate how speakers use different approaches to realise agency in their narratives. Drawing on data collected through Language Portraits and semi-structured interviews, we focus on how family members perceive and construct their agency when it comes to language learning, maintenance and management.
Fast prediction of loadability margins using neural networks to approximate security boundaries of power systems

Determining loadability margins to various security limits is of great importance for the secure operation of a power system, especially in the current deregulated environment. Here, a novel approach is proposed for fast prediction of loadability margins of power systems based on neural networks. Static security boundaries, comprised of static voltage stability limits, oscillatory stability limits and other operating limits such as generator power output limits, are constructed by means of loading the power system until these security limits are reached from a base operating point along various loading directions. Back-propagation neural networks for different contingencies are trained to approximate the security boundaries. A search algorithm is then employed to predict the loadability margins from any stable operating points along arbitrary loading directions through an iterative technique based on the trained neural networks. The simulation results for the IEEE two-area benchmark system and the IEEE 50-machine test system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for on-line prediction of loadability margins.
Early white matter injuries in patients with acute carbon monoxide intoxication

Abstract Evaluation of acute white matter injuries caused by carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can be limited by conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. We aim to evaluate the feasibility of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) for early detection of white matter alterations in patients with acute CO intoxication. A total of 30 subjects including 15 acute CO patients and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. MR examinations were performed on a 3T MR scanner within 8 days after CO intoxication. DKI data were acquired to derive axial, radial, and mean kurtosis, as well as fractional anisotropy (FA), axial, radial, and mean diffusivity for tract-specific comparisons between the 2 groups. Significant decreases of mean kurtosis were shown in the genu of corpus callosum, cingulum, and motor-related tracts (corticospinal and corticobulbar tracts) in patients with acute CO intoxication as compared with controls. On the contrary, significant differences of FA values were merely shown in the regions of corticospinal tracts. DKI demonstrated comparably stronger potential than diffusion tensor imaging in terms of early detection of white matter changes in patients with acute CO intoxication. This may have implications in therapeutic strategy for managing acute CO intoxication patients.
Acute kidney injury: risk factors and management challenges in developing countries

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a major global health problem in both developed and developing nations, negatively affecting patient morbidity and responsible for an estimated 1.4 million deaths per year. Although the International Society of Nephrology set a goal of eliminating preventable deaths from AKI by 2025, implementation of this program in developing countries presents major challenges not only because of the lack of resources but also because of the scarce data addressing the epidemiology and causes of AKI in developing countries, the limited health care resources to diagnose and treat AKI, and the poor awareness of the impact of AKI on patient outcomes.
Phase Variation Leads to the Misidentification of a Neisseria Gonorrhoeae Virulence Gene

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the causative agent of gonorrhea and an obligate pathogen of humans. The Opa proteins of these bacteria are known to mediate attachment and internalization by host cells, including neutrophils. The Opa protein repertoire of a typical N. gonorrhoeae isolate is encoded on ∼11 genes distributed throughout the chromosome and is subject to stochastic changes in expression through phase variation. Together, these characteristics make Opa proteins a critical yet unpredictable aspect of any experimental investigation into the interaction of N. gonorrhoeae with host cells. The goal of this study was to identify novel virulence factors of N. gonorrhoeae by assessing the contribution of a set of uncharacterized hydrogen peroxide-induced genes to bacterial survival against neutrophil-mediated killing. To this end, a strain harboring an engineered mutation in the NGO0322 gene was identified that exhibited increased sensitivity to neutrophil-mediated killing, enhanced internalization by neutrophils, and the ability to induce high levels of neutrophil-generated reactive oxygen species. Each of these phenotypes reverted to near wild-type levels following genetic complementation of the NGO0322 mutation. However, after immunoblot analysis of Opa proteins expressed by the isogenic parent, mutant, and genetically complemented strains, it was determined that phase variation had resulted in a disparity between the Opa profiles of these strains. To determine whether Opa phase variation, rather than NGO0322 mutation, was the cause of the observed neutrophil-related phenotypes, NGO0322 function was investigated in N. gonorrhoeae strains lacking all Opa proteins or constitutively expressing the OpaD variant. In both cases, mutation of NGO0322 did not alter survival of gonococci in the presence of neutrophils. These results demonstrate the importance of controlling for the frequent and random variation in Opa protein production by N. gonorrhoeae when investigating host cell interactions.
New varying speed of light theories

We review recent work on the possibility of a varying speed of light (VSL). We start by discussing the physical meaning of a varying-c, dispelling the myth that the constancy of c is a matter of logical consistency. We then summarize the main VSL mechanisms proposed so far: hard breaking of Lorentz invariance; bimetric theories (where the speeds of gravity and light are not the same); locally Lorentz invariant VSL theories; theories exhibiting a colour-dependent speed of light; varying-c induced by extra dimensions (e.g. in the brane-world scenario); and field theories where VSL results from vacuum polarization or CPT violation. We show how VSL scenarios may solve the cosmological problems usually tackled by inflation, and also how they may produce a scale-invariant spectrum of Gaussian fluctuations, capable of explaining the WMAP data. We then review the connection between VSL and theories of quantum gravity, showing how 'doubly special' relativity has emerged as a VSL effective model of quantum space? time, with observational implications for ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and gamma ray bursts. Some recent work on the physics of 'black' holes and other compact objects in VSL theories is also described, highlighting phenomena associated with spatial (as opposed to temporal) variations in c. Finally, we describe the observational status of the theory. The evidence is currently slim? redshift dependence in the atomic fine structure, anomalies with UHECRs, and (to a much lesser extent) the acceleration of the universe and the WMAP data. The constraints (e.g. those arising from nucleosynthesis or geological bounds) are tight but not insurmountable. We conclude with the observational predictions of the theory and the prospects for its refutation or vindication.
Cardiac and Respiratory Parameter Estimation Using Head-mounted Motion-sensitive Sensors

This work explores the feasibility of using motion-sensitive sensors embedded in Google Glass, a head-mounted wearable device, to robustly measure physiological signals of the wearer. In particular, we develop new methods to use Glass’s accelerometer, gyroscope, and camera to extract pulse and respiratory waves of 12 participants during a controlled experiment. We show it is possible to achieve a mean absolute error of 0.82 beats per minute (STD: 1.98) for heart rate and 0.6 breaths per minute (STD: 1.19) for respiration rate when considering different observation windows and combinations of sensors. Moreover, we show that a head-mounted gyroscope sensor shows improved performance versus more commonly explored sensors such as accelerometers and demonstrate that a head-mounted camera is a novel and promising method to capture the physiological responses of the wearer. These findings included testing across sitting, supine, and standing postures before and after physical exercise.
The in ̄uence of semantic context on initial eye landing sites in words

To determine the role of ongoing processing on eye guidance in reading, two studies examined the eects of semantic context on the eyesÕ initial landing position in words of dierent levels of processing diculty. Results from both studies clearly indicate a shift of the initial ®xation location towards the end of the words for words that can be predicted from a prior semantic context. However, shifts occur only in high-frequency words and with prior ®xations close to the beginning of the target word. These results suggest that ongoing perceptual and linguistic processes can aect the decision of where to send the eyes next in reading. They are explained in terms of the easiness of processing associated with the target words when located in parafoveal vision. It is concluded that two critical factors might help observing eects of linguistic variables on initial landing sites, namely, the frequency of the target word and the position where the eyes are launched from as regards to the beginning of the target word. Results also provide evidence for an early locus of semantic context eects in reading. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. MSC: 2300; 2340; 2343
Live and Let Die - The Bsister MADS-Box Gene OsMADS29 Controls the Degeneration of Cells in Maternal Tissues during Seed Development of Rice (Oryza sativa)

Bsister genes have been identified as the closest relatives of class B floral homeotic genes. Previous studies have shown that Bsister genes from eudicots are involved in cell differentiation during ovule and seed development. However, the complete function of Bsister genes in eudicots is masked by redundancy with other genes and little is known about the function of Bsister genes in monocots, and about the evolution of Bsister gene functions. Here we characterize OsMADS29, one of three MADS-box Bsister genes in rice. Our analyses show that OsMADS29 is expressed in female reproductive organs including the ovule, ovule vasculature, and the whole seed except for the outer layer cells of the pericarp. Knock-down of OsMADS29 by double-stranded RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) results in shriveled and/or aborted seeds. Histological analyses of the abnormal seeds at 7 days after pollination (DAP) indicate that the symplastic continuity, including the ovular vascular trace and the nucellar projection, which is the nutrient source for the filial tissue at early development stages, is affected. Moreover, degeneration of all the maternal tissues in the transgenic seeds, including the pericarp, ovular vascular trace, integuments, nucellar epidermis and nucellar projection, is blocked as compared to control plants. Our results suggest that OsMADS29 has important functions in seed development of rice by regulating cell degeneration of maternal tissues. Our findings provide important insights into the ancestral function of Bsister genes.