Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cholecystokinin Revisited: CCK and the Hunger Trap in Anorexia Nervosa

Objective Despite a number of studies in the past decades, the role of Cholecystokinin (CCK) in anorexia nervosa (AN) has remained uncertain. In this study a highly specific assay for the biologically active part of CCK was used in patients with bulimic as well as with the restricting type of AN who were followed over the course of weight gain. Methods Ten patients with restricting and 13 with bulimic AN were investigated upon admission (T0), after a weight gain of at least 2 kg on two consecutive weighting dates (T1), and during the last week before discharge (T2) from inpatient treatment in a specialized clinic. Blood samples were drawn under fasting conditions and 20 and 60 minutes following a standard meal (250 kcal). Data were compared to those of eight controls matched for sex and age. Gastrointestinal complaints of patients were measured by a questionnaire at each of the follow-up time points. Results At admission, AN patients exhibited CCK-levels similar to controls both prior to and after a test meal. Pre and post-meal CCK levels increased significantly after an initial weight gain but decreased again with further weight improvement. CCK release was somewhat lower in bulimic than in restricting type AN but both subgroups showed a similar profile. There was no significant association of CCK release to either initial weight or BMI, or their changes, but CCK levels at admission predicted gastrointestinal symptom improvement during therapy. Conclusions Normal CCK profiles in AN at admission indicates hormonal responses adapted to low food intake while change of eating habits and weight gain results in initially increased CCK release (counteracting the attempts to alter eating behavior) that returns towards normal levels with continuous therapy.
Tolerance to the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol.

These experiments tested (1) the specificity of the discriminative stimulus produced by ethanol (EtOH), (2) the ability of Ro 15-4513 to block the EtOH stimulus, and (3) whether tolerance would develop to the discriminative effects of EtOH following high-dose EtOH administration. Rats were trained to use EtOH, 1 g/kg, i.p., as a discriminative stimulus in a two-choice, food-reward task. Following establishment of stimulus control, EtOH and pentobarbital substituted for EtOH in a dose-related manner; in contrast, pentylene-tetrazole and cocaine produced responding on the vehicle lever. Ro 15-4513, a partial inverse agonist at benzodiazepine receptors, failed to block the EtOH stimulus. Following these experiments, subjects were withheld from training and given EtOH in a nutritionally complete liquid diet, in two feedings per day for 6 days. Subjects consumed approximately 10 g of EtOH per day from this diet. On days 4 to 6 of this regimen, 12-h after a previous EtOH feeding, subjects were retested with EtOH. After recovery from this procedure and re-establishment of baseline performance, subjects were again given the high-dose EtOH treatment and tested for pentobarbital substitution. High-dose EtOH produced tolerance to EtOH and some degree of cross-tolerance to pentobarbital. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that chronic EtOH administration produces tolerance to the stimulus effects of EtOH.
PolicyVis: Firewall Security Policy Visualization and Inspection

Firewalls have an important role in network security. However, managing firewall policies is an extremely complex task because the large number of interacting rules in single or distributed firewalls significantly increases the possibility of policy misconfiguration and network vulnerabilities. Moreover, due to low-level representation of firewall rules, the semantic of firewall policies become very incomprehensible, which makes inspecting of firewall policy's properties a difficult and error-prone task. In this paper, we propose a tool called PolicyVis which visualizes firewall rules and policies in such a way that efficiently enhances the understanding and inspecting firewall policies. Unlike previous works that attempt to validate or inspect firewall rules based on specific queries or errors, our approach is to visualize firewall policies to enable the user to place general inquiry such as "does my policy do what I intend to do" unrestrictedly. We describe the design principals in PolicyVis and provide concepts and examples dealing with firewall policy's properties, rule anomalies and distributed firewalls. As a result, PolicyVis considerably simplifies the management of firewall policies and hence effectively improves the network security.
Influence of simulated bivalve biodeposition and microphytobenthos on sediment nitrogen dynamics: A laboratory study

Suspension‐feeding eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica, were once abundant in Chesapeake Bay and may then have exerted top‐down control on phytoplankton and also reduced turbidities, thereby increasing light available to benthic plants. Alternatively, oysters may have simply recycled inorganic nutrients rapidly back to the water column, with no long‐lasting reduction in phytoplankton biomass resulting from oyster feeding activity. To help distinguish between these scenarios, we explored changes in nitrogen fluxes and denitrification in laboratory incubations of sediment cores held under oxic and anoxic conditions in response to loading by pelletized phytoplankton cells, an experimental analog for oyster feces and pseudofeces. When organics were regenerated under aerobic conditions, typical of those associated with oyster habitat, coupled nitrification‐denitrification was promoted, resulting in denitrification of ~20% of the total added nitrogen. In contrast, under anoxic conditions, typical of current summertime conditions in main‐stem Chesapeake Bay where phytoplankton is microbially degraded beneath the pycnocline, nitrogen was released solely as ammonium from the added organics. We postulate that denitrification of particulate nitrogen remaining in oyster feces and pseudofeces may enhance nitrogen removal from estuaries. In aerobic incubations with sufficient light (70 µmol m-2 s-1), a benthic microalgal/cyanobacterial community grew that not only absorbed the inorganic nitrogen released from the added organics but also fixed N2. This result suggests that an ecosystem dominated by benthic primary production may develop in shallow waters when reduced turbidity associated with bivalve feeding increases light penetration to a level that can sustain benthic microalgal production.
More nonlocality with less entanglement

Recent numerical investigations [K. Pal and T. Vertesi, Phys. Rev. A 82, 022116 (2010)] suggest that the I3322 inequality, arguably the simplest extremal Bell inequality after the CHSH inequality, has a very rich structure in terms of the entangled states and measurements that maximally violate it. Here we show that for this inequality the maximally entangled state of any dimension achieves the same violation than just a single EPR pair. In contrast, stronger violations can be achieved using higher dimensional states which are less entangled. This shows that the maximally entangled state is not the most nonlocal resource, even when one restricts attention to the most simple extremal Bell inequalities.
Nanocrystalline CuO Thin Films for H2S Monitoring: Microstructural and Optoelectronic Characterization

Nanocrystalline copper oxide (CuO) thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by a spin coating technique using an aqueous solution of copper acetate. These films were characterized for their structural, mor-phological, optoelectronic properties by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UVspectroscopy and four probe method. The CuO films are oriented along (1 1 1) plane with the monoclinic crystal structure. These films were utilized in H2S sensors. The dependence of the H2S response on the operating temperature, H2S concentration of CuO film (annealed at 700。 C) was investigated. The CuO film showed selectivity for H2S. The maximum H2S response of 25.2 % for the CuO film at gas concentra-tion of 100 ppm at operating temperature 200oC was achieved.
RAN/TC4 mutants identify a common requirement for snRNP and protein import into the nucleus

Kinetic competition experiments have demonstrated that at least some factors required for the nuclear import of proteins and U snRNPs are distinct. Both import processes require energy, and in the case of protein import, the energy requirement is known to be at least partly met by GTP hydrolysis by the Ran GTPase. We have compared the effects of nonhydrolyzable GTP analogues and two mutant Ran proteins on the nuclear import of proteins and U snRNPs in vitro. The mutant Ran proteins have different defects; Q69L (glutamine 69 changed to leucine) is defective in GTP hydrolysis while T24N (threonine 24 changed to asparagine) is defective in binding GTP. Both protein and snRNP import are sensitive either to the presence of the two mutant Ran proteins, which act as dominant negative inhibitors of nuclear import, or to incubation with nonhydrolyzable GTP analogues. This demonstrates that there is a requirement for a GTPase activity for the import of U snRNPs, as well as proteins, into the nucleus. The dominant negative effects of the two mutant Ran proteins indicate that the pathways of protein and snRNP import share at lease one common component.
Localized Sources Maintaining Atrial Fibrillation Organized by Prior Ablation

Background— Endocardial mapping of localized sources driving atrial fibrillation (AF) in humans has not been reported. Methods and Results— Fifty patients with AF organized by prior pulmonary vein and linear ablation were studied. AF was considered organized if mapping during AF showed irregular but discrete atrial complexes exhibiting consistent activation sequences for >75% of the time using a 20-pole catheter with 5 radiating spines covering 3.5-cm diameter or sequential conventional mapping. A site or region centrifugally activating the remaining atrial tissue defined a source. During AF with a cycle length of 211±32 ms, activation mapping identified 1 to 3 sources at the origin of atrial wavefronts in 38 patients (76%) predominantly in the left atrium, including the coronary sinus region. Electrograms at the earliest area varied from discrete centrifugal activation to an activity spanning 75% to 100% of the cycle length in 42% of cases, the latter indicating complex local conduction or a reentrant circuit. A gradient of cycle length (>20 ms) to the surrounding atrium was observed in 28%. Local radiofrequency ablation prolonged AF cycle length by 28±22 ms and either terminated AF or changed activation sequence to another organized rhythm. In 4 patients, the driving source was isolated, surrounded by the atrium in sinus rhythm, and still firing at high frequency (228±31 ms) either permanently or in bursts. Conclusions— AF associated with consistent atrial activation sequences after prior ablation emanates mostly from localized sources that can be mapped and ablated. Some sources harbor electrograms suggesting the presence of localized reentry.
The Effects of Preemptive Tramadol and Dexmedetomidine on Shivering During Arthroscopy

Background: Shivering, the rate of which in regional anesthesia is 39% is an undesired complication seen postoperatively. Aims: This study aims to compare the ability of preventing the shivering of preemptive tramadol and dexmedetomidine during the spinal anesthesia (SA). Methods: A total of 90 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-II, aged 18-60 years and undergoing elective arthroscopic surgery with SA were divided into three groups randomly. After spinal block, 100 mg tramadol in 100 ml saline was applied in group T- (n = 30) and 0.5 μg/kg dexmedetomidine in 100 ml saline was applied in group D- (n = 30) and 100 ml saline was administered in group P- (n = 30) in 10 min. The hemodynamics, oxygen saturation, tympanic temperature, shivering and sedation scores were evaluated and recorded intraoperatively and 45 min after a postoperative period. Results: In group T and D, shivering scores were significantly lower when compared with group P in the intraoperative 20th min (P = 0.01). Sedation scores in group D were significantly higher than the baseline values (P = 0.03) and values in group T and P (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Preemptive tramadol and dexmedetomidine are effective in preventing the shivering under SA. In addition, dexmedetomidine was superior in increasing the level of sedation which is sufficient to prevent the anxiety without any adverse effects.
Posterior Regularization for Structured Latent Variable Models

We present posterior regularization, a probabilistic framework for structured, weakly supervised learning. Our framework efficiently incorporates indirect supervision via constraints on posterior distributions of probabilistic models with latent variables. Posterior regularization separates model complexity from the complexity of structural constraints it is desired to satisfy. By directly imposing decomposable regularization on the posterior moments of latent variables during learning, we retain the computational efficiency of the unconstrained model while ensuring desired constraints hold in expectation. We present an efficient algorithm for learning with posterior regularization and illustrate its versatility on a diverse set of structural constraints such as bijectivity, symmetry and group sparsity in several large scale experiments, including multi-view learning, cross-lingual dependency grammar induction, unsupervised part-of-speech induction, and bitext word alignment.
CD133+ Glioblastoma Stem-like Cells are Radiosensitive with a Defective DNA Damage Response Compared with Established Cell Lines

Purpose: CD133+ glioblastoma tumor stem-like cells (TSC) have been defined as radioresistant. However, although previously classified relative to CD133− cells, the radiosensitivity of CD133+ TSCs with respect to the standard glioblastoma model, established glioma cell lines, has not been determined. Therefore, to better understand the radioresponse of this cancer stem cell, we have used established cell lines as a framework for defining their in vitro radioresponse. Experimental Design: The intrinsic radiosensitivity of CD133+ TSC cultures and established glioma cell lines was determined by clonogenic assay. The TSCs and established cell lines were also compared in terms of DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair capacity and cell cycle checkpoint activation. Results: Based on clonogenic analysis, each of the six TSC cultures evaluated was more sensitive to radiation than the established glioma cell lines. Consistent with increased radiosensitivity, the DSB repair capacity as defined by neutral comet assay and γH2AX and Rad51 foci was significantly reduced in TSCs compared with the cell lines. Although G2 checkpoint activation was intact, in contrast to the cell lines, DNA synthesis was not inhibited in TSCs after irradiation, indicating the absence of the intra-S-phase checkpoint. Conclusions: These data indicate that the mechanisms through which CD133+ TSCs respond to radiation are significantly different from those of the traditional glioblastoma in vitro model, established glioma cell lines. If TSCs play a critical role in glioblastoma treatment response, then such differences are likely to be of consequence in the development and testing of radiosensitizing agents. (Clin Cancer Res 2009;15(16):5145–53)
An EEG Investigation of Sleep Homeostasis in Healthy and CLN5 Batten Disease Affected Sheep

Sheep have large brains with human-like anatomy, making them a useful species for studying brain function. Sleep homeostasis has not been studied in sheep. Here, we establish correlates of sleep homeostasis in sheep through a sleep deprivation experiment. We then use these correlates to elucidate the nature of sleep deficits in a naturally occurring ovine model of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL, Batten disease) caused by a mutation in CLN5. In humans, mutations in this gene lead to cortical atrophy and blindness, as well as sleep abnormalities. We recorded electroencephalograms (EEGs) from unaffected and early stage CLN5−/− (homozygous, affected) sheep over 3 consecutive days, the second day being the sleep deprivation day. In unaffected sheep, sleep deprivation led to increased EEG delta (0.5–4 Hz) power during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, increased time spent in the NREM sleep state, and increased NREM sleep bout length. CLN5−/− sheep showed comparable increases in time spent in NREM sleep and NREM sleep bout duration, verifying the presence of increased sleep pressure in both groups. Importantly, CLN5−/− sheep did not show the increase in NREM sleep delta power seen in unaffected sheep. This divergent delta power response is consistent with the known cortical degeneration in CLN5−/− sheep. We conclude that, whereas sleep homeostasis is present in CLN5−/− sheep, underlying CLN5−/− disease processes prevent its full expression, even at early stages. Such deficits may contribute to early abnormalities seen in sheep and patients and warrant further study. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Sleep abnormalities pervade most neurological diseases, including the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs). Here, we show that, in an ovine model of a variant late-infantile NCL, there is abnormal expression of sleep homeostasis. Whereas some sleep pressure correlates respond to sleep deprivation, the strongest electroencephalogram (EEG) correlate of sleep pressure, non-REM delta power, failed to increase. This highlights the relevance of sleep deficits in this disease, in which the drive for sleep exists but the underlying disease prevents its full expression. Sleep abnormalities could contribute to early disease symptoms such as behavioral disorder and cognitive decline. Our study also shows sleep homeostatic EEG correlates in sheep, opening up new opportunities for studying sleep in a large social mammal with complex human-like brain neuroanatomy.
The Land Mobile Earth-Space Channel

Research on mobile satellite and high-altitude platform (HAP) systems (MSHSs) has recently proliferated because of the allocation of additional spectrum, the intense standardization efforts from different international institutes, the detailed studies pursued by the European [European Space Agency (ESA)], French (CNES), and Japanese (JAXA) space agencies, and the commercial impact of some of the corresponding system implementations. A survey of mobile satellite systems is provided. Enhanced land mobile Earth-space (LMES) channels encompassing a variety of geometries, frequency bands, and propagation environments are critical for developing and assessing the performance of these new MSHS paradigms. In this article, we provide a survey of the state-of-the-art measurement campaigns, modeling approaches, and generative methods concerning the LMES channel and pinpoint future research directions. We refer to LMES since, due to the close similarities they exhibit, we present channels from both geostationary (GEO) satellites and quasi-stationary HAPs. Most of the cited models apply in both cases. General emphasis is on statistical/physical narrow-band models, which is the norm in LMES channels.
Experimental Studies on Moral Values in Finance : Windfall Gains, Socially Responsible Investment, and Compensation Plans

Cette these concerne des decisions dans des situations complexes qui impliquent des valeurs economiques et moraux. Chapitre 2 introduit les decisions morales en contexte economiques en proposant les situations d’un interet empirique. Le sujet du chapitre 4 est de restaurer la confiance dans les fonds communs de placement. Les principaux resultats suggerent que les effets positifs de l’approche ISR sont tributaires de la similarite des valeurs de l’investisseur individuel avec celles du fonds. Chapitre 5 dresse un portrait de l’acceptabilite sociale de la remuneration des dirigeants et celle des politiques de remuneration generales d’une entreprise. Le principal resultat indique l’existence de groupes de personnes qui sont jugent a partir de points de vue personnels sur la justice des remunerations. Chapitre 6 introduit un jeu experimental (le dilemme conceal-reveal) qui permet l’etude des personnes ayant le choix entre reveler et cacher des avantages qui seraient juges comme non meritee par d’autres. Le resultat principal est que les choix ne reposent pas sur une analyse couts-benefices. En consequence, faire appel aux valeurs moraux peut etre une alternative interessante dans de telles situations. Enfin, les deux derniers chapitres (Chapitre 7 et Chapitre 8) des implications theoriques et pratiques de ces resultats empiriques.
Use of eschar swabbing for the molecular diagnosis and genotyping of Orientia tsutsugamushi causing scrub typhus in Quang Nam province, Vietnam

Background Scrub typhus is a rickettsiosis which is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi and occurs throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Molecular diagnosis of rickettsioses using eschar swabs has recently emerged, and may be very useful for the diagnosis of these diseases in tropical settings. Methodology/Principal findings Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to detect O. tsutsugamushi DNA in whole blood and eschar swab specimens of 67 patients who were clinically suspected of scrub typhus in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. Among the 20 patients for whom both eschar and whole blood were obtained, 17 (85%) of the eschar specimens and 5 (25%) of the whole blood specimens tested positive for O. tsutsugamushi. Genetic analysis of the 56-kDa TSA gene sequences demonstrated that the 14 sequences obtained in this study, including 12 eschar swabs and 2 whole blood specimens, were related to 4 groups: Karp, Kawasaki, Gilliam (JG-v and TG-v) and TA716. The majority (9/14; 64.4%) of contemporary O. tsutsugamushi genotypes in Quang Nam province were related to the Karp group. Conclusions These results suggest that polyclonal antigen pools used for serological testing in the future should contain at least Karp, Kawasaki, Gilliam and TA716 antigens for Vietnamese patients, as well as patients who have traveled to Vietnam. qPCR after eschar swabbing should be considered for molecular diagnosis of scrub typhus in endemic patients as well as in travelers, since it is easy to perform and appears very useful for the rapid detection of Orientia tsutsugamushi in the early phase of infection.
Applying pollen DNA metabarcoding to the study of plant–pollinator interactions1

Premise of the study: To study pollination networks in a changing environment, we need accurate, high-throughput methods. Previous studies have shown that more highly resolved networks can be constructed by studying pollen loads taken from bees, relative to field observations. DNA metabarcoding potentially allows for faster and finer-scale taxonomic resolution of pollen compared to traditional approaches (e.g., light microscopy), but has not been applied to pollination networks. Methods: We sampled pollen from 38 bee species collected in Florida from sites differing in forest management. We isolated DNA from pollen mixtures and sequenced rbcL and ITS2 gene regions from all mixtures in a single run on the Illumina MiSeq platform. We identified species from sequence data using comprehensive rbcL and ITS2 databases. Results: We successfully built a proof-of-concept quantitative pollination network using pollen metabarcoding. Discussion: Our work underscores that pollen metabarcoding is not quantitative but that quantitative networks can be constructed based on the number of interacting individuals. Due to the frequency of contamination and false positive reads, isolation and PCR negative controls should be used in every reaction. DNA metabarcoding has advantages in efficiency and resolution over microscopic identification of pollen, and we expect that it will have broad utility for future studies of plant–pollinator interactions.