Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neither GABAA nor Strychnine-Sensitive Glycine Receptors Are the Sole Mediators of MAC for Isoflurane

Inhaled anesthetics produce immobility (a cardinal aspect of general anesthesia) by an action on the spinal cord, possibly by potentiating the responses of &ggr;-amino-n-butyric acid (GABAA) and glycine receptors to GABA and glycine. In this study, we antagonized GABAA and glycine responses by intrathecal administration of picrotoxin (a noncompetitive GABAA antagonist), strychnine (a competitive glycine antagonist), or combinations of these drugs. We measured the capacity of antagonist infusion to increase isoflurane MAC (the minimum alveolar concentration of anesthetic that prevents movement in response to noxious stimuli in 50% of subjects). We found that these potent GABAA and glycine receptor antagonists had a ceiling effect, either alone or in combination increasing the MAC of isoflurane by at most 47%. Implications &ggr;-amino-n-butyric acid and glycine receptors may in part be responsible for the immobilizing action of isoflurane. They are not, however, the only receptors that contribute to isoflurane-induced immobility (i.e., that determine the MAC of isoflurane).
Fear of Recurrence in Turkish Breast Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Study

Purpose: Fear of recurrence (FOR) of cancer is a distressing symptom and can negatively affect breast cancer survivors’ quality of life and psychological well-being. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore Turkish breast cancer survivors’ experiences related to FOR. Design: The data were collected through semistructured interviews, which were conducted with 12 breast cancer survivors. Results: The data were categorized into four themes: the quality of fear, triggers, effects on life, and coping. FOR survivors’ lives in multiple aspects, and the women found it difficult to manage their fear. Implications: Nurses should be aware of FOR in survivors during follow-up care. In addition, it is essential to consider the impact of FOR on life, and survivors should be referred to appropriate resources and support services.
Non-abelian plasma instabilities for strong anisotropy

We numerically investigate gauge field instabilities in anisotropic SU(2) plasmas using weak field initial conditions. The growth of unstable modes is stopped by non-abelian effects for moderate anisotropy. If we increase the anisotropy the growth continues beyond the non-abelian saturation bound. We find strong indications that the continued growth is not due to over-saturation of infrared field modes, but instead due to very rapid growth of high momentum modes which are not unstable in the weak field limit. The saturation amplitude strongly depends on the initial conditions. For strong initial fields we do not observe the sustained growth.
Change detection in dynamic fitness landscapes: An immunological approach

Detecting the point in time where a dynamic fitness landscape changes is vital for a considerable number of diversity management schemes that used in evolutionary algorithms employed for solving dynamic optimization problems. Here, we introduce a change detector based on principles of artificial immune systems, namely a negative selection algorithm. We show in numerical experiments that such an immunological approach allows to solve the change detection problem successfully for dynamic fitness landscapes.
Measurement of Optical Parameters: Absorption Scattering and Auto-florescence of Skin in Vitro -

Objective: To measure various optical parameters in skin sample of chicken. Methods: We illuminated the chicken breast skin tissues with collimated radiation of 400-700 nm Nd-YAG pumped dye laser, and measured skin optical properties for dry and hydrated sample in vitro. Total reflectance and transmitted intensities were recorded by which scattering, absorption and anisotropic factors of the sample obtained using double integrating sphere setup. Results: The in vitro optical parameters are higher then in vivo measurements. Hydration of skin is found to influence its scattering properties. Dry sample scatter less then hydrated sample. Conclusion: Our in vitro results are in agreements with other data available in literature. (Rawal Med J 2005;30:5-8).
IRNSS Orbit Determination and Broadcast Ephemeris Assessment

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an emerging satellite based navigation system offering an independent positioning and timing service over India and neighboring regions. Based on satellite laser ranging data collected by selected stations of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) precise orbits have been determined for the first pair of inclined geosynchronous satellites (IRNSS-1A/B). These orbits are used to assess the quality of the IRNSS navigation messages. A Signal-in-Space Range Error (SISRE) at the five meter level is confirmed, which is consistent with the accuracy assess-ment given in the message itself. Even though the current 3 satellite constellation does not yet support standalone navigation, the results offer a first indication of the navi-gation quality that can be expected by future users in the area.
MOCCAA: A Delta-synchronized and Adaptable Mobile Cloud Computing Framework

Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) requires an infrastructure that is merging the capabilities of resourceconstrained but mobile and context-aware devices with that of immovable but powerful resources in the cloud. Application execution shall be boosted and battery consumption reduced. However, a solution’s practicability is only ensured, if the provided tools, environment and framework themselves are performant too and if developers are able to adopt, extend and apply it easily. In this light, we introduce our comprehensive and extendable framework MOCCAA (MObile Cloud Computing AdaptAble) and demonstrate its effectiveness. Its performance gain is mainly achieved through minimized monitoring efforts for resource consumption prediction, scalable and location-aware resource discovery and management, and, in particular, through our graph-based delta synchronization of local and remote object states. This allows us to reduce synchronization costs significantly and improve quality dimensions such as latency and bandwidth consumption.
The role of B cells in lpr/lpr-induced autoimmunity

The primary roles of T cells and B cells in the initiation of systemic autoimmunity are unclear. To investigate the role of B cells, we crossed the "Jh knockout" mutation onto the autoimmune lpr/lpr background. Animals homozygous for both traits were obtained. As expected, these animals lack B cells. These animals also show no signs of autoimmune kidney destruction nor vasculitis, in spite of carrying the lpr/lpr mutation. In contrast, lpr/lpr littermates that had B cells had severe nephritis and vasculitis, as well as autoantibodies. These results demonstrate a primary role for B cells and/or (auto)antibodies in initiating several types of autoimmune-mediated tissue destruction. The implications of this finding for models and therapy of autoimmunity are discussed.
Efficient reconstruction of transmission probabilities in a spreading process from partial observations

An important problem of reconstruction of diffusion network and transmission probabilities from the data has attracted a considerable attention in the past several years. A number of recent papers introduced efficient algorithms for the estimation of spreading parameters, based on the maximization of the likelihood of observed cascades, assuming that the full information for all the nodes in the network is available. In this work, we focus on a more realistic and restricted scenario, in which only a partial information on the cascades is available: either the set of activation times for a limited number of nodes, or the states of nodes for a subset of observation times. To tackle this problem, we first introduce a framework based on the maximization of the likelihood of the incomplete diffusion trace. However, we argue that the computation of this incomplete likelihood is a computationally hard problem, and show that a fast and robust reconstruction of transmission probabilities in sparse networks can be achieved with a new algorithm based on recently introduced dynamic message-passing equations for the spreading processes. The suggested approach can be easily generalized to a large class of discrete and continuous dynamic models, as well as to the cases of dynamically-changing networks and noisy information.
Topical Olopatadine Hydrochloride versus Ketotifen Fumarate for Allergic Conjunctivitis

Purpose: Allergic conjunctivitis (AC) is associated with itching, redness, tearing, pain, and burning sensation in the eyes. The inflammatory process is caused by the mechanism of immediate hypersensitivity due to direct contact with the allergen. This process triggers mast cells in the conjunctiva to activate and release mediators. The purpose of this study was to compare topical olopatadine and ketotifen in terms of effectiveness and safety for the management of AC. Methods: Patients clinically diagnosed with AC were randomized into two groups of 60 patients each and received either topical olopatadine HCl 0.1% or ketotifen fumarate 0.025%. They were followed up on the 4th, 15th, and 30th days to evaluate symptoms, signs, and quality of life (QOL) scoring. Results: There were a total of 120 patients (67 men and 53 women) with a mean age of 36.35 ± 11 years. Compared to baseline, scores of itching, tearing, redness, eyelid swelling, chemosis and papillae addition of all the individual scores mentioned above and QOL scores reduced significantly (P = 0.001) by the 4th and 15th days of olopatadine and ketotifen application. Compared with ketotifen, olopatadine significantly reduced itching, tearing, hyperemia, and total AC scores by the 4th day (P = 0.001) and conjunctival papillae by the 15th day (P = 0.001). Adverse reactions were reported in 10% and 18% of patients treated with olopatadine and ketotifen, respectively. Conclusion: Compared to ketotifen, olopatadine provided quicker relief of symptoms, and improved symptoms of AC and QOL, with fewer side effects.
PASS EVALUATING IN SIMULATED SOCCER DOMAIN USING ANT-MINER ALGORITHM

This paper utilizes Ant-Miner, the first Ant colony algorithm for discovering classification rules, in a simulated soccer domain to enhance teamwork abilities among agents. The method is used to create appropriate rules using collected training data to estimate whether passing the ball to a particular teammate will result in a success or not. The quality of each constructed rule is considered as estimation for a successful pass. The results showed that the constructed rules with this method are more reliable and accurate in comparison to the widely used constructed rules generated by C4.5
Trends in the Evolution of Snake Toxins Underscored by an Integrative Omics Approach to Profile the Venom of the Colubrid Phalotris mertensi

Only few studies on snake venoms were dedicated to deeply characterize the toxin secretion of animals from the Colubridae family, despite the fact that they represent the majority of snake diversity. As a consequence, some evolutionary trends observed in venom proteins that underpinned the evolutionary histories of snake toxins were based on data from a minor parcel of the clade. Here, we investigated the proteins of the totally unknown venom from Phalotris mertensi (Dipsadinae subfamily), in order to obtain a detailed profile of its toxins and to appreciate evolutionary tendencies occurring in colubrid venoms. By means of integrated omics and functional approaches, including RNAseq, Sanger sequencing, high-resolution proteomics, recombinant protein production, and enzymatic tests, we verified an active toxic secretion containing up to 21 types of proteins. A high content of Kunitz-type proteins and C-type lectins were observed, although several enzymatic components such as metalloproteinases and an L-amino acid oxidase were also present in the venom. Interestingly, an arguable venom component of other species was demonstrated as a true venom protein and named svLIPA (snake venom acid lipase). This finding indicates the importance of checking the actual protein occurrence across species before rejecting genes suggested to code for toxins, which are relevant for the discussion about the early evolution of reptile venoms. Moreover, trends in the evolution of some toxin classes, such as simplification of metalloproteinases and rearrangements of Kunitz and Wap domains, parallel similar phenomena observed in other venomous snake families and provide a broader picture of toxin evolution.
Tumor-secreted Pros1 inhibits macrophage M1 polarization to reduce antitumor immune response

Tyro3, Axl, Mer (TAM) receptor tyrosine kinases reduce inflammatory, innate immune responses. We demonstrate that tumor-secreted protein S (Pros1), a Mer/Tyro3 ligand, decreased macrophage M1 cytokine expression in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, tumor cells with CRISPR-based deletion of Pros1 failed to inhibit M1 polarization. Tumor cell–associated Pros1 action was abrogated in macrophages from Mer- and Tyro3- but not Axl-KO mice. In addition, several other murine and human tumor cell lines suppressed macrophage M1 cytokine expression induced by IFN-&ggr; and LPS. Investigation of the suppressive pathway demonstrated a role for PTP1b complexing with Mer. Substantiating the role of PTP1b, M1 cytokine suppression was also lost in macrophages from PTP1b-KO mice. Mice bearing Pros1-deficient tumors showed increased innate and adaptive immune infiltration, as well as increased median survival. TAM activation can also inhibit TLR-mediated M1 polarization. Treatment with resiquimod, a TLR7/8 agonist, did not improve survival in mice bearing Pros1-secreting tumors but doubled survival for Pros1-deleted tumors. The tumor-derived Pros1 immune suppressive system, like PD-L1, was cytokine responsive, with IFN-&ggr; inducing Pros1 transcription and secretion. Inhibition of Pros1/TAM interaction represents a potential novel strategy to block tumor-derived immune suppression.
Upskilling: Do Employers Demand Greater Skill When Workers Are Plentiful?

Abstract Using a proprietary database of online job postings, we find that education and experience requirements rose during the Great Recession. These increases were larger in states and occupations that experienced greater increases in the supply of available workers. This finding is robust to controlling for local demand conditions and firm × job-title fixed effects and using a natural experiment arising from troop withdrawals as an exogenous shock to labor supply. Our results imply that the increase in unemployed workers during the Great Recession can account for 18% to 25% of the increase in skill requirements between 2007 and 2010.
Learning Sentence Embeddings with Auxiliary Tasks for Cross-Domain Sentiment Classification

In this paper, we study cross-domain sentiment classiﬁcation with neural network archi-tectures. We borrow the idea from Structural Correspondence Learning and use two auxiliary tasks to help induce a sentence embedding that supposedly works well across domains for sentiment classiﬁcation. We also propose to jointly learn this sentence embedding together with the sentiment classiﬁer itself. Experiment results demonstrate that our proposed joint model outperforms several state-of-the-art methods on ﬁve benchmark datasets.
Wireless Battery Charging System using Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting

It seems these days that everyone has a cellular phone. Whether yours is for business purposes or personal use, you need an efficient way of charging the battery in the phone. But, like most people, you probably don't like being tethered to the wall. Imagine a system where your cellular phone battery is always charged. No more worrying about forgetting to charge the battery. Sound Impossible? It is the focus of this thesis to discuss the first step toward realizing this goal. A system will be presented using existing antenna and charge pump technology to charge a cellular phone battery without wires. In this first step, we will use a standard phone, and incorporate the charging technology into a commercially available base station. The base station will contain an antenna tuned to 915MHz and a charge pump. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of such a system, and hopefully pave the way for a system incorporated into the phone for charging without the use of a base station.
Frequent emergence and limited geographic dispersal of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

A small number of clonal lineages dominates the global population structure of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), resulting in the concept that MRSA has emerged on a few occasions after penicillinase-stable β-lactam antibiotics were introduced to clinical practice, followed by intercontinental spread of individual clones. We investigated the evolutionary history of an MRSA clone (ST5) by mutation discovery at 108 loci (46 kb) within a global collection of 135 isolates. The SNPs that were ascertained define a radial phylogenetic structure within ST5 consisting of at least 5 chains of mutational steps that define geographically associated clades. These clades are not concordant with previously described groupings based on staphylococcal protein A gene (spa) typing. By mapping the number of independent imports of the staphylococcal cassette chromosome methicillin-resistance island, we also show that import has occurred on at least 23 occasions within this single sequence type and that the progeny of such recombinant strains usually are distributed locally rather than globally. These results provide strong evidence that geographical spread of MRSA over long distances and across cultural borders is a rare event compared with the frequency with which the staphylococcal cassette chromosome island has been imported.
A Hierarchical Switching Linear Dynamical System Applied to the Detection of Sepsis in Neonatal Condition Monitoring

In this paper we develop a Hierarchical Switching Linear Dynamical System (HSLDS) for the detection of sepsis in neonates in an intensive care unit. The Factorial Switching LDS (FSLDS) of Quinn et al. (2009) is able to describe the observed vital signs data in terms of a number of discrete factors, which have either physiological or artifactual origin. In this paper we demonstrate that by adding a higher-level discrete variable with semantics sepsis/non-sepsis we can detect changes in the physiological factors that signal the presence of sepsis. We demonstrate that the performance of our model for the detection of sepsis is not statistically different from the auto-regressive HMM of Stanculescu et al. (2013), despite the fact that their model is given "ground truth" annotations of the physiological factors, while our HSLDS must infer them from the raw vital signs data.
Convex isoperimetric sets in the Heisenberg group

We characterize convex isoperimetric sets in the Heisenberg group. We first prove Sobolev regularity for a certain class of R 2 -valued vector fields of bounded variation in the plane related to the curvature equations. Then we show that the boundary of convex isoperimetric sets is foliated by geodesics of the Carnot-Carath´ eodory distance.
Zinc transporters and their role in the pancreatic β‐cell

Zinc is an essential nutrient with tremendous importance for human health, and zinc deficiency is a severe risk factor for increased mortality and morbidity. As abnormal zinc homeostasis causes diabetes, and because the pancreatic β‐cell contains the highest zinc content of any known cell type, it is of interest to know how zinc fluxes are controlled in β‐cells. The understanding of zinc homeostasis has been boosted by the discovery of multiprotein families of zinc transporters, and one of them – zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) – is abundantly and specifically expressed in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. In this review, we discuss the evidence for a physiological role of ZnT8 in the formation of zinc‐insulin crystals, the physical form in which most insulin is stored in secretory granules. In addition, we cross‐examine this information, collected in genetically modified mouse strains, to the knowledge that genetic variants of the human ZnT8 gene predispose to the onset of type 2 diabetes and that epitopes on the ZnT8 protein trigger autoimmunity in patients with type 1 diabetes. The overall conclusion is that we are still at the dawn of a complete understanding of how zinc homeostasis operates in normal β‐cells and how abnormalities lead to β‐cell dysfunction and diabetes. (J Diabetes Invest, doi: 10.1111/j.2040‐1124.2012.00199.x, 2012)
Rearing Water Treatment Induces Microbial Selection Influencing the Microbiota and Pathogen Associated Transcripts of Cod (Gadus morhua) Larvae

We have previously shown that K-selection and microbial stability in the rearing water increases survival and growth of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) larvae, and that recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are compatible with this. Here, we have assessed how water treatment influenced the larval microbiota and host responses at the gene expression level. Cod larvae were reared with two different rearing water systems: a RAS and a flow-through system (FTS). The water microbiota was examined using a 16S rDNA PCR/DGGE strategy. RNA extracted from larvae at 8, 13, and 17 days post hatching was used for microbiota and microarray gene expression analysis. Bacterial cDNA was synthesized and used for 16S rRNA amplicon 454 pyrosequencing of larval microbiota. Both water and larval microbiota differed significantly between the systems, and the larval microbiota appeared to become more dissimilar between systems with time. In total 4 phyla were identified for all larvae: Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. The most profound difference in larval microbiota was a high abundance of Arcobacter (Epsilonproteobacteria) in FTS larvae (34 ± 9% of total reads). Arcobacter includes several species that are known pathogens for humans and animals. Cod larval transcriptome responses were investigated using an oligonucleotide gene expression microarray covering approximately 24,000 genes. Interestingly, FTS larvae transcriptional profiles revealed an overrepresentation of upregulated transcripts associated with responses to pathogens and infections, such as c1ql3-like, pglyrp-2-like and zg16, compared to RAS larvae. In conclusion, distinct water treatment systems induced differences in the larval microbiota. FTS larvae showed up-regulation of transcripts associated with responses to microbial stress. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that RAS promotes K-selection and microbial stability by maintaining a microbial load close to the carrying capacity of the system, and ensuring long retention times for both bacteria and water in the system.
The Implications of Using Group-Based Offenses versus Non-Group-Based Offenses in Peer Deviance Scales

ABSTRACT A key distinction from Warr’s research is “groupy” (deviant acts commonly committed with peers) versus “non-groupy” (acts that are likely committed alone) deviance. Drawing on Warr’s important (and underutilized) distinction, this study’s goal is to determine whether measures of perceptual groupy peer deviance more accurately reflect a peer’s true deviance than perceptions of nongroupy peer deviance. Using dyadic data, results demonstrate that perceptions of a peer’s non-groupy deviance are largely inaccurate but perceptions of a peer’s groupy deviance are quite accurate. Despite this discrepancy, groupy and non-groupy perceptual measures function similarly in multivariate models and consistently outperform peer self-reports.