Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrostatic Influence on the Kinetics of Ligand Binding to Acetylcholinesterase

To explore the role that surface and active center charges play in electrostatic attraction of ligands to the active center gorge of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and the influence of charge on the reactive orientation of the ligand, we have studied the kinetics of association of cationic and neutral ligands with the active center and peripheral site of AChE. Electrostatic influences were reduced by sequential mutations of six surface anionic residues outside of the active center gorge (Glu-84, Glu-91, Asp-280, Asp-283, Glu-292, and Asp-372) and three residues within the active center gorge (Asp-74 at the rim and Glu-202 and Glu-450 at the base). The peripheral site ligand, fasciculin 2 (FAS2), a peptide of 6.5 kDa with a net charge of +4, shows a marked enhancement of rate of association with reduction in ionic strength, and this ionic strength dependence can be markedly reduced by progressive neutralization of surface and active center gorge anionic residues. By contrast, neutralization of surface residues only has a modest influence on the rate of cationicm-trimethylammoniotrifluoroacetophenone (TFK+) association with the active serine, whereas neutralization of residues in the active center gorge has a marked influence on the rate but with little change in the ionic strength dependence. Brownian dynamics calculations for approach of a small cationic ligand to the entrance of the gorge show the influence of individual charges to be in quantitative accord with that found for the surface residues. Anionic residues in the gorge may help to orient the ligand for reaction or to trap the ligand. Bound FAS2 on AChE not only reduces the rate of TFK+ reaction with the active center but inverts the ionic strength dependence for the cationic TFK+ association with AChE. Hence it appears that TFK+ must traverse an electrostatic barrier at the gorge entry imparted by the bound FAS2 with its net charge of +4.
Increase in alcohol-related hospitalizations in Finland 1969-1975.

Summary Alcohol consumption increased 2.2-fold in Finland in 1968-1974. Have alcohol-related diseases become at the same time more common? This was studied by scrutinizing hospitalizations with alcoholism, alcohol psychosis, alcohol poisoning, liver cirrhosis and pancreatitis as the principal diagnosis. During the years 1969–1975, the male admission rate for alcohol psychosis increased 2.1-fold, the rate for pancreatitis increased 2-fold, that for alcoholism increased 1.7-fold and that for liver cirrhosis increased 1.2-fold. At the same time, the increases in female admission rates were 2.4-fold for alcoholism, 2.3-fold for alcohol psychosis, 1.9-fold for alcohol poisoning and 1.4-foldfor pancreatitis. The increase in admission rates seemed to be closely associated with the increase in alcohol consumption.
Differential Regulation of Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor (CNTF) and CNTF Receptor α Expression in Astrocytes and Neurons of the Fascia Dentata after Entorhinal Cortex Lesion

Neurotrophic factors have been implicated in reactive processes occurring in response to CNS lesions. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), in particular, has been shown to ameliorate axotomy-induced degeneration of CNS neurons and to be upregulated at wound sites in the brain. To investigate a potential role of CNTF in lesion-induced degeneration and reorganization, we have analyzed the expression of CNTF protein and CNTF receptor α (CNTFRα) mRNA in the rat dentate gyrus after unilateral entorhinal cortex lesions (ECLs), using immunocytochemistry and nonradioactive in situhybridization, respectively. In sham-operated as in normal animals, CNTF protein was not detectable by immunocytochemistry. Starting at 3 d after ECL, upregulation of CNTF expression was observed in the ipsilateral outer molecular layer (OML). Expression was maximal at around day 7, and at this stage immunoreactivity could be specifically localized to astrocytes in the ipsilateral OML. By day 14 postlesion, CNTF immunoreactivity had returned to control levels. CNTFRα mRNA was restricted to neurons of the granule cell layer in controls. Three days postlesion, prominent CNTFRα expression was observed in the deafferented OML. A similar but less prominent response was noticed in the contralateral OML. After 10 d, CNTFRα expression had returned to control levels. Double labeling for CNTFRα mRNA and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) showed that upregulation of CNTFRα occurred in reactive, GFAP-immunopositive astrocytes of the OML. A substantial reduction of CNTFRα expression in the deafferented granule cells was transiently observed at 7 and 10 d postlesion. Our results suggest a paracrine or autocrine function of CNTF in the regulation of astrocytic and neuronal responses after brain injury.
A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of adjuvant methotrexate treatment for giant cell arteritis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate treatment with methotrexate (MTX) in patients with newly diagnosed giant cell arteritis (GCA) to determine if MTX reduces GCA relapses and cumulative corticosteroid (CS) requirements and diminishes disease- and treatment-related morbidity. METHODS This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind study. Over 4 years, 16 centers from the International Network for the Study of Systemic Vasculitides enrolled patients with unequivocal GCA. The initial treatment was 1 mg/kg/day (<or=60 mg every day) prednisone, plus either 0.15 mg/kg/week MTX (increased to 0.25 mg/kg/week, for a maximum weekly dosage of 15 mg) or placebo. Two physicians, both blinded to treatment allocation, evaluated each patient at every trial visit. One physician was responsible for providing global medical care. The other assessed GCA status according to a standard protocol. Treatment failure was defined as 2 distinct relapses or persistence of disease activity after the first relapse, in spite of increased CS therapy. RESULTS Ninety-eight patients were enrolled. No significant differences between treatment groups were noted with regard to age, frequency of positive findings on temporal artery biopsy (placebo 87%, MTX 79%), or comorbidities at the time of enrollment. The median dosage of MTX was 15 mg/week. The incidence of treatment failure was comparable between groups after 12 months: 57.5% in the MTX group failed treatment (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 41.6-73.4%) compared with 77.3% in the placebo group (95% CI 61.9-92.8%) (P = 0.26). In a Cox regression analysis, MTX was not associated with a reduced risk of treatment failure (relative risk 0.72; 95% CI 0.41-1.28). There were no significant differences between groups with regard to abnormal elevations of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate following initial remissions, serious morbidity due to GCA, cumulative CS dose, or treatment toxicity. In the MTX group, there were fewer cases of GCA relapse heralded by symptoms of isolated polymyalgia rheumatica (1 case versus 5 in the placebo group; P = 0.05). CONCLUSION The results of this randomized, multicenter trial do not support the adjunctive use of MTX to control disease activity or to decrease the cumulative dose and toxicity of CS in patients with GCA.
STUDY OF THE PICKLABILITY OF 1.8 mm HOT-ROLLED STEEL STRIP IN HYDROCHLORIC ACID

After the hot rolling process the steel strip remains covered with an oxide layer (scale) which must be removed previous to the cold rolling process. The scale removal through the pickling process by hydrochloric acid (HCl) depends on both the scale structure and the conditions of the pickling bath (temperature, acid concentration, and dissolved iron concentration). This work is focused on pick- lability (decapability) studies accomplished in labo- ratory on hot-rolled steel strip, 1.8 mm thickness. The oxide amount was determined by weight differ- ence of samples with and without acid pickling. The scale was characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The pick- ling or descaling time (td) was determined using dif- ferent bath conditions. Pickling kinetic studies were carried out being the pickled fraction (D ) determined as a function of the immersion time. Expressions were obtained, allowing descaling time estimation under various pickling bath conditions. These ex- pressions were used to estimate the maximum opera- tion line speed that assures a complete descaling. KeywordsPickling, hydrochloric acid, oxide scale, hot-rolled strip, descaling.
Women, Economic Dependency and Citizenship

ABSTRACT Citizenship is, once again, on the political and academic agenda. This article explores some of its meanings for women. It examines some of the contradictions raised by notions of dependence and independence and the relationship between ‘private’ and ‘public’ forms of dependence. It then considers the implications of financial dependence and of the sexual division of labour and of time for women's rights and obligations as social, political and ‘active’ citizens. It concludes by drawing out briefly some policy implications, arguing that radical changes are needed in domestic life and in the organisation of paid employment and state provisions, if women are to be full citizens. This will require changing both our conceptions of Citizenship and the structures which fashion citizenship rights. Ultimately, neither the question of dependency nor of citizenship can be divorced from that of power.
Constitutive models for peat A review

This paper presents a review of the main constitutive models for peat and other highly organic soils having extremely high water content. At present, predictions of the geomechanical behaviour of such soils for design practice are mostly based on constitutive theories developed for fine-grained mineral soils. Concepts of primary consolidation and secondary compression as applied to peat are explained using the two-level structure assumption of micropores and macropores [1]. As background, the historical development of consolidation hypotheses A&B [24] regarding the concepts of primary consolidation and secondary compression is reviewed for both mineral and organic soils. Based on microscopic examinations and in-situ testing, it is generally accepted that hypothesis B is more suitable for peat. The micro-mechanical rheological model proposed by Berry and Poskitt [2] and the isotache-compression model developed by den Haan [6] were reported to have good agreement with experimental laboratory results for fibrous and amorphous peats. Attention is given to the structural anisotropy of peat material, inherent by its fibrous nature, in these constitutive frameworks.
Trapped in the gender stereotype? The image of science among secondary school students and teachers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender stereotype of science by analysing the semantic attributes of gender in relation to three science subjects – chemistry, mathematics, and physics – among students and their science teachers. Design/methodology/approach – This cross-sectional study applied a survey of 3,045 students and 123 teachers in secondary schools. The gendered image of science was assessed using a semantic differential consisting of 25 pairs of adjectives with semantically opposite meanings. Findings – In summary, the results of the study demonstrate that from the female students’ perspective mathematics and physics are negatively related to female gender, whereas chemistry is neither significantly related to the male nor to the female profile. From the male students’ point of view mathematics is negatively related to the female gender, whereas chemistry and physics are positively related to the male gender. In the science teachers’ perception chemistry and physics comb.
Differential mRNA expression of neuroimmune markers in the hippocampus of infant mice following toluene exposure during brain developmental period

Toluene, a volatile organic compound with a wide range of industrial applications, can exert neurotoxic and immunotoxic effects. However, the effects of toluene exposure on developmental immunotoxicity in the brain have not yet been characterized. To investigate the susceptible window to toluene exposure during development and the effects of fetal and neonatal toluene exposure on the neuroimmune markers, gestational day (GD) 14 pregnant mice, postnatal day (PND) 2 and PND 8 male offspring were exposed to filtered air (control; 0 ppm), or 5 or 50 ppm toluene for 6 h per day for five consecutive days. The neuroimmune markers in the hippocampus of PND 21 were examined using a real‐time RT‐PCR and immunohistochemical analysis. Mice exposed to 50 ppm toluene on PND 2–6 showed significantly increased levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α mRNAs. In contrast, NGF and brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and proinflammatory cytokines TNF‐α, CCL3, NF‐κB, toll‐like receptor (TLR)‐4, astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and microglia marker ionized calcium binding adapter molecule (Iba)‐1 mRNAs were increased significantly in mice exposed to 5 ppm toluene on PND 8–12. These results indicate that low‐level toluene exposure during the late postnatal period (PND 8–12) might induce neuroinflammatory mediators via TLR4‐dependent NF‐κB pathway in the hippocampus of PND 21 male mice. Among the three developmental phases, PND 8–12 seems to be most sensitive to toluene exposure. This is the first study to show developmental phase‐ and dose‐specific changes in neuroimmune markers in infant mice following toluene exposure. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Achieving Scalable and Efficient Video-on-Demand Over Multicast

Server bandwidth has been identified as a major bottleneck in large Video-on-Demand (VoD) systems. Using multicast delivery to serve popular content helps increase scalability by making efficient use of server bandwidth. In addition, recent research has focused on proactive schemes in which the server periodically multicasts popular content without explicit requests from clients. Proactive schemes are attractive because they consume bounded server bandwidth irrespective of client arrival rate. In this work, we describe Fuzzycast, a scalable periodic multicast scheme that uses simple techniques to provide video on demand at reasonable client start-up times while consuming optimum server bandwidth. We start with a theoretically optimum scheme for providing scalable multicast video-on-demand and analyze its performance. We go on to consider a series of issues that are of both theoretical and real-world importance, including support for variablebitrate (VBR) media and optimum transmission over multiple multicast groups.
The Three Rs of Academic Achievement: Reading, ’Riting, and Racism

Using vocational choice and social dominance theories as theoretical frameworks, the authors examined the effects of ideology/role congruency on differential institutional rewards. The authors reasoned that congruents (i.e., individuals high in antiegalitarianism in hierarchy-enhancing [HE] social roles and low in antiegalitarianism in hierarchy-attenuating [HA] roles) would receive higher institutional rewards than would incongruents (i.e., individuals high in antiegalitarianism in HA social roles and low in antiegalitarianism in HE roles). Furthermore, it was predicted that one’s continued exposure to the university environment would increase the probability of being a congruent. The authors used a large sample of university students, with grade point average as the operationalization of institutional reward. Role was defined as the students’ major, and antiegalitarianism was defined by a classical racism scale. As expected, (a) everything else being equal, congruents received higher grades than did incongruents, and (b) the probability of being a congruent increased with university experience.
Choroidal blood flow regulation after posture change or isometric exercise in men with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

PURPOSE Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome generates hypertension, atherosclerosis, and endothelial and autonomic dysfunction, which may mutually interact with ocular vascular regulation. Exercise and posture changes can be used to manipulate blood pressure, ocular perfusion pressure (OPP), or both. It was hypothesized that choroidal vascular reactivity in response to isometric exercise and posture changes could be altered in OSA patients. METHODS Healthy men were matched 1:1 for body mass index, sex, and age with patients with newly diagnosed OSA without cardiovascular comorbidities. All subjects underwent sleep studies and cardiovascular phenotyping (24-hour blood pressure monitoring, arterial stiffness measurements, and cardiac and carotid echography). Choroidal reactivity was assessed by laser Doppler flowmetry, which measured subfoveal choroidal blood flow. RESULTS During exercise, blood pressure parameters increased significantly within the same range, with a similar profile over time in OSA patients and control subjects. A significant linear relationship (P = 0.0003) was noted between choroidal vascular resistance and the OPP changes during exercise in OSA patients and control subjects. From the sitting to the supine position, a significant decrease in mean arterial pressure occurred in both groups (10.9%-13.4%; P < 0.001). In both populations, no significant change in choroidal blood flow or vascular resistance was found during the posture change. Choroidal blood flow responses to exercise and posture changes were unchanged after 6 to 9 months of continuous positive airway pressure treatment. CONCLUSIONS This study strongly suggests that the regulation of choroidal blood flow, which depends on the orthosympathetic and parasympathetic systems, is unaltered in men with OSA who have no comorbidities.
Depth Structure Association for RGB-D Multi-target Tracking

Multi-target tracking in outdoor scenes plays an important role in many computer vision applications. Most previous work on visual information based multi-target tracking does not incorporate depth information and the absence of depth information often leads to mismatching or tracking failures. In this paper, we propose a Depth Structure Association (DSA) approach for RGB-D data based multi-target tracking. DSA encodes depth information in a chain structure, the structure is used by DSA together with appearance and motion information to address object occlusion issues in outdoor scenes. Additionally, the use of DSA has the advantages of regulating a much smaller solution space, greatly reducing the computational complexity. Experimental results on three datasets demonstrate that our DSA approach can significantly reduce object mismatch and tracking failure for long term occlusions.
Accessibility of negated constituents in reading and listening

Abstract In two experiments conducted in French, we investigated the representation of negated constituents, focusing on their accessibility as antecedents for pronouns. Since only highly accessible discourse entities can serve as antecedents for simple pronouns, pronoun resolution preferences can reflect the degree of accessibility. In our first experiment, we analyzed fixation patterns of participants listening to sentence pairs like “I baked muffins not waffles last night. They will be eaten for breakfast/bought for breakfast”. Fixation patterns on four visually presented objects (the negated, the non-negated, a semantically related and an unrelated object) show that negated constituents were less accessible than non-negated ones, but by no means suppressed, since they were fixated reliably more often than both related and unrelated objects. In the second experiment, a self-paced reading experiment, we were able to show that the accessibility of a negated antecedent depends on the particular way it has been negated. Comparing ordinary negations and repair-like constructions (muffins, no, waffles), we found that anaphoric reference to the negated constituent takes less time when it is at the same time the more recent referent than when it is the more distant one in a repair like construction.
Anisotropies in the diffuse gamma-ray background measured by the Fermi-LAT

The small angular scale fluctuations of the (on large scale) isotropic gamma-ray background (IGRB) carry information about the presence of unresolved source classes. A guaranteed contribution to the IGRB is expected from the unresolved gamma-ray AGN while other extragalactic sources, Galactic gamma-ray source populations and dark matter Galactic and extragalactic structures (and sub-structures) are candidate contributors. The IGRB was measured with unprecedented precision by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board of the Fermi gamma-ray observatory, and these data were used for measuring the IGRB angular power spectrum (APS). Detailed Monte Carlo simulations of Fermi-LAT all-sky observations were performed to provide a reference against which to compare the results obtained for the real data set. The Monte Carlo simulations are also a method for performing those detailed studies of the APS contributions of single source populations, which are required in order to identify the actual IGRB contributors. We present preliminary results of an anisotropy search in the IGRB. At angular scales <2 ◦ (e.g. above multipole 155), angular power above the photon noise level is detected, at energies between 1 and 10 GeV in each energy bin, with statistical significance between 7.2 and 4.1�. The energy not dependence of the fluctuation anisotropy is pointing to the presence of one or more unclustered source populations, while the energy dependence of the intensity anisotropy is consistent with source populations having average photon index = 2.40±0.07.
Binding of pyrene to fulvic acid fractions isolated by polarity‐based sequential elution

Binding between pyrene and four fulvic acid factions sequentially eluted by 0.01 M HCl (F1), 0.01 M HCl + 20% methanol (F2), 0.01 M HCl + 40% methanol (F3), and 0.01 M HCl + 100% methanol (F4) was measured by fluorescence quenching. The influences of the functional groups of the fractions under different pH conditions on the binding behavior are discussed. The results showed that the binding coefficient (log KDOC) of pyrene for F1 to F4 increased from 4.19 to 5.3. Log KDOC was positively correlated with the aromaticity of fulvic acid fractions but negatively correlated with the ratio of (O + N)/C and the ratio of UV absorption at 250 nm and 365 nm (E2/E3). As an indicator of polarity around the pyrene molecule, the ratio of intensity of pyrene at 374 nm and 384 nm (I1/I3) decreased with the increase of fulvic acid fraction concentrations. All fractions decreased in ability to quench as the pH increased. For a given pH value, the quenching ability followed the order of F1 < F2 < F3 < F4. The differences in the effects of pH on the quenching ability of fulvic acid fractions could be attributed mainly to the conformation of the fulvic acid fractions. Hydrophobic effect and the interactions of π‐electrons from the aromatic regions of the fulvic acid and pyrene played dominant roles in the binding process. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011; 30:1079–1085. © 2011 SETAC
Dissociating effects of subclinical anxiety and depression on cognitive control

Even at subclinical levels, anxiety and depression are associated with impaired cognitive control. It is unclear, though, to what extent these deficits reflect a common underlying dysfunction. Using a non-affective hybrid masked prime-Simon task, we obtained several measures of within- and between- trial inhibitory behavioral control in 80 young, healthy volunteers, together with measures of their anxiety and depression levels. Neither depression nor anxiety affected low-level within-trial control, or any of the between-trial control measures. However, increased levels of depression, but not of anxiety, were associated with impaired high-level within-trial control (increased Simon effect). Results indicate that depression, but not anxiety, impairs voluntary online response-control mechanisms independent of affective content.