Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age-Dependent Changes in the Pulmonary Renin-Angiotensin System Are Associated With Severity of Lung Injury in a Model of Acute Lung Injury in Rats

Objectives:A growing body of evidence suggests that age affects the main pathophysiologic mechanisms of the acute respiratory distress syndrome. This may imply the need for developing age-tailored therapies for acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, underlying molecular mechanisms governing age-related susceptibility first need to be unraveled. In a rat model of acute lung injury, we investigated whether age affects the balance between the two key enzymes of the pulmonary renin-angiotensin system, angiotensin-converting enzyme, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. We hypothesized that aging shifts the balance toward the lung injury–promoting angiotensin-converting enzyme, which may form an explanation for the differences in severity of lung injury between different age groups. Design:Prospective, randomized controlled animal study. Setting:University medical research laboratory. Subjects:Infant (15 ± 2 d), juvenile (37 ± 2 d), adult (4 ± 0.2 mo), and elderly (19.5 ± 0.5 mo) male RCCHan Wistar rats. Interventions:Lung injury was induced by intratracheal administration of lipopolysaccharide (5 mg/kg) and 4 hours of mechanical ventilation (15 mL/kg). Measurements and Main Results:In lipopolysaccharide-exposed and mechanical ventilated rats, angiotensin-converting enzyme activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid increased 3.2-fold in elderly when compared with infants. No changes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 activity were found. In addition, membrane-bound angiotensin-converting enzyme activity decreased. Together with the presence of angiotensin-converting enzyme-sheddase ADAM9 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain–containing protein 9) and an age-dependent increase in tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, an activator of ADAM9, these results indicate increased shedding of angiotensin-converting enzyme in the alveolar compartment, thereby shifting the balance toward the injurious pathway. This imbalance was associated with an increased inflammatory mediator response and more lung injury (wet-to-dry ratio and histology) in elderly rats. Conclusions:Increasing age is associated with an imbalance of the pulmonary renin-angiotensin system, which correlates with aggravated inflammation and more lung injury. These changes might form the ground for new therapeutic strategies in terms of dosing and effectiveness of renin-angiotensin system–modulating agents for treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Glaucoma in China (and worldwide): changes in established thinking will decrease preventable blindness

The report by Foster and Johnson in this issue of the BJO (p 1277) points to dramatic developments in our knowledge of glaucoma worldwide. Firstly, they continue a trend endorsed by an international committee to use the term “glaucoma” only for people who have suffered injury to the optic nerve as judged by visual field abnormality, combined with enlargement of the cup/disc ratio outside statistical limits for the population studied. This approach is intended to differentiate between those with a true disease and those suspects who are at increased risk—for example, those with higher than normal eye pressure or those with narrow angles. In both the developed and the developing world, we must concentrate limited medical resources on those at greatest risk for loss of function and decreased quality of life. In addition, we must avoid treatment of those who would never have lost vision in their lives, and who may be more threatened by treatment than by their natural course. With respect to angle closure glaucoma (ACG) specifically, Foster and Johnson summarise recent data that build on previous population research. The pioneering work of Alsbirk,1Hu,2 Shiose,3 and Salmon4 had reinforced the suggestions that people derived from north China, including native peoples of North America and Greenland, had a …
Near-infrared polarimetry of the Red Rectangle

Imaging polarimetry through J and H broad-band filters and a 3.4 � m narrow-band filter is used to highlight regions of scattered light in the Red Rectangle. We find that the scattered light identifies the circumbinary dust component of the molecular disc seen in CO emission. This region also appears to be the origin of the recently discovered Blue Luminescence. We find that the degrees of polarization are consistent with the amorphous carbon dust model invoked by Men’shchikov et al. (2002). Spectropolarimetry from 1.4 to 2.5 � m confirms that the degree of polarization in the central arcsecond region is very low. This suggests that the central bicone seen in the nearinfrared is due predominantly to emission from hot dust and/or from stochastically heated nanoparticles, rather than due to scattering by large grains.
Narratives and Social Memory from the Perspective of Social Representations of History

Social representations theory strives to build the connective tissue between the methodologically individualist natural science epistemology of cognitive science and neuropsychology with the inter-subjective and/or social constructionist epistemology of the social sciences and humanities. This chapter describes how the study of social representations of history (SRH) has used quantitative methods to provide empirical building blocks that I) assist in the process of cumulative hermeneutic interpretation, and II) operationalize social representations in new and sophisticated ways as a symbolic interface between individuals and groups. I) SRHs can be treated as narrative where a sequence of events provides the plot, and figures and groups provide heroes and villains central to a story about the making of an ingroup. Different spatial configurations of representations of the prevalence of events and figures in world history from different countries provide different narrative inference potentials (i.e., ability to generate conjectures about groupbased narratives). They can be treated as points of dialogue rather than descriptive facts, employed in the full awareness that their meaning changes with context, but nonetheless signify some inter-subjective consensus worth talking through. II) Alternatively, along more quantitative lines of inquiry, Latent Class Analysis is described as a technique that can 1) describe the numerical prevalence of a given representation, while 2) mapping alternatives and positioning an individual precisely vis-a-vis these alternatives without relying on pre-existing social categories that can then 3) be mapped onto other systems, including institutional, relational, occupational, or demographic systems. The analysis of figures in SRH is described using data from around the world.
Morbidity and Mortality Pattern of Neonates Admitted into Nursery Unit in Wad Medani Hospital, Sudan

Background: Neonatal outcome is an important indicator of obstetrics and health care. Few or no published data are available concerning neonatal morbidity and mortality in Sudan. Objectives: To study morbidity and mortality pattern amongst inborn neonates admitted into nursery unit in Wad Medani Hospital, Sudan during the period Jan-June, 2009. Results: A total of 1211 (29.5%) out of 4098 in-born neonates were admitted during study period. The major indications for neonatal admission were; infections 300 (24.8%), low birth weight (LBW) 307(25.4%) and asphyxia 130(10.7). There were 133(11%) neonatal deaths; preterm delivery, LBW and birth asphyxia were the major causes of death among these neonates. Conclusion: neonatal infection, preterm birth and LBW were the common causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality. There is an urgent need for more research throughout the country concerning these common causes of morbidity and mortality. Key words: pregnancy, preterm delivery, low birth weight, asphyxia
Temporal Specifications with Accumulative Values

There is recently a significant effort to add quantitative objectives to formal verification and synthesis. We introduce and investigate the extension of temporal logics with quantitative atomic assertions, aiming for a general and flexible framework for quantitative-oriented specifications. In the heart of quantitative objectives lies the accumulation of values along a computation. It is either the accumulated summation, as with the energy objectives, or the accumulated average, as with the mean-payoff objectives. We investigate the extension of temporal logics with the {\em prefix-accumulation assertions\/} $\Sum(v) \geq c$ and $\Avg(v) \geq c$, where $v$ is a numeric variable of the system, $c$ is a constant rational number, and $\Sum(v)$ and $\Avg(v)$ denote the accumulated sum and average of the values of $v$ from the beginning of the computation up to the current point of time. We also allow the {\em path-accumulation assertions\/} $\LimInfAvg(v)\geq c$ and $\LimSupAvg(v)\geq c$, referring to the average value along an entire computation. We study the border of decidability for extensions of various temporal logics. In particular, we show that extending the fragment of CTL that has only the EX, EF, AX, and AG temporal modalities by prefix-accumulation assertions and extending LTL with path-accumulation assertions, result in temporal logics whose model-checking problem is decidable. The extended logics allow to significantly extend the currently known energy and mean-payoff objectives. Moreover, the prefix-accumulation assertions may be refined with ``controlled-accumulation'', allowing, for example, to specify constraints on the average waiting time between a request and a grant. On the negative side, we show that the fragment we point to is, in a sense, the maximal logic whose extension with prefix-accumulation assertions permits a decidable model-checking procedure. Extending a temporal logic that has the EG or EU modalities, and in particular CTL and LTL, makes the problem undecidable.
Phylogeography of post‐Pleistocene population expansion in a fungus‐gardening ant and its microbial mutualists

Although historical biogeographical forces, such as climate‐driven range shifts, greatly influence the present‐day population genetic structure of animals and plants, the extent to which they affect microbial communities remains largely unknown. We examined the effect of postglacial expansion on the population structure of the northern fungus‐gardening ant Trachymyrmex septentrionalis and compared it with that of its two microbial mutualists: a community of lepiotaceous fungal cultivars and associated antibiotic‐producing Pseudonocardia bacteria. The ant population genetic structure showed signs of population expansion and subdivision into eastern and western phylogroups that likely originated in the Pleistocene — a pattern shared by many other North American taxa found in the same region. Although dispersal limitation was present in all three symbionts, as suggested by genetic isolation increasing with distance, the host's east–west subdivision of population genetic structure was absent from the microbial mutualist populations. While neither the cultivar nor the Pseudonocardia genetic structure was correlated with that of the ants, they were significantly correlated with each other. These results show that biogeographical forces may act differently on macro‐ and microscopic organisms, even in the extreme case where microbial mutualists are vertically transmitted from generation to generation and share the same joint ecological niche. It may be that historical climate change played a larger role in determining the population structure of the ant hosts, whereas present‐day environmental forces, such as pathogen pressure, determine the structure of associated microbial populations.
Body Composition, Lipid Profile, Adipokine Concentration, and Antioxidant Capacity Changes during Interventions to Treat Overweight with Exercise Programme and Whole-Body Cryostimulation

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of six-month-long physical exercise programme with a two-time exposure to whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) in 20 sessions on antioxidant enzyme activities, lipid profile, and body composition changes in obese people (30 adult subjects; BMI = 30.39 ± 4.31 kg/m2). Blood samples were taken before the programme, one month following the exercise programme, before and after the first WBC treatment, six months following the exercise programme, after the second WBC treatment, and finally one month after the intervention. Six months of moderate aerobic activity combined with WBC did not change body mass or fat and lean body mass percentages, or circulating adiponectin, leptin, and resistin concentrations. In response to intervention a significant decrease in the level of low-density lipoprotein and triglycerides was observed, with a slight increase in high-density lipoprotein concentration. The nature of changes in the activity of respective antioxidant enzymes was not identical. After one month of increased physical activity, a significant decrease in superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione reductase activities was observed (13%, 8%, and 70%, resp.). The SOD activity increased significantly after successive whole-body cryostimulation sessions. As regards catalase, a significant progressive decrease in its activity was observed.
A Weak B Antigen, Probably Acquired

-Case 28. Mrs. R. L appearedwt_ tber rAt . Itc )A antigen-was-normat and 'hr serum cotnamed'an -apparentl' normal anti-B bbt no ant-AHWr cells were agglultinated& at 162 C. by 13 out of 52 group A sera, and this aggbiunation was inhifi.ed.bykthe salivs-of groupB indirtiduals onty. Her, cells were--not aggiltiniatedby, 36 grotpi A-A-sera. ",Case 29. Mr H R atso appeared to be. A,B-? with a . mormal A antigen,and appaireritLy.uormal tantiBin. tlhelserum His cells were agglutinatedcy -34-,Ut of 364group,-A-sera at 16' C. The reactions varied from + to + + + in strength and were inhibited by gronp.W"at'vPva -rov His cells were not agglutinrated.by 25 group Alera. The reactisusin this
Solving systems of nonlinear polynomial equations faster

Finding the solution to a system of n non-linear polynomial equations in n unknowns over a given field, say the algebraic closure of the coefficient field, is a classical and fundamental problem in computational algebra. For algebraic reasons (refer to footnote 1 in van der Waerden (1953, §80)) one considers projective problems, that is, the polynomials are homogeneous and the solutions are sought in n-dimensional projective space. Note also that the solutions of an affine system are specializations of the solution rays of its homogenized projective version. Going back to Cayley and Bezout in the last century, solvability of such a projective system is determined by the vanishing of a certain invariant, its resultant. This invariant generalizes the Sylvester resultant of two polynomials in a single variable (Knuth 1981) and the determinant of the coefficient matrix on a homogeneous linear system. In 1916 Macaulay (1916) showed that the resultant can be expressed by a quotient of two determinants whose correspond-
Functional autonomy of monopolar spindle and evidence for oscillatory movement in mitosis

The oscillations of chromosomes associated with a single spindle pole in monocentric and bipolar spindles were analysed by time-lapse cinematography in mitosis of primary cultures of lung epithelium from the newt Taricha granulosa. Chromosomes oscillate toward and away from the pole in all stages of mitosis including anaphase. The duration, velocity, and amplitude of such oscillations are the same in all stages of mitosis. The movement away from the pole in monocentric spindle is rapid enough to suggest the existence of a previously unrecognized active component in chromosome movement, presumably resulting from a pushing action of the kinetochore fiber. During prometaphase oscillations, chromosomes may approach the pole even more closely than at the end of anaphase. Together, these observations demonstrate that a monopolar spindle is sufficient to generate the forces for chromosome transport, both toward and away from the pole. The coordination of the aster/centrosome migration in prophase with the development of the kinetochore fibers determines the course of mitosis. After the breaking of the nuclear envelope in normal mitosis, aster/centrosome separation is normally followed by the rapid formation of bipolar chromosomal fibers. There are two aberrant extremes that may result from a failure in coordination between these processes: (a) A monocentric spindle will arise when aster separation does not occur, and (b) an anaphaselike prometaphase will result if the aster/centrosomal complexes are already well-separated and bipolar chromosomal fibers do not form. In the latter case, the two monopolar prometaphase half-spindles migrate apart, each containing a random number of two chromatid (metaphase) monopolar-oriented chromosomes. This random segregation of prometaphase chromosome displays many features of a standard anaphase and may be followed by a false cleavage. The process of polar separation during prometaphase occurs without any visible interzonal structures. Aster/centrosomes and monopolar spindles migrate autonomously by an unknown mechanism. There are, however, firm but transitory connections between the aster center and the kinetochores as demonstrated by the occasional synchrony of centrosome-kinetochore movement. The data suggest that aster motility is important in the progress of both prometaphase and anaphase in normal mitosis.
Improved Cheeger's Inequality and Analysis of Local Graph Partitioning using Vertex Expansion and Expansion Profile

We prove two generalizations of the Cheeger's inequality. The first generalization relates the second eigenvalue to the edge expansion and the vertex expansion of the graph G, [EQUATION] where pV(G) denotes the robust vertex expansion of G and p(G) denotes the edge expansion of G. The second generalization relates the second eigenvalue to the edge expansion and the expansion profile of G, for all k ≥ 2, [EQUATION] where pk(G) denotes the k-way expansion of G. These show that the spectral partitioning algorithm has better performance guarantees when pV(G) is large (e.g. planted random instances) or pk(G) is large (instances with few disjoint non-expanding sets). Both bounds are tight up to a constant factor. Our approach is based on a method to analyze solutions of Laplacian systems, and this allows us to extend the results to local graph partitioning algorithms. In particular, we show that our approach can be used to analyze personal pagerank vectors, and to give a local graph partitioning algorithm for the small-set expansion problem with performance guarantees similar to the generalizations of Cheeger's inequality. We also present a spectral approach to prove similar results for the truncated random walk algorithm. These show that local graph partitioning algorithms almost match the performance of the spectral partitioning algorithm, with the additional advantages that they apply to the small-set expansion problem and their running time could be sublinear. Our techniques provide common approaches to analyze the spectral partitioning algorithm and local graph partitioning algorithms.
Social and privacy aspects of a system for collaborative public expression

In this paper, we are concerned with how a real-world social situation shapes the interaction with a novel technology that combines collocated mobile phone and public display use for groups of people. We present a user study of a system that allows collaborative creation and sharing of comic strips on public displays in a social setting such as a pub or café. The system utilizes mobile phones and public displays for shared collaborative expression between collocated users. A user study spanning three sessions was conducted in real-world settings: one during the social event following a seminar on games research and two in a bar on a regular weekday evening. We present and discuss our findings with respect to how the larger social situation and location influenced the interaction with the system, the collaboration between participants of a team, how people moved between different roles (i.e., actor, spectator and bystander), and the privacy issues it evoked from participants.
Very Large Neural Networks for Word Sense Disambiguation

The use of neural networks for word sense disambiguation has been suggested, but previous approaches did not provide any practical means to build the proposed networks. Therefore, it has not been clear that the proposed models scale up to realistic dimensions. We demonstrate how textual sources such as machine readable dictionaries can be used to automatically create Very Large Neural Networks which embody a simple local model and contain several thousands of nodes. Our results show that such networks are able to disambiguate words at a rate three times higher than chance, and thus provide real-size validation for connectionnist approaches to word sense disambiguation.
Incentive processing and inhibitory control in adolescents and young adults

Adolescents are known to demonstrate normative increases in risk-taking behaviors. Understanding the interaction between incentive (reward, punishment) processing and basic cognitive control abilities, both of which are still maturing into adolescence, may provide insight on the basic mechanisms contributing to this complex behavioral phenomenon. In this dissertation, we present a compilation of papers aimed at characterizing the influence of potential reward gain or loss on response inhibition performance and supporting brain circuitry in adolescents and adults. In study 1, we use fast, event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural circuitry supporting perfomance on an antisaccade task with reward or neutral contingencies added to each trial. Results indicate that components of the adolescent reward system exhibit an initially sluggish, then eventually overactive response to rewards, as well as limited recruitment in regions supporting the executive assessment of rewards. In study 2, the effects of different magnitudes of potential gains and losses on antisaccade task performance were examined. Results indicate that higher compared to lower magnitude reward contingencies differentially affect adolescent, but not adult, response suppression abilities. Furthemore, both age groups performed consistently well (low error rates) on punishment trials. In study 3, adolescents and adults underwent fast, event-related fMRI as they performed a rewarded antisaccade task with fixed-magnitude reward and punishment stimuli, previously determined to result in equivalent levels of behavioral performance across the age groups (study 2). Additionally, auditory, performance-based feedback was provided on each trial. fMRI results indicate that during detection of reward cues, adolescents do not show the same early recruitment of oculomotor control regions evident in adults. Furthermore, adolescents demonstrated temporally extended responses in several brain regions (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex, supplementary eye field) during the preparatory period of potential punishment trials, reflecting possible immaturities in mechanisms underlying potential loss or 'risk' anticipation. Finally, adults demonstrated enhanced activity in the ventral striatum and cortical eye fields during the response/feedback epoch, suggesting more mature consummatory processing. Collectively, the results of these studies demonstrate protracted development of higher-order executive aspects of reward processing and its interaction with response inhibition abilites into adolescence.