Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of stress on the paracellular barrier in the rat ileum

Background: Restraint stress induces permeability changes in the rat small intestine but little is known of the ultrastructural events leading to defects of the paracellular sealing or of the short term evolution of these alterations. Methods: In the present study, we performed transmission electron microscopy in the terminal ileum perfused with lanthanum after two hours of immobilisation stress and in non-stressed control rats. Moreover, immunohistochemistry of the tight junction (TJ) associated proteins, occludin and zonula occludens 1 (ZO-1), was carried out together with western blot analysis of the transmembrane protein occludin. TJ morphology was also assessed after a 22 hour recovery period. Results: Immobilisation stress induced a significant increase in epithelial permeability to the lanthanum tracer (p<0.005) which recovered completely after 22 hours. Compared with unstressed controls, in stressed rats no differences were found on freeze fracture analysis. The TJ related immunofluorescence signals of occludin and of ZO-1 were irregularly distributed in stressed rats after two hours but returned to a normal pattern at 24 hours although with minor intensity. No quantitative alterations in occludin were detectable in stressed rats by immunoblot whereas a perinuclear concentration of occludin was observed by immunolocalisation. Conclusions: Immobilisation stress induced an increase in TJ permeability in the rat terminal ileum. These changes were mainly due to modifications and redistribution of the TJ transmembrane protein occludin and of the plaque protein ZO-1 whereas protein synthesis, at least that of occludin, was not affected by stress.
Hidden messages in heavy-tails: DCT-domain watermark detection using alpha-stable models

This paper addresses issues that arise in copyright protection systems of digital images, which employ blind watermark verification structures in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain. First, we observe that statistical distributions with heavy algebraic tails, such as the alpha-stable family, are in many cases more accurate modeling tools for the DCT coefficients of JPEG-analyzed images than families with exponential tails such as the generalized Gaussian. Motivated by our modeling results, we then design a new processor for blind watermark detection using the Cauchy member of the alpha-stable family. The Cauchy distribution is chosen because it is the only non-Gaussian symmetric alpha-stable distribution that exists in closed form and also because it leads to the design of a nearly optimum detector with robust detection performance. We analyze the performance of the new detector in terms of the associated probabilities of detection and false alarm and we compare it to the performance of the generalized Gaussian detector by performing experiments with various test images.
Low bone mineral density is two to three times more prevalent in non-athletic premenopausal women than in elite athletes: a comprehensive controlled study

Objective: To compare bone mineral density (BMD), investigate factors associated with BMD, and examine the prevalence of low BMD in athletes and non-athletic controls. Methods: The study included a questionnaire (part I), measurement of BMD (part II), and a clinical interview (part III). All Norwegian female athletes on national teams (n = 938) and an aged matched random sample of non-athletic controls (n = 900) were invited to participate. The questionnaire was completed by 88% of athletes and 70% of controls. A random sample of these athletes (n = 300) and controls (n = 300) was invited to participate in parts II and III. All parts were completed by 186 athletes (62%) and 145 controls (48%). Results: Mean (standard deviation) total body (TB) BMD was higher (p<0.001) in athletes (1.21 (0.09) g/cm2) than in controls (1.18 (0.08) g/cm2), and higher (p<0.001) in high impact (HI) sports athletes than in medium impact (MI) and low impact (LI) sports athletes. In athletes, body weight and impact loading sports were positively associated, and percent body fat and eating disorders were negatively associated with TB BMD. Body weight and weight bearing activities were positively associated and menstrual dysfunction was negatively associated with TB BMD in controls. A higher percentage of controls (28.3%) than athletes (10.7%) had low BMD (p<0.001). Conclusion: Female elite athletes have 3–20% higher BMD than non-athletic controls and HI sports athletes have 3–22% higher BMD compared with MI and LI sports athletes. Low BMD is two to three times more common in non-athletic premenopausal women than in elite athletes.
rt-PA with Antithrombotic Therapies in a Case with Capsular Warning Syndrome

We herein report a case of capsular warning syndrome (CWS) that was successfully treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA). A 70-year-old woman had repeated stereotyped transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) of right hemiparesis and dysarthria. After hospitalization, argatroban, aspirin, and cilostazol were started but were ineffective. Thirteen hours after the first episode of TIAs, severe symptoms occurred. Magnetic resonance imaging showed acute infarctions in the internal capsule to corona radiata, so we used rt-PA. Since then, the TIAs have not occurred, and the symptoms have considerably improved. This case suggests that rt-PA might be effective and safe for use in treating CWS.
Voices from an Enclave

IN THIS PAPER WE EXAMINE eight lesbian mothers' experiences and perceptions of their young children's early childhood education. These mothers identified the (in)visibility of their lesbian identities and families and the narrow definition of family in early childhood settings as significant issues in their experiences as childcare users. This paper traces these issues to the normative ideas of, and superficial engagement with, families in early childhood curriculum, pedagogy, practices and procedures. The childcare settings used by these families were situated in a relatively ‘accepting’ community within a lesbian enclave in inner-city Sydney. Yet even here the mothers were required to undertake complex negotiations about the way the setting catered to their family constellation in the everyday practices. We argue that early childhood educators could better support this group through more active engagement in representing a broad range of differences, including those relating to sexuality. Furthermore, educators can create richer opportunities for connections and community between families when they focus on the everyday functions of families rather than an exclusive focus on family structures.
Small‐ and Intermediate‐Conductance Calcium‐Activated K+ Channels Provide Different Facets of Endothelium‐Dependent Hyperpolarization in Rat Mesenteric Artery

Activation of both small‐conductance (SKCa) and intermediate‐conductance (IKCa) Ca2+‐activated K+ channels in endothelial cells leads to vascular smooth muscle hyperpolarization and relaxation in rat mesenteric arteries. The contribution that each endothelial K+ channel type makes to the smooth muscle hyperpolarization is unknown. In the presence of a nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor, ACh evoked endothelium and concentration‐dependent smooth muscle hyperpolarization, increasing the resting potential (approx. −53 mV) by around 20 mV at 3 μm. Similar hyperpolarization was evoked with cyclopiazonic acid (10 μm, an inhibitor of sarcoplasmic endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA)) while 1‐EBIO (300 μm, an IKCa activator) only increased the potential by a few millivolts. Hyperpolarization in response to either ACh or CPA was abolished with apamin (50 nm, an SKCa blocker) but was unaltered by 1‐[(2‐chlorophenyl) diphenylmethyl]‐1H‐pyrazole (1 μm TRAM‐34, an IKCa blocker). During depolarization and contraction in response to phenylephrine (PE), ACh still increased the membrane potential to around −70 mV, but with apamin present the membrane potential only increased just beyond the original resting potential (circa−58 mV). TRAM‐34 alone did not affect hyperpolarization to ACh but, in combination with apamin, ACh‐evoked hyperpolarization was completely abolished. These data suggest that true endothelium‐dependent hyperpolarization of smooth muscle cells in response to ACh is attributable to SKCa channels, whereas IKCa channels play an important role during the ACh‐mediated repolarization phase only observed following depolarization.
Riemannian manifolds with uniformly bounded eigenfunctions

The standard eigenfunctions $\phi_{\lambda} = e^{i }$ on flat tori $\R^n / L$ have $L^{\infty}$-norms bounded independently of the eigenvalue. In the case of irrational flat tori, it follows that $L^2$-normalized eigenfunctions have uniformly bounded $L^{\infty}$-norms. Similar bases exist on other flat manifolds. Does this property characterize flat manifolds? We give an affirmative answer for compact Riemannian manifolds with completely integrable geodesic flows.
Observation of phononic helical edge states in a mechanical topological insulator

Designing mechanical complexity The quantum properties of topological insulators translate to mechanical systems governed by Newton's equations of motion. Many-body interactions and the multiple degrees of freedom available to charge carriers give electronic systems a range of exotic behaviors. Süsstrunk and Huber show that this extends to mechanical systems made up of a large lattice of coupled pendula. Mechanical excitations can be eliminated from the inner part of the lattice and confined to the edges, much like topological insulators. In addition to presenting a tractable toy system in which to study complex phenomena, the approach has potential uses in vibration isolation. Science, this issue p. 47 A mechanical system can exhibit behavior analogous to a complex condensed matter system. A topological insulator, as originally proposed for electrons governed by quantum mechanics, is characterized by a dichotomy between the interior and the edge of a finite system: The bulk has an energy gap, and the edges sustain excitations traversing this gap. However, it has remained an open question whether the same physics can be observed for systems obeying Newton’s equations of motion. We conducted experiments to characterize the collective behavior of mechanical oscillators exhibiting the phenomenology of the quantum spin Hall effect. The phononic edge modes are shown to be helical, and we demonstrate their topological protection via the stability of the edge states against imperfections. Our results may enable the design of topological acoustic metamaterials that can capitalize on the stability of the surface phonons as reliable wave guides.
Efficient model update for general link-insertion networks

Link insertion has been proposed as a means of incremental design to improve performance robustness of linear passive networks. In clock network design, links can be inserted between subnetworks to reduce the variability of clock skews introduced by process and environmental fluctuations, thereby improving the network's immunity to PVT variations. Under these scenarios, it is desired to incrementally compute a reduced-order model for the updated network in order to efficiently evaluate the effectiveness of link insertions. In this paper, we present an efficient model update scheme for general link-insertion networks. By updating the Krylov projection subspace used in model order reduction, the proposed scheme can efficiently compute a reduced-order model for the network with inserted links. More generally, we extend the proposed approach to consider the merging of a (small) multiple-input linear network with a much larger network. We demonstrate the usage of the proposed technique for clock networks and general RLC circuits with an arbitrary number of link insertions as well as the more general case where the inserted links are in the form of a linear network
Planar cell polarity and the kidney

Planar cell polarity (PCP) is the uniform orientation and alignment of a group of cells orthogonal to the apical–basal axis within a tissue. Originally described in insects, it is now known that PCP is required for many processes in vertebrates, including directional cell movement, polarized cell division, ciliary orientation, neural tube closure, heart development and lung branching. In this review, we outline the evidence implicating PCP in kidney development and disease focusing initially on the function of PCP in ureteric bud branching and elongation. We then describe how defects in PCP may lead to polycystic kidney disease and discuss a newly identified role for PCP in the kidney filtration barrier.
Ultrawideband Channel Estimation: A Bayesian Compressive Sensing Strategy Based on Statistical Sparsity

To cope with the formidable sampling rate required by Nyquist criterion, compressive sensing (CS) has been recently adopted for ultrawideband (UWB) channel estimation. In this paper, exploiting the statistical sparsity of real UWB signals in the basis formed by eigenvectors, we develop a new CS dictionary called eigendictionary, which enables the use of CS for UWB channel estimation. With respect to the eigendictionary, the expansion vector of UWB signals is sparse and exhibits an additional structure in the form of statistically significant coefficients occurring in clusters. Capitalizing on this structure, we propose two novel Bayesian CS (BCS) algorithms to efficiently reconstruct UWB signals from a small collection of random projection measurements. Furthermore, by utilizing the common sparsity profile inherent in UWB signals, we extend the proposed Bayesian algorithms to multitask (MT) versions, which can simultaneously recover multiple UWB signals if available. Since the statistical connection between different UWB signals is exploited, the developed MT-BCS can obtain better performance than the single-task version. Extensive simulations using real UWB data show that the proposed schemes considerably reduce the requirement on sampling rate and present excellent performance compared with the traditional correlator and other CS-based channel estimation schemes.
Construction of a Semi-Automated model for FAQ Retrieval via Short Message Service

Mobile phones, currently, are one of the most extensive medium for the communication of any kind of information to the general public. Being one of the fastest spreading technologies, even to the remotest of areas, this highly sought after contemporary resource has started seeking its application in areas like healthcare, education, banking and internet crime. On this account Short Message Service via mobile phones can aid as an efficient tool to retrieve answers to various Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in multiple domains. This application of text messages using mobile phones can be quite substantial only if the limitations that occur due to the large amount of noise in the SMS text can be eliminated. The solution proposed in this paper tries to effectively denoise the text using a similarity measure that aggregates results from prefix and suffix matching and a similarity ratio. To further refine these results supervised machine learning using Naïve Bayes theorem on the N-Gram Markov model is implemented. For this we use the training database of FAQs in various domains to compute probabilities of consecutive occurrence of bigrams of words. Further, using set operations like intersection and minus the corrected query is matched in the FAQ corpus to generate the most proximate questions corresponding to it. To demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed algorithm it was experimented upon a set of queries collected from some mobile phone users and the results were compared with that of certain existing methodologies.
Shear Bond Strength of Three Porcelain Repair Systems on Porcelain in Dry and Aged Conditions

Objective: This study compared the durability of bond strength of a resin composite to feldspathic ceramic by using three porcelain repair systems. Methods: Sixty ceramic blocks (Vitablocks Mark II) were divided into three groups, according to the repair method (CO [Cojet repair kit], CL [Clearfil repair kit], and UL [Ultradent repair kit]). Composite resin was photo-polymerized on each ceramic. Half of the specimens were submitted to the shear bond strength test after 24 hours of water storage or thermal cycling. The bond strength data was analyzed by Weibull analysis and Wald tests (p=0.05). Results: The characteristic bond strength values (σ0 ) of repair systems in dry conditions were 5.823, 6.512 and 6,867 MPa and after aging conditions these were 4.112, 3.935 and 4.210 MPa for CO, CL and UL, respectively. Wald test results revealed that there were significant differences among groups in characteristic bond strength (σ0 ) (p<0.001). Conclusion: Thermal cycling had a significant effect on the bond strength of three repair kits and bond strength results decreased after thermal cycling.
Incomplete penetrance with normal MRI in a woman with germline mutation of the DCX gene

X-linked isolated lissencephaly sequence (ILS) and subcortical band heterotopia are allelic human disorders associated with mutations of the DCX gene in both familial and sporadic forms. The authors describe a large Sardinian family in which three brothers with ILS have a missense mutation of the DCX gene. Their mother, a nonmosaic carrier, has a normal phenotype and cranial MRI. Skewed X-inactivation in the lymphocytes was also ruled out. This is the first report of an asymptomatic carrier of a DCX mutation likely due to apparent nonpenetrance.
GPR30 Mediates the Fast Effect of Estrogen on Mouse Blastocyst and its Role in Implantation

Our previous work demonstrated that estrogen could rapidly increase intracellular Ca2+ in dormant mouse blastocysts. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the physiological relevance of G protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30) in the fast effect of estrogen on mouse blastocyst and in embryo implantation. We used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescence, embryo coculture with Ishikawa uterine epithelial cell line, and embryo transfer technology to detect the expression of GPR30 in mouse embryos and the nongenomic effects of estrogen via GPR30 on blastocyst. We found that GPR30 is expressed in the mouse blastocyst, and its location is mostly consistent with the binding site of estrogen. Both estrogen and GPR30-specific agonist G-1 rapidly increase the intracellular Ca2+ and phospholipase C activation in blastocyst cells, while GPR30-specific antagonist G-15 blocked this effect of estrogen. The pretreatment of G-15 on blastocysts lead to a lower attachment rate and implantation rate. Our data collectively suggested that GPR30 can mediate the fast effect of estrogen on blastocysts and play an important role in embryo implantation.
PLATELET RICH PLASMA FOR HAMSTRING TEARS

©2010 PPM Communications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. Proximal hamstring injuries are common in athletes and frequently result in prolonged rehabilitation, time missed from play, and a significant risk of reinjury. Reports of acute hamstring strains without avulsion in dancers have suggested recovery times for return-to-play ranging from 30 to 76 weeks. The healing process associated with hamstring injuries and with injured skeletal muscle is inefficient as compared to that associated with injuries of other tissue such as bone. This inefficiency is driven by structural adaptations that maximize load-carrying capacity under prolonged ischemic conditions. Vascular supply from associated muscle and surrounding tissues typically does not extend beyond the proximal third of the tendon. Because oxygen consumption is low and energy generation is anaerobic, the resulting metabolic rate is slow and healing capacity is limited. PLATELET RICH PLASMA FOR HAMSTRING TEARS
Endoscopic vs external dacryocystorhinostomy-comparison from the patients' aspect.

AIM To compare the success and complication rates, duration of surgeries and clinical comfort after endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (END-DCR) or external dacryocystorhinostomy (EXT-DCR). METHODS Fifty patients who underwent EXT- or END-DCR between January 2010-2012 were involved in the study. A questionnaire was applied to patients preoperatively, and postoperatively. Subjective success was defined by absence of epiphora, objective success by a normal nasolacrimal lavage and a positive functional endoscopic dye test (FEDT). Postoperative pain and cosmetic result of surgery were interpreted by the patients, who were also asked whether they would offer this surgery to a friend or would prefer this surgery once more if necessary. RESULTS Twenty-five patients underwent END-DCR and 25 underwent EXT-DCR. Mean duration of surgeries were 35min both for EXT-DCR (30-50) and END-DCR (35-50) (P=0.778). Intraoperative bleeding were documented in 48% of EXT-DCR and 4% of END-DCR cases (P<0.001). In total 96% of EXT-DCR and 100% of END-DCR patients had subjective success. Objective success was 100% in each group. There was no significant difference between the epiphora scorings and FDDT results in postoperative visits among the groups. END-DCR group reported less pain in first week and month (P<0.05, P<0.05). More patients in END-DCR group were happy with the cosmetic result in first week and month (P<0.001, P<0.001). More patients in END-DCR group offered this surgery to a friend (P<0.001). All patients in END-DCR group preferred this surgery once more if necessary, only 48% in EXT-DCR preferred the same method (P<0.001). CONCLUSION Although both END- and EXT-DCRs provide satisfactory outcomes with similar objective and subjective success rates, we demonstrated that the endonasal approach caused significantly less pain in early postoperative period than the external approach. Clinical comfort defined by the patients was quite higher in END-DCR group, in which patients mainly were pleased to encounter a sutureless surgical area.
Lead Poisoning in a Northern Bobwhite in Georgia

A northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) was observed with partial paralysis on 3 March 1997 and found dead on 8 March 1997 on Di-Lane Plantation Wildlife Management Area (Burke County, Georgia, USA). The juvenile male was necropsied by the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (Athens, Georgia) and diagnosed with lead toxicosis. The bobwhite had liver tissue lead levels of 399 parts per million wet weight and two worn 1-mm diameter lead shot pellets were found in the gizzard.
Dissociation of Dorsal Hippocampal Regional Activation Under the Influence of Stress in Freely Behaving Rats

Stress has deleterious effects on brain, body, and behavior in humans and animals alike. The present work investigated how 30-min acute photic stress exposure impacts on spatial information processing in the main sub-regions of the dorsal hippocampal formation [CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus (DG)], a brain structure prominently implicated in memory and spatial representation. Recordings were performed from spatially tuned hippocampal and DG cells in rats while animals foraged in a square arena for food. The stress procedure induced a decrease in firing frequencies in CA1 and CA3 place cells while sparing locational characteristics. In contrast to the CA1–CA3 network, acute stress failed to induce major changes in the DG neuronal population. These data demonstrate a clear dissociation of the effects of stress on the main hippocampal sub-regions. Our findings further support the notion of decreased hippocampal excitability arising from behavioral stress in areas CA1 and CA3, but not in DG.
Absolute GNSS Antenna Calibration with a Robot : Repeatability of Phase Variations , Calibration of GLONASS and Determination of Carrier-to-Noise Pattern

The absolute GNSS antenna calibration with a robot is operationally executed by Geo++ since 2000. In the last years, the conducted antenna calibrations produced an extensive database of individual antennas, different antenna types and setups. The robot calibrations can provide absolute phase center and variations (PCV) of GNSS antennas for the GPS and GLONASS observables L1 and L2 as well as antenna/receiver dependent carrier-to-noise decrease pattern.