Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Macrophage Phenotype Modulation by CXCL4 in Atherosclerosis

During atherogenesis, blood monocytes transmigrate into the subendothelial space and differentiate toward macrophages and foam cells. The major driver of monocyte–macrophage differentiation is macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF). M-CSF-induced macrophages are important promoters of atherogenesis as demonstrated in M-CSF and M-CSF receptor knock out mice. However, M-CSF is not the only relevant promoter of macrophage differentiation. The platelet chemokine CXCL4 also prevents monocyte apoptosis and promotes macrophage differentiation in vitro. It is secreted from activated platelets and has effects on various cell types relevant in atherogenesis. Knocking out the Pf4 gene coding for CXCL4 in Apoe−/− mice leads to reduced atherogenesis. Thus, it seems likely that CXC4-induced macrophages may have specific pro-atherogenic capacities. We have studied CXC4-induced differentiation of human macrophages using gene chips, systems biology, and functional in vitro and ex vivo experiments. Our data indicate that CXCL4-induced macrophages are distinct from both their M-CSF-induced counterparts and other known macrophage polarizations like M1 macrophages (induced by lipopolysaccharide and interferon-gamma) or M2 macrophages (induced by interleukin-4). CXCL4-induced macrophages have distinct phenotypic and functional characteristics, e.g., the complete loss of the hemoglobin–haptoglobin (Hb–Hp) scavenger receptor CD163 which is necessary for effective hemoglobin clearance after plaque hemorrhage. Lack of CD163 is accompanied by the inability to upregulate the atheroprotective enzyme heme oxygenase-1 in response to Hb–Hp complexes. This review covers the current knowledge about CXCL4-induced macrophages. Based on their unique properties, we have suggested to call these macrophages “M4. ” CXCL4 may represent an important orchestrator of macrophage heterogeneity within atherosclerotic lesions. Further dissecting its effects on macrophage differentiation may help to identify novel therapeutic targets in atherogenesis.
Assessment of the 12-lead ECG as a screening test for detection of cardiovascular disease in healthy general populations of young people (12-25 Years of Age): a scientific statement from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.

Sudden death (SD) of young people because of a variety of complex, predominantly genetic/congenital cardiovascular diseases is a riveting, devastating event and a public health and policy issue of increasing concern.1–6 The reliable identification of such individuals at risk for SD has become a major focus of the cardiovascular community for a number of reasons, including the opportunity to reduce SD events through selective disqualification from sports7 and the primary prevention of SD with the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator for some high-risk patients with genetic heart diseases.8–14 In addition, those SDs caused by underlying and unsuspected genetic or congenital cardiovascular diseases that occur in young trained athletes are a highly visible issue and have become a concern in both the public arena and the physician community.15–17 Consequently, the desire to screen populations theoretically at risk for cardiovascular disease to reduce morbidity and mortality is understandable in principle, and few would empirically argue against the potential benefit of this practice for some individuals. However, a debate has emerged regarding whether the conditions responsible for these tragic events can be detected effectively in populations of various sizes by the available testing and examination techniques, and specifically, there is debate concerning which strategies are potentially the most reliable to separate those individuals with disease from those who are probably unaffected.15–29 Most of this dialogue concerning SD prevention has been limited to the screening of young populations of competitive athletes, and the available data specifically related to cardiovascular screening efficacy (on which we largely and unavoidably rely) overwhelmingly come from such populations exclusively composed of trained athletes. Periodically, this has become a polarized controversy and public health debate, triggering a large and growing body of literature, including clinical studies… but notably also an …
Thermal design of integrated motor drives for traction applications

The thermal design of a propulsion integrated motor drive is faced in this paper. The system is constituted by a 25 kW switched reluctance motor, a water cooled "square" housing with pipes positioned in the corners and converter devices directly mounted on the housing. Thermal analysis with finite element method software is performed and simulation results are provided to obtain the main guidelines to design the housing as heatsink for both motor and converter
Socioeconomic Costs of Overactive Bladder and Stress Urinary Incontinence in Korea

Purpose We quantified and described the economic burden of overactive bladder and stress urinary incontinence in Korea. We calculated direct costs by identifying public and private data sources that contain population-based data on resource utilization by patients with stress urinary incontinence and overactive bladder. Methods For estimating indirect costs (productivity loss), the human capital approach was applied. Data were collected from several institutes, including the Health Insurance Review Agency. Results The estimated total economic cost in treating overactive bladder was 117 billion Korean Won (KRW, the currency of South Koea) in 2006 and 145 billion KRW in 2007. The estimated total cost in treating stress urinary incontinence was 122 billion KRW in 2006 and 59 billion KRW in 2007. Conclusions By quantifying the total economic costs of overactive bladder and stress urinary incontinence, this study provides an important perspective in Korea. Because the average age of the Korean population is rapidly increasing, this study provides important information on the direct and indirect costs of overactive bladder and stress urinary incontinence for an aging society.
Adaptive Computation Time for Recurrent Neural Networks

This paper introduces Adaptive Computation Time (ACT), an algorithm that allows recurrent neural networks to learn how many computational steps to take between receiving an input and emitting an output. ACT requires minimal changes to the network architecture, is deterministic and differentiable, and does not add any noise to the parameter gradients. Experimental results are provided for four synthetic problems: determining the parity of binary vectors, applying binary logic operations, adding integers, and sorting real numbers. Overall, performance is dramatically improved by the use of ACT, which successfully adapts the number of computational steps to the requirements of the problem. We also present character-level language modelling results on the Hutter prize Wikipedia dataset. In this case ACT does not yield large gains in performance; however it does provide intriguing insight into the structure of the data, with more computation allocated to harder-to-predict transitions, such as spaces between words and ends of sentences. This suggests that ACT or other adaptive computation methods could provide a generic method for inferring segment boundaries in sequence data.
Not seeing the forest for the trees: novice programmers and the SOLO taxonomy

This paper reports on the authors use of the SOLO taxonomy to describe differences in the way students and educators solve small code reading exercises. SOLO is a general educational taxonomy, and has not previously been applied to the study of how novice programmers manifest their understanding of code. Data was collected in the form of written and think-aloud responses from students (novices) and educators (experts), using exam questions. During analysis, the responses were mapped to the different levels of the SOLO taxonomy. From think-aloud responses, the authors found that educators tended to manifest a SOLO relational response on small reading problems, whereas students tended to manifest a multistructural response. These results are consistent with the literature on the psychology of programming, but the work in this paper extends on these findings by analyzing the design of exam questions.
On the synergistic benefits of alternating CSIT for X channel within a four-symbol channel extension

In this paper, we investigate the degrees of freedom (DoF) of the two-user single input single output (SISO) X channel with alternating channel state information at the transmitters (CSIT). Three cases are considered for the availability of CSIT; perfect, delayed and no-CSIT. Each state is associated with a fraction of time denoted by λ<sub>P</sub>, λ<sub>D</sub> and λ<sub>N</sub>, respectively. We provide new results for the achievable DoF of the channel when the available CSIT alternates between these three cases under a certain distribution for Λ(λ<sub>P</sub>, λ<sub>D</sub>, λ<sub>N</sub>). Specifically, we show that the two-user SISO X channel with alternating CSIT for Λ(1/8, 3/8, 1/2) can achieve 5/4 DoF. The achieved DoF in this case lie between the maximum DoF of the channel, i.e., 4/3 DoF for Λ(1, 0, 0), and the 6/5 DoF achieved for Λ(0, 1, 0).
Modeling the Relaxation Mechanisms of Amorphous Shape Memory Polymers

In this progress report, we review two common approaches to constitutive modeling of thermally activated shape memory polymers, then focus on a recent thermoviscoelastic model that incorporates the time‐dependent effects of structural and stress relaxation mechanisms of amorphous networks. An extension of the model is presented that incorporates the effects of multiple discrete structural and stress relaxation processes to more accurately describe the time‐dependent behavior. In addition, a procedure is developed to determine the model parameters from standard thermomechanical experiments. The thermoviscoelastic model was applied to simulate the unconstrained recovery response of a family of (meth)acrylate‐based networks with different weight fractions of the crosslinking agent. Results showed significant improvement in predicting the temperature‐dependent strain recovery response.
Glycogen synthase kinase-3β inhibition in the medial prefrontal cortex mediates paradoxical amphetamine action in a mouse model of ADHD

Psychostimulants show therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is generally assumed that they ameliorate ADHD symptoms via interfering with monoaminergic signaling. We combined behavioral pharmacology, neurochemistry and molecular analyses to identify mechanisms underlying the paradoxical calming effect of amphetamine in low trait anxiety behavior (LAB) mice, a novel multigenetic animal model of ADHD. Amphetamine (1 mg/kg) and methylphenidate (10 mg/kg) elicited similar dopamine and norepinephrine release in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and in the striatum of LAB mice. In contrast, amphetamine decreased, while methylphenidate increased locomotor activity. This argues against changes in dopamine and/or norepinephrine release as mediators of amphetamine paradoxical effects. Instead, the calming activity of amphetamine corresponded to the inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) activity, specifically in the mPFC. Accordingly, not only systemic administration of the GSK3β inhibitor TDZD-8 (20 mg/kg), but also local microinjections of TDZD-8 and amphetamine into the mPFC, but not into the striatum, decreased locomotor activity in LAB mice. Amphetamine effects seem to depend on NMDA receptor signaling, since pre- or co-treatment with MK-801 (0.3 mg/kg) abolished the effects of amphetamine (1 mg/kg) on the locomotion and on the phosphorylation of GSK3β at the level of the mPFC. Taken together, the paradoxical calming effect of amphetamine in hyperactive LAB mice concurs with a decreased GSK3β activity in the mPFC. This effect appears to be independent of dopamine or norepinephrine release, but contingent on NMDA receptor signaling.
Comparison of intra-articular injection of 2 ml of 0.9% NaCl solution with rest alone for treatment of horses with traumatic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To compare effects of intra-articular injection of 2 ml of 0.9% NaCl solution with rest alone for treatment of horses with traumatic arthritis. ANIMALS 38 Standardbred horses with moderate to severe lameness that resulted from traumatic arthritis. PROCEDURE Horses were stratified on the basis of number of affected joints. In each stratum, horses were allocated randomly to treatment groups (intraarticular injection of 2 ml of 0.9% NaCl solution vs rest only). Treatment was for a period of 3 weeks. Horses were inspected weekly with a final examination 2 to 4 weeks after completion of treatment. RESULTS Mean lameness index was significantly lower during the 3-week treatment period and the entire study period for the NaCl-injected group. A significant decrease in the lameness index during the first 3-week treatment period also was detected for the rest-only group; however, the lameness index increased significantly for this group during the follow-up period, and an overall significant decrease was not detected. Comparison of the lameness index curve indicated a difference in favor of NaCl injection, with a significant difference between the 2 groups at final examination. Nine horses became sound during treatment with rest only, but 6 relapsed before final examination. In the NaCl-injected group, 5 of 10 sound horses relapsed. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Intra-articular injection of 2 ml of 0.9% NaCl solution was beneficial in horses with traumatic arthritis. Use of rest alone for a limited period was inadequate for treatment of young Standardbred horses with traumatic arthritis.
The Cornel West Reader

Cornel West is one of the nation's premier public intellectuals and one of the great prophetic voices of our era. Whether he is writing a scholarly book or an article for Newsweek, whether he is speaking of Emerson, Gramsci, or Marvin Gaye, his work radiates a passion that reflects the rich traditions he draws on and weaves togetherNBaptist preaching, American transcendentalism, jazz, radical politics. This anthology reveals the dazzling range of West's work, from his explorations of "Prophetic Pragmatism" to his philosophizing on hip-hop.The Cornel West Reader traces the development of West's extraordinary career as academic, public intellectual, and activist. In his essays, articles, books, and interviews, West emerges as America's social conscience, urging attention to complicated issues of racial and economic justice, sexuality and gender, history and politics. This collection represents the best work of an always compelling, often controversial, and absolutely essential philosopher of the modern American experience.
In Vivo Confocal Microscopic Studies of Endothelial Wound Healing in Rabbit Cornea

Corneal endothelial wound healing in living rabbit eyes after mechanical scrape (MS) and transcorneal freeze (TCF) injury was studied using tandem scanning confocal microscopy (TSCM). MS injury was created on the central corneal endothelium with an olive tip cannula; TCF injury was created using a 3-mm-diameter stainless steel probe cooled with liquid nitrogen. In vivo observation of wound healing using TSCM was correlated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for fixed tissues. At 6 h after MS, migrating endothelial cells at the leading edge showed lamellipodial processes on in vivo TSCM and SEM. After 24 h, the denuded area was almost fully resurfaced by migrating endothelial cells showing wide spaces between nuclei by TSCM. After 28 days, resurfaced endothelial cells showed normal hexagonal mosaic appearance with enlarged cells by TSCM and SEM. TCF injury produced fibroblastic changes in the endothelial cells with elongation and spreading by 24 h after injury. After 3 days, the wounded area was resurfaced with two cell types: (a) migrating endothelial cells at the peripheral area, which appeared polygonal in shape with wide intracellular spaces and (b) fibroblast-like cells at the center of the wound, which formed a retrocorneal fibrous membrane (RCFM). The RCFM was posteriorly covered with normal endothelium after 28-60 days. TSCM of the stroma demonstrated spindle-shaped, activated keratocytes migrating into the wounded stroma at 3-14 days. In conclusion, TSCM allows viewing of dynamic four-dimensional morphologic changes (x, y, z, and time) during in vivo cellular repair of corneal wound healing after either MS or TCF injury.
Syntactic flexibility and competition in sentence production: The case of English and Russian

We analysed how syntactic flexibility influences sentence production in two different languages—English and Russian. In Experiment 1, speakers were instructed to produce as many structurally different descriptions of transitive-event pictures as possible. Consistent with the syntactically more flexible Russian grammar, Russian participants produced more descriptions and used a greater variety of structures than their English counterparts. In Experiment 2, a different sample of participants provided single-sentence descriptions of the same picture materials while their eye movements were recorded. In this task, English and Russian participants almost exclusively produced canonical subject–verb–object active-voice structures. However, Russian participants took longer to plan their sentences, as reflected in longer sentence onset latencies and eye–voice spans for the sentence-initial subject noun. This cross-linguistic difference in processing load diminished toward the end of the sentence. Stepwise generalized linear model analyses showed that the greater sentence-initial processing load registered in Experiment 2 corresponded to the greater amount of syntactic competition from available alternatives (Experiment 1), suggesting that syntactic flexibility is costly regardless of the language in use.
Pulmonary artery catheter-directed thrombolysis for intermediate high risk acute pulmonary embolism

A case of 60-year-old male with acute pulmonary embolism without hypotension but signs of right ventricular dysfunction and elevated cardiac biomarkers is reported in this study. The patient comes under intermediate high-risk category and was successfully thrombolysed with alteplase infused through pulmonary artery catheter. Catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) can be considered as much safer and effective alternative to systemic thrombolysis in such patients with lower risk of bleeding. This novel bedside method of pulmonary artery CDT with the advantage of no radiation exposure and real time monitoring of pulmonary artery pressures as an end-point of thrombolysis can be utilized in the near future.
The Prevalence of Undiagnosed HIV Infection in Those Who Decline HIV Screening in an Urban Emergency Department

Objective. To determine the prevalence of occult HIV infection in patients who decline routine HIV testing in an urban emergency department. Design, Setting, and Patients. Discarded blood samples were obtained from patients who had declined routine ED HIV testing. After insuring that the samples came from patients not known to be HIV positive, they were deidentified, and rapid HIV testing was preformed using 5 μL of whole blood. Main Outcome Measures. The prevalence of occult HIV infection in those who declined testing compared with prevalence in those who accepted testing. Results. 600 consecutive samples of patients who declined routine HIV screening were screened for HIV. Twelve (2%) were reactive. Over the same period of time, 4845 patients accepted routine HIV testing. Of these, 35 (0.7%) were reactive. The difference in the prevalence of HIV infection between those who declined and those who accepted testing was significant (P = .001). The relative risk of undetected HIV infection in the group that declined testing was 2.74 times higher (95% CI 1.44–5.18) compared with those accepted testing. Conclusion. The rate of occult HIV infection is nearly three-times higher in those who decline routine ED HIV testing compared with those who accept such testing. Interventions are urgently needed to decrease the opt-out rate in routine ED HIV testing settings.
Personal Relationships and Personal Networks

Contents: Series Foreword. Preface. Framing Personal Relationships. Inside Relationships and Networks. Initiating Personal Relationships. Becoming Friends. Becoming Romantic Partners. Comparing Age Groups and Relational Types. Comparing Genders and Ethnicities. Mananging Networks and Relational Boundaries. Following Relationships to Their End and Beyond. Prospects for the Social Contextual Perspective. Appendix A: Measures of Relationship Development and Networks. Appendix B: Technical Notes on the Models.
Hemopexin Therapy Improves Cardiovascular Function by Preventing Heme-Induced Endothelial Toxicity in Mouse Models of Hemolytic Diseases

Background— Hemolytic diseases are characterized by enhanced intravascular hemolysis resulting in heme-catalyzed reactive oxygen species generation, which leads to endothelial dysfunction and oxidative damage. Hemopexin (Hx) is a plasma heme scavenger able to prevent endothelial damage and tissue congestion in a model of heme overload. Here, we tested whether Hx could be used as a therapeutic tool to counteract heme toxic effects on the cardiovascular system in hemolytic diseases. Methods and Results— By using a model of heme overload in Hx-null mice, we demonstrated that heme excess in plasma, if not bound to Hx, promoted the production of reactive oxygen species and the induction of adhesion molecules and caused the reduction of nitric oxide availability. Then, we used &bgr;-thalassemia and sickle cell disease mice as models of hemolytic diseases to evaluate the efficacy of an Hx-based therapy in the treatment of vascular dysfunction related to heme overload. Our data demonstrated that Hx prevented heme-iron loading in the cardiovascular system, thus limiting the production of reactive oxygen species, the induction of adhesion molecules, and the oxidative inactivation of nitric oxide synthase/nitric oxide, and promoted heme recovery and detoxification by the liver mainly through the induction of heme oxygenase activity. Moreover, we showed that in sickle cell disease mice, endothelial activation and oxidation were associated with increased blood pressure and altered cardiac function, and the administration of exogenous Hx was found to almost completely normalize these parameters. Conclusions— Hemopexin treatment is a promising novel therapy to protect against heme-induced cardiovascular dysfunction in hemolytic disorders.
The Relationship Between Emotion Regulation, Social Support, and Alcohol-Related Problems Among Racially Diverse Adolescents

Abstract Purpose: This study examined associations among alcohol-related problems and family support, collective efficacy, emotion-regulation drinking motives, and limited access to emotion-regulation strategies among racially diverse adolescents. Methods: The sample included 150 racially diverse adolescent girls and boys (53.3% male) from two urban high schools in different geographic regions. Results: Family support and collective efficacy were negatively correlated, and emotion-regulation drinking motives and limited access to emotion-regulation strategies positively correlated, with alcohol-related problems. Accounting for geographic location and drinking level, emotion-regulation drinking motives and limited access to emotion-regulation strategies uniquely predicted the number of different alcohol-related problems. Conclusions: Results suggest the importance of including social and emotion factors in examinations of adolescent alcohol-related problems.