Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retrospective analysis of canine gallbladder contents in biliary sludge and gallbladder mucoceles

The pathophysiology of canine gallbladder diseases, including biliary sludge, gallbladder mucoceles and gallstones, is poorly understood. This study aimed to evaluate the component of gallbladder contents and bacterial infection of the gallbladder in order to elucidate the pathophysiology of biliary sludge and gallbladder mucoceles. A total of 43 samples of canine gallbladder contents (biliary sludge, 21 and gallbladder mucoceles, 22) were subjected to component analysis by infrared spectroscopy, and the resultant infrared spectra were compared with that of swine mucin. Of the 43 samples, 41 were also evaluated by aerobic and anaerobic bacterial culture. The contents of 20 (95.2%) biliary sludge and 22 (100%) gallbladder mucocele samples exhibited similar infrared spectra as swine mucin. Although biliary sludge and gallbladder mucocele contents exhibited similar infrared spectra, one sample of biliary sludge (4.8%) was determined to be composed of proteins. The rate of bacterial infection of the gallbladder was 10.0% for biliary sludge and 14.3% for gallbladder mucoceles. Almost all of the identified bacterial species were intestinal flora. These results indicate that the principal components of gallbladder contents in both gallbladder mucoceles and biliary sludge are mucins and that both pathophysiologies exhibit low rates of bacterial infection of the gallbladder. Therefore, it is possible that gallbladder mucoceles and biliary sludge have the same pathophysiology, and, rather than being independent diseases, they could possibly represent a continuous disease. Thus, biliary sludge could be considered as the stage preceding the appearance of gallbladder mucoceles.
Argumentation and participation patterns in general chemistry peer‐led sessions

This article focuses on the use of Toulmin's argumentation scheme to investigate the characteristics of student group argumentation in Peer-Led Guided Inquiry sessions for a General Chemistry I course. A coding scheme based on Toulmin's [Toulmin [1958] The uses of argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] argumentation model was used for identifying arguments during group work without instructor intervention. A modification of the framework developed by Erduran et al. [Erduran, Simon, & Osborne [2004] Science Education, 88(6), 915–933] for characterizing arguments was employed that considered both the strength of the argument and whether an argument contained contributions from one or more than one student. Data were collected by video recording weekly peer-led sessions with a focus on two small groups. Analysis of this video data with the coding scheme and the framework revealed that students were mostly engaged in co-constructed arguments, with more than one student providing evidence and reasoning during group activities. Students often supported their claims with data and warrants but rarely offered backings. That is, they supported their answers with evidence and reasoning but did not often elaborate on their reasoning or further validate their explanations. However, the percentage of arguments containing backings increased when arguments contained contributions from more than one student rather than being presented by one individual. Another significant finding is that students were able to resolve wrong claims through argumentation without peer leader intervention, an indication of independent learning. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50: 1207–1231, 2013
Consensus Decisions and Structural Information in Shoaling Fish

Non-hierarchical animal groups, such as bird flocks or fish schools, are unique computational entities. They have the ability to make collective decisions rapidly and robustly, mediate conflict, and navigate complex environments. While these collective computations are reminiscent of human voting or neuronal systems, schools and flocks achieve these ends without the benefit of any aggregation layer or hierarchical control. There are no clerks assigned to tally votes nor are there any special neurons which sum, average, or compute other functions based on the activity of neurons further upstream. Instead, certain computations are emergent in nature; local interactions lead to extraordinary self-organized behaviors. In this way, flocks and schools closely resemble ferromagnetic physical systems. In this work, we investigate collective computation in the context of golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas), a species of strongly schooling minnow that are ubiquitous in freshwater habitats across North America. First, we investigate how, and under what conditions, these schools are able to form consensus decisions amidst internal conflict regarding the direction of travel. Specifically, we examine an asymmetric scenario where a strongly preferenced minority is in conflict with a more weakly preferenced majority. We show that the resolution of this conflict depends on uninformed individuals or those with no stake or even awareness of the conflict. Next, we recast this biological problem as a well-studied spin system. We provide a theoretical framework for understanding the central role of uninformed individuals and demonstrate that the direction of their influence is dependent upon the linearity or non-linearity of local interactions. Lastly, we investigate local structure within schools. Because school-level behaviors emerge from the self-organization of local interactions, local neighborhoods are of particular interest and importance. Employing techniques from statistical mechanics and computational neuroscience, we build precise generative models of local iii configurations from both perturbed schools in a narrow channel and schools free to explore the full experimental tank. These models, while simpler than complex sensory models, allow us to develop a statistical mechanics for school structure and to investigate how, and to what degree, local structure predicts future individual and group behavior.
Exploring Shape Variations by 3D‐Model Decomposition and Part‐based Recombination

We present a system that allows new shapes to be created by blending between shapes taken from a database. We treat the shape as a composition of parts; blending is performed by recombining parts from different shapes according to constraints deduced by shape analysis. The analysis involves shape segmentation, contact analysis, and symmetry detection. The system can be used to rapidly instantiate new models that have similar symmetry and adjacency structure to the database shapes, yet vary in appearance.
Novel Mechanism of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Activation Mediated by Caveolae Internalization in Endothelial Cells

Caveolin-1, the caveolae scaffolding protein, binds to and negatively regulates eNOS activity. As caveolin-1 also regulates caveolae-mediated endocytosis after activation of the 60-kDa albumin-binding glycoprotein gp60 in endothelial cells, we addressed the possibility that endothelial NO synthase (eNOS)-dependent NO production was functionally coupled to caveolae internalization. We observed that gp60-induced activation of endocytosis increased NO production within 2 minutes and up to 20 minutes. NOS inhibitor NG-nitro-l-arginine (l-NNA) prevented the NO production. To determine the role of caveolae internalization in the mechanism of NO production, we expressed dominant-negative dynamin-2 mutant (K44A) or treated cells with methyl-&bgr;-cyclodextrin. Both interventions inhibited caveolae-mediated endocytosis and NO generation induced by gp60. We determined the role of signaling via Src kinase in the observed coupling of endocytosis to eNOS activation. Src activation induced the phosphorylation of caveolin-1, Akt and eNOS, and promoted dissociation of eNOS from caveolin-1. Inhibitors of Src kinase and Akt also prevented NO production. In isolated perfused mouse lungs, gp60 activation induced NO-dependent vasodilation, whereas the response was attenuated in eNOS−/− or caveolin-1−/− lungs. Together, these results demonstrate a critical role of caveolae-mediated endocytosis in regulating eNOS activation in endothelial cells and thereby the NO-dependent vasomotor tone.
Comparison of Bioenergetics Parameters from Two Spring-Fed Riverine Largemouth Bass Populations

This study applies a new bioenergetics modeling framework put forth by Walters and Essington (this volume) which estimates bioenergetics parameters and consumption rates of fishes using commonly collected size-at-age and cap- ture-recapture data from field studies. Bioenergetics model parameters and consumption rates are estimated for two popu- lations of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides with observed differences in growth patterns. We also compare con- sumption estimates from the bioenergetics model formulated by Walters and Essington with a more commonly employed bioenergetics model. We show that bioenergetics model parameters can be estimated with limited data on size-at-age and incremental growth when informative prior distributions on metabolic parameters are used. The general bioenergetics model revealed differences in bioenergetics parameters between the two largemouth bass populations that are well sup- ported by auxiliary data on largemouth bass diets and observed prey abundance patterns. Lifetime growth and consump- tion estimates between the general bioenergetics model and Wisconsin bioenergetics model differed slightly. However, seasonal patterns in growth and consumption rates differed drastically between the two models. Estimating bioenergetics parameters using field data collected on specific populations of interests has the potential to allow for more realistic repre- sentation of seasonal growth and consumption patterns.
Dynamic Matching via Weighted Myopia with Application to Kidney Exchange

In many dynamic matching applications — especially high-stakes ones — the competitive ratios of prior-free online algorithms are unacceptably poor. The algorithm should take distributional information about possible futures into account in deciding what action to take now. This is typically done by drawing sample trajectories of possible futures at each time period, but may require a prohibitively large number of trajectories or prohibitive memory and/or computation to decide what action to take. Instead, we propose to learn potentials of elements (e.g., vertices) of the current problem. Then, at run time, we simply run an offline matching algorithm at each time period, but subtracting out in the objective the potentials of the elements used up in the matching. We apply the approach to kidney exchange. Kidney exchanges enable willing but incompatible patient-donor pairs (vertices) to swap donors. These swaps typically include cycles longer than two pairs and chains triggered by altruistic donors. Fielded exchanges currently match myopically, maximizing the number of patients who get kidneys in an offline fashion at each time period. Myopic matching is sub-optimal; the clearing problem is dynamic since patients, donors, and altruists appear and expire over time. We theoretically compare the power of using potentials on increasingly large elements: vertices, edges, cycles, and the entire graph (optimum). Then, experiments show that by learning vertex potentials, our algorithm matches more patients than the current practice of clearing myopically. It scales to exchanges orders of magnitude beyond those handled by the prior dynamic algorithm.
Socioeconomic disadvantage and indicators of risky alcohol-drinking patterns.

AIM The purpose was to establish how the association between socioeconomic disadvantage and risky drinking depends on the indicator of risky alcohol-drinking patterns. METHODS Alcohol-drinking Finnish men (n = 9316) and women (n = 11,888) aged 20-54 years at baseline participated in the Health and Social Support (HeSSup) postal survey in 1998. Socioeconomic disadvantage was measured by low educational level, history of previous unemployment among those currently employed, current unemployment, being on disability pension and history of experiencing financial hardships. Indicators of risky drinking were hazardous weekly intake (≥24 and ≥16 Finnish standard drinks for men and women, respectively), frequency of intoxications/drunkenness, hangovers and alcohol-induced pass-outs. The study participants were also followed up for 7 years for alcohol-specific hospitalizations and deaths. RESULTS Socioeconomic gradient in risky drinking was observed across all indicators of risky drinking, but the gradient was relatively larger in patterns of risky drinking representing high-intensity drinking occasions such as alcohol-induced hangovers and pass-outs. No marked gender differences were observed. CONCLUSIONS These results highlight the need to take into account the multidimensionality of risky alcohol-drinking patterns as a contributing factor in the socioeconomic gradient in alcohol use.
Applications of temporal links: recording and replaying virtual environments

Temporal links allow recordings of multi-user sessions to be dynamically inserted into current virtual worlds in a flexible and principled way. We explore key applications of temporal links, showing how they can add new content to virtual worlds, support usability and system evaluation, and link VR to other media such as film and television. These applications illustrate just some of the possibilities of a ubiquitous and flexible record and replay facility such as temporal links. Building on our experience of implementing temporal links in the MASSIVE-3 system, we identify key requirements for system architectures that wish to support an equivalent mechanism.
Compressive time delay estimation using interpolation

We show that compressive sensing (CS) applied to time delay estimation (TDE) simultaneously enables a reduction in the sampling frequency and preserves good estimation precision. With CS, we seek to recover signals and parameters from an under-determined system of linear equations by assuming sparsity in a known dictionary. A common problem in CS is that the observed signals may not be sparsely representable in the dictionary. This problem also occurs in TDE as the delay parameter is a continuous parameter. We remedy this issue by combining CS with interpolation.
Pre-service Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching & Learning and their Teaching Approach Preference: Secondary Teacher Education in Focus

The purpose of this study was to explore student-teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning & teaching approach preference when they join teacher education programs. Descriptive survey method was employed. Conceptions of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (CTLQ) and Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) were used for data collection. Two hundred ninety three (293) randomly selected pre-service secondary student-teachers admitted to Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT) program in Bahir Dar and Haramaya University were participated in the study. It was found that the student-teachers have joined teacher education program with traditional conceptions of teaching & learning viewing learning as recalling and absorbing as much information as possible and teaching as simply telling, presenting or explaining the subject matter. Their teaching approach preference was also found to be consistent with their conceptions of teaching and learning. Finally, a teacher education program emphasizing conceptual change was suggested.
Systolic Strain Abnormalities to Predict Hospital Readmission in Patients With Heart Failure and Normal Ejection Fraction

Background Despite intensive investigation, the pathogenesis of heart failure with normal ejection fraction (HFNEF) remains unclear. We hypothesized that subtle abnormalities of systolic function might play a role, and that abnormal systolic strain and strain rate would provide a marker for adverse outcomes. Methods Patients of new CHF and left ventricular ejection fraction > 50% were included. Exclusion criteria were recent myocardial infarction, severe valvular heart disease, severe left ventricular hypertrophy (septum >1.8 cm), or a technically insufficient echocardiogram. Average peak systolic strain and strain rate were measured using an off-line grey scale imaging technique. Systolic strain and strain rate for readmitted patients were compared with those who remained readmission-free. Results One hundred consecutive patients with a 1st admission for HFNEF from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2007, inclusive, were analyzed. Fifty two patients were readmitted with a primary diagnosis of heart failure. Systolic strain and strain rates were reduced in both study groups compared to controls. However, systolic strain did not differ significantly between the two groups (-11.7% for those readmitted compared with -12.9% for those free from readmission, P = 0.198) and systolic strain rates also were similar (-1.05 s-1 versus -1.09 s-1, P = 0.545). E/e’ was significantly higher in readmitted patients compared with those who remained free from readmission (14.5 versus 11.0, P = 0.013). E/e’ (OR 1.189, 95% CI 1.026-1.378; P = 0.021) was found to be an independent predictor for HFNEF readmission. Conclusions Among patients with new onset HFNEF, SS and SR rates are reduced compared with patients free of HFNEF, but do not predict hospital readmission. Elevated E/e’ is a predictor of readmission in these patients.
Cells in a Model of Estrogen-Induced Lupus Population of Autoreactive Marginal Zone B Cutting Edge: Expansion and Activation of A

We have demonstrated previously that 17 (cid:1) -estradiol (E2) treatment of BALB/c mice transgenic for the heavy chain of a pathogenic anti-DNA Ab induces a lupus-like phenotype with expansion of anti-DNA B cells, elevation of anti-DNA Ab titers, and glomerular immunoglobulin deposition. To understand this loss of B cell tolerance, the effects of E2 on B cell development and activation were examined. A sustained increase in E2 resulted in an altered distribution of B cell subsets, with a diminished transitional population and an increase in marginal zone B cells. Depletion of CD4 (cid:2) T cells did not abrogate these effects. Furthermore, the B cells that spontaneously secreted anti-DNA Abs displayed a marginal zone phenotype. Thus, a sustained increase in E2 alters B cell development, leading to the survival, expansion, and activation of a population of autoreactive marginal zone B cells implicating this B cell subset in autoimmunity. The Journal of Immunology, 2001, 167: 1886–1890.
An Endangered Species: Characteristics and Perspectives from Female NCAA Division I Athletic Directors of Both Separate and Merged Athletic Departments

Volume 2, Issue 2 Spring 2006 INTRODUCTION The trend of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletic departments merging under one athletic director has been ongoing for over twenty years. Colleges and universities across the country have continually chosen to restructure their athletic departments under one athletic director, instead of retaining one for women’s sports and one for men’s sports. In September 2004, Brigham Young University became the latest on a long list of athletic departments that have succumbed to the financial, social, and institutional pressures to merge athletic departments under the roof of one athletic director (Harmon, 2004). This nationwide movement continues to effect women who have served as athletic directors’ of separate women’s programs at NCAA Division I institutions, as well as those females leading merged NCAA Division I athletic departments. The result has been an overall decrease in the number of female athletic directors at the NCAA Division I level.
Income , Taxes and Happiness

We combine the subjective well-being and the public finance literature analyzing the effect of paying taxes on individual happiness. Using a long panel of very rich German household data we show that conditional on net income paying taxes is associated with higher levels of happiness. Increasing taxes by 1 standard deviation yields an increase in happiness by 2.7 standard deviations. In accordance with optimal tax theory, this positive effect is higher for people who consume public goods more frequently and for individuals that benefit more from redistributive policies. When conditioning on gross income, tax payments lead to a reduction of personal income and, hence, exhibit a negative effect on subjective well-being. Decomposing the population into subgroups, we show that East Germans, who have been brought up in a system with much more government intervention, tend to be relative more happy to pay taxes. Following the intuition, more educated individuals and leftist individuals are happier to pay taxes. JEL Classification: D58, J23, H24, H60
A STUDY TO ASSESS DEPRESSION, ITS CORRELATES AND SUICIDAL BEHAVIOUR IN EPILEPSY

Fifty subjects with seizure disorder were compared with thirty subjects with bronchial asthma and assessed for depression and suicidal behaviour. 34% of the epilepsy group had a diagnosis of major depressive episode compared to 13.3% of Bronchial Asthma group, which demonstrated a significant difference. Complex partial seizures and use of phenobarbitone had significant association with depression. 16% of the epilepsy group had a history of atleast one suicidal attempt in the previous year with 88% using anticonvulsants. 20% of the group also expressed current suicidal ideation, which correlated with Hamilton Depression Rating Scale total scores.
Anogenital Distance and Condition as Predictors of Litter Sex Ratio in Two Mouse Species: A Study of the House Mouse (Mus musculus) and Mound-Building Mouse (Mus spicilegus)

The Trivers – Willard hypothesis (1973) suggests that the maternal condition may affect the female's litter size and sex ratio. Since then other factors had been found. Previous findings revealed in the case of some mammalian species, that females with larger anogenital distance have smaller litters, while the sex ratio is male-biased. That has only been demonstrated in laboratory animals, while the genetic diversity of a wild population could mask the phenomenon seen in laboratory colonies. We examined the connection between morphological traits (weight and anogenital distance) and the reproductive capacity of two wild mice species, the house mouse and the mound-building mice. We showed in both species that anogenital distance and body weight correlated positively in pre-pubertal females, but not in adults. Neither the house mouse nor the mound-building mouse mothers' weight had effect on their litter's size and sex ratio. Otherwise connection was found between the mothers' anogenital distance and their litters' sex ratio in both species. The results revealed that females with larger anogenital distance delivered male biased litter in both species. The bias occurred as while the number of female pups remained the same; mothers with large anogenital distance delivered more male pups compared to the mothers with small anogenital distance. We concluded that a female's prenatal life affects her reproductive success more than previously anticipated.