Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional and Biochemical Analysis of a Sodium Channel β1 Subunit Mutation Responsible for Generalized Epilepsy with Febrile Seizures Plus Type 1

Generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus type 1 is an inherited human epileptic syndrome, associated with a cysteine-to-tryptophan (C121W) mutation in the extracellular immunoglobin domain of the auxiliary β1 subunit of the voltage-gated sodium channel. The mutation disrupts β1 function, but how this leads to epilepsy is not understood. In this study, we make several observations that may be relevant for understanding why this β1 mutation results in seizures. First, using electrophysiological recordings from mammalian cell lines, coexpressing sodium channel α subunits and either wild-type β1 or C121Wβ1, we show that loss of β1 functional modulation, caused by the C121W mutation, leads to increased sodium channel availability at hyperpolarized membrane potentials and reduced sodium channel rundown during high-frequency channel activity, compared with channels coexpressed with wild-type β1. In contrast, neither wild-type β1 nor C121Wβ1 significantly affected sodium current time course or the voltage dependence of channel activation. We also show, using a Drosophila S2 cell adhesion assay, that the C121W mutation disrupts β1–β1 homophilic cell adhesion, suggesting that the mutation may alter the ability of β1 to mediate protein–protein interactions critical for sodium channel localization. Finally, we demonstrate that neither functional modulation nor cell adhesion mediated by wild-type β1 is occluded by coexpression of C121Wβ1, arguing against the idea that the mutant β1 acts as a dominant-negative subunit. Together, these data suggest that C121Wβ1 causes subtle effects on channel function and subcellular distribution that bias neurons toward hyperexcitabity and epileptogenesis.
Delayed Onset of Prolonged Hypothermia Improves Outcome after Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Rats

Prolonged hypothermia reduces ischemic brain injury, but its efficacy after intracerebral hemorrhagic (ICH) stroke is unresolved. Rats were implanted with core temperature telemetry probes and subsequently subjected to an ICH, which was produced by infusing bacterial collagenase into the striatum. Animals were kept normothermic (NORMO), or were made mildly hypothermic (33–35°C) for over 2 days starting 1 hour (HYP-1), 6 hours (HYP-6), or 12 hours (HYP-12) after collagenase infusion. Others were cooled for 7 hours beginning 1 hour after infusion (BRIEF). Skilled reaching, walking, and spontaneous forelimb use were assessed. Normothermic ICH rats sustained, on average, a 36.9-mm3 loss of tissue at 1 month. Only the HYP-12 group had a significantly smaller lesion (25.5 mm3). Some functional improvements were found with this and other hypothermia treatments. Cerebral edema was observed in NORMO rats, and was not lessened significantly by hypothermia (HYP-12). Blood pressure measurements, as determined by telemetry, in BRIEF rats showed that hypothermia increased blood pressure. This BRIEF treatment also resulted in significantly more bleeding at 12 hours after ICH (79.2 μL) versus NORMO-treated rats (58.4 μL) as determined by a spectrophotometric hemoglobin assay. Accordingly, these findings suggest that early hypothermia may fail to lessen lesion size owing to complications, such as elevated blood pressure, whereas much-delayed hypothermia is beneficial after ICH. Future experiments should assess whether counteracting the side effects of early hypothermia enhances protection.
Is the Risk of HIV Acquisition Increased during and Immediately after Pregnancy? A Secondary Analysis of Pooled HIV Community-Based Studies from the ALPHA Network

Background Previous studies of HIV acquisition in pregnancy have been in specific population groups, such as sero-discordant couples which have shown an increased risk of HIV acquisition during pregnancy and studies of sexually active women where the results have been ambiguous. However these studies are unable to tell us what the overall impact of pregnancy is on HIV acquisition in the general population. Methods Data from six community-based HIV cohorts were pooled to give 2,628 sero-conversions and a total of 178,000 person years of observation. Multiple imputation was used to allow for the uncertainty of exact sero-conversion date in surveillance intervals greater than the length of a pregnancy. Results were combined using Rubin’s rules to give appropriate error bounds. The analysis was stratified into two periods: pre- and post- widespread availability of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission services. This allows us to assess whether there is reporting bias relating to a person’s knowledge of their own HIV status which would become more widespread in the latter time period. Results Results suggest that women while pregnant have a lower risk of acquiring HIV infection over all periods (HRR 0.79, 95%CI 0.70-0.89) than women who were not pregnant. There is no evidence for a difference in the rate of HIV acquisition between postpartum and non-pregnant women (HRR 0.92 95%CI 0.84-1.03). Discussion Although there may be immunological reasons for increased risk of HIV acquisition during pregnancy, at a population level this study indicates a lower risk of HIV acquisition for pregnant women. Pregnant women may be more likely to be concordant with their current sexual partner than non-pregnant women, i.e. either already HIV positive prior to the pregnancy or if negative at the time of becoming pregnant more likely to have a negative partner.
Volatile Anesthetics Mimic Cardiac Preconditioning by Priming the Activation of Mitochondrial KATP Channels via Multiple Signaling Pathways

Background Volatile anesthetics induce pharmacological preconditioning in cardiac tissue. The purpose of this study was to test whether volatile anesthetics mediate this effect by activation of the mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate–sensitive potassium (mitoKATP) or sarcolemmal KATP (sarcKATP) channel in rat ventricular myocytes and to evaluate the signaling pathways involved. Methods A cellular model of ischemia with subsequent hypoosmolar trypan blue staining served to determine the effects of 5-hydroxydecanoate, a selective mitoKATP channel blocker, HMR-1098, a selective sarcKATP channel blocker, diazoxide, a preconditioning mimicking agent, and various modulators of putative signaling pathways on cardioprotection elicited by sevoflurane and isoflurane. Microscopy was used to visualize and measure autofluorescence of flavoproteins, a direct index of mitoKATP channel activity. Results Volatile anesthetics significantly enhanced diazoxide-mediated activation of mitoKATP channels as assessed by autofluorescence of myocytes. Conversely, volatile anesthetics alone did not alter mitoKATP channel activity, implying a priming effect of volatile anesthetics on mitoKATP channels. Administration of the protein kinase C inhibitor chelerythrine completely blocked this effect. Also, pretreatment with volatile anesthetics potentiated diazoxide-mediated protection against ischemia, as indicated by a reduction in trypan blue–positive myocytes. Importantly, cardioprotection afforded by volatile anesthetics was unaffected by the sarcKATP channel blocker HMR-1098 but sensitive to modulations of nitric oxide and adenosine–Gi signaling pathways. Conclusions Using autofluorescence in live cell imaging microscopy and a simulated model of ischemia, the authors present evidence that volatile anesthetics mediate their protection in cardiomyocytes by selectively priming mitoKATP channels through multiple triggering protein kinase C–coupled signaling pathways. These observations provide important new insight into the mechanisms of anesthetic-induced preconditioning.
Asthma-COPD Overlap Phenotypes and Smoking :Comparative features of asthma in smoking or non-smoking patients with an incomplete reversibility of airway obstruction

ABSTRACT The development of COPD features, such as an incomplete reversibility of airway obstruction (IRAO), in smoking or non-smoking asthmatic patients, a condition often named Asthma-COPD Overlap (ACO), has been recognized for decades. However, there is a need to know more about the sub-phenotypes of this condition according to smoking. This study aimed at comparing the clinical, physiological and inflammatory features of smoking and non-smoking asthmatic patients exhibiting IRAO. In this cross-sectional study, patients with an IRAO with (ACO, ≥20 pack-years) or without (NS-IRAO, <5 pack-years) significant smoking history completed questionnaires about asthma control (ACQ, score 0–6, 6 = better score) and quality of life (AQLQ, score 1–7, 1 = better score) and performed expiratory flows, lung volume and carbon monoxide diffusion capacity measurements. Blood sampling and induced sputum were obtained for systemic and lower airway inflammation assessment. A total of 115 asthmatic patients were included (75 ACO: age 61 ± 10 years, 60% women and 40 NS-IRAO: age 64 ± 9 years, 38% women). ACO patients had worse asthma control scores (1.8 ± 0.9 vs 1.4 ± 0.9, P = 0.02) and poorer asthma quality of life (5.3 ± 1.0 vs 5.9 ± 1.0, P = 0.003). In addition, ACO had higher residual volume (145 ± 45 vs 121 ± 29% predicted, P = 0.008) and a lower carbon monoxide diffusing capacity corrected for alveolar volume (90 ± 22 vs 108 ± 20% predicted, P = 0.0008). No significant differences were observed in systemic or lower airway inflammation. In conclusion, in smokers and non-smokers, the presence of IRAO in asthmatics is associated with different phenotypes that reflect the addition of smoking-induced changes to asthma physiopathology.
Wireless Ventilation Control for Large-Scale Systems: the Mining Industrial Case

This paper describes a new industrial case on automation, for large‐scale systems with high environmental impact: the mining ventilation control systems. Ventilation control is essential for the operation of a mine in terms of safety (CO and NOx regulation) and energy optimization. We first discuss a novel regulation architecture, highlighting the interest for a model‐based control approach and the use of distributed sensing capabilities thanks to a wireless sensor network (WSN). We propose a new model for underground ventilation. The main components of the system dynamics are described with time‐delays, transmission errors, energy losses and concentration profiles. Two different model‐based control approaches, which can embody the complex dynamics of the system, are proposed. The first one resorts to a nonlinear model predictive control strategy (receding horizon) and aims to energy minimization, thanks to a continuous operation of the fans. The second one, based on a hybrid description of the model and fans operation, provides automatic verification of the wireless control thanks to abstraction techniques. These control strategies are compared with simulations, in terms of regulation efficiency, energy consumption and the need for computational capabilities. The industrial case description and control strategies open new vistas for the development of global system approaches that allow for the optimization of energy consumption of complex large‐scale systems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects and Performance of Speckle Noise Reduction Filters on Active Radar and Sar Images

Reduction of speckle noise is one of the most important processes to increase the quality of radar coherent images. Image variances or speckle is a granular noise that inherently exists in and degrades the quality of the active radar and SAR images. Before using active radar and SAR imageries, the very first step is to reduce the effect of Speckle noise. Most of speckle reduction techniques have been studied by researchers; however, there is no comprehensive method that takes all the constraints into consideration. Filtering is one of the common methods which is used to reduce the speckle noises. This paper compares six different speckle reduction filters quantitatively using both simulated and real imageries. The results have been presented by filtered images, statistical tables and diagrams. Finally, the best filter has been recommended based on the statistical and experimental results. * Corresponding author.
Gender and authority : A cross-national study

Les AA. examinent la place des femmes au sein des spheres du pouvoir. Ils presentent un certain nombre de donnees collectees dans 110 pays. Ils etudient l'impact d'un certain nombre de variables economiques, sociales, culturelles sur le plan de la representation des femmes au sein des administrations, des entreprises, du personnel politique
Olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease: Benefits of quantitative odorant examination

Olfactory involvement is well recognized in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to examine smell function quantitatively, using different types and concentrations of odorants in PD patients. We aimed to elucidate whether a specific odor can affect the severity and duration of PD patients. A total of 89 nondemented PD patients and 20 age-matched controls participated in the study. Quantitative evaluation of smell function was performed using the T and T olfactometer test. This test contains five kinds of odorants at different concentrations. Recognition threshold (RT) scores for all five odorants and for each individual odorant were measured in five groups of PD patients with Hoehn and Yale (HY) stages I (n = 12), II (n = 24), III (n = 43), and IV (n = 10), as well as in control subjects (n = 20). One-way analysis of variance and Ryan’s method were used for statistical comparison between the five groups. Compared with controls and HY I patients, total RT scores were significantly higher in HY II, III, and IV patients. There were no statistically significant differences in RT scores between HY I patients and controls. However, total RT scores for three HY I patients (25%) were higher than the mean + two standard deviations of controls. On single odorant testing, significant higher RT scores for methylcyclopentenolone and skatol were found in HY II, III, and IV patients, in comparison with controls and HY I patients. The remaining three odorants did not differ statistically between PD patients and control subjects. The present study indicated that hyposmia in PD patients increased from HY II onwards. A single odorant of methyl cyclopentenolone or skatol had benefits for olfactory evaluation in PD patients. Our data also clarified that olfactory deficits occurred in a subset of HY I patients. Further prospective study is needed to elucidate whether a distinct profile of PD exists between HY I patients with and without hyposmia.
Surface drying after seed priming improves the stand establishment and productivity of maize than seed re-drying.

Good stand establishment and seedling emergence are the drivers of achieving higher cereal productivity. Seed priming offers a pragmatic option to trigger the stand establishment and subsequent growth and yield of field crops. The objective of this study was to compare various seed priming techniques followed by re-drying and surface drying before sowing for improving the seedling emergence and subsequent growth of autumn planted maize (Zea mays L.). The treatments of the experiment were (i) un-primed seed, (ii) osmoprimed seeds (with CaCl2) and (iii) hydro-primed seeds, followed by seed surface drying and re-drying of each priming treatment. Maize hybrid 31-R88 was used as experimental material. The experiment was conducted in pots as well as under field conditions in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan. In pot study, all seed priming treatments significantly reduced the mean emergence time and improved the uniformity of emergence. Under field conditions, surface drying of hydroand osmoprimed seeds was the most beneficial for improvement in time to start emergence and final emergence count than the other treatments. The yield parameters and grain yield was the highest in osmoprimed seeds with surface drying followed by hydro-primed seeds with surface drying. The re-drying of primed seeds was not useful for improving productivity of maize compared with surface drying. In crux, surface drying of primed seed is a pragmatic option to improve the seedling emergence and subsequent growth of autumn planted maize crop. © 2018 Friends Science Publishers
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy under segmental thoracic spinal anaesthesia: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic surgery is normally performed under general anaesthesia, but regional techniques have been found beneficial, usually in the management of patients with major medical problems. Encouraged by such experience, we performed a feasibility study of segmental spinal anaesthesia in healthy patients. METHODS Twenty ASA I or II patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy received a segmental (T10 injection) spinal anaesthetic using 1 ml of bupivacaine 5 mg ml-1 mixed with 0.5 ml of sufentanil 5 microg ml-1. Other drugs were only given (systemically) to manage patient anxiety, pain, nausea, hypotension, or pruritus during or after surgery. The patients were reviewed 3 days postoperatively by telephone. RESULTS The spinal anaesthetic was performed easily in all patients, although one complained of paraesthesiae which responded to slight needle withdrawal. The block was effective for surgery in all 20 patients, six experiencing some discomfort which was readily treated with small doses of fentanyl, but none requiring conversion to general anaesthesia. Two patients required midazolam for anxiety and two ephedrine for hypotension. Recovery was uneventful and without sequelae, only three patients (all for surgical reasons) not being discharged home on the day of operation. CONCLUSIONS This preliminary study has shown that segmental spinal anaesthesia can be used successfully and effectively for laparoscopic surgery in healthy patients. However, the use of an anaesthetic technique involving needle insertion into the vertebral canal above the level of termination of the spinal cord requires great caution and should be restricted in application until much larger numbers of patients have been studied.
Revisiting Taglish Na Naman: A congruence approach to Tagalog-English code-switching

Dans le contexte multilingue des Philippines, une alternance de code est particulierement utilisee : celle concernant l'anglais et le tagalog. Cette alternance, le taglish, est utilisee au niveau national, dans les mass media. L'A. utilise les resultats d'etudes recentes sur le taglish (Sebba, 1998) pour determiner si les strategies de changement de code peuvent s'expliquer par l'existence d'une correspondance entre les structures du tagalog et celles de l'anglais et definir quelles structures sont concernees par cette correspondance
Investigating the Students' Perceptions of the Democratic Values of Academicians

The aim of the study is to investigate how university students percieve academicians’ democratic values, and whether their perceptions on it differ significantly according to certain variables. Designed as a descriptive quantitative research, this study employs of 248 students studying at the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in Usak University as its participants. “The Scale of Students’ Perceptions of the Academicians’ Democratic Values” was developed and utilized for the study by the researcher. The resulting 6-dimension structure explains 62,831% of the phenomenon in total. In addition to the construct validity, Cronbach’s Alpha Internal Consistency Coefficient was calculated and it was found ,927. The academicians’ perceived level of having democratic values was found to be 2,43. The findings indicated that the academicians had democratic attitudes at low levels based on the students’ perceptions. They attributed much more importance to “respecting institutional rules and regulations” and "giving importance to equality” compared to other four dimensions. The academicians give least importance to the “democratic role modelling behaviours”. Furthermore, the results indicated that there were statistically significant differences according to certain demographic variables.
Diachronic Lexical Changes In Company Reports : An Initial Investigation

We present initial investigations for a diachronic study of lexical changes in financial reporting, looking at methods suitable for analysing semantic associations between financial terms and how these change across time. Our corpus consists of US 10-K annual reports of 30 companies included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index over the years 1996-2015. We grouped the reports by the reported fiscal year and derived word embedding models for each year using both GloVe and a count-based PPMI method; these vectors were then used to calculate cosine similarity between pairs of words. We expect the resulting diachronic patterns of lexical contexts of financial terms to vary with the economic cycle; here we select pairs of terms with strong increasing association over time (e.g. dividend and shareholder) or strong decreasing association over time (e.g. dividend and gain), and suggest some qualitative explanations for these changes due to the economic crisis.
On the Design of Output Feedback Controllers for LTI Systems Over Fading Channels

This paper considers linear time-invariant control systems over fading channels in both continuous-time and discrete-time cases and addresses the design of output feedback controllers that stabilize the closed-loop system in the mean square sense. It is shown that a sufficient and necessary condition for the existence of such controllers can be obtained by solving a convex optimization problem in the form of a semidefinite program. This condition is obtained by reformulating mean square stability as asymptotical stability of a suitable matrix comprising plant, controller, and channel, and by introducing modified Hurwitz and Schur stability criteria.
A Marker of Endotoxemia Is Associated With Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders in Apparently Healthy Chinese

OBJECTIVE Elevated lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), a marker of subclinical endotoxemia, may be involved in the pathogenesis of obesity and metabolic risk. We aimed to investigate the association between plasma LBP and metabolic disorders in apparently healthy Chinese. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A population-based study including 559 overweight/obese (BMI ≥24.0 kg/m2) and 500 normal-weight (18.0 ≤ BMI <24.0 kg/m2) subjects aged 35–54 years was conducted in Shanghai, China. Fasting plasma glucose, lipid profile, LBP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, high-molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin, leptin, hepatic enzymes, and body composition were measured. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the updated National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criterion for Asian Americans. RESULTS LBP levels were significantly higher in overweight/obese individuals than in normal-weight individuals (geometric mean 27.6 [95% CI 25.2–30.3] vs. 10.0 [9.1–11.1] μg/ml; P < 0.001). After multiple adjustments including BMI, the odds ratios were 3.54 (95% CI 2.05–6.09) and 5.53 (95% CI 2.64–11.59) for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, respectively, comparing the highest with the lowest LBP quartile. Further adjustments for inflammatory markers almost abolished the significant association of LBP with metabolic syndrome but not that with type 2 diabetes, and controlling for adipokines and hepatic enzymes did not substantially alter the results. CONCLUSIONS Elevated circulating LBP was associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes in apparently healthy Chinese. These findings suggested a role of lipopolysaccharide via initiation of innate immune mechanism(s) in metabolic disorders. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these results.