Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serotonin, via HTR2 Receptors, Excites Neurons in a Cortical-like Premotor Nucleus Necessary for Song Learning and Production

Serotonin (5-HT) is a neuromodulator that is important for neural development, learning and memory, mood, and perception. Dysfunction of the serotonin system is central to depression and other clinically important mood disorders and has been linked with learning deficits. In mammals, 5-HT release from the raphe nuclei in the brainstem can modulate the functional properties of cortical neurons, influencing sensory and motor processing. Birds also have serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe, suggesting that 5-HT plays similar roles in sensory and motor processing, perhaps modulating brain circuitry underlying birdsong. To investigate this possibility, we measured the effects of 5-HT on spontaneous firing of projection neurons in the premotor robust nucleus of the arcopallium in brain slices from male zebra finches. These neurons are thought be akin to cortical layer V pyramidal neurons. 5-HT dramatically and reversibly enhanced the endogenous firing of RA neurons. Using pharmacological agonists and antagonists in vitro, we determined this action is mediated via HTR2 receptors, which we verified are expressed by in situ hybridization. Finally, focal administration of the serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine revealed that endogenous 5-HT is sufficient to mediate this effect in vivo. These findings reveal a modulatory action of serotonin on the physiology of the song system circuitry and suggest a novel role of serotonin in regulating song production and/or learning; further understanding of the role of 5-HT in this system may help illuminate the complex role of this neuromodulator in social interactions and motor plasticity in humans.
Increased oxidative stress with aging reduces chondrocyte survival: correlation with intracellular glutathione levels.

OBJECTIVE To examine the role of oxidative stress in mediating cell death in chondrocytes isolated from the articular cartilage of young and old adult human tissue donors. METHODS Cell death induced by the oxidant SIN-1 was evaluated in the alginate bead culture system using fluorescent probes to assess membrane integrity. Generation of peroxynitrite by the decomposition of SIN-1 was confirmed by positive immunostaining of treated cells for 3-nitrotyrosine. Determinations of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were performed in monolayer cultures using an enzyme- recycling assay. Cells were depleted of intracellular glutathione either by the addition of DL-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine or by removal of L-cystine from the culture media. The activity of cellular antioxidant enzymes was determined spectrophotometrically by the decay of substrate from the reaction mixture. RESULTS More chondrocytes (>2-fold) from old donors (>/=50 years) died after exposure to 1 mM SIN-1 relative to those derived from young donors (18-49 years). Although autocrine production of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) promotes chondrocyte survival, pretreatment with IGF-1 could not prevent the cell death induced by SIN-1 exposure. Cells isolated from old donors had a higher ratio of GSSG to GSH. Glutathione reductase is the principal enzyme involved in the regeneration of GSH from GSSG. Treatment of chondrocytes with SIN-1 to induce oxidative stress in vitro resulted in the decreased activity of glutathione reductase and thioredoxin reductase, but not catalase. Cells depleted of intracellular glutathione were more susceptible to cell death induced by SIN-1. CONCLUSION These results provide evidence that increased oxidative stress with aging makes chondrocytes more susceptible to oxidant-mediated cell death through the dysregulation of the glutathione antioxidant system. This may represent an important contributing factor to the development of osteoarthritis in older adults.
Fuzzy neural network-based texture analysis of ultrasonic images

The efficacy of a novel fuzzy neural network classifier for the characterization of ultrasonic liver images based on texture analysis techniques is investigated. Classification features are extracted with the use of image texture analysis techniques such as fractal dimension texture analysis, spatial gray-level dependence matrices, gray-level difference statistics, gray-level run-length statistics, and first-order gray-level parameters. These features are fed to a neural network classifier based on geometrical fuzzy sets. Starting from the construction of the Voronoi diagram of the training patterns, an aggregation of Voronoi regions is performed, leading to the identification of larger regions belonging exclusively to one of the pattern classes. The resulting scheme is a constructive algorithm that defines fuzzy clusters of patterns. Based on observations concerning the grade of membership of the training patterns to the created regions, decision probabilities are computed through which the final classification is performed.
Differences in patterns of depression after treatment for breast cancer

Depression is a significant problem for some breast cancer survivors after the end of treatment. This study assessed depression using the CES‐D for 84 breast cancer patients at the conclusion of radiation treatment, and at 3 and 6 months post‐treatment. Based on the pattern of CES‐D scores, patients were divided into five groups: (1) Stay Depressed (scores above clinical cutoff for depression at all timepoints); (2) Recover (above threshold at baseline, but below at follow‐up); (3) Become Depressed (below threshold at baseline, but above at follow‐up); (4) Never Depressed (below threshold at all times); and (5) Vacillate (none of the above patterns). This study examined the relationships between depression groups and a variety of medical, demographic, and psychological measures, including anxiety and quality of life (QOL). Number of children at home significantly distinguished the groups, with the Become Depressed group having more children and the Vacillate group having fewer children. Anxiety levels were different among the groups, with Recover and Never Depressed groups having consistently lower anxiety scores. QOL scores also distinguished the groups in that Never Depressed patients demonstrated better QOL than all other groups. The findings have implications for understanding resilience in cancer patients. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
4D shear stress maps of the developing heart using Doppler optical coherence tomography

Accurate imaging and measurement of hemodynamic forces is vital for investigating how physical forces acting on the embryonic heart are transduced and influence developmental pathways. Of particular importance is blood flow-induced shear stress, which influences gene expression by endothelial cells and potentially leads to congenital heart defects through abnormal heart looping, septation, and valvulogenesis. However no imaging tool has been available to measure shear stress on the endocardium volumetrically and dynamically. Using 4D structural and Doppler OCT imaging, we are able to accurately measure the blood flow in the heart tube in vivo and to map endocardial shear stress throughout the heart cycle under physiological conditions for the first time. These measurements of the shear stress patterns will enable precise titration of experimental perturbations and accurate correlation of shear with the expression of molecules critical to heart development.
Families in India: Beliefs and Realities

This overview presents a picture of the social and cultural life of India through the prism of the socio-religious beliefs of Hinduism. The major beliefs of Hinduism are sketched and demographic characteristics such as population size density distribution growth sex ratio literacy status and the caste system are described. The patriarchal nature of the Indian family is explained in terms of Hinduism and different ways of distributing family property are presented. The maintenance of the joint family is ascribed to the worship of family Gods and to family life cycle rituals. Modern economics are leading to a number of joint families maintaining separate residences. Socioeconomic dynamics are also creating new traditions of joint families and breaking down existing traditions into nuclear families. Marriages continue to be arranged by elders and to involve the joining of two families. The giving of a dowry continues with all of its attendant problems and some newer ones such as "bride burning" to allow remarriage for a higher dowry. The marriage of children is gradually giving way to an increasing marriage age and age-specific fertility is declining. While monogamy is the majority practice polygamy still exists in India. Divorce is permitted but not widely practiced. Women have always found employment outside of the home in India but their low status in general allows them to suffer exploitation at the hands of employers. The numbers of professional women are increasing however as is the variety of activities undertaken. Families still care for their aged and in the villages older people continue to be economically active as long as possible. The strong interrelationship between the Indian family and religion is based on the belief that the major function of the family is to fulfill religious obligations. Religious rites mark all human activity and all family members are imbued with a strong sense of duty.
Coaching With Compassion

Compassion involves noticing another’s need, empathizing, and acting to enhance their well-being. In response to another’s pain, the motivation is to increase hedonic well-being or the absence of pain. In response to another’s desire to grow, the motivation is to increase eudaimonic well-being or helping them develop. We argue that compassion includes both. Our expanded view suggests that coaching with compassion will lead to desired change, enhanced health, and well-being. We propose a model saying coaching with compassion invokes a psychophysiological state that enables a person to be open to new possibilities and learning. In contrast, coaching for compliance (i.e., toward how the coach or the organization believe the person should act) and deficiency-based coaching invoke the opposite state—resulting in a person being defensive, reducing cognitive functioning. We theorize how coaching with compassion can enhance adaptability of the organization through creating norms and relationships of caring and development.
MapReduce: Limitations, Optimizations and Open Issues

MapReduce has recently gained great popularity as a programming model for processing and analyzing massive data sets and is extensively used by academia and industry. Several implementations of the MapReduce model have emerged, the Apache Hadoop framework being the most widely adopted. Hadoop offers various utilities, such as a distributed file system, job scheduling and resource management capabilities and a Java API for writing applications. Hadoop's success has intrigued research interest and has led to various modifications and extensions to the framework. Implemented optimizations include performance improvements, programming model extensions, tuning automation and usability enhancements. In this paper, we discuss the current state of the Hadoop framework and its identified limitations. We present, compare and classify Hadoop/MapReduce variations, identify trends, open issues and possible future directions.
A hands-on approach for engineering students and practitioners to analyze electromagnetic interactions on flat boundaries

A hands-on approach to avoid scientific debates and confusions about surface waves and Zenneck waves are presented. The reflection coefficient for a TM incident wave on a flat boundary is studied as a function of the medium parameters in the most general way. When the second medium is lossy, the zero of this function results in a Zenneck wave and an infinite value represents a surface wave. Even though both Zenneck and surface waves are evanescent in nature and thus non-radiating, the field distribution for a Zenneck wave does not change with frequency whereas that of a surface wave gets concentrated near the surface with an increase in frequency. Finally a Zenneck wave can be excited by an electromagnetic wave but a surface wave requires electrons or quasiparticles in the form of an evanescent wave to be excited. Important questions are raised about some misused terminologies involving these two waves.
Genetic variability and discrimination of low doses of Toxocara spp. from public areas soil inferred by loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay as a field-friendly molecular tool

Abstract: Aim: One of the main diagnostic problems of conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is indiscrimination of low parasitic loads in soil samples. The aim of this study is to determine the genetic diversity and identification of Toxocara spp. from public areas soil inferred by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay. Materials and Methods: A total of 180 soil samples were collected from various streets and public parks of northwest Iran. The DNA of recovered Toxocara eggs were extracted and amplified by PCR and LAMP following ZnSO4 flotation technique. The amplicons of internal transcribed spacer-2 gene were sequenced to reveal the heterogeneity traits of Toxocara spp. In addition, Toxocara canis sequences of southwest Iran were directly retrieved to compare gene flow between two distinct populations. Results: Toxocara spp. eggs were found in 57, 14 and 77 of soil samples using the microscopy, PCR and LAMP (detection limit 1-3 eggs/200 g soil), respectively. 7.7% of isolates were identified as T. canis by PCR method, while LAMP was able to detect 27.2%, 15.5% and 12.2% as Toxocara cati, T. canis and mixed infections, respectively. The kappa coefficient between LAMP and microscopy indicated a strong agreement (0.765) but indicated a faint agreement among LAMP-PCR (0.203) and PCR-microscopy (0.308) methods. A pairwise fixation index (Fst) as a degree of gene flow was generally low (0.02156) among Toxocara populations of northwest and southwest Iran. Conclusions: The statistically significant Fst value indicates that the T. canis populations are not genetically well differentiated between northwest and southwest Iran. This shows that here is possibly an epidemiological drift due to the transfer of alleles. The LAMP assay because of its shorter reaction time, more sensitivity, and simultaneous detection of environmental contamination to be appears as valuable field diagnosis compared to PCR. Therefore, the detection of low Toxocara spp. loads from public area soils will help to expand epidemiological understanding of toxocariasis and establishing preventive strategies in resource-limited endemic of Iran.
The Future of Ad Blocking: An Analytical Framework and New Techniques

We present a systematic study of ad blocking - and the associated "arms race" - as a security problem. We model ad blocking as a state space with four states and six state transitions, which correspond to techniques that can be deployed by either publishers or ad blockers. We argue that this is a complete model of the system. We propose several new ad blocking techniques, including ones that borrow ideas from rootkits to prevent detection by anti-ad blocking scripts. Another technique uses the insight that ads must be recognizable by humans to comply with laws and industry self-regulation. We have built prototype implementations of three of these techniques, successfully blocking ads and evading detection. We systematically evaluate our proposed techniques, along with existing ones, in terms of security, practicality, and legality. We characterize the order of growth of the development effort required to create/maintain ad blockers as a function of the growth of the web. Based on our state-space model, our new techniques, and this systematization, we offer insights into the likely "end game" of the arms race. We challenge the widespread assumption that the arms race will escalate indefinitely, and instead identify a combination of evolving technical and legal factors that will determine the outcome.
Citizen Havel and the Construction of Czech Presidentiality

Václav Havel had two eventful terms as the first democratic president of the Czech Republic. The documentary Citizen Havel is one rhetorical artifact that captures the way a new democracy and its attendant executive power is constructed consciously in real time in a political culture where such a tradition has largely not existed. Culled from ten years of fly-on-the-wall-style footage, Citizen Havel captures the tensions between the constitutional expectations of the Czech presidency and Havel's own extraconstitutional interpretations of executive power. Ultimately, this essay argues that Citizen Havel is one influential representation of how Czech “presidentiality” during the post-communist transition was built from the inventional resources of a range of rhetorical and historical materials, such as the Czechoslovakian interwar period, the long influence of totalitarianism and the dissident culture that challenged it, the examples of “Western” presidential rhetoric, and even European monarchical traditions.
Manipulations of vocal and facial masculinity in videos influence attractiveness

Vocal and facial masculinity are cues to underlying testosterone in men and influence women's mate preferences. Consistent with the proposal that facial and vocal masculinity signal common information about men, prior work has revealed correlated female preferences for male facial and vocal masculinity. Previous studies have assessed women's preferences for male facial and vocal masculinity by presenting faces and voices independently and using static face stimuli. By contrast, here we presented women with short video clips in which male faces and voices were simultaneously manipulated in masculinity. We found that women who preferred masculine faces also preferred masculine voices. Furthermore, women whose faces were rated as relatively more attractive preferred both facial and vocal masculinity more than did women whose faces were rated as less attractive. These findings complement other evidence for cross-modal masculinity preferences among women, and demonstrate that preferences observed in studies using still images and/or independently presented vocal stimuli are also observed when dynamic faces and voices are displayed simultaneously in video format.
Homography-based 2D Visual Tracking and Servoing

The objective of this paper is to propose a new homography-based approach to image-based visual tracking and servoing. The visual tracking algorithm proposed in the paper is based on a new efficient second-order minimization method. Theoretical analysis and comparative experiments with other tracking approaches show that the proposed method has a higher convergence rate than standard first-order minimization techniques. Therefore, it is well adapted to real-time robotic applications. The output of the visual tracking is a homography linking the current and the reference image of a planar target. Using the homography, a task function isomorphic to the camera pose has been designed. A new image-based control law is proposed which does not need any measure of the 3D structure of the observed target (e.g. the normal to the plane). The theoretical proof of the existence of the isomorphism between the task function and the camera pose and the theoretical proof of the stability of the control law are provided. The experimental results, obtained with a 6 d.o. f. robot, show the advantages of the proposed method with respect to the existing approaches.
Common legacy, different paths: the transformation of educational systems in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland

Abstract The goal of this work is to better understand the institutional changes in the educational systems of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. We demonstrate that the educational reforms implemented during the transformation introduced very different institutional arrangements in the four countries, despite the fact that their systems shared many common characteristics at the beginning of the 1990s. Differences between the national approaches to educational reforms are particularly reflected in the modes of education decentralisation, the level of school autonomy, accountability and funding mechanisms. We believe that different institutional arrangements may have contributed to the divergent achievements of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland in the PISA programme.
Dual Roles for the Notch Target Gene Hes-1 in the Differentiation of 3T3-L1 Preadipocytes

ABSTRACT The process of adipogenesis involves a complex program of gene expression that includes down-regulation of the gene encoding Hes-1, a target of the Notch signaling pathway. To determine if Notch signaling affects adipogenesis, we exposed 3T3-L1 preadipocytes to the Notch ligand Jagged1 and found that differentiation was significantly reduced. This effect could be mimicked by constitutive expression of Hes-1. The block was associated with a complete loss of C/EBPα and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) induction and could be overcome by retroviral expression of either C/EBPα or PPARγ2. Surprisingly, small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated reduction of Hes-1 mRNA in 3T3-L1 cells also inhibited differentiation, suggesting an additional, obligatory role for Hes-1 in adipogenesis. This role may be related to our observation that both Notch signaling and Hes-1 down-regulate transcription of the gene encoding DLK/Pref-1, a protein known to inhibit differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells. The results presented in this study establish a new target downstream of the Notch-Hes-1 pathway and suggest a dual role for Hes-1 in adipocyte development.
The efficiency of small-scale agriculture in Limpopo province of South Africa

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of the small scale farmers for the production year 2006/2007 in Limpopo province using policy analysis matrix. A total of twelve production systems were selected. Result shows that all were profitable under market condition with existing policies and all except Dry land maize had comparative advantage suggesting efficiency in the systems. Ranking the systems in term of PRC and DRC, irrigated vegetables like Potatoes, cabbages and tomatoes had higher profitability and comparative advantages than field crops like both dry and irrigated maize, Peanut and Beans. Despite competiveness in all and comparative advantage in most systems, these was not due to policy intervention as incentive indicators, e.g. SRP, shows that all production systems are being taxed indicating little motivation from policies for small scale farmers to production.
The Impact of Age on the Delay in Diagnosis in Patients With Acute Pulmonary Embolism

It has been speculated that the atypical clinical presentation of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in older patients leads to a late diagnosis and therefore contributes to a worse prognosis. Therefore, we prospectively evaluated the delay in diagnosis and its relation to the in-hospital mortality in 202 patients with acute PE. Patients >65 years presented more often with hypoxia (P = .017) and with a history of syncope (P = .046). Delay in diagnosis was not statistically different in both age groups. Older age was significantly associated with an increased risk for in-hospital mortality (OR 4.36, 95% CI 0.93-20.37, P = .043), whereas the delay in diagnosis was not associated with an increase of in-hospital mortality. We therefore conclude that the clinical presentation of acute PE in older patients cannot be considered as a risk factor for late diagnosis and is not responsible for their higher in-hospital death rate.