Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reward and relapse: complete gene-induced dissociation in an animal model of alcohol dependence.

BACKGROUND In animal models of continuous alcohol self-administration, in which physical dependence does not constitute the major factor of ethanol intake, 2 factors likely contribute to the perpetuation of alcohol self-administration: (i) the rewarding effects of ethanol and (ii) the contextual conditioning cues that exist along with the process of self-administration. Present studies are aimed at understanding the relative contribution of these factors on the perpetuation of heavy alcohol self-administration, as an indication of relapse. METHODS Wistar-derived UChB high ethanol drinker rats were allowed access to 10% ethanol and water on a 24-hour basis. In initial studies, an anticatalase shRNA gene-coding lentiviral vector aimed at inhibiting acetaldehyde generation was administered into the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the animals prior to ethanol access. In subsequent studies, the lentiviral vector was administered to animals, which had consumed ethanol on a 24-hour basis, or a 1-hour basis, after the animals had reached high levels of ethanol intake for 60 to 80 days. In final studies, quinine (0.01%) was added to the ethanol solution to alter the conditioning taste/smell cues of alcohol that animals had chronically ingested. RESULTS Data indicate that the administration of an anticatalase vector into the VTA of naïve animals blocked reward and alcohol self-administration, while it was, nevertheless, inactive in inhibiting alcohol self-administration in rats that had been conditioned to ingest ethanol for over 2 months. The lack of inhibitory effect of the anticatalase vector on ethanol intake in animals that had chronically self-administered ethanol was fully reversed when the contextual conditioning cues of the alcohol solution were changed. CONCLUSIONS Data highlight the importance of conditioning factors in relapse and suggest that only abolishing or blunting it, along with long-lasting pharmacological treatment to reduce ethanol reward, may have protracted effects in reducing alcohol self-administration.
KINEMATIC DISTANCES TO MOLECULAR CLOUDS IDENTIFIED IN THE GALACTIC RING SURVEY

Kinematic distances to 750 molecular clouds identified in the 13CO J = 1 → 0 Boston University–Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Galactic Ring Survey (GRS) are derived assuming the Clemens rotation curve of the Galaxy. The kinematic distance ambiguity is resolved by examining the presence of H i self-absorption toward the 13CO emission peak of each cloud using the Very Large Array Galactic Plane Survey. We also identify 21 cm continuum sources embedded in the GRS clouds in order to use absorption features in the H i 21 cm continuum to distinguish between near and far kinematic distances. The Galactic distribution of GRS clouds is consistent with a four-arm model of the Milky Way. The locations of the Scutum-Crux and Perseus arms traced by GRS clouds match star-count data from the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire star-count data. We conclude that molecular clouds must form in spiral arms and be short-lived (lifetimes < 107 yr) in order to explain the absence of massive, 13CO bright molecular clouds in the interarm space.
Receiving-Capacity-Constrained Rapid and Fair Disaster Backup for multiple datacenters in SDN

To prevent data losses and service interruptions caused by natural disasters or human misconduct, we need to leverage periodic disaster backup among geographically distributed multiple datacenters. Previous works aimed at bandwidth allocation to achieve maximum network flow for every backup pair one by one or fair load distribution for backup datacenters respectively, without jointly optimizing the two problems to realize rapid and fair disaster backup. In this paper, we propose a new Receiving-Capacity-Constrained Rapid and Fair Disaster Backup strategy in the Software Defined Network scenarios. We formulate the disaster backup problem as a Receiving-Capacity-Constrained Capacitated Multi-Commodity Flow problem which is NP-complete. To solve the problem, we first construct a new effective Receiving-Capacity-Aware network model guaranteeing upper bound of bandwidth allocation to achieve fair load distribution for backup datacenters. And in this network model, we further propose a Bound-Aware Ant Colony Optimization algorithm satisfying backup flow constraint and lower bound constraint to achieve fast data transmission for backup pairs. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate that our strategy has better performance with less total backup time and more fair load distribution than state-of-the-art algorithms.
Perception of complex smells and tastes

Complexity of Natural Mixtures and Their Perception: G. Epple, A. Belcher, K.L. Greenfield, I. K*auuderling, K. Nordstrom, and A.B. Smith III, Scent Mixtures Used as Social Signals in Two Primates Species: Saguinus Fuscicollis and Saguinus O. Oedipus. W.E. S. Carr, H.G. Trapido-Rosenthal, and R.A. Gleeson, Stimulants of Feeding Behavior in Marine Organisms: Receptor and Perireceptor Events Provide Insight into Mechanisms of Mixture Interactions. Physiology of Mixture Perception: R.J. O'Connell and R.P. Akers, Responses of Insect Olfactory Receptor Neurons to Biologically Relevant Mixtures. C.D. Derby, M. -N. Girardot, P.C. Daniel, and J.B. Fine-Levy, Olfactory Discrimination of Mixtures: Behavioral, Electrophysiological, and Theoretical Studies Using the Spiny Lobster Panulirus argus. J. Atema, P. Borroni, B. Johnson, R. Voigt, and L. Handrich, Adaptation and Mixture Interactions in Chemoreceptor Cells: Mechanisms for Diversity and Contrast Enhancement. B.W. Ache, Central and Peripheral Bases for Mixture Suppression in Olfaction: A Crustacean Model. J.G. Brand, B.P. Bryant, D.L. Kalinoski, and R.H. Cagan, Receptor Site Specificity in Taste and Implications for Mixture Reception. M.E. Frank, Processing of Mixtures of Stimuli with Different Tastes by Primary Mammalian Taste Neurons. D.V. Smith, Neural and Behavioral Mechanisms of Taste Mixture Perception in Mammals. Human Perception of Mixtures: M.D. Rabin and W.S. Cain, Attention and Learning in the Perception of Odor Mixtures. D.G. Laing, The Role of Physicochemical and Neural Factors in the Perception of Odor Mixtures. P. Laffort, Models for Describing Intensity Interaction in Odor Mixtures: A Reappraisal. J.H. A. Kroeze, Is Taste Mixture Suppression a Peripheral or Central Event? J.E. R. Frijters and C. De Graaf, Modeling Taste Mixture Interactions in Equiratio Mixtures. R.L. McBride, Three Models for Taste Mixtures. Interactions of the Chemical Senses: D.E. Hornung and M.P. Enns, Separating the Contributions of Smells and Tastes in Flavor Perception. H.T. Lawless and D.A. Stevens, Mixtures of Oral Chemical Irritants. Index.
Thyroid dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Jordan.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity in type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS The study was conducted at the National Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics, Jordan University Hospital, Amman, Jordan, between March 2000 and September 2000. A group of 908 type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM) were recruited in the study and underwent investigations for thyroid functions; free thyroxine (FT4), free tri-iodothyronine (FT3) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Six hundred had performed thyroid autoantibodies, thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOab) or antimicrosomal antibodies (AMA) and thyroglobulin antibodies (Tgab). They were compared with 304 non-diabetics, of those 282 had performed thyroid antibodies. RESULTS Fifty-three (5.9%) of diabetic patients were known to have thyroid disease. As a direct result of screening, new thyroid disease cases were diagnosed in 6.6% of the patients. Thus, the overall prevalence of thyroid disease was found to be 12.5%. The most common was subclinical hypothyroidism (4.1%). In the control group, the prevalence of thyroid disease was 6.6%. The most common was subclinical hypothyroidism (5%). There was a significant difference between diabetics and control subjects p=0.0064. Positive TPOab was found in 8.3% of T2DM patients (N=600) versus 10.3% in the control group (N=282) p=0.412. Positivity for both TPOab and Tgab was found to be 2.5% of T2DM versus 6% of the control subjects p=0.0155. CONCLUSION This study suggests that diabetic patients should be screened for asymptomatic thyroid dysfunction.
Familial CHARGE syndrome because of CHD7 mutation: clinical intra‐ and interfamilial variability

CHARGE syndrome (OMIM #214800) is a multiple malformation syndrome with distinctive diagnostic criteria, usually because of CHD7 (chromodomain helicase DNA binding 7) haploinsufficiency. Familial occurrence of CHARGE syndrome is rare. We report six patients from two Caucasian families (both with one parent and two children) affected by mild to severe CHARGE syndrome. Direct sequencing of the CHD7 gene was performed in these two unrelated families. A mutation in exon 8 (c.2501C>T – p.S834F) in first chromodomain was found in family A and a nonsense mutation in exon 2 (c.469C>T – p.R157X) in family B. Both mutations are de novo in the parents. In family A, the elder son had bilateral cleft lip and palate, esophageal atresia with fistula, complex heart defect and vertebral abnormalities, while the younger had a posterior coloboma. Their mother had asymptomatic vestibular dysfunction and retinal coloboma, identified after the molecular diagnosis of her children. In family B, both affected children had severe expression of CHARGE syndrome. The father carrying the mutation only had asymmetric anomaly of the pinnae. These familial reports describe the intrafamilial variability of CHARGE syndrome, and underline the presence of CHD7 mutations in patients who do not fit the ‘classical clinical criteria’ for CHARGE syndrome.
Recent advances in recurrent urinary tract infection from pathogenesis and biomarkers to prevention

Recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) might be one of the most common problems in urological clinics. Recent research has revealed novel evidence about recurrent UTI and it should be considered a different disease from the first infection. The pathogenesis of recurrent UTI might include two mechanisms, bacterial factors and deficiencies in host defense. Bacterial survival in the urinary bladder after antibiotic treatment and progression to form intracellular bacterial communities might be the most important bacterial factors. In host defense deficiency, a defect in pathogen recognition and urothelial barrier function impairment play the most important roles. Immunodeficiency and urogenital tract anatomical abnormalities have been considered the essential risk factors for recurrent UTI. In healthy women, voiding dysfunction and behavioral factors also increase the risk of recurrent UTI. Sexual intercourse and estrogen deficiency in postmenopausal women might have the strongest association with recurrent UTI. Traditional lifestyle factors such as fluid intake and diet are not considered independent risk factors now. Serum and urine biomarkers to predict recurrent UTI from the first infection have also attracted a wide attention recently. Current clinical evidence suggests that serum macrophage colony-stimulating factor and urinary nerve growth factor have potential predictive value for recurrent UTI. Clinical trials have proven the efficacy of the oral immunoactive agent OM-89 for the prevention of UTI. Vaccines for recurrent UTI are recommended by the latest guidelines and are available on the market.
Auditory Efferents Facilitate Sound Localization in Noise in Humans

The mammalian auditory system contains descending neural pathways, some of which project onto the cochlea via the medial olivocochlear (MOC) system. The function of this efferent auditory system is not entirely clear. Behavioral studies in animals with olivocochlear (OC) lesions suggest that the MOC serves to facilitate sound localization in noise. In the current work, noise-induced OC activity (the OC reflex) and sound-localization performance in noise were measured in normal-hearing humans. Consistent with earlier studies, both measures were found to vary substantially across individuals. Importantly, significant correlations were observed between OC-reflex strength and the effect of noise on sound-localization performance; the stronger the OC reflex, the less marked the effect of noise. These results suggest that MOC activation by noise helps to counteract the detrimental effects of background noise on neural representations of direction-dependent spectral features, which are especially important for accurate localization in the up/down and front/back dimensions.
Evaluating the impact of tuberculosis control: number of deaths prevented by short-course chemotherapy in China.

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) is still amongst the most important causes of human morbidity and mortality, killing approximately two million people each year. Standard short-course chemotherapy (SSCC) can rapidly control illness and dramatically reduce the chance of death, but the impact of treatment has rarely been evaluated in these terms. METHOD We developed a mathematical model that makes use of routinely-collected data to calculate the number of deaths directly prevented by TB treatment (i.e. excluding those due to reduced transmission). The method was applied to the world's largest TB control programme covering over 500 million people in 12 provinces of China. RESULTS Counties which had been enrolled in the programme since 1991 were, by 1997, preventing at least 46% (37-56%) of the TB deaths that would otherwise have occurred. If replicated across the entire TB control programme area, this would amount to 30 000 (range 26 000-59 000) deaths directly prevented each year. CONCLUSIONS Short-course chemotherapy has substantially reduced TB mortality in half of China. The analytical method described here could be applied to TB control operations in many other countries, and should help to quantify the true burden of tuberculosis alleviated by SSCC.
Parallel Streaming Signature EM-tree: A Clustering Algorithm for Web Scale Applications

The proliferation of the web presents an unsolved problem of automatically analyzing billions of pages of natural language. We introduce a scalable algorithm that clusters hundreds of millions of web pages into hundreds of thousands of clusters. It does this on a single mid-range machine using efficient algorithms and compressed document representations. It is applied to two web-scale crawls covering tens of terabytes. ClueWeb09 and ClueWeb12 contain 500 and 733 million web pages and were clustered into 500,000 to 700,000 clusters. To the best of our knowledge, such fine grained clustering has not been previously demonstrated. Previous approaches clustered a sample that limits the maximum number of discoverable clusters. The proposed EM-tree algorithm uses the entire collection in clustering and produces several orders of magnitude more clusters than the existing algorithms. Fine grained clustering is necessary for meaningful clustering in massive collections where the number of distinct topics grows linearly with collection size. These fine-grained clusters show an improved cluster quality when assessed with two novel evaluations using ad hoc search relevance judgments and spam classifications for external validation. These evaluations solve the problem of assessing the quality of clusters where categorical labeling is unavailable and unfeasible.
Telmisartan, ramipril, or both in patients at high risk for vascular events.

BACKGROUND In patients who have vascular disease or high-risk diabetes without heart failure, angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reduce mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular causes, but the role of angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) in such patients is unknown. We compared the ACE inhibitor ramipril, the ARB telmisartan, and the combination of the two drugs in patients with vascular disease or high-risk diabetes. METHODS After a 3-week, single-blind run-in period, patients underwent double-blind randomization, with 8576 assigned to receive 10 mg of ramipril per day, 8542 assigned to receive 80 mg of telmisartan per day, and 8502 assigned to receive both drugs (combination therapy). The primary composite outcome was death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. RESULTS Mean blood pressure was lower in both the telmisartan group (a 0.9/0.6 mm Hg greater reduction) and the combination-therapy group (a 2.4/1.4 mm Hg greater reduction) than in the ramipril group. At a median follow-up of 56 months, the primary outcome had occurred in 1412 patients in the ramipril group (16.5%), as compared with 1423 patients in the telmisartan group (16.7%; relative risk, 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.94 to 1.09). As compared with the ramipril group, the telmisartan group had lower rates of cough (1.1% vs. 4.2%, P<0.001) and angioedema (0.1% vs. 0.3%, P=0.01) and a higher rate of hypotensive symptoms (2.6% vs. 1.7%, P<0.001); the rate of syncope was the same in the two groups (0.2%). In the combination-therapy group, the primary outcome occurred in 1386 patients (16.3%; relative risk, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.07); as compared with the ramipril group, there was an increased risk of hypotensive symptoms (4.8% vs. 1.7%, P<0.001), syncope (0.3% vs. 0.2%, P=0.03), and renal dysfunction (13.5% vs. 10.2%, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Telmisartan was equivalent to ramipril in patients with vascular disease or high-risk diabetes and was associated with less angioedema. The combination of the two drugs was associated with more adverse events without an increase in benefit. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00153101 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
Synthesis and Assembly of Simian Virus 40 I. Differential Synthesis of Intact Virions and Empty Shells

Intact virions and empty shells of simian virus 40 may be rapidly separated from each other and from cell contaminants by a procedure employing a CsCl cushion. This approach permits quantitation of their respective syntheses in infected cells labeled with radioactive amino acids. As much as 5 to 10% of the total acid-precipitable radioactive lysine in infected cell extracts was incorporated into viral particles in a two-hour pulse late in infection. Evidence for multiple origins of empty shells is presented. Some of the empty shells result from breakdown of intact virions. However, empty shells can also form independently of intact virions. First, labeling for periods of 15 min to 2 hr late in the course of infection results in preferential incorporation of 3H-lysine into empty shells. Secondly, treatment with the deoxyribonucleic acid inhibitor cytosine-β-d-arabinofuranoside late in infection results in a 50% inhibition in the rate of formation of intact virions with minimal reduction in the rate of appearance of empty shells.
Functional genomics and proteomics of the cellular osmotic stress response in `non-model' organisms

SUMMARY All organisms are adapted to well-defined extracellular salinity ranges. Osmoregulatory mechanisms spanning all levels of biological organization, from molecules to behavior, are central to salinity adaptation. Functional genomics and proteomics approaches represent powerful tools for gaining insight into the molecular basis of salinity adaptation and euryhalinity in animals. In this review, we discuss our experience in applying such tools to so-called `non-model' species, including euryhaline animals that are well-suited for studies of salinity adaptation. Suppression subtractive hybridization, RACE-PCR and mass spectrometry-driven proteomics can be used to identify genes and proteins involved in salinity adaptation or other environmental stress responses in tilapia, sharks and sponges. For protein identification in non-model species, algorithms based on sequence homology searches such as MSBLASTP2 are most powerful. Subsequent gene ontology and pathway analysis can then utilize sets of identified genes and proteins for modeling molecular mechanisms of environmental adaptation. Current limitations for proteomics in non-model species can be overcome by improving sequence coverage, N- and C-terminal sequencing and analysis of intact proteins. Dependence on information about biochemical pathways and gene ontology databases for model species represents a more severe barrier for work with non-model species. To minimize such dependence, focusing on a single biological process (rather than attempting to describe the system as a whole) is key when applying `omics' approaches to non-model organisms.
Comparative evaluation of the effects of xylitol and sugar-free chewing gums on salivary and dental plaque pH in children.

UNLABELLED This research paper primarily focuses on the importance of use of xylitol among school children. PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the salivary and dental plaque pH changes after consumption of sugared and sugar-free (xylitol) chewing gums in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 30 school children were selected for this study and were divided into two equal groups and given both chewing gums for the experiment. RESULTS Children consuming the sugar-free (xylitol) chewing gum showed a marked increase in the pH of saliva and plaque when compared to their counterpart. All these values had a significant difference of P ≤ 0.0001. CONCLUSION Xylitol is a safe all-natural sweetener which helps to reduce tooth decay. It plays a unique role in preventive strategies for better health.
The dynamics of hylobatid bipedalism: evidence for an energy-saving mechanism?

SUMMARY When gibbons travel through the forest canopy, brachiation is alternated with short bipedal bouts over horizontal boughs. We know, from previous research, that brachiation is a very efficient locomotor mode that makes use of a pendulum-like exchange of energy, but to date, nothing is known about the dynamics of hylobatid bipedalism. We wondered if gibbons also make use of an efficient gait mechanism during bipedal locomotion. To investigate this, we calculated oscillations of the centre of mass (COM), energy fluctuations, recovery rates and power outputs from the 3D ground reaction forces. These ground reaction forces were collected during spontaneous bipedal locomotion of four untrained white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) over an instrumented walkway (with an AMTI force plate). Excursions of the COM are relatively large during hylobatid bipedalism and the fluctuations of potential and kinetic energy are largely in-phase. Together with the low inverted pendulum recovery rates, this points to a spring-mass mechanism during bipedal locomotion. Although the well-developed Achilles tendon of gibbons seems to be a good candidate for the storage and recoil of elastic energy, this is not supported by kinematical data of the ankle joint. Instead, we suggest that the knee extensor muscle tendon unit functions as an energy-saving mechanism during hylobatid bipedalism, but detailed anatomical data is needed to confirm this suggestion. At low speeds gibbons use either pendular or spring mechanics, but a clear gait transition as seen in most quadrupedal mammals is absent. At moderate to high velocities, gibbons use a bouncing gait, generally without aerial phases. This supports the view that aerial phases are not a prerequisite for spring-mass mechanics and reinforces the claim that duty factor alone should not be used to distinguish between a walk and run.