Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Felbamate protects CA1 neurons from apoptosis in a gerbil model of global ischemia.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Felbamate, a novel anticonvulsant that binds to the glycine site of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, has been shown to have neuroprotective properties in vitro and in vivo. In a rat pup model of hypoxia-ischemia, felbamate selectively reduced delayed death in hippocampal granule cells. The present study explores its neuroprotective potential in a gerbil model of global ischemia, in which good evidence exists that ischemia triggers apoptosis of CA1. METHODS Gerbils were subjected to bilateral carotid occlusion for 5 minutes and then treated with felbamate (100 or 200 mg/kg IV) or vehicle. They were killed 3 days later, and the numbers of live and dead neurons in the CA1 sector of the hippocampus were counted at sterotaxically defined levels. RESULTS Felbamate (200 mg/kg IV) administered after the release of carotid clamping did not change brain temperature but reduced neuronal death in CA1 from 332 +/- 60 cells per section of dorsal hippocampus in unmedicated gerbils to 62 +/- 12 cells in felbamate-treated animals (P<.001). A lower dose of felbamate (100 mg/kg post hoc) showed only a nonsignificant reduction of neuronal death. In the 200-mg/kg group, felbamate serum concentrations peaked at 162 microg/mL and were above 100 microg/mL for at least 3 hours, and brain levels reached 150 microg/mL at 1 hour. In the 100-mg/kg group, blood serum levels were well below 100 microg/mL. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that felbamate given post hoc is remarkably effective in preventing delayed apoptosis secondary to global ischemia but that effective neuroprotection requires doses higher than those used for anticonvulsant treatment.
TCP Fairness Issues in IEEE 802.11 Networks: Problem Analysis and Solutions Based on Rate Control

In this paper, we study the problem of maintaining fairness for TCP connections in wireless local area networks (WLANs) based upon the IEEE 802.11 standard. Current implementations of 802.11 use the so-called distributed coordination function (DCF), which provides similar medium access priority to all stations. Although this mode of operation ensures fair access to the medium at the MAC level, it does not provide any provisions for ensuring fairness among the TCP connections. TCP unfairness may result in significant degradation of performance leading to users perceiving unsatisfactory quality of service. We propose and analyze two solutions that are capable of enabling TCP fairness with minimal additional complexity. The proposed solutions are based on utilizing a rate-control mechanism in two modes: static or adaptive. They do not require modifying existing standards at the MAC or network layers. Hence, they are fully compatible with existing devices. Our performance analysis results prove the efficaciousness of our proposed solutions in achieving TCP fairness compared to existing approaches. We have, also, implemented the proposed solutions in an ad-hoc experimental test-bed, and performed measurements to demonstrate the validity of our approach and results
Genome amplification of single sperm using multiple displacement amplification

Sperm typing is an effective way to study recombination rate on a fine scale in regions of interest. There are two strategies for the amplification of single meiotic recombinants: repulsion-phase allele-specific PCR and whole genome amplification (WGA). The former can selectively amplify single recombinant molecules from a batch of sperm but is not scalable for high-throughput operation. Currently, primer extension pre-amplification is the only method used in WGA of single sperm, whereas it has limited capacity to produce high-coverage products enough for the analysis of local recombination rate in multiple large regions. Here, we applied for the first time a recently developed WGA method, multiple displacement amplification (MDA), to amplify single sperm DNA, and demonstrated its great potential for producing high-yield and high-coverage products. In a 50 μl reaction, 76 or 93% of loci can be amplified at least 2500- or 250-fold, respectively, from single sperm DNA, and second-round MDA can further offer >200-fold amplification. The MDA products are usable for a variety of genetic applications, including sequencing and microsatellite marker and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. The use of MDA in single sperm amplification may open a new era for studies on local recombination rates.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency alleles and severe cystic fibrosis lung disease

BACKGROUND Alpha-1 antitrypsin (α1-AT) is the most abundant proteinase inhibitor within the lung. We have recently reported the surprising observation that cystic fibrosis patients with mild to moderate deficiency of α1-antitrypsin have significantly better pulmonary function than non-deficient patients. This study may have been biased as it did not include the most severely affected patients who have died in childhood or those who have undergone orthotopic lung transplantation. The prevalence of α1-antitrypsin deficiency alleles in this most severely affected group of patients with cystic fibrosis was therefore assessed. METHODS DNA was obtained from neonatal blood spots from children with cystic fibrosis who had died from pulmonary disease and from formalin fixed lung tissue from transplanted cystic fibrosis patients. The common S and Z deficiency alleles of α1-AT were sought by amplification mutagenesis of the appropriate region of the α1-AT gene followed by restriction enzyme digestion with Xmn I and Taq I, respectively. RESULTS Seventy nine patients were identified (seven dead, 72 transplanted). Two patients (2.5%) were heterozygous for the Z allele of α1-AT and four (5.1%) were heterozygous for the S allele. This is not significantly different from the incidence in the normal population of 4% and 8% for the S and Z alleles, respectively. CONCLUSIONS These data support previous findings that deficiency of α1-AT is not associated with more severe pulmonary disease in cystic fibrosis and may be associated with milder lung disease. Further work is needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the progressive lung damage in cystic fibrosis.
Retinal input to efferent target amacrine cells in the avian retina

Abstract The bird visual system includes a substantial projection, of unknown function, from a midbrain nucleus to the contralateral retina. Every centrifugal, or efferent, neuron originating in the midbrain nucleus makes synaptic contact with the soma of a single unique amacrine cell, the target cell (TC). By labeling efferent neurons in the midbrain, we have been able to identify their terminals in retinal slices and make patch-clamp recordings from TCs. TCs generate Na+-based action potentials (APs) triggered by spontaneous EPSPs originating from multiple classes of presynaptic neurons. Exogenously applied glutamate elicited inward currents having the mixed pharmacology of NMDA, kainate, and inward rectifying AMPA receptors. Exogenously applied GABA elicited currents entirely suppressed by GABAzine and therefore mediated by GABAA receptors. Immunohistochemistry showed the vesicular glutamate transporter, vGluT2, to be present in the characteristic synaptic boutons of efferent terminals, whereas the GABA synthetic enzyme, GAD, was present in much smaller processes of intrinsic retinal neurons. Extracellular recording showed that exogenously applied GABA was directly excitatory to TCs and, consistent with this, NKCC, the Cl− transporter often associated with excitatory GABAergic synapses, was identified in TCs by antibody staining. The presence of excitatory retinal input to TCs implies that TCs are not merely slaves to their midbrain input; instead, their output reflects local retinal activity and descending input from the midbrain.
Patellofemoral knee arthroplasty

Patellofemoral osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease present in 10%-25% of patients presenting symptomatic knee OA. It can be found isolated or secondary to inflammatory joint diseases, patellar fractures and patellar instability. Anatomical abnormalities such as patella alta, altered patellar tilt and trochlear dysplasia can be identified as predisposing factors in patellofemoral OA etiopathology. In symptomatic patients with advanced stages isolated patellofemoral OA unicompartmental patellofemoral arthroplasty (PFA) is nowadays considered as the gold standard treatment. First reported by McKeever in 1955, PFA underwent a constant evolution in term of design and surgical techniques. Two kinds of prosthetic design are now available: resurfacing (so called inlay), in which the native trochlear shape and orientation remain unchanged with high bone preservation, and trochlear cutting (so called onlay) characterized by a wider asymmetrical trochlea with a higher level of patellar constraint. The success of replacement depends mainly on good patient selection and respect of relative and absolute contraindications. The outcomes are heterogeneous: recent studies about inlay generation showed a high revision rate (28%) at 6 years of follow-up. Onlay implants demonstrated a greater percentage of good to excellent results and survivorship, albeit inferior if compared to total knee arthroplasty. Early failure may be correlated to unexplained pain, progression of osteoarthritic process to femorotibial compartments and patellar maltracking, and late failure main cause remains progression of OA, followed by aseptic loosening and residual pain. In conclusion there is still no consensus for PFA indications and further long term and randomized studies are needed to assess the clinical benefits and long-term survivorship of this kind of implant.
Towards a Design Theory for Collaborative Technologies: Habermasian Analysis of Comprehensive Urban Planning

This article proposes a design theory for collaborative technologies based on pragmatism and multiple discourses (Habermas 1984; Schultze and Leidner, 2002). The practical value of the theory is explored via empirical data gathered in the context of an intervention enabled by Group Support Systems (GSS) in regional governance and comprehensive urban planning. During the study representatives of the regional council and territorial authorities meet to evaluate three scenarios prepared over a seven-year period. Qualitative measures were obtained of the degree of confusion (lack of understanding) and conflict (lack of trust) before and after the meeting, and participant performance and satisfaction with electronic discourse. The focus question is "Do electronic discourses enhance participant's understanding and trust in scenario planning? "
Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors After Early-Onset Preeclampsia, Late-Onset Preeclampsia, and Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension

Observational studies have shown an increased lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women who experienced a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy. This risk is related to the severity of the pregnancy-related hypertensive disease and gestational age at onset. However, it has not been investigated whether these differences in CVD risk factors are already present at postpartum cardiovascular screening. We evaluated postpartum differences in CVD risk factors in 3 subgroups of patients with a history of hypertensive pregnancy. We compared the prevalence of common CVD risk factors postpartum among 448 women with previous early-onset preeclampsia, 76 women with previous late-onset preeclampsia, and 224 women with previous pregnancy-induced hypertension. Women with previous early-onset preeclampsia were compared with women with late-onset preeclampsia and pregnancy-induced hypertension and had significantly higher fasting blood glucose (5.29 versus 4.80 and 4.83 mmol/L), insulin (9.12 versus 6.31 and 6.7 uIU/L), triglycerides (1.32 versus 1.02 and 0.97 mmol/L), and total cholesterol (5.14 versus 4.73 and 4.73 mmol/L). Almost half of the early-onset preeclampsia women had developed hypertension, as opposed to 39% and 25% of women in the pregnancy-induced hypertension and late-onset preeclampsia groups, respectively. Our data show differences in the prevalence of common modifiable CVD risk factors postpartum and suggest that prevention strategies should be stratified according to severity and gestational age of onset for the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
The F-Box Protein ACRE189/ACIF1 Regulates Cell Death and Defense Responses Activated during Pathogen Recognition in Tobacco and Tomato[W]

Virus-induced gene silencing identified the Avr9/Cf-9 RAPIDLY ELICITED gene ACRE189 as essential for the Cf-9– and Cf-4–mediated hypersensitive response (HR) in Nicotiana benthamiana. We report a role for ACRE189 in disease resistance in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). ACRE189 (herein renamed Avr9/Cf-9–INDUCED F-BOX1 [ACIF1]) encodes an F-box protein with a Leu-rich-repeat domain. ACIF1 is widely conserved and is closely related to F-box proteins regulating plant hormone signaling. Silencing of tobacco ACIF1 suppressed the HR triggered by various elicitors (Avr9, Avr4, AvrPto, Inf1, and the P50 helicase of Tobacco mosaic virus [TMV]). ACIF1 is recruited to SCF complexes (a class of ubiquitin E3 ligases), and the expression of ACIF1 F-box mutants in tobacco compromises the HR similarly to ACIF1 silencing. ACIF1 affects N gene–mediated responses to TMV infection, including lesion formation and salicylic acid accumulation. Loss of ACIF1 function also reduced confluent cell death induced by Pseudomonas syringae pv tabaci. ACIF1 silencing in Cf9 tomato attenuated the Cf-9–dependent HR but not Cf-9 resistance to Cladosporium fulvum. Resistance conferred by the Cf-9 homolog Cf-9B, however, was compromised in ACIF1-silenced tomato. Analysis of public expression profiling data suggests that Arabidopsis thaliana homologs of ACIF1 (VFBs) regulate defense responses via methyl jasmonate– and abscisic acid–responsive genes. Together, these findings support a role of ACIF1/VFBs in plant defense responses.
Low concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D associated with increased risk for chronic bronchitis among US adults

Increasing evidence suggests that vitamin D benefits both innate and adaptive immunity, thereby eliciting an anti-inflammatory effect and reducing the risk of infectious disease. The present study examined the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and the risk of chronic bronchitis among US adults. We analysed data from 6872 US adults aged ≥ 20 years who participated in the 2003–6 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Prevalence and OR with 95 % CI of having self-reported chronic bronchitis were estimated by quintiles of 25(OH)D or vitamin D-deficiency status after adjustment for potential confounders. The results showed that the adjusted prevalence of chronic bronchitis ranged from 2·4 (95 % CI 1·4, 3·3) % among adults in the highest quintile of 25(OH)D ( ≥ 30 ng/ml) to 4·1 (95 % CI 2·5, 5·6) % among adults in the lowest quintile ( < 15 ng/ml; P for trend < 0·01). The adjusted OR for chronic bronchitis was 1·85 (95 % CI 1·06, 3·24) in adults with < 15 ng/ml 25(OH)D and 1·77 (95 % CI 1·19, 2·65) in those with 15 to < 20 ng/ml 25(OH)D compared with adults with ≥ 30 ng/ml 25(OH)D. Additionally, the adjusted OR for chronic bronchitis was 1·52 (95 % CI 1·03, 2·26) among adults with vitamin D deficiency ( < 20 ng/ml 25(OH)D) compared with those with ≥ 20 ng/ml 25(OH)D. For every 1 ng/ml increase in 25(OH)D, the likelihood of having chronic bronchitis fell by 2·6 % (P = 0·016). In conclusion, low serum 25(OH)D levels are associated with the increased risk of chronic bronchitis among US adults. The present results provide support for continuing research on the role of vitamin D in lung diseases.
Matrilocal residence is ancestral in Austronesian societies

The nature of social life in human prehistory is elusive, yet knowing how kinship systems evolve is critical for understanding population history and cultural diversity. Post-marital residence rules specify sex-specific dispersal and kin association, influencing the pattern of genetic markers across populations. Cultural phylogenetics allows us to practise ‘virtual archaeology’ on these aspects of social life that leave no trace in the archaeological record. Here we show that early Austronesian societies practised matrilocal post-marital residence. Using a Markov-chain Monte Carlo comparative method implemented in a Bayesian phylogenetic framework, we estimated the type of residence at each ancestral node in a sample of Austronesian language trees spanning 135 Pacific societies. Matrilocal residence has been hypothesized for proto-Oceanic society (ca 3500 BP), but we find strong evidence that matrilocality was predominant in earlier Austronesian societies ca 5000–4500 BP, at the root of the language family and its early branches. Our results illuminate the divergent patterns of mtDNA and Y-chromosome markers seen in the Pacific. The analysis of present-day cross-cultural data in this way allows us to directly address cultural evolutionary and life-history processes in prehistory.
A Twin Study of Breastfeeding With a Preliminary Genome-Wide Association Scan

Breastfeeding has been an important survival trait during human history, though it has long been recognized that individuals differ in their exact breastfeeding behavior. Here our aims were, first, to explore to what extent genetic and environmental influences contributed to the individual differences in breastfeeding behavior; second, to detect possible genetic variants related to breastfeeding; and lastly, to test if the genetic variants associated with breastfeeding have been previously found to be related with breast size. Data were collected from a large community-based cohort of Australian twins, with 3,364 women participating in the twin modelling analyses and 1,521 of them included in the genome-wide association study (GWAS). Monozygotic (MZ) twin correlations (r MZ = 0.52, 95% CI 0.46–0.57) were larger than dizygotic (DZ) twin correlations (r DZ = 0.35, 95% CI 0.25–0.43) and the best-fitting model was the one composed by additive genetics and unique environmental factors, explaining 53% and 47% of the variance in breastfeeding behavior, respectively. No breastfeeding-related genetic variants reached genome-wide significance. The polygenic risk score analyses showed no significant results, suggesting breast size does not influence breastfeeding. This study confers a replication of a previous one exploring the sources of variance of breastfeeding and, to our knowledge, is the first one to conduct a GWAS on breastfeeding and look at the overlap with variants for breast size.
Flammability and Flame Spread of Nomex® and Cellulose in Space Habitat Environments

By Julie Elise Kleinhenz In the enclosed environment of a manned space habitat, fire safety becomes a major concern. Though various combinations of pressure and oxygen can be used to support human habitation, the bulk of flammability testing for materials is done at standard atmospheric conditions. This study focuses on the flammability and flame spread in these potential space habitat environments. Pressures were kept below 1 atm, Oxgyen/Nitrogen mixtures between 21% and 30% O2, and gravity levels of 1 g/ge (Earth), 0.38 g/ge (Martian), and 0.16 g/ge (Lunar) were used. Two materials were examined. Part 1 of this report discusses Kimwipes, a thin tissue paper, which was better suited for the reduced gravity experiments. A scaling relation that predicts upward spread rate as a function of pressure, gravity, and width, is introduced and experimentally verified. Nomex fabric, a practical material commonly used in the space program, is the focus of Part 2. Nomex has a lower oxygen limit for upward spread than for downward spread. A unique phenomenon was observed during experimentation, whereby the continually elongating flames broke off in the middle into two smaller upward propagating flames. One flame would then extinguish, and the remaining flame would repeat this cycle. The process was documented in detail and is believed to be a function of a two stage pyrolysis occurring in the fuel.
Reverse Epidemiology of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Death in the Hemodialysis Population: The 58th Annual Fall Conference and Scientific Sessions

Maintenance hemodialysis patients in the United States have a high prevalence (≈80%) of systolic hypertension and a high mortality (≈20% per year). Some reports indicate a paradoxical association between hypertension and morality in hemodialysis patients (ie, a normal to low blood pressure is associated with poor outcome), whereas high pressure confers survival advantages, a phenomenon referred to as “reverse epidemiology. ” We hypothesized that malnutrition-inflammation complex syndrome may be a cause of this paradoxical association. We studied a 15-month cohort of 40 933 hemodialysis patients in the United States whose predialysis and postdialysis blood pressure values were recorded routinely during each hemodialysis treatment. Patients were 59.8±15.3 years old; 54% were women and 46% diabetics. Cox proportional hazard models were used for blood pressure categories (systolic <110, ≥190 mm Hg; diastolic <50, ≥110; and increments of 10 mm Hg in between). Unadjusted, case-mix and dialysis dose–adjusted, and additional malnutrition-inflammation–adjusted hazard ratios of all-cause and cardiovascular death showed progressively increasing all-cause and cardiovascular death risk for decreasing blood pressure values. The lowest mortality was associated with predialysis systolic pressure of 160 to 189 mm Hg, whereas normal to low predialysis pressure values were associated with significantly increased mortality. Adjustment for the malnutrition-inflammation mitigated only a small portion of paradoxical associations between the low blood pressure and mortality. Predialysis systolic hypertension remained a significant predictor of highest all-cause and cardiovascular survival rate. Although these associations may not be causal, they call into question whether treatment goals for the general population can be applied to dialysis patients or other similar populations.
Two Strategies to Speed up Connected Component Labeling Algorithms

This paper presents two new strategies to speed up connected component labeling algorithms. The first strategy employs a decision treeto minimize the work performed in the scanning phase of connected component labeling algorithms. The second strategy uses a simplified union-find data structure to represent the equivalence information among the labels. For 8-connected components in atwo-dimensional (2D) image, the first strategy reduces the number of neighboring pixels visited from 4 to7/3 on average. In various tests, using a decision tree decreases the scanning time by a factor of about 2. The second strategy uses a compact representation of the union-find data structure. This strategy significantly speeds up the labeling algorithms. We prove analytically that a labeling algorithm with our simplified union-find structure has the same optimal theoretical time complexity as do the best labeling algorithms. By extensive experimental measurements, we confirm the expected performance characteristics of the new labeling algorithms and demonstrate that they are faster than other optimal labeling algorithms.