Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impairment of Nitric Oxide Synthase but Not Heme Oxygenase Accounts for Baroreflex Dysfunction Caused by Chronic Nicotine in Female Rats

We recently reported that chronic nicotine impairs reflex chronotropic activity in female rats. Here, we sought evidence to implicate nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and/or heme oxygenase (HO) in the nicotine-baroreflex interaction. Baroreflex curves relating changes in heart rate to increases (phenylephrine) or decreases (sodium nitroprusside) in blood pressure were generated in conscious female rats treated with nicotine or saline in absence and presence of pharmacological modulators of NOS or HO activity. Compared with saline-treated rats, nicotine (2 mg/kg/day i.p., for 14 days) significantly reduced the slopes of baroreflex curves, a measure of baroreflex sensitivity (BRS). Findings that favor the involvement of NOS inhibition in the nicotine effect were (i) NOS inhibition (N ω-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, L-NAME) reduced BRS in control rats but failed to do so in nicotine-treated rats, (ii) L-arginine, NO donor, reversed the BRS inhibitory effect of nicotine. Alternatively, HO inhibition (zinc protoporphyrin IX, ZnPP) had no effect on BRS in nicotine- or control rats and failed to reverse the beneficial effect of L-arginine on nicotine-BRS interaction. Similar to female rats, BRS was reduced by L-NAME, but not ZnPP, in male rats and the L-NAME effect was not accentuated after concomitant administration of nicotine. Baroreflex dysfunction caused by nicotine in female rats was blunted after supplementation with hemin (HO inducer) but not tricarbonyldichlororuthenium(II) dimer (CORM-2), a carbon monoxide (CO) releasing molecule, or bilirubin, the breakdown product of heme catabolism. The facilitatory effect of hemin was abolished upon simultaneous treatment with L-NAME or 1H-[1], [2], [4] oxadiazolo[4,3-a] quinoxalin-1-one (inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase, sGC). The activities of HO and NOS in brainstem tissues were also significantly increased by hemin. Thus, the inhibition of NOS, but not HO, accounts for the baroreflex depressant of chronic nicotine. Further, hemin alleviates the nicotine effect through a mechanism that is NOS/sGC but not CO or bilirubin-dependent.
Implementing a hospital based injury surveillance system: a case study in Nigeria

A pilot study of violent injury surveillance was implemented in two hospitals in Kano, Nigeria, in two phases: a formative evaluation including training and arranging the collection of hospital information, followed by a 6 month prospective data collection. Road traffic injuries constituted about 80 per cent of the cases, gunshot injuries were the commonest in victims of interpersonal violence (IPV). The causes and context of IPV, the relationship of victims and perpetrators, and the place, related activities and anatomical site of injuries from IPV are summarized.
Posebits for Monocular Human Pose Estimation

We advocate the inference of qualitative information about 3D human pose, called posebits, from images. Posebits represent Boolean geometric relationships between body parts (e.g., left-leg in front of right-leg or hands close to each other). The advantages of posebits as a mid-level representation are 1) for many tasks of interest, such qualitative pose information may be sufficient (e.g., semantic image retrieval), 2) it is relatively easy to annotate large image corpora with posebits, as it simply requires answers to yes/no questions, and 3) they help resolve challenging pose ambiguities and therefore facilitate the difficult talk of image-based 3D pose estimation. We introduce posebits, a posebit database, a method for selecting useful posebits for pose estimation and a structural SVM model for posebit inference. Experiments show the use of posebits for semantic image retrieval and for improving 3D pose estimation.
Preventive medication use among persons with limited life expectancy

Abstract Persons with limited life expectancy (LLE) – less than 1 year – are significant consumers of health care, are at increased risk of polypharmacy and adverse drug events, and have dynamic health statuses. Therefore, medication use among this population must be appropriate and regularly evaluated. The objective of this review is to assess the current state of knowledge and clinical practice presented in the literature regarding preventive medication use among persons with LLE. We searched Medline, Embase, and CINAHL using Medical Subject Headings. Broad searches were first conducted using the terms ‘terminal care or therapy’ or ‘advanced disease’ and ‘polypharmacy’ or ‘inappropriate medication’ or ‘preventive medicine’, followed by more specific searches using the terms ‘statins’ or ‘anti-hypertensives’ or ‘bisphosphonates’ or ‘laxatives’ and ‘terminal care’. Frameworks to assess appropriate versus inappropriate medications for persons with LLE, and the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use among this population, are presented. A considerable proportion of individuals with a known terminal condition continue to take chronic disease preventive medications until death despite questionable benefit. The addition of palliative preventive medications is advised. There is an indication that as death approaches the shift from a curative to palliative goal of care translates into a shift in medication use. This literature review is a first step towards improving medication use and decreasing polypharmacy in persons at the end of life. There is a need to develop consensus criteria to assess appropriate versus inappropriate medication use, specifically for individuals at the end of life.
Adenylyl cyclase-cyclicAMP signaling in mood disorders: Role of the crucial phosphorylating enzyme protein kinase A

Mood disorders are among the most prevalent and recurrent forms of psychiatric illnesses. In the last decade, there has been increased understanding of the biological basis of mood disorders. In fact, novel mechanistic concepts of the neurobiology of unipolar and bipolar disorders are evolving based on recent pre-clinical and clinical studies, most of which now focus on the role of signal transduction mechanisms in these psychiatric illnesses. Particular investigative emphasis has been given to the role of phosphorylating enzymes, which are crucial in regulating gene expression and neuronal and synaptic plasticity. Among the most important phosphorylating enzyme is protein kinase A (PKA), a component of adenylyl cyclase–cyclic adenosine monophosphate (AC–cAMP) signaling system. In this review, we critically and comprehensively discuss the role of various components of AC–cAMP signaling in mood disorders, with a special focus on PKA, because of the interesting observation that have been made about its involvement in unipolar and bipolar disorders. We also discuss the functional significance of the findings regarding PKA by discussing the role of important PKA substrates, namely, Rap-1, cyclicAMP-response element binding protein, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. These studies suggest the interesting possibility that PKA and related signaling molecules may serve as important neurobiological factors in mood disorders and may be relevant in target-specific therapeutic interventions for these disorders.
Changes in heart rate and heart rate variability as a function of age in Thoroughbred horses

ABSTRACT We investigated changes in heart rate (HR) and HR variability as a function of age in newborn foals to old Thoroughbred horses. Experiments were performed on a total of 83 healthy and clinically normal Thoroughbred horses. Resting HR decreased with age from birth. The relationship between age and HR fit the equation Y=48.2X–0.129(R2=0.705); the relationship between age and HR for horses 0–7 years old fit the equation Y=44.1X–0.179(R2=0.882). Seven-day-old horses had the highest HR values (106 ± 10.3 beat/min). The low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) powers increased with age in newborn to old horses. These changes in HR and HR variability appear to result from the effects of ageing. Three- to seven-year-old race horses had the lowest HR values (32.9 ± 3.5 beat/min) and the highest LF and HF powers except for the HF powers in the oldest horses. Race training may have contributed to these changes. Horses of ages greater than 25 years old had the highest HF powers and the lowest LF/HF ratios. In individual horses, 8 of the 15 horses over 25 years old had LF/HF ratios of less than 1.0; their HR variability appears to be unique, and they may have a different autonomic balance than horses of younger age.
How Do I Teach Mathematics in a Culturally Responsive Way?: Identifying Empowering Teaching Practices.

I am a middle-school mathematics teacher in an urban school. How do I teach mathematics in a culturally responsive way to my urban students? What does this mean? I know I am White and that my students’ culture is different from me. I also know that I am from a middle-class background and most of my students come from a poverty background. I know I have to respect my students’ culture by including and celebrating Black mathematicians and I do this, but my students are still not learning mathematics successfully. My principal says I am not teaching in a culturally responsive way. So I am confused. I do not know what culturally responsive mathematics teaching means? My goal for this course is to learn how to teach mathematics in a culturally responsive way. How do I teach mathematics in a culturally responsive way? (EuropeanAmerican teacher, Summer, 2008)
Moderating Effect of Emotional Intelligence on the Relationship between Personality Traits and Employability

The main objectives of the study are to examine moderating role of emotional intelligence between personality traits and employability in the students of Malaysian public universities. The data were collected from (380) business students by applying stratified random sampling. The SEM and CFA Technique has adapted to examine relationship between personality trait emotional intelligence and employability. The findings of study proven that the moderating impact of emotional intelligence construct on relationship between personality trait and employability in the Malaysian business students. These findings may help policy makers to understand employability phenomena by different perspective. In the lieu, current study is included student view point about their emotional intelligence, personality trait employability. In further implication, these construct can be intervene during the studies to get high chances towards employment at the business world.
Context Representation and Reasoning in Pervasive Computing: a Review

Context-awareness has been recognized as an important enabler for pervasive computing. Our aim is to provide a thorough survey of the state of the art in context representation and reasoning in the field of pervasive and context-aware computing. The review is organized in sections according to the knowledge representation techniques applied in the work included in the survey and an overview of the requirements for context representation is provided. We conclude the paper with a discussion of a number of identified limitations in the current solutions and point out opportunities for further research.
A Role for Herpesvirus Entry Mediator as the Receptor for Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Entry into Primary Human Trabecular Meshwork Cells

ABSTRACT The human eye is an important target for infection with herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). Damage to cells forming the trabeculum of the eye by HSV-1 infection could contribute to the development of glaucoma, a major blinding disease. Primary cultures of human trabecular meshwork cells were used as an in vitro model to demonstrate the ability of HSV-1 to enter into and establish a productive infection of the trabeculum. Blocking of entry by anti-herpesvirus entry mediator (HVEM) antibody implicated HVEM as the major receptor for HSV-1 infection.
A spatial cognition model integrating grid cells and place cells

Grid cells and place cells have shown to play an important role in spatial cognition in rats. While place cells provide global localization from external environment information, grid cells provide a “neural odometry” for path integration from internal vestibular information. In this paper we describe a spatial cognition model integrating grid cells and place cells from behavioral and neurophysiological brain studies in rats. Grid cell firing is generated from a linear oscillatory interference model that includes a reset mechanism to overcome errors in “neural odometry” readings. The model is evaluated in simulation. Future work is discussed including extensions to the model and evaluation under physical robots.
Distributed consensus of linear multi-agent systems with switching directed topologies

This paper addresses the distributed consensus problem for a linear multi-agent system with switching directed communication topologies. By appropriately introducing a linear transformation, the consensus problem is equivalently converted to a stabilization problem for a class of switched linear systems. Some sufficient consensus conditions are then derived by using tools from the matrix theory and stability analysis of switched systems. It is proved that consensus in such a multi-agent system can be ensured if each agent is stabilizable and each possible directed topology contains a directed spanning tree. Finally, a numerical simulation is given for illustration.
Extracting Places and Activities from GPS Traces Using Hierarchical Conditional Random Fields

Learning patterns of human behavior from sensor data is extremely important for high-level activity inference. This paper describes how to extract a person’s activities and significant places from traces of GPS data. The system uses hierarchically structured conditional random fields to generate a consistent model of a person’s activities and places. In contrast to existing techniques, this approach takes the high-level context into account in order to detect the significant places of a person. Experiments show significant improvements over existing techniques. Furthermore, they indicate that the proposed system is able to robustly estimate a person’s activities using a model that is trained from data collected by other persons.
Characterization of Myxococcus xanthus MazF and implications for a new point of regulation

During development, Myxococcus xanthus cells undergo programmed cell death (PCD) whereby 80% of vegetative cells die. Previously, the MazF RNA interferase has been implicated in this role. Recently, it was shown that deletion of the mazF gene does not eliminate PCD in wild‐type strain DK1622 as originally seen in DZF1. To clarify the role of MazF, recombinant enzyme was characterized using a highly sensitive assay in the presence and absence of the proposed antitoxin MrpC. In contrast to previous reports that MrpC inhibits MazF activity, the hydrolysis rate was enhanced in a concentration‐dependent manner with MrpC or MrpC2, an N‐terminally truncated form of MrpC. Furthermore, MazF transcripts were not detected until 6–8 h post‐induction, suggesting an antitoxin is unnecessary earlier. Potential MazF targets were identified and their transcript levels were shown to decline in DK1622 while remaining steady in a mazF deletion strain. Elimination of the mazF hydrolysis site in the nla6 transcript resulted in overproduction of the mRNA. Thus, MazF negatively regulates specific transcripts. Additionally, we show that discrepancies in the developmental phenotypes caused by removal of mazF in DK1622 and DZF1 are due to the presence of the pilQ1 allele in the latter strain.
Fast Wavefront Propagation (FWP) for Computing Exact Geodesic Distances on Meshes

Computing geodesic distances on triangle meshes is a fundamental problem in computational geometry and computer graphics. To date, two notable classes of algorithms, the Mitchell-Mount-Papadimitriou (MMP) algorithm and the Chen-Han (CH) algorithm, have been proposed. Although these algorithms can compute exact geodesic distances if numerical computation is exact, they are computationally expensive, which diminishes their usefulness for large-scale models and/or time-critical applications. In this paper, we propose the fast wavefront propagation (FWP) framework for improving the performance of both the MMP and CH algorithms. Unlike the original algorithms that propagate only a single window (a data structure locally encodes geodesic information) at each iteration, our method organizes windows with a bucket data structure so that it can process a large number of windows simultaneously without compromising wavefront quality. Thanks to its macro nature, the FWP method is less sensitive to mesh triangulation than the MMP and CH algorithms. We evaluate our FWP-based MMP and CH algorithms on a wide range of large-scale real-world models. Computational results show that our method can improve the speed by a factor of 3-10.
Effects of Idealized Joint Geometry on Finite Element Predictions of Cartilage Contact Stresses in the Hip

Computational models may have the ability to quantify the relationship between hip morphology, cartilage mechanics and osteoarthritis. Most models have assumed the hip joint to be a perfect ball and socket joint and have neglected deformation at the bone-cartilage interface. The objective of this study was to analyze finite element (FE) models of hip cartilage mechanics with varying degrees of simplified geometry and a model with a rigid bone material assumption to elucidate the effects on predictions of cartilage stress. A previously validated subject-specific FE model of a cadaveric hip joint was used as the basis for the models. Geometry for the bone-cartilage interface was either: (1) subject-specific (i.e. irregular), (2) spherical, or (3) a rotational conchoid. Cartilage was assigned either a varying (irregular) or constant thickness (smoothed). Loading conditions simulated walking, stair-climbing and descending stairs. FE predictions of contact stress for the simplified models were compared with predictions from the subject-specific model. Both spheres and conchoids provided a good approximation of native hip joint geometry (average fitting error $ 0.5 mm). However, models with spherical/conchoid bone geometry and smoothed articulating cartilage surfaces grossly underestimated peak and average contact pressures (50% and 25% lower, respectively) and overestimated contact area when compared to the subject-specific FE model. Models incorporating subject-specific bone geometry with smoothed articulating cartilage also underestimated pressures and predicted evenly distributed patterns of contact. The model with rigid bones predicted much higher pressures than the subject-specific model with deformable bones. The results demonstrate that simplifications to the geometry of the bone-cartilage interface, cartilage surface and bone material properties can have a dramatic effect on the predicted magnitude and distribution of cartilage contact pressures in the hip joint.
Variants of the Entropy Power Inequality

An extension of the entropy power inequality to the form <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N_{r}^\alpha (X+Y) \geq N_{r}^\alpha (X) + N_{r}^\alpha (Y)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> with arbitrary independent summands <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$X$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Y$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ {\mathbb {R}}^{n}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is obtained for the Rényi entropy and powers <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha \geq ~(r+1)/2$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF EUCALYPTUS SPP. AND PISTASCIA LENTISCUS LEAF EXTRACTS

Background: Eucalyptus spp. and Pistascia lentiscus are among the Palestinian trees that are traditionally used in folkloric medicine in treating many diseases; leaves of which are thought to have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant effects. The goal of this study is to evaluate the in vitro inhibitory effect of Eucalyptus spp. and Pistascia lentiscus extracts on Lipopolysacaride (LPS)-induced Interlukin-6 (Il-6) and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) by polymorphonuclear Cells (PMNCs). Materials and Methods: Polymorphonuclear cells were isolated from the whole blood using Histopaque (Ficol-1077) method and then cultured in an enriched Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RBMI) medium. Supernatants’ Interlukin-6 (IL-6) and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α) levels were determined 24 hour after LPS stimulation. HPLC was employed to determine the concentration of phenolic compounds in the extracts. The concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 were compared using paired-samples t test. Results: Eucalyptus spp. and Pistascia lentiscus leaves extracts have shown significant reduction in the levels of both Il-6 and TNF-α Gallic acid; a strong anti-inflammatory agent was found to be the major phenolic compound in both leaf extracts. However, other anti-inflammatory phenolic compounds were detected in Pitascia lentiscus extract including syringic acid and p-coumaric acid, while chlorogenic acid was detected in Eucalyptus spp. leaf extract. Conclusion: Reduction in the levels of Il-6 and TNF-α upon the effect of both Eucalyptus spp. and Pistascia lentiscus extract is an indication of their anti-inflammatory effects. Our results may also indicate that the observed anti-inflammatory effect of the above extracts may be due to the presence of gallic acid and other phenolic compounds. List of Abbreviations and Nomenclature: LPS: Lipopolysacaride, Il-6: Interlukin-6, TNF-α: Tumor Necrosis Factor-α, PMNCs: Polymorphonuclear Cells, HPLC: High Performance Liquid Chromatography, ELISA: Enzyme Linked Immune Sorbent Assay, EDTA: Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic acid, PBS: phosphate buffered saline, RPMI: Roswell Park Memorial Institute medium FBS: Fetal Bovine Serum.
Strengthening Children’s Advertising Defenses: The Effects of Forewarning of Commercial and Manipulative Intent

This study investigated whether a forewarning of advertising’s intent can increase children’s (N = 159, 8–10 years old) defenses against television commercials to lower their desire for advertised products. Two different forewarnings were tested, one for advertising’s commercial intent or warning for the promotional nature, and one for advertising’s manipulative intent or warning for the deceptive nature. Results showed that only the warning of manipulative intent prior to advertising exposure was successful in increasing children’s advertising defenses. This forewarning activated children’s attitudinal advertising literacy (i.e., skepticism toward the commercial), which in turn led to lower advertised product desire. The forewarning of commercial intent was not effective in strengthening children’s advertising defenses. These findings have important implications for interventions that aim to lower children’s desire for (unhealthy) advertised products by activating their advertising literacy.
IONIZATION BY QUANTIZED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS: THE PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT

In this paper, we explain the photoelectric effect in a variant of the standard model of non relativistic quantum electrodynamics, which is in some aspects more closely related to the physical picture, than the one studied in [5]. Now, we can apply our results to an electron with more than one bound state and to a larger class of electron-photon interactions. We will specify a situation, where the second order of ionization probability is a weighted sum of single photon terms. Furthermore, we will see that Einstein's equality for the maximal kinetic energy Ekin of the electron, energy hν of the photon and ionization gap △E is the crucial condition, for these single photon terms to be nonzero.