Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration of Synaptic Vesicle Cargo Retrieval with Endocytosis at Central Nerve Terminals

Central nerve terminals contain a limited number of synaptic vesicles (SVs) which mediate the essential process of neurotransmitter release during their activity-dependent fusion. The rapid and accurate formation of new SVs with the appropriate cargo is essential to maintain neurotransmission in mammalian brain. Generating SVs containing the correct SV cargo with the appropriate stoichiometry is a significant challenge, especially when multiple modes of endocytosis exist in central nerve terminals, which occur at different locations within the nerve terminals. These endocytosis modes include ultrafast endocytosis, clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) and activity-dependent bulk endocytosis (ADBE) which are triggered by specific patterns of neuronal activity. This review article will assess the evidence for the role of classical adaptor protein complexes in SV retrieval, discuss the role of monomeric adaptors and how interactions between specific SV cargoes can facilitate retrieval. In addition it will consider the evidence for preassembled plasma membrane cargo complexes and their role in facilitating these endocytosis modes. Finally it will present a unifying model for cargo retrieval at the presynapse, which integrates endocytosis modes in time and space.
Trends in the local treatment of breast cancer: Should we be worried?

The overall rates of BCS have remained stable or slightly increased over the past decade in the United States. The CPM rates have markedly increased while unilateral mastectomy rates have decreased. Increasingly, more women are not receiving RT after BCS, particularly high‐risk women. These trends have important potential untoward consequences. Strategies are being developed to ensure adequate local therapy for breast cancer patients. J. Surg. Oncol. 2011; 103:313–316. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Low-Loss Terahertz Artificial Dielectric Birefringent Quarter-Wave Plates

We have developed anisotropically etched low-loss artificial dielectric birefringent quarter-wave plates (QWPs) for use at 1.5 and 2.8 THz. The grating period for both QWPs is 20 ¿m. We etched 46- and 30- ¿m-deep gratings to obtain a ¿/2 phase retardance between transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric polarization propagating through the QWPs at 1.5 and 2.8 THz, respectively. A SU8 antireflection coating is used to further improve the transmission coefficient by up to 21%. The measured results from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy show a good agreement with designed specifications.
Sympathetic Response to Ventricular Extrasystolic Beats in Hypertension and Heart Failure

Provoked premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) evoke, in concomitance with an early and late blood pressure fall and overshoot, an early sympathoexcitation and a later period of sympathoinhibition, respectively. The present study was designed to examine whether in healthy subjects this is the case for spontaneous PVCs. Because of their pathophysiological relevance for arrhythmogenesis, it was also designed to determine whether the sympathetic responses are different from those seen in essential hypertension and congestive heart failure. In 14 untreated mild essential hypertensives (EH; age, 53.8±2.6 years; mean±SEM), 20 untreated congestive heart failure patients (CHF; age, 56.7±2.5 years; New York Heart Association class, II or III), and 16 age-matched healthy subjects (control) in Lown class <II, we evaluated the blood pressure (Finapres), heart rate (ECG), and muscle sympathetic nerve traffic (MSNA; by microneurography) responses to isolated monofocal PVCs. MSNA, quantified as bursts/100 heart beats, was significantly increased in EH (57.8±3.8, P <0.05) and CHF patients (77.7±4.0, P <0.01) compared with controls (44.6±4.4). In controls, the PVC-induced blood pressure fall and overshoot were accompanied by a sympathoexcitation (144.2±14%), followed by a period of sympathoinhibition (average duration, 12043±985 ms). The responses were similar in EH but not in CHF, in whom the magnitude of the sympathoexcitation and particularly the duration of the subsequent sympathoinhibition were strikingly reduced (average reduction, −46.1 and −72.8%, respectively). The most important factor accounting for this reduction appeared to be an altered baroreflex response to the PVC-induced BP changes. These data demonstrate that the MSNA responses to spontaneous PVCs are similar in controls and EH but markedly impaired in CHF, presumably because of the baroreflex alteration. This may represent an important factor for the genesis of the life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias that characterize CHF.
Games of Truth: Rethinking Conformity and Resistance in Narratives of Heroin Recovery

ABSTRACT Conventional paradigms of drug treatment present addicts as liars, fabricators, and manipulators until they are truly involved in their recovery process. My ethnographic study engages with and expands upon Foucault's (1988) concept of “games of truth” and De Certeau's (1984) work on “strategies” and “tactics” to illuminate complex and shifting relations between and among staff and clients in a methadone clinic in Toronto, Canada. I suggest the notion of “complicity” in order to address radical instability in these relationships, and I also question commonly held binaries, such as truth and lies, enunciation and action, domination and resistance, that underlie theoretical and addiction treatment realms. In this process, I contribute not only to anthropological theorizing but also to policy making. The staff and clients' multifaceted interpretations of heroin recovery question a single standard of “successful” treatment and point to the need for broader social interventions to address the diverse needs of heroin users.
A real-time assay for CpG-specific cytosine-C5 methyltransferase activity

A real-time assay for CpG-specific cytosine-C5 methyltransferase activity has been developed. The assay applies a break light oligonucleotide in which the methylation of an unmethylated 5′-CG-3′ site is enzymatically coupled to the development of a fluorescent signal. This sensitive assay can measure rates of DNA methylation down to 0.34 ± 0.06 fmol/s. The assay is reproducible, with a coefficient of variation over six independent measurements of 4.5%. Product concentration was accurately measured from fluorescence signals using a linear calibration curve, which achieved a goodness of fit (R2) above 0.98. The oligonucleotide substrate contains three C5-methylated cytosine residues and one unmethylated 5′-CG-3′ site. Methylation yields an oligonucleotide containing the optimal substrate for the restriction enzyme GlaI. Cleavage of the fully methylated oligonucleotide leads to separation of fluorophore from quencher, giving a proportional increase in fluorescence. This method has been used to assay activity of DNMT1, the principle maintenance methyltransferase in human cells, and for the kinetic characterization of the bacterial cytosine-C5 methyltransferase M.SssI. The assay has been shown to be suitable for the real-time monitoring of DNMT1 activity in a high-throughput format, with low background signal and the ability to obtain linear rates of methylation over long periods, making this a promising method of high-throughput screening for inhibitors.
Angiotensin II is required to induce exaggerated salt sensitivity in Dahl rats exposed to maternal separation

We previously reported that maternal separation, rat model of early life stress, enhances pressor responses to acute and chronic stressors. The aims of this study were to determine whether Dahl salt‐sensitive (DS) rats subjected to maternal separation (MatSep‐DS) as compared to normally reared DS (Ctl‐DS) rats show exaggerated blood pressure responses to acute behavioral stressors, such as restraint stress or air jet stress (AJS), or, hypertensive stimuli including chronic high‐salt diet (4% NaCl) and angiotensin II (AngII) infusion (200 ng/Kg/min) during 1 week. MatSep was performed in male DS rats for 3 h/day from postnatal days 2–14. At 8 weeks of age, rats were implanted with telemetry transmitters and allowed to recover. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was not different between MatSep‐DS and Ctl‐DS rats at baseline (120 ± 2 mmHg vs. 118 ± 1 mmHg, n = 4–8). Blood pressure responses during AJS and restraint stress were not different between MatSep‐DS and Ctl‐DS at 3 min. However, blood pressure recovery from AJS was significantly impaired in MatSep‐DS rats compared to Ctl‐DS rats (P < 0.05). 3‐h stress‐induced similar responses in MatSep and Ctl‐DS rats. Chronic blood pressure responses to AngII infusion in rats fed a high‐salt diet displayed enhanced MAP in MatSep‐DS when compared with Ctl‐DS rats (167 ± 5 mmHg vs. 152 ± 2 mmHg, pinteraction <0.05). However, MAP increased similarly in both groups in response to AngII infusion or high‐salt diet separately. Renal parameters such as proteinuria, urine flow rate, and urine electrolytes were not different between groups in response to each treatment. In summary, salt sensitivity induces exaggerated blood pressor responses only in presence of AngII due to early life stress.
Towards hybrid bronchoscope tracking under respiratory motion: evaluation on a dynamic motion phantom

This paper presents a hybrid camera tracking method that uses electromagnetic (EM) tracking and intensitybased image registration and its evaluation on a dynamic motion phantom. As respiratory motion can significantly affect rigid registration of the EM tracking and CT coordinate systems, a standard tracking approach that initializes intensity-based image registration with absolute pose data acquired by EM tracking will fail when the initial camera pose is too far from the actual pose. We here propose two new schemes to address this problem. Both of these schemes intelligently combine absolute pose data from EM tracking with relative motion data combined from EM tracking and intensity-based image registration. These schemes significantly improve the overall camera tracking performance. We constructed a dynamic phantom simulating the respiratory motion of the airways to evaluate these schemes. Our experimental results demonstrate that these schemes can track a bronchoscope more accurately and robustly than our previously proposed method even when maximum simulated respiratory motion reaches 24 mm.
The Development of Inventory Management Information System Based on Workflow Technology

This paper identifies the problem which existed in the application of the current inventory information system in the enterprise at present, analyzed and designed the inventory information system again based on workflow technology. Through analyzing the workflow relation data, the inventory management information system is developed under the control of the workflow engine, including the data structure and the detailed data. Finally, the experiment is carried out to validate the effectiveness of the new information system and check the ability of adapt the business process change, which provides an optional information way to other similar business process for the enterprises.
Benzo[a]pyrene and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) levels in vegetable oils and fats do not reflect the occurrence of the eight genotoxic PAHs

Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in 115 samples of olive oil (extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil, olive oil, pomace olive oil and blended olive oil), cooking oil (corn oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, palm olein oil, soya oil, canola oil, mustard oil, peanut oil and mixed vegetable oil) and fat (butter and table margarine) collected from retail stores in Kuwait. Carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) was detected in 43% of the samples analyzed. Benz[a]anthracene and chrysene were detected in 37 and 45% of the samples, respectively, that did not contain BaP. Of the individual non-carcinogenic PAHs, naphthalene showed the highest mean concentration (14 µg kg−1), while for the carcinogenic PAHs, BaP (0.92 µg kg−1) and chrysene (0.87 µg kg−1) showed the highest mean values. Approximately 20% of the samples within the olive oil and cooking oil sub-categories exceeded the EU maximum tolerable limit for BaP, with the highest level of 6.77 and 11.1 µg kg−1, respectively. For the fat sub-category, 9% of the samples exceeded the tolerance limit, with the highest level of 3.67 µg kg−1. The Kuwaiti general population's dietary exposure to the genotoxic PAHs (PAH8: benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene and benzo[ghi]perylene) was estimated to be 196 ng day−1 (3.3 ng kg−1 bw day−1, assuming an average adult body weight of 60 kg). Results indicated that PAH8 and BaPeq (total sum benzo[a]pyrene equivalents) are more reliable measures of the concentrations of other carcinogenic PAHs in oil and fat samples, while BaP and PAHs alone are not good indicators of the occurrence or degree of contamination by carcinogenic PAHs in these food products.
The predictive role of renal function and systemic inflammation on the onset of de novo atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery

Background The association between postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) and renal function was previously grounded in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting through unknown mechanisms. We aim to investigate the association between renal function and POAF in a cohort composed mostly of patients undergoing valve surgery and to explore the role of inflammation as a pathogenic mechanism linking renal dysfunction and arrhythmogenesis. Methods Altogether 444 patients who underwent cardiac surgery without previous history of atrial fibrillation were analysed. Serum creatinine and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) concentrations were obtained at baseline and on the 3rd, 8th and 15th postoperative day; estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated by the Modified Diet Renal Disease (MDRD) formula. Patients were divided into three groups on the basis of baseline eGFR. Results Overall, 173 (39%) patients developed POAF, 29.5% in the group with normal eGFR (≥90 ml/min/1.73 m2), 43.3% among patients with eGFR 60–90 ml/min/1.73 m2 and 55.6% in the group with eGFR ≤60 ml/min/1.73 m2. Patients developing POAF had lower eGFR on all the samples. At baseline preoperatively hs-CRP levels did not differ in the two groups. On multivariate analysis, age and eGFR were identified as independent predictors of POAF. The risk of POAF progressively increased from mild impairment (odds ratio (OR) 1.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–2.50) to severe reduction of renal function (OR 2.35, 95% CI 1.25–4.48). Conclusions Age and eGFR were identified as the strongest predictors of POAF in a population largely composed of valve surgery patients. Renal function, even from early stage, is independently associated with the increasing risk of developing POAF.
Staphylococcus aureus strains in primiparous and multiparous cows in six herds with a high prevalence of Staph. aureus intramammary infections

The proportion of different strains of Staphylococcus aureus was tested in four groups of lactating dairy cows in six herds with a high overall prevalence of Staph. aureus using random amplified polymorphic DNA PCR. Group 1 included primiparous cows in early lactation (<50 days in milk, DIM). Group 2 consisted of primiparous cows in late lactation (>250 days in milk). Groups 3 and 4 were multiparous cows in the respective stages of lactation. Eight cows from each group on each farm were tested. Overall quarter prevalence of Staph. aureus ranged from 23·4 to 32·0% in the herds. Of the 130 isolates included in the analysis 86·9% were high prevalence strains (more than three isolates per herd), while 13·1% were strains that were only identified in one or two samples. Low prevalence strains were found in all six herds. The proportion of low prevalence strains was higher in multiparous than in primiparous cows (odds ratio, OR 4·4, 1·2–16·6). It is concluded that low prevalence Staph. aureus strains are common even in herds with a high prevalence of Staph. aureus and that their frequency is lower in primiparous cows than in older cows.
FlyByNight: mitigating the privacy risks of social networking

Social networking websites are enormously popular, but they present a number of privacy risks to their users, one of the foremost of which being that social network service providers are able to observe and accumulate the information that users transmit through the network. We aim to mitigate this risk by presenting a new architecture for protecting information published through the social networking website, Facebook, through encryption. Our architecture makes a trade-off between security and usability in the interests of minimally affecting users' workflow and maintaining universal accessibility. While active attacks by Facebook could compromise users' privacy, our architecture dramatically raises the cost of such potential compromises and, importantly, places them within a framework for legal privacy protection because they would violate a user's reasonable expectation of privacy. We have built a prototype Facebook application implementing our architecture, addressing some of the limitations of the Facebook platform through proxy cryptography.
Functional Gain After Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation: Correlates and Impact on Long-Term Survival

Background and Purpose— Prediction of functional outcome after stroke rehabilitation (SR) is a growing field of interest. The association between SR and survival still remains elusive. We sought to investigate the factors associated with functional outcome after SR and whether the magnitude of functional improvement achieved with rehabilitation is associated with long-term mortality risk. Methods— The study population consisted of 722 patients admitted for SR within 90 days of stroke onset, with an admission functional independence measure (FIM) score of <80 points. We used univariable and multivariable linear regression analyses to assess the association between baseline variables and FIM gain and univariable and multivariable Cox analyses to assess the association of FIM gain with long-term mortality. Results— Age (P<0.001), marital status (P=0.003), time from stroke onset to rehabilitation admission (P<0.001), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at rehabilitation admission (P<0.001), and aphasia (P=0.021) were independently associated with FIM gain. The R2 of the model was 0.275. During a median follow-up of 6.17 years, 36.9% of the patients died. At multivariable Cox analysis, age (P<0.0001), coronary heart disease (P=0.018), atrial fibrillation (P=0.042), total cholesterol (P=0.015), and total FIM gain (P<0.0001) were independently associated with mortality. The adjusted hazard ratio for death significantly decreased across tertiles of increasing FIM gain. Conclusions— Several factors are independently associated with functional gain after SR. Our findings strongly suggest that the magnitude of functional improvement is a powerful predictor of long-term mortality in patients admitted for SR.
Prognosis of Breast Cancer based on a Fuzzy Classification Method

Learning and classification techniques have shown their usefulness in the analysis of ana-cyto-pathological cancerous tissue data to develop a tool for the diagnosis or prognosis of cancer. The use of these methods to process datasets containing different types of data has become recently one of the challenges of many researchers. This paper presents the fuzzy classification method LAMDA with recent developments that allow handling this problem efficiently by processing simultaneously the quantitative, qualitative and interval data without any preamble change of the data nature as it must be generally done to use other classification methods. This method is applied to perform breast cancer prognosis on two real-world datasets and was compared with results previously published to prove the efficiency of the proposed method.
Manifestly Supersymmetric Effective Lagrangians on BPS Solitons

A systematic method to obtain the effective Lagrangian on the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield background in supersymmetric gauge theories is worked out, taking domain walls and vortices as concrete examples. The Lagrangian in terms of the superfields with four preserved supercharges is expanded in powers of the slow-movement parameter {lambda}. The expansion gives the superfield form of the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield equations at O({lambda}{sup 0}), and all the fluctuation fields at O({lambda}{sup 1}). The density of the Kaehler potential for the effective Lagrangian follows as an automatic consequence of the {lambda} expansion making (four preserved) supercharges manifest.
A Cadaveric Study of the Anatomic Variations of the Brachial Plexus Nerves in the Axillar Region and Arm

Forty-eight upper limbs were dissected in order to study the courses and relations of the brachial plexus nerves in the axilla. Connections between the musculocutaneous and median nerves were found in five arms. There was a suprascapular nerve arising from the union of C4 and C5 directly in one cadaver. A branch from the median nerve extending to the brachial artery was determined. In one of the cadavers the radial nerve arose only from the union of posterior divisions of the inferior and middle trunks.
Geometric motion planning: The local connection, Stokes’ theorem, and the importance of coordinate choice

The locomotion of articulated mechanical systems is often complex and unintuitive, even when considered with the aid of reduction principles from geometric mechanics. In this paper, we present two tools for gaining insights into the underlying principles of locomotion: connection vector fields and connection height functions . Connection vector fields illustrate the geometric structure of the relationship between internal shape changes and the system body velocities they produce. Connection height functions measure the curvature of their respective vector fields and capture the net displacement over any cyclic shape change, or gait , allowing for the intuitive selection of gaits to produce desired displacements. Height function approaches have been previously attempted, but such techniques have been severely limited by their basis in a rotating body frame, and have only been useful for calculating planar rotations and infinitesimal translations. We circumvent this limitation by introducing a notion of optimal coordinates defining a body frame that rotates very little in response to shape changes, while still meeting the requirements of the geometric mechanics theory on which the vector fields and height functions are based. In these optimal coordinates, the height functions provide close approximations of the net displacement resulting from a broad selection of possible gaits.
Mechanochemical synthesis of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite via mechanical alloying

Abstract Hydroxyapatite (HA) nanostructure powder was successfully synthesised by ball milling. Effect of starting materials, milling time and annealing temperature were investigated. Formation of HA during milling and annealing was studied by X-ray diffraction. Morphology and microstructure were monitored by SEM and TEM, respectively. The Reitveld refinement method was used for calculation of mean grain size and microstrain. Results showed that the HA was synthesised in COP and COC series after 5 h milling. There is no reaction in CCP and CCPH after 80 h milling. The synthesised HA partially transformed to TCP during annealing at 1000°C in COP and COC series. In all series, a nanostructure powder was obtained after milling. The minimum mean grain sizes of 25, 33, 44 and 39 nm were obtained for COP, COC, CCP and CCPH respectively, at the end of milling on the basis of Reitveld refinement analysis that is in consistent with TEM images. The significant grain growth and strain release took place during annealing. The maximum mean grain sizes of 115, 104, 79 and 116 nm were procured for COP, COC, CCP and CCPH respectively after annealing.