Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiorespiratory effects of a combination of medetomidine, midazolam, and butorphanol in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To characterize cardiorespiratory effects for a combination of medetomidine, butorphanol, and midazolam and to compare magnitude of cardiorespiratory depression with that induced by a commonly used inhalation anesthetic regimen (acepromazine-butorphanol-thiopental-halothane). ANIMALS 10 clinically normal dogs (2 groups of 5). PROCEDURE In treated dogs, medetomidine was administered (time, 0 minutes); midazolam and butorphanol were administered when effects of medetomidine were maximal (time, 20), and atipamezole was administered subsequently (time 60). In control dogs, drugs were administered after allowing effects of each agent to be achieved: acepromazine was given at time 0, butorphanol and thiopental were administered at time 35, and halothane was administered from time 45 until 110. Various cardiorespiratory and hematologic variables were measured or calculated. RESULTS Respiratory rate, arterial and venous pH, venous oxygen content, oxygen consumption, and oxygen delivery decreased significantly below baseline values for treated dogs; end-tidal CO2, arterial and venous P(CO)2, and O2 extraction increased significantly above baseline values. Compared with data obtained after anesthesia, arterial HCO3- concentration, venous P(O2) and S(O2), cardiac output, oxygen extraction, and oxygen delivery appeared more modified in treated dogs. Oxygen consumption and physiologic shunt fraction were less modified in treated dogs than control dogs. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Medetomidine-butorphanol-midazolam combination induced respiratory depression, comparable in magnitude to that induced by a widely used inhalation anesthetic regimen. Respiratory variables remained within acceptable limits during anesthesia; however, those associated with cardiovascular function were more severely affected.
A functional analysis of MELK in cell division reveals a transition in the mode of cytokinesis during Xenopus development

MELK is a serine/threonine kinase involved in several cell processes, including the cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis and mRNA processing. However, its function remains elusive. Here, we explored its role in the Xenopus early embryo and show by knockdown that xMELK (Xenopus MELK) is necessary for completion of cell division. Consistent with a role in cell division, endogenous xMELK accumulates at the equatorial cortex of anaphase blastomeres. Its relocalization is highly dynamic and correlates with a conformational rearrangement in xMELK. Overexpression of xMELK leads to failure of cytokinesis and impairs accumulation at the division furrow of activated RhoA – a pivotal regulator of cytokinesis. Furthermore, endogenous xMELK associates and colocalizes with the cytokinesis organizer anillin. Unexpectedly, our study reveals a transition in the mode of cytokinesis correlated to cell size and that implicates xMELK. Collectively, our findings disclose the importance of xMELK in cytokinesis during early development and show that the mechanism of cytokinesis changes during Xenopus early development.
Lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue in common variable immunodeficiency

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most common symptomatic primary immunodeficiency characterized by reduced levels of all major immunoglobuline classes and recurrent c infections. The risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) among patients with CVID was found to be increased in different studies. Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas are a recently recognized sub-set of low-grade B-cell NHL composed of marginal zone-related cells. MALT lymphomas appear in the lymphoid tissues as a result of chronic inflammatory or autoimmune stimulation. This study briefly reviews previously published cases and reports a patient suffering from CVID with a history of chronic diarrhea and recurrent sinopulmonary infections. Despite treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin, chronic cough and wheezing progressed. Open lung biopsy showed a MALT lymphoma. Although a rare complication, pulmonary low grade B-cell lymphoma is a diagnosis that must be kept in mind in CVID patients with chronic pulmonary symptoms unresponsive to conventional therapies.
SoftNet: A software defined decentralized mobile network architecture toward 5G

Mobile cloud computing and other new emerging communication paradigms such as mobile social networking and Internet-of-Things, have brought challenges in flexibility, efficiency, and scalability to the current LTE network. Inspired by thinking of the fundamental mechanisms in LTE as reasons causing those problems, SoftNet, a software defined decentralized mobile network architecture toward 5G, is proposed in this article following principles proposed for designing an efficient and scalable network. The analysis of the working mechanisms of SoftNet, including its dynamically defined architecture, decentralized mobility management, distributed data forwarding, and multi-RATs coordination, show that SoftNet has improved system capacity and performance. Further, simulations are conducted to demonstrate that signaling cost in SoftNet, as an important performance metric, can be decreased significantly compared with LTE networks.
Single-neuron correlates of subjective vision in the human medial temporal lobe

Visual information from the environment is transformed into perceptual sensations through several stages of neuronal processing. Flash suppression constitutes a striking example in which the same retinal input can give rise to two different conscious visual percepts. We directly recorded the responses of individual neurons during flash suppression in the human amygdala, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus, allowing us to explore the neuronal responses in untrained subjects at a high spatial and temporal resolution in the medial temporal lobe. Subjects were patients with pharmacologically intractable epilepsy implanted with depth electrodes to localize the seizure onset focus. We observed that the activity of two thirds of all visually selective neurons followed the perceptual alternations rather than the retinal input. None of the selective neurons responded to a perceptually suppressed stimulus. Therefore, the activity of most individual neurons in the medial temporal lobe of naive human subjects directly correlates with the phenomenal visual experience.
A structured TCP in standard ML.

This paper describes the design of an implementation of the Transmission Control Protocol using an extension of the Standard ML (SML) language. SML supports higher-order functions, modularity, and type-safe module composition. We find that by using SML we can achieve good structure and good performance simultaneously. Good structure includes a modular decomposition of the protocol stack and of the TCP implementation, a control structure that imposes a total ordering on all events and processes them synchronously, and a test structure that allows component testing to catch problems before system integration. Strategies that help achieve good performance include using fast algorithms, using language constructs that make it easy to stage function evaluation, and language implementation features such as compacting garbage collection.
Linking Multi-Category Purchases to Latent Activities of Shoppers: Analysing Market Baskets by Topic Models

We investigate the application of two topic models, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) and the correlated topic model (CTM), to market basket analysis. Topic models measure the association between observed purchases and underlying latent activities of shoppers by conceiving each basket as random mixture of latent activities. We explain the structure of the two topic models used. We discuss estimation of LDA models by blocked Gibbs sampling. In addition we show how to evaluate the performance of topic models on estimation and holdout data. In the empirical study we analyse a total of 18,000 purchases made at a medium-sized supermarket which refer to 60 product categories. The LDA model performs better than the CTM in terms of log likelihood values. Latent activities inferred by this models are intuitive and interpretable, e.g., related to shopping of beverages or personal care, to baking or to an inclination towards luxury food. To illustrate the managerial relevance of estimated topic models we sketch the core of a recommender system which ranks purchase probabilities of other product categories conditional on the basket of a shopper.
Assesing the political viability of labour market reform : the case of employment protection

We analyze the political support for employment protection legislation. Unlike my previous work on the same topic, this paper pays a lot of attention to the role of obsolescence in the growth process. In voting in favour of employment protection, incumbent employees trade off lower living standards (because employment protection maintains workers in less productive activities) against longer job duration. The support for employment protection will then depend on the value of the latter relative to the cost of the former. We highlight two key deeterminants of this trade-off: first, the workers' bargaining power, second, the economy's growth rate-more precisely its rate of creative destruction.
Existential Concerns of Individuals Living with Chronic Mental Illness in Guam

1 Acknowledgements iv INTRODUCTION 1 Objectives of the Study 1 Theoretical Framework 3 Research Question 4 LITERATURE REVIEW 5 Existential Philosophy and Literature 5 Soren Kierkegaard 5 The Russian Novelists: Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy 10 Fyodor Dostoevsky 11 Leo Tolstoy 15 Jean-Paul Sartre 18 Albert Camus 26 Summary and Critical Analysis of Existential Philosophy and Literature. 30 Existential Psychotherapists 33 Rollo May 34 Viktor Frankl 41 R. D. Laing 48 Irvin D. Yalom 54 Summary and Critical Analysis of Existential Psychotherapists 59 Empirical Studies Exploring the Lived Experience of Chronic Mental Illness. 63
Psychopathy: Assessment and Forensic Implications

Psychopathy is commonly viewed as a personality disorder defined by a cluster of interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial traits and behaviours, including grandiosity, egocentricity, deceptiveness, shallow emotions, lack of empathy or remorse, irresponsibility, impulsivity, and a tendency to violate social norms. In our article, we outline standard methods for the assessment of psychopathy, its association with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), and its implications for clinical and forensic issues, including crime and violence, risk assessment, and treatment options.
Same Data; Different Interpretations

Interpretation of oncology clinical trial data are not always straightforward or consistent. Similar trial results with disparate interventions may be interpreted differently by the oncology community. One of the main reasons for this discrepancy is the debate regarding what is the appropriate end point for demonstration of efficacy of cancer drugs. There is no doubt that overall survival (OS) is the best parameter to judge the utility of any intervention, and it is free from bias in ascertainment and measurement; but for conditions with few treatment options and dire outcomes, the need for new agents is high and the oncology community sometimes settles on a surrogate end point that, in many cases, is progression-free survival (PFS). It is easy to understand why PFS is favored among the researchers: It occurs early and is not influenced by postprogression therapy. At the same time, it would make little sense to have an agent that reduces chances of dying of cancer but increases off-target deaths; hence, the need for verification of OS. Phase III trials that report on significant PFS benefits without OS prolongation become the apples of discord in the oncology community. In this commentary, we present three examples from lung, ovarian, and breast cancers and demonstrate how the oncology community interprets similar data differently. Finally, we take our best guess as to why this phenomenon happens.
Production of ethanol from lignocellulosics: an enzymatic venture

The major objective of the present investigation was to evaluate the effect of enzymatic pretreatment on Lantana camara for improved yield of reducing sugar and bioethanol production. An optimum enzymatic delignification (88.79 %) was achieved after 8 h of incubation. After delignification the substrate was further treated with the mixture of carbohydratases for appropriate saccharification. The enzyme treated substrate yielded maximum reducing sugar (713.33 mg/g dry substrate) after 9 h of saccharification. Monosaccharide content in the saccharified samples were quantified using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. Using conventional yeast strain, 9.63 g/L bioethanol was produced from saccharified samples of Lantana camara. Structural changes of Lantana camara before and after enzymatic pretreatment were further investigated through Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Hepatic Glucose Sensing via the CREB Coactivator CRTC2

Chronic hyperglycemia contributes to the development of diabetes-associated complications. Increases in the concentration of circulating glucose activate the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) and promote the O-glycosylation of proteins by O-glycosyl transferase (OGT). We show that OGT triggered hepatic gluconeogenesis through the O-glycosylation of the transducer of regulated cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element–binding protein (CREB) 2 (TORC2 or CRTC2). CRTC2 was O-glycosylated at sites that normally sequester CRTC2 in the cytoplasm through a phosphorylation-dependent mechanism. Decreasing amounts of O-glycosylated CRTC2 by expression of the deglycosylating enzyme O-GlcNAcase blocked effects of glucose on gluconeogenesis, demonstrating the importance of the HBP in the development of glucose intolerance.
Can an Overlay Compensate for a Careless Underlay?

We investigate the ability of an overlay network to compensate for “careless” routing in the native network layer, i.e., for network-layer routes not optimized for performance. We consider cost/traffic-dependent, overlay routing on top of an underlay routing based on randomly-generated, cost/traffic-independent link weights, and determine the extent to which overlay-overcareless-underlay can achieve performance close to that attainable when underlay routing is performed in an optimal cost/trafficdependent (“careful”) manner. We identify three graph-theoretic metrics that collectively characterize the richness of the underlay network: the tightness (characteristic path length, or CPL), the thickness (cut average) and the weighted sum of node degrees. We find that only when the underlay graph is rich can the overlay compensate for a careless underlay. If network links have linear costs, we prove that overlay cost is a linear increasing function of CPL under some assumptions. Finally, we investigate heuristics (based on the notion of richness) for choosing a set of overlay nodes of fixed size that is likely to result in good overlay performance.
Genetic Polymorphisms of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Modify the Neurobehavioral Effects of Mercury in Children

Mercury (Hg) is neurotoxic and children may be particularly susceptible to this effect. A current major challenge is identification of children who may be uniquely susceptible to Hg toxicity because of genetic disposition. This study examined the hypothesis that genetic variants of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) that are reported to alter neurobehavioral functions that are also affected by Hg in adults might modify the adverse neurobehavioral effects of Hg exposure in children. Five hundred and seven children, 8–12 yr of age at baseline, participated in a clinical trial to evaluate the neurobehavioral effects of Hg from dental amalgam tooth fillings. Subjects were evaluated at baseline and at seven subsequent annual intervals for neurobehavioral performance and urinary Hg levels. Following the clinical trial, genotyping assays were performed for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of COMT rs4680, rs4633, rs4818, and rs6269 on biological samples provided by 330 of the trial participants. Regression-modeling strategies were employed to evaluate associations between allelic status, Hg exposure, and neurobehavioral test outcomes. Similar analysis was performed using haplotypes of COMT SNPs. Among girls, few interactions for Hg exposure and COMT variants were found. In contrast, among boys, numerous gene–Hg interactions were observed between individual COMT SNPs, as well as with a common COMT haplotype affecting multiple domains of neurobehavioral function. These findings suggest increased susceptibility to the adverse neurobehavioral effects of Hg among children with common genetic variants of COMT, and may have important implications for strategies aimed at protecting children from the potential health risks associated with Hg exposure.
Distribution of dynorphin and enkephalin peptides in the rat brain

The neuroanatomical distribution of dynorphin B‐like immunoreactivity (DYN‐B) was studied in the adult male and female albino rat. The distribution of DYN B in colchicine‐ and noncolchicine‐treated animals was also compared to that of another opioid peptide derived from the prodynorphin precursor dynorphin A (1‐8) (DYN 1‐8), and an opioid peptide derived from the proenkephalin precursor met‐enkephalin‐arg‐gly‐leu (MERGL). DYN B cell bodies were present in nonpyramidal cells of neo‐ and allocortices, medium‐sized cells of the caudate‐putamen, nucleus accumbens, lateral part of the central nucleus of the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, preoptic area, and in sectors of nearly every hypothalamic nucleus and area, medial pretectal area, and nucleus of the optic tract, periaqueductal gray, raphe nuclei, cuneiform nucleus, sagulum, retrorubral nucleus, peripeduncular nucleus, lateral terminal nucleus, pedunculopontine nucleus, mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus, parabigeminal nucleus, dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, lateral superior olivary nucleus, superior paraolivary nucleus, medial superior olivary nucleus, ventral nucleus of the trapezoid body, lateral dorsal tegmental nucleus, accessory trigeminal nucleus, solitary nucleus, nucleus ambiguus, paratrigeminal nucleus, area postrema, lateral reticular nucleus, and ventrolateral region of the reticular formation. Fiber systems are present that conform to many of the known output systems of these nuclei, including major descending pathways (e.g., striatonigral, striatopallidal, reticulospinal, hypothalamospinal pathways), short projection systems (e.g., mossy fibers in hippocampus, hypothalamo‐hypophyseal pathways), and local circuit pathways (e.g., in cortex, hypothalamus). The distribution of MERGL was, with a few notable exceptions, in the same nuclei as DYN B. From these neuroanatomical data, it appears that the dynorphin and enkephalin peptides are strategically located in brain regions that regulate extrapyramidal motor function, cardiovascular and water balance systems, eating, sensory processing, and pain perception.
A Pilot Study of the Effects of Atomoxetine on Driving Performance in Adults With ADHD

Objective: There is a high risk of vehicular crashes, traffic citations, and poorer driving performance in adults with ADHD. This pilot study examines the value of a new nonstimulant (atomoxetine) for improving the driving performance of adults with ADHD. Method: Atomoxetine (1.2 mg/kg daily for 3 weeks) and a placebo are studied on 18 adults with ADHD (M age = 37 years) using ratings of ADHD symptoms, impairment, and safe driving behavior; a virtual reality driving simulator; and ratings of simulator performance. Results: Atomoxetine improves self-ratings of ADHD symptoms, impairments, safe driving behavior, and simulator driving performance. No effects of atomoxetine are evident on others’ ratings of driving behavior or on the simulator. Practice effects on the simulator may have obscured those drug effects. Conclusion: The authors find a mixed pattern of results such that atomoxetine warrants further study for its effects on driving in this high-risk population.
Factors influencing CMV seropositivity in stem cell transplant patients and donors

Patient MV serological status remains an important factor for the outcome of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). CMV seronegative patients receiving a graft from a seronegative donor have lower transplant-related mortality. In a previous study using the EBMT registry, we found that CMV seropositive patients receiving grafts from seropositive unrelated donors had improved survival and reduced transplant-related mortality compared to those receiving grafts from CMV seronegative donors. Similar results were found in a single centre study by Ringdén et al. However, two other large studies have not been able to show any positive effect from using a CMV seropositive donor. Many different factors influence the risk of being CMV seropositive. The probability varies between different countries. One study suggests that the risk has been reduced in recent years. We used the registry of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) to look for trends over time regarding CMV serostatus and analyze the effects of age, gender and country.
Multiagent Resource Allocation with K -additive Utility Functions

We briefly review previous work on the welfare engineering framework where autonomous software agents negotiate on the allocation of a number of discrete resources, and point out connections to combinatorial optimisation problems, including combinatorial auctions, that shed light on the computational complexity of the framework. We give particular consideration to scenarios where the preferences of agents are modelled in terms of k-additive utility functions, i.e. scenarios where synergies between different resources are restricted to bundles of at most k items.
A singular control problem with an expected and a pathwise ergodic performance criterion

We consider the problem of controlling a general one-dimensional Ito diffusion by means of a finite-variation process. The objective is to minimise a long-term average expected criterion as well as a long-term pathwise criterion that penalise deviations of the underlying state process from a given nominal point as well as the expenditure of control effort. We solve the resulting singular stochastic control problems under general assumptions by identifying an optimal strategy that is explicitly characterised.
Chitosan-functionalized graphene oxide as a nanocarrier for drug and gene delivery.

The covalent functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) with chitosan (CS) is successfully accomplished via a facile amidation process. The CS-grafted GO (GO-CS) sheets consist of about 64 wt. % CS, which imparts them with a good aqueous solubility and biocompatibility. Additionally, the physicochemical properties of GO-CS are studied. As a novel nanocarrier, GO-CS is applied to load a water-insoluble anticancer drug, camptothecin (CPT), via π-π stacking and hydrophobic interactions. It is demonstrated that GO-CS possesses a superior loading capacity for CPT, and the GO-CS-CPT complexes show remarkably high cytotoxicity in HepG2 and HeLa cell lines compared to the pure drug. At the same time, GO-CS is also able to condense plasmid DNA into stable, nanosized complexes, and the resulting GO-CS/pDNA nanoparticles exhibit reasonable transfection efficiency in HeLa cells at certain nitrogen/phosphate ratios. Therefore, the GO-CS nanocarrier is able to load and deliver both anticancer drugs and genes.