Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AMPA Receptor Activation Causes Silencing of AMPA Receptor-Mediated Synaptic Transmission in the Developing Hippocampus

Agonist-induced internalization of transmembrane receptors is a widespread biological phenomenon that also may serve as a mechanism for synaptic plasticity. Here we show that the agonist AMPA causes a depression of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) signaling at glutamate synapses in the CA1 region of the hippocampus in slices from developing, but not from mature, rats. This developmentally restricted agonist-induced synaptic depression is expressed as a total loss of AMPAR signaling, without affecting NMDA receptor (NMDAR) signaling, in a large proportion of the developing synapses, thus creating AMPAR silent synapses. The AMPA-induced AMPAR silencing is induced independently of activation of mGluRs and NMDARs, and it mimics and occludes stimulus-induced depression, suggesting that this latter form of synaptic plasticity is expressed as agonist-induced removal of AMPARs. Induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) rendered the developing synapses resistant to the AMPA-induced depression, indicating that LTP contributes to the maturation-related increased stability of these synapses. Our study shows that agonist binding to AMPARs is a sufficient triggering stimulus for the creation of AMPAR silent synapses at developing glutamate synapses.
Efficient isolation of sperm with high DNA integrity and stable chromatin packaging by a combination of density-gradient centrifugation and magnetic-activated cell sorting

Objective This study was carried out to investigate the correlations of the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) with semen parameters and apoptosis, and to investigate the effects of density-gradient centrifugation (DGC) and magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) on reducing the proportion of sperm with DNA fragmentation and protamine deficiency. Methods Semen analysis and a sperm DNA fragmentation assay were performed to assess the correlations between semen parameters and the DFI in 458 semen samples. Sperm with progressive motility or non-apoptosis were isolated by DGC or MACS, respectively, in 29 normozoospermic semen samples. The effects of DGC or MACS alone and of DGC and MACS combined on reducing the amount of sperm in the sample with DNA fragmentation and protamine deficiency were investigated. Results The sperm DFI showed a significant correlation (r=–0.347, p<0.001) with sperm motility and morphology (r=–0.114, p<0.05) but not with other semen parameters. The DFI (11.5%±2.0%) of semen samples was significantly reduced by DGC (8.1%±4.1%) or MACS alone (7.4%±3.9%) (p<0.05). The DFI was significantly further reduced by a combination of DGC and MACS (4.1%±1.3%, p<0.05). Moreover, the combination of DGC and MACS (1.6%±1.1%, p<0.05) significantly reduced the protamine deficiency rate of semen samples compared to DGC (4.4%±3.2%) or MACS alone (3.4%±2.2%). Conclusion The combination of DGC and MACS may be an effective method to isolate high-quality sperm with progressive motility, non-apoptosis, high DNA integrity, and low protamine deficiency in clinical use.
WORKING PAPER 1777 Aid , Policies , and Growth

Aid has a positive impact t n growth in develo2ping countries with good fiscal Craig Burnside monetary. and trade polices. Aid appears not to atlect policies systematicall either for good or for ill, Ary tendency for aid to reward good policies has been overwhelmed by donors pursuit of their own . tratcgic interests, Summary findings Burnside and Dollar use a new database on foreign aid to This result is robust in a variety of specifications, examine the relationships among foreign aid, economic which include or exclude middle-income countries, policies, and growth of per capita GDP. include or exclude outliers, and treat policies as In panel growth regressions for 56 developing exogenous or endogenous. countries and six four-year periods (1970-93), they find They examine the determinants of policy and find no that the policies that have a great effect on growth are evidence that aid has systematically affected policies, those related to fiscal surplus, inflation, and trade either for good or for ill. They estimate an aid allocation openness. equation and show that any tendency for aid to reward They construct an index for those three policies and good policies has been overwhelmed by donors' pursuit have that index interact with foreign aid. They have of their own strategic interests. instruments for both aid and aid interacting with In a counterfactual, they reallocate aid, reducing the policies. role of donor interests and increasing the importance of They find that aid has a positive impact on growth in policy. Such a reallocation would have a large positive developing countries with good fiscal, monetary, and effect on developing countries' growth rates. trade policies. In the presence of poor policies, aid has no positive effect on growth. This paper-a product of the Macroeconomics and Growth Division, Policy Research Department-is part of a larger effort in the department to study the effectiveness of foreign aid. The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Notfor …
Interest Rates, Prices and Liquidity: Central bank balance sheets and long-term forward rates

There is considerable debate with respect to the e¤ectiveness of initiatives recently introduced by central banks in response to the global nancial and economic crisis, and in particular, the impact of quantitative easing on long-term interest rates. Moreover, the impact of unconventional monetary policy may not be solely related to speci c interventions per se rather, the impact may also be related to the overall size and composition of the central banks balance sheet. Central bank balance sheets have expanded considerably since fall 2008 in numerous countries, not just those undertaking quantitative easing. The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of the size of central bank balance sheets on long-term forward rates for a sample of developed countries. We nd that, controlling for expected ination, projected de cits and other macro variables, an increase in central bank claims on the central government or central bank assets is associated with a decline in long-term forward rates.
Target Therapy in Hematological Malignances: New Monoclonal Antibodies

Apart from radio- and chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) represent a new, more selective tool in the treatment of hematological malignancies. MoAbs bind with the specific antigens of the tumors. This interaction is a basis for targeted therapies which exhibit few side effects and significant antitumor activity. This review provides an overview of the functional characteristics of MoAbs, with some examples of their clinical application. The promising results in the treatment of hematological malignancies have led to the more frequent usage of MoAbs in the therapy. Development of MoAbs is a subject of extensive research. They are a promising method of cancer treatment in the future.
Increased vascular endothelial growth factor in acute eosinophilic pneumonia

Acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) is associated with the presence of diffuse pulmonary infiltrates on the chest radiograph and an increased number of eosinophils and an elevation of interleukin (IL)‐5 levels in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a constitutively expressed protein encoded by messenger ribonucleic acid in human eosinophils and is released following stimulation with IL‐5. However, the roles of IL‐5 and VEGF in the pathogenesis or activity of this disease have not been clarified. The authors investigated the cells and the levels of these two factors in BAL fluid in five AEP patients and five normal controls before and after corticosteroid treatment. The absolute number of eosinophils·mL−1, IL‐5 and VEGF levels in patients before treatment were higher than in controls (53.8 versus 0.3×104·mL−1, 490.1 versus 5.2 pg·mL−1 and 643.0 versus 133.9 pg·mL−1, respectively). IL‐5 and VEGF rapidly decreased to the control level in parallel with clinical improvement. The relationship between eosinophilia and IL‐5 and VEGF levels was strongly significant. Elevated interleukin‐5 in the lung may initiate the recruitment of eosinophils and enhance the release of mediators, such as vascular endothelial growth factor from eosinophils, which, in turn, increases the permeability of blood vessels.
Association of HLA-DPB1 with Scleroderma and Its Clinical Features in Chinese Population

Human leukocyte antigen DPB1 was reported to contain singly nucleotide polymorphisms conferring the strongest susceptibility to systemic sclerosis in Korean population. However, associations of specific DPB1 alleles with SSc vary in different ethnic populations. The aim of this study was to profile DPB1 alleles in Chinese population and to identify specific DPB1 alleles in association with SSc and clinical and serological features of SSc in Han Chinese. A cohort containing 338 patients with SSc and 480 gender-matched and unrelated controls were examined in the study. The HLA-DPB1 genotyping was performed with sequence-based typing method. Exact p-values were obtained (Fisher's test) from 2×2 tables of allele counts or allele carriers and disease status. Thirty eight DPB1 alleles were found in the cohort. DPB1*05:01 was the most common allele in this cohort. DPB1*03:01 and *13:01 were significantly increased in SSc. DPB1*13:01 association had already been described in other ethnic populations, whereas DPB1*03:01 was specific to Han Chinese patients with SSc. In addition, comparisons between SSc subsets indicated that patients carrying DPB1*03:01 were more likely to develop pulmonary fibrosis, DPB1*04 carriers were increased in SSc patients with anti-centromere autoantibodies and in contrast, SSc patients with homozygous DPB1*05:01 showed an opposite association with marginal significance.
Understanding the Performance of the Long Chain and Sparse Designs in Process Flexibility

The long chain has been an important concept in the design of flexible processes. This design concept, as well as other sparse designs, have been applied by the automotive and other industries as a way to increase flexibility in order to better match available capacities with variable demands. Numerous empirical studies have validated the effectiveness of these designs. However, there is little theory that explains the effectiveness of the long chain, except when the system size is large, i.e., by applying an asymptotic analysis. Our attempt in this paper is to develop a theory that explains the effectiveness of long chain designs for finite size systems. First, we uncover a fundamental property of long chains, supermodularity, that serves as an important building block in our analysis. This property is used to show that the marginal benefit, i.e., the increase in expected sales, increases as the long chain is constructed, and the largest benefit is always achieved when the chain is closed by adding the last arc to the system. Then, supermodularity is used to show that the performance of the long chain is characterized by the difference between the performances of two open chains. This characterization immediately leads to the optimality of the long chain among 2-flexibility designs. Finally, under independent and identically distributed i.i. d. demand, this characterization gives rise to three developments: i an effective algorithm to compute the performances of long chains using only matrix multiplications; ii a result that the gap between the fill rate of full flexibility and that of the long chain increases with system size, thus implying that the effectiveness of the long chain relative to full flexibility increases as the number of products decreases; iii a risk-pooling result implying that the fill rate of a long chain increases with the number of products, but this increase converges to zero exponentially fast.
Joyman: A human-scale joystick for navigating in virtual worlds

In this paper, we propose a novel interface called Joyman, designed for immersive locomotion in virtual environments. Whereas many previous interfaces preserve or stimulate the users proprioception, the Joyman aims at preserving equilibrioception in order to improve the feeling of immersion during virtual locomotion tasks. The proposed interface is based on the metaphor of a human-scale joystick. The device has a simple mechanical design that allows a user to indicate his virtual navigation intentions by leaning accordingly. We also propose a control law inspired by the biomechanics of the human locomotion to transform the measured leaning angle into a walking direction and speed - i.e., a virtual velocity vector. A preliminary evaluation was conducted in order to evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of the proposed interface and to better draw the future expectations of such a device.
The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, in Madeira Island

SummaryThe environmental conditions in Madeira Island are favorable for the presence and dissemination of the pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Five hundred Pinus pinaster wood samples were collected in several forest areas and PWN was detected in 22.8 % of the samples. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus isolates from Madeira Island displayed the species-specific diagnostic characters. A morphological variation in the female tail terminus was detected. In most females, the tail presented a broadly rounded terminus and, occasionally, a digitate terminus with a terminal nipple-like extension resembling a mucro. PCR ITS-RFLP analysis revealed that Madeira Island isolates exhibited patterns specific to the species B. xylophilus and similar to virulent isolates. Amplified ITS regions were further sequenced and no genetic diversity was found for this genomic region among 17 Portuguese isolates (Madeira Island and Continental Portugal). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Portuguese isolates grouped with isolates from China, Korea and one isolate from Japan.
Ulla Bonas , Daniela Bartels and Olaf Kaiser Pühler

10.1128/JB.187. 21.7254-7266.2005. 2005, 187(21):7254. DOI: J. Bacteriol. Ulla Bonas, Daniela Bartels and Olaf Kaiser Pühler, Schuster, Frank-Jörg Vorhölter, Ernst Weber, Alfred Rückert, Oliver Rupp, Susanne Schneiker, Stephan C. Niesbach-Klösgen, Thomas Patschkowski, Christian Gerhard Mittenhuber, Dietrich H. Nies, Ulla Lanz, Burkhard Linke, Alice C. McHardy, Folker Meyer, Alexander Goesmann, Sabine Kay, Oliver Kirchner, Christa Jens Boch, Daniela Büttner, Camila Caldana, Lars Gaigalat, Frank Thieme, Ralf Koebnik, Thomas Bekel, Carolin Berger, Genome Sequence vesicatoria Revealed by the Complete pv. Xanthomonas campestris Bacterium Pathogenicity of the Plant Pathogenic Insights into Genome Plasticity and
Trust Correlated with Innovation Adoption in Hospital Organizations 1

The perception of trust in hospital organizational climates is correlated with adoptions of innovations. Innovation has become synonymous with survival in the current healthcare environment. Hospitals, however, tend to be rule-bound and risk-averse. The paper suggests that successful innovation adoption may be associated with perceptions of trust among administrators, professionals and employees. For individuals or groups to be willing to take necessary risks for innovation adoption, there must be a perception that the organization trusts its members with appropriate information, resources and risk acceptance. Innovation adoption is classified into technological, administrative, human-resources, and product/service innovation categories. Organizational climate elements of trust are grouped as 1) calculus-based trust, associated with perceived benefits and consequences, 2) knowledge-based trust, relying on experience and history, and 3) identification-based trust, established in common group membership, interests and intentions. Based on a consulting project, the paper associates perceptions of trust with observations of hospital innovation adoptions. Surveys of ten Southern California Hospitals, involving fifty organizational groups and over 800 participants, asked participants to identify the presence of organizational climate trust attributes as well as observations of innovation adoption. Trust-related organizational climate attributes are shown to be positively associated with the adoption of specific types of innovations and negatively associated with others. The findings suggest that the presence of certain key elements of trust within organizational climates could function as predictors of successful innovation adoption and readiness for organizational change. TRUST CORRELATED WITH INNOVATION ADOPTION IN HOSPITAL ORGANIZATIONS
A survey of the relationship between mental health with parenting styles in mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Introduction: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common psychiatric disorder in children. Family has a very important role in the management of these children. Â The present study aimed to assess the parenting styles and mental health status in mothers of children with ADHD. Materials and Methods: This is a case control study which was conducted in 2013-2014. The statistical community consisted of children with ADHD who referred to psychiatric clinics in 5th of Azar and Taleghani hospitals. The case group consisted of 64 ADHD children selected through random sampling. The participants in the control group (64 school children in Gorgan) were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling. After explaining the project to mothers, the demographic, Buri's Parental Authority (PAQ), and General Health (GHQ) questionnaires were filled out. Data analyzed by SPSS-version 16, descriptive and analytical statistics and chi-square test. Results: Number of 47 boys and 17 girls were in each group. The mean age of ADHD group was 8.42 Â± 1.84 years and 8.84 Â± 1.10 years in the control group. Subscales of somatic symptoms, maternal anxiety, depression and the total score of GHQ questionnaire showed a significant difference (P=0.01, P=0.001 and P=0.01) between mothers of ADHD and control groups; that is to say mothers of children with ADHD are more anxious and depressed, and have poorer health than the others. Authoritative parenting style showed statistically significant difference in the case and control groups (P= 0.002). Also mothers age in ADHD group is higher but their academic education was significantly lower than the control group (P=0.01 and P=0.001). Conclusion: According to our findings, among the four factors of ADHD, maternal education, maternal mental health, and maternal age, the influence of ADHD on authoritative parenting style is more pronounced than maternal mental health.
Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Gelsolin in Acetic Acid Induced Writhing, Tail Immersion and Carrageenan Induced Paw Edema in Mice

Plasma gelsolin levels significantly decline in several disease conditions, since gelsolin gets scavenged when it depolymerizes and caps filamentous actin released in the circulation following tissue injury. It is well established that our body require/implement inflammatory and analgesic responses to protect against cell damage and injury to the tissue. This study was envisaged to examine analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of exogenous gelsolin (8 mg/mouse) in mice models of pain and acute inflammation. Administration of gelsolin in acetic acid-induced writhing and tail immersion tests not only demonstrated a significant reduction in the number of acetic acid-induced writhing effects, but also exhibited an analgesic activity in tail immersion test in mice as compared to placebo treated mice. Additionally, anti-inflammatory function of gelsolin (8 mg/mouse) compared with anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac sodium (10 mg/kg)] was confirmed in the carrageenan injection induced paw edema where latter was measured by vernier caliper and fluorescent tomography imaging. Interestingly, results showed that plasma gelsolin was capable of reducing severity of inflammation in mice comparable to diclofenac sodium. Analysis of cytokines and histo-pathological examinations of tissue revealed administration of gelsolin and diclofenac sodium significantly reduced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and IL-6. Additionally, carrageenan groups pretreated with diclofenac sodium or gelsolin showed a marked decrease in edema and infiltration of inflammatory cells in paw tissue. Our study provides evidence that administration of gelsolin can effectively reduce the pain and inflammation in mice model.
Analysis of the clinical utility of algorithms in the 2009 PhysioNet/Computing in cardiology challenge for the prediction of acute hypotensive episodes

An Acute Hypotensive Episode (AHE) typically indicates an impending life-threatening event for an ICU patient. Therefore, the accurate prediction of AHEs has clear clinical merit and was the focus of the 2009 Challenge. This paper analyzes if the competitors' methods actually provide clinical utility. This analysis was accomplished using the portion of the training set that included records not containing any AHEs. In this training set, the 10 hours prior to the forecast window were analyzed for 15 records using the algorithms described by Chen, Mneimneh, and Langley. When Chen's method was evaluated using a sliding 5-minute window (15 records, 10 hours each), this method generated 884 false alarms. Mneimneh's algorithm produced 131 false alarms over the same 150 hours. Though both Chen and Mneimneh scored 10/10 in Event 1 and 36/40 in Event 2, these results indicate that these methods could never be used practically. Although Langley's algorithm did not perform as favorably in the Challenge, 8/10 in Event 1 and 28/40 in Event 2, it had zero false alarms in the training set used in this study. This indicates that some potential may exist for a relatively simple method to be clinically useful, but performance must be considered both in terms of predictive accuracy as well as low false alarms rates.
Quantized Subgradient Algorithm and Data-Rate Analysis for Distributed Optimization

In this paper, we consider quantized distributed optimization problems with limited communication capacity and time-varying communication topology. A distributed quantized subgradient algorithm is presented with quantized information exchange between agents. Based on a proposed encoder-decoder scheme and a zooming-in technique, the optimal solution can be obtained without any quantization errors. Moreover, we explore how to minimize the quantization level number for quantized distributed optimization problems. In fact, the optimization problem can be solved with five-level quantizers in the switching topology case, while it can be solved with three-level quantizers in the fixed topology case.