Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanism of action and value of N-acetylcysteine in the treatment of early and late acetaminophen poisoning: a critical review.

INTRODUCTION The mechanism of action of N-acetylcysteine in early acetaminophen poisoning is well understood, but much remains to be learned of the mechanism of its possible benefit in acetaminophen poisoning presenting beyond 15 hours. METHODS Selective review of medical literature. N-acetylcysteine should be used in all cases of early acetaminophen poisoning where the plasma acetaminophen concentration lies "above the line;" which line is chosen depends on individual preference and whether enzyme induction is suspected. Particular care should be taken with the use of the nomogram for patients with chronic excess ingestion of acetaminophen or for those who have taken slow-release formulations. CONCLUSIONS While there is a trend suggesting a beneficial effect of N-acetylcysteine in some patients presenting beyond 15 hours, further research is necessary to establish just how effective N-acetylcysteine is, particularly in patients presenting with fulminant hepatic failure. Candidate mechanisms for a beneficial effect in-clude improvement of liver blood flow, glutathione replenishment, modification of cytokine production, and free radical or oxygen scavenging. Hemody-namic and oxygen delivery and utilization parameters must be monitored carefully during delayed N-acetylcysteine treatment of patients with fulminant hepatic failure, as unwanted vasodilation may be deleterious to the maintenance of mean arterial blood pressure.
User-centered design and evaluation of a real-time battlefield visualization virtual environment

The ever-increasing power of computers and hardware rendering systems has, to date, primarily motivated the creation of visually rich and perceptually realistic virtual environment (VE) applications. Comparatively very little effort has been expended on the user interaction components of VEs. As a result, VE user interfaces are often poorly designed and are rarely evaluated with users. Although usability engineering is a newly emerging facet of VE development, user-centered design and usability evaluation in VEs as a practice still lags far behind what is needed. This paper presents a structured, iterative approach for the user-centered design and evaluation of VE user interaction. This approach consists of the iterative use of expert heuristic evaluation, followed by formative usability evaluation, followed by summative evaluation. We describe our application of this approach to a real-world VE for battlefield visualization, describe the resulting series of design iterations, and present evidence that this approach provides a cost-effective strategy for assessing and iteratively improving user interaction design in VEs. This paper is among the first to report applying an iterative, structured, user-centered design and evaluation approach to VE user interaction design.
Phylogeography of Asian wild rice, Oryza rufipogon: a genome‐wide view

Asian wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) that ranges widely across the eastern and southern part of Asia is recognized as the direct ancestor of cultivated Asian rice (O. sativa). Studies of the geographic structure of O. rufipogon, based on chloroplast and low‐copy nuclear markers, reveal a possible phylogeographic signal of subdivision in O. rufipogon. However, this signal of geographic differentiation is not consistently observed among different markers and studies, with often conflicting results. To more precisely characterize the phylogeography of O. rufipogon populations, a genome‐wide survey of unlinked markers, intensively sampled from across the entire range of O. rufipogon is critical. In this study, we surveyed sequence variation at 42 genome‐wide sequence tagged sites (STS) in 108 O. rufipogon accessions from throughout the native range of the species. Using Bayesian clustering, principal component analysis and amova, we conclude that there are two genetically distinct O. rufipogon groups, Ruf‐I and Ruf‐II. The two groups exhibit a clinal variation pattern generally from north‐east to south‐west. Different from many earlier studies, Ruf‐I, which is found mainly in China and the Indochinese Peninsula, shows genetic similarity with one major cultivated rice variety, O. satvia indica, whereas Ruf‐II, mainly from South Asia and the Indochinese Peninsula, is not found to be closely related to cultivated rice varieties. The other major cultivated rice variety, O. sativa japonica, is not found to be similar to either O. rufipogon groups. Our results support the hypothesis of a single origin of the domesticated O. sativa in China. The possible role of palaeoclimate, introgression and migration–drift balance in creating this clinal variation pattern is also discussed.
Mild oxidative stress activates Nrf2 in astrocytes, which contributes to neuroprotective ischemic preconditioning

Haskew-Layton et al. (1) reported that subtoxic doses of H2O2 fails to activate nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2) in astrocytes and triggers Nrf2-independent responses that protect cocultured neurons. Contrary to this, we show that mild oxidative insults, including subtoxic H2O2, strongly activate astrocytic Nrf2/antioxidant response element (ARE)-dependent gene expression, which, moreover, contributes to neuroprotective ischemic preconditioning.
Enriching ALS-Derived Area-Based Estimates of Volume through Tree-Level Downscaling

Information on individual tree attributes is important for sustainable management of forest stands. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) point clouds are an excellent source of information for predicting a range of forest stand attributes, with plot and single tree volume being among the most important. Two approaches exist for estimating volume: area-based approach (ABA) and individual tree detection (ITD). The ABA is now routinely applied in operational forestry applications, and results in generalized plot- or stand-level attribute predictions. Alternatively, ITD-based estimates provide detailed information for individual trees, but are typically biased due to challenges associated with individual tree detection. In this study, we applied an ABA to estimate tree counts and individual tree volumes by downscaling plot-level predictions of total volume derived using ALS data in a highly productive and complex coastal temperate forest environment in British Columbia, Canada, characterized by large volumes and multi-species and multi-age stand structures. To do so, a two-parameter Weibull probability density function (PDF) was used to describe the within-plot tree volume distribution. The ABA approach was then used to model the total plot volume and the two Weibull PDF parameters. Next, the parameters were used to calculate mean tree volume and derive the number of trees and the individual tree volume distribution. Tree count estimates were minimally biased with RMSE of 149 trees·ha−1 or 24.4%. The volume distributions showed good agreement with reference data (mean Reynold’s error index = 71.7). We conclude that the approach was suitable for enriching ABA-derived forest stand attributes in the majority of the studied forest stands; however the accuracy was lower in multi-layered stands that had a multimodal individual tree volume distribution.
Impact of subanesthetic doses of ketamine on AMPA-mediated responses in rats: An in vivo electrophysiological study on monoaminergic and glutamatergic neurons

The rapid antidepressant action of a subanesthetic dose of ketamine in treatment-resistant patients represents the most striking recent breakthrough in the understanding of the antidepressant response. Evidence demonstrates tight interactions between the glutamatergic and monoaminergic systems. It is thus hypothesized that monoamine systems may play a role in the immediate/rapid effects of ketamine. In vivo electrophysiological recordings were carried in male rats following ketamine administration (10 and 25 mg/kg, i.p.) to first assess its effects on monoaminergic neuron firing. In a second series of experiments, the effects of ketamine administration on α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)- and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA)-evoked responses in hippocampus CA3 pyramidal neurons were also investigated using micro-iontophoretic applications. Although acute (~2 hours) ketamine administration did not affect the mean firing activity of dorsal raphe serotonin and ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons, it did increase that of locus coeruleus norepinephrine neurons. In the latter brain region, while ketamine also enhanced bursting activity, it did increase population activity of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. These effects of ketamine were prevented by the prior administration of the AMPA receptor antagonist 2,3-dioxo-6-nitro-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[f]quinoxaline-7-sulfonamide. An increase in AMPA-evoked response of CA3 pyramidal neurons was also observed 30 minutes following acute ketamine administration. The present findings suggest that acute ketamine administration produces a rapid enhancement of catecholaminergic neurons firing activity through an amplification of AMPA transmission. These effects may play a crucial role in the antidepressant effects of ketamine observed shortly following its infusion in depressed patients.
THE MULTIPLE CRITERA ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ORGANIZATIONS

The assessment of social responsibility (SR) in organizations requires a hierarchy of requisitely holistic factors and indicators. This paper introduces the development of measuring instrument for this multidimensional problem. Differently from using factor analysis based on principal component analysis extraction method, it presents the use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to develop the multiple criteria model for the assessment of SR. It also discusses several approaches for the weights determination: because considering factor loadings of the indicators obtained via EFA does not tend to differentiate between the levels of importance, the SMARTER method based on ordinal scale was used in criteria weighting. It proposes the solutions for measuring local alternatives’ values with respect to indicators by using value functions. Application possibilities of the results of the multiple criteria assessment of SR are illustrated and discussed via a real-life case of organizations in Slovenia.
Point-and-Click Cursor Control With an Intracortical Neural Interface System by Humans With Tetraplegia

We present a point-and-click intracortical neural interface system (NIS) that enables humans with tetraplegia to volitionally move a 2-D computer cursor in any desired direction on a computer screen, hold it still, and click on the area of interest. This direct brain-computer interface extracts both discrete (click) and continuous (cursor velocity) signals from a single small population of neurons in human motor cortex. A key component of this system is a multi-state probabilistic decoding algorithm that simultaneously decodes neural spiking activity of a small population of neurons and outputs either a click signal or the velocity of the cursor. The algorithm combines a linear classifier, which determines whether the user is intending to click or move the cursor, with a Kalman filter that translates the neural population activity into cursor velocity. We present a paradigm for training the multi-state decoding algorithm using neural activity observed during imagined actions. Two human participants with tetraplegia (paralysis of the four limbs) performed a closed-loop radial target acquisition task using the point-and-click NIS over multiple sessions. We quantified point-and-click performance using various human-computer interaction measurements for pointing devices. We found that participants could control the cursor motion and click on specified targets with a small error rate (<; 3% in one participant). This study suggests that signals from a small ensemble of motor cortical neurons ( ~ 40) can be used for natural point-and-click 2-D cursor control of a personal computer.
BATSE observations of gamma-ray burst spectra. 2: Peak energy evolution in bright, long bursts

We investigate spectral evolution in 37 bright, long gamma-ray bursts observed with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) spectroscopy detectors. High-resolution spectra are chracterized by the energy of the peak of nu F(sub nu), and the evolution of this quantity is examined relative to the emission intensity. In most cases it is found that this peak energy either rises with or slightly precedes major intensity increases and softens for the remainder of the pulse. Interpulse emission is generally harder early in the burst. For bursts with multiple intensity pulses, later spikes tend to be softer than earlier ones, indicating that the energy of the peak of nu F(sub nu) is bounded by an envelope which decays with time. Evidence is found that bursts in which the bulk of the flux comes well after the event which triggers the instrument tend to show less peak energy variability and are not as hard as several bursts in which the emission occurs promptly after the trigger. Several recently proposed burst models are examined in light of these results and no qualitative conflicts with the observations presented here are found.
Primary Dietary Intervention Study to Reduce the Risk of Islet Autoimmunity in Children at Increased Risk for Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE To determine whether delaying the introduction of gluten in infants with a genetic risk of islet autoimmunity is feasible, safe, and may reduce the risk of type 1 diabetes–associated islet autoimmunity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 150 infants with a first-degree family history of type 1 diabetes and a risk HLA genotype were randomly assigned to a first gluten exposure at age 6 months (control group) or 12 months (late-exposure group) and were followed 3 monthly until the age of 3 years and yearly thereafter for safety (for growth and autoantibodies to transglutaminase C [TGCAs]), islet autoantibodies to insulin, GAD, insulinoma-associated protein 2, and type 1 diabetes. RESULTS Adherence to the dietary-intervention protocol was reported from 70% of families. During the first 3 years, weight and height were similar in children in the control and late-exposure groups, as was the probability of developing TGCAs (14 vs. 4%; P = 0.1). Eleven children in the control group and 13 children in the late-exposure group developed islet autoantibodies (3-year risk: 12 vs. 13%; P = 0.6). Seven children developed diabetes, including four in the late-exposure group. No significant differences were observed when children were analyzed as per protocol on the basis of the reported first gluten exposure of the children. CONCLUSIONS Delaying gluten exposure until the age of 12 months is safe but does not substantially reduce the risk for islet autoimmunity in genetically at-risk children.
Epidemiology and Clinical Features of Uveitis from Urban Populations in South India

ABSTRACT Purpose: To report the epidemiology of uveitis in two urban centers in South India. Methods: Case records seen between January 2014 and December 2014 at two tertiary eye centers in South India were retrospectively reviewed. Results: A total of 1123 patients in the study population had uveitis. Anterior uveitis was seen in 48.9%, posterior in 20.5%, intermediate in 17.3%, and panuveitis in 13.3%. Of these cases, 68.4% were acute uveitis. Pediatric uveitis constituted 6.9% patients. Tuberculosis was the commonest infectious etiology. Conclusions: Idiopathic uveitis was highest in non-infectious and tuberculosis in infectious etiology. Toxoplasmosis was seen in the pediatric age group.
FORA: Simple and Effective Approximate Single-Source Personalized PageRank

Given a graph G, a source node s and a target node t, the personalized PageRank (PPR) of t with respect to s is the probability that a random walk starting from s terminates at t. A single-source PPR (SSPPR) query enumerates all nodes in G, and returns the top-k nodes with the highest PPR values with respect to a given source node s. SSPPR has important applications in web search and social networks, e.g., in Twitter's Who-To-Follow recommendation service. However, SSPPR computation is immensely expensive, and at the same time resistant to indexing and materialization. So far, existing solutions either use heuristics, which do not guarantee result quality, or rely on the strong computing power of modern data centers, which is costly. Motivated by this, we propose FORA, a simple and effective index-based solution for approximate SSPPR processing, with rigorous guarantees on result quality. The basic idea of FORA is to combine two existing methods Forward Push (which is fast but does not guarantee quality) and Monte Carlo Random Walk (accurate but slow) in a simple and yet non-trivial way, leading to an algorithm that is both fast and accurate. Further, FORA includes a simple and effective indexing scheme, as well as a module for top-k selection with high pruning power. Extensive experiments demonstrate that FORA is orders of magnitude more efficient than its main competitors. Notably, on a billion-edge Twitter dataset, FORA answers a top-500 approximate SSPPR query within 5 seconds, using a single commodity server.
Enlargeability and index theory

Let M be a closed enlargeable spin manifold. We show non-triviality of the universal index obstruction in the K-theory of the maximal $C^*$-algebra of the fundamental group of M. Our proof is independent from the injectivity of the Baum-Connes assembly map for the fundamental group of M and relies on the construction of a certain infinite dimensional flat vector bundle out of a sequence of finite dimensional vector bundles on M whose curvatures tend to zero. Besides the well known fact that M does not carry a metric with positive scalar curvature, our results imply that the classifying map $M \to B \pi_1(M)$ sends the fundamental class of M to a nontrivial homology class in $H_n(B \pi_1(M) ; \Q)$. This answers a question of Burghelea (1983).
Identification, RNAi Knockdown, and Functional Analysis of an Ejaculate Protein that Mediates a Postmating, Prezygotic Phenotype in a Cricket

Postmating, prezygotic phenotypes, especially those that underlie reproductive isolation between closely related species, have been a central focus of evolutionary biologists over the past two decades. Such phenotypes are thought to evolve rapidly and be nearly ubiquitous among sexually reproducing eukaryotes where females mate with multiple partners. Because these phenotypes represent interplay between the male ejaculate and female reproductive tract, they are fertile ground for reproductive senescence – as ejaculate composition and female physiology typically change over an individual's life span. Although these phenotypes and their resulting dynamics are important, we have little understanding of the proteins that mediate these phenotypes, particularly for species groups where postmating, prezygotic traits are the primary mechanism of reproductive isolation. Here, we utilize proteomics, RNAi, mating experiments, and the Allonemobius socius complex of crickets, whose members are primarily isolated from one another by postmating, prezygotic phenotypes (including the ability of a male to induce a female to lay eggs), to demonstrate that one of the most abundant ejaculate proteins (a male accessory gland-biased protein similar to a trypsin-like serine protease) decreases in abundance over a male's reproductive lifetime and mediates the induction of egg-laying in females. These findings represent one of the first studies to identify a protein that plays a role in mediating both a postmating, prezygotic isolation pathway and reproductive senescence.
Central Glaucomatous Damage of the Macula Can Be Overlooked by Conventional OCT Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Analyses.

PURPOSE To assess the extent to which glaucomatous damage of the macula can be detected using the summary statistics of a commercial report based upon the circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL) thickness obtained with frequency domain optical coherence tomography (fdOCT). METHODS One hundred forty-three eyes of 143 open-angle glaucoma patients and suspects (56.4 ± 13.8 years) had 10-2 visual fields (VFs) and fdOCT macular and disc cube scans. RNFL and retinal ganglion cell plus inner plexiform layer thickness and probability maps were generated and combined with 10-2 VF information in a single-page, custom report previously described. Three graders evaluated these reports and classified each eye as "abnormal macula" or "normal macula. " Commercially available fdOCT reports for cpRNFL thickness were generated using the automatic segmentation algorithm and norms from the machine. The ability of the reports to detect macular damage was analyzed in three ways: temporal quadrant (TQ) < 5%; TQ < 5% or clock hour 7 < 1% (TQ + CH7); and clock hours 7 through 10 with two sectors < 5% or one sector < 1% (CH7-10). RESULTS Sixty-one (43%) eyes were classified "abnormal macula" and 41 (29%) as "normal macula"; the 10-2 VFs and OCT probability maps did not agree in the remaining eyes. Of the 61 abnormal eyes, the TQ criterion missed 47 (77%); TQ + CH7 missed 24 (39%); and CH7-10 missed 22 (36%). CONCLUSIONS Conventional cpRNFL analyses on commercial OCT reports can miss macular (central field) damage. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE To detect glaucomatous damage of the macula, additional tests, such as macular cube scans and/or 10-2 VFs, should be performed.
Market share and market segment of public employment services

After an introductory discussion of market share and market failure in job matching, the results of two empirical analyses are reported. The first is a cross national comparison of the importance of the public employment service (PES) as a job search channel in 12 EU states based on a special tabulation from the Eurostat Community Labour Force Survey; the second is an in-depth study of the role of the PES in job finding in Germany based on data drawn from 10 waves of the German socio-economic panel, 1984-1993. Briefly stated, the principal findings of the cross-national comparison are: 1) The PES does not primarily compete with private employment services (PRES), even in countries where they are permitted, because most job seekers use other formal and informal search channels (advertisements, direct applications to employers, friends and acquaintances etc.); 2) The clientele served by PRES is surprisingly heterogeneous and differs only in degree from that served by the PES, which suggests that PES and PRES are complementary not because they serve markedly different clienteles - as sometimes assumed - but because most PRES are temporary work agencies with similar clienteles.