Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Galactic Disk Metallicity Distribution from Open Clusters. I. New Catalogs and Abundance Gradient

We have compiled two new open cluster catalogs. In the first one, there are 119 objects with ages, distances, and metallicities available, while in the second one, 144 objects have both absolute proper motion and radial velocity data, of which 45 clusters also have metallicity data available. Taking advantage of the large number of objects included in our sample, we present an iron radial gradient of about -0.063 ± 0.008 dex kpc-1 from the first sample, which is quite consistent with the most recent determination of the oxygen gradient from nebulae and young stars, about -0.07 dex kpc-1. By dividing clusters into age groups, we show that the iron gradient was steeper in the past, which is consistent with the recent result from Galactic planetary nebulae data, and also consistent with inside-out galactic disk formation scenarios. Based on the cluster sample, we also discuss the metallicity distribution, cluster kinematics, and space distribution. A disk age-metallicity relation could be implied by those properties, although we cannot give conclusive result from the age- metallicity diagram based on the current sample. More observations are needed for metal-poor clusters. From the second catalog, we have calculated the velocity components in cylindrical coordinates with respect to the Galactic standard of rest for 144 open clusters. The velocity dispersions of the older clusters are larger than those of young clusters, but they are all much smaller than that of the Galactic thick disk stars.
Bcl2 is an independent prognostic marker of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and predicts response to anthracycline combination (ATC) chemotherapy (CT) in adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings.

BACKGROUND TNBC represents a heterogeneous subgroup of BC with poor prognosis and frequently resistant to CT. MATERIAL AND METHODS The relationship between Bcl2 immunohistochemical protein expression and clinico-pathological outcomes was assessed in 736 TNBC-patients: 635 patients had early primary-TNBC (EP-TNBC) and 101 had primary locally advanced (PLA)-TNBC treated with neo-adjuvant- ATC-CT. RESULTS Negative Bcl2 (Bcl2-) was observed in 70% of EP-TNBC and was significantly associated with high proliferation, high levels of P-Cadherin, E-Cadherin and HER3 (P's < 0.01), while Bcl2+ was significantly associated with high levels of p27, MDM4 and SPAG5 (P < 0.01). After controlling for chemotherapy and other prognostic factors, Bcl2- was associated with 2-fold increased risk of death (P = 0.006) and recurrence (P = 0.0004). Furthermore, the prognosis of EP-TNBC/Bcl2- patients had improved both BC-specific survival (P = 0.002) and disease-free survival (P = 0.003), if they received adjuvant-ATC-CT. Moreover, Bcl2- expression was an independent predictor of pathological complete response of primary locally advanced triple negative breast cancer (PLA-TNBC) treated with neoadjuvant-ATC-CT (P = 0.008). CONCLUSION Adding Bcl2 to the panel of markers used in current clinical practice could provide both prognostic and predictive information in TNBC. TNBC/Bcl2- patients appear to benefit from ATC-CT, whereas Bcl2+ TNBC seems to be resistant to ATC-CT and may benefit from a trial of different type of chemotherapy with/without novel-targeted agents.
Genome wide measurement of DNA copy number changes in neuroblastoma: dissecting amplicons and mapping losses, gains and breakpoints

In the past few years high throughput methods for assessment of DNA copy number alterations have witnessed rapid progress. Both ‘in house’ developed BAC, cDNA, oligonucleotide and commercial arrays are now available and widely applied in the study of the human genome, particularly in the context of disease. Cancer cells are known to exhibit DNA losses, gains and amplifications affecting tumor suppressor genes and proto-oncogenes. Moreover, these patterns of genomic imbalances may be associated with particular tumor types or subtypes and may have prognostic value. Here we summarize recent array CGH findings in neuroblastoma, a pediatric tumor of the sympathetic nervous system. A total of 176 primary tumors and 53 cell lines have been analyzed on different platforms. Through these studies the genomic content and boundaries of deletions, gains and amplifications were characterized with unprecedented accuracy. Furthermore, in conjunction with cytogenetic findings, array CGH allows the mapping of breakpoints of unbalanced translocations at a very high resolution.
Transgene-Mediated and Elicitor-Induced Perturbation of Metabolic Channeling at the Entry Point into the Phenylpropanoid Pathway

3H–l-Phenylalanine is incorporated into a range of phenylpropanoid compounds when fed to tobacco cell cultures. A significant proportion of 3H–trans-cinnamic acid formed from 3H–l-phenylalanine did not equilibrate with exogenous trans-cinnamic acid and therefore may be rapidly channeled through the cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H) reaction to 4-coumaric acid. Such compartmentalization of trans-cinnamic acid was not observed after elicitation or in cell cultures constitutively expressing a bean phenylalanine ammonia–lyase (PAL) transgene. Channeling between PAL and C4H was confirmed in vitro in isolated microsomes from tobacco stems or cell suspension cultures. This channeling was strongly reduced in microsomes from stems or cell cultures of transgenic PAL-overexpressing plants or after elicitation of wild-type cell cultures. Protein gel blot analysis showed that tobacco PAL1 and bean PAL were localized in both soluble and microsomal fractions, whereas tobacco PAL2 was found only in the soluble fraction. We propose that metabolic channeling of trans-cinnamic acid requires the close association of specific forms of PAL with C4H on microsomal membranes.
Bupropion normalizes cognitive performance in patients with depression.

Patients with mood disorders are known to have neurocognitive deficits in many, if not most, cognitive domains. [1] In a recent paper, we showed that depressed patients on modern antidepressants had, in spite of successful treatment, residual deficits in tests of effortful attention, executive function, and information processing speed. [2] Although the cognitive impairments associated with depression are improved by effective antidepressant therapy, they do not tend to normalize. [3–6] This general rule has not been tested, however, in comparative studies of specific antidepressants. One might expect, for example, that that antidepressants with potent noradrenergic effects would be cognitive enhancers. [7–10] In contrast, antidepressants whose primary action is serotonergic would be expected to be cognitively neutral, or less likely to “normalize” cognition in depressed patients. [11–17] We took the opportunity to examine this proposition in a naturalistic study of depressed patients who had been treated with 7 different modern antidepressants. We wondered whether, in a real-world situation, one could demonstrate cognitive differences among patients taking different drugs. To address the question, we took advantage of a computerized neurocognitive screening battery that could administer 7 neuropsychological tests in a short period of time and generate results with millisecond accuracy. Because the test is easy to administer, it could be given, in our clinics, to virtually every patient on antidepressants.
PCR Assay for Detection of Neospora Caninum in Fresh and Frozen Semen Specimens of Iranian Bulls

2 Abstract: Neosporosis is caused by the protozoan parasite, Neospora caninum which is major cause of fatal disease and abortion in cattle in Iran and in many countries. The economic impacts of neosporosis are lost milk, meat and abortions in cattle. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the presence of N. caninum DNA in fresh and frozen semen samples of Iranian bulls that were used for artificial insemination using PCR method. In this study 175 fresh and frozen bull's semen specimens were collected from Iranian animal husbandries and two artificial insemination centers and genomic DNA was extracted. For detection of pNC-5 gene of N. caninum were amplified by oligonucleotide primers using PCR technique and 1% agarose gel electrophoresis used for visualization of amplified PCR products. The results of this study showed that 30 of 175 (17.14%) semen samples in Iranian bulls were infected with N. caninum and the protozoan DNA was detected in 17 (9.71%) and 13 (7.43%) of fresh and frozen semen specimens, respectively. The findings of present study demonstrated high presence of N. caninum infection (P<0.05) and showed that fresh and frozen semen samples of bulls that were used for artificial insemination play an important role in the spread of bovine neosporosis in Iran. These results indicated PCR technique is useful for fast detection of this protozoan in semen specimens. According to these findings control and eradication programs such as vaccinations for prevent and reduce of economic loses of this protozoan infection in Iranian cattle seem to be necessary.
A Comparison of the Perceived Threats of Managerial Sanctions, Embarrassment and Shame in Japan and the United States

Drawing on the extended deterrence model, we develop a rationale for predicting that Japanese employees, compared to American employees, perceive greater threats of managerial sanctions, embarrassment, and shame for noncompliant behavior. In the research reported here, parallel measures are created of the perceived threats of each punishment for three forms of productive deviance (taking a long lunch or break, coming to work late or leaving early, and using sick leave). The cultural differences in perceived levels of these threats for the rule violations are then examined in merged samples of employees in Japanese and U.S. university hospitals. Consistent with the prediction, threats of all three sanctions are perceived to be higher among Japanese employees than American employees.
On extension of coverings

We address the question of when a covering of the boundary of a surface F can be extended to a covering of the surface (equivalently: when is there a branched cover with a prescribed monodromy? ). If such an extension is possible, when can the total space be taken to be connected? When can the extension be taken to be regular? We give necessary and sufficient conditions for both finite and infinite covers (infinite covers are our main focus). In order to prove our results, we show group‐theoretic results of independent interest, such as the following extension (and simplification) of the theorem of Ore: every element of the infinite symmetric group is the commutator of two elements which, together, act transitively. We also make some general remarks on writing elements of various groups as commutators.
Development of a device for remote monitoring of heart rate and body temperature

We present a new integrated, portable device to provide a convenient solution for remote monitoring heart rate at the fingertip and body temperature using Ethernet technology and widely spreading internet. Now a day, heart related disease is rising. Most of the times in these cases, patients may not realize their actual conditions and even it is a common fact that there are no doctors by their side, especially in rural areas, but now a day's most of the diseases are curable if detected in time. We have tried to make a system which may give information about one's physical condition and help him/her to detect these deadly but curable diseases. The system gives information of heart rate and body temperature simultaneously acquired on the portable side in realtime and transmits results to web. In this system, the condition of heart and body temperature can be monitored from remote places. Eventually, this device provides a low-cost, easily accessible human health monitor solution bridging the gaps between patients and doctors.
A Global Performance Assessment Approach for the TerraSAR-X Staring Spotlight and Wide ScanSAR Modes

For the TerraSAR-X mission two new modes have been implemented and are operational since autumn 2013. One is a high azimuth resolution Staring Spotlight mode and the other a wide ScanSAR mode with doubled ground range coverage compared to the nominal TerraSAR-X ScanSAR. This paper gives an overview about SAR performance analysis conducted during the mode design and implementation phases and focusses on a global performance assessment approach. This approach is described in detail and results are shown.
Uncovering the spatial relatedness in Wikipedia

In a previous work we showed that the knowledge of the spatial reader scope of a news source, that is the geographical location for which its content has been primarily produced, plays an important role in disambiguating toponyms in news articles. The determination of the spatial reader scope of a news source is based on the notion of a local lexicon, which for a location l is defined as a set of concepts, such as names of people, landmarks and historical events, that are spatially related to l. The automatic determination of a local lexicon for a wide range of locations is key to implementing an efficient geotagged news retrieval system, such as NewsStand and its variants TwitterStand and PhotoStand. The major research challenge here is the measurement of the spatial relatedness of a concept to a location. Our previous work resorted to a similarity measure that used the geographic coordinates attached to the Wikipedia articles to find concepts that are spatially related to a certain location. Clearly, this results in local lexicons that mostly include spatial concepts, although non-spatial concepts, such as people or food specialties, are key elements of the identity of a location. In this paper, we explore a set of graph-based similarity measures to determine a local lexicon of a location from Wikipedia without using any spatial clues, based on the observation that the spatial relatedness of a concept to a location is hidden in the Wikipedia link structure. Our evaluation on the local lexicons of 1,200 locations indicates that our observation is well-founded. Additionally, we provide experiments on standard datasets that show that SynRank, one of the measures that we propose for computing the spatial relatedness of a concept to a location, rivals existing similarity measures in determining the semantic relatedness between wikipedia articles.
GRB 021004: A Massive Progenitor Star Surrounded by Shells

We present spectra of the optical transient of GRB 021004 obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope starting 15.48 hr, 20.31 hr, and 4.84 days after the γ-ray burst and a spectrum obtained with the H. J. Smith 2.7 m Telescope starting 14.31 hr after the γ-ray burst. GRB 021004 is the first burst afterglow for which the spectrum is dominated by absorption lines from high-ionization species with multiple velocity components separated by up to 3000 km s-1. We argue that these absorption lines are likely to come from shells around a massive progenitor star. The high velocities and high ionizations arise from a combination of acceleration and flash ionization by the burst photons and the wind velocity and steady ionization by the progenitor. We also analyze the broadband spectrum and the light curve so as to distinguish the structure of gas within 0.3 pc of the burster. We delineate six components in the medium surrounding the γ-ray burst along the line of sight: (1) The z ≅ 2.293 absorption lines arise from the innermost region closest to the burst, where the ionization will be highest and the 3000 km s-1 velocity comes from the intrinsic velocity of a massive star wind boosted by acceleration from the burst flux. For a mass-loss rate of ~ 6 × 10-5 M☉ yr-1, this component also provides the external medium with which the jet collides over radial distances 0.004-0.3 pc to create the afterglow light. (2) A second cloud or shell produces absorption lines with a relative velocity of 560 km s-1. This component could be associated with the shell created by the fast massive star wind blowing a bubble in the preceding slow wind at a radial distance on the order of 10 pc or by a clump at ~0.5 pc accelerated by the burst. (3) More distant clouds within the host galaxy that lie between 30 and 2500 pc and have been ionized by the burst will create the z ≅ 2.33 absorption lines. (4-6) If the three bumps in the afterglow light curve at 0.14, 1.1, and 4.0 days are caused by clumps or shells in the massive star wind along the line of sight, then the radii and overdensities of these are 0.022, 0.063, and 0.12 pc and 50%, 10%, and 10%, respectively. The immediate progenitor of the γ-ray burst could be either a WC-type Wolf-Rayet star with a high-velocity wind or a highly evolved massive star the original mass of which was too small for it to become a WN-type Wolf-Rayet star. In summary, the highly ionized lines with high relative velocities most likely come from shells or clumps of material close to the progenitor, and these shells were plausibly produced by a massive star soon before its collapse.
Self-Efficacy After Life Skills Training: A Case-Control Study

Background: Nursing students’ self-efficacy is a predictor for their educational progress. Students, who believe that they can be successful in their studies, are more confident. Therefore, many universities have focused on life skills training programs to improve the mental health of their students. Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate and compare self-efficacy in two groups of nursing students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). One group of students was trained on life skill programs, and the second group was not trained on the issue. Materials and Methods: A case-control study was conducted on two groups of nursing students in TUMS in the late 2012. The case group (n = 112) had passed life skills training course, and the control group (n = 139) was not trained on the issue. Data was collected using a questionnaire containing 12 questions about demographic features, and the Sherer’s general self-efficacy questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using independent sample t-test, Chi-square, odds ratio, and Fisher’s exact test. Results: In the untrained and trained groups, 23% and 8% of the students had very high self-efficacy, respectively. The overall mean scores of self-efficacy were 41.99 ± 9.31 and 38.99 ± 10.48 in the trained and untrained groups, respectively (P = 0.015), and the higher mean score indicates lower level of self-efficacy. A significant difference was also found between the self-efficacy and family income (P = 0.029). Conclusions: The present study showed that life skills training program did not affect self-efficacy of nursing students. Perhaps, the methods used in education were influencing and then, more effective techniques such as role-play and group discussion should be substituted in life skills training.
Early gestation dexamethasone programs enhanced postnatal ovine coronary artery vascular reactivity.

Excessive exposure of the fetus to maternally derived corticosteroids has been linked to the development of adult-onset diseases. To determine if early gestation corticosteroid exposure alters subsequent coronary artery reactivity, we administered dexamethasone (0.28 mg.kg(-1). day(-1)) to pregnant ewes at 27-28 days gestation (term being 145 days). Vascular responsiveness was assessed in endothelium-intact coronary and mesenteric arteries isolated from steroid-exposed and age-matched control fetal sheep at 123-126 days gestation and lambs at 4 mo of age. Lambs exposed to maternal dexamethasone had higher mean arterial blood pressures than the age-matched controls (93 +/- 3 vs. 83 +/- 5 mmHg, P < 0.05). Mesenteric arteries from the steroid-exposed fetuses displayed diminished responses to ANG II, relative to controls. In 4-mo-old lambs, prenatal dexamethasone exposure significantly increased coronary artery vasoconstriction to ANG II, ACh, and U-46619, but not KCl. In contrast, postnatal mesenteric artery reactivity was unaltered by steroid exposure. Compared with fetal mesenteric reactivity, postnatal mesenteric reactivity to ANG II, phenylephrine, and U-46619 was diminished, whereas the response to 120 mmol/l KCl was heightened. Coronary artery ANG II receptor protein expression was not significantly altered by steroid exposure in either age group. These findings demonstrate that early-gestation glucocorticoid exposure programs postnatal elevations in blood pressure and selectively enhances coronary artery responsiveness to second messenger-dependent vasoconstrictors. Glucocorticoid-induced alterations in coronary vascular smooth muscle structure or function may provide a mechanistic link between an adverse intrauterine environment and later cardiovascular disease.
Assessing Severe Drought and Wet Events over India in a Future Climate Using a Nested Bias-Correction Approach

General circulation models (GCMs) are routinely used to simulate future climatic conditions. However, rainfall outputs from GCMs are highly uncertain in preserving temporal correlations, frequencies, and intensity distributions, which limits their direct application for downscaling and hydrological modeling studies. To address these limitations, raw outputs of GCMs or regional climate models are often bias corrected using past observations. In this paper, a methodology is presented for using a nested bias-correction approach to predict the frequencies and occurrences of severe droughts and wet conditions across India for a 48-year period (2050-2099) centered at 2075. Specifically, monthly time series of rainfall from 17 GCMs are used to draw conclusions for extreme events. An increasing trend in the frequencies of droughts and wet events is observed. The northern part of India and coastal regions show maximum increase in the frequency of wet events. Drought events are expected to increase in the west central, peninsular, and central northeast regions of India. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000585. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Droughts; India; Climates; Hydrologic models. Author keywords: Nested bias correction; General circulation model; Drought; Wet; Standardized Precipitation Index; Climate; Precipitation; India.
Axonal sprouting in layer V pyramidal neurons of chronically injured cerebral cortex

We performed experiments to determine whether axonal sprouting occurs in neurons of chronic neocortical epileptogenic lesions. Partially isolated somatosensory cortical islands with intact pial blood supply were prepared in mature rats. Neocortical slices from these lesions, studied 6–39 d later, generated spontaneous and/or evoked epileptiform field potentials (Prince and Tseng, 1993) during which neurons displayed prolonged polyphasic excitatory and inhibitory synaptic potentials/currents. Single electrophysiologically characterized layer V pyramidal neurons in control and epileptogenic slices were filled with biocytin using sharp and patch-electrode techniques, their axonal arbors reconstructed and compared quantitatively. Neurons in injured cortex had a 56% increase in total axonal length, a 64% increase in the number of axonal collaterals and more than a doubling (115% increase) of the number of axonal swellings. The presumed boutons were smaller and more closely spaced than those of control cells. In some neurons the main descending axon had hypertrophic segments from which branches arose. These highly significant changes were most marked in the perisomatic region of layer V. The axonal sprouting was associated with a decrease in somatic area but no significant change in dendritic arbors. Results suggest that a significant degree of axonal reorganization takes place in the chronically injured cortex where it might be an adaptive mechanism for recovery of function after injury, or might be maladaptive and play an important role in the generation of epileptiform events by increasing the numbers and density of synaptic contacts between neurons.