Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Taxonomy of Platypterygius campylodon and the diversity of the last ichthyosaurs

A complex and confusing taxonomy has concealed the diversity dynamics of Cretaceous ichthyosaurs (Reptilia) for decades. The near totality of Albian-Cenomanian remains from Eurasia has been assigned, by default, to the loosely defined entity Platypterygius campylodon, whose holotype was supposed to be lost. By thoroughly examining the Cenomanian ichthyosaur collections from the UK, I redescribe the syntypic series of Platypterygius campylodon. This material, along with a handful of other coeval remains, is diagnostic and seemingly differs from the vast majority of Cretaceous remains previously assigned to this taxon. A lectotype for Platypterygius campylodon is designated and I reassign this species to Pervushovisaurus campylodon nov. comb. The feeding ecology of this species is assessed and conforms to the scenario of an early Cenomanian diversity drop prior to the latest Cenomanian final extinction.
Cerebral quantitative susceptibility mapping predicts amyloid-&bgr;-related cognitive decline

See Derry and Kent (doi:10.1093/awx167) for a scientific commentary on this article.The large variance in cognitive deterioration in subjects who test positive for amyloid-β by positron emission tomography indicates that convergent pathologies, such as iron accumulation, might combine with amyloid-β to accelerate Alzheimer's disease progression. Here, we applied quantitative susceptibility mapping, a relatively new magnetic resonance imaging method sensitive to tissue iron, to assess the relationship between iron, amyloid-β load, and cognitive decline in 117 subjects who underwent baseline magnetic resonance imaging and amyloid-β positron emission tomography from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle study (AIBL). Cognitive function data were collected every 18 months for up to 6 years from 100 volunteers who were either cognitively normal (n = 64) or diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (n = 17) or Alzheimer's disease (n = 19). Among participants with amyloid pathology (n = 45), higher hippocampal quantitative susceptibility mapping levels predicted accelerated deterioration in composite cognition tests for episodic memory [β(standard error) = -0.169 (0.034), P = 9.2 × 10-7], executive function [β(standard error) = -0.139 (0.048), P = 0.004), and attention [β(standard error) = -0.074 (0.029), P = 0.012]. Deteriorating performance in a composite of language tests was predicted by higher quantitative susceptibility mapping levels in temporal lobe [β(standard error) = -0.104 (0.05), P = 0.036] and frontal lobe [β(standard error) = -0.154 (0.055), P = 0.006]. These findings indicate that brain iron might combine with amyloid-β to accelerate clinical progression and that quantitative susceptibility mapping could be used in combination with amyloid-β positron emission tomography to stratify individuals at risk of decline.
Quality Assessment of Peripartum Care

Background: Maternal health improvement is one of the eight goals of the third millennium development, set in 2000. Pregnancy complications are the most important causes of maternal mortality worldwide. Proper and qualified health care access is one the most important factors for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates. Objectives: This study aimed to determine quality of peripartum care in Lorestan province in 2013. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, in which quality of peripartum care was assessed among 200 women (sample size was determined according to other studies), referred to Lorestan province public hospitals. Quality assessment according to the WHO was used for the framework of structure, process and outcome. Data was collected by a researcher-made checklist, developed based on the administered instructions by Iran Health Ministry. The checklists were filled by observation. The calculated quality scores were expressed as percentage. SPSS version 18 was used for data analysis. Results: The mean percentages of compatibility with desirable situation were 54%, 57% and 66% in first, second and third stage of labor, respectively. The lowest scores were related to: Leopold maneuvers in the first stage, hand washing in the second stage and pulse control in the third stage of labor. Conclusions: Quality of peripartum care is moderate in Lorestan province, therefore, continuous evaluation of quality of care by administrators and hospital staff is essential to improve this quality and will ultimately result in maternal and neonatal health improvement.
Ramadan fasting in Saudi Arabia is associated with altered expression of CLOCK, DUSP and IL-1alpha genes, as well as changes in cardiometabolic risk factors

Background During the fasting month of Ramadan, practicing Saudis develop severe disturbances in sleeping and feeding patterns. Concomitantly, cortisol circadian rhythm is abolished, diurnal cortisol levels are elevated and circulating levels of several adipokines are altered favouring insulin resistance. Aim To examine changes in the expression of CLOCK and glucocorticoid-controlled genes, such as DUSP1 and IL-1α in Saudi adults before and during Ramadan, and to investigate possible associations with selected cardiometabolic risk factors. Methods Healthy young volunteers (5 females, 18 males; mean age +SEM = 23.2 +1.2 years) were evaluated before Ramadan and two weeks into it. Blood samples were collected at 9 am (±1 hour) and twelve hours later for determination of serum lipid profile, high sensitivity CRP (hsCRP), and adiponectin. The expression of CLOCK, DUSP1 and IL-1α was evaluated in circulating leukocytes. Results Mean levels of GGT and morning adiponectin decreased, while those of LDL-c/ HDL-c and atherogenic index (AI) increased significantly in Ramadan compared to Shabaan. There was no significant difference between morning and evening adiponectin during Ramadan, while the diurnal rhythm of hsCRP was lost. CLOCK gene expression mean was significantly higher in morning than in evening during Shabaan. Mean morning and evening DUSP1 mRNA levels showed significant increase during Ramadan compared to Shabaan, however, its diurnal rhythm was maintained. Morning IL-1α mRNA expression remained significantly higher than in the evening during Ramadan, but was markedly decreased compared to Shabaan. Discussion Ramadan fasting in Saudi Arabia is associated with improvements in some cardiometabolic risk factors, such as circulating GGT and hsCRP and leukocyte expression of IL-1α mRNA, suggesting that intermittent fasting might have a beneficial component. These benefits may be offset by the previously reported dysregulation in the circadian rhythm, excess glucocorticoid levels and action, and insulin resistance, explaining increased prevalence of cardiometabolic disorders and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Tissue-Specific Progenitor and Stem Cells Proneural Transcription Factor Atoh 1 Drives Highly Efficient Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Into Dopaminergic Neurons

Human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are a promising cell resource for various applications in regenerative medicine. Highly efficient approaches that differentiate human PSCs into functional lineagespecific neurons are critical for modeling neurological disorders and testing potential therapies. Proneural transcription factors are crucial drivers of neuron development and hold promise for driving highly efficient neuronal conversion in PSCs. Here, we study the functions of proneural transcription factor Atoh1 in the neuronal differentiation of PSCs. We show that Atoh1 is induced during the neuronal conversionofPSCsand thatectopicAtoh1expression is sufficient todrivePSCs intoneuronswith high efficiency. Atoh1 induction, in combination with cell extrinsic factors, differentiates PSCs into functional dopaminergic (DA) neurons with >80% purity. Atoh1-induced DA neurons recapitulate keybiochemical andelectrophysiological featuresofmidbrainDAneurons, thedegenerationofwhich is responsible for clinical symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Atoh1-induced DA neurons provide a reliable disease model for studying PD pathogenesis, such as neurotoxin-induced neurodegeneration in PD. Overall, our results determine the role of Atoh1 in regulating neuronal differentiation and neuron subtype specification of human PSCs. Our Atoh1-mediated differentiation approach will enable large-scale applications of PD patient-derivedmidbrain DA neurons in mechanistic studies and drug screening for both familial and sporadic PD. STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE 2014;3:888–898
Measuring the Cyclicality of Real Wages: How Important Is the Firm's Point of View?

There is a growing consensus among economists that real wages in the postwar United States have been procyclical, greatly bolstering technology-driven theories of business cycles at the expense of more classical models. This paper makes the point that technological movements in firm's labor demand curves should be tested with a wage that is deflated by the firm's own price of output, with appropriate controls for intermediate inputs, and with respect to the cyclical state of the firm's own industry, as opposed to the state of the aggregate economy. Failure to control for these factors is found to lead to substantial overrejection of the classical model. In detailed industry data, with controls for changes in worker composition, I find that a vast majority of sectors have paid real product wages that vary inversely (that is, countercyclically) with the state of their industry.
Detection of metastases in sentinel lymph nodes of breast cancer patients by multiple‐marker RT‐PCR

This study was undertaken to assess a multiple‐marker RT‐PCR and Southern blot assay for detection of metastases in frozen sections of sentinel lymph nodes from breast cancer patients. Sentinel lymphadenectomy was performed in 41 AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) stage I‐IIIA breast cancer patients and 57 sentinel nodes (SNs) were excised. The SN, which is the first node in the lymphatic basin to receive metastases from the primary tumor, was identified using isosulfan blue dye. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), immuno‐histochemistry (IHC) and RT‐PCR were performed on adjacent sections of the SN. Six consecutive 12‐μm frozen sections of each SN were obtained for the RT‐PCR assay to determine expression of mRNA tumor markers C‐Met, β1 → 4GalNAc‐T and P97. Metastatic breast cancer was detected by H&E in 10 of 57 (18%) SNs and by IHC in an additional 7 (12%). Only 1 of 17 (6%) SNs with metastases did not express any of the 3 tumor mRNA markers. C‐Met, β1 → 4GalNAc‐T and P97 tumor mRNA markers were expressed in 31 (78%), 21 (53%) and 25 (63%) of 40 SNs without metastases, respectively. At least 2 mRNA tumor markers were expressed in 25/40 (63%) histo‐pathologically tumor‐free SNs, whereas all 3 mRNA tumor markers were expressed in 17/40 (43%) SNs. Expression of all 3 mRNA tumor markers in a SN was significantly higher in patients with a family history of breast cancer (p= 0.05), prior history of breast cancer (p< 0.05), infiltrating lobular carcinoma (p = 0.06), estrogen receptor‐negative (p= 0.04) tumor or a higher Bloom Richardson score (p= 0.04). The multiple‐marker RT‐PCR and Southern blot assay improves the detection of occult metastases in the SN when compared to conventional H&E and IHC analysis. Expression of all 3 tumor mRNA markers in the SN correlated with poor prognostic clinico‐pathologic factors compared to expression of 0 to 2 markers. Int. J. Cancer (Pred. Oncol.) 79:645–651, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Abelson kinase regulates epithelial morphogenesis in Drosophila

Activation of the nonreceptor tyrosine kinase Abelson (Abl) contributes to the development of leukemia, but the complex roles of Abl in normal development are not fully understood. Drosophila Abl links neural axon guidance receptors to the cytoskeleton. Here we report a novel role for Drosophila Abl in epithelial cells, where it is critical for morphogenesis. Embryos completely lacking both maternal and zygotic Abl die with defects in several morphogenetic processes requiring cell shape changes and cell migration. We describe the cellular defects that underlie these problems, focusing on dorsal closure as an example. Further, we show that the Abl target Enabled (Ena), a modulator of actin dynamics, is involved with Abl in morphogenesis. We find that Ena localizes to adherens junctions of most epithelial cells, and that it genetically interacts with the adherens junction protein Armadillo (Arm) during morphogenesis. The defects of abl mutants are strongly enhanced by heterozygosity for shotgun, which encodes DE-cadherin. Finally, loss of Abl reduces Arm and α-catenin accumulation in adherens junctions, while having little or no effect on other components of the cytoskeleton or cell polarity machinery. We discuss possible models for Abl function during epithelial morphogenesis in light of these data.
Omega‐3 fatty acids reverse age‐related decreases in nuclear receptors and increase neurogenesis in old rats

Retinoic acid receptors (RARs), retinoid X receptors (RXRs), and peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors (PPARs) are transcription factors involved in many cellular processes, such as learning and memory. RAR and RXR mRNA levels decrease with ageing, and the decreases can be reversed by retinoic acid treatment, which also alleviates age‐related memory deficits. The omega‐3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have neuroprotective effects in the aged brain and are endogenous ligands of RXR and PPAR. We investigated whether dietary EPA and DHA supplementation reverses age‐related declines in protein levels of these receptors in rat forebrain. Two studies were conducted comparing adult and old rats. In the first, old rats were fed standard or EPA/DHA‐enriched (270 mg/kg/day, EPA to DHA ratio 1.5:1) diets for 12 weeks. Analysis by Western blot revealed significant decreases in RARα, RXRα, RXRβ, and PPARγ in the forebrain with ageing, which were reversed by supplementation. Immunohistochemical analysis of the hippocampus showed significant age‐related decreases in RARα and RXRβ expression in CA1 and the dentate gyrus, which were restored by supplementation. Decreases in hippocampal doublecortin expression were also partially alleviated, suggesting a positive effect on neurogenesis. We also investigated the effects of DHA supplementation (300 mg/kg/day for 12 weeks) on RARα, RXRα, and RXRβ expression in the prefrontal cortex, striatum, and hippocampus. Overall, DHA supplementation appeared to increase receptor expression compared with the untreated old group. These observations illustrate additional mechanisms that might underlie the neuroprotective effects of omega‐3 fatty acids in ageing. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Operationalizing the Essential Role of the Information Technology Artifact in Information Systems Research: Gray Area, Pitfalls, and the Importance of Strategic Ambiguity

In this paper we argue that a large gray area of information systems research exists, whose relevance to the information technology artifact is subject to significant debate even among IS scholars who support the essential role of the IT artifact. As we explain, not explicitly addressing this gray area can have negative, although often inadvertent, effects on the innovative nature of IS research; we explore this danger through three pitfalls. We then propose a stance of strategic ambiguity to deal with the gray area. Strategic ambiguity calls for deliberately withholding judgment on the relevance of research in the gray area and acceptance of gray-area research provided it meets the excellence required by professional journals. We believe that strategic ambiguity benefits innovative IS research without harming the essential role of the IT artifact.
Effective Thermal Conductivity of Uniaxial Composite with Cylindrically Orthotropic Carbon Fibers and Interfacial Thermal Barrier

The theories of Hasselman et al. and Benveniste et al. were extended to derive expressions for the longitudinal and transverse effective thermal conductivity of an isotropic matrix uniaxially reinforced with dilute concentrations of cylindrically orthotro pic fibers for finite interfacial thermal conductance values. The transverse thermal conduc tivity of the composite was found to be a function of both the radial and tangential compo nents of the transverse thermal conductivity of the fibers. Comparison with the effective thermal conductivity of an isotropic matrix reinforced with isotropic fibers indicates the effective thermal conductivity of cylindrically orthotropic fibers equals the geometric mean of the radial and tangential transverse thermal conductivity. As for isotropic matrices reinforced with isotropic fibers, a finite value for the interfacial thermal conductance in composites reinforced with cylindrically orthotropic fibers leads to a lowering of the com posite transverse thermal conductivity and also introduces a dependence on fiber diameter. Based on experimental data for the transverse thermal conductivity of a uniaxial carbon fiber-reinforced aluminoborosilicate glass matrix composite in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure and in vacuum, estimates of the interfacial thermal conductances indicate that in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure interfacial gaseous heat transfer contributes about one- third of the total interfacial thermal conductance. The theory should be applicable to other isotropic matrices reinforced with cylindrically orthotropic fibers.
Ensemble methods for handwritten digit recognition

Neural network ensembles are applied to handwritten digit recognition. The individual networks of the ensemble are combinations of sparse look-up tables (LUTs) with random receptive fields. It is shown that the consensus of a group of networks outperforms the best individual of the ensemble. It is further shown that it is possible to estimate the ensemble performance as well as the learning curve on a medium-size database. In addition the authors present preliminary analysis of experiments on a large database and show that state-of-the-art performance can be obtained using the ensemble approach by optimizing the receptive fields. It is concluded that it is possible to improve performance significantly by introducing moderate-size ensembles; in particular, a 20-25% improvement has been found. The ensemble random LUTs, when trained on a medium-size database, reach a performance (without rejects) of 94% correct classification on digits written by an independent group of people. <<ETX>>
'Sexy docs' and 'busty blondes': press coverage of professional misconduct cases brought before the General Medical Council.

La sociologie medicale tendait a presenter la relation entre le medecin et son patient comme liee par des roles et des obligations sociales. Le medecin etait, dans ce cadre, concu comme emotionnellement detache et objectif. Ce modele a ete remis en cause comme idealise et remplace par un modele critique. L'A. presente un certain nombre de donnees collectees aupres du «Professional Conduct Committee», un organisme britannique, charge de statuer sur les manquements des medecins en matiere de deontologie. Il s'interesse a l'attitude et au langage des medias en ce qui concerne la presentation des situations de contentieux dans ce domaine
The carboxy terminus of the beta amyloid protein is critical for the seeding of amyloid formation: implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.

Several variants of the beta amyloid protein, differing only at their carboxy terminus (beta 1-39, beta 1-40, beta 1-42, and beta 1-43), have been identified as the major components of the cerebral amyloid deposits which are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. Kinetic studies of aggregation by three naturally occurring beta protein variants (beta 1-39, beta 1-40, beta 1-42) and four model peptides (beta 26-39, beta 26-40, beta 26-42, beta 26-43) demonstrate that amyloid formation, like crystallization, is a nucleation-dependent phenomenon. This discovery has practical consequences for studies of the beta amyloid protein. The length of the C-terminus is a critical determinant of the rate of amyloid formation ("kinetic solubility") but has only a minor effect on the thermodynamic solubility. Amyloid formation by the kinetically soluble peptides (e.g., beta 1-39, beta 1-40, beta 26-39, beta 26-40) can be nucleated, or "seeded", by peptides which include the critical C-terminal residues (beta 1-42, beta 26-42, beta 26-43, beta 34-42). These results suggest that nucleation may be the rate-determining step of in vivo amyloidogenesis and that beta 1-42 and/or beta 1-43, rather than beta 1-40, may be the pathogenic protein(s) in AD.
Parasitic infection and oxidative status are associated and vary with breeding activity in the Seychelles warbler

Parasites can have detrimental effects on host fitness, and infection typically results in the stimulation of the immune system. While defending against infection, the immune system generates toxic oxidants; if these are not sufficiently counteracted by the antioxidant system, a state of oxidative stress can occur. Here, we investigated the relationship between parasitic infection—using malarial infection as a model—and oxidative status in a natural population of the Seychelles warbler, while taking into account potentially interacting environmental covariates. We found that malaria is associated with increased susceptibility to oxidative stress, but this depends on the breeding stage: only during the energetically demanding provisioning stage did infected birds have higher oxidative stress susceptibility than non-infected birds. The imbalance in oxidative status was caused by a marked increase in oxidant levels observed only in infected birds during provisioning and by an overall reduction in antioxidant capacity observed in all birds across the breeding cycle. This finding implies that higher workload while dealing with an infection could aggravate oxidative repercussions. Malarial infection was not associated with body condition loss, suggesting that even when conditional effects are not directly visible, detrimental effects may still manifest themselves over the longer term through the oxidative consequences.
Switching toxin production on and off: intermittent microcystin synthesis in a Microcystis bloom.

Toxic cyanobacterial blooms are increasing in prevalence. Microcystins are the most commonly produced cyanotoxin. Despite extensive research the variables regulating microcystin production remain unclear. Using a RT-QPCR assay that allowed the precise measurement of mcyE transcriptional gene expression and an ELISA that enabled small changes in total microcystin concentrations to be monitored, we demonstrate for the first time that microcystin production is not always constitutive and that significant up- and downregulation in microcystin synthesis can occur on time scales of 2-6 h. Samples were collected over 3 days from a small eutrophic lake during a dense microcystin-producing Microcystis bloom. McyE gene transcripts were detected in only four out of 14 samples. Vicissitudes in both microcystin quotas and extracellular microcystin levels corresponded with changes in mcyE expression. During the period of exalted microcystin synthesis Microcystis sp. cell concentrations increased from 70 000 cells ml(-1) to 4 000 000 cells ml(-1) . These data provide compelling evidence that changes in Microcystis cell concentrations influence microcystin production.