Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of the Na-K pump of the rat cortical collecting tubule by aldosterone

Activities of Na channels and Na pumps were studied in the rat cortical collecting tubule (CCT) during manipulation of the animals' mineralocorticoid status in vivo using a low-Na diet, diuretics, or administration of exogenous aldosterone. Tubules were isolated and split open to expose the luminal membrane surface. Using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique, activities of the apical Na channels and the basolateral Na pumps were measured in principal cells as the currents inhibited by amiloride (10 microM) and ouabain (1 mM), respectively. Na channel current (INa) was not measurable in CCTs from control animals on a normal diet. INa was approximately 200 pA/cell in CCTs from animals on a low-Na diet or infused with aldosterone using osmotic minipumps. Currents attributable to the Na pump (Ipump) were similar in control animals and animals on a low-Na diet. Maximal currents were approximately 35 pA/cell in both groups, and decreased with hyperpolarization of the cell membrane. In contrast, administration of exogenous aldosterone increased Ipump fourfold. Coinfusion of aldosterone and amiloride in vivo through the minipumps did not affect the induction of INa but reduced the induction of Ipump by 80%. We conclude that the induction of channel activity in this tissue is a direct action of aldosterone, whereas the induction of pump activity may be a consequence of the increased Na traffic through the epithelial cells.
Effects of Prescription Omega-3-Acid Ethyl Esters on Fasting Lipid Profile in Subjects With Primary Hypercholesterolemia

This double-blind, randomized crossover study investigated the effects of 6 weeks of treatment with prescription omega-3-acid ethyl esters (POM3, 4 g/day) versus placebo (soy oil) on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and other aspects of the fasting lipid profile in 31 men and women with primary, isolated hypercholesterolemia (LDL-C 130-220 mg/dL and triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL while free of lipid-altering therapies). Mean ± standard error of the mean baseline concentrations of total cholesterol, LDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides were 229 ± 3, 146 ± 3, 60 ± 2, 23 ± 2, and 113 ± 8 mg/dL, respectively. POM3 produced a modest increase from baseline in LDL-C (3.4%) versus the placebo response (-0.7%, P = 0.010). Significant changes (P < 0.05) for POM3 (placebo-corrected) were observed for very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-18.8%), triglycerides (-18.7%), and HDL-C (3.3%). Nuclear magnetic resonance-determined very-low-density lipoprotein particle concentration and size and HDL particle concentration decreased significantly more with POM3 versus placebo, whereas LDL and HDL particle sizes increased significantly more with POM3 versus placebo. Total cholesterol, non-HDL-C, apolipoproteins A1 and B, and LDL particle concentration responses did not differ between treatments. These results did not confirm the hypothesis that POM3 treatment would lower LDL-C in primary, isolated hypercholesterolemia. Effects on other variables were consistent with prior results in mixed dyslipidemia.
Clinical Relevance and Role of Neuronal AT1 Receptors in ADAM17-Mediated ACE2 Shedding in Neurogenic Hypertension

Rationale: Neurogenic hypertension is characterized by an increase in sympathetic activity and often resistance to drug treatments. We previously reported that it is also associated with a reduction of angiotensin-converting enzyme type 2 (ACE2) and an increase in a disintegrin and metalloprotease 17 (ADAM17) activity in experimental hypertension. In addition, while multiple cells within the central nervous system have been involved in the development of neurogenic hypertension, the contribution of ADAM17 has not been investigated. Objective: To assess the clinical relevance of this ADAM17-mediated ACE2 shedding in hypertensive patients and further identify the cell types and signaling pathways involved in this process. Methods and Results: Using a mass spectrometry-based assay, we identified ACE2 as the main enzyme converting angiotensin II into angiotensin-(1–7) in human cerebrospinal fluid. We also observed an increase in ACE2 activity in the cerebrospinal fluid of hypertensive patients, which was correlated with systolic blood pressure. Moreover, the increased level of tumor necrosis factor-&agr; in those cerebrospinal fluid samples confirmed that ADAM17 was upregulated in the brain of hypertensive patients. To further assess the interaction between brain renin–angiotensin system and ADAM17, we generated mice lacking angiotensin II type 1 receptors specifically on neurons. Our data reveal that despite expression on astrocytes and other cells types in the brain, ADAM17 upregulation during deoxycorticosterone acetate–salt hypertension occurs selectively on neurons, and neuronal angiotensin II type 1 receptors are indispensable to this process. Mechanistically, reactive oxygen species and extracellular signal-regulated kinase were found to mediate ADAM17 activation. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that angiotensin II type 1 receptors promote ADAM17-mediated ACE2 shedding in the brain of hypertensive patients, leading to a loss in compensatory activity during neurogenic hypertension.
Pólya Urn Schemes with Infinitely Many Colors

In this work we introduce a new urn model with infinite but countably many colors indexed by an appropriate infinite set. We mainly focus on d-dimensional integer lattice and replacement matrix associated with bounded increment random walks on it. We prove central and local limit theorems for the expected configuration of the urn and show that irrespective of the null recurrent or transient behavior of the underlying random walk, the urn models have universal scaling and centering giving appropriate normal distribution at the limit. The work also provides similar results for urn models corresponding to other infinite lattices.
Free-swimming northern elephant seals have low field metabolic rates that are sensitive to an increased cost of transport

Widely ranging marine predators often adopt stereotyped, energy-saving behaviours to minimize the energetic cost of transport while maximizing energy gain. Environmental and anthropogenic disturbances can disrupt energy balance by prompting avoidance behaviours that increase transport costs, thereby decreasing foraging efficiency. We examined the ability of 12 free-ranging, juvenile northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) to mitigate the effects of experimentally increased transport costs by modifying their behaviour and/or energy use in a compensatory manner. Under normal locomotion, elephant seals had low energy requirements (106.5±28.2 kJ kg−1 day−1), approaching or even falling below predictions of basal requirements. Seals responded to a small increase in locomotion costs by spending more time resting between dives (149±44 s) compared with matched control treatments (102±11 s; P<0.01). Despite incurred costs, most other dive and transit behaviours were conserved across treatments, including fixed, rhythmic swimming gaits. Because of this, and because each flipper stroke had a predictable effect on total costs (P<0.001), total energy expenditure was strongly correlated with time spent at sea under both treatments (P<0.0001). These results suggest that transiting elephant seals have a limited capacity to modify their locomotory behaviour without increasing their transport costs. Based on this, we conclude that elephant seals and other ocean predators occupying similar niches may be particularly sensitive to increased transport costs incurred when avoiding unanticipated disturbances.
Analysis and Numerical Approximation of a Stationary MHD Flow Problem with Nonideal Boundary

We are concerned with the steady flow of a conducting fluid, confined to a bounded region of space and driven by a combination of body forces, externally generated magnetic fields, and currents entering and leaving the fluid through electrodes attached to the surface. The flow is governed by the Navier--Stokes equations (in the fluid region) and Maxwell's equations (in all of space), coupled via Ohm's law and the Lorentz force. By means of the Biot--Savart law, we reduce the problem to a system of integro-differential equations in the fluid region, derive a mixed variational formulation, and prove its well-posedness under a small-data assumption. We then study the finite-element approximation of solutions (in the case of unique solvability) and establish optimal-order error estimates. Finally, an implementation of the method is described and illustrated with the results of some numerical experiments.
In the psychiatrist's chair: how neurologists understand conversion disorder

Conversion disorder (‘hysteria’) was largely considered to be a neurological problem in the 19th century, but without a neuropathological explanation it was commonly assimilated with malingering. The theories of Janet and Freud transformed hysteria into a psychiatric condition, but as such models decline in popularity and a neurobiology of conversion has yet to be found, today's neurologists once again face a disorder without an accepted model. This article explores how today's neurologists understand conversion through in-depth interviews with 22 neurology consultants. The neurologists endorsed psychological models but did not understand their patients in such terms. Rather, they distinguished conversion from other unexplained conditions clinically by its severity and inconsistency. While many did not see this as clearly distinct from feigning, they did not feel that this was their problem to resolve. They saw themselves as ‘agnostic’ regarding non-neuropathological explanations. However, since neurologists are in some ways more expert in conversion than psychiatrists, their continuing support for the deception model is important, and begs an explanation. One reason for the model's persistence may be that it is employed as a diagnostic device, used to differentiate between those unexplained symptoms that could, in principle, have a medical explanation and those that could not.
Significantly Improved Vascular Complications Among Women Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Report From the Northern New England Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Registry

Background—Women are at a higher risk for bleeding/vascular complications (VC) related to cardiovascular procedures. Although the overall incidence of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)-related bleeding/VC has declined, the impact of this decline, specifically in women, is unknown. Methods and Results—We studied 13 653 female and 32 334 male consecutive cases, from 2002 to 2007, in the Northern New England PCI Registry. We sought to (1) compare absolute rates of bleeding/VC in women and men over time, (2) define predictors of bleeding/VC in women and men undergoing PCI, and (3) trend the impact of female gender in predicting bleeding/VC over time. Bleeding/VC was defined as any access-site vessel injury requiring surgical intervention or bleeding requiring transfusion. The overall risk of bleeding/VC was significantly higher in women versus men (4.5±1.3% versus 1.6±0.5%; P<0.004). Over time, there was a significant (P<0.001) 50% decrease in absolute bleeding/VC rates in both women and men. After adjustment for baseline differences, female gender remained a significant predictor of increased risk in 2007 (odds ratio, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.74 to 3.91). Independent predictors of increased risk of bleeding/VC in women included older age, shock, renal failure, presentation with non–ST-elevation myocardial infraction and larger sheath sizes, whereas the use of fluoroscopy-guided access, closure devices, history of dyslipidemia or prior PCI, and use of bivalirudin were protective. Conclusion—Women undergoing PCI have had a significant decline in bleeding/VC rates during the last 6 years. Despite the improvement in procedural safety, female gender continues to be associated with a >2-fold risk of bleeding/VC compared with men.
Reference Values in White Europeans for the Arterial Pulse Wave Recorded by Means of the SphygmoCor Device

Measurement of blood pressure together with applanation tonometry at the radial artery allows the reproducible assessment of various indexes of arterial stiffness, including the peripheral (PPp) and central pulse pressures (PPc) and the peripheral (AIp) and central augmentation indexes (AIc). We defined preliminary diagnostic thresholds, using the distributional characteristics of these hemodynamic measurements in a reference population. We randomly recruited 870 subjects from 3 European populations. PPp was the average difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure measured five times at one home visit. For measurement of PPc, AIp and AIc, we used the SphygmoCor device. We selected subjects without hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia in need of medical treatment or previous or concomitant cardiovascular disease. The study population included 228 men and 306 women (mean age 34.9 years). All hemodynamic measurements were curvilinearly related to age, and AIp and AIc were lower in men than in women. In men at age 40, the upper 95% prediction bands of the relations of the hemodynamic measurements with age approximated 60 mmHg for PPp, 40 mmHg for PPc, 90% for AIp, and 30% for AIc. For PPc, AIp and AIc, these thresholds must be adjusted for age, leading to lower and higher thresholds at younger and older age, respectively. In addition, in women of any age, the AIp and AIc thresholds must be increased by 10% and 7%, respectively. Pending validation in prospective outcome studies, distributional characteristics of arterial stiffness indexes in a reference population can be used to generate operational thresholds for use in clinical practice.
A Comparison of the Response of the Hadley Circulation to Different Tropical SST Meridional Structures During the Equinox Seasons

The response of the Hadley circulation (HC) to different tropical sea surface temperature (SST) patterns during the equinox seasons (i.e., boreal spring and autumn) is analyzed. Although the HC shows quasi‐equatorially symmetric structure in both equinox seasons, both the climatology and the interannual variations of the HC display considerable differences, that is, being more equatorially asymmetric (symmetric) during autumn (spring). After decomposing the variations of the HC and zonal SST into the equatorially asymmetric (i.e., HC's equatorially asymmetric variation (HEA) for HC and SST's equatorially asymmetric variation (SEA) for SST) and symmetric (i.e., HC's equatorially symmetric variation (HES) for HC and SST's equatorially symmetric variation (SES) for SST) components, the differences in the HC between spring and autumn are shown to derive mainly from the HEA. Meanwhile, the contrast in the response of the HEA to SEA against HES to SES is greater in spring than in autumn, suggesting the HC is more sensitive to the SST conditions in spring. The variation of the HEA is related to different signals in spring and autumn that is linked to the central Pacific El Niño during spring but to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation during autumn. The different contributors are associated with the differences in both the spatial extent and temporal variations in the HEA. In contrast, both spring and autumn HES are closely linked to the canonical El Niño, favoring similar variations in spring and autumn HES. The results here provide a possible explanation of the different variations in the HC during spring and autumn and highlight the seasonal dependence of the response of the HC to SST.
The use of platelet indices, plateletcrit, mean platelet volume and platelet distribution width in emergency non-traumatic abdominal surgery: a systematic review

Platelet indices (PI) — plateletcrit, mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW) — are a group of derived platelet parameters obtained as a part of the automatic complete blood count. Emerging evidence suggests that PIs may have diagnostic and prognostic value in certain diseases. This study aimed to summarize the current scientific knowledge on the potential role of PIs as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in patients having emergency, non-traumatic abdominal surgery. In December 2015, we searched Medline/PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar to identify all articles on PIs. Overall, considerable evidence suggests that PIs are altered with acute appendicitis. Although the role of PI in the differential diagnosis of acute abdomen remains uncertain, low MPV might be useful in acute appendicitis and acute mesenteric ischemia, with high MPV predicting poor prognosis in acute mesenteric ischemia. The current lack of consistency and technical standards in studies involving PIs should be regarded as a serious limitation to comparing these studies. Further large, multicentre prospective studies concurrently collecting data from different ethnicities and genders are needed before they can be used in routine clinical practice.
FastXML: a fast, accurate and stable tree-classifier for extreme multi-label learning

The objective in extreme multi-label classification is to learn a classifier that can automatically tag a data point with the most relevant subset of labels from a large label set. Extreme multi-label classification is an important research problem since not only does it enable the tackling of applications with many labels but it also allows the reformulation of ranking problems with certain advantages over existing formulations. Our objective, in this paper, is to develop an extreme multi-label classifier that is faster to train and more accurate at prediction than the state-of-the-art Multi-label Random Forest (MLRF) algorithm [2] and the Label Partitioning for Sub-linear Ranking (LPSR) algorithm [35]. MLRF and LPSR learn a hierarchy to deal with the large number of labels but optimize task independent measures, such as the Gini index or clustering error, in order to learn the hierarchy. Our proposed FastXML algorithm achieves significantly higher accuracies by directly optimizing an nDCG based ranking loss function. We also develop an alternating minimization algorithm for efficiently optimizing the proposed formulation. Experiments reveal that FastXML can be trained on problems with more than a million labels on a standard desktop in eight hours using a single core and in an hour using multiple cores.
Short‐Term Dexamethasone Treatment Increases Food Intake, but Apparently Not through Changes in NPY Content in the PVN

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) profoundly increases food intake. Previous evidence has suggested a role for glucocorticoids in the regulation of NPY. In this experiment, we sought to examine the short-term effect of dexamethasone (DEX) treatment on food intake and to correlate these changes with potential alterations in hypothalamic NPY activity. Fifty-two male, Sprague-Dawley rats were adrenalectomized. After 4 days, animals were given a subcutaneous injection of either vehicle (propylene glycol) or DEX (2 mg/kg) between 7:OO and 8:OO A.M. Food intake was monitored at 2, 6, 12, and 30 hr post injection. Animals were allowed to recover for 1 week, and the injections were repeated. Animals were killed at 0 ,2 ,6 , and 12 hr post injection, and food intake was again determined. NPY content was assessed in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). NPY mRNA levels were determined in the basomedial hypothalamus. Food intake was significantly increased in DEX-treated animals a t 2,6, and 12 hr post injection. Between 12 and 30 hr post injection, however, DEX had no effect on
Environmental effects and repeatability estimates for sperm production and semen quality of Holstein bulls

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to estimate environmental effects on semen production of artificial insemination (AI) Holstein bulls managed under Moroccan conditions. A total of 4 046 ejaculates collected from 34 Holstein bulls in the years 2009–2013 were analysed. Studied variables were volume, concentration, total number of spermatozoa, mass motility, individual motility and post-thawing motility. Data were analysed by REML method using the mixed model including the random effect of bull and the fixed effects of age at collection, season of collection, year of collection, interval between two collections and ejaculate order. The effect of age of bulls was significant for all studied variables, except for mass motility. Spring and winter were the best seasons for sperm production and quality. Bulls’ ejaculates collected once a day at one day interval produced monthly 30 %, 86 %, 156 %, 183 % and 185 % more motile spermatozoa than those collected once a day at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 days interval, respectively. Moreover, bulls’ sperm collected twice a day at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 days interval produced monthly (sum of motile spermatozoa obtained at 1st and 2nd ejaculates) 77 %, 70 %, 65 %, 68 %, 84 % and 91 % more than those collected once a day at the same interval, respectively. Repeatability estimates for semen traits were medium to high. They varied from 0.157 for mass motility to 0.411 for ejaculate volume. It was concluded that environmental factors clearly contribute to semen production in Holstein bulls and short intervals between collections and two collections per day are maximising sperm production.
Identity and virulence properties of Aeromonas isolates from diseased fish, healthy controls and water environment in China

Aims: To investigate the species distribution in Aeromonas isolates from diseased fish, healthy controls and water environment in China; to evaluate the frequency of the aerolysin (aer), cytotonic enterotoxin (alt), cytotoxic enterotoxin (act), temperature‐sensitive protease (eprCAI) and serine protease (ahp) genes in Aeromonas isolates; and to determine the potential pathogenicity of these isolates.
Screening for Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children: Assessment of Criteria and a Proposal for New Ones in France

The decline in children’s Blood Lead Levels (BLL) raises questions about the ability of current lead poisoning screening criteria to identify those children most exposed. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the performance of current screening criteria in identifying children with blood lead levels higher than 50 µg/L in France, and to propose new criteria. Data from a national French survey, conducted among 3831 children aged 6 months to 6 years in 2008–2009 were used. The sensitivity and specificity of the current criteria in predicting blood lead levels higher than or equal to 50 µg/L were evaluated. Two predictive models of BLL above 44 µg/L (for lack of sufficient sample size at 50 µg/L) were built: the first using current criteria, and the second using newly identified risk factors. For each model, performance was studied by calculating the area under the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve. The sensitivity of current criteria for detecting BLL higher than or equal to 50 µg/L was 0.51 (0.26; 0.75) and specificity was 0.66 (0.62; 0.70). The new model included the following criteria: foreign child newly arrived in France, mother born abroad, consumption of tap water in the presence of lead pipes, pre-1949 housing, period of construction of housing unknown, presence of peeling paint, parental smoking at home, occupancy rates for housing and child’s address in a cadastral municipality or census block comprising more than 6% of housing that is potentially unfit and built pre-1949. The area under the ROC curve was 0.86 for the new model, versus 0.76 for the current one. The lead poisoning screening criteria should be updated. The risk of industrial, occupational and hobby-related exposure could not be assessed in this study, but should be kept as screening criteria.