Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Frequency-Dependent Electrophysiologic Actions of Amiodarone and Sematilide in Humans

Background The autonomic nervous system appears to play an important role in the development of clinical ventricular arrhythmias, and 3-adrenergic sympathetic stimulation may be important in modulating the electrophysiologic effects of class III antiarrhythmic agents. This study prospectively determined the effects of isoproterenol on the frequency-dependent actions of sematilide (a pure class III agent that selectively blocks the delayed rectifier potassium current) and amiodarone (a class III agent with a complex pharmacologic profile) on ventricular repolarization, refractoriness, and conduction. Methods and Results The frequency-dependent electrophysiologic effects of sematilide (n= 11) and amiodarone (n=22) were determined at (1) drug-free baseline, (2) during steadystate (>48 hours) dosing with sematilide (455+±5 mg/d [mean±SEM]) or after 10.5 days of amiodarone loading (1618±32 mg/d), and (3) during isoproterenol administration (35 ng/kg per minute) to patients receiving sematilide or amiodarone. Electrophysiologic determinations were made at paced cycle lengths of 300 to 500 ms. The two groups were similar in all clinical characteristics. The ventricular action potential duration at 90% repolarization (APD90) was significantly prolonged by sematilide (mean increase, 7±1%, P<.01 by ANOVA) and amiodarone (mean increase, 12±1%, P<.001). However, while sematilide-induced APD90 prolongation was fully reversed to baseline values during isoproterenol infusion, the APD90 in patients receiving amiodarone remained significantly prolonged by a mean of 6±1% compared with baseline (P=.005). The reduction in the APD,O was frequency dependent for both agents, with a greater reduction at longer than shorter paced cycle lengths (P<.02). During isoproterenol infusion the right ventricular effective refractory period (RVERP) in patients receiving sematilide was significantly reduced to mean values of 8±2% below baseline (P<.05),
Polarization of T Lymphocytes Is Regulated by Mesenchymal Stem Cells in NZBWF1 and BALB/c Mice

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to suppress proliferation and activation of T lymphocytes in vivo and in vitro although the molecular mechanism of the immunosuppressive effect is not completely understood. To investigate the immunoregulatory effects of mice bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on T lymphocyte, MSCs from NZBWF1 and BALB/c mice were isolated and expanded from bone marrow, and identified with cell morphology and the surface phenotypes. CD3+ T lymphocytes isolated by nylon wool columns were co-cultured with PMA with or without the two strains of MSCs. Then T cell apoptosis and intercellular cytokines of T cell were assessed by flow cytometry. Quantification of transcription factors T-box (T-bet) and GATA-binding protein 3 (GATA-3) expressed in T cells was detected by RT-PCR and western blot. Our results showed that there was a decrease of CD3+ T cell apoptosis when NW MSCs or Bc MSCs were added, and an increase of Th2 subset by NW MSCs and Th1 subset by Bc MSCs were observed by co-culturing MSCs with T lymphocytes. It is suggested that, by favoring Th1-cell development and inhibitory Th2-cell development, normal MSCs might interfere with the SLE development, and that marrow-derived NW MSCs had defective immunoregulatory function when compared with MSCs from healthy mouse strains.
OCCUPATIONAL ALLERGY AMONG TABLE GRAPE FARM WORKERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Asthma and other respiratory health problems among farmworkers may be due to excessive agrichemical use, biological factors (animal, vegetable or micro-organisms and their contaminants such as endotoxins) or in all likelihood a combination of both. Recent studies demonstrate an increased prevalence of chest complaints and wheezing among workers exposed to pesticides (paraquat and organophosphates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa and in the USA.
Sodium Sensitivity of Baroreceptors: Reflex Effects on Blood Pressure and Fluid Volume in the Cat

Thesodium sensitivity of the carotid sinus baroreceptor reflex was demonstrated in anesthetized cats. Decreases in carotid perfusate sodium concentration |Na+]o of 5% and 12.5% attenuated the depressor response to increased carotid sinus pressure. At constant sinus pressure, increases in systemic pressure and heart rate were produced when the carotid perfusate |Na+]o was switched from 145 mM (control) to 138 or 127 miu, and this was accompanied by an increase in urine volume. The changes in |Na+]0 had no effect on the static pressure-volume relationship of the carotid sinus, indicating an action on the baroreceptors that already has been confirmed directly by studies of baroreceptor discharge. Chemoreceptor involvement, examined by recording chemoreceptor discharge, was negligible. The increase in urine volume was not dependent on intact renal sympathetic nerves, and renal denervation alone produced an increase in urine volume during control perfusion. At 87.5% carotid sinus |Na + |(, the urine volume increased from 28 ± 2.0 (SEM) to 31 ± 3.0 μl/min in innervated kidneys and decreased from 32 ± 3.1 to 27 ± 4.6 in denervated kidneys. Urine sodium excretion was higher in denervated kidneys (1.61 ± 0.21 /u.Eq/min compared to 1.40 ± 0.14 μEq/min for innervated kidneys) and was unchanged in innervated kidneys (1.36 ± 0.18 αEq/min) as carotid perfusate sodium was decreased. However, sodium excretion from denervated kidneys was increased (1.86 ± 0.3 μEq/min) as carotid perfusate sodium was lowered. Renal sympathetic discharge also was increased as carotid sinus sodium was reduced. Thus, reducing extracellular [Na+]0 by as little as 5% produces significant baroreceptor reflexes, including a rise in blood pressure, and diuresis with no change in total sodium excretion. These studies indicate a role of the sodium sensitivity of baroreceptors in the regulation of blood pressure, body fluid volume, and body sodium.
Unsociability and Shyness in Chinese Children: Concurrent and Predictive Relations with Indices of Adjustment

The primary goal of this study was to examine the short-term longitudinal associations between unsociability, shyness, and indices of adjustment among Chinese children. Participants were 787 children (ages 10–14 years) in an urban area in China. Assessments of unsociability, shyness, and adjustment were obtained from multiple sources, including peer nominations, self-reports, and school records. Results indicated that while controlling for the effects of shyness, unsociability was associated with socioemotional and school difficulties. In particular, unsociability appeared to act as a risk factor for later peer problems and internalizing difficulties across the school year. Some gender differences were also observed in the longitudinal associations between unsociability and indices of adjustment. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning and implication of unsociability in Chinese culture.
Neural Edge Enhancer for Supervised Edge Enhancement from Noisy Images

We propose a new edge enhancer based on a modified multilayer neural network, which is called a neural edge enhancer (NEE), for enhancing the desired edges clearly from noisy images. The NEE is a supervised edge enhancer: Through training with a set of input noisy images and teaching edges, the NEE acquires the function of a desired edge enhancer. The input images are synthesized from noiseless images by addition of noise. The teaching edges are made from the noiseless images by performing the desired edge enhancer. To investigate the performance, we carried out experiments to enhance edges from noisy artificial and natural images. By comparison with conventional edge enhancers, the following was demonstrated: The NEE was robust against noise, was able to enhance continuous edges from noisy images, and was superior to the conventional edge enhancers in similarity to the desired edges. To gain insight into the nonlinear kernel of the NEE, we performed analyses on the trained NEE. The results suggested that the trained NEE acquired directional gradient operators with smoothing. Furthermore, we propose a method for edge localization for the NEE. We compared the NEE, together with the proposed edge localization method, with a leading edge detector. The NEE was proven to be useful for enhancing edges from noisy images.
Pengaruh Organisasi Kemahasiswaan Terhadap Prestasi Belajar Mahasiswa Prodi Pendidikan Ekonomi FKIP Untan Pontianak

HMJ P.IPS FKIP Untan student organizations is a student organization for economic education FKIP Untan as a place to develop interests and talents and organizational skills and academic. A common problem in this study is "How does a student organization on student achievement economic education FKIP Untan? " With the sub problems are: (1) Is the Economic student of Teacher Training and Education Faculty Tanjungpura University Pontianak active in organizational activities? ; (2) How the achievement of economic education study program students that participating in HMJ P.IPS FKIP Untan student organizations? ; (3) Is the student organization HMJ P.IPS FKIP Untan had a significant effect on student achievement FKIP Untan Pontianak? The method used in this research is descriptive method, where the study was intended to create a description, picture, or painting in a systematic, factual and accurate information on the facts, properties and relationships between phenomena are investigated. Form of research used in this study is a form of interrelationship studies to take on the research object HMJ P.IPS student organizations. Means of collecting data in this study is the use of interview guides, questionnaires, and documents. The results obtained, among others, it is known that 2 % of the HMJ P.IPS very active in organizing activities, 50 % reported active in organizational activities, 37 % stated they were quite active, 7 % less active while the remaining 4 % are inactive. There is a positive effect of student organizations on student achievement FKIP Untan Economic Education. Based on t count of 4,982 indicates that there is the influence of the independent variable (X) on the dependent variable (Y). When compared with the t table at 95 % significance level of 2,015. Then t is greater than t table or 4.982 > 2.015, so Ho is rejected and Ha accepted. With the calculation of simple linear regression formula obtained Y = 0.478 x + 3.929, which means that the value of the constant is 3.929 if the effect of the student organization (X) is 0 (zero), then the learning achievement (Y) is positive, namely 3,929. Variable regression coefficient value of student organizations (X) is 0.478. This means that any increase in the influence of student organizations by 1, then the learning achievement will increase by 0,478. The coefficient of determination in this study shows the contribution independent variables (X) is a student organization on the dependent variable (Y) that learning achievement by 36.1 %, while the rest is influenced by other variables. Subject to the discussion and research, there are some suggestions that should be submitted, including adding activities that are academic, and for educational institutions to be able to support FKIP Untan HMJ P. IPS work programs.
Stock markets and industry growth: an Eastern European perspective

This paper reviews the recent stock market developments in Poland and the Czech Republic and provides a case-study insight into the direction of causality between stock market expansion and economic growth. It finds no evidence that the relative failure of the Czech security market affected the country's economy. It also reports that the largest equity issuers in Eastern Europe do not come from industries traditionally considered financially dependent.
Minstrel: a computer model of creativity and storytelling

Telling a story is a difficult task that requires a variety of knowledge and cognitive processes: knowledge about themes, writing techniques, the story world, and presentation; processes such as planning, problem-solving, recall and creativity. This dissertation presents a model of the storytelling process which incorporates theories of creativity, memory and author-level planning. This model has been implemented in a computer program called MINSTREL which tells short, theme-based stories about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. MINSTREL's creativity process is based upon creativity heuristics called Transform-Recall-Adapt Methods (TRAMs). Each TRAM integrates a simple problem transformation which searches the problem-space for new knowledge to apply to a problem with a corresponding adaptation which can adapt any discovered knowledge to the original problem. By using TRAMs to augment the problem-solving process, MINSTREL is able to invent useful new problem solutions. By incorporating creativity into the recall process, MINSTREL makes creativity available to any cognitive process, and permits the use of multiple TRAMs to make creative "leaps". MINSTREL's storytelling process is based upon a model of author-level problem-solving. In addition to a process model of author-level problem-solving, MINSTREL implements four important classes of author-level goals and plans: (1) Thematic, (2) Dramatic, (3) Consistency, and (4) Presentation. MINSTREL uses these goals and plans to tell a number of short stories in the King Arthur domain. MINSTREL is a computational model of the cognitive processes of storytelling and creativity. MINSTREL (1) describes a process model of storytelling, (2) identifies important storytelling goals and plans, (3) identifies fundamental storytelling processes, (4) describes a process model of creativity, (5) explains how a problem-solver can find and adapt old knowledge to create new solutions, (6) identifies useful creativity heuristics, (7) explains creative "leaps", (8) explains the relation of creativity to problem-solving, (9) describes the relationship between memory and creativity, and (10) integrates creativity into a larger cognitive model.
African Ways of Knowing and Pedagogy Revisited

Whereas African ways of knowing have previously been ‘misunderstood, misinterpreted, ridiculed and ignored’ in colonial discourses, this paper situates debate on their relevance in defining the African personhood and pedagogy of liberation and progress in Africa. The paper is designed to inform educators of African students on the nature of the African paradigm of knowing to understand the African psyche. Although modern people (especially the African elite) tend to invest little faith in developing indigenous knowledges, this paper amply demonstrates that traditional ways of knowing (spirituality centered wisdom) continue to be relevant in modern life even beyond the African boundaries. The insights informing the paper were gleaned from several studies conducted by this researcher (and others) exploring the African paradigm from Shona and Ndebele cultures’ conceptions of giftedness. The paper recommends revisiting African traditional ways of knowing to harmonize the past with the present and establish the true basis for pedagogy of liberation and progress in Africa.
Experts bodies, experts minds: How physical and mental training shape the brain

Skill learning is the improvement in perceptual, cognitive, or motor performance following practice. Expert performance levels can be achieved with well-organized knowledge, using sophisticated and specific mental representations and cognitive processing, applying automatic sequences quickly and efficiently, being able to deal with large amounts of information, and many other challenging task demands and situations that otherwise paralyze the performance of novices. The neural reorganizations that occur with expertise reflect the optimization of the neurocognitive resources to deal with the complex computational load needed to achieve peak performance. As such, capitalizing on neuronal plasticity, brain modifications take place over time-practice and during the consolidation process. One major challenge is to investigate the neural substrates and cognitive mechanisms engaged in expertise, and to define “expertise” from its neural and cognitive underpinnings. Recent insights showed that many brain structures are recruited during task performance, but only activity in regions related to domain-specific knowledge distinguishes experts from novices. The present review focuses on three expertise domains placed across a motor to mental gradient of skill learning: sequential motor skill, mental simulation of the movement (motor imagery), and meditation as a paradigmatic example of “pure” mental training. We first describe results on each specific domain from the initial skill acquisition to expert performance, including recent results on the corresponding underlying neural mechanisms. We then discuss differences and similarities between these domains with the aim to identify the highlights of the neurocognitive processes underpinning expertise, and conclude with suggestions for future research.
The Impact of Intersecting Dimensions of Inequality and Identity on the Racial Status of Eastern African Immigrants1

In this article, we examine how immigrants from eastern Africa to the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area understand and navigate the U.S. color line and its implications for nonwhites. Although these immigrants are subject to constraints based on their racial status as black, they mobilize other intersecting aspects of their identities to manipulate racial classifications in the hopes of attaining upward mobility in the United States, even when doing so creates other social costs for them. Eastern African immigrants draw on their ethnicity and, among Muslim immigrants, their religion to differentiate themselves from African Americans, who occupy the lowest position in the U.S. racial hierarchy. In challenging their categorization as racially black and seeking to move up the racial hierarchy, Eastern African immigrants refine the color line to distinguish between African-American blacks and non-African-American blacks.
Guidelines for reducing NBTI based on its correlation with effective work function studied by CV-BTI on high-k first MOS capacitors with slant-etched SiO2

In this work, a correlation between effective work function (EWF) and negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) is considered as a key for understanding the cause of NBTI acceleration in ultra-thin oxides and for its mitigation. High-k first process combined with slant etching of SiO2 interfacial layer (IL) provides EWF and NBTI trend over the varied SiO2 thickness. Evaluation of NBTI on the metal/high-k capacitors is done by employing the CV-BTI assessment technique. Whereas a modulation of EWF originating from the metal/high-k interface doesn't affect the NBTI, EWF roll-off originating from SiO2/Si interface causes a significant increase in NBTI at UT-EOT. This is explained by the change in alignment of defect level in gate dielectrics and hole injection level in Si substrate induced by the positive fixed charge generation. In contrast, introducing negative fixed charge near SiO2/Si interface, causing misalignment of the defect level and hole injection level, results in reduction of NBTI at thick EOT. Finally, lowering the channel doping density is proposed as a way to reduce both NBTI and PBTI.
Tourette's Syndrome -- Tics, Obsessions, Compulsions: Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Care

INDIVIDUALS, SYMPTOMS, AND DIAGNOSES. Tics and Tic Disorders (J. Leckman, et al.). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression (R. King, et al.). Phenomenology and Natural History of Tic-Related ADHD and Learning Disabilities (J. Walkup, et al.). Neuropsychological Findings (R. Schultz, et al.). Peer Acceptance and Adaptive Functioning (E. Dykens, et al.). Differential Diagnosis (K. Towbin, et al.). Beyond the Diagnosis-Darwinian Perspectives on Pathways to Successful Adaptation (J. Leckman & D. Cohen). CAUSES AND DETERMINANTS. Evolving Models of Pathogenesis (J. Leckman & D. Cohen). Epidemiological Studies (A. Zohar, et al.). Genetic Vulnerability (D. Pauls, et al.). Environmental Risk and Protective Factors (B. Peterson, et al.). Neuroanatomical Circuitry (B. Peterson, et al.). Neurochemical and Neuropeptide Systems (G. Anderson, et al.). PARTNERSHIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST OF TOURETTE'S. Yale Approach to Assessment and Treatment (J. Leckman, et al.). Selection and Use of Diagnostic and Clinical Rating Instruments (L. Scahill, et al.). Comprehensive Psychological and Educational Assessments (A. Carter, et al.). Psychosocial and Behavioral Treatments (R. King, et al.). Recommendations for Teachers (A. Carter, et al.). Pharmacological and Other Somatic Approaches to Treatment (L. Carpenter, et al.). Role of Voluntary Organizations in Clinical Care, Research, and Public Policy (K. Taubert). Appendices. References. Indexes.
TOXICOKINETICS AND METABOLISM

The kinetic properties of bacterial and rat liver glutathione S-transferases (GST) active with dichloromethane (DCM) were compared. The theta class glutathione S-transferase (rGSTT1-1) from rat liver had an anity for dihalomethanes lower by three orders of magnitude (Kapp > 50 mM) than the bacterial DCM dehalogenase/GST from Methylophilus sp. DM11. Unlike the bacterial DCM dehalogenase, the rat enzyme was unable to support growth of the dehalogenase minus Methylobacterium sp. DM4-2cr mutant with DCM. Moreover, the presence of DCM inhibited growth with methanol of the DM4-2cr transconjugant expressing the rat liver GSTT1-1. In Salmonella typhimurium TA1535, expression of rat and bacterial DCM-active GST from a plasmid in the presence of DCM yielded up to 5.3 times more reversions to histidine prototrophy in the transconjugant expressing the rat enzyme. Under the same conditions, however, GST-mediated conversion of DCM to formaldehyde was lower in cell-free extracts of the transconjugant expressing the rat GSTT1 than in the corresponding strain expressing the bacterial DCM dehalogenase. This provided new evidence that formaldehyde was not the main toxicant associated with GSTmediated DCM conversion, and indicated that an intermediate in the transformation of DCM by GST, presumably S-chloromethylglutathione, was responsible for the observed eects. The marked dierences in substrate anity of rat and bacterial DCM-active GST, as well as in the toxicity and genotoxicity associated with expression of these enzymes in bacteria, suggest that bacterial DCM dehalogenases/GST have evolved to minimise the toxic eects associated with glutathionemediated catalysis of DCM conversion.