Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pre-Diabetes Augments Neuropeptide Y1- and α1-Receptor Control of Basal Hindlimb Vascular Tone in Young ZDF Rats

Background Peripheral vascular disease in pre-diabetes may involve altered sympathetically-mediated vascular control. Thus, we investigated if pre-diabetes modifies baseline sympathetic Y1-receptor (Y1R) and α1-receptor (α1R) control of hindlimb blood flow (Qfem) and vascular conductance (VC). Methods Qfem and VC were measured in pre-diabetic ZDF rats (PD) and lean controls (CTRL) under infusion of BIBP3226 (Y1R antagonist), prazosin (α1R antagonist) and BIBP3226+prazosin. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) concentration and Y1R and α1R expression were determined from hindlimb skeletal muscle samples. Results Baseline Qfem and VC were similar between groups. Independent infusions of BIBP3226 and prazosin led to increases in Qfem and VC in CTRL and PD, where responses were greater in PD (p<0.05). The percent change in VC following both drugs was also greater in PD compared to CTRL (p<0.05). As well, Qfem and VC responses to combined blockade (BIBP3226+prazosin) were greater in PD compared to CTRL (p<0.05). Interestingly, an absence of synergistic effects was observed within groups, as the sum of the VC responses to independent drug infusions was similar to responses following combined blockade. Finally, white and red vastus skeletal muscle NPY concentration, Y1R expression and α1R expression were greater in PD compared to CTRL. Conclusions For the first time, we report heightened baseline Y1R and α1R sympathetic control of Qfem and VC in pre-diabetic ZDF rats. In support, our data suggest that augmented sympathetic ligand and receptor expression in pre-diabetes may contribute to vascular dysregulation.
How to Identify an Infection Source With Limited Observations

A rumor spreading in a social network or a disease propagating in a community can be modeled as an infection spreading in a network. Finding the infection source is a challenging problem, which is made more difficult in many applications where we have access only to a limited set of observations. We consider the problem of estimating an infection source for a Susceptible-Infected model, in which not all infected nodes can be observed. When the network is a tree, we show that an estimator for the source node associated with the most likely infection path that yields the limited observations is given by a Jordan center, i.e., a node with minimum distance to the set of observed infected nodes. We also propose approximate source estimators for general networks. Simulation results on various synthetic networks and real world networks suggest that our estimators perform better than distance, closeness, and betweenness centrality based heuristics .
Local Authority and Voluntary Adoption Agencies' Arrangements for Supporting Adoptive Families: A Survey of UK Practice

This paper presents the main messages from a survey of adoption support services in local authority and voluntary adoption agencies throughout the UK. The survey examined developments in service provision and delivery resulting from the Government's drive to increase the use of adoption as an option to secure permanence for looked after children. Alan Rushton reports that substantial changes are taking place in many agencies, but that there is further to go to achieve equitable and timely access to specialist services when they are needed.
The `Society of Captives' in the Era of Hyper-Incarceration

Forty years after the publication of Gresham Sykes's Society of Captives and the second edition of Donald Clemmer's The Prison Community (1958) the incarcerated population in the US, now over 2 million, has grown to an unprecedented size, but paradoxically attention to and concern with the social order of prisons in US academic and political discourse has declined. Just when the experience of imprisonment is becoming a normal pathway for significant portions of the population, the pathways of knowledge that made the experience of incarceration visible are closing. Clemmer, Sykes, and the golden age of US prison sociology they ushered in, helped make prison social order a seemingly knowable object for prison managers and public discourse more generally. The publication 30 years later of John Dilulio's Governing Prisons (1987) can be seen in retrospect as marking a new model of the relationship between expert knowledge, prison management, and the social order of prison. Dilulio's research strategy addressed fundamental weaknesses in prison sociology that had come to be evident in increasingly ungovernable prisons. It also contributed whereby prison social order falls into a dark zone of knowledge and power, integral neither to the production of scientific expertise or governmental programs within the prison. The conjunction of this shift with an enormous expansion in the size of the US prison population is cause for alarm.
CHOICE OF REGULARIZATION AND NUMERICAL RESULTS REGULARIZING SMOOTH DATA WITH SPLINES IN TENSION

This chapter addresses the problem of choosing appropriate regularization and preconditioning operators. Such a choice plays a crucially important role in iterative data regularization. I discuss three strategies appropriate for different kinds of data: 1. Smoothly varying surfaces are regularized with recursive helical smoothers based on the tension-spline theory. 2. The local plane-wave model is often suitable for characterizing different kinds of seismic data. Such data are successfully regularized with plane-wave destructor filters. 3. Seismic reflection data exhibit additional degrees of predictability because of multiple coverage. They can be regularized with finite-difference offset continuation filters. Among the three methods being discussed, the offset continuation approach is the most innovative. The theory behind it is explained in Chapter 6. Combining the constructed regularization operator D with the appropriate forward operator L, discussed in Chapter ? , we obtain a complete problem formulation in the form of system (? ) or (? ). This chapter is the culmination of this dissertation. It contains final numerical experiments that test and illustrate the main concepts developed in other chapters.
Concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-I in blood and ovarian follicular fluid of cattle selected for twins.

Recent studies have implicated insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) as an intraovarian regulator of follicular growth and differentiation. Therefore, we investigated the possibility that cattle selected for twin births may have increased concentrations of IGF-I within the ovarian follicle and(or) in peripheral blood. The estrous cycles of 14 cows with histories of producing twins and 12 control monotocous cows were synchronized with 35 mg of prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha). Blood and follicular fluid were collected 48-50 h post-administration of PGF2 alpha (follicular phase of the estrous cycle). Concentrations of IGF-I were measured by RIA after acid-ethanol treatment of serum or follicular fluid. Twin-producing cows had a greater (p less than 0.05) number of large (greater than or equal to 4 mm) follicles and 47% greater (p less than 0.05) concentrations of IGF-I in peripheral blood than control cows. Cattle selected for high twinning frequency also had greater (p less than 0.05) concentrations of IGF-I (+/- SE) in the two largest follicles than control (unselected) cows (327 +/- 28 vs. 243 +/- 29 ng/ml). IGF-I concentrations in pooled small (1-3.9 mm) follicles were less (p less than 0.05) than in large follicles but did not differ between control and twin-producing cattle. In addition, the percentage of IGF-I concentrations measured in follicular fluid to that of serum was lower (p less than 0.05) in small follicles than in large follicles, and was greater (p less than 0.05) in large follicles of control (93.2 +/- 5.3%) than twin-producing (76.2 +/- 4.4%) cattle. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Visual Memory Deficits: A Plausible Cause of Developmental Dyslexia? Evidence from a Single Case Study

Abstract This paper presents the case of JAS, a developmental dyslexic who had largely resolved her reading problems as an undergraduate student. However, testing revealed that JAS had subtle reading deficits, having difficulty with low-frequency irregular words and with the comprehension of written homophones. In contrast, her phonological reading strategies were normal. JAS's reading deficit was accompanied by serious spelling problems; she showed a marked tendency to spell phonologically, although with reference to some word-specific knowledge. JAS's reading and spelling difficulties were accompanied by significant visual memory deficits although phonological processing was relatively good. It is argued that visual memory impairments have prevented JAS from establishing detailed orthographic representations in a lexical system. In the absence of these, the operation of the system for reading is faulty; for spelling, which requires die use of full orthographic cues, there are serious consequences.
Efficiently applying attention to sequential data with the Recurrent Discounted Attention unit

Recurrent Neural Networks architectures excel at processing sequences by modelling dependencies over different timescales. The recently introduced Recurrent Weighted Average (RWA) unit captures long term dependencies far better than an LSTM on several challenging tasks. The RWA achieves this by applying attention to each input and computing a weighted average over the full history of its computations. Unfortunately, the RWA cannot change the attention it has assigned to previous timesteps, and so struggles with carrying out consecutive tasks or tasks with changing requirements. We present the Recurrent Discounted Attention (RDA) unit that builds on the RWA by additionally allowing the discounting of the past. We empirically compare our model to RWA, LSTM and GRU units on several challenging tasks. On tasks with a single output the RWA, RDA and GRU units learn much quicker than the LSTM and with better performance. On the multiple sequence copy task our RDA unit learns the task three times as quickly as the LSTM or GRU units while the RWA fails to learn at all. On the Wikipedia character prediction task the LSTM performs best but it followed closely by our RDA unit. Overall our RDA unit performs well and is sample efficient on a large variety of sequence tasks.
Identification of a unique binding protein specific for a novel retinoid inducing cellular apoptosis

The retinoid 6‐[3‐(1‐adamantyl)‐4‐hydroxyphenyl]‐2‐naphthalenecarboxylic acid (AHPN, CD437) induces apoptosis in a variety of cell types, many of which are cancer cells that resist the antiproliferative and/or differentiating effects of retinoids. While the retinoids exert their effects by binding to the retinoic acid nuclear receptors (RARs) or retinoid X receptors (RXRs), AHPN (CD437) binds to another protein with different ligand specificity. In nuclear extracts from HL‐60R cells the binding of AHPN (CD437) was only minimally competed by either retinoic acid (tRA)or 9‐cis‐retinoic acid (9‐cis‐RA), the natural ligands for the RARs and RXRs, respectively. Moreover, AHPN (CD437) was unable to compete with either tRA or 9‐cis‐RA for binding to endogenous retinoid receptors in nuclear extracts from the MDA‐MB‐468 breast carcinoma cell line. Size exclusion chromatography revealed AHPN binding to a 95 kDa protein(s) which is neither an RAR or RXR. Our results suggest that apoptosis induction by AHPN (CD437) may occur through interaction with another protein and is independent of the RAR/RXR‐signaling pathways. Int. J. Cancer 86:474–479, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Differential Cysteine Labeling and Global Label-Free Proteomics Reveals an Altered Metabolic State in Skeletal Muscle Aging

The molecular mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle aging and associated sarcopenia have been linked to an altered oxidative status of redox-sensitive proteins. Reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) generated by contracting skeletal muscle are necessary for optimal protein function, signaling, and adaptation. To investigate the redox proteome of aging gastrocnemius muscles from adult and old male mice, we developed a label-free quantitative proteomic approach that includes a differential cysteine labeling step. The approach allows simultaneous identification of up- and downregulated proteins between samples in addition to the identification and relative quantification of the reversible oxidation state of susceptible redox cysteine residues. Results from muscles of adult and old mice indicate significant changes in the content of chaperone, glucose metabolism, and cytoskeletal regulatory proteins, including Protein DJ-1, cAMP-dependent protein kinase type II, 78 kDa glucose regulated protein, and a reduction in the number of redox-responsive proteins identified in muscle of old mice. Results demonstrate skeletal muscle aging causes a reduction in redox-sensitive proteins involved in the generation of precursor metabolites and energy metabolism, indicating a loss in the flexibility of the redox energy response. Data is available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001054.
Distinct Ensemble Codes in Hippocampal Areas CA3 and CA1

The hippocampus has differentiated into an extensively connected recurrent stage (CA3) followed by a feed-forward stage (CA1). We examined the function of this structural differentiation by determining how cell ensembles in rat CA3 and CA1 generate representations of rooms with common spatial elements. In CA3, distinct subsets of pyramidal cells were activated in each room, regardless of the similarity of the testing enclosure. In CA1, the activated populations overlapped, and the overlap increased in similar enclosures. After exposure to a novel room, ensemble activity developed slower in CA3 than CA1, suggesting that the representations emerged independently.
Critical Illness Is a Major Determinant of Midazolam Clearance in Children Aged 1 Month to 17 Years

Background: In children, a large variability in pharmacokinetics of midazolam, a cytochrome P450 3A4/5 (CYP3A4/5) enzyme substrate, has been described, which cannot be explained by age-related changes alone. In this study, these age-related changes are studied in relation to other covariates to explain the variability in the pharmacokinetics of midazolam in children. Methods: Population pharmacokinetic modeling was performed using a joint dataset of 3 studies conducted previously: study 1: pediatric intensive care patients requiring sedation in the intensive care unit; study 2: pediatric oncology patients undergoing an invasive procedure; study 3: otherwise healthy infants admitted for postoperative monitoring after elective major craniofacial surgery. Midazolam, 1-hydroxymidazolam, and 1-hydroxymidazolam glucuronide concentrations were considered to determine the pharmacokinetics of midazolam and metabolites using NONMEM 6.2. SimCYP pediatric simulator was used for simulation. Results: Fifty-four children aged between 1 month and 17 years who received intravenous midazolam (bolus and/or continuous infusion) for sedation were included in this study. A reduction of 93% for CYP3A4/5 (midazolam to 1-hydroxymidazolam) and 86% for uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase (1-hydroxymidazolam to 1-hydroxymidazolam glucuronide) mediated clearance was found in pediatric intensive care patients compared with the other 2 patient groups. We did not find a significant influence of age or bodyweight on CYP3A4/5-mediated total clearance. For uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase–mediated clearance, bodyweight explained 41.5% of the variability. Conclusions: From infancy to adolescence, critical illness seems to be a major determinant of midazolam clearance, which may result from reduced CYP3A4/5 activity due to inflammation. This may have important implications for dosing of midazolam and other CYP3A drug substrates in critically ill children.
Teaching Communication with a Foreign Accent

This study examines problems encountered by foreign instructors teaching in American colleges. Fifteen Chinese born instructors teaching communication in American colleges are asked to answer a questionnaire containing twelve open-ended questions. Recurring themes are coded and answers are organized into three categories: cultural difference, linguistic level of understanding, and relationship development. The three categories are used to explain problems that are experienced by foreign instructors in the United States
Crisis, Mobilization and Collective Problematization: "illegal" Chinese migrants and the Canadian news media

In the summer of 1999, several hundred undocumented Fujianese migrants arrived on Canada's west coast, precipitating what many in the news media described as an immigration and refugee "crisis". This study employs content and textual methods of news analysis and takes up the question of crisis, arguing that crises such as this are best seen not as the outcome of structural failures of the state but, rather, as socially constructed through narrative. Beginning with the understanding that news media operate as a claims-making forum for the social construction and contestation of reality, this study first sets out to examine the structures of news access that governed the general organization of the coverage, before moving, secondly, to a discussion of the thematic structure of the coverage. News coverage of these events precipitated a process of collective problematization, the result of which was that the migrants were portrayed as an embodiment of danger, a threat to the physical, moral and political security and well-being of the nation. We show how news coverage of these events touched on ideological problems specific to the late modern experience of the Canadian state, thereby resonating with the broader concerns of Canadians about, inter alia , the disintegration of the welfare state, the perceived threat to territorial sovereignty by unwanted outsiders and the fear that governments can no longer protect the security of their populations.
Periostin, a matrix protein, is a novel biomarker for idiopathic interstitial pneumonias

Idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs) are histopathologically classified into several types, including usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) and cryptogenic organising pneumonia (COP). We investigated whether periostin, a matrix protein, could be used as a biomarker to assess histopathological types of IIPs. We performed immunohistochemical analyses in each histopathological type of IIP, examined serum levels of periostin in IIP patients and analysed the relationship between serum levels of periostin and the pulmonary functions in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Periostin was strongly expressed in lungs of UIP and fibrotic NSIP patients, whereas expression of periostin was weak in the lungs of cellular NSIP and COP patients, as well as in normal lungs. Serum levels of periostin in IPF were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects and COP patients. Furthermore, periostin levels in IPF patients were inversely correlated with their pulmonary functions. Thus, we have found that periostin is a novel component of fibrosis in IIP. Periostin may be a potential biomarker to distinguish IIP with fibrosis.
Performance Analysis of a Partially Coherent System Using Constellation Rotation and Coordinate Interleaving

The performance analysis of a system employing coordinate interleaving and constellation rotation, over Nakagami- m fading channels, in the presence of phase noise as well as additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is presented. The phase locked loop (PLL) dynamics result in phase noise thereby introducing imperfect receiver phase estimates which are assumed to have Tikhonov densities. The resulting performance degradation of the system due to the phase noise is analyzed and an upper bound for the average probability of bit error (Pt) for M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) is presented. It is shown that in the presence of phase noise the optimum rotation angle does not change and that the upper bound is tight for high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Furthermore, we also show that a system employing coordinate interleaving and constellation rotation is more robust against phase estimation errors.
Anthropometric and Micronutrient Status of School-Children in an Urban West Africa Setting: A Cross-Sectional Study in Dakar (Senegal)

Background Urban areas in West Africa are not immune to undernutrition with recent urbanization and high food prices being important factors. School children often have a poor nutritional status, potentially affecting their health and schooling performance. Yet, generally school children do not benefit from nutrition programs. The objective of the study was to assess the anthropometric and micronutrient status of children from state schools in the Dakar area. Methods School children (n = 604) aged from 5 to 17 y (52.5% girls, 47.5% ≥10 y) were selected through a two-stage random cluster sample of children attending urban primary state schools in the Dakar area (30 schools × 20 children). The prevalence of stunting (height-for-age<−2 z-scores) and thinness (BMI-for-age<−2 z-scores, WHO 2006, and three grades of thinness corresponding to BMI of 18.5, 17.0 and 16.0 kg/m2 in adults) were calculated from weight and height. Hemoglobin, plasma concentrations of ferritin (FER), transferrin receptors (TfR), retinol binding protein (RBP), and zinc, and urinary iodine concentrations were measured. Correction factors were used for FER and RBP in subjects with inflammation determined with C-reactive protein and α1-acid-glycoprotein. Results 4.9% of children were stunted, 18.4% were thin, 5.6% had severe thinness (BMI-for-age<−3 z-scores). Only one child had a BMI-for-age>2 z-scores. Prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia was 14.4%, 39.1% and 10.6% respectively. 3.0% had vitamin A deficiency, 35.9% a marginal vitamin A status, and 25.9% zinc deficiency. Urinary iodine was <50 µg/L in 7.3% of children and ≥200 µg/L in 22.3%. The prevalence of marginal vitamin A, zinc deficiency, high TfR was significantly higher in boys than in girls (P<0.05). Height-for-age and retinol were significantly lower in participants ≥10 y and <10 y respectively. Conclusion Undernutrition, especially thinness, iron and zinc deficiencies in school children in the Dakar area requires special targeted nutrition interventions.