Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of Synaptic and Intrinsic Membrane Properties in Short-Term Receptive Field Dynamics in Cat Area 17

We examined the mechanisms through which the prolonged presentation of either a high-contrast stimulus or an artificial scotoma [equivalent to the stimulation of the receptive field (RF) surround] induces changes in the RF properties of neurons intracellularly recorded in cat primary visual cortex. Discharge and synaptic RFs were quantitatively characterized using bright and dark bars randomly flashed in various positions. Compared with the lack of stimulation (0% contrast for 15-30 s), stimulation with high-contrast sine-wave gratings (15-30 s) was followed by a strong reduction in gain and a weak but significant reduction in width of spike discharge RFs. These reductions were accompanied by a membrane potential hyperpolarization, a decrease of synaptic RF width, and varying changes of synaptic RF gain. Passive hyperpolarization by DC injection also produced significant reduction in the width and gain of discharge RF. Mimicking, in single neurons, high-contrast stimulation with high-intensity current injection also induced a membrane potential hyperpolarization, whose amplitude was correlated with discharge RF gain and width changes. Recovery from adaptation to high-contrast stimulation during the period of gray screen or scotoma presentation was associated with an increase in gain and discharge RF size. Stimulation of the RF surround with an artificial scotoma did not have any additional aftereffects over those of adaptation to a gray screen, indicating that the contraction and expansion of RF gain and size are attributable to intrinsic and synaptic mechanisms underlying adaptation and de-adaptation to strong visual stimuli.
A Novel Hybrid Approach Based on Wavelet Transform and Fuzzy ARTMAP Networks for Predicting Wind Farm Power Production

This paper presents a novel hybrid intelligent algorithm based on the wavelet transform (WT) and fuzzy ARTMAP (FA) network for forecasting the power output of a wind farm utilizing meteorological information such as wind speed, wind direction, and temperature. The prediction capability of the proposed hybrid WT +FA model is demonstrated by an extensive comparison with a benchmark persistence method, other soft computing models, and hybrid models as well. The test results show a significant improvement in forecasting error through the application of a proposed hybrid WT +FA model. The proposed hybrid wind power forecasting strategy is applied to real-life data from Kent Hill wind farm located in New Brunswick, Canada.
Dispensing patterns and pregnancy outcomes for women dispensed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in pregnancy.

BACKGROUND The safety of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to investigate dispensing patterns and pregnancy outcomes for women dispensed an SSRI in pregnancy. METHODS Using data linkage of population-based health datasets from Western Australia and a national pharmaceutical claims dataset, our study included 123,405 pregnancies from 2002 to 2005. There were 3764 children born to 3703 women who were dispensed an SSRI during their pregnancy. RESULTS A total of 42.3% of the women were dispensed an SSRI in each trimester, and 97.6% of the women used the same SSRI throughout the first trimester without switching. The women who were dispensed an SSRI were more likely to give birth prematurely (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-1.7), to have smoked during the pregnancy (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.8-2.1), and parity>1 (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.5-1.8). The singletons were found to have a lower birth weight than expected when other factors were taken into account (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3). There was an increased risk of major cardiovascular defects (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.3). The children of women dispensed citalopram during the first trimester had an increased risk of vesicoureteric reflux (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.3-7.6). Children born to women dispensed sertraline had a higher mean birth weight than those born to women dispensed citalopram, paroxetine, or fluoxetine. This pattern was also seen in birth length. CONCLUSIONS Most women were dispensed the same SSRI throughout their pregnancy. We have confirmed previous findings with an increased risk of cardiovascular defects and preterm birth. New findings requiring confirmation include an increased risk of vesicoureteric reflux with the use of citalopram.
Fashion Parsing With Weak Color-Category Labels

In this paper we address the problem of automatically parsing the fashion images with weak supervision from the user-generated color-category tags such as “red jeans” and “white T-shirt”. This problem is very challenging due to the large diversity of fashion items and the absence of pixel-level tags, which make the traditional fully supervised algorithms inapplicable. To solve the problem, we propose to combine the human pose estimation module, the MRF-based color and category inference module and the (super)pixel-level category classifier learning module to generate multiple well-performing category classifiers, which can be directly applied to parse the fashion items in the images. Besides, all the training images are parsed with color-category labels and the human poses of the images are estimated during the model learning phase in this work. We also construct a new fashion image dataset called Colorful-Fashion, in which all 2,682 images are labeled with pixel-level color-category labels. Extensive experiments on this dataset clearly show the effectiveness of the proposed method for the weakly supervised fashion parsing task.
Improved approximations for multiprocessor scheduling under uncertainty

This paper presents improved approximation algorithms for the problem of <b><i>multiprocessor scheduling under uncertainty</i></b> (<b>SUU</b>), in which the execution of each job may fail probabilistically. This problem is motivated by the increasing use of distributed computing to handle large, computationally intensive tasks. In the <b>SUU</b> problem we are given <i>n</i> unit-length jobs and <i>m</i> machines, a directed acyclic graph <i>G</i> of precedence constraints among jobs, and unrelated failure probabilities q<sub><i>ij</i></sub> for each job <i>j</i> when executed on machine <i>i</i> for a single timestep. Our goal is to find a schedule that minimizes the expected makespan. Lin and Rajaraman gave the first approximations for this NP-hard problem for the special cases of independent jobs, precedence constraints forming disjoint chains, and precedence constraints forming trees. In this paper, we present asymptotically better approximation algorithms. In particular, we improve upon the previously best O(log <i>n</i>)-approximation, giving an <i>O</i>(log log(min <i>{m,n}</i>))-approximation in the case of independent jobs. We also give an <i>O</i>(log(<i>n</i>+<i>m</i>) log log(min{<i>m</i>,<i>n</i>}))-approximation algorithm for precedence constraints that form disjoint chains (improving on the previously best <i>O</i>(log(<i>n</i>)log(<i>m</i>) <sup>log(<i>n</i>+<i>m</i>)</sup> over <sub>log log(<i>n</i>+<i>m</i>)</sub>-approximation by a (log <i>n</i>/log log <i>n</i>)<sup>2</sup> factor when <i>n</i> = <i>m</i> <sup>Θ(1)</sup>). Our algorithm for precedence constraints forming chains can also be used as a component for precedence constraints forming trees, yielding a similar improvement over the previously best algorithms for trees. Our techniques include reducing <b>SUU</b> to a problem in <b><i>stochastic scheduling</i></b>, where machines must process a set of jobs with randomly distributed lengths. We show that our algorithms for (<b>SUU</b>) apply to a standard problem in this setting, giving the first approximation algorithms for preemptive stochastic scheduling on unrelated machines.
Developing a common bean core collection suitable for association mapping studies

Because of the continuous introduction of germplasm from abroad, some collections have a high number of accessions, making it difficult to explore the genetic variability present in a germplasm bank for conservation and breeding purposes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to quantify and analyze the structure of genetic variability among 500 common bean accessions to construct a core collection. A total of 58 SSRs were used for this purpose. The polymorphism information content (PIC) in the 180 common bean accessions selected to compose the core collection ranged from 0.17 to 0.86, and the discriminatory power (DP) ranged from 0.21 to 0.90. The 500 accessions were clustered into 15 distinct groups and the 180 accessions into four distinct groups in the Structure analysis. According to analysis of molecular variance, the most divergent accessions comprised 97.2% of the observed genetic variability present within the base collection, confirming the efficiency of the selection criterion. The 180 selected accessions will be used for association mapping in future studies and could be potentially used by breeders to direct new crosses and generate elite cultivars that meet current and future global market needs.
Evidence for a Young Stellar Population in NGC 5018

Two absorption line indices, Ca II and Hδ/λ4045, measured from high-resolution spectra are used with evolutionary synthesis models to verify the presence of a young stellar population in NGC 5018. The derived age of this population is ~2.8 Gyr with a metallicity roughly solar, and it completely dominates the integrated light of the galaxy near 4000 Å.
Duration and Clinical Relevance of Postantibiotic Effect in Relation to the Dosing Interval

ABSTRACT The influence of half-life on the postantibiotic effect (PAE) of tobramycin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa andStaphylococcus aureus was investigated during one dosing interval. Tobramycin half-lives of 0.5 to 2.5 h were simulated in an in vitro model, and the PAE was determined by an enzymatic inactivation method at different time points, i.e., when the tobramycin concentrations were 20×, 5×, and 1× the MIC. At the time point during therapy when the tobramycin concentrations had declined to 1× the MIC, at a tobramycin half-life of 0.5 h, the times of the PAEs were approximately 0.7 and 1.7 h for P. aeruginosa andS. aureus, respectively, and the PAE disappeared completely at half-lives corresponding to those found in humans (i.e., 2 to 2.5 h). The PAE itself cannot be fully explained by the presence of free intrabacterial tobramycin or the emergence of resistant subpopulations. The explanation for the disappearance of the PAE during the dosing interval may therefore be explained by the repair of sublethal damage. Since the standard method of determining the PAE in animal models is somewhat different from the method used for measurement of the PAE in vitro, the conditions under which the PAE is measured in vivo were also simulated in the in vitro model. This resulted in PAEs longer than those found by the standard method of obtaining in vitro PAE measurements. We conclude that the PAE of tobramycin, as determined by conventional in vitro methods, has virtually no clinical importance. PAEs determined in vivo may have some clinical relevance, but they are probably primarily caused by sub-MIC effects.
Bacterial Viability and Physical Properties of Antibacterially Modified Experimental Dental Resin Composites

Purpose To investigate the antibacterial effect and the effect on the material properties of a novel delivery system with Irgasan as active agent and methacrylated polymerizable Irgasan when added to experimental dental resin composites. Materials and Methods A delivery system based on novel polymeric hollow beads, loaded with Irgasan and methacrylated polymerizable Irgasan as active agents were used to manufacture three commonly formulated experimental resin composites. The non-modified resin was used as standard (ST). Material A contained the delivery system providing 4 % (m/m) Irgasan, material B contained 4 % (m/m) methacrylated Irgasan and material C 8 % (m/m) methacrylated Irgasan. Flexural strength (FS), flexural modulus (FM), water sorption (WS), solubility (SL), surface roughness Ra, polymerization shrinkage, contact angle Θ, total surface free energy γS and its apolar γS LW, polar γS AB, Lewis acid γS +and base γS - term as well as bacterial viability were determined. Significance was p < 0.05. Results The materials A to C were not unacceptably influenced by the modifications and achieved the minimum values for FS, WS and SL as requested by EN ISO 4049 and did not differ from ST what was also found for Ra. Only A had lower FM than ST. Θ of A and C was higher and γS AB of A and B was lower than of ST. Materials A to C had higher γS + than ST. The antibacterial effect of materials A to C was significantly increased when compared with ST meaning that significantly less vital cells were found. Conclusion Dental resin composites with small quantities of a novel antibacterially doped delivery system or with an antibacterial monomer provided acceptable physical properties and good antibacterial effectiveness. The sorption material being part of the delivery system can be used as a vehicle for any other active agent.
Assessment of thermal sensitivity in rats using the thermal place preference test: description and application in the study of oxaliplatin-induced acute thermal hypersensitivity and inflammatory pain models

Thermal sensitivity is an essential characteristic of some painful states, including oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy. The thermal place preference test (TPPT) was designed to finely assess thermal sensitivity in rodents. The TPPT monitors the time spent by unrestrained rodents on a test plate at fixed temperatures (5–50°C) compared with an adjacent reference plate at a neutral temperature (25°C). Here, we report the results of a study designed (i) to validate the optimal methodological parameters for measuring thermal sensitivity in rats, (ii) to assess the thermal sensitivity of healthy rats and animal models of pain and (iii) to explore the pharmacological effects of analgesic drugs. The most reproducible conditions occurred when the TPPT was performed in the morning and in the dark for 3 min with the reference plate set to 25°C. The temperature preferences of healthy rats were more than 17°C and less than 40°C. When compared with control animals, oxaliplatin-treated rats showed thermal hypersensitivity at 12, 20 and 35°C, and carrageenan-treated rats showed thermal hypersensitivity at 15 and 45°C. Duloxetine (2.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) reversed oxaliplatin-induced cold hypersensitivity (20°C) and morphine (1 mg/kg, intravenous) reversed carrageenan-induced heat hypersensitivity (45°C). We conclude that the TPPT enables a fine-grained assessment of thermal sensitivity that is relevant to the pathophysiological exploration of animal pain models and to the pharmacological assessment of analgesic drugs.
About transitions

a decade of contributions, that the time has come to him to transition out of his role. Mark was recruited by Bernie Ackerman and started working as Book Review Editor in 2003. During these 10 years, Mark contributed with his vivid and relevant reviews to this journal's content, and his section became a regular part of the journal. I personally had the chance to work together with Mark during the past five months since starting my editorship in May 2013. During these few and quite challenging months, I felt particularly grateful to Mark for his timely and well-written contributions, which allowed me to concentrate on other issues that needed my attention. In my role as Editor and in the name of the entire Editorial Board and our readers, I want to thank Mark A. Hurt for a decade of his dedication and contributions to the journal. This issue will contain his farewell to our readers and his last review, which I am sure you will enjoy reading, as I did. All our best to you, Mark! While we have to say good bye to Mark, I am happy to announce that we can say welcome to François Milette, who accepted to continue Mark's work and will be the new editor of the book review section. Please let me briefly introduce François here: François graduated from the University of Montreal in medicine in 1986 and in anatomic pathology in 1990. Since then he has worked as general pathologist in Gaspé, Quebec, Canada. In 1994, he went to the St. He worked there for four years and progressively developed interest and expertise in dermatopathology, mainly through the close collaboration with a remarkable team of dermatologist and dermatopathologists. Since the year 2000 he has worked at the Hôpital Pierre-Boucher, Longueuil in Quebec, Canada with a team of dermatologists and pathologists. From 2005 until the time of his death, François collaborated closely with Dr. Bernard Ackerman. During this time, François was stimulated by the unique character of Bernie Ackerman, increased his expertise in dermatopathology and contributed with scientific works to the former journal, Der-matopathology: Practical & Conceptual. I am confident that François will successfully continue the book review section of the journal. François, welcome in the team. Besides the transitions of Mark and Francois, the journal also underwent its own transition during the past months. Derm101 relaunched in September 2013 with a new look—a …
Aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio and fibrosis‐4 as biomarkers in biopsy‐validated pediatric cystic fibrosis liver disease

Up to 10% of cystic fibrosis (CF) children develop cirrhosis by the first decade. We evaluated the utility of two simple biomarkers, aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) and FIB‐4, in predicting degree of fibrosis in pediatric CF liver disease (CFLD) validated by liver biopsy. In this retrospective, cross‐sectional study, 67 children with CFLD had dual‐pass liver biopsies and 104 age‐ and sex‐matched CF children without liver disease (CFnoLD) had serum to calculate APRI and FIB‐4 collected at enrollment. CFLD was defined as having two of the following: (1) hepatomegaly ± splenomegaly; (2) >6 months elevation of ALT (>1.5× upper limit of normal ULN); or (3) abnormal liver ultrasound findings. Biopsies were staged according to Metavir classification by two blinded pathologists. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and continuation ratio logistic regression were performed to assess the predictability of these biomarkers to distinguish CFLD from CFnoLD and determine fibrosis stage‐specific cut‐off values. The AUC for APRI was better than FIB‐4 (0.75 vs. 0.60; P = 0.005) for predicting CFLD and severe CFLD (F3‐F4) (0.81). An APRI score >0.264 demonstrated a sensitivity (95% confidence interval [CI]) of 73.1% (60.9, 83.2) and specificity of 70.2% (60.4, 78.8) in predicting CFLD. A 50% increase in APRI was associated with a 2.4‐fold (95% CI: 1.7, 3.3) increased odds of having CFLD. APRI demonstrated full agreement with histology staging 37% of the time, but was within one stage 73% of the time. Only FIB‐4 predicted portal hypertension at diagnosis (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.91; P < 0.001). Conclusion: This is the first liver biopsy‐validated study of APRI and FIB‐4 in pediatric CFLD. APRI appears superior to FIB‐4 in differentiating CFLD versus CFnoLD. APRI also exhibited a high AUC in predicting severe liver fibrosis with specific cutoffs for lower stages. (Hepatology 2015;62:1576–1583)
Utilizing 3D Printed Analogue Soils to Investigate Specimen Size Effects in Triaxial Testing

Triaxial testing is one of the fundamental laboratory tests used in geotechnical engineering to determine strength parameters, such as shear strength and friction angle. Investigating the minimum representative elementary volume (REV) can verify the independence of size effects on strength parameters and ensure that the scaled laboratory tests results are consistent, repeatable, and representative of field conditions. Although, REV has been studied for many applications, there is disagreement within geotechnical engineering of a minimum particle diameter to specimen diameter to minimize the size effects related to the REV in consolidated drained (CD) triaxial tests. This research study compared the strength results of three different specimen diameter sizes to understand the size effects and to investigate the influence of particle shape by using 3D printed spheres and scaled Ottawa sand. 3D printed particles allows different influencing variables on strength parameters such as shape, size, gradation, and surface roughness to be controlled within the granular soil. By isolating a factor, such as shape in this case, the response of the soil can be more clearly understood and a representative REV can be determined. The scaled Ottawa sand and spheres had a greater increase in variability as the diameter decreases, implying that the REV was not met for the 7.11 cm specimen diameter. It is recommended that a minimum specimen diameter should be at least nine times greater than the maximum particle diameter for spheres and subrounded particles in consolidated drained triaxial testing in order to minimize size effects.
Testing for Serial Correlation in Fixed-Effects Panel Data Models

In this article, we propose various tests for serial correlation in fixed-effects panel data regression models with a small number of time periods. First, a simplified version of the test suggested by Wooldridge (2002) and Drukker (2003) is considered. The second test is based on the Lagrange Multiplier (LM) statistic suggested by Baltagi and Li (1995), and the third test is a modification of the classical Durbin–Watson statistic. Under the null hypothesis of no serial correlation, all tests possess a standard normal limiting distribution as N tends to infinity and T is fixed. Analyzing the local power of the tests, we find that the LM statistic has superior power properties. Furthermore, a generalization to test for autocorrelation up to some given lag order and a test statistic that is robust against time dependent heteroskedasticity are proposed.