Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemosensitivity of rat medullary raphe neurones in primary tissue culture

1 The medullary raphe, within the ventromedial medulla (VMM), contains putative central respiratory chemoreceptors. To study the mechanisms of chemosensitivity in the raphe, rat VMM neurones were maintained in primary dissociated tissue culture, and studied using perforated patch‐clamp recordings. Baseline electrophysiological properties were similar to raphe neurones in brain slices and in vivo. 2 Neurones were exposed to changes in CO2 from 5 % to 3 or 9 % while maintaining a constant [NaHCO3]. Fifty‐one per cent of neurones (n= 210) did not change their firing rate by more than 20 % in response to hypercapnic acidosis. However, 22 % of neurones responded to 9 % CO2 with an increase in firing rate (‘stimulated’), and 27 % of neurones responded with a decrease in firing rate (‘inhibited’). 3 Chemosensitivity has often been considered an all‐or‐none property. Instead, a method was developed to quantify the degree of chemosensitivity. Stimulated neurones had a mean increase in firing rate to 298 ± 215 % of control when pH decreased from 7.40 to 7.19. Inhibited neurones had a mean increase in firing rate to 232 ± 265 % of control when pH increased from 7.38 to 7.57. 4 Neurones were also exposed to isocapnic acidosis. All CO2‐stimulated neurones tested (n= 15) were also stimulated by isocapnic acidosis, and all CO2‐inhibited neurones tested (n= 19) were inhibited by isocapnic acidosis. Neurones with no response to hypercapnic acidosis also had no response to isocapnic acidosis (n= 12). Thus, the effects of CO2 on these neurones were mediated in part via changes in pH. 5 In stimulated neurones, acidosis induced a small increase in the after‐hyperpolarization level of 1.38 ± 1.15 mV per −0.2 pH units, which was dependent on the level of tonic depolarizing current injection. In voltage clamp mode at a holding potential near resting potential, there were small and inconsistent changes in whole‐cell conductance and holding current in both stimulated and inhibited neurones. These results suggest that pH modulates a conductance in stimulated neurones that is activated during repetitive firing, with a reversal potential close to resting potential. 6 The two subtypes of chemosensitive VMM neurones could be distinguished by characteristics other than their response to acidosis. Stimulated neurones had a large multipolar soma, whereas inhibited neurones had a small fusiform soma. Stimulated neurones were more likely than inhibited neurones to fire with the highly regular pattern typical of serotonergic raphe neurones in vivo. 7 Within the medullary raphe, chemosensitivity is a specialization of two distinct neuronal phenotypes. The response of these neurones to physiologically relevant changes in pH is of the magnitude that suggests that this chemosensitivity plays a functional role. Elucidating their mechanisms in vitro may help to define the cellular mechanisms of central chemoreception in vivo.
What Makes Great Teaching? Review of the Underpinning Research.

This report reviews over 200 pieces of research to identify the elements of teaching with the strongest evidence of improving attainment. It finds some common practices can be harmful to learning and have no grounding in research. Specific practices which are supported by good evidence of their effectiveness are also examined and six key factors that contribute to great teaching are identified. The report also analyses different methods of evaluating teaching including: using ‘value-added’ results from student test scores; observing classroom teaching; and getting students to rate the quality of their teaching.
Association between second-trimester isolated high maternal serum maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels and obstetric complications in singleton and twin pregnancies.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical significance of high maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels in the second trimester in singleton and twin pregnancies within the Ontario maternal serum screening program. STUDY DESIGN The study group comprised 564 women with singleton pregnancies with total maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels of > or =4.0 multiples of the median (MoM) and serum marker alpha-fetoprotein levels of <2.0 MoM. The cases were matched with 1692 control subjects who had both serum marker alpha-fetoprotein levels and maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels of <2.0 MoM. The second part of the study comprised 93 twin pregnancies with maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels of > or =5.0 MoM and serum marker alpha-fetoprotein levels of <4.0 MoM; the control group (n = 1496) had serum marker alpha-fetoprotein levels of <4.0 MoM and maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels of <5.0 MoM. The final part of the study included 25 women with extremely high maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels (> or = 14;10 MoM). RESULTS Of the singleton pregnancies with maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels of > or = 14;4.0 MoM, 22.5% had severe adverse obstetric outcomes, compared with only 10.9% of the matched control population (P =.001). Women with markedly elevated maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels had significantly increased risks of having spontaneous miscarriage, small-for-gestational-age infants, pregnancy-associated hypertensive disorder, and preterm delivery. Of the women with twin pregnancies with high maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels (> or =5.0 MoM), 71% had at least one complication (such as miscarriage and preterm delivery) compared with 55.3% in the control group. Finally, 23 of 25 women with extremely high maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels (> or = 14;10 MoM) had serious adverse outcomes (such as fetal abnormalities, pregnancy-associated hypertensive disorder, premature separation of placenta, intrauterine growth restriction, neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, and neonatal jaundice). CONCLUSION Pregnancies with an elevated maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin level are associated with adverse obstetric outcomes. Increased maternal and fetal surveillance is warranted in these pregnancies.
Higher and further education institution policies on student and staff involvement in commercial sex

This paper concerns higher and further education institutions' policies as they relate to the interactions of their staff and students with the sex industry. In Scotland and England, consenting adults may legally buy and sell sex and commercial sexual entertainment, such as erotic dance and phone sex, provided that they do not do so in a public place. The indoor commercial sex sector is legally staffed and patronised by a wide variety of individuals, yet newspapers publish articles for salacious appeal exposing their involvement. A Freedom of Information enquiry found that although no institution had a policy prohibiting staff or student involvement in commercial sex, unwritten assumptions could be used to penalise legal but stigmatised sexual behaviour. The paper considers how institutions might respond to allegations of disreputable behaviour.
Successful Treatment of Both Mother and Infant in Pregnancy-Associated Group A Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome

All perinatal cases of group A streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) previously documented in English literature have been fatal for the mother, the fetus or both. We present the first report of successful treatment of a mother-infant pair with perinatal STSS. A pregnant woman developed STSS at 34 weeksâ gestation 3 h after delivery, following a 25-h history of fever and sore throat. The patient received intravenous penicillin, clindamycin and immnoglobulins and continuous hemodialysis, along with numerous supportive agents during early clinical course. The newborn infant was born with mild asphyxia and developed transient tachypnea. Both mother and infant survived without any sequelae. Streptococcus pyogenes was isolated from the patientâs blood, nasopharynx of the infant and throat of two family members. These strains were identically type T1M1 (emm1) and produced streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins A (SPEA) and B. SPEA was remarkably elevated in the maternal blood, but not in the infantâs blood. Extremely low serum anti-SPEA antibody levels might have predisposed the mother to severe invasive infection. This case highlights the importance of early recognition, prompt and intensive multimodal therapy and rapid delivery before a transfer of pathogen and its toxin to the fetus.
Adaptation and Initial Validation of the BRCS in an Elderly Spanish Sample

Resilience is understood as a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of adversity. This study examined the validity of the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), a 4-item measure designed to capture tendencies to cope with stress in a highly adaptive manner, in an elderly Spanish population. A total of 133 elderly people from an association of retired persons in Valencia (Spain) provided the responses for the validation study. The factorial validity of the scale was tested using confirmatory factor analysis, with a single dimension of resilience with adequate fit indexes emerging from this analysis. The BRCS has adequate internal consistency both at the scale and item levels. The criterion-related validity of the scale was established by correlating resilient coping with measures of coping resources and psychological well-being. The correlations with measures of personal coping resources (e.g., optimism, helplessness, self-efficacy), pain-coping behaviors, and psychological well.
Single-Parent Caregivers of Children with Cancer

Objectives: Caring for a child with a cancer can result in significant financial strain on families, which in turn can affect parental emotional, physical, and social health. We explored the supportive factors and resources that helped single parents of children with cancer throughout the caregiving process. Methods: Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we recruited 29 single parents of children with cancer that were at least 6 months postdiagnosis and 2 hospital social workers across 4 Canadian pediatric oncology centers. Results: Many parents had knowledge of, accessed, and received support from family, friends, community (eg, teachers, religious organizations) and cancer organizations and government programs. Nonetheless, they reported a number of unmet needs. Conclusions: Participants reported their need for more social-emotional, practical, and financial support to assist them with their caregiving duties. We recommend that hospitals provide education to describe (a) supports available to families and (b) parental caregiver needs to families’ support networks. Further research is needed to identify limitations of the current public benefit schemes for caregivers.
Translational Research in Acute Lung Injury and Pulmonary Fibrosis Inflammatory impact of IFN-in CD 8 T cell-mediated lung injury is mediated by both Stat 1-dependent and-independent pathways

Chilakamarti V. Ramana,* Matthew P. DeBerge,* Aseem Kumar, Christopher S. Alia, Joan E. Durbin, and Richard I. Enelow Department of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, New Hampshire; Department of Pathology, Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada; Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Department of Pathology, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School of Medicine, Newark, New Jersey; and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Lebanon, New Hampshire
Moral and Theological Realism: The Explanatory Argument

There are striking parallels, largely unexplored in the literature, between skeptical arguments against theism and against moral realism. After sketching four arguments meant to do this double duty, I restrict my attention to an explanatory argument that claims that we have most reason to deny the existence of moral facts (and so, by extrapolation, theistic ones), because such putative facts have no causal-explanatory power. I reject the proposed parity, and offer reasons to think that the potential vulnerabilities of moral realism on this front are quite different from those of the theist.
Use of proton-pump inhibitors in early pregnancy and the risk of birth defects.

BACKGROUND Symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux are common in pregnancy, but there are limited data on the risk of birth defects associated with exposure to proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) in early pregnancy. METHODS We conducted a cohort study to assess the association between exposure to PPIs during pregnancy and the risk of major birth defects among all infants born alive in Denmark between January 1996 and September 2008. We linked data from nationwide registries, including individual-level information on exposure to PPIs (prescriptions), birth defects, and potential confounders. Major birth defects, diagnosed within the first year of life, were categorized according to the standardized classification scheme of the European surveillance of congenital anomalies (EUROCAT). Our primary analyses assessed the use of PPIs from 4 weeks before conception through 12 weeks of gestation and from 0 through 12 weeks of gestation (first trimester). RESULTS Among 840,968 live births, 5082 involved exposure to PPIs between 4 weeks before conception and the end of the first trimester of pregnancy. There were 174 major birth defects in infants whose mothers had been exposed to PPIs during this period (3.4%), as compared with 21,811 in the group whose mothers had not been exposed (2.6%) (adjusted prevalence odds ratio, 1.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05 to 1.44). In analyses limited to exposure during the first trimester, there were 118 major birth defects among 3651 infants exposed to PPIs (3.2%), and the adjusted prevalence odds ratio was 1.10 (95% CI, 0.91 to 1.34). The risk of birth defects was not significantly increased in secondary analyses of exposure to individual PPIs during the first trimester or in analyses limited to the offspring of women who had filled PPI prescriptions and received enough doses to have a theoretical chance of first-trimester exposure. CONCLUSIONS In this large cohort, exposure to PPIs during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with a significantly increased risk of major birth defects. (Funded by the Danish Medical Research Council and the Lundbeck Foundation.).
Single-Symbol ML Decodable Distributed STBCs for Cooperative Networks

In this correspondence, the distributed orthogonal space-time block codes (DOSTBCs), which achieve the single-symbol maximum likelihood (ML) decodability and full diversity order, are first considered. However, systematic construction of the DOSTBCs is very hard, since the noise covariance matrix is not diagonal in general. Thus, some special DOSTBCs, which have diagonal noise covariance matrices at the destination terminal, are investigated. These codes are referred to as the row-monomial DOSTBCs. An upper bound of the data-rate of the row-monomial DOSTBC is derived and it is approximately twice higher than that of the repetition-based cooperative strategy. Furthermore, systematic construction methods of the row-monomial DOSTBCs achieving the upper bound of the data-rate are developed when the number of relays and/or the number of information-bearing symbols are even.
Mechanism of action of ketamine

ISSUE:Ketamine induces rapid-onset and short-duration improvement in depressive and suicidal symptoms in both treatment-resistant unipolar depression and bipolar depression, and also reduces chronic pain after short intravenous infusions. In order to develop long-acting oral agents with the same clinical effects, the pharmacologic mechanism of action must be understood, and the leading hypotheses are discussed here.
Regulation of Cell Cycle-Specific Gene Expression through Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-Mediated Phosphorylation of the Forkhead Transcription Factor Fkh2p

ABSTRACT The forkhead transcription factor Fkh2p acts in a DNA-bound complex with Mcm1p and the coactivator Ndd1p to regulate cell cycle-dependent expression of the CLB2 gene cluster in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we demonstrate that Fkh2p is a target of cyclin-dependent protein kinases and that phosphorylation of Fkh2p promotes interactions between Fkh2p and the coactivator Ndd1p. These phosphorylation-dependent changes in the Fkh2p-Ndd1p complex play an important role in the cell cycle-regulated expression of the CLB2 cluster. Our data therefore identify an important regulatory target for cyclin-dependent kinases in the cell cycle and further our molecular understanding of the key cell cycle regulatory transcription factor Fkh2p.
Postdivorce Relationships in Families and Children's Psychosocial Adjustment

Divorced mothers and their school-aged children in 50 single-mother families and 37 stepfather families reported on mothers' ex-partner relationships, children's relationships with both parents, and children's well-being. A 2 (family structure) × 2 (gender) multivariate analysis of variance revealed a main effect of gender: Mothers with sons report higher levels of ex-partner relationship satisfaction. An interaction effect was also found: Boys in single-mother families report more acceptance and fewer conflicts than boys in stepfather families. Multiple regression analysis revealed that mother–ex-partner relationships are associated with children's problem behavior, whereas child–nonresidential father relationships are associated with positive aspects of children's well-being. The results indicate that family structure itself is not associated with child adjustment. What matters most is the quality of family relationships.
Effects of Pension Reforms on Gender Inequality in France

Alors que la problematique des ecarts entre les retraites des hommes et celles des femmes et de leurs evolutions est relativement peu abordee en France, les quelques etudes existantes concluent cependant a une reduction des ecarts entre hommes et femmes a l’horizon 2040. Cet article s’inscrit dans la lignee de ces travaux en s’interrogeant sur un eventuel impact differencie selon le sexe des reformes des retraites adoptees en France en 1993 et en 2003. Pour cela, on projette les droits a la retraite des generations 1965-1974 a l’aide du modele de microsimulation dynamique Destinie dans trois scenarios: avant la reforme de 1993; apres la reforme de 1993 et avant celle de 2003; apres la reforme de 2003. On montre que, malgre l’absence de dispositions specifiques selon le sexe, ces reformes semblent avoir un impact plus negatif sur les pensions des femmes que sur celles des hommes. En effet, sans les reformes et sous des hypotheses de maintien des tendances actuelles quant a l’activite, les hommes des generations 1965-1974 percevraient une pension moyenne 1,47 fois plus elevee que celle des femmes. Avec la reforme de 1993, le ratio s’etablit a 1,54 et avec celle de 2003 a 1,59.
The development and application of a classification scheme of informal helping behaviours.

A classification scheme is presented composed of 26 helping behaviours which were empirically generated and reliably coded by a team of three judges, based on a content analysis of interview protocols. The protocols describe the types of informal social support provided to a sample of single mothers. The categories are organized into four main classes of influence and each category has been defined and illustrated with an example taken from the protocols. In order to illustrate one application of the scheme, data are presented contrasting the helping behaviours extended to the women in response to three problem areas. Methods of further validating the scheme and evaluating the efficacy of informal social support are discussed. One of the hallmarks of the community mental health ideology is that coping resources should be available to people experiencing stress at an early time and in their natural environment. Translated into practice, this ideology has taken the form of mental health consultation with a variety of "community caregivers" such as teachers, clergymen, and family physicians who have broad contact with the public and who have been trained to engage in basic diagnostic, counselling, and behaviour change activities with the "clients" they normally serve. Recently, however, this approach to the secondary prevention of mental disorder has been criticized both on the basis of insufficient empirical evidence of preventive outcomes (Mannino & Shore, 1975) and on grounds of professional colonialism towards the caregiver-consultees (Gottlieb, 1974). The latter criticism - that training in the professional mould may supplant or weaken the natural helping skills of caregivers - has been strengthened with the appearance of a literature documenting the existence of numerous natural forms of service delivery which operate largely outside the professional sphere of influence, but which involve a great many people (Collins & Pancoast, 1976; Gottlieb, 1976). These natural support systems range from the more organized self-help group to the spontaneous helping transactions extended within personal networks. A number of these natural human services are currently being subjected to evaluative research; however, the more general claim This research was supported by Grant No. S74-0726 from the Canada Council. Thanks are expressed to John Hughes, Barbara Piggins, Bill Psihogios, and Michael Wuitchik for their patience and attention to the minutiae associated with the development of the classification scheme. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Benjamin H. Gottlieb, Department of Psychology, University ofGuelph, Guelph, Ontario, NIG 2W1.
Understanding and Addressing Childhood Immunization Coverage in Urban Slums

The National Population Policy (2000) aims at complete protection of all children against vaccine preventable diseases by 2010. Urban poor, many residing in slums, comprise about one fourth of India's 285 million urban population. 60% of the children aged 12-23 months in urban India are fully immunized; coverage among urban poor children is a dismal 43%. The inter state variations of immunization coverage in urban areas, reveals a service coverage gap which calls for a rethink on resource allocation and strengthening processes to improve immunization coverage amongst urban poor. Debilitating environmental conditions and high population density in slums expedite disease transmission. Comparisons of urban rural disease incidence indicate a particular urban risk for vaccine preventable diseases. This paper attempts to understand the current scenario and challenges in improving immunization coverage in urban slums; immunization being one of the most successful public health interventions of the past century. It also discusses possible mechanisms for effectively reaching the often left out urban poor. Coordinated activities by the multitude of providers, accurate information based outreach, effective monitoring and community enablement to demand quality services are critical for improving utilization of immunization services by a heterogeneous urban poor population.