Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The measurement of synaptic delay, and the time course of acetylcholine release at the neuromuscular junction

Focal recording from active spots of a neuromuscular junction was used to measure the ‘synaptic delay’ between terminal axon spike and end-plate current (e.p.c.). Synaptic delay is defined as the time interval between peak of inward current through the presynaptic membrane and commencement of inward current through the postsynaptic membrane. By substituting magnesium for calcium in the medium, and by adjustable electrophoretic application of calcium from the recording electrode, the e.p.c. can be restricted to the small portion of a single junction which is in contact with the microelectrode, and the statistical average amplitude of the e.p.c. can be reduced to less than quantal unit size. Under these conditions, the latency of the unit components of the e.p.c. can be determined and its statistical fluctuations studied. The synaptic delay at a single end-plate spot has a minimum value, at 20 °C, of 0.4 to 0.5 ms and a modal value of about 0.75 ms. There is considerable fluctuation of the measured intervals during a series of nerve impulses; over 50 % occur within a range of 0.5 ms, the rest being spread out in declining fashion over a further 1 to 4 ms. These latency fluctuations are shown to be a statistical consequence of the quantal process of transmitter release. The contribution of various factors to the minimum synaptic delay are discussed. Terminal conduction time has been effectively eliminated by the method of focal recording. Diffusion of acetylcholine towards the receptors, and its reaction with them must cause delays whose exact values are uncertain, but whose extreme upper limits can be shown to make up only a small part of the observed minimum delay. It is concluded that the synaptic interval arises chiefly from a delay in the release of transmitter after the arrival of the nerve impulse.
Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009: the experience of the first six months

Abstract After a break of 41 years, 2009 saw the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century caused by a triple-reassortant influenza A (H1N1) virus. The current estimated case fatality rate is lower than that of previous influenza pandemics, but this may change as the pandemic evolves. Illness frequently occurs in previously healthy, young adults with a wide range of clinical presentations. The majority of circulating pandemic viruses remain susceptible to neuraminidase inhibitors, although all strains are intrinsically resistant to the adamantanes. Monovalent vaccines against the pandemic strain are available in both live attenuated and inactivated forms. This review aims to summarise important virological, epidemiological and clinical aspects of the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus for physicians and other clinical personnel. Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:11–21.
The concept of personal initiative: Operationalization, reliability and validity in two German samples

Personal initiative is conceptualized as a behavioural syndrome made up of several factors. It is important for organizational effectiveness and is one aspect of ‘contextual performance’. The construct validity of a set of interview- and questionnaire-based scales for measuring initiative was ascertained in interrelated studies (two waves from a longitudinal study in East Germany [N = 543] and a cross-sectional study in West Germany [N = 160]). As hypothesized, initiative correlated with partners' assessments, need for achievement, action orientation, problem-focused and passive emotion-focused coping, career planning and executing plans, but not with job satisfaction. Higher initiative existed in small-scale entrepreneurs in the East and in those unemployed who got a job more quickly.
The Rectus Sheath Block: Accuracy of Local Anesthetic Placement by Trainee Anesthesiologists Using Loss of Resistance or Ultrasound Guidance

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of local anesthetic placement in the rectus sheath block when performed by trainee anesthetists using loss of resistance (LOR) or ultrasound guidance. Methods: Eighty-one patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery were randomly assigned to undergo rectus sheath block by either LOR or ultrasound guidance. Trainee anesthesiologists were also randomly assigned to provide the rectus sheath block by LOR or by using ultrasound. The placement of local anesthetic was recorded using ultrasound. Results: The placement of local anesthetic by LOR was accurate in 45% of attempts but was superficial and deep to the rectus sheath in 34% and 21% of punctures, respectively. Accurate placement of local anesthetic within the rectus sheath decreased significantly as body mass index increased. Ultrasound guidance significantly improved the accuracy of needle placement, with 89% of abdominal punctures being correctly placed at the time of first injection of local anesthetic. An additional fascial plane lying at variable distance above the anterior layer of the rectus sheath was commonly observed. Conclusions: Ultrasound guidance improves the accuracy of local anesthetic placement when undertaking the rectus sheath block. An additional fascial plane above the anterior layer of the rectus sheath may be wrongly perceived as the anterior layer of the rectus sheath when the block is undertaken without the aid of ultrasound.
Immunohistochemical characterization of a parapinopsin-containing photoreceptor cell involved in the ultraviolet/green discrimination in the pineal organ of the river lamprey Lethenteron japonicum

SUMMARY In the pineal organ, two types of ganglion cell exhibit antagonistic chromatic responses to UV and green light, and achromatic responses to visible light. In this study, we histologically characterized UV-sensitive photoreceptor cells that contain a unique non-visual UV pigment, lamprey parapinopsin, in order to elucidate the neural network that is associated with antagonistic chromatic responses. These characteristics were compared with those of lamprey rhodopsin-containing cells, most of which are involved in achromatic responses. RT-PCR analysis revealed that lamprey parapinopsin was expressed in the pineal organ but not in the retina, unlike lamprey rhodopsin, which was expressed in both. Lamprey parapinopsin and lamprey rhodopsin were immunohistochemically localized in the dorsal and ventral regions of the pineal organ, respectively. The two pigments were localized in distinct photoreceptor cells throughout the pineal organ, namely the dorsal and ventral regions as well as the peripheral region, which corresponds to the dorso-ventral border region. The ratio of the number of lamprey parapinopsin-containing cells to lamprey rhodopsin-containing cells around the peripheral region was higher than in the central region. Electron-microscopic analysis revealed that lamprey parapinopsin-containing dorsal cells have outer segments and synaptic ribbons similar to those of ventral photoreceptor cells. However, unlike lamprey rhodopsin-containing cells, lamprey parapinopsin-containing cells connected with each other in a wide area of dorsal and peripheral portions and made direct contact with ganglion cells, mainly in the peripheral portion. These results suggest that UV light information captured by lamprey parapinopsin-containing photoreceptor cells is converged and directly transmitted to chromatic-type ganglion cells in the peripheral region to generate antagonistic chromatic responses.
Production b of IFN-Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells and Regulation Phosphatase Dusp9/MKP-4 in Mouse Selective Expression of the MAPK

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) efﬁciently produce large amounts of type I IFN in response to TLR7 and TLR9 ligands, whereas conventional DCs (cDCs) predominantly secrete high levels of the cytokines IL-10 and IL-12. The molecular basis underlying this distinct phenotype is not well understood. In this study, we identiﬁed the MAPK phosphatase Dusp9/MKP-4 by transcriptome analysis as selectively expressed in pDCs, but not cDCs. We conﬁrmed the constitutive expression of Dusp9 at the protein level in pDCs generated in vitro by culture with Flt3 ligand and ex vivo in sorted splenic pDCs. Dusp9 expression was low in B220 2 bone marrow precursors and was upregulated during pDC differentiation, concomitant with established pDC markers. Higher expression of Dusp9 in pDCs correlated with impaired phosphorylation of the MAPK ERK1/2 upon TLR9 stimulation. Notably, Dusp9 was not expressed at detectable levels in human pDCs, although these displayed similarly impaired activation of ERK1/2 MAPK compared with cDCs. Enforced retroviral expression of Dusp9 in mouse GM-CSF–induced cDCs increased the expression of TLR9-induced IL-12p40 and IFN- b , but not of IL-10. Conditional deletion of Dusp9 in pDCs was effectively achieved in Dusp9 ﬂox/ﬂox ; CD11c-Cre mice at the mRNA and protein levels. However, the lack of Dusp9 in pDC did not restore ERK1/2 activation after TLR9 stimulation and only weakly affected IFN- b and IL-12p40 production. Taken together, our results suggest that expression of Dusp9 is sufﬁcient to impair ERK1/2 activation and enhance IFN- b expression. However, despite selective expression in pDCs, Dusp9 is not essential for high-level IFN- b production by these cells. The Journal of Immunology , 2015, 195: 000–000. Dusp9
Constructs Related to Community College Student Satisfaction in Blended Learning

This paper discusses the constructs of social presence, collaborative learning, computer-supported collaborative learning, and satisfaction in blended learning environments. It presents the results of a study that used the Collaborative Learning, Social Presence, and Satisfaction (CLSS) questionnaire, which was conducted on one campus in a multi-campus community college system. The CLSS questionnaire measured the amount of perceived collaborative learning, perceived social presence, and reported satisfaction in a blended course. The sample of participants was drawn from students enrolled in one or more blended courses on one campus in a multi-campus, community-college system in the southwestern United States. The study posed four questions, accompanied by four related hypotheses. Does perceived social presence in a blended, community-college course correlate with reported student satisfaction? Does perceived collaborative learning in a blended, community-college course correlate with reported student satisfaction? Does perceived social presence in a blended, community-college course correlate with perceived collaborative learning? How do age, gender, ethnicity, computer expertise, and number of distance courses previously taken correlate with perceived social presence, perceived collaborative learning, and reported course satisfaction in a blended, community
Retinotopic Patterns of Correlated Fluctuations in Visual Cortex Reflect the Dynamics of Spontaneous Perceptual Suppression

While viewing certain stimuli, perception changes spontaneously in the face of constant input. For example, during “motion-induced blindness” (MIB), a small salient target spontaneously disappears and reappears when surrounded by a moving mask. Models of such bistable perceptual phenomena posit spontaneous fluctuations in neuronal activity throughout multiple stages of the visual cortical hierarchy. We used fMRI to link correlated activity fluctuations across human visual cortical areas V1 through V4 to the dynamics (rate and duration) of MIB target disappearance. We computed the correlations between the time series of fMRI activity in multiple retinotopic subregions corresponding to MIB target and mask. Linear decomposition of the matrix of temporal correlations revealed spatial patterns of activity fluctuations, regardless of whether or not these were time-locked to behavioral reports of target disappearance. The spatial pattern that dominated the activity fluctuations during MIB was spatially nonspecific, shared by all subregions, but did not reflect the dynamics of perception. By contrast, the fluctuations associated with the rate of MIB disappearance were retinotopically specific for the target subregion in V4, and the fluctuations associated with the duration of MIB disappearance states were target-specific in V1. Target-specific fluctuations in V1 have not previously been identified by averaging activity time-locked to behavioral reports of MIB disappearance. Our results suggest that different levels of the visual cortical hierarchy shape the dynamics of perception via distinct mechanisms, which are evident in distinct spatial patterns of spontaneous cortical activity fluctuations.
Two birds with one stone: An efficient hierarchical framework for top-k and threshold-based string similarity search

String similarity search is a fundamental operation in data cleaning and integration. It has two variants, threshold-based string similarity search and top-k string similarity search. Existing algorithms are efficient either for the former or the latter; most of them can't support both two variants. To address this limitation, we propose a unified framework. We first recursively partition strings into disjoint segments and build a hierarchical segment tree index (HS-Tree) on top of the segments. Then we utilize the HS-Tree to support similarity search. For threshold-based search, we identify appropriate tree nodes based on the threshold to answer the query and devise an efficient algorithm (HS-Search). For top-k search, we identify promising strings with large possibility to be similar to the query, utilize these strings to estimate an upper bound which is used to prune dissimilar strings, and propose an algorithm (HS-Topk). We also develop effective pruning techniques to further improve the performance. Experimental results on real-world datasets show our method achieves high performance on the two problems and significantly outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms.
Toxic Leadership in the U.S. Army

Abstract : The extent to which toxic leadership exists in the U.S. Army is a question that demands a thorough examination. While most publications on military leadership focus on the positive aspects of good leadership, this project examines the current literature on destructive leadership styles. The paper sought a definition of toxic leadership, consolidated expert views on the personal characteristics of toxic leaders, and compiled a taxonomy of 18 types of toxic leaders. The project serves as a review of toxic leadership in the U.S. Army. It derives insights into toxic leadership in the Army, why it exists, why it is tolerated, and what impact positive leadership may have on this phenomenon. The author discusses a number of personal characteristics that experts have attributed to toxic leaders, from least significant to most severe: incompetence, malfunctioning, maladjusted, sense of inadequacy, malcontent, irresponsible, amoral, cowardice, insatiable ambition, egotism, arrogance, selfish values, avarice and greed, lack of integrity, deception, malevolent, malicious, and malfeasance. The author then goes on to describe the 18 types of toxic leaders: the absentee leader, the incompetent leader, the codependent leader, the passive-aggressive leader, the busybody leader, the paranoid leader, the rigid leader, the controller leader, the compulsive leader, the intemperate leader, the enforcer leader, the narcissistic leader, the callous leader, the street fighter leader, the corrupt leader, the insular leader, the bully leader, and the evil leader.
(Re)defining Land Change Science through Synthetic Research Practices

This paper investigates the co-evolution of scientific practice and supporting technologies for the interdisciplinary research community of Land Change Science. Through three and a half years of iterative fieldwork and system design, we have developed a deep understanding of their synthetic research practices, specifically regarding meta-studies. Here we detail the challenges researchers face conducting meta-studies and how this collective effort advances the entire scholarly community. We illustrate how our understanding of this synthetic research practice informs the design and refinement of cyberinfrastructure to better support their work.
Selective hardware/software memory virtualization

As virtualization becomes a key technique for supporting cloud computing, much effort has been made to reduce virtualization overhead, so a virtualized system can match its native performance. One major overhead is due to memory or page table virtualization. Conventional virtual machines rely on a shadow mechanism to manage page tables, where a shadow page table maintained by the VMM (Virtual Machine Monitor) maps virtual addresses to machine addresses while a guest maintains its own virtual to physical page table. This shadow mechanism will result in expensive VM exits whenever there is a page fault that requires synchronization between the two page tables. To avoid this cost, both Intel and AMD provide hardware assists, EPT (extended page table) and NPT (nested page table), to facilitate address translation. With the hardware assists, the MMU (Memory Management Unit) maintains an ordinary guest page table that translates virtual addresses to guest physical addresses. In addition, the extended page table as provided by EPT translates from guest physical addresses to host physical or machine addresses. NPT works in a similar style. With EPT or NPT, a guest page fault can be handled by the guest itself without triggering VM exits. However, the hardware assists do have their disadvantage compared to the conventional shadow mechanism -- the page walk yields more memory accesses and thus longer latency. Our experimental results show that neither hardware-assisted paging (HAP) nor shadow paging (SP) can be a definite winner. Despite the fact that in over half of the cases, there is no noticeable gap between the two mechanisms, an up to 34% performance gap exists for a few benchmarks. We propose a dynamic switching mechanism that monitors TLB misses and guest page faults on the fly, and dynam-ically switches between the two paging modes. Our experiments show that this new mechanism can match and, sometimes, even beat the better performance of HAP and SP.
Metabolic reprogramming of bone marrow stromal cells by leukemic extracellular vesicles in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

To the editor: Cancer cells produce unique heterogeneous vesicles[1][1] capable of transferring oncogenic material[2][2],[3][3] to other cells,[4][4],[5][5] with the potential of modulating a tumor-supportive environment. [6][6][⇓][7]-[8][8] We have previously reported the presence of lipid-
Psychodiagnosis in schizophrenia

Contents: Preface. Part I: Introduction. Basic Approaches to Schizophrenia: History and Current Issues. The Ego-Disturbance Model of Schizophrenia. Psychodiagnostic Techniques in Schizophrenia: A Brief History. Part II: Psychodiagnosis of Schizophrenia: Assessment of Disturbances in Ego Functioning. Thought Processes: I. Cognitive Focusing. Thought Processes: II. Reasoning. Thought Processes: III. Concept Formation. Relation to Reality: I. Reality Testing. Relation to Reality: II. Reality Sense. Object Relations. Defensive Operations. Autonomous Functions. Synthetic Functions. Part III: Differential Diagnosis in Schizophrenia. Acute and Chronic Schizophrenia. Paranoid and Nonparanoid Schizophrenia. Incipient and Remitting Schizophrenia. Borderline and Pseudoneurotic Schizophrenia. Schizo-Affective Disorder. Schizophrenia in Adolescence. Part IV: Conclusion. Scientific and Professional Issues in Psychodiagnosis.
Does the police academy change your life? A longitudinal study of changes in socializing of police recruits

The current study tracks the social behaviour of new police recruits from pre Academy, after six months Academy training, through to one year into police training (N = 177). The results showed that recruits socialise and drink more with colleagues after entering the Academy than they did pre Academy. The way recruits drank also changed during training with a tendency towards heavier drinking sessions. Further results indicated that recruits did feel some pressure to drink to fit in and be one of the crowd. These findings, based on a longitudinal methodology suggest that the enculturation process encouraging recruits to social and drink with peers begins early in the training process. The findings are discussed in terms of intervention.
Development of lentiviral gene therapy for Wiskott Aldrich syndrome

Background: Wiskott Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is a rare X-linked primary immunodeficiency. This complex disease is characterised by microthrombocytopenia, recurrent infections, eczema and is associated with a high incidence of autoimmunity and of lymphoid malignancies. WAS is attracting growing attention not only because it highlights the rich cellular and systems biology revolving around cytoskeletal regulation but also because it is candidate for a haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy indication. Objectives: As several groups are developing this novel approach, this review discusses the state of the art and challenges in clinical development of gene therapy for WAS, with particular regard to biosafety. Methods: In spite of the successes of haematopoietic gene therapy for genetic immune deficiencies, there is a need for more efficient transduction protocols and for vectors with a superior safety profile. Preclinical studies have provided reasonable expectations that haematopoietic gene therapy with a self-inactivated HIV-1-derived vector using the native gene promoter for expression of the WAS transgene will be safe and will lead to the restoration of WAS protein in the haematopoietic and immune system at levels sufficient to provide an improvement in the condition of WAS patients. Conclusions: Phase I/II clinical studies will soon be initiated in several European centres to assess the safety and efficacy of this lentiviral vector in WAS patients.
Discrimination dans l’accès à l’emploi des jeunes d’origine immigrée en suisse

La proportion d’etrangers residant en Suisse atteint vingt pour cent ; pourtant, ce n’est que dans les annees 90 que le pays s’est dote d’une politique d’integration. Un taux de chomage eleve parmi les immigres constitue un des facteurs a l’origine de cet important changement politique. Cet article utilise d’une part la premiere enquete suisse fondee sur le test des pratiques effectives de l’Organisation internationale du travail (simulation de curriculum vitae) et d’autre part le recensement 2000. Il apparait que les jeunes etablis depuis longtemps dans le pays sont confrontes a la discrimination dans l’acces a l’emploi et ce meme lorsqu’ils possedent les memes qualifications que leurs condisciples suisses. Ainsi, la politique d’integration suisse doit etre repensee de maniere plus globale.
Immediate and long-term effects of radiation on the immune system of specific-pathogen-free mice.

Studies on the immediate and long-term effects of radiation on the immune system of specific-pathogen-free mice are summarized in this paper. There was a striking difference in the radiation response of lymphocyte subsets; B cells consist of a fairly radiosensitive homogeneous population, whereas T cells consist of a large percentage (greater than 90 per cent) of radiosensitive and a small percentage (less than 10 per cent) of extremely radioresistant subpopulations. Ly 1+ and Ly 2+ lymphocytes appear equally radiosensitive, although the percentage of radioresistant cells was slightly larger for the former (approximately 5.5 per cent) than the latter (approximately 2.5 per cent). There was a significant strain difference in the radiosensitivity of immune-response potential in mice; immunocompetent cells of C3H mice were more radioresistant than those of BALB/c, C57BL/6, and B10.BR mice. Studies on the long-term effect of radiation on immune system in mice indicated no evidence for accelerated ageing of the immunologic functions when radiation exposure was given to young adults. Preliminary results on the enhancing effect of low dose radiation on cytotoxic T cell response in vitro are also discussed.