Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plunc, a Member of the Secretory Gland Protein Family, Is Up-regulated in Nasal Respiratory Epithelium after Olfactory Bulbectomy*

Subtraction suppression hybridization was used with high throughput screening to identify transcripts of genes that are differentially expressed in nasal epithelium following lesioning of the olfactory bulb, termed bulbectomy. We isolated the rat homologue ofplunc, a murine gene highly expressed in lung and nasopharyngeal regions, by this method. Rat plunc encodes a 270-amino acid protein containing a putative signal peptide.plunc up-regulation in respiratory epithelium was confirmed by Northern blot and in situ hybridization.plunc mRNA was expressed in nasal epithelium, heart, lung, thymus, and salivary gland in adult rodent. plunc was expressed in nasal epithelium, thymus, and salivary gland during embryogenesis. Antibodies against Plunc detected a 31-kDa protein in lung, heart, and spleen. Rat nasal epithelium displayed robust immunoreactivity that was highly localized to the microvilli layer of respiratory epithelium. The expression of plunc was up-regulated after bulbectomy in respiratory epithelium. We also detected secreted plunc in rat and human mucus. Sequence and homology analyses suggest that Plunc is a member of the secretory gland protein family with putative bactericidal/bacteriostatic function. This is the first protein found in respiratory epithelium whose expression is regulated by olfactory neuronal injury and may provide protection against infection subsequent to injury.
Tenant Households and Poverty in the Gezira Irrigated Area , Sudan : Analysis and Implications

Sudan has suffered from a high increase in poverty over the last decade of the last century. Strategies aimed at poverty reduction need to identify factors that are strongly associated with poverty and amenable to policy modification. This paper uses tenant household level data collected in October 2002 in the Gezira irrigated area to map out a poverty profile and examine probable determinants of rural poverty, employing an ordinal logistic regression model. Data were collected using cross-section survey conducted in the Gezira irrigated area from 1st October -31st October 2002. A total of 598 tenant households were surveyed. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical methods. The multivariate ordinal logistic analysis shows that households headed by old tenants and women with low educational attainment, and large number of children are likely to be extremely poor. The data shows that poverty status is strongly associated with size of cultivated area and off farm income opportunities. Policies and strategies to alleviate poverty include provision of education especially female education, improving irrigation system, improving market opportunities and providing basic amenities such as electricity, toilet facilities and drinking water facilities.
Effect of beach chair position on bispectral index values during arthroscopic shoulder surgery

Background Bispectral index (BIS) monitoring reduces the cases of intraoperative awareness. Several factors can alter BIS readings without affecting the depth of anesthesia. We conducted a study to assess the impact of beach chair position (sitting position) on BIS readings. Methods General anesthesia was administered to 30 patients undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Patients were kept in neutral position (supine) for 10 minutes and BIS readings, mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate, end-tidal carbon dioxide, and end-tidal sevoflurane were recorded. Patients were then shifted to beach chair position. After 15 minutes, data were recorded. Results A significant decrease in BIS values (P < 0.01) associated with a position change from neutral position to beach chair position was evident. Conclusions BIS values are significantly decreased in the beach chair position compared with the neutral position and might affect interpretation of the depth of anesthesia.
The Impact of Arctic Winter Infrared Radiation on Early Summer Sea Ice

AbstractThe Arctic summer sea ice area has been rapidly decreasing in recent decades. In addition to this trend, substantial interannual variability is present, as is highlighted by the recovery in sea ice area in 2013 following the record minimum in 2012. This interannual variability of the Arctic summer sea ice area has been attributed to the springtime weather disturbances. Here, by utilizing reanalysis- and satellite-based sea ice data, this study shows that summers with unusually small sea ice area are preceded by winters with anomalously strong downward longwave radiation over the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean. This anomalous wintertime radiative forcing at the surface is up to 10–15 W m−2, which is about twice as strong than that during the spring. During the same winters, the poleward moisture and warm-air intrusions into the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean are anomalously strong and the resulting moisture convergence field closely resembles positive anomalies in column-integrated water .
Morphological and biochemical correlates of skeletal muscle contractility in the cat. I. Histochemical and electron microscopic studies

Three cat hind limb muscles have been examined, histochemically and ultrastructurally, in a multiparameter correlative study of structure and function in skeletal muscle contractility. The soleus, a histochemically pure, slow‐twitch muscle possesses ultrastructural features which are, in many cases, significantly different from those of almost pure fast twitch caudofemoralis muscle. Although stereological analysis of fiber types indicates a correlation between speed of relaxation and volume of sarcoplasmic reticulum, morphological features such as fenestrated collars and triad morphology are identical in all fiber types. The fast twitch‐oxidative‐glycolytic fiber possesses features common to both slow twitch fibers (high mitochondrial content) as well as fast twitch fibers (high sarcoplasmic reticulum content) in addition to Z band width which falls in between these two fiber types.
Properties of aftershock sequences in southern California

The temporal behavior of 39 aftershock sequences in southern California, 1933–1988, was modeled by the modified Omori relation. Minimum magnitudes for completeness of each sequence catalog were determined, and the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters K, p, and c, with the standard errors on each, were determined by the Ogata algorithm. The b value of each sequence was also calculated. Many of the active faults in the region, both strike slip and thrust, were sampled. The p values were graded in terms of the size of the standard error relative to the p value itself. Most of the sequences were modeled well by the Omori relation. Many of the sequences had p values close to the mean of the whole data set, 1.11±0.25, but values significantly different from the mean, as low as 0.7 and as high as 1.8, exist. No correlation of p with either the b value of the sequence or the mainshock magnitude was found. The results suggest a direct correlation of p values is with surface heat flow, with high values in the Salton Trough (high heat flow) and one low value in the San Bernardino Mountains and on the edge of the Ventura Basin (both low heat flow). The large fraction of the sequences with p values near the mean are at locations where the heat flow is near the regional mean, 74 mW/m2. If the hypothesis that aftershock decay rate is controlled by temperature at depth is valid, the effects of other factors such as heterogeneity of the fault zone properties are superimposed on the background rate determined by temperature. Surface heat flow is taken as an indicator of crustal temperature at hypocentral depths, but the effects on heat flow of convective heat transport and variations in near-surface thermal conductivity invalidate any simple association of local variations in heat flow with details of the subsurface temperature distribution. The interpretation is that higher temperatures in the aftershock source volume caused shortened stress relaxation times in the fault zone materials, leading to a faster decay rate (higher p value). In 1967, Mogi proposed such a relation on the basis of Japanese data. Seismic velocity distributions published for southern California generally support the hypothesis, with low velocities (higher temperatures) corresponding to high p values, and vice-versa.
C-Reactive Protein at Discharge, Diabetes Mellitus and ≥1 Hospitalization During Previous Year Predict Early Readmission in Patients with Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract Recurrent hospitalizations in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients have clinical and economic consequences; particularly those readmitted soon after discharge. The aim of our observational study was to determine predictors of early readmission to hospital (30 days from discharge). Prospective data on 125 hospitalized AECOPD patients were collected over a 30-month period at two Spanish university hospitals. Based on readmission after discharge, patients were divided into non-readmitted (n = 96) and readmitted (n = 29). Measures of serum inflammatory biomarkers were recorded on admission to hospital, at day 3 and at discharge; data on clinical, laboratory, microbiological and severity features were also recorded. In a multivariate model, C-reactive protein (CRP) at discharge ≥7.6 mg/L, presence of diabetes and ≥1 hospitalization for AECOPD during previous year were significant risk factors for predicting readmission. Presence of all 3 risk factors perfectly identified the readmitted patients (positive and negative predictive values of 1.000; 95% CI, 1.00–1.00). A combination of 3 readily available clinical and biochemical parameters is accurate in identifying hospitalized AECOPD patients at risk for early readmission.
Exploring health facilities' experiences in implementing the free health-care policy (FHCP) in Nepal: how did organizational factors influence the implementation of the user-fee abolition policy?

BACKGROUND This article presents an Asian experience of abolishing health-care user fees: Nepal's universal free health-care policy, implemented in 2008. Based on doctoral fieldwork between August 2008 and April 2009, the paper analyses primary-care facilities' and central and district health systems' experiences with the policy. It makes a unique contribution to existing evidence because it explicitly applies organizational theory within a carefully designed, rigorous, multiple case-study analysis to deepen our understanding of the organizational and 'people' factors in the successful removal of user fees. METHODS The cases were two pairs of primary-care facilities in one district, paired for comparison of the facilities' experiences with the policy in relation to its effects on health care utilization. Data collection methods included document reviews; key informant interviews at district and central levels; in-depth, semi-structured interviews and group interviews at case facilities. (Data on indicators of utilization and quality changes over time were also collected and will be published separately). Using key elements of Nadler and Tushman's 'Organizational Congruence' model, a degree-of-fit analysis tested the study's initial propositions and yielded generalizations for contexts in and outside Nepal. RESULTS The study found that Nepal's key implementation challenges were similar to Africa's: insufficient or delayed inputs of drugs and compensation; insufficient workforce and the resulting reduced quality of services that hampered facilities' relationships with their clients and health providers' attitudes. However, the Nepalese case facilities with (1) good intra- and inter-facility relationships, (2) adequate staffing, (3) well-oriented providers and (4) previously trained, better-informed and skilled health management committees experienced higher utilization and better-quality indicators over time. CONCLUSIONS Through its detailed analysis of Nepal's experience in removing user fees, the study highlights the importance of addressing the 'people' and 'organizational' factors in health-policy development and implementation.
Modulation of Amygdalar Activity by the Conscious Regulation of Negative Emotion

Lesion and neuroimaging studies suggest the amygdala is important in the perception and production of negative emotion; however, the effects of emotion regulation on the amygdalar response to negative stimuli remain unknown. Using event-related fMRI, we tested the hypothesis that voluntary modulation of negative emotion is associated with changes in neural activity within the amygdala. Negative and neutral pictures were presented with instructions to either maintain the emotional response or passively view the picture without regulating the emotion. Each picture presentation was followed by a delay, after which subjects indicated how they currently felt via a response keypad. Consistent with previous reports, greater signal change was observed in the amygdala during the presentation of negative compared to neutral pictures. No significant effect of instruction was found during the picture presentation component of the trial. However, a prolonged increase in signal change was observed in the amygdala when subjects maintained the negative emotional response during the delay following negative picture offset. This increase in amygdalar signal due to the active maintenance of negative emotion was significantly correlated with subjects' self-reported dispositional levels of negative affect. These results suggest that consciously evoked cognitive mechanisms that alter the emotional response of the subject operate, at least in part, by altering the degree of neural activity within the amygdala.
A New Approach for Simultaneous Range Measurement and Doppler Estimation

To circumvent the dilemma of range and Doppler ambiguity in the conventional pulsed Doppler radars, a stepped time interval pulse train (STIPT) scheme is proposed in this letter. The STIPT approach eliminates range and Doppler ambiguities by setting the pulse interval difference appropriately. The range sidelobes are removed through a modified aperiodic correlation algorithm. Furthermore, the fast Fourier transform can be used in the Doppler processing. Consequently, the newly proposed approach can be applied to the conventional pulsed radar systems.
Energy Bounded Scalability Analysis of Parallel Algorithms

The amount of energy available in some contexts is strictly limited. For example, in mobile computing, available energy is constrained by battery capacity. As multicore processors with a large number of processors, it will be possible to significantly vary the number and frequency of cores used in order to manage the performance and energy consumption of an algorithm. We develop a method to analyze the scalability of an algorithm given an energy budget. The resulting energy-bounded scalability analysis can be used to optimize performance of a parallel algorithm executed on a scalable multicore architecture given an energy budget. We illustrate our methodology by analyzing the behavior of four parallel algorithms on scalable multicore architectures: namely, parallel addition, two versions of parallel quicksort, and a parallel version of Prim’s Minimum Spanning Tree algorithm. We study the sensitivity of energy-bounded scalability to changes in parameters such as the ratio of the energy required for a computational operation versus the energy required for communicating a unit message. Our results shows that changing the number and frequency of cores used in a multicore architecture could significantly improve performance under fixed energy budgets.
Trans-Atlantic Propagation of 1755 Tsunami and Its Effects on the FrenchWest Indies

The present study examines the propagation of tsunami waves generated by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean and its effects on the coasts of the French West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. Historical data of tsunami manifestation in the French West Indies are briefly reproduced. The mathematical model named NAMI DANCE which solves the shallow-water equations has been applied in the computations. Three possible seismic source alternatives are selected for 1755 event in the simulations. The results obtained from the simulations demonstrate that the directivity of tsunami energy is divided into two strong beams directed to the southern part of North America (Florida, the Bahamas) and to the northern part of South America (Brazil). The tsunami waves reach the Lesser Antilles in 7 hrs. The computed distribution of tsunami wave height along the coasts of Guadeloupe and Martinique are presented. Calculated maximum wave amplitudes reached 2 m in Guadeloupe and 1.5 m in Martinique. These results are also in agreement with observed data (1.8-3 m). The experience and data obtained in this study show that transatlantic events must also be considered in the tsunami hazard assessment and development of mitigation strategies for the French West Indies.
Adaptive behavior of the chloride cell in the gill of fundulus heteroclitus

This is a sequel to a previous report (Copeland, '48) in which evidence was presented of a cell type responsible for the active excretion of salt from the gills of marine fish noted by Smith ('30), Keys ('31) and others. A subsequent report (Pettengill and Copeland, '48) suggested on the basis of phosphatase activity, that the cell might also fulfill the role of actively absorbing salt in fresh water situations, a physiological activity described by Rrogh ( '37). The previous two papers dealt primarily with the completely adapted curyhaline Fundulus heteroclitus as revealed by the Regaud technique for mitochondria, the Gomori technique for alkaline phosphatase activity, and the Leschke silver technique for chlorides. This paper deals with the transitional o r adaptive behavior of the cell as seen by Ludford osmication and the Gomori phosphatase techniques.
Parietal Lobe and Episodic Memory: Bilateral Damage Causes Impaired Free Recall of Autobiographical Memory

Does the parietal lobe have a critical role in memory? The neuroimaging literature indicates that it has an important role, especially in episodic memory. However, the neuropsychological literature suggests that its role is more limited to attentional, spatial, or imagery aspects of memory. Here, we present data to adjudicate this disagreement. Two patients with bilateral parietal lobe damage received detailed assessments of their autobiographical memories. The results show that although both patients easily recalled various memories, their freely recalled memories were relatively impoverished, lacking in detail. This deficit was ubiquitous, and not limited to spatial or perceptual aspects of memory. The memory deficit disappeared when memory was specifically probed by asking pointed questions. Additional tests show that it is unlikely that their free recall deficit can be explained by general mental imagery problems. In sum, the parietal lobe appears to have a critical role in recollection aspects of episodic memory.
Prenatal and perinatal influences on risk for psychopathology in childhood and adolescence

The relationship between a range of prenatal and perinatal events and risk for psychopathology in offspring was examined. Prenatal and perinatal events investigated included maternal experiences, health, and substance use during pregnancy, obstetric complications, feeding practices, and infant health during the first year of life. Offspring diagnosis was based on structured interviews conducted with 579 adolescents on two occasions. Risk for later psychopathology was associated with a number of prenatal and perinatal factors. Major depression was associated with not being breast fed and maternal emotional problems during the pregnancy. Anxiety was chiefly associated with fever and illness during the first year of life and maternal history of miscarriage and stillbirth. Disruptive behavior disorder was associated with poor maternal emotional health during the pregnancy and birth complications. Risk for substance use disorder was associated with maternal use of substances during the pregnancy. Mediating effects of maternal depression, maternal–child conflict, and physical symptoms in the child, and moderating effects of gender of child and parental education were also evaluated. The limitations of this study are discussed and future research directions are suggested.
Velocities Measured in Small-Scale Solar Magnetic Elements

We have obtained high-resolution spectrograms of small-scale magnetic structures with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. We present Doppler measurements at 0.2'' spatial resolution of bright points, ribbons, and flowers, and their immediate surroundings, in the C I λ5380. 3 line (formed in the deep photosphere) and the two Fe I lines at 5379.6 and 5386.3 Å. The velocity inside the flowers and ribbons are measured to be almost zero, while we observe downflows at the edges. These downflows are increasing with decreasing height. We also analyze realistic magnetoconvective simulations to obtain a better understanding of the interpretation of the observed signal. We calculate how the Doppler signal depends on the velocity field in various structures. Both the smearing effect of the nonnegligible width of this velocity response function along the line of sight and of the smearing from the telescope and atmospheric point-spread function are discussed. These studies lead us to the conclusion that the velocity inside the magnetic elements is really upflow of order 1-2 km s-1, while the downflows at the edges really are much stronger than observed, of order 1.5-3.3 km s-1.
Estimating groundwater discharge to surface waters using heat as a tracer in low flux environments: the role of thermal conductivity

Analytical modelling of heat transport was used to address effects of uncertainty in thermal conductivity on groundwater–surface water exchange. In situ thermal conductivities and temperature profiles were measured in a coastal lagoon bed where groundwater is known to discharge. The field site could be divided into three sediment zones where significant spatial changes in thermal conductivity on metre to centimetre scale show that spatial variability connected to the sediment properties must be considered. The application of a literature‐based bulk thermal conductivity of 1.84 Wm−1 °C−1, instead of field data that ranged from 0.62 to 2.19 W m−1 °C−1, produced a mean overestimation of 2.33 cm d−1 that, considering the low fluxes of the study area, represents an 89% increase and up to a factor of 3 in the most extreme cases. Incorporating the uncertainty due to sediment heterogeneities leads to an irregular trend of the flux distribution from the shore towards the lagoon. The natural variability of the thermal conductivity associated with changes in the sediment composition resulted in a mean variation of ±0.66 cm d−1 in fluxes corresponding to a change of ±25.4%. The presence of organic matter in the sediments, a common situation in the near‐shore areas of surface water bodies, is responsible for the decrease of thermal conductivity. The results show that the natural variability of sediment thermal conductivity is a parameter to be considered for low flux environments, and it contributes to a better understanding of groundwater–surface water interactions in natural environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.