Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene expression profiling of the rat superior olivary complex using serial analysis of gene expression

The superior olivary complex (SOC) is an auditory brainstem region that represents a favourable system to study rapid neurotransmission and the maturation of neuronal circuits. Here we performed serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) on the SOC in 60‐day‐old Sprague–Dawley rats to identify genes specifically important for its function and to create a transcriptome reference for the subsequent identification of age‐related or disease‐related changes. Sequencing of 31 035 tags identified 10 473 different transcripts. Fifty‐seven per cent of the unique tags with a count greater than four were statistically more highly represented in the SOC than in the hippocampus. Among them were genes encoding proteins involved in energy supply, the glutamate/glutamine shuttle, and myelination. Approximately 80 plasma membrane transporters, receptors, channels, and vesicular transporters were identified, and 25% of them displayed a significantly higher expression level in the SOC than in the hippocampus. Some of the plasma membrane proteins were not previously characterized in the SOC, e.g. the purinergic receptor subunit P2X6 and the metabotropic GABA receptor Gpr51. Differential gene expression between SOC and hippocampus was confirmed using RNA in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistry. The extensive gene inventory presented here will alleviate the dissection of the molecular mechanisms underlying specific SOC functions and the comparison with other SAGE libraries from brain will ease the identification of promoters to generate region‐specific transgenic animals. The analysis will be part of the publicly available database ID‐GRAB.
[Relationship between the severity of temporomandibular disorder and voice].

BACKGROUND Temporomandibular dysfunction is one of the most complex disorders of the body, capable of unchaining alterations in the mandibular movements which in turn can cause damage not only to speech articulation but also to the quality of voice. In the literature, the relationship between the symptomatology severity levels of this dysfunction and their influence on vocal production has been scarcely studied. AIM To verify the relationship between the symptomatology severity levels of temporomandibular dysfunction and vocal production. METHOD Participants of this study were 24 females, with ages between 16 and 56 years, who were submitted to an anamnesis index questionnaire (Fonseca et al., 1994), to odontological and otolaryngological examinations and to a hearing evaluation. Later, the participants were submitted to a voice recording, using a digital recorder, for a perceptive-auditive analysis of voice parameters such as: vocal type, resonance, quality of emission, pitch and loudness and for the analysis of the acoustic parameters of the wide and narrow band spectrography and of the Multi Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP) -- Key Elementrics Real Time software. RESULTS Considering the parameters of the perceptive-auditive evaluation, it was observed that only individuals with severe symptomatology presented a statistically significant decrease in loudness (p = 0.013). The hoarse vocal quality was the most frequent type among the participants, with severities classified as mild and severe, followed by the breathy type. In the wide band spectrography, there was a statistically significant difference for the anti-resonance increase (p = 0.013) in individuals with severe temporomandibular dysfunction. CONCLUSION It was verified that the severity level causes a decrease in loudness, an increase of noise and alterations in voice resonance, interfering in the vocal quality of these individuals.
Superfast and Stable Structured Solvers for Toeplitz Least Squares via Randomized Sampling

We present some superfast ($O((m+n)\log^{2}(m+n))$ complexity) and stable structured direct solvers for $m\times n$ Toeplitz least squares problems. Based on the displacement equation, a Toeplitz matrix $T$ is first transformed into a Cauchy-like matrix $\mathcal{C}$, which can be shown to have small off-diagonal numerical ranks when the diagonal blocks are rectangular. We generalize standard hierarchically semiseparable (HSS) matrix representations to rectangular ones, and construct a rectangular HSS approximation to $\mathcal{C}$ in nearly linear complexity with randomized sampling and fast multiplications of $\mathcal{C}$ with vectors. A new URV HSS factorization and a URV HSS solution are designed for the least squares solution. We also present two structured normal equation methods. Systematic error and stability analysis for our HSS methods is given, which is also useful for studying other HSS and rank structured methods. We derive the growth factors and the backward error bounds in the HSS factoriz.
Straightbred comparison of a composite population and the Suffolk breed for performance traits of sheep.

A terminal sire Composite population was formed by mating Columbia rams to Hampshire-Suffolk crossbred ewes. Subsequent generations were produced by inter se mating. The objective was to compare Composite sheep to purebred Suffolks for numerous performance traits. Young ewes lambing at 1 yr of age were evaluated separately from mature ewes (2, 3, 4, and 5 yr old) of each population. Composite and Suffolk populations did not differ significantly in components of litter weaning weight per young ewe joined. Mature Composite ewes produced more wool than Suffolk ewes. Fertility of mature ewes did not differ significantly between populations. The greater prolificacy (P less than .01) of mature Suffolk ewes was offset by a lower survival to weaning (P less than .01), particularly for twin-born lambs. Consequently, mature Composite and Suffolk ewes did not differ for number weaned and litter weaning weight per ewe joined. The average birth weight of lambs born to young and mature Composite ewes was greater (P less than .02) than the average birth weight of Suffolk lambs. The average weaning weight of lambs born to young Composite ewes was greater (P less than .05) than that of lambs born to young Suffolk ewes. Breed differences were not detected for preweaning daily gains, weaning weights, and postweaning daily gains of ewe lambs born to mature ewes. Likewise, weights of ewes at 125 d of age and weights of mature ewes at breeding did not differ significantly between breeds. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Closed-form solution for electromagnetic scattering by a dielectric spheroid coating a metallic sphere

A closed-form solution for the electromagnetic scattering of a plane wave by a dielectric lossless or lossy prolate spheroid coating a concentric metallic sphere is studied in this work. The problem is solved using two independent methods: first, asymptotic expansions are applied on the spheroidal eigenvectors, allowing a closed-form solution which is valid for small eccentricities of the spheroid. Second, the full wave exact solution is constructed using the separation of variables in terms of the spheroidal eigenvectors.
Identification and Susceptibility of Aspergillus Section Nigri in China: Prevalence of Species and Paradoxical Growth in Response to Echinocandins

ABSTRACT Molecular identification and in vitro antifungal susceptibility tests of 43 Aspergillus section Nigri isolates from China were performed. Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus tubingensis were present in almost equal numbers. All of the isolates had low MIC/MECs (minimum effective concentrations) for the 7 common antifungals, and a paradoxical effect was observed for the first time in response to caspofungin and micafungin.
Strong Coupling of an Electromagnetic Transients Program and a Finite Element Magnetic Field Solver Including Eddy Currents

An improved scheme for coupling electromagnetic transients programs with finite element magneto-dynamic field programs is presented. The proposed scheme uses the compensation approach to build up a strong coupling between domains, with no time delay. This permits to fully take into account the spatial field distribution in the magnetic device as well as eddy currents in the conducting materials. The scheme is developed starting with the field equations for the Cartesian plane and axisymmetric cases, which are combined with the reduced circuit equations. The solution of the simplified circuit-field system is achieved by an efficient sequence of time discretization followed by the iterative solution of the resulting nonlinear equation. The implementation of the scheme and its validation are discussed. The results show a very competitive performance of the new approach.
Potential adverse effects of statins on muscle.

Many people have high blood cholesterol that may lead to coronary heart disease (CHD). A multifaceted approach consisting of diet, exercise, and pharmacological management is recommended to lower the risk of CHD.1 Elevated low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) has been established as a major cause of CHD.1 The group of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A [HMG-CoA] reductase inhibitors) are widely and successfully used in the management of atherosclerotic disease processes that include CHD, myocardial infarction, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.2 Statins inhibit the formation of HMG-CoA reductase, which is essential in forming mevalonate, a precursor to cholesterol and other compounds. Lowering LDL-C is the goal of statin therapy, and multiple studies indicate that lowering LDL-C decreases the risk for CHD in people without a history of CHD and decreases the risk for cardiovascular events in people with a history of CHD.1 Six statins are currently available, and they are known by a variety of brand names: atorvastatin (Lipitor*), fluvastatin (Lescol†), lovastatin (Mevacor,‡ Altoprev§), pravastatin (Pravachol‖), rosuvastatin (Crestor#), and simvastatin (Zocor‡)2–4 (Table). Although these drugs have been very successful in managing the cardiovascular health of many patients, there are also potential adverse effects that have been identified. The most common adverse effects reported include muscle pain or weakness that can progress to rhabdomyolysis and mortality.5 If detected early, statin-related symptoms are reversible after withdrawal of the statin.6,7 Early identification of these potentially serious adverse effects makes the information in this update critical for physical therapists, because they frequently screen patients with musculoskeletal complaints. View this table: Table. Available Statins and Recommended Dosages Considering that more than 76 million prescriptions for statins were filled in 2000,8 there was increased concern in the medical and lay …
Fine Asymptotics for Universal One-to-One Compression of Parametric Sources

Universal source coding at short blocklengths is considered for an i.i. d. exponential family of distributions. The Type Size code has previously been shown to be optimal up to the third-order rate for universal compression of all memoryless sources over finite alphabets. The Type Size code assigns sequences ordered based on their type class sizes to binary strings ordered lexicographically. To generalize this type class approach for parametric sources, a natural scheme is to define two sequences to be in the same type class if and only if they are equiprobable under any model in the parametric class. This natural approach, however, is shown to be suboptimal. A variation of the Type Size code is introduced, where type classes are defined based on neighborhoods of minimal sufficient statistics. The asymptotics of the overflow rate of this variation are derived and a converse result establishes its optimality up to the third-order term.
Functional neuroanatomy of action selection in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia remains an enigmatic disorder with unclear neuropathology. Recent advances in neuroimaging and genetic research suggest alterations in glutamate-dopamine interactions adversely affecting synaptic plasticity both intracortically and subcortically. Relating these changes to the manifestation of symptoms presents a great challenge, requiring a constrained framework to capture the most salient elements. Here, a biologically-grounded computational model of basal ganglia-mediated action selection was used to explore two pathological processes that hypothetically underpin schizophrenia. These were a drop in the efficiency of cortical transmission, reducing both the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and overall activity levels; and an excessive compensatory upregulation of subcortical dopamine release. It was proposed that reduced cortical efficiency was the primary process, which led to a secondary disinhibition of subcortical dopamine release within the striatum. This compensation was believed to partly recover lost function, but could then induce disorganised-type symptoms summarised as selection ”Instability” if it became too pronounced. This overcompensation was argued to be countered by antipsychotic medication. The model’s validity was tested during an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) study of 16 healthy volunteers, using a novel perceptual decision-making task, and was found to provide a good account for pallidal activation. Its account for striatum was developed and improved with a small number of principled model modifications: the inclusion of fast spiking interneurons within striatum, and their inhibition by the basal ganglia’s key regulatory nucleus, external globus pallidus. A key final addition was the explicit modelling of dopaminergic midbrain, which is dynamically regulated by both cortex and the basal ganglia. This enabled hypotheses concerning the effects of cortical inefficiency, compensatory dopamine release and medication to be directly tested. The new model was verified with a second set of 12 healthy controls. Its pathological predictions were compared to data from 12 patients with schizophrenia. Model simulations suggested that Instability went hand-in-hand with cortical inefficiency and secondary dopamine upregulation. Patients with high Instability scores showed a loss of SNR within decision-related cortex (consistent with cortical inefficiency); an exaggerated response to task demands within substantia nigra (consistent with dopaminergic upregulation); and had an improved fit to simulated data derived from increasingly cortically-inefficient models. Simulations representing the healthy state provided a good account for patients’ motor putamen, but only cortically-inefficient simulations representing the ill state provided a fit for ventral-anterior striatum. This fit improved as the simulated model became more medicated (increased D2 receptor blockade). The rel-
Distinct Pathways of G- and G-mediated Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Activation (*)

Receptors that couple to the heterotrimeric G proteins, Gi or Gq, can stimulate phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. PI hydrolysis produces inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and diacylglycerol, leading to activation of protein kinase C (PKC), which can stimulate increased MAPK activity. However, the relationship between PI hydrolysis and MAPK activation in Gi and Gq signaling has not been clearly defined and is the subject of this study. The effects of several signaling inhibitors are assessed including expression of a peptide derived from the carboxyl terminus of the β adrenergic receptor kinase 1 (βARKct), which specifically blocks signaling mediated by the β subunits of G proteins (Gβ), expression of dominant negative mutants of p21 (RasN17) and p74 (NΔRaf), protein-tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitors and cellular depletion of PKC. The Gi-coupled α2A adrenergic receptor (AR) stimulates MAPK activation which is blocked by expression of βARKct, RasN17, or NΔRaf, or by PTK inhibitors, but unaffected by cellular depletion of PKC. In contrast, MAPK activation stimulated by the Gq-coupled α1B AR or M1 muscarinic cholinergic receptor is unaffected by expression of βARKct or RasN17 expression or by PTK inhibitors, but is blocked by expression of NΔRaf or by PKC depletion. These data demonstrate that Gi- and Gq-coupled receptors stimulate MAPK activation via distinct signaling pathways. Gβ is responsible for mediating Gi-coupled receptor-stimulated MAPK activation through a mechanism utilizing p21 and p74 independent of PKC. In contrast, Gα mediates Gq-coupled receptor-stimulated MAPK activation using a p21-independent mechanism employing PKC and p74. To define the role of Gβ in Gi-coupled receptor-mediated PI hydrolysis and MAPK activation, direct stimulation with Gβ was used. Expression of Gβ resulted in MAPK activation that was sensitive to inhibition by expression of βARKct, RasN17, or NΔRaf or by PTK inhibitors, but insensitive to PKC depletion. By comparison, Gβ-mediated PI hydrolysis was not affected by βARKct, RasN17, or NΔRaf expression or by PTK inhibitors. Together, these results demonstrate that Gβ mediates MAPK activation and PI hydrolysis via independent signaling pathways.
Family Business Groups around the World : Costs and Benefits of Pyramids

Using a comprehensive dataset of 28,039 firms in 45 countries, we investigate the motivations for family-controlled business groups. Contrary to expropriation theories, we find that access to capital plays a critical role in explaining group prevalence at the country level, and that within individual groups, internal equity funding, investment intensity, and firm performance all increase down a pyramidal chain, reflecting the funding advantages that pyramids offer. Controlling for endogeneity in group affiliation shows that certain firm types realize significant benefits from business group membership. Our results highlight important funding and certification support that family groups provide to their members.
Comparative analysis of the electroencephalogram in patients with Alzheimer's disease, diffuse axonal injury patients and healthy controls using LORETA analysis

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a dementia that affects a large contingent of the elderly population characterized by the presence of neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a non-degenerative injury caused by an external mechanical force. One of the main causes of TBI is diffuse axonal injury (DAI), promoted by acceleration-deceleration mechanisms. Objective To understand the electroencephalographic differences in functional mechanisms between AD and DAI groups. Methods The study included 20 subjects with AD, 19 with DAI and 17 healthy adults submitted to high resolution EEG with 128 channels. Cortical sources of EEG rhythms were estimated by exact low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) analysis. Results The eLORETA analysis showed that, in comparison to the control (CTL) group, the AD group had increased theta activity in the parietal and frontal lobes and decreased alpha 2 activity in the parietal, frontal, limbic and occipital lobes. In comparison to the CTL group, the DAI group had increased theta activity in the limbic, occipital sublobar and temporal areas. Conclusion The results suggest that individuals with AD and DAI have impairment of electrical activity in areas important for memory and learning.
Predicting 6-Year Graduation and High-Achieving and At-Risk Students.

The Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning has conducted studies about factors that impact first-time full-time freshmen students’ progress during their first year in college. Preparation for college, first-term GPA and participation in student support groups were found to be the most influential on first-year retention. In addition, students who do not return for their second fall semester are unlikely to graduate. Only 6% of the 321 students in the fall 2004 cohort who dropped out after the first year returned to Fresno State and earned a degree within six years.
The Relationship of Kolb Learning Styles, Online Learning Behaviors and Learning Outcomes

This study focused on the relationship between Kolb learning styles and the enduring time of online learning behaviors, the relationship between Kolb learning styles and learning outcomes and the relationship between learning outcomes and the enduring time of a variety of different online learning behaviors. Prior to the experiment, 104 students majoring in Educational Technology completed Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (KLSI). Forty students were chosen to be subjects in an online learning experiment. Results indicated that there was a significant effect of Kolb learning style on the total reading time and total discussion time of the subjects. Although there was no significant effect between Kolb learning styles and learning outcomes, data from the experiment showed that the mean of learning outcomes of Convergers and Assimilators was higher than that of Divergers and Accommodators. There were two models of linear regression between learning outcomes and the enduring time of different online learning behaviors. Both of them were significant at the 0.001 level, and they accounted for 54.9% and 60.8% of the variance of the dependent respectively. The findings of this study were instrumental to instructors and moderators of online courses. First, instructors using online courses should seriously consider the diversity of learning styles when designing and developing online learning modules for different students. Second, they should provide a large number of electronic documents for students and give enough time to let them absorb knowledge by online reading. These could be effective methods to improve the quality of online courses.
Endocytosis: what goes in and how?

During the last decade the term 'endocytosis' has become virtually synonymous with the activity of clathrin-coated vesicles. These vesicles, which are derived from cell surface clathrin-coated pits, are transport vehicles responsible for the transfer of plasma membrane receptors and their ligands, between the first two stations of the endocytic pathway: namely, the plasma membrane and early endosomes (Goldstein et al., 1985; van Deurs et al., 1989; Griffiths and Gruenberg, 1991). Despite the irrefutable evidence that clathrin-coated vesicles mediate endocytosis, their contribution to the total endocytic activity of the cell and the composition of the membrane they internalise remains controversial. Here we discuss: (1) the evidence that non-clathrin-mediated endocytic mechanisms operate alongside the clathrin-mediated pathway; (2) the evidence that endocytosis occurs for surface molecules that are not enriched in clathrin-coated pits and; (3) the sorting activities of cell surface clathrincoated pits and the notion that plasma membrane proteins that show particularly slow rates of uptake are actively excluded from the endocytic pathway.
The common non-synonymous variant G38S of the KCNE1-(minK)-gene is not associated to QT interval in Central European Caucasians: results from the KORA study.

AIMS The QT interval in the general population is a complex trait with 30-50% heritability. QT prolongation is associated with an increased risk of sudden death. A recent family-based study found an association between QT interval and the common non-synonymous Glycin 38 Serine variant (G38S, rs1805127) of the KCNE1 gene coding for the minK-potassium channel subunit. We intended to replicate this finding in a large population sample of central European Caucasian ancestry as part of our ongoing search for genetic variants predisposing to arrhythmias. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 3966 unrelated individuals from the KORA S4 population-based study without atrial fibrillation, pacemaker implant, or pregnancy. Individuals were genotyped by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. We did not detect any significant association between the genotypes of the G38S variant and the QT interval in the entire population or in any gender. CONCLUSION Unlike the common Lysine 897 Threonine variant of KCNH2 (K897T, rs1805123) the G38S variant of KCNE1 does not appear to have a strong modifying effect on QT interval. However, we cannot rule out an effect of G38S on QT in other ethnic groups, under exercise or medications or on the risk for arrhythmias and sudden death.