Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ischemia-Related Subcellular Redistribution of Sodium Channels Enhances the Proarrhythmic Effect of Class I Antiarrhythmic Drugs: A Simulation Study

Background Cardiomyocytes located at the ischemic border zone of infarcted ventricle are accompanied by redistribution of gap junctions, which mediate electrical transmission between cardiomyocytes. This ischemic border zone provides an arrhythmogenic substrate. It was also shown that sodium (Na+) channels are redistributed within myocytes located in the ischemic border zone. However, the roles of the subcellular redistribution of Na+ channels in the arrhythmogenicity under ischemia remain unclear. Methods Computer simulations of excitation conduction were performed in a myofiber model incorporating both subcellular Na+ channel redistribution and the electric field mechanism, taking into account the intercellular cleft potentials. Results We found in the myofiber model that the subcellular redistribution of the Na+ channels under myocardial ischemia, decreasing in Na+ channel expression of the lateral cell membrane of each myocyte, decreased the tissue excitability, resulting in conduction slowing even without any ischemia-related electrophysiological change. The conventional model (i.e., without the electric field mechanism) did not reproduce the conduction slowing caused by the subcellular Na+ channel redistribution. Furthermore, Na+ channel blockade with the coexistence of a non-ischemic zone with an ischemic border zone expanded the vulnerable period for reentrant tachyarrhythmias compared to the model without the ischemic border zone. Na+ channel blockade tended to cause unidirectional conduction block at sites near the ischemic border zone. Thus, such a unidirectional conduction block induced by a premature stimulus at sites near the ischemic border zone is associated with the initiation of reentrant tachyarrhythmias. Conclusions Proarrhythmia of Na+ channel blockade in patients with old myocardial infarction might be partly attributable to the ischemia-related subcellular Na+ channel redistribution.
Corey: An Operating System for Many Cores

Multiprocessor application performance can be limited by the operating system when the application uses the operating system frequently and the operating system services use data structures shared and modified by multiple processing cores. If the application does not need the sharing, then the operating system will become an unnecessary bottleneck to the application's performance. This paper argues that applications should control sharing: the kernel should arrange each data structure so that only a single processor need update it, unless directed otherwise by the application. Guided by this design principle, this paper proposes three operating system abstractions (address ranges, kernel cores, and shares) that allow applications to control inter-core sharing and to take advantage of the likely abundance of cores by dedicating cores to specific operating system functions. Measurements of microbenchmarks on the Corey prototype operating system, which embodies the new abstractions, show how control over sharing can improve performance. Application benchmarks, using MapReduce and a Web server, show that the improvements can be significant for overall performance: MapReduce on Corey performs 25% faster than on Linux when using 16 cores. Hardware event counters confirm that these improvements are due to avoiding operations that are expensive on multicore machines.
Tolerance of Corruption or Ideological Blindness

It is quite puzzling that corruption persists in democratic countries given that voters have the electoral chance to choose honest politicians for political positions and punish those ones that misbehave. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to investigate the impact of type of misconduct and ideological matching on voters’ perception of corruption; and (2) whether the perception of corruption influences voters’ choice. After critically dialoguing the relevant literature, our investigation is carried out through an experimental approach conducted by Facebook users. Our preliminary results indicate that when voters and the candidate share ideological preferences, they are less likely to consider the candidate’s misbehavior as corrupt than when they have different ideological preferences. It also indicates that ideology, both in economic and in social dimensions, not only affects voters’ perception of corruption but also it affects voters’ choice, regardless of the type of corruption (nepotism versus money).
Treatment of Adverse Effects of Excessive Phencyclidine Exposure in Rats with a Minimal Dose of Monoclonal Antibody

The range of medical effects and complications resulting from excessive use of drugs of abuse like phencyclidine (PCP) has hindered the development of effective medications. Drug-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) provide an appealing medication approach since they can be selective for the drug, without concern for the sites of action of the drug. The use of mAb medications has been considered impractical because it is commonly believed that very large doses of mAb would be required to treat the adverse medical effects resulting from excessive drug use. In this study, a single dose of an anti-PCP mAb was found to significantly reduce the negative health impact of excessive, prolonged PCP treatment in rats (18 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks). The protective effects were mAb dose-dependent, and mAb doses as low as 1/100th the molar equivalent amount of the PCP body burden were effective at preventing PCP-induced deaths, reducing PCP-induced behaviors, reducing PCP brain concentrations, and improving the general health status of the animals. They also show that treatment with monoclonal antibody medications can have medically important outcomes without the need to neutralize the entire dose of the offending drug. These results could help establish the feasibility of using carefully designed monoclonal antibody medications to treat drug abuse and addiction, a chronic and re-occurring illness of the central nervous system.
Measurements of spectrum use in London: Exploratory data analysis and study of temporal, spatial and frequency-domain dynamics

In this paper we present results from a week long measurement campaign on spectrum use in London (UK). The measurements were conducted in order to understand the characteristics and especially the variability in spectrum use over different types of areas in a major metropolitan area. Three spectrum analyzers were used in the measurement campaign, one used for long-term measurements at a single location in a given area, with the other two used to sample spectrum use around the stationary measurement point. This measurement approach yields much more detailed information about spectrum use than the typical single-location campaigns reported in the literature. We give a detailed description of the measurement campaign, including the equipment setup and rationale for the choice of areas in which the measurements were conducted. We also present results from the first exploratory data analysis of the obtained data, and study in detail the correlation structures and dynamics in spectrum use in temporal, spatial and frequency domains.
A three-way partnership to raise Māori student achievement : a thesis presented to Massey University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Masters Degree in Education

The New Zealand education system produces high levels of academic performance (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, in Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, & Fung, 2007). Contradictorily, New Zealand is also one of the few countries that produce a huge divide in performance levels between Maori and other minority culture groups on the one hand, and non-Maori and dominant culture groups on the other (ibid.). However, school policies on Maori student initiatives appear to generate minimal success for Maori students. Therefore, an urgent critique, and transformation of school policies are required to bring about better educational outcomes for Maori students. Hence, this qualitative study is underpinned in critical and socio-constructivist theories, and adopts a Kaupapa Maori orientation that is grounded in the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Obstacles to Maori student achievement were firstly identified to determine how partnership relationships among students, whanau, and the school can be strengthened to raise achievement. Teacher questionnaires, parent individual interviews, and student semi-structured interviews were used to gauge perceptions of Maori student achievement, and explore the rationale and nature of partnership relationships. Misperceptions of Maori and education were found to significantly contribute to severed partnership relationships. Therefore, this research study advocates for power-sharing consultative, and collaborative decision-making processes within a culturally inclusive curriculum to strengthen partnership relationships among students, whanau, and the school . to raise Maori student achievement.
Birth Outcomes and Maternal Residential Proximity to Natural Gas Development in Rural Colorado

Background: Birth defects are a leading cause of neonatal mortality. Natural gas development (NGD) emits several potential teratogens, and U.S. production of natural gas is expanding. Objectives: We examined associations between maternal residential proximity to NGD and birth outcomes in a retrospective cohort study of 124,842 births between 1996 and 2009 in rural Colorado. Methods: We calculated inverse distance weighted natural gas well counts within a 10-mile radius of maternal residence to estimate maternal exposure to NGD. Logistic regression, adjusted for maternal and infant covariates, was used to estimate associations with exposure tertiles for congenital heart defects (CHDs), neural tube defects (NTDs), oral clefts, preterm birth, and term low birth weight. The association with term birth weight was investigated using multiple linear regression. Results: Prevalence of CHDs increased with exposure tertile, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.3 for the highest tertile (95% CI: 1.2, 1.5); NTD prevalence was associated with the highest tertile of exposure (OR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.0, 3.9, based on 59 cases), compared with the absence of any gas wells within a 10-mile radius. Exposure was negatively associated with preterm birth and positively associated with fetal growth, although the magnitude of association was small. No association was found between exposure and oral clefts. Conclusions: In this large cohort, we observed an association between density and proximity of natural gas wells within a 10-mile radius of maternal residence and prevalence of CHDs and possibly NTDs. Greater specificity in exposure estimates is needed to further explore these associations. Citation: McKenzie LM, Guo R, Witter RZ, Savitz DA, Newman LS, Adgate JL. 2014. Birth outcomes and maternal residential proximity to natural gas development in rural Colorado. Environ Health Perspect 122:412–417; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1306722
Determinants of health-related quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: The consequences of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on daily life, encapsulated by the term "health-related quality of life" (HRQL), are important in determining appropriate home care. There is a need to understand the relative contribution of respiratory impairment, physical disability, coping, age, and socioeconomic variables on HRQL. METHODS: Patients with COPD were recruited on admission to a pulmonary rehabilitation centre. Respiratory impairment was assessed by lung function tests and physical disability was evaluated by a 12 minute walking test. HRQL was assessed by means of the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) measuring "symptoms", "activity", and "impact". Because the SGRQ does not include a measure of "well being", this was taken from the medical psychological questionnaire for lung diseases. The COPD coping questionnaire and a questionnaire covering basic socioeconomic variables were also used. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty six patients of mean (SD) age 65 (9) years and mean (SD) forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 39 (9)% predicted were included. The scores on the SGRQ indicated severe impairment. Correlations were found between lung function parameters, 12 minute walking test, and the HRQL "activity" and "impact" components. Coping strategies were correlated with the "activity", "impact", and "well being" components. No correlations were found between age, socioeconomic variables, and HRQL. FEV1, 12 minute walking test, and the coping strategies "avoidance" and "emotional reaction" were the best predictors of HRQL. CONCLUSION: In patients with COPD methods of improving physical performance and teaching adequate coping strategies should be considered in order to improve HRQL.
Evaluation of Vegetation Size and Its Relationship With Embolism in Infective Endocarditis: A Real-Time 3-Dimensional Transesophageal Echocardiography Study

Background—Two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography studies have shown that the maximum length of vegetation (MLV) ≥10 mm is a predictor of embolic events (EEs) in patients with infective endocarditis. However, 2D measurements probably underestimate the vegetation dimensions. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of real-time 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (RT3DTEE) in determining MLV and its accuracy in identifying the risk for EEs compared with 2D transesophageal echocardiography (2DTEE). Methods and Results—We analyzed 60 patients with vegetations. RT3DTEE measurement of MLV was obtained with Advanced QLAB Quantification Software by cropping the 3D volume with the appropriate 2D plane to obtain the largest value. The standard 2DTEE images were also evaluated to determine the MLV. Major EEs were registered from medical records, and a logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between MLV and EEs. The RT3DTEE MLV was larger than the 2DTEE value with a mean difference of 3.2 mm (95% confidence interval, 2.1–4.2 mm). The best cut-off value for prediction of EEs was MLV ≥20 mm with RT3DTEE and MLV ≥16 mm with 2DTEE. The positive predictive value increased from 59.1% to 65.2% when RT3DTEE was used. The accuracy of classification of patients with EEs increased from 65% to 70% with this new technique. Conclusions—RT3DTEE is a feasible technique for the analysis of vegetation morphology and size that may overcome the shortcoming of 2DTEE, leading to a better prediction of the embolism risk in patients with infective endocarditis.
Dependency Tree Kernels for Relation Extraction

We extend previous work on tree kernels to estimate the similarity between the dependency trees of sentences. Using this kernel within a Support Vector Machine, we detect and classify relations between entities in the Automatic Content Extraction (ACE) corpus of news articles. We examine the utility of different features such as Wordnet hypernyms, parts of speech, and entity types, and find that the dependency tree kernel achieves a 20% F1 improvement over a "bag-of-words" kernel.
Fatigue and depression in multiple sclerosis: Correlation with quality of life

The aim of this work was to examine the relationship between fatigue and depression, common features of mul- tiple sclerosis (MS), and the quality of life (QOL). The study was comprised of 120 patients with clinical manifestations of definite MS. Relapsing-remitting MS was present in 76.7% patients and secondary progressive MS was present in 23.3% patients. Mean disease duration was 8.1 ± 5.6 years and the mean Expanded Disability Status Score (EDSS) was 3.5 ± 1.8 (range 1-8). Fatigue was measured with the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), depression was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and QOL was assessed using the health-related quality of life questionnaire SF-36. We observed that the global FSS score was 4.6 ± 1.8 (range 1-7) and BDI was 10.7 ± 10.3 (range 0-39). The FSS significantly and positively cor - related with the BDI scores (r = 0.572; p = 0.000). The severity of fatigue had a significant impact on the quality of life (r = -0.743; p = 0.000), in particular on mental health (r = -0.749; p = 0.000). We observed a significant correlation between the severity of depression and impaired quality of life (r = -0.684; p = 0.000). This study shows that fatigue and depression are associated with impaired QOL in MS.
Molecular Determinants of Ligand Binding to H4R Species Variants

The histamine H4 receptor (H4R) is the latest identified histamine receptor to emerge as a potential drug target for inflammatory diseases. Animal models are employed to validate this potential drug target. Concomitantly, various H4R orthologs have been cloned, including the human, mouse, rat, guinea pig, monkey, pig, and dog H4Rs. In this article, we expressed all these H4R orthologs in human embryonic kidney 293T cells and compared their interactions with currently used standard H4R ligands, including the H4R agonists histamine, 4-methylhistamine, guanidinylethyl isothiourea (VUF 8430), the H4R antagonists 1-[(5-chloro-1H-indol-2-yl)carbonyl]-4-methylpiperazine (JNJ 7777120) and [(5-chloro-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)carbonyl]-4-methylpiperazine (VUF 6002), and the inverse H4R agonist thioperamide. Most of the evaluated ligands display significantly different affinities at the different H4R orthologs. These “natural mutants” of H4R were used to study ligand-receptor interactions by using chimeric human-pig-human and pig-human-pig H4R proteins and site-directed mutagenesis. Our results are a useful reference for ligand selection for studies in animal models of diseases and offer new insights in the understanding of H4R-ligand receptor interactions.
Importance of a stochastic distribution of floods and erosion thresholds in the bedrock river incision problem

[1] Fluvial erosion of bedrock occurs during occasional flood events when boundary shear stress exceeds a critical threshold to initiate incision. Therefore efforts to model the evolution of topography over long timescales should include an erosion threshold and should be driven by a stochastic distribution of erosive events. However, most bedrock incision models ignore the threshold as a second-order detail. In addition, climate is poorly represented in most landscape evolution models, so the quantitative relationship between erosion rate and measurable climatic variables has been elusive. Here we show that the presence of an erosion threshold, when combined with a well-constrained, probabilistic model of storm and flood occurrence, has first-order implications for the dynamics of river incision in tectonically active areas. First, we make a direct calculation of the critical shear stress required to pluck bedrock blocks for a field site in New York. Second, we apply a recently proposed stochastic, threshold, bedrock incision model to a series of streams in California, with known tectonic and climatic forcing. Previous work in the area has identified a weak relationship between channel gradient or relief and rock uplift rate that is not easily explained by simpler detachment-limited models. The results with the stochastic threshold model show that even low erosion thresholds, which are exceeded in steep channels during high-frequency flood events, fundamentally affect the predicted relationship between gradient and uplift rate in steady state rivers, in a manner consistent with the observed topography. This correspondence between theory and data is, however, nonunique; models in which a thin alluvial cover may act to inhibit channel incision in the low uplift rate zone also provide plausible explanations for the observed topography. Third, we explore the broader implications of the stochastic threshold model to the development of fluvial topography in active tectonic settings. We suggest that continued field applications of geomorphic models, including physically meaningful thresholds and stochastic climate distributions, are required to advance our knowledge of interactions among surficial, climatic, and crustal processes.
Protective effects of hominis placenta hydrolysates on radiation enteropathy in mice

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the hominis placenta hydrolysates (HPhs) have a protective effect against radiation-induced enteropathies. HPh (1–10 mg kg−1, i.p.) was treated to C57BL/6 mice, once daily for 5 days. Mice were irradiated (10 Gy) 1 h after the last injection. Cell damage was investigated at 24 and 72 h by haematoxylin-eosin staining, and the apoptotic index was determined at 24 h by deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling staining. The results showed that the HPh alleviated radiation-induced damage of crypts and suppressed apoptosis dose dependently. In conclusion, hominis placenta might be a beneficial agent against radiation-induced intestinal complications.
Tagging Performance Correlates with Author Age

Many NLP tools for English and German are based on manually annotated articles from the Wall Street Journal and Frankfurter Rundschau. The average readers of these two newspapers are middle-aged (55 and 47 years old, respectively), and the annotated articles are more than 20 years old by now. This leads us to speculate whether tools induced from these resources (such as part-of-speech taggers) put older language users at an advantage. We show that this is actually the case in both languages, and that the cause goes beyond simple vocabulary differences. In our experiments, we control for gender and region.
Development and validation of the Polish-language version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)

Le developpement et la validation de la version en langue polonaise de l’echelle multidimensionnelle du soutien social percu (EMSSP) sont decrits dans cet article. Le but de cette etude etait de traduire l’EMSSP en Polonais et d’etablir les proprietes psychometriques de cet instrument evaluant l’adequation des perceptions du soutien social de trois sources specifiques et distinctes : famille, amis et partenaire. Au total, 418 etudiants universitaires ont complete la version polonaise du EMSSP. Des analyses factorielles exploratoires et confirmatoires ont confirme la structure factorielle de l’EMSSP original en langue anglaise pour les trois sous-echelles traduit en Polonais. Les trois sous-echelles ont montre une bonne consistance interne. Les resultats de la presente etude indiquent que la version Polonaise de l’EMSSP est une mesure multidimensionnelle fiable et valide du soutien social percu de trois sources considerees avec de bons niveaux de consistance interne, d’homogeneite et de validite conceptuelle.