Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of microglial activity alters spinal wide dynamic range neuron discharge and reduces microglial Toll‐like receptor 4 expression in neuropathic rats

It is believed that neuropathic pain results from aberrant neuronal discharges although some evidence suggests that the activation of glia cells contributes to pain after an injury to the nervous system. This study aimed to evaluate the role of microglial activation on the hyper‐responsiveness of wide dynamic range neurons (WDR) and Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) expressions in a chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of neuropathic pain in rats. Adult male Wistar rats (230 ± 30 g) underwent surgery for induction of CCI neuropathy. Six days after surgery, administration of minocycline (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg, i.p.) was initiated and continued until day 14. After administration of the last dose of minocycline or saline, a behavioral test was conducted, then animals were sacrificed and lumbar segments of the spinal cord were collected for Western blot analysis of TLR4 expression. The electrophysiological properties of WDR neurons were investigated by single unit recordings in separate groups. The findings showed that after CCI, in parallel with thermal hyperalgesia, the expression of TLR4 in the spinal cord and the evoked response of the WDR neurons to electrical, mechanical, and thermal stimulation significantly increased. Post‐injury administration of minocycline effectively decreased thermal hyperalgesia, TLR4 expression, and hyper‐responsiveness of WDR neurons in CCI rats. The results of this study indicate that post‐injury, repeated administration of minocycline attenuated neuropathic pain by suppressing microglia activation and reducing WDR neuron hyper‐responsiveness. This study confirms that post‐injury modulation of microglial activity is a new strategy for treating neuropathic pain.
Identification of a genetically distinct subspecies of Mycobacterium kansasii

To assess the usefulness of a specific DNA probe for Mycobacterium kansasii, 105 isolates from Australia, Belgium, Japan, South Africa, and Switzerland were collected and analyzed. Twenty of these isolates were probe negative, of which 18 were from Belgium and Switzerland. Analysis of all isolates by Southern blot hybridization indicated a lack of variability among probe-positive isolates, while probe-negative isolates were clearly distinct and showed greater diversity. Sequence analysis of the 250 nucleotides at the 5' end of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that 19 of the 20 probe-negative isolates had a sequence different from that of M. kansasii. A total of five nucleotide differences were present in a cluster consisting of two nucleotide deletions and three nucleotide substitutions. These results suggest the existence of a genetic subspecies of M. kansasii.
Effects of exercise in a relapsing‐remitting model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Previous research has examined the effects of exercise in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model of multiple sclerosis. However, all previous studies have utilized a chronic model of EAE, with exercise delivered prior to or immediately after induction of EAE. To our knowledge, no study has examined the effects of exercise delivered during a remission period after initial disease onset in a relapsing‐remitting model of EAE (RR‐EAE). The current study examines the effects of both voluntary wheel running and forced treadmill exercise on clinical disability and hippocampal brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in SJL mice with RR‐EAE. The results demonstrate no significant effects of exercise delivered during remission after initial disease onset on clinical disability scores or levels of hippocampal BDNF in mice with RR‐EAE. Furthermore, our results demonstrate no significant increase in citrate synthase activity in the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of mice in the running wheel or treadmill conditions compared with the sedentary condition. These results suggest that the exercise stimuli might have been insufficient to elicit differences in clinical disability or hippocampal BDNF among treatment conditions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
In Vitro and In Vivo Antibacterial Activities of DK-507k, a Novel Fluoroquinolone

ABSTRACT The antibacterial activities of DK-507k, a novel quinolone, were compared with those of other quinolones: ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, sitafloxacin, and garenoxacin (BMS284756). DK-507k was as active as sitafloxacin and was as active as or up to eightfold more active than gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, and garenoxacin against Streptococcus pneumoniae, methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and coagulase-negative staphylococci. DK-507k was as active as or 4-fold more active than garenoxacin and 2- to 16-fold more active than gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin against ciprofloxacin-resistant strains of S. pneumoniae, including clinical isolates and in vitro-selected mutants with known mutations. DK-507k inhibited all ciprofloxacin-resistant strains of S. pneumoniae at 1μ g/ml. A time-kill assay with S. pneumoniae showed that DK-507k was more bactericidal than gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin. The activities of DK-507k against most members of the family Enterobacteriaceae were comparable to those of ciprofloxacin and equal to or up to 32-fold higher than those of gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and garenoxacin. DK-507k was fourfold less active than sitafloxacin and ciprofloxacin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while it was two to four times more potent than levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, and garenoxacin against P. aeruginosa. In vivo, intravenous treatment with DK-507k was more effective than that with gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin against systemic infections caused by S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, and P. aeruginosa in mice. In a mouse model of pneumonia due to penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae, DK-507k administered subcutaneously showed dose-dependent efficacy and eliminated the bacteria from the lungs, whereas gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin had no significant efficacy. Oral treatment with DK-507k was slightly more effective than that with ciprofloxacin in a rat model of foreign body-associated urinary tract infection caused by a P. aeruginosa isolate for which the MIC of DK-507k was fourfold higher than that of ciprofloxacin. Oral administration of DK-507k to rats achieved higher peak concentrations in serum and higher concentrations in cumulative urine than those achieved with ciprofloxacin. These data indicate the potential advantages of DK-507k over other quinolones for the treatment of a wide range of community-acquired infections.
Vestibulocerebellar ataxia. A newly defined hereditary syndrome with periodic manifestations.

A familial disorder is described which is characterized by the initial development in early adult life of periodic attacks of vertigo, diplopia, and ataxia, which recur over a period of many years. These attacks may be followed by the development of a slowly, progressive, cerebellar disease, which eventually may produce motor incapacity. In the many family groups with cerebellar degeneration reported in the literature, no families are described with acute symptoms of vertigo, diplopia, and unsteadiness occurring in periodic attacks over a period of many years and preceding the onset of cerebellar dysfunction.1 Clinical Picture This disorder has been traced through four generations with involvement of 16 members of a white, rural, North Carolina family group. The pedigree of the family is presented in Fig 1. Four affected members (II-1, III-4, 7, and 8) had died before the onset of this study, and histories concerning them were obtained from
Subcutaneous Laser Treatment of Axillary Osmidrosis: A New Technique

Axillary osmidrosis, also referred to as bromidrosis, is a distressing condition that can pose significant social embarrassment, especially in Japan and other Asian countries. Conservative treatments such as topical agents, systemic agents, and botulinum toxin are only temporarily effective and may lead to surgical treatment.1–3 However, surgical interventions using gland excision or liposuction have associated downtimes and complications that may be unacceptable for the treatment of a benign condition.1–3 The following is a report of a new technique for resolving problems in the management of axillary osmidrosis. We describe subcutaneous application of pulsed neodymium:yttriumaluminum-garnet laser for ablation of the sweat glands.
An Active Subglacial Water System in West Antarctica Mapped from Space

Satellite laser altimeter elevation profiles from 2003 to 2006 collected over the lower parts of Whillans and Mercer ice streams, West Antarctica, reveal 14 regions of temporally varying elevation, which we interpret as the surface expression of subglacial water movement. Vertical motion and spatial extent of two of the largest regions are confirmed by satellite image differencing. A major, previously unknown subglacial lake near the grounding line of Whillans Ice Stream is observed to drain 2.0 cubic kilometers of water into the ocean over ∼3 years, while elsewhere a similar volume of water is being stored subglacially. These observations reveal a wide spread, dynamic subglacial water system that may exert an important control on ice flow and mass balance.
Overcoming the stromal barrier: technologies to optimize drug delivery in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer has historically proven resistant to anticancer agents. On the one hand, drugs might be more efficient if higher levels could be achieved at the tumor site rather than the normal tissues. On the other hand, the thick stroma and the relative absence of abundant vessels may account at least partially for the failure of successive clinical trials to demonstrate effective treatments in this type of malignancy. In this context, the development and testing in clinical trials of treatment strategies that aim to optimize drug delivery is an important target in improving the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer.
Angel: a new large-scale machine learning system

Machine Learning (ML) techniques now are ubiquitous tools to extract structural information from data collections. With the increasing volume of data, large-scale ML applications require an efficient implementation to accelerate the performance. Existing systems parallelize algorithms through either data parallelism or model parallelism. But data parallelism cannot obtain good statistical efficiency due to the conflicting updates to parameters while the performance is damaged by global barriers in model parallel methods. In this paper, we propose a new system, named Angel, to facilitate the development of large-scale ML applications in production environment. By allowing concurrent updates to model across different groups and scheduling the updates in each group, Angel can achieve a good balance between hardware efficiency and statistical efficiency. Besides, Angel reduces the network latency by overlapping the parameter pulling and update computing and also utilizes the sparseness of data to avoid the pulling of unnecessary parameters. We also enhance the usability of Angel by providing a set of efficient tools to integrate with application pipelines and provisioning efficient fault tolerance mechanisms. We conduct extensive experiments to demonstrate the superiority of Angel.
Osteoarthritis of the knee is associated with vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in the elderly: the Rotterdam Study.

OBJECTIVE To study the association between prevalent radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA) of the knee and incident vertebral and nonvertebral fractures. METHODS A sample of 2,773 subjects was drawn from the Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based cohort study of the elderly. Status on knee ROA was assessed at baseline using the Kellgren score. Incident nonvertebral fractures were scored for all subjects, and for 1,466 subjects additional data on incident vertebral fractures were available. RESULTS Although people with ROA had a higher bone mineral density (BMD), their incident fracture risk was increased as compared with those without ROA. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, including parameters of postural stability, the relative risks for incident vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in the presence of knee ROA were 2.0 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.1-3.4) and 1.5 (95% CI 1.1-2.0), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Knee ROA is associated with an increased risk of incident vertebral and nonvertebral fractures, independent of BMD and parameters of postural stability.
Ballistic contractions in man: characteristic recruitment pattern of single motor units of the tibialis anterior muscle.

1. Single motor units were recorded with highly selective electrodes from intact tibialis anterior muscle in the adult man. A detailed parametric analysis was made of the discharge patterns during voluntary isometric contractions of different peak forces carried out at various rates of force development. 2. During the smooth tracking of a ramp force, the different motor units recorded from a given muscle site were recruited in a consistant order, each unit becoming active when the muscle developed a certain level of force. The threshold of some of the units in such slow ramp contractions exceeded 8 kg. By contrast, in brisk ballistic contractions reaching a peak force of 12 kg in less than 0‐15 sec, the same motor units discharged in a transient burst which largely preceded the muscle force production. 3. In slow tracking ramp contractions, the instantaneous frequency of single motor units was initially rather low (5‐15/sec) and it increased as the ramp force augmented. By contrast, in (strong) ballistic contractions, the same units discharged at an unusually high instantaneous frequency (60‐120/sec) early in the burst and the firing frequency decreased thereafter. Such hitherto unknown pattern appears characteristic of ballistic contractions and it was not found in even fast tracking ramp contractions achieving 12 kg in only 0‐4 sec. 4. The potentials of the different motor units activated are rather crowded at intervals of a few msec in the early burst of a strong ballistic contraction and observations on the rank activation of the different motor units do not provide reliable data for the analysis of the recruitment order of units in ballistic contractions. 5. A new method is described for estimating ballistic force threshold of single motor units. When a large series of brisk ballistic contractions with peak forces ranging from 0‐05 to 12 kg was carried out any given motor unit only became active when the ballistic peak force exceeded a certain reproducible value. A detailed analysis of the recruitment order based on these ballistic force thresholds showed it to be virtually identical to the recruitment order of the same units in slow tracking ramp contractions (correlation=0‐95). 6. Ballistic contractions are graded in force both by the recruitment of additional motor units in stronger contractions, and by an increase in their rate of firing. These gradation mechanisms are discussed.
ECOULEMENT SUERCRITIQUE A TRAVERS UN ELARGISSEMENT PROGRESSIF DE CANAL

L’tude des coulements supercritiques dans des canaux dcouverts reprsente une importance considrable dans le domaine de l’hydraulique. Leur complexit est d’autant plus importante si la section transversale du canal prsente une gomtrie irrgulire telle que celle des rtrcissements ou des largissements, appels souvent transitions. Un modle mathmatique constitu d’un systme d’quations aux drives partielles de type hyperbolique non linaire, ayant rarement une solution analytique, a t prsent. Il s’agit du systme d’quations donnes par Saint Venant. Ce modle permet l’tude et la simulation des coulements supercritiques dans des structures hydrauliques divergentes et convergentes. La rsolution de ces quations a t faite en utilisant la mthode des diffrences finies, moyennant un schma explicite du type "Predicteur-Correcteur", prcis  l’ordre deux ,en espace et en temps,  savoir le schma de MacCormack. L’analyse d’un coulement supercritique dans un largissement progressif appel souvent largissement de Rouse a t faite. Le calcul de la ligne d’eau dans cet largissement de canal donne de trs bons rsultats, que ce soit au niveau de l’axe de symtrie ou de la paroi latrale, lorsqu’ils sont compars aux rsultats exprimentaux et numriques d’autres chercheurs. Ceci est d essentiellement au fait que le dbut de la transition en question est tellement progressif que la distribution des pressions est hydrostatique ou pouvant tre considre comme telle. Par consquent, on peut dire d’une part que ce type d’largissement rduit sensiblement l’effet d’une distribution non hydrostatique des pressions, contrairement  une structure convergente, et que d’autre part l’augmentation de l’angle de dviation de la paroi est suffisamment graduelle pour viter la naissance des perturbations (formation des ondes transversales) et n’entra ner aucun changement brusque du tirant d’eau dans toute section du canal. Le modle numrique ainsi labor peut tre utilis pour dimensionner ce type de structure hydraulique.
What Matters for Depression and Anxiety During the COVID-19 Quarantine?: Results of an Online Cross-Sectional Survey in Seoul, South Korea

Background Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine measures are key to containing the spread of the virus. Millions of people have been required to quarantine throughout the pandemic; the quarantine itself is considered detrimental to mental health conditions. Objective This study aims to investigate the factors associated with depression and anxiety among quarantined people in Seoul, South Korea. Methods An online cross-sectional survey was administered from October to November 2020 involving people who were living in Seoul, aged 19 years or above, under a 2-week mandatory quarantine. Their mental health status was measured using the Patient Health Questionnares-9 (PHQ-9) and the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). Results Overall, 1,135 respondents were finally included, resulting in a 22.0% response rate. After controlling for potential confounders, variables, such as the “second half of quarantine period” (OR = 1.78 95% CI: 1.10–2.88), “female” (OR = 1.91 95% CI: 1.16–3.16), and “having pre-existing depression” (OR = 8.03 95% CI: 2.96–21.78) were significantly associated with depression while being quarantined. Those with correct knowledge about the rationale behind for the quarantine (OR = 0.39 95% CI: 0.21–0.72), an understanding of quarantine rules (OR = 0.68 95%CI: 0.52–0.91), and those who felt supported by others (OR = 0.74 95% CI: 0.55–0.99) were less likely to develop depression while quarantining. Similarly, anxiety was significantly associated with the second week (OR = 4.18 95% CI: 1.44–12.09), those with an unstable job status (OR = 3.95 95% CI: 1.60–9.79), perceived support (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.45–0.96), and the fear of being infected (OR = 7.22 95% CI: 1.04–49.95). Conclusions This study highlights the need to develop precautionary measures to prevent depression and anxiety among people undergoing COVID-19 quarantine. In particular, individuals with depression prior to quarantine should be carefully monitored during the quarantine. Further studies with larger populations are needed.
The Relationship of Life Stressors, Mood Disorder, and Health Care Utilization in Primary Care Patients Referred for Integrated Behavioral Health Services

Abstract Exposure to stressful life events, mood disorder, and health care utilization were evaluated in 102 low-income, primarily minority patients receiving behavioral health and medical services at a safety-net primary care clinic. Exposure to major stressors was far higher in this sample than in the general population, with older patients having lower stress scores. Proportions of patients who met the criteria for clinical depression and anxiety were higher than in normative samples of primary care patients. Stress exposure was higher in the patients who met the criterion for clinical anxiety but was unrelated to clinical depression. Contrary to expectation, anxiety, depression, or stress exposure was not related to service utilization. Latter findings are discussed in terms of the influence of the provision of behavioral health services, the highly skewed distribution of major stressor scores, and the likely greater influence of individual differences in minor stressor exposure on utilization in this population.
A protocol for the comparison of reaching gesture kinematics in physical versus immersive virtual reality

Virtual environments are increasingly being used for upper limb rehabilitation in post-stroke patients. However, still there is no clear evidence that the movements performed in virtual reality are comparable to those performed in the physical world from the kinematic point-of-view. The goal of the proposed study is thus to determine if aimed reaching movements made in a 3D ecological and immersive virtual environment – displayed through a Head Mounted Display (HMD) – are comparable to movements performed in the real world. The study foresees the realization of two comparable environmental settings representing the shelf of a supermarket. Three different groups of subjects (healthy young adults, healthy elderly, and post-stroke subjects, n=15 each) are asked to reach 5 times toward 9 targets in 3 different conditions: virtual reality, physical reality, and physical reality while holding a controller. Their movements are tracked with a stereo-photogrammetric motion capture system; movement times, peak velocities, and joint angles are then extracted for analysis. This protocol will allow comparing reaching movements, and also excluding of the effects related to holding a controller. A preliminary trial reveled the feasibility of the protocol, thus the experiment will be carried out in the next months. If results will be encouraging, VR should be considered in rehabilitative treatments as a useful means to elicit patients’ motivation, but also appropriate movement synergies, thus promoting a better recovery of upper limb functions.