Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuroprotection against focal ischemic brain injury by the peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐γ agonist rosiglitazone

Peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma (PPAR‐γ) is a nuclear membrane‐associated transcription factor that governs the expression of various inflammatory genes. PPAR‐γ agonists protect peripheral organs from ischemic injury. In the present study, we investigated whether the PPAR‐γ agonist rosiglitazone is neuroprotective against focal ischemic brain injury. C57/B6 mice underwent 1.5‐h middle cerebral artery occlusion, and received either vehicle or rosiglitazone treatment of 0.75, 1.5, 3, 6 or 12 mg/kg (n = 9 per group). Cerebral infarct volume, neurological function, expression of pro‐inflammatory proteins and neutrophil accumulation were assessed after ischemia and reperfusion. At 48 h after ischemia, infarct volume was significantly decreased with 3–12 mg/kg of rosiglitazone, with a time window of efficacy of 2 h after ischemia at the optimal dose (6 mg/kg). Neutrophil accumulation was significantly decreased in the brain parenchyma of rosiglitazone‐treated mice. Ischemia‐induced expression of several inflammatory cytokines and chemokines was markedly reduced in rosiglitazone‐treated brains, as determined using proteomic‐array analysis. Rosiglitazone treatment improved neurological function at 7 days after ischemia. Moreover, in cultured cortical primary microglia, rosiglitazone attenuated inflammatory responses by decreasing lipopolysaccharide‐induced release of tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin (IL)‐1β and IL‐6. These results suggest that the PPAR‐γ agonist rosiglitazone has neuroprotective properties that are at least partially mediated via anti‐inflammatory actions, and is thus a potential novel therapeutic agent for stroke.
Effect of heart rate on cardiac work, myocardial oxygen consumption and coronary blood flow in the dog.

Summary. 1. The effects of variations in heart rate on ventricular function, myocardial oxygen consumption, and coronary blood flow were studied in anesthetized, open-chest dogs. The heart rate was held at desired rates by electrical stimulation. 2. The following changes occurred when the rate was increased in steps from 33—80 per min. to 200—280 per min.: cardiac output increased 0 to 73 per cent and reached a maximum at rates varying from 90 to 180 per min.; above these rates there was usually a decrease. Stroke volume decreased progressively. Mean aortic pressure rose slightly, and the pulse pressure was diminished. Myocardial oxygen consumption and left coronary flow increased, even at the high rates when ventricular work was constant or decreasing; there was a marked fall in coronary resistance. 3. Ventricular function curves, i. e. ventricular stroke work plotted against the respective mean atrial pressure, were obtained at the various rates. The curves were always lower at higher than at lower rates. 4. Myocardial oxygen consumption per unit of mechanical work was greater at higher rates, probably because of the larger amount of “isometric work” per min. Coronary blood flow per unit of work increased similarly with rate. Coronary vascular resistance was always much lower at high heart rates than at low, indicating coronary vasodilation. 5. It is concluded that during normal circumstances myocardial oxygen consumption is a major determinant of coronary blood flow. 6. Effects of heart rate during abnormal circulatory conditions were illustrated and discussed.
Can the Unconscious Image Save “No Overflow”?

Abstract The question of whether phenomenal consciousness is limited to the capacity of cognitive access remains a contentious issue in philosophy. Overflow theorists argue that the capacity of conscious experience outstrips the capacity of cognitive access. This paper demonstrates a resolution to the overflow debate is found in acknowledging a difference in phenomenological timing required by both sides. It makes clear that the “no overflow” view requires subjects to, at the bare minimum, generate an unconscious visual image of previously presented items if it is to explain performance in the change detection paradigm. It then demonstrates that conscious imagery should support better task performance than unconscious imagery because of a necessary difference in representational strength. However, this contradicts empirical findings, and so a new argument for overflow is presented without requiring the premise that subjects need to obtain a specific phenomenology of presented items during change detection.
Epinephrine Prolongs Duration of Subcutaneous Infiltration of Local Anesthesia in a Dose-related Manner:: Correlation With Magnitude of Vasoconstriction

Background and Objectives. Epinephrine is frequently combined with local anesthesia to prolong analgesia. Determination of the minimal concentration and the dose of epinephrine that produces prolongation of analgesia is important in the face of epinephrine's potential for systemic and local toxicity. The authors undertook this study to determine a dose-response curve of epinephrine on duration of analgesia of both 1% lidocaine and 0.25% bupivacaine after local infiltration. In order to determine whether epinephrine-induced vasoconstriction affected duration of analgesia, the authors correlated duration of analgesia with magnitude of local vasoconstriction as measured with laser Doppler flowmetry. Methods. Six volunteers were studied in a randomized double-blind manner. Ten skin wheals of 0.2 mL solution were subcutaneously injected into both forearms of each volunteer. The solutions consisted of 1% lidocaine with epinephrine concentrations of 0, 1:50,000, 1:200,000, 1:800,000, and 1:3,200,000, and 0.25% bupivacaine with the same epinephrine concentrations. Duration of loss of sensation to pinprick at each wheal was recorded. Skin wheals with 0.2 mL of these same solutions were also subcutaneously injected into the abdomen of the same 6 volunteers, and laser Doppler flowmetry readings of skin blood flow were measured for 6 hours after injection. Results. Epinephrine prolonged duration of analgesia for both lidocaine and bupivacaine in a dose-related manner (P < .001). All concentrations of epinephrine attenuated the vasodilation observed in the first 15 minutes after injection with plain local anesthesia (P = .03), and blood flow returned to baseline by 30 minutes after injection of either plain or epinephrinecontaining solutions. Duration of analgesia correlated with magnitude of vasoconstriction only at the 15-minute measurement (r = .53 and .57, P= .003 and 0.001 for lidocaine and bupivacaine, respectively). Conclusions. Epinephrine prolongs duration of analgesia after local infiltration in a dose-related manner. Addition of epinephrine in concentrations of 1:50,000 or 1:200,000 increases duration of analgesia after local infiltration by approximately 200%. Addition of doses as dilute as 1:3,200,000 still increases duration of analgesia by approximately 100%. Duration of analgesia appears to correlate with magnitude of epinephrine-induced vasoconstriction using laser Doppler flowmetry. Based on study data, the use of epinephrine in concentrations from 1:200,000 to 1:3,200,000 is recommended for prolongation of analgesia after local infiltration.
Potential interactions among phenolic compounds and probiotics for mutual boosting of their health-promoting properties and food functionalities – A review

ABSTRACT Several foods are rich sources of phenolic compounds (PC) and their beneficial effects on human health may be increased through the action of probiotics. Additionally, probiotics may use PC as substrates, increasing their survival and functionality. This review presents available studies on the effects of PC on probiotics, including their physiological functionalities, interactions and capability of surviving during exposure to gastrointestinal conditions and when incorporated into food matrices. Studies have shown that PC can improve the adhesion capacity and survival of probiotics during exposure to conditions that mimic the gastrointestinal tract. There is strong evidence that PC can modulate the composition of the gut microbiota in hosts, improving a variety of biochemical markers and risk factors for chronic diseases. Available literature also indicates that metabolites of PC formed by intestinal microorganisms, including probiotics, exert a variety of benefits on host health. These metabolites are typically more active than parental dietary PC. The presence of PC commonly enhances probiotic survival in different foods. Finally, further clinical studies need to be developed to confirm in vitro and experimental findings concerning the beneficial interactions among different PC and probiotics.
Development of Memory for Spatial Locations and Object/Place Associations in Infant Rhesus Macaques with and without Neonatal Hippocampal Lesions

Abstract This study traces the development of spatial memory abilities in monkeys and reports the effects of selective neonatal hippocampal lesions on performance across development. Two different versions of the visual paired-comparison (VPC) task were used. The VPC-Spatial-Location task tested memory for object-locations that could be solved using an egocentric spatial frame of reference and the VPC-Object-In-Place task taxed memory for spatial relations using an allocentric reference frame. Eleven rhesus macaques (6 neonatal sham-operated controls and 5 with neonatal neurotoxic hippocampal lesions) were tested on both tasks as infants (8 months), juveniles (18 months), and adults (5–6 years). Memory for spatial locations was present by 18 months of age, whereas memory for object-place relations was present only in adulthood. Also, neonatal hippocampal lesions delayed the emergence of memory for spatial locations and abolished memory for object-place associations, particularly in animals that had sustained extensive and bilateral hippocampal lesions. The differential developmental time course of spatial memory functions and of the effects of neonatal hippocampal lesions on these functions are discussed in relation to morphological maturation of the medial temporal lobe structures in monkeys. Implications of the findings for the neural basis of spatial memory development in humans are also considered. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–12)
Intraoperative recordings of spinal somatosensory evoked potentials to tibial nerve and sural nerve stimulation

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) to stimulation of the tibial nerve at the knee (TN‐K) and ankle (TN‐A), and the sural nerve at the ankle (SN‐A), were recorded from 3 or 4 spinal levels during surgery for scoliosis in 11 neurologically normal subjects. With stimulation of all 3 nerves, the propagation velocity along the spine was nonlinear: it was faster over cauda equina and midthoracic cord than over caudal spinal cord. Over the midthoracic cord, TN‐K SSEP propagation was faster than that of TN‐A and SN‐A SSEPs, whereas over the caudal spinal cord these values were similar on stimulation of all 3 nerves. These data suggest that fast conducting second order afferent fiber systems contribute to spinal cord SSEPs evoked by stimulating both mixed and cutaneous peripheral nerves.
Learning through interaction in children with autism: Preliminary data from asocial-communication-based intervention

The study evaluates a social-communication-based approach to autism intervention aimed at improving the social interaction skills of children with autism spectrum disorder. We report preliminary results from an ongoing randomized controlled trial of 51 children aged 2 years 0 months to 4 years 11 months. Participants were assigned to either a target treatment or community treatment group. Families in the target treatment group were given 2 hours of therapy and coaching each week in an intervention emphasizing social-interaction and the parent-child relationship. Children in the community treatment group received a variety of services averaging 3.9 hours per week. After 12 months, outcomes were measured to determine changes in the groups in social interaction and communication. In addition, a regression analysis was conducted to determine whether changes in social interaction skills were associated with language development. Results suggest that children in the treatment group made significantly greater gains in social interaction skills in comparison to the community treatment group, but no between-group differences were found for standard language assessments. Initiation of joint attention, involvement, and severity of language delay were found to be significantly associated with improvement of language skills in children with autism. Finally caregiver skills targeted by the intervention were found to be significantly associated with changes in children’s interaction skills.
Cholinesterase inhibition as a possible therapy for delirium in vascular dementia: A controlled, open 24-month study of 246 patients

The goal of this study was to determine whether rivastigmine, a dual inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), has any effect on delirium in vascular dementia (VaD). The results from this follow-up study suggest that although delirium is frequent in elderly, cognitively impaired patients, it might not be a simple consequence of acute disease and hospitalization. Rather, delirium can be secondary to brain damage and to metabolic disturbances. According to the Lewy body dementia model, delirium could be induced by a lack of acetylcholine in the brain. Rivastigmine may help reduce the frequency of delirium episodes and help shorten their duration. Additional studies are required to better define the causes of delirium, which currently has no definitive treatment.
Angiographic and Histologic Comparison of Experimental Aneurysms Embolized with Hydrogel Filaments

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The embolization of aneurysms with hydrogel filaments allow postprocedural CT and MR imaging studies without artifacts. We compared the performance of 3 hydrogel filament formulations in rabbit experimental aneurysms by using angiography and histologic samples. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Embolization of 35 rabbit elastase or bifurcation aneurysms was performed with 3 different formulations of detachable hydrogel filaments, including 1) polyethylene glycol opacified with aromatic iodine (PEG-I; n = 12), 2) polyethylene glycol opacified with barium sulfate (PEG-B; n = 12), or 3) polypropylene glycol opacified with barium sulfate (PPG-B; n = 11). Follow-up angiography was performed before the rabbits were killed at 2 (n = 7), 6 (n = 9), 10 (n = 8), or 26 (n = 11) weeks. Angiographic occlusion was scored according to the Raymond scale, and interval changes were assessed. The harvested aneurysms were evaluated on histologic examination. From the sections, we determined the percentage of the sac excluded from the vasculature and occupied by embolic devices by using image analysis. We compared results using the analysis of variance/t test or χ2 test. RESULTS: The mean number of devices used to treat aneurysms in the PPG-B group was significantly greater than that used for the other 2 groups, though aneurysm volumes were similar among groups. Compared with immediate posttreatment occlusion scores, mean angiographic occlusion at follow-up was increased for all 3 hydrogel filament groups. On histologic examination, thrombus organization, neointima formation, and inflammation were similar to that observed in rabbit experimental aneurysms with other embolic devices containing platinum coils. CONCLUSIONS: The embolization of experimental aneurysms with hydrogel filaments resulted in durable angiographic and histologic occlusion from 2 to 26 weeks. With improvements, hydrogel filaments free from metallic coils show promise for endovascular use.
Communication centrée sur les utilisateurs et les contenus dans les réseaux sans fil

Cette these porte sur plusieurs technologies de dechargement cellulaire pour les futurs reseaux sans fil avec l’amelioration envisagee sur la efficacite spatiale du spectre et l’efficacite energetique. Notre recherche concerne deux directions principales, y compris la communication D2D underlaid dans les reseaux cellulaires et le caching proactif au bord de reseau.La premiere partie de cette these contient deux chapitres qui presentent nos resultats de recherche sur les reseaux cellulaire avec D2D underlaid. Notre recherche se focalise sur l’acces opportuniste distribue, dont la performance en termes du debit D2D est optimise dans deux scenarios: 1) en supposant que l’utilisateur cellulaire avec un trafic sature peut avoir une probabilite de couverture minimale; 2) en supposant que le trafic discontinu a l’utilisateur cellulaire, dont le delai moyen doit etre maintenue au-dessous d’un certain seuil. La deuxieme partie de cette these se focalise sur les methodes de caching proactif au bord de reseau, y compris le caching aux petites cellules et aux appareils des utilisateurs. Tout d’abord, nous etudions le placement de contenu probabiliste dans differents types de reseaux et avec differents objectifs d’optimisation. Deuxiemement, pour le caching aux petites cellules, nous proposons un schema cooperative parmi les petites stations de base, qui exploite le gain combine du caching cooperative et les techniques de multipoint coordonnee. Les modeles de processus ponctuel nous permet de creer la connexion entre la diversite de transmission en couche PHY et la diversite de contenus stockes.
The Social Influence of Brand Community: Evidence from European Car Clubs

The authors develop and estimate a conceptual model of how different aspects of customers’ relationships with the brand community influence their intentions and behaviors. The authors describe how identification with the brand community leads to positive consequences, such as greater community engagement, and negative consequences, such as normative community pressure and (ultimately) reactance. They examine the moderating effects of customers’ brand knowledge and the brand community's size and test their hypotheses by estimating a structural equation model with survey data from a sample of European car club members.
Walking droplets interacting with single and double slits

Couder & Fort (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 97, 2006, 154101) demonstrated that when a droplet walking on the surface of a vibrating bath passes through a single or a double slit, it is deflected due to the distortion of its guiding wave field. Moreover, they suggested the build-up of statistical diffraction and interference patterns similar to those arising for quantum particles. Recently, these results have been revisited (Andersen et al., Phys. Rev. E, vol. 92 (1), 2015, 013006; Batelaan et al., J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. , vol. 701 (1), 2016, 012007) and contested (Andersen et al. 2015; Bohr, Andersen & Lautrup, Recent Advances in Fluid Dynamics with Environmental Applications, 2016, Springer, pp. 335–349). We revisit these experiments with a refined experimental set-up that allows us to systematically characterize the dependence of the dynamical and statistical behaviour on the system parameters. The system behaviour is shown to depend strongly on the amplitude of the vibrational forcing: as this forcing increases, a transition from repeatable to unpredictable trajectories arises. In all cases considered, the system behaviour is dominated by a wall effect, specifically the tendency for a drop to walk along a path that makes a fixed angle relative to the plane of the slits. While the three dominant central peaks apparent in the histograms of the deflection angle reported by Couder & Fort (2006) are evident in some of the parameter regimes considered in our study, the Fraunhofer-like dependence of the number of peaks on the slit width is not recovered. In the double-slit geometry, the droplet is influenced by both slits by virtue of the spatial extent of its guiding wave field. The experimental behaviour is well captured by a recently developed theoretical model that allows for a robust treatment of walking droplets interacting with boundaries. Our study underscores the importance of experimental precision in obtaining reproducible data.
Conversion of L-Tryptophan into Melatonin Is the Possible Action Pathway Involved in the Effect of L-Tryptophan on Antidepressant-Related Behavior in Female Rats: Analysis of the Influence of Treatment Duration

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of pharmacological doses of melatonin (MEL) and L-tryptophan (L-TRP) on depression-like behavior in female rats submitted to the forced swimming test (FST) after 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks of treatment. This will allow exploring the different mechanisms of L-TRP actions particularly that due to its conversion into MEL. For this purpose, four groups of 24 rats each were constituted; (Group 1: Control): received saline solution NaCl (0.9%), (Group 2: MEL4): received 4 mg/Kg of MEL, (Group 3: L-TRP4): received 4 mg/Kg of L-TRP and (Group 4: L-TRP20): received 20 mg/Kg of L-TRP. Animals of each group were distributed on 4 subgroups of 6 rats submitted to different time treatments. The duration of immobility (TIM) and struggling period (TST) of rats in FST were measured after 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of drug treatment and the effects of MEL and L-TRP were compared. Chronical administration of different doses of MEL or L-TRP failed to induce any anti-depressant activity in rats subjected to FST after 2 weeks of treatment. However, after 4 weeks, daily administration of MEL at 4 mg/Kg significantly reduced the immobility period and enhanced struggling time. After 6 weeks, MEL at 4 mg/Kg and L-TRP at 20 mg/Kg were both effective in reducing immobility and increasing struggling movement, their effects being statistically comparable. All treatments were able to significantly reduce immobility time and increase struggling duration after 8 weeks, but L-TRP at 4 mg/Kg was less potent than MEL and L-TRP at 20 g/Kg. The antidepressant-like activity of L-TRP was dose and time dependent, and that of MEL was time dependent. In conclusion, the study showed that at pharmacological doses, MEL and L-TRP have anti-depressant action, and such effect is dependent on time treatment; MEL is more effective than L-TRP. In conclusion, L-TRP, through MEL, 5-HT or by itself could modulate aminergic neurotransmission in the different brain areas to ensure its behavioral effects.
Vitamin D deficiency as a suspected causative factor in the failure of an immediately placed dental implant: a case report.

AIM To discuss the influence of Vitamin D deficiency in the osseointegration process of a dental implant by way of a case report. SUMMARY A 29-year-old soldier attended clinic with a fractured mandibular premolar (tooth 44) that was traumatised following head trauma related to the detonation of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) whilst serving on operational duty. The tooth was deemed unsalvageable and was extracted with immediate placement of a dental implant. The patient experienced no problems but at assessment, five months post-operatively, no osseo-integration of the implant was found. Concurrent medical investigations revealed that he was severely Vitamin D deficient and that this may have contributed to the implant failure. CONCLUSION Vitamin D deficiency may play a role in the failure of osseointegration in dental implants. The assessment of vitamin D status in patients who have been in long-term hospital care or rehabilitation should be considered, prior to the placement of dental implants.