Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Behavior of elliptocytes under shear stress in the rheoscope and ektacytometer.

When ellipsoidal red cells from patients with hereditary elliptocytosis are subjected to shear stress in a rheoscope the cells rotate around their short axis and align themselves perpendicular to the flow. At high shear stress they deform into an ellipsoid of revolution with the major axis of the ellipse normal to the flow. This change in the direction of the long axis is not the result of simple reorientation of the cells. Rather, the short axis of an elliptocyte exposed to increasing shear stress expands while its long axis contracts. It is this process that eventually brings about the apparent reorientation. Elliptocytes in a well mixed suspension are randomly oriented. As a consequence, the initial diffraction pattern displayed by the ektacytometer is a hazy circle. As the shear stress is increased this becomes rhomboid due to expansion of the central region of each cell (a change confirmed by the rheoscope). Central expansion coexisting with polar remnants of the resting elliptocytic cell shape gives rise to the rhomboid outline. As the shear stress in the ektacytometer approaches 120 dynes/cm2 the characteristic, elliptical diffraction pattern seen with normal cells makes its appearance. As the shear stress is decreased, the rhomboid pattern reappears followed by a new elliptical pattern oriented at right angles to the one seen under high shear. This pattern arises from the resting shape of the elliptocytes which have all been oriented at right angles to the shear stress as it decreased to zero. As a consequence of this uniform cellular orientation, all exposures to shear stress after the initial one start with a deformability index of less than zero if it is calculated in the usual fashion from the axial ratio of the shear deformed cells. Certainly under these circumstances and possibly in other conditions as well the use of the less-specific term “ektacytometric index” would be less misleading.
Direct and indirect measures of spider fear predict unique variance in children's fear-related behaviour

This study investigated whether direct and indirect measures predict unique variance components of fearful behaviour in children. One hundred eighty-nine children aged between 9 and 12 performed a pictorial version of the emotional Stroop task (EST), filled out the Spider Anxiety and Disgust Screening for Children (SADS-C), the Spider Phobia Questionnaire for Children (SPQ-C), and took part in a Behavioural Assessment Test (BAT). The EST did not correlate with self-reports. Correlations of the self-reports and the BAT remained significant after partialling out EST performance. Likewise, the EST and the BAT still correlated significantly with each other when controlling for the self-reports. This indicates that both direct and indirect measures are useful for predicting unique variance components of fearful behaviour in children. Moreover, it may explain why some previous studies have not found a relationship between self-reported fear and EST performance.
ASSESSMENT OF VISUAL ACUITY IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN; THE ACUITY CARD PROCEDURE

The ‘acuity card’ procedure described here is a simplified method of testing visual acuity of infants and young children, and has been developed to allow preferential looking to be assessed in a laboratory or clinic. A higher proportion of children can be tested successfully than has been reported for more traditional procedures. Initial studies indicate that the acuity card procedure is a fast, accurate method for assessing the acuity of normal infants and children, and those with visual or neurological impairments, across a wide age‐range and in both clinical and laboratory settings.
More Docked Vesicles and Larger Active Zones at Basket Cell-to-Granule Cell Synapses in a Rat Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Temporal lobe epilepsy is a common and challenging clinical problem, and its pathophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. One possibility is insufficient inhibition in the hippocampal formation where seizures tend to initiate. Normally, hippocampal basket cells provide strong and reliable synaptic inhibition at principal cell somata. In a rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy, basket cell-to-granule cell (BC→GC) synaptic transmission is more likely to fail, but the underlying cause is unknown. At some synapses, probability of release correlates with bouton size, active zone area, and number of docked vesicles. The present study tested the hypothesis that impaired GABAergic transmission at BC→GC synapses is attributable to ultrastructural changes. Boutons making axosomatic symmetric synapses in the granule cell layer were reconstructed from serial electron micrographs. BC→GC boutons were predicted to be smaller in volume, have fewer and smaller active zones, and contain fewer vesicles, including fewer docked vesicles. Results revealed the opposite. Compared with controls, epileptic pilocarpine-treated rats displayed boutons with over twice the average volume, active zone area, total vesicles, and docked vesicles and with more vesicles closer to active zones. Larger active zones in epileptic rats are consistent with previous reports of larger amplitude miniature IPSCs and larger BC→GC quantal size. Results of this study indicate that transmission failures at BC→GC synapses in epileptic pilocarpine-treated rats are not attributable to smaller boutons or fewer docked vesicles. Instead, processes following vesicle docking, including priming, Ca2+ entry, or Ca2+ coupling with exocytosis, might be responsible. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT One in 26 people develops epilepsy, and temporal lobe epilepsy is a common form. Up to one-third of patients are resistant to currently available treatments. This study tested a potential underlying mechanism for previously reported impaired inhibition in epileptic animals at basket cell-to-granule cell (BC→GC) synapses, which normally are reliable and strong. Electron microscopy was used to evaluate 3D ultrastructure of BC→GC synapses in a rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy. The hypothesis was that impaired synaptic transmission is attributable to smaller boutons, smaller synapses, and abnormally low numbers of synaptic vesicles. Results revealed the opposite. These findings suggest that impaired transmission at BC→GC synapses in epileptic rats is attributable to later steps in exocytosis following vesicle docking.
Design and Analysis of Even-Sized Binary Shuffle-Exchange Networks for Multiprocessors

The architecture and performance of binary shuffle-exchange networks of any size are investigated. It is established that a network with a shuffle-exchange stages whose number equals the least integer >or=log/sub 2/N or a single recirculating stage can provide the connectivity between N inputs and N outputs using a distributed tag-based control algorithm. Control tags depend on both source and destination when N is not a power of two and can be computed in a simple manner. Several structural and dynamic properties of the network are established, contrasting the behavior of the power-of-two and composite sized systems. The performance of the network in a stochastic environment is investigated analytically. It is shown that the shuffle-exchange networks behave in much the same way with respect to traffic and buffer capacity regardless of whether the system size is a power of two or not. >
Nociceptin fails to affect heroin self‐administration in the rat

THE recently isolated peptide nociceptin has a primary structure similar to that of opioid peptides. Early functional studies suggested that it may act in opposition to opioid systems. To determine whether nociceptin influences the rewarding properties of heroin, nociceptin was given intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) to rats trained to self-administer heroin. Rats (n = 8) were given doeses of 0.01 μg, 0.1 μg 1.0 μg and 10.0 μg in a Latin square design. None of the doses significantly affected heroin self-administration rates compared to vehicle. The highest dose of nociceptin used inhibited spontaneous locomotor activity, evidence that the peptide retained its biological activity after i.c. v. infusion. These studies suggest that nociceptin does not affect the rewarding value of heroin.
CCL3L1 copy number is a strong genetic determinant of HIV seropositivity in Caucasian intravenous drug users.

BACKGROUND A high copy number of CCL3L1, the most potent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-suppressive chemokine, associates with reduced HIV susceptibility. Whether CCL3L1 influences acquisition of multiple blood-borne infections (eg, hepatitis C virus [HCV], HIV, and hepatitis B virus [HBV] infections), which occur commonly among injection drug users (IDUs), is unknown. METHODS We determined CCL3L1 copy number by real-time polymerase chain reaction among 374 Caucasian IDUs from Estonia; 285 were HCV positive, 208 were HIV positive, 177 were HCV and HIV positive, and 57 were HCV and HIV negative. RESULTS In univariate and multivariate analyses, HCV and HBV seropositivity and duration of IDU each strongly predicted HIV seropositivity. A high CCL3L1 copy number (>2) was associated with an 80% reduced risk of acquiring HIV infection after adjusting for age, sex, HCV and HBV status, CCR5-Delta32 polymorphism, and IDU duration (odds ratio, 0.20; 95% confidence interval, 0.09-0.45). By contrast, CCL3L1 gene dose did not influence HCV seropositivity. Among HCV-positive IDUs, there was a 3.5-fold overrepresentation and 65% underrepresentation of a high CCL3L1 copy number among HCV-positive, HIV-negative subjects and HCV-positive, HIV-positive subjects, respectively. CONCLUSION Among IDUs with extensive exposure to HCV and HIV, CCL3L1 copy number is a major determinant of HIV seropositivity but not of HCV seropositivity. The contrasting distribution of a protective high CCL3L1 copy number among HCV-positive, HIV-negative IDUs versus HCV-positive, HIV-positive IDUs may reflect that HIV preferentially selects for subjects with a low CCL3L1 gene dose.
Jet-Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

Black Hole Close-Up M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy about 55 million light-years away. Accretion of matter onto its central massive black hole is thought to power its relativistic jet. To probe structures on scales similar to that of the black hole's event horizon, Doeleman et al. (p. 355, published online 27 September) observed the relativistic jet in M87 at a wavelength of 1.3 mm using the Event Horizon Telescope, a special purpose, very-long-baseline interferometry array consisting of four radio telescopes located in Arizona, California, and Hawaii. The analysis suggests that the accretion disk that powers the jet orbits in the same direction as the spin of the black hole. High-resolution observations of the jet in the galaxy M87 probe structures very close to the galaxy’s central black hole. Approximately 10% of active galactic nuclei exhibit relativistic jets, which are powered by the accretion of matter onto supermassive black holes. Although the measured width profiles of such jets on large scales agree with theories of magnetic collimation, the predicted structure on accretion disk scales at the jet launch point has not been detected. We report radio interferometry observations, at a wavelength of 1.3 millimeters, of the elliptical galaxy M87 that spatially resolve the base of the jet in this source. The derived size of 5.5 ± 0.4 Schwarzschild radii is significantly smaller than the innermost edge of a retrograde accretion disk, suggesting that the M87 jet is powered by an accretion disk in a prograde orbit around a spinning black hole.
Comparison of Precipitation Datasets over the Tropical South American and African Continents

Six rainfall datasets are compared over the Amazon basin, Northeast Brazil, and the Congo basin. These datasets include three gauge-only precipitation products from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), Global Precipitation Climatology Center (GPCC), and Brazilian Weather Forecast and Climate Studies Center (CLMNLS), and three combined gauge and satellite precipitation datasets from the CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP), Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP), and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) product. The pattern of the annual precipitation is consistently represented by these data, despite the differences in methods and periods of averaging. Quantitatively, the differences in annual precipitation among these datasets are 5% more than the Amazon domain (08–158S, 508–708W), 22% more than Northeast Brazil (58–108S, 358–458W), and 11% more than the Congo domain (58N–108S, 158–308E). Over the Amazon domain the rainfall variation is well correlated between CPC, TRMM, GPCP, and GPCC (r 2 . 0.9) except for the northwestern Amazon, whereas CMAP and CLMNLS were different from these four datasets. Over the Congo basin, the coefficient of determination between these rainfall datasets is generally below 0.7. The empirical orthogonal functions analysis suggests large discrepancies in interannual and decadal variations of rainfall among these datasets, especially for the Congo basin and for the South American region after 1998. In general, CMAP, GPCC, TRMM, and GPCP significantly agree over the tropical areas in South America.
The extent and implications of polydrug use in Ireland.

The phenomenon of poly-drug use is prevalent in Ireland. Statistics from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System show that this behaviour is increasing, from 5590 cases treated in 1998 to 7845 cases treated in 2002. The most frequent combinations include: heroin and cannabis when two drugs are implicated; heroin, methadone and benzodiazepines when three drugs are involved; and heroin, methadone, benzodiazepines and cannabis when four drugs are consumed. Opiate-related deaths account for the largest proportion of fatalities amongst drug users, with most of the deaths attributable to consumption of heroin in combination with benzodiazepines, alcohol, methadone and cocaine. There is a significant problem of driving under the influence of drugs in Ireland. Results of a nationwide survey carried out by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety demonstrates that there is a strong trend of increasing positive drug tests with decreasing levels of alcohol, 68% of drivers with blood alcohol concentrations below the legal limit were positive for one or more drugs. There is a need for treatment services dealing with poly-drug use as services in Ireland remain focussed on individual drugs of abuse.
Embracing the Meta-Copernican Turn: Non-decomposition and Mechanistic Explanations

Abstract In line with proponents of 4E cognition, Gallagher [2019] is concerned that many cognitive phenomena are not amenable to decomposition strategies since their very nature is to be constituted extensively. By contrast the received view on causal explanation—the mechanistic account [Craver 2007]—emphasises the necessity for decomposition in explaining natural phenomena and insists on a sharp distinction between causal versus constitutive relations. I propose that removing the requirement that constitutive relations cannot also be causes helps to ease this tension between explanation and Gallagher’s non-decompositional stance, per Leuridan [2012]. Further, I draw on Froese et al.’s [2013] minimal model of social cognition to argue that constitutive relations can and do act as causal difference-makers in the Woodwardian sense [Woodward 2003].
The methodology of nutritional screening and assessment tools.

BACKGROUND The aim of this paper was to give a critical appraisal of the methodology of nutritional screening and assessment tools. METHODS A literature search identified 44 tools. Each tool was assessed in relation to details of its application, method of derivation and evaluation of its performance. RESULTS The findings indicate that tools were published with insufficient details regarding their intended use and method of derivation, and with an inadequate assessment of their effectiveness. An appraisal of these features judged that no one tool satisfied a set of criteria regarding scientific merit. CONCLUSION There is thus a need to ensure that nutritional screening and assessment tools are developed using procedures based on good design and sound statistical practice. This paper suggests that a unified approach using multivariate techniques could make a significant contribution to this process.
Substrate recognition and translocation by polyspecific organic cation transporters

Abstract Organic cation transporters (OCTs) of the SLC22 family play a pivotal role in distribution and excretion of cationic drugs. They mediate electrogenic translocation of cations in both directions. OCTs are polyspecific transporters. During substrate translocation they perform a series of conformational changes involving an outward-facing conformation, an occluded state and an inward-facing conformation. Mutagenesis of OCT1 in combination with homology modeling showed that identical amino acids form the innermost parts of the outward-open and inward-open binding clefts. In addition to low affinity substrate binding sites, OCT1 contains high affinity substrate binding sites that can mediate inhibition via non-transported compounds.
Assessment of Potential Mutagenic Effect of Colorant of SomeCommercial Fruit Drinks in Mice

Due to the large consumption of commercial fruit drinks worldwide in recent years and considering that some of the components present in their composition cause potential risks to human health, therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the potential mutagenic effect of colorants of commercial fruit drinks (pear, cherry, strawberries and red grape) stored at 4°C for six months, on mice using comet assay, DNA fragmentation , and micronucleus test as a good indicators for strand breaks in DNA, as well measuring the malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Three doses 0.8, 1.6 and 2.4 mg/kg bw of 4 commercial fruit drinks were administered orally for mice for 3 weeks beside the control group. Mice were sacrificed 24 hours after the last dose and subjected to micronucleus and comet assays as well DNA degradation and MDA analysis. The results revealed that a significant increase in tail length of comet percentages from blood cells as well in the frequency of micronucleated cells (MNCs) and DNA fragmentation following administration of commercial fruit drinks was achieved compared to control group. The level of MDA was increased (P<0.05) significantly after administration of commercial fruit drinks especially with the high dose (2.4 mg/ kg bw) of treatment compared to control. In conclusion, this study serves as a warning about the consumption of commercial fruit drinks and for the need for further studies in order to evaluate the long term mutagenic effect of these colorants on human health since some soft drinks are consumed daily by a significant proportion of the world population.
Changes of leptin and metabolic hormones in preterm infants: a longitudinal study in early postnatal life

OBJECTIVES Very little is known concerning the physiological role of leptin and growth in the early postnatal period and the association of leptin with other metabolic hormones in preterm infants. This study aims to investigate these relationships, and to explore the longitudinal and dynamic profile of leptin and metabolic hormones including insulin, ACTH, cortisol and FT4 in this category of patient. We also postulate that a rapid increase in body weight and body mass index in the first few weeks of life may be associated with a corresponding increase in serum leptin if the ‘adipoinsular axis’ is active at this stage.
Natural killer T cell-derived IL-17 mediates lung ischemia-reperfusion injury.

RATIONALE We recently implicated a role for CD4(+) T cells and demonstrated elevated IL-17A expression in lung ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. However, identification of the specific subset of CD4(+) T cells and their mechanistic role in IR injury remains unknown. OBJECTIVES We tested the hypothesis that invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells mediate lung IR injury via IL-17A signaling. METHODS Mice underwent lung IR via left hilar ligation. Pulmonary function was measured using an isolated lung system. Lung injury was assessed by measuring edema (wet/dry weight) and vascular permeability (Evans blue dye). Inflammation was assessed by measuring proinflammatory cytokines in lungs, and neutrophil infiltration was measured by immunohistochemistry and myeloperoxidase levels. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Pulmonary dysfunction (increased airway resistance and pulmonary artery pressure and decreased pulmonary compliance), injury (edema, vascular permeability), and inflammation (elevated IL-17A; IL-6; tumor necrosis factor-α; monocyte chemotactic protein-1; keratinocyte-derived chemokine; regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted; and neutrophil infiltration) after IR were attenuated in IL-17A(-/-) and Rag-1(-/-) mice. Anti-IL-17A antibody attenuated lung dysfunction in wild-type mice after IR. Reconstitution of Rag-1(-/-) mice with wild-type, but not IL-17A(-/-), CD4(+) T cells restored lung dysfunction, injury, and inflammation after IR. Lung dysfunction, injury, IL-17A expression, and neutrophil infiltration were attenuated in Jα18(-/-) mice after IR, all of which were restored by reconstitution with wild-type, but not IL-17A(-/-), iNKT cells. Flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay confirmed IL-17A production by iNKT cells after IR. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that CD4(+) iNKT cells play a pivotal role in initiating lung injury, inflammation, and neutrophil recruitment after IR via an IL-17A-dependent mechanism.
Parallelism Analysis of H.264 Decoder and Realization on a Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable SoC

One of the largest challenges for coarse-grained reconfigurable arrays (CGRAs) is how to efficiently map applications. The key issues for mapping are (1) how to reduce the memory bandwidth, (2) how to exploit parallelism in algorithms and (3) how to achieve load balancing and take full advantage of the hardware potential. In this paper, we propose a novel parallelism scheme, called ‘Hybrid partitioning’, for mapping a H.264 high definition (HD) decoder onto REMUS-II, a CGRA systemon-chip (SoC). Combining good features of data partitioning and task partitioning, our methodology mainly consists of three levels from top to bottom: (1) hybrid task pipeline based on slice and macroblock (MB) level; (2) MB row-level data parallelism; (3) sub-MB level parallelism method. Further, on the sub-MB level, we propose a few mapping strategies such as hybrid variable block size motion compensation (Hybrid VBSMC) for MC, 2D-wave for intra 4× 4, parallel processing order for deblocking. With our mapping strategies, we improved the algorithm’s performance on REMUSII. For example, with a luma 16 × 16 MB, the Hybrid VBSMC achieves 4 times greater performance than VBSMC and 2.2 times greater performance than fixed 4 × 4 partition approach. Finally, we achieve 1080p@33fps H.264 high-profile (HiP)@level 4.1 decoding when the working frequency of REMUS-II is 200 MHz. Compared with typical hardware platforms, we can achieve better performance, area, and flexibility. For example, our performance achieves approximately 175% improvement than that of a commercial CGRA processor XPP-III while only using 70% of its area. key words: coarse-grained reconfigurable array, SoC, REMUS-II, H.264 decoder, mapping strategy, hybrid partitioning, sub-MB parallelism