Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concerning Constructions of Self and Other: Auto-racism and Imagining Amerika in the Christian Philippines

The term ‘colonial mentality’ is popularly used among many Filipinos to refer to a tendency to compare themselves negatively to Amerikanos. This paper explores the everyday form such deprecating self/other constructions take on the island of Siquijor in the Central Visayas region of the archipelago. It sheds light on how these constructions are socially situated, deployed and reproduced, their limits and their effects. It shows that comparisons between categories of Filipino and Amerikano must be understood in relation to local hierarchies. On Siquijor, local imaginings of Amerikano lifestyles and bodies not only serve as reference points for ideals of affluence and beauty, but act as markers of prestige in competitions for status between neighbours and kin, sustaining a sense of Amerikano superordinancy. While, on Siquijor, superordinancy presumes neither innate nor moral superiority (and, indeed, there exists ambivalence towards the relative moral status of Amerikanos and Filipinos), there is a strong presumption specifically that the ‘failure’ of the Philippines to achieve similar levels of affluence to the US is due to moral deficiencies of the Filipino self. Thus, outward-looking desire is contained by inward-looking discontent, the latter keeping the former from spilling over into demands for change to a global status quo.
A rat model of chronic Helicobacter pylori infection. Studies of epithelial cell turnover and gastric ulcer healing.

BACKGROUND Our aim was to infect rats with Helicobacter pylori and to study the effects of the infection on the gastric mucosa in normal and in ulcer-operated rats. METHODS A mouse-adapted H. pylori (cagA-, VacA-) strain was inoculated into 23 rats. Another 20 uninfected rats served as controls. Two months later a gastric ulcer was induced in some rats. The animals were killed 3, 6, or 15 days after the ulcer operation. Tissues were taken for histology and for culture of H. pylori. Serum antibodies were determined. RESULTS All inoculated rats were infected by H. pylori after 2 months, mainly in the antrum. In these rats a mild to moderate chronic inflammation and a significantly increased frequency of apoptotic cells were observed in the antrum and in the ulcer margin, the ulcer healing was delayed, and the serum level of H. pylori-specific Ig was increased. CONCLUSIONS H. pylori infection in rats was successful and was accompanied by a mild to moderate mucosal inflammation. Gastric ulcer healing was delayed in infected rats, probably due to the inflammation and the increased apoptosis in epithelium.
A calcium-activated hyperpolarization follows repetitive firing in hippocampal neurons.

1. A long-lasting afterhyperpolarization (AHP) follows current-induced repetitive firing in hippocampal CA1 neurons studied in vitro. A 10-25% increase in membrane slope conductance occurs during the AHP, suggesting that it may be mediated by an increased conductance to either K+ or Cl-. 2. Intracellular Cl- iontophoresis does not alter the AHP but does attenuate the IPSP. In contrast Ba2+, a cation that can decrease K+ conductance, eliminates the AHP but not the IPSP. These findings suggest the AHP is produced by a long-lasting increased conductance to K+, and is distinct from the IPSP. 3. Mn2+, a Ca2+-channel blocker, eliminates the AHP. In comparison, the AHP persists in the presence of the Na+-channel blocker, tetrodotoxin (TTX), and appears to be temporally associated with TTX-resistant "Ca2+ spikes. " It is concluded that AHP is probably activated by Ca2+ influx. 4. These observations indicate that the AHP may be produced by a Ca2+ activated K+ current. A balance between cellular depolarization produced by Ca2+ entry and repolarization generated by a Ca2+-activated K+ current appears to operate to control excitability in some mammalian cortical neurons as it does in molluscan neurons. Disruption of this balance by Ba2+ produces spontaneous membrane-potential oscillations and recurrent burst firing in hippocampal neurons. Increases in the magnitude and duration of Ca2+ depolarization and/or decreases in the Ca2+-activated, K+-mediated repolarization may be mechanisms that lead to spontaneous, epileptiform bursting in mammalian cortical neurons.
Research in exercise physiology and dyspnea at McMaster University.

Dr EJ Moran Campbell arrived in Hamilton, Ontario, in September 1968, as the founding chairman of the Department of Medicine at McMaster University Medical Centre (Hamilton, Ontario). He had asked me to be the Head of the Regional Respiratory Program, and I followed him two weeks later. We had worked together at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, for several years to develop a system of exercise testing that could be routinely applied to any clinical problem associated with effort intolerance. We also each had our own separate obsessions; Moran’s obsession was in dyspnea, and mine was in exercise metabolism. The three research streams – exercise testing, metabolism and dyspnea – gradually gained momentum, largely due to the hard work of graduate students and fellows. In the present brief overview, I hope to acknowledge their contribution as much as the progress we made in these topics.
Power Control with Outage Capacity Constraints

This paper addresses the power distribution over K blocks of coded information to accommodate a certain rate for some probability in Rayleigh flat-fading channels given the causal channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) and the channel statistics in the future. With such outage capacity constraint, time diversity can be accomplished by stochastically distributing the power among the blocks. For K=2, we derive the stochastic-optimal power policy in closed-form for transmit power minimization. For K>2, we propose to minimize the power by constraining an upper bound of the outage probability. In so doing, the problem becomes convex and permits a closed-form optimal power policy to be derived. Results demonstrate that the proposed power policy exploiting CSIT gives significant power reduction when compared to an equal-power policy for stringent outage settings
The Shrinking Projection Method for Common Solutions of Generalized Mixed Equilibrium Problems and Fixed Point Problems for Strictly Pseudocontractive Mappings

We introduce the shrinking hybrid projection method for finding a common element of the set of fixed points of strictly pseudocontractive mappings, the set of common solutions of the variational inequalities with inverse-strongly monotone mappings, and the set of common solutions of generalized mixed equilibrium problems in Hilbert spaces. Furthermore, we prove strong convergence theorems for a new shrinking hybrid projection method under some mild conditions. Finally, we apply our results to Convex Feasibility Problems (CFP). The results obtained in this paper improve and extend the corresponding results announced by Kim et al. (2010) and the previously known results.
Presence and quantification of neuropeptide Y in pulmonary edema fluids in rats.

The present study was undertaken to determine the contribution of neuropeptide Y to edema occurrence in neurogenic and hydrostatic pulmonary edema. To induce neurogenic pulmonary edema, fibrinogen and thrombin were injected into the cisterna magna; and to evoke hydrostatic pulmonary edema, saline was infused intravenously. Concentrations of neuropeptide Y in serum and edema fluid were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which showed a mean value of 158 nM (95% confidence limit 124-202 nM) in the neurogenic edema fluid, significantly higher than that in the hydrostatic one. Using immunohistochemistry, fluorescent signals reactive to neuropeptide Y were found in the alveolar macrophages and edema fluid in case of fibrin-induced pulmonary edema, but were almost absent in hydrostatic edema and absent in normal lungs. Mean ratio of protein concentrations in edema fluid to that in serum was 74.9 +/- 0.9% in fibrin-induced pulmonary edema, being higher than that in hydrostatic one. From these results, we conclude that neuropeptide Y has a relationship to the high protein concentration ratio, i.e., to increased pulmonary vascular permeability, and consequently may contribute to the development of neurogenic pulmonary edema in rats.
The clinical characteristics and prognosis of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics and relative factors of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma. Methods: The clinical data of 36 patients with ovarian endometrioid carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Age of the patients with tumor was relatively young (61.3% < 55 years). Major clinical manifestations are pain, bloating, and abnormal vaginal hemorrhage. Ultrasound examination commonly showed cystic-solid lesion. Five-year survival rate of patients in tutor stage I-II was up to 77.9%, stage III to 36.8%, patients undergoing satisfied cytoreductive surgery to 68.5%, patients with ovarian endometrioid carcinoma without endometrial cancer surgery to 87.4%, and the patients with endometrial cancer surgery to 27.4%. Conclusion: Prognosis of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery early is favorable, but prognosis of those patients with endometrial cancer is poor.
Domain structure of magnetically micro-patterned PtMn/NiFe exchange bias bilayers

A PtMn/NiFe exchange bias system with an exchange bias field of 180 Oe was magnetically patterned by means of a low fluence focused ion beam. A 1 /spl mu/m wide stripe pattern with the long axis (1000 /spl mu/m) oriented parallel to the exchange bias field direction has been irradiated by 2/spl times/10/sup 14/ Ga/sup +//cm/sup 2/. In the irradiated area the coercivity is reduced and the exchange bias field vanishes, while in the nominally nonirradiated region between the irradiated stripes the exchange bias field is reduced to approximately 35 Oe. This reduction is attributed to the magnetic coupling of the irradiated stripes to their intervening nonirradiated regions. Magnetic domain imaging by means of Kerr microscopy and magnetic force microscopy support this interpretation.
A dominant role for chemoattractant receptor‐homologous molecule expressed on T helper type 2 (Th2) cells (CRTH2) in mediating chemotaxis of CRTH2+ CD4+ Th2 lymphocytes in response to mast cell supernatants

Human cultured mast cells, immunologically activated with immunoglobuin E (IgE)/anti‐IgE, released a factor(s) that promoted chemotaxis of human CRTH2+ CD4+ T helper type 2 (Th2) lymphocytes. Mast cell supernatants collected at 20 min, 1 hr, 2 hr and 4 hr after activation caused a concentration‐dependent increase in the migration of Th2 cells. The effect of submaximal dilutions of mast‐cell‐conditioned media was inhibited in a dose‐dependent manner by ramatroban (IC50 = 96 nm), a dual antagonist of both the thromboxane‐like prostanoid (TP) receptor and the chemoattractant receptor‐homologous molecule expressed on Th2 cells (CRTH2), but not by the selective TP antagonist SQ29548, implicating CRTH2 in mediating the chemotactic response of these Th2 cells. The effect of mast‐cell‐conditioned media was mimicked by prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) and this eicosanoid was detected in the conditioned media from activated mast cells in concentrations sufficient to account for the activity of the mast cell supernatants. Treatment of the mast cells with the cyclo‐oxygenase inhibitor diclofenac (10 μm) inhibited both the production of PGD2 and the CRTH2+ CD4+ Th2‐stimulatory activity, while addition of exogenous PGD2 to conditioned media from diclofenac‐treated mast cells restored the ability of the supernatants to promote chemotaxis of these Th2 cells. The degree of inhibition caused by diclofenac treatment of the mast cells was concordant with the degree of inhibition of chemotactic responses afforded by CRTH2 blockade. These data suggest that PGD2, or closely related metabolites of arachidonic acid, produced from mast cells may play a central role in the activation of CRTH2+ CD4+ Th2 lymphocytes through a CRTH2‐dependent mechanism.
Neopterin and hsCRP are not correlated in gestational diabetes mellitus

Abstract Objective: To determine serum neopterin and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels in patients with and without gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods: Neopterin and hsCRP levels were quantified in 28 women with GDM and 20 pregnant women with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Postpartum neopterin and hsCRP levels were measured in a follow-up study. Results: Neopterin levels were significantly higher in women with GDM than in women with NGT (15.89 ± 8.19 nmol/L versus 10.4 ± 3.8 nmol/L, p < 0.008, respectively), however the levels significantly decreased after delivery in GDM group (15.89 ± 8.19 nmol/L versus 11.63 ± 5.96 nmol/L, p < 0.001). hsCRP levels were not different between women with and without GDM (5.74 ± 3.91 versus 5.73 ± 3.34, p = 0.9, respectively). In contrast, hsCRP levels decreased after delivery in patients with GDM (5.74 ± 3.91 versus 3.78 ± 2.78, p < 0.01). Neopterin levels were correlated with maternal age (r = 0.3, p = 0.02) and fasting glucose (r = 0.4, p = 0.004), postprandial glucose (r = 0.3, p = 0.01), HbA1c (r = 0.3, p = 0.02), whereas hsCRP levels were correlated with pre-pregnancy (r = 0.3, p = 0.04) and pregnancy body mass index (r = 0.4, p = 0.008). No correlation between serum neopterin and hsCRP levels was found (p = 0.9). Conclusion: Neopterin levels increased in patients with GDM; hence, it may be related to inflammation. However, the lack of correlation between neopterin and hsCRP suggests the role of different attitudes of these two parameters in the course of pregnancy and GDM.
A Broadband Low Profile Patch Antenna of Compact Size With Three Resonances

An E-shaped patch antenna fed by a folded L-shaped probe is proposed. The shorted wall loading is employed to make the antenna compact, and the lateral size is only 0.196 lambdaL times 0.221 lambdaL, where lambdaL is wavelength at the lower cutoff frequency of the measured operating bandwidth in the free space. Three adjacent resonances are utilized to achieve a broad band while keeping the antenna very low profile. The air substrate is only 4 mm (i.e., 0.029 lambdaL) thick, and the measured impedance bandwidth is about 19.8% (with a central frequency of 2.378 GHz). The procedure of optimal design is also described.
Neurobehavioral Screening in Rodents

Neurobehavioral evaluations are an important component of screening for neurotoxicological effects. A neurobehavioral test battery is chosen to assess a variety of endpoints, including autonomic, neuromuscular, sensory, and excitability functions. Such a battery includes observation of gait and posture, reactivity and arousal, gait and postural characteristics, involuntary/abnormal motor movements, clinical signs and manipulation of neurological reflexes and reactions and neuromuscular activity and postural reactions. Finally, the battery includes assessment of sensory responses.
Deafness Due to Plain and Long‐Acting Aspirin Tablets

J) EAFNESS is a recognized risk of using aspirin. In a previous report, we found that eight (0.3 per cent) of 2391 recipients of plain aspirin tablets experienced deafness and that the risk of deafness correlated with the unit dose of aspirin received.1 In another investigation, we found that 33 (1.1 per cent) of 2974 recipients of plain, buffered, entericcoated, and long-acting aspirin tablets experienced deafness and, again, that the risk of deafness correlated with the unit dose received.2 The difference in the frequency of deafness reported in these prior communications is due to the inclusion of buffered, enteric-coated, and long-acting aspirin tablets in the second, but not the first, study. Upon further investigation, we found that long-acting aspirin tablets given alone (without other aspirin dosage forms) accounted for nine of the 33 cases of deafness. Since only 32 patients received long-acting aspirin tablets alone, 28 per cent of long-acting aspirin recipients, as opposed to 0.3 per cent of plain aspirin recipients, experienced deafness. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether this much higher frequency of deafness was attributable to the long-acting formulation itself or to another factor such as differences in dosage.
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Use in Elderly Patients Hospitalized with Heart Failure and Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction

Purpose: Although angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are recommended for all patients with systolic heart failure, prior studies suggest that elderly cohorts are less likely to receive such therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the age dependence of adherence to guideline-based medical care in hospitalized heart failure patients. Methods: We performed a multicenter observational cohort study including 613 patients admitted to participating hospitals with a primary diagnosis of heart failure with ejection fraction ≤40%. This cohort was divided into four age groups (group 1: <60, group 2: 60–69, group 3: 70–79, and group 4: 80 years) and adherence to guideline-based medical care was measured. Results: ACE inhibitors were administered to 83% of ideal heart failure patients, and this rate was similar for all age groups. Elderly patients received significantly lower ACE inhibitor dosages compared to their younger counterparts (168, 148, 125 and 117 mg captopril in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, p = 0.001). Lower creatinine clearance (p < 0.001), prior residence in a long-term care facility (p = 0.037), intolerance to ACE inhibitors (p = 0.006), lower blood pressure (p = 0.005), absence of a history of hypertension (p = 0.005), and no prior heart failure hospitalizations within the past year (p = 0.001) were found to be independent predictors of low ACE inhibitor dosing. Conclusions: In this heart failure benchmarking project, elderly patients received guideline-based ACE inhibitor therapy at similar rates, but at lower doses, compared to their younger counterparts.
Facilitation of murine cardiac L-type Cav1.2 channel is modulated by Calmodulin kinase II–dependent phosphorylation of S1512 and S1570

Activity-dependent means of altering calcium (Ca2+) influx are assumed to be of great physiological consequence, although definitive tests of this assumption have only begun to emerge. Facilitation and inactivation offer two opposing, activity-dependent means of altering Ca2+ influx via cardiac Cav1.2 calcium channels. Voltage- and frequency-dependent facilitation of Cav1.2 has been reported to depend on Calmodulin (CaM) and/or the activity of Calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII). Several sites within the cardiac L-type calcium channel complex have been proposed as the targets of CaMKII. Here, we generated mice with knockin mutations of α11. 2 S1512 and S1570 phosphorylation sites [sine facilitation (SF) mice]. Homocygote SF mice were viable and reproduced in a Mendelian ratio. Voltage-dependent facilitation in ventricular cardiomyocytes carrying the SF mutation was decreased from 1.58- to 1.18-fold. The CaMKII inhibitor KN-93 reduced facilitation to 1.28 in control cardiomyocytes. SF mutation negatively shifted the voltage-dependent inactivation and slowed recovery from inactivation, thereby making fewer channels available for activation. Telemetric ECG recordings at different heart rates showed that QT time decreased significantly more in SF than in control mice at higher rates. Our results strongly support the notion that CaMKII-dependent phosphorylation of Cav1.2 at S1512 and S1570 mediates Ca2+ current facilitation in the murine heart.
The State of RT-Quantitative PCR: Firsthand Observations of Implementation of Minimum Information for the Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments (MIQE)

In the past decade, the techniques of quantitative PCR (qPCR) and reverse transcription (RT)-qPCR have become accessible to virtually all research labs, producing valuable data for peer-reviewed publications and supporting exciting research conclusions. However, the experimental design and validation processes applied to the associated projects are the result of historical biases adopted by individual labs that have evolved and changed since the inception of the techniques and associated technologies. This has resulted in wide variability in the quality, reproducibility and interpretability of published data as a direct result of how each lab has designed their RT-qPCR experiments. The ‘minimum information for the publication of quantitative real-time PCR experiments' (MIQE) was published to provide the scientific community with a consistent workflow and key considerations to perform qPCR experiments. We use specific examples to highlight the serious negative ramifications for data quality when the MIQE guidelines are not applied and include a summary of good and poor practices for RT-qPCR.
Microbial Degradation of Woven Fabrics and Protection Against Biodegradation

At the start of the 21st century annual world consumption of unwoven fabrics (for practical and technical uses) stood at 46 million tonnes, of which synthetics and cotton accounted for 49% and 42% respectively (with an upward trend in subsequent years), wool for 5%, and other fabrics 4% (linen, sisal, silk and others, with a downward trend) (Central Statistical Office Yearbooks – Roczniki GUS, Poland 2008). If 2% of the global value of fibre production is assumed, the problem of microbiological decomposition may affect 920 000 tonnes of fabric annually.
User Psychology and Behavioral Effect on Palmprint and Fingerprint Based Multimodal Biometric System

The ever increasing demand of security has resulted in wide use of Biometric systems. Despite overcoming the traditional verification problems, the unimodal systems suffer from various challenges like intra class variation, noise in the sensor data etc, affecting the system performance. These problems are effectively handled by multimodal systems. User psychology is accounted has been taken into consideration which highly effects its eventual user acceptability and collect- ability among masses. Desirable image quality is achieved by a stable and user friendly image acquisition platform. In this paper, we present multimodal approach for palm and fingerprints by feature level and score level fusions (sum and product rules). The proposed multimodal systems are tested on a developed database consisting of 440 palm and fingerprints each of 55 individuals. In feature level fusion, directional energy based feature vectors of palm- and fingerprint identifiers are com- bined to form joint feature vector that is subsequently used to identify the individual using a distance classifier. In score level fusion, the matching scores of individual classifiers are fused by sum and product rules. Receiver operating characteristics curves are formed for unimodal and multimodal systems. Equal Error Rate (EER) of 0.538% for feature level fusion shows best performance compared to score level fusion of 0.6141 and 0.5482% of sum and product rules, respectively. Multimodal systems, however, significantly outperform unimodal palm and fingerprints identifiers with EER of 2.822 and 2.553%, respectively.