Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prenatally undernourished rats show increased preference for wheel running v. lever pressing for food in a choice task

Maternal nutrition during pregnancy has a significant influence in establishing patterns of metabolism and postnatal behaviours in offspring, and therefore shapes their risk of developing disorders in later life. Although it is well established that a mismatch between food consumption and energy expenditure leads to obesity and metabolic dysregulation, little research has investigated the biological origin of such behaviour. We conducted the present experiments to investigate effects of early-life nutrition on preference between wheel running and lever pressing for food during adult life. To address this issue we employed a well-established experimental approach in the rat which has shown that offspring of mothers undernourished during pregnancy develop obesity and metabolic disorders when kept under standard laboratory conditions. Using this experimental approach, two studies were conducted where offspring of ad libitum-fed dams and dams undernourished throughout pregnancy were given the choice between wheel running and pressing a response lever for food. Across subsequent conditions, the rate at which the response lever provided food was varied from 0·22 to 6·0 (study 1) and 0·19 to 3·0 (study 2) pellets per min. Compared with the control group, offspring from dams undernourished during pregnancy showed a consistently greater preference for running over lever pressing for food throughout both experiments of the study. The results of the present study provide experimental evidence that a mother's nutrition during pregnancy can result in a long-term shift in her offspring's lifestyle choices that are relevant to obesity prevention. Such a shift, if endorsed, will have substantial and wide-ranging health consequences throughout the lifespan.
Therapeutic drug monitoring of the HIV protease inhibitor atazanavir in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is being applied for a number of antiretroviral agents. Little is known about the use of TDM for atazanavir. METHODS This is a retrospective cohort analysis on the use of TDM of atazanavir at three clinical sites in The Netherlands. Patients were divided into three groups: (i) all patients with evaluable data of plasma atazanavir concentrations and its relationship with hyperbilirubinaemia; (ii) patients who started atazanavir without documented evidence of protease inhibitor (PI) mutations; (iii) patients who started atazanavir with documented evidence of PI mutations. The genotypic inhibitory quotient (GIQ) was calculated by dividing the mean atazanavir plasma trough concentration by the number of PI mutations. RESULTS A total of 108 patients were included; 70 (65.8%) were using atazanavir/ritonavir (300/100 mg once daily). No significant relationship was observed between atazanavir plasma trough concentration and antiviral response in patients starting atazanavir without PI mutations (group 2; n = 82). In contrast, a significant relationship was observed between atazanavir GIQ and treatment response in patients starting atazanavir while having PI mutations (group 3; n = 26). The cut-off value for GIQ most predictive of virological failure was 0.23 mg/L/mutation: patients (n = 8) with a GIQ equal to or below this value had 50% virological failure whereas patients (n = 18) with a GIQ above 0.23 mg/L/mutation had only 11% virological failure (chi(2): P = 0.030). Atazanavir plasma trough concentrations were significantly related with the occurrence of increased total bilirubin concentrations. CONCLUSIONS TDM of atazanavir might be beneficial for patients with documented PI resistance or patients with hyperbilirubinaemia.
Lanepitant, an NK-1 Antagonist, in Migraine Prevention

Lanepitant, a potent non-peptide neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, inhibits neurogenic dural inflammation, and may have a role in migraine therapy. This study evaluated the effect of lanepitant taken daily for migraine prevention. Patients with migraine headaches with and without aura by International Headache Society classification criteria were enrolled in a 12-week double-blind, parallel design study comparing the effect of 200 mg qd lanepitant (n = 42) and placebo (n = 42) on reduction of migraine frequency. The primary outcome measure was response rate, i.e. the proportion of patients with a 50% reduction in days of headache. Of the 84 patients enrolled, 90.5% were female. The endpoint response rate for lanepitant-treated patients (41.0%) was not statistically significantly (P = 0.065) greater than that for placebo-treated patients (22.0%). No efficacy variables differed significantly between treatments, except for response rates at month 3 (P = 0.045). Higher plasma concentrations were no more effective than lower concentrations. In this study lanepitant was not effective in preventing migraine, but was well tolerated. These results do not support a role for NK-1 antagonism in migraine prevention.
Study of the Genotoxicity of Toluene

Abstract Chromosome analysis was conducted for peripheral lymphocytes of 23 printers exposed to toluene concentrations of 590 mg/m3 in a rotary machine workshop and to rotogravure printing inks. The percentages of aberrant cells were 2.30 in the printers and 1.46 in the control group (n = 22) (p < .05). The concentration of hippuric acid in printers was significantly higher than in the control group (p < .01), and the level of blood toluene at the end of the workshift was 0.500 mg/l. The authors also examined rotogravure printing inks—considered a potential source of genotoxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons because they contained carbon black—their use in printing plants, and previous documentation of increased chromosomal aberrations in rotogravure printers. Only milligrams of fluorene and phenanthrene per gram of the printing inks were found; no polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with carcinogenic properties were discovered in the inks. The authors used Salmonella typhimurium indicator strains TA 98, TA 100, TA 1537, and YG 1041 in spot tests and indicator strains TA 98 and TA 100 in plate-incorporation assays to determine that there was no bacterial mutagenicity of all four colors of rotogravure inks. Urinary mutagenicity, which was evaluated with a microsuspension assay containing YG 1041 indicator strain both in the presence and absence of metabolic activation, was also studied. No significant difference in bacterial mutagenicity was found between the exposed and control groups. The increased percentage of aberrant cells in printers can be explained by exposure to genotoxicants that are not excreted in urine. Toluene was the most likely cause of the aberration.
Nonlinear State-Space Models for Microeconometric Panel Data

In applied microeconometric panel data analyses, time-constant random effects and first-order Markov chains are the most prevalent structures to account for intertemporal correlations in limited dependent variable models. An example from health economics shows that the addition of a simple autoregressive error terms leads to a more plausible and parsimonious model which also captures the dynamic features better. The computational problems encountered in the estimation of such models - and a broader class formulated in the framework of nonlinear state space models - hampers their widespread use. This paper discusses the application of different nonlinear filtering approaches developed in the time-series literature to these models and suggests that a straightforward algorithm based on sequential Gaussian quadrature can be expected to perform well in this setting. This conjecture is impressively confirmed by an extensive analysis of the example application.
Examining the Effects of Supervision for Transfer from Synthetic to Real Driving Domains Vashisht Madhavan

With the surge of autonomous driving efforts in industry, semantic understanding of road scenes has become more commercially relevant than ever. Semantic segmentation, or dense pixel prediction, has become a popular approach for scene understanding, as the meteoric rise of deep convolutional networks (CNNs) has led to significant progress in recent years. However, these deep networks require large amounts of data, labeled at the pixel level, which can be quite cumbersome to collect for the driving domain. As a result, many have looked to realistic virtual world simulators (i.e. video games), for collecting large volumes of labeled data. Despite the visual similarity between real and synthetic domains, models trained on synthetic street scenes show poor results when evaluated on real-world data. To compensate for this visual shift, supervision from the real domain is necessary. In this work, I examine how much real-world supervision is appropriate for effective transfer of models pretrained on synthetic. Utilizing recent methods of supervised and semi-supervised transfer for fully convolutional networks (FCNs), I achieve promising results with a very small amount of labeled data(∼ 50 images). By also quantitatively measuring different levels of domain shift, I reveal how simple metrics about a synthetic domain can be used to infer the ability of network features to transfer.
Learning OpenCV---Computer Vision with the OpenCV Library (Bradski, G.R. et al.; 2008)[On the Shelf]

This is an introductory textbook for teachers, students, professionals, and hobbyists who want to learn the basics of computer vision. The book is completely based around the OpenCV library, an open source project that started in 1999 by the computer-vision community. The authors of the text are among the principal contributors to this real-time library that has developed in C/C++ to run Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Although it is unashamedly a promotion for the open-source library, it is still a worthy educational text.
Detection of cell adhesion molecules in lens epithelial cells of human cataracts.

PURPOSE To detect the expression of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), including beta integrins, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-2, E-cadherin, and CD44, in cultured lens epithelial cells (LECs) of human cataracts. To show that LECs attach to cells or extracellular matrix components by the detected adhesion molecules. METHODS A circular section of the anterior capsule with attached LECs obtained by anterior capsulotomy during cataract surgery was cultured in a well of an eight-chamber slide. The LEC immediately after surgery and the cell outgrowth beyond the capsular margin at 2 weeks of culture were observed after the culture was stained immunohistochemically. Functional assays of LEC growth on collagen- or laminin-coated plates were performed in the presence and absence of the antibody blocking the detected adhesion molecules. RESULTS beta 1 integrin, ICAM-1, and CD44 were detected in both the original specimens and the cultured cells. When the antihuman anti-beta 1 integrin monoclonal antibody (mAb), anti-ICAM-1 mAb, or anti-CD44 mAb was added at 10 micrograms/ml to the incubation medium, LEC migration and proliferation were inhibited significantly on the collagen- or laminin-coated plates. When the mAb blocking these three CAMs were added each at 1 microgram/ml, LEC proliferation also were inhibited. CONCLUSIONS beta 1 integrin, ICAM-1 and CD44 are all involved in LEC attachment and growth on collagen and laminin in vitro. It can be assumed that these CAMs are involved in adhesion of LECs to extracellular matrix components of the lens capsule. Understanding the characteristics of the adhesion molecules in LEC may lead to the development of a new approach to inhibit secondary cataract formation.
Trazodone and its active metabolite m-chlorophenylpiperazine as partial agonists at 5-HT1A receptors assessed by [35S]GTPγS binding

Trazodone is an effective antidepressant drug with a broad therapeutic spectrum, including anxiolytic efficacy. Although trazodone is usually referred to as a serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitor, this pharmacological effect appears to be too weak to fully account for its clinical effectiveness. The present study aimed to elucidate the agonist properties of trazodone and its active metabolite, m-chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP), at 5-HT1A receptors by means of the guanosine-5′-O-(3-[35S]thio)-triphosphate ([35S]GTPγS) binding assay. In membranes prepared from Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing human 5-HT1A receptors (CHO/h5-HT1A), trazodone behaved as an almost full agonist and m-CPP was also a highly efficacious partial agonist at 5-HT1A receptors. The intrinsic activities of both compounds were higher than those of tandospirone and buspirone, which are clinically effective anxiolytics with well-known 5-HT1A partial agonist properties. These effects were replicated in the 5-HT1A receptor-mediated [35S]GTPγS binding assay in native rat brain membranes (at least in hippocampal membranes), although the intrinsic activities of the compounds were low and differently ranked compared to those in CHO/h5-HT1A cell membranes. When considering the implications of 5-HT1A receptors in anxiety and/or depression, as well as the clinical effectiveness of azapirone anxiolytics with partial 5-HT1A receptor agonist properties such as buspirone, it is possible that the agonist effects on 5-HT1A receptors of trazodone and its active metabolite m-CPP presented in this study contribute, at least in part, to the clinical efficacy of the atypical antidepressant trazodone.
Edge waves and resonance on elastic structures: An overview

Over 50 years have elapsed since the first experimental observations of dynamic edge phenomena on elastic structures, yet the topic remains a diverse and vibrant source of research activity. This article provides a focused history and overview of such phenomena with a particular emphasis on structures such as strips, rods, plates and shells. Within this context, some of the recent research highlights are discussed and the contents of this special issue of Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids on dynamical edge phenomena are introduced.
Normal IPT and IBZM SPECT in drug-naive and levodopa-treated idiopathic restless legs syndrome

Fourteen drug-naive and 11 levodopa-treated patients with idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS), and 10 controls age-matched to each RLS group separately were examined with polysomnography (PSG), [123I]-(N)-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-chlorophenyl) tropane (123I-IPT) SPECT, and [123I]-(S)-2-hydroxy-3-iodo-6-methoxy-[(1-ethyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)methyl] benzamide (123I-IBZM) SPECT. Drug-naive and levodopa-treated patients with RLS and controls showed similar striatal dopamine transporter and dopamine D2-receptor binding, the latter declining with age. The authors conclude that striatal dopamine transporter and receptor density is normal in drug-naive and levodopa-treated patients with RLS.
Inter‐observer variation in the histopathological reporting of Hodgkin's disease: an analysis of diagnostic subcomponents using kappa statistics

Levels of agreement between nine pathologists on the Rye classification of Hodgkin's disease and on diagnostic subcomponents used in applying the classification, were analysed by kappa statistics. Pathologists experienced comparatively little difficulty in agreeing on the presence of nodules and lacunar cells and hence best agreement was achieved on the nodular sclerosis category. Poorer agreement levels on the lymphocytic predominance, mixed cellularity and lymphocytic depletion categories were explained mainly by problems in the assessment of numbers of lymphocytes and abnormal reticulum cells other than Reed‐Sternberg cells. Identification of the Reed‐Sternberg cell, although of paramount importance to a diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease, appeared to have no great practical relevance to use of the Rye classification in this series of cases.
Onset and persistence of efficacy by symptom domain with long-acting injectable paliperidone palmitate in patients with schizophrenia

Introduction: Several long-acting injectable (LAI) second-generation antipsychotics are now available for the management of schizophrenia. As patients with schizophrenia frequently present with diverse and challenging symptoms, it is important to understand the effects of antipsychotics in treating these different symptom subgroups and the timing of these responses. Areas covered: For this review, data from two randomized, double-blind trials were analyzed in respect to the onset and persistence of effects on several measures of psychopathology (as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale [PANSS]) after treatment with LAI paliperidone palmitate (PP) (NCT00590577 and NCT00589914). Expert opinion: Symptom reductions from baseline with PP were significant by day 4 for all five PANSS factors in both studies. Some effects may have been driven by the presence or absence of a placebo response. A significant effect for PP versus placebo was observed for all major symptom domains for one or more doses of PP during the first month of treatment. Once established, most (but not all) significant responses persisted to the end point. Similar improvements were observed in PANSS scores with PP and oral risperidone. Dose-dependent trends were observed for the effect of PP on positive, negative and uncontrolled hostility/excitement symptoms.
Influence of Cadmium Stress and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Nodule Senescence in Cajanus Cajan (L.) MILLSP.

Cadmium (Cd) causes oxidative damage and affects nodulation and nitrogen fixation process of legumes. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi have been demonstrated to alleviate heavy metal stress of plants. The present study was conducted to assess role of AM in alleviating negative effects of Cd on nodule senescence in Cajanus cajan genotypes differing in their metal tolerance. Fifteen day-old plants were subjected to Cd treatments—25 mg and 50 mg Cd per kg dry soil and were grown with and without Glomus mosseae. Cd treatments led to a decline in mycorrhizal infection (MI), nodule number and dry weights which was accompanied by reductions in leghemoglobin content, nitrogenase activity, organic acid contents. Cd supply caused a marked decrease in nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and iron (Fe) contents. Conversely, Cd increased membrane permeability, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and Cd contents in nodules. AM inoculations were beneficial in reducing the above mentioned harmful effects of Cd and significantly improved nodule functioning. Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) increased markedly in nodules of mycorrhizal-stressed plants. The negative effects of Cd were genotype and concentration dependent.
Quantal puffs of intracellular Ca2+ evoked by inositol trisphosphate in Xenopus oocytes.

1. Ca2+ liberation induced in Xenopus oocytes by a poorly metabolized derivative of inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate (3‐deoxy‐3‐fluoro‐D‐myo‐inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate; 3‐F‐InsP3) was visualized using a video‐rate confocal microscope to image fluorescence signals reported by the indicator dye calcium green‐1. 2. Low (10‐30 nM) intracellular concentrations of 3‐F‐InsP3 evoked Ca2+ release as localized transient ‘puffs’. Progressively higher concentrations (30‐60 nM) gave rise to abortive Ca2+ waves triggered by puffs, and then (> 60 nM) to a sustained elevation of Ca2+ followed by the appearance of propagating Ca2+ waves. At concentrations up to that giving waves, the frequency of puffs increased as about the third power of [InsP3], whereas their amplitudes increased only slightly. 3. The rise of cytosolic Ca2+ during a puff began abruptly, and peaked within about 50 ms. The peak free Ca2+ level was about 180 nM, and the total amount of Ca2+ liberated was several attomoles (10(‐18) mol), too much to be accounted for by opening of a single InsP3‐gated channel. The subsequent decline of Ca2+ occurred over a few hundred milliseconds, determined largely by diffusion of Ca2+ away from the release site, rather than by resequestration. Lateral spread of Ca2+ was restricted to a few micrometres, consistent with an effective diffusion coefficient for Ca2+ ions of about 27 microns2 s‐1. 4. The peak amplitudes of puffs recorded at a given site were distributed in a roughly Gaussian manner, and a small proportion of sites consistently gave puffs much larger than the main population. Intervals between successive puffs at a single site were exponentially distributed, except for a progressive fall‐off in puffs seen at intervals shorter than about 10 s. Thus, triggering of puffs appeared to be stochastically determined after recovery from a refractory period. 5. There was little correlation between the occurrence of puffs at sites more than a few micrometres apart, indicating that puff sites can function autonomously, but closely (ca 2 microns) adjacent sites showed highly correlated behaviour. 6. Puffs arose from sites‐present at a density of about 1 per 30 microns2 in the animal hemisphere, located within a narrow band about 5‐7 microns below the plasma membrane. 7. We conclude that Ca2+ puffs represent a ‘quantal’ unit of InsP3‐evoked Ca2+ liberation, which may arise because local regenerative feedback by cytosolic Ca2+ ions causes the concerted opening of several closely clustered InsP3 receptor channels.
Revised estimates of diagnostic test sensitivity and specificity in suspected biliary tract disease.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests for gallstones and acute cholecystitis. METHODS All English-language articles published from 1966 through 1992 about tests used in the diagnosis of biliary tract disease were identified through MEDLINE. From 1614 titles, 666 abstracts were examined and 322 articles were read to identify 61 articles with information about sensitivity and specificity. Application of exclusion criteria based on clinical and methodologic criteria left 30 articles for analysis. Cluster-sampling methods were adapted to obtain combined estimates of sensitivities and specificities. Adjustments were made to estimates that were biased because the gold standard was applied preferentially to patients with positive test results. RESULTS Ultrasound has the best unadjusted sensitivity (0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.95 to 0.99) and specificity (0.95; 95% confidence interval, 0.88 to 1.00) for evaluating patients with suspected gallstones. Adjusted values are 0.84 (0.76 to 0.92) and 0.99 (0.97 to 1.00), respectively. Adjusted and unadjusted results for oral cholecystogram were lower. Radionuclide scanning has the best sensitivity (0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.96 to 0.98) and specificity (0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 0.95) for evaluating patients with suspected acute cholecystitis; test performance is unaffected by delayed imaging. Unadjusted sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound in evaluating patients with suspected acute cholecystitis are 0.94 (0.92 to 0.96) and 0.78 (0.61 to 0.96); adjusted values are 0.88 (0.74 to 1.00) and 0.80 (0.62 to 0.98). CONCLUSIONS Ultrasound is superior to oral cholecystogram for diagnosing cholelithiasis, and radionuclide scanning is the test of choice for acute cholecystitis. However, sensitivities and specificities are somewhat lower than commonly reported. We recommend estimates that are midway between the adjusted and unadjusted values.