Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of New Polymorphic Markers in the Factor V Gene: Association with Factor V Levels in Plasma

Summary Three novel polymorphisms were found in the repeated region of the large exon 13 of factor V gene, one giving rise to a codon dimorphism (Serl240) and two causing aminoacid substitutions (Hisl299Arg, Leul257Ile). An increasing frequency of the Argl299 (R2 allele) correlated with a decreasing mean plasma factor V activity in the groups of subjects under study, which included 26 unrelated subjects with partial factor V deficiency. Family studies supported the co-inheritance both of low factor V activity and of R2 allele. The reduction of factor V activity associated with the R2 allele was not clinically symptomatic even in the homozygous condition and was characterized by a parallel reduction of antigen in plasma, in which abnormal molecules were not detected. Data suggest that the R2 allele represents a marker in linkage with an unknown defect rather than a functional polymorphism. These studies provide the first evidence of a genetic component in determining factor V levels in plasma and of a genetic linkage between the factor V gene and factor V deficiency. They also define specific haplotypes which are associated with factor V deficiency or with APC resistance (Arg506Gln) and are valuable fools for the study of factor V defects.
La création du baccalauréat professionnel. Les processus de décision

Michel Pillet, Einrichtung des Fachabiturs. Der Entscheidungsprozess. ; Der Beitrag von Michel Pillet stammt aus dem Umfeld einer noch laufenden Untersuchung uber die Entscheidungsfindung zur Einrichtung eines Fachabiturs (Bac Pro) im Jahre 1985. 10 Jahre spater fuhren die Ausfuhrungen uber den beruflichen Werdegang der Fachabiturienten, die Rolle der Ausbildungsabschlusse im Rahmen des Zugangs zur Beschaftigung und der ausgeubten Tatigkeiten dazu, die Rahmenbedingungen unter denen dieser Abschlus definiert wurde, neu zu uberdenken. Die Verhandlung, die im Rahmen der Einrichtung des Fachabiturs Fahrzeugbau gefuhrt wurde, scheint die Fragen, die durch die Entwicklung des berufsbildenden Schulwesens zu Beginn der 80er Jahre aufgeworfen wurden, gut zu veranschaulichen, indem sie sowohl die Kontinuitat als auch die Bruche aufzeigt. Gleichzeitig erlaubte diese Diskussion dem Erziehungsministerium seinen Fuhrungsanspruch bzgl. der Entwicklung im technischen und beruflichen Fachausbildungsbereich zu behaupten.
Comparison of Trace Elements in the Hair of Children Inhabiting Areas of Different Environmental Pollution Types

The objective of this study was to assess the relationships between lead, cadmium, zinc, and copper contents in children's head hair, and the level of environmental exposure in the subjects' places of residence. The studied population was a group of 93 children (62 boys and 31 girls), aged 5-16, living in contaminated regions of the Copper Basin Legnica ("Exposed Group"). Control ("Reference Group") consisted of 66 children (35 boys and 31 girls), aged 6-16, inhabiting non-contaminated rural areas of the Wielkopolska region. The studied material was head hair taken from the occipital scalp. The contents of metals in the hair were determined using atomic absorption spectrometry. It was found that the mean contents of lead and cadmium in the hair were significantly higher in the "Exposed" children (7.16 µgPb/g and 0.44 µgCd/g) versus the "Reference Group" (2.49 µgPb/g and 0.23 RgCd/g). The mean contents of zinc and copper in the hair were not statistically different between the studied populations. Moreover, some positive and negative correlations between pairs of elements in the hair were found.
Is Memory for Routes Enhanced by an Environment's Richness in Visual Landmarks?

Abstract: We tested the hypothesis that a route's memorability is dependent on the frequency with which people are exposed to visual landmarks. Undergraduates learned either a route through an urban area lacking visually salient features, or a route in a neighborhood with many shops and urban objects. They were then asked to recall the learned route in the form of route directions and sketch maps. The results showed higher recall performance for the richer environment. When presented with photographs depicting scenes along the route, participants exposed to the richer environment had higher recognition scores and shorter response times than the others. The data confirm the functional role of landmarks in route memory and wayfinding.
Dissipativity enforcement of linear discrete-time systems via LMI-based optimization

This paper introduces a new LMI-based approach to dissipativity enforcement for finite frequency linear discrete-time system. Different from the conventional entire-frequency H∞, approximation performance specification, finite-frequency H∞ norm was adopted in this paper, which is a more suitable index to characterize the dissipativity enforcement problems for systems with apriori known operating frequency range.Based on the Generalized KYP (GKYP) Lemma, dissipativity enforcement problems are derived and expressed in terms of solutions to a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Numerical example was included for illustration.
Beyond the Pass Completion Rate : Towards Analysing the Players ’ Passing Quality in Association Football

For approximately two decades, professional association football has been characterised by increased digitisation. This is associated with the capture of a vast amount of georeferenced data representing the players’ and the ball’s movement as well as game relevant events. In this context, the practicability of geographic information systems (GIS) in the course of the analysis of single players’ passes is addressed in this article. The aim of this study is to relativise the players’ pass completion rate’s significance. As space is crucial in football, for each pass the analysis takes the game’s current spatiotemporal structure into account in order to determine its inherent risk. This encompasses the opponents’ positions first, between the passer and the receiver as well as second, in close proximity to both of them. Moreover, the calculation considers the passes’ length and locations. In relation to the pass completion rate, the players’ passing quality is derived. For this purpose, an ArcGIS custom tool was developed utilising Python. In addition to this, an expert survey was conducted interviewing professional game analysts. The results provide strong evidence that the tool’s functionality is given although certain measures would definitely enhance the tool’s applicability in contemporary football game analyses.
The Role of Endocarditis, Myocarditis and Pericarditis in Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis

The current study is the first scientometric analysis of research activity and output in the field of inflammatory disorders of the heart (endo-, myo- and pericarditis). Scientometric methods are used to compare scientific performance on national and on international scale to identify single areas of research interest. Interest and research productivity in inflammatory diseases of the heart have increased since 1990. The majority of publications about inflammatory heart disorders were published in Western Europe and North America. The United States of America had a leading position in terms of research productivity and quality; half of the most productive authors in this study came from American institutions. The analysis of international cooperation revealed research activity in countries that are less established in the field of inflammatory heart disorder research, such as Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. These results indicate that future research of heart inflammation may no longer be influenced predominantly by a small number of countries. Furthermore, this study revealed weaknesses in currently established scientometric parameters (i.e., h-index, impact factor) that limit their suitability as measures of research quality. In this respect, self-citations should be generally excluded from calculations of h-index and impact factor.
b -Adrenoceptor-mediated thermogenesis and lipolysis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Saris, F. A. M. W. J. Schols. b -Adrenoceptor-mediated thermogenesis and lipolysis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 280: E357–E364, 2001. —The present study investigated whether development or maintenance of a relatively increased fat mass in normal-weight patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), despite periods of weight loss, may be related to impaired b -adrenoceptor-mediated responses in lipid utilization and thermogenesis. Nine COPD patients and nine healthy controls (body mass index: 23.0 6 1.3 vs. 23.8 6 0.6 kg/m 2 , not signiﬁcant; fat mass: 19.0 6 2.1 vs. 11.9 6 1.5 kg, P , 0.01) received consecutive 30-min infusions of 6, 12, and 24 ng z kg fat free mass 2 1 z min 2 1 isoproterenol. During b -ad-renergic stimulation, nonesteriﬁed fatty acid levels increased signiﬁcantly less in COPD patients ( P , 0.001). Respiratory exchange ratio decreased similarly in both groups, indicating a similar change in the rate of lipid to carbohydrate oxidation. Energy expenditure increased similarly in both groups during b -adrenergic stimulation. However, because plasma isoproterenol concentrations were signiﬁcantly higher in COPD patients, thermogenesis related to isoproterenol concentration was signiﬁcantly reduced in this group ( P , 0.05). In conclusion, b -adrenoceptor-mediated lipolysis and thermogenesis are impaired in COPD patients. This may play a role in the development or maintenance of their relatively increased fat mass. hoc testing between groups was done with an unpaired t -test. The effect of b -adrenergic stimulation within a group was analyzed with one-way repeated-measures ANOVA. A P value , 0.05 was regarded as statistically signiﬁcant.
Generating Musical Performances with Director Musices

Director Musices is a program that transforms notated scores into musical performances. It implements the performance rules emerging from research projects at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). Rules in the program model performance aspects such as phrasing, articulation, and intonation, and they operate on performance variables such as tone, inter-onset duration, amplitude, and pitch. By manipulating rule parameters, the user can act as a metaperformer controlling different features of the performance, leaving the technical execution to the computer. Different interpretations of the same piece can easily be obtained. Features of Director Musices include MIDI file input and output, rule palettes, graphical display of all performance variables (along with music notation), and user-defined performance rules. The program is implemented in Common Lisp and is available free as a stand-alone application both for Macintosh and Windows platforms. Further information, including music examples, publications, and the software itself, is located online at http:// www.speech. kth.se/music/performance/.
Seminar-4 th year Dynamic light scattering and application to proteins in solutions

Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measures time-dependent fluctuations in the scattering intensity arising from particles undergoing random Brownian motion. Diffusion coefficient and particle size information can be obtained from the analysis of these fluctuations. More specifically, the method provides the ability to measure size characteristics of proteins in a liquid medium. Proteins consist of polypeptide chains that are sensitive to a wide range of parameters such as temperature and chemical environment. Preparation method, storage conditions and/or buffer choice can all influence the size and quality of proteins in a sample. This seminar describes the theory of method and presents examples how light scattering may be used as a method of characterizing the size of proteins in solutions.
Experiential manufacturing: designing meaningful relationships between people, data and things

This thesis presents a practice-led research investigation into ways of designing more experiential and evocative interactions with data that relates to our experiences whereby less explicit, more intrinsic and aesthetic relationships are made between people, objects and data. I argue that the utilitarian values and instrumental approach behind the design of most systems that mediate our personal autobiographical data, while important, are not appropriate for more emotional forms of remembering. Therefore, systems are needed that cater specifically to modes of remembering such as reminiscence and reflection. By learning from our material encounters with memory, there are rich opportunities for design to uncover the latent values that might exist in biographical data. To articulate the design rationale of the thesis, I describe two existing design projects: the Digital Slide Viewer and Photobox. These provide some design principles that offer guidance in making memory data physical so as to encourage meaningful material practices, and ways that interactions might be designed to promote reflection. After exploratory interviews to gather insight into the ways people associate meaning with objects a set of designed provocations were produced. The Poker Chip sought to understand the ways that the material form of an object connects to its meaning, while The Bowl investigates how the actions we might use to make these meaningful objects might in themselves be meaningful. The final designed provocation takes ideas from its predecessors, and puts them into practice with a data driven system. By responding to live data from real earthquakes, the Earthquake Shelf creates a tangible rendition that, by damaging objects, leaves behind material evidence of a remote event. During a long-term field deployment, connection between the objects on the shelf and the participant’s memories proved illusive, but the shelf itself provided a viscerally real connection to a past experience. The outcome of this thesis then is to articulate Experiential Manufacturing; a position on the design of technologies intended to mediate more emotional forms of memory, such that they can create more compelling relations between data, people, and things. It does this by first opening and exploring a design space based on alternative values for designing technologies of reminiscence that mediate our life experiences. By prioritizing the aesthetic elements of the experiences, rather than focusing on the data that describes it, this thesis explores the potential of material, liveness and slowness to create systems that mediate our experience data in more evocative and emotionally valuable ways. It then presents this position as a set of thematic values, or Strong Concepts at the heart of Experiential Manufacturing.
Effects of age and insulin‐like growth factor‐1 on rat neurotrophin receptor expression after nerve injury

Neurotrophin receptors, such as p75NTR, direct neuronal response to injury. Insulin‐like growth factor‐1 receptor (IGF‐1R) mediates the increase in p75NTR during aging. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of aging and insulin‐like growth factor‐1 (IGF‐1) treatment on recovery after peripheral nerve injury.
Phylogeny of European Dolichopus and Gymnopternus (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) and the significance of morphological characters inferred from molecular data

Dolichopodidae (over 6000 described species in more than 200 genera) is one of the most speciose families of Diptera. Males of many dolichopodid species, including Dolichopus, feature conspicuous ornaments (Male Secondary Sexual Characters) that are used during courtship. Next to these MSSCs, every identification key to Dolichopus primarily uses colour characters (postocular bristles; femora) of unknown phylogenetic relevance. The phylogeny of Dolichopodidae has rarely been investigated, especially at the species level, and molecular data were hardly ever involved. We inferred phylogenetic relationships among 45 species (57 sam- ples) of the subfamily Dolichopodinae on the basis of 32 morphological and 1415 nucleotide characters (810 for COI, 605 for Cyt-b). The monophyly of Dolichopus and Gymnopternus as well as the separate systematic position of Ethiromyia chalybea were supported in all analyses, confirming recent findings by other authors based purely on morphology. Within Dolichopus, stable spe- cies groups could be assigned to four distinct categories on the basis of their statistical support in 7 phylogenetic analyses: (i) clades significantly supported in all analyses, (ii) clades supported in trees based on DNA and combined data, but only partly in morpho- logical trees, (iii) clades significantly supported in trees based on DNA and combined data, but not in morphological trees, and (iv) clades consistently supported only in morphological trees. The phylogeny generated here provides a better understanding of the phy- logenetic relevance of some debated morphological characters used for species and species-group characterizations in the most com- monly used identification keys. In this respect, postocular bristle colour proved of little phylogenetic relevance since every group with species featuring black bristles also included species with partly yellow bristles. Entirely or partly infuscated femora explained the nodes of three stable species groups and even revealed an incorrect polarity of this morphological character in three species. Four of 6 complex MSSCs and 5 of 8 more common MSSCs were found consistently in further species groups.
Cognition and white matter hyperintensities in older depressed patients.

OBJECTIVE The authors compared amounts of white matter hyperintensity in late- and early-onset depressed patients and never-depressed older subjects, compared neuropsychological function in these groups, and investigated the association between white matter hyperintensities and cognitive function in depression. METHOD Sixty currently depressed patients whose first depression occurred after age 50 years, 35 depressed patients over age 50 whose first depression occurred before age 35, and 165 nonpsychiatrically ill subjects over age 50 underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological evaluation. Areas of white matter hyperintensity were measured from MRI images. RESULTS The late-onset patients had more white matter hyperintensity than either of the other groups. Compared to the nondepressed subjects, the patients had significantly lower scores in the cognitive domains of nonverbal intelligence, nonverbal memory, constructional ability, executive ability, and information processing speed. The cognitive abnormalities were mostly confined to the late-onset patients, and the presence of a large amount of white matter hyperintensity was associated with significantly poorer executive skills. However, most of the scores were not in the significantly impaired range. CONCLUSIONS Large amounts of white matter hyperintensity are more frequent in patients with late-onsetdepression than in elderly subjects with early-onset or no depression. Both late- and early-onset elderly depressed patients show mild decrements in some "right hemisphere" cognitive skills; the late-onset subjects also show deterioration in information processing speed and executive functions. Patients with large amounts of white matter hyperintensity have significantly poorer executive function.
Epac-mediated Activation of Phospholipase Cϵ Plays a Critical Role in β-Adrenergic Receptor-dependent Enhancement of Ca2+ Mobilization in Cardiac Myocytes*

Recently we demonstrated that PLCϵ plays an important role in β-adrenergic receptor (βAR) stimulation of Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release (CICR) in cardiac myocytes. Here we have reported for the first time that a pathway downstream of βAR involving the cAMP-dependent Rap GTP exchange factor, Epac, and PLCϵ regulates CICR in cardiac myocytes. To demonstrate a role for Epac in the stimulation of CICR, cardiac myocytes were treated with an Epac-selective cAMP analog, 8-4-(chlorophenylthio)-2′-O-methyladenosine-3′,5′-monophosphate (cpTOME). cpTOME treatment increased the amplitude of electrically evoked Ca2+ transients, implicating Epac for the first time in cardiac CICR. This response is abolished in PLCϵ-/- cardiac myocytes but rescued by transduction with PLCϵ, indicating that Epac is upstream of PLCϵ. Furthermore, transduction of PLCϵ+/+ cardiac myocytes with a Rap inhibitor, RapGAP1, significantly inhibited isoproterenol-dependent CICR. Using a combination of cpTOME and PKA-selective activators and inhibitors, we have shown that βAR-dependent increases in CICR consist of two independent components mediated by PKA and the novel Epac/PLCϵ pathway. We also show that Epac/PLCϵ-dependent effects on CICR are independent of sarcoplasmic reticulum loading and Ca2+ clearance mechanisms. These data define a novel endogenous PKA-independent βAR-signaling pathway through cAMP-dependent Epac activation, Rap, and PLCϵ that enhances intracellular Ca2+ release in cardiac myocytes.
Electrical Characteristics of Epoxy/nanoclay Nanodielectric Systems

The field of nanocomposites is a rapidly growing area of interest as more and more materials appear with exciting properties and novel applications. Nanocomposites based on clay systems have been widely investigated, where they have been shown to exhibit improved mechanical, thermal, optical and physicochemical properties. It is therefore of no surprise that the electrical properties of such nanocomposites are of interest given the wide ranging applications of dielectrics as insulators in much of the high voltage industry. This paper studies a range of related nanocomposities based upon a commercial epoxy resin system. We report the impact of processing and chemical functionalization on the rheological and electrical characteristics of organo-modified inorganic nanofillers, namely boehmite and montmorillonite, in an epoxy matrix.
Heterogeneity in dendritic morphology of moth antennal lobe projection neurons

A population of projection neurons (PNs) in the antennal lobe (AL) integrates sensory information from the antenna and is essential for processing odor information in the insect brain. We examined the anatomy of this neuronal population in the brain of the silkmoth Bombyx mori. Using intracellular dye injection, we labeled a total of 246 PNs and systematically analyzed their morphological features, including the soma position, antennocerebral tract, and number of innervating glomeruli. For example, we analyzed PNs that had somata in the different cell clusters, innervated overlapping but different groups of glomeruli, and ran through different pathways. We also identified glomeruli innervated by PNs using a previously established procedure that first classifies glomeruli into regional groups and then identifies individual glomeruli. We analyzed uniglomerular PNs (75.6% of the total) and found heterogeneity in the dendritic morphology of the PNs that was dependent on the regions and/or the innervating glomeruli. For example, most PNs innervating the macroglomerular complex did not have extraglomerular processes, whereas most PNs innervating ordinary glomeruli did. Moreover, PNs innervating the toroid glomerulus showed heterogeneity in their dendritic morphology. These PNs had dendritic arborization in different areas within the glomerulus. We found that, in some cases, the innervation pattern of the PN dendrite correlated with individual variation in the glomerular organization. These results indicate that PNs are not homogeneous populations, and in some cases morphological heterogeneity in PNs correlated with change in glomerular organization in the silkmoth AL. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:3367–3386, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.