Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential effect of galanin on proliferation of PC12 and B104 cells

The effect of galanin (GAL) on neural cell proliferation was studied using PC12 and B104 cells. Reverse transcription-PCR was used to determine the expression of GAL and GAL receptors and a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay of cell viability was employed to detect the effects of GAL on cell proliferation. These studies revealed firstly that PC12 cells express mRNAs encoding all three GAL receptors (GalR1-3) but not GAL mRNA, whereas B104 cells express GAL, GalR2 and GalR3 mRNAs, but not GalR1 mRNA; and secondly that GAL inhibited the proliferation of PC12 cells, but in contrast significantly activated the proliferation of B104 cells. Moreover, these effects of GAL were blocked by M35, a nonselective, chimera peptide antagonist of GAL receptors. These data suggest that GAL can alter neural cell proliferation via GAL receptor activation, and that different GAL receptors and/or cellular complements of receptors produce different net effects via activation of different signaling pathways.
The Electroencephalographic Pattern during Electroconvulsive Therapy: V. Observations on the Origins of Phase III Delta Energy and the Mechanism of Action of ECT

The generation of the spike-wave activity of Phase III of ECT seizures is attributed to the recurrence of synchronized, prolonged periods of intense inhibitory current flow (hyperpolarization), and associated rebound spike bursts, produced by the inhibitory circuit relationships and intrinsic electrophysiological properties of thalamic neurons. An anatomical and neurophysiological model of the development of generalized, synchronous 3-Hz spike-wave seizure activity is proposed which outlines the origin, maintenance, slowing, and termination of this fundamental seizure rhythm. Phase III inhibitory current flow (delta energy) and/or spike bursts may bring about therapeutic benefit by initiating a chain of agonist-independent and agonist-dependent events which results in long-term augmentation of serotonergic and noradrenergic neurotransmission and diminution of cholinergic neurotransmission in the forebrain. A specific anatomical and functional model of the mechanism of action of ECT is proposed, in which: (1) adrenergic and cholinergic pathways in the forebrain are assumed to be massively stimulated during ECT seizures, whereas serotonergic pathways are assumed to be inhibited during these seizures; (2) the beneficial effects of ECT are considered to be more dependent upon ECT-induced changes in 5-HT neurotransmission than upon alteration of noradrenergic function; (3) these beneficial effects involve up-regulation of 5-HT2 and down-regulation of M1- and M2-muscarinic receptor densities by both agonist-independent and agonist-dependent mechanisms, coupled with functional augmentation of noradrenergic neurotransmission; and (4) these effects may be brought about by Phase III inhibitory current flow- and/or spike burst-induced alteration of the function of second-messenger generator systems.
Regulatory networks affected by iron availability in Candida albicans

Iron, an essential element for almost every organism, serves as a regulatory signal for the expression of virulence determinants in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathogens. Using a custom Affymetrix GeneChip© representing the entire Candida albicans genome, we examined the changes in genome‐wide gene expression in this opportunistic pathogen as a function of alterations in environmental concentrations of iron. A total of 526 open reading frame (ORF) transcripts are more highly expressed when the levels of available iron are low, while 626 ORF transcripts are more highly expressed in high‐iron conditions. The transcripts dominantly affected by iron concentration range from those associated with cell‐surface properties to others which affect mitochondrial function, iron transport and virulence‐related secreted hydrolases. Moreover gene expression as assayed in DNA microarrays confirms and extends reports of alterations in cell‐surface antigens and drug sensitivity correlated with iron availability. To understand how these genes and pathways might be regulated, we isolated a gene designated SFU1 that encodes a homologue of the Ustilago maydis URBS1, a transcriptional repressor of siderophore uptake/biosynthesis. Comparisons between wild‐type and SFU1‐null mutant strains revealed 139 potential target genes of Sfu1p; many of which are iron‐responsive. Together, these results not only expand our understanding of global iron regulation in C. albicans, but also provide insights into the potential role of iron availability in C. albicans virulence.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Detection of Microbleeds Before Thrombolysis: An Emerging Application

Background— Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is a major complication of thrombolytic treatment for acute ischemic stroke. Although a history of prior intracerebral hemorrhage diagnosed by head CT is a contraindication to thrombolysis, there are no guidelines or data regarding evidence of prior asymptomatic microbleeds visualized with T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods— Pretreatment T2*-weighted MRI sequences were retrospectively analyzed in all patients receiving intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy and undergoing a pretreatment MRI at our institution. The frequency and location of prior microbleeds was determined and compared with the frequency and location of secondary HT after therapy. Results— Five of 41 patients undergoing MRI before receiving intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy demonstrated evidence of prior microbleeds on the pretreatment MRI studies. Major symptomatic hemorrhage occurred in 1 of 5 patients with microbleeds compared with 4 of 36 patients without. Only 1 patient in the entire 41-patient cohort experienced any HT outside the acute ischemic field. In this patient, the symptomatic hemorrhage occurred directly at the site of a prior microbleed, contralateral to the acute ischemic event. Conclusions— Old silent microbleeds, visualized with T2*-weighted MRI sequences, may be a marker of increased risk of HT in patients receiving thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Pretreatment screening of thrombolytic candidates with these MRI sequences may be useful in the future to identify these patients.
FDG PET Performed at Thyroid Remnant Ablation Has a Higher Predictive Value for Long-Term Survival of High-Risk Patients With Well-Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Than Radioiodine Uptake

Purpose The predictive value of FDG PET at thyroid remnant ablation was evaluated in comparison to radioiodine uptake in high-risk patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Patients and Methods One hundred forty-one patients who underwent radioiodine therapy (RIT) after total thyroidectomy and received at least 1 further RIT due to suspected metastases were retrospectively analyzed. Patients had not received RIT previously. FDG PET was performed before thyroid remnant ablation. Thyroid-stimulating hormone–stimulated serum thyroglobulin (Tg) was measured for biochemical response assessment (change of Tg between the first and second RIT, &Dgr;Tg). Results Biochemical response could be evaluated in 80 patients; survival data could be obtained for 88 patients (maximum, 124 months). Biochemical response was significantly better in patients with radioiodine-positive metastases compared with patients with radioiodine-negative metastases (median &Dgr;Tg I+, 55.8% vs I−, 112.6%; P < 0.01). Regarding survival, deaths occurred later in patients with radioiodine-positive metastases compared with radioiodine-negative patients; however, there was no significant difference regarding overall survival (I+, 61.3% vs I−, 58.2%; P > 0.05). Patients with FDG-positive metastases at thyroid remnant ablation showed a poorer biochemical response compared with patients with FDG-negative metastases (median &Dgr;Tg FDG+, 77.5% vs FDG−, 53.2%; P < 0.05), and these groups also differed significantly regarding survival (overall survival FDG+, 48.5% vs FDG−, 100%, P < 0.05). Conclusions At thyroid remnant ablation, FDG PET is more predictive for long-term survival, whereas radioiodine uptake is more important for short-term response. FDG PET performed at thyroid remnant ablation might represent a useful tool for management of high-risk patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.
Caractérisation par anémométrie à fils chauds d'écoulements turbulents de Poiseuille et de Couette-poiseuille en vue de la validation de modèles de turbulence

Diverses solutions existent pour simuler un ecoulement turbulent, la plus ancienne etant l'approche statistique. Cette derniere est la plus developpee au plan industriel mais souffre d'un manque de donnees experimentales fiables et completes. La simulation numerique directe (dns) et l'approche necessitent des calculs tres longs, tres onereux, et sont de ce fait encore limites. A court terme, on peut envisager d'ameliorer les modeles statistiques par une approche conjointe dns -experience. Le present travail s'inscrit dans ce contexte. Pour ce faire, un travail experimental, base sur des mesures par anemometrie a fils chauds, a etee entrepris. Il a permis de valider des dns existantes d'ecoulements de poiseuille pur et de couette-poiseuille dans la majeure partie du canal et ceci pour des correlations allant jusqu'a l'ordre 4. La comparaison effectuee a des nombres de reynolds equivalents, a souligne la qualite des resultats experimentaux obtenus dans cette etude. Ce travail a egalement permis de proceder a une etude precise de l'influence du nombre de reynolds sur les ecoulements de poiseuille pur. On a fait varier ce parametre entre 5 000 et 30 000. Une comparaison detaillee, avec les nombreux resultats disponibles dans la litterature a ete effectuee.
Inhibition of colon carcinogenesis by prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors and related compounds.

The inhibitory effect of 40 and 80% maximum tolerated dose (MTD) levels of piroxicam, ibuprofen, ketoprofen and glycyrrhetinic acid on colon carcinogenesis was investigated in male F344 rats. The MTD levels of piroxicam, ibuprofen, ketoprofen and glycyrrhetinic acid as determined in male F344 rats were 500, 500, 250 and 3000 p.p.m. respectively. At 5 weeks of age, groups of male F344 rats were fed the control (AIN-76A) diet and 40 and 80% MTD levels of each test agent in AIN-76A diet. At 7 weeks of age, all animals except the vehicle (saline)-treated controls received azoxymethane (AOM) at a dose rate of 15 mg/kg body wt, once weekly for 2 weeks. All animals were necropsied 50 weeks after the second AOM injection and colon tumor incidences were compared among the groups fed the control diet and chemopreventive agents. Animals fed 400 (80% MTD) and 200 p.p.m. (40% MTD) of piroxicam, 400 p.p.m. (80% MTD) of ibuprofen and 200 p.p.m. (80% MTD) of ketoprofen showed a significant inhibition of colon tumorigenesis as compared to those fed the control diet. Results analyzed by the linear regression method suggested a dose-dependent inhibition of colon carcinogenesis with increasing levels of piroxicam or ibuprofen. In contrast, glycyrrhetinic acid had no measurable chemopreventive effect on colon carcinogenesis.
Physical separation of features: a survey with CPP developers

Several implementation techniques for software product lines have emerged over time. A common distinction of these techniques is whether features are annotated in the code base (virtually separated) or composed from modules (physically separated). While each approach promises different pros and cons, mainly annotations and especially the C PreProcessor (CPP) are established in practice. Thus, the question arises, which barriers prevent the adoption of composition-based approaches. In this paper, we report an empirical study among C and C++ developers in which we investigate this issue. Therefore, we ask our participants to describe how they use the CPP and how they assess the idea of moving annotated code into modules. More precisely, we use small examples based on our Feature Compositional PreProcessor (FeatureCoPP) that enables this separation while keeping annotations---avoiding divergences from the preprocessor concept. Overall, we identify different characteristics that indicate when physical separation can be useful. While most responses are skeptical towards the approach, they also emphasize its usability for source code analysis and for implementing specific use cases.
Estimator for photon counting energy selective x-ray imaging with multibin pulse height analysis.

PURPOSE This paper describes a noniterative estimator for the energy dependent information from photon counting detectors with multibin pulse height analysis (PHA). The estimator uses the two function decomposition of the attenuation coefficient [R. E. Alvarez and A. Macovski, Phys. Med. Biol. 21, 733-744 (1976)] and its output is the line integrals of the basis set coefficients. The output noise variance and bias is compared to other noniterative estimators and to the Cramèr-Rao lower bound (CRLB). METHODS The estimator first computes an initial estimate from a linearized maximum likelihood estimator. The errors in the initial estimates are determined at a set of points from measurements on a calibration phantom. The errors at these known points are interpolated to create two-dimensional look up tables of corrections to the initial estimates. During image acquisition, the linearized maximum likelihood estimate for each data point is used as an input to the correction look up tables, and the final output is the sum of the estimate and the correction. The performance of the estimator is compared to generalizations of the polynomial and rational polynomial estimators for multibin data. The estimators are compared by the mean square error (MSE) and its components, the bias, and the variance of the output. The variance is also compared to the CRLB. The performance is simulated with two to five bins PHA data. The CRLB at a fixed object thickness is also computed as a function of the number of bins. RESULTS For two bin data, all the estimators' variances are equal to the CRLB. With three or more bins, only the proposed estimator achieves the CRLB while the others, which were not optimized for noise performance, have much larger output variance. The bias of the proposed estimator is equal to the polynomial estimator for calibration phantoms with 40 or more steps, that is, 1600 combinations of basis materials, but is larger than the rational polynomial bias. In all cases at the photon counts tested, the MSE is essentially equal to the variance, indicating that the bias errors are negligible compared to the variance. CONCLUSIONS The estimator provides a noniterative method to compute the energy dependent information from multibin PHA data that achieves the CRLB over a wide range of operating conditions and has low output bias. The estimator can be calibrated based on the measurements of a calibration phantom; so, it does not require measurements of the x-ray energy spectrum or the detector response functions.
Discriminating earthquakes and explosion events by seismic signals basing on BP-Adaboost classifier

Aiming to discriminate earthquakes and explosion events by seismic signals, this paper makes comparisons among Back-propagation neural networks(BP-NN), support vector machine(SVM), and an ensemble learning method: BP-Adaboost. Experiments on our wave features dataset extracted from seismic signals of earthquake and explosion events, have shown that BP-Adaboost can achieve the overall correct recognition rate not less than 98%, with excellent generalization capability, obviously surpassing BP-NN and SVM. The explanation of BP-Adaboost superiors to other two classical main methods is also briefly given.
Dyslexic Children Show Short-Term Memory Deficits in Phonological Storage and Serial Rehearsal: An fMRI Study

Dyslexia is primarily associated with a phonological processing deficit. However, the clinical manifestation also includes a reduced verbal working memory (WM) span. It is unclear whether this WM impairment is caused by the phonological deficit or a distinct WM deficit. The main aim of this study was to investigate neuronal activation related to phonological storage and rehearsal of serial order in WM in a sample of 13-year-old dyslexic children compared with age-matched nondyslexic children. A sequential verbal WM task with two tasks was used. In the Letter Probe task, the probe consisted of a single letter and the judgment was for the presence or absence of that letter in the prior sequence of six letters. In the Sequence Probe (SP) task, the probe consisted of all six letters and the judgment was for a match of their serial order with the temporal order in the prior sequence. Group analyses as well as single-subject analysis were performed with the statistical parametric mapping software SPM2. In the Letter Probe task, the dyslexic readers showed reduced activation in the left precentral gyrus (BA6) compared to control group. In the Sequence Probe task, the dyslexic readers showed reduced activation in the prefrontal cortex and the superior parietal cortex (BA7) compared to the control subjects. Our findings suggest that a verbal WM impairment in dyslexia involves an extended neural network including the prefrontal cortex and the superior parietal cortex. Reduced activation in the left BA6 in both the Letter Probe and Sequence Probe tasks may be caused by a deficit in phonological processing. However, reduced bilateral activation in the BA7 in the Sequence Probe task only could indicate a distinct working memory deficit in dyslexia associated with temporal order processing.
Towards the development of more human-like robotic therapy devices: A review

Over the past decade, more and more robotic devices have been tested in the physical rehabilitation setting. While initial results from some devices indicate signs of improvements in subject's motor functions, some studies reveal the contrary. The contradicting results from these studies highlight the need of optimizing the design strategies of robotic therapy devices. In the absence of clear scientific basis for the designs of such devices, researchers should rely on proven principles of physical rehabilitation practices. In order to achieve their goals, robotic devices should become more human like in connecting intent with actions.
SODIUM CONTENT OF BREAST MILK IN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS AFTER DELIVERY

Sodium intake in the first months of life may be important in the early pathogenesis of essential hypertension (1 ) . Several investigators found a marked fall of sodium concentration in breast milk during the first week after delivery (2-4). We measured the sodium concentration of human milk during the first six months postpartum. Material and methods. The mothers of 476 infants, who took part in an investigation of sodium intake and blood-pressure in newborns, participated in this study. Three hundred and twenty mothers (67.2%) breast-fed their infant for one day or more; of those who started breast-feeding, 85.3 %, 46.6% and 21.9% continued to do so after 1 , 9 and 25 weeks, respectively. We obtained one or more samples of breast milk from 269 breast-feeding mothers (84.1 %). The remaining 15.9% had already changed to bottle-feeding before we contacted them in the first two weeks after delivery. The samples of breast milk were ob-
The 2011 BEST speaker recognition interim assessment

In the fall of 2011, NIST conducted an interim assessment of speaker recognition technology developed as part of the Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activity (IARPA) Biometric Exploitation Science and Technology (BEST) program. The goal of the first phase of the BEST program was to advance the state of the art in biometric technology and to provide direction for future phases of the program. Robustness to intrinsic, extrinsic, and parametric variations was of particular interest to the BEST program, and therefore measuring performance across such variations was a focus of the assessment. This included the use of data with simulated room acoustics and additive noise. A new, simple, and intuitive performance measure was utilized. Improvement in performance compared to a baseline system was observed in all conditions examined to date.
Lipid profiles in untreated patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate lipid profiles in patients with untreated active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to assess the relationship of the inflammatory condition of RA with lipid profiles. METHODS Forty-two patients with RA and 42 age and sex matched healthy controls were studied. Patients with RA had not been treated with corticosteroid or disease modifying antirheumatic drugs prior to the study. Total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein A1 (apo A1), apolipoprotein B (apo B), lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured in both groups. RESULTS The levels of apo A1 and HDL-cholesterol were significantly lower in patients than in controls (128.5 vs. 151.8 mg/dl, 41.2 vs. 54.9 mg/dl, respectively). The level of Lp(a) was significantly higher in patients than in controls (27.1 vs. 18.0 mg/dl). The ratios of apo B/apo A1, total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol were significantly higher in patients than in controls (0.82 vs. 0.67, 4.4 vs. 3.4, 2.8 vs. 1.9, respectively). CRP showed a significant correlation with apo A1 (r = -0.44, p<0.01) and HDL-cholesterol (r = -0.35, p<0.05). CONCLUSION Our study suggests that patients with untreated active RA have altered lipoprotein and apolipoprotein patterns that may possibly expose them to higher risk of atherosclerosis. The inflammatory condition of RA may affect the metabolism of HDL-cholesterol and apo A1.
An automated analysis system of Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL)-endotoxin reaction kinetics using turbidimetric kinetic assay.

An automated analysis system for evaluating reaction kinetics between Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) and endotoxin has been developed by using a data acquisition program for the Toxinometer. This program collects the time-course data of turbidity change in gel-clotting in the LAL-endotoxin reaction, determines the gelation time, and calculates endotoxin concentration of up to 64 samples simultaneously and independently. Whole time-course data obtained at 12s increments are displayed on a monitor and reported on a printer both graphically and numerically. LAL-endotoxin reaction kinetics depending upon different LAL preparations or inhibitory or enhancing effects of chemicals, were analyzed with this system by observing the reaction time-course data. By selecting variable threshold values for gelation detection of this program, well correlated standard curves of endotoxin concentration were obtained. Furthermore, by introducing parameters related to the reaction to the reaction kinetics, gel formation induced by β-1, 3-glucan could be distinguished from that by endotoxin, which was impossible with the conventional gel-clot method.