Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A plateau potential mediated by the activation of extrasynaptic NMDA receptors in rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons

Hippocampal pyramidal neurons express various extrasynaptic glutamate receptors. When glutamate spillover was facilitated by blocking glutamate uptake and fast synaptic transmission was blocked by antagonists of AMPA‐ and NMDA‐type glutamate receptors and an ionotropic GABA receptor blocker, repetitive synaptic stimulation evoked a persistent membrane depolarization that consisted of an early Ca2+‐independent component and a late Ca2+‐dependent component. The early component, which we refer to as a plateau potential, had a half‐width of 770 ± 160 ms and a steady peak level of −9.54 ± 3.50 mV. It was accompanied by an increase in membrane conductance, the I–V relationship of which showed a peak at −19.91 ± 2.18 mV and reversal of the current at −4.32 ± 2.13 mV, and was suppressed by high concentration of an NMDA receptor (NMDAR) antagonist d‐APV, or an NMDAR glycine‐binding site antagonist 5,7‐dCK. After blocking synaptically located NMDARs using MK801, the potential was still evoked synaptically when spillover was facilitated. A sustained depolarization was evoked by iontophoretic application of glutamate in the presence or absence of a glutamate uptake blocker. This potential was not affected by Na+ or Ca2+ channel blockers, but was suppressed by 5,7‐dCK, leaving an unspecified depolarizing potential. Iontophoresis of NMDA evoked a sustained depolarization that was blocked by a high concentration of d‐APV or 5,7‐dCK. The I–V relationship of the current during this potential was similar to that obtained during the synaptically induced plateau potentials. These results show that CA1 pyramidal neurons generate plateau potentials mediated most likely by activation of extrasynaptic NMDARs.
Mental disorders in primary health care: a study of their frequency and diagnosis in four developing countries

SYNOPSIS 1624 patients who were attending primary health facilities in 4 developing countries were examined to determine how many were suffering from mental disorder. Using stringent criteria to establish the presence of psychiatric morbidity, 225 cases were found, indicating an overall frequency of 13·9 %. The great majority of cases were suffering from neurotic illnesses and for most the presenting complaint was of a physical symptom, such as headache, abdominal pain, cough or weakness. The health workers following their normal procedure correctly detected one third of the psychiatric cases.
Measuring Time Preferences

We review research that measures time preferences-i.e., preferences over intertemporal tradeoffs. We distinguish between studies using financial flows, which we call "money earlier or later" (MEL) decisions and studies that use time-dated consumption/effort. Under different structural models, we show how to translate what MEL experiments directly measure (required rates of return for financial flows) into a discount function over utils. We summarize empirical regularities found in MEL studies and the predictive power of those studies. We explain why MEL choices are driven in part by some factors that are distinct from underlying time preferences.
Early immunologic and virologic responses to highly active antiretroviral therapy and subsequent disease progression among HIV-infected injection drug users

Abstract We examined the prevalence and prognostic value of early responses to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) among community-based injection drug users (IDUs) in Baltimore. Virologic (HIV RNA <1000 copies/ml) and immunologic (CD4 >500 cells/ul or increase of 50 cells/ul from the pre-HAART level) responses were examined in the 1st year of HAART initiation. Cox regression was used to examine the effect of early response on progression to new AIDS diagnosis or AIDS-related death. Among 258 HAART initiators, 75(29%) had no response, 53(21%) had a virologic response only, 38(15%) had an immunologic response only and 92(36%) had a combined immunologic and virologic response in the first year of therapy. Poorer responses were observed in those who were older, had been recently incarcerated, reported injecting drugs, had not had a recent outpatient visit and had some treatment interruption within the 1st year of HAART. In multiple Cox regression analysis, the risk of progression was lower in those with combined virologic and immunologic response than in non-responders, (relative hazard [RH], 0.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.17–0.60). Those with discordant responses had reduced risk of progression compared to non-responders but experienced faster progression than those with a combined response, although none of these differences was statistically significant. Early discordant and non response to HAART was common, often occurred in the setting of injection drug use and treatment interruption and was associated with poorer survival. Interventions to reduce treatment interruptions and to provide continuity of HIV care during incarceration among IDUs are needed to improve responses and subsequent survival.
The Effect of Mentoring on Successor Nurturing in Family Businesses

Literature reveals that many family businesses are not able to manage successful succession to the next generation due to poor successor nurturing. Therefore, it seems essential to apply effective methods of successor nurturing to prepare a competent successor. Mentoring, as one of the main methods of nurturing, helps the successor nurturing process through a range of functions. However, the effect of different functions of mentoring on preparing the successor has not been well explained in literature. In this research, we have addressed this issue by identifying the competencies which are developed by applying mentoring functions. To this end, the paper has studied five successful Iranian family businesses. The results suggest that these family businesses have applied all mentoring functions and each function has helped to develop specific competencies in the successor. This article discusses each of the functions and explains the way they affect successor nurturing.
Invariant feature extraction for image classification via multi-channel convolutional neural network

The invariance for feature extraction, such as invariance for specificity of homogeneous sample and rotation invariance, is crucial for object detection and classification applications. Current researches mainly focus on a specific invariance of features, such as rotation invariance. In this paper, a novel multi-channel convolutional neural network (mCNN) is proposed to extract invariant features for object classification. Multi-channel convolutions sharing identical weights are used to alleviate the feature variance of sample pairs with different rotations in the same category. As a result, the invariance for specificity of homogeneous object and rotation invariance are simultaneously encountered to improve the invariance of features. More importantly, the proposed mCNN is especially effective for small training samples. Experimental results on two benchmark datasets for handwriting recognition demonstrate that the proposed mCNN is very effective to extract invariant feature with small amount of training samples.
Insight into the chemistry of flavin reduction and oxidation in Escherichia coli dihydroorotate dehydrogenase obtained by rapid reaction studies.

Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHOD) oxidizes dihydroorotate (DHO) to orotate in the only redox reaction of pyrimidine biosynthesis. The enzyme from Escherichia coli is a membrane-bound FMN-containing enzyme that is thought to use ubiquinone as the oxidizing substrate. The chemistry of the reduction of the flavin in DHOD from E. coli by the substrate dihydroorotate (DHO) was studied at 4 degrees C in anaerobic stopped-flow experiments conducted over a broad range of pH values. A Michaelis complex that was characterized by a approximately 20 nm red-shift of the oxidized flavin absorbance formed within the dead-time of the stopped-flow instrument ( approximately 1 ms) upon mixing with DHO. The flavin of the intermediate was reduced by DHO, forming a reduced flavin-orotate charge-transfer complex. The rate constant for the flavin reduction reaction increased with pH, from a value of 1 s(-1) at pH 6.5 to approximately 360 s(-1) at pH values greater than an observed pK(a) of 9.5 which was ascribed to Ser175, the active-site base. At all pH values, the reduced flavin-orotate charge-transfer complex dissociated too slowly to be catalytically relevant. Therefore, the oxidizing quinone substrate must bind to the reduced enzyme-orotate complex at a site distinct from the substrate binding site, in agreement with steady-state kinetic studies [Björnberg, O. , Grüner, A. -C. , Roepstorff, P., and Jensen, K. F. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 2899-2908]. Menadione was used as a model quinone substrate to oxidize dithionite-reduced DHOD. The reduced enzyme-orotate complex reacted rapidly with menadione (180 s(-1)), demonstrating that the reduced enzyme-orotate complex is a catalytically competent intermediate.
A Cross‐Country Investigation of the Determinants of Scope of E‐commerce Use: An Institutional Approach

The Internet and e‐commerce have become increasingly diffused globally, bringing countries together into a global networked economy. Understanding global diffusion requires insight into the determinants of this process across countries. Building on past EDI and IT diffusion studies, this paper moves beyond adoption to look at the determinants of scope of use among e‐commerce adopters. It develops and tests an integrated model of scope of e‐commerce use, drawing on extensive survey data from a total of 2,139 establishments from three industries across ten countries. Derived from institutional theory and the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, the model integrates factors of national environment and policy with organizational and technological factors, finding the most significant predictors of scope of use to be technology resources, perceived strategic benefits, financial resources, legislation barriers, external pressure, and government promotion. There were also significant country effe.
Impact of perinatal oral health care education programme on the knowledge, attitude and practice behavior amongst gynaecologists of Vadodara city

Context: Gynecologists the Primary Health Care providers, for pregnant mothers bear the unique responsibility to detect and diagnose oral health problems for timely and effective interventions. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the impact of Perinatal Oral Health Care (POHC) education program on the knowledge, attitude and practice behavior amongst Gynaecologists of Vadodara City. Settings and Design: An analytical cross sectional study was conducted amongst Gynecologists practicing in Vadodara city, registered under Indian Medical Association (IMA), Baroda, Gujarat. Materials and Methods: A validated questionnaire survey was conducted to establish a baseline level of knowledge, attitude and practice behavior of 46 Gynecologists. After that education and awareness regarding POHC to Gynecologists was provided with the help of flip charts and resource brochures. To determine the impact of recent provision of education and awareness a post-test was conducted. Statistical analysis used: Data was analyzed by paired t-test using the SPSS Version 20. Results: The results after evaluating the data from pretest and posttest showed a mean increase of correct answers in knowledge (from 7.304-9.891; P = 0.00), Attitude (from 3.978-4.108; P = 0.49) and practice behavior (from 4.130-5.521; P = 0.00) in POHC amongst Gynecologists following the education program. Conclusions: It can be concluded that there is a need for provision of education and awareness to the primary health care providers which would help in improving pregnant women and infant′s oral health status along with establishment of dental home.
Roles of oxidation-reduction potential in electrolyzed oxidizing and chemically modified water for the inactivation of food-related pathogens.

This study investigates the properties of electrolyzed oxidizing (EO) water for the inactivation of pathogen and to evaluate the chemically modified solutions possessing properties similar to EO water in killing Escherichia coli O157:H7. A five-strain cocktail (10(10) CFU/ml) of E. coli O157:H7 was subjected to deionized water (control), EO water with 10 mg/liter residual chlorine (J.A.W-EO water), EO water with 56 mg/liter residual chlorine (ROX-EO water), and chemically modified solutions. Inactivation (8.88 log10 CFU/ml reduction) of E. coli O157:H7 occurred within 30 s after application of EO water and chemically modified solutions containing chlorine and 1% bromine. Iron was added to EO or chemically modified solutions to reduce oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) readings and neutralizing buffer was added to neutralize chlorine. J.A. W-EO water with 100 mg/liter iron, acetic acid solution, and chemically modified solutions containing neutralizing buffer or 100 mg/liter iron were ineffective in reducing the bacteria population. ROX-EO water with 100 mg/liter iron was the only solution still effective in inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 and having high ORP readings regardless of residual chlorine. These results suggest that it is possible to simulate EO water by chemically modifying deionized water and ORP of the solution may be the primary factor affecting microbial inactivation.
Effect of rice cultivars on yield-scaled methane emissions in a double rice field in South China

Abstract Rice cultivar is the most influential factor affecting methane emissions from double rice fields. A two-year field experiment was conducted at Huizhou, Guangdong province, South China, to identify from among nine cultivars those cultivars with high-yield potential and lower yield-scaled methane emissions (YSMEs). Methane emissions were measured using the static chamber – gas chromatograph method. Results indicate that the cultivars Qihuazhan (QH), Yexianzhan 8 (YX8) and Yue’erzhan (YE) provide higher rice grain yield (8.69%) with lower YSME (30.27%) compared to the other six cultivars (Yexianzhan 6, Yuejingsimiao, Hefengzhan, Huangsizhan, Huangruanzhan and Huangxiuzhan) (p < 0.05). In particular, QH has the highest yield potential (6777 kg ha−1) and lowest methane emission intensity (0.36 kg kg−1 yield) capacity. Methane emissions from the double rice field was found to be significantly (p < 0.05) and positively correlated with tiller number, culm biomass and soil organic matter, dissolved soil organic carbon and total carbon content, but negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with rice harvest index (HI), and root and panicle biomass, suggesting that organic source strength provides the substrate of methane production while the oxidation potential in the rhizosphere and the methane transport capacity of rice roots and culm dominate the emissions of methane from soil to the atmosphere. Multivariate decision regression tree (DRT) analysis showed a significant class difference between QH, YX8 and YE with the other six cultivars. These three cultivars are suitable for promotion of low carbon agriculture in South China. DRT analysis also successfully illustrated a potential way to identify rice varieties for low YSME by decisive parameters of tiller number (<15), HI (>0.43) and nitrogen assimilation of leaves (<40). These findings suggest that optimization of rice cultivars may represent an effective way to address both food demand and climate change concerns by improving rice yields while simultaneously minimizing the impact of climate change per unit yield.
Prospective comparison of packed red blood cell–to–fresh frozen plasma transfusion ratio of 4: 1 versus 1 1 during acute massive burn excision

BACKGROUND Acute burn excision results in at least 2% blood volume loss per percent excised; hence, massive blood loss (>50% total blood volume) occurs during major burn excisions. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess safety and prospectively compare the impact of a 4:1 versus a 1:1 packed red blood cell–fresh frozen plasma (PRBC/FFP) transfusion strategy on outcomes in children with burns greater than 20% total body surface area (TBSA). METHODS Children with greater than 20% TBSA burn were randomized to a 1:1 or 4:1 PRBC/FFP ratio during burn excision. Parameters measured on admission included demographics, burn size, and Pediatric Risk of Mortality scores. Laboratory values that were measured preoperatively, 1 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours, and 1 week included prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), international normalized ratio (INR), fibrinogen, protein C, and antithrombin C (AIII). Total number of blood products transfused during operative interventions and during hospitalization were recorded. RESULTS Groups were similar in age, weight, TBSA, and Pediatric Risk of Mortality scores at admission. Preoperative fibrinogen, antithrombins III (AIII), protein C, hemoglobin, PT/PTT, INR, and platelets were similar between groups. The 1:1 group received more FFP (43.8 ± 0.03 U in 1:1 group vs. 15.7 ± 0.07 in the 4:1 group) and less PRBC (40.7 ± 0.02 U in 1:1 group vs. 73.1 ± 0.02 U in 4:1 group) than the 4:1 group. Approximately 50% blood volume was replaced with PRBC intraopaeratively. There was no difference in PT/PTT, INR, hemoglobin, or platelets between groups. Protein C and AIII were higher in the 1:1 group. Cost of FFP and PRBC were lower in the 1:1 group. CONCLUSION A 1:1 PRBC/FFP transfusion strategy increased FFP use, decreased overall PRBC use, and resulted in higher AIII and protein C postoperatively without a difference in INR or PT/PTT. This may represent compensatory changes in the 4:1 group in response to intraoperative blood loss. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic, level II.
Comparative evaluation of various cytomorphological grading systems in breast carcinoma

Abstract Background: The diagnosis of breast carcinoma can be reliably made by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Grading usually done in histological samples for the selection of therapy but not in cytology. Various cytological grading systems have been proposed; however, none of them is presently considered the gold standard to predict the prognosis. Aim: This study was undertaken to evaluate various 3-tier cytological grading systems and to determine the best possible system corresponds to the histological grading proposed by Elston and Ellis based on the method by Nottingham modification of Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) method. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, 94 cases of breast carcinoma FNACs were graded using six cytological grading systems and compared with SBR method. Concordance, association, and correlation studies were done to select best possible cytological grading system. The interobserver reproducibility among the six grading systems was also assessed. Results: Robinson method showed best correlation (r = 0.801; P = 0.0001 and t = 0.783; P = 0.0001), maximum percent agreement (83/94 cases; 88.3%), and a substantial kappa value of agreement (k = 0.737) with the Nottingham modification of SBR grading system followed by Mouriguand method. Taniguchi system showed better interobserver agreement (87.2%; k= 0.738). Conclusions: This study showed that all six cytological grading systems correlated positively with SBR method. However, Robinson's grading system demonstrated the best concordance, correlation, and substantial Kappa value of the agreement with the histological grading by SBR method in comparison to other 3-tier cytological grading systems. Hence, in conclusion, this grading should be routinely incorporated in the cytology reports as it correlates well with histological grade. Despite various cytological grading systems, Robinson's method is simple, more objective, and reproducible, hence being preferable for routine use.
A New Measure of the Financial Cycle: Application to the Czech Republic

The recent financial crisis has demonstrated the importance of the linkages between the financial sector and the real economy. This article proposes a suitable and easy-to-apply method for assessing the position of the economy in the financial cycle in order to identify emerging imbalances in a timely manner. The method utilizes a composite indicator, constructed by the authors, that combines variables representing risk perceptions in the financial sector and their reinforcing interactions over the financial cycle. The indicator is calibrated to capture the future credit losses of the Czech banking sector. This method can be used by policymakers for a wide range of policy decisions, including the setting of a countercyclical capital buffer.
Four-Year Angiographic and Intravascular Ultrasound Follow-Up of Patients Treated With Sirolimus-Eluting Stents

Background—Despite the proven superiority of sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs) compared with bare stents in the first year after implantation, long-term outcomes of patients treated with these novel devices remain unknown. Our goal was to evaluate the clinical, angiographic, and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) outcomes of patients treated with SESs 4 years after implantation. Methods and Results—The study included 30 patients treated with sirolimus-eluting Bx Velocity stenting (slow release [SR; n=15] and fast release [FR; n=15]). Twenty-six patients underwent 4-year angiographic and IVUS follow-up and had matched assessments at all time points (index and 4-, 12-, 24-, and 48-month follow-up). One death occurred during the study period in a patient with a patent SES. There were no target-vessel revascularizations or thromboses between 2- and 4-year follow-up examinations. There was no stent thrombosis, target-lesion revascularization, death, or myocardial infarction in the SR group up to 4 years. Cumulative event-free survival rate was 87% for the total population (80% in the FR group and 93% in the SR group). In-stent late loss was slightly greater in the FR group (0.41±0.49 mm) than the SR group (0.09±0.23) after 4 years. One patient in the FR group had a 52% in-stent restenosis lesion. Percent neointimal hyperplasia volume, as detected by IVUS, remained minimal after 4 years (FR=9.1% and SR=5.7%). Conclusions—This study confirms the longevity of the optimal outcomes observed in patients treated with sirolimus-eluting Bx Velocity stents 4 years after implantation. In-stent lumen dimensions remained essentially unchanged at 4-year follow-up, particularly in the population treated with the currently available SES (SR formulation).
Psychodynamic Changes in Untreated Neurotic Patients: II. Apparently Genuine Improvements

This work is part of a study of 45 neurotic patients who were seen for consultation at the Tavistock Clinic but who never received treatment, and who, by the time they were asked to come for follow-up, had never been interviewed by a psychiatrist more than twice in their whole lives. In a previous report, we described 13 patients who were at least "improved" on purely symptomatic criteria but whom we did not regard as improved on dynamic criteria. Here, we describe 11 patients who were judged to be improved on dynamic criteria. These patients are of extraordinary interest, providing not only direct evidence of therapeutic mechanisms in everyday life—an answer to a question posed by Strupp and Bergin in 1969—but also, quite unexpectedly, evidence about the therapeutic effects of single interviews.