Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cell death of motoneurons in the chick embryo spinal cord. IV. Evidence that a functional neuromuscular interaction is involved in the regulation of naturally occurring cell death and the stabilization of synapses

Embryos immobilized with neuromuscular blocking agents for differing periods between 4.5 and 9 days of incubation had an increased number of motoneurons in the brachial and lumbar lateral motor columns. Treatment with α‐cobratoxin (α‐CTX) on days 4‐9 for instance, was able to prevent virtually all natural cell death during this period; control embryos had an average of 22,500 lumbar motoneurons on day 5.5, and 13,500 on day 10, whereas treated embryos had approximately 21,000 cells on day 10. Curare, α‐CTX, α‐bungarotoxin (α‐BTX) and botulinum toxin were all about equally effective in preventing cell death. Similar treatment begun after day 12, however, had no effect on cell number. If even a partial immobilization was continued after day 10 (in embryos totally immobilized earlier) most of the excess neurons were maintained, in some cases right up to hatching, at which time the embryos died due to respiratory failure. In contrast, when administration of the immobilizing agents was stopped, allowing the embryos' motility to return to control levels, the excess neurons underwent a delayed cell death and total cell number fell to below control levels by days 16‐18.
Modeling astronomical adaptive optics performance with temporally filtered Wiener reconstruction of slope data.

We build on a long-standing tradition in astronomical adaptive optics (AO) of specifying performance metrics and error budgets using linear systems modeling in the spatial-frequency domain. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive tool for the calculation of error budgets in terms of residual temporally filtered phase power spectral densities and variances. In addition, the fast simulation of AO-corrected point spread functions (PSFs) provided by this method can be used as inputs for simulations of science observations with next-generation instruments and telescopes, in particular to predict post-coronagraphic contrast improvements for planet finder systems. We extend the previous results presented in Correia and Teixeira [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A31, 2763 (2014)JOAOD60740-323210.1364/JOSAA.31. 002763] to the closed-loop case with predictive controllers and generalize the analytical modeling of Rigaut et al. [Proc. SPIE3353, 1038 (1998)PSISDG0277-786X10.1117/12.321649], Flicker [Technical Report (W. M. Keck Observatory, 2007)], and Jolissaint [J. Eur. Opt. Soc.5, 10055 (2010)1990-257310.2971/jeos.2010. 10055]. We follow closely the developments of Ellerbroek [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A22, 310 (2005)JOAOD60740-323210.1364/JOSAA.22. 000310] and propose the synthesis of a distributed Kalman filter to mitigate both aniso-servo-lag and aliasing errors while minimizing the overall residual variance. We discuss applications to (i) analytic AO-corrected PSF modeling in the spatial-frequency domain, (ii) post-coronagraphic contrast enhancement, (iii) filter optimization for real-time wavefront reconstruction, and (iv) PSF reconstruction from system telemetry. Under perfect knowledge of wind velocities, we show that ∼60 nm rms error reduction can be achieved with the distributed Kalman filter embodying antialiasing reconstructors on 10 m class high-order AO systems, leading to contrast improvement factors of up to three orders of magnitude at few λ/D separations (∼1-5λ/D) for a 0 magnitude star and reaching close to one order of magnitude for a 12 magnitude star.
Transplanted human cord blood-derived unrestricted somatic stem cells improve left-ventricular function and prevent left-ventricular dilation and scar formation after acute myocardial infarction

Objective: Functional improvement after acute myocardial ischaemia (MI) has been achieved by transplantation of different adult stem and progenitor cell types. It is controversial whether these cell types are able to form novel functional myocardium. Alternatively, graft-related or immune-related paracrine mechanisms may preserve existing myocardium, improve neovascularisation, affect tissue remodelling or induce endogenous de novo formation of functional myocardium. We have applied an alternative somatic cell type, human cord-blood-derived unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSCs) in a porcine model of acute MI. Methods: USSCs were transplanted into the acutely ischaemic lateral wall of the left ventricle (LV). LV dimension and function were assessed by transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) pre-MI, immediately post-MI, 48 hours and 8 weeks after USSC injection. Additionally, apoptosis, mitosis and recruitment of macrophages were examined 48 hours post-engraftment. Results: Gender-specific and species-specific FISH/immunostaining failed to detect engrafted donor cells 8 weeks post-MI. Nevertheless, cell treatment effectively preserved natural myocardial architecture. Global left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) before MI was 60% (7%). Post-MI, LVEF decreased to 34% (8%). After 8 weeks, LVEF had further decreased to 27% (6%) in the control group and recovered to 52% (2%) in the USSC group (p<0.01). Left-ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) before MI was 28 (2) ml. 8 weeks post-MI, LVEDV had increased to 77 (4) ml in the control group. No LV dilation was detected in the USSC group (LVEDV: 26 (2) ml, p<0.01). Neither apoptosis nor recruitment of macrophages and mitosis were different in either groups. Conclusions: Transplantation of USSCs significantly improved LV function and prevented scar formation as well as LV dilation. Since differentiation, apoptosis and macrophage mobilisation at infarct site were excluded as underlying mechanisms, paracrine effects are most likely to account for the observed effects of USSC treatment.
SNPfisher: tools for probing genetic variation in laboratory-reared zebrafish

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the benchmark molecular markers for modern genomics. Until recently, relatively few SNPs were known in the zebrafish genome. The use of next-generation sequencing for the positional cloning of zebrafish mutations has increased the number of known SNP positions dramatically. Still, the identified SNP variants remain under-utilized, owing to scant annotation of strain specificity and allele frequency. To address these limitations, we surveyed SNP variation in three common laboratory zebrafish strains using whole-genome sequencing. This survey identified an average of 5.04 million SNPs per strain compared with the Zv9 reference genome sequence. By comparing the three strains, 2.7 million variants were found to be strain specific, whereas the remaining variants were shared among all (2.3 million) or some of the strains. We also demonstrate the broad usefulness of our identified variants by validating most in independent populations of the same laboratory strains. We have made all of the identified SNPs accessible through ‘SNPfisher’, a searchable online database (snpfisher.nichd.nih.gov). The SNPfisher website includes the SNPfisher Variant Reporter tool, which provides the genomic position, alternate allele read frequency, strain specificity, restriction enzyme recognition site changes and flanking primers for all SNPs and Indels in a user-defined gene or region of the zebrafish genome. The SNPfisher site also contains links to display our SNP data in the UCSC genome browser. The SNPfisher tools will facilitate the use of SNP variation in zebrafish research as well as vertebrate genome evolution. SUMMARY: SNP variation in three common laboratory zebrafish strains is analyzed using whole-genome sequencing and is organized into a user-friendly and searchable online database.
Intermediates of adeno-associated virus DNA replication in vitro

Intermediates of adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV) DNA replication in an in vitro assay have been characterized. The assay involves rescue and replication of an AAV insert in pBR322. Intermediates were shown to be duplex molecules in which at least one terminus was in the extended configuration, in contrast to the hairpinned ends seen after rescue in the absence of AAV DNA replication. Also present were linear double-stranded dimers, which were characterized as either head-to-head or tail-to-tail tandems; no head-to-tail dimers were detected. The results are in accord with the current model of AAV DNA replication.
Granulomatous arteritis in cutaneous lesions of Churg–Strauss syndrome

Background: Although granulomatous arteritis is usually found in extracutaneous Churg–Strauss syndrome (CSS) lesions, the vasculitis in CSS cutaneous lesions typically shows small vessel vasculitis (leukocytoclastic vasculitis) without demonstrating the feature of granulomatous arteritis confirming the proper classification of CSS in the category of granulomatous vasculitis.
Treatment concept of the edentulous mandible with prefabricated telescopic abutments and immediate functional loading.

PURPOSE The present paper demonstrates a new technique and long-term results of a treatment concept that uses four implants placed in the anterior mandible that are connected to prefabricated telescopic abutments and immediately loaded with removable restorations. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present retrospective study included 488 implants (Ankylos, Dentsply) placed in 122 patients (mean age: 65.2 ± 9.8 years) with clinical and radiographic evaluation for a period of at least 1 year. Eighty-four implants were placed in fresh extraction sockets and combined in the restorations with implants placed in healed ridges. All implants were placed 2 mm subcrestally (based on chart documentation, measured from the midfacial bone level). The implants were connected immediately after surgery to conical prefabricated abutments (angle of 4 to 6 degrees) using a final torque of 15 Ncm. Secondary prefabricated copings that fit the abutments were placed over the abutments after abutment connection, and the complete denture of each patient was relined chairside with methyl methacrylate resin. The prosthetic restorations were to remain in place for 10 days to ensure that the implants remained immobile. RESULTS After a mean of 79 ± 29.8 months (range, 17 to 129 months) only eight implants failed (1.6%). Twenty-one implants (4.3%) showed crestal bone loss greater than 2 mm relative to the implant position at the time of implant insertion. Therefore, the failure rate was 5.94% for the entire observation period. The success rate for the evaluated implants was 94.06%. The patients were satisfied with the stability of their prostheses, and no prosthetic or peri-implant problems were observed. CONCLUSIONS These telescopic implant-supported restorations with immediate loading seem to be an alternative prosthetic solution for the edentulous patient, providing long-term implant stability.
Situational effects on retaliatory aggression at three age levels.

SHANTZ, DAVID W. , and VOYDANOFF, DOUGLAS A. Situational Effects on Retaliatory Aggression at Three Age Levels. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 149-153. 28 7-, 9-, and 12-year-old boys indicated how aggressively they would respond to hypothetical aggressive provocations. Stories were counterbalanced as to intentionality of provocation (accidental versus intentional) and mode of provocation (verbal versus physical). Half the Ss at each age level were required to recall all story elements prior to responding and half were not. 9and 12-year-olds responded less aggressively following accidental than following intentional provocation, while 7-year-olds failed to differentiate between these conditions. 12-year-olds responded less aggressively to intentional verbal than to intentional physical provocations, while 9and 7-year-olds made no such differentiation. Recall Ss differentiated more between intentional and accidental provocation, but responded no differently to verbal and physical provocation.
Cardiovascular, ventilatory and catecholamine responses to maximal dynamic exercise in partially curarized man.

1. In ten young men the ventilatory, cardiovascular, catecholamine and metabolic responses to maximal dynamic leg exercise on a stationary bicycle were followed during partial neuromuscular blockade with tubocurarine. Maximal exercise was performed when the drug effect was at its maximum as well as during the subsequent reduction in the effect allowing a gradually increasing work intensity. The results were compared with those obtained during submaximal and maximal exercise performed without tubocurarine. Partial neuromuscular blockade decreased hand‐grip strength to 41 +/‐ 1.1% (S.E. of mean) and the maximal work load to 27 +/‐ 2.4% of control values. Voluntary effort was maximal and the rate of perceived exertion was high at all levels of exercise with tubocurarine indicating a maintained intense central nervous motor command. 2. During maximal action of the drug oxygen uptake was 1.67 +/‐ 0.11 l/min while only 0.91 +/‐ 0.13 l/min (P less than 0.01) at the same work intensity without neuromuscular blockade. This difference may reflect a dominant reliance on fast‐twitch muscle fibres when work was performed under the influence of tubocurarine. 3. Compared at a given oxygen uptake ventilation was higher during work with tubocurarine than during control exercise (e.g. 55 +/‐ 4.2 and 40 +/‐ 2.2 l/min, respectively (P less than 0.01), at a mean oxygen uptake of 1.9 l/min), while heart rate did not differ significantly (146 +/‐ 4.4 and 139 +/‐ 3.0 beats/min). With decreasing drug effect both variables increased towards the maximum values of 138 +/‐ 4.5 l/min and 183 +/‐ 3.9 beats/min, respectively, achieved in control experiments at an oxygen uptake of 3.8 +/‐ 0.2 l/min. Like heart rate the mean arterial blood pressure increased with increasing work load and was similar at a given oxygen uptake with and without tubocurarine. 4. During maximal exercise at peak tubocurarine effect plasma adrenaline and noradrenaline concentrations were smaller than during control maximum, 1.6 +/‐ 0.27 versus 3.4 +/‐ 0.55 nmol/l (P less than 0.01) and 7.5 +/‐ 1.3 versus 12.6 +/‐ 1.8 nmol/l (P less than 0.05), respectively. However, comparisons at identical oxygen uptake rates revealed that catecholamine responses were markedly enhanced during tubocurarine treatment. Also, blood lactate concentrations were smaller at peak tubocurarine action than during control maximum, 1.9 +/‐ 0.42 mmol/l and 6.1 +/‐ 0.49 mmol/l (P less than 0.01). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A Complete Scheme of Spatially Categorized Glyph Recognition for the Transliteration of Balinese Palm Leaf Manuscripts

To open a wider access to the precious content of historical Balinese palm leaf manuscripts, an appropriate system to transliterate the Balinese script to the Roman script is needed. To achieve this goal, a Balinese glyph recognition scheme is very important. This scheme needs to be developed by taking into account the degraded condition of palm leaf manuscripts and the complexity of Balinese script. In this paper, we present a complete scheme of spatially categorized glyph recognition for the transliteration of Balinese palm leaf manuscripts. For this scheme, five different categories of glyph recognizers based on the spatial positions on the manuscript are proposed. These recognizers will be used to verify and to validate the recognition result of the global glyph recognizer. Each glyph recognizer is built based on the combination of some feature extraction methods and it is trained on a single layer neural network. The trained network is initialized by an unsupervised feature learning. The output of the glyph recognition scheme will be sent as the input to the phonological transliteration system. The results are evaluated with the ground truth of transliterated text provided by philologists. Our scheme shows a very promising result for Balinese palm leaf manuscripts transliteration and can be adapted to other type of script.
Neutralization of poliovirus by IgA coproantibodies.

Extracts of stools from normal children and adults neutralized the infectivity of poliovirus. The virus neutralizing activity was associated with IgA, the predominant immunoglobulin detected in fecal extracts. Two adult volunteers demonstrated IgA virus neutralizing copro-antibodies following oral infection with live attenuated poliovirus vaccine. The appearance of the intestinal antibodies coincided with reduction in the fecal excretion of vaccine virus. The infectivity of the excreted virus was significantly increased following reactivation of neutralized virus by antibody dissociation at pH 2.2, indicating the in vivo role of IgA coproantibodies as neutralizing agents. As a result of the degradation of coproantibodies by intestinal enzymes, stool extracts also contained antibody fragments which, although capable of only weak virus neutralization, demonstrated significant levels of specific poliovirus-combining activities. Specific attachment of antibody fragments was demonstrated by the reduction of infectivity of virus-fragment mixtures following reaction with anti-human globulin sera. The recovery of polio antibody fragments suggested the presence of significantly greater levels of virus neutralizing coproantibodies at the site of local antibody development than that reflected by conventional virus neutralizing techniques.
Anti-inflammatory approaches to cystic fibrosis airways disease

Purpose of review Therapy aimed at combating excessive lung inflammation should benefit patients with cystic fibrosis. This article reviews anti-inflammatory strategies, focusing on new evidence published since 2006. Recent findings Use of oral corticosteroids was associated with benefit in an epidemiological study but they are still not recommended; high dose inhaled corticosteroids may cause harm (effect on growth), but they can safely be withdrawn in many patients. Some small beneficial effect of ibuprofen was seen in a multicentre study, but it is unlikely that this will change practice. Altering the imbalance seen in fatty acid metabolism with ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation may be helpful but therapeutic benefit is not yet proven. Combating cysteinyl leukotrienes has potential but benefit remains to be proved. The beneficial effect of macrolides has been confirmed in patients with milder disease, but caution is needed because of emerging resistance patterns. Renewed research interest in antiproteases has not demonstrated any significant benefit. Summary The ideal therapeutic drug, with the optimal balance of benefit and harm, is not yet available.
Adaptive General Scale Interpolation Based on Weighted Autoregressive Models

The autoregressive (AR) model has been widely used in signal processing for its effective estimation, especially in image processing. Many dedicated 2× interpolation algorithms adopt the AR model to describe the strong correlation between low-resolution (LR) pixels and high-resolution (HR) pixels. However, these AR model-based methods closely depend on the fixed relative position between LR pixels and HR pixels that are nonexistent in the general scale interpolation. In this paper, we present an adaptive general scale interpolation algorithm that is capable of arbitrary scaling factors considering the nonstationarity of natural images. Different from other dedicated 2× interpolation methods, the proposed AR terms are modeled by pixels with their adjacent unknown HR neighbors. To compensate for the information loss caused by mismatches of AR models, we consider a weighting scheme suitable for general scale situations based on the pixel similarity to increase accuracy of the estimation. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method on general scaling factors. The maximum gain of peak signal-to-noise ratio is 2.07 dB compared with segment adaptive gradient angle in 1.5× enlargements. To evaluate the performance in resolution adaptive video coding, we have also tested our method on Joint Scalable Video Model codec and obtained better subjective quality and rate-distortion performance.
Advances in understanding the pathogenesis of HLH

Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a hyperinflammatory disorder resulting from immune dysfunction reflecting either primary immune deficiency or acquired failure of normal immune homeostasis. Familial HLH includes autosomal recessive and X‐linked disorders characterized by uncontrolled activation of T cells and macrophages and overproduction of inflammatory cytokines, secondary to defects in genes encoding proteins involved in granule‐dependent cytolytic pathways. In older children and adults, HLH is associated more often with infections, malignancies, autoimmune diseases, and acquired immune deficiencies. HLH, macrophage activation syndrome, sepsis, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome are different clinical entities that probably represent a common immunopathological state, termed cytokine storm. These conditions may be clinically indistinguishable; all include massive inflammatory response, elevated serum cytokine levels, multi‐organ involvement, haemophagocytic macrophages, and often death. Tissues of haematopoietic and lymphoid function are directly involved; other organs are secondarily damaged by circulating cytokines and chemokines. Haemophagocytic disorders are now increasingly diagnosed in the context of severe inflammatory reactions to viruses, malignancies and systemic connective tissue diseases. Many of these cases may reflect underlying genetic predispositions to HLH. The detection of gene defects has contributed considerably to our understanding of HLH, but the mechanisms leading to acquired HLH have yet to be fully determined.
Area measurement: structuring with nonsquare units

ABSTRACT In this article, we describe how students structured 2-dimensional space with square and nonsquare units. We employed a cross-sectional design, interviewing 5 students from each of 4 different grade groups: Grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 (ages 7, 9, 11, and 13) in structured, task-based interviews. Our findings about students’ ways of measuring area fit a hypothetical route of learning, validating 4 specific levels of thinking about area units across tasks, regardless of unit shape and dimension indicators. Implications for instruction and research are discussed.
Photoreceptor coupling in retina of the toad, Bufo marinus. II. Physiology.

1. Intracellular recordings were made from red rods in the isolated toad retina in order to measure the extent of the rod coupling. 2. The network space constant, lambda, was determined from edge-response profile measurements on single cells (lambda = 19 +/- 7 micrometer). 3. The network input resistance was estimated to be between 45 and 100 M omega. 4. Both discrete and continuous resistance networks, which were based on the anatomical observations, were analyzed. For lambda/D greater than 1, a continuous network provides an accurate description of the discrete network (D, cell spacing for a square grid). 5. The network analysis was used to estimate the specific resistance of junction membrane (0.75--1.5 omega.cm2) and the conductance provided by a single junctional channel (2.0--3.9 X 10(-12) mho). 6. The anatomical and physiological results provide strong evidence that the rods are electrically coupled. It is concluded that photoreceptor coupling provides averaging of the voltages in adjacent cells. The consequences of this averaging are discussed.