Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endothelin‐1 and relaxation of the rat aorta during pregnancy in nitroarginine‐induced hypertension

Abstract— In pregnant rats during hypertension induced by NO synthase inhibition, endothelin (ET) plasma levels are increased as in some preeclamptic women. Previously, the enhanced vasodepressor effect of endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) has been observed in this model, thus we decided to study the relaxation induced by ET‐I on the aorta. Non‐pregnant or pregnant Wistar rats (n = 7 by group) were fed for 7 days (day 13‐day 20) on a nitroarginine‐enriched diet (L‐NNA, 0.063% i.e. 30 mg/kg/day) or a control diet. Systolic blood pressure, measured by the tail cuff method on conscious rats at day 20 of gestation, was raised by the chronic L‐NNA treatment (mean ± s.e.m., mmHg, p < 0.001: pregnant L‐NNA treated, 145 ± 1.84 vs. pregnant control, 101 ± 2.00 and non‐pregnant L‐NNA treated, 148 ± 3.11 vs. non‐pregnant control, 119 ± 1.80). On day 20 ex vivo aortic ring relaxation was produced by ET‐1 in vessels previously precontracted with norepinephrine only when endothelium was present. In control rats, ET‐1 (10−8 to 5 × 10−8 M) produced a short but significant relaxation (mean value between 4 to 19%) followed by a long‐lasting contracting phase, and a higher ET‐1 concentration (10−7 M) only produced contraction. Chronic L‐NNA treatment decreased the level of relaxation (at least p < 0.05, in non‐pregnant and pregnant rats) and with a 30 min L‐NAME (10−4 M) preincubation, relaxation was completely inhibited in non‐pregnant and pregnant rats. BQ‐123, an ETA receptor antagonist, did not produce any effect on ET‐1 induced relaxation. BQ‐788, an ETB receptor antagonist, significantly decreased it. In conclusion, in female rats, as in male rats, ET‐1 induces a transient relaxation in the preconstricted aorta which involves endothelial ETB receptors. Despite a decrease in the systemic vascular reactivity during late gestation, the vasodilating and vasoconstricting properties of ET‐1 on the aorta are not changed.
First detection of Babesia occultans in Hyalomma ticks from Tunisia

SUMMARY Descriptions of Babesia occultans have previously been restricted to sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we report the finding, for the first time, of this low or non-pathogenic bovine Babesia species in Tunisia, northern Africa. B. occultans DNA was detected by molecular methods in Hyalomma marginatum unfed ticks collected in 3 bioclimatic regions of Tunisia. The near-full-length 18S rRNA gene was sequenced and compared with related sequences retrieved from GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that other sequences deposited as Babesia sp. could also correspond to B. occultans, suggesting that this species may have a wide distribution in Mediterranean and Asiatic regions, and not only in sub-Saharan Africa as previously described. A B. occultans-specific Reverse Line Blot (RLB) oligonucleotide probe was designed for future epidemiological studies that would help to clarify this possibility.
Approches cyclostationnaire et non linéaire pour l'analyse vibratoire de machines tournantes : aspects théoriques et applications au diagnostic

Les systemes de diagnostic necessitent l'utilisation de methodes de traitement des signaux en relation avec la nature physique ou statistique de phenomenes. Dans plusieurs applications, l'existence et/ou l'apparition de defauts se caracterisent par des phenomenes non stationnaires et/ou non lineaires. La caracterisation fine, la detection et le diagnostic precoce de ces defauts passent par l'utilisation de methodes ad hoc ; non stationnaires et/ou non lineaires. De nombreuses etudes visent a etudier la connexion existant entre les aspects non stationnaire et non lineaire des signaux. D'un point de vue diagnostic, cette connexion doit permettre de mieux comprendre certains phenomenes physiques complexes. Nous nous sommes interesses, dans ce travail, a l'etude de ces connexions, mais dans un cadre plus restreint qui est celui des signaux cyclostationnaires et bilineaires. Nous avons notamment montre que le bispectre et la correlation spectrale de mettre en evidence des phenomenes aussi bien cyclostationnaires que non lineaires. Ces approches ne permettaient donc pas de determiner la nature d'un phenomene mais uniquement de souligner son existence. Cette observation nous a alors conduit a l'utilisation des statistiques cycliques d'ordre superieur et plus particulierement du bispectre. Enfin, des applications du bispectre et de la correlation spectrale (ainsi qu'un comparaison de ces approches) ont ete effectues pour des systemes industriels tels qu'un banc de test relativement simple ou encore une boite de vitesse d'helicoptere. Ces applications ont permis de mettre en evidence les avantages de chaque methode ainsi que leurs conditions d'utilisation pour un diagnostic optimal.
Strain in the Galago facial skull

Little experimental work has been directed at understanding the distribution of stresses along the facial skull during routine masticatory behaviors. Such information is important for understanding the functional significance of the mammalian circumorbital region. In this study, bone strain was recorded along the dorsal interorbit, postorbital bar, and mandibular corpus in Otolemur garnettii and O. crassicaudatus (greater galagos) during molar chewing and biting. We determined principal‐strain magnitudes and directions, compared peak shear‐strain magnitudes between various regions of the face, and compared galago strain patterns with similar experimental data for anthropoids. This suite of analyses were used to test the facial torsion model (Greaves [1985] J Zool (Lond) 207:125–136; [1991] Zool J Linn Soc 101:121–129; [1995] Functional morphology in vertebrate paleontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p 99–115). A comparison of galago circumorbital and mandibular peak strains during powerful mastication indicates that circumorbital strains are very low in magnitude. This demonstrates that, as in anthropoids, the strepsirhine circumorbital region is highly overbuilt for countering routine masticatory loads. The fact that circumorbital peak‐strain magnitudes are uniformly low in both primate suborders undermines any model that emphasizes the importance of masticatory stresses as a determinant of circumorbital form, function, and evolution. Preliminary data also suggest that the difference between mandibular and circumorbital strains is greater in larger‐bodied primates. This pattern is interpreted to mean that sufficient cortical bone must exist in the circumorbital region to prevent structural failure due to nonmasticatory traumatic forces. During unilateral mastication, the direction of ϵ1 at the galago dorsal interorbit indicates the presence of facial torsion combined with bending in the frontal plane. Postorbital bar principal‐strain directions during mastication are oriented, on average, very close to 45° relative to the skull's long axis, much as predicted by the facial torsion model. When chewing shifts from one side of the face to the other, there is a characteristic reversal or flip‐flop in principal‐strain directions for both the interorbit and postorbital bar. Although anthropoids also exhibit an interorbital reversal pattern, peak‐strain directions for this clade are opposite those for galagos. The presence of such variation may be due to suborder differences in relative balancing‐side jaw‐muscle force recruitment. Most importantly, although the strain‐direction data for the galago circumorbital region offer support for the occurrence of facial torsion, the low magnitude of these strains suggests that this loading pattern may not be an important determinant of circumorbital morphology. J. Morphol. 245:51–66, 2000 © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The contribution of depression and denial towards understanding the unawareness of symptoms in schizophrenic out-patients.

OBJECTIVES Unawareness of schizophrenic symptoms was postulated to be partially attributable to patients denying symptoms in order to avoid depression. METHOD The 24-item version of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was administered to 41 schizophrenic patients (chart diagnoses were validated by a DSM-III-R checklist). The first 14 of these items were then used to gather information about patients' symptomatology from 55 relatives of patients. Unawareness of symptoms was calculated by subtracting patients' total for these 14 items from parents' totals. Two measures of depression were obtained. Subjective depression was the score on the depression item based on patients responses to interview questions, objective depression was the score based on interviews with relatives about their ill family member. Family functioning was also assessed by administering patients' relatives the Camberwell Family Interview and the FACES III. RESULTS Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both subjective and objective measures of depression were significantly related to unawareness; subjective depression was negatively related, and objective depression was positively related. The employed measures of family functioning were unrelated to unawareness of symptomatology. CONCLUSION This opposing pattern of subjective and objective depression was interpreted as evidence of the self-deception which characterizes all defence mechanisms including denial.
Phosphorylation of Transitory Starch Is Increased during Degradation1[w]

The starch excess phenotype of Arabidopsis mutants defective in the starch phosphorylating enzyme glucan, water dikinase (EC 2.7.9.4) indicates that phosphorylation of starch is required for its degradation. However, the underlying mechanism has not yet been elucidated. In this study, two in vivo systems have been established that allow the analysis of phosphorylation of transitory starch during both biosynthesis in the light and degradation in darkness. First, a photoautotrophic culture of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was used to monitor the incorporation of exogenously supplied 32P orthophosphate into starch. Illuminated cells incorporated 32P into starch with a constant rate during 2 h. By contrast, starch phosphorylation in darkened cells exceeded that in illuminated cells within the first 30 min, but subsequently phosphate incorporation declined. Pulse-chase experiments performed with 32P/31P orthophosphate revealed a high turnover of the starch-bound phosphate esters in darkened cells but no detectable turnover in illuminated cells. Secondly, leaf starch granules were isolated from potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants grown under controlled conditions and glucan chains from the outer granule layer were released by isoamylase. Phosphorylated chains were purified and analyzed using high performance anion-exchange chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. Glucans released from the surface of starch granules that had been isolated from darkened leaves possessed a considerably higher degree of phosphorylation than those prepared from leaves harvested during the light period. Thus, in the unicellular alga as well as in potato leaves, net starch degradation is accompanied with an increased phosphorylation of starch.
Yes-No Questions in Catalan Intonation as an Encoder of Speaker Certainty : Information and Confirmation

Recent studies in the field of intonational phonology have shown that information-seeking questions can be distinguished from confirmation-seeking questions by prosodic means in a variety of languages (Armstrong, 2010, for Puerto Rican Spanish; Grice & Savino, 1997, for Bari Italian; Kügler, 2003, for Leipzig German; Mata & Santos, 2010, for European Portuguese; Vanrell, Mascaró, Prieto, & Torres-Tamarit, 2010, for Catalan). However, all these studies have relied on production experiments and little is known about the perceptual relevance of these intonational cues. This paper explores whether Majorcan Catalan listeners distinguish informationand confirmationseeking questions by means of two distinct nuclear falling pitch accents. Three behavioral tasks were conducted with 20 Majorcan Catalan subjects, namely a semantic congruity test, a rating test, and a classical categorical perception identification/discrimination test. The results show that a difference in pitch scaling on the leading H tone of the H+L* nuclear pitch accent is the main cue used by Majorcan Catalan listeners to distinguish confirmation questions from informationseeking questions. Thus, while a ¡H+L* pitch accent signals an information-seeking question (i.e., the speaker has no expectation about the nature of the answer), the H+L* pitch accent indicates that the speaker is asking about mutually shared information. We argue that these results have Corresponding author: Maria del Mar Vanrell Bosch, Departamento de Filología Española, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Módulo IV, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain Email: mariadelmar@mallorcaweb.net Article at UNIV OF ILLINOIS URBANA on January 8, 2013 las.sagepub. com Downloaded from 2 Language and Speech 0(0) implications in representing the distinctions of tonal height in Catalan. The results also support the claim that phonological contrasts in intonation, together with other linguistic strategies, can signal the speakers’ beliefs about the certainty of the proposition expressed.
Modeling the Effectiveness of Paliperidone ER and Olanzapine in Schizophrenia: Meta‐Analysis of 3 Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trials

The time course of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores in adult schizophrenia patients was modeled, and the effectiveness of paliperidone extended‐release tablets (paliperidone ER) and olanzapine was quantified. Data from 3 randomized, double‐blind phase III studies were used. Patients received paliperidone ER (3, 6, 9, 12, or 15 mg), olanzapine 10 mg, or matched placebo once daily for 6 consecutive weeks. An indirect response model implemented using a nonlinear mixed effects approach described the time course of the PANSS. Deterioration rate was modeled as a function of baseline PANSS score, placebo, and drug effects, and the dropout effect. An exponential decrease of the placebo response was also implemented. Paliperidone ER and olanzapine treatment were characterized by a long‐lasting drug effect (13%), with a larger but short‐lasting placebo effect (40%) and a notable dropout rate. The covariate exploration failed to identify any clinically relevant factors. The nonparametric bootstrap analysis confirmed the acceptable precision of parameter estimates. The visual predictive check supported the model's adequacy to reproduce observed PANSS time courses. The population model describes the time course of PANSS scores in schizophrenia patients and is appropriate for use in clinical trial simulation activities.
Hormonal regulation of mummy is needed for apical extracellular matrix formation and epithelial morphogenesis in Drosophila

Many epithelia produce apical extracellular matrices (aECM) that are crucial for organ morphogenesis or physiology. Apical ECM formation relies on coordinated synthesis and modification of constituting components, to enable their subcellular targeting and extracellular assembly into functional matrices. The exoskeleton of Drosophila, the cuticle, is a stratified aECM containing ordered chitin polysaccharide lamellae and proteinaceous layers, and is suited for studies of molecular functions needed for aECM assembly. Here, we show that Drosophila mummy (mmy) mutants display defects in epithelial organisation in conjunction with aberrant deposition of the cuticle and an apical matrix needed for tracheal tubulogenesis. We find that mmy encodes the UDP-N-acetylglucosamine pyrophosphorylase, which catalyses the production of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, an obligate substrate for chitin synthases as well as for protein glycosylation and GPI-anchor formation. Consequently, in mmy mutants GlcNAc-groups including chitin are severely reduced and modification and subcellular localisation of proteins designated for extracellular space is defective. Moreover, mmy expression is selectively upregulated in epithelia at the time they actively deposit aECM, and is altered by the moulting hormone 20-Hydroxyecdysone, suggesting that mmy is part of a developmental genetic programme to promote aECM formation.
Insulin-like growth factor II affects the appearance and glycogen content of glycogen cells in the murine placenta.

The phenotype of mice with a targeted disruption of the insulin-like growth factor II gene (IGF-II null mice) is growth retardation of both fetus and placenta during the last two thirds of gestation (1). We have compared the placenta of IGF-II null and wild-type mice from days 9-18 of gestation. No morphological differences were detected until after day 12 of gestation, when a new population of placental cells, the glycogen cells, normally first appears. Fewer glycogen cells were present in the null placenta compared to the wild-type placenta on days 13, 15, and 18 of gestation. By day 15, glycogen cells constituted approximately 50% of the basal zone cells in the wild-type placenta, but only 20% of the basal zone cells in the null placenta (P < 0.01). By contrast, spongiotrophoblasts constituted 40% of the basal zone cells in the wild-type placenta and 70% of the basal zone cells in the null placenta. There were no differences in cell size at any time. These results suggest that glycogen cells do not efficiently differentiate in the absence of IGF-II. The differentiation of glycogen cells did not appear to be simply delayed in the null placenta, as the number of glycogen cells in the null placenta did not increase between days 15-18, and there was no change in the ratio of glycogen to spongiotrophoblasts in the basal zone (P > 0.50). The glycogen content of both spongiotrophoblasts and glycogen cells was significantly reduced in the null placenta, suggesting that IGF-II may be an important regulator of glycogen synthesis in the placenta. These results indicate that IGF-II regulates cell number in the placenta and may play an important role in the differentiation of glycogen cells and the production of glycogen by placental cells.
Global Classical Large Solutions to Navier-Stokes Equations for Viscous Compressible and Heat-Conducting Fluids with Vacuum

In this paper, we consider the 1D Navier-Stokes equations for viscous compressible and heat conducting fluids (i.e., the full Navier-Stokes equations). We get a unique global classical solution to the equations with large initial data and vacuum. Because of the strong nonlinearity and degeneration of the equations brought by the temperature equation and by vanishing of density (i.e., appearance of vacuum) respectively, to our best knowledge, there are only two results until now about global existence of solutions to the full Navier-Stokes equations with special pressure, viscosity and heat conductivity when vacuum appears (see \cite{Feireisl-book} where the viscosity $ \mu=$const and the so-called {\em variational} solutions were obtained, and see \cite{Bresch-Desjardins} where the viscosity $ \mu=\mu(\rho)$ degenerated when the density vanishes and the global weak solutions were got). It is open whether the global strong or classical solutions exist. By applying our ideas which were used in our former paper \cite{Ding-Wen-Zhu} to get $H^3-$estimates of $u$ and $\theta$ (see Lemma \ref{non-le:3.14}, Lemma \ref{non-le:3.15}, Lemma \ref{non-rle:3.12} and the corresponding corollaries), we get the existence and uniqueness of the global classical solutions (see Theorem \ref{non-rth:1.1}).
Analytic methods in matched pair epidemiological studies.

Two methods of analysis of matched pair epidemiologic studies are presented. The within pair difference between study and comparison individuals is evaluated with respect to additional confounding variables while simultaneously maintaining the matching. The effects of additional confounding variables are quantiated by their association with the response variable (i.e. exposure in a case-control study or disease in a cohort study). For a binary response variable a multiple logistic function is used and a method to estimate the odds ratio is given. For a continous response variable multiple regression is used and a method to estimate an odds ratio function is derived.
The Interrelations Between Internalized Homophobia, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation Among Australian Gay Men, Lesbians, and Bisexual Women

ABSTRACT Internalized homophobia has been linked to depression among gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. Relatively little research has investigated the link between internalized homophobia and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The current research investigated the interrelations among internalized homophobia, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation by testing additive, mediation, and moderation models. Self-identified Australian gay men (n = 360), lesbians (n = 444), and bisexual women (n = 114) completed the Internalized Homophobia Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and the suicide subscale of the General Health Questionnaire. Results supported the additive and partial mediation models for gay men and the mediation and moderation models for lesbians. None of the models were supported for bisexual women. The findings imply that clinicians should focus on reducing internalized homophobia and depressive symptoms among gay men and lesbians, and depressive symptoms among bisexual women, to reduce suicidal ideation.
Assaults on Inmates and Staff by Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Homicide

The current study presents the results of an analysis of serious and assaultive prison rule violating behavior among male perpetrators of intimate partner homicide (IPH). Data on prison rule violations were collected from a sample of 189 inmates convicted of IPH in a large, southern prison system. The study focused on the degree of continuity in violent behavior among IPH offenders from the community to the prison setting. The current study tested hypotheses derived from both the feminist perspective (FP) and the general violence perspective (GVP). As a group, IPH offenders were better behaved in prison than other incarcerated homicide offenders, thereby offering some support for the FP. However, the lower level of assaultive behavior among the group was not universal. Characteristics associated with continued violent offending in the prison environment were the same as those found in previous studies of incarcerated homicide offenders, thereby lending greater support to the GVP.