Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Observation of Dopamine Autoreceptor Effects in Rat Striatal Slices

Abstract: Fast‐scan cyclic voltammetry has been used to measure dopamine (DA) synaptic overflow in slices of rat caudate nucleus induced by electrical stimulation with one‐, two‐, and 50‐pulse, 10‐Hz trains. Synaptic overflow in this preparation is shown to be the result of the competing effects of release and cellular uptake. Release caused by all pulses was attenuated by the D2 agonist quinpirole (1 μM). The rapid time response of the measurements (100 ms) allows the autoinhibition induced by endogenous, released DA to be resolved in real time. The concentration of DA released during the second pulse of a train was 58% of that released by the first pulse, an effect that is partially blocked by the addition of 2 μM sulpiride, a D2 antagonist, to the perfusion buffer. DA release during the first stimulus pulse is unaffected by 2 μM sulpiride, suggesting that autoreceptors are not normally occupied in this preparation. Release caused by the third pulse was 14% of the first pulse and also could be partially enhanced by 2 μM sulpiride. The duration of the inhibition of release induced by endogenous DA was estimated by varying the interval between one‐pulse stimulations until the overflow of DA induced by the second pulse was equal to that on the first; a half‐time of ∼ 17 s was found. The addition of picrotoxin (100 μM) and glutamate (10 μM) to the perfusion buffer did not affect stimulated release of DA, although the addition of atropine (100 μM) attenuated overflow for all the trains tested.
Role of Thoracic Sonographic Scan in Diagnosis of Pneumothorax

Background: Pneumothorax is a common problem seen in patients with acute and chronic medical and traumatic conditions with wide range of clinical presentations ranging from subtle decrease in breath sounds to cardiopulmonary arrest caused by tension pneumothorax. Pneumothorax is traditionally diagnosed by chest radiography, ultrasound is fairly a new modality of diagnosis. Ultrasound is a rapid noninvasive bedside test that may reduce mortality from this pathology by early detection. There are certain sonographic criteria that can exclude or confirm pneumothorax; this work has been performed to analyze these criteria. Patients and Methods: The study was done in Sulaimani teaching hospital and Sulaimani emergency hospital from June 1st to 10th August 2013. We performed thoracic ultrasound on fifty three diagnosed cases of pneumothorax (by chest X-ray &/or thoracic computed tomography). The age of the patients ranged between (10 - 82 years), mean age (38 years), 35 males and 18 females. Lung sliding sign, lung point sign and A line signs were recorded and analyzed. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of absent lung sliding sign were: 100%, 94%, 94% and 100% respectively, for lung point sign were: 70%, 100%, 100% and 68% respectively, for A line sign were: 91%, 71%, 73% and 91% respectively, for absent lung sliding and lung point sign together were 70%, 100%, 100% & 68.9% respectively. Conclusion: We confirmed the conclusion of other studies which stated that presence of lung sliding excludes pneumothorax and identification of lung point in a case with absent lung sliding is diagnostic of pneumothorax.
The "honor" of the state: virginity examinations in Turkey.

In 1992, the tragedy of the fifteen-year-old G. made headlines in the Turkish press, in a typically stylized, melodramatic narrative. The principal of the high school G. attended called her father for a private meeting. When her father arrived, she was asked to leave the office. She remained behind the closed door, however, and overheard the principal notify her father, "Your daughter has a very low attendance record for the past term. I have been informed that she meets with boys. She might not be a virgin. I suggest that you have her examined. " G. fled and was not seen for a week. After several search attempts, her body was found at the bottom of a cliff. The father had the virginity exam performed upon her dead body. ' Following this incident, other cases, involving high school girls, principals, and their families, with uncannily similar scripts, made it to the press. In recounting this particular incident, I have deliberately reproduced the sense of temporal progression culminating in a dramatic and violent climax, a narrative mode the newspapers fully exploited. The tragedy of the incident came to be embodied, as it were, in the operation performed upon a dead body. And it was precisely through appealing to such liberal, humanist sensibilities that virginity controls at the hands of state officials, which had not attracted much interest previously, captured the attention of feminist and activist organizations and was reported on by a commission sent by the Human Rights Watch.2 These groups laid bare the fact that virginity exams, despite the lack of pronounced legal basis,3 were routinely performed upon women suspected of illegal prostitution4 and/or charged with "immodest" behavior; political detainees; girls in state-run dormitories, orphanages, and hospitals; and more sporadically, girls in
Particle conservation in the hot‐carrier solar cell

In conventional p–n junction solar cells, carrier multiplication by impact ionisation, is negligible, owing to the low temperature of the electron–hole pairs. This leads to particle conservation between the net number of absorbed photons and the number of electron–hole pairs withdrawn from the cell. In hot‐carrier solar cells, in which electrons are at a high temperature by assuming suppression of electron–phonon scattering, such particle conservation leads to peculiar results. Numerical calculations show that entire current–voltage characteristics with meaningful values of temperature and chemical potential do not exist. If the energy at which electron–hole pairs are extracted is smaller than the average energy of absorbed photons, the temperature of the electrons and holes becomes much larger than the tem perature of the sun. When the extraction energy is larger than the average energy of the absorbed photons, an entire current–voltage curve cannot always be obtained. It follows that impact ionisation and Auger recombination cannot be neglected when the thermal energy of the electron–hole pairs is comparable to the bandgap of the absorber. Accounting for these processes results in current–voltage characteristics that are well behaved. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Labeling Patterns Seen in Light and EM Autoradiographs SYNTHETIC

Peripheral nerve myelin contains a dominant low molecular weight glycoprotein (12, 17, 22, 25, 32) called Po (17). To study the metabolism of this glycoprotein, tritiated fucose was injected into the peripheral nerves of adult mice and developing rats, and the temporal distribution of label was examined by autoradiography and gel electrophoresis. Mice and rat pups, injected with fucose, were sacrificed from 1 h to 98 days later. Series of autoradiographs were prepared. At the shortest labeling periods, newly formed product was confined to juxtanuclear Schwann cell cytoplasm, in association with regions rich in Golgi apparatus. After longer labeling periods, silver grain levels in Schwann cell cytoplasm decreased; concomitantly, there was an increase of silver grains associated with myelin. In adult animals, label associated with myelin was concentrated over outer layers of thickly myelinated fibers. Even at the longest time intervals examined (72 and 98 days), this distribution of label was largely retained. In contrast, in developing animals, label became associated with inner layers of the thicker sheaths. At no time was label observed over axons. Gel electrophoresis revealed that tritiated fucose was a suitable precursor for the faster migrating peripheral nerve glycoprotein(s). At all times examined, there was a single major peak of radioactivity that co-migrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) acrylamide gels with the Po protein (17). Sometimes, a faster migrating shoulder of radioactivity was noted. With increased labeling periods, there was an enrichment of radioactivity associated with Po, indicative of a relatively slow turnover rate.
Noise Analysis of the Pulse-Width Modulator for Quasi-Digital Sensors

Majority of available integrated and smart sensors are based on quasi-digitalization concept. A pulse modulation of the analog sensor output signal can be accomplished by using a fairly simple relaxation oscillator circuit. Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is commonly used in such applications, due to its ratiometric output that greatly reduces the error caused by the changes in the time constant of the oscillator. However, most of the literature that deal with the pulse-width modulators do not include the analysis of noise effects, which is important factor in optimizing the readout of PWM signal. In this article, we analyze the effects of noise in the simple dual-slope pulse-width modulator and provide an accurate noise model that can easily be adopted to any other type of pulse-width modulators. The model can be used to predict the jitter of the edges of output PWM signal and to analyze the effects of that jitter on the uncertainty of the measured duty-cycle for various PWM readout techniques.
Rare Case of Polymicrobial Keratitis With Balantidium coli

Purpose: To report a rare case of polymicrobial keratitis due to Balantidium coli and gram-negative bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae, in a soft contact lens (CL) wearer. Methods: We report a case of CL-related keratitis due to B. coli, P. aeruginosa, and K. pneumoniae. Results: The culture of the corneal scrapings, the CL cleaning solution, and the CL revealed the growth of a rare ciliated parasite, B. coli, along with gram-negative bacteria, namely, P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae. The patient was successfully treated with topical broad-spectrum antibiotics and intravenous metronidazole. Conclusions: Polymicrobial keratitis has seldom been reported with B. coli as the causative agent. CL wear can be a risk factor for this infection. Treatment with topical antibiotics may not suffice, and the intravenous route of antiprotozoal drugs may be a useful adjunct. Increasing awareness, early diagnosis, and treatment may improve the final visual outcome.
Community Care of the Acutely Mentally Ill

Deinstitutionalisation is a two-part process: the first involves discharging patients from hospital to the community, which has been done in many countries. The second part—the provision of adequate resources for good community care—has still to materialise almost everywhere. In New South Wales, the inpatient mental hospital population dropped by two-thirds in 20 years, yet the total number of hospital staff increased considerably during this time; on the other hand, in the community, where most of the patients are, there are relatively few staff. This has important consequences: it means that for many patients, their episode of illness has to progress unchecked until it is of sufficient severity for them to be admitted to hospital. When that happens, there will then be enough staff to give them good quality care, so that their symptoms can subside, but afterwards there will again be hardly anyone available to help maintain them and to prevent relapse.
On the Equivalence of Collectively and Individually Collected Responses

The standard-gamble and time-tradeoff methods for valuing health states were com pared in a multifactorial design with 104 student volunteers. The main aim of the ex periment was to compare average individual responses with group responses for the same tradeoff tasks. Group responses were collected using an interactive voting sys tem. The standard EuroQol system was used to describe the health states to be val ued. Generalizability theory was used to analyze the results. The averages and median values of the individual responses differed from the interactively collected group values only for the more severe health states. The results showed almost identical results for the two methods, but the time tradeoff was found to be more consistent than the standard gamble. The authors conclude that 1) there is significant similarity between the results of individual and collective response modes, and 2) the standard-gamble and time-tradeoff methods produce almost equivalent values, despite their different conceptual backgrounds. In this study the aggregated individual responses and the collective response proved to be sufficiently similar to support the validity of using aggregated individual valuations as a measure of the valuation of the group. Key words: collective judgment; standard gamble; time tradeoff; methodology; voting sys tem ; EuroQol; generalizability theory. (Med Decis Making 1996;16:120-132)
Role of radiation therapy in the combined-modality treatment of patients with extensive disease small-cell lung cancer: A randomized study.

PURPOSE To investigate the efficacy and toxicity of cisplatin/etoposide (PE) chemotherapy (CHT) with or without accelerated hyperfractionated radiation therapy (ACC HFX RT) and concurrent daily carboplatin/etoposide (CE) in patients with extensive-disease small-cell lung cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 210 patients were treated with three cycles of standard PE. Patients with a complete response (CR) at both the local and distant levels (CR/CR) or a partial response (PR) at the local level and CR at the distant level (PR/CR) received either thoracic ACC HFX RT with 54 Gy in 36 fractions over 18 treatment days in combination with CE followed by two cycles of PE (group 1, n = 55) or an additional four cycles of PE (group 2, n = 54). Patients who experienced less response were treated nonrandomly (groups 3, 4, and 5). All patients with a CR at the distant level received prophylactic cranial irradiation. RESULTS For 206 assessable patients, the median survival time (MST) was 9 months and the 5-year survival rate was 3.4%. Patients in group 1 had significantly better survival rates than those in group 2 (MST, 17 v 11 months; 5-year survival rate, 9.1% v 3.7%, respectively; P =.041). Local control was also better in group 1, but the difference was only marginally not significant (P =.062). There was no difference in distant metastasis-free survival between groups 1 and 2. Acute high-grade toxicity was higher in group 2 than in group 1. CONCLUSION The addition of ACC HFX RT to the treatment of the most favorable subset of patients led to improved survival over that obtained with CHT alone.
Purines and Pyrimidines in Sediments from Lake Erie

Quantitative analyses of purines and pyrimidines in sequential sections of cores from the central and eastern basins of Lake Erie show steeply increasing concentrations in the youngest sediments. This may be related to increased loading of nutrients and recent cultural eutrophication of the lake. The purine and pyrimidine distributions suggest the operation of a specific degradative process for uracil at an extremely early stage in, or prior to, sediment formation.
Deletion Map of the Escherichia coli K-12 Sex Factor F: the Order of Eleven Transfer Cistrons

A series of Hfr deletion mutants was isolated. These mutants contain deletions which extend from a λ prophage into an Flac which is integrated into the gal operon. Transfer-deficient deletion mutants were found to fall into four different phenotypic groups when tested for male- and female-specific phage resistance. Conjugational and transductional complementation tests with Flac point mutants deficient in transfer (tra−) were performed, and the order of 11 tra cistrons was determined. The tra genes are all located between an F gene for the inhibition of female-specific phages and the transposed lac operon originally carried by the Flac. The order of genes in the Hfr studied was established to be: proC. φIIR. traJ traA traE traK traB traC traF traH traG traD traI.lac. attλ. bio.
Increased cardiac norepinephrine release in spontaneously hypertensive rats: role of presynaptic alpha-2A adrenoceptors

Objectives and design An increased sympathoadrenergic activation is thought to contribute to the maintenance of elevated blood pressure levels in hypertension. Therefore, the regulation of cardiac presynaptic sympathetic neurotransmission was investigated in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar–Kyoto rats (WKY). Methods and results Electrical field stimulation (1 min, 4 Hz) evoked a higher norepinephrine (NE) overflow from isolated perfused SHR than from WKY hearts (171 ± 78 versus 111 ± 27 nmol/g; means ± SD, n = 7, P < 0.05). The difference in stimulation-evoked NE overflow was neither due to increased NE stores nor to a higher density of sympathetic nerve endings in SHR hearts. Furthermore, impairment of cardiac NE re-uptake was ruled out, as pharmacological inhibition of NE re-uptake by desipramine (300 nmol/l) similarly increased NE overflow from SHR (+ 54 ± 17%) and WKY hearts (+ 59 ± 18%). However, inhibition of presynaptic alpha-2 adrenoceptors (alpha-2R) with yohimbine (1 μmol/l) resulted in a significantly larger increase in NE overflow from WKY (+ 244 ± 42%) than from SHR hearts (+ 162 ± 47%, P < 0.05 versus WKY), indicating impairment of presynaptic inhibitory effect of alpha-2R in SHR. Supporting this notion, mRNA concentrations of alpha-2A, the predominant presynaptic alpha-2R subtype, were reduced in SHR compared with WKY (738 ± 251 versus 1468 ± 518 mRNA molecules/10 ng, n = 7, P < 0.01), as quantified by competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction derived from left stellate ganglia. Conclusions The impairment of the alpha-2R mediated presynaptic negative feedback mechanism by a reduced expression of the alpha-2R subtype A may increase cardiac net secretion of NE in SHR and could therefore contribute to their hypertensive phenotype.
Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Are Highly Susceptible to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection and Release Infectious Virus

ABSTRACT Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pcDC) and myeloid dendritic cells (myDC) are shown to express CD4 and low levels of CCR5 and CXCR4, but only myDC express DC SIGN, a C-type lectin that binds human immunodeficiency virus but does not mediate virus entry. Both DC types were more susceptible to infection with a macrophage than a lymphotropic strain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1, but pcDC were more readily infected than myDC.
Growth in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants up to Three Years

Objective: To evaluate postnatal growth of extremely low birth weight infants (ELBW, <1,000 g) until 36 months of corrected age (CA), and to relate growth outcome to anthropometric parameters at birth, sex, fetal growth status (small or appropriate for gestational age – SGA/AGA), period of admission and major perinatal events. Study Design/Method: Weight (Wt), height (Ht) and head circumference (HC) were assessed in 159 ELBW infants. Data were standardized with Z-scores following Usher and McLean and Sempe growth curves. Uni- and multivariate statistical analysis were performed. Results: The mean birth weight was 851.2 ± 116.5 g. Z-scores decreased from birth to term, at a deeper rate for AGA than for SGA infants (p < 0.005 for Ht, Wt, and HC). Between term and 36 months, growth was better in SGA compared with AGA infants (p = 0.003 for Ht). Multivariate analysis showed that anthropometric parameters at birth were positive determinants for Wt, Ht and HC at term, and also for Wt and Ht at 36 months CA (Z-scores). Oxygen therapy after 36 weeks of post-conceptional age was a negative determinant influencing growth at 36 months CA (Z-scores). Conclusions: Significant catch-up growth took place between birth and 36 months, which was greater for SGA than for AGA infants. Anthropometric parameters at birth and oxygen therapy at 36 weeks post-conceptional age are the main predictive factors for growth at 36 months CA.
The effect of dual infection with HIV and malaria on pregnancy outcome in western Kenya

Objective: To determine the effect of dual infection with HIV and malaria on birth outcomes and maternal anaemia among women delivering at a large public hospital in Kisumu, western Kenya. Subjects and methods: Data on obstetric and neonatal characteristics, maternal and placental parasitaemia, and postpartum haemoglobin levels were collected from women enrolled in a cohort study of the interaction between malaria and HIV during pregnancy. Results: Between 1996 and 1999, data were available from 2466 singleton deliveries. The maternal HIV seroprevalence was 24.3%, and at delivery 22.0% of the women had evidence of malaria. Low birthweight, preterm delivery (PTD), intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and maternal anaemia (haemoglobin < 8 g/dl) occurred in 4.6, 6.7, 9.8 and 13.8% of deliveries, respectively. Maternal HIV, in the absence of malaria, was associated with a 99 g (95% CI 52–145) reduction in mean birthweight among all gravidae. Malaria was associated with both IUGR and PTD, resulting in a reduction in mean birthweight of 145 g (95% CI 82–209) among HIV-seronegative and 206 g (95% CI 115–298) among HIV-seropositive primigravidae, but not among multigravidae. Both HIV and malaria were significant risk factors for postpartum maternal anaemia, and HIV-seropositive women with malaria were twice as likely to have anaemia than HIV-seronegative women with or without malaria. Conclusion: Women with dual infection are at particular risk of adverse birth outcomes. In areas with a moderate or high prevalence of HIV and malaria, all pregnant women should be the focus of malaria and anaemia control efforts to improve birth outcomes.
Autofocusing in computer microscopy: Selecting the optimal focus algorithm

Autofocusing is a fundamental technology for automated biological and biomedical analyses and is indispensable for routine use of microscopes on a large scale. This article presents a comprehensive comparison study of 18 focus algorithms in which a total of 139,000 microscope images were analyzed. Six samples were used with three observation methods (brightfield, phase contrast, and differential interference contrast (DIC)) under two magnifications (100× and 400×). A ranking methodology is proposed, based on which the 18 focus algorithms are ranked. Image preprocessing was also conducted to extensively reveal the performance and robustness of the focus algorithms. The presented guidelines allow for the selection of the optimal focus algorithm for different microscopy applications. Microsc. Res. Tech. 65:139–149, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Photon scattering from atoms in an atom interferometer: Coherence lost and regained.

Loss of coherence in one system A that results from entanglement or correlation with a reservoir M has long been an important issue in quantum mechanics. It is of special interest both because of the difficulty of incorporating the resulting coherence loss into Schrodinger’s equation describing system A and because of its relevance to understanding the measurement process in particular and the connection between quantum mechanics and classical mechanics in general [1]. We discuss experiments here in which this entanglement results from the elastic scattering of a photon from an atom initially in a state with extended spatial coherence inside an atom interferometer. The major issues addressed are the degree of loss of coherence (ie. contrast of the interference fringes), both when the outgoing photon is ignored (ie. treated as a reservoir) and when information about its final state is inferred from the final momentum of the atom. This inference is exact since momentum (and energy too) is conserved and the initial momentum of both photon and atom are well specified.