Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gap junctional coupling between retinal amacrine and ganglion cells underlies coherent activity integral to global object perception

Significance Neuron ensembles in the brain visual system often show correlated responses, but the sensory information encoded by this activity remains unclear. Here, we show that widely separated ganglion cells in the mouse retina show correlated activity when presented with a large, contiguous object, but not when the object is disjointed. We show that these long-range correlations are produced by electrical coupling via gap junctions made with polyaxonal amacrine cells, which can span distances greater than a millimeter. Blockade or ablation of these gap junctions eliminates correlations between distant ganglion cells and, moreover, diminishes an animal’s ability to discriminate large, solid objects from disjointed ones. Our findings indicate that long-range correlated activity in the retina encodes visual information critical for global object perception. Coherent spike activity occurs between widely separated retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in response to a large, contiguous object, but not to disjointed objects. Since the large spatial separation between the RGCs precludes common excitatory inputs from bipolar cells, the mechanism underlying this long-range coherence remains unclear. Here, we show that electrical coupling between RGCs and polyaxonal amacrine cells in mouse retina forms the synaptic mechanism responsible for long-range coherent activity in the retina. Pharmacological blockade of gap junctions or genetic ablation of connexin 36 (Cx36) subunits eliminates the long-range correlated spiking between RGCs. Moreover, we find that blockade of gap junctions or ablation of Cx36 significantly reduces the ability of mice to discriminate large, global objects from small, disjointed stimuli. Our results indicate that synchronous activity of RGCs, derived from electrical coupling with amacrine cells, encodes information critical to global object perception.
Conservation Laws in Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics: The DEVA Code

We describe DEVA, a multistep AP3M-like SPH code particularly designed to study galaxy formation and evolution in connection with the global cosmological model. This code uses a formulation of SPH equations that ensures both energy and entropy conservation by including the so-called ∇h terms. Particular attention has also been paid to angular momentum conservation and to the accuracy of our code. We find that in order to avoid unphysical solutions, our code requires that cooling processes be implemented in a non-multistep way. We detail various cosmological simulations that have been performed to test DEVA and also to study the influence of the ∇h terms. Our results indicate that such correction terms have a nonnegligible effect on some cosmological simulations, especially on high-density regions associated with either shock fronts or central cores of collapsed objects. Moreover, they suggest that codes paying particular attention to the implementation of conservation laws of physics at the scales of interest can attain good accuracy levels in conservation laws with limited computational resources. Another important result of this work is that the combined effects of entropy violation and multistep cooling implementation in cosmological simulations can be particularly dramatic concerning the mass distribution in the objects they produce.
Endodontic Treatment of Dens Invaginatus in a Dog

Dens invaginatus or dens in dente is a developmental dental malformation that has the radiographic appearance of a separate tooth inside the pulp chamber or canal of another tooth. This report describes endodontic treatment of a variation of dens invaginatus in the maxillary canine tooth of a dog.
MODERATE HYPOTHERMIA PROTECTS AGAINST SYSTEMIC OXIDATIVE STRESS IN A RAT MODEL OF INTESTINAL ISCHEMIA AND REPERFUSION INJURY

Multisystem organ failure represents a major cause of mortality in intestinal ischemia and reperfusion (I/R), and oxidative stress plays a key role in its pathogenesis. Hypothermia is beneficial in I/R injury, but its effects on systemic oxidative stress have not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of moderate hypothermia on systemic oxidative stress after intestinal I/R injury. Anaesthetized adult rats (n = 10 per group) underwent 60 min of intestinal ischemia followed by 120 min of reperfusion or sham operation at normothermia (36°C-38°C) or moderate hypothermia (30°C-32°C). At sacrifice, ileum, liver, lungs, and kidneys were removed to determine the concentration of malondialdehyde (a marker of lipid peroxidation), reduced and oxidized glutathione (a major endogenous antioxidant), and glutathione redox state. Plasma malondialdehyde and nitrate plus nitrite (reflecting nitric oxide production) were also analyzed. A marked elevation of malondialdehyde was observed after I/R at normothermia in plasma, ileum, and lungs; however, hypothermia during I/R prevented this increase. I/R at normothermia caused a profound decrease in reduced glutathione and glutathione redox state in the ileum, but this was not observed in I/R at hypothermia. Interestingly, hypothermia increased glutathione content of control intestine. Nitric oxide production was increased only in normothermic I/R animals. Moderate hypothermia attenuates systemic oxidative stress associated with experimental intestinal I/R in an animal model by decreasing lipid peroxidation in plasma, ileum, lungs, and kidneys, by preventing the depletion of gut glutathione, and by reducing systemic nitric oxide production. However, whether these effects persist after rewarming is unknown.
A Further Investigation of Max's Algorithm for Optimum Quantization

Although Max's algorithm is frequently thought of as a simple and adequate method for the design of scalar minimum mean squared error quantizers, there are two tactical problems associated with this iterative scheme: the initialization and the updating of the algorithm. This paper proposes easy and efficient solutions to these problems. A straightforward method for obtaining good initial conditions for three common input densities is presented. Also, an efficient technique for updating the algorithm for a wide class of input densities is given.
Determining the possible application value of diatoms as indicators of general water quality : a comparison with SASS 5

The applicability of a European numerical diatom index, the Specific Pollution sensitivity Index (SPI), was tested in a river system where the SPI scores were compared both to chemical water quality and to scores yielded using a macro-invertebrate index of riverine health namely the South African Scoring System (SASS 5). This investigation showed that the SPI reflects certain elements of water quality with a high degree of accuracy. Due to the broad species base of SPI, few problems were encountered when using this system in the Southern Hemisphere. The conclusion is that SPI or a similar diatom index will provide a valuable addition to the suite of biomonitoring tools currently in use in South Africa.
A new method to estimate dental age

Abstract Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of Demirjian's method in estimating the dental age in Turkish children and to estimate the validity of Demirjian's standards for the studied population. Materials and methods. Panoramic radiographs of 756 northwestern Turkish children aged 5–13 years were examined. The new method for dental age estimation for both genders was studied to determine the relationship between dental age, chronological age and Demirjian's scores. Descriptive statistics were used and analysis of correlation was carried out between chronological age, dental age and Demirjian's scores. The difference between dental age and the chronological age was determined with the paired t-test. Results. The results showed that northwestern Turkish children had delays in dental maturity. The new method was applied to Demirjian's scores and dental age scales for both genders were obtained. The tables were used to adapt Demirjian's scores to dental age determination in Turkish children using the new formula. Conclusions. The developmental standards used by Demirjian are not suitable for northwestern Turkish children. The methods for determining dental development must have population-specific standards. The established gender-specific equations and the new tables are more appropriate for dental age assessment in northwestern Turkish children.
L’émergence de la valeur d’usage et l’« agentivité » des objets matériels

Cet article examine le processus d’emergence de la valeur d’usage. Apres le rappel de la distinction entre valeur d’echange et valeur d’usage, il montre que cette derniere emerge de la relation interactive entre les possibilites d’action d’un objet et la competence d’un sujet. Tout objet apparait comme un mediateur entre le monde naturel et la sensibilite d’un sujet et, de ce point de vue, il est dote d’une agentivite. Il peut « faire faire » des actes a un sujet, cadrer son action et, ce faisant, il peut le configurer. Quelques consequences de cette perspective sur le travail de conception sont examinees.
Adolescence: A Critical Period for Long-Term Tracking of Risk for Coronary Heart Disease?

Tracking of dietary and physical activity patterns throughout adolescence into adulthood is low, which indicates that risk patterns for coronary heart disease are not maintained. Biological risk factors for heart disease, particularly obesity and clusters of nutritionally modifiable risk factors (e.g. the metabolic syndrome), display somewhat higher tracking correlations. Tracking gives little guidance as to how to use this information for screening purposes. For behavioral and biological risk factors predictive values and sensitivities and specificities are generally low, suggesting that population-based approaches are likely to be more effective than targeting only the high-risk subset for reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.
In Vitro Inhibitory Activity of Justicia adhatoda Extracts against Influenza Virus Infection and Hemagglutination

The influenza viruses are major etiologic agents of human respiratory infections, and inflict sizable health and economic burden. The present study reports the in vitro antiviral effect of Justicia adhatoda crude extracts against influenza virus by Hemagglutination (HA) reduction in two different layouts of simultaneous and post treatment assay. The aqueous and methanolic extracts were used for antiviral activity in the non-cytotoxic range. Methanolic extract showed 100% reduction in HA in the simultaneous and post treatment assays at the concentration of 10mg/ml. The aqueous extracts at concentrations of 10mg/ml and 5mg/ml reduced the HA to 33% and 16.67%, respectively, in the simultaneous assay. These results suggest that extracts have strong anti-influenza virus activity that can inhibit viral attachment and/or viral replication, and may be used as viral prophylaxis.
Rice SPX-Major Facility Superfamily3, a Vacuolar Phosphate Efflux Transporter, Is Involved in Maintaining Phosphate Homeostasis in Rice1[OPEN]

A transporter orthologous to a yeast vacuole phosphate transporter mediates phosphate efflux from the vacuole into the cytosol. To maintain a stable cytosol phosphate (Pi) concentration, plant cells store Pi in their vacuoles. When the Pi concentration in the cytosol decreases, Pi is exported from the vacuole into the cytosol. This export is mediated by Pi transporters on the tonoplast. In this study, we demonstrate that SYG1, PHO81, and XPR1 (SPX)-Major Facility Superfamily (MFS) proteins have a similar structure with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) low-affinity Pi transporters Phosphatase87 (PHO87), PHO90, and PHO91. OsSPX-MFS1, OsSPX-MFS2, and OsSPX-MFS3 all localized on the tonoplast of rice (Oryza sativa) protoplasts, even in the absence of the SPX domain. At high external Pi concentration, OsSPX-MFS3 could partially complement the yeast mutant strain EY917 under pH 5.5, which lacks all five Pi transporters present in yeast. In oocytes, OsSPX-MFS3 was shown to facilitate Pi influx or efflux depending on the external pH and Pi concentrations. In contrast to tonoplast localization in plants cells, OsSPX-MFS3 was localized to the plasma membrane when expressed in both yeast and oocytes. Overexpression of OsSPX-MFS3 results in decreased Pi concentration in the vacuole of rice tissues. We conclude that OsSPX-MFS3 is a low-affinity Pi transporter that mediates Pi efflux from the vacuole into cytosol and is coupled to proton movement.
Contribution à la théorie ergodique de la numération

Les dynamiques de suites calculees par automates ou chainages sont etudiees. Le chap. 1 presente definitions et proprietes de base pour les systemes dynamiques. Une attention particuliere est donnee a la notion de point generique uniforme et a la decomposition spectrale d’un produit croise. Le chap. 2 etudie la structure des systemes dynamiques associes aux suites dites chainees a valeurs dans un groupe metrisable compact. Ces systemes sont strictement ergodiques, s’identifient a des produits croises au-dessus d’un odometre. Le type spectral est decrit. Les tours d’automates et le multi-chainage sont introduites au chap. 3. L’´etude est precedee par le mixage entre la suite de Thue-Morse et de Rudin-Shapiro du point de vue automate et chainage. Les suites obtenues sont uniformement equireparties. Ce travail utilise des outils ergodiques dont ceux lies aux mesures spectrales associes aux suites, aux systemes dynamiques et a certains operateurs unitaires.
The influence of late-stage pupal irradiation and increased irradiated: un-irradiated male ratio on mating competitiveness of the malaria mosquito Anopheles arabiensis Patton

Abstract Competitiveness of released males in genetic control programmes is of critical importance. In this paper, we explored two scenarios to compensate for the loss of mating competitiveness after pupal stage irradiation in males of the malaria mosquito Anopheles arabiensis. First, competition experiments with a higher ratio of irradiated versus un-irradiated males were performed. Second, pupae were irradiated just prior to emergence and male mating competitiveness was determined. Males were irradiated in the pupal stage with a partially or fully-sterilizing dose of 70 or 120 Gy, respectively. Pupae were irradiated aged 20–26 h (young) as routinely performed, or the pupal stage was artificially prolonged by cooling and pupae were irradiated aged 42–48 h (old). Irradiated males competed at a ratio of 3:1:1 to un-irradiated males for mates in a large cage design. At the 3:1 ratio, the number of females inseminated by males irradiated with 70 Gy as young pupae was similar to the number inseminated by un-irradiated males for the majority of the replicates. At 120 Gy, significantly fewer females were inseminated by irradiated than by un-irradiated males. The irradiation of older pupae did not result in a significantly improved male mating competitiveness compared to the irradiation of young pupae. Our findings indicate that the loss of competitiveness after pupal stage irradiation can be compensated for by a threefold increase of irradiated males, but only for the partially-sterilizing dose. In addition, cooling might be a useful tool to facilitate handling processes of large numbers of mosquitoes in genetic control programmes.
BILATERAL EFFECTS OF UNILATERAL SUBTHALAMIC DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION ON PARKINSON'S DISEASE AT 1 YEAR

OBJECTIVETo quantify the benefit of unilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) on contralateral, ipsilateral, and axial symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease. METHODSThirty-seven patients received unilateral STN DBS and were rated on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and timed tests of motor function in the “practically defined off” state at baseline and at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. RESULTSUPDRS motor scores improved significantly at 3, 6, and 12 months relative to the preoperative baseline (P < 0.001, 37.1% at 1 year). There was improvement in the contralateral UPDRS subscores (P < 0.001, 54.6% at 1 year), and although contralateral benefit was larger on all outcome measures, ipsilateral benefit was present at 3 and 6 months on the UPDRS subscore (P = 0.013 and 23.5%, P = 0.005 and 27.7%, respectively). A trend toward ipsilateral benefit was present on the UPDRS subscore at 12 months; however, the effect was not statistically significant. Two timed tests of motor function in the upper extremities showed significant ipsilateral benefit in bradykinesia at 12 months (P < 0.001 and P = 0.014, respectively). Significant benefit was also observed in the UPDRS part 2 “off” medications and the UPDRS part 4 after unilateral STN DBS at 12 months (both P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONConsidering the bilateral effects and tolerability of unilateral STN DBS, unilateral stimulation followed by a contralateral procedure later, if necessary, is a reasonable option for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, especially with prominent asymmetry.
Charge Transport in Organic Transistors Accounting for a Wide Distribution of Carrier Energies—Part II: TFT Modeling

A physically based analytical model of the drain current of an organic thin-film transistor is proposed. It is compared with the measurements collected from transistors made with different gate insulators, organic semiconductors, and fabrication processes. The extracted model parameters provide quantitative information on the charge transport in the active layer of the transistor. The analysis suggests that the tail states are an intrinsic property of the organic semiconductor, whereas the deep states arise from the interaction between the semiconductor and the gate insulator. The relative importance of tail and deep localized states is related to the operating regions of the transistor. The resulting mathematical expressions are simple and suitable for computer-aided design implementation.
Culture and its Influence on Occupational Therapy Evaluation

In the increasingly multicultural society of north America, occupational therapists have a responsibility to develop awareness and knowledge concerning different cultural groups. By accepting and understanding clients' customs, values and beliefs, clinicians have a better chance of assessing and producing more effective outcomes. Since occupational therapy has incorporated western middle-class values into its theory and practice, many evaluation tools used are based on norrns developed for a white middle-class population. Using these evaluations with minority groups brings the danger of improper interpretation of test results. Consequently, increasing emphasis is being placed on the importance of culture fairness and the development of culture-fair evaluation tools for usage across different cultural groups. This paper will present a discussion concerning the importance, advantages and disadvantages of both culture-fair and culture-specific tests and evaluation tools.
Peptide leukotriene involvement in pulmonary eosinophil migration upon antigen challenge in the actively sensitized guinea pig.

Male Dunkin Hartley guinea pigs, actively sensitized to ovalbumin (OA) and pretreated with mepyramine (1 mg/kg i.p.), were challenged with OA as an aerosol. Histological analysis of the lung for eosinophils (EOs) showed significant accumulations in the submucosa of the airways (8 h: 1.477.3 +/- 43 EOs/mm2 airway, n = 3, p less than 0.01), after antigen challenge compared to saline control (478.6 +/- 104 EOs/mm2 airway, n = 4). Pretreatment with both mepyramine and cimetidine (10 mg/kg i.p.) did not affect this response. Aerosolization of OA to unsensitized guinea pigs resulted in no significant accumulation of EOs (360.2 +/- 49 EOs/mm2 airway, n = 4) when compared with the saline-challenged sensitized control group. Pretreatment with the leukotriene (LT)D4 receptor antagonist MK-571 (1 mg/kg p.o.) significantly inhibited the OA-induced EO migration (95 +/- 5% inhibition, n = 5, p less than 0.01) compared to vehicle in the presence of mepyramine and cimetidine, while indomethacin (3 mg/kg p.o., n = 4) had no effect. Aerosolization of synthetic LTC4 (0.3-30 micrograms/ml) resulted in a dose-dependent migration of EOs into the submucosal layer over 8 h, reaching significance at the 10-micrograms/ml dose, with comparable results obtained with LTD4. Pretreatment of animals with MK-571 (1 mg/kg p.o.) before LTC4 and LTD4 aerosol results in inhibition of the response in both cases, suggesting that this effect may be mediated through the LTD4 receptor. We conclude that peptide LTs produce eosinophilia in the airways of the guinea pig.
ESD field penetration through slots into shielded enclosures: a time domain approach

This paper presents a time domain approach for the analysis of the coupling between an electrostatic discharge (ESD) current and the internal region of a shielded enclosure with a slot. The application of the equivalence principle allows us to obtain an integro-differential equation for the unknown distribution of the aperture electric field. The numerical solution is obtained by an iterative procedure developed by the method of moments (MoM) in the time domain. The approach is also applied at the case of a transient incident field of a plane wave impinging on the enclosure. The use of proper impulse responses for the space and cavity regions make the model efficient from a computational point of view, without loss in accuracy. Theoretical results are validated by measurements.
Healthcare costs within a year of respiratory syncytial virus among medicaid infants

Limited research exists on the economic impact of respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory infection (RSV LRI) among vulnerable infant populations. This study evaluated healthcare costs of full‐term and late‐preterm Medicaid infants with RSV LRI within 1 year of infection. Medicaid administrative claims were used to conduct a retrospective study of infants born 2003–2005. Full‐term and late‐preterm infants <1 year old were assigned to groups based on RSV LRI and unspecified bronchiolitis/pneumonia (UBP) diagnosis codes and stratified by setting of diagnosis. Infants without evidence of RSV LRI/UBP were selected as a comparison group. Economic and clinical outcomes were analyzed descriptively using propensity score weighting, and logged ordinary least squares models were used to examine relationship between RSV and costs incurred within 1 year of infection. RSV LRI and UBP infants, regardless of gestational age or healthcare setting, were more likely to experience respiratory diagnoses of wheezing and infantile asthma versus comparisons. Adjusted and weighted healthcare costs were significantly higher for all groups of RSV LRI and UBP infants relative to comparison infants (P < 0.001). Among late‐preterm infants with inpatient and outpatient RSV, marginal costs compared with controls were $17,465 and $2,158, respectively. Costs for RSV LRI and UBP Medicaid infants are substantial. While much of the costs result from initial RSV episodes, higher post‐episode costs and rates of respiratory events, procedures, and medications in RSV and UBP infants versus comparisons indicate long‐term economic impact from infection and the impact is greater among late‐preterm compared to full‐term infants. Pediatr. Pulmonol. 2010; 45:772–781. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.