Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reference Data for the Word Memory Test

Many studies have evaluated the utility of the Word Memory Test (WMT) as a symptom validity test. However, there is a lack of reference data for the WMT conventional memory subtests. The present study examined the demographic characteristics that influence performance on these subtests, in order to develop demographically corrected reference data. For this purpose, we administered the Dutch version of the WMT to 115 healthy Dutch controls, aged 20–80 years. Furthermore, we demonstrated the equivalence of the English and Dutch language versions of the WMT. Stepwise linear regression analyses of the combined Canadian and Dutch samples (N 1⁄4 155) showed that the memory scores declined with increasing age. Participants with lower levels of education performed worse than more highly educated subjects. Reference data stratified by age and level of education are presented for use in research and clinical settings.
The therapeutic potential of bradykinin B2 receptor agonists in the treatment of cardiovascular disease

The nonapeptide bradykinin (BK) is a Janus-faced hormone, which exerts pathophysiological as well as pronounced beneficial physiological effects, mainly by stimulation of BK B2 receptors. In various animal models and in humans it has been shown that the stimulation of BK B2 receptors is not only implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammation, pain and tissue injury but also in powerful cardioprotective mechanisms. Either exogenous administration of BK or locally increased BK concentrations as a consequence of the inhibition of its metabolic breakdown by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, reveal the significant contribution of BK in powerful cardioprotective mechanisms. These are mainly triggered by the synthesis and release of the vasorelaxant, antihypertrophic and antiartherosclerotic endothelial mediators nitric oxide, prostaglandins and tissue-type plasminogen activator, by ischaemic preconditioning and by an increase in insulin sensitivity. Consequently, BK B2 receptor agonists may have important clinical value in the treatment and prevention of various cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, ventricular remodelling and congestive heart failure as well as diabetic disorders by mimicking the reported beneficial effects of BK. However, none of the currently known potent and selective peptide and non-peptide agonists of BK B2 receptors – RMP-7 (lobradamil, Cereport®; Alkermes), JMV-1116 (Fournier), FR-190997 (Fujisawa) and FR-191413 (Fujisawa) – have been selected for a clinical assessment in cardiovascular indications. One major challenge of this approach is the still unanswered question of whether there is a sufficient safe therapeutic window between potential cardioprotective and pro-inflammatory effects following BK B2 receptor agonism.
Risk, uncertainty and decision-making. An empirical test of Irving fisher's theory of interest

This paper aims at examining the relevance of Irving Fisher’s theory of interest in explaining agent decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty created by aggregate natural shocks. A case study approach is applied to empirically test Fisher’s concept of impatience by comparatively analyzing physical and psychic income variables amongst impatient relocated and more patient stationary households, victims of the 1986 lake Nyos natural shock in rural Cameroon. It is demonstrated that significant differences in incomes exist between impatient relocated households, and more patient stationary ones. However, contrary to Fisher’s contention, wealth was generally positively correlated with impatience. The results suggest that Irving Fisher’s theory can be relevant in partially explaining behavior under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Partiality is attributed by the finding that impatience was rather positively correlated with income, with the exception of income from social capital. There exists a wide gap in current economic and social science literature on the application and test of theories like Fisher’s in understanding and explaining agent decision making, particularly under risky and uncertain conditions resulting from aggregate shocks. The rapid upsurge of natural shocks in recent years requires novel approaches to model agent behavior. This paper highlights the limitations and implications of Fisher’s theory for social policy under shock conditions.
Activation of the pseudokinase MLKL unleashes the four-helix bundle domain to induce membrane localization and necroptotic cell death

Significance The four-helix bundle (4HB) domain of Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like (MLKL) bears two clusters of residues that are required for cell death by necroptosis. Mutations within a cluster centered on the α4 helix of the 4HB domain of MLKL prevented its membrane translocation, oligomerization, and ability to induce necroptosis. This cluster is composed principally of acidic residues and therefore challenges the idea that the 4HB domain engages negatively charged phospholipid membranes via a conventional positively charged interaction surface. The importance of membrane translocation to MLKL-mediated death is supported by our identification of a small molecule that binds the MLKL pseudokinase domain and retards membrane translocation to inhibit necroptotic signaling. Necroptosis is considered to be complementary to the classical caspase-dependent programmed cell death pathway, apoptosis. The pseudokinase Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like (MLKL) is an essential effector protein in the necroptotic cell death pathway downstream of the protein kinase Receptor Interacting Protein Kinase-3 (RIPK3). How MLKL causes cell death is unclear, however RIPK3–mediated phosphorylation of the activation loop in MLKL trips a molecular switch to induce necroptotic cell death. Here, we show that the MLKL pseudokinase domain acts as a latch to restrain the N-terminal four-helix bundle (4HB) domain and that unleashing this domain results in formation of a high-molecular-weight, membrane-localized complex and cell death. Using alanine-scanning mutagenesis, we identified two clusters of residues on opposing faces of the 4HB domain that were required for the 4HB domain to kill cells. The integrity of one cluster was essential for membrane localization, whereas MLKL mutations in the other cluster did not prevent membrane translocation but prevented killing; this demonstrates that membrane localization is necessary, but insufficient, to induce cell death. Finally, we identified a small molecule that binds the nucleotide binding site within the MLKL pseudokinase domain and retards MLKL translocation to membranes, thereby preventing necroptosis. This inhibitor provides a novel tool to investigate necroptosis and demonstrates the feasibility of using small molecules to target the nucleotide binding site of pseudokinases to modulate signal transduction.
Oligochaeta (Annelida) of the profundal of Lake Hazar (Turkey), with description of Potamothrix alatus hazaricus n. ssp..

Lake Hazar is an alkaline oligotrophic lake of tectonic origin, located in the Eastern Anatolia region in Turkey, 1248 a a.s. l. Its surface area is 80 km2, the average depth 93 m and maximum depth 205 m. The lake and its surroundings an under protection as a region of historical value. During the present study (2007-2012), samples were taken from 15 stations located at a depth of 2-200 m. Oligochaeta comprised 69% of the total invertebrate abundance. The profundal olgochaete fauna was found to consist of only three tubificid taxa, all of the subfamily Tubificinae. Potamothrix alatus hazaricus Timm & Arslan, n. ssp. was dominating anywhere down to maximum depths while Psammoryctides barbatus (Grube) and Ilyodrilus(? ) sp. occurred seldom. All three are new records for Lake Hazar. Potamothrix alatus hazaricus shares the "winged" body shape in its genital region with the nominal, brackish-water subspecies P. a. alatus Finogenova, 1972, and the lateral position of the spermathecal pores and the shape of the ventral chaetae with the freshwater subspecies P. a. paravanicus Poddubnaja & Pataridze, 1989 known from Transcaucasian lakes. The mitochondrial COI barcoding gene suggests long separation between the two taxa, but the nuclear ITS region shows no variation. The generic position of Ilyodrilus (? ) sp. remains obscure since its internal genitalia could not be studied.
Agreement about Indications for Total Knee Arthroplasty

Total knee arthroplasty is an effective and cost efficient procedure that improves the quality of life for patients with end stage knee arthritis. With the prevalence of arthritis expected to increase with the aging of the population, the demand for total knee arthroplasty will increase substantially. We examined current indications for total knee arthroplasty by reviewing articles extracted from a comprehensive Med-line search. We studied the indications for proceeding with a total knee arthroplasty, the indications for referring a patient for a total knee arthroplasty, and the contraindications among orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists, and primary care providers. We evaluated 27-42 different patient factors. “Pain not responsive to drug therapy” was the only factor with consensus for total knee arthroplasty. “Major psychiatric disorder, including dementia” was the only contraindication to total knee arthroplasty that had a consensus. The lack of consensus within orthopaedics and across specialties likely represents a limitation in empirical data associated with total knee arthroplasty outcomes. Achieving better consensus will require conducting and disseminating better research on patient characteristics that predict the success of total knee arthroplasty.Level of Evidence: Economic and decision analyses, level IV (analyses with no sensitivity analyses). See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Modeling HIV transmission risk among Mozambicans prior to their initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy

Abstract Understanding sexual behavior and assessing transmission risk among people living with HIV-1 is crucial for effective HIV-1 prevention. We describe sexual behavior among HIV-positive persons initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in Beira, Mozambique. We present a Bernoulli process model (tool available online) to estimate the number of sexual partners who would acquire HIV-1 as a consequence of sexual contact with study participants within the prior three months. Baseline data were collected on 350 HAART-naive individuals 18–70 years of age from October 2004 to February 2005. In the three months prior to initiating HAART, 45% (n = 157) of participants had sexual relationships with 191 partners. Unprotected sex occurred in 70% of partnerships, with evidence suggesting unprotected sex was less likely with partners believed to be HIV-negative. Only 26% of the participants disclosed their serostatus to partners with a negative or unknown serostatus. Women were less likely to report concurrent relationships than were men (21 versus 66%; OR 0.13; 95%CI: 0.06, 0.26). Given baseline behaviors, the model estimated 23.2 infections/1,000 HIV-positive persons per year. The model demonstrated HAART along with syphilis and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) treatment combined could reduce HIV-1 transmission by 87%; increasing condom use could reduce HIV-1 transmission by 67%.
Elucidation of dose-effect relationships for different opiate effects using alfentanil in the spontaneously ventilating rat.

In addition to producing antinociception and mild sedation, opiates diminish spontaneous movement and produce muscle rigidity. Examination of the relationship between different opiate effects may lead to a better understanding of the mechanism and sites of action of opiate anesthesia. Previous studies have compared the dose-effect relationships for morphine and fentanyl between antinociception and loss of righting reflex. However, neither muscle rigidity nor lack of spontaneous movement (as measured by catalepsy) has been fully examined or directly compared with either antinociception or loss of righting reflex. This study, therefore, compared five clinically relevant opiate endpoints (antinociception, muscle rigidity, catalepsy, loss of righting reflex, and respiratory depression) using the mu-selective agonist alfentanil in the spontaneously ventilating rat. Rats were randomized to receive alfentanil (0-500 micrograms/kg) subcutaneously. For muscle rigidity, 59 rats had electromyographic activity measured with percutaneous hindlimb electrodes. After alfentanil injection, electromyographic data were recorded for 60 min. For antinociception and catalepsy, 49 rats were studied for 120 min after alfentanil. Catalepsy was measured from the time the rat's forelimbs were placed on a 10-cm-high bar until either limb was removed. Antinociception was studied by measuring tail-flick response to hot (55 degrees C) water. For righting reflex, 40 rats were studied for 120 min. Alfentanil-induced respiratory depression was assessed in 40 rats with indwelling tail arterial catheters. Alfentanil was administered after baseline arterial blood gas measurements, and then additional samples were obtained for 45 min. For each effect, data were converted into quantal responses and were then transformed to probit-log dose-response curves for analysis. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Feature Detection in Visual Cortex during Different Functional States

Cortical activity exhibits distinct characteristics in different functional states. In awake behaving animals it shows less synchrony, while in rest or sleeping state cortical activity is most synchronous. Previous studies showed that switching between functional states can change the efficiency of flowing sensory information. Switching between functional states can be triggered by releasing neuromodulators which affect neurotransmitter release probability and depolarization of cortical neurons. In this work we focus on studying primary visual area V1, by using firing rate ring model with short-term synaptic depression (STD). We show that reconstruction of visual features from V1 activity depends on the functional state, with best precision achieved at the state with intermediate release probability. We suggest that this regime corresponds to the state of maximal visual attention.
Efficient Cost-Aware Cascade Ranking in Multi-Stage Retrieval

Complex machine learning models are now an integral part of modern, large-scale retrieval systems. However, collection size growth continues to outpace advances in efficiency improvements in the learning models which achieve the highest effectiveness. In this paper, we re-examine the importance of tightly integrating feature costs into multi-stage learning-to-rank (LTR) IR systems. We present a novel approach to optimizing cascaded ranking models which can directly leverage a variety of different state-of-the-art LTR rankers such as LambdaMART and Gradient Boosted Decision Trees. Using our cascade model, we conclusively show that feature costs and the number of documents being re-ranked in each stage of the cascade can be balanced to maximize both efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, we also demonstrate that our cascade model can easily be deployed on commonly used collections to achieve state-of-the-art effectiveness results while only using a subset of the features required by the full model.
Clones in the MBA classroom: Understanding the relationship between culture and MBA students' attitudes toward socially responsible business leadership: A mixed methods cross-national study

Recurrent corporate scandals have underscored the need for business leaders, the majority of whom were trained in business schools, to address tradeoffs between the interests of investors and those who serve the common good as an expression of socially responsible business leadership (SRBL). This study offers an integrated corporate social responsibility model (ICSRM), which displays the factors that scholarly research suggests promote and hinder corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice. However, because the CSR concept originated in the United States and the American business school model is replicated across the globe, most theories that support this conceptual framework were developed through that lens. This study addresses this weakness by exploring the impact of other cultural contexts on CSR thought and practice. Specifically, the purpose of this exploratory mixed methods cross-national study is to examine the impact of culture on the motives and views of Master of Business Administration (MBA) students from three distinctive cultural clusters regarding the factors that support CSR. The findings, gleaned from 290 surveys and three focus groups, indicate that these MBA students have almost identical motives toward CSR, which are expressed in their eagerness to manage the tension between profitability and the common good. Additionally, the students demonstrate very similar views regarding the factors that drive CSR’s implementation. In short, the study suggests that cultural dimensions do not seem to have a meaningful influence on students’ personal attitudes regarding these factors, providing a basis for scholars to better understand and further explore the possible relationship between cultural factors and SRBL. DEDICATION To Olga . because over 40 years ago a tiny spring burst forth, creating a stream of life filled with precious moments. And to all MBA students worldwide, who, as future business leaders, face the challenging task of holding the tension between profit making and social responsibility.
AID-GFP chimeric protein increases hypermutation of Ig genes with no evidence of nuclear localization

Somatic hypermutation generates variants of antibody genes and underpins the affinity maturation of antibodies. It is restricted to the V-gene segments, and although it decays exponentially toward the 3′end, it includes recognizable hot spots. Although the detailed mechanism of hypermutation remains elusive, the process may take place in two separate stages, preferentially targeting G/Cs in the first and A/Ts in the second stage. It seems that MSH2 is involved in the second stage, and that activation induced deaminase (AID) is implicated in the control of hypermutation. The constitutively hypermutating cell line Ramos expresses AID, and we have prepared transfectants that express a chimeric AID-green fluorescent protein. The fluorescence is strongly detected in the cytoplasm but not in the nucleus. Yet, the chimeric protein increases the hypermutation rate either directly or, more likely, indirectly, by favoring the transport of AID into the nucleus. Thus, in Ramos, AID seems to be rate limiting. Unexpectedly, the proportion of deletions also is increased. The increase in mutation rate detected by a fast cytofluorimetric method based on the accumulation of sIgM-loss mutants correlates with the increase measured by mutations defined by sequence analysis. The higher mutation rate is largely explained by the higher proportion of mutated clones, indicating that AID controls the number of cells that undergo hypermutation but not the number of mutations that are incorporated in each mutation round.
Women in engineering at North Carolina State University: an effort in recruitment, retention, and encouragement

This paper describes the approaches the authors are taking in the Women in Engineering Program at North Carolina State University (USA) to ensure the success of women students. The Women in Engineering Program is dedicated to an umbrella approach to success for all women. The efforts of the program start at the elementary/middle school level, with school visits designed to encourage girls to view math and science as fun disciplines for which they have ability and to continue through high school with more overt recruiting. Summer and early freshman year experiences are designed to bridge from high school to college. Mentoring and other support-oriented programs and career fairs aim to effect a bridge to post-undergraduate work experiences. Many of these programs either parallel or are directly connected to similar efforts aimed at minority engineers.
Changes in refraction and corneal curvature during growth and adult life

Abstract A cross‐sectional analysis was performed regarding refractive value (spherical equivalent) and keratometry in a sample comprising 454 subjects aged 5–80 years. The refractive range was +5.5 to ‐6.75D. According to the requirements of a parallel study of eye position and age, eyes with excessive ametropia had been excluded, but otherwise the sample was considered refractively unselected. Concerning refractive distribution, the present data supplement previous investigations of adults by the first author. Myopia increased from 6% in the age group 5–10 years to a peak level about 35% in adults aged 20–40, with a subsequent decrease towards old age, where hypermetropia showed a significantly increasing share. Concerning corneal curvature radius, male and female mean values (7.93 and 7.75 mm) showed no variation through the age span under study, however with a tendency of decreasing at old age (significantly in males only). The possible association with refractive change by age is discussed. Corneal astigmatism showed the established shift from predominantly with‐rule in the very young to more against‐rule and oblique astigmatism cases in older subjects.
Online Scheduling for Energy Harvesting Channels With Processing Costs

We consider scheduling for energy harvesting channels in which the users incur processing cost per unit time that they are on. The presence of processing costs forces the users to operate in a bursty mode. We consider online transmission scheduling where the users know the energy harvests only causally as they happen, and need to determine the optimum transmit powers and the optimum burst durations on the fly. We first consider the single-user channel. For this case, we first consider the case of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Bernoulli energy arrivals, and then extend our analysis to the case of general i.i. d. energy arrivals. We determine the exactly optimum online policy for Bernoulli arrivals and propose a nearly optimum online policy for general arrivals. The proposed policy is near-optimum in that it performs within a constant gap from the optimum policy for all energy arrivals and battery-sizes. We then extend our analysis to the case of two-way energy harvesting channels with processing costs; in this case, the users incur processing costs for being on for transmitting or receiving data. We consider the case where the users harvest energy from fully correlated energy sources. We determine the exactly optimum online power schedule for i.i. d. Bernoulli energy arrivals and develop a nearly optimum online power schedule for general i.i. d. energy arrivals. Our proposed policy is distributed, which users can apply independently with no need for cooperation or coordination between them.