Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma Concentrations of Lidocaine and Bupivacaine after Subarachnoid Administration

Plasma concentrations were measured after subarachnoid administration of 75 mg lidocaine in a hyperbaric solution and 15 mg bupivacaine in either a hyperbaric or an isobaric solution. Peak concentration times (tmax), peak concentrations (Cmax), apparent elimination half-lives (t½el), and areas under the curves (AUC) were determined. The values of tmax, Cmax, t½el, and AUC were 66 ± 32 min, 444 ± 203 ng/ml, 2.0 ± 0.3 h, and 87.0 ± 9.8 mg · 1−1 · min, respectively, for lidocaine. Those obtained after administration of a hyperbaric bupivacaine solution were 54 ± 11 min, 63 ± 22 ng/ ml, 3.6 ± 1.4 h, and 19.1 ± 5.4 mg · 1−1 · min. Results, obtained with isobaric bupivacaine solutions, were: 86 ± 24 min, 63 ± 15 ng/ml, 3.2 ± 0.4 h, and 18.1 ± 5.4 mg · 1−1 · min. The results indicate roughly similar absorption rates from the subarachnoid space into the general circulation after administration of hyperbaric solutions of lidocaine and bupivacaine. Bupivacaine tended to be absorbed slower when it is administered in an isobaric solution.
Right ventricular function in congenital cardiac disease: noninvasive quantitative parameters for clinical follow-up

Right ventricular function is of great importance in patients with both acute and chronic ventricular overload. The early detection of right ventricular dysfunction may have an impact on therapeutic decision making, helping to prevent or further delay functional deterioration of the right ventricle. In patients with right ventricular overload due to congenital cardiac diseases, dobutamine stress testing combined with magnetic resonance imaging, electrocardiographic changes, and monitoring of concentrations of plasma brain natriuretic peptide are very suitable parameters for the early detection of ventricular dysfunction, and should therefore be used in the follow-up of these patients. It is apparent that no single measurement of anatomy or function can ever adequately describe the form or performance of the right ventricle. Rather, we should be looking more towards an integrated approach of different parameters for right ventricular function. The quantitative parameters described in this study can serve this purpose. The strong correlation found between these non-invasive and independent parameters encourages their clinical implementation.
Dynamic Localisation and Automatic Correction of Software Faults using Evolutionary Mutation Testing

Software testing has recently turned to more “sophisticated” techniques, like automatic, self-adaptive mutation testing, aiming at improving the effectiveness of the testing process and handling the associated complexity that increases the level of time and effort spent. Mutation testing refers to the application of mutation operators on correctly functioning programs so as to induce common programming errors and then assess the ability of a set of test cases to reveal them. In the above context the present paper introduces a novel methodology for identifying and correcting faults in Java source code using dynamic slicing coupled with mutation testing and enhanced by Genetic Algorithms. A series of experiments was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach, using different types of errors and sample programs. The results were quite encouraging as regards the ability of the approach to localise the faults, as well as to suggest the appropriate correction(s) to eliminate them.
Effects of Blood Contamination of Cerebrospinal Fluid on Results of Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Tests for Detection of Antibodies against Sarcocystis Neurona and Neospora Hughesi

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of blood contamination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on the results of indirect fluorescent antibody tests (IFATs) for Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi. The in vitro study used antibody-negative CSF collected from non-neurologic horses immediately after euthanasia and blood samples from 40 healthy horses that had a range of IFAT antibody titers against S. neurona and N. hughesi. Serial dilutions of whole blood were made in seronegative CSF to generate blood-contaminated CSF with red blood cell (RBC) concentrations ranging from 10 to 100,000 RBCs/μl. The blood-contaminated CSF samples were then tested for antibodies against both pathogens using IFAT. Blood contamination of CSF had no detectable effect on IFAT results for S. neurona or N. hughesi at any serologic titer when the RBC concentration in CSF was <10,000 RBCs/μl. At concentrations of 10,000-100,000 RBCs/μl of CSF, positive CSF results (IFAT titer ≥5) for S. neurona and N. hughesi were detected only when the corresponding serum titers were ≥160 and ≥80, respectively. The IFAT performed on CSF is reliable for testing horses for equine protozoal myeloencephalitis caused by S. neurona or N. hughesi, even when blood contamination causes the RBC concentration in CSF to be up to 10,000 RBCs/μl.
'I never even gave it a second thought': PGCE students' attitudes towards the inclusion of children with speech and language impairments.

Approximately 7% of young school-aged children have specific language impairments. Many such children are now being educated in mainstream settings. However, there is a dearth of up-to-date and valid research that considers UK (student) teachers' attitudes towards such children. This study aimed to investigate trainee teachers' attitudes towards teaching children with speech and language impairments, to investigate the reported effects of those attitudes on participants' acceptance of teaching such children, and to consider any implications for speech and language therapy (SLT) services and inclusive education. Nineteen trainee teachers (PGCE students) from a university in the North West of England took part in semistructured group interviews. The data were transcribed and analysed qualitatively, and recurrent themes identified. A range of attitudes was expressed, and six major themes were identified from the data. Participants discussed concerns about the resources and knowledge they considered necessary to support fully children with specific language impairments. There was some differentiation of attitudes related to the types of disability that a child may have and the subject being taught. Much of the discussion was about disabilities in general rather than specific to speech and language impairments. Many of the participants reflected on their own previous experiences to inform their opinions. Although many of the participants expressed positive attitudes, some had concerns about workload and at least one was openly hostile to the idea of teaching children with disabilities within mainstream settings. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to previous research, the quantitative data obtained in this project, SLT services and the increases in the inclusion of children with specific language impairments into mainstream educational settings.
Harbingers of modernity : monetary injections and European economic growth, 1492-1790

In this dissertation I assess some of the effects for the early modern European economy which resulted from the large-scale discovery and exploitation of precious metals in the New World. I argue that the monetary injections which were a direct result of the increased precious metals availability were an important cause of stimulus for several early modern European economies. The thesis mainly consists of three papers. In the first paper I argue variation in production of precious metals in America can be helpful to identifying the causal effects of money in a macroeconomic setting. Using a panel of six European countries for the period 1531-1790, I find strong reduced-form evidence in favor of non-neutrality of money for changes in real economic activity. The magnitudes are substantial and persist for a long time: an exogenous 10% increase in production of precious metals in America leads to a hump-shaped positive response of real GDP, peaking at an average increase of 1.3% four years later. The evidence suggests this is because prices responded to monetary injections only with considerable lags. The following two chapters are focused on different aspects of the measurement and analysis of the causal effects of the monetary injections for the English economy. In the second paper, I put forward new data on annual coin supply for England over the long run. This is offered not only as a data construction exercise within the specific context of England, but also as a methodological contribution which in principle can be reproduced for some other countries. Finally, in the third paper, I present a historical discussion of the long-term effects of the early modern monetary injections in the context of the English economy. I show the increased availability of precious metals led to liquidity injections which matter for our understanding of the English industrious, industrial, and financial revolutions during early modern period.
The Relations among Urbanization Level,FDI and Housing Price——Based on the Spatial Econometric Study of the Extended Yangtze River Delta Region

Based on the panel data of 31 cities from the year of 2000 to 2011 and a spatial distance-weighted matrix,the spatial econometric method is employed to explore the relations among urbanization level,FDI and the housing price in the extended Yangtze River Delta region. The results show that the spatial autocorrelation is an important factor affecting the housing price in the region. The acceleration of the urbanization process will promote the rise of the housing price in Zhejiang,Jiangsu and Anhui provinces,while the relationship between the actual FDI and the housing price at provincial-level exhibits significant differences. Among them,the FDI in Zhejiang and Anhui provinces illustrates a significant positive correlation with their housing prices,however,the actual FDI slightly correlates with its housing price positively in Jiangsu province.
A rapid genome-scale response of the transcriptional oscillator to perturbation reveals a period-doubling path to phenotypic change

Perturbation of the gated-synchrony system in yeast with phenelzine, an antidepressant drug used in the treatment of affective disorders in humans, leads to a rapid lengthening in the period of the genome-wide transcriptional oscillation. The effect is a concerted, genome-scale change in expression that is first seen in genes maximally expressed in the late-reductive phase of the cycle, doubling the length of the reductive phase within two cycles after treatment. Clustering of genes based on their temporal patterns of expression yielded just three super clusters whose trajectories through time could then be mapped into a simple 3D figure. In contrast to transcripts in the late-reductive phase, most transcripts do not show transients in expression relative to others in their temporal cluster but change their period in a concerted fashion. Mapping the trajectories of the transcripts into low-dimensional surfaces that can be represented by simple systems of differential equations provides a readily testable model of the dynamic architecture of phenotype. In this system, period doubling may be a preferred pathway for phenotypic change. As a practical matter, low-amplitude, genome-wide oscillations, a ubiquitous but often unrecognized attribute of phenotype, could be a source of seemingly intractable biological noise in microarray studies.
Mutant Presenilin 2 Increases &bgr;-Secretase Activity Through Reactive Oxygen Species–Dependent Activation of Extracellular Signal–Regulated Kinase

Abstract Senile plaques composed of &bgr;-amyloid (A&bgr;) are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer disease. Presenilin 2 (PS2) mutations increase A&bgr; generation in the brains of Alzheimer disease patients, but the underlying mechanism of A&bgr; generation by PS2 mutations remains to be clarified. The A&bgr; is generated through the sequential cleavage of amyloid precursor protein by &bgr;- and &ggr;-secretases. Here, we show that the PS2 mutation N141I enhances the activity of &bgr;-secretase and expression of the &bgr;-site amyloid precursor protein cleavage enzyme 1, a major neuronal &bgr;-secretase in the brains of PS2 transgenic mice and in PC12 cells overexpressing mutant PS2. In parallel with the increased activity of &bgr;-secretase, activation of extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK), A&bgr;1-40 and A&bgr;1-42 levels, generation of reactive oxygen species, and lipid peroxidation were higher in the mutant mouse neurons and the PC12 cells. Colocalization of phosphorylated ERK (phospho-ERK) and &bgr;-site amyloid precursor protein cleavage enzyme 1 with hydroxynonenal-histidine was found in the mutant brains. An ERK inhibitor U0126 and an antioxidant N-acetylcysteine prevented the expression and activity of &bgr;-secretase, ERK activation, and reactive oxygen species generation in both neurons and PC12 cells expressing mutant PS2 in a dose-dependent manner. Together, these data suggest that oxidative stress–mediated ERK activation contributes to increases in &bgr;-secretase and, thus, an increase of A&bgr; generation in neuronal cells expressing mutant PS2.
Comparison of metastabilities in CIGS solar cells with In2S3 and CdS buffer layers

The metastable behaviour induced by light soaking and reverse bias treatment in Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) based solar cells with vapour deposited indium sulphide buffer layer is compared to the baseline CdS-buffered devices. The dark and light current-voltage characteristics, capacitance-voltage doping profiles and admittance spectra have been measured and the influence of light soaking and reverse bias treatment on these characteristics were investigated. While the changes induced by both treatments on charge distribution in the absorber in both types of cells were similar, only a minor impact on the photovoltaic parameters of In2S3-buffered cells was observed. Thus we conclude that In2S3 buffer is a good alternative to CdS in terms of ensuring a stable cell performance.
Activation of innate immune responses through Toll-like receptor 3 causes a rapid loss of salivary gland function.

BACKGROUND Recent studies have demonstrated the expression of Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) in salivary glands and epithelial cell lines derived from Sjögren's syndrome (SS) patients. As viral infections are considered to be a trigger for SS, in this study we investigated whether in vivo engagement of TLR3 affects salivary gland function. METHODS Female New Zealand Black/WF1 mice were repeatedly injected with polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid [poly(I:C)]. TLR3 expression within submandibular glands was studied using immunohistochemistry. RNA levels of inflammatory cytokines in the submandibular glands were determined by real time polymerase chain reaction. Pilocarpine induced saliva volume was used as an index of glandular function. RESULTS Immunohistochemical analysis of submandibular glands showed TLR3 expression in epithelium of serous and mucous acini, granular convoluted tubules, and ducts. Poly(I:C) treatment rapidly up-regulated the mRNA levels of type I interferon (IFN) and inflammatory cytokines in the submandibular glands. One week after treatment, the saliva volumes in poly(I:C) treated mice were significantly reduced in comparison with the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) treated mice. Hematoxylin and eosin staining showed that salivary gland histology was normal and lymphocytic foci were not detected. Glandular function recovered after poly(I:C) treatment was stopped. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that engagement of TLR3 within the salivary glands results in a rapid loss of glandular function. This phenomenon is associated with the production of type I IFN and inflammatory cytokines in the salivary glands. Restoration of glandular function suggests that for viral etiology of SS, a chronic infection of salivary glands might be necessary.
Generalised sensory system abnormalities in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a European multicentre study

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is defined as a disease of the motor neurones, although several studies indicate involvement of the sensory nervous system. Aim: To evaluate the sensory nerve conduction studies (NCS) in 88 patients with ALS as part of a European multicentre study. Methods: Seven European clinical neurophysiologists examined consecutive series of ALS patients. The examinations were peer reviewed, and the diagnosis of ALS was confirmed clinically. Results: 20 (22.7%) patients with ALS had sensory NCS abnormalities in at least one nerve. Of those, 11 (12.5% of all patients) obtained an additional peer review diagnosis of electrophysiological polyneuropathy. There was no difference between the subgroups of patients with normal versus abnormal sensory NCS findings with respect to age, duration and region of onset. Conclusion: The findings support previous reports of sensory involvement in ALS, and raise the question of whether patients with ALS with sensory nerve abnormalities represent a variant of ALS. ALS associated with generalised sensory system abnormalities may be consistent with degeneration of motor neurones and dorsal root ganglion cells.
Awake Discography: A Comparison Study with Magnetic Resonance Imaging

This study was undertaken to determine the correlation between awake discography findings and magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of symptomatic lumbar disc disease. The study included 164 consecutive patients who underwent evaluation with discography and magnetic resonance imaging for lumbar disc disease from August 1987 to September 1989. Chronic low-back pain, with or without radicular symptoms, was the presenting complaint in each case. Each patient had previously failed conservative treatment. The average age was 36 (range, 19-66 years). Magnetic resonance images were performed before discography in each case. Discography was performed with patients minimally sedated and under local anesthesia. A lateral approach was used. Magnetic resonance imaging and discography correlated in 90 cases (55%) and differed in 74 (45%). Considering disc levels, discography and magnetic resonance imaging correlated in 371 discs (80%). There were 172 normal discsand 199 abnormal discs. Of the abnormal discs, 151 (76%) reproduced symptoms. In 60 discs (13%), magnetic resonance images showed abnormal findings and the discogram normal findings. Discs levels classified as abnormal on magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated that 108 discs (37%) were asymptomatic. Magnetic resonance imaging showed normal findings and the discogram abnormal findings in 34 discs (7%), of which 21 (5%) recreated exact symptoms and 13 (2%) caused no pain. Magnetic resonance imaging is a static test and discography the only available dynamic test for disc evaluation. Awake discography is a diagnostic study that can determine which abnormal discs are symptomatic via the pain response.
Cluster-Based Consensus Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper proposes a new time synchronization algorithm for wireless sensor networks, named clustered consensus time synchronization (CCTS). This algorithm is developed on the base of the distributed consensus time synchronization (DCTS) algorithm. However, to obtain faster convergence in the clock synchronization of node and better energy efficiency, the clustering technique is incorporated into the algorithm. The CCTS includes two parts: 1) intracluster time synchronization and 2) intercluster time synchronization. In the intracluster time synchronization, the improved DCTS is applied. The cluster head is responsible for exchanging messages within the cluster. The average value of skew compensation parameters of intracluster virtual clock and the average value of intracluster virtual clocks are used to update the skew compensation parameter and offset compensation parameter, respectively. In the intercluster time synchronization, cluster heads exchange messages via gateway nodes. To update the clock compensation parameters of the network virtual clocks, clock compensation parameters of intracluster virtual clocks of every cluster head are assigned with corresponding weights based on the size of each cluster. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the communication traffic compared with the DCTS algorithm, and improves the convergence rate due to the combination of clustering topologies.
Metagenome and metabolism: the tissue microbiota hypothesis

Over the last decade, the research community has revealed the role of a new organ: the intestinal microbiota. It is considered as a symbiont that is part of our organism since, at birth, it educates the immune system and contributes to the development of the intestinal vasculature and most probably the nervous system. With the advent of new generation sequencing techniques, a catalogue of genes that belong to this microbiome has been established that lists more than 5 million non‐redundant genes called the metagenome. Using germ free mice colonized with the microbiota from different origins, it has been formally demonstrated that the intestinal microbiota causes the onset of metabolic diseases. Further to the role of point mutations in our genome, the microbiota can explain the on‐going worldwide pandemic of obesity and diabetes, its dissemination and family inheritance, as well as the diversity of the associated metabolic phenotypes. More recently, the discovery of bacterial DNA within host tissues, such as the liver, the adipose tissue and the blood, which establishes a tissue microbiota, introduces new opportunities to identify targets and predictive biomarkers based on the host to microbiota interaction, as well as to define new strategies for pharmacological, immunomodulatory vaccines and nutritional applications.