Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on nitrous oxide

Three strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were grown anaerobically on exogenous N2O in a defined medium under conditions that assured the maintenance of highly anaerobic conditions for periods of 1 week or more. The bacteria were observed reproducibly to increase their cell density by factors of 3 to 9, but not more, depending on the initial amount of N2O. Growth on N2O was cleanly blocked by acetylene. Cell yields, CO2 production, and N2O uptake all increased with initial PN2O at PN2O less than or equal to 0.1 atm. Growth curves were atypical in the sense that growth rates decreased with time. This is the first observation of growth of P. aeruginosa on N2O as the sole oxidant. N2O was shown to be an obligatory, freely diffusible intermediate during growth of strains PAO1 and P1 on nitrate. All three strains used this endogenous N2O efficiently for growth. For strains PAO1 and P1, it was confirmed that exogenous N2O had little effect on the cell yields of cultures growing with nitrate; thus, for these strains exogenous N2O neither directly inhibited growth nor was used significantly for growth. On the other hand, strain P2 grew abundantly on exogenous N2O when small and growth-limiting concentrations of nitrate or nitrate (2 to 10 mM) were included in the medium. The dramatic effect of these N-anions was realized in large part even when the exogenous N2O was introduced immediately after the quantitative conversion of anion-nitrogen to N2. No evidence was found for a factor in filter-sterilized spent medium that stimulated fresh inocula to grow abundantly on N2O. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Association of Serum Bilirubin Levels on the Outcomes of Severe Sepsis

Purpose: Admission serum bilirubin levels have been incorporated into severity of illness scoring systems in critical illness as a marker of liver dysfunction. The purpose of our study is to determine the independent association of serum bilirubin with mortality in severe sepsis and septic shock. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of adult patients admitted with severe sepsis and septic shock. We excluded patients with a prior history of liver disease. We identified the highest serum bilirubin within 72 hours of admission and stratified bilirubin levels into ≤1 mg/dL (normal), 1.1 to 2 mg/dL (abnormal up to 2 mg/dL), and >2 mg/dL. We sought to determine the independent association of hyperbilirubinemia with mortality and length of intensive care unit stay in persons with severe sepsis and septic shock. Results: A total of 251 patients met criteria for severe sepsis. In all, 200 patients had a bilirubin of <1 mg/dL, and 51 had a bilirubin of >1 mg/dL. Of these 51, 12 had a bilirubin >2 mg/dL. Mortality was 12%, 24%, and 42% in persons with a bilirubin ≤1, 1.1 to 2, and >2 mg/dL, respectively. Compared to those with a bilirubin ≤ 1 mg/dL, adjusted odds of mortality in patients were 3.85 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21-12.2) and 9.85 (95% CI 1.92-50.5) times higher in persons with bilirubin levels between 1.1 and 2 and >2 mg/dL, respectively. Conclusion: After multivariable adjustment for potential confounding factors, elevated serum bilirubin levels within 72 hours of admission are associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. Prospective studies are warranted to further validate our findings.
Venture Capital Firms and Entrepreneurship : A Study of Start-Up Companies and Their Funding

Research on what determines the performance of start-up companies is characterized by a sharp debate in the literature of economic sociology and the sociology of the economy. There is one extreme view proposing that in the long run, a rational market takes care of allocating scarce resources such as venture capital funding to the most potentially profitable and exciting business plans. By contrast, a more sociological social network perspective highlights how entrepreneurial efforts and economic activities are more successful when embedded in a densely connected network of social actors. My research adds to the study of new organizations’ performance by examining the different economic, regional, and sociological factors influencing the performance of venture capital funded start-up companies (between 1995 and 1998) in the United States. I find evidence that after controlling for the economic characteristics of portfolio investments, network variables still play an important role in explaining start-up companies’ success. Companies backed by venture capital firms involved in more dense patterns of coinvestments are more likely to go public (or to merge / get acquired) than start-ups funded by isolated venture capital firms. In addition, the success of a company in the public market seems to be significantly enhanced when its funding comes from a syndication network of venture capital firms with at least one highly central and structurally autonomous venture capital investor. Most importantly, my analyses also show that the same network structure seems to predict the survival of the newly-created company, finding support to the often ignored argument in economic sociology that social ties, under certain circumstances, can result in the funding of non-profitable business ventures as well.
Regulation of Glutamate Transport into Synaptic Vesicles by Chloride and Proton Gradient (*)

Glutamate uptake into synaptic vesicles is driven by an electrochemical proton gradient formed across the membrane by a vacuolar H-ATPase. Chloride has a biphasic effect on glutamate transport, which it activates at low concentrations (2-8 mM) and inhibits at high concentrations (>20 mM). Stimulation with 4 mM chloride was due to an increase in the V of transport, whereas inhibition by high chloride concentrations was related to an increase in K to glutamate. Both stimulation and inhibition by Cl were observed in the presence of A23187 or (NH)SO, two substances that dissipate the proton gradient (ΔpH). With the use of these agents, we show that the transmembrane potential regulates the apparent affinity for glutamate, whereas the ΔpH antagonizes the effect of high chloride concentrations and is important for retaining glutamate inside the vesicles. Selective dissipation of ΔpH in the presence of chloride led to a significant glutamate efflux from the vesicles and promoted a decrease in the velocity of glutamate uptake. The H-ATPase activity was stimulated when the ΔpH component was dissipated. Glutamate efflux induced by chloride was saturable, and half-maximal effect was attained in the presence of 30 mM Cl. The results indicate that: (i) both transmembrane potential and ΔpH modulate the glutamate uptake at different levels and (ii) chloride affects glutamate transport by two different mechanisms. One is related to a change of the proportions between the transmembrane potential and the ΔpH components of the electrochemical proton gradient, and the other involves a direct interaction of the anion with the glutamate transporter.
Agency without Agents: Exploring the Relationship between Identity and Ethics

In this chapter I want to use the Buddhist notion of agency without agents to explore the relationship between identity and ethical conduct. At one level the notion of agency without agents seems simply nonsensical; the two terms require and imply each other such that there could not be agency without an agent. Arguably what makes humans capable of ethical conduct – capable of agency rather than mere behaviour – is precisely our awareness of the self as agent and the choice that this makes possible. Ethical agency needs a self-conscious agent. In what follows, however, I want to explore the ways in which self-identity can prove an obstacle to ethics; where my own preoccupation with my self and defending my identity effectively forecloses the possibility of ethics. Here belief in the self – in my substance as an agent – seems to blind me to the reality of my agency and its consequences. Two examples may serve to illustrate some of the ways identity and ethics can easily come to work against each other. The first example is drawn from the corporate governance literature where so-called ‘agency theory’ has established itself as the dominant theoretical resource for understanding the relationship between owners and directors. ‘Agent’ here is used in the sense of someone who should be serving the principal who has employed him, but who cannot be
The Impact of Portopulmonary Hypertension on Intraoperative Right Ventricular Function of Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients

BACKGROUND: Portopulmonary hypertension (PPH) burdens a right ventricle (RV) already exposed to physiologic stress during liver transplantation. The magnitude of the impact of PPH on RV function, especially early reperfusion, has not been evaluated adequately by prospective controlled trials. In this study, we prospectively quantified the impact of PPH on the RV function in living donor liver transplant recipients. METHODS: Twenty patients undergoing living donor liver transplant were stratified based on mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) into a control group (mPAP <25 mm Hg) and a PPH group (mPAP ≥25 mm Hg). Standard anesthetic technique and monitoring were used. Fiberoptic pulmonary artery catheters enabled to measure RV ejection fraction (RVEF) were used. Hemodynamics were recorded after induction of anesthesia, the end of hepatectomy, before portal unclamping, 5 and 30 minutes after reperfusion, and at skin closure. RESULTS: The PPH group had significantly lower RVEF, stroke volume, and higher central venous pressure and RV end-diastolic volume index after portal unclamping versus the controls. Pulmonary vascular resistance index and mPAP were significantly higher throughout the operation in the PPH group, but RV stroke work index did not differ significantly between groups. RVEF was significantly reduced in the PPH group after reperfusion compared with baseline, but the control group did not experience such a reduction. CONCLUSIONS: Mild to moderate PPH was associated with reduced RVEF during liver transplantation, especially after reperfusion, likely because of a reduced RV contractile reserve in PPH patients. This reduction in RVEF was clinically well tolerated by patients with mild to moderate PPH.
Intraclutch eggshell colour variation in birds: are females able to identify their eggs individually?

Background One possibility suggested regarding female post-mating strategies is differential allocation into offspring investment. Female birds produce not only the largest, but also most colourful eggs of all oviparous taxa. Larger eggs provide space for bigger embryos, or more nutrition for their development, but the question why eggs are more colourful and why there is variation in eggshell colouration remains. In this context, the focus of interest has been to explain inter-clutch variation but in many bird species, eggshell colouration also varies within a clutch. Surprisingly, less attention has been paid to this phenomenon. Therefore, we propose the “female egg recognition” hypothesis, suggesting that mothers use colour characteristics to interpret egg attributes and allocate further investment into each egg accordingly. To evaluate the feasibility of the hypothesis, we tested several underlying predictions and examined their suitability using a dataset from our tree sparrow (Passer montanus) study. We predict (i) substantial within-clutch variation in eggshell colouration which, (ii) should be related to laying sequence, (iii) reflect egg quality and, (iv) should stimulate a female response. Methods Eggshell coloration data were obtained via digital photography under standardized conditions, taken after clutch completion. Lightness (L*), representing the achromatic properties of an egg has been chosen as the most important predictor in dark cavities and was related to egg quality and position in the nest. Results In our tree sparrows, first and mainly last eggs were less pigmented, providing information about laying order. Egg volume, which predicts chick quality, positively correlates with eggshell coloration. Finally, we could show that female tree sparrows placed darker, but not bigger, eggs into more central incubation positions. Discussion All basic prerequisites for the “female egg recognition” hypothesis are fulfilled. In this context practicability and feasibility of the hypothesis and alternative explanations are discussed. However future work is necessary to determine a direct effect on offspring condition.
Chronic daily ethanol and withdrawal: 1. Long-term changes in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis.

BACKGROUND Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function has been demonstrated to be compromised for weeks and even months after alcoholics cease ethanol consumption. Because nonalcoholic subjects with family history-associated increased risk for alcoholism also exhibit compromised HPA function, it is not clear whether defects in the HPA axis of abstinent alcoholics reflect a preexisting condition that may be responsible for increased risk for alcohol abuse versus a persisting adaptational change in response to prolonged alcohol abuse. Consequently, we investigated whether chronic daily ethanol consumption and withdrawal by male Sprague Dawley rats would induce persistent HPA changes consistent with those demonstrated in abstinent alcoholics. METHODS AND RESULTS In an initial experiment in which ethanol (5%, w/v) was incrementally introduced to liquid diet over a 1 week period followed by 4 weeks of chronic ethanol consumption, not only ethanol-treated rats but also pair-fed control rats exhibited decreased (p < 0.05 vs. ad-libitum-fed controls) anterior pituitary pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA concentrations and associated decreases in plasma corticosterone and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) levels for at least 3 weeks after gradual withdrawal of ethanol from the diet. Pair-feeding-induced decreases (p < 0.05) in thymus and spleen weights suggested that the pair-fed controls were likely stressed in this model, probably in response to the marked and irregular suppression of liquid diet consumption immediately after introduction of ethanol. Consequently, a second model was developed in which ethanol was introduced to the liquid diet much more gradually (i.e., over 3 weeks). In contrast with the rapid ethanol-introduction model, this more prolonged ethanol introduction followed by 4 weeks of chronic daily ethanol consumption increased plasma corticosterone levels (p < 0.05), increased adrenal gland weight (p < 0.05), and decreased thymus and spleen weights (both p < 0.01) without altering any of these parameters in the pair-fed controls. Three weeks after gradual withdrawal of ethanol from the diet, anterior pituitary POMC mRNA concentrations were suppressed (p < 0.05) and thymus and spleen weights were increased (p < 0.05) versus both pair-fed and ad-libitum-fed controls, accompanied by trends for decreased basal plasma corticosterone and adrenal weights. CONCLUSIONS Chronic daily ethanol treatment induced changes in the HPA axis that persisted for at least 3 weeks after complete cessation of ethanol consumption. These persistent alterations in the HPA axis are similar to the aberrant HPA regulation of abstinent alcoholics, sons of alcoholics, Lewis rats, and individuals who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder and some types of depression, that is, categories of individuals who all exhibit increased risk for high ethanol consumption. Thus, these chronic daily ethanol-induced persistent changes in the HPA axis may have significant roles in alcohol abstinence syndrome and may increase vulnerability to relapse.
FDI and Economic Growth: the Role of Gradual Financial Deregulation a

We argue that nancial liberalization and FDI as a measure of openness complement each other. The intuition is that domestic nancial reform will lower the cost for international advanced technology transfer through direct investment. The resultant higher inow of FDI decreases the imitation cost of local rms, raising their imitation speed and thus the growth rate of the host country. We use the province-level nancial deregulation experience of China from 1981 to 1998 to examine the prediction. We address issues of endogeneity of FDI by instrumenting with a series of weather indicators. Dealing with weak instruments, our limited-information maximum likelihood (LIML) results suggest that there is a strong complementarity between FDI and the level of nancial deregulation in promoting economic growth. Moreover, nancial reform does not have an interaction e¤ect with domestic investment, export or human capital in promoting economic growth. The results are robust after controlling for standard growth factors, and time and province e¤ects. Keywords: Foreign direction investment; Gradual nancial deregulation; Complementarity; Limitedinformation maximum likelihood (LIML); Panel data JEL classi cation: O11; O33; F43; C23 FDI and Economic Growth: the Role of Gradual Financial Deregulation
Significant correlation of glycated albumin, but not glycated haemoglobin, with arterial stiffening in haemodialysis patients with type 2 diabetes

Objective We recently reported that glycated albumin (GA) is a better indicator of glycaemic control compared with glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in haemodialysis (HD) patients with type 2 diabetes. As poor glycaemic control is considered an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis in diabetes, the relationship between GA, HbA1c and arterial stiffening was examined in HD patients with type 2 diabetes.
Sleep disturbance: the patient care activities applied at the night shift in the intensive care unit.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to determine the frequency and types of nursing activities on sedated and non-sedated patients in the intensive care unit at night shift. BACKGROUND The complex intensive care unit and nursing activities has been described as an environment in which patients enter in a physiological crisis. This is even more so when the patient is unable to communicate or heavily sedated or unable to move. Nursing activities, fear and apprehension cause low morale and sleep disturbance. METHOD The study was carried out on a descriptive basis in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Thirty sedated and 30 non-sedated patients to whom the nursing care was applied during 19.00-07.00 hours for three consecutive nights were chosen with simple random sampling. Data were gathered by means of retrospective examination of the standard nursing chart notes about the 60 patients for three consecutive nights. Data were analysed using percentage calculations and chi-square test. RESULTS The results demonstrate that patient records indicated a mean of 51 interactions per patient per night. Nursing activities were more frequent between 02.00 and 05.00 hours. It was detected that nursing activities such as mouth and eye care, decubitus ulcer care, change of dressing, bed bath, catheter change for three night shifts were more frequently between 24.00 and 05.00 hours. Mechanical ventilation control and endotracheal suctioning were more frequently performed on sedated patients than on non-sedated patients (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION These findings of this study indicate that the nursing activities in the intensive care unit were focused on the activities, which will maximize what is seen to be physiological stability. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE This study has provided further data that identify the activities of nurses working in the intensive care unit at night shift. We hope to contribute to the development of the sleep protocol in surgical intensive care units.
Editing (out) generated study words in a recognition exclusion task: Effects of response signal delay and generation procedure

Three experiments investigated participants’ ability to exclude generated study words from “old” judgements on an exclusion task in which a response signal delay (RSD) was manipulated. In Experiment 1, words were generated by mentally conjoining components of two compound words, and a conjunction test condition was included (e.g., presentation of the lure checkpoint after studying checklist and needlepoint without generating the target). The exclusion error rate for generated words was higher than the conjunction error rate for a short RSD group but lower than the conjunction error rate for a long RSD group. The decrease in the familiarity effect across RSDs was extended to a conceptual cue generation procedure in Experiments 2 and 3, but an anagram generation procedure did not show similar evidence of recollection-based exclusions. The earliest indication of recollection-based editing of generated words occurred in a 2250-ms RSD (Experiment 3). An extension of a multi-factor transfer appropriate processing theory (deWinstanley, Bjork, & Bjork, 1996) of generation effects that incorporates influences of familiarity and recollection is advocated.
Maternal hypoxia increases the activity of MMPs and decreases the expression of TIMPs in the brain of neonatal rats

A recent study has shown that increased activity of matrix metalloproteinases‐2 and metalloproteinases‐9 (MMP‐2 and MMP‐9) has detrimental effect on the brain after neonatal hypoxia. The present study determined the effect of maternal hypoxia on neuronal survivability and the activity of MMP‐2 and MMP‐9, as well as the expression of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 1 and 2 (TIMP‐1 and TIMP‐2) in the brain of neonatal rats. Pregnant rats were exposed to 10.5% oxygen for 6 days from the gestation day 15 to day 21. Pups were sacrificed at day 0, 4, 7, 14, and 21 after birth. Body weight and brain weight of the pups were measured at each time point. The activity of MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 and the protein abundance of TIMP‐1 and TIMP‐2 were determined by zymography and Western blotting, respectively. The tissue distribution of MMPs was examined by immunofluorescence staining. The neuronal death was detected by Nissl staining. Maternal hypoxia caused significant decreases in body and brain size, increased activity of MMP‐2 at day 0, and increased MMP‐9 at day 0 and 4. The increased activity of the MMPs was accompanied by an overall tendency towards a reduced expression of TIMPs at all ages with the significance observed for TIMPs at day 0, 4, and 7. Immunofluorescence analysis showed an increased expression of MMP‐2, MMP‐9 in the hippocampus at day 0 and 4. Nissl staining revealed significant cell death in the hippocampus at day 0, 4, and 7. Functional tests showed worse neurobehavioral outcomes in the hypoxic animals. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 2010