Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Student understanding of pH: “i don't know what the log actually is, i only know where the button is on my calculator”

In foundation biochemistry and biological chemistry courses, a major problem area that has been identified is students' lack of understanding of pH, acids, bases, and buffers and their inability to apply their knowledge in solving acid/base problems. The aim of this study was to explore students' conceptions of pH and their ability to solve problems associated with the behavior of biological acids to understand the source of student difficulties. The responses given by most students are characteristic of an atomistic approach in which they pay no attention to the structure of the problem and concentrate only on juggling the elements together until they get a solution. Many students reported difficulty in understanding what the question was asking and were unable to interpret a simple graph showing the pH activity profile of an enzyme. The most startling finding was the lack of basic understanding of logarithms and the inability of all except one student to perform a simple calculation on logs without a calculator. This deficiency in high school mathematical skills severely hampered their understanding of pH. This study has highlighted a widespread deficiency in basic mathematical skills among first year undergraduates and a fragmented understanding of acids and bases. Implications for the way in which the concepts of pH and buffers are taught are discussed.
Cerebellar long‐term depression requires dephosphorylation of TARP in Purkinje cells

Cerebellar long‐term depression (LTD) at parallel fiber (PF)–Purkinje cell synapses is thought to play an essential role in certain forms of motor learning. Like hippocampal LTD, cerebellar LTD is mediated by the endocytosis of AMPA (α‐amino‐3‐hydroxyl‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazole‐propionate) receptors at postsynaptic sites. However, similar sets of kinases and phosphatases have opposite regulatory effects on hippocampal and cerebellar LTD, although the mechanisms responsible for this difference remain largely unclear. Activity‐dependent dephosphorylation of stargazin (an AMPA receptor auxiliary protein) by calcineurin regulates hippocampal LTD, but whether and how stargazin is involved in cerebellar LTD is unknown. In this study, we showed that stargazin is highly phosphorylated at basal states and is dephosphorylated by the application of high KCl plus glutamate (K‐glu) or of a metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist, (S)‐3,5‐dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG), both of which chemically induced LTD in cerebellar slices. This chemically induced dephosphorylation of stargazin was specifically blocked by a calcineurin inhibitor. Indeed, inclusion of the calcineurin auto‐inhibitory peptide in the patch pipette solution completely inhibited the LTD induced by the conjunctive stimulation of PFs and Purkinje cells. Furthermore, in Purkinje cells expressing stargazin‐9D, in which all nine serine residues are mutated to aspartate, neither conjunctive stimulus nor DHPG treatment induced LTD. Finally, immunohistochemical analyses revealed that neither K‐glu nor DHPG induced the endocytosis of AMPA receptors in Purkinje cells expressing stargazin‐9D. Together, these results indicate that hippocampal and cerebellar LTD share a common pathway, namely dephosphorylation of stargazin by calcineurin.
Computational modelling of phonological dyslexia: How does the DRC model fare?

This paper investigates the patterns of reading impairment in phonological dyslexia using computational modelling with the dual-route cascaded model of reading (DRC, Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001). Systematic lesioning of nonlexical and phonological processes in DRC demonstrates that different lesions and severity of those lesions can reproduce features of phonological dyslexia including impaired reading of nonwords, relatively spared reading of words, an advantage for reading pseudohomophones. Using the same stimuli for model and for patients, lesions to DRC were also used to simulate the reading accuracy shown by three individuals with acquired phonological dyslexia. No single lesion could replicate the reading performance of all three individuals. In order to simulate reading accuracy for one individual a phonological impairment was necessary (addition of noise to the phoneme units), and for the remaining two individuals an impairment to nonlexical reading procedures (increasing the time interval between each new letter being processed) was necessary. We argue that no single locus of impairment (neither phonological nor nonlexical) can account for the reading impairments of all individuals with phonological dyslexia. Instead, different individuals have different impairments (and combinations of impairments) that together provide the spectrum of patterns found in phonological dyslexia.
Spatial localization and projection densities of brainstem mossy fibre afferents to the forelimb C1 zone of the rat cerebellum

The present study uses a double retrograde tracer technique in rats to examine the spatial localization and pattern of axonal branching in mossy fibres arising from three major sources in the medulla—the external cuneate nucleus, the sensory trigeminal nucleus and the reticular formation, to two electrophysiologically‐identified parts of the cerebellar cortex that are linked by common climbing fibre input – the forelimb‐receiving parts of the C1 zone in lobulus simplex and the paramedian lobule. In each experiment a small injection of rhodamine‐tagged beads was injected into one cortical region and an injection of fluorescein‐tagged beads was injected into the other region. The main findings were: (i) the proportion of double‐labelled cells in each of the three precerebeller sources of mossy fibres was positively correlated with those in the inferior olive; and (ii) the C1 zone in lobulus simplex was found to receive a greater density of projections from all three sources of mossy fibres than the C1 zone in the paramedian lobule. These data suggest that two rostrocaudally separated but somatotopically corresponding parts of the C1 zone receive common mossy fibre and climbing fibre inputs. However, the differences in projection densities also suggest that the two parts of the zone differ in the extent to which they receive mossy fibre signals arising from the same precerebellar nuclei. This implies differences in function between somatotopically corresponding parts of the same cortical zone, and could enable a higher degree of parallel processing and integration of information within them.
Model‐based learning and the contribution of the orbitofrontal cortex to the model‐free world

Learning is proposed to occur when there is a discrepancy between reward prediction and reward receipt. At least two separate systems are thought to exist: one in which predictions are proposed to be based on model‐free or cached values; and another in which predictions are model‐based. A basic neural circuit for model‐free reinforcement learning has already been described. In the model‐free circuit the ventral striatum (VS) is thought to supply a common‐currency reward prediction to midbrain dopamine neurons that compute prediction errors and drive learning. In a model‐based system, predictions can include more information about an expected reward, such as its sensory attributes or current, unique value. This detailed prediction allows for both behavioral flexibility and learning driven by changes in sensory features of rewards alone. Recent evidence from animal learning and human imaging suggests that, in addition to model‐free information, the VS also signals model‐based information. Further, there is evidence that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) signals model‐based information. Here we review these data and suggest that the OFC provides model‐based information to this traditional model‐free circuitry and offer possibilities as to how this interaction might occur.
The Relationship Between Concave Angle of Vertebral Endplate and Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

Study Design. A retrospective study of magnetic resonance imaging of the lower lumbar spine. Objective. To describe the characteristics of the concave angle of vertebral endplate (CAVE) and study the association between CAVE and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). Summary of Background Data. The vertebral endplate is responsible for transferring stress between disc and vertebral body, and its concavity is important in dispersing compression stress. However, the characteristics of CAVE and the relationship between CAVE and IVDD have not been investigated. Methods. Magnetic resonance images of the lower lumbar spine in 511 patients with low back pain were examined by 2 experienced spine surgeons. The grades of IVDD and lumbar disc herniation (LDH) were evaluated, several parameters including CAVE, height, and the sagittal diameter of vertebral body were measured, and the association between IVDD or LDH and CAVE was analyzed. Results. At L3–L4, L4–L5, and L5–S1, CAVE was smaller in the upper endplate (i.e., the inferior endplate of the superior vertebra) than in the lower endplate (i.e., the superior endplate of the inferior vertebra). There was no male/female difference in the size of CAVE in any of the segments. According to partial correlation analysis, CAVE was moderately related to IVDD, but no association between CAVE and LDH was found. Conclusion. When lumbar IVDD occurs, the CAVE increases and the endplate tends to flatten. The degree of flattening is related to the severity of the degeneration.
The development of abstract letter representations for reading: Evidence for the role of context

We review evidence that in the course of reading, the visual system computes abstract letter identities (ALIs): a representation of letters that encodes their identity but that abstracts away from their visual appearance. How could the visual system learn such a seemingly nonvisual representation? We propose that different forms of the same letter tend to appear in similar distributions of contexts (in the same words written in different ways) and that this environmental correlation interacts with correlation-based learning mechanisms in the brain to lead to the formation of ALIs. We review a neural network model that demonstrates the feasibility of this common contexts hypothesis and present two experiments confirming some novel predictions: (a) repeatedly presenting arbitrary visual stimuli in common contexts leads those stimuli to be confusable with each other, and (b) different forms of the same letter are more confusable with each other in word-like contexts than in nonword-like contexts. We then extend the model to use real pictures of letters as input and simulate some of the novel empirical findings from the experiments.
Neural control of dopamine neurotransmission: implications for reinforcement learning

In the past few decades there has been remarkable convergence of machine learning with neurobiological understanding of reinforcement learning mechanisms, exemplified by temporal difference (TD) learning models. The anatomy of the basal ganglia provides a number of potential substrates for instantiation of the TD mechanism. In contrast to the traditional concept of direct and indirect pathway outputs from the striatum, we emphasize that projection neurons of the striatum are branched and individual striatofugal neurons innervate both globus pallidus externa and globus pallidus interna/substantia nigra (GPi/SNr). This suggests that the GPi/SNr has the necessary inputs to operate as the source of a TD signal. We also discuss the mechanism for the timing processes necessary for learning in the TD framework. The TD framework has been particularly successful in analysing electrophysiogical recordings from dopamine (DA) neurons during learning, in terms of reward prediction error. However, present understanding of the neural control of DA release is limited, and hence the neural mechanisms involved are incompletely understood. Inhibition is very conspicuously present among the inputs to the DA neurons, with inhibitory synapses accounting for the majority of synapses on DA neurons. Furthermore, synchronous firing of the DA neuron population requires disinhibition and excitation to occur together in a coordinated manner. We conclude that the inhibitory circuits impinging directly or indirectly on the DA neurons play a central role in the control of DA neuron activity and further investigation of these circuits may provide important insight into the biological mechanisms of reinforcement learning.
Predictors of Compliance in Hypertensive Patients

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to identify knowledge, health belief and compliance in patients with hypertension and to identify the most important predictors for compliance of hypertensive patient. Method: The participants in this study were 117 patients who were receiving treatment for hypertension at E. university hospital or one of three local clinics in D-city. Data were collected using a knowledge measurement instrument, health belief scale, and an instrument on compliance. Collected data were analyzed using test, ANOVA, multiple linear regression with PASW statistics 18.0 program. Results: There were statistically significantly positive correlations between knowledge of hypertension and health belief, health belief and compliance. But there was no correlation between knowledge of hypertension and compliance. In the multiple regression analysis, perceived barriers, perceived severity, perceived benefits were significant predictors to explain compliance and accounted for 54.1% of the variance in compliance. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that health belief and compliance are significantly strongly correlated. Thus it is suggested that nursing interventions to improve compliance should include nursing care plans to increase health belief, perceived severity, perceived benefit and to decrease perceived barrier.
Subtype‐dependent postnatal development of taste receptor cells in mouse fungiform taste buds

Taste buds contain two types of taste receptor cells, inositol 1,4,5‐triphosphate receptor type 3‐immunoreactive cells (type II cells) and synaptosomal‐associating protein‐25‐immunoreactive cells (type III cells). We investigated their postnatal development in mouse fungiform taste buds immunohistochemically and electrophysiologically. The cell density, i.e. the number of cells per taste bud divided by the maximal area of the horizontal cross‐section of the taste bud, of type II cells increased by postnatal day (PD)49, where as that of type III cells was unchanged throughout the postnatal observation period and was equal to that of the adult cells at PD1. The immunoreactivity of taste bud cell subtypes was the same as that of their respective subtypes in adult mice throughout the postnatal observation period. Almost all type II cells were immunoreactive to gustducin at PD1, and then the ratio of gustducin‐immunoreactive type II cells to all type II cells decreased to a saturation level, ∼60% of all type II cells, by PD15. Type II and III cells generated voltage‐gated currents similar to their respective adult cells even at PD3. These results show that infant taste receptor cells are as excitable as those of adults and propagate in a subtype‐dependent manner. The relationship between the ratio of each taste receptor cell subtype to all cells and taste nerve responses are discussed.
Parallel deterioration to language processing in a bilingual speaker

The convergence hypothesis [Green, D. W. (2003). The neural basis of the lexicon and the grammar in L2 acquisition: The convergence hypothesis. In R. van Hout, A. Hulk, F. Kuiken, & R. Towell (Eds.), The interface between syntax and the lexicon in second language acquisition (pp. 197–218). Amsterdam: John Benjamins] assumes that the neural substrates of language representations are shared between the languages of a bilingual speaker. One prediction of this hypothesis is that neurodegenerative disease should produce parallel deterioration to lexical and grammatical processing in bilingual aphasia. We tested this prediction with a late bilingual Hungarian (first language, L1)–English (second language, L2) speaker J.B. who had nonfluent progressive aphasia (NFPA). J.B. had acquired L2 in adolescence but was premorbidly proficient and used English as his dominant language throughout adult life. Our investigations showed comparable deterioration to lexical and grammatical knowledge in both languages during a one-year period. Parallel deterioration to language processing in a bilingual speaker with NFPA challenges the assumption that L1 and L2 rely on different brain mechanisms as assumed in some theories of bilingual language processing [Ullman, M. T. (2001). The neural basis of lexicon and grammar in ﬁrst and second language: The declarative/procedural model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4(1), 105–122].
Fibrinolytische Behandlung tiefer Venenthrombosen mit Streptokinase in ultrahoher Dosierung

: Twenty-one patients with deep vein thrombosis were treated for six hours per day in accordance with an "ultrahigh" dose scheme with 1,500,000 units/hour streptokinase. A maximum of two such cycles were administered in the first ten patients, and the subsequent patients received up to five cycles as required. In terms of clinical chemical parameters, a pronounced lowering of fibrinogen with corresponding elevation of fibrin(ogen) cleavage products regularly occurred during the first cycle. There were great differences in the individual times for which these alterations persisted (12-72 hours). The alterations during the subsequent cycles were very much less, probably because of the pronounced lowering of the plasminogen concentration. The clinical tolerance (including hemorrhagic complications) was roughly comparable with that of a streptokinase treatment with conventional doses. Phlebographic checking of the result of treatment showed that the ultrahigh dosed intermittent dosage scheme is a highly effective treatment procedure with which the duration of treatment can be appreciably shortened compared to conventional dosage schemata: in four cases, a full recanalization could already be attained after a single cycle.
Incorporating a collaborative web‐based virtual laboratory in an undergraduate bioinformatics course

Face‐to‐face bioinformatics courses commonly include a weekly, in‐person computer lab to facilitate active learning, reinforce conceptual material, and teach practical skills. Similarly, fully‐online bioinformatics courses employ hands‐on exercises to achieve these outcomes, although students typically perform this work offsite. Combining a face‐to‐face lecture course with a web‐based virtual laboratory presents new opportunities for collaborative learning of the conceptual material, and for fostering peer support of technical bioinformatics questions. To explore this combination, an in‐person lecture‐only undergraduate bioinformatics course was augmented with a remote web‐based laboratory, and tested with a large class. This study hypothesized that the collaborative virtual lab would foster active learning and peer support, and tested this hypothesis by conducting a student survey near the end of the semester. Respondents broadly reported strong benefits from the online laboratory, and strong benefits from peer‐provided technical support. In comparison with traditional in‐person teaching labs, students preferred the virtual lab by a factor of two. Key aspects of the course architecture and design are described to encourage further experimentation in teaching collaborative online bioinformatics laboratories.
The Impact of College Graduates on Bahamian Society: With Emphasis on Graduates from The College of The Bahamas

Society at large, both government and residents, invests in education, a process which is considered to reach its apex with a university qualification. Economically, education is typically seen to be both a private and public good, and so it is useful to determine the benefits to both the individual and society arising from this investment. This paper examines the economic contributions of university-educated Bahamians to society. Using information obtained from The College of The Bahamas and other official sources, the study demonstrates that having a populace with higher education has a beneficial impact upon the Bahamian economy.
Cortical and subcortical projections to primary visual cortex in anophthalmic, enucleated and sighted mice

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the afferent projections to the primary visual cortex in intact and enucleated C57BL/6 mice and in ZRDCT/An anophthalmic mice. Early loss of sensory‐driven activity in blind subjects can lead to activations of the primary visual cortex by haptic or auditory stimuli. This intermodal activation following the onset of blindness is believed to arise through either unmasking of already present cortical connections, sprouting of novel cortical connections or enhancement of intermodal cortical connections. Studies in humans have similarly demonstrated heteromodal activation of visual cortex following relatively short periods of blindfolding. This suggests that the primary visual cortex in normal sighted subjects receives afferents, either from multisensory association cortices or from primary sensory cortices dedicated to other modalities. Here cortical afferents to the primary visual cortex were investigated to determine whether the visual cortex receives sensory input from other modalities, and whether differences exist in the quantity and/or the structure of projections found in sighted, enucleated and anophthalmic mice. This study demonstrates extensive direct connections between the primary visual cortex and auditory and somatosensory areas, as well as with motor and association cortices in all three animal groups. This suggests that information from different sensory modalities can be integrated at early cortical stages and that visual cortex activations following visual deprivations can partly be explained by already present intermodal corticocortical connections.
Asymmetric time‐dependent activation of right central amygdala neurones in rats with peripheral neuropathy and pregabalin modulation

Neuropathic pain (NP) often presents with comorbidities, including depression and anxiety. The amygdala is involved in the processing of mood disorders, fear, and the emotional‐affective components of pain. Hemispheric lateralization of pain processing in the amygdala has recently been brought to light because, independently of the side of the peripheral injury, the right central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) showed higher neuronal activity than the left in models of inflammatory pain. Although the CeA has been called the ‘nociceptive amygdala’, because of its high content of nociceptive neurones, little is known about changes in its neuronal function in vivo, under NP conditions. Herein, we quantified CeA spontaneous and evoked activity in rats subjected to spinal nerve ligation (SNL), under isoflurane anaesthesia, following application of mechanical and thermal stimuli to widespread body areas. We found that spontaneous and stimulus‐evoked neuronal activity was higher in the left CeA at 2 and 6 days after SNL induction and declined afterwards, whereas activity in the right CeA became dominant at 14 days after surgery, independently of the side of surgery. We also observed that systemic injection of pregabalin, which is widely used in patients with NP, reduced CeA spontaneous and stimulus‐evoked neuronal activity. Overall, we observed that peripheral nerve injury produced asymmetric plasticity in ongoing and evoked activity in the left and right CeA. Remarkably, at 14 days after SNL induction, enhanced evoked activity in the right CeA persisted compared to short‐term increases in activity in the left CeA. The plasticity found in ongoing and evoked activity was inhibited by pregabalin.