Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Properties of voltage‐activated [Ca2+]i transients in single smooth muscle cells isolated from pregnant rat uterus

1 The intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) was measured at 35 °C using the fluorescent indicator indo‐1 in patch‐clamped, single uterine myocytes from pregnant rats to investigate the relationship between depolarization, Ca2+ current (ICa) and [Ca2+]i. 2 Membrane depolarization activated ICa and produced a [Ca2+]i transient. The rapid increase in [Ca2+]i occurred at the same time as the inward ICa. Both ICa and the increase in [Ca2+]i were abolished by nifedipine (10 μm). 3 When the membrane potential was held at ‐80 mV the threshold depolarization for an increase in [Ca2+]i was about ‐55 to ‐50 mV. As the magnitude of the depolarization was increased to about 0 mV there was an increase in the size of both ICa and the increase in [Ca2+]i. As the magnitude of the depolarization was further increased both ICa and the [Ca2+]i increase declined. 4 When the depolarizing pulses were applied at 3 Hz to mimic normal action potentials then the individual [Ca2+]i transients did not fully relax and a tetanic rise of [Ca2+]i was observed. Under these conditions, there was not a simple relationship between the magnitude of the Ca2+ response and Ca2+ entry. When pairs of depolarizing pulses were applied, the increase in [Ca2+]i produced by the second pulse was larger (in relation to the magnitude of the L‐type Ca2+ current) than that produced by the first pulse. This facilitation was abolished by both ryanodine and cyclopiazonic acid suggesting a role for release from intracellular stores. 5 We conclude that the L‐type Ca2+ current is the major source of Ca2+ ions entering the cell to produce the [Ca2+]i transient on depolarization. The magnitude of the increase in [Ca2+]i may, however, be amplified by Ca2+‐induced Ca2+ release.
Liquidity Dynamics in an Electronic Open Limit Order Book: An Event Study Approach

We analyze the dynamics of liquidity in Xetra, an electronic open limit order book. We use the Exchange Liquidity Measure (XLM), a measure of the cost of a roundtrip trade of given size V. This measure captures the price and the quantity dimension of liquidity. We present descriptive statistics, analyze the cross-sectional determinants of the XLM measure and document its intraday pattern. Our main contribution is an analysis of the dynamics of the XLM measure around liquidity shocks. We use intraday event study methodology to analyze how a shock affects the XLM measure. We consider two sets of liquidity shocks, large transactions (which are endogenous events because they originate in the market) and Bloomberg ticker news items (which are exogenous events because they originate outside of the market). We find that resiliency after large transactions is high, i.e., liquidity quickly reverts to normal levels. We further document that large trades take place at times when liquidity is unusually high. We interpret this as evidence that large transactions are timed. The Bloomberg ticker news items do not have a discernible effect on liquidity.
Medical Tourism: The Newest of Niches

John Connell Professor of Human Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. e-mail: jconnell@mail.usyd. edu.au This department is devoted to research reports, notes, conference resumes and other significant research events. Two copies of write-ups, not exceeding 3,000 words, may be mailed to the Section Editor, Professor David A. Fennell, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1; e-mail: dfennell@arnie.pec. brocku.ca. In all cases, one copy of the report should be mailed to the Chief Editor, TRR. Research Report
Clinical Evaluation of the Luminex NxTAG Respiratory Pathogen Panel

ABSTRACT An evaluation of the Luminex NxTAG Respiratory Pathogen Panel was performed on 404 clinical respiratory specimens. Clinical sensitivities and specificities of the assay compared to those of the reference methods were 80.0% to 100.0% and 98.9% to 100.0%, respectively. Correct genotyping information was provided for 95.5% of influenza virus A specimens. The closed-tube format of the assay simplified the workflow and minimized carryover contamination.
On interpreting non-coreferent pronouns: a longitudinal study

It is by now a commonplace claim that syntactic development continues beyond the age of 5 ; o or 6 ; o. In one of the first systematic studies of the later stages of language acquisition, Chomsky (1969) demonstrated that children between the ages of five and ten are still in the process of acquiring ask-tell, promise, and easy to see constructions, as well as restrictions on pronominalization. These relatively late acquisitions were accounted for by assuming that exceptions to generalizations, and restrictions with limited applications are more difficult to acquire, as are surface configurations that mask underlying grammatical relations. Kessel (1970) questioned Chomsky's specific results with respect to the ask-tell and easy-eager constructions, noting that they might have been effected by the cognitive demands of her experimental tasks. Using different methods of elicitation, Kessel showed in his study that children correctly distinguish between the structures in question at ages earlier than those found by Chomsky (see also Cambon & Sinclair 1974, Cromer 1970, Morsbach & Steel 1976). Chomsky admits that the doll props used during her interview sessions facilitated the children's performance. With respect to constructions involving pronominalization, she notes that young children comprehend such sentences only with difficulty unless tangible referents are provided. Linguistic accounts which attempt to characterize assignment of antecedents to pronouns are indeed complex (see Langacker 1969, Ross 1969 for relevant discussion). In view of the effects of task demands demonstrated for two of the constructions Chomsky tested, it is not unreasonable to consider whether her results on pronominalization were likewise influenced by aspects of her experimental procedure. This possibility is supported by Piaget's findings (reported in Piaget 1967) for children at the stage of concrete operations, roughly between the ages of seven and eleven. A child at this period is often able to solve certain problems only
The number of patients with communication related impairments in acute hospital stroke units

Effective communication between patients who have had a stroke and their healthcare providers is vital. However, this may be difficult if patients have communication related impairments as a result of the stroke and/or have age related impairments that impact on their ability to communicate. This study sought to identify how many patients admitted into two acute hospital stroke units had a hearing, vision, speech, language and/or cognitive communicative impairment regardless of the cause. A total of 69 patients participated in this study. The majority (88%) of patients had one or more mild or more severe communication related impairments, 69% of patients had two or more communication related impairments and 39% of patients had three or more communication related impairments. The most common type of impairment was hearing impairment, followed by near vision impairment. That a high number of patients in acute hospital stroke units have communication related impairments suggests that many patients in acute stroke units may experience difficulty communicating their healthcare needs with healthcare providers and that alternative ways to support patients with communication related impairments in acute stroke units need to be available.
CNN based suburban building detection using monocular high resolution Google Earth images

This paper proposes a deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) based method to automatically detect suburban buildings from high resolution Google Earth imagery. Traditional methods based on low-level hand-engineered features or mid-level bag of features have great limitations in complex environment, especially in suburban areas. Inspired by the astounding achievement of CNNs in object recognition and detection, we develop a novel method to detect buildings in cluttered images which consists of three main steps. Firstly, a multi-scale saliency computation is employed to extract built-up areas and a sliding windows approach is applied to generate candidate regions. Then, a CNN is applied to classify the regions. Finally, an improved non maximum suppression is used to remove false buildings. We test our method on a collection of very challenging Google Earth images and achieve 89% precision, which shows robustness and efficiency of our method.
Sex differences in ego functioning: exploratory studies of agency and communion.

Theoretical formulations of Gutmann and of Bakan were tested in three studies of sex differences in personality. In Study 1, males were significantly more individualistic, objective, and distant in representations of self, others, space, and future. Study 2 found males predominantly “agentic” and females “communal” in reports of significant emotional experiences. In Study 3, seven general predictions from the agency-communion formulation were tested against 200 abstracts of published research on sex differences. The formulation was judged “relevant” to over 80% of the studies; significant differences were “confirming” of the formulation in 97% of “relevant” studies. Results indicate the importance of qualitative aspects of sex differences in personality and support the agency-communion formulation as a framework for future inquiry.
Distrust and patients in intercultural healthcare: A qualitative interview study

Background: The importance of trust between patients and healthcare personnel is emphasised in nurses’ and physicians’ ethical codes. Trust is crucial for an effective healthcare personnel–patient relationship and thus for treatment and treatment outcomes. Cultural and linguistic differences may make building a trusting and positive relationship with ethnic minority patients particularly challenging. Although there is a great deal of research on cultural competence, there is a conspicuous lack of focus on the concepts of trust and distrust concerning ethnic minority patients, particularly in relation to the concept of ‘othering’. Aim: To study which factors help build trust or create distrust in encounters between healthcare professionals and hospitalised ethnic minority patients, as well as study the dynamic complexities inherent within the process of ‘othering’. Research design: Qualitative design, in-depth interviews and hermeneutic analysis. Participants and research context: The interviewees were 10 immigrant patients (six women and four men – eight Asians, two Africans – ages 32–85 years) recruited from a south-eastern Norwegian hospital. Ethical considerations: Study approval was obtained from the hospital’s Privacy Ombudsman for Research and the hospital’s leadership. Participation was voluntary and participants signed an informed consent form. Conclusion: Distrust and othering may be caused by differences in belief systems, values, perceptions, expectations, and style of expression and behaviour. Othering is a reciprocal phenomenon in minority ethnic patient–healthcare personnel encounters, and it influences trust building negatively. Besides demonstrating general professional skill and competence, healthcare personnel require cultural competence to create trust.
Laparoscopic management of an unrecognized spontaneous bilateral tubal pregnancy

In industrialized countries, the incidence of ectopic pregnancy has increased sixfold over the past 30years, and is now estimated to be approximately 2% of all reported pregnancies (1). The rise in incidence has been attributed to improved methods in diagnosis and reporting, an increased frequency of pelvic inflammatory disease (2) and the growing importance of assisted reproductive techniques (ART). Bilateral ectopic pregnancy, however, is a rare condition, occurring at a ratio of 1/725–1/1580 ectopic pregnancies (3). Published some 60years ago, Fishback’s series of 76 cases of bilateral simultaneous tubal pregnancies probably represents the first comprehensive report on this topic (4). Compared with natural conception, the incidence of ectopic pregnancy in in vitro fertilization (IVF) programs is considerably higher with frequencies reported between 2% and 12.4% (5–7). The underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon are still discussed controversially. Of note, the first recorded pregnancy following IVF, reported by Steptoe and Edwards in 1976, was a tubal pregnancy in a woman with a known history of tubal damage (8). Tubal damage, however, is a major reason for women to seek treatment in IVF programs, and thus it is difficult to rule out the inherent risk of the IVF procedure per se. Clearly, the key to successful management of an ectopic pregnancy is early diagnosis. Given the current accuracy of different tests, algorithms using a combination of ultrasound and hCG testing provide the most favorable outcomes (9). We present a case of a bilateral tubal pregnancy; despite thorough preoperative work up including repeat ultrasound and serial hCG testing, correct diagnosis was not made until surgery.
Effect of ultrasonic and sonic activation of root canal sealers on the push-out bond strength and interfacial adaptation to root canal dentine.

AIM To evaluate the effect of ultrasonic and sonic activation of two root canal sealers on interfacial adaptation and push-out bond strength (BS) to root canal dentine. METHODOLOGY The root canals of seventy-eight roots of maxillary canines were prepared with NiTi rotary instruments under irrigation with 2.5% NaOCl and 17% EDTA. Canals were filled by lateral condensation of gutta-percha and AH Plus (n = 39) or MTA Fillapex (n = 39). Three subgroups (n = 13) were formed according to sealer activation: no activation (NA), sonic activation (SA, 20 s) and ultrasonic activation (US, 20 s). In three specimens of each subgroup, 0.1% rhodamine B was added to the sealer. Three 1-mm-thick slices were obtained from each root third. The first and second were used for push-out BS test and the third for a qualitative analysis of interfacial adaptation (gaps) and voids by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Intratubular penetration of rhodamine B-labelled sealer was also assessed by CLSM. Data were analysed by two-way anova and Tukey's test (α = 0.05). RESULTS AH Plus (2.58 ± 1.21) had higher push-out BS than MTA Fillapex (1.45 ± 0.71) (P = 0.000). UA (2.64 ± 1.44) had higher BS (P = 0.000) than NA (1.58 ± 0.73) and SA (1.83 ± 0.85), which did not differ significantly from each other (P = 0.3303). The coronal third had higher BS (2.48 ± 1.49) than the middle (2.08 ± 0.94) (P = 0.0003) and apical (1.48 ± 0.58) (P = 0.00) thirds. For both sealers, UA was associated with a more homogeneous filling material with better interfacial adaptation and greater quantity, density and length of tags in dentinal tubules. When UA was used, the tags had similar quantity, density and length to those formed without activation, but interfacial gaps and voids were observed. CONCLUSION Ultrasonic activation was associated with higher BS values, deeper intratubular penetration and greater interfacial adaptation to root dentine than sonic activation and no activation techniques, AH Plus had higher BS values than MTA Fillapex irrespective of the type of activation.
2 Multifaceted Role of MatrixMetalloproteases on Human Diseases

Matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) are important enzymes required in extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation for creating the cellular environments to maintain numerous physiological processes ranging from development to wound repair. However, MMP activity is strictly controlled and imbalance in the levels of MMP family members and its inhibitors has been implicated as an etiological factor in several diseases. Herein, involvement of MMPs and their natural inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteases (TIMPs), in several disease processes have been considered for discussion.
IL‐10 promoter haplotype influence on interferon treatment response in multiple sclerosis

The level of interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) expression is related to polymorphisms ‐1082 (G/A), ‐819 (T/C) and ‐592 (A/C) in the promoter region of the IL‐10 gene, which constitute three haplotypes, GCC, ATA, and ACC. The ATA (a non‐GCC) haplotype, which is associated with low IL‐10 expression, has been shown to improve interferon (IFN) treatment response in hepatitis C. We analysed the distribution of IL‐10 promoter haplotype combinations to determine whether they could influence initial IFN treatment response in 63 patients with relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). The patients were grouped into non‐GCC or GCC haplotypes, and the clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) disease activity was compared in the two groups. During the first 6 months of treatment, MS patients with non‐GCC haplotypes experienced fewer new MRI T1‐contrast enhancing lesions [0.77 ± 0.36 (SEM)] than patients with the GCC haplotype (2.45 ± 0.57) (P = 0.05, Mann‐Whitney U test). No differences were detected on clinical disease activity. The results suggest an influence of IL‐10 promoter polymorphisms on IFN treatment response in MS.
Anti-Insulin Antibodies and Adverse Events with Biosimilar Insulin Lispro Compared with Humalog Insulin Lispro in People with Diabetes

Abstract Background: SAR342434 (SAR-Lis) is a biosimilar (follow-on) of insulin lispro (Humalog®; Ly-Lis). Two randomized, controlled, open-label, parallel-group, phase 3 studies were conducted to compare the efficacy and safety of SAR-Lis and Ly-Lis, both in combination with insulin glargine (Lantus®). SORELLA 1 was a 12-month study in 507 people with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM); SORELLA 2 was a 6-month study in 505 people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this study, the impact of anti-insulin antibodies (AIA) to SAR-Lis and Ly-Lis on safety and glycemic control is reported. Methods: AIA were measured regularly throughout both studies at a centralized laboratory blinded to treatment groups using a drug-specific AIA assay. The AIA status (positive or negative), AIA titers, and cross-reactivity to human insulin, insulin glargine, and insulin glargine metabolite M1 were analyzed. The potential effect of AIA on safety, particularly as related to hypersensitivity reactions, hypoglycemia, and treatment-emergent adverse events, as well as on glycemic control (HbA1c, insulin dose), was evaluated. Results: AIA positive status at baseline was similar for the two insulins, but higher in T1DM than in T2DM. In both studies, the percentage of people newly developing AIA in the two treatment groups, or having a ≥4-fold increase in AIA titers, did not differ. No relationship was observed between maximum individual AIA titers and change in HbA1c or insulin dose, hypoglycemia, or hypersensitivity reactions or between efficacy/safety measures and subgroups by presence or absence of treatment-emergent AIA. Hypersensitivity events and events adjudicated as allergic reactions were few and did not differ between the two groups. Conclusion: Insulin lispro SAR342434 and the originator insulin lispro had a similar immunogenicity profile in people with T1DM or T2DM.
Placebo effects on analgesia related to testosterone and premotor activation

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested whether graded placebo conditions could modulate the degree of placebo effect and brain activation patterns in study participants and whether the placebo effect could be influenced by hormones. Each participant was investigated under three conditions: the control (no placebo) condition, the low-placebo condition, and the high-placebo condition (HPC). Activations of the premotor areas, anterior cingulate cortex, and prefrontal cortex were stronger in the HPC compared with those in the control and low placebo conditions. The premotor areas were activated by increased testosterone levels under the HPC. These results suggest that testosterone may affect the brain activation and response to pain during a high-placebo response, with the data supported by brain imaging.
Orbit-infiltrating mast cells, monocytes, and macrophages produce PDGF isoforms that orchestrate orbital fibroblast activation in Graves' ophthalmopathy.

PURPOSE Platelet-derived growth factors (PDGF) are regulators of fibroblast activity that may be involved in the pathophysiology of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO). We unraveled the expression and origin of PDGF family members in GO orbital tissue and investigated the effect of PDGF isoforms on IL-6 and hyaluronan production and proliferation by orbital fibroblasts. METHODS PDGF-A, PDGF-B, PDGF-C, PDGF-D, PDGF-Rα, and PDGF-Rβ expression was determined by real-time quantitative PCR and PDGF-A and PDGF-B protein expression was determined by Western blot in orbital tissues. Orbital tissues were immunohistochemically stained for PDGF-A and PDGF-B expression, together with stainings for T cells, monocytes, B cells, macrophages, and mast cells. Effects of PDGF-AA, PDGF-AB, and PDGF-BB on orbital fibroblast proliferation and IL-6 and hyaluronan production were examined. Finally, effects of PDGF-BB- and PDGF-AA-neutralizing antibodies on IL-6 and hyaluronan production in GO whole orbital tissue cultures were tested. RESULTS GO orbital tissue showed increased PDGF-A and PDGF-B mRNA and protein levels. Increased numbers of PDGF-A- and PDGF-B-positive monocytes, macrophages, and mast cells were present in GO orbital tissue. PDGF-BB stimulated proliferation and hyaluronan and IL-6 production by orbital fibroblasts the most, followed by PDGF-AB and PDGF-AA. Finally, in particular imatinib mesylate and PDGF-BB-neutralizing antibodies reduced IL-6 and hyaluronan production by whole orbital tissue cultures from GO patients. CONCLUSIONS In GO, mast cells, monocytes, and macrophages may activate orbital fibroblasts via secretion of especially PDGF-AB and PDGF-BB. Preclinical studies with whole orbital tissue cultures show that blocking PDGF-B chain containing isoforms can be a promising treatment for GO.
Current neoadjuvant strategies in rectal cancer

Treatment modalities in rectal cancer have undergone a slow, evolutionary transition over the past 30 years. More recently, contemporary descriptions of advanced preoperative chemotherapy and radiation schema have led to a rapid revolution in the management of this disease. In this review we focus on current evidence‐based neoadjuvant strategies used in the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer and metastatic rectal disease. Finally, we provide a foundation for discussion of still unresolved issues. J. Surg. Oncol. 2010; 101:321–326. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.