Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of the spinal drug tramadol on the fatty acid compositions of rabbit spinal cord and brain.

Tramadol is an important spinal drug which produces analgesia following intrathecal injection. It is well known that fatty acids (FAs) play an important role in membrane fluidity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) tissue, which blocks and/or controls the transportation of toxic substances into the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a spinal drug (tramadol) on the concentrations and compositions of fatty acid in BBB tissues of New Zealand male rabbits. The total cellular fatty acid profiles of the tissues in three spinal cord sections (cervical, thoracal and lumbar) and in the brain of rabbits with or without drug administration were determined by gas chromatography using Sherlock Microbial Identification System (MIS) software (Microbial ID, Newark, DE, U.S.A.) with a database of FAME profiles for eukary. The relative percentage of the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), 24 : 1 omega9c nervonic and 17 : 1 omega8c, did not change with tramadol treatments. However, there was an increase in the concentration of the FA 16 : 0, 18 : 1 omega7c DMA, 18 : 1 omega9c, sum in future 4, sum in future 8, sum in future 9, 18 : 0, 20 : 4 omega6c, sum in future 14, 22 : 4 omega6c, in contrast to a decrease in the percentages of the following FAMEs; 20 : 0, 20 : 1 omega9c. In the brain, there was an increase in the concentration of the FA 18 : 1 omega9c, sum in future 8 and 18 : 0, in contrast to a decrease in the percentages of two FAMEs, 16 : 0, 20 : 4 omega6c and 22 : 6 omega3c. The number of fatty acids were 20 in the spinal cord sections and 8 in the brain tissues of control animals compared to 15-18 fatty acids in the spinal cord section and 7 in the brain tissues of drug administered animals. The overall changes in the concentrations and numbers of FAs suggest that the spinal drug tested in this study has a side effect of disrupting of membrane fluidity of the BBB, which may cause neurotoxicity.
El Ni�o: A Chaotic Dynamical System?

Most of the principal qualitative features of the El Ni�o—Southern Oscillation phenomenon can be explained by a simple but physically motivated theory. These features are the occurrence of sea-surface warmings in the eastern equatorial Pacific and the associated trade wind reversal; the aperiodicity of these events; the preferred onset time with respect to the seasonal cycle; and the much weaker events in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The theory, in its simplest form, is a conceptual model for the interaction of just three variables, namely near-surface temperatures in the east and west equatorial ocean and a wind-driven current advecting the temperature field. For a large range of parameters, the model is naturally chaotic and aperiodically produces El Ni�o—like events. For a smaller basin, representing a smaller ocean, the events are proportionally less intense.
Disentangling Financial Constraints, Precautionary Savings, and Myopia: Household Behavior Surrounding Federal Tax Returns

We explore household consumption surrounding federal tax returns filings and refunds receipt to test various theories of consumption. Because uncertainty regarding the refund is resolved at filing, precautionary savings theory predicts an increase in consumption at this date. Contrary to this prediction, we find that households generally do not increase consumption at filing. Following the receipt of the refunds, consumption of both durables and nondurables increases dramatically and then decays quickly. Our results show that households, on average, are financially constrained, exhibit myopic behavior, and do not respond to precautionary savings motives.
Patient and Family Caregivers’ Experiences of Living With a Jejunostomy Feeding Tube After Surgery for Esophagogastric Cancer

Background:Jejunostomy feeding tubes (JFTs) can be used to provide nutrition support to patients who have had surgery for esophagogastric cancer. Although previous research reports how patients cope with a gastrostomy tube, little is known about the impact of having a JFT. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how patients and their informal caregivers experience living with a JFT in the first months following surgery. Methods: Participants were purposively sampled from a cohort of patients recruited to a trial investigating home enteral nutrition vs standard care after esophagogastric surgery for cancer. The sampling framework considered age, sex, and marital status. Informal caregivers were also invited to participate. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and anonymized. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify key themes related to living with a JFT. Results: Fifteen patient interviews were conducted; 8 also included a family caregiver. Analysis of the data resulted in 2 main themes: “challenges” and “facilitators” when living with a JFT. While “physical effects,” “worries” and “impact on routine” were the main challenges, “support,” “adaptation” and “perceived benefit” were what motivated continuation of the intervention. Conclusion: Findings suggest that participants coped well with a JFT, describing high levels of compliance with stoma care and the feeding regimen. Nonetheless, disturbed sleep patterns and stoma-related problems proved troublesome. A better understanding of these practical challenges, from the patient and family caregiver perspective, should guide healthcare teams in providing proactive support to avoid preventable problems.
Actions of the insecticide fipronil, on dieldrin‐sensitive and ‐resistant GABA receptors of Drosophila melanogaster

1 Blocking actions of the novel insecticide, fipronil, were examined on GABA responses recorded from Xenopus oocytes expressing either wild type (dieldrin‐sensitive) or mutant (dieldrin‐resistant) forms of the Drosphila melanogaster GABA‐gated chloride channel homo‐oligomer, RDL (the product of the resistance to dieldrin locus: Rdl). 2 In the case of the wild type receptor, fipronil blocked GABA‐induced currents inducing both a shift to the right in the GABA dose‐response curve and depressing the maximum amplitude of responses to GABA. The potency of fipronil was dependent on the GABA concentration but was unaffected by membrane potential. 3 Mutant RDL GABA‐receptors, which have a naturally occurring amino acid substitution (A302→SS) in the putative ion‐channel lining region, conferring resistance to dieldrin and picrotoxinin, were markedly less sensitive to fipronil than the wild‐type receptors. 4 Fipronil antagonism is qualitatively similar to that produced by the structurally distinct compound, picrotoxinin. As the mutation A302→S reduces the potency of both fipronil and picrotoxinin, homo‐oligomeric RDL receptors should facilitate detailed studies of the molecular basis of convulsant/ insecticide antagonist actions on GABA receptors.
Alemtuzumab consolidation in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: a phase I/II multicentre trial

Despite high rates of long‐lasting remissions in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) treated with chemoimmunotherapy, none of the current therapeutic approaches is curative with the exception of allogeneic transplantation. One strategy to extend progression‐free survival and long‐term survival might be the establishment of consolidation therapies.
[The effects of branched chain aminoacids on HDL-cholesterol in experimental animals subjected to dietary hypercholesterolemia].

UNLABELLED High levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) are associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, so that many studies focus on modify HDL levels for therapeutic purpose. AIM The present research aims to highlight changes in plasma levels of HDL-cholesterol in experimental animals with a high-fat diet associated with some branched aminoacids--valine and leucine. MATERIAL AND METHODS The experiment was realised on 32 male Wistar rats, which were divided in four groups: group I--received a standard diet; group II--was fed with cholesterol (C), group III (C + V)--cholesterol and valine and group IV (C + L)--cholesterol and leucine. After 8 weeks animals were evaluated in relation with lipids levels in the blood. RESULTS The average values of HDL-cholesterol in group who received only cholesterol (C) were significantly lower compared with group III who received cholesterol and valine (C + V) or group IV that received cholesterol and leucine (C + L) (p < 0.001), after one month and at the end of the experiment. CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that valine and leucine increased the serum levels of HDL-cholesterol and therefore they are useful components in coronary artery disease risk reduction. The association of these aminoacids in human diets can improve clinical conditions associated with hyperlipidaemia such as atherosclerosis.
A High Average Current DC GAAS Photocathode Gun for ERLS and FELS

The Jefferson Lab (JLab) 10 kW IR Upgrade FEL DC GaAs photocathode gun is presently the highest average current electron source operational in the U.S., delivering a record 9.1 mA CW, 350 kV electron beam with 122 pC/bunch at 75 MHz rep rate. Pulsed operation has also been demonstrated with 8 mA per pulse (110 pC/bunch) in 16 ms-long pulses at 2 Hz rep rate. Routinely the gun delivers 5 mA CW and pulse current at 135 pC/bunch for FEL operations. The Upgrade DC photocathode gun is a direct evolution of the DC photocathode gun used in the previous JLab 1 kW IR Demo FEL. Improvements in the vacuum conditions, incorporation of two UHV motion mechanisms (a retractable cathode and a photocathode shield door) and a new way to add cesium to the GaAs photocathode surface have extended its lifetime to over 500 Coulombs delivered between re-cesiations (quantum efficiency replenishment). With each photocathode activation quantum efficiencies above 6% are routinely achieved. The photocathode activation and performance will be described in detail.
Adaptive output feedback control for a class of nonlinear systems with quantised input and output

ABSTRACTThis paper aims at addressing the problem of global adaptive stabilisation by output feedback for a class of nonlinear systems, in which both the input and output are logarithmically quantised. The nonlinear functions of the systems are not necessary to be completely known and contain time-varying parameters that belong to an unknown bounded set. Based on dynamic high-gain technique, a linear-like quantised controller computed from quantised output is constructed and a guideline is derived to select the parameters of the quantisers. It is proved that, with the proposed scheme, all the states of the system can be globally steered to the origin while keeping the other signals of the closed-loop system bounded.
Multi-criteria probability collectives

The nature-/bio-/socio-inspired optimisation techniques can efficiently handle unconstrained problems; however, their performance gets significantly affected when applied for solving constrained problems. This paper proposes a variation of the distributed optimisation multi-agent system (MAS) approach of probability collectives (PC) in collective intelligence domain referred to as multi-criteria probability collective (MCPC). In this approach, the constraints are efficiently handled by giving equal importance as the objective function. It is validated by solving a variety of constrained test problems including tension/compression spring design problem and pressure vessel design problem. The solution to these problems proves that the MCPC approach can be applied to a variety of complex practical/real world problems.
Holy Weddings, Unholy Marriages: Christian Spouses and Domestic Discords in Early Colonial Lesotho, 1870–1900

In the Lesotho Archives in the capital Maseru, lies unreferenced, scattered files containing testimonies of Christianised BaSotho couples embroiled in marital litigations in the last third of the nineteenth century. Reading these testimonies in relation to one another, and engaging in an in-depth qualitative examinations of the narratives embedded in the texts offers a rare opportunity to explore the texture of conjugal relationships among Christianised spouses in this period. The compelling picture that emerges is one of extreme instability of Christian marriages. We behold here conjugal lives teeming with conflicts and intrigue. Adultery accusations and spousal violence punctuated the conjugal lives of these spouses in unexpected intensity. This study concludes that after over half a century of missionising the BaSotho, evangelical missionaries seemingly had had little impact on the texture of BaSotho conjugal relations. The rampant “adultery” and spousal abuse that seemingly plagued these Christian spouses were expressions of pre-Christian patterns that were manifestations of gendered conflicts.
Channel and delay estimation algorithms for wireless communication systems

This thesis addresses the problem of channel and propagation delay estimation in wireless communication systems. Channel estimation and equalization compensate for channel distortions. Consequently, transmitted data may be reliably recovered. A feasible communication link, in both single user and multi-user communications, requires synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver. Traditional channel estimation and synchronization methods use training data, therefore decreasing the effective data rates. More efficient methods which use smaller amounts of training data are of great interest. In particular blind equalization methods, as well as receiver based synchronization methods enable higher effective data rates. In Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) more than 22% of the transmitted signal is used for channel estimation and synchronization purposes. If blind equalization methods could be applied in GSM, this part of the signal could be used for transmitting information bits. Blind channel identifiability problems in GSM are investigated in this thesis. The performance of several blind equalization methods is also evaluated, for both the Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) modulation and for the 8-Phase Shift Keying (8-PSK) modulation proposed for the future evolution of the GSM, Enhance Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE). Blind equalization methods are feasible for GSM in low mobility scenarios. The uplink (mobile to base station (BS) link) in direct-sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) wireless networks is asynchronous. A DS-CDMA receiver has to simultaneously estimate channel impulse responses (CIR) and propagation delays for the active users. Commercial CDMA based systems use long spreading codes, with the period much longer than the symbol period. In this thesis, a novel uplink multi-user adaptive receiver is developed for long-code DS-CDMA. It is also capable of tracking time variations of the channels. Multiple antennas are considered at the receiver end, taking advantage of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) gain and the antenna diversity gain. A specific system model is developed, characterized by a channel matrix which also includes the effect of the propagation delays. Estimating the channel matrix leads to the implicit estimation of the propagation delays. Algorithms for the explicit estimation of the propagation delays are also derived. The proposed receiver structures are capable of estimating and tracking the impulse responses of the channels and synchronizing the active users by using low complexity adaptive techniques. This thesis also addresses the problem of channel estimation and time synchronization in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) systems. OFDM is robust with regard to frequency selective channels but is very sensitive to time and frequency synchronization errors. A novel low-complexity iterative method is developed for channel and time-offset estimation in OFDM by using a system model specific to fixed wireless links, e.g. wireless local area networks (WLAN) IEEE 802.11 standard.
Targeting the Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts (RAGE): A Medicinal Chemistry Perspective

The receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) is an ubiquitous, transmembrane, immunoglobulin-like receptor that exists in multiple isoforms and binds to a diverse range of endogenous extracellular ligands and intracellular effectors. Ligand binding at the extracellular domain of RAGE initiates a complex intracellular signaling cascade, resulting in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), immunoinflammatory effects, cellular proliferation, or apoptosis with concomitant upregulation of RAGE itself. To date, research has mainly focused on the correlation between RAGE activity and pathological conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegeneration. Because RAGE plays a role in many pathological disorders, it has become an attractive target for the development of inhibitors at the extracellular and intracellular domains. This review describes the role of endogenous RAGE ligands/effectors in normo- and pathophysiological processes, summarizes the current status of exogenous small-molecule inhibitors of RAGE and concludes by identifying key strategies for future therapeutic intervention.
Incisional Hernioplasty with Extraperitoneal Onlay Polyester Mesh

Recurrent incisional hernia remains a major problem for the general surgeon. The high recurrence rate of incisional hernias after primary closure by tissue approximation led to the development of tension-free procedures using prosthetic materials. The goal of this study is to present the results of an extraperitoneal tension-free technique using a polyester mesh (Mersilene). A total of 43 patients with incisional hernias were surgically treated during a 9-year period in our department. Twenty-four patients (56%) had recurrent incisional hernias, 21 had primary repair by tissue approximation, and 3 had prolene mesh tension-free repair with wound infection. Patients’ mean age was 68.2 years, and the mean postoperative follow-up was 54.4 months. Immediate postoperative complications were noticed in 9 patients (21%) subcutaneous seroma in 6 (14%) and wound infection in 3 (7%). Recurrence was noticed in 4 patients (9%) during the first 9 postoperative months. Late minor complications such as restriction of abdominal wall motility and chronic pain was noticed in 3 (7%) patients. In conclusion, the extraperitoneal onlay tension-free incisional hernia repair using polyester mesh is an easy and safe procedure with no major morbidity or recurrence rate.
Er gildismat íslenskra skólastjóra ólíkt eftir kynferði

I þessari grein er fjallað um niðurstoðu rannsoknar a gildismati islenskra skolastjora og þeirri spurningu varpað fram hvort það vaeri olikt efir kynferði. Markmið rannsoknarinnar var að skoða hvort munur vaeri a gildismati og stjornunarlegri hegðun islenskra skolastjori eftir kynferði. Gengið var ut fra þvi að munur vaeri a gildismati karla og kvenna. Su kvenfraeðilega hugmyndafraeði sem logð var til grundvallar i rannsokninni leiðir likum að þvi að munur se a gildismati og stjornunarlegri hegðun karla og kvenna. Stjornunarleg hegðun karla hefur verið talin rokvis og skilvirkari en kvenna og logð hefur verið ahersla a að stjornendur sýni slika hegðun. Beitt var baeði megindlegum og eigindlegum rannsoknaraðferðum. Spurningarlisti var lagður fyrir islenska skolastjora og varðaði innihald hans gildismat er laegi að baki akveðnum þattum i starfi og stjornunarlegri hegðun skolastjora. Einnig voru tekin viðtol við fjora skolastjora, tvo karla og tvaer konur. Helstu niðurstoður rannsoknarinnar er að nanast enginn munur er a gildismati karla og kvenna og stjornunarleg hegðun islenskra karl- og kvenskolastjora er svipuð. Baeði kyn sýna stjornunarlega hegðun sem talin hefur verið einkenna kvenskolastjora. Slik niðurstaða er olik þvi sem fengist hefur erlendis fra, þar er munur a milli kynja. Það bendir þvi allt til þess að „kvenleg“ stjornunarleg hegðun henti vel við stjornun menntastofnana her a landi, þar sem mannleg samskipti, samvinna og virðing yfir ollum meðlimum stofnunarinnar eru i havegum hofð. 1
Parameter estimation in six numerical models of transperitoneal transport of potassium in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis.

The mechanisms of transperitoneal potassium transport during peritoneal dialysis were evaluated by validation of different mathematical models. The models were designed to elucidate the presence or absence of diffusive, non-lymphatic convective and lymphatic convective solute transport. Experimental results were obtained from 26 non-diabetic patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis. The validation procedure demonstrated that models including both diffusive and non-lymphatic convective solute transport were superior to the other models. Lymphatic convective solute transport was not identifiable. Furthermore, it was demonstrated experimentally that the equilibrium distribution of potassium between plasma water and dialysate did not differ from a Donnan equilibrium, although the precondition of the Donnan equilibrium was not fulfilled, i.e. the volumes on each side of the membrane were not constant and dialysate was not an ultrafiltrate of plasma.
Species Selectivity in Poxviral Complement Regulators Is Dictated by the Charge Reversal in the Central Complement Control Protein Modules

Variola and vaccinia viruses, the two most important members of the family Poxviridae, are known to encode homologs of the human complement regulators named smallpox inhibitor of complement enzymes (SPICE) and vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP), respectively, to subvert the host complement system. Intriguingly, consistent with the host tropism of these viruses, SPICE has been shown to be more human complement-specific than VCP, and in this study we show that VCP is more bovine complement-specific than SPICE. Based on mutagenesis and mechanistic studies, we suggest that the major determinant for the switch in species selectivity of SPICE and VCP is the presence of oppositely charged residues in the central complement control modules, which help enhance their interaction with factor I and C3b, the proteolytically cleaved form of C3. Thus, our results provide a molecular basis for the species selectivity in poxviral complement regulators.
Programmed hepatocytes cell death associated with FLIP downregulation in response to extracellular PreS1/2

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection involves liver damage resulting in continuous cell injury and death. During HBV infection, hepatocytes exhibit changes in death receptor expression and in their susceptibility to death. These changes are observed not only in infected cells but also in bystander cells. Because excess viral surface protein (HBsAg) is secreted in large amounts as soluble particles containing preS proteins, the role of soluble preS1/2 in hepatocyte (HepG2) death modulation is an important issue to be explored. An increase of cell death induced by preS1/2 was observed. Also, cell death was associated with the down‐regulation of FLIP and activation of caspase 8, caspase 9, and BID. Additionally, hepatocytes exhibited a sensitization to death mediated by the Fas receptor. These results, may contribute to understanding the role of envelope proteins (preS1/2) in the pathogenesis of HBV infection. J. Med. Virol. 86:496–504, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.