Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regionally specific properties of midbrain glia: I. Interactions with midbrain neurons

Regional astrocyte cultures were obtained by dissecting and dissociating medial and lateral sectors of the midbrain from 14‐day Swiss mouse embryos. Once confluent, these cultures were tested by glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunocytochemistry to confirm their astrocyte composition and for 2′‐3′ cyclic nucleotide 3′‐phosphohydrolase (CNPase) and microtubule‐associated protein 2 (MAP2) immunocytochemistry to rule out oligodendroglial and neuronal components, respectively. In confluent astrocyte cultures from either sector, virtually all cells were GFAP‐positive elements, most of which were flat cells accompanied by smaller numbers of flat cells with processes. Confluent astrocyte cultures, derived from medial (M) or lateral (L) sectors, were used as substrata for culturing dissociated cells from medial (m) or lateral (1) sectors of 14‐day embryonic midbrains. Fixed cocultures (LI, Lm, Mm, MI) were stained with an anti‐MAP2 antibody to verify neuronal aggregation and neuritic morphology. In spite of the morphological constancy of glia substrata at plating, MAP2‐positive cells in cocultures showed differences in the aggregation of somata and in the length, caliber, and branching of neurites. These differences, which depend mostly on the sector of origin of astrocytes, suggest that the substrata may differ in adhesiveness and/or growth‐promoting vs. growth‐interfering properties. Together with evidence for sectorial heterogeneity in brainstem radial glia, the present results raise the possibility that cultured astrocytes have properties that reflect the roles played by their parent radial glia in the developing brain. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Early Antitoxin Treatment in Wound Botulism Results in Better Outcome

Wound botulism in 7 heroin ‘skin poppers’ produced ophthalmoplegia and descending paralysis. Rapid recovery occurred in 2 who received the antitoxin within the fourth day of symptom onset. A poor outcome was seen in 4 who received the antitoxin after the eighth day of symptoms and 1 who did not receive the antitoxin. Early antitoxin administration is important in achieving a favorable outcome.
Mechanism of induction of hepatic microsomal drug metabolizing enzymes by a series of barbiturates

The inducing effect of certain barbiturates (secobarbitone, thiopentone, pentobarbitone, allobarbitone, phenobarbitone and barbitone) on the levels of the hepatic microsomal drug‐metabolizing enzymes has been studied in the rat both in vivo and in vitro. The extent of induction was related to the plasma half‐lives of the barbiturates; compounds with low rates of metabolism and long half‐lives were the most potent inducing agents. The latter (phenobarbitone, pentobarbitone and allobarbitone) were shown by spectral technique to interact with cytochrome P‐450 suggesting that their mechanism of enzyme induction was ‘substrate induction’ in type. Barbiturates containing an allyl group (secobarbitone and allobarbitone) had a weaker inducing effect than expected, possibly due to their destruction of cytochrome P‐450. Despite its short plasma half‐life of 0·5 h thiopentone was a relatively potent inducer probably due to its metabolism to pentobarbitone, which has a much longer plasma half‐life (1·3 h). Barbitone is an effective inducer of the drug‐metabolizing enzymes, yet does not interact spectrally with cytochrome P‐450; this is in accord with the observations that although there are increases in NADPH‐cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome b5, following administration of barbitone there is no increase in cytochrome P‐450. Barbiturate pretreatment does not affect the activities of glucose‐6‐phosphatase, glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase or 6‐phosphogluconate dehydrogenase.
Interobserver Agreement in the Assessment of Components of Colposcopic Grading

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the reproducibility of the assessment of visual characteristics of cervical lesions used to judge lesion grade from colposcopy. METHODS: Digitized cervical images from 862 women enrolled in the ASCUS-LSIL Triage Study were obtained after application of 5% acetic acid. Each image was later assessed online by two randomly assigned evaluators from a pool of 20 experienced colposcopists. Interobserver agreement beyond chance was assessed by kappa statistics. RESULTS: Of 862 evaluable images with paired assessments, 607 were considered to have an acetowhite lesion by both evaluators, 171 by one, and 84 by neither. Kappa values (95% confidence intervals) for agreement were 0.22 (0.17–0.27) for color, 0.24 (0.18–0.30) for margins, 0.22 (0.16–0.29) for mosaicism, 0.17 (0.11–0.23) for punctation, 0.11 (0.00–0.22) for atypical vessels, and 0.26 (0.22–0.31) for modified Reid Index score. CONCLUSION: Characteristics used to assign colposcopic grade are poorly reproducible when used to assess static cervical images from women with borderline cytology results. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
CAUSAL ANALYSIS OF EXERCISE AND CALCIUM INTAKE BEHAVIORS FOR OSTEOPOROSIS PREVENTION AMONG YOUNG WOMEN IN THAILAND

The goal of health education is to provide information to affect attitudes, beliefs, and intentions for behavior change. However, little is known about the effects of changes in knowledge on behaviors for osteoporosis prevention. Our objective is to develop and test theoretical models of the effects of knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy on exercise and calcium intake among young women before and after an intervention program. First, we hypothesized that knowledge would positively predict attitude, self-efficacy, calcium intake, and exercise. Second, attitude would positively predict self-efficacy, calcium intake, and exercise. Third, self-efficacy would positively predict calcium intake and exercise. Fourth, attitude and self-efficacy would mediate the effect of knowledge on calcium intake and exercise. At the beginning and end of the study, participants in the control group and intervention group completed the osteoporosis knowledge test, the osteoporosis health belief scale, the osteoporosis self-efficacy scale, a self-report for food records, and exercise. The causal model was examined as a result of our study. After the intervention program, calcium intake and exercise were predicted by knowledge when mediated by attitudes and self-efficacy. The final model accounted for 30% and 45% of the variance in calcium intake and exercise, respectively. We conclude that interventions to enhance young women's knowledge and self-efficacy may result in increased calcium intake and exercise.
Differential antibody recognition of FC27‐like Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein MSP2 antigens which lack 12 amino acid repeats

Three alleles of the FC27‐type allelic family of the MSP2 gene of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have been sequenced from parasites from the field (The Gambia and Tanzania). These alleles lack the 12 amino acid repeat units which are usual in this family of MSP2 alleles. We have investigated the recognition by sera from an endemic area (The Gambia) of three recombinant MSP2 proteins that have 5, 1 and no copies of this repeat region. Antibody recognition of these recombinant proteins varied according to the number of repeats present. High titre antibody levels were seen with most sera using the recombinant protein with 5 × 12‐mer repeats, whereas only low responses were measured using proteins containing 1 or no 12‐mer repeats. Several sera entirely failed to recognise the protein which lacked 12‐mer repeats. The data suggest that variation in the number of tandem repeat sequences could allow the parasite to avoid high avidity antibody binding and this may allow escape from immune recognition.
Proposed Staging System for Patients With HPV-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer Based on Nasopharyngeal Cancer N Categories.

PURPOSE Patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) generally present with more advanced disease but have better survival than patients with HPV-unrelated OPC. The current American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC)/Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) TNM staging system for OPC was developed for HPV-unrelated OPC. A new staging system is needed to adequately predict outcomes of patients with HPV-related OPC. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with newly diagnosed HPV-positive OPC (by p16 immunohistochemistry or in situ hybridization) treated at our institution from January 2003 through December 2012 were included. By using recursive partitioning analysis (RPA), we developed new stage groupings with both traditional OPC regional lymph node (N) categories and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) N categories. Survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the relationship between stage and survival was examined by using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. RESULTS A total of 661 patients with HPV-positive OPC met the inclusion criteria. With the traditional TNM staging system, there was no difference in survival between stages (P = .141). RPA with NPC N categories resulted in more balanced stage groups and better separation between groups for 5-year survival than RPA with traditional OPC N categories. With the stage groupings that were based in part on NPC N categories, the risk of death increased with increasing stage (P for trend < .001), and patients with stage III disease had five times the risk of death versus patients with stage IA disease. CONCLUSION New stage groupings that are based on primary tumor (T) categories and NPC N categories better separate patients with HPV-positive OPC with respect to survival than does the current AJCC/UICC TNM staging system. Although confirmation of our findings in other patient populations is needed, we propose consideration of NPC N categories as an alternative to the traditional OPC N categories in the new AJCC/UICC TNM staging system that is currently being developed.
Authorized Generic Entry prior to Patent Expiry: Reassessing Incentives for Independent Generic Entry

Abstract Originators seek to mitigate the loss of monopoly power by authorizing generic entry prior to patent expiry. Off-patent competition may be adversely affected if authorized generic entry substantially lowers the attractiveness of subsequent generic entry. This study assesses the impact of authorized generic entry on independent generic entry in recent cases of patent expiry in Germany. The results of a recursive bivariate probit regression, accounting for the endogeneity of authorized generic entry, show that authorized generic entry has no significant effect on the likelihood of generic entry. Business scope expansion and rent-seeking motives drive authorized generic entry decisions.
Investigation of the superconducting gap in La2-xSrxCuO4 by Raman spectroscopy.

The low energy Raman spectra of a ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.83}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{. 17}$Cu${\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ single crystal have been measured at temperatures above and below ${T}_{c}$. The redistribution of the electronic continua that occurs as a result of the opening of the superconducting gap has been observed. Based on the polarization dependence of the continua, it is concluded that the superconducting gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}(\mathbf{k})$ is anisotropic, with nodes along the (\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1, \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1) directions and maxima along the (0, \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1) and (\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1, 0) directions. The maximum pairing energy $2|{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{max}|$ is estimated to be about $7.7k{T}_{c}$.
Executive Amnesia in a Patient with Pre-frontal Damage due to a Gunshot Wound

This paper reports the case of a young patient with extensive pre-frontal damage in whom we tested the hypothesis that intensive training improves executive performance as assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). As long as her declarative memory, complex perceptual abilities and global cognitive status were spared, we surmised that any deficit in executive learning would have occurred in relative isolation. We showed that her abnormal performance on the WCST, both on the standard as well as on the post-instruction condition, was due to an impairment of shifting attention across perceptual dimensions (extra-dimensional). In contrast, her ability to shift attention within perceptual categories (intra-dimensional) was spared, as were her declarative memory, object and visuospatial perception, oral language comprehension and praxis (ideomotor, tool use and constructional). This case supports the hypothesis that executive amnesia is a type of amnesic disorder distinct from the classic amnesic syndrome due to mamillo-temporomedial damage. As such, it is probably closely related to procedural learning and may depend on the same fronto-subcortical loops that mediate the actual execution of behaviour.
Pharmacy Students' Retention of Knowledge and Skills Following Training in Automated External Defibrillator Use

Objectives. To assess pharmacy students' retention of knowledge about appropriate automated external defibrillator use and counseling points following didactic training and simulated experience. Design. Following a lecture on sudden cardiac arrest and automated external defibrillator use, second-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students were assessed on their ability to perform basic life support and deliver a shock at baseline, 3 weeks, and 4 months. Students completed a questionnaire to evaluate recall of counseling points for laypeople/the public. Assessment. Mean time to shock delivery at baseline was 74 ± 25 seconds, which improved significantly at 3 weeks (50 ± 17 seconds, p < 0.001) and was maintained at 4 months (47 ± 18 seconds, p < 0.001). Recall of all signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest and automated external defibrillator counseling points was diminished after 4 months. Conclusion. Pharmacy students can use automated external defibrillators to quickly deliver a shock and are able to retain this ability after 4 months. Refresher training/courses will be required to improve students' retention of automated external defibrillator counseling points to ensure their ability to deliver appropriate patient education.
Atorvastatin Is a Promising Partner for Antimalarial Drugs in Treatment of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria

ABSTRACT Atorvastatin (AVA) is a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor. AVA exposure resulted in the reduced in vitro growth of 22 Plasmodium falciparum strains, with the 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) ranging from 2.5 μM to 10.8 μM. A significant positive correlation was found between the strains’ responses to AVA and mefloquine (r = 0.553; P = 0.008). We found no correlation between the responses to AVA and to chloroquine, quinine, monodesethylamodiaquine, lumefantrine, dihydroartemisinin, atovaquone, or doxycycline. These data could suggest that the mechanism of AVA uptake and/or the mode of action of AVA is different from those for other antimalarial drugs. The IC50s for AVA were unrelated to the occurrence of mutations in the transport protein genes involved in quinoline antimalarial drug resistance, such as the P. falciparum crt, mdr1, mrp, and nhe-1 genes. Therefore, AVA can be ruled out as a substrate for the transport proteins (CRT, Pgh1, and MRP) and is not subject to the pH modification induced by the P. falciparum NHE-1 protein. The absence of in vitro cross-resistance between AVA and chloroquine, quinine, mefloquine, monodesethylamodiaquine, lumefantrine, dihydroartemisinin, atovaquone, and doxycycline argues that these antimalarial drugs could potentially be paired with AVA as a treatment for malaria. In conclusion, the present observations suggest that AVA is a good candidate for further studies on the use of statins in association with drugs known to have activities against the malaria parasite.
Efeito do espaçamento de plantio em reflorestamentos II. Pinus taeda L. em Jaguariaíva-PR

O presente trabalho foi realizado com a finalidade de se analisar o efeito de diferentes espacamentos de plantio de Pinus taeda em um reflorestamento experimental, localizado no municipio de Jaguariaiva-PR. As variaveis analisadas para tal determinacao foram: altura media, altura dominante, DAP, area transversal, area basal, volume cilindrico individual e volume cilindrico por hectare. Foi constatada a homogeneidade da variância para todas as variaveis por meio do teste de Bartlett. Os resultados mostraram que a altura nao foi consideravelmente afetada pela densidade, nas idades de 42 e 83 meses. Foram observadas diferencas significativas nas idades intermediarias, mas estas nao foram muito expressivas. Por outro lado, o DAP foi muito afetado pela densidade e as diferencas entre os tratamentos se tornaram mais notorias com o aumento da idade. A area basal por hectare diminuiu com o aumento do espacamento em todas as idades, ao passo que a area transversal media aumentou com o espacamento em todas as idades. O volume por hectare diferiu entre tratamentos com tendencia de ser maior nos povoamentos mais densos, mas nao se notou um modelo de variacao muito claro entre as idades. O volume medio individual seguiu o mesmo padrao da area transversal individual. A analise destes resultados levou a conclusao de que, diferentemente das outras variaveis analisadas (relacionadas com o DAP), a altura nao foi notadamente afetada pela densidade.
Kernel-predicting convolutional networks for denoising Monte Carlo renderings

Regression-based algorithms have shown to be good at denoising Monte Carlo (MC) renderings by leveraging its inexpensive by-products (e.g., feature buffers). However, when using higher-order models to handle complex cases, these techniques often overfit to noise in the input. For this reason, supervised learning methods have been proposed that train on a large collection of reference examples, but they use explicit filters that limit their denoising ability. To address these problems, we propose a novel, supervised learning approach that allows the filtering kernel to be more complex and general by leveraging a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture. In one embodiment of our framework, the CNN directly predicts the final denoised pixel value as a highly non-linear combination of the input features. In a second approach, we introduce a novel, kernel-prediction network which uses the CNN to estimate the local weighting kernels used to compute each denoised pixel from its neighbors. We train and evaluate our networks on production data and observe improvements over state-of-the-art MC denoisers, showing that our methods generalize well to a variety of scenes. We conclude by analyzing various components of our architecture and identify areas of further research in deep learning for MC denoising.
The Role of Serum Bilirubin Levels in Predicting Troponin Positivity in Non-ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome

Data are scant regarding serum bilirubin levels in non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). In this study, we evaluated the role of serum bilirubin levels in NSTE-ACS. We enrolled 782 patients who presented to the emergency department with acute chest pain. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on the troponin positivity. Patients with NSTE-ACS who had troponin positivity were included in group 1 (n = 382), and group 2 consisted of the control patients (n = 400). Direct bilirubin (DB) levels (group 1: 0.31 ± 0.37 mg/dL, group 2: 0.20 ± 0.25 mg/dL, P < .001) and total bilirubin (TB) levels (group 1: 0.78 ± 0.56 mg/dL, group 2: 0.62 ± 0.45 mg/dL, P < .001) were significantly higher in group 1. There was a significant and moderate correlation between serum bilirubin levels and admission troponin values (r = .34, P < .001 for TB and r = .42, P < .001 for DB). These results show that serum bilirubin levels were associated with troponin positivity in patients with NSTE-ACS.
Från tolkning av utbildningsmål till bedömning av måluppfyllelse : Observationer och reflektioner mot bakgrund av Högskoleverkets utvärdering av företagsekonomi 2011-2012

Uppsatsen behandlar bedomningen av examensarbeten i samband med Hogskoleverkets utvardering av foretagsekonomi 2011-2012. Syftet ar att beskriva overvaganden som gjordes i bedomargruppen under utva .
Effect of Trunk Support on Upper Extremity Function in People With Chronic Stroke and People Who Are Healthy

Background Trunk control is thought to contribute to upper extremity (UE) function. However, this common assumption in neurorehabilitation has not been validated in clinical trials. Objective The study objectives were to investigate the effect of providing external trunk support on trunk control and UE function and to examine the relationship between trunk control and UE function in people with chronic stroke and people who were healthy. Design A cross-sectional study was conducted. Methods Twenty-five people with chronic stroke and 34 people who were healthy and matched for age and sex were recruited. Trunk control was assessed with the Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS), and UE impairment and UE function were assessed with the UE subsection of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA-UE) and the Streamlined Wolf Motor Function Test (SWMFT), respectively. The TIS and SWMFT were evaluated, with and without external trunk support; the FMA-UE was evaluated without trunk support. Results With trunk support, people with stroke showed improvement from 18 to 20 points on the TIS, a reduction in SWMFT performance times from 37.20 seconds to 35.37 seconds for the affected UE, and improvement from 3.3 points to 3.4 points on the SWMFT Functional Ability Scale for the function of the affected UE. With trunk support, the SWMFT performance time for people who were healthy was reduced from 1.61 seconds to 1.48 seconds for the dominant UE and from 1.71 seconds to 1.59 seconds for the nondominant UE. A significant moderate correlation was found between the TIS and the FMA-UE (r=.53) for people with stroke. Limitations The limitations included a nonmasked assessor and a standardized height of the external trunk support. Conclusions External trunk support improved trunk control in people with chronic stroke and had a statistically significant effect on UE function in both people with chronic stroke and people who were healthy. The findings suggest an association between trunk control and the UE when external trunk support was provided and support the hypothesis that lower trunk and lumbar stabilization provided by external support enables an improvement in the ability to use the UE for functional activities.
Feedback based Neural Networks

The most successful learning models in deep learning are currently based on the paradigm of successive learning of representations followed by a decision layer. This is mostly actualized by feedforward multilayer neural networks, such as ConvNets, where each layer forms one of such successive representations. However, an alternative that can achieve the same goal is a feedback based approach, in which the representation is formed in a iterative manner according to a feedback received from previous iteration’s outcome. We establish that a feedback based approach has several fundamental advantages over feedforward: it enables making early predictions at the query time, its output conforms to a hierarchical structure in the label space (e.g. a taxonomy), and it provides a new basis for Curriculum Learning. We also investigate several new feedback mechanisms (e.g. skip connections in time) and design choices (e.g. feedback length). We hope this study offers new perspectives for investigating the feedback paradigm, in quest for more natural and practical learning models.