Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Membrane Properties of Mouse Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus Neurons in Vitro

Intracellular recordings were made from neurons of the mouse dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) in vitro using current clamp techniques in the presence or absence of different ion channel blocking drugs. Four electrophysiologically distinct cell groups were identified in the DCN. The groups were characterized on the basis of their spontaneous firing properties, the shape of the action potential (AP) and the pattern of firing, the shape of the current-voltage (I/V) relationship and the effects of channel blocking agents. By comparison with known histology, three of the four DCN groups were postulated to be cartwheel-like, fusiform-like, or tuberculoventral-like cells. The fourth group was postulated to be a stellate-like as it had similar properties to the spike train (stellate) cell of the AVCN. DCN stellate-like cells were spontaneously active, the action potentials (APs) were always followed by a large, brief hyperpolarization and the cells had linear current voltage relationships. The fusiform-like cells were spontaneously active and spontaneous IPSPs were also observed. The I/V relationship was linear for these cells. Tuberculoventral-like cells were not spontaneously active, but APs could be elicited by inward current injection. The I/V relationships for tuberculoventral-like cells were linear. Cartwheel-like cells were spontaneously active. These cells were characterized by the distinctive shape of their APs which were single, large amplitude, short duration APs sometimes followed by a series of complexes consisting of small, long duration APs. Cartwheel-like cells were the only cell type in the DCN which had non-linear I/V relationships. All cells in the DCN had APs which were abolished by tetrodotoxin. Different calcium dependent channels play a role in the formation of both the fast single AP and the slow complex AP in the cartwheel-like cells since all APs were abolished by the use of high concentrations of verapamil. Verapamil dramatically increased the duration of APs in fusiform-like cells and had no effect on tuberculoventral-like cells. In both tuberculoventral-like cells and cartwheel-like cells, 4-aminopyridine (4AP) depolarized the cells and all APs were abolished. Tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA) had a similar effect in cartwheel-like cells. In stellate-like, tuberculoventral-like and fusiform-like cells, the hyperpolarization which followed the AP was abolished by TEA. The AP duration in these cells was also increased by TEA. 4AP had a similar effect in stellate-like and fusiform-like cells. The data for DCN suggest that electrophysiological properties can be used to distinguish and identify neurons.
Invasive and non-invasive ventilation for prematurely born infants – current practice in neonatal ventilation

ABSTRACT Non-invasive techniques, include nasal continuous positive airways pressure (nCPAP), nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) and heated, humidified, high flow cannula (HHFNC). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of nCPAP versus ventilation have given mixed results, but one demonstrated fewer respiratory problems during infancy. Meta-analysis demonstrated NIPPV rather than nCPAP provided better support post extubation. After extubation or initial support HHFNC has similar efficacy to CPAP. Invasive techniques include those that synchronise inflations with the patient’s respiratory efforts. Assist control/ synchronised intermittent mandatory ventilation compared to non triggered modes only reduce the duration of ventilation. Further data are required to determine the efficacy of proportional assist ventilation and neurally adjusted ventilatory assist. Other techniques aim to minimise volutrauma. RCTs of volume targeted ventilation demonstrated reductions in BPD and respiratory medication usage at follow-up. Prophylactic high frequency oscillatory ventilation does not reduce BPD, but is associated with superior lung function at school age.
Physiological basis of seasonal trend in leaf photosynthesis of five evergreen broad-leaved species in a temperate deciduous forest.

The physiological basis of photosynthesis during winter was investigated in saplings of five evergreen broad-leaved species (Camellia japonica L., Cleyera japonica Thunb., Photinia glabra (Thunb.) Maxim. , Castanopsis cuspidata (Thunb.) Schottky and Quercus glauca Thunb. ) co-occurring under deciduous canopy trees in a temperate forest. We focused on temperature dependence of photosynthetic rate and capacity as important physiological parameters that determine light-saturated rates of net photosynthesis at low temperatures during winter. Under controlled temperature conditions, maximum rates of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylation and electron transport (Vcmax) and Jmax, respectively) increased exponentially with increasing leaf temperature. The temperature dependence of photosynthetic rate did not differ among species. In the field, photosynthetic capacity, determined as Vcmax and Jmax at a common temperature of 25 degrees C (Vcmax(25) and Jmax(25)), increased until autumn and then decreased in species-specific patterns. Values of Vcmax(25) and Jmax(25) differed among species during winter. There was a positive correlation of Vcmax(25) with area-based nitrogen concentration among leaves during winter in Camellia and Photinia. Interspecific differences in Vcmax(25) were responsible for interspecific differences in light-saturated rates of net photosynthesis during winter.
Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Hospitalized With Thyroid Dysfunction

The objective of this investigation is to explore a possible role of thyroid dysfunction in venous thromboembolism (VTE). The number of patients discharged from short-stay nonfederal hospitals in the United States, from 1979 to 2005, with a diagnostic code for hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, pulmonary embolism (PE), and deep venous thrombosis (DVT) was obtained from the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS). Among 19 519 000 hospitalized patients discharged with a diagnosis of hypothyroidism from 1979 to 2005, 119 000 (0.61%) had PE. Among patients with no thyroid dysfunction, PE was diagnosed in 3 372 000 of 908 805 000 patients (0.37%; relative risk = 1.64, 95% CI 1.63-1.65). Deep venous thrombosis was diagnosed in 1.36% of hypothyroid patients and in 0.84% of patients with no thyroid dysfunction (relative risk = 1.62, 95% CI 1.61-1.62). The relative risk of PE in patients with hypothyroidism was highest in patients <40 years of age (relative risk = 3.99) and the relative risk of DVT was also highest in patients <40 years (relative risk = 2.25). Hyperthyroidism was not associated with an increased risk of VTE (relative risk = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.96-1.01). In conclusion, an increased risk of PE, DVT, and VTE was shown in patients with hypothyroidism but not hyperthyroidism. Antithrombotic prophylaxis in patients with severe hypothyroidism, however, should be viewed with caution because of a possible hyperfibrinolytic state in such patients.
Family relation and social competence of children unwanted at birth

ABSTRACT— The children of mothers who said during the pregnancy that the child was not wanted were followed up to age of 16. The material is based on a 14 year follow‐up of 96.5% of all the births in Northern Finland in 1966. Controls from the 1966 data are assigned to the unwanted children who are matched with them in sex, age and parity. The number of children and marital and social status of the mother were matched, also taking into acount the change in these variables between 1966 and 1980. The differences between the unwanted and control children were not dramatic, but there was a consistent difference between the unwanted girls and their controls, especially in their relations with their fathers, the unwanted girls perceiving their fathers to have been more hostile, more inconsistent in educational practice and less positive. The unwanted girls were rated lower by their teachers in personal behaviour and their relationships with schoolmates. They were more often reluctant to go to school, wanting to leave at the earliest possible age. No such differences were noted between the unwanted and control boys.
Prediction and diagnosis of attachment loss by enhanced chemiluminescent assay of crevicular fluid alkaline phosphatase levels.

The current study aimed to apply a novel enhanced chemiluminescence assay in the analysis of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels from patients with untreated adult periodontitis. 3666 sites in 25 patients were monitored prior to and after attachment loss was detected with a Florida disc probe. Parameters assessed were, relative attachment level, probing pocket depth, occurrence of bleeding on probing (single episode), GCF volume (microliter), total ALP levels (microIU/30 s sample time) and ALP concentration (IU/l). After recruiting patients to the study, all measures were taken at baseline and 3 months later, prior to the institution of non-surgical periodontal therapy at active sites. Thresholds for determining attachment loss were calculated using a modification of the tolerance method. The mesio-buccal sites of all teeth had GCF samples collected. The size of individual patient thresholds used to define whether attachment loss had occurred, was dependent upon the discomfort felt by that patient during electronic probing, with a positive correlation existing between discomfort on probing (10 cm visual analogue scale) and threshold size (R = 0.52, p < 0.049). A total of 274 sites (7.5%) experienced attachment loss of which 39 sites had GCF samples available for analysis. Total ALP levels were significantly higher at baseline for sites that progressed to attachment loss than paired controls (p < 0.003), but all other parameters showed no differences (p > 0.1). There were significant increases in total ALP levels and GCF volumes for active sites between baseline and 3 month measures (p < 0.01), but not for control sites or test site ALP concentration (p > 0.8). The diagnostic accuracy for GCF ALP as a predictor of future attachment loss (threshold 900 microIU/30 s) was 64%, with +ve and -ve predictive values of 62% and 68%. When a threshold of 1300 microIU/30 s was selected for ALP as a marker of recent or currently active disease, diagnostic accuracy and +ve/-ve predictive values were 77% and 77%/76%, respectively. These results indicate that total GCF ALP levels may serve as a predictor of future or current disease activity.
Clinical Significance of Erythrocyte Sorbitol—Blood Glucose Ratios in Type II Diabetes Mellitus

The polyol pathway has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. To determine the activity of the polyol pathway, the ratio of erythrocyte sorbitol to blood glucose, which reflects aldose reductase activity, was evaluated in 329 patients with type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and in 100 nondiabetic age-matched control subjects. Although erythrocyte sorbitol levels were markedly elevated, sorbitol-glucose ratios were significantly lower in diabetic patients than in nondiabetic subjects. Sorbitol-glucose ratios in diabetic patients decreased progressively as blood glucose and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels increased. Sorbitol-glucose ratios were also studied during a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. Ratios were again lower in diabetic patients than those in nondiabetic subjects and significantly decreased 120 min after glucose loading. The ratio in diabetic patients also fell with increasing age of the patients. In diabetic patients with neuropathy, retinopathy, or nephropathy, however, sorbitol-glucose ratios were significantly higher than in those without these complications; ratios increased further as complications became more severe. Our findings suggest that the affinity of aldose reductase for glucose in patients with diabetic complications may be increased and that the polyol pathway is implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications.
Relationship between alcohol intake and dietary pattern: findings from NHANES III.

AIM To examine the association between macronutrient dietary patterns and alcohol consumption using the Third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey III. METHODS A total of 9877 subjects (5144 males) constituted the study cohort. Dietary interviews were conducted with all examinees by a trained dietary interviewer in a mobile examination center (MEC). Subjects reported all foods and beverages consumed except plain drinking water for the previous 24-h time period. Physical examination and history of alcohol consumption were obtained. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the association of the levels of alcohol consumption and the percentage of energy derived from macronutrients. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed accounting for the study sampling weight to further explore the relationships between alcohol consumption and calories derived from each macronutrient. RESULTS Subjects who drank were younger than non-drinker controls in both genders (P < 0.01). Alcohol intake was inversely associated with body mass index and body weight in women. Of all macronutrients, carbohydrate intake was the first to decrease with increasing alcohol consumption. In the multivariate analyses, the level of alcohol consumption was found to be an independent predictor associated with lower intake of other macronutrients. CONCLUSION Our results show that there is an alteration in the daily dietary pattern with increasing alcohol consumption and that energy derived from alcoholic beverages substitutes that from other macronutrients such as carbohydrate, protein, and fat.
Male and female reproductive success in the dioecious fig, Ficus hirta Vahl. in Guangdong Province, China: Implications for the relative stability of dioecy and monoecy

We studied components of male and female reproductive success in the fig, Ficus hirta from Guangdong Province, China. Specifically, we analyzed the composition and sex ratio of both pollinating (Blastophaga javana) and the two species of non-pollinating wasps associated with functionally male figs, as well as seed production in the functionally female figs. In male figs, a mean of 799 flowers produced a mean of 234 wasps (mean proportion of flowers developed in each fruit is ∼31%). Female pollinating wasps (the only vectors for fig pollen) comprised the majority of all wasps in male syconia (∼62.8%) indicating a relatively high fitness for the pollinator and the fig. The median sex ratio of the pollinators was 0.16 (mean ∼24% males) and roughly reflects estimates of average foundress number (1.7). There are two common non-pollinators in male syconia of F. hirta: one, Sycoscapter hirticola, also exhibited a strongly female biased sex ratio, while the other, Philotrypesis josephi, was male biased. In female figs, a mean of 858 flowers produced a mean of 433 viable seeds (mean of flowers developed in each fruit is ∼50%). Thus, similarly to other studies of dioecious species in which detailed data on wasp and seed production have been reported, female inflorescences (figs) generally appear to initiate more flowers than male inflorescences, and produce more seeds than male inflorescences produce female pollinator wasps. Compared with published studies of seed and wasp production in monoecious figs, F. hirta appears more efficient on a per syconium basis at both seed and female pollinator wasp production than monoecious species characterized by large numbers of flowers, high average foundress numbers, and high non-pollinator wasp loads. These comparisons suggest conditions that favor selection for (and stability of) either the monoecious or dioecious breeding system in figs.
Transgenic Analysis of Rds/Peripherin N‐Glycosylation

Abstract : Rds/peripherin is an integral membrane glycoprotein that is present in the rims of photoreceptor outer segment disks. In mammals, it is thought to stabilize the disk rim through heterophilic interactions with the related nonglycosylated protein rom1. Glycosylation of rds/peripherin at asparagine 229 is widely conserved in vertebrates. In this study, we investigated the role of rds/peripherin N‐glycosylation. We generated transgenic mice that expressed only S231A‐substituted rds/peripherin in their retinas. This protein was not glycosylated but formed covalent dimers with itself and with glycosylated rds/peripherin. Nonglycosylated rds/peripherin also interacted noncovalently with rom1 homodimers to form a heterooligomeric complex. The glycosylated rds/peripherin ·· rom1 complex bound to concanavalin A‐Sepharose, suggesting that the glycan is not directly involved in the interaction between these proteins. In double transgenic mice expressing normal and S231A‐substituted rds/peripherin, the mRNA‐to‐protein ratios were similar for both transgenes, indicating no effect of N‐glycosylation on rds/peripherin stability. Finally, expression of nonglycosylated rds/peripherin in transgenic mice rescued the phenotype of outer segment nondevelopment in retinal degeneration slow (rds‐/‐) null mutants. These observations indicate that N‐glycosylation of rds/peripherin is not required for its normal processing, stability, or in vivo function.
Tracking of Humans in Video Stream Using LSTM Recurrent Neural Network

In this master thesis, the problem of tracking humans in video streams by using Deep Learning is examined. We use spatially supervised recurrent convolutional neural networks for visual human tracking. In this method, the recurrent convolutional network uses both the history of locations and the visual features from the deep neural networks. This method is used for tracking, based on the detection results. We concatenate the location of detected bounding boxes with high-level visual features produced by convolutional networks and then predict the tracking bounding box for next frames. Because a video contain continuous frames, we decide to have a method which uses the information from history of frames to have a robust tracking in different visually challenging cases such as occlusion, motion blur, fast movement, etc. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) is a kind of recurrent convolutional neural network and useful for our purpose. Instead of using binary classification which is commonly used in deep learning based tracking methods, we use a regression for direct prediction of the tracking locations. Our purpose is to test our method on real videos which is recorded by head-mounted camera. So our test videos are very challenging and contain different cases of fast movements, motion blur, occlusions, etc. Considering the limitation of the training data-set which is spatially imbalanced, we have a problem for tracking the humans who are in the corners of the image but in other challenging cases, the proposed tracking method worked well.
The incidence, causes, and secular trends of head trauma in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1935–1974

Records in the Mayo Clinic linkage system were reviewed to determine the incidence of head trauma in Olmsted County, Minnesota, from 1935–1974. Minimum criteria for inclusion—loss of consciousness, posttraumatic amnesia, or skull fracture—were met by 3587 cases. During the decade from 1965–1974, the age-adjusted incidence rates per 100,000 population were 270 in males and 116 in females. The rate was highest—658—in males aged 15 to 24, but it was at least 50 in all age and sex groups. Major causes of head injury were automobile accidents (37%) and falls (2%). The incidence of head injuries related to automobiles and recreation has been increasing, whereas most other categories have remained stable or have declined. Of all cases, 446 were fatal, the average annual incidence being 32 per 100,000 in males and 9 per 100,000 in females. Among the groups at high risk of head trauma are those who have had head trauma previously.
Cardiac Vascular Calcification and QT Interval in ESRD Patients: Is There a Link?

We will present our experience and our preliminary data about the correlation between cardiac calcification and QT interval (and QT dispersion) in uraemia. We studied 32 haemodialysis (HD) patients (age 69 ± 16 years, time on dialysis 32 ± 27 months) and 12 chronic kidney disease stage 4 (CKD-4) patients (age 66 ± 17 years, uraemia duration 38 ± 16 months). The patients were characterized by a good mineral control, as shown by serum phosphate levels (3.6 ± 1.3 mg/dl in CKD-4 and 4.3 ± 1.6 mg/dl in HD patients) and Ca × P product (46 ± 17 and 49 ± 16 mg2/dl2, respectively). The parathyroid hormone levels were higher in HD than CKD-4 patients (p < 0.0001). A TC score >400 was found to be highly prevalent in both groups. Significantly more HD patients (62.5%) showed cardiac calcification than CKD-4 patients (33%; p = 0.01). The patients were matched for TC scores higher or lower than 400. The two groups differed by gender (p < 0.05), age (p = 0.026), frequency of diabetes mellitus (p < 0.01), uraemia follow-up period (p < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (p = 0.009), Ca × P product (p = 0.002), parathyroid hormone level (p < 0.0001), and corrected QT dispersion (p < 0.0001). The QT interval was higher in HD and CKD-4 patients with higher TC scores (approximately 11%), but QT interval dispersion was significantly higher in patients with TC scores >400. QT dispersion showed a linear correlation with TC scores in both groups (r = 0.899 and p < 0.0001 and r = 0.901 and p < 0.0001). Male gender, age, time (months) of uraemia, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, albumin, calcium × phosphorus product, parathyroid hormone, and TC score are important determinants of QT dispersion. Our data show that it is possible to link dysrhythmias and cardiac calcification in uraemic patients.
Identification of differentially expressed nucleolar TGF-beta1 target (DENTT) in human lung cancer cells that is a new member of the TSPY/SET/NAP-1 superfamily.

The transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) responsive epithelial non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line NCI-H727 was used to identify potential target genes involved in TGF-beta1-mediated responses. Comparative cDNA expression patterns between cells treated with TGF-beta1 and those treated with vehicle were generated by differential mRNA display. One 496-bp fragment, differentially increased threefold by TGF-beta1 and hybridizing to a 2.7-kb mRNA species in NCI-H727 cells by Northern analysis, revealed no significant match to any known gene sequence. The mRNA transcript of this novel gene that we named differentially expressed nucleolar TGF-beta1 target (DENTT) is expressed in several normal human tissues, with the highest level of expression in brain. Human brain cDNA library screening and 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends yielded full-length DENTT cDNA containing an 1899-bp open reading frame encoding a predicted 633-amino-acid protein with four potential nuclear localization signals (NLSs) and two coiled-coil regions. DENTT contains a conserved 191-residue domain that shows significant identity to, and defines, the TSPY/TSPY-like/SET/NAP-1 superfamily. Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-tagged full-length DENTT transfected into COS-7 cells showed nucleolar and cytoplasmic localization. Transfection of EGFP-tagged DENTT NLS deletion constructs lacking the bipartite NLS-1 were excluded from the nucleolus. While NLS-1 is necessary for nucleolar localization of DENTT, it is not sufficient for sole nucleolar localization. Our data show that DENTT mRNA induction by TGF-beta1 correlates with induction of TGF-beta1 mRNA, induction of extracellular matrix gene expression, and inhibition of colony formation in soft agarose in TGF-beta1 responsive NSCLC cells when exposed to TGF-beta1. TGF-beta1 does not induce DENTT mRNA expression in TGF-beta1 nonresponsive NSCLC cells. Our data suggest that this novel TGF-beta1 target gene has distinct domains for direction to different subnuclear locations.