Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Control and measurement of ultrashort pulse shapes (in amplitude and phase) with femtosecond accuracy.

The performances of a tunable femtosecond dye laser are analyzed using accurate correlation techniques. The source is a passively mode-locked dye laser, of which both the frequency and frequency modulation are controlled by one or two intracavity prisms. Interferometric second-order autocorrelations, with a peak-to-background ratio of 8 to 1, are used simultaneously with the conventional intensity autocorrelation and the pulse spectrum to determine the pulse shape. The main advantages of the interferometric autocorrelations are that they provide phase information otherwise not available, and they are more sensitive to the pulse shape than the intensity autocorrelation. The phase sensitivity is demonstrated in an analysis of the Gaussian pulses with a linear frequency modulation. Analytical expressions for the envelopes of the interferometric autocorrelations of typical pulse shapes are provided for quick pulse shape identification. A numerical method is used to analyze the more complex pulse shapes and chirps that can be produced by the laser. A series of examples demonstrates the control of this laser over various pulse shapes and frequency modulations. Pulse broadening or compression by propagation through glass is calculated for the pulse shapes determined from the fittings. Comparisons of autocorrelations and cross correlations calculated for the dispersed pulses, with the actual measurements, demonstrate the accuracy of the fitting procedure. The method of pulse shape determination demonstrated here requires a train of identical pulses. Indeed, it is shown that, for example, a train of unchirped pulses randomly distributed in frequency can have the same interferometric autocorrelation than a single chirped pulse. In the case of the present source, a comparison of the pulse spectrum, with that of the second harmonic, gives an additional proof that pulse-to-pulse fluctuations are negligible.
Adolescent injuries in Canada: findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey, 2000 – 2001

This article presents a description of injuries among 24 312 Canadian adolescents, aged 12 – 24 years, based on the Canadian Community Health Survey, 2000 – 2001. A total of 3214 (25.6%) males and 2227 (16.5%) females reported having at least one serious injury in the past year. The leading causes of injury in adolescents were: falls; overexertion or strenuous movement; accidentally bumped, pushed or bitten; and accidentally struck or crushed by objects. The parts of the body most often affected were the ankles/feet, wrists/hands and knees/lower legs. The most frequent locations of injuries were: sports or athletic areas; home; school, college or university areas; and the street, highway or pavement. Injuries were more often reported to have occurred during the summer months. Low socio-economic status was inversely associated with the occurrence of injury in the past year whereas risk-taking behaviour in the form of cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol was positively associated with injury occurrence.
Bistability of alpha‐motoneurones in the decerebrate cat and in the acute spinal cat after intravenous 5‐hydroxytryptophan.

1. In the preceding paper (Crone, Hultborn, Kiehn, Mazieres & Wigström, 1988) it was shown that a short‐lasting synaptic excitation (‘on’ stimulus) of extensor motoneurones (primarily triceps surae) in the decerebrate cat often resulted in a maintained excitability increase, which could be reset by a short‐lasting inhibitory stimulus train (‘off’ stimulus). In the present experiments intracellular recording from triceps surae motoneurones and the electroneurogram (ENG activity) from triceps surae nerve branches were performed in parallel. 2. Sustained firing of individual triceps surae motoneurones was most often recorded in parallel with the maintained ENG activity following a synaptic ‘on’ stimulus. When the motoneurone was silenced, by a hyperpolarizing current through the microelectrode, there was no sign of on‐going synaptic excitation during the maintained ENG activity following an ‘on’ stimulus. It was therefore suggested that voltage‐dependent intrinsic properties of the motoneurones themselves could be responsible for the maintained firing. 3. In confirmation of this hypothesis it was found that short‐lasting depolarizing current pulses through the recording microelectrode could trigger a self‐sustained firing in the motoneurone provided that the bias current (i.e. the holding potential) was kept within certain limits. Hyperpolarizing current pulses terminated the firing. When the spike‐generating mechanism was inactivated (by long‐lasting excessive depolarization) similar depolarizing and hyperpolarizing current pulses could initiate and terminate plateau potentials in the motoneurones. By grading the depolarizing current pulses it was found that the plateau potentials were of all‐or‐none character, typically around 10 mV in amplitude. The two levels of excitability which can be triggered by short‐lasting excitation and inhibition of the motoneurones is referred to as ‘bistable’ behaviour of the motoneurones. 4. After an acute spinal transection, in the unanaesthetized cat, the bistable behaviour of the motoneurones disappeared. However, it reappears following intravenous injection of the serotonin precursor 5‐hydroxytryptophan (50‐120 mg/kg). 5. Individual triceps surae motor units were recorded by selective EMG electrodes during tonic stretch reflexes in the decerebrate preparations. Based on an analysis of their firing pattern during lengthening and shortening (or vibration) of the muscle it is suggested that plateau potentials in motoneurones are recruited during the tonic stretch reflex. Furthermore, it is argued that a quantitatively important part of the depolarization of motoneurones during the tonic stretch reflex indeed originates from these plateau potentials. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Photosensitized oxidative stress to ARPE-19 cells decreases protein receptors that mediate photoreceptor outer segment phagocytosis.

PURPOSE To determine whether previously shown photodynamic (PD)-induced inhibition of specific photoreceptor outer segment (POS) phagocytosis by ARPE-19 cells is associated with reductions in receptor proteins mediating POS phagocytosis, and if PD treatment with merocyanine-540 (MC-540) produces additional effects leading to its inhibition of nonspecific phagocytosis. METHODS ARPE-19 cells preloaded with MC-540 or rose bengal (RB) were sublethally irradiated with green light. Phagocytosis of POS was measured by flow cytometry and POS receptor proteins (Mer tyrosine kinase receptor [MerTK] and integrin subunits αv and β5) and β-actin were quantified by Western blotting at 0.5 and 24 hours after irradiation, with comparison to samples from nonsensitized control cultures. The intact integrin heterodimer αvβ5 was quantified by immunoprecipitation followed by blotting. The distribution of N-cadherin, ZO-1, and F-actin was visualized by fluorescence microscopy. RESULTS Mild PD stress mediated by both photosensitizers that elicits no significant morphologic changes produces transient and recoverable reductions in MerTK. The individual αv and β5 integrin subunits are also reduced but only partially recover. However, there is sufficient recovery to support full recovery of the functional heterodimer. Light stress mediated by MC-540 also reduced levels of actin, which is known to participate in the internalization of particles regardless of type. CONCLUSIONS After PD treatment POS receptor protein abundance and phagocytosis show a coincident in time reduction then recovery suggesting that diminution in receptor proteins contributes to the phagocytic defect. The additional inhibition of nonspecific phagocytosis by MC-540-mediated stress may result from more widespread effects on cytosolic proteins. The data imply that phagocytosis receptors in RPE cells are sensitive to oxidative modification, raising the possibility that chronic oxidative stress in situ may reduce the efficiency of the RPE's role in photoreceptor turnover, thereby contributing to retinal degenerations.
NMR studies of phospholipid metabolism in hepatic lymphoma

The detection of lymphomatous infiltration of the liver has implications for the staging and treatment of this disease. Our studies of patients with Hodgkin's disease and non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma suggest that the involvement of the liver could be detected by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as an increase in the phosphomonoester/ATP and phosphomonoester/Pi ratios in the liver spectra in vivo. Studies of extracts of lymphomatous lymph nodes and of the lymphomatous mouse liver, showed that phosphoethanolamine was largely responsible for the increase in the phosphomonoester (PME) signal. This compound is involved in phospholipid metabolism, as a precursor and breakdown product of phosphatidylethanolamine. The kinetics of the synthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine from [13C2]ethanolamine were studied using 13C NMR spectroscopy. The increase in phosphoethanolamine in the lymphomatous liver was not found to be due to increased flux through the synthetic pathway to phosphatidylethanolamine, nor was it due to increased availability of ethanolamine. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Microbial interference and colonization of the murine gastrointestinal tract by Listeria monocytogenes

Two strains of Listeria monocytogenes, one that formed smooth colonies on agar surfaces and a varient of it that formed rough colonies, colonized the gastrointestinal tracts of germfree mice. Within 24 h after mice were inoculated orally with about 100 bacteria, the population levels per gram (wet weight) of tissue of both strains were 10(5) to 10(7) in the stomach and ileum and 10(8) to 10(9) in the cecum and colon, respectively. As detected in Gram-stained histological sections, in such gnotobiotes, the bacteria colonized the lumen in all areas of the tract and much of the mucus layer on the epithelial surface in the proximal colon. The strain that formed smooth colonies did not colonize the tracts of specific-pathogen-free mice, but did colonize, to the same levels as in germfree mice, the stomachs and bowels of ex-germfree mice previously associated with two members of the indigenous flora (Bacteroides and Clostridium). In the latter animals, however, the listeria did not form layers on the colonic epithelium as efficiently as they did in monoassociated gnotobiotes.
Comprehensive Analysis of Nef Functions Selected in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Macaques

ABSTRACT A variety of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac) nef mutants have been investigated to clarify which in vitro Nef functions contribute to efficient viral replication and pathogenicity in rhesus macaques. Most of these nef alleles, however, were only functionally characterized for their ability to down-modulate CD4 and class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC-I) cell surface expression and to enhance SIV replication and infectivity. To obtain information on the in vivo relevance of more recently established Nef functions, we examined the ability of a large panel of constructed SIVmac Nef mutants and of variants that emerged in infected macaques to down-regulate CD3, CD28, and MHC-II and to up-regulate the MHC-II-associated invariant chain (Ii). We found that all these four Nef functions were restored in SIV-infected macaques. In most cases, however, the initial mutations and the changes selected in vivo affected several in vitro Nef functions. For example, truncated Nef proteins that emerged in animals infected with SIVmac239 containing a 152-bp deletion in nef efficiently modulated both CD3 and Ii surface expression. Overall, our results suggest that the effect of Nef on each of the six cellular receptors investigated contributes to viral fitness in the infected host but also indicate that modulation of CD3, MHC-I, MHC-II, or Ii surface expression alone is insufficient for SIV virulence.
Genetic Differentiation, Isolation-by-Distance, and Metapopulation Dynamics of the Arizona Treefrog (Hyla wrightorum) in an Isolated Portion of Its Range

Population attributes such as diversity, connectivity, and structure are important components of understanding species persistence and vulnerability to extinction. Hyla wrightorum, the Arizona treefrog, is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico, and an isolated group of populations exists in the Huachuca Mountains and Canelo Hills (HMCH) of southeastern Arizona, USA. Due to concerns about declining observations of the species within the isolated HMCH portion of its range, the HMCH group is currently a candidate for federal protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. We present results of a genetic study examining population diversity, structure, and connectivity within the HMCH region. We sampled DNA from H. wrightorum larvae and adults from ten distinct locations, 8 of which were breeding sites and 4 of which were previously undescribed localities for the species. We developed and genotyped 17 polymorphic microsatellite loci and quantified genetic diversity, population differentiation, and landscape influences on population genetic structure. We found evidence of larger than expected effective population sizes, significant genetic differentiation between populations, and evidence of distance being the primary driver of genetic structure of populations with some influence of slope and canopy cover. We found little evidence of recent genetic bottlenecks, and individual-based analyses indicate admixture between populations despite significant genetic differentiation. These patterns may indicate that the breeding sites within the Huachuca Mountains constitute a metapopulation. We suggest that the HMCH region may contain larger and more connected breeding populations than previously understood, but the dynamics of this system and the limited geographic extent of the HMCH group justify current concern for the persistence of the species in this region. Efforts to ensure availability of high-quality breeding habitats and control for local threats such as effects of invasive predators may be critical to the persistence of these unique populations of H. wrightorum.
Improvement of the Hilbert Method via ESPRIT for Detecting Rotor Fault in Induction Motors at Low Slip

The traditional Hilbert method to detect broken rotor bar fault in induction motors is reviewed and its major drawbacks are clearly revealed, namely, deteriorating or even completely failing when a motor operating at low slip due to the fixed constraints of fast Fourier transform (FFT) is used in this method. To overcome this, the estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique (ESPRIT) is then introduced to replace FFT, and an improved Hilbert method is thus presented by conjugating the Hilbert transform and ESPRIT together. Experimental results of a small motor in a laboratory and a large motor operating on an industrial site are reported to demonstrate the effectiveness of the improved Hilbert method.
From Information Bottleneck To Activation Norm Penalty

Many regularization methods have been proposed to prevent overfitting in neural networks. Recently, a regularization method has been proposed to optimize the variational lower bound of the Information Bottleneck Lagrangian. However, this method cannot be generalized to regular neural network architectures. We present the activation norm penalty that is derived from the information bottleneck principle and is theoretically grounded in a variation dropout framework. Unlike in previous literature, it can be applied to any general neural network. We demonstrate that this penalty can give consistent improvements to different state of the art architectures both in language modeling and image classification. We present analyses on the properties of this penalty and compare it to other methods that also reduce mutual information.
Comparison between the rhythmic jaw contractions occurring during sleep and while chewing

The masticatory central pattern generator (CPG) may be implicated in the pathophysiology of sleep bruxism (SB). The aim of this study was to compare rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA) occurring during sleep related to SB with that of natural voluntary chewing in a sample of sleep bruxers. It was hypothesized that the pace of RMMA during sleep is correlated with the chewing pace. Electromyographic (EMG) surface activity was recorded unilaterally from the masseter muscle of 13 participants diagnosed with SB (mean age ± standard deviation =26.1 ± 9.0 years) by means of portable recorders. For each participant, recordings were carried out in the natural environment setting, always including the dinner time and the entire sleeping period. The time–frequency features of RMMA episodes were extracted automatically offline using a previously validated algorithm. Comparisons between chewing and SB activity indicated that chewing RMMA episodes almost doubled sleep RMMA in duration and power. The mean frequency of SB episodes was 1.0 ± 0.3 Hz, whereas the mean frequency of chewing episodes was 1.5 ± 0.4 Hz. The pace of SB and that of chewing were not correlated significantly (R = −0.13; P = 0.96). We conclude that sleep RMMA is not related to that of chewing. Despite both activities being accompanied by rhythmic jaw contractions, the pace‐generating mechanism of SB may be independent from that of chewing.
Failure of short antimicrobial treatments for human brucellosis

We read with interest the recent article by Solera et al., inwhich the safety and efﬁcacy of two treatment protocols forpatients with brucellosis, mostly adults, were compared (5). The results of the study showed that the relapse rate of patientsreceiving a 30-day treatment with oral doxycycline, combinedwith a single daily dose of intramuscular gentamicin, was ashigh as 22.9%. Because of the inconveniences of prolonged antimicrobialtherapy, the potential toxicity of prolonged tetracycline expo-sure, and the need for parenteral administration of aminogly-cosides, shorter antimicrobial treatments for pediatric brucel-losis are required. In 1989, Lubani et al. reported that norelapses among 71 children receiving gentamicin twice daily for5 days combined with either doxycycline, oxytetracycline, ri-fampin or co-trimoxazole for 3 weeks were observed, suggest-ing that short antimicrobial regimens can also be efﬁcacious(2). We have recently evaluated the efﬁcacy of treating childrenwith brucellosis with 5 mg of gentamicin per kg of body weightper day (maximum 300 mg) given intramuscularly as a singledaily dose for 5 days, combined with (i) 3-week therapy ofdoxycycline (5 mg/kg/day in two divided doses, maximum 200mg) in children older than 8 years of age or (ii) co-trimoxazole(10 and 50 mg/kg/day in two divided doses) in children youngerthan 8 years. Diagnostic criteria included a positive blood cul-ture with the BACTEC 9240 Peds Plus medium (Becton D only 1 of these 2 children was symptomatic. The fail-ure rate of both regimens combined was then 33.3% (95%conﬁdence interval [CI] 9.5 to 57.2%). The failure rate found in our study is higher than that foundby Solera et al. after 30 days of doxycycline and is substantiallydifferent from the experience reported by Lubani et al. (2). Itshould be pointed out that the use of sensitive blood culturemethods resulted in the detection of relapse in three of ourpatients and treatment failure in another that would have goneunnoticed by clinical or serologic surveillance. It is then pos-sible that a fraction of patients considered to be treatmentsuccesses in other studies in which less sensitive bacteriologicalmethods were used in fact failed to eradicate the organism (3,4). Nowadays, treatment strategies based on short antibioticcourses are being developed for infectious diseases to reducecosts and inconveniences of prolonged hospitalizations (1). The ultimate goal, however, is to achieve cure rates compara-ble to those observed with traditional therapeutic modalities(1). The preliminary results of our study, as well as those ofSolera et al., preclude the recommendation of gentamicin as asingle daily dose combined with short courses of either doxy-cycline or co-trimoxazole for adult and pediatric patients withbrucellosis. Furthermore, when treatment protocols for bru-cellosis are evaluated, sensitive blood culture methods shouldbe used, since persistent bacteremia can occur in asymptomaticindividuals.
HPLC Determination of Coumarins in Matricaria chamomilla

limbelliferone (1) and herniarin (2) are the main constituents of the coumarin fraction of Matricaria chainomilla L, flowers [1, 2] and some authors have speculated about their spasrnolytic activity [3, 4]. Previous determinations of (2) were based exclusively on thin layer [5] and gas chromatography [6], whereas no quantitation of (1) is reported in the literature. HPLC seemed to be the analytical method of choice in this case, as it had been demonstrated for apigenin and its glucosides [7]. In fact, analytically pure (1) and (2) [8] could be separated by a reverse-phase column using as eluting system acetonitrile 15 %/water. However, when the analysis was performed on M. charnomilla flowers and chamomile extracts, separation from other components could be achieved in the best way by use of different systems of elution.
A randomised controlled study of role play in a faculty development programme

Background: The Stanford Faculty Development Center at Stanford University has developed a teaching improvement course for medical teachers that has been widely disseminated using a train-the-trainer model. Aims: This study was designed to investigate the relative impact of role playing as an instructional technique within that course for facilitating change in teaching behaviours. Method: From January 2009 to April 2010, six faculty development courses were delivered at Uppsala University Hospital to 48 physicians from different departments. The standard course presentation includes a range of instructional methods including short lectures, small group discussion, review of video re-enactments, role-play exercises and personal goal setting. For this study, participants were randomised to participate in (1) a ‘standard’ course with role play or (2) an ‘alternative’ course with no role play. The effects of the course on teaching performance were assessed with retrospective pre- and post-course self-ratings of 29 specific teaching behaviours. Results: Self-assessment ratings indicated significantly greater positive changes in teaching behaviour among faculty who attended the standard course (with role play) as compared to those in the alternative course (p = 0.015). Conclusions: This study validates the commonly held view that role play is a useful instructional method for improving teaching.