Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maturation of glycinergic inhibition in the gerbil medial superior olive after hearing onset

The neurones of the medial superior olive (MSO) are the most temporally sensitive neurones in the brain. They respond to the arrival time difference of sound at the two ears with a microsecond resolution; these interaural time differences are used to localize low‐frequency sounds. In addition to the excitatory inputs from each ear, the MSO neurones also receive binaural glycinergic projections, which have a critical role in sound localization processing. Recently, it was shown that the glycinergic input to the MSO undergoes an experience‐dependent structural reorganization after hearing onset. To explore the maturation of inhibition during the development of sound localization on a cellular level, glycinergic currents and potentials were measured in gerbil MSO principal cells from postnatal (P) day P12–P25 by whole‐cell patch‐clamp recordings. The synaptic glycinergic currents accelerated to rapid decay kinetics (∼2 ms) and rise times (∼0.4 ms) after hearing onset, reaching maturity around P17. Since the kinetics of miniature glycinergic currents did not change with age, it is likely that a higher degree of transmitter release synchrony is the underlying mechanism influencing the acceleration of the kinetics. During the same period, the synaptic glycinergic potentials accelerated four‐fold, largely as a result of a prominent decrease in input resistance. In accordance with a reorganization of the glycinergic inputs, the evoked peak conductances decreased more than two‐fold, together with a three‐fold reduction in the frequency of miniature events after hearing onset. These age‐dependent changes were absent in animals that had been reared in omni‐directional noise, indicating that an experience‐dependent pruning of synaptic inputs is important for the maturation of functional inhibition in the MSO. Taken together, these striking developmental adjustments of the glycinergic inhibition in the MSO most probably reflect an adaptation to improve the encoding of auditory cues with great temporal precision and fidelity during the maturation of sound localization behaviour.
Early intervention in schizophrenia

The last few decades have seen a paradigm shift in the way we think about serious mental illness, and particularly schizophrenia. Until quite recently, schizophrenia was considered as an illness with an almost inevitably poor prognosis, with little hope of doing more than managing the symptoms with medication. However, research over the last two decades has shown that this bleak outlook is by no means justified, and that early and appropriate intervention can change the course of illnesses like schizophrenia.
Toward a neurobehavioral profile of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND A primary goal of recent research is the development of neurobehavioral profiles that specifically define fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), which may assist differential diagnosis or improve treatment. In the current study, we define a preliminary profile using neuropsychological data from a multisite study. METHODS Data were collected using a broad neurobehavioral protocol from 2 sites of a multisite study of FASD. Subjects were children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and unexposed controls. The alcohol-exposed group included children with and without fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). From 547 neuropsychological variables, 22 variables were selected for analysis based on their ability to distinguish children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure from nonexposed controls. These data were analyzed using latent profile analysis (LPA). RESULTS The results indicated that a 2-class model best fit the data. The resulting profile was successful at distinguishing subjects with FAS from nonexposed controls without FAS with 92% overall accuracy; 87.8% of FAS cases and 95.7% of controls were correctly classified. The same analysis was repeated with children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure but without FAS and nonexposed controls with similar results. The overall accuracy was 84.7%; 68.4% of alcohol-exposed cases and 95% of controls were correctly classified. In both analyses, the profile based on neuropsychological variables was more successful at distinguishing the groups than was IQ alone. CONCLUSIONS We used data from 2 sites of a multisite study and a broad neuropsychological test battery to determine a profile that could be used to accurately identify children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. Results indicated that measures of executive function and spatial processing are especially sensitive to prenatal alcohol exposure.
Role of the nervous system in sarcopenia and muscle atrophy with aging: strength training as a countermeasure

Aging is characterized by loss of spinal motor neurons (MNs) due to apoptosis, reduced insulin‐like growth factor I signaling, elevated amounts of circulating cytokines, and increased cell oxidative stress. The age‐related loss of spinal MNs is paralleled by a reduction in muscle fiber number and size (sarcopenia), resulting in impaired mechanical muscle performance that in turn leads to a reduced functional capacity during everyday tasks. Concurrently, maximum muscle strength, power, and rate of force development are decreased with aging, even in highly trained master athletes. The impairment in muscle mechanical function is accompanied and partly caused by an age‐related loss in neuromuscular function that comprise changes in maximal MN firing frequency, agonist muscle activation, antagonist muscle coactivation, force steadiness, and spinal inhibitory circuitry. Strength training appears to elicit effective countermeasures in elderly individuals even at a very old age (>80 years) by evoking muscle hypertrophy along with substantial changes in neuromuscular function, respectively. Notably, the training‐induced changes in muscle mass and nervous system function leads to an improved functional capacity during activities of daily living.
Institutional Foundations of Impersonal Exchange: Theory and Policy of Contractual Registries

This book explains how public registries strengthen property rights and reduce transaction costs, analyzes the main tradeoffs in their organization, and proposes principles for successfully developing registries in countries at different stages of development. The book focuses on land and company registries, exploring the recurrent difficulties they tend to face as well as current issues such as the US mortgage foreclosure crisis, the frenzy for simplifying business formalities, or the dubious efforts made in developing countries towards universal land titling. It also shows how his analytical framework can be fruitfully applied to other registries, such as intellectual property and organized exchanges in financial derivatives.
Analysis of factors affecting the adoption of smartphones

The mobile-phone market has changed from a new purchase market to a replacement market when it is matured. At the same time smartphones come into the spotlight as an alternative of feature phones in the mobile-phone market. Since the characteristics of ‘smartphones’ are greatly different from those of ‘feature phones’ in that more technologies are incorporated and more functionalities are provided with users by smartphones, factors that can affect the adoption of smartphones and feature phones might not be the same.
Public Perception of Uncertainties Within Climate Change Science

Climate change is a complex, multifaceted problem involving various interacting systems and actors. Therefore, the intensities, locations, and timeframes of the consequences of climate change are hard to predict and cause uncertainties. Relatively little is known about how the public perceives this scientific uncertainty and how this relates to their concern about climate change. In this article, an online survey among 306 Swiss people is reported that investigated whether people differentiate between different types of uncertainty in climate change research. Also examined was the way in which the perception of uncertainty is related to people's concern about climate change, their trust in science, their knowledge about climate change, and their political attitude. The results of a principal component analysis showed that respondents differentiated between perceived ambiguity in climate research, measurement uncertainty, and uncertainty about the future impact of climate change. Using structural equation modeling, it was found that only perceived ambiguity was directly related to concern about climate change, whereas measurement uncertainty and future uncertainty were not. Trust in climate science was strongly associated with each type of uncertainty perception and was indirectly associated with concern about climate change. Also, more knowledge about climate change was related to less strong perceptions of each type of climate science uncertainty. Hence, it is suggested that to increase public concern about climate change, it may be especially important to consider the perceived ambiguity about climate research. Efforts that foster trust in climate science also appear highly worthwhile.
Exposure of Cryptic Domains in the α1-chain of Laminin-1 by Elastase Stimulates Macrophages Urokinase and Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Expression*

Degradation of the extracellular matrix leads to the release of fragments, which elicit biological responses distinct from intact molecules. We have reported that α1:Ser2091–Arg2108, a peptide derived from the α1-chain of laminin-1, triggers protein kinase C-dependent activation of MAPKerk1/2, leading to the up-regulation of macrophage urokinase type plasminogen activator and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 expression. Since intact laminin-1 failed to trigger these events, we hypothesized that α1:Ser2091–Arg2108 is cryptic or assumes a conformation not recognized by macrophages. Here we demonstrate that elastase cleavage of laminin-1 generates fragments, which stimulate proteinase expression by RAW264.7 macrophages and peritoneal macrophages. In contrast, fragments generated by MMP-2, MMP-7, or plasmin had no effect on macrophage proteinase expression. Elastase-generated laminin-1 fragments were fractionated by heparin-Sepharose chromatography. Heparin-binding fragments stimulated macrophages' proteinase expression severalfold greater than nonbinding fragments. The heparin binding fragments reacted with antibodies directed against regions of the α1-chain including α1:Ser2091–Arg2108 and the globular domain. A peptide from the first loop of the globular domain (α1:Ser2179–Ser2198) triggered the phosphorylation of MAPKerk1/2 and stimulated the expression of macrophage urokinase type plasminogen activator and MMP-9. Moreover, a heparin-binding fraction isolated from an aortic aneurysm contained fragments of α1-chain and stimulated macrophages' proteinase expression. Based on these data, we conclude that cryptic domains in the COOH-terminal portion of the α1-chain of laminin are exposed by proteolysis and stimulate macrophages' proteinase expression.
ASSESSMENT OF THREE SCHISTOSOMIASIS ENDEMIC AREAS USING KATO-KATZ TECHNIQUE AND ELISA ANTIGEN AND ANTIBODY TESTS

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of schistosomiasis in selected schistosomiasis-endemic provinces. Areas identified as endemic and near elimination level for schistosomiasis were purposively selected. School-based collection of stool and blood samples was conducted and samples were examined using Kato-Katz technique and ELISA Ag and Ab tests, respectively. Results showed zero prevalence in Davao City, 0.5% in Davao del Sur, and 3.6% in Compostela Valley using Kato-Katz technique. Higher prevalences were observed for Davao City, Davao del Sur, and Compostela Valley with 5.0% and 34.4%; 3.0% and 19.2%; and 14.4%, and 56.5% using ELISA Ag and Ab tests, respectively. Results of the study showed that the use of Kato-Katz technique in highly endemic areas is still helpful in diagnosis of infected individuals. In low endemic areas, surveillance of schistosomiasis using ELISA Ab test may provide a better evaluation of the transmission status of the infection at population level necessary in the policy formulation for appropriate surveillance and implementation of control measures. ELISA Ag test, on the other hand, may provide more accurate diagnosis of the infection in low transmission areas necessary in the treatment of the infection that could contribute to the control of transmission of the infection in the community. Further studies are needed to support the use of these diagnostic techniques in a stratification scheme to be utilized by the National Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination Program in light of the other strategies being implemented at the community level.
Idiosyncratic Risk and Corporate Transactions

It has been documented that insiders trade when they perceive their firms are mispriced and when they hold private information about future cash flows. Based on these findings, we test whether insiders at firms with high-idiosyncratic risk (which is associated both with financial anomalies and with greater private information in prices) earn higher returns to their trades than insiders at firms with lower idiosyncratic risk. We document that, indeed, the profitability of corporate transactions (insider purchases and sales, and share repurchases) increases dramatically with idiosyncratic risk. Corporate transactions are contrarian and the magnitudes of returns prior to and following trades increase with idiosyncratic risk. In further analyses, we find little evidence that these patterns relate to private information: they are not explained by common proxies for future cash-flow news and are not mitigated by increased regulatory oversight of insider trading since mid-1990s. Conversely, we document evidence indicating that high-idiosyncratic risk stocks are priced less efficiently: institutional investors are slow to respond to corporate transactions and prices following trades drift for several months.
On the Regional Incidence of Public Investment in Highways in the USA

The objective of this paper is to investigate the economic and fiscal impact of road infrastructure investment in Portugal, focusing on the effects for each administrative region of both local investments and investments in other regions. We estimate VAR models for the national economy as well as for each of the five regions and using the associated impulse-response functions we find that investment in road infrastructures has been a powerful instrument to increase private investment, to create new permanent jobs and to promote long-term growth in all regions. More importantly, investment in road infrastructure, both at the aggregate level and for each one of the five regions, generates fiscal effects that largely exceed the initial investment itself. Accordingly, there is no trade-off in the long-term between the potentially positive economic effects and the potentially negative budgetary effects of such investments, i.e., both economic and budgetary effects are positive. As a corollary, policies that would reduce current road investment as a response to the current budgetary concerns will result in lower long-term growth as well as worse budgetary conditions in the future.
Adaptive output regulation via post-processing internal models and hybrid identifiers

This paper deals with the problem of adaptive output regulation of single-input single-output nonlinear systems, with respect to uncertainties in the exosystem. We endow a recently developed post-processing internal model design with a hybrid adaptive structure, which allows to use different identification schemes to adaptively tune the internal model at runtime. Practical regulation results are presented, with the regulation error that is proved to be linearly related to the prediction capabilities of the identifier.
Nonredox thiolation in tRNA occurring via sulfur activation by a [4Fe-4S] cluster

Significance Posttranscriptional modifications of tRNA are essential for translational fidelity. More specifically, mechanisms of selective sulfuration of tRNAs are still largely unknown, and the enzymes responsible for these reactions are incompletely investigated. Therefore, characterizing such systems at the molecular level is greatly valuable to our understanding of a whole class of tRNA modification reactions. We study TtuA, a representative member of a tRNA modification enzyme superfamily, and show that it intriguingly catalyzes a nonredox sulfur insertion within tRNA using a catalytically essential [4Fe-4S] cluster. This report opens perspectives regarding functions of iron-sulfur proteins in biology as well as chemical reactions catalyzed by iron-sulfur clusters. Sulfur is present in several nucleosides within tRNAs. In particular, thiolation of the universally conserved methyl-uridine at position 54 stabilizes tRNAs from thermophilic bacteria and hyperthermophilic archaea and is required for growth at high temperature. The simple nonredox substitution of the C2-uridine carbonyl oxygen by sulfur is catalyzed by tRNA thiouridine synthetases called TtuA. Spectroscopic, enzymatic, and structural studies indicate that TtuA carries a catalytically essential [4Fe-4S] cluster and requires ATP for activity. A series of crystal structures shows that (i) the cluster is ligated by only three cysteines that are fully conserved, allowing the fourth unique iron to bind a small ligand, such as exogenous sulfide, and (ii) the ATP binding site, localized thanks to a protein-bound AMP molecule, a reaction product, is adjacent to the cluster. A mechanism for tRNA sulfuration is suggested, in which the unique iron of the catalytic cluster serves to bind exogenous sulfide, thus acting as a sulfur carrier.
Misgenotyping of dopamine receptor D1 gene −48A/G polymorphism

Misgenotyping of Dopamine Receptor D1 Gene 48A/G Polymorphism Tewin Tencomnao and Rajatawatra Boonmalert Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Center for Excellence in Omics-Nano Medical Technology Project, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Graduate Program in Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
A case study of commercial bank solvency during a global financial crisis

Probably one of the most salient problems of the recent past was the 2008 global financial crisis. This crisis, which began in mid-September 2008, was thought by some to have been caused by the U.S. sub-prime mortgage industry collapse. The credit freeze which followed precipitated a chain of events that affected most organizations in the United States. Because of the size and scope of this problem, the U.S. federal government intervened and offered funding to select institutions in an effort to restore business credit and consumer confidence. Many institutions accepted this federal aid, but others did not. The focus of this study was an individual case of a rural commercial bank that did not accept Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) federal funding. This study examined Green Bank to determine if it is currently solvent according to federal standards. Green Bank is the fictitious name given to the real bank examined in this study. Comparison banks used in this study were also real and referred to as Bank A through Bank E. In addition to current solvency, other aspects of the operation were studied to see if the solvency condition was likely to persist. As such, two recent dissertations on commercial banking were referenced to form the basis of this study. The first dissertation was published in 2008 and investigated the relationship between organizational resources and organizational response to external shock. The study was entitled Organizational Response to Change: A Resource Based View from the Commercial Banking Industry. The second dissertation was published in 2006 and dealt with merger and acquisition activity of commercial banks. This study was entitled The Timely Positioning of Banks for Acquisition and Mergers. Results from this study provide keen insight into how an organization, in this case a commercial bank, deals with external changes of the magnitude caused by the current financial crisis. Final results could also form the basis of a strategic plan for commercial banks should something like this financial crisis ever happen again. On December 31, 2011, the President and CEO of Green Bank retired to pursue other opportunities (CEO Retires, 2012).
How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know

1. Evidence-based Marketing2. How Brands Grow3. How to Grow Your Customer Base4. Which Customers Matter Most? 5. Our Buyers Are Different6. Who Do You Really Compete With? 7. Passionate Consumer Commitment8. Differentiation versus Distinctiveness9. How advertising Really Works10. What Price Promotions Really Do11. Why Liyalty Programs Don't Work12. Mental and Physical Availability13. A Final Word
French connection: interlocking directorates and the ownership-control nexus in an insider governance system

We reveal the non-separation of ownership and control for multiple blockholders in the French insider governance system. We show that overlapping directorships of large listed corporations are explained by their ownership connections. Both large and small stakes, from 20% to 1% of cash-flow rights or voting rights, have high explanatory power. Some shareholdings are control rather than monitoring related. We provide evidence also that cross-ownership allows CEOs to entrench themselves. Finally, we demonstrate that causality goes from ownership to interlocking directorates, for both unilateral stakes and cross-shareholdings.
Breast Reconstruction With Extended Latissimus Dorsi Flap and Silicone Implant

Breast carcinoma is the most common female malignancy. Mastectomy and breast reconstruction are indicated to treat the disease and to improve quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare the esthetic results of breast reconstruction with extended latissimus dorsi flap and implant for breast cancer with and without denervation of latissimus dorsi muscle. Our study was a retrospective review of prospectively collected data. Surgery was performed as primary reconstruction in 24 (75%) and secondary reconstruction in 8 patients (25%). All patients were consecutively divided in two equal groups (with 16 patients each) with latissimus dorsi muscle intact or denervated. Their average age was 46.2 years. Primary reconstruction was done for stages I and IIA, and secondary reconstruction one year after the completion of oncologic treatment. Postoperative follow-up was two years. Early complications (hematoma, infection) were not observed and dorsal seroma was observed in four women (12.5%). Partial flap necrosis was found in one case, but complete flap necrosis was not found. In six patients (18.7%), unacceptable scarring at the donor site required correction. Two years after reconstruction the patients assessed the procedure as very good or excellent. Excelent grade was often statisticaly significant in the group with innervated flap. Primary or secondary breast reconstruction should become an integral part of breast cancer treatment. Extended latissimus dorsi flap with implant is a safe and relatively simple reconstruction technique and should be preferred to other similar techniques. We suggest the reconstruction with innervated musle flap for better esthetic results.