Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CB1 receptor‐mediated signaling underlies the hippocampal synaptic, learning, and memory deficits following treatment with JWH‐081, a new component of spice/K2 preparations

Recently, synthetic cannabinoids have been sprayed onto plant material, which is subsequently packaged and sold as “Spice” or “K2” to mimic the effects of marijuana. A recent report identified several synthetic additives in samples of “Spice/K2”, including JWH‐081, a synthetic ligand for the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1). The deleterious effects of JWH‐081 on brain function are not known, particularly on CB1 signaling, synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. Here, we evaluated the effects of JWH‐081 on pCaMKIV, pCREB, and pERK1/2 signaling events followed by long‐term potentiation (LTP), hippocampal‐dependent learning and memory tasks using CB1 receptor wild‐type (WT) and knockout (KO) mice. Acute administration of JWH‐081 impaired CaMKIV phosphorylation in a dose‐dependent manner, whereas inhibition of CREB phosphorylation in CB1 receptor WT mice was observed only at higher dose of JWH‐081 (1.25 mg/kg). JWH‐081 at higher dose impaired CaMKIV and CREB phosphorylation in a time‐dependent manner in CB1 receptor WT mice but not in KO mice and failed to alter ERK1/2 phosphorylation. In addition, SR treated or CB1 receptor KO mice have a lower pCaMKIV/CaMKIV ratio and higher pCREB/CREB ratio compared with vehicle or WT littermates. In hippocampal slices, JWH‐081 impaired LTP in CB1 receptor WT but not in KO littermates. Furthermore, JWH‐081 at higher dose impaired object recognition, spontaneous alternation and spatial memory on the Y‐maze in CB1 receptor WT mice but not in KO mice. Collectively our findings suggest that deleterious effects of JWH‐081 on hippocampal function involves CB1 receptor mediated impairments in CaMKIV and CREB phosphorylation, LTP, learning and memory in mice. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
High frequency of parasitic and viral stool pathogens in patients with active ulcerative colitis: Report from a tropical country

Objective. Diarrhoeal relapses in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) may be associated with enteric infections and its diagnosis may lessen avoidable exposure to corticosteroids and/or immunosuppressants. The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency of stool pathogens (parasitic and viral) in patients with active UC. Material and methods. This prospective cross-sectional study included 49 consecutive patients (32 M, 17 F, mean age 35.8±12 years) with active UC. Three stool samples were collected from each patient and examined for parasitic infection. Rectal biopsies were obtained during sigmoidoscopy to demonstrate cytomegalovirus (CMV) inclusion bodies and to conduct qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for CMV and herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA detection. Results. Median duration of illness was 3.9±3.7 years and 83.7% of the patients had moderate to severe disease. The prevalence of parasitic infections in UC was 12%. The organisms isolated were Strongyloides stercoralis in 4%, Ankylostoma duodenale in 4%, Cryptosporidium in 2% and Entamoeba histolytica in 2% of the patients. The prevalence of CMV and HSV in rectal biopsies using qualitative PCR was 8% and 10%, respectively. No predictive factor was identified with CMV superinfection in patients with active UC. Conclusions. In India there is a high prevalence of parasitic and viral infections in patients with active UC. The results of the study suggest that, in tropical countries with a known high prevalence of parasitic diseases, aggressive evaluation for parasitic and viral infections should be carried out, as early identification and prompt treatment of such infections can improve the clinical course of patients with active UC.
Memory for Syntax Despite Amnesia

Syntactic persistence is a tendency for speakers to reproduce sentence structures independently of accompanying meanings, words, or sounds. The memory mechanisms behind syntactic persistence are not fully understood. Although some properties of syntactic persistence suggest a role for procedural memory, current evidence suggests that procedural memory (unlike declarative memory) does not maintain the abstract, relational features that are inherent to syntactic structures. In a study evaluating the contribution of procedural memory to syntactic persistence, patients with anterograde amnesia and matched control speakers reproduced prime sentences with different syntactic structures; reproduced 0, 1, 6, or 10 neutral sentences; then spontaneously described pictures that elicited the primed structures; and finally made recognition judgments for the prime sentences. Amnesic and control speakers showed significant and equivalent syntactic persistence, despite the amnesic speakers' profoundly impaired recognition memory for the primes. Thus, syntax is maintained by procedural-memory mechanisms. This result reveals that procedural memory is capable of supporting abstract, relational knowledge.
A new Microsporidium sp. (microsporidia) from the musculature of the mountain whitefish Prosopium williamsoni from British Columbia: morphology and phylogeny.

Few microsporidia have been reported from whitefish species (subfamily Coregoninae). For the most part, these microsporidia have been incompletely described. In a survey of parasites of mountain whitefish Prosopium williamsoni collected from Kootenay Lake, British Columbia, we encountered an unusual microsporidium infecting the endomysium of the skeletal musculature. Spores were uninucleate, ovoid to pyriform, and were 5.6 (5-7) microm x 3.2 (3-4) microm with 13-16 coils in the polar filament. We describe here this organism as a new species based on its site of development and its relationship among fish microsporidia based on small subunit ribosomal DNA sequence data, i.e., our analysis showed that it is not closely related to other microsporidia for which ribosomal DNA sequence is available thus far.
Leadership Perspectives of Chief Student Affairs Officers: An Exploratory Study

Leadership in student affairs continues to be a challenging enterprise for universities. Colleges are expected to help students succeed while providing for abundant needs through graduation. Chief student affairs officers have increasing demands of students and faculty amid decreased funds. This exploratory study took an in-depth look at the leadership perspectives of 19 chief student affairs officers at 4-year, public universities across the Midwest. The researcher sought responses on common leadership perspectives, challenges faced, and opportunities encountered. The three emerging themes were elements that inform leadership, knowledge and skills, and mindful leadership outlook. These emergent themes formed the basis for a Student Affairs Leadership Model of best practices that may provide a basis for future research. Leadership perspectives of CSAOs iii
I-vector dependent feature space transformations for adaptive speech recognition

In this paper, we propose a new feature normalization approach for deep neural networks (DNNs) based adaptive speech recognition. Each speaker is represented by an i-vector, and the i-vector dependent block-diagonal transformation matrix is obtained by a tensor and performed on the input features. The parameters of tensor are shared by all the frames in the input window, and factorized into three matrices. The proposed approach is more practical for real-application speech recognition tasks since it eliminates the time-consuming adaptive training process to estimate the transformation matrix in feature-space discriminative linear regression (fDLR). We empirically evaluated the proposed approach on a conversational telephone speech recognition task. Experimental results show that the proposed approach can yield 7% relative improvement for the long short-term memory network based speech recognition system.
Stress Proteins and Tolerance to Focal Cerebral Ischemia

Stress proteins are induced after a variety of neuronal injuries. The inducible 72-kDa heat shock protein (hsp70) is a stress protein that protects neurons from glutamate toxicity in vitro. Hsp70 has also been proposed to underlie the phenomenon of ischemic tolerance whereby brief sublethal intervals of global ischemia protect the hippocampus from subsequent lethal prolonged ischemia. To determine if the phenomenon of tolerance occurs in cortex after focal ischemia, the rat middle cerebral artery (MCA) was occluded by the suture method. Three 10-min intervals of transient ischemia (3 × 10-isc) separated by 45-min periods of reperfusion made up the most effective paradigm of preconditioning ischemia studied, and substantially reduced the volume of infarction 72 h after subsequent 100-min MCA occlusion. This approach induced protection if the interval between the 3 × 10-isc and the 100-min ischemia was 2, 3, or 5 days but not 1 or 7 days. Three 10-min intervals of transient ischemia alone produced minimal histological changes in the cortex at 72 h. Moreover, there were no significant changes in regional cerebral blood flow in the tolerant regions at 72 h after 3 × 10-isc before or during MCA occlusion. To explore the role of stress proteins in the induction of tolerance, expression of hsp70 and the glucose-regulated proteins grp75 and grp78 were studied. Samples from tolerant regions of the brain that had undergone preconditioning ischemia were evaluated at 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days after 3 × 10-isc by Western blot analysis. The time course of hsp70 expression most closely correlated with tolerance. Hsp70 protein expression increased during times when tolerance was present (at 2–5 days) but did not increase thereafter (at 7 and 14 days). However, hsp70 was also increased before tolerance was present (at 1 day). Immunocytochemistry showed that hsp70 protein was expressed in neurons in the tolerant regions 24 h after 3 × 10-isc and was expressed in both neurons and glia after 72 h. Although immunocytochemistry suggested that there was increased neuronal expression of grp75 and grp78, no significant differences were found in protein expression as determined by Western blot before (at 1 day), during (at 2–5 days), and after (at 7 days and thereafter) tolerance. Thus, the time course of grp75 and grp78 expression did not correlate with that of tolerance. This model of ischemic tolerance is a useful method by which mechanisms of endogenous neuroprotection may be explored.
Antidiabetic drug pioglitazone protects the heart via activation of PPAR-gamma receptors, PI3-kinase, Akt, and eNOS pathway in a rabbit model of myocardial infarction.

The insulin-sensitizing drug pioglitazone has been reported to be protective against myocardial infarction. However, its precise mechanism is unclear. Rabbits underwent 30 min of coronary occlusion followed by 48 h of reperfusion. Rabbits were assigned randomly to nine groups (n = 10 in each): the control group (fed a normal diet), pioglitazone group (fed diets containing 1 mg.kg(-1). day(-1) pioglitazone), pioglitazone + 5-hydroxydecanoic acid (HD) group [fed the pioglitazone diet + 5 mg/kg iv 5-HD, a mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channel blocker], pioglitazone + GW9662 group [fed the pioglitazone diet + 2 mg/kg iv GW9662, a peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma antagonist], GW9662 group (fed a normal diet + iv GW9662), pioglitazone + wortmannin group [fed the pioglitazone diet + 0.6 mg/kg iv wortmannin, a phosphatidylinositol (PI)3-kinase inhibitor], wortmannin group (fed a normal diet + iv wortmannin), pioglitazone + nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) group [fed the pioglitazone diet + 10 mg/kg iv l-NAME, a nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor], and l-NAME group (fed a normal diet + iv l-NAME). All groups were fed the diets for 7 days. The risk area and nonrisk area of the left ventricle (LV) were separated by Evans blue dye, and the infarct area was determined by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. The infarct size was calculated as a percentage of the LV risk area. Western blotting was performed to assess levels of Akt and phospho-Akt and phospho-endothelial NOS (eNOS) in the myocardium following reperfusion. The infarct size was significantly smaller in the pioglitazone group (21 +/- 2%) than in the control group (43 +/- 3%). This effect was abolished by GW9662 (42 +/- 3%), wortmannin (40 +/- 3%), or l-NAME (42 +/- 7%) but not by 5-HD (24 +/- 5%). Western blotting showed higher levels of phospho-Akt and phospho-eNOS in the pioglitazone group. Pioglitazone reduces the myocardial infarct size via activation of PPAR-gamma, PI3-kinase, Akt, and eNOS pathways, but not via opening the mitochondrial K(ATP) channel. Pioglitazone may be a novel strategy for the treatment of diabetes mellitus with coronary artery disease.
Calcium phosphate microcrystal deposition in the human intervertebral disc

A variety of crystals have been identified in both normal and pathological connective tissues. Calcium phosphate ‘cuboidal’ microcrystal deposition has been found, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), in femoral articular cartilage, where they are distributed as a band 5–50 µm beneath the articular surface. These cuboid microcrystals have been identified as magnesium whitlockite. Our objective was to investigate their presence in the human intervertebral disc. In this study, two degenerate and 15 scoliotic discs were examined using light microscopy and TEM techniques to determine the presence of calcium phosphate crystals. Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) deposition was identified in one degenerate disc specimen. Using TEM and electron probe analysis, cuboid microcrystals were identified in the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus of both degenerate specimens, but not in the discs from young scoliotic patients. Cuboid microcrystal deposition was found predominantly around cells, which were mainly necrotic, with some association with extracellular lipidic/membranous debris. This is the first TEM report of whitlockite in the intervertebral disc. In one specimen coexistence of cuboid and CPPD crystal deposition was found.
A Framework for Learning to Personalize Converged Services Involving Social Networks

The convergence of the wireline telecom, wireless telecom, and Internet networks and the services they provide offers tremendous opportunities in services personalization. The privacy-conscious personalization (PCP) framework, developed previously at Bell Labs, uses a high-speed rules engine during call processing to interpret a combination of incoming requests, user data, and user preferences in order to provide context-aware, requester-targeted, and preferences-driven responses to those requests (e.g., deciding whether to share a user's location with a given requester, what to show as the end-user's availability to a given requester, where to forward an incoming call). This paper describes key aspects of a new initiative at Bell Labs, called intuitive network applications (INA), which combines human factors and automated learning techniques, in order to gather and apply user data and preferences, to enable effective adaptation to end-user needs with minimal disruption to her. The focus of this paper is on applications which involve the interaction of an end-user with her social network, i.e., family, friends, colleagues, customers, etc. The paper describes (i) key requirements, (ii) a high-level architectural framework, and (iii) some specific directions currently under exploration for filling out the framework
Inhibitory effect of oxidative damage on cardiomyocyte differentiation from Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Ischemic heart diseases are a serious health problem worldwide. The transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been investigated in numerous clinical trials on various other diseases due to the self-renewal capacity of these cells and their potential to differentiate into a variety of cell types. The presence of excess reactive oxygen species in injured myocardium causes cardiac dysfunction and leads to inefficient repair of the heart. The poor outcomes of stem cell transplantation have been suggested to result from residual oxidative damage affecting the transplanted cells. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on Wharton's jelly-derived MSCs (WJ-MSCs) and bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) in vitro, in order to provide information useful for the future selection of MSC types for cardiac differentiation and transplantation. H2O2 at concentrations of 200, 500 and 1,000 µM was applied to WJ-MSCs and BM-MSCs under cardiogenic differentiation conditions. The morphology of MSCs treated with H2O2 was similar to that of untreated cells, whereas the cell density decreased in direct association with the dose of H2O2. Cardiac differentiation markers were then evaluated by immunofluorescence analysis of GATA4 and cardiac troponin T (cTnT). The fluorescence intensity levels of the two markers were identified to be diminished by increasing doses of H2O2 from 500 to 1,000 µM. The expression levels of homeobox protein Nkx2.5, cTnT and cardiac α-actin were also examined, and were identified to be low in the WJ-MSCs treated with 1,000 µM H2O2, which was similar to the findings observed in BM-MSCs. These results suggested that oxidative stress affects cardiomyocyte differentiation via the downregulation of cardiac genes and cardiac proteins. Furthermore, it should be noted that there was a marked difference in the effect depending on the source of MSCs. This evidence provided supportive information for the use of stem cells in transplantation.
Roadless Space of the Conterminous United States

Roads encroaching into undeveloped areas generally degrade ecological and watershed conditions and simultaneously provide access to natural resources, land parcels for development, and recreation. A metric of roadless space is needed for monitoring the balance between these ecological costs and societal benefits. We introduce a metric, roadless volume (RV), which is derived from the calculated distance to the nearest road. RV is useful and integrable over scales ranging from local to national. The 2.1 million cubic kilometers of RV in the conterminous United States are distributed with extreme inhomogeneity among its counties.
The Third World Security Predicament: State Making, Regional Conflict, and the International System

Concepts - "Third World" and "Security" State Making and Third World Security Interstate Conflict and Regional Security The Third World and the State System The Third World, Bipolarity and the Cold War The Third World and the Post-Cold War Global Balance The Third World's Post-Cold War Security Predicament - the External Dimension The Internal Dimension The Security Problematic of the Third World.
Analysis of endoscopic ultrasound elastography used for characterisation and differentiation of benign and malignant lymph nodes.

PURPOSE Ultrasound elastography is a new imaging procedure which allows the reconstruction of elasticity distribution by characterising the difference of hardness between pathological and normal tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS The aim of our study was to apply real-time elastography during endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) examinations and to consequently characterise benign versus malignant lymph nodes. The pattern of real-time EUS elastography images was compared with the conventional EUS aspects of lymph nodes and with the final diagnosis obtained by EUS-FNA cytology analysis and/or by surgical pathology. RESULTS Patients diagnosed by EUS with cervical, mediastinal or abdominal lymph nodes were prospectively included, with a total number of 42 lymph nodes examined by EUS elastography. By using a qualitative pattern analysis, we were able to differentiate between benign and malignant lymph nodes with a high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy (91.7 %, 94.4 % and 92.86 %, respectively), based on five pre-defined patterns obtained on EUS elastography. A quantitative analysis based on histograms of the EUS elastography images also allowed an excellent discrimination between benign and malignant lymph nodes. Based on separate RGB channel histogram values, an "elasticity ratio" was further defined and yielded a sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for the differential diagnosis of 95.8 %, 94.4 % and 95.2 % respectively, based on a cut-off level of 0.84. CONCLUSION EUS elastography is a promising method which allows characterisation and differentiation of benign and malignant lymph nodes with a high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy, offering complementary information added to conventional EUS imaging.
Secretory immune response in patients with intestinal amoebiasis

The secretory immune response in saliva from intestinal amoebiasis patients against antigens obtained from Entamoeba histolytica membranes was studied. Western blot analysis indicated that patient saliva contains secretory IgA antibodies against antigens with molecular masses ranging from 170 to 24 kDa, some of which were also recognized by saliva from healthy subjects. However, antigens of 170, 125, 46 and 37 kDa are recognized more frequently (> 90%) by the secretory IgA from patients with intestinal amoebiasis than by that from healthy subjects (< 10%).
Corporate Social Responsibility and Gender Diversity: A Literature Review

A long debate is going on if Board Gender Diversity enhances Corporate Social Responsibility of the organisation. The answer to this question has been discussed at various forums and platforms yet no specific conclusion has been reached. This paper aims to review the existing literature on corporate governance, in particular gender diversity in board, and corporate social responsibility. The purpose of this paper is to review the research conducted by various authors and understand the linkage between Corporate Social Responsibility and Board Gender Diversity. The effort has been made through this paper to examine the relationship between board gender diversity&corporate social responsibility and provide more insightful link between them. Research also suggests the direction for future research in this field and also highlights the importance of qualitative and longitudinal studies in this area.
Documenting presence: A descriptive study of chaplain notes in the intensive care unit

Abstract Objective: To clarify and record their role in the care of patients, hospital chaplains are increasingly called on to document their work in the medical record. Chaplains' documentation, however, varies widely, even within single institutions. Little has been known, however, about the forms that documentation takes in different settings or about how clinicians interpret chaplain documentation. This study aims to examine how chaplains record their encounters in an intensive care unit (ICU). Method: We performed a retrospective chart review of the chaplain notes filed on patients in the adult ICUs at a major academic medical center over a six-month period. We used an iterative process of qualitative textual analysis to code and analyze chaplains' free-text entries for emergent themes. Results: Four primary themes emerged from chaplain documentation. First, chaplains frequently used “code language,” such as “compassionate presence,” to recapitulate interventions already documented elsewhere in a checklist of ministry interventions. Second, chaplains typically described what they observed rather than interpreting its clinical significance. Third, chaplains indicated passive follow-up plans, waiting for patients or family members to request further interaction. Fourth, chaplains sometimes provided insights into particular relationship dynamics. Significance of results: As members of the patient care team, chaplains access the medical record to communicate clinically relevant information. The present study suggests that recent emphasis on evidence-based practice may be leading chaplains, at least in the medical center we studied, to use a reduced, mechanical language insufficient for illuminating patients' individual stories. We hope that our study will promote further consideration of how chaplain documentation can enhance patient care and convey the unique value that chaplains add to the clinical team.