Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Metabolism, anticholinergic effects, and therapeutic outcome of desmethylimipramine in depressive illness

Synopsis In order to test two theories of the mode of action of imipramine 58 depressive patients were treated at two dosage levels with desmethylimipramine (DMI), its active metabolite. Clinical judgments were used to distinguish therapeutic responders from non-responders, who showed clear differences in depressive rating scales and body weight changes. Measurements of urinary output of DMI, of salivation, and of the incidence of side-effects were compared in responders and non-responders: no differences appeared between the two groups. It is concluded that the therapeutic effect of imipramine does not depend on either its anticholinergic or other action revealed by the common side-effects, and that variability of response cannot be accounted for by differences in the rate of metabolism of DMI.
Modular verification of software components in C

We present a new methodology for automatic verification of C programs against finite state machine specifications. Our approach is compositional, naturally enabling us to decompose the verification of large software systems into subproblems of manageable complexity. The decomposition reflects the modularity in the software design. We use weak simulation as the notion of conformance between the program and its specification. Following the abstract-verify-refine paradigm, our tool MAGIC first extracts a finite model from C source code using predicate abstraction and theorem proving. Subsequently, simulation is checked via a reduction to Boolean satisfiability. MAGIC is able to interface with several publicly available theorem provers and SAT solvers. We report experimental results with procedures from the Linux kernel and the OpenSSL toolkit.
Population structured by a space variable and a phenotypical trait

We consider populations structured by a phenotypic trait and a space variable, in a non-homogeneous environment. In the case of sexual populations, we are able to derive models close to existing models in theoretical biology, from a structured population model. We then analyze the dynamics of the population using a simplified model, where the population either propagates through the whole space or it survives but remains confined in a limited range. For asexual populations, we show that the dynamics are simpler. In this case, the population cannot remain confined in a limited range, i. e. the population, if it does not get extinct, propagates through the whole space.
Firing behaviour of dorsal spinocerebellar tract neurones.

1. The repetitive discharge evoked by constant current injection from an intracellular micropipette has been studied in dorsal spinocerebellar tract cells of the cat. 2. The discharge frequency decreased with time, the decrease being more pronounced at high current intensities. Most of the frequency change occurred during the first ten intervals but the decrease continued slowly for several seconds. In some cells the frequency rose initially, the first interspike interval being larger than immediately succeeding ones. 3. The frequency‐current (f/I) curves for the first interspike intervals were S‐shaped, as found in spinal motoneurones. With successive intervals the lower leg of the f/I curve extended to higher frequencies, giving a progressive linearization of the f/I curves. In almost all cells this linearization was completed at 200 msec after current onset. 4. The experimental f/I curves were compared with the f/I curves obtained with a simple neurone model based on the properties of the postspike afterhyperpolarization. For the first interspike interval there was a good agreement between the experimental and calculated f/I curves of individual neurones up to frequencies of several hundred impulses per second. In the high frequency range, it was necessary to compensate for changes in initial postspike voltage trajectories caused by the injected current. Other aspects of the firing of real neurones, such as the progressive linearization of the f/I curves, the negative adaptation and the changes in the interspike voltage trajectories with increasing current were also reproduced by the neurone model. 5. It is concluded that the conductance process underlying the postspike afterhyperpolarization is a major factor in the regulation of repetitive firing in dorsal spinocerebellar tract neurones.
Influence of Contrast Shower and Water Immersion on Recovery in Elite Netballers

Abstract Juliff, LE, Halson, SL, Bonetti, DL, Versey, NG, Driller, MW, and Peiffer, JJ. Influence of contrast shower and water immersion on recovery in elite netballers. J Strength Cond Res 28(8): 2353–2358, 2014—Contrast water therapy is a popular recovery modality in sport; however, appropriate facilities can often be difficult to access. Therefore, the present study examined the use of contrast showers as an alternative to contrast water therapy for team sport recovery. In a randomized, crossover design, 10 elite female netball athletes (mean ± SD: age, 20 ± 0.6 years; height, 1.82 ± 0.05 m; body mass, 77.0 ± 9.3 kg) completed 3 experimental trials of a netball specific circuit followed by one of the following 14-minute recovery interventions: (a) contrast water therapy (alternating 1 minute 38° C and 1 minute 15° C water immersion), (b) contrast showers (alternating 1 minute 38° C and 1 minute 18° C showers), or (c) passive recovery (seated rest in 20° C). Repeated agility, skin and core temperature, and perception scales were measured before, immediately after, 5 and 24 hours postexercise. No significant differences in repeated agility were evident between conditions at any time point. No significant differences in core temperature were observed between conditions; however, skin temperature was significantly lower immediately after contrast water therapy and contrast showers compared with the passive condition. Overall perceptions of recovery were superior after contrast water therapy and contrast showers compared with passive recovery. The findings indicate contrast water therapy and contrast showers did not accelerate physical recovery in elite netballers after a netball specific circuit; however, the psychological benefit from both interventions should be considered when determining the suitability of these recovery interventions in team sport.
Multi-resolution panoramic modeling based on spherical projective geometry

Panorama image can provide 360 degrees view in one hotspot, which could solve the traditional three-dimensional expression of inadequate authenticity, difficult data acquisition as well as laborious and time-consuming modeling. However, there is usually only one single resolution of panoramic images in websides, if it amplified by the certain extent, it shows vagueness, having poor texture detail. So, we propose a kind of multi-resolution panoramic geometric modeling based on spherical projective geometry in this paper with many advantages: realtime dynamic geometric data representation divided by quadtree subdivision; panoramic images of multi-resolution organization with the visualization needs of being transferred, having the deformation as small as possible in the process of that being mapped to the sphere, moreover, the current image has the highest clarity. And something useful is obtained.
Controlling the interfacial reactions in Pb-free interconnections by adding minor alloying elements to Sn-rich solders

In microelectronic packaging, the reliability of Pb-free solder joint is critically depending on its interfacial reactions with Under-Bump-Metallurgy (UBM) or pad finishes. Factors such as intermetallic compound (IMC) formation, IMC spalling, UBM dissolution, interfacial void formation, all affects the integrity of solder joints. The failure mechanisms in thermal fatigue or electromigration tests of solder joints are often influenced by the interfacial reactions. When Sn-rich solders are used for Pb-free applications, the interfacial reactions become more aggressive since the reflow temperatures of Sn-rich solders are higher than eutectic Sn-Pb solders and the corresponding solubility of barrier metals in a molten Sn-rich solder is expected to be much higher. Recently, many studies have been conducted to control the reaction or consumption rate of a Cu layer into Sn-rich solders. However, few studies have been reported on the consumption of Ni barrier layers in Sn-rich solders during reflow. In addition, it has been known that the dissolution rate of a Ni layer varies widely depending on its material deposition processes and parameters, such as electrolytic, electroless or sputtered Ni. In microelectronic applications, an electroless Ni (P) layer is commonly used to provide a reaction barrier layer on Cu pads of laminates or modules, while an electrolytic or sputtered Ni layer is used in a UBM structure of a flip-chip metallization. In this study, the consumption rate of different Ni layers (sputtered, electrolytic and electroless plated) are investigated with several Sn-rich solders, such as Sn-Ag and Sn-Cu in terms of reflow conditions. A method of controlling the consumption of Ni barrier layers is also reported by adding minor alloying elements, such as Ni or Cu into Sn-rich solders. The controlling mechanisms of Ni consumption are discussed for different alloying elements. The effects of minor alloying elements on the mechanical and thermal properties of Sn-rich solders are also reported.
Stimuli-responsive controlled-release system using quadruplex DNA-capped silica nanocontainers

A novel proton-fueled molecular gate-like delivery system has been constructed for controlled cargo release using i-motif quadruplex DNA as caps onto pore outlets of mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Start from simple conformation changes, the i-motif DNA cap can open and close the pore system in smart response to pH stimulus. Importantly, the opening/closing and delivery protocol is highly reversible and a partial cargo delivery can be easily controlled at will. A pH-switchable nanoreactor has also been developed to validate the potential of our system for on-demand molecular transport. This proof of concept might open the door to a new generation of carrier materials and could also provide a general route to use other functional nucleic acids/peptide nucleic acids as capping agents in the fields of versatile controlled delivery nanodevices.
Kinder - ein Quell der Freude?!

It is well known, that the presences of children lower parental happiness. That is based on psychological and economical reasons. The effect holds on for micro data of the GSOEP. The number of children affects an inverse u-shaped curve on happiness. Even an enlargement of the dataset with macroeconomic variables offers the same results. The effect disappears only after generating terms of interaction for catching some effects of macroeconomic uncertainty. Children turn to be positive. This result could be interpreted as consumption utility of children. Considering these factors, children might be a source of joy.
Teasing apart retrieval and encoding interference in the processing of anaphors

Two classes of account have been proposed to explain the memory processes subserving the processing of reflexive-antecedent dependencies. Structure-based accounts assume that the retrieval of the antecedent is guided by syntactic tree-configurational information without considering other kinds of information such as gender marking in the case of English reflexives. By contrast, unconstrained cue-based retrieval assumes that all available information is used for retrieving the antecedent. Similarity-based interference effects from structurally illicit distractors which match a non-structural retrieval cue have been interpreted as evidence favoring the unconstrained cue-based retrieval account since cue-based retrieval interference from structurally illicit distractors is incompatible with the structure-based account. However, it has been argued that the observed effects do not necessarily reflect interference occurring at the moment of retrieval but might equally well be accounted for by interference occurring already at the stage of encoding or maintaining the antecedent in memory, in which case they cannot be taken as evidence against the structure-based account. We present three experiments (self-paced reading and eye-tracking) on German reflexives and Swedish reflexive and pronominal possessives in which we pit the predictions of encoding interference and cue-based retrieval interference against each other. We could not find any indication that encoding interference affects the processing ease of the reflexive-antecedent dependency formation. Thus, there is no evidence that encoding interference might be the explanation for the interference effects observed in previous work. We therefore conclude that invoking encoding interference may not be a plausible way to reconcile interference effects with a structure-based account of reflexive processing.
Structural and Thermodynamic Approach to Peptide Immunogenicity

In the conventional paradigm of humoral immunity, B cells recognize their cognate antigen target in its native form. However, it is well known that relatively unstable peptides bearing only partial structural resemblance to the native protein can trigger antibodies recognizing higher-order structures found in the native protein. On the basis of sound thermodynamic principles, this work reveals that stability of immunogenic proteinlike motifs is a critical parameter rationalizing the diverse humoral immune responses induced by different linear peptide epitopes. In this paradigm, peptides with a minimal amount of stability (ΔGX<0 kcal/mol) around a proteinlike motif (X) are capable of inducing antibodies with similar affinity for both peptide and native protein, more weakly stable peptides (ΔGX>0 kcal/mol) trigger antibodies recognizing full protein but not peptide, and unstable peptides (ΔGX>8 kcal/mol) fail to generate antibodies against either peptide or protein. Immunization experiments involving peptides derived from the autoantigen histidyl-tRNA synthetase verify that selected peptides with varying relative stabilities predicted by molecular dynamics simulations induce antibody responses consistent with this theory. Collectively, these studies provide insight pertinent to the structural basis of immunogenicity and, at the same time, validate this form of thermodynamic and molecular modeling as an approach to probe the development/evolution of humoral immune responses.
Differential effects of black raspberry and strawberry extracts on BaPDE‐induced activation of transcription factors and their target genes

The chemopreventive properties of edible berries have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo, however, the specific molecular mechanisms underlying their anti‐cancer effects are largely unknown. Our previous studies have shown that a methanol extract fraction of freeze‐dried black raspberries inhibits benzoapyrene (BaP)‐induced transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells. This fraction also blocks activation of activator protein‐1 (AP‐1) and nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB) induced by benzoapyrene diol‐epoxide (BaPDE) in mouse epidermal JB6 Cl 41 cells. To determine if different berry types exhibit specific mechanisms for their anti‐cancer effects, we compared the effects of extract fractions from both black raspberries and strawberries on BaPDE‐induced activation of various signaling pathways in Cl 41 cells. Black raspberry fractions inhibited the activation of AP‐1, NF‐κB, and nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) by BaPDE as well as their upstream PI‐3K/Akt‐p70S6K and mitogen‐activated protein kinase pathways. In contrast, strawberry fractions inhibited NFAT activation, but did not inhibit the activation of AP‐1, NF‐κB or the PI‐3K/Akt‐p70S6K and mitogen‐activated protein kinase pathways. Consistent with the effects on NFAT activation, tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) induction by BaPDE was blocked by extract fractions of both black raspberries and strawberries, whereas vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, which depends on AP‐1 activation, was suppressed by black raspberry fractions but not strawberry fractions. These results suggest that black raspberry and strawberry components may target different signaling pathways in exerting their anti‐carcinogenic effects. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of 2-Chloro-Substitution of Adenine Moiety in Mixed-Ligand Gold(I) Triphenylphosphine Complexes on Anti-Inflammatory Activity: The Discrepancy between the In Vivo and In Vitro Models

A series of gold(I) triphenylphosphine (PPh3) complexes (1–9) involving 2-chloro-N6-(substituted-benzyl)adenine derivatives as N-donor ligands was synthesized and thoroughly characterized by relevant methods, including electrospray-ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. The anti-inflammatory and antiedematous effects of three representatives 1, 5 and 9 were evaluated by means of in vitro model based on the expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and influence of the complexes on selected forms of matrix metalloproteinases secreted by LPS-activated THP-1 monocytes and in vivo model evaluating the antiedematous effect of the complexes in the carrageenan-induced rat hind-paw edema model. In addition to the pharmacological observations, the affected hind paws were post mortem subjected to histological and immunohistochemical evaluations. The results of both in vivo and ex vivo methods revealed low antiedematous and anti-inflammatory effects of the complexes, even though the in vitro model identified them as promising anti-inflammatory acting compounds. The reason for this discrepancy lies probably in low stability of the studied complexes in biological environment, as demonstrated by the solution interaction studies with sulfur-containing biomolecules (cysteine and reduced glutathione) using the ESI mass spectrometry.
Efficient Index-Based Approaches for Skyline Queries in Location-Based Applications

Enriching many location-based applications, various new skyline queries are proposed and formulated based on the notion of locational dominance, which extends conventional one by taking objects' nearness to query positions into account additional to objects' nonspatial attributes. To answer a representative class of skyline queries for location-based applications efficiently, this paper presents two index-based approaches, namely, augmented R-tree and dominance diagram. Augmented R-tree extends R-tree by including aggregated nonspatial attributes in index nodes to enable dominance checks during index traversal. Dominance diagram is a solution-based approach, by which each object is associated with a precomputed nondominance scope wherein query points should have the corresponding object not locationally dominated by any other. Dominance diagram enables skyline queries to be evaluated via parallel and independent comparisons between nondominance scopes and query points, providing very high search efficiency. The performance of these two approaches is evaluated via empirical studies, in comparison with other possible approaches.
On Roman military doctors and their medical instruments

The establishment of a standing Roman army during the reign of Augustus resulted in an increased demand for military doctors. The knowledge about the Roman military medicine comes primarily from the excavations at the valetudinaria. Medical instruments, medicine containers and remains of medicinal plants found there indicate that the Roman army strived to provide unwell legionaries with excellent care. Surgical instruments found in the grave of a Roman doctor from Bingen (2nd c. A.D.) and in the Surgeon’s House in Rimini (2nd c. A.D.) confirm the hypothesis that medicine in the Roman army was at a high level compared to the medical care in other ancient armies. Probes and scalpels are among the medical instruments found most frequently by archaeologists during excavation works. Roman military doctors also used specialized instruments for specific procedures; those included a trepan called modiolus and a tool used to remove arrowheads. Doctors serving in the army would perform many procedures intuitively, relying on their own experience. Roman military medicine had been heavily influenced by the Greek doctors’ views on health and diseases and also by Roman civil medicine.
/spl times/pipes Lite: a synthesis oriented design library for networks on chips

The limited scalability of current bus topologies for systems on chips (SoCs) dictates the adoption of networks on chips (NoCs) as a scalable interconnection scheme. Current SoCs are highly heterogeneous in nature, denoting homogeneous, preconfigured NoCs as inefficient drop-in alternatives. While highly parametric, fully synthesizeable (soft) NoC building blocks appear as a good match for heterogeneous MPSoC architectures, the impact of instantiation-time flexibility on performance, power and silicon cost has not yet been quantified. The paper details /spl times/pipes Lite, a design flow for automatic generation of heterogeneous NoCs. /spl times/pipes Lite is based on highly customizable, high frequency and low latency NoC modules, that are fully synthesizeable. Synthesis results provide modules that are directly comparable, if not better, than the current published state-of-the-art NoCs in terms of area, power latency and target operating frequency measurements.
Animal models of epileptogenesis

Article abstractAdvances in our understanding of the molecular biology of human epileptogenesis and secondary hyperexcitability have resulted in part from the development and characterization of animal models of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, trauma-induced epilepsy, and age-specific models of febrile seizures and neonatal hypoxia-induced seizures. Each of these models displays similarities to and differences from their human counterparts and will undoubtedly prove useful for evaluating novel therapies aimed at preventing the development, or halting the progression, of epilepsy or insult-induced secondary hyperexcitability. This article briefly reviews those models that most closely parallel human mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, trauma-induced epilepsy, febrile seizures, and hypoxia-induced seizures. Particular attention is paid to the underlying pathology, the presence or absence of a latent period, and development of spontaneous seizures.
The cancer germ‐line genes MAGE‐1, MAGE‐3 and PRAME are commonly expressed by human myeloma cells

In this study, we have investigated the mRNA expression of the cancer germ‐line genes MAGE, BAGE, GAGE, RAGE and the tumor‐overexpressed gene PRAME by human myeloma cell lines and malignant plasma cells from patients with multiple myeloma (MM). By reverse transcription‐PCR, we show that all myeloma cell lines (n = 16) express at least one of these genes, except RAGE‐1 that was never expressed. We show that malignant plasma cells from the majority of MM patients (n = 21) expressed MAGE‐1, MAGE‐3 and PRAME. On the contrary, polyclonal reactive plasma cells did not express any of these genes. By flow cytometry, we show that mage‐1 protein is expressed within myeloma cells and cell lines and that anti‐mage‐1.HLA‐A1 cytotoxic T lymphocytes efficiently killed MAGE‐1+HLA‐A1+ MDN myeloma cells. Taken together, our data show that mage‐1 and mage‐3 could constitute specific targets for tumor immunotherapy of MM patients.