Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Practical Aspects of Conducting Large-Scale Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies in Children

The potential benefits of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the investigation of normal development have been limited by difficulties in its use with children. We describe the practical aspects, including failure rates, involved in conducting large-scale functional MRI studies with normal children. Two hundred and nine healthy children between the ages of 5 and 18 years participated in a functional MRI study of language development. Reliable activation maps were obtained across the age range. Younger children had significantly higher failure rates than older children and adolescents. It is concluded that it is feasible to conduct large-scale functional MRI studies of children as young as 5 years old. These findings can be used by other research groups to guide study design and plans for recruitment of young subjects. (J Child Neurol 2002;17:885—889).
Reliability and validity of functional balance tests post stroke

Objective: To contribute to the reliability and validity of a series of functional balance tests for use post stroke. Design: Within-session, test-retest and intertester reliability was tested using the kappa coefficient and intraclass correlations. The tests were performed three times and the first and third attempts compared to test the within-session reliability. The tests were repeated a few days later to assess test-retest reliability and were scored simultaneously by two physiotherapists to assess the intertester reliability. To test criterion-related validity the tests were compared with the sitting section of the Motor Assessment Scale, Berg Balance Scale and Rivermead Mobility Index using Spearman's rho. Setting: Stroke physiotherapy services of six National Health Service hospitals. Participants: People with a post stroke hemiplegia attending physiotherapy who had no other pathology affecting their balance took part. Thirty-five people participated in the reliability testing and 48 people took part in the validity testing. Main outcome measures: The following functional balance tests were used: supported sitting balance, sitting arm raise, sitting forward reach, supported standing balance, standing arm raise, standing forward reach, static tandem standing, weight shift, timed 5-m walk with and without an aid, tap and step-up tests. Results: The ordinal level tests (supported sitting and standing balance and static tandem standing tests) showed 100% agreement in all aspects of reliability. Intraclass correlations for the other tests ranged from 0.93 to 0.99. All the tests showed significant correlations with the appropriate comparator tests (r=0.32-0.74 p≤0.05), except the weight shift test and step-up tests which did not form significant relationship with Berg Balance Scale (r=0.26 and 0.19 respectively). Conclusion: These functional balance tests are reliable and valid measures of balance disability post stroke.
Differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and vascular parkinsonism by (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1.

UNLABELLED The aim of this study was to use brain SPECT to differentiate vascular parkinsonism (VP) from Parkinson's disease. METHODS Fourteen VP patients (age range, 59-87 y; mean age, 70 +/- 7.5 y), 30 Parkinson's disease patients (age range, 54-84 y; mean age, 65 +/- 8.8 y), and 26 healthy (control) individuals (age range, 50-85 y; mean age, 60 +/- 9 y) were examined. A 925-MBq (25 mCi) dose of (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 was injected intravenously, and brain SPECT images were acquired 4 h after injection. The ratio of specific to nonspecific striatal (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 binding was measured and compared. RESULTS After a region-of-interest analysis of the images from VP patients, Parkinson's disease patients, and healthy volunteers was performed to obtain ratios of putamen to occipital and striatal to occipital binding as a measurement of specific binding to the dopamine transporters in these regions of the brain, where dopamine neurons are concentrated, the specific binding in the 14 VP patients was slightly lower than but not statistically different from that of the healthy individuals in both putamen and caudate areas. A significant decrease in uptake of (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 in the striatum (P<0.01) was found in Parkinson's disease patients. Reduction of the uptake was more pronounced in the contralateral putamen of Parkinson's disease patients than that of VP patients (P<0.001). A significant bilateral striatal asymmetry was also observed in Parkinson's disease patients but not in VP patients (P< 0.01). CONCLUSION Our findings clearly show that, for VP patients, (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 SPECT is a reliable method to differentiate VP from Parkinson's disease. Further studies, including those to differentiate Parkinson's disease from arteriosclerotic parkinsonism and patients with both VP and Parkinson's disease, are needed to help rule out the possibility of Parkinson's disease as early as possible.
Brain reacts to occasional changes in duration of elements in a continuous sound

&NA; In order to study the event‐related potential correlates of human ability to detect temporal changes within a continuous sound a sound consisting of two alternating pitches of the same constant duration, with infrequent shortenings of one of the tones, was presented to the subjects. The infrequent shortenings were found to elicit a negative component of the auditory event related potential, called the mismatch negativity (MMN). The experimental parameters were chosen to produce a MMN with a minimal contamination of N1, the main negative deflection of an evoked response with the same latency range as MMN and with a short experimental time. The duration of the whole experiment with three different deviant tones was only 11 min. The fast experiment is useful for subjects, for whom a long experiment may be too demanding (infants or patients).
Resource Management in Multi-Hop Mobile Small Cell Networks

The deployment of mobile small cells has been identified as an effective strategy in delivering high data rates and providing seamless connectivity to a group of vehicular users. Although this approach can facilitate high data rates and ubiquitous wireless access, it introduces a new set of challenges, for instance, frequent changes in the interference set, requirements for more spectrum, high energy consumption and frequent handover. In this paper, we present a multi-hop mobile small cell network (SCN) that can facilitate wireless access to mobile nodes that do have direct transmission links to small cell base stations. We then formulate a solution to the frequency allocation problem for a multi-hop mobile SCN based on an optimization model. Considering the complexity of the optimization solution, we present a backhaul- aware frequency allocation solution based on the time-varying graph coloring concept. Simulation results confirm that the proposed solution outperforms an existing greedy solution by a significant margin in terms of throughput, spectral efficiency and fairness index.
Maternal protein restriction in the rat impairs resistance artery but not conduit artery function in pregnant offspring

Dietary protein restriction during gestation has been shown to produce vascular dysfunction in pregnant rats and hypertension in their offspring. However, no studies have to date examined the effects of such ‘programming’ on the vascular function of female offspring when they in turn become pregnant. We have therefore studied isolated conduit and resistance artery function from pregnant female offspring of control (C, 18 % casein) and protein‐restricted (PR, 9 % casein) pregnant dams. There were no differences in birth weight, weight gain during pregnancy, litter size, fetal weight, placental weight, fetal : placental weight ratio or organ weights between the C and PR groups. In isolated mesenteric arteries, the vasodilatation in response to the endothelial‐dependent vasodilator acetylcholine (ACh) and the β‐adrenoceptor agonist isoprenaline was decreased in the PR group, while there were no differences in the constriction in response to potassium (125 mm) or the α1‐adrenoceptor agonist phenylephrine (PE). No differences in any responses were seen in the isolated thoracic aorta. We conclude that dietary protein restriction in pregnancy programmes vasodilator dysfunction in isolated resistance arteries of female offspring when they become pregnant, but does not affect conduit arteries.
Stabilization of pet operon plasmids and ethanol production in Escherichia coli strains lacking lactate dehydrogenase and pyruvate formate-lyase activities

In the last decade, a major goal of research in biofuels has been to metabolically engineer microorganisms to ferment multiple sugars from biomass or agricultural wastes to fuel ethanol. Escherichia coli strains genetically engineered to contain the pet operon (Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase B genes) produce high levels of ethanol. Strains carrying the pet operon in plasmid (e.g., E. coli B/pLOI297) or in chromosomal (e.g., E. coli KO11) sites require antibiotics in the media to maintain genetic stability and high ethanol productivity. To overcome this requirement, we used the conditionally lethal E. coli strain FMJ39, which carries mutations for lactate dehydrogenase and pyruvate formate lyase and grows aerobically but is incapable of anaerobic growth unless these mutations are complemented. E. coli FBR1 and FBR2 were created by transforming E. coli FMJ39 with the pet operon plasmids pLOI295 and pLOI297, respectively. Both strains were capable of anaerobic growth and displayed no apparent pet plasmid losses after 60 generations in serially transferred (nine times) anaerobic batch cultures. In contrast, similar aerobic cultures rapidly lost plasmids. In high-cell-density batch fermentations, 3.8% (wt/vol) ethanol (strain FBR1) and 4.4% (wt/vol) ethanol (strain FBR2) were made from 10% glucose. Anaerobic, glucose-limited continuous cultures of strain FBR2 grown for 20 days (51 generations; 23 with tetracycline and then 28 after tetracycline removal) showed no loss of antibiotic resistance. Anaerobic, serially transferred batch cultures and high-density fermentations were inoculated with cells taken at 57 generations from the previous continuous culture. Both cultures continued to produce high levels of ethanol in the absence of tetracycline. The genetic stability conferred by selective pressure for pet-containing cells without requirement for antibiotics suggests potential commercial suitability for E. coli FBR1 and FBR2.
Nucleosome structure and positioning modulate nucleotide excision repair in the non‐transcribed strand of an active gene

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a major pathway to remove pyrimidine dimers (PDs), a class of DNA lesions generated by ultraviolet light. Since folding of DNA into nucleosomes restricts its accessibility and since transcription and DNA repair require access to DNA, nucleosome structure and positioning as well as the transcriptional state may affect DNA repair. We recently determined the chromatin structure of the yeast URA3 gene at high resolution and found multiple positions of nucleosomes as well as strand‐ and site‐specific variation in DNA accessibility to DNase I (internal protected regions). Here, the same high‐resolution primer extension technique was used to investigate NER of PDs in the URA3 gene of a minichromosome in vivo. In the non‐transcribed strand (NTS), fast repair correlates with PD locations in linker DNA and towards the 5′ end of a positioned nucleosome. Slow repair correlates with the internal protected region of the nucleosome. This repair heterogeneity reflects a modulation of NER by positioned nucleosomes in the NTS. NER in the transcribed strand (TS) is fast, less heterogeneous and shows no correlation with chromatin structure. Apparently, transcription‐coupled repair overrides chromatin modulation of NER in the TS. Heterogeneity in NER generated by chromatin structure on the NTS may contribute to heterogeneity in mutagenesis.
Future career plans of a cohort of senior doctors working in the National Health Service

Summary Objective To report on the future career plans of senior doctors working in the NHS. Design Postal questionnaires. Setting All doctors who qualified in 1977 from all UK medical schools. Main outcome measures Future plans and whether participants had any unmet needs for advice on how to put their future plans into effect. Results 25% definitely intended to continue with their current employment on the same basis until they retired; 75% hoped for change. A reduction in working hours was the most commonly desired change; but a substantial percentage also wanted changes in job content. 50% of respondents intended definitely (17%) or probably (33%) to work in the NHS to their normal retirement age; and 37% definitely (20%) or probably (17%) intended to retire early. 48% had made plans, in addition to the standard pension, to facilitate early retirement. The main factors given for considering early retirement were family reasons and wanting more time for leisure, a desire to maintain good health, excessive pressure of work, and disillusionment with NHS changes. A reduction in workload would be the greatest inducement to stay. 31% of respondents reported that they had unmet needs for advice about their future plans. Of these, about half were needs for advice about planning for retirement. Conclusions Many senior NHS doctors would like to reduce their working hours. Less than a quarter definitely intend to work in the NHS to normal retirement age. Even for senior doctors, advice on career development is needed.
Podocytes: recent biomolecular developments

Abstract Podocytes are postmitotic renal glomerular cells with multiple ramifications that extend from the cell body. Processes departing from a podocyte interdigitate with corresponding projections from neighboring cells and form an intricate web that enwraps the glomerular capillary completely. Podocyte processes are interconnected by the slit diaphragm, an adhesion junction mostly formed by Ig-like molecules, cadherins/protocadherins, ephrin/eph, and neurexin molecules organized in an assembly that resembles synaptic junctions. Podocyte failure is primarily or secondarily implicated in all forms of proteinuric glomerular diseases, as confirmed by the morphological changes of their elaborate cell architecture detectable by electron microscopy. Importantly, mutations of podocyte proteins are responsible for the most severe forms of congenital nephrotic syndrome. In the last 15 years, progressive technological advances have aided the study of podocyte biology and pathology, confirming the relevance of podocyte molecules and signaling pathways for the function of the glomerular filter. This review will examine the most important and newest discoveries in the field, which is rapidly evolving, hopefully leading to a detailed knowledge of this fascinating cell and to the development of specific therapeutic options for proteinuric diseases.
Comparative analysis for the supercapacitors packaging characteristics

Present research deals with comparative studies, analysis and experiments between three types of supercapacitors packs, in order to obtain the optimal structures for applications in which they are integrated. Two of proposed packs are high voltage used in electrical vehicle sphere and one is realized for low power circuits from electronic application. A summary review regarding the supercapacitors technology is presented as single cell manufacturing approach. In order to obtain packs of supercapacitors, connecting modes with voltage balancing circuits are described. Than, the manufacturing method to realize the low power pack is detailed. For all supercapacitors presented, parameters like packaging, specific energy and specific power are determined and analysed. It follows the electrical parameters determination stage, concluded also with a comparative analysis between the proposed supercapacitors packs.
Energy-Aware Adaptive Spectrum Access and Power Allocation in LAA Networks via Lyapunov Optimization

To relieve the traffic burden and improve the system capacity, licensed-assisted access (LAA) has been becoming a promising technology to the supplementary utilization of the unlicensed spectrum. However, due to the densification of small base stations (SBSs) and the dynamic variety of the number of Wi-Fi nodes in the overlapping areas, the licensed channel interference and the unlicensed channel collision could seriously influence the Quality of Service (QoS) and the energy consumption. In this paper, jointly considering time-variant wireless channel conditions, dynamic traffic loads, and random numbers of Wi-Fi nodes, we address an adaptive spectrum access and power allocation problem that enables minimizing the system power consumption under a certain queue stability constraint in the LAA-enabled SBSs and Wi-Fi networks. The complex stochastic optimization problem is rewritten as the difference of two convex (D.C.) program in the framework of Lyapunov optimization, thus developing an online energy-aware optimal algorithm. We also characterize the performance bounds of the proposed algorithm with a tradeoff of [O(1/V), O(V)] between power consumption and delay theoretically. The numerical results verify the tradeoff and show that our scheme can reduce the power consumption over the existing scheme by up to 72.1% under the same traffic delay.
Hepatoprotective effect of Taraxacum officinale leaf extract on sodium dichromate‐induced liver injury in rats

Taraxacum officinale (L.) Weber, commonly known as Dandelion, has been widely used as a folkloric medicine for the treatment of liver and kidney disorders and some women diseases such as breast and uterus cancers. The main objective of the present study was to assess the efficiency of T. officinale leaf extract (TOE) in treating sodium dichromate hazards; it is a major environmental pollutant known for its wide toxic manifestations witch induced liver injury. TOE at a dose of 500 mg/kg b.w was orally administered once per day for 30 days consecutively, followed by 10 mg/kg b.w sodium dichromate was injected (intraperitoneal) for 10 days. Our results using Wistar rats showed that sodium dichromate significantly increased serum biochemical parameters. In the liver, it was found to induce an oxidative stress, evidenced from increase in lipid peroxidation and changes in antioxidative activities. In addition, histopathological observation revealed that sodium dichromate causes acute liver damage, necrosis of hepatocytes, as well as DNA fragmentation. Interestingly, animals that were pretreated with TOE, prior to sodium dichromate administration, showed a significant hepatoprotection, revealed by a significant reduction of sodium dichromate‐induced oxidative damage for all tested markers. These finding powerfully supports that TOE was effective in the protection against sodium dichromate‐induced hepatotoxicity and genotoxicity and, therefore, suggest a potential therapeutic use of this plant as an alternative medicine for patients with acute liver diseases. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 339–349, 2016.
PU.1 (Spi-1) and C/EBP alpha regulate expression of the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor alpha gene

Growth factor receptors play an important role in hematopoiesis. In order to further understand the mechanisms directing the expression of these key regulators of hematopoiesis, we initiated a study investigating the transcription factors activating the expression of the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) receptor alpha gene. Here, we demonstrate that the human GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter directs reporter gene activity in a tissue-specific fashion in myelomonocytic cells, which correlates with its expression pattern as analyzed by reverse transcription PCR. The GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter contains an important functional site between positions -53 and -41 as identified by deletion analysis of reporter constructs. We show that the myeloid and B cell transcription factor PU.1 binds specifically to this site. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a CCAAT site located upstream of the PU.1 site between positions -70 and -54 is involved in positive-negative regulation of the GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter activity. C/EBP alpha is the major CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) form binding to this site in nuclear extracts of U937 cells. Point mutations of either the PU.1 site or the C/EBP site that abolish the binding of the respective factors result in a significant decrease of GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter activity in myelomonocytic cells only. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in myeloid and B cell extracts, PU.1 forms a novel, specific, more slowly migrating complex (PU-SF) when binding the GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter PU.1 site. This is the first demonstration of a specific interaction with PU.1 on a myeloid PU.1 binding site. The novel complex is distinct from that described previously as binding to B cell enhancer sites and can be formed by addition of PU.1 to extracts from certain nonmyeloid cell types which do not express PU.1, including T cells and epithelial cells, but not from erythroid cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the PU-SF complex binds to PU.1 sites found on a number of myeloid promoters, and its formation requires an intact PU.1 site adjacent to a single-stranded region. Expression of PU.1 in nonmyeloid cells can activate the GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter. Deletion of the amino-terminal region of PU.1 results in a failure to form the PU-SF complex and in a concomitant loss of transactivation, suggesting that formation of the PU-SF complex is of functional importance for the activity of the GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter. Finally, we demonstrate that C/EBP alpha can also active the GM-CSF receptor alpha promoter in nonmyeloid cells. These results suggest that PU.1 and C/EBP alpha direct the cell-type-specific expression of GM-CSF receptor alpha, further establish the role of PU.1 as a key regulator of hematopoiesis, and point to C/EBP alpha as an additional important factor in this process.
Local Control Lyapunov Functions for Constrained Linear Discrete-Time Systems: The Minkowski Algebra Approach

This technical note utilizes Minkowski algebra of convex sets to characterize a family of local control Lyapunov functions for constrained linear discrete-time systems. Local control Lyapunov functions are induced by parametrized contractive invariant sets. Underlying contractive invariant sets belong to a family of Minkowski decomposable convex sets and are, in fact, parametrized by a basic shape set and linear transformations of system matrices and a set of design matrices. Corresponding local control Lyapunov functions can be detected by solving a single, tractable, convex optimization problem which in case of polyhedral constraints reduces to a single linear program. The a priori complexity estimate of the characterized local control Lyapunov function is provided for some practically relevant cases. An illustrative example and relevant numerical experience are also reported.