Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Antinociceptive Effects of Anticonvulsants in a Mouse Visceral Pain Model

BACKGROUND:There is evidence supporting the antinociceptive effects of carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, gabapentin, and topiramate in various models of neuropathic pain as well as inflammatory somatic pain. Data are lacking on the antinociceptive potential of these drugs against visceral pain. In this study, we examined and compared the effects of carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, gabapentin, and topiramate in the writhing test as a visceral pain model in the mouse. In addition, the influence of these anticonvulsants on motor performance was examined to compare the tolerability of these anticonvulsants when used against acute visceral pain. METHODS:The antinociceptive effects of these anticonvulsants were examined in the acetic acid writhing test in mice. The side effect propensity of these drugs was examined using the rotarod test. RESULTS:Carbamazepine (25–60 mg/kg; p.o.), oxcarbazepine (10–40 mg/kg; p.o.), gabapentin (10–70 mg/kg; p.o.), and topiramate (5–30 mg/kg; p.o.) caused a significant dose-dependent reduction the number of writhes in the writhing test. In the rotarod test, carbamazepine (60–140 mg/kg; p.o.) and oxcarbazepine (120–450 mg/kg; p.o.) significantly reduced the time spent on the rotarod in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Gabapentin (1000–2000 mg/kg; p.o.) and topiramate (400–1500 mg/kg; p.o.) did not produce significant impairment of motor performance at the highest doses used. The therapeutic index (motor impairing dose TD50/writhing ED50) values were topiramate (>148.5) > gabapentin (>60.2) > oxcarbazepine (15.2) > carbamazepine (2.3). CONCLUSIONS:These results indicate that oxcarbazepine, gabapentin, and topiramate are effective in the writhing model in mice, in a dose range, which is not related to motor impairment; topiramate is the most potent and the most tolerable drug.
Treatment of a homosexual pedophiliac using in vivo desensitization: a case study.

Behavior therapists have used two principal approaches in the treatment of sexual problems associated with the choice of sexual objects. The first approach involves building in an avoidance response to the inappropriate sexual stimulus. The second approach is based on the notion that appropriate sexual stimuli are aversive to the patient and are hence avoided. The second approach thus involves increasing approach behavior to the appropriate stimulus by using desensitization (Wolpe, 19S8). Masters and Johnson (1970) have developed an extensive sexual counseling program which corresponds to the desensitization approach. The Masters and Johnson program is oriented toward increasing approach behavior and hence reducing the aversive properties of the sexual interaction. The essential components of this treatment plan include («) a historytaking and feedback session in which the patient is given an explanation for his or her current sexual behavior, (6) a graded sequence or hierarchy of instructed sexual interactions that range from touching to intercourse (This sequence of directed interactions is prescribed by the therapist, and the couple practices these assignments at home), and (c) a progression through the sequence of directed interactions at a rate that results in minimal anxiety and discomfort. An important feature of the Masters and Johnson program is that the hierarchy is presented in vivo,
Control Strivings in the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

The Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development (MTD) identifies motivational and self-regulatory strategies that people use to meet the challenges they face throughout life. The theory distinguishes control strivings related to goal engagement from those related to goal disengagement and goal reengagement. In the Innovation Sample of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP-IS), these control strivings were surveyed using 12-item scales for key domains of life: work, family, and health. In this report, we first present key concepts and principles of MTD and a brief overview of research using the theory. This provides the backdrop for our discussion of the relevance of control strivings for major thematic areas covered in the SOEP and for the proposed domain-specific assessment of control strivings. Second, we examine the reliability and factor structure of the scales, using data from the SOEP Innovation Sample collected in 2012. In a third and final step, we sketch possible projects that make use of the rich SOEP data so as to examine pivotal questions revolving around the nature of control strivings (changes) across adulthood and old age as well as their antecedents, correlates, and consequences. In line with predictions based on MTD, results revealed mostly moderate to high inter-item correlations for selective primary control, selective secondary control, and compensatory primary control, with all items loading on a single goal engagement factor. Our results further show that disengagement, self-protection and re-engagement are interrelated, but distinguishable strategies for dealing with unattainable goals.
Optimization of the background memory utilization by partitioning

The skilful utilization of the memory structure of a processor and of its background memory may crucially affect the system performance. We propose a restructuring of for-loop programs by hierarchical partitioning, which improves the properties of the algorithm with respect to the memory utilization. We consider the problem for regularly connected processor arrays (where single processors are a special case) and for a memory structure which is subdivided into a local foreground memory (register) and a background memory with up to three levels (cache, RAM, mass storage). The extension of the lifetime of a variable on an inner memory level, i.e. the reduction of the number of read accesses to the more outer memory levels, is the object of the proposed method.
NEW FINDINGS ON THE CONTEMPT EXPRESSION

Three experiments using an alternative methodology tested the meaningrelationship between facial expressions of disgust and contempt and various verbal labels. Subjects completed a language-free triad task and counterbalanced paired comparison tasks. Data were analysed using consensus analysis, multidimensional scaling, and a numerical scaling model. The two categories of facial expression were found to be distinct. Reciprocal understanding of meaning between label and expression was found for disgust but not for contempt ("annoyance" was the preferred label for the contempt expression and anger expressions were preferred as exemplars of "contempt"). These data suggest that previous results are correct for the disgust expression, but that the contempt expression has been mislabelled.
Hormone requirement for growth and differentiation of the human mammary gland in organ culture.

Human mammary gland explants obtained (as far from the lesion as possible) from female patients who had undergone surgical biopsy for fibroadenoma of the breast were organ cultured in a chemically defined medium, and their hormone requirement for growth and differentiation was studied. Most of the explants that were cultured in hormone-free medium survived, while the addition of insulin gave full maintenance. Ovine prolactin (at a level of 0.2 µg/ml) plus insulin induced epithelial cell growth. The addition of bovine growth hormone to insulin and prolactin magnified their effect on the epithelium. Both estradiol alone (at a dose of 0.001 µg/ml) and progesterone alone (at a dose of 1 µg/ml) produced complete maintenance and lobuloalveolar development. The alveoli obtained with progesterone were small and empty, while those obtained with estradiol were larger and had secretion in their lumina. The addition of insulin, prolactin, growth hormone, and aldosterone to estradiol and progesterone (either alone or together) enhanced their action, giving alveoli with large, dark, oriented cells. This procedure could be useful to a study of the action of hormones on the human mammary gland, as well as to an assessment of the effect on it that carcinogens and/or chemotherapeutic agents have, especially during induced phases of high proliferation of the mammary gland such as those created by estradiol and progesterone (as in this study).
A molecular method for typing Herpes simplex virus isolates as an alternative to immunofluorescence methods.

BACKGROUND Typing of Herpes simplex virus (HSV) isolates is required to identify the virus isolated in culture. The methods available for this include antigen detection by immunofluorescence (IF) assays and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This study was undertaken to standardize a molecular method for typing of HSV and compare it with a commercial IF reagent for typing. OBJECTIVES To compare a molecular method for typing HSV isolates with a monoclonal antibody (MAb) based IF test. STUDY DESIGN This cross-sectional study utilized four reference strains and 42 HSV isolates obtained from patients between September 1998 and September 2004. These were subjected to testing using an MAb-based IF test and a PCR that detects the polymerase ( pol ) gene of HSV isolates. RESULTS The observed agreement of the MAb IF assay with the pol PCR was 95.7%. Fifty four point eight percent (23/42) of isolates tested by IF typing were found to be HSV-1, 40.5% (17/42) were HSV-2, and two (4.8%) were untypable using the MAb IF assay. The two untypable isolates were found to be HSV-2 using the pol PCR. In addition, the cost per PCR test for typing is estimated to be around Rs 1,300 (USD 30), whereas the cost per MAb IF test is about Rs 1,500 (USD 35) including all overheads (reagents, instruments, personnel time, and consumables). CONCLUSION The pol PCR is a cheaper and more easily reproducible method for typing HSV isolates as compared to the IF test. It could replace the IF-based method for routine typing of HSV isolates as availability of PCR machines (thermal cyclers) is now more widespread than fluorescence microscopes in a country like India.
A Lidar-Based Decision-Making Method for Road Boundary Detection Using Multiple Kalman Filters

In this paper, a novel decision-making method is proposed for autonomous mobile robot navigation in an urban area where global positioning system (GPS) measurements are unreliable. The proposed method uses lidar measurements of the road's surface to detect road boundaries. An interacting multiple model method is proposed to determine the existence of a curb based on a probability threshold and to accurately estimate the roadside curb position. The decision outcome is used to determine the source of references suitable for reliable and seamless navigation. The performance of the decision-making algorithm is verified through extensive experiments with a mobile robot autonomously navigating through campus roads with several intersections and unreliable GPS measurements. Our experimental results demonstrate the reliability and good tracking performance of the proposed algorithm for autonomous urban navigation.
Methodological Issues in Research on Physical Child Abuse

Considerable effort has been expended over the past 2 decades to advance our knowledge of the causes and cures for child abuse. Although important gains have been made, unfortunately the knowledge base that guides our policies and interventions in the area of physical child abuse still reflects an abundance of clinical folklore and/or research that is seriously methodologically flawed. Many inconsistent and contradictory research findings exist which simply cannot be reconciled because of the many differences in samples, methods, and definitions of independent and dependent variables that characterize studies in this area. These methodological issues are highlighted, with some suggestions for improving the scientific quality of future studies.
Reference map of the low molecular mass proteins of Haemophilus influenzae

Analysis of the proteome of Haemophilus influenzae by two‐dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on conventional Tris‐glycine gels does not usually result in efficient separation of the proteins in the 5–20 kDa range, which are mainly accumulated in the lower acidic and basic regions. In order to improve the separation of the low molecular mass proteins, we used homogeneous Tricine gels of two urea concentrations in the second‐dimensional separation. The Tricine gel systems allowed the efficient and reproducible separation of the proteins of the microorganism with masses between 5 and 20 kDa, however, no proteins with masses below 5 kDa could be visualized. Approximately 80 proteins migrating in the 5–25 kDa region were identified by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization ‐ mass spectrometry, of which 40 identified for the first time. The digestion of the low mass proteins often produced only few peptides, which were insufficient for confident identification by mass spectrometry. Therefore, the identification was occasionally achieved by a sequential digestion with two proteases, trypsin or endoproteinase Lys‐C as first and carboxypeptidase P as second enzyme. The gel system described may be useful for the efficient separation of low molecular mass proteins from other organisms to construct standard maps.
The Moderating Effect of Work—Family Centrality on Work—Family Conflict, Organizational Attitudes, and Turnover Behavior†

Research has explored the role of work—family conflict (WFC), including the antecedents and consequences of this construct. However, few studies have examined the specific role that work—family centrality plays in moderating the relationship between WFC and organizationally related outcomes. Using a sample of 129 employees from a manufacturing plant, we test the moderating influence of work—family centrality on the relationship between WFC and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and retention. Results indicate that when individuals view work as being more central to their lives, the negative relationships between WFC and organizational attitudes and organizational retention is suppressed.
Finite-ground coplanar-waveguide branch-line couplers

Two branch-line (BL) couplers based on finite-ground coplanar-waveguide (FGCPW) structures are proposed. The first one uses the bended structure to reduce the size of the normal quarter-wavelength two-arm BL coupler. The second one improves the bandwidth by adding external compensated networks, which are also folded for size reduction. In this study, the performances of these BL couplers are examined, theoretically and experimentally.
Ion permeation and block of the gating pore in the voltage sensor of NaV1.4 channels with hypokalemic periodic paralysis mutations

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis and normokalemic periodic paralysis are caused by mutations of the gating charge–carrying arginine residues in skeletal muscle NaV1.4 channels, which induce gating pore current through the mutant voltage sensor domains. Inward sodium currents through the gating pore of mutant R666G are only ∼1% of central pore current, but substitution of guanidine for sodium in the extracellular solution increases their size by 13- ± 2-fold. Ethylguanidine is permeant through the R666G gating pore at physiological membrane potentials but blocks the gating pore at hyperpolarized potentials. Guanidine is also highly permeant through the proton-selective gating pore formed by the mutant R666H. Gating pore current conducted by the R666G mutant is blocked by divalent cations such as Ba2+ and Zn2+ in a voltage-dependent manner. The affinity for voltage-dependent block of gating pore current by Ba2+ and Zn2+ is increased at more negative holding potentials. The apparent dissociation constant (Kd) values for Zn2+ block for test pulses to −160 mV are 650 ± 150 µM, 360 ± 70 µM, and 95.6 ± 11 µM at holding potentials of 0 mV, −80 mV, and −120 mV, respectively. Gating pore current is blocked by trivalent cations, but in a nearly voltage-independent manner, with an apparent Kd for Gd3+ of 238 ± 14 µM at −80 mV. To test whether these periodic paralyses might be treated by blocking gating pore current, we screened several aromatic and aliphatic guanidine derivatives and found that 1-(2,4-xylyl)guanidinium can block gating pore current in the millimolar concentration range without affecting normal NaV1.4 channel function. Together, our results demonstrate unique permeability of guanidine through NaV1.4 gating pores, define voltage-dependent and voltage-independent block by divalent and trivalent cations, respectively, and provide initial support for the concept that guanidine-based gating pore blockers could be therapeutically useful.
Reflections on Gender and Technology Studies:

This Comment reflects upon the relationship between gender and technology, and how it has been theorized in recent decades. I argue that while feminist approaches have had considerable influence on mainstream social studies of science and technology, tensions remain. I go on to explore the proliferation of feminist research which conceptualizes technology as culture. I suggest that the contemporary focus on cultural representation and consumption, exciting and productive as it is in many respects, has contributed to the neglect of design studies. These are necessary to fully elucidate how gender relations figure in the construction of technology.
Continuous HMM-Based Seismic-Event Classification at Deception Island, Antarctica

This paper shows a complete seismic-event classification and monitoring system that has been developed based on the seismicity observed during three summer Antarctic surveys at the Deception Island Volcano, Antarctica. The system is based on the state of the art in hidden Markov modeling (HMM) techniques successfully applied to other scenarios. A database that contains a representative set of different seismic events including volcano-tectonic earthquakes, long period (LP) events, volcanic tremor, and hybrid events that were recorded during the 1994-1995 and 1995-1996 seismic surveys was collected for training and testing. Simple left-to-right HMMs and multivariate Gaussian probability density functions with a diagonal covariance matrix were used. The feature vector consists of the log-energies of a filter bank that consists of 16 triangular weighting functions that were uniformly spaced between 0 and 20 Hz and the first- and second-order derivatives. The system is suitable to operate in real time, and its accuracy for this task is about 90%. On the other hand, when the system was tested with a different data set including mainly LP events that were registered during several seismic swarms during the 2001-2002 field survey, more than 95% of the recognized events were marked by the recognition system
Fragebogen zum Screening psychischer Störungen im Jugendalter (SPS-J)

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Das Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory (RAASI) von Reynolds (2001) ist ein okonomisches Screening-Verfahren mit 32 Items zur Selbsteinschatzung von psychischen Storungen. Fragestellung: Ist die deutschsprachige Version, das Screening psychischer Storungen im Jugendalter (SPS-J), reliabel und valide? Methode: Die Konstruktvalditat wurde an N = 669 Jugendlichen im Alter zwischen 11 und 16 Jahren untersucht. Ergebnisse: Die internen Konsistenzen sind als gut zu bewerten und die Retest-Reliabilitaten als zufriedenstellend. Die faktorielle und korrelative Validitat ist gegeben. Die moderaten bis hohen Korrelationen des SPS-J mit Kennwerten des Youth Self-Report (YSR) unterstutzen eine konvergente Validitat. Die Differenzierung depressiver und nicht-depressiver jugendlicher Madchen in dem Subtest “Angstlichkeit/Depressivitat“ im Rahmen einer ersten klinischen Studie deutet auserdem eine kriterienbezogene Validitat an. Schlussfolgerungen: Insgesamt lieg.
Formation of three‐dimensional fetal myocardial tissue cultures from rat for long‐term cultivation

Three‐dimensional cardiomyocyte cultures offer new possibilities for the analysis of cardiac cell differentiation, spatial cellular arrangement, and time‐specific gene expression in a tissue‐like environment. We present a new method for generating homogenous and robust cardiomyocyte tissue cultures with good long‐term viability. Ventricular heart cells prepared from fetal rats at embryonic day 13 were cultured in a scaffold‐free two‐step process. To optimize the cell culture model, several digestion protocols and culture conditions were tested. After digestion of fetal cardiac ventricles, the resultant cell suspension of isolated cardiocytes was shaken to initialize cell aggregate formation. In the second step, these three‐dimensional cell aggregates were transferred onto a microporous membrane to allow further microstructure formation. Autonomously beating cultures possessed more than 25 cell layers and a homogenous distribution of cardiomyocytes without central necrosis after 8 weeks in vitro. The cardiomyocytes showed contractile elements, desmosomes, and gap junctions analyzed by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. The beat frequency could be modulated by adrenergic agonist and antagonist. Adenoviral green fluorescent protein transfer into cardiomyocytes was possible and highly effective. This three‐dimensional tissue model proved to be useful for studying cell–cell interactions and cell differentiation processes in a three‐dimensional cell arrangement. Developmental Dynamics 235:2200–2209, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Automatic word recognition in cars

The paper compares, on a database recorded in a car, a number of signal analysis and speech enhancement techniques as well as some approaches to adapt speech recognition systems. It is shown that a new nonlinear spectral subtraction associated with Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) is an adequate compromise for low-cost integration. The Lombard effect is analyzed and simulated. Such a simulation is used to derive realistic training utterances from noise-free utterances. Adapting a continuous-density hidden Markov model (CDHMM) to these artificially generated training samples yields a very high performance with respect to that achieved within the ESPRIT adverse environment recognition of speech (ARS) project, i.e., an average of 1% error for all driving conditions. Finally, the paper shows, both theoretically and experimentally, that whatever the noise estimation technique is, it is better to add this noise estimate to the reference clean models than to subtract it from the noisy data. >
The contribution of academics' engagement in research to undergraduate education

Can current trends to develop teaching-only academic positions be reconciled with the notion of the interrelationship of teaching and research as a defining characteristic of universities? In particular, what does academics' engagement in research add to students' learning? A study of 200 undergraduates' perceptions of the role of staff research in their university education is presented to contribute towards answering these important questions. The data, which include a large number of qualitative responses, show that students believe that academics' engagement in research deepens student understanding, increases enthusiasm for learning and teaching, encourages postgraduate study, develops skills useful for employment and enhances undergraduate research activities. The article argues that academics' engagement with research is a key contributor to making higher education ‘higher’ and effectively increases the value of education to the student.