Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parturition in the Rat: A Physiological Pain Model

Background:Pain during labor is a common and severe phenomenon, but its clinical management remains haphazard because its neurophysiology is poorly understood. In the current study, the authors evaluate the parturient rat as a relevant model to study the pharmacology of labor pain. Methods:Control of birth timing in term pregnant rats was achieved by gavage with RU 486 (5 mg/kg) the day before the expected day of parturition. The behavioral events preceding the expulsion of the first pup were analyzed, and immunodetection of the c-Fos protein was used to evaluate the spinal neuronal activity at the lumbosacral level where genital and perineal inputs terminate. Results:Hind limb and abdominal stretches occurred during labor (mean number, 57 ± 10), arbitrarily defined as the time elapsed between the first stretch and the expulsion of the first pup (mean duration, 62 ± 5 min). Subcutaneous oxytocin increased the frequency of stretches, accounting for the fact that these manifestations are linked to uterine contractions. Finally, epidural morphine (30 &mgr;g/10 &mgr;l) in oxytocin-treated rats, although resulting in no change of labor duration, significantly decreased the number of stretches (8 ± 2 vs. 57 ± 12 for epidural saline) and the number of c-Fos–positive neurons in the lumbosacral spinal segments (80 ± 25 vs. 165 ± 17 for epidural saline). Conclusions:These results indicate that stretches during labor in the rat correspond to a behavioral response to nociception associated with uterine contractions and suggest that parturition in the rat could be a relevant model to investigate nociceptive mechanisms associated with parturition in women.
Cultural differences affecting quality and productivity in Western/Asian offshore software development

In this paper we present the results of a survey of Western and Asian software developers focusing on cultural differences in approaches to quality and productivity. It details significant differences in approaches to both quality and productivity. In discussion, these differences are considered to be a result both of inherent cultural differences between cultures and differences in the development and structure of the relevant national software communities. Results indicate significant attitude differences in software developers not only between those working in Asia and those in the West, but also with different Asian development countries. These results have implications both for Western clients and Asian offshore vendors/partners involved in offshoring.
Effects of rearing kittens with convergent strabismus on development of receptive-field properties in striate cortex neurons.

Convergent strabismus was induced surgically in seven kittens at 3 wk of age. Recordings were made in 131 cells in the striate cortex of these strabismic kittens after maturation, and the results were compared to the data obtained from 140 striate neurons in normally reared cats. All our samples had receptive fields (RFs) within 5 degrees of the area centralis. The spatial and temporal response properties were quantitatively analyzed by using drifting sinusoidal gratings of various contrasts as well as spatial and temporal frequencies. In contrast to other reports, the receptive-field properties of the striate neurons exclusively driven or dominated by the deviating eye were quite abnormal. The spatial frequency tuning curves in strabismic cats were different from those obtained from normals in that the optimal spatial frequencies and spatial resolutions were shifted to lower values and the bandwidths were significantly broader. The contrast-response functions show that contrast thresholds, measured at the optimal spatial frequency, were significantly higher and the slope of the functions much flatter in strabismic animals. Moreover, receptive-field sizes were much larger and the sharpness of orientation tuning was reduced in strabismic cats. Direction selectivity, however, was normal in those animals. The temporal frequency tuning curves were also abnormal, particularly in that temporal resolution was considerably reduced in strabismic cats compared with normally reared cats. In addition, many cells in strabismic animals exhibited much longer latencies to visual and optic chiasm (OX) stimulations. All these effects, to our great surprise, were also observed in the striate units controlled by the nondeviating eye, although the magnitude of the alteration depends on the receptive-field property. The abnormalities found in spatial frequency tuning, contrast thresholds, and RF sizes were as severe as those revealed in the deviating eye. On the other hand, the effects on other RF properties were minimal or less severe. These physiological findings correspond very well with results from behavioral measurements of spatial contrast sensitivity in the same cats reported elsewhere. It is concluded from these results that the nondeviating eye in convergent strabismic animals, and perhaps humans, should not always be presumed "normal. "
Nonlinear and asymmetric exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices in Nigeria : evidence from a smooth transition autoregressive model

This paper examines the nonlinearities and asymmetries in the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to consumer prices in Nigeria using quarterly time series data from 1986 to 2013 and the nonlinear smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) method. The standard literature assumes linearity and symmetry in the ERPT to consumer prices in a developing country, despite the importance and presence of potential asymmetries and nonlinearities which are generated by the presence of various factors such as menu costs, capacity constraints, market share objectives and production switching. This study develops a partial equilibrium microeconomic mark-up model to investigate asymmetric and nonlinear behaviour in the ERPT. The study confirms the presence of nonlinear ERPTs due to different inflation levels. The results also show asymmetric ERPTs in the appreciation and depreciation of exchange rates. The magnitude of the ERPT also depends on the size of the exchange rate change. The ERPT is higher during depreciation than during the appreciation episodes of the Naira; nonlinearity is more prevalent during the high inflationary period of the 1990s than in other periods. The policy implication of the results is that the government, despite temptations to do so, should avoid the devaluation of the Naira during high inflation periods in order to reduce the impact on consumer prices and the associated costs.
Delay-differentiated scheduling in a wireless network

This paper studies scheduling in a time-varying channel where different users have different delay-requirements. The scheduling problem is formulated as a stochastic dynamic programming problem, taking into account user-specific delay penalties and the time-varying channel state. It is shown that a scheduling policy closely resembling the exponential rule optimizes the throughput-delay trade-off in a single-user model, assuming the channel is not time-correlated. Previous work has proved the throughput-optimality of the exponential rule using fluid limit technique; in this paper the delay-throughout-optimality of a similar rule is shown using dynamic optimization with delay-penalties. In a multiple-access channel, heuristic approximations to the optimal single-user scheduling rule are studied numerically both in a time-correlated and in a memory-less environment.
An Adapted Gaussian Mixture Model Approach to Accelerometry-Based Movement Classification Using Time-Domain Features

The accurate classification of everyday movements from accelerometry data will provide a significant step towards the development of effective ambulatory monitoring systems for falls detection and prediction. The search continues for optimal front-end processing methods for use in accelerometry systems. Here, we propose a novel set of time domain features, which achieve a mean accuracy of 91.3% in distinguishing between three postures (sitting, standing and lying) and five movements (sit-to-stand, stand-to-sit, lie-to-stand, stand-to-lie and walking). This is a 39.2% relative improvement in error rate over more commonly used frequency based features. A method for adapting Gaussian Mixture Models to compensate for the problem of limited user-specific training data is also proposed and investigated. The method, which uses Bayesian adaptation, was found to improve classification performance for time domain features, offering a mean relative improvement of 20.2% over a non subject-specific system and 4.5% over a system trained using subject specific data only
High Levels of CD2 Expression Identify HIV-1 Latently Infected Resting Memory CD4+ T Cells in Virally Suppressed Subjects

ABSTRACT Resting memory CD4+ T cells are the largest reservoir of persistent infection in HIV-1-positive subjects. They harbor dormant, stably integrated virus despite suppressive antiretroviral therapy, posing an obstacle to a cure. Surface markers that identify latently infected cells remain unknown. Microarray analyses comparing resting latently infected and uninfected CD4+ T cells generated in vitro showed profound differences in the expression of gene programs related to transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation, cell proliferation, survival, cycle progression, and basic metabolism, suggesting that multiple biochemical and metabolic blocks contribute to preventing viral production in latently infected cells. We identified 33 transcripts encoding cell surface markers that are differentially expressed between latently infected and uninfected cells. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-QPCR) and flow cytometry analyses confirmed that the surface marker CD2 was expressed at higher levels on latently infected cells. To validate this result in vivo, we sorted resting memory CD4+ T cells expressing high and low surface levels of CD2 from six HIV-1-infected subjects successfully treated with antiretroviral drugs for at least 3 years. Resting memory CD4+ CD2high T cells from all subjects harbored higher HIV-1 DNA copy numbers than all other CD4+ T cell subsets. Moreover, after ex vivo viral reactivation, robust viral RNA production was detected only from resting memory CD4+ CD2high T cells but not from other cell subsets. Altogether, these results show that a high CD2 expression level is a hallmark of latently infected resting memory CD4+ T cells in vivo.
Validation of the diagnoses of panic disorder and phobic disorders in the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent (NCS‐A) supplement

Validity of the adolescent version of the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) Version 3.0, a fully‐structured research diagnostic interview designed to be used by trained lay interviewers, is assessed in comparison to independent clinical diagnoses based on the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School‐age Children (K‐SADS). This assessment is carried out in the clinical reappraisal sub‐sample (n = 347) of the US National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent (NCS‐A) supplement, a large (n = 10,148) community epidemiological survey of the prevalence and correlates of adolescent mental disorders in the United States. The diagnoses considered are panic disorder and phobic disorders (social phobia, specific phobia, agoraphobia). CIDI diagnoses are found to have good concordance with K‐SADS diagnoses [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.81–0.94], although the CIDI diagnoses are consistency somewhat higher than the K‐SADS diagnoses. Data are also presented on criterion‐level concordance in an effort to pinpoint CIDI question series that might be improved in future modifications of the instrument. Finally, data are presented on the factor structure of the fears associated with social phobia, the only disorder in this series where substantial controversy exists about disorder subtypes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Palbociclib

Palbociclib is an orally available CDK4/6 inhibitor. In humans, palbociclib undergoes metabolism mediated primarily by CYP3A and SULT2A1, and it is also a weak time‐dependent CYP3A inhibitor. The objectives of the current study are to (1) develop a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of palbociclib based on the in silico, in vitro, and in vivo pharmacokinetic data of palbociclib, (2) verify the PBPK model with clinical drug‐drug interaction (DDI) results of palbociclib with strong CYP3A inhibitor (itraconazole), inducer (rifampin), and a sensitive CYP3A substrate (midazolam), and (3) predict the DDI risk of palbociclib with moderate/weak CYP3A inhibitors. The developed PBPK model adequately described the observed pharmacokinetics of palbociclib after administration of a single oral or intravenous dose of palbociclib. The model‐predicted DDIs of palbociclib with itraconazole, rifampin, and midazolam were consistent with the observed DDIs, with the discrepancies of the predicted vs observed AUCR and CmaxR within 20%, except for the AUC ratio of palbociclib with coadministration of rifampin. Using this final PBPK model, it was predicted that weak CYP3A inhibitors (fluoxetine and fluvoxamine) are anticipated to have negligible DDI risk with palbociclib, whereas moderate CYP3A inhibitors (diltiazem and verapamil) may increase plasma palbociclib AUC by ∼40%. A moderate CYP3A inducer (efavirenz) may decrease plasma palbociclib AUC by ∼40%. The established model is considered sufficiently robust for other applications in support of the continued development for palbociclib.
Common and Dissociable Mechanisms of Executive System Dysfunction Across Psychiatric Disorders in Youth.

OBJECTIVE Disruption of executive function is present in many neuropsychiatric disorders. However, determining the specificity of executive dysfunction across these disorders is challenging given high comorbidity of conditions. Here the authors investigate executive system deficits in association with dimensions of psychiatric symptoms in youth using a working memory paradigm. The authors hypothesize that common and dissociable patterns of dysfunction would be present. METHOD The authors studied 1,129 youths who completed a fractal n-back task during functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3-T as part of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. Factor scores of clinical psychopathology were calculated using an item-wise confirmatory bifactor model, describing overall psychopathology as well as four orthogonal dimensions of symptoms: anxious-misery (mood and anxiety), behavioral disturbance (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder), psychosis-spectrum symptoms, and fear (phobias). The effect of psychopathology dimensions on behavioral performance and executive system recruitment (2-back > 0-back) was examined using both multivariate (matrix regression) and mass-univariate (linear regression) analyses. RESULTS Overall psychopathology was associated with both abnormal multivariate patterns of activation and a failure to activate executive regions within the cingulo-opercular control network, including the frontal pole, cingulate cortex, and anterior insula. In addition, psychosis-spectrum symptoms were associated with hypoactivation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, whereas behavioral symptoms were associated with hypoactivation of the frontoparietal cortex and cerebellum. In contrast, anxious-misery symptoms were associated with widespread hyperactivation of the executive network. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide novel evidence that common and dissociable deficits within the brain's executive system are present in association with dimensions of psychopathology in youth.
Central motor command activates sympathetic outflow to the cutaneous circulation in humans.

1. The aim of this study was to provide direct evidence that sympathetic outflow to the skin in humans is governed by central neural mechanisms. 2. Microneurographic measurements of skin sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) from the personal nerve was performed in nine subjects during: (1) static hand grip at 10, 20 and 30% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC); and (2) attempted static hand grip during partial neuromuscular blockade produced by injection of vecuronium. 3. Two minutes of static hand grip at 20 and 30% MVC (force output, 9.6 +/‐ 0.2 and 14.4 +/‐ 0.3 kg, respectively) evoked significant increase in skin SNA that were graded to the intensity of the exercise. Static hand grip at 10% MVC (force output, 4.8 +/‐ 0.1 kg) caused a small but insignificant increase in skin SNA. 4. During vecuronium‐induced neuromuscular blockade, subjects failed to maintain a force output equivalent to the output produced during 10% MVC before vecuronium (force output: 1st min, 4.4 +/‐ 0.6 kg; 2nd min, 2.1 +/‐ 0.4 kg), in spite of maximal effort being applied. This attempted hand grip exercise consistently evoked considerable increase in skin SNA that did not significantly differ from the responses produced by hand grip at 30% MVC; total skin SNA increased by 246 +/‐ 93% during 2 min of attempted hand grip and increased by 243 +/‐ 77% during 2 min of static hand grip at 30% MVC (means +/‐ S.E.M., P < or = 0.05). These increase in skin SNA were not due to activation of resting muscles because measurements of surface electromyography showed no activity in resting forearm muscles during static or attempted hand grip exercise. 5. This study provides direct neurophysiological evidence that central motor command can activate sympathetic outflow. During static hand grip, central motor command is the primary mechanism that stimulates sympathetic outflow to skin.
Anaplasma marginale msp1α Genotypes Evolved under Positive Selection Pressure but Are Not Markers for Geographic Isolates

ABSTRACT Anaplasma marginale (order Rickettsiales, family Anaplasmataceae), a tick-borne pathogen of cattle, is endemic in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Many geographic isolates of A. marginale occur in the United States and have been identified by major surface protein 1a (MSP1a), which varies in sequence and molecular weight due to different numbers of tandem 28- to 29-amino-acid repeats. The present study was undertaken to examine the genetic variations among isolates of A. marginale obtained during 2001 from infected cattle from east-central Oklahoma, where A. marginale is endemic. The gene and protein sequences of MSP1a and msp4 nucleotide sequences were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships among Oklahoma and New World isolates from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. All 11 A. marginale isolates collected from Oklahoma had different MSP1a sequences but identical MSP4 sequences. The phylogenies of the msp4 sequences of 13 isolates from Oklahoma in comparison with those of 7 Latin American isolates and 12 U.S. isolates by maximum-parsimony (MP) and maximum-likelihood (ML) analyses, with A. centrale and A. ovis sequences used as outgroups, provided strong bootstrap analysis support for a Latin American clade. Isolates of A. marginale from the southern United States (Florida, Mississippi, and Virginia) and the west-central United States (California, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, Missouri, and Texas) also grouped into two clades. Both clades contained isolates from Oklahoma, suggesting extensive cattle movement. ML analysis of the msp4 sequences of isolates from Oklahoma provided bootstrap analysis support for east-central and north-central clades in Oklahoma, and both clades included isolates from Stillwater, Okla. Analysis of the codon and amino acid changes among the msp4 sequences of isolates with different phylogenies provided evidence that msp4 is not under positive selection pressure. In contrast, the phylogenies of the MSP1a DNA and protein sequences of 13 isolates from Oklahoma in comparison with those of 7 Latin American and 13 isolates from the United States by MP and ML analyses demonstrated no geographic clustering and provided evidence that this gene is under positive selection pressure. The results indicate that msp1α is not a marker for the characterization of A. marginale geographic isolates and suggest that the genetic heterogeneity observed among isolates of A. marginale within Oklahoma could be explained by cattle movement and the maintenance of different genotypes by independent transmission events.
Security Analysis of LoRaWAN Join Procedure for Internet of Things Networks

Currently one of the most established protocols for machine to machine (M2M) communications is LoRaWAN, designed to provide low power wide area network with features specifically needed to support low-cost, mobile, secure bidirectional communication for the Internet of Things (IoT). In this context security is of pivotal importance, as IoT constitutes a pervasive network of devices highly integrated with our daily life. In this paper we examine key security issues of the procedure used in LoRaWAN to allow an end device to establish a connection with the network server. We have identified vulnerabilities in this protocol, in particular with reference to the use of a random number in the join procedure packet, meant to prevent replay attacks. We first discuss the options that a network server has when detecting a replay attack and then we examine a) the possibility that a legitimate receiver is considered an attacker because of the random number generation issues and b) the possibility for an attacker to exploit this protocol to generate a denial of service (DoS). A wide set of experiments has been conducted using a widely used LoRaWAN chip showing the vulnerabilities of the protocol.
Plant Strategies in Relation to Resource Supply in Mesic to Wet Environments: Does Theory Mirror Nature?

In ecology, strategy schemes based on propositions about the selection of plant attributes are common, but quantification of such schemes in relation to nutrient and water supply is lacking. Through structural equation modeling, we tested whether plant strategies related to nutrient and water/oxygen supply are reflected in a coordination of traits in natural communities. Structural equation models, based on accepted ecological concepts, were tested with measured plant traits of 105 different species across 50 sites in mesic to wet plant communities in the Netherlands. For each site, nutrient and water supply were measured and modeled. Hypothesized multivariate strategy models only partly reflected current theoretical schemes. Alternative models were consistent, showing that lack of consistency of the original models was because of (i) strong correlations among traits that supposedly belong to different strategy components; (ii) poor understanding of mechanisms determining the covariation of plant maximum height, leaf size, and stem density; and (iii) lack of integrative and long‐term measures of nutrient supply needed to predict coordinated plant trait responses. Our main conclusion is that a combination of trade‐offs (partly) across different plant organs and diverging effects of resource supply ultimately determines the coordination of plant traits needed to “make a living. ”