Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early Experience with Low Contrast Imaging (LCI) Technology during Neuroendovascular Interventional Procedures

Early recognition of complications during intracranial neuroendovascular interventions is important for medical decision making and prompts administration of life‐saving treatments. Low contrast imaging (LCI) provides computed tomographic (CT)‐like images of anatomical brain structures, capable of detecting hydrocephalus and intracranial hemorrhage complications. We present our early experience with LCI using the Toshiba Infinix‐i biplane angiographic suite during neurointerventional cases, including acute stroke interventions, aneurysm embolization, and subarachnoid hemorrhage management.
A Nonlinear Adaptive Synchronization Techniquefor Grid-Connected Distributed Energy Sources

This letter introduces a new adaptive notch filtering (ANF) approach as a powerful tool for synchronization of converter-interfaced distributed generation systems that can potentially stimulate much interest in the field and provide improvement solutions for both grid-connected and stand-alone (islanding operation) modes of micro-grids. The proposed technique is simple and offers a high degree of immunity and insensitivity to power system disturbances, harmonics and other types of pollution that exist in the grid signal. A modified structure of the ANF-based synchronization technique is capable of decomposing three-phase quantities into symmetrical components, extracting harmonics, tracking the frequency variations, and providing means for voltage regulation and reactive power control. A prominent advantage of the proposed scheme is that it does not require a phase-locked loop for the synchronization. In addition, this very simple and very powerful power signal processor will simplify the control issues currently challenging the integration of distributed energy technologies onto the electricity grid. All converter-interfaced equipment, such as flexible AC transmission systems, custom power controllers, and active power filters, will benefit from this technique. Theoretical analysis is presented and the performance of the method is evaluated through simulation.
Proteasome Inhibition Enhances Lipofuscin Formation

Abstract: Lipofuscin, a hallmark of aged nondividing cells, is an undegradable autofluorescent intralysosomal substance composed essentially of oxidized, cross‐linked proteins. To test whether impaired activity of proteasomes—which, along with lysosomes, belong to major cellular proteolytic systems—may contribute to lipofuscinogenesis, we exposed growth‐arrested human fibroblasts to subapoptotic doses (2 and 5 nM) of a highly specific proteasome inhibitor, MG‐262. This resulted in accelerated lipofuscin accumulation (especially when MG‐262 exposure was combined with mild hyperoxia—i.e., cultivation at 40% ambient oxygen versus 8% for controls); and enhanced immunostaining for ubiquitin, reflecting accumulation of modified cytosolic proteins subjected for degradation, and cathepsin L, reflecting enlargement of the lysosomal compartment. These data suggest that insufficient proteasomal function may contribute to lipofuscinogenesis by a compensatory increase in the amount of proteins that are difrected for lysosomal degradation. The findings may be helpful for the understanding of cellular aging as well as diseases associated with intralysosomal accumulation of undegradable material.
Improving power and robustness for detecting genetic association with extreme‐value sampling design

Extreme‐value sampling design that samples subjects with extremely large or small quantitative trait values is commonly used in genetic association studies. Samples in such designs are often treated as “cases” and “controls” and analyzed using logistic regression. Such a case‐control analysis ignores the potential dose‐response relationship between the quantitative trait and the underlying trait locus and thus may lead to loss of power in detecting genetic association. An alternative approach to analyzing such data is to model the dose‐response relationship by a linear regression model. However, parameter estimation from this model can be biased, which may lead to inflated type I errors. We propose a robust and efficient approach that takes into consideration of both the biased sampling design and the potential dose‐response relationship. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed method is more powerful than the traditional logistic regression analysis and is more robust than the linear regression analysis. We applied our method to the analysis of a candidate gene association study on high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) which includes study subjects with extremely high or low HDL‐C levels. Using our method, we identified several SNPs showing a stronger evidence of association with HDL‐C than the traditional case‐control logistic regression analysis. Our results suggest that it is important to appropriately model the quantitative traits and to adjust for the biased sampling when dose‐response relationship exists in extreme‐value sampling designs. Genet. Epidemiol. 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.35:823‐830, 2011
The ICLAS/CCAC International Symposium on Regulatory Testing and Animal Welfare

The first International Symposium on Regulatory Testing and Animal Welfare (ISRTAW), held 21–23 June 2001, in Québec City, Canada, brought together 160 experts from 22 countries from North and South America, Europe and Asia. The experts included representatives from national research and regulatory agencies, universities, and industry involved in chemicals, pesticides and drug safety testing. Representatives from European, Canadian and US animal welfare groups also participated in the discussions. The Symposium was organised by the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), with the support and assistance of many sponsors and advisors. ICLAS is a worldwide organisation whose purpose is to foster the international harmonisation of animal care and use practices. CCAC is the national agency responsible for overseeing the ethical use of animals in Canadian science. Both organisations are committed to fostering an environment in which global efforts to harmonise testing procedures using animals in a more-humane manner can be realised.
Power quality improvement with Static Compensator on grid integration of wind energy system

The generated power from renewable energy source is always fluctuating due to environmental conditions. In the same way, wind power injection into an electric grid affects the power quality due to the fluctuation nature of the wind and the comparatively new types of its generators. On the basis of measurements and norms followed according to the guidelines specified in IEC-61400 (International Electro-technical Commission) standard, the performance of the wind turbine and thereby power quality are determined. The power arising out of the wind turbine when connected to a grid system concerning the power quality measurements, are: active power, reactive power, voltage sag, voltage swell, flicker, harmonics, and electrical behavior of switching operation. These are measured according to national/international guidelines. This paper clearly shows the existence of power quality problem due to installation of wind turbines with the grid. In this proposed scheme a FACTS device {STATIC COMPENSATOR (STATCOM)} is connected at a point of common. The FACTS Device — Static Compensator (STATCOM) control scheme for the grid connected wind energy generation system to improve the power quality is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The intended result of the proposed scheme relives the main supply source from the reactive power demand of the load and the induction generator. From the obtained results, we have consolidated the feasibility and practicability of the approach for the applications considered.
Direct Thrombin Inhibitor Prevents Delayed Graft Function in a Porcine Model of Renal Transplantation

Background. Kidney transplantations from donors after cardiac arrest (DCA) are characterized by an increase in the occurrence of delayed graft function and primary nonfunction. In this study, Melagatran, a selective reversible direct thrombin inhibitor was used to limit renal injury in a DCA pig kidney transplantation model. Methods. We used a porcine model of DCA to study the effects of treatment with Melagatran in the peri-conservation period. Thromboelastography was used to check Melagatran antithrombin effect on in vitro clot formation. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the peripheral immune cells activation status. Renal function and morphologic study were performed at days 1 and 7. Finally, we analyzed the mechanisms of Melagatran protection on kidney microvasculature primary endothelial cells. Results. Prolongation of coagulation time (Ex-Tem) was observed 10 min after injection; however, Melagatran did not modulate increases of thrombin-antithrombin complexes following reperfusion. Melagatran significant treatment lowered the proinflammatory status of circulating immune cells. Animal's survival was increased in Melagatran-treated groups (9 of 10 in Melagatran groups vs. 4 of 10 in controls at day 7). Renal injury and inflammation were also significantly reduced in treated groups. We also demonstrated a direct protective effect of Melagatran against endothelial cell activation and inflammation in vitro. Conclusion. Direct thrombin inhibitor administration in the periconservation period improved graft outcome and reduced renal injury in a model of DCA.
The Laws of Globalization and Business Applications

In The Laws of Globalization and Business Applications, Pankaj Ghemawat continues to defend his antithesis against the common image of the world as global. He does so by introducing the two regularities of international activity: the law of semiglobalization and the law of distance. Through a range of empirical methodologies, Ghemawat tests these two laws and finds that international business interactions rarely exceed 30 %. Based on these results, Ghemawat challenges our assumptions that the world is globalized. He explains that international business interactions continue to be important but that the world is rather semiglobalized. The majority of business flows continue to occur locally, which indicates that different types of distance continue to restrain business activities. These findings should, according to Ghemawat, change both how researchers study international business and how companies conduct business.
Recovering from Biased Distribution of Faulty Cells in Memory by Reorganizing Replacement Regions through Universal Hashing

Recently, scaling down dynamic random access memory (DRAM) has become more of a challenge, with more faults than before and a significant degradation in yield. To improve the yield in DRAM, a redundancy repair technique with intra-subarray replacement has been extensively employed to replace faulty elements (i.e., rows or columns with defective cells) with spare elements in each subarray. Unfortunately, such technique cannot efficiently handle a biased distribution of faulty cells because each subarray has a fixed number of spare elements. In this article, we propose a novel redundancy repair technique that uses a hashing method to solve this problem. Our hashing technique reorganizes replacement regions by changing the way in which their replacement information is referred, thus making faulty cells become evenly distributed to the regions. We also propose a fast repair algorithm to find the best hash function among all possible candidates. Even if our approach requires little hardware overhead, it significantly improves the yield when compared with conventional redundancy techniques. In particular, the results of our experiment show that our technique saves spare elements by about 57% and 55% for a yield of 99% at BER 1e-6 and 5e-7, respectively.
Intracellular synthesis of measles virus-specified polypeptides

The intracellular synthesis of measles-specified polypeptides was examined by means of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of cell extracts. Since measles virus does not efficiently shut off host-cell protein synthesis, high multiplicities of infection were used to enable viral polypeptides to be detected against the high background of cellular protein synthesis. The cytoplasm of infected cells contained viral structural polypeptides with estimated molecular weights of 200,000, 80,000, 70,000, 60,000, 41,000, and 37,000. All of these structural polypeptides, with the exception of P1, the only virion glycoprotein (molecular weight congruent to 80,000), were also found in the nuclei. In addition, two nonstructural polypeptides with estimated molecular weights of 74,000 and 72,000 were also present in the cytoplasm of infected cells. The initial synthesis of the smaller, nonstructural polypeptide began later in infection than the structural polypeptides. Pulse-chase experiments failed to detect any precursor-product relationships. The intracellular glycosylation and phosphorylation of the viral polypeptides were found to be similar to those found in purified virions.
Improving efficiency of multi-kernel learning for support vector machines

Support vector machines (SVMs) have been successfully applied to classification problems. Practical issues Involve how to determine the right type and suitable hyperparameters of kernel functions. Recently, multiple-kernel learning (MKL) algorithms are developed to handle these issues by combining different kernels. The weight with each kernel in the combination is obtained through learning. One of the most popular methods is to learn the weights with semidefinite programming (SDP). However, the amount of time and space required by this method is demanding. In this study, we reformulate the SDP problem to reduce the time and space requirements. Strategies for reducing the search space in solving the SDP problem are introduced. Experimental results obtained from running on synthetic datasets and benchmark datasets of UCI and Statlog show that the proposed approach improves the efficiency of the SDP method without degrading the performance.
Effect of Chronic AT1 Receptor Antagonism on Postischemic Functional Recovery and AT1/AT2 Receptor Proteins in Isolated Working Rat Hearts

To determine whether chronic angiotensin II (Ang II) type I receptor (ATR) antagonism improves recovery of left ventricular (LV) function after ischemia-reperfusion (IR) and increases AT,R and Ang II type 2 receptor (AT2R) protein expression in isolated working rat hearts, rats were randomized to pretreatment with either losartan (30 mg/kg/day) or UP269-6 (3 mg/kg/day), or no drug (control), for 1 week or 3 weeks before IR (50 min perfusion, 25 min ischemia, 40 min reperfusion). In vitro LV work and power and ex vivo AT,R and AT2R proteins (immunoblots) were measured. Compared to baseline perfusion, LV work and power showed variable recovery in control, losartan, and UP269-6 groups. Compared to control, losartan preserved recovery of LV work and power while UP269-6 showed less recovery after IR at both 1 week and 3 weeks. Both antagonists increased AT2R but not AT,R protein. The duration of pretreatment did not affect the expression of ATR or AT2R proteins. The results indicate that chronic AT,R blockade over 1 or 3 weeks increases AT2R (not ATIR) protein expression and may preserve but not improve postischemic functional recovery compared to controls in isolated working rat hearts.
The role of social participation in municipal-level health systems: the case of Palencia, Guatemala

Background Social participation has been recognized as an important public health policy since the declaration of Alma-Ata presented it as one of the pillars of primary health care in 1978. Since then, there have been many adaptations to the original policy but participation in health is still seen as a means to make the health system more responsive to local health needs and as a way to bring the health sector and the community closer together. Objective To explore the role that social participation has in a municipal-level health system in Guatemala in order to inform future policies and programs. Design Documentary analysis was used to study the context of participation in Guatemala. To do this, written records and accounts of Guatemalan history during the 20th century were reviewed. The fieldwork was carried out over 8 months and three field visits were conducted between early January of 2009 and late March of 2010. A total of 38 in-depth interviews with regional health authorities, district health authorities, community representatives, and community health workers (CHWs) were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Guatemala's armed civil struggle was framed in the cold war and the fight against communism. Locally, the war was fed by the growing social, political, and ethnic inequalities that existed in the country. The process of reconstructing the country's social fabric started with the signing of the peace agreements of 1996, and continued with the passing of the 2002 legal framework designed to promote decentralization through social participation. Today, Guatemala is a post-war society that is trying to foster participation in a context full of challenges for the population and for the institutions that promote it. In the municipality of Palencia, there are three different spaces for participation in health: the municipal-level health commission, in community-level social development councils, and in the CHW program. Each of these spaces has participants with specific roles and processes. Conclusions True participation and collaboration among can only be attained through the promotion and creation of meaningful partnerships between institutional stakeholders and community leaders, as well as with other stakeholders working at the community level. For this to happen, more structured support for the participation process in the form of clear policies, funding and capacity building is needed.
Amyloid β peptide toxicity in differentiated PC12 cells: Calpain‐calpastatin, caspase, and membrane damage

Amyloid β peptide (Aβ) is implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The peptide is toxic to neurons, possibly by causing initial synaptic dysfunction and neuronal membrane dystrophy, promoted by increased cellular Ca2+. Calpain (Ca2+‐dependent protease) and caspase have also been implicated in AD. There is little information on communication between the two proteases or on the involvement of calpastatin (the specific calpain inhibitor) in Aβ toxicity. We studied the effects of Aβ25–35 (sAβ) on calpain, calpastatin, and caspase in neuronal‐like differentiated PC12 cells. sAβ‐treated cells exhibited primarily cell membrane damage (varicosities along neurites, enhanced membrane permeability to propidium iodide, without apparent nuclear changes of apoptosis, and little poly (ADP‐ribose) polymerase [PARP] degradation). The sAβ‐induced membrane damage is in contrast with staurosporine‐induced damage (nuclear apoptotic changes, PARP degradation, without membrane propidium iodide permeability). sAβ led to activation of caspase‐8 and calpain, promotion of calpastatin degradation (by caspase‐8 and by calpain), and enhanced degradation of fodrin (mainly by calpain). The results support the idea that Aβ causes primarily neuronal membrane dysfunction, and point to cross‐talk between calpain and caspase (protease activation and degradation of calpastatin) in Aβ toxicity. Increased expression of calpastatin and/or decrease in calpain and caspase‐8 may serve as means for ameliorating early symptoms of AD. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Assessing the prevalence of hybridization between sympatric Canis species surrounding the red wolf (Canis rufus) recovery area in North Carolina

Predicting spatial patterns of hybridization is important for evolutionary and conservation biology yet are hampered by poor understanding of how hybridizing species can interact. This is especially pertinent in contact zones where hybridizing populations are sympatric. In this study, we examined the extent of red wolf (Canis rufus) colonization and introgression where the species contacts a coyote (C. latrans) population in North Carolina, USA. We surveyed 22 000 km2 in the winter of 2008 for scat and identified individual canids through genetic analysis. Of 614 collected scats, 250 were assigned to canids by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing. Canid samples were genotyped at 6–17 microsatellite loci (nDNA) and assigned to species using three admixture criteria implemented in two Bayesian clustering programs. We genotyped 82 individuals but none were identified as red wolves. Two individuals had red wolf mtDNA but no significant red wolf nDNA ancestry. One individual possessed significant red wolf nDNA ancestry (approximately 30%) using all criteria, although seven other individuals showed evidence of red wolf ancestry (11–21%) using the relaxed criterion. Overall, seven individuals were classified as hybrids using the conservative criteria and 37 using the relaxed criterion. We found evidence of dog (C. familiaris) and gray wolf (C. lupus) introgression into the coyote population. We compared the performance of different methods and criteria by analyzing known red wolves and hybrids. These results suggest that red wolf colonization and introgression in North Carolina is minimal and provide insights into the utility of Bayesian clustering methods to detect hybridization.
Downregulation of cone-specific gene expression and degeneration of cone photoreceptors in the Rpe65-/- mouse at early ages.

PURPOSE RPE65 is essential for the generation of 11-cis retinal. Rod photoreceptors in the RPE65-knockout (Rpe65(-/-)) mouse are known to degenerate slowly with age. This study was designed to examine cone photoreceptors and the expression of cone-specific genes in the Rpe65(-/-) mouse. METHODS Gene expression changes were identified by microarray and confirmed by real-time RT-PCR. Cone photoreceptors were stained by peanut agglutinin (PNA) lectin in the flatmounted retina. The 9- or 11-cis retinal was supplied by intraperitoneal injections. RESULTS The short-wavelength (SWL) cone opsin mRNA was markedly decreased at 2 weeks of age, whereas the decrease in the middle-wavelength (MWL) cone opsin mRNA occurred relatively later in age. In contrast, the rhodopsin mRNA level did not show any significant change at all the ages analyzed. Consistent with the cone opsin changes, the cone transducin alpha-subunit mRNA decreased at both 4 and 8 weeks of age, whereas again the rod transducin alpha-subunit did not show any significant change. Rpe65(-/-) mice showed significant cone loss in both the central and ventral retina between 2 and 3 weeks of age. Administration of 9- or 11-cis retinal to Rpe65(-/-) mice 2 weeks of age increased cone density by twofold in these areas. CONCLUSIONS In the Rpe65(-/-) mouse, the expression of cone-specific genes is downregulated and is accompanied by cone degeneration at early ages. Early administration of 9- or 11-cis retinal can partially prevent cone loss, suggesting that the absence of 11-cis chromophore may be responsible for the early cone degeneration.