Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neurochemistry of GABAergic System in Cerebral Cortex Chronically Exposed to Bromide In Vivo

Abstract: Neurochemical correlates of GABAergic synaptic transmission [binding, uptake, metabolism, and tissue content of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)] were investigated in the cortex of rats that had been given 27 mM bromide in drinking water for periods of time ranging from 1 day to 1 month. No effect of bromide on any of the parameters was found and it is concluded that chronic administration of bromide has no profound effect on GABAergic inhibitory system in the rat cortex.
The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD).

The rate of cognitive decline, measured by psychometric testing, is widely used to track the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). As an alternative approach, we studied clinical measures as markers of the progression of dementia in 343 community-dwelling patients with probable AD enrolled in the multi-center Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) project. Subjects received standardized evaluations at entry and at annual follow-up. Decline on the Clinical Dementia Rating, loss of instrumental activities of daily living, failure to recall three words on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and decline of the total MMSE score to below 10 were high-risk milestones, with cumulative frequencies exceeding 50% at 3 years. Loss of dressing and toileting activities occurred at intermediate rates, while loss of eating ability was rare. The risk of reaching clinical milestones and the annual rate of cognitive decline on the MMSE were directly correlated. Clinical milestones are useful indices of the progression of dementia in patients with AD.
Interactions and effects of BSA-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes on different cell lines

Functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have shown great promise in several biomedical contexts, spanning from drug delivery to tissue regeneration. Thanks to their unique size-related properties, single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) are particularly interesting in these fields. However, their use in nanomedicine requires a clear demonstration of their safety in terms of tissue damage, toxicity and pro-inflammatory response. Thus, a better understanding of the cytotoxicity mechanisms, the cellular interactions and the effects that these materials have on cell survival and on biological membranes is an important first step for an appropriate assessment of their biocompatibility. In this study we show how bovine serum albumin (BSA) is able to generate homogeneous and stable dispersions of SWCNTs (BSA-CNTs), suggesting their possible use in the biomedical field. On the other hand, this study wishes to shed more light on the impact and the interactions of protein-stabilized SWCNTs with two different cell types exploiting multidisciplinary techniques. We show that BSA-CNTs are efficiently taken up by cells. We also attempt to describe the effect that the interaction with cells has on the dielectric characteristics of the plasma membrane and ion flux using electrorotation. We then focus on the BSA-CNTs’ acute toxicity using different cellular models. The novel aspect of this work is the evaluation of the membrane alterations that have been poorly investigated to date.
Title Obstacles to Social Service Collaboration in Response to the Great Recession : The Case of the Contra Costa County Safety Net Initiative Permalink

Obstacles to Social Service Collaboration in Response to the Great Recession: The Case of the Contra Costa County Safety Net Initiative Peter T. Radu, Sarah Carnochan & Michael J. Austin To cite this article: Peter T. Radu, Sarah Carnochan & Michael J. Austin (2015) Obstacles to Social Service Collaboration in Response to the Great Recession: The Case of the Contra Costa County Safety Net Initiative, Journal of Community Practice, 23:3-4, 323-347, DOI: 10.1080/10705422.2015. 1091803 To link to this article: http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/10705422.2015. 1091803
Event-related potential evidence for parallel activation of two languages in bilingual speech production

The cross-language identity effect refers to the benefit of processing a translation distractor in the cross-language picture–word interference task. The first event-related-potential evidence for this effect was obtained in a picture-naming priming task using Chinese–English bilinguals of languages with distinct scripts. The results indicated that parallel activation of both languages is a universal phenomenon in bilingual speech production. Furthermore, the present study revealed that the temporal course and magnitude of activation of the nontarget language during target language production was modulated by the relative proficiency in the two languages.
Evaluating the reproducibility of multiagent systems

A multiagent system (MAS) is a computer based model of multiple interacting intelligent agents within an environment. One of the key aspects of such models is the ability to reproduce the results in different software and hardware. In general, the simulation of these models are carried out under floating point standards. It is well known that by limitation of computer arithmetic, the results may be different when the combination of hardware and software is also different. In such case, the evaluation of the reproducibility of MAS is harder than deterministic models, as it is usually seen as stochastic process. To overcome this problem, this paper presents a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to verify if two simulations of a MAS keep the same statistical properties. Computational simulations illustrate the efficience of the technique as a tool to verify the reproducibility of a MAS.
Feature Extraction with Combination of HMT-Based Denoising and Weighted Filter Bank Analysis for Robust Speech Recognition

In this paper, we propose a new feature extraction method that combines both HMT-based denoising and weighted filter bank analysis for robust speech recognition. The proposed method is made up of two stages in cascade. The first stage is denoising process based on the wavelet domain Hidden Markov Tree model, and the second one is the filter bank analysis with weighting coefficients obtained from the residual noise in the first stage. To evaluate performance of the proposed method, recognition experiments were carried out for additive white Gaussian and pink noise with signal-to-noise ratio from 25 dB to 0 dB. Experiment results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method to the conventional ones.
Effectiveness of a discharge planning and community support programme in preventing readmission of high-risk older patients.

OBJECTIVE To examine the effectiveness of Integrated Care and Discharge Support for elderly patients in reducing accident and emergency department attendance, acute hospital admissions, and hospital bed days after discharge. Factors that compromise its effectiveness were investigated and cost analysis was performed. DESIGN Cohort prospective study. SETTING Integrated Care and Discharge Support for elderly patients in Hong Kong West Cluster. PARTICIPANTS Home-dwelling patients recruited between April 2012 and March 2013 into Integrated Care and Discharge Support for elderly patients in Hong Kong West Cluster. RESULTS A total of 1090 older patients were studied. The Integrated Care and Discharge Support for elderly patients programme reduced accident and emergency department attendance by 40% (P<0.001), acute hospital admissions by 47% (P<0.001), and hospital bed days by 31% (P<0.001) at 6 months after implementation. Improvements in Barthel Index 20 (P<0.001) and Modified Functional Ambulation Category scale (P<0.001) were observed. Of the patients, 85 (7.8%) died within 6 months of initiation of the programme. Only 26 (2.4%) older patients required institutionalisation in residential care homes within 6 months after the programme. Increasing age (P=0.025) and high Charlson Comorbidity Index score (P=0.001) were positive predictors for accident and emergency department attendance. A high albumin level (P=0.001) and living alone (P=0.033) were negative predictors for accident and emergency department attendance. Of the patients, 310 (28.4%) had no reduction in bed days after the programme. Increasing age (P=0.025) and number of medications (P=0.003) were positive predictors for no reduction in bed days; while higher haemoglobin level (P=0.034) was a negative predictor. There was a potential annual cost-saving of HK$22.5 million (approximately US$2.9 million). CONCLUSION The Integrated Care and Discharge Support for elderly patients programme reduced accident and emergency department attendance, acute hospital admissions and hospital bed days, and was potentially cost-saving. Age, Charlson Comorbidity Index, albumin level, and living alone were factors associated with accident and emergency department attendance. Age, number of medications, and haemoglobin level were associated with no reduction in bed days. Further study of the cost-effectiveness of such programme is warranted.
Hearing Outcomes in Stapes Surgery

Objective To compare short- and long-term hearing results following stapedectomy using 3 different oval window grafting materials with the same stapes prosthesis. Study Design Database review. Setting Tertiary referral private practice. Subjects and Methods Subjects were ears that underwent stapedectomy for otosclerosis, with placement of fat, fascia, or vein as an oval window seal and reconstruction with a titanium bucket handle prosthesis. A total of 365 procedures met these inclusion criteria: 98 fat grafts, 135 fascia grafts, and 132 vein grafts. Outcome measures included short-term (<1 year) and long-term follow-up air-bone gap. We compared the preoperative and postoperative amount of change in air-bone gap and preoperative and postoperative amount of change in the high-frequency bone conduction average. Results Overall median times to short-term and long-term follow-ups were 2.2 months and 36.1 months, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between the 3 tissue seal groups in the amount of change in air-bone gap. There was no significant difference in amount of change in high-frequency bone conduction (representing sensorineural hearing level) between the 3 tissue seal groups. Most patients in all 3 groups had an air-bone gap at long-term follow-up of ≤10 dB (fat, 79.5%; fascia, 78.8%; and vein, 75.6%), with 90.3% of all patients at ≤20 dB. Conclusions In both the short-term postoperative period and long-term follow-up, there were no significant differences in hearing results among 3 types of tissue seals of the oval window in stapes surgery. Fat, fascia, and vein grafts all provide satisfactory hearing outcomes in stapedectomy.
Broad and Potent Neutralizing Antibodies from an African Donor Reveal a New HIV-1 Vaccine Target

Anti-HIV Antibodies One of the top priorities for an HIV vaccine is the ability to elicit a broadly neutralizing antibody response, which should provide the best protection against infection. In the 25 years since the discovery of HIV, very few broadly neutralizing antibodies have been identified, and those that do exist were discovered nearly two decades ago. Using a high-throughput culture system, Walker et al. (p. 285; published online 3 September) now identify two additional broadly neutralizing antibodies isolated from a clade A HIV-infected African donor. These antibodies exhibit great potency and, in contrast to other known broadly neutralizing antibodies, are able to neutralize a wide range of viruses from many different clades. The antibodies recognize a motif in the trimerized viral envelope protein that is found in conserved regions of the variable loops of the gp120 subunit. Identification of this motif provides an intriguing new target for vaccine development. High-throughput screening has revealed two new broadly neutralizing antibodies from a clade A–infected donor in Africa. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), which develop over time in some HIV-1–infected individuals, define critical epitopes for HIV vaccine design. Using a systematic approach, we have examined neutralization breadth in the sera of about 1800 HIV-1–infected individuals, primarily infected with non–clade B viruses, and have selected donors for monoclonal antibody (mAb) generation. We then used a high-throughput neutralization screen of antibody-containing culture supernatants from about 30,000 activated memory B cells from a clade A–infected African donor to isolate two potent mAbs that target a broadly neutralizing epitope. This epitope is preferentially expressed on trimeric Envelope protein and spans conserved regions of variable loops of the gp120 subunit. The results provide a framework for the design of new vaccine candidates for the elicitation of bNAb responses.
Youth Homelessness: The Relationships among Mental Health, Hope, and Service Satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION This paper reports a mental health assessment of 60 homeless youth. Our study explored the mental health needs of youth accessing an overnight youth shelter (maximum stay 8 weeks). METHODS Participants completed an interview (45 to 120 minutes in duration) using one demographic form and one of two standardized questionnaires (Youth Self Report, Adult Self Report). Questions assessed youth mental health symptoms, examined various contacts that youth made with mainstream society (services, family), and identified potential motivating factors (hope, service satisfaction) that may play a role in fostering street survival during adolescence. RESULTS Forty-eight percent of the youth were clinically symptomatic and most youth accessed a range of general health services. CONCLUSION However, those most in need had significantly less service satisfaction, less hope about the future, and had not accessed mental health services.
Ergonomic and Psychosocial Factors Affect Daily Function in Workers’ Compensation Claimants With Persistent Upper Extremity Disorders

Pain and other symptoms associated with work-related upper extremity disorders (WRUEDs) can lead to significant distress, lost function, and disability. Identifying factors associated with decreased upper extremity function may lead to the development of more effective interventions. In this study, participants were 165 government employees (127 female, 38 male) with an accepted workers’ compensation claim (<90 days from claim filing) for a WRUED who were unable to perform their normal work. Participants completed baseline measures of upper extremity functional limitation, symptoms, general health status, problem solving orientation, pain coping, and workplace factors. After controlling for pain and gender in a multiple regression analysis, greater functional limitation was further explained by: (1) upper extremity symptoms other than pain (eg, sleep disturbance, numbness and tingling), (2) symptoms in one or both hands, (3) feeling overwhelmed by pain, (4) low confidence in problem solving abilities, and (5) higher ergonomic risk factor exposures at work. The final model accounted for 47.4% of the variance in upper extremity function, F(7157) = 4.33, P < 0.05. Mental health status was related to functional limitation in univariate, but not multivariate analyses. These results suggest that improving function in this population may require: (1) pain coping techniques and active problem solving to overcome functional barriers, and (2) reduction of workplace ergonomic risk exposure.
Synergistic Lyapunov functions and backstepping hybrid feedbacks

The notion of synergistic potential functions has been introduced recently in the literature and has been used as the basis for the design of hybrid feedback laws that achieve global asymptotic stabilization of a point on a compact manifold (without boundary) such as S1, S2, and SO(3). Here, synergistic potential functions are generalized-to synergistic Lyapunov functions-and are shown to be amenable to backstepping. In particular, if an afflne control system admits a (weak) synergistic Lyapunov function and feedback pair then the system with an integrator added at the input also admits a synergistic Lyapunov and feedback pair. This fact enables "smoothing" hybrid feedbacks, or implementing them through a chain of integrators. In this way, hybrid control designed at a kinematic level can be redesigned for control through forces, torques, or even the derivative of these quantities. We demonstrate the backstepping procedure for attitude stabilization of a rigid body using a quaternion parametrization.
C-shaped cells caused by expression of an ftsA mutation in Escherichia coli

A plasmid, pDLL4, was isolated from a Tn5tac1 mutagenesis experiment with plasmid pZAQ. When pDLL4 was transformed into wild-type rod-shaped cells, it caused cells in the population to become curved (C-shaped or convoluted). The Tn5tac1 transposon was integrated within the carboxyl end of the ftsA gene in pDLL4. This mutation was designated ftsAc. Subcloning ftsAc DNA into another plasmid vector verified that the curved-cell phenotype was caused by the expression of this altered gene. DNA sequence analysis of the ftsAc mutation revealed that the transposition event changed the DNA so that the last 28 amino acids of the FtsA protein were lost and 5 new amino acids were added. A radioactive peptide band corresponding to this truncated FtsAc protein was identified by a T7 promoter-T7 polymerase protein labeling system. Observations of thin sections of these curved cells with an electron microscope revealed aggregates of striated cylindrical structures traversing the cytoplasm. The ends of these aggregates appear to be at or near the cell membrane. The linear periodicity of the cylinders was approximately 11 nm, and the diameter of a cylinder was about 15 nm. Aggregates of as many as five cylinders were arrayed diagonally to the long axis of the curved cells, a finding that suggests that some type of internal organization may be causing the curved cell shape.
Sensorless indirect adaptive control with parameters and load-torque estimation of induction motor

In this paper we use a high gain output feedback controller to control the induction motor (IM) by a sensorless indirect adaptive strategy. In contrast to pervious works, an adaptive high gain observer is synthesized to compensate the uncertainty of the IM model, furthermore it allows a full state estimation including the unknown load torque, given that the stator current is the only measured output. The states and parameters estimates are used to build up the high gain output feedback control law, which is designed in such a way to stabilize the controlled system including the observer and to ensure a global asymptotique speed tracking, even in the presence of parameters and state uncertainty. Simulation results were presented to show the above control strategy efficiency.
Cardiovagal Tone: A Predictor of Heart Rate Adjusted Augmentation Index in Men but Not in Women

Purpose: Aortic augmentation index (AIx) and cardiovagal tone (CVT) are indicators of cardiovascular health. Associations between these variables provide information about their roles in cardiovascular disease. However, evaluating these associations from a gender perspective and gaining an understanding of the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and AIx based on gender can provide additional information. Therefore, we examined the relationships between CVT, measured as the log transformed high-frequency power of R-R intervals from electrocardiogram measurements (lnHFR-R); cardiorespiratory fitness, measured as maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max); and AIx at a heart rate of 75 beats·min-1(AIx@75). We hypothesized that the relationships between CVT, cardiorespiratory fitness, and AIx@75 would differ based on gender. Methods: We examined the associations between lnHFR-R, VO2max, and AIx@75 in 41 women and 39 men. Power spectral density analysis of heart rate variability determined lnHFR-R, radial tonometry determined AIx@75 and the Bruce Treadmill Protocol determined VO2max. Results: In men, lnHFR-R positively correlated with and significantly predicted AIx@75 (P = 0.005) but not in women (P = 0.49). For every unit increase in lnHFR-R, there was a 4.6 unit increase in AIx@75 in men versus a 1.0 unit increase in women. There was a significant inverse relationship between VO2max and AIx@75, with VO2max being a significant predictor of AIx@75 in men (P = 0.01). For every unit increase in VO2max, there was a 0.60 unit decrease in AIx@75 in men versus a 0.2 unit decrease in women. Conclusions: The associations between CVT and AIx@75 and between cardiorespiratory fitness and AIx@75 differ by gender. CVT and cardiorespiratory fitness are significant predictors of AIx@75 in men but not in women.
The oral health-related quality of life in edentulous patients treated with conventional complete dentures.

OBJECTIVE To compare the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) between patients with both maxillary and mandibular complete denture and those with either the maxillary or the mandibular complete denture. BACKGROUND Satisfaction of denture wearers can be estimated using the OHRQoL questionnaires like the OHIP-EDENT and the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). METHODS Two questionnaires were used to compare the OHRQoL between edentulous patients who had conventional removable complete denture on both jaws and those who had on either one of the jaws. RESULT The age of the participants ranged from 42 to 75 years, with the mean age of 58 ± 8.12 years. The mean OHIP-EDENT scores were significantly high among those who wore conventional dentures in both jaws (54.12 ± 5.21), compared with the participants who only had denture either on upper or lower jaw (46.52 ± 7.35). It was noticed that the mean GOHAI score was significantly lower (p < 0.05) among participants who had conventional denture on both upper and lower jaw (28.25 ± 3.67), as compared to those who had conventional denture only on one arch (35.12 ± 2.11). CONCLUSION Patients with complete dentures in both jaw (Group I) were less satisfied than patients with single complete denture (Group II). The result obtained in this study shows dissatisfaction with conventional dentures among edentulous patients.