Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of an anterior circulation rat subarachnoid hemorrhage model.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Our aim was to demonstrate the feasibility of an angiographically controlled rat model for the study of macrocirculatory and microcirculatory changes of the anterior intracranial circulation after subarachnoid hemorrhage. METHODS Subarachnoid hemorrhage was induced by transorbital injection of 0.3 mL of nonheparinized autologous arterial blood into the chiasmatic cistern. Changes in regional cerebral blood flow were continuously recorded with the use of laser-Doppler flowmetry over the parietal cortex. Angiographic verification of middle cerebral artery diameter was performed by carotid catheterization at baseline and 2 days after injection of blood or artificial cerebrospinal fluid. We monitored intracranial and systemic blood pressure during and after injections. RESULTS Injection of artificial cerebrospinal fluid in the control group did not change the diameter of the middle cerebral artery. Injection of blood caused a significant arterial narrowing of 17.5%, from 0.37 +/- 0.04 mm to 0.31 +/- 0.04 mm after 2 days (P = .0001). In the control group regional cerebral blood flow decreased to 75.9 +/- 16.8% of preinjection control but quickly recovered to 99.7 +/- 19.4%. Intracranial pressure increased for 5 minutes after the injection to a maximum of 27.3 +/- 8.9 mm Hg, accompanied by a 10% decrease in mean arterial pressure. A fall in cerebral blood flow to 53.1 +/- 26.3% in blood-injected animals that recovered to only 80.7 +/- 16.9% of baseline values during the observation period of 30 minutes was noted. A peak intracranial pressure of 45.7 +/- 11.5 mm Hg occurred 2 minutes after injection with a decrease in mean arterial pressure of 13%, resulting in a markedly lower cerebral perfusion pressure than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS An angiographically controlled model of subarachnoid hemorrhage primarily involving the anterior circulation is feasible in the rat. The resulting narrowing of the middle cerebral artery reflects moderate vasospasm and will allow further microcirculatory studies with cranial windows.
International renal‐cell cancer study. III. Role of weight, height, physical activity, and use of amphetamines

Although numerous studies have identified obesity or high relative weight as a risk factor for renal‐cell cancer in women, the degree to which this effect is present in men remains unclear. A multicenter population‐based case‐control study concerning incident cases of histologically verified renal‐cell cancer (n = 1,732) and age‐ and sex‐matched controls (n = 2,309) was conducted in Australia, Denmark, Germany (2 centers), Sweden and the United States. Relative weight was estimated by the body mass index, and the association between this factor and other factors, such as height, physical activity and use of amphetamines, was measured by the relative risk estimated in logistic regression models. Body mass index was found to be a risk factor among women and, to a lesser extent, among men. A 3‐fold increased risk (RR = 3.6, 95% CI = 2.3–5.7) was observed for women with a relative weight in the top 5% compared with those in the lowest quartile. Rate of weight change (estimated as weight change per annum in kilograms) appeared to be an independent risk factor among women but not among men. Physical activity and height were unrelated to risk of renal‐cell cancer regardless of level of BMI, while use of amphetamines was associated with an increased risk among men, although no dose or duration effect was seen. Our findings verify the link between high relative weight and risk of renal‐cell cancer, particularly among women. The mechanism that underlies this association is, however, still unclear, although the rate of weight change may play a role. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Experimental evidence of a nonlinear loss mechanism in highly doped Yb:LuAG crystal.

We report a rigorous study of the spectroscopic, laser and thermal properties of a 10at. % and a 15at. % Yb:LuAG crystals. A loss mechanism is observed in the medium with the highest doping, pumped at 936 nm and 968 nm, as a sharp and dramatic decrease of the laser output power is measured at higher excitation densities. The nonlinearity of the loss mechanism is confirmed by the fluorescence data and by the thermal lens. In particular, the dioptric power of the thermal lens acquired at different pumping levels shows a strong deviation of the expected linear trend. Here we report the influence of both the concentration and the ion excitation density of Yb3+ on the output powers, the slope efficiencies and the thresholds. Conversely excellent results are achieved with the 10at. %, which does not show any loss mechanism as at 1046 nm it delivers 11.8 W with a slope efficiency of η(s) = 82%, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest value reported in literature for this material.
Structural inequality: The case of Sweden

Structural trends not directly related to labour market functioning and redistribution have made a sizeable contribution to inequality and poverty in Sweden, but occupy only limited space in the income inequality debate. To fill this gap, we put a quarter of a century of rising inequality in Sweden in a new perspective by quantifying the effect of changing household composition, age structure, industry structure, educational attainment and immigration on inequality. The influence of structural changes on inequality is derived from micro-data from Statistics Sweden. We re-weigh subgroups of the population with certain characteristics by their population shares in 1987 to construct counterfactual income distributions for 2013 and derive inequality measures that we compare to their actual 2013 values. We find that almost half of the inequality increase between 1987 and 2013 can be mechanically ascribed to these factors.
Integration of Semi-Circular Canal and Otolith Cues for Direction Discrimination during Eccentric Rotations

Humans are capable of moving about the world in complex ways. Every time we move, our self-motion must be detected and interpreted by the central nervous system in order to make appropriate sequential movements and informed decisions. The vestibular labyrinth consists of two unique sensory organs the semi-circular canals and the otoliths that are specialized to detect rotation and translation of the head, respectively. While thresholds for pure rotational and translational self-motion are well understood surprisingly little research has investigated the relative role of each organ on thresholds for more complex motion. Eccentric (off-center) rotations during which the participant faces away from the center of rotation stimulate both organs and are thus well suited for investigating integration of rotational and translational sensory information. Ten participants completed a psychophysical direction discrimination task for pure head-centered rotations, translations and eccentric rotations with 5 different radii. Discrimination thresholds for eccentric rotations reduced with increasing radii, indicating that additional tangential accelerations (which increase with radius length) increased sensitivity. Two competing models were used to predict the eccentric thresholds based on the pure rotation and translation thresholds: one assuming that information from the two organs is integrated in an optimal fashion and another assuming that motion discrimination is solved solely by relying on the sensor which is most strongly stimulated. Our findings clearly show that information from the two organs is integrated. However the measured thresholds for 3 of the 5 eccentric rotations are even more sensitive than predictions from the optimal integration model suggesting additional non-vestibular sources of information may be involved.
The Impact of Proposed Changes in Liver Allocation Policy on Cold Ischemia Times and Organ Transportation Costs

Changes to the liver allocation system have been proposed to decrease regional variation in access to liver transplant. It is unclear what impact these changes will have on cold ischemia times (CITs) and donor transportation costs. Therefore, we performed a retrospective single center study (2008–2012) measuring liver procurement CIT and transportation costs. Four groups were defined: Local‐within driving distance (Local‐D, n = 262), Local‐flight (Local‐F, n = 105), Regional‐flight <3 h (Regional <3 h, n = 61) and Regional‐Flight >3 h (Regional >3 h, n = 53). The median travel distance increased in each group, varying from zero miles (Local‐D), 196 miles (Local‐F), 384 miles (Regional <3 h), to 1647 miles (Regional >3 h). Increasing travel distances did not significantly increase CIT until the flight time was >3 h. The average CIT ranged from 5.0 to 6.0 h for Local‐D, Local‐F and Regional <3 h, but increased to 10 h for Regional >3 h (p < 0.0001). Transportation costs increased with greater distance traveled: Local‐D $101, Local‐F $1993, Regional <3 h $8324 and Regional >3 h $27 810 (p < 0.0001). With proposed redistricting, local financial modeling suggests that the average liver donor procurement transportation variable direct costs will increase from $2415 to $7547/liver donor, an increase of 313%. These findings suggest that further discussion among transplant centers and insurance providers is needed prior to policy implementation.
Limb bone allometry during postnatal ontogeny in non‐avian dinosaurs

Although the interspecific scaling of tetrapods is well understood, remarkably little work has been done on the ontogenetic scaling within tetrapod species, whether fossil or recent. Here the ontogenetic allometry of the femur, humerus, and tibia was determined for 23 species of non‐avian dinosaur by regressing log‐transformed length against log‐transformed circumference for each bone using reduced major axis bivariate regression. The femora of large theropod species became more robust during ontogeny, whereas growth in the femora of sauropodomorphs and most ornithischians was not significantly different from isometry. Hadrosaur hindlimb elements became significantly more gracile during ontogeny. Scaling constants were higher in all theropods than in any non‐theropod taxa. Such clear taxonomically correlated divisions were not evident in the ontogenetic allometry of the tibia and hindlimb bones did not scale uniformly within larger taxonomic groups. For taxa in which the ontogenetic allometry of the humerus was studied, only Riojasaurus incertus exhibited a significant departure from isometry. Using independent contrasts, the regression of femoral allometry against the log of adult body mass was found to have a significant negative correlation but such a relationship could not be established for other limb elements or growth parameters, mainly due to the small sample size. The intraspecific scaling patterns observed in dinosaurs and other amniotes do not support earlier hypotheses that intraspecific scaling differs between endothermic and ectothermic taxa.
Financial Development and Ampli…cation

Traditional wisdom about the relationship between the development of …nancial markets and volatility of the economy is that …nancial development stabilizes the economy. However, after the recent …nancial crisis of 2007-08, a new perspective has emerged: …nancial development destabilizes the economy by accelerating …nancial ampli…cation. Why do we observe such seemingly contradicting views? Does …nancial development lead to instability while enhancing e¢ ciency? This paper develops a theoretical model to answer these questions and attempts to reconcile both classical and new views. We …nd that the relationship between …nancial development and …nancial ampli…cation is nonlinear: …nancial ampli…cation initially increases with …nancial development and later falls down. Moreover, we examine the role of monetary policy to dampen downward ampli…cation, and discuss its welfare implications.
Mitochondrial Uncoupling Protein-2 Mediates Steatotic Liver Injury following Ischemia/Reperfusion*

Steatotic livers are not used for transplantation because they have a reduced tolerance for ischemic events with reduced ATP levels and greater levels of cellular necrosis, which ultimately result in total organ failure. Mitochondrial uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2) is highly expressed in steatotic livers and may be responsible for liver sensitivity to ischemia through mitochondrial and ATP regulation. To test this hypothesis, experiments were conducted in lean and steatotic (ob/ob), wild-type, and UCP2 knock-out mice subjected to total warm hepatic ischemi-a/reperfusion. Although ob/ob UCP2 knock-out mice and ob/ob mice have a similar initial phenotype, ob/ob UCP2 knock-out animal survival was 83% when compared with 30% in ob/ob mice 24 h after reperfusion. Serum alanine aminotransferase concentrations and hepatocellular necrosis were decreased in the ob/ob UCP2 knock-out mice when compared with ob/ob mice subjected to ischemia. Liver ATP levels were increased in the ob/ob UCP2 knock-out animals after reperfusion when compared with the ob/ob mice but remained below the concentrations from lean livers. Lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances) increased after reperfusion most significantly in the steatotic groups, but the increase was not affected by UCP2 deficiency. These results reveal that UCP2 expression is a critical factor, which sensitizes steatotic livers to ischemic injury, regulating liver ATP levels after ischemia and reperfusion.
Rheumatoid factor determines structural progression of rheumatoid arthritis dependent and independent of disease activity

Background Rheumatoid factor (RF) is prototypic for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and serves diagnostic and prognostic purposes. RF is associated with joint destruction, but the role of disease activity as a potential mediator of these effects has not been clearly elucidated yet. Objective To investigate if higher radiographic progression (Sharp score, ΔTSS) in RF+ patients is dependent or independent of disease activity. Methods The authors performed a cross-sectional multivariate analysis at baseline and a matched cohort study in patients from five RA clinical trials. The authors pooled methotrexate treatment arms and compared ΔTSS in RF+ and RF− patients before and after matching for other associated variables. Results Among 686 patients, 124 were RF− and 562 RF+, 343 having high (>160 U/ml) RF. ΔTSS was 1.03±5.83, 3.23±8.10 and 3.58±8.18 (p<0.0001), respectively, and similarly for erosions and joint space narrowing (JSN). After matching for other prognostically important variables, ΔTSS still was lower among 61 RF− versus 61 RF high+ patients (0.52±2.47 vs 3.09±8.28; p=0.028), mainly related to differences in erosion score (0.31±1.88 vs 2.07±5.62; p=0.035), but not JSN (0.21±1.26 vs 1.02±3.31; p=0.162). Conclusions The data reveal that damage progression in seropositive RA patients is related to higher levels of disease activity and to independent effects of RF, particularly on bone damage. This calls for consideration of RF status irrespective of disease activity.
Maintaining long‐term control of blood pressure: The role of improved compliance

Mild‐to‐moderate essential hypertension is a major risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Morbidity can be reduced significantly by lowering high blood pressure, and with the effective antihypertensive drugs now available, it is ever more important to identify and treat the estimated 50 to 60 million hypertensive persons in the United States. Yet a high percentage of persons being treated stop taking their medication and refuse to comply with their therapeutic regimen. Many problems relate to maintaining long‐term therapy in the hypertensive population. They include the cost of medication, a lack of written instructions, unclear instructions, noninvolvement of the patient in designing the treatment plan, lack of patient education about the disease, side effects, and inconvenient dosing schedules. Numerous studies have found that compliance increases as drug‐dosage frequency decreases, as with the use of once‐daily or sustained‐release drug preparations. Other contributors to compliance include prescription‐refill reminders, appointment reminders, simple written instructions about drug use, and patient education about the need for treatment and the consequences of noncompliance. Many classes of antihypertensive drugs are available, and more are in development. With such an extensive armamentarium available, all patients, regardless of coexisting medical conditions, should be able to be given effective, individualized antihypertensive therapy.
Dynamic Aspects of Glucocorticoid Receptors in the Spinal Cord of the Rat

Abstract: In spite of biochemical and autoradiographic evidence for glucocorticoid binding sites in the spinal cord (SC), events occurring after the preliminary step of hormone binding were not studied. In this investigation, we have examined the transformation (activation) of the cytosolic receptor coupled to [3H]dexamethasone (DEX) and the in vivo interaction of adrenal hormone [corticosterone (CORT)] with purified nuclei from the SC, in addition to the CORT content of the SC before and after stress. Binding of [3H]DEX in the SC was 40% lower than in the hippocampus (HC), although the KD values were comparable. Transformation of [3H]DEX‐receptor complexes in the cytosol was demonstrated by diethylaminoethane‐cellulose chromatography, by DNA‐cellulose binding, and by a combined minicolumn procedure including hydroxyapatite in addition to the last two techniques for separation of transformed, nontransformed, and meroreceptor complexes. In all these situations, SC glucocorticoid binding sites behaved similarly to those in the HC. Nuclear uptake of a tracer dose of [3H]CORT was much lower in the SC than in the HC; nuclear retention of CORT was more easily detected by radioimmunoassay after injection of 1 mg of CORT into adrenalectomized rats. Substantial amounts of CORT, which increased in level after stress, were measured in five regions in the SC, with higher concentrations in the cervical regions. These studies suggest that although SC and HC receptors show similar properties in vitro, differences emerged at the level of nuclear uptake in vivo, in that glucocorticoid action in the SC was similar to that in the optic nerve, where receptors seem to be localized mostly in glial cells.
Speaking rates, response time latencies, and interrupting behaviors of young stutterers, nonstutterers, and their mothers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the speaking rates, interrupting behaviors, and response time latencies (RTL) produced by stuttering and nonstuttering children and their mothers, and the relationship these three paralinguistic behaviors have to children's speech disfluencies. Subjects were 13 boys who stutter (mean age = 4:0) and their mothers and 13 nonstuttering boys (mean age = 4:0) and their mothers. No significant differences were found between the two groups of children or between the two groups of mothers for any of the three paralinguistic behaviors with the exception that the mothers of nonstuttering children exhibited significantly (p < 0.01) faster rates of speech than either group of children. A strong positive correlation (r = .84) was found between stuttering children's scores on the Stuttering Severity Instrument (Riley, 1980) and the durations of the overlapping portions of their mothers' interruptions (i.e., their simultalk). Findings of this study are taken to support a facilitative demands-capacities model of conversational interaction in which mothers adjust the demands of their speaking models in response to their children's demonstrated capacities for fluent speech production.
[Efficacy of acupuncture combined with auricular point sticking on the content of serum prostaglandin F2α, and plasma arginine vasopressin in patients with menstrual headache].

OBJECTIVE To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with auricular point sticking for menstrual headache and to discuss its mechanism. METHODS Eighty-five patients with menstrual headache were randomly divided into an observation group (43 cases) and a control group (42 cases). The observation group was treated with body acupuncture combined with auricular point sticking and the control group was treated with flunarizine hydrochloride capsules orally. The treatments of 3 menstrual cycles were required. The clinical efficacy was observed in the two groups. The content of serum prostaglandin F2α, (PGF2α) and plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the menstrual periods of some patients randomly selected in the two groups was tested before and after treatment and was compared with that of 20 cases in a normal group. Results The total effective rate was 95.4% (41/43) in the observation group which was obviously superior to 81.0% (34/42) in the control group (P<0.01). Before treatment, the content of serum PGF2α and plasma AVP of patients in the two groups was higher than that in the normal group (all P<0.01). After treatment,the content of serum PGF2α and plasma AVP was lower than that before treatment in the two groups (P<0.01, P<0.05). The content of serum PGF2α in the observation group was decreased significantly compared with that in the control group (P<0.05) and returned to the level of the normal group. CONCLUSION Body acupuncture combined with auricular point sticking achieves positive efficacy for menstrual headache and its mechanism could be related to regulating the abnormal levels of serum PGF2α and plasma AVP.
Access Control in Smart Homes by Android-Based Liveness Detection

Technologies for personal safety and security play an increasing role in modern life, and are among the most valuable features expected to be supported by so-called smart homes. This paper presents a low-complexity Android application designed for both mobile and embedded devices, that exploits the available on-board camera to easily capture two images of a subject, and processes them to discriminate a true 3D and live face, from a fake or printed 2D one. The liveness detection based on such a discrimination provides anti-spooﬁng capabilities to secure access control based on face recognition. The limited computational complexity of the developed application makes it suitable for practical implementation in video-entry phones based on embedded Android platforms. The results obtained are satisfactory even in di ﬀ erent ambient light conditions, and further improvements are being developed to deal with low precision image acquisition.
Combining multiple anatomical MRI measures improves Alzheimer's disease classification

Several anatomical MRI markers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been identified. Hippocampal volume, cortical thickness, and grey matter density have been used successfully to discriminate AD patients from controls. These anatomical MRI measures have so far mainly been used separately. The full potential of anatomical MRI scans for AD diagnosis might thus not yet have been used optimally. In this study, we therefore combined multiple anatomical MRI measures to improve diagnostic classification of AD. For 21 clinically diagnosed AD patients and 21 cognitively normal controls, we calculated (i) cortical thickness, (ii) cortical area, (iii) cortical curvature, (iv) grey matter density, (v) subcortical volumes, and (vi) hippocampal shape. These six measures were used separately and combined as predictors in an elastic net logistic regression. We made receiver operating curve plots and calculated the area under the curve (AUC) to determine classification performance. AUC values for the single measures ranged from 0.67 (cortical thickness) to 0.94 (grey matter density). The combination of all six measures resulted in an AUC of 0.98. Our results demonstrate that the different anatomical MRI measures contain complementary information. A combination of these measures may therefore improve accuracy of AD diagnosis in clinical practice. Hum Brain Mapp 37:1920–1929, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.