Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of hydroalcoholic extract from the leaves of Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori. on blood pressure and oxidative status in dexamethasone-induced hypertensive rats

Background: Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori. is a tropical tree growing in southeast of Iran. All parts of this plant have nutritional uses and pharmacological activities. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of hydroalcoholic extract from the leaves of M. peregrina in dexamethasone (Dex)-induced hypertension in rats. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats received Dex (30 μg/kg, subcutaneously; s.c.) or saline (as vehicle, 1 ml/kg, s.c.) for 14 days. In a prevention study, the rats received M. peregrina extract (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, orally) for 4 days, followed by Dex for 14 days. In a reversal study, the animals received M. peregrina extract orally from day 8 to 14. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured using tail-cuff method. The hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) concentration and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were assessed in plasma samples. Results: Dex significantly increased the SBP and the plasma H 2 O 2 and decreased the plasma FRAP value (P < 0.001). M. peregrina extract at a dose of 400 mg/kg prevented (P < 0.01) but did not reverse Dex-induced hypertension in rats. It also dose-dependently reduced the plasma H 2 O 2 concentration and improved the FRAP value upon Dex administration. Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicated the antioxidant and partially antihypertensive effects of the hydroalcoholic extract from the leaves of M. peregrina in Dex-induced hypertension. Further experiments on other fractions of the leaves and also other parts of this plant are suggested for better evaluation of its antihypertensive effect and finding its mechanisms of action.
Analysis of α-particle-induced chromosomal aberrations by chemically-induced PCC. Elaboration of dose-effect curves

Abstract In a similar way to high-dose exposures to low-LET radiations, cells show difficulties reaching mitosis after high-LET radiation exposure. For this reason, techniques have been proposed that are able to analyze chromosome aberrations in interphase by prematurely condensing the chromosomes (PCC-techniques). Few dose-effect curves for high-LET radiation types have been reported, and none for α-particles. The aim of this study was to evaluate, by chemically-induced PCC, the chromosome aberrations induced by several doses of α-particles. Monolayers of peripheral lymphocytes were exposed to an α-source of Americium-241 with a mean energy entering the cells of 2.7 MeV. Lymphocytes were exposed to 10 doses, from 0–2.5 Gy, and then cultured for 48 h. Colcemid and Calyculin-A were added at 24 and 1 h before harvesting, respectively. During microscope analysis, chromosome rings and extra chromosome pieces were scored in G2/M-PCC and M cells, while dicentric chromosomes were only scored in M cells. As the dose increased, fewer cells were able to reach mitosis and the proportion of G2/M-PCC cells increased. Chromosome rings were hardly observed in M cells when compared to G2/M-PCC cells. Extra fragments were more frequent than rings in both G2/M-PCC and M cells, but with lower frequencies than in G2/M-PCC cells. The distribution of dicentrics and extra fragments showed a clear overdispersion; this was not so evident for rings. The dose-effect curves obtained fitted very well to a linear model. Damaged cells after α-particle irradiation show more difficulties in reaching mitosis than cells exposed to γ-rays. After α-particle irradiation the frequency of all the chromosome aberrations considered increased linearly with the dose, and α-particles clearly produced more dicentrics and extra chromosome pieces with respect to γ-rays. After α-particle exposure, the existence of extra chromosome fragments in PCC cells seems to be a good candidate for use as a biomarker for dose assessment. However, the observed frequencies of different types of chromosomal aberrations could be influenced by some methodological aspects; for this reason, and in order to avoid possible methodological bias, standardization of the technique will be desirable.
Cardiac Arrhythmia Detection By ECG Feature Extraction

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a noninvasive technique used as a primary diagnostic tool for detecting cardiovascular diseases. One of the important cardiovascular diseases is cardiac arrhythmia. Computer-assisted cardiac arrhythmia detection and classification can play a significant role in the management of cardiac disorders. This paper presents an algorithm developed using Python 2.6 simulation tool for the detection of cardiac arrhythmias e.g. premature ventricular contracture (PVC), right bundle branch block (R or RBBB) and left bundle branch block (L or LBBB) by extracting various features and vital intervals (i.e. RR, QRS, etc) from the ECG waveform. The proposed method was tested over the MIT-BIH Arrhythmias Database.
The Jerusalem TeleRehabilitation System, a New Low-Cost, Haptic Rehabilitation Approach

Survivors of brain injury or stroke can improve movement ability with intensive, supervised practice. Since the hours of supervised therapy with a physical or occupational therapist are limited, telerehabilitation will enable patients to greatly expand the hours that they practice therapeutic exercises. The Jerusalem TeleRehabilitation System (JTRS) consists of patient and therapist systems plus a central server and database connected via the internet. The system can work in two modes: (1) a cooperative mode in which the therapist and patient are online at the same time, and (2) a stand-alone mode in which the patient uses the system on his own. In both cases, the system will monitor the status and progress of the patient and various parameters of his movement abilities, and prepare reports for the patient and for the therapist. From the clinic, the therapist will be able to change the screen seen by the patient and change the level and types of tasks, as needed. Compared to existing systems, our system will have the following advantages: (1) inexpensive and easy to use; (2) remote monitoring and control of the patient's computer by the therapist in the clinic; (3) more detailed analysis of patient status and progress; (4) a "smart" system which self-adapts to the patient's capabilities in real time, increasing or decreasing the difficulty of the exercise as needed; and (5) a central, international database which, by gathering data on many patients over time, will provide the basis for "smart" therapy and will also facilitate coordinated multicenter research studies.
Spanning trees with many or few colors in edge-colored graphs

Given a graph G = (V,E) and a (not necessarily proper) edge-coloring of G, we consider the complexity of finding a spanning tree of G with as many different colors as possible, and of finding one with as few different colors as possible. We show that the first problem is equivalent to finding a common independent set of maximum cardinality in two matroids, implying that there is a polynomial algorithm. We use the minimum dominating set problem to show that the second problem is NP-hard.
Unemployment and the Immigration Surplus

Within a small open economy fair wage model with unemployment of unskilled workers, we show that exogenous unskilled immigration increases the welfare of natives if the elasticity of the inverse labour demands exceeds a positive finite threshold. This threshold depends positively on the displacement ratio of native workers by immigrants and negatively on the share of immigrants in the unskilled workforce.
Nonlinear estimation for linear inverse problems with error in the operator

We study two nonlinear methods for statistical linear inverse problems when the operator is not known. The two constructions combine Galerkin regularization and wavelet thresholding. Their performances depend on the underlying structure of the operator, quantified by an index of sparsity. We prove their rate-optimality and adaptivity properties over Besov classes.
Outcomes of 385 Adult-to-Adult Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients: A Report From the A2ALL Consortium

Objective:The objective of this study was to characterize the patient population with respect to patient selection, assess surgical morbidity and graft failures, and analyze the contribution of perioperative clinical factors to recipient outcome in adult living donor liver transplantation (ALDLT). Summary Background Data:Previous reports have been center-specific or from large databases lacking detailed variables. The Adult-to-Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study (A2ALL) represents the first detailed North American multicenter report of recipient risk and outcome aiming to characterize variables predictive of graft failure. Methods:Three hundred eighty-five ALDLT recipients transplanted at 9 centers were studied with analysis of over 35 donor, recipient, intraoperative, and postoperative variables. Cox regression models were used to examine the relationship of variables to the risk of graft failure. Results:Ninety-day and 1-year graft survival were 87% and 81%, respectively. Fifty-one (13.2%) grafts failed in the first 90 days. The most common causes of graft failure were vascular thrombosis, primary nonfunction, and sepsis. Biliary complications were common (30% early, 11% late). Older recipient age and length of cold ischemia were significant predictors of graft failure. Center experience greater than 20 ALDLT was associated with a significantly lower risk of graft failure. Recipient Model for End-stage Liver Disease score and graft size were not significant predictors. Conclusions:This multicenter A2ALL experience provides evidence that ALDLT is a viable option for liver replacement. Older recipient age and prolonged cold ischemia time increase the risk of graft failure. Outcomes improve with increasing center experience.
A Fuzzy Inference Map approach to cope with uncertainty in modeling medical knowledge and making decisions

In this work, the Fuzzy Inference Map approach (also known as Fuzzy Cognitive Map) is investigated to handle with the problem of risk analysis and assessment of pulmonary infections during the patient admission into the hospital. A Fuzzy Inference Mapping is an artificial cognitive structure within which the relations between the elements of a mental landscape can be used to assess the impact of these elements. It has the advantageous features of representing medical knowledge in a symbolic manner, giving system's transparency, interpretability of results and easiness of use by non experts. Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM) proved by the literature as an appropriate reasoning tool to explicitly encode the knowledge and experience accumulated on the operation of a complex system. This study presents a first tool for making decisions in medical domain that will help physicians, through the design of the knowledge representation and reasoning using FCM to automate the decision making process in the case of infectious diseases prediction. After drawing the FCM model for pulmonary risk prediction, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is implemented to analyze the map and outrank the concepts according to their importance for physicians. A number of different scenarios concentrated on the pulmonary infections are examined to demonstrate the application of the proposed methodology and its prediction capabilities. This work proves that FCM can handle efficiently with uncertainty in modeling medical knowledge.
Endothelial Actions of ANP Enhance Myocardial Inflammatory Infiltration in the Early Phase After Acute Infarction.

RATIONALE In patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), the initial extent of necrosis and inflammation determine clinical outcome. One early event in AMI is the increased cardiac expression of atrial natriuretic peptide (NP) and B-type NP, with their plasma levels correlating with severity of ischemia. It was shown that NPs, via their cGMP-forming guanylyl cyclase-A (GC-A) receptor and cGMP-dependent kinase I (cGKI), strengthen systemic endothelial barrier properties in acute inflammation. OBJECTIVE We studied whether endothelial actions of local NPs modulate myocardial injury and early inflammation after AMI. METHODS AND RESULTS Necrosis and inflammation after experimental AMI were compared between control mice and littermates with endothelial-restricted inactivation of GC-A (knockout mice with endothelial GC-A deletion) or cGKI (knockout mice with endothelial cGKI deletion). Unexpectedly, myocardial infarct size and neutrophil infiltration/activity 2 days after AMI were attenuated in knockout mice with endothelial GC-A deletion and unaltered in knockout mice with endothelial cGKI deletion. Molecular studies revealed that hypoxia and tumor necrosis factor-α, conditions accompanying AMI, reduce the endothelial expression of cGKI and enhance cGMP-stimulated phosphodiesterase 2A (PDE2A) levels. Real-time cAMP measurements in endothelial microdomains using a novel fluorescence resonance energy transfer biosensor revealed that PDE2 mediates NP/cGMP-driven decreases of submembrane cAMP levels. Finally, intravital microscopy studies of the mouse cremaster microcirculation showed that tumor necrosis factor-α-induced endothelial NP/GC-A/cGMP/PDE2 signaling impairs endothelial barrier functions. CONCLUSIONS Hypoxia and cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α, modify the endothelial postreceptor signaling pathways of NPs, with downregulation of cGKI, induction of PDE2A, and altered cGMP/cAMP cross talk. Increased expression of PDE2 can mediate hyperpermeability effects of paracrine endothelial NP/GC-A/cGMP signaling and facilitate neutrophil extravasation during the early phase after MI.
Associative Conditioning Deficits: Caused by or Cause of Anxiety?

Associative conditioning deficits resulting in a sense of perceived unpredictability have been linked with increases in contextual anxiety and behavioral avoidance. Trait and state anxiety were investigated as predictors of such conditioning deficits. In a differential fear conditioning paradigm with 107 healthy participants, state, but not trait, anxiety predicted awareness of the association between the conditioned stimulus (CS+) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) as assessed by post-experimental questionnaire and an online measure of US expectancy. Independent of initial state anxiety, unaware participants demonstrated increased contextual anxiety compared to aware participants as indicated by skin conductance responses (physiological arousal), eye blink startle reflex (defensive emotional response), and self-reported fear of the CS- (CS not paired with the US) as well as by self-reported US expectancy during intertrial intervals. Current findings may help to explain the perpetuating nature of anxiety.
Static typing with value space-based subtyping

Numerous programming and schema languages contain the notion of value types. However, support for value space-based subtyping is spotty. This paper presents a formal type system for atomic value types as an extension of the simply typed lambda calculus with subtyping. In the λc-calculus, value types can be derived through the application of value space constraints. Type inference rules can be used to infer transient value space constraints that hold for limited scopes of a program. The type system of the λc-calculus is proved to be sound. The λc-calculus was fully implemented in Java and C#. The presented approach was successfully validated to subsume XML Schema Definition type construction and to facilitate the integration of XSD data types with the C# programming language.
Internal models for interpreting neural population activity during sensorimotor control

To successfully guide limb movements, the brain takes in sensory information about the limb, internally tracks the state of the limb, and produces appropriate motor commands. It is widely believed that this process uses an internal model, which describes our prior beliefs about how the limb responds to motor commands. Here, we leveraged a brain-machine interface (BMI) paradigm in rhesus monkeys and novel statistical analyses of neural population activity to gain insight into moment-by-moment internal model computations. We discovered that a mismatch between subjects’ internal models and the actual BMI explains roughly 65% of movement errors, as well as long-standing deficiencies in BMI speed control. We then used the internal models to characterize how the neural population activity changes during BMI learning. More broadly, this work provides an approach for interpreting neural population activity in the context of how prior beliefs guide the transformation of sensory input to motor output. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.10015. 001
Efficient solutions for Stochastic Shortest Path Problems with Dead Ends

Many planning problems require maximizing the probability of goal satisfaction as well as minimizing the expected cost to reach the goal. To model and solve such problems, there have been several attempts at extending Stochastic Shortest Path problems (SSPs) to deal with dead ends and optimize a dual optimization criterion. Unfortunately these extensions lack either theoretical robustness or practical efﬁciency. We study a new, perhaps more natural optimization criterion capturing these problems, the Min-Cost given Max-Prob (MCMP) criterion. This criterion leads to the minimum expected cost policy among those with maximum success probability, and accurately accounts for the cost and risk of reaching dead ends. Moreover, it lends itself to efﬁcient solution methods that build on recent heuristic search algorithms for the dual representation of stochastic shortest paths problems. Our experiments show up to one order of magnitude speed-up over the state of the art.
Managing Unavailabilities in a Dynamic Scenario Following an Agent-Based Approach

The correct management of resources that can become unavailable over time and the efficient (in terms of both cost and time) re-allocation of the services they provided before becoming unavailable, is an open problem that arises in a wide range of application domains. Despite to some differences, many scenarios spanning very different domains, from logistics to industrial automation, from telecommunication to water systems, may be considered as instances of a more general situation, and the actions to take in order to solve the unavailability problem follow similar patterns. In this paper we discuss the implementation of a multiagent system for solving unavailability problems in an artificial although realistic scenario which takes inspiration from to the electricity power network domain.
Successful re-treatment of a relapsed V600E mutated HCL patient with low-dose vemurafenib

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a chronic B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder that accounts for 2% of all leukemia. Recent identification of the recurrent V600E BRAF mutation in a majority of HCL patients has led some teams to evaluate the clinical potential of vemurafenib, a BRAF V600 specific inhibitor in a limited number of refractory HCL patients. Recently, we published the case of an HCL patient successfully treated with a low dose of vemurafenib. Eight months after the ending of treatment this patient relapsed. We present here the successful retreatment of this patient with a second line of vemurafenib. Our data suggest for the first time that vemurafenib at the dose of 240 mg once a day could be sufficient to maintain a complete hematological remission after an initial induction treatment with low-dose vemurafenib (2 × 240 mg) daily without inducing major toxicity.
Do We Change Gifted Children to Fit Gifted Programs, or Do We Change Gifted Programs to Fit Gifted Children?

In this article, I present a framework that can be used in our work with special groups of gifted students—one that recognizes the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), racism, and other limiting factors on educational achievement and provides a blueprint for interventions. This framework stems from Urie Bronfrenbrenner's ecological theory of development and emphasizes the role of social support systems in the development of talent. I then argue that two important reasons to retain a strong focus on programs that serve minority students include the fact that the gap in achievement between minority and nonminority children is pervasive and exists even at high socioeconomic levels and that minority students' underachievement is largely attributable to cultural factors within our society.
ESDGC in primary schools : exploring practice, development and influences

Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) has received little detailed research attention, especially in Wales where it is now a key theme in the Revised Curriculum for Wales. The thesis explores issues in the development of ESDGC through case studies of five Welsh primary schools which had received positive mention for ESDGC. The schools’ practice is first examined against established criteria for ESDGC. A detailed investigation follows of the influences and dynamics that had shaped their development. All schools were found to be carrying out a substantial number of ESDGC activities and taking a flexible, pupil-centred, skills-based approach; this was further encouraged by the nature of the revised curriculum. One school displayed some characteristics of transformative change. ESDGC was found to widen pupils’ horizons and to give them enjoyment and motivation for learning. Although schools had begun developing ESDGC for varied reasons all had at some time been influenced by national guidance. Key factors in development included: having a supportive head teacher who gave attention to ESDGC; a knowledgeable, enthusiastic ESDGC coordinator; a collaborative ethos; being alert to, and taking advantage of, external opportunities to enrich learning. Key players had often received substantial professional development but other teachers were dependent on learning opportunities within the school. ESDGC coordinators had extensive external networks which gave them access to intellectual capital and new ideas. Where there were strong learning communities and frequent opportunities to discuss ESDGC there appeared to be greater understanding of ESDGC and a shared vision of its relevance. Several progressive models are proposed to explain the mechanisms of ESDGC development within schools and regionally. These draw on a combination of action research models, socio-historic activity theory and social network theory. Implications for national funding strategies, school networking, teacher training and educational change in general are noted.
Neutral Law and Eurocentric Lawmaking: A Postcolonial Analysis of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child

This is a post-colonial study of the state practice of the parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The most ratified treaty in the World, only the United States and Somalia are non-parties to this treaty. This empirical study of the drafting and ratification process of the CRC shows the limitations of legal process and method. That without actually addressing the colonial legacy in international law Europe will remain the guardians of international law. Even when Third World States participates in the legal process, their ability to dissent is limited by a European sense of entitlement to interpret the legal parameters. Europe is still today policing Third World dissent.