Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuronal Glutamatergic Synaptic Clefts Alkalinize Rather Than Acidify during Neurotransmission

The dogma that the synaptic cleft acidifies during neurotransmission is based on the corelease of neurotransmitters and protons from synaptic vesicles, and is supported by direct data from sensory ribbon-type synapses. However, it is unclear whether acidification occurs at non–ribbon-type synapses. Here we used genetically encoded fluorescent pH indicators to examine cleft pH at conventional neuronal synapses. The dogma that the synaptic cleft acidifies during neurotransmission is based on the corelease of neurotransmitters and protons from synaptic vesicles, and is supported by direct data from sensory ribbon-type synapses. However, it is unclear whether acidification occurs at non–ribbon-type synapses. Here we used genetically encoded fluorescent pH indicators to examine cleft pH at conventional neuronal synapses. At the neuromuscular junction of female Drosophila larvae, we observed alkaline spikes of over 1 log unit during fictive locomotion in vivo. Ex vivo, single action potentials evoked alkalinizing pH transients of only ∼0.01 log unit, but these transients summated rapidly during burst firing. A chemical pH indicator targeted to the cleft corroborated these findings. Cleft pH transients were dependent on Ca2+ movement across the postsynaptic membrane, rather than neurotransmitter release per se, a result consistent with cleft alkalinization being driven by the Ca2+/H+ antiporting activity of the plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase at the postsynaptic membrane. Targeting the pH indicators to the microenvironment of the presynaptic voltage gated Ca2+ channels revealed that alkalinization also occurred within the cleft proper at the active zone and not just within extrasynaptic regions. Application of the pH indicators at the mouse calyx of Held, a mammalian central synapse, similarly revealed cleft alkalinization during burst firing in both males and females. These findings, made at two quite different non–ribbon type synapses, suggest that cleft alkalinization during neurotransmission, rather than acidification, is a generalizable phenomenon across conventional neuronal synapses. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neurotransmission is highly sensitive to the pH of the extracellular milieu. This is readily evident in the neurological symptoms that accompany systemic acid/base imbalances. Imaging data from sensory ribbon-type synapses show that neurotransmission itself can acidify the synaptic cleft, likely due to the corelease of protons and glutamate. It is not clear whether the same phenomenon occurs at conventional neuronal synapses due to the difficulties in collecting such data. If it does occur, it would provide for an additional layer of activity-dependent modulation of neurotransmission. Our findings of alkalinization, rather than acidification, within the cleft of two different neuronal synapses encourages a reassessment of the scope of activity-dependent pH influences on neurotransmission and short-term synaptic plasticity.
Intestinal Permeability and Its Role in Disease

Journal of Biomedical Therapy 2009 ) Vol. 3, No. 2 The mucous membranes of the GI tract also provide compartmentalization, protecting the relatively fragile, homeodynamic internal milieu from the relatively harsh environment of the intestinal lumen. Mucosal membranes include many different structures and cells with unique roles in maintaining the physical, chemical, and immunological barrier functions. Another major function of the GI tract is immunity. The epithelial cells of the GI tract provide the first line of defense, protecting us from the potentially dangerous or foreign substances brought into our body via our food and drink. Furthermore, most pathogenic microbes, including many medically important viruses, must cross a mucosal barrier to cause disease. It is estimated that up to 80% of the immune system cells are initiated in the GI tract or spend a good portion of their life there. The gut-associated lymphatic system (GALT) is part of an interdependent mucosal immune system termed the mucosa-associated lymphatic system (MALT). Immunocompetent cells that develop in the GALT are transported via the lymphatic system to the circulatory system to be carried to other mucous membranes, such as the respiratory and urogenital tracts, to provide protection. This interdependence between all mucous membranes in the body is important because it means that by using bioregulatory medicines to restore integrity in the GI tract, we can influence the overall immune system and general health. The immunological barrier function is a very dynamic and complex one, with roles not only in protection from substances that are foreign and/or potentially dangerous but also in tolerance to commensal microflora and the nutrients that are digested and absorbed to maintain normal body functions (Figure). In the healthy GI tract, with intact mucous membranes, tolerance is the predominant immunological function. Therefore, we do not react to the daily nutrients that we need to support our physiological functions. If the GI tract barrier is compromised, there is a breakdown in tolerance, leading to increased reactivity, chronic activation of immune system cells, and production of cytokines that can have localized and systemic effects. Some of the more common diseases associated with a breakdown in the integrity of the GI tract include the inflammatory bowel diseases and certain autoimmune diseases, such as ankylosing spondylitis, IgA nephropathy and multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes mellitus, and autism. Other conditions associated with a hyperpermeable GI tract include congestive heart failure, chronic venous insufficiency and the development of leg ulcers, major depressive disorder, chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome, gallstones, and progression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The documented relationship between a “leaky gut” and so many important diseases, as described, speaks to the importance of medical interventions that can safely and effectively promote healing in a timely manner. This article will describe Intestinal Permeability and Its Role in Disease
ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Spiraviridae

The family Spiraviridae includes viruses that replicate in hyperthermophilic archaea from the genus Aeropyrum . The non-enveloped, hollow, cylindrical virions are formed from a coiling fibre that consists of two intertwining halves of a single circular nucleoprotein filament. A short appendage protrudes from each end of the cylindrical virion. The genome is circular, positive-sense, single-stranded DNA of 24 893 nucleotides. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) report on the family Spiraviridae, which is available at ictv.global/report/spiraviridae.
Safety and efficacy of baroreflex activation therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: a rapid systematic review

To retrieve and assess the available data in the literature about the safety and efficacy of baroreflex activation therapy (BAT) in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) patients, through a rapid systematic review of clinical studies. Rapid systematic review of literature. Searched electronic databases included PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Scopus, and Web of Science using Mesh and free terms for heart failure and BAT. No language restriction was used for the searches. We included full peer reviewed publications of clinical studies (randomized or not), including patients with HFrEF undergoing BAT, with or without control group, assessing safety and efficacy outcomes. One reviewer conducted the analysis of the selected abstracts and the full‐text articles, performed data extraction, and evaluated the methodological quality of the selected articles. The methodological quality was assessed according to the Cochrane Collaboration instruments. A descriptive summary of the results is provided. Of the 441 citations screened, 10 publications were included (three were only conference abstracts), reporting data from three studies. Only one study was a randomized clinical trial. Two studies reported a 6 month following, and the other study analysed outcomes up to 41 months. The procedure seems to be safe when performed by a well‐trained multi‐professional team. An 86% rate of system and procedure‐related complication‐free was reported, with no cranial nerve injuries. Improvements in New York Heart Association class of heart failure, quality of life, 6 min walk test, and hospitalization rates, as well as in muscle sympathetic nerve activity. No meta‐analysis was conducted because of the lack of homogeneity across studies; the results from each study are reported individually. BAT procedure seems to be safe if appropriate training is provided. Improvements in clinical outcomes were described in all included studies. However, several limitations do not allow us to make conclusive statements on the efficacy of BAT for HFrEF. New well‐designed trials are still needed.
The Optimization of IF-conversion in Whole Function Vectorization

In order to get better performance, lots of optimization methods are used in code transformation. When migrating SPMD to multi-core platform, vectorization is one key optimization to improve performance. Control flow is the main challenge for vectorization and IF-conversion is usually used to transform control flow into data flow. In most researches, after IF-conversion both the two branch vector codes have to be executed even the predications in scalar lane for one branch are all false. This study proposes code bypass technology to improve this situation in whole function vectorization of SSA from. The region of consecutive instructions guarded by the same predicate is first identified. Then detecting operation is added to identify if predications in scalar lane are all false and a jump operation followed to bypass the consecutive instructions region. For loop structure, we add loop mask to indicate which lane is not alive in loop which could help to treat iteration in loop. The experiment shows our method could improve performance by 6.8%.
Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of the Standardised Nordic Questionnaire Spanish Version in Musicians

Background: The Standardised Nordic Questionnaire (SNQ) is an instrument to analyse the musculoskeletal symptoms in an ergonomic or occupational health context. We aimed to cross-culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the SNQ among Spanish musicians. Methods: Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric validation (reliability, validity, and feasibility) was performed. Reliability was analysed by test-retest reliability (Cohen’s Kappa) and internal consistency (Kuder–Richardson). Content and face validity were measured by the Expert Committee and the opinion of participants. Construct validity (Mann–Whitney U test) was measured by comparing with questionnaires used to assess pain and disability in neck, shoulders, upper back, and low back regions. Feasibility was calculated with the average response time. Results: A total of 312 Spanish musicians were included. The Spanish version of SNQ achieved good semantic, conceptual, idiomatic, and content equivalence. For most of the variables, test-retest reliability was good to very good (k = 0.60–0.81). The internal consistency showed good to acceptable (Kuder–Richardson 20 (KR20) = 0.737–0.873). Participants with versus without musculoskeletal problems in a related region showed significantly higher disability/pain, indicating a good construct validity. About the feasibility, the average response time of the questionnaire was 6 min (±2). Conclusions: The results show that the Spanish SNQ is reliable, valid, and feasible screening tool to assess musculoskeletal problems among musicians.
Executive Functions do not Underlie Performance on the Edinburgh Social Cognition Test (ESCoT) in Healthy Younger and Older Adults

Abstract Objective: Current measures of social cognition have shown inconsistent findings regarding the effects of executive function (EF) abilities on social cognitive performance in older adults. The psychometric properties of the different social cognition tests may underlie the disproportional overlap with EF abilities. Our aim was to examine the relationship between social cognition and EF abilities using the Edinburgh Social Cognition Test (ESCoT; Baksh, R.A., Abrahams, S., Auyeung, B., & MacPherson, S.E. (2018). The Edinburgh Social Cognition Test (ESCoT): Examining the effects of age on a new measure of theory of mind and social norm understanding. PloS One, 13(4), e0195818. ), a test assessing four different aspects of social cognition: cognitive theory of mind (ToM), affective ToM, interpersonal understanding of social norms, and intrapersonal understanding of social norms. Method: We administered the ESCoT, EF measures of inhibition, set shifting, updating, and a measure of processing speed to 30 younger and 31 older adults. We also administered the Visual Perspective Taking task (VPT) as a ToM test thought to be reliant on EF abilities. Results: Better performance on cognitive ToM was significantly associated with younger age and slower processing speed. Better performance on affective ToM and ESCoT total score was associated with being younger and female. Better performance on interpersonal understanding of social norms was associated with being younger. EF abilities did not predict performance on any subtest of the ESCoT. In contrast, on the VPT, the relationship between age group and performance was fully or partially mediated by processing speed and updating. Conclusions: These findings show that the ESCoT is a valuable measure of different aspects of social cognition and, unlike many established tests of social cognition, performance is not predicted by EF abilities.
Ravello , Italy , June 16-18 , 2010 Resolving FTO Barriers in GM Canola

The development of intellectual property (IP) protection in plant breeding brought much needed private investment into canola research in the 1980s, but at the same time, fragmented research and IP ownership. In the 1990s, the biotechnology industry tried to addressed the growing IP fragmentation through a series of mergers and aquisitions. As we show through a survey of canola breeders, these changes reduced the sharing of knowledge in both the public and private sector, significantly increasing the cost of conducting breeding research. In the past decade, firms have clearly moved away from mergers and acquisitions and towards cross-licensing of IP. What remains to be seen, is whether these agreements get to the root of the freedom to operate (FTO) problem that exists in agricultural biotechnology.
Direct onshore wind predicts daily swimmer's itch (avian schistosome) incidence at a Michigan beach

Abstract Swimmer's itch (SI) is a painful rash caused by skin penetration by free-swimming infectious cercariae of avian schistosomes, snail-borne helminth parasites related to the causative agents of human schistosomiasis. The goal of this study was to determine if commonly collected environmental data could be used to predict daily fluctuations in SI incidence at an inland beach in northwestern Michigan. Lifeguards collected daily data over four summers, including the number of self-reported SI cases, total swimmers, water temperature, wind speed and wind direction. Mixed-effects binomial regression revealed that wind direction, wind speed and time of day were the best predictors of daily SI risk. Swimmers entering the water in the morning or on days with direct onshore wind perpendicular to the shoreline had the greatest SI risk. However, there was a negative effect of wind speed after accounting for direction, where SI risk was greatest on days with a gentle breeze originating directly offshore. These results suggest that at this beach, direct onshore winds generate a surface-water current that causes SI cercariae to aggregate in the shallow waters used by swimmers. Data are needed from additional sites to confirm whether the onshore wind is a generally important driver of SI incidence.
Managerial decision making in project acceleration: The role of product innovativeness and acceleration goals in acceleration strategy choice

There is increasing recognition among new product development (NPD) scholars that not all drivers of faster product development are equally impactful under different conditions and that a universal approach to accelerating NPD is not very useful. This study investigates how project innovativeness, a major source of uncertainty in NPD, influences acceleration strategy choice, while also taking into account the extent of acceleration that is being sought to achieve. In the light of extant work on acceleration strategies, we distinguish between two alternative theoretical models (compression strategy, which involves the use of practices such as supplier involvement, computer-aided design (CAD) and overlapping steps; and experiential strategy, which resides on the implementation of multiple design iteration and testing cycles, frequent project milestones and a powerful project leader) with which to accelerate product development. We follow a 2x2 experimental design based on a hypothetical decision task in which participants are projected into the role of a product development manager embarking on a new project, and conduct two sets of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) on data obtained from 88 NPD practitioners. The results offer support for our hypothesis that incremental NPD projects would utilise compression to a greater extent than highly innovative projects. As expected, the acceleration strategy of choice for highly innovative projects is the experiential strategy. We find that incremental and highly innovative projects respond differently to the hike in uncertainty due to an ambitious time reduction objective. Specifically, incremental projects merely increase their reliance on their default strategy of compression, highly innovative projects make complementary use of both experiential and compression strategies.
Nomophobia: An Individual’s Growing Fear of Being without a Smartphone—A Systematic Literature Review

This review examines the current literature focused on nomophobia (objectives, methodological design, main variables, sample details, and measurement methods) in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. To this end, we conducted a systematic literature review in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) guidelines. The initial sample consisted of 142 articles, of which 42 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed in detail. The findings show that the current research is in an exploratory phase, with a greater predominance of descriptive, nonexperimental, and cross-sectional studies that explore the prevalence of nomophobia mainly in adolescents and university students. The most widely used measurement instrument is the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) proposed by Yildrim and Correia. In addition, the research suggests that nomophobia negatively affects personality, self-esteem, anxiety, stress, academic performance, and other physical and mental health problems. We are therefore faced with a health problem, which negatively affects a person, causing psychological problems and physical and behavioral changes.
The molecular genetics of phosphine resistance in the lesser grain borer and implications for management

We analysed high-level resistance to phosphine in Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), the lesser grain borer (LGB), using both classical and advanced molecular genetic techniques. We found that two major genes primarily control resistance. The first gene has been present in LGB populations for many years and is responsible for 'weak' resistance, i.e. resistance that can be controlled with a properly applied fumigation. Insects with a stronger level of resistance were detected in 1997. These insects have the gene responsible for 'weak' resistance plus another gene. The second gene has little effect on its own but strongly enhances the effect of the first gene. We also found that neither gene has any mea- surable fitness effect over 16 generations. Our analyses show that, to combat resistance, fumigations must be fully effective. If eradication is not complete, resistance will rapidly regenerate in an insect population.
Anti-Mullerian Hormone and Impending Menopause in Late Reproductive Age: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation.

BACKGROUND A test that helps predict the time to the final menstrual period (FMP) has been sought for many years. OBJECTIVE To assess the ability of Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) measurements to predictions the time to FMP. DESIGN Prospective longitudinal cohort study. SETTING The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation. PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS AMH and FSH were measured in 1537 pre- or early perimenopausal women, mean age 47.5 ± 2.6 years at baseline, then serially until 12 months of amenorrhea occurred. AMH was measured using a two-site ELISA with a detection limit of 1.85 pg/ml. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Areas under the Receiver Operating Curves (AUC) for AMH-based and FSH-based predictions of time to FMP, stratified by age. Probabilities that women would undergo their FMP in the next 12, 24, or 36 months across a range of AMH values were assessed. RESULTS AUCs for predicting that the FMP will occur within the next 24 months were significantly greater for AMH-based than FSH-based models. The probability that a woman with an AMH <10 pg/ml would undergo her FMP within the next 12 months ranged from 51% at <48 years old to 79% at ≥ 51 years old. The probability that a woman with an AMH >100 pg/mL would not undergo her FMP within the next 12 months ranged from 97% in women <48 years old to 90% in women ≥ 51 years old. CONCLUSIONS AMH measurement helps estimate when a woman will undergo her FMP, and, in general, does so better than FSH.