Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Whole‐cell voltage‐clamp investigation of the role of PKC in muscarinic inhibition of IAHP in rat CA1 hippocampal neurons

Muscarinic, cholinergic inputs, largely from the medial septum, have pronounced effects on hippocampal cell excitability. A major effect of synaptically released ACh is block of the slow Ca2+‐dependent potassium current, called IAHP. Protein kinase C exists in the hippocampus in high concentrations, its activation blocks IAHP, and it has been suggested as a mediator of the muscarinic‐receptor‐(mAChR)‐mediated actions. Using conditions that produce a stable postspike after hyperpolarizing current (IAHP) in whole‐cell recordings from CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neurons in the slice preparation, we have investigated the role of PKC in the cholinergic inhibition of IAHP mediated by mACHRs. Bath application of the general kinase inhibitor, H7, had no effect on inhibition of IAHP by carbachol, although H7 dramatically reduced inhibition of IAHP by the phorbol ester, phorbol‐12,13‐di‐acetate (PDA). Another muscarinic response thought to be mediated by PKC‐inhibition of GABAB‐mediated hyperpolarization—was reduced by extracellular H7 treatment, suggesting that the coupling between mAChRs and protein kinase activity was maintained in whole‐cell recordings. We also discovered that PDA does not mediate its effects on IAHP directly. Intracellular perfusion of high concentrations of H7 (10 mM) or the specific PKC inhibitor, PKCI(19–31) (1 mM), did not prevent inhibition of IAHP by PDA. These results are consistent with an indirect, presynaptic action of phorbol esters on IAHP, possibly mediated through enhanced release of neurotransmitter from surrounding cells. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Reports Modulation of Non-Tem-plated Nucleotide Addition by Taq DNA Polymerase : Primer Modifications that Facilitate Genotyping

Taq DNA polymerase can catalyze nontemplated addition of a nucleotide (principally adenosine) to the 3′ end of PCR-amplified products. Recently, we showed that this activity, which is primer-specific, presents a potential source of error in genotyping studies based on the use of short tandem repeat (STR) markers. Furthermore, in reviewing our data, we found that non-templated nucleotide addition adjacent to a 3′ terminal C is favored and that addition adjacent to a 3′ terminal A is not. It was clear, however, that features of the template in addition to the 3′ terminal base also affect the fraction of product adenylated. To define consensus sequences that promote or inhibit product adenylation, we transplanted sequences between the 5′ ends of the reverse primers of markers that are adenylated and those of markers that are not adenylated. It proved difficult to identify a single sequence capable of protecting the products of all markers from non-templated addition of nucleotide. On the other hand, placing the sequence GTTTCTT on the 5′ end of reverse primers resulted in nearly 100% adenylation of the 3′ end of the forward strand. This modification or related ones (called “PIGtailing”) should facilitate accurate genotyping and efficient T/A cloning.
AoEs: enhancing teleportation experience in immersive environment with mid-air haptics

To alleviate cybersickness in the immersive virtual reality (VR), teleportation is a common method of moving around in virtual spaces. Although users can receive the visual and auditory feedbacks from their first-person perspective with the advances of immersive head-mounted displays (HMD), they do not have the haptic experience when they teleport to another environment. Based on the immersive HMD, many research groups have shown that haptic feedback is one of the important key to enhance the immersive experience in the virtual reality. However, to simulate the haptic feedback from different environments e.g. desert and snow, it require many devices in the real environment to simulate the sun, airflow, humidity and temperature. In this work, our main concept is to provide a haptic tower in the room-scale VR, which allow the game designers to enhance the player experience in the immersive environments. We present Area of Elements (AoEs), an integration device for simulating immersive environments with haptics, which can provide two kinds of virtual environments simultaneously for teleportation experience.
Small-Molecule Antagonists of p53-MDM2 Binding: Research Tools and Potential Therapeutics

p53 regulates a key pathway which protects normal tissues from tumor development that may result from diverse forms of stress. In the absence of stress, growth suppressive and proapoptotic activity of p53 is inhibited by MDM2 which binds p53 and negatively regulates its activity and stability. MDM2 antagonists could activate p53 and may offer a novel therapeutic approach to cancer. Recently, we identified the first potent and selective low molecular weight inhibitors of MDM2-p53 binding, the Nutlins. These molecules activate the p53 pathway and suppress tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Nutlins represent valuable new tools for studying the p53 pathway and its defects in cancer. Their potent activity against osteosarcoma xenogrfts suggests that MDM2 antagonists may have a clinical utility in the treatment of tumors with wild-type p53.
The allometry of patch selection in ruminants

An axiomatic feature of food consumption by animals is that intake rate and prey abundance are positively related. While this has been demonstrated rigorously for large herbivores, it is apparent from patch selection trials that grazers paradoxically tend to prefer short, sparse swards to tall, dense swards. Indeed, migratory herbivores often shift from areas of high to low sward biomass during the growing season. As nutritional quality is an inverse function of grass abundance, herbivores appear to sacrifice short–term intake for nutritional gains obtainable by eating sparse forage of higher quality. Explicit models of this trade–off suggest that individual ruminants maximize daily rates of energy gain by choosing immature swards of intermediate biomass. As body mass is related positively to both ruminant cropping rates and digestibility, there should be an allometric link between grass abundance and energy maximization, providing a tool for predicting patterns of herbivore habitat selection. We used previously published studies to develop a synthetic model of trade–offs between forage abundance and quality, predicting that optimal sward biomass should scale allometrically with body size. The model predicts size–related variation in habitat selection observed in a guild of grazing ungulates in the Serengeti ecosystem.
Memory processing and the glucose facilitation effect: The effects of stimulus difficulty and memory load

Abstract Previous research has consistently found enhancement of memory after the ingestion of a glucose containing drink. The aims of the present study were to specify more precisely the nature of this facilitation by examining the cognitive demand hypothesis. This hypothesis predicts greater glucose induced facilitation on tasks that require significant mental effort. In two experiments, both employing an unrelated sample design, participants consumed either 25 g of glucose or a control solution. In experiment 1, participants first studied low and high imagery word-pairs and memory was assessed 1-, 7- and 14-days later by cued recall. Overall, glucose enhanced both encoding and consolidation processes only for the more difficult low imagery pairs. In experiment 2, the degree of mental effort in a verbal memory task was manipulated in two ways: (1) by varying the phonological similarity of the words; and (2) by varying the length of word lists. Glucose was found to enhance memory only for longer word lists. These data are consistent with the idea that glucose is especially effective in demanding memory tasks, but place some limits on the forms of difficulty that are susceptible to enhancement.
Generation of liposome aerosols with the Aeroneb Pro and the AeroProbe nebulizers

Background: Inhalation of therapeutic aerosols is a long-established means of drug delivery to the lungs or to the systemic circulation. In addition to solutions, suspensions, and particulates, liposomal formulations are being developed for aerosol administration. In this report, we investigated the membrane integrity of liposomes encapsulating the fluorescent model compound, calcein, after nebulization using two novel aerosolization devices, the Aeroneb Pro vibrating-mesh nebulizer (Aerogen, Dangan, Ireland) and the AeroProbe intracorporeal nebulizing catheter (Trudell Medical Corporation, London, Ontario, Canada). Materials and Methods: The influence of lipid composition and lamellarity on the stability of the vesicles was investigated by measuring changes in median diameter, ζ-potential, and calcein retention. Results: Both nebulizers were able to successfully aerosolise 1.5 mL of liposome suspension in a short period of time. The diameter and ζ-potential of the liposomes was preserved upon nebulization, and the calcein retention was above 70% in all cases. Conclusions: It can, hence, be concluded that both systems, the Aeroneb Pro and the AeroProbe, are well suited for the pulmonary delivery of liposomal formulations, with the AeroProbe having the additional advantage of allowing targeted delivery into the select regions of the lungs with a high degree of efficiency and control.
Adaptive Complex-Valued Independent Component Analysis Based on Second-Order Statistics

This paper proposes a two-stage fast convergence adaptive complex-valued independent component analysis based on second-order statistics of complex-valued source signals. The first stage constructs a cost function by extending the real-valued whiten cost function to a complex-valued domain and optimizes the cost function using a complex-valued gradient. The second stage uses the restriction that the pseudocovariance matrix of the separated signal is a diagonal matrix to construct the cost function and the geodesic method is used to optimize the cost function. Compared with other adaptive complex-valued independent component analysis, the proposed method shows a faster convergence rate and smaller error. Computer simulations were performed on synthesized signals and communications signals. The simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm.
Behaviour-based virus analysis and detection

II DECLARATION . IV PUBLICATIONS. V ACKNOWLEDGMENT . VI TABLE OF CONTENT . VIII LIST OF FIGURES . XIII LISTINGS. XV LIST OF TABLES . XVII LIST OF ACRONYMS . XVIII Chapter
Effect of particle size of parenteral suspensions on in vitro muscle damage

Objective: Suspension particle size plays a key role in the release and stability of drugs for oral and parenteral formulations. However, the role of particle size in suspension formulations on tissue damage (myotoxicity) following intramuscular (IM) injection has not been systematically investigated. Materials and methods: Myotoxicity was assessed by the release of cumulative creatine kinase (CCK) from the isolated extensor digitorium longus (EDL) and soleus (SOL) rat muscles for selected suspensions of phenytoin, bupivicane and diazepam. Particle size effects on myotoxicity, independent of any specific drug, were also investigated using characterized non-dissolving polystyrene beads. Results: Myotoxicity was quantitated by the cumulative release of creatine kinase (CCK) from these isolated muscles over 90 or 120 min. The relationship between particle size and myotoxicity was dependent upon the drug in these suspensions. Diazepam and phenytoin suspensions were found to be less myotoxic than bupivicaine. Using unmodified and carboxy modified polystyrene beads, an optimal particle size for reduced myotoxicity following IM injection ranges from approx. 500 nm to 1 µM. Conclusions: The relationship between myotoxicity of IM suspensions and particle size is dependent upon the particular drug and suspension particle size.
Person Re-Identification as Image Retrieval Using Bag of Ensemble Colors

Person re-identification is a challenging problem of matching observations of individuals across non-overlapping camera views. When pedestrians walk across disjoint camera views, continuous motion information is lost, and thus re-identification mainly relies on appearance matching. Person re-identification is actually a special case of near duplicate search in image retrieval. Given a probe, our task is to find the image containing the same person in galleries. At present many state-of-the-art methods in image retrieval are based on the Bag-of-Words (BOW) model. By adapting the BOW model to our task, Bag-of-EnsembleColors (BOEC) is proposed to tackle person re-identification in this paper. We combine low-level color histogram and semantic color names to represent human appearances. Meanwhile, some mature and efficient techniques in image retrieval are employed in the model containing soft quantization, burstiness punishing strategy, and negative evidence. In consideration apriori knowledge of human body structure, efficient spatial constraints are proposed to weaken the influence of background. Extensive experiments on VIPeR and ETHZ databases are performed to test the effectiveness of our approach, and promising results are obtained in the public databases. Compared with other unsupervised methods, we obtain state-of-the-art performances. The recognition rate is 32.23% on VIPeR dataset, 87% on ETHZ SEQ. #1, 83% on ETHZ SEQ. #2, and 91% on ETHZ SEQ. #3. key words: person re-identification, image matching, appearance model, bag of colors, words organization
Reassortment of NS Segments Modifies Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus Interaction with Avian Hosts and Host Cells

ABSTRACT Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) of subtypes H5 and H7 have caused numerous outbreaks in diverse poultry species and rising numbers of human infections. Both HPAIV subtypes support a growing concern of a pandemic outbreak, specifically via the avian-human link. Natural reassortment of both HPAIV subtypes is a possible event with unpredictable outcome for virulence and host specificity of the progeny virus for avian and mammalian species. NS reassortment of H5N1 HPAIV viruses in the background of A/FPV/Rostock/1934 (H7N1) HPAIV has been shown to change virus replication kinetics and host cell responses in mammalian cells. However, not much is known about the virus-host interaction of such viruses in avian species. In the present study, we show that the NS segment of A/Vietnam/1203/2004 (FPV NS VN, H5N1) HPAIV significantly altered the characteristics of the H7 prototype HPAIV in tracheal organ cultures (TOC) of chicken and turkey in vitro, with decreased replication efficiency accompanied by increased induction of type I interferon (IFN) and apoptosis. Furthermore, species-specific differences between chicken and turkey were demonstrated. Interestingly, NS-reassortant FPV NS VN showed an overall highly pathogenic phenotype, with increased virulence and replication potential compared to the wild-type virus after systemic infection of chicken and turkey embryos. Our data demonstrate that single reassortment of an H5-type NS into an H7-type HPAIV significantly changed virus replication abilities and influenced the avian host cell response without prior adaptation.
Aliasing Probability in Multiple Input Signature Registers under Q-ary Symmetric Errors Model

The aliasing probability in single and multiple input Linear Automata Signature Registers has been widely studied under the independent bit error model. This paper examines aliasing in a class of Multiple-input Signature Registers (MISR), under the q-ary symmetric error model. By modeling the signature analyzer as two-state Markov process and four-state Markov process, we derived the close aliasing probability form expression of MISR for arbitrary test lengths. These results are used to compute the aliasing probability for the MISR compression technique for arbitrary test lengths.
North American multicenter experience with the On-X prosthetic heart valve.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY This ongoing, longitudinal, multi-center, North American study was designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the On-X valve. METHODS The On-X valve was implanted in isolated aortic (AVR) and mitral (MVR) valve replacement patients at nine North American centers. Follow up was 98.6% complete. Anticoagulation compliance was evaluated by collection of international normalized ratio (INR) results in all patients throughout their postoperative follow up. Adverse events were recorded according to the AATS/STS guidance criteria. Hematologic studies were conducted postoperatively to evaluate hemodynamics and hemolysis. RESULTS In total, 142 AVR and 142 MVR implants were performed; the mean follow up was 4.5 years; total follow up was 1,273 patient-years (pt-yr). At implant, the mean patient age was 59.2 years (range: 28 to 85 years); 71.8% of patients who underwent AVR and 33.1% who underwent MVR were males. Preoperatively, 89.4% of AVR patients and 56.3% of MVR patients were in sinus rhythm. The cardiac disease etiology was primarily stenotic, calcific degeneration in AVR and rheumatic or degenerative regurgitation in MVR. Hemolysis represented by postoperative elevation of serum lactate dehydrogenase was very low (median 217 IU after AVR and 251 IU after MVR at one year (82% AVR and 98% MVR of upper normal). Late adverse event rates were low, most notably thromboembolism (0.9%/pt-yr after AVR; 1.6%/pt-yr after MVR) and thrombosis. Kaplan-Meier event-free rates at five years were correspondingly high. Anticoagulation compliance analysis showed only about 40% of INR readings to be within target ranges postoperatively; thus, the control range achieved was much greater than the desired target, as might generally be expected for clinic-controlled INR. CONCLUSION The On-X valve performed well in this study, confirming the original design intent of minimal hemolysis and low adverse event rates.
Multilingual summarization in practice: the case of patent claims

Hardly any other type of textual material is as difficult to read and comprehend as patents. Especially the claims in a patent reveal very complex syntactic constructions which are difficult to process even for native speakers, let alone for foreigners who do not master well the language in which the patent is written. Therefore, multilingual summarization is very attractive to practitioners in the field. We propose a multilingual summarizer that operates at the Deep-Syntactic Structures (DSyntSs) as introduced in the Meaning-Text Theory. Firstly, the original claims are linguistically simplified and analyzed down to DSyntSs. Then, syntactic and discursive summarization criteria are applied to the DSyntSs to remove summary irrelevant DSyntS-branches. The pruned DSyntS are transferred into DSyntSs of the language in which the summary is to be generated. For the generation of the summary from the transferred DSyntSs, we use the full fledged text generator MATE.
An application of Bootstrap technique in animal science: egg yolk color sample.

In this study, it was aimed to introduce the Bootstrap technique and to reveal the relationship between measurements of yolk color fan grades and digital colorimeter that is used for determining the yellow color of egg by utilizing this technique. For this purpose, a total of 1350 samples of 15 color grades of Roche yolk color fan and L* (lightness), a* (redness), b* (yellowness) values in the same samples were compared. The means, standard errors and confidence intervals for each color parameters of fan grades have been demonstrated by the Bootstrap technique. The grades of Roche yolk color fan in terms of L* values have been divided into 10 groups (P<0.01), while only divided into 9 groups in terms of b* values (P<0.01). According to the means of Redness (a*), all of the Roche yolk color fan grades (15 grades) have been determined as independent from each other (P<0.01). With the Bootstrap method, the standard error values of means were decreased by 42.03%, 35.38% and 30.24%, respectively, and the confidence intervals were narrowed by the ratio of 42.03%, 35.38% and 30.24%, respectively. The results of the study were compared with the results of the study that was conducted by using Roche yolk color fan which is cheaper but less reliable and by using digital colorimeter method which is expensive but reliable.
School Drug Testing: A Critical Review of the Literature

This paper explores the question of whether school drug testing is an effective solution to tackle adolescent substance abuse problems. Research studies in major academic databases and Internet websites are reviewed. Several observations are highlighted from the review: (1) there are few research studies in this area, particularly in different Chinese contexts; (2) the quality of the existing studies was generally low; and (3) research findings supporting the effectiveness of school drug testing were mixed. Methodological issues underlying quantitative and qualitative evaluation studies of the effectiveness of school drug testing are also discussed.
Multiple-human tracking using multiple cameras

We propose a human motion detection method using multiple-viewpoint images. In vision-based human tracking, self-occlusions and human-human occlusions are a part of the more significant problems. Employing multiple viewpoints and a viewpoint selection mechanism, however, can reduce these problems. The vision system in this case should select the best viewpoints for extracting human motion information; the "best" selections can be changed among different types of target information. We address the problem of tracking human bodies. We divide the task into three primitive sub-tasks (position detection, rotation angle detection and body side detection). Each sub-task has a different criterion for selecting viewpoints and an estimation result of one sub-task can help another sub-task. We describe the criteria for accomplishing the individual sub-tasks and the relationships between sub-tasks. We have built an experimental system based on a small number of reliable image features and performed fundamental examinations on the viewpoint selection approach.
Renal amyloidosis in dogs: a retrospective study of 91 cases with comparison of the disease between Shar-Pei and non-Shar-Pei dogs.

BACKGROUND Renal amyloidosis (RA) is a progressive and fatal renal disease. HYPOTHESIS Clinical and pathologic manifestations of RA differ between Chinese Shar-Pei (CSPs) and non-Shar-Pei (NSPs) dogs. ANIMALS 91 client-owned dogs. METHODS Retrospective review of medical records of dogs with a histological diagnosis of RA. Clinical and clinicopathologic data, hospitalization, complications, and outcome were compared between CSPs and NSPs. RESULTS Comorbid diseases were present in 64% of all dogs. CSPs were significantly younger compared to NSPs (median, 4.8 years; range: 3.6-17 versus median: 9.0 years; range: 2.4-11.1; P < .0001). The frequency of hypoalbuminemia, the most common biochemical abnormality, was higher in NSPs compared to CSPs (100% versus 64.7%, respectively; P < .001). Median serum creatinine concentration at presentation was 5.5 mg/dL, and was 3-fold higher in CSPs compared to NSPs (P = .005). Increased urine protein : creatinine ratio was present in 96% of all dogs. Nephrotic syndrome was present in 10% of NSPs but not in CSPs. Glomerular amyloid deposition, present in both CSPs (78.6%) and NSPs (95.6%) was most commonly diffuse, global, and severe. Renal medullar amyloidosis was more common in CSPs (100%) compared to NSPs (49.0%, P = .002), as was extrarenal amyloid deposition. The median survival time of all dogs was 5 days (range: 0-443 days). Serum creatinine concentration was significantly and negatively associated with survival (P = .025). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The clinical and pathologic manifestations of amyloidosis differ between CSPs and NSPs. The survival time observed herein was unexpectedly low, and argues for early surveillance and management of the underlying predisposing conditions.