Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Red, Green, and Red-Green Hybrid Pigments in the Human Retina: Correlations between Deduced Protein Sequences and Psychophysically Measured Spectral Sensitivities

To analyze the human red, green, and red-green hybrid cone pigments in vivo, we studied 41 male dichromats, each of whose X chromosome carries only a single visual pigment gene (single-gene dichromats). This simplified arrangement avoids the difficulties of complex opsin gene arrays and overlapping cone spectral sensitivities present in trichromats and of multiple genes encoding identical or nearly identical cone pigments in many dichromats. It thus allows for a straightforward correlation between each observer’s spectral sensitivity measured at the cornea and the amino acid sequence of his visual pigment. For each of the 41 single-gene dichromats we determined the amino acid sequences of the X-linked cone pigment as deduced from its gene sequence. To correlate these sequences with spectral sensitivities in vivo, we determined the Rayleigh matches to different red/green ratios for 29 single-gene dichromats and measured psychophysically the spectral sensitivity of the remaining green (middle wavelength) or red (long wavelength) cones in 37 single-gene dichromats. Cone spectral sensitivity maxima obtained from subjects with identical visual pigment amino acid sequences show up to a ∼3 nm variation from subject to subject, presumably because of a combination of inexact (or no) corrections for variation in preretinal absorption, variation in photopigment optical density, optical effects within the photoreceptor, and measurement error. This variation implies that spectral sensitivities must be averaged over multiple subjects with the same genotype to obtain representative values for a given pigment. The principal results of this study are that (1) ∼54% of the single-gene protanopes (and ∼19% of all protanopes) possess any one of several 5′red-3′green hybrid genes that encode anomalous pigments and that would be predicted to produce protanomaly if present in anomalous trichromats; (2) the alanine/serine polymorphism at position 180 in the red pigment gene produces a spectral shift of ∼2.7 nm; (3) for each exon the set of amino acids normally associated with the red pigment produces spectral shifts to longer wavelengths, and the set of amino acids normally associated with the green pigment produces spectral shifts to shorter wavelengths; and (4) changes in exons 2, 3, 4, and 5 from green to red are associated with average spectral shifts to long wavelengths of ∼1 nm (range, −0.5 to 2.5 nm), ∼3.3 nm (range, −0.5 to 7 nm), ∼2.8 nm (range, −0.5 to 6 nm), and ∼24.9 nm (range, 22.2–27.6 nm).
Physiological properties of anatomically identified axo-axonic cells in the rat hippocampus.

1. The properties of a well-defined type of GABAergic local circuit neuron, the axo-axonic cell (n = 17), were investigated in rat hippocampal slice preparations. During intracellular recording we injected axo-axonic cells with biocytin and subsequently identified them with correlated light and electron microscopy. Employing an immunogold-silver intensification technique we showed that one of the physiologically characterized cells was immunoreactive for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). 2. Axo-axonic cells were encountered in the dentate gyrus (n = 5) as well as subfields CA3 (n = 2) and CA1 (n = 10). They generally had smooth, beaded dendrites that extended throughout all hippocampal layers. Their axons ramified densely in the cell body layers and in the subjacent stratum oriens or hilus, respectively. Tested with electron microscopy, labeled terminals (n = 53) established synapses exclusively with the axon initial segment of principal cells in strata oriens and pyramidale and rarely in lower radiatum. Within a 400-microns slice a single CA1 axo-axonic cell was estimated to be in synaptic contact with 686 pyramidal cells. 3. Axo-axonic cells (n = 14) had a mean resting membrane potential of -65.1 mV, an average input resistance of 73.9 M omega, and a mean time constant of 7.7 ms. Action potentials were of short duration (389-microseconds width at half-amplitude) and had a mean amplitude of 64.1 mV. 4. Nine of 10 tested cells showed a varying degree of spike frequency adaptation in response to depolarizing current injection. Current-evoked action potentials were usually curtailed by a deep (10.2 mV) short-latency afterhyperpolarization (AHP) with a mean duration of 28.1 ms. 5. Cells with strong spike frequency accommodation (n = 5) had a characteristic firing pattern with numerous spike doublets. These appeared to be triggered by an underlying depolarizing afterpotential. In the same cells, prolonged bursts of action potentials were followed by a prominent long-duration AHP with a mean time constant of 1.15 s. 6. Axo-axonic cells responded to the stimulation of afferent pathways with short-latency excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) or at higher stimulation intensity with up to three action potentials. Axo-axonic cells in the dentate gyrus could be activated by stimulating the CA3 area as well as the perforant path, whereas in the CA1 area responses were elicited after shocks to the perforant path, Schaffer collaterals, and the stratum oriens-alveus border. 7. In the CA1 area the EPSP amplitude increased in response to membrane hyperpolarization. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Extracting intentionally captured regions using point trajectories

When camera persons take videos with mobile video cameras, they usually have capture intentions, i.e., what they want to express in their videos, and there are intentionally captured regions (ICRs) in the video frames that are essential for the capture intentions. Extracting ICRs is thus beneficial for wide range of applications such as video summarization and video adaptation for small displays. In this paper, we present a novel method for automatically extracting ICRs. A camera person usually moves his/her camera so that ICRs can be arranged in appropriate positions in video frames; therefore, ICRs can yield specific motion. This observation indicates that such specific motion is a vital cue for extracting ICRs. The proposed method represents motion by point trajectories, which are long-term trajectories of spatially dense points in video frames, and extracts ICRs using an ICR model based on the point trajectories. We experimentally evaluate the proposed method to demonstrate its potential applicability.
Integrated Health Information Technology and the Quality of Patient Care: A Natural Experiment

Abstract Fragmentation of care delivery remains one of the main challenges of healthcare systems. In this study, we examine health information technology (HIT) that is electronically integrated across care physicians, specialists, hospitals, and pharmacists and its impact on quality of care. Drawing on the structure–process–outcome framework, we hypothesize that integrated HIT will have both a direct and an indirect effect on quality of care. By providing more complete information to physicians and allowing them to detect and manage health problems early in the care cycle, integrated HIT is expected to directly improve quality of care. Integrated HIT is also hypothesized to improve quality of care indirectly by increasing continuity of care and reducing the odds of therapeutic errors. We test these hypotheses through a contemporaneous natural experiment of a matched set of 15,626 outpatients receiving ambulatory care through an integrated HIT system and 15,626 outpatients in a control group. The results show that the patients treated with the integrated system had better quality of care in the follow-up period than patients of the control group. Integrated HIT also had an indirect effect on quality of care through an increase in continuity of care. Our study contributes to research by examining how an integrated HIT system—rather than specific HIT components—influences patient-related outcomes, and how this effect is mediated by two key processes: continuity of care and therapeutic duplication errors. Our work also helps decision makers to better understand the impact of HIT in a complex and highly decentralized and fragmented care delivery system.
Testosterone Deficiency As a Risk Factor for Hip Fractures in Men: A Case‐Control Study

The objective of this study was to determine whether decreased gonadal function is a risk factor for hip fracture in elderly men. The study was a matched case-control study performed at an in-hospital orthopedic service at a semi-rural and academic tertiary care center. The patients were seventeen men who presented with hip fractures after simple falls over a 10-month period, 11 men with a history of hip fractures in the preceding 25 months, and 28 randomly selected age-, race-, and living status-matched control subjects (mean age 73 years). Serum pooled total testosterone (9.2 ± 5.5 nmol/ L vs. 12.8 ± 5.4 nmol/L; p < 0.02) and free testosterone (37.9 ± 18.8 pmol/L vs. 48.4 ± 20.6 pmol/L; p < 0.03) were significantly lower in hip fracture vs. control patients. Testosterone deficiency was found in 20 (71%) hip fracture men vs. 9 (32%) of the controls (p = 0.003; odds ratio 5.3). Analysis of testosterone values within the stratum of absence of any chronic disorder revealed similar results. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were significantly lower in the hip fracture group than in control men (p < 0.001). The conclusion is that gonadal deficiency appears to be an important and heretofore understudied risk factor for hip fractures in men. Prevention of hip fractures in men may involve early recognition and treatment of testosterone deficiency
Human parallel to voluntary wheel running: exercise

Correspondence: R. Eikelboom, Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3C5 Canada (email: reikelbo@mach1.wlu.ca). Sherwin (1998) is to be complimented on an accurate and remarkably complete review of voluntary wheel running in animals. The explanation suggested for wheel running is that it is a multidetermined, self-reinforcing, behaviour and its excessive nature may be an artefact of the laboratory environment. Why wheel running should be so excessive and prove self-reinforcing are questions that can be addressed at several levels from neurological to ethological. In addressing the reasons for wheel running, a human parallel, voluntary exercise, may provide a useful framework within which to develop an explanation for it. Humans voluntarily engage in frequent physical exertions that, like wheel running, have no obvious immediate goals, although both may result in long-term health benefits. Many similarities exist between this intrinsically motivated human exercise and the wheel running seen in animals, so analysing them together may lead to theories explaining both. Human and animal studies are also complementary as each may answer different aspects of the same question. It is interesting that both voluntary exercise and voluntary wheel running occur in situations where energy expenditure is very low. Animals in laboratory environments need to engage in very little activity to survive, while in western society many humans in their day-today life are very inactive. The concern with obesity in today’s society is also a concern with inactivity. Rats with wheel access maintain a body weight that is lower than inactive control animals (Collier 1970), suggesting that inactive animals are obese. Thus, both from a weight regulation and an activity perspective the relation between voluntary wheel running and voluntary exercise may be an important research area. Voluntary, intrinsically motivated exercise has many long-term benefits for the individual’s physical health (especially if they are otherwise inactive). Very few,
Pluripotent Stem Cells for Cardiac Cell Therapy: The Application of Cell Sheet Technology

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite many years of declining mortality rates in the Western world [1,2]. Myocardial infarction carries a short term mortality rate of about 7% even with aggressive therapy, and congestive heart failure with even more distressing 20% one-year mortality [3]. Despite significant advances in therapeutic modalities and risk-reduction strategies, the substantial burden remains. This continued health problem has prompted research into new therapeutic strategies including cardiac regenerative therapy as a new approach for severe cardiac diseases resistant to conventional therapies [4,5].
Investigation of generalized Hopfield model by statistical physics methods

The proposed generalization of the Hopfield model consists in assigning different weight coefficients to input patterns that are used to construct the Hebb connection matrix. Application of statistical physics methods to such a system gives unexpected results even for the simplest variant of differences of weight coefficients. Namely, there are unusual behaviors of the critical value of the load parameter and of the overlap of the state with the pattern.
ApoA-I Facilitates ABCA1 Recycle/Accumulation to Cell Surface by Inhibiting Its Intracellular Degradation and Increases HDL Generation

Objective—Calpain-mediated proteolysis is one of the major regulatory factors for activity of ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC) A1. Helical apolipoproteins protect ABCA1 against this degradation and increase generation of HDL. We investigated the mechanism for this reaction focusing on roles of endocytotic internalization of ABCA1. Methods and Results—Surface ABCA1 was labeled with biotin and traced for its internalization and degradation. ABCA1 in the cell surface was internalized within 10 minutes regardless of the presence of apoA-I. ABCA1 was intracellularly degraded and was protected against this only when exposed to extracellular apoA-I before its endocytosis. Consequently, recycle of ABCA1 to the surface was enhanced, and surface ABCA1 was increased by apoA-I. Direct inhibition of ABCA1 endocytosis led to decrease of its degradation and increase of surface ABCA1. Generation of HDL increased in parallel with surface ABCA1. Conclusion—Surface ABCA1 is internalized and degraded, and apoA-I interferes with only the latter step to recycle ABCA1 to the surface. Increase of surface ABCA1 results in the increase of generation of HDL.
Basal expression and induction of glutamate decarboxylase GABA in excitatory granule cells of the rat and monkey hippocampal dentate gyrus

The excitatory, glutamatergic granule cells of the hippocampal dentate gyrus are presumed to play central roles in normal learning and memory, and in the genesis of spontaneous seizure discharges that originate within the temporal lobe. In localizing the two GABA producing forms of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65 and GAD67) in the normal hippocampus as a prelude to experimental epilepsy studies, we unexpectedly discovered that, in addition to its presence in hippocampal nonprincipal cells, GAD67‐like immunoreactivity (LI) was present in the excitatory axons (the mossy fibers) of normal dentate granule cells of rats, mice, and the monkey Macaca nemestrina. Using improved immunocytochemical methods, we were also able to detect GABA‐LI in normal granule cell somata and processes. Conversely, GAD65‐LI was undetectable in normal granule cells.
Accuracy and precision of the autobac system for rapid identification of Gram-negative bacilli: a collaborative evaluation

Gram-negative bacilli were identified within 3 to 6 h by determining susceptibility to 18 different antibacterial agents in the Autobac I system and by applying a two-stage quadratic discriminant analysis to the susceptibility patterns. The Autobac system was compared with standard reference methods for identifying glucose nonfermenters and glucose fermenters. Intralaboratory and interlaboratory precision of the Autobac system was comparable to that of the reference methods. Sensitivity (accuracy) and specificity of the two systems were also comparable, although there were some differences with certain species. Autobac responses were considered to be equivocal (needing additional tests) if the relative probability of an accurate identification was less than 0.70. Only 5% of 2,889 strains produced such equivocal results; a similar number of strains gave low probability levels with the reference methods. When the two systems disagreed, an independent reference laboratory arbitrated, confirming 49% of the Autobac responses and 36% of the reference identifications. With equivocal responses excluded, the overall accuracy of the Autobac system was 95.3% compared with 95.9% for the reference method. The respective accuracy estimates would be 93.8% and 93.1% if all first-choice identifications were evaluated.
Sequential neural text compression

The purpose of this paper is to show that neural networks may be promising tools for data compression without loss of information. We combine predictive neural nets and statistical coding techniques to compress text files. We apply our methods to certain short newspaper articles and obtain compression ratios exceeding those of the widely used Lempel-Ziv algorithms (which build the basis of the UNIX functions "compress" and "gzip"). The main disadvantage of our methods is that they are about three orders of magnitude slower than standard methods.
Hypoxic-Ischemic Neonatal Encephalopathy: Animal Experiments for Neuroprotective Therapies

Hypoxic-ischemic neonatal encephalopathy and ensuing brain damage is still an important problem in modern perinatal medicine. In this paper, we would like to share some of the results of our recent studies on neuroprotective therapies in animal experiments, as well as some literature reviews. From the basic animal studies, we have now obtained some possible candidates for therapeutic measures against hypoxic-ischemic neonatal encephalopathy. For example, they are hypothermia, rehabilitation, free radical scavenger, neurotrophic factors and growth factors, steroid, calcium channel blocker, vagal stimulation, some anti apoptotic agents, pre- and post conditioning, antioxidants, cell therapy with stem cells, modulators of K(+)-ATP channels, and so on. Whether combination of these therapies may be more beneficial than any single therapy needs to be clarified. Hypoxia-ischemia is a complicated condition, in which the cause, severity, and time-course are different in each case. Likewise, each fetus has its own inherent potentials such as adaptation, preconditioning-tolerance, and intolerance. Therefore, further extensive studies are required to establish an individualized strategy for neuroprotection against perinatal hypoxic-ischemic insult.
Survey of breast cancer patients concerning their knowledge and expectations of adjuvant therapy.

PURPOSE A survey of breast cancer survivors in the United States was conducted to define what they had been told about their prognosis and the value of adjuvant therapy, what they estimated their prognosis to be with and without adjuvant therapy, and what level of improvement they would have found minimally worthwhile. MATERIALS AND METHODS Survey questionnaires were mailed to individual members and member organizations of the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO). Questionnaires were returned anonymously in prepaid mailers. Five hundred sixty-two women responded. Of these, the 318 women who received adjuvant chemotherapy were included in this analysis. RESULTS Only 39% of the women recalled receiving quantitative estimates of their prognosis, and only 31% of women received a quantitative estimate both with and without adjuvant therapy. Sixty-eight percent of the women were able to provide a quantitative estimate for their outcome at 5 years both with and without adjuvant therapy. From these estimates, we calculated that the median estimated proportional risk reduction for recurrence that women thought they had achieved was 79%. Women were asked what degree of absolute benefit they would have found acceptable. The median acceptable extension of life expectancy was 3 to 6 months, and acceptable reduction in recurrence risk was 0.5% to 1.0%. However, there was considerable variation, with 27% of women not accepting less than 1 year and 26% not accepting a less than 5% reduction in recurrence risk. CONCLUSION In general, American women in the surveyed population (1) do not recall being provided quantitative estimates of outcome during the process of making decisions about adjuvant therapy, (2) overestimate the value of their therapy, and (3) often will accept remarkably low degrees of net benefit. Overall, these observations can be used to support the argument that improvements in doctor/patient communication may be important to truly informed decision-making, and that flexibility for individual patients' preferences should not be superseded by rigid treatment guidelines.
Guiding surface plasmon polariton along 90 degree bend MDM waveguide models

Based on the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, we analyze the propagation characteristics of Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) through a 90 degree bend model of a Metal-Dielectric-Metal (MDM) waveguide. Subsequently, the angle of bend is reduced to 45 degree and the length of the bending section is varied in order to determine the optimum design that provides the highest efficiency. The power reflected from the bending section of each structure has been calculated numerically. Efficiency, reflection coefficient, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), return loss and mismatch loss are examined in order to analyze the behavior of the bend models.
A Subspace-Based Dynamic Phasor Estimator for Synchrophasor Application

In this paper, estimation of dynamic phasors, under power-system oscillations, has been proposed using subspace-based techniques. A high sampling rate and few modifications in the subspace-based techniques are suggested to estimate the voltage phasor with a fundamental frequency component without using antialiasing filter to the input signal. The total least squares estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques and the propagator method are the two subspace-based techniques used for estimating the frequency, as well as the amplitude and the phase, respectively. A compensation for the amplitude and the phase has been proposed to address the dynamic nature of the power-system oscillations. The suggested techniques for the phasor estimation have been tested on simultaneous multiple amplitude and phase oscillations in the presence of noise and also for a fault scenario in New England 39-bus system. The hardware requirement of the proposed phasor estimation technique has also been discussed for its practical viability.
The Tumor Suppressor, PTEN/MMAC1, Dephosphorylates the Lipid Second Messenger, Phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-Trisphosphate*

Phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P3) is a key molecule involved in cell growth signaling. We demonstrated that overexpression of PTEN, a putative tumor suppressor, reduced insulin-induced PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 production in human 293 cells without effecting insulin-induced phosphoinositide 3-kinase activation. Further, transfection of the catalytically inactive mutant of PTEN (C124S) caused PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 accumulation in the absence of insulin stimulation. Purified recombinant PTEN catalyzed dephosphorylation of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3, specifically at position 3 on the inositol ring. PTEN also exhibited 3-phosphatase activity toward inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate. Our results raise the possibility that PTEN acts in vivo as a phosphoinositide 3-phosphatase by regulating PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 levels. As expected, the C124S mutant of PTEN was incapable of catalyzing dephosphorylation of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 consistent with the mechanism observed in protein-tyrosine phosphatase-catalyzed reactions.