Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smyth chicken melanocyte autoantibodies: cross-species recognition, in vivo binding, and plasma membrane reactivity of the antiserum.

Smyth line (SL) chickens, which develop a depigmenting disorder similar to human vitiligo, produce circulating anti-melanocyte antibodies (Austin, L.M. et al., (1992) The detection of melanocyte autoantibodies in the Smyth chicken model for vitiligo. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. , 64:112-120). In order to characterize these autoantibodies, we studied the reactivity of cultured chicken, mouse, and human melanocytes, as well as frozen sections of chicken feather follicles and embryonic eyes, against SL serum, employing indirect immunofluorescence. Light Brown Leghorn (LBL) serum was used as a negative control. Chicken (SL and LBL), mouse, and human melanocytes exhibited greater fluorescence with SL serum than with LBL serum (up to a 1:60,000 dilution). The fluorescent pattern was predominant along the perimeter of the cells, suggesting plasma membrane staining. Fluorescence-activated flow cytometry analysis and immunocytochemical localization at the ultrastructural level using intact chicken cells supported this hypothesis. Melanocytes were readily stained in cryosections of regenerating feather follicles and embryonic eyes incubated with SL, but not LBL, serum. In addition, amelanotic melanocytes in albino chicken feathers reacted with SL serum. SL serum also preferentially stained cells emigrating from cultured avian neural tubes and within the dermis of the proliferative germ of regenerating feather follicles suggesting that melanoblasts express the antigens. We conclude that Smyth line serum contains melanocyte autoantibodies that cross-react with mouse and human melanocytes, are able to bind to pigment cells within tissues, and recognize antigens expressed in the cytoplasm and on the surface of melanocytes and melanoblasts.
The use of bupropion SR in cigarette smoking cessation

Cigarette smoking remains the largest preventable cause of premature death in developed countries. Until recently nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) has been the only recognised form of treatment for smoking cessation. Bupropion, the first non-nicotine based drug for smoking cessation was licensed in the United States of America (US) in 1997 and in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2000 for smoking cessation in people aged 18 years and over. Bupropion exerts its effect primarily through the inhibition of dopamine reuptake into neuronal synaptic vesicles. It is also a weak noradrenalin reuptake inhibitor and has no effect on the serotonin system. Bupropion has proven efficacy for smoking cessation in a number of clinical trials, helping approximately one in five smokers to stop smoking. Up to a half of patients taking bupropion experience side effects, mainly insomnia and a dry mouth, which are closely linked to the nicotine withdrawal syndrome. Bupropion is rarely associated with seizures however care must be taken when co-prescribing with drugs that can lower seizure threshold. Also, bupropion is a potent enzyme inhibitor and can raise plasma levels of some drugs including antidepressants, antiarrhythmics and antipsychotics. Bupropion has been shown to be a safe and cost effective smoking cessation agent. Despite this, NRT remains the dominant pharmacotherapy to aid smoking cessation.
Battery life estimation of mobile embedded systems

Since battery life directly impacts the extent and duration of mobility, one of the key considerations in the design of a mobile embedded system should be to maximize the energy delivered by the battery, and hence the battery lifetime. To facilitate exploration of alternative implementations for a mobile embedded system, in this paper we address the issue of developing a fast and accurate battery model, and providing a framework for battery life estimation of Hardware/Software (HW/SW) embedded systems. We introduce a stochastic model of a battery, which can simultaneously model two key phenomena affecting the battery life and the amount of energy that can be delivered by the battery: the rate capacity effect and the recovery effect. We model the battery behavior mathematically in terms of parameters that can be related to physical characteristics of the electro-chemical cell. We show how this model can be used for battery life estimation of a HW/SW embedded system, by calculating battery discharge demand waveforms using a power co-estimation technique. Based on the discharge demand, the battery model estimates the battery lifetime as well as the delivered energy. Application of the battery life estimation methodology to three system implementations of an example TCP/IP network interface subsystem demonstrates that different system architectures can have significantly different delivered energy and battery lifetimes.
News Personalization using Support Vector Machines

We describe a system for recommending news articles, called NewsPer, which learns news-reading preferences of its users and suggests recently published articles that may be of interest to specific readers based on their interest profiles. The underlying algorithm is based on representing articles by bags of words and named entities, and applying support vector machines to this representation. We present this algorithm and give initial empirical results. We also discuss broader issues in the news personalization and the challenges of performance evaluation based on historical data.
Solving Combinatorial Optimization Problems Using Stochastic Chaotic Simulated Annealing

Chen and Aihara have showed recently that their chaotic simulated annealing (CSA) has better search ability for solving combinatorial optimization problems compared to both the Hopfield-Tank approach and stochastic simulated annealing (SSA). However, CSA is not guaranteed to find a globally optimal solution no matter how slowly annealing is carried out. In contrast, SSA is guaranteed to settle down to a global minimum with probability 1 if the temperature is reduced sufficiently slowly. In this paper, we attempt to combine the best of both heuristics by proposing a new approach to simulated annealing using a noisy chaotic neural network, i.e., stochastic chaotic simulated annealing (SCSA). We demonstrate this approach with the traveling salesman problem.
SEL Hardness Assurance in a Mixed Radiation Field

This paper explores the relationship between monoenergetic and mixed-field Single Event Latchup (SEL) cross sections, concluding that for components with a very strong energy dependence and highly-energetic environments, test results from monoenergetic or soft mixed-field spectra can significantly underestimate the operational failure rate. We introduce a semi-empirical approach that can be used to evaluate the SEL rate for such environments based on monoenergetic measurements and information or assumptions on the respective sensitive volume and materials surrounding it. We show that the presence of high-Z materials such as tungsten is particularly important in determining the hadron cross section energy dependence for components with relatively large LET thresholds.
Optimization of Timing Parameters for Vision-Based Monitoring of Automated Production Lines

The key advantage of camera-based monitoring in automated production lines is its extended functionality combined with reduced costs, owing to the possibility of replacing several classical sensors with one vision-based system. While appropriate image processing parameters are, usually, easy to find, the same cannot be said about timing parameters of the logical network which detects events in the raw binary output of visual preprocessing. The paper proposes a possible transformation of the manual tuning problem to an optimization task, allowing to find suitable timing parameters in an automatic or semi-automatic way. Finally, solutions and test results using Greedy Tabu Search are presented. Key-Words: multisensor systems, image sensors, logic design, production systems, process monitoring, optimization methods
Nephrotoxicity in Rats Undergoing a One-Hour Exposure to Compound A

We previously demonstrated that rats experienced renal injury when exposed for 3-12 h to 50 ppm or more of a vinyl ether called Compound A [CF2 = C(CF (3))OCH2 F], a compound produced by CO2 absorbents acting on sevoflurane. These durations of exposure exceed the average duration of clinical anesthesia. We now report the effect of a 1-h exposure to 0, 100, 150, 200, 400, 600, or 800 ppm of Compound A in oxygen in 145 Wistar rats. Twenty-four hours after exposure, we obtained kidney and liver specimens for microscopic examination, applying hematoxylin and eosin, and (separately) an immunochemical marker (PCNA) for cell proliferation (regeneration). Compared with results from control rats (those breathing oxygen for 1 h), renal injury (defined as necrosis of the outer strip of the outer medullary layer or "corticomedullary junction necrosis") occurred at and above 200 ppm. Exposure to 150 ppm produced cell regeneration (i.e., stimulated cell proliferation). We conclude that the threshold concentrations for nephrotoxicity (i.e., minimal toxicity) for a 1-h exposure to Compound A exceed the maximum concentrations (particularly those at low inflow rates) reported in clinical practice by a factor of 2-3. If these threshold effects in rats apply to humans, one 1-h exposure to sevoflurane probably would not alter usual measures of renal function. (Anesth Analg 1995;81:559-63)
Urinary incontinence in postmenopausal women – causes, symptoms, treatment

Urinary incontinence (UI) is an important social problem that affects more than 50% of postmenopausal women. The number of patients increases from year to year. According to recent data, UI affects women twice as often as men. This condition occurs in about 20-30% of young women, 30-40% in middle age and up to 50% of women in old age. There are five types of urinary incontinence. The etiology of the problem of incontinence is not fully understood, because the problem can affect men and women of all ages and can be due to many changes in the human body. International Continence Society Guidelines indicate that treatment of urinary incontinence should begin with conservative treatment. Surgical treatment should be used when conservative treatment will not bring positive results. According to guidelines, conservative treatment should include pharmacotherapy, physiotherapy, and behavioral therapy. Numerous scientific reports indicate efficacy of physiotherapy in the treatment of urinary incontinence. Most recent reports indicate that physiotherapy gives a positive result in up to 80% of patients with stage I or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and mixed form, and in 50% of patients with stage II SUI. Urinary incontinence is an interdisciplinary problem because in addition to the sphere directly related to medicine, it also concerns the economic and social spheres. The latest data show that incontinence in postmenopausal women occurs more often than other civilization diseases such as diabetes, hypertension or depression.
A Computer Model of the Temporal Course of Agrammatic Sentence Understanding: The Effects of Variation in Severity and Sentence Complexity

In this article, we present SYNCHRON, a computer model of Kolk and van Grunsven's (1985) hypothesis of agrammatic comprehension deficits. According to this hypothesis, parsing fails in agrammatic aphasies since syntactic representational elements that need to be active simultaneously are often not coactive because of disturbances in timing due to brain damage. SYNCHRON has been especially designed to account for two neglected aspects of agrammatic comprehension: degrees of severity and the sentence-complexity effect. We report an attempt to simulate data from two sentence-picture-matching studies in which a qualitatively similar sentence-complexity effect was found at two different average levels of severity. This pattern was reproduced when the timing disorder was assumed to affect syntactic phrasal categories, but not when it was assumed to affect function-word categories. When phrasal categories were involved, fit was not much affected, whether the damage was assumed to slow down the time for an element to be retrieved, or to decrease the time for an element to remain available.
Scrambled Adaptive Matrices (SAM) – a New Test of Eductive Ability

Inspired by the Raven’s Progressive Matrices a new, innovative, IRT-based online adaptive test, the Scrambled Adaptive Matrices (SAM) has been developed and used in talent identification projects both in educational and work settings with more than 15 000 participants. The current article introduces the test and shows results on reliability and validity as well as response time, motivational concerns, adaptivity, security and the effects of external variables such as socio-economic status, age, gender and pre-selection. The data show that the newly developed instrument is a feasible, reliable and valid tool for ability assessment and talent identification in projects of all sizes.
The 4G/5G Polymorphism in the Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 Gene Is not Associated with Myocardial Infarction

Summary Several studies have found an association between high plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) levels and myocardial infarction. Whether this is causal or a consequence of atherosclerosis or tissue damage, remains unclear. Homozygous carriers of the 4G allele of the 4G/5G polymorphism in the PAI-1 gene have higher PAI-1 levels compared to carriers of the 5G allele in healthy persons in some studies, but not all. If PAI-1 levels are causally related to myocardial infarction, one would expect more homozygous carriers of the 4G allele among patients, provided that these carriers have high PAI-1 levels among healthy persons in that population. We investigated the distribution of this polymorphism in the “Study of Myocardial Infarctions Leiden” (SMILE), including 331 men with a myocardial infarction and 302 control subjects and measured PAI-1 antigen levels among the latter. Secondly, we looked into the association of cardiovascular risk factors with PAI-1 levels. We did not find an increase in risk of myocardial infarction in carriers of the 4G allele. Neither did we find an association, nor a trend, between the 4G/5G polymorphism and PAI-1 antigen levels in control subjects. Controls with obesity, hypertension, or who smoked had significant higher PAI-1 antigen levels compared with persons without these factors. High cholesterol and triglyceride levels were also associated with high PAI-1 antigen levels, and HDL-cholesterol levels showed an inverse association. We conclude that the 4G/5G polymorphism in the PAI-1 gene is not associated with the risk of myocardial infarction. As we did not find any association between this polymorphism and PAI-1 antigen levels in healthy persons, we cannot draw any conclusions about the causality of PAI-1 itself for myocardial infarction.
Signal combination using bandpass sampling

A signal combination technique, based on the spectral replication property of sampling, is presented. The technique uses second-order bandpass sampling to provide some phase control over the component signals. Although the phase control is not independent between the signals and is constrained by inherent amplitude scaling, quasi-independent control can be achieved. The performance of the combination technique is established for three applications. These applications are diversity antenna combination, interception of slow frequency hopping spread spectrum, and a switchable beam, linear antenna array. >
Evidence for a 2:3 resonance in Sco X-1 kHz QPOs

We find evidence that the two high frequency QPOs in Sco X-1 are, more often than not, approximately in the 2:3 frequency ratio familiar from studies of black hole candidates (e.g., XTE J1550-564, Remillard et al. 2002). This implies that the double kHz QPO phenomenon in neutron stars has its origin in properties of strong-field gravity and has little to do with the rotation of a stellar surface or any magnetic field structure anchored in the star. 1. The larger picture Recent X-ray observations showed that in some black holes, as in neutron stars, high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) come in pairs. This in itself suggests that the QPO phe- nomenon in black holes and in neutron stars may have the same origin. We think that the frequency ratios may be even more revealing.
Pathways of Cr (III) and Cr (VI) in the Rat after Intratracheal Administration

51Cr-labelled Cr3+ and CrO2- 4 solutions were administered intratracheally to male rats in doses of 0.1 and 10 μg of Cr per rat to evidentiate metabolic differences especially in the lung and in the mechanisms of excretion. Twenty four hours after administration the highest 51 Cr amount was present in the lungs for both valency states, being in the Cr (III)-treated group, however, about two times higher. In all other tissues tested the values in the Cr (VI)-treated animals were much higher. Intracellularly, in the Cr (III)-treated group more than 40% of the total lung homogenate was found in the nuclear fraction and only 10% in the cytosol. In the Cr (VI)-treated group 25% was present in the nuclei and more than 50% in the cytosol. Gel filtration 24 h after intratracheal injection showed that in both cytosols chromium was eluted in three peaks including a low-molecular-weight component. Quantitatively, however, the ratios between the 51Cr associated with the three peaks were significantly different between the Cr (III)- and the Cr (VI)-treated animals. This suggests that binding of chromium to low-molecular-weight components should be involved in the passage of this element from the lung to the other tissues. Excretion studies for 7 days showed that after this time the Cr (III)-treated animals excreted about 4% of the dose via urine and more than 36% via faeces, whereas in the Cr (VI)-treated rats the 51Cr was eliminated nearly equally between urine and faeces.
Use, selection, and home range properties: complex patterns of individual habitat utilization

Individual patterns of habitat use emerge from behavioral decisions driven by interactions between landscape characteristics and individual traits. Individual traits, such as age and sex, influence the net gain of using habitats and associated resources, and thus the relationship between size and composition of the home range. However, the pathways from individual variation in home range size and composition to habitat selection are rarely fully explored. We investigated how habitat selection in moose (Alces alces) was a result of individual traits and home range characteristics, that is, we described the pathway from home range to habitat selection. The study was conducted at two spatial scales during two contrasting seasons. Home range size and composition varied with sex, with season, and to some extent with age. Males had larger home range size, and the composition of their home ranges changed more with home range size than for females. The general trend was that moose used habitats according to availability more in winter than in summer, that is, a weaker habitat selection in winter than in summer. Sex and age explained little of the variation in habitat selection, but sex had a pronounced effect on the relationship between home range size and composition. Because habitat availability (i.e., home range composition) is a component of habitat selection, it suggests that varying habitat use partly compensates for sex-specific differences in home range composition, which in turn results from home range settlement. Hence, although males and females showed similar habitat selection, they differed in the underlying mechanisms generating the pattern of habitat selection. These complex interactions between individual traits and environmental variation have consequences for how we understand the relationships between landscape characteristics, individual behavior, and fitness.
Outcome of arthroscopic surgery for internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint: long-term results covering 10 years.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the long-term success (10-year results) of arthroscopic surgery of the temporomandibular joint. PATIENTS AND METHOD A survey was undertaken of 37 patients who had been treated with arthroscopic surgery for TMJ internal derangement from 1986 to 1990. Thirty-three patients responded, of whom 30 were women and three men, whose age at surgery ranged from 14 to 77 years (mean: 35.1 years). The mean follow-up period was 10 years and 2 months. All patients rated their pain level on a visual analogue scale (VAS), and also recorded pain, jaw dysfunction, and activities of daily living (ADL) before surgery, and at the time of the survey. Interincisal opening was self-assessed (mm). Pre- and postoperative pain, dysfunction and ADL scores were compared for outcome and statistically analyzed with the Student's t-test. RESULTS Intensity of pain as rated on the VAS was significantly reduced from 5.15 to 0.34 (p<0.01). Pain, dysfunction and ADL scores also decreased from 8.25 to 1.09, 6.5 to 1.93, and 9.1 to 1.32, respectively (p<0.01). At the preoperative examination, 36 of the 37 patients showed limited jaw opening of less than 38 mm, reduced to only three postoperatively. For the success rate of TMJ surgery, the responding 33 plus data of one re-operated patient were assessed. Of these, 27 were rated as excellent, four as good, and three (including two re-operated patients) as poor. The success rate was 83.8% when three patients who did not respond were included in the data. CONCLUSION The long-term, 10 year outcome of TMJ arthroscopic surgery was considered to be acceptable and stable when compared with other surgical procedures and with the results of previously published middle to long-term treatment outcome studies.
Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of the kinase domain of human tousled-like kinase 2

The C-terminal kinase domain of TLK2 (a human tousled-like kinase) has been cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli followed by purification to homogeneity. Crystallization experiments in the presence of ATP-γ-S yielded crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction analysis belonging to two different space groups: tetragonal I4122 and cubic P213.