Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of right and left atria in natriuresis and atrial natriuretic factor release during blood volume changes in the conscious rat.

This study investigated whether excision of either the right or left atrial appendage of rats alters their natriuretic response and the release of atrial natriuretic factor during acute blood volume expansion or reduction. These animals were subjected to a thoracotomy and either had their right or left atrial appendages removed or underwent a right or left atrial sham appendectomy for comparative, control purposes. Intrajugular vein, intracarotid artery, and intravesical catheters were installed 3-4 weeks later under sodium pentobarbital anesthesia. Then, when the rats were conscious, blood volume was expanded using blood from donor rats once every 15 minutes in 3 increments of 10% of the calculated total blood volume at a rate of 5 ml/kg/min. Blood and urine samples were collected before volume expansion and at the end of each 15-minute period, with the withdrawn blood being replaced. A maximal fourfold increase in urinary volume, urinary sodium excretion, and plasma atrial natriuretic factor was observed in all but the right-atrial-appendectomized animals. Plasma atrial natriuretic factor, urinary volume, and urinary sodium excretion were correlated in all 4 groups. No significant changes in blood pressure or hematocrit were noted. Plasma vasopressin, measured at the end of volume expansion, was significantly lower in animals subjected to left atrial appendectomy. High-performance liquid chromatography of plasma from the control groups indicated that most of the released ANF during blood volume expansion corresponded to a high molecular weight peptide. Additional rats, processed as above, were subjected to 10% blood volume decrements. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Enduring consequences of terrorism: 7-month follow-up survey of reactions to the bombings in London on 7 July 2005

Background Terrorist attacks can have psychological effects on the general public. Aims To assess the medium-term effects of the July 2005 London bombings on the general population in London and to identify risk factors for persistent effects. Method We telephoned 1010 Londoners 11–13 days after the bombings to assess stress levels, perceived threat and travel intentions. Seven months later, 574 respondents were contacted again and asked similar questions, and questions concerning altered perceptions of self and the world. Results ‘Substantial stress' (11%), perceived threat to self (43%) and reductions in travel because of the bombings (19%) persisted at a reduced level; other perceived threats remained unchanged. A more negative world view was common. Other than degree of exposure to the bombings, there were no consistent predictors of which people with short-term reactions would develop persistent reactions. Conclusions A longer-term impact of terrorism on the perceptions and behaviour of Londoners was documented.
On the applicability of the HSAB principle through the use of improved computational schemes for chemical hardness evaluation

Finite difference schemes, named Compact Finite Difference Schemes with Spectral‐like Resolution, have been used for a less crude approximation of the analytical hardness definition as the second‐order derivative of the energy with respect to the electron number. The improved computational schemes, at different levels of theory, have been used to calculate global hardness values of some probe bases, traditionally classified as hard and soft on the basis of their chemical behavior, and to investigate the quantitative applicability of the HSAB principle. Exchange acid‐base reactions have been used to test the HSAB principle assuming the reaction energies as a measure of the stabilization of product adducts. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 25: 994–1003, 2004
Cercarial glycocalyx of Schistosoma mansoni activates human complement

Human complement activation by cercariae and schistosomula of the human parasite Schistosoma mansoni was studied in vitro. Cercariae are composed of tails which are shed after infection of the host and bodies which transform into the larvae or schistosomula after infection. After incubation in fresh normal human serum (NHS), cercarial tails bound more anti-C3 antibodies than did cercarial bodies (CB), and the tails were rapidly lysed, while the attached CB remained intact. Complement activation by cercariae was dependent on the alternative pathway but was independent of antibody, as shown by C3 deposition by hypogammaglobulinemic human sera. By transmission microscopy, the fibrillar glycocalyx on both CB and tails was stained by NHS but not by heat-inactivated serum (HI-NHS). The glycocalyx was labeled with periodate and tritiated borohydride, and parasites were incubated in NHS and HI-NHS. After solubilization, the labeled glycocalyx on organisms incubated in NHS but not HI-NHS bound anti-C3 antibodies. Of the CB incubated with eserine sulfate to prevent transformation, 78% +/- 10% were dead after culture for 24 h in NHS. In contrast, 21% +/- 12% of the CB were dead after culture in HI-NHS. Schistosomula incubated in NHS bound 37% of the amount of anti-C3 antibodies bound by cercariae but were not killed by NHS. In conclusion, the cercarial glycocalyx activated human complement, and schistosomula were less susceptible to killing than cercariae because they had less glycocalyx and activated less complement.
Bayesian Games for Adversarial Regression Problems

We study regression problems in which an adversary can exercise some control over the data generation process. Learner and adversary have con flicting but not necessarily perfectly antagonistic objectives. We study the case in which the learner is not fully informed about the adversary's objective; instead, any knowledge of the learner about parameters of the adversary's goal may be re flected in a Bayesian prior. We model this problem as a Bayesian game, and characterize conditions under which a unique Bayesian equilibrium point exists. We experimentally compare the Bayesian equilibrium strategy to the Nash equilibrium strategy, the minimax strategy, and regular linear regression.
Cytotoxic Activities of Leptospira interrogans Hemolysin SphH as a Pore-Forming Protein on Mammalian Cells

ABSTRACT Leptospirosis is a spirochetal zoonosis that causes an acute febrile systemic illness in humans. Leptospira sp. hemolysins have been shown to be virulence factors for the pathogenesis of leptospirosis. Previously, we cloned a hemolysin SphH of Leptospira interrogans serovar lai, a homologue of L. borgpetersenii sphingomyelinase (SphA), from a genomic library (S. H. Lee, K. A. Kim, Y. K. Kim, I. W. Seong, M. J. Kim, and Y. J. Lee, Gene 254:19–28, 2000). Escherichia coli lysate harboring the sphH showed high hemolytic activities on sheep erythrocytes. However, it neither showed sphingomyelinase nor phospholipase activities, in contrast to SphA which was known to have sphingomyelinase activity. Interestingly, the SphH-mediated hemolysis on erythrocytes was osmotically protected by PEG 5000, suggesting that the SphH might have caused pore formation on the erythrocyte membrane. In the present study, we have prepared the Leptospira hemolysin SphH and investigated its hemolytic and cytotoxic activities on mammalian cells. SphH was shown to be a pore-forming protein on several mammalian cells: When treated with the SphH, the sheep erythrocyte membranes formed pores, which were morphologically confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, the SphH-mediated cytotoxicities on mammalian cells were demonstrated by the release of LDH and by inverted microscopic examinations. Finally, the immune serum against the full-length hemolysin could effectively neutralize the SphH-mediated hemolytic and cytotoxic activities. In conclusion, these results suggest that the virulence of Leptospira SphH was due to the pore formation on mammalian cell membranes.
Uni und Studis: die besten Wörter des Deutschen

The present paper offers an analysis of the German i-formations in an optimality-theoretic framework. The i-formations are predominantly hypochoristics and are highly productive. It is proposed that -i is a derivational suffix that imposes a restrictive prosodic structure to the stem it attaches to. The result of the derivation must be a syllabic trochee. It is also shown that syllabic trochees are the unmarked feet of German. The Correspondence Theory of McCarthy & Prince (1995) is very appropriate to account for these observations. At the end of the paper, it is shown that other languages - here French and Japanese - use their own unmarked feet to form hypochoristics and words in secret languages
Genetic Tests: Clinical Validity and Clinical Utility

When evaluating the appropriate use of new genetic tests, clinicians and health care policymakers must consider the accuracy with which a test identifies a patient's clinical status (clinical validity) and the risks and benefits resulting from test use (clinical utility). Genetic tests in current use vary in accuracy and potential to improve health outcomes, and these test properties may be influenced by testing technology and the clinical setting in which the test is used. This unit defines clinical validity and clinical utility, provides examples, and considers the implications of these test properties for clinical practice. Curr. Protoc. Hum. Genet. 81:9.15. 1‐9.15. 8. © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Rate‐Dependent Induction Phenomena With Propofol: Implications for the Relative Potency of Intravenous Anesthetics

To establish anesthesia with minimal respiratory and cardiovascular depression using propofol, the effects of varying the rate of delivery on anesthetic induction dose requirements and hemodynamic changes were studied in four groups of 20 patients each undergoing body surface surgery. All patients were premedicated with temazepam and received 1.5 μg/kg fentanyl 5 min before induction. Propofol was delivered at 50, 100, or 200 mg/min by the Ohmeda 9000 infusion pump (groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively) or by bolus of 2 mg/kg (group 4) until loss of verbal contact. Anesthesia was maintained thereafter with propofol infused at 6 mg·kg−1·h−1. Using slower infusion rates, induction took significantly longer (124, 92, 62, and 32 s in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively) and was achieved with significantly smaller doses of propofol (1.40, 1.96, 2.61, and 2.15 mg/kg in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively). Slow infusion (groups 1 and 2) caused less depression of systolic and diastolic blood pressure than rapid infusion (groups 3 and 4), but the differences were not statistically significant. Patients in groups 3 and 4 had significantly greater decreases in pulse rate and a greater incidence of apnea than did patients in group 1. There was no correlation between the size of the induction dose and subsequent maintenance requirements of propofol. The finding that the sleep dose of propofol is reduced at slower infusion rates has important practical and theoretical implications when considering the relative potencies of intravenous anesthetics.
Mining disproportional itemsets for characterizing groups of heart failure patients from administrative health records

Heart failure is a serious medical conditions involving decreased quality of life and an increased risk of premature death. A recent evaluation by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare shows that Swedish heart failure patients are often undertreated and do not receive basic medication as recommended by the national guidelines for treatment of heart failure. The objective of this paper is to use registry data to characterize groups of heart failure patients, with an emphasis on basic treatment. Towards this end, we explore the applicability of frequent itemset mining and disproportionality analysis for finding interesting and distinctive characterizations of a target group of patients, e.g., those who have received basic treatment, against a control group, e.g., those who have not received basic treatment. Our empirical evaluation is performed on data extracted from administrative health records from the Stockholm County covering the years 2010--2016. Our findings suggest that frequency is not always the most appropriate measure of importance for frequent itemsets, while itemset disproportionality against a control group provides alternative rankings of the extracted itemsets leading to some medically intuitive characterizations of the target groups.
Differential roles of Mac-1+ cells, and CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in primary nonfunction and classic rejection of islet allografts

The high rate of persistent hyperglycemia, termed primary nonfunction, after islet allotransplantation in C57BL/6 mice recipients of B10.BR strain islets, as compared with B10.BR recipients of C57BL/6 islets, led to a series of experiments to determine whether islet allograft primary nonfunction was attributable to technical aspects of the transplant procedure or whether it was a consequence of alloimmunity. Primary nonfunction was prevented by systemic pharmacologic immunosuppression of the host with cyclosporine. Selective immunodepletion of host CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes significantly extended the time of classic rejection but did not significantly affect the rate of primary nonfunction. However, modulation of macrophages by administration to the host of silica completely abolished primary nonfunction. These observations, in conjunction with the immunohistological findings of intense macrophage infiltration in islet allografts from recipients exhibiting persistent post-transplant hyperglycemia, support the hypothesis that primary nonfunction results from a cell-mediated host-immune response of rapid onset that is dependent on macrophages or macrophage byproducts as the main effectors.
Some Issues in Creating ‘ Invertebrate ’ Robots

In this paper , we discusssomeof thekey issuesinvolved in thedesign,analysis,andimplementationof ‘invertebratelike’ robots.Usingascaseexamplesseveralnovel ‘trunk and tentacle’ robot armsrecentlyconstructedat ClemsonUniversity, we discussthedesignof ‘continuousbackbone’and ‘snakelike’ robots,andtheir motionplanning.Thepotential of thesetypesof robotsfor enhancedmanipulationandloco-
Catastrophic thinking about pain is independently associated with pain severity, disability, and somatic complaints in school children and children with chronic pain.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the value of pain catastrophizing in explaining pain, disability, and somatic complaints, beyond negative affectivity (NA). METHOD Two cross-sectional studies, one in a sample of school children (n = 193) and a second in a clinical sample of children with recurrent or chronic pain (n = 43), were conducted. In both studies, measures of pain catastrophizing and NA were examined for their ability to explain pain, disability, and somatic complaints. RESULTS In both studies, pain catastrophizing significantly accounted for the variance of pain, disability, and somatic complaints, beyond the effects of age, sex, and NA. Furthermore, pain catastrophizing significantly mediated the relationship between NA and somatic complaints in both studies and between NA and functional disability in study 1. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest the importance of assessing for pain catastrophizing in children. Pain catastrophizing is further discussed in terms of communicating distress to significant others.
NF-kappaB p65-Dependent Transactivation of miRNA Genes following Cryptosporidium parvum Infection Stimulates Epithelial Cell Immune Responses

Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite that infects the gastrointestinal epithelium and causes diarrheal disease worldwide. Innate epithelial immune responses are key mediators of the host's defense to C. parvum. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level and are involved in regulation of both innate and adaptive immune responses. Using an in vitro model of human cryptosporidiosis, we analyzed C. parvum-induced miRNA expression in biliary epithelial cells (i.e., cholangiocytes). Our results demonstrated differential alterations in the mature miRNA expression profile in cholangiocytes following C. parvum infection or lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Database analysis of C. parvum-upregulated miRNAs revealed potential NF-κB binding sites in the promoter elements of a subset of miRNA genes. We demonstrated that mir-125b-1, mir-21, mir-30b, and mir-23b-27b-24-1 cluster genes were transactivated through promoter binding of the NF-κB p65 subunit following C. parvum infection. In contrast, C. parvum transactivated mir-30c and mir-16 genes in cholangiocytes in a p65-independent manner. Importantly, functional inhibition of selected p65-dependent miRNAs in cholangiocytes increased C. parvum burden. Thus, we have identified a panel of miRNAs regulated through promoter binding of the NF-κB p65 subunit in human cholangiocytes in response to C. parvum infection, a process that may be relevant to the regulation of epithelial anti-microbial defense in general.
Evaluation of baseline information retrieval for Polish open-domain Question Answering system

We report on our efforts aimed at building an Open Domain Question Answering system for Polish. Our contribution is twofold: we gathered a set of question‐answer pairs from various Polish sources and we performed an empirical evaluation of two re-ranking methods. The gathered collection contains factoid, list, non-factoid and yes-no questions, which makes a challenging material for experiments. We show that using two re-ranking methods based on term proximity allows to obtain significant improvement on simple information retrieval baseline. The improvement is observed as finding more answer-bearing documents among the topn search results.
Protocol-level performance analysis for anti-collision protocols in RFID systems

This paper provides an analytical approach to evaluate the performance of anticollision protocols in radiofrequency identification (RFID) systems. The analysis is given at protocol-level using such performance metrics as the number of state transitions and clock cycles involved in the protocols' state diagrams, their power and energy dissipation. Discussion and comparison are based on worst-case scenario that represents the process of identifying the last tag when multiple tags are simultaneously available in the system. A new protocol is also proposed for performance improvement.
Cognitive and Environmental Factors Influencing the Process of Spatial Knowledge Acquisition within Virtual Reality Environments

As the fidelity of virtual environments VE continues to increase, the possibility of using them as training platforms is becoming increasingly realistic for a variety of application domains, including military and emergency personnel training. In the past, there was much debate on whether the acquisition and subsequent transfer of spatial knowledge from VEs to the real world is possible, or whether the differences in medium during training would essentially be an obstacle to truly learning geometric space. In this paper, the authors present various cognitive and environmental factors that not only contribute to this process, but also interact with each other to a certain degree, leading to a variable exposure time requirement in order for the process of spatial knowledge acquisition SKA to occur. The cognitive factors that the authors discuss include a variety of individual user differences such as: knowledge and experience; cognitive gender differences; aptitude and spatial orientation skill; and finally, cognitive styles. Environmental factors discussed include: Size, Spatial layout complexity and landmark distribution. It may seem obvious that since every individual's brain is unique-not only through experience, but also through genetic predisposition that a one size fits all approach to training would be illogical. Furthermore, considering that various cognitive differences may further emerge when a certain stimulus is present e.g. complex environmental space, it would make even more sense to understand how these factors can impact spatial memory, and to try to adapt the training session by providing visual/auditory cues as well as by changing the exposure time requirements for each individual. The impact of this research domain is important to VE training in general, however within service and military domains, guaranteeing appropriate spatial training is critical in order to ensure that disorientation does not occur in a life or death scenario.
Sexual Script Theory: An Integrative Exploration of the Possibilities and Limits of Sexual Self-Definition

Sexual Script Theory (SST) and its clinical applications are premised on the notion that the subjective understandings of individuals of their sexuality determine the persons' choices of sexual actions and the qualitative experiencing of those sexual acts. The key elements of SST and key Christian control beliefs about sexuality are described, and then related in an integrative exploration of SST. The limits of an understanding of psychological scripting grounded in an unfettered Constructivism, and the limits of a purely pragmatic understanding of script legitimacy, are each discussed. We develop the pervasive theme of the necessary connectedness of sexual scripting to the broader processes of self-definition, which for the Christian, are to be rooted in a biblically-derived set of categories that connect sexuality to the character of the whole person, to their union with a spouse in marriage, and to the human community (individually and corporately) in its relationship to God.
Correlation of ASN2 Gene Expression with Ammonium Metabolism in Arabidopsis1

In Arabidopsis, asparagine (Asn) synthetase is encoded by a small gene family (ASN1, ASN2, and ASN3). It has been shown that ASN1 and ASN2 exhibit reciprocal gene expression patterns toward light and metabolites. Moreover, changes in total free Asn levels parallel the expression of ASN1, but not ASN2. In this study, we show that ASN2 expression correlates with ammonium metabolism. We demonstrate that the light induction of ASN2 is ammonium dependent. The addition and removal of ammonium exerted fast and reciprocal effects on the levels of ASN2 mRNA, specifically under light-grown conditions. NaCl and cold stress increased cellular free ammonium and ASN2 mRNA levels in a coordinated manner, suggesting that the effects of stress on ASN2 expression may be mediated via accumulation of ammonium. The correlation between ASN2 and cellular ammonium metabolism was further demonstrated by analysis of ASN2 transgenic plants. When plants were grown on Murashige and Skoog medium containing 50 mm ammonium, ASN2 overexpressors accumulated less endogenous ammonium compared with the wild-type Colombia-0 and ASN2 underexpressors. When plants were subjected to high-light irradiance, ammonium levels built up. Under such conditions, ASN2 underexpressors accumulated more endogenous ammonium than the wild-type Colombia-0 and ASN2 overexpressors. These results support the notion that ASN2 is closely correlated to ammonium metabolism in higher plants.