Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alterations in systemic and local colonic hemodynamic variables associated with intravenous infusion of ATP-MgCl2 in healthy anesthetized horses.

OBJECTIVE To characterize alterations in systemic and local colonic hemodynamic variables associated with IV infusion of ATP-MgCl2 in healthy anesthetized horses. ANIMALS 12 adult horses. PROCEDURE Six horses were given ATP-MgCl2, IV, beginning at a rate of 0.1 mg of ATP/kg of body weight/min with incremental increases until a rate of 1.0 mg/kg/min was achieved. The remaining 6 horses were given an equivalent volume of saline (0.9% NaCl) solution over the same time period. Colonic and systemic hemodynamic variables and colonic plasma nitric oxide (NO) concentrations were determined before, during, and after infusion. RESULTS Infusion of ATP-MgCl2 caused a rate-dependent decrease in systemic and colonic vascular resistance, principally via its vasodilatory effects. A rate of 0.3 mg of ATP/kg/min caused a significant decrease in systemic and colonic arterial pressure and colonic vascular resistance without a significant corresponding decrease in colonic arterial blood flow. Consistent alterations in NO concentrations of plasma obtained from colonic vasculature were not detected, despite profound vasodilatation of the colonic arterial vasculature. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results revealed that IV infusion of ATP-MgCl2 may be beneficial in maintaining colonic perfusion in horses with ischemia of the gastrointestinal tract, provided a sufficient pressure gradient exists to maintain blood flow.
Institutional care provisions for the aged in Sri Lanka and some reflections on issues of “care” and “company”

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to, within the specific Sri Lankan figures on ageing within South Asia (comparatively high longevity and high figures on intergenerational family‐living), look into the interpretations of social care and everyday social life in urban elder homes in Colombo. What does everyday social life look like and how are underlying meanings of care given shape? To highlight the taken for granted quality of much of everyday care, comparisons are made on the basis of earlier ethnographic research by Indian scholars on Dutch senior homes.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology relied on analysis of existing quantitative data on ageing in Sri Lanka and on research generated by the four‐year team‐study of which the author was part. Specific data in this article were collected through qualitative research by the author: regular visiting and participating in activities within certain selected homes in Colombo, over a period of four months. In addition survey data were collected.
A randomized controlled design investigating the effects of classroom-based physical activity on children’s fluid intelligence and achievement

Existing literature shows promising effects of physical activity on children’s cognitive outcomes. This study assessed via a randomized, controlled design whether additional curricular physical activity during the school day resulted in gains for children’s fluid intelligence and standardized achievement outcomes. Participants were children (N = 460) from four urban schools in the Southeast United States. Schools were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. Treatment schools received additional physical activity breaks throughout the school day while control schools maintained a typical schedule without curricular activity breaks. Results from the one-year study show positive effects for children’s mathematics and reading achievement but no differences across treatment and control groups for children’s fluid intelligence scores. Implications for school psychologists in promoting physical activity breaks on a systems-wide level are discussed.
Immunohistochemical expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in primary pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors.

CONTEXT Lung and breast carcinomas are among the most prevalent cancers. Advances in cancer therapies can provide survival benefit and be potentially curative, even in metastatic disease. Due to the high prevalence of these carcinomas, it is not unusual to encounter lung nodule(s) in a patient with breast carcinoma, and distinguishing between primary and metastatic disease is critical for management/treatment. Occasionally neuroendocrine differentiation is present in breast carcinoma, making its distinction from pulmonary/nonpulmonary neuroendocrine tumors in the lung difficult. OBJECTIVE To assess estrogen and progesterone receptor expression in the entire spectrum of pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors. DESIGN Seventy-one neuroendocrine neoplasms including typical carcinoids (42), atypical carcinoids (7), small cell carcinomas (14), large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (2), and combined small cell carcinomas (6) were evaluated for estrogen and progesterone receptors. Mammary and non-small cell lung carcinomas were also stained for comparison. RESULTS The entire spectrum of neuroendocrine neoplasms demonstrated focal to diffuse estrogen (typical carcinoid, 23; atypical carcinoid, 6; small cell carcinoma, 8; large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, 2; combined small cell carcinoma, 4) and progesterone (typical carcinoid, 11; atypical carcinoid, 2; small cell carcinoma, 7; large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, 0; combined small cell carcinoma, 2) expression. There was no correlation between sex and estrogen/progesterone status. Estrogen and progesterone staining were also noted in endothelial cells. Relative to neuroendocrine carcinomas, mammary carcinomas expressed estrogen and progesterone more frequently. Non-small cell carcinomas had greater and similar immunoreactivity for estrogen and progesterone, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Although estrogen and progesterone receptor staining is frequently associated with breast and gynecologic primaries, it can also be observed in "nontarget" organs. Therefore, presence of estrogen and/or progesterone expression in neuroendocrine tumors involving the lung should not exclude a primary pulmonary neoplasm.
Fieldwork techniques for relating formant frequency, amplitude and bandwidth

An analysis-by-synthesis method for finding formant bandwidths from vowel spectra has been implemented on a solar-powered computer used in fieldwork, thus enabling linguists to test hypotheses about differences between sets of vowels while working with speakers of the language. The procedure has been tested on the two sets of vowels that occur in Degema, a language spoken in Nigeria.
Journal list fetishism and the perversion of scholarship: reactivity and the ABS list

The case for using academic journals lists is critically scrutinised. An effect of their use, it argued, is to stifle diversity and constrict scholarly innovation. A monoculture is fostered in which a preoccupation with shoehorning research into a form prized by elite, US-oriented journals overrides a concern to maintain and enrich the diversity of topics, the range of methods and the plurality of perspectives engaged in business and management research. Use of a particular journal list, such as the one prepared by the Association of Business Schools (ABS), can come to dominate the scholarly terrain of a particular discipline with consequences that can be damaging to funding as well as to research culture.
Preschoolers dive in for authentic learning of marine science

Preservice teachers created integrated activities for preschoolers that simulated skills used by marine biologists. Each activity addressed marine biology content appropriate for young children; incorporated a foundational mathematics skill such as matching, one-to-one correspondence, counting, sorting, and forming a series; and practiced fine motor skills through use of spoons, tweezers, tongs, or pincer-grip with fingers. Materials and reactions of preschoolers are described along with preservice teacher reflections on their authentic learning of teaching young children. ______________________________________________________________________________
On the Expensive‐Tissue Hypothesis: Independent Support from Highly Encephalized Fish

Chitala Mean 12.92 11.13 0.51 0.14 0.026 0.41 0.19 3.70 (S.D.) (1.04) (1.97) (0.10) (0.02) (0.005) (0.10) (0.03) (0.81) Hypostomus Mean 12.94 16.68 1.31 0.10 0.010 0.71 0.08 73.20 (S.D.) (0.60) (2.23) (0.21) (0.03) (! 0.001) (0.15) (0.008) (7.22) Gnathonemus Mean 18.18 26.09 0.39 0.15 0.012 0.57 0.53 6.70 (S.D.) (1.34) (3.95) (0.09) (0.01) (0.004) (0.13) (0.06) (0.45) Expected 1.15 0.25 0.04 0.19 (95% C.I.) (0.69–1.91) (0.16–0.40) (0.02–0.06) – (0.14–0.26) –
The current status of medical education literature in Chinese-language journals

Background: Many research articles on medical education have been published in Chinese-language journals, the majority within the past few years. However, there have been no objective studies to look at the quality of these, and their contribution to present day thinking. Aim: This study explored the areas of focus, and the quality, of published research on Chinese undergraduate medical education. Method: We searched three major Chinese databases, including Chinese Biology Medicine in electronic form, Chinese Journals Full-text Database, and Chinese Technological Periodicals Database, to trace the research themes and methodologies of Chinese-language research papers published from January 2000 to December 2008. Results: The annual number of published articles on undergraduate medical education research has increased over time in China, with 70% of the articles in our 9-year study published in the past 4 years; the most popular theme was curriculum and teaching. Non-comparative studies accounted for the majority of the literature (84.6%); and comparative studies were rare. Conclusions: Although an increase in the number of articles on medical education research in China is encouraging, more methodologically rigorous designs are needed to improve research quality. Generic and focused training on research methodology is essential to convert quantity into quality.
Optimally Sparse Image Representation by the Easy Path Wavelet Transform

The Easy Path Wavelet Transform (EPWT),20 has recently been proposed by one of the authors as a tool for sparse representations of bivariate functions from discrete data, in particular from image data. The EPWT is a locally adaptive wavelet transform. It works along pathways through the array of function values and it exploits the local correlations of the given data in a simple appropriate manner. In this paper, we show that the EPWT leads, for a suitable choice of the pathways, to optimal N-term approximations for piecewise Holder continuous functions with singularities along curves.
Hierarchical Taxonomies using Divisive Partitioning

We propose an unsupervised divisive partitioning algorithm for document data sets which enjoys many favorable properties. In particular, the algorithm shows excellent scalability to large data collections and produces high quality clusters which are competitive with other clustering methods. The algorithm yields information on the signiicant and distinctive words within each cluster, and these words can be inserted into the naturally occuring hierarchical structure produced by the algorithm. The result is an automatically generated hierarchical topical taxonomy of a document set. In this paper, we show how the algorithm's cost scales up linearly with the size of the data, illustrate experimentally the quality of the clusters produced, and show how the algorithm can produce a hierarchical topical taxonomy.
Investigation on constrained matrix factorization for hyperspectral image analysis

Abstract — Matrix factorization is applied to unsupervised linear unmixing for hyperspectral imagery. The algorithm, called non-negative matrix factorization, is used. It imposes a constraint on the non-negativity of the amplitudes of the recovered endmember spectral signatures as well as their fractional abundances. This ensures the recovery of physically meaningful endmembers and their abundances. This algorithm is further modified to include the sum-to-one constraint such that the sum of the fractional abundances for each pixel is unity. Several practical implementation issues in hyperspectral image unmixng are discussed. Some preliminary results from AVIRIS experiments are presented. We also discuss the advantages and possible limitations of this method in hyperspectral image analysis. Keywords: matrix factorization; nonnegative matrix factorization; linear mixture model; unsupervised linear unmixing; hyperspectral imagery. I. I NTRODUCTION Linear unmixing analysis is a well-known technique in remote sensing image analysis. It is based on the fact that the rough spatial resolution permits different materials present in the area covered by a single pixel. The linear mixture model says that a pixel reflectance in a visible-near infrared multispectral or hyperspectral image is the linear mixture from all independent pure materials (endmembers) present in an image scene [1]. Let
Good Vibrations: Music Discovery through Personal Musical Concepts

We present here Good Vibrations, a tool for music tagging, exploration and discovery, shaped as a media player plugin, and intended for home users. The plugin allows the quick ”invention” of concepts and properties that can be tagged to songs. After some hours of active tagging, the plugin starts automatically proposing the proper tags to the user, who is also allowed to correct them. The plugin generates playlists according to the user-defined concepts, and recommends related music either from the user’s personal collection or from the Internet (through it’s connection to Foafing the Music). The plugin runs, for the moment, in Nullsoft Winamp on Windows XP systems.
Bootstrap-based SVM aggregation for class imbalance problems

Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are considered to be one of the most powerful classification tools, widely used in many applications. However, in numerous scenarios the classes are not equally represented and the predictive performance of SVMs on such data can drop dramatically. Different methods have been proposed to address moderate class imbalance issues, but there are few methods that can be successful at detecting the minority class while also keeping high accuracy, especially when applied to datasets with significant level of imbalance. In this paper, we consider SVM ensembles that are built by using a bootstrap-based undersampling technique. We target to reduce the bias induced by class imbalances via multiple undersampling procedures and then decrease the variance using SVM ensembles. For combining the SVMs, we propose a new technique that deals with class imbalance problems of varying levels. Experiments on several datasets demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme compared to state-of-the-art balancing methods.
Preconditioning In Vivo Ischemia Inhibits Anoxic Long-Term Potentiation and Functionally Protects CA1 Neurons in the Gerbil

Preconditioning with sublethal ischemia induces tolerance to subsequent lethal ischemia in neurons. We investigated electrophysiologic aspects of the ischemic tolerance phenomenon in the gerbil hippocampus. Gerbils were subjected to 2 minutes of forebrain ischemia (preconditioning ischemia). Some of them were subjected to a subsequent 5 minutes of forebrain ischemia 2 to 3 days after the preconditioning ischemia (double ischemia). Hippocampal slices were prepared from these gerbils subjected to the preconditioning or double ischemia, and field excitatory postsynaptic potentials were recorded from CA1 pyramidal neurons. Capacity for long-term potentiation triggered by tetanic stimulation (tetanic LTP) was transiently inhibited 1 to 2 days after the double ischemia but then recovered. Latency of anoxic depolarization was not significantly different between slices from preconditioned gerbils and those from sham-operated gerbils when these slices were subjected to in vitro anoxia. Postanoxic potentiation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated transmission (anoxic LTP) was inhibited in slices from gerbils 2 to 3 days after the preconditioning ischemia, whereas it was observed in slices from sham-operated gerbils and gerbils 9 days after the preconditioning ischemia. These results suggest that protection by induced tolerance is (1) not only morphologic but also functional, and (2) expressed in inhibiting postischemic overactivation of NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses.
Rilpivirine resistance mutations in HIV patients failing non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based therapies

Objective:Rilpivirine (RPV) is the latest approved nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI). It displays in-vitro activity extending over other NNRTI-resistant HIV strains. There is scarce information about the rate of RPV resistance-associated mutations (RAMs) in patients failing other NNRTIs. Methods:RPV RAMs were examined in plasma samples collected from HIV patients that had recently failed NNRTI-based regimens at 22 clinics in Spain. Results:Resistance tests from a total of 1064 patients failing efavirenz (EFV) (54.5%), nevirapine (NVP) (40%) or etravirine (ETR) (5.5%) were examined. The prevalence of RPV RAMs was K101E (9.1%), K101P (1.4%), E138A (3.9%), E138G (0.3%), E138K (0.3%), E138Q (0.8%), V179L (0.2%), Y181C (21.8%), Y181I (0.5%), Y181V (0.2%), H221Y (8.3%), F227C (0.1%) and M230L (1.5%). K101E/M184I was seen in 1%. E138K/M184I were absent. Mutations L100I and V108I were significantly more frequent in patients failing EFV than NVP (7.9 vs. 0.2 and 12.2 vs. 7.3%, respectively). Conversely, Y181C, Y181I, V106A, H221Y and F227L were more prevalent following NVP than EFV failures. Using the Spanish resistance interpretation algorithm, 206 genotypes (19.3%) from patients failing NNRTI (NVP 52%, EFV 40.8% and ETR 7.8%) were considered as RPV resistant. In patients with ETR failure, cross-resistance to RPV was seen in 27.6%, mainly as result of Y181C (81.3%), V179I (43.8%), V90I (31.3%) and V108I (18.8%). Conclusion:RPV resistance is overall recognized in nearly 20% of patients failing other NNRTIs. It is more common following ETR (27.6%) or NVP (25%) failures than EFV (14.5%). E138 mutants are rarely seen in this context.
MetaMorph: A Library Framework for Interoperable Kernels on Multi- and Many-Core Clusters

To attain scalable performance efficiently, the HPC community expects future exascale systems to consist of multiple nodes, each with different types of hardware accelerators. In addition to GPUs and Intel MICs, additional candidate accelerators include embedded multiprocessors and FPGAs. End users need appropriate tools to efficiently use the available compute resources in such systems, both within a compute node and across compute nodes. As such, we present MetaMorph, a library framework designed to (automatically) extract as much computational capability as possible from HPC systems. Its design centers around three core principles: abstraction, interoperability, and adaptivity. To demonstrate its efficacy, we present a case study that uses the structured grids design pattern, which is heavily used in computational fluid dynamics. We show how MetaMorph significantly reduces the development time, while delivering performance and interoperability across an array of heterogeneous devices, including multicore CPUs, Intel MICs, AMD GPUs, and NVIDIA GPUs.
Predictors of Depression at One Year Post-stroke in Older Adults

The prevalence and determinates of depression in 67 older adults were assessed at 1 year post-stroke. The sample had an average age of 74 years (SD = 7, range = 60–87 years) at the time of their stroke and 52% were female. The relative contribution of demographic (gender, age), medical (history of previous stroke, hemispheric location of stroke), two measures of functional independence (Barthel Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Index and Nottingham Extended ADL Index) and aspects of cognitive functioning (IQ, attention, verbal memory and verbal fluency) to depression (Geriatric Depression Scale) was investigated. Results indicated that 51% of patients had impairment in activities of daily living, and 33% reported clinically significant levels of depression. Prevalence of cognitive impairment ranged from 28% on a measure of basic cognitive functioning through to 87% on a measure of complex attention. The results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that the combination of variables explained 40% of the variance in depression scores. In addition, the two individual variables of history of previous stroke and functional independence made significant unique contributions to the variance in depression scores. These results demonstrate the wide variety of factors involved and provide support for a biopsychosocial model of post-stroke depression.
Suppression of Cellular Alternans in Guinea pig Ventricular Myocytes with LQT2: Insights from the Luo-rudy Model

Genetic and drug-induced abnormalities of cardiac repolarization have been linked to fatal arrhythmias. These arrhythmias result from a complex interaction of the remaining currents during excitation and repolarization. In this review, we examine recent advancement in investigations of genetic heart diseases and mechanisms of arrhythmia generation. We also present our simulation of repolarization during rapid pacing for different levels of block of the rapid delayed rectifier current, IKr, and pharmacological interventions using the Luo–Rudy model. Control simulations showed the development of alternans at a basic cycle length (BCL) of 131 ms. Two levels of IKr block were simulated corresponding to type 2 of familial long QT syndrome, LQT2. At 100% IKr block, the threshold BCL for the appearance of alternans increased to 145 ms and for shorter cycle lengths showed increasingly complex patterns of periodic and chaotic behavior. We examined the potential of other currents to correct this complex behavior. Improvement of the threshold for bifurcation as a function of BCL was achieved by: (1) 100% block of a nonspecific Ca2+-activated current; (2) 15% block of L-type Ca2+ current; (3) 20% increase of Na+/K+ pump current; (4) 50% increase of SERCA2 pump activity. Conversely, increased L-type Ca2+ current, decreased Na+/K+ pump current, or decreased SERCA2 pump activity increased the threshold BCL. Modification of several other currents had little effect. Alternans and chaotic activity develop at fast pacing rates in model guinea pig ventricular myocytes through a sequence of bifurcations. We elucidated mechanisms that modify the development of alternans which may provide novel targets for treatment of patients with LQT2.
Feature Analysis and Evaluation for Automatic Emotion Identification in Speech

The definition of parameters is a crucial step in the development of a system for identifying emotions in speech. Although there is no agreement on which are the best features for this task, it is generally accepted that prosody carries most of the emotional information. Most works in the field use some kind of prosodic features, often in combination with spectral and voice quality parametrizations. Nevertheless, no systematic study has been done comparing these features. This paper presents the analysis of the characteristics of features derived from prosody, spectral envelope, and voice quality as well as their capability to discriminate emotions. In addition, early fusion and late fusion techniques for combining different information sources are evaluated. The results of this analysis are validated with experimental automatic emotion identification tests. Results suggest that spectral envelope features outperform the prosodic ones. Even when different parametrizations are combined, the late fusion of long-term spectral statistics with short-term spectral envelope parameters provides an accuracy comparable to that obtained when all parametrizations are combined.