Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time Course for Reversal of Electrophysiological and Ultrastructural Abnormalities in Subendocardial Purkinje Fibers Surviving Extensive Myocardial Infarction in Dogs

The electrophysiological properties of subendocardial Purkinje fibers surviving in myocardial infarcts were studied with intracellular microelectrodes in isolated superfused preparations and correlated with subsequent light and electron microscopic studies. Transmembrane action potentials could always be recorded from one or two cell layers of subendocardial Purkinje fibers in infarcted regions 3 days to 7 weeks after coronary artery occlusion; ventricular muscle action potentials were rarely found. Microscopic studies also demonstrated several layers of intact subendocardial Purkinje fibers; the subjacent ventricular muscle cells were irreversibly injured and replaced by scar. At all time intervals, surviving Purkinje fibers had significantly reduced maximum diastolic potentials, action potential amplitudes, and depolarization velocities as well as prolonged action potential durations. These parameters normalized between 24 hours and 7 weeks after coronary artery occlusion. Surviving Purkinje fibers with electrophysiological abnormalities at 24 hours and 3 days contained vast lipid deposits. Lipid was less prevalent at 10 days when action potential characteristics had improved. By 7 weeks, action potentials were nearly normal and lipid was absent. Subendocardial Purkinje fibers surviving in infarcts are subject to conditions which cause electrophysiological and ultrastructural abnormalities. Persistent abnormalities in the electrophysiological properties of these surviving Purkinje fibers may cause persistent altered electrophysiological properties of the infarcted heart.
New Methods of Brain Stimulation Are Improving Research and Therapy in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Abstract Over the past decade, new functional neuroimaging tools have enabled researchers to identify the specific brain regions involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). More recently, researchers have perfected several new techniques for stimulating the brain. With some exceptions, these new brain stimulation techniques are regionally specific and less invasive than older methods. As a class, these “somatic interventions” build on prior neuroanatomic information about OCD. This article reviews the past and current status of these brain stimulation methodologies, which promise to revolutionize neuropsychiatric research and therapy over the next 10 to 20 years. As the brain circuits in OCD and the pharmacology within those circuits become better understood, these brain stimulation techniques hold particular promise in helping to understand and perhaps treat OCD.
Antagonizing Retinoic Acid and FGF/MAPK Pathways Control Posterior Body Patterning in the Invertebrate Chordate Ciona intestinalis

Vertebrate embryos exploit the mutual inhibition between the RA and FGF signalling pathways to coordinate the proliferative elongation of the main body axis with the progressive patterning and differentiation of its neuroectodermal and paraxial mesodermal structures. The evolutionary history of this patterning system is still poorly understood. Here, we investigate the role played by the RA and FGF/MAPK signals during the development of the tail structures in the tunicate Ciona intestinalis, an invertebrate chordate belonging to the sister clade of vertebrates, in which the prototypical chordate body plan is established through very derived morphogenetic processes. Ciona embryos are constituted of few cells and develop according to a fixed lineage; elongation of the tail occurs largely by rearrangement of postmitotic cells; mesoderm segmentation and somitogenesis are absent. We show that in the Ciona embryo, the antagonism of the RA and FGF/MAPK signals is required to control the anteroposterior patterning of the tail epidermis. We also demonstrate that the RA, FGF/MAPK and canonical Wnt pathways control the anteroposterior patterning of the tail peripheral nervous system, and reveal the existence of distinct subpopulations of caudal epidermal neurons with different responsiveness to the RA, FGF/MAPK and canonical Wnt signals. Our data provide the first demonstration that the use of the antagonism between the RA and FGF signals to pattern the main body axis predates the emergence of vertebrates and highlight the evolutionary plasticity of this patterning strategy, showing that in different chordates it can be used to pattern different tissues within the same homologous body region.
Scaling properties of simple limiter control.

"Simple limiter control" of chaotic systems is analytically and numerically investigated, proceeding from the one-dimensional case to higher dimensions. The properties of the control method are fully described by the one-parameter one-dimensional flat-top map family, implying that orbits are stabilized in exponential time, independent of the periodicity and without the need for targeting. Fine-tuning of the control is limited by superexponential scaling in the control space, where orbits of the uncontrolled system are obtained for a set of zero Lebesgue measure. In higher dimensions, simple limiter control is a highly efficient control method, provided that the proper limiter form and placement are chosen.
Recognizing Faces with Partial Occlusion using Inpainting

Face recognition as a biometric is gaining popularity as it is widely being used in surveillance as well as for security. One of the disadvantage of face recognition as a biometric is its low recognition rate when a part of face image is lost due to known or unknown reasons. Occlusion on faces can be caused with the knowledge of a user when the user is covering his face or part of the face on purpose. Occlusion can be categorized as sparse occlusion and dense occlusion. The capability of face recognition system achieves its goal if the occluded part can be recovered for recognition of faces. In this paper, a hybrid inpainting approach is followed to recover the lost region of a face. This approach increases the recognition rate of faces that are occluded. Experimental result on hybrid inpainting proves that the recognition rate on faces increases on comparison with existing methods on occluded faces.
Mapping radii of metric spaces

It is known that every closed curve of length ≤ 4 in R (n > 0) can be surrounded by a sphere of radius 1, and that this is the best bound. Letting S denote the circle of circumference 4, with the arc-length metric, we here express this fact by saying that the mapping radius of S in R is 1. Tools are developed for estimating the mapping radius of a metric space X in a metric space Y. In particular, it is shown that for X a bounded metric space, the supremum of the mapping radii of X in all convex subsets of normed metric spaces is equal to the infimum of the sup norms of all convex linear combinations of the functions d(x,−) : X → R (x ∈ X). Several explicit mapping radii are calculated, and open questions noted. 1 The definition, and three examples. Definition 1. We will denote by Metr the category whose objects are metric spaces, and whose morphisms are nonexpansive maps. That is, for metric spaces X and Y we let (1) Metr(X,Y ) = {f : X → Y | (∀x0, x1 ∈ X) d(f(x0), f(x1)) ≤ d(x0, x1)}. Throughout this note, a map of metric spaces will mean a morphism in Metr. Given a nonempty subset A of a metric space Y, we define its radius by (2) radY (A) = infy∈Y supa∈A d(a, y), a nonnegative real number or +∞. For metric spaces X and Y, we define the mapping radius of X in Y by (3) map-rad(X,Y ) = supf∈Metr(X,Y ) radY (f(X)) = supf∈Metr(X,Y ) infy∈Y supx∈X d(f(x), y). If X is a metric space and Y a class of metric spaces, we likewise define (4) map-rad(X,Y) = supY ∈Y map-rad(X,Y ) = supY ∈Y, f∈Metr(X,Y ) infy∈Y supx∈X d(f(x), y). (The term “mapping radius” occurs occasionally in complex analysis with an unrelated meaning [15, Def. 7.11].) All vector spaces in this note will be over the field of real numbers unless the contrary is stated. The result stated in the first sentence of the abstract has been discovered many times [5], [6], [18], [19], [25]. (Usually, the length of the closed curve is given as 1 and the radius of the sphere as 1/4, but the scaled-up version will be more convenient here.) Let us obtain it in somewhat greater generality. ∗2000 Mathematics Subject Classifications. Primary: 54E40. Secondary: 46B20, 46E15, 52A40.
Higher effect of plant species diversity on productivity in natural than artificial ecosystems

Current and expected changes in biodiversity have motivated major experiments, which reported a positive relationship between plant species diversity and primary production. As a first step in addressing this relationship, these manipulative experiments controlled as many potential confounding covariables as possible and assembled artificial ecosystems for the purpose of the experiments. As a new step in this endeavor, we asked how plant species richness relates to productivity in a natural ecosystem. Here, we report on an experiment conducted in a natural ecosystem in the Patagonian steppe, in which we assessed the biodiversity effect on primary production. Using a plant species diversity gradient generated by removing species while maintaining constant biomass, we found that aboveground net primary production increased with the number of plant species. We also found that the biodiversity effect was larger in natural than in artificial ecosystems. This result supports previous findings and also suggests that the effect of biodiversity in natural ecosystems may be much larger than currently thought.
Community Design and Physical Activity: What Do We Know? - and what DON'T we know?

Introduction Motivated by different concerns, urban planners and public health officials have joined together in the last several years to advocate for community design that promotes walking, biking, and other forms of physical activity. The Active Living by Design Program, for example, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, aims to increase physical activity through community design by “providing leadership in promoting environments that offer choices for Active Living, a lifestyle that easily integrates physical activity into daily routines” (1). Although these efforts do not explicitly focus on families, their emphasis on neighborhood design raises an interesting and important question: how can community design effectively be used as a strategy for increasing physical activity for both children and their parents? In this presentation, I review what we know – and what we don’t know – about the link between community design and physical activity for both adults and children and offer initial recommendations as well as questions for further research on what forms of community design most effectively increase physical activity for families.
Opposite effects of a high-fat diet and calorie restriction on ciliary neurotrophic factor signaling in the mouse hypothalamus

In the mouse hypothalamus, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is mainly expressed by ependymal cells and tanycytes of the ependymal layer covering the third ventricle. Since exogenously administered CNTF causes reduced food intake and weight loss, we tested whether endogenous CNTF might be involved in energy balance regulation. We thus evaluated CNTF production and responsiveness in the hypothalamus of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD), of ob/ob obese mice, and of mice fed a calorie restriction (CR) regimen. RT-PCR showed that CNTF mRNA increased significantly in HFD mice and decreased significantly in CR animals. Western blotting confirmed that CNTF expression was higher in HFD mice and reduced in CR mice, but high interindividual variability blunted the significance of these differences. By immunohistochemistry, hypothalamic tuberal and mammillary region tanycytes stained strongly for CNTF in HFD mice, whereas CR mice exhibited markedly reduced staining. RT-PCR and Western blotting disclosed that changes in CNTF expression were paralleled by changes in the expression of its specific receptor, CNTF receptor α (CNTFRα). Injection of recombinant CNTF and detection of phospho-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (P-STAT3) showed that CNTF responsiveness by the ependymal layer, mainly by tanycytes, was higher in HFD than CR mice. In addition, in HFD mice CNTF administration induced distinctive STAT3 signaling in a large neuron population located in the dorsomedial and ventromedial nuclei, perifornical area and mammillary body. The hypothalamic expression of CNTF and CNTFRα did not change in the hyperphagic, leptin-deficient ob/ob obese mice; accordingly, P-STAT3 immunoreactivity in CNTF-treated ob/ob mice was confined to ependymal layer and arcuate neurons. Collectively, these data suggest that hypothalamic CNTF is involved in controlling the energy balance and that CNTF signaling plays a role in HFD obese mice at specific sites.
ENCODING AND REPRESENTATION OF INFORMATION IN AUDITORY GRAPHS: DESCRIPTIVE REPORTS OF LISTENER STRATEGIES FOR UNDERSTANDING DATA

While a growing wealth of data have offered insights into the best practices for auditory display design and application, little is known about how listeners internally represent and use the information presented in auditory displays. At the conclusion of three separate studies, participants responded to an open-ended question about the strategies they used to perform auditory graphing tasks. We report a descriptive analysis of these qualitative responses. Participants’ comments were coded by two raters along a number of dimensions that were chosen to represent a comprehensive set of encoding and task strategy possibilities. These descriptive analyses suggest that auditory graph listeners use a variety of strategies to cognitively represent the data in the display. Furthermore, these qualitative data offer a number of insights and questions for future research on information representation for auditory displays.
Correlations among occupational stress, fatigue, and depression in call center employees in Seoul

[Purpose] This study identified correlations among occupational stress, fatigue, and depression in call center employees in South Korea. [Subjects and Methods] This study consisted of 150 call center workers. A cross-sectional design was adopted. Tools including the Effort-Reward Imbalance, Checklist Individual Strength, and Depression scales were used to measure levels of stress, fatigue, and depression. [Results] There were statistically significant differences between fatigue and depression. We found that fatigue significantly predicted the level of depression among Korean call center employees (adjusted R2= 0.227). [Conclusion] Call center employees who experienced great emotional stress appeared to have high levels of depression, and fatigue was a powerful factor influencing their depression.
Nicotine Gum for Pregnant Smokers: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the safety and efficacy of treatment with 2-mg nicotine gum for smoking cessation during pregnancy. METHODS: Pregnant women who smoked daily received individualized behavioral counseling and random assignment to a 6-week treatment with 2-mg nicotine gum or placebo followed by a 6-week taper period. Women who did not quit smoking were instructed to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked by substituting with gum. Measures of tobacco exposure were obtained throughout the study. RESULTS: Participants in the nicotine (nequals;100) and placebo (nequals;94) groups were comparable in age, race/ethnicity, and smoking history. Biochemically validated smoking-cessation rates were not significantly higher with nicotine gum compared with placebo (after 6 weeks of treatment: 13% compared with 9.6%, P=.45; at 32–34 weeks of gestation: 18% compared with 14.9%, P=.56). Using a completer analysis, nicotine gum significantly reduced the number of cigarettes smoked per day (nicotine gum: −5.7 [standard deviation (SD)=6.0]; placebo: −3.5 [SD=5.7], P=. 035), and cotinine concentration (nicotine gum: −249 ng/mL [SD=397]; placebo: −112 ng/mL [SD=333]; P=.04). Birth weights were significantly greater with nicotine gum compared with placebo (3,287 g [SD=566] and 2,950 g [SD=653], respectively, P<.001). Gestational age was also greater with nicotine-replacement therapy than with placebo (38.9 weeks [SD=1.7] and 38.0 weeks [SD=3.3], respectively; P=.014). CONCLUSION: Although nicotine gum did not increase quit rates, use of nicotine gum increased birth weight and gestational age, two key parameters in predicting neonatal wellbeing. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, www.clinicaltrials. gov, NCT00115687 LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: I
Chess Endgames and Neural Networks

The existence of endgame databases challenges us to extract higher-grade information and knowledge from their basic data content. Chess players, for example, would like simple and usable endgame theories if such holy grail exists: endgame experts would like to provide such insights and be inspired by computers to do so. Here, we investigate the use of artificial neural networks (NNs) to mine these databases and we report on a first use of NNs on KPK. The results encourage us to suggest further work on chess applications of neural networks and other data-mining techniques.
NrdH-Redoxin Protein Mediates High Enzyme Activity in Manganese-reconstituted Ribonucleotide Reductase from Bacillus anthracis

Background: Class Ib ribonucleotide reductase of the severe pathogen Bacillus anthracis can be loaded with manganese or iron. Results: The manganese form was 10-fold more active than the iron form in the presence of the physiological protein NrdH-redoxin. Conclusion: The manganese form is important in the life cycle of B. anthracis. Significance: The physiologically relevant form of ribonucleotide reductase controls B. anthracis proliferation and survival. Bacillus anthracis is a severe mammalian pathogen encoding a class Ib ribonucleotide reductase (RNR). RNR is a universal enzyme that provides the four essential deoxyribonucleotides needed for DNA replication and repair. Almost all Bacillus spp. encode both class Ib and class III RNR operons, but the B. anthracis class III operon was reported to encode a pseudogene, and conceivably class Ib RNR is necessary for spore germination and proliferation of B. anthracis upon infection. The class Ib RNR operon in B. anthracis encodes genes for the catalytic NrdE protein, the tyrosyl radical metalloprotein NrdF, and the flavodoxin protein NrdI. The tyrosyl radical in NrdF is stabilized by an adjacent Mn2III site (Mn-NrdF) formed by the action of the NrdI protein or by a Fe2III site (Fe-NrdF) formed spontaneously from Fe2+ and O2. In this study, we show that the properties of B. anthracis Mn-NrdF and Fe-NrdF are in general similar for interaction with NrdE and NrdI. Intriguingly, the enzyme activity of Mn-NrdF was approximately an order of magnitude higher than that of Fe-NrdF in the presence of the class Ib-specific physiological reductant NrdH, strongly suggesting that the Mn-NrdF form is important in the life cycle of B. anthracis. Whether the Fe-NrdF form only exists in vitro or whether the NrdF protein in B. anthracis is a true cambialistic enzyme that can work with either manganese or iron remains to be established.
Industry Bias in Randomized Controlled Trials in General and Abdominal Surgery: An Empirical Study

Background: Industry sponsorship has been identified as a source of bias in several fields of medical science. To date, the influence of industry sponsorship in the field of general and abdominal surgery has not been evaluated. Methods: A systematic literature search (1985–2014) was performed in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and EMBASE to identify randomized controlled trials in general and abdominal surgery. Information on funding source, outcome, and methodological quality was extracted. Association of industry sponsorship and positive outcome was expressed as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). A &khgr;2 test and a multivariate logistic regression analysis with study characteristics and known sources of bias were performed. Results: A total of 7934 articles were screened and 165 randomized controlled trials were included. No difference in methodological quality was found. Industry-funded trials more often presented statistically significant results for the primary endpoint (OR, 2.44; CI, 1.04–5.71; P = 0.04). Eighty-eight of 115 (76.5%) industry-funded trials and 19 of 50 (38.0%) non–industry-funded trials reported a positive outcome (OR, 5.32; CI, 2.60–10.88; P < 0.001). Industry-funded trials more often reported a positive outcome without statistical justification (OR, 5.79; CI, 2.13–15.68; P < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, funding source remained significantly associated with reporting of positive outcome (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Industry funding of surgical trials leads to exaggerated positive reporting of outcomes. This study emphasizes the necessity for declaration of funding source. Industry involvement in surgical research has to ensure scientific integrity and independence and has to be based on full transparency.
Non-motorized Treadmill Running Is Associated with Higher Cardiometabolic Demands Compared with Overground and Motorized Treadmill Running

The aim of this study was to compare the cardiometabolic demands of running on a curved non-motorized treadmill (cNMT) with overground (OVR) and motorized treadmill (MOT) running. Fourteen trained male (n = 7) and female (n = 7) runners (V·O2peak 56.6 ± 4.0 mL.kg−1.min−1) participated in the study. Each experimental session consisted of 5 × 6-min bouts of running at progressively higher speeds, separated by 6-min rest (females 9–15 km.h−1; males 10.5–16.5 km.h−1). Oxygen consumption (V·O2) and heart rate (HR) during the last 2 min of each bout were measured using a portable metabolic cart. Running at a set speed on the cNMT required a higher percentage of V·O2peak than OVR (mean ± 90% CI, 22 ± 6%; ES ± 90% CI, 1.87 ± 0.15) and MOT (16 ± 6%; ES 1.50 ± 0.15) running. Similarly, HR during the cNMT was higher compared to OVR (25 ± 9 beats.min−1, ES 1.23 ± 0.14) and MOT (22 ± 9 beats.min−1, ES 1.35 ± 0.13) trials. The decline in running economy observed during the cNMT trial was negatively related to body mass (R2 0.493, P = 0.01), indicating lighter runners were required to work at a higher relative intensity to overcome treadmill belt resistance. These data demonstrate the higher cardiometabolic demand associated with running at a given speed on the cNMT. It is critical these differences are taken into account when prescribing training intensities on the cNMT or translating data from the laboratory to an athletic setting.
The Kennedy pathway—De novo synthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine

The glycerophospholipids phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) account for greater than 50% of the total phospholipid species in eukaryotic membranes and thus play major roles in the structure and function of those membranes. In most eukaryotic cells, PC and PE are synthesized by an aminoalcoholphosphotransferase reaction, which uses sn‐1,2‐diradylglycerol and either CDP‐choline or CDP‐ethanolamine, respectively. This is the last step in a biosynthetic pathway known as the Kennedy pathway, so named after Eugene Kennedy who elucidated it over 50years ago. This review will cover various aspects of the Kennedy pathway including: each of the biosynthetic steps, the functions androles of the phospholipid products PC and PE, and how the Kennedy pathway has the potential of being a chemotherapeutic target against cancer and various infectious diseases. © 2010 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 62(6): 414–428, 2010