Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic Identification of Splice Variants in Human P/Q-Type Channel α12.1 Subunits: Implications for Current Density and Ca2+-Dependent Inactivation

P/Q-type (Cav2.1) calcium channels support a host of Ca2+-driven neuronal functions in the mammalian brain. Alternative splicing of the main α1A(α12.1) subunit of these channels may thereby represent a rich strategy for tuning the functional profile of diverse neurobiological processes. Here, we applied a recently developed “transcript-scanning” method for systematic determination of splice variant transcripts of the human α12. 1 gene. This screen identified seven loci of variation, which together have never been fully defined in humans. Genomic sequence analysis clarified the splicing mechanisms underlying the observed variation. Electrophysiological characterization and a novel analytical paradigm, termed strength–current analysis, revealed that one focus of variation, involving combinatorial inclusion and exclusion of exons 43 and 44, exerted a primary effect on current amplitude and a corollary effect on Ca2+-dependent channel inactivation. These findings significantly expand the anticipated scope of functional diversity produced by splice variation of P/Q-type channels.
Introduction and Overview

SUMMARY This overview article addresses the different meanings of high takes testing, which takes into consideration accountability at different levels, such as teacher, school, and state. In this regard, “high-stakes” may mean different things in different states or countries. We will advance an argument for why school psychologists should (a) be actively involved with implementation of high stakes assessment programs, (b) work to prevent the potential negative consequences of high stakes testing, and (c) advocate for the appropriate use of these assessments. Finally, we will offer a preview of each article. Collectively, the articles provide an overview of why high stakes testing is relevant to the profession of school psychology and how high stakes testing has created new opportunities for the practice of school psychology.
Expression and localisation of calbindin D28k in all intestinal segments of the laying hen

1. The aim of the present study was to investigate expression and localisation of a 28-kDa calcium-binding protein (CaBP-D28k) related to active calcium (Ca) absorption, in the entire intestine of egg-laying hens. 2. Western blotting analysis showed that the entire intestine expressed CaBP-D28k to the following degree: duodenum > jejunum > caecum > ileum > colon. Immunohistochemistry showed strong CaBP-D28k localisation in enterocytes along the villus tip–crypt axis in the duodenum and in villus tips in the caecum and colon. The jejunum and ileum had moderate localisation with respect to the number of immunoreactive cells and staining intensity. 3. These results suggest that laying hens actively absorb Ca in both the large and small intestines.
Advances in Comparative International Sociology: A New Generation of Scholars

Comparative international sociology is a cornerstone of sociology. "Large N" cross-national analyses are commonly published in leading sociology journals as well as in science and policy journals. The topics studied in macrosociological work and the methodologies employed to examine them vary considerably and have become increasingly diverse and rigorous. The four articles in this issue, all authored by sociology Ph.D. students, exemplify the substantive and methodological variation in the comparative international tradition, engaging core theoretical works and applying appropriate statistical modeling techniques.
Peritoneal fibrinolytic activity and adhesiogenesis.

INTRODUCTION Postoperative adhesions after abdominal or pelvic surgery remain an important clinical problem causing infertility, pain and bowel obstruction. Their prevention and treatment remains poorly understood and inadequate. The formation of adhesions is caused by the organization of a fibrin matrix, an organization that takes place during the coagulation process when there is suppression of fibrinolysis. METHODS In this study peritoneal tissue and peritoneal fluid from two groups of patients were sampled and analysed. The first group comprised of 12 patients undergoing abdominal surgery for an acute abdomen during which known peritoneal factors of aggression (trauma, chemical, bacterial) were present which are known to increase the propensity for peritoneal adhesion formation. A second group consisting of 6 patients undergoing surgery in the absence of these peritoneal aggression factors acted as a reference control group. Each patient had peritoneal tissue sampled at the time of surgery and analysed for levels of gene expression of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). Patients also had peritoneal drain fluid collected postoperatively and analysed for quantities of fibrin degradation products (FDPs) and fibrinogen. RESULTS The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of PAI-1 and tPA genes at peritoneal tissue level. Peritoneal tissue was obtained during surgery and the variation of expression of PAI-1 and tPA genes was quantified. The obtained results highlighted an increase of expression in PAI-1 gene and decrease of expression in tPA gene in patients with increased factors of peritoneal aggression compared to patients without, indicating a decreased fibrinolytic potential in patients with increased peritoneal adhesion propensity. Increased factors of peritoneal aggression also resulted in increased levels of FDPs and fibrinogen in peritoneal exudates.
Metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1: A promising biomarker for the metastasis and prognosis of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most frequent type of malignancy in the world. Metastasis accounts for >90% mortalities in patients with CRC. The metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1 (MACC1) gene has been identified as a novel biomarker for the prediction of metastasis and disease prognosis, particularly for patients with early-stage disease. Previous clinical studies demonstrated that MACC1 expression and polymorphisms in CRC tissues were indicators of metastasis, and that circulating transcripts in plasma were also significantly associated with the survival of patients. The present review describes the use of MACC1 beyond its utility in the clinic. By elucidating the upstream and downstream signal pathways of MACC1, the well-known mechanisms of MACC1-mediated cell proliferation, invasion, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) are summarized, as well as the potential signaling pathways. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms by which the overexpression of MACC1 causes cisplatin resistance are emphasized.
Omega-3 fatty acids: their beneficial role in cardiovascular health.

OBJECTIVE To examine evidence for the role of omega-3 fatty acids in cardiovascular disease. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE PubMed was searched for articles on the role of omega-3 fatty acids in cardiovascular disease. Level I and II evidence indicates that omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial in improving cardiovascular outcomes. MAIN MESSAGE Dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids has declined by 80% during the last 100 years, while intake of omega-6 fatty acids has greatly increased. Omega-3 fatty acids are cardioprotective mainly due to beneficial effects on arrhythmias, atherosclerosis, inflammation, and thrombosis. There is also evidence that they improve endothelial function, lower blood pressure, and significantly lower triglycerides. CONCLUSION There is good evidence in the literature that increasing intake of omega-3 fatty acids improves cardiac outcomes. Physicians need to integrate dietary recommendations for consumption of omega-3 fatty acids into their usual cardiovascular care.
Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939

This book is a reassessment of the international monetary crises of the post-World War I period that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. It also analyses the responses of the world economic powers to the Depression and how new monetary policies set the stage for the watershed post-World War II system established at Bretton Woods. It offers new theories of what effect the Great Depression had on the collapse of the world monetary system, and what effect the collapse had on deepening and prolonging the Depression, by exploring the link between global economic crisis and the the gold standard (the framework for international monetary affairs until 1931). The events described had a profound effect upon twentieth-century history: the Depression abetted the rise of Hitler and the demise of the gold standard is a historical cause of inflation.
Heroic Defeats. The Politics of Job Loss

1. The puzzle of union responses to workforce reductions 2. Games analyzing job loss 3. Job loss in the Italian and British automobile industries 4. Triggers of industrial action 5. Pit closures in the Japanese and British mining industries 6. Seeking allies: how other actors affect interactions over job loss 7. Conclusions.
Scheduling in Bag-of-Task grids: the PAUA case

In this paper we discuss the difficulties involved in the scheduling of applications on computational grids. We highlight two main sources of difficulties: 1) the size of the grid rules out the possibility of using a centralized scheduler; 2) since resources are managed by different parties, the scheduler must consider several different policies. Thus, we argue that scheduling applications on a grid require the orchestration of several schedulers, with possibly conflicting goals. We discuss how we have addressed this issue in the context of PAUA, a grid for Bag-of-Tasks applications (i.e. parallel applications whose tasks are independent) that we are currently deploying throughout Brazil.
Collision Avoidance of a Mobile Robot Using Intelligent Hybrid Force Control Technique

In this paper, a novel collision avoidance algorithm of a mobile robot is proposed. Virtual force field between a robot and an obstacle is formed and regulated to maintain a desired distance. To avoid obstacles on the path of a mobile robot, intelligent hybrid force control is used to regulate force field of an accurate distance between a robot and an obstacle. Since uncertainties from robot dynamics and obstacles degrade the performance of a collision avoidance task, neural network is used to compensate for uncertainties. Simulation studies of avoiding obstacles by maintaining a desired distance on the path of a wheeled mobile robot are conducted to confirm the proposed algorithm.
E-Tourism: An Innovative Approach for the Small and Medium-Sized Tourism Enterprises (SMTES) in Korea

This paper deals with e-tourism, innovation and growth. The Internet is revolutionising the distribution of tourism information and sales. The Korean small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) with well-developed and innovative Web sites can now have “equal Internet access” to international tourism markets. This paper examines problems and solutions related to electronic commerce in the tourism industry and suggests recommendations for successful e-commerce strategies in tourism to be applied by the industry and the government in Korea.
Prepulse inhibition of the startle response in men with schizophrenia: effects of age of onset of illness, symptoms, and medication.

BACKGROUND Prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex response refers to the ability of a weak prestimulus to transiently inhibit the response to a closely following strong sensory stimulus. This effect represents an operational index of sensorimotor gating and is found to be deficient in schizophrenia. Prepulse inhibition deficits in schizophrenia seem to be partially normalized by typical antipsychotics and more fully by some atypical antipsychotics. Early onset of schizophrenia, particularly in men, has been associated with abnormal brain maturation, profound neuropsychological deficits, and less responsiveness to antipsychotic medication. We evaluated the effects of the age of onset of illness, current positive and negative symptoms, and the type of medication (typical vs atypical) on prepulse inhibition of the startle response in schizophrenia. METHODS Thirty-eight male schizophrenic patients and 20 healthy male controls underwent testing for prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response. RESULTS Earlier onset of illness was associated with reduced prepulse inhibition, while adult onset of illness was not. No significant relationships occurred between current symptoms and prepulse inhibition. Patients given typical, but not atypical, antipsychotics exhibited less prepulse inhibition compared with healthy controls. CONCLUSION Early onset of illness is associated with profound deficits in prepulse inhibition of the startle response in men with schizophrenia.
Dynamic scheduling Monte-Carlo framework for multi-accelerator heterogeneous clusters

Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation is an effective tool for solving complex problems such as many-body simulation, exotic option pricing and partial differential equation solving. The huge amount of computation in MC makes it a good candidate for acceleration using hardware and distributed computing platforms. We propose a novel MC simulation framework suitable for a wide range of problems. This framework enables different hardware accelerators in a multi-accelerator heterogeneous cluster to work collaboratively on a single application. It also provides scheduling interfaces to adaptively balance the workload according to the cluster status. Two financial applications, involving asset simulation and option pricing, are built using this framework to demonstrate its capability and flexibility. A cluster with 8 Virtex-5 xc5vlx330t FPGAs and 8 Tesla C1060 GPUs using the proposed framework provides 44 times speedup and 19.6 times improved energy efficiency over a cluster with 16 AMD Phenom 9650 quad-core 2.4GHz CPUs for the GARCH asset simulation application. The Efficient Allocation Line (EAL) is proposed for determining the most efficient allocation of accelerators for either performance or energy consumption.
The causes of hypopituitarism in the absence of abnormal pituitary imaging.

BACKGROUND Hypopituitarism in the absence of a history of pituitary pathology or abnormal pituitary imaging is rare. AIM To identify the cause of hypopituitarism in individuals in whom pituitary imaging was normal. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of electronic patient record. METHOD A review of the pituitary function in the 506 patients on the Morriston Hospital pituitary database revealed 230 had some degree of hypopituitarism and of these, 21 (9%) had normal pituitary imaging. RESULTS Of this group, six patients had a past medical history of subarachnoid haemorrhage, head injury or meningitis, and mainly suffered from a deficiency of antidiuretic hormone. One patient had a stroke resulting in multiple anterior hormone deficiencies and six individuals had idiopathic cranial diabetes insipidus (DI). Subsequent investigations of the remaining eight patients with normal pituitary imaging revealed that two had neurosarcoidosis both of whom had panhypopituitarism. Four patients had haemochromatosis which resulted in gonadotropin deficiency in two, DI in one and panhypopituitarism in the other. There were two individuals with confirmed hypopituitarism and multiple hormone deficiencies in which no cause could be identified. CONCLUSION These results show that hypopituitarism in the absence of pituitary pathology or an identifiable cause is rare. In patients with multiple anterior pituitary hormone deficiencies haemochromatosis and sarcoidosis should be considered.
Thrombin increases permeability only in venules exposed to inflammatory conditions.

Thrombin is widely used to stimulate a variety of responses in cultured endothelial cell monolayers as a model of acute vascular endothelial response to inflammatory mediators. However, preliminary results indicated that rat mesenteric venules did not respond acutely to thrombin. We tested the hypothesis that rat venules would respond to thrombin 24 h after prior injury by microperfusion. Vessel responsiveness was measured as hydraulic conductivity (Lp). When venules were exposed to rat thrombin (10 U/ml) within 2 h of initial perfusion with vehicle control, there was no increase in Lp of any vessel from a mean baseline of 1.2 +/- 0.2 x 10(-7) cm.s-1.cmH2O-1. In contrast, when perfused with thrombin at 25-27 h after initial perfusion, every venule responded to thrombin with a transient increase in Lp. The mean peak Lp on day 2 in response to thrombin was 24 +/- 4.2 x 10(-7) cm.s-1.cmH2O-1. Our results suggest that prior endothelial injury modifies the endothelial cell phenotype and alters the response of endothelial cells to thrombin after 24 h. Phenotypic plasticity of endothelial cells may play a key role in the regulation of permeability of some endothelial cells in culture and in intact venules, where localized leaky sites may form where there had been a previous inflammatory response.
Niños guatemaltecos expresan sus valores por medio del dibujo. Una investigación en acción Guatemalans' Children Express their Values by Drawings An Investigation in Action

Da cuenta de un estudio de caracter cualitativo que identifi co los valores que emergieron en un grupo de estudiantes de cuarto grado, en la escuela Miguel Garcia Granados, de la municipalidad de Solola, Guatemala, cuando realizaron dibujos y redactaron sus interpretaciones de ellos luego de refl exionar acerca del cuento titulado “El jardin de todas las flores” (Diaz, 2011). Ademas, en el estudio se identifi caron aquellos valores que predominan entre estos estudiantes, para sugerir recomendaciones que puedan fortalecer estos valores y propiciar el desarrollo de otros.
PARALLEL GENETIC ALGORITHMS IMPLEMENTED ON TRANSPUTERS

: This paper deals with a course-grain parallel genetic algorithm for solving the placement and TSP problem as well. Both of them are typical tasks from the field of the layout design of VLSI circuits. It can be proved that both are NP problems. A TRANSGEN program was created in OCCAM language, which enables wide class experiments via extensive menu for setting main parameters of genetic optimization. The main attention was paid to the adaptation of main genetics operators including the migration operator usable for placement optimization. To test TRANSGEN algorithm some experiments were done. A few circuits were used to be illustrated the behaviour of the algorithm. From this experiments we have concluded that the achieved linear speedup of the parallel version of the genetic program is effected by a better covergence of the itaration process.
Nonnegative Features of Spetro-Temporal Sounds for Classiﬁcation

A parts-based representation is a way of understanding object recognition in the brain. The nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) is an algorithm which is able to learn a parts-based representation by allowing only non-subtractive combinations (Lee and Seung, 1999). In this paper we incorporate a parts-based representation of spectro-temporal sounds into the acoustic feature extraction, which leads to nonnegative features . We present a method of inferring encoding variables in the framework of NMF and show that the method produces robust acoustic features in the presence of noise in the task of general sound classiﬁcation. Experimental results conﬁrm that the proposed feature extraction method improves the classiﬁ-cation performance, especially in the presence of noise, compared to independent component analysis (ICA) which produces holistic features.
Accurate static pose estimation combining direct regression and geodesic extrema

Human pose estimation in static images has received significant attention recently but the problem remains challenging. Using data acquired from a consumer depth sensor, our method combines a direct regression approach for the estimation of rigid body parts with the extraction of geodesic extrema to find extremities. We show how these approaches are complementary and present a novel approach to combine the results resulting in an improvement over the state-of-the-art. We report and compare our results a new dataset of aligned RGB-D pose sequences which we release as a benchmark for further evaluation.
Personality disorders in DSM classifications

In the article an overview of history of personality disorders’ diagnostic criteria has been presented since the publication of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1952 up to the fifth edition published in 2013. Describing the beginnings of the classification in psychology, theses of a German philosopher and psychologist William Stern (1871-1938), the founder of psychology of individual differences have been examined, as he defined ‘type’ as a dominating psychological or psychophysiological predisposition. Changes in typologies in subsequent editions of DSM were aimed at increased accuracy of description of differentiated personality disorders’ types. The goal of such descriptions was to increase the accuracy of clinical diagnosis of individuals displaying in various domains of life repeated perceptional and behavioral patterns. Since the first edition of DSM the categorical perspective has been emphasized, which in the present edition has been replaced by the dimensional – categorical model, defined as a hybrid one. This change has already led to various controversies and discussions, and therefore requires further research.
Degraded License Plate Recognition system for town buses on highway

This study presented a Degraded License Plate Recognition (DLPR) to identify town buses on highway. Since the License Plates (LPs) of town buses are influenced by the external conditions and become hardly distinguished by the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) method. The proposed DLPR system adopts Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and Support Vector Machine (SVM)-for classification-based solution. The proposed system implements a two-level LPR, including LP localization and character recognition. For the recognition efficiency of the proposed system, two trained databases for LP localization and character recognition are reduced by the mathematical and feature-based approaches, respectively, and thus the searching time can be saved significantly. To certify the performance of recognizing the degraded LPs, the proposed system is demonstrated by physical degraded LP images, and thus the results reveal that the proposed system overcomes several degraded LP images with reasonable recognition accuracy.