Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality of life following treatment for PTSD: Comparison of videoconferencing and in-person modalities

Introduction Quality of life (QOL) is significantly impaired among individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, few treatment outcome studies examine QOL following treatment. Furthermore, the use of videoconferencing to deliver evidence-based treatments for PTSD is increasing dramatically. Although videoconferencing has demonstrated non-inferiority to in-person treatment modalities for improving PTSD symptom severity, no studies to date have directly compared QOL outcomes of an evidence-based intervention delivered via videoconferencing to one delivered in-person. Methods This study presents a secondary data analysis of two randomized controlled trials comparing cognitive processing therapy (CPT) delivered via videoconferencing or a traditional in-person modality. The Men’s study delivered group CPT to 125 male veterans with PTSD, whereas the Women’s study delivered individuals CPT to 126 female civilians and veterans. Multigroup latent growth curve models were used to model changes in QOL Inventory (QOLI) scores over time. Results There was no effect of treatment modality on changes in QOLI scores over time (modality effect on slope estimate = 0.004 (–0.60, 0.61) and on quadratic estimate = 0.001 (–0.18, 0.20); all ps > 0.33). Model fit was the same for both genders (Δχ2 (2) = 2.28, p = 0.32) and for the gender × treatment modality interaction (Δχ2 (2) = 2.87, p = 0.24). QOLI scores improved at post-treatment and three-month follow-up assessments, but declined at the six-month follow-up assessment. Discussion This secondary analysis extends the findings of the parent studies by establishing the efficacy of the videoconferencing platform in improving QOL. Clinical implications of findings are discussed.
The taxonicity of schizotypy: a replication.

P.E. Meehl's model (1962, 1990) of schizotypy and the development of schizophrenia implies that the structure of liability for schizophrenia is dichotomous, hypothesizing that a "schizogene" determines one's membership in a latent class (or taxon; P.E. Meehl & R. R. Golden, 1982). The present study sought to replicate earlier findings concerning the taxonic latent structure and general population base rate of schizotypy (M. F. Lenzenweger & L. Korfine, 1992). P.E. Meehl's (1973; P.E. Meehl & R. R. Golden, 1982) MAXCOV-HITMAX taxometric analytic procedures were applied to a subset of items from the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS; L. J. Chapman, J. P. Chapman, & M. L. Raulin, 1978), a prominent psychometric index of schizotypy, derived from a new randomly ascertained nonclinical university sample (N = 1,646). Consistent with the authors' previous results as well as Meehl's conjectures, the data strongly suggest that schizotypy, as assessed by the PAS, is taxonic at the latent level with a low general population taxon base rate (i.e., < .10). Moreover, individuals falling within the putative schizo-taxon underlying the PAS present greater levels of schizotypic phenomenology than nontaxon members. The taxometric analysis of the psychological trait of femininity also reveals that the MAXCOV-HITMAX procedure can detect a latent dimension, when one is hypothesized to exist, and the procedure does not appear to generate "spurious" evidence for taxonicity as a function of the psychometric format (e.g., true-false) of the data under analysis. The statistical implication of a taxonic entity occurring at a low base is discussed with respect to results obtained using the MAXCOV-HITMAX technique.
MEMS tunable metamaterials surfaces and their applications

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are proposed as a technological solution for fabrication of metamaterials. This enables tunability of metamaterials effective properties and allows using metamaterials in wide range of applications. Low loss of the MEMS devices allows the metamaterials application to be extended to millimeter and submillimeter wave frequencies without compromising on performance. Electronic beam steering by MEMS tunable metamaterials at millimeter wavelength is considered and a prototype of a W band analog tunable phase shifter is demonstrated. The insertion loss of the fabricated MEMS tunable metamaterials surface varies from 0.7 dB to a maximum of 3.5 dB (at a resonance frequency). MEMS varactors have shown reliable and repeatable analog operation over 108 cycles.
Spontaneous release of GABA activates GABAB receptors and controls network activity in the neonatal rat hippocampus.

1. We investigated the effects of the selective gamma-aminobutyric acid-B (GABAB) receptor antagonist, P-3 aminopropyl-P-diethoxymethyl phosphoric acid (CGP 35348), on spontaneous and evoked postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) and currents (PSCs) in CA3 pyramidal cells and interneurons of hippocampal slices obtained between postnatal day 3 and 7 with the use of intracellular and whole cell recording techniques. The intracellular pipette solution contained either 2 M CsCl or 50 mM 2(triethylamino)-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl) acetamine (QX314) dissolved in 2 M KMeSO4. Cesium and QX314 block postsynaptic responses mediated by GABAB receptors. 2. Under control conditions, bath application of CGP 35348 (0.5-1 mM) progressively increased the duration of spontaneous and evoked polysynaptic giant GABAergic PSPs leading to the appearance of ictal-like discharges. The effects of CGP 35348 were dose dependent and voltage independent. 3. In CA3 pyramidal neurons, CGP 35348 (0.5 mM) had no effect on monosynaptic GABAergic inhibitory PSPs (IPSPs) that were isolated in the presence of ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX, 10 microM) and D(-)2-amino-5-phosphovaleric acid (D-APV, 50 microM). Similarly, CGP 35348 (0.5 mM) had no effect on monosynaptic glutamatergic excitatory PSPs (EPSPs) that were isolated in the presence of bicuculline (10 microM) and high divalent cation artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF; 6 mM Mg2+/4 mM Ca2+). 4. In CA3 pyramidal neurons exposed to CNQX (20 microM) and D-APV (50 microM), application of the potassium channel blocker 4-aminopyridine (4-AP, 50 microM) generated synchronous giant GABAergic PSPS that were blocked in the presence of high divalent cation ACSF (6 mM Mg2+/4 mM Ca2+) or bicuculline (10 microM). The duration of these synchronous GABAergic PSPs was prolonged in the presence of CGP 35348 (0.5 mM) but did not lead to the appearance of ictal-like discharges. 5. In the presence of bicuculline, interictal giant glutamatergic potentials were observed in simultaneously recorded CA3 pyramidal cells and interneurons. CGP 35348 (0.5 mM) progressively increased the duration of these bicuculline-induced glutamatergic bursts leading to the simultaneous appearance of ictal discharges in both pyramidal cells and interneurons. 6. These results suggest that in the neonatal CA3 hippocampal region, when synchronous giant polysynaptic GABAergic PSPs are present (i.e., under basal, control conditions), spontaneously released GABA reaches a critical level and activates GABAB receptors on both pyramidal cells and interneurons thus regulating the level of glutamatergic and GABAergic activity in the CA3 neuronal network.
Premedication with oral clonidine decreases intraoperative bleeding and provides hemodynamic stability in cesarean section

Background: Intentional lowering of blood pressure helps to produce a desirably clean surgical field. Many drugs can be used to induce a hypotensive state, but due to their high potency and rapid effect, drugs that more easily and safely control the induction of hypotension are desirable. Objectives: To investigate the effects of premedication with oral clonidine on intraoperative bleeding and hemodynamic variables in patients undergoing cesarean sections. Patients and Methods: A total of 110 patients classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I and II and who were scheduled for elective cesarean section under general anesthesia were enrolled. The patients were randomized to receive either oral clonidine (0.2 mg) or identical-looking placebo tablets 90 minutes before arriving at the operating room. Induction of anesthesia was performed by the same standard protocol in all patients. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded before and after induction; immediately after intubation; 5, 10, and 15 minutes thereafter; at the time of extubation; and one hour after the operation. The surgeons were asked to rate the quality of the operative field on a four-point scale that ranged from mild (1) to abundant bleeding (2). Results: Intraoperative SBP was lower in the clonidine group. After both intubation and extubation, the increases in SBP, DBP, and HR in clonidine-treated subjects were significantly less than the changes in the control patients. The amount of fentanyl given to control blood pressure and HR was significantly less in the clonidine group (18 ± 38 vs. 39 ± 53 μg, P = 0.02). The responses to the four-point scale indicated that intraoperative bleeding in the clonidine group was less than in the placebo group (1.2 ± 0.4 vs. 1.7 ± 0.6, P < 0.05). Conclusions: Premedication with oral clonidine can improve the hemodynamic management of cesarean cases.
INSULIN‐INDUCED ENHANCEMENT OF UPTAKE OF NORADRENALINE IN ATRIAL STRIPS

1 Addition of insulin to the organ bath increased the force of contraction of guinea‐pig left atrial strips driven electrically at 1 Hz 2 The positive inotropic response to insulin remained unaltered in atria depleted of catecholamine or when β‐adrenoceptors were blocked by addition of propranolol to the organ bath 3 The response of isolated atria to noradrenaline was significantly reduced in the presence of insulin 4 Insulin affected neither the calcium accumulating abilities of the heart sarcolemma, mitochondria or microsomes, nor the cyclic adenosine 3′, 5′‐monophosphate (cyclic‐AMP)‐protein kinase‐induced stimulation of microsomal calcium uptake 5 Addition of insulin to the organ bath enhanced significantly the ability of the cardiac tissue to take up [3H]‐noradrenaline as well as [3H]‐metaraminol. The activities of monoamine oxidase and catechol‐O‐methyl transferase were not changed after addition of insulin to homogenates of the heart 6 The ability of insulin to facilitate uptake of noradrenaline would be expected to cause a decrease in the amount of the amine reaching the receptors, thus leading to a diminished response to this amine. This may explain, at least in part, insulin‐induced subsensitivity to noradrenaline 7 This view is supported by the observation that after blockade of amine uptake by destruction of nerve terminals, insulin failed to reduce the positive inotropic response to noradrenaline.
NCRI phase II study of CHOP in combination with ofatumumab in induction and maintenance in newly diagnosed Richter syndrome

Richter syndrome (RS) is associated with chemotherapy resistance and a poor historical median overall survival (OS) of 8–10 months. We conducted a phase II trial of standard CHOP‐21 (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisolone every 21 d) with ofatumumab induction (Cycle 1: 300 mg day 1, 1000 mg day 8, 1000 mg day 15; Cycles 2–6: 1000 mg day 1) (CHOP‐O) followed by 12 months ofatumumab maintenance (1000 mg given 8‐weekly for up to six cycles). Forty‐three patients were recruited of whom 37 were evaluable. Seventy‐three per cent were aged >60 years. Over half of the patients received a fludarabine and cyclophosphamide‐based regimen as prior CLL treatment. The overall response rate was 46% (complete response 27%, partial response 19%) at six cycles. The median progression‐free survival was 6·2 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 4·9–14·0 months) and median OS was 11·4 months (95% CI 6·4–25·6 months). Treatment‐naïve and TP53‐intact patients had improved outcomes. Fifteen episodes of neutropenic fever and 46 non‐neutropenic infections were observed. There were no treatment‐related deaths. Seven patients received platinum‐containing salvage at progression, with only one patient obtaining an adequate response to proceed to allogeneic transplantation. CHOP‐O with ofatumumab maintenance provides minimal benefit beyond CHOP plus rutuximab. Standard immunochemotherapy for RS remains wholly inadequate for unselected RS. Multinational trials incorporating novel agents are urgently needed.
Classification of Acoustic Emissions Using Modified Matching Pursuit

We propose methodologies to automatically classify time-varying warning signals from an acoustic monitoring system that indicate the potential catastrophic structural failures of reinforced concrete structures. Since missing even a single warning signal may prove costly, it is imperative to develop a classifier with high probability of correctly classifying the warning signals. Due to the time-varying nature of these signals, various time-frequency classifiers are considered. We propose a new time-frequency decomposition-based classifier using the modified matching pursuit algorithm for an actual acoustic monitoring system. We investigate the superior performance of the classifier and compare it with existing classifiers for various sets of acoustic emissions, including warning signals from real-world faulty structures. Furthermore, we study the performance of the new classifier under different test conditions.
Chemotactic Activity of S100A7 (Psoriasin) Is Mediated by the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products and Potentiates Inflammation with Highly Homologous but Functionally Distinct S100A151

Human S100A7 (psoriasin) is overexpressed in inflammatory diseases. The recently discovered, co-evolved hS100A15 is almost identical in sequence and up-regulated with hS100A7 during cutaneous inflammation. The functional role of these closely related proteins for inflammation remains undefined. By generating specific Abs, we demonstrate that hS100A7 and hS100A15 proteins are differentially expressed by specific cell types in the skin. Although highly homologous, both proteins are chemoattractants with distinct chemotactic activity for leukocyte subsets. We define RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products) as the hS100A7 receptor, whereas hS100A15 functions through a Gi protein-coupled receptor. hS100A7-RAGE binding, signaling, and chemotaxis are zinc-dependent in vitro, reflecting the previously reported zinc-mediated changes in the hS100A7 dimer structure. When combined, hS100A7 and hS100A15 potentiate inflammation in vivo. Thus, proinflammatory synergism in disease may be driven by the diverse biology of these almost identical proteins that have just recently evolved. The identified S100A7 interaction with RAGE may provide a novel therapeutic target for inflammation.
Biomaterials and tissue engineering research in Turkey: The METU Biomat Center experience.

Today, a number of hot research fields such asbiotechnology, biomaterials, medicine and nano-technology may be interdisciplinary and are heav-ily involved in the creation of new fields such asnanomedicine,tissue engineering and regenerativemedicine (Fig. 1). Especially the recent develop-ments in nanotechnology and biomaterials havebeen a major force in leading to the formation ofthese new fields.Research in the biomedical field in Turkey hasbeen becoming increasingly competitive with theinternational labs of comparable status. Varioussources of funding especially through the Euro-pean Union in the recent years have been influen-tial in increasing the integration of these labs withtheir counterparts in Europe, the USA and the FarEast. Research has, for traditional reasons, beenconcentrated mostly on drug delivery, hard tissueimplants and hydrogels. With the contribution ofnanotechnology a new impetus has been gained.Another major force is the developments in cell bi-ology, which led to the introduction of tissue engi-neering into the biomedical field.This article is about activities carried out inTurkey as a whole and also specifically at theBiotechnology Research Unit (BRU) of the MiddleEast Technical University, a part of the BIOMATResearch Group.
High Availability of Intravascular Tissue Factor in Neonates

In the present study, we compared the levels of intravascular tissue factor (TF) present in cord versus adult whole blood (WB) prior and after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. High levels of intravascular TF might help to explain the clinically observed efficient clotting of cord blood despite low levels of procoagulatory factors. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction revealed same (basal) TF mRNA expression levels in both native cord and adult WB, and approximately same increase in TF mRNA expression owing to LPS incubation in both cord and adult WB (normalized to the housekeeping gene β-actin). Flow-cytometric (fluorescence activated cell sorting) analysis revealed significantly higher surface TF antigen exposure on the neonatal monocyte membrane in native WB samples, and approximately same ability of neonatal and adult monocytes to express TF upon LPS-stimulation. Thrombelastography revealed significantly shorter clotting times of native cord versus adult WB (527±41 vs. 592±23 s, P<0.05). Moreover, shortening of clotting times owing to LPS-stimulation was significantly more pronounced in cord versus adult WB (29.65±3.35% vs. 12.03±6.23%, P<0.05). Because both quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and fluorescence activated cell sorting analysis revealed same capability of both neonatal and adult monocytes to express TF upon LPS-stimulation, this efficient shortening effect in cord WB might be explained by the constitutively high number of monocytes present in neonates. We suggest that the high levels of intravascular TF present in neonates (prior and after LPS-stimulation) might help to explain the clinically observed efficient clotting of cord blood despite low levels of procoagulatory factors.
Neurotrophin Regulation of the Developing Nervous System: Analyses of Knockout Mice

The neurotrophins, NGF, BDNF, NT3 and NT4, are one family in a growing repertoire of neurotrophic factors. The neurotrophins have long been implicated in neuronal survival and recent studies from mice with targeted disruptions of the neurotrophin genes confirm this role, but also reveal that the action of the neurotrophins is more complex, and in some instances more interactive, than originally envisaged. Lack of functional NGF, BDNF and NT3 genes results in severe neuronal deficits and an early postnatal death. However, NT4 is unique among the neurotrophins and while the absence of NT4 does result in limited sensory neuron loss these mice do not die early, suggesting that NT4-dependent neurons are not critical for survival. Phenotypic analyses of mice lacking neurotrophin receptors, TrkA, B and C, confirm that TrkA is the functional receptor for NGF, TrkB acts as the primary receptor for BDNF and NT4, and NT3 signals primarily through TrkC. However, the finding that TrkC mutant mice have a less dramatic phenotype than their NT3 counterparts implicates NT3 in signaling via receptors other than TrkC. Further studies, using combinatorial Trk and neurotrophin deletions, reveal that while BDNF and NT4 subserve distinct neuron populations in most cases, other neuron sub-populations can be supported by either BDNF or NT4, providing evidence for compensatory actions between neurotrophins. As a mechanism to explain programmed cell death that occurs in the developing nervous system, recent studies examining neurotrophin gene-dosage effects suggest that the availability of neurotrophins, NGF, BDNF and NT3, may be limiting for some neuron populations. In addition, the proposed switch in neurotrophin dependency for some neuron populations is now being determined using neurotrophin mutant mice. We discuss these and other recent findings on neurotrophin requirements for the developing nervous system.
Tilt Psychophysics Measured in Nonhuman Primates

Abstract: A method to measure tilt psychophysics in nonhuman primates has been developed and tested. Two rhesus monkeys were trained to orient a light bar parallel to the direction of gravity by rotating a small steering wheel attached to the primate chair. After adequate training, they performed this task during motion paradigms that rotated the gravitoinertial force (GIF) in the roll plane. The animals accurately aligned the light bar with the direction of gravity during and following roll tilts. Subtle aspects of perceived roll tilt previously recorded in human subjects were also observed in the monkeys. During centrifugation and linear translation, an interaural inertial force rotates the GIF in the roll plane. Similar to humans, the animals' perceived direction of gravity shifted toward alignment with the GIF during these paradigms, and the dynamics of these shifts demonstrated an interaction between the otolith afferents that transduce the GIF and rotational cues from the semicircular canals. Finally, optokinetic roll stimulation induced an illusion of roll tilt that was dependent on head orientation, similar to results described in human subjects. Taken together, these findings validate the methodology employed to measure tilt psychophysics; the monkeys' responses were qualitatively similar to those described in human subjects and also recapitulated subtle aspects of the perceptual response observed in humans. This new methodology sets the stage for innovative experimental approaches that will help to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the perception of spatial orientation
Restriction enzyme mapping of vaccinia virus DNA

The cleavage sites for the restriction enzymes Bg/I, HindIII, KpnI, SalI, SmaI, and XhoI were located, from primary data, on the DNA isolated from the WR strain of vaccinia virus. Bg/I and SmaI divide the DNA into five segments which can be isolated by sucrose gradient centrifugation. These large segments provide a convenient means to group segments produced by other enzymes. The construction of physical maps was initiated by identifying the segments at each end of the DNA and then finding segments which were adjacent to these terminal sections. This was accomplished by isolating large shear fragments which contained the covalently linked termini of the DNA. Most of the data needed to derive the maps were obtained by isolating segments produce by one enzyme and then cleaving these individual segments with a second enzyme.