Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atlantoaxial transarticular screw fixation: a review of surgical indications, fusion rate, complications, and lessons learned in 191 adult patients.

OBJECT In this, the first of two articles regarding C1-2 transarticular screw fixation, the authors assessed the rate of fusion, surgery-related complications, and lessons learned after C1-2 transarticular screw fixation in an adult patient series. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed 191 consecutive patients (107 women and 84 men; mean age 49.7 years, range 17-90 years) in whom at least one C1-2 transarticular screw was placed. Overall 353 transarticular screws were placed for trauma (85 patients), rheumatoid arthritis (63 patients), congenital anomaly (26 patients), os odontoideum (four patients), neoplasm (eight patients), and chronic cervical instability (five patients). Among these, 67 transarticular screws were placed in 36 patients as part of an occipitocervical construct. Seventeen patients had undergone 24 posterior C1-2 fusion attempts prior to referral. The mean follow-up period was 15.2 months (range 0.1-106.3 months). Fusion was achieved in 98% of cases followed to commencement of fusion or for at least 24 months. The mean duration until fusion was 9.5 months (range 3-48 months). Complications occurred in 32 patients. Most were minor; however, five patients suffered vertebral artery (VA) injury. One bilateral VA injury resulted in patient death. The others did not result in any permanent neurological sequelae. CONCLUSIONS Based on this series, the authors have learned important lessons that can improve outcomes and safety. These include techniques to improve screw-related patient positioning, development of optimal instrumentation, improved screw materials and design, and defining the role for stereotactic navigation. Atlantoaxial transarticular screw fixation is highly effective in achieving fusion, and the complication rate is low when performed by properly trained surgeons.
Delayed Rectifier and A-Type Potassium Channels Associated with Kv 2.1 and Kv 4.3 Expression in Embryonic Rat Neural Progenitor Cells

Background Because of the importance of voltage-activated K+ channels during embryonic development and in cell proliferation, we present here the first description of these channels in E15 rat embryonic neural progenitor cells derived from the subventricular zone (SVZ). Activation, inactivation, and single-channel conductance properties of recorded progenitor cells were compared with those obtained by others when these Kv gene products were expressed in oocytes. Methodology/Principal Findings Neural progenitor cells derived from the subventricular zone of E15 embryonic rats were cultured under conditions that did not promote differentiation. Immunocytochemical and Western blot assays for nestin expression indicated that almost all of the cells available for recording expressed this intermediate filament protein, which is generally accepted as a marker for uncommitted embryonic neural progenitor cells. However, a very small numbers of the cells expressed GFAP, a marker for astrocytes, O4, a marker for immature oligodendrocytes, and βIII-tubulin, a marker for neurons. Using immunocytochemistry and Western blots, we detected consistently the expression of Kv2.1, and 4.3. In whole-cell mode, we recorded two outward currents, a delayed rectifier and an A-type current. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that Kv2.1, and 4.3 are expressed in E15 SVZ neural progenitor cells, and we propose that they may be associated with the delayed-rectifier and the A-type currents, respectively, that we recorded. These results demonstrate the early expression of delayed rectifier and A-type K+ currents and channels in embryonic neural progenitor cells prior to the differentiation of these cells.
SMSDAdn - Motifs Séquentiels Discriminants pour les puces ADN

The invention relates to the containment of caesium and/or rubidium, in particular 135Cs and 137Cs in an apatitic matrix of formula:in which:M represents Cs and/or Rb,Ln represents at least one trivalent cation,X represents at least one anion chosen from among 2F-, S2-, 2Cl-, 2Br-, 2I-, 2OH- and O2-, andt, x, y, and u are such that:0<t.2. 52.x. 81.y. 70.u. 6x+y+t=10and the total number of positive charges provided by the cations M, Ca and Ln are equal to (20+u).
NAVRNA: visualization - exploration - editing of RNA

In this paper we describe NAVRNA, an interactive system that enables biologists or researchers in bioinformatics to visualize, explore and edit RNA molecules. The key characteristics of NAVRNA are (1) to exploit multiple display surfaces (2) to enable the manipulation of both the 2D view of RNA called secondary structure, as well as the 3D view of RNA called tertiary structure while maintaining consistency between the two views, (3) to enable co-located synchronous collaborative manipulation of the RNA structures and (4) to provide two-handed interaction techniques for navigating and editing RNA structures and in particular a two-handed technique for bending the structure.
Interpolation and Approximation of Surfaces from Three-Dimensional Scattered Data Points

There is a wide range of applications for which surface interpolation or approximation from scattered data points in space is important. Dependent on the field of application and the related properties of the data, many algorithms were developed in the past. This contribution gives a survey of existing algorithms, and identifies basic methods common to independently developed solutions. We distinguish surface construction based on spatial subdivision, distance functions, warping, and incremental surface growing. The systematic analysis of existing approaches leads to several interesting open questions for further research.
Measuring socioeconomic mortality differentials over time

Using 1973 Current Population Survey data matched to 1973-1978 Social Security mortality records, this study measures the relationship between the income and education of men and their subsequent mortality. The estimated relationships are compared with socioeconomic mortality differentials found by Kitagawa and Hauser in their study of 1960 census-death certificate matched data. The comparison suggests that there has been no improvement in the relative mortality experience of low socioeconomic status men. More generally, the article discusses how Social Security data could be used to monitor, on a continual basis, our progress toward eradicating signficant mortality differentials in the United States.
An investigation into how audio influences perception, attention

This exegesis will investigate the influence of audio stimuli and its relationship with visual perception, attention and hierarchical flow within visual communication – utilising a heuristic form of inquiry. New terminology of black and white thoughts will also be explored to analyse logical and lateral thinking when applied to problem solving. By utilising visual abstraction, cross-modal perception and iconic-coupling techniques I wish to explore how one can create stronger engaging experiences. This supports the research of Menon and Levitin (2005) and Ramachandran and Hirstein (1999) in the way the brain responds and rewards when resolving problems and when listening to music. By offering more rewards, we can create an environment that encourages stronger engagement. When an artificial synaesthetic experience is generated by iconic-coupling and cross-modal binding processes, a deeper correlation between auditory and visual elements may result. Integration of specific iconic-coupling within the design process of the following two works ‘Inner sense’ and ‘Elements’ creates an environment that would support active engagement with the spectator; increasing the chances of visual influence and memory retention. By utilising the powerful emotive feelings generated by music, a more personal emotivememory connection is formed when combined with vision. This artificial synaesthetic experience allows for a deeper cross-modal connection drawing from a lifetime’s worth of experiences that shape our understanding and stimulate our imagination.
From agency to structure: Analysis of an episode in a facilitation process

In this article, we analyze an exercise in a facilitation process by showing that the structuring of this episode can be studied just by highlighting how different forms of agency (human and non-human) articulate with each other. The objective of this study is threefold: first, it aims at demonstrating that structuring effects can indeed be identified through a bottom-up approach without resorting to any form of duality or dualism, as it is common to think in the traditional literature in organizational studies (Conrad & Haynes, 2001); second, through this analysis, it illustrates the analytical power of such an approach by showing how it allows us to identify specific strategies used by the facilitators to do their work, especially in the way they select who or what is acting in a chain of agencies; third, it illustrates how the attribution of agency to artifacts allows human participants to progress throughout the facilitation process by enabling them to objectify what they are supposed to think and wish for, a process that Weick (1979) has identified as the bulk of organizing processes.
Changes in the conversational skills of preschool children with complex developmental difficulties.

Caregiver-child conversation is an important platform for children’s development of language and conversational skills and can form the basis for an approach to intervention for children with pragmatic difficulties. While most intervention studies have focused on reporting overall improvements in children’s language and conversational skills as a result of changes in caregiver behaviour, there is limited fine-grained understanding of children’s ability to achieve conversational topic contingency as a result of specific changes in their caregivers’ use of conversational topic turns and/or the facilitative techniques employed by therapists. The studies described in this thesis aim to address this limitation. The following questions are raised: (i) What is the impact of caregiver training intervention programmes on caregivers’ conversational topic turns and facilitative techniques? (ii) What is the impact of caregiver training intervention programmes on children’s conversational topic turns? and (iii) How do specific facilitative techniques impact children’s conversational skills? The first part of this thesis involves establishing the methodology for data transcription and data coding used in the four studies conducted for this thesis. Conversational recordings were transcribed using the CHAT format and conventions. Then a conversational coding system and a facilitative technique coding system were used to code the communicative acts transcribed. The conversational acts coded were topic change (TC), topic extension (TE), topic maintaining responses (TM), and non-relevant responses (NR). The facilitative techniques coded were imitation, expansion, follow-in questions, and follow-in cloze procedures. Inter-rater reliability levels of the transcription and coding of conversational acts and facilitative techniques were high. Study 1 (presented in Chapter 3) was designed to investigate changes following an ‘It Takes Two to Talk’ Hanen programme in the conversations of four caregiver-child dyads where the children had identified language delay. It employed a single subject design and the outcome measures were analysed in three phases: baseline, intervention and follow-up. The outcome measures were the rates of (i) caregivers’ conversational topic turns (i.e., TC, TE and TM), (ii) caregivers’ facilitative techniques (i.e., imitation, expansion, follow-in questions, and follow-in cloze procedures) and (iii) children’s conversational topic turns (i.e., TC, TE and TM). Results showed that all caregivers produced fewer TCs and higher rates of facilitative techniques, while all children produced significantly more TEs following intervention. Individual caregiver patterns of change appeared to be reflected in their children’s conversational skills. This study supports the effectiveness of caregiver group training programmes in improving the quality of caregiver-child conversations and highlighted the importance of investigating individual variations in intervention. Study 2 (presented in Chapter 4) was designed to…
On the Possibility of Electric conduction Mediated by dissipative solitons

Based on the study of the dynamics of a dissipation-modified Toda anharmonic (one-dimensional, circular) lattice ring we predict here a new form of electric conduction mediated by dissipative solitons. The electron-ion-like interaction permits the trapping of the electron by soliton excitations in the lattice, thus leading to a soliton-driven current much higher than the Drude-like (linear, Ohmic) current. Besides, as we lower the values of the externally imposed field this new form of current survives, with a field-independent value.
Rapid Early Growth May Modulate the Association Between Birth Weight and Blood Pressure at 5 Years in the EDEN Cohort Study

Physiological evidence suggests that birth weight (BW) and postnatal growth affect blood pressure (BP) level, independently or in interaction. Their respective roles are difficult to disentangle in epidemiological studies, however, especially when adjusting for final weight. We assessed the portion of the effect of BW on BP at 5 years that was not attributable to postnatal growth and investigated potential interactions between BW and postnatal growth velocity at different time points in the EDEN mother–child study. Collecting a median of 19 weight measurements for each of the 1119 children who completed follow-up enabled us to model instantaneous growth velocity at any age. After computing a BP SD-score at 5 years, adjusted for age, sex, current body mass index, and height, we used multiple linear regression to study its association with age- and sex-specific BW z score, adjusting for several maternal and pregnancy risk factors. We tested interactions between BW categories (small-, appropriate-, and large-for-gestational-age) and weight growth velocities at different ages. The BW z score was negatively and significantly correlated with the systolic BP SD-score at the age of 5 years (r=−0.07, P=0.02). Interactions were found between BW categories and weight growth velocities from 1 to 4 months (P from 0.002 to 0.08) but not at older ages; specifically, children born small for gestational age with a fast weight growth velocity in their first few months of life had the highest absolute systolic BP and SD score values at 5 years. They may need monitoring for cardiovascular risks.
Serotonergic anti-depressants and ethanol withdrawal syndrome: a review.

AIM To review laboratory findings on the effects of anti-depressant agents that interact with the serotonergic system on signs of ethanol withdrawal syndrome in rats. METHOD Adult Wistar rats received a modified liquid diet to produce ethanol dependence. Signs of ethanol withdrawal, locomotor hyperactivity, stereotyped behaviour, tremor, wet dog shakes, agitation, and audiogenic seizures, were evaluated for the first 6 h of ethanol withdrawal. The effects of the anti-depressants fluoxetine, venlafaxine, escitalopram, tianeptine, and extract of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort) (HPE) were examined. RESULTS Some beneficial effects of fluoxetine, tianeptine, HPE, escitalopram and venlafaxine on ethanol withdrawal signs were observed, ranked as follows: fluoxetine = tianeptine > HPE > escitalopram > venlafaxine. CONCLUSIONS Tianeptine and fluoxetine seem to be potent pharmacologically active agents on ethanol withdrawal syndrome in rats. Thus, these anti-depressants may be useful in treatment of ethanol withdrawal syndrome in patients with alcoholism. In addition to serotonergic effects, interactions with nitrergic, glutamatergic, and adenosinergic systems may also provide a significant contribution to the beneficial effects of these drugs on ethanol withdrawal syndrome.
An experimental test of a game-theoretical model of reciprocity.

In this contribution the norm of reciprocity is defined as a basic internal motivation. Using formal tools of game theory, a model of social utility function is presented. The reciprocity model predicts that social actors should reciprocate costs and benefits they receive, even when there are costs in conforming to the norm. Hypotheses about actors' behavior, expectations and evaluations are derived from the model. The hypotheses were tested in an experimental situation, the reciprocity game, consisting of a prisoner's dilemma game (PD) followed by a dictator game (DG). The sample was composed of 74 Italian undergraduate students. In line with the model's predictions, the experimental results showed that participants reciprocate the behavior of the opponent in the PD. In the DG, if the opponent cooperated, participants gave back an almost equal share, whereas if the opponent defected, participants gave a minimal amount. These reciprocity effects are modulated by individual differences in the concern for reciprocity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Induction of Neuroplasticity by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Received: 23 August 2016 Brain stimulation through feeble direct current has recently been declared as a new technique to induction of neuroplasticity of the cerebral cortex for improvement of neurological disorders like Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases (PD). Although brain imaging and electroencephalography (EEG) are used in the early assessment of neurological disorders [1-3], it’s unfortunate that many symptoms of neurological disorders appear after the extensive loss of structure and function of neurons, consequently, these methods are not useful for early detection or prevention of these diseases. Despite the remarkable therapeutic effects of brain stimulation, the exact mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and other brain stimulation methods have not been wholly understood [3]. However, several recent studies have emphasized the potential of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) to improve neuroplasticity in neurological disorders [4-8]. Neuroplasticity is defined as the brain’s capability to reorganize itself via creating new neural networks and allows the neurons to regulate their actions in response to new circumstances. It has been shown that tDCS as a NIBS is talented to enrich neuroplasticity processes at least in healthy elderly [9]. It has been demonstrated that anodal tDCS (Positive stimulation) increases excitability and causes a depolarization of the resting membrane potential, which increases neuronal excitability and allows for more spontaneous cell firing, while cathodal tDCS (negative stimulation) reduces it and causes a hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential [5, 6]. In spite of the exact mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of tDCS has not been completely understood, however, it has been proposed that anodal tDCS induces long-term potentiation and long-term depression (LTP/LTD)-like plasticity [6, 10, 11]. For instance, the NMDA receptors (glutamatergic system) seem to be indispensable for induction and the preservation of neuroplastic after-effects excitability induced by tDCS [12]. Along these lines, Liebetanz and coworkers (2002) have demonstrated that the NMDA antagonist dextromethorphane prevent lasting effects of tDCS on motor evoked potentials [13]. In addition, the duration of tDCS-induced excitability enrichment selectively potentiates by d-cycloserine (a partial NMDA-agonist) [14]. Likewise, NIBS could result in alterations in inhibitory GABAergic (Gamma-Amino Butyric Acid) systems which play a critical role in improving neuroplasticity Editorial
ET(B) receptor activates adenylyl cyclase via a c-PLA(2)-dependent mechanism: a novel counterregulatory mechanism of ET-induced contraction in airway smooth muscle.

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) contracted the rabbit tracheal smooth muscle (RTSM), yielding a bell-shaped tension-concentration curve. Moreover, ET-1 induced concentration- and time-dependent increases in cAMP concentrations in RTSM (EC(50), 58 nM; t(1/2), 2.4 min). Pretreatment with the AC inhibitors, SQ-22536, or 2'-5'-dideoxyadenosine, enhanced contraction to ET-1 and converted its bell-shaped tension curve into a sigmoidal one, but left contraction to carbachol and KCl unaltered. The potent ET(B)-receptor agonists, ET-3 or sarafotoxin-c, mimicked ET-1's effects on cAMP levels (EC(50) values 55 and 50 nM). Further, cAMP formation by ETs was inhibited by BQ-788 (selective ET(B) receptor blocker; IC(50), 8 nM), but not by BQ-610 (selective ET(A) receptor blocker). Removal of the epithelium did not prevent ET-induced increases in cAMP levels. Unlike isoproterenol, ETs failed to activate AC in membrane fractions from RTSM. In intact RTSM, the c-PLA(2) inhibitor, AACOCF3, and the cyclooxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin, blocked ET-induced increases in cAMP levels. These findings reveal a novel, nonepithelial, c-PLA(2)-mediated, regulatory mechanism downstream from ET(B) receptors.
Clinical implications of serous retinal detachment in branch retinal vein occlusion and response after primary intravitreal bevacizumab injection.

PURPOSE To evaluate the impact of macular serous retinal detachment (SRD) and its relationship to treatment outcome after primary intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and macular edema (ME). METHODS Seventy-three patients with ME secondary to BRVO who received primary IVB (2.5 mg/0.1 mL) were included in this study. The specific ME patterns were investigated using optical coherence tomography (OCT) examination. Visual acuity (VA), central macular thickness (CMT), and macular volume at baseline; at 1, 3, and 6 months; and at final visit after primary IVB were retrospectively analyzed and compared between patients with and without SRD. RESULTS SRD was found in 25 patients (34.2%). The baseline CMT was significantly thicker in patients with SRD than in those without it (648.4±200.5 μm vs. 440.3±119.6 μm, P<0.001). Six months after primary IVB injection, a greater reduction in CMT change from baseline was observed in the SRD group (412.5±227.2 μm) than in the group without SRD (118.5±175.2 μm) (P<0.001). The improvement of logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution VA was also greater in the SRD group than in the group without SRD (-0.64±0.52 and -0.28±0.62 respectively, P=0.015). Logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of SRD was an independent factor for visual improvement in BRVO (P=0.027). CONCLUSION Patients with SRD had greater functional and morphological improvements at 6 months after primary IVB therapy. The results of this study suggest that the presence of SRD observed on OCT may be an indicator of favorable clinical response after IVB injections and that in BRVO patients with SRD, bevacizumab may be a good alternative for treatment.