Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of endothelin-converting enzyme for protection against neointimal proliferation following balloon angioplasty of the rat carotid artery.

Clinical success of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty is limited by restenosis within months of the initial intervention. A number of vasoactive mediators and growth factors have been reported to participate in this process. The aim of the present experiments was to examine the effects of nonselective neutral endopeptidase (NEPi)/endothelin-converting enzyme (ECEi) inhibitors against neointimal proliferation (NIP) following balloon angioplasty of the left carotid artery of Sprague-Dawley rats with the right vessel serving as the uninjured control. The rats were divided in several groups: group 1, nontreated (vehicle); group 2, treated with a selective NEPi i.p.; groups 3-7, treated with nonselective NEPi/ECEi either i.p., s.c. , i.v. , or p.o. at various doses. After 2 weeks, cross-sectional histopathological and morphometrical examination of the left carotids revealed a severe NIP in vehicle-treated angioplastic rats compared with the control uninjured right carotid of the same rats. The selective NEPi CGS 24592 had no significant effect on restenosis, nor did the dual NEPi/ECEi CGS 26303 at 5 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1) i.p. Both s.c and i.v. NEPi/ECEi treatment (10 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1) b.i. d. s.c. or 10 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1) i.v. ) reduced NIP by up to 35%. The prodrug CGS 26393 (p.o.) also attenuated NIP by 23%. Plasma concentrations of these compounds correlated with the degree of inhibition. These data support the participation of the endothelin system in the rat model of balloon angioplasty and suggest that selective ECEi may be effective.
The value chain of a commune as an attempt to integrate various theoretical concepts

Abstract This article deals with the topic of the local development factors within the value chain of the commune (gmina). The concept of the value chain examines development factors in three groups: the leader, the internal environment and the external environment; it also takes into account the time factor. This article also presents the usefulness of three theoretical and conceptual approaches in reference to the idea of the value chain: the theory of development path dependency, the network theory, and the concept of smart specializations.
Involving the elderly in the content development of a health enhancing tablet-based service

The aim of the present study was to specify the needs of elderly for a health-enhancing tablet-based service. An interview study was performed with voluntary elderly (N=19, female 15, male 4, aged 76.2 years (SD 8.3)). The attitudes towards improving health behaviours and technology utilisation were explored. The content illustrations were developed for the interviews, and evaluated by participants using a numerical scale (1 very poor - 5 very good) and verbal feedback. Content analysis was used in the analysis of qualitative data. Taking care of one's own well-being comprehensively was the most important incentive to maintain one's activity. Content illustrations were evaluated as high (average 2.9-4.4, current issues, memory training and exercise instructions as most useful). The diversity in wishes with respect to the contents of the service should be taken into account, and the customisation of the service will permit its use by different groups of end-users.
Maternal reflective functioning, attachment, and the transmission gap: A preliminary study

Abstract The notion that maternal reflective functioning, namely the mother's capacity to hold her baby and his mental states in mind, plays a vital role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment is investigated (Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, & Target, 2002; Fonagy et al., 1995; Slade, this volume). A parent's capacity to understand the nature and function of her own as well as her child's mental states, thus allowing her to create both a physical and psychological experience of comfort and safety for her child, is proposed. In this study of 40 mothers and their babies, maternal reflective functioning is measured using the Parent Development Interview (PDI; Aber, Slade, Berger, Bresgi, & Kaplan, 1985), and scored for reflective functioning using an addendum to Fonagy, Target, Steele, & Steele's (1998) reflective functioning scoring manual (Slade, Bernbach, Grienenberger, Levy, & Locker, 2004). The relations between maternal reflective functioning and both adult (measured in pregnancy) and infant attachment (measured at 14 months) are examined. The findings indicate that relations between adult attachment and parental reflective functioning are significant, as are relations between parental reflective functioning and infant attachment. A preliminary mediation analysis suggests that parental reflective functioning plays a crucial role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment.
Personality and Crime: A Meta-analysis of Studies on Criminals' Personality

Objective: To review studies on criminals' personality which used EPQ as measurement.Methods:Meta-analysis was used to review 33 studies.Results:Mean effect size delta of four dimensions (P, E, N, L) were 0.62,0.06,0.61,-0.14 in turn.Conclusions:Criminals have significantly higher level on psychoticism and neuroticism than others. There is no significant difference between the criminals and the commons because of heterogeneity of criminous types.
Children born weighing less than 1701 g: visual and cognitive outcomes at 11–14 years

Background and objective: Few studies of low birthweight children have explored the relationship between later visual morbidity and neuropsychological function. This study evaluated these outcomes using a geographically defined cohort. Methods: Prospective study of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in infants born weighing <1701 g, undertaken in 1985–7. 254 of the survivors consented to ophthalmic examination at 10–13 years. Four children were severely disabled and could not complete the tests. 198 of the remaining agreed to neuropsychological assessment at 11–14 years (British Ability Scales II (BAS), Movement Assessment Battery (ABC), Neale Analysis of Reading Ability). Results: At 10–13 years, 99/198 children had an adverse ophthalmic outcome (AOO) (reduced acuity n = 48, myopia n = 40, strabismus n = 36, colour defect n = 2, field defect n = 1). There were no significant differences between children with AOO and those with a normal ophthalmic outcome with regard to sex, gestation, birth weight, neonatal cranial scan appearances and social class. 106/198 had ROP; 98 had mild ROP with no increased risk of AOO in later childhood. All eight children with severe ROP had an AOO in later childhood. Children with an AOO performed worse on the BAS, ABC and reading ability tests. Conclusions: At age 10–13, 50% of children born <1701 g have an AOO. These children are not simply those with earlier gestations, lower birth weight or ROP. Children with AOO have a worse neuropsychological outcome. The next step is to determine whether there are visual interventions which can improve ophthalmic outcome and whether a better neuropsychological outcome follows.
Situating the self in interpersonal space

The self may be construed as a person's mental representation of his or her own personality . Formed through both experience and thought, it is encoded in memory alongside mental representations of other objects, real and imagined, in the physical and social world. The mental representation of the self includes both abstract information about the person's attributes (semantic knowledge) and concrete information about the person's experiences, thoughts, and actions (episodic knowledge). (Kihlstrom eta! ., 1988, p. 146)
Improved Stepped-Frequency SAR Imaging Algorithm With the Range Spectral-Length Extension Strategy

In order to achieve a high range resolution and low instantaneous bandwidth, stepped frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is widely used with stepped-frequency chirps and frequency-domain spectrum reconstruction method. To combine the spectrum reconstruction with SAR image algorithms, “Image for each sub-band and then reconstruct the wideband spectrum” is a more adaptable flow since its validity for almost all imaging algorithms. However, due to the two-dimensional (2-D) spectrum twisting, a special problem called range spectrum aliasing may occur and lead the flow to invalidity, especially in high-resolution SAR systems. In this paper, we discuss the extended range spectrum by the analysis of the 2-D twisting spectrum, judge its influence through an azimuth threshold resolution, and propose an improved stepped-frequency SAR imaging algorithm with the range spectral-length extension (RSLE) strategy, which can eliminate the range spectrum aliasing. After theoretic analyses, simulations and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the proposed algorithm.
When repeating aloud enhances episodic memory for spoken words: interactions between production- and perception-derived variability

ABSTRACT We demonstrate that the phonetic detail of an original speaker’s pronunciation for a word can be detected with a memory measure even when a participant listens to and then repeats that word aloud (production). At study, native English participants heard English words pronounced by a native speaker of American-English or by a Chinese national. For half of the words they listened. For the others, they produced it. In both recall and old/new recognition tests in Experiment 1, production improved performance relative to listening alone. Effects of accent were present only in recognition and only in interaction with production. In Experiment 2, a source-monitoring recognition test where participants identified whether the speaker of a word changed from study to test, effects of accent and production were additive indicating that hearing an unfamiliar accent increased memory irrespective of production. An exemplar account including both production- as well as perception-derived experience describes the outcome.
Mast cells elicit proinflammatory but not type I interferon responses upon activation of TLRs by bacteria

Balanced induction of proinflammatory and type I IFN responses upon activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) determines the outcome of microbial infections and the pathogenesis of autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases. Mast cells, key components of the innate immune system, are known for their debilitating role in allergy and autoimmunity. However, their role in antimicrobial host defenses is being acknowledged increasingly. How mast cells interact with microbes and the nature of responses triggered thereby is not well characterized. Here we show that in response to TLR activation by Gram-positive and -negative bacteria or their components, mast cells elicit proinflammatory but not type I IFN responses. We demonstrate that in mast cells, bound bacteria and TLR ligands remain trapped at the cell surface and do not undergo internalization, a prerequisite for type I IFN induction. Such cells, however, can elicit type I IFNs in response to vesicular stomatitis virus which accesses the cytosolic retinoic acid-inducible gene I receptor. Although important for antiviral immunity, a strong I IFN response is known to contribute to pathogenesis of several bacterial pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes. Interestingly, we observed that the mast cell-dependent neutrophil mobilization upon L. monocytogenes infection is highly impaired by IFN-β. Thus, the fact that mast cells, although endowed with the capacity to elicit type I IFNs in response to viral infection, elicit only proinflammatory responses upon bacterial infection shows that mast cells, key effector cells of the innate immune system, are well adjusted for optimal antibacterial and antiviral responses.
Numerical Methods for the Einstein Equations in Null Quasi-Spherical Coordinates

We describe algorithms used in our construction of a fourth-order in time evolution for the full Einstein equations and assess the accuracy of some representative solutions. The scheme employs several novel geometric and numerical techniques, including a geometrically invariant coordinate gauge, which leads to a characteristic-transport formulation of the underlying hyperbolic system, combined with a "method of lines" evolution; convolution splines for radial interpolation, regridding, differentiation, and noise suppression; representations using spin-weighted spherical harmonics; and a spectral preconditioner for solving a class of first-order elliptic systems on S2. Initial data for the evolution is unconstrained, subject only to a mild size condition. For sample initial data of "intermediate" strength (19% of the total mass in gravitational energy), the code is accurate to 1 part in 105, until null time z=55M when the coordinate condition breaks down.
Measurement-domain intra prediction framework for compressively sensed images

This paper presents a measurement-domain intra prediction coding framework that is compatible with compressive sensing (CS) based image sensors. In this framework, we propose a low-complexity intra prediction algorithm that can be directly applied to the measurements captured by the image sensor. Moreover, we propose a structural random 0/1 measurement matrix, embedding the block boundary information that can be extracted from the measurements for intra prediction. Experiment results show that our proposed framework can compress the measurements and increase coding efficiency, with 30% BD-rate reduction compared to the direct output of CS based sensors. This can significantly save both the energy consumption and the bandwidth in communication of wireless camera systems to be massively deployed in the era of IoT.
A voice activity detection based on the adaptive integration of multiple speech features and a signal decision scheme

This paper addresses the problem of voice activity detection (VAD) in noisy environments. The VAD method proposed in this paper integrates multiple speech features and a signal decision scheme, namely the speech periodic to aperiodic component ratio and a switching Kalman filter. The integration is carried out by using the weighted sum of likelihoods outputted from each VAD (stream). The stream weight is decided adaptively each short time frame. The evaluation is carried out by using a VAD evaluation framework, CENSREC- 1-C. The evaluation results revealed that the proposed method significantly outperforms the baseline results of CENSREC-1-C as regards VAD accuracy in real environments. In addition, we carried out speech recognition evaluations by using detected speech signals, and confirmed that the proposed method contributes to an improvement in speech recognition accuracy.
Instabilities of Short-Pulse Laser Propagation through Plasma Channels.

The stability of short laser pulses propagating through plasma channels is investigated theoretically. Perturbations to the laser pulse are shown to modify the ponderomotive pressure, which distorts the dielectric properties of the plasma channel. The channel perturbation then further distorts the laser pulse. A set of coupled mode equations is derived, and a matrix dispersion relation is obtained analytically for the special case of a quadratic radial density variation. As an example, the spatiotemporal growth of a pure dipole perturbation is evaluated in various parameter regimes. Mechanisms for suppressing the instability are discussed.
Anti-Cancer Stem-like Cell Compounds in Clinical Development – An Overview and Critical Appraisal

Cancer stem-like cells (CSC) represent a subpopulation of tumor cells with elevated tumor-initiating potential. Upon differentiation, they replenish the bulk of the tumor cell population. Enhanced tumor-forming capacity, resistance to antitumor drugs, and metastasis-forming potential are the hallmark traits of CSCs. Given these properties, it is not surprising that CSCs have become a therapeutic target of prime interest in drug discovery. In fact, over the last few years, an enormous number of articles describing compounds endowed with anti-CSC activities have been published. In the meanwhile, several of these compounds and also approaches that are not based on the use of pharmacologically active compounds (e.g., vaccination, radiotherapy) have progressed into clinical studies. This article gives an overview of these compounds, proposes a tentative classification, and describes their biological properties and their developmental stage. Eventually, we discuss the optimal clinical setting for these compounds, the need for biomarkers allowing patient selection, the redundancy of CSC signaling pathways and the utility of employing combinations of anti-CSC compounds and the therapeutic limitations posed by the plasticity of CSCs.
Mapping an island in the landscape

We provide a complete classification and statistical analysis of all type IIA orientifold compactifications with intersecting D6-branes on the orbifold T 6 /Z ' . The total number of four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric models is found to be O(10 23 ). After a statistical analysis of the gauge sector properties of all possible solutions, we study three subsets of configurations which contain the chiral matter sector of the standard model, a Pati-Salam or SU(5) GUT model, respectively. We find O(10 15 ) compactifications with an MSSM and O(10 11 ) models with a Pati-Salam sector. Along the way we derive an explicit algebraic formulation for the computation of the non-chiral matter spectrum for all ZN orbifolds.
Integrative Analysis of mRNA and miRNA Expression Profiles of the Tuberous Root Development at Seedling Stages in Turnips

The tuberous root of Brassica rapa L. (turnip) is an important modified organ for nutrition storage. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the process of tuberous root development is of great value in both economic and biological context. In this study, we analyzed the expression profiles of both mRNAs and miRNAs in tuberous roots at an early stage before cortex splitting (ES), cortex splitting stage (CSS), and secondary root thickening stage (RTS) in turnip based on high-throughput sequencing technology. A large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and several differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were identified. Based on the DEG analysis, we propose that metabolism is the dominant pathway in both tuberous root initiation and secondary thickening process. The plant hormone signal transduction pathway may play a predominant role in regulating tuberous root initiation, while the starch and sucrose metabolism may be more important for the secondary thickening process. These hypotheses were partially supported by sequential DEM analyses. Of all DEMs, miR156a, miR157a, and miR172a exhibited relatively high expression levels, and were differentially expressed in both tuberous root initiation and the secondary thickening process with the expression profiles negatively correlated with those of their target genes. Our results suggest that these miRNAs play important roles in tuberous root development in turnips.
A randomized placebo-controlled trial of risperidone for the treatment of aggression, agitation, and psychosis of dementia.

BACKGROUND This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial examined the efficacy and safety of risperidone in the treatment of aggression, agitation, and psychosis in elderly nursing-home patients with dementia. METHOD Elderly patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer's type, vascular dementia, or a combination of the 2 (i.e., mixed dementia) and significant aggressive behaviors were randomized to receive, for a period of 12 weeks, a flexible dose of either placebo or risperidone solution up to a maximum of 2 mg/day. Outcome measures were the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), the Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease (BEHAVE-AD) rating scale, and the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) and of Change (CGI-C) scales. RESULTS A total of 345 patients were randomized to treatment with risperidone or placebo, and 337 patients received at least one dose of study drug. The trial was completed by 67% of patients in the placebo group and 73% of patients in the risperidone group. The mean +/- SE dose of risperidone was 0.95 +/- 0.03 mg/day. The primary endpoint of the study, the difference from baseline to endpoint in CMAI total aggression score, showed a significant reduction in aggressive behavior for risperidone versus placebo (p <.001). A similar improvement was also seen for the CMAI total non-aggression subscale (p <.002) and for the BEHAVE-AD total (p <.001) and psychotic symptoms subscale (p =.004). At endpoint, the CGI-S and the CGI-C scores indicated a significantly greater improvement with risperidone compared with placebo (p <.001). Overall, 94% and 92% of the risperidone and placebo groups, respectively, reported at least 1 adverse event. Somnolence and urinary tract infection were more common with risperidone treatment, whereas agitation was more common with placebo. There was no significant difference in the number of patients who reported extrapyramidal symptoms between the risperidone (23%) and placebo (16%) groups. CONCLUSION Treatment with low-dose (mean = 0.95 mg/day) risperidone resulted in significant improvement in aggression, agitation, and psychosis associated with dementia.
Biology of normal luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone neurons during and after their migration from olfactory placode.

I. Introduction SINCE the initial report that LHRH-expressing neurons migrate during development from their birth place on the medial side of the olfactory placode into the brain (1), two sorts of questions have received additional experimentation and discussion. First, what light does this unusual migration into the developing brain shed on the nature of LHRH-expressing cells, and what are the implications for their normal roles in the adult brain? Second, what would be the implications of migration disturbances for human reproductive physiology, including Kallmann's and other syndromes (see companion paper by Dr. Crowley)? Accordingly, the purposes of this review are to reexamine some of the evidence concerning normal controls over LHRH neurons in light of what these cells are supposed to do in the adult brain; to review the burgeoning evidence that they actually originate in the olfactory pit and migrate into the developing forebrain; and to introduce the subject of Kallmann's syndrome (see companion p.