Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A working model of the neurophysiology of hypnosis: a review of evidence

Neuropsychophysiological evidence is reviewed testing a three-stage, top-down working model of the traditional hypnotic relaxation induction involving: (1) a thalamocortical attentional network engaging a left frontolimbic focused attention control system underpinning sensory fixation and concentration on the induction; (2) instatement of frontolimbic inhibitory systems through suggestions of tiredness at fixation and relaxation whereby anterior executive functions are suspended and directed by the induction; (3) engagement of right-sided temporoposterior functions through passive imagery and dreaming. A selectivity of action in high susceptibles was a hallmark of the studies. Increased Stroop interference coincided with maintenance of error detection and abolition of error evaluation potentials, interpreted as dissociation of cognitive and affective executive systems of the anterior cingulate. Verbal, category and design fluency tasks were dissociated with hypnosis centring on left anterior processes as seen in left lateral and medial reduced EEG connectivity. Limbic modulated electrodermal orienting responses and frontal modulated mismatch negativity waves were inhibited. Asymmetries in electrodermal and electrocortical responses to tones shifted to favour the right hemisphere, an asymmetry also seen in visual sensitivity. Haptic processing and visual sensitivity disclosed more distributed changes in medium susceptibles, while low susceptibles were characterized by poorer attentional functions at baseline and improvements through the induction.
Outcomes of newly referred neurology outpatients with depression and pain

Background: Although depression and pain are common in neurology outpatients, patient factors influencing chronicity are poorly understood. The authors sought to determine the predictors of persistent depression and pain symptoms at 3 and 12 months after an initial outpatient neurology clinic visit. Methods: Consecutive new patients (n = 483) at three clinics completed the Patient Health Questionnaire nine-item depression scale and the Brief Pain Inventory at baseline and at 3- and 12-month follow-up. Multivariate analysis was used to model 3- and 12-month depression and pain severity. Results: The prevalence of depression and pain at baseline/3/12 months was depression 33%/28%/27% and pain 66%/61%/62%. Independent predictors of depression severity at follow-up were more severe depression and pain at baseline and less improvement in pain (model r2 = 0.53 to 0.56). Independent predictors of pain intensity at follow-up were more severe pain and depression at baseline and less improvement in depression (model r2 = 0.44 to 0.46). Health care utilization and impairments in health status were greatest in patients with coexisting depression and pain and least in those with neither depression nor pain. Conclusions: Depression and pain symptoms in neurology outpatients often persist for at least 12 months and have long-term negative effects on patients’ health status. Pain is more likely to persist in patients with depression, and depression is more likely to persist in those with coexistent pain.
Perceptual Network Metaphors : Involving the User in the End-to-End Argument

The trend in existing networked applications has to been to isolate the application from the network. However, such an approach antagonizes the users of virtual environments and online games who acknowledge the existence of the network and attribute to it any disruptions to their sense of enjoyment. This paper presents a novel approach to the impact of degraded network performance on people's experience of virtual environments and online games. Contrary to the customary approach, rather than hiding the state of the network, the application monitors its state to determine a set of global and local properties that are used to manipulate visual aspects of the displayed scene Perceptual Network Metaphors (PNM). With PNMs representing the current state of the network, the idea is that it may be possible to influence people's expectations and behavior, in similar way that in everyday life people naturally change their behavior according to the weather. This approach brings the user into the end-to-end argument, thus complementing the existing network compensation techniques. The paper describes the PNM conceptual framework and the operational architecture of the associated PNM Manager.
Milk enzyme activities and subclinical mastitis among women in Guinea-Bissau.

BACKGROUND Subclinical mastititis (SCM) is a condition with raised milk concentration of sodium and milk immune factors. The milk enzymes N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAGase), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), acid phosphatase (AcP), and alkaline phosphatase (AP) have attracted attention in dairy research as indicators of SCM, udder health, and milk quality. STUDY DESIGN To investigate if milk enzyme activities and the inflammatory interleukin 8 (IL-8) level are increased in women with SCM, we measured sodium, potassium, NAGase, LDH, AcP, AP, and IL-8 in breastmilk samples collected at 2 months postpartum from 797 women in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. RESULTS SCM, as indicated by a molar milk sodium/potassium ratio (Na/K ratio) greater than 0.6, was present in 26% of the women, and 9% had Na/K ratios larger than 1. The Na/K ratio was positively associated with NAGase, LDH, AcP, AP, and IL-8 in univariate linear regression (p < 0.001 for linear trend for all milk enzymes and IL-8). CONCLUSIONS A positive association between the Na/K ratio and the breastmilk enzymes NAGase, LDH, AcP, and AP was found. Breastmilk enzymes have not previously been investigated in relation to SCM in women, and further research is warranted to highlight their specific role in the etiology of SCM.
Relationship between renal stone formation, mitral annular calcification and bone resorption markers

Background and Objectives : Mitral annular calcification (MAC) is associated with osteoporosis and there is evidence of reduced bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with renal stone formation (RSF). Therefore, we designed this study to test if RSF was associated with MAC and if this association could be linked to bone resorption. Methods : Fifty-nine patients (mean age, 41.5 years) with RSF and 40 healthy subjects (mean age, 44.2 years) underwent screening for MAC and BMD, and measuurements were taken of serum and urine electrolytes, parathyroid hormone, alkaline phosphatase and urine dypyridoline. Results : MAC was diagnosed in 11 (18%) patients with RSF compared with 1 (2.5%) control (P=.01). Urine phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride levels were lower (P < .001, P=.02, P < .001, P < .001 and P < .001, respectively), but serum alkaline phosphatase, calcium and potassium levels were higher (P=.008, P=.007 and P=.001, respectively) in patients with RSF versus those without RSF. None of these abnormalities were found in patients or subjects with MAC. Urine pyridoline levels were higher and T-scores were more negative (more osteopenic) in patients and subjects with MAC than in those without MAC (P=.01 and P=.004, respectively). In a multivariate analysis, only T-scores and urine dipyridoline level were predictive of MAC (P=.03 and P=.04, respectively). Conclusions : Screening for MAC and bone resorption markers in patients with RSF demonstrated a high incidence of MAC in these patients. The presence of MAC in patients with RSF was associated with bone resorption markers. This seemingly complex interrelationship between RSF, MAC and bone loss needs to be clarified in further studies.
From sequential to parallel Inductive Logic Programming

Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) has achieved considerable success in a wide range of domains. It is recognized however that efficiency is a major obstacle to the use of ILP systems in applications requiring large amounts of data. In this paper we address the problem of efficiency in ILP in three steps: i) we survey speedup techniques proposed for sequential execution of ILP systems; ii) we survey different ways of parallelizing an ILP system and; ii) adapt and combine the sequential execution speedup techniques in the parallel implementations of an ILP system. We also propose a novel technique to partition the search space into independent sub-spaces that may be adequately searched in parallel. keywords: Inductive Logic Programming, Parallel Automatic Data Analysis
Role of cardiotoxin and phospholipase A in the blockade of nerve conduction and depolarization of skeletal muscle induced by cobra venom

1 The effects of phospholipase A (PhA), cardiotoxin (CTX) and neurotoxin (cobrotoxin) isolated from Formosan cobra (Naja naja atra) venom on conduction of the rat phrenic nerve and membrane potential of the rat diaphragm were studied. 2 Phospholipase A, lysolecithin and cobrotoxin were without effect on the axonal conduction. Cardiotoxin was the only active agent in cobra venom, but it was less potent than the crude venom. 3 The blocking action of cardiotoxin was markedly accelerated by the simultaneous administration of phospholipase A. However, the minimum effective concentration of cardiotoxin (100 μg/ml), was not decreased by phospholipase A. Pretreatment of the nerve with phospholipase A, followed by washout, did not alter the activity of cardiotoxin. 4 Cardiotoxin (3 μg/ml) completely depolarized the membrane of superficial muscle fibres within 60 min, being 3 times more potent than the crude venom. Phospholipase A, on the other hand, needed a dose 30 times higher and a prolonged period of incubation to induce depolarization of similar extent. Cobrotoxin was without effect on membrane potentials. 5 CaCl2 (10 mm) effectively antagonized the nerve blocking as well as the depolarizing effect of the crude venom, cardiotoxin or cardiotoxin plus phospholipase A. By contrast, the slow depolarizing effect of phospholipase A was enhanced by high concentrations of calcium. 6 Cardiotoxic fractions of Indian cobra venom affected both nerve conduction and diaphragm membrane potential in exactly the same way as cardiotoxin. Toxin A of the same venom was without effect. 7 It is concluded that the active agent in cobra venoms either on axonal conduction or on muscle membrane is cardiotoxin. The synergistic effect of phospholipase A on cardiotoxin appears to be due to acceleration rather than potentiation of its action. The mechanism of action of cardiotoxin and its synergism by phospholipase A are discussed.
STAT3 is required for IL-6-gp130-dependent activation of hepcidin in vivo.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Hepcidin is a peptide hormone that is central to the regulation of iron homeostasis. In response to interleukin 6 (IL-6), hepatocytes produce hepcidin that decreases iron release/transfer from enterocytes and macrophages and causes hypoferremia. To clarify the molecular pathways involved in hepcidin activation by IL-6, we used different mice strains in which the main IL-6/gp130 signaling pathways have been genetically disrupted. METHODS We generated mice with hepatocyte-specific deletion of the IL-6 signal-transducing gp130 receptor (alfpgp130 (LoxP/LoxP)), with a gp130 receptor lacking the essential region for STAT1 and -3 activation (alfpCre gp130(DeltaSTAT/LoxP)) or mice expressing a gp130 allele lacking the essential tyrosine for RAS-MAPK activation (alfpCregp130(Y757F/LoxP)). We studied gp130-dependent pathways and hepcidin mRNA expression by Western blot, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, and Northern blot in vivo and ex vivo. RESULTS IL-6 stimulated phospho STAT3, serum amyloid A (SAA), and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) expression in livers of wild-type and alfpCregp130(Y757F/LoxP) mice, whereas this response was blocked in alfpCre gp130(LoxP/LoxP) and alfpCre gp130(DeltaSTAT/LoxP) mice. In wild-type and alfpCregp130(Y757F/LoxP) animals, significantly higher hepcidin mRNA expression was found 3 to 6 hours after IL-6 stimulation. In contrast, no IL-6-dependent regulation of hepcidin mRNA expression was found in alfpgp130 (DeltaSTAT/LoxP) and AlfpCre gp130 (LoxP/LoxP) animals. In primary hepatocytes, higher hepcidin mRNA expression after IL-6 stimulation was only observed when gp130-STAT3-dependent signaling was intact. CONCLUSIONS We have demonstrated that both in vivo and in vitro STAT3 is the key transcription factor responsible for IL-6 activation of hepcidin gene expression in the liver.
Analysis of composite membranes in the separation of emulsions sunflower oil/water

Oil is a major pollutant of water resources, affects aquatic life, causing environmental degradation. Currently there is an increase in studies of membrane applied to separation of oil-water. Among these membranes, there are composite membranes, which show as main characteristic an association of organic and inorganic membrane properties. In a tangential flow process, the ceramic tube (support) is responsible for the mechanical strength of the membrane and the selective barrier property of the membrane is established by the polymer. The aim of this work is the application of α-alumina/polyamide 66 composite membrane in the retention of sunflower oil from oil-water emulsions and the study of resistance of such membranes in ultrafiltration processes. The α-alumina ceramic tubes were impregnated internally with a solution of polyamide 66 (PA66) (5% w/v) and tested with distilled water and sunflower oil solutions at concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 mg∙L
Coupling the Biophysical and Social Dimensions of Wildfire Risk to Improve Wildfire Mitigation Planning

We describe recent advances in biophysical and social aspects of risk and their potential combined contribution to improve mitigation planning on fire‐prone landscapes. The methods and tools provide an improved method for defining the spatial extent of wildfire risk to communities compared to current planning processes. They also propose an expanded role for social science to improve understanding of community‐wide risk perceptions and to predict property owners’ capacities and willingness to mitigate risk by treating hazardous fuels and reducing the susceptibility of dwellings. In particular, we identify spatial scale mismatches in wildfire mitigation planning and their potential adverse impact on risk mitigation goals. Studies in other fire‐prone regions suggest that these scale mismatches are widespread and contribute to continued wildfire dwelling losses. We discuss how risk perceptions and behavior contribute to scale mismatches and how they can be minimized through integrated analyses of landscape wildfire transmission and social factors that describe the potential for collaboration among landowners and land management agencies. These concepts are then used to outline an integrated socioecological planning framework to identify optimal strategies for local community risk mitigation and improve landscape‐scale prioritization of fuel management investments by government entities.
Abciximab suppresses the rise in levels of circulating inflammatory markers after percutaneous coronary revascularization.

To the Editor: We read with interest the article by Lincoff et al.1 Abciximab is thought to be superior to other glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors in the context of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndromes (ACS). The study by Lincoff et al1 highlights a potential novel mechanism by which this may occur—namely, inhibiting leukocyte αMβ2 receptors. Patients with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) have a higher proportion of activated monocytes and a greater capacity to generate IL-6 in the context of ACS.2 Because there was no baseline difference in CRP and IL-6 levels between placebo and abciximab treatment groups, the proportion of activated monocytes was similar …
The Fitzpatrick function and nonreflexive spaces

Author(s): Simons, S | Abstract: In this paper, we show how Fitzpatrick functions can be used to obtain various results on the local boundedness, domain and surjectivity of monotone and maximal monotone multifunctions on a Banach space, and also to clarify the relationships between different subclasses of the set of maximal monotone multifunctions. © Heldermann Verlag.
University of Huddersfield Repository Marine yeast isolation and industrial application

Over the last century, terrestrial yeasts have been widely used in various industries, such as baking, brewing, wine, bioethanol and pharmaceutical protein production. However, only little attention has been given to marine yeasts. Recent research showed that marine yeasts have several unique and promising features over the terrestrial yeasts, for example higher osmosis tolerance, higher special chemical productivity and production of industrial enzymes. These indicate that marine yeasts have great potential to be applied in various industries. This review gathers the most recent techniques used for marine yeast isolation as well as the latest applications of marine yeast in bioethanol, pharmaceutical and enzyme production ﬁelds.
Appearance Manifold with Embedded Covariance Matrix for Robust 3D Object Recognition

We propose use of an appearance manifold with embedded covariance matrix as a technique for recognizing 3D objects from images that are influenced by geometric and quality-degraded effects. Our strategy covers the construction of this appearance manifold by giving consideration to pose changes. In the proposed method, the correspondence of each learning pose is not based on the eigenpoint but directly from the covariance matrix. Thus, we eliminate the dependency on eigenpoint-to-eigenpoint correspondence, which is the main cause of misclassification due to the phenomenon of the eigenpoint’s shifting position. Experimental results show that our approach achieves higher recognition accuracies than using a simple appearance manifold. Consequently, it can provide a more efficient way of developing a robust 3D object recognition system.
Helplessness and Spatial Memory in Swimming Rats

Our study describes behavioral procedures for inducing a form of learned helplessness in swimming rats and also explores long-term spatial memory. Male Long-Evans rats participated in a spatial mapping replication study from 76-80 days of age. They were required to escape from a large circular pool of cloudy water onto a small hidden platform. At 514 days of age, the rats were assigned to either a control group (C rats) or a learned helplessness group (LH rats). During a learning phase, C rats swam from the West position to the hidden escape platform in the Southeast quadrant while LH rats received helplessness conditioning. Each LH rat was yoked in terms of swimming time to a C rat counterpart, being required to swim in the pool sans platform and experiencing random quadrant retrieval. During a testing phase, all rats swam from West to Southeast with platform present. Latency data for both phases evidenced no deficits in long-term spatial memory for C rats. Escape latencies of LH rats were significantly impaired and their performance failed to improve during testing, suggesting that a form of helplessness had been induced.
A QoS-Aware Adaptive Access Point Sleeping in Relay Cellular Networks for Energy Efficiency

The access point sleeping scheme is an efficiency method for power saving in the cellular networks. This paper proposes a QoS-aware adaptive access point sleeping scheme designed for energy efficiency in the relay cellular networks. To achieve the best tradeoff between QoS guarantee of users and the power saving of the network, the optimization problem of the access point selection for each user is given, and a dynamic energy control (DEC) algorithm is presented, in which, a best access point (base station or relay station) is allocated to each user and the access point without user association will be switched off for energy saving. We evaluated the network performance of power consumption, system throughput and energy efficiency by simulation, which show that, compared other schemes, the proposed access point sleeping scheme with DEC algorithm can improve the energy efficiency with the QoS guarantee for relay cellular networks, especially in low traffic condition.
Why Are Cross-Device Interactions Important When It Comes To Digital Wellbeing?

Under the overwhelming amount of distractions in our multi-device environment, we have come to realise that more work could be put into evaluating cross-device ecosystems to enhance digital wellbeing. In the workshop, we would like to address and exchange ideas about the topic of digital wellbeing in the following areas of cross-device interactions: 1) the tracking of cross-device activities (how to better track users’ interactions on multiple devices, and how to deliver cross-device actionable insights), and 2) cross-device notifications (how to better fit cross-device notifications into users’ lives).
Inconsistent condom use among Ugandan university students from a gender perspective: a cross-sectional study

Background Feminization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been a prominent phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa. Inconsistent condom use among young people is one of the major risk factors in the continued propagation of the epidemic. Therefore, it is of importance to increase knowledge of gender aspects of condom use among young people. Objective To investigate whether gender differences regarding individual and social factors determine the association between condom efficacy and inconsistent condom use with a new sex partner, among Ugandan university students. Design In 2010, 1954 Ugandan students participated in a cross-sectional survey, conducted at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in southwestern Uganda. A self-administered questionnaire assessed socio-demographic factors, alcohol consumption, sexual behaviors (including condom use and condom efficacy), and peer norms. The data were stratified by sex and examined by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 1,179 (60.3%) students reported having had their sexual debut. Of these, 231 (37.4%) males and 209 (49.2%) females reported inconsistent condom use with a new sex partner. Students with low condom efficacy had a higher risk of inconsistent condom use with a new sex partner, even after adjusting for the potential confounders. A synergistic effect was observed between being a female and low condom efficacy with inconsistent condom use. Conclusion The association between inconsistent condom use and low condom efficacy was found among both males and females, but females were found to be at a higher risk of inconsistent condom use compared to their male counterparts. Therefore, gender power relations should be addressed in policies and interventions aiming at increasing condom use among young people in sub-Saharan settings. Programs could be designed with intervention strategies that focus on interactive and participatory educational activities and youth-friendly counseling of young people, which in turn may improve their interpersonal communication and condom negotiation skills with their partners.