Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Degree of Vascular Leak of Hydroxyethyl Starch in Severe Hemorrhagic Shock in Rats

Aim of the Study: In circulatory shock, colloid solution is beneficial to effectively maintain blood pressure. The HES solution is characterized by its mean Molecular Weight (MW), concentration, Degree of Substitution (DS) and the pattern of the substitution (C2/C6). To find the ideal character of the HES to administer to the patients in shock, we studied how the HES is retained in the vascular vessels in the shock rats using three types of HES bound with Fluorescein-Isothiocyanate (FITCHES) with a spectrophotometer-computer detection system to determine the rate of elution of the HES from the microvascules. Methods: We adopted the model of a severe hemorrhagic shock with a Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) of 50 mmHg in rats. We infused one of three types of FITC-HES; HES-A (MW 150-200 kDa, DS: 0.6-0.68, C2/C6=8), HES-B (MW 175 kDa to 225 kDa, DS: 0.45 to 0.55, C2/C6=6) or HES-C (MW 550 kDa to 850 kDa, DS: 0.7 to 0.8, C2/C6=5). The FITC-HES retention rates in the image of the intravital microscope. Results: MAP transiently increased toward the baseline value after infusion but then progressively decreased in all groups. HES-C remained in the A2 arteriole longer than HES-A (P=0.022). HES-C was eluted from the blood vessels more slowly than HES-A (P=0.028). We did not find any statistical difference in MAP among groups and the rate of disappearance from the vessels between HES-A, HES-B and HES-C. Conclusion: HES of high MW was retained in the blood vessel longer those HES with low MW. In the hypovolemia, the retention rate was more dependent to the MW than that in the normovolemia. Other factors as DS and C2/C6 showed less effect in the severe hypovolemia.
Distinct Patterns of B-Cell Activation and Priming by Natural Influenza Virus Infection Versus Inactivated Influenza Vaccination

Background. The human B-cell response to natural influenza virus infection has not been extensively investigated at the polyclonal level. Methods. The overall B-cell response of patients acutely infected with the 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus (A[H1N1]pdm09) was analyzed by determining the reactivity of plasmablast-derived polyclonal antibodies (PPAbs) to influenza proteins. Recipients of inactivated influenza vaccine containing the same A(H1N1)pdm09 strain were studied for comparison. Results. During acute infection, robust plasmablast responses to the infecting virus were detected, characterized by a greater PPAb reactivity to the conserved influenza virus nuclear protein and to heterovariant and heterosubtypic hemagglutinins, in comparison to responses to the inactivated A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine. In A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccinees, the presence of baseline serum neutralizing antibodies against A(H1N1)pdm09, suggesting previous exposure to natural A(H1N1)pdm09 infection, did not affect the plasmablast response to vaccination, whereas repeated immunization with inactivated A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine resulted in significantly reduced vaccine-specific and cross-reactive PPAb responses. Conclusions. Natural A(H1N1)pdm09 infection and inactivated A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccination result in very distinct patterns of B-cell activation and priming. These differences are likely to be associated with differences in protective immunity, especially cross-protection against heterovariant and heterosubtypic influenza virus strains.
Phytophthora palmivora establishes tissue-specific intracellular infection structures in the earliest divergent land plant lineage

Significance Despite the importance of liverworts as the earliest diverging land plant lineage to support fungal symbiosis, it is unknown whether filamentous pathogens can establish intracellular interactions within living cells of these nonvascular plants. Here, we demonstrate that an oomycete pathogen invades Marchantia polymorpha and related liverworts to form intracellular infection structures inside cells of the photosynthetic layer. Plants lacking this tissue layer display enhanced resistance to infection, revealing an architectural susceptibility factor in complex thalloid liverworts. Moreover, we show that dedicated host cellular trafficking proteins are recruited to pathogen interfaces within liverwort cells, supporting the idea that intracellular responses to microbial invasion originated in nonvascular plants. The expansion of plants onto land was a formative event that brought forth profound changes to the earth’s geochemistry and biota. Filamentous eukaryotic microbes developed the ability to colonize plant tissues early during the evolution of land plants, as demonstrated by intimate, symbiosis-like associations in >400 million-year-old fossils. However, the degree to which filamentous microbes establish pathogenic interactions with early divergent land plants is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the broad host-range oomycete pathogen Phytophthora palmivora colonizes liverworts, the earliest divergent land plant lineage. We show that P. palmivora establishes a complex tissue-specific interaction with Marchantia polymorpha, where it completes a full infection cycle within air chambers of the dorsal photosynthetic layer. Remarkably, P. palmivora invaginates M. polymorpha cells with haustoria-like structures that accumulate host cellular trafficking machinery and the membrane syntaxin MpSYP13B, but not the related MpSYP13A. Our results indicate that the intracellular accommodation of filamentous microbes is an ancient plant trait that is successfully exploited by pathogens like P. palmivora.
Adaptive and Resilient Soft Tensegrity Robots

Abstract Living organisms intertwine soft (e.g., muscle) and hard (e.g., bones) materials, giving them an intrinsic flexibility and resiliency often lacking in conventional rigid robots. The emerging field of soft robotics seeks to harness these same properties to create resilient machines. The nature of soft materials, however, presents considerable challenges to aspects of design, construction, and control—and up until now, the vast majority of gaits for soft robots have been hand-designed through empirical trial-and-error. This article describes an easy-to-assemble tensegrity-based soft robot capable of highly dynamic locomotive gaits and demonstrating structural and behavioral resilience in the face of physical damage. Enabling this is the use of a machine learning algorithm able to discover effective gaits with a minimal number of physical trials. These results lend further credence to soft-robotic approaches that seek to harness the interaction of complex material dynamics to generate a wealth of dynamical behaviors.
Heritability estimates from genomewide relatedness matrices in wild populations: Application to a passerine, using a small sample size

Genomic developments have empowered the investigation of heritability in wild populations directly from genomewide relatedness matrices (GRM). Such GRM‐based approaches can in particular be used to improve or substitute approaches based on social pedigree (PED‐social). However, measuring heritability from GRM in the wild has not been widely applied yet, especially using small samples and in nonmodel species. Here, we estimated heritability for four quantitative traits (tarsus length, wing length, bill length and body mass), using PED‐social, a pedigree corrected by genetic data (PED‐corrected) and a GRM from a small sample (n = 494) of blue tits from natural populations in Corsica genotyped at nearly 50,000 filtered SNPs derived from RAD‐seq. We also measured genetic correlations among traits, and we performed chromosome partitioning. Heritability estimates were slightly higher when using GRM compared to PED‐social, and PED‐corrected yielded intermediate values, suggesting a minor underestimation of heritability in PED‐social due to incorrect pedigree links, including extra‐pair paternity, and to lower information content than the GRM. Genetic correlations among traits were similar between PED‐social and GRM but credible intervals were very large in both cases, suggesting a lack of power for this small data set. Although a positive linear relationship was found between the number of genes per chromosome and the chromosome heritability for tarsus length, chromosome partitioning similarly showed a lack of power for the three other traits. We discuss the usefulness and limitations of the quantitative genetic inferences based on genomic data in small samples from wild populations.
A Comparative Study between Atropine and Tropicamide as Cycloplegic Agents for a Sample of Iraqi Children

Background The ideal cycloplegic drug that is effective, safe, and convenient allowing accurate measurement of the refractive errors by both subjective and objective means is not yet available. Objective This study was designed to compare the cycloplegic activity and adverse effects of two cycloplegic agents (atropine vs. tropicamide) for children with hyperopia. The response to cycloplegia in different age groups, with or without strabismus, was also compared. Methods Tropicamide 1% eye drops (Regimen 1) and atropine 1% eye drops (Regimen 2) was evaluated in thirty children with different ages. Cycloplegic refractions and adverse effects were assessed. The results expressed refractions and presented as mean ± SD. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Tropicamide refraction mean value (+3.60 ± 2.25 D) didn’t differ significantly in comparison with that of atropine (+3.92 ± 2.50 D); (P > 0.05). Children during regimen 2 (atropine drops) suffered from more frequent and statistically significant side effects (P < 0.05), represented by blurred vision, fever; flushing and tachycardia, compared with regimen 1 (tropicamide drops). Conclusion Tropicamide applied to younger or older children is sufficient to produce good cycloplegia, with an effect approach to and safer than atropine, even in children with a high degree of hypermetropia, and with or without strabismus.
Antimicrobial Traits of Tea- and Cranberry-Derived Polyphenols against Streptococcus mutans

There are over 750 species of bacteria that inhabit the human oral cavity, but only a small fraction of those are attributed to causing plaque-related diseases such as caries. Streptococcus mutans is accepted as the main cariogenic agent and there is substantial knowledge regarding the specific virulence factors that render the organism a pathogen. There has been rising interest in alternative, target-specific treatment options as opposed to nonspecific mechanical plaque removal or application of broad-spectrum antibacterials that are currently in use. The impact of diet on oral health is undeniable, and this is directly observable in populations that consume high quantities of polyphenol-rich foods or beverages. Such populations have low caries incidence and better overall oral health. Camellia sinensis, the plant from which various forms of tea are derived, and Vaccinium macrocarpon (American cranberry fruit) have received notable attention both for their prevalence in the human diet as well as for their unique composition of polyphenols. The biologically active constituents of these plants have demonstrated potent enzyme-inhibitory properties without being bactericidal, a key quality that is important in developing therapies that will not cause microorganisms to develop resistance. The aim of this review is to consider studies that have investigated the feasibility of tea, cranberry, and other select plant derivatives as a potential basis for alternative therapeutic agents against Streptococcus mutans and to evaluate their current and future clinical relevance.
Poly-victimization and resilience portfolios: Trends in violence research that can enhance the understanding and prevention of elder abuse

ABSTRACT This literature review assesses the current state of knowledge about elder abuse and mistreatment, focusing on the lack of incorporation of all forms of elder victimization and the benefits of a poly-victimization framework. This review also includes existing knowledge on risk factors and calls for a greater focus on protective factors and a greater inclusion on family and community factors. Future research, prevention, and intervention would benefit from considering the true burden of elder victimization and a greater implementation of strengths-based approaches to programs.
Appraisal and Assessment of World Water Resources

Abstract A critical analysis of the present situation on the global water resources assessment is made. Basic data and methodological approaches used by the author for the assessment and prediction of water resources, water use and water availability on the global scale are briefly described. On the basis of data generalization of the world hydrological network new data are given on the dynamics of renewable water resources of the continents, physiographic and economic regions, selected countries as well as on the river water inflow to the world ocean. The results of the assessments for the 20th century and for the future before 2010–2025 on the water supply for municipal, industrial and agricultural needs as well as an additional evaporation from reservoirs are presented. Loads on water resources and water availability depending on socio-economic and phisiographic factors are analyzed; regions of water scarcity and water resources deficit are discovered. Possible ways of water supply improvement and elimination of water resources deficit in different regions and countries are discussed
TYPE FastMultidimensional Reduction and Broadcast Operations on GPU forMachine Learning

Present Address Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sarıyer, Istanbul, Turkey, 34450 Summary Reduction and broadcast operations are commonly used in machine learning algorithms for different purposes. They widely appear in the calculation of the gradient values of a loss function, whichareoneof the core structuresof neural networks. Bothoperations are implementednaively in many libraries usually for scalar reduction or broadcast, however, to our knowledge there are no optimized multidimensional implementations available. This fact limits the performance of machine learningmodels requiring these operations to be performed on tensors. In this work, we address the problemand propose twonew strategies that extend the existing implementations to perform on tensors. We introduce formal definitions of both operations using tensor notations, investigate their mathematical properties and exploit these properties to provide an efficient solution for each. We implement our parallel strategies and test them on a CUDA enabled Tesla K40m GPU accelerator. Our performant implementations achieve up to 75% of the peak device memory bandwidth on different tensor sizes and dimensions and significant speedups against the implementations available in the Knet Deep Learning framework.
EFFECT OF HYDROSTATIC WATER PRESSURE ON PERFORMANCE OF SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE PLACED UNDERWATER

This study has focused on investigation of effect of hydrostatic pressure on the properties of underwater self-compacting concrete. In this research, 30 mixes of self-compacting concrete have been prepared with six groups. The first three groups contain AWA (Anti Washot Admixture), while the second groups made without AWA. The main parameters explored in this research were: silica fume, limestone powder and rice husk ash as a cement replacement content with 0% and 1% anti washout admixture and different water depth (10 ,20, 30 ,40 and 50 m). Washout loss was found by using either the CRD C61 test method or a newly developed device for simulation of increased hydrostatic pressure on the concrete/water interface. Good correlations were investigating between the standard washout loss determined according to CRD C61 and simulated threshold water head and corresponding maximum washout loss.
Inspired to Create: Awe Enhances Openness to Learning and the Desire for Experiential Creation

Automated fabrication, home services, and premade goods pervade the modern consumer landscape. Against this backdrop, this research explores how the emotion of awe might motivate a consumer to partake instead in experiential creation (i.e., activities in which they actively produce an outcome) by enhancing their willingness to learn. Across eight experiments, experiencing awe (vs. happiness, excitement, pride, amusement, or neutrality) increases people’s likelihood of choosing an experiential creation gift (vs. one not involving experiential creation), willingness to pay for experiential creation products (vs. comparable ready-made products), likelihood of creating a bespoke snack (vs. taking a premade one), preference for experiential creation solutions (vs. solutions without experiential creation), likelihood of purchasing a product when it is framed as high (vs. low) in experiential creation, preference for high (vs. low) experiential creation meals, and likelihood of creating a knickknack (vs. taking a premade one). This greater desire for experiential creation is mediated by openness to learning and moderated by the need for closure. These findings, relevant for firms encouraging creation-oriented products and behaviors, offer fresh insights for engaging consumers.
CytonRL: an Efficient Reinforcement Learning Open-source Toolkit Implemented in C++

This paper presents an open-source enforcement learning toolkit named CytonRL (this https URL). The toolkit implements four recent advanced deep Q-learning algorithms from scratch using C++ and NVIDIA's GPU-accelerated libraries. The code is simple and elegant, owing to an open-source general-purpose neural network library named CytonLib. Benchmark shows that the toolkit achieves competitive performances on the popular Atari game of Breakout.
Automated Multi-Atlas Segmentation of Hippocampal and Extrahippocampal Subregions in Alzheimer's Disease at 3T and 7T: What Atlas Composition Works Best?

BACKGROUND Multi-atlas segmentation, a popular technique implemented in the Automated Segmentation of Hippocampal Subfields (ASHS) software, utilizes multiple expert-labelled images ("atlases") to delineate medial temporal lobe substructures. This multi-atlas method is increasingly being employed in early Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, it is therefore becoming important to know how the construction of the atlas set in terms of proportions of controls and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and/or AD affects segmentation accuracy. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the proportion of controls in the training sets affects the segmentation accuracy of both controls and patients with MCI and/or early AD at 3T and 7T. METHODS We performed cross-validation experiments varying the proportion of control subjects in the training set, ranging from a patient-only to a control-only set. Segmentation accuracy of the test set was evaluated by the Dice similarity coeffiecient (DSC). A two-stage statistical analysis was applied to determine whether atlas composition is linked to segmentation accuracy in control subjects and patients, for 3T and 7T. RESULTS The different atlas compositions did not significantly affect segmentation accuracy at 3T and for patients at 7T. For controls at 7T, including more control subjects in the training set significantly improves the segmentation accuracy, but only marginally, with the maximum of 0.0003 DSC improvement per percent increment of control subject in the training set. CONCLUSION ASHS is robust in this study, and the results indicate that future studies investigating hippocampal subfields in early AD populations can be flexible in the selection of their atlas compositions.
XBP 1-LOX Axis is critical in ER stress-induced growth of lung adenocarcinoma in 3 D culture

Rapid growth of tumor cells needs to consume large amounts of oxygen and glucose, due to lack of blood supply within the tumor, cells live in an environment that lack of oxygen and nutrients. This environment results in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activates the UPR (unfolded protein response). More and more evidence suggests UPR provides a growth signal pathway required for tumor growth. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between XBP1, one transcription factor in UPR, and the expression of LOX. We found that ER stress induces high expression of XBP1, one transcription factor in UPR, in both 2D culture and 3D culture; but only promotes growth of lung adenocarcinoma cells in in vitro 3D culture other than 2D culture. In 3D culture, we further showed that knockdown XBP1 expression can block Tm/Tg-induced cell growth. LOX genes may be key downstream effector of XBP1. Knockdown LOX expression can partially block XBP1-induced cell growth. Then we showed XBP1 suppressed by RNA interference (RNAi) can reduce the expression of LOX. For the first time, it is being shown that XBP1 can regulate the expression of LOX to promote cell growth.
Influence of weather on two insectivorous bats in a temperate Pacific Northwest rainforest

Adverse weather conditions frequently have a significant negative influence on survival and reproductive suc- cess of insectivorous bats. Low ambient temperatures increase the energetic costs of maintaining euthermia and reduces in- sect activity, while precipitation likely adds ''clutter'' making prey more difficult to detect using echolocation. We studied two species of insectivorous bats, Myotis lucifugus (LeConte, 1831) and Myotis keenii (Merriam, 1895), in the Pacific Northwest of Canada, a region that experiences frequent cool, wet weather during spring and summer. Our study took place during the El Nino - La Nina cycle of 1998-1999, which resulted in contrasting years. The summer of 1998 was un- usually warm and dry, while the summer of 1999 was unusually cool and wet. We predicted that both species would be adversely affected by the cool, wet conditions of 1999, resulting in prolonged gestation, late fledging of young, and lower reproductive success. However, this was not the case. Myotis lucifugus did experience delays in reproductive timing and lower reproductive success in 1999, as predicted, whereas M. keenii experienced much shorter gestations, earlier fledgings, and no difference in reproductive success between years. We hypothesize that the ability of M. keenii to glean prey ena- bles it to better cope with cool, wet conditions. Resume´ : Les conditions meteorologiques defavorables ont souvent un effet negatif significatif sur la survie et le succes de la reproduction chez les chauves-souris insectivores. Les temperatures ambiantes basses augmentent le coutenergetique du maintien de l'euthermie et reduisent l'activitedes insectes, alors que les precipitations produisent des echos parasites qui rendent la detection des proies par echolocation plus difficile. Nous avons etudiedeux especes de chauves-souris insec- tivores, Myotis lucifugus (LeConte, 1831) et Myotis keenii (Merriam, 1895), dans la region pacifique du nord-ouest cana- dien, une region qui connaoˆt frequemment des conditions fraoˆches et humides au printemps et en ete ´. Notre etude s'est deroulee durant le cycle El Nino - La Nina de 1998-1999, ce qui a produit deux annees bien differentes. L'ete ´ 1998 a ete ´ exceptionnellement chaud et sec, et celui de 1999 particulierement frais et humide. Nous avions predit que les deux espe `- ces seraient affectees negativement par les conditions fraoˆches et humides de 1999, ce qui se manifesterait par une gesta- tion prolongee, un envol tardif des jeunes et un succesr eduit de la reproduction. Ce ne fut cependant pas le cas. Myotis lucifugus a connu, comme predit, des delais dans le calendrier de sa reproduction et un succes reproductif plus bas in 1999, alors que, chez M. keenii, la gestation fut beaucoup plus courte, l'envol precoce et le succes reproductif semblable a ` l'annee precedente. Nous emettons l'hypothese qui veut que la capaciteque possede M. keenii de glaner des proies sur les surfaces lui permet de mieux s'accommoder des conditions fraoˆches et humides. (Traduit par la Redaction)