Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual effect of orally administered sennosides on large intestine transit and fluid absorption in the rat *

Quantity and consistency of the faecal output, large intestine transit time, and colonic net fluid absorption were investigated in rats after oral administration of sennosides A + B (12.5–200 mg kg−1). The release of normal faecal pellets was accelerated 3–4 h after drug administration; excretion of soft faeces was evident within 4–5 h and reached its maximum 5–7 h after administration. Large intestine transit time was dose‐ and time‐dependently influenced by sennoside treatment. A highly significant reduction in transit time from more than 6 h in controls to 90 min for a 2 h pretreatment and a nearly maximal reduction to 30 min for a 4 h pretreatment was induced by a dose of 50 mg kg−1. Inhibition of net fluid absorption in the colon was maximal with the same dose, but clearly more pronounced after a 6 h pretreatment period than after a 4 h period. Since the increase in fluid volume due to net fluid secretion is delayed compared with the acceleration of large intestine transit, the early motility effect seems to be largely independent of the changes in absorption mechanisms. Therefore, the laxative effect of the sennosides consists of changes in colon motility as well as in colonic fluid absorption, but motility may be an earlier and more sensitive parameter than net absorption.
Curva de Phillips e macrodinâmica do capital ótimo

This paper presents new arguments for some recent stylized facts about the dynamics of inflation shown by Mishkin (2007), which are: a) the persistence of inflation shocks are declining; b) the Phillips' curve of this becoming more horizontal and; c) inflation has been less reactive to shocks on prices. It addressed the problem of determining the aggregate supply where the new version of the Keynesian Phillips' curve, that despite progress, not yet incorporating the determinants of the expansion potential of the product and that this inclusion is one of the explanations for stylized facts (fact b ) revealed recently by Mishkin.
Looking for a change point in French monetary policy in the early eighties

We investigate where, in the early eighties, did a change occur in French monetary policy. The novelty in our treatment of this subject is the use of the impulse saturation break test. The results clearly identify the adoption of the Franc Fort policy as the key change in the period. The resulting econometric model is congruent and reveals no signs of persistence in inflation.
Four chromosome replication origins in the archaeon Pyrobaculum calidifontis

Replication origins were mapped in hyperthermophilic crenarchaea, using high‐throughput sequencing‐based marker frequency analysis. We confirm previous origin mapping in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, and demonstrate that the single chromosome of Pyrobaculum calidifontis contains four replication origins, the highest number detected in a prokaryotic organism. The relative positions of the origins in both organisms coincided with regions enriched in highly conserved (core) archaeal genes. We show that core gene distribution provides a useful tool for origin identification in archaea, and predict multiple replication origins in a range of species. One of the P. calidifontis origins was mapped in detail, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated binding of the Cdc6/Orc1 replication initiator protein to a repeated sequence element, denoted Orb‐1, within the origin. The high‐throughput sequencing approach also allowed for an annotation update of both genomes, resulting in the restoration of open reading frames encoding proteins involved in, e.g., sugar, nitrate and energy metabolism, as well as in glycosylation and DNA repair.
Role of Nuclear Factor-κB in Oxidative Stress Associated with Rabies Virus Infection of Adult Rat Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons

ABSTRACT Recent studies in an experimental model of rabies showed major structural changes in the brain involving neuronal processes that are associated with severe clinical disease. Cultured adult rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons infected with the challenge virus standard-11 strain of rabies virus (CVS) showed axonal swellings and immunostaining for 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE), indicating evidence of lipid peroxidation associated with oxidative stress and reduced axonal growth compared to that of mock-infected DRG neurons. We have evaluated whether nuclear factor (NF)-κB might act as a critical bridge linking CVS infection and oxidative stress. On Western immunoblotting, CVS infection induced expression of the NF-κB p50 subunit compared to that of mock infection. Ciliary neurotrophic factor, a potent activator of NF-κB, had no effect on mock-infected rat DRG neurons and reduced the number of 4-HNE-labeled puncta. SN50, a peptide inhibitor of NF-κB, and CVS infection had an additive effect in producing axonal swellings, indicating that NF-κB is neuroprotective. The fluorescent signal for subunit p50 was quantitatively evaluated in the nucleus and cytoplasm of mock- and CVS-infected rat DRG neurons. At 24 h postinfection (p.i.), there was a significant increase in the nucleus/cytoplasm ratio, indicating increased transcriptional activity of NF-κB, perhaps as a response to stress. At both 48 and 72 h p.i. , there was significantly reduced nuclear localization of NF-κB. CVS infection may induce oxidative stress by inhibiting nuclear activation of NF-κB. A rabies virus protein may directly inhibit NF-κB activity. Further investigations are needed to gain a better understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in the oxidative damage associated with rabies virus infection.
Opioids act centrally to modulate stress-induced decrease in luteinizing hormone in the rat.

Because endogenous opioid peptides (EOP) and CRF are activated during stress and decrease LH levels when injected centrally, we have explored the roles of these peptides in the stress-induced inhibition of LH secretion. Three opioid peptide systems [i.e. endorphin (END), enkephalin, dynorphin (DYN)], are present in the hypothalamus, acting on different opiate receptor subtypes (i.e. mu, delta, kappa). We first evaluated which EOP might be involved in the stress-induced decrease of LH levels. Immunoneutralization of EOP and pharmacological blockade of opiate receptors were used to reverse the decrease in LH induced by inescapable intermittent footshock in castrated male rats. Anti-beta-END and anti-DYN-A serum (intracerebroventricularly [icv]) or pretreatment with beta-END antagonist, beta-human END-(6-31) (2 and 5 nmol, icv), or with kappa-antagonists, Mr1452 MS and Mr2266 BS (10 mg/kg BW, ip), reversed electroshock-induced decrease in LH concentrations. beta-funaltrexamine (beta-FNA), an irreversible mu 1-opiate receptor antagonist, was partially effective in blocking the inhibitory effect of stress on LH levels. Neither passive immunization with anti-enkephalin nor the pretreatment with the delta-opiate receptor antagonist, ICI 154,129, (10 and 100 nmol, icv) modified the effect of stress. We then evaluated which endogenous opioid ligands and/or receptors might mediate the inhibitory effect on LH levels of 2 nmol ovine CRF injected icv. Anti-beta-END serum and beta-human END-(6-31), reversed the CRF-induced decrease of LH concentrations, whereas beta-FNA was only partially active. Anti-DYN-A and anti-ENK serum, kappa- and delta-antagonists did not prevent the decline of LH levels in rats receiving CRF centrally. These data suggest that stress-induced inhibition of LH secretion involves the stimulation of beta-END and DYN-A systems via mu/epsilon- or kappa-opiate receptors and that the decrease in circulating LH levels induced by centrally administered CRF may be mediated by the activation of beta-END system. Therefore, it is possible that the activation of the central CRF/beta-END pathway may play an important role in the stress-induced inhibition of reproductive functions.
Energy Intensity and Carbon Emission Responses to Technological Change: The U.S. Outlook

Technological progress, energy use, energy intensity, and carbon mitigation are tightly intertwined concepts within the worldwide climate change debate. The state-of-the-art National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) is used to examine, for the United States: (a) the potential role of technological progress on energy supply, consumption, and prices in U.S. energy markets and their impact on carbon emissions; (b) how "success" on one side of the supply or demand equation may reduce the potential benefits of technological progress on the other side; and (c) the sensitivity of energy intensity in the U.S. to technological change and adoption. Some of the key findings of the analysis include: (a) technological progress alone (without significant and effective new policies) is insufficient to achieve reduction of carbon emissions at or near 1990 levels by 2010; (b) successful R&D programs that improve the availability and market acceptance of cost-efficient transportation technologies, coupled with successful oil and gas supply R&D programs, could have a significant impact on reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil; (c) the annual rate of decline of energy intensity (primary energy used per dollar of GDP) between 1996 and 2015 appears to be bounded by 1.25 percent when real energy prices are relatively stable or gradually rising, even when more advanced technologies are made available to the market.
A mediation model to explain decision making under conditions of risk among adolescents: The role of fluid intelligence and probabilistic reasoning

Aim: This study tested the mediating role of probabilistic reasoning ability in the relationship between fluid intelligence and advantageous decision making among adolescents in explicit situations of risk—that is, in contexts in which information on the choice options (gains, losses, and probabilities) were explicitly presented at the beginning of the task. Method: Participants were 282 adolescents attending high school (77% males, mean age = 17.3 years). We first measured fluid intelligence and probabilistic reasoning ability. Then, to measure decision making under explicit conditions of risk, participants performed the Game of Dice Task, in which they have to decide among different alternatives that are explicitly linked to a specific amount of gain or loss and have obvious winning probabilities that are stable over time. Results: Analyses showed a significant positive indirect effect of fluid intelligence on advantageous decision making through probabilistic reasoning ability that acted as a mediator. Specifically, fluid intelligence may enhance ability to reason in probabilistic terms, which in turn increases the likelihood of advantageous choices when adolescents are confronted with an explicit decisional context. Conclusions: Findings show that in experimental paradigm settings, adolescents are able to make advantageous decisions using cognitive abilities when faced with decisions under explicit risky conditions. This study suggests that interventions designed to promote probabilistic reasoning, for example by incrementing the mathematical prerequisites necessary to reason in probabilistic terms, may have a positive effect on adolescents’ decision-making abilities.
Asset Allocation in Markets with Contagion: The Interplay between Volatilities, Jump Intensities, and Correlations

We study the impact of financial contagion on the dynamic asset allocation problem of a CRRA investor facing an incomplete market with two risky assets. We apply a Markov chain regime-switching framework with state-dependent jump intensities, diffusion volatilities and diffusion correlations. The key model feature that a switch to the bad contagion regime is triggered by a loss in one of the risky assets allows for the implementation of a hedging demand against contagion risk. Moreover, a state-dependent diffusion correlation combined with heterogeneity in jump intensities and volatilities can, e.g., generate a flight to quality effect upon a systemic jump.
Geographical Integration and the Retail CD-Pricing Decisions of Large Depository Institutions

This paper focuses on the six-month retail certificate of deposit (CD) rates of large depository institutions in six major cities during 1983-1988 to test the integration of their retail CD markets. Using Granger's (1986) concept of co-integration, we find a long-run equilibrium relationship between the city CD-rate offers and the six-month Treasury bill rate. After filtering out this relationship, a vector autoregressive model is employed with Granger (1969) causality tests to determine the significance of intercity rate dependencies. Our results indicate an increasing number of intercity relations over time, consistent with an emerging integrated market. Since our sample represents a subset of bank CDs for the largest firms operating in six of the nation's largest cities, the results should not be generalized to other smaller bank markets, CD maturities, or bank products. The periods examined are also close together in time, which could affect the robustness of the results.
Property in Work

In the face of rising concern over the obsolescence and displacement of skill, there have been some proposals to compensate disadvantaged workers not only for current wage loss but also for the destruction of valuable "property rights" in the job. The authors of such a proposal often argue their case on the ground that there is inequity in the treatment of the owners of human capital as compared with the owners of physical capital. Through the accumulation of depreciation reserves, the latter are compensated for the destruction of capital values, but no similar provision is made for the former group. This brief discussion presents a skeptical view of such an argument for compensating the loss of job property rights. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)
Dynamic active log pool for improving worst-case performance of memory cards

Severe performance fluctuations and thus low worst-case performance are serious problems for NAND-based memory cards used as storage devices in portable consumer electronics. These problems are mainly caused by the erasebefore- write restriction of NAND flash memory. As the write to NAND is accumulated, a garbage collection is performed to reproduce clean blocks. The execution time of the garbage collection greatly depends on the association degree of the NAND blocks selected as victim. In other words, if the victim block has the high association degree, the execution time of the garbage collection becomes long, which adversely affects the overall performance of the memory card. To address this problem, this paper proposes a new hybrid mapping flash translation layer policy using dynamic active log pool, partial merge, and moving valid pages that reduce the association degree of victim blocks. The results of a trace-driven simulation show that the proposed policy reduces the worst-case latency of write requests by up to 44.8% compared to the best alternative policy. The average latency is also shortened by up to 4.1%.
Bruxism force detection by a piezoelectric film-based recording device in sleeping humans.

AIMS To test the reliability and utility of a force-based bruxism detection system (Intra-Splint Force Detector [ISFD]) for multiple night recordings of forceful tooth-to-splint contacts in sleeping human subjects in their home environment. METHODS Bruxism-type forces, i.e., forceful tooth-to-splint contacts, during the night were recorded with this system in 12 subjects (6 bruxers and 6 controls) for 5 nights in their home environment; a laboratory-based nocturnal polysomnogram (NPSG) study was also performed on 1 of these subjects. RESULTS All 12 subjects were able to use the device without substantial difficulty on a nightly basis. The bruxer group exhibited bruxism events of significantly longer duration than the control group (27 seconds/hour versus 7.4 seconds/hour, P < .01). A NPSG study performed on 1 subject revealed that, when the masseter muscle electromyogram (EMG) was used as a "gold standard," the ISFD had a sensitivity of 0.89. The correlation coefficient between the duration of events detected by the ISFD and the EMG was also 0.89. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the ISFD is a system that can be used easily by the subjects and that has a reasonable reliability for bruxism detection as reflected in forceful tooth-to-splint contacts during sleep.
Mechanical Comparison of Headless Screw Fixation and Locking Plate Fixation for Talar Neck Fractures.

For talar neck fractures, open reduction and internal fixation have been thought to facilitate revascularization and prevent osteonecrosis. Newer screw systems allow for placement of cannulated headless screws, which provide compression by virtue of a variable pitch thread. The present study compared the biomechanical fixation strength of cannulated headless variable-pitch screw fixation and locking plate fixation. A reproducible talar neck fracture was created in 14 fresh cadaver talar necks. Talar head fixation was then performed using 2 cannulated headless variable-pitch 4-mm/5-mm diameter (4/5) screws (Acutrak; Acumed, Hillsboro, OR) and locking plate fixation. Headless variable-pitch screw fixation had lower failure displacement than did locking plate fixation. No statistically significant differences were found in failure stiffness, yield stiffness (p = .655), yield load (p = .142), or ultimate load between the 2 fixation techniques. Cannulated headless variable-pitch screw fixation resulted in better failure displacement than locking plate fixation in a cadaveric talus model and could be considered a viable option for talus fracture fixation. Headless, fully threaded, variable-pitch screw fixation has inherent advantages compared with locking plate fixation, because it might cause less damage to the articular surface and can compress the fracture for improved reduction. Additionally, plate fixation can increase the risk of avascular necrosis owing to the wider incision and dissection of soft tissues.
CT Findings of Small Bowel Anisakiasis: Analysis of Four Cases

Purpose: We wanted to describe the CT findings of small bowel anisakiasis with the pathologic correlation. Materials and Methods: Four patients with surgically and pathologically proven small bowel anisakiasis were included in this retrospective study. They were three men and one woman and their ages ranged from 28 to 43 years (mean age: 38 years). We evaluated their clinical, CT and histological findings. Results: All the patients had a history of ingesting raw fish within 24 hours from the time of symptom onset. They complained of abdominal pain (n=4), nausea (n=4), vomiting (n=2) and diarrhea (n=1). Physical examination revealed tenderness (n=4), rebound tenderness (n=4) and increased bowel sounds (n=3). Leukocytosis was noted in all the patients on the laboratory examination. None of the patients showed eosinophilia. The CT findings were segmental small bowel wall thickening with preserved layering (n=4), focal segmental luminal narrowing with proximal dilatation (n=4), peritoneal thickening (n=3), mesenteric or omental infiltration (n=4) and varying degrees of ascites (n=4). On the histopathologic examination, they revealed an infiltration of eosinophils (n=4) in all layers of the bowel wall with severe edema. The larvae were found on surgico-pathologic examination in all the cases. Conclusion: The CT findings may be helpful to make the specific diagnosis of small bowel anisakiasis in a patient with the clinical findings of an acute abdomen and a history of eating raw fish.
Forces shaping Philadelphia's future

Does Philadelphia have what it takes to expand economic growth and attract more people? It's a challenge, says President Anthony Santomero in "Forces Shaping Philadelphia's Future. " The city has many things to recommend it as a location. Nevertheless, it has faced some difficulties in cultivating a role in certain important segments of the economy, and the city's population has been declining. But good things are also happening. Ultimately, Philadelphia's success - and the success of the surrounding area - depends on the creativity and commitment of its civic and business leaders. If they stay focused on contributing to the city's future, Philadelphia, President Santomero believes, will succeed.
Ten years experience of directly observed treatment short-course (dots) therapy for tuberculosis in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) is still the leading cause of death worldwide accounting for 2.5% of the global burden of disease and 25% of all avoidable deaths in developing countries. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the Directly Observed Treatment-Short course (DOTS) programme in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 1998-2007. METHODS Institutional-based retrospective study was employed Reports using world health organization (WHO) format for TB case finding and treatment outcome from all Sub-cities of the city to the Federal Ministry of Health were collected RESULTS Between the years (1998-2007), 133,340 patients with all form of TB were registered. Of these, 40,929 (31%) were AFB + ve Pulmonary TB (PTB+ve), 48,491 (36%) were AFB-ve Pulmonary TB (PTB-ve), and 43,920 (33%) were Extra Pulmonary TB (EPTB) cases. The trend of case detection rate (CDR) for new smear positive pulmonary TB cases has increased from 73% in 1998 to its peak 113% in 2000 and then it decreased to 68% in 2007. The treatment success rate (TSR) has value with an average and standard deviation of 80% and 3.2, respectively from 1999 to 2007. CONCLUSION It is possible to achieve the recommended WHO target (70% CDR & 85% TSR) as can be seen how closely these targets were approached (68% & 81%, respectively) in the city in 2007; However, this requires seeking alternative case finding mechanisms.
Full circle: New principals and old consequences in the modern diplomatic system

Originally written for a conference marking the 350th anniversary of the treaties of Westphalia, the article argues that, although the surrounding circumstances are very different, there are some interesting parallels to be drawn between the problems of the early seventeenth century and those of the end of the twentieth. The principal shared characteristic is that power was then and is now on the move between one type of institution and another. This resulted and results in the development of unusually complex relationships between new institutions unfamiliar with each other and a continuing need for them to deal with decaying but surviving entities from the past. In such circumstances both the structures for forming and managing policy and the machinery for conducting relations underwent and are undergoing marked and stressful change, as the old strives to adjust and the successors attempt to construct new and appropriate means of representation. Where the Westphalian period, under the pressure of state formation began the construction of ministries with sole responsibility for foreign affairs, the present period is seeing a corresponding dismantling of the autonomous foreign ministry under the pressure of globalization. In diplomatic services a similar correspondence may be seen: state services decline, but private entities, whether commercial or civil, are beginning to create means of representing themselves both to each other and to national governments: old problems, but new principals.