Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of melatonin and nifedipine on some antioxidant enzymes and different energy fuels in the blood and brain of global ischemic rats

Abstract: The brain normally derives most of its energy from the aerobic oxidation of glucose and therefore it must be nourished with a rich supply of both glucose and oxygen. Interference with the blood supply, such as in ischemia, could shift the brain to search for another source of energy and to spare its own glucose. Ischemia results not only in energy fuel disturbance, but also in free radical formation and Ca2+ homeostasis disruption. Therefore, our investigations studied the influence of ischemia on energy fuels, on some natural free radical scavengers, and the relationship between the changes of these parameters in brain and blood. Each of these was also studied under the influence of melatonin, a well‐known free radicalscavenger, and nifedipine, a Ca2+‐channel blocker and antioxidant, during ischemia followed by reperfusion (I/R). Adult male Wistar rats were subjected to global ischemia by occlusion of the two carotid arteries for 1 hr (group I), followed by reperfusion for another hour in group II. Drugs were injected after ischemia (group I), and before or after reperfusion onset in the second group. Two series of animals were used. In the first series the effect of the two drugs on the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was investigated in thecytosolic fraction of four brain areas, viz., cortex (CC), thalamus/hypothalamus (T/TH), midbrain (MB) and medulla, pons and cerebellum (MPC). Moreover, the level of both SOD and GR in the erythocytes of these rats was also estimated. In the second series, we studied the effect of each drug on the content of glucose and β‐hydroxybutyrate (β‐HB) in whole brain, in addition to the plasma levels of glucose, β‐HB and lactate. The results showed that (i), ischemia elevated the brain levels of LDH and β‐HB, as well as the plasma level of glucose, β‐HB, lactate and erythocytic GR. Conversely, it lowered glucose, SOD and GR levels in the brain; (ii), reperfusion reversed the ischemic effect on all the previously altered parameters except for plasma levels of lactate and glucose; (iii), melatonin (10 mg/kg, i.p) and nifedipine (1.5 mg/kg, i.p), restored the energy fuel levels in the brain of ischemic and I/R rats, as well as the ischemic effect on the erythocyte activities of SOD and GR. Furthermore, both drugs reversed I/R effect on the cytosolic activities of the antioxidant enzymes. We conclude that melatonin and nifedipine are both neuroprotective with improvement in the antioxidant system and energy fuels.
Trypanosoma cruzi Infection Beats the B‐cell Compartment Favouring Parasite Establishment: Can we Strike First?

Abstract Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas’ disease, may sabotage humoral response by affecting B cells at the different stages of its development. The present review highlights the contributions of our laboratory in understanding how T. cruzi hinders B‐cell generation and B‐cell expansion limiting host defence and favouring its chronic establishment. We discuss how homoeostatic mechanisms can be triggered to control exacerbated B‐cell proliferation that favour T. cruzi infection by eliminating parasite‐specific B cells. Specific targeting of evasion mechanisms displayed in T. cruzi infection, as in vivo Fas/FasL blockade or Gal‐3 expression inhibition, allowed us to modulate B‐cell responses enhancing the anti‐parasite humoral immune response. A comprehensive understanding of the biology of the B cell in health and disease is strictly required to devise immunointervention strategies aimed at enhancing protective immune responses during infections.
Complications of invasive subdural grid monitoring in children with epilepsy.

OBJECT This study was performed to evaluate the complications of invasive subdural grid monitoring during epilepsy surgery in children. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed the records of 35 consecutive children with intractable localization-related epilepsy who underwent invasive video electroencephalography (EEG) with subdural grid electrodes at The Hospital for Sick Children between 1996 and 2001. After subdural grid monitoring and identification of the epileptic regions, cortical excisions and/or multiple subpial transections (MSTs) were performed. Complications after these procedures were then categorized as either surgical or neurological. There were 17 male and 18 female patients whose mean age was 11.7 years. The duration of epilepsy before surgery ranged from 2 to 17 years (mean 8.3 years). Fifteen children (43%) had previously undergone surgical procedures for epilepsy. The number of electrodes on the grids ranged from 40 to 117 (mean 95). During invasive video EEG, cerebrospinal fluid leaks occurred in seven patients. Also, cerebral edema (five patients), subdural hematoma (five patients), and intracerebral hematoma (three patients) were observed on postprocedural imaging studies but did not require surgical intervention. Hypertrophic scars on the scalp were observed in nine patients. There were three infections, including one case of osteomyelitis and two superficial wound infections. Blood loss and the amounts of subsequent transfusions correlated directly with the size and number of electrodes on the grids (p < 0.001). Twenty-eight children derived significant benefit from cortical resections and MSTs, with a more than 50% reduction of seizures and a mean follow-up period of 30 months. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate that carefully selected pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy can benefit from subdural invasive monitoring procedures that entail definite but acceptable risks.
Identification and Characterization of a Novel Chemotype MEK Inhibitor Able to Alter the Phosphorylation State of MEK1/2

A small molecule compound, JTP-74057/GSK1120212/trametinib, had been discovered as a very potent antiproliferative agent able to induce the accumulation of CDK inhibitor p15INK4b. To conduct its drug development rationally as an anticancer agent, molecular targets of this compound were identified as MEK1/2 using compound-affinity chromatography. It was shown that JTP-74057 directly bound to MEK1 and MEK2 and allosterically inhibited their kinase activities, and that its inhibitory characteristics were similar to those of the known and different chemotype of MEK inhibitors PD0325901 and U0126. It was further shown that JTP-74057 induced rapid and sustained dephosphorylation of phosphorylated MEK in HT-29 colon and other cancer cell lines, while this decrease in phosphorylated MEK was not observed in PD0325901-treated cancer cells. Physicochemical analyses revealed that JTP-74057 preferentially binds to unphosphorylated MEK (u-MEK) in unique characteristics of both high affinity based on extremely low dissociation rates and ability stabilizing u-MEK with high thermal shift, which were markedly different from PD0325901. These findings indicate that JTP-74057 is a novel MEK inhibitor able to sustain MEK to be an unphosphorylated form resulting in pronounced suppression of the downstream signaling pathways involved in cellular proliferation.
Lung function in healthy never smoking adults: reference values and lower limits of normal of a Swiss population.

BACKGROUND: Reference values and definitions of "normal" are prerequisites for population screening and classification of lung diseases. The aim of this study was to calculate reference values for never smoking Caucasian adults. METHODS: In the SAPALDIA cross sectional study respiratory health was assessed in a random sample of 9651 subjects, aged 18-60 years, from eight areas of Switzerland. Lung function was measured according to ATS criteria including quality control. In 3157 healthy never smoking adults without respiratory symptoms the mean values and fifth percentiles of lung function variables were calculated. For each sex, logarithms of lung function were regressed against age, age squared, and the logarithm of height. Residuals were used to estimate fifth percentiles across the age range using a technique not requiring normality or homoscedasticity of residuals. RESULTS: Most lung function variables were non-linear with age and showed an increase in early adulthood and an accelerated decline thereafter. The reference values for forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) were higher than those of the European Community for Coal and Steel and those from North America. The prediction equations for lower fifth percentile values defined a stable proportion of subjects outside this limit whereas alternative methods for estimating the fifth percentile showed a loss of sensitivity with age. CONCLUSIONS: The reference equations for mean values of spirometric indices and their lower fifth percentiles gave an improved and unbiased lower limit of normal. The higher mean values may in part be due to the strictly selected population, quality control procedures, cohort effects, and altitude, and are not explained by the statistical model used.
Segmental and tonal processing in Cantonese

In a tone language, such as Cantonese, both segmental and tonal distinctions between words are pervasive. However, previous work in Cantonese has demonstrated that in speeded-response tasks, tone is more likely to be misprocessed than is segmental structure. The present study examined whether this tone disadvantage would also hold after the initial auditory processing of a syllable had been done. Cantonese listeners were asked to make same-different judgments on two sequentially presented open syllables along a specific dimension (i.e., onset, rime, tone, or the whole syllable) according to an instruction which was visually presented at the acoustic offset of the second syllable. Manipulating whether the difference between two syllables was in onset, rime, or tone resulted in equally robust effects across the various decision tasks on performance, indicating that tone functions as effectively as segmental structure in spoken-word processing once the related information of a syllable is encoded.
Restricted opportunities under employment reform: the experiences of select universities in the Chinese Mainland

ABSTRACT This study investigates changes to academic work life under recent employment reform in the Chinese Mainland. It employs a mixed-methods research approach, first conducting a survey of 1,770 teachers at nine universities in Mainland China. These nine universities consist of first-tier, second-tier, and ordinary universities. Next, through a qualitative research approach, 60 teachers at three of the nine universities were interviewed. Teachers from the departments of management, information technology, education, and physics were interviewed, reflecting a variety of work conditions. Our study finds that the employment reform, with its stress on quantitative research output, has led to further restrictions on academic work and the standardization of academic development. The new measurements have led to a crisis of confidence and dignity for many senior teachers. Great pressure has also been placed on younger academics, who receive very limited promotion opportunities. This study offers a significant theoretical contribution to discussion on the changing academic work life and has policy implications for higher education personnel policy in China.
Anergy of antigen-specific T lymphocytes is a potent mechanism of intravenously induced tolerance.

Intravenous (i.v.) injection of an antigen before immunization has been shown to be a potent way to induce suppression at the T-cell level. In this study we demonstrate an almost complete suppression of arthritis (using antigen-induced arthritis as a model) by i.v. injection of 100 micrograms hen egg lysozyme (HEL) 7 days before immunization. Underlying mechanisms, including suppression by CD8+ T lymphocytes, suppression by T-helper 2 (Th2) or anergy of antigen-specific T lymphocytes, were studied. In vivo treatment with either anti-CD8 or anti-interleukin-4 (IL-4) could not abrogate i.v. -induced tolerance. Lymphocyte stimulation assays showed reduced antigen-specific proliferative responses and IL-2 production in tolerized mice. The possible role of soluble suppressive cytokines was examined in vitro by adding anti-IL-4, anti-IL-10 or anti-transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Neutralization of these factors could not diminish suppression. Finally, anergy of antigen-specific T lymphocytes was tested as a possible mechanism for i.v. -induced tolerance. Results demonstrated that reduced proliferative T-cell responses were reversible: incubation of tolerized lymph node cells for 5 days in added recombinant (r)IL-2 fully restored proliferative capacity back to normal. We therefore conclude that the main mechanism of i.v. -induced tolerance in our model is anergy of antigen-specific T lymphocytes.
The Murchison Widefield Array: Design Overview

The Murchison Widefield Array is a dipole-based aperture array synthesis telescope designed to operate in the 80-300 MHz frequency range. It is capable of a wide range of science investigations but is initially focused on three key science projects: detection and characterization of three-dimensional brightness temperature fluctuations in the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen during the epoch of reionization (EoR) at redshifts from six to ten; solar imaging and remote sensing of the inner heliosphere via propagation effects on signals from distant background sources; and high-sensitivity exploration of the variable radio sky. The array design features 8192 dual-polarization broadband active dipoles, arranged into 512 ldquotilesrdquo comprising 16 dipoles each. The tiles are quasi-randomly distributed over an aperture 1.5 km in diameter, with a small number of outliers extending to 3 km. All tile-tile baselines are correlated in custom field-programmable gate array based hardware, yielding a Nyquist-sampled instantaneous monochromatic uv coverage and unprecedented point spread function quality. The correlated data are calibrated in real time using novel position-dependent self-calibration algorithms. The array is located in the Murchison region of outback Western Australia. This region is characterized by extremely low population density and a superbly radio-quiet environment, allowing full exploitation of the instrumental capabilities.
Cloudstep: A step-by-step decision process to support legacy application migration to the cloud

Cloud computing is an emerging computing paradigm whose benefits (such as high scalability, reduced IT costs, self-service on demand, and pay-as-you-go price models) have increasingly attracted the interest of the corporate world. Nevertheless, many organizations have found it difficult to adopt cloud-based solutions, particularly regarding the migration of their existing legacy applications to this new environment. One of the main obstacles faced by those organizations is the lack of a general process to help application developers not only in selecting the cloud models and services best suited for their application, but also in carefully assessing the various risks and benefits involved. To fill this gap, this paper presents Cloudstep, a step-by-step decision process aimed at supporting legacy application migration to the cloud. The process relies on the creation of template-based profiles characterizing the organization, the target legacy application and candidate cloud providers, which are then cross-analyzed to help identify and possibly resolve critical constraints (either technical or non technical) that may hinder migration to the cloud. The use of the process is illustrated through an analysis of key factors influencing the migration of a commercial medical application to different infrastructure-as-a-service cloud providers.
The Use of Pulsed Radiofrequency Treatment for Chronic Benign Pancreatitis Pain

Current analgesic strategies for the management of pain caused by chronic benign pancreatitis are poorly defined and frequently unsuccessful. Strategies have included pharmacotherapy, surgery, and interventional pain techniques such as celiac plexus blockade. Persistent quality analgesia with acceptable side effect profiles is difficult to achieve. Pulsed radiofrequency treatment is a minimally neurodestructive technique that may alter nerve conduction and offer a reduction in pain perception. We describe our experience with this technique in two patients with pain secondary to chronic benign pancreatitis.
[Primary care doctors' opinion on a risk adjustment system: adjusted clinical groups].

Sr. Editor. En el ámbito de la gestión, las experiencias en separar la financiación, la compra y la provisión de servicios requieren de instrumentos muy precisos de evaluación y medida de la actividad asistencial (1). En diferentes países, entre ellos en España (Cataluña), se están desarrollando algunas experiencias en la financiación por cápita como mecanismo para la asignación de los recursos asistenciales en base territorial (2). En este sentido, el sistema Adjusted Clinical Groups (ACG), desarrollado por la Universidad Johns Hopkins, es uno de los sistemas de clasificación de pacientes (SCP; ajuste de riesgos) más ampliamente utilizados a nivel internacional. Permite clasificar grupos de pacientes con similares características clínicas y de consumo de recursos (3). En general, la evidencia que se tiene de la aplicación de los ACG en nuestro medio está estudiada, y su uso se está extendiendo en distintos territorios (4-5). En cambio, no se conoce la opinión que tienen los profesionales médicos de España sobre estos SCP. Este estudio forma parte del proyecto titulado “Factores clínicos como determinantes de la utilización de los recursos sanitarios en Atención Primaria: perfiles de usuarios y diseño de modelos predictivos de utilización, relación entre morbilidad, efectividad y costes, y exploración de estrategias de implantación de sistemas de ajuste por casuística” (PI081567; años 2009-2011), en el que participan diversos centros de las comunidades autonómicas de Cataluña, Aragón y Baleares, financiado por el Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Instituto de formación médica para atender a la comunidad, mejorar el entendimiento de los determinantes sociales y motivar el interés de los estudiantes hacia la APS.
A joint sparse signal reconstruction and channel estimation for UWB communication system

Ultra-wideband(UWB) radio has gained a major breakthrough in wireless communications. However, the sampling is a huge obstacle to it. Applying compressed sensing(CS) principle which can recover a sparse signal from less measurement to UWB communication has been a hot topic for many years. This paper shows two methods to construct the CS model for UWB communication, jointing the signal reconstruction and channel estimation together using the CS approach, one takes a suitable sensing matrix to process the received signal and the other exploits the channel itself as a sensing process. A comparison is made at last between the CS based method and the traditional one. The simulation results demonstrate that our jointing CS method can achieve better performance at low SNR and high bit rate.
Stratégies d'infirmation du stéréotype et performances des cibles stigmatisées

Dans deux etudes, nous avons tente de montrer les effets differents de la menace de stereotype et de la visibilite sociale sur les types de solutions apportees a un probleme de raisonnement par des individus stigmatises (ici des etudiants d'origine sociale defavorisee). Nos resultats montrent que la menace de stereotype, rendant saillante une menace de l'identite personnelle favorise une strategie de mobilite individuelle (recours a la solution plus accessible, investissement soutenu), que la situation de visibilite, rendant saillante une menace de l'identite sociale, favorise la strategie de creativite (recours aux solutions plus difficiles d'acces, recherche de feed-back), et que la situation rendant saillants ces deux types de menace provoque un desengagement (faible investissement, refus du feed-back et attribution de discrimination au juge).
An optimized method for A∗ algorithm based on directional guidance

A* algorithm is the fastest and most widely used path finding algorithm. It uses the evaluation function as a guide to find the shortest path. The function values on all intermediate nodes need to be calculated, which is the main reason for A* algorithm performance consumption expanding exponentially with a map scale of growth. In this paper, an optimized algorithm is put forward to prune off the non-target direction nodes and those not on the way to target nodes, which reduce the amount of the heuristic function calculation. The experimental evaluation shows that the CPU and memory of A* algorithm could be improved by 50% according to the optimized A* algorithm and the risk of exponential growth of the cost of path finding algorithms is reduced effectively.
Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein has a dual role in T cell autoimmunity against central nervous system myelin

Background Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) is a candidate primary target of the autoimmune attack on the central nervous system (CNS) in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the physiological function of MOG has been unclear for a long time. Objective We propose that MOG has a central role in the regulation of tolerance and autoimmunity. Conclusion The interaction of MOG with DC-SIGN, an innate antigen receptor of myeloid antigen-presenting cells (m-APCs), present inside the CNS (microglia) or in draining lymph nodes (dendritic cells; DCs), keeps these cells in an immature/tolerogenic state. We postulate that this tolerogenic mechanism may be disturbed in MS by unknown factors.
Grasp, Grab or Pinch? Identifying User Preference for In-Air Gestural Manipulation

In-air gestural interactions can be used in desktop or other similar systems to perform cursor-based movements typically done with a mouse. One form of interaction that is required here is that of gestural manipulation, such as the ability to select a target and then move or rotate it, or any other forms of manipulation. In this paper, we implemented and evaluated 3 different gestures for users to manipulate objects on a screen, which we referred to as "grasp," "grab" and "pinch. " We performed a usability study, which showed a strong preference for the "grasp" gesture.
La revitalisation économique des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire au Canada : le cas du Réseau de développement économique d’employabilité

Forgues, É. , Giraud, S. & Paris, M. (2006). La revitalisation économique des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire au Canada : le cas du Réseau de développement économique d’employabilité. Francophonies d'Amérique, (22), 57–72. doi:10.7202/1005378ar Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne. [https://apropos.erudit. org/fr/usagers/politiquedutilisation/]
Ratings of Personality Change in Patients Being Evaluated for Memory Disorders

Summary:Caregivers of 35 mildly to moderately memory-impaired patients rated current and premorbid personalities with the NEO Personality Inventory. We then examined changes in the five domains of personality tapped by the NEO. There were significant changes in four of the five domains of normal personality functioning toward less conscientiousness, lower extraversion, higher neuroticism, and lower openness. The difference toward lower agreeableness was not significant when controlling for multiple comparisons. Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated that changes in conscientiousness and vulnerability were not related to rated premorbid personality patterns and thus appear to describe shifts for all patients evaluated for memory disorders. These data suggest that personality inventories may be helpful in characterizing caregivers' observations of memory-impaired patients and thus represent a critical source of information for the clinician in charge of care.