Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A postprophase topoisomerase II-dependent chromatid core separation step in the formation of metaphase chromosomes

Metaphase chromatids are believed to consist of loops of chromatin anchored to a central scaffold, of which a major component is the decatenatory enzyme DNA topoisomerase II. Silver impregnation selectively stains an axial element of metaphase and anaphase chromatids; but we find that in earlier stages of mitosis, silver staining reveals an initially single, folded midline structure, which separates at prometaphase to form two chromatid axes. Inhibition of topoisomerase II prevents this separation, and also prevents the contraction of chromatids that occurs when metaphase is arrested. Immunolocalization of topoisomerase II alpha reveals chromatid cores analogous to those seen with silver staining. We conclude that the chromatid cores in early mitosis form a single structure, constrained by DNA catenations, which must separate before metaphase chromatids can be resolved.
Hydrodynamics of the bluegill sunfish C-start escape response: three-dimensional simulations and comparison with experimental data

SUMMARY In this work we study the hydrodynamics of a bluegill sunfish performing a C-start maneuver in unprecedented detail using 3-D numerical simulations guided by previous laboratory experiments with live fish. The 3-D fish body geometry and kinematics are reconstructed from the experiments using high-speed video and prescribed as input to the numerical simulation. The calculated instantaneous flow fields at various stages of the C-start maneuver are compared with the two-dimensional particle image velocimetry measurements, and are shown to capture essentially all flow features observed in the measurements with good quantitative accuracy; the simulations reveal the experimentally observed three primary jet flow patterns whose momentum time series are in very good agreement with the measured flow field. The simulations elucidate for the first time the complex 3-D structure of the wake during C-starts, revealing an intricate vortical structure consisting of multiple connected vortex loops at the end of the C-start. We also find that the force calculated based on the 3-D flow field has higher magnitudes than that implied by the jet momentum on the midplane, and it exhibits large and rapid fluctuations during the two stages of the C-start. These fluctuations are physical and are related to the change in the direction of the acceleration of the fish body, which changes the location of the high and low pressure pockets around the fish.
Cerebral perfusion and arterial transit time changes during task activation determined with continuous arterial spin labeling

Perfusion imaging by arterial spin labeling (ASL) can be highly sensitive to the transit time from the labeling site to the tissue. We report the results of a study designed to separate the transit time and perfusion contributions to activation in ASL images accompanying motor and visual stimulation. Fractional transit time decreases were found to be comparable to fractional perfusion increases and the transit time change was found to be the greatest contributor to ASL signal change in ASL sequences without delayed acquisition. The implications for activation imaging with ASL and the arterial control of flow are discussed. Magn Reson Med 43:739–746, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Methodologie van de sociale wetenschappen : een inleiding

Dit boek laat je kennis maken met de interne keuken van sociaalwetenschappelijk onderzoek. Hoe komen onderzoekers tot wetenschappelijke kennis over de sociale werkelijkheid? Welke spelregels moeten ze volgen opdat die kennis betrouwbaar en geldig zou zijn? Dit boek neemt je mee op een boeiende tocht doorheen het rijke en gevarieerde instrumentarium dat sociale wetenschappers tot hun beschikking hebben om menselijk gedrag te observeren. Zo passeren onder meer surveyonderzoek, participerende observatie, experimentele ontwerpen en historisch-vergelijkend onderzoek de revue. Methodologie omvat echter niet alleen de beheersing van allerhande methoden en technieken om data te verzamelen en te analyseren. Methodologie is ruimer en verwijst ook naar de wijze waarop het ganse proces van wetenschapsbeoefening functioneert. Het gaat ook om hoe je diverse theoretische kaders gebruikt, welke redeneringen steek houden, hoe wetenschap ingebed is in bredere filosofische discussies en welke ethische richtlijnen je dient te respecteren. Met dit handboek, dat rijkelijk geillustreerd is met klassieke en meer hedendaagse voorbeelden uit diverse disciplines, willen we de onderzoeker in spe kennis laten maken met de do’s en don’t’s van het sociaalwetenschappelijke bedrijf.
The diffusion of innovation: Factors influencing the uptake of telehealth

summary The actual use of telehealth, particularly for clinical consultations, has in many cases been less than anticipated. The literature identifies a number of factors or barriers. These include legal issues, technical difficulties, time and convenience, cost and training/familiarity with the equipment. No single factor has been identified as being consistently present. Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory suggests that organizational structures and cultures will affect health professionals’ perceptions of telehealth. The introduction of telehealth services affects existing work practices and workflows. We believe that it is necessary to develop strategies for the introduction of telehealth applications which take into account the idiosyncrasies of the health service sector, and the particular structures and cultures of individual organizations within that sector.
Features and Prognosis of Severe Malaria Caused by Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and Mixed Plasmodium Species in Papua New Guinean Children

Background Mortality from severe pediatric falciparum malaria appears low in Oceania but Plasmodium vivax is increasingly recognized as a cause of complications and death. The features and prognosis of mixed Plasmodium species infections are poorly characterized. Detailed prospective studies that include accurate malaria diagnosis and detection of co-morbidities are lacking. Methods and Findings We followed 340 Papua New Guinean (PNG) children with PCR-confirmed severe malaria (77.1% P. falciparum, 7.9% P. vivax, 14.7% P. falciparum/vivax) hospitalized over a 3-year period. Bacterial cultures were performed to identify co-incident sepsis. Clinical management was under national guidelines. Of 262 children with severe falciparum malaria, 30.9%, 24.8% and 23.2% had impaired consciousness, severe anemia, and metabolic acidosis/hyperlactatemia, respectively. Two (0.8%) presented with hypoglycemia, seven (2.7%) were discharged with neurologic impairment, and one child died (0.4%). The 27 severe vivax malaria cases presented with similar phenotypic features to the falciparum malaria cases but respiratory distress was five times more common (P = 0.001); one child died (3.7%). The 50 children with P. falciparum/vivax infections shared phenotypic features of mono-species infections, but were more likely to present in deep coma and had the highest mortality (8.0%; P = 0.003 vs falciparum malaria). Overall, bacterial cultures were positive in only two non-fatal cases. 83.6% of the children had alpha-thalassemia trait and seven with coma/impaired consciousness had South Asian ovalocytosis (SAO). Conclusions The low mortality from severe falciparum malaria in PNG children may reflect protective genetic factors other than alpha-thalassemia trait/SAO, good nutrition, and/or infrequent co-incident sepsis. Severe vivax malaria had similar features but severe P. falciparum/vivax infections were associated with the most severe phenotype and worst prognosis.
Impact of Post-Thymic Cellular Longevity on the Development of Age-Associated CD4+ T Cell Defects1

Elderly people are at higher risk for infections due to declining cellular and humoral immune responses. Central to this dysfunction is the reduced responsiveness of the naive CD4+ T cell compartment. Previous data from our laboratory suggest that although defects in the aged naive CD4+ T cell response are apparent in recent thymic emigrant populations, additional defects develop during extended post-thymic longevity in the periphery. To further investigate the factors that lead to aging defects, we took advantage of the OT-II TCR-transgenic (Tg) mouse model. We show that because of an apparent superantigen-mediated loss of naive Vβ5+ Tg CD4+ T cells from the periphery of aging OT-II mice, this compartment becomes enriched for cells of reduced post-thymic longevity, resulting in a frequency of recent thymic emigrants in aged mice that is similar to that of young mice. Purification and functional analysis of aged OT-II cells with reduced post-thymic longevity reveal that they have an age-associated decrease in expansion and IL-2 production in response to Ag in vitro. However, the in vivo expansion, IL-2 production, and cognate B cell helper ability of these cells are similar to those of cells from young mice. In contrast, T cells from aged HNT Tg mice demonstrate extended post-thymic longevity and exhibit severe defects in the same in vitro and in vivo models. These data support a correlation between the requirement for increased post-thymic longevity and the development of the most severe naive CD4+ T cell-aging defects.
Pharmacists perspectives on the effectiveness of primary care information system on pharmacy practice in kuwait health care centres

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the primary care information system on pharmacy practice in Kuwait primary healthcare centres. An investigation was conducted into the effectiveness of the system based on a certain criteria. This provides a framework to clearly understand the current level of the quality of information offered by the system, and the functions needed to improve the information system. A total of 50 questionnaires were distributed with 40 pharmacists responding, therefore giving a response rate of 80%. The findings showed that the drugs information offered by the system and the functional capabilities such as decision support systems were insufficient. In conclusion, several improvements were recommended to upgrade the system, such as supply the system with a database full of drugs details and messaging alerts like drug-drug interactions to reduce the medications errors and to enhance drug information management.
An Accumulative Exploration Method for Reinforcement LearningEdwin de JongArti cial Intelligence

Agents in Multi Agent Systems can coordinate their actions by communicating. We investigate a minimal form of communication, where the signals that agents send represent evaluations of the behavior of the receiving agent. Learning to act according to these signals is a typical Reinforcement Learning problem. The backprop-agation neural network has been used to predict rewards that will follow an action. The rst results made clear that a mechanism for balancing between exploitation and exploration was needed. We introduce the Exploration Buckets algorithm , a method that favors both actions with high prediction errors and actions that have been ignored for some time. The algorithm's scope is not restricted to a single learning algorithm, and its main characterics are its insensibility to large (or even continuous) state spaces and its appropriateness for online learning; the Explo-ration/Exploitation balance does not depend on properties external to the system, such as time.
İki uçlu bozukluk ve oksidatif stres

The evidence about the role of oxidative stress on the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD) has been increased recently. It has been considered that oxidative stress and its effects cause damage in the critical brain circuits regulating affective functions, emotions, motor behaviors and so that the symptoms seen in BD occur by the deterioration of mood-stabilizing mechanisms. In clinical trials, significant changes were determined in the BD patients’ levels of antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide. Because of the different clinical features of the disorder such as manic/hypomanic, depressive, or mixed episode, the data associated with oxidative stress might vary among the patients. Some mood stabilizers used in the treatment are known to have antioxidant effects. Normalization of the oxidative stress parameters had been reported in the treatment process of BD. It makes a positive contribution to the treatment process that these drugs increase the neurotrophic factors and protect against apoptosis as well as reducing the effects of oxidative stress. Reactive oxygen species occur with the escape of some electrons from the chain during their flow in the mitochondria complex and mitochondrial dysfunction develops after the inhibition of electron transport chain. Mitochondrial dysfunction found to be associated with the pathogenesis of BD. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress may create symptoms of the BD secondary to the changes in intracellular signaling system, balance of intracellular calcium, and DNA structure. Using antioxidants, in addition to the treatment, is expected to provide positive contribution to the prognosis in bipolar patients. Systematic studies including each period of the disorder are needed for using the findings indicating deterioration of oxidative balance as biological markers in BD.
Past Cigarette Smoking Is More Common among Those with Cholinergic Than Noncholinergic Dementias

Background. Patients with progressive dementing disorders associated with cortical cholinergic dysfunction gradually develop cholinergic deficits many years before symptom onset and may begin to smoke cigarettes during midlife as a form of self-medication. The aim of this study was to compare self-reported past smoking rates between those with and without cholinergic dementias, to determine if those who developed cholinergic dementias were more likely to smoke during midlife than those who did not. Methods. Retrospective cross-sectional study of past smoking status among patients treated at an outpatient clinic during a three-year period. Results. A total of 440 patients were evaluated during the study period, including 224 with cholinergic dementias and 216 with noncholinergic dementias and controls. Past smoking rates were greater among those with cholinergic dementias compared to those without cholinergic dementias (43.92% versus 26.96%, P = 0.012). Additionally, smokers with cholinergic dementias reported significantly greater mean pack-years of smoking (P = 0.038). Conclusions. Greater midlife smoking rates and greater pack-years of smoking were associated with cholinergic dementias. These results suggest midlife smoking may be an early indicator for those developing brain cholinergic deficits related to progressive dementing disorders and support initiating treatment prior to symptom onset in cholinergic dementias.
On radius control of tree-pruned sphere decoding

In this paper, we propose a novel radius control strategy for sphere decoding referred to as inter search radius control that provides further improvement of the computational complexity with minimal extra cost and negligible performance penalty. The proposed method focuses on the sphere radius control strategy when a candidate lattice point is found. For this purpose, the dynamic radius update strategy as well as the lattice independent radius selection scheme are jointly exploited. From simulations in multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) channels, it is shown that the proposed method provides a substantial improvement in complexity with near-ML performance.
Size, skills, and suffrage: Motivated distortions in perceived formidability of political leaders

Research shows that perception of physical size and status are positively associated. The current study was developed to replicate and extend earlier research on height perceptions of political leaders, indicating that supporters perceive their leaders as taller than non-supporters do, and winners are perceived as taller after the elections, while losers are perceived as shorter after the elections (winner/loser effects). Individuals use greater height and strength as indications of greater physical formidability. We hypothesized that in-group leaders’ height and strength, but not weight, would be overestimated more compared to out-group leaders’, and that this status-size association is not only driven by dominance, but also by prestige. We also tested whether previously found gender effects in estimates were due to using one’s own height as an anchor, and we used an improved methodological approach by relying on multiple measurements of physical formidability and a within-subject design for testing winner/loser effects. The results of a two-part longitudinal study (self-selected sample via voting advice website; NWave1 = 2,011; NWave2 = 322) suggest that estimated physical formidability of political leaders is affected by motivated perception, as prestige was positively associated with estimated formidability, and in-group leaders were estimated more formidable than out-group leaders. We conclude that distortions in judged formidability related to social status are the result of motivated social perception in order to promote group functioning and leadership. Although we did not replicate a winner-effect (greater estimations of formidability after winning the elections), we did find some evidence for a loser-effect. Earlier suggestions that men make larger estimations than women because of their own larger body size are not supported. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.
Detection of inter-port faults in multi-port static RAMs

This paper deals with testing of inter-port faults in multi-port static random access memories (SRAMs). An inter-port fault is caused by a short between word/bit lines of different ports in a multi-port SRAM. By considering different implementations of the SRAM and its layout, an approach with achieves 100% coverage of fault detection, is proposed. The two-step approach is based on two novel algorithms: MMCA (Modified March C Algorithm) and WIPD (Write Inter-Port Detection). It is shown that inter-port fault detection is a combinatorial problem; hence, MMCA and WIPD must be executed a multiple number of times depending on the types, number of ports and line arrangement in the layout.
Bending Vector Sensor Based on a Sector-Shaped Long-Period Grating

A novel optical fiber grating vector bending sensor head is proposed. The asymmetric characteristics are embedded in the sensor head by tilting the grating planes at increasing angles, as moving away from the center grid of the structure. A high-frequency-CO2-laser is used to fabricate the sensor head. Due to the characteristics of the asymmetric structure, the bending sensitivity for the curvature range from -2 to 0 m-1 reaches 8.53 nm/ m-1, and for the curvature range from 0 to 2 m-1 reaches 2.82 nm/ m-1, respectively.
Balancing Carbohydrate Sources for Dairy Cows during a Period of High Corn Prices 1

SUMMARY • Carbohydrates, NDF and NFC, comprise about 70% of DM in diets for lactating cows. • While diets containing 21% forage-NDF are common, depending on forage availability, price and quality, diets can be found within a normal range of 16% - 24% forage-NDF (DM basis). • Maximum NFC guidelines are positively related to forage-NDF content in diets for lactating cows. • Starch is the major component of the NFC fraction; ruminal and (or) total-tract digestibility of starch varies depending largely on grain type and processing. • Increased corn prices have created much interest in the potential for feeding reduced-starch diets. • Feed efficiency and IOFC results from the continuous lactation trials reviewed herein indicate that, for high producing cows in mid lactation, partially replacing corn grain with NDF from either high-fiber byproducts or corn silage to formulate reduced-starch diets was not beneficial. • Rumensin® increased milk production efficiency when added to both normal- and reduced-starch diets. • Diets containing about 6% total sugar (DM basis) appear to be optimum. • Greater extent of high-moisture corn fermentation in the silo increases starch digestibility, apparently through degradation of the starch-protein matrix as reflected by increased ammonia concentrations.
Super-Resolution Compressed Sensing: A Generalized Iterative Reweighted L2 Approach

Conventional compressed sensing theory assumes signals have sparse representations in a known, finite dictionary. Nevertheless, in many practical applications such as direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation and line spectral estimation, the sparsifying dictionary is usually characterized by a set of unknown parameters in a continuous domain. To apply the conventional compressed sensing technique to such applications, the continuous parameter space has to be discretized to a finite set of grid points, based on which a "presumed dictionary" is constructed for sparse signal recovery. Discretization, however, inevitably incurs errors since the true parameters do not necessarily lie on the discretized grid. This error, also referred to as grid mismatch, may lead to deteriorated recovery performance or even recovery failure. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a generalized iterative reweighted L2 method which jointly estimates the sparse signals and the unknown parameters associated with the true dictionary. The proposed algorithm is developed by iteratively decreasing a surrogate function majorizing a given objective function, resulting in a gradual and interweaved iterative process to refine the unknown parameters and the sparse signal. A simple yet effective scheme is developed for adaptively updating the regularization parameter that controls the tradeoff between the sparsity of the solution and the data fitting error. Extension of the proposed algorithm to the multiple measurement vector scenario is also considered. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a super-resolution accuracy and presents superiority over other existing methods.
Impact Results of the eMINTS Professional Development Validation Study

This article presents the findings of an evaluation of the eMINTS (enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies) professional development program. eMINTS is an intensive teacher professional development program designed to promote inquiry-based learning, support high-quality lesson design, build community among students and teachers, and create technology-rich learning environments. This evaluation included 60 high-poverty rural schools across Missouri that were randomly assigned to two treatment conditions and a control condition, with approximately 200 teachers and 3,000 students in the 2011–2012 baseline academic year. The researchers conclude that after 3 years, the eMINTS treatment group and an eMINTS treatment group with an additional year of Intel support resulted in changed teacher instructional behaviors and increased student achievement in mathematics.