Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of Polysialylated NCAM but Not L1 orN-Cadherin by Regenerating Adult Mouse Optic Fibersin Vitro


This study asks if there might be irreversible maturational changes in adult neurons that limit their capacity to regenerate. Retina from adult and embryonic mouse were placed in culture on laminin substrates so that regenerating adult optic fibers could be compared to growing embryonic fibers. Several cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) known to mediate the growth of embryonic neurites on astrocytes were assayed by immunocytochemistry: L1, N-cadherin, and NCAM. Thy 1.2, a potential CAM with inhibitory activity, was also examined. As in vivo, embryonic fibers were found to express both L1 and N-cadherin. In contrast, regenerating adult fibers had no detectable amounts of either of these CAMs. N-Cadherin is normally down regulated during development so its absence in adult fibers suggests it can not be reexpressed during regeneration. L1 is normally found in the proximal regions of adult optic fibers so its absence indicates it is not expressed or transported in regenerating fibers. Adult regenerating fibers expressed high levels of Thy 1.2, which was undetectable in embryonic optic fibers. Thy 1.2 is normally found in mature fibers, indicating this phenotypic feature is preserved during regeneration. Both adult and embryonic fibers showed strong reactivity for NCAM, which in vivo is normally found in embryonic and at lower levels in adult fibers. Surprisingly, both embryonic and regenerating adult fibers expressed high levels of polysialic acid, which is normally absent in adult fibers. NCAM may be one of few CAMs available to adult optic fibers for regeneration on astrocytes.
A comparison of head dynamic response and brain tissue stress and strain using accident reconstructions for concussion, concussion with persistent postconcussive symptoms, and subdural hematoma.

OBJECT Concussions typically resolve within several days, but in a few cases the symptoms last for a month or longer and are termed persistent postconcussive symptoms (PPCS). These persisting symptoms may also be associated with more serious brain trauma similar to subdural hematoma (SDH). The objective of this study was to investigate the head dynamic and brain tissue responses of injury reconstructions resulting in concussion, PPCS, and SDH. METHODS Reconstruction cases were obtained from sports medicine clinics and hospitals. All subjects received a direct blow to the head resulting in symptoms. Those symptoms that resolved in 9 days or fewer were defined as concussions (n = 3). Those with symptoms lasting longer than 18 months were defined as PPCS (n = 3), and 3 patients presented with SDHs (n = 3). A Hybrid III headform was used in reconstruction to obtain linear and rotational accelerations of the head. These dynamic response data were then input into the University College Dublin Brain Trauma Model to calculate maximum principal strain and von Mises stress. A Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Tukey post hoc tests were used to compare head dynamic and brain tissue responses between injury groups. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS A significant difference was identified for peak resultant linear and rotational acceleration between injury groups. Post hoc analyses revealed the SDH group had higher linear and rotational acceleration responses (316 g and 23,181 rad/sec(2), respectively) than the concussion group (149 g and 8111 rad/sec(2), respectively; p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between groups for either brain tissue measures of maximum principal strain or von Mises stress. CONCLUSIONS The reconstruction of accidents resulting in a concussion with transient symptoms (low severity) and SDHs revealed a positive relationship between an increase in head dynamic response and the risk for more serious brain injury. This type of relationship was not found for brain tissue stress and strain results derived by finite element analysis. Future research should be undertaken using a larger sample size to confirm these initial findings. Understanding the relationship between the head dynamic and brain tissue response and the nature of the injury provides important information for developing strategies for injury prevention.
Cigarette smokers' profile in Lebanese adults.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to describe cigarette smoking prevalence among adults in Lebanon and to evaluate the profile of light cigarette smokers compared to never and heavy smokers. METHODS Data were taken from a cross-sectional study carried out from October 2009 to September 2010, using a multistage cluster sampling all over Lebanon. Lebanese residents aged 40 years and above were enrolled in the study with no exclusion criteria. After an oral informed consent, subjects answered a questionnaire, including detailed smoking history and cigarette dependence. SPSS version 17.0 was used for data analysis. RESULTS Out of 2201 individuals, 1320 (60.0%) had ever smoked cigarettes, out of whom 10.1% were light cigarette smokers. The adjusted odds ratio estimate of cigarette smoking was 3.08 for males compared to females (P<0.001), 1.13 for lower education (P=0.016), 1.87 and 3.12 for retired and jobless compared to working (P=0.001 and P<0.001) respectively, 1.17 for older age (P<0.001), 1.68 for presence versus absence of a family history of chronic respiratory disease (P<0.001), and 5.27 and 1.99 for presence compared to absence of at least one smoker at home (P<0.001) and at work (P<0.001) respectively. CONCLUSION This is the first epidemiological study in Lebanon that determined cigarette smoking prevalence at the national level. In Lebanon, males of the older generation seem to have higher smoking prevalence and dosing.
Programmed death ligand 1 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed cell death 1 (PD1) or its ligand (PD-L1) showed activity in several cancer types. METHODS We performed immunohistochemistry for CD3, CD8, CD20, HLA-DR, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), PD-1, and PD-L1 and pyrosequencing for assessment of the O6-methylguanine-methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation status in 135 glioblastoma specimens (117 initial resection, 18 first local recurrence). PD-L1 gene expression was analyzed in 446 cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas. RESULTS Diffuse/fibrillary PD-L1 expression of variable extent, with or without interspersed epithelioid tumor cells with membranous PD-L1 expression, was observed in 103 of 117 (88.0%) newly diagnosed and 13 of 18 (72.2%) recurrent glioblastoma specimens. Sparse-to-moderate density of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was found in 85 of 117 (72.6%) specimens (CD3+ 78/117, 66.7%; CD8+ 52/117, 44.4%; CD20+ 27/117, 23.1%; PD1+ 34/117, 29.1%). PD1+ TIL density correlated positively with CD3+ (P < .001), CD8+ (P < .001), CD20+ TIL density (P < .001), and PTEN expression (P = .035). Enrichment of specimens with low PD-L1 gene expression levels was observed in the proneural and G-CIMP glioblastoma subtypes and in specimens with high PD-L1 gene expression in the mesenchymal subtype (P = 5.966e-10). No significant differences in PD-L1 expression or TIL density between initial and recurrent glioblastoma specimens or correlation of PD-L1 expression or TIL density with patient age or outcome were evident. CONCLUSION TILs and PD-L1 expression are detectable in the majority of glioblastoma samples but are not related to outcome. Because the target is present, a clinical study with specific immune checkpoint inhibitors seems to be warranted in glioblastoma.
Better performing keywords cover search

Finding relevant information is a big challenge in today's information retrieval domain. Various applications need to find objects closest to the mentioned location that has a set of keywords. In a spatial dataset, objects are linked with some keyword(s) which specify their features. Closest Keywords is a method to query objects, using keyword cover. Algorithm based on Closest Keywords Search which exhaustively combines objects from different query keywords for generating candidate keyword covers. The increasing importance of keyword rating in object evaluation helps for the better decision making. This triggers to generate Best Keyword Cover which mainly considers inter-objects distance as well as the keyword rating of objects. When the number of query keywords gets increases, the performance of the closest keyword cover search algorithm drops significantly as a result of huge candidate keyword covers generated. To overcome this drawback, much more scalable algorithm known as keyword nearest neighbor expansion (keyword-NNE) has been proposed. Keyword-NNE algorithm significantly reduces number of candidate keyword covers generated.
Interpretation of time constant and electrotonic length estimates in multicylinder or branched neuronal structures.

1. We have investigated the theoretical and practical problems associated with the interpretation of time constants and the estimation of electrotonic length with equivalent cylinder formulas for neurons best represented as multiple cylinders or branched structures. Two analytic methods were used to compute the time constants and coefficients of passive voltage transients (and time constants of current transients under voltage clamp). One method, suitable for simple geometries, involves analytic solutions to boundary value problems. The other, suitable for neurons of any geometric complexity, is an algebraic approach based on compartmental models. Neither of these methods requires the simulation of transients. 2. We computed the time constants and coefficients of voltage transients for several hypothetical neurons and also for a spinal motoneuron whose morphology was characterized from serial reconstructions. These time constants and coefficients were used to generate voltage transients. Then exponential peeling, nonlinear regression, and transform methods were applied to these transients to test how well these procedures estimate the underlying time constants and coefficients. 3. For a serially reconstructed motoneuron with 732 compartments, we found that the theoretical and peeled tau 0 values were nearly equal, but the theoretical tau 1 was much larger than the peeled tau 1. The theoretical tau 1 could not be peeled because it was associated with a coefficient, C1, that had a very small value. In fact, there were 156 time constants between 1.0 and 6.0 ms, most of which had very small coefficients; none had a coefficient larger than 2% of the signal. The peeled value of tau 1 (called tau 1 peel) can be viewed as some sort of a weighted average of the time constants having the largest coefficients. 4. We studied simple hypothetical neurons to determine what interpretation could be applied to the multitude of theoretical time constants. We found that after tau 0, there was a group of time constants associated with eigenfunctions that were odd (or approximately odd) functions with respect to the soma. These time constants could be interpreted as "equalizing" time constants along particular paths between different pairs of dendritic terminals in the neuron. After this group of time constants, there was one that we call tau even because it was associated with an eigen-function that was approximately even with respect to the soma. This tau even could be interpreted as an equalizing time constant for charge equalization between proximal membrane (soma and proximal dendrites) and distal membrane (including all distal dendrites). 4=
“One size fits all”? Convergence in international corporate social responsibility communication—A comparative study of CSR mission statements in the United States and India

So far, no study has investigated determinants that shape corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication in mission statements, as previous studies have focused on CSR reports and homepages. Our study, which is based on institutional theory, fills this gap. By conducting a directed content analysis of the statements of 200 listed companies in the United States and India, we examine the content conveyed with respect to 5 CSR dimensions, the 5 most prominent stakeholder groups, and additional components of CSR mission statements. Moreover, we examine whether Unted States and Indian companies' CSR communication varies according to their (a) home country, (b) industry affiliation, (c) degree of internationalization, (d) company size, (e) profitability, (f) founding year, (g) length of the CSR mission statement, and (h) compliance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative. Whereas the findings reveal that the companies' home country, degree of internationalization, and size have no considerable bearing on their CSR communication, we evidence that their communication can be explained by their industry affiliation, the profitability ratio return on assets, founding year, length of the statement, and compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Moreover, we explain the cross-country conformity of CSR communication by a convergence towards global and universal CSR communication approaches.
Entrenchment, Managerial Shirking, and Investment

I examine the effects of entrenchment on corporate investment and firm performance. To achieve identification, I use a novel measure of entrenchment and an instrumental variable based on firms’ IPO cohort. I find that entrenchment reduces capital expenditures, R&D, and productivity, weakens a firm’s competitiveness in the product market, and diminishes firm value. These findings are consistent with the shirking hypothesis that entrenchment enables managers to evade the responsibilities of overseeing investment projects.
L'expansion du crédit : moteur de croissance ou prélude à la crise ?

There are two areas of economic research that are closely related but have until recently developed independently. The first is the literature on the finance growth nexus that has shown how countries with greater financial depth grow more rapidly. The second is the literature on credit and financial crises that has shown that financial crises and recessions are usually preceded by rapid expansion of credit. Thus, credit deepening and credit booms are sometimes beneficial and sometimes not. In the last few years, there have been efforts to reconcile the two literatures. This paper reviews the two literatures and describes recent efforts to reconcile the two relationships. Much more work is required but it is important for policy makers to be able to distinguish good, growth enhancing credit booms from bad, crisis inducing ones. Classification JEL: E10, E32, E44, G01, G21, O40.
Mice lacking ANGPTL8 (Betatrophin) manifest disrupted triglyceride metabolism without impaired glucose homeostasis

Significance Here we show that ANGPTL8 plays a major role in the trafficking of triglycerides to peripheral tissues in response to food intake in mice. Circulating triglycerides are predominantly delivered to skeletal muscle and heart during fasting and are partitioned to adipose tissue upon refeeding. The postprandial increase in triglyceride delivery to adipose tissue is abolished in mice lacking ANGPTL8; consequently, the mice fail to replenish triglyceride stores in adipose tissue. Despite major alterations in triglyceride metabolism, no defects in glucose metabolism were detected in Angptl8−/− mice. The finding that plasma triglyceride levels are lower in Angptl8+/− mice suggests that even partial inhibition of ANGPTL8 may provide therapeutic benefit for treatment of dyslipidemia. Angiopoietin-like protein (ANGPTL)8 (alternatively called TD26, RIFL, Lipasin, and Betatrophin) is a newly recognized ANGPTL family member that has been implicated in both triglyceride (TG) and glucose metabolism. Hepatic overexpression of ANGPTL8 causes hypertriglyceridemia and increased insulin secretion. Here we examined the effects of inactivating Angptl8 on TG and glucose metabolism in mice. Angptl8 knockout (Angptl8−/−) mice gained weight more slowly than wild-type littermates due to a selective reduction in adipose tissue accretion. Plasma levels of TGs of the Angptl8−/− mice were similar to wild-type animals in the fasted state but paradoxically decreased after refeeding. The lower TG levels were associated with both a reduction in very low density lipoprotein secretion and an increase in lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity. Despite the increase in LPL activity, the uptake of very low density lipoprotein-TG is markedly reduced in adipose tissue but preserved in hearts of fed Angptl8−/− mice. Taken together, these data indicate that ANGPTL8 plays a key role in the metabolic transition between fasting and refeeding; it is required to direct fatty acids to adipose tissue for storage in the fed state. Finally, glucose and insulin tolerance testing revealed no alterations in glucose homeostasis in mice fed either a chow or high fat diet. Thus, although absence of ANGPTL8 profoundly disrupts TG metabolism, we found no evidence that it is required for maintenance of glucose homeostasis.
Mammalian target of rapamycin as a therapeutic target in oncology.

BACKGROUND The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has emerged as a validated therapeutic target in cancer and mTOR inhibitors alter tumor cell responses to mitogenic signals and microenvironmental stress. OBJECTIVES The aims of this review are to describe the mTOR signaling pathway and the rationale for the use of rapamycin analogs and other mTOR inhibitors for oncology indications. METHODS This review presents information from recent publications, as well as some more conjectural viewpoints stemming from the early clinical experience with mTOR inhibitors in cancer patients. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS A thorough understanding of the antitumor mechanisms of the existing mTOR inhibitors will drive the development of effective combination therapies to overcome tumor resistance to these agents. Furthermore, the development of second-generation inhibitors of this critical protein target may yield deeper and broader therapeutic activities in human cancers.
A 1-V 9.8-ENOB 100-kS/s single-ended SAR ADC with symmetrical DAC switching technique for neural signal acquisition

This paper reports a high-performance low-power and area-efficient single-ended SAR ADC for neural signal acquisition. The proposed 10-bit ADC features a novel symmetrical DAC switching technique that resolves the signal-dependent comparator offset voltage problem in conventional single-ended SAR ADCs, and improves the ADC's ENOB. Combined with an existing LSB single-sided switching method, the proposed switching scheme reduces DAC switching energy by 92% and capacitor array area by 50%. Besides, the proposed ADC also eliminates the need for any power consuming Vcm generation circuit, making it more suitable for low-power System-on-Chip (SoC) integration. The 10-bit prototype ADC is fabricated in a standard 0.18-um CMOS technology. Operating at 1.0 V power supply and 100 kS/s, the proposed ADC achieves 58.83 dB SNDR and 63.6 dB SFDR for a 49.06 kHz input signal. The maximum ENOB is 9.8-bit for low frequency input signal; and the minimum ENOB is 9.48-bit at the Nyquist input frequency. The average power consumption is 1.72 μW and the fig re-of-merit (FoM) is 24.1 fJ/conversion-step.
Architecture of a Single-Chip 50 Gb/s DP-QPSK/BPSK Transceiver With Electronic Dispersion Compensation for Coherent Optical Channels

The architecture of a single-chip dual-polarization QPSK/BPSK 50 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) DSP-based transceiver for coherent optical communications is presented. The receiver compensates the chromatic dispersion (CD) of more than 3,500 km of standard single-mode fiber using a frequency-domain equalizer. A time-domain four-dimensional MIMO transversal equalizer compensates up to 200 ps of differential group delay (DGD) and 8000 ps 2 of second-order polarization-mode dispersion (SOPMD). Other key DSP functions of the receiver include carrier and timing recovery, automatic gain control, channel diagnostics, etc. A novel low-latency parallel-processing carrier recovery implementation which is robust in the presence of laser phase noise and frequency jitter is proposed. The chip integrates the transmitter, receiver, framer and host interface functions and features a 4-channel 25 Gs/s 6-bit ADC with a figure of merit (FOM) of 0.4 pJ/conversion. Each ADC channel is based on an 8-way interleaved flash architecture. The DSP uses a 16-way parallel processing architecture. Extensive measurement results are presented which confirm the design targets. Measured optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) penalty when compensating 200 ps DGD and 8000 ps 2 is 0.1 dB, while OSNR penalty when compensating 55 ns/nm CD (corresponding to 3,500 km of standard single-mode fiber) is 0.5 dB.
Transport of furosemide into the intestinal lumen and the lack of effect of gastrointestinal dialysis by charcoal in rats with acute renal failure.

The characteristics of exsorption and/or excretion of furosemide into the small intestinal lumen in rats with acute renal failure (ARF rat) were investigated by an in situ single-pass perfusion technique. The amount of furosemide, which was exsorbed into the intestinal lumen after an intravenous administration of the drug to rats was only very slight. The exsorption rate of the drug was significantly increased in ARF rats as compared with normal rats. The average amount of the drug exsorbed into the perfusate in normal rats was 0.83% of dose, whereas that in ARF rats was 1.83% of dose. The amounts of furosemide excreted into the bile in normal rats and ARF rats were 1.53% and 2.64%, respectively. The increased exsorption of furosemide in ARF rats appeared to be due primarily to the decreased binding of the drug to the serum protein, because only the unbound drug permeates through the intestinal membrane into the gastrointestinal (g.i.) tract, and, to some extent, to the increased nonrenal excretion caused by poor renal excretion. Oral activated charcoal had little effect on the serum furosemide levels after intravenous administration of the drug at a dose of 10 mg/kg in ARF rats. The lack of effect of activated charcoal on the elimination of the drug may be due to the small amount of the drug excreted into the g.i. tract.
Compared to Vitrification , Slow Freezing Technique is Associated With a Higher Post-Thawed Embryos Survival and Clinical Pregnancy Rates . Is This a Myth or a Fact ?

Cite this article: Edris F, Baghdadi S, Fares A, Alasmari W, Dabit S, et al. (2014) Compared to Vitrification, Slow Freezing Technique is Associated With a Higher Post-Thawed Embryos Survival and Clinical Pregnancy Rates. Is This a Myth or a Fact? Med J Obstet Gynecol 2(4): 1047. *Corresponding authors Mamdoh A Eskandar, Department of Obstetrics and Genecology and Reproductive Medicine King Khalid University, College of Medicine Abha, PO Box 641, Saudi Arabia, Tel: 996 7 2284635; Fax: 996 7 2257201;E-mail: