Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intractable Unphysiologically Low Adenylate Energy Charge Values in Synaptosome Fractions: An Explanatory Hypothesis Based on the Fraction's Heterogeneity

Abstract: Synaptosomes prepared and incubated in a variety of ways from rat cerebra exhibited intractable, unphysiologically low adenylate energy charge values (∼0.37–0.60), low total adenine nucleotide contents (∼8–10 nmol/mg protein), and much higher adenylate kinase apparent Kcq values (∼3–8) as compared to intact brain tissue (values of ∼0.90, 25 nmol/mg, and 0.74. respectively). Synaptosomes prepared from mouse, dog, and chicken cerebra had values essentially identical to those from rat. When incubated under oxygen in a physiological salt solution containing glucose, synaptosomes metabolized more glucose to lactic acid than to CO2, and the addition of 100 μM veratridine caused a two‐ to threefold stimulation of O2 uptake, lactate accumulation, and CO2 output. It is known that synaptosome fractions contain a substantial number (at least 30–45% by volume) of cytoplasm‐containing particles devoid of mitochondria (henceforth termed “cytosolic particles”), and that ∼80% of brain hexokinase is bound to the outer mitochondrial membrane. For the cytosolic particles, lacking oxidative phosphorylation, to maintain their “in vivo” ATP turnover would require about a 19‐fold increase in the glycolytic rate, which is not possible due to limiting amounts of hexokinase, and thus these particles are postulated to be responsible for the high level of aerobic lactate accumulation and the intractable low energy charge values found in synaptosome fractions. The mitochondria‐containing particles are postulated to have a normal energy charge, a submaximal glycolytic rate, and minimal lactate production, on the basis of the capacity of veratridine to stimulate synaptosomal O2 uptake and CO2 and lactate output. Calculations based on this “two populations of particles” hypothesis indicate that for synaptosome fractions in general, (1) the cytosolic particles contain ∼35–64% of the total adenine nucleotides and maintain an energy charge of ∼0.12; (2) the cytosolic particles and mitochondria‐containing particles have adenylate kinase apparent Keq values of ∼0.21–1.66 and 0.74, respectively, revealing that the higher apparent Kcq values of the synaptosome fractions probably are not real departures from equilibrium; and (3) ∼31–45% of synaptosome fraction protein is contained in debris, which, when taken into account, yields total adenine nucleotide contents in the cytosolic particles and mitochondria‐containing particles of ∼15–24 and ∼11 −19 nmol/mg of particle protein, respectively.
Effects of the Introduction of Intranasal Fentanyl on Reduction of Pain Severity Score in Children: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis.

OBJECTIVES Children are at risk of inadequate analgesia due to paramedics' inexperience in assessing children and challenges in administering analgesics when the patient is distressed and uncooperative. This study reports on the outcome of a change to practice guidelines that added intranasal fentanyl and intramuscular morphine within a large statewide ambulance service. METHODS This retrospective study included patients younger than 15 years treated by paramedics between January 2008 and December 2011. The primary outcome of interest was the proportion of patients having a 2/10 or greater reduction in pain severity score using an 11-point Verbal Numeric Rating Scale before and after the intervention. Segmented regression analysis was used to estimate the effect of the intervention over time. A multiple regression model calculated odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS A total of 92,378 children were transported by paramedics during the study period, with 9833 cases included in the analysis. The median age was 11 years; 61.6% were male. Before the intervention, 88.1% (n = 3114) of children receiving analgesia had a reduction of pain severity of 2 or more points, with 94.2% (n = 5933) achieving this benchmark after intervention (P < 0.0001). The odds of a reduction in pain of 2 or more points increased by 1.01 per month immediately before the intervention and 2.33 after intervention (<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS This large study of a system-wide clinical practice guideline change has demonstrated a significant improvement in the outcome of interest. However, a proportion of children with moderate to severe pain did not receive analgesia.
Informative instance transfer learning with subject specific frequency responses for motor imagery brain computer interface

Motor imagery based brain computer interface (BCI) has drawback of long subject dependent calibration session times. This can be a very exhausting and a time consuming process. In order to alleviate it, transfer learning and active learning approaches can be utilised. Informative instances are selected by applying active learning concept from other subjects under similar circumstances. Then, they are transferred to target user domain which has low number of training data. This informative transfer learning approach is associated with common spatial pattern (CSP) as feature extraction method in our previous attempt. CSP features are widely used for motor imagery-based BCI systems. However, the classical CSP algorithm will perform poorly when operational frequency bands are inadequately selected. Therefore, in the present study, filter bank common spatial pattern (FBCSP) algorithm has been applied for extracting features from the multi-class motor imagery data. FBCSP algorithm selects subject-specific operational frequency bands for extracting discriminative features. We incorporated FBCSP features into informative instance transfer learning framework to investigate the effect of subject specific feature selection. Results show that performance of new users can be improved with reduced number of training samples when FBCSP features are used compared to the classical CSP-based features.
Usage of Facebook among Open Education Students

Facebook has become a widespread social network site around the world. As of January 2017, it is estimated that there are more than 1.86 billion monthly active Facebook users. In Europe, there are over 300 million people on Facebook. Facebook's user-friendliness attracts educators, especially for online learning, to use it for educational purposes. Use of Facebook may break the walls of a classroom to a wider audience which is dynamic. Anadolu University, Eskişehir Turkey, Open and Distance Education System is the first institution in Turkey that offers higher education through contemporary distance education model. There are approximately 1.400. 000 students enrolled to the open education programs offered by Anadolu University. In this study, using Bergen Facebook Addiction survey, an analysis of the Facebook addiction of the students who are already enrolled in one of the open education programs offered by Anadolu University is investigated. Statistical analysis of the data is done by using exploratory data analysis techniques.
The European Trust Crisis and the Rise of Populism

ABSTRACT:We study the implications of the Great Recession for voting for antiestablishment parties, as well as for general trust and political attitudes, using regional data across Europe. We find a strong relationship between increases in unemployment and voting for nonmainstream parties, especially populist ones. Moreover, unemployment increases in tandem with declining trust toward national and European political institutions, though we find only weak or no effects of unemployment on interpersonal trust. The correlation between unemployment and attitudes toward immigrants is muted, especially for their cultural impact. To explore causality, we extract the component of increases in unemployment explained by the precrisis structure of the economy, in particular the share of construction in regional value added, which is strongly related both to the buildup preceding and the bursting of the crisis. Our results imply that crisis-driven economic insecurity is a substantial determinant of populism and political distrust.
Critical Role of cAMP-GEFII·Rim2 Complex in Incretin-potentiated Insulin Secretion*

Incretins such as glucagon-like peptide-1 and gastric inhibitory polypeptide/glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide are known to potentiate insulin secretion mainly through a cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway in pancreatic β-cells, but the mechanism is not clear. We recently found that the cAMP-binding protein cAMP-GEFII (or Epac 2), interacting with Rim2, a target of the small G protein Rab3, mediates cAMP-dependent, PKA-independent exocytosis in a reconstituted system. In the present study, we investigated the role of the cAMP-GEFII·Rim2 pathway in incretin-potentiated insulin secretion in native pancreatic β-cells. Treatment of pancreatic islets with antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) against cAMP-GEFII alone or with the PKA inhibitor H-89 alone inhibited incretin-potentiated insulin secretion ∼50%, while a combination of antisense ODNs and H-89 inhibited the secretion ∼80–90%. The effect of cAMP-GEFII on insulin secretion is mediated by Rim2 and depends on intracellular calcium as well as on cAMP. Treatment of the islets with antisense ODNs attenuated both the first and second phases of insulin secretion potentiated by the cAMP analog 8-bromo-cAMP. These results indicate that the PKA-independent mechanism involving the cAMP-GEFII·Rim2 pathway is critical in the potentiation of insulin secretion by incretins.
Study on the Relationship of FDI and Processing Trade Value-added Rate —Based on the Data from Shandong Province of China

Based on the data of Shandong province in china over the 1998-2017 periods, this paper examines the impacts of inward FDI from Japan, Korea and USA on the Processing Trade Value-added Rate (ADVA) respectively. The cointegration equation indicates Japanese and Korean direct investments in Shandong Province are positively correlated with ADVA, but American direct investment is negative. There is no evidence that the FDI from Japan, Korea and USA have effects on the processing trade value-added rate of Shandong province as they are not Granger causality of ADVA. The power to promote the transformation and upgrading of Shandong’s processing trade comes from inside instead of outside, and independent technology innovation is critical.
The impact of prenatal circadian rhythm disruption on pregnancy outcomes and long-term metabolic health of mice progeny

ABSTRACT Animal studies demonstrate that circadian rhythm disruption during pregnancy can be deleterious to reproductive capacity and the long-term health of the progeny. Our previous studies in rats have shown that exposure of pregnant dams to an environment that significantly disrupts maternal circadian rhythms programs increased adiposity and poor glucose metabolism in offspring. In this study, we used mice with a ClockΔ19 mutation to determine whether foetal development within a genetically disrupted circadian environment affects pregnancy outcomes and alters the metabolic health of offspring. Ten female ClockΔ19+MEL mutant mice were mated with 10 wildtype males, and 10 wildtype females were mated with 10 ClockΔ19+MEL mutant males. While genetically identical, the heterozygote foetuses were exposed to either a normal (wildtype dams) or disrupted (ClockΔ19+MEL mutant dams) circadian environment during gestation. Pregnancy outcomes including time to mate, gestation length, litter size and birth weight were assessed. One male and one female offspring from each litter were assessed for postnatal growth, body composition, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test and intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test at 3 and 12 months of age. There was no effect of maternal genotype on pregnancy outcomes, with days to plug, gestation length, litter size and perinatal mortality not significantly different between wildtype and ClockΔ19+MEL mutant dams. Similarly, there was no effect of maternal genotype on weight of the offspring at birth or at any stage of postnatal growth. While there was an effect of sex on various tissue weights at 3 and 12 months of age, there were minimal effects of maternal genotype. Relative adrenal weight was significantly reduced (−32%) in offspring from ClockΔ19+MEL mutant dams, whereas gastrocnemius muscle was significantly increased (+16%) at 3 months of age only. Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests at 3 months of age revealed female offspring from ClockΔ19+MEL mutant dams had significantly reduced area under the curve following glucose administration (−25%), although no differences were found at 12 months of age. There was no effect of maternal genotype on intraperitoneal insulin tolerance at 3 or 12 months of age for either sex. These results demonstrate that foetal growth within a genetically disrupted circadian environment during gestation has no effect on pregnancy success, and only marginal impacts upon the long-term metabolic health of offspring. These results do not support the hypothesis that circadian rhythm disruption during pregnancy programs poor metabolic homeostasis in offspring. However, when maintained on a 12L:12D photoperiod, the ClockΔ19+MEL mutant dams display relatively normal patterns of activity and melatonin secretion, which may have reduced the impact of the mutation upon foetal metabolic programming.
A Programmable 512 GOPS Stream Processor for Signal, Image, and Video Processing

A 34-million transistor stream processor system-on-chip (SoC) for signal, image, and video processing contains 80 parallel integer ALUs organized into 16 data-parallel lanes with a 5-ALU VLIW per lane, two CPU cores, and I/Os. Implemented in a 0.13 mum CMOS technology, sixteen 800 MHz data-parallel lanes combine to deliver performance of 512 8-bit GOPS or 256 16-bit GOPS, or 128 billion 16-bit multiply-accumulates per second GMACs), with a power efficiency of 82 pJ/MAC.
Examining Exercise in Older Adults Using the Theory of Planned Behavior and Temporal Discounting.

Exercise is one of the most important health behaviors to reduce and prevent the severity of many chronic diseases. The purpose of the current study was to determine if adding temporal discounting (TD) would affect the predictability of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in exercising among older adults. One hundred thirty-seven older adults were recruited from 11 churches in rural Arkansas using a cross-sectional design. Information regarding participants' exercise behavior, constructs of the TPB, TD rates, and demographics was collected. Path analysis was used to examine the relationships between and among each of the concepts of the TPB and TD. TD was not a significant predictor (p = 0.413) for exercise behavior after adjusting for intention. Adding TD to the existing TPB did not significantly affect the predictability of the model negatively or positively. [Res Gerontol Nurs. 2017; 10(6):252-259. ].
Is the trajectory of European Union environmental policy less certain?

ABSTRACT The core themes and research questions of this volume, centred on the nature of environmental policy change in the European Union (EU), are laid out. An original heuristic framework to capture different dimensions, mechanisms and processes of policy change is presented. In order to contextualise the current situation, where EU policy scope has reached maturity and faces an uncertain future trajectory, EU environmental politics is divided into particular eras, looking closely at the nature of change in each period. This volume interrogates the extent to which change has occurred, the conditions or context within which it did/did not take place and the implications arising from stasis or change. The contributions to the volume are introduced and placed into the context of the broader trajectory of EU environmental policy.
Cognitive features in euthymic bipolar patients in old age.

OBJECTIVES Studies of cognition in bipolar disorder (BD) have reported impairments in processing speed, working memory, episodic memory, and executive function, but they have primarily focused on young and middle-aged adults. In such studies, the severity of cognitive deficits increases with the duration of illness. Therefore, one would expect more pronounced deficits in patients with longstanding BD. The first aim of the present study was to determine the pattern and the magnitude of cognitive impairment in older euthymic BD patients. The second aim was to explore the interrelationship between these cognitive deficits and determine whether they reflect a single core impairment or the co-occurrence of independent cognitive deficits. METHODS Twenty-two euthymic elderly BD patients and 22 controls, matched for gender, age, and education, underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. RESULTS Compared to controls, BD patients had significantly reduced performance in processing speed, working memory, verbal fluency, and episodic memory, but not in executive function. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that verbal fluency and working memory impairments were fully mediated by changes in processing speed. This was not the case for the episodic memory dysfunction. CONCLUSION The cognitive profile in older euthymic BD cases is similar to the one described in younger BD cohorts. Our results further suggest that impaired processing speed plays a major role in the cognitive changes observed in BD patients except for deficits in episodic memory, thus providing strong evidence that processing speed and episodic memory are two core deficits in elderly BD patients.
Third Activity of Bordetella Adenylate Cyclase (AC) Toxin-Hemolysin

The Bordetella adenylate cyclase toxin-hemolysin (CyaA) targets phagocytes expressing the αMβ2 integrin (CD11b/CD18), permeabilizes their membranes by forming small cation-selective pores, and delivers into cells a calmodulin-activated adenylate cyclase (AC) enzyme that dissipates cytosolic ATP into cAMP. We describe here a third activity of CyaA that yields elevation of cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in target cells. The CyaA-mediated [Ca2+]i increase in CD11b+ J774A.1 monocytes was inhibited by extracellular La3+ ions but not by nifedipine, SK&F 96365, flunarizine, 2-aminoethyl diphenylborinate, or thapsigargin, suggesting that influx of Ca2+ into cells was not because of receptor signaling or opening of conventional calcium channels by cAMP. Compared with intact CyaA, a CyaA-AC– toxoid unable to generate cAMP promoted a faster, albeit transient, elevation of [Ca2+]i. This was not because of cell permeabilization by the CyaA hemolysin pores, because a mutant exhibiting a strongly enhanced pore-forming activity (CyaA-E509K/E516K), but unable to deliver the AC domain into cells, was also unable to elicit a [Ca2+]i increase. Further mutations interfering with AC translocation into cells, such as proline substitutions of glutamate residues 509 or 570 or deletion of the AC domain as such, reduced or ablated the [Ca2+]i-elevating capacity of CyaA. Moreover, structural alterations within the AC domain, because of insertion of various oligopeptides, differently modulated the kinetics and extent of Ca2+ influx elicited by the respective AC– toxoids. Hence, the translocating AC polypeptide itself appears to participate in formation of a novel type of membrane path for calcium ions, contributing to action of CyaA in an unexpected manner.
Are savings groups a livelihoods game changer for young people in Africa?

ABSTRACT The triad of entrepreneurship, self-employment, and financial inclusion underpins policy and development interventions meant to address the youth employment challenge in Africa. Youth savings groups are being widely promoted as a first step toward financial inclusion and economic empowerment. This article reports on the links between income-generating activities of 57 members of youth savings groups in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Ghana, and their membership in savings groups. It concludes that while savings groups can help to facilitate operational expenses and cash flow – and thus support members’ micro-enterprises – in opportunity starved contexts their transformational potential is probably being oversold.
Mini-Review: Impaired Axonal Transport and Glaucoma

Abstract Glaucoma is increasingly recognized as a neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by the accelerated loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons. Impaired axonal transport has been implicated as a pathogenic mechanism in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including glaucoma. The long RGC axon, with its high metabolic demand and crucial role in conveying neurotrophic signals, relies heavily on intact axonal transport. In this mini review, we consider the evidence for transport disruption along RGCs in association with glaucoma and other intraocular pressure models. We give a brief overview of the axonal transport process and the methods by which it is assessed. Spatial and temporal patterns of axonal transport disruption are considered as well as the reversibility of these changes. Biomechanical, metabolic and cytoskeletal insults may underlie the development of axonal transport deficits, and there are multiple perspectives on the impact that transport disruption has on the RGC. Eliciting the role of impaired axonal transport in glaucoma pathogenesis may uncover novel therapeutic targets for protecting the optic nerve and preventing vision loss in glaucoma.
HGF/SF is present in normal adult skeletal muscle and is capable of activating satellite cells.

We have shown that hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor can stimulate activation and early division of adult satellite cells in culture, and that the action of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor is similar to the action of the unidentified satellite cell activator found in extracts of crushed muscle. We now provide new evidence that hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor is present in uninjured adult rat skeletal muscle and that the activating factor in crushed muscle extract is hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor. Immunoblots of crushed muscle extract demonstrate the presence of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor. Furthermore, crushed muscle extract stimulates the scattering of cultured MDCK cells. Immunolocalization studies with adult rat skeletal muscle show the presence of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor in the extracellular matrix surrounding muscle fibers; in addition, the receptor for hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor, c-met, is localized to putative satellite cells. In muscle from mdx mice, hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor and c-met are colocalized in activated satellite cells in regions of muscle repair. Moreover, the satellite cell-activating activity of crushed muscle extract is abolished by preincubation with anti-hepatocyte growth factor antibodies. Finally, direct injection of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor into uninjured tibialis anterior muscle of 12-month-old rats stimulated satellite cell activation. These experiments demonstrate that hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor is present in muscle, can be released upon injury, and has the ability to activate quiescent satellite cells in vivo.