Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NMDA and Kainate‐evoked Release of Nitric Oxide and Classical Transmitters in the Rat Striatum: In Vivo Evidence that Nitric Oxide May Play a Neuroprotective Role

The effects of N‐methy‐d‐aspartate (NMDA), kainate, S‐α‐amino‐3‐hydroxyd‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazole propionate (AMPA) and KCI on striatal nitric oxide (NO), acetylcholine (ACh), dopamine (DA), serotonin (5‐HT), aspartate (ASP), glutamate (GLU) and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) release were measured in anaesthetized rats in vivo by microdialysis and in vitro in organotypic slice cultures. Local NMDA (1–100 μM) infusion by retrodialysis dose‐dependently increased levels of classical transmitters, NO2‐, NO3‐, ctrulline and arginine at similar thresholds (10 γM) Similar patterns of NMDA‐evoked (50 μM) release were seen in striatal cultures. NMDA‐evoked changes were all calcium‐dependent and blocked by NMDA (APV or MK‐801) but not AMPN/kainate (DNQX) receptor antagonists, excepting DA which could be prevented by both. In vivo, kainate increased NO2‐, NO3‐, CIT and ARG levels at 50 and 100 μM but was less potent than NMDA. Kainate also evoked significant Ach1 DA and GLU release dose‐dependently starting at 1–10 μM whereas 5‐HT, ASP and GABA required 50 or 100 μM doses. Kainate effects were inhibited by DNQX, but not by APV, and were calcium‐dependent. AMPA failed to alter NO2‐, NO3‐, CIT or ARG levels at 50 or 100 μM doses but dose‐dependently increased ACh and DA. Similar results were seen with kainate (50 μM) and AMPA (50 μM) in vitro KCI evoked NO2‐, NO3‐, CIT and ARG release as well as that of the classical transmitters in vivo and in vitro. In vivo administration of the NO synthase inhibitor L‐nitroarginine (L‐NARG; 100 μM) significantly reduced NO2‐, NO3‐ and CIT levels and prevented NMDA, kainate or KCI‐evoked increases. It also potentiated ACh, ASP, GLU and GABA release and reduced that of DA in response to 50 μM NMDA whereas treatment with an NO‐donor (SNAP; 10 μM) significantly reduced evoked ACh, ASP and GLU release. The NO synthase inhibitor L‐NARG potentiated kainate‐evoked ACh release and reduced that of DA, although less potently than NMDA, but it had no effect on KCI‐evoked transmitter release. Overall, these results show that both NMDA and kainate increase striatal NO release at similar dose‐thresholds as for classical transmitter release suggesting that NO is dynamically released under physiological and not just pathological conditions. Reduction of striatal NO levels also potentiates calcium‐dependent transmitter release in response to NMDA and, to a lesser extent, kainate, whereas increasing them reduces it. This is consistent with a role for NO as a neuroprotective agent in this region acting to desensitize NMDA receptors.
Implementation of the frequency-partitioning fitting method for linear equivalent identification from frequency response data

It is often the case that the frequency response data of a network or a system is available and one wants to identify a linear equivalent from the frequency response data for time-domain simulations and other purposes. To this end, a variety of methods have been proposed, and the vector fitting (VF) method and the frequency-partitioning fitting (FpF) method are often used for electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations of power systems. The main applications are frequency-dependent transmission-line modeling and frequency-dependent network modeling. This paper presents illustrative MATLAB code of the FpF method. Although the mathematical descriptions of the algorithms used in the FpF method have been fully presented in the literature, the illustrative code is still useful and necessary to understand the details of their implementation. It is verified that the code shown in this paper is fully functional and it can be used as a functioning software package.
ESTIMATION OF SOME EXPONENTIAL SUM BY MEANS OF q-DEGREE

Abstract In this paper, we improve results of Gillot, Kumar and Moreno to estimate some exponential sums by means of q-degrees. The method consists in applying suitable elementary transformations to see an exponential sum over a finite field as an exponential sum over a product of subfields in order to apply Deligne bound. In particular, we obtain new results on the spectral amplitude of some monomials.
Virologic and immunologic consequences of discontinuing combination antiretroviral-drug therapy in HIV-infected patients with detectable viremia.

BACKGROUND In many patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, therapy with potent antiretroviral drugs does not result in complete suppression of HIV replication. The effect of cessation of therapy in these patients is unknown. METHODS Sixteen patients who had a plasma HIV RNA level of more than 2500 copies per milliliter during combination antiretroviral-drug therapy were randomly assigned, in a 2:1 ratio, to discontinue or continue therapy. Plasma HIV RNA levels, CD4 cell counts, and drug susceptibility were measured weekly. Viral replicative capacity was measured at base line and at week 12. RESULTS Discontinuation of therapy for 12 weeks was associated with a median decrease in the CD4 cell count of 128 cells per cubic millimeter and an increase in the plasma HIV RNA level of 0.84 log copies per milliliter. Virus from all patients with detectable resistance at entry became susceptible to HIV-protease inhibitors within 16 weeks after the discontinuation of therapy. Drug susceptibility began to increase a median of six weeks after the discontinuation of therapy and was temporally associated with increases in plasma HIV RNA levels and decreases in CD4 cell counts. Viral replicative capacity, measured by means of a recombinant-virus assay, was low at entry into the study and increased after therapy was discontinued. Despite the loss of detectable resistance in plasma, resistant virus was cultured from peripheral-blood mononuclear cells in five of nine patients who could be evaluated. Plasma HIV RNA levels, CD4 cell counts, and drug susceptibility remained stable in the patients who continued therapy. CONCLUSIONS Despite the presence of reduced drug susceptibility, antiretroviral-drug therapy can provide immunologic and virologic benefit. This benefit reflects continued antiviral-drug activity and the maintenance of a viral population with a reduced replicative capacity.
Maximum Efficiency Per Ampere Control of Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machines

High-efficiency electric drive systems claim not only optimally designed electric machines but also efficiency-oriented control strategies. Taking machines and drives into synergetic consideration, this paper proposes a novel vector control algorithm named maximum efficiency per ampere (MEPA) control, aiming to maximize the efficiency of permanent-magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) during operation. Different from conventional id = 0 or maximum torque per ampere control, MEPA fully considers the cross effect and iron loss from which the full-order loss model of PMSMs is built. Due to the proposed concise and accurate analytical approach to iron loss calculation, the optimal current phasor angle for MEPA can be quickly found, and the estimation of efficiency is consistent with measurement. Comparison among different control algorithms is drawn from both analytical and experimental results, from which the effectiveness of MEPA is verified.
Nonapeptides Selected by Phage Display Mimic the Binding Sites of Monoclonal Antibodies BIP1 and BIP4 on Bet v 1, the Major Birch Pollen Allergen

In birch pollen allergy the major allergen Bet v 1 is recognized by IgE from more than 90% of allergic patients. Moreover, 60% of the patients show exclusive IgE binding to Bet v 1 [1]. For these patients, interference of IgE binding with this allergen represents an intriguing therapeutical concept. Synthetic B cell epitopes could be used for peptide therapy, or for the precise induction of blocking IgG by immunotherapy. From studies with monoclonal antibodies, it is known that IgG specific for this allergen affects the IgEallergen interaction [2]. We defined B cell epitopes of monoclonal anti-Bet v 1 antibodies BIP1 and BIP4 [3] by using random nonapeptide phage display peptide libraries [4, 5] and compared the selected mimotopes with the sequence and 3D structure of Bet v 1 [6, 7]. Our analyses showed that specific ligands were selected from the constrained library. As expected, alignments with the sequence of Bet v 1 showed no homology of the BIP1 mimotope CFPYCYPSESA and the BIP4 mimotope CRQTRTMPGC. The highest rate of similarities for the BIP1 mimotope was found between Phe 58 and Tyr67 of Bet v 1. Alignment with the 3D structure showed that this part of the sequence composes an exposed loop between beta strands 3 and 4 (fig. 1). The majority of amino acids of this hypothetical epitope are less accessible, we speculate that they may participate to binding by induced fit. As the phage ligands were shown to be capable of inducing anti-Bet v 1 IgG in mice [8], our data point towards a possible use of phage-displayed peptides for the precise induction of a blocking antibody for (longlasting) treatment of allergic disease.
Flavour Physics and Implication for New Phenomena

Flavour physics represents one of the most interesting and, at the same time, less understood sector of the Standard Theory. On the one hand, the peculiar pattern of quark and lepton masses, and their mixing angles, may be the clue to some new dynamics occurring at high-energy scales. On the other hand, the strong suppression of flavour-changing neutral-current processes, predicted by the Standard Theory and confirmed by experiments, represents a serious challenge to extend the Theory. This article reviews both these aspects of flavour physics from a theoretical perspective.
Coded-Aided Phase Tracking for Coherent Fiber Channels

In coherent optical systems laser phase noise can interact with digital equalization to cause equalization-enhanced impairments, which are a major obstacle for applying higher order modulation formats in coherent optical systems with digital chromatic dispersion compensation. In this paper a code-aided expectation maximization method to track phase noise in such systems is presented. A common measure of laser phase noise is the linewidth. It is shown that with ~ 11% redundancy, the laser linewidth tolerance for 975 km transmission distance can be increased by 50%, or the system reach for a laser linewidth of 5 MHz can be doubled. A phase-noise-robust 16-point 4-4-4-4 ring constellation was found to have better performance compared to 16QAM and a 2-6-8 ring constellations. Performance can be further improved with a lower code rate and fewer pilot symbols. It is also shown that algorithmic complexity can be reduced without significant reduction in the performance by reducing iterations and using low complexity codes.
Clinical improvement in antiphospholipid syndrome after rituximab therapy.

Rituximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody against the B cell-specific antigen CD20. It is effective for the treatment of resistant rheumatoid arthritis and reports of its use in resistant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are encouraging. Given that B cells may be central to the pathogenesis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), it seems reasonable to consider rituximab in resistant APS patients. Indeed, there are case reports of rituximab successfully treating patients with APS with thrombocytopenia, APS associated with SLE and 2 patients where rituximab, prescribed for the treatment of other conditions, has reduced the titer of anticardiolipin antibodies. Oral anticoagulation is the standard therapy for APS with previous thrombotic events and many advocate lifelong high intensity warfarin at an international normalized ratio (INR) of 3 or 3.5. The bleeding risks of warfarin are well known, but patients with APS are at a higher risk of thrombosis than hemorrhage. Such thromboses are more likely to occur when the INR drops below the target range. However, it is often difficult to maintain a high intensity INR in APS as demonstrated by 1 study that found only 37% of patients’ INR determinations to be within the target range of 3.0 to 4.0. For these reasons, it would be desirable to find a therapy which reduces the need for anticoagulation in APS. We describe a patient with primary antiphospholipid syndrome, manifested by pulmonary embolus, transient ischemic attacks, headaches, fatigue, and difficult control of her internal normalized ratio. She effectively depleted B cells experienced symptomatic improvement after treatment with the monoclonal antibody, rituximab.
Multi antenna based cooperative coarse fine sensing for wideband cognitive radio system

In cognitive radio communication, cooperative spectrum sensing by multiple cognitive nodes has a tremendous impact on efficient primary user signal detection. Moreover, deploying both coarse and fine sensing, which is known as two-stage coarse-fine spectrum sensing, has drawn well-deserved attention for wideband cognitive radio communication. In this paper, we propose a cooperative coarse fine spectrum sensing scheme for sensing wideband channel where every cognitive radio node contains multiple antennas. In addition, we consider double adaptive threshold based energy detection through coarse fine sensing in the fading environment. A cost function is considered furthermore, to measure the efficiency of the sensing scheme. Simulation results show that the proposed method has better probability of detection to obtain desired number of vacant bands with low cost as compared with conventional schemes.
Cytoplasmic Fractions Associated with Semliki Forest Virus Ribonucleic Acid Replication

When actinomycin D-treated chick fibroblasts were labeled with 3H-uridine for varying periods during the log phase of Semliki Forest virus infection, radioactivity was found associated with different cytoplasmic fractions. After a 1-min period of labeling, it appeared in a large cytoplasmic structure which was seen in electron micrographs of infected cells. Sediments of sucrose density gradients of cytoplasmic extracts of these cells also contained these structures. Three forms of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) were associated with this cytoplasmic structure: a ribonuclease-sensitive 42S form identical to the RNA of the mature virus, a ribonuclease-sensitive 26S form, and a ribonuclease-resistant 20S form. After a 5- to 10-min labeling period, radioactivity was associated with a ribonuclease-sensitive 65S cytoplasmic fraction which contained only the 26S RNA form. Finally, after a 1-hr labeling period, a 140S ribonuclease-resistant particle was the most prominent radioactive structure in the cytoplasm. This particle contained only 42S viral RNA. Negative-contrast electron micrographs of the 140S particle and the virion demonstrated structural differences between them. The base compositions of the 42S and 26S viral RNA forms were not significantly different. The base composition of the 20S form differed significantly from that of the other two viral RNA forms, but the values obtained for the mole fractions of the bases present in the 20S form differed, and depended on the period during the virus growth cycle in which 32P was present. These results suggested that viral RNA originated in the large cytoplasmic body. The 20S RNA appeared to be a structure engaged in viral RNA replication and the 140S particle appeared to be a virus precursor.
Development of Bipedal Walking in Humans and Chimpanzees: A Comparative Study

Development of bipedal walking from the very early stage of walking was studied longitudinally in infant humans and chimpanzees. In contrast to adults, infants of neither species could walk steadily and rhythmically step by step. Short braking duration and small recovery of mechanical energy were demonstrated in infants of both species. The trunk was inclined forwards, the extension of lower limb joints was limited and the accelerating force was not strongly activated. Potential energy was not efficiently used in progression. Walking in adult chimpanzees still showed a forward-inclined trunk, short braking duration, small recovery of energy and large variance of parameters compared to the unique human adult bipedalism. The locomotor characteristics of presumed pre-bipedal ancestors are discussed.
Evidence of Secondary Epileptogenesis in Amygdaloid Overkindled Cats: Electroclinical Documentation of Spontaneous Seizures

Twenty-four spontaneously occurring convulsive seizures were documented by closed-circuit TV (CCTV)-EEG monitoring in 3 cats subjected to unilateral amygdaloid overkindling for < or = 2 years. Electroclinical manifestations suggested that the seizures originated in the kindled amygdala (AM) (10 seizures in 3 cats), contralateral AM (7 seizures in 3 cats), or ipsilateral frontal cortex (7 seizures in 1 cat). All seizures of AM origin except one occurred during sleep 23 h to 20 days after the last stimulation-induced kindled seizure and culminated in secondarily generalized seizures. The seizures of frontal cortical origin occurred during waking within 1 h of a kindled seizure and remained partial in nature. In seizures of AM origin, ictal patterns at the primary and secondary sites were mirror images of each other, but latency of onset of each seizure stage in seizures of secondary site AM origin was longer than that in seizures of primary site AM origin in 2 of the 3 animals. We conclude that the secondary epileptogenic functional alterations capable of producing clinical seizures do occur in AM-overkindled cats, but the seizures are not entirely independent of the primary kindled site.
Evaluation of Gadolinium Retention After Serial Administrations of a Macrocyclic Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agent (Gadobutrol): A Single-Institution Experience With 189 Patients

Objective There has been controversy as to whether gadobutrol, one of the widely used macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents, can lead to gadolinium retention after serial injections. Our aim was to validate whether serial administrations of gadobutrol can cause signal increase in the dentate nucleus (DN) and globus pallidus (GP) on unenhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images due to gadolinium retention. Materials and Methods A total of 189 patients who had undergone at least 2 contrast-enhanced MR scans using only gadobutrol between August 2009 and August 2016 were retrospectively included. The DN–to–pons and GP-to-thalamus signal intensity (SI) ratio differences on unenhanced T1-weighted MR images were calculated by subtracting the SI ratios at the first MR images from those at the last MR images. One-sample t tests were used to evaluate whether the SI ratio differences differed from 0. Linear regression and Pearson correlations were performed to assess correlations between SI ratio differences and various confounding variables, including the number of MR scans, mean time interval between MR scans, age, sex, history of radiation therapy or chemotherapy, and renal and liver functions. Results Patients underwent a mean of 5.9 ± 6.3 contrast-enhanced MR scans with a mean interval of 42.8 ± 49.5 weeks between the scans. Sixty-three patients underwent 6 or more MR scans, whereas 126 patients underwent fewer than 6 MR scans. Neither the DN-to-pons SI nor the GP-to-thalamus SI ratio differences differed significantly from 0, with mean values of −0.012 ± 0.115 (P = 0.148) and 0.012 ± 0.111 (P = 0.126), respectively. Conclusions Serial administrations of gadobutrol did not result in signal increases in the DN or GP on unenhanced T1-weighted MR images due to gadolinium retention.
Characterization of exhaled particles from the healthy human lung--a systematic analysis in relation to pulmonary function variables.

BACKGROUND Noninvasive monitoring of airway inflammation is important for diagnosis and treatment intervention of lung disease. Mediators of interest are often nonvolatile molecules that are exhaled as aerosols and captured by breath condensation. Because analysis of exhaled breath condensate has been troublesome in the past, partly due to poor standardization and unknown dilution, we investigated in detail the influence of respiratory variables on exhaled particle number and size distribution during tidal breathing in healthy volunteers. METHODS Particle number was detected by a condensation nuclei counter, and size distribution was determined by a laser spectrometer online with high time resolution while subjects underwent a defined protocol of normal and deep tidal breathing. Intra- and intersubject variability of particle emission was analyzed and physical properties of exhaled aerosols were correlated to pulmonary function variables obtained by body-plethysmography. RESULTS The particle size distribution was in the submicron range and stable during tidal breathing. Increasing tidal volumes dominantly influenced particle number emission while flow rates had only little effect. Reproducibility within subjects was high, but there was a large variation of particle emission between subjects. The ratio of functional residual capacity to total lung capacity was found to correlate with exhaled particle numbers. This indicates that particle generation is caused by reopening of terminal airways and is dependent on functional residual capacity. CONCLUSION We conclude that online determination of exhaled aerosols from the human lungs is a prerequisite to standardize the assessment of nonvolatile mediators by normalization to the aerosol emission rate.
Determination of genomic damage in neuroblastic tumors by arbitrarily primed PCR: MYCN amplification as a marker for genomic instability in neuroblastomas

The aim of this study is to establish an estimation of the global genomic alteration in neuroblastic tumors (ganglioneuromas, ganglioneuroblastomas and neuroblastomas) and correlate them with different clinical parameters (age, sex, diagnosis, Shimada index, proliferation index, tumor location, and 1p and v‐myc avian myelocitomatosis viral‐related (MYCN) status) in order to find new molecular and/or prognostic markers for neuroblastoma. To assess the genomic damage in neuroblastic tumors, we used an arbitrarily primed PCR approach, a technique based on the reproducibility of band profiles obtained by a PCR with a low annealing temperature in its first cycles. Genomic damage was assessed by comparing band profiles of tumors and normal paired samples. Gains and losses in the intensity of the bands were computerized and referred to the total number of bands analyzed. We found a higher genomic damage fraction (GDF) in the female’s group (U‐Mann–Whitney, P = 0.025), but we could not find any association between GDF and tumor location, proliferation index, diagnosis or age of the patient. There was no relationship between 1p status and GDF, but tumors with MYCN amplification had a slightly higher GDF. MYCN amplification might in some way contribute to genomic instability of neuroblastomas.
DIRECT PRODUCT BRANCHING PROCESSES AND RELATED MARKOV CHAINS.

The common pH 7.5 esterases of maize, specified by the alleles ElF, EN, and Els, occupy five positions in zymograms developed after starch gel electrophoresis. The position closest to the point of origin is occupied by the SS band which is formed by the Els allele functioning both in homozygous or heterozygous plants. However, as was reported in an earlier publication, 1 an esterase band is found in the SS position even in extracts of plants which lack the Els allele, such as EN/ElN or EF/ElF homozygotes and EIN/EF heterozygotes. esterase is seen in extracts of plants homozygous for four other less common alleles, referred the constant S band.