Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic Phantom Limb Pain: The Effects of Calcitonin, Ketamine, and Their Combination on Pain and Sensory Thresholds

BACKGROUND: Calcitonin was effective in a study of acute phantom limb pain, but it was not studied in the chronic phase. The overall literature on N-methyl-d-aspartate antagonists is equivocal. We tested the hypothesis that calcitonin, ketamine, and their combination are effective in treating chronic phantom limb pain. Our secondary aim was to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of action of the investigated drugs using quantitative sensory testing. METHODS: Twenty patients received, in a randomized, double-blind, crossover manner, 4 IV infusions of: 200 IE calcitonin; ketamine 0.4 mg/kg (only 10 patients); 200 IE of calcitonin combined with ketamine 0.4 mg/kg; placebo, 0.9% saline. Intensity of phantom pain (visual analog scale) was recorded before, during, at the end, and the 48 h after each infusion. Pain thresholds after electrical, thermal, and pressure stimulation were recorded before and during each infusion. RESULTS: Ketamine, but not calcitonin, reduced phantom limb pain. The combination was not superior to ketamine alone. There was no difference in basal pain thresholds between the amputated and contralateral side except for pressure pain. Pain thresholds were unaffected by calcitonin. The analgesic effect of the combination of calcitonin and ketamine was associated with a significant increase in electrical thresholds, but with no change in pressure and heat thresholds. CONCLUSIONS: Our results question the usefulness of calcitonin in chronic phantom limb pain and stress the potential interest of N-methyl-d-aspartate antagonists. Sensory assessments indicated that peripheral mechanisms are unlikely important determinants of phantom limb pain. Ketamine, but not calcitonin, affects central sensitization processes that are probably involved in the pathophysiology of phantom limb pain.
An adaptive singular value decomposition-based method to enhance correlation electromagnetic analysis

Electromagnetic analysis in side channel attack exploits the information of electromagnetic radiation that leaks from the cryptographic devices when they are running. It's no-table because of its efficiency and easiness to perform. Correlation electromagnetic analysis (CEMA) is of the most effective means in electromagnetic analysis. However, the efficiency of traditional CEMA is limited by some insignificant' electromagnetic traces. It is necessary to select the helpful subset of the electromagnetic traces for analysis rather than using the whole electromagnetic traces set to improve the efficiency. In this paper, we first give an proposition about the CEMA and prove it by mathematical theory. This proposition illustrates the feasibility of selecting electromagnetic traces. Then we propose a method that is based on Singular Value Decomposition to select electromagnetic traces. This method is adaptive and doesn't need any external parameter. Besides, this method is useful for analyzing both unprotected implementation and masked implementation. We carry out the practical experiments by our SVD-CEMA and CEMA in the same scenario. The experimental results verify that the key-recovery efficiency of our method is higher than CEMA.
Hypusine Is Required for a Sequence-specific Interaction of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 5A with Postsystematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment RNA*

Hypusine is formed through a spermidine-dependent posttranslational modification of eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A) at a specific lysine residue. The reaction is catalyzed by deoxyhypusine synthase and deoxyhypusine hydroxylase. eIF-5A is the only protein in eukaryotes and archaebacteria known to contain hypusine. Although both eIF-5A and deoxyhypusine synthase are essential genes for cell survival and proliferation, the precise biological function of eIF-5A is unclear. We have previously proposed that eIF-5A may function as a bimodular protein, capable of interacting with protein and nucleic acid (Liu, Y. P., Nemeroff, M., Yan, Y. P., and Chen, K. Y. (1997)Biol. Signals 6, 166–174). Here we used the method of systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) to identify the sequence specificity of the potential eIF-5A RNA targets. The post-SELEX RNA obtained after 16 rounds of selection exhibited a significant increase in binding affinity for eIF-5A with an apparent dissociation constant of 1 × 10− 7 m. The hypusine residue was found to be critical for this sequence-specific binding. The post-SELEX RNAs shared a high sequence homology characterized by two conserved motifs, UAACCA and AAUGUCACAC. The consensus sequence was determined as AAAUGUCACAC by sequence alignment and binding studies. BLAST analysis indicated that this sequence was present in >400 human expressed sequence tag sequences. The C terminus of eIF-5A contains a cold shock domain-like structure, similar to that present in cold shock protein A (CspA). However, unlike CspA, the binding of eIF-5A to either the post-SELEX RNA or the 5′-untranslated region of CspA mRNA did not affect the sensitivity of these RNAs to ribonucleases. These data suggest that the physiological significance of eIF-5A-RNA interaction depends on hypusine and the core motif of the target RNA.
Cardiopulmonary effects of propofol and a medetomidine-midazolam-ketamine combination in mallard ducks.

OBJECTIVE To compare safety of propofol with a medetomidine-midazolam-ketamine (MMK) combination as an anesthetic agent in mallard ducks. ANIMALS 12 healthy adult female mallard ducks. PROCEDURE Each duck was anesthetized twice in a crossover study design with 5 days between randomized treatments. Ducks were given medetomidine (50 micrograms), midazolam (2 mg), and ketamine (10 mg) in combination, i.v. , or propofol (10 mg, i.v., followed by 1- to 4-mg boluses). Systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures, heart and respiratory rates, and esophageal temperature were recorded before anesthesia and every 5 minutes after induction for 30 minutes, and at 5 minutes after reversal with atipamezole (250 micrograms) and flumazenil (25 micrograms; MMK group) or last bolus (propofol group). Arterial blood samples from 8 ducks were collected before anesthesia, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes after induction, and after reversal or last bolus. RESULTS 8 ducks survived the MMK anesthesia; 1 duck died and 3 ducks required resuscitation to prevent death. All ducks survived propofol anesthesia. Ducks anesthetized with either anesthetic agent had a significant increase in arterial carbon dioxide tension and decrease in arterial oxygen tension, arterial pH, and esophageal temperature. Ducks given MMK had a decrease in mean arterial pressure and respiratory rate, whereas ducks given propofol had an increase in respiratory rate. Rapid reversal of the effects of MMK was achieved with atipamezole and flumazenil. All physiologic variables, except esophageal temperature in the propofol group, returned to approximate baseline values after reversal or last bolus. CONCLUSIONS The MMK combination in unsafe for use in ducks. Ducks can be anesthetized safely with propofol but should be monitored and ventilated artificially.
Structure and gating of CLC channels and exchangers

Since their serendipitous discovery the CLC family of Cl− transporting proteins has been a never ending source of surprises. From their double‐barrelled architecture to their complex structure and divergence as channels and transporters, the CLCs never cease to amaze biophysicists, biochemists and physiologists alike. These unusual functional properties allow the CLCs to fill diverse physiological niches, regulating processes that range from muscle contraction to acidification of intracellular organelles, nutrient accumulation and survival of bacteria to environmental stresses. Over the last 15 years, the availability of atomic‐level information on the structure of the CLCs, coupled to the discovery that the family is divided into passive channels and secondary active transporters, has revolutionized our understanding of their function. These breakthroughs led to the identification of the key structural elements regulating gating, transport, selectivity and regulation by ligands. Unexpectedly, many lines of evidence indicate that the CLC exchangers function according to a non‐conventional transport mechanism that defies the fundamental tenets of the alternating‐access paradigm for exchange transport, paving the way for future unexpected insights into the principles underlying active transport and channel gating.
A virtual reality approach to gait training in service members with lower extremity amputations

Abstract Gait training is an essential part of the rehabilitation process for those with lower extremity (LE) amputations. For service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) allows virtual reality to be incorporated into gait training as an adjunct to conventional therapies. This retrospective case series examines the self-selected velocities achieved in two different virtual environments (VE) by 11 service members with LE amputations. These VEs allowed participants to progress from level walking to more challenging terrain. Over periods of four to eight weeks, all participants were found to increase their self-selected velocities; progression appears to be individual. The preliminary results obtained indicate that further investigation is warranted.
WRKY Transcription Factor: Role in Abiotic and Biotic Stress

One of the fundamental behaviors of plants, being sessile allows them to develop an intricate molecular machinery to adapt themselves to biotic and abiotic challenges experienced in the environment. In response to adapt against a particular stress, a massive transcriptional activity of several genes triggered the defense responses in the plant cell. Extensive research on stress related studies have introduced the role of transcription factors for regulation of the plants responses. In many cases, transcription factors acts as a “master or key regulator” of gene expression under one or multiple stress conditions. In plants, WRKY has emerged as a major and largest transcription factor family. Arabidopsis and rice has 74 and 109 WRKY members respectively, which play a major role during stress and development. WRKY gene family has been studied to be induced in response to several phytohormones such as SA, JA, ABA and pathogen attack, thus have been found to be a key player in plant defense mechanism. This gene family also forms a highly interacting regulatory network with stress response, by acting as either transcription activator or repressor thereby modulating the gene expression. Beside stress and developmental conditions, WRKY is also induced in nutrient deficient conditions such as phosphate deficiency and starvation. The main emphasis of this review is to summarize the progress in WRKY transcription factor research under stress and developmental conditions. At the same time an attempt has also been made to comment upon interaction with a wide range of signaling networks such as MAP kinase proteins, 14-3-3 proteins, calmodulin and regulator of chromatin such as histone deacetylases, and plant-pathogen defense proteins. Moreover, a crosstalk or overlap is also discussed among these different components or pathways involving WRKY transcription factor. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Comparación de las redes neuronales SOM y GG en los sistemas de detección de intrusos de red

El uso de redes neuronales en los sistemas de deteccion de intrusos se ha incrementado significativamente en los ultimos anos. En este articulo, presentamos los resultados de comparar la red neuronal Rejilla Creciente y los Mapas Auto-Organizativos aplicadas a los sistemas de deteccion de intrusos. Se comparan dos aspectos muy importantes, el rendimiento y el tiempo de entrenamiento. Los resultados muestran que la red creciente mejora el rendimiento del sistema en la deteccion de anomalias obteniendo mejor relacion entre el ratio de deteccion y el numero de falsos positivos. Por otra parte, se consigue una reduccion del tiempo de entrenamiento muy significativa en entornos reales, donde aparecen nuevos ataques que es necesario detectar. Las redes se han entrenado y testeado con los datos de evaluacion de sistemas de deteccion de intrusos DARPA 1999.
Interleukin‐6 in cerebrospinal fluid of HTLV‐I‐associated myelopathy

We demonstrated significant titers of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the CSF from 6 of 11 patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM). The patients positive for IL-6 generally had more severe clinical symptoms and signs than those negative for IL-6. There was no correlation between the value of IL-6 and inflammatory findings in the HAM CSF.
Multiple echo frequency‐domain image contrast: Improved signal‐to‐noise ratio and T2 (T  *2 ) weighting

Conventional T2‐ and T *2 ‐weighted image contrasts are produced by waiting a TE period for the transverse magnetic resonance (MR) signals to decay to differentiate tissue types with distinct relaxation rates. Significant image signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) is compromised by this contrast‐producing process. In this report, a multiple echo frequency‐domain image contrast (MEFIC) method is presented. During the conventional TE period, a multiple echo train modulated by T2 or T *2 decay is acquired. A third Fourier transform along the echo direction produces an image set with pixel signal intensity modulated by the spectrum of the decay curve. This method simultaneously enhances image contrast with a large increase in SNR. Experimental studies of cerebral vasogenic edema in immature rats and functional MR imaging studies of the human motor cortex have demonstrated that the MEFIC method produces superior image quality over conventional methods for generating T2‐ and T *2 ‐weighted images. Magn Reson Med 41:423–428, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Experience sampling research in psychopathology: opening the black box of daily life

A growing body of research suggests that momentary assessment technologies that sample experiences in the context of daily life constitute a useful and productive approach in the study of behavioural phenotypes and a powerful addition to mainstream cross-sectional research paradigms. Momentary assessment strategies for psychopathology are described, together with a comprehensive review of research findings illustrating the added value of daily life research for the study of (1) phenomenology, (2) aetiology, (3) psychological models, (4) biological mechanisms, (5) treatment and (6) gene–environment interactions in psychopathology. Overall, this review shows that variability over time and dynamic patterns of reactivity to the environment are essential features of psychopathological experiences that need to be captured for a better understanding of their phenomenology and underlying mechanisms. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) allows us to capture the film rather than a snapshot of daily life reality of patients, fuelling new research into the gene–environment–experience interplay underlying psychopathology and its treatment.
Sofosbuvir

Objective: To review the use of sofosbuvir for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Data Sources: Review and nonreview articles were identified through MEDLINE (1996-April 2014), citations of articles, and meeting abstracts using keywords, including NS5B polymerase inhibitor, GS-7977, sofosbuvir, direct-acting antiviral (DAA), and others. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Phase 1, 2, and 3 studies describing dose-ranging potential, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, safety, and tolerability of sofosbuvir were identified. Data Synthesis: Sofosbuvir is an NS5B polymerase inhibitor that was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in December 2013 for the treatment of chronic HCV in combination with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) for genotype 1. Additionally, it has been evaluated with other oral DAAs, such as simeprevir and others in the pipeline. It is not recommended as monotherapy because of lower sustained virological response (SVR) rates in clinical studies. Most of the treatment regimens are 12 weeks in duration; however, certain populations require a longer duration. Sofosbuvir has activity against all 6 genotypes, although most clinical trials evaluated genotypes 1 to 3. Sofosbuvir has a favorable safety and tolerability profile, making it a recommended first-line agent for chronic HCV infection. Conclusion: In clinical trials, 12 weeks of sofosbuvir with concomitant peg-IFN and RBV therapy in treatment-naïve and experienced HCV genotype 1 patients resulted in SVR rates of >90%. An all-oral regimen of sofosbuvir and RBV is highly effective for genotype 2 and 3 patients. Sofosbuvir was found to be tolerable with minimal adverse effects (AEs), and no treatment discontinuations occurred secondary to drug related AEs.
BeShort: Uma nova abordagem para encurtamento de URLs

Microblogs como o Twitter sao sistemas sociais voltados unicamente para a postagem de mensagens com no maximo 140 caracteres. Com o grande uso de mensagens curtas na Web, o uso de encurtadores de URLs esta se tornando cada vez mais comum. Sistemas encurtadores traduzem uma URL em uma nova URL, tipicamente com poucos caracteres, e redirecionam requisicoes a URL encurtada para a URL longa original. Apesar de extremamente eficiente, esses servicos podem introduzir atrasos para seus usuarios e tem sido amplamente utilizados para esconder spam, phishing e malware. Esse trabalho apresenta o BeShort, um algoritmo para encurtamento de URLs capaz de evitar tais problemas. Nossa abordagem consiste em substituir partes frequentes de URLs (ex. ``www'' e ``.com.br'') por caracteres UTF-8, normalmente nao utilizados em URLs. Para testar nossa abordagem, utilizamos uma base contendo 50 milhoes de URLs de dois servicos encurtadores de URL bastante populares. Nossos resultados mostram que o BeShort consegue taxas de encurtamento tao eficientes quanto as taxas praticadas pelos sistemas mais populares atuais.
STK25 Protein Mediates TrkA and CCM2 Protein-dependent Death in Pediatric Tumor Cells of Neural Origin*

Background: The cytoplasmic adaptor protein CCM2 interacts with the TrkA receptor tyrosine kinase to induce pediatric tumor cell death. Results: STK25 interacts with CCM2, and its kinase activity is necessary for TrkA-dependent death of medulloblastoma cells. Conclusion: STK25 mediates TrkA-CCM2 death signaling in medulloblastoma cells. Significance: These findings identify a downstream catalytic effector for receptor tyrosine kinase death signaling. The TrkA receptor tyrosine kinase induces death in medulloblastoma cells via an interaction with the cerebral cavernous malformation 2 (CCM2) protein. We used affinity proteomics to identify the germinal center kinase class III (GCKIII) kinases STK24 and STK25 as novel CCM2 interactors. Down-modulation of STK25, but not STK24, rescued medulloblastoma cells from NGF-induced TrkA-dependent cell death, suggesting that STK25 is part of the death-signaling pathway initiated by TrkA and CCM2. CCM2 can be phosphorylated by STK25, and the kinase activity of STK25 is required for death signaling. Finally, STK25 expression in tumors is correlated with positive prognosis in neuroblastoma patients. These findings delineate a death-signaling pathway downstream of neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinases that may provide targets for therapeutic intervention in pediatric tumors of neural origin.
Environnement et littoralisation de l’Ouest algérien

La these s’inscrit dans le champ disciplinaire de la geographie de l’environnement et combine les connaissances de la geographie physique et de la geographie humaine. L’amenagement de l’espace littoral algerien et les questions environnementales sont les axes centraux de cette these. De nombreux travaux ont ete realises sur les problematiques du littoral et ont traite plusieurs cas dans le monde et en Mediterranee. Cependant, les recherches sur le littoral algerien restent peu nombreuses et s.
Produktdiversifizierung: Haben die ostdeutschen Unternehmen den Anschluss an den Westen geschafft? - Eine vergleichende Analyse mit Mikrodaten der amtlichen Statistik

Die Gestaltung der Produktpalette war ein zentrale Herausforderung fur ostdeutsche Unternehmen nach der Wende. Spezialisierung oder eine diffuse Generalistenstrategie war die Frage. Welche Strategie sich durchgesetzt hat und ob der Anschluss an den Westen gelang, wird in dieser Arbeit erstmals auf reprasentativer Basis fur das verarbeitende Gewerbe mit den Mikrodaten der amtlichen Statistik untersucht. Mit einem nichtparametrischen Dekompositionsansatz wird das West-Ost-Diversifizierungsgefalle 1995 und 2001 in einen reinen Regionaleffekt und in strukturelle Komponenten zerlegt. Dabei zeigt sich, dass bei vergleichbaren Unternehmen heute keine signifikanten West-Ost-Unterschiede mehr im Produktdiversifizierungsverhalten bestehen. Pragnant sind aber weiterhin strukturelle Unterschiede – wie das Defizit an hochdiversifizierten Grosunternehmen.
The moody chameleon : The effect of mood on non-conscious mimicry

Whereas previous findings suggest that mood alters information processing style judgment and strategic behavior, in the present article, the hypothesis is tested that moods influence our non–conscious behavior. In the first study, we observed a correlation between participants’ mood and their non–conscious mimicry of a person on television. In the second study, participants were put in either a positive or negative mood and afterwards they watched a video comprising of two episodes, one with a pen–playing experimenter, and one with a non-pen–playing experimenter. Participants were videotaped to see whether they would mimic the pen–playing experimenter. As predicted, we found that only participants in a positive mood mimic the confederate’s behavior. Finally, tentative evidence suggesting that the effect of mood on mimicry is mediated by cognitive processing style is discussed. These results support a functional explanation for the effects of mood on information processing and behavior.