Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of Commissural Connections in the Hippocampus of Reeler Mice: Evidence of an Inhibitory Influence of Cajal–Retzius Cells

Reelin is a large, extracellular matrix protein involved in neuronal migration and axonal growth. To analyze the contribution of Reelin to the development of the commissural projection in the hippocampus, we analyzed the ontogeny of this projection in the reeler mutant mouse. Injections of the lipophilic tracer DiI revealed many commissural fibers in the hippocampus of both reeler and control mice at P1-P2. At P5, at P12, and in the adult, the topography of commissural connections was normal in the CA1 region of reeler mice, with axons innervating the stratum radiatum and stratum oriens. In contrast, in the CA3/CA2 region, commissural fibers abnormally innervated the stratum lacunosum-moleculare and, in the dentate gyrus, some fibers were observed in the outer molecular layer. Next, we monitored the distribution of Cajal-Retzius cells in the hippocampus of reeler mutant mice and noted that the stratum lacunosum-moleculare of the CA3/CA2 region was largely devoid of Cajal-Retzius (CR) cells. Taken together, the above results indicate that in the absence of CR cells in the CA3/CA2, commissural axons abnormally grow to the stratum lacunosum-moleculare. To test this hypothesis a series of coculture experiments was performed in collagen gels, in which the CA3 axonal growth was monitored when confronted to the marginal zone. These experiments showed that the marginal zone containing CR cells exerts short-range inhibitory influences for commissural axonal growth.
The Tiny Encryption Algorithm

Abstract The Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) has been around for just over ten years. It is probably the most “minimal”—and hence fastest—block cipher ever devised and yet appears resistant to most attacks. In this article, we describe the algorithm, its simplicity of design and ease of use, its cryptographic strength, and the wide range of implementations and applications of the cipher.
A View from The Joint Commission Perspective: Updated Compendium Will Continue to Help Reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections

There is a vast body of knowledge generated for the purpose of improving patient outcomes, including information on how to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). However, it is a daunting task to ensure that the most valuable practices contained within the scientific domain become broadly, timely, and effectively used in practice. Much has been written about the unacceptably long lag time between new clinical knowledge development and its widespread use, even when that knowledge is produced using the gold standard of randomized controlled clinical trials. With this issue in mind, "A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals" was written to accelerate adoption of important practices known to be effective at reducing infections. Now updated, enhanced, and included within this and recent issues of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the Compendium is more than the requisite synthesis of the expansive science on infection prevention and a distillation of that evidence for its relevancy to hospitals. What makes the Compendium unique is its commitment to the usability of its content at the ground level. By presenting information in a format that can make operational sense out of complicated knowledge, the Compendium jump-starts the ability of hospital healthcare professionals to translate essential information into practice.
Acquisition and strategic use of competitive intelligence

This study investigates the current status of competitive intelligence (CI) practices in Malaysia, and how managers acquire and use CI from various sources. Data are collected through mail questionnaire survey from 123 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. More than half of the surveyed companies have a formal CI unit in their organisation. These units are mostly located within the marketing or market research or corporate planning department and has been established from 5 to 9 years. On average, 2 to 5 full-time personnel are assigned to take charge of CI activities. The top three sources managers acquire CI are newspapers and periodicals, the Internet and extranets, and customers. Whereas, the top three sources where CI is used in strategic decision making are customers, competitors, and newspapers and periodicals. In terms of source category, while the frequency of acquiring CI is higher from external impersonal sources, the frequency of using external and personal sources in strategic decision making is significantly higher than internal and impersonal sources. The article includes implications and recommendations for future studies.
A Composite Design Pattern for Service Injection and Composition of Web Services for Peer-to-Peer Computing With Service Oriented Architecture

In this paper we present a Service Injection and composition Design Pattern for Unstructured Peer-to-Peer networks, which is designed with Aspect-oriented design patterns, and amalgamation of the Strategy, Worker Object, and Check-List Design Patterns used to design the Self-Adaptive Systems. It will apply self reconfiguration planes dynamically without the interruption or intervention of the administrator for handling service failures at the servers. When a client requests for a complex service, Service Composition should be done to fulfil the request. If a service is not available in the memory, it will be injected as Aspectual Feature Module code. We used Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) with Web Services in Java to Implement the composite Design Pattern. As far as we know, there are no studies on composition of design patterns for Peer-to-peer computing domain. The pattern is described using a java-like notation for the classes and interfaces. A simple UML class and Sequence diagrams are depicted.
Mapping the consequence of Notch1 proteolysis in vivo with NIP-CRE

The four highly conserved Notch receptors receive short-range signals that control many biological processes during development and in adult vertebrate tissues. The involvement of Notch1 signaling in tissue self-renewal is less clear, however. We developed a novel genetic approach N1IP-CRE (Notch1 Intramembrane Proteolysis) to follow, at high resolution, the descendents of cells experiencing Notch1 activation in the mouse. By combining N1IP-CRE with loss-of-function analysis, Notch activation patterns were correlated with function during development, self-renewal and malignancy in selected tissues. Identification of many known functions of Notch1 throughout development validated the utility of this approach. Importantly, novel roles for Notch1 signaling were identified in heart, vasculature, retina and in the stem cell compartments of self-renewing epithelia. We find that the probability of Notch1 activation in different tissues does not always indicate a requirement for this receptor and that gradients of Notch1 activation are evident within one organ. These findings highlight an underappreciated layer of complexity of Notch signaling in vivo. Moreover, NIP-CRE represents a general strategy applicable for monitoring proteolysis-dependent signaling in vivo.
A Review of the European Summer Heat Wave of 2003

This paper reviews the European summer heat wave of 2003, with special emphasis on the first half of August 2003, jointly with its significant societal and environmental impact across Western and Central Europe. We show the pattern of record-breaking temperature anomalies, discuss it in the context of the past, and address the role of the main contributing factors responsible for the occurrence and persistence of this event: blocking episodes, soil moisture deficit, and sea surface temperatures. We show that the anticyclonic pattern corresponds more to an anomalous northern displacement of the North Atlantic subtropical high than a canonical blocking structure, and that soil moisture deficit was a key factor to reach unprecedented temperature anomalies. There are indications that the anomalous Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have contributed to the heat wave of 2003, whereas the role of SST anomalies in other oceanic regions is still under debate. There are methodological limitations to evaluate excess mortality due to excessive temperatures; however, the different studies available in the literature allow us to estimate that around 40,000 deaths were registered in Europe during the heat wave, mostly elderly persons. Despite previous efforts undertaken by a few cities to implement warning systems, this dramatic episode has highlighted the widespread un-preparedness of most civil and health authorities to cope with such large events. Therefore, the implementation of early warning systems in most European cities to mitigate the impact of extreme heat is the main consequence to diminish the impact of future similar events. In addition to mortality (by far the most dramatic impact), we have also analyzed the record-breaking forest fires in Portugal and the evidence of other relevant impacts, including agriculture and air pollution.
Power devices current monitoring using horizontal and vertical magnetic force sensor

Power devices current sensors based on magnetic force of is presented. The proposed sensors are aimed to be used for switched current testing in power devices with high switched currents above amperes. The advantage of the proposed monitors is in elimination of the undesired voltage reduction and compatibility with the power device control electronics. Description of horizontal and novel vertical magnetic sensors architectures, designs and physical implementations on chip are presented. Several sensor versions were designed in 1.0 µm BiCMOS technology.
Nuclear envelope associated protein that binds telomeric DNAs

Rana temporaria oocytes at the 6th diplotene stage of maturation contain a special structure, the karyosphere capsule, with chromosomes covered and detached from the nuclear envelope (NE), though at the previous stage the telomeres were attached to the membrane, as characteristic of germ cells. The DNA–protein complexes from band shift assays with proteins extracted from oocyte NEs and telomeric DNA fragment (T2G4)130 were isolated and injected into a guinea pig. In the present paper the only protein of 70 kDa recognized by antibody (AB) in the NE is named the Membrane Telomere Binding Protein (MTBP). Western blots with guinea pig AB and AB against telobox peptide from TRF2 show that protein of 60 kDa (probably TRF1) belongs to the chromatin, but MTBP (TRF2 according to immunoprecipitation) belongs to the NE. In the somatic cell nuclei both proteins are present and recognized by AB against telobox peptide, but AB raised recognize only MTBP/TRF2 due to the epitope different from telobox. Combined in situ hybridization with the vertebrate telomeric DNA sequences (T2AG3)135 and immunocytochemistry with the MTBP AB showed them to be colocalized within the mouse nucleus. As it was shown by immunofluorescense of NE spread, MTBP is organized in a distinct pattern that looks like a network made of double‐dots. Electron microscope immunogold staining with both ABs showed that the protein is localized on the outer surface of the oocyte NE within cup‐like structures attached to the membrane. This is the first clear evidence of a protein, which could be responsible for the attachment of telomeres to the nuclear membrane. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 57:16–25, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
[Histochemical changes of the glycosaminoglycans in the uterine cervix of pregnant rats after local injection of hyaluronidase].

PURPOSE to study the histochemical changes related to the uterine cervix glycosaminoglycan of the albino female rat, after local administration of hyaluronidases at the end of pregnancy. METHODS ten female rats with positive pregnancy tests were randomly distributed in two numerically equal groups. The control group (Cg) was built up with rats that received a single dose of 1 mL of distilled water in the uterine cervix, under anesthesia, at the 18th pregnancy day. In the experimental group (Exg), the rats received 0.02 mL of hyaluronidase, diluted in 0.98 mL of distilled water (1 mL as a total), under the same conditions as the Cg. At the 20th pregnancy day, the rats were anesthetized once again and submitted to dissection, and the cervix prepared for histochemical study with alcian blue dye and its blockades (pH=0.5, pH=2.5, methylation and saponification). RESULTS strongly positive reaction in the lamina propria (+3) has been seen in the Cg, and negative reaction in the Exg, with pH=0.5 alcian blue staining. With pH=2.5, staining has also been strongly positive (+4) in the Cg, and weakly positive (+1) in the Exg slide. After methylation, both groups have shown negative reaction, with pH=2.5 alcian blue staining. The lamina propria staining became negative after methylation in both groups, followed by saponification and enzymatic digestion on slide. CONCLUSIONS there is clear predominance of sulphated glycosaminoglycans in the Cg as compared to the Exg and a small amount of identified carboxylated glycosaminoglycans in the Exg. The changes evidenced in the extracellular matrix have suggested that the hyaluronidase injected in the uterine cervix has promoted biochemical changes compatible with cervix maturation.
Critical behavior of hard squares in strong confinement.

We examine the phase behavior of a quasi-one-dimensional system of hard squares with side-length σ, where the particles are confined between two parallel walls and only nearest-neighbor interactions occur. As in our previous work [Gurin, Varga, and Odriozola, Phys. Rev. E 94, 050603 (2016)]2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.94. 050603, the transfer operator method is used, but here we impose a restricted orientation and position approximation to yield an analytic description of the physical properties. This allows us to study the parallel fluid-like to zigzag solid-like structural transition, where the compressibility and heat capacity peaks sharpen and get higher as H→H_{c}=2sqrt[2]-1≈1.8284 and p→p_{c}=∞. Here H is the width of the channel measured in σ units and p is the pressure. We have found that this structural change becomes critical at the (p_{c},H_{c}) point. The obtained critical exponents belong to the universality class of the one-dimensional Ising model. We believe this behavior holds for the unrestricted orientational and positional case.
Subjective Global Assessment and Handgrip Strength as Predictive Factors in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

Background and Aims Malnutrition is common in patients with chronic liver disease. We aimed to evaluate malnutrition assessment tools in predicting severity and survival of patients with liver cirrhosis. Material and Methods We examined patients with liver cirrhosis. Nutritional evaluation was performed on admission, using subjective global assessment (SGA), handgrip strength (HGS), and anthropometry. Patients were followed up for 6 months. Results We included 100 patients, 72 men, with mean age of 59.2 years. According to disease severity, patients were 23% Child-Pugh A, 46% Child-Pugh B, and 31% Child-Pugh C. SGA and HGS significantly correlated with Child-Pugh, MELD, and MELD-Na scores on admission. At 6 months follow-up, 80.4% (78 of 97) of patients survived, while 3 patients were lost from observation. Survival was predicted by SGA (1 death in 32 patients SGA A, 8 deaths in 46 patients SGA B, and 9 deaths in 19 patients SGA C, p = 0.001) and HGS (25.1 ± 8.5 in deceased versus 30.6 ± 10.9 in survivors, p = 0.046). The mean BMI and MAMC values did not significantly differ between patients who survived or were deceased at 6 months. Conclusion HGS and SGA may predict severity and short-term survival in cirrhotic patients.
An Implantable Sacral Nerve Root Recording and Stimulation System for Micturition Function Restoration

This paper provides a prototype neural prosthesis system dedicated to restoring continence and micturition function for patients with lower urinary tract diseases, such as detrusor hyperreflexia and detrusorsphincter dyssynergia. This system consists of an ultra low-noise electroneurogram (ENG) signal recording module, a bi-phasic electrical stimulator module and a control unit for closed-loop bladder monitoring and controlling. In order to record extremely weak ENG signal from extradural sacral nerve roots, the system provides a programmable gain from 80 dB to 117 dB. By combining of advantages of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics and custom designed IC, the recording front-end acquires a fairly low input-referred noise (IRN) of 0.69 μVrms under 300 Hz to 3 kHz and high area-efficiency. An on-chip multi-steps single slope analogto-digital converter (ADC) is used to digitize the ENG signals at sampling rate of 10 kSPS and achieves an effective number of bits (ENOB) of 12.5. A bi-phasic current stimulus generator with wide voltage supply range (±0.9 V to ±12.5 V) and variable output current amplitude (0-500 μA) is introduced to overcome patient-depended impedance between electrode and tissue electrolyte. The total power consumption of the entire system is 5.61 mW. Recording and stimulation function of this system is switched by control unit with time division multiplexing strategy. The functionality of this proposed prototype system has been successfully verified through in-vivo experiments from dogs extradural sacral nerve roots. key words: neural prosthesis, functional electrical stimulation,closed-loop bladder control, acute animal experiment, spinal cord injury
Neuropathology of the Blood-Brain Barrier in Epilepsy: Support to the Transport Hypothesis of Pharmacoresistance

Commentary Approximately one-third of individuals with epilepsy will continue to have seizures despite treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and failure of one AED to achieve seizure control often predicts failure of subsequent AED regimens (1). Understanding the mechanisms of drug-resistance in epilepsy is of extreme importance because of potential therapeutic implications. A number of hypotheses exist regarding these mechanisms. The intrinsic severity hypothesis argues that since drug resistance is independent of the choice of AED, then it must be related to neurobiological factors that increase disease severity (2). The target hypothesis contends that drug-resistance is due to a change in the properties of the AED targets that reduces their sensitivity (3). The transporter hypothesis suggests that upregulation of multidrug transporters in the blood-brain barrier limits access of AEDs to their targets in the brain (4). This latter hypothesis is supported by observations that multidrug transporters are overexpressed in capillary endothelial tissue resected from patients with intractable epilepsy (5). Furthermore, modulation of P-glycoprotein was shown to restore sensitivity to the antiepileptic effects of phenobarbital in a rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy (6). Regarding the mechanisms of overexpression of efflux transporters, evidence exists that seizures are associated with P-glycoprotein overexpression— but there is no agreement as to whether AEDs have a direct effect (7). Problems with the existing knowledge about the role of P-glycoprotein in drug-resistance include, among others, lack of appropriate controls in the reports of P-glycoprotein overexpression in tissue resected from patients with epilepsy, Neuropathology of the Blood-Brain Barrier and Pharmaco-Resistance in Human Epilepsy.
Aroma evaluation of transgenic, thaumatin II-producing cucumber fruits.

Fruits of transgenic cucumber lines expressing preprothaumatin II gene were evaluated concerning their aroma. Four homozygous lines, that is, 210 06, 212 01, 224 09, and 225 03 with different levels of transgene expression were selected. Recipient line cv. Borszczagowski, which was formed by inbred line of Cucumis sativus L. , was used as a control. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse and an outdoor experimental plot. The aroma of cucumber fruits was evaluated by GC/MS, as well as GC/MS/TOF in the distillates and by SPME. Irrespective of the isolation/separation technique used, the differences between aroma compounds in transgenic cucumbers and the control were quantitative, and not qualitative. Modified samples showed higher concentrations of volatiles, particularly of the main cucumber fruits odorant (E, Z)-2,6 nonadienal. Transgenic expression of the thaumatin II gene resulted not only in a sweeter taste of fruits in comparison with the control, but also higher aroma acceptability. This was shown by sensory profile analysis. Also electronic nose measurements differentiated between transgenic lines and the control.
Immunoregulatory Effector Cells in Drug-Induced Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a rare drug-induced disease for which the pathomechanism remains poorly understood. The effector cells of epidermal injury in TEN were studied by taking skin biopsies of early lesions in 23 TEN patients and by performing immunohistochemical tests using antibodies to factor XIIIa (type I dendrocytes), L1-protein (mainly Mac 387+ monocytes and macrophages), UCLH1 (mainly CD45R0+ T-memory lymphocytes), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (TNF&agr;). Computerized image analysis was used to evaluate the cell density relative to each immunolabeling. A statistical analysis of cellular counts revealed a numeric relation between the cell types in skin with TEN. Factor XIIIa+ dendrocytes were abundant and plump in the dermis, although Mac 387+ macrophages were the most numerous inflammatory cells in the epidermis. Their numbers greatly exceeded those of CD45R0+ T lymphocytes and cells showing immunoreactivity for either IL-6 or TNF&agr;. In the epidermis, IL-6+ cells were significantly less numerous than TNF&agr;+ cells. No quantitative difference was found between IL-6+ and CD45R0+ cell populations. Correlations were observed between either the numbers of TNF&agr;+ cells or Mac 387+ macrophages and CD45R0+ lymphocytes. In the dermis, a significant correlation was also present between the numbers of Mac 387+ and factor XIIIa+ cells. These findings highlight the complex interactions between the inflammatory cells that mediate epidermal damage in skin with TEN. The high density of factor XIIIa+ dendrocytes and Mac 387+ macrophages in lesional skin assigns these cellular populations a prominent role in the pathomechanism of TEN. Despite a lower cell density, CD45R0+ T-memory lymphocytes likely participate in TNF&agr;- andagr;-and IL-6–regulated processes in the epidermis of TEN. TNF&agr; seems to be a major cytokine involved in TEN, although a less prominent role can be ascribed to IL-6.
Probing the T-cell receptor repertoire with deep sequencing.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW To review major findings on the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire diversity in response to several viral infections based on conventional methods of PCR, cloning and sequencing and to discuss their limitations in light of the recent methodological advances in deep sequencing. RECENT FINDINGS Direct sequencing of TCR expressed by Ag-specific T cells isolated ex vivo has revealed that the TCR repertoire is not as restricted as previously estimated. Furthermore, analyses performed independently of the T-cell clonal hierarchy have brought to light an unexpected diversity. The choice of methods is critical to characterize the complexity of the repertoire. Recent advances in deep sequencing have uncovered the diversity of the TCR repertoire and shown that the size of the repertoire in naive and Ag-experienced memory T cells is three-fold to 15-fold larger than formerly estimated. Interestingly, the TCR complementary determining region 3 sequences are not randomly selected and a certain degree of shared TCR repertoire has been observed between different individuals. SUMMARY Deep sequencing is a major methodological advance allowing more accurate molecular characterization of the TCR repertoire. In the near future, such technologies will further contribute to delineate the complexity of pathogen-specific T-cell response and help defining correlates of a protective immunity.