Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic Nicotine Treatment Up-regulates Human α3β2 but Not α3β4 Acetylcholine Receptors Stably Transfected in Human Embryonic Kidney Cells*

Human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) subtypes α3β2, α3β2α5, α3β4, and α3β4α5 were stably expressed in cells derived from the human embryonic kidney cell line 293. α3β4 AChRs were found in prominent 2-μm patches on the cell surface, whereas most α3β2 AChRs were more diffusely distributed. The functional properties of the α3 AChRs in tsA201 cells were characterized by whole cell patch clamp using both acetylcholine and nicotine as agonists. Nicotine was a partial agonist on α3β4 AChRs and nearly a full agonist on α3β2α5 AChRs. Chronic exposure of cells expressing α3β2 AChRs or α3β2α5 AChRs to nicotine or carbamylcholine increased their amount up to 24-fold but had no effect on the amount of α3β4 or α3β4α5 AChRs, i.e. the up-regulation of α3 AChRs depended on the presence of β2 but not β4 subunits in the AChRs. This was also found to be true of α3 AChRs in the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y. In the absence of nicotine, α3β2 AChRs were expressed at much lower levels than α3β4 AChRs, but in the presence of nicotine, the amount of α3β2 AChRs exceeded that of α3β4 AChRs. Up-regulation was seen for both total AChRs and surface AChRs. Up-regulated α3β2 AChRs were functional. The nicotinic antagonists curare and dihydro-β-erythroidine also up-regulated α3β2 AChRs, but only by 3–5-fold. The channel blocker mecamylamine did not cause up-regulation of α3β2 AChRs and inhibited up-regulation by nicotine. Our data suggest that up-regulation of α3β2 AChRs in these lines by nicotine results from both increased subunit assembly and decreased AChR turnover.
Les effets de site : étude expérimentale et simulation de trois configurations

Les conditions locales de sol sont un des facteurs influencant le mouvement du sol lors d'un seisme. Cette these se propose de determiner l'effet de ces conditions locales dans le cas de topographies et de vallees sedimentaires. Nous avons ainsi utilise trois jeux de donnees acquis dans des contextes differents, que nous avons analyse par des methodes experimentales : les rapports spectraux par rapport a une station de reference, les rapports spectraux entre les composantes horizontales et verticales calcules sur des enregistrements sismiques et sur le bruit de fond. Nous avons aussi utilise la methode de fonctions de Green empiriques pour simuler le mouvement du sol lors d'un seisme majeur ainsi que des methodes numeriques pour calculer les fonctions de transfert des sites et les comparer aux resultats experimentaux. Nous avons traite d 'une part les effets d'une topographie de grandes dimensions sur les mouvements sismiques, a partir d'une experience qui s'est deroulee a Corinthe en 1993. Cette etude a montre que l'effet de topogra phies lisses et cylindriques sur le mouvement du sol est faible et que les fortes amplifications qui peuvent etre constatees sont dues a des heterogeneites de la geologie. D'autre part nous avons etudie les effets d 'une couche sedimentaire a partir de deux experiences a Grenoble en i995 et a Annecy en 1906. L'experience de Grenoble a montre que le mouvement du sol dans la vallee est amplifie sur une bande de frequence de 0.5Hz a 5Hz avec des amplifications de 10. L'etude fine de microzonage a pu mettre en evidence une variation de la frequence de resonance avec l'emplacement de la station. La simulation de mouvements forts a montre que des seismes de magnitude 6.4 a des distances superieures a 80km pouvaient amener des accelerations de l'ordre de 5% de g. L'etude a Annecy, suite au seisme d 'Epagny du 15 juillet 1996, a montre une correlation entre les resultats des methodes experimentales et les degats observes lors du choc principal.
A Novel Single-Stage Series-Resonant Buck-Boost Inverter

A novel single-stage series-resonant buck-boost inverter (SRBBI) is proposed in this paper. The main attribute of the novel inverter topology is the fact that it generates an ac output voltage larger or lower than the dc input one, depending on the instantaneous duty cycle. This property is not found in the classical voltage-source inverter, which produces an ac output instantaneous voltage which always lower than the dc input voltage. The state-space averaging approach is used to estimate and examine the steady-state and dynamic character of the new single-stage SRBBI. The principle of operation, theoretical analysis, and experimental results of the proposed inverter, rated 500 W and operating at 40 kHz, are provided in this paper to verify the performance of the SRBBI.
Sleep practices among medical students in Pediatrics Department of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku/Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND Medical students are a population who are at great risk of having bad sleep practice and hygiene due to demanding clinical and academic activities. Poor sleep practices are a disturbing and destabilizing phenomenon. It affects many people and can affect the quality of work, performance and education of medical students. Determining the sleep practices and behaviors could be useful to establish a systematic mental health curriculum in medical schools. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study is to describe sleep practices among undergraduate medical students in a Nigerian University. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sleep practices were investigated using a convenience sample of medical students from the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku Ozalla, Enugu from October 2012 to February 2013. RESULTS A total number of participants enrolled were 241 consisting of 150 male and 90 female medical students. However, 222 (response rate: 92.1%) completed and returned the questionnaire. The median number of hours of night sleep on a weekday and weekend were 6 and 7 h respectively. There was a significant correlation between the number of hours of sleep and use of caffeine (Spearman r = -0.148, P < 0.0321). Ninety two (45.3%) had a sleep latency of 10-30 min while 157 (70.7%) woke up 1-2 times/night. Twenty five (11.3%) experience unusual sleep practices such as sleep walking, talking or night terrors. CONCLUSION Medical students in our institution have varying degrees of sleeping practice and behavior and this may affect academic performance.
[1,1′-Bis(diphenylphosphanyl)ferrocene-κ2 P,P′]dichloridocadmium(II) dichloromethane disolvate

In the title complex, [CdFe(C17H14P)2Cl2]·2CH2Cl2, the CdII atom has a distorted tetrahedral coordination geometry by two chloride anions and two P atoms of 1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphanyl)ferrocene. In the crystal, complex molecules are linked into a three-dimensional network by C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds involving the dichloromethane solvent molecules.
Gestión de los costes de calidad y rendimiento de las pequeñas y medianas empresas

La calidad es un factor estrategico clave para la competitividad y el exito de las empresas, dentro del entorno turbulento y competitivo, en el cual deben desarrollar sus actividades (Ponemon, 1990; Koehler, 1990; Shank y Govindarajan, 1994; Asokan y Pillai, 1998; Simga-Mugan y Erel, 2000). La gestion de los costes de calidad representa la respuesta de la contabilidad de gestion a las necesidades de las empresas para poder ofertar sus productos con la maxima calidad y a precios competitivos. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la relacion entre el rendimiento empresarial (cuantitativo y cualitativo) de las pequenas y medianas empresas y: a) la percepcion sobre su posicion competitiva con respecto a los costes totales de calidad; b) variables como el nivel tecnologico, la estrategia aplicada, edad, tamano y sector de actividad. Para ello, llevamos a cabo un estudio empirico, con una muestra de 491 empresas. La informacion procede de dos fuentes: las variables cualitativas fueron obtenidas de una encuesta personal, y la informacion cuantitativa (variables contables) de sus cuentas anuales. Los resultados muestran, por un lado que los indicadores cualitativos de rendimiento se ven influidos por la percepcion de la empresa sobre su posicion competitiva respecto a sus costes totales de calidad, el nivel tecnologico y la estrategia aplicada. Por otro, los indicadores cuantitativos de rendimiento se ven influenciados por el nivel tecnologico, la estrategia aplicada y la edad de la empresa
Structural studies of the rhamnose-glucose polysaccharide antigen from Streptococcus sobrinus B13 and 6715-T2

The rhamnose-glucose polysaccharide antigens from the cell walls of Streptococcus sobrinus B13 and 6715-T2 (formerly Streptococcus mutans serotypes d and g, respectively) were structurally examined by using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. These data confirmed earlier chemical and serological studies suggesting that these polysaccharides had identical structures. The polysaccharides appeared to have a backbone of alternating 1,2- and 1,3-linked rhamnose units. Branching occurred at 1,2,3-linked rhamnose units. Side chains appeared to be composed of 1,2- and 1,6-linked glucose units with glucose as the only terminal carbohydrate.
Efficient Search of Multi-Dimensional B-Trees

Data in relational databases is frequently stored and retrieved using B-Trees. In &cis,ion isugprt applications the key of the B-Tree frequently involves the concatenation of several fields of the relationdl’ table. During retrieval, it is desirable to be able to access a small subset of the table based’ on partial key information, where some fields of the key may either not be present, involve ranges, or lists ‘of values. It is also advantageous to altow. this type, of access-with gen&il expressions involving any combination of disjuncts on key columns. This paper &scribes a method whereby BTrees can be eficiently used to retrieve small subsets, thus avoiding large scans of potentially huge tables. Another benefit is the ability of this method to reduce the need for additional secondary indexes, thus saving space, maintenance cost, and random accesses.
Time-Reversal Minimum-SER-Based Adaptive Protocol for Full-Rate Cooperative Communications

Cooperative communications have recently emerged as novel communication schemes for future wireless communications because of their diversity gain, achieved by sharing each cooperation user's antenna to form a virtual antenna array in the wireless network. In this paper, we investigate an adaptive protocol for full-rate cooperative communications based on minimizing a tight approximate symbol error rate (SER). We then propose a time-reversal-mirror approach to estimate an instantaneous channel variance, needed for computing such approximate SER used in an adaptation process, based on a least square (LS) estimation. A mean square error (MSE) upper bound for such estimation is also derived. Simulation results indicate that the adaptive protocol employing the time-reversal-mirror estimation performs essentially similar to an ideal adaptive protocol for quasi-static fading channels, where a lower SER compared with existing protocols is achieved. For nonquasistatic fading channels, the proposed scheme is still be able to work acceptably with a SER penalty in high signal-to-noise ration (SNR) regimes.
Cl‐ ‐ and K+‐dependent inhibitory postsynaptic potentials evoked by interneurones of the rat lateral geniculate nucleus.

1. Hyperpolarizing potentials evoked by electrical stimulation of the optic tract were studied in projection cells of the rat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in vitro. In the same cells the effects of gamma‐amino butyric acid (GABA), baclofen and acetylcholine (ACh) were also investigated. 2. In the majority of cells a short‐ (SHP) (34 ms) and a long‐lasting (LHP) (240 ms) hyperpolarizing potential could be recorded in the presence and in the absence of a preceding EPSP. They were blocked by tetrodotoxin (1 microM) and were more sensitive than the monosynaptic EPSP to a low‐Ca2+‐high‐Mg2+ solution. 3. The SHP was associated with a marked decrease (75%) in input resistance, was blocked by bicuculline (1‐100 microM) and its reversal potential (‐67 mV) was dependent on the extracellular Cl‐ concentration. 4. The LHP was associated with a smaller decrease (45%) in input resistance and its reversal potential (‐76 mV) was dependent on the extracellular K+ concentration. It was increased by bicuculline (100% at 50 microM) and nipecotic acid (30% at 10 microM), blocked by Ba2+ (1 mM), and unaffected by eserine (1‐10 microM), neostigmine (1‐10 microM) or by recording with EGTA‐filled electrodes. In the presence of bicuculline, a single LHP was able to evoke, as a rebound response, a low‐threshold Ca2+ spike that was, however, not followed by another LHP (or any other long‐lasting hyperpolarization). 5. Ionophoretic applications of GABA evoked in the same cell a Cl‐ ‐dependent hyperpolarization (reversal potential: ‐65 mV) and/or depolarization, both of which were associated with a marked decrease (91%) in input resistance and abolished by bicuculline. GABA was also able to evoke a bicuculline‐insensitive, K+‐dependent hyperpolarization that had a reversal potential of ‐75 mV and was associated with a smaller decrease (43%) in input resistance. 6. Baclofen, applied by ionophoresis, pressure ejection or in the perfusion medium (1‐100 microM), produced a hyperpolarization that had a reversal potential of ‐79 mV and was associated with a decrease (45%) in input resistance. 7. In the majority of cells (thirty‐seven out of forty) ACh evoked a slow depolarization and only in three cells a hyperpolarization which had a reversal potential of ‐80 mV. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Tratamiento de las enfermedades muscoesqueléticas.

Las enfermedades musculoesqueleticas afectan en todo el mundo a cientos de millones de personas. La Homotoxicologia ofrece una alternativa viable a los tratamientos actuales. El tratamiento de la inflamacion constituye una parte importante del tratamiento de los trastornos musculoesqueleticos. Las afecciones degenerativas representan la mayor parte de las enfermedades musculoesqueleticas. El dolor muscular cronico suele ser una patologia de dificil tratamiento. Con los medicamentos homeopaticos antihomotoxicos se pueden abordar estos problemas.
Costs of cooperative behaviour in suricates (Suricata suricatta)

Functional interpretations of helping behaviour suggest that it has evolved because helpers increase their direct or indirect fitness by helping. However, recent critiques have suggested that helping may be an unselected extension of normal parental behaviour, pointing to evidence that all mature individuals commonly respond to begging young (whether they are parents, relatives or non–relatives) as well as to the lack of evidence that cooperative activities have appreciable costs to helpers. Here we provide an example of one form of cooperative behaviour that is seldom performed by parents and has substantial energetic costs to helpers. In the cooperative mongoose, Suricata suricatta, non–breeding adults commonly babysit young pups at the natal burrow for a day at a time, foregoing feeding for 24 hours. Parents rarely contribute to babysitting, and babysitting has substantial energetic costs to helpers. Members of small groups compensate for the reduced number of participants by babysitting more frequently, and neither the proportion of time that babysitters are present nor the survival of litters vary with group size.
Altered T-cell subsets in HIV-1 natural viral suppressors (elite controllers) with hepatitis C infection

We have established a cohort of 64 Natural Viral Suppressors (NVS) (similar to Elite Controllers/Elite Suppressors), 30 of which have chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). We investigated T-cell phenotypic changes in association with HCV infection. NVS without HCV and normal controls had similar T-cell phenotypes. However, NVS with HCV had lower naive cell proportions (CD4 and CD8) compared with NVS without HCV (P = 0.0008 and P = 0.02) or normal controls (P = 0.0163 and P = 0.017). These results and previously reported data suggest that HCV coinfection increases immune activation and T-cell disturbances. Any associated T-cell functional changes or potential clinical consequences need further study.
Clinician‐performed ultrasound in assessing potentially malignant thyroid nodules

Ultrasound (US) is used in the workup of thyroid nodules. Ultrasonographic characteristics, such as an ill‐defined margin, hypoechoicity or fine calcifications, are known to be associated with malignant thyroid lesions. The association between these characteristics and the risk of malignancy has been reported predominantly from series published where US is performed in radiology departments. Clinician‐performed ultrasound (CPU) is increasingly being used as a modality, although there is little published literature validating this practice.
Evolution des espèces en paysage dynamique

La structuration geographique des populations est une question centrale de la theorie de l'evolution. Diverses analyses ont permis de comprendre son influence sur l'evolution des especes. Neanmoins, le paysage, defini comme l'ensemble des elements biotiques et abiotiques qui caracterisent la structuration spatiale des populations, est considere comme statique par les modeles formels d'evolution. Or, de nombreux processus geologiques, climatiques, ecologiques et anthropiques changent le paysage a diverses echelles d'espace et de temps. Les populations sont ainsi soumises, de facon repetee, a des fragmentations et a des fusions, faisant varier leurs interactions ecologiques ainsi que la nature, l'intensite et les conditions d'action des mecanismes evolutifs a l'oeuvre. L'objectif de cette these est de determiner, a l'aide de modeles theoriques, l'influence de ces dynamiques du paysage sur l'evolution des especes. Au niveau micro-evolutif, nous montrons que probabilite et temps de fixation d'alleles sont fortement alteres par une dynamique du paysage, meme simple. Au niveau meso-evolutif, nous montrons qu'allopatrie et sympatrie peuvent agir de concert dans le processus de speciation, et que des dynamiques du paysage complexes peuvent facilement generer une radiation. Notre travail revele que pour comprendre l'evolution des especes, il est necessaire de prendre en compte la maniere dont les populations sont et ont ete fragmentees, mais aussi les echelles de temps associees a la dynamique de cette structuration spatiale : celles-ci determinent les combinaisons et interactions de mecanismes evolutifs produisant de nouvelles especes et alterant la structure des metacommunautes.
Polyamine accumulation and biosynthesis in a mouse L1210 leukemia.

Summary Polyamine biogenesis was studied in a rapidly proliferating leukemic tumor (L1210 s.c. tumor in DBA/2 mice). Both the enzyme responsible for putrescine formation and the enzyme that forms spermidine exhibit dramatic elevations in the developing tumor. The concentrations of putrescine and spermidine in the tumor are nearly double the value found in any other mouse tissue. Drugs that increase the survival time index of the L1210-inoculated mice cause proportional decreases in the ability of the tumor to accumulate polyamines.
Ionization of Rydberg atoms by subpicosecond half-cycle electromagnetic pulses.

We have ionized Rydberg atoms using subpicosecond half-cycle electromagnetic pulses. The threshold electric field required to ionize a Rydberg state with effective quantum number n * is found to scale as n *-2 for states with n * >13 in contradistinction to the n *-4 threshold scaling for static field ioinization and high order multiphoton ionization. This novel result is explained using a classical model
Gestion de la variabilité morphologique pour la reconnaissance de gestes naturels à partir de données 3D

La reconnaissance de mouvements naturels est de toute premiere importance dans la mise en oeuvre d’Interfaces Homme-Machine intelligentes et efficaces, utilisables de maniere intuitive en environnement virtuel. En effet, elle permet a l’utilisateur d’agir de maniere naturelle et au systeme de reconnaitre les mouvements corporel effectues tels qu’ils seraient percu par un humain. Cette tâche est complexe, car elle demande de relever plusieurs defis : prendre en compte les specificites du dispositif d’acquisition des donnees de mouvement, gerer la variabilite cinematique dans l’execution du mouvement, et enfin gerer les differences morphologiques inter-individuelles, de sorte que les mouvements de tout nouvel utilisateur puissent etre reconnus. De plus, de part la nature interactive des environnements virtuels, cette reconnaissancedoit pouvoir se faire en temps-reel, sans devoir attendre la fin du mouvement. La litterature scientifique propose de nombreuses methodes pour repondre aux deux premiers defis mais la gestion de la variabilite morphologique est peu abordee. Dans cette these, nous proposons une description du mouvement permettant de repondre a cette problematique et evaluons sa capacite a reconnaitre les mouvements naturels d’un utilisateur inconnu. Enfin, nous proposons unenouvelle methode permettant de tirer partie de cette representation dans une reconnaissance precoce du mouvement
A STEADY-STATE PICTURE OF SOLAR WIND ACCELERATION AND CHARGE STATE COMPOSITION DERIVED FROM A GLOBAL WAVE-DRIVEN MHD MODEL

The higher charge states found in slow (<400 km s−1) solar wind streams compared to fast streams have supported the hypothesis that the slow wind originates in closed coronal loops and is released intermittently through reconnection. Here we examine whether a highly ionized slow wind can also form along steady and open magnetic field lines. We model the steady-state solar atmosphere using the Alfvén Wave Solar Model (AWSoM), a global MHD model driven by Alfvén waves, and apply an ionization code to calculate the charge state evolution along modeled open field lines. This constitutes the first charge state calculation covering all latitudes in a realistic magnetic field. The ratios O + 7 / O + 6 ? > and C + 6 / C + 5 ? > are compared to in situ Ulysses observations and are found to be higher in the slow wind, as observed; however, they are underpredicted in both wind types. The modeled ion fractions of S, Si, and Fe are used to calculate line-of-sight intensities, which are compared to Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) observations above a coronal hole. The agreement is partial and suggests that all ionization rates are underpredicted. Assuming the presence of suprathermal electrons improved the agreement with both EIS and Ulysses observations; importantly, the trend of higher ionization in the slow wind was maintained. The results suggest that there can be a sub-class of slow wind that is steady and highly ionized. Further analysis shows that it originates from coronal hole boundaries (CHBs), where the modeled electron density and temperature are higher than inside the hole, leading to faster ionization. This property of CHBs is global and observationally supported by EUV tomography.
A novel docking site on Mediator is critical for activation by VP16 in mammalian cells

ARC92/ACID1 was identified as a novel specific target of the herpes simplex transactivator VP16 using an affinity purification procedure. Characterization of the protein revealed tight interactions with human Mediator mediated through a von Willebrand type A domain. ARC92/ACID1 further contains a novel activator‐interacting domain (ACID), which it shares with at least one other human gene termed PTOV1/ACID2. The structure of ARC92/ACID1 is of ancient origin but is conserved in mammals and in selected higher eukaryotes. A subpopulation of Mediator is associated with ARC92/ACID1, which is specifically required for VP16 activation both in vitro and in mammalian cells, but is dispensable for other activators such as SP1. Despite many known targets of VP16, ARC92/ACID1 appears to impose a critical control on transcription activation by VP16 in mammalian cells.