Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A role for dynamin in triggering ethanol tolerance.

BACKGROUND A prevailing hypothesis is that the set of genes that underlie the endophenotypes of alcoholism overlap with those responsible for the addicted state. Functional ethanol tolerance, an endophenotype of alcoholism, is defined as a reduced response to ethanol caused by prior ethanol exposure. The neuronal origins of functional rapid tolerance are thought to be a homeostatic response of the nervous system that counters the effects of the drug. Synaptic proteins that regulate neuronal activity are an important evolutionarily conserved target of ethanol. METHODS We used mutant analysis in Drosophila to identify synaptic proteins that are important for the acquisition of rapid tolerance to sedation with ethanol. Tolerance was assayed by sedating flies with ethanol vapor and comparing the recovery time of flies after their first sedation and their second sedation. Temperature-sensitive paralytic mutants that alter key facets of synaptic neurotransmission, such as the propagation of action potentials, synaptic vesicle fusion, exocytosis, and endocytosis, were tested for the ability to acquire functional tolerance at both the permissive and restrictive temperatures. RESULTS The shibire gene encodes Drosophila Dynamin. We tested 2 temperature-sensitive alleles of the gene. The shi(ts1) allele blocked tolerance at both the permissive and restrictive temperatures, while shi(ts2) blocked only at the restrictive temperature. Using the temperature-sensitive property of shi(ts2) , we showed that Dynamin function is required concomitant with exposure to ethanol. A temperature-sensitive allele of the Syntaxin 1A gene, Syx1A(3-69), also blocked the acquisition of ethanol tolerance. CONCLUSIONS We have shown that shibire and Syntaxin 1A are required for the acquisition of rapid functional tolerance to ethanol. Furthermore, the shibire gene product, Dynamin, appears to be required for an immediate early response to ethanol that triggers a cellular response leading to rapid functional tolerance.
Acute and sub‐lethal exposure to copper oxide nanoparticles causes oxidative stress and teratogenicity in zebrafish embryos

Nano‐copper oxides are a versatile inorganic material. As a result of their versatility, the immense applications and usage end up in the environment causing a concern for the lifespan of various beings. The ambiguities surround globally on the toxic effects of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO‐NPs). Hence, the present study endeavored to study the sub‐lethal acute exposure effects on the developing zebrafish embryos. The 48 hpf LC50 value was about 64 ppm. Therefore, we have chosen the sub‐lethal dose of 40 and 60 ppm for the study. Accumulation of CuO‐NPs was evidenced from the SEM‐EDS and AAS analyzes. The alterations in the AChE and Na+/K+‐ATPase activities disrupted the development process. An increment in the levels of oxidants with a concomitant decrease in the antioxidant enzymes confirmed the induction of oxidative stress. Oxidative stress triggered apoptosis in the exposed embryos. Developmental anomalies were observed with CuO‐NPs exposure in addition to oxidative stress in the developing embryos. Decreased heart rate and hatching delay hindered the normal developmental processes. Our work has offered valuable data on the connection between oxidative stress and teratogenicity leading to lethality caused by CuO‐NPs. A further molecular mechanism unraveling the uncharted connection between oxidative stress and teratogenicity will aid in the safe use of CuO‐NPs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Reduced Switch Count Dual-Winding AC Drive Systems

This paper proposes four reduced switch count dual-winding ac motor drive topologies. Two topologies consist of a five-leg converter feeding a dual-winding induction machine. The other topologies are conceived to be used with four-leg converters. The control strategies for the motor drive systems are investigated. The main characteristics of the motor drive systems are also presented. Simulated and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed solutions
Obesity and colorectal cancer risk in women

Background: Several large studies of obesity and colorectal cancer risk have found no association among women but a reasonably consistent positive association among men. In women, a positive association that is stronger among, or limited to, those who are premenopausal has been suggested by studies that stratified analyses by age, although no previous study has examined the association by menopausal status. Methods: We used proportional hazards analyses to estimate hazard ratios relating obesity to colorectal cancer risk among 89 835 women aged 40–59 years at recruitment into the Canadian National Breast Screening Study, a multicentre randomised controlled trial of mammography screening for breast cancer. During an average 10.6 years of follow up (936 433 person years), a total of 527 women were diagnosed with incident colorectal cancer (363 colon and 164 rectal). Results: We found that obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2) was associated with an approximately twofold increased risk of colorectal cancer among women who were premenopausal at baseline (hazard ratio 1.88, 95% confidence interval 1.24–2.86). There was no association among postmenopausal women (p for interaction=0.01), and there was only a weak positive association in the entire cohort. Conclusions: Our data suggest that obesity is associated with a twofold increased risk of colorectal cancer in premenopausal women but is not associated with altered risk in postmenopausal women. Effect modification by menopausal status may better explain the inconsistent or weak findings in previous studies than the presumed lack of an association among women.
Nations and Firms in the Global Economy: Introduction

This accessible introduction to the world economy and to the theory and practice of globalization argues that key topics in international economics cannot be understood without a knowledge of international business, and vice versa. It reviews and combines insights from both literatures and applies them to real-world issues, clearly explaining the main concepts of international economics and business in a uniquely integrated approach. Written in a lively and accessible style, this innovative textbook covers all the main issues, including international trade, capital mobility, comparative advantage, foreign direct investments, multinational behaviour, financial crises and economic growth. It includes carefully selected international examples and case studies, and special interest boxes which clearly explain more challenging economic concepts. The companion website includes additional case studies, exercises and answers to exercises, data, illustrations and links to other useful websites.
Prospective evaluation of residents and nurses as severity score data collectors

ObjectivesTo determine the interobserver reliability of residents and nurses collecting Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE H) data and the subsequent effect of these data collections on individual patient mortality prediction. DesignIn a prospective study, residents and nurses independently collected data to derive APACHE H scores. When their scores differed, a standard score was determined by one of the investigators. SettingA general medical and surgical ICU. PatientsA total of 120 consecutive patients were included; of these patients, 79 had standard scores determined because resident and nurse scores differed. Main ResultsThere was overall agreement between the residents and nurses with no significant difference between mean APACHE II scores or mean predicted mortality rates. Intraclass correlation coefficients confirmed good overall agreement between observer groups for predicted mortality rate: resident vs. nurse r2 = . 94, resident vs. standard r2 = . 94, and nurse vs. standard r2 = . 90. However, clinically significant lack of agreement was demonstrated in 5% of the patients by the 95% confidence limits of agreement: resident vs. nurse −14 to +14%, resident vs. standard −10 to +14%, and nurse vs. standard −14 to +20%. ConclusionsWhile interobserver variability between resident and nurse data collection has minimal effect on derived predicted mortality rate with large patient groups, significant variability may occur in individual patients. Residents were more accurate data collectors than nurses.
Employee Health and Employer Incentives

In the past two decades the OECD has regularly voiced concern about the labor market exclusion of people with disabilities and about the cost of disability insurance programs. This paper examines whether the fundamental disability insurance reforms that were implemented in the Netherlands have helped or hindered employment opportunities of workers with health problems or disability. An important component of the Dutch reforms was to enhance employer incentives, which was done by making them responsible for paying sickness benefits and by strengthening their sickness monitoring obligations. These employer incentives may stimulate preventive and reintegration activities by firms, thereby improving the employment opportunities of disabled workers. However, the reforms also impose substantial costs on employers when an employee gets sick and may therefore reduce employment opportunities of disabled workers. We use data from the Dutch Labor Force Survey and rich administrative data from hospital admission records, social security records, and the municipality registers containing demographic information to examine whether the disability reforms have in fact improved the economic situation for the disabled. On balance, we conclude that the DI reforms implemented by the Dutch government have mainly protected those who already have a job, and may have inadvertently reduced the hiring opportunities of people with a disability.
Lambda composition

A lambda in a graph G is two edges uv and vw such that uw is not an edge. A subgraph A of G is called a lambda-subgraph if every lambda of G has both or neither of its edges in A. We describe the decomposition of a graph into its lambda subgraphs and use this to prove a decomposition theorem of Gallai (Acta Math. Acad. Sci. Hungar. 18 (1967), 25–66). A corollary is that a graph is perfect if and only if each of its edge-minimal lambda subgraphs is. c © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 26: 9–16, 1997
Two Promoters Direct Transcription of the Mouse NT‐3 Gene

The structure of the mouse neurotrophin‐3 (NT‐3) gene has been analysed using genomic cloning and the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) method. The gene consists of two small upstream exons (exons IA and IB) and a larger downstream exon (exon II) that encodes the mature protein. Two classes of NT‐3 transcripts, termed transcripts A and B, are generated by alternative splicing of exon IA or exon IB to the common exon II. The NT‐3 gene also contains several transcription start sites in both upstream exons, and three different polyadenylation sites in exon II, as shown by RNase protection assays and by RACE, giving rise to multiple NT‐3 mRNA variants of slightly different lengths. Cerebellar granule neurons express both classes of NT‐3 transcripts, but only transcript B is regulated by tri‐iodothyronine (T3) in these neurons. The effect of T3 on NT‐3 mRNA is primarily due to transcription enhancement, as shown in nuclear run‐on experiments. The levels of NT‐3 mRNA are much lower in cultured mouse astrocytes and are undetectable in the human neuroblastoma cell line IMR 32. A TATA box is present in the upstream region of exon IB but not in that of exon IA. Promoter analysis using the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene fused to different NT‐3 upstream regions showed the presence of two active NT‐3 promoters in cerebellar granule neurons. However, in IMR 32 cells, NT‐3 promoter activity decreased dramatically with increasing length of the 5′ flanking region. This suggests that expression of the NT‐3 gene is regulated both by positive influences, such as T3, and by negative silencing elements present in the upstream regions of the NT‐3 promoter.
Chronic niacin overload may be involved in the increased prevalence of obesity in US children.

AIM To investigate nicotinamide's action on glucose metabolism, and the association between niacin consumption and obesity prevalence. METHODS Dynamic nicotinamide's effect on plasma hydrogen peroxide and glucose metabolism was investigated using oral glucose tolerance tests with or without nicotinamide in the same five healthy subjects. Lag-regression analysis was used to examine the association between the niacin consumption and the obesity prevalence among US children using the data from the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture and from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively. RESULTS Compared with the control oral glucose tolerance test, the 1-h plasma hydrogen peroxide (1.4 +/- 0.1 micromol/L vs 1.6 +/- 0.1 micromol/L, P = 0.016) and insulin levels (247.1 +/- 129.0 pmol/L vs 452.6 +/- 181.8 pmol/L, P = 0.028) were significantly higher, and the 3-h blood glucose was significantly lower (5.8 +/- 1.2 mmol/L vs 4.5 +/- 1.1 mmol/L, P = 0.002) after co-administration of glucose and 300 mg nicotinamide. The obesity prevalence among American children increased with the increasing per capita niacin consumption, the increasing grain contribution to niacin due to niacin-fortification, and the increasing niacin-fortified ready-to-eat cereal consumption, with a 10-year lag. The regression analyses showed that the obesity prevalence in the US children of all age groups was determined by niacin consumption (R(2) = 0.814, 0.961 and 0.94 for 2-5 years, 6-11 years and 12-19 years age groups, respectively). CONCLUSION The appetite-stimulating effect of nicotinamide appears to involve oxidative stress. Excess niacin consumption may be a major factor in the increased obesity prevalence in US children.
Evaluating hospital costs in type 2 diabetes care: does the choice of the model matter?*

ABSTRACT Background: Awareness of the economic burden of diabetes has led to a number of studies on economic issues. However, comparison among cost-of-illness studies is problematic because different methods are used to arrive at a final cost estimate. Objective: The aim of the study is to show how estimates of hospitalisation costs for diabetic patients can vary significantly in relation to the statistical method adopted in the analysis. Research design and methods: The study analyses diabetic patients’ costs as a function of demographic and clinical covariates, by applying the following statistical survival models: the parametric survival model assuming Weibull distribution, the Cox proportional hazard (PH) model and the Aalen additive regression for modelling costs. The Aalen approach is robust both for the non proportionality in hazard and for departures from normality. In addition it is able to easily model the effect of covariates on the extreme costs. This cost analysis is based on data collected for a retrospective observational study analysing repeated hospitalisations (N = 4816) in a cohort of 3892 diabetic patients. Results: There is agreement in all models with the effects of the considered covariates (age, sex, duration of disease and presence of other pathologies). An effect of over- or under-estimation, according to the chosen model due to arguably inappropriate model fitting, was observed, being more evident for some specific profiles of the patients, and overall accounting for as much as 20% of the estimated effect. The Aalen model was able to cope with all the other models in furnishing unbiased estimates with the advantage of a greater flexibility in representing the covariates’ effect on the cost process. Conclusions: An appropriate choice of the model is crucial in avoiding misinterpretation of cost determinants of type 2 diabetes care. For our data set the Aalen model proved itself to be a realistic and informative way to characterise the effect of covariates on costs.
Classification of antenna by cube receiving array based on directional diagram

This paper analyzes different spatial distribution of the field strength in the far field of different antenna. We will receive the field strength in the same area by receiving array based on directional diagram, and then send the data to BP neural network to simulate the nonlinear features of different antenna modeling so as to achieve the classification of different antenna. At last we will compare the different classification models to analyze their advantages and disadvantages.
Family genetic studies, suicide, and suicidal behavior

The extant adoption, twin, and family studies of suicide and suicidal behavior are reviewed. Suicidal behavior is highly familial, and on the basis of twin and adoption studies, heritable as well. Both completed and attempted suicide form part of the clinical phenotype that is familially transmitted, as rates of suicide attempt are elevated in the family members of suicide completers, and completion rates are elevated in the family members of attempters. A family history of suicidal behavior is associated with suicidal behavior in the proband, even after adjusting for presence of psychiatric disorders in the proband and family, indicating transmission of attempt that is distinct from family transmission of psychiatric disorder. Impulsive aggression in probands and family members is associated with family loading for suicidal behavior, and may contribute to familial transmission of suicidal behavior. Shared environment effects such as abuse, imitation, or transmission of psychopathology are other possible explanations. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Methadone Maintenance Treatment: Disciplining the ‘Addict’

Abstract:This article examines key aims, objectives, technologies, strategies, and procedures utilised in Australian methadone maintenance programs over the past thirty years. An examination of the major policy documents reveal that, in addition to medico-health concerns, methadone programs have been strategically deployed to manage specific sociopolitical problems including illicit drug use, crime, and the spread of infectious diseases. The techniques, technologies, and procedures utilised in methadone programs and the ‘disciplinary monotony’ of the methadone regime itself aim to produce a more compliant, conforming, and self-regulating subject. It is argued that the promotion of methadone maintenance as a ‘treatment’ modality obscures these disciplinary objectives and the political goals that have fostered them.
Same, Same but Different

The audience plays an important role in the journalistic context. The audience implications of journalistic work and output, business matters and policy making requires knowledge of public preferences and whether and how they take part in the news. Mixed-mode survey designs including Web and mail are becoming increasingly common in audience research, but it is unclear how mixing the survey modes affects the results. With the possibility of increasing response rates, is the risk of degrading the quality of answers. As audience research constitutes an important cornerstone of journalism studies, and because survey design including the Web is becoming more and more attractive, it is relevant to study the implications of merging audience data from different collection modes. This large-N survey provides a unique opportunity to analyse representative data on the matter. Altogether, 6603 respondents completed the survey, of whom 7.5 per cent chose the Web mode. Both habitual questions and opinion questions on different media were included in the study. The largest differences were found for item non-responses, whereas response distribution among respondents only differed to a small extent due to mode. There is no urgent need for caution when combining mail and Web responses in one data-set. However, thorough analyses of item non-response are necessary to control measurement errors when surveying media audiences and habits of using digital and other media in mixed-mode designed surveys.
In vivo imaging of neurodegeneration in Caenorhabditis elegans by third harmonic generation microscopy

In this study, neurodegeneration phenomena were investigated, by performing third harmonic generation imaging measurements on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, in vivo. The in vivo, precise identification of the contour of the degenerating neurons in the posterior part of the nematode and the monitoring, in real time, of the progression of degeneration in the worm, through third harmonic generation imaging measurements, were achieved. Femtosecond laser pulses (1028 nm) were utilized for excitation. Thus, the THG image contrast modality comprises a powerful diagnostic tool, providing valuable information and offering new insights into morphological changes and complex developmental processes in live biological specimens.
Gain Enhancement in Microstrip Patch Antennas using Metallic Ring at 10 GHz

A microstrip patch antenna is designed that have metallic ring coplanar to radiation patch for gain enhancement is proposed. The design forces conversion of the surface wave energy into the space wave energy by the scattering of surface waves from metallic ring. The metallic ring is placed around the metal patch at a distance of d1 from the edges of the metal patch and width of metallic ring is d2. Using CST Microwave studio, the results of the patch antenna without metallic ring and patch surrounded by metallic ring are simulated and compared. The proposed microstrip patch antenna operates at the 10.5 GHz frequency. By this proposed antenna design there is enhancement in the gain of microstrip patch antenna about 185% as compared to conventional one (without metallic ring).
Natural proofs

The ultimate goal we have is separating classes (or proving they are equal if they are). But our success so far seems to be limited: We know a (quite) tight time hierarchy, a tight space hierarchy, non-deterministic hierarchies, and some other (weaker) hierarchies. However, we are unable to even prove that LOG 6= P#P or that BPP 6= NEXP. In this lecture we seek some justification to this state of affairs.
Cohort study of depressed mood during pregnancy and after childbirth

Abstract Objective: To follow mothers' mood through pregnancy and after childbirth and compare reported symptoms of depression at each stage. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Avon. Participants: Pregnant women resident within Avon with an expected date of delivery between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992. Main outcome measures: Symptom scores from the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale at 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy and 8 weeks and 8 months postpartum. Proportion of women above a threshold indicating probable depressive disorder. Results: Depression scores were higher at 32 weeks of pregnancy than 8 weeks postpartum (difference in means 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.79 to 0.97). There was no difference in the distribution of total scores or scores for individual items at the four time points. 1222 (13.5%) women scored above threshold for probable depression at 32 weeks of pregnancy, 821 (9.1%) at 8 weeks postpartum, and 147 (1.6%) throughout. More mothers moved above the threshold for depression between 18 weeks and 32 weeks of pregnancy than between 32 weeks of pregnancy and 8 weeks postpartum. Conclusions: Symptoms of depression are not more common or severe after childbirth than during pregnancy. Research and clinical efforts need to be moved towards understanding, recognising, and treating antenatal depression.