Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphine causes rapid increases in glial activation and neuronal injury in the striatum of inducible HIV‐1 tat transgenic mice

HIV encephalitis (HIVE) is accompanied by brain inflammation, leukocyte infiltration, and glial activation, and HIV patients who abuse opiates are more likely to develop HIVE. To better understand how opiates could alter HIV‐related brain inflammation, the expression of astrocyte (GFAP immunoreactivity) and macrophage/microglial (F4/80 or Mac1 immunoreactivity) markers in the striatum, and the percentage of 3‐nitrotyrosine (3‐NT) positive macrophages/microglia, was determined following a 2‐day exposure to morphine (5 mg/kg/day via time‐release, subcutaneous implant) and doxycycline in GFAP‐driven, doxycycline‐inducible HIV‐1 Tat transgenic mice. Data show that both morphine and Tat induction via doxycycline increased astrocyte activation, with significant additive increases achieved with combined morphine and doxycycline exposure. By contrast, combined Tat induction and morphine exposure, but neither manipulation alone, significantly increased the proportion of macrophages/microglia present in the striatum of transgenic mice, although morphine exposure was necessary to elevate 3‐NT co‐detection in Mac1‐positive macrophages/microglia. Finally, Tat induction increased the percentage of neurons expressing active caspase‐3, and this was even more significantly elevated by co‐administration of morphine. In spite of elevations in caspase‐3, neuronal TUNEL reactivity was unchanged in all groups, even after 10 days of Tat induction. Importantly, co‐administration of naltrexone completely antagonized the effects of morphine. These findings indicate that morphine rapidly and significantly increases the activation of astrocytes and macrophages/microglia in the brains of inducible Tat transgenic mice, supporting the theory that early inflammatory changes in glia could underlie the development of HIVE in opiate‐abusing AIDS patients. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Illumination estimation using linear decomposition and constrained optimization

We investigate the problem of estimating scene illumination from an image. By approximating the spectral surface reflectance and the illumination spectra power distribution in finite linear spaces, the projection of the illumination onto the linear space is computed by minimizing the error in pixel value. The solution space is constrained by using the physical properties of both reflectance and illumination. Various techniques such as multiple hypotheses (hence multiple linear spaces) for illumination are used to improve the results. We have found that by approximating the surface reflectance in a 3 or 4 dimensional linear space and the illumination in a 5 or 6 dimensional linear space, the new algorithm significantly outperforms the gray-world algorithm for RGB images.
An O(log N) Parallel Time Exact Hidden-Line Algorithm

Parallel algorithms are given for the exact solution of the hidden-line problem. Most of the parallel algorithms proposed for visibility problems in the literature give approximate solutions. and thus cannot yield an upper bound on the complexity of the particular problem. The first algorithm proposed here is worth mentioning not only for its simplicity. but also from a practical point of view: a speed up of a factor P is achieved by using P processors. 1≤P≤N, where N is the number of edges used to describe a polygonal scene. Additionally. the problem of aliasing inherent with approximation methods is avoided. The significance of the second algorithm, which is based on the first one, is mainly on the theoretical level: it is used to establish the parallel complexity of the hidden-line problem. The sequential complexity of this problem has recently been proved to be Θ(N2), and now we can prove that in the parallel case the problem is in the complexity class NC, i.e., it can be solved in time polynomial in log N by using a number of processors polynomial in N, assuming any reasonable model of parallel computation. More particularly, an O (log N) parallel time solution is given which cannot be further improved even if arbitrarily many processors of a concurrent read, exclusive write parallel RAM model are available.
Reverse engineering of object-oriented code into Umple using an incremental and rule-based approach

In this paper we present a novel approach to reverse engineering, in which modeling information such as UML associations, state machines and attributes is incrementally added to code written in Java or C++, while maintaining the system in a textual format. Umple is a textual representation that blends modeling in UML with programming language code. The approach, called umplification, produces a program with behavior identical to the original one, but written in Umple and enhanced with model-level abstractions. As the resulting program is Umple code, our approach eliminates the distinction between code and model. In this paper we discuss the principles of Umple, the umplification approach and a rule-driven tool called the Umplificator, which implements and validates the depicted approach.
Myocardial protection by ischemic preconditioning and delta-opioid receptor activation in the isolated working rat heart.

OBJECTIVE delta-Opioid receptors are involved in the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning. This study was designed (1) to assess the protective capacities of ischemic preconditioning and the synthetic delta-opioid receptor agonist D-Ala(2)-D-Leu(5) enkephalin (DADLE) in a functionally oriented experimental model of ischemia and reperfusion and (2) to assess whether the effects of both protective measures are similarly blocked by naloxone, a nonspecific delta-opioid receptor antagonist. METHODS Sixty-four isolated working rat hearts were subjected to 45 minutes of hypothermic ischemia at 30 degrees C followed by 25 minutes of normothermic reperfusion. Rats were pretreated with DADLE (1 mg/kg body weight intravenously), naloxone (3 mg/kg body weight intravenously), or a combination thereof within 60 minutes before onset of isolated heart perfusion. During the preischemic perfusion period, 8 hearts per group were preconditioned by one cycle of 5 minutes of normothermic global ischemia and subsequent reperfusion whereas another 8 served as nonpreconditioned controls. The postischemic functional recovery of hearts and their creatine kinase leakage were determined. RESULTS Pretreatment with DADLE and ischemic preconditioning improved the postischemic recovery of aortic flow when compared with nonpreconditioning (57.7% +/- 4.0% and 60.8% +/- 4.3% vs 40.0% +/- 4.2% of preischemic baseline value, P <.001). Combined pretreatment with DADLE before ischemic preconditioning afforded additional aortic flow recovery compared with pretreatment with DADLE alone (68.6% +/- 3.3% vs 57.7% +/- 4.0% of preischemic baseline value; P =.038). With combined pretreatment, early postischemic creatine kinase release was lower than control in hearts without pretreatment (0.48 +/- 0.11 vs 0.80 +/- 0.12 IU/5 minutes per heart; P =.001). Naloxone abolished the beneficial functional effects of pretreatment with DADLE and ischemic preconditioning. CONCLUSIONS Pharmacologic activation of delta-opioid receptors affords improvement of functional protection in isolated working rat hearts similar to that conferred by classic ischemic preconditioning. The combination of both pretreatments reduces ischemic cellular damage and further adds to postischemic functional recovery. These changes are reversed by naloxone, an observation providing evidence that ischemic preconditioning involves signaling through opioid receptors.
Cospeciation of termite gut flagellates and their bacterial endosymbionts: Trichonympha species and ‘Candidatus Endomicrobium trichonymphae’

Symbiotic flagellates play a major role in the digestion of lignocellulose in the hindgut of lower termites. Many termite gut flagellates harbour a distinct lineage of bacterial endosymbionts, so‐called Endomicrobia, which belong to the candidate phylum Termite Group 1. Using an rRNA‐based approach, we investigated the phylogeny of Trichonympha, the predominant flagellates in a wide range of termite species, and of their Endomicrobia symbionts. We found that Trichonympha species constitute three well‐supported clusters in the Parabasalia tree. Endomicrobia were detected only in the apical lineage (Cluster I), which comprises flagellates present in the termite families Termopsidae and Rhinotermitidae, but apparently absent in the basal lineages (Clusters II and III) consisting of flagellates from other termite families and from the wood‐feeding cockroach, Cryptocercus punctulatus. The endosymbionts of Cluster I form a monophyletic group distinct from many other lineages of Endomicrobia and seem to have cospeciated with their flagellate host. The distribution pattern of the symbiotic pairs among different termite species indicates that cospeciation of flagellates and endosymbionts is not simply the result of a spatial separation of the flagellate lineages in different termite species, but that Endomicrobia are inherited among Trichonympha species by vertical transmission. We suggest extending the previously proposed candidatus name ‘Endomicrobium trichonymphae’ to all Endomicrobia symbionts of Trichonympha species, and estimate that the acquisition by an ancestor of Trichonympha Cluster I must have occurred about 40–70 million years ago, long after the flagellates entered the termites.
Radiation-Exposed Populations: Who, Why, and How to Study

AbstractEveryone is exposed to natural and manmade ionizing radiation that can originate from sources in the environment and in medical and occupational settings. There is notable variation, however, among individuals and across populations in the types of sources of radiation and in the frequency, level, and duration of exposure. Adverse health effects associated with radiation exposure have been known for decades, and ionizing radiation exposure has been linked with a broad range of different types of cancer and benign neoplasms as well as birth defects, reproductive effects, and diseases of the circulatory, hematologic, and neurologic systems. Our present understanding of radiation-related health risks derives primarily from multidisciplinary health risk (epidemiologic) studies that provide the key information on radiation-associated health outcomes, quantify radiation-related disease risks, and enhance understanding of mechanisms of radiation-related disease pathogenesis. Such information is central to quantifying risks in relation to benefits; addressing public concerns, including societal and clinical needs in relation to radiation exposure; and providing the database needed for establishing recommendations for radiation protection. Because of the importance of determining risks compared to benefits for all situations where exposure to ionizing radiation might result, it is useful for planning new health risks studies to categorize exposed populations according to the sources and types of radiation. This paper describes a wide range of populations exposed to radiation and the motivation and key methodological criteria that drive the rationale and priority of studying such populations. Also, discussed are alternative methods for evaluating radiation-related health risks in these populations, with a major focus on epidemiologic approaches. This paper concludes with a short summary of major highlights from radiation epidemiologic research and important unanswered questions.Introduction of Exposed Populations (Video 1:29, http://links.lww.com/HP/A22)
Treatment Errors in Healthcare: A Safety Climate Approach

Recent reports on patient safety in healthcare point to the high frequency of treatment errors. This study suggests a new theory of safety climate and brings empirical evidence that helps explain the occurrence of treatment errors. Four safety climate dimensions have been identified. They include employee perceptions of the suitability of the organization's safety procedures for their daily work, employee perceptions of the frequency and the clarity of the safety information distributed by the organization, the way employees interpret their managers' safety practices, and the perceived priority given to safety within the organization. The study was conducted in 21 medical units in a general hospital and the results were cross-validated in 15 units in another hospital. Results demonstrated that perceived suitable safety procedures and frequent and clear information flow reduced treatment errors only when managers practiced safety and through their influence on the level of priority given to safety within the unit. Implications for safety climate theory and for reducing the occurrence of treatment errors by safety interventions are discussed.
WALKING UP SHIPQUAY STREET. A TRADITIONAL WAY TO ASSESS CARDIAC RISK IN DERRY

NICE has recently issued guidance for patients with chest pain of recent onset suggesting exercise stress testing is of little value. Instead, an assessment is made of the nature of the pain then three risk factors in addition to age and gender are used to calculate a risk score. This allocates patients to a range of sophisticated tests including cardiac computed tomography, myocardial perfusion scan and coronary angiography.
Empresas intensivas em conhecimento: internacionalização, interação com o Estado e com a universidade

Este artigo elabora sobre dados produzidos pela pesquisa realizada pela profa.S. K. Guimaraes, que analisou seis empresas intensivas em conhecimento, bemsucedidas em suas atividades de inovacao e de internacionalizacao. Segundo a autora, ointeresse do tema decorre da relevância da inovacao e internacionalizacao para odesenvolvimento economico sustentavel, na atualidade. O artigo examina os processosde internacionalizacao a partir do exame de condicoes institucionais e socioeconomicas, bem como, valores presentes entre os empreendedores, que os fazemperseguir a internacionalizacao, apesar das dificuldades, em um pais como o Brasil.Essas questoes foram examinadas por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadasentre empreendedores de empresas internacionalizadas. O presente artigo estendeu aanalise, utilizando-se dos dados ja coletados, de alguns resultados produzidos pelapesquisa acima indicada e, tambem, pelo survey realizado pelo mesmo grupo. Algunsestudos afirmam que na chamada economia do conhecimento, para que se efetive ainovacao qualificada, capaz de alcancar a internacionalizacao, seria fundamentalconsolidar a interacao entre empresa, universidade e Estado. Partindo deste pressuposto,este artigo foca sobre a natureza da interacao entre empresas, universidades e Estado,nas empresas investigadas.
Lakī and Kurdish

This paper aims at verifying the traditional set of phonetic changes, defined by D. N. Mackenzie as the main distinctive feature of the Kurdish dialects, with regard to Lakī having yet no clear affiliation in the Iranian dialectology. It is usually considered to be a dialect of Kurdish, sometimes a transitional dialect between Kurdish and Luri, and even a separate idiom.
Chern number and edge states in the integer quantum Hall effect.

We consider the integer quantum Hall effect on a square lattice in a uniform rational magnetic field. The relation between two different interpretations of the Hall conductance as topological invariants is clarified. One is the Thouless--Kohmoto--Nightingale--den Nijs (TKNN) integer in the infinite system and the other is a winding number of the edge state. In the TKNN form of the Hall conductance, a phase of the Bloch wave function defines U(1) vortices on the magnetic Brillouin zone and the total vorticity gives ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}_{\mathit{x}\mathit{y}}$. We find that these vortices are given by the edge states when they are degenerate with the bulk states.
Oral Language Deficits in Familial Dyslexia: A Meta-Analysis and Review

This article reviews 95 publications (based on 21 independent samples) that have examined children at family risk of reading disorders. We report that children at family risk of dyslexia experience delayed language development as infants and toddlers. In the preschool period, they have significant difficulties in phonological processes as well as with broader language skills and in acquiring the foundations of decoding skill (letter knowledge, phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming [RAN]). Findings are mixed with regard to auditory and visual perception: they do not appear subject to slow motor development, but lack of control for comorbidities confounds interpretation. Longitudinal studies of outcomes show that children at family risk who go on to fulfil criteria for dyslexia have more severe impairments in preschool language than those who are defined as normal readers, but the latter group do less well than controls. Similarly at school age, family risk of dyslexia is associated with significantly poor phonological awareness and literacy skills. Although there is no strong evidence that children at family risk are brought up in an environment that differs significantly from that of controls, their parents tend to have lower educational levels and read less frequently to themselves. Together, the findings suggest that a phonological processing deficit can be conceptualized as an endophenotype of dyslexia that increases the continuous risk of reading difficulties; in turn its impact may be moderated by protective factors.
Stabilization of pSW100 from Pantoea stewartii by the F Conjugation System

ABSTRACT Plasmid pSW100 is 1 of the 13 plasmids from Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii SW2 which has a replicon that resembles that of ColE1. This work uses a pSW100 derivative, pSW140K, to study how the pSW100 replicon is stably maintained in its hosts. Our results indicate that although pSW140K is stable in Escherichia coli HB101, the plasmid is rapidly lost in another E. coli strain, DH5α, indicating that the genetic background of an E. coli strain affects the stability of pSW140K. Mutagenesis of E. coli HB101 with EZ::TN revealed that mutations in traC, traF, traG, traN, and traV, which encode the components of the sex pilus assembly, reduce plasmid stability. Furthermore, this work identified that a 38-bp region located immediately upstream of the RNAII promoter is critical to the maintenance of plasmid stability in E. coli HB101. TraC binds to the region, and in addition, deleting the region destabilizes the plasmid. Furthermore, inserting this 38-bp fragment into a plasmid that contains the minimal replicon from pSW200 stabilizes the plasmid in E. coli HB101. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence staining also revealed that derivatives of pSW100, pSW128A, and TraC are colocalized in cells, suggesting that pSW100 may use the sex pilus assembly as a partition apparatus to ensure the even distribution of the plasmid during cell division, which may thus maintain the plasmid's stability.
Pilot comparison of surface vs. implanted EMG for multifunctional prosthesis control

The classification accuracies of controllers utilizing EMG input from six surface and ten intramuscular recordings are compared. In addition, the effect of including autoregressive (AR) parameters into the input sets is examined. The average accuracies from four subjects are reported. It was observed that surface recordings based solely on amplitude data did not perform well (21.1% error) but adding AR coefficients increased this accuracy substantially (10.3%). The intramuscular recordings performed comparably to the surface recordings with AR coefficients using all ten (13.2%) and a smaller set of six (12.1%) channels of intramuscular data. The subset of six channels was selected using multinomial logistic regression. It was observed that adding the AR coefficients to the intramuscular recordings also produced an improvement in classification accuracy for the six (92.8%) and ten (93.7%) channel input sets. To our knowledge this is the first work in more than three decades that explores the use of intramuscular EMG for the control of upper-limb prostheses and this work demonstrates that it is possible to achieve a decrease in classification error of nearly 40% by using intramuscular recordings.
Role of ATF7‐TAF12 interactions in the vitamin D response hypersensitivity of osteoclast precursors in Paget's disease

Osteoclast (OCL) precursors from many Paget's disease (PD) patients express measles virus nucleocapsid protein (MVNP) and are hypersensitive to 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25‐(OH)2D3; also know as calcitriol). The increased 1,25‐(OH)2D3 sensitivity is mediated by transcription initiation factor TFIID subunit 12 (TAF12), a coactivator of the vitamin D receptor (VDR), which is present at much higher levels in MVNP‐expressing OCL precursors than normals. These results suggest that TAF12 plays an important role in the abnormal OCL activity in PD. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying both 1,25‐(OH)2D3's effects on OCL formation and the contribution of TAF12 to these effects in both normals and PD patients are unclear. Inhibition of TAF12 with a specific TAF12 antisense construct decreased OCL formation and OCL precursors' sensitivity to 1,25‐(OH)2D3 in PD patient bone marrow samples. Further, OCL precursors from transgenic mice in which TAF12 expression was targeted to the OCL lineage (tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase [TRAP]‐TAF12 mice), formed OCLs at very low levels of 1,25‐(OH)2D3, although the OCLs failed to exhibit other hallmarks of PD OCLs, including receptor activator of NF‐κB ligand (RANKL) hypersensitivity and hypermultinucleation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis of OCL precursors using an anti‐TAF12 antibody demonstrated that TAF12 binds the 24‐hydroxylase (CYP24A1) promoter, which contains two functional vitamin D response elements (VDREs), in the presence of 1,25‐(OH)2D3. Because TAF12 directly interacts with the cyclic adenosine monophosphate–dependent activating transcription factor 7 (ATF7) and potentiates ATF7‐induced transcriptional activation of ATF7‐driven genes in other cell types, we determined whether TAF12 is a functional partner of ATF7 in OCL precursors. Immunoprecipitation of lysates from either wild‐type (WT) or MVNP‐expressing OCL with an anti‐TAF12 antibody, followed by blotting with an anti‐ATF7 antibody, or vice versa, showed that TAF12 and ATF7 physically interact in OCLs. Knockdown of ATF7 in MVNP‐expressing cells decreased cytochrome P450, family 24, subfamily A, polypeptide 1 (CYP24A1) induction by 1,25‐(OH)2D3, as well as TAF12 binding to the CYP24A1 promoter. These results show that ATF7 interacts with TAF12 and contributes to the hypersensitivity of OCL precursors to 1,25‐(OH)2D3 in PD.
Central command dysfunction in rats with heart failure is mediated by brain oxidative stress and normalized by exercise training

In heart failure, sympathoexcitation elicited by central command, a parallel activation of the motor and autonomic neural circuits in the brain, is exaggerated. Mechanisms underlying central command dysfunction in heart failure were unexplored, and effects of exercise training on central command dysfunction in heart failure were not determined. Data presented here suggest that oxidative stress in the medulla in heart failure mediates central command dysfunction, and that exercise training in heart failure is capable of normalizing central command dysfunction through its antioxidant effects in the medulla. The present study contributes to our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying abnormal autonomic adjustments to exercise in heart failure.