Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Steroid transfer from the ovarian vein to the ovarian artery in the sow.

The ovary and its vascular pedicle were isolated and transferred under a stereomicroscope to a heated surface (40 degrees C). The ovary was supplied with the blood from the middle uterine artery through a cannula. On different days of the oestrous cycle [3H]testosterone, [3H]progesterone or [3H]oestradiol-17 beta were infused for 30 min into the ovarian vein 1--2 cm below the ovary. During and 30 min after the infusion radioactivity was found in ovarian arterial blood and ovarian tissue. Recovery of [3H]testosterone, [3H]oestradiol and [3H]progesterone infused into the ovarian vein from ovarian venous blood collected during 60 min of experiment was (mean +/- s.e.m.) 26.8 +/- 6.8%, 20.1 +/- 6.1% and 23.7 +/- 6.2% respectively. When 51Cr-labelled blood blood cells were infused in the same fashion as the steroids there was no radioactivity in arterial blood or ovarian tissue. These results indicate the existence of a countercurrent transfer mechanism and retention of the hormones in tissue(s) other than blood in the ovarian pedicle.
Role of Ventral Subiculum in Context-Induced Relapse to Alcohol Seeking after Punishment-Imposed Abstinence

In many human alcoholics, abstinence is self-imposed because of the negative consequences of excessive alcohol use, and relapse is often triggered by exposure to environmental contexts associated with prior alcohol drinking. We recently developed a rat model of this human condition in which we train alcohol-preferring P rats to self-administer alcohol in one context (A), punish the alcohol-reinforced responding in a different context (B), and then test for relapse to alcohol seeking in Contexts A and B without alcohol or shock. Here, we studied the role of projections to nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell from ventral subiculum (vSub), basolateral amygdala, paraventricular thalamus, and ventral medial prefrontal cortex in context-induced relapse after punishment-imposed abstinence. First, we measured double-labeling of the neuronal activity marker Fos with the retrograde tracer cholera toxin subunit B (injected in NAc shell) and demonstrated that context-induced relapse is associated with selective activation of the vSub→NAc shell projection. Next, we reversibly inactivated the vSub with GABA receptor agonists (muscimol+baclofen) before the context-induced relapse tests and provided evidence for a causal role of vSub in this relapse. Finally, we used a dual-virus approach to restrict expression of the inhibitory κ opioid-receptor based DREADD (KORD) in vSub→NAc shell projection neurons. We found that systemic injections of the KORD agonist salvinorin B, which selectively inhibits KORD-expressing neurons, decreased context-induced relapse to alcohol seeking. Our results demonstrate a critical role of vSub in context-induced relapse after punishment-imposed abstinence and further suggest a role of the vSub→NAc projection in this relapse. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In many human alcoholics, abstinence is self-imposed because of the negative consequences of excessive use, and relapse is often triggered by exposure to environmental contexts associated with prior alcohol use. Until recently, an animal model of this human condition did not exist. We developed a rat model of this human condition in which we train alcohol-preferring P rats to self-administer alcohol in one context (A), punish the alcohol-reinforced responding in a different context (B), and test for relapse to alcohol seeking in Contexts A and B. Here, we used neuroanatomical, neuropharmacological, and chemogenetic methods to demonstrate a role of ventral subiculum and potentially its projections to nucleus accumbens in context-induced relapse after punishment-imposed abstinence.
High-resolution PET detector design: modelling components of intrinsic spatial resolution

The development of dedicated small animal PET (positron emission tomography) scanners has led to significantly higher spatial resolution and comparable sensitivity to clinical scanners. However, it is not clear whether we are approaching the fundamental limit of spatial resolution. This work aims to understand what is currently limiting spatial resolution during data formation and collection and how to apply that knowledge to obtain the best possible resolution for small animal PET without sacrificing sensitivity. Monte Carlo simulations were performed of the interactions of a 511 keV photon in a variety of detector materials to evaluate the modulation transfer function of the materials. Positron range, non-colinearity and pixel size were modelled to determine the contribution of additional components of data formation and collection on the complete modulation transfer function of a PET system. These simulations are shown to predict the intrinsic detector resolution of current high resolution systems very well. They also show that current detectors are not limited by inter-crystal scatter. An intrinsic resolution of 0.5 mm can be achieved, but would require a detector with a pixel size of around 250 µm that can be read out unambiguously. It is shown that a range of different detector materials, both scintillators and semiconductors, can be used in these high-resolution detectors. While this design relies on thin (∼3 mm) pieces of material, stacks of the material are shown to simultaneously provide spatial resolution near 0.5 mm and 60% efficiency. This work has shown that detectors with significantly better resolution and sensitivity can be developed for small animal PET applications.
Arteriosclerotic and Other Degenerative Heart Diseases in Finland

A statistical survey of death certificates was made to analyse the ante-mortem and post-mortem medical and medico-legal examinations used in the determination of the cause of death of 12973 decedents who were recorded officially to have died of arteriosclerotic and other degenerative heart diseases in Finland in 1968. The relationship between the regional autopsy rate and the rate of mortality from degenerative heart diseases was studied in particular. The survey indicated that there was no systematic relationship between the type of ante-mortem and post-mortem cause-of-death examinations, including medical and medico-legal autopsies, and the rate of mortality from arteriosclerotic and other degenerative heart diseases in various groups of the Finnish population analysed by age, sex and domicile. This was concluded to be an indication of the reliability of Finnish cause-of-death statistics of degenerative heart diseases which show a generally high rate of mortality and prominent regional differences in the rate of deaths from those diseases among the Finnish male population.
Effects of Aging, Cytomegalovirus Infection, and EBV Infection on Human B Cell Repertoires

Elderly humans show decreased humoral immunity to pathogens and vaccines, yet the effects of aging on B cells are not fully known. Chronic viral infection by CMV is implicated as a driver of clonal T cell proliferations in some aging humans, but whether CMV or EBV infection contributes to alterations in the B cell repertoire with age is unclear. We have used high-throughput DNA sequencing of IGH gene rearrangements to study the BCR repertoires over two successive years in 27 individuals ranging in age from 20 to 89 y. Some features of the B cell repertoire remain stable with age, but elderly subjects show increased numbers of B cells with long CDR3 regions, a trend toward accumulation of more highly mutated IgM and IgG Ig genes, and persistent clonal B cell populations in the blood. Seropositivity for CMV or EBV infection alters B cell repertoires, regardless of the individual’s age: EBV infection correlates with the presence of persistent clonal B cell expansions, whereas CMV infection correlates with the proportion of highly mutated Ab genes. These findings isolate effects of aging from those of chronic viral infection on B cell repertoires and provide a baseline for understanding human B cell responses to vaccination or infectious stimuli.
Using Census Data and Birth Certificates to Reconstruct the Early-Life Socioeconomic Environment and the Relation to the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease

The early-life environment and its effect on growth and maturation of children and adolescents are associated with several adult chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Because it is not feasible to collect information prospectively over the average life span, methods to reconstruct the early-life environment of the aged are necessary to evaluate these associations. In a community-based case-control study conducted in the United States, we collected U.S. census records and birth certificates to reconstruct the early-life socioeconomic environment of each elderly subject. Information was found on 82% of the available Alzheimer’s disease cases (239 of 292) and 87% of the available controls (245 of 282). We investigated risk of Alzheimer’s disease associated with father’s occupation, parental age, household size, sibship size, and birth order. Subjects whose fathers were unskilled manual workers or laborers were at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease (odds ratio = 1.80, 95% confidence interval = 1.19–2.73). The risk of Alzheimer’s disease was increased with increasing number of people in the household. We also evaluated whether subjects with the apolipoprotein ϵ4 allele (APOE ϵ4), a strong genetic risk factor that is not a necessary cause or a sufficient cause by itself for the development of Alzheimer’s disease, were at higher risk than subjects who did not carry this allele. Among subjects with the APOE ϵ4 allele whose fathers held lower-socioeconomic level occupations, the odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease were higher (odds ratio = 2.35, 95% confidence interval = 1.07–5.16) compared with subjects without the allele (odds ratio = 1.40, 95% confidence interval = 0.78–2.52). Subjects carrying the APOE ϵ4 allele alone have a threefold increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (odds ratio = 3.17, 95% confidence interval = 1.99–5.04). Compared with subjects with neither risk factor, subjects with both the genetic and the environmental risk factors (household size of seven or more and father’s occupation being manual) had a relatively high risk of Alzheimer’s disease (odds ratio = 14.8, 95% confidence interval = 4.9–46). The data suggest that APOE ϵ4 may modify the associations between father’s occupation, other early-life environmental factors, and development of Alzheimer’s disease in late life.
Multidimensional knowledge-based framework is an essential step in the categorization of gene sets in complex disorders

In complex disorders, collaborative role of several genes accounts for the multitude of symptoms and the discovery of molecular mechanisms requires proper understanding of pertinent genes. Majority of the recent techniques utilize either single information or consolidate the independent outlook from multiple knowledge sources for assisting the discovery of candidate genes. In any case, given that various sorts of heterogeneous sources are possibly significant for quality gene prioritization, every source bearing data not conveyed by another, we assert that a perfect strategy ought to give approaches to observe among them in a genuine integrative style that catches the degree of each, instead of utilizing a straightforward mix of sources. We propose a flexible approach that empowers multi-source information reconciliation for quality gene prioritization that augments the complementary nature of various learning sources so as to utilize the maximum information of aggregated data. To illustrate the proposed approach, we took Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as a case study and validated the framework on benchmark studies. We observed that the combined ranking based on integrated knowledge reduces the false positive observations and boosts the performance when compared with individual rankings. The clinical phenotype validation for ASD shows that there is a significant linkage between top positioned genes and endophenotypes of ASD. Categorization of genes based on endophenotype associations by this method will be useful for further hypothesis generation leading to clinical and translational analysis. This approach may also be useful in other complex neurological and psychiatric disorders with a strong genetic component.
Parasite manipulation of insect reproduction: who benefits ?

Summary Host fertility is often curtailed as a result of parasitic infection. The hypothesis that this may confer an adaptive advantage upon the symbionts if nutrients are directed from reproduction and made available for host/parasite maintenance is explored. The suggestion is made that an understanding of the mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of fecundity reduction may shed light upon the evolutionary implications of this strategy for both parasite and host. To illustrate this the down-regulation of egg production is explored with reference to a particular model system, the association between metacestodes of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta and the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor. Several aspects of host reproductive behaviour and physiology are affected by infection in this association, including vitellogenesis. Metacestodes directly inhibit the fat body synthesis of vitellogenin in a stage-specific, density-dependent manner. This inhibition is likely to be orchestrated by a modulator molecule, produced by the parasite. In the ovarian follicles, juvenile hormone III binding to a specific follicular membrane-binding protein is inhibited in infected beetles, resulting in the down-regulation of a cascade of events which enables vitellogenin to pass into the developing oocyte. Data to support the proposed existence of a parasite-induced antigonadotrophin, of host origin, are discussed. Evidence that similar mechanisms operate in Plasmodium-iniected anopheline mosquitoes and Onchocerca-infected blackflies is presented in support of the possibility that a parasite-induced reduction in host reproductive fitness is an adaptive strategy and an assessment of who is manipulating whom is made.
The influence of ventilatory control on heart rate variability in children

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of breathing frequency and tidal volume on resting heart rate variability in children aged 9 years ( n = 29) and 16 years ( n = 19). Heart rate variability was measured in four conditions: (1) without the control of ventilation followed at random by (2) a fixed breathing frequency of 12 breaths· min -1 , (3) a breathing frequency of 12 breaths· min -1 but with a fixed tidal volume of 30% vital capacity and (4) a fixed breathing frequency of 6 breaths·min -1 and a tidal volume of 30% vital capacity. A total of 128 RR intervals (the time between two spikes in the heart rate) were detected and absolute high- and low-frequency spectral components were calculated using autoregressive modelling. The younger children were unable to control ventilation to achieve conditions 3 and 4; therefore, a 2 2 2 (group 2 condition) analysis of variance was used to analyse conditions 1 and 2. There were significant interactions between group and heart rate variability conditions for the low-frequency component and the ratio of low to high frequencies ( P ≪ 0.001). The main effect for condition showed that at 12 breaths· min -1 with no fixed tidal volume there was a significantly higher standard deviation of the RR interval, total power and high-frequency ( P ≪ 0.01) and lowfrequency spectral components ( P ≪ 0.05) than in the condition with no ventilatory control. Across the four breathing conditions for the older participants, the high-frequency spectral component was significantly higher in the condition at 6 breaths· min -1 with a fixed tidal volume than in that with no ventilatory control ( P ≪ 0.005); the ratio of high to low frequencies was significantly lower for the spontaneous condition than those performed at 12 breaths· min -1 ( P ≪ 0.001). The results provide evidence of the need for ventilatory control when assessing short-term resting heart rate variability in children.
Relationship of affect recognition with psychopathology and cognitive performance in schizophrenia

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between emotion perception and both psychopathology and cognitive functioning in a group of Greek patients with schizophrenia. Thirty-five patients with schizophrenia were assessed with computerized tests of emotion perception, using visual faces (Kinney's Affect Matching Test, KAMT), prosody (Affective Prosody Test, APT), and visual everyday scenarios (Fantie's Cartoon Test, FCT), as well as a facial recognition test (Kinney's Identity Matching Test, KIMT). The patients were also evaluated with the symptoms dimensions derived from the PANSS (positive, negative, cognitive, depression, and excitement) and a battery of neuropsychological tests measuring executive functions, attention, working memory, verbal and visual memory, visuospatial ability, and visual scanning/psychomotor speed. The three emotion perception and face recognition tests correlated significantly with each other. The KAMT was significantly related to the cognitive symptoms dimension of the PANSS and executive functions. The FCT was significantly related to level of education and attention. Finally, the APT was significantly related to the cognitive symptoms dimension, executive functions, and attention. Our findings regarding the significant relationships of affect perception, both facial and vocal, as well as in everyday scenarios, with several cognitive abilities support the notion that deficits in decoding affective information in schizophrenia could be attributed to impairment in more basic neurocognitive domains. (JINS, 2004, 10, 549–558.)
Don't shoot down TLB shootdowns!

Translation Lookaside Buffers (TLBs) are critical for building performant virtual memory systems. Because most processors do not provide coherence for TLB mappings, TLB shootdowns provide a software mechanism that invokes inter-processor interrupts (IPLs) to synchronize TLBs. TLB shootdowns are expensive, so recent work has aimed to avoid the frequency of shootdowns through techniques such as batching. We show that aggressive batching can cause correctness issues and addressing them can obviate the benefits of batching. Instead, our work takes a different approach which focuses on both improving the performance of TLB shootdowns and carefully selecting where to avoid shootdowns. We introduce four general techniques to improve shootdown performance: (1) concurrently flush initiator and remote TLBs, (2) early acknowledgement from remote cores, (3) cacheline consolidation of kernel data structures to reduce cacheline contention, and (4) in-context flushing of userspace entries to address the overheads introduced by Spectre and Meltdown mitigations. We also identify that TLB flushing can be avoiding when handling copy-on-write (CoW) faults and some TLB shootdowns can be batched in certain system calls. Overall, we show that our approach results in significant speedups without sacrificing safety and correctness in both microbenchmarks and real-world applications.
Social, structural and behavioral drivers of concurrent partnerships among African American men in Philadelphia

Abstract African Americans face disproportionately higher risks of HIV infection. Concurrent sexual relationships, or sexual partnerships that overlap in time, are more common among African Americans than individuals of other races and may contribute to racial disparities in HIV infection. However, little is known about attitudes, norms and practices among individuals engaged in concurrent partnerships. Little is also known about the processes through which structural, behavioral, and social factors influence concurrent sexual relationships. We recruited 24 heterosexual African American men involved in concurrent sexual relationships from a public health clinic in Philadelphia. We conducted in-depth interviews exploring these men's sexual practices; social norms and individual attitudes about concurrency; perceived sexual health risks with main and non-main partners; and the social, structural, and behavioral factors contributing to concurrent sexual relationships. Twenty-two men reported having one main and one or more non-main partners; two reported having no main partners. Respondents generally perceived sexual relationships with non-main partners as riskier than relationships with main partners and used condoms far less frequently with main than non-main partners. Most participants commented that it is acceptable and often expected for men and women to engage in concurrent sexual relationships. Social factors influencing participants’ concurrent partnerships included being unmarried and trusting neither main nor non-main partners. Structural factors influencing concurrent partnerships included economic dependence on one or more women, incarceration, unstable housing, and unemployment. Several men commented that individual behavioral factors such as alcohol and cocaine use contributed to their concurrent sexual partnerships. Future research and interventions related to sexual concurrency should address social and structural factors in addition to conventional HIV risk-taking behaviors.
Three-repeat Tau 69 is a major tau isoform in laser-microdissected Pick bodies

By utilizing a novel combinatorial method of a Laser Microdissection System and Western blot analysis, we demonstrate that a distinct isoform of abnormally phosphorylated tau (69 kDa, Tau 69) predominantly aggregated in laser-microdissected Pick bodies (PBs) in sporadic Pick's disease. By contrast, tau migrated as two major bands of 60 and 64 kDa (Tau 60 and 64) in total brain homogenates as previously reported. Comparative immunohistochemical analysis with anti–4-repeat antibody revealed that a major component of the abnormally phosphorylated tau in these PBs was 3-repeat tau (3R-tau). Whether 29 amino acid repeat encoded by exons 2 and 3 in the Tau 69 might accelerate the formation of PBs remains to be further investigated. Such a combination of morphological and biochemical techniques significantly complements the existing histopathological methods.
Status and Future of High-Power Light-Emitting Diodes for Solid-State Lighting

Status and future outlook of III-V compound semiconductor visible-spectrum light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are presented. Light extraction techniques are reviewed and extraction efficiencies are quantified in the 60%+ (AlGaInP) and ~80% (InGaN) regimes for state-of-the-art devices. The phosphor-based white LED concept is reviewed and recent performance discussed, showing that high-power white LEDs now approach the 100-lm/W regime. Devices employing multiple phosphors for "warm" white color temperatures (~3000-4000 K) and high color rendering (CRI>80), which provide properties critical for many illumination applications, are discussed. Recent developments in chip design, packaging, and high current performance lead to very high luminance devices (~50 Mcd/m2 white at 1 A forward current in 1times1 mm2 chip) that are suitable for application to automotive forward lighting. A prognosis for future LED performance levels is considered given further improvements in internal quantum efficiency, which to date lag achievements in light extraction efficiency for InGaN LEDs