Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brain activity associated with painfully hot stimuli applied to the upper limb: A meta‐analysis

The capacity of pain to alert against potential injury or focus attention on damaged tissue is enhanced by the intrinsically aversive nature of the experience. Finding methods to relieve pain will ultimately be facilitated by deeper understanding of the processes that contribute to the experience, and functional brain imaging has contributed substantially toward that end. An impressive body of literature has identified a distributed network of pain‐related activity in the brain that is subject to considerable modulation by different stimulus parameters, contextual factors, and clinical conditions. The fundamental substrates of the pain network are yet to be distilled from the highly variable results of studies published thus far. Qualitative reviews of the pain‐imaging literature have been contributory, but lack the greater surety of quantitative methods. We employ the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta‐analytic technique to establish the most consistent activations among studies reporting brain responses subsequent to the application of noxious heat. A network of pain‐related activity was replicated for stimuli to either upper limb that included two discernible regions of the mid‐anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral thalami, insula, and opercula cortices, posterior parietal cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, and cerebellum. The findings of the meta‐analysis resonate with other streams of information that continue to enhance our understanding of pain in the brain. The results also point toward new areas of research that may be fruitful for the exploration of central pain processing. Hum Brain Mapp 25:129–139, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The health of poor women under welfare reform.

OBJECTIVES We compared the health of single mothers affected by welfare reform with the health of a nationally representative sample of women to document the prevalence of poor health as single mothers experience the effects of welfare reform. METHODS We compared risk factors and measures of health among women randomly sampled from the welfare rolls with similar data from a nationally representative sample of women. RESULTS Women in our welfare recipient sample had higher rates of elevated glycosylated hemoglobin (> or = 6%; prevalence ratio [PR]=4.87; 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.69, 7.04), hypertension (systole > or = 140 or diastole > or = 90; PR=2.36; 95% CI = 1.47, 3.24), high body mass index ( > or = 30; PR = 1.78; 95% CI = 1.49, 2.08), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (< or = 35 mg/dL; PR=1.91; 95% CI=1.17, 2.65); lower peak expiratory flow; and less physical functioning. Current smoking rates were higher (PR = 1.85; 95% CI = 1.50, 2.19) and smoking cessation rates were lower (PR=0.62; 95% CI=0.37, 0.86) than in the national sample. CONCLUSIONS Current and former welfare recipients bear a substantial burden of illness. Further studies are necessary to interpret our findings of worsened health in the wake of welfare reform.
Neutrino masses and the number of neutrino species from WMAP and 2dFGRS

We have performed a thorough analysis of the constraints which can be put on neutrino parameters from cosmological observations, most notably those from the WMAP satellite and the 2dF galaxy survey. For these data we find an upper limit on the sum of active neutrino mass eigenstates of ∑mν ≤ 1.0 eV (95% conf.), but this limit is dependent on priors. We find that the WMAP and 2dF data alone cannot rule out the evidence from neutrinoless double beta decay reported by the Heidelberg–Moscow experiment. In terms of the relativistic energy density in neutrinos or other weakly interacting species we find, in units of the equivalent number of neutrino species, Nν, that Nν = 4.0+3.0−2.1 (95% conf.). When BBN constraints are added, the bound on Nν is 2.6+0.4−0.3 (95% conf.), suggesting that Nν could possibly be lower than the standard model value of 3. This can, for instance, be the case in models with very low reheating temperature and incomplete neutrino thermalization. Conversely, if Nν is fixed to 3 then the data from WMAP and 2dFGRS predict that 0.2458 ≤ YP ≤ 0.2471 (95% conf.), which is significantly higher than the observationally measured value. The limit on relativistic energy density changes when a small νe chemical potential is present during BBN. In this case the upper bound on Nν from WMAP, 2dFGRS and BBN is Nν ≤ 6.5. Finally, we find that a non-zero ∑mν can be compensated by an increase in Nν. One result of this is that the LSND result is not yet ruled out by cosmological observations.
Blood transfusion, smoking, and obesity as risk factors for the development of rheumatoid arthritis: results from a primary care-based incident case-control study in Norfolk, England.

OBJECTIVE To examine a range of demographic, social, and clinical risk factors for the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Population-based case-control study in Norfolk, England, involving adult patients, ages 18-70, with an inflammatory polyarthritis of <12 months' duration who were recruited from the Norfolk Arthritis Register. Controls, matched for sex and date of birth, were selected from the primary care register of the Norwich Health Authority. Both cases and controls completed identical self-administered questionnaires. Matched analysis of the 165 case-control sets was conducted for the whole group and for the subset in which the cases satisfied the 1987 American College of Rheumatology criteria for RA. RESULTS The controls were of higher socioeconomic status than the cases. This was probably due to response bias. Having a body mass index > or =30 was associated with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 3.74 for developing RA (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.14-12.27). RA was also associated with a history of blood transfusion (OR 4.83, 95% CI 1.29-18.07). Even after correcting for social class, a history of having ever smoked was associated with a higher risk of developing RA (OR 1.66, 95% CI 0.95-3.06). There was no difference between cases and controls in previous exposure to childhood infections, certain surgical procedures, or reproductive history variables. CONCLUSION RA has a number of potential environmental triggers, including smoking, obesity, and blood transfusion.
Native root-associated bacteria rescue a plant from a sudden-wilt disease that emerged during continuous cropping

Significance Plant roots associate with the diverse microbial community in soil and can establish mutualistic relationships with microbes. The genetic characterization of the plant microbiome (total microbiota of plants) has intensified, but we still lack experimental proof of the ecological function of the root microbiome. Without such an understanding, the use of microbial communities in sustainable agricultural practices will be poorly informed. Through continuous cropping of a seed-sterilized native plant, we inadvertently recapitulated a common agricultural dilemma: the accumulation of phytopathogens. Experimental inoculations of seeds with native bacterial consortium during germination significantly attenuated plant mortality, demonstrating that a plant’s opportunistic mutualistic associations with soil microbes have the potential to increase the resilience of crops. Plants maintain microbial associations whose functions remain largely unknown. For the past 15 y, we have planted the annual postfire tobacco Nicotiana attenuata into an experimental field plot in the plant’s native habitat, and for the last 8 y the number of plants dying from a sudden wilt disease has increased, leading to crop failure. Inadvertently we had recapitulated the common agricultural dilemma of pathogen buildup associated with continuous cropping for this native plant. Plants suffered sudden tissue collapse and black roots, symptoms similar to a Fusarium–Alternaria disease complex, recently characterized in a nearby native population and developed into an in vitro pathosystem for N. attenuata. With this in vitro disease system, different protection strategies (fungicide and inoculations with native root-associated bacterial and fungal isolates), together with a biochar soil amendment, were tested further in the field. A field trial with more than 900 plants in two field plots revealed that inoculation with a mixture of native bacterial isolates significantly reduced disease incidence and mortality in the infected field plot without influencing growth, herbivore resistance, or 32 defense and signaling metabolites known to mediate resistance against native herbivores. Tests in a subsequent year revealed that a core consortium of five bacteria was essential for disease reduction. This consortium, but not individual members of the root-associated bacteria community which this plant normally recruits during germination from native seed banks, provides enduring resistance against fungal diseases, demonstrating that native plants develop opportunistic mutualisms with prokaryotes that solve context-dependent ecological problems.
Comparison of in vivo and in vitro effects of continuous exposure of L1210 cells to 6-thioguanine.

In this study the cytokinetic and antitumor effects of 12-h continuous treatment with 6-thioguanine (TG) were studied in L1210 cells in vivo and in vitro. Loss of clonogenicity in vitro was maximized at a drug concentration of 0.2 microM. Higher drug concentrations produced less cell kill, and the surviving fraction observed after exposure to 25 microM TG was 1 log higher than at 0.2 microM (2% versus 0.2% of control cloning efficiency, respectively). Delayed G2 arrest in vitro was also found to be most pronounced at 0.2 microM, with G1 arrest more predominant at higher concentrations. Studies in vivo were conducted using C57BL X DBA/2 F1 mice, with or without advanced L1210 ascites tumor. In initial experiments performed on animals without tumor, the 50% lethal dose for 12-h s.c. infusions of TG was approximately 0.8 mumol/kg/min. Correlation of steady-state TG plasma levels with infusion rate revealed a linear relationship up to 0.62 mumol/kg/min, above which the TG plasma concentration increased disproportionately to input rate. Total body clearance of TG, calculated from the linear portion of this curve, was 123 ml/kg/min. The antitumor effects of TG infusions were correlated with steady state plasma concentrations achieved in each individual animal, and it was found that dose rates yielding levels from 1 to 10 microM increased survival time by about 40%, with no apparent optimum plasma level in this range. Examination of the cytokinetic effects caused by TG infusions at the low and high ends of this maximally therapeutic range showed that, as was the case in vitro, lower concentrations of TG caused delayed G2 arrest, while higher concentrations induced more rapid G1 arrest. On the basis of these, as well as previous findings, we propose that the operative mechanism of cell kill by TG in vivo may be dose dependent and may be reflected by the relative degree of G2 versus G1 arrest. We also suggest that the appropriate strategy for the clinical use of TG is to determine the drug concentration which produces maximum G2 arrest of tumor cells, and to infuse continuously at a rate to achieve that level for the maximum time tolerated by the patient, rather than to select an arbitrary length of infusion followed by escalation to maximum tolerated drug concentration.
An analog turbo decoder for the UMTS standard

The design and test results of a three-metal, double-poly, 0.35 μm; CMOS analog turbo decoder for the rate-1/3, block length 40, UMTS turbo code, are presented. A discrete-time model of analog decoding networks is also presented. This model can be used as a tool to both predict chip performance in a short time and give design guidelines for complex decoders, for which circuit-level simulations are impractical.
The Psychosocial Dynamics of Change at Leros PIKPA Asylum

The pilot intervention project at Leros PIKPA asylum was resisted at all levels of its implementation. Resistance ranged from implicit and passive to explicit and hostile. It took the form of strong rejective attitudes, defensiveness, and repressed emotions of guilt, shame and fear. It was apparent in efforts to delay, obstruct or reverse the progress of the project and undermine the work of intervention team members. It was evident in the interactions of the intervention team with all parties involved in implementing the project: medical professionals and welfare services, the state and local administrations, the central and local administrations of PIKPA staff, the local community, and the asylum residents' families and relatives. It is argued that this resistance to change is due to the interplay of cultural/attitudinal, psychodynamic and socio-economic factors that are not unique to Leros or Greece. The analysis of the psychosocial processes involved in resistance to changing the Leros PIKPA asylum may offer insights to the deinstitutionalisation of custodial settings in general.
Relationship between resistance to insulin-mediated glucose uptake, urinary uric acid clearance, and plasma uric acid concentration.

OBJECTIVE To define the relationship, if any, between insulin-mediated glucose disposal and serum uric acid. DESIGN Cross-sectional study of healthy volunteers. SETTING General Clinical Research Center, Stanford (Calif) University Medical Center. PARTICIPANTS Thirty-six presumably healthy individuals, nondiabetic, without a history of gout. MEASUREMENTS Obesity (overall and regional), plasma glucose and insulin responses to a 75-g oral glucose load, fasting uric acid concentrations, plasma triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol concentrations, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, insulin-mediated glucose disposal, and urinary uric acid clearance. RESULTS Magnitude of insulin resistance and serum uric acid concentration were significantly related (r = .69; P less than .001), and the relationship persisted when differences in age, sex, overall obesity, and abdominal obesity were taken into account (r = .57; P less than .001). Insulin resistance was also inversely related to urinary uric acid clearance (r = -.49; P less than .002), and, in addition, urinary uric acid clearance was inversely related to serum uric acid concentration (r = -.61; P less than .001). CONCLUSIONS Urinary uric acid clearance appears to decrease in proportion to increases in insulin resistance in normal volunteers, leading to an increase in serum uric acid concentration. Thus, it appears that modulation of serum uric concentration by insulin resistance is exerted at the level of the kidney.
Bruch's membrane change with age.

Age related macular disease is now the commonest cause of registered blindness in western communities,'4 and it is evident that the prevalence is rising with the increasing age of the population.5 6 Both the realisation of the high prevalence of disease, and the prospects of therapy,7-9 have stimulated recent interest in the disorder. Unfortunately it has now become evident that laser treatment will not have a major impact on blindness from age related macular disease. "'I Since the historic monograph of Gass'3 there has been increasing clinical and laboratory research which has highlighted the role of neovascularisation and retinal pigment epithelial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of the disorder. However, there is still incomplete information on the natural history and the basic pathogenesis of age related macular disease, and the factors which determine the risk of visual loss are ill understood. There is now increasing circumstantial evidence that the chemical composition of deposits in Bruch's membrane may be an important determinant of the outcome of disease. It is hoped that current pathogenetic concepts will form a rational basis for future studies.
Optimization of o-phtaldialdehyde/2-mercaptoethanol postcolumn reaction for the hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography determination of memantine utilizing a silica hydride stationary phase.

A rapid procedure for the determination of memantine based on hydrophilic interaction chromatography with fluorescence detection was developed. Fluorescence detection after postcolumn derivatization with o-phtaldialdehyde/2-mercaptoethanol was performed at excitation and emission wavelengths of 345 and 450 nm, respectively. The postcolumn reaction conditions such as reaction temperature, derivatization reagent flow rate, and reagents concentration were studied due to steric hindrance of amino group of memantine. The derivatization reaction was applied for the hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography method which was based on Cogent Silica-C stationary phase with a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of 10 mmol/L citric acid and 10 mmol/L o-phosphoric acid (pH 6.0) with acetonitrile using an isocratic composition of 2:8 v/v. The benefit of the reported approach consists in a simple sample pretreatment and a quick and sensitive hydrophilic interaction chromatography method. The developed method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, and selectivity according to the International Conference on Harmonisation guidelines. The developed method was successfully applied for the analysis of commercial memantine tablets.
Classifiers sensitive to external context – theory and applications to video sequences

An external context like weather conditions, lighting, etc. influences classification results, but it is frequently omitted in a mathematical model of the problem at hand. Our aim is to propose a mathematical model, which extends the Bayesian problem of pattern recognition by incorporating external context variables. They are implanted as functions, which influence parameters of class distributions. We prove that context variables influence a shape or a position of the optimal class separating surface, without enlarging the dimensionality of a pattern space. Thus, one can treat the proposed extended Bayesian model as a fusion of patterns and external context variables, embedded into the same pattern space. Then, learning algorithms for neural network classifiers are proposed, which take context variables into account.
The influence of body effect and threshold voltage reduction on trench MOSFET body diode characteristics

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the body diode characteristics of high-channel density trench power MOSFETs using analytic modeling, 2-dimensional numerical simulation, and physical measurements. The results show that, for state-of-the-art trench MOSFETs, the body diode characteristics are strongly influenced by majority carriers in the channel due to gate-controlled third quadrant conduction. This large channel current is shown to be the result of dynamic threshold voltage lowering due to the MOSFET body effect.
Activated Akt expression has significant correlation with EGFR and TGF-alpha expressions in stage I NSCLC.

BACKGROUND In vitro studies have indicated that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) may intensify signaling output by the receptor's overexpression, heterodimerization with HER-2, or autocrine expression of ligands. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the correlation between EGFR and its related proteins and to explore the prognostic value of the proteins. MATERIALS AND METHODS Immunohistochemical staining of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha), EGFR, HER-2, and phosphorylated (p-)Akt was performed in specimens surgically excised from 91 consecutive patients with p-stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Expression or coexpression of TGF-alpha and the receptors were related to expression of p-Akt. The prognostic impact of these peptides was also tested. RESULTS TGF-alpha, EGFR and HER-2 overexpressions were detected in 32%, 79% and 13% of tumors, respectively. Coexpressions of TGF-alpha & EGFR and EGFR & HER-2 were observed in 29% and 11% of tumors, respectively. P-Akt expression was found in 73% of tumors. Significant correlations between EGFR TGF-alpha or coexpression of TGF-alpha & EGFR and p-Akt expression were found (p=0.006, 0.008 and 0.010, respectively). No proteins examined had an impact on relapse-free survival. CONCLUSION The Akt pathway is frequently involved in NSCLC and overexpression of EGFR and autocrine expression of TGF-alpha may increase the potency of Akt activation.
NemoProfile : Effective representation for network motif and their instances

In systems biology, network motif is defined as a frequent and unique subgraph pattern in a network and has been applied in various biological and medical problems. However, identifying network motifs is intrinsically very costly, which restricts extensive and exhaustive experiments for real problems. Furthermore, most algorithms and tools provide limited information regarding network motifs, which necessitates the more expensive post-processing step to apply to real-world problems. Consequently, these problems bring a certain amount of skepticism about the relevance of network motifs in investigating real biological problems. Therefore, this paper introduces NemoProfile (network motif profile) as a new and effective network motif representation. Experimental results show that NemoProfile is generated almost effortlessly during motif-finding process, but it significantly reduces post-processing time for real applications. We also provide a case study to demonstrate the usability of NemoProfile for predicting essential proteins from proteinprotein interaction networks.
Influence of Weather Conditions on the Surface Morphology and Wetting Behaviour of Superhydrophobic Quaking Aspen Leaves

The effects of different environmental conditions on the wetting properties and surface morphology of surperhydrophobic quaking aspen leaves harvested during the 2011 growth season are examined. During this particular season quaking aspen leaves were not able to retain their superhydrophobic properties and associated surface structure features as they have usually been able to do in other years. Representative scanning electron microscopy images and wetting property measurements of quaking aspen leaf surfaces harvested throughout this season are presented and discussed with the objective of linking weather induced environmental stresses that occurred in 2011 to the sudden and unusual reduction in non-wetting properties and drastic changes in leaf surface structure. Erosion and regeneration rates of leaf wax crystals and the impact that environmental factors can have on these are considered and used to explain the occurrence of these unexpected changes.
Phased-MIMO radar using Hadamard coded signal

Phased-Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (PMIMO) radar has been studied in the literature. The transmit array is subdivided into several overlapping subarrays with equal or unequal numbers of elements which aims to exploit the primary benefit of phased array radar, that is coherent processing gain without diversity gain, and MIMO radar benefit, that is diversity gain without coherent gain. In this paper, an approach to PMIMO using Hadamard coded signal with orthogonality properties is shown to improve the directivity and to lower sidelobe level for a specific target direction. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated through simulation results.