Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distinct properties of presynaptic group II and III metabotropic glutamate receptor‐mediated inhibition of perforant pathway–CA1 EPSCs

I have compared the effects of group II or III metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) activation on monosynaptic excitatory responses recorded intracellularly from CA1 pyramidal neurons of rat hippocampus and evoked by perforant pathway stimulation in vitro. The excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) were reduced either by the group II mGluR agonist LY354740 (500 nm, 31 ± 6% of control) or by the group III agonist L‐AP4 (400 µm, 53 ± 5% of control). Both drugs enhanced EPSC paired‐pulse facilitation (range 125–189% of control). These effects were blocked by the broad‐spectrum mGluR antagonist LY341495 (1 or 20 µm) which when applied alone did not significantly change the EPSCs elicited at low (0.1–0.2 Hz) or higher (1–100 Hz) frequency of stimulation. Prior reduction of the EPSCs induced by L‐AP4 did not occlude the subsequent inhibition elicited by LY354740. The effect of LY354740, but not that of L‐AP4, was blocked in the presence of the cAMP analogue Sp‐cAMPS (20 µm) and with the K+ channel antagonist α‐dendrotoxin (125 nm). In contrast, the effect of L‐AP4, but not that of LY354740, was prevented by the calmodulin inhibitor ophiobolin A (25 µm) and with the N‐type Ca2+ channel antagonist ω‐conotoxin‐GVIA (1 µm). In the presence of the P/Q type Ca2+ channel antagonist ω‐agatoxin‐IVA (400 nm), the EPSCs were depressed either by LY354740 or by L‐AP4. Groups II and III mGluRs are segregated at the presynaptic terminal, and there are distinct differences between the properties of the presynaptic inhibition mediated by these two groups of receptors.
Sensing a physical movement with a Ferrofluidic device

In this paper the development of an inertial sensor for vibration measurements based on the use of ferrofluids is presented. The use of ferrofluids as inertial mass offers advantages over traditional devices like robustness against inertial shocks and performances controllable via electrical signals; moreover, ferrofluids density and other physical features can be controlled by an external magnetic field. The device consists of a glass pipe housing a drop of ferrofluid in a water environment. Two membranes are used to seal the glass pipe at its extremities and to transfer the vibration to the ferrofluidic mass. An inductive readout strategy is used to sense imposed vibrations. Simulations of the device behavior and the real prototype are presented along with preliminary experimental results. Key-Words: Ferrofluids, Inertial sensor, robustness, solid-mass free, tunable performances.
Maternal investment, life histories, and the costs of brain growth in mammals

Brain size variation in mammals correlates with life histories: larger-brained species have longer gestations, mature later, and have increased lifespans. These patterns have been explained in terms of developmental costs (larger brains take longer to grow) and cognitive benefits (large brains enhance survival and increase lifespan). In support of the developmental cost hypothesis, we show that evolutionary changes in pre- and postnatal brain growth correlate specifically with duration of the relevant phases of maternal investment (gestation and lactation, respectively). We also find support for the hypothesis that the rate of fetal brain growth is related to the energy turnover of the mother. In contrast, we find no support for hypotheses proposing that costs are accommodated through direct tradeoffs between brain and body growth, or between brain growth and litter size. When the duration of maternal investment is taken into account, adult brain size is uncorrelated with other life history traits such as lifespan. Hence, the general pattern of slower life histories in large-brained species appears to be a direct consequence of developmental costs.
Hepatitis-B Associated Cryoglobulinemia Presenting as Pseudoleucocytosis

seen entrapped between the tumor cells [Figure 1]. Based on these findings, possibilities of metastatic clear cell carcinoma from kidney, clear cell urothelial carcinoma, and renal type clear cell carcinoma of prostate were considered. His serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was 82 ng/ml. Computerized tomography (CT) abdomen showed no growth in the kidney and bladder. Cystoscopy done showed no mass lesion in the bladder. In view of the above findings, final diagnosis of renal type clear cell carcinoma of the prostate was made. The patient was treated with radical cystoprostatectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection. All the lymph nodes and urinary bladder showed no malignancy. Postoperatively, a contrast CT scan of the pelvis suggested no local or regional metastatic deposits. After one year of follow-up, the patient is doing well with no evidence of recurrence.
Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment tool (KICA): development of a cognitive assessment tool for older indigenous Australians

Background: Indigenous Australians have a unique cultural heritage dating back many thousands of years. Unfortunately, there is no validated tool to assess cognition in older indigenous Australians. This study was designed to address this deficiency. The Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA) was developed with Indigenous health and aged care organizations, and comprises cognitive, informant and functional sections. The psychometric properties of the cognitive assessment section (KICA-Cog) are described in this paper. Methods: The KICA-Cog was tested in 70 indigenous subjects, of varying cognitive abilities and diagnoses, over 45 years of age. Subjects were interviewed using the KICA-Cog and then independently assessed by expert clinical raters using DSM-IV and ICD-10 criteria. Interrater and internal reliability were determined. Results: The KICA-Cog score showed no systematic interrater difference; the mean was −0.07 (SD = 1.83). Interrater reliability for 16 individual questions from the cognitive section revealed a κ-value ≥ 0.6 and intraclass correlations for 12 questions. Internal consistency, as assessed by Cronbach's α, was 0.88. Three items on the cognitive score (pension week, recall and free recall) effectively discriminated 85–7% of dementia cases. Sensitivity and specificity were 90.6% and 92.6%, respectively, using a cut-off score of 31/32. Conclusions: The KICA-Cog appears to be a reliable assessment tool for cognitive impairment in an Australian older traditionally living indigenous population.
Morphology and Growth of Embryonic, Human Dorsal Root Ganglion Explants in Long-Term Culture: Expression of Cell Type-Specific Markers during Early Differentiation

Embryonic, human spinal ganglion explants were plated at 5-12 weeks postconceptional age and cultured for 5-50 days on a semisynthetic substrate in a serum-containing culture medium without addition of antibiotics or preconditioned medium. The growth pattern in vitro was found to be age dependent. Five- to 6-week ganglia showed a characteristic semicircular growth pattern with bidirectional extension of neurites on top of a monolayer of supportive cells. Explanted 9- to 10-week ganglia showed an extensive, multidirectional neurite outgrowth with less pronounced proliferation of nonneuronal cells. Neurite extension, fasciculation, cell migration and morphology were studied immunohistochemically with antibodies to neurofilament (NF), S-100, and the Thy-1 glycoprotein. Both NF and S-100 were expressed at 5 weeks gestational age in ganglionic neurons and in proliferating Schwann cells in contact with axonal processes, respectively. NF was homogeneously distributed in both cell somata and neurites, whereas S-100 immunoreactivity showed an intense nuclear and a weaker cytoplasmic distribution in spindle-shaped, bipolar Schwann cells. This staining pattern was conserved during differentiation in long-term culture. Thy-1 was expressed on ganglionic neurites forming fascicles by the third week in culture. However, Thy-1 was never expressed until the total age of 10 weeks. In addition, Thy-1 was found on fibroblasts from the first week in culture. The distribution of Thy-1 on the cytoplasmic membrane was similar in both cell types, showing a coarsely granulated membrane staining. The temporal as well as the spatial expression of differentiation antigens in tissue sections of early embryonic spinal cord and spinal ganglia were very similar to what was observed in vitro.
From dependable multi-user to dependable multi-application operating systems: invited talk

In this talk I will report on two operating system (OS) efforts at Microsoft Research: Singularity [1, 2] and Service OS [3, 4]. Singularity focuses on the construction of dependable multi-user operating systems through innovation in the areas of systems, languages, and tools. One of Singularity's major innovations is for example that Singularity uses a new type safe language and an abstract instruction set to enable what we call Software Isolated Processes (SIPs). SIPs provide the strong isolation guarantees of OS processes without the overhead of hardware-enforced protection domains. Singularity runs each program, device driver, or system extension in its own SIP. SIPs cannot be extended at runtime and don't share data, but they come with contracts and manifests that are statically enforced at compile- or install time. However designing an OS as a multi-user system might not be the right OS model for the future. Today most personal computers are no longer shared by different users, but shared by mutually distrusting applications. The browser platform is the prime example for this change: a single webpage often combines multiple applications from different service providers, all of which run within the same process without coherent support for resource access, control, and sharing. This makes web browsers a vulnerable platform. In the light of these changes we envision Service OS, a multi-service OS on which web applications and traditional desktop applications converge. A service can be either code or data. Services are hosted in the cloud and cached on the client. The owner of the service is an OS principal; in the context of a browser we use the origin of a website as a principal. Like traditional operating system, only the service OS kernel controls resources and can grant access. But unlike a traditional OS, Service OS needs new resource management policies, to capture the often hierarchical nature of application compositions. We will sketch the design of Service OS, discuss where we intend to leverage Singularity technology, and point out outstanding research challenges.
Bilayer Elastic Net Regression Model for Supervised Spectral-Spatial Hyperspectral Image Classification

In this paper, we propose a novel bilayer elastic net (ELN2) regression model for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification, exploiting the spectral-spatial information. The proposed model is designed to address the special problematic characteristics of HSI, namely, high dimensionality of hyperspectral pixels, limited labeled samples, and spatial variability of spectral signatures. To alleviate these problems, by exploiting the spectral and spatial information, the proposed model features in the following two components: 1) spectral-only elastic net regression in the first layer and 2) spatial contextual driven elastic net regularization in the second layer. In the first layer, to encourage a grouping effect and feature selection, we use multinomial logistic regression (MLR) model penalized by the ELN to optimize the spectral-only classifier parameters for the initial HSI classification. In the second layer, spatial Markov-random-field-based gradient profiles are incorporated into the ELN penalty over the hidden marginal probability of the posterior distribution to encourage the spatial smoothness. Furthermore, the true labels of training samples are fixed as an additional constraint in the second-layer optimizing model to further improve the classification accuracy. Moreover, an effective algorithm named as ELN2 _RegMLR is developed by coupling the path-wise coordinate descent algorithm, and variable splitting and augmented Lagrangian approach to solve the proposed model. Experimental results on several popular datasets show that the proposed method outperforms many state-of the-art classifiers in terms of the overall accuracy, average accuracy, statistic coefficient kappa, and visual classification map quality.
A Single Channel Discharge Reactor for the Diagnosis of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactors

Summary form only given. It has been already known that many filamentary discharge channels can be observed in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors. As those filamentary discharge channels are usually not located at fixed positions, the diagnosis of such discharges is of difficulty. In this study, a single channel discharge reactor (SCDR) driven by a positive pulse power supply has been developed for the diagnosis of DBD reactors. The SCDR consists of two alumina plates and two pin electrodes. The single discharge channel can be fixed in the space between two alumina plates covered with pin electrodes. The discharge is characterized using an ultra highspeed camera to confirm the fixed discharge channel, a monochromator equipped with an ultra high-speed streak camera to measure emission lines at various discharge times, a oscilloscope of a voltage probe and two current transformers to monitor waveforms of discharge voltage and currents. A comparison of SCDR with a DBD reactor of many filamentary discharge channels is given.
Direct selection of conserved cDNAs from the DiGeorge critical region: isolation of a novel CDC45-like gene.

We have used a modified direct selection technique to detect transcripts that are both evolutionary conserved and developmentally expressed. The enrichment for homologous mouse cDNAs by use of human genomic DNA as template is shown to be an efficient and rapid approach for generating transcript maps. Deletions of human 22q11 are associated with several clinical syndromes, with overlapping phenotypes, for example, velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS) and DiGeorge syndrome (DGS). A large number of transcriptional units exist within the defined critical region, many of which have been identified previously by direct selection. However, no single obvious candidate gene for the VCFS/DGS phenotype has yet been found. Our technique has been applied to the DiGeorge critical region and has resulted in the isolation of a novel candidate gene, Cdc45l2, similar to yeast Cdc45p. [The sequence data described in this paper have been submitted to the EMBL data library under accession nos. AJ0223728 and AF0223729. ]
The Role of “Wellness” in Medical Education

The World Health Organization and a number of experts define health as ‘‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ’’ Dunn HL describes wellness as a positive state and ‘‘an integrated method of functioning, which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable. ’’Stress is experienced when ‘‘the demands exceed the individual’s social capabilities and resources. ’’ Stressors can be of a physical or psychologic nature and can lead to poor health. A certain amount of daily stress may be considered to be beneficial, as stress is an adaptive reaction that prepares an organism to respond effectively to challenging situations. Although low and medium levels of stress will lead to challenge, which is recognized as an important component of health and productivity, continued exposure to high levels of stress may lead to burnout. The clinical phenomena of burnout include 3 distinct components; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and the feeling of inefficacy. Burnout is a distinct work-related syndrome and
Study of different approach to clustering data by using the Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

This paper proposes two new data clustering approaches using the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO). It is shown how the PSO can be used to find centroids of a user specified number of clusters. The proposed approaches are an attempt to improve the Merwe and Engelbrecht method using different fitness functions and considering the situation where data is uniformly distributed. The data clustering PSO algorithm, using the original and proposed fitness functions is evaluated on well known data sets. Notable improvements on the results were achieved by the modifications, this shows the potential of the PSO, not only on data clustering but also on the several areas it can be applied.
What psychological and physical changes predict patients’ attainment of personally meaningful goals six months following a CBT based pain management intervention?

Abstract Purpose: To examine the influence of demographic measures, and changes in physical ability, pain, self-efficacy and emotional distress on Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) scores, after a 15-day CBT based pain management programme. Method: Chronic pain patients (N = 257) were referred; 225 (88%) completed the programme and were invited for follow up six months later. One hundred and sixty-two (63%), (mean age 47.7, 71% female) completed the reassessment procedures. GAS scores (which were also repeated at the end the programme), an 11-point Pain Numerical Rating Scale, Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, distance walked in 5 mins, number of sit/stand repetitions in 1 min and number of stairs climbed in 1 min were measured on the first day and six months following the programme. Results: At six months post discharge, changes in goal attainment, physical measures, pain intensity, depression and self-efficacy were observed. Hierarchical regression showed change in GAS was predicted by improvement in walking tolerance and self-efficacy. Conclusions: The achievement of personally important goals was most significantly associated with change in walking ability and self-efficacy, while controlling for the influence of change in pain. Implications for Rehabilitation Chronic pain can reduce psychological and physical functioning, leading to a reduction in meaningful activities. Achievement of personally important activities as measured by Goal Attainment Scaling can be a more sensitive measure of programme outcome than that captured by many other standard measures. Self-efficacy is an important predictor of attainment of patient preferred goals following a CBT based pain management programme, and could be emphasized during treatment along with improved walking ability, to enhance patients’ goal achievement.
Academic middle managers for baccalaureate nursing: work motivation and satisfaction.

Seventy-nine percent of academic middle managers for baccalaureate nursing reported that they did not plan to continue in their current management positions, or advance in academic leadership positions (George, 1981). This study examined the relationships between the job characteristics, a mediating variable "growth need strength", and the general job satisfaction and work motivation of academic middle managers for baccalaureate nursing. The sample was drawn from the population of academic middle managers for baccalaureate nursing in 126 colleges and universities across the United States that offer both baccalaureate and higher nursing degree programs. Sixty seven percent returned the Job Diagnostic Survey Short Form (JDSSF). The findings were interpreted through an examination of three analytical techniques: zero-order correlations, multiple regression, and multiple regression with interaction. Findings indicate that the dependent variable, "internal work motivation," can be measured in the population, but it cannot be predicted using the seven job characteristics measured by the JDSSF. The job characteristic autonomy was significant in predicting "general job satisfaction. " General job satisfaction also proved to be some combination of security satisfaction and growth need satisfaction. both independent variables "autonomy" and "feedback from the job itself" were significant in predicting growth need satisfaction. As a mediating variable, "growth need strength" was not significant in predicting general job satisfaction in a linear model, nor was it significant when entered as an interactive term. However, the multiplicative model did increase, by four percent above the linear model, the amount of variance predictable in general job satisfaction. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Dosage and time effects of inhaled budesonide on bronchial hyperreactivity.

In a double-blind study of 2 parallel groups of 15 allergic asthmatic patients each, we investigated whether treatment with inhaled budesonide has a dose- and time-dependent effect on the degree of bronchial hyperreactivity. The patients were randomly allocated to treatment with either 200 or 800 micrograms budesonide per day for a period of 8 wk. The active treatment period was preceded by a selection period of 3 wk, and a single-blind placebo period of 2 wk. During these initial 5 wk the maintenance treatment of the patients, including cromolyn sodium and inhaled corticosteroids, was withheld. Spirometry and inhalation provocation tests with methacholine were carried out, and the symptom score was recorded every 2 wk. The methacholine provocation concentrations (geometric mean) causing a decrease in FEV1 of 20% (PC20) in the 200 and 800 micrograms/day treatment groups just before the active treatment period were 0.90 and 0.91 mg/ml, respectively. These values increased significantly to 1.21 and 1.84 mg/ml after 2 wk of treatment (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.001, respectively) and to 1.55 and 2.74 mg/ml after 8 wk of treatment (p less than 0.01 and p less than 0.001). During the whole study period budesonide in a dosage of 800 micrograms/day induced a significantly larger change in PC20 than in a dosage of 200 micrograms/day. The FEV1 before treatment was 91 +/- 3% (SEM) and 84 +/- 2% of the predicted value in the 200 and 800 micrograms/day treatment groups, respectively. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Effect of the MOSFET choice on conducted EMI in power converter circuits

The phase of virtual prototyping, which is usually based on a whole of numerical simulations of the system, requires today to have thin suitable models. These models must take in account the real behavior of the systems under various physical constraints (thermal, electromagnetic.). Particularly, in this work, we are interested to the study of the effect of the Mosfet transistor choice on the conducted electromagnetic interferences emitted by static converters circuits. The objective of this work is to propose a new design methodology which will permit to assist the power electronics circuit designer in the choice of the active components with the purpose of reducing the electromagnetic disturbances.
Latency and energy efficiency evaluation in wireless sensor networks

Latency and energy efficiency are two important parameters to evaluate the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). To reduce delays in the WSN, the sensor node will send out redun- dant packets. Suppose the WSN has a cell-partitioned structure and the two-hop relay algorithm is adopted, the relay/destination nodes selection will determin the networks performance. The fuzzy logic system (FLS) is applied to the nodes selection and three descriptors are used: distance to the source node, the remaining energy and the degree of mobility. The output of FLS application provides a node election probability and we can elect three highest probability nodes as the relay nodes and in another FLS application, we choose the highest probability node as the destination. In contrast with the cases that only consider one descriptor, the FLS application can manage the delay/energy tradeoffs to meet the network performance requirement.