Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temperature and synaptic efficacy in frog skeletal muscle.

1. Intracellular recording and voltage‐clamp techniques were used to measure synaptic efficacy and the safety factor for neuromuscular transmission in frog skeletal muscle. All measurements were made in normal Ringer solution, in the absence of presynaptic or postsynaptic blocking agents. 2. Over a broad temperature range (10‐30 degrees C), a small percentage of sartorius fibres (about 6%) could be found which produced only subthreshold end‐plate potentials and no action potential in response to single, supramaximal nerve shock. At lower temperatures the proportion of such fibres increased; 42% of the fibres had subthreshold transmission at 5 degrees C, and 59% were subthreshold at 2.5 degrees C. 3. Threshold current, measured by intracellularly injecting short pulses of depolarizing current at end‐plate regions, was independent of temperature between 2.5 and 20 degrees C. Thus, the reduced synaptic efficacy observed at low temperatures was not due to decreased electrical excitability of the postsynaptic membrane. 4. The amplitude of evoked end‐plate currents (EPCs) decreased with cooling. At temperatures below 10 degrees C, the evoked EPCs at many end‐plates were too small to initiate action potentials. The decline in EPC amplitude was due to three factors: a decrease in the amplitude of single quantum currents (MEPCs), an increase in the temporal dispersion of transmitter release, and (below 5 degrees C) a decrease in quantal content. 5. The safety factor for neuromuscular transmission decreased dramatically as temperature was lowered. At 30 degrees C average safety factor was large and positive (540 nA), but at 2.5 degrees C it was negative (‐78 nA). 6. The quantal content of evoked transmitter release was independent of temperature change between 5 and 30 degrees C, the average value over this range being 180. However, at temperatures below 5 degrees C, quantal content fell off sharply (average value = 37). 7. The thermal independence of transmitter release may be an important mechanism in allowing poikilothermic animals to maintain physiological function over a wide range of body temperatures.
Professional Satisfaction and Client Outcomes: A Comparative Organizational Analysis

In studies of the effectiveness of health care organizations, the job satisfaction level of professional staff is often viewed as an “outcome,” since providing a climate that satisfies participants' needs is one aspect of organizational effectiveness. Staff satisfaction, however, has not been linked with outcomes associated with clients. In this article, the authors examine the relationship between the aggregate job satisfaction level of nursing staff in 77 family planning clinics and two client outcomes: 1) the aggregate satisfaction level of teenage clients with contraceptive services obtained in the clinic, and 2) the subsequent rate of client compliance with contraceptive prescriptions. Among the variables studied in testing an organizational-level model, it is found that the job satisfaction level of nursing staff is the strongest determinant of the aggregate satisfaction level of clients; client satisfaction level, in turn, predicts the rate of clients' subsequent contraceptive compliance. Staff satisfaction has a noteworthy indirect effect on compliance through client satisfaction. Compliance, however, appears to be more susceptible to variations in clinic structure than to variations in staff satisfaction levels. Implications of these findings for studies of effectiveness of health services and for management of health care organizations are discussed.
Hexose transporter mRNAs for GLUT4, GLUT5, and GLUT12 predominate in human muscle.

In the past few years, 8 additional members of the facilitative hexose transporter family have been identified, giving a total of 14 members of the SLC2A family of membrane-bound hexose transporters. To determine which of the new hexose transporters were expressed in muscle, mRNA concentrations of 11 glucose transporters (GLUTs) were quantified and compared. RNA from muscle from 10 normal volunteers was subjected to RT-PCR. Primers were designed that amplified 78- to 241-base fragments, and cDNA standards were cloned for GLUT1, GLUT2, GLUT3, GLUT4, GLUT5, GLUT6, GLUT8, GLUT9, GLUT10, GLUT11, GLUT12, and GAPDH. Seven of these eleven hexose transporters were detectable in normal human muscle. The rank order was GLUT4, GLUT5, GLUT12, GLUT8, GLUT11, GLUT3, and GLUT1, with corresponding concentrations of 404 +/- 49, 131 +/- 14, 33 +/- 4, 5.5 +/- 0.5, 4.1 +/- 0.4, 1.2 +/- . 0.1, and 0.9 +/- 0.2 copies/ng RNA (means +/- SE), respectively, for the 10 subjects. Concentrations of mRNA for GLUT4, GLUT5, and GLUT12 were much higher than those for the remainder of the GLUTs and together accounted for 98% of the total GLUT isoform mRNA. Immunoblots of muscle homogenates verified that the respective proteins for GLUT4, GLUT5, and GLUT12 were present in normal human muscle. Immunofluorescent studies demonstrated that GLUT4 and GLUT12 were predominantly expressed in type I oxidative fibers; however, GLUT5 was expressed predominantly in type II (white) fibers.
Plasma Endothelin‐1 Levels in Human Lung Transplant Recipients

Summary: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor peptide produced by vascular endothelial cells and is believed to play an important role in the pathophysiology of the pulmonary vasculature. We have investigated the early changes in ET-1 plasma levels in lung transplant recipients at various intervals before and after isolated lung transplantation. The mean plasma ET-1 level immediately before transplantation was 0.8 ± 0.1 pg/ml. This was significantly increased to 2.6 ± 0.5 pg/ml shortly after unclamping and vascular reperfusion of the allograft, and remained high 4 h (2.3 ± 0.5 pg/ml), 6 h (2.4 ± 0.6 pg/ml), and 12 h (1.7 ± 0.3 pg/ml) after transplantation. Thereafter, the level of ET-1 started to decline, reaching 1.3 ± 0.3 pg/ml 24 h and 0.9 ± 0.3 pg/ml 1 week after transplantation. This early increase in ET-1 plasma level is consistent with our observation of alterations in pulmonary vascular resistance, pulmonary artery pressure and cardiac output early after transplantation. These findings demonstrate that an increase in plasma ET-1 levels shortly after lung transplantation may have a detrimental effect during the postoperative course early after transplantation.
ESTROGEN AND PROGESTERONE HORMONE LEVELS IN PUNGANUR CATTLE

The present study was conducted at Livestock Research Station, Palamaner, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh to estimate female reproductive hormone values in Punganur cattle. The blood samples were collected from the twelve Punganur cows on 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 days of estrous cycle. The serum was separated from the blood samples and was transferred into sterile eppendorf tubes, labeled and stored in deep freeze (-20 o C) until hormonal assay for progesterone and estrogen was carried out. The estrogen level (ng/ml) in Punganur cows during estrus cycle was significantly higher (P<0.01) on '0' day (20.24) and decreased upto 15 th days (12.36) and thereafter gradually increased to a level of 22.58 on day '00'. The mean progesterone level (ng/ml) in Punganur cows during estrus cycle increased significantly (P<0.01) upto 15 th day of estrus cycle and gradually decreased thereafter with the values ranging from 0.43 ('0' day) to 10.66 (15 th day) and from 8.64 (18 th day) to 0.34 (day 00).
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN DISTANCE AND GENERALIZATION

Distance‐based and generalization‐based methods are two families of artificial intelligence techniques that have been successfully used over a wide range of real‐world problems. In the first case, general algorithms can be applied to any data representation by just changing the distance. The metric space sets the search and learning space, which is generally instance‐oriented. In the second case, models can be obtained for a given pattern language, which can be comprehensible. The generality‐ordered space sets the search and learning space, which is generally model‐oriented. However, the concepts of distance and generalization clash in many different ways, especially when knowledge representation is complex (e.g., structured data). This work establishes a framework where these two fields can be integrated in a consistent way. We introduce the concept of distance‐based generalization, which connects all the generalized examples in such a way that all of them are reachable inside the generalization by using straight paths in the metric space. This makes the metric space and the generality‐ordered space coherent (or even dual). Additionally, we also introduce a definition of minimal distance‐based generalization that can be seen as the first formulation of the Minimum Description Length (MDL)/Minimum Message Length (MML) principle in terms of a distance function. We instantiate and develop the framework for the most common data representations and distances, where we show that consistent instances can be found for numerical data, nominal data, sets, lists, tuples, graphs, first‐order atoms, and clauses. As a result, general learning methods that integrate the best from distance‐based and generalization‐based methods can be defined and adapted to any specific problem by appropriately choosing the distance, the pattern language and the generalization operator.
ABLE: A toolkit for building multiagent autonomic systems

This paper describes a toolkit for building multiagent autonomic systems. The IBM Agent Building and Learning Environment (ABLE) provides a lightweight Java™ agent framework, a comprehensive JavaBeans™ library of intelligent software components, a set of development and test tools, and an agent platform. We describe a series of agents built using ABLE components and present three case studies of applications using the ABLE toolkit. The Autotune agent is a closed-loop controller agent that supports hierarchical distributed control. The Subsumption agent defines specific behaviors or strategies and can be plugged into a multiagent subsumption infrastructure. The Autonomic agent architecture features sensors and effectors for interacting with the external environment, layers of reflexive, reactive, and adaptive subsumption agents, components that dynamically model the autonomic system itself and its environment, and components for emotions, planning, and executive-level decision-making. By using the ABLE component library to build agents running on the ABLE distributed agent platform, we discuss how we can incrementally add new behaviors and capabilities to intelligent, autonomic systems.
SEX-DEPENDENT KIDNEY MORPHOLOGY OF GUINEA PIG – LIGHT MICROSCOPY AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY

The objective of this study was to investigate the sex-dependent kidney morphology of male and female guinea pigs using light microscope and different immunohistochemistry techniques. Hamatoxyline and Eosin (H&E) and Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) staining techniques were performed for the general histological observations. Immunohistrochemistry was performed to detect renin positive site, expression of Cyclo-oxygenase -2 (COX-2) and Nitric Oxide Syntheses (nNOS), Number of renin, COX-2, and nNOS positive sites were counted and tabulated. Both Light microscopic examination and immuno-histochemical study reveals distinct differences between the male and female kidneys. Parietal layer of Bowman's capsule was consisted of a single layer of simple squamus epithelium in female, but in male, it was composed of a single layer of simple cuboidal epithelium. PAS-positive brush border and vacuoles of different shapes and sizes were appeared in the proximal straight tubules (PST) and collecting ducts in female guinea pig. Whereas in male, vacuoles were not detected in the PST epithelium and collecting ducts. Strong staining intensity for PAS-positive brush border in the PST and collecting ducts was observed in the outer medulla of female guinea pig kidney, but the reaction was observed poor in male. Neural Nitric Oxide Synthase (nNOS)-positive reaction was observed in PST epithelium and collecting ducts in female kidney, but male kidney revealed nNOS-negative reaction for PST and collecting ducts. Renin, COX-2 and nNOS-positive sites were detected in the juxtaglomerular cells (JGCs) cells and macula densa cells of both male and female kidneys. When counted, total numbers of glomeruli, renin, COX-2, and nNOS positive-sites were higher in female, when compared to that of the male. However, number of glomeruli, areas of renin, COX-2 and nNOS-positive sites reveals no significant differences between male and female species (P<0.05).
Improved Team Performance During Pediatric Resuscitations After Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice Compared With Traditional Debriefing: A Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION Simulation-based medical education (SBME) improves medical knowledge compared with no intervention. In traditional SBME, more time is spent debriefing than practicing skills. Rapid cycle deliberate practice (RCDP) simulation allows learners to practice skills repetitively, receive brief interspersed feedback, and has been shown to improve individual performance of resuscitation skills in simulation; it has not been compared with traditional simulation methods. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to compare traditional and RCDP SBME. METHODS Four pediatric resuscitation cases (3 for teaching and 1 for testing) were developed. For the RCDP arm, traditional cases were deconstructed into sequences of progressively difficult rounds. The last RCDP round served as the traditional arm scenario.Learners received 1 type of instruction on 2 separate days. Pretest and posttest performance during simulation were video recorded and scored using the Simulation Team Assessment Tool; satisfaction surveys were collected. RESULTS Pretest team performance was similar in both groups. Simulation Team Assessment Tool score improvement for RCDP was 7.2% (95% confidence interval, 3.4% to 11%) and traditional was 0.8% (95% confidence interval, -11% to 13%). The difference in improvement of the human factors subscore was statistically significant; RCDP improved 10.2% and traditional improved 1.7% (P = 0.013). The RCDP technique was well received by learners but caused fatigue. CONCLUSIONS This pilot study showed a trend toward greater improvement in team performance and significantly greater improvement for human factors with RCDP compared with traditional simulation. Future studies comparing RCDP with other methods are needed to identify best practices and applications of RCDP, including which learners and learning objectives are best suited to RCDP.
Effect of Bioactive Compound of Aronia melanocarpa on Cardiovascular System in Experimental Hypertension

Aronia melanocarpa has attracted scientific interest due to its dense contents of different polyphenols. We aimed to analyse effects of Aronia melanocarpa (AME) extract on blood pressure (BP), lipid peroxidation, cytokine level, total NOS activity in the left ventricle (LV), and aorta of L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats. 12-week-old male WKY rats were assigned to the control group and groups treated with AME extract (57.90 mg/kg/day), L-NAME (40 mg/kg/day), or combination of L-NAME (40 mg/kg/day) and AME (57.90 mg/kg/day) in tap water for 3 weeks. NOS activity, eNOS protein expression, and conjugated diene (CD) concentration were determined in the LV and aorta. After 3 weeks of L-NAME treatment, BP was increased by 28% and concomitant treatment with AME reduced it by 21%. NOS activity of the LV and aorta in the L-NAME group was decreased by about 40%, while AME increased it almost on the control level. AME-induced eNOS upregulation may contribute to increase NOS activity. Moreover, AME decreased CD concentration in the LV and aorta and TNF-α and IL-6 production in the plasma were increased by L-NAME treatment. In conclusion, our results showed that active substances of Aronia melanocarpa may have a positive effect on blood pressure, NOS activity, and proinflammatory processes in L-NAME-induced hypertension.
Increased hemoglobin oxygen affinity protects during acute hypoxia

2 Acclimatization to hypoxia requires time to complete the adaptation mechanisms that influence 3 oxygen (O2) transport and O2 utilization. Although decreasing hemoglobin (Hb) O2 affinity 4 would favor the release of O2 to the tissues, increasing Hb-O2 affinity would augment arterial O2 5 saturation during hypoxia. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that 6 pharmacologically increasing the Hb O2 affinity will augment O2 transport during severe hypoxia 7 (10% and 5% inspired O2) compared to normal Hb O2 affinity. Erythrocyte Hb O2 affinity was 8 increased by infusion of 20 mg/kg of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (5HMF). Control animals 9 received only the vehicle. The effects of increasing Hb O2 affinity were studied in the hamster 10 window chamber model, in terms of systemic and microvascular hemodynamics and partial 11 pressures of O2 (PO2s). Pimonidazole binding to hypoxic areas of mice heart and brain was also 12 studied. 5HMF decreased the P50 (PO2 at which the Hb is 50% saturated with O2) by 12.6 13 mmHg. During 10% and 5% O2 hypoxia, 5HMF increased arterial SO2 by 35 and 48% from the 14 vehicle group, respectively. During 5% O2 hypoxia, blood pressure and heart rate were 58% and 15 30% higher for 5HMF compared to the vehicle. In addition, 5HMF preserved microvascular 16 blood flow, whereas blood flow decreased to 40% of baseline in the vehicle group. 17 Consequently, perivascular pO2 was three times higher in the 5HMF group compared to the 18 control group at 5% O2 hypoxia. 5HMF also reduced heart and brain hypoxic areas in mice. 19 Therefore, increased Hb O2 affinity resulted in hemodynamics and oxygenation benefits during 20 severe hypoxia. This acute acclimatization process may have implications in survival during 21 severe environmental hypoxia when logistic constraints prevent chronic acclimatization. 22 23
Radar target identification using Cauchy method

This paper presents a radar target identification using Cauchy method. Simulations of the radar system with different aircraft models are conducted, in which the Cauchy method was applied in frequency domain for extracting poles. These poles are employed to classify the difference in individual models of the aircrafts. Moreover, the frequency response of radar targets is also converted to time-domain response whose late-time portion is used to extract poles by using the matrix pencil method. The poles obtained from the use of Cauchy method and matrix pencil method are compared to verify the performance of the radar systems.
Distribution of Giardia duodenalis Genotypes and Subgenotypes in Raw Urban Wastewater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

ABSTRACT Giardia cysts in 131 raw wastewater samples from Milwaukee, Wis. , were genotyped by sequence analysis of the triosephosphate isomerase gene which showed the presence of two distinct genotypes (assemblages A and B) of Giardia duodenalis. Of the 131 samples, 111 belonged to assemblage A, and the remaining samples belonged to assemblage B. A high degree of genetic polymorphism was evident within the assemblage B cluster, with 10 distinct subgenotypes identified, eight of which have not been reported before.
The human leucocyte antigen‐G 14‐basepair polymorphism correlates with graft‐versus‐host disease in unrelated bone marrow transplantation for thalassaemia

The presence of the 14‐bp insertion polymorphism of the human leucocyte antigen (HLA)‐G gene (HLA‐G) promotes immune tolerance through increased synthesis of HLA‐G molecules. We investigated this polymorphism in a large cohort of 53 thalassaemia patients transplanted from an unrelated donor. Sixteen patients (30·2%) homozygous for the 14‐bp deletion had a higher risk of developing acute graft‐versus‐host disease (aGvHD) than patients homozygous for the 14‐bp insertion (−14‐bp/−14‐bp vs +14‐bp/+14‐bp: Relative Risk = 15·0; 95% confidence interval 1·59–141·24; P = 0·008). Therefore, the 14‐bp polymorphism could be an important predictive factor for aGvHD following bone marrow transplantation.
Mechanistic Studies of Methanol Oxidation to Formaldehyde on Isolated Vanadate Sites Supported on Mcm-48

The mechanism of methanol oxidation to formaldehyde catalyzed by isolated vanadate species supported on silica has been investigated by in situ Raman and TPD/TPO experiments. Raman, XANES, and EXAFS were used to characterize the V-MCM-48 sample, prepared with a loading of 0.3 V/nm2, and it is concluded that the oxidized form of the vanadium is isolated VO4 units. The VO4 species consist of one VO bond and three V−O−Si bonds in a distorted tetrahedral geometry. Methanol reacts reversibly, at a ratio of approximately 1 methanol per V, with one V−O−Si to produce both V−OCH3/Si−OH and V−OH/Si−OCH3 group pairs in roughly equivalent concentrations. Formaldehyde is formed from the methyl group of V−OCH3, most likely by the transfer of one H atom to the VO bond of the vanadium containing the methoxide group. Formaldehyde is formed in nearly equal concentrations both in the presence and in the absence of gas-phase oxygen. CO and H2 are produced by the decomposition of CH2O at higher temperature. In the absence of .
A unified approach to the representation of discrete-time and discrete-event quantised systems

The paper concerns continuous-variable systems with quantised measurements. From an external viewpoint such a system behaves like a discrete-event system which in general possesses a nondeterministic behaviour. This paper investigates the problem of representing the quantised system by a stochastic automaton. The properties of different classes of quantised systems are discussed and the effects occurring by setting up a stochastic automaton as a model are investigated.
Proof Interpretations and the Computational Content of Proofs in Mathematics

Preface These lecture notes are an extended and updated version of my BRICS Lecture Notes LS-98-1 (1998) which grew out of a BRICS PhD course which I gave in the spring term 1998. Their purpose is to give an introduction to two major proof theoretic techniques: functional interpretation and (modified) realizability. We focus on the possible use of these methods to extract programs, bounds and other effective data from given proofs. Both methods are developed in the framework of intuitionistic arithmetic in higher types. We also discuss applications to systems based on classical logic. We show that the combination of functional interpretation with the so-called negative translation, which allows to embed various classical theories into their intuitionistic counterparts, can be used to unwind non-constructive proofs. Instead of combining functional interpretation with negative translation one can also use in some circumstances a combination of modified realizability with negative translation if one inserts the so-called A-translation (due to H. Friedman) as an intermediate step. Finally, we sketch some applications of proof interpretations to concrete proofs in analysis and report on new results which were obtained in this way. Acknowledgment: I am grateful to the participants of my 1998 BRICS PhD course for helpful and clarifying comments.
A new MRTD scheme based on Coifman scaling functions for the solution of scattering problems

This letter describes a new multiresolution time-domain scheme which is developed based on Coifman compactly supported scaling functions with a number of vanishing moments. The highly linear dispersion properties of this scheme are investigated and two-dimensional and three-dimensional scattering problems are analyzed in order to demonstrate the advantages of this scheme over conventional finite difference time-domain schemes with respect to memory requirements and computing time.
Fibers vs. coax for RF delay line applications

A comparison between the RF-over-fiber and the RF-over-coax technologies is presented. It is shown that while in relatively short delay lines the coax technology will do, for delay lines longer than a certain distance the fiber technology has a clear advantages: Beyond several microseconds it is better in terms of volume, Noise Figure and cost.