Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acetylcholine and memory-enhancing activity of Ficus racemosa bark

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder resulting in dementia and enhancement of acetylcholine (Ach) levels in brain using acetylcholinesterase inhibitors is one of the most important approaches for the treatment of AD. Methods: In this study, aqueous extract of Ficus racemosa Linn. (Moraceae) bark having anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticholinesterase activity was evaluated for its ability to enhance Ach levels, and to ascertain its antidementia activity in rats. This work was carried out under the assumption that the F. racemosa extract may show combination of actions which could be beneficial in the treatment of AD, such as neuroprotection, attributed to antioxidant and anti-infl ammatory property and may elevate levels of Ach like Ficus hispida extract reported earlier. Results: Administration of the extract at two levels viz., 250 and 500 mg/kg signifi cantly raised (P ≤ 0.05) Ach levels in hippocampi of rats compared to control. The percentage enhancement in Ach levels was found to be 22% and 38%, respectively. Further, the extract at both dosage levels elicited signifi cant reduction (P ≤ 0.05) in transfer latency on elevated plus-maze, which was used as an exteroceptive behavioral model to evaluate memory in rats. Conclusion: It is inferred that it would be worthwhile to explore the potential of F. racemosa in the management of Alzheimer disease.
Opioid tolerance in neonates: a state‐of‐the‐art review

Research into the mechanisms of opioid tolerance may help the clinician in various aspects of pain management, thus increasing the effectiveness of currently available analgesics and perhaps even obviating the need for the newer, more expensive, analgesics and sedatives (1). Opioids have remained the mainstay of our analgesic regimen for severe pain; their clinical utility for patients with acute pain, critical illness, chronic nonmalignant pain and cancer pain has been amply demonstrated in the last two decades. For newborn infants, early studies highlighted the need for opioid-based anaesthesia and postoperative analgesia, and the resulting clinical bene®ts to the neonate (2,3). More recent studies suggest that opioid infusions promote respiratory synchrony (4), haemodynamic stability (5) and decrease the incidence of neurological injury (e.g. grade III or grade IV intraventricular haemorrhage, periventricular leukomalacia) in ventilated preterm neonates (6). Long-term follow-up studies of former preterm neonates further suggest improved behavioural and cognitive outcomes in children receiving morphine during their NICU stay as compared with those randomized to nonopioid control groups (7±9). MacGregor et al. assessed former preterm neonates at 5±6 years of age using the WPPSI-R, the Movement ABC, and the Child Behaviour Checklist and reported trends towards better performance for all three tests in the morphine group (7). Grunau and colleagues recently reported that morphine analgesia in sick preterm neonates `normalized' their behavioural and physiological responsiveness to acute pain during subsequent infancy (8,9). Thus, improvements in the short term (6,10) and long-term (11,12) clinical outcomes of critically ill neonates have promoted the widespread use of opioid drugs for analgesia and sedation in NICU (13,14). Consequently, large numbers of neonates are now receiving progressively increasing amounts of opioid therapy during their NICU stay. These changes in clinical practice, particularly in some institutions (14), have led to an increasing incidence of opioid tolerance and dependence during therapy, with consequent increases in the number of patients showing the clinical signs of opioid withdrawal when therapy is discontinued (15±17). We propose that a clearer understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating opioid tolerance and dependence will improve our ability to prevent, diagnose and treat the adverse effects associated with opioid withdrawal. The purpose of this review is to discuss (i) the Correspondence to: Santhanam Suresh, Department of Anesthesiology, Box 19, Children's Memorial Hospital, 2300 Children's Plaza, Chicago, IL 60614, USA (e-mail: ssuresh@northwestern.edu). Paediatric Anaesthesia 2001 11: 511±521
Fluorescence quantum yield of verteporfin is independent of oxygen

Photodynamic therapy dosimetery and treatment planning is affected by the concentration of photosensitizer in a given tissue, and these values are often estimated based on measurements of fluorescence in the region to be treated. Some studies with benzoporphyrin derivate monoacid ring a (BPD-MA) showed a significant increase in fluorescence quantum yield with deoxygenation of the solution, indicating a possible oxygen sensitive switch in intersystem crossing or reverse intersystem crossing. The experiments done in this paper show that at oxygenation levels found in vivo the variation in fluorescence quantum yield of liposomal BPD-MA (verteporfin) is negligible for changes in solution oxygenation. The results from all of the experiments show that it is not necessary to measure the oxygenation of tissues when calculating the concentration of verteporfin from fluorescence measurements, so that dosimetry calculations based upon photosensitizer levels would not be affected by the tissue oxygenation. This greatly simplifies the dosimetry process with verteporfin.
Guidelines for Neuroscience Studies in Information Systems Research

Neuroscience provides a new lens through which to study information systems (IS). These NeuroIS studies investigate the neurophysiological effects related to the design, use, and impact of IS. A major advantage of this new methodology is its ability to examine human behavior at the underlying neurophysiological level, which was not possible before, and to reduce self-reporting bias in behavior research. Previous studies that have revisited important IS concepts such as trust and distrust have challenged and extended our knowledge. An increasing number of neuroscience studies in IS have given researchers, editors, reviewers, and readers new challenges in terms of determining what makes a good NeuroIS study. While earlier papers focused on how to apply specific methods (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging), this paper takes an IS perspective in deriving six phases for conducting NeuroIS research and offers five guidelines for planning and evaluating NeuroIS studies: to advance IS research, to apply the standards of neuroscience, to justify the choice of a neuroscience strategy of inquiry, to map IS concepts to bio-data, and to relate the experimental setting to IS-authentic situations. The guidelines provide guidance for authors, reviewers, and readers of NeuroIS studies, and thus help to capitalize on the potential of neuroscience in IS research.
Formulation development and optimization using nanoemulsion technique: A technical note

Summary and ConclusionRamipril nanoemulsion formulations were successfully prepared by the spontaneous emulsification method (titration method). Sefsol 218 was selected as the oil phase for the development of the formulation on the basis of the solubility studies. The differences in the droplet size between the formulations selected from the phase diagram was not statistically significant, although the polydispersity was at a minimum for the formulation containing 20% oil, 27% Smix, and 53% vol/vol aqueous phase. The droplet size was found to be 34.5 nm. Therefore, nanoemulsion, a multipurpose technology, can be exploited in drug delivery for poorly soluble drugs. Nanoemulsions have a higher solubilization capacity than simple micellar solutions, and their thermodynamic stability offers advantages over unstable dispersions, such as emulsions and suspensions, because they can be manufactured with little energy input (heat or mixing) and have a long shelf life. This technical note explains the basis for calculation and construction of pseudoternary phase diagrams and, most important, explains selection of the formulations from the phase diagrams to avoid metastable formulations having minimum surfactant concentration in the least possible time.
Intraoperative conversion after surgical failure: an overlooked complication of aortic root replacement in Marfan patients?

In the context of aortic root replacement, intraoperative conversion is defined as a change of operative technique from aortic valve-sparing (AVS) to aortic valve-replacing (AVR) root replacement, or as a change from one AVR prosthesis to another during the same operation. Although intraoperative conversion represents an important form of nonstructural valve dysfunction, a valve-related complication, it is rarely reported in publications that discuss aortic root replacement.1–4 Of the 28 publications on aortic root replacement that were reviewed in a 2009 best-evidence topic5 and in a 2011 meta-analysis6 of retrospective studies, only 1 article, by Birks and colleagues,4 briefly described intraoperative conversion. That group reported 6 intraoperative conversion cases (7%) in a series of 88 patients who underwent a Yacoub remodeling AVS root replacement as the initial procedure; they excluded these cases from their analysis of operative outcomes.4 A 2011 publication by Oka and colleagues3 reported 3 cases of intraoperative conversion to AVR root replacement (3%) in a series of 101 patients who underwent AVS root replacement as their initial procedure. In all 3 cases, conversion was necessitated by cusp prolapse. In the Aortic Valve Operative Outcomes in Marfan Patients (AVOOMP),1 an international prospective registry, 316 patients underwent AVS or AVR aortic root replacement; there were 6 cases of intraoperative conversion (2%). Here, we review these cases and suggest possible explanations for the paucity of intraoperative conversion reports in the literature.
Influence of major-groove chemical modifications of DNA on transcription by bacterial RNA polymerases

DNA templates containing a set of base modifications in the major groove (5-substituted pyrimidines or 7-substituted 7-deazapurines bearing H, methyl, vinyl, ethynyl or phenyl groups) were prepared by PCR using the corresponding base-modified 2′-deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs). The modified templates were used in an in vitro transcription assay using RNA polymerase from Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. Some modified nucleobases bearing smaller modifications (H, Me in 7-deazapurines) were perfectly tolerated by both enzymes, whereas bulky modifications (Ph at any nucleobase) and, surprisingly, uracil blocked transcription. Some middle-sized modifications (vinyl or ethynyl) were partly tolerated mostly by the E. coli enzyme. In all cases where the transcription proceeded, full length RNA product with correct sequence was obtained indicating that the modifications of the template are not mutagenic and the inhibition is probably at the stage of initiation. The results are promising for the development of bioorthogonal reactions for artificial chemical switching of the transcription.
Cloning, sequence analysis, and expression in Escherichia coli of a streptococcal plasmin receptor

Plasmin(ogen) receptors are expressed by many gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. We previously isolated a plasmin receptor from a pathogenic group A streptococcal strain (C. C. Broder, R. Lottenberg, G. O. von Mering, K. H. Johnston, and M. D. P. Boyle, J. Biol. Chem. 266:4922-4928, 1991). The gene encoding this plasmin receptor, plr, was isolated from a lambda gt11 library of chromosomal DNA from group A streptococcal strain 64/14 by screening plaques with antibodies raised against the purified streptococcal plasmin receptor protein. The gene was subcloned by using a low-copy-number plasmid and stably expressed in Escherichia coli, resulting in the production of an immunoreactive and functional receptor protein. The DNA sequence of the gene contained an open reading frame encoding 335 amino acids with a predicted molecular weight of 35,787. Upstream of the open reading frame, putative promoter and ribosomal binding site sequences were identified. The experimentally derived amino acid sequences of the N terminus and three cyanogen bromide fragments of the purified streptococcal plasmin receptor protein corresponded to the predicted sequence encoded by plr. The deduced amino acid sequence for the plasmin receptor protein revealed significant similarity (39 to 54% identical amino acid residues) to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenases.
“Red mal deutsch, Hundesohn, ich halt nicht viel vom Spitten”: Cultural Pressures and the Language of German Hip Hop

Abstract This article presents the results of a study analyzing the discourse of two German rap formations with regard to questions of cultural and linguistic creolization.1 It investigates the ways in which German rappers position themselves vis-à-vis American hip hop culture and some of its most salient concepts. In this process, which is far from being a smooth act of creative localization of the global, (African American Vernacular) English becomes a source of prestige as well as a site for contestation. The different indexicalities connected to it can account for a variety of uses of English in German rap. The resulting discourses at times develop forms that contradict assumptions about the enabling nature of cultural hybridization and localization
Potential histologic and molecular predictors of response to temsirolimus in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

PURPOSE Similar to other molecularly targeted agents, temsirolimus, an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin, has shown promising activity in advanced renal cell carcinoma. However, only a subset of patients appears to derive significant tumor responses. In an effort to identify potential predictors of response to temsirolimus, tumor samples from a subset of patients within a randomized phase II trial of temsirolimus in advanced renal cell carcinoma were studied. PATIENTS AND METHODS Paraffin-embedded tissue sections from patients who had received temsirolimus were immunostained with antibodies to carbonic anhydrase IX, phospho-S6, phospho-Akt (pAkt), and phosphotase and tensin homologue. Expression levels were correlated with objective response (partial response [PR], minor response [MR]) and clinical benefit (PR, MR, SD>or=4 cycles) to temsirolimus. In addition, von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) mutational analysis was performed and correlated with response. RESULTS Tissue specimens were obtained from 20 patients who were evaluable for both tumor response and staining for phospho-S6 and carbonic anhydrase IX. In addition, 19 specimens were evaluable for pAkt, and 18 for phosphotase and tensin homologue. VHL mutational analysis was performed on 16 samples. Five patients achieved an objective response (1 PR/4 MRs) to temsirolimus. There was a positive association of phospho-S6 expression (P=.02) and a trend toward positive expression of pAkt (P=.07) with response to temsirolimus. No patient without high expression of either phospho-S6 or pAkt experienced an objective tumor response. There was no correlation of carbonic anhydrase IX and phosphotase and tensin homologue expression or VHL status with response to temsirolimus. CONCLUSION These results suggest that phospho-S6 and pAkt expression are promising predictive biomarkers for response to temsirolimus that are worthy of further exploration for use in patient selection models for mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors.
Potential application of DMSP/OLS nighttime light data for estimating ground-level PM2.5 concentrations

This study attempted to establish the relationship between ground-level PM2.5 concentrations and satellite-retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) using the Vegetation Adjusted NTL Urban Index (VANUI), over the New England region for the year 2013. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was used to predict ground-level PM2.5 on a daily basis. The study demonstrates that DMSP/OLS NTL data has the potential to be used as an alternative source for estimating PM2.5 exposure. Results from the 10-fold cross validation showed that the accuracy of daily NTL-GWR model were relatively higher than the model without NTL data. Moreover, the NTL-GWR model can illustrate more details of the predicted surface due to its continuous spatial patterns. Overall, it can be concluded that the DMSP/OLS nighttime light data is promising in delineating PM2.5, thus providing a supplemental data source to in situ monitoring and computational modeling.
How Stat1 mediates constitutive gene expression: a complex of unphosphorylated Stat1 and IRF1 supports transcription of the LMP2 gene

Analysis of mRNA levels in cells that express or lack signal transducers and activators of transcription 1 (Stat1) reveals that Stat1 mediates the constitutive transcription of many genes. Expression of the low molecular mass polypeptide 2 (LMP2), which requires Stat1, has been studied in detail. The overlapping interferon consensus sequence 2/γ‐interferon‐activated sequence (ICS‐2/GAS) elements in the LMP2 promoter bind to interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) and Stat1 and are occupied constitutively in vivo. The point mutant of Stat1, Y701F, which does not form dimers involving SH2–phosphotyrosine interactions, binds to the GAS element and supports LMP2 expression. Unphosphorylated Stat1 binds to IRF1 directly and we conclude that this complex uses the ICS‐2/GAS element to mediate constitutive LMP2 transcription in vivo. The promoter of the IRF1 gene, which also contains a GAS site but not an adjacent ICS‐2 site, is not activated by Stat1 Y701F. The promoters of other genes whose constitutive expression requires Stat1 may also utilize complexes of unphosphorylated Stat1 with IRF1 or other transcription factors.
Tropomodulin assembles early in myofibrillogenesis in chick skeletal muscle: evidence that thin filaments rearrange to form striated myofibrils.

Actin filament lengths in muscle and nonmuscle cells are believed to depend on the regulated activity of capping proteins at both the fast growing (barbed) and slow growing (pointed) filament ends. In striated muscle, the pointed end capping protein, tropomodulin, has been shown to maintain the lengths of thin filaments in mature myofibrils. To determine whether tropomodulin might also be involved in thin filament assembly, we investigated the assembly of tropomodulin into myofibrils during differentiation of primary cultures of chick skeletal muscle cells. Our results show that tropomodulin is expressed early in differentiation and is associated with the earliest premyofibrils which contain overlapping and misaligned actin filaments. In addition, tropomodulin can be found in actin filament bundles at the distal tips of growing myotubes, where sarcomeric alpha-actinin is not always detected, suggesting that tropomodulin caps actin filament pointed ends even before the filaments are cross-linked into Z bodies by alpha-actinin. Tropomodulin staining exhibits an irregular punctate pattern along the length of premyofibrils that demonstrate a smooth phalloidin staining pattern for F-actin. Strikingly, the tropomodulin dots often appear to be located between the closely spaced, dot-like Z bodies that are stained for (&agr;)-actinin. Thus, in the earliest premyofibrils, the pointed ends of the thin filaments are clustered and partially aligned with respect to the Z bodies (the location of the barbed filament ends). At later stages of differentiation, the tropomodulin dots become aligned into regular periodic striations concurrently with the appearance of striated phalloidin staining for F-actin and alignment of Z bodies into Z lines. Tropomodulin, together with the barbed end capping protein, CapZ, may function from the earliest stages of myofibrillogenesis to restrict the lengths of newly assembled thin filaments by capping their ends; thus, transitions from nonstriated to striated myofibrils in skeletal muscle are likely due principally to filament rearrangements rather than to filament polymerization or depolymerization. Rearrangements of actin filaments capped at their pointed and barbed ends may be a general mechanism by which cells restructure their actin cytoskeletal networks during cell growth and differentiation.
Congenital malformations of the central nervous system in rats produced by maternal zinc deficiency.

Teratogenic effects of maternal zinc deficiency in rats have been observed, confirming previous reports. The deficient diet differed in several re-spects from that used by Hurley and coworkers but the results were essentially the same. Special attention was given to malformations of the central nervous system and to tissue anomalies not recognizable by gross inspection of the fetuses.
Metastatic adenocarcinoma within an adrenal adenoma: detection with chemical shift imaging.

a frequent clinical problem. These masses may be detected incidentally or may be found during a dedicated search for metastatic disease. Various techniques have been proposed for differentiating benign adrenal adenomas from other adrenal mass lesions. Recently, chemical shift imaging has emerged as a powerful technique for this evaluation. We present a case of metastatic carcinoma within an adrenal adenoma. The typical features of adrenal adenomas on chemical shift images are evident. However, a small portion of the adrenal mass displays features that are not characteristic for adenoma. This portion corresponds to a focus of metastatic adenocarcinoma found by means of pathologic examination following adrenalectomy.
Hepatic protein expression of lean mice and obese diabetic mice treated with peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor activators

The peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors (PPARs) are ligand‐activated transcription factors that modulate lipid and glucose homeostasis. In the clinic, PPARα and PPARγ agonists are used to treat hypertriglyceridemia and insulin resistance of diabetes, respectively. To gain further insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic actions of these drugs, we have by two‐dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry performed a comparative analysis of the hepatic protein expression profiles of lean and obese (ob/ob) mice, and obese mice treated with WY14,643 (PPARα agonist) or rosiglitazone (PPARγ agonist). We found that livers from obese mice displayed higher levels of enzymes involved in fatty acid oxidation and lipogenesis compared to lean mice and these differences were further amplified by treatment with both PPAR activators. WY14,643 normalized the expression levels of several enzymes involved in glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and amino acid metabolism in the obese mice to the levels of lean mice, whereas rosiglitazone partially normalized levels of enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism. In summary, a classical proteomics approach was successfully used to characterize differences at the hepatic proteome level between lean and obese diabetic mice, to map metabolic pathways affected by treatment, and to discriminate between effects caused by treatment with agonists of the closely related PPARα and PPARγ receptors.
Understanding honest feedbacks and opinions in academic environments

Student evaluation is an important component of any higher education. Online student feedbacks and opinions have become increasingly popular means of gathering reviews and judging the quality of various services offered by an institution. This paper focuses on studying student behaviour while reporting their feedbacks. Particularly, we investigate the reliability of quantitative features through numerical ratings that students offer, by estimating the linguistic evidence from the free text that accompany the feature space. Our hypotheses is that higher the evidence of a feature in the free text, higher the quantitative numerical ratings. This study has been validated from students' feedbacks and opinions of our institution as well.