Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional pacemakers composed of multiple oscillator neurons in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus

Regional specificities of the dorsal and ventral regions of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) were examined to elucidate the structure of multioscillator circadian organization. The circadian rhythms of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) release, and of electrical activity of individual neurons were measured in an organotypic, static slice culture of the SCN obtained from neonatal rats. Five days after the start of culture, robust circadian rhythms were detected in AVP release with a peak located consistently at the middle of the original light phase, while the 24 h profiles of VIP release were either arrhythmic or rhythmic. In the latter case, a phase delay of 5–7 h was observed in the circadian peak from the AVP rhythm. Multi‐channel, extracellular recording revealed that 51 (76.1%) out of 67 firing neurons, examined in the SCN, showed circadian rhythms in their firing rate. The percentage of rhythmic neurons was significantly larger in the dorsal (86.8%) than in the ventral (62.1%) region of the SCN, where the AVP and VIP containing neurons predominate, respectively. Twenty‐seven percent of the firing rhythms were almost antiphasic from the majority of rhythms. There was no regional specificity in the distribution of the antiphasic rhythm. These findings, that the dorsal and ventral regions of the SCN both contain circadian pacemakers with different properties that regulate the AVP and VIP release separately, is probably due to differences in the number and, hence, the coupling strength of oscillating neurons.
ATR-Chk1 Axis Protects BCR/ABL Leukemia Cells from the Lethal Effect of DNA Double-Strand Breaks

BCR/ABL-positive leukemia cells accumulated more replication-dependent DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) than normal counterparts after treatment with cisplatin and MMC, as assessed by pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and neutral comet assay. In addition, leukemia cells could repair these lesions more efficiently than normal cells and eventually survive genotoxic treatment. Elevated levels of drug-induced DSBs in leukemia cells were associated with higher activity of ATR kinase, and enhanced phosphorylation of histone H2AX on serine 139 (γ-H2AX). γ-H2AX eventually started to disappear in BCR/ABL cells, while continued to increase in parental cells. In addition, the expression and ATR-mediated phosphorylation of Chk1 kinase on serine 345 were often more abundant in BCR/ABL-positive leukemia cells than normal counterparts after genotoxic treatment. Inhibition of ATR kinase by caffeine but not Chk1 kinase by indolocarbazole inhibitor, SB218078 sensitized BCR/ABL leukemia cells to MMC in a short-term survival assay. Nevertheless, both caffeine and SB218078 enhanced the genotoxic effect of MMC in a long-term clonogenic assay. This effect was associated with the abrogation of transient accumulation of leukemia cells in S and G2/M cell cycle phases after drug treatment. In conclusion, ATR - Chk1 axis was strongly activated in BCR/ABL-positive cells and contributed to the resistance to DNA cross-linking agents causing numerous replication-dependent DSBs.
Dendritic Cell Immaturity during Infancy Restricts the Capacity To Express Vaccine-Specific T-Cell Memory

ABSTRACT The capacity of the immune system in infants to develop stable T-cell memory in response to vaccination is attenuated, and the mechanism(s) underlying this developmental deficiency in humans is poorly understood. The present study focuses on the capacity for expression of in vitro recall responses to tetanus and diphtheria antigens in lymphocytes from 12-month-old infants vaccinated during the first 6 months of life. We demonstrate that supplementation of infant lymphocytes with “matured” dendritic cells (DC) cultured from autologous CD14+ precursors unmasks previously covert cellular immunity in the form of Th2-skewed cytokine production. Supplementation of adult lymphocytes with comparable prematured autologous DC also boosted vaccine-specific T-cell memory expression, but in contrast to the case for the infants, these cytokine responses were heavily Th1 skewed. Compared to adults, infants had significantly fewer circulating myeloid DC (P < 0.0001) and plasmacytoid DC (P < 0.0001) as a proportion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These findings suggest that deficiencies in the numbers of antigen-presenting cells and their functional competence at 12 months of age limit the capacity to express effector memory responses and are potentially a key factor in reduced vaccine responsiveness in infants.
Movement of turritella spermatozoa: direction of propagation and chirality of flagellar bends.

The marine snail, Turritella communis, produces two types of spermatozoa, named apyrene and eupyrene. Eupyrene spermatozoa are usually paired, but unpaired ones are involved in fertilization. Movements of these spermatozoa were analyzed using a video camera with a high-speed shutter. The eupyrene spermatozoa usually swim with the head foremost but are able to swim flagellum foremost. A reversal of the direction of their swimming was found to be the result of a change in the direction of flagellar bend propagation, which changed with calcium concentration. Reversal of the direction of bend propagation was accompanied by a reversal of direction of the rotational movement of the spermatozoa around their long axis, suggesting that the bending waves keep the sense of their three-dimensional form. The swimming speed of apyrene spermatozoa in natural seawater was about one-eighth of that of the eupyrene ones and remained almost constant in highly viscous medium. The swimming speed of conjugated eupyrene spermatozoa was the same as that of unpaired spermatozoa over a wide viscosity range (<3,000 cP). No advantage of swimming by two spermatozoa could be detected in Turritella spermatozoa.
Health Care Providers' Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Lesbian Women and Gay Men.

OBJECTIVES We examined providers' implicit and explicit attitudes toward lesbian and gay people by provider gender, sexual identity, and race/ethnicity. METHODS We examined attitudes toward heterosexual people versus lesbian and gay people in Implicit Association Test takers: 2338 medical doctors, 5379 nurses, 8531 mental health providers, 2735 other treatment providers, and 214,110 nonproviders in the United States and internationally between May 2006 and December 2012. We characterized the sample with descriptive statistics and calculated Cohen d, a standardized effect size measure, with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS Among heterosexual providers, implicit preferences always favored heterosexual people over lesbian and gay people. Implicit preferences for heterosexual women were weaker than implicit preferences for heterosexual men. Heterosexual nurses held the strongest implicit preference for heterosexual men over gay men (Cohen d = 1.30; 95% confidence interval = 1.28, 1.32 among female nurses; Cohen d = 1.38; 95% confidence interval = 1.32, 1.44 among male nurses). Among all groups, explicit preferences for heterosexual versus lesbian and gay people were weaker than implicit preferences. CONCLUSIONS Implicit preferences for heterosexual people versus lesbian and gay people are pervasive among heterosexual health care providers. Future research should investigate how implicit sexual prejudice affects care.
Suicide after natural disasters.

BACKGROUND Among the victims of floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes, there is an increased prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, which are risk factors for suicidal thinking. We conducted this study to determine whether natural disasters affect suicide rates. METHODS From a list of all the events declared by the U.S. government to be federal disasters between 1982 and 1989, we selected the 377 counties that had each been affected by a single natural disaster during that period. We collected data on suicides during the 36 months before and the 48 months after the disaster and aligned the data around the month of the disaster. Pooled rates were calculated according to the type of disaster. Comparisons were made between the suicide rates before and those after disasters in the affected counties and in the entire United States. RESULTS Suicide rates increased in the four years after floods by 13.8 percent, from 12.1 to 13.8 per 100,000 (P<0.001), in the two years after hurricanes by 31.0 percent, from 12.0 to 15.7 per 100,000 (P<0.001), and in the first year after earthquakes by 62.9 percent, from 19.2 to 31.3 per 100,000 (P<0.001). The four-year increase of 19.7 percent after earthquakes was not statistically significant. Rates computed in a similar manner for the entire United States were stable. The increases in suicide rates were found for both sexes and for all age groups. The suicide rates did not change significantly after tornadoes or severe storms. CONCLUSIONS Our study shows that suicide rates increase after severe earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes and confirms the need for mental health support after severe disasters.
Expression of the Ym2 Lectin-binding Protein Is Dependent on Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 Signal Transduction

Asthma pathophysiology is intimately regulated by CD4+ Th2 lymphocytes and the cytokines interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13. However, the mechanisms by which these cytokines promote disease have not been fully elucidated. In order to identify novel molecular mediators of allergy, a comparison was made of the bronchoalveolar lavage, which demonstrated that the Ym2 protein was abundantly up-regulated in the lung during the development of allergy. Low levels of the Ym1 isomer were also detected. Importantly, neither Ym1 nor Ym2 has been characterized previously in the context of allergic pulmonary inflammation. Western immunoblot showed that enhanced expression of these proteins was dependent on CD4+T cells and IL-4 or IL-13 signaling via the IL-4Rα subunit. In addition, intratracheal instillation of IL-13 into naive mice was sufficient to induce expression. Ym1 is homologous to eosinophil chemotactic factor L. However, only weak eosinophil chemotaxis was observed in response to Ym protein in both in vitro andin vivo assays. By contrast, the homology of Ym1 and Ym2 to proteins associated with tissue remodeling, together with the previous findings that Ym1 is homologous to chitinase and binds heparin sulfate and GlcN oligomers (chitobiose, chitotriose, and chitotetraose), strongly suggests these proteins play an important role in airway wall remodeling in the allergic lung.
The dual role of R&D expenditures in European Union’s member states: short- and long-term prospects

The objective of this article is to assess a potential dual role of public expenditures in R&D upon economic growth and employment, using these dimensions as partial representations of the socioeconomic state of affairs in European Union’s Member States. First, we look into direct, short-term impacts arising from R&D expenditures, much in the sense of a multiplier effect. Second, we analyse impacts from the stage of development of National Innovation Systems (NIS) upon the macroeconomic conditions of interest, assuming that current stages of development are products of previous commitment to innovation, that is, a structural, long-term outcome of innovation-oriented investments. In order to empirically test our propositions, we have analysed 28 EU Member States (1990–2013) through three sets of econometric (static and dynamic panel data) models. Results highlight that EU countries’ governmental commitment to their respective innovation systems catalyses current and prospective economic growth and employment levels, suggesting a complementarity between Neo-Schumpeterian and Neo-Keynesian perceptions over governmental R&D involvement. This can bring innovation efforts closer to the macroeconomic debate on monetary and fiscal policies and function as a criticism to austerity measures, as this may not only affect the present socioeconomic situation, but also generate the cornerstone for a perennial state of divergence among EU Member States.
Blood Lead Levels and Delayed Onset of Puberty in a Longitudinal Study of Russian Boys

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the association of blood lead levels (BLLs) with pubertal onset in a longitudinal cohort of Russian boys. METHODS: A total of 489 Russian boys were enrolled in 2003–2005, at 8 to 9 years of age, and were monitored annually through May 2008. Cox proportional-hazards models were used to evaluate the association of BLLs at enrollment with time to pubertal onset during follow-up monitoring. RESULTS: A total of 481 boys had BLLs, with a median of 3 μg/dL and 28% with values of ≥5 μg/dL. The proportion of pubertal boys increased with age, from 12% at age 8 to 83% at age 12 for testicular volume of >3 mL, from 22% to 90% for genitalia stage 2 or higher, and from 4% to 40% for pubic hair stage 2 or higher. After adjustment for potential confounders including BMI and height, boys with high BLLs (≥5 μg/dL) had 24% to 31% reduced risk of pubertal onset, on the basis of testicular volume of >3 mL (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.73 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.55–0.97]; P = .03), genitalia staging (HR: 0.76 [95% CI: 0.59–0.98]; P = .04), and pubic hair staging (HR: 0.69 [95% CI: 0.44–1.07]; P = .10), compared with those with lower BLLs. Pubertal onset occurred 6 to 8 months later, on average, for boys with high BLLs, compared with those with BLLs of <5 μg/dL. CONCLUSION: Higher BLLs were associated with later pubertal onset in this prospective study of peripubertal Russian boys.
The Effect of the Vietnam War on Numbers of Medical School Applicants

Abstract —Among the little‐noticed but far‐reaching side effects of the Vietnam War was its impact on the higher education system. This often‐unpopular war, coupled with the military draft and student deferment policies, led many young men to enter educational institutions of all types. Beginning around 1964, there was a surge of enrollments and degrees granted in higher education that began to abate only after the draft ended in 1973. The leading edge of the post‐World War II “baby‐boom” also became of college age in the mid‐1960s and undoubtedly contributed to elevated levels of enrollments and degrees in higher education. But the Vietnam War had an impact over and above the purely demographic, as can be seen when population effects are factored out. This effect largely explains why the numbers of bachelor's degrees and doctorates (Ph.D. degrees and equivalent) granted to men suddenly stopped increasing in 1974 even though the relevant population groups continued to grow throughout the 1970s. The patterns of enrollments and degrees attained by women are quite different from the men's patterns, and they serve to reinforce the evidence of a draft effect. Students in health professions schools of all types were given special consideration under the deferment policies established by the Selective Service System, leading to rapid increases in applications to medical, dental, and other health professions schools during the period 1968–1974. Since then, the health professions schools have had quite similar experiences with applications—those from men have generally declined while those from women have generally increased. Also, career choices are shifting. Men are favoring degrees in business, engineering, and computer sciences over the main fields leading to medical schools — biology and chemistry. Women now outnumber men in number of bachelor's degrees granted annually, and the number of those degrees in the science fields is holding steady. Acad. Med. 64(1989):567–573.
Frequent pattern mining for community dedection in web logs group based habit dedection in community using network traces

During last 10 years, internet usage network has spread at an unforeseen rate. Concurrently, many services including official transactions have been granted from the internet. By the way, it has become an area where internet users have access to apps and interact with each other over social media. People's internet usage habits have become a domain that can give information about the areas of the population and their interests. In social networks, group analysis and connection predictions are popular terms that construct base of a lot of scientific works. This terms, especially, used for; ads customize, habits and tendency retain or determination of friendship based on same character. Network users can be grouped according to their activity and character, or they can be grouped according to their movement over the network by their estimation algorithms. In this study, all dataset filtered to get anonymous traffic logs that generated by a part of internet users who are in the network of an institution and the community was explored. All logs analyzed according to Category-based diversity, time periods of accesses and usage periods. As expected, communities were established from the habits of users with “Pattern Based Frequency Analysis Method”. Voluntary experimental users whose mac addresses were already defined and belong to determined groups redistributed with specified method. Lastly, via calculating the achievement of correct distribution results the success of method found out.
Germline BRCA Mutations in a Large Clinic-Based Cohort of Patients With Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

PURPOSE The main purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of pathogenic BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in a consecutively ascertained clinic-based cohort of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and describe the clinical and family history characteristics. PATIENTS AND METHODS Unselected, consecutive, incident patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma were recruited at a single cancer center over a 2-year period. Participants provided blood for DNA analysis and cancer family history, and cancer treatment records were reviewed. DNA from all patients was analyzed by Sanger sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification for germline variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2. RESULTS Three hundred six patients were eligible for analysis. Pathogenic germline BRCA mutations were identified in 14 patients (4.6%; 95% CI, 2.2% to 6.9%), including 11 patients with a BRCA2 mutation and three patients with a BRCA1 mutation. Having a cancer family history that met genetic testing criteria of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network or the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care or self-reporting as Ashkenazi Jewish was significantly associated with BRCA mutation carrier status (P=.02, P<.001, and P=.05, respectively). However, the majority of the BRCA mutation-positive patients did not actually meet these genetic testing criteria. CONCLUSION Pathogenic BRCA mutations were identified in 4.6% of a large cohort of clinic-based patients. Considering the implications for family members of BRCA carriers, and possibly tailored chemotherapeutic treatment of patients, our finding has implications for broader BRCA genetic testing for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Range extension in coherent OFDM passive optical networks using an inverse Hammerstein nonlinear equalizer

High-speed demand driven by bandwidth-consuming applications, such as video streaming and cloud computing, is exceeding available network capacity, forcing operators to implement innovative technologies to increase the throughput offered to end users. In particular, passive optical networks (PONs) with a full-duplex capacity of 10 Gb/s over a 40-km span are expected to be developed shortly. However, the range of such systems is severely penalized due to fiber and splitter losses. To increase the transmission distance of PONs, coherent optical (CO) communications have regained attention. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been proposed as a modulation format due to its robustness to chromatic dispersion, high spectral efficiency, and flexibility. The high peak-to-average ratio of OFDM signals, however, makes them very vulnerable to fiber nonlinear distortion. In this paper, we propose what we believe is a novel, low-complexity equalizer based on the inverse Hammerstein model to partially compensate for the nonlinear distortion in CO-OFDM PONs. Numerical simulations using the split-step Fourier transform method reveal a potential link increase of 20 and 5 km for bit rates of 10 and 40 Gb/s, respectively, when compared to linear equalization.
Aliskiren Reduces Morning Blood Pressure in Hypertensive Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy on Hemodialysis

Our previous study indicated that the exchange from an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) to aliskiren reduced morning blood pressure and albuminuria in hypertensive patients with diabetic nephropathy. We extended the above study and assessed the effects of exchanging from an ARB to aliskiren on home blood pressure in hypertensive patients with diabetic nephropathy on chronic hemodialysis. The patients who were persistently hypertensive despite antihypertensive therapy, including ARB, were considered as candidates for the exchange from the ARB to aliskiren. Patients’ age and durations of diabetes and hemodialysis were averaged as 62 ± 9 years old, 15 ± 8 and 7 ± 3 years, respectively. Aliskiren decreased morning systolic blood pressure (149 ± 14 to 144 ± 13 mm Hg, n = 30, P < .01) and plasma renin activity (3.5 ± 1.1 to 1.2 ± 0.6 ng/mL/h, P < .01) without changes in serum potassium. Aliskiren also reduced interdialytic weight gain (2.7 ± 0.6 to 2.5 ± 0.5 kg/interval, P < .05) and attenuated the magnitude of intradialytic declines in systolic (−20 ± 11 to −17 ± 10 mm Hg, P < .05) and diastolic blood pressure (−9 ± 6 to −5 ± 5 mm Hg, P < .01). The exchange from an ARB to aliskiren is safe and useful to control home blood pressure in hypertensive hemodialysis patients with diabetic nephropathy. Aliskiren reduced both intradialytic blood pressure drops and interdialytic weight gain in patients with DN.
Nonsymmetrized noise in a quantum dot: Interpretation in terms of energy transfer and coherent superposition of scattering paths

We calculate the nonsymmetrized current noise in a quantum dot connected to two reservoirs by using the nonequilibrium Green function technique. We show that both the current autocorrelator (inside a single reservoir) and the current cross-correlator (between the two reservoirs) are expressed in terms of transmission amplitude and coefficient through the barriers. We identify the different energy-transfer processes involved in each contribution to the autocorrelator, and we highlight the fact that when there are several physical processes, the contribution results from a coherent superposition of scattering paths. Varying the gate and bias voltages, we discuss the profile of the differential Fano factor in light of recent experiments, and we identify the conditions for having a distinct value for the autocorrelator in the left and right reservoirs.
The Fragility of Emerging Currencies Since the 2000s: a Minskyan Analysis

The currencies of a few emerging market economies (EME) have being following a specific dynamic since the early 2000s: they are strongly connected to financial markets internationally , appreciating in moments of tranquility and presenting sharp depreciations in peaks of uncertainty. What is the mechanism behind this specific dynamic that contradicts mainstream exchange-rate theories? To answer this question, this article applies the Minskyan framework to the context of money managers and their portfolio allocation decisions. The approach allows the analysis of these currencies through money managers' decisions, putting forward that these might float according to their balance-sheet constraints-reasons not related to the currencies themselves, but to money managers' assets, liabilities, and currency mismatch. The result is a dynamic characterized by deviation-amplifying system, the opposite of the equilibrium-seeking mechanism needed for clearing markets, and high frequency of depreciations associated to the global extent of these institutions' balance-sheet.