Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BDNF sensitizes the response of lamina II neurons to high threshold primary afferent inputs

Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is up‐regulated and released in the dorsal horn following peripheral inflammation and has therefore been implicated in spinal mechanisms of sensitization. Despite these observations, the mechanisms associated with such a role for BDNF are not yet fully determined. Here, we investigate the effect of BDNF on dorsal root‐evoked synaptic transmission in lamina II neurons. In a transverse spinal cord slice preparation from neonatal rats (P1–15), the whole cell patch‐clamp technique was used to record from these neurons. Brief application of BDNF (50–200 ng/mL) facilitated the evoked synaptic currents; they remained enhanced even after BDNF was washed out. A significant minority of cells was minimally affected by BDNF and consistent with this, not all neurons in lamina II were immunoreactive for the tyrosine kinase (trk) B receptor. No facilitation was elicited when N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptors were blocked with D‐APV, when the postsynaptic NMDA receptors were selectively blocked with intracellular MK‐801, or when postsynaptic neurons were loaded with BAPTA. Additionally, inhibiting phospholipase C (PLC) or protein kinase C (PKC) prior to BDNF application completely blocked facilitation. However, once synaptic current underwent BDNF‐induced facilitation, the PKC inhibitors failed to reverse the effect, suggesting that PKC is needed for initiation, but not maintenance of BDNF‐induced facilitation. These results demonstrate that BDNF functions at the spinal level to enhance synaptic efficacy in an NMDA receptor‐dependent manner and requires the action of the PLC/PKC pathway. This action of BDNF may contribute to central sensitization and exaggerated pain states.
New Weighted Integral Inequalities and Its Application to Exponential Stability Analysis of Time-Delay Systems

This paper is concerned with the exponential stability analysis for time-delay systems. First, two new weighted integral inequalities are presented based on the auxiliary function-based integral inequalities. In the new weighted integral inequalities, unlike previous studies, exponentially weighted integral vectors are used to find the lower bounds of the weighted integral quadratic terms. Then, by utilizing the new weighted integral inequalities, a new linear matrix inequality (LMI) condition is derived for the exponential stability of the considered time-delay systems. Finally, the numerical examples are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the new LMI condition. The example results show that the LMI condition derived in this paper is less conservative than existing ones in analyzing exponential stability of the considered systems.
Simulation approach of wireless OFDM and FBMC signals transmission over fiber based on equivalent electrical models

In this paper, we present the impact of a Radio over fiber (RoF) link on the transmission of a signal dedicated to wireless link. Comparison is given between OFDM and FBMC based wireless signal by simulation with the electrical modelling approach of O/E and E/O devices and optical components. The considered link concerns the Intensity Modulation - Direct Detection (IM-DD) architecture where the wireless signal is transmitted at the intermediate frequency. The simulation system includes the noise sources and nonlinearity of each component making thus the easy study of the impact of each one separately. It is then possible to quantify the degradation of the transmitted signal in term of error vector magnitude (EVM) or bit error rate (BER). Thus, the system architecture can be optimized for various applications and furthermore depending on the number of users.
Childhood trauma-related nightmares: The impact of exposure, relaxation, and rescripting therapy on cognitive functioning

s International, 68, 3B. (UMI No. 32555375). Langston, T. J., Davis, J. L. , & Swopes, R. M. (2010). Idiopathic and posttrauma nightmares in a clinical sample of children and adolescents: Characteristics and related pathology. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 3(4), 344-356.
High‐Affinity Cannabinoid Binding Site: Regulation by Ions, Ascorbic Acid, and Nucleotides

Abstract: The high‐affinity cannabinoid site in rat brain is an integral component of brain membranes that recognizes cannabinoids with inhibitory constants (Ki) in the nanomolar range. To clarify its physiological role, we studied the regulation of [3H]5′‐trimethylammonium Δ8‐tetrahydrocannabinol ([3H]TMA) binding. The site is inhibited by heavy metal ions, such as La3+, at low micromolar concentrations; divalent cations, such as Ca2+ and Mg2+, inhibit [3H]TMA binding, though at somewhat higher concentrations. In contrast, [3H]TMA binding is stimulated by Fe2+, Cu2+, and Hg2+ ions. Ascorbic acid and its analogs are also stimulators of cannabinoid binding at low micromolar concentrations. Stimulation of [3H]TMA binding by ascorbate or ions is dependent upon molecular oxygen, but is not inhibited by metabolic poisons. Metabolically stable nucleoside triphosphate analogs enhance [3H]TMA binding by different mechanisms, with hydrolysis of a high‐energy phosphate bond apparently requisite for these influences. These results suggest that the cannabinoid binding site is associated with a nucleotide‐utilizing protein possessing multiple regulatory subsites.
Somatosensory processing in a German family with PINK1 mutations: its potential role in Parkinson disease

Background: It is unclear whether sensory symptoms in Parkinson disease (PD) are of primary or of secondary origin attributable to motor symptoms such as rigidity and bradykinesia. Objective: The aim of this study was to elucidate whether sensory abnormalities are present and may precede motor symptoms in familial parkinsonism by characterizing sensory function in symptomatic and asymptomatic PINK1 mutation carriers. Methods: Fourteen family members with PINK1 mutation and 14 healthy controls were examined clinically, with nerve conduction studies and quantitative sensory testing (QST). Results: Thresholds for mechanical detection, mechanical pain and pressure pain were higher in PINK1 mutation carriers compared to controls. Higher thresholds for mechanical detection, mechanical pain and pressure pain were even found in asymptomatic, clinically not or only mildly affected PINK1 mutation carriers. Conclusions: Data suggest that PINK1-associated PD is associated with a primary hypofunction of nociceptive and non-nociceptive afferent systems that can already be found at the time when motor signs of PD are only subtle. As nerve conduction studies did not reveal differences between PINK1 mutation carriers and controls, we propose that the somatosensory impairment is related to abnormal central somatosensory processing.
Modelling of heat transfer in microdroplets as microreactors

A novel approach of modeling heat transfer in Taylor flow is presented. The model addresses especially the applications of Lab-On-a-Chip systems and focuses on the thermal behavior of individual droplets. Heat transfer is investigated at different boundary conditions as heat generation inside the droplet and heat generation at the droplet surfaces. A novel approximation of convective mass and heat transfer is presented as well.
Alternative 5' splice site selection induced by heat shock

The mouse HSP47 gene consists of six exons separated by five introns. Three HSP47 cDNAs differing only in their 5' noncoding regions have been reported. One of these alternatively spliced mRNAs was detected only after heat shock, which caused an alternative 5' splice donor site selection. Other stress inducers, including an amino acid analog and sodium arsenite, had no effect on the alternative splicing. The alternatively spliced mRNA, which was 169 nucleotides longer in the 5' noncoding region compared to mRNA transcribed in non-heat shock conditions, was efficiently translated under heat shock conditions. This novel finding that alternative splicing is caused by artificial treatment like heat shock will provide a useful in vivo model for understanding the exon-intron recognition mechanism as well as heat shock-induced alterations in gene expression.
Demonstration and suppression of numerical divergence errors in FDTD analysis of practical microwave problems

Field divergence emulation in FDTD is revisited, and new theoretical aspects as well as problems of practical importance are revealed and resolved. Various choices of divergence definition are discussed in terms of their predictive power. It is shown that total FDTD solutions inevitably violate Gauss law in dipole radiation or eigenvalue analysis. The theory of S- and P-eigenmodes is applied to understand these problems and to restore their physical solutions. Recipes for extracting correct radiation efficiency, radiation resistance, Q-factors and modal field patterns in the presence of P-modes are proposed.
The proliferation and differentiation of primary pig preadipocytes is suppressed when cultures are incubated at 37°Celsius compared to euthermic conditions in pigs

Given similarities in metabolic parameters and cardiovascular physiology, the pig is well positioned as a biomedical model for metabolic disease and obesity in humans. Better understanding molecular mechanisms governing porcine adipocyte hyperplasia may provide insight into the regulation of adipose tissue development that is useful both when considering the pig as a commodity and when extrapolating porcine data to human disease. Primary cultures of pig stromal-vascular cells have served as a useful tool for investigating factors that regulate preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation. However, such cultures have generally been maintained at 37°C in vitro despite euthermia being 39°C in pigs. To address potential concerns about the physiological relevance of culturing primary pig preadipocytes under what would be hypothermic conditions in vivo, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of culture temperature on the proliferation and differentiation of pig preadipocytes in primary culture. Culturing primary preadipocytes at 37 rather than 39°C decreases their proliferation rates based upon cleavage of the tetrazolium salt, MTT (P < 0.001), reduction of resazurin (P < 0.001), and daily cell counts (P < 0.001). Likewise, culturing primary porcine preadipocytes at 37°C suppressed their adipogenic potential based upon monitoring adipogenesis morphologically, biochemically, and via the expression of mRNA encoding adipogenic marker genes. Collectively, these data indicate the proliferation and differentiation of primary pig preadipocytes is suppressed when cultures are incubated at 37°C compared to normal body temperature of pigs. This may confound investigation of factors that impact adipocyte hyperplasia in the pig.
Skin-specific alloantigens in miniature swine.

BACKGROUND The acceptance of skin allografts has historically been among the most challenging problems in the field of transplantation, attributed, at least in part, to the existence of antigens expressed by skin but not by other tissues. Many studies have suggested the existence of skin-specific antigens in rodents, but data in large-animal models are more limited. METHODS We have recently developed protocols for attaining stable mixed hematopoietic chimerism in miniature swine, using MHC-matched donors and recipients. We have now assessed tolerance to donor-derived skin and cardiac allografts in these chimeric animals. RESULTS Skin-graft rejection was seen in four of six animals receiving skin grafts taken from the respective hematopoietic donors. In the other two animals, donor-derived skin grafts survived indefinitely. No cardiac-allograft rejection was observed in mixed-chimeric animals that received heart transplants from their hematopoietic donors, even in animals that had already rejected skin allografts from the same donors. In all animals assessed, in vitro hyporesponsiveness to donor hematopoietic cells persisted. CONCLUSION These findings support the concept that skin expresses immunogenic alloantigens that either are not expressed or are not immunogenic in cardiac or hematopoietic tissue.
Organization of corticocortical connections in the parietal cortex of the rat

An analysis based on Nissl, anterograde degeneration, and sucinic dehydrogenase histochemical techniques reveals that there are two distinct regions of parietal cortex which are characterized by different cytoarchitectonic features and anatomical connections. The “granular” cortical zone possesses a well‐defined fourth layer composed of small, densely‐packed cells, receives dense projections from the ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus, and is essentially free of callosal inputs. “Agranular” cortical areas which surround or lie embedded within the granular zone lack a well‐defined fourth layer, receive sparse projection from the ventral posterior nucleus, but send and receive extensive callosal projections. These findings suggest that thalamic and callosal projections to the parietal cortex maintain a pattern of areal segregation. The granular cortical zone, which apparently corresponds to SmI, projects ipsilaterally to motor cortex, SmII, and adjacent agranular areas. The superficial layers of the granular cortex also project heavily upon the underlying layer V. This intracortical projection is not organized in discrete clusters within the “barrel field” cortex. This suggests that the specialized organization of thalamic afferents and granule cells within the “barrel field” is not maintained in the intracortical circuitry of this region.
Half‐dose ganciclovir preemptive treatment of cytomegalovirus infection after pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Ganciclovir (GCV) has been widely used as preemptive therapy after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), although bone marrow suppression is a known accompaniment, with secondary infection or bleeding as potential complications. Our aim was to evaluate clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with low cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigenemia levels using half the dosage of GCV generally given preemptively.
Comunidades de Investigação em Programação: Uma Estratégia de Apoio ao Aprendizado Inicial de Programação

This paper describes a research process that intends to develop a strategy to support initial programming learning. It is inspired in the theory of Matthew Lipman, as it was conceived through the redefinition of the concept of Learning Communities, to assist the students to maximize their learning through the conscientious evaluation of their level of self-efficacy, while they develop a better behavior to study programming. We present the results of the preliminary tests made to the proposed strategy, and the changes in the strategy that result from those results.
Détection de locuteurs dans les séries TV

La segmentation de flux audio en locuteurs apparait particulierement delicate lors-qu'elle est appliquee a des films de fiction, ou de nombreux personnages parlent dans des conditions acoustiques variables (musique de fond, bruitages, fluctuations dans l'intonation.). Au-dela d'une telle variabilite acoustique, ce type de films exhibe cependant de la regularite sur le plan visuel, particulierement dans les passages dialogues. Nous introduisons dans ce papier une methode en deux temps pour proceder a la segmentation en locuteurs d'episodes de series TV : un premier regroupement en locuteurs est effectue localement, dans les limites de scenes visuellement identifiees comme des dialogues ; les locuteurs conjectures sont ensuite compares lors d'une deuxieme phase de regroupement afin de detecter les locuteurs recurrents : cette deuxieme etape de regroupement a lieu sous la contrainte que les differents locuteurs impliques dans un meme dialogue soient assignes a des groupes distincts. Les performances obtenues par notre approche sont comparees a celles qu'on obtient en appliquant aux memes donnees des outils standards de segmentation en locuteurs.
Genetic factors and osteoporotic fractures in elderly people

Editor—Kannus et al suggest from prospective data collected on Finnish twins that genetic factors are of only minor importance in explaining the population occurrence of osteoporotic fracture, particularly in women.1 The evidence given to support this is the relatively small excess in concordance in monozygotic twins compared with dizygotic twins. But it is well recognised that twin concordances may be misleading unless the underlying prevalence of a disease is taken into account.2 For example, a small absolute difference in monozygotic compared with dizygotic concordance is more suggestive of a genetic effect for a trait that is relatively rare (such as fracture) than for one that is common. The data thus warrant closer scrutiny. We have estimated the relative contribution of genetic, shared environmental, and unique environmental components to the variation in susceptibility to fracture in these twins from the data provided. The analysis was conducted using a variance components approach with the statistical software Mx.3 The method assumes that risk of fracture is determined by a continuous underlying liability and is a plausible assumption for this trait.4 As expected, the results show significant evidence of familial resemblance in the risk of fracture in both male and female twins. In female twins, despite the nationwide sampling frame, there is insufficient statistical power in this study to distinguish between models containing components in which this clustering is attributed to genetic factors alone, the shared family environment of the twins, or the combination of the two. In a model in which the only contribution is from genetic and unique environmental factors, genetic factors account for 36% of the variance in the liability to fracture at any body site. In male twins the familial resemblance is explained by a significant contribution from genetic factors but not by the shared family environment, with genetic factors accounting for 35% of the variation in liability to fracture. A greater genetic contribution is also suggested at the spine in table A in Kannus et al's study (bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7221/1334/DC1), although inference is limited by the small numbers of concordant pairs and the lack of data on differences between the sexes in rate of fracture. In contrast to the conclusion reached by the authors, these data show that genetic factors contribute to a third of the liability to osteoporotic fracture in men and are entirely compatible with the hypothesis that genetic factors contribute to a similar extent in women. The data suggest that there may be differences in the nature of the genetic risk in men and women and at different body sites that merit further study.
Humour styles, personality and psychological well-being: What’s humour got to do with it?

The Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) by Martin et al. (2003) measures four humour styles, namely affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating. In contrast to former humour instruments, the HSQ has strong relations to various measures of psychological well-being. However, its incremental validity in relation to basic personality traits has not been sufficiently studied. Two studies analysed how much unique variance the HSQ contributed to predicting psychological well-being over and above personality. While the affiliative, self-enhancing and self-defeating humour style were potent predictors of well-being in Study 1, the results also indicated that these humour styles had small effects when personality was controlled for. Study 2 tested a possible explanation for these findings, namely that the context (i.e., non-humorous components) of the HSQ items dominates their humour-specific content. Two questionnaires were utilised to separate context and humour components in the HSQ. Results showed that (a) the HSQ contributed little in predicting personality and psychological well-being once context was controlled for, and that (b) the humour component of each HSQ scale correlated highly with other humour instruments and neither of them were detrimental or maladaptive in terms of psychological well-being. Thus, these two studies showed a low incremental validity of humour styles in predicting psychological well-being beyond personality and hint to a limited role that humour plays in the these relationships. Overall, the humour components of the HSQ rather resemble those of other self-report measures and mainly comprise humour appreciation and humour production in everyday life.
The Impact of Ultra-widefield Retinal Imaging on Practice Efficiency

I n the current costand resource-constrained healthcare environment in the United States, characterized by declining government reimbursement and increased utilization scrutiny by managed care plans, providers are challenged to continue delivering quality care to more patients while also more effectively managing practice economics. Employing technology to improve practice efficiency is one of the most promising solutions to this dilemma. We have demonstrated that the integration of ultra-widefield (UWF) retinal imaging in our practice is cost-effective. It has allowed us to increase the number of patient encounters while simultaneously raising the quality of care, and increasing patient satisfaction.
Family discord and proxy decision makers' end-of-life treatment decisions.

BACKGROUND Because many Americans are decisionally incapacitated at the end of life, the last treatment decisions are often made by family proxies. Family discord concerning end-of-life (EOL) care may not only exacerbate a family crisis but also influence treatment decisions. We tested the extent to which family discord would be associated with preferences for types of end-of-life care, predicting that greater discord would be associated with weaker preferences for palliative care and stronger preferences for life-prolonging care. SETTING/SUBJECTS Sixty-eight proxy decision makers for elderly relatives were interviewed in their homes over the telephone. MEASUREMENTS The 35-minute telephone interview assessed preferences for four life-prolonging treatments and for palliative care and included a family discord measure, an EOL values scale, and questions about sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS Repeated-measures analyses of covariance and regression analyses showed that greater family discord was associated with stronger preferences for life-prolonging treatments and weaker preferences for palliative care, independently of EOL values and sociodemographic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS In counseling patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families, clinicians should explore possible family discord surroundings EOL care. Counseling protocols should be developed and clinicians should be trained in counseling to minimize family conflict.
Imaging the healing murine myocardial infarct in vivo: ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence molecular tomography

• What is the topic of this review? This short review examines how advanced imaging can be used to assess remodelling of the heart non‐invasively following myocardial infarction in murine experimental models. • What advances does it highlight? We review recent advances in the application of high‐resolution ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT), as well as positron emission tomography (PET) and single‐photon excitation computed tomography (SPECT) for assessment of processes involved in infarct healing, e.g. inflammation, as well as global structural and functional analysis.