Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reaction of strawberry cultivars to root-knot and root-lesion nematodes

ABSTRACT Considering the economic importance of strawberry in Brazil, with a clear migration trend from the soil to innovative systems on substrates, it is fundamental to evaluate the available cultivars in the market regarding tolerance to pathogens with potential for infestation. The reaction of eight commercial strawberry cultivars (Festival, Camino Real, Camarosa, Oso Grande, Monterey, San Andreas, Aromas, and Albion) to Meloidogyne and Pratylenchus species was evaluated. Strawberry cultivars were maintained in individual pots with sterilized soil and inoculated with 5,000 eggs + second stage juveniles of Meloidogyne arenaria, M. incognita, M. javanica or M. hapla or 1,000 specimens of Pratylenchus zea or P. brachyurus per plant. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with six replications using tomato ‘Rutgers’ and sorghum ‘506’ plants as control to root-knot and lesion nematodes, respectively. Ninety days after inoculation, the nematode reproduction factor (RF= final population/initial population) was evaluated to determine the resistance of the strawberry genotypes to each nematode species. All cultivars behaved as resistant (FR<1.00) or immune (FR= 0.00) to M. javanica, M. incognita, P. zeae and P. brachyurus. The cultivar ‘Camarosa’ was susceptible (FR>1.00) to M. arenaria and M. hapla and ‘Oso Grande’ behaved as a good host to M. hapla; however, the other cultivars were resistant to these two Meloidogyne species. The assessed cultivars are poor hosts, being an alternative to be used in infested areas with these pests.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Are Highly Expressed in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Premature Infants with Posthemorrhagic Hydrocephalus

The expression of specific growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is of importance during brain development and in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. VEGF and TGF-β1 was studied in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of neonates with posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHHC) and nonhemorrhagic hydrocephalus. For determining the interference of inflammatory cytokine interaction with the expression of VEGF and TGF-β1, IL-6 and IL-10 CSF concentrations were measured. Eighteen neonates who had PHHC and underwent serial reservoir puncture and nine neonates who had congenital nonhemorrhagic hydrocephalus (CHC) and underwent first shunt surgery were included in the study. CSF samples of 11 neonates with lumbar puncture for the exclusion of meningitis served as control subjects. VEGF, TGF-β1, IL-6, and IL-10 concentrations in the CSF were measured by ELISA technique. VEGF concentrations in the CSF of patients with PHHC were significantly higher (median: 377 pg/mL; range: 101–1301 pg/mL) when compared with patients with CHC (median: 66 pg/mL; range: 3–1991; p < 0.001) and control subjects (median: 2 pg/mL; range: 0–12 pg/mL; p < 0.0001). TGF-β1 CSF concentrations did not differ from control infants in all groups. Median IL-6 and IL-10 concentrations in the CSF were found to be low in all patient groups. Increased release of VEGF in the CSF of neonates with PHHC and nonhemorrhagic hydrocephalus may serve as an indicator of brain injury from progressive ventricular dilation. TGF-β1 CSF concentrations are not elevated in the phase of acute fibroproliferative reactions in patients with PHHC.
Overexpression of Transferrin Receptor and Ferritin Related to Clinical Symptoms and Destabilization of Human Carotid Plaques

Accumulation of tissue iron has been implicated in development of atherosclerotic lesions mainly because of increased iron-catalyzed oxidative injury. However, it remains unknown whether cellular iron import and storage in human atheroma are related to human atheroma development. We found that transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1), a major iron importer, is highly expressed in foamy macrophages and some smooth muscle cells in intimal lesions of human carotid atheroma, mainly in cytoplasmic accumulation patterns. In 52 human carotid atherosclerotic lesions, TfR1 expression was positively correlated with macrophage infiltration, ectopic lysosomal cathepsin L, and ferritin expression. Highly expressed TfR1 and ferritin in CD68-positive macrophages were significantly associated with development and severity of human carotid plaques, smoking, and patient’s symptoms. The findings suggest that pathologic macrophage iron metabolism may contribute to vulnerability of human atheroma, established risk factors, and their clinical symptoms. The cytoplasmic overexpression of TfR1 may be the result of lysosomal dysfunction and ectopic accumulation of lysosomal cathepsin L caused by atheroma-relevant lipids in atherogenesis.
Lung clearance index in cystic fibrosis subjects treated for pulmonary exacerbations

Pulmonary exacerbations are important clinical events for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Studies assessing the ability of the lung clearance index (LCI) to detect treatment response for pulmonary exacerbations have yielded heterogeneous results. Here, we conduct a retrospective analysis of pooled LCI data to assess treatment with intravenous antibiotics for pulmonary exacerbations and to understand factors explaining the heterogeneous response. A systematic literature search was performed to identify prospective observational studies. Factors predicting the relative change in LCI and spirometry were evaluated while adjusting for within-study clustering. Six previously reported studies and one unpublished study, which included 176 pulmonary exacerbations in both paediatric and adult patients, were included. Overall, LCI significantly decreased by 0.40 units (95% CI −0.60– −0.19, p=0.004) or 2.5% following treatment. The relative change in LCI was significantly correlated with the relative change in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), but results were discordant in 42.5% of subjects (80 out of 188). Higher (worse) baseline LCI was associated with a greater improvement in LCI (slope: −0.9%, 95% CI −1.0– −0.4%). LCI response to therapy for pulmonary exacerbations is heterogeneous in CF patients; the overall effect size is small and results are often discordant with FEV1. Lung clearance index response to therapy for pulmonary exacerbations is heterogeneous in cystic fibrosis patients http://ow.ly/Mnvtd
Muscle and blood metabolites during a soccer game: implications for sprint performance.

PURPOSE To examine muscle and blood metabolites during soccer match play and relate it to possible changes in sprint performance. METHODS Thirty-one Danish fourth division players took part in three friendly games. Blood samples were collected frequently during the game, and muscle biopsies were taken before and after the game as well as immediately after an intense period in each half. The players performed five 30-m sprints interspersed by 25-s recovery periods before the game and immediately after each half (N=11) or after an intense exercise period in each half (N=20). RESULTS Muscle lactate was 15.9+/-1.9 and 16.9+/-2.3 mmol.kg d.w. during the first and second halves, respectively, with blood lactate being 6.0+/-0.4 and 5.0+/-0.4 mM, respectively. Muscle lactate was not correlated with blood lactate (r=0.06-0.25, P>0.05). Muscle glycogen decreased (P<0.05) from 449+/-23 to 255+/-22 mmol.kg d.w. during the game, with 47+/-7% of the muscle fibers being completely or almost empty of glycogen after the game. Blood glucose remained elevated during the game, whereas plasma FFA increased (P<0.05) from 0.45+/-0.05 to 1.37+/-0.23 mM. Mean sprint time was unaltered after the first half, but longer (P<0.05) after the game (2.8+/-0.7%) as well as after intense periods in the first (1.6+/-0.6%) and second halves (3.6+/-0.5%). The decline in sprint performance during the game was not correlated with muscle lactate, muscle pH, or total glycogen content. CONCLUSION Sprint performance is reduced both temporarily during a game and at the end of a soccer game. The latter finding may be explained by low glycogen levels in individual muscle fibers. Blood lactate is a poor indicator of muscle lactate during soccer match play.
Resting Heart Rate and Risk of Incident Heart Failure: Three Prospective Cohort Studies and a Systematic Meta‐Analysis

Background The relationship between resting heart rate (RHR) and incident heart failure (HF) has been questioned. Methods and Results RHR was assessed at baseline in 7073 participants in 3 prospective cohorts (Cardiovascular Health Study, Health ABC study and Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Study) that recorded 1189 incident HF outcomes during 92 702 person‐years of follow‐up. Mean age of participants was 67 (9.9) years and mean RHR was 64.6 (11.1) bpm. Baseline RHR correlated (P<0.001) positively with body mass index (r=0.10), fasting glucose (r=0.18), and C‐reactive protein (r=0.20); and inversely with serum creatinine (r=−0.05) and albumin (r=−0.05). Baseline RHR was non‐linearly associated with HF risk. The age and sex‐adjusted hazard ratio for HF comparing the top (>72 bpm) versus the bottom (<57 bpm) quartile of baseline RHR was 1.48 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26 to 1.74) and was modestly attenuated (1.30, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.53) with further adjustment for body mass index, history of diabetes, hypertension, smoking status, serum creatinine, and left ventricular hypertrophy. These findings remained consistent in analyses accounting for incident coronary heart disease, excluding individuals with prior cardiovascular events, or those taking beta‐blockers; and in subgroups defined by several individual participant characteristics. In a pooled random effects meta‐analysis of 7 population‐based studies (43 051 participants and 3476 HF events), the overall hazard ratio comparing top versus bottom fourth of RHR was 1.40 (95% CI: 1.19 to 1.64). Conclusions There is a non‐linear association between RHR and incident HF. Further research is needed to understand the physiologic foundations of this association.
Lattice rescoring methods for statistical machine translation

Modern statistical machine translation (SMT) systems incl ude multiple interrelated components, statistical models, and processes. Translation is often facto red as a cascaded series of modules such that the output of one module serves as the input to the next; this i s the SMT pipeline. Simplifying assumptions, limited training data, and pruning during search mea n th t the hypothesis produced by a typical SMT decoder may not represent the best translation. Since an y rrors will be propagated through the SMT pipeline, it is better to avoid hard decisions by passing o as much information as possible to subsequent modules. The focus, then, is less on finding the si ngle-best translation and more on being able to generate a rich space of likely translations that can be exploited through subsequent rescoring and combination techniques. The large size of the search spa ce in SMT means that it is not always possible to apply more complex models in translation decodi ng; such models are normally applied to a translation lattice, a space efficient representation of m any translation alternatives with scores. This thesis develops a robust inventory of large-scale latt ice rescoring methods that improve the quality of statistical machine translation. These rescori ng methods include (i) sentence-specific, highorder language models estimated over multi-billion word co rpora, (ii) stochastic segmentation transducers that model the phrasal segmentation process in phras e-based SMT, (iii) efficient large-scale lattice minimum Bayes-risk decoding procedures based on we ighted path counting transducers, (iv) multi-input and multi-source lattice combination techniq ues that synthesise multiple sources of translation knowledge, and (v) a novel decoding framework based o n segmentation of a word lattice into regions of high and low confidence that supports targeted app lic tion of modelling techniques intended to address particular deficiencies in translation. E fficient realisations of these lattice rescoring methods are described in terms of general purpose weighted fi nite state transducer operations. A second theme of this thesis concerns the exploitation of mo nolingual corpora. Although monolingual data is much more widely available than parallel dat a, in SMT it is typically only used for building word-based language models. However, there are ot h r complementary ways in which this data can be used to improve translation quality. Two novel la ttice rescoring methods for exploiting monolingual corpora phrasal segmentation models that learn the segmentation of sequences of words into sequences of translatable phrases, and monoling ua coverage constraints that address the often overlooked issue of machine translation fluency are p roposed in this thesis.
Ketogenic Diets: An Update for Child Neurologists

The ketogenic diet, modified Atkins diet, and low-glycemic-index treatment have all emerged over the past decade as important therapeutic options for children with intractable epilepsy. Whereas only a decade ago the ketogenic diet was seen as an ``alternative'' treatment of last resort, it has become more frequently used throughout the world. The past year alone 2 randomized and controlled trials of the ketogenic diet were published, as well as the use of the ketogenic diet for new-onset epilepsy (infantile spasms), and a 26-member international consensus statement guiding optimal clinical management. There has been an equally dramatic increase of interest into mechanisms of action using various experimental models. Researchers are also highly interested in using diets for neurologic disorders other than epilepsy, including autism and brain tumors. This review will update child neurologists on the recent advances in the use of ketogenic diets.
Enteral nutrition practices in the intensive care unit: Understanding of nursing practices and perspectives

Background: Adequate nutritional support is important for the comprehensive management of patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Aim: The study was aimed to survey prevalent enteral nutrition practices in the trauma intensive care unit, nurses’ perception, and their knowledge of enteral feeding. Study Design: The study was conducted in the ICU of a level 1 trauma center, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi, India. The study design used an audit. Materials and Methods: Sixty questionnaires were distributed and the results analyzed. A database was prepared and the audit was done. Results: Forty-two (70%) questionnaires were filled and returned. A majority (38) of staff nurses expressed awareness of nutrition guidelines. A large number (32) of staff nurses knew about nutrition protocols of the ICU. Almost all (40) opined enteral nutrition to be the preferred route of nutrition unless contraindicated. All staff nurses were of opinion that enteral nutrition is to be started at the earliest (within 24–48 h of the ICU stay). Everyone opined that the absence of bowel sounds is an absolute contraindication to initiate enteral feeding. Passage of flatus was considered mandatory before starting enteral nutrition by 86% of the respondents. Everyone knew that the method of Ryle's tube feeding in their ICU is intermittent boluses. Only 4 staff nurses were unaware of any method to confirm Ryle's tube position. The backrest elevation rate was 100%. Gastric residual volumes were always checked, but the amount of the gastric residual volume for the next feed to be withheld varied. The majority said that the unused Ryle's tube feed is to be discarded after 6 h. The most preferred (48%) method to upgrade their knowledge of enteral nutrition was from the ICU protocol manual. Conclusion: Information generated from this study can be helpful in identifying nutrition practices that are lacking and may be used to review and revise enteral feeding practices where necessary.
Global finite-time stabilisation for a class of nonlinear systems

Finite-time stability is investigated for a class of nonlinear systems and a new design is presented for globally finite-time stabilising feedback, extending the results obtained in Huang, Lin, and Yang (2005) [‘Global Finite-time Stabilization of a Class of Uncertain Nonlinear Systems’, Automatica, 41, 881–888]. The new method may achieve accelerated convergence speed and reduced settling time. An example verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed design.
Allele Loss and Down-Regulation of Heparanase Gene Are Associated with the Progression and Poor Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objectives The role of heparanase (HPSE) gene in cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is currently controversial. This study was aimed at investigating the impact of genetic alteration and expression change of HPSE on the progression and prognosis of HCC. Methods The HPSE gene was studied in three different aspects: (1) loss of heterozygosity (LOH) by a custom SNP microarray and DNA copy number by real-time PCR; (2) mRNA level by qRT-PCR; and (3) protein expression by immunohistochemistry. The clinical significances of allele loss and expression change of HPSE were analyzed. Results Microarray analysis showed that the average LOH frequency for 10 SNPs located within HPSE gene was 31.6%, three of which were significantly correlated with tumor grade, serum HBV-DNA level, and AFP concentration. In agreement with SNP LOH data, DNA copy number loss of HPSE was observed in 38.74% (43/111) of HCC cases. HPSE mRNA level was notably reduced in 74.1% (83/112) of tumor tissues compared with non-tumor liver tissues, which was significantly associated with DNA copy number loss, increased tumor size, and post-operative metastasis. HPSE protein level was also remarkably reduced in 66.3% (53/80) of tumor tissues, which was correlated with tumor grade. Patients with lower expression level of HPSE mRNA or protein had a significantly lower survival rate than those with higher expression. Cox regression analysis suggested that HPSE protein was an independent predictor of overall survival in HCC patients. Conclusions The results in this study demonstrate that genetic alteration and reduction of HPSE expression are associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis of HCCs, suggesting that HPSE behaves like a tumor suppressor gene and is a potential prognostic marker for HCC patients.
Dynamics of thromboxane level changes during early phase of allograft reperfusion

Abstract: Background: Thromboxane (Tx) is a metabolite of arachidonic acid, which exerts a significant influence on kidney homeostasis, and may be involved in the pathogenesis of allograft rejection. The aim of this study was to: examine the dynamics of TxB2 changes during early phase of kidney allograft reperfusion, and analyze whether the observed changes in the concentrations and direction of TxB2 changes, are associated with post‐transplant graft function.
Decision processes in German mutual fund companies: evidence from a telephone survey

Purpose - The performance of actively managed mutual funds is largely dependent upon the investment decisions of the fund managers. The purpose of this study is to examine the decision processes in German fund companies and their impact on fund performance. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses a telephone survey to assess the behavior and attitudes of German mutual fund managers. The design of the survey allows a linkage of fund manager data with information about mutual funds and fund management companies. Findings - The evidence shows firstly, that it is possible to conduct a high quality survey study even though managers know that their answers will be linked to their performance and secondly, that the behavior of managers depends heavily on the characteristics of the funds and the characteristics of the fund company. Research limitations/implications - In the paper, factors are identified which influence the short-term performance of fund managers. In further studies, one should examine whether these factors also determine the long-term performance of fund managers. Originality/value - This is the first survey study that attempts to link the information provided by fund managers to information about the funds and fund companies.
Influences of bilateral ischemic stroke on the cortical synchronization

Stroke has been one of the leading causes of mortality and long-term morbidity around the world. Describing the cortical synchrony has been useful in understanding of central nervous system disorders after brain injury. In this paper, we investigated the large scale cortical phase synchronization derived from multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of bilateral ischemic stroke patients(n = 9). Compared with the results from the age- and gender-matched control subjects (n = 8), stroke patients showed 1) there were not significant changes of the intra-hemispheric synchronization after the bilateral stroke; and however, 2) both global and inter-hemispheric synchronization are vulnerable to the ischemic injury. Our preliminary results indicated that synchrony analysis of the spontaneous scalp EEG during at resting state provided new insight into cortical functional disorder following stroke.
Phytochemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Prosopis africana Against Some Selected Oral Pathogens

2 Abstract: Studies were carried out on phytochemical composition and antimicrobial activity of aqueous and ethanol extract of root and stem of Prosopis africana against clinical isolates of Candida albicans, Streptococcus mutans and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. Saponins, tannins and alkaloids were highly concentrated in the stem and root, with the former containing a significantly higher (P 0.05). In a similar trend, the effects produced by the stem and root extracts on S.mutans and S. saprophyticus were not significantly different (P>0.05). Data from the present study have implicated the stem and root of P. africana as a potential candidate plant parts in dentrifice production.
In-vitro activity of an antibacterial substance from rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

gen, the sugar residues (which confer 0 specificity and constitute the smooth, virulent side chains), and the stereochemical configuration between the cell-wall components all appear relatively unimportant for the expression of the cidal activity of the leukocytic extract. The possible presence of host antigens on fresh bacterial isolates and of serum in the in-vitro assay system, however, interfered with the cidal property. It is suggested that the cidal system of polymorphonuclear leukocytes may represent a defense mechanism in which a few related proteins could accomplish a number of tasks by interaction with a susceptible ligand on the unit bacterial cell wall. Bactericidal activity in extracts from polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) of several mam