Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of diabetes mellitus on the sexuality of Peruvian postmenopausal

Aim. To evaluate sexual function among postmenopausal diabetic women. Patients and methods. A total of 72 postmenopausal women, 36 diabetic, with a stable partner were included in this study. Sexual functioning was assessed using the Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI) and depression using the Beck Depression Inventory scale. Results. There was no difference between diabetic and control women regarding age, years of schooling, number of children, age at menarche, age at first sexual experience, years postmenopausal or body mass index. Diabetics had a worse score for depression (11.5 ± 5.6 vs. 8.9 ± 4.7, p < 0.03), a lower frequency of sexual intercourse per month (2.7 ± 2.8 vs. 4.4 ± 2.9, p < 0.01) and a more deteriorated marital relationship (scale of 0–20: 13.4 ± 2.9 vs. 15.1 ± 1.9, p < 0.009). Diabetics demonstrated worse scores globally (19.3 ± 8.1 vs. 26.8 ± 4.5, p < 0.0001) and in all domains of the FSFI: desire (2.6 ± 1.4 vs. 3.8 ± 1.1, p < 0.0001), arousal (3.5 ± 1.9 vs. 4.7 ± 0.8, p < 0.002), lubrication (3.2 ± 1.9 vs. 4.5 ± 1.3, p < 0.003), orgasm (3.2 ± 1.8 vs. 4.5 ± 1.1, p < 0.002), satisfaction (3.8 ± 1.3 vs. 4.8 ± 0.9, p < 0.0005) and pain (3.1 ± 1.7 vs. 4.6 ± 1.3, p < 0.0001) (values all mean ± standard deviation). Considering sexual dysfunction as a score higher than 26.55, the prevalence of sexual dysfunction among diabetics was 75.0% vs. 30.6% in the control group (p < 0.001). After adjusting for depression, years of schooling, hysterectomy, marital relationship and age, diabetes mellitus remained an important risk factor for sexual dysfunction (odds ratio 6.2, 95% confidence interval 2.0–19.6, p < 0.02). Conclusion. Diabetes mellitus affects all areas of female sexuality and this condition is independent of depression.
Human Dental Pulp Cells Responses to Apatite Precipitation from Dicalcium Silicates

Unraveling the mechanisms behind the processes of cell attachment and the enhanced proliferation that occurs as a response to the presence of calcium silicate-based materials needs to be better understood so as to expand the applications of silicate-based materials. Ions in the environment may influence apatite precipitation and affect silicate ion release from silicate-based materials. Thus, the involvement of apatite precipitate in the regulation of cell behavior of human dental pulp cells (hDPCs) is also investigated in the present study, along with an investigation of the specific role of cell morphology and osteocalcin protein expression cultured on calcium silicate (CS) with different Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM). The microstructure and component of CS cement immersion in DMEM and P-free DMEM are analyzed. In addition, when hDPCs are cultured on CS with two DMEMs, we evaluate fibronectin (FN) and collagen type I (COL) secretion during the cell attachment stage. The facilitation of cell adhesion on CS has been confirmed and observed both by scanning with an electron microscope and using immunofluorescence imaging. The results indicate that CS is completely covered by an apatite layer with tiny spherical shapes on the surface in the DMEM, but not in the P-free DMEM. Compared to the P-free DMEM, the lower Ca ion in the DMEM may be attributed to the formation of the apatite on the surfaces of specimens as a result of consumption of the Ca ion from the DMEM. Similarly, the lower Si ion in the CS-soaked DMEM is attributed to the shielding effect of the apatite layer. The P-free DMEM group releases more Si ion increased COL and FN secretion, which promotes cell attachment more effectively than DMEM. This study provides new and important clues regarding the major effects of Si-induced cell behavior as well as the precipitated apatite-inhibited hDPC behavior on these materials.
Chemical Pleurodesis Using Doxycycline and Viscum album Extract

Background In chemical pleurodesis for managing pulmonary air leak, tetracycline derivatives are commonly used, and their effectiveness has been established in many studies. Recently, a Viscum album extract was used in chemical pleurodesis. We compared the effects of V. album with those of a tetracycline derivative (doxycycline) to demonstrate the therapeutic effectiveness of the V. album extract in chemical pleurodesis for managing pulmonary air leak. Methods Between October 2010 and October 2016, chemical pleurodesis was performed using doxycycline in 40 patients and the V. album extract in 37 patients. Thirty-three patients were in the postoperative state after pulmonary resection, and 44 patients suffered from spontaneous pneumothorax. Results No statistically significant difference in the success rate was observed between the 2 groups (V. album extract and doxycycline). In both groups, chest pain was the most common complication. More patients in the doxycycline group complained of severe chest pain (42.1% vs. 13.5%, p=0.006). In the V. album extract group, 24.3% of the patients required a chest tube to drain the pleural effusion after cessation of the air leak (doxycycline group: 5%, p=0.022). Further, the amount of pleural effusion drained on the day after the last chemical pleurodesis in the V. album extract group was greater than that in the doxycycline group (162.2±170.2 mL vs. 97.0±77.2 mL, p=0.032). All patients were discharged from the hospital without complications after pleural effusion drainage. Conclusion Considering that treatment using the V. album extract was less painful, V. album might be a feasible option for chemical pleurodesis. However, pleural effusion should be monitored carefully when using V. album extract for treating patients suffering from air leak.
Regulatory Genes Controlling Fatty Acid Catabolism and Peroxisomal Functions in the Filamentous Fungus Aspergillus nidulans

ABSTRACT The catabolism of fatty acids is important in the lifestyle of many fungi, including plant and animal pathogens. This has been investigated in Aspergillus nidulans, which can grow on acetate and fatty acids as sources of carbon, resulting in the production of acetyl coenzyme A (CoA). Acetyl-CoA is metabolized via the glyoxalate bypass, located in peroxisomes, enabling gluconeogenesis. Acetate induction of enzymes specific for acetate utilization as well as glyoxalate bypass enzymes is via the Zn2-Cys6 binuclear cluster activator FacB. However, enzymes of the glyoxalate bypass as well as fatty acid beta-oxidation and peroxisomal proteins are also inducible by fatty acids. We have isolated mutants that cannot grow on fatty acids. Two of the corresponding genes, farA and farB, encode two highly conserved families of related Zn2-Cys6 binuclear proteins present in filamentous ascomycetes, including plant pathogens. A single ortholog is found in the yeasts Candida albicans, Debaryomyces hansenii, and Yarrowia lipolytica, but not in the Ashbya, Kluyveromyces, Saccharomyces lineage. Northern blot analysis has shown that deletion of the farA gene eliminates induction of a number of genes by both short- and long-chain fatty acids, while deletion of the farB gene eliminates short-chain induction. An identical core 6-bp in vitro binding site for each protein has been identified in genes encoding glyoxalate bypass, beta-oxidation, and peroxisomal functions. This sequence is overrepresented in the 5′ region of genes predicted to be fatty acid induced in other filamentous ascomycetes, C. albicans, D. hansenii, and Y. lipolytica, but not in the corresponding genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
GroE chaperonins assisted functional expression of bacterial enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Rapid advances in the capabilities of reading and writing DNA along with increasing understanding of microbial metabolism at the systems‐level have paved an incredible path for metabolic engineering. Despite these advances, post‐translational tools facilitating functional expression of heterologous enzymes in model hosts have not been developed well. Some bacterial enzymes, such as Escherichia coli xylose isomerase (XI) and arabinose isomerase (AI) which are essential for utilizing cellulosic sugars, cannot be functionally expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We hypothesized and demonstrated that the mismatching of the HSP60 chaperone systems between bacterial and eukaryotic cells might be the reason these bacterial enzymes cannot be functionally expressed in yeast. The results showed that the co‐expression of E. coli GroE can facilitate the functional expression of E. coli XI and AI, as well as the Agrobacterium tumefaciens D‐psicose epimerase in S. cerevisiae. The co‐expression of bacterial chaperonins in S. cerevisiae is a promising post‐translational strategy for the functional expression of bacterial enzymes in yeast. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 2149–2155. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Robust Linear Temporal Logic

Although it is widely accepted that every system should be robust, in the sense that "small" violations of environment assumptions should lead to "small" violations of system guarantees, it is less clear how to make this intuitive notion of robustness mathematically precise. In this paper, we address this problem by developing a robust version of Linear Temporal Logic (LTL), which we call robust LTL and denote by rLTL. Formulas in rLTL are syntactically identical to LTL formulas but are endowed with a many-valued semantics that encodes robustness. In particular, the semantics of the rLTL formula $\varphi \Rightarrow \psi$ is such that a "small" violation of the environment assumption $\varphi$ is guaranteed to only produce a "small" violation of the system guarantee $\psi$. In addition to introducing rLTL, we study the verification and synthesis problems for this logic: similarly to LTL, we show that both problems are decidable, that the verification problem can be solved in time exponential in the number of subformulas of the rLTL formula at hand, and that the synthesis problem can be solved in doubly exponential time.
Investigating the health profile of patients with end-stage renal failure receiving peritoneal dialysis: a cluster analysis.

AIM To determine whether the patients with end stage renal failure can be differentiated into several subtypes based on five main variables. BACKGROUND There is a lack of interventional research linking to clinical outcomes among the patients with end stage renal failure in Hong Kong and with no clear evidence of differences in terms of their clinical/health outcomes and characteristics. DESIGN A cross-sectional survey. METHOD Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. One hundred and fifty-three patients with end stage renal failure were recruited during 2007 at three renal centres in Hong Kong. Five main variables were employed: predisposing characteristic, enabling resources, quality of life, symptom control and self-care adherence. RESULTS A cluster analysis yielded two clusters. Each cluster represented a different profile of patients with end stage renal failure. Cluster A consisted of 49.7% (n = 76) and Cluster B consisted of 50.3% (n = 77) of the patients. Cluster A patients, more of whom were women, were older, less educated, had higher quality of life scores, a better adherence rate and more had received nursing care supports than patients in Cluster B. CONCLUSIONS We have identified two groupings of patients with end stage renal failure who were experiencing unique health profile. Nursing support services may have an effect on patient health outcomes but only on a group of patients whose profile is similar to the patients in Cluster A and not for patients in Cluster B. A clear profile may help health care professional make appropriate strategies to target a specific group of patients to improve patient outcomes. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The identification of risk for future health-care use could enable better targeting of interventional strategies in these groups. The results of this study might provide health care professionals with a model to design specified interventions to improve life quality for each profile group.
Performance of DCE RPC

The report focuses on the performance of the Open Software Foundation's Distributed Computing Environment (OSF/DCE) remote procedure call (RPC). We test the performance of DCE RPC with no security over the connectionless datagram protocol on IBM RS/6000s running AIX 3.2. 4 connected with 10 Mbps Ethernet, and report the round trip time and throughput as measures of the overall performance of DCE RPC. We also investigate the effect of using application level DCE threads for improving the throughput. Our experiments measure the average completion time of various steps of single inter-machine RPCs. The results tell us exactly where time is spent in DCE RPC. Not all RPC steps performed by the client, server, or the network contribute to the round trip time of the RPC; we show those that do contribute to the round trip time for RPCs with various data sizes. The close match between the sum of the completion times of these steps and the measured round trip time validates our measurements. The measurements provide the groundwork for modeling the performance of DCE RPC as part of a larger goal of developing performance models of distributed systems. <<ETX>>
Behavior of fenhexamid in soil and water

A study was conducted to investigate fenhexamid (FEX) behavior in soil and in water. FEX proved to be rather stable at acid pH but showed slight degradation at neutral and alkaline pH. After 101 days of FEX spiking of a soil sample, 94% at pH 4, 12% at pH 7 and 23% at pH 9 of the active ingredient was still present. In natural water the rate of FEX disappearance appeared to be slow which may be due to abiotic rather than biotic processes. The soil degradation tests showed low persistence of the active ingredient if a good microflora activity is guaranteed (DT50 about 1 day). Moreover, in absence of microorganisms, FEX proved to be stable. Humidities of 25 and 50% of Water Holding Capacity (WHC) influenced in equal measure the rate of degradation. From the same soil, a bacterium was isolated and identified as Bacillus megaterium, which was able to metabolize FEX with the hydroxylation of the cyclohexane ring. Moreover, FEX showed an elevated affinity for humic acid (73%), smectite (31%), and ferrihydrite(20%) and low affinity for vermiculite (11%) and kaolinite (7%).
Towards Effective Two-Level Supercompilation

Towards effective two-level supercompilation Moscow 2010 Ilya Klyuchnikov. Towards effective two-level supercompilation The paper presents a number of improvements to the method of two-level supercom-pilation: a fast technique of lemma discovering by analyzing the expressions in the partial process tree, an enhancement to the algorithm of checking improvement lemmas based on the normalization of tick annotations, and a few techniques of finding simplified versions of lemmas discovered in the process of two-level super-compilation. Илья Ключников. На пути к быстрой двухуровневой суперкомпи-ляции Представлены некоторые усовершенствования к методу двухуровне-вой суперкомпиляции: быстрый метод поиска лемм основанный на анализе выражений в узлах частичного дерева процесса, улучшенный алгоритм рас-познавания улучшающих лемм, основанный на нормализации аннотаций (" ти-ков "), а также некоторые методы упрощения лемм, обнаруженных в процессе двухуровневой суперкомпиляции. Работа выполнена при поддержке проектов РФФИ № 08-07-00280-a и № 09-01-00834-a.
Multi-Objective Evolutionary Fuzzy Clustering for High-Dimensional Problems

This paper deals with the application of unsupervised fuzzy clustering to high dimensional data. Two problems are addressed: groups (clusters) number discovery and feature selection without performance losses. In particular we analyze the potential of a genetic fuzzy system, that is the integration of a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm with a fuzzy clustering algorithm. The main characteristic of the integrated approach is the ability to handle the two problems at the same time, suggesting a Pareto set of trade-off solutions which could have a better chance of matching the real needs. We exhibit the high quality clustering and features selection results by applying our approach to a real-world data set.
Assessing social responsibility: A quantitative analysis of Appraisal in BP’s and IKEA’s social reports

A growing public awareness of the potential negative impacts of corporate activities on the natural environment and society compels large companies to invest increasing resources in the communication of their responsible conduct. This article employs Appraisal theory in a comparative analysis of BP’s and IKEA’s 2009 social reports, each company’s record of their non-financial performance. The main objective is to explore how, through Appraisal resources, BP and IKEA construct their corporate identity and relationship with their stakeholders. The analysis reveals two markedly different approaches to the construction of a responsible corporate identity. While BP deploys interpersonal resources to portray itself as a trustworthy and authoritative expert, IKEA discloses itself as a sensitive and caring corporation, engaged in a continual effort to improve. These differences are interpreted in light of the legitimization challenges the two companies face.
Optimal processing of photoreceptor signals is required to maximize behavioural sensitivity

The sensitivity of receptor cells places a fundamental limit upon the sensitivity of sensory systems. For example, the signal‐to‐noise ratio of sensory receptors has been suggested to limit absolute thresholds in the visual and auditory systems. However, the necessity of optimally processing sensory receptor signals for behaviour to approach this limit has received less attention. We investigated the behavioural consequences of increasing the signal‐to‐noise ratio of the rod photoreceptor single‐photon response in a transgenic mouse, the GCAPs−/− knockout. The loss of fast Ca2+ feedback to cGMP synthesis in phototransduction for GCAPs−/− mice increases the magnitude of the rod single‐photon response and dark noise, with the increase in size of the single‐photon response outweighing the increase in noise. Surprisingly, despite the increased rod signal‐to‐noise ratio, behavioural performance for GCAPs−/− mice was diminished near absolute visual threshold. We demonstrate in electrophysiological recordings that the diminished performance compared to wild‐type mice is explained by poorly tuned postsynaptic processing of the rod single‐photon response at the rod bipolar cell. In particular, the level of postsynaptic saturation in GCAPs−/− rod bipolar cells is not sufficient to eliminate rod noise, and degrades the single‐photon response signal‐to‐noise ratio. Thus, it is critical for retinal processing to be optimally tuned near absolute threshold; otherwise the visual system fails to utilize fully the signals present in the rods.
Effect of chloramine concentration on biofilm maintenance on pipe surfaces exposed to nutrient-limited drinking water

This study addresses the effect of specific monochloramine concentration on biofilm density and bacterial functional potential in nutrient-limited water. The efficacy of monochloramine residual maintenance on biofilm density was studied at a range of 0.5 to 2.0 mg / l, using a 3 : 1 (w / w) dosing ratio of chlorine to ammonia, with the provision of low-nutrient water (0.18 mg / l as total organic carbon, 0.055 mg / l as biodegradable dissolved organic carbon, and 10.5 µg / l as assimilable organic carbon) using a granular activated carbon (GAC) filter. Biofilm density was monitored using biofilm bacteria counts and analysis of the physiological substrate utilisation profiles in Biolog gram-negative (GN) micro-plates. The monochloramine residuals were maintained stable in the low-nutrient water pipes, which contributed to the inhibition of biofilm density. Increasing the monochloramine residual from 0.5 to 2.0 mg / l suppressed the total cells and heterotrophic plate count (HPC) bacteria in the biofilms by about 1 and 2 log units, respectively. The biofilm HPC densities were more sensitive to monochloramine residual, and the reduction in biofilm HPC densities expressed as log CFU / cm2 showed an exponential relationship with the increase in monochloramine residual. The Biolog micro-plate-based community-level assay showed that the biofilm communities occurring at 3 levels of chloramination were distinguished by the differences in their substrate utilisation potentials. The functional / metabolic potential of the biofilm community? s ability to utilise specific substrates was much lower at higher monochloramine concentration. Results suggest that the maintenance of a consistently high-level monochloramine residual in the low-nutrient water system led not only to a reduction in biofilm density on pipe surfaces but also depressed potential functional / metabolic ability of the biofilm community.
Assessment of Numerical Procedures for Residual Stress Analysis of Multipass Welds The effects of heat input magnitudes and prescribed initial temperature conditions for welds on residual stresses are discussed

BY J. K. HONG, C. -L. TSAI AND P. DONG ABSTRACT. Two-dimensional finite ele- ment modeling procedures are ad- dressed to predict the residual stresses for multipass welds. A generalized plane strain model with a five-pass weld in a plate and an axisymmetric model with a six-pass girth weld in a pipe are consid- ered. Element rebirth and pass-lumping techniques are employed in both models. The combined heat input using surface and body flux components is applied in simulating arc heat effects. In the gener- alized plane strain model, the calculated temperature histories and stresses are compared with the measured ones. Residual stress results are compared be- tween non-lumped and lumped models. In the pipe girth-weld model, the calcu- lated residual stresses are compared with the experimental data. The effects of heat input magnitudes and prescribed initial temperature conditions for welds on resid- ual stresses are discussed in this article.
Impact of stray field on the switching properties of perpendicular MTJ for scaled MRAM

For the first time, we show the stray field (Hs) from the pinned layer of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (pMTJs) plays multiple important roles: its out-of-plane component degrades pinned layer stability of scaled MTJ, while its in-plane component assists spin-transfer torque switching. Through stray field engineering, one can retain its advantage, and minimized its detrimental effect. We also show that etching process plays a vital role in the stray-field engineering. Our pMTJ exhibits robust pinned layer performance, symmetrical R-H loop and balanced spin-torque switching current. The switching current of our pMTJ is ~60uA@20us for a 80nm diameter pMTJ.