Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-Density Lipoprotein-Lowering Medication and Platelet Function

Elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (LDL-C) levels represent one of the most important risk factors for atherosclerosis and therefore cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. LDL-C operates at different levels and through various classic and non-classic mechanisms. In particular, increased or modified LDL enhances platelet function and increases sensitivity of platelets to several naturally occurring agonists. Agents that lower LDL-C in hypercholesterolemic patients have been shown to interfere with platelet function. Several studies, in fact, suggested that statins exert anti-thrombotic effects largely as a result of an anti-platelet activity. Among the other LDL-C-lowering agents those acting by interfering with cholesterol reabsorption from the gut (cholestyramine, colestipol) do not appear to interfere with platelet function, whereas peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonists (such as fibrates) can inhibit platelet function. The full potential of these drugs in vascular protection is only just being realized. Further studies are still needed to elucidate the full therapeutic benefits of these agents in plaque stabilization and thrombosis.
Maintenance of midgut epithelial cells from dendroctonus valens (coleoptera: Scolytidae) in vitro

SummaryThis article describes the culture of epithelial cells from anterior and posterior midgut regions of adult Dendroctonus valens. Culture conditions were established, and cell adherence was improved by means of a new technique that allowed the cells to grow between two glass coverslips. Cytoplasmic projections occur as anterior midgut cells grow to confluence; these projections were not observed in cells of the posterior midgut. The optimal culture medium for the maintenance of these epithelial cells was Roswell Park Memorial Institute 1640 medium at 25°C. Cells in Grace's medium died in 24 h. Cultures did not require CO2 atmosphere, but culture development was favored by the microaerophilic environment and the dark conditions in which the cells were grown, between the coverslips.
Lack of Evidence for Pulmonary Venous Thrombosis in Cryptogenic Stroke: A Magnetic Resonance Angiography Study

Background— Even after extensive evaluation, the etiology of ischemic stroke remains undefined in a considerable proportion of cases, suggesting that causes of stroke may exist that have not yet been established. We tested the hypothesis that pulmonary venous thrombosis (PVT) is a potential source of brain embolism in patients with cryptogenic stroke. Summary of Report— Within 7 days after mild to moderately severe ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack, 18 patients (9 women, 9 men; mean age, 48 years) were studied in whom the etiology remained undefined despite complete workup. All patients received high-resolution pulmonary venography with the use of multiple-bolus, multiphase, 3-dimensional, gadolinium-enhanced MR angiography (MRA). Overall quality of the MRA was good in 14 and insufficient in 4 patients, mainly as a result of breathing artifacts. Visualization of the main and segmental veins and evaluability of their patency were good for most right pulmonary veins but often inadequate for left pulmonary veins, particularly for those in the left lower lobe. There was no evidence for PVT in any of the sufficiently visualized pulmonary veins. Conclusions— The results do not support the hypothesis of PVT as a contributor to the etiology of ischemic stroke. However, the study was limited regarding scan volume, spatial discrimination, patient selection, and delay between ischemia and MRA. Therefore, further investigations, including postmortem studies, are needed to resolve the question of whether PVT may contribute to ischemic stroke.
The Osa-containing SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex regulates stem cell commitment in the adult Drosophila intestine

The proportion of stem cells versus differentiated progeny is well balanced to maintain tissue homeostasis, which in turn depends on the balance of the different signaling pathways involved in stem cell self-renewal versus lineage-specific differentiation. In a screen for genes that regulate cell lineage determination in the posterior midgut, we identified that the Osa-containing SWI/SNF (Brahma) chromatin-remodeling complex regulates Drosophila midgut homeostasis. Mutations in subunits of the Osa-containing complex result in intestinal stem cell (ISC) expansion as well as enteroendocrine (EE) cell reduction. We further demonstrated that Osa regulates ISC self-renewal and differentiation into enterocytes by elaborating Notch signaling, and ISC commitment to differentiation into EE cells by regulating the expression of Asense, an EE cell fate determinant. Our data uncover a unique mechanism whereby the commitment of stem cells to discrete lineages is coordinately regulated by chromatin-remodeling factors.
Blueschist facies metamorphism in Nordenskiöld Land of west‐central Svalbard

Recent fieldwork in Nordenskiöld Land, Svalbard's Southwestern Basement Province, has established the presence of high‐pressure (HP) lithologies. They are strongly retrogressed blueschists consisting mainly of garnet and Ca‐amphibole with remnants of ferroglaucophane and phengite. The pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions were estimated using phase equilibrium modelling in the NCKFMMnASHTO system. P–T estimates based on the garnet, phengite and ferroglaucophane compositional isopleths and modelled paragenetic assemblage indicate peak metamorphism at 470–490 °C and 14–18 kbar. These data fall close to the 7–8 °C km−1 geotherm, which is similar to that from Motalafjella, the only previously known occurrence of blueschists in Svalbard's Caledonides. The newly discovered blueschists could have formed during the early stage of the Caledonian Orogeny and may represent a vestige of missing marginal basins of the western Iapetus developed at the onset of subduction. The likely counterpart to Svalbard's blueschists is the ophiolitic sequence in the Pearya Terrane of northern Ellesmere Island.
Memantine for dementia.

BACKGROUND Memantine, a low affinity antagonist to glutamate NMDA receptors, may prevent excitatory neurotoxicity in dementia. OBJECTIVES To determine efficacy and safety of memantine for people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular (VD) and mixed dementia. SEARCH STRATEGY The Specialized Register of the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group was searched on 28 October 2004. This register contains references from all major healthcare databases and many ongoing trial databases and is updated regularly. In addition the search engines Copernic and Google were used to identify unpublished trials through inspection of the websites of licensing bodies like the FDA , EMEA an Nice and of companies' websites (Lundbeck, Merz, Forest, Suntori etc). SELECTION CRITERIA Double-blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled, randomized trials of memantine in people with dementia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Data were pooled where possible. Intention-to-treat (ITT) and observed case (OC) analyses are reported. MAIN RESULTS 1. Moderate to severe AD. A major study (MD-01) is unpublished. Published data from two six month studies show a small beneficial effect of memantine at six months on cognition (4.12 SIB points, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 2.14 to 5.74, P < 0.00001), activities of daily living (1.70 ADCS-ADLsev19 points, 95% CI 0.63 to 2.76, p = 0.002) and behaviour (3.64 NPI points, 95% CI 1.38 to 5.90, p = 0.002), supported by clinical impression of change (0.27 CIBIC+ points, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.43, p = 0.002). The unpublished study would need to have found a detrimental effect of memantine to overturn the statistical significance of the benefits apparent in the two published studies. 2. Mild to moderate AD. In a single six month trial, memantine had a beneficial effect on ITT analysis of cognition, (1.9 ADAS-Cog points, 95% CI 0.35 to 3.43, p = 0.02) and behaviour (3.50 NPI points 95% CI 0.15 to 6.85, p = 0.04) supported by clinical global impression of change (0.30 CIBIC+ points, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.51, p = 0.005), but no effect on activities of daily living or OC analysis of cognition. The statistical significance of these benefits could be overturned by data from two unpublished studies which are known to show no significant effect. 3. Mild to moderate vascular dementia. In two six month studies, memantine improved cognition (1.85 ADAS-Cog points, 95% CI 0.88 to 2.83, p = 0.0002), and behaviour (Weighted Mean Difference (WMD) 0.84 95% CI 0.06 to 0.91, p = 0.03) but this was not supported by clinical global measures.4. Patients taking memantine were less likely to develop agitation (Odds Ratio (OR): 0.65, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.89, p = 0.007). The effect on agitation which is already present is unknown.5. Memantine is well tolerated. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Published data suggest a small beneficial effect of memantine at six months in moderate to severe AD. The beneficial effect on cognition in patients with mild to moderate vascular dementia was not clinically discernible at six months. Whether memantine has any effect in mild to moderate AD is unknown.
The burden of high blood pressure and related risk factors in urban sub-Saharan Africa: evidences from Douala in Cameroon.

OBJECTIVE To provide the current burden of high blood pressure and related risk factors in urban setting in Cameroon. METHODS We used the WHO STEPS approach for Surveillance of non-communicable diseases and their risk factors to collect data from 2,559 adults aged 15-99 years, residing at Cite des Palmiers in Douala, Cameroon. RESULTS The level of education was low with up to 60% of participants totalizing less than primary school. Smoking habits were 6 times more frequent in men (p<0.001) and 85% of participants reported alcohol consumption. Sedentary lifestyles at work and at leisure time were prevalent. Women displayed high prevalence of obesity in general. The mean blood pressure and the prevalence of hypertension increased with age in men and women. The prevalence of hypertension was 20.8%, and the risk of hypertension significantly increased with clustering of risk factors in the general population (p=0.001) and in men (p=0.008). CONCLUSIONS This study provides additional evidence on the growing problem of hypertension and related risk factors in urban Cameroon; and confirms the feasibility of using the WHO STEPS approach for the surveillance of NCDs in Africa. There is a need for rapid implementation of preventive strategies in the country.
Duration-differentiated energy services with a continuum of loads

The problem of balancing supply and demand in the power grid becomes more challenging with the integration of uncertain and intermittent renewable supply. The usual scheme of supply following load may not be appropriate for large penetration levels of renewable supply. The reason is the increased level of reserves required to maintain a reliable grid, which affects both operational costs (reserves are expensive) and the environmental benefits of renewables (on-line reserves might increase CO2 emissions). An alternative paradigm is to use demand side flexibility for power balance. In this paper, we focus on one particular way of exploiting the demand side flexibility. We consider a group of loads with each load requiring a constant power level for a specified duration within an operational period. The loads are differentiated in terms of the duration of service they require. The flexibility of a load resides in the fact that the power delivery may occur at any subset of the total operational period. We consider the problems of scheduling, control and market implementation for a continuum of these loads. If the loads and the available power are known in advance, we find conditions under which the available power can service all the loads, and we describe an algorithm that constructs an appropriate allocation. In the event the available supply is inadequate, we characterize the minimum amount of power that must be purchased to service the loads. In addition, we investigate the implementation of a forward market in which consumers can purchase duration differentiated services. We first characterize the social welfare maximization problem and then show the existence of an efficient competitive equilibrium in this forward market.
How the variability issue was uncovered: the history of the UK residue variability findings

As a result of routine monitoring data on carrots generated in the 1990s indicating MRL exceedances, further studies showed that residues of organophosphorus compounds in individual roots could vary up to 25 times the levels found in composite samples. Additional work found that this phenomenon also extended to other crops including apples, peaches and celery. Variability (defined as the highest residue level found in any one crop item divided by the level found in a composite sample from the same batch) of up to 34 times mean values was found in one batch of plums. Conventional deterministic methods used in consumer assessments were likely to give gross overestimates of short-term exposure because of the assumptions employed. This led to the development of probabilistic models which made the best use of all available information and was capable of indicating percentages of consumers that could exceed relevant toxicological end points. This indicated that there was unlikely to be serious health effects as a result of ingesting these residues and has subsequently proved to be a useful aid to regulatory decision making.
Sorted bed forms as self‐organized patterns: 2. Complex forcing scenarios

[1] We employ a numerical model to study the development of sorted bed forms under a variety of hydrodynamic and sedimentary conditions. Results indicate that increased variability in wave height decreases the growth rate of the features and can potentially give rise to complicated, a priori unpredictable, behavior. This happens because the system responds to a change in wave characteristics by attempting to self-organize into a patterned seabed of different geometry and spacing. The new wavelength might not have enough time to emerge before a new change in wave characteristics occurs, leading to less regular seabed configurations. The new seabed configuration is also highly dependent on the preexisting morphology, which further limits the possibility of predicting future behavior. For the same reasons, variability in the mean current magnitude and direction slows down the growth of features and causes patterns to develop that differ from classical sorted bed forms. Spatial variability in grain size distribution and different types of net sediment aggradation/degradation can also result in the development of sorted bed forms characterized by a less regular shape. Numerical simulations qualitatively agree with observed geometry (spacing and height) of sorted bed forms. Also in agreement with observations is that at shallower depths, sorted bed forms are more likely to be affected by changes in the forcing conditions, which might also explain why, in shallow waters, sorted bed forms are described as ephemeral features. Finally, simulations indicate that the different sorted bed form shapes and patterns observed in the field might not necessarily be related to diverse physical mechanisms. Instead, variations in sorted bed form characteristics may result from variations in local hydrodynamic and/or sedimentary conditions.
Diet-Induced Obesity Reduces the Responsiveness of the Peripheral Taste Receptor Cells

Introduction Obesity is a growing epidemic that causes many serious health related complications. While the causes of obesity are complex, there is conclusive evidence that overconsumption coupled with a sedentary lifestyle is the primary cause of this medical condition. Dietary consumption is controlled by appetite which is in turn regulated by multiple neuronal systems, including the taste system. However, the relationship between taste and obesity has not been well defined. Growing evidence suggests that taste perception in the brain is altered in obese animals and humans, however no studies have determined if there are altered taste responses in the peripheral taste receptor cells, which is the initiation site for the detection and perception of taste stimuli. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we used C57Bl/6 mice which readily become obese when placed on a high fat diet. After ten weeks on the high fat diet, we used calcium imaging to measure how taste-evoked calcium signals were affected in the obese mice. We found that significantly fewer taste receptor cells were responsive to some appetitive taste stimuli while the numbers of taste cells that were sensitive to aversive taste stimuli did not change. Properties of the taste-evoked calcium signals were also significantly altered in the obese mice. Behavioral analyses found that mice on the high fat diet had reduced ability to detect some taste stimuli compared to their littermate controls. Conclusions/Significance Our findings demonstrate that diet-induced obesity significantly influences peripheral taste receptor cell signals which likely leads to changes in the central taste system and may cause altered taste perception.
Aeration due to breaking waves. Part I: bubble populations

Abstract The population of bubbles produced by breaking waves in (10 m) winds of up to 12 m s−1 is analyzed using calibrated images from a vertical pencil-beam sonar system placed on the seabed near the Dutch coast. The structure in the images is parameterized, and the volumetric bubble backscatter is inverted to yield bubble concentrations. Data were obtained at three acoustic frequencies, with inversion effected by prescribing a bubble spectrum with two free variables, leaving a redundant measurement to test the robustness of the model. Median concentrations may in this way be obtained up to the sea surface. Measurements are multiply regressed on wind and dominant-wave variables. Bubbles penetrate to a depth of about a factor of 6γ−1 times the significant wave height Hs, where γ is the wave age, or ratio of dominant-wave phase speed to wind speed. The measured mean bubble radius decreases weakly with depth, unless waves are gently sloping, at about 5% m−1. At 0.4 m, the mean radius ranges from 30 to 80 .
Topology and Sizing Optimization of Truss Structures Using Adaptive Genetic Algorithm with Node Matrix Encoding

An adaptive genetic algorithm based on a normal sparse node matrix encoding approach is developed to handle the topology and sizing optimization of truss structure. New crossover and mutation operators are developed based on matrix chromosome. Self-adaptive strategy is utilized to enhance the robustness of genetic algorithm. Kinematically instable and structurally invalid individuals are filtered and repaired before evaluation to save computation time. Two truss examples are investigated for verification and validation. Numeric experiments show that the convergence and robustness of the algorithm developed in this paper are better than those of MIGA (Multi-Island Genetic Algorithm), especially in complicated examples.
Preoperative prediction of the individualized risk of early fetal death after laser therapy in twin‐to‐twin transfusion syndrome

The aim of this study is to evaluate the independent and combined value of gestational age, fetal weight, fetoplacental Doppler, and myocardial performance index for the prediction of individual risk of early (≤7 days) intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) after laser therapy in twin‐to‐twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).
Origin and Classification of Coastal Plain Kaolins, Southeastern USA, and the Role of Groundwater and Microbial Action

Along the inner Coastal Plain, kaolinite-metahalloysite-rich, neritic muds of Cretaceous-Eocene age have undergone intense postdepositional alteration in the recharge area of the regional groundwater system. Weathering processes have had the following profound effects on the original sediments: 1) strong compositional and textural modification of both clay and non-clay minerals; 2) whitening of the originally darker sediments by partial removal of organic matter, Fe and Mn; and 3) recrystallization of kaolinite and metahalloysite, most conspicuous where there are coarse stacks and vermiforms. Where the combination of initial sediment composition and alteration intensity was most favorable, these changes have produced important deposits of commercial quality, which now sustain the world’s largest kaolin production district. The earliest change was partial sequestration of iron as sulfide and concurrent destruction of some organic matter, mediated by sulfate-reducing bacteria. Subsequent weathering resulted in gradual leaching of alkalies, alkaline earths, iron and silica, and attendant nucleation and growth of minerals compatible with the compositional changes. The existence of several closely spaced erosional unconformities, separated by neritic sediments, is proof that weathering conditions commonly changed at a given site, in response to changes in thickness or lithology of the overlying rocks. Dsyoxic → ← oxic reversals modified both the rate and kind of alteration. (“Dysoxic” refers to molecular oxygen concentration too low to be toxic to anaerobes or cause abiotic oxidation; less extreme than “anoxic”.) Kaolins were produced partly by slower dysoxic weathering in saturated groundwater zones but mainly by more rapid oxic weathering in unsaturated zones, where bauxites also locally formed. Gradual transformation of some sediments to kaolin rarely began and ended in the same epoch. At several places most of the kaolinization (see “Definitions”) took place during Recent time, tens of millions of years after deposition of the sediments. Since the kaolins resulted from postdepositional alteration rather than sedimentary processes, they are better referred to as “Coastal Plain” rather than “sedimentary” kaolins.
Stochastic Modeling of the 30 September 1999 Mw 7.5 Earthquake, Oaxaca, Mexico

We used the stochastic method proposed by Beresnev and Atkinson (1997, 1998a) for finite faults to model the 30 September 1999 M w 7.5 Oaxaca, Mexico earthquake. This large intraplate event was located close to the coast and caused important damage in the state of Oaxaca. We modeled acceleration records from 10 strong-motion stations located near the rupture and at regional distances. The site response of the stations used was determined using more than 100 additional records from other events recorded at the sites of interest. We estimated average spectral ratios between horizontal and vertical components of ground motion (hvsr method), and we incorporated the site response estimates in the stochastic simulations. We also analyzed the decay of the observed spectral amplitudes with hypocentral distance and estimated the attenuation relation to be Qs = 416.5 f 0.7. The main event had a normal-faulting mechanism with a fault plane 90 km long and 45 km wide. We divided the fault plane into 9 × 5 subfaults to apply the point-source formalism. Specific slip weights were prescribed on the individual subfaults using the slip distribution obtained by Hernandez et al. (2001). Then, we looked for values of the radiation-strength factor ( sfact ) and the stress parameter ( σ ) that gave the minimum model bias of the acceleration response spectra. We found that sfact = 1 and σ = 90 bars provided the best fit to the observed response spectra and peak ground acceleration (pga). These results will be useful to estimate the regional pga generated by earthquakes with similar source characteristics as the 30 September 1999 event.