Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short‐term effects of streptozotocin‐induced diabetes on the electrocardiogram, physical activity and body temperature in rats

A variety of contractility defects have been reported in the streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced diabetic rat heart including alterations to the amplitude and time course of cardiac muscle contraction. Transmitter devices were surgically implanted in the peritoneal cavity of young adult male Wistar rats. Electrodes from the transmitter were arranged in Einthoven bipolar lead II configuration. Electrocardiogram (ECG), physical activity and body temperature data were continuously recorded with a telemetry system before and following the administration of STZ (60 mg kg−1). Heart rate (HR), physical activity and body temperature declined rapidly 3–5 days after administration of STZ. The effects became more conspicuous with time and reached a new steady state approximately 10 days after STZ treatment when HR was 255 ± 8 beats min−1 in diabetic rats compared to 348 ± 17 beats min−1 in age‐matched controls. Heart rate variability (HRV) was also significantly reduced after STZ treatment (18 ± 3 beats min−1) compared to controls (36 ± 3 beats min−1). Reduced physical activity and/or body temperature may partly underlie the reduction in HR and HRV. Reductions in power spectral density at higher frequencies (2.5–3.5 Hz) suggest that parasympathetic drive to the heart may be altered during the early stages of STZ‐induced diabetes. Short‐term diabetes‐induced changes in vital signs can be effectively tracked by continuous recording using a telemetry system.
Effect of Fiber Esterification on Fundamental Properties of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Fiber/Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) Biocomposites

A new class of biocomposites based on oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), which is a biodegradable aliphatic aromatic co-polyester, were prepared using melt blending technique. The composites were prepared at various fiber contents of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt% and characterized. Chemical treatment of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fiber was successfully done by grafting succinic anhydride (SAH) onto the EFB fiber surface, and the modified fibers were obtained in two levels of grafting (low and high weight percentage gain, WPG) after 5 and 6 h of grafting. The FTIR characterization showed evidence of successful fiber esterification. The results showed that 40 wt% of fiber loading improved the tensile properties of the biocomposite. The effects of EFB fiber chemical treatments and various organic initiators content on mechanical and thermal properties and water absorption of PBAT/EFB 60/40 wt% biocomposites were also examined. The SAH-g-EFB fiber at low WPG in presence of 1 wt% of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) initiator was found to significantly enhance the tensile and flexural properties as well as water resistance of biocomposite (up to 24%) compared with those of untreated fiber reinforced composites. The thermal behavior of the composites was evaluated from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)/differential thermogravimetric (DTG) thermograms. It was observed that, the chemical treatment has marginally improved the biocomposites’ thermal stability in presence of 1 wt% of dicumyl peroxide at the low WPG level of grafting. The improved fiber-matrix surface enhancement in the chemically treated biocomposite was confirmed by SEM analysis of the tensile fractured specimens.
COMPARATIVE VALIDITY OF MULTIPLE‐CHOICE AND FREE‐RESPONSE ITEMS ON THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAMINATION IN BIOLOGY

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program reports grades to students and colleges on a 1-to-5-point scale derived by combining the separate scores on the multiple-choice and free-response sections of AP Examinations. Predictions of grades in first-semester college biology courses were made based on students' separate performances on the multiple-choice and essay portions of the Advanced Placement Examination in Biology. In a sample of 432 students from 11 colleges, the multiple-choice scores appeared to be more closely correlated to college grades. However, when analyses were run separately according to the gender of the candidate, performance on both the objective and the essay items predicted grades equally well for males (r [the correlation coefficient pooled across colleges] =.44 for the objective items and .46 for the essay section), whereas for females, predictions based on the essay portion were significantly less accurate (.49 versus .29). The current practice of reporting AP grades based on a combination of both essay and multiple-choice test scores yields correlations that are generally higher and more comparable across gender than would be the case if only essays were used.
Principal component analysis approach in selecting type-1 and type-2 fuzzy membership functions for high-dimensional data

With increased interest in learning from data, algorithms that manipulate datasets containing hundreds of features have become popular in various fields such as medicine, image processing, geolocation, biochemistry, and computational linguistics. Since a number of these applications exploit the power of fuzzy sets in representing uncertainties, it may be considered essential to describe a method for selecting the most suitable fuzzy membership function to represent a high-dimensional dataset. In this paper, we propose such a method, which is based on dimensionality reduction using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique, followed by the Wilcoxon Minimal Bin Size algorithm, which has earlier been evaluated on multidimensional datasets up to 8 dimensions. We further demonstrate our proposed method using two real datasets consisting of 281 and 500 features, respectively.
Differential Treatment of Female Defendants

Past research indicates that men and women are treated differently at the sentencing phase, but the specifics of this relationship have not been fully explicated. The current study draws on the chivalry and evil woman hypotheses to examine how a defendant’s gender may interact with criminal history to affect sentence length in federal narcotics cases. Results indicate that gender’s effect on sentence length is nuanced, complex, and dependent on a defendant’s criminal history score; thus, conditional support is found for both the chivalry and evil woman hypotheses. Specifically, female defendants with lower criminal history scores received more lenient treatment (relative to male defendants) whereas those with higher criminal history scores received more severe sentences. These findings suggest that further exploration of interactions between extralegal and legal factors is necessary to uncover the complex ways in which gender influences court outcomes.
Alosetron improves quality of life in women with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to assess the impact of alosetron, a treatment recently approved in the United States for irritable bowel syndrome in diarrhea-predominant female patients, on health-related quality of life.METHODS:Quality of life was assessed as part of two 12-wk randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled irritable bowel syndrome studies comparing alosetron 1 mg b.i. d. with placebo (S3BA3001 and S3BA3002). Patients completed a validated disease-specific quality of life questionnaire, the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life Questionnaire (IBSQOL), at baseline and at the 12-wk or final visit. The clinical relevance of data were also evaluated by a minimal meaningful difference instrument.RESULTS:A total of 626 and 647 patients were enrolled in studies S3BA3001 and S3BA3002, respectively. Approximately 70% of patients in each study had diarrhea-predominant IBS. In diarrhea-predominant patients enrolled in S3BA3001, statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvements with alosetron versus placebo were observed on all nine IBSQOL scales (emotional health, mental health, sleep, energy, physical functioning, food/diet, social functioning, role–physical, and sexual relations) and for all but one scale (mental health) in S3BA3002. In both studies, a significantly greater percentage of patients treated with alosetron (p < 0.05) experienced clinically meaningful improvement on three of the nine IBSQOL scales (food/diet, social functioning, and role–physical) compared with patients treated with placebo. Patients treated with alosetron did not show worsening in any quality of life domain compared with patients treated with placebo.CONCLUSIONS:These results in women with diarrhea-predominant IBS demonstrate that alosetron significantly improves health-related quality of life.
Scientific Computation: Phylogenetic tree construction

In this chapter we will consider the problem of inferring evolutionary trees, also known as phylogenetic trees. The analysis of such trees arises when we try to infer the evolutionary relationships among individuals of a single species (e.g. the 'mitochondrial Eve analysis, or the evolutionary tree for dogs) or among various species. To make the discussion a bit more concrete, let's assume that we are considering female descent lines, as was done for the 'mitochondrial Eve analysis. In principle one might have a complete history of all births, and construct a descent tree incorporating all of the birth events (see Figure 7). The usual situation will be different. First of all, if we are trying to infer an evolutionary tree from currently living individuals, the complete evolutionary history is unknown. Referring to Figure 7, we might have measurements from individuals P, Q, R,. , and the goal is to reconstruct a descent tree as shown in the figure. The data being compared, called characters, might be the corresponding amino acids in a related protein sequence, or codons from corresponding DNA sites. The characters could also be other physical characteristics (hair vs. feathers, number of toes, time for a chemical reaction involving blood, etc.). Commonly, the inferred 'parent', say H of offspring P and Q, is intended to represent the last common ancestor before the character change that distinguishes P from Q. For example, if the characters were corresponding amino acid sequences P abcgef, Q azcgef, then the characters for H might be H azcgef , agreeing with the characters for Q, but different from P. In representing evolutionary relationships via a tree, it may be desireable to represent the time since H split into types P and Q by the length of the edges HP and HQ. It is possible to anticipate a number of issues that will arise in trying to infer phylogenies. First of all, some trees will be more reasonable than others. If 47
NECROPSY FINDINGS IN AMERICAN ALLIGATOR LATE-STAGE EMBRYOS AND HATCHLINGS FROM NORTHCENTRAL FLORIDA LAKES CONTAMINATED WITH ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDES

Increased American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) embryo and neonatal mortality has been reported from several northcentral Florida lakes contaminated with old-use organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). However, a clear relationship among these contaminants and egg viability has not been established, suggesting the involvement of additional factors in these mortalities. Thus, the main objective of this study was to determine the ultimate cause of mortality of American alligator late-stage embryos and hatchlings through the conduction of detailed pathological examinations, and to evaluate better the role of OCPs in these mortalities. Between 2000 and 2001, 236 dead alligators were necropsied at or near hatching (after ∼65 days of artificial incubation and up to 1 mo of age posthatch). Dead animals were collected from 18 clutches ranging in viability from 0% to 95%. Total OCP concentrations in yolk ranged from ∼100 to 52,000 μg/kg, wet weight. The most common gross findings were generalized edema (34%) and organ hyperemia (29%), followed by severe emaciation (14%) and gross deformities (3%). Histopathologic examination revealed lesions in 35% of the animals, with over half of the cases being pneumonia, pulmonary edema, and atelectasis. Within and across clutches, dead embryos and hatchlings compared with their live cohorts were significantly smaller and lighter. Although alterations in growth and development were not related to yolk OCPs, there was an increase in prevalence of histologic lesions in clutches with high OCPs. Overall, these results indicate that general growth retardation and respiratory abnormalities were a major contributing factor in observed mortalities and that contaminants may increase the susceptibility of animals to developing certain pathologic conditions.
Synovial cyst of the transverse ligament of the atlas in a patient with os odontoideum and atlantoaxial instability.

STUDY DESIGN A case report and review of the literature. OBJECTIVE To describe the diagnosis and successful treatment of a synovial cyst arising from the transverse ligament in a patient with os odontoideum and atlantoaxial instability. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Synovial cysts arising from the transverse ligament of the atlas are extremely rare. Development of a synovial cyst is thought to be attributable to degenerative changes of the C1-C2 facet joints or to microtrauma. Direct excision of the cyst is the only treatment cited in previous reports. METHODS A synovial cyst arising from the transverse ligament of the atlas in a 45-year-old man with os odontoideum and atlantoaxial instability was treated surgically with posterior atlantoaxial fusion alone. The magnetic resonance images, surgical treatment, and related literature are reviewed. RESULTS Preoperative magnetic resonance images of the cervical spine showed a large cystic mass located ventral to the cord arising at the level of the transverse ligament of the atlas: the mass was of low signal intensity on T1-weighted images, was of high signal intensity on T2-weighted images, and was enhanced marginally with gadolinium-DTPA on T1-weighted images. Spontaneous regression of the cyst was identified on the follow-up magnetic resonance images taken 3 months after C1-C2 posterior wiring and fusion. CONCLUSIONS A patient with a synovial cyst arising at the C1-C2 junction ventrally at the level of the transverse ligament showed spontaneous regression of the lesion after C1-C2 posterior wiring and fusion.
d-Alanyl Ester Depletion of Teichoic Acids in Lactobacillus plantarum Results in a Major Modification of Lipoteichoic Acid Composition and Cell Wall Perforations at the Septum Mediated by the Acm2 Autolysin

ABSTRACT The insertional inactivation of the dlt operon from Lactobacillus plantarum NCIMB8826 had a strong impact on lipoteichoic acid (LTA) composition, resulting in a major reduction in d-alanyl ester content. Unexpectedly, mutant LTA showed high levels of glucosylation and were threefold longer than wild-type LTA. The dlt mutation resulted in a reduced growth rate and increased cell lysis during the exponential and stationary growth phases. Microscopy analysis revealed increased cell length, damaged dividing cells, and perforations of the envelope in the septal region. The observed defects in the separation process, cell envelope perforation, and autolysis of the dlt mutant could be partially attributed to the L. plantarum Acm2 peptidoglycan hydrolase.
Psychopharmacologic Treatment

Although significant numbers of children with learning or behavioral disorders may be receiving psychopharmacologic medications, special education personnel may not always be familiar with either specific therapeutic effects or side effects of such drugs. The following is a brief introduction to specific classroom issues involved in the four major classes of psychotropic medication, along with certain recent methodological concerns in both research and classroom intervention in this area.
The bright and dark sides of empowerment: Linking psychological empowerment and job stressors to proactive and counterproductive work behaviors

Recently, organizational scholars have stressed the importance of employee proactivity in today’s dynamic and uncertain work environment. As such, research has investigated employee proactivity in two similar ways but disconnected ways. Whereas some research focuses on the psychological conditions that give rise to employee proactivity, other research investigates the behavioral manifestations of proactivity. This dissertation integrates the behavioral and psychological approaches to proactivity with a sample of 423 non-profit employees. I first developed a generic scale to represent personal, interpersonal, and organizational dimensions of proactive work behavior. Results indicate that the three proposed beneficiary dimensions of proactive work behavior are distinct from one another, yet together identify a higher-order category of proactive work behavior. Additional findings indicate that proactive work behaviors are empirically distinguishable from task, citizenship, and counterproductive work behaviors. Next, I develop a theoretical model that links psychological empowerment and job stressors to proactive and counterproductive work behaviors. These results indicate that challenge (hindrance) stressors are positively (negatively) associated with psychological empowerment. Additional findings revealed a positive association between psychological empowerment and proactive work behaviors, as well as interpersonal counterproductive work behaviors. Finally, the results suggest that psychological empowerment mediates the relationships between stressors and proactive work behaviors, but not counterproductive work behaviors.
Learning Neural Network Architectures using Backpropagation

Deep neural networks with millions of parameters are at the heart of many state of the art machine learning models today. However, recent works have shown that models with much smaller number of parameters can also perform just as well. In this work, we introduce the problem of architecture-learning, i.e; learning the architecture of a neural network along with weights. We introduce a new trainable parameter called tri-state ReLU, which helps in eliminating unnecessary neurons. We also propose a smooth regularizer which encourages the total number of neurons after elimination to be small. The resulting objective is differentiable and simple to optimize. We experimentally validate our method on both small and large networks, and show that it can learn models with a considerably small number of parameters without affecting prediction accuracy.
Attenuation of selected pharmaceuticals during riverbank filtration in Danube river alluvion

The paper presents the results of the transport analysis for selected pharmaceuticals during riverbank filtration from the river Danube to the drainage wells at the specific site KovinDubovac. In the Republic of Serbia the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in surface and groundwater was not sufficiently analyzed, so there is a need for research and testing of the occurrence and behavior of pharmaceuticals in order to better understand the flow of pharmaceuticals in the environment and transport of pharmaceuticals in groundwater during riverbank filtration. During the investigation period between 2009-2015, a total of 25 pharmaceuticals were analyzed in 52 samples, of which 13 samples of surface water and 39 samples of alluvial groundwater. A total of 7 pharmaceuticals in Danube River and 6 pharmaceuticals in alluvial groundwater were detected. Carbamazepine and metamizole metabolites N-acetyl-4-amino-antipyrine (4-AAA) and N-formyl-4-amino-antipyrine (4-FAA) have the highest frequency of occurrence in surface water and in groundwater samples, respectively. Results showed that riverbank filtration could significantly remove investigated pharmaceuticals. Percentage of removal during riverbank filtration was determined for carbamazepine (35%), trimethoprim (100%), 4-AAA (82%) and 4-FAA (43%). These results are extremely important for better understanding of self-purification potential of alluvial aquifers and protection from potential impacts of anthropogenic pollution to the groundwater sources in the Republic of Serbia.
Molecular Genetic Analysis of the Variable Number of Tandem-Repeat Alleles at the Phenylalanine Hydroxylase Gene in Iranian Azeri Turkish Population

Background: The variable numbers of tandem-repeat (VNTR) alleles at the phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) gene have been used in carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis in phenylketonuria families. This study was carried out to analyze VNTR alleles at the PAH gene in Iranian Azeri Turkish population. Methods: In this study, 200 alleles from general population were studied by PCR. Results: The frequencies of VNTR alleles were 45%, 46%, 2%, 3%, 1%, and 3% in studied group regarding 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 repeat copies, respectively. Statistically significant differences were not found between expected and observed frequencies of VNTR genotypes (P > 0.05). Conclusions: VNTR alleles with three and eight repeats were frequent, and the VNTR alleles with 13 repeats showed 3% frequency in the tested group. This study is the first report on tested population genetic structure using VNTR alleles at the PAH gene.
Circulating levels of nitrated apolipoprotein A-I are increased in type 2 diabetic patients

Abstract Recent work has shown that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) isolated from human atherosclerotic lesions and the blood of patients with established coronary artery disease contains elevated levels of 3-nitrotyrosine and 3-chlorotyrosine. A higher nitrotyrosine content in lipoprotein is significantly associated with diminished cholesterol efflux capacity of the lipoprotein. Since accelerated atherogenesis is a key complication of diabetes mellitus, and nitrosative stress has recently been implicated in diabetic pathology, we set out to demonstrate an increase in the circulating levels of nitrated apolipoprotein A (apoA)-I in type 2 diabetic patients and its putative correlation with metabolic biomarkers. In this work we addressed this hypothesis in a case-control study with 30 type 2 diabetic patients and 30 age-matched control subjects. Nitrated apoA-I was 3280±1910 absorbance peak area/apoA-I (g/L) for diabetic patients and 2320±890 for control subjects (p<0.037). This represents a 50% increase in circulating nitrated apoA-I in diabetic patients to age-matched controls. Diabetic patients also showed increases of a similar magnitude in circulating advanced glycation endproducts measured as pentosidine fluorescence (44.16±16.26 vs. 30.84±12.86 AU; p<0.01) and in circulating lipoperoxides (46.0±18.0 vs. 37.2±18.0nmol/L; p<0.03). No significant correlation was found between nitration of apoA-I and glycosylated hemoglobin or any of the other parameters measured. If proven in subsequent functional and in vivo studies, increased nitrated apoA-I would represent another mechanism by which nitrosative stress participates in diabetic macro-angiopathy.
Comparison of glaucomatous optic nerve damage in primary angle-closure glaucoma with and without acute attack.

PURPOSE To compare the glaucomatous optic nerve damage in primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) with acute attack (acute PACG; AACG) and PACG without acute attack (chronic PACG; CACG). METHODS The study subjects were 84 normal individuals, 130 AACG patients, and 86 CACG patients. Color optic disc photographs were evaluated for the presence or absence of 10 qualitative signs to differentiate between normal and glaucomatous optic discs. RESULTS Abnormally shaped rim width (alteration of ISN'T rule), bared circumlinear vessel, vessel bayonetting, rim width narrower than the temporal sector, and zone beta (nasal and superotemporal sectors) were detected more frequently in the CACG group than in the AACG group (P<0.05). The most accurate qualitative sign was abnormally shaped rim width in both groups. The specificity and sensitivity of abnormally shaped rim width were 71.4% and 60.8% for AACG, and 71.4% and 81.4% for CACG, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The optic disc damage is greater in CACG than in AACG.