Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conjunctival Flora in Extended Wear of Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses

A longitudinal study was performed to examine the effect of rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses (Boston Equalens II and Quantum II) on the conjunctival flora of 45 young healthy subjects. Microbial flora were determined before delivery of lenses. Subjects wore lenses on an extended wear basis, removing them every 7 days for cleaning and disinfection. Cultures were repeated after 2 months of lens wear and the microbial flora were found to be significantly altered compared to the prelens wear results (0.05 > p > 0.02). Changes to conjunctival flora included an increase in the number of eyes from which potentially pathogenic microorganisms were isolated, an increase in the number of eyes that were culture-negative, and a decrease in the number of eyes harboring only normal conjunctival flora. The increase in potentially pathogenic flora was not specific for Gram-negative bacteria, which are most often associated with infectious keratitis during contact lens wear.
Contributions Attenuated Renal Response to Dopaminergic Drugs in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Activation of renal dopamine-1 receptors decreases sodium transport. However, the spontaneously hypertensive rat retains sodium despite increased renal dopamine concentration. We tested the hypothesis that the abnormal sodium handling in spontaneously hypertensive rats (Okamoto-Aoki strain) is related to a decreased dopaminergic response by studying the effects of the intrarenal infusion of the dopamine-1 agonist SKF-38393 and the dopamine-1 antagonist SCH-23390 in hypertensive and in normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats. Rats (9-16 weeks old) were studied with renal nerves intact under pentobarbital anesthesia (n=5-6 in each group). Specificity of dopamine-1 effects of SKF-38393 was verified because its natriuretic effect was blocked in a dose-related manner by the dopamine-1 antagonist SCH-23390 (n=5). Intrarenal arterial infusion of the dopamine-1 agonist SKF-38393 did not affect glomerular filtration rate but resulted in a dose-related natriuresis and diuresis in normotensive but not in hypertensive rats. Intrarenal arterial infusion of the dopamine-1 antagonist SCH-23390 alone induced an antinatriuresis, without affecting glomerular filtration rate, in normotensive but not in hypertensive rats. Addition of the dopamine-2 antagonist YM09151 to the dopamine-1 antagonist infusion did not enhance the effect of the dopamine-1 antagonist The lack of response to the dopamine-1 agonist or antagonist in hypertensive rats was not due to differences in renal dopamine-1 receptor density ( U ± 0 J pmol/mg protein for spontaneously hypertensive rats, n=4; l±0.2 for Wistar-Kyoto rats, n=4) or affinity, distribution determined by autoradiography was also similar. The abnormal renal sodium handling in 9-16-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats is in part due to decreased response distal to the dopamine-1 receptor. (Hypertension 1990;15:560-569)
Full-Scale Testing of Blast-Induced Liquefaction Downdrag on Driven Piles in Sand

Full-Scale Testing of Blast-Induced Liquefaction Downdrag on Driven Piles in Sand Luke Ian Kevan Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BYU Master of Science Deep foundations such as driven piles are often used to bypass liquefiable layers of soil and bear on more competent strata. When liquefaction occurs, the skin friction around the deep foundation goes to zero in the liquefiable layer. As the pore pressures dissipate, the soil settles. As the soil settles, negative skin friction develops owing to the downward movement of the soil surrounding the pile. To investigate the magnitude of the skin friction along the shaft three driven piles, an H-pile, a closed end pipe pile, and a concrete square pile, were instrumented and used to measure soil induced load at a site near Turrell, Arkansas following blast-induced liquefaction. Measurements were made of the load in the pile, the settlement of the ground and the settlement of piles in each case. Estimates of side friction and end-bearing resistance were obtained from Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) measurements during driving and embedded O-cell type testing. The H-pile was driven to a depth of 94 feet, the pipe pile 74 feet, and the concrete square pile 72 feet below the ground surface to investigate the influence of pile depth in response to liquefaction. All three piles penetrated the liquefied layer and tipped out in denser sand. The soil surrounding the piles settled 2.5 inches for the H-pile, 2.8 inches for the pipe pile and 3.3 inches for the concrete square pile. The piles themselves settled 0.28 inches for the H-pile, 0.32 inches for the pipe pile, and 0.28 inches for the concrete square pile. During reconsolidation, the skin friction of the liquefied layer was 43% for the H-pile, 41% for the pipe pile, and 49% for the concrete square pile. Due to the magnitude of load felt in the piles from these tests the assumption of 50% skin friction developing in the liquefied zone is reasonable. Reduced side friction in the liquefied zone led to full mobilization of skin friction in the non-liquefied soil, and partial mobilization of end bearing capacity. The neutral plane, defined as the depth where the settlement of the soil equals the settlement of the pile, was outside of the liquefied zone in each scenario. The neutral plane method that uses mobilized end bearing measured during blasting to calculate settlement of the pile post liquefaction proved to be accurate for these three piles.
Hydrolysis of Capecitabine to 5′-Deoxy-5-fluorocytidine by Human Carboxylesterases and Inhibition by Loperamide

Capecitabine is an oral prodrug of 5-fluorouracil that is indicated for the treatment of breast and colorectal cancers. A three-step in vivo-targeted activation process requiring carboxylesterases, cytidine deaminase, and thymidine phosphorylase converts capecitabine to 5-fluorouracil. Carboxylesterases hydrolyze capecitabine's carbamate side chain to form 5′-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine (5′-DFCR). This study examines the steady-state kinetics of recombinant human carboxylesterase isozymes carboxylesterase (CES) 1A1, CES2, and CES3 for hydrolysis of capecitabine with a liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy assay. Additionally, a spectrophotometric screening assay was utilized to identify drugs that may inhibit carboxylesterase activation of capecitabine. CES1A1 and CES2 hydrolyze capecitabine to a similar extent, with catalytic efficiencies of 14.7 and 12.9 min–1 mM–1, respectively. Little catalytic activity is detected for CES3 with capecitabine. Northern blot analysis indicates that relative expression in intestinal tissue is CES2 > CES1A1 > CES3. Hence, intestinal activation of capecitabine may contribute to its efficacy in colon cancer and toxic diarrhea associated with the agent. Loperamide is a strong inhibitor of CES2, with a Ki of 1.5 μM, but it only weakly inhibits CES1A1 (IC50 = 0.44 mM). Inhibition of CES2 in the gastrointestinal tract by loperamide may reduce local formation of 5′-DFCR. Both CES1A1 and CES2 are responsible for the activation of capecitabine, whereas CES3 plays little role in 5′-DFCR formation.
Guessing a password over a wireless channel (on the effect of noise non-uniformity)

A string is sent over a noisy channel that erases some of its characters. Knowing the statistical properties of the string's source and which characters were erased, a listener that is equipped with an ability to test the veracity of a string, one string at a time, wishes to fill in the missing pieces. Here we characterize the influence of the stochastic properties of both the string's source and the noise on the channel on the distribution of the number of attempts required to identify the string, its guesswork. In particular, we establish that the average noise on the channel is not a determining factor for the average guesswork and illustrate simple settings where one recipient with, on average, a better channel than another recipient, has higher average guesswork. These results stand in contrast to those for the capacity of wiretap channels and suggest the use of techniques such as friendly jamming with pseudo-random sequences to exploit this guesswork behavior.
Two-Stream SR-CNNs for Action Recognition in Videos

Human action is a high-level concept in computer vision research and understanding it may beneﬁt from different semantics, such as human pose, interacting objects, and scene context. In this paper, we explicitly exploit semantic cues with aid of existing human/object detectors for action recognition in videos, and thoroughly study their effect on the recognition performance for different types of actions. Speciﬁcally, we propose a new deep architecture by incorporating human/object detection results into the framework, called two-stream semantic region based CNNs (SR-CNNs). Our proposed architecture not only shares great modeling capacity with the original two-stream CNNs, but also exhibits the ﬂexibility of leveraging semantic cues (e.g. scene, person, object) for action understanding. We perform experiments on the UCF101 dataset and demonstrate its superior performance to the original two-stream CNNs. In addition, we systematically study the effect of incorporating semantic cues on the recognition performance for different types of action classes, and try to provide some insights for building more reasonable action benchmarks and developing better recognition algorithms.
Superior Selectivity and Sensitivity of C3N Sensor in Probing Toxic Gases NO2 and SO2

The adsorption of gas molecules, such as N<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>2</sub>, CO<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>O, CO, NO, NO<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>S, NH<sub>3</sub>, and SO<sub>2</sub> on monolayer C<sub>3</sub>N has been investigated by means of first-principles and non-equilibrium Green’s function calculations. We show that monolayer C<sub>3</sub>N is preferable for the NO<sub>2</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> molecules with suitable adsorption strength and apparent charge transfers. Moreover, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> characteristics of C<sub>3</sub>N show clear variations after the adsorption of NO<sub>2</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub>. Such sensitivity and selectivity to NO<sub>2</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> molecules make C<sub>3</sub>N a promising candidate for highly sensitive gas sensor.
c-di-AMP Is a New Second Messenger in Staphylococcus aureus with a Role in Controlling Cell Size and Envelope Stress

The cell wall is a vital and multi-functional part of bacterial cells. For Staphylococcus aureus, an important human bacterial pathogen, surface proteins and cell wall polymers are essential for adhesion, colonization and during the infection process. One such cell wall polymer, lipoteichoic acid (LTA), is crucial for normal bacterial growth and cell division. Upon depletion of this polymer bacteria increase in size and a misplacement of division septa and eventual cell lysis is observed. In this work, we describe the isolation and characterization of LTA-deficient S. aureus suppressor strains that regained the ability to grow almost normally in the absence of this cell wall polymer. Using a whole genome sequencing approach, compensatory mutations were identified and revealed that mutations within one gene, gdpP (GGDEF domain protein containing phosphodiesterase), allow both laboratory and clinical isolates of S. aureus to grow without LTA. It was determined that GdpP has phosphodiesterase activity in vitro and uses the cyclic dinucleotide c-di-AMP as a substrate. Furthermore, we show for the first time that c-di-AMP is produced in S. aureus presumably by the S. aureus DacA protein, which has diadenylate cyclase activity. We also demonstrate that GdpP functions in vivo as a c-di-AMP-specific phosphodiesterase, as intracellular c-di-AMP levels increase drastically in gdpP deletion strains and in an LTA-deficient suppressor strain. An increased amount of cross-linked peptidoglycan was observed in the gdpP mutant strain, a cell wall alteration that could help bacteria compensate for the lack of LTA. Lastly, microscopic analysis of wild-type and gdpP mutant strains revealed a 13–22% reduction in the cell size of bacteria with increased c-di-AMP levels. Taken together, these data suggest a function for this novel secondary messenger in controlling cell size of S. aureus and in helping bacteria to cope with extreme membrane and cell wall stress.
Bronchiectasis: A Late Feature of Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis

Bronchiectasis as a feature of rheumatoid arthritis is considered rare and, in most series, has preceded rheumatoid arthritis. We identified 23 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and bronchiectasis at the Brigham and Women's Hospital followed between 1984 and 1991, 18 of whom had arthritis preceding lung disease. The 18 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and subsequent bronchiectasis had a mean age of 63.8 years. Fourteen were women and 4 were men, with a mean arthritis duration of 24.7 years before bronchiectasis developed. Most patients had seropositive and nodular disease. All but 1 had advanced radiographic changes of rheumatoid arthritis, and many had received joint replacement surgery. In addition to standard treatment regimens, 17 patients had received corticosteroids. Productive cough, hemoptysis, and dyspnea were the most common respiratory symptoms and were present for an average of 4.3 years prior to bronchiectasis diagnosis. The most common radiographic abnormalities were bibasilar diffusely increased interstitial markings and focal infiltrates, although nodules, bullae, cysts, and air-fluid levels were found. Common pulmonary-function abnormalities were obstructive and/or restrictive abnormalities. Three patients died of complications relating to bronchiectasis. Five patients with rheumatoid arthritis had antecedent bronchiectasis. Compared with patients with rheumatoid arthritis and subsequent bronchiectasis, those with antecedent lung disease had milder arthritis (stage I or II radiographic changes, p < 0.001), a lower frequency of rheumatoid nodules (p < 0.05) and a lower comorbidity score (5.8 versus 9.4, p < 0.01). They also had received fewer disease-modifying agents for the treatment of their rheumatoid arthritis. Bronchiectasis can be a feature of rheumatoid arthritis and is often found in patients with severe, long-standing nodular disease. Recurrent pulmonary infections and respiratory failure occur and may be fatal.
Influence of mitochondrial membrane potential of spermatozoa on in vitro fertilisation outcome

To determine whether the outcome of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) is influenced by the percentage of spermatozoa with functional mitochondria, a total of 91 random couples undergoing IVF were included. Mitochondrial function was determined by flow cytometry and expressed as percentage of spermatozoa. Conventional sperm parameters were studied by light microscopy. Reproductive outcome parameters were fertilisation rate, embryo quality and clinical pregnancy. It was found that the fertilisation rate was correlated with the percentage of spermatozoa (r = 0.24, P = 0.01) as well as with the percentage of highly motile spermatozoa. However, we did not find any relationship between the percentage of spermatozoa and embryo quality. Nevertheless, no patient who exhibited less than 64% of spermatozoa achieved pregnancy. It is concluded that determination of Δψm provides accurate information to guide physicians to identify male patients for whom IVF will be unlikely to result in pregnancy. Therefore, we suggest that the percentage of spermatozoa may contribute to identify the most appropriate treatment for an individual patient.
Reelin provides an inhibitory signal in the migration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons, a small number of cells scattered in the hypothalamic region of the basal forebrain, play an important role in reproductive function. These cells originate in the olfactory placode and migrate into the basal forebrain in late embryonic life. Here, we show that reelin, which is expressed along the route of the migrating cells, has an inhibitory role in guiding GnRH neurons to the basal forebrain. Only a small (approximately 5%) subpopulation of these neurons expresses one of the reelin receptors (ApoER2/Lrp8), and all GnRH neurons appear to lack the intracellular adaptor protein Dab1, suggesting that the function of reelin is not mediated by the conventional signal transduction pathway. The importance of reelin in the establishment of GnRH neurons in the hypothalamus was confirmed by our finding that the brains of developing and adult reeler mice of both sexes contained a markedly reduced number of these neuroendocrine neurons. Furthermore, the testes of adult males showed dilation of seminiferous tubules and reduction in their density when compared with controls. Mutants lacking the reelin receptors ApoER2 and Vldlr, and scrambler mice lacking Dab1, showed a normal complement of GnRH neurons in the hypothalamus, confirming that the effect of reelin in their migration is independent of Dab1.
Postnatal development of the fore‐ and hindlimbs in the grey short‐tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica

Marsupials are good experimental animals for developmental studies as their offspring are born at a stage comparable to embryonic stages of eutherian species. The South American opossum, Monodelphis domestica, is particularly useful because of its small size and easy maintenance. This study was carried out to compare development of opossum fore‐ and hindlimbs during postnatal life, using light microscopy and whole mount alizarin staining. At birth, well‐developed mobile forelimbs show cartilage models of bones and myotubular striated muscle fibres. However, hindlimbs are relatively underdeveloped paddle‐like outgrowths. Two days later mesodermal condensations form models of the future hindlimb bones and mononucleate myoblast aggregates are present; by 6 days post partum (dpp) the hindlimb has reached a stage of development similar to that of the forelimb at birth. At this stage, periosteal buds have invaded forelimb long bones and nuclei in forelimb muscle fibres have become displaced to the periphery. The 16 dpp hindlimb shows long bones invaded by periosteal buds and closely packed, striated muscle fibres. Epiphyseal plates are now seen in the forelimb long bones and forelimb muscle fibres show mature characteristics. Musculoskeletal development is well correlated with the functional demands of the limbs during postnatal development in the opossum, which provides an excellent model for investigations into the genes and molecules controlling limb development.
Food for naught: Using the theory of planned behaviour to better understand household food wasting behaviour

To better understand food wasting behaviour, the theory of planned behaviour was used to inform the development of a survey which was administered to households in London, Ontario, Canada. Respondent households (n1⁄41,263) threw out avoidable food waste 4.77 times/week (SD1⁄44.81, Mdn1⁄44.0) and 5.89 food portions/week (SD1⁄45.66, Mdn1⁄44.0). When asked to choose one of three possible motivators to reduce food wasting behaviour, 58.9% selected reducing monetary loss as their first choice and this was significantly (p<0.001) higher than both reducing environmental impact (23.9%) and reducing social impacts (17.2%). A linear hierarchical regression analysis (R1⁄40.30, p<0.001) on intention to avoid food waste demonstrated that perceived behavioural control (p<0.001) and personal norms (p<0.001) had the greatest positive impact on intention. A linear hierarchical regression analysis (R1⁄40.32, p<0.001) on self-reported food wasting behaviour showed that perceived behavioural control (p<0.001) and personal attitudes (p<0.01) resulted in less food wasting behaviour, while more children in a household (p<0.01) resulted in more food wasting behaviour. Interventions that seek to strengthen perceived behavioural control and convey the monetary impact of food waste could help reduce its disposal.
[Neuropsychological profiles of adolescents with bipolar disorder and adolescents with a high risk of bipolar disorder].

PURPOSE In recent years evidence of an association between bipolar disorder (BD), and specific neuropsychological impairment and familial transmission of BD has been mounting. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical and neuropsychological features of BD in adolescents, to assess the clinical and neuropsychological parameters in adolescents with a high risk of familial transmission of BD, and to identify probable early markers of the disorder. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included 25 patients aged 12-18 years that were diagnosed as BD (case group), 25 adolescents without a mood disorder that had a parent and/or sibling diagnosed as BD, (risk group), and 25 typically developing adolescents (control group). To determine neuropsychological profiles the participants were administered the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT), and Continuous Performance Test (CPT), and to evaluate clinical and behavioral profiles the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), Parent-Young Mania Rating Scale (P-YMRS), Youth Self-Report (YSR), and Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-48) were administered. RESULTS The case group performed significantly lower on the WCST, SCWT, and CPT in terms of executive and attention functions, whereas there wasn't a difference between the risk group and control group. In addition, significantly more of the adolescents in the case and risk groups had clinical and behavioral problems than those in the control group. CONCLUSION The findings show that behavioral and clinical problems were more common in the risk group than in the control group, and that the frequency of attention and executive function impairment was similar in both of those groups. The findings suggest that BD itself may be associated with attention and executive function impairments, whereas a familial risk of BD may be associated with some behavioral problems. Follow-up and neuroimaging studies conducted with a larger number of participants, and neuropsychological test profiles may provide more detailed information about the neuropsychological profiles of individuals with a genetic risk for BD and may provide descriptive data about where and how the biological and psychometric deterioration initiate.
FOXP3+ T Regulatory Cell Modifications in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients Treated with Anti-TNFα Agents

Treg modulation has been hypothesized as one of the mechanisms by which antitumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) agents exert their action in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, data in IBD are still conflicting. We evaluated CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ (Tregs) by flow cytometry in peripheral blood from 32 adult IBD patient before (T0) and after the induction of anti-TNFα therapy (T1). Eight healthy controls (HCs) were included. We also evaluated the number of FOXP3+ cells in the lamina propria (LP) in biopsies taken in a subset of patients and controls. Treg frequencies were significantly increased in peripheral blood from our patients after anti-TNFα therapy compared to T0. T1 but not T0 levels were higher than HC. The increase was detectable only in clinical responders to the treatment. A negative correlation was found among delta Treg levels and the age of patients or disease duration and with the activity score of Crohn's disease (CD). No significant differences were found in LP FOXP3+ cells. Our data suggest the possibility that in IBD patients the treatment with anti-TNFα may affect Treg percentages and that Treg modifications may correlate with clinical response, but differently in early versus late disease.