Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analyzing the Implementation of Nutrient Management Plans by Farmers: Implications for Extension Education

We conducted case studies on four Connecticut dairy farms to evaluate how well farmers implemented their nutrient management plans (NMPs). Our findings can help Extension educators develop programs to improve NMPs and NMP adoption by farmers. We identified three educational topic areas that would likely increase NMP understanding and acceptance: (a) soil testing protocol, results interpretation, and nutrient recommendations; (b) manure fertilizer-equivalent value, proper application, and effective distribution; and (c) costs and benefits of substituting on-farm manure for purchased commercial fertilizer. A new adaptive nutrient management program presents a timely opportunity for cost-effective and collaborative on-farm education efforts by Extension and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Tabriz, Iran

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal problems in the west while different reports indicate an increase in the prevalence in Iran. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and clinical spectrum of GERD in staff of a referral hospital and evaluate the risk factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study using a modified Mayo clinic questionnaire was performed on staff of Imam Hospital, Tabriz, Iran on a pilot of 50 subjects, and a randomly selected group consisted of 522 subjects in the year 2005. GERD symptoms were defined as at least weekly heartburn and/or acid regurgitation during the past year. Results: Response rate was 95%. Mean age of responders was 40.02±10.72 yr. The prevalence of recurrent heartburn and/or acid regurgitation experienced at least weekly and monthly was 26.8% and 34.1%, respectively. They were not related to age and gender. The severity of symptoms was mainly reported of a mild to moderate degree. 45% of the cases reported at least one of the atypical symptoms. There was no relation between marriage status and prevalence of GERD. On the other hand, GERD was less common among cases with no family history of upper gastrointestinal disease. The prevalence of frequent GERD was more common among medical staff. Increased BMI (but no recent weight gain or lose) was associated with higher prevalence of GERD symptoms only in women. Interestingly 33% of our population had a history of using antacid or PPIs which was more among cases with frequent GERD symptoms. Conclusion: This study revealed a high prevalence of frequent GERD symptoms in a selected population of Tabriz. Atypical symptoms should be considered in this area.
Stress and Well-Being at Work: A Century of Empirical Trends Reflecting Theoretical and Societal Influences

In various forms, research on stress and well-being has been a part of the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) since its inception. In this review, we examine the history of stress research in JAP by tracking word frequencies from 606 abstracts of published articles in the journal. From these abstracts, we define 3 eras: a 50 year-era from 1917 to 1966, a 30-year era from 1967 to 1996, and a 20-year era from 1997 to the present. Each era is distinct in terms of the number of articles published and the general themes of the topic areas examined. We show that advances in theory are a major impetus underlying research topics and the number of publications. Our review also suggests that articles have increasingly tended to reflect broader events occurring in society such as recessions and workforce changes. We conclude by offering ideas about the future of stress and well-being research.
Control Strategies to Smooth Short-Term Power Fluctuations in Large Photovoltaic Plants Using Battery Storage Systems

The variations in irradiance produced by changes in cloud cover can cause rapid fluctuations in the power generated by large photovoltaic (PV) plants. As the PV power share in the grid increases, such fluctuations may adversely affect power quality and reliability. Thus, energy storage systems (ESS) are necessary in order to smooth power fluctuations below the maximum allowable. This article first proposes a new control strategy (step-control), to improve the results in relation to two state-of-the-art strategies, ramp-rate control and moving average. It also presents a method to quantify the storage capacity requirements according to the three different smoothing strategies and for different PV plant sizes. Finally, simulations shows that, although the moving-average (MA) strategy requires the smallest capacity, it presents more losses (2–3 times more) and produces a much higher number of cycles over the ESS (around 10 times more), making it unsuitable with storage technologies as lithium-ion. The step-control shown as a better option in scenery with exigent ramp restrictions (around 2%/min) and distributed generation against the ramp-rate control in all ESS key aspects: 20% less of capacity, up to 30% less of losses and a 40% less of ageing. All the simulations were based on real PV production data, taken every 5 s in the course of one year (2012) from a number of systems with power outputs ranging from 550 kW to 40 MW.
de Sitter string vacua from Kahler uplifting

We present a new way to construct de Sitter vacua in type IIB flux compactifications, in which the interplay of the leading perturbative and non-perturbative effects stabilize all moduli in dS vacua at parametrically large volume. Here, the closed string fluxes fix the dilaton and the complex structure moduli while the universal leading perturbative quantum correction to the Kahler potential together with non-perturbative effects stabilize the volume Kahler modulus in a dS4-vacuum. Since the quantum correction is known exactly and can be kept parametrically small, this construction leads to calculable and explicitly realized de Sitter vacua of string theory with spontaneously broken supersymmetry.
Thermal conductivity of ions in a neutron star envelope

We analyse the thermal conductivity of ions (equivalent to the conductivity of phonons in crystalline matter) in a neutron star envelope. We calculate the ion/phonon thermal conductivity in a crystal of atomic nuclei using variational formalism and performing momentum space integration by Monte Carlo method. We take into account phonon‐phonon and phonon‐electron scattering mechanisms and show that phonon‐electron scattering dominates at not too low densities. We extract the ion thermal conductivity in ion liquid or gas from literature. Numerical values of the ion/phonon conductivity are approximated by analytical expressions, valid for T 10 5 K and 10 5 gc m −3 ρ 10 14 gc m −3 . Typical magnetic fields B ∼ 10 12 Gi n neutron star envelopes do not affect this conductivity although they strongly reduce the electron thermal conductivity across the magnetic field. The ion thermal conductivity remains much smaller than the electron conductivity along the magnetic field. However, in the outer neutron star envelope it can be larger than the electron conductivity across the field, which is important for heat transport across magnetic field lines in cooling neutron stars. The ion conductivity can greatly reduce the anisotropy of heat conduction in outer envelopes of magnetized neutron
Solid state fermented potato pulp can be used as poultry feed

1. Potato pulp is the industrial waste produced during starch extraction from potatoes. Its discharge has become an environmental pollution problem and a decisive cost factor due to stricter environmental legislation and associated expense in the potato starch industry. 2. To date, little information has been provided regarding the nutritive value and any possible toxic effects of potato pulp for poultry feed. 3. In the present paper, a model was developed to assess potato pulp for use as a new poultry feed, which will help starch factories to decrease waste discharge. 4. First, a solid-state fermentation technique to change potato pulp to poultry feed is briefly described; then, the major nutrient compositions of this feed are analysed; lastly, related toxicological effects are studied and the safety of the feed assessed. 5. The results indicated that no unintended effects were found on layer quails during a 30-d feeding study, and the new feed initially showed its safety for poultry in our assessment procedure. However, additional work on limiting nutrients analysis, appetite depressant effects, and egg-laying in a large-scale experiment is required to further establish the findings.
ec 2 00 7 Local finiteness of cubulations and CAT ( 0 ) groups

Let X be a geodesic space and G a group acting geometrically on X. A discrete halfspace system of X is a set H of open halfspaces closed under h 7→ X r h and such that every x ∈ X has a neighbourhood intersecting only finitely many walls of H. Given such a system H, one uses the Sageev-Roller construction to form a cubing C(H). When H is invariant under G we have: Theorem A. X has a G-equivariant quasi-isometric embedding into C(H). The basic questions about C(H) are: when are all cubes in C(H) finite-dimensional? when is C(H) finite dimensional? when is it proper? when is C(H) G-co-compact (and hence G is biautomatic, by a result of Niblo and Reeves)? These questions were answered by Niblo-Reeves, Williams and Caprace for the case of Coxeter groups (W, R) acting on their Davis-Moussong complexes, with elements of H being the halfspaces defined by reflections. A significant role was played by the ‘parallel walls property’ of Coxeter groups, conjectured by Davis and Shapiro and proved by Brink and Howlett. It thus becomes natural to ask these questions whenever X is a CAT(0) space carrying a geometric action by a group G. In this paper we show that, when H has bounded chambers, the parallel walls property is equivalent to a condition we call uniformness, regarding the quality of approximation of boundary points by walls of H. Uniformness, as opposed to the parallel walls property, involves no explicit bounds. We prove: Theorem B. Let G be a group acting geometrically on a geodesic space X and suppose H is a discrete G-invariant halfspace system in X. If H is uniform, then C(H) is proper (locally-finite). In particular, C(H) does not contain infinite-dimensional cubes.
ALDH Activity Selectively Defines an Enhanced Tumor-Initiating Cell Population Relative to CD133 Expression in Human Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Background Multiple studies in recent years have identified highly tumorigenic populations of cells that drive tumor formation. These cancer stem cells (CSCs), or tumor-initiating cells (TICs), exhibit properties of normal stem cells and are associated with resistance to current therapies. As pancreatic adenocarcinoma is among the most resistant human cancers to chemo-radiation therapy, we sought to evaluate the presence of cell populations with tumor-initiating capacities in human pancreatic tumors. Understanding which pancreatic cancer cell populations possess tumor-initiating capabilities is critical to characterizing and understanding the biology of pancreatic CSCs towards therapeutic ends. Methodology/Principal Findings We have isolated populations of cells with high ALDH activity (ALDHhigh) and/or CD133 cell surface expression from human xenograft tumors established from multiple patient tumors with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (direct xenograft tumors) and from the pancreatic cancer cell line L3.6pl. Through fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACs)-mediated enrichment and depletion of selected pancreatic cancer cell populations, we sought to discriminate the relative tumorigenicity of cell populations that express the pancreatic CSC markers CD133 and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). ALDHhigh and ALDHlow cell populations were further examined for co-expression of CD44 and/or CD24. We demonstrate that unlike cell populations demonstrating low ALDH activity, as few as 100 cells enriched for high ALDH activity were capable of tumor formation, irrespective of CD133 expression. In direct xenograft tumors, the proportions of total tumor cells expressing ALDH and/or CD133 in xenograft tumors were unchanged through a minimum of two passages. We further demonstrate that ALDH expression among patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma is heterogeneous, but the expression is constant in serial generations of individual direct xenograft tumors established from bulk human pancreatic tumors in NOD/SCID mice. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that, in contrast to some previous studies, cell populations enriched for high ALDH activity alone are sufficient for efficient tumor-initiation with enhanced tumorigenic potential relative to CD133+ and ALDHlow cell populations in some direct xenograft tumors. Although cell populations enriched for CD133 expression may alone possess tumorigenic potential, they are significantly less tumorigenic than ALDHhigh cell populations. ALDHhigh/CD44+/CD24+ or ALDHlow/CD44+/CD24+ phenotypes do not appear to significantly contribute to tumor formation at low numbers of inoculated tumor cells. ALDH expression broadly varies among patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and the apparent expression is recapitulated in serial generations of direct xenograft tumors in NOD/SCID. We have thus identified a distinct population of TICs that should lead to identification of novel targets for pancreatic cancer therapy.
Is gene therapy for hypertension possible?

Because hypertension is a chronic disease of multifactorial and multigenetic origin, it has not been considered appropriate for gene therapy. Gene therapy has tended to be limited to diseases resulting from a single gene mutation that can be replaced by gene insertion or to life-threatening diseases for which there are few alternative treatments, such as glioma and other cancers and rampant HIV infection. Hypertension, in contrast, is controllable by current drug therapies, and although it is a significant risk factor for stroke and heart attack, it lacks the sense of urgency associated with other diseases. The multifactorial nature of hypertension presents a Gordian knot of too many tangles to untie. Gene studies to sort out linkages and associations with hypertension are progressing, but slowly. There have been positive correlations to the angiotensinogen gene1 and recently to the human G protein B3 subunit gene.2 Lifton3 has intensively studied some rare forms of single gene mutations that result in hypertension. However, the causes of essential hypertension remain enigmatic. Nevertheless, drug companies have for years made advances in the control of hypertension with single pharmaceutical targets. The most successful drugs developed to reduce hypertension have been designed to inhibit β-receptors, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) receptors, and recently angiotensin type 1 receptors (AT1-R). Thus, without a genetic linkage study and without a solution to the multifactorial nature of hypertension, drug studies have shown that inhibiting proteins that are overabundant or overactive in plasma or tissue reduces hypertension. The mechanisms of these drug actions are not thoroughly understood. Despite years of β-blocker use for the treatment of hypertension, there has been no generally agreed on mechanism to explain the antihypertensive effects of this class of drugs, yet the Joint National Committee on the treatment of hypertension has regularly recommended their use …
Effect of reversible intermittent intra-abdominal vagal nerve blockade on morbid obesity: the ReCharge randomized clinical trial.

IMPORTANCE Although conventional bariatric surgery results in weight loss, it does so with potential short-term and long-term morbidity. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of intermittent, reversible vagal nerve blockade therapy for obesity treatment. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial involving 239 participants who had a body mass index of 40 to 45 or 35 to 40 and 1 or more obesity-related condition was conducted at 10 sites in the United States and Australia between May and December 2011. The 12-month blinded portion of the 5-year study was completed in January 2013. INTERVENTIONS One hundred sixty-two patients received an active vagal nerve block device and 77 received a sham device. All participants received weight management education. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The coprimary efficacy objectives were to determine whether the vagal nerve block was superior in mean percentage excess weight loss to sham by a 10-point margin with at least 55% of patients in the vagal block group achieving a 20% loss and 45% achieving a 25% loss. The primary safety objective was to determine whether the rate of serious adverse events related to device, procedure, or therapy in the vagal block group was less than 15%. RESULTS In the intent-to-treat analysis, the vagal nerve block group had a mean 24.4% excess weight loss (9.2% of their initial body weight loss) vs 15.9% excess weight loss (6.0% initial body weight loss) in the sham group. The mean difference in the percentage of the excess weight loss between groups was 8.5 percentage points (95% CI, 3.1-13.9), which did not meet the 10-point target (P = .71), although weight loss was statistically greater in the vagal nerve block group (P = .002 for treatment difference in a post hoc analysis). At 12 months, 52% of patients in the vagal nerve block group achieved 20% or more excess weight loss and 38% achieved 25% or more excess weight loss vs 32% in the sham group who achieved 20% or more loss and 23% who achieved 25% or more loss. The device, procedure, or therapy-related serious adverse event rate in the vagal nerve block group was 3.7% (95% CI, 1.4%-7.9%), significantly lower than the 15% goal. The adverse events more frequent in the vagal nerve block group were heartburn or dyspepsia and abdominal pain attributed to therapy; all were reported as mild or moderate in severity. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE Among patients with morbid obesity, the use of vagal nerve block therapy compared with a sham control device did not meet either of the prespecified coprimary efficacy objectives, although weight loss in the vagal block group was statistically greater than in the sham device group. The treatment was well tolerated, having met the primary safety objective. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01327976.
ECG analysis using nonlinear PCA neural networks for ischemia detection

The detection of ischemic cardiac beats from a patient's electrocardiogram (EGG) signal is based on the characteristics of a specific part of the beat called the ST segment. The correct classification of the beats relies heavily on the efficient and accurate extraction of the ST segment features. An algorithm is developed for this feature extraction based on nonlinear principal component analysis (NLPCA). NLPCA is a method for nonlinear feature extraction that is usually implemented by a multilayer neural network. It has been observed to have better performance, compared with linear principal component analysis (PCA), in complex problems where the relationships between the variables are not linear. In this paper, the NLPCA techniques are used to classify each segment into one of two classes: normal and abnormal (ST+, ST-, or artifact). During the algorithm training phase, only normal patterns are used, and for classification purposes, we use only two nonlinear features for each ST segment. The distribution of these features is modeled using a radial basis function network (RBFN). Test results using the European ST-T database show that using only two nonlinear components and a training set of 1000 normal samples from each file produce a correct classification rate of approximately 80% for the normal beats and higher than 90% for the ischemic beats.
Type 2 Diabetes in the Real World: The Elusive Nature of Glycemic Control

Despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of over 40 new treatment options for type 2 diabetes since 2005, the latest data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey show that the proportion of patients achieving glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) <7.0% (<53 mmol/mol) remains around 50%, with a negligible decline between the periods 2003–2006 and 2011–2014. The Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set reports even more alarming rates, with only about 40% and 30% of patients achieving HbA1c <7.0% (<53 mmol/mol) in the commercially insured (HMO) and Medicaid populations, respectively, again with virtually no change over the past decade. A recent retrospective cohort study using a large U.S. claims database explored why clinical outcomes are not keeping pace with the availability of new treatment options. The study found that HbA1c reductions fell far short of those reported in randomized clinical trials (RCTs), with poor medication adherence emerging as the key driver behind the disconnect. In this Perspective, we examine the implications of these findings in conjunction with other data to highlight the discrepancy between RCT findings and the real world, all pointing toward the underrealized promise of FDA-approved therapies and the critical importance of medication adherence. While poor medication adherence is not a new issue, it has yet to be effectively addressed in clinical practice—often, we suspect, because it goes unrecognized. To support the busy health care professional, innovative approaches are sorely needed.
The protein C anticoagulant pathway.

Although protein C was described as an anticoagulant in 1960 by Dr. Seegers and colleagues, widespread appreciation of the complexity of its activation, function, and physiological roles did not begin to develop until Stenflo independently characterized protein C as a vitamin K-dependent zymogen that could be converted to a serine protease capable of membrane binding (Esmon et al). The subsequent demonstrations by Kisiel et al that activated protein C was an anticoagulant that inactivated factor V and by Walker et al that the enzyme showed a marked specificity for factor Va provided information on the mechanism of action and the specificity of the enzyme. These observations were quickly extended when Vehar and Davie observed that factor VIII was a substrate for activated protein C and that factor VEHa was the preferred substrate. Although the broad functions of the system were now clearly established, physiological activators were yet to be described, and the role of this system in the pathogenesis of thrombotic disease and in normal control of hemostasis remained to be investigated.
Reprogramming the expression of categorically related genes during human uterine fibroblast decidualization

Human decidual fibroblast differentiation is an excellent in vitro model of uterine decidualization, a process critical for embryo implantation and placental function. We characterized gene expression pattern kinetics during decidual fibroblast differentiation by microarray analysis. Of 6918 genes analyzed, 121 genes were induced by more than 2-fold, 110 were down-regulated, and 50 showed biphasic behavior. Dynamically regulated genes were could be fit into nine K-means algorithm-based kinetic pattern groups, and by biologic classification, into five categories: cell and tissue function, cell and tissue structure, regulation of gene expression, EST, and function-unknown. Reprogramming of genes within specific functional groups and gene families was a prominent feature that consisted of simultaneous induction and down regulation of a set of genes with related function. We previously observed a conceptually similar process during fetal trophoblast differentiation, in which the same phenomena applied to different genes. Of the 569 dynamically regulated genes regulated by either model, only 81 of these were in common. These results suggest that reprogramming of gene expression within focused functional categories represents a fundamental aspect of cellular differentiation.