Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oncotic, hemodilutional, and hemostatic effects of isotonic saline and hydroxyethyl starch solutions in clinically normal ponies.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the oncotic, hemodilutional, and hemostatic effects of IV infusions of a large volume of isotonic saline solution and 2 doses of 6% hydroxyethyl starch (HES) in clinically normal ponies. ANIMALS 12 adult ponies. PROCEDURE Ponies were assigned to 3 treatment groups and received the following IV infusions: 80 ml of 0.9% sodium chloride/kg; 10 ml of 6% HES (in 0.9% sodium chloride)/kg; or 20 ml of 6% HES (in 0.9% sodium chloride)/kg. Blood samples were collected for determination of colloid oncotic pressure (COP), PCV, plasma total protein concentration, platelet count, von Willebrand factor antigen (vWf:Ag) activity, fibrinogen concentration, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and factor VIII coagulant (FVIII:C) activity. A rocket immunoelectrophoretic procedure was used for determination of vWf:Ag activity. A modification of the APTT assay was used for determination of FVIII:C activity. Cutaneous bleeding time was determined, using a template method. RESULTS Mean COP was persistently increased over baseline values in the face of hemodilution in HES-treated ponies. Prothrombin time, APTT, and fibrinogen concentrations decreased after infusions and vWf:Ag and FVIII:C activities were decreased in dose-dependent manner in HES-treated ponies. Though cutaneous bleeding time was not significantly affected in ponies of any group, a trend toward prolongation of bleeding time was evident in ponies receiving 20 ml of HES/kg. This trend appeared to be associated with marked decrement in vWf:Ag activity at this dosage. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Infusion of HES in clinically normal ponies increases COP, and exerts dose-dependent hemodilutional effects and dose-dependent effects on specific hemostatic variables. Thus, HES may be useful for resuscitative fluid treatment of horses.
Changing relations between education and work: on the mechanisms and outcomes of the educational system

This article analyses the mechanisms of a state-organized educational system as it functions between households and the labour market, regulating the passage of age cohorts from the home via school to the labour market. One question is what outcomes the educational system actually produces and what mechanisms are at work in the distribution of educational advantage. In terms of disadvantage, the paper assesses solutions for overcoming the skill gap and entrapment problems of post-industrial society by means of education. In addition to describing how the educational system worked in the conditions of a mature Nordic welfare state and an industrial society based on paid work, feasible ways of reorganizing education in the changing work conditions of an increasingly crisis-ridden post-industrial society are also sought.
Biochemical alterations associated with ALS

Abstract Our objective was to identify metabolic pathways affected by ALS using non-targeted metabolomics in plasma, comparing samples from healthy volunteers to those from ALS patients. This discovery could become the basis for the identification of therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers of ALS. Two distinct cross-sectional studies were conducted. Plasma was collected from 62 (Study 1) and 99 (Study 2) participants meeting El Escorial criteria for possible, probable, or definite ALS; 69 (Study 1) and 48 (Study 2) healthy controls samples were collected. Global metabolic profiling was used to detect and evaluate biochemical signatures of ALS. Twenty-three metabolites were significantly altered in plasma from ALS patients in both studies. These metabolites include biochemicals in pathways associated with neuronal change, hypermetabolism, oxidative damage, and mitochondrial dysfunction, all of which are proposed disease mechanisms in ALS. The data also suggest possible hepatic dysfunction associated with ALS. In conclusion, the data presented here provide insight into the pathophysiology of ALS while suggesting promising areas of focus for future studies. The metabolomics approach can generate novel hypotheses regarding ALS disease mechanisms with the potential to identify therapeutic targets and novel diagnostic biomarkers.
Factors associated with adolescent abortion in a rural area of Bangladesh

This study examines levels and trends in abortion among adolescent girls in 1982–98 and identifies groups of adolescents who are at high risk for having an abortion. The study used data sets collected in Matlab in Bangladesh where the Center for Health and Population Research at ICDDR,B, has maintained a demographic surveillance system, since 1966. Both bivariate and multivariate techniques of analysis were employed. We also used qualitative information derived from in‐depth interviews with adolescents. The incidence of abortion was 35 times higher for unmarried than for married adolescents. Abortion ratios were also higher for adolescents who were <18 years old and for those with more than primary education. A little less than half of the abortions were induced by biomedical health workers (by means of menstrual regulation) which means that traditional providers fulfilled an important function in this rural area. The findings suggest that high‐quality abortion services provided to adolescents in the framework of comprehensive reproductive health services will help to lower abortions in general and of unsafe abortions provided by traditional providers in particular.
The Effects of Perceived Activity Choice upon Frequency of Exercise Behavior

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of perceived activity choice upon the frequency of exercise behavior of adult women. Thirty-six recent enrollees in a private health club were recruited for involvement in a new exercise program. At an initial organizational meeting, subjects ranked their preferences for different activities and completed a number of self-report inventories. Subjects were paired on the basis of their activity preferences so as to establish two matched groups of subjects. One member of each pair was then randomly assigned to a choice condition while the other was assigned to a no choice control condition. Perceived choice was manipulated at the time of an individual's next visit to the club, with subjects in the choice group being led to believe that their initial activity selections were the basis for their programs whereas subjects in the control group were informed that they had been assigned a standardized exercise program by the club's instructresses. The overall attendance of the choice group was better than that of the control group. Across both groups there was a significant decline in attendance over the 6-week period but the decrement was significantly greater in the control group. At the conclusion of the 6-week period, subjects in the choice condition expressed a greater intention to continue exercising at the club than did subjects in the control condition.
Performance of likelihood ratios considering bounds on the probability of observing misleading evidence

In this article, we introduce a new tool, namely 'Limit Tippett Plots', to assess the performance of likelihood ratios in evidence evaluation including theoretical bounds on the probability of observing misleading evidence. To do that, we first review previous work about such bounds. Then we derive 'Limit Tippett Plots' that complements Tippett plots with information about the limits on the probability of observing misleading evidence, which are taken as a reference. Thus, a much richer way to measure performance of likelihood ratios is given. Finally, we present an experimental example in forensic automatic speaker recognition following the protocols of the Acoustics Laboratory of Guardia Civil, where it can be seen that 'Limit Tippett Plots' help to detect problems in the calculation of likelihood ratios. Language: en
The effects of supplementing a low-protein threonine-deficient diet with different sources of non-essential amino acids on nitrogen retention and gut structure in young pigs

A threonine-adequate control diet and four Thr-deficient (80% of requirement) diets were formulated to contain similar amounts of digestible lysine and the recommended pattern of other standardised ileal digestible essential amino acids (except Thr). Threonine-deficient diets were supplemented with different amounts and sources of non-essential amino acids, namely 0, 20, and 40 g wheat gluten (WG) protein per kg diet or 17.6 g monosodium glutamate (MSG) per kg diet. Each diet was fed for 28 days to six piglets (initial BW 15 kg). Supplementation of the Thr-deficient diet with WG or MSG had a positive effect on N retention (5.9–8.5%) in younger, but not in older, pigs. Furthermore, it reduced the plasma Thr level and increased threonine dehydrogenase activity in the liver and pancreas. The treatment effects on intestinal morphology differed according to the histological criteria used. It may be concluded that non-essential amino acids added to the low-protein diet deficient in Thr seem to improve utilisation of these amino acids for protein deposition in very young pigs, whereas their effects on the structure of the small intestine are equivocal.
Academic Preparedness of First-Generation College Students: Different Perspectives

As student populations continue to become more diversified, institutions must understand students’ academic preparedness to better serve them. A significant amount of research and literature focuses on experiences of students whose parents had little or no college education. Although these first-generation students have much in common with other disadvantaged student groups, their situation presents unique conditions and obstacles to their college experience. This research project seeks to focus on the topic of academic preparedness of first-generation students. More specifically, this project builds on previous research on academic preparedness of first-generation students by exploring differences in students’ attitudes about preparedness compared with traditional academic measures. This study investigates whether first-generation student status affects self-assessment of academic preparedness in the same way it affects traditional measures of academic preparedness.
The Effect of Repeated Play in the IPG and IPD Team Games

Repeated interaction in integroup conflict was studied in the context of two team games: the intergroup public goods (IPG) game and the intergroup prisoner's dilemma (IPD) game. The results reveal (a) a main effect for game type; subjects were twice as likely to contribute toward their group effort in the IPG game than in the IPD game, and (b) a Game-Type × Time interaction; subjects contributed less over time in the IPD game while continuing to contribute at about the same rate in the IPG game. The second finding supports the hypothesis that subjects learn the structure of the game and adapt their behavior accordingly and is compatible with a simple learning model, which assumes that choices that have led to good outcomes in the past are more likely to be repeated in the future. A reciprocal cooperation hypothesis, which assumes that players make their choices contingent on the earlier choices of the other players, received little support.
A Criterion for Exponential Consensus of Time-Varying Non-Monotone Nonlinear Networks

In this technical note, we present new results on exponential consensus for continuous-time nonlinear time varying networks. A key feature in the following is that the monotonicity property is not required, unlike most of existing literature on the subject. Moreover, we give an estimate of the exponential rate of convergence towards the agreement manifold. Finally, representative example and counterexample are given.
Hepatitis C Virus Quasispecies Variability Modulates Nonstructural Protein 5A Transcriptional Activation, Pointing to Cellular Compartmentalization of Virus-Host Interactions

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) behaves in infected patients as a complex mixture of genetically distinct but closely related variants referred to as a “quasispecies. ” By using quasispecies analysis strategies, we showed that HCV nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) has a quasispecies distribution in infected humans and that NS5A quasispecies undergo significant genetic evolution over time, as a result of random accumulation of nucleotide mutations during replication. Genetic evolution of the NS5A quasispecies results in sporadic amino acid changes in the protein sequence. By using the functional in vitro model of HCV NS5A transcriptional activation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we showed that natural NS5A quasispecies variants induce different levels of transcriptional activation, according to the charge of the residues (and possibly minor conformational changes) in the quasispecies variant sequence. These findings show that the accumulation of mutations on HCV genomes during replication randomly generates variant proteins with quantitatively different functional properties. The fact that each new variant protein is initially produced in a single infected hepatocyte and may or may not subsequently spread throughout the liver (depending on the replication capacities of the variant virus) points to cellular compartmentalization of virus-host interactions during chronic infection. This feature of quasispecies-distributed viruses could play an important role in various aspects of the viral life cycle and related disease.
Humanin protects against chemotherapy‐induced stage‐specific male germ cell apoptosis in rats

Humanin (HN) has cytoprotective action on male germ cells after testicular stress induced by heat and hormonal deprivation. To examine whether HN has protective effects on chemotherapy‐induced male germ cell apoptosis, we treated four groups of adult rats with (i) vehicle (control), (ii) HN, (iii) cyclophosphamide (CP); or (iv) HN+CP. To investigate whether the protective effects of HN on germ cells require the presence of Leydig cells, another four groups of rats were pre‐treated with ethane dimethanesulfonate (EDS), a Leydig cell toxicant, to eliminate Leydig cells. After 3 days, when Leydig cells were depleted by EDS, we administered: (i) vehicle, (ii) HN, (iii) CP; or (iv) HN+CP to rats. All rats were killed 12 h after the injection of HN and/or CP. Germ cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL assay and quantified by numerical count. Compared with control and HN (alone), CP significantly increased germ cell apoptosis; HN +CP significantly reduced CP‐induced apoptosis at early (I–VI) and late stages (IX–XIV) but not at middle stages (VII–VIII) of the seminiferous epithelial cycle. Pre‐treatment with EDS markedly suppressed serum and intratesticular testosterone (T) levels, and significantly increased germ cell apoptosis at the middle (VII–VIII) stages. CP did not further increase germ cell apoptosis in the EDS‐pre‐treated rats. HN significantly attenuated germ cell apoptosis at the middle stages in EDS pre‐treated rats. To investigate whether HN has any direct effects on Leydig cell function, adult Leydig cells were isolated and treated with ketoconazole (KTZ) to block testosterone synthesis. HN was not effective in preventing the reduction of T production by KTZ in vitro. We conclude that HN decreases CP and/or EDS‐induced germ cell apoptosis in a stage‐specific fashion. HN acts directly on germ cells to protect against EDS‐induced apoptosis in the absence of Leydig cells and intratesticular testosterone levels are very low.
Alcohol-Related Injury and Driving while Intoxicated: A Risk Function Analysis of Two Alcohol-Related Events in the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys

Background: National population data on risk of alcohol-related injury or driving while intoxicated (DWI) are scarce. Objective: The association of alcohol-related injury and perceived DWI (PDWI) with both volume and pattern of consumption are examined in a merged sample of respondents from the 2000 and 2005 National Alcohol Surveys using risk function analysis. Methods: Self-reported consumption patterns on 8,736 respondents who consumed at least one drink in the last 12 months were assessed as the average daily volume and frequency of consuming 5 or more (5+), 8 or more (8+), and 12 or more (12+) drinks in a day. Risks were defined using CHAID segmentation analysis implemented with SPSS Answer Tree. Results: For alcohol-related injury (n = 110), those most at risk drank at lower volumes with some high maximum occasions, or at higher volumes, where high maximum occasions had little added effect. Risk was highest for those reporting more than 6 drinks per day (9.7%). For PDWI (n = 696), those most at risk drank at higher volumes and with a greater number of high maximum occasions. Risk was highest for those reporting more than 6 drinks per day and more than one 8+ occasion during the last year (39%). Conclusions: Overall risk appears to increase with increasing volume, but at a given volume level, risk also increases with frequency of high maximum occasions. These data lend relatively weak support for previous findings suggesting that less frequent drinkers who only occasionally consume larger quantities may be at greater risk, and any alcohol consumption appears to carry some risk of these harms.
The Making of the (Issues of the) Vlaams Blok

In Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, one of the strongest extreme right parties of Europe thrives: the Vlaams Blok (the Flemish Bloc). The basic question of this article is straightforward: Do the Flemish media contribute to the success of the Vlaams Blok by emphasizing the themes of the party? The theoretical argument is twofold: agenda setting by the media and issue ownership by parties. The issues the Vlaams Blok owns are determined using two sources: its electoral manifestoes and its electorate's motivations to vote for the party. This leads to four issues: Flemish nationalism, immigrant topics, antipolitics issues, and crime-related themes. Using a vast media data set covering three newspapers and two TV stations and stretching over 10 years (1991-2000), we examine to what extent these issues were covered. The analysis shows that especially immigrant topics and crime receive extensive and growing media attention, and time series analysis shows that this rise parallels the electoral growth of the Vlaams Blok. The media could be considered co-responsible for the Vlaams Blok's upsurge.
The Human Rotavirus Vaccine RIX4414 in Infants: A Review of Safety and Tolerability

Background: An oral, live attenuated human rotavirus vaccine, RIX4414 has been developed to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis. An integrated safety summary of 8 randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase II and III trials of vaccine at potency licensed for use worldwide was performed. Methods: Healthy 1- to 18-week-old infants (N = 71209) were enrolled to receive 2 doses of RIX4414/placebo according to 0, 1 or 0, 2 month schedules. Solicited (fever, fussiness/irritability, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, cough/rhinorrhea) and unsolicited adverse events (AEs) were recorded for 8 days and 31 days, respectively, after each dose. Serious adverse events (SAEs) including intussusception and death were collected throughout the entire study periods. Potential imbalances were defined as the 95% confidence interval (CI) for the relative risk (RR) stratified by trials excluding “1. ” Results: Solicited AEs were evaluated in 3286 RIX4414 vaccinees and 2015 placebo recipients. Among solicited AEs, no imbalance was noted between groups. SAEs, including death and intussusception, were evaluated in 36755 RIX4414 and 34454 placebo recipients. Within 31 days after each dose, no imbalances were noted between the groups for all SAEs (RR = 0.9; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.01), deaths (RR = 1.64; 95% CI: 0.92, 3.02), and intussusception (RR 1.23; 95% CI: 0.41, 3.90). SAEs because of gastrointestinal diseases including diarrhea, gastroenteritis (all cause and due to rotavirus), dehydration, and intestinal ileus occurred significantly less often in RIX4414 than placebo recipients. Conclusions: Across the phase II and III clinical trials, the reactogenicity and safety profile between RIX4414 and placebo was similar, in particular with no increased risk of intussusception.
Introducing a Comprehensive Quality Criteria Framework for Validating Patterns

Patterns represent an important tool for communicating, documenting and looking up best practices for both novice and expert system developers and designers. Although there are a number of different patterns and pattern languages available, it is still unclear how to validate patterns in a structured way. Within this paper, we aim to fill this gap by introducing a Quality Criteria Framework developed on the basis of existing pattern research and applied within iterative evaluation sessions for improving our developed User Experience (UX) Patterns. In particular, five main quality criteria for patterns will be presented and discussed in detail.
Discrete Choice Theory and the General Equilibrium of Employment, Housing, and Travel Networks in a Lowry-Type Model of the Urban Economy

Five influential paradigms established by Beckmann, Lowry, Wilson, Mills, and McFadden are unified by developing a long-run economic general equilibrium model of urban land-use based on probabilistic discrete choice theory. The model takes into account the interdependence of export-oriented and service employment with population. Households' choices of employment type, employment location, type and location of housing, shopping destination, and choice of travel routes in the journey to work and journey to shop are determined simultaneously by means of stochastic utility maximization. Firms' choices of building type and location and landowners' choices of land-use type and density are determined by means of stochastic profit maximization. Travel occurs on a congestible link—node network. The model determines the wage rate for each employment type in each zone, the price of floor space for each building type in each zone, the price of land in each zone, the price of the locally traded composite commodity in each zone, and the peak and off-peak congested travel-cost and travel-time for each link of the network. The quantity of land which remains undeveloped is also determined. I formulate a nonlinear mathematical programming problem which is equivalent to the general equilibrium problem. Using this formulation, I prove the existence and uniqueness of the general equilibrium in all the prices and physical allocations.