Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In Vitro Metabolism of the Fungicide and Environmental Contaminant trans-bromuconazole and Implications for Risk Assessment

trans-Bromuconazole is a chiral chemical representative of a class of triazole derivatives known to inhibit specific fungal cytochrome P-450 (CYP) reactions. Kinetic measurements and delineation of metabolic pathways for triazole chemicals within in vitro hepatic microsomes are needed for accurate risk assessment and predictive in vivo physiological modeling. The studies described here were conducted with rat liver microsomes to determine Michaelis–Menten saturation kinetic parameters (V max and K M) for trans-bromuconazole using both substrate depletion and product formation reaction velocities. Kinetic parameters determined for trans-bromuconazole depletion at varying protein levels incubated at physiological temperature 37°C resulted in a K M value of 1.69 μM and a V max value of 1398 pmol/min/mg protein. The concomitant linear formation of two metabolites identified using liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/MS-TOF) and LC-MS/MS indicated hydroxylation of the trans-bromuconazole dichlorophenyl ring moiety. K M values determined for the hydroxylated metabolites were 0.87 and 1.03 μM, with V max values of 449 and 694 pmol/min/mg protein, respectively. Chemical inhibition assays and studies conducted with individual purified human recombinant enzymes indicated the CYP3A subfamily was primarily responsible for biotransformation of the parent substrate. Additionally, trans-bromuconazole was found to undergo stereoselective metabolism as evidenced by a change in the enantiomeric ratio (trans−/trans +) with respect to time.
Survival with Full Neurologic Recovery After Prolonged Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation with a Combination of Vasopressin and Epinephrine in Pigs

We sought to determine the effects of a combination of vasopressin and epinephrine on neurologic recovery in comparison with epinephrine alone and saline placebo alone in an established porcine model of prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). After 4 min of cardiac arrest, followed by 3 min of basic life support CPR, 17 animals were randomly assigned to receive, every 5 min, either a combination of vasopressin and epinephrine (vasopressin [IU/kg]/epinephrine [&mgr;g/kg]: 0.4/45, 0.4/45, and 0.8/45; n = 6), epinephrine alone (45, 45, and 200 &mgr;g/kg; n = 6), or saline placebo alone (n = 5). After 22 min of cardiac arrest, including 18 min of CPR, defibrillation was attempted to achieve the return of spontaneous circulation. Aortic diastolic pressure was significantly (P < 0.01) increased 90 s after each of 3 vasopressin/epinephrine injections versus epinephrine alone versus saline placebo alone (mean ± SEM: 69 ± 3 mm Hg versus 45 ± 3 mm Hg versus 29 ± 2 mm Hg, 63 ± 4 mm Hg versus 27 ± 3 mm Hg versus 23 ± 1 mm Hg, and 52 ± 4 mm Hg versus 21 ± 3 mm Hg versus 16 ± 3 mm Hg, respectively). Spontaneous circulation was restored in six of six vasopressin/epinephrine pigs, whereas six of six epinephrine and five of five saline placebo pigs died (P < 0.01). Neurologic evaluation 24 h after successful resuscitation revealed only an unsteady gait and was normal 5 days after the experiment in all vasopressin/epinephrine-treated animals. In conclusion, in this porcine model of prolonged CPR, repeated vasopressin/epinephrine administration, but not epinephrine or saline placebo alone, ensured long-term survival with full neurologic recovery. IMPLICATIONS: We present a study to evaluate the effects of a combination of vasopressin and epinephrine during prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation on neurological outcome in pigs. We found that all pigs treated with a combination of vasopressin and epinephrine could be resuscitated and had full neurologic recovery observed over an entire period of 5 days.
Infection rate and virus-induced cytokine secretion in experimental rhinovirus infection in mucosal organ culture: comparison between specimens from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and those from normal subjects.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the difference in susceptibility to rhinovirus (RV) infection and RV-induced inflammatory response between the nasal mucosae from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRS/NP) and subjects without CRS/NP (hereinafter, normal subjects). DESIGN In vitro study. SETTING Tertiary care rhinology clinic. PATIENTS We conducted RV infection experiments on the organ cultures of NPs and inferior turbinate mucosae from 16 patients with CRS/NP and sphenoid sinus and inferior turbinate mucosae from 19 patients who underwent transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Successful RV-16 infection was determined by positive identification of RV on the surface fluid of organ culture using seminested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Effects of RV on interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-8 secretion were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS The successful RV infection was achievable in 9 of 16 NP samples (56.3%) and 9 of 16 turbinate samples (56.3%) from patients with CRS/NP compared with 11 of 19 sphenoid sinus samples (57.9%) and 15 of 19 turbinate samples (78.9%) from normal subjects. The RV infection increased IL-6 and IL-8 secretion 236% and 173%, respectively, in NP samples, and 218% and 178%, respectively, in turbinate samples from patients with CRS/NP; compared with 231% and 145%, respectively, in sphenoid mucosa samples, and 181% and 148%, respectively, in turbinate samples from normal subjects. However, there were no statistical differences among the 4 groups. CONCLUSION These in vitro findings suggest that subjects with CRS/NP mucosa might not be more susceptible to RV infection, and did not secrete more cytokines in response to rhinovirus infection, than those with normal mucosa.
Dialectal and generational variations in vowels in spontaneous speech

The pronunciation patterns across dialect regions in the United States are changing. This paper examines acoustic differences between the vowels of old and middle-aged adults produced in spontaneous speech. The new developments in regional vowels systems found recently in citation-form vowels and in read speech were confirmed in the present analysis. While providing additional evidence for the existence of sound change on the basis of spontaneous speech data, this work exemplifies the important challenges facing researchers using spontaneous speech in laboratory analyses such as the loss of fine experimental control or the usefulness of statistical assessment.
Identification of factors that lead to perceived learning improvements for female students

Past research has shown that females have more negative attitudes toward engineering and technology than do males. These negative attitudes may explain the decreasing number of females choosing technical careers. Past studies have shown that a change in learning environments and the methods by which learning takes place might foster a change in this situation. A multimedia case study incorporating a real-world engineering and technical problem faced by a power plant was developed in order to provide a new learning environment for engineering and business students. This research investigates whether the use of this material by female and male students led to differences in perceived higher level cognitive skills and, if so, seeks to identify the factors that cause the difference. The results suggest that when designing new learning environments, it is important for the female students to be challenged and have opportunities both to learn by themselves and to learn from others. These results have implications for teaching programs, such as the provision of opportunities for group learning, especially for female students.
Collaboration and the net generation: the changing characteristics of first year university students

This paper reports on the first phase of research that investigates the Net generation entering university. The paper focuses on claims about the Net generation's relationship to collaboration and cooperation and the ways that this relationship is associated with technological rather than social processes. Based on a survey of first year students in five universities across a range of subjects and disciplinary areas, the paper concludes that we should be cautious about the claims that have been made about Net generation learners. It suggests that broad brush approaches to generational changes obscure the subtle but important differences between students. It also suggests that claims that there has been a step change in attitudes takes attention away from the kinds of choices that might be necessary in relation to variations that are indeed taking place amongst new cohorts of students.
Aptamer mediated siRNA delivery

Nucleic acids that bind to cells and are subsequently internalized could prove to be novel delivery reagents. An anti-prostate specific membrane antigen aptamer that has previously been shown to bind to prostate tumor cells was coupled to siRNAs via a modular streptavidin bridge. The resulting conjugates could be simply added onto cells without any further preparation, and were taken up within 30 min. The siRNA-mediated inhibition of gene expression was as efficient as observed with conventional lipid-based reagents, and was dependent upon conjugation to the aptamer. These results suggest new venues for the therapeutic delivery of siRNAs and for the development of reagents that can be used to probe cellular physiology.
Epithelium-on corneal cross-linking treatment of progressive keratoconus: a prospective, consecutive study

Purpose To evaluate the outcome of collagen cross-linking (CXL) without corneal epithelial debridement in patients treated for progressive keratoconus for whom the standard epithelium-off treatment cannot be applied, as their central corneal thickness (CCT) is less than 400 μm. Patients and methods This was a prospective, uncontrolled, interventional study involving 32 eyes of 30 patients with progressive keratoconus and CCT of less than 400 μm. All patients received CXL treatment with application of riboflavin and exposure to ultraviolet light A for 30 minutes without corneal epithelial debridement. Patients were followed up to 12 months postoperatively. The main outcomes were changes in maximum-K reading, manifest refractive spherical equivalent, CCT, and best-corrected visual acuity (logarithm of minimum angle of resolution). Patients were also asked to report any pain or discomfort during the procedure. Results At the end of the 12-month follow-up, CCT showed no significant change: from 392±5.17 μm preoperatively to 390±4.45 μm (P=0.102). Maximum-K reading decreased significantly, from 49.19±2.30 D preoperatively to 46.96±6.03 D postoperatively (P<0.05). The mean manifest spherical equivalent showed no significant change: from 4.04±1.51 D preoperatively to 4.17±1.63 D postoperatively (P=0.110). Mean best-corrected visual acuity showed no significant change: from 0.29±0.12 preoperatively to 0.31±0.11 postoperatively (P=0.110). Conclusion Epithelium-on CXL exhibits potential as a method for treating patients with progressive keratoconus and CCT of less than 400 μm, in which the standard epithelium-off CXL cannot be applied. Over 12 months of follow-up, the epithelium-on CXL was safe and effective, with results comparable to that achieved with the epithelium-off technique in thicker corneas, and reduced rates of operative and postoperative discomfort.
Detecting Approaching Vehicles at Streets with No Traffic Control

This study assessed the ability of people with visual impairments to reliably detect oncoming traffic at crossing situations with no traffic control. In at least one condition, the participants could not hear vehicles to afford a safe crossing time when sound levels were as quiet as possible. Significant predictors of detection accounted for a third of the variation in the detection time.
A Hot Wind from the Classical T Tauri Stars: TW Hydrae and T Tauri

Spectroscopy of the infrared He I (10830 Å) line with NIRSPEC on Keck and CSHELL at the IRTF, and of the ultraviolet C III (977 Å) and O VI (1032 Å) emission with FUSE, reveals that the classical T Tauri star TW Hydrae exhibits P Cygni profiles, line asymmetries, and absorption indicative of a continuous, fast (~400 km s-1), hot (~300,000 K) accelerating outflow with a mass-loss rate ~10-11 to 10-12 M☉ yr-1 or larger. Spectra of T Tau N appear consistent with such a wind. The source of the emission and outflow seems restricted to the stars themselves. Although the mass accretion rate is an order of magnitude less for TW Hya than for T Tau, the outflow reaches higher velocities at chromospheric temperatures in TW Hya. Winds from young stellar objects may be substantially hotter and faster than previously thought.
FSS Properties of a Uniplanar EBG and Its Application in Directivity Enhancement of a Microstrip Antenna

In this letter, frequency selective surface (FSS) properties of a uniplanar electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) unit cell are studied. The unit cell consists of meander-line inductor and interdigital capacitors on one side of a substrate. Simulation results indicate that the unit cell exhibits passband characteristics centered at 10.04 GHz. FSS property of the structure is verified by measurement using X-band waveguides. The measured results show passband characteristics at 9.45 GHz. A 13 × 13 array of these unit cells (FSS screen) is used as a superstrate at a distance ≈ 0. 5λ0 over a patch antenna operating at 10.8 GHz, offset from center frequency of the FSS passband. Directivity improvement of 6.95 dB is observed along 0° in the measurements of patch antenna with FSS superstrate as compared to the patch antenna without superstrate.
Apple and Consumer Collectivism: A Look at the Nature of Brand Cults

In the 2013 popular movie release Her a lonely man falls in love with his operating system. As implausible as the premise seems, as the story unfolds we see countless people on city streets intently interacting with their smart phones -ignoring everything, and everyone -in order to connect with machines. It does not look so different from everyday life in the new information age. As researchers in the past have noted, virtual reality is becoming so sophisticated it often surpasses reality in terms of its attractiveness to many people (Boye 2014). It is therefore not hard to imagine a future in which many, most, or even all, consumers become emotionally attached to technology-driven devices.
Parameter Estimation of Multicomponent Chirp Signals via Sparse Representation

A novel algorithm for parameter estimation of multicomponent chirp signals in complicated noise environment is proposed. By the matching pursuit (MP) algorithm, the signal is decomposed into Gabor atoms which provide sparse information that represents the signal time-frequency signature. The Hough transform (HT) is then directly used to estimate the parameter of chirp components without computing the time-frequency distribution. Simulation results show that this algorithm is capable of estimating parameters of multicomponent chirp signals even in the presence of strong intended interference and colored noise.
A mean field approach for simulating wavelength-division multiplexed systems

We simulated many-channel, wavelength-division-multiplexed optical fiber transmission systems by following the full time-domain evolution for only a few channels around a target channel, white treating the rest of the channels as continuous-wave radiation. We show a good agreement between our approach and full numerical simulations. By using our approach, one can greatly reduce the computation time compared with full simulations.
What Neuroscience Can Tell about Intuitive Processes in the Context of Perceptual Discovery

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, intuition is the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning. Most people would agree that intuitive responses appear as ideas or feelings that subsequently guide our thoughts and behaviors. It is proposed that people continuously, without conscious attention, recognize patterns in the stream of sensations that impinge upon them. What exactly is being recognized is not clear yet, but we assume that people detect potential content based on only a few aspects of the input (i.e., the gist). The result is a vague perception of coherence which is not explicitly describable but instead embodied in a gut feeling or an initial guess, which subsequently biases thought and inquiry. To approach the nature of intuitive processes, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging when participants were working at a modified version of the Waterloo Gestalt Closure Task. Starting from our conceptualization that intuition involves an informed judgment in the context of discovery, we expected activation within the median orbito-frontal cortex (OFC), as this area receives input from all sensory modalities and has been shown to be crucially involved in emotionally driven decisions. Results from a direct contrast between intuitive and nonintuitive judgments, as well as from a parametric analysis, revealed the median OFC, the lateral portion of the amygdala, anterior insula, and ventral occipito-temporal regions to be activated. Based on these findings, we suggest our definition of intuition to be promising and a good starting point for future research on intuitive processes.
The use of chlorhexidine antisepsis in contaminated. Surgical wounds

abdomen cavity and is free of surrounding connective tissue. At post-mortem there is very little lateral movement of the oesophagus but 1-2 cm. of vertical movement. The most important structure preventing the stomach sliding into the chest is the phrenooesophageal membrane (Fig. 2 A). If this fibroelastic membrane is intact, it is not possible to pull the stomach into the thorax by traction on the oesophagus in the majority of cadavers, but if it is cut one can always pull the stomach into the thorax. However, it is difficult to identify the phreno-oesophageal membrane in unfixed specimens and at surgery so that it may be only of limited value in the repair of sliding hiatus hernia.
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth: Diagnosis and Treatment

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a clinical condition characterized by a malabsorption syndrome due to an increase in microorganisms within the small intestine. The main mechanisms restricting bacterial colonization in the upper gut are the gastric acid barrier, mucosal and systemic immunity and intestinal clearance. When these mechanisms fail, bacterial overgrowth develops. Diarrhea, steatorrhea, chronic abdominal pain, bloating and flatulence are common symptoms and are similar to those observed in irritable bowel syndrome. Breath tests (glucose and/or lactulose breath tests) have been proposed as a sensitive and simple tool for the diagnosis of bacterial overgrowth, being non-invasive and inexpensive compared to the gold standard represented by the culture of intestinal aspirates. Antibiotic therapy is the cornerstone of SIBO treatment. Current SIBO treatment is based on empirical courses of broad-spectrum antibiotics since few controlled studies concerning the choice and duration of antibiotic therapy are available at present.
Robust Linear and Support Vector Regression

The robust Huber M-estimator, a differentiable cost function that is quadratic for small errors and linear otherwise, is modeled exactly, in the original primal space of the problem, by an easily solvable simple convex quadratic program for both linear and nonlinear support vector estimators. Previous models were significantly more complex or formulated in the dual space and most involved specialized numerical algorithms for solving the robust Huber linear estimator. Numerical test comparisons with these algorithms indicate the computational effectiveness of the new quadratic programming model for both linear and nonlinear support vector problems. Results are shown on problems with as many as 20000 data points, with considerably faster running times on larger problems.
The space of stability conditions on the local projective plane

We study the space of stability conditions on the total space of the canonical bundle over the projective plane. We explicitly describe a chamber of geometric stability conditions, and show that its translates via autoequivalences cover a whole connected component. We prove that this connected component is simply-connected. We determine the group of autoequivalences preserving this connected component, which turns out to be closely related to 1(3). Finally, we show that there is a submanifold isomorphic to the univer- sal covering of a moduli space of elliptic curves with 1(3)-level struc- ture. The morphism is 1(3)-equivariant, and is given by solutions of Picard-Fuchs equations. This result is motivated by the notion of - stability and by mirror symmetry.
Uprooting and Rerooting Graphical Models

We show how any binary pairwise model may be 'uprooted' to a fully symmetric model, wherein original singleton potentials are transformed to potentials on edges to an added variable, and then 'rerooted' to a new model on the original number of variables. The new model is essentially equivalent to the original model, with the same partition function and allowing recovery of the original marginals or a MAP configuration, yet may have very different computational properties that allow much more efficient inference. This meta-approach deepens our understanding, may be applied to any existing algorithm to yield improved methods in practice, generalizes earlier theoretical results, and reveals a remarkable interpretation of the triplet-consistent polytope.
Using Differentiated Services Mechanisms to Improve Network Protocol and Application Performance

The differentiated services architecture (diffserv) includes lightweight mechanisms for service differentiation in the Internet. The primary motivation for diffserv has been enabling differentiation at a coarse granularity such as individual ISP customers. In this paper, we argue that the same or similar lightweight mechanisms could be employed fruitfully at a much finer granularity such as individual packets. The key benefit this would offer is that the sending host could exercise control on a much finer time-scale than traditional end-to-end mechanisms permit. We discuss several instances in the context of end-to-end protocols and applications where such enhanced control could help improve performance. We focus specifically on the TCP protocol and the Web browsing application, neither of which has received much attention in the traditional QoS research literature.