Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro fermentation of cellulose, beet pulp, citrus pulp, and citrus pectin using fecal inoculum from cats, dogs, horses, humans, and pigs and ruminal fluid from cattle.

We evaluated the influence of gastrointestinal tract microflora from several species on fiber fermentation characteristics in vitro. Selected fibrous substrates (cellulose, beet pulp, citrus pulp, and citrus pectin) were incubated for 6, 12, 24, and 48 h with ruminal fluid from cattle or feces from dogs, cats, pigs, horses, or humans. When data were pooled across all substrates and fermentation times, OM disappearance (29.4%) and acetate, propionate, butyrate, and total short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production (1.09, .41, .12, and 1.61 mmol/g of OM, respectively) were lowest (P < .05), and lactate production (.23 mmol/g of OM) was greatest (P < .05) for horse fecal microflora compared with samples from the other species. The greatest (P < .05) acetate production resulted when substrates were fermented by cat fecal microflora (2.38 mmol/g of OM). The greatest (P < .05) propionate productions resulted from pig fecal and cattle ruminal microflora (.88 and .83 mmol/g of OM, respectively), and the greatest (P < .05) butyrate productions resulted from human and pig fecal microflora (.39 and .40 mmol/g of OM, respectively). Total SCFA production was greatest (P < .05) for cat fecal microflora (3.38 mmol/g of OM). When data were pooled across the species, substrate OM disappearance and SCFA production ranked from least to greatest in the following order: cellulose < beet pulp < citrus pulp < citrus pectin. The fermentability of different fibrous substrates by fecal or ruminal microflora from various species seems to be dependent not only on the fermentative activity of the microbial population but on other factors as well, perhaps lag time and rate of digesta passage.
Legal responses to child protection, poverty and homelessness

Removal of children from the care of their parents is one of the most fundamental forms of intrusion the state may have in the lives of families. Those experiencing poverty are disproportionately targeted for intervention by child protection departments. This article reports on the results of two research studies that provide empirical evidence regarding the relationship between child protection and poverty. The links between child protection and poverty are well-documented. However, our research supports the view that existing knowledge is not being effectively translated into practice. Respondents to our research offered a number of practical suggestions as to how protective outcomes may be brought about for children living in poverty. In particular, their recommendations emphasise the importance of the provision of material assistance and support in building the capacity of families to adequately provide for, and protect, their children.
Go Ahead Punk, Make My Day: It's Time for Pediatricians to Take Action Against Media Violence

News flash! Researchers have just found that element “X” contributes between 10% and 30% to the occurrence of heart disease. What happens next? Well, of course, the manufacturers of element X claim that there is no link and that the research is spotty anyway; Hollywood writers and producers deny that element X ever appears in any of their films, and if it does, it is never “gratuitous,” nor can anyone interfere with their right to show it, which is guaranteed in the First Amendment; and pediatricians continue to counsel parents about whether car seats should face forward or backward but apparently could not care less about element X. Who would have thought that >50 years after the first congressional hearings on media violence that we would still be debating whether it contributes to real-life violence? As one leading group of researchers has stated, there should no longer be any controversy that a cause-and-effect … Address correspondence to Victor C. Strasburger, MD, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, MSC10 5590, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131. E-mail: vstrasburger{at}salud.unm. edu
High fidelity simulator use in nursing education : effects on confidence levels and cognitive skills

RESEARCH PAPER: High Fidelity Simulator Use in Nursing Education: Effects on Confidence Levels and Cognitive Skills STUDENT: Polly Straub Spengler, RN, BSN DEGREE: Master of Science COLLEGE: College of Applied Sciences and Technology DATE: May, 2014 Traditional clinical practice opportunities in nursing education may not provide a full range of experiences for development of cognitive skills and confidence. High fidelity simulator (HFS) use may be an effective method for providing experiential learning in clinical practice in nursing education (Brannan, White, & Bezanson, 2008). The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two teaching methods, a traditional classroom lecture and the use of HFS, on cognitive skills and confidence when instructing junior nursing students about acute myocardial infarction. This study is a modified replication of Brannon et al. (2008). The framework for the study is Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (1984). Junior level nursing students will be sampled from a Midwestern university adult health nursing course. A convenience sample will include spring and fall participants in the course. The study is a quasi-experimental, pretest and posttest comparison group design. Confidence level will be measured using a questionnaire developed by Madorin and Iwasiw (1999) and adapted by Brannon et al. (2008). Cognitive skills will be measured using parallel forms of the Acute Myocardial Infarction Questionnaire (AMIQ) developed by Brannon et al. (2008). The findings from this study will contribute to the growing body of knowledge related to HFS use in nursing education.
Combining SAGE Tags to Predict Genomic Transcribed Regions

Analysis of several million expressed gene signatures (tags) revealed an increasing number of different sequences, largely exceeding that of annotated genes in mammalian genomes. Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) can reveal new RNAs transcribed from previously unrecognized genomic regions. However, conventional SAGE tags are too short to identify unambiguously unique sites in large genomes. Here, we design a novel strategy with tags anchored on two different restrictions sites of cDNAs. New transcripts are then tentatively defined by the two SAGE tags in tandem and by the spanning sequence read on the genome between these tagged sites. Having developed a new algorithm to locate these tag-delimited genomic sequences, we first validated its capacity to recognize known genes and its ability to reveal new transcripts with two SAGE libraries built in parallel from a single RNA sample. Our algorithm proves fast enough to experiment this strategy at a large scale. We then collected and processed the complete sets of human SAGE tags to predict yet unknown transcripts. A cross-validation with tiling arrays data shows that 47%of these tag-delimited genomic sequences overlap transcriptional active regions. Our method provides a new and complementary approach for complex transcriptome annotation.
Brain atrophy progression measured from registered serial MRI: Validation and application to alzheimer's disease

In this paper, we validate the brain boundary shift integral (BBSI) as a measure of brain atrophy and demonstrate its application in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nineteen normal subjects and nine patients with AD underwent serial three‐dimensional MRI (6‐ to 30‐month scan intervals). Repeat studies were registered to the baseline studies. The accuracy of the BBSI was assessed by comparison with simulated atrophy and with segmentation; it was also tested for reproducibility, linearity, and its ability to discriminate patients with AD from healthy controls. The BBSI correlated closely with simulated volumes of atrophy (r = 1.000). The mean absolute difference between repeat measures was 1.51 ml or . 13% of mean brain volume. Rates of atrophy from all 18 AD scan pairs were widely separated from those of all 31 control pairs. In matched subgroups, the mean (SD) annual rate of brain atrophy in nine controls was . 24% (.32%), compared with 2.78% (.92%) in nine patients with AD. We conclude that the BBSI is a linear and highly reproducible measure of atrophy with potential uses in the early diagnosis and measurement of progression in Alzheimer's disease.
Concordance and reproducibility between M-mode, tissue Doppler imaging, and two-dimensional strain imaging in the assessment of mitral annular displacement and velocity in patients with various heart conditions.

AIMS Mitral annular (MA) displacement reflects longitudinal left ventricular (LV) deformation and systolic velocity measurements reflect the rate of contraction; both are valuable in the diagnosis and prognosis of cardiac disease. The aim of this study was to test the agreement and reproducibility between motion mode (M-mode), colour tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), and two-dimensional strain imaging (2DSI) when measuring MA displacement and systolic velocity. METHODS AND RESULTS Using GE Healthcare Vivid 7 and E9 and Echopac BT11 software, MA displacement and velocity measurements by 2DSI, TDI, and M-mode determined in the septal and lateral walls in the apical four-chamber view were assessed in 50 control subjects and in 168 patients with various cardiac anomalies known to affect longitudinal displacement such as heart failure, mitral regurgitation, LV hypertrophy, and LV dilation. Intra- and inter-observer variability were tested using the Bland-Altman method in 125 patients. A relatively low bias between M-mode and TDI with respect to MA displacement (mean difference ± 1.96 standard deviation: 0.08 ± 0.35 cm) and a low bias between TDI and 2DSI with respect to MA peak systolic velocity (-0.13 ± 1.87 cm/s) were found. Reproducibility was acceptable for all methods with TDI having the lowest intra- and inter-observer variability. CONCLUSION LV function could be assessed in terms of MA displacement and systolic velocity using M-mode, TDI, and 2DSI. None of the measurement techniques are, however, interchangeable. Overall, TDI seems to be the most robust method, having the lowest observer variability.
Warping Similarity Space in Category Learning by Human Subjects: The Role of Task Difficulty

In innate Categorical Perception (CP) (e.g., colour perception), similarity space is "warped," with regions of increased within-category similarity (compression) and regions of reduced between-category similarity (separation) enh ancing the category boundaries and making categorisation reliable and all-or-none rather than graded. We show that category learning can likewise warp similarity space, resolving uncertainty near category boundaries. Two Hard and two Easy texture learning tasks were compared: As predicted, there were fewer successful Learners with the Hard task, and only the successful Learners of the Hard task exhibited CP. In a second experiment, the Easy task was made Hard by making the corrective feedback during learn ing only 90% reliable; this too generated CP. The results are discussed in relation to supervised, unsupervised and dual-mode models of category learning and representation.The world is full of things that vary in their similarity and interconfusability.O rganisms must somehow resolve this confusion, sorting and acting upon things adaptively. It might be important, for example, to learn which kinds of mushrooms are poisonous and which are safe to eat, minimising the confusion between them (Greco, Cangelosi & Harnad 1997).
Are Spatial Frequencies Integrated from Coarse to Fine?

The existence of a temporal anisotropy in the integration of spatial frequencies, such that spatial frequencies are integrated more effectively if they are available from low to high through time, has been examined in a series of experiments. In the first experiment, the first three harmonics of a square wave were presented in a low-to-high or a high-to-low sequence in a temporal two-interval forced-choice experiment. Subjects were asked to indicate which sequence appeared to resemble a square wave more. A high-to-low sequence of spatial frequencies was judged to more resemble the target than the low-to-high sequence. These results support a temporal anisotropy in the integration of spatial frequencies of exactly the opposite form to that suggested from previous results. Further experiments established that this was not due to task differences or to subjects basing their decision on the final spatial frequency shown. An interpretation is offered in which an isotropic mechanism for spatial-frequency integration is combined with a recency bias.
Prostacyclin Suppresses Twist Expression in the Presence of Indomethacin in Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Background Iloprost, a stable prostacyclin I2 analogue, seems to have an osteoblast-protective potential, whereas indomethacin suppresses new bone formation. The aim of this study was to investigate human bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) proliferation and differentiation towards the osteoblastic lineage by administration of indomethacin and/or iloprost. Material/Methods Human bone marrow cells were obtained from 3 different donors (A=26 yrs/m; B=25 yrs/f, C=35 yrs/m) via vacuum aspiration of the iliac crest followed by density gradient centrifugation and flow cytometry with defined antigens (CD105+/73+/45−/14−). The cells were seeded and incubated as follows: without additives (Group 0; donor A/B/C), with 10−7 M iloprost only (Group 0+ilo; A/B), with indomethacin only in concentrations of 10−6 M (Group 1, A), 10−5 M (Group 2, B), 10−4 M (Group 3, A/B), and together with 10−7 M iloprost (Groups 4–6, A/B/C). On Day 10 and 28, UV/Vis spectrometric and immunocytochemical assays (4 samples per group and donor) were performed to investigate cell proliferation (cell count measurement) and differentiation towards the osteoblastic lineage (CD34−, CD45−, CD105+, type 1 collagen (Col1), osteocalcin (OC), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Runx2, Twist, specific ALP-activity). Results Indomethacin alone suppressed BMSC differentiation towards the osteoblastic lineage by downregulation of Runx2, Col1, and ALP. In combination with indomethacin, iloprost increased cell proliferation and differentiation and it completely suppressed Twist expression at Day 10 and 28. Iloprost alone did not promote cell proliferation, but moderately enhanced Runx2 and Twist expression. However, the proliferative effects and the specific ALP-activity varied donor-dependently. Conclusions Iloprost partially antagonized the suppressing effects of indomethacin on BMSC differentiation towards the osteoblast lineage. It enhanced the expression of Runx2 and, only in the presence of indomethacin, it completely suppressed Twist. Thus, in the treatment of avascular osteonecrosis or painful bone marrow edema, the undesirable effects of indomethacin might be counterbalanced by iloprost.
Gender and Homelessness

THE EMERGENCE of homelessness as a significant social problem has re sulted in an expanding network of service provisions focused on shelters, soup kit chens, and food pantries.1 While leadership in these developments came from voluntary organizations such as churches, family agencies, the American Red Cross, and Travelers Aid, local governments have become increasingly involved as the de mand for services exceeds the available private resources. The recipients of services are characterized as being a heterogeneous population that shares the common need for permanent shelter. Estimates of the homeless population vary widely. During the winter of 1983-84, the federal Depart ment of Housing and Urban Development estimated that 250,000 to 350,000 people were homeless; in 1983 the National Coali tion for the Homeless estimated that 2.5 million people were homeless.2 Official estimates for New York City alone have been as high as 36,000 and more people are us ing public shelters than during the Great Depression.3 Although subject to debate, the estimates provide a sense of the magni tude of the problem. While the diversity of the homeless popu lation is its most outstanding characteris tic, it may be categorized by three distinct groups—chronically alcoholic, chronically mentally ill, and situationally homeless.4 The situationally homeless, unlike the other categories, primarily have financial problems that are not compounded by additional dif ficulties. Research on the homeless, how ever, has focused mainly on the chronically mentally ill and on captive populations— those in emergency shelters, those receiv ing emergency psychiatric evaluations, and those who depend on soup kitchens for food. Additionally, much of the research on the homeless has been conducted in large metropolitan areas. The study reported here was undertaken to provide further descriptive and correla tional information about the homeless population in a moderately sized communi ty. The study examined the characteristics of the homeless population, the reasons for homelessness, the needs of homeless peo ple, and the services they are provided. Jan L. Hagen
Telework: Timesaving or Time-Consuming? An Investigation into Actual Working Hours

This paper aims to clarify the relationship between telework and the actual time employees put into their jobs. One of the reported threats to teleworkers’ personal lives is that in order to finish their work, they not only use up saved commuting time, but also part of their non-working hours, even to the extent of becoming workaholics. Recent empirical analyses show that teleworkers do seem to work longer hours than non-teleworkers. Yet there is an interesting observation to be made: teleworkers are not found to work longer hours when compared with employees who are given the teleworking option but not taking it. One might hypothesise, therefore, that there might be other factors accounting for the longer working hours of teleworkers (and of “teleworkable” job-holders), rather than teleworking as such. For that reason, the effect of teleworking on working hours was controlled for job and pay system characteristics. In line with expectations, salaried work, higher wages and some fringe benefits accounted for longer hours, and telework did not. Therefore, telework may be rightly used as an HRM-tool to attract and/or retain (scarce) personnel, for it allows employees to save commuting time and, consequently, contributes to a better work-home balance.
Subaru HDS transmission spectroscopy of the transiting extrasolar planet HD 209458b

We have searched for absorption in several common atomic species due to the atmosphere or exosphere of the transiting extrasolar planet HD 209458b, using high precision optical spectra obtained with the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS). Previously we reported an upper limit on H alpha absorption of 0.1% (3 sigma) within a 5.1\AA band. Using the same procedure, we now report upper limits on absorption due to the optical transitions of Na D, Li, H alpha, H beta, H gamma, Fe, and Ca. The 3 sigma upper limit for each transition is approximately 1% within a 0.3\AA band (the core of the line), and a few tenths of a per cent within a 2\AA band (the full line width). The wide-band results are close to the expected limit due to photon-counting (Poisson) statistics, although in the narrow-band case we have encountered unexplained systematic errors at a few times the Poisson level. These results are consistent with all previously reported detections and upper limits, but are significantly more sensitive.
Adiponectin levels in gestational diabetes mellitus and in pregnant women without glucose intolerance.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to determine serum adiponectin levels among patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and normal pregnant women without glucose intolerance, and to investigate the relationship between these levels and clinical factors at the time of the diagnosis, at delivery and in the post-partum period. MATERIAL AND METHODS The subjects' serum adiponectin concentration was measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method at 24th-28th week of gestation, at delivery (in maternal circulation and the umbilical cord) and 24 h after delivery. The relationship between these groups' measurements and other established clinical-laboratory factors were investigated. RESULTS Serum adiponectin concentrations were significantly lower (p = 0.02) in GDM patients compared with patients with normal glucose tolerance at 24th-28th week of gestation. During delivery, maternal serum adiponectin concentrations were significantly lower (p = 0.03) in GDM patients compared with patients with normal glucose tolerance. In the post-partum period, serum adiponectin concentrations were significantly higher (p = 0.009) in GDM patients compared with patients with normal glucose tolerance. Umbilical cord adiponectin concentrations were significantly lower (p = 0.005) in GDM patients compared with patients with normal glucose tolerance. CONCLUSIONS Adiponectin concentrations in GDM patients' circulation were regulated by changes in glucose and insulin metabolism. A reduction in serum adiponectin levels seems to play a role in GDM patients' insulin resistance.
HIV-1 Matrix Protein p17 Promotes Lymphangiogenesis and Activates the Endothelin-1/Endothelin B Receptor Axis

Objective—AIDS-related lymphomas are high grade and aggressively metastatic with poor prognosis. Lymphangiogenesis is essential in supporting proliferation and survival of lymphoma, as well as tumor dissemination. Data suggest that aberrant lymphangiogenesis relies on action of HIV-1 proteins rather than on a direct effect of the virus itself. HIV-1 matrix protein p17 was found to accumulate and persist in lymph nodes of patients even under highly active antiretroviral therapy. Because p17 was recently found to exert a potent proangiogenic activity by interacting with chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptors 1 and 2, we tested the prolymphangiogenic activity of the viral protein. Approach and Results—Human primary lymph node–derived lymphatic endothelial cells were used to perform capillary-like structure formation, wound healing, spheroids, and Western blot assays after stimulation with or without p17. Here, we show that p17 promotes lymphangiogenesis by binding to chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor-1 and chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor-2 expressed on lymph node–derived lymphatic endothelial cells and activating the Akt/extracellular signal–regulated kinase signaling pathway. In particular, it was found to induce capillary-like structure formation, sprout formation from spheroids, and increase lymph node–derived lymphatic endothelial cells motility. The p17 lymphangiogenic activity was, in part, sustained by activation of the endothelin-1/endothelin receptor B axis. A Matrigel plug assay showed that p17 was able to promote the outgrowth of lymphatic vessels in vivo, demonstrating that p17 directly regulates lymphatic vessel formation. Conclusions—Our results suggest that p17 may generate a prolymphangiogenic microenvironment and plays a role in predisposing the lymph node to lymphoma growth and metastasis. This finding offers new opportunities to identify treatment strategies in combating AIDS-related lymphomas.
Training in face‐processing skills for a child with acquired prosopagnosia

Four face‐processing‐skills training programs were administered to KD, a child with acquired prosopagnosia, over a period of 18 months. These programs involved simultaneous matching of photographs of familiar and unfamiliar faces, paired discriminations of computer‐generated schematic faces, paired discriminations of digitized images of real faces, and learning face‐name associations. None of these programs yielded any improvement with practice. The results are discussed with reference to rehabilitation/remediation schemes for other prosopagnosics, most of whom are adults.