Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing the Ability of Anthropometric Indicators in Identifying Metabolic Syndrome in HIV Patients

Background Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can cause side effects in HIV patients, as the metabolic syndrome. Early identification of risk for development of cardiovascular diseases using available reliable and practical methods is fundamental. On this basis, the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of anthropometric indicators to identify metabolic syndrome in HIV patients on HAART. Methods It is a cross-sectional study. A number of 280 stable HIV patients were studied. It measured weight, height, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HP), thigh circumference (TC) and calculated body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and waist to thigh ratio (WTR). There was also a performance of biochemical tests of lipid profile and fasting glucose. Systemic blood pressure was measured. The criteria proposed by the National Cholesterol Education Program III (NCEP-ATP III) to metabolic syndrome classification was used. Individuals were divided in groups with or without metabolic alterations and their anthropometric indicators were compared. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were designed for each anthropometric indicator using the metabolic syndrome classification to identify sensitivity and specificity. Results WC was a good tool to identify each metabolic disorder separately: total cholesterol (only females, p<0.05), triglycerides (only males, p<0.001), HDL cholesterol (p<0.05), LDL cholesterol (p<005) and fasting glycemic (p<005). WC also showed the best performance to identify metabolic syndrome in both genders (areas under the curve (AUCs): 0.79 and 0.76 for male and female, respectively), while BAI proved to be an inadequate indicator (AUCs: 0.63 and 0.67 for males and females), respectively, in this population. Conclusions The central adiposity measure (WC) had the best performance to identify metabolic syndrome, and it is a convenient, cheap and reliable tool that can be used in clinical practice routinely to prevent cardiovascular complications in HIV patients.
Characterization of phase and frequency instabilities in precision frequency sources: Fifteen years of progress

Precision frequency sources such as quartz oscillators, masers, and passive atomic frequency standards are affected by phase and frequency instabilities including both random and deterministic components. It is of prime importance to have a comprehensive characterization of these instabilities in order to be able to assess the potential utility of each source. For that purpose, many parameters have been proposed especially for dealing with random fluctuations. Some of them have been recommended by the IEEE Subcommittee on Frequency Stability and later by Study Group 7 on "Standard Frequencies and Time Signals" of the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR). Others are not so widely used but show interesting capabilities. This paper aims at giving a broad review of parameters proposed for phase and frequency instability characterization, including both classical widely used concepts and more recent less familiar approaches. Transfer functions that link frequency-domain and time-domain parameters are emphasized because they provide improved understanding of the properties of a given time-domain parameter or facilitate introducing of new parameters. As far as new approaches are concerned, an attempt has been made to demonstrate clearly their respective advantages. To this end, some developments that did not appear in the original references ate presented here, e.g, the modified three sample variance Σy2(τ), the expressions of 〈δy-T2〉, the intetpretation of structure functions of phase and its relations with Σy2(τ) and the Hadamard variance. The effects of polynomial phase and frequency drifts on various parameters have also been pointed out in parallel with those of random processes modeled by power-law spectral densities.
Do climate envelope models transfer? A manipulative test using dung beetle introductions

Climate envelope models (CEMs) are widely used to forecast future shifts in species ranges under climate change, but these models are rarely validated against independent data, and their fundamental assumption that climate limits species distributions is rarely tested. Here, we use the data on the introduction of five South African dung beetle species to Australia to test whether CEMs developed in the native range can predict distribution in the introduced range, where the confounding effects of dispersal limitation, resource limitation and the impact of natural enemies have been removed, leaving climate as the dominant constraint. For two of the five species, models developed in the native range predict distribution in the introduced range about as well as models developed in the introduced range where we know climate limits distribution. For the remaining three species, models developed in the native range perform poorly, implying that non-climatic factors limit the native distribution of these species and need to be accounted for in species distribution models. Quantifying relevant non-climatic factors and their likely interactions with climatic variables for forecasting range shifts under climate change remains a challenging task.
Using supervised learning to classify authentic and fake online reviews

Before making a purchase, users are increasingly inclined to browse online reviews that are posted to share post-purchase experiences of products and services. However, not all reviews are necessarily authentic. Some entries could be fake yet written to appear authentic. Conceivably, authentic and fake reviews are not easy to differentiate. Hence, this paper uses supervised learning algorithms to analyze the extent to which authentic and fake reviews could be distinguished based on four linguistic clues, namely, understandability, level of details, writing style, and cognition indicators. The model performance was compared with two baselines. The results were generally promising.
A retrospective study of intoxications admitted to the university hospital/UFJF from 2000 to 2004

Poisonings may have their consequences minimized by the acquisition of knowledge concerning its etiologies, evolutions and means of prevention. In Brazil, the progressive increase of toxic emergencies justifies the acquisition and analysis of regional and decentralized data concerning toxic emergencies. The aim of this retrospective and descriptive study was to evaluate data on the toxicology occurrence registered at the University Hospital/UFJF from 2000 to 2004. Data were collected using a structured instrument which comprised: age range, gender, profession, average hospitalization time, etiology and possible reasons for the intoxication, drug categories, where the patients live and the most important exposure route to the poisonous agent. The possible relationship among the data was also examined. The profile found for poisoning in the 50 cases analyzed, was that accidents are more common from 0 to 5 years old (24%) and male gender (68%), the majority of the cases happened in the city of Juiz de Fora (78%) and oral exposure. The most important poisonous agents were found to be the psychotropics (60%). Definition of a profile helps promoting educative activities and expands poisoning prevention campaigns by public health agencies. Therefore, these facts strengthen the importance of an Information Service net to prevent and reduce intoxications and the irrational use of drugs.
Redox-reactive autoantibodies in Alzheimer's patients' cerebrospinal fluids: Preliminary studies

Oxidation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) causes differential unmasking of autoantibodies in control CSF vs. that obtained from postmortem CSF samples from autopsy confirmed Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases. This study demonstrates that normal CSF from both living patients and from non-demented autopsy cases contains redox-reactive autoantibodies with specificities that include antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL). In contrast, CSF from autopsy confirmed AD subjects contained little or no redox-reactive aPL autoantibodies. Tests using an in vitro rat synaptosome model showed that the oxidized CSF autoantibodies from a normal individual can cause ERK1/2 phosphorylation at a level consistent with reports of pathogenic changes found in brain tissues from AD patients. The decrease or absence of redox-reactive antibodies in CSF from Alzheimer's patients suggests that these antibodies may have been previously unmasked by the oxidative conditions that exist in the CNS in AD patients. These unmasked autoantibodies could then bind to neuronal tissues and possibly participate in the initial cascade leading to the dementia in Alzheimer's. To our knowledge, this is the first description of resident autoantibodies with the potential to cause brain cell damage documented in CSF without a breech in the blood–brain barrier. The untimely and inappropriate physiological unmasking of these redox-reactive autoantibodies in AD patients CSF may represent a valuable biomarker for diagnosis and progression of this and perhaps other neurodegenerative diseases which also have oxidative stress components. These novel autoantibody observations may stimulate thoughts about additional therapeutic approaches and warrant similar studies for other neurodegenerative diseases.
Nonadrenergic, noncholinergic relaxation in longitudinal muscle of rat jejunum.

The mediators of nonadrenergic, noncholinergic (NANC) relaxation in the longitudinal muscle of rat jejunum were studied in vitro. Electrical field stimulation (EFS) of segments of rat jejunum induced a rapid transient relaxation followed by a subsequent contraction in the presence of atropine and guanethidine. NG-Nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG, 10 microM) inhibited the EFS-induced NANC relaxation by about 25%, and L-arginine (1 mM) completely reversed this inhibition. Exogenously added nitric oxide (0.1-10 microM) induced relaxation of the segment. Treatment of the segment with alpha-chymotrypsin resulted in about 50% inhibition of the EFS-induced relaxation. Several peptide candidates for the mediator of NANC relaxation were examined by using selective antagonists of their receptors or by a receptor-desensitization method. Results indicated that vasoactive intestinal peptide, pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide, peptide histidine isoleucine, atrial natriuretic peptide and neurotensin are not associated with NANC relaxation of the segments. On the other hand, apamin at 1 microM inhibited the EFS-induced relaxation by 74%. Inhibitory effects of L-NOARG and, apamin or alpha-chymotrypsin treatment on the EFS-induced relaxation were additive and almost complete. Exogenous nitric oxide-induced relaxation was not affected by apamin. Inhibitory junction potentials (i.j.p.'s) were recorded from longitudinal muscle cells of rat jejunum. Apamin at 200 nM abolished i.j.p.'s induced by two pulses of EFS. These results suggest that NANC relaxation in longitudinal muscle of rat jejunum involves two independent components: one is a nitric oxide-mediated minor component, and the other is an unknown substance-mediated apamin-sensitive major component that is inhibited by alpha-chymotrypsin treatment.
Volatility spillo v ers across equity markets : European e v idence

This paper examines the issue of volatility spillovers across the three largest European stock markets, namely London, Frankfurt and Paris. The Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity model is used to capture potential asymmetric effects of innovations on volatility. During the period from 01/01/84 to 07/12/93, reciprocal spillovers are found to exist between London and Paris, and between Paris and Frankfurt, and unidirectional spillovers from London to Frankfurt. In almost all cases, spillovers are asymmetric in the sense that bad news in one market has a greater effect on the volatility of another market than good news. An analysis for the pre-crash (01/01/84—15/09/87) and post-crash (15/11/87—07/12/93) periods suggests that more spillovers and spillovers with higher intensity exist during the latter period. These findings suggest that these markets became more interdependent during the post-crash period.
Estimating Sag and Wind-Induced Motion of Overhead Power Lines With Current and Magnetic-Flux Density Measurements

Overhead high-voltage transmission lines (HVTLs) extend over diverse geographic regions under uneven weather conditions, where sag and wind-induced conductor motion poses serious issues for uninterrupted power distribution by HVTLs. Sag reduces the ground clearance of the line, whereas conductor motion may result in phase to phase short circuit, and damage to support structure. A real-time estimate of these factors is deemed important to develop requisite prevention measures. In this paper, we present a novel method to cater for sag and motion estimation in real-world scenarios. Our method can detect a change in sag and conductor motion, whether it is symmetrical or unsymmetrical to one or more conductors. We require uniaxial magnetic-field (MF) sensors mounted at support tower, equal to conductors, and synchronized with current-transformer (CT) data at substation. The sensors provide noncontact MF measurements, which are time stamped and transmitted to the substation. The data are then simultaneously processed along with electric current readings from the CT. For processing, we developed a unified algorithm that first distinguishes variation in sag from motion in conductor. Then, it estimates the corresponding sag or motion in any of the conductors. The method is verified first by numerical simulations, and then with a scaled setup in laboratory. Different test cases were identified by the algorithm. Error remains $\leq 1$ % for unsymmetrical sag estimation. In addition, trajectory of a conductor in motion is retrieved. Where the root mean square error between actual and retrieved conductor amplitude was only 0.0833 for the observation window of 200 ms.
Detecting, tracking, and warning of traffic threats to police stopped along the roadside

Despite years of research into improving the safety of police roadside stops, reckless drivers continue to injure or kill police personnel stopped on the roadside at an alarming rate. We have proposed to reduce this problem through a "divert and alert" approach, projecting lasers onto the road surface as virtual flares to divert incoming vehicles, and alerting officers of dangerous incoming vehicles early enough to take life-saving evasive action. This thesis describes the initial development of the Officer Alerting Mechanism (OAM), which uses cameras to detect and track incoming vehicles, and calculates their real-world positions and trajectories. It presents a procedure for calibrating the camera software system with the laser, as well as a system that allows an officer to draw an arbitrary laser pattern on the screen that is then projected onto the road. Trajectories violating the "no-go" zone of the projected laser pattern are detected and the officer is accordingly alerted of a potentially dangerous vehicle.
Cardiac Energy Metabolism in Obesity

Obesity results in marked alterations in cardiac energy metabolism, with a prominent effect being an increase in fatty acid uptake and oxidation by the heart. Obesity also results in dramatic changes in the release of adipokines, such as leptin and adiponectin, both of which have emerged as important regulators of cardiac energy metabolism. The link among obesity, cardiovascular disease, lipid metabolism, and adipokine signaling is complex and not well understood. However, optimizing cardiac energy metabolism in obese subjects may be one approach to preventing and treating cardiac dysfunction that can develop in this population. This review discusses what is presently known about the effects of obesity and the impact adipokines have on cardiac energy metabolism and insulin signaling. The clinical implications of obesity and energy metabolism on cardiac disease are also discussed.
Seaweed attachment to bedrock: biophysical evidence for a new geophycology paradigm

Seaweeds are amongst the most obvious and ecologically important components of rocky shore communities worldwide but until now little has been known about the processes involved in their attachment. This multidisciplinary study investigated for the first time the interactions between marine macroalgal holdfasts and their underlying substrata, requiring the development of specialized sample preparation techniques to maintain the structural integrity of the holdfast–bedrock interface. Transmitted plane polarized light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy and structured light illumination microscopy were used in the examination of the interface between Ascophyllum nodosum (Fucales, Heterokontophyta) and crustose red algae Lithothamnion sp. (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) on granite and limestone substrates. The new evidence presented here represents a paradigm shift in the way we view seaweed attachment because results show that the holdfasts exploit the physical characteristics of the rock‐forming minerals in order to penetrate the bedrock and thus facilitate the attachment process. Mineral cleavage planes together with intercrystalline and intracrystalline boundaries and fractures provide penetration pathways for the holdfast tissue. This process causes disaggregation of rock‐forming minerals to depths <10 mm and therefore assists in the bioerosion of coastal bedrock. It is concluded that seaweeds are able to cause weathering of natural rock and the term ‘geophycology’ is introduced to describe seaweed–bedrock interactions, including seaweed‐induced weathering.
Evaluation of Turkish seaweeds for antiprotozoal, antimycobacterial and cytotoxic activities

As part of our continuing research on seaweeds, crude MeOH extracts of two green, three brown and six red algae collected from Marmara, Black, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas were screened. Four parasitic protozoa, i.e. Plasmodium falciparum, Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, T. cruzi, Leishmania donovani and the tubercle bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis were used as test organisms for the in vitro assays. The selective toxicity of the extracts was also determined against mammalian L6 cells. All seaweed extracts were active against T. brucei rhodesiense; the Dasya pedicellata extract was the most potent (IC50 value 0.37 µg/mL). The same extract also weakly inhibited the growth of T. cruzi (IC50 62.02 µg/mL). All seaweed extracts also showed leishmanicidal activity (IC50 values 16.76–69.98 µg/mL). The majority of the extracts also exhibited antiplasmodial potential and the most potent extracts were those from D. pedicellata (IC50 0.38 µg/mL), Codium bursa (IC50 1.38 µg/mL) and Caulerpa rasemosa (IC50 3.12 µg/mL). One brown and two red algal extracts showed some weak activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MIC values 125–256 µg/mL). Except for the extract of Dasya pedicellata, none of the extracts displayed any cytotoxicity. This is the second study investigating the antiprotozoal activities of Turkish marine algae and identifies Dasya pedicellata, an understudied algal species, as a candidate for further studies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Electron Doping a Kagome Spin Liquid

Herbertsmithite, ZnCu$_3$(OH)$_6$Cl$_2$, is a two dimensional kagome lattice realization of a spin liquid, with evidence for fractionalized excitations and a gapped ground state. Such a quantum spin liquid has been proposed to underlie high temperature superconductivity and is predicted to produce a wealth of new states, including a Dirac metal at $1/3$rd electron doping. Here we report the topochemical synthesis of electron-doped ZnLi$_x$Cu$_3$(OH)$_6$Cl$_2$ from $x$ = 0 to $x$ = 1.8 ($3/5$th per Cu$^{2+}$). Contrary to expectations, no metallicity or superconductivity is induced. Instead, we find a systematic suppression of magnetic behavior across the phase diagram. Our results demonstrate that significant theoretical work is needed to understand and predict the role of doping in magnetically frustrated narrow band insulators, particularly the interplay between local structural disorder and tendency toward electron localization, and pave the way for future studies of doped spin liquids.
PET Evidence for a Role for Striatal Dopamine in the Attentional Blink: Functional Implications

Our outside world changes continuously, for example, when driving through traffic. An important question is how our brain deals with this constant barrage of rapidly changing sensory input and flexibly selects only newly goal-relevant information for further capacity-limited processing in working memory. The challenge our brain faces is experimentally captured by the attentional blink (AB): an impairment in detecting the second of two target stimuli presented in close temporal proximity among distracters. Many theories have been proposed to explain this deficit in processing goal-relevant information, with some attributing the AB to capacity limitations related to encoding of the first target and others assigning a critical role to on-line selection mechanisms that control access to working memory. The current study examined the role of striatal dopamine in the AB, given its known role in regulating the contents of working memory. Specifically, participants performed an AB task and their basal level of dopamine D2-like receptor binding was measured using PET and [F-18]fallypride. As predicted, individual differences analyses showed that greater D2-like receptor binding in the striatum was associated with a larger AB, implicating striatal dopamine and mechanisms that control access to working memory in the AB. Specifically, we propose that striatal dopamine may determine the AB by regulating the threshold for working memory updating, providing a testable physiological basis for this deficit in gating rapidly changing visual information. A challenge for current models of the AB lies in connecting more directly to these neurobiological data.
Effects of melatonin on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat testis.

AIM To examine the effects of melatonin treatment on lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the activities of antioxidant enzymes in the testicular tissue of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. METHODS Twenty-six male rats were randomly divided into three groups as follows: group I, control, non-diabetic rats (n = 9); group II, STZ-induced, untreated diabetic rats (n = 8); group III, STZ-induced, melatonin-treated (dose of 10 mg/kg . day) diabetic rats (n = 9). Following 8-week melatonin treatment, all rats were anaesthetized and then were killed to remove testes from the scrotum. RESULTS As compared to group I, in rat testicular tissues of group II , increased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) (P < 0.01) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) (P < 0.01) as well as decreased levels of catalase (CAT) (P < 0.01) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) (P > 0.05) were found. In contrast, as compared to group II, in rat testicular tissues of group III, levels of MDA decreased (but this decrease was not significant, P > 0.05) and SOD (P < 0.01) as well as CAT (P < 0.05) increased. GSH-Px was not influenced by any of the treatment. Melatonin did not significantly affect the elevated glucose concentration of diabetic group. At the end of the study, there was no significant difference between the melatonin-treated group and the untreated group by means of body and testicular weight. CONCLUSION Diabetes mellitus increases oxidative stress and melatonin inhibits lipid peroxidation and might regulate the activities of antioxidant enzymes of diabetic rat testes.