Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The slow component of V~ O 2 in professional cyclists

Objectives—To analyse the slow component of oxygen uptake (V ~O2) in professional cyclists and to determine whether this phenomenon is due to altered neuromuscular activity, as assessed by surface electromyography (EMG). Methods—The following variables were measured during 20 minute cycle ergometer tests performed at about 80% of V ~O2MAX in nine professional road cyclists (mean (SD) age 26 (2) years; V ~O2max 72.6 (2.2) ml/kg/min): heart rate (HR), gas exchange variables (V ~O2, ventilation (V ~E), tidal volume (VT), breathing frequency (fb),ventilatory equivalents for oxygen and carbon dioxide (V ~E/V ~O2 and V ~E/V ~CO2 respectively), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), and end tidal PO2 and PCO2 (PETO2 and PETCO2 respectively)), blood variables (lactate, pH, and [HCO3 ˛ ]) and EMG data (root mean from square voltage (rmsEMG) and mean power frequency (MPF)) from the vastus lateralis muscle. Results—The mean magnitude of the slow component (from the end of the third minute to the end of exercise) was 130 (0.04) ml in 17 minutes or 7.6 ml/min. Significant increases from three minute to end of exercise values were found for the following variables: V ~O2 (p 0.05) throughout the exercise tests. Conclusions—A significant but small V ~O2 slow component was shown in professional cyclists during constant load heavy exercise. The results suggest that the primary origin of the slow component is not neuromuscular factors in these subjects, at least for exercise intensities up to 80% of V ~O2MAX. (Br J Sports Med 2000;34:367‐374)
C-Reactive Protein, Interleukin-6, and Fibrinogen as Predictors of Coronary Heart Disease: The PRIME Study

Objective—This study was undertaken to examine the association of plasma inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6, and fibrinogen with the incidence of coronary heart disease within the prospective cohort study on myocardial infarction (PRIME study). Methods and Results—Multiple risk factors were recorded at baseline in 9758 men aged 50 to 59 years who were free of coronary heart disease (CHD) on entry. Nested case-control comparisons were carried out on 317 participants who suffered myocardial infarction (MI)-coronary death (n=163) or angina (n=158) as an initial CHD event during a follow-up for 5 years. After adjustment for traditional risk factors, incident MI-coronary death, but not angina, was significantly associated with CRP, interleukin-6, and fibrinogen, but only interleukin-6 remained significantly associated with MI-coronary death when the 3 inflammatory markers were included in the model. The different interleukin-6 levels in Northern Ireland and France partly explained the difference in risk between these countries. Interleukin-6 appeared as a risk marker of MI-coronary death, and it improved the definition of CHD risk beyond LDL cholesterol. Conclusions—This association may reflect the underlying inflammatory reaction located in the atherosclerotic plaque or a genetic susceptibility on the part of CHD subjects to answer a proinflammatory stimulus and subsequent increase in hepatic CRP gene expression.
Metabolic Syndrome Abolishes Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonist Stimulation of SERCA in Coronary Smooth Muscle

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) doubles the risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists induce weight loss, increase insulin secretion, and improve glucose tolerance. Studies in healthy animals suggest cardioprotective properties of GLP-1 receptor agonists, perhaps partially mediated by improved sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA) activity. We examined the acute effect of GLP-1 receptor agonists on coronary smooth muscle cells (CSM) enzymatically isolated from lean, healthy Ossabaw miniature swine. Intracellular Ca2+ handling was interrogated with fura-2. The GLP-1 receptor agonist exenatide activated SERCA but did not alter other Ca2+ transporters. Further, we tested the hypothesis that chronic, in vivo treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonist AC3174 would attenuate coronary artery disease (CAD) in swine with MetS. MetS was induced in 20 swine by 6 months' feeding of a hypercaloric, atherogenic diet. Swine were then randomized (n = 10/group) into placebo or AC3174 treatment groups and continued the diet for an additional 6 months. AC3174 treatment attenuated weight gain, increased insulin secretion, and improved glucose tolerance. Intravascular ultrasound and histology showed no effect of AC3174 on CAD. MetS abolished SERCA activation by GLP-1 receptor agonists. We conclude that MetS confers vascular resistance to GLP-1 receptor agonists, partially through impaired cellular signaling steps involving SERCA.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus induced by an atypical antipsychotic medication.

Diabetes and mental disorders are common chronic illnesses in the United States, affecting more than 16 million[1][1] and 44.3 million Americans,[2][2] respectively. As a result of the ever-increasing incidence of obesity, diabetes is being diagnosed more often, not only in the adult population but
Natural Dissemination of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Northern Canada

ABSTRACT Soil samples were collected from around fresh and year-old bison carcasses and areas not associated with known carcasses in Wood Buffalo National Park during an active anthrax outbreak in the summer of 2001. Sample selection with a grid provided the most complete coverage of a site. Soil samples were screened for viable Bacillus anthracis spores via selective culture, phenotypic analysis, and PCR. Bacillus anthracis spores were isolated from 28.4% of the samples. The highest concentrations of B. anthracis spores were found directly adjacent to fresh carcasses and invariably corresponded to locations where the soil had been saturated with body fluids escaping the carcass through either natural body orifices or holes torn by scavengers. The majority of positive samples were found within 2 m of both year-old and fresh carcasses and probably originated from scavengers churning up and spreading the body fluid-saturated soil as they fed. Trails of lesser contamination radiating from the carcasses probably resulted from spore dissemination through adhesion to scavengers and through larger scavengers dragging away disarticulated limbs. Comparison of samples from minimally scavenged and fully necropsied carcass sites revealed no statistically significant difference in the level of B. anthracis spore contamination. Therefore, the immediate area around a suspected anthrax carcass should be considered substantially contaminated regardless of the condition of the carcass.
Frequency and nature of drug-drug interactions in a Dutch university hospital.

AIM Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) may lead to often preventable adverse drug events and health damage. Especially within hospitals, this might be an important factor, as patients are severely ill and multiple medications may be prescribed simultaneously. The objective of this study was to measure the frequency and nature of DDI alerts in a Dutch university hospital. METHODS All patients hospitalized in the University Medical Centre Utrecht in 2006 who were prescribed at least one medication were included. The frequency of DDIs was calculated as: (i) the percentage of patients experiencing at least one DDI, and (ii) the percentage of prescriptions generating a DDI alert. Based on the national professional guideline, DDIs were classified into categories of potential clinical outcome, management advice, clinical relevance (A-F) and available evidence (0-4). RESULTS Of the 21 277 admissions included, 5909 (27.8%) encountered at least one DDI. Overall, the prescribing physician received a DDI alert in 9.6% of all prescriptions. The most frequently occurring potential clinical consequence of the DDIs was an increased risk of side-effects such as increased bleeding risk (22.0%), hypotension (14.9%), nephrotoxicity (12.6%) and electrolyte disturbances (10.5%). Almost half (48.6%) of the DDIs could be managed by monitoring laboratory values. CONCLUSIONS Computerized DDI alerts may be a useful tool to prevent adverse drug events within hospitals, but they may also result in 'alert fatigue'. The specificity of alerts could significantly improve by the use of more sophisticated clinical decision support systems taking into account, for example, laboratory values.
Plasma sphingomyelin and longitudinal change in percent emphysema on CT. The MESA Lung study

Abstract Context: Ceramide causes endothelial apoptosis and emphysema-like changes in animal models. Objectives: Test if plasma sphingomyelin, a major precursor of ceramide, would predict longitudinal increase in the percentage of emphysema-like lung on computed tomography (CT). Materials and methods: 3840 participants had their plasma sphingomyelin measured at baseline examination and their pulmonary emphysema measured on cardiac CT scans at baseline and on follow-up visits. Mixed effects models were used to adjust for potential confounders. Results: One standard deviation increase in sphingomyelin predicted a 0.12% per year (95% CI: 0.02–0.22; p = 0.019) greater increase of percent emphysema. Discussion and conclusion: Higher plasma levels of sphingomyelin predicted greater annual increase in quantitatively measured percent emphysema.
University of Huddersfield Repository Strategy and pattern recognition in expert comprehension of 2 × 2 interaction graphs

I present a model of expert comprehension performance for 2 × 2 “interac-tion” graphs typically used to present data from two-way factorial research designs. Developed using the ACT-R cognitive architecture, the model sim-ulates the cognitive and perceptual operations involved in interpreting interaction graphs and provides a detailed characterisation of the information extracted from the diagram, the prior knowledge required to interpret interaction graphs, and the knowledge generated during the comprehension process. The model produces a scan path of attention ﬁxations and a symbolic description of the interpretation which can be compared to human eye movement and verbal protocol data respectively, provides an account of the strategic processes that control comprehension, and makes explicit what un-derlies the diﬀerences between expert and novice performance.
Lepirudin in the management of patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

Lepirudin, a recombinant hirudin, is a direct irreversible thrombin inhibitor by binding to both free and clot-bound thrombin. It is approved for treatment of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), which is a serious antibody-mediated drug reaction mostly associated with the use of unfractionated heparin. Clinical experience during the last 10 years has proved the efficacy of lepirudin in the management of HIT. The major route of elimination of lepirudin is the kidney, accounting for approximately 90% of its systemic clearance. The most important adverse reactions are bleeding and the induction of immunologic reactions. The risk of bleeding can be reduced by implementing an optimal monitoring and dose adjustment strategy, particularly in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass surgery and in those with impaired renal function. Development of antihirudin antibodies may enhance the anticoagulant effect of lepirudin. Anaphylactic reactions associated with lepirudin therapy are rare. The lack of an antidote against lepirudin is still a concern, particularly during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery with a heart-lung machine and during artificial renal support. Currently, hemofiltration using high-flux filter systems is the only available and valid means to manage hirudin overdose. Nevertheless, the drug can be safely used if meticulous monitoring strategy is installed.
Transcriptional regulatory cascades in development: Initial rates, not steady state, determine network kinetics

A model was built to examine the kinetics of regulatory cascades such as occur in developmental gene networks. The model relates occupancy of cis-regulatory target sites to transcriptional initiation rate, and thence to RNA and protein output. The model was used to simulate regulatory cascades in which genes encoding transcription factors are successively activated. Using realistic parameter ranges based on extensive earlier measurements in sea urchin embryos, we find that transitions of regulatory states occur sharply in these simulations, with respect to time or changing transcription factor concentrations. As is often observed in developing systems, the simulated regulatory cascades display a succession of gene activations separated by delays of some hours. The most important causes of this behavior are cooperativity in the assembly of cis-regulatory complexes and the high specificity of transcription factors for their target sites. Successive transitions in state occur long in advance of the approach to steady-state levels of the molecules that drive the process. The kinetics of such developmental systems thus depend mainly on the initial output rates of genes activated in response to the advent of new transcription factors.
Transparency in Monetary Policy: A Survey

As the above quote highlights most people engaged in monetary economics claim to be in favor of central-bank transparency. So why is there such a ferocious controversy in the recent academic literature and in the newspapers about the transparency of monetary policy? In fact, almost no one involved in the political discussion about the transparency of the European Central Bank (ECB) actually denies that transparency is socially beneficial. Although the ECB has been accused of being opaque, it claims to be open and transparent.
Transcriptome-Wide Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes in Solanum lycopersicon L. in Response to an Alfalfa-Protein Hydrolysate Using Microarrays

An alfalfa-based protein hydrolysate (EM) has been tested in tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) plants at two different concentrations (0.1 and 1 mL L-1) to get insight on its efficacy as biostimulant in this species and to unravel possible metabolic targets and molecular mechanisms that may shed light on its mode of action. EM was efficient in promoting the fresh biomass and content in chlorophyll and soluble sugars of tomato plants, especially when it was applied at the concentration of 1 mL L-1. This effect on plant productivity was likely related to the EM-dependent up-regulation of genes identified via microarray and involved in primary carbon and nitrogen metabolism, photosynthesis, nutrient uptake and developmental processes. EM also up-regulated a number of genes implied in the secondary metabolism that leads to the synthesis of compounds (phenols and terpenes) functioning in plant development and interaction with the environment. Concomitantly, phenol content was enhanced in EM-treated plants. Several new genes have been identified in tomato as potential targets of EM action, like those involved in detoxification processes from reactive oxygen species and xenobiotic (particularly glutathione/ascorbate cycle-related and ABC transporters), and defense against abiotic and biotic stress. The model hypothesized is that elicitors present in the EM formulation like auxins, phenolics, and amino acids, may trigger a signal transduction pathway via modulation of the intracellular levels of the hormones ethylene, jasmonic acid and abscissic acid, which then further prompt the activation of a cascade events requiring the presence and activity of many kinases and transcription factors to activate stress-related genes. The genes identified suggest these kinases and transcription factors as players involved in a complex crosstalk between biotic and abiotic stress signaling pathways. We conclude that EM acts as a biostimulant in tomato due to its capacity to stimulate plant productivity and up-regulate stress-related responses. Its use in agricultural practices may reduce the need of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, thereby reducing the environmental impact of productive agriculture.
Analysis of speech segments using variable spectral/temporal resolution

The authors present an approach for efficiently computing a compact temporal/spectral feature set for representing a segment of speech, with effective resolution depending on both frequency and time position within the segment. The goal is to mimic the resolution properties of the human auditory system, but using a computationally efficient FFT-based front end rather than a more complex auditory model. In particular they apply both frequency and time "warping" to FFT spectra to obtain good frequency resolution at low frequencies and good time resolution at high frequencies. Time resolution is also varied so that the center of the segment is better represented than the endpoints. The resolution can be varied by the selection of "warping" functions controlled using a small number of parameters. The method was experimentally verified for the classification of six stops extracted from the TIMIT continuous speech database. The best classification rate obtained was 81.2% for test data using 50 features computed with the method presented.
Treatment of Clostridium difficile infection in mice with vancomycin alone is as effective as treatment with vancomycin and metronidazole in combination

Objective Clostridium difficile is a major cause of nosocomial infectious diarrhoea. Treatment of C. difficile infection (CDI) depends on disease severity. A combination of vancomycin and metronidazole is often recommended in severe cases. The aim of this study was to examine, in a murine model of CDI, if mice treated with a combination of vancomycin and metronidazole had a better clinical outcome than mice treated with vancomycin or metronidazole alone. Design C57BL/6J mice pretreated with an antimicrobial mixture were challenged with C. difficile VPI 10463 or phosphate-buffered saline by oral gavage. After the challenge, the mice were treated with placebo, vancomycin, metronidazole or a combination of vancomycin and metronidazole for 10 days. The mice were monitored for 20 days with weight and a clinical score. Stool samples were examined for C. difficile spore load and presence of C. difficile toxins. Results None of the mice in the vancomycin-treated group died during the treatment phase compared to a mortality of 17%, 33% and 55% in the combination, metronidazole and infected control group, respectively. Mice treated with vancomycin alone or in combination with metronidazole recovered from CDI faster than mice treated with metronidazole alone. However, after discontinuation of treatment, vancomycin-treated and combination-treated mice succumbed to clinical and bacteriological relapse. Conclusions Mice treated with vancomycin alone had a better clinical outcome in the treatment phase of CDI than mice treated with metronidazole alone. A combination of vancomycin and metronidazole did not improve the clinical outcome when compared to treatment with vancomycin alone. Trial registration number The trial registration number from the Danish Experimental Animal Inspectorate is J number 2012-15-2934-00422.
Visual speechreading and cognitive performance in hearing-impaired and normal hearing children (11-14 years).

BACKGROUND Previous research has demonstrated that parts of the variation in adults' speechreading performance can be explained by the characteristics of some cognitive components. However, these results apply to populations of adults and less is known as to how results for populations of adults can be generalised to populations of children. AIM This study aimed to examine cognitive and visual skills in a group of bilaterally, moderately hearing-impaired children and a group of normal hearing children and how these two skills relate to variability in speechreading of context-embedded sentences. SAMPLE Twenty-three hearing-impaired children (mean age: 12.7) and 23 normal hearing children (mean age: 12.5) matched for age, sex, verbal ability and school grades. The mean 'better ear' auditory threshold for the hearing-impaired was 44.8 dB. RESULTS The hearing-impaired children outperformed the normal hearing children on a sentence-based speechreading task and on a visual-visual word-decoding task, but not on a word-discrimination task. Differing from the case of adults, most cognitive tasks proved to be significantly related to sentence-based speechreading performance, where working memory capacity and visual word-decoding skill proved to be the strongest predictors. CONCLUSIONS Speechreading is more cognitively demanding for children than for adults as they have not developed their cognitive abilities to the same extent as adults. Thus, they have to devote more processing capacity, relative to their total cognitive processing capacity, to the speechreading task. Skilled visual word-decoding and cognitive skills, together with everyday exposure to situations where speechreading is required, are some of the candidates for explanation of the hearing-impaired children's superior speechreading skill.
Pregnancy After Combined Pancreas-Kidney Transplantation

Four successful cases of pregnancy after combined pancreas-kidney transplantation at four different centers are summarized. The techniques used for the pancreas transplantations were duct obstruction in one patient and enteric exocrine diversion in two patients; in all three patients the insulin delivery was to the systemic circulation. In one patient exocrine diversion was to the stomach and the vascular anastomosis to the splenic vessels, thus accomplishing portal insulin delivery. Immunosuppression consisted of cyclosporin and prednisolone in two patients; cyclosporin alone in one patient; and cyclosporin, azathioprine, and prednisolone in one patient. In all a cesarean section was performed, due to deteriorating renal function in two patients, a fall in fetal growth in one patient, and fear of inducing pancreas-graft pancreatitis during normal delivery in one patient. In all four women, perfect metabolic control was retained throughout the pregnancy, and despite the proximity of the pancreas graft to the growing uterus in three of the women, the pancreas grafts did not suffer any damage during the pregnancy. However, in one patient the pancreas graft was lost in acute rejection after delivery. This pancreas had functioned normally for 3 yr before this occasion. Of the offspring, one was completely normal, one had a bilateral cataract, and two were small for date. The latter two subsequently showed normal growth development. At follow-up at 3, 5, 7, and 28 mo, ail kidney grafts and three of the pancreas grafts remained functional. We conclude that after combined pancreas-kidney transplantation, successful conception and pregnancy can be obtained. Despite reduced islet mass (segmental grafts), normal metabolic control can be retained throughout the pregnancy. However, the risks of complications related to kidney- or pancreas-graft function are considerable and must be emphasized in each case in which pregnancy is considered.