Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic parameter estimates for preweaning growth traits in Santa Gertrudis cattle.

Genetic parameters were estimated for birth weight and weaning weight from records collected on 1,894 Santa Gertrudis calves (939 bulls, 955 heifers) during the 8-yr period, 1978 through 1985. Variance and covariance components were estimated separately by sex and combined across sexes utilizing mixed-model, least-squares procedures (Henderson's Method 3). The mathematical model assumed for estimating variance and covariance components by sex included effects of year, sire-within-year and age of dam. Also, calf weaning age was included as covariate for birth weight and weaning weight. Estimates were obtained across sexes utilizing the same model, with the addition of effects of sex of calf and the sex-of-calf X age-of-dam interaction. Heritabilities and genetic and phenotypic correlations were estimated using paternal half-sib techniques. The heritability estimate for birth weight for bulls was 1.6 times larger than that for heifers (.38 +/- .12 vs .24 +/- .10). Conversely, the heritability estimate for weaning weight for heifers was 1.5 times larger than that for bulls (.45 +/- .12 vs .30 +/- .11). However, based upon their approximate standard errors, neither of these differences was significant. Heritability estimates calculated across sexes were . 32 +/- . 07 and . 42 +/- . 08 for birth weight and weaning weight, respectively. Estimates of genetic and phenotypic correlations of birth weight and weaning weight by sex were . 43 +/- . 21 and . 31, respectively, for bulls and . 33 +/- . 22 and . 27, respectively, for heifers. Calculated across sexes, the genetic correlation was . 40 +/- . 14 and the phenotypic correlation was . 29.
Picosecond fluctuating protein energy landscape mapped by pressure–temperature molecular dynamics simulation

Microscopic statistical pressure fluctuations can, in principle, lead to corresponding fluctuations in the shape of a protein energy landscape. To examine this, nanosecond molecular dynamics simulations of lysozyme are performed covering a range of temperatures and pressures. The well known dynamical transition with temperature is found to be pressure-independent, indicating that the effective energy barriers separating conformational substates are not significantly influenced by pressure. In contrast, vibrations within substates stiffen with pressure, due to increased curvature of the local harmonic potential in which the atoms vibrate. The application of pressure is also shown to selectively increase the damping of the anharmonic, low-frequency collective modes in the protein, leaving the more local modes relatively unaffected. The critical damping frequency, i.e., the frequency at which energy is most efficiently dissipated, increases linearly with pressure. The results suggest that an invariant description of protein energy landscapes should be subsumed by a fluctuating picture and that this may have repercussions in, for example, mechanisms of energy dissipation accompanying functional, structural, and chemical relaxation.
Development of Ornithine Metabolism in the Mouse Intestine

ABSTRACT: Circulating arginine available for synthesis of protein is produced in the kidney of the adult mammal by the action of the last two enzymes of the urea cycle, argininosuccinate synthase and argininosuccinate lyase. In a previous publication, we reported the presence of a complete biosynthetic pathway for arginine in the intestine of the neonatal mouse at a time when no other endogenous sources of arginine were available. Our present study was aimed at the determination of the source of ornithine used by the intestine of the neonatal mouse for the synthesis of arginine. We established the developmental profile of the two intestinal mitochondrial enzymes, pyrroline 5-carbox-ylate synthase and ornithine aminotransferase, responsible for the conversion of glutamate to ornithine. Both enzymatic activities were found to be significantly elevated throughout the suckling period with a peak of activity during the 2nd wk of life. Glutamate dehydrogenase activity in the intestine did not appear to be developmentally regulated during the suckling and weaning periods; therefore, this enzyme was used as a convenient marker to quantify mitochondrial preparations. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was undetectable in the intestine of the mouse during the suckling period and was detected briefly at weaning, indicating that ornithine synthesized in the intestinal mitochondria is probably not diverted actively into the polyamine pathway and is available for synthesis of arginine by the enzymes of the urea cycle.
Central Nervous System PET-CT Imaging Reveals Regional Impairments in Pediatric Patients with Wolfram Syndrome

Wolfram syndrome (WFS) is inherited as an autosomal recessive disease with main clinical features of diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy, diabetes insipidus and deafness. However, various neurological defects may also be detected. The aim of this study was to evaluate aspects of brain structure and function using PET-CT (positron emission tomography and computed tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in pediatric patients with WFS. Regional changes in brain glucose metabolism were measured using standardized uptake values (SUVs) based on images of (18F) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in 7 WFS patients aged 10.1–16.0 years (mean 12.9±2.4) and in 20 healthy children aged 3–17.9 years (mean 12.8±4.1). In all patients the diagnosis of WFS was confirmed by DNA sequencing of the WFS1 gene. Hierarchical clustering showed remarkable similarities of glucose uptake patterns among WFS patients and their differences from the control group. SUV data were subsequently standardized for age groups <13 years old and>13 years old to account for developmental differences. Reduced SUVs in WFS patients as compared to the control group for the bilateral brain regions such as occipital lobe (−1.24±1.20 vs. −0.13±1.05; p = 0.028) and cerebellum (−1.11±0.69 vs. −0.204±1.00; p = 0.036) were observed and the same tendency for cingulate (−1.13±1.05 vs. −0.15±1.12; p = 0.056), temporal lobe (−1.10±0.98 vs. −0.15±1.10; p = 0.057), parietal lobe (−1.06±1.20 vs. −0.08±1.08; p = 0.058), central region (−1.01±1.04 vs. −0.09±1.06; p = 0.060), basal ganglia (−1.05±0.74 vs. −0.20±1.07; p = 0.066) and mesial temporal lobe (−1.06±0.82 vs. −0.26±1.08; p = 0.087) was also noticed. After adjusting for multiple hypothesis testing, the differences in glucose uptake were non-significant. For the first time, regional differences in brain glucose metabolism among patients with WFS were shown using PET-CT imaging.
Epidemiological and virological characterization of 2009 pandemic influenza A virus subtype H1N1 in Madagascar.

BACKGROUND Madagascar was one of the first African countries to be affected by the 2009 pandemic of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 [A(H1N1)pdm2009] infection. The outbreak started in the capital city, Antananarivo, and then spread throughout the country from October 2009 through February 2010. METHODS Specimens from patients presenting with influenza-like illness were collected and shipped to the National Influenza Center in Madagascar for analyses, together with forms containing patient demographic and clinical information. RESULTS Of the 2303 specimens tested, 1016 (44.1%) and 131 (5.7%) yielded A(H1N1)pdm09 and seasonal influenza virus, respectively. Most specimens (42.0%) received were collected from patients <10 years old. Patients <20 years old were more likely than patients >50 years old to be infected with A(H1N1)pdm09 (odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-2.6; P < .01). Although phylogenetic analyses of A(H1N1)pdm09 suggested multiple introductions of the virus into Madagascar, no antigenic differences between A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses recovered in Madagascar and those that circulated worldwide were observed. CONCLUSIONS The high proportion of respiratory specimens positive for A(H1N1)pdm09 is consistent with a widespread transmission of the pandemic in Madagascar. The age distribution of cases of A(H1N1)pdm09 infection suggests that children and young adults could be targeted for interventions that aim to reduce transmission during an influenza pandemic.
New possibilities of Magnesium utilization in wastewater treatment and nutrients recovery

New possibilities of nutrients removal by additions of magnesium compounds were studied in primary treatment and supernatant of side stream in wastewater treatment. The precipitation product from this method is magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) socalled struvite. High efficiencies on NH4-N and PO4-P removals have been demonstrated up to over 90 % respectively in side stream from dewatering of digested sludge. In order to find out the nutrient removal efficiency in raw wastewater and the feasibility of MAP recycling in wastewater treatment, the postulations of combining MAP and nitrification-denitrification process, and MAP and partial nitritation-anmmox process were carried out by experimental works in the laboratory at Land and Water Resources Department, KTH. It was found that 92-97 % of PO4-P and 57 % of NH4-N were removed from raw wastewater by Mg2+ addition at pH10 to pH10.5. The research work revealed that recycling of MAP by nitrification-denitrification and partial nitritation-anmmox processes may be a feasibly process combination. In MAP and nitrification -denitrification process, the released ammonium was mostly oxidized to nitrate in nitrification phase and ready for denitrification. Based on presented results on MAP and partial nitritation-anmmox process, it was found that the released ammonium was consumed by anammox bacteria.
Structure of human monoamine oxidase A at 2.2-Å resolution: The control of opening the entry for substrates/inhibitors

The mitochondrial outer membrane-anchored monoamine oxidase (MAO) is a biochemically important flavoenzyme that catalyzes the deamination of biogenic and xenobiotic amines. Its two subtypes, MAOA and MAOB, are linked to several psychiatric disorders and therefore are interesting targets for drug design. To understand the relationship between structure and function of this enzyme, we extended our previous low-resolution rat MAOA structure to the high-resolution wild-type and G110A mutant human MAOA structures at 2.2 and 2.17 Å, respectively. The high-resolution MAOA structures are similar to those of rat MAOA and human MAOB, but different from the known structure of human MAOA [De Colibus L, et al. (2005) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:12684–12689], specifically regarding residues 108–118 and 210–216, which surround the substrate/inhibitor cavity. The results confirm that the inhibitor selectivity of MAOA and MAOB is caused by the structural differences arising from Ile-335 in MAOA vs. Tyr-326 in MAOB. The structures exhibit a C-terminal transmembrane helix with clear electron density, as is also seen in rat MAOA. Mutations on one residue of loop 108–118, G110, which is far from the active center but close to the membrane surface, cause the solubilized enzyme to undergo a dramatic drop in activity, but have less effect when the enzyme is anchored in the membrane. These results suggest that the flexibility of loop 108–118, facilitated by anchoring the enzyme into the membrane, is essential for controlling substrate access to the active site. We report on the observation of the structure–function relationship between a transmembrane helical anchor and an extra-membrane domain.
Behavioral Corporate Finance: An Updated Survey

We survey the theory and evidence of behavioral corporate finance, which generally takes one of two approaches. The market timing and catering approach views managerial financing and investment decisions as rational managerial responses to securities mispricing. The managerial biases approach studies the direct effects of managers' biases and nonstandard preferences on their decisions. We review relevant psychology, economic theory and predictions, empirical challenges, empirical evidence, new directions such as behavioral signaling, and open questions.
Soft gluons away from jets: distribution and correlation

Recently, an exact conformal mapping between soft gluons emitted from jets at large angle in e+e? -annihilation and those in the BFKL evolution of a high energy hadron has been proposed. We elucidate some remarkable aspects of this correspondence and use them to analytically compute the distribution and correlation of gluons in the interjet region. We also establish the timelike counterpart of Mueller's dipole model and discuss the resulting linear and nonlinear evolution equations.
Preoperative γ-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio (GPR) is an independent prognostic factor for HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma after curative hepatic resection

AbstractLiver fibrosis and cirrhosis is associated with the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after treatment. The &ggr;-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio (GPR) is reported to predict significant liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive value of preoperative GPR on the recurrence and survival of patients with HCC who underwent curative hepatectomy.A retrospective review of demographics, medical records, and prognosis of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)–related HCC was performed. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to analyze differences in recurrence and survival. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used for significance of prognostic factor.A total of 357 patients with HBV-related HCC were included in this analysis. The preoperative GPR was associated with recurrence and survival rates, independent of HCC progression or tumor marker levels, in a multivariate analysis. OS was higher in patients with a GPR <0.84 versus ≥084 (5-year survival rates 58.6% vs. 38.5%; P < 0.001). DFS was also worse in patients with a GPR ≥0.84 than in those with GPR <0.84 (5-year recurrence rates 42.8% vs. 22.8%; P < 0.001). GPR score of ≥0.84 represents a major risk factor for the poor prognosis for HBV-related HCC after hepatic resection, and GPR served as an independent predictive factor for HBV-related HCC OS.
Accurate Object Localization in Gray Level Images Using the Center of Gravity Measure: Accuracy versus Precision

Accurate object localization in gray level images using the center of gravity measure: Accuracy versus precision, " This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to pubs-permissions@ieee.org. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it. Abstract—A widely used subpixel precision estimate of an object center is the weighted center of gravity (COG). We derive three maximum-likelihood estimators for the variance of the two-dimensional (2-D) COG as a function of the noise in the image. We assume that the noise is additive, Gaussian distributed and independent between neighboring pixels. Repeated experiments using 2500 generated 2-D bell-shaped markers superimposed with an increasing amount of Gaussian noise were performed, to compare the three approximations. The error of the most exact approximative variance estimate with respect to true variance was always less than 5% of the latter. This deviation decreases with increasing signal-to-noise ratio. Our second approximation to the variance estimate performed better than the third approximation, which was originally presented by Oron et al. [1] by up to a factor 10. The difference in performance between these two approximations increased with an increasing misplacement of the window in which the COG was calculated with respect to the real COG.
Incidence of helminthic infections and comparative study of pyrantel pamoate with levamisole and mebendazole in hospital patients at Barisal, Bangladesh.

A study was carried out to find out the incidence of helminthic infections in hospitalized patients at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College, Barisal and to determine the comparative efficacy of pyrantel pamoate, levamisole, and mebendazole. It was observed that 76.2 per cent of total hospitalized patients were infected with intestinal helminths. Polyparasitism (52.6 per cent) was more frequent than single infection (21.8 per cent). Amongst these, 47.5 per cent was suffering from Asearis lumbricoides (AL), 42.5 per cent from Hookworm (H.W) and 65.8 per cent from trichuris trichura (TT). Out of 255 cases examined separately, 40 per cent was suffering from Enterobious vermicularis (EV) infection. The comparative study showed that mebendazole produced egg negative stool in 90.9 per cent of AL, 95.6 per cent of HW and 86.8 per cent of TT after eight days of treatment. On the other hand, pyrantel pamoate cured AL in 93.3 per cent, HW in 78.5 per cent and TT in 34.2 per cent eases. Levamisole cured 75 per cent AL, 4.1 per cent H.W. and 22.2 per cent TT within the same period.
Homomorphic Filtering for Improving Time Synchronization in Wireless Networks

Wireless sensor networks are used to sample the environment in a distributed way. Therefore, it is mandatory for all of the measurements to be tightly synchronized in order to guarantee that every sensor is sampling the environment at the exact same instant of time. The synchronization drift gets bigger in environments suffering from temperature variations. Thus, this work is focused on improving time synchronization under deployments with temperature variations. The working hypothesis demonstrated in this work is that the clock skew of two nodes (the ratio of the real frequencies of the oscillators) is composed of a multiplicative combination of two main components: the clock skew due to the variations between the cut of the crystal of each oscillator and the clock skew due to the different temperatures affecting the nodes. By applying a nonlinear filtering, the homomorphic filtering, both components are separated in an effective way. A correction factor based on temperature, which can be applied to any synchronization protocol, is proposed. For testing it, an improvement of the FTSP synchronization protocol has been developed and physically tested under temperature variation scenarios using TelosB motes flashed with the IEEE 802.15. 4 implementation supplied by TinyOS.
Impaired Sprouting and Axonal Atrophy in Cerebellar Climbing Fibres following In Vivo Silencing of the Growth-Associated Protein GAP-43

The adult mammalian central nervous system has a limited ability to establish new connections and to recover from traumatic or degenerative events. The olivo-cerebellar network represents an excellent model to investigate neuroprotection and repair in the brain during adulthood, due to its high plasticity and ordered synaptic organization. To shed light on the molecular mechanisms involved in these events, we focused on the growth-associated protein GAP-43 (also known as B-50 or neuromodulin). During development, this protein plays a crucial role in growth and in branch formation of neurites, while in the adult it is only expressed in a few brain regions, including the inferior olive (IO) where climbing fibres (CFs) originate. Following axotomy GAP-43 is usually up-regulated in association with regeneration. Here we describe an in vivo lentiviral-mediated gene silencing approach, used for the first time in the olivo-cerebellar system, to efficiently and specifically downregulate GAP-43 in rodents CFs. We show that lack of GAP-43 causes an atrophy of the CF in non-traumatic conditions, consisting in a decrease of its length, branching and number of synaptic boutons. We also investigated CF regenerative ability by inducing a subtotal lesion of the IO. Noteworthy, surviving CFs lacking GAP-43 were largely unable to sprout on surrounding Purkinje cells. Collectively, our results demonstrate that GAP-43 is essential both to maintain CFs structure in non-traumatic condition and to promote sprouting after partial lesion of the IO.
Interfacial Stresses in RC Beams Strengthened by Externally Bonded FRP/Steel Plates with Effects of Shear Deformations

AbstractThis paper introduces an analytical method to calculate the interfacial shear and normal stresses in reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened by a fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheet or a steel plate (i.e., a soffit plate). The maximum interfacial shear and normal stresses are localized at the end of the soffit plate, and as a result, a debonding phenomenon develops at this position and may produce a sudden failure of the structure. The effects of the shear deformations are calculated in an RC beam, an adhesive layer, and a soffit plate. Thus, the composite RC beam is assumed to be a Timoshenko beam. Application of shear deformations to a Timoshenko beam results in a pair of simultaneous second-order and fourth-order ordinary differential equations. In the engineering literature, these equations are called coupled differential equations. These coupled equations are solved analytically considering all terms. The present paper illustrates the effects of interfacial stresses on the behavior of RC.
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Perioperative Cardiac Allograft Failure

The utility of mechanical support in pretransplant stabilization and postcardiotomy shock is well established, but its use in perioperative cardiac allograft failure (PCAGF) rescue has not been well documented. Ventricular assist devices (VADs) have been applied to PCAGF rescue with acceptable results. However, studies have not described the results of using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in PCAGF. We evaluated the outcome of PCAGF rescue with ECMO. A retrospective review of 204 consecutive heart transplants revealed 19 cases of PCAGF requiring ECMO rescue. Donor-, surgery- and ECMO-related variables were evaluated for association with operative mortality, success of weaning, and survival rate. Transplant recipients included 14 males and 5 females with median age of 44.2 years. Weaning rate was 84.2% and survival rate was 52.6%, with duration of ECMO support 157 ± 129 hours. Long ischemic time is a PCAGF risk factor (206.8 ± 96.1 minutes vs. 158.3 ± 60.8 minutes in non-PCAGF, p < 0.05). PCAGF etiology included primary graft failure (n = 7); right heart failure secondary to pulmonary hypertension, coagulopathy/intraoperative hemorrhage (n = 7); and sepsis (n = 2). Compared with data from VAD-supported PCAGF, ECMO had a better weaning and graft survival rates (p < 0.05). ECMO is another choice for PCAGF rescue. It has an acceptable survival rate and may be considered instead of VADs as a first-line rescue for PCAGF.
Better Appearance Models for Pictorial Structures

We present a novel approach for estimating body part appearance models for pictorial structures. We learn latent relationships between the appearance of different body parts from annotated images, which then help in estimating better appearance models on novel images. The learned appearance models are general, in that they can be plugged into any pictorial structure engine. In a comprehensive evaluation we demonstrate the beneﬁts brought by the new appearance models to an existing articulated human pose estimation algorithm, on hundreds of highly challenging images from the TV series Buffy the vampire slayer and the PASCAL VOC 2008 challenge.