Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute Systemic Inflammation is Associated with an Increase in Peritoneal Solute Transport Rate in Chronic Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background This study was performed to evaluate the effects of acute systemic inflammation on peritoneal solute transport rate (PSTR) in chronic peritoneal dialysis (CPD) patients. Methods A baseline standard peritoneal equilibration test (PET) was performed on each patient every 6 months, and blood concentration of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was assayed every 2 months in our peritoneal dialysis clinic. Acute systemic inflammation was defined as a greater than 10-fold increase in hs-CRP concentration compared with baseline value, in the absence of peritonitis, and returning to baseline level in 2 months. In patients with acute systemic inflammation, PET and hs-CRP concentration assays were performed during inflammation and after recovery. Ten patients with acute systemic inflammation were enrolled in the inflammation group and 42 other patients served as controls. Results There were no significant changes in hs-CRP and dialysate-to-plasma ratio of creatinine (D/Pcreat) in the control group during the study period. In the inflammation group, median hs-CRP levels at baseline, during acute inflammation, and at recovery were 2.3 mg/L (range 0.3 – 4.5 mg/L), 39.2 mg/L (range 15.1 – 117.4 mg/L), and 3.7 mg/L (range 0.9 – 8.9 mg/L), respectively. Median D/Pcreat increased significantly from baseline (0.64; range 0.55 – 0.98) to time of acute inflammation (0.72; range 0.60 – 0.96) (p < 0.05). The D/Pcreat at recovery was 0.67 (range 0.52 – 0.94), which decreased significantly from time of acute inflammation (p < 0.05). There was no correlation between changes in log (hs-CRP) and changes in D/Pcreat. Conclusion We have shown here that acute systemic inflammation is associated with a temporary increase in PSTR in CPD patients.
Multiple solutions for semilinear elliptic systems with non-homogeneous boundary conditions

Since the early seventies, many authors have widely investigated existence and multiplicity of solutions for semilinear elliptic problems with Dirichlet boundary conditions, especially by means of variational methods (see [22] and references therein). In particular, if ’ is a real L2-function on a bounded domain ⊂ Rn, p¿ 2 and p¡ 2∗ if n¿ 3 (here, 2∗ = 2n n−2 ), the following model problem   −6u= |u|p−2u + ’ in ;
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): halo formation times and halo assembly bias on the cosmic web

We present evidence for halo assembly bias as a function of geometric environment (GE). By classifying Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) galaxy groups as residing in voids, sheets, filaments or knots using a tidal tensor method, we find that low-mass haloes that reside in knots are older than haloes of the same mass that reside in voids. This result provides direct support to theories that link strong halo tidal interactions with halo assembly times. The trend with GE is reversed at large halo mass, with haloes in knots being younger than haloes of the same mass in voids. We find a clear signal of halo downsizing – more massive haloes host galaxies that assembled their stars earlier. This overall trend holds independently of GE. We support our analysis with an in-depth exploration of the L-Galaxies semi-analytic model, used here to correlate several galaxy properties with three different definitions of halo formation time. We find a complex relationship between halo formation time and galaxy properties, with significant scatter. We confirm that stellar mass to halo mass ratio, specific star formation rate (SFR) and mass-weighed age are reasonable proxies of halo formation time, especially at low halo masses. Instantaneous SFR is a poor indicator at all halo masses. Using the same semi-analytic model, we create mock spectral observations using complex star formation and chemical enrichment histories, which approximately mimic GAMA’s typical signal-to-noise ratio and wavelength range. We use these mocks to assert how well potential proxies of halo formation time may be recovered from GAMA-like spectroscopic data.
Gamma irradiation and gibberellic acid for improving of seed germination and seedling growth of koelreuteria paniculata laxm

Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm. (golden rain–tree) is propagated by seeds. However, natural germination is delayed because of morphological dormancy and physiological dormancy in seed coat and seed embryo. In this paper, the different methods for breaking seed dormancy were investigated. The treatments included different doses of gamma irradiation (0.0, 100, 150 and 200 Gy) and gibberellic acid (0.0, 50, 100, 200 and 400 ppm). Data were recorded on germination including; germination percentage, germination velocity, germination capacity, germination period and germination rate index. Furthermore, data on seedling growth after germination were recorded including plant height, number of main branches, shoot fresh and dry weights and root length. The chemical components (total carbohydrates, Chlorophyll-a, -b, total carotenoids, total soluble indoles and total soluble phenols) also were determined. The obtained results revealed that, there is a significant difference among the various methods used in breaking dormancy in seeds of Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm tree. Gamma irradiation and gibberellic acid stimulate germination and seedlings growth parameter and chemical components of Koelreuteria paniculata. Gamma irrradiation at 150 Gy was the optimum dose for improving the seedling growth, germination and chemical components. Moreover, gibberellic acid at 100 ppm was considered as suitable for improving germination parameter, seedling growth parameter and chemical component compared to control. From these results the use of γ-irradiation and gibberellic acid should be adopted in breaking Koelreuteria paniculata seed dormancy by farmers.
Is intermittent fasting a scientifically-based dietary method ?

Overfeeding seriously affects human mortality and morbidity and therefore weight loss represents an important tool to improve health and enhance the quality of life. Caloric restriction could ameliorate the health status in both obese and normal weight individuals and is one of the few methods known to prolong life span. The principle of daily caloric restriction is difficult to implement in practice. Intermittent fasting has been intended as a solution that takes advantage of the caloric restriction positive effects, but does not have its side effects. More and more studies support the idea that intermittent fasting and continuous caloric restriction activate the same biological mechanisms. This article is trying to summarize the scientific facts about the intermittent fasting and also the benefits, efficacy, indications and side effects of this dietary regimen.
Spiritual Beliefs and Abstinence among Persons with Alcohol Dependence

Objective: The aim of the study was to see if spiritual beliefs resulted in longer durations of abstinence among persons with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome. Methodology: 30 respondents each from a hospital based centre and Alcoholics Anonymous AA support group meetings from Bangalore who were abstinent from alcohol since over 6 months formed the study sample. Spiritual beliefs were assessed using the Beliefs and Values Scale. Results: The abstinence period was reported to be higher in the AA group than the clinical group as well as the AA group showed higher spiritual beliefs than the clinical group. Conclusion: Further research in India should explore the use of spirituality in the area of mental health.
Operation and Application of a Regional High-Frequency Radar Network in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARCOOS) High-Frequency Radar Network, which comprises 13 long-range sites, 2 medium-range sites, and 12 standard-range sites, is operated as part of the Integrated Ocean Observing System. This regional implementation of the network has been operational for 2 years and has matured to the point where the radars provide consistent coverage from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. A concerted effort was made in the MARCOOS project to increase the resiliency of the radar stations from the elements, power issues, and other issues that can disable the hardware of the system. The quality control and assurance activities in the Mid-Atlantic Bight have been guided by the needs of the Coast Guard Search and Rescue Office. As of May 2009, these quality-controlled MARCOOS High-Frequency Radar totals are being served through the Coast Guard's Environmental Data Server to the Coast Guard Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System. In addition to the service to U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue Operations, this data supports water quality, physical oceanographic, and fisheries research throughout the Mid-Atlantic Bight.
Calibrated histochemistry applied to oxygen supply and demand in hypertrophied rat myocardium

Oxygen supply and demand of individual cardiomyocytes during the development of myocardial hypertrophy is studied using calibrated histochemical methods. An oxygen diffusion model is used to calculate the critical extracellular oxygen tension (PO2,crit) required by cardiomyocytes to prevent hypoxia during hypertrophic growth, and determinants of PO2,crit are estimated using calibrated histochemical methods for succinate dehydrogenase activity, cardiomyocyte cross‐sectional area, and myoglobin concentration. The model calculation demonstrates that it is essential to calibrate the histochemical methods, so that absolute values for the relevant parameters are obtained. The succinate dehydrogenase activity, which is proportional to the maximum rate of oxygen consumption, and the myoglobin concentration hardly change while the cardiomyocytes grow. The cross‐sectional area of the cardiomyocytes, which increases up to threefold in the right ventricular wall due to pulmonary hypertension in monocrotaline‐treated rats, is the most important determinant of PO2,crit in this model of myocardial hypertrophy. The relationship between oxygen supply and demand at the level of the cardiomyocyte can be investigated using paired determinations of spatially integrated succinate dehydrogenase activity and capillary density. Hypoxia‐inducible factor 1α can be demonstrated by immunohistochemistry in cardiomyocytes with high PO2,crit and increased spatially integrated succinate dehydrogenase activity, indicating that limited oxygen supply affects gene expression in these cells. We conclude that a mismatch of oxygen supply and demand may develop during hypertrophic growth, which can play a role in the transition from myocardial hypertrophy to heart failure. Microsc. Res. Tech. 58:412–420, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Study of Employability and Needed Skills for LIS Graduates

This paper discusses the employability of LIS graduates, its trend, and the skills needed to enhance employability. It is based on a study conducted on the employability of LIS graduates of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda over a period of ten years. Findings show that employability of LIS graduates is nearly 100 %. Employability trends can be traced to changes in the nature of employers, salary and designation in recent years. Further, communication skills and IT skills are found to be very indispensable employability skills that the LIS graduates should possess. This finding has implications towards regular revamping of LIS curriculum design in a way that would enable the LIS graduates to meet the expectations of changing information job market. DOI: 10.14429/djlit.35. 2.8312
Joint transceiver design for MIMO relay systems employing SC-FDE

In this paper, we propose a joint transceiver design for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay systems employing single-carrier frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE). We first derive the optimal minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) frequency-domain linear equalization filter at the destination and the associated stream-wise MSEs at the output of the equalizer. Subsequently, we optimize the source and relay precoding matrices for various optimality criteria by minimizing a general function of the MSEs subject to separate source and relay power constraints. The structures of the optimal source and relay precoding matrices are obtained in closed form and the remaining power allocation problems are solved using an alternating optimization algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed SC-FDE designs outperform orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing based MIMO relay systems in terms of both uncoded and coded bit error rate.
Crime and Unemployment in Ireland, 2003-2016

This paper investigates the relationship between crime and unemployment in Ireland during the Celtic Tiger boom, Great Recession, and subsequent economic recovery. Using unique administrative police station-level crime data and exploiting large variation in unemployment rates, I rst document that a 10% increase in unemployment is associated with a 5% increase in thefts and burglaries. Instrumental variables show that a 1,000-person decline in employment causes 15-25 more thefts or burglaries per quarter. The property crime-unemployment relationship remained robust during the most recent period of substantial economic recovery, with areas where the recovery was fastest also experiencing sharper decreases in property crime. JEL classication: K42, J64.
Genome-wide identification and characterization of small RNAs in Rhodobacter capsulatus and identification of small RNAs affected by loss of the response regulator CtrA

ABSTRACT Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are involved in the control of numerous cellular processes through various regulatory mechanisms, and in the past decade many studies have identified sRNAs in a multitude of bacterial species using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Here, we present the first genome-wide analysis of sRNA sequencing data in Rhodobacter capsulatus, a purple nonsulfur photosynthetic alphaproteobacterium. Using a recently developed bioinformatics approach, sRNA-Detect, we detected 422 putative sRNAs from R. capsulatus RNA-seq data. Based on their sequence similarity to sRNAs in a sRNA collection, consisting of published putative sRNAs from 23 additional bacterial species, and RNA databases, the sequences of 124 putative sRNAs were conserved in at least one other bacterial species; and, 19 putative sRNAs were assigned a predicted function. We bioinformatically characterized all putative sRNAs and applied machine learning approaches to calculate the probability of a nucleotide sequence to be a bona fide sRNA. The resulting quantitative model was able to correctly classify 95.2% of sequences in a validation set. We found that putative cis-targets for antisense and partially overlapping sRNAs were enriched with protein-coding genes involved in primary metabolic processes, photosynthesis, compound binding, and with genes forming part of macromolecular complexes. We performed differential expression analysis to compare the wild type strain to a mutant lacking the response regulator CtrA, an important regulator of gene expression in R. capsulatus, and identified 18 putative sRNAs with differing levels in the two strains. Finally, we validated the existence and expression patterns of four novel sRNAs by Northern blot analysis.
THE EFFECTS OF 8 WEEKS HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING ( HIIT ) WITH GARLIC COMPLEMENT ON SOME LIPID PROFILES IN OBESE INACTIVE WOMEN

Sedentary life style is an independent risk factor for chronic disease especially metabolic syndrome such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Overweight and obesity has become a serious public health problem worldwide. On the other hand, metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent among 30-70 year olds of Iranian population. Physical inactivity, Lifestyle modification and subsequent weight gain may lead to a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The lack of sufficient time and time consuming exercise programs are among the main causes of reduced physical activity in various members of the society, especially women. Moreover, the majorities of exercise protocols for reducing fat rely on long-term and regular exercises such as walking; have led to negligible weight loss and body fat burning(3). Thus, new exercise strategies that more effectively reduce body fat are required in overweight, inactive individuals. Acta Medica Mediterranea, 2017, 33: 271
Responding to Socially Desirable and Undesirable Topics: Different Types of Response Behaviour?

Social desirability describes the tendency of respondents to present themselves in a more positive light than is accurate and is a serious concern in surveys. If researchers are better able to understand the underlying mechanisms responsible for social desirability bias, they may be able to devise ways to identify and correct for it. One possibility involves determining whether social desirability is more of a deliberate ‘editing’ of responses or an automatic, perhaps ‘self-deceptive’, act. Then researchers could potentially flag conspicuously fast or slow responses to improve data quality. We outline dual-process-related theoretical arguments for both scenarios and test their plausibility using data gathered in a tablet-based CASI survey of pre-service teachers in Germany that were asked to assess their suitability for their chosen profession. Our analysis involves the use of fixed-effects multilevel models that enable us to control for unobserved differences between respondent- and item-characteristics while also examining cross-level interactions between the predictors at various levels. Specifically, we examine the classic respondent- (i.e. need for social approval) and item-related characteristics (i.e. trait desirability) associated with social desirability bias, as well as the speed at which the respondents gave their answers. Doing so allows us to observe under what circumstances the respondents tended to overstate positive characteristics as well as understate negative ones. We find evidence for social desirability as an automatic as well as a deliberate response behaviour. However, the mechanism responsible for determining whether social desirability occurs automatically or deliberately seems to be whether the item content is desirable or undesirable. Desirable traits seem to elicit faster socially desirable responses whereas undesirable traits seem to elicit slower socially desirable responses.
Analyzing developmental trajectories: A semiparametric, group-based approach

Carnegie Mellon UniversityA developmental trajectory describes the course of a behavior over age or time. Agroup-based method for identifying distinctive groups of individual trajectorieswithin the population and for profiling the characteristics of group members isdemonstrated. Such clusters might include groups of "increasers. " "decreasers,"and "no changers. " Suitably defined probability distributions are used to handle 3data types—count, binary, and psychometric scale data. Four capabilities are dem-onstrated: (a) the capability to identify rather than assume distinctive groups oftrajectories, (b) the capability to estimate the proportion of the population followingeach such trajectory group, (c) the capability to relate group membership probabil-ity to individual characteristics and circumstances, and (d) the capability to use thegroup membership probabilities for various other purposes such as creating profilesof group members.
Study of some contention techniques for gathering tarantula venom

The study of various types of venom has become a priority in the last years for medical sciences and biology Tarantula venoms represent a natural wealth of combinations of chemical compounds that attract more and more attention of pharmacologists. Over the last decade, these venoms have been studied to ultimately generate solutions: strong, selective bioactive products for medicine, but harvesting tarantula venom are a real challenge. In this respect, this initial present study aims to identify and analyze several methods of contention and anesthesia to allow operators an easier access to gathering the tarantula venom. Also due to scientific parsimony in relation to these venoms, data and specific uses in biology and medicine, we considered it necessary to present more in detail the main concerns of science on this topic at this time.
Suffering Peacefully: Experiences of Infancy Death in Contemporary Zambia

In Ng'ombe Township in Lusaka, the death of a baby is often met with silence. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, this article explores how the bereaved mother's silence is guided by wider cultural norms and values associated with death, by complex notions of what it means to be a person, and by local perceptions of mental health and well-being. To enhance the complexity of the mother's silences, it also explores how structures of poverty manifest in mothers’ experiences of loss and how silence may hold feelings of inadequacy but also of care and compassion. Finally, the article aims to provide a counterweight to the predominant assumption that mothers in poor communities, who experience high levels of infant mortality, fail to mourn the death of their babies, as well as to psychological theories that assumes verbal expressions as vital for the mourner's mental recovery after loss.
Identification of novel vascular projections with cellular trafficking abilities on the microvasculature of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a nearly lethal neoplasm. It is a remarkably stroma‐rich, vascular‐poor and hypo‐perfused tumour, which prevents efficient drug delivery. Paradoxically, the neoplastic cells have robust glucose uptake, suggesting that the microvasculature has adopted an alternative method for nutrient uptake and cellular trafficking. Using adapted thick tumour section immunostaining and three‐dimensional (3D) construction imaging in human tissue samples, we identified an undiscovered feature of the mature microvasculature in advanced PDAC tumours; long, hair‐like projections on the basal surface of microvessels that we refer to as 'basal microvilli'. Functionally, these basal microvilli have an actin‐rich cytoskeleton and endocytic and exocytic properties, and contain glucose transporter‐1 (GLUT‐1)‐positive vesicles. Clinically, as demonstrated by PET–CT, the tumour microvasculature with the longest and most abundant basal microvilli correlated with high glucose uptake of the PDAC tumour itself. In addition, these basal microvilli were found in regions of the tumour with low GLUT‐1 expression, suggesting that their presence could be dependent upon the glucose concentration in the tumour milieu. Similar microvasculature features were also observed in a K‐Ras‐driven model of murine PDAC. Altogether, these basal microvilli mark a novel pathological feature of PDAC microvasculature. Because basal microvilli are pathological features with endo‐ and exocytic properties, they may provide a non‐conventional method for cellular trafficking in PDAC tumours. Copyright © 2015 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.