Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of canine oocytes matured and fertilised in vitro

obtained from the wild dogs were virtually identical and clearly distinguishable from other typical South African canid rabies virus isolates (Fig 1). Cumulatively, these results strongly suggest that jackals were the principal host species of the rabies cycle, and transmitted the infection to the wild dog pack. The supposition is that the alpha male brought the infection into the pack, since he was the first to die. On October 1, immediately after rabies was diagnosed, the surviving seven dogs were immobilised and moved to a 1 hectare holding boma at Madikwe for observation and vaccination. The dogs were given inactivated rabies vaccine (Rabisin) at a dose of 1 ml given intramuscularly in the biceps femoris, during immobilisation with tiletamine and zolazepam (Zoletil, Virbac) and xylazine (Rompum; Bayer). One yearling died during immobilisation and was diagnosed negative for rabies. Despite vaccination three dogs died of rabies 16 to 21 days after they were placed in the boma. Two of the surviV'ing dogs were released from the boma after 10 months. The last surviving animal was successfully integrated into a captive breeding programme at another site. The three survivors were vaccinated at intervals and their serum tested in cell culture for neutralising antibodies (Cliquet and others 1998). Antibody titres were present soon after the primary vaccination but declined despite booster vaccinations (Table 2). The poor response to vaccination is worth further investigation and may indicate why the adult males and other wild dogs (Burrows 1992, Kat and others 1996) were susceptible to rabies despite having been vaccinated. It has been suggested that intervention may increase the susceptibility of wild dogs to rabies (Burrows and others 1994). In this outbreak, however, vaccination probably saved three of the dogs. Table 1 strongly suggests that the dogs that died following vaccination did not shed virus, while those that died without vaccination had rabies antigen in their salivary glands. Therefore, vaccination may have reduced or eliminated virus shedding from infected animals and may have reduced the risk of infection to other members of the pack. It was felt that euthanasia of the affected dogs was important in preventing excessive contact of healthy dogs with infected ones. Another possibility, that of isolating the affected dogs, was rejected on the grounds that it would cause unnecessary stress that could mask clinical signs and interfere with monitoring. Rapid and effective intervention in an infected pack is important in preventing dissem'ination of the disease to all members of the pack.
Genome‐wide linkage of obstructive sleep apnoea and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol in a Filipino family: bivariate linkage analysis of obstructive sleep apnoea

Increasing evidence supports an association between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and metabolic syndrome (MeS) in both children and adults, suggesting a genetic component. However, the genetic relationship between the diseases remains unclear. We performed a bivariate linkage scan on a single Filipino family with a high prevalence of OSA and MeS to explore the genetic pathways underlying these diseases. A large rural family (n = 50, 50% adults) underwent a 10‐cM genome‐wide scan. Fasting blood was used to measure insulin, triglycerides, total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Attended overnight polysomnography was used to quantify the respiratory disturbance index (RDI), a measure of sleep apnoea. Body mass index z‐scores and insulin resistance scores were calculated. Bivariate multipoint linkage analyses were performed on RDI and MeS components. OSA prevalence was 46% (n = 23; nine adults, 14 children) in our participants. MeS phenotype was present in 40% of adults (n = 10) and 48% of children (n = 12). Linkage peaks with a logarithm of odds (LOD) score >3 were demonstrated on chromosome 19q13.4 (LOD = 3.04) for the trait pair RDI and HDL cholesterol. Candidate genes identified in this region include the killer cell immunoglobulin‐like receptor genes. These genes are associated with modulating inflammatory responses in reaction to cellular stress and initiation of atherosclerotic plaque formation. We have identified a novel locus for genetic links between RDI and lipid factors associated with MeS in a chromosomal region containing genes associated with inflammatory responses.
Reliable Observer-Based Control Against Sensor Failures for Systems With Time Delays in Both State and Input

For systems with both state and input time delays, a novel state and sensor fault observer is proposed in this paper to estimate system states and sensor faults simultaneously. In this design, a descriptor system approach and a linear matrix inequality technique are adopted, where the considered sensor fault may be in any form, even unbounded. Unbounded sensor faults will make the system fail unavoidably; it is indispensable to derive a reliable control scheme against sensor failures. Using the estimated state and sensor fault, a reliable observer-based controller is proposed, which makes the system work well no matter whether sensor faults occur or not. The present approaches are next extended to the case for systems with multiple time delays. Finally, a simulation example of the network of three cascaded reactors is used to illustrate the design procedure and demonstrate the efficiency of the present techniques.
On the measurement of naturalization

This paper proposes a new way of measuring naturalization, which takes into account both emigration and death. I argue that the new method corrects for underestimation and thus provides a more accurate measure of the concept. Using data from six groups of the 1973 immigrant cohort and multiple-decrement life table techniques, I estimated and compared naturalization measures derived from new and old methods. The results show that failure to control for emigration has a significant effect on the measurement of naturalization, particularly if an immigrant group has relatively high rate of emigration. Some further substantive implications of this new method are also explored.
PIKfyve Regulation of Endosome-Linked Pathways

The phosphoinositide 5‐kinase (PIKfyve) is a critical enzyme for the synthesis of PtdIns(3,5)P2, that has been implicated in various trafficking events associated with the endocytic pathway. We have now directly compared the effects of siRNA‐mediated knockdown of PIKfyve in HeLa cells with a specific pharmacological inhibitor of enzyme activity. Both approaches induce changes in the distribution of CI‐M6PR and trans‐Golgi network (TGN)‐46 proteins, which cycles between endosomes and TGN, leading to their accumulation in dispersed punctae, whilst the TGN marker golgin‐245 retains a perinuclear disposition. Trafficking of CD8‐CI‐M6PR (retromer‐dependent) and CD8‐Furin (retromer‐independent) chimeras from the cell surface to the TGN is delayed following drug administration, as is the transport of the Shiga toxin B‐subunit. siRNA knockdown of PIKfyve produced no defect in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) degradation, unless combined with knockdown of its activator molecule Vac14, suggesting that a low threshold of PtdIns(3,5)P2 is necessary and sufficient for this pathway. Accordingly pharmacological inhibition of PIKfyve results in a profound block to the lysosomal degradation of activated epidermal growth factor (EGF) and Met receptors. Immunofluorescence revealed EGF receptors to be trapped in the interior of a swollen endosomal compartment. In cells starved of amino acids, PIKfyve inhibition leads to the accumulation of the lipidated form of GFP‐LC3, a marker of autophagosomal structures, which can be visualized as fluorescent punctae. We suggest that PIKfyve inhibition may render the late endosome/lysosome compartment refractory to fusion with both autophagosomes and with EGFR‐containing multivesicular bodies.
High thoracic epidural analgesia in cardiac surgery. Part 1--high thoracic epidural analgesia improves cardiac performance in cardiac surgery patients.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perioperative cardioprotective effect of high thoracic epidural analgesia (HTEA), primarily expressed as an effect on cardiac performance and hemodynamics in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. DESIGN A randomized, prospective study. PARTICIPANTS Sixty low-to-moderate risk patients between the ages of 65 and 80 years scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery with or without aortic valve replacement. SETTING A university hospital. INTERVENTION Patients randomized to receive HTEA as a supplement to general anesthesia. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Perioperative hemodynamic measurements, perioperative fluid balance, and postoperative release of cardiac enzymes were collected. The end-diastolic volume index (EDVI), the stroke volume index (overall 38 v 32 mL), the cardiac index (overall 2.35 v. 2.18 L/minute/m(2)), the central venous pressure, and central venous oxygenation were higher in the HTEA group. The mean arterial blood pressure was marginally lower in the HTEA group, whereas no difference was noted in the heart rate or peripheral saturation between the groups. No differences were found in the postoperative levels of troponin T and CK-MB between groups. NT-proBNP changed over time (p < 0.001) and was lower in the HTEA group (p = 0.013), with maximal values of 291 ± 265 versus 326 ± 274. CONCLUSIONS The findings of a higher stroke volume index and central venous oxygenation without an increase in heart rate or mean arterial pressure suggest that HTEA improves cardiac performance in elderly cardiac surgery patients.
Ipsilateral hippocampal atrophy is associated with long‐term memory dysfunction after ischemic stroke in young adults

Memory impairment after stroke in young adults is poorly understood. In elderly stroke survivors memory impairments and the concomitant loss of hippocampal volume are usually explained by coexisting neurodegenerative disease (e.g., amyloid pathology) in interaction with stroke. However, neurodegenerative disease, such as amyloid pathology, is generally absent at young age. Accumulating evidence suggests that infarction itself may cause secondary neurodegeneration in remote areas. Therefore, we investigated the relation between long‐term memory performance and hippocampal volume in young patients with first‐ever ischemic stroke. We studied all consecutive first‐ever ischemic stroke patients, aged 18–50 years, admitted to our academic hospital center between 1980 and 2010. Episodic memory of 173 patients was assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and the Rey Complex Figure and compared with 87 stroke‐free controls. Hippocampal volume was determined using FSL‐FIRST, with manual correction. On average 10 years after stroke, patients had smaller ipsilateral hippocampal volumes compared with controls after left‐hemispheric stroke (5.4%) and right‐hemispheric stroke (7.7%), with most apparent memory dysfunctioning after left‐hemispheric stroke. A larger hemispheric stroke was associated with a smaller ipsilateral hippocampal volume (b=−0.003, P<0.0001). Longer follow‐up duration was associated with smaller ipsilateral hippocampal volume after left‐hemispheric stroke (b=−0.028 ml, P=0.002) and right‐hemispheric stroke (b=−0.015 ml, P=0.03). Our results suggest that infarction is associated with remote injury to the hippocampus, which may lower or expedite the threshold for cognitive impairment or even dementia later in life. Hum Brain Mapp 36:2432–2442, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Personal breastfeeding behavior of physician mothers is associated with their clinical breastfeeding advocacy.

BACKGROUND Despite excellent breastfeeding initiation rates, physician mothers as a group are at risk of premature breastfeeding cessation. The main obstacles and reasons for breastfeeding cessation among physician mothers are work-related. We conducted this study to further explore physician mothers' personal infant feeding decisions and behavior as well as their clinical breastfeeding advocacy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We interviewed 80 physician mothers, mainly affiliated with the University of Florida College of Medicine (Gainesville, FL), using a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were calculated with SPSS software version 16 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). RESULTS The 80 mothers had a total of 152 children and were able to successfully initiate breastfeeding for 97% of the infants. Although maternal goal for duration of breastfeeding had been 12 months or more for 57% of the infants, only 34% of the children were actually still breastfeeding at 12 months. In 43% of cases, physician mothers stated that breastfeeding cessation was due to demands of work. Furthermore, physician mothers who reported actively promoting breastfeeding among their female patients and housestaff had significantly longer personal breastfeeding duration compared with physician mothers who denied actively promoting breastfeeding. CONCLUSIONS Our findings not only emphasize the discrepancy between physician mothers' breastfeeding duration goal and their actual breastfeeding duration, but also highlight the association between their personal breastfeeding success and their own active breastfeeding advocacy. Whether this association is causal cannot be determined by the current study and can be examined further by prospective studies. Our results support developing and implementing workplace strategies and programs to promote breastfeeding duration among physician mothers returning to work.
Composition and Antimicrobial Activities of the Leaf Essential Oil of Machilus kusanoi from Taiwan

The hydrodistillated leaf essential oil of Machilus kusanoi was analyzed to determine its composition and yield. Twenty-three compounds were identified, the main components being β-caryophyllene (23.3%), β-eudesmol (17.1%), α-terpineol (16.0%), n-dodecanal (14.2%), and n-decanal (10.4%). Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (28.1%) and non-terpenoids (25.0%) were the predominant groups of compounds. The leaf oil exhibited excellent antimicrobial and anti-wood-decay fungal activities.
Survey on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Networks for Civil Applications: A Communications Viewpoint

The days where swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will occupy our skies are fast approaching due to the introduction of cost-efficient and reliable small aerial vehicles and the increasing demand for use of such vehicles in a plethora of civil applications. Governments and industry alike have been heavily investing in the development of UAVs. As such it is important to understand the characteristics of networks with UAVs to enable the incorporation of multiple, coordinated aerial vehicles into the air traffic in a reliable and safe manner. To this end, this survey reports the characteristics and requirements of UAV networks for envisioned civil applications over the period 2000-2015 from a communications and networking viewpoint. We survey and quantify quality-of-service requirements, network-relevant mission parameters, data requirements, and the minimum data to be transmitted over the network. Furthermore, we elaborate on general networking related requirements such as connectivity, adaptability, safety, privacy, security, and scalability. We also report experimental results from many projects and investigate the suitability of existing communication technologies for supporting reliable aerial networking.
A Time-Dependent Numerical Model of Transmembrane Voltage Inducement and Electroporation of Irregularly Shaped Cells

We describe a finite-element model of a realistic irregularly shaped biological cell in an external electric field that allows the calculation of time-dependent changes of the induced transmembrane voltage ( DeltaPsi) and simulation of cell membrane electroporation. The model was first tested by comparing its results to the time-dependent analytical solution for DeltaPsi on a nonporated spherical cell, and a good agreement was obtained. To simulate electroporation, the model was extended by introducing a variable membrane conductivity. In the regions exposed to a sufficiently high DeltaPsi, the membrane conductivity rapidly increased with time, leading to a modified spatial distribution of DeltaPsi. We show that steady-state models are insufficient for accurate description of DeltaPsi, as well as determination of electroporated regions of the membrane, and time-dependent models should be used instead. Our modeling approach also allows direct comparison of calculations and experiments. As an example, we show that calculated regions of electroporation correspond to the regions of molecular transport observed experimentally on the same cell from which the model was constructed. Both the time-dependent model of DeltaPsi and the model of electroporation can be exploited further to study the behavior of more complicated cell systems, including those with cell-to-cell interactions.
Lazy exact deduplication

During data deduplication, on-disk fingerprint lookups lead to high disk traffic, resulting in a bottleneck. In this paper, we propose a “lazy” data deduplication method which buffers incoming fingerprints and performs on-disk lookups in batches, aiming to reduce the disk bottleneck. In deduplication in general, prefetching is used to improve the cache hit rate by exploiting locality within the incoming fingerprint stream. For lazy deduplication, we design a buffering strategy that preserves locality in order to similarly facilitate prefetching. Experimental results indicate that the lazy method improves fingerprint identification performance by over 50% compared with an “eager” method with the same data layout
FGFR3 and P53 Characterize Alternative Genetic Pathways in the Pathogenesis of Urothelial Cell Carcinoma

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) and P53 mutations are frequently observed in bladder cancer. We here describe the distribution of FGFR3 mutations and P53 overexpression in 260 primary urothelial cell carcinomas. FGFR3 mutations were observed in 59% and P53 overexpression in 25%. Interestingly, FGFR3 and P53 alterations were mutually exclusive, because they coincided in only 5.7% of tumors. Consequently, we propose that they characterize two alternative genetic pathways in urothelial cell carcinoma pathogenesis. The genetic alterations were reflected in the pathology and the clinical outcome, i.e., FGFR3 mutations were found in low-stage/-grade tumors and were associated with a favorable disease course, whereas P53 alterations were tied to adverse disease parameters.
Toward a hybrid brain–computer interface based on imagined movement and visual attention

Brain–computer interface (BCI) systems do not work for all users. This article introduces a novel combination of tasks that could inspire BCI systems that are more accurate than conventional BCIs, especially for users who cannot attain accuracy adequate for effective communication. Subjects performed tasks typically used in two BCI approaches, namely event-related desynchronization (ERD) and steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), both individually and in a ‘hybrid’ condition that combines both tasks. Electroencephalographic (EEG) data were recorded across three conditions. Subjects imagined moving the left or right hand (ERD), focused on one of the two oscillating visual stimuli (SSVEP), and then simultaneously performed both tasks. Accuracy and subjective measures were assessed. Offline analyses suggested that half of the subjects did not produce brain patterns that could be accurately discriminated in response to at least one of the two tasks. If these subjects produced comparable EEG patterns when trying to use a BCI, these subjects would not be able to communicate effectively because the BCI would make too many errors. Results also showed that switching to a different task used in BCIs could improve accuracy in some of these users. Switching to a hybrid approach eliminated this problem completely, and subjects generally did not consider the hybrid condition more difficult. Results validate this hybrid approach and suggest that subjects who cannot use a BCI should consider switching to a different BCI approach, especially a hybrid BCI. Subjects proficient with both approaches might combine them to increase information throughput by improving accuracy, reducing selection time, and/or increasing the number of possible commands.
Localization of [125I]IGF‐I Binding on the Ovine Pars Tuberalis

In the sheep, it has been shown that the pars tuberalis of the pituitary may mediate the photoperiodic control of seasonal changes in prolactin secretion. High concentrations of melatonin receptors are present on the ovine pars tuberalis and melatonin is known to inhibit forskolin‐stimulated cyclic AMP production in this tissue. Other hormonal inputs to the ovine pars tuberalis have not yet been identified. In the rat mRNA for the IGF‐I receptor has been identified in the pars tuberalis using in situ hybridization. In order to define whether IGF‐I may influence the function of the ovine pars tuberalis the presence of receptors for IGF‐I has been investigated. Using in vitro autoradiography specific [125I]IGF‐I binding was found in high concentrations over the ovine pars tuberalis particularly associated with certain of the capillaries. Homogenate receptor assays showed saturable specific binding of [125I]IGF‐I with a mean dissociation constant (Kd) of 0.5 ± 0.1 nM (n=4). Competition studies revealed a rank order of potency of IGF‐I>IGF‐II> > >insulin, in displacing [125I]IGF‐I binding, indicative of a mixed population of IGF‐I and IGF‐II/rnannose‐6‐phosphate receptors and insulin‐like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs). Cross‐linking of [125I]IGF‐I to pars tuberalis membrane homogenates and analysis by SDS‐PAGE under reducing conditions confirmed the presence of both IGF‐I receptors and binding proteins. Autophosphorylation of a 97 kDa substrate, compatible with the β‐sub‐unit of the IGF‐I receptor, was increased in the presence of IGF‐I, indicating the existence of functional IGF‐I receptors on the ovine pars tuberalis. In contrast in the rat [125I]IGF‐I binding was restricted to the median eminence region of the brain and was not detectable over the pars tuberalis.