Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of Sediment Oxygen Demand in the Ziya River Watershed, China: Based on Laboratory Core Incubation and Microelectrode Measurements

A study coupling sedimentcore incubation and microelectrode measurementwas performed to explore the sediment oxygen demand (SOD) at 16 stations in the Ziya River Watershed, a severely polluted and anoxic river system in the north of China. Total oxygen flux values in the range 0.19–1.41 g/(m2·d) with an average of 0.62 g/(m2·d) were obtained by core incubations, and diffusive oxygen flux values in the range 0.15–1.38 g/(m2·d) with an average of 0.51 g/(m2·d) were determined by microelectrodes. Total oxygen flux obviously correlated with diffusive oxygen flux (R2 = 0.842). The microelectrode method produced smaller results than the incubation method in 15 of 16 sites, and the diffusive oxygen flux was smaller than the total oxygen flux. Although the two sets of SOD values had significant difference accepted by the two methods via the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (p < 0.05), the microelectrode method was shown to produce results that were similar to those from the core incubation method. The microelectrode method, therefore, could be used as an alternative method for traditional core incubation method, or as a method to verify SOD rates measured by other methods. We consider that high potential sediment oxygen demand would occur in the Ziya River Watershed when the dissolved oxygen (DO) recovered in the overlying water.
Naturalness Preserved Enhancement Algorithm for Non-Uniform Illumination Images

Image enhancement plays an important role in image processing and analysis. Among various enhancement algorithms, Retinex-based algorithms can efficiently enhance details and have been widely adopted. Since Retinex-based algorithms regard illumination removal as a default preference and fail to limit the range of reflectance, the naturalness of non-uniform illumination images cannot be effectively preserved. However, naturalness is essential for image enhancement to achieve pleasing perceptual quality. In order to preserve naturalness while enhancing details, we propose an enhancement algorithm for non-uniform illumination images. In general, this paper makes the following three major contributions. First, a lightness-order-error measure is proposed to access naturalness preservation objectively. Second, a bright-pass filter is proposed to decompose an image into reflectance and illumination, which, respectively, determine the details and the naturalness of the image. Third, we propose a bi-log transformation, which is utilized to map the illumination to make a balance between details and naturalness. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can not only enhance the details but also preserve the naturalness for non-uniform illumination images.
Retrotransposition of the I factor, a non-long terminal repeat retrotransposon of Drosophila, generates tandem repeats at the 3' end

Non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons or LINEs transpose by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate and are thought to use the 3' hydroxyl of a chromosomal cleavage to initiate synthesis of the first strand of the cDNA. Many of them terminate in a poly(dA) sequence at the 3' end of the coding strand although some, like the I factor of Drosophila melanogaster, have 3' ends formed by repeats of the trinucleotide TAA. We report results showing that I factor transcripts end a few nucleotides downstream of the TAA repeats and that these extra nucleotides are not integrated into chromosomal DNA during retrotransposition. We also show that the TAA repeats are not required for transposition and that I elements containing mutations affecting the TAA sequences generate transposed copies ending with tandem repeats of various types. Our results suggest that during integration the 3' end of the I factor RNA template can pair with nucleotides at the target site and that tandem duplications are generated by the reverse transcriptase of the I factor in a manner that is reminiscent of the activity of the reverse transcriptases of telomerases. Reverse transcriptases of other non-LTR retrotransposons may function in a similar way.
Lens Cell Penetration Peptides for Enhanced Entry of a B-Crystallin into Lens Cells

METHODS. Recombinant aB-crystallins were modified by the addition of CPPs. Candidate CPP were designed with reference to the HSV-1 glycoprotein C gene (gC) or the HIV-1 TAT peptide. aB-crystallins produced by fusing gC or TAT were over-expressed in E. coli. Purified proteins were subjected to size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to characterize oligomeric complexes (OC). Chaperone-like activity (CLA) was evaluated by measuring the ability of a-crystallins to suppress chemically-induced protein aggregation. To evaluate protein uptake, labeled a-crystallins were incubated with HLE B3 cells and monitored by fluorescence microscopy for 48 hours.
Complex-valued function approximation using a Fully Complex-valued RBF (FC-RBF) learning algorithm

In this paper, a Fully Complex Radial Basis Function (FC-RBF) network and a gradient descent learning algorithm are presented. Many complex-valued RBF learning algorithms have been presented in the literature using a split-complex network which uses a real activation function in the hidden layer, i.e., the activation function in these network maps Cn → R. Hence these algorithms do not consider the influence of phase change explicitly and hence do not approximate phase accurately. In this paper, a Gaussian like fully complex activation function sech(.) (Cn → C) and a well defined gradient descent learning algorithm are developed for a FC-RBF network using sech(.) as activation function. The performance evaluation of the FC-RBF network has been carried out with two synthetic complex-valued function approximation problems, a complex XOR (C-XOR) problem and a non-minimum phase equalization problem. The results indicate the better performance of the FC-RBF network compared to the existing split complex RBF network methods.
A Mixed-Method Study to Explore Patients' Perspective of Self-Management Tasks in the Early Phase after Kidney Transplant

Context Patients' perspectives of posttransplant self-management tasks have not been explored. Objective To explore the concept and the presence of self-management tasks mastered by patients in the early phase after kidney transplant. Design Mixed-method study using semistructured interviews and a structured questionnaire. Setting Outpatient Division of Nephrology at University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland Patients Twelve patients (median age, 52 years, interquartile range, 42.25–65.25 years; median time after kidney transplant, 6.5 months; interquartile range, 2.25–15.75 months) were included. Analysis Qualitative data were analyzed according to Corbin and Strauss' 3 self-management tasks with content analysis procedures. In the quantitative analysis, the presence of each self-management task is expressed as a frequency. Results The qualitative findings showed that patients were greatly challenged by the effort to manage the upcoming instability, which has a persistent broad impact on their lives. Managing emotions comprised dealing with uncertainty, disappointment, and frustration. Additionally, patients had to manage changes in self-perception. Managing life roles mainly involved an adaptation of relationships, occupational changes, and interactions with health care providers. Taking medications, managing symptoms, integrating new behaviors, and understanding one's course of disease were further tasks. Quantitatively, self-management tasks that were perceived as a challenge by at least half of the patients were primarily tasks from the questionnaire section “managing stressful emotions and self-perception. ” The synthesis of qualitative and quantitative findings indicates that self-management programs for kidney transplant recipients should focus on strengthening patients' self-management of emotional tasks and on regaining stability in daily life.
Weathered Basalt Glass: A Natural Analogue for the Effects of REACTION Progress on Nuclear Waste Glass Alteration

Empirical data from natural occurrences of basalt glass are interpreted by a model which has been developed to describe the reaction progress of the corrosion of nuclear waste form borosilicate glass. A description of the basalt glass/water reaction model is included. Implications are that there are similarities and differences in the phases that form in nature as compared with those observed in experiments. Depending on the environment, the rate may vary by five orders of magnitude. Basalt glasses confirm the effect of fracturing on nuclear waste glasses. The surfaces of the smallest cracks are altered to the same degree as that observed at the more exposed surfaces. Under certain conditions, basalt glasses can be preserved for periods of time up to hundreds of millions of years, while at other conditions the glass may be completely altered much earlier. The long-term stability of basalt glass is related to low temperatures and effective sealing of the glass against circulating water. 25 references, 3 figures, 2 tables.
Compression of Neural Machine Translation Models via Pruning

Neural Machine Translation (NMT), like many other deep learning domains, typically suffers from over-parameterization, resulting in large storage sizes. This paper examines three simple magnitude-based pruning schemes to compress NMT models, namely class-blind, class-uniform, and class-distribution, which differ in terms of how pruning thresholds are computed for the different classes of weights in the NMT architecture. We demonstrate the efficacy of weight pruning as a compression technique for a state-of-the-art NMT system. We show that an NMT model with over 200 million parameters can be pruned by 40% with very little performance loss as measured on the WMT'14 English-German translation task. This sheds light on the distribution of redundancy in the NMT architecture. Our main result is that with retraining, we can recover and even surpass the original performance with an 80%-pruned model.
Lung structure and function in different stages of severe adult respiratory distress syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical consequences of duration of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) on lung structure and function. DESIGN Retrospective analysis. SETTING A university hospital referral center for extracorporeal support. PATIENTS A total of 84 patients with severe ARDS (Murray score > 2.5) recruited from 48 intensive care units (1979 to 1992), who suffered ARDS and underwent mechanical ventilation for up to 1 week (37 patients with early ARDS), between 1 and 2 weeks (24 patients with intermediate ARDS), or more than 2 weeks (23 patients with late ARDS) and subsequently underwent extracorporeal support. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Before beginning extracorporeal support, we measured gas exchange, pulmonary mechanics, hemodynamics, oxygen transport and delivery, incidence of barotrauma (presence of one or more thoracic tubes for pneumothorax drainage), and organ dysfunctions. In a subgroup of 16 patients, we studied lung structure by computed tomographic scan, scoring the densities and quantifying the emphysemalike lesions (bullae). RESULTS Late ARDS showed lower respiratory compliance, higher dead space, higher PaCO2, lower venous admixture, and lower positive end-expiratory pressure requirement compared with early ARDS (P < .01). The incidence of pneumothorax (48.8% of the entire population) was significantly (P < .01) higher in late ARDS (87%) vs intermediate ARDS (46%) and early ARDS (30%). The mortality of patients with pneumothorax (66%) was significantly (P < .01) higher compared with patients without pneumothorax (46%). The number of bullae per lung was significantly higher in late ARDS vs intermediate and early ARDS (mean [SD], 8 [4], 4.3 [5], and 1.9 [3.9], respectively; P < .01), and they were preferentially distributed in the dependent lung regions. The number of bullae per lung was significantly higher in patients with pneumothorax vs those without pneumothorax (mean [SD], 13.6 [9.8] vs 1.4 [2.1]; P = .007). The mean (SD) duration of ARDS in patients with pneumothorax was 15.3 (10.0) days vs 7.0 (6.6) days in those without pneumothorax (P = .0001). No differences within the three groups were found in computed tomographic scan densities, hemodynamics, and number of organ system dysfunctions. CONCLUSIONS The lung structure and function changes markedly with ARDS duration, and the late stages may be described as restrictive lung disease with superimposed emphysemalike lesions. Presence of pneumothorax affects survival and appears to be related to the lung structural changes occurring with time.
Effect of pentobarbital or urethane on bile secretion and chemical composition of blood in the rabbit

A study was made of the effects of anaesthesia with pentobarbital and urethane on the bile secretion and the chemical composition of the blood of New Zealand rabbits. Neither of the agents was observed to affect arterial pH or pO2, but with urethane pCO2 values decreased significantly. This was associated with a pronounced hyperglycaemia. Bile flow was significantly higher in pentobarbital-anaesthetized animals than in urethane-anaesthetized animals, a phenomenon that can be attributed to a different canalicular flow and that will not be related to differences in the bile-acid-dependent fraction of secretion. Under both anaesthetics, bile sodium concentrations were greater than those found in plasma, which can be explained by the formation of micelles with low osmotic activity. Bile bicarbonate concentrations proved to be greater than those observed in plasma. Plasma calcium concentrations were significantly lower with urethane than with pentobarbital, whereas in bile the situation was reversed; both these aspects are discussed.
Performance on rheumatoid arthritis quality indicators in an Alaska Native healthcare system

Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is highly prevalent in some Alaska Native and American Indian populations. Quality indicators for RA have been proposed, but these have not been widely implemented or used to assess RA care in Alaska Native or American Indian populations. Methods Medical records were included if they met the following criteria: RA diagnosed before October 2000 fulfilling American College of Rheumatology classification criteria; all care for RA at the Alaska Native Medical Center. Records were reviewed for a 5-year period to determine compliance with eight quality indicators defined by the Arthritis Foundation Quality Indicator Program. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to analyse associations with quality of care. Results There were 106 individuals included in the study. The highest-scoring measures were folic acid prescription if on methotrexate (93.3%) and disease-modifying antirheumatic drug prescription (90.6%). The lowest scoring measure was radiographs of both hands and feet (16.0%). In multivariate analysis, the factor most strongly associated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drug prescriptions, annual exam for RA and hand radiographs was at least one visit with a rheumatologist. Conclusions Quality of care for RA varies by measure and is better for patients who see a rheumatologist. These data provide an initial evaluation of RA quality of care in a unique minority population with an integrated healthcare system.
Prenatal glucocorticoid therapy reverses pulmonary immaturity in congenital diaphragmatic hernia in fetal sheep.

OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility of conducting clinical trials of prenatal steroid therapy for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) in humans, the authors tested whether prenatal glucocorticoid, currently the standard treatment to minimize respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants, might improve the pulmonary immaturity in severe CDH in a large animal model. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA The authors have used the nitrofen-induced rat model of CDH, which demonstrates immature lungs by biochemical, morphometric, and molecular biologic criteria. They also have shown that the lethally immature lungs of the full-term CDH rats can be improved by biochemical, morphometric, physiologic, and molecular criteria by treating the mothers with parenteral steroids at doses extrapolated from the current therapy used to accelerate lung development of premature human babies. METHODS During a 3-year period in 88 fetal sheep, 1) left-sided diaphragmatic hernias were created surgically at varying gestational ages (day 78-90; term = 142-145 days) and size to maximize severity (n = 45), 2) placement and design of indwelling fetal intravenous catheters were optimized (n = 13), and 3) timing and dosage of cortisol administration were determined (n = 17). As a result, diaphragmatic hernias were created on day 80, intravenous catheters were placed on day 120, and twice-daily intravenous cortisol injections (n = 8) or saline as the control (n = 5) were administered (days 133-135). Lambs were delivered on day 136 via cesarean section to avoid steroid-induced abortion; vascular access was obtained, and the fetuses were ventilated at standard settings. Physiologic data were collected, and lungs were harvested for biochemical and histologic analysis. RESULTS Significant improvements were measured in postductal arterial oxygen pressure ([PaO2] 38 +/- 6 mmHg after cortisol therapy compared with 20 +/- 3 mmHg for saline controls; p = 0.002) and in dynamic compliance (0.42 +/- 0.05 mL/cm H2O vs. 0.29 +/- 0.01 mL/cm H2O; p = 0.01). Lung glycogen levels in the right lung of the cortisol group were significantly better than controls (4.6 +/- 0.3 mg/g lung vs. 6.8 +/- 0.4 mg/g; p = 0.002), as were protein/DNA levels (8.3 +/- 0.9 mg/mg vs. 14.5 +/- mg/mg; p < 0.05). Striking morphologic maturation of airway architecture was observed in the treated lungs. CONCLUSIONS Prenatal glucocorticoids correct the pulmonary immaturity of fetal sheep with CDH by physiologic, biochemical, and histologic criteria. These data, combined with previous small animal studies, have prompted the authors to initiate a prospective phase I/II clinical trial to examine the efficacy of prenatal glucocorticoids to improve the maturation of hypoplastic lungs associated with CDH.
Effects of Escherichia coli and E. coli lipopolysaccharides on the function of human ureteral epithelial cells cultured in serum-free medium

Escherichia coli is the microorganism most commonly isolated from human urinary tract infections. Earlier studies by others have shown that bacterial attachment and production of toxins (e.g., lipopolysaccharides [LPS]) enhance recruitment of leukocytes to the infection site and mucosal inflammation. The mechanisms by which these changes occur have not been completely defined. In the present study, epithelial cell cultures isolated from the human ureter (UT cells) (A. Elgavish, J. J. Wille, F. Rahemtulla, and L. Debro, Am. J. Physiol. 261:C916-C926, 1991; J. J. Wille, J. Park, and A. Elgavish, J. Cell. Physiol. 150:52-58, 1992) served as a model system with which to explore the mechanisms of action of Escherichia coli and E. coli LPS in UT cells. E. coli adhered to UT cells and inhibited carrier-mediated sulfate uptake to half of that in untreated UT cells, suggesting that the intracellular pool of sulfate available for sulfation may be lower in infected cells and may lead to the production of undersulfated glycoconjugates. Incubation of UT cells with E. coli LPS inhibited carrier-mediated sulfate uptake to an extent similar to that caused by whole E. coli, indicating that the effect of E. coli on sulfate uptake may be mediated by LPS. LPS caused an increase in Na+ content in rapidly proliferating UT cells but not in quiescent cells. We postulated that this change in the intracellular ionic environment or changes coupled to it (e.g., pH or Ca2+ levels) may serve as a transducing signal. This possibility was supported by the fact that LPS stimulated clustering of ICAM-1 on the cell surface of rapidly proliferating but not quiescent UT cells. This study suggests that, in vivo, LPS stimulation of ICAM-1 clustering on the surface of the urothelium may allow more effective binding of leukocytes. This may be the mechanism underlying earlier findings in vivo indicating a role for LPS in the recruitment of leukocytes to the urinary tract as a host defense mechanism following urinary tract infection.
Interventional 4-D C-Arm CT Perfusion Imaging Using Interleaved Scanning and Partial Reconstruction Interpolation

Tissue perfusion measurement during catheter-guided stroke treatment in the interventional suite is currently not possible. In this work, we present a novel approach that uses a C-arm angiography system capable of computed tomography (CT)-like imaging (C-arm CT) for this purpose. With C-arm CT one reconstructed volume can be obtained every 4-6 s which makes it challenging to measure the flow of an injected contrast bolus. We have developed an interleaved scanning (IS) protocol that uses several scan sequences to increase temporal sampling. Using a dedicated 4-D reconstruction approach based on partial reconstruction interpolation (PRI) we can optimally process our data. We evaluated our combined approach (IS-PRI) with simulations and a study in five healthy pigs. In our simulations, the cerebral blood flow values (unit: ml/100 g/min) were 60 (healthy tissue) and 20 (pathological tissue). For one scan sequence the values were estimated with standard deviations of 14.3 and 2.9, respectively. For two interleaved sequences the standard deviations decreased to 3.6 and 1.5, respectively. We used perfusion CT to validate the in vivo results. With two interleaved sequences we achieved promising correlations ranging from r=0.63 to r=0.94. The results suggest that C-arm CT tissue perfusion imaging is feasible with two interleaved scan sequences.
Increased Dietary Protein Promotes Fat Loss and Reduces Loss of Lean Body Mass During Weight Loss in Cats

An important goal in the management of obesity is to reduce excess body fat while minimizing the loss of lean tissue. This study evaluated whether increasing dietary protein would increase fat loss and minimize loss of lean body mass in cats during weight loss. Isocaloric diets containing approximately 35% or 45% of energy from protein were fed to achieve weight loss of 1% of body weight per week. The high-protein diet resulted in a greater loss of body fat and greater retention of lean body mass compared with the control diet.
A public key cryptosystem and a signature scheme based on discrete logarithms

The invention pertains to a novel method of forming a flexible, tapered end on a thermoplastic molding strip. The strip is of the type having a top surface shaped to provide desired protective and/or decorative functions. The bottom surface is generally flat for bonding to a desired article such as a side panel or door of an automotive vehicle. In a preferred embodiment, the method comprises removing a V-shaped notch from the end of the strip, with the opening of the V at the end, to form adjacent triangular shaped legs. The notched end is then bent to stretch the bottom surface and the legs are drawn together to form the taper. The edges of the legs adjacent the taper are bonded together only at the pointed end. Multiple cuts are then made into the bottom surface of the strip, perpendicular to the line formed by closing the notch, between the tip and the original apex of the notch. The finished tapered end is flexible and virtually free of residual stress which may cause a strip to delaminate when applied to a desired substratum.