Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Profound Pituitary Suppression Following Oral Contraceptive Pretreatment in Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone Antagonist Cycles Does Not Impact Outcome: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: This retrospective study evaluated the effect of profound pituitary suppression with oral contraceptive pill (OCP) pretreatment in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist cycles stimulated with recombinant follicle stimulating hormone plus highly purified human menopausal gonadotropin. Methods: The analysis included women aged 20-46 years (N=318) who utilized OCP pretreatment in a private academic in vitro fertilization center between January 2008 and January 2010. Patients were retrospectively divided based on endogenous luteinizing hormone (LH) level (≤ 1.5 [n=75] vs. >1.5 [n=243] mI U/mL) on stimulation day 1. Results: In the LH ≤ 1.5 and >1.5 mIU/mL groups, respectively, the mean number of stimulation days was 10.9 and 9.5 days (P 1.5 mIU/mL group (17.7 vs. 14.9 oocytes; P=0.02). Pregnancy outcomes were similar between groups. Longer OCP duration correlated with lower day 1 LH levels (r=–0.161, P=0.007). Greater LH suppression correlated with increased total gonadotropin dose (r=–0.227, P<0.001) and days of stimulation (r=–0.445, P<0.001). Conclusion: Women with profound LH suppression following OCP pretreatment demonstrated comparable prognosis compared with women without profound LH suppression, despite requiring longer stimulations and a higher total gonadotropin dose.
Valorisation par tranchage et déroulage des bois de chênes méditerranéens : Quercus ilex, Quercus pubescens, Quercus suber

Une analyse bibliographique met en avant les connaissances concernant les proprietes physiques, mecaniques et l'usinabilite des bois des trois principaux chenes mediterraneens francais. Le faible niveau actuel de ces connaissances contraste avec les recherches plethoriques en matiere d'ecologie de ces especes. Il est en partie du a des usages et savoir-faire riches qui se sont perdus. Bien que presentant une densite et une retractibilite exceptionnellement elevees pour des bois francais, la variabilite de ces proprietes mesurees sur carottes de sondages se revele moins importante que chez les autres chenes francais. Le bon accroissement biologique jusqu'a 40 a 60 ans de ces formations vieillissantes pousse les sylviculteurs vers l'idee de leur amenagement en taillis simples a longue revolution. La ressource future sera constituee d'arbres modestes depassant rarement 20 cm de diametre. La nature de la ressource actuelle (diametre moyen 15 cm) et l'importante disponibilite font qu'une valorisation de ces bois en usage materiau passe obligatoirement par un premier debit en tranchage ou en deroulage, le choix entre les deux techniques etant fonction du diametre des arbres (rendement-matiere) et de l'epaisseur souhaitee du placage (stabilite de la coupe). Une coupe jusqu'a une epaisseur de 2/10 mm est envisageable industriellement sans difficulte pour les trois essences avec un angle de depouille eleve (4 a 5), une coupe discontinue a vitesse modeste, et eventuellement une barre de pression comme limiteur de passe et/ou un etuvage prealable des bois entre 60 et 80°C. En plus forte epaisseur (1 mm), l'usage de la barre de pression interdit un etuvage trop important : un faible taux de compression (10-12%) couple a un etuvage modeste (60°C) donne de bons resultats. L'utilisation de tels placages en production de multiplis de type LVL permet une valorisation des bonnes proprietes mecaniques de ces bois
CATHETER-RELATED INFECTION RECOMMENDATIONS : 2017 UPDATE

Department of Medicine and Therapeutics,1 Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Department of Nephrology,2 University of Queensland at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia; Renal Electrolyte Division,3 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Renal Division,4 Department of Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China; Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul,5 FAENFI, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Division of Nephrology,6 Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan; Division of Nephrology,7 Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey; Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná,8 Curitiba, Brazil; Elisabeth Tweesteden Hospital,9 Nephrology Department and Internal Medicine, Tilburg, Netherlands; and Imperial College Renal and Transplant Centre,10 Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK ISPD GUIDELINES/RECOMMENDATIONS
Estimation of power system inertia

Information about power system inertia is of utmost importance for the Transmission System Operators (TSOs), so that it can be guaranteed that the stability of the system is not under risk. A new offline inertia estimation method is proposed in this paper. The method includes the calculation of the total power change after a disturbance in the system, based on selection of appropriate time ranges of the Rate Of Change Of Frequency (ROCOF) curve. Nordic32 test system is used for the simulations, where different disturbances, load dynamics and data processing tools are considered. Finally, a comparison of the proposed method to two methods proposed in the past takes place.
Visuotopic organization of the prelunate gyrus in rhesus monkey

We have examined topographic organization of the prelunate gyrus and adjacent cortex buried in the lunate and superior temporal sulci. We recorded from cortex of awake rhesus monkeys performing a fixation task. Multiunit receptive fields were mapped with small, stationary spots of light to determine borders and points of strongest driving or “activity centers” of the fields. We found evidence for several distinct subdivisions of this cortex. A representation of the vertical meridian runs across the gyrus, and two crude topographic representations of the central 30 degrees of the lower quadrant, the posteromedial and anterolateral areas (area PM and area AL), share this representation of the meridian. Area AL extends from the prelunate gyrus into the posterior bank of the superior temporal sulcus; it is separated from the MT area by a narrow strip of cortex. Area PM occupies part of the prelunate gyrus and extends into the anterior bank of the lunate sulcus. Receptive field size in both AL and PM is an increasing function of eccentricity and is similar for the two areas. Medial to areas PM and AL on the prelunate gyrus is another cortical region with qualitatively different topographic organization.
Analysis of the performance of post-lingually deafened patients with Nurotron® Venus™ cochlear implants

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the safety and effectiveness of a new cochlear implant (CI) system developed in China, the Nurotron Venus device. Material and methods: Fifteen post-lingually deafened patients received Nurotron Venus CIs in our hospital. The safety and effectiveness of the devices were evaluated within 2 years after implantation. Patients' hearing thresholds were assessed. In addition, the speech perception performance of Nurotron Venus CI recipients was compared with that of 15 Cochlear Nucleus CI24 recipients. Results and conclusion: During 2 years of observation, all the Nurotron recipients used their devices regularly and effectively. The aided hearing thresholds of all the recipients were within the speech spectrum. The average scores of HOPE sentences and HOPE monosyllable words tests among Nurotron CI recipients were 82.88 ± 21.40% and 56.67 ± 9.77%, respectively. The average scores among Cochlear Nucleus CI24 recipients were 87.33 ± 14.44% and 52.8 ± 12.76%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the speech test scores between these two groups when assessed using the t test. The Nurotron Venus cochlear implant system worked safely and effectively. The speech perception of Nurotron recipients was similar to that of the other CI system recipients.
e-Consumer Behaviour

Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to bring together apparently disparate and yet interconnected strands of research and present an integrated model of e‐consumer behaviour. It has a secondary objective of stimulating more research in areas identified as still being under‐explored.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is discursive, based on analysis and synthesis of e‐consumer literature.Findings – Despite a broad spectrum of disciplines that investigate e‐consumer behaviour and despite this special issue in the area of marketing, there are still areas open for research into e‐consumer behaviour in marketing, for example the role of image, trust and e‐interactivity. The paper develops a model to explain e‐consumer behaviour.Research limitations/implications – As a conceptual paper, the study is limited to literature and prior empirical research. It offers the benefit of new research directions for e‐retailers in understanding and satisfying e‐consumers. The paper provides researchers with a.
A decentralized model reference adaptive variable structure controller for large-scale time-varying delay systems

In this note, the problem of decentralized model reference adaptive variable structure control for a class of perturbed large-scale systems with varying time-delay interconnections is investigated. Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, an adaptive variable structure control strategy for solving the robust tracking problem without the knowledge of upper bound of perturbations is developed. The use of adaptive technique is to adapt the unknown upper bound of perturbations so that the objective of globally asymptotical stability is achieved. Once the system enters the sliding manifold, the dynamics of controlled systems are insensitive to matching perturbations. Finally, an example is given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.
Midazolam improves electrophysiologic recovery after anoxia and reduces the changes in ATP levels and calcium influx during anoxia in the rat hippocampal slice.

Since blockers of excitatory transmission have been shown to reduce anoxic and ischemic neuronal damage, augmentation of inhibitory transmission by agents such as midazolam might have a similar protective effect. Rat hippocampal slices were maintained in vitro and used to determine whether and by what mechanism midazolam improves recovery of evoked responses after anoxia. The Schaffer collateral pathway in the slice was stimulated electrically, and an extracellular potential, the evoked population spike, was recorded from the CA1 pyramidal cells, which are postsynaptic. The slices were made anoxic by substituting artificial cerebrospinal fluid aerated with 95% nitrogen-5% carbon dioxide for fluid aerated with 95% oxygen-5% carbon dioxide. Percentage recovery was expressed as the amplitude of the evoked population spike 60 min after anoxia divided by its preanoxic amplitude. Protection in this model is defined as a significant (P less than 0.05) improvement in percentage recovery compared to the recovery of untreated slices. There was no recovery of the response recorded from CA1 pyramidal cells after 5 min of anoxia (4 +/- 2%) (mean +/- standard error of the mean [SEM]). Slices were treated with midazolam 10 min before, during, and 10 min after anoxia. Midazolam (1 microM) did not enhance recovery after anoxia when dissolved either in water (3 +/- 3%) or in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (1 +/- 1%). A higher concentration of midazolam (100 microM) did enhance recovery when dissolved in DMSO (27 +/- 7%) but not when dissolved in water (5 +/- 2%). To test whether prolonged pretreatment with midazolam dissolved in water would enhance recovery, slices were treated for 30 min prior to anoxia. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Q Fever (Coxiella) Endocarditis

patient has the rare hereditary form of angiocedema in which the normal plasma inhibitor of the activated first stage of complement is present in very small amounts. This inhibitor has recently been shown by Pensky & Schwick (1969) to be neuraminoglycoprotein. This glycoprotein travels with the a2 globulins and has been recognized electrophoretically for many years. Not only does this glycoprotein inhibit the activated first stage of complement, but it also inhibits several other powerful hydrolytic enzymes including plasma kallikrein, plasma and PF/dil, a plasma permeability factor which releases kallikrein from its precursor kallikreinogen. Dr V Eisen of the Middlesex Hospital kindly showed in this patient the lack of kallikrein inhibition. The patient's mother and sister also lack normal quantities of the activated first component of complement. There are no other relatives of the patient alive, and there is no family history of the condition; this is unusual as the condition is inherited as an autosomal dominant character. It is not clear why the patient's mother and sister are clinically unaffected while showing the biochemical defect of the condition.
Evaluation of Collision Cross Section Calibrants for Structural Analysis of Lipids by Traveling Wave Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry

Collision cross section (CCS) measurement of lipids using traveling wave ion mobility-mass spectrometry (TWIM-MS) is of high interest to the lipidomics field. However, currently available calibrants for CCS measurement using TWIM are predominantly peptides that display quite different physical properties and gas-phase conformations from lipids, which could lead to large CCS calibration errors for lipids. Here we report the direct CCS measurement of a series of phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) in nitrogen using a drift tube ion mobility (DTIM) instrument and an evaluation of the accuracy and reproducibility of PCs and PEs as CCS calibrants for phospholipids against different classes of calibrants, including polyalanine (PolyAla), tetraalkylammonium salts (TAA), and hexakis(fluoroalkoxy)phosphazines (HFAP), in both positive and negative modes in TWIM-MS analysis. We demonstrate that structurally mismatched calibrants lead to larger errors in calibrated CCS values while the structurally matched calibrants, PCs and PEs, gave highly accurate and reproducible CCS values at different traveling wave parameters. Using the lipid calibrants, the majority of the CCS values of several classes of phospholipids measured by TWIM are within 2% error of the CCS values measured by DTIM. The development of phospholipid CCS calibrants will enable high-accuracy structural studies of lipids and add an additional level of validation in the assignment of identifications in untargeted lipidomics experiments.
In vivo and in vitro effects of neostigmine on gastrointestinal tract motility of horses.

OBJECTIVE To determine the response to neostigmine of the contractile activity of the jejunum and pelvic flexure and the effects of a continuous rate infusion (CRI) of neostigmine in horses. ANIMALS 7 adult horses and tissue from 12 adult horses. PROCEDURES A CRI of neostigmine (0.008 mg/kg/h) or placebo was administered to 6 horses in a crossover study design. Gastric emptying was evaluated by the acetaminophen test. The frequency of defecation and urination and the consistency and weight of feces were recorded throughout the experiment. The effect of neostigmine on smooth muscle contractile activity was evaluated in tissues from the jejunum and pelvic flexure. The effect of neostigmine and acetylcholine after incubation with muscarinic receptor antagonists (atropine and DAU 5884) and an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (edrophonium) was also investigated in vitro. RESULTS No difference was observed between neostigmine and placebo for time to reach peak plasma acetaminophen concentration and absorption rate constant. A CRI of neostigmine increased fecal production and frequency of urination. Neostigmine induced a dose-dependent increase of contractile amplitude in jejunum and pelvic flexure muscle strips. Incubation of muscle strips with atropine and DAU 5884 inhibited the response to acetylcholine and neostigmine. Incubation of smooth muscle strips from the jejunum with edrophonium increased the response to acetylcholine and had no effect on the response to neostigmine in vitro. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE A CRI of neostigmine increased fecal production and urination frequency in horses. A CRI of neostigmine did not decrease gastric emptying. Neostigmine stimulated contractile activity of jejunum and pelvic flexure smooth muscle strips in vitro.
Packrat parsing:: simple, powerful, lazy, linear time, functional pearl

Packrat parsing is a novel technique for implementing parsers in a lazy functional programming language. A packrat parser provides the power and flexibility of top-down parsing with backtracking and unlimited lookahead, but nevertheless guarantees linear parse time. Any language defined by an LL(k) or LR(k) grammar can be recognized by a packrat parser, in addition to many languages that conventional linear-time algorithms do not support. This additional power simplifies the handling of common syntactic idioms such as the widespread but troublesome longest-match rule, enables the use of sophisticated disambiguation strategies such as syntactic and semantic predicates, provides better grammar composition properties, and allows lexical analysis to be integrated seamlessly into parsing. Yet despite its power, packrat parsing shares the same simplicity and elegance as recursive descent parsing; in fact converting a backtracking recursive descent parser into a linear-time packrat parser often involves only a fairly straightforward structural change. This paper describes packrat parsing informally with emphasis on its use in practical applications, and explores its advantages and disadvantages with respect to the more conventional alternatives.
The Food Contaminants Nivalenol and Deoxynivalenol Induce Inflammation in Intestinal Epithelial Cells by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Release

Fusarium mycotoxins are fungal metabolites whose ability to affect cereal grains as multi-contaminants is progressively increasing. The trichothecene mycotoxins nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON) are often found in almost all agricultural commodities worldwide. They are able to affect animal and human health, including at the intestinal level. In this study, NIV, both alone and in combination with DON, induced inflammation and increased the inflammatory response induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plus Interferon-γ (IFN) in the non-tumorigenic intestinal epithelial cell line (IEC-6). The inflammatory response induced by NIV and DON involves tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) production, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression, nitrotyrosine formation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) release, Nuclear Factor-κB (NF-κB), Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and inflammasome activation. The pro-inflammatory effect was strongly induced by NIV and by the mycotoxin mixture, when compared to DON alone. Mechanistic studies indicate a pivotal role for ROS in the observed pro-inflammatory effects induced by mycotoxins. In this study, the interactions between NIV and DON point out the importance of their food co-contamination, further highlighting the risk assessment process that is of growing concern.
Hepatitis B virus infection and response to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a South African ART program.

BACKGROUND Coinfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is common in Africa; however, the impact of HBV infection on the outcomes of antiretroviral therapy programs is unclear. We evaluated the impact of chronic hepatitis B on HIV virologic response, changes in CD4 cell count, hepatotoxicity, and mortality among Africans receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving a workplace HAART program in South Africa. Participants received HAART according to a protocol and were followed up for up to 72 weeks. On the basis of pre-HAART serum assays, patients were classified as being hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) negative, HBsAg positive with a low HBV DNA level (</= 1 x 10(4) copies/mL), and HBsAg positive with a high HBV DNA level (> 1 x 10(4) copies/mL). The relationships between HBV status and HIV RNA suppression, change in CD4 cell count, mortality, and hepatotoxicity were assessed with use of regression techniques. RESULTS Five hundred thirty-seven individuals fulfilled the inclusion criteria; 431 (80.3%) of these patients were HBsAg negative, 60 (11.2%) were HBsAg positive with a low HBV DNA level, and 46 (8.6%) were HBsAg positive with a high HBV DNA level. All groups had similar rates of HIV RNA suppression (P = .61), CD4 cell count increases (P =.75), and mortality (17 total deaths; P=.11) for up to 72 weeks after the initiation of HAART. Baseline transaminase levels were highest in the group with high HBV DNA levels (P=.004). Hepatotoxicity was similar between the HBsAg-negative group and the group with low HBV DNA levels but was higher in the group with high HBV DNA levels (incidence rate ratio, 4.4). CONCLUSIONS We revealed that HBV status does not affect HIV RNA suppression, CD4 cell count response, or mortality during the first 72 weeks of HAART in an African setting. The risk of HBV-associated hepatotoxicity, however, is associated with the baseline HBV DNA level.
Identification and characterization of a core fucosidase from the bacterium Elizabethkingia meningoseptica

All reported α-l-fucosidases catalyze the removal of nonreducing terminal l-fucoses from oligosaccharides or their conjugates, while having no capacity to hydrolyze core fucoses in glycoproteins directly. Here, we identified an α-fucosidase from the bacterium Elizabethkingia meningoseptica with catalytic activity against core α-1,3-fucosylated substrates, and we named it core fucosidase I (cFase I). Using site-specific mutational analysis, we found that three acidic residues (Asp-242, Glu-302, and Glu-315) in the predicted active pocket are critical for cFase I activity, with Asp-242 and Glu-315 acting as a pair of classic nucleophile and acid/base residues and Glu-302 acting in an as yet undefined role. These findings suggest a catalytic mechanism for cFase I that is different from known α-fucosidase catalytic models. In summary, cFase I exhibits glycosidase activity that removes core α-1,3-fucoses from substrates, suggesting cFase I as a new tool for glycobiology, especially for studies of proteins with core fucosylation.
The Effect of Frequency Dependence of Soil Electrical Parameters on the Lightning Performance of Grounding Systems

A rigorous full-wave approach based upon the finite-element method (FEM) is used for the analysis of grounding systems taking the frequency dependence of soil electrical parameters into account. The method uses minimum approximations to model the transient behavior of grounding systems. In this analysis, frequency dependence of the soil conductivity and relative permittivity is represented using available analytical formulae obtained from experimental data. It is shown that there are cases in which the frequency dependence of the soil conductivity and relative permittivity can affect the transient behavior of grounding systems. Our simulation results show that the effect of frequency dependence is more pronounced for grounding systems buried in low conductive soils in contrast with those buried in highly conductive soils and especially when these systems are subjected to lightning subsequent return stroke currents. In practice, it seems legitimate to disregard the frequency dependence of the soil conductivity and relative permittivity for grounding systems buried in highly conductive soils subjected to lightning first return stroke currents. Within this context, it is shown that the soil conductivity, length of grounding electrode, and the frequency content of the injected current are the main factors contributing to the beneficial effect of the frequency dependence of soil electrical parameters.