Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trends in fruit, vegetable and salad intakes in 9–10-year-old schoolchildren living in Liverpool, 2000–2005

Abstract Objective To report on the fruit, vegetable and salad intakes of Liverpool schoolchildren aged 9–10 years over a 5-year period (2000–2005). Design Cross-sectional observational study. Setting Between 75 and 100 Liverpool primary schools took part in each survey year. Subjects Subjects consisted of five separate cohorts of 9–10-year-old children from all areas of the city. Main outcome measures Number and proportion of boys and girls who reported eating fruit, vegetables and salad on the previous day. Results There was an upward trend in the reported intake of fruit between 2002 and 2005. Girls were more likely than boys to report eating fruit (P < 0.001). The trend in salad intake was positive. Between 2000 and 2005 there were significant increases in the number of boys (χ2 = 17.57, P = 0.001) and girls (χ2 = 80.56, P = 0.001) eating salad. Girls were significantly more likely to eat salad than boys in all years (χ2 = 58.75, P = 0.001). Trends in vegetable intake were similar to those for salad, with both sexes reporting yearly increases over the 5-year period. The increase in the number of boys who reported eating vegetables between 2000 and 2005 was 23.5% (χ2 = 32.9, P = 0.000). In girls there was a 44.8% increase over the same period (χ2 = 110.3, P < 0.000). Conclusions The data reveal positive trends in the fruit, vegetable and salad intakes of Liverpool schoolchildren between 2000 and 2005. Further research is needed to elucidate the specific factors that have enabled the changes to take place.
Positron emission tomography for the diagnosis of breast cancer

This article reviews the literature on breast imaging with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). In clinical applications, there is currently no defined role for detecting primary breast cancer. The limited sensitivity of FDG PET does not allow the exclusion of malignancy, in particular small breast carcinomas, micrometastases and small, tumour infiltrated lymph nodes. However, in advanced stages, PET accurately determines the extent of disease, including the loco-regional lymph node status. Furthermore, whole-body PET imaging promises a high diagnostic accuracy for detecting recurrent or metastatic breast carcinoma. Future clinical applications may include monitoring therapeutic effects.
Bio-functional pickles that reduce blood pressure of rats

Addition of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptides to the pickles was studied in order to develop a new type of pickles that reduce blood pressure. Based on the outcome of these studies, a new type of fermentation bed composed of rice bran and white miso has been successfully developed. The advantage of such pickles is that they not only contain both GABA and ACE-inhibitory peptides, but also that their taste and flavor are excellent, with colors close to the original ones. The new type of pickles could temporarily reduce blood pressure in two types of rats, spontaneously hypertensive rats and NaCl-sensitive model rats. Thus, the newly developed pickles appear to be beneficial for pickle business. Graphical Abstract The newly developed pickles with GABA and ACE-inhibitory peptides could temporarily reduce blood pressure of hypertensive rats, which is beneficial for pickle business.
Establishment and characterization of a telomerase immortalized human gingival epithelial cell line.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Gingival keratinocytes are used in model systems to investigate the interaction between periodontal bacteria and the epithelium in the initial stages of the periodontal disease process. Primary gingival epithelial cells (GECs) have a finite lifespan in culture before they enter senescence and cease to replicate, while epithelial cells immortalized with viral proteins can exhibit chromosomal rearrangements. The aim of this study was to generate a telomerase immortalized human gingival epithelial cell line and compare its in vitro behaviour to that of human GECs. MATERIAL AND METHODS Human primary GECs were immortalized with a bmi1/hTERT combination to prevent cell cycle triggers of senescence and telomere shortening. The resultant cell-line, telomerase immortalized gingival keratinocytes (TIGKs), were compared to GECs for cell morphology, karyotype, growth and cytokeratin expression, and further characterized for replicative lifespan, expression of toll-like receptors and invasion by P. gingivalis. RESULTS TIGKs showed morphologies, karyotype, proliferation rates and expression of characteristic cytokeratin proteins comparable to GECs. TIGKs underwent 36 passages without signs of senescence and expressed transcripts for toll-like receptors 1-6, 8 and 9. A subpopulation of cells underwent stratification after extended time in culture. The cytokeratin profiles of TIGK monolayers were consistent with basal cells. When allowed to stratify, cytokeratin profiles of TIGKs were consistent with suprabasal cells of the junctional epithelium. Further, TIGKs were comparable to GECs in previously reported levels and kinetics of invasion by wild-type P. gingivalis and an invasion defective ΔserB mutant. CONCLUSION Results confirm bmi1/hTERT immortalization of primary GECs generated a robust cell line with similar characteristics to the parental cell type. TIGKs represent a valuable model system for the study of oral bacteria interactions with host gingival cells.
4H-SiC Visible-Blind Single-Photon Avalanche Diode for Ultraviolet Detection at 280 and 350 nm

This paper reports on a 4H-SiC single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) operating at UV wavelengths of 280 and 350 nm. The SPAD shows low dark currents of 20 and 57 fA at 80 V and 90% breakdown voltage, respectively. The quantum efficiency (QE) reaches its peak of 43% at 270 nm and is < 0.007% at 400 nm, indicating a high UV-to-visible rejection ratio of > 6100. The 4H-SiC SPAD shows a fast self-quenching and a high photon count rate of 1.44 MHz in the passive-quenching mode. At the wavelength of 280 nm, a single-photon detection efficiency (SPDE) of 2.83 % with a low dark count rate of 22 kHz is achieved at the reverse bias of 116.8 V. The SPDE at 350 nm is lower, which is 0.195%, owing to the correspondingly smaller QE. Optimization measurements were conducted on SPDE as a function of voltage bias and signal output threshold.
Obsessive compulsive features predict cautious decision strategies

Introduction: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is occasionally characterized by decision-making deficits. Compared to the isolated analysis of the choice and response times, characterizing decision outputs at the level of latent processes can be a more powerful approach in revealing differences, even in subclinical cases. We hypothesized that participants with higher obsessive compulsive (OC) features would set their decision thresholds higher and thus make more cautious decisions. Method: We used a perceptual two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task (dot motion discrimination) to test this hypothesis in a non-clinical sample (N = 74). We fitted the data with the diffusion model and evaluated the optimality of decision outputs. We also conducted exploratory analyses to reveal which subscales best predicted the differences at the level of latent decision processes. Results: Higher OC total scores in Maudsley and Padua scales significantly predicted higher threshold settings (cautiousness). The follow-up exploratory analyses with subscale scores showed that checking and rumination tendencies predicted higher threshold settings whereas washing tendency predicted faster non-decision times. Conclusions: Our primary results showed that participants with higher degrees of OC features exhibit more cautious decision making. Our exploratory analyses also revealed distinctions based on different types of OC features in both controlled (cautiousness in decision making) and automatic (faster non-decision times) elements of the decision process.
Covalent Linkage between Proteins of the Inter-α-inhibitor Family and Hyaluronic Acid Is Mediated by a Factor Produced by Granulosa Cells*

The direct interaction of hyaluronic acid (HA) and proteins of the inter-α-inhibitor family plays a critical role in organization and stabilization of the expanding cumulus extracellular matrix (cECM) following an ovulatory stimulus. Despite similarities in the morphology of cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) expanding in vivo and in vitro, we find that the cECM of COCs which expand within intact follicles are more elastic and resistant to shear stress than the cECM of those stabilized in vitro. Western blot analysis shows that only the heavy chains of inter-α-inhibitor are incorporated into the cECM and appears to be covalently linked to HA after stabilization in vivo while intact inter-α-inhibitor is bound to the HA-enriched cECM by a non-covalent mechanism in in vitro stabilized COCs. However, purified pre-α-inhibitor and HA can form covalent linkage in the presence of granulosa cells or with granulosa cell-conditioned medium. In addition, COCs resistance to shear stress is also enhanced by coincubation with granulosa cells. Upon formation of the apparent covalent linkage between heavy chains and HA in culture medium, the light chain (bikunin) is concomitantly released into the medium as a complex with chondroitin sulfate moieties of inter-α-inhibitor supporting the possibility that HA may replace the chondroitin sulfate linkage to the heavy chains. We speculate that a factor(s) secreted by granulosa cells within the follicle may catalyze a transesterification reaction resulting in an exchange of chondroitin sulfate with HA at the heavy chain/chondroitin sulfate junction followed by release of chondroitin sulfate-bikunin into the follicular fluid. It is also possible that the consequent further stabilization of the cECM through the covalent interaction of HA and heavy chains of inter-α-inhibitor may play an important role in the process of ovulation.
Establishing the role of angiotensin-converting enzyme in renal function and blood pressure control through the analysis of genetically modified mice.

Angiotensin II is a vasoconstrictor and a hypertensive peptide that binds to the AT1 receptor and, through both direct and indirect mechanisms, induces salt reabsorption. Also, angiotensin II is thought to be a profibrotic and proproliferative peptide; abundant evidence now suggests that angiotensin
Guiding random particles by deterministic search

Among the algorithms developed towards the goal of robust and efficient tracking, two approaches which stand out due to their success are those based on particle filtering and variational approaches. The Bayesian approach led to the development of the particle filter, which performs a random search guided by a stochastic motion model. On the other hand, localising an object can be based on minimising a cost function. This minimum can be found using variational methods. The search paradigms differ in these two methods. One is stochastic and model-driven while the other is deterministic and data-driven. This paper presents a new algorithm to incorporate the strengths of both approaches into one consistent framework. To allow this fusion a smooth, wide likelihood function is constructed, based on a sum-of-squares distance measure and an appropriate sampling scheme is introduced. Based on low-level information this scheme automatically mixes the two methods of search and adapts the computational demands of the algorithm to the difficulty of the problem at hand. The ability to effectively track complex motions without the need for finely tuned motion models is demonstrated.
Capacity of Compound MIMO Channels with Additive Uncertainty

This paper considers reliable communications over a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Gaussian channel, where the channel matrix is within a bounded channel uncertainty region around a nominal channel matrix, i.e., an instance of the compound MIMO Gaussian channel. We study the optimal transmit covariance matrix design to achieve the capacity of compound MIMO Gaussian channels, where the channel uncertainty region is characterized by the spectral norm. This design problem is a challenging non-convex optimization problem. However, in this paper, we reveal that this problem has a hidden convexity property, which can be exploited to map the problem into a convex optimization problem. We first prove that the optimal transmit design is to diagonalize the nominal channel, and then show that the duality gap between the capacity of the compound MIMO Gaussian channel and the min-max channel capacity is zero, which proves the conjecture of Loyka and Charalambous (IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 2048-2063, 2012). The key tools for showing these results are a new matrix determinant inequality and some unitarily invariant properties.
GERİ KAZANIMLI İMALAT SİSTEMLERİ İÇİN LOJİSTİK AĞI TASARIMI: LİTERATÜR ARAŞTIRMASI

Son zamanlarda firmalar; ekonomik ve ekolojik sebepler, hukumetlerin koyduklari kanunlar, sosyalsorumluluklar gibi nedenlerden dolayi tersine akisi sistemlerine dâhil etmektedirler. Bu firmalar, etkin bir tersine lojistik aginin tasarlanmasi ve malzeme, parca ve urunlerin tersine akisinin etkin bir sekilde yonetilmesi gibi problemlerle karsi karsiya kalmaktadir. Genel bir tersine lojistik agi tuketicilerden kullanilmis urunlerin toplanmasi, depolanmasi, yeniden islenmesi ve geri dagitilmasi faaliyetlerini icerir. Bu calismada tersine lojistik agi tasarimi ve modellenmesi konusunda yapilmis olan calismalar incelenmis, siniflandirilmis ve temel ozellikleri analiz edilmeye calisilmistir.
Psychosocial Variables, Race, And Intention to Seek Care for Breast Cancer Symptoms

This study was designed to assess whether the influences of affect, utility, norm, and habit on intention to seek care promptly for a breast cancer symptom were conditional upon race. Ninety-six participants (68% Caucasian and 32% African American) in community settings completed measures of psychosocial, demographic, and clinical variables, and intention to seek care promptly for a breast lump. Controlling for education, financial coverage for health care, and family history of breast disease, the interactions of both utility and norm with race significantly explained intention. The positive influence of utility on intention was stronger among Caucasians than African Americans, but significant among both groups. The positive influence of social norm on intention was significant for Caucasians, but not for African Americans.
Effects of Corticosterone, Cortisone and Hydrocortisone on Fat Metabolism in the Chick

Summary (1) Hydrocortisone and corticosterone caused an increase in liver, visceral and carcass fat in the chick while cortisone was without effect. (2) The relative effectiveness of these 3 steroids on body growth inhibition in the growing chick is in the following order: hydrocortisone, corticosterone and cortisone. (3) None of these 3 hormones caused an inhibition of relative adrenal weights.
PROGNOSTIC CLASSIFICATION OF MYELOFIBROSIS WITH MYELOID METAPLASIA

Recently, Barosi et d (1988) proposed a prognostic classificat i n for myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM), based bone marrow aspiration very often yields too little material for examination. on age, haemoglabin ccmcentration (Hb), permtage of immature mydoid cells in peripheral blood (MC), bone marrow red cell aplasia (ICA) and total erythroid iron turn over (TFJT). 137 patients entered the study at diagnosis, including 11 cases post polycythaemia Vera (PV). All of them were treated conventionally. Median survival of the whole series was 110 months. The low-risk group (27 patients: 19.7%) had an estimated actuarial survival of 100% at 15 years and of 60% at 2 3 years, and was characterized by younger age (less than 45 years) and lower percentage of IMC (less than 24%) in all cases: most of the patients belonging to this group had an Hb greater than 13 g/dl. Nine of them had a previous history of PV. No one died from blastic transformation. We would like to comment on some of these results. To our knowledge, such prolonged survivals have not been reported in MMM, either for old or for young patients-the longest median survival in the literature reaching only 6 0 months (Varki et al, 1983). Between 1963 and 1985, we diagnosed at our institution 18 3 cases of agnogenic myeloid metaplasia (AMM, according to PVSG criteria). All patients were treated conventionally and were followed up for at least 3 years. Median survival for the whole series was 4 2 months. 14 patients (7.6%) were less than 4 5 years old. Clinical and laboratory data, compared with those of the whole series, showed no difference, and especially the haemoglobin level which was below 13 g/dl in most cases (10/14). Nevertheless median survival of these 1 4 patients (120 months) was longer than that of the whole series. In 4 7 of these 183 patients, we carried out cytogenetic analysis at diagnosis. 15 of them had an abnormal karyotype. Like Barosi and other authors (Varki et ul, 1983), we found high age and low haemoglobin level to be of poor prognosis. However, we also demonstrated the strong prognostic value of cytogenetics, independently from age (Demory et ul, 1988). Eight of the 4 7 patients were 4 5 years old or less, and two of them had clonal cytogenetic abnormalities. Both had a short survival (1 5 and 3 6 months respectively) and died after blastic transformation. Most younger patients with AMM seem to have a tong life expectancy and this probably justifies a non-aggressive therapeutic approach. Our findings suggest, however, that patients with abnormal karyotype at diagnosis have a much poorer prognosis and that young ones require newer therapeutics. These could include allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, whenever possible. Several successful transplantations have effectively been reported in patients with acute myelofibrosis and recently in a case of AMM (Dokal et ul, 1989). In our experience, blood karyotype is usually successful when performed on peripheral blood in AMM, because of circulating immature myeloid cells in most patients, whereas Service des Maladies du Sang
Probability of Replication Revisited

(see Equation 4, p. 347, from Killeen, 2005). As Killeen’s notation leaves room for varying interpretations as to what Pðd2 > 0jd1Þ means, we present here an effort to replicate this formula by carrying out calculations under different assumptions. We also point out some mistakes in Killeen’s article and end with a discussion about how these mistakes impact the results he reported. The notations we use are the same as the ones in the original article. We parameterize the normal density as nðm;sÞ , where m is the mean and s is the variance. CALCULATIONS
Effects of azathioprine therapy on bone marrow-dependent and thymus-dependent cells in man.

The in vitro immunologic parameters of both bone marrow-dependent (B) and thymus-dependent (T) cells of patients with no demonstrable immunologic abnormality and to whom only azathioprine (az) was given for a year in an uninterrupted course, were evaluated. No significant or consistent changes were detected in T cell population as tested by the in vitro proliferative responses of leucocytes to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and to allogeneic leucocytes in the mixed leucocyte reaction (MLR). No significant changes were observed in the levels of serum immunoglobulin (Ig) G, A or M. Significant suppression of B cells was noted: suppressed in vitro proliferative responses to heterologous anti-Ig antisera and to pokeweed mitogen (PWM). The suppressed capacity of B cells to proliferate was not due to a plasma factor but probably to a qualitative defect; normal binding capacity of B cells to 125I-anti-Ig but their inability to proliferate in vitro upon interaction with the anti-Ig. In evaluating the efficiency of az therapy attention should be directed to the evaluation of the in vitro immunocompetence of B cells rather than that of T cells.
Long-Lived Plasma Cells from Human Small Intestine Biopsies Secrete Immunoglobulins for Many Weeks In Vitro

To understand the biology of Ab-secreting cells in the human small intestine, we examined Ab production of intestinal biopsies kept in culture. We found sustained IgA and IgM secretion as well as viable IgA- or IgM-secreting cells after >4 wk of culture. The Ab-secreting cells were nonproliferating and expressing CD27 and CD138, thus having a typical plasma cell phenotype. Culturing of biopsies without tissue disruption gave the highest Ab production and plasma cell survival suggesting that the environment regulates plasma cell longevity. Cytokine profiling of the biopsy cultures demonstrated a sustained presence of IL-6 and APRIL. Blocking of the activity of endogenous APRIL and IL-6 with BCMA–Fc and anti-human IL-6 Ab demonstrated that both these factors were essential for plasma cell survival and Ab secretion in the biopsy cultures. This study demonstrates that the human small intestine harbors a population of nonproliferating plasma cells that are instructed by the microenvironment for prolonged survival and Ab secretion.
Analyzing effect of loss differentiation algorithms on improving TCP performance

When a TCP sender receives three successive duplicate ACKs indicating a packet loss, loss differentiation algorithms (LDAs) distinguish wireless losses from congestion losses to improve TCP's performance in wireless networks. Although previous LDAs improved the accuracy of wireless loss discrimination, each LDA has a trade-off relationship between the accuracy of wireless loss discrimination and the accuracy of congestion loss discrimination based on its own threshold. To suggest good guidelines for deciding the best threshold to improve TCP's performance to the max, we observe the relationship between LDA's accuracy and TCP's performance improvement throughout the extensive simulations. Contrary to our expectations, the simulation results show that LDA's detection information itself is not sufficient to improve TCP's performance due to frequent spurious retransmission timeouts (RTO). The results emphasize that such spurious timeouts should be detected and the RTO recovery should be modified to utilize the detection information of a LDA to improve TCP's performance in wireless networks.
Information Function of the Heart. A Measurement Model

The paper deals with a measurement model of various diseases the semantics of which is embedded in electrocardiosignals. The development of the model described included: measuring the basic parameters of the electrocardiosignals, creating an alphabet of the symbols corresponding to available versions for the dynamics of measurement parameters of each subsequent cycle with respect to a previous on, encoding no less than 600 recorded signals in their serial stream, selecting combinations of symbols of the 100% occurrence which can be met in the patterns of healthy people and patients with different diseases, getting on these basis of these symbols code images (below called "patterns") of the norm and particular diseases. The experience gained in applying the patterns of the norm and diseases as diagnostic standards, has shown their high efficiency in the diagnostics of diseases.