Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blockade of the selective increase in serum follicle-stimulating hormone concentration in immature female rats and its effects on ovarian follicular development.

We investigated whether administration of monosodium L-glutamate (MSG) to neonatal female rats would block the selective increase in serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) concentration in immature rats in an attempt to provide a model in which to study the importance of the selective FSH rise on ovarian follicular development. In two separate experiments, s.c. injections of MSG (4 mg/g BW) on Days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 after birth blocked the selective increase in serum FSH concentration observed on Days 7 and 15 without blocking basal FSH secretion. Serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels were unaffected in the first experiment and changed little in the second. MSG-treated rats had smaller ovaries on Days 15 and 23. The ovaries of MSG-treated rats on Day 15 showed decreased follicular growth as evidenced by a decrease in the number and percentage of follicles with diameters greater than 50 microns, in the number of follicles with greater than 1 layer of granulosa cells, and in the number of follicles beyond the primary stage of follicular development. These differences between MSG-treated rats and controls all but disappeared by Day 23. The results demonstrate that neonatal administration of MSG blocks the selective increase in serum FSH concentration in immature female rats and suggest that this selective increase in serum FSH levels plays a role in the normal acceleration of ovarian follicular development but is not needed for the development of preovulatory follicles by the sixth week after birth.
Mast cell chymase is a possible mediator of neurogenic bladder fibrosis

Urinary bladders of patients with myelomeningocele, owing to spina bifida, are often functionally impaired, fibrotic organs. Common to this condition are repeated occurrences of bladder infection and inflammation. Since mast cells have been associated with a fibrogenic response in inflammatory conditions, we investigated the role of mast cell granule product, chymase, as a mediator of myleodysplastic bladder fibrosis.
GROWING COHESIVE SOCIETIES: THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

Facilitating Active citizenship is one of the European Commission's strategies for increasing social cohesion and reducing the democratic deficit across Europe within the context of the wider Lisbon process. In this context, this paper provides an evidence base for policy development, identifying the socio-demographic characteristics and determinants of active citizens and those who for one reason or another participate much less. The paper provides a detailed identikit of the active citizen from 2002 across 14 European countries Austrian, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden (the complete dataset available for this research is only available for the majority of old member states of the European Union and European Economic Area). The results of our analysis, based on a multilevel regression model, provide a clear identikit of the active citizen in Europe and the drivers of the phenomenon are identified both at the individual and at the country level. The picture provided is quite interesting and shows that the level of Active Citizenship is higher in countries with a higher level of GDP with a more
Superconducting cosmic string: Equation of state for spacelike and timelike current in the neutral limit.

The equation of state relating the tension {ital T} and the energy per unit length {ital U} of a cosmic string is investigated in the simplest nontrivial case, namely, that of a field theory with U(1){sup local}{times}U(1){sup global} invariance, in four dimensions, which is interpretable as the zero-charge-coupling-constant limit of the more general superconducting string models that have been previously investigated. This limit has the advantage of giving vacuum vortex defects that are strictly local so that the quantities such as {ital U} and {ital T} that are relevant for the macroscopic description can be computed without ambiguity. In the case of electric'' states (with timelike current) for which no comparable previous calculations exist, it is shown there is a critical frequency {ital w}{sub {ital c}} beyond which the vortex becomes unstable due to charge'' carrier emission. In the case of magnetic'' states (with spacelike current), the present analysis provides more precise results than those of previous investigations, whose predictions are broadly confirmed for typical moderate models in which the tension {ital T} remains comparable to the energy density {ital U} though not for extreme models, in which serious discrepancies are revealed.
The Hypnotic Belay in Alpine Mountaineering: The Use of Self-Hypnosis for the Resolution of Sports Injuries and for Performance Enhancement

Abstract The author, an experienced alpine mountaineer, sustained several traumatic climbing injuries over a two-year period. This article describes her multiple uses of self-hypnosis to deal with several challenges related to her returning to successful mountain climbing. She used self-hypnosis for physical healing and to enhance her motivation to resume climbing. While training for her next expedition, she successfully utilized self-hypnotic techniques to deal with acute stress and later post-traumatic symptoms that had emerged related to her climbing injuries. She describes her use of hypnotic ego-strengthening, mental rehearsal, age progression, and “Inner Strength” as well as active-alert trance states. Her successful summitting of Ecuador's Cotopaxi at 19,380 feet was facilitated by “The Hypnotic Belay” which permitted her to secure herself by self-hypnosis in addition to the rope used to secure climbers. In 1994, the author returned to the Cascade Mountains where she had been injured three years earlier and reached the summit of Mount Shuksan. This time she was secured by “The Hypnotic Belay”.
Explaining Intentions to Seek Help for Depressive Symptoms in the Context of Responsibility Message Framing

ABSTRACT U.S. college students are disproportionally affected by depression but typically do not seek help. To advance understanding of the role of health messages in shaping college students’ help-seeking intentions, we used a reasoned action approach to experimentally investigate help-seeking intentions for depressive symptoms. Due to negative interpretation biases among those who suffer from depression, scholars have previously warned against attempts to decrease feelings of responsibility for one’s depression in health messages. We tested the determinants of help-seeking intentions as a function of exposure to depression help-seeking messages that differed in responsibility cues. Findings revealed that in our sample low responsibility health message framing did not affect determinants of help-seeking intentions. We identified instrumental attitude (β = .53) and descriptive norms (β = .24) as determinants of intentions to seek help (R2 = .42) across message conditions and across levels of depression. These findings indicate potentially important targets for messages that seek to increase help-seeking among depressed college students.
Dynamic Stability of Repeated Agent-Environment Interactions During the Hybrid Ball-bouncing Task

This interdisciplinary study aims to understand and model human motor control principles using automatic control methods, with possible applications in robotics for tasks involving a rhythmic interaction with the environment. The paper analyses the properties of a candidate model for the visual servoing of the 1D bouncing ball benchmark task in humans. The contributions are twofold as they i/ enable a computationally efficient way of testing hypotheses in human motor control modeling, and ii/ will allow to export and adapt the lessons learned from this modeling of human behavior for more robust and less model-dependent robotic control methods. Three hypotheses about the sensorimotor couplings involved during the task, i.e. three control structures are analyzed from the point of view of task stability by means of Poincaré maps. Obtained results are used to refine the proposed models of sensorimotor couplings. It is shown that the fixed points of the Poincaré maps are stable and that the obtained linear approximation, derived on these equilibrium points, can be viewed as a state-feedback. As such, the human-like controller is compared to the Linear Quadratic controller around the equilibrium point.
Image analysis of X‐ray microtomograms of soft materials during convective drying

X‐ray microtomography is used to explore the textural evolution that soft materials undergo during a drying treatment. An original image processing algorithm is applied to vertical projections and reconstructed cross‐section images in order to quantify the texture at different stages of drying. Measurements are performed both on grey‐level and on binary images. It is shown that X‐ray microtomography is a very promising tool in the field of drying investigations. It can be used to determine internal moisture profiles, and to follow crack development and shrinkage in an accurate and non‐destructive way. This information is crucial to validate drying models. Waste‐water sludges are used as test materials to assess the validity of the proposed methodology. The management of these sludges, often including a drying stage, will become a challenge in the forthcoming years in accordance with environmental regulations. Samples collected in two waste‐water treatment plants are investigated. Their analysis by X‐ray microtomography brings to the fore two different drying behaviours, illustrating that sludge drying is a complex unit operation very sensitive to the way the material is produced.
Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling of FTY720 (2-Amino-2[2-(-4-octylphenyl)ethyl]propane-1,3-diol hydrochloride) in Rats After Oral and Intravenous Doses

FTY720 (2-amino-2[2-(-4-octylphenyl)ethyl]propane-1,3-diol hydrochloride) is a new sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonist being developed for multiple sclerosis and prevention of solid organ transplant rejection. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic model was developed to predict the concentration of FTY720 in various organs of the body. Single oral and intravenous doses of FTY720 were administered to male Wistar rats, with blood and tissue sampling over 360 h analyzed by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. A well stirred model (perfusion rate-limited) described FTY720 kinetics in heart, lungs, spleen, muscle, kidneys, bone, and liver, with a permeability rate-limited model being required for brain, thymus, and lymph nodes. Tissue-to-blood partition coefficients (RT) ranged from 4.69 (muscle) to 41.4 (lungs). In lymph nodes and spleen, major sites for FTY720-induced changes in sequestration of lymphocytes, RT values were 22.9 and 34.7, respectively. Permeability-surface area products for brain, thymus, and lymph nodes were 39.3, 122, and 176 ml/min. Intrinsic hepatic clearance was 23,145 l/h/kg for the free drug in blood (fub 0.000333); systemic clearance was 0.748 l/h/kg and terminal half-life was 23.4 h. The fraction orally absorbed was 71%. The model characterized well FTY720 disposition for this extensive dosing and tissue collection study in the rat. On scaling the model to dogs and humans, good agreement was found between the actual and predicted blood concentration-time profiles. More importantly, brain concentrations in dogs were well predicted from those of the rat. In absolute terms, the predictions were slightly lower than observed values, just under a 1.5-fold deviation, but the model accurately predicted the terminal elimination of FTY720 from the brain.
On the slow state generation after substrate hole injection in p-MOSFETs

The damage created in p-metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect (p-MOSFET) transistors by hot hole injection into the oxide is investigated. It is found that hole injection creates fast interface states not only during the injection, but also after the injection is terminated. In addition, slow state density increases during hole injection and decreases post the injection. There is a lack of correlation between the trapped holes in the oxide and the slow state creation, which is against recently reported results on trapped holes inducing slow interface states in MOSFETs.
Performance of Large Area Thin-Film CdTe Detector in Diagnostic X-Ray Imaging

Significant advancement in thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) deposition techniques in recent years has made this material attractive for the development of low-cost large area detector. Here we evaluate the intrinsic performance of the detector for a range of energies relevant to diagnostic imaging applications, such as fluoroscopy. The input x-ray spectra for a set of tube potentials ranging from 70 to 140 kVp were computed with the tungsten anode spectral model using interpolating polynomials (TASMIP) based on the measured output of our diagnostic x-ray simulator. Frequency-dependent detector performance analysis was conducted through Monte Carlo simulations of energy deposition within the detector. Intrinsic modulation transfer functions (MTF), noise power spectra (NPS), and detective quantum efficiencies (DQE) were computed for a set of CdTe detectors of varying thickness, from 100 to 1000 μm. MTF behavior at higher frequencies was affected by thickness and input energy, NPS increased with film thickness and energy, and the resultant DQE(f) decreased with increasing the input energy, but increased with the thickness of the detector. We found that the optimal thickness of CdTe under diagnostic x-ray beam is in the range of 300 to 600 μm. Physical properties of CdTe, such as the high atomic number and density, used in direct detection configuration, together with the recently established thin-film manufacturing techniques makes this technology a promising photoconductor for large area diagnostic flat panel imaging.
Genetic Evidence that an Endosymbiont-derived Endoplasmic Reticulum-associated Protein Degradation (ERAD) System Functions in Import of Apicoplast Proteins*

Most apicomplexan parasites harbor a relict chloroplast, the apicoplast, that is critical for their survival. Whereas the apicoplast maintains a small genome, the bulk of its proteins are nuclear encoded and imported into the organelle. Several models have been proposed to explain how proteins might cross the four membranes that surround the apicoplast; however, experimental data discriminating these models are largely missing. Here we present genetic evidence that apicoplast protein import depends on elements derived from the ER-associated protein degradation (ERAD) system of the endosymbiont. We identified two sets of ERAD components in Toxoplasma gondii, one associated with the ER and cytoplasm and one localized to the membranes of the apicoplast. We engineered a conditional null mutant in apicoplast Der1, the putative pore of the apicoplast ERAD complex, and found that loss of Der1Ap results in loss of apicoplast protein import and subsequent death of the parasite.
15-year experience with the management of extrinsic ureteral obstruction with indwelling ureteral stents.

PURPOSE We assessed the success of retrograde placement of indwelling ureteral stents in the management of ureteral obstruction due to extrinsic compression. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between July 1987 and December 2002 adequate followup was available for 101 patients who underwent primary retrograde ureteral stenting for extrinsic ureteral obstruction. Mean age at presentation was 61.4 years (range 33 to 90). Chart review was performed on all patients for primary diagnosis, symptomatology, degree of hydronephrosis, creatinine levels (baseline, treatment and posttreatment), location of compression, size and number of stents used, progression to percutaneous nephrostomy tube (PNT), stent failure, days to stent failure, post-stent therapy and status at last followup. RESULTS Mean length of followup was 11 months (range 1 to 127). In 101 patients 138 ureteral units (UU) were stented. Total stent failure occurred in 41 (40.6%) patients and 58 (42.0%) UU. A total of 40 (29.0%) UU required PNTs at a mean of 40.3 days (range 0 to 330) with 18 PNTs placed in less than 1 week. Cases of stent failure that did not undergo PNT placement included 18 (13.0%) UU at a mean of 52.4 days (range 3 to 128). A total of 90 (89.1%) patients had metastatic cancer at stenting with 32.2% dead at 5.8 months (range 1 to 32). Univariate and multivariate analyses identified cancer diagnosis, baseline creatinine greater than 1.3 mg/dl and post-stent systemic treatment as predictors of stent failure. Proximal location of compression and treatment creatinine greater than 3.11 mg/dl were marginal predictors of failure on univariate analysis, while proximal location of obstruction was also marginally significant on multivariate analysis. No predictors were identified for early stent failure (less than 1 week). CONCLUSIONS At almost 1 year followup stent failure due to extrinsic compression occurred in nearly half of treated patients. Analysis of data revealed a diagnosis of cancer, baseline mild renal insufficiency and metastatic disease requiring chemotherapy or radiation as predictors of stent failure. Managing extrinsic compression by retrograde stenting continues to be a practical but guarded decision and should be tailored to each patient.
Development and preliminary evidence for the validity of an instrument assessing implementation of human-factors principles in medication-related decision-support systems - I-MeDeSA

BACKGROUND Medication-related decision support can reduce the frequency of preventable adverse drug events. However, the design of current medication alerts often results in alert fatigue and high over-ride rates, thus reducing any potential benefits. METHODS The authors previously reviewed human-factors principles for relevance to medication-related decision support alerts. In this study, instrument items were developed for assessing the appropriate implementation of these human-factors principles in drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts. User feedback regarding nine electronic medical records was considered during the development process. Content validity, construct validity through correlation analysis, and inter-rater reliability were assessed. RESULTS The final version of the instrument included 26 items associated with nine human-factors principles. Content validation on three systems resulted in the addition of one principle (Corrective Actions) to the instrument and the elimination of eight items. Additionally, the wording of eight items was altered. Correlation analysis suggests a direct relationship between system age and performance of DDI alerts (p=0.0016). Inter-rater reliability indicated substantial agreement between raters (κ=0.764). CONCLUSION The authors developed and gathered preliminary evidence for the validity of an instrument that measures the appropriate use of human-factors principles in the design and display of DDI alerts. Designers of DDI alerts may use the instrument to improve usability and increase user acceptance of medication alerts, and organizations selecting an electronic medical record may find the instrument helpful in meeting their clinicians' usability needs.
Ultrasound imaging in medical student education: Impact on learning anatomy and physical diagnosis

Ultrasound use has expanded dramatically among the medical specialties for diagnostic and interventional purposes, due to its affordability, portability, and practicality. This imaging modality, which permits real‐time visualization of anatomic structures and relationships in vivo, holds potential for pre‐clinical instruction of students in anatomy and physical diagnosis, as well as providing a bridge to the eventual use of bedside ultrasound by clinicians to assess patients and guide invasive procedures. In many studies, but not all, improved understanding of anatomy has been demonstrated, and in others, improved accuracy in selected aspects of physical diagnosis is evident. Most students have expressed a highly favorable impression of this technology for anatomy education when surveyed. Logistic issues or obstacles to the integration of ultrasound imaging into anatomy teaching appear to be readily overcome. The enthusiasm of students and anatomists for teaching with ultrasound has led to widespread implementation of ultrasound‐based teaching initiatives in medical schools the world over, including some with integration throughout the entire curriculum; a trend that likely will continue to grow. Anat Sci Educ 10: 176–189. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.
Dietary underreporting by obese individuals--is it specific or non-specific?

Abstract Objective: To examine the distribution of patterns of macronutrient density in relation to obesity. Design: Cross sectional. Setting: Denmark. Subjects: 323 men and women aged 35-65 years, selected randomly from a larger population sample of Danish adults. Main outcome measure: Bias in dietary reporting of energy and protein intake in relation to percentage body fat, assessed by comparison of data from an interview on dietary intake with data estimated from 24 hour nitrogen output, validated by administering p-aminobenzoic acid, and estimated 24 hour energy expenditure. Results: Degree of obesity was positively associated with underreporting of total energy and protein, whereas compared with total energy reported, protein was overreported by the obese subjects. Conclusion: Errors in dietary reporting of protein seem to occur disproportionately with respect to total energy, suggesting a differential reporting pattern of different foods. Although, on average, all subjects showed a greater underreporting of energy than of protein, this was most common in the obese subjects. Snack-type foods may be preferentially forgotten when obese people omit food items in dietary reporting. These results seem to agree with the general assumption that obese people tend to underreport fatty foods and foods rich in carbohydrates rather than underreport their total dietary intake. These results may have implications for the interpretation of studies of diet and comorbidities related to obesity.
Human dignity in bioethics and law

Dignity tends to be unpopular among philosophers. At least when they are doing the day job. It is not hard to see why. It is hard not to distrust a principle used to defend and denounce abortion, and to bay for the blood and pray for the life of a murderer. Its ubiquity in international and domestic declarations and codes does not help either. It is often used there as a placeholder, and the suspicion is that that is because it has no real substance. What substance it has, it is often thought, is creepily Judaeo-Christian: borrowed from the Imago Dei, and dressed up dishonestly as Cicero or Kant to deceive the unlettered. So, whether it is hopelessly amorphous, incurably theological or just plain incoherent, it has no place in the lexicon of a serious thinker. But sometimes nothing but dignity will do. It is wrong to use the head of a dead person as a football, for medical students to practise vaginal examinations on a woman in permanent vegetative state or to let youths at a Casualty Department gaze lustfully at the undraped body of a seriously brain-damaged girl—even though she enjoys their attention. The wrongness can only properly be described in the language of dignity, or in some language that is necessarily dependent on dignity. Respect …