Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hoof of mule causes contraception- a pilot study on female wistar rats

After years of query, we found that hoof of mule, a compound with contraceptive effect, had been used more than a century ago by the nomadic populations of Iran. We tested the effects of Hoof on female rats. Hoof was administered orally (0.12 g/kg) for 3 days and the rats were mated on day 10 after the last administration. The mean number of pups 5 hours after delivery on day 21 was 14.67 ± 0.21 for the control group (Group-A), 4.16 ± 0.40 for rats experiencing their first pregnancy (Group-B), and no pups for rats experiencing their second pregnancy (Group C). Analysis of the uterus demonstrated failure of embryo implantation in one of the fallopian tubes of Group B, and no implantation in Group C. Assessment of serum levels of estradiol and progesterone showed completely opposite trends to the normal situation of hormonal changes after delivery. In summary, hoof of mule would appear to act through a complicated mechanism that may involve hormonal pathways. This new claim requires further extensive studies to determine the exact mechanism. The effective compound in hoof that affects hormonal balance and causes contraception is currently being analysed and identified.
Characteristics Analysis and Risk Modeling of Ice Flashover Fault in Power Grids

Ice flashover faults (IFFs) that occur in groups can be a key factor in grid collapse. This study analyzed IFF characteristics and developed a basic risk assessment model. The aim is to reveal the IFF inherent law, and provides a direction for the future ice storms. Moreover, IFF risk model is the basis of risk assessment of power grid during ice storms. The critical values of ice bridging and shedding from insulators were identified. A state division principle categorized the IFF modes. A risk rating method then developed, based on these IFF modes. In view of the limited experience data with small sample size and many important inputs, the least squares support vector machines risk modeling method was adopted and its model parameters optimized by Bayesian inference. In reduction to practice, some vulnerability indices are suggested to analyze the risk of grid IFFs for future ice storms.
Increased Endosomal Sorting of Ligand to Recycling Enhances Potency of an Interleukin-2 Analog*

An interleukin-2 (IL-2) variant containing adjacent point mutations (L18M/L19S, termed 2D1) displaying binding affinity to the heterotrimeric IL-2 receptor similar to that of wild-type IL-2 (WT) had been previously found to surprisingly exhibit increased bioactivity in a peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation assay. In order to provide an explanatory mechanism for this unexpected potency enhancement, we hypothesize that altered endocytic trafficking of the 2D1 variant might be responsible by increasing the number of ligand-receptor complexes. We demonstrate here that the internalization kinetics of 2D1 via the high affinity IL-2 receptor are equivalent to those of WT but that a significantly increased fraction of internalized 2D1 is sorted to recycling instead of to lysosomal degradation. We further find a reduced pH sensitivity of binding to IL-2 receptor α relative to IL-2 receptor β compared with WT, which could be responsible for the altered sorting behavior of 2D1 in the acidic endosomal compartment. Accordingly, the 2D1 variant displays a half-life 36 h longer than that of IL-2 in T-lymphocyte culture at concentrations equal to the K D of the IL-2 receptor. The extended half-life of intact 2D1 provides enhanced mitogenesis as compared with IL-2. In addition, 2D1 stimulates natural killer cells to a lesser degree than IL-2 at equal concentrations. We conclude that this IL-2 variant provides increased mitogenic stimulation that could not be easily predicted from its cell surface receptor binding affinity while minimizing undesired stimulation of natural killer cells. This concept of altering trafficking dynamics may offer a generalizable approach to generating improvements in the pharmacological efficacy of therapeutic cytokines.
Vergi Algısı ve Vergi Bilinci Üzerine Bir Araştırma: İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Öğrencilerinde Vergi Algısı ve Bilinci

Bireylerin vergiye iliskin kurallara uymasi ve vergiye iliskin odevlerini kendiliginden yerine getirmesi onemlidir. Bu durum vergiye uyum olarak adlandirilmaktadir. Bireylerin vergiye uyumu, vergi algilarina ve vergi bilinclerine baglidir. Bu calismada bir anket ile Hitit Universitesi Iktisadi ve Idari Bilimler Fakultesi ogrencilerinin vergiye iliskin algilari ve vergi bilincleri olculmeye calisilmistir. Calismaya iliskin veri seti 330 ogrenciye uygulanan anketten elde edilmistir. Amprik uygulamada oncelikle tanimlayici istatistikler cevaplarin sikliklari ve yuzdeleri verilmistir ve yorumlanmistir. Sonra Mann-Whitney U ve Kruskal Wallis testleri hipotezlerin sinanmasi icin kullanilmistir.
Perplexity based linguistic model adaptation for speech summarisation

The performance of automatic speech summarisation has been improved in previous experiments by using linguistic model adaptation. One of the problems encountered was the high computational cost and low efﬁciency of the development phase. In this paper we compare our original development approach of evaluating summaries produced by an exhaustive search over all parameters with a much faster development method using an expectation maximization algorithm that minimizes perplexity in order to ﬁnd the optimal combination of linguistic models for the speech summarisation task. Perplexity proves to be sufﬁciently correlated to the objective evaluation metrics used in the summarisation literature that it can be used in this fashion. For a much reduced computational cost (approximately 500 times faster), ﬁnal relative improvements are very similar to those previously obtained, ranging from 1.5% to 21.3% on all investigated metrics for summaries made from automatic speech recogniser transcriptions.
Gene Expansion Shapes Genome Architecture in the Human Pathogen Lichtheimia corymbifera: An Evolutionary Genomics Analysis in the Ancient Terrestrial Mucorales (Mucoromycotina)

Lichtheimia species are the second most important cause of mucormycosis in Europe. To provide broader insights into the molecular basis of the pathogenicity-associated traits of the basal Mucorales, we report the full genome sequence of L. corymbifera and compared it to the genome of Rhizopus oryzae, the most common cause of mucormycosis worldwide. The genome assembly encompasses 33.6 MB and 12,379 protein-coding genes. This study reveals four major differences of the L. corymbifera genome to R. oryzae: (i) the presence of an highly elevated number of gene duplications which are unlike R. oryzae not due to whole genome duplication (WGD), (ii) despite the relatively high incidence of introns, alternative splicing (AS) is not frequently observed for the generation of paralogs and in response to stress, (iii) the content of repetitive elements is strikingly low (<5%), (iv) L. corymbifera is typically haploid. Novel virulence factors were identified which may be involved in the regulation of the adaptation to iron-limitation, e.g. LCor01340.1 encoding a putative siderophore transporter and LCor00410.1 involved in the siderophore metabolism. Genes encoding the transcription factors LCor08192.1 and LCor01236.1, which are similar to GATA type regulators and to calcineurin regulated CRZ1, respectively, indicating an involvement of the calcineurin pathway in the adaption to iron limitation. Genes encoding MADS-box transcription factors are elevated up to 11 copies compared to the 1–4 copies usually found in other fungi. More findings are: (i) lower content of tRNAs, but unique codons in L. corymbifera, (ii) Over 25% of the proteins are apparently specific for L. corymbifera. (iii) L. corymbifera contains only 2/3 of the proteases (known to be essential virulence factors) in comparision to R. oryzae. On the other hand, the number of secreted proteases, however, is roughly twice as high as in R. oryzae.
Toxic effects of microcystin‐LR on the HepG2 cell line under hypoxic and normoxic conditions

Microcystins (MCs) are highly liver‐specific and evidenced as a liver tumor promoter. Oxidative stress is one of the most important toxicity mechanisms of MCs, which is tightly related to oxygen concentration. The effects of MCs on animals and cell lines in normoxia and the mechanisms have been well studied, but such effects in different oxygen conditions were still unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore the cellular response of the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2) to MC‐LR exposure under hypoxic (1% O2) and normoxic (21% O2) conditions. We examined cell viability, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and gene expression posttoxin exposure. Cell viability was increased by MC‐LR in normoxia although decreased in hypoxia. MC‐LR markedly induced MMP loss under hypoxic condition but only slightly MMP loss under normoxic condition. SOD activity was significantly induced by MC‐LR in hypoxia, indicating prolonged oxidative stress. Inhibitory apoptosis protein (c‐IAP2) was significantly up‐regulated by MC‐LR under normoxic condition, suggesting that c‐IAP2 played an important role in the promotion of cell proliferation by MC‐LR. These results indicate that MC‐LR promotes cell proliferation under normoxic condition whereas induces cell apoptosis under hypoxic condition. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Escala Brasileira de Valores Materiais - EBVM : elaboração e validação de uma escala para materialismo como valor de consumo

xiv 1. Introdução . 15 2. Revisão da Literatura . 16 2.1 Materialismo – Definições, Visões e Temas. 16 2.2 Materialismo e Outros Construtos . 18 2.3 Medidas de Materialismo . 20 2.3. 1 A Escala de Materialismo de Belk . 21 2.3. 2 A Escala de Valores Materiais de Richins e Dawson . 21 2.3. 3 Medidas de Materialismo no Brasil . 22 2.4 Materialismo e Valores . 23 2.4.1 O sistema de Valores de Schwartz . 24 2.4.2 Materialismo como um Valor de Consumo . 26 2.4. 3 Materialismo e o Modelo de Valores de Schwartz . 27 3. Objetivos e Hipóteses de Pesquisa . 28 4. Estudo 1 . 29 4.1 Método . 29 4.1. 1 Amostra . 29 4.1. 2 Instrumentos . 30 4.1. 2.1 Versão brasileira da Escala de Autoestima de Rosenberg . 30 4.1. 2.2 Escala Brasileira de Valores Materiais . 30 4.1. 3 Procedimentos . 31 4.2 Resultados . 32
The Effect of Gestational Age and Labour on Markers of Lipid and Protein Oxidation in Cord Plasma

There are many potential sources of reactive oxidants around the time of birth and pre-term infants are considered to be particularly vulnerable to oxidative injury. To gain insight into these processes, we have measured biomarkers of lipid and protein oxidation in umbilical cord plasma and related concentrations to mode of delivery and gestational age. Protein carbonyls were measured by ELISA and malondialdehyde (MDA) by HPLC after reaction with thiobarbituric acid, for 54 pre-term (≤36 weeks gestational age) and 43 term infants. Protein carbonyls were significantly lower in pre-term (median for <32 weeks gestational age 0.048 nmol/mg protein) than in term infants (0.105 nmol/mg, p=0.004), and were unrelated to mode of delivery. In contrast, MDA concentrations were higher in the very pre-term (<32 weeks gestation) group (2.47 compared with 1.83 μM for term infants, p<0.0001). MDA concentrations were higher in infants who were born with labour compared with elective caesarean section. Pre-eclampsia in the mother was associated with higher cord blood MDA concentrations. The MDA results are consistent with other studies of this marker and could be interpreted as indicating increased oxidative stress associated with prematurity and labour. However, the lower protein carbonyls in pre-term infants would lead to an opposite interpretation. More information is needed on the source and fate of these and other biomarkers before drawing strong conclusions on how they reflect oxidative stress in this and other clinical situations.
Sequential development of diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma in a patient with angioimmunoblastic T‐cell lymphoma

Lymphoma of different histologic type can occur in the same patient. Here, we describe a 64‐year‐old male patient with angioimmunoblastic T‐cell lymphoma (AITL) who subsequently developed diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL). At the time of initial diagnosis, histologic examination of a left inguinal lymph node of the patient and a monoclonal pattern of TCRβ gene rearrangement showed typical features of AITL, and there was no evidence of a monoclonal B‐cell population. Twenty‐six months later, he had generalized lymphadenopathy and organs involvement by DLBCL. A monoclonal IgH gene rearrangement proved de novo development of secondary B‐cell lymphoma and excluded relapse of a primary composite lymphoma. The in situ hybridization analysis showed Epstein‐Barr‐encoded RNA (EBER) sporadic positivity in sample collected from AITL but extensive positivity in the immunoblasts collected from DLBCL. Our observation supports the hypothesis that Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) is etiologically related to AITL in this case. Clonal expansion of EBV‐associated DLBCL is a secondary event in AITL via EBV infection or reactivation. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2011; © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
S101, an Inhibitor of Proliferating T Cells, Rescues Mice From Superantigen-Induced Shock

Superantigens (SAgs) are extremely potent bacterial toxins, which evoke a virulent immune response, inducing nonspecific T-cell proliferation, rapid cytokine release, and lethal toxic shock, for which there is no effective treatment. We previously developed a small molecule, S101, which potently inhibits proliferating T cells. In a severe mouse model of toxic shock, a single injection of S101 given together with superantigen challenge rescued 100% of the mice. Even when given 2 hours after challenge, S101 rescued 40% of the mice. S101 targets the T-cell receptor, inflammatory response, and actin cytoskeleton pathways. S101 inhibits the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, a ligand-activated transcription factor that is involved in the differentiation of T-helper cells, especially Th17, and regulatory T cells. Our results provide the rationale for developing S101 to treat superantigen-induced toxic shock and other pathologies characterized by T-cell activation and proliferation.
Farewell to Binary Causation

Causation is a topic of perennial philosophical concern. As well as being of intrinsic interest, almost all philosophical concepts — such as knowledge, beauty, and moral responsibility — involve a causal dimension. Nonetheless, attempts to provide a satisfactory account of the nature of causation have typically led to barrages of counterexamples. I hope to show that a number of the difficulties plaguing theories of causation have a common source. Most philosophical theories of causation describe a binary relation between cause and effect, or at any rate, a relation that reduces to such a binary relation when certain background information is held fixed. Indeed, most theories provide the same general account of when this relation holds: in order to evaluate whether C causes E, we must make a comparison between two cases, which we may neutrally label as C and ∼C. Where theories of causation differ, of course, is in precisely what is being so compared. Regularity theories of causation require a comparison between what actually happens whenever C occurs, and what actually happens, elsewhere and elsewhen, when C does not occur.
Influence of infant feeding and gluten intake on coeliac disease

OBJECTIVES To study the impact of infant feeding habits and actual gluten intake on gluten induced enteropathy. METHODS A case-referent design, controlling for the HLA alleles conferring increased genetic risk, was used. All 164 siblings of 97 probands were investigated. Eighty five of the siblings, carrying the genes DQA1*0501-DQB1*02 conferring susceptibility for the disease, were investigated by interview, food recording, and taking a small intestinal biopsy sample. Eight cases of silent coeliac disease were found and these were compared with the 73 siblings in whom the diagnosis was excluded. RESULTS No statistically significant differences were found between cases and referents in terms of duration of breast feeding, age at introduction of cows’ milk products, frequency of breast feeding after gluten introduction, and gluten consumption. CONCLUSIONS The studied factors may be of less importance for the development of gluten induced enteropathy.
Unrelated Donor Leukocyte Infusions to Treat Relapse after Unrelated Donor Bone Marrow Transplantation

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) may cure many patients with hematologic malignancies due to both the intensive conditioning therapy, and in many patients, the potent graft-vs-leukemia (GVL) effect of the donor graft. The GVL effect is mediated in large part by mature T-cells contained in the donor graft and has been defined in detail in animal models of transplantation. The GVL activity has been observed in the clinical setting after SCT from both matched siblings and unrelated donors. The best demonstration and most direct evidence of GVL activity in humans come from the use of donor leukocyte infusions (DLI). For patients who relapse with chronic myelogenous leukemia after matched sibling SCT, infusions of leukocytes collected from the original transplant donor will re-establish complete and durable remission in 60-80% of patients. DLI is less effective for more advanced phases of CML and for patients who relapse with diseases other than CML. DLI after matched sibling SCT is complicated primarily by graft-vs-host disease (GVHD), marrow aplasia, and unfortunately, relapse in some cases. There has been little information regarding the use of unrelated DLI (UDLI). Available data now shows that despite initial concerns that UDLI would result in excessive toxicity, it is an effective approach to relapse after unrelated donor marrow grafting. Response rates are similar to those seen after the use of matched sibling DLI, and many remissions remain durable. Graft-vs-host disease is a frequent complication after UDLI though the incidence and severity of GVHD is also similar to the use of matched sibling DLI. It is not clear that the GVL and GVHD effects can be separated, since the majority of responding patients also develop GVHD. The most effective cell dose for UDLI has not been established, though there does not appear to be either a dose-response or dose-toxicity relationship from UDLI. Although second unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation (BMT) may cure a small minority of patients, GVL induction with UDLI offers a safer and potentially more effective therapy for relapsed leukemia, and offers insights in methods to manipulate the human immune system for therapeutic benefit.
ANTIFUNGAL POTENTIAL OF LEAF EXTRACTS OF LEGUMINOUS TREES AGAINST SCLEROTIUM ROLFSII

Background: Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. is a destructive soil-borne plant pathogen that infects over 500 plant species and causes significant yield losses in many economically important plant species. Synthetic fungicides used to combat the menace also pollute the environment and cause health hazards. In order to search environmental friendly alternatives from natural resources, methanolic extracts of three leguminous tree species namely Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. ex Delile subsp. indica (Benth.) Brenan, Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. and Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. were evaluated for their antifungal activity against S. rolfsii and A. nilotica subsp. indica exhibited the maximum fungicidal potential. Materials and Methods: Two hundred grams dried leaf material of each of the three test plant species were extracted with methanol for two weeks. After filtration, methanol was evaporated on a rotary evaporator. Malt extract broth was used to make various concentrations of the crude methanolic extracts and their antifungal potential was determined by comparing the fungal biomass in various treatments with control. Chemical composition of methanolic leaf extract of A. nilotica subsp. indica was determined through GC-MS analysis. Results: Methanolic leaf extract of A. nilotica subsp. indica showed the highest fungicidal activity. Fungal biomass was decreased by 17-55% due to various concentrations of this extract over control. Different concentrations of P. juliflora reduced fungal biomass by 3-52%. Fourteen compounds were identified in methanolic extract of A. nilotica subsp. indica. 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid, methyl ester, (Z,Z,Z,)- (16.59%) was the most abundant compound followed by 1-pentanol, 2 methyl-, acetate (14.80%); hexanedioic acid, dimethyl ester (13.10%) and cyclotriaconta- 1, 7, 16, 22-tetraone (10.28%). Conclusion: This study concludes that methanolic leaf extract of A. nilotica subsp. indica can be used for management of S. rolfsii.
Malpractice in Head and Neck Surgery

Objective To examine the sources of litigation related to the practice of head and neck surgery. Study Design Analysis of malpractice claims directly related to the diagnosis and treatment of head and neck disease provided by 16 medical liability insurance companies. Setting Not applicable. Subjects and Methods Data were obtained from 16 members of the Physician Insurers Association of America. All claims were either filed or closed between 1978 and 2007. Claims were evaluated for patient age, the cause for the claim, any surgical complications, and indemnity paid. Results Three hundred fifteen claims were identified between 1978 and 2007. The mean patient age was 48 years (median, 47 years). The greatest number of claims came from the 36- to 45-years age group (n = 68, 24.6%). Perioperative complications represented the largest cause of claims (n = 169, 53.7%), followed by delay of or missed diagnosis (n = 109, 34.6%) and persistence or recurrence of disease (n = 21, 6.7%). Among perioperative complications, nerve injuries were the largest group (n = 64, 20.3%), followed by airway-related claims (n = 27, 8.6%), esophageal injuries (n = 14, 4.4%), poor cosmetic results (n = 14, 4.4%), vessel injuries (n = 11, 3.5%), and postoperative infections (n = 2, 0.6%). Overall, mortalities resulted in 62 (19.7%) claims. Conclusions Four important risks for malpractice litigation in head and neck surgery were identified: young patient age, perioperative complications, delay of or missed diagnosis, and persistence or recurrence of disease.