Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Planting of neonicotinoid-coated corn raises honey bee mortality and sets back colony development

Worldwide occurrences of honey bee colony losses have raised concerns about bee health and the sustainability of pollination-dependent crops. While multiple causal factors have been identified, seed coating with insecticides of the neonicotinoid family has been the focus of much discussion and research. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the impacts of these insecticides under field conditions or in commercial beekeeping operations. Given that corn-seed coating constitutes the largest single use of neonicotinoid, our study compared honey bee mortality from commercial apiaries located in two different agricultural settings, i.e. corn-dominated areas and corn-free environments, during the corn planting season. Data was collected in 2012 and 2013 from 26 bee yards. Dead honey bees from five hives in each apiary were counted and collected, and samples were analyzed using a multi-residue LC-MS/MS method. Long-term effects on colony development were simulated based on a honey bee population dynamic model. Mortality survey showed that colonies located in a corn-dominated area had daily mortality counts 3.51 times those of colonies from corn crop-free sites. Chemical analyses revealed that honey bees were exposed to various agricultural pesticides during the corn planting season, but were primarily subjected to neonicotinoid compounds (54% of analysed samples contained clothianidin, and 31% contained both clothianidin and thiamethoxam). Performance development simulations performed on hive populations’ show that increased mortality during the corn planting season sets back colony development and bears contributions to collapse risk but, most of all, reduces the effectiveness and value of colonies for pollination services. Our results also have implications for the numerous large-scale and worldwide-cultivated crops that currently rely on pre-emptive use of neonicotinoid seed treatments.
Attention and symptom distress in women with and without breast cancer.

BACKGROUND The cognitive capacity to direct attention (CDA) is essential for self-care and independent functioning. Older women may be more vulnerable to fatigue-related losses in CDA following surgery for breast cancer. Normal functional variations in CDA associated with aging might affect attentional responses in older women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, and factors such as extent of surgery or symptom distress might influence CDA over time. OBJECTIVES To examine (a) differences in CDA and symptom distress in older women newly diagnosed with breast cancer as compared to a control group of older women without breast cancer; (b) the pattern of change in CDA and symptom distress from the pretreatment period to 3 months after surgery; and (c) to examine the relationship of CDA with symptom distress and extent of surgery over time. METHODS Women, 55 to 79 years of age, newly diagnosed with breast cancer (N = 47), were assessed with measures of CDA and symptom distress: (a) before surgery, (b) at 2 weeks postsurgery, and (c) 3 months postsurgery. To account for normal variations associated with aging, 48 women of similar age without breast cancer were assessed following a routine screening mammogram and 3 months later. RESULTS Before treatment, the breast cancer group scored significantly lower than the control group (p < .05) on measures of CDA and higher on symptom distress. Repeated measures ANOVA showed significant main effects of group, but not time, for the measures of CDA and symptom distress with the breast cancer group having worse status than the control group. For CDA only, there was a significant group by time interaction effect (p = .005) so that the breast cancer group showed a gradual gain in CDA over time. CONCLUSIONS Reduced performance in a cognitive function was observed before treatment and found to persist over an extended interval in older women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.
Flow Cytometric DNA Analysis of Extramammary Paget's Disease of the Vulva

Vulvar extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) is an uncommon disease entity that occurs predominantly in postmenopausal white women. The clinical behavior of this neoplasm is extremely variable, reflecting the various histological patterns that have been reported with this lesion. Flow cytometry has been used as a method of obtaining prognostic information about a number of gynecological neoplasms, yet to date there have been no flow cytometric studies performed on this unusual neoplasm. We performed flow cytometric analysis of 14 cases of paraffin-embedded vulvar EMPD in patients ranging from 45 to 86 years of age. We correlated histological features and clinical recurrence risk with DNA analysis. Although we were unable to show a statistically significant correlation between DNA ploidy or S-phase and time to recurrence, we did show a statistically significant correlation between DNA ploidy and histological features. Aneuploidy appears to be associated with in situ sweat gland adenocarcinoma, invasive carcinoma, and lymphatic invasion. These results suggest that Paget's cells with aneuploid DNA stem lines may be associated with the potential for aggressive biologic behavior.
Thigh muscle function in stroke patients revealed by velocity‐encoded cine phase‐contrast magnetic resonance imaging

Current methods of clinical assessment of muscle coordination and function after stroke do not provide information on deep muscles. The objective of this study was to examine how stroke affects both superficial and deep muscles' coordination and whether muscle function improves after rehabilitation. Muscle function, coordination, and activity of quadriceps femoris (QF) and hamstrings were evaluated in 10 stroke patients with mild hemiparesis and in 6 controls using velocity‐encoded cine phase‐contrast magnetic resonance imaging (VE‐PC MRI), surface electromyography (sEMG), and maximal voluntary isometric contraction torque (MVC). At baseline, the peak muscle velocity of the rectus femoris (RF) and the ratio between the peak velocities of the RF and vasti were lower in the affected limb (AL) of stroke patients than in controls. Co‐contraction of agonists and antagonists was higher in the AL than in controls. Muscle activity measured by sEMG showed similar behavior. After rehabilitation, the activity ratio of hamstrings and adductors to QF decreased slightly toward normal so there were no significant differences between the AL and controls. Impaired biarticular RF muscle function in stroke patients is the limiting factor during knee extension–flexion movements. After rehabilitation, improved functional performance was partly explained by the fact that the activities of the RF and vasti became more synchronized. VE‐PC MRI can provide quantitative in vivo measurements of both superficial and deep muscles, and the information acquired after stroke can be utilized to render therapy more efficient and individually tailored. Muscle Nerve, 2008
Molecular phylogenetics of pricklebacks and other percoid fishes from the Sea of Japan

Mitochondrial DNA of the Co-1 gene region was sequenced for 8 fish species (in total 17 sequences of at least 532 bp) from the far east of Russia and compared to 3 other perciform sequences, altogether comprising 20 perch-like fish sequences and 2 outgroup sequences (Cypriniformes). The analysis of the protein-coding Co-1 gene revealed a statistically substantiated bias in the (T+C):(A+G) content, confirming the basic findings on the pyrimidines-prunes ratio. The average scores of p-distances for different scales of the evolutionary history of the Co-1 gene revealed a pat- tern of increased nucleotide diversity at 4 different levels: (1) intraspecies, (2) intragenus, (3) intrafamily and (4) intraorder. The scores of the average p-distances of the 4 categories of compari- son were: (1) 0.11 ± 0.04%, (2) 1.87 ± 0.68%, (3) 12.67 ± 0.28%, and (4) 16.52 ± 0.10%, respectively (mean ± SE). These data support the concept that speciation in the order Perciformes in most cases follows a geographic mode through accumulation of numerous small genetic changes over a long time. The phylogenetic trees for 18 and 21 sequences of perch-like fishes together with 2 other fishes belonging to the ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) were developed using the Co-1 gene and 4 differ- ent analytical approaches: neighbour-joining (NJ), maximum likelihood (ML), Bayesian (BA) and maximum parsimony (MP). The analysis revealed a monophyletic origin for the representatives of the Stichaeidae, which was the principal percoid family investigated (86, 96 and 100% support in our NJ, ML and BA analyses, respectively). Species identification on a per individual basis or Co-1-based DNA barcoding was high.
Acute and Subchronic Toxicity Studies of Roots Barks Extracts of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R. Br Used in the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease in Burkina Faso

Calotropis procera Ait. (Family Asclepiadaceae) is a species widely used for the treatment of various diseases including sickle cell disease in Burkina Faso. It enter in the composition of FACA ® , drug developed by Institute for Research in Health Sciences, Burkina Faso and used in the treatment of sickle cell disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxic effects at short and long term of Calotropis procera root barks in some rodents. In the acute test, the limit test dose of 2000 mg/kg of aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts were administered orally to NMRI mice and then observed individually 2 h post-dosing and at least once daily for 14 days. Sub-chronic toxicity was evaluated after a daily oral administration of 20 mg/kg body weight of aqueous extract for 3 and 6 weeks to Wistar rats. Biochemical and hematological assessments as well as body and relative organ weights of the rats were carried out. The limit dose of 2000 mg/kg did not cause any mortality or signs of acute toxicity in the mice tested during the observation period. In the sub-chronic tests, the results did not show any treatment-related abnormalities in terms of physiological, hematological parameters. However, on biochemical parameters, a slight but not significant (p˃0.05) elevation of ALT and AST were noticed in treated groups. Our results suggest that aqueous extract of Calotropis procera which contains many chemical compounds is relatively safe when administered orally and contribute to the safe use of this part of plant in pharmaceutical formulations.
Cytokine Regulation of Endothelin‐1 Release from Bovine Aortic Endothelial Cells

Summary: The action of cytokines on the endothelium is a pivotal event in a number of vascular pathologies and inflammatory conditions. Here we have tested the effect of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-β, and IL-2 on endothelin-1 (ET-1) release from cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells. TNF-α and IL-1β caused concentration-dependent increases in ET-1 release. IL-2 up to concentrations of 100 ng/ml did not stimulate ET-1 release. The induction of ET-1 synthesis by cytokines may be of underlying importance in the endothelial cell dysfunction observed in a number of vascular diseases.
Exploring the Relationship of a File's History and Its Fault-Proneness: An Empirical Study

Knowing which particular characteristics of software are indicators for defects is very valuable for testers in order to allocate testing resources appropriately. In this paper, we present the results of an empirical study exploring the relationship between history characteristics of files and their defect count. We analyzed nine open source Java projects across different versions in order to answer the following questions: 1)Do past defects correlate with a filepsilas current defect count? 2) Do late changes correlate with a filepsilas defect count? 3) Is the file's age a good indicator for its defect count? The results are partly surprising. Only 4 of 9 programs show moderate correlation between a file's defects in previous and in current releases in more than the half of analysed releases. In contrast to our expectations, the oldest files represent the most fault-prone files. Additionally, late changes influence filepsilas defect count only partly.
In vivo evidence for cerebral bioenergetic abnormalities in schizophrenia measured using 31P magnetization transfer spectroscopy.

IMPORTANCE Abnormalities in neural activity and cerebral bioenergetics have been observed in schizophrenia (SZ). Further defining energy metabolism anomalies would provide crucial information about molecular mechanisms underlying SZ and may be valuable for developing novel treatment strategies. OBJECTIVE To investigate cerebral bioenergetics in SZ via measurement of creatine kinase activity using in vivo 31P magnetization transfer spectroscopy. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Cross-sectional case-control study in the setting of clinical services and a brain imaging center of an academic psychiatric hospital. Twenty-six participants with chronic SZ (including a subgroup diagnosed as having schizoaffective disorder) and 26 age-matched and sex-matched healthy control subjects (25 usable magnetic resonance spectroscopy data sets from the latter). INTERVENTION 31P magnetization transfer spectroscopy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome measure was the forward rate constant (k(f)) of the creatine kinase enzyme in the frontal lobe. We also collected independent measures of brain intracellular pH and steady-state metabolite ratios of high-energy phosphate-containing compounds (phosphocreatine and adenosine triphosphate [ATP]), inorganic phosphate, and the 2 membrane phospholipids phosphodiester and phosphomonoester. RESULTS A substantial (22%) and statistically significant (P = .003) reduction in creatine kinase kf was observed in SZ. In addition, intracellular pH was significantly reduced (7.00 in the SZ group vs 7.03 in the control group, P = .007) in this condition. The phosphocreatine to ATP ratio, inorganic phosphate to ATP ratio, and phosphomonoester to ATP ratio were not substantially altered in SZ, but a significant (P = .02) reduction was found in the phosphodiester to ATP ratio. The abnormalities were similar between SZ and schizoaffective disorder. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Using a novel 31P magnetization transfer magnetic resonance spectroscopy approach, we provide direct and compelling evidence for a specific bioenergetic abnormality in SZ. Reduced kf of the creatine kinase enzyme is consistent with an abnormality in storage and use of brain energy. The intracellular pH reduction suggests a relative increase in the contribution of glycolysis to ATP synthesis, providing convergent evidence for bioenergetic abnormalities in SZ. The similar phosphocreatine to ATP ratios in SZ and healthy controls suggest that the underlying bioenergetics abnormality is not associated with change in this metabolite ratio.
Does current crowding induce vacancy concentration singularity in electromigration?

Mathematical model of electromigration in terms of vacancy concentration is studied analytically and numerically in this paper with the combined effect of vacancy gradient (Fickian term) and electric flow. A 2-D, L-shaped, homogeneous material model with perfect blocking boundary condition (J = 0) is chosen as the problem of interest. Dandu and Fan have shown that current density singularity exists at the tip of the wedges when the angle θ° <;90° [13]. This study investigates the effect of current density singularity at the tip of the wedges towards the vacancy concentration at the same location. The results of the study, both analytically and numerically, show that the location of maximum vacancy concentration occurs at cathode side, but not at the location of current density singularity.
Object Permanence as Relational Stability or How to Get Representation from the Dynamics of Embodiment

The dynamic systems approach is sometimes embraced in conjunction with causal coupling and in opposition to representation-based explanation. The dynamic systems model of the A-not-B phenomenon (Thelen et al, 2001) supposedly epitomizes this anti-representation alternative. It is argued here that this model fails to capture the crucial effects of body rotation in the A-not-B task and that we need a notion of relational stability to account for these effects. Relational stability outstrips causal coupling but may ground a renewed understanding of object permanence where representation is necessitated by and achieved through the dynamics of embodiment.
Impact of functional change before and during hospitalization on functional recovery 1 month following hospitalization.

BACKGROUND The functional changes that occur immediately before acute hospitalization and those that occur during hospitalization are pertinent to posthospitalization functional status in older adults. Our primary aim was to estimate the effects of membership in categories that take into account pre- and within-hospital functional changes on the likelihood of functional recovery (FR) 1 month after discharge. METHODS The sample included 691 older (≥70) adults admitted to general-medical inpatient units in two hospitals in Israel. FR was defined as a restoration of functioning 1 month postdischarge to levels reported 2 weeks prior to admission. Patients were classified according to functional decline or stability during the prehospital stage and decline, stability, or improvement between admission and discharge in terms of ability to perform self-care or mobility activities. We performed multivariate logistic regressions to test the association between categories of functional change and FR. RESULTS Patients who remained stable before and during hospitalization had the highest odds of maintaining their premorbid functional levels. Those who experienced functional improvement during hospitalization, despite previous functional loss, were 2.3-2.9 times more likely than persistent decliners to experience FR (p < .05 for all). Comparable patterns were found in the relationship between pre- and in-hospital functional trajectories and recovery, both in self-care and in mobility. CONCLUSIONS Differentiating between pre- and in-hospital functional changes is important for promoting short-term posthospitalization FR. In-hospital function-focused care that takes into account preadmission functional history may help improve posthospitalization FR.
The CTI framework: informing the design of tangible systems for children

New forms of tangible and spatial child computer interaction and supporting technologies can be designed to leverage the way children develop intelligence in the world. The author describes a preliminary design framework which conceptualizes how the unique features of tangible and spatial interactive systems can be utilized to support the cognitive development of children under the age of twelve. The framework is applied to the analytical evaluation of an existing tangible interface.
Rates of Convergence in Stochastic Programs with Complete Integer Recourse

The stability of stochastic programs with mixed-integer recourse and random right-hand sides under perturbations of the integrating probability measure is considered from a quantitative viewpoint. Objective-function values of perturbed stochastic programs are related to each other via a variational distance of probability measures based on a suitable Vapnik--Cervonenkis class of Borel sets in a Euclidean space. This leads to Holder continuity of local optimal values. In the context of estimation via empirical measures the general results imply qualitative and quantitative statements on the asymptotic convergence of local optimal values and optimal solutions.
Impact of Consumption of Vegetable, Fruit, Grain, and High Glycemic Index Foods on Aggressive Prostate Cancer Risk

Prostate cancer is a common but complex disease, and distinguishing modifiable risk factors such as diet for more aggressive disease is extremely important. Previous work has detected intriguing associations between vegetable, fruit, and grains and more aggressive prostate cancer, although these remain somewhat unclear. Here we further investigate such potential relationships with a case-control study of 982 men (470 more aggressive prostate cancer cases and 512 control subjects). Comparing the highest to lowest quartiles of intake, we found that increasing intakes of leafy vegetables were inversely associated with risk of aggressive prostate cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.96; P trend = 0.02], as was higher consumption of high carotenoid vegetables (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.48, 1.04; P trend = 0.04). Conversely, increased consumption of high glycemic index foods were positively associated with risk of aggressive disease (OR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.57; P trend = 0.02). These results were driven by a number of specific foods within the food groups. Our findings support the hypothesis that diets high in vegetables and low in high glycemic index foods decrease risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
Prevalence of cigarette smoking by birth cohort among males and females in Spain, 1910–1990

We analysed the prevalence of cigarette smoking among subsequent birth cohorts of Spanish males and females. Data were drawn from the Spanish NHIS conducted in 1993 (n = 26 400), 1995 (n = 8300) and 1997 (n = 8300). From the original computer files, the three surveys were pooled to obtain a single sample. A total of 33 223 subjects (16 036 men and 17 187 women) born between 1900 and 1979, ≥ 16 years old, were directly interviewed and with complete information on the history of smoking included for analysis. Based on each respondent's sex and calendar year of birth, the person was classified into a particular sex-birth cohort in the decades from 1900–09 to 1970–79. For each year from date of birth to date of survey, respondents were further classified as either cigarette smoker or nonsmoker. The prevalence of cigarette smoking among successive cohorts of Spanish men and women was estimated, with correction for excess mortality of smokers. In men, the peak in smoking was reached in the 1950–59 birth cohort (prevalence rate of 68% at ages 20–29), after increases during the previous calendar years. Smoking among women was rare until 1960. Female smoking prevalence rates increased progressively among subsequent cohorts until 1980. The age distribution of smoking prevalence in women in 1990 mimics that observed in men 40 years earlier. A substantial delay in the spread of the tobacco epidemic among men is apparent. In women, the delay in the initiation of the smoking epidemic ended with a quick diffusion of the habit.
DERMATOLOGIC DISEASES AND PROBLEMS OF WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE LIFE CYCLE

The last century has brought dramatic changes in the lives of Western women. To the tiormal physiologic developments that take place in menarche, pregnancy, and menopause are added the stresses of combined family life and career. These iti turn are exacerbated by longevity and the cultural tiorms against agitig, which have given rise to esthetic ititervetitions that offer options as well as pose new threats. This review surveys dermatologic diseases of women throughout the life cycle, from infancy and childhood through the childbearing years to menopause and old age. The size of the subject precludes complete coverage of all diseases and problems; rather, topics were selected in an attempt to cover a variety of dermatologic issues in women's lives.