Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DISCRETE MOVING FRAMES AND APPLICATIONS

Group based moving frames have a wide range of applications, from the classical equivalence problems in differential geometry to more modern applications such as computer vision. Two important applications explored by the authors have been to curvature flows and their relations to integrable systems, and to the calculus of variations. Here we describe what we call a discrete group based moving frame, which is essentially a sequence of moving frames with overlapping domains, and we show that this offers significant computational advantages over a single moving frame for the main application we discuss and develop, namely, to discrete integrable systems. We demonstrate that the discrete analogues of some curvature flows naturally lead to Hamiltonian pairs, which generate integrable differential-difference systems. In particular, we show that in the centro-affine plane and the projective space, the Hamiltonian pairs obtained can be transformed into the known Hamiltonian pairs for the Toda and modified Volterra lattices respectively under Miura transformations. We also describe in detail the case of discrete flows in the homogeneous 2-sphere and we obtain realizations of equations of Volterra type as evolutions of polygons on the sphere.
Family Resiliency, Uncertainty, Optimism, and the Quality of Life of Individuals With HIV/AIDS

The purpose of the study is to contribute to the understanding of quality of life as it is experienced by a community-based, nonclinical sample of individuals with HIV/AIDS by applying family resiliency theory and cognitive appraisal concepts of uncertainty and optimism. Through the use of a Web-based survey, 125 individuals with HIV/AIDS completed an online questionnaire. Disease progression, as measured by CD4 count, is not found to be related to quality of life. When considered separately, both the family resiliency variables and the cognitive appraisal variables are found to predict quality of life. The overall prediction model, composed of the three sets of predictor variables—cognitive appraisal, family resiliency, and disease progression—is found to explain over 60% of the variance in quality of life of people with HIV/AIDS.
Efficacy of different antiemetics with different mechanism of action on xylazine induced emesis in cats.

Xylazine hydrochloride, α2 adrenoceptor agonist, is an analgesic, sedative, tranquilizer, and muscle relaxant agent in veterinary medicine which is mostly used as in pre-anesthesia in veterinary medicine. One of the main adverse effects of xylazine which limits application of this medication in small animal veterinary practice (mostly in cats) is nausea and vomiting which can end up with aspiration pneumonia. In this review, we will discuss the efficacy of prophylactic administration of different antiemetics with different mechanism of action in preventing vomiting in cats treated with xylazine hydrochloride. All medications such as acepromazine, promethazine, metoclopramide, ondansetron, dexamethasone, maropitant and vitamine B6 have been shown to have antiemetic efficacy on xylazine induced emesis in cats. These mentioned medications have different antiemetic mechanism of actions. It can be concluded that all these medications not only inhibit α2 adrenoceptor but also may exert their antiemetic effects directly on nucleus tractus solitarius and vomiting center.
Old Habits Die Hard ( Sometimes ) Can département heterogeneity tell us something about the French fertility decline ?

Unified growth theory suggests the fertility decline was crucial for achieving long-term growth, yet the causes behind that decline are still not entirely clear from an empirical point of view. In particular for France, the first country to experience this demographic transition in the European context, the reasons why some areas of the country had lower fertility than others are poorly understood. Using département level data for the last quarter of the nineteenth century, this paper exploits the French regional variation to study the correlates of fertility, estimating various fixed-effects models. The findings confirm the importance of some of the forces suggested by standard fertility choice models and unified growth theory. Education in general, female education in particular, for example, seems to be crucial. Results also highlight the relevance of non-economic factors (such as secularisation), for which I provide new measurements. The presence of spatial dependence also suggests that diffusion of fertility played a particular role.
Comparing the Accuracy of AlignRT and ExacTrac at Intrafractional Time Points During Cranial Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Radiotherapy Treatments

Background: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) are forms of radiation therapy that are highly conformal with steep dose gradients and a higher dose per fraction than conventional radiation therapy treatments. Frameless SRS/SRT requires image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) systems to ensure that the highly conformal dose is delivered to the correct location. ExacTrac is a kV x-ray IGRT system developed by BrainLab that takes two x-ray images and performs image registration with digitally reconstructed radiographs from the patient’s planning CT. AlignRT is an optical surface IGRT system produced by VisionRT that uses projected light and multiple cameras to track a patient’s surface against a reference surface. Many studies have characterized the accuracy of ExacTrac and AlignRT using phantom data, but few have used clinical patient data to compare the accuracy of the systems. Agreement between IGRT systems can change when using patient versus phantom data. Insight into how surface imaging tracks with internal imaging in the patient population cannot be obtained through phantom studies alone. The purpose of this study is to summarize the distribution of readings for each system, and to see how well the systems track with each other. Additionally, patient anatomy and other variables were investigated to see if there was a correlation between them and system agreement. Methods: 156 treatment checks were analyzed across 43 unique patients. ExacTrac data was pulled from saved documents that contained position information and time stamps of when the images were taken. Time stamps from the ExacTrac images were used to extract the corresponding AlignRT data. The separate readings were recorded as well as the difference (agreement) between the two. The size of the AlignRT surface being tracked for each patient was recorded as well as the patient’s cheek thickness. Other variables such as nasal ridge length, nasal protrusion, and treatment time were recorded. Results: The phantom study showed that AlignRT’s position measurements would drift while the system warmed up. The vertical component of position had the largest thermal drift at 0.4mm. The standard deviation of all translational components of position for both systems was below 0.1mm in
Yield Stimulation of Shiitake by Millet Supplementation of Wood Chip Substrate

Three experiments were performed to determine the effect of millet supplementation on mushroom yield and basidiome size of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) when grown on a synthetic substrate. Substrate formulations of sawdust, wheat bran, rye and CaCO3 were amended with white millet (17, 23, 29, and 34% [dry weight]). Addition of 34% millet to the substrate stimulated mushroom yield by 68% compared to a millet addition of only 17%. Biological efficiencies averaged (3 crops) 59.1%, 67.1%, 81.7% and 99.6% for millet additions of 17, 23, 29 and 34%, respectively. Thus, biological efficiencies increased an average of 13.5% for each additional 6% increase in the amount of millet supplementation. Alternatively, as millet levels increased, basidiome size decreased. Average basidiome size decreased from 23 g at 17% millet to 13 g per mushroom at 34% millet supplementation.
Glaciological settings and recent mass balance of Blåskimen Island in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Abstract. The ice-shelf-fringed coast of Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica contains numerous ice rises that influence the dynamics and mass balance of the region. However, only a few of these ice rises have been investigated in detail. Here, we present field measurements of Blaskimen Island, an isle-type ice rise adjacent to Fimbul Ice Shelf. This ice rise is largely dome shaped, with a pronounced ridge extending to the south-west from its summit (410 m a.s.l.). Its bed is mostly flat and about 100 m below the current sea level. Shallow radar-detected isochrones dated with a firn core reveal that the surface mass balance is higher on the south-eastern (upwind) slope than on the north-western (downwind) slope by ∼ 37 %, and this pattern has persisted for at least the past decade. Moreover, arches in radar stratigraphy suggest that the summit of the ice rise has been stable for ∼ 600 years. Ensemble estimates of the mass balance using the input–output method show that this ice rise has thickened by 0.12–0.37 m ice equivalent per year over the past decade.
A cycling state that can lead to glassy dynamics in intracellular transport

Power-law dwell times have been observed for molecular motors in living cells, but the origins of these trapped states are not known. We introduce a minimal model of motors moving on a two-dimensional network of filaments, and simulations of its dynamics exhibit statistics comparable to those observed experimentally. Analysis of the model trajectories, as well as experimental particle tracking data, reveals a state in which motors cycle unproductively at junctions of three or more filaments. We formulate a master equation for these junction dynamics and show that the time required to escape from this vortex-like state can account for the power-law dwell times. We identify trends in the dynamics with the motor valency for further experimental validation. We demonstrate that these trends exist in individual trajectories of myosin II on an actin network. We discuss how cells could regulate intracellular transport and, in turn, biological function, by controlling their cytoskeletal network structures locally.
[Frontiers in Bioscience 9, 1864-1876, May 1, 2004] 1864 DISTRIBUTION AND BIOSYNTHESIS OF CAFFEINE IN PLANTS

1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. Structure and properties of purine alkaloids found in nature 4. Distribution of purine alkaloids 4.1. Coffee and related Coffea plants 4.2. Tea and related Camellia plants 4.3. Cacao and related Theobroma and Herrania plants 4.4. Other plants 5. The “core pathway” of caffeine biosynthesis: conversion of xanthosine to caffeine 5.1. Production of 7-methylxanthosine 5.2. Hydrolysis of 7-methylxanthosine to 7-methylxanthine 5.3. Production of caffeine from 7-methylxanthine via theobromine 5.4. Regulation of the “core pathway” 6. The “provider pathways” for xanthosine 6.1. De novo purine biosynthesis 6.2. S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) cycle 6.3. Degradation of adenine nucleotides (AMP pathway) 6.4. Degradation of guanine nucleotides (GMP pathway) 7. Diversity of purine alkaloid biosynthesis 7.1. Differences in products 7.2. Purine alkaloid synthesis in theobromine plants 7.3. Methyluric acid synthesis 8. Subcellular distribution and transport of purine alkaloids 9. Possible function of purine alkaloids in plants 10. Biotechnology of purine alkaloids 10.1. Caffeine production in cell and tissue cultures 10.2. Decaffeinated beverages 11. Summary and perspective 12. Acknowledgements 13. References
Common Ground between Free-Traders and Environmentalists

We use a North–South model with property right differences and resource dynamics to study the effects of trade on resource use and welfare. Autarky is likely to Pareto-dominate free trade in the long run when the environment is quite fragile, and the result is reversed when the environment is quite resilient. Trade may cause an environmentally poor country to “drag down” its richer trading partner, when they degrade their stocks which would be preserved under autarky. It may enable the environmentally richer country to “pull up” its partner, when they preserve their stocks which would be degraded under autarky.
Evaluating the Role and Efficacy of Plerixafor in Rescue Mobilization of Autologous Peripheral Blood Stem Cells

In autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients for whom granulocyte-colony stimulating factor fails to mobilize a sufficient number of peripheral blood stem cells, plerixafor proposes an option for successful rescue mobilization. This paper evaluates the efficacy of plerixafor to mobilize peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) in patients who failed previous mobilization with G-CSF alone, by retrospectively analysing the PBSC results from lymphoma and myeloma (MM) patients between 2006 and 2011. Patients were classified according to the CD34 cells/ kg yield collected by apheresis: < 2 x 10 CD34 cells/kg was considered collection failure, whereas ≥ 5 x 10 CD34 cells/ kg was considered good mobilization. 797 patients underwent one or more apheresis. The first mobilization success rate was 82%; 140 patients proved to be poor mobilizers. Suboptimal first mobilization was significantly associated with age >50 years (p=0.005) and the absence of chemotherapy in prior PBSCs stimulation (p=0.04). 149 rescue protocols were used in the 140 poor mobilizers, and 71 patients received plerixafor. In univariate analysis the remobilization rate without plerixafor was 42% and increased to 65% when plerixafor was added. In multivariate analysis, plerixafor administration reduced the PBSC remobilization failure risk by a half (OR=0.47). The median value of CD34 cells/kg in transplants increased from 1.43 (range, 0-14.03) without plerixafor to 3.85 (range, 0–18.25; p=1 x 10) with plerixafor. There were more good mobilizers after plerixafor use (35% with plerixafor versus 15% without plerixafor; p=0.005). Plerixafor efficacy was similar for lymphoma (60% remobilization) and MM (80%; p=0.12). These data show that plerixafor was effective in poor mobilizers and that it synergized with G-CSF to improve the quantity of collected PBSCs. Plerixafor also increased transplant feasibility by 23%. While the clinical results of this study are promising, economic data were not taken into account and there is a need for real work concerning the cost-effectiveness of this treatment. We propose a subsequent study in which the economic efficacy of plerixafor’s use is evaluated based on the financial aspects of the treatments received by the cohort evaluated in this paper. DOI : 10.14302/issn.2372-6601.jhor -14-493 Corresponding author: Emilie Prunier, Email: prunieremilie@yahoo.fr
Somatic Embryogenesis and Organogenesis for Regeneration of Endangered Multipurpose Desert Plant Leptadenia pyrotechnica Forsk. Decne in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Leptadenia pyrotechnica is an important multipurpose endangered plant in the Kingdom of Bahrain with restricted distribution. Nodal explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of indole acetic acid (IAA) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). Initially, 80% and 60% explants responded in direct shoot and callus initiation response respectively in presence of 8.88 μM BAP with 5.71 μM IAA in modified MS media after two weeks of culture. The highest frequency of plant regeneration was observed in presence of 8.88 μM BAP with 1.14 μM IAA following organogenic pathway of differentiation. Hundred percent callus proliferation was observed while initial callus developed in presence of 4.44 μM BAP with 2.85 μM IAA and was transferred in media containing 4.44 μM, 6.66 μM BAP with 2.85 μM IAA and 13.32 μM BAP with 5.71 μM IAA. The callus derived plants were regenerated following the pathway of indirect somatic embryogenesis. The induction of somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration from callus was also observed in modified MS media supplemented with 4.44 μM BAP and 2.85 μM IAA. The plant regeneration protocol we developed for Leptadenia pyrotechnica will be very beneficial for biodiversity conservation and environment protection of Bahrain. Moreover, the present paper reports for the first time specifically the somatic embryogenesis in this multipurpose desert plant Leptadenia pyrotechnica.
Prosodic Constituency and Intonation in a Sign Language

In natural communication, the medium through which language is transmitted plays an important and systematic role. Sentences are broken up rhythmically into chunks; certain elements receive special stress; and, in spoken language, intonational tunes are superimposed onto these chunks in particular ways -all resulting in an intricate system of prosody. Investigations of prosody in Israeli Sign Language (ISL) demonstrate that sign languages have comparable prosodic systems to those of spoken languages, although the phonetic medium is completely different. Evidence for the prosodic word, the phonological phrase, and the intonational phrase in ISL is examined here. New support is offered for the claim that facial expression in sign languages corresponds to intonation in spoken languages, and the term superarticulation is coined to describe this system in sign languages. Interesting formal differences between the intonational tunes of spoken language and the superarticulatory arrays of sign language are shown to offer a new perspective on the relation between the phonetic basis of language, its phonological organization, and its communicative content.
Investigation of the Prevalence of Retromolar Canals : A Cone Beam CT Study

The retromolar canal (RMC) is a collateral branch of the mandibular canal. This branch seems to be involved in the innervation of the third molar, retromolar trigon and part of the buccal mucosa and fibres of the buccinator and temporalis muscles. The prevalence of RMC in osseous and CBCT studies was reported between 1.7 %-72 %. This study aims to investigate the prevalenc e of RMCs in a Turkish population using cone beam CT. 340 CBCT images of hemimandibles of 170 patients, with a mean age of 37 (range, 16-80), that clearly identified the course of the mandibular canal in the posterior mandible were selected retrospectiv ly from the archived records of our Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Department. The sagittal, coronal, axial and pseudopanoramic images we re used for assessing the RMCs. This variant was found in 19 out of 170 patients (11 %). Of the 340 CBCT examinations in 170 patie nts, 2 showed the presence of a RMC (5 %). It was present unilaterally in 18 patients (95 %) and bilaterally in one patient (5 %). The re was no difference in the presence of RMCs with regard to sex and sides of the mandible (p>0.05). Clinicans should be aware of RMC and this anatomical variance should be taken into consideration while planning surgery around this region. When there is any suspicion o f the RMC presence CBCT is the best imaging modality to visualize the three-dimensional structure of this variant.
Temporal Dynamics Underlying Perceptual Decision Making: Insights from the Interplay between an Attractor Model and Parietal Neurophysiology

Recent neurophysiological studies in awake, behaving primates have revealed that neurons in certain brain areas appear to integrate sensory evidence over time during the performance of perceptual decision-making tasks. Neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of rhesus monkeys exhibit such decision-related signals while the animals view and judge the direction of a visual motion display. Further investigation of this temporal integration process using brief perturbations of the sensory evidence has suggested that LIP neurons do not integrate evidence in a perfect, linear manner. We describe how a biophysically-plausible attractor network model can account for many aspects of the temporal dynamics of neural activity during these perceptual decisions. We also review a larger set of models and explain how the dynamics during and after temporal integration can help to distinguish the underlying neural mechanisms. Finally, we propose some crucial theoretically-motivated experiments that are needed to test among models.
New host, geographical records, and factors affecting the prevalence of helminths infection from synanthropic rodents in Yucatán, Mexico

Summary The aim of this paper was to study the occurrence of helminths in Mus musculus and Rattus rattus from urban, suburban and rural settlements in Yucatán, Mexico; and to analyse the host factors (e.g. sex) related to helminths’ distribution. Helminths in a total of 279 rodents were surveyed by visual examination of the liver for metacestodes and faecal examination for helminth eggs using the formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation technique. The cestodes Hydatigera taeniaeformis (metacestodes detected in the liver) and Hymenolepis diminuta, and the nematodes Aspiculuris sp. , Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, Syphacia muris, Syphacia obvelata, and Trichuris muris were identified. In M. musculus, the prevalence of infection with T. muris and H. taeniaeformis was higher in the rural village compared to those in the suburban neighbourhood. For R. rattus, a higher prevalence of infection with H. diminuta was found in the urban site compared to that in the suburban site. This study reports the occurrence of H. diminuta among rodents living in close proximity to humans, representing a potential public health risk. In addition, this survey increases our understanding of dynamic transmission among intestinal helminths recorded in Yucatán, Mexico.
DETERMINATION OF CAPECITABINE-AN ANTICANCER DRUG IN DRIED BLOOD SPOT BY LC-ESI-MS/MS Original Article

Objective: Capecitabine (Cape), the first oral prodrug which belongs to the group of fluoro pyrimidines is the most frequently prescribed anticancer drug for the treatment of metastatic breast and colorectal cancers. The article describes a selective and robust method for determination of Cape in dried blood spots (DBS) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Methods: Cape fortified DBS was punched and extracted with ethyl acetate using capecitabine-d11 as the internal standard (IS). Chromatographic separation of Cape and IS from endogenous matrix was performed on Phenomenex Gemini C18 (150 × 4.6 mm, 5µm) column under isocratic condition using acetonitrile: 2 mmol ammonium formate (pH 3.0, adjusted with 0.1 % formic acid) (80:20, v/v) as the mobile phase. Detection and quantification were carried on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, using electro spray ionization technique in the positive ionization mode. Results: The method was established over a concentration range of 10-10000 ng/ml. Accuracy, precision, selectivity, recovery, matrix effect and stability of the analyte were also estimated and the results were within the acceptance criteria. Further, precise results were obtained using an optimum spot volume of 10 µl with good spot homogeneity. Blood samples with hematocrit values varying from 24 % to 45 % gave acceptable results with good accuracy and precision. Conclusion: The efficiency of dried blood spot sample preparation, short analysis time and high selectivity permits estimation of Cape in a small blood volume. The validation results suggest that the method is precise, accurate, and reproducible and can be useful in therapeutic drug monitoring of Cape.