Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aflatoxin Contamination of Feed Materials in Qom Province, Iran

Background: Aflatoxins are fungal toxins which may be present in some foods and due to their negative health effects, represent a major concern for humans and food industries. In the present study, total aflatoxin contamination in products from eight feed materials production centers located in Qom City of Iran were evaluated by an ELISA technique in November 2012 . Methods: A total of 40 feed samples were analyzed for total aflatoxin. The samples were collected randomly from eight feed materials production centers (C1-C8) located in Qom city. Samples were conditioned in sterile plastic container and kept at 4 ᵒC until analyses that were carried out in same day. Results: The total average of Aflatoxins concentration in samples were 1. 83µg/kg. All samples demonstrated total aflatoxin levels lower than European Union standard and National Standard of Iran recommended limits . Conclusion: Considering the low values of aflatoxin contamination, maintaining vigilant preventive measures is recommended. These results do not preclude the need for continuing comprehensive studies for aflatoxin contamination .
Twitch potentiating effects of theophylline on rat diaphragm are enhanced by foreshortening.

In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and acute respiratory failure, acute hyperinflation is likely to induce foreshortening of inspiratory muscles. Since no data are available on the effects of inotropic agents at lengths below the optimal length (Lo), we compared the effects of theophylline on forty rat diaphragm bundles placed at Lo and at 70% Lo. Twitches and tetanic stimulations were recorded before and after addition of theophylline, in concentrations of 20, 100, 200 or 400 mg.l-1. Compared with values obtained before theophylline, twitch tension (Pt) and maximal tetanic tension (Po) of the bundles placed at Lo slightly decreased at 20 and 100 mg.l-1 whereas a clear increase in Pt was obtained at 400 mg.l-1 (15 +/- 21% (mean +/- SD)). In contrast, Pt of the bundles placed at 70% Lo increased with all theophylline concentrations, and vastly more than at Lo (e.g. at 400 mg.l-1: 74 +/- 34%, p < 0.05); whereas Po slightly decreased, except at 400 mg.l-1. Moreover, the difference between the effects at Lo and at 70% Lo increased with increasing theophylline concentrations. We conclude that even at low, in vivo attainable serum levels, theophylline exerted greater positive inotropic effects on twitch tension (Pt) of rat diaphragm when foreshortened than when at optimal length.
Transactional Memory, 2nd edition

The advent of multicore processors has renewed interest in the idea of incorporating transactions into the programming model used to write parallel programs. This approach, known as transactional memory, offers an alternative, and hopefully better, way to coordinate concurrent threads. The ACI (atomicity, consistency, isolation) properties of transactions provide a foundation to ensure that concurrent reads and writes of shared data do not produce inconsistent or incorrect results. At a higher level, a computation wrapped in a transaction executes atomically - either it completes successfully and commits its result in its entirety or it aborts. In addition, isolation ensures the transaction produces the same result as if no other transactions were executing concurrently. Although transactions are not a parallel programming panacea, they shift much of the burden of synchronizing and coordinating parallel computations from a programmer to a compiler, to a language runtime system, or to hardware. The challenge for the system implementers is to build an efficient transactional memory infrastructure. This book presents an overview of the state of the art in the design and implementation of transactional memory systems, as of early spring 2010. Table of Contents: Introduction / Basic Transactions / Building on Basic Transactions / Software Transactional Memory / Hardware-Supported Transactional Memory / Conclusions
Determination of Olanzapine in Human Plasma by Reversed-phase High-performance Liquid Chromatography With Ultraviolet Detection

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method with ultraviolet absorbance detection for the determination of olanzapine in human plasma is described. Clozapine was used as internal standard. Analytes were concentrated from alkaline plasma by liquid-liquid extraction with n-hexane-isoamyl alcohol (90:10, vol/vol). The organic phase was back-extracted with 150 μL phosphate buffer (KH2PO4 with 25% H3PO4) 0.1 mol/L pH 2.2. The chromatographic separation required 6 minutes at a flow-rate of 1.0 mL/min and was carried out on a Water Spherisorb S5 C6 analytical column (250 mm×4.6 mm ID) with a mobile phase water-acetonitrile 55:45 vol/vol containing 0.009 moL/L eptansulfonic acid sodium salt and 0.06 mol/L potassium phosphate monobasic pH 2.7. The peaks were detected at 254 nm. Mean recoveries for olanzapine and internal standard were 89.4±3.3% and 90.4±1.0%, respectively. Coefficient of variation value for intraday was 5.0% at concentrations of 10, 50, and 100 ng/mL and for interday was 4.0% at concentrations of 5 and 25 ng/mL. Accuracy, expressed as percent error, ranged from −8.00% to 1.24%. Limit of detection and limit of quantification for olanzapine were 2 and 5 ng/mL, respectively. The method is suitable for pharmacokinetic studies and therapeutic drug monitoring.
Cognitive bias in dizziness: Emotional stroop and autobiographical memories

Dizziness is commonly associated with anxiety, and is often caused by a dysfunction of the balance system. While a link between dizziness and both anxiety disorders and depression has been established, less is known about information processing in dizziness. In the first experiment we tested whether 15 patients with dizziness would display an emotional Stroop effect for panic-related words. Also included was a control group of 15 persons. The Stroop task was preceded by ratings of personal relevance of the Stroop words and followed by a surprise free recall of the words. Results showed a Stroop effect for panic-related words in the dizziness group, but the interaction did not reach significance (p = 0.08). Separate analysis of dizziness-related panic words however resulted in a significant group × condition interaction. In the free recall of Stroop words a main effect of word category was found, with more panic-related words being recalled. The second experiment investigated autobiographical memories in 14 patients with dizziness and 14 matched controls. Results showed a group × condition interaction with less specific memories being recalled following positive cue-words in the dizziness group. The overall pattern of results suggests that dizziness is related to deficits in information processing, which could be targeted in treatment.
Prognostic Implications of Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction with Preserved Systolic Function following Acute Myocardial Infarction

The contribution of diastolic dysfunction in patients with preserved left ventricular (LV) systolic function to impaired functional status and cardiac mortality in myocardial infarction (MI) is unknown. In the present study, assessment of LV diastolic function was performed by Doppler analysis of the mitral and pulmonary venous flow, and the propagation velocity of early mitral flow by color M-mode Doppler echocardiography in 183 consecutive patients at day 5–7 following their first acute MI. Patients were classified into four groups: group A: preserved LV systolic and diastolic function (n = 73); group B: LV systolic dysfunction with preserved diastolic function (n = 10); group C: LV diastolic dysfunction with preserved systolic function (n = 60); group D: combined LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction (n = 40). The cardiac mortality rate at 1 year was significantly higher in groups C (13%) and D (38%) compared to A (2%) (p < 0.01). Multivariate regression analysis identified LV diastolic dysfunction (p = 0.001), Killip class ≧II (p = 0.006), and age (0.008) as predictors of cardiac death or readmission due to heart failure. The presence of LV diastolic dysfunction with preserved systolic dysfunction is associated with increased morbidity and mortality following acute MI.
Development of knowledge based response correction for a reconfigurable N-shaped microstrip antenna design

This study presents the use of prior knowledge of inverse artificial neural network (ANN) to model and optimize a reconfigurable N-shaped microstrip antenna. Three accurate prior knowledge inverse ANNs with large amount training data are proposed where the frequency information is incorporated into the structure of ANN. The complexity of the input/output relationship is reduced by using prior knowledge. Three separate methods of incorporating knowledge in the second step of the training process with a multilayer perceptron (MLP) in the first step are demonstrated and their results are compared to EM simulation.
60-GHz Thin Broadband High-Gain LTCC Metamaterial-Mushroom Antenna Array

A low-profile broadband metamaterial-mushroom antenna array is proposed for high-gain 60-GHz band applications. The antenna array consists of a single-layer mushroom radiating structure and a simplified single-layer substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) feeding network. A new transmission-line based model is presented to estimate the resonant frequencies of the operating TM10 and antiphase TM20 modes. With the metamaterial-mushroom structure, the closely-placed antenna elements realize less mutual couplings, higher aperture illumination efficiency compared to conventional patch antennas. An 8 × 8 mushroom antenna array is designed and prototyped using low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC), the measurement shows the antenna array with the feeding transition proposed an impedance bandwidth of 56.3-65.7 GHz with a boresight gain greater than 21.2 dBi and up to 24.2 dBi at 62.3 GHz. The proposed antenna array features the merits of high gain, broadband, compact size, and low cross-polarization levels.
ADMA and oxidative stress may relate to the progression of renal disease: rationale and design of the VIVALDI study

The renin angiotensin system has been shown to be involved in the patho genesis of vascular and renal sequelae of diabetes mellitus. In type 2 diabetes mel litus, angiotensin receptor blockers have been shown to exert clinical benefit by reducing the progression of diabetic nephropathy. They also improve endothelium- mediated vascular function. The latter effect is partly due to the reduction of angiotensin II-associated oxidative stress. Moreover, small clinical studies have shown that treatment with angiotensin receptor blockers also reduces the circulating levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase. In the VIVALDI trial, the ability of the angiotensin receptor blocker telmisartan to reduce the progression of diabetic nephropathy (associated with proteinuria) in com parison with valsartan in more than 800 patients with type 2 diabetes during 1 year of treatment is being studied. In order to gain more detailed insight into the poten tial pathomechanisms associated with this effect, further end-points have been defined. Among these are the circulating levels of ADMA and the urinary excretion rate of 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α (8-iso-PGF 2α). The former is an endogenous inhibitor of NO-mediated vascular function(s) and a prospectively determined marker of major cardiovascular events and mortality; the latter is a lipid peroxidation product resulting from the nonenzymatic peroxidation of arachidonic acid, which exerts detrimental vascular effects similar to those of thromboxane A2. Urinary 8-iso-PGF 2α has been shown in clinical studies to be an independent marker of cardiovascular disease. Highlighting the effects of telmisartan on ADMA and 8-iso-PGF levels in such a large cohort of diabetic patients will enhance our understanding of the roles of dys functional NO metabolism and redox mechanisms in the pathogenesis of end-organ damage and its prevention by pharmacotherapy with angiotensin receptor blockers.
Changes in superficial blood distribution in thigh muscle during LBNP assessed by NIRS.

INTRODUCTION The present study was designed to determine how superficial blood distributed in the lower limb muscle during graded lower body negative pressure (LBNP). METHODS Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to evaluate the blood volume change in the thigh muscles of seven volunteers during 35 min graded LBNP (rest, -10, -20, -30, -40, -50 mm Hg, and recovery). RESULTS Deoxygenated and total hemoglobin (Hb) increased in proportion to the magnitude of LBNP applied to the thigh muscles. Oxygenated Hb rose significantly at -10 mm Hg LBNP, although the increase leveled off during subsequent increments of LBNP. Systolic pressure significantly decreased from 120 mm Hg at rest, to a value of 108 at -50 mm Hg LBNP. In contrast, mean and diastolic pressures were well maintained during graded LBNP. The increased total and deoxygenated Hb might indicate that blood was held in venous space, and the magnitude of rise in blood volume corresponded to the change in LBNP. On the other hand, oxygenated Hb change seems to reflect mainly blood accumulated in arterial space by interacting between mechanical stretch induced by LBNP and vasoconstriction caused by augmented sympathetic nerve activity. CONCLUSION From these results, blood distribution in thigh muscles was different and was affected by the strength of LBNP. The data assessing oxygenation sites of Hb were found to be useful as indices of estimating superficial blood pooling in the muscle during LBNP.
Hyperphosphataemia--a silent killer of patients with renal failure?

stage of plaque transformation. Recently, non-invasive Introduction technology, based on fast electron computed tomography (CT ) led to the recognition that the number For decades, it has been known that patients with endand the extension of calcified plaques [7] is a highly stage renal failure have an excessive coronary and sensitive indicator of coronary atherosclerosis. The cardiac risk. There is also widespread consensus that specificity of the lesions detected by fast electron CT coronary atherosclerosis and its complications are not is shown by the fact that they respond to interventions fully explained by classical risk factors, e.g. dyslipidaesuch as administration of statins [8]. Necrotic cores of mia, elevated homocysteine concentrations, hypertenplaques are known to calcify easily. This is accompansion, insulin resistance, high fibrinogen etc. ied by expression of genes which potentially play a Studies on uraemia spring many surprises. In an role in calcium metabolism, e.g. osteopontin and osteoearly investigation, the paradoxical finding had been calcin, raising interesting issues about the mechanisms, made [1] that high cholesterol concentrations are direct or indirect, through which hyperphosphataemia predictive of better survival. This observation subpromotes calcification. Autopsy studies [9] and clinical sequently has been confirmed [2] and the paradox observations using electron-beam CT [10] showed a is presumably explained by the fact that high choleshigh prevalence of rapidly progressing calcified coronterol is a surrogate marker for adequate nutrition. ary plaques in uraemic patients. These findings with Conversely, malnutrition turned out to be highly preimaging procedures are supported by our own observadictive of death including cardiac death [3]. tions [11]. Figure 1 shows the heart of an uraemic Block et al. [4] sprang another surprise on the patient with heavy calcification of the aortic valve and nephrological community when they found that hyperthe aorta ascendens. Figure 2 shows a characteristic phosphataemia predicted reduced survival. This was calcified coronary artery of an uraemic patient. accounted for by an excess of cardiac death. This Figure 3 shows the histology of a calcified coronary observation has been confirmed and extended plaque. When comparing coronary plaques in 27 recently [5]. In the following, we discuss several possibilities of how elevated serum phosphate concentration may aggravate the cardiac risk and the impact that those observations will have on patient management.
Isoprinosine and Imuthiol, two potentially active compounds in patients with AIDS-related complex symptoms.

Isoprinosine and Imuthiol are immunomodulators with a unique effect on T-cells. The possibility of using them in treating patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome related complex (ARC) was initially examined regarding their in vitro effects on peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In six ARC patients Isoprinosine (100 micrograms/ml) and Imuthiol (10 pg/ml) induced in vitro an early chromatin activation as measured by nuclear refringency test and potentiated phytohemagglutinin (5 micrograms/ml) in the same 20-min assay in the absence of fetal calf serum. In all patients an early phytohemagglutinin induced chromatin dispersion was observed with a dose related response before interleukin 2 production can occur. Isoprinosine and Imuthiol increased significantly both the percentage and the absolute number of T4+ cells when peripheral blood mononuclear cells were incubated for 4 days in RPMI supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum. No changes in T8+ cells were noted. Three homosexual ARC patients were then treated p.o. with Imuthiol (5-10 mg/kg/week) for 4 to 6 months. Without any deleterious effect a clinical improvement (in terms of adenopathy and opportunistic infection regression) and restoration of the response to recall antigens were observed in all three patients. One patient with less than 500 T4+ lymphocytes/mm3 exhibited a complete restoration of OKT profiles. In such patients clinical and immunological effects of Isoprinosine have already been reported by others. Altogether these preliminary results indicate that more data should be obtained on the effects of these two agents in ARC patients.
Explorer Evaluation of the effect of intravitreal ranibizumab injections in patients with neovascular age related macular degeneration on retinal nerve fiber layer thickness using optical coherence tomography

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Identi ® cation of an MCM 4 homologue expressed speci ® cally in the sexual stage of Plasmodium falciparum q

Mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins play an essential role in DNA replication initiation. We have isolated a novel gene encoding an MCM-like protein from the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum using the vectorette technique. The gene has no introns and comprises an open reading frame encoding 1005 amino acid residues with a predicted Mr of 115 kDa. The encoded protein, termed PfMCM4, contains all conserved sequences in the MCM family and displays the highest homology to the Cdc54 (MCM4) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, PfMCM4 possesses ®ve unique amino acid inserts with sizes ranging from seven to 75 residues. Southern blotting of genomic DNA digests and chromosomal separations showed that the Pfmcm4 gene is present as a single copy per haploid genome and is located on chromosome 13. A 4000-nucleotide transcript of this gene is expressed speci®cally in the sexual erythrocytic stage, indicating that PfMCM4 may be involved in gametogenesis in which DNA is quickly replicated. q 2001 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker inhibits pulmonary injury.

PURPOSE Pulmonary damage and fibrosis may be the result of diverse forms of injury and there is an association between pulmonary diseases and cardiovascular events. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker, valsartan, on systemic, cellular, and fibrotic consequences of pulmonary injury induced by the anti-neoplastic antibiotic, bleomycin. METHODS Sprague Dawly rats were used in the classical bleomycin model of pulmonary fibrosis. Bleomycin (1 unit, n = 7) was administered intra-tracheally to induce lung injury. Valsartan (0.66 mg) was given either concomitantly (n = 9) or for two days prior to bleomycin (n = 8). A control group (n = 6) was given normal saline. RESULTS Valsartan-treated animals showed abrogation of weight loss, suppression of release of total and active transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-beta1), and diminished connective tissue synthesis. In an explant, lung tissue culture model devoid of alveolar macrophages (saline control, n = 3; bleomycin, n = 6; bleomycin plus valsartan, n = 12), both total and active TGF-beta1 were suppressed in the valsartan-treated cohort. CONCLUSIONS Valsartan, known to have cardio-protective properties, was shown to be protective of bleomycin-induced pulmonary injury. Thus, ARBs may be beneficial in both cardiac and pulmonary diseases.
Clinical efficacy of subgingivally delivered 0.5% controlled release azithromycin gel in the management of chronic periodontitis.

BACKGROUND Recent developments suggest that the local delivery of antimicrobials into periodontal pockets can improve periodontal health. Azithromycin (AZM) has a wide antimicrobial spectrum of action toward anaerobic bacteria as well as Gram-negative bacilli. It is effective against periodontal pathogens such as Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the clinical effectiveness of AZM at 0.5% concentration in an indigenously prepared bioabsorbable controlled release gel as an adjunct to non-surgical mechanical therapy in the treatment of chronic periodontitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty sites in patients with chronic periodontitis and probing depth (PD) 4-6 mm were categorized randomly into two treatment groups: Scaling and root planing (SRP) plus 0.5% AZM gel (group 1) and SRP only (group 2). Clinical evaluation was undertaken using the Gingival Index (GI) of Loe and Silness and plaque was assessed using the Turesky et al. modification of Quigley Hein Index at baseline and 21 days. Pocket PD and clinical attachment level (CAL) were also measured. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Results were expressed as mean±standard deviation and percentages and the data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16.0, SPSS, Chicago, IL) software. RESULT Both therapies resulted in significant improvements. Mean reduction in GI from baseline to 21 days was 1.20±0.41 and 0.73±0.45 in group 1 and group 2, respectively. Plaque Index also improved through the study period in both groups, i.e., 0.86±0.51 in group 1 and 1.6±0.97 in group 2. Mean PD reduced significantly with SRP plus AZM gel application in group 1, i.e., 2.1±0.91 mm as compared to 1.0±1.06 mm achieved with SRP alone. A significant gain in mean CAL gain was observed in the test group (1.8±0.63 mm) as compared to control group (1.0±1.06 mm). CONCLUSION Although both treatment strategies seem to benefit patients, the adjunctive use of 0.5% of AZM showed significant results.