Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endurance exercise performance in Masters athletes: age‐associated changes and underlying physiological mechanisms

Older (‘Masters’) athletes strive to maintain or even improve upon the performance they achieved at younger ages, but declines in athletic performance are inevitable with ageing. In this review, we describe changes in peak endurance exercise performance with advancing age as well as physiological factors responsible for those changes. Peak endurance performance is maintained until ∼35 years of age, followed by modest decreases until 50–60 years of age, with progressively steeper declines thereafter. Among the three main physiological determinants of endurance exercise performance (i.e. maximal oxygen consumption , lactate threshold and exercise economy), a progressive reduction in appears to be the primary mechanism associated with declines in endurance performance with age. A reduction in lactate threshold, i.e. the exercise intensity at which blood lactate concentration increases significantly above baseline, also contributes to the reduction in endurance performance with ageing, although this may be secondary to decreases in . In contrast, exercise economy (i.e. metabolic cost of sustained submaximal exercise) does not change with age in endurance‐trained adults. Decreases in maximal stroke volume, heart rate and arterio‐venous O2 difference all appear to contribute to the age‐related reductions in in endurance‐trained athletes. Declines in endurance exercise performance and its physiological determinants with ageing appear to be mediated in large part by a reduction in the intensity (velocity) and volume of the exercise that can be performed during training sessions. Given their impressive peak performance capability and physiological function capacity, Masters athletes remain a fascinating model of ‘exceptionally successful ageing’ and therefore are highly deserving of our continued scientific attention as physiologists.
Fast Single Image De-Hazing Using Characteristics of RGB Channel of Foggy Image

SUMMARY Images captured under foggy conditions often exhibit poor contrast and color. This is primarily due to the air-light which degrades image quality exponentially with fog depth between the scene and the camera. In this paper, we restore fog-degraded images by ﬁrst estimating depth using the physical model characterizing the RGB channels in a single monocular image. The fog e ﬀ ects are then removed by sub-tracting the estimated irradiance, which is empirically related to the scene depth information obtained, from the total irradiance received by the sensor. E ﬀ ective restoration of color and contrast of images taken under foggy conditions are demonstrated. In the experiments, we validate the e ﬀ ective-ness of our method compared with conventional method.
Screening for contact allergy to artificial nails

27 patients (26 women and 1 man), all in contact with artificial nails, were tested for acrylic compounds, known to be present in nail cosmetics. The patch test results obtained in these patients demonstrated that 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate and ethyl cyanoacrylate were the only 2 allergens needed to diagnose contact allergy to acrylic‐containing nail cosmetics, except for 1 patient who reacted only to her nail preparation used and in which we were unable to identify the allergen. This concerns clearly a limited number of patients. The purpose was, however, to detect the most valuable allergen(s) to be used in a dermatologist's practice, in which not all possible allergens can be tested, in order to diagnose such cases.
Evaluation of the effect of pulmonary hydatid cyst location on the surgical technique approaches

Purpose: A hydatid cyst is the most common lung parasitic disease and is endemic in Iran. A hydatid cyst is more common in the right lung and lower lobes. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess surgical treatment of pulmonary hydatid cysts and whether the location of cyst affects surgical technique approaches. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 87 patients with a pulmonary hydatid cyst who were referred to Qaem Hospital from 2010 to 2012. Selection of surgical technique was according to size, location, and the number of cysts. Patients were divided into two groups: (1) surgery with preserving lung parenchyma and (2) lobectomy. Afterward, the relationship between the location of cyst and surgical technique approaches was evaluated. Data was analyzed by Chi-square and Fisher exact tests. Results: In this study, no significant relation was found between the size (P = 0.682) and number (P = 0.344) of cysts and lobectomy necessity. But, there was a significant relation between the occurrence of cyst in middle lobe and lobectomy necessity (P = 0.016). Conclusions: According to the results, type of surgical technique does not depend on the size and number of cysts, but it may be related to the location of the cyst and the ratio of lung destruction.
Thriving in long-term care facilities: instrument development, correspondence between proxy and residents' self-ratings and internal consistency in the Norwegian version.

AIMS To develop an instrument for measuring thriving among residents in long-term care facilities, to assess the correspondence between proxy ratings and self-report and the internal consistency of the Norwegian version. BACKGROUND The instrument was developed from the life-world concept of thriving and thereby has a different theoretical basis than existing 'dementia related' quality-of-life instruments. Thriving relates the experience of older persons to the place where they live. Proxy instruments need to be developed for residents in long-term care facilities who are not able to report their subjective experiences. DESIGN Instrument development using cross-sectional survey design. METHODS The instrument was developed in three versions (resident, family and staff) from a theory on thriving. Forty-eight triads consisting of a resident, family member and primary nurse from 12 Norwegian nursing homes participated. Data collection took place between March-December 2011. Inter-rater agreement between the groups was assessed by Cohen's kappa coefficient (weighted). Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha. Homogeneity was explored through item-total correlations. RESULTS Agreement between residents, family members and staff was poor or fair (<0.41) in six of 38 items. These items were excluded. The 32-items instrument had satisfactory Cronbach's alpha values in each of the three samples and satisfactory homogeneity as item-total correlations was substantial without being excessive and thus indicated that items were measuring the same construct. CONCLUSION The instrument appears to have internal consistency and enable reliable proxy measures of the thriving construct. Further psychometric assessment including checking for possible item redundancy is needed.
Aspiration Performance and Railroads' Patterns of Learning from Train Wrecks and Crashes

We link two influential organizational learning models—performance feedback and experiential learning—to advance hypotheses that help explain how organizations' learning from their own and others' experience is conditioned by their aspiration-performance feedback. Our focus is on learning from failure; this kind of learning is essential to organizational learning and adaptation, and a necessary complement to studies of learning from success. Our analysis of U.S. Class 1 freight railroads' accident costs from 1975 to 2001 shows that when a railroad's accident rate deviates from aspiration levels, the railroad benefits less from its own operating and accident experience and more from other railroads' operating and accident experiences. These findings support the idea that performance near aspirations fosters local search and exploitive learning, while performance away from aspirations stimulates nonlocal search and exploration, providing a foundation for constructing more-integrated models of organizational learning and change.
The regulation of phospholipase D activity and its role in sn-1,2-diradylglycerol formation in bombesin- and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-stimulated Swiss 3T3 cells.

Addition of the phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) to quiescent Swiss 3T3 cells resulted in a sustained increase in sn-1,2-diradylglycerol (DG) mass and [3H]DG in [3H]palmitate-labelled cells where phosphatidylcholine was the major labelled phospholipid. This occurred in the absence of inositol phosphate accumulation. In [3H]palmitate-labelled cells both bombesin and PMA stimulated the formation of phosphatidylbutanol ([3H]PtdBut) in the presence of 0.3% (v/v) butan-1-ol. The kinetics of [3H]PtdBut formation were consistent with phospholipase D (PLD) activation preceding sustained DG formation. The inclusion of butan-1-ol inhibited 70% of PMA-stimulated DG formation but only 30% of the bombesin response. The ability of bombesin and PMA to stimulate the accumulation of [3H]PtdBut was completely abolished in Swiss 3T3 cells which had been pre-treated with 400 nM-PMA for 48 h to down-regulate protein kinase C activity. PMA-stimulated [3H]PtdBut formation was inhibited by 90% by the protein kinase C inhibitor Ro-31-8220 (10 microM), but bombesin-stimulated PtdBut accumulation was inhibited by at most 50% by the same concentration of inhibitor. Cyclic AMP-elevating agents, i.e. forskolin, dibutyryl cyclic AMP and isobutylmethylxanthine, did not inhibit bombesin stimulation of PLD activity. Bombesin-stimulated PLD activity was inhibited by 50% by buffering of the extracellular Ca2+ concentration to 150 nM, but combination of this treatment with Ro-31-8220 addition was less than additive. Ionophore A23187 alone was able to stimulate PLD activity, but this response was inhibited 50% by Ro-31-8220. Thapsigargin was unable to stimulate PLD activity and had no modulatory effect upon bombesin-stimulated PLD activity at any agonist concentration. The results are discussed in terms of the role of PLD in DG generation and the regulation of PLD activity both by bombesin and by PMA.
SHORT TERM EFFECTS OF FENOTEROL ON CARDIAC MUSCLE OF MICE

Betaadrenergic agonists (Fenoterol, Clenbuterol) are sympathomimetic substances which are capable of activating both β1 and β2 adrenoceptors in vivo. These drugs produce effects equivalent to those produced as a result of impulses transmitted from postaganglionic fibres of central nervous system. Fenoterol treatment causes a small increase in fatigability due to decrease in oxidative metabolism with some cardiac hypertrophy. Major side effects of fenoterol can be derived from their action at β2 adrenoceptor and loss of selectivity at higher doses. Thus, tachycardia, tremor, palpitations and nervousness are among the most common adverse events cardiac connective tissue is composed of collagen with small amount of elastin, laminin, fibronectin. Myocardial injury is accompanied by reprative fibrosis. Accumulation of collagen is a characteristic of hypertrophied hearts. The present investigation is an attempt to examine short term effects of fenoterol on major noncontractile apparatus which mainly comprises of collagen in left ventricle. Our present study is carried on short term effect of fenoterol on cardiac muscle of mice. These effects are studied between 2-72 hrs of drug administration. Histopathological examinations have shown the – ve effects of fenoterol on non-contractile machinary of heart. Single dose of fenoterol (2.5mg/kg body wt) has resulted a severe collagen infilteration in the myocardium of left ventricle. These effects results in to disruption of supporting extracellular matrix framework, thereby decreasing ventricular compliance. The myocardial fibrosis observed in left ventricular tissue possibly shows the state of reprative fibrosis, a pathophysiological state.
Seropositivity to Helicobacter pylori: lack of association with length of hospitalization

To examine the possibility of nosocomial spread of Helicobacter pylori, a serosurvey (n = 238) was conducted at Perry Point Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, an institution providing both acute and chronic care. We hypothesized that if significant nosocomial transmission was occurring, seropositivity (as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA]) would correlate with length of stay in the facility. Whether treated as a continuous or dichotomous variable, the ELISA results did not correlate significantly with length of stay even after adjustments were made for age, race, antibiotic use, gastrointestinal instrumentation, and diagnoses by using multiple-regression models. Age was found to be a significant risk factor for a higher ELISA optical density value. A history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was significantly protective among internal medicine ward patients in adjusted analysis; black race was a significant risk factor among psychiatry ward patients. Our results confirm the association of H. pylori infection with age but provide no indication that extended hospitalization is a risk factor for infection.
Large-scale sequence comparisons reveal unusually high levels of variation in the HLA-DQB1 locus in the class II region of the human MHC.

Comparison of genomic sequences flanking the HLA-DQB1 locus in the human MHC class II region reveals local sequence variation of up to 10%, which is the highest level of sequence variation found in the human genome so far. The variation is haplotype-specific and extends far beyond the transcriptional unit of the DQB1 gene, suggesting hitch-hiking along with functionally selected alleles as the most likely mechanism. All major insertions/deletions (indels) were found to be of retroviral origin and in the immediate upstream region of DQB1. Possible cis-acting effects of these indels on the transcriptional regulation of DQB1 are discussed.
Amplification With Digital Noise Reduction and the Perception of Annoying and Aversive Sounds

Hearing aid users report difficulties using their hearing aids in noisy environments. Problems include understanding speech, loudness discomfort, and annoyance with background noise. Digital noise reduction algorithms have been promoted as a method to solve speech understanding and comfort in noise problems. Research has failed to find improved speech understanding in noise. Little is known about how digital noise reduction affects noise annoyance and aversiveness. The goals of this investigation were to determine how a specific digital noise reduction system affects hearing aid users’ perception of noise annoyance and aversiveness and to compare their perceptions to those of normal-hearing listeners. Ratings of noise annoyance and of aversiveness were obtained from 49 participants with moderate sensorineural hearing loss before fitting and after 3 weeks of hearing aid use. Findings were compared to measures obtained from normal-hearing listeners. Perceived annoyance and aversiveness increased with amplification. Annoyance and aversiveness with the hearing aid approximated normal perception. The results of this investigation suggest the need for counseling patients about realistic expectations related to annoyance and aversiveness of sounds at the time of hearing aid fitting.
Individual differences in human brain development

This article discusses recent scientific advances in the study of individual differences in human brain development. Focusing on structural neuroimaging measures of brain morphology and tissue properties, two kinds of variability are related and explored: differences across individuals of the same age and differences across age as a result of development. A recent multidimensional modeling study is explained, which was able to use brain measures to predict an individual's chronological age within about one year on average, in children, adolescents, and young adults between 3 and 20 years old. These findings reveal great regularity in the sequence of the aggregate brain state across different ages and phases of development, despite the pronounced individual differences people show on any single brain measure at any given age. Future research is suggested, incorporating additional measures of brain activity and function. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1389. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1389 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Vascular leucocyte adhesion molecules unaltered in the human retina in diabetes

Background/aims: Capillary occlusion is believed to have a critical role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The exact mechanism by which it occurs, however, remains unclear. Several in vitro and animal model studies have suggested increased adhesion of leucocytes to the endothelium via upregulated ICAM-1 on the retinal microvasculature as a possible mechanism. In this comparative immunohistochemical study the expression of ICAM-1 was compared in the retinal vasculature of 41 eyes obtained from 37 diabetic people with 19 eyes from 19 non-diabetic controls. Methods: Serial cryosections of postmortem posterior tissue from 41 diabetic eyes and 19 non-diabetic eyes were stained with the monoclonal antibodies ICAM-1 (two clones), CD31(panendothelial marker), and PAL-E (vascular leakage marker). Results: A similar pattern of vascular ICAM-1 staining was observed between diabetic and non-diabetic eyes. A diffuse ICAM-1 staining of the retina was also observed that was significantly more intense in the diabetic subjects (p = 0.001). Conclusion: These results indicate that ICAM-1 is constitutively expressed on retinal and choroidal vasculature of non-diabetic, control subjects and that this level of expression is not significantly altered by the diabetic environment. Taken together, these results do not support the prevalent paradigm of increased adhesion molecule expression as a primary mechanism responsible for capillary occlusion reported in diabetic individuals.
Combined CT Pulmonary Angiography and Venography for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism and Deep Vein Thrombosis: Radiation Dose

A major concern about combined pulmonary CT angiography (PCTA) and CT venography (CTV) refers to the additional radiation exposure to the patient. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the organ dose, the effective dose, and the gonadal dose of combined PCTA and CTV. Effective dose and gonadal dose in PCTA and CTV were calculated. Also measured was the organ doses with thermoluminescence dosimeters in six patients who underwent combined PCTA/CTV. The risk from the effective dose and gonadal dose in combined PCTA/CTV is low. Nevertheless, additional CTV increases the gonadal dose by a significant factor and use of this procedure should be limited in younger patients.
The let-7 microRNA reduces tumor growth in mouse models of lung cancer

MicroRNAs have been increasingly implicated in human cancer and interest has grown about the potential to use microRNAs to combat cancer. Lung cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer worldwide and lacks effective therapies. Here we have used both in vitro and in vivo approaches to show that the let-7 microRNA directly represses cancer growth in the lung. We find that let-7 inhibits the growth of multiple human lung cancer cell lines in culture, as well as the growth of lung cancer cell xenografts in immunodeficient mice. Using an established orthotopic mouse lung cancer model, we show that intranasal let-7 administration reduces tumor formation in vivo in the lungs of animals expressing a G12D activating mutation for the K-ras oncogene. These findings provide direct evidence that let-7 acts as a tumor suppressor gene in the lung and indicate that this miRNA may be useful as a novel therapeutic agent in lung cancer.
Direct Na+-K+ pump stimulation by K+ in cortical collecting tubules: a mechanism for early renal K+ adaptation.

To evaluate the mechanism of increased Na+-K+ pump turnover rate that characterizes the early cortical collecting tubule (CCT) response to K+ loading [Y. Fujii, S. K. Mujais, and A. I. Katz. Am. J. Physiol. 256 (Renal Fluid Electrolyte Physiol. 25): F279-F284, 1989. ], we measured ouabain-sensitive 86Rb+ uptake in microdissected rat CCT exposed acutely to elevated ambient K+ in vivo and in vitro. Tubules preincubated in 10 mM K+ had higher 86Rb+ uptake than when preincubated in 5 mM K+ (25.9 +/- 1.2 vs. 18.9 +/- 0.7 pmol.mm-1.min-1, P less than 0.001). KCl infusion (5 mumol.100 g-1.min-1 x 60 min) increased 86Rb+ uptake from 19.2 +/- 1.0 to 31.2 +/- 1.4 pmol.mm-1.min-1, P less than 0.001; the increment was preserved in tubules subsequently treated with monensin or nystatin in vitro, suggesting that pump stimulation was not mediated by increased cell Na+. This conclusion was confirmed in separate experiments in which the effect of K+ on 86Rb+ uptake was not altered by concurrent preincubation with amiloride. Studies with CCT from isolated perfused kidneys and from adrenalectomized animals revealed that stimulation of 86Rb+ uptake by a K+ load occurs rapidly (less than or equal to 5 min) and is independent of hormonal factors. Increased external K+ produces a rapid rise in K+-transporting capacity (turnover rate) of the Na+-K+ pump in CCT. This phenomenon probably represents a direct effect on K+ on the pump and is an important component of the early renal response to increased K+ secretory load.
The diagnosis of major depression in renal dialysis patients.

&NA; Controversy exists regarding the frequency of depression in renal dialysis patients. We have assessed an unselected sample of 99 dialysis patients using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). A current Major Depressive Episode (MDE) was diagnosed in 8.1% of the sample, one‐half of whom had a past history of MDE. An additional 12.1% had only a past history of depression. In contrast to patients with no affective disorder, characteristics of patients with a current MDE included the following: a history of previous MDE; female sex; duration of dialysis less than or equal to 24 months; a younger mean age; solitary living arrangements; and unemployment. The following DSM‐III criteria distinguished patients with MDE from those with no affective disorder: depressed mood or loss of interest; feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt; anorexia and weight loss; and slowed or mixed‐up thoughts. DSM‐III criteria that were common in the entire sample but not useful in distinguishing patients with MDE included loss of energy, insomnia, and decreased sexual interest. These results indicate that some DSM‐III criteria are common in dialysis patients and therefore do not distinguish major depression, whereas other DSM‐III criteria are more specific for MDE. Further, it is possible that the prevalence of MDE is greater in dialysis patients than in the general population.