Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A method of perfusing an isolated rabbit-heart, with simultaneous pressure-recordings of the aorta, vena cava, pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein.

For the analytical investigation on an isolated mammalian heart, a method of perfusing the heart was devised, with which the heart could manifest its activities sufficiently as in the body. The method furnishes the heart with 2 systems, these being connected with each other in series as in the body: One system corresponds to the pulmonary circulation and the other to the systemic circulation. For the perfusion, one perfusion generator and three pulse-generator arrangements are devised. The perfusion generator serves to flow the perfusate through the whole perfusion systems-aortic-cava and pulmonary passages, some part of the perfusate being introduced directly into the coronary circulation system. Two pulse-generators are used to give pulsatory changes to the perfusing stream in the aortic and the pulmonary venous passages, if necessary, and one is used chiefly for coronary flow measurement. The method presented here may be regarded as a beginning for the analytical investigation on the heart with regard not only to its physical properties, but also to its metabolic and pharmacological characteristics.
Forecasting the Yield Curve with Dynamic Factors

Using two monthly yield datasets over the periods 1970-2000 and 1990-2019, respectively, we re-examine previous findings that yield forecasts based on AR models for the dynamic factors obtained from the Nelson-Siegel curve outperform the random walk forecast and other competitors. Our empirical results do not support these findings. Only the forecasts based on AR models for the differenced yields outperform the random walk forecast. In general, the 1-month-ahead forecasts based on the dynamic factors come out worse than those based on the yields. In the case of 12-months-ahead forecasting, all forecasts perform poorly, particularly those based on AR models fitted to undifferenced time series. Seemingly more positive results obtained in previous studies are explained by a focus on a too short evaluation period.
JEPonline Important Association between Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure Reactivity in Male Adolescents

Moraes JFVN, Sales MM, Asano RY, Carvalho FO, Moreira SR, Campbell CSG. Important Association between Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure Reactivity in Male Adolescents. JEPonline 2014;17 (1):28-39. The purpose of this study was to verify blood pressure (BP) responses to the Cold Pressor Test (CPT) in male adolescents according to their body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BF%). Subjects consisted of 163 male adolescents with a mean age of 16.25 ± 1.32 yrs, body weight of 65.21 ± 12.86 kg, height of 172.71 ± 6.61 cm, and BMI of 21.77 ± 3.65 kg·m2. Anthropometric assessment and blood pressure measurements were performed at rest, during, and 1 min after the CPT. The results showed that 20.9% of the subjects were overweight or obese, 16.0% had high resting BP and 33.7% were hyper-reactive to the CPT. The subjects with increased BMI presented significantly higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) than their normal weight peers at rest (129.26 ± 13.04 vs. 118.53 ± 11.88 mmHg for SBP, and 73.18 ± 7.63 vs. 68.67 ± 8.73 mmHg for DBP), during (147.56 ± 21.61 vs. 130.54 ± 17.94 mmHg for SBP and 88.88 ± 14.62 vs. 82.26 ± 12.92 mmHg for DBP) and 1 min after CPT (135.70 ± 17.55 vs. 119.58 ± 14.13 mmHg for SBP, and 78.26 ± 10.70 vs. 70.69 ± 9.90 mmHg for DBP), respectively. Subjects with an increase in BMI and BF% presented higher odds of being hyper-reactive to CPT when compared to normal weight adolescents. Therefore, we conclude that overweight and obese adolescents have enhanced blood pressure responses under stress.
Genetic polymorphism at the milk protein genes ( CSN 1 S 1 , CSN 2 , and CSN 3 ) in the Czech Sumava and Walachian sheep breeds

Abstrakt The aim of this work was to determine allele and genotype frequencies at the casein loci, alphaS1-casein (CSN1S1), beta-casein (CSN2) and kappa-casein (CSN3) in two endangered Czech sheep breeds. The study was carried out on 265 sheep (133 Sumava, 132 Walachian) by means of PCR-RFLP and Light Cycler Analysis. These breeds are kept mainly for their good combined efficiency (milk, meat, wool). In particular, the genetic variant C at the CSN1S1 locus occurred with high frequency in both breeds Sumava (0.981) and Walachian (0.992). Variants A and D were either “absent” in Walachian (A=0.008, D=0), or present with a very low frequency in Sumava (A=0.008, D=0.011). Molecular analysis of the CSN2 locus showed that the genetic variant A were predominant, had higher frequency (Sumava, 0.778; Walachian, 0.829) than did variant G (Sumava, 0.222; Walachian, 0.171) in both sheep populations. The CSN3 locus was found to be monomorphic, with no polymorphism typed in either population. According to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, both breeds were in genetic equilibrium at the loci CSN1S1 and CSN2 (P<0.05). The information on the aggregate genotype variability in both breeds could be exploited in the future using specific breeding programs aimed at preserving biodiversity or select animals for the production of both unusual and typical milk products in the Czech Republic.
An Analysis of Stock Market Anomalies and Momentum Strategies on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius

The Stock Exchange of Mauritius started operations in July 1989 and as at December 2006 there were 41 listed companies with a market capitalization of US$3,540.60 million. The market index is the Semdex. This study investigates whether the stock market anomalies such as day-of-the-week effect and the January effect are present on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius over the period January 2004 to December 2006. We find negative Tuesday returns but positive returns for other days of the week. However, when we control for the size effect and the value premium as per the Fama and French (1993) three-factor model, only the Friday effect remains significant. The possible profit opportunities on the SEM in terms of both economic and statistical significance are also investigated. Finally, the study investigated investment strategies based on momentum in returns on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius and how robust these strategies are after controlling for size and value. The mean excess returns are statistically significant at the 1% level for momentum portfolios. We also find strong support for the Carhart’s (1997) model where the momentum factor is priced. The explanatory power of the momentum factor in fact dominates that of size and value.
Antimicrobial Activity of Flavonoids From Piper lanceaefolium and Other Colombian Medicinal Plants Against Antibiotic Susceptible and Resistant Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Background: The successful treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) infections is increasingly problematic because of the resistance of this pathogen to multiple antimicrobial agents. This development underscores the need for new antimicrobial sources. In the current study, 21 crude methanol extracts, from 19 plants used in Colombian traditional medicine for cutaneous infections, were screened for antimicrobial activity against NG. Methods: Extracts were screened by disc susceptibility assay. In addition, the minimum inhibitory concentrations of active compounds from P. lanceaefolium were assayed using a panel of 26 NG strains comprising 12 antibiotic-resistant phenotypes. Results: In all, 71% of the crude extracts exhibited antibacterial activity against the antibiotic susceptible NG strain WHO V, whereas 10% of the extracts inhibited penicillinase-producing NG strain GC1–182. The crude extract of Piper lanceaefolium was the only extract to show significant activity without ultraviolet (UV) light activation. Preliminary screening identified 3 compounds in this plant possessing antimicrobial activity: the flavonoids 5,7-dihydroxyflavanone (pinocembrin), 2′,4′,6′-trihydroxychalcone (pinocembrin chalcone), and the prenylated benzoic acid derivative cyclolanceaefolic acid methyl ester. Pinocembrin and pinocembrin chalcone inhibited 100% of the NG panel at 64 &mgr;g/mL and 128 &mgr;g/mL, respectively, whereas cyclolanceaefolic acid methyl ester inhibited 44% of the strains at 128 &mgr;g/mL. Conclusions: This is the first report of the antibacterial activity of Columbian plants against NG. The activity of the 2 flavonoids, pinocembrin, and pinocembrin chalcone, toward both susceptible and resistant NG strains makes them promising candidates for further research.
EVALUATION OF BREAD AND EINKORN WHEAT UNDER IN VITRO DROUGHT STRESS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the resistance of bread and einkorn wheat genotypes under in vitro conditions against drought stress during germination. Twelve bread and ten einkorn wheat genotypes were used as plant material and seven drought stress levels were applied based on a three-replicate factorial restricted randomized block design in order to investigate their effects on germination rate (GR), germinating power (GP), coleoptile length (CL), shoot length (SL), root length (RL), shoot root length ratio (SRLR), root fresh weight (RFW), root dry weight (RDW), and root fresh dry weight ratio (RFDWR) during the year 2014-2015. PEG – 6000 was used to evaluate the effect of drought stress under in vitro conditions on the wheat genotypes. The values of all traits were decreased by the increased effect of PEG levels (p ≤ 0.05). The results of the variance analysis showed that the genotypes had significant statistical differences for the examined traits under drought stress (p < 0.05). According to the results of the GGE biplot analysis, of the total variation between the genotypes and traits investigated under drought stress (75.97%), PC1and PC2 represented 51.51% and 24.47%, respectively. In addition, einkorn wheat populations were located in the sector of GR, GP, and SRL, which means that these populations had a greater performance for these traits under drought stress conditions. Bread wheat and einkorn genotypes behaved differently for the traits under drought stress. It is considered that the results of the field and in vivo experiments for cold and drought stress will contribute to producing reliable suggestions.
Structure and Function of Bacterial Communities Emerging from Different Sources under Identical Conditions

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to compare two major hypotheses concerning the formation of bacterial community composition (BCC) at the local scale, i.e., whether BCC is determined by the prevailing local environmental conditions or by “metacommunity processes. ” A batch culture experiment where bacteria from eight distinctly different aquatic habitats were regrown under identical conditions was performed to test to what extent similar communities develop under similar selective pressure. Differently composed communities emerged from different inoculum communities, as determined by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. There was no indication that similarity increased between communities upon growth under identical conditions compared to that for growth at the ambient sampling sites. This suggests that the history and distribution of taxa within the source communities were stronger regulating factors of BCC than the environmental conditions. Moreover, differently composed communities were different with regard to specific functions, such as enzyme activities, but maintained similar broad-scale functions, such as biomass production and respiration.
Sphingolipid signalling and liver diseases

Sphingolipids (SLs) comprise a class of lipids with important structural functions and increasing relevance in cellular signalling. In particular, ceramide has attracted considerable attention owing to its role as a second messenger modulating several cell functions such as proliferation, gene expression, differentiation, cell cycle arrest and cell death. Increasing evidence documents the role of SLs in stress and death ligand‐induced hepatocellular death, which contributes to the progression of several liver diseases including steatohepatitis, ischaemia‐reperfusion liver injury or hepatocarcinogenesis. Furthermore, recent data indicate that the accumulation of SLs in specific cell subcompartments, characteristic of many sphingolipidoses, contributes to the hepatic dysfunctions that accompany these inherited diseases. Hence, the regulation of the cell biology and metabolism of SLs may open up a novel therapeutic avenue in the treatment of liver diseases.
Expression of Lymphocytes and Lymphocyte Subsets in Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Abstract In a cohort of 38 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), we observed leukopenia in 47% of patients, lymphopenia in 84%, and T lymphopenia in 95%. CD4+ T lymphocyte levels were reduced in 100% of patients, CD8+ T lymphocyte levels were reduced in 87%, B lymphocyte levels were reduced in 76%, and natural killer cell levels were reduced in 55%. Our data suggested that these patients' immune systems were impaired during the course of SARS. The absolute counts of lymphocyte subsets demonstrated a clinical significance for patients with SARS.
Learning objects

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a concept known commonly as the "learning object", articulate the foundational principles for developing a concept of LOs, and to provide guidelines for creating LOs. The paper proposes a view of the content packaging of learning objects grounding on the IMS Content Packaging and the SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model).
Development of a radar based thunderstorm climatology for North Dakota

Traditionally thunderstorm climatologies have been derived using either surface station reports of thunderstorms, e.g. Changnon (1988a,1988b), or severe wind and damage reports from the National Climatic Data Centre's (NCDC) storm events database, e.g. Kelly et al. (1985). Both approaches have their limitations, and in particular the fact that the use of either of these two data sources tends to lead to results that are biased towards either the surface station locations or areas where there are concentrations of population, such as large urbanized centres. A further limitation associated with the use of these two data sources is that while it is possible to broadly define the area affected by thunderstorms on any given day, the ability to track thunderstorm movements in both time and space is extremely limited because of the coarse spatial and temporal resolution of the underlying data. As an alternative to using surface station thunderstorm reports or the NCDC’s storm events database a number of authors have examined the possibility of using radar data to develop thunderstorm climatologies. Bellon and Zawadzki (2003) developed a climatology of convectively driven severe weather events for southern Quebec for the period 1993-2001 using Doppler weather radar data from the J.S. Marshall Radar Observatory at McGill University. Similarly Klimowski et al. (2003) used a combination of radar data and severe wind reports to identify the convective systems responsible for severe winds over the northern High Plains in the period 1996-1999. In this paper, as part of a larger project examining the effects of high intensity winds (HIW) on transmission lines, we consider the use of WSR-88D radar data to develop a thunderstorm climatology for the state of North Dakota that allows both temporal and spatial variations in thunderstorm activity in the region to be explored. Ultimately the intention is to use the resulting climatology to derive statistical distributions for parameters such as the translation speed, heading and intensity of thunderstorms for use in a stochastic thunderstorm risk model for the area that could be used to assess the risk to transmission line networks due to high winds associated with thunderstorms.
Concordance of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA Markers in Detecting a Founder Event in Lake Clark Sockeye Salmon

population experiences a temporary severe reduction in effective population size (Ne; Avise 1994). Reduced Ne promotes loss of genetic variation due to genetic drift (random changes in allele frequencies as a result of imperfect sampling of alleles between generations) and an increase in genetic divergence between bottlenecked populations and those at mutation-drift equilibrium (nonbottlenecked). Founder effects are genetic bottleneck effects that are associated with the founding of a new population. Populations that have experienced acute bottleneck effects (e.g., ≤ 20 Ne) are important to identify because their low genetic variation may result in reduced evolutionary potential and probability of persistence (Luikart et al. 1998; Soule and Mills 1998; Concordance of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA Markers in Detecting a Founder Event in Lake Clark Sockeye Salmon
PLEIOTROPIC AND EPISTATIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN STILLBIRTH AND CALVING EASE IN CATTLE

1 University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, Division of Livestock Sciences, Gregor-MendelStrasse 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria, e-mail: gabor.meszaros@boku.ac.at 2 Same address as 1, e-mail: roland.taferner@students.boku.ac.at 3 Same address as 1, e-mail: johann.soelkner@boku.ac.at ABSTRACT Pleiotropic and epistatic interactions were analyzed for stillbirth and calving ease in Fleckvieh cattle, with deregressed breeding values from 7384 bulls used as phenotypes. The genotype data consisted of 41,884 SNPs after quality control. A multivariate linear regression approach was used to obtain pleiotropic and epistatic effects using the CAPE package in R. Total of five regions on chromosomes 6, 14, 17 and 21 showed evidence of pleiotropic interaction. The genes in these significant regions were also relevant to the two phenotypes of interest, such as PLAG1 affecting growth and height, XKR4 affecting rump thickness and insulin levels, ELMOD2 connected to immune response, UCP1 connected to thermoregulation and UBE3A connected to the Prader-Willi syndrome. The results for epistatic effects were less convincing, although they identified connections to possible regulatory genes within chromosome 21.
The effects of dietary lipid modification on blood pressure, cardiovascular reactivity and sympathetic activity in man

Objectives: To examine the effect of dietary lipid modification on 24-h ambulatory blood pressure, cardiovascular reactivity and sympathetic activity in man Design: Twenty-four normal volunteers consumed either a high-fat or a low-fat diet for 2 weeks in an open, randomized, crossover study of duration 6 weeks. Diets were isocaloric and balanced for sodium and potassium content Methods: Cardiovascular reactivity was assessed by measurement of blood pressure responses to incremental infusions of angiotensin II and noradrenaline, and to sympathetic reflex testing. Plasma noradrenaline spillover and clearance rates were estimated using [3H]-noradrenaline infusion Results: Total plasma cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels both fell significantly on the low-fat compared with the high-fat diet, as did heart rate and mean arterial pressure (recorded by 24-h ambulatory monitoring). These changes were accompanied by reductions in blood pressure responses to cold pressor testing and to noradrenaline infusion on the low-fat diet. Plasma noradrenaline spillover and clearance rates did not change. Post hoc analysis showed an association between oral contraceptive use and increased noradrenaline sensitivity on the high-fat diet among the females tested. Conclusion: Dietary fat intake alters heart rate, blood pressure and cardiovascular reactivity to noradrenaline in man without changes in basal noradrenaline metabolism.
DIFFERENT BEEF BREED CATTLE FATTENING RESULTS ANALYSIS

In Latvia, different breeds of beef cattle are grown; therefore, it is important to explain their suitability to organic farming systems, because most Latvian beef cattle breeders work with organic farming methods. The aim of this research was to compare fattening of different beef breed bulls (Bos Taurus) in organic farming system at similar housing and feeding conditions. In the research, there were included Blonde d’Aquitaine (BA), Hereford (HE), Simmental (SI) and crossbred (CB) bulls. Fattening period started after calf weaning from suckler cows at 7 – 8 months of age. Fattening results were significantly affected by factors like breed, live weight and age before fattening, but slaughter results were significantly affected by breed, live weight and age before slaughter. During the fattening period the biggest daily weight gain was showed for SI breed bulls (849 g), but the biggest live weight increase was recognized for BA breed bulls (295 kg). The required slaughter weight the fastest was reached for XG bulls, which average slaughter age was 532 days (p<0.05). The greatest slaughter weight – 342 kg (p<0.05) and dressing percentage (58% (p<0.05)) was recognized for BA breed bulls; also, carcass conformation score in muscle development was the highest for BA bulls (2.0 points (p<0.05)). The greatest economic benefit was from CB bulls, income calculated per one rearing day from CB bulls was EUR 1.80.
Neurobrucellosis

We report 13 patients with neurobrucellosis categorized into five groups: acute meningoencephalitis, papilledema and increased intracranial pressure, meningovascular, CNS demyelinization, and peripheral neuropathy. We treated the patients successfully, without relapse, with two or more antimicrobials: rifampicin, co-trimoxazole, and doxycycline.
Adoption level of scientific dairy farming practices by dairy farmers of Haryana.

A study on adoption level of scientific dairy farming practices by dairy farmers of Haryana state was conducted with a sample of 200 cooperative dairy farmers who were the regular members of Milk Producers’ Co-operative Societies for the last three years. The study was confined in the Kurukshetra and Karnal Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited, Karnal at Kurukshetra. The study reveals that majority of the farmers (69.50 %) had medium level of overall adoption of scientific dairy farming practices. However, the maximum percent of adoption by the dairy farmers (80.91 %) were found to be in case of the animal feeding practices followed by breeding practices (68.41 %), health care practices (67.12 %) and management practices (66.45 %) with the overall mean adoption of 70.75 per cent of overall scientific dairy farming practices. The further analysis of variance indicated that there was a significant difference (F-value=3.390) of adoption between various dairy farming practices groups, viz., dairy breeding, dairy feeding, dairy health care and dairy management practices.
Breaking the wall: the rise of telemedicine as the new collaborative interface

The purpose of the paper is to give a general idea of the identification of telemedicine in France through the description and evaluation of the general tendencies seen during the research. A macro analysis of the various projects has been done with our research at the CNET. We present telemedicine in France, its genesis and its actual status. Various points are defined to serve as yardsticks in order to evaluate the key factors of this topic. Important keywords are explained and translated. An identification by a classification by figure is presented, and serves as a basis of the analogy between civilian and military projects. However, differences appear with the nature of the applications, the topology, and the local distribution of the projects. These differences underline the main problem which lies behind the notion of telemedicine. This final point will evaluate the differences between France and the United States.