Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urokinase inactivation rate in the rabbit: effect of circulatory isolation of the liver, spleen and kidneys.

After injection of urokinase (UK) in normal rabbits and in rabbits with ligated liver, spleen and kidneys, the inactivation rate constant of UK was evaluated by using the disappearance rate of fibrinolytic activity from plasma. A peripheral intravenous injection of UK in normal rabbits induced significant but transient fibrinolytic activity, with ligated liver, spleen and kidneys, the fibrinolytic activity sustained for a long period, i.e. the inactivation rate constant of UK was 6 times smaller compared with normal rabbits. The implications of these results are discussed.
Identification and Characterization of the Allergenic Proteins of Bahia Grass (Paspalum notatum) Pollen

Background: Pollen of Bahia grass (Paspalum notatum) represents a major cause of type I allergy in diverse geographical areas, particularly in the southeastern coastal plain area of the United States. The aqueous protein extract of Bahia grass pollen contains the allergenically active components that produce skin-test-positive reactions in sensitive patients. Objective: The emphasis of this study included the identification and characterization of the allergenic proteins present in the crude protein aqueous extract of Bahia grass pollen. Methods: The crude extract of Bahia grass pollen, partially purified by isoelectric focusing and fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), was electroblotted onto nitrocellulose membranes, probed with sera from patients skin test positive to Bahia grass and detected using anti-human IgE conjugated peroxidase. Results: Four allergenic proteins of Bahia grass pollen with estimated molecular weights of 45, 33, 31 and 28 kD were identified and characterized. Following treatments with deglycosylation enzymes, the 4 allergens retained their antigenic reactivity with Bahia-grass-allergic patient sera containing polyclonal IgE antibodies. Conclusion: The crude extract of Bahia grass pollen contains many proteins but only 4 have allergenic reactivity. Following deglycosylation treatment, Bahia grass allergenic proteins have retained their antigenic reactivity with Bahia-grass-allergic patient sera containing polyclonal IgE antibodies. Four proteins reactive with IgE were detected, but the 33-kD protein (pI of 6.59) was the most reactive.
Perceptions of the risk of drowning at surf beaches among New Zealand youth

ABSTRACT In many countries, beaches are a high-risk location for drowning. In New Zealand, youth and young adults are particularly at risk of drowning at beaches, accounting for 17.4% of drowning deaths and 18.4% of rescues at surf beaches between 2008 and 2013, over 90% of fatalities were male. This study explored New Zealand youth risk perceptions of drowning and their coping appraisal processes at a surf beach. A cross-sectional survey of high school students (n = 599) was conducted between February and April 2014. Females and non-New Zealand European students reported higher levels of perceived vulnerability and severity of drowning risk, and New Zealand European students reported higher levels of self-efficacy of preventive actions. By addressing the underlying causes of underestimation of risk and overestimation of ability, these findings can be utilized to increase awareness and to enhance water safety risk strategies for youth, especially males, in the surf beach setting.
Acetabular and spino‐pelvic morphologies are different in subjects with symptomatic cam femoro‐acetabular impingement

Acetabular and spino‐pelvic (SP) morphological parameters are important determinants of hip joint dynamics. This prospective study aimed to determine whether acetabular and SP morphological differences exist between hips with and without cam morphology and between symptomatic and asymptomatic hips with cam morphology. A cohort of 67 patients/hips was studied. Hips were either asymptomatic with no cam (Controls, n = 18), symptomatic with cam (n = 26) or asymptomatic with cam (n = 23). CT‐based quantitative assessments of femoral, acetabular, pelvic, and spino‐pelvic parameters were performed. Measurements were compared between controls and those with a cam deformity, as well as between the three groups. Morphological parameters that were independent predictors of a symptomatic cam were determined using a regression analysis. Hips with cam deformity had slightly smaller subtended angles superior‐anteriorly (87° vs. 84°, p = 0.04) and greater pelvic incidence (53° vs. 48°, p = 0.003) compared to controls. Symptomatic cams had greater acetabular version (p < 0.01), greater subtended angles superiorly and superior‐posteriorly (p = 0.01), higher pelvic incidence (p = 0.02), greater alpha angles and lower femoral neck‐shaft angles compared to asymptomatic cams (p < 0.01) and controls (p < 0.01). The four predictors of symptomatic cam included antero‐superior alpha angle, femoral neck‐shaft angle, acetabular depth, and pelvic incidence. In conclusion, this study illustrates that symptomatic hips had a greater amount of supero‐posterior coverage; which would be the contact area between a radial cam and the acetabulum, when the hip is flexed to 90°. Furthermore, individuals with symptomatic cam morphology had greater PI. Acetabular‐ and SP parameters should be part of the radiological assessment of femoro‐acetabular impingement. © 2018 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:1840–1848, 2018.
Maturation of Glucose-Stimulated Insulin Secretion in Fetal Sheep

To determine the gestational maturation of fetal insulin response to glucose and arginine and the effects of sustained hyperglycemia on these processes, we measured insulin secretion in different groups of fetal sheep at 75, 100, 122, and 137 days of gestation (50, 67, 81, and 91% of term gestation, respectively). The basal glucose concentration decreased progressively from 1.36 ± 0.16 mM at 75 days to 1.00 ± 0.07 mM at 137 days (p < 0.05). The fetal plasma insulin concentration did not change (54 ± 11 pM at 75 days, 68 ± 8 pM at 137 days), but there was a significant increase in the increment in plasma insulin concentration in response to a hyperglycemic clamp over this same period (ΔI pM/ΔG mM) from 20 ± 3 at 75 days to 105 ± 8 at 137 days (p < 0.001). The ΔI (pM) in response to arginine also increased from 129 ± 17 pM at 75 days to 635 ± 103 pM at 137 days (p < 0.001). Sustained hyperglycemia from 90 to 100 days reduced the ΔI (pM)/ΔG (mM) to glucose (13 ± 2, p < 0.01) and the ΔI pM to arginine (369 ± 86, p < 0.05) to values less than those found in euglycemic animals (ΔI/ΔG = 58 ± 4 to glucose, ΔI = 525 ± 71 to arginine). Thus, glucose and arginine stimulate insulin secretion at midgestation at 20% of the rate near term, and there is a consistently positive developmental pattern of insulin secretion to these secretagogues over the second half of gestation. Furthermore, chronic, high, relatively constant hyperglycemia blunts insulin secretion to glucose and arginine close to midgestation, similar to the effect seen near term. Such developmental and adaptive capacities may account for an important part of the variability in fetal glucose metabolism observed in animal models and human cases of diabetes during pregnancy.
On GATAGATA and other “junk” in the barren stretch of genomic desert

(GATA)n and additional simple repeated DNA sequences have long been known but functional analyses along traditional research strategies have not yielded definitive results. Therefore these elements are commonly regarded as genomic “junk” although they represent assets for innovative methodological approaches and especially for speculations. While extensively using microsatellites for genome mapping and genetic relationship analyses, it was also realized that certain simple repeats can cause human trinucleotide block expansion diseases. Hence these simple repeat elements comprise an exceptional range of biological meaning, i.e. from genetically absolutely neutral markers for genome analysis, behavioral and population genetic studies to dominant and invariably disease causing mutations with complete penetrance. The quest into why there is so much repetitive junk in recent genomes can be answered only in part and sequentially, but sometimes – even after substantial efforts – not for the given element.
Slow wave and REM sleep deprivation effects on explicit and implicit memory during sleep.

OBJECTIVE It has been debated whether different stages in the human sleep cycle preferentially mediate the consolidation of explicit and implicit memories, or whether all of the stages in succession are necessary for optimal consolidation. Here we investigated whether the selective deprivation of slow wave sleep (SWS) or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep over an entire night would have a specific effect on consolidation in explicit and implicit memory tasks. METHOD Participants completed a set of explicit and implicit memory tasks at night, prior to sleep. They had 1 control night of undisturbed sleep and 2 experimental nights, during which either SWS or REM sleep was selectively deprived across the entire night (sleep conditions counterbalanced across participants). Polysomnography recordings quantified precisely the amount of SWS and REM sleep that occurred during each of the sleep conditions, and spindle counts were recorded. In the morning, participants completed the experimental tasks in the same sequence as the night before. RESULTS SWS deprivation disrupted the consolidation of explicit memories for visuospatial information (ηp2 = .23), and both SWS (ηp2 = .53) and REM sleep (ηp2 = .52) deprivation adversely affected explicit verbal recall. Neither SWS nor REM sleep deprivation affected aspects of short-term or working memory, and did not affect measures of verbal implicit memory. Spindle counts did not correlate significantly with memory performance. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate the importance of measuring the sleep cycles throughout the entire night, and the contribution of both SWS and REM sleep to memory consolidation. (PsycINFO Database Record
A Design Strategy for Bandwidth Enhancement in Three-Stage Doherty Power Amplifier With Extended Dynamic Range

This paper presents a design strategy to enhance the bandwidth of three-stage Doherty power amplifier (DPA) with operation upto 12-dB back-off. Based on the proposed strategy, a broadband 48-W DPA is designed and implemented using packaged CREE GaN transistors. The measured drain efficiency of 50%–61.8% at 12-dB back-off and 51.9%–66.2% at 6-dB back-off is obtained over the frequency range of 600–900 MHz. Over this 300-MHz band, the drain efficiency is between 51.1% and 78% at saturation. This corresponds to 40% fractional bandwidth. The three-stage DPA is also linearized with a three carrier 15-MHz WCDMA signal with a PAPR of 10.6 dB at various frequencies within operating band and shows the output signal qualifies spectral mask specifications.
The Effects of Intensive Speech Treatment on Conversational Intelligibility in Spanish Speakers With Parkinson's Disease.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of intensive speech treatment on the conversational intelligibility of Castilian Spanish speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as on the speakers' self-perceptions of disability. Method Fifteen speakers with a medical diagnosis of PD participated in this study. Speech recordings were completed twice before treatment, immediately posttreatment, and at a 1-month follow-up session. Conversational intelligibility was assessed in 2 ways-transcription accuracy scores and intelligibility ratings on a 9-point Likert scale. The Voice Handicap Index (Núñez-Batalla et al., 2007) was administered as a measure of self-perceived disability. Results Group data revealed that transcription accuracy and median ease-of-understanding ratings increased significantly immediately posttreatment, with gains maintained at the 1-month follow-up. The functional subscale of the Voice Handicap Index decreased significantly posttreatment, suggesting a decrease in perceived communication disability after speech treatment. Conclusion These findings support the implementation of intensive voice treatment to improve conversational intelligibility in Spanish speakers with PD with dysarthria as well as to improve the speakers' perception of their daily communicative capabilities. Clinical and theoretical considerations are discussed.
Periodic variation in bile acids controls circadian changes in uric acid via regulation of xanthine oxidase by the orphan nuclear receptor PPARα

Xanthine oxidase (XOD), also known as xanthine dehydrogenase, is a rate-limiting enzyme in purine nucleotide degradation, which produces uric acid. Uric acid concentrations in the blood and liver exhibit circadian oscillations in both humans and rodents; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that XOD expression and enzymatic activity exhibit circadian oscillations in the mouse liver. We found that the orphan nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor-α (PPARα) transcriptionally activated the mouse XOD gene and that bile acids suppressed XOD transactivation. The synthesis of bile acids is known to be under the control of the circadian clock, and we observed that the time-dependent accumulation of bile acids in hepatic cells interfered with the recruitment of the co-transcriptional activator p300 to PPARα, thereby repressing XOD expression. This time-dependent suppression of PPARα-mediated transactivation by bile acids caused an oscillation in the hepatic expression of XOD, which, in turn, led to circadian alterations in uric acid production. Finally, we also demonstrated that the anti-hyperuricemic effect of the XOD inhibitor febuxostat was enhanced by administering it at the time of day before hepatic XOD activity increased. These results suggest an underlying mechanism for the circadian alterations in uric acid production and also underscore the importance of selecting an appropriate time of day for administering XOD inhibitors.
Fluorometric determination of serum total bile acids.

Abstract A fluorometric method for the determination of serum total bile acid is presented. Based on the method of Levin, Irvin, and Johnston, the procedure is more reproducible than commonly used ultraviolet methods. Recoveries of conjugated bile acids added to serum averaged 98.7 per cent with a standard deviation of 12 per cent. Normal human serum was found to contain 1.2 ± 0.6 mg. per cent total bile acid.
Colchicine in dermatology: A review

Colchicine is an anti‐inflammatory agent that has been used for decades for the treatment of various diseases including gout, familial Mediterranean fever and pericarditis and in recent years for dermatological indications including chronic urticaria, cutaneous vasculitis and psoriasis. Despite its efficacy in various cutaneous diseases, the use of colchicine may be limited by concerns over its side‐effects and the potential for toxicity. This article reviews the current literature on the pharmacology of colchicine and its clinical applications in dermatology.
Endothelial progenitor cell number and ERK phosphorylation serve as predictive and prognostic biomarkers in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with sorafenib

ABSTRACT Sorafenib is an oral anti-angiogenic multi-kinase inhibitor used for systemic therapy in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are not suitable candidates for surgery or liver transplantation. An earlier study conducted with HCC tumor tissue suggested that ERK phosphorylation (pERK), a downstream target of sorafenib, may serve as a potential biomarker for therapeutic efficacy of sorafenib. However, no study thus far has utilized a minimal invasive procedure to predict HCC patient responsiveness to sorafenib. We evaluated the biomarker utility of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) frequency and intracellular pERK levels in EPCs in peripheral blood obtained pre- and post-sorafenib therapy or after transarterial chemoembolistaion (TACE). A statistically significant reduction in the level of ERK phosphorylation and in the absolute number of EPCs was detected following in vivo sorafenib treatment (p < 0 .01 for both). In contrast, the decrease in the level of ERK phosphorylation and EPC number was either marginally significant or insignificant in patients treated with TACE (p = 0.05 and 0.06, respectively). In vitro sorafenib treatment of pre- and post-samples from the same patient cohort inhibited ERK phosphorylation levels in EPCs and decreased the number of EPCs at all doses tested (p = 0.01). Our findings support that the evaluation of both the circulating EPC frequency and the level of ERK phosphorylation in EPCs may serve as potential non-invasive biomarkers of sorafenib efficacy, both as predictor of treatment outcome and efficacy during drug treatment.
Mapping spatiotemporal patterns of events using social media: a case study of influenza trends

ABSTRACT Tracking spatial and temporal trends of events (e.g. disease outbreaks and natural disasters) is important for situation awareness and timely response. Social media, with increasing popularity, provide an effective way to collect event-related data from massive populations and thus a significant opportunity to dynamically monitor events as they emerge and evolve. While existing research has demonstrated the value of social media as sensors in event detection, estimating potential time spans and influenced areas of an event from social media remains challenging. Challenges include the unstable volumes of available data, the spatial heterogeneity of event activities and social media data, and the data sparsity. This paper describes a systematic approach to detecting potential spatiotemporal patterns of events by resolving these challenges through several interrelated strategies: using kernel density estimation for smoothed social media intensity surfaces; utilizing event-unrelated social media posts to help map relative event prevalence; and normalizing event indicators based on historical fluctuation. This approach generates event indicator maps and significance maps explaining spatiotemporal variations of event prevalence to identify space-time regions with potentially abnormal event activities. The approach has been applied to detect influenza activity patterns in the conterminous US using Twitter data. A set of experiments demonstrated that our approach produces high-resolution influenza activity maps that could be explained by available ground truth data.
Associative strength or gist extraction: Which matters when DRM lists have two critical lures?

The Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm is often used in the study of false memories. This paradigm typically uses lists of words associated with one critical lure. The primary objective of our study was to understand the production of false memories using the DRM paradigm when lists of words are associated with two critical lures. Three experiments were performed, and it was observed that the critical lures associated with the first set were significantly more frequently recalled than the critical lures associated with the second set. This result was verified when the words were presented in descending order of association with the critical lure (Experiment 1), when the words of the second set were presented in ascending order of association with the critical lure (Experiment 2), and when all the words in the list had the same associative strength (Experiment 3). Results are explained by the activation/monitoring and fuzzy-trace theories.
Sleep facilitates generalisation of accent adaptation to a new talker

ABSTRACT Lexically-guided phonetic retuning helps listeners adapt to the phonetic “fingerprint” of a talker. Previous findings show that listeners can generalise from one accented talker to another accented talker, but only for phonetically similar talkers. We tested whether sleep-mediated consolidation promotes generalisation across accented talkers who are not phonetically similar. Native-English participants were trained on a Mandarin-accented talker and tested on this talker and an untrained Mandarin talker. Experiment 1 showed adaptation for the trained talker and a weak transfer to the untrained talker. In Experiment 2, participants were trained and tested either in the morning (Same-Day group) or evening (Overnight group), and again after twelve hours. Both groups retained talker-specific learning over the 12-hour delay. Importantly, the Overnight group showed improvements for the untrained talker, whereas the Same-Day group’s performance on the untrained talker deteriorated. We suggest that sleep facilitated talker generalisation by helping listeners abstract away from specific acoustic properties of the trained talker.
Mind the gap: temporal discrimination and dystonia

One of the most widely studied perceptual measures of sensory dysfunction in dystonia is the temporal discrimination threshold (TDT) (the shortest interval at which subjects can perceive that there are two stimuli rather than one). However the elevated thresholds described may be due to a number of potential mechanisms as current paradigms test not only temporal discrimination but also extraneous sensory and decision‐making parameters. In this study two paradigms designed to better quantify temporal processing are presented and a decision‐making model is used to assess the influence of decision strategy.
Natural History of Organ Failure in Acute Pancreatitis

The majority of deaths from acute pancreatitis are a consequence of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). In order to influence the outcome of this condition, we need to have a better understanding of the natural history of acute pancreatitis, particularly when complicated by MODS. This paper reviews the recent literature dealing with the natural history of acute pancreatitis and the relationship between MODS, pancreatic necrosis and mortality.
A multivariate ecogeographic analysis of macaque craniodental variation

Abstract Objectives To infer the ecogeographic conditions that underlie the evolutionary diversification of macaques, we investigated the within‐ and between‐species relationships of craniodental dimensions, geography, and environment in extant macaque species. We studied evolutionary processes by contrasting macroevolutionary patterns, phylogeny, and within‐species associations. Materials and Methods Sixty‐three linear measurements of the permanent dentition and skull along with data about climate, ecology (environment), and spatial geography were collected for 711 specimens of 12 macaque species and analyzed by a multivariate approach. Phylogenetic two‐block partial least squares was used to identify patterns of covariance between craniodental and environmental variation. Phylogenetic reduced rank regression was employed to analyze spatial clines in morphological variation. Results Between‐species associations consisted of two distinct multivariate patterns. The first represents overall craniodental size and is negatively associated with temperature and habitat, but positively with latitude. The second pattern shows an antero‐posterior tooth size contrast related to diet, rainfall, and habitat productivity. After controlling for phylogeny, however, the latter dimension was diminished. Within‐species analyses neither revealed significant association between morphology, environment, and geography, nor evidence of isolation by distance. Discussion We found evidence for environmental adaptation in macaque body and craniodental size, primarily driven by selection for thermoregulation. This pattern cannot be explained by the within‐species pattern, indicating an evolved genetic basis for the between‐species relationship. The dietary signal in relative tooth size, by contrast, can largely be explained by phylogeny. This cautions against adaptive interpretations of phenotype–environment associations when phylogeny is not explicitly modelled.