Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feeding ecology and trophic relationships of pelagic sharks and billfishes coexisting in the central eastern Pacific Ocean

: Large pelagic fishes are top predators inhabiting the water column of the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean. They are highly migratory organisms, and for Ecuadorian fisheries, they also represent important economic resources. We sampled 4 shark species, Prionace glauca , Isurus oxyrinchus , Carcharhinus falciformis and Alopias pelagicus , and 3 billfish species, Xiphias gladius , Istiophorus platypterus and Makaira nigricans , in order to gain understanding of their feeding ecology and trophic interactions through the use and combination of stomach content and stable isotope analyses. Results showed that δ 13 C values were similar among the 7 pelagic predators (values ranged from −16.45‰ for M. nigricans to −16.73‰ for C. falciformis ), suggesting that all of them exploit a similar marine area off the coast of Ecuador. δ 15 N stable isotope values differed among species (the lowest value was 13.83‰ for A. pelagicus and the highest value was 18.57‰ for P. glauca ), suggesting segregation in the use of the water column and/or diet. The sharks I. oxyrinchus and P. glauca had high values of δ 15 N and preyed mainly on cephalopods in comparison with the other species, which preyed mainly on fish. In addition to the common use of cephalopods as prey for large pelagic fish, our results indicate that these shark species segregate their diet.
Natural killer cell activity in infants and children excreting cytomegalovirus.

Natural killer cell (NKC) activity against uninfected and cytomegalovirus (CMV)-infected fibroblasts and K562 cells was assessed in 39 infants and children excreting CMV and 89 controls. NKC activity in cord blood specimens, healthy donors up to six months old, and donors older than six months showed significant increases (P less than .02) with age. NKC activities of CMV excreters correlated with acute disease characterized by interstitial pneumonitis (IP) and showed differential responses to the three target cells. CMV excreters younger than six months with IP showed greater mean percentage lysis (MPL; 36.6% +/- 10.5%) of CMV-infected cells than did those without pneumonitis (25.9% +/- 10%) or controls (22.1% +/- 8.0%). Excreters older than six months with IP showed activities comparable to controls; NKC activities of excreters without IP were depressed. Significantly elevated activity against uninfected fibroblasts characterized patients with IP regardless of age (MPL, 30.2% +/- 7.3% vs. 4.2% +/- 2.0% for healthy controls and 6.3% +/- 5.4% for excreters without IP). Increased cytolysis of uninfected fibroblasts was therefore associated with more active disease.
ImmuneManipulation ofAdvancedBreast Cancer : An InterpretativeModel of the Relationship Between Immune System andTumor Cell Biology

This review summarizes some recent clinical immunological approaches with cytokines and/ or antibodies for therapy of advanced breast cancer. It considers the recent advances in genetics and molecular tumor biology related to impaired immunosurveillance involving cytokines and growth factors to explain clinical results. Evasion of the host immune attack might be induced by the following groups of mechanisms: (a) tumor dependent (genomic instability, HLA class I antigen abnormalities, upregulation of fetal type nonclassical HLA class I molecules, epitope immunodominance, apoptosis inhibition by defective death receptor signaling, apoptosis of activated T cells, tumor cannibalism and constitutive activation of signal transducer, and activator of transcription-3 (Stat 3) and nuclear factorkB (NF-kB) signaling); (b) host dependent (CD41CD251 regulatory T cells (T reg), CD41 T cells anergy, Th2 antitumor immunity diversion and myeloid suppressor cells); (c) tumor and host dependent (lack of co-stimulation molecules, immunosuppressive cytokines (vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin (IL)-10, prostaglandin (PG)E2, transforming growth factor (TGF)-b). Cytokines and growth factors are involved in virtually all three types of mechanisms. These mechanisms are integrated with the current knowledge of tumor growth and inhibited apoptosis primarily mediated by cytokines and growth factors to propose an interpretation of the relationships among tumor cells, tumor stroma, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Tumor growth, defective immunorecognition and immunosuppression are the three principal effects considered responsible for immune evasion. & 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Med Res Rev
Diabetic Cardiovascular Risk and Carnitine Deficiency —Carnitine Deficiency in Clinical Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Type 1 diabetes mellitus increases the risk of coronary heart disease. The Pittsburgh IDDM morbidity and mortality study reported greater than 10 fold coronary heart disease mortality compared with US national data [1]. Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates 2 to 4 times higher than adults without diabetes [2]. Diabetic cardiomyopathy explains much of this survival difference and carnitine deficiency is a cause of cardiomyopathy. Research Design and Methods: Adult subjects (40) with type 1 diabetes mellitus were seen for a routine annual visit having no clinical complaints. Fasting serum samples were collected for annual chemistries and the measurement of carnitine. Results: The mean total (40.8 ± 8.8) [40 - 80 nmol/ml] and free (32.9 ± 7.9) [30 - 60 nmol/ml] carnitine levels for this group included 43% low total and 28% low free carnitine. The mean esterified/free (E/F) carnitine ratio (0.25 ± 0.09) for this group was elevated indicating carnitine insufficiency. Conclusions: Fatty acids are the primary energy source for diabetic heart muscle, and carnitine is essential for intracellular fatty acid transport and ATP production. Therefore, mild carnitine deficiency can compromise fatty acid energy production in a failing heart. Carnitine deficiency in subjects at high risk for cardiovascular failure is a possible unrecognized reason for the 4 fold increased death rate in patients with type 1 diabetes. Supplementation with oral carnitine could reduce that increased risk of heart failure, in patients with type 1 diabetes. Intravenous carnitine may be life saving when managing acute cardiac failure in patients with diabetes mellitus. Normal carnitine levels in patients with type 1 diabetes may provide a biochemical environment that prevents the long recognized idiopathic heart failure that occurs in insulin requiring diabetics as first reported in the 1974 Framingham Study.
Effect of Camel Milk on Oxidative Stresses in Experimentally Induced Diabetic Rabbits

Camel milk has an importance in the treatment of diabetes. It has been shown that the patients who drink camel milk daily, their need to insulin decrease. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of camel milk in comparison with insulin treatment in experimentallyinduced diabetes. This study was carried out on forty male New Zealand rabbits, divided into four groups with ten rabbits in each. The first group G1 was considered as control non-diabetic group and received only normal saline solution. The other animals were injected intravenously with alloxan for induction of diabetes mellitus and then divided into three groups' ten rabbits each as the follows: G2 considered as control diabetic and left untreated, G3 was considered as diabetic and treated with insulin, and G4 was considered as diabetic and received camel milk. At the end of the experiment (4 weeks), blood (whole blood & serum) and tissue samples (liver, kidney and pancreas) were collected from all the animals for analysis of: enzymatic SOD and catalase, nonenzymatic GSH antioxidant enzyme activities. Serum malondialdeyde, glucose, insulin and lipid profile also were analyzed. The results showed that the camel milk was effective in the treatment of diabetes in comparison to insulin treatment alone. In addition to its hypoglycemic effect, camel milk improved the diabetes-induced oxidative stress. The histopathological evaluations demonstrated that there was a regeneration in β cells and the islets of Langerhans among the pancreatic acini in rabbits receiving camel milk. Our findings suggested that the camel milk administration in case of insulin dependant diabetes mellitus might be recommended as an oral anti-diabetic remedy.
The Interior Error Of Van Cittert Deconvolution Of Di ¤ erential Filters Is Optimal

We reconsider the error in van Cittert deconvolution. We show that without any extra boundary conditions on higher derivatives of u, away from the boundary the error in van Cittert deconvolution attains the high order of accuracy seen in the periodic problem. This error result is important for di¤erential lters and approximate deconvolution models of turbulence.
Long-term respiratory health effects of the herbicide, paraquat, among workers in the Western Cape.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the possible effects of paraquat spraying among workers on deciduous fruit farms in the Western Cape, South Africa. Paraquat is a commonly used herbicide world wide and is a well documented cause of pulmonary fibrosis in studies of laboratory animals and in humans after exposure to a high dose (usually accidental or as parasuicide). The respiratory effects of long term, low dose exposure to paraquat have not been fully evaluated. METHODS: A cross sectional study of 126 workers. Administered questionnaires generated information on exposure, respiratory symptoms, and potential confounding variables. Spirometry and gas transfer were measured and chest radiographs performed. Oxygen desaturation on exercise testing was by oximetry during a modified stage one exercise test. RESULTS: No association was found between long term exposure to paraquat and reported symptoms, spirometry (forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC) and gas transfer (TLCO and KCO) or chest radiography. Multivariate analysis showed a significant relation between measures of long term exposure to paraquat and arterial oxygen desaturation during exercise independent of short term exposure. CONCLUSION: Previous studies have not shown a significant relation between measures of exposure to paraquat and standard tests of lung function. Arterial oxygen desaturation during exercise represents a more sensitive test. The findings indicate that working with paraquat under usual field conditions is associated with abnormal exercise physiology in a dose dependent fashion independent of recent exposure and acute poisoning events.
Temporal Effects of Estradiol and Diethylstilbestrol on Pituitary and Plasma Prolactin Levels in Ovariectomized Fischer 344 and Holtzman Rats: A Comparison of Radioimmunoassay and Nb2 Lymphoma Cell Bioassay

Abstract An Nb2 lymphoma cell bioassay (Nb2BA) and a radioimmunoassay (RIA) were used to compare plasma and pituitary levels of prolactin in ovariectomized Fischer 344 (F344) and Holtzman rats treated with either diethylstilbestrol (DES) or estradiol for up to 8 weeks. The objectives were to determine whether there were temporal differences in prolactin responses in strains with different genetic predispositions to estrogen-induced pituitary tumor formation and to determine whether the results of the two assay methods were equivalent. All rats were ovariectomized for 7 days and all except controls received subcutaneous Silastic implants of DES or 17β-estradiol and were sacrificed at intervals from 2 days to 8 weeks later. Pituitary content and plasma levels of prolactin were determined by Nb2BA and RIA and the ratio of these measurements was calculated. DES induced a significant increase in pituitary prolactin in F344 rats by 2 days of treatment, as measured by RIA. Pituitary content increased to a peak by Day 4, after which a gradual decline occurred until the end of the experiment. Nb2BA measurements were similar to those obtained by RIA, except at 8 weeks, when the content determined by Nb2BA was significantly higher than the content determined by RIA. When estradiol was given to F344 rats a pattern of increase and subsequent decrease in pituitary content similar to that seen with DES was observed and levels measured by Nb2BA and RIA were essentially equivalent. Plasma levels of prolactin in DES-treated F344 rats increased exponentially through the 8 weeks, and the Nb2BA measurements were significantly greater than levels determined by RIA throughout the treatment period. Estradiol treatment produced a pattern of change in plasma levels of prolactin similar to that observed with DES, except that RIA and Nb2BA measurements were not different. Comparable results were obtained in Holtzman rats, except plasma levels were not increased to the same degree as seen in F344 rats. From these results, we conclude that DES, but not estradiol, can selectively increase the secretion of prolactin that is more bioactive than immunoreactive and that this effect of DES is observed in F344 and Holtzman rats, although F344 rats released more prolactin in response to estrogens than did Holtzman females.
Silica Planar Lightwave Circuit Based Integrated 1 $\times$ 4 Polarization Beam Splitter Module for Free-Space BB84 Quantum Key Distribution

We have developed an integrated polarization beam splitter (PBS) module with silica planar lightwave circuit technology for use in BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD). The PBS module is designed to operate on four linear polarizations of the horizontal/vertical/diagonal/antidiagonal direction, and shows the minimum polarization extinction ratio of 17.6 dB. When the module is loaded on the free-space BB84 QKD test-bed, quantum bit error rate and sifted key rate are 2.81% and 415 kb/s at clock rate of 100 MHz, respectively.
The cerebrovascular response to lower-body negative pressure vs. head-up tilt.

Lower-body negative pressure (LBNP) has been proposed as a MRI-compatible surrogate for orthostatic stress. Although the effects of LBNP on cerebral hemodynamic behavior have been considered to reflect those of orthostatic stress, a direct comparison with actual orthostasis is lacking. We assessed the effects of LBNP (-50 mmHg) vs. head-up tilt (HUT; at 70°) in 10 healthy subjects (5 female) on transcranial Doppler-determined cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFv) in the middle cerebral artery and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) as estimated from the blood pressure signal (finger plethysmography). CPP was maintained during LBNP but decreased after 2 min in response to HUT, leading to an ~15% difference in CPP between LBNP and HUT (P ≤ 0.020). Mean CBFv initially decreased similarly in response to LBNP and for HUT, but, from minute 3 on, the decline became ~50% smaller (P ≤ 0.029) during LBNP. The reduction in end-tidal Pco2 partial pressure (PetCO2 ) was comparable but with an earlier return toward baseline values in response to LBNP but not during HUT (P = 0.008). We consider the larger decrease in CBFv during HUT vs. LBNP attributable to the pronounced reduction in PetCO2 and to gravitational influences on CPP, and this should be taken into account when applying LBNP as an MRI-compatible orthostatic stress modality.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Lower-body negative pressure (LBNP) has the potential to serve as a MRI-compatible surrogate of orthostatic stress but a comparison with actual orthostasis was lacking. This study showed that the pronounced reduction in end-tidal Pco2 together with gravitational effects on the brain circulation lead to a larger decline in cerebral blood flow velocity in response to head-up tilt than during lower-body negative pressure. This should be taken into account when employing lower-body negative pressure as MRI-compatible alternative to orthostatic stress.
A meta-analysis of infant habituation and recognition memory performance as predictors of later IQ.

A meta-analytic review of the literature on infant habituation and recognition memory performance as predictors of later IQ suggests several conclusions: (1) Habituation and recognition memory assessments made on a variety of risk and nonrisk samples in the first year of life predict later IQ assessed between 1 and 8 years of age with a weighted (for N) average of normalized correlations of . 36 or a raw median correlation of . 45. (2) The size of the predictive correlation is essentially the same for habituation and for recognition memory paradigms. (3) This prediction phenomenon is not obviously associated solely with one laboratory, one particular infant response measure, or a few extremely disordered infants. (4) The level of prediction to childhood IQ is substantial given the reliability of the infant measures. (5) Predictions are somewhat higher for risk than for nonrisk samples. (6) Predictions are consistently higher than for standardized infant tests of general development for nonrisk but not for risk samples, and they are not consistently higher than predicting from parental education and socioeconomic status or a few other infant behaviours for nonrisk samples. (8) Coefficients may be higher when the predicting assessments are made between 2 and 8 months of age than earlier or later, but prediction coefficients are remarkably consistent across the observed outcome age period of 2-8 years.
[Effects of SP-6 acupressure on dysmenorrhea, cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine in the college students].

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to identify effects of the SP-6 acupressure on dysmenorrhea, and level of cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine in the college students. METHOD Data were collected from May 1 to August 31, 2002. A total of 58 students from two universities participated in the study. Both groups were pretested before the intervention for three variables, the intensity of dysmenorrhea, level of cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine. Then, SP-6 acupressure was provided for 20 minutes for students in the experimental group. The instruments used in this study included the Visual Analogue Scale developed by Johnson(1974), Menstrual Attitudes Questionnaire Scale developed by Brooks-Gunn & Ruble(1980), and Stress scale developed by Cheun and Kim(1990). RESULT There were statistically significant differences in the intensity of dysmenorrhea at the time immediately after, 30 minutes after, one hour after, and two hours after the intervention. The experimental group had a lower intensity than the control group. There was a statistically significant difference in level of norepinephrine at the time 30 minutes after the intervention with the experimental group. CONCLUSION The SP-6 acupressure reduced the subjective perception of dysmenorrhea and the levels of norepinephrine. It was found out that the lasting period of 20 minutes of the SP-6 acupressure was two hours for college students.
Genetic Origin of IBD

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are diseases of unknown etiology. For this reason, it is necessary in clinical practice to exclude several alternative disorders before retaining the diagnosis of Crohńs Disease (CD) or Ulcerative Colitis (UC). This lack of knowledge limits not only the diagnostic procedures but also the development of specific treatments. Indeed, without knowledge on causative factors, IBD are treated today by nonspecific anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive agents. The main goal of geneticists is to try to fill this gap and to provide etiological data to the scientific community. From this point of view, recently obtained important results are considered to be a breakthrough toward a better understanding of IBD mechanisms. These advances allow us to formulate pathophysiologic hypotheses, which are now under investigation using functional models.
Chronic gastroesophageal re fl ux disease shares genetic background with esophageal adenocarcinoma and Barrett ’ s esophagus

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) is a rapidly fatal cancer with rising incidence in the developed world. Most EAs arise in a metaplastic epithelium, Barrett’s esophagus (BE), which is associated with greatly increased risk of EA. One of the key risk factors for both BE and EA is chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This study used the linkage disequilibrium (LD) score regression and genomic profile risk scoring approaches to investigate the contribution of multiple common singlenucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to the risk of GERD, and the extent of genetic overlap between GERD and BE or EA. Using LD score regression, we estimated an overall phenotypic variance of 7% (95% CI 3–11%) for GERD explained by all the genotyped SNPs. A genetic correlation of 77% (s.e. = 24%, P = 0.0012) between GERD and BE and 88% between GERD and EA (s.e. = 25%, P = 0.0004) was estimated using the LD score regression approach. Results from the genomic profile risk scoring approach, as a robustness check, were broadly similar to those from the LD score regression. This study provides the first evidence for a polygenic basis for GERD and supports for a polygenic overlap between GERD and BE, and GERD and EA.
On sentences which are true of direct unions of algebras

It is well known that certain sentences corresponding to similar algebras are invariant under direct union; that is, are true of the direct union when true of each factor algebra. An axiomatizable class of similar algebras, such as the class of groups, is closed under direct union when each of its axioms is invariant. In this paper we shall determine a wide class of invariant sentences. We shall also be concerned with determining sentences which are true of a direct union provided they are true of some factor algebra. In the case where all the factor algebras are the same, a further result is obtained. In §2 it will be shown that these criteria are the only ones of their kind. Lemma 7 below may be of some independent interest. We adopt the terminology and notation of McKinsey with the exception that the sign · will be used for conjunction. Expressions of the form ∼∊, where ∊ is an equation, will be called inequalities. In accordance with the analogy between conjunction and disjunction with product and sum respectively, we shall call α1, …, αn the terms of the disjunction and the factors of the conjunction Every closed sentence is equivalent to a sentence in prenez normal form, where x1, …, xm distinct individual variables, Q1, …, Qm are quantifiers, and the matrix S is an open sentence in which each of the variables x1, …, xm actually occurs. The sentence S may be written in either disjunctive normal form: where αi,j is either an equation or an inequality, or in conjunctive normal form: .
Bartonella henselae-Based Indirect Fluorescence Assays Are Useful for Diagnosis of Cat Scratch Disease

In a recent article, Bergmans et al. evaluated a Bartonella henselae -based indirect fluorescence assay (IFA) for the diagnosis of cat scratch disease (CSD). This IFA for immunoglobulin G (IgG), with a cutoff of 1:512, revealed a very low sensitivity of only 31.8% if B. henselae was cocultivated