Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of mucosal inflammation and blood flow in response to four weeks' intervention with probiotics in patients operated with a J-Configurated ileal-pouch-anal-anastomosis (IPAA)

Background: Pouchitis is a common and troublesome condition in patients operated on with ileal-pouch-anal-anastomosis (IPAA). A disturbed mucosal perfusion in the pouch has been suggested as a possible cause. Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) has been used successfully to measure gastric and colonic mucosal perfusion in humans. In a previous study, we demonstrated a reduced mucosal perfusion in the distal part of the pouch, during probiotic intervention, examined by LDF measurement. The aim of the present study was to confirm our previous results in a much larger material, and to compare the results of LDF measurements and inflammatory activity in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients with those in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patients. Methods: Five hundred millilitres of a fermented milk product (Cultura), containing live lactobacilli (La-5) and bifidobacteria (Bb-12), was given daily for 4 weeks to 41 UC and 10 patients with FAP, operated on with IPAA. Mucosal perfusion was measured with LDF and the degree of inflammation was examined at predefined levels of the distal bowel by histology and faecal calprotectin measurements both before and after intervention. We also evaluated the applicability of a Pouchitis Disease Activity Index (PDAI). Results: The LDF measurements were reproducible in the pelvic pouch at each of the predefined levels, but did not change during intervention. Mucosal perfusion was significantly reduced in the distal compared to the proximal part of the pouch in the UC group (P < 0.05). The perfusion levels were higher in the FAP patients compared to the UC patients at all predefined levels (P < 0.05). Calprotectin levels and histological score did not change significantly after intervention in any of the groups. The calprotectin level was significantly lower in the FAP compared to the UC group both before and after intervention. The PDAI decreased in both groups from a level considered diagnostic for pouchitis to a level considered as not active pouchitis. The decrease was significant for the UC patients. Conclusions: The results did not demonstrate an effect of probiotics on histology, although a significant effect on the PDAI was achieved, which concurs with the previously reported effect on symptoms and endoscopic score. The significantly reduced blood flow in the UC group compared to the FAP group, operated on with the same procedure, and the significantly increased calprotectin levels in the UC group, are original findings. Both findings may be related to an increased risk for pouchitis among UC patients. The lack of effect of intervention on mucosal perfusion does not exclude a role for reduced circulation as a cause of pouchitis based on the reduced LDF measurements in the distal part of the pouch.
A Cell-to-Cell Battery Equalizer With Zero-Current Switching and Zero-Voltage Gap Based on Quasi-Resonant LC Converter and Boost Converter

In conventional equalizers, the facts of bulky size and high cost are widespread. Particularly, the zero-switching loss and zero-voltage gap (ZVG) between cells are difficult to implement due to the high-frequency hard switching and the voltage drop across power devices. To overcome these difficulties, a direct cell-to-cell battery equalizer based on quasi-resonant LC converter (QRLCC) and boost dc-dc converter (BDDC) is proposed. The QRLCC is employed to gain zero-current switching, leading to a reduction of power losses. The BDDC is employed to enhance the equalization voltage gap for large balancing current and ZVG between cells. Moreover, through controlling the duty cycle of the BDDC, the topology can online adaptively regulate the equalization current according to the voltage difference, which not only effectively prevents overequalization but also abridges the overall balancing time. Instead of a dedicated equalizer for each cell, only one balancing converter is employed and shared by all cells, reducing the size and implementation cost. Simulation and experimental results show the proposed scheme exhibits outstanding balancing performance, and the energy conversion efficiency is higher than 98%. The validity of the proposed equalizer is further verified by a quantitative and systematic comparison with the existing active balancing methods.
Adipose tissue volume measured by magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography in rats.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the viability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a means of measuring the body composition of rodents. To do so we compared adipose tissue (AT) volumes measured by MRI with those obtained by X-ray computerized tomography (CT) in a group of rats (n = 17) varying in weight (465-815 g) and percent body fat (5.4-31.1%), with the latter determined by chemical analysis. For both MRI and CT, AT volumes (cm3) per transverse slice (3-mm thickness, 21-mm centers) were determined using a computer-based image analysis system that permitted detailed comparisons of both visceral and subcutaneous AT depots. Total AT volumes were calculated using a linear interpolation of AT areas obtained on consecutive slices. Correlation coefficients between MRI and CT for visceral [r = 0.98, standard error of estimate (SEE) = 6.8 cm3], subcutaneous (r = 0.98, SEE = 6.5 cm3), and total AT volumes (r = 0.99, SEE = 9.0 cm3) were highly significant (P less than 0.001). Both MRI- and CT-predicted AT mass (assuming fat density = 0.90 g/ml) correlated strongly with chemically extracted lipid (grams) values (r = 0.98, SEE 9.6 g and r = 0.99, SEE = 6.9 g, respectively). Post hoc Scheffé contrasts demonstrated that the mean AT and lipid mass values derived by the three methods were not significantly different (P = 0.01). No systematic differences were observed because the regression lines derived for either MRI or CT vs. chemical analysis were not significantly different from the identity line. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Sex‐specific usage patterns of sleeping sites in grey mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus) in northwestern Madagascar

Sleeping sites are a potentially important resource for grey mouse lemurs since they are confronted with high daily temperature fluctuations and a high predation pressure. In order to determine the existence and degree of resource competition, sleeping site characteristics, locations, and usage patterns as well as sleeping group compositions were investigated in a 3 month field study in a dry deciduous forest of northwestern Madagascar. The daily sleeping sites of females were on average better insulated and safer than those of males. Males used more sleeping sites and changed the site more often than females. During the whole study, males slept alone, whereas the females formed stable sleeping groups in on average 83.7% of the days. Sex‐specific differences in usage patterns might be explained by intersexual resource competition and female dominance and could possibly be related to differential parental investment of the sexes. The underlying study indicates that sleeping sites may be a restricted and defendable resource for grey mouse lemurs. The investigation gives new insights into the distribution patterns and social organization of this species. Am. J. Primatol. 46:77–84, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Putting Dollars Before Scholars? Evidence from For-Profit Charter Schools in Florida

This paper compares for- and non-profit management of charter schools in Florida using a unique dataset combining enrollment and student proficiency data with the annual independent financial audits filed by all charter schools. Comparisons reveal that independent for- and non-profit charter schools locate in similar markets and serve similar student bodies, whereas for-profits belonging to a network locate in lower income, denser, and more Hispanic areas. Bearing out the concerns of parents and policymakers, regression estimates indicate that, among independent charters, for-profits spend less per pupil on instruction and achieve lower student proficiency gains. By contrast, among charter schools belonging to a network, for-profits spend approximately 11% less per pupil, but expenses on student instruction are not being cut. The estimates, which control for differences across schools in student composition and other characteristics, imply that an equivalent level of per pupil expenses purchases about 0. 03σ higher student proficiency at network for-profit charter schools.
Teaching basic life support to nurses

Background and objective: Every member of healthcare personnel should be able to perform basic life support including defibrillation (CPR‐D). The biggest cost of implementation is training and these costs need to be reduced. The purpose of this randomized study was to evaluate the applicability of distance learning as a method to teach CPR‐D. Methods: Nurses (n = 56) working in a geriatric hospital were randomized into three groups. The first group was given the Internet‐based CPR‐D course and the second was given a traditional, small‐group CPR‐D course. A third group without specific training in CPR‐D served as a control group. An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) was performed 2 weeks after the courses with a manikin patient having a cardiac arrest. Results: The median score of all participants was 31/49 (range 21–38). The reliability of the checklist was adequate (Cronbach alpha 0.77). Nurses receiving traditional CPR‐D performed better than those receiving the Internet‐based course (median score 34 vs. 28, P < 0.05) and the control group (median score 34 vs. 26, P < 0.0001). Nurses receiving Internet‐based course performed similarly as the control group (median score 28 vs. 26, ns). Conclusions: Distance learning cannot substitute for traditional small‐group learning.
Identification of potentially toxic environmental Microcystis by individual and multiple PCR amplification of specific microcystin synthetase gene regions

Reliable cyanotoxin monitoring in water reservoirs is difficult because of, among other reasons, unpredictable changes in cyanobacteria biomass, toxin production, and inadequate sampling frequency. Therefore, it would be useful to identify potentially microcystin‐producing strains of cyanobacterial populations in field samples. With this aim, we developed a methodology to distinguish microcystin‐producing from non‐producing Microcystis strains by amplifying six characteristic segments of the microcystin synthetase mcy cluster, three corresponding to the nonribosomal peptide synthetase, genes mcyA, mcyB, and mcyC, and three to the polyketide synthase, genes mcyD, mcyE, and mcyG. For this purpose five new primer sets were designed and tested using purified DNA, cultured cells, and field colonies as DNA sources. Simultaneous amplification of several genes in multipex PCR reactions was performed in this study. The results obtained showed that: (i) the expected specific amplicons were obtained with all microcystin‐producing strains but not with nonproducing strains; (ii) cells could be directly used as DNA templates, 2000 cells being a sufficient number in most cases; (iii) simultaneous amplification of several gene regions is feasible both with cultured cells and with field colonies. Our data support the idea that the presence of various mcy genes in Microcystis could be used as a criterion for ascribing potential toxigenicity to field strains, and the possibility of applying whole‐cell assays for the simultaneous amplification of various genes may contribute significantly to simplifying toxigenicity testing. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 20: 235–242, 2005.
Differentiated property tax and urban sprawl in Italian urbanized areas

City’s core and suburbans tax differentials can affect sprawl within an urban area. We empirically address this issue by analyzing the pattern of growth of 72 Italian urbanized areas. As a novelty, we investigate the causes of the emerging land development pattern. Our results show that density of urban area declines in response to an increase in the city’s core property tax rate. We find that this effect is due to changes in dwelling size. By contrast, density of urban area significantly rises when suburbans property tax rates increase, making the urban area more compact. This effect is attributable to changes in the improvement effect of property taxation.
Automatic speech recognition of Arabic multi-genre broadcast media

This paper describes an Arabic Automatic Speech Recognition system developed on 15 hours of Multi-Genre Broadcast (MGB-3) data from YouTube, plus 1,200 hours of Multi-Dialect and Multi-Genre MGB-2 data recorded from the Aljazeera Arabic TV channel. In this paper, we report our investigations of a range of signal pre-processing, data augmentation, topic-specific language model adaptation, accent specific re-training, and deep learning based acoustic modeling topologies, such as feed-forward Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), Time-delay Neural Networks (TDNNs), Long Short-term Memory (LSTM) networks, Bidirectional LSTMs (BLSTMs), and a Bidirectional version of the Prioritized Grid LSTM (BPGLSTM) model. We propose a system combination for three purely sequence trained recognition systems based on lattice-free maximum mutual information, 4-gram language model re-scoring, and system combination using the minimum Bayes risk decoding criterion. The best word error rate we obtained on the MGB-3 Arabic development set using a 4-gram re-scoring strategy is 42.25% for a chain BLSTM system, compared to 65.44% baseline for a DNN system.
Validation of the human activity profile in stroke: A comparison of observed, proxy and self-reported scores

Purpose. To assess the concurrent validity of the Human Activity Profile (HAP) with stroke and healthy control individuals, when reported by the subject or a proxy and compared to observed performance, used as gold standard; factors related to discrepancies; as well as to determine variables that could best predict physical activity levels. Methods. A total of 24 stroke and 23 healthy control subjects took part in the study. Functional outcome measures included personal/demographic factors, HAP, the 10-meter walk, and cognition. Results. Strong relationships were found between self-reported and observed scores for both groups (r = 0.89 – 0.99). The relationships between proxy and observed scores were acceptable for stroke (r = 0.80 – 0.87) but lower for control subjects (r = 0.65 – 0.75), with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ranging from 0.69 – 0.89. Significant differences were found between proxy and observed scores for stroke, but not for control subjects. Discrepancies between scores showed little predictability from selected variables. For stroke subjects, the strongest variable explaining physical activity levels was walking speed (r2 = 43%) and the best combination of variables was walking speed plus cognition (r2 = 55%). Conclusions. Self-reported HAP was an excellent measure both for stroke and control subjects and related well to observed performance. Proxy reports appear to be valid for stroke subjects. HAP was significantly related to measures of walking speed.
Confidence in prior knowledge: Calibration and impact on portfolio performance

The specification of prior parameters is a common practical problem when implementing Bayesian approaches to portfolio optimization. The precision parameter of the prior on the expected asset returns reflects the confidence of the investor in the prior knowledge. Within the framework of the normal-inverse-Wishart model, this paper investigates which factors drive this confidence in order to deduce reasonable values of the precision parameter. We recommend that the investor concentrates on the specification of the precision parameter. By contrast, experts should assess the values of the prior location and dispersion parameter. In the second part of the paper, the impact of the investor's confidence on the performance of investment strategies is examined by a simulation study. The study focusses less on detecting superior portfolio strategies, and more on providing a sensitivity analysis for different levels of confidence. In addition, we show how the posterior distribution of the normal-inverse-Wishart model can be used as a starting point of a simulation process.
[The hydro-MRT of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases].

PURPOSE Evaluation of hydro-MRI in the diagnosis of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). MATERIAL AND METHODS 33 patients with suspected Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis were studied prospectively. After distension of the colon by a rectal enema, breathhold MR imaging was performed during bowel relaxation. Results were compared to the clinical diagnosis, endoscopy, barium studies and histopathology. RESULTS 24/24 patients with active Crohn's disease were correctly diagnosed by MRI. Conversely, MRI was positive in only 2/5 patients with ulcerative colitis. In 5 patients the presence of IBD was excluded. There were no false positives. CONCLUSION Hydro-MRI is a very reliable modality in the diagnosis of Crohn's disease. In the differentiation of Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis, hydro-MRI seems to be a promising imaging procedure.
“Sharing Information: African Perspectives”: bridging the knowledge divide

There is increased recognition of the vital role that scientific information and knowledge has to play in education, poverty reduction and sustainable development. The reverse case is also true – that unless access to information and knowledge is made available to all, the gap between poor and wealthy countries will continue to widen. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has recently written of how the “unbalanced distribution of scientific activity generates serious problems not only for the scientific community in the developing countries, but for development itself. It accelerates the disparity between advanced and developing countries, creating social and economic difficulties at both national and international levels. ”Advances in technology, particularly in the areas of electronic publishing and dissemination, have led to new ways of communicating information and knowledge and thus present a huge range of opportunities for developed and developing countries alike. They also bring many significant challenges, which are nowhere perhaps more keenly experienced than in developing countries. In this paper I will outline some of the key challenges and also some of the important opportunities presented by the revolution in scholarly electronic publishing. I will illustrate this with examples of projects exploiting new technology to enhance access to information in developing and transitional countries and bridge the knowledge divide.
Association Between Mild, Routine Exercise and Improved Insulin Dynamics and Glucose Control in Obese Adolescents

The association between mild routine exercise and glucose homeostasis, insulin dynamics, and risk factors for coronary artery disease was investigated in obese adolescent males. Subjects (n = 7; mean +/- SD age 13.3 +/- 1.4 yr) were tested before and after 15 wk of supervised mild intensity exercise. Serum glucose (GLU), insulin (IN), and C-peptide (CP) were measured in response to a mixed meal before and after the 15 wk period. Weight, body composition, peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2), resting blood pressure (BP), and blood lipid levels were also assessed pre- and post-training. After training, percent fat and body weight were not decreased compared to the initial values. Relative changes (p < or = 0.02) in mean values for GLU and peptides after training were: fasting GLU, -15%; total GLU response, -15%; peak IN response, -51%; total IN response, -46%; peak CP response, +55%; and total CP response, +53%. Following training, the subjects did not have an increased peak VO2, but showed consistent reductions in systolic BP and LDL-cholesterol (p < 0.05). Increases in hepatic insulin clearance (decreased insulin levels but increased CP levels) might be training adaptations unique to low intensity exercise or to obese youth. Decreased insulin levels with concurrent decreases in resting blood pressure and the LDL-cholesterol levels suggest that mild exercise training may reduce health risk factors without weight loss in the obese adolescent male.
THE TRANSMISSION OF AGGLUTININS OF BACILLUS ABORTUS FROM COW TO CALF IN THE COLOSTRUM

The agglutinins towards Bacillus abortus found in the blood serum of new-born calves are obtained from the mother through the colostrum. Calves at birth, unfed, are without agglutinins. The problem of the production of agglutinins by the fetus in whose tissues Bacillus abortus has multiplied and which is subsequently expelled prematurely is not touched by these observations.
Shallow or Deep Europeanisation? The Uneven Impact of EU Cohesion Policy on the Regional and Local Authorities in Poland

With this paper I aim at refining the understanding of mechanisms of postaccession Europeanisation in the new member states by investigating the impact of EU cohesion policy on the Polish subnational policy actors involved in its implementation. Drawing on recent empirical evidence on the influence of EU cohesion policy in three areas—administrative capacity, strategic planning, and governance—I show that adjustment to the EU cohesion policy norms initially tends to be stimulated by cost–benefit calculation or constraint, which may involve ‘shallow’ adjustment. However, the study also reveals that over time, provided that EU-imported norms are in line with the actors' preferences, socialisation and learning mechanisms become more prominent. Moreover, I demonstrate that the subnational impact of EU cohesion policy remains uneven and differentiated depending on the actors' preferences, attitudes, and capacity.
Impact of high and low anxiety on cognitive performance in a modified hole board test in C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice

We investigated the interaction between behavioural dimensions and cognitive performance in the inbred mouse strains C57BL/6 and DBA/2, which have previously been found to differ in cognitive performance and emotionality. Because it has never been evaluated whether cognitive performance and emotional behaviour are interrelated in these strains, we analysed various behavioural dimensions and cognitive functions in parallel using the modified hole board test. We could show that naive BL6 and DBA mice distinctly differed in terms of anxiety‐related behaviour. Principal component analysis on the phenotyping data showed that anxiety‐related behaviour was described by identical parameters and was not correlated to locomotion in the two strains. During cognitive testing, DBA mice habituated faster and performed better than BL6 mice. Principal component analysis indicated a close correlation between anxiety‐related behaviour and cognitive performance in DBA mice, being associated with a highly successful cognitive performance. In BL6 mice, cognition was correlated to general exploration. This correlation turned out to be less successful in performing the modified hole board test. Our findings support the idea that high anxiety may interact with specific cognitive processing, thus offering a promising animal model for future preclinical research on the interaction of anxiety and cognition.