Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Avaliação do desempenho biológico de bovinos de corte terminados sobre pastagens de azevém (Lolium multiflorum) e milheto (Pennisetum glaucum)

O cultivo de pastagens representa uma alternativa para melhorar a eficiencia biologica na terminacao de bovinos de corte. Para isso, e importante conhecer as variaveis no desempenho dos animais sobre diferentes pastagens. No presente trabalho, avaliaram-se dados de 1071 bovinos, machos, castrados, entre tres a cinco anos de idade. Os animais, recriados em campo nativo, foram terminados sobre pastagens cultivadas de azevem e milheto. Nos invernos de 2010 e 2011 foram terminados 710 animais em pastagens de azevem e nos veroes de 2010/11 e 2011/12 foram terminados 361 animais em pastagens de milheto. Para avaliar o desempenho animal foi determinadoo ganho medio diario de peso (GMD), o ganho medio de peso (GP) e a idade dos animais (IA). As variaveis usadas foram peso medio inicial (PMI), peso medio final (PMF) e tempo medio de permanencia (TMP) nas pastagens. O GMD e o GP foram respectivamente de 1,22 kg/dia e 87,3 kg nas pastagens de azevem e 1,43 kg/dia e 55,5 kg nas pastagens de milheto. A IA media dos animais terminados em azevem no inverno de 2010 foi de quatro anos e no inverno de 2011 de tres anos, dos animais terminados em milheto foi de tres anos e meio em ambos os ciclos. O GMD e o GP foram significativamente diferentes (P<0,01) para as pastagens de azevem e milheto. A IA nao exerceu influencia no GMD e no GP. O cultivo de pastagens representa uma alternativa para melhorar o desempenho de bovinos de corte, com diferentes idades, na terminacao, durante todo o ano.
Feature Transfer Learning for Speech Emotion Recognition

With the availability of speech data obtained from different devices, the distribution mismatch between the training and test data has an adverse impact on speech emotion recognition systems. To address this issue, this thesis proposes a set of novel feature transfer learning methods based on autoencoders. Experimental results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed algorithms over other modern transfer learning methods.
Board Networks and Merger Performance

We compare the post-merger financial performance of acquiring firms that have well-connected (central) boards with the performance of less-connected (non-central) boards and find that central boards are associated with better performing acquisitions as evidenced by larger post-merger buy-and-hold abnormal returns, stronger improvements in the ROA, and a 7-12% annual abnormal return based on calendar time portfolios. Central firms are more likely to use cash, to make an acquisition, and to be acquired. Our results suggest that board networks affect the decision to acquire, the choice of target, the method of payment, and ultimately the financial performance of the firm around the merger.
Psychological Factors Associated with Poor Hypertension Control: Differences in Personality and Stress between Patients with Controlled and Uncontrolled Hypertension

Only one-third of patients with hypertension under pharmacological treatment achieve the recommended blood pressure goals. Psychological factors could partially account for poor hypertension control through the existence of personality traits related to treatment compliance (e.g., self-discipline, deliberation, impulsiveness), and the fact that stress and some personality traits (e.g., anxiety, depression, anger expression, Type A) are involved in the etiology of some hypertension cases. This study was aimed at examining the differences in personality and stress between patients taking antihypertensive medications with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension. Results revealed that after controlling sex, age, and traditional variables associated with poor hypertension control, the uncontrolled hypertension group showed higher scores on impulsiveness, depression, anger expression-out, and stress, with differences ranging between medium and large (Hedges' g effect size = 0.77 to 1.08). These results support the hypothesized relationship between psychological factors and poor hypertension control.
Multivariable adaptive closed-loop control of an artificial pancreas without meal and activity announcement.

BACKGROUND Accurate closed-loop control is essential for developing artificial pancreas (AP) systems that adjust insulin infusion rates from insulin pumps. Glucose concentration information from continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems is the most important information for the control system. Additional physiological measurements can provide valuable information that can enhance the accuracy of the control system. Proportional-integral-derivative control and model predictive control have been popular in AP development. Their implementations to date rely on meal announcements (e.g., bolus insulin dose based on insulin:carbohydrate ratios) by the user. Adaptive control techniques provide a powerful alternative that do not necessitate any meal or activity announcements. MATERIALS AND METHODS Adaptive control systems based on the generalized predictive control framework are developed by extending the recursive modeling techniques. Physiological signals such as energy expenditure and galvanic skin response are used along with glucose measurements to generate a multiple-input-single-output model for predicting future glucose concentrations used by the controller. Insulin-on-board (IOB) is also estimated and used in control decisions. The controllers were tested with clinical studies that include seven cases with three different patients with type 1 diabetes for 32 or 60 h without any meal or activity announcements. RESULTS The adaptive control system kept glucose concentration in the normal preprandial and postprandial range (70-180 mg/dL) without any meal or activity announcements during the test period. After IOB estimation was added to the control system, mild hypoglycemic episodes were observed only in one of the four experiments. This was reflected in a plasma glucose value of 56 mg/dL (YSI 2300 STAT; Yellow Springs Instrument, Yellow Springs, OH) and a CGM value of 63 mg/dL). CONCLUSIONS Regulation of blood glucose concentration with an AP using adaptive control techniques was successful in clinical studies, even without any meal and physical activity announcement.
Etude comparative de la nodulation et du rendement de quelques variétés d’arachide ( Arachis hypogaea L., Fabaceae) cultivées en conditions éco-climatiques de Kinshasa, République Démocratique du Congo

Une experimentation a ete conduite du 14 Avril au 24 Juillet 2012 sur les cultures legumineuses fixatrices d’azote, en vue de servir d’alternative pour ameliorer la nutrition azotee et augmenter les rendements des cultures. Le rapport entre le taux de fixation de l'azote et le rendement en graines a ete etudie pour 12 varietes d'arachide dans les conditions eco-climatiques de Kinshasa/Ndjili Brasserie. Cette recherche avait pour objectifs de determiner l’abondance de la nodulation a 60 jours apres le semis et evaluer le rendement de ces douze differentes varietes d’arachide. Suivant un dispositif en blocs complets randomises avec trois repetitions, les donnees collectees ont ete analysees selon la methode de l’analyse de la variance (ANOVA) au seuil de probabilite de 5%. Le test de la plus petite difference significative (PPDS) avait ete utilise pour comparer les differents parametres observes. Les resultats sur la nodulation indiquent que la variete ICGV 98 541 est la meilleure et a donne un nombre de nodules superieur aux autres. Quant au rendement, la variete JL 24 a donne une production superieure aux autres suivie de la variete ICGV 98 541. A cet effet, la variete JL 24 et la variete ICGV 98 541 peuvent etre retenues et recommandees aux agriculteurs en RDC comme varietes de cultures associees en mettant un accent particulier sur la variete ICGV 98 541 pour son efficacite a noduler et son rendement relativement eleve. Mots cles : Fixation de l'azote, production, cultures associees, RDC.
Lorenzo's oil and thrombocytopenia in patients with adrenoleukodystrophy.

To the Editor: Adrenoleukodystrophy is a sex-linked disorder in which very-long-chain fatty acids accumulate in all body tissues1. For this reason, a variety of diets have been formulated to lower the levels of these acids. One diet includes Lorenzo's Oil, a product that contains 20 percent erucic acid (22:1) and 80 percent oleic acid (18:1). During the past two years, 40 male and 6 female patients have received Lorenzo's Oil according to a protocol calculated to provide 20 percent of daily caloric intake. In 19 of these patients the platelet count has decreased significantly (Table 1). The degree of .
Patient prosthetic mismatch following aortic valve replacement—It may not all be due to the prosthesis

Patient Prosthetic Mismatch (PPM) following aortic valve replacement (AVR) may limit left ventricular (LV) mass regression and impair LV reverse remodeling. Ultimately, this has been associated with reduced survival following AVR; especially in younger patients. Hypertension is commonly seen in patients with aortic stenosis (AS). The increased LV mass and resultant LV hypertrophy in response to the increased gradient across the aortic valve contributes to this comorbidity. Hypertension has been associatedwith increasedmorbidity andmortality in AS patients and is difficult to treat prior to surgery, because of the concern that decreasing blood pressure in the face of an already reduced cardiac outputmayprecipitate lowcardiac output syndromeor a syncopal attack. Following an AVR, hypertension has been thought to be due to the residual effects of LVhypertrophy and the improved cardiac output in a thickened ventricle no longer constrained by an outflow gradient. However, it may also be the result of both a valvular and systemic disease that may require both surgical and medical therapy. In this edition of the Journal, Ito et al. have shown that LV afterload may also play an important role in postoperative PPM and reverse LV remodeling. In 23 patients undergoing an AVR with externally wrapped pericardial valves, the vast majority of which were 19 and 21mm, valvuloarterial impedence (Zva), an echocardiographic derived measure of global LV afterload, was a reliable predictor of LV reverse modelling after AVR, as opposed to traditional parameters of prosthetic valve function including transvalvular pressure gradients and prosthetic valve effective orifice area. Studies have now shown that failure to reduce global LV afterload, as assessed by Zva, resulted in increased long-term mortality following TAVR. Postoperative antihypertensive therapy has been found to enhance LV mass regression following surgical AVR. The study by Ito et al. strongly suggests that initiating afterload reduction therapy following AVR may play an important role in reducing LV mass, enhancing LV reverse remodeling, and ultimately negating the detrimental effects of PPM following AVR.While a larger, prospective, randomized trial with long-term follow up will be necessary to verify the importance of Zva in the LV reverse remodeling process, this study is another reminder that AS is both a systemic and valvular disease that requires medical management even after a successful AVR or TAVR.
Isotopic Evidence for Reduced Productivity in the Glacial Southern Ocean

Records of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in biogenic silica and carbon isotopes in planktonic foraminifera from deep-sea sediment cores from the Southern Ocean reveal that the primary production during the last glacial maximum was lower than Holocene productivity. These observations conflict with the hypothesis that the low atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were introduced by an increase in the efficiency of the high-latitude biological pump. Instead, different oceanic sectors may have had high glacial productivity, or alternative mechanisms that do not involve the biological pump must be considered as the primary cause of the low glacial atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
Quantitative Sensory Testing in Fibromyalgia Patients and in Healthy Subjects: Identification of Subgroups

ObjectiveTo determine perception and pain thresholds in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and in healthy controls, and to investigate whether patients with fibromyalgia syndrome can be grouped with respect to thermal hyperalgesia and whether these subgroups differ from healthy controls and in clinical appearance. DesignThe authors conducted a quasi-experimental clinical study. SubjectsTwenty-nine women patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and 21 healthy pain-free age-matched women participated in the study. MethodsQuantitative sensory testing using a Thermotest instrument was performed on the dorsum of the left hand. Sleep and pain intensity were rated using visual analog scales. ResultsCold and heat pain but not perception thresholds differed significantly between patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and healthy subjects. Based on thermal pain thresholds, two subgroups could be identified in fibromyalgia syndrome using cluster analysis. ConclusionPatients with fibromyalgia syndrome were subgrouped by quantitative sensory testing (i.e., thermal pain thresholds). Subgroups show clinical differences in pain intensities, number of tender points, and sleep quality. Cold pain threshold was especially linked to these clinical aspects.
Object habituation in horses: the effect of voluntary versus negatively reinforced approach to frightening stimuli.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING THE STUDY The ability of horses to habituate to novel objects influences safety in the horse-human relationship. However, the effectiveness of different habituation techniques has not been investigated in detail. OBJECTIVES 1) To investigate whether horses show increased stress responses when negatively reinforced to approach novel objects, compared with horses allowed to voluntarily explore the objects and 2) whether a negatively reinforced approach facilitates object habituation. METHODS Twenty-two 2-3-year-old Danish Warmblood geldings were included. Half of the horses (NR group) were negatively reinforced by a familiar human handler to approach a collection of novel objects in a test arena. The other half were individually released in the arena and were free to explore the objects (VOL group). On the next day, the horses were exposed to the objects again without a human handler, to investigate the rate of habituation. Behavioural and heart rate responses were recorded. RESULTS All VOL horses initially avoided the unknown objects, whereas the handler was able to get all NR horses to approach and stand next to the objects within the first 2 min session. The NR horses had a significantly longer duration of alertness and a higher max heart rate in the first session. On the next day, however, NR horses spent significantly less time investigating the objects and had a shorter latency to approach a feed container, placed next to the objects, indicating increased habituation. CONCLUSION A negatively reinforced approach to novel objects increases stress responses during the initial exposure but facilitates habituation in young horses. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE Although a negatively reinforced approach appears beneficial for habituation, the procedure should be carefully managed due to increased stress responses in the horse, which may constitute a safety risk. Further experiments should aim to investigate differences in stimulus intensity.
A comparison of wavefront-optimized and wavefront-guided ablations

Purpose of review Optimized aspherical as well as custom wavefront-guided treatments attempt to reduce the induction of visually disturbing aberrations than can occur with conventional spherocylindrical corneal ablation. This review highlights a comparison of the advances and limitations of the two treatments. Recent findings Optimized aspherical as well as wavefront-guided corneal excimer laser treatments have continued to improve in outcomes compared with conventional treatments. Wavefront-guided as well as wavefront-optimized treatments yield high predictability, efficacy, and safety. Equally good vision has been obtained as measured by snellen acuity, patient questionnaires, and total residual higher-order aberrations. Wavefront-guided treatments did have better results in spherical aberration, coma as well as contrast sensitivity outcomes. Surgeons who have easy access to both technologies suggest using wavefront-optimized treatments in 67–88% of patients and reserve wavefront-guided treatments for those who have above average higher-order aberrations. However, even with individually adjusted aspheric, ‘Q’ values, optimized ablations still increased higher-order aberrations and wavefront-guided treatments also did not achieve the elimination of residual higher-order aberrations. Summary Optimized aspheric corneal ablations that attempt to avoid reducing the prolate eccentricity of the average cornea as well as wavefront-guided treatments that attempt to reduce the individual whole-eye aberrations have continued to improve visual outcomes compared with conventional treatments.
First Occurrence of an IMP Metallo-β-Lactamase in Aeromonas caviae: IMP-19 in an Isolate from France

ABSTRACT We describe the first IMP metallo-β-lactamase in Aeromonas caviae: IMP-19, which differed from IMP-2 by a single amino acid change (Arg to Ala at position 38). blaIMP-19 was found within a class 1 integron located on a 35-kb plasmid. This is also the first description of an IMP producer in France.
Some parameters of erythrocyte system in newborn twins.

The number of erythrocytes and the level of hemoglobin in newborn twins are the object of interest when the clinical condition of children suggests that one of them had a hemorrhage in favour of the other. The object of our examinations was the verification if the conditions of multiple pregnancy affect fetal erythropoiesis. For this purpose the Table presents 20 full-term newborns of single pregnancy, 24 fullterm twins, and 16 premature twins, in which hematocrit, percentage of Hb and of HbF examined after Singer, and number of erythrocytes, were determined. Afterwards, for all determinations in each group of children the arithmetic mean {M), the standard deviation (SD), and the range (R) were calculated. With the aid of Moor's test, the mean values of all features of both groups of twins were compared with each other and with the control group. Analysis at the 99% confidence level showed no significant difference for any of the examined features, while it was found that there were differences in the values of the examined features in twins of the same birth. To verify the significance of these differences the absolute values of all features in all pairs of twins and the mean of the absolute differences were calculated. The statistical analysis (Student's test) showed that the differences of hematocrit values, number of erythrocytes, Hb and HbF levels, are significant even at the 99 % level in twins of the same birth: full-term vs. premature, as well as MZ vs. DZ twin pairs.
Ultrastructural Study of the Relationship between the Morphogenesis of Filiform Papillae and the Keratinization of the Lingual Epithelium in the Mouse

Tongues were removed from fetuses of mice on the 15th day of gestation (E15), from newborns (P0), and from juveniles on the 7th day (p7) and on the 21st day (P21) after birth for examination by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In the fetuses at E15, no rudiments of filiform papillae were visible on the dorsal surface of the tongue. No evidence of keratinization was recognized throughout the entire dorsal lingual epithelium. At P0, rudiments of filiform papillae were compactly distributed over the dorsal surface, as are the filiform papillae in the adult, but their tips were rounder than those of the filiform papillae in the adult. Cell columns in the epithelium, with different degrees of keratinization of the type observed in the matured adult were indistinct. However, a keratinized layer was clearly visible on the tip of each filiform papilla. In juveniles at P7, the filiform papillae on the anterior part of the tongue were long and slender, and the anterior and posterior cell columns of the filiform papillae were identical to those in the adult. These results indicate that, in mice, the morphogenesis of filiform papillae advances in parallel with keratinization of the lingual epithelium from the stage just before birth to a stage a few weeks after birth.
Occupational radiation exposure and mortality: second analysis of the National Registry for Radiation Workers

The National Registry for Radiation Workers (NRRW) is the largest epidemiological study of UK radiation workers. Following the first analysis published in 1992, a second analysis has been conducted using an enlarged cohort of 124 743 workers, updated dosimetry and personal data for some workers, and a longer follow-up. Overall levels of mortality were found to be less than those expected from national rates; the standardised mortality ratio for all causes was 82, increasing to 89 after adjusting for social class. This `healthy worker effect' was particularly strong for lung cancer and for some smoking-related non-malignant diseases. Analysis of potential radiation effects involved testing for any trend in mortality risk with external dose, after adjusting for likely confounding factors. For leukaemia, excluding chronic lymphatic leukaemia (CLL), the central estimate of excess relative risk (ERR) per Sv was similar to that estimated for the Japanese atomic bomb survivors at low doses (without the incorporation of a dose-rate correction factor); the corresponding 90% confidence limits for this trend were tighter than in the first analysis, ranging from just under four times the risk estimated at low doses from the Japanese atomic bomb survivors to about zero. For the grouping of all malignancies other than leukaemia, the central estimate of the trend in risk with dose was closer to zero than in the first analysis; also, the 90% confidence limits were tighter than before and included zero. Since results for lung cancer and non-malignant smoking-related diseases suggested the possibility of confounding by smoking, an examination was made, as in the first analysis, of all malignancies other than leukaemia and lung cancer. In this instance the central estimate of the ERR per Sv was similar to that from the A-bomb data (without the incorporation of a dose-rate correction factor), with a 90% confidence interval ranging from about four times the A-bomb value to less than zero. For multiple myeloma there was an indication of an increasing trend in risk with external dose (p = 0.06), although the evidence for this trend disappeared after omitting workers monitored for exposure to internal emitters. The second NRRW analysis provides stronger inferences than the first on occupational radiation exposure and cancer mortality; the 90% confidence intervals for the risk per unit dose are tighter than before, and now exclude values which are greater than four times those seen among the Japanese A-bomb survivors, although they are also generally consistent with an observation of no raised risk. Furthermore, there is evidence, of borderline statistical significance, of an increasing risk for leukaemia excluding CLL, and, as with solid cancers, the data are consistent with the A-bomb findings.