Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Survival of Juvenile Lemon Sharks at Bimini, Bahamas, Estimated by Mark–Depletion Experiments

Abstract The survival rate of juvenile lemon sharks Negaprion brevirostris in North Sound, Bimini, Bahamas, was estimated by marking a cohort of small sharks (≤53 cm precaudal length) each spring from 1995 to 1999 and by estimating the number of survivors 1 year later by using a depletion method on the marked population. Annual survival rate estimates varied between 38% and 65%, which was somewhat higher than the 39% steady-state survival predicted from a life cycle (Leslie matrix) model. These are the first direct estimates of the survival rate of a juvenile elasmobranch, and the results support modeling efforts that have been used in determining limits to sustainable exploitation of elasmobranchs. Estimates of survival rates in the present study were negatively correlated with estimated initial abundance and are consistent with strong, density-dependent survival.
Early autologous stem-cell transplantation versus conventional chemotherapy as front-line therapy in high-risk, aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: an Italian multicenter randomized trial.

PURPOSE To evaluate the role of early intensification with high-dose therapy (HDT) and autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) as front-line chemotherapy for patients with high-risk, histologically aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). PATIENTS AND METHODS We planned a multicenter, randomized trial to compare a conventional chemotherapy regimen of methotrexate with leucovorin rescue, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, and bleomycin (MACOP-B; arm A) with an abbreviated regimen of MACOP-B (8 weeks) followed by HDT and ASCT (arm B) for intermediate-high-risk/high-risk patients (according to the age-adjusted International Prognostic Index). From September 1994 to April 1998, 150 patients with aggressive lymphoma were enrolled onto the trial. Seventy-five patients were randomly assigned to arm A and 75 patients were randomly assigned to arm B. In both arms, involved-field radiation therapy (36 Gy) was delivered to the site of bulky disease. RESULTS The rate of complete response was 68% in arm A and 76% in arm B (P = not significant [NS]). Three toxic deaths (4%) occurred in arm B and one (1%) occurred in arm A (P = NS). In arm B, 30 patients (40%) did not undergo HDT and ASCT. According to the intention-to-treat analysis at a median follow-up of 24 months, 5-year overall survival probability in arms A and B was 65% and 64% (P =.95), 5-year progression-free survival was 49% and 61% (P =.21), and 5-year relapse-free survival was 65% and 77% (P =.22), respectively. CONCLUSION Abbreviated chemotherapy followed by intensification with HDT-ASCT is not superior to conventional chemotherapy in patients with high-risk, aggressive NHL. Additional randomized trials will clarify whether HDT-ASCT as front-line therapy after a complete course of conventional chemotherapy improves survival in this group of patients.
Acetophenones with selective antimycobacterial activity

Aims: Mycobacteria are a serious cause of infections in humans, with limited treatment options, as no new antibiotics have been developed against mycobacteria since the 1960s. In this study, the antimycobacterial activity of a small library of acetophenone (AP) compounds was analysed.
Distribution of corticotropin‐releasing factor‐like immunoreactivity in squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) amygdala

Previous anatomical studies of corticotropin‐releasing factor (CRF)‐like immunoreactivity in rat brain have reported prominent clustering of neuronal elements containing this peptide within the amygdala. The highest concentrations of both CRF‐positive cells and fibers were evident in the central nucleus, an observation consistent with the putative role of this peptide in autonomic and endocrine regulation. In addition, lower densities of CRF‐positive somata and processes have boon noted in other amygdaloid nuclei. However, the distribution of CRF‐like immunoreactivity in the amygdala has not been described for any primate species. Such a description would be of interest since substantial differences in the distribution of CRF in rodent and primate have been reported for other brain regions.
Incidence and Early Prognosis of Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

OBJECTIVEWe analyzed the community incidence and early prognosis of first-ever aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhages (SAHs) to obtain the same prognostic information used by physicians and families in a defined geographic area in Japan. METHODSDuring the 5-year period from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2000, 2115 patients were registered in the Data Bank for Cerebral Aneurysms of Kumamoto Prefecture, a defined area in Japan with a population of 1.86 million. Registration was based on a comprehensive referral system for SAH patients; computed tomographic scans were available for all patients, including those who were moribund or dead on arrival. We compared the treatment outcomes at 3 months after the first-ever SAH in surgically and conservatively treated patients. RESULTSThe age-adjusted annual incidence of SAH for men, women, and both sexes was 15.9, 26.6, and 21.6 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. In men, the incidence reached a plateau after age 40 years. In women, conversely, it rose after age 40 and peaked in the 9th decade of life. Of the 1634 surgically treated patients, 1153 (70.6%) had a favorable outcome; this was true for only 27 of 477 (5.7%) conservatively treated patients. Four patients were lost to follow-up. The clinical outcome did not differ between patients treated by open surgery and those treated endovascularly. Approximately 30% of our patients were older than 70 years at the time they experienced their first SAH. CONCLUSIONThe incidence of SAH obtained in this study was similar to earlier Japanese reports and Finnish studies. The importance of managing elderly patients with cerebral aneurysms will continue to increase.
Expression of the multidrug transporter, P‐glycoprotein, in acute leukemia cells and correlation to clinical drug resistance

The overexpression of a cell‐surface glycoprotein termed P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) is frequently associated with multi‐drug resistance (MDR) in cell lines in vitro. To evaluate the implications of P‐gp expression in clinical drug resistance, the authors examined the expression of P‐gp in leukemia cells from patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and those with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at initial presentation and relapse, using immunoblotting with a monoclonal antibody against P‐gp, C219. Nine of 17 patients with AML and four of 11 patients with ALL had P‐gp‐positive results at the initial presentation, and most P‐gp‐positive patients did not respond to chemotherapy. Four of seven patients at the relapsed stage and all three patients with preceding myelodysplastic syndrome had P‐gp‐positive results. The expression of P‐gp and clinical refractoriness to chemotherapy were highly correlated. These data indicate that the expression of P‐gp is closely related to clinical drug resistance in acute leukemia.
Discovery of Herpes B Virus-Encoded MicroRNAs

ABSTRACT Herpes B virus (BV) naturally infects macaque monkeys and is a close relative of herpes simplex virus. BV can zoonotically infect humans to cause a rapidly ascending encephalitis with ∼80% mortality. Therefore, BV is a serious danger to those who come into contact with these monkeys or their tissues and cells. MicroRNAs are regulators of gene expression, and there have been reports of virus-encoded microRNAs. We hypothesize that BV-encoded microRNAs are important for the regulation of viral and cellular genes. Herein, we report the discovery of three herpes B virus-encoded microRNAs.
Plasma Levels of Free and Total TFPI, Relationship with Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Endothelial Cell Markers

Summary Free-TFPI (f-TFPI) presents high anticoagulant activity and its plasma level correlates with unfavorable outcomes in unstable angina. Total TFPI (t-TFPI) represents mainly the lipid-bound form which seems to have a poor anticoagulant activity. Until now, it is not known whether the variations of f-TFPI plasma levels are determined by environmental factors. The aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of cardiovascular risk factors on plasma levels of f-TFPI and relations with other endothelial derived molecules in a population of 626 patients (277 men and 349 women) attending a metabolic ward for primary prevention of coronary disease. Free and total TFPI plasma levels were poorly correlated. f-TFPI levels increased with age in both sexes, t-TFPI in women only. Ageadjusted correlations of TFPI levels with conventional cardiovascular risk factors and endothelial cell markers showed different patterns for f-TFPI and t-TFPI. f-TFPI correlated with parameters associated with insulin resistance, particularly in females. f-TFPI was also positively associated in both genders with fibrinogen and endothelial cell markers: t-PA, thrombomodulin (TM) and von Willebrand factor (vWF). t-TFPI correlated strongly with LDL-C in both sexes. It also correlated negatively with parameters of the insulin resistance syndrome. t-TFPI also correlated with TM but not with other endothelial cell markers. The results of the multivariate step by step analysis showed that cardiovascular risk factors poorly explained the f-TFPI variability (7% and 4% in men and women, respectively), whereas they explained 16 and 20% of t-TFPI variability in men and women respectively (mostly related to LDL-C). In conclusion, this study showed that free- and total-TFPI are regulated differently. f-TFPI strongly correlates with endothelial cell markers and t-TFPI is more related to conventional cardiovascular risk factors. The strong gender effect on f-TFPI levels remains to be explained.
The Genetic Architecture of Response to Long-Term Artificial Selection for Oil Concentration in the Maize Kernel

In one of the longest-running experiments in biology, researchers at the University of Illinois have selected for altered composition of the maize kernel since 1896. Here we use an association study to infer the genetic basis of dramatic changes that occurred in response to selection for changes in oil concentration. The study population was produced by a cross between the high- and low-selection lines at generation 70, followed by 10 generations of random mating and the derivation of 500 lines by selfing. These lines were genotyped for 488 genetic markers and the oil concentration was evaluated in replicated field trials. Three methods of analysis were tested in simulations for ability to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL). The most effective method was model selection in multiple regression. This method detected ∼50 QTL accounting for ∼50% of the genetic variance, suggesting that >50 QTL are involved. The QTL effect estimates are small and largely additive. About 20% of the QTL have negative effects (i.e., not predicted by the parental difference), which is consistent with hitchhiking and small population size during selection. The large number of QTL detected accounts for the smooth and sustained response to selection throughout the twentieth century.
Precautions taken by mothers to prevent burn and scald injuries to young children at home: An intervention study

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent individual-based extended information given to mothers from city parts of low education can improve precautions taken by them to prevent burn and scald injuries involving young children in the home and further to compare the results with a group of mothers who had not received extended information. Methods: This intervention study, with a comparison group, has a quasi-experimental design. Individual-based information, with an empowerment approach, was given to a group of mothers living in two separate areas of a city in southern Sweden with a low level of education. In total, 99 mothers of children under the age of 7 months participated. The mothers were selected through the local child healthcare authorities. Observations were made and bivariate analyses were established. Results: The results showed that the intervention had a significant impact on improving the precautions the participating mothers introduced to protect their children against burn and scald injuries in the home and further, in relation to a comparison group. Conclusions: Through empowerment, workshops, and home visits aimed to increase their consciousness and knowledge, the participating mothers’ precautions taken against child injuries in the home improved. It is of great importance that a framework for considering the problem of burn and scald injuries to children is presented from a preventive perspective which, in combination with evidence-based interventions, may enable the creation of injury prevention programmes for implementation by the community health care.
On and Off the 'Net: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era

Scholars investigating the relationship between the Internet and social capital have beenstymied by a series of obstacles, some due to theoretical frameworks handed downunchanged from television research, and some due to the lack of an appropriate yard-stick. For example, the social interactions that occur through television are prima faciedifferent from those that occur online. Given this basic functional difference, we cannotapproach social capital research in an online era with the same set of assumptions andmeasures. To address this gap in the literature and in our measurement toolkits, thisarticle reports on the development and validation of the Internet Social Capital Scales,or ISCS. These scales are intended to measure two different types of social capital—known as ‘‘bridging’’ and ‘‘bonding’’—for both online and offline contexts. Questionitems are developed and tested and found to be valid and psychometrically sound.Potential uses of the scales are then discussed.doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006. 00029.x
Emotional time distortions: The fundamental role of arousal

An emotion-based lengthening effect on the perception of durations of emotional pictures has been assumed to result from an arousal-based mechanism, involving the activation of an internal clock system. The aim of this study was to systematically examine the arousal effect on time perception when different discrete emotions were considered. The participants were asked to verbally estimate the duration of emotional pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The pictures varied either in arousal level, i.e., high/low-arousal, for the same discrete emotion (disgust or sadness) or in the depicted emotion, e.g., disgust/fear for pictures matched for arousal (high-arousal). The results systematically revealed a lengthening effect on the perception of the duration of the emotional compared to the neutral pictures and indicated that the magnitude of this effect increased with arousal level. Nevertheless, variations in time perception were observed for one and the same arousal level, with the duration of disgust-inducing pictures (e.g., body mutilation) being judged longer than that of fear-inducing pictures (e.g., snake). These results suggest that arousal is a fundamental mechanism mediating the effect of emotion on time perception. However, the effect cannot be reduced to arousal, since the impact of the content of pictures also plays a critical role.
Elevated serum CA 125 concentration in patients with tuberculous peritonitis: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVES High serum cancer antigen (CA) 125 levels have been shown to be present in patients with ovarian carcinoma, nongynecological cancers, and some benign diseases and have been used as a useful marker for monitoring patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. Although tuberculous peritonitis with elevated serum CA 125 levels is an important diagnostic problem because it may lead to misdiagnosis as ovarian carcinoma and unnecessary laparatomies, the levels of CA 125 in patients with tuberculous peritonitis has not been studied in detail. METHODS Serum CA 125 levels in 11 consecutive patients (2 males, 9 females) with tuberculous peritonitis admitted to Hacettepe University and 20 healthy adult controls (7 males, 13 females) were studied. RESULTS Serum CA 125 levels were found to be elevated in all patients with tuberculous peritonitis. The mean level in the study group was 316.6 IU/ml, whereas the level was 13.8 IU/ml in the control group (p < 0.0001). Serum CA 125 normalization showed a very close correlation with the response to antituberculous therapy. CONCLUSIONS Tuberculous peritonitis must be considered in a differential diagnosis of patients with elevated serum CA 125 concentration. Correct diagnosis may prevent unnecessary laparatomies performed under the assumption of ovarian carcinoma, because it is cured completely by antituberculous therapy. Serum CA 125 level might be used as an effective marker in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with tuberculous peritonitis.
Mapping theory without argument structure

Asudeh and Giorgolo (2012) offer an analysis of optional and derived arguments that does away with argument structure as a separate level of representation within the architecture of Lexical Functional Grammar in favour of encoding much of this information in a connected semantic structure. This simplifies the architecture in many ways, but leaves open the question of the mapping between thematic roles, arguments, and grammatical functions (traditionally explored under the umbrella of Lexical Mapping Theory (LMT: Bresnan and Kanerva 1989)). In this paper, I offer some attempt to formalise these mapping relations, drawing on a modern reanalysis of traditional LMT (Kibort 2007), while also continuing Asudeh and Giorgolo’s (2012) quest to evacuate as much information as possible out of individual lexical entries and into cross-categorising templates (Dalrymple et al. 2004; Crouch et al. 2012).
Rapid Assessment of Anthropogenic Impacts of Exposed Sandy Beaches in Ghana using Ghost Crabs ( Ocypode Spp.) as Ecological Indicators

We applied a rapid assessment methodology to estimate the degree of human impact of exposed sandy beaches in Ghana using ghost crabs as ecological indicators. The use of size ranges of ghost crab burrows and their population density as ecological indicators to assess extent of anthropogenic impacts on beaches was explored in this study. For each site, three transects were laid perpendicular to the shoreline over a 100 meter distance at 50 m intervals, i.e., at reference points 0, 50 and 100 meter points. Sampling locations were randomly selected along the three transects using a 1 m x 1 m quadrat. Measurements were done twice weekly for a period of four weeks. The results showed that even though the moderately disturbed beach had higher burrow density than the disturbed beach on the average, the difference is not statistically significant (T-test; p > 0.01). However, mean burrow diameter at the moderately disturbed site was statistically found to be significantly larger than for the disturbed site (T-test; p < 0.01). We conclude that burrow sizes is a good estimator for verification of human impacts of exposed sandy beaches. It confirms that burrow density even though an important factor, may not necessarily be a significant estimator of the impacts of human activity on beaches. On this basis, it appears that the estimations of the diameter of burrows of crabs of the Ocypode genera provides a rapid tool for impact verification of sandy beaches and for use in environmental quality monitoring of beach programs in coastal areas.
The effect of interferometer phase error on direct-detection DPSK and DQPSK signals

Based on the well-known Marcum's Q function, closed-form formulae are derived to evaluate the error probability of direct-detected differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) and differential quadrature phase-shift keying (DQPSK) signals with interferometer phase error. For a signal-to-noise ratio penalty less than 1 dB, the phase error must be less than 16/spl deg/ and 6/spl deg/ for DPSK and DQPSK signals, respectively.
Confirmatory factor analysis of the familism scale in a sample of dementia caregivers

Familism is considered to be a cultural value shared by different Hispanic groups. The familism scale (FS) was developed by Sabogal, Marín, Otero-Sabogal, Marín, and Perez-Stable (1987, Hispanic familism and acculturation: What changes and what doesn't? Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, vol. 9, pp. 397–412) as a self-report measure of this construct, and three dimensions were obtained through exploratory factor analysis: familial obligations, perceived support from the family, and family as referents. Objectives and method: The purpose of the present study was to assess the underlying factor structure of the FS using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a sample of 135 Spanish caregivers. Results: The original model did not fit the data well, and five items with factor loadings below 0.40 were trimmed. The fit indexes for the remaining items suggest a good fit of this model and an acceptable internal consistency index. Conclusion: The results suggest that the modified factor model for the FS has acceptable psychometric properties in a sample of dementia caregivers.
Peroxynitrite may be involved in bladder damage caused by cyclophosphamide in rats.

PURPOSE It was previously shown that nitric oxide (NO) produced by inducible NO synthase (iNOS) is responsible for cyclophosphamide (CP) induced cystitis. In this study we evaluated whether peroxynitrite is also responsible for CP induced bladder damage in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 38 male albino Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. Group 1 served as controls and was given 2 ml saline, while 3 groups received a single dose of CP (200 mg/kg) at the same intervals. Group 2 received CP only, group 3 received the selective iNOS inhibitor aminoguanidine (AG) (100 mg/kg) and group 4 received the peroxynitrite scavenger ebselen (2-phenyl-1,2-benzisoselenazol-3[2H]-one) (20 mg/kg). RESULTS CP injection resulted in severe cystitis with continuous macroscopic hemorrhage, strong edema, inflammation and ulceration. Moreover, bladder tissue malondialdehyde levels, iNOS activation and urine nitrite-nitrate levels were dramatically increased. AG histologically protected bladder against CP damage and decreased urine nitrite-nitrate levels, bladder malondialdehyde and iNOS induction. Ebselen showed results similar to those of AG without changing the urinary nitrite-nitrate level and iNOS activity. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that not only nitric oxide, but also peroxynitrite may be important in the pathogenesis of CP induced cystitis.
Initial Time Dependence of Abundances in Solar Energetic Particle Events

We compare the initial behavior of Fe/O and He/H abundance ratios and their relationship to the evolution of the proton energy spectra in "small" and "large" gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events. The results are qualitatively consistent with the behavior predicted by the theory of Ng et al. published in 1999. He/H ratios that initially rise with time are a signature of scattering by non-Kolmogorov Alfvén wave spectra generated by intense beams of shock-accelerated protons streaming outward in large gradual SEP events.