Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling the global ocean iron cycle

We describe a model of the ocean transport and biogeochemical cycling of iron and the subsequent control on export production and macronutrient distributions. Ocean transport of phosphorus and iron are represented by a highly idealized six‐box ocean model. Export production is parameterized simply; it is limited by light, phosphate, and iron availability in the surface ocean. We prescribe the regional variations in aeolian deposition of iron and examine three parameterizations of iron cycling in the deep ocean: (1) net scavenging onto particles, the simplest model; (2) scavenging and desorption of iron to and from particles, analogous to thorium; and (3) complexation. Provided that some unknown parameter values can be set appropriately, all three biogeochemical models are capable of reproducing the broad features of the iron distribution observed in the modern ocean and explicitly lead to regions of elevated surface phosphate, particularly in the Southern Ocean. We compare the sensitivity of Southern Ocean surface macronutrient concentration to increased aeolian dust supply for each parameterization. Both scavenging‐based representations respond to increasing dust supply with a drawdown of surface phosphate in an almost linear relationship. The complexation parameterization, however, asymptotes toward a limited drawdown of phosphate under the assumption that ligand production does not respond to increased dust flux. In the scavenging based models, deep water iron concentrations and, therefore, upwelled iron continually increase with greater dust supply. In contrast, the availability of complexing ligand provides an upper limit for the deep water iron concentration in the latter model.
Patent Medicine Vendors in Rural Areas of Lagos Nigeria: Compliance with Regulatory Guidelines and Implications for Malaria Control

Purpose: To determine the compliance of patent medicine vendors (PMVs) in rural areas of Lagos State, Nigeria with set guidelines to regulate their practice and its implications for malaria control. Methods: A baseline cross-sectional study was conducted as part of an intervention study in two rural local government areas (LGAs) of Lagos State Nigeria. One hundred and eighty PMVs were randomly selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire. In addition, an observational checklist was used to monitor the drug shops for compliance with regulatory guidelines. Indicators of compliance used include proportion of PMVs with valid practicing license and proportion of shops with duly registered anti-malaria drugs. Results: Most 148 (82.2 %) of the respondents were shop owners with 170 (94.4 %) aged ≥ 21 years (the minimum age required by law) and a mean of 30.9 ± 8 years (range 16 - 67years). Only two (1.1 %) PMVs had a valid annual practicing licence and only three (1.7 %) of the drug shops had specified signposts. The shops stocked various kinds of anti-malaria drugs including those that are no longer recommended. All the sampled drugs were duly registered with NAFDAC and within expiry dates. Conclusion: There was poor compliance with regulatory guidelines. A strict enforcement of the guidelines by the regulatory agency is recommended to ensure that only licensed persons sell appropriate anti-malaria drugs.
The candidate multi-cut for cell segmentation

Two successful approaches for the segmentation of biomedical images are (1) the selection of segment candidates from a merge-tree, and (2) the clustering of small superpixels by solving a Multi-Cut problem. In this paper, we introduce a model that unifies both approaches. Our model, the Candidate Multi-Cut (CMC), allows joint selection and clustering of segment candidates from a merge-tree. This way, we overcome the respective limitations of the individual methods: (1) the space of possible segmentations is not constrained to candidates of a merge-tree, and (2) the decision for clustering can be made on candidates larger than superpixels, using features over larger contexts. We solve the optimization problem of selecting and clustering of candidates using an integer linear program. On datasets of 2D light microscopy of cell populations and 3D electron microscopy of neurons, we show that our method generalizes well and generates more accurate segmentations than merge-tree or Multi-Cut methods alone.
State estimation in quantum homodyne tomography with noisy data

In the framework of noisy quantum homodyne tomography with efficiency parameter 0 < η ⩽ 1, we propose two estimators of a quantum state whose density matrix elements ρm,n decrease as , for fixed known B > 0 and 0 < r ⩽ 2. The first procedure estimates the matrix coefficients by a projection method on the pattern functions (that we introduce here for 0 < η ⩽ 1/2), the second procedure is a kernel estimator of the associated Wigner function. We compute the convergence rates of these estimators, in risk.
Time course of changes in sperm morphometry and semen variables during testosterone-induced suppression of human spermatogenesis.

BACKGROUND Quantification of changes in semen may give insight into the testosterone (T)-induced disruption of spermatogenesis in man. METHODS A model analogous to flushing of sperm from the genital tract after vasectomy was used to quantify the time course of semen changes in subjects participating in male contraceptive trials using 800 mg T-implant (n = 25) or 200 mg weekly intramuscular injection (IM-T; n = 33). A modified exponential decay model allowed for delayed onset and incomplete disruption to spermatogenesis. Semen variables measured weekly during a 91-day period after initial treatment were fitted to the model. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Sperm concentration, total count, motility and morphometry exhibited similar average decay rates (5 day half-life). The mean delay to onset of decline in concentration was 15 (IM-T) and 18 (T-implant) days. The significantly longer (P < 0.005) delays deduced for the commencement of fall in normal morphology (41 days), normal morphometry (40 days) and sperm viability (43 and 55 days), and the change of morphometry to smaller more compact sperm heads are consistent with sperm being progressively cleared from the genital tract rather than continued shedding of immature or abnormal sperm by the seminiferous epithelium. A significant negative relationship was found between lag time and baseline sperm concentration, consistent with longer sperm-epididymal transit times associated with lower daily production rates.
Factors related to response to intermittent treatment of Mycobacterium avium complex lung disease.

RATIONALE Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease (MAC-PD) is associated with substantial morbidity, and standard daily multidrug therapy is difficult to tolerate. OBJECTIVES To characterize response to a three-times-weekly (TIW) regimen of clarithromycin, ethambutol, and rifampin. METHODS A 1-yr prospective noncomparative trial of TIW treatment was conducted during 2000-2003 in 17 U.S. cities. Participants were 91 HIV-negative adults, diagnosed with moderate to severe MAC-PD, who originally participated in a trial of an inhaled IFN-gamma treatment. Improvement in sputum culture, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and symptoms were assessed. RESULTS Treatment response rates (and median response times) were 44% (2 mo or longer) for culture, 60% (5.5-11.5 mo) for HRCT, and 53% (8.5 mo) for symptoms. Having noncavitary, compared with cavitary, disease increased culture response by 4.0 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7-9.2) and HRCT response by 4.9 times (95% CI, 1.9-13.0). Culture response was 1.5 times (95% CI, 1.1-2.2) higher for older subjects and 2.2 times (95% CI, 1.0-4.7) higher for previously untreated subjects. Being smear-negative increased culture response by 2.3 times (95% CI, 1.1-5.2) but decreased HRCT response by 4.4 times (95% CI, 1.7-11.5). Increasing ethambutol use by 5 mo increased culture response by 1.5 times (95% CI, 1.0-2.1) but decreased symptom response. Not having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, or poor lung function increased symptom response by 1.9 to 3.9 times. CONCLUSIONS TIW therapy was less effective for MAC-PD patients with cavitary disease and a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, or previous treatment for MAC-PD. Further research is needed to study the long-term outcomes of TIW treatment.
The Ortho-to-Para Ratio of Ammonia in the L1157 Outflow

We have measured the ortho-to-para ratio of ammonia in the blueshifted gas of the L1157 outflow by observing the six metastable inversion lines from (J, K) = (1, 1) to (6, 6). The highly excited (5, 5) and (6, 6) lines were first detected in the low-mass star-forming regions. The rotational temperature derived from the ratio of four transition lines from (3, 3) to (6, 6) is 130-140 K, suggesting that the blueshifted gas is heated by a factor of ~10 as compared to the quiescent gas. The ortho-to-para ratio of the NH3 molecules in the blueshifted gas is estimated to be 1.3-1.7, which is higher than the statistical equilibrium value. This ratio provides us with evidence that the NH3 molecules have been evaporated from dust grains with the formation temperature between 18 and 25 K. It is most likely that the NH3 molecules on dust grains have been released into the gas phase through the passage of strong shock waves produced by the outflow. Such a scenario is supported by the fact that the ammonia abundance in the blueshifted gas is enhanced by a factor of ~5 with respect to the dense quiescent gas.
Rate of medial temporal lobe atrophy in typical aging and Alzheimer's disease

Objectives: To determine the annual rates of volumetric change of the hippocampus and temporal horn in cognitively normal elderly control subjects and individually matched patients with AD, and to test the hypothesis that these rates were different. Background: Cross-sectional studies consistently reveal cerebral atrophy in elderly nondemented subjects compared with healthy young adults, and greater atrophy in patients with AD relative to elderly control subjects. However, rates of atrophy are estimated most accurately by performing serial measurements in the same individuals. Methods: MRI-based volumetric measurements of the hippocampi and temporal horns were performed in 24 cognitively normal subjects aged 70 to 89 years who were individually matched with respect to gender and age with 24 patients with AD. Each subject underwent an MRI protocol twice, separated by 12 months or more. Results: The mean annual rate of hippocampal volume loss among control subjects was -1.55 ± 1.38% and the temporal horns increased in volume by 6.15 ± 7.69% per year. These rates were significantly greater among AD patients: hippocampus, -3.98 ± 1.92% per year, p < 0.001; temporal horn, 14.16 ± 8.47% per year, p = 0.002. Conclusion: A statistically significant yearly decline in hippocampal volume and an increase in temporal horn volume was identified in elderly control subjects who represent typical aging individuals. These rates were approximately 2.5 times greater in patients with AD than in individually age- and gender-matched control subjects.
Judicial Innovation and Policy Re-Invention: State Supreme Courts and the Right To Die

n a dynamic model of the political process, demands are converted into policy, and outputs and outcomes constantly generate new pressures for fresh solutions to old and new problems. But research on the adoption and diffusion of policy innovations generally ignores most of the political cycle. Instead of portraying a continuous process of policymaking and reformulation, innovation research usually examines the initial adoption of a presumed uniform policy and its diffusion among political units, or on how deeply a particular innovation has penetrated state or local governments at a particular point in time. Little attention has been given to the probable alteration of policy by other political units, later revisions or renovations by the early adopters, and resulting variations in the content of policies among adopting units. The research presented here is an exploratory examination of judicial policy change during diffusion. The research has two purposes. The first is to expand the concept of innovation and its application to policy research, particularly to include the concept of policy change during diffusion. Change is conceptualized as policy re-invention, which is the modification by a user of a core policy during the diffusion process (Rogers 1962, 1983). The operating theory is that late adopters adapt early innovations to respond to new demands and social conditions and the experiences of previous implementation. I examine two related re-invention hypotheses: first, while many similar policies may be grouped into one broad, general category, later adopters create distinctive policies which are re-inventions of a core innovation; second, early re-inventions have unequal effects on the policy decisions of later
Adrenocortical zonation in humans under normal and pathological conditions.

CONTEXT Aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and steroid 11 beta-hydroxylase (CYP11B1) catalyze the terminal steps for aldosterone and cortisol syntheses, respectively, thereby determining the functional differentiation of human adrenocortical cells. Little is known, however, about how the cells expressing the enzymes are actually distributed in the adrenals under normal and pathological conditions. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to determine the localization of CYP11B2 and -B1 in human adrenal specimens by using developed antibodies capable of distinguishing the two enzymes from each other. RESULTS Under normal conditions, CYP11B2 was sporadically detected in the zona glomerulosa, whereas CYP11B1 was entirely detected in the zonae fasciculata-reticularis. Adrenocortical cells lacking both enzymes were observed in the outer cortical regions. In addition to conventional zonation, we found a variegated zonation consisting of a subcapsular cell cluster expressing CYP11B2, which we termed aldosterone-producing cell cluster, and a CYP11B1-expressing area. Aldosterone-producing adenomas differed in cell populations expressing CYP11B2 from one another, whereas CYP11B1-expressing and double-negative cells were also intermingled. Adenomas from patients with Cushing's syndrome expressed CYP11B1 entirely but not CYP11B2, resulting in atrophic nontumor glands. The nontumor portions of both types of adenomas bore frequently one or more aldosterone-producing cell clusters, which sustained CYP11B2 expression markedly under the conditions of the suppressed renin-angiotensin system. CONCLUSION Immunohistochemistry of the human normal adrenal cortex for CYP11B2 and CYP11B1 revealed a variegated zonation with cell clusters constitutively expressing CYP11B2. This technique may provide a pathological confirmatory diagnosis of adrenocortical adenomas.
Immunolocalization and expression of prohibitin, a mitochondrial associated protein within the rat ovaries

This study was designed to determine the cellular distribution and pattern of expression for the mitochondria‐associated protein, prohibitin, during the transitional stages of follicular differentiation within the rat ovary. Immunohistochemical staining techniques were used on frozen sections to examine the localization of prohibitin to preantral, antral, preovulatory, and atretic follicles. Prohibitin localization was also determined in corpus luteum from adult rats, in addition to those from infant and juvenile ovaries, before and after gonadotropin stimulation. Western and Northern blotting techniques were used for qualitative and quantitative assessment of prohibitin expression levels within the ovary. Prohibitin was localized within granulosa cells of infant and juvenile ovaries in a relatively heterogeneous staining pattern. The oocyte also exhibited robust prohibitin expression at all stages of follicular development. In addition, strong prohibitin expression was evident in the corpus luteum as well as in follicles undergoing atresia. Additional data derived from studies involving a GnRH‐agonist indicate that increases in prohibitin protein expression correlate with the initial events of apoptosis. Collectively, these results support a growth regulatory role for prohibitin within the rat ovary. Therefore, we propose that prohibitin may serve as an important regulator of granulosa cell fate during follicular development. Anat Rec 256:40–48, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of BRAFV600E on response to sorafenib in advanced thyroid cancer patients.

6002 Background: We are conducting an open-label phase II study of sorafenib in patients with metastatic, iodine-refractory thyroid carcinoma. METHODS 55 Patients were administered sorafenib 400 mg orally BID. Responses were monitored by PET and CT. Primary endpoints were response rate (RR) and progression free survival (PFS) by RECIST criteria. BRAF and RAS mutation status is determined by DNA sequencing. Outcome data is evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Biologic activity in tissue obtained during treatment at response and progression is being explored using immunohistochemistry (IHC) to pERK, pAKT and Ki-67 among others, in pretreatment blocks from virtually all patients, and a subset of 14 patients in whom on-treatment tissue is available. RESULTS We have completed accrual of the 55 patients planned for enrollment; median time on study is 34 weeks and 25 pts (45%) are male. Histological subtypes include papillary (PTC): 25 pts (47%); follicular/Hürthle Cell (FTC): 19 pts (36%); medullary: 4 pts (8%), and poorly differentiated/anaplastic: 5 pts (9%). 52/55 patients are evaluable for response at this time. Median PFS was 84 wks. Genotyping of BRAF is complete in 16 patients. For patients with PTC/FTC, the PFS for those with BRAFwt was 54 wks compared to 84+ wks for patients with BRAFV600E (p = 0.028). On-treatment tissue at progression demonstrates heterogeneity, with p-ERK and p-AKT suppressed in some areas, but highly expressed in others. Data at 6 months post accrual of the last patient will be presented along with patient thyroglobulin levels, PET and CT scans. IHC and additional genotyping will also be presented. CONCLUSIONS Sorafenib has activity in patients with advanced thyroid cancer with an overall PFS of 84 wks. While most patients with PTC or FTC achieve durable responses, patients whose tumors harbor BRAFV600E have significantly longer PFS than those that are BRAFwt. [Table: see text].
Adjective Sense Disambiguation at the Border Between Unsupervised and Knowledge-Based Techniques

The present paper extends a new word sense disambiguation method [9] to the case of adjectives. The method lies at the border between unsupervised and knowledge-based techniques. It performs unsupervised word sense disambiguation based on an underlying Naive Bayes model, while using WordNet as knowledge source for feature selection. The proposed extension of the disambiguation method makes ample use of the WordNet semantic relations that are typical of adjectives. Its performance is compared to that of previous approaches that rely on completely different feature sets. Test results show that feature selection using a knowledge source of type WordNet is more effective in the disambiguation of adjective senses than local type features (like part-of-speech tags) are.
Promise and Paradox

Plate Boundaries and Natural Hazards, Geophysical Monograph 219, First Edition. Edited by João C. Duarte and Wouter P. Schellart. © 2016 American Geophysical Union. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. “With firm geological foundations and major earthquakes rare, Fukushima is a safe and secure place to do business. ” Fukushima Prefecture Website [Cyranoski, 2011] Promise and Paradox: Why Improved Knowledge of Plate Tectonics Has Not Yielded Correspondingly Better Earthquake Hazard Maps
Synchronization techniques and guard-band-configuration scheme for single-antenna vector-OFDM systems

Vector orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) was proposed for single-antenna systems as a generalization of OFDM. It converts an intersymbol interference (ISI) channel into multiple "ISI-free" vector channels while involving channel matrices instead of channel coefficients in one-tap equalization. Over multipath fading channels, it benefits from signal-space diversity. This paper addresses practical issues such as guard-band configuration, timing estimation, and carrier- and sampling-frequency synchronization for vector OFDM. An equivalent structure derived for vector OFDM manifests the relation between vector OFDM and conventional OFDM so that the solutions to guard-band configuration as well as carrier- and sampling-frequency synchronization for conventional OFDM can be modified to fit into the vector-OFDM framework. It is also shown by analysis that the pre-fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms for timing estimation and carrier-frequency synchronization in the conventional OFDM framework can be extended straightforwardly to vector OFDM with comparable performance. Simulation results of uncoded systems are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed synchronization techniques.
Characterisation of Pomegranate-Husk Polyphenols and Semi-Preparative Fractionation of Punicalagin.

INTRODUCTION Pomegranate-husk is the main by-product generated from the pomegranate industry. It is a potential source of compounds highly appreciated by different costumers. Punicalagin is the main compound present in pomegranate-husk. OBJECTIVE To characterise the pomegranate-husk total polyphenols by HPLC-ESI-MS and to establish a method for the recovery of punicalagin using a medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) system. MATERIALS AND METHODS The characterisation of total pomegranate-husk polyphenols was carried out using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Thus, 200 mg of pomegranate-husk polyphenols were fractionated by MPLC. The isolated punicalagin was characterised by HPLC-MS and was tested as standard reagent for the measurement of its scavenging capacity reducing DPPH and ABTS radicals. RESULTS Twenty peaks were identified by analytical HPLC-MS analysis from the pomegranate-husk polyphenols. The main compounds were the punicalagin anomers, punicalin and ellagic acid. The MPLC method allowed three fractions to be obtained. In fraction three 39.40 ± 8.06 mg of punicalagin anomers (purity > 97.9%) were recovered. The scavenging capacity of punicalagin showed an IC50 of 109.53 and 151.50 μg/mL for DPPH and ABTS radicals, respectively. CONCLUSION The MPLC system was an excellent tool for the separation of the main ellagitannins from pomegranate husk and for the isolation of punicalagin anomers. Fraction three was rich in high purity punicalagin anomers. The IC50 was obtained for DPPH and ABTS radicals. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.