Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth and heavy metal uptake of Sorghum Hybrid Sudangrass affected by application proportion of vermicompost with high Cu and Zn enrichment

Using pot experiments, growth and heavy metal uptake of Sorghum Hybrid Sudangrass was studied when planted in soils amended with vermicomposts enriched with Cu/Zn content. The results showed that growth of Sorghum Hybrid Sudangrass was stimulated when low vermicomposts concentration was applied whereas it was restrained when high vermicomposts concentration was applied. The Cu and Zn content increased in Sorghum Hybrid Sudangrass as vermicomposts concentration increased. The forms of Cu and Zn in soils dominantly existed as organic fraction and residual fraction at the low vermicomposts concentration, but existed as acid-extractable fraction and the reducing fraction at the high application level of vermicomposts. Correlation analysis indicated that shoot Zn content, root Cu/Zn content in Sorghum Hybrid Sudangrass was positively correlated with heavy metal fraction in vermicompost amended soils. Therefore, the 10% vermicompost addition may be feasible for field production systems.
Prolonged (Longer than 3 Hours) Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: Reasons and Results

For the experienced surgeon, the average operative time for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy is less than 1 hour. There has been no study documenting the causes and results of prolonged (longer than 3 hours) surgery. A retrospective study was done of patients who underwent cholecystectomy between January 2003 and December 2007. A total of 3126 cholecystectomies were done. After excluding patients who had a planned open cholecystectomy and patients who had additional laparoscopic surgeries, we identified 70 patients who had a planned laparoscopic cholecystectomy with operative time exceeding 3 hours. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression was performed analyzing the various factors leading to prolonged surgery. Of the 70 patients, ranging in age from 21 to 92 years (mean, 57 years), most (n = 53) were female. Operative time ranged from 3 hours to 6 hours 40 minutes (mean, 3 hours 37 minutes). Emergency:elective admission ratio was 9:5 and acute cholecystitis (n = 40) was the most common indication. Common characteristics were obesity (n = 44, P = 0.031), intraabdominal adhesions (n = 43, P = 0.004), and previous abdominal surgeries (n = 40, P = 0.002). Intraoperative complications included spillage of stones (n = 6), bile duct injury (n = 3), and bleeding (n = 3). The possibility of prolonged laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be anticipated in patients with obesity and previous abdominal operations. Prolonged surgery increases the risk of complications (bile duct injury, bleeding) and prolongs the postoperative hospital stay.
Cyclic AMP‐dependent inotropic effects are differentially regulated by muscarinic Gi‐dependent constitutive inhibition of adenylyl cyclase in failing rat ventricle

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE β‐Adrenoceptor (β‐AR)‐mediated inotropic effects are attenuated and Gi proteins are up‐regulated in heart failure (HF). Muscarinic receptors constitutively inhibit cAMP formation in normal rat cardiomyocytes. We determined whether constitutive activity of muscarinic receptors to inhibit adenylyl cyclase (AC) increases in HF and if so, whether it modifies the reduced β‐AR‐ or emergent 5‐HT4‐mediated cAMP‐dependent inotropic effects.
Sex is an independent prognostic indicator for survival and relapse/progression-free survival in metastasized stage III to IV melanoma: a pooled analysis of five European organisation for research and treatment of cancer randomized controlled trials.

PURPOSE To study sex differences in survival and progression in patients with stage III or IV metastatic melanoma and to compare our results with published literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS Data were retrieved from three large, randomized, controlled trials of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer in patients with stage III and two trials in patients with stage IV melanoma. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for females compared with males, adjusted for different sets of confounders for stage III and stage IV, respectively. RESULTS In 2,734 stage III patients, females had a superior 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rate compared with males (51.5% v 43.3%), an adjusted HR for DSS of 0.85 (95% CI, 0.76 to 0.95), and an adjusted HR for relapse-free survival of 0.86 (95% CI, 0.77 to 0.95). In 1,306 stage IV patients, females also exhibited an advantage in DSS (2-year survival rate, 14.1% v 19.0%; adjusted HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.72 to 0.92) as well as for progression-free survival (adjusted HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.88). This female advantage was consistent across pre- and postmenopausal age categories and across different prognostic subgroups. However, the female advantage seems to become smaller in patients with higher metastatic tumor load. CONCLUSION The persistent independent female advantage, even after metastasis to lymph nodes and distant sites, contradicts theories about sex behavioral differences as an explanation for this phenomenon. A biologic sex trait seems to profoundly influence melanoma progression and survival, even in advanced disease.
Wave and Quantum Properties of Peptide Strings: Defining a Helix in Spacetime

Previous studies have described the concept of peptide strings in qualitative terms and illustrated it by applying its corrolaries in order to elucidate basic questions in oncology and rheumatology. The present investigation is the first to quantify these potential sub- and transcellular phenomena. Accordingly, the propagation of peptide strings is proposed here to occur by way of waves that in turn are subject to the energy equation established by Planck. As a result of these insights, widespread future applications can now be envisaged for peptide strings both in molecular medicine and quantum optics.
Simulation of supercritical water and of supercritical aqueous solutions

Molecular dynamics (MD) calculations have been performed to determine equilibrium structure and properties of systems modeling supercritical (SC) water and SC aqueous solutions at two states near the critical point using the simple point charge (SPC) potential model of Berendsen et al. for water. Both thermodynamic and dielectric properties from the simulations for pure water are accurate in comparison with experimental results even though the SPC model parameters were fitted to properties of ambient water. Details of the near‐critical clustering in SC water have been predicted which have not been measured to date. MD studies have also been undertaken of systems that model sodium and chloride ions and neutral argon in SC water at the same states. The first solvation shell in SC water is observed to be similar to that in ambient water, and long‐range solvation structures in SC water are similar to those observed for simple SC solvents. An excess of water molecules is observed clustering around ionic solute.
On the mechanism of the gram stain.

positive and are inactive against most of the Gram-negative organisms. Our interest in this matter resulted from a study on the antibacterial effect of highly dispersed sulfur in which a similar difference in susceptibility was found between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (Libenson et al, 1953). During the last decade, the trend among investigators has been to dismiss the permeability theory proposed by Benians (1919) and by Burke and Barnes (1929), and to regard the positive Gram reaction as a result of a combination between the protein components of the cell wall and the crystal violet-iodine complex. Bartholomew and Umbreit (1944), Stacey (1949) and Fischer and Larose (1952) postulated that the sulfhydryl groups of the cell wall proteins play an important role in this reaction. This assumption is based mostly on the fact that iodine reacts with SH groups transforming them into -S-Sderivatives and that mercuric chloride, which according to Bartholomew and Umbreit can partially replace iodine in the Gram procedure, also reacts with SH groups. No direct experimental proof was given however for this interpretation. If this assumption is correct and the presence of free SH groups in the cell wall is necessary for a Gram-positive reaction, it should be
Biparietal Diameter/Femur Length Ratio, Cephalic Index, and Femur Length Measurements: Not Reliable Screening Techniques for Down Syndrome

Previous published reports have shown that fetuses affected with Down syndrome have normal biparietal diameter (BPD), high BPD-to-femur length ratio, and shorter femur length and occipitofrontal diameter. A retrospective comparison of the BPD, occipitofrontal diameter, cephalic index, femur length, and BPD/femur length ratio was made between 17 fetuses with Down syndrome diagnosed prenatally second-trimester amniocentesis and 17 matched controls. The gestational age at sonographic evaluation in the two groups ranged from 15-23 weeks. The results of this study show no significant differences in the BPD, occipitofrontal diameter, cephalic index, femur length, and BPD/femur length ratio in the Down syndrome group when compared with controls. The sensitivity of BPD/femur length ratio as a screening technique for Down syndrome in this study was 18%, with a specificity of 94%. This sonographic method does not appear to be a useful screening parameter for Down syndrome.
Provider Perceptions of Colorectal Cancer Screening Clinical Decision Support at Three Benchmark Institutions

Implementation of computerized clinical decision support (CDS), and its integration into workflow has not reached its potential. To better understand the use of CDS for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening at benchmark institutions for health information technology (HIT), we conducted direct observation, including opportunistic interviews of primary care providers, as well as key informant interviews and focus groups, to document current challenges to CRC screening and follow-up at clinics affiliated with the Veterans Heath Administration, Regenstrief Institute, and Partners HealthCare System. Analysis revealed six common barriers across institutions from the primary care providers' perspective: receiving and documenting "outside" exam results, inaccuracy of the CDS, compliance issues, poor usability, lack of coordination between primary care and gastroenterology, and the need to attend to more urgent patient issues. Strategies should be developed to enhance current HIT to address these challenges and better support primary care providers and staff.
Microbial envelope proteins related to iron.

INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE . 285 THE VITAMIN BJ2 CONNECTION 289 THE ENVELOPE OF GRAM·NEGATIVE BACTERIA 289 FERRICHROME RECEPTOR 29 1 FERRIC ENTEROBACTIN RECEPTOR 293 FERRIC CITRATE RECEPTOR . 297 CITRATE-HYDROXAMATE SIDEROPHORES 297 TONB 299 AGROBA CTERIUM TUMEFA CIENS AND PARA COCCUS DENITRIFICANS 300 VIBRIO SPP. 301 PSEUDOMONAS SPP. 301 NEISSERIA SPP. 302 EXPRESSION AND REGULATION 302 CONCLUSIONS 304
Validity and Reliability Problems with Patient Global as a Component of the ACR/EULAR Remission Criteria as Used in Clinical Practice

Objective. To investigate what factors influence patient global health assessment (PtGlobal), and how those factors and the reliability of PtGlobal affect the rate, reliability, and validity of recently published American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remission criteria when used in clinical practice. Methods. We examined consecutive patients with RA in clinical practice and identified 77 who met ACR/EULAR joint criteria for remission (≤ 1 swollen joint and ≤ 1 tender joint). We evaluated factors associated with a PtGlobal > 1, because a PtGlobal ≤ 1 defined ACR/EULAR remission in this group of patients who had already met ACR/EULAR joint criteria. Results. Of the 77 patients examined, only 17 (22.1%) had PtGlobal ≤ 1 and thus fully satisfied ACR/EULAR criteria. A large proportion of patients not in remission by ACR/EULAR criteria had high PtGlobal related to noninflammatory issues, including low back pain, fatigue, and functional limitations, and a number of patients clustered in the range of PtGlobal > 1 and ≤ 2. However, the minimal detectable difference for PtGlobal was 2.3. In addition, compared with a PtGlobal severity score, a PtGlobal activity score was 3.3% less likely to be abnormal (> 1). Conclusion. Noninflammatory factors contribute to the level of PtGlobal and result in the exclusion of many patients who would otherwise be in “true” remission according to the ACR/EULAR definition. Reliability problems associated with PtGlobal can also result in misclassification, and may explain the observation of low longterm remission rates in RA. As currently constituted, the use of the ACR/EULAR remission criteria in clinical practice appears to be problematic.
Using emulation software to predict the performance of algorithms on NVRAM

Currently, new storage technologies which unite the latency and byte-addressability of DRAM with the persistence of disks are being developed. This non-volatile memory (NVRAM) may start a software revolution. Traditionally, software was developed for two levels of storage and NVRAM reduces the hierarchy to a single-level store. Current research projects are already exploring the potential of NVRAM, but they face a challenge when they want to evaluate the performance: The new hardware is not yet available. In this paper, we discuss why benchmark results which are gained on existing DRAM are insufficient for a prediction of the performance on NVRAM. Either existing instructions have to be changed or new ones have to be introduced. We further show that the bochs emulator can be used to build systems which resemble NVRAM, to predict the NVRAM's consequences, and it even allows a comparison of algorithms for NVRAM.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2 Direct Interaction with Nephrin Links VEGF-A Signals to Actin in Kidney Podocytes*

Background: Excess VEGF-A down-regulates nephrin causing glomerular disease. Nephrin interacts with VEGFR2 in vivo. Results: Nephrin-VEGFR2 interaction is direct, modulated by tyrosine phosphorylation, the VEGR2-nephrin complex involves Nck and actin, and VEGF-A signaling via this complex decreases cell size. Conclusion: This interaction links extracellular VEGF-A to slit diaphragms and the podocyte actin cytoskeleton. Significance: Our findings provide a molecular mechanism for VEGF-induced glomerular disease. The transmembrane protein nephrin is an essential component of slit diaphragms, the specialized cell junctions that link podocyte foot processes. Podocytes are epithelial cells that surround the glomerular capillaries in the kidney and are necessary for the organ-filtering function. Nephrin signaling complex transduces extracellular cues to the podocyte cytoskeleton and regulates podocyte shape and function. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is a required growth factor produced and secreted by podocytes. Accumulating evidence suggests a cross-talk between VEGF-A and nephrin signaling pathways. We previously showed that in vivo nephrin associates with VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR2), the signaling receptor for VEGF-A. In the present work, we characterized the interaction between nephrin and VEGFR2 in cultured cells and in vitro. We demonstrate that nephrin-VEGFR2 interaction is direct using mass spectrometry, immunoprecipitation, GST-binding assays, and blot overlay experiments. This interaction occurs through VEGFR2 and nephrin cytoplasmic domains. Nephrin-VEGFR2 interaction is modulated by tyrosine phosphorylation of both cytoplasmic domains. Furthermore, the nephrin-VEGFR2 complex involves Nck and actin. VEGF-A signaling via this complex results in decreased cell size. We provide evidence that this multiprotein interaction occurs in cultured podocytes. We propose that the nephrin-VEGFR2 complex acts as a key mediator to transduce local VEGF-A signals to the podocyte actin cytoskeleton, regulating the foot process structure and glomerular filter integrity.
Relativistic and charge-displacement self-channeling of intense ultrashort laser pulses in plasmas.

Relativistic and charge-displacement self-channeling is one of the most significant phenomena in the entire area of the interactions of extremely intense laser pulses with matter. Both the relativistic increase in the mass of laserdriven plasma electrons and the reduction of electron concentration under the effect of the ponderomotive force tend to reduce the local electron frequency in a laser-irradiated plasma. As a result, the simultaneous modification of the plasma dielectric response by the propagating electromagnetic radiation via the above two mechanisms enhances the medium transparency in the paraxial domain where the intensity is maximal. Under certain conditions discussed in this chapter, this effect leads to the emergence of channeled regimes of superintense laser pulse propagation in underdense plasmas. In these regimes, the laser radiation diffraction is suppressed, nonlinear beam self-trapping occurs, and the laser pulse propagates into the plasma over dozens of Rayleigh ranges. An additional electromagnetic radiation confinement mechanism emerges due to electron cavitation, namely, the total expulsion of the electron fluid from a certain spatial area. Then, the laser beam propagates within the resulting channel, where the intensities can reach the level of 1022 W/cm2.
The impact of customer images on online purchase decisions: Evidence from a Chinese C2C Web site

The influence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on consumers’ online purchase decisions is well-documented. However, little is known about the impact of customer images, a recent form of eWOM. The present paper reports on an exploratory survey among 215 young users of the Chinese C2C shopping Web site Taobao.com. The idea was to test whether the so-called information adoption model — and in particular a variant used in earlier research on an online consumer community — could be transposed to the case of customer images. We find that the perceived quality of customer images — and in particular their ‘comprehensiveness’ — has a significant positive impact on purchase intention. This suggests that shopping sites should encourage customers to share high-quality customer images. From a methodological perspective, the limited reliability of two of the quality dimensions (namely ‘relevance’ and ‘timeliness’) catches the eye. This suggests that there is a need for a dedicated theoretical framework and for scales that take into account the specific nature of customer images. Simply transposing scales that have been validated for other forms of eWOM would not appear to be the best approach.
T Lymphocyte Numbers and Function in Human IgE‐Mediated Allergy

The discovery that reaginic antibody activity is associated with a unique immunoglobulin class, IgE, in humans (Ishizaka et al. 1966, Johansson & Bennich 1967) was soon followed by demonstrations of IgE also in various animals. This opened the field of studying regulatory mechanisms in reagin synthesis. It was found that the production of IgE antibody is dependent on genetic factors (Levine & Vaz 1970), adjuvants (Revoltella & Ovary 1969, StrannegSrd & Chan 1969), route of antigen administration (Strannegkrd & Yurchision 1969a) and antibodies belonging to other immunoglobuUn classes (StrannegSrd & Belin 1970, 1971, Tada & Okumura 1971, Ishizaka & Okudaira 1972). Characteristic features of IgE production were also found as regards antigen dose dependency (Levine & Vaz 1970, StrannegSrd 1973). In several respects IgE synthesis was found to be markedly different from the production of IgG and IgM antibody (Tada 1975). The distinctive features of IgE synthesis have been summarized by Tada (1975) and Ishizaka (1976). It is evident that IgE synthesis is dependent on cooperation between T and B cells (Okumura & Tada 1971, Michael & Bernstein 1973). T helper cells as well as T suppressor cells appear to exert strong influences on the IgE response. The important role of antigen-specific regulatory T cells has been established in a series of experiments performed by Tada and his associates (Tada 1975). Several lines of evidence suggest that antigen non-specific T lymphocytes also regulate IgE antibody responses. In studies of rabbit reagin response StrannegSrd & Yurchision (1969b) found that treatment of rabbits with 6-mercaptopurin after injection of a hapten-protein conjugate markedly enhanced and prolonged the
Beliefs Matter: Cultural Beliefs and the Use of Cervical Cancer‐Screening Tests

In this article we examine the influence of cultural beliefs on behavior or, more specifically, beliefs about cervical cancer risk factors and the use of Pap exams. Individual Latinas' (Hispanic women) holding of beliefs similar to Latinas' generally (cultural consonance) did not significantly influence their use of Pap exams. Rather, structural factors such as medical insurance, age, marital status, education, and language acculturation explained Latinas' use of this medical service. However, when Latinas held beliefs similar to those of Anglo women, then they were significantly more likely to have had a Pap exam within the past two years. Latinas whose beliefs were closer to those of physicians were significantly less likely to have had the exam recently. Arriving at these findings involved both ethnographic interviews and survey research. That these beliefs proved to be significant influences on behavior suggests not only the important ways that beliefs matter but that ethnographic methods for examining those beliefs also matter.
Kringle 5 causes cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of endothelial cells.

Angiostatin which contains the first four kringle domains of plasminogen has been documented to be a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. More recently, another kringle structure within plasminogen but outside angiostatin, known as kringle 5 (K5), was found to inhibit endothelial cell proliferation and migration. Here, we report the cloning and expression of mouse kringle 5 (rK5) in a bacterial expression system. The protein was purified to homogeneity using a Ni-NTA column. rK5 inhibited both proliferation and migration of endothelial cells with ED50's of 10 nM and < 500 nM, respectively. In addition, we show for the first time that rK5 causes cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, shedding further insight into rK5's mechanism of action. Finally, we show that these actions are endothelial cell specific.