Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Routine assessment of motility of ejaculated stallion spermatozoa using a novel computer-assisted motility analyzer (Qualisperm™)

Visual motility analysis is the basis for routine quality evaluation of stallion semen, although its prognostic value for fertilizing ability is considered low. The present study evaluated the ability of a novel computer-assisted motility analyzer (QualiSperm™) to determine the motility and velocity of ejaculated, extended stallion spermatozoa (collected from 10 stallions, 3 ejaculates/stallion) and following two different colloidal centrifugation methods (one- or twolayer), compared to visual evaluation by two independent operators. The Qualisperm™ instrument was able to retrieve and analyze ~10 times more spermatozoa per sample compared to routine visual estimation on the same time frame (~1,100 vs ~100 spermatozoa). The proportion of motile spermatozoa increased after the colloid-separation, compared to the extended ejaculates (P < 0.05) in some stallions. However, owing to the large variation seen among ejaculates and stallions, both for extended ejaculate (P < 0.05) as well as for the colloid centrifugations (P < 0.01), the differences were lost when the entire population was examined statistically. Interestingly, significant differences were seen for individual stallions between the measurements of Qualisperm™ and observers, as well as between observers (P < 0.05). Apart from the significantly higher number of spermatozoa analyzed at one time, the Qualisperm™ system provided a parameter that could simply not be estimated by visual assessment; mean sperm velocity (in µm/sec). Sperm velocity, upon which every computer assisted instrumentation base their evaluations, varied among stallions (and ejaculates within stallions, P < 0.05), with a tendency to increase after colloid-separation, thus suggesting the Qualisperm™ system might be able to differentiate sperm sub-populations. Due to its higher accuracy (in terms of sperm numbers examined) and speed, the Qualisperm™ system appears to be a suitable instrument for routine evaluation of equine semen.
Afferent Pathways of Pyrogen Signaling a

ABSTRACT: We and others recently showed that fever induced by intravenously or intraperitoneally injected lipopolysaccharide (LPS) may involve brain signaling via hepatic vagal afferents. This suggests that LPS fever may be initiated by mediators released mainly by cells in the liver, presumably macrophages (Kupffer cells, Kc). To verify this possibility, we disabled the Kc of conscious guinea pigs with gadolinium chloride and monitored their core temperature and associated preoptic prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) responses to iv LPS. Gadolinium chloride pretreatment significantly attenuated both the febrile and PGE2 rises, thus supporting the hypothesis. Additionally, fluorescein‐labeled LPS was detected in Kc 15 minutes after its iv administration. Paradoxically, however, the label was also present in gadolinium chloride‐pretreated guinea pigs. Thus, either Kc are not the primary source of pyrogenic mediators or LPS does not provide the stimulus for their production. Because the iv injection of LPS elicits virtually immediately the production of complement fragments, and Kc express their receptors and produce various mediators on their activation, we hypocomplemented guinea pigs with cobra venom factor. The core temperature rises produced by iv LPS were reduced by complement depletions >60%. LPS iv per se decreased complement, that is, complement was consumed by 12% within 10 minutes. Thus, the onset of LPS fever may involve complement system and Kc activation, but their precise roles await clarification.
Recovery of long‐term denervated human muscles induced by electrical stimulation

We investigated the restorative potential of intensive electrical stimulation in a patient with long‐standing quadriceps denervation. Stimulation started 18 months after injury. After 26 months, the thighs were visibly less wasted. Muscle cross‐sectional areas, measured by computerized tomography, increased from 36.0 cm2 to 57.9 cm2 (right) and from 36.1 cm2 to 52.4 cm2 (left). Knee torque had become sufficient to maintain standing without upper extremity support. Biopsies revealed evidence of both growth and regeneration of myofibers. The results suggest that electrical stimulation may offer a route to the future development of mobility aids in patients with lower motor neuron lesions. Muscle Nerve, 2004
Outbreak detection of influenza-like illness in Prey Veng Province, Cambodia: a community-based surveillance

ABSTRACT On June 4, 2016, the Prey Veng Provincial Health Department reported a total of 107 patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) from Chakhlanh village to the Cambodian Ministry of Health. To confirm the outbreak and evaluate its clinical and epidemiological characteristics, the investigation team visited the village and reviewed the case-based surveillance (CBS) data on severe respiratory infection (SRI) and patients’ records in health facilities. The team interviewed all households in the village from May 1 to June 5, 2016 and obtained the following data: age, medical history, date of onset, treatment, symptoms, and history of contact with patients or dead poultry. Nasal swab samples were collected from suspected ILI cases to test for influenza virus by RT-PCR. The investigation detected 498 suspected ILI cases, including 288 females. Although the incidence of suspected ILI cases who visited health centers was 63.0 per 1,000 persons per month, the attack rate was 27.1 per 100 population. The major age group was 5–14 years followed by 0–4 years. Major symptoms were cough, fever, runny nose, and headache. Six of seven nasal swab samples were positive for influenza A/H1N1 pdm09 virus. Most children with flu symptoms had contact with previous cases. This study showed that the ILI outbreak might be caused by seasonal influenza A/H1N1 pdm09 spread from person to person. Poor living conditions and poor hygiene and sanitation practices were environmental factors that caused the outbreak. As the CBS system was unable to identify this epidemic, it needs to be improved.
The Living Anonymous Kidney Donor: Lunatic or Saint?

Studies indicate that 11% to 54% of individuals surveyed would consider donating a kidney, while alive, to a stranger. The idea of ‘living anonymous donors’ (LADs) as a donor source, however, has not been embraced by the medical community. Reservations focus on the belief that LADs might be psychologically unstable and thus unsuitable donors. Our goal was to inform policy development by exploring the psycho‐social make up and motivations of the LAD. Ninety‐three unsolicited individuals contacted our center expressing interest in living anonymous donation. Of these, 43 participated in our study, completing two extensive inventories of psychopathology and personality disorder and taking part in the Comprehensive Psycho‐Social Interview (CPSI). From the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), the revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI‐R), and the CPSI, coders assessed psychological health, psycho‐social suitability, commitment, and motivations. Twenty‐one participants passed the stringent criteria to be considered potential LADs. Content analysis of motivations showed that potential LADs were more likely than non‐LADs (those who did not pass the criteria) to have a spiritual belief system and to be altruistic. Non‐LADs were more likely than potential LADs to use donation to make a statement against their families. The authors conclude with a preliminary outline of eight policy recommendations.
A Reexamination of Friedman-Ball’s Hypothesis in Slovakia - Evidence from Wavelet Analysis

This study investigates the bilateral co-movements between inflation and inflation uncertainty in a dynamic framework for Slovakia. Co-movements between variables are varying over time and show a complex characteristic in that they mostly occur in periods during which the macroeconomy or financial markets suffered severe shocks. Therefore, we employ wavelet analysis to detect the bilateral co-movements in both time and frequency domains based on Friedman and Ball’s (1992) hypothesis. The empirical results show that there is a positive relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty, thus highlighting that inflation precedes uncertainty in the short term and has the opposite causality in the long term. This conclusion is in accordance with the previous hypotheses of Friedman and Ball (1992) and Cukierman and Meltzer (1986), which means that higher inflation will increase the inflation uncertainty and vice versa. Therefore, the Slovak monetary authorities should stabilize the inflation uncertainty by adjusting the inflation level.
Etosha National Park in Namibia

Our study describes a 16 months (Nov 2005 – Feb 2007) continuous bird species monitoring conducted in a 368 km2 area in direct adjacency to the Etosha National Park (ENP). In order to discuss the suitability of the studied area to serve as an effective buffer zone for the ENP, we used birds as bioindicators for an indirect assessment of the habitat’s quality and structural complexity. We developed the method in combination with a rhino tracking procedure (regularly driven tours between the camp site and rhino activity areas). We validated our findings using the cumulative species curve method, which also highlights the importance of the time scale for such a habitat assessment. We found a clear seasonal effect, not in terms of the relative proportion of different ecological groups – but with regards to the beta diversity (Sørensen index: 0.6). We discuss the bird species range in view of seasonality (availability of water) and additional habitat-related features. Based on the study area’s proximity to the ENP and the occurrence of two geological formations (with distinct vegetation types), the number of bird species (n = 148) indicates a remarkable proportion (21.5 %) of all bird species occurring within Namibia present in the study area. Although this area has been used for intensive livestock farming over several decades in the past, we can assume its notable level of structural complexity and suitability to possibly become an effective buffer zone for the ENP in the future.
Methods for Estimating the Convergence of Inter-Chip Min-Entropy of SRAM PUFs

For cryptographic applications based on physical unclonable functions (PUFs), it is very important to estimate the entropy of PUF responses accurately. The upper bound of the entropy estimated by compression algorithms, such as context-tree weighting, is too loose, while the lower bound estimated by the min-entropy calculation is too conservative, especially when the sample size is small. The actual min-entropy is between these bounds but is difficult to estimate accurately. In this paper, two models are proposed to estimate the convergence of the inter-chip min-entropy of static random-access memory (SRAM) PUFs. The basic idea is to find the relation between the expectation of the estimation result and the tested sample size, and then predict the convergence of the min-entropy. Furthermore, an improved Von Neumann extractor is used to increase the entropy per bit while retaining as many responses as possible for error correction. The experimental results demonstrate that the prediction error of the proposed estimation methods is less than 0.01/bit for the tested SRAM chips, and the improved Von Neumann extractor can reduce the number of required responses by approximately 11/16, the amount of helper data by 2/3, and the number of masks by 3/8 compared with the original method.
An investigation of vortex ring formation in strongly forced jet flows by high speed particle image velocimetry

The periodic formation of vortex rings in the development region of a round jet subjected to high levels of acoustic forcing is investigated with High Speed Particle Image Velocimetry (HSPIV). The HSPIV measurements provided a time-resolved history of vortex ring evolution so that the roll-up time, pinch-off location and circulation of the vortex rings could be evaluated. The circulation of the vortex rings increased linearly with A with many cases exhibiting a trailing jet indicative of an optimal vortex ring as defined by Gharib et al. (1998) and Linden and Turner (2001). The location where the vortex ring started to roll-up moved progressively upstream towards the nozzle exit. It is shown that a universal formation time-scale exists based on the forcing period, T, determines the amount of vorticity periodically discharged from the nozzle exit that is rolled-up into the vortex ring occurs at t/T ≈ 0.3. Overall, the effect of high amplitude forcing is marked by a transition from amplification of shear flow instability to the periodic break-up of the jet into large-scale vortex rings sharing many of the features of starting jets.
BROAD-SENSE HERITABILITY , GENETIC CORRELATION AND GENETIC VARIABILITY OF SUGARCANE YIELD COMPONENTS AT FIRST SELECTION STAGE

Sugarcane crosses exploit heterogeneity in F1 generation, indicting its potential to exploit the variability in the initial stage of clonal selection. Thirty sugarcane clones were selected from six bi-parental crosses (families) along with two check cultivars (GT54-9 and Ph8013) were evaluated in randomized complete block design trial with three replications in plant cane (PC) and first ratoon (FR), crops under Upper Egypt conditions at Shandweel Agricultural Research Station, Sohag Governorate, Egypt during 2013 and 2014 crop seasons. Estimates of broad-sense heritability, genetic correlation and genetic variance components were studied in the families. The results indicated varied significant difference between genotypes for the traits under study, Genotype×crop-year interaction had significant response in most of the studied traits except two traits (cane yield and Brix%). The genotypic correlation between cane yield and its components, viz. stalk diameter, stalk weight and number stalks/fed were highly significant in the positive direction across crop seasons. Genotypic variance, heritability, phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation decreased from plant cane to first ratoon for the traits, stalk diameter, cane yield and Brix%, while, they increased slightly for number of stalks/fed and purity%. The significant genotypic effects indicated existence of genetic variability among the genotypes and the possibility of utilizing them in genetic improvement.
Longitudinal evaluation of sexual function in a cohort of pre- and postmenopausal women.

INTRODUCTION Aspects of women's sexual functioning that have received relatively little attention are its stability and how changes in the different sexual response domains influence each other over time. AIM The aim of this study was to describe the changes and to evaluate the stability of self-reported sexual functioning over a 4-year period in a population sample of British women. METHODS A 4-year follow-up study on N = 507 women, including 178 pre- and 329 postmenopausal women, was conducted. The validated Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was applied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE A multigroup path analytical model was used to examine autoregressive effects (the effect of a domain on itself at a later point in time) and cross-lag effects (one variable affecting another variable at a later point in time) across all FSFI domains of sexual functioning between pre- and postmenopausal women. RESULTS Overall, the proportion of postmenopausal women suffering from a sexual dysfunction at measurement point 1 (T1) was higher compared with premenopausal women (pre: 34.3% vs. post: 14.5%). However, both groups showed a comparable number of women developing a sexual problem (pre: 22.2% vs. post: 23.2%) or improving their sexual functioning (7.4% vs. 7.6%) after the 4 years. Furthermore, path model analyses revealed that each domain at T1 significantly predicted its level 4 years later (βs ranging from 0.33 for arousal to 0.57 for lubrication), with the exception of sexual satisfaction. In terms of cross-lag effects, the changes in all domains except for pain were predicted either by levels of desire, arousal, or orgasm at T1 (βs ranging from 0.18 to 0.36) in both groups. CONCLUSIONS Women's sexual functioning was moderately stable across the 4 years. The main predictors of changes in sexual functioning and satisfaction were desire and arousal, highlighting their role as possible key players in women's sexual health.
The Influence of the Type of Sources used on the Results of citation analyses

Most citation analyses are based on references taken from two or three source journals. There are good theoretical reasons for believing that these may not be representative of all references. In the social science citation analyses carried out as part of the DISISS programme, references were collected from 140 journals, including forty‐seven drawn at random from a comprehensive list, and also from 148 monographs. Analyses of references drawn from high ranking and randomly selected journals showed differences in date distribution, forms of material cited and rank order of journals cited. Analyses of references drawn from journals and monographs showed differences, some of them large, in date distributions, forms of material cited, subject self‐citation and citations beyond the social sciences, and countries of publication cited. These differences may be peculiar to the social sciences, but any citation analyses that are based on only a limited number and type of sources without specific justification must be regarded with suspicion.
Morphological Knowledge and Early Writing Ability

This study assessed the morphological knowledge of kindergarteners and first graders in relation to their early writing ability. Morphological knowledge was investigated because, in order to write, children need to understand that words are composed of morphemes and phonemes, and because poor writers have particular difficulty with inflected forms of words. Kindergarteners and first graders were grouped by their implicit understanding of morphology and were given tests of dictated spelling and morphological analysis. First graders with poor implicit morphological knowledge omitted more inflectional morphemes in writing and were less able to identify base morphemes in spoken words than kindergarteners and first graders with higher levels of implicit morphological knowledge. The results demonstrate the importance of morphological knowledge in the development of written language proficiency.
In vitro Conservation of Jojoba ( Simmondsia chinensis ) Shootlet Cultures Using Osmotic Stress and Low Temperature

This work was conducted to develop an in vitro method for short-term conservation of planting materials of jojoba. Shootlets were in vitro proliferated from node explants on MS medium supplemented 1 mg/l BA. The shootlets were stored on medium contained three concentrations of mannitol or polyethylene glycol (PEG). Also, slow growth induced by incubation at low temperature (5 °C) was examined. Pronounced decline in both number of proliferated shootlets and shootlets height were observed on low level of mannitol. However, all PEG treatments and the high levels (40 and 60 g/l) of mannitol caused a progressive reduction of the two growth parameters. It was noticed that, the growth parameters were more decreasing in the presence of PEG comparing to that registered in the presence of mannitol. The lowest values of shootlets number (1.50) were registered with 15 g/l PEG containing medium. However, slight increasing of branches was recorded with mannitol containing medium. Also, low temperature has tended to reduce both numbers of shootlets and shootlets height. However, the regenerated branches of jojoba shootlets were obviously enhanced by low temperature. On the other hand, the high level of mannitol (60 g/l) and the three levels (5, 10 and 15 g/l) of PEG caused shootlet necrosis. On contrast no necrosis was observed with the three periods of low temperature storage.
Deletion of PPARγ in adipose tissues of mice protects against high fat diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) plays a crucial role in adipocyte differentiation, glucose metabolism, and other physiological processes. To further explore the role of PPARγ in adipose tissues, we used a Cre/loxP strategy to generate adipose-specific PPARγ knockout mice. These animals exhibited marked abnormalities in the formation and function of both brown and white adipose tissues. When fed a high-fat diet, adipose-specific PPARγ knockout mice displayed diminished weight gain despite hyperphagia, had diminished serum concentrations of both leptin and adiponectin, and did not develop glucose intolerance or insulin resistance. Characterization of in vivo glucose dynamics pointed to improved hepatic glucose metabolism as the basis for preventing high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance. Our findings further illustrate the essential role for PPARγ in the development of adipose tissues and suggest that a compensatory induction of hepatic PPARγ may stimulate an increase in glucose disposal by the liver.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging of neural activity related to orthographic, phonological, and lexico‐semantic judgments of visually presented characters and words

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate neural activity during the judgment of visual stimuli in two groups of experiments using seven and five normal subjects. The subjects were given tasks designed differentially to involve orthographic (more generally, visual form), phonological, and lexico‐semantic processes. These tasks included the judgments of whether a line was horizontal, whether a pseudocharacter or pseudocharacter string included a horizontal line, whether a Japanese katakana (phonogram) character or character string included a certain vowel, or whether a character string was meaningful (noun or verb) or meaningless. Neural activity related to the visual form process was commonly observed during judgments of both single real‐characters and single pseudocharacters in lateral extrastriate visual cortex, the posterior ventral or medial occipito‐temporal area, and the posterior inferior temporal area of both hemispheres. In contrast, left‐lateralized activation was observed in the latter two areas during judgments of real‐ and pseudo‐character strings. These results show that there is no katakana “word form center” whose activity is specific to real words. Activation related to the phonological process was observed, in Broca's area, the insula, the supramarginal gyrus, and the posterior superior temporal area, with greater activation in the left hemisphere. These activation foci for visual form and phonological processes of katakana also were reported for the English alphabet in previous studies. The present activation showed no additional areas for contrasts of noun judgment with other conditions and was similar between noun and verb judgment tasks, suggesting two possibilities: no strong semantic activation was produced, or the semantic process shared activation foci with the phonological process. Hum. Brain Mapping 8:44–59, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.