Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maximum compactibility of Argentine soils from the Proctor test ; The relationship with organic carbon and water content

Soil compaction is recognized as an increasingly challenging problem for the agricultural, horticultural and forest production in many climatic regions. The Proctor test provides a standardized method to study compactibility of disturbed soils over a range of soil water contents. The objectives of our study were: (a) to determine values of the critical water content for compaction and maximum bulk density from Proctor compaction curves for soils different in their properties; (b) to study the correlation between the maximum bulk density and readily available soil properties. Thirty soil samples were taken from six different locations in Argentina between 58 and 648W and 34 and 388S. The degree of saturation at maximum bulk density varied from 73.2 to 96.8%. Comparison of our data with data of two studies in USA showed that relationships between the maximum bulk density and the critical water content were similar to these studies. However, the slope of the relationship between the maximum bulk density and the organic carbon content was 50% less in our study as compared with the two others. The maximum bulk density was highly correlated with the organic carbon content and the silt content, the determination coef®cient of the multiple linear regression, r, was 0.88. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Neurochemical profile of the mouse hypothalamus using in vivo 1H MRS at 14.1T

The hypothalamus plays an essential role in the central nervous system of mammals by among others regulating glucose homeostasis, food intake, temperature, and to some extent blood pressure. Assessments of hypothalamic metabolism using, e.g. 1H MRS in mouse models can provide important insights into its function. To date, direct in vivo 1H MRS measurements of hypothalamus have not been reported. Here, we report that in vivo single voxel measurements of mouse hypothalamus are feasible using 1H MRS at 14.1T. Localized 1H MR spectra from hypothalamus were obtained unilaterally (2–2.2 µL, VOI) and bilaterally (4–4.4 µL) with a quality comparable to that of hippocampus (3–3.5 µL). Using LCModel, a neurochemical profile consisting of 21 metabolites was quantified for both hypothalamus and hippocampus with most of the Cramér‐Rao lower bounds within 20%. Relative to the hippocampus, the hypothalamus was characterized by high γ‐aminobutryric acid and myo‐inositol, and low taurine concentrations. When studying transgenic mice with no glucose transporter isoform 8 expressed, small metabolic changes were observed, yet glucose homeostasis was well maintained. We conclude that a specific neurochemical profile of mouse hypothalamus can be measured by 1H MRS which will allow identifying and following metabolic alterations longitudinally in the hypothalamus of genetic modified models. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Localization of hepatitis B surface antigen epitopes present on variants and specifically recognised by anti‐hepatitis B surface antigen monoclonal antibodies

Small hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is considered to be the best marker for the diagnosis of Hepatitis B virus infection. However, HBsAg variants with mutations within the “a” determinant may be poorly or not detected by diagnostic assays. Three anti‐HBsAg monoclonal antibodies (6H6B6, 27E7F10, and 2G2G10), directed against conformational epitopes, were tested for their ability to detect the wild‐type HBsAg as well as variant forms and their respective epitopes were localised on the HBsAg sequence by using the phage‐displayed peptide library technology. Whereas 6H6B6 did not detect mutations T123N, S143L, D144A and G145R, 27E7F10 binding was affected by mutations P120T and G145R. In contrast, 2G2G10 reacted strongly with all tested variants including variant with the G145R mutation. Part of the 6H6B6 epitope was located in the major hydrophilic region (MHR) at residues 101–105, the 27E7F10 epitope (residues 214–219) was located near the C‐terminal end of the antigen and the 2G2G10 epitope at residues 199–208, within the theoretical fourth transmembrane helix. The 2G2G10 epitope localisation brings information about the HBsAg structure and the validity of established topological models. Finally, 2G2G10 is a valuable tool for HBsAg variant detection that is used as capture phase in a new bioMérieux diagnostic assay, which is currently in development. J. Med. Virol. 65:241–249, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Serum LH and FSH responses to synthetic LH-RH in normal infants, children and patients with Turner's syndrome.

Effects of LH-RH on LH and FSH release were studied in 26 normal children and six patients with Turner's syndrome (two of them showed 45 x karyotype and the others were mosaics). Synthetic LH-RH (2µg/kg of body weight) was given intramuscularly after an overnight fast. The increase of serum FSH level was significantly greater in normal female infants than male infants. A similar tendency was observed in normal female children aged 2 to 9 years. No sex difference was observed in the LH response to LH-RH in all the normal subjects Studied. The response of FSH release to LH-RH was significantly greater than that of LH in female infants and young female children. The responsiveness of LH to LH-RH gradually increased with advancing age. Basal serum levels of FSH rather than LH were high in the patients with Turner's syndrome. Again a much greater increase of serum FSH than of LH was noted after the administration of LH-RH to patients with Turner's syndrome.
Satisfaction and correlates of patients' satisfaction with physicians' services in primary health care centers.

OBJECTIVE To estimate quantitatively consumers' satisfaction and correlates of satisfaction with physicians' services provided by Ministry of Health Primary Health Care Centers in attending consumers. METHODS Consumers (n = 540) attending the selected Primary Health Care Centers in Riyadh were asked about their satisfaction with physician's services. Eight Primary Health Care Centers were randomly selected according to the geographical location, two from each geographical zone. Seventy-five subjects were selected systematically where every tenth Saudi aged 15 years and above who visited the selected Primary Health Care Centers during the study period was chosen. Data was collected via a self administered pilot tested, internally consistent patient satisfaction questionnaire which included socio-demographic characteristics as well as the overall and differential satisfaction with the different aspects of physicians' services in the selected Primary Health Care Centers rated in a scale of 1 5 points, the higher the score the higher the satisfaction. RESULTS The results revealed that males constituted 60%, and 58% of all patients were married, more than 60% were employees and more than 70% have a monthly income of less than 6000 Saudi Riyals. Almost 95% have an open file in the Primary Health Care Center and 39% think that the distance to the Primary Health Care Center is far or very far. The summary satisfaction score was 3.77 points and the mean satisfaction with the services provided by physicians was 2.56 points out of a maximum of 5 points The highest satisfaction was for discussing psychological aspects of patients' problems (2.96 points) and the lowest was for attentive listening to patients' complaints (2.22 points). Physicians' communication skills were more satisfactory to patients than their professional skills and satisfying patients' wishes scored the lowest satisfaction- Unskilled laborers, literate patients and patients with higher income showed significantly higher mean satisfaction while students, illiterates, those aged less than 50 years and patients with income less than 6000 Riyals per months scored the lowest satisfaction. The longer the distance travelled the lower the satisfaction scores but having a file or not was not related to satisfaction. CONCLUSION Some physicians' service items need corrective intervention and students and young patients appear to need more attention.
The urinary excretion of N-methyl histidine by cattle: validation as an index of muscle protein breakdown

1. The recoveries of radioactivity in cattle urine following the intravenous administration of Nτ-[14CH3]methyl histidine were essentially quantitative in 5–7 d in non-lactating cows, bulls and steers and did not change with age. 2. The Nτ-methyl histidine was excreted unchanged in urine. 3. Nτ-methyl histidine occurred in muscle extracts both in the free form and as a perchloric acid-soluble, acid-labile form which accounted for approximately 85% of the total non-protein-bound Nτ-methyl histidine in muscle and appeared identical to a similar component identified in muscle extracts of sheep and pigs. 4. There was probably an age-related decrease in the concentration of the acid-labile component in muscle but which did not produce a measurable change in recovery of radioactivity in urine. 5. The daily excretion of Nτ-methyl histidine (E, μmol) by male cattle was highly correlated with live weight (W, kg) by the equation: <m:math><m:mrow><m:mtext>E</m:mtext><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mn>50</m:mn><m:mo>⋅</m:mo><m:mn>4</m:mn><m:mo>+</m:mo><m:mn>3</m:mn><m:mo>⋅</m:mo><m:mn>536</m:mn><m:mo stretchy=“false”>(</m:mo><m:mo>±</m:mo><m:mn>0</m:mn><m:mo>⋅</m:mo><m:mn>044</m:mn><m:mo stretchy=“false”>)</m:mo><m:mtext>W</m:mtext><m:mspace width=“1”/><m:mo stretchy=“false”>(</m:mo><m:mi>r</m:mi><m:mspace width=“0.3”/><m:mn>0</m:mn><m:mo>⋅</m:mo><m:mn>997</m:mn><m:mo stretchy=“false”>)</m:mo><m:mo>. </m:mo></m:mrow></m:math> The excretions progressively decreased from 4.04 μmol/d per kg at 100 kg weight to 3.62 μmol/d per kg at 600 kg. 6. By the criterion of the rate of clearance of labelled Nτ-methyl histidine from the body, the excretion of Nτ-methyl histidine in urine appears to be a valid index of muscle protein breakdown in cattle.
Transmit processing in MIMO wireless systems

By restricting the receive filter to be scalar, we derive the optimizations for linear transmit processing from the respective joint optimizations of transmit and receive filters. We can identify three filter types similar to receive processing: the transmit matched filter (TxMF), the transmit zero-forcing filter (TxZF), and the transmit Wiener filter (TxWF). The TxWF has similar convergence properties as the receive Wiener filter, i.e. it converges to the matched filter and the zero-forcing filter for low and high signal to noise ratio, respectively. Additionally, the mean square error (MSE) of the TxWF is a lower bound for the MSEs of the TxMF and the TxZF. The optimizations for the linear transmit filters are extended to obtain the respective Tomlinson-Harashima preceding (THP) solutions. The new formulation of the THP optimizations directly leads to an algorithm to compute the preceding order. We also discuss the reasons why the linear transmit filters are outperformed by the respective THP schemes.
Community-based electronic data collections for HIV prevention research with black/African-American men in the rural, Southern USA

In Florida, the HIV case rate among black men is five times that of white men; tailored HIV prevention interventions are lacking. Historical concerns regarding trust with public health venues and sharing sensitive information make face-to-face data collection with some rural, southern black men challenging. We evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of using audio computer-assisted self-interviews (ACASIs) by local community-based organization members to collect HIV-related information from black men in rural settings. We used logistic regression to estimate associations between using ACASI and participants' sociodemographic characteristics. Of 636 men approached, 586 (92.0%) participated, 479 (81.7%) never completed a computer survey, and 287 (71%) of those reporting a preference preferred ACASI for future data collections. Increased age, past computer use, and sharing a household with someone were significantly associated with ACASI feasibility and acceptability. Using ACASI with black men in rural settings is feasible for HIV intervention research and disparity-reducing goals.
Codage à protections inégales et diffusion

Les signaux audio-visuels transmis sur les reseaux informatiques sont le resultat d’un codage-source qui hierarchise les differentes parties du message encode. Dans un environnement comme INTERNET, il est important de concevoir des codages « canal » prenant en compte les particularites du codage source et conferant au flot de donnees une resistance aux principales defaillances des reseaux : les pertes de paquets. Nous determinons les limites informationnelles du codage a protection inegale contre les effacements. En reinterpretant une inegalite recente sur les codes a protection inegale, nous donnons d’abord une caracterisation simple des debits accessibles sur un canal de diffusion a effacements avec messages degrades. Nous montrons ensuite l’optimalite du multiplexage par juxtaposition et entrelacement. Puis nous discutons le probleme de la degradation gracieuse sur un canal de diffusion, nous montrons que lorsque la fonction de debit-distorsion depend logarithmiquement de la distorsion, on peut garantir l’existence d’un schema de raffinements successifs approximatif. ABSTRACT
Structural requirements for RNA editing in hepatitis delta virus: evidence for a uridine-to-cytidine editing mechanism.

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) nucleotide 1012 is edited from uridine to cytidine in 10-40% of the RNA genomes during replication. This editing event is an important control point in the HDV life cycle because it results in both the packaging of viral RNA and the inhibition of HDV replication. We find that the editing event is highly specific for both the sequences neighboring nucleotide 1012 and the base-paired context of position 1012 within the unbranched rod structure of HDV RNA. Prior studies identified the base transition at nucleotide 1012 but were unable to distinguish between editing of the genomic versus the antigenomic strands [Luo, G. X. , Chao, M. , Hsieh, S. Y. , Sureau, C. , Nishikura, K. & Taylor, J. (1990) J. Virol. 64, 1021-1027]. In this study, comparisons of mutations that differentiate between base pairing in genomic and antigenomic RNAs indicate that the genomic strand of HDV is the actual editing substrate. We conclude that the virus uses a uridine to cytidine editing mechanism, which is provided by the host cell.
Response to the Letter by Natamba et al.

To the Editor, Thank you very much for sharing with us the Letter to the Editor written in response to our paper, “The association between food insecurity and depressive symptoms severity among pregnant women differs by social support category: a cross‐sectional study” (Natamba et al., 2016). Before responding to specific comments raised by the authors of this letter, we would like to present here a brief summary regarding the rationale for our study, the methods we used and highlight important observations that were made. The primary goal of our study was to determine whether the strength of the association between food insecurity (measured with the individually‐focused food insecurity scale; IFIAS [Natamba et al., 2014]) and depressive symptoms severity (Center for Epidemiologic Studies‐Depression: CES‐D [Natamba et al., 2014; Radloff, 1977]) differed depending on pregnant women's social supports status (modified Duke‐UNC social support scale [Broadhead, Gehlbach, De Gruy, & Kaplan, 1988]). Ours was a study motivated by previous research conducted among nonpregnant samples indicating that the association between food insecurity and depression varied depending on the respondent's level of social support. (Kollannoor‐Samuel et al., 2011; Tsai et al., 2012) We also considered social support to be a moderator variable given the classical definition of a moderator, that is, a variable that changes the strength of the relationship between an independent variable (in our case food insecurity) and a dependent variable, CES‐D score (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Women included in our study were midway (mean [standard deviation] gestational age: 19.3 [3.8] weeks) into their pregnancy. In our analyses, we used the median score on the social support scale to define pregnant women belonging to the low (n = 178) versus high (n = 225) social support categories. First, we conducted unadjusted and adjusted regression analyses for the association between food insecurity and CES‐D score in the total sample (n = 403) and found a significant interaction between social support and food insecurity (adjusted p for interaction =.026). To better characterize the observed interaction, we re‐ran our unadjusted and adjusted analyses for the food insecurity‐depression score association separately by social support category and found that the studied association was stronger in the low social support group (adjusted beta (95%Cis): 0.91 (0.55; 1.27) than it was among women in the high social support category 0.53 (0.28–0.78). In our assessment, the observed differential strength of the association between food insecurity and depression score in the low versus high social support groups represents evidence of cross‐sectional moderation as defined by Baron and Kenny (1986). In the letter, the authors provide three main suggestions or observations that we wish to respond to, that is, (a) that we should
Estimating Global Bank Network Connectedness

We use lasso methods to shrink, select and estimate the network linking the publicly-traded subset of the world's top 150 banks, 2003-2014. We characterize static network connectedness using full-sample estimation and dynamic network connectedness using rolling-window estimation. Statistically, we find that global banking connectedness is clearly linked to bank location, not bank assets. Dynamically, we find that global banking connectedness displays both secular and cyclical variation. The secular variation corresponds to gradual increases/decreases during episodes of gradual increases/decreases in global market integration. The cyclical variation corresponds to sharp increases during crises, involving mostly cross-country, as opposed to within-country, bank linkages.
Heredity, pet ownership, and confounding control in a population-based birth cohort.

BACKGROUND The association between pet ownership in childhood and subsequent allergic disease is controversial. Bias related to selection of pet exposure has been suggested as a reason for contradictory study results. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this investigation was to elucidate how pet exposure depends on family history of allergic disease, smoking, and socioeconomic factors in a prospective birth cohort. METHODS Parents of 4089 two-month-old children answered a questionnaire that included detailed questions about family history of asthma (maternal, paternal, and sibling), rhinoconjunctivitis, atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome, pollen and pet allergy, smoking habits, parental occupation, and family pet ownership (cat and dog). Dust samples collected from the mothers' beds were analyzed for Fel d 1 and Can f 1 in a subgroup of the cohort. RESULTS Cats were less frequently kept in families with parental asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, or pet or pollen allergy (3.5% to 5.8%) than in families without parental allergic disease (10.8% to 11.8%). Dogs were less common in families with (3.3%) than in families without (5.9%) parental atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome. Families with smoking mothers and those with low socioeconomic index kept cats and dogs more frequently. Cat allergen levels were lower in homes with than in homes without maternal pet allergy, and this tended to hold true even for homes without a cat. Cat ownership decreased from birth to 2 years of age, especially in families with parental history of allergic diseases. CONCLUSION There seems to be a selection of pet exposure based on parental history of allergy, maternal smoking, and socioeconomic factors. This has to be taken into consideration in evaluations of risk associations between pet exposure and allergic disease in childhood.
Detection of viral agents in fecal specimens of monkeys with diarrhea

Background Diarrheal disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in humans and animals, including non human primates. While the diagnostics for gastrointestinal bacterial and parasitic pathogens and their etiological role in disease are well established, little is known about the epidemiology, prevalence and role of viral agents in diarrheal illness among monkeys.
Detecting a human body direction using a feature selection method

This paper describes a novel technique for detecting a human body direction using SVM constructed by HOG feature selected by AdaBoost. HOG feature is well-known feature for the robust judgment of a human. We employ the feature for detecting a human body direction. We compared some feature selecting methods with the previous one. Experimental results show effectiveness of the proposed method.
Global Traits: A Neo-Allportian Approach to Personality

This paper outlines a theory of global traits based on the seminal writings of Gordon Allport and 50 years of subsequent empirical research. Personality research needs to refocus on global traits because such traits are an important part of everyday social discourse, because they embody a good deal of folk wisdom and common sense, because understanding and evaluating trait judgments can provide an important route toward the improvement of social judgment, and because global traits offer legitimate, if necessarily incomplete, explanations of behavior. A substantial body of evidence supporting the existence of global traits includes personality correlates of behavior, interjudge agreement in personality ratings, and the longitudinal stability of personality over time. Future research should clarify the origins of global traits, the dynamic mechanisms though which they influence behavior, and the behavioral cues through which they can most accurately be judged.
Effect of SULT1A1 and NAT2 genetic polymorphism on the association between cigarette smoking and colorectal adenomas

Cigarette smoke contains polycyclic hydrocarbons and arylamines that may both be activated by sulfotransferase, encoded by SULT1A1. A genetic polymorphism leads to an Arg213His substitution, thereby decreasing enzyme activity and stability and might thus modify the association between smoking and colorectal adenomas. We investigated this in a Dutch case‐control study. Additionally, we evaluated potential roles of epoxide hydrolase (EPHX), N‐acetyltransferases (NAT1 and NAT2) and glutathione S‐transferases (GSTM1 and GSTT1). The data analysis included 431 adenoma cases and 432 polyp‐free controls (54% women; mean age, 54.6 years) enrolled at endoscopy in 8 Dutch hospitals between 1997 and 2000. All participants provided data on smoking habits and blood for DNA isolation. Genotyping was performed using appropriate polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism procedures. Multivariate models included age, sex, endoscopy indication, consumption of snacks and alcohol and, if appropriate, daily smoking dose or smoking duration. Smoking increased colorectal adenoma risk, most importantly by duration. Smoking for more than 25 years more than doubled adenoma risk (OR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.4–4.1) compared to never smoking. Combinations of SULT1A1 fast sulfation (*1/*1) and of NAT2 slow acetylation with smoking resulted in a 4 times higher risk of adenomas compared to never smokers with other inherited gene variants, although there was no statistically significant effect modification. We found no clear effects of the other genetic polymorphisms on the association between smoking and adenomas. We conclude that smoking increases risk of colorectal adenomas and that SULT1A1 and NAT2 only modestly modify this association. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.