Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proximal Femoral Fracture in Hip Arthrodesis Treated with Double Reconstruction Plates

We present a rare clinical case of a 90-year-old female who sustained a proximal femoral neck fracture following long-standing hip arthrodesis. Since the fracture occurred relatively proximally and involved the pelvis, double-plate fixation was chosen to achieve rigid fixation. The reconstruction plate was placed at the posterior and anterior columns individually through single vertical incision. She was treated successfully, and she attained preinjury activity level. Proximal femoral fractures in arthrodesed hips need to be recognized as a fracture between the pelvis and femur. Rotational stress from the trunk and lower extremity requires rigid fixation to minimize the increase of displacement and the risk for nonunion.
Black Students’ Perspectives on Learning Assets at a Former White University

In view of the challenge which higher education constitutes for most black South African students, this study focuses on study elements and aspects which black students regard as helpful and supportive. Our research question was: What do black students view as assets in their studies at tertiary institutions, specifically at the University of Pretoria? In their model of student development, Chickering and Reisser (1993) identified seven vectors which represent the main aspects of student development, as well as seven institutional influences on student development. We used this model to investigate how the learning assets which our participants identified could provide distinct guidelines for the provision of institutional support to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. A qualitative approach was followed where the ‘photo voice’ method (Olivier et al., 2009), combined with focus group discussions and narratives, was used to collect the data. Three themes emerged from our data. Students viewed their own study inspiration, the encouragement from within the university and from families and community, as well as a sense of physical security, as their main learning assets.
EFFECT OF OXYTOCIN, EPINEPHRINE AND ATROPINE ON THE OESTROUS CYCLE OF THE COW.

Summary. Oxytocin (100 U.S.P. Units) injected into heifers on Days 1 to 6 or Days 3 to 6 post-oestrum caused precocious oestrus. When 8 mg epinephrine hydrochloride or 50 mg atropine sulphate were super-imposed on the oxytocin treatment, there was very little shortening of the oestrous cycle. Epinephrine or atropine administered on Days 3 to 6 post-oestrum did not materially alter the length of the oestrous cycle nor did administration of atropine during the latter part of the oestrous cycle.
Nectin-3 Is Increased in the Cell Junctions of the Uterine Epithelium at Implantation

Uterine luminal epithelial cells (UECs) undergo the plasma membrane transformation in the transition to receptivity. This involves transient alterations in the apical junctional complex (AJC) including increases to the depth and complexity of the tight junction, loss of the adherens junction, and a decrease in the number of desmosomes along the lateral cell membranes. Nectin-3 is key protein involved in the structure and function of the AJC. This study, used immunofluorescence, Western blotting, colocalization, and coimmunoprecipitation analyses, to investigate whether nectin-3 was present in the rat uterus and was regulated by hormones and the blastocyst during early pregnancy. The results showed that nectin-3 was present in UECs as 3 molecular weight protein isoforms (80 kDa, 60 kDa, and 32 kDa). At the time of fertilization (day 1 of pregnancy), nectin-3 was localized basally, but at the time of implantation, (day 6 of pregnancy) when UECs were receptive, nectin-3 increased in the cellular junctions. When UECs returned to the nonreceptive state (day 9 of pregnancy), nectin-3 redistributed back to the cell cytoplasm. This study also showed that nectin-3 localization at the cell junctions was likely to be controlled by progesterone; however, neither ovarian hormones nor the blastocyst regulated protein abundance. This study further showed that while nectin-3 localized to the tight junction at the time of implantation, it did not interact with occludin or l-afadin. These results suggest that at the time of implantation, nectin-3 may contribute to the formation of the tight junction in a protein complex independent from occludin and l-afadin.
Modelado cinemático y control de robots móviles con ruedas

La presente tesis doctoral aborda el modelado cinematico y control de robots moviles con ruedas. En concreto se profundiza en los siguientes temas: - Se plantea el modelado de una rueda generica que incluye todos los tipos comunes: fija, orientable centrada, orientable descentrada (castor) y sueca (tambien denominada universal, Mecanum o Ilon). - Se describe un procedimiento eficiente para generar modelos cinematicos, basado en el concepto de espacio nulo, el cual se aplica posteriormente a un gran numero de tipos de robots moviles. Todos estos modelos son caracterizados en cuanto a su precision o transmision de errores (isotropia). - Se deduce un novedoso planteamiento geometrico que establece la singularidad de cualquier modelo cinematico de cualquier robot con ruedas. Este planteamiento se aplica a todos los tipos de robots anteriores. - Se desarrolla el modelado dinamico del robot para, a traves de tres sucesivas aproximaciones y de la caracterizacion de las fricciones en las ruedas, llegar a un modelado cinematico con deslizamiento. - Se plantea un esquema de control del robot con tres bucles de control anidados (dinamico, cinematico y de planificacion) que es conceptualmente similar a los empleados en robots manipuladores. En particular se profundiza en el bucle cinematico de nivel medio e indirectamente en el de planificacion, al caracterizar las referencias que puede seguir cada tipo de robot sin error. - Se presentan experiencias de comprobacion de los algoritmos de modelado con deslizamiento y de control del robot, realizadas sobre una plataforma electrica industrial (carretilla industrial). - Finalmente se desarrollan dos soluciones para las aplicaciones de aparcamiento en paralelo, con pre-planificacion y caracterizacion geometrica, y de seguimiento de linea por vision.
Validation of the instrument "Body image after breast cancer" in Brazil

La imagen corporal es un componente importante a considerar en el tratamiento de cancer de mama en las mujeres, lo que refuerza la importancia de un instrumento de calidad para evaluar esta condicion. El instrumento validado en este estudio puede aportar nuevas posibilidades para estudiar los efectos de los tratamientos para el cancer de mama en la imagen corporal. Validacion del cuestionario, traduccion, adaptacion cultural del instrumento y los pre-testes se llevaron a cabo con las mujeres con cancer de mama que viven en los Estados de Alagoas, Pernambuco y Sao Paulo. El analisis estadistico muestra que el instrumento es valido, confiable y una herramienta importante para identificar el impacto del cancer de mama en la imagen corporal, lo que permite ajustes en el tratamiento clinico, conductas de apoyo psicologico y de la accion de otros profesionales que participan en el tratamiento.
Identification of Critical Residues of an Immunodominant Region of Echinococcus granulosus Antigen B*

Immune evasion strategies often shape the immunogenicity of parasite components. We recently found that the N-terminal extension of the major subunit of Echinococcus granulosus antigen B (AgB), the causative agent of hydatid disease, concentrates the immunoreactive B cell epitopes of the native molecule. The nature of this immunodominance was analyzed using four monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) defining overlapping epitopes in this region of the AgB molecule. The minimal epitope requirements of these mAbs were determined using phage display peptide libraries. The consensus sequences isolated with the mAbs, and alanine replacement analysis with synthetic peptides mapped the relevant molecular contacts within a short stretch corresponding to residues 17–24 of the AgB major subunit. Substitution of two critical residues within this stretch produced a dramatic loss of antigenicity, as determined by using patient sera. The circular dichroism spectra of the antigen, together with the distribution of the contact residues, suggest that this region adopts an amphipathic α-helix structure that clusters the contact residues on its polar side. To provide further insight in the interpretation of the structure activity relationships for this immunoreactive region of E. granulosus AgB, we developed a model for the N-terminal extension of the AgB major subunit, which helps to rationalize our data.
Relationship between Symptoms of Disruptive Behavior Disorders and Unsafe Internet Usage in Early Adolescence.

INTRODUCTION Children and adolescents are at the highest risk for negative effects of internet usage. Risk taking and erroneous decision making have been described as major behavioral characteristics of patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD and its association particularly with oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder are correlated with risk-taking behaviors. This study was conducted to evaluate how disruptive behavior disorder symptoms are associated with internet usage, particularly unsafe internet usage, in early adolescents. METHODS A sample of 1389 secondary school students was invited to the survey. All children were given an invitation letter and Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) forms were sent to their parents. The accepted participants filled in questionnaire forms, which consisted of questions interrogating demographic information and internet usage habits. RESULTS Responses indicated that 27.4% (n=249) of the participants encountered unwanted content unintentionally and nearly one-third (n=280, 30.4%) had chatted online with people they did not know. Additionally, respondents who had more severe ADHD symptoms were more likely to report surfing online mainly for the purpose of chatting than respondents with milder ADHD symptoms. Students with comparatively higher attention deficit scores were also significantly more likely to report meeting in person with strangers they knew only from internet chatting. Analyses have demonstrated the presence of a significant difference between study participants with and without conduct disorder as for internet overusage or meeting with their internet acquaintances. CONCLUSION This study suggests that there may be a significant relation between ADHD symptoms, conduct disorder and pathological and unsafe internet usage. Evaluating adolescents with ADHD and conduct disorder with this risk in mind is important in the development of both preventive and interventional strategies.
Role of concomitant resistance in the development of murine lung metastases

An attempt was made to explain the distinct lung metastatic patterns of 2 mammary adenocarcinomas with a common BALB/c origin: M3, which does not induce spontaneous metastases, and MM3 with an almost 100% incidence. No difference between the 2 tumors was detected with respect to host mononuclear cell content, degree of immunogenicity or lung‐colony‐forming ability. Conversely, there was a marked difference in the capacity to induce concomitant resistance: M3‐bearing mice induced stronger and earlier resistance against i.v. challenge of both M3 and MM3 tumor cells than MM3‐bearing mice; this resistance was expressed as lower number of lung metastases and lower tumor‐cell proliferation in metastatic nodules. M3 was also able to control the development of spontaneous metastases: metastases developed in all M3‐excised mice, compared with none in M3‐bearing mice, while MM3‐bearing mice also bearing a secondary M3 tumor developed fewer metastases than mice bearing MM3 only. This anti‐metastatic effect does not appear to depend on classical immunological mechanisms since no difference could be detected between the 2 tumors in response to T cells, NK, macrophages or antibodies.
BAP, a Mammalian BiP-associated Protein, Is a Nucleotide Exchange Factor That Regulates the ATPase Activity of BiP*

We identified a mammalian BiP-associated protein, BAP, using a yeast two-hybrid screen that shared low homology with yeast Sls1p/Sil1p and mammalian HspBP1, both of which regulate the ATPase activity of their Hsp70 partner. BAP encoded an ∼54-kDa protein with an N-terminal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) targeting sequence, two sites of N-linked glycosylation, and a C-terminal ER retention sequence. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that BAP co-localized with GRP94 in the endoplasmic reticulum. BAP was ubiquitously expressed but showed the highest levels of expression in secretory organ tissues, a pattern similar to that observed with BiP. BAP binding was affected by the conformation of the ATPase domain of BiP based on in vivo binding studies with BiP mutants. BAP stimulated the ATPase activity of BiP when added alone or together with the ER DnaJ protein, ERdj4, by promoting the release of ADP from BiP. Together, these data demonstrate that BAP serves as a nucleotide exchange factor for BiP and provide insights into the mechanisms that control protein folding in the mammalian ER.
Is There a Text in this Class?

In Jorge Luis Borges’ The Garden of the Forking Paths Ts’ui Pen, the narrator’s father, isolated himself in the Pavilion of Limpid Solitude, in the center of a garden, most intricately laid out, like a labyrinth, to write a book that was confused and indistinguishable from that labyrinth. The labyrinth is infinite, as it is cyclical, and its last page is identical with the first and goes on forever. Ts’ui Pen’s book contained contradictory chapters and in the mire of its perplexities left several possible forking paths.
Fcγ Receptors on Mast Cells: Activatory and Inhibitory Regulation of Mediator Release

Mast cell activation and subsequent release of proinflammatory mediators are primarily a consequence of aggregation of the high affinity receptors for IgE (FcΕRI) on the mast cell surface following antigen-dependent ligation of FcΕRI-bound IgE. However, data obtained from rodent and human mast cells have revealed that IgG receptors (FcγR) can both promote and inhibit mast cell activation. These responses appear to be species and/or mast cell phenotype dependent. In CD34+-derived human mast cells exposed to interferon-γ, FcγRI is upregulated, FcγRII is expressed but not upregulated, and FcγRIII is not expressed. In contrast, in mouse mast cells, FcγRII and FcγRIII receptors are expressed, whereas FcγRI is not. Aggregation of FcγRI on human mast cells promotes mediator release in a manner generally similar to that observed following FcΕRI aggregation. Aggregation of FcγRIIb in mouse mast cells fails to influence cellular processes; however, when coligated with FcΕRI, signaling events thus activated downregulate antigen-dependent mediator release. These divergent responses are a consequence of different motifs contained within the cytosolic tails of the signaling subunits of these receptors and the specific signaling molecules recruited by these receptors following ligation. The studies described imply that data obtained in rodent models regarding the influence of FcγRs on mast cells may not be directly translatable to the human. The exploitation of FcγRs for a potential therapy for the treatment of allergic disorders is discussed in this context.
Event-Related EEG-Changes during Attempted Standing Up Task

X number of electroencephalographic (EEG) studies report on motor event-related desynchronization and synchronization (ERD/ERS) in the mu band or beta band, i.e. a decrease and increase of spectral amplitudes of central mu rhythms or beta rhythms. This paper investigated event-related EEG-changes during attempted standing up. The aim of this work is to address the question, whether healthy subjects have particular ERD/ERS pattern during standing up imagery tasks. The results showed significant midcentral-focused mu ERD with beta ERS patterns during imaginary standing up in healthy participates.
CL-46, a Novel Collectin Highly Expressed in Bovine Thymus and Liver1

Collectins are oligomeric molecules with C-type lectin domains attached to collagen-like regions via α-helical neck regions. They bind nonself glycoconjugates on the surface of microorganisms and inhibit infection by direct neutralization, agglutination, or opsonization. During the characterization of the gene encoding bovine CL-43 (43-kDa collectin), we identified a novel collectin-gene. We report the cloning and partial characterization of the novel collectin CL-46. The mRNA comprises 1188 nucleotides encoding a protein of 371 aa with an included leader peptide of 20 residues. CL-46 has two cysteine residues in the N-terminal segment, a potential N-glycosylation site in the collagen region, and an extended hydrophilic loop close to the binding site of the carbohydrate recognition domain. It is expressed in the thymus, liver, mammary gland, and tissues of the digestive system. Recombinant CL-46 corresponding to the α-helical neck region and the C-type lectin domain binds preferential N-acetyl-d-glucoseamine and N-acetyl-d-mannoseamine. The gene encoding CL-46 spans ∼10 kb and consists of eight exons, with high structural resemblance to the gene encoding human surfactant protein D. It is located on the bovine chromosome 28 at position q1.8 together with the gene encoding conglutinin and CL-43. Several potential thymus-related cis-regulatory elements were identified in the 5′-upstream sequence, indicating that the expression in thymus may be modulated by signals involved in T cell development.
Development of the osteoblast phenotype in primary human osteoblasts in culture: Comparison with rat calvarial cells in osteoblast differentiation

In rat osteoblast‐like cells, a time‐dependent sequence of growth and differentiation‐dependent genes has been identified and a model of osteoblast differentiation in culture suggested. We investigated the expression of the bone matrix‐associated proteins osteonectin and procollagen I and of the bone cell phenotype‐related proteins alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin during cell culture in primary human osteoblast like cells. Primary human explant cultures from nine young healthy donors were established under highly standardized conditions. Cells in the second passage were analyzed on different days from day 1 to 32, comparing cells growing under the influence of ascorbate with controls. Gene expression was determined by Northern blot analysis or polymerase chain reaction. Osteocalcin expression was also investigated after 1,25‐(OH)2D3 stimulation. On the protein level, newly synthesized collagen I, alkaline phosphatase activity, and secretion of osteocalcin were analyzed at all time points. On comparing our findings to the pattern of gene expression suggested for the rat calvarial osteoblast system, we found a similar developmental sequence for the so‐called “proliferation” as well as a similar, but lengthened, sequence for the “matrix maturation stage. ” During “matrix maturation,” we found an ongoing proliferation despite increased alkaline phosphatase and decreased procollagen I gene expression. Our study, therefore, shows that in pHOB the gene expression profile proceeded to the “matrix maturation stage,” as defined by Owen and colleagues, independent of ongoing proliferation. We were unable to observe the mineralization period as demonstrated by the missing increase of osteocalcin expression and lack of nodule formation in our human osteoblast model. In contrast to the rat system, we found a proliferation stimulating influence of ascorbate, suggesting species‐specific differences in response to differentiation factors. From these data, we conclude that general considerations on physiology and pathophysiology of bone cell differentiation have to be confirmed in the human osteoblastic cell system. J. Cell Biochem. 75:22–35, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Classification of ictal and seizure-free HRV signals with focus on lateralization of epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE Epileptic onsets often affect the autonomic function of the body during a seizure, whether it is in ictal, interictal or post-ictal periods. The different effects of localization and lateralization of seizures on heart rate variability (HRV) emphasize the importance of autonomic function changes in epileptic patients. On the other hand, the detection of seizures is of primary interests in evaluating the epileptic patients. In the current paper, we analyzed the HRV signal to develop a reliable offline seizure-detection algorithm to focus on the effects of lateralization on HRV. MATERIALS AND METHODS We assessed the HRV during 5-min segments of continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) recording with a total number of 170 seizures occurred in 16 patients, composed of 86 left-sided and 84 right-sided focus seizures. Relatively high and low-frequency components of the HRV were computed using spectral analysis. Poincaré parameters of each heart rate time series considered as non-linear features. We fed these features to the Support Vector Machines (SVMs) to find a robust classification method to classify epileptic and non-epileptic signals. Leave One Out Cross-Validation (LOOCV) approach was used to demonstrate the consistency of the classification results. RESULTS Our obtained classification accuracy confirms that the proposed scheme has a potential in classifying HRV signals to epileptic and non-epileptic classes. The accuracy rates for right-sided and left-sided focus seizures were obtained as 86.74% and 79.41%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The main finding of our study is that the patients with right-sided focus epilepsy showed more reduction in parasympathetic activity and more increase in sympathetic activity. It can be a marker of impaired vagal activity associated with increased cardiovascular risk and arrhythmias. Our results suggest that lateralization of the seizure onset zone could exert different influences on heart rate changes. A right-sided seizure would cause an ictal tachycardia whereas a left-sided seizure would result in an ictal bradycardia.
Synthesis of novel 1,2,4-triazoles and triazolo-thiadiazines as anticancer agents

A new series of 7-arylazo-5 H -3-(triuorometh b )-1,3,4-thiadiaz was pre- pared by reaction of 4-amino-3-triuo with N -aryl-2-oxo-prop ane hydrazonoyl chlo- ride in dioxane under reux in the presence of triethylamine. Furthermore, Schiff bases of 4-amino-5-mercap triazole derivatives were reacted with a variety of hydrazonoyl chlorides and gave the respective hydrazonothioate In addition, the novel bis-(1,2,4-triazole was reacted with the appropriate hydrazonoyl chloride in dioxane under reux in the presence of triethylamine to give the corresponding bis-(1,2,4-triazole ). The structures of the new compounds were established based on elemental and spectral data. The mechanism of the studied reaction was also discussed. Moreover, some of the new products were screened for their anticancer activity and the results obtained are promising and indicate that compounds 4a and 4i are the most active inhibitors against HEPG-2 and compounds 4a and 13b are active against HCT cell lines.
Mouse ICSI with frozen–thawed sperm: The impact of sperm freezing procedure and sperm donor strain

Normal mouse offspring can be obtained from oocytes injected with frozen–thawed spermatozoa without cryoprotection, however, embryo development can be affected by sperm freezing procedure and sperm donor strain. In this study we observed that direct contact of mouse spermatozoa with liquid nitrogen did not affect their ability to activate injected oocytes but severely restricted subsequent in vitro embryo development to blastocyst stage. Tris‐EDTA buffer and M2 were also shown to be better sperm freezing extenders than DPBS, allowing higher developmental potential. In addition, differences in embryo development obtained by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with frozen–thawed spermatozoa were observed between hybrid sperm donor strains. Frozen–thawed B6D2F1 spermatozoa provided higher embryo development than sperm cells from C57CBAF1. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 66: 98–103, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.