Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The complete mitochondrial genome of the confused flour beetle Tribolium confusum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Abstract Flour beetles of the genus Tribolium are economically important as destructive cosmopolitan pests of stored flour, corn, peanuts, and other dried agricultural products. The confused flour beetle Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val (1868) is one of the most important pest species of flour beetle. Here we sequenced and characterized the complete mitochondrial genome of T. confusum, the entire sequence is 15,813 bp in size with 72.8% AT content. It consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA), 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and one major non-coding AT-rich region. The mitogenome of T. confusum exhibits a gene arrangement and content identical to the most common type in insects. All PCGs are start with a typical ATN initiation codon, except for the cox1, which use AAC as its start codon instead of ATN. Ten genes use standard complete termination codon (six TAA, three TAG), whereas the cox2, cox3, nad4 and nad5 genes end with single T. Except for trnS1 (AGN), all tRNA genes display typical secondary cloverleaf structures as those of other insects. The sizes of the large and small ribosomal RNA genes are 1277 and 773 bp, respectively. The AT content of the AT-rich region is 79.5%. The 5 bp conserved motif TACTA was found in the intergenic region between trnS2 (UCN) and nad1.
Canal Wall-up Tympanomastoidectomy: Recurrence Factors

Objective: Canal wall-up tympanomastoidectomy is gaining popularity in the treatment for cholesteatoma. The choice remains controversial because of the significant recurrence rate of this disease. We aimed to analyze tympanomastoidectomy success rate, to establish eventual predictive factors for failure, and to evaluate the computed tomography (CT) scan’s value in this pathology. Method: We performed a retrospective cohort study regarding all patients submitted to tympanomastoidectomy for cholesteatoma at the otolaryngology department of Hospital São José, Lisbon, from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2009. Clinical and demographic data were obtained from medical records. Results: One hundred nineteen patients were submitted to tympanomastoidectomy. In most cases, preoperative CT scans showed cholesteatoma in the attic (50%) and large extension of the disease (tegmen, semicircular or fallopian canal erosion in 51%), not always confirmed during surgery (75%). Sixty percent had a canal wall-down procedure. The overall postoperative air-bone gap was within 20 dB in 44%. Second-look surgery was performed in 24 patients: the overall recurrence rate was 23%, with conversion to canal wall-down procedure in 67%. Factors identified as related to failure: cholesteatoma in the sinus tympani (33%), scutum erosion (29%), and large extension of disease (40%). Conclusion: The recurrence rate was significant, despite the high percentage of canal wall-down procedures. Factors for failure remain uncertain and CT scans presented limited value in the diagnosis and evaluation of cholesteatoma, especially postoperatively. In the absence of better diagnostic procedures, we recommend second look surgery to control cholesteatoma’s recurrence.
[Dynamic MR defecography for diagnosis of combined functional disorders of the pelvic floor in proctology].

PURPOSE Evaluation of magnetic resonance defecography in the diagnosis of pelvic floor disorders were examined prospectively. MRI was performed on a 1.5 T scanner. The rectum was opacified with 200 ml of ultrasound transmission gel. A sagittal single section T2-weighted gradient echo sequence with a temporal resolution of 1.1 second was performed. Changes of the anorectal angle and the position of the pelvic organs in relation to the pubococcygeal line were registered at rest, during straining, and during evacuation of the rectum. RESULTS Patients with obstructed defecation (n = 15) showed prolapse of the rectal mucosa (n = 5), anterior rectocele (n = 8), pelvic floor descent (n = 5), enterocele (n = 2), and anorectal dyscoordination (n = 3). Individuals with stool incontinence (n = 15) had an anterior rectocele (n = 10), pelvic floor descent (n = 11), enterocele (n = 2), prolapse of rectal mucosa (n = 1), and a puborectal insufficiency (n = 1). Urine incontinence was associated with cystocele (n = 10) or normal findings (n = 4). In patients with unspecific symptoms (n = 6), anorectal dyscoordination (n = 4) and prolapse of the rectal mucosa (n = 2) were found. MRI was superior for the detection of enteroceles, cystoceles and pelvic floor descent compared with clinical investigation. CONCLUSION Dynamic MR imaging supplies complex information in anorectal disease and thus improves proctoscopy.
Perceived Electronic Service Quality: Some Preliminary Results From a Cross-National Study in Mobile Internet Services

Work on how consumers evaluate electronic service quality is both topical and important due to the well-accepted criticality of electronic channels in selling products and services. However, most of the relevant research on electronic research quality is preoccupied with the website Internet context and most of the studies are single-country studies, inhibiting conclusions of generalizibility. Theoretically rooted in the Nordic Model of perceived service quality, this exploratory study uses an e-service quality scale to measure mobile Internet service quality in different national settings. Consistent with the available e-service quality literature, results indicate that e-service quality is a second-order factor, with three reflective first-order dimensions: efficiency, outcome, and customer care. Most important, cross-validation investigations using samples drawn from Korean, Hong Kong, and Japanese mobile Internet user populations, support the factorial structure invariance of the construct. Following Cheung and Reynolds's (2002) suggestions, factor means differences between the three countries contributing to the scarce cross-national electronic service quality literature are tentatively examined. These initial empirical findings imply that although consumers in different countries use the same dimensions to evaluate mobile Internet services, importance weightings assigned on these dimension are probably not the same.
Specialised cell types in the chorioallantoic membrane express carbonic anhydrase during chick embryogenesis

The expression of carbonic anhydrase in the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of the chick embryo was investigated by means of the histochemical localisation of the enzyme catalytic sites and the immunohistochemical identification of its isoenzymatic forms. The results show that carbonic anhydrase is developmentally expressed in a subset of cells both in the ectodermal and the endodermal epithelium. The distribution patterns from both methodological approaches indicated that carbonic anhydrase is a marker of the villus cavity cells and the mitochondria‐rich cells in the ectodermal and the endodermal epithelium, respectively. Such a cell‐specific pattern of the enzyme expression provides a further contribution to characterising the heterogeneous cell population of the chick CAM and supports specific functional involvement for the distinct cell types in CAM‐mediated processes, such as calcium transport, maintenance of acid‐base balance and water and electrolyte reabsorption, during chick embryogenesis.
Transepithelial Transport of the Bioactive Tripeptide, Val-Pro-Pro, in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cell Monolayers

Some of the food-derived tripeptides with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity have been reported to be hypotensive after being orally administered. The mechanism for the intestinal transport of these tripeptides was studied by using monolayer- cultured human intestinal Caco-2 cells which express many enterocyte-like functions including the peptide transporter(PepT1)-mediated transport system. Val-Pro-Pro, an ACE-inhibitory peptide from fermented milk, was used as a model tripeptide. A significant amount of intact Val-Pro-Pro was transported across the Caco-2 cell monolayer. This transport was hardly inhibited by a competitive substrate for PepT1. Since no intact Val-Pro-Pro was detected in the cells, Val-Pro-Pro apically taken by Caco-2 cells via PepT1 was likely to have been quickly hydrolyzed by intracellular peptidases, producing free Val and Pro. These findings suggest that PepT1-mediated transport was not involved in the transepithelial transport of intact Val-Pro-Pro. Paracellular diffusion is suggested to have been the main mechanism for the transport of intact Val-Pro-Pro across the Caco-2 cell monolayer.
Online survey software as a data collection tool for medical education: A case study on lesson plan assessment

Background: There are no general strategies or tools to evaluate daily lesson plans; however, assessments conducted using traditional methods usually include course plans. This study aimed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of online survey software in collecting data on education in medical fields and the application of such softwares to evaluate students' views and modification of lesson plans. Methods: After investigating the available online survey software, esurveypro was selected for assessing daily lesson plans. After using the software for one semester, a questionnaire was prepared to assess the advantages and disadvantages of this method and students’ views in a cross-sectional study. Results: The majority of the students (51.7%) rated the evaluation of classes per session (lesson plans) using the online survey as useful or very useful. About 51% (n=36) of the students considered this method effective in improving the management of each session, 67.1% (n=47) considered it effective in improving the management of sessions for the next semester, and 51.4% (n=36) said it had a high impact on improving the educational content of subsequent sessions. Finally, 61.4% (n=43) students expressed high and very high levels of satisfaction with using an online survey at each session. Conclusion: The use of online surveys may be appropriate to improve lesson plans and educational planning at different levels. This method can be used for other evaluations and for assessing people’s opinions at different levels of an educational system.
Producción pecuaria y emergencia de antibiótico resistencia en Colombia: Revisión sistemática

El uso extensivo de antibioticos es una practica comunmente realizada para aumentar la produccion pecuaria. Asi, la crianza animal demanda una fuerte presion selectiva para prevenir brotes de infecciones pero que tambien podria resultar en la emergencia de cepas multidrogoresistentes. El proposito de esta revision, es documentar la posible contribucion de las practicas pecuarias en la emergencia de patogenos zoonoticos que exhiben resistencia a antibioticos en Colombia. Los patogenos resistentes a antibioticos reportados con mayor frecuencia y asociados a alimentos fueron Salmonella sp. y Escherichia coli. Se encontro que el uso no terapeutico y abuso de antibioticos β-lactamicos, macrolidos y tetraciclinas constituyen la mayor presion selectiva. Adicionalmente, se encontraron estudios locales que reportan la contaminacion de fuentes ambientales y alimentos con trazas de antibioticos. La aparicion de patogenos resistentes a antibioticos de uso veterinario podria ser producto de la precaria implementacion de buenas practicas pecuarias entorno al componente de sanidad animal.
Allometry of maximum vertical force production during hovering flight of neotropical orchid bees (Apidae: Euglossini)

SUMMARY The ability of orchid bees to generate vertical forces was evaluated using a load-lifting method that imposed asymptotically increasing loads during ascending flight, ultimately eliciting maximum forces while hovering. Among 11 orchid bee species varying by approximately an order of magnitude in body mass, the capacity to produce vertical forces expressed relative either to body weight or to flight muscle weight declined linearly with increased body mass. Allometric analysis of log-transformed data, by contrast, found maximum vertical force to scale isometrically with body mass, but also to exhibit a slightly negative allometry with respect to flight muscle mass. Maximum stroke amplitude at limiting loads averaged 140° and was remarkably constant among species, a result consistent with anatomical constraints of the hymenopteran thorax on wing motions. By contrast, wing-beat frequencies during maximum performance declined with increasing body mass. Repeated lifting by individual bees reduced performance only when the number of consecutive lifts exceeded 15. Variation in linear mass density of the lifted load did not systematically alter performance estimates, although measurements on one species in two consecutive years at different thermal environments yielded significant differences in estimates of maximum force production. These findings suggest an adverse scaling of vertical force production at greater body mass even if flight muscle mass scales isometrically.
Perinatal HIV-1 transmission: recent advances and therapeutic interventions.

OBJECTIVES To review recent advances and current understanding of risk factors associated with perinatal HIV-1 transmission, the critical gaps in our knowledge, and current and future approaches to prevention of transmission. FACTORS INFLUENCING MOTHER-TO-CHILD TRANSMISSION: Perinatal HIV transmission is multifactorial and all potential risk factors must be considered in the context of the timing of transmission in utero, at birth or after birth by breastfeeding. Major factors that have been associated with increased transmission include a high maternal virus load, decreased CD4+ count, lack of HIV neutralizing antibody, advanced clinical disease, primary infection, first-born twins, and obstetric factors including chorioamnionitis, mode of delivery and more than 4 h of ruptured membranes. There are still significant gaps in our knowledge to explain the known variables in transmission, including the fact that 70-80% of infants born of HIV-infected mothers escape infection. APPROACHES TO REDUCE PERINATAL HIV-1 INFECTION: One of the major advances in prevention of perinatal transmission was the AIDS Clinical Trials Group 076 trial, which showed that antiretroviral therapy with zidovudine given to the mother during pregnancy and delivery, and to the infant, reduced transmission by 70%. Current approaches to further reduce transmission and provide practical application worldwide are discussed, including combined potent antivirals, local approaches and immune-based therapy given to the mother and/or infant. CONCLUSIONS There is reason for optimism for the potential to further reduce perinatal transmission to a level of less than 2%. The challenge will be to increase education and awareness worldwide in order to translate scientific advances into practical approaches that will be applicable in both industrialized and non-industrialized countries.
Fast and robust 3D recognition by alignment

Alignment is a common approach for recognizing 3-D objects in 2-D images. Current implementations handle image uncertainty in ad hoc ways. These errors, however, can propagate and magnify through the alignment computations, such that the ad hoc approaches may not work. The authors give a technique for tightly bounding the propagated error, which can be used to make the recognition robust while still being efficient. Previous analyses of alignment have demonstrated a sensitivity to false positives. But these analyses applied only to point features, whereas alignment systems often rely on extended features for verifying the presence of a model in the image. A new formula is derived for the selectivity of a line feature. It is experimentally demonstrated using the technique for computing error bounds that the use of line segments significantly reduces the expected false positive rate. The extent of the improvement is that an alignment system that correctly handles propagated error is expected to remain reliable even in substantially cluttered scenes. <<ETX>>
Sodium restriction shifts circadian rhythm of blood pressure from nondipper to dipper in essential hypertension.

BACKGROUND Sodium restriction has been widely used for treatment of hypertension and renal diseases. Whether sodium restriction can transform the circadian rhythm of blood pressure from nondipper to dipper is examined. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients (n=42) with essential hypertension were maintained on a high-sodium diet (12 to 15 g of NaCl per day) and a low-sodium diet (1 to 3 g/d) for 1 week each. On the last day of each diet, blood pressures were measured noninvasively every hour for 24 hours with an automatic oscillometric device. Twenty-one patients were classified as non-sodium sensitive whereas 21 were classified as sodium sensitive on the basis of a > or = 10% change in 24-hour mean arterial pressure caused by sodium restriction. Nocturnal blood pressure fall was significant in the non-sodium sensitive subjects but not in sodium-sensitive subjects. There was a significant interaction between sodium restriction and nocturnal fall in blood pressure only in the sodium-sensitive subjects, indicating that the degree of the nocturnal fall was affected by sodium restriction. Furthermore, changes in the nocturnal fall induced by sodium restriction had a positive relationship with sodium sensitivity (r=.38, P<.02) and a negative relationship with the nocturnal fall before sodium restriction (r=-.75, P<.0001). CONCLUSIONS These findings show the difference in nocturnal fall in blood pressure between the non-sodium sensitive and sodium-sensitive types of essential hypertension. The diminished nocturnal fall, recognized in the sodium-sensitive type, is restored by sodium restriction, indicating that the circadian rhythm of blood pressure shifted from a nondipper to a dipper pattern. On the other hand, the nocturnal fall is not affected by sodium restriction in the non-sodium sensitive type, and the circadian rhythm remains of the dipper variety.
Mortality among sheet metal workers participating in a respiratory screening program.

BACKGROUND The Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) established a screening program in 1985 to examine the health hazards of the sheet metal industry in the U.S. and Canada. METHODS 17,345 individuals with over 20 years in the trade and who participated in the program were followed for causes of death between 1986 and 2010. Both SMRs and Cox proportional hazards models investigated predictors of death due to lung cancer, mesothelioma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). RESULTS Significant excess mortality was seen for mesothelioma and asbestosis. Controlling for smoking, a strong trend for increasing lung cancer risk with increasing chest x-ray profusion >0/0 was observed. With an profusion score <1/0, FEV1 /FVC <80% was associated with lung cancer risk. COPD risk increased with increasing profusion score. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates asbestos-related diseases among workers with largely indirect exposures and an increased lung cancer risk with low ILO scores.
The role of external nonrigid ankle bracing in limiting ankle inversion.

The purpose of this study was to measure the effectiveness of the nonrigid subtalar stabilizer (STS) ankle brace under conditions similar to an unexpected fall that could lead to a lateral ligament injury. The calcaneal inversion angles, times, and ground reaction forces were measured when the subject's right foot, bearing body weight, was suddenly inverted to a side slope of 22 degrees. Thirty subjects, 15 women and 15 men, participated in the study. The overall inversion drop was divided into two phases, free fall and loading. Based on the data of this study it is suggested that the major function of a brace is to restrict the amount of foot inversion during the fall before actual landing occurs rather than functioning as a force bypass for the lateral ligaments during loading after foot contact. The results showed that the brace significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the maximum calcaneal inversion angle from 27.4 +/- 6.1 to 18.3 +/- 6.0 degrees for the overall drop, significantly lengthened the inversion time from 0.14 +/- 0.04 to 0.18 +/- 0.04 s for the overall drop, and significantly reduced the calcaneal peak inversion velocity from 324.6 +/- 111.9 to 165.2 +/- 66.5 degrees/s during loading, and from 278.7 +/- 120.0 to 183.0 +/- 108.7 degrees/s for the overall drop. Following exercise, which incorporated lateral movements and sprinting, the STS ankle brace continued to provide significant (p < 0.05) reduction in the calcaneal inversion angle and velocity, although some of its effectiveness was reduced. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The role of mechanical and hormonal stimuli on uterine involution in the rat.

1. Distension of part of the uterus of the rat after parturition by an inert material (‘Silgel’) prevented involution, as measured by change in collagen content and weight in the distended part. The other parts of the uterus, those emptied at parturition, involuted at the normal rate. 2. Removal of the distending material four days after parturition was followed by involution (measured in the same way) in this part of the uterus. 3. Removal of all fetal material from one horn before the end of pregnancy (at day 19) was followed by involution, but at a slower rate than after normal term. Bilateral ovariectomy at the same time as removal of fetuses increased the rate of this involution, but it was still slower than at normal term. 4. Ovariectomy alone on day 19 had no effect on subsequent changes in the uterus; weight and collagen content then followed the normal course to term. 5. It is concluded that mechanical factors associated with the presence of material within the uterine cavity play a preponderant role in maintaining the uterine wall, though hormonal factors can affect its reaction to a lesser extent.
Real-Time Abnormal Event Detection in Complicated Scenes

In this paper, we proposed a novel real-time abnormal event detection framework that requires a short training period and has a fast processing speed. Our approach is based on phase correlation and our newly developed spatial-temporal co-occurrence Gaussian mixture models (STCOG)with the following steps: (i) a frame is divided into non-overlapping local regions; (ii) phase correlation is used to estimate the motion vectors between successive two frames for all corresponding local regions, and (iii) STCOG is used to model normal events and detect abnormal events if any deviation from the trained STCOG is found. Our proposed approach is also able to update the parameters incrementally and can be applied in complicated scenes. The proposed approach outperforms previous ones in terms of shorter training periods and lower computational complexity.