Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
eucocyte phagocytosis during the luteal phase in bitches odil

Pyometra is a disease that affects a large proportion of intact bitches, and typically is seen during the latter half of dioestrus. Several factors contribute to the development of pyometra, including genetic factors, an infectious component (most often Escherichia coli), and hormonal factors. Hormones may act directly on the endometrium, and also affect the immune system. In dogs, the phagocytic ability has been shown to decrease with age, and ovarian hormones have also been shown to affect immune resistance. The aim of the present study was to examine whether phagocytosis by canine leucocytes varies significantly during the luteal phase. Eight bitches were followed by repeated blood sampling. Samples were taken at the calculated optimal day for mating (Day 1), and thereafter on days 8, 15 and 22 (early luteal phase) and 29, 43, 57 and 71 (late luteal phase). Blood was collected from the cephalic vein into EDTA tubes for leucocyte counts and heparinised tubes for testing of phagocytosis and oxidative burst using commercial kits and flow cytometry. The cell activity of the phagocyting leucocytes, expressed as mean fluorescence activity, MFI, was significantly lower during late luteal phase than during early luteal phase. The proportion of leucocytes that was induced to phagocyte did not differ significantly. The percentage of cells stimulated by E. coli to oxidative burst was significantly lower during late luteal phase. Their activity did not differ between the two periods. The number of cells stimulated to oxidative burst by a low stimulus was too low to evaluate, and leucocytes stimulated with the high stimulus did not vary in oxidative burst between the two periods. The changes in phagocytic activity and in the number of leucocytes that showed oxidative burst were not associated with any change in the proportion of different leucocytes. The decreased phagocytic capacity possibly contributes to the higher incidence of diseases such g the la as pyometra durin
An Articulatory and Acoustic Study of the European Portuguese /l/

In this paper, MRI images and acoustic data for several speakers of European Portuguese (EP) were utilized in order to investigate articulatory and acoustic characteristics of /l/. Syllabic position differences and effects of the surrounding vowels were further evaluated. In general, the EP /l/ showed no substantial articulatory or acoustic differences at word edges, with low F2 frequencies and small pharyngeal/velar areas due to tongueroot retraction and/or tongue dorsum raising. The amount of vocalic effect on both the articulatory and acoustic data was speaker-dependent.
Approximating shortest superstrings

The Shortest Superstring Problem is to find a shortest possible string that contains every string in a given set as substrings. This problem has applications to data compression and DNA sequencing. As the problem is NP-hard and MAX SNP-hard, approximation algorithms are of interest. We present a new algorithm which always finds a superstring that is at most 2.89 times as long as the shortest superstring. Our result improves the 3-approximation result of Blum, Jiang, Li, Tromp, and Yannakakis (1991). <<ETX>>
Serum Uric Acid in Mongolism

A highly significant increase (P < .01) in average uric acid level was found in the blood serum of mongoloids when levels were compared with those in normal control subjects or nonmongoloid, mentally retarded subjects. The possible relationship of these findings to other abnormalities known to exist in mongolism is discussed.
Phosphatidylserine and Signal Transduction: Who Needs Whom?

The plasma membrane, long considered a simple barrier between the extracellular and intracellular compartments, is now thought to play a pivotal role in many physiological processes that regulate the communication of cells with their environment. On one hand, the plasma membrane directly participates in intracellular signaling; on the other hand, changes in membrane structure contribute to the transcellular transfer of biological information. Among the membrane constituents, phosphatidylserine is a major actor implicated in these effects. Evidence now exists for a role for phosphatidylserine redistribution in modulating the activities of several membrane proteins during signaling in nonapoptotic T lymphocytes.
Er,Cr:YSGG Laser as a Novel Method for Rebonding Failed Ceramic Brackets.

OBJECTIVE Since there is no standard method for rebonding loose ceramic brackets, the aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using Er,Cr:YSGG laser to eliminate the remaining composite materials from the base of ceramic brackets and to compare the bond strength of rebonded brackets with the new ones. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty-two extracted human premolars were mounted in acrylic cylinders. Thirty-one ceramic brackets were bonded, and shear bond strength was tested using Hounsfield testing machine. The remnants of the bonding material were removed from the bases of brackets using Er,Cr:YSGG laser. These brackets were rebonded to 31 fresh teeth and again shear bond strength was measured. Pattern of debonding was assessed in both cases under a stereomicroscope and graded according to ARI index. Data were analyzed with independent t-test and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS Mean shear bond strength of the bond and rebond groups was 12.29 ± 5.46 and 10.58 ± 5.16 MPa, respectively. There were no significant differences between the two groups (p = 0.21). Pattern of bond failure was not statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Er,Cr:YSGG laser was effective in removing the remnants of bonding material from the base of ceramic brackets without any interference with the ceramic base itself, demonstrating that it might be a suitable method for rebonding ceramic brackets.
Gas flows in microchannels and microtubes

This study analyses compressible gas flows through microchannels or microtubes, and develops two complete sets of asymptotic solutions. It is a natural extension of the previous work by Arkilic et al. on compressible flows through microchannels. First, by comparing the magnitudes of different forces in the compressible gas flow, we obtain proper estimations for the Reynolds and Mach numbers at the outlets. Second, based on these estimations, we obtain asymptotic analytical solutions of velocities, pressure and temperature distributions of compressible gas flow inside the microchannels and microtubes with a relaxation of the isothermal assumption, which was previously used in many studies. Numerical simulations of compressible flows through a microchannel and a microtube are performed by solving the compressible Navier–Stokes equations, with velocity slip and temperature jump wall boundary conditions. The numerical simulation results validate the analytical results from this study.
Low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and ischemic cerebrovascular disease: the bezafibrate infarction prevention registry.

BACKGROUND Despite increasing evidence that beta-hydroxy-beta-methyglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors reduce the incidence of stroke in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), the associations between blood lipid levels and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) are not clear. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether blood cholesterol level and its fractions are risk factors for stroke in a large group of patients with CHD. METHODS We followed up 11 177 patients with documented CHD who were screened for but not included in the Bezafibrate Infarction Prevention study, a secondary prevention randomized clinical trial of lipid modification, and had no history of stroke for subsequent CVD. During a 6- to 8-year follow-up period, 941 patients were identified as having nonhemorrhagic CVD, of whom 487 had verified ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). RESULTS Increases in age-adjusted rates of both nonhemorrhagic CVD and verified ischemic stroke or TIA were identified with increasing cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, decreasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and decreasing percentage of total serum cholesterol contained in the HDL moiety. In logistic regression models, adjusting for clinical covariates, the following odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were identified for lipid values in the upper vs lower tertile for the end point of nonhemorrhagic CVD: total cholesterol, 1.43 (1.20-1.70); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 1.52 (1.27-1.81), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 0.84 (0.70-1.00); and percentage of serum cholesterol contained in HDL, 0.69 (0.58-0.83). Similar trends appeared for the end point of verified ischemic stroke or TIA. CONCLUSION These findings clearly support the role of total cholesterol and its fractions in prediction of ischemic CVD among patients with established CHD.
Demonstration of BER-Adaptive WSON Employing Flexible Transmitter/Receiver With an Extended OpenFlow-Based Control Plane

A bit-error rate (BER)-adaptive wavelength-switched optical network (WSON) employing the multiformat and multirate transmitter/receiver is experimentally demonstrated. The flexible transmitter is capable of generating binary phase-shift-keying, quadrature phase-shift-keying, eight-ary quadrature amplitude modulation, 8QAM, and 16QAM, as well as changing the symbol rate. On the other hand, the flexible receiver based on a coherent detection scheme is utilized not only to detect the optical signal with any modulation format/rate, but also to send the BER information to an OpenFlow controller via extended OpenFlow protocols. Since the measured BER is a reliable barometer of the optical path conditions, an extended OpenFlow-based control plane with the OpenFlow controller intelligently determines and assigns either appropriate modulation format/rate or a backup path in WSON in accordance with BER information.
SiC power semiconductors in HEVs: Influence of junction temperature on power density, chip utilization and efficiency

With SiC, junction temperatures of power semiconductors of more than 700? C are theoretically possible due to the low intrinsic charge carrier concentration of SiC. Hence, a lot of research on package configurations for power semiconductor operation above 175? C is currently carried out, especially within the automotive industry due to the possible high ambient temperatures occurring in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). This paper shows, that a higher junction temperature though does not necessarily guarantee a higher utilization of the SiC chips with respect to the current that the device can conduct without overheating. The reason is, that for most power devices the power losses start to increase very rapidly at high junction temperatures while the power that can be dissipated always increases linearly with the junction temperature. The junction temperature, where the device current starts to decrease at, is derived for different SiC chips using measured onstate conduction and switching losses in this paper. This paper furthermore analyzes in detail, how the junction temperature on the one hand is influenced by boundary conditions and on the other hand influences itself the core parameters of a converter such as efficiency, the required chip area (i. e. cost) as well as the volumetric power density and thus forms an additional degree of freedom in the design of a power electronic converter. While calculating the optimum junction temperature and analyzing its impact on the system performance, it is demonstrated, how these results can help to find the best suited power semiconductor device for the particular application. The performance of the calculations is shown on a design applied to a drive inverter for hybrid electric vehicles with normally-off SiC JFETs. Operated close to the optimum junction temperature of the SiC JFETs, it reaches a power density of 51 kW/l for the power modules and the air-cooling system, which is shown to be doubled by increasing chip size and using an advanced power semiconductor package with a lower thermal resistance from junction to ambient than the for this case assumed 1 K/W.
Cultivating Trust and Harvesting Value in Virtual Communities

Although previous scholars have examined the value of virtual communities to customers, in this study we investigate the role of a firm's efforts in cultivating trust and harvesting value for themselves via the virtual communities that they sponsor. We hypothesize that the perceptions of a firm's efforts to provide quality content, to foster member embeddedness, and to encourage interaction foster favorable customer beliefs about and trust in a virtual community sponsor. Further, we hypothesize that trust motivates customers to behave relationally toward the sponsoring firm by sharing information with, coproducing new products with, and granting loyalty to, the sponsoring firm. Data from 663 customers are analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. We find that efforts to provide quality content and foster member embeddedness have positive effects on customer beliefs about the sponsor. In fact, fostering member embeddedness has a stronger explanatory effect on customer beliefs than does providing quality content. However, despite the fact that previous studies show that customers value interaction in virtual communities, our findings suggest that firms must do more than encourage interaction among their community members if they hope to create value from their virtual communities.
Unusual bacterium, group Ve-2, causing peritonitis in a patient on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

We report a case of peritonitis in a continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patient with an unusual bacterium known as group Ve-2. This is the first reported case of peritonitis attributable to this organism and only the second well-documented case of infection with this organism in the English literature.
The Enterococcus

In 1899, Thiercilin used the term “enterococcus” to describe microscopic organisms seen in pairs or short chains in feces. Later (in the 1930s) the name was used in a more restrictive sense for streptococci that had the hardy capacity to survive under extreme conditions. Enterococci belong to a group D family of streptococci, as characterized by Lancefield in 1938. In contrast to other groups of streptococci, the group D antigen is not a wall carbohydrate but a glycerol teichoic acid containing glucose and D-alanine. This antigen appears to be related directly to the cytoplasm or plasma membrane.
The Inhibition of Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 Export by Cardenolides Implies a Novel Function for the Catalytic Subunit of Na+,K+-ATPase*

Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) is one of a select group of proteins that can exit cells through an alternate, endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi apparatus independent exocytic pathway. This alternate pathway has been termed protein export. In an attempt to better understand this process, we have identified a family of related compounds, “cardenolides,” that inhibit FGF-2 export. The cardenolides inhibit FGF-2 export in a time and concentration dependent fashion. Inhibition of FGF-2 export is specific in that the cardenolides have no effect on conventional protein secretion as measured by their inability to block release of the secreted protein human chorionic gonadotropin-α. Because cardenolides are known to inhibit ion transport activity mediated by Na+,K+-ATPase, we investigated whether there are functional interactions between FGF-2 and their only known molecular target: the α-subunit of Na+,K+-ATPase. Export of FGF-2 from COS-1 cells is selectively inhibited when co-transfected with expression vectors encoding the α-subunit and FGF-2. Moreover, antibodies to the α-subunit specifically co-immunoprecipitate FGF-2 along with the α-subunit while conversely, antibodies to FGF-2 specifically co-immunoprecipitate the α-subunit along with FGF-2. Finally, the ion transporting activities of the Na+,K+-ATPase can be uncoupled from protein export. Varying the external concentration of K+ has little effect on export of FGF-2. Taken together, these data: 1) identify a novel activity for cardenolides; 2) suggest a previously unknown role for the α-subunit of Na+, K+-ATPase in FGF-2 export; and 3) raise the possibility that the α-subunit itself may be an integral component of this alternate exocytic pathway mediating translocation of cytosolic FGF-2 to the cell surface.
Effect of a general practitioner's consulting style.

hypertension. Studies using different antihypertensive regimens after renal ablation in rats have shown that comparable reductions in systemic blood pressure provide similar protection against glomerulosclerosis irrespective of the effect on glomerular pressure and hyperfiltration.3 Considerable protection against glomerulosclerosis is also provided by inhibition of thromboxane synthesis4 or treatment with heparin,5 in each case without affecting hyperfiltration or glomerular hypertension. The effect of heparin is independent of its anticoagulant properties as similar protection can be achieved with a low molecular weight nonanticoagulant form of the molecule.9 Increases in mesangial cell number and mesangial matrix production are prominent features in progressive glomerulosclerosis: heparin is a potent inhibitor of mesangial cell proliferation and matrix production in vitro, and again this effect can be reproduced with the non-anticoagulant form of the molecule.7 A further area of recent research is the role of peptide growth factors in the adaptation to loss of renal mass. Intrarenal production of insulin-like growth factor type 1 increases after contralateral nephrectomy,5 and this growth factor has mitogenic effects on renal cells in vitro.9 Other growth factors, such as platelet derived growth factor, have potent mitogenic effects on mesangial cells in vitro,"' but their role in vivo has yet to be characterised. Current attempts at intervention in progressive chronic renal failure have been designed on the basis of the hyperfiltration hypothesis. The deficiencies of the hypothesis may partly explain the relative lack of success of such attempts. It is to be hoped that recent advances in understanding the cellular mechanisms underlying progressive glomerulosclerosis may lead to the development of more rational and therefore more effective treatments.
In vivo time‐course of the angiogenic response induced by multiple myeloma plasma cells in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane

In this study, we set out to make a fine characterization of the angiogenic response induced by plasma cells obtained from patients with active‐multiple myeloma (MM), in comparison with cells obtained from patients with non‐active MM and benign lesions such as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. To achieve this we investigated the time‐course of the angiogenic response induced by gelatin sponges soaked in the cell suspensions and implanted on the CAM surface from day 8 to day 12 of incubation by evaluating the number of vessels, of the vessel bifurcation and the intervascular distance at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after the implants. The results show that plasma cell suspensions obtained from patients with active MM induce a vasoproliferative response that was significantly higher than that induced by cell suspensions obtained from patients with non‐active MM or with MGUS, which is also a function of the day of implantation. In fact, implants made from day 8 to day 10 induce a strong angiogenic response, whereas those made from day 11 to day 12 do not. This finding might depend on the fact that CAM endothelium exhibits an intrinsically high mitotic rate until day 10. Thereafter, the endothelial mitotic index declines rapidly, and consequently cell suspensions implanted on the CAM of successively older embryos are not able to induce a vasoproliferative response in parallel with the reduced rates of growth of the CAM's endothelial cells.
Optimal-Probabilistic Method to Compute the Reach Settings of Distance Relays

This paper presents a novel method to optimize the settings of the resistive and reactive reaches of the zones of the distance relays. The method considers the probabilistic behavior of the variables that affect the apparent impedance seen by relays: prefault load flow, fault type, faulted line, distance up to the fault, fault resistance, and measurement errors. The optimization has been conceptually formulated as a multiobjective problem, with two objective functions: 1) minimize the probability of loss of sensitivity and 2) minimize the probability of loss of selectivity. To solve this problem, a preference function is defined, which is equal to the weighted sum of the two objective functions. A factor of weight represents the relative importance of selectivity regarding the sensitivity, and it is selected for each zone. This method was applied to a system with 7 busbars (3 of them with generation), where there are 18 distance relays with quadrilateral characteristic, and with an independent setting of the reactive and resistive reaches for the phase distance function and the ground distance function. The results obtained are compared with the results of other methods of adjustment.
Glycolytic flux in Zymomonas mobilis: enzyme and metabolite levels during batch fermentation

The rate at which Z. mobilis (Entner-Doudoroff pathway) converts high concentrations of glucose (20%) into ethanol plus CO2 changes as ethanol accumulates in the surrounding broth. This decline in glycolytic activity (per milligram of cell protein) does not result from inhibitory effects of ethanol, which can be reversed immediately by ethanol removal. The peak of fermentative activity (58 mumol of CO2 evolved per mg of cell protein per h) occurred after the accumulation of 1.1% ethanol (18 h) and declined to one-half this rate after 30 h (6.2% accumulated ethanol), although the cell number continued to increase. These times corresponded to the end of exponential growth and to the onset of the stationary phase (on the basis of measurement of cell protein), respectively. An examination of many of the requirements for fermentation (nucleotides, magnesium, enzyme levels, intracellular pH, delta pH) revealed three possible reasons for this early decline in activity: decreased abundance of nucleotides, a decrease in internal pH from 6.3 to 5.3, and a decrease in the specific activities of two glycolytic enzymes (pyruvate kinase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase). 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of perchlorate extracts from cells fermenting in broth revealed very low levels of glycolytic intermediates (Entner-Doudoroff pathway) in cells examined at the peak of fermentative activity (18-h cells) in comparison with cells examined at a later stage (30-h cells), consistent with limitation of the fermentation rate by glycolytic enzymes near the end of the pathway. It is likely that cell death (loss of colony-forming ability) and the collapse of delta pH also contribute to the further decline in fermentative activity after 30 h.
Genotype-phenotype assessment of common genotypes among patients with familial Mediterranean fever.

OBJECTIVE To study genotype-phenotype correlation for the 4 most common genotypes found among patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). METHODS Thirty patients with the M694V/M694V genotype, 32 with M694V/V726A genotype, 25 with M694V/E 148Q genotype, and 21 with V726A/V726A genotype were assessed for various clinical manifestations of FMF, and overall disease severity. RESULTS Patients with the M694V/M694V genotype were found to have an earlier age of onset, higher frequency of joint involvement, higher frequency of erysipelas-like erythema, and required higher doses of colchicine to control the disease compared to the other 3 genotypes. CONCLUSION The M694V/M694V genotype is associated with more severe disease compared to other common genotypes in patients with FMF.