Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COLLEGE FACULTY MOTIVES AND BARRIERS FOR PARTICIPATING IN INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

The purpose of this study was to identify New Mexico State University, College of Agriculture and Home Economics, faculty motives and perceived barriers for participating in international activities. The study utilized descriptive survey methodology. An interdepartmental mail questionnaire measured participation motives with paired Likert-type items. Qualitative data on motives and barriers were also collected. Faculty were found to be motivated by intrinsic motives such as cognizance, exposition, similance, play, achievement, nurturance and affiliation. Barriers to participation were mostly extrinsic in nature (e.g., lack of time, lack of reward and lack of language skills). Faculty who were highly motivated to participate in international activities were significantly different from those who were less than highly motivated on seven motives, and overall motivation. The primary applications drawn from these results are to focus efforts to motivate faculty to participate internationally by satisfying intrinsic motives, while reducing extrinsic barriers.
Analysis and evaluation of the operational status of municipal wastewater treatment plants in the Dodecanese prefecture in Greece

Data from municipal and private wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in the Dodecanese prefecture in Greece was collected via a questionnaire and personal interviews, and was analyzed with respect to the operational status of the plants. The data was compared with the latest reports by the Greek Ministry of the Environment, which is what is officially reported at a national level and to the European Union (EU), and what judges Greece’s compliance with EU Directives. Our assessment is that the picture presented by the Ministry is limited and optimistic when compared to reality, with many plants going unreported. This confirms what other researchers have reported previously, and presents an update on operational status, specifically for the highly touristic and ecologically sensitive island area of the Dodecanese. A short survey of the private WWTPs belonging to hotel establishments reveals that, although they are expected to treat a large percentage of the wastewaters produced in the islands during summer months, most of them operate poorly, while no regular checks are performed by public health officials.
A Microtonal Tempo Canon Generator After Nancarrow and Jaffe

A composition system for tempo canons is described which implements mensural and acceleration canon as explored by Conlon Nancarrow, and sinusoidal oscillation canon as introduced by David Jaffe. The work has the capacity for microtonal melodies in up to eight voices, with substitutable modules for the synthesis and the algorithmic composition of the canon fundamental line. With a user interface to assist exploration, the system can be used as a research tool, or as a generative piece in its own right.
Prenatal exposure to pesticides: a feasibility study among migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

BACKGROUND Migrant and seasonal farmworkers have a high potential for pesticide exposures, yet are rarely included in epidemiologic studies. This study examined the feasibility of assessing prenatal exposures to pesticides and other compounds in pregnant Hispanic farmworkers. METHODS Nine women completed a survey about work experiences during pregnancy. Maternal urine, cord blood, and placenta samples were obtained at delivery for analysis of 51 analytes, including 6 phenoxy acid or triazine herbicides, 21 organochlorine insecticides, 10 PCBs, and 14 volatile organic compounds. RESULTS Seven of 51 analytes were found in the biological samples. DDE, DDT, dichlorbenzene, toluene, trimethylbenzene, and endosulfan sulfate were detected in cord blood samples, and 2,4-D in urine from one or more women. CONCLUSIONS We documented the feasibility of following farmworkers to assess in utero exposure to pesticides and other contaminants, and demonstrated exposure to these compounds. Difficulties in measuring pesticides with short half lives were noted.
Patient outcomes influenced by reduced lymphocyte counts after dimethyl fumarate initiation

Objective: To examine the temporal profile of absolute and lymphocyte subset data from dimethyl fumarate (DMF) start and relationships to disease behavior. Methods: A retrospective study performed on patients with an existing diagnosis of MS and a history of DMF exposure from a single MS center. Demographic, laboratory, and corresponding clinical relapse and MRI data were recorded from baseline and in 3–4-month intervals after treatment initiation extending to 3 years. The Spearman rank coefficient and mixed-effects models were used to assess longitudinal correlations between cell counts and measures of disease activity. Results: A total of 292 patients with MS (228 women; median age at DMF initiation: 40.6 years, range: 16.1–66.7 years) were identified. An increased risk of disease activity was associated with higher absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) values at 3 months (p = 0.001, OR: 1.82) and at 6 months (p = 0.032, hazard ratio: 1.73). A reduced risk of disease evolution in patients with lower ALC values < 1,200 cells/μL compared with midtier (1,210–1,800 cells/μL) and the highest tertile (>1,810 cells/μL) was observed (p = 0.01). Conclusions: Reductions in ALC values at months 3 and 6 after treatment initiation appear to be associated with improved clinical and radiologic outcomes. These data alone may help to provide a better understanding of both the safety and efficacy of DMF.
Teachers’ and educators’ perspectives on systems thinking and its implementation in Dutch biology education

ABSTRACT Systems thinking, the ability to reason about systems in abstract terms, fosters students’ coherent understanding of biology. This study aimed to determine to what extent the integration of systems thinking in Dutch biology education is in line with perspectives from systems theories and experts. We related the perspective on systems thinking of systems biologists (n = 7) to those of biology teachers (n = 8) and educators (n = 9). The resulting perspectives were interpreted in terms of three systems theories, General Systems Theories (GST), Cybernetics and Dynamical Systems Theories (DST). Thirdly, we determined to what extent and how teachers and educators pay attention to systems thinking in their teaching practice. This was all done by the use of open-ended interviews and online questionnaires. The results show that the systems biologists and teacher educators involved implicitly refer to three systems theories, whereas the teachers refer to the GST and cybernetics only. Despite this, the results suggest that the implementation of systems thinking in Dutch pre-service teacher training and secondary biology education falls short of expectations. These outcomes underline the importance of teacher (educator) professional development on teaching systems thinking to bridge the gap between research and teaching practice.
Mapping out spin and particle conductances in a quantum point contact

Significance Predicting the transport properties of interacting particles in the quantum regime is challenging. A conceptually simple situation is realized by connecting two reservoirs through a quantum point contact. For noninteracting fermions, the conductance is quantized in units of the inverse of Planck’s constant, reflecting the contribution to transport of an individual quantum state. We use a cold atomic Fermi gas to map out the spin and particle conductance in a quantum point contact for increasing attractive interactions and observe remarkable effects of interactions on both spin and particle transport. Our work provides maps of conductance over a wide range of parameters and in the presence of many-body correlations, yielding new insights into the nature of strongly attractive Fermi gases. We study particle and spin transport in a single-mode quantum point contact, using a charge neutral, quantum degenerate Fermi gas with tunable, attractive interactions. This yields the spin and particle conductance of the point contact as a function of chemical potential or confinement. The measurements cover a regime from weak attraction, where quantized conductance is observed, to the resonantly interacting superfluid. Spin conductance exhibits a broad maximum when varying the chemical potential at moderate interactions, which signals the emergence of Cooper pairing. In contrast, the particle conductance is unexpectedly enhanced even before the gas is expected to turn into a superfluid, continuously rising from the plateau at 1/h for weak interactions to plateau-like features at nonuniversal values as high as 4/h for intermediate interactions. For strong interactions, the particle conductance plateaus disappear and the spin conductance gets suppressed, confirming the spin-insulating character of a superfluid. Our observations document the breakdown of universal conductance quantization as many-body correlations appear. The observed anomalous quantization challenges a Fermi liquid description of the normal phase, shedding new light on the nature of the strongly attractive Fermi gas.
Superior longitudinal fasciculus subserves vestibular network in humans

Vestibular function is known to be represented in a large-scale network within the brain. Although much is known about the topography of this cortical network, the subcortical anatomo-functional connectivity has received less attention. We present three patients operated on while conscious for cerebral low-grade gliomas, in which we elicited vestibular symptoms during subcortical stimulation. Anatomo-functional correlations between postoperative imaging and intraoperative findings suggest the involvement of the superior longitudinal fasciculus in the spreading of the vestibular symptoms. We argue that this fasciculus plays a major role in the functional connectivity of the areas involved in the complex multimodal network that controls vestibular function.
Artificial neural network-based classification of vector sets for surface inspection

In applications of pattern recognition a set of objects usually represented by feature vectors is extracted from an image and needs to be classified as a whole set of objects, meaning that some properties of the set of objects are an aggregation of the single feature vectors – and the classification of the set of objects may depend on exactly these properties. If the number of objects, respectively the number of features, is not known or limited a priori standard classification algorithms such as support vector machines or linear classifiers cannot applied in a straightforward way due to the fixed size of the number of features in these methods. Therefore the set of object’s “structure” may not be implemented properly. In this paper we will discuss some issues of these problems and propose recurrent neural networks (RNN) as a promising method to use for such problems.
Is the light chain subcellular localization an important factor in botulinum toxin duration of action?

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) are therapeutic proteins that are specific, potent, and effective. They are highly specific in binding to motor neurons but do not bind to other non‐neuronal cells. These proteins are zinc‐dependent endopeptidases that inhibit exocytosis by specific cleavage of the SNARE (soluble N‐ethylmaleimide‐sensitive factor‐attachment protein‐receptor) proteins involved in vesicle docking and fusion. The therapeutic effect of BoNT/A in humans lasts from 3 to 12 months, depending upon the condition treated. Data from animal and cell culture models suggests that the long‐lasting duration of inhibition of neurotransmitter release induced by BoNT/A maybe due to the persistence of the endopeptidase activity of the light chain (LC/A) in cells, interactions of the cleaved substrates, and/or the response of the nerve to the temporary disruption of communication with its target tissue. We have analyzed the subcellular localization of the light chains from serotypes A, B, and E and have demonstrated that each light chain displays a distinct distribution within cells. LC/A localizes at the plasma membrane, LC/B is dispersed throughout the cell including the nucleus, and LC/E is mainly cytosolic. Localization is similar in non‐neuronal cell lines, suggesting that the signals involved in proper subcellular localization are within the LC sequences and the moiety the light chain interacts with is present in both neuronal and non‐neuronal cells. © 2004 Movement Disorder Society
Bounded Rationality, Planning, Standardization of International Strategy, and Export Performance: A Structural Model Examination

This article examines a comprehensive list of environmental conditions that affect the decision to standardize, as well as the relationship of strategy standardization and planning with static (present year) and change over time (five years) export performance. Determinants of standardization include country image, competitors’ similarity, competitive position similarity, physical market environment, legal environment, governmental influences, and media similarity, and standardization of strategy determines export performance. Research hypotheses are tested by data generated from a mail survey in Israel, and the findings are used to generate research and managerial implications.
Effect of crocin on aged rat kidney through inhibition of oxidative stress and proinflammatory state

This study evaluated whether crocin, a bioactive component of saffron, has a protective effect on kidney through reducing the oxidative stress and inflammatory response in aged rats. In this study the changes in activities of antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation, glutathione (GSH) levels and the expression of pro‐inflammatory cytokines in the serum and renal tissue were evaluated by ELISA and RT‐PCR, respectively. The middle and aged rats were given intraperitoneal injections of crocin (10, 20, 30 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, animals were anesthetized with diethyl ether. The kidney samples were taken for biochemical analysis. The results revealed the aging was associated with a significant decrease in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and GSH content with increase in lipid peroxidation level in kidney of the aged rats (p < 0.001). The increased levels of serum renal functional parameter, oxidative parameters (p < 0.01) and also pro‐inflammatory cytokine levels were significantly reduced by crocin administration (p < 0.05). The aged rats exhibited a dysregulation of the oxidative stress, and inflammation in the kidneys, but crocin treatment significantly reduced the expression of the inflammatory genes. These results provide pivotal documentation that crocin has a renoprotective effects against the development of oxidative stress and inflammation in the kidney of old rats. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In vitro pharmacodynamics of fosfomycin against clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

BACKGROUND The use of fosfomycin for treatment of systemic infections due to MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa is increasing. However, pharmacodynamic data for fosfomycin are limited. METHODS Sixty-four clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa (MDR and non-MDR) from two Australian hospitals were collected; 59 isolates were from patients with cystic fibrosis and 5 isolates were from critically ill patients. The in vitro pharmacodynamic properties of fosfomycin (disodium) were investigated via MICs (all isolates) and, for selected isolates, via time-kill kinetics (static and dynamic models; concentration range, 1-1024 mg/L), population analysis profiles (PAPs) and post-antibiotic effect (PAE). Two inocula (∼10(6) and ∼10(8) cfu/mL) were included in static time-kill studies to examine the effect of inocula on bacterial killing. RESULTS MICs ranged from 1 to >512 mg/L, with 61% of isolates considered fosfomycin susceptible (MIC ≤64 mg/L). The MIC distributions for MDR and non-MDR isolates were similar. Baseline PAPs indicated heteroresistance in all isolates tested. Time-kill studies showed moderate (maximum killing ∼3 log10 cfu/mL), time-dependent killing at the low inoculum with regrowth at 24 h. Most concentrations resulted in complete replacement of fosfomycin-susceptible colonies by fosfomycin-resistant colonies. Bacterial killing was virtually eliminated at the high inoculum. The PAE ranged from 0.3 to 5.5 h. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest monotherapy with fosfomycin may be problematic for the treatment of infections caused by P. aeruginosa. Further investigation of fosfomycin combination therapy is warranted.
Uracil uptake in Escherichia coli K-12: isolation of uraA mutants and cloning of the gene

Mutants defective in utilization of uracil at low concentrations have been isolated and characterized. The mutations in question (uraA) map close to the upp gene encoding uracil phosphoribosyltransferase. By complementation analysis, a plasmid that complements the uraA mutation has been isolated. The uraA gene was shown to be the second gene in a bicistronic operon with upp as the promoter proximal gene. The nucleotide sequence of the gene was determined, and the gene encodes a hydrophobic membrane protein with a calculated Mr of 45,030. The UraA protein has been identified in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels in the membrane fraction of minicells harboring the uraA plasmids.
The Impact of Health Indicators on Economic Growth in Pakistan

This study aims at investigating the issues of health sector in Pakistan and highlights the important link between health indicators and economic growth. For this purpose, Ordinary least square method and Granger Causality technique are applied on time series data of Pakistan from 1980-2012. Health expenditures, fertility rate, life expectancy, and infant mortality rate have been used as health indicators. The basic objective of study is to enhance those issues in health sectors that directly or indirectly strike on economic growth of Pakistan so that effective policies can be chalked out to cop current as well future condition regarding health and an economic growth. The results showed that life expectancy, fertility rate, investment on health sectors has significantly influenced the per capita GDP. Health expenditures have also positive but insignificant impact on economic growth. Whereas there is negative relationship of infant mortality rate, population per bed on economic growth. The major policy implication of this study is that by increasing the health facilities through increase the investment on health sector that will improve the sustainable level of economic growth.
Analysis of the RpoS regulon in Borrelia burgdorferi in response to mammalian host signals provides insight into RpoS function during the enzootic cycle

Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) adapts to its arthropod and mammalian hosts by altering its transcriptional and antigenic profiles in response to environmental signals associated with each of these milieus. In studies presented here, we provide evidence to suggest that mammalian host signals are important for modulating and maintaining both the positive and negative aspects of mammalian host adaptation mediated by the alternative sigma factor RpoS in Bb. Although considerable overlap was observed between genes induced by RpoS during growth within the mammalian host and following temperature‐shift, comparative microarray analyses demonstrated unequivocally that RpoS‐mediated repression requires mammalian host‐specific signals. A substantial portion of the in vivo RpoS regulon was uniquely upregulated within dialysis membrane chambers, further underscoring the importance of host‐derived environmental stimuli for differential gene expression in Bb. Expression profiling of genes within the RpoS regulon by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) revealed a level of complexity to RpoS‐dependent gene regulation beyond that observed by microarray, including a broad range of expression levels and the presence of genes whose expression is only partially dependent on RpoS. Analysis of Bb‐infected ticks by qRT‐PCR established that expression of rpoS is induced during the nymphal blood meal but not within unfed nymphs or engorged larvae. Together, these data have led us to postulate that RpoS acts as a gatekeeper for the reciprocal regulation of genes involved in the establishment of infection within the mammalian host and the maintenance of spirochetes within the arthropod vector.
The influence of intake level and corn processing on digestibility and ruminal metabolism in steers fed all-concentrate diets.

The effects of intake (ad libitum and 70% of ad libitum) and corn processing (whole or rolled) on digestion, ruminal metabolism, and blood metabolites were determined in a 2 x 2 factorial experiment using eight ruminally fistulated steers. All-concentrate diets were fed with adjustments to dietary concentrations of N, vitamins, and minerals to ensure equal daily intake of these nutrients. Digestion of DM, OM, and starch were affected by an intake x processing interaction (P < .03). Starch digestion for the low-intake, whole-corn diet was much lower than that for the other three diets. This decrease in starch digestion was the major reason for the interaction. Nitrogen digestion was improved (P < .03) with limited intake but was not affected by processing. Ruminal volume and ruminal turnover (percentage/hour) were both reduced (P < .03) on the low-intake diet. Molar proportion of acetate was reduced and propionate was increased (P < .01) for steers receiving high intake of rolled corn compared with the other three diets. Butyrate concentrations were increased (P < .01) when corn was rolled before feeding. Ruminal pH was higher immediately before feeding for steers receiving whole corn than for those receiving rolled corn. Decreases in pH were observed for rolled corn 2 to 9 h after feeding, suggesting a faster rate of fermentation of rolled corn than of whole corn. Concentrations of blood glucose and insulin were not affected by intake or processing. It was concluded that processing corn can improve DM and OM digestibility if intake is restricted and that N digestion is improved with restricted feeding. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Systematic review of statins for the prevention of vascular dementia or dementia

Aim: Non‐hypolipidemic effects of statins, known as pleiotropic effects, are likely to explain the effect of statins on dementia. Results of the relationship between statins and dementia in previous studies are conflicting. There is no systematic review investigating the effect of statins on vascular dementia (VaD). This systematic review evaluates the role of statins in the prevention of VaD or dementia. The possible causes of conflicting results in the existing published work will be explored.
Do health claims add value? The role of functionality, effectiveness and brand

European functional food manufacturers experience high costs of production, marketing and compliance with Regulation EC No. 1924/2006, requiring high premiums to recover these costs. We review the literature on consumers' acceptance of health-enhancing food products and identify three factors potentially affecting health claims' premiums: health claims' type, efficacy and brands. We estimate the contribution of these factors on health claims' implicit prices using a database of Italian yogurt sales and a hedonic price model. We find premiums differing by claim type; that ‘risk diseases reduction’ claims outperforming ‘general function’ claims and that the support of familiar brands affects health claims' premiums.