Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical Traits of Hemiparasitism in Odontites luteus

The study of the monoterpene glycosides content of Odontites luteus has shown the presence of a total of fifteen iridoid glucosides. The presence of compounds 1 – 5 and 7 – 10 is perfectly on‐line with both the biogenetic pathway for iridoids biosynthesis in Lamiales and the current botanical classification of the species. On the other side, the presence of compounds like agnuside (6), adoxosidic acid (11), monotropein (12), 6,7‐dihydromonotropein (13), methyl oleoside (14) and methyl glucooleoside (15) is of high interest because, first of all, they have never been reported before in Lamiales. In second instance, the majority of the last compounds are formally derived from a different biogenetic pathway which involves deoxyloganic acid/loganin and led to the formation of decarboxylated iridoid showing the 8β‐configuration. Furthermore, a second abnormality was found during our study and this regards compounds 14 and 15 which are seco‐iriodids and thus not typical for this family. The presence of these unusual compounds, biogenetically not related to species belonging to Lamiales, is a clear evidence of the metabolites transfer from the hosts. In fact, the collection area is also populated by species belonging to Oleaceae and Ericaceae which could be the possible hosts since the biosynthesis of seco‐iridoids and or iridoids related to deoxyloganic acid/loganin pathway, with the 8β‐configuration, is well documented in these species.
Low-Flow Polytetrafluoroethylene Accesses: Ultrasound Surveillance and Preemptive Interventions Ensure Long-Term Patency

Background: Vascular accesses (especially polytetrafluoroethylene grafts) with a permanently low flow (Qa <600 ml/min) are prone to thrombosis and thus have short patency. The reason for a permanently low flow is usually medial calcinosis of the inflow artery in diabetics. We retrospectively studied the long-term patency of low-flow grafts with careful ultrasound surveillance and preemptive interventions. Methods: Twenty subjects with Qa permanently <600 ml/min were included. Ultrasound surveillance was performed every 3 months in addition to classical monitoring techniques. Significant stenosis was strictly defined as the combination of B-mode narrowing >50% + >2-fold peak systolic velocity increase + 1 additional criterion (residual diameter <2.0 mm or flow volume decrease by >20%). Such stenoses were treated by preemptive percutaneous intervention. Primary and secondary patencies were calculated. Results: The primary patency was 357 ± 316 days and the secondary (cumulative) patency was 996 ± 702 days. The number of interventions was 2.09/patient year, but >10 in 6 (33%) subjects. 93 and 80% of grafts were patent 1 and 2 years after access creation, respectively. Conclusion: Low-flow accesses undergoing ultrasound surveillance with strict diagnostic criteria and preemptive interventions had patencies similar to accesses with normal Qa in our study. This was enabled by a relatively high rate of interventions.
Effect of low-resolution ADCs and loop interference on multi-user full-duplex massive MIMO amplify-and-forward relaying systems

This paper focuses on a multi-user full-duplex massive multiple-input multiple-output amplify-and-forward relaying system with low-resolution analogue-to-digital convertors (ADCs). By modelling the loop-interference and quantisation noise as additive noise, we perform the analyses of the achievable spectral efficiency (SE) by considering the two canonical processing schemes, maximum ratio combining/maximal ratio transmission (MRC/MRT) and zero-forcing receive/zero-forcing transmission (ZFR/ZFT), respectively. Specially, we first obtain the tractable closed-form expressions of the achievable SE. Then, we present the asymptotic analyses under three different power-scaling scenarios. Comparison analysis shows that the low-resolution quantisers impose more performance loss on ZFR/ZFT schemes than MRC/MRT ones. At the same time, it is found that with different power-scaling schemes, the systems have different capabilities to restrict the effect of loop interference and low-resolution ADCs. Specially, the impact of both the loop-interference and quantisers on achievable SE can be restricted effectively only under the power-scaling scenario where the relay's transmission power is scaled down with the number of transmit antennas and the sources’ transmission power is fixed. For the power-scaling case where the transmission powers of both relay and sources are scaled down simultaneously with the number of antennas, only the effect of the loop interference can be restricted, but the one of low-resolution quantisers remains.
Sex Difference in Tooth Size

In connection with continuing studies on X-chromosomal determination of intraindividual tooth-size variability, we became concerned with the sex difference in absolute tooth size, using mesiodistal crown diameters of 243 middle-class, Ohio, white children, measured by one of us (ABL) throughout. With mean values generally comparable to those reported by Moorrees (The Dentition of the Growing Child [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959], p. 82), the sex difference in tooth size for the Ohio white children from a single geographical area was 4 per cent, intermediate between the 3 per cent sex difference in tooth formation timing and the 5 per cent difference in tooth eruption, but in the opposite
Developmental Regulation of BDNF and NT-3 Expression by Quinolinic Acid in the Striatum and Its Main Connections

Interactions between neurotrophic factors and neurotransmitters participate in the formation and maintenance of appropriate connections, as well as in neurodegenerative processes. Here we have measured changes in the developmental expression pattern of BDNF and NT-3 in the striatum, cortex, and substantia nigra induced by intrastriatal injection of the N-methyl-d-aspartate glutamate receptor agonist quinolinic acid (QUIN). Animals were injected at different postnatal ages, and BDNF and NT-3 mRNA levels were determined 6 h after lesion using a ribonuclease protection assay. Our results show a biphasic increase in BDNF mRNA levels in striatum and in the ipsilateral cortex at postnatal day (P)5 and P21. In contrast, although NT-3 expression did not change in the striatum, it was down-regulated in the ipsilateral cortex at P5 and P30. Intrastriatal QUIN injection did not induce changes in either BDNF or NT-3 expression in the ipsilateral substantia nigra. These findings show that neurotrophin expression is developmentally regulated after excitotoxic injury, which suggests that this endogenous response may be involved in different neuronal maturation and vulnerability during development.
Remission maintenance in acute lymphocytic leukemia with hydroxyurea.

Summary After complete remission had been induced by prednisone and vincristine in children with acute leukemia, hydroxyurea was used in an effort to maintain remission. No significant prolongation of remission occurred despite the appearance of toxicity in over 50% of the high dosage group. An equally significant observation was that the duration of remission produced by prednisone and vincristine was longer in those who had not received vincristine during a prior induced remission.
Bayesian Inference for Multivariate Meta-Regression With a Partially Observed Within-Study Sample Covariance Matrix

Multivariate meta-regression models are commonly used in settings where the response variable is naturally multidimensional. Such settings are common in cardiovascular and diabetes studies where the goal is to study cholesterol levels once a certain medication is given. In this setting, the natural multivariate endpoint is low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG) (LDL-C, HDL-C, TG). In this article, we examine study level (aggregate) multivariate meta-data from 26 Merck sponsored double-blind, randomized, active, or placebo-controlled clinical trials on adult patients with primary hypercholesterolemia. Our goal is to develop a methodology for carrying out Bayesian inference for multivariate meta-regression models with study level data when the within-study sample covariance matrix S for the multivariate response data is partially observed. Specifically, the proposed methodology is based on postulating a multivariate random effects regression model with an unknown within-study covariance matrix Σ in which we treat the within-study sample correlations as missing data, the standard deviations of the within-study sample covariance matrix S are assumed observed, and given Σ, S follows a Wishart distribution. Thus, we treat the off-diagonal elements of S as missing data, and these missing elements are sampled from the appropriate full conditional distribution in a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling scheme via a novel transformation based on partial correlations. We further propose several structures (models) for Σ, which allow for borrowing strength across different treatment arms and trials. The proposed methodology is assessed using simulated as well as real data, and the results are shown to be quite promising. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
Effect of Light Intensity on the Relative Dominance of Toxigenic and Nontoxigenic Strains of Microcystis aeruginosa

ABSTRACT In aquatic ecosystems, the factors that regulate the dominance of toxin-producing cyanobacteria over non-toxin-producing strains of the same species are largely unknown. One possible hypothesis is that limiting resources lead to the dominance of the latter because of the metabolic costs associated with toxin production. In this study, we tested the effect of light intensity on the performance of a microcystin-producing strain of Microcystis aeruginosa (UTCC 300) when grown in mixed cultures with non-microcystin-producing strains with similar intrinsic growth rates (UTCC 632 and UTCC 633). The endpoints measured included culture growth rates, microcystin concentrations and composition, and mcyD gene copy numbers determined using quantitative PCR (Q-PCR). In contrast to the predicted results, under conditions of low light intensity (20 μmol·m−2·s−1), the toxigenic strain became dominant in both of the mixed cultures based on gene copy numbers and microcystin concentrations. When grown under conditions of high light intensity (80 μmol·m−2·s−1), the toxigenic strain still appeared to dominate over nontoxigenic strain UTCC 632 but less so over strain UTCC 633. Microcystins may not be so costly to produce that toxigenic cyanobacteria are at a disadvantage in competition for limiting resources.
Ultrasonography of vitreous chamber in Iranian Holstein cattle

The aim of recent study was to describe the ultrasonographic appearance and measurements of the normal vitreous chamber in cow eye. In this study, twenty vitreous chamber of eye in cattles (Iranian Holstein) were done scan by ultrasonography and also measured in anterior-posterior axial by B-mode display approach. The ultrasonographic appearance of vitreous chamber is similar to that in other species. Total mean of vitreous chamber depth was 1.443 ± 0.034 cm. The mean of left and right eye vitreous chamber depths measurement were 1.445 ± 0.035 cm and 1.442 ± 0.034 cm respectively. The mean of right eye vitreous chamber depth measurement was not significantly different with mean of left eye vitreous chamber measurement.
Praziquantel reverses pulmonary hypertension and vascular remodeling in murine schistosomiasis.

RATIONALE Schistosomiasis is the most common worldwide cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension. The anti-schistosome drug praziquantel has been shown to reverse the liver fibrosis associated with Schistosoma mansoni in mice. OBJECTIVES We sought to determine whether praziquantel reverses established pulmonary vascular remodeling and pulmonary hypertension in a mouse model of S. mansoni. METHODS Mice were infected percutaneously with S. mansoni. At 17 weeks after infection mice were either killed or received two doses of praziquantel or vehicle by oral gavage. Treated mice were studied at 25 weeks after infection. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Vehicle-treated mice demonstrated significant increases in right ventricular systolic pressures (RVSP) and right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) at 25 weeks, accompanied by pulmonary vascular remodeling. The degree of vascular remodeling correlated with proximity to granulomas. The elevation of RVSP and RVH at 25 weeks was dependent on the presence of eggs in the lung. Praziquantel eliminated the production of eggs in feces and led to clearance of eggs from the lung and to a lesser extent from liver. Praziquantel prevented the rise in RVSP and RVH seen in vehicle-treated mice and reversed established pulmonary vascular remodeling. Praziquantel significantly reduced lung mRNA expression of IL-13, IL-8, and IL-4, but did not reduce serum cytokine levels. CONCLUSIONS The development of pulmonary hypertension associated with S. mansoni infection can be prevented by praziquantel, and established vascular remodeling can be reversed. The mechanism involves clearance of lung eggs and reduced local expression of lung cytokines.
Photodiode-free Doppler velocimeter based on self-mixing effect in commercial VCSELs

In this paper, we explore a new signal acquisition method for laser Doppler velocimeter based on the self-mixing technique. The self-mixing technique is applied on commercial multimode transverse Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) and the signal is acquired by amplification of the junction voltage of the laser diode when it was usually picked-up with an external photodiode. The sensor developed exhibits up to 25 dB signal-to-noise ratio for a wide velocity range. We present a study of the sensitivity of such photodiode-free sensors versus the laser static conditions and we compare the results with usual photodetected signals. Finally we expose the advantages of this technique and propose new applications for self-mixing sensors.
Modulation of glutathione and glutathione dependent antioxidant enzymes in mouse heart following doxorubicin therapy.

The toxicity of the antineoplastic agent doxorubicin (DOX) has been shown to be moderated by the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase. It has been reported that acute doses of DOX can cause an inhibition of glutathione peroxidase in cardiac tissue, that may render this tissue especially susceptible to further prooxidant damage. In this study, multiple DOX treatments at a therapeutic dose were assessed for their effect on the antioxidant enzyme status of cardiac and kidney tissue. DOX was administered i.p. (5 mg/kg) once a week for two weeks to male balb/c mice. The activities of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPOX) and glutathione reductase (GR) were measured 1, 2 and 7 days following the second DOX treatment in both heart and kidney. Levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) were also measured in cardiac tissue at these same times. Cardiac levels of GPOX and GR showed a time-dependent decrease in activity, with 10% and 12% inhibition for GPOX and GR, respectively, at 7 days post second treatment. Cardiac levels of GSH also showed a significant decrease, approximately 15%, at 7 days post second treatment. Cardiac levels of SOD and CAT as well as kidney levels of all four antioxidant enzymes were not affected by DOX treatment. These data suggest that DOX given in a therapeutic regimen, at a therapeutic dose, can cause decreases in cardiac levels of GPOX, GR and GSH that could render the heart especially susceptible to further oxidative challenge.
SEM of Service Quality to Predict Overall Patient Satisfaction in Medical Clinics: A Case Study

This study analyzed patient satisfaction surveys to determine which process attributes affect overall patient satisfaction. The authors conclude that the strongest impact is the care provider's interaction with the patient. Healthcare providers/practitioners value business analytics as a means to focus and redirect their continuous improvement efforts and to encourage appropriate provider behavior. The data for this research were gathered from patient satisfaction surveys from 18 diverse medical clinics in a rural, Midwestern U.S. healthcare system. Overall patient satisfaction was measured by four separate variables. Quality service was measured by five dimensions and related constructs. All were measured through the use of a five-point Likert-scaled survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied to identify the factors that impact overall patient satisfaction at the clinics. This research, and the surveys from which the data were derived, focus on process dimensions of service quality, rather than the technical aspects of the healthcare delivery system.
Running head : WENDER UTAH RATING Wender Utah Rating Scale : representation of past or present functioning ?

Objective: To examine whether (a) the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) is able to distinguish ADHD patients from normal controls based on their reported childhood experiences; (b) the WURS differentiates previously diagnosed ADHD patients based on its cut-off score of 46; and (c) correlation exists between the WURS scores and results on executive function measures. Method: 23 adults previously diagnosed with ADHD and 50 normal controls completed a number of questionnaires and were administered neuropsychological tests of executive functioning. Results: WURS differentiated significantly between ADHD patients and normal controls, but the cut-off score of 46 correctly discriminated only 52% of the ADHD patients. While results on neuropsychological tests distinguished between the two groups, there was no significant correlation with the WURS measure. Conclusion: results confirm earlier evidence that clinical diagnosis of ADHD should not be made dependent of self reported retrospective childhood behavior as measured by the WURS. Neuropsychological test results endorse the notion that ADHD patients suffer from general cognitive slowing.
Virulence of capsulated and noncapsulated isolates of Pasteurella multocida and their adherence to porcine respiratory tract cells and mucus

The virulence and the adherence to porcine respiratory tract cells and mucus of three toxigenic, capsular type D Pasteurella multocida isolates and their noncapsulated variants were evaluated in the present study. Loss of capsule by P. multocida, verified by transmission electron microscopy after polycationic ferritin labeling, was associated with a massive reduction in virulence of the organisms in mice. Specific-pathogen-free piglets inoculated intranasally with one of the capsulated isolates or its noncapsulated variant developed turbinate lesions characterized by bone resorption and by an inflammation of the mucosa associated with hyperplasia and squamous metaplasia of the epithelium. Infection with the capsulated isolate led to more severe lesions and atrophy of turbinates. The interactions of these P. multocida isolates with porcine respiratory tract cells and mucus were studied in vitro. The presence of capsule resulted in a decrease in binding of respiratory tract mucus were studied in vitro. The presence of capsule resulted in a decrease in binding of respiratory tract mucus to P. multocida isolates as determined by a dot blot assay. The presence of capsule also resulted in a significant decrease in adherence to porcine tracheal rings maintained in culture. The capsule seemed to mask outer membrane components which are involved in adherence. One of these components might be lipopolysaccharide since purified lipopolysaccharide bound respiratory tract mucus and blocked adherence of this microorganism to porcine tracheal rings. Our data indicate that capsular material does not seem to be involved in adherence of P. multocida to respiratory tract cells and mucus, but capsulated isolates are more virulent in mice and also in piglets.
Interactions between Genetic and Ecological Effects on the Evolution of Life Cycles

Sexual reproduction leads to an alternation between haploid and diploid phases, whose relative length varies widely across taxa. Previous genetical models showed that diploid or haploid life cycles may be favored, depending on dominance interactions and on effective recombination rates. By contrast, niche differentiation between haploids and diploids may favor biphasic life cycles, in which development occurs in both phases. In this article, we explore the interplay between genetical and ecological factors, assuming that deleterious mutations affect the competitivity of individuals within their ecological niche and allowing different effects of mutations in haploids and diploids (including antagonistic selection). We show that selection on a modifier gene affecting the relative length of both phases can be decomposed into a direct selection term favoring the phase with the highest mean fitness (due to either ecological differences or differential effects of mutations) and an indirect selection term favoring the phase in which selection is more efficient. When deleterious alleles occur at many loci and in the presence of ecological differentiation between haploids and diploids, evolutionary branching often occurs and leads to the stable coexistence of alleles coding for haploid and diploid cycles, while temporal variations in niche sizes may stabilize biphasic cycles.
Impact of stimulant pharmacotherapy on sleep quality: post hoc analyses of 2 large, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials.

BACKGROUND Sleep disturbances may cause distress among individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but few studies have examined the impact of stimulant pharmacotherapy for ADHD on sleep in adults. METHOD These post hoc analyses included sleep data collected with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a self-rated questionnaire, from 831 adults with DSM-IV-TR-defined ADHD in 2 large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, forced-dose titration studies of lisdexamfetamine (N = 420; conducted from May 25, 2006, to November 16, 2006) and triple-bead mixed amphetamine salts (MAS) (N = 411; conducted from April 25, 2005, to November 4, 2005). Change from baseline to endpoint in PSQI clinically meaningful change categories (ie, "decrease," "no change," or "increase") was analyzed by treatment group in each study using the χ² test. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel method was used (1) to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement (CGI-I) score of 1 or 2 (improved) versus > 2 (not improved) relative to a decrease or an increase in PSQI and (2) to analyze shifts from good sleep at baseline (PSQI ≤ 5) to poor sleep at endpoint (PSQI > 5). RESULTS Impaired sleep (PSQI score > 5) relative to baseline was demonstrated in 8.3% and 9.7% of the treatment and placebo groups, respectively (P = .18), in the MAS study and 7.7% and 8.2%, respectively (P = .03), in the lisdexamfetamine study. Clinically meaningful change in baseline to endpoint PSQI was not statistically significantly different between treatment and placebo groups in either study. A significant difference in CGI-I 1 and 2 relative to an increase or decrease in PSQI was found in both the triple-bead MAS (P < .0001) and the lisdexamfetamine (P = .0008) trials. More subjects with improved CGI-I rating of 1 or 2 had improvement in PSQI than had worsening. CONCLUSIONS Approximately one-third of subjects receiving treatment or placebo had clinically meaningful sleep improvement, emphasizing that change in sleep quality during treatment may not necessarily be related to stimulant therapy. When managing complaints of sleep difficulties in ADHD subjects, clinicians should undertake a broad assessment and consider underlying conditions that may contribute to sleep disruption. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifiers: NCT00334880 and NCT00152022.