Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAHs) IN FINE AND COARSE PARTICLES

Kozani is a heavy industrialized area in the northwestern part of Greece, which is characterized by complex topography. Within the basin, lignite PS operates with a total installed generating capacity of more than 4.7 GW. These PS contribute to about 57% of the total electrical energy produced in Greece. The lignite used by these power stations is mined in the nearby open-pit mines. Dust emissions seem to be the most serious problem in the area, as the measured ambient concentrations of suspended particles are at high levels and exceed local and international standards. The profile of fine (PM2.5) and the coarse of (PM2.5-10) particles in Kozani, with regard to PAHs was studied. These findings have taken into consideration the diagnostic ratios, correlation with air pollutants and with weather conditions, in investigating the sources of pollution in the region. About 140 samplings of fine and coarse particles were gathered during the year 2006 in Kozani that represent an urban area surrounded by opencast coal mining activities (e.g. resuspension) and tall stack raw lignite combustion activities (e.g. flying ash transfer). A low volume dichotomus sampler has been used to trap suspended particles. The filters used were teflo, which are ideal for analysis in the determination of PAHs. The determination of PAHs has been carried out by the use of the analytic technique of large volume injection and gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (LVI - GC/MS). The extraction of substances has been made by the combination of agitation with reflux solvent and bath of ultrasounds with reflux solvent. This technique has given high recoveries of PAHs, in short time intervals. The mean daily concentrations of fine particles varied from 4 to 48 μg/m 3 and annual mean was 16 μg/m 3 . The mean daily concentrations of coarse particles respectively varied from 2 to 67 μg/m 3 with 23 μg/m 3 annual mean concentration. The ΣPAH concentrations for fine samples were 4.80 ± 7.06 ng/m 3 and for coarse samples were 1.36 ± 1.59 ng/m 3 . The mean B[a]Py concentration for fine particles was 0.38 ng/m 3 . Additionally, diagnostic ratio was used to characterize and identify PAHs emission source in this study.
Optimal model reduction for systems with time delay

This paper deals with the problem of optimally approximating high order models with or without time delay by low order ones with or without time delay. The performance index used for optimization is the integral squared error (ISE) between the responses of the reduced order and original models. The ISE is first expressed in terms of the reduced order system unknown parameters and a minimization of the ISE then gives the reduced model optimal parameters. Cheap computation of optimal reduced order models with time delay has hitherto proved abortive as closed-form expressions for the ISE has proved difficult to obtain.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Breastfeeding Initiation and Continuation in the United Kingdom and Comparison With Findings in the United States

OBJECTIVE. Patterns of breastfeeding vary considerably across different racial/ethnic groups; however, little is known about factors that might explain differences across and within different racial/ethnic groups. Here we examine patterns of breastfeeding initiation and continuation among a racially/ethnically diverse sample of new mothers and compare this with patterns seen in the United States. The effects of demographic, social, economic, and cultural factors on racial/ethnic differences in breastfeeding practices are assessed. METHODS. The sample includes all singleton infants whose mothers participated in the first survey of the United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study. Missing data reduced the sample to 17474 (96%) infants with complete data. RESULTS. After adjustment for demographic, economic, and psychosocial factors, logistic regression models showed that Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, black Caribbean, and black African mothers were more likely to initiate breastfeeding compared with white mothers. Further adjustment for a marker of cultural tradition attenuated these relationships, but all remained statistically significant, suggesting that some of the difference was a consequence of cultural factors. After adjustment for demographic, economic, and psychosocial factors, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, black Carribbean, and black African mothers were more likely to continue breastfeeding at 3 months compared with white mothers. Additional adjustment for a marker of cultural tradition attenuated the relationship for Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and black African mothers, but all remained statistically significant. Models run for breastfeeding continuation at 4 and 6 months were consistent with these results. CONCLUSIONS. We have shown that in the United Kingdom the highest breastfeeding rates are among black and Asian mothers, which is in stark contrast to patterns in the United States, where the lowest rate is seen among non-Hispanic black mothers. The contrasting racial/ethnic patterns of breastfeeding in the UnitedKingdom and United States necessitate very different public health approaches to reach national targets on breastfeeding and reduce health disparities. Those who implement future policies aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates need to pay attention to different social, economic, and cultural profiles of all racial/ethnic groups.
Inducible activation of Akt increases skeletal muscle mass and force without satellite cell activation

A better understanding of the signaling pathways that control muscle growth is required to identify appropriate countermeasures to prevent or reverse the loss of muscle mass and force induced by aging, disuse, or neuromuscular diseases. However, two major issues in this field have not yet been fully addressed. The first concerns the pathways involved in leading to physiological changes in muscle size. Muscle hypertrophy based on perturbations of specific signaling pathways is either characterized by impaired force generation, e.g., myostatin knockout, or incompletely studied from the physiological point of view, e.g., IGF‐1 overexpression. A second issue is whether satellite cell proliferation and incorporation into growing muscle fibers is required for a functional hypertrophy. To address these issues, we used an inducible transgenic model of muscle hypertrophy by short‐term Akt activation in adult skeletal muscle. In this model, Akt activation for 3 wk was followed by marked hypertrophy (̃50% of muscle mass) and by increased force generation, as determined in vivo by ankle plantar flexor stimulation, ex vivo in intact isolated diaphragm strips, and in single‐skinned muscle fibers. No changes in fiber‐type distribution and resistance to fatigue were detectable. Bromodeoxyuridine incorporation experiments showed that Akt‐dependent muscle hypertrophy was accompanied by proliferation of interstitial cells but not by satellite cell activation and new myonuclei incorporation, pointing to an increase in myonuclear domain size. We can conclude that during a fast hyper‐trophic growth myonuclear domain can increase without compromising muscle performance. —Blaauw, B. , Canato, M. , Agatea, L. , Toniolo, L. , Mammucari, C. , Masiero, E. , Abraham, R. , Sandri, M. , Schiaffino, S. , Reggiani, C. Inducible activation of Akt increases skeletal muscle mass and force without satellite cell activation. FASEBJ. 23, 3896‐3905 (2009). www.fasebj. org
Introducing novel service policies in designing protocol for congestion control mechanism

A novel protocol is being designed for efficient congestion control with the principle of cross layer approach. This protocol will support congestion control in overcrowded traffic using multi-path routing scheme. This protocol finds application in the scenario where fairness in rate is enhanced by adapting route optimization with reduced queue length. The underutilized channel capacity information is distributed uniformly over all nodes by the proposed protocol. The performance of the protocol is validated with the performance of the existing conventional congestion mitigation protocol and found that the proposed protocol is considerably superior in its functionality.
Bevacizumab reverses need for liver transplantation in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by mucocutaneous and visceral telangiectasia. Hepatic involvement with vascular malformations may lead to portal hypertension, biliary ischemia, and high‐output cardiac failure. Liver transplantation is indicated for life‐threatening disease but carries significant risk from surgery and chronic immunosuppression. We report a case of a 47‐year‐old woman with HHT successfully treated with the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody bevacizumab. The patient was referred for consideration of liver transplantation because of hepatic HHT leading to high‐output cardiac failure, diuretic resistant ascites, cholestasis, and malnutrition. As she was considered a high‐risk candidate for transplantation, she underwent 6 courses of bevacizumab (5 mg/kg) over 12 weeks. A dramatic improvement in her clinical state was observed after 3 months with reversal of cholestasis, resolution of cardiac failure and ascites, and improvement in nutritional status with a 10% dry weight increase. Treatment induced a marked reduction in liver vascularity and halving of her liver volume from 4807 to 2269 mL over 6 months. This was associated with normalization of her cardiac output from 10.2 to 5.1 L/minute. Correspondingly, she ceased diuretic medications, returned to full‐time work, and was delisted as a transplant candidate. She remains well 6 months after completing treatment. In conclusion, antagonism of VEGF receptors led to a dramatic regression of hepatic vascular malformations and reversal of high‐output cardiac failure and complications of portal hypertension in this patient with HHT. Bevacizumab may potentially alleviate the need for liver transplantation in this group of patients. Liver Transpl 14:210–213. 2008. © 2008 AASLD.
Injuries of the gall‐bladder

to the excessive vascularity constantly present in this disease. Irradiation of the femoral head by temporary implantation of a radio-active Co60 gamma-ray source into the centre of the head was undertaken to reduce this excessive vascularity. The technique is described in detail. In IOO consecutive cases thus treated there has been completely satisfactory pain relief in 60 per cent, considerable improvement in 12.7 per cent, and little or no improvement in 27‘3 per cent of the 95 cases surviving two years post-operatively. Indications for and contra-indications to this mode of treatment are discussed. The advantages over other operative procedures are summarized and include short hospital stay, nil mortality, negligible morbidity, and particular suitability of this form of treatment for the early case whose presenting symptom is pain. I n cases where pain has not been relieved by this method there is no contra-indication to other operative measures subsequently.
New Optimized Full-Bridge Single-Stage AC/DC Converters

The inclusion of a few additional diodes and passive elements in the high-frequency full-bridge ac-dc converter with galvanic isolation permits one to achieve sinusoidal input-current wave shaping and output-voltage regulation simultaneously without adding any auxiliary transistors. Recently, this procedure, together with an appropriate control process, has been used to obtain low-cost high-efficiency single-stage converters. In an attempt to improve the performance of such converters, this paper introduces three new single-stage full-bridge ac-dc topologies with some optimized characteristics and compares them with the ones of the existing full-bridge single-stage topologies. The approach used consists in the definition of the operating principles identifying the boost function for each topology, their operating limits, and the dependence between the two involved conversion processes. Experimental results for each topology were obtained in a 500-W modular laboratory prototype that was built with the necessary flexibility to allow the realization of each different topology. Comparison was evaluated in terms of input-current distortion, efficiency, and output-voltage disturbances that result from the input-current wave-shaping process.
Postnatal Development of Testis in Gaddi Goat (Capra hircus)

Se realizo un estudio en 30 testiculos de cabras Gaddi machos divididos en 3 grupos: prepuberes (0 dias a 18 meses), puberes ( 5 anos) y post-puberes (>5 anos). El estudio revelo que los testiculos al nacimiento estaban cubiertos por una tunica albuginea fibroserosa con una capa fibrosa externa y otra capa vascular interna con fibras musculares lisas. En los animales prepuberes hasta los pospuberes, la tunica albuginea mostro un crecimiento continuo de espesor. El septo testicular derivado de la tunica albuginea, divide el parenquima en lobulos convergentes en el mediastino testicular. En los espacios intertubulares de los testiculos de los recien nacidos, se observaron escasas celulas interticiales diferenciadas e indiferenciadas, sin embargo, se registro un aumento importante en los animales puberes las cuales fueron reemplazadas por fibroblastos despues de la pubertad. El parenquima en los testiculos de los animales recien nacidos estaba compuesto por cordones sexuales continuos. Estos se convierten en tubulos luminados despues de los 6 meses de edad, evidenciando tubulos contorneados y rectos que conducen al mediastino testicular. En animales de 0 dias de edad, los cordones sexuales presentaban pequenas celulas no diferenciadas y situadas perifericamente a lo largo de la membrana basal y grandes celulas germinales primordiales centricas. A los seis meses de edad, este ultimo comenzo a mostrar signos de degeneracion. La espermatogenesis se inicio en los tubulos seminiferos desde los 12 a 18 meses de edad. En los animales puberes se identificaron en los tubulos seminiferos todas las etapas de las celulas de espermatogenesis y celulas sustentaculares. La poblacion de celulas gonia fue del 35% y de espermatocitos primarios mas secundarios 30%. En los animales pospuberes las celulas gonia se redujeron a <30% y espermatocitos primarios mas secundarios a < 20%. Muchos tubulos seminiferos presentaron degeneracion. La relacion parenquima/estroma fue 35:65 al nacer, luego de 30:60 a los 6 meses, de 25:75 a los 12 meses, de 15:85 en animales prepuberes y 20:80 en la pubertad. El aumento del estroma en la ultima fase fue asociado con el reemplazo de los tubulos seminiferos por elementos fibrosos.
Human osteoblastlike cells do not respond to interleukin‐6

Interleukin 6 (IL‐6) exerts well‐established effects on cells of the immune system as well as on various other cell types. It has been implicated in the control of connective tissue cells in such conditions as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. We have investigated the effects of recombinant human interleukin‐6 (rhIL‐6) on human osteoblastlike cells derived from explants of trabecular bone. ROS 17/2.8 cells were used as an additional osteoblastlike cell model system.
Secondary prevention after myocardial infarction: Subgroup analysis of patients at risk in the norwegian timolol multicenter study

Timolol treatment after myocardial infarction is generally related to a significant reduction in both morality and reinfarction compared with placebo. Retrospective analyses of the timolol study are performed on subgroups of patients with a high placebo mortality. The present study shows that these patients are target groups for secondary prevention, as they benefit most from timolol treatment after myocardial infarction. In patients 65‐75 years of age, the number of cardiac deaths and reinfarctions prevented by timolol treatment is twice as high as that of patients below 65 years of age. Timolol treatment is well tolerated in the older age group and the contraindications for timolol treatment are independent of age up to 75 years. The reduction in mortality and reinfarction is independent of heart size at baseline. However, in patients with cardiomegaly and compensated heart failure on treatment with digitalis and diuretics, timolol treatment may be of special importance because of the very high incidence of cardiac death in this group of patients. In patients with compensated heart failure on treatment with digitalis and diuretics, timolol treatment does not precipitate heart failure. Patients with stable diabetes mellitus basically behave like nondiabetic patients regarding inclusion rate, side effects, and timolol‐related reduction in mortality and reinfarction. Decisions concerning secondary prevention with timolol should be independent of preinfarction and postinfarction angina. In conclusion, 70‐80% of all the patients below 75 years of age surviving myocardial infarction, without contraindication to betablocker treatment, can be treated with timolol 10 mg twice daily to reduce mortality and reinfarction. In contrast to previous routines, secondary prevention with beta blockers should be especially directed to high‐risk patients.
Redefining single-parent families: Cohabitation and changing family reality

This paper explores the implications, for the measured prevalence and duration of mother-only families, of marked changes in nonmarital fertility, unmarried cohabitation, and homeleaving and re-entry. Throughout, estimates are compared on the basis of marital definitions and definitions including cohabitation. The duration of the first single-parent spell appears to have increased under the marital definition, but declines substantially when cohabitations are taken into account. A substantial proportion of single mothers have spent some time as single parents while in their parents’ household. Hence we argue that definitions of single-parent families must be based on living arrangements rather than on the parents’ marital status.
Insecticide Resistance in the Bed Bug: A Factor in the Pest’s Sudden Resurgence?

Abstract Infestations of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius L. (Heteroptera: Cimicidae), are increasing around the world at an alarming rate and have become a major public health concern. The evolution of insecticide resistance could be a primary factor in explaining this resurgence. Extremely high levels of resistance to two pyrethroid insecticides, deltamethrin and &lgr;-cyhalothrin, relative to a susceptible colony, were detected in populations collected from human dwellings in Kentucky and Ohio. Offspring of a cross between a resistant and susceptible colony had intermediate susceptibility. Evaluations of populations from across the United States indicate that resistance to pyrethroid insecticides is already widespread. Without the development of new tactics for bed bug management, further escalation of this public health problem should be expected.
Remote triggering of non-volcanic tremor around Taiwan

SUMMARY We perform a systematic survey of triggered deep ‘non-volcanic’ tremor beneath the Central Range (CR) in Taiwan for 45 teleseismic earthquakes from 1998 to 2009 with Mw≥ 7.5 and epicentral distance ≥1000 km to the broad-band station TPUB. Triggered tremors are visually identified as bursts of high-frequency (2–8 Hz), non-impulsive and long-duration seismic energy that are coherent among many seismic stations and modulated by the teleseismic surface waves. Out of the 45 earthquakes, we identified nine teleseismic events associated with nine tremor sources in the southern and five in the northern CR. Most of the tremor sources are located within the depth range of 15–25 km in the lower crust above the Moho. We find that the amplitudes of the surface waves play an important role in determining the triggering potential, and the apparent triggering threshold is ∼0.1 cm s−1, or 7–8 KPa. However, such threshold is partially controlled by the background noise level, which could prevent weaker tremor triggered by surface waves with smaller amplitudes from being identified. The amplitudes of the triggered tremor show a positive correlation with the amplitudes of the triggering surface waves, consistent with the predictions by the ‘clock-advance’ model. In addition to amplitudes, other factors, such as frequency contents and incidence angles, also affect the triggering potential. We find that intermediate-period (30–10 s) surface waves could trigger/modulate tremors, suggesting that long-period (>30 s) surface waves are not always required in long-range triggering. Tremors appear to be triggered by both Love and Rayleigh waves. When the incidence angles are parallel to the strike of the CR, all six events triggered tremor primarily during the Rayleigh waves. For strike normal incidence, only the 2001 Mw7.8 Kunlun earthquake showed predominant Love-wave triggering. This observation can be qualitatively explained by a simple Coulomb failure for a left-lateral shear on the low-angle detachment fault beneath the southern CR.
The sympathetic innervation of the urinary bladder and urethra in the normal state and after parasympathetic denervation at the spinal root level. An experimental study in cats.

The innervation of the feline bladder and urethra was studied by a histochemical fluorescence technique and the use of peripheral nerve stimulations in combination with different blocking agents. The studies were performed in the normal state and at various times after parasympathetic denervation, achieved by sectioning of appropriate ventral roots.After parasympathetic denervation the bladder response following hypogastric nerve stimulation was changed from a normal response of initial contraction and subsequent relaxation into a sustained bladder contraction. This altered response, first observed after 6 weeks, was composed of two phases; a weak and brief contraction followed immediately by a strong and long-lasting contraction. The second phase was adrenergic (blocked by an adrenergic aL-blocking agent) and presumably effected via intramural ganglia (blocked by a ganglionic blocking agent). Consistent with this was the histochemical observation of a change in adrenergic innervation. About 6 weeks after .
The History of the Chalcolithic Settlement in the Nahal Beer Sheva Area: The Radiocarbon Aspect

There are now dozens of 14C determinations from the Chalcolithic sites in the Nahal Beer Sheva area, most of them from the site of Shiqmim. The role of those dates, and stratigraphy, in establishing the history of the Chalcolithic settlement is described. Outlined also are the problems and prospects of defining phases of settlement by averaging sets of radiocarbon dates. The radiometric data suggest that the sites of Horvat Beter and Bir es-Safadi were settled centuries after Shiqmim was established. The article also illustrates that the radiocarbon dates cannot support the hypothesis that the subterranean structures in the Nahal Beer Sheva sites preceded the above-ground buildings.
Urban Canaan in the Late Bronze Period

T he Late Bronze period in Canaan is well known through a rich collection of written documents, as well as through numerous archaeological excavations. The wealth of data, however, rather than presenting a unified and clear picture of urban life and the socioeconomic situation, presents many problems of interpretation because of its incoherent and sometimes conflicting nature. The issue of the strength of urban occupation, for instance, relies heavily on references to settlements that occur in Egyptian documents. The list of 79 entries of settlements in Canaan in the list of Thutmosis III (Aharoni 1967: 140-53), the 24 or 25 entries on the same region (excluding Syria) in the el-Amarna letters-some with their own kings or rulers-as well as other place names mentioned in New Kingdom documents, create the expectation that we have a chain of strong, fortified urban settlements in Canaan. The socioeconomic situation seems well documented both