Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bio-Guided Isolation of Methanol-Soluble Metabolites of Common Spruce (Picea abies) Bark by-Products and Investigation of Their Dermo-Cosmetic Properties

Common spruce (Picea abies L.) is a fast-growing coniferous tree, widely used in several countries for the production of sawn wood, timber and pulp. During this industrial exploitation, large quantities of barks are generated as waste materials. The aim of this study was the bio-guided investigation and the effective recovery of methanol-soluble metabolites of common spruce bark for the development of new dermo-cosmetic agents. The active methanol extract was initially fractionated by Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) using a triphasic solvent system in a step-gradient elution mode. All resulting fractions were evaluated for their antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity and their capability to inhibit tyrosinase, elastase and collagenase activity. In parallel, the chemical composition of each fraction was established by combining a 13C-NMR dereplication approach and 2D-NMR analyses. As a result, fourteen secondary metabolites corresponding to stilbene, flavonoid and phenolic acid derivatives were directly identified in the CPC fractions. A high amount (0.93 g) of E-astringin was recovered from 3 g of crude extract in a single 125 min run. E-Astringin significantly induced the tyrosinase activity while E-piceid, taxifolin, and taxifolin-3′-O-glucopyranoside exhibited significant anti-tyrosinase activity. The above compounds showed important anti-collagenase and antimicrobial activities, thus providing new perspectives for potential applications as cosmetic ingredients.
Hollow laser self-confined plasma for extreme ultraviolet lithography and other applications

Laser-produced plasma ~LPP! devices are being developed as a light source for the extreme ultraviolet ~EUV! lithography applications. One concern of such devices is to increase the conversion efficiency of laser energy to EUV light. A new idea based on the initiation and confinement of cumulative plasma jet inside a hollow laser beam is developed and simulated. The integrated computer model ~HEIGHTS! was used to simulate the plasma behavior and the EUV radiation output in the LPP devices. The model takes into account plasma heat conduction and magnetohydrodynamic processes in a two-temperature approximation, as well as detailed photon radiation transport in 3D Monte Carlo model. The model employs cylindrical 2D version of a total variation-diminishing scheme ~for the plasma hydrodynamics! and an implicit scheme with the sparse matrix linear solver ~to describe heat conduction! Numerical simulations showed that the EUV efficiency of the proposed hollow-beam LPP device to be higher than the current standard devices.
The effect of parietal cell vagotomy and selective vagotomy with pyloroplasty on gastric emptying of a liquid meal. A prospective randomized study.

Gastric emptying was measured with the double sampling technique of George in 48 patients, who were randomized for 2 different types of vagotomy, parietal cell vagotomy (PCV) and total gastric selective vagotomy (SV + P), respectively. The emptying tests were performed preoperatively, 6 and 12 months after surgery. As test meal was used 750 ml of 10% glucose solution (glucose monohydrate m.w. 198). The operative techniques in the 2 groups of patients were identical as regards the proximal gastric denervation. Both PCV and SV + P showed an increased emptying during the first 10 minutes after the instillation of the test meal as compared with the preoperative values both 6 and 12 months after surgery. The initial emptying was significantly faster after SV + P than following PCV. The final emptying time was unchanged after PCV but decreased following SV + P as compared with preoperatively.A significantly slower initial emptying 12 months after SV + P as compared with 6 months after surgery was the only chang.
view ycobacterium bovis at the animal – human interface : A problem , or not ?

Mycobacterium bovis is a pathogen of significant importance in livestock and a wide range of wild animal species worldwide. It is also known to cause tuberculosis disease in humans, a fact which has raised renewed concerns regarding the zoonotic risk for humans, especially those living at the animal-human interface. This review consolidates recent reports in the literature mainly on animal and zoonotic tuberculosis with an emphasis on evolution, epidemiology, treatment and diagnosis. The information presented reveals the fundamental differences in the complexity and level at which the disease affects the economy, ecosystem and human population of regions where animal tuberculosis control is achieved and regions where little or no control is implemented. In conclusion the review suggests that bovine tuberculosis has essentially been reduced to a disease of economic importance in the developed world, while low-income countries are facing a multifaceted impact which potentially affects the health of livestock, humans and ecosystems and which is likely to increase in the presence of debilitating diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other factors which negatively affect human livelihoods. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Corresponding author at: Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, lty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X4, erstepoort 0110, South Africa. Tel. : +27 12 5298426;
The Effects of Video Self-Modeling on the Math Performance of Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities

The Effects of Video Self-Modeling on the Math Performance of Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities Cami E. Burton Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, BYU Master of Science The current study examined the effects of video self-modeling (VSM) via an iPad on the mathematics performance of students with developmental disabilities. The learning task was presented from the consumers’ point of view; students learned to estimate the amount of money they should use to pay for a given item and the amount they should receive back to help ensure that they are treated honestly by merchants. Through VSM, video clips showing the step-by-step problem solving process were synchronized onto an iPad. Students were shown how to use the iPad and access the video clips in order to watch themselves successfully solving the story problems. Experimental effects were evaluated within a multiple baseline design. Results indicated a functional relationship between math performance and VSM via an iPad and extended previous research by demonstrating the successful acquisition of functional math skills by students with developmental disabilities. Intervention effects were maintained for three weeks following the removal of the intervention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Gait Analysis on Split-Belt Force Treadmills: Validation of an Instrument

Tesio L, Rota V: Gait analysis on split-belt force treadmills: validation of an instrument. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2008;87:515–526. Objective:Gait analysis (GA) is usually performed during overground walking, with ground reactions being recorded through force platforms embedded in the floor. Body kinematics and surface electromyography (EMG) are also recorded. GA on treadmills resting on force sensors (GAFT) is rather uncommon and has been criticized on various grounds (less reliability of force records; biomechanical differences in walking kinematics and dynamics). On the other hand, the treadmill allows very fast recording of data from many successive strides, at known and constant average speeds. The goals of this study were (a) to validate a system for GAFT based on a commercially available “split-belt” force treadmill, (b) to provide evidence that data can be compared with established norms from overground GA, and (c) to lend support to the potential clinical validity of the GAFT approach. Design:The treadmill adopted here allows subjects to walk on two parallel independent treadmills. Each of them is mounted on four 3D force sensors. Eight healthy adults (four women; ages 22–35 yrs) were tested on the treadmill, each at the average walking speed he or she adopted overground (average across subjects: 1.35 ± 0.05 m·sec−1). Ground reactions, hip, knee, and ankle sagittal rotations, torques, power, and surface EMG from four thigh and leg muscles were recorded simultaneously. Results:Results were compared with those relating to a sample of 40 healthy adults (20 women; manufacturer's data, replicating published data) walking on floor-embedded force platforms (age 20–40 yrs; speed 1.33 ± 0.06 m·sec−1). An 8% shorter stride length was adopted on the treadmill. All of the other results matched those obtainable overground. Conclusions:The results suggest that GAFT performed on the tested treadmill is a promising method of GA in a clinical setting.
A Review of Economic Evaluations of Community Mental Health Care

The authors review the methodology and findings of economic evaluations of 42 community mental health care programs reported in the English-language literature between 1979 and 2003. There were three substantial methodological problems in the literature: costs were often not completely specified, the quality of econometric analysis was often low, and most evaluations failed to integrate cost and health outcome information. Well-conducted research shows that care in the community dominates hospital in-patient care, achieving better outcomes at lower or equal cost. It is less clear what types of community programs are most cost-effective. Future research should focus on identifying which types of community care are most cost effective and at what level of intensity they are most effective.
An Adjoint-Field Technique for Shape Reconstruction of 3-D Penetrable Object Immersed in Lossy Medium

An inversion algorithm is presented that is based on hybridization of the adjoint scheme for calculating gradient directions with the method of moments. The goal is to reconstruct the shapes of 3D objects immersed in a lossy medium. The irregular shape of the reference object is modeled by a representation with spherical harmonics functions, whereas during the reconstruction, individual surface nodes are updated. In the adjoint scheme, gradient directions for the least squares data misfit cost functional are calculated by solving the forward problem twice in each iteration, regardless of the number of spherical harmonics parameters used in the reference model or the number of surface nodes used for the discretization of the shapes. The numerical results show that implementing the well known frequency hopping technique helps the algorithm avoid dropping in local minima.
Respiratory input impedance in anesthetized paralyzed patients.

Respiratory impedance (Zrs) was measured between 0.25 and 32 Hz in seven anesthetized and paralyzed patients by applying forced oscillation of low amplitude at the inlet of the endotracheal tube. Effective respiratory resistance (Rrs; in cmH2O.l-1.s) fell sharply from 6.2 +/- 2.1 (SD) at 0.25 Hz to 2.3 +/- 0.6 at 2 Hz. From then on, Rrs decreased slightly with frequency down to 1.5 +/- 0.5 at 32 Hz. Respiratory reactance (Xrs; in cmH2O.l-1.s) was -22.2 +/- 5.9 at 0.25 Hz and reached zero at approximately 14 Hz and 2.3 +/- 0.8 at 32 Hz. Effective respiratory elastance (Ers = -2pi x frequency x Xrs; in cmH2O/1) was 34.8 +/- 9.2 at 0.25 Hz and increased markedly with frequency up to 44.2 +/- 8.6 at 2 Hz. We interpreted Zrs data in terms of a T network mechanical model. We represented the proximal branch by central airway resistance and inertance. The shunt pathway accounted for bronchial distensibility and alveolar gas compressibility. The distal branch included a Newtonian resistance component for tissues and peripheral airways and a viscoelastic component for tissues. When the viscoelastic component was represented by a Kelvin body as in the model of Bates et al. (J. Appl. Physiol. 61: 873-880, 1986), a good fit was obtained over the entire frequency range, and reasonable values of parameters were estimated. The strong frequency dependence of Rrs and Ers observed below 2 Hz in our anesthetized paralyzed patients could be mainly interpreted in terms of tissue viscoelasticity. Nevertheless, the high Ers we found with low volume excursions suggests that tissues also exhibit plasticlike properties.
Human Degradation with the use of Social Media: A Theological Perspective

Considering the adoption and the continuous proliferation of social media platforms, the human degradation through social media is becoming much more sinister than what it appears on the surface. The objective of this research is to investigate how the social media usage influences subjective well-being of individuals. To investigate this, we applied the Buddhist philosophical perspectives to assess human qualities through five defilements (Nyanaponika Thera 1993) and in addition, we investigate the moderating role of the number of friends and time spent on social media for life satisfaction. By analyzing data collected from 480 sample, the study makes interesting insights into dark side of social media for social well-being.
Stability and Flow Behavior of Fiber-Containing Drilling Sweeps

In the oil and gas industry, drilling sweeps are used to improve borehole cleaning when conventional drilling fluid fails to or is suspected of failing to sufficiently clean the wellbore. They are often applied immediately prior to tripping operations to clean the wellbore and reduce excessive annular pressure losses. The sweeps remove cuttings that cannot be transported to the surface during normal fluid circulation while drilling and provide additional vertical lift to the cuttings. Sweeps can be performed in all well inclinations from vertical to horizontal, as required by wellbore conditions. Drilling sweeps are an effective tool for counteracting poor hole cleaning, which can lead to an increase in non-productive time and costly drilling problems such as stuck pipe, premature bit wear, slow rate of penetration, formation fracturing, and high torque and drag (Ahmed & Takach, 2008).
Initiation of O-Glycan Synthesis in IgA1 Hinge Region Is Determined by a Single Enzyme, UDP-N-Acetyl-α-d-galactosamine:PolypeptideN-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 2*

The hinge region of human immunoglobulin A1 (*IgA1) possesses multiple O-glycans, of which synthesis is initiated by the addition of GalNAc to serine or threonine through the activity of UDP-N-acetyl-α-d-galactosamine:polypeptideN-acetylgalactosaminyltransferases (pp-GalNAc-Ts). We found that six pp-GalNAc-Ts, pp-GalNAc-T1, -T2, -T3, -T4, -T6, and -T9, were expressed in B cells, IgA-bearing B cells, and NCI-H929 IgA myeloma cells. pp-GalNAc-T activities of these six enzymes for a synthetic IgA hinge peptide, which has nine possible O-glycosylation sites, were examined using a reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography, a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry, and peptide sequencing analysis. pp-GalNAc-T2 showed the strongest activity transferring GalNAc to a maximum of eight positions. Other pp-GalNAc-Ts exhibited different substrate specificities from pp-GalNAc-T2; however, their activities were extremely weak. It was reported that the IgA1 hinge region possesses a maximum of five O-glycans, and their amino acid positions have been determined. We found that pp-GalNAc-T2 selectively transferred GalNAc residues to the same five positions. These results strongly suggested that pp-GalNAc-T2 is an essential enzyme for initiation of O-linked glycosylation of the IgA1 hinge region.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE PASSAGE OF ASCORBIC ACID FROM SERUM TO CELLS IN HUMAN BLOOD.

Ascorbi acid in serum was determined by the method of Mindlin and Butler (2) with the following modifications. (1) Neither potassium oxalate nor potassium cyanide was used. An anticoagulant was not necessary because the blood was defibrinated by stirring with a glass rod. The possible erroneous influence of added KCNhas been demonstrated by other observers (3, 4, 5), as well as in this laboratory. Furthermore, addition of oxalate, cyanide or any other salt seemed undesirable, since changes in cell volume had to be avoided. (2) The strength of the metaphosphoric acid solution is of great significance for the reliability of the colorimetric method. With ascorbic acid a stable color develops; other reducing substances cause progressive fading of the indicator. Mindlin and Butler pointed out, and our own observations agree that, with solutions of pure ascorbic acid, the stability of the reduction of the dye depends on the pH of the final mixture of equal volumes of buffered dye and metaphosphoric acid. The dye solution invariably gave the desired pH of 7.0 when made according to the directions given by the aforementioned authors. Metaphosphoriic acid solutions, however, made up by weight from three different brands, varied widely in strength and were all weaker than theory demanded. Since it is known that metaphosphoric acid is partially converted to the ortho form on standing, the strength of a solution can be adjusted only by standardization. The metaphosphoric acid was, therefore, titrated with 0.1 N sodium hydroxide, using phenolphthalein as an indicator. In agreement with the observations of Mindlin and Butler, stable blanks were obtained when the final pH of the dye-metaphosphoric acid mixture was kept at 4.2 to 4.3. This resulted with solutions of the acid which were 0.21 to 0.22 N. The same normality was attained in
Aqueous, oil, and ointment formulations of ketorolac: efficacy against prostaglandin E2-induced ocular inflammation and safety: A technical note

Summary and ConclusionsThe efficacy of aqueous, oil, and ointment formulations of ketorolac against PGE2-induced ocular inflammation in rabbits was evaluated, with monitoring of blinking rate and PMN and protein migration in tear fluid, following topical PGE2 instillation. Ketorolac ophthalmic formulations protected the eye against inflammatory insult. Chronic topical administration of formulations for 10 days into rats' eyes did not lead to any appreciable gastrointestinal ulceration, which indicates that the formulations are safe for long-term use.
Polymorphic variation at the ‐202 locus in IGFBP3: Influence on serum levels of insulin‐like growth factors, interaction with plasma retinol and vitamin D and breast cancer risk

Previous reports have suggested an association between circulating IGFBP‐3 levels and the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of IGFBP‐3 (nucleotide ‐202) was shown to influence transcription. There is prior evidence that the action of antiproliferative agents such as retinoids and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) act in part by upregulating IGFBP3 gene expression. We identified 677 women with incident breast cancer and 834 matched controls from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and genotyped them at the ‐202 locus. For 943 of these women, we had previously measured IGF‐I and IGFBP‐3 plasma levels, and for 861 of these subjects, plasma retinol levels were available. Age‐adjusted mean circulating IGFBP‐3 levels were highest in the individuals with the AA genotype and decreased significantly in a stepwise manner in the presence of 1 or 2 copies of the C allele (4,426 ng/ml, 4,060 ng/ml and 3,697 ng/ml, respectively). We found a positive relation between age‐adjusted IGFBP‐3 levels and plasma retinol (14% difference in IGFBP‐3 in top vs. bottom tertiles of retinol, p for trend < 0.001; Spearman correlation coefficient r = 0.25), which was similar across genotypes at the ‐202 IGFBP3 locus (interaction term, F = 0.10, p = 0.91). Breast cancer risk was not significantly related to genotype at the ‐202 locus in our prospective analyses. We confirmed a relation between the ‐202 IGFBP3 polymorphism and IGFBP‐3 serum levels and observed a positive correlation between circulating retinol levels and circulating IGFBP‐3 levels, providing further evidence that retinoids may influence IGF physiology. Our data do not demonstrate a significant influence of this locus on breast cancer risk, but we cannot exclude a minor influence or an influence confined to subgroups. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Scalable Lock-Free Vector with Combining

Dynamic vectors are among the most commonly used data structures in programming. They provide constant time random access and resizable data storage. Additionally, they provide constant time insertion (pushback) and deletion (popback) at the end of the sequence. However, in a multithreaded system, concurrent pushback and popback operations attempt to update the same shared object, creating a synchronization bottleneck. In this paper, we present a lock-free vector design that efficiently addresses the synchronization bottlenecks by utilizing a combining technique on pushback operations. Typical combining techniques come with the price of blocking. Our design introduces combining without sacrificing lock-freedom. We evaluate the performance of our design on a dual socket NUMA Intel server. The results show that our design performs comparably at low loads, and out-performs prior concurrent blocking and non-blocking vector implementations at high contention, by as much as 2.7x.
Comparison Focus in Intergroup Comparisons: Who We Compare to Whom Influences Who We See as Powerful and Agentic

In intergroup comparisons one group usually becomes the implicit norm that other groups are compared to. Three studies address the consequences that the direction of the comparison has for perceptions of the compared groups. For real groups (Experiment 1) and fictitious groups (Experiments 2 and 3) participants perceived a group as more powerful and higher in status when it had been the norm rather than the effect to be explained in a text comparing two groups. Moreover, norm groups and their “typical” members were perceived as more agentic and less communal than comparison groups, and these attributions were mediated by the ascription of power. The authors conclude that systematic ways of explaining one group rather than another could serve as a subtle tool to perpetuate the status quo of intergroup power relations.
Strong correlations between circulating chemerin levels and lipoprotein subfractions in nondiabetic obese and nonobese subjects

Chemerin is a recently described adipokine expressed primarily in the white adipose tissue. Compared with lean subjects, circulating chemerin levels are significantly elevated in obese individuals and correlate positively with the prevalence of various cardiovascular risk factors including altered lipoprotein levels. To date, the impact of chemerin on lipoprotein subfractions and its role in atherosclerotic processes are still unclear.
Whole-of-Government initiatives in Sweden: The case of clinical medical research

Decades of reforms focused on the deregulation of markets, have lead to disaggregation, competition and weakened political control. Today, the Western world is struggling to develop models to improve coordination: Whole-of-Government (WG) reforms are implemented. These reforms are focused in particular on the wicked issues that tend to appear in the boundaries between public and private, between policy areas and between politico-administrative levels. We know little on how these initiatives are organized or how they compare. This paper suggests a framework to understand different types of WG models, adopting a governance perspective. It builds on the case of clinical medical research in Sweden. This area serves as an outstanding example of a complex multi-level network environment, including stakeholders such as ministries, universities, regional councils, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry. Based on document studies from this area, the paper outlines a framework with four WG models: Contract, oversight agency, central agency and shared local units. The framework can be used to organize future research in this area. (Less)