Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Metabolism and Production of Angiotensin I in Different Vascular Beds in Subjects With Hypertension

To study the metabolism and production of angiotensin I, highly purified monoiodinated [I25I] angiotensin I was given by constant systemic intravenous infusion, either alone (n=7) or combined with unlabeled angiotensin I (ra=5), to subjects with essential hypertension who were treated with the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor captopril (50 mg b.i.d.). Blood samples were taken from the aorta and the renal, antecubital, femoral, and hepatic veins. [l25I]Angiotensin I and angiotensin I were extracted from plasma, separated by highperformance liquid chromatography, and quantitated by gamma counting and radioimmunoassay. Plasma renin activity was measured at pH 7.4. The plasma decay curves after discontinuation of the infusions of [125I] angiotensin I and unlabeled angiotensin I were similar for the two peptides. The regional extraction ratio of [I2SI]angiotensin I was 47±4% (mean±SEM) across the forearm, 59±3% across the leg, 81±1% across the kidneys, and 96±1% across the hepatomesenteric vascular bed. These results were not different from those obtained for infused unlabeled angiotensin I. Despite the rapid removal of arterially delivered angiotensin I, no difference was found between the venous and arterial levels of endogenous angiotensin I across the various vascular beds, with the exception of the liver where angiotensin I in the vein was 50% lower than in the aorta. Thus, 50–90% of endogenous angiotensin I in the veins appeared to be derived from regional de novo production. The blood transit time is 0.1–0.2 minute in the limbs and in the kidneys and 0.3–0.5 minute in the hepatomesenteric vascular bed. This is too short for plasma renin activity to account for the measured de novo angiotensin I production. It was calculated that less than 20–30% in the limbs and in the kidneys and approximately 60% in the hepatomesenteric region of de novo-produced angiotensin I could be accounted for by circulating renin. These results indicate that a high percentage of plasma angiotensin I may be produced locally (i.e., not in circulating plasma).
Twenty-five Years of Educational Reform Initiatives in Finland

"Educational transformations are always the result and the symptom of the social transformations in terms of which they are to be explained. " (Durkheim 1969; 1977, 92.) “Educational reforms are part of or consequences of socioeconomic change. ” (Husén 1986, 51) "Equity, participation and welfare state have been known as the major socio-political attributes of the Nordic model. " (Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research vol. 50, 3, 2006.)
DETECTION OF ANTIBODIES AGAINST BLUE TONGUE VIRUS IN YAKS (BOS GRUNNIENS) IN ISSYK KUL, FIRST REPORT

Bluetongue virus (BTV) caused infection is commonly determined in ruminants including sheep and cattle. However, there is a little information about the seroprevalence of BTV in yaks. The aim of this study was t o describe the seroprevalence rate BTV in unvaccinated yaks in Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan. A total of 168 serum samples were collected from yaks between September to November 2012. Antibodies to BTV in sera were detected using a commercially available competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. 2.38% seroprevalence (n: 4) was determined in the samples as positive for BTV antibodies. This study indicates that antibodies against BTV are uncommon among the yaks in Issyk Kul. This is the first time that the serop revalence of antibodies against BTV have been studied in yaks in Kyrgyztan. In conclusion; despite the low results large scale research is necessary for the prevention of BTV infection.
Boundary Layer Flow through Darcy-Brinkman Porous Medium in the Presence of Slip Effects and Porous Dissipation

This paper aims to examine the Darcy–Brinkman flow over a stretching sheet in the presence of frictional heating and porous dissipation. The governing equations are modeled and simplified under boundary layer approximations, which are then transformed into system of self-similar equations using appropriate transformations. The resulting system of nonlinear equations was solved numerically under velocity and thermal slip conditions, by fourth-order Runge–Kutta method and built-in routine bvp4c in Matlab. Under special conditions, the obtained results were compared with the results available in the literature. An excellent agreement was observed. The variation of parameters was studied for different flow quantities of interest and results are presented in the form of tables and graphs.
GEOMETRY-AWARE RECURRENT NETWORKS

We integrate two powerful ideas, geometry and deep visual representation learning, into recurrent network architectures for mobile visual scene understanding. The proposed networks learn to “lift” 2D visual features and integrate them over time into latent 3D feature maps of the scene. They are equipped with differentiable geometric operations, such as projection, unprojection, egomotion stabilization, in order to compute a geometrically-consistent mapping between the world scene and their 3D latent feature space. We train the proposed architectures to predict novel image views given short frame sequences as input. Their predictions strongly generalize to scenes with a novel number of objects, appearances and configurations, and greatly outperform predictions of previous works that do not consider egomotion stabilization or a space-aware latent feature space. Our experiments suggest the proposed space-aware latent feature arrangement and egomotion-stabilized convolutions are essential architectural choices for spatial common sense to emerge in artificial embodied visual agents.
VQ VQ Encoder DecoderEncoder Decoder

We explore the use of Vector Quantized Variational AutoEncoder (VQ-VAE) models for large scale image generation. To this end, we scale and enhance the autoregressive priors used in VQ-VAE to generate synthetic samples of much higher coherence and fidelity than possible before. We use simple feed-forward encoder and decoder networks, thus our model is an attractive candidate for applications where the encoding and decoding speed is critical. Additionally, this allows us to only sample autoregressively in the compressed latent space, which is an order of magnitude faster than sampling in the pixel space, especially for large images. We demonstrate that a multi-scale hierarchical organization of VQ-VAE, augmented with powerful priors over the latent codes, is able to generate samples with quality that rivals that of state of the art Generative Adversarial Networks on multifaceted datasets such as ImageNet, while not suffering from GAN’s known shortcomings such as mode collapse and lack of diversity.
Prenatal Infection Decreases Calbindin, Decreases Purkinje Cell Volume and Density and Produces Long-Term Motor Deficits in Sprague-Dawley Rats

The cerebellum is involved in the control of motor functions with Purkinje cells serving as the only output from the cerebellum. Purkinje cells are important targets for toxic substances and are vulnerable to prenatal insults. Intrauterine infection (IUI) has been shown to selectively target the developing cerebral white matter through lesioning, necrosis and inflammatory cytokine activation. Developmental and cognitive delays have been associated with animal models of IUI. The aim of this study was to determine if IUI leads to damage to Purkinje cells in the developing cerebellum and if any damage is associated with decreases in calbindin and motor behaviors in surviving pups. Pregnant rats were injected with Escherichia coli (1 × 105 colony-forming units) or sterile saline at gestational day 17. Beginning at postnatal day (PND) 2, the pups were subjected to a series of developmental tests to examine developmental milestones. At PND 16, some pups were sacrificed and their brains extracted and processed for histology or protein studies. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was done to examine the general morphology of the Purkinje cells and to examine Purkinje cell density, area and volume. Calbindin expression was examined in the cerebellum via immunohistochemistry and Western blot techniques. The remaining rat pups were used to examine motor coordination and balance on a rotating rotarod at the prepubertal and adult ages. Prenatal E. coli injection did not significantly change birth weight or delivery time, but did delay surface righting and negative geotaxis in pups. Pups in the E. coli group also had a decrease in the number of Purkinje cells, as well as a decrease in Purkinje cell density and volume. HE staining demonstrated a change in Purkinje cell morphology. Calbindin expression was decreased in rats from the E. coli group as well. Locomotor tests indicated that while there were no significant changes in gross motor activity, motor coordination and balance was impaired in both prepubertal and adult rats from the E. coli group. In this model of IUI, we observed changes in Purkinje cell development which were associated with alterations in cerebellum-dependent motor behaviors. The decreases in calbindin and Purkinje cells were associated with developmental delays. These data further support the importance of IUI in brain development.
Characterization of the human tRNA-guanine transglycosylase: confirmation of the heterodimeric subunit structure.

The eukaryotic tRNA-guanine transglycosylase (TGT) has been reported to exist as a heterodimer, in contrast to the homodimeric eubacterial TGT. While ubiquitin-specific protease 14 (USP14) has been proposed to act as a regulatory subunit of the eukaryotic TGT, the mouse TGT has recently been shown to be a queuine tRNA-ribosyltransferase 1 (QTRT1, eubacterial TGT homolog). queuine tRNA-ribosyltransferase domain-containing 1 (QTRTD1) heterodimer. We find that human QTRTD1 (hQTRTD1) co-purifies with polyhistidine-tagged human QTRT1 (ht-hQTRT1) via Ni(2+) affinity chromatography. Cross-linking experiments, mass spectrometry, and size exclusion chromatography results are consistent with the two proteins existing as a heterodimer. We have not been able to observe co-purification and/or association between hQTRT1 and USP14 when co-expressed in Escherichia coli. More importantly, under our experimental conditions, the transglycosylase activity of hQTRT1 is only observed when hQTRT1 and hQTRTD1 have been co-expressed and co-purified. Kinetic characterization of the human TGT (hQTRT1.hQTRTD1) using human tRNA(Tyr) and guanine shows catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(M)) similar to that of the E. coli TGT. Furthermore, site-directed mutagenesis confirms that the hQTRT1 subunit is responsible for the transglycosylase activity. Taken together, these results indicate that the human TGT is composed of a catalytic subunit, hQTRT1, and hQTRTD1, not USP14. hQTRTD1 has been implicated as the salvage enzyme that generates free queuine from QMP. Work is ongoing in our laboratory to confirm this activity.
Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Sharing, and Innovation Performance: Evidence from the Chinese Construction Industry

Knowledge economy era is an era driven by innovation, mainly based on the input of intangible assets which plays decisive roles in the long-term development of enterprises. The product value of enterprises is largely determined by their intellectual capital. Therefore, as pillars of China’s economy, construction enterprises must strengthen their investments in intellectual capital, and to achieve competitiveness in the market, enterprises must share knowledge with the other members of their networks. This study explores the relationship among the intellectual capital, knowledge sharing, and innovation performance of construction enterprises and the mediating effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship between intellectual capital and innovation performance by using data collected from a questionnaire survey. These data are analyzed along with the aforementioned relationships by using SPSS and a structural equation model. The findings indicate that intellectual capital not only has a direct positive influence on the innovation performance of construction enterprises but also positively affects their innovation performance through knowledge sharing. This paper concludes by presenting its limitations and the implications of its findings.
Living With a Mentally Ill Parent

Although a considerable body of research has described the implications of parental mental illness, the perspectives of children and adolescents have rarely been addressed. In this article, I explore adolescents’ experiences in everyday life, based on an action-oriented study of a Norwegian online self-help group for adolescents (aged 15 to 18) with mentally ill parents. The analysis was conducted through participant observation of the group for 2 years. The adolescents experienced a variety of difficult challenges related to their parent’s mental illness: lack of information and openness; unpredictability and instability; fear; loneliness; and loss and sorrow. However, they also discussed strategies for active management of the challenges arising from the family situation. I argue that these adolescents can be understood as vulnerable as well as active participants in managing their everyday lives. I emphasize the importance of including perspectives of children and adolescents in further research so as to improve health care for families with parental mental illness.
Verbal inflection in Greek aphasia *

The present study investigates verbal inflection in Greek aphasia. We present results from a sentence completion and a grammaticality judgment task with 7 Greek-speaking aphasics and 7 control participants matched for age and education. These results indicate that inflectional morphemes are not all impaired to the same degree in aphasia: agreement inflection is relatively intact, while tense and aspect are more severely impaired. These findings are discussed in light of previous studies on inflectional errors in Greek aphasia and are considered in the context of theoretical approaches to inflectional errors in aphasia.
Pharmacoeconomic Comparison between Chronochemotherapy and Folfox Regimen in the Treatment of Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Cost-Minimization Study

Aims and background The addition of oxaliplatin to the widely employed De Gramont schedule (FOLFOX regimen) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer improved their outcome with a moderate toxicity pattern. The adaptation of the delivery rate of 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin and oxaliplatin to circadian rhythms (chronotherapy) resulted in a very high drug tolerability with clinical results at least comparable to those achieved with the FOLFOX regimen. However, chronomodulated infusion seemed to be more expensive, requiring dedicated electronic pumps and several disposable materials. The present study aimed to compare the direct costs of the two regimens and to determine whether chronotherapy was effectively more expensive than the FOLFOX regimen. Study design The direct costs of drug delivery devices derived from various publicly available sources and of toxicity management as extrapolated from two published studies considering comparable patient subsets were added and compared. Results Pump, central venous system and disposable materials for a single chronotherapy cycle were € 193 or € 212 according to whether the pumps were bought or rented, compared to € 58 for the FOLFOX regimen. Toxicity management costs were € 144 vs € 288 for the two schemes, respectively. Globally, a single course of chronotherapy cost € 337 or € 356, whereas a single FOLFOX cycle cost € 346. Conclusions Direct costs for a single chronotherapy cycle appeared to be comparable to a single course of the FOLFOX regimen. In fact, the major material cost of chronochemotherapy devices was balanced by a better tolerability profile. The overall improvement in quality of life with chronochemotherapy affecting indirect costs, such as reduction of work, and intangible costs is worthy of further pharmacoeconomic attention.
How the Wealth Was Won: Factors Shares as Market Fundamentals

Why do stocks rise and fall? From the beginning of 1989 to the end of 2017, $34 trillion of real equity wealth (2017:Q4 dollars) was created by the U.S. corporate sector. We estimate that 43% of this increase was attributable to a reallocation of rewards to shareholders in a decelerating economy, virtually all of which came at the expense of labor compensation. Economic growth accounted for just 25%, followed by a lower risk premium (24%), and lower interest rates (8%). From 1952 to 1988 less than half as much wealth was created, but economic growth accounted for more than 100% of it.
Migrants and Low-Paid Employment in British Workplaces

Using nationally representative workplace data for Britain, we identify where migrants work and examine the partial correlation between workplace wages and whether migrants are employed at a workplace. Three-in-ten workplaces with five or more employees employ migrant workers, with the probability rising substantially with workplace size. We find the bottom quartile of the log earnings distribution is 4–5% lower in workplaces employing migrants, ceteris paribus. However, the effect is confined to workplaces set up before the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the late 1990s, consistent with the proposition that minimum wage regulation limits employers’ propensity to pay low wages in the presence of migrant workers.
Main flavonoids in the root of Scutellaria baicalensis cultivated in Europe and their comparative antiradical properties

The content of the main flavonoids in the root of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi cultivated in Central Europe was evaluated using the new simple RP‐HPLC method with gradient of acetonitrile in mobile phase. The main components of the roots were baicalin (8.12% of dry root mass) and wogonin glucuronide (2.52%). The content of flavonoids was comparable with the content in plants cultivated in natural localities. Five main flavonoids were evaluated for their scavenging ability with DPPH radical‐generating system and due to limited solubility only two flavonoids were investigated for their ability to scavenge hydroxyl radical by the aromatic hydroxylation method. The total extract was also tested in both the experimental arrangements. In experiments with DPPH, only baicalin and baicalein displayed a significant scavenging effect, while the production of OH radicals generated by UV photolysis of H2O2 was considerable decreased in the presence of baicalin and wogonin glucuronide. After comparison with results obtained for the total extract, it was concluded, that the scavenging activity of the extract against DPPH is mainly derived from baicalin. On the other hand, baicalin, wogonin glucuronide and probably other flavonoids participate in scavenging OH radical. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Detection and Quantification of Four Species of the Genus Clostridium in Infant Feces

To determine the composition of Clostridium in the feces of infants approximately 30 days old, we have developed a detection and quantification method of Clostridium paraputrificum, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium tertium, and Clostridium difficile by species‐specific primers. C. perfringens and C. difficile were detected in four fecal samples from 22 infants (18.2%), whereas C. paraputrificum was detected in three samples (16.7%). C. tertium was detected in two samples (9.1%). Moreover, the occurrences of the four species in bottle‐ and mix‐fed infants were relatively higher than in breast‐fed infants (P < 0.05). Subsequently, positive samples detected by nested PCR (polymerase chain reaction) were subjected to real‐time PCR. The results showed that the numbers of C. paraputrificum, C. perfringens, C. tertium, and C. difficile ranged from about 1 × 105 to 3 × 107 cells/g wet feces.
Prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke leads to increased mitochondrial DNA content in umbilical cord serum associated to reduced gestational age

Abstract We investigated if prenatal exposures to tobacco smoke lead to changes in mitochondrial DNA content (mtDNA) in cord serum and adversely affect newborns’ health. Umbilical cord serum cotinine levels were used to determine in utero exposure to smoking. Cord serum mtDNA was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of the genes coding for cytochrome c oxidase1 (MT-CO1) and cytochrome c oxidase2 (MT-CO2). Log transformed levels of mtDNA coding for MT-CO1 and MT-CO2 were significantly higher among infants of active smokers with higher serum level of cotinine (p < 0.05) and inversely associated with gestational age (p = 0.08; p = 0.02). Structural equation modeling results confirmed a positive association between cotinine and MT-CO1 and2 (p < 0.01) and inverse associations with gestational age (p = 0.02) and IGF-1 (p < 0.01). We identified a dose-dependent increase in the level of MT-CO1 and MT-CO2 associated to increased cord serum cotinine and decreased gestational age.
Acute phase protein concentrations in serum and milk from healthy cows, cows with clinical mastitis and cows with extramammary inflammatory conditions

The concentrations of the two acute phase proteins, serum amyloid A and haptoglobin, in serum and milk were compared in 10 cows with clinical mastitis, 11 cows with extramammary inflammatory conditions and 10 clinically healthy control cows. The concentrations of both acute phase proteins were higher in the serum and milk of the cows with mastitis than in the cows in the other two groups. Four of the cows with extramammary inflammatory conditions had serum amyloid A concentrations in serum above 100 pg/ml, but negligible concentrations in milk, indicating that a pathogen must be present in the mammary gland for serum amyloid A to accumulate in milk. The acute phase protein concentrations in milk increased significantly with increasing somatic cell count, suggesting that they may be indicators of the severity of an infection.
Suppression of-Cell Secretion by Somatostatin Does Not Fully Reverse the Disproportionate Proinsulinemia of Type 2 Diabetes

Disproportionate hyperproinsulinemia is a feature of -cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes. It has been hypothesized that this abnormality represents an intrinsic abnormality of the -cell and/or may result from an increase in -cell secretory demand. To address this, six patients with type 2 diabetes and six ageand BMImatched normal subjects received a combined 3-h insulin and somatostatin clamp to decrease -cell secretory demand. An arginine stimulation test was performed before and at the end of the clamp to measure -cell peptide release. In keeping with the reduction in secretory demand, C-peptide levels were suppressed by 60– 80% during the clamp, as were proinsulin (PI) levels. The arginine-stimulated PI/C-peptide ratio decreased in the diabetic subjects from 4.4 1.5% before to 1.8 0.5% after the clamp (P < 0.01). This latter ratio was similar to that observed in the normal subjects before the somatostatin infusion (1.5 0.3%). In the normal subjects, after the clamp the PI/C-peptide ratio had decreased to 0.8 0.3% (P < 0.01). Thus, the postclamp PI/C-peptide ratio in the subjects with type 2 diabetes was elevated compared with that in the normal subjects (P < 0.05). Based on these observations, while relief of secretory demand on -cells by somatostatin decreases the disproportionate elevation in PI levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, the failure to normalize this measure suggests that an intrinsic abnormality of -cell function exists in subjects with type 2 diabetes that may be aggravated by increased secretory demand. Diabetes 53 (Suppl. 3):S22–S25, 2004