Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Magnitudes of muscle activation of spine stabilizers, gluteals, and hamstrings during supine bridge to neutral position

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the magnitude of selective core muscle activation during supine bridging to neutral exercises (three on a stable and three on an unstable surface). Surface EMG analysis was performed on the lumbar multifidus, gluteus medius, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings from 13 male and 13 female subjects. Lumbar multifidus recruitment was not influenced by exercise or condition and ranged between 29.2 and 35.9% of maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Peak gluteus medius activation (42.0% MVIC) occurred in unstable single-leg bridge. Maximum recruitment of gluteus maximus (32.6% MVIC) appeared during stable single-leg bridge. Peak hamstring activation (59.6% MVIC) occurred during stable double-leg hamstring curl. Regardless of condition, hamstrings demonstrated high (51.9–59.6% MVIC) muscle recruitment during double-leg hamstring curls compared with the single-leg bridge or double-leg bridge. Various supine bridging to neutral exercises activated the hamstrings at levels conducive to strengthening, whereas recruitment of lumbar multifidus, gluteus medius, and gluteus maximus promoted endurance training. Clinically, we were unable to conclude the unstable support surface was preferable to the stable surface for boosting muscle recruitment of spine stabilizers, gluteals, and hamstring muscles during supine bridge to neutral position.
Comparison of backpropagation and synthetic aperture imaging algorithms for processing GPR data

The synthetic aperture imaging (SAI) and backpropagation imaging (BPI) algorithms are compared for reconstructing a representation of scattering objects from time-domain ground-penetrating radar data. Synthetic data produced by a FDTD forward solver is used as a basis for the comparison. We assume initially a homogeneous, lossless host medium. The BPI algorithm, which includes waveform diffractions, is shown to result in a better focused image than SAI, with fewer artifacts. The superiority of the BPI algorithm is particularly evident at lower frequencies, where the scattering objects are on the order of the wavelength of the incident field.
Do Thallium Myocardial Perfusion Scan Abnormalities Predict Survival in Sarcoid Patients without Cardiac Symptoms?

Whereas the total mortality rate for sarcoidosis is 0.2 per 100,000, the prognosis, when the heart is involved, is very much worse. The authors used the difference in mortality rate to infer whether thallium 201 myocardial perfusion scan abnormalities correspond to myocardial sarcoid by making the simplifying assumption that if they do, then patients with abnormal scans will be found to have a death rate similar to patients with sarcoid heart disease. The authors therefore analyzed complete survival data on 52 sarcoid patients without cardiac symptoms an average of eighty-nine months after they had been scanned as part of a protocol. By use of survival analysis (the Cox proportional hazards model), the only variable that was significantly associated with survival was age. The patients' scan pattern, treatment status, gender, and race were not significantly related to survival. The authors conclude that thallium myocardial perfusion scans cannot reliably be used to diagnose sarcoid heart disease in sarcoid patients without cardiac symptoms.
Effect of an osmotic stimulus on the secretion of arginine vasopressin and adrenocorticotropin in the horse.

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is released in response to changes in blood osmolality and is also a putative secretagogue for ACTH. However, it is unclear whether osmotically generated increases in AVP in the physiological range influence ACTH secretion. We have studied this question using our unique noninvasive technique for collecting pituitary venous blood in six normal conscious horses that received an iv infusion of hypertonic saline (HS; 5%, 0.07 ml/kg.min) for 45-60 min. Pituitary and jugular venous samples were collected every 5 min for 40 min before, during, and for 20 min after HS. During HS, mean blood osmolality rose (P less than 0.01), with a mean peak increase of 14.8 mosmol/kg (range, +6-+37 mosmol/kg). Jugular AVP rose (P less than 0.01) from 0.56 +/- 0.18 pmol/liter (mean +/- SEM) before HS to 2.16 +/- 0.86 pmol/liter during HS. Mean jugular AVP and osmolality were correlated (r = 0.82; P less than 0.05) during HS. Mean jugular ACTH concentrations increased (P less than 0.01) from 49 +/- 9 ng/liter before HS to 148 +/- 54 ng/liter during HS, while mean cortisol levels during and after HS exceeded basal levels (P less than 0.05). Pituitary AVP and ACTH concentrations exceeded jugular concentrations by up to 100-fold, and mean (P less than 0.01 for both) and peak (P less than 0.001 for both) levels increased during HS. AVP and ACTH secretion during HS were pulsatile. The mean and peak changes in pituitary AVP were significantly correlated with those in ACTH. For the six horses together, pituitary ACTH and AVP concentration changes occurred synchronously during the experiment (P less than 0.001), and the paired AVP and ACTH concentrations were highly correlated (r = 0.73; n = 129 pairs; P less than 0.001). We conclude that 1) physiological changes in AVP secretion are closely associated with comparable changes in ACTH secretion, and 2) osmotic signals that presumably activate the magnocellular neurons of the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei may be physiologically relevant regulators of corticotrope function.
ATTITUDES TOWARD HYPNOSIS, SELF-PREDICTIONS, AND HYPNOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY.

Abstract Correlation of questionnaire results from a sample of 1326 students with hypnotic susceptibility scores of 340 of these later hypnotized showed (a) that those volunteering for hypnosis were more favorable in attitude than those who did not volunteer, (b) attitudes toward hypnosis were predictive of susceptibility for females, not for males, and (c) self-predictions yielded significant low positive correlations with actual susceptibility for both sexes. Other findings concern differences between those having prior experience with hypnosis and those without such experience.
From Philoxenia to Xenophobia? Relations between Xenophobic Tendencies and Parental Acceptance-Rejection Childhood Experiences for Greek Cypriot University Students

Cypriot society has undergone a great number of social changes, especially since 1974. The increased migration to the island has created new realities in the country’s social environment. A profound social transformation – the immigration phenomenon – has changed the face of Cyprus and the perceptions and attitudes of its people. Greek Cypriots’ perceptions and attitudes pertaining to the concept of philoxenia are undergoing a transformation characterized by increasing xenophobic tendencies. R. Rohner (2005) conducted cross-cultural research and found that in various cultures, rejected children were more aggressive and had a more negative worldview than nonrejected children. Therefore, the question of whether parental rejection in childhood could constitute one of the many underlying causes of the development of xenophobia arises. By drawing from a sample of 215 Cypriot respondents and using two questionnaires (Adult-Gr-PARQ and RACM), we are exploring the extent to which the adverse effects of perceived rejection in childhood could predict and account for the development of xenophobic and exclusionist attitudes toward people from other cultures in adulthood. Although the data analysis of the four scales of the AdultGr-PARQ reveals that the majority of our Cypriot respondents fall well within the range of acceptance, the correlation of separate items on the RACM and the Adult-Gr-PARQ scales confirms that those respondents who do exhibit xenophobic tendencies also have scores on the Adult-Gr-PARQ scales that point toward childhood experiences of rejection.
Scalability of Higher-Order Discontinuous Galerkin FEM Computations for Solving Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Problems on GPU Clusters

A highly parallel implementation of Maxwell's equations in the time domain using a cluster of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) is presented. The higher-order Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method (DG-FEM) is used for spatial discretization since its characteristics are matching the parallelization design aspects of the NVIDIA Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) programming model. Asynchronous data transfer is introduced to minimize parallelization overhead and improve parallel efficiency. The implementation is benchmarked with help of a realistic 3-D geometry of an electromagnetic compatibility problem.
Endothelial cell Seeding: Coating Dacron and Expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene Vascular Grafts with a Biological Glue Allows Adhesion and Growth of Human Saphenous Vein Endothelial cells

The establishment of an endothelial lining on vascular grafts to obtain a highly thromboresistant surface in a clinical situation requires optimization of cell collection, quality, adhesion and growth. We have studied the conditions for collection, seeding and growth of human saphenous vein endothelial cells (HSVEC), on Dacron or Gore-Tex expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) vascular grafts. Carefully handled veins, as opposed to veins obtained using the usual procedures for coronary bypass graft preparation, yielded a higher rate of successful culture (94% vs 43%) and reached confluence in primary culture sooner (9.4 ± 3 days vs 13.4 ± 4.5 days). HSVEC were seeded at a density of 6x103 cells/cm2 on graft fragments coated with fibronectin (FN) or Transglutine (TGL), a biological glue. There was no HSVEC adhesion on Dacron or PTFE without protein pretreatment of the artificial surface. FN improved HSVEC adhesion but there was no cell growth. Adhesion, doubling time and cell density at confluence on PTFE pretreated with TGL were similar to those on conventional tissue culture polystyrene (TCP) pretreated with TGL or FN. HSVEC adhesion on Dacron pretreated with TGL was lower than on TCP pretreated with TGL; the doubling time was similar but the density at confluence was 40% lower. We conclude that pretreatment of vascular grafts with TGL, besides being an alternative to preclotting of the Dacron graft, allows adhesion and growth to confluence of HSVEC on these surfaces.
Clinical severity of respiratory syncytial virus Group A and B infection in Sydney, Australia

Respiratory syneytial virus (RSV) has two major antigenic groups, A and B. There is disagreement as to whether or not there is a difference in the clinical severity of disease caused by the two RSV groups. This 3-year prospective study of infants and children with RSV-positive bronchiolitis examines the relative virulence of RSV Groups A and B and assesses the role that breast-feeding may have in modifying the clinical severity of infection. Clinical severity was graded I (ventilated, severe), II (oxygen therapy, moderate), III (no ventilation or oxygen, mild). RSV serogrouping was performed. After exclusion of 60 subjects with known predisposing factors for severity, 444 infants and children were studied (Group A, 337; Group B, 107). The difference in proportion of subjects with severity grade I and II with Group A compared with Group B infection was 6% (95% confidence interval, 4.7 to 16.7). For infants 0 to 6 months of age this difference was 5.6% (95% CI, 7.3 to 18.4). Nineteen cases were nosocomially transmitted. There was a predominance of Group A RSV infection but no difference in severity between Group A and Group B infection.
Comparison of Intake of Animal and Plant Foods and Related Nutrients in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Survivors and Controls

ABSTRACT This study’s objective is to assess differences in dietary intakes in breast cancer survivors (n = 13) and women without a history of breast cancer (controls, n = 71). In a cross-sectional design, intake of foods, food groups, nutrients, and non-nutritive sweeteners was assessed using participant-completed three-day food records. All women were postmenopausal (mean age (SD) 58.5 (±3.8) y, 95% White, 2.4% Asian Pacific, and 2.4% Black). The two groups did not differ in age, energy intake, or body mass index (p > 0.05). Compared to controls, survivors consumed less dairy products, animal protein, total protein, and calcium, but more legumes, noncitrus fruit, and carbohydrates (p ≤ 0.05). Calcium intakes were of particular concern in survivors who consumed an average of 686 mg calcium/d, which is <60% of the recommended 1200 mg/d. Given the important role of calcium in bone health and protein in muscle function among aging women, breast cancer survivors may benefit from consultation with a Registered Dietitian or other health professional knowledgeable in nutritional recommendations for postmenopausal breast cancer survivors.
Toward a theory of high-temperature superconductivity in the antiferromagnetically correlated cuprate oxides.

We show that the retarded interaction between quasiparticiles on a 2D square lattice induced by the exchange of antiferromagnetic paramagnons leads uniquely to a transition to a superconducting state with {ital d}{sub {ital x}}{sup 2}{minus}{ital y}{sup 2} symmetry. With a spin-excitation spectrum and a quasiparticle-paramagnon coupling determined by fits to normal-state experiments, we obtain high transition temperatures and energy-gap behaviors comparable to those measured for YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7}, YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 6.63}, and La{sub 1.85}Sr{sub 0.15}CuO{sub 4}.
Assessment of the sensitivity of the computational programs DEREK, TOPKAT, and MCASE in the prediction of the genotoxicity of pharmaceutical molecules

Computational models are currently being used by regulatory agencies and within the pharmaceutical industry to predict the mutagenic potential of new chemical entities. These models rely heavily, although not exclusively, on bacterial mutagenicity data of nonpharmaceutical‐type molecules as the primary knowledge base. To what extent, if any, this has limited the ability of these programs to predict genotoxicity of pharmaceuticals is not clear. In order to address this question, a panel of 394 marketed pharmaceuticals with Ames Salmonella reversion assay and other genetic toxicology findings was extracted from the 2000–2002 Physicians' Desk Reference and evaluated using MCASE, TOPKAT, and DEREK, the three most commonly used computational databases. These evaluations indicate a generally poor sensitivity of all systems for predicting Ames positivity (43.4–51.9% sensitivity) and even poorer sensitivity in prediction of other genotoxicities (e.g., in vitro cytogenetics positive; 21.3–31.9%). As might be expected, all three programs were more highly predictive for molecules containing carcinogenicity structural alerts (i.e., the so‐called Ashby alerts; 61% ± 14% sensitivity) than for those without such alerts (12% ± 6% sensitivity). Taking all genotoxicity assay findings into consideration, there were 84 instances in which positive genotoxicity results could not be explained in terms of structural alerts, suggesting the possibility of alternative mechanisms of genotoxicity not relating to covalent drug‐DNA interaction. These observations suggest that the current computational systems when applied in a traditional global sense do not provide sufficient predictivity of bacterial mutagenicity (and are even less accurate at predicting genotoxicity in tests other than the Salmonella reversion assay) to be of significant value in routine drug safety applications. This relative inability of all three programs to predict the genotoxicity of drugs not carrying obvious DNA‐reactive moieties is discussed with respect to the nature of the drugs whose positive responses were not predicted and to expectations of improving the predictivity of these programs. Limitations are primarily a consequence of incomplete understanding of the fundamental genotoxic mechanisms of nonstructurally alerting drugs rather than inherent deficiencies in the computational programs. Irrespective of their predictive power, however, these programs are valuable repositories of structure‐activity relationship mutagenicity data that can be useful in directing chemical synthesis in early drug discovery. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 43:143–158, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Multimodality Imaging for Vertebral Metastases in a Rat Osteolytic Model

Imaging modalities facilitate the detection of early bony metastases. Few studies specifically address vertebral metastases in animal models for preclinical (early, asymptomatic) disease. We performed intracardiac injection of human breast cancer (MT-1) cells in 35 athymic nude rats. We evaluated potential temporal differences in appendicular versus axial metastases as detectable by longitudinal in vivo conventional radiography (ie, fine detail radiography and two-dimensional fluoroscopy). We compared bioluminescent reporter imaging with conventional radiographs in the detection of vertebral metastasis, and compared bioluminescent imaging with subsequent ex vivo microcomputed tomography analysis of osteolysis. The mean survival was 25 days in the animals that had metastases develop. Conventional radiographs identified appendicular osteolysis by 14 days; however, vertebral osteolysis was identified late in the metastatic spread (Days 25-28). Bioluminescence imaging was more sensitive in earlier detection of vertebral lesions in all imaged animals at Day 21, which corresponded to microcomputed tomography evaluation of osteolysis. Conventional radiographs do not appear useful for early detection of vertebral metastasis. Early identification of metastasis is important when considering the use of this model to evaluate therapeutic outcomes directed toward vertebral metastasis.
Go forth, evolve and prosper: the genetic basis of adaptive evolution in an invasive species

Invasive species stand accused of a familiar litany of offences, including displacing native species, disrupting ecological processes and causing billions of dollars in ecological damage (Cox ). Despite these transgressions, invasive species have at least one redeeming virtue – they offer us an unparalleled opportunity to investigate colonization and responses of populations to novel conditions in the invaded habitat (Elton ; Sakai et al. ). Invasive species are by definition colonists that have arrived and thrived in a new location. How they are able to thrive is of great interest, especially considering a paradox of invasion (Sax & Brown ): if many populations are locally adapted (Leimu & Fischer ), how could species introduced into new locations become so successful? One possibility is that populations adjust to the new conditions through plasticity – increasing production of allelopathic compounds (novel weapons), or taking advantage of new prey, for example. Alternatively, evolution could play a role, with the populations adapting to the novel conditions of the new habitat. There is increasing evidence, based on phenotypic data, for rapid adaptive evolution in invasive species (Franks et al. ; Colautti & Barrett ; Sultan et al. ). Prior studies have also demonstrated genetic changes in introduced populations using neutral markers, which generally do not provide information on adaptation. Thus, the genetic basis of adaptive evolution in invasive species has largely remained unknown. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Vandepitte et al. ( ) provide some of the first evidence in invasive populations for molecular genetic changes directly linked to adaptation.
Genetic Polymorphisms in Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Obese Egyptian Children

Background/Aim: Polymorphisms in the promoter of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) lead to decreased MTP transcription, less export of triglyceride from hepatocytes, and greater intracellular triglyceride accumulation. Therefore, functional polymorphisms in MTP may be involved in determining susceptibility to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The aim of this study is to examine the effect of some genetic influences among a group of obese Egyptian children. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 76 overweight and obese children presenting to the Pediatric Endocrinology Unit, Cairo University Children's Hospital, Egypt, as well as on 20 healthy controls. Anthropometric measurements were taken for all the patients and they underwent clinical examination, ultrasonographic examination of the liver, and liver biopsy when appropriate. Liver functions, blood glucose, serum insulin, C-peptide, and lipid profile were assessed and HOMA-IR calculated. Blood samples from biopsy-proven NASH patients and controls were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism for the –493 G/T polymorphism in the promoter of MTP and the 1183 T/C polymorphism in the mitochondrial targeting sequence of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD). Results: Eight had biopsy-proven simple steatosis and 7 had NASH. NASH patients had a much higher incidence of the MTP G/G genotype (P = 0.002, CI: 2.9–392) compared with the controls. NASH patients also had a 100% prevalence of the MnSOD T/T genotype. Conclusion: Certain genotypes in MTP and MnSOD are significantly more prevalent among obese children with NASH and may be responsible for such a phenotype.
Effect of perifoveal tissue dissection in the management of acute idiopathic full-thickness macular holes.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of perifoveal tissue dissection (PTD) on patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy for idiopathic macular holes of less than 1-year's duration. METHODS Pars plana core vitrectomy was performed on 107 eyes of 104 consecutive patients with acute idiopathic macular holes. One cohort had routine PTD. In the other cohort, no attempt was made to strip preretinal tissue. Follow-up was longer than 6 months (follow-up range, 6 to 36 months). RESULTS Overall, 95 (89%) of all macular holes were closed. Visual acuity improved 2 lines or more of the Snellen letter chart in 91 eyes (85%). A postoperative visual acuity of 20/50 or better was achieved in 79 eyes (74%). A transient increase in intraocular pressure (230 mm Hg) developed in 25 eyes (23.4%). In 6 eyes (5.6%) a retinal detachment developed. One eye had retinal pigment epithelial changes and 1 patient reported peripheral field loss. No statistically significant differences were noted between eyes having PTD and those without PTD for any outcome measure. CONCLUSION In this series, no beneficial or adverse effect could be demonstrated by performing PTD in eyes undergoing pars plana core vitrectomy for acute idiopathic macular holes.