Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Novel Ingestion of Sodium Bicarbonate on Repeated Sprint Ability

Abstract Miller, P, Robinson, AL, Sparks, SA, Bridge, CA, Bentley, DJ, and McNaughton, LR. The effects of novel ingestion of sodium bicarbonate on repeated sprint ability. J Strength Cond Res 30(2): 561–568, 2016—This work examined the influence of an acute dose of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) on buffering capacity and performance during a repeated sprint ability (RSA) protocol. Eleven (mean ± SD: age 24.6 ± 6.1 years; mass 74.9 ± 5.7 kg; height 177.2 ± 6.7 cm) participated in the study, undertaking 4 test sessions. On the first visit to the laboratory, each participant ingested 300 mg·kg−1 of NaHCO3 (in 450 ml of flavored water) and blood samples were obtained at regular intervals to determine the individual times peak pH and HCO3−. In subsequent visits, participants ingested 300 mg·kg−1 of NaHCO3, 270 mg·kg−1 body mass (BM) of NaCI, or no drink followed by a RSA cycling protocol (10 × 6 seconds sprints with 60 seconds recovery), which commenced at each individuals predetermined ingestion peak pH response time. Blood samples were obtained before exercise and after the first, fifth, and 10th sprint to determine the blood pH, HCO3−, and lactate (La−) responses. Total work completed during the repeated sprint protocol was higher (p ⩽ 0.05) in the NaHCO3 condition (69.8 ± 11.7 kJ) compared with both the control (59.6 ± 12.2 kJ) and placebo (63.0 ± 8.3 kJ) conditions. Peak power output was similar (p > 0.05) between the 3 conditions. Relative to the control and placebo conditions, NaHCO3 ingestion induced higher (p ⩽ 0.05) blood pH and HCO3− concentrations before exercise and during the bouts, and higher lactate concentrations (p ⩽ 0.05) after the final sprint. Results suggest that NaHCO3− improves the total amount of work completed during RSA through enhanced buffering capacity.
Aft2p, a Novel Iron-regulated Transcription Activator That Modulates, with Aft1p, Intracellular Iron Use and Resistance to Oxidative Stress in Yeast*

The yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae,contains a transcription activator, Aft1p, that regulates the transcription of the high affinity iron transport system genes. This report describes the properties of Aft2p, a protein 39% homologous to Aft1p. Aft2p was found to activate transcription. Overproduction of Aft2p activates the transcription of theAFT1 target gene FET3. The doubleaft1aft2 mutant was unable to grow in iron-deprived conditions. Because a fet3 mutant does not show this deficiency, the defect is not solely caused by mis-regulation of iron transport but also involves defective iron use by the cells. Theaft1 cells were unable to grow in aerobic conditions on plates containing raffinose as the sole carbon source. The inability to grow on raffinose is not caused by the cell iron content being too low to sustain respiratory metabolism, because the oxygen consumption ofaft1 mutants showed that their respiratory activity is 2-fold higher than that of controls. The double aft1aft2mutant also has many phenotypes related to oxidative stress such as H2O2 hypersensitivity, oxygen-dependent copper toxicity, and oxygen-dependent methionine auxotrophy, which are suppressed in anaerobiosis. These results suggest that Aft2p and Aft1p have overlapping roles in the control of iron-regulated pathway(s) connected to oxidative stress resistance in yeast.
Do exchange rate changes have symmetric or asymmetric effects on the demand for money in Turkey?

ABSTRACT As a result of the research conducted by Nobel Laureate Robert Mundell (1963), most studies estimating the demand for money today do include the exchange rate in their specification to account for currency substitution. Previous studies that did this for the Turkish demand for money assumed that exchange rate changes do have symmetric effects on the demand for money in Turkey. In this article, we question this assumption. By using the nonlinear ARDL approach, we show that indeed exchange rate changes do have short-run and long-run asymmetric effects on the M1 demand for money. Introducing nonlinearity also yields a stable money demand.
[Treatment of Basedow-Graves' hyperthyroidism: retrospective analysis after 30 years].

BACKGROUND It is still debated which is the best treatment for Basedow-Graves' hyperthyroidism (BGH). We reviewed 195 patients treated and followed-up during the past 30 years: 88 treated with propylthiouracil (PTU), 70 with 131I and 37 thyroidectomized. AIM to analyze the efficacy of each therapy in terms of achieving euthyroidism and the search of possible indexes for success. Surgery attained euthyroidism in 70.2% but has disadvantages; 131I accounted for the highest hypothyroid rate (72.1%) irrespective of the dose administered; PTU alone was successful in only 26.4% but combined with T4, success rose to 62.5% (p < 0.025). Suppression test and/or TRAb measurements after 6 mo PTU therapy were used to decide if therapy continued or was changed to other form of treatment. Using this criteria, 87.5% of pts with positive results achieved longstanding euthyroidism. Pretreatment predictive indexes were goiter size, T4 levels and 24 h/RAI uptake. CONCLUSIONS As 131I induces hypothyroidism in over 2/3 of pts and surgery besides its cost is not devoid of serious complications, we advocate for the use of PTU as first line therapy; combined treatment (PTU + T4) seems promising. If after 6 mo on PTU, TRAb or Suppression test do not improve, we recommend 131I or surgery.
Physicochemical Characterization of Efavirenz–Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes

Efavirenz (EFV) is an oral antihuman immunodeficiency virus type 1 drug with extremely poor aqueous solubility. Thus, its gastrointestinal absorption is limited by the dissolution rate of the drug. The objective of this study was to characterize the inclusion complexes of EFV with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), hydroxypropyl β-CD (HPβCD), and randomly methylated β-CD (RMβCD) to improve the solubility and dissolution of EFV. The inclusion complexation of EFV with cyclodextrins in the liquid state was characterized by phase solubility studies. The solid-state characterization of various EFV and CD systems was performed by X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy analyses. Dissolution studies were carried out in distilled water using US Pharmacopeia dissolution rate testing equipment. Phase solubility studies provided an AL-type solubility diagram for β-CD and AP-type solubility diagram for HPβCD and RMβCD. The phase solubility data enabled calculating stability constants (Ks) for EFV-βCD, EFV-HPβCD, and EFV-RMβCD systems which were 288, 469, and 1,073 M−1, respectively. The physical and kneaded mixtures of EFV with CDs generally provided higher dissolution of EFV as expected. The dissolution of EFV was substantially higher with HPβCD and RMβCD inclusion complexes prepared by the freeze drying method. Thus, complexation with HPβCD and RMβCD could possibly improve the dissolution rate-limited absorption of EFV.
Host and environmental determinants of heart rate and heart rate variability in four European populations

Objective In a population-based sample of nuclear families recruited in the framework of the European Project on Genes in Hypertension (EPOGH), we investigated the association between heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV), and gender, age, posture, breathing frequency, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, family history of hypertension and various lifestyle factors, such as smoking, alcohol and coffee consumption and physical activity. Methods RR interval and respiration were registered in the supine and standing positions (15 min each) in 1208 subjects in Bucharest (Romania, n = 267), Cracow (Poland, n = 323), Mirano (Italy, n = 323) and Novosibirsk (Russian Federation, n = 295). After exclusion of 199 participants on antihypertensive treatment and/or patients with diabetes mellitus (n = 40) or myocardial infarction (n = 4), 993 subjects were eligible for analysis. We evaluated 858 participants with high-quality recordings. Using fast Fourier transform, we decomposed HRV into low-frequency (LF: 0.04–0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF: 0.15–0.40 Hz) components, which were expressed in normalized units. Results Mean values were 35.3 years for age, 24.3 kg/m2 for body mass index (BMI) and 121.0/77.2 mmHg for blood pressure. The group included 462 (53.8%) women. Across four centres, HR and HRV were similarly and independently associated with gender, age and postural position (P < 0.001). In the supine position, HR was higher in women than men (67.2 versus 63.7 bpm). Men had higher normalized LF power than women (48.8 versus 41.5), but lower HF power (40.6 versus 47.4). The normalized HF power decreased with age (r = –0.43), whereas LF power increased (r = 0.32). On standing, HR increased (83.3 versus 65.6 bpm), normalized HF power declined (19.2 versus 44.3) and LF power increased (67.4 versus 44.9). The independent effects of respiration frequency, systolic blood pressure, family history of hypertension, body mass index and lifestyle factors on HRV differed between populations, and explained no more than 8% of the total variance. Conclusions Across four European populations, gender, age and posture were consistent and independent correlates of HR and HRV. Lifestyle seems to have small but varying influences on HR and/or HRV, probably depending on the environmental and cultural background of the population under study.
“There’s a cultural thing of invisibility”: emerging sites of struggle for local council public relations practitioners

Australian local councils must change entrenched aspects of organisational culture if they wish to become more responsive to public expectations about online engagement (Katz & Halpern, 2013). Whilst some Australian local councils are responding to this challenge by introducing a greater focus on social media and re-structuring the roles and functions in communication teams (Oliveira & Welch, 2013), little is known about the perceptions and experiences of staff during this process. In particular, little is known about the effects of change on workplace resistance amongst practitioners, particularly around issues relating to their time and the value attached to certain kinds labour. Drawing on an analysis of interview material conducted with an Australian local council in 2015, this article reports on the emerging sites of tension for public relations practitioners in one local council during its transition to greater online engagement. It concludes that more research is needed into the ways in which changing work practices impacts on the possibilities for resistance within female-dominated local government communication teams.
A randomized controlled trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for ADHD in medication-treated adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To test cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for persistent attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in a sample of medication-treated adolescents. METHODS Forty-six adolescents (ages 14-18), with clinically significant ADHD symptoms despite stable medication treatment were randomly assigned to receive CBT for ADHD or wait list control in a cross-over design. Twenty-four were randomized to CBT, 22 to wait list, and 15 crossed-over from wait list to CBT. A blind independent evaluator (IE) rated symptom severity on the ADHD Current Symptom Scale, by adolescent and parent report, and rated each subject using the Clinical Global Impression Severity Scale (CGI), a global measure of distress and impairment. These assessments were performed at baseline, 4-months (post-CBT or post wait list), and 8-months (post-treatment for those originally assigned to the wait list condition and 4-month follow-up for those originally assigned to CBT). TRIAL REGISTRATION http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01019252. RESULTS Using all available data, mixed effects modeling, and pooling for the wait list cross-over, participants who received CBT received a mean score 10.93 lower on the IE-rated parent assessment of symptom severity (95% CI: -12.93, -8.93; p < .0001), 5.24 lower on the IE-rated adolescent assessment of symptom severity (95% CI: -7.21, -3.28; p < .0001), and 1.17 lower IE-rated CGI (95% CI: -1.39, -.94; p < .0001). Results were consistent across 100 multiple imputations (all p < .0001). There was a greater proportion of responders after CBT by parent (50% vs. 18%, p = .00) and adolescent (58% vs. 18% p = .02) report. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates initial efficacy of CBT for adolescents with ADHD who continued to exhibit persistent symptoms despite medications.
Strangulated inguinal hernia in adult males in Kumasi.

BACKGROUND The complications of untreated inguinal hernias are common surgical emergencies in adult Ghanaian men. OBJECTIVE To describe the epidemiology of strangulated inguinal hernia in adult males in Kumasi. METHOD From the hospital records the age and sex of all male adult patients treated for strangulated inguinal hernia were recorded at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital(KATH), the University Hospital (UH), the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital (SDAH) and the Kumasi South Hospital (KSH) for the period January 2007 to December 2011 inclusive. The total number of inguinal hernia repairs from all four facilities was also recorded. The annual incidence of strangulated inguinal hernia and the hernia repair rates were estimated using the 2010 population data. RESULTS Five-hundred and ninety-two cases of strangulated inguinal hernia were treated over the five years. The incidence of strangulated inguinal hernia was 0.26%. A total of 2243 inguinal hernia repairs were performed and 26.4 % of these repairs were for strangulation. The total number of inguinal hernia repairs averaged 77.3 repairs per 100 000 adult males per year and the elective repair rate was low at 0.9%. CONCLUSION There is the need to increase the levels of elective repair of inguinal hernia in Kumasi.
Molecular approaches for identification and characterization of lactic acid bacteria

The last few years have produced a revolution in the development of very sensitive, rapid, automated, molecular detection methods for a variety of various species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) associated with food and dairy products. Nowadays many such strains of LAB are considered probiotics. The genome‐based methods are useful in identifying bacteria as a complementary or alternative tool to phenotypical methods. Over the years, identification methodologies using primers that target different sequences, such as the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)‐encoding gene, the 16S‐23S rRNA intergenic spacer region, the 23S rRNA‐encoding, recA and ldhD genes; randomly amplified polymorphic DNA, restriction fragment length polymorphism, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, temperature gradient gel electrophoresis, amplification rDNA restriction analysis, restriction enzyme analysis, rRNA, pulse field gel electrophoresis and amplification fragment length polymorphism have played a significant role in probiotic bacteriology. Hence, the aim of this review is to provide an overview of some rapid and reliable polymerase chain reaction‐based molecular methods used for identifying and differentiating closely related species and strains of LAB associated with food and industry.
Mapping of the fibrotropic and lymphotropic host range determinants of the parvovirus minute virus of mice

The fibrotropic and lymphotropic strains of minute virus of mice are each unable to grow lytically in the differentiated host cell type of the other strain. To map the viral sequence responsible for the target cell specificities of the two strains, we constructed chimeric viral genomes in vitro from infectious genomic clones. The phenotypes of viral progeny derived from the chimeric genomes were tested by transfecting the plasmids into fibroblast monolayers and assaying plaque formation and by testing stocks of the recombinant viruses for cytotoxicity in fibroblast and lymphocyte cultures. Both the fibrotropic and lymphotropic determinants mapped to the same 237-nucleotide sequence within the coding region of the virus structural gene. A second sequence, near the viral promoter at map unit 38, was also shown to affect viral growth in fibroblast host cells profoundly.
Transarterial chemoembolization for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

PURPOSE To review the available evidence of chemoembolization for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS Computerized bibliographic searches with MEDLINE and CANCERLIT databases from 1980 through 2000 were supplemented with manual searches, with the keywords "hepatocellular carcinoma," "liver cell carcinoma," "randomized controlled trial [RCT]," and "chemoembolization. " Studies were included if patients with unresectable HCC were enrolled and if they were RCTs in which chemoembolization was compared with nonactive treatment (five RCTs) or if different transarterial modalities of therapy (13 RCTs) were compared. Data were extracted from each RCT according to the intention-to-treat method. Five of the RCTs with a nonactive treatment arm were combined by using the random-effects model, whereas all 18 RCTs were pooled from meta-regression analysis. RESULTS Chemoembolization significantly reduced the overall 2-year mortality rate (odds ratio, 0.54; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.89; P =.015) compared with nonactive treatment. Analysis of comparative RCTs helped to predict that overall mortality was significantly lower in patients treated with transarterial embolization (TAE) than in those treated with transarterial chemotherapy (odds ratio, 0.72; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.98; P =.039) and that there is no evidence that transarterial chemoembolization is more effective than TAE (odds ratio, 1.007; 95% CI: 0.79, 1.27; P =.95), which suggests that the addition of an anticancer drug did not improve the therapeutic benefit. CONCLUSION In patients with unresectable HCC, chemoembolization significantly improved the overall 2-year survival compared with nonactive treatment, but the magnitude of the benefit is relatively small.
The Effects of R&D Intensity and Tax Incentives on Firms Growth of PIGS Countries

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effects of R&D intensity, R&D investment and tax incentives on firms’ growth in Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain from 2002 to 2014. Another ambition of this paper is to identify which selected factors affected firms’ growth. The effect of variables such as the R&D intensity, generosity of tax incentives, capital intensity, profitability, firm size and firm sales was tested. Using panel regression analysis a positive influence R&D intensity and generosity of tax incentives at firms’ growth was recorded.
M and P retinal ganglion cells of diurnal and nocturnal New‐World monkeys

M and P retinal ganglion cell morphology revealed by bio-cytin retrograde labelling was compared in two closely related New-World monkeys, Cebus and Aotus, to investigate whether nocturnal and diurnal species of primates have similar cell classes. Monkey and cat ganglion cells from regions of matching cell class densities were also compared. Cat α, cat β, Aotus M, and Cebus M cells were similar in many aspects, but Cebus M cells had higher branching density. Cebus and Aotus P cells formed a distinct group and represent a primate specialization common to diurnal and nocturnal simians.
Influence of Home Environment on Academic Performance of Students in Public Secondary Schools in Kitui West Sub County, Kitui County, Kenya

This study investigated the influence of home environment on student’s academic performance in public schools in Kitui west sub- county, Kitui County, Kenya. The study sought to determine the influence of parents’ economic status on students’ academic performance, to establish the influence of Parent/Family Involvement on students’ academic performance and to investigate the effect of parenting style on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Kitui west sub county, Kitui county. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Simple random sampling was used to select the sample included in the study. The researcher studied a sample of 8 principals in 8 schools out of 28 public secondary schools,8 PTA chairpersons in the 8 selected schools out of 28 and 144 students out of population 1440 students. Target population for the study was all the principals ,students and parents of the 28 secondary schools in Kitui West Sub County Kitui County. Questionnaires were used for data collection. The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) version 20. The findings of this study were that the parent’s economic status influences students’ academic performance (r =0.8), Parent/Family Involvement influence students’ academic performance in public secondary schools (r =0.45) and the parenting styles affects students’ academic performance in public secondary schools (r=0.049) Kitui west sub county, Kitui county to a great extent. Thus authoritative parenting was positively associated with academic performance and authoritarian and permissive parenting was negatively associated with good performance. The ANOVA results shows that there is significance between mean responses between parents' economic status and students academic performance F(dfB,dfW) =F(159,1) =7.197, p<0.05, Parent/Family Involvement and students’ academic performance F(dfBdfW) = F(159,1) = 19.75, p<0.05 and also that there is a significant difference in mean responses between parenting styles and students’ performance F(dfB,dfw)=F(93,3) =13.0, p<0.05. The multiple regression results shows that the dependent variables are significant at 0.05% significant level (p=0.003, p= 0.001 and p=0.006) respectively) and that the parenting styles predicted students’ performance significantly at 7.234. The hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s correlations, multiple regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA). From the findings of this study, the researcher recommended that the Government need to increase the bursary allocation to the students from poor families so as to retain them in school to enhance their performance. The school administration should increase the number of education days for parents so that parents can be more involved with their student’s academic performance. Parents should improve on their family leadership style since this can affect their children performance.
RESTRICTED GENE FLOW AT SPECIFIC PARTS OF THE SHREW GENOME IN CHROMOSOMAL HYBRID ZONES

Abstract The species and races of the shrews of the Sorex araneus group exhibit a broad range of chromosomal polymorphisms. European taxa of this group are parapatric and form contact or hybrid zones that span an extraordinary variety of situations, ranging from absolute genetic isolation to almost free gene flow. This variety seems to depend for a large part on the chromosome composition of populations, which are primarily differentiated by various Robertsonian fusions of a subset of acrocentric chromosomes. Previous studies suggested that chromosomal rearrangements play a causative role in the speciation process. In such models, gene flow should be more restricted for markers on chromosomes involved in rearrangements than on chromosomes common in both parent species. In the present study, we address the possibility of such differential gene flow in the context of two genetically very similar but karyotypically different hybrid zones between species of the S. araneus group using microsatellite loci mapped to the chromosome arm level. Interspecific genetic structure across rearranged chromosomes was in general larger than across common chromosomes. However, the difference between the two classes of chromosomes was only significant in the hybrid zone where the complexity of hybrids is expected to be larger. These differences did not distinguish populations within species. Therefore, the rearranged chromosomes appear to affect the reproductive barrier between karyotypic species, although the strength of this effect depends on the complexity of the hybrids produced.