Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment of anovulatory anoestrous postpartum dairy cows with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), prostaglandin F2𝛂, GnRH regimen or with progesterone and oestradiol benzoate

Abstract AIM: To compare 2 treatments for anovulatory anoestrus (AA) in postpartum dairy cows. The treatments were combinations of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and prostaglandin F2𝛂 (PG) or progesterone (P4) and oestradiol benzoate (ODB). METHODS: Forty AA cows from each of 5 herds were blocked by age (2 or >2 years old) and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments. The first group (GPG) were treated with 250 𝛍g of a GnRH analogue, gonadorelin, followed 7 days later by 15 mg of the PG analogue, luprostiol. Two days later the cows were injected with 250 𝛍g of gonadorelin. Cows were artificially inseminated 16–24 h after the second GnRH injection. The second group (P4+ODB) were treated with an intravaginal P4 releasing device for 6 days, followed 24 h after device removal by injection of 1 mg of ODB. Cows were pregnancy tested 35–40 days after the initial insemination and twice again at 6–8 week intervals thereafter. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between P4+ODB and GPG groups in the percentage of cows submitted for insemination in the first 7 days (94.0% vs 100% for P4+ODB vs GPG, respectively; p>0.3), in conception rate to first insemination within the first 7 days (43.6% vs 35.0% for P4+ODB vs GPG, respectively; p>0.2), in the percentage of cows conceiving in the first 28 days of the breeding period (68.0% vs 58.3%, P4+ODB vs GPG, respectively; p>0.1), or in median interval from the end of treatment to conception (20 vs 21days;p>0.1). CONCLUSIONS: No differences in the reproductive performance of AA cows treated with either P4+ODB or GPG were detected. However, given the small number of animals enrolled, further data are required before the GPG protocol can be recommended for treatment of AA cows.
New Drugs for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease

Since the introduction of levodopa to treat Parkinson's disease (PD), several new therapies have been directed at improving symptom control, which can decline after a few years of levodopa therapy. Dopaminergic agents can serve as adjuncts or as alternatives to levodopa. In addition, a new class of drugs, catechol‐O‐methyltransferase inhibitors, can extend the duration of levodopa action. Although surgical options such as pallidotomy offer improvement of parkinsonism beyond the realm of pharmacologic treatment, judicious administration of drugs in combination can generally solve most problems of PD.
Inactivation of the murine pyruvate dehydrogenase (Pdha1) gene and its effect on early embryonic development.

A deficiency of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) in humans results in lactic acidosis and neurological dysfunction that frequently results in death during infancy. Using gene targeting technology, a silent mutation was introduced into the murine X-linked Pdha1 gene that encodes the alpha subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase or E1 component of the complex. Two loxP sequences were introduced into intronic sequences flanking exon 8 to generate the Pdha1(flox8) allele. In vitro studies in embryonic stem cells demonstrated that deletion of exon 8 ablated PDC activity. Homozygous Pdha1(flox8) females were bred with male mice carrying a wild-type Pdha1 allele and a transgene that ubiquitously expresses the Cre recombinase to produce progeny with a deletion in exon 8, Pdha1(Deltaex8). The majority of progeny were found to be mosaic with the presence of both the flox and deleted alleles, and there were no apparent phenotypic effects associated with the null allele. The mosaic mice were interbred to increase the degree of mosaicism for the Pdha1(Deltaex8) allele in the subsequent generation, resulting in a significantly smaller litter size (54% reduction). Embryos carrying predominantly the Pdha1(Deltaex8) allele were found to be globally delayed in development by 9.5 days postcoitus, with resorption occurring over the following several days. These findings demonstrate an essential role for oxidative metabolism of glucose during the early postimplantation period of prenatal development.
Lack of evidence so far for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in food-producing animals in Switzerland.

The increasing prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae that produce extended-spectrum-β-lactamases (ESBLs) undermines the effi cacy of many β-lactam therapies based on penicillins and cephalosporins (Pitout and Laupland, 2008) and render carbapenems (imipenem, meropenem, ertapenem and doripenem) in human medicine crucial drugs of last resort for the treatment of infections due to multi-resistant gram-negative bacteria (Queenan and Bush, 2007). However, carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae have been increasingly reported worldwide (Nordmann et al., 2011), a development which is observed with great concern by the scientifi c and medical community and threatens to become a public health problem of global dimensions (Akova et al., 2012). Carbapenemases are a diverse group of β-lactamases belonging to the Ambler classes A, B and D or Bush groups 2f, 3 and 2d, accordingly (Amber et al., 1991; Bush and Jacoby, 2010). Class A carbapenemases (Bush group 2f) include the serine β-lactamases NmcA, Sme, IMI-1 and SFC-1 which are chromosomally encoded, as well as the clinically common plasmid encoded KPC enzymes. Carbapenemases of this class are inhibited by clavulanic acid. Class B carbapenemases (Bush group 3) comprise the integron-encoded VIM-types, the IMP-, GIM-1, SPM-1and SIM-types of enzymes, and the plasmid encoded NDM-1 carbapenamase. These metallo-β-lactamases are inhibited by EDTA but not by clavulanic acid. Class D (Bush group 2d) consists of OXA-48 type carbapenemases, which are plasmid encoded, and not inhibited by EDTA and not or only weakly inhibited by clavulanic acid. Due to the heterogeneity of carbapenemases, their highly variable substrate spectra and their coexistance with other β-lactamases, the detection of carrier strains is a major technical challenge which is why the actual prevalence of carbapenemase-producers remains unknown (Nordmann et al., 2011). Even though carbapenems are not licensed for the use in animals, carbapenem resistant bacteria, once introduced into the animal population, could be selected for by the use of other (licensed) beta-lactam antibiotics. Recent reports prove that the intestinal fl ora of pigs (Fischer et al., 2012) and cattle (Poirel et al., 2012) constitute a possible reservoir of carbapenemase producers. Because of possible transmission of resistance genes from livestock via the food chain into the human community, these fi ndings are particularly alarming and constitute a crucial public health issue. As there are no novel β-lactams in development, early identifi cation of carbapenemase producers in humans as well as in animals is of utmost importance.
Women’s perceptions and experiences of childbirth in United Arab Emirates

Abstract Aims: To determine women's perceptions and experiences of childbirth in United Arab Emirates [UAE]. Methods: A consecutive sample of 715 women who delivered during a 3 month period were interviewed on the third postnatal day about their experience and satisfaction with maternity care using a structured questionnaire. Results: 95 (13.2 %) women had negative feelings including fear, anger, sorrow and regret, guilt, jealousy, sense of failure and disappointment while the rest felt that childbirth was enjoyable and that they had been well-informed, especially by nurses, about their perinatal care. Subjects delivered by cesarean (N = 104, 14.5 %) were significantly less satisfied with the information provided by their caregivers and their involvement in decision-making before the operation than the vaginal group (p = 0.001). Irrespective of mode of delivery, most participants strongly agreed that cesarean is worse than vaginal delivery whatever the reason and should be performed only for medical reasons. Adverse maternal experiences were significantly more frequent with cesarean delivery (p = 0.00001), older age (p = 0.04), primiparity (p = 0.03), higher education (p = 0.03), lack of antenatal care (p = 0.03) and prolonged labor (p = 0.04). Conclusions: Childbirth experience and the prevalence and correlates of postnatal psychosocial morbidity in UAE are not different from those observed elsewhere.
Reduction of the closure time of postoperative enterocutaneous fistulas with fibrin sealant.

AIM To assess whether the use of fibrin sealant shortens the closure time of postoperative enterocutaneous fistulas (ECFs). METHODS The prospective case-control study included 70 patients with postoperative ECFs with an output of < 500 mL/d, a fistulous tract of > 2 cm and without any local complication. They were divided into study (n = 23) and control groups (n = 47). Esophageal, gastric and colocutaneous fistulas were monitored under endoscopic visualization, which also allowed fibrin glue application directly through the external hole. Outcome variables included closure time, time to resume oral feeding and morbidity related to nutritional support. RESULTS There were no differences in mean age, fistula output, and follow-up. Closure-time for all patients of the study group was 12.5 +/- 14.2 d and 32.5 +/- 17.9 d for the control group (P < 0.001), and morbidity related to nutritional support was 8.6% and 42.5%, respectively (P < 0.01). In patients with colonic fistulas, complete closure occurred 23.5 +/- 19.5 d after the first application of fibrin glue, and spontaneous closure was observed after 36.2 +/- 22.8 d in the control group (P = 0.36). Recurrences were observed in 2 patients because of residual disease. One patient of each group died during follow-up as a consequence of septic complications related to parenteral nutrition. CONCLUSION Closure time was significantly reduced with the use of fibrin sealant, and oral feeding was resumed faster. We suggest the use of fibrin sealant for the management of stable enterocutaneous fistulas.
Morphological Control of Polymer Spherulites via Manipulating Radial Lamellar Organization upon Evaporative Crystallization: A Mini Review

Various spherulites or spherulitic crystals are widely encountered in polymeric materials when crystallized from viscous melts or concentrated solutions. However, the microstructures and growth processes are quite complicated and remain unclear and, thus, the formation mechanisms are rather elusive. Here, diverse kinds of spherulitic growths and patterns of typical polyesters via evaporative crystallization of solution-cast thin films are delineated after detailed investigating the microstructures and in situ following the developing processes. The spherulitic crystals produced under different evaporation conditions reflect variously optical features, such as the usual Maltese Cross, non-birefringent or half-birefringent concentric-rings, extinction spiral banding, and even a nested ring-banded pattern. Polymer spherulites are composed of stacks of radial fibrillar lamellae, and the diversity of bewitchingly spherulitic morphologies is dominated by the arrangement and organization of radial lamellae, which is predicted to be tunable by modulating the evaporative crystallization processes. The emergence of various types of spherulitic morphologies of the same polymer is attributed to a precise manipulation of the radial lamellar organization by a coupling of structural features and specific crystal evolving courses under confined evaporation environments. The present findings improve dramatically the understanding of the structural development and crystallization mechanism for emergence of diverse polymer spherulitic morphologies.
The comparison of different protocols for expansion of umbilical‐cord blood hematopoietic stem cells

Hematopoiesis is maintained by the activity of multipotent stem cells, which have the dual capacity to self‐renew and to differentiate into all of the blood cell lineages. The major challenge of stem cells based regenerative therapy is to expand ex vivo the primitive compartment to increase transplantable stem cells number. The present study was designed to evaluate several culture systems for in vitro maintenance of umbilical cord blood stem cells. The influences of different growth conditions such as stromal feeder layer, cytokines supplement and placental conditioned medium (PCM) have been evaluated over a relatively short period of time on CD34+ cell expansion and maintenance of clonogenic progenitors. When cells were expanded on feeder layer in the presence of added cytokines and PCM on average a 2.96‐fold increase of CD34+CD71‐ and a 3.13‐fold increase of CD34+HLA‐DR‐ was observed. The total number of colony forming cells (35±2.65) indicated also that the yield of clonogenic progenitors obtained with a combination of all factors was two folds higher than each of these factors alone and ten time above control (3.67± 2.52). In conclusion, the results of our study clearly show that the ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic progenitor cells obtained from human umbilical cord blood is dependent on controlled experimental conditions, which might be helpful when designing culture systems for clinical applications.
The Lived Experience of Fibromyalgia in African American Women

This study aimed to learn what it is like for African American women to live with fibromyalgia. Van Manen's phenomenological method of writing and rewriting guided the inquiry. The sample included 10 women, who were interviewed for 30 to 60 minutes each. Two agreed to second interviews, for a total of 12 interviews for data analysis. Data analysis revealed the following themes: (a) managing the symptoms, (b) becoming a self-advocate, (c) medications camouflage the pain, (d) coming to grips with the illness means making changes, (e) being accused of “taking a free ride” angers them, (f) support comes from self and spiritual connections, and (g) a certain amount of secrecy makes it easier to live with the illness. Recommendations focus on using a holistic approach to help African American women achieve or maintain their integrity.
Correlation of histologic and clinical images to determine the diagnostic value of fluorescein angiography for studying retinal capillary detail.

PURPOSE To delineate morphometric and quantitative features of the capillary image derived from high-resolution fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) and consequently determine the diagnostic value of FFA for studying the retinal capillary circulation. METHODS Retinal capillary images obtained from healthy young subjects using high-resolution FFA were compared with confocal scanning laser microscopic capillary images derived from the retinas of age-matched human donors. Confocal microscopic images were acquired from retinal flatmount tissue after central retinal artery cannulation, perfusion fixation, and antibody labeling. Capillary images from equivalent retinal regions were morphologically and quantitatively analyzed in both groups. RESULTS Ten human subjects (mean age, 27.4 years) were used for FFA studies, and five cadaveric eyes (mean donor age, 26.5 years) were used for histologic studies. In histologic specimens the density of the superficial capillary network was significantly greater than that of the deep capillary network. Despite use of a healthy young population, only 30% of high-resolution FFA studies provided clear capillary images. The configuration of the capillary network in FFA images was comparable to the superficial capillary network in confocal microscope images; however, the density of the capillary network in FFA images was consistently lower than that of histologic images. CONCLUSIONS FFA provides incomplete morphologic information about the superficial capillary network and even less information about the deep capillary network. Caution should, therefore, be exercised when using FFA data to extrapolate information about microvascular histopathologic processes. The usefulness of newer technology for studying retinal capillary detail should be investigated.
A Multi-Level Pulse Modulated Polar Transmitter Using Digital Pulse-Width Modulation

This letter presents a multi-level pulse modulated polar transmitter architecture. Compared to a conventional gate-modulated envelope elimination and restoration transmitter, the use of the proposed technique is capable of reducing the in-band quantization noise level. Moreover, the proposed technique can increase the pulse-width modulation sampling frequency by relaxing its resolution requirement, which eases the filtering requirement at the output. A prototype transmitter system is constructed using commercially available components. Using a CDMA2000 1X signal at 836.5 MHz, it achieved over 40% power-added efficiency at 24.5 dBm output power level while passing the adjacent and alternate channel power ratios for the CDMA2000 standard.
Physiological mechanism and pathogenesis of weanling diarrhea.

The association of gastroenteritis with infantile malnutrition is common in developing countries and Scrimshaw, Taylor and Gordon (1) have called the illness “weanling diarrhea” to denote the peak time of onset. Children who develop malnutrition during weaning are more vulnerable to contracting an infection than well-nourished children of similar age from a better environment. Poor host resistance may be conducive not only to the development of a specific infection, but it could also allow organisms, normally considered nonpathogenic, to proliferate and assume the role of disease-inducing agents. Thus Dammin and co-workers in Guatemala (2), in studies with postmortem material, suggested that malnourished children develop diarrhea when the upper small intestine becomes colonized by bacteria. However, diarrhea induced by a variety of agents has also been associated with increased numbers of jejunal organisms (3). The present investigations were undertaken to determine whether iamaican children with malnutrition, but without diarrhea, had bacterial over-growth in the jejunum, and to compare this flora with that in malnourished children with acute gastroenteritis. A control group of children who had been treated for malnutrition for over 2 months in the hospital, was also tested. All three groups were assessed to see whether there were functional changes in water, sodium, and glucose absorption.
Fine needle aspiration cytology aided categorisation of neuroblastic tumours: a report of two cases

Neuroblastic tumours are embryonal tumours arising from the neural crest cells in the sympathetic nervous system. Based on the degree of differentiation and maturity, they are of three types: neuroblastoma, ganglioneuroblastoma (GNB) and ganglioneuroma (GN). A pre-treatment diagnosis of these tumours is important, as they are known to undergo maturation after chemotherapy as well as spontaneously. Also, the treatment and course of these tumours vary according to the exact categorisation. In the present treatment regimen, where surgery is not the first-line treatment, fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) plays a vital role in making a pre-operative diagnosis. However, it has certain limitations. Although the diagnosis of neuroblastoma is straightforward and well documented, there is sparse literature available on the categorisation of neuroblastic tumours on FNAC. Here we present two cases, one of ganglioneuroblastoma and the other of ganglioneuroma, diagnosed on FNAC.
A Study On High School Students’ Attitudes Towards Biology Assignments

In this study, first year male and female high students’ attitudes towards the biology assignments have been investigated. For this aim, a Likert type question- naire was administered to the participants. In addition, in total twentyfive students were interviewed. The results were analyzed by using SPSS 12.0 and discussed. The results suggest that assignments given without clear purposes are likely to decrease students’ success while assignment given with clear aims and criteria are likely to increase students’ success. Suggestions were made according to the finding how to improve the effectiveness of assignments at biology courses.
The Effects of Peer Mediated Instruction to Teach Math Skills to Middle School Students

OF THESIS THE EFFECTS OF PEER MEDIATED INSTRUCTION TO TEACH MATH SKILLS TO MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a functional relation between a peer-delivered modified system of least prompts procedure (SLP) and an increase in level and trend of performance on finding the area of polygons or finding the volume of cylinders, spheres, and cones, and could the peer tutor reliably implement the modified SLP procedure with middle school students with mild to severe disabilities. A multiple probe days across participants design was used. Results from this study show that there was a functional relation across students in which students were able to make progress on academic math skills when taught by a peer tutor using the modified SLP procedure. The peer tutor was able to reliably implement the procedure to multiple students. Limitations and implications for practice are discussed.
Chinese Families

For most Chinese people, family (jia or jiating) is a simple as well as a complex concept. It is simple because everybody has a family (or families) and thus knows what it is. It is complex because different individuals have different explanations about families. Quite often, the answer to the question, “What is a family? ” is “it depends. ” In traditional Chinese society, family was another name for a patriarchal clan, including not only its current members but also its ancestors enshrined and worshiped in clan halls, and a set of feudal orders and ethical codes among kinships, based on Confucian doctrines. In contemporary China, the meanings of family may vary from person to person. From the perspective of politicians (such as Mr. Yaobang Hu, former leader of the Chinese Communist Party), family, rather than the individual, is the “basic cell” of the society. In the view of administrators, a family is a household within which a group of people live at a given period of time for resident registration or census. Meanwhile, a rural peasant may think of his house, land, and livestock as part of his family, and family in the mind of an urban dweller may include the networks of direct kinship spreading outward in the city. In addition, family may mean mom, dad, and a playground to a little child; a small but warm, comfortable, and affective home to a young newly married couple; raising up children and supporting the aged to a middle-aged person; or all her children and grandchildren to a retired senior. Despite these variations, Chinese academics have commonly accepted a more institutionalized concept of family—“[F]amily is an essential unit of social life, which is tied through relationships of marriage, blood, and adoption” (Chinese Encyclopedia: Sociology, 1991, p. 102)—and taken the “household” approach to operationally define family in their empirical studies. From a rigorous scientific point of view, by highlighting the instructional feature of family only, this definition is too general to cover other natures of family, such as biological (MacIver, 1937), cultural (Lowie, 1934), interactional (Burgess & Locke, 1960), and structural-functional (Parsons, 1955). Moreover, the “household” approach underrepresents the real cultural connotations of Chinese families, given that most Chinese people consider family as something more than a household. Therefore, C H A P T E R