Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Méthodologie d’analyse et d’évaluation technico- économique des systèmes de production ovine et caprine

Cet article rapporte le travail effectue depuis 1994 par le groupe d’experts du sous-reseau FAO-CIHEAM sur les systemes de production ovine et caprine, concernant la methodologie d’evaluation de ces systemes. L’objectif de ce travail etait de mettre au point une methodologie pour analyser, evaluer et comparer les systemes de production ovine et caprine, et ainsi pour repondre aux besoins des eleveurs et des agents de developpement dans les domaines du diagnostic, du conseil et de l’aide a la decision. La methode repose sur l’estimation d’un ensemble d’indicateurs directement mesures, ou d’indicateurs calcules a partir d’autres indicateurs concernant l’exploitation agricole dans son ensemble ou l’atelier ovin ou caprin exclusivement. Les indicateurs sont choisis apres validation du groupe d’experts. L’article decrit comment dans certains cas, les difficultes sur le choix d’un ou plusieurs indicateurs ont ete resolues. Au total, 196 indicateurs sont decrits dans les tableaux de 1 a 8 avec des conseils sur les conditions de calcul, la signification et l’interpretation de chaque indicateur. Cette methode repose sur le travail d’enquete des agents de developpement qui peuvent etre aides par les eleveurs au niveau de l’enregistrement des donnees. Les differentes approches pour interpreter les resultats en fonction des objectifs de l’etude sont passees en revue, en particulier l’interpretation par des "blocs diagnostics" et l’identification des points forts ou faibles de chaque systeme. La restitution des resultats aux eleveurs est consideree comme une phase essentielle de la methode. La methode a ete appliquee dans des conditions differentes en Andalousie, en Roumanie, au Portugal et au Nord du Maroc pour validation ; ce qui a permis d’ameliorer certains points de la methode afin qu’elle puisse etre appliquee de facon plus large
Renewal input infinite buffer batch service queue with single exponential working vacation and accessibility to batches

This paper considers an infinite buffer single server batch service queue with single exponential working vacation policy. The inter-arrival times are generally independent and identically distributed random variables and the service times are exponential. The server accesses new arrivals even after service has started on any batch of initial number a. This operation continues till the service time of the ongoing batch is completed or the maximum accessible limit d of the batch being served is attained whichever occurs first. The supplementary variable technique and the recursive method are used to develop the steady-state queue length distributions at pre-arrival and arbitrary epochs. Some performance measures and numerical results are discussed.
Medical management of hyperlipidemia/dyslipidemia.

Atherosclerosis is a complex multifactorial disease. Lipids play an important, but not an exclusive, role in its development and progression. In some persons, lipids will be a major factor, and in some, lipids as we currently understand them will play a minor role. Outstanding advances have been made in understanding the biology of the vessel wall and of atherosclerosis, but there is still a long way to go. Our concepts of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD) have dramatically changed, and we now know that coronary atherosclerosis is a diffuse multifocal inflammatory vasculopathy (1– 4). Rupture of nonocclusive lesions (50% of the lumen) are often the most dangerous, abruptly causing sudden death or the acute coronary syndrome (ACS; Ref. 5). The important fact about these nonocclusive or culprit lesions is that there are many of them in the coronary circulation that are as dangerous as the one that causes the ACS. In fact, it is these lesions, and not necessarily the one causing the ACS, that are responsible for recurrent CHD events after myocardial infarction or the development of unstable angina (4). It is for this reason that antiatherosclerotic therapy (including lipid-lowering therapy) should be aggressive in patients with CHD or at high CHD risk. The most dangerous lesions are nonocclusive, asymptomatic, and not necessarily detected by stress testing, with or without imaging, or by coronary arteriography because the lesions may be accompanied by compensatory dilation with little or no encroachment on the lumen (6).
Lightning Impulse Ageing of HV Cable Insulation

Lightning impulses can lead to accelerated ageing of extruded cables. Electrical behaviour of a dielectric material when experiencing a lightning impulse is different to that for DC or power frequency applied voltages. Pre-designed shaped HDPE material samples have been manufactured using a mould tool. The samples then have been electrically aged using an impulse generator. A real-time software based monitoring tool has been designed to control the impulse wave-shape and process the measurement data. Sets of identical lightning impulses were applied to samples and this was then followed by ramped AC breakdown tests. The obtained results were analyzed using Weibull distribution to identify any differences in lifetime between aged and unaged samples. Measurements of dielectric loss and space charge were also undertaken to identify the impulse ageing mechanism.
Soursop leaf extract increases neuroglia and hepatic degeneration in female rats

BACKGROUND Soursop leaf contains annonaceous acetogenins and alkaloids. The acetogenins act as inhibitors of mitochondrial complex I, suppress ATP production and cause cell degeneration, whereas the alkaloids act as neurotoxins. Neuronal degeneration will be followed by an increase in neuroglia (gliosis). Hepatic clear cell foci represent the morphology of liver degeneration. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of soursop leaf extract on number of neuroglia brain gliosis and hepatic clear cells in female rats. METHODS This study was an experimental study with a post-test only control group design. Ten female Sprague-Dawley strain rats were divided into one control and one treatment group. The control group was gavaged with distilled water, while the treatment group was gavaged with aqueous soursop leaf extract at a dose of 1000 mg/kgBW/day for 90 days. Rat brain tissue samples were taken at day 91 with a transcardial perfusion technique. The number of neuroglia in rat cerebral cortex, hippocampus, substantia nigra, and nucleus accumbens and the number of hepatic clear cells were determined. Independent t-test was used to examine the differences in the numbers of neuroglia and hepatic clear cells between control and treatment groups RESULTS The results of independent t-test analysis found a significant difference in the number of neuroglia in the cerebral cortex (p=0.015) and nucleus accumbens of the rats (p=0.030), and significant differences in the number of hepatic clear cells (p=0.029). CONCLUSIONS Aqueous soursop leaf extract orally increases neuroglia of the cerebral cortex and nucleus accumbens, and hepatic degeneration in female rats.
Activity of cefepime against ceftazidime- and cefotaxime-resistant gram-negative bacteria and its relationship to beta-lactamase levels

One hundred clinical isolates resistant to ceftazidime and/or cefotaxime were examined for susceptibility to cefepime. The most frequently encountered ceftazidime-cefotaxime-resistant strains belonged to the genera Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, and Citrobacter. Among these strains, 92% were resistant to cefoperazone, 91% were resistant to cefotaxime, 84% were resistant to ceftazidime, and 6% were resistant to cefepime. Of the members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, 57% were resistant to ceftriaxone. The six strains resistant to cefepime were all Pseudomonas aeruginosa and were resistant to both cefotaxime and ceftazidime. Cefepime-resistant P. aeruginosa strains had exceptionally high levels of beta-lactamase activity, higher than the levels found in strains resistant to ceftazidime but susceptible to cefepime. The beta-lactamases from the cefepime-resistant strains were type I (Richmond-Sykes), were constitutively produced, and did not have increased affinity or hydrolytic activity for cefepime. Thus, cefepime was active against most gram-negative bacteria which have developed resistance to the broad-spectrum cephalosporins, and resistance to cefepime in P. aeruginosa appears to be associated with higher beta-lactamase levels than in cefepime-susceptible strains.
A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cysteamine and Phosphocysteamine in Elevating Plasma Cysteamine Concentration and Decreasing Leukocyte Free Cystine in Nephropathic Cystinosis

ABSTRACT: Cysteamine (β-mercaptoethylamine, MEA) is currently used to treat children with nephropathic cystinosis. In this study MEA was compared to phosphocysteamine (MEAP), a phosphorothioester that tastes and smells better than MEA, with respect to its ability to elevate plasma MEA and deplete leukocytes of cystine. Studies were performed in six children with nephropathic cystinosis ranging in age from 2 to 10 yr. After equimolar oral doses of either MEA or MEAP plasma cysteamine was determined at various times for 6 h. MEA was determined by sodium borohydride reduction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography separation and electrochemical detection. Leukocyte cystine was measured before and 1 and 6 h after drug administration. Peak plasma MEA was obtained 30 min to 1 h after a dose and was not significantly different when MEA (48.6 ± 10.7, mean ± SD) or MEAP (54.1 ± 20.2) was given. Significant plasma MEA concentrations were seen as early as 15 min after an oral dose, indicating rapid absorption. Analysis of vomitus indicated that hydrolysis of the phosphate group of MEAP occurs in the stomach. The percent decrease in leukocyte cystine content obtained with MEA administration (61.9%) was not significantly different from the decrease observed when MEAP was administered (65.3%). MEA and MEAP appear to be equally effective in their cystine-depleting properties.
MicroRNA-433 Inhibits Liver Cancer Cell Migration by Repressing the Protein Expression and Function of cAMP Response Element-binding Protein*

Background: Although its expression is altered in several human diseases, the function of miR-433 is unknown. Results: miR-433 inhibits HCC cell migration by repressing CREB1 3′-UTR activity and protein expression. Conclusion: CREB1 is the first identified target of miR-433 in liver cancer. Significance: This finding has broad implications given the role of CREB1 in various cancers, hepatic glucose metabolism, and liver circadian clock regulation. We show for the first time that potent microRNA-433 (miR-433) inhibition of expression of the cAMP response element-binding protein CREB1 represses hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell migration. We identified a miR-433 seed match region in human and mouse CREB1 3′-UTRs. Overexpression of miR-433 markedly decreased human CREB1 3′-UTR reporter activity, and the inhibitory effect of miR-433 was alleviated upon mutation of its binding site. Ectopic expression of miR-433 reduced CREB1 protein levels in a variety of human and mouse cancer cells, including HeLa, Hepa1, Huh7, and HepG2. Human CREB1 protein levels in highly invasive MHCC97H cells were diminished by expression of miR-433 but were induced by miR-433 antagomir (anti-miR-433). The expression of mouse CREB1 protein negatively correlated with miR-433 levels in nuclear receptor Shp−/− liver tissues and liver tumors compared with wild-type mice. miR-433 exhibited a significant repression of MHCC97H cell migration, which was reversed by anti-miR-433. Overexpressing miR-433 inhibited focus formation dramatically, demonstrating that miR-433 may exert a tumor suppressor function. Knockdown of CREB1 by siRNAs impeded MHCC97H cell migration and invasion and antagonized the effect of anti-miR-433. Interestingly, CREB1 siRNA decreased MHCC97H cell proliferation, which was not influenced by anti-miR-433. Overexpressing CREB1 decreased the inhibitory activity of miR-433. The CpG islands surrounding miR-433 were hypermethylated, and the DNA methylation agent 5′-aza-2′-deoxycytidine, but not the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A, drastically stimulated the expression of miR-433 and miR-127 in HCC cells. The latter is clustered with miR-433. The results reveal a critical role of miR-433 in mediating HCC cell migration via CREB1.
Frequency compensation for two-stage operational amplifiers with improved power supply rejection ratio characteristic

A frequency compensation technique improving characteristic of power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) for two-stage operational amplifiers is presented. This technique is applicable to most known two-stage amplifier configurations. The detailed small-signal analysis of an exemplary amplifier with the proposed compensation and a comparison to its basic version reveal several benefits of the technique which can be effectively exploited in continuous-time filter designs. This comparison shows the possibility of PSRR bandwidth broadening of more than a decade, significant reduction of chip area, the unity-gain bandwidth and power consumption improvement. These benefits are gained at the cost of a non-monotonic phase characteristic of the open-loop differential voltage gain and limitation of a close-loop voltage gain. A prototype-integrated circuit, fabricated based on 0.35 μm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology, was used for the technique verification. Two pairs of amplifiers with the classical Miller compensation and a cascoded input stage were measured and compared to their improved counterparts. The measurement data fully confirm the theoretically predicted advantages of the proposed compensation technique.
Gesture and Action Recognition by Evolved Dynamic Subgestures

This paper introduces a framework for gesture and action recognition based on the evolution of temporal gesture primitives, or subgestures. Our work is inspired on the principle of producing genetic variations within a population of gesture subsequences, with the goal of obtaining a set of gesture units that enhance the generalization capability of standard gesture recognition approaches. In our context, gesture primitives are evolved over time using dynamic programming and generative models in order to recognize complex actions. In few generations, the proposed subgesture-based representation of actions and gestures outperforms the state of the art results on the MSRDaily3D and MSRAction3D datasets.
CEACAM 6 promotes tumor migration , invasion , and metastasis in gastric cancer

Yunqiang Zhang1,2†, Mingde Zang1†, Jianfang Li1, Jun Ji1, Jianian Zhang1, Xiaolei Liu1, Ying Qu1, Liping Su1, Chen Li1, Yinyan Yu1, Zhenggang Zhu1, Bingya Liu1*, and Min Yan1* Shanghai Key Laboratory of Gastric Neoplasms, Department of Surgery, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200040, China These authors contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence address. Tel: þ86-21-64670644; Fax: þ86-21-64373909; E-mail: byliu@sjtu.edu. cn (B.L.)/Tel: þ86-21-64370045; Fax: þ86-21-64373909; E-mail: ym10299@163.com (M.Y.)
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) Decreases Acute Skin Toxicity for Women Receiving Radiation for Breast Cancer

Objective:To determine the clinically observed incidence and severity of acute skin toxicity with breast intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), and compare the results with a matched cohort of patients treated by conventional radiation therapy. Our hypothesis is that measures to decrease dose inhomogeneity within the breast and skin with IMRT will improve acute skin toxicity. Materials and Methods:The study population consists of 73 women with early stage breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery and IMRT. The IMRT technique involves an iteration method for optimization to generate the IMRT plan, Monte Carlo dose calculation, and a step-and-shoot technique using multileaf collimation for beam delivery. Other aspects of the technique including the clinical definition of the clinical target volume by the physician, patient positioning, tangential beam orientation, dose and field sizes were unchanged compared conventional tangential radiation. These patients were matched one-to-one to a control group of 60 women treated with conventional photon radiation by using their bra size and chest wall separation. The study end point was acute skin toxicity. Results:There were no observed differences in the acute toxicity based upon common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTC) for acute radiation dermatitis. There was no desquamation in 42% of IMRT patients, dry desquamation in 37% and moist desquamation in 21%. The degree of desquamation was greater for conventional patients compared with IMRT patients −52% grade 0, 10% grade 1, and 38% grade 2 (P = 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed desquamation was significantly lower with IMRT for small (P = 0.038) and large breast sizes (P = 0.037), but not medium sizes (P = 0.454). For large breast sizes, the incidence of moist desquamation grade 2 was 48% with IMRT compared with 79% in controls. Significant predictors of moist desquamation on stepwise logistic regression were use of IMRT (P = 0.0011) and breast size (P < 0.0001). Conclusions:IMRT is associated with a decrease in severity of acute desquamation compared with a matched control group treated with conventional radiation therapy. As with conventional radiation, breast size remains the most important prognostic factor for acute skin toxicity. The CTC grading system for acute radiation dermatitis is not sensitive when applied to modern breast cancer treatment because of its dependence of subjective rating of erythema and inability to gauge variations in desquamation. Further study of patient symptoms, quality of life, and cosmesis is needed to evaluate the benefit of IMRT for breast cancer.
Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with anakinra, a recombinant human interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, in combination with methotrexate: results of a twenty-four-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of anakinra in combination with methotrexate (MTX) in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Patients with moderate-to-severe active RA who were receiving MTX for 6 consecutive months, with stable doses for > or = 3 months (those with disease duration of >6 months but <12 years) were randomized into 6 groups: placebo or 0.04, 0.1, 0.4, 1.0, or 2.0 mg/kg of anakinra administered in a single, daily, subcutaneous injection. The primary efficacy end point was the proportion of subjects who met the American College of Rheumatology 20% improvement criteria (attained an ACR20 response) at week 12. RESULTS A total of 419 patients were randomized in the study. Patient demographics and disease status were similar in the 6 treatment groups. The ACR20 responses at week 12 in the 5 active treatment plus MTX groups demonstrated a statistically significant (P = 0.001) dose-response relationship compared with the ACR20 response in the placebo plus MTX group. The ACR20 response rate in the anakinra 1.0-mg/kg (46%; P = 0.001) and 2.0-mg/kg (38%; P = 0.007) dose groups was significantly greater than that in the placebo group (19%). The ACR20 responses at 24 weeks were consistent with those at 12 weeks. Similar improvements in anakinra-treated subjects were noted in individual ACR components, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, onset of ACR20 response, sustainability of ACR20 response, and magnitude of ACR response. Anakinra was safe and well tolerated. Injection site reaction was the most frequently noted adverse event, and this led to premature study withdrawal in 7% (1.0-mg/kg group) to 10% (2.0-mg/kg group) of patients receiving higher doses. CONCLUSION In patients with persistently active RA, the combination of anakinra and MTX was safe and well tolerated and provided significantly greater clinical benefit than MTX alone.
Elevated pretransplant ferritin is associated with a lower incidence of chronic graft‐versus‐host disease and inferior survival after myeloablative allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Elevated pretransplant serum ferritin levels have been associated with an increased incidence of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT). We studied 222 patients who underwent myeloablative allogeneic HCT in whom pretransplantation serum ferritin levels were available. Pretransplantation ferritin > 1910 μg/l was associated with lower overall survival (P = 0·003), lower relapse‐free survival (P = 0·003), decreased chronic graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) (P = 0·019) and increased non‐relapse mortality (NRM) (P = 0·042). Similar results were obtained when pretransplantation ferritin was analysed as a continuous variable and by quartiles. Our results indicate that an elevated pretransplant ferritin level adversely impacts transplantation outcomes. The adverse impact of elevated ferritin on NRM and survival was despite its association with lower incidences of acute and chronic GVHD, which are major causes of NRM. The association of ferritin with iron overload and its influence on HCT outcomes requires further prospective validation.
'Slugs and snails and puppy-dog tails'-children's ideas about the inside of their bodies.

Twenty-six children at each of four age-levels (6, 8, 10 and 12 years) were asked to draw the inside of their bodies and to answer some questions on body organization and function. Although knowledge increased with age, it was consistently below that reported in earlier American studies. Children's responses to questions about how their bodies worked revealed some basic misunderstandings and errors. The significance of these data both for health education and for communicating with sick children is discussed.
Sensitivity Analysis for Equilibrium Network Flow

Direct application of existing sensitivity analysis methods for nonlinear programming problems or for variational inequalities to nonlinear programming or variational inequality formulations of the equilibrium traffic assignment problem is not feasible, since, in general, the solution to the equilibrium traffic assignment problem does not satisfy the uniqueness conditions required by the sensitivity analysis methods. This paper presents an approach for sensitivity analysis of equilibrium traffic assignment problems in which an equivalent restricted problem is developed which has the desired uniqueness properties; the existing methods are applied to this restricted problem to calculate the derivatives of the equilibrium arc flows with respect to perturbations of the cost functions and of the trip table. These derivatives are then shown to be equivalent to the derivatives of the original unrestricted equilibrium traffic assignment problem; therefore, the method yields the desired sensitivity analysis results.
Milrinone attenuates thromboxane receptor‐mediated hyperresponsiveness in hypoxic pulmonary arterial myocytes

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Neonatal pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) is characterized by pulmonary vasoconstriction, due in part to dysregulation of the thromboxane prostanoid (TP) receptor. Hypoxia induces TP receptor–mediated hyperresponsiveness, whereas serine phosphorylation mediates desensitization of TP receptors. We hypothesized that prostacyclin (IP) receptor activity induces TP receptor phosphorylation and decreases ligand affinity; that TP receptor sensitization in hypoxic myocytes is due to IP receptor inactivation; and that this would be reversible by the cAMP‐specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor milrinone.