Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inflammatory Response Patterns in ICSI Patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate inflammatory response in chronic anovulating infertility women undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Thirteen infertile women with chronic anovulation and 23 normally ovulating women were prospectively evaluated. N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), myeloperoxidase (MPO), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations were evaluated in serum and follicular fluid. Women with chronic anovulation presented higher NAG and MPO activity in follicular fluid when compared with normally ovulating women. Serum MPO activity was higher in the control group compared to the chronic anovulation group. Both serum and follicular fluid CRP concentrations were higher in women with chronic anovulation in comparison with the control group. Higher MCP-1 follicular fluid concentrations and serum levels of CRP were associated with the occurrence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Patients with chronic anovulation exhibited significantly higher follicle macrophage/neutrophil activation as well as unspecific inflammatory response by comparison with normally ovulating women.
Reproducibility of high-resolution optical coherence tomography measurements of the nerve fibre layer with the new Heidelberg Spectralis optical coherence tomography

Aim Conventional time-domain OCT technology for detection of retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) neurodegeneration suffers from technical inaccuracy owing to a lack of exact scan centring around the optic disc as well as a true follow-up possibility. In this study, the authors evaluated a novel high-resolution spectral-domain OCT device (SD-OCT) with an incorporated eye-tracking feature in its ability to objectively measure the RNFL thickness (RNFLT) by testing intraobserver reproducibility in a series of healthy volunteers. Methods Triplicate circumferential RNFL scans of six peripapillary sectors were obtained from both eyes of all 31 participants. The authors compared the measurements of RNFLT during three separate examination days under miotic (Mi) and mydriatic (My) pupil conditions using a high-speed (HS) and high-resolution (HR) scan-acquisition mode. To examine the intersession reproducibility of the SD-OCT measurements, the mean, SD and coefficient of variation (COV) were calculated. Results No significant differences were found in all groups, independent of the mode of image acquisition and examination day (p always >0,05). Under all conditions, low COVs between 0.545% and 3.97% (intrasession COV on baseline) were found. The intersession COV with activated follow-up mode ranged between 0.29% and 1.07%. In both settings, the temporal sector showed the highest COV values. Conclusions True follow-up measurement of identical peripapillary regions may enable clinicians to detect discrete levels of retinal thickness change over time. This constitutes a crucial prerequisite for a reliable monitoring of subtle RNFL changes in neurodegenerative disorders.
Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and syphilis co-infection in human immunodeficiency virus-positive antiretroviral therapy attendees and human immunodeficiency virus-negative sexually transmitted infection attendees

Sir, Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remain a public health problem of major significance in most part of the world. India has the second highest number of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). [1] The presence of genital ulcers (syphilis) significantly increases the transmission of HIV to sexual partner. Recent outbreaks of syphilis and increase in hepatitis B cases have raised concern regarding the potential enhancement of STDs. It has recently been found that HIV‐positive patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) co‐infection are associated with increased risk of progression to severe hepatotoxicity due to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and reduced survival of the patient. [2] Therefore, there is a serious need to consider anti‐HBV therapy in addition to ART in those with dual infection.
Could One Head Be Better Than Two? A Qualitative Examination of Paired Ideation

Group Support Systems (GSS) have been used to support facilitated ideation sessions for years. Participants in GSS ideation sessions typically work individually at their workstations, but a previous study found that pairing participants could yield higher quality ideas and participant satisfaction. That study did not, however, explain how paired participants could generate higher quality results or why they reported perceptions different from previous studies. This study examined the experiences of paired ideation session participants and found that having a partner heightened participants’ sense of engagement in the ideation process, leading to higher quality ideas and increased satisfaction, while simultaneously providing a new communications channel that reduced production blocking.
Social Science on the Affliction of Self-identity

After the Cold War melted down, bitter ethnic and religious conflicts heated up all over the world. Endless images of death and violence now flash daily across our screens, as the multiple faces of suffering and evil stare steadfastly into our own. Our task, our moral imperative, is as urgent today as it was when Albert Camus (1971: 11) expressed it fifty years ago—just as many millions of murders ago. He said,
Polymeric carriers: role of geometry in drug delivery

The unique properties of synthetic nanostructures promise a diverse set of applications as carriers for drug delivery, which are advantageous in terms of biocompatibility, pharmacokinetics, targeting and controlled drug release. Historically, more traditional drug delivery systems have focused on spherical carriers. However, there is a growing interest in pursuing non-spherical carriers, such as elongated or filamentous morphologies, now available due to novel formulation strategies. Unique physiochemical properties of these supramolecular structures offer distinct advantages as drug delivery systems. In particular, results of recent studies in cell cultures and lab animals indicate that rational design of carriers of a given geometry (size and shape) offers an unprecedented control of their longevity in circulation and targeting to selected cellular and subcellular locations. This article reviews drug delivery aspects of non-spherical drug delivery systems, including material selection and formulation, drug loading and release, biocompatibility, circulation behavior, targeting and subcellular addressing.
Compact InP-Based DFB-EAM Enabling PAM-4 112 Gb/s Transmission Over 2 km

We demonstrate a 56-GBd pulse-amplitude modulation-4 compact InP transmitter module integrating a distributed feedback laser and an electro-absorption modulator, which exhibits 50-GHz bandwidth, >13-dB extinction ratio and up to 1.5-mW output power. Successful amplifier-free 112-Gb/s transmission is performed over 2 km using low complexity three-taps equalization. We also study the tradeoff between receiver bandwidth, equalizer length and performance, and show successful signal recovery with bandwidths as low as 18 GHz when increasing the equalizer length.
Information-Based Complexity and Nonparametric Worst-Case System Identification

Abstract In this paper we review recent results on nonparametric approaches to identification of linear dynamic systems, under nonprobabilistic assumptions on measurement uncertainties. Two main categories of problems are considered in the paper: H∞ and l1 settings. The H∞ setting assumes that the true system is linear time-invariant and the available information is represented by samples of the frequency response of the system, corrupted by an l∞-norm bounded noise. The aim is to estimate a proper, stable finite-dimensional model. The estimation error is quantified according to an H∞ norm, measuring the "distance" of the estimated model from the worst-case system in the class of allowable systems, for the worst-case realization of the measurement error. In the l1 setting, the aim is to identify the samples of the impulse response of an unknown linear time-invariant system. The available information is given by input/output measurements corrupted by l∞-bounded noise and the estimation error is measured according to an l1 norm, for the worst case with respect to allowable systems and noise. In this paper, the main results available in the literature for both settings are reviewed, with particular attention to (a) evaluation of the diameter of information under various experimental conditions, (b) convergence to zero of the diameter of information (i.e., existence of robustly convergent identification procedures), and (c) computation of optimal and almost-optimal algorithms. Some results are also reported for the l∞ setting, similar to the l1 setting, with the exception of the estimation error, which is measured by an l∞ norm.
Synthesis of cinnamoyl and hydroxycinnamoyl amino acid conjugates and evaluation of their antioxidant activity

Fifteen amides of cinnamic, ferulic and sinapic acids with natural and unnatural C‐protected amino acids have been synthesized. The amides (E)‐N‐(feruloyl)‐L‐tyrosine methyl ester (10), (E)‐N‐(feruloyl)‐L‐phenylalanine t‐butyl ester (11), (E)‐N‐(sinapoyl)‐L‐tyrosine methyl ester (13) and (E)‐N‐(sinapoyl)‐L‐phenylalanine t‐butyl ester (15) with a free carboxyl group of amino acids have been found in nature. The rest of the compounds are unknown. The hydroxycinnamoyl amino acid conjugates have been studied for their antioxidant activity (AOA) in bulk phase lipid autoxidation. The highest AOA has been found for the compounds 11 and 15, which contain the same phenylalanine moiety. Copyright © 2005 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Guided bone regeneration with particulate vs. block xenogenic bone substitutes: a pilot cone beam computed tomographic investigation

AIM To test whether an equine bone substitute block used for guided bone regeneration (GBR) of peri-implant defects differs from bovine block or particulate bone substitutes regarding the hard and soft tissue contours of the augmented ridge. MATERIAL & METHODS Two semi-saddle bone defects were prepared in each side of the mandible of eight dogs, and one titanium implant was inserted into every defect. The defects were randomly allocated to receive one of the following treatments: bone augmentation by GBR using (1) particulate deproteinized bovine bone mineral (DBBM) + a collagen membrane (CM), (2) block DBBM + CM, (3) equine bone substitute block + CM, and (4) empty controls. After 4 months, the jaws were scanned by means of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). CBCT analysis was performed in one central and two lateral (mesial and distal) regions of interest (ROI) of each site evaluating the horizontal thickness of the augmented hard tissue (HThard tisue ) and the total thickness of hard and soft tissue (HTtotal ). The Wilcoxon-Pratt signed rank test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS In the majority of ROIs, equine and bovine blocks rendered significantly higher values in HThard tissue and HTtotal than controls (P < 0.05). Generally, equine blocks reached the highest values in HThard tissue and HTtotal followed by DBBM blocks and particulate DBBM. The differences in HThard tissue and HTtotal between GBR groups were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In the central ROI, HThard tissue at the level of the implant shoulder measured 1.7 ± 1.4 mm for equine blocks, 1.7 ± 1.0 mm for DBBM blocks, 0.9 ± 1.2 mm for particulate DBBM, and 0 ± 0 mm for controls. The corresponding values in the lateral ROI reached 1.9 ± 1.1 mm for equine blocks, 1.2 ± 0.8 mm for DBBM blocks, 1.0 ± 0.9 mm for particulate DBBM, and 0 ± 0 mm for controls. CONCLUSIONS GBR with bone substitute blocks lead to higher ridge dimensions than empty controls. The equine block with CM rendered the most favorable outcomes in hard and soft tissue contours followed by DBBM block and DBBM granulate with CM.
Detection of Aspergillus antigens in experimental invasive aspergillosis using a Biotin-Avidin Linked Sandwich ELISA (BALISA)

A biotin-avidin amplified sandwich ELISA utilizing polyclonal antibodies to water soluble (WS) mycelial antigens of Aspergillus fumigatus was used to detect antigens in sera of rabbits with experimental invasive aspergillosis. Tricolor rabbits were more susceptible to infection than NZW rabbits as evidenced by a faster progression of infection and greater isolation rates of A. fumigatus from organ culture. Antigenemia was detected in all 11 Tricolor rabbits inoculated with 1 x 10 6 and 1 x 10 7 conidia. However, antigenemia was detected in only 0%, 50% and 75% of NZW rabbits inoculated with 1 x 10 6 , 1 x 10 7 and 1 x 10 8 conidia, respectively. Tricolor rabbits demonstrated antigenemia in 75% (18 of 24) of sera, whilst only 36% (5 of 14) of sera of NZW rabbits tested positive. The overall sensitivity and specificity of antigen detection in Tricolor and NZW rabbits were 84.2% (16 of 19 rabbits) and 85.7% (12 of 14) respectively. The protein rich Concanavalin A unbound fraction of WS antigens demonstrated immunoreactivity with the BALISA. Immunoblot studies using the capture antibody demonstrated 3 strongly immunoreactive regions of 38-46kD, 66-68kD and 73-85kD for WS antigens. The results of partial characterization of WS antigens, suggests that the antigens detected are protein in nature.
Phosphorylated Troglitazone Activates PPARγ and Inhibits Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation and Proteoglycan Synthesis

Phosphorylation of α-tocopherol produces an entity with enhanced antiatherogenic properties. Troglitazone, an α-tocopherol derivative of a 2,4-thiazolidinedione nucleus, is an antidiabetic agent that shows fatal idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity, a property not shared by later agents. We investigated the effects of phosphorylation of troglitazone (to yield “phosphoglitazone”) on the biochemical pharmacologic properties of troglitazone. We investigated its ability to act as a PPARγ agonist and to inhibit 2 atherogenic properties of vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMC)-proliferation and proteoglycan synthesis. PPARγ activity was assessed in a transfection assay. Proliferation was assessed by [3H]-thymidine incorporation and cell counting and proteoglycan synthesis by [35S]-sulfate incorporation using human vSMCs stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF; 50 ng/mL) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β (2 ng/mL). Phosphoglitazone was a full agonist for PPARγ with a potency and efficacy similar to troglitazone. Phosphoglitazone also inhibited cell proliferation and proteoglycan synthesis with potency similar to troglitazone. We conclude that phosphorylation retains the pharmacologic activity of troglitazone while decreasing its lipophilicity and therefore potentially its toxicity. A phosphorylated derivative of a 2,4-thiazolidinedione warrants further investigation as a potential new therapeutic agent for the treatment of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.
Using Speech Recall in Hearing Aid Fitting and Outcome Evaluation Under Ecological Test Conditions

In adaptive Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) tests used in the audiological clinic, speech is presented at signal to noise ratios (SNRs) that are lower than those generally encountered in real-life communication situations. At higher, ecologically valid SNRs, however, SRTs are insensitive to changes in hearing aid signal processing that may be of benefit to listeners who are hard of hearing. Previous studies conducted in Swedish using the Sentence-final Word Identification and Recall test (SWIR) have indicated that at such SNRs, the ability to recall spoken words may be a more informative measure. In the present study, a Danish version of SWIR, known as the Sentence-final Word Identification and Recall Test in a New Language (SWIRL) was introduced and evaluated in two experiments. The objective of experiment 1 was to determine if the Swedish results demonstrating benefit from noise reduction signal processing for hearing aid wearers could be replicated in 25 Danish participants with mild to moderate symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss. The objective of experiment 2 was to compare direct-drive and skin-drive transmission in 16 Danish users of bone-anchored hearing aids with conductive hearing loss or mixed sensorineural and conductive hearing loss. In experiment 1, performance on SWIRL improved when hearing aid noise reduction was used, replicating the Swedish results and generalizing them across languages. In experiment 2, performance on SWIRL was better for direct-drive compared with skin-drive transmission conditions. These findings indicate that spoken word recall can be used to identify benefits from hearing aid signal processing at ecologically valid, positive SNRs where SRTs are insensitive.
Human Capital Risk and Initial CEO Compensation Contracts

CEOs experience large reductions in the value of their human capital when their firms declare bankruptcy. We examine how this human capital risk affects the initial level of compensation and stock-based incentives offered to new CEOs. We use the firm's ex ante risk of financial distress to proxy for human capital risk. We find that new CEOs at firms with higher financial distress risk receive significantly more compensation than new CEOs at low-risk firms, consistent with CEOs receiving a pay premium for bearing human capital risk. Consistent with human capital risk reducing the magnitude of agency problems, we find that pay-performance sensitivity is negatively associated with financial distress risk. Finally, we find a positive association between financial distress risk and CEO pay-risk sensitivity, primarily for firms with moderate distress risk.
Nonlinear PD Fault-Tolerant Control for Dynamic Positioning of Ships With Actuator Constraints

This paper addresses the asymptotic dynamic positioning of ships in the presence of actuator constraints and partial loss of actuator effectiveness faults. A simple saturated proportional-derivative controller is proposed. Lyapunov direct method is employed to prove asymptotic stability. Explicit conditions on control gains for ensuring asymptotic stability are presented. Advantages of the proposed controller include simple and intuitive structure, high computation efficiency, and absence of modeling parameter and fault detection and isolation mechanism in the control law formulation, and thus it is ready to implement. An additive appealing feature is that the proposed controller has the abilities to protect the actuator from control effort saturation and compensate the partial loss of actuator effectiveness faults. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
An Overview of the HYSPLIT_4 Modelling System for Trajectories, Dispersion, and Deposition

The HYSPLIT_4 (HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model is designed for quick response to atmospheric emergencies, diagnostic case studies, or climatological analyses using previously gridded meteorological data. Calculations may be performed sequentially on multiple meteorological grids, going from fine to coarse resolution using either archive or forecast data fields. Air concentration calculations associate the mass of the pollutant species with the release of either puffs, particles, or a combination of both. The dispersion rate is calculated from the vertical diffusivity profile, wind shear, and horizontal deformation of the wind field. Air concentrations are calculated at a specific grid point for puffs and as cell-average concentrations for particles. The model results are evaluated against ACE balloon trajectories, air concentrations from the ANATEX tracer experiment, radiological deposition from the Chernobyl accident, and satellite photographs of the Rabaul volcanic eruption. One common feature of the model results was their sensitivity to the vertical atmospheric structure; trajectories in terms of their height when near ground-level due to the strong gradients of wind speed and direction, air concentrations with respect to the rate of vertical mixing, and deposition as a result of the vertical distribution of the pollutant.
Evaluation of antibiotic diffusion into cardiac vegetations by quantitative autoradiography.

The reason bacterial endocarditis is difficult to cure has been controversial for many years. One explanation could be that antibiotic diffusion inside the vegetations is heterogeneous. This hypothesis was investigated by means of an autoradiographic study of diffusion of labeled antibiotics into large infected cardiac vegetations of nutritionally variant Streptococcus endocarditis in rabbits. Ten days after infection, 653 microCi of [3H]penicillin, 410 microCi of [3H]tobramycin, or 174 microCi of [14C]teicoplanin were injected iv over 30 min. Thirty minutes after the end of infusion (T30), vegetation/blood radioactivity ratios were 2.48 +/- 1.27, 2.49 +/- 0.67, and 3.94 +/- 1.19 for penicillin, tobramycin, and teicoplanin, respectively. Autoradiography clearly showed that distribution of the three drugs was different: Tobramycin was homogeneously distributed; penicillin was more concentrated at the periphery but still reached the center of vegetations; teicoplanin was concentrated only at the periphery. The same distribution pattern was observed with teicoplanin at T120 (i.e., one t1/2 beta later) and also after simultaneous infusion of a therapeutic dose (15 mg/kg) of cold teicoplanin. The diffusion gradient exhibited by some antibiotics could explain the difficulty in sterilizing vegetations despite high local concentrations, and the deleterious effect of the size of the vegetations on the therapeutic response.
Depot-Specific Differences in Adipose Tissue Gene Expression in Lean and Obese Subjects

Intra-abdominal and subcutaneous adipose tissue display important metabolic differences that underlie the association of visceral, but not subcutaneous, fat with obesity-related cardiovascular and metabolic problems. Because the molecular mechanisms contributing to these differences are not yet defined, we compared by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction the expression of 15 mRNAs that encode proteins of known importance in adipocyte function in paired omental and subcutaneous abdominal biopsies. No difference in mRNA expression between omental and subcutaneous adipose tissue was observed for hormone sensitive lipase, lipoprotein lipase, 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase, insulin receptor substrate 1, p85α regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase, and Rad. Total amount of insulin receptor expression was significantly higher in omental adipose tissue. Most of this increase was accounted for by expression of the differentially spliced insulin receptor lacking exon 11, which is considered to transmit the insulin signal less efficiently than the insulin receptor with exon 11. Perhaps consistent with a less efficient insulin signaling, a twofold reduction in GLUT4, glycogen synthase, and leptin mRNA expression was observed in omental adipose tissue. Finally peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) mRNA levels were significantly lower in visceral adipose tissue in subjects with a BMI <30 kg/m2, but not in obese subjects, indicating that relative PPAR-γ expression is increased in omental fat in obesity. This suggests that altered expression of PPAR-γ might play a role in adipose tissue distribution and expansion.