Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of electron scattering algorithms in Geant4

Electron scattering algorithms in Geant4 versions 9.4 and 9.5 were benchmarked by comparing scattered distributions against previously measured values at 13 and 20 MeV, for low, intermediate, and high atomic number materials. Several scattering models were used: Versions 93 and 95 of the Urban model, with different step size limits near boundaries; Goudsmit–Saunderson multiple scattering; and single scattering. The Urban93 and Urban95 models with a large step size limit (as in the Option 0 physics list) were found to give results most closely matching the experimental results. Scattered distributions using the Urban models were all narrower than measured by up to 6%, consistent with previous published simulations using EGSnrc. This is suggestive of a systematic difference between simulations and measurement. The magnitudes of the differences were similar to previously published results using Geant4, although there were differences in detail. In particular, the current results were typically 2% narrower than values. Results with the more restrictive step size limit in Option 3 were even more narrow, and close to those with single scattering. The Goudsmit–Saunderson multiple scattering model produced distributions up to 15% different from measured in Geant4 version 9.5 and up to 45% different in Geant4 version 9.4.
Influence of corneal curvature on calculation of ablation patterns used in photorefractive laser surgery.

PURPOSE The aim of this work was to clarify the influence of the effective illumination area and possible reflection losses that occur during laser-tissue interaction on the modeling of profiles for customized corneal ablation, such as wavefront-guided treatments. METHODS The changes of the ablation depth per laser pulse due to the projection of a laser spot onto the corneal front surface and reflection losses at the air-tissue interface were calculated. RESULTS Moving with a scanning-spot from the center of the cornea toward the limbus resulted in an increase of the effective illumination area and reflection losses, which led to a decrease in the ablation depth per laser pulse. The decrease of the ablation depth was strongly related to the initial radiant exposure and the corneal curvature radius. CONCLUSIONS The corneal front surface must be taken into consideration for ablation profile calculations, especially in customized treatments, due to the strong dependence of the ablation depth on the corneal curvature.
Trypanosomiasis in Venezuelan water buffaloes: association of packed-cell volumes with seroprevalence and current trypanosome infection

Abstract The seroprevalence of trypanosomiasis and the prevalence of current trypanosome infection in water buffaloes from the most important livestock areas of Venezuela were evaluated by IFAT and the microhaematocrit centrifugation technique, respectively. The usefulness of a PCR-based assay for identifying the trypanosome species in the buffaloes was also evaluated. Of the 644 animals investigated, 40 (6.2%) were found infected with trypanosomes by blood centrifugation, and 196 (30.4%) were found positive for anti-trypanosome antibodies, by IFAT. The results of the PCR-based assay indicated that 92.5% of the animals with current infections were infected with Trypanosoma vivax and the rest with T. theileri (the first molecular confirmation of T. theileri in Venezuelan water buffaloes). The national programme to treat and prevent trypanosome infections in the buffaloes does not appear to be meeting with great success, even though it is focused on T. vivax. Although the level of parasitaemia was categorized as low for 28 (70%) of the infections detected (and packed-cell volumes appeared to be unassociated with IFAT result, and uncorrelated, in the infected animals, with level of parasitaemia), the 40 infected buffaloes had a significantly lower mean packed-cell volume than the uninfected animals (P<0.05). Farmers should therefore be made aware of the probability of trypanosome-attributable losses in buffalo productivity.
ENDOSCOPIC ANATOMY OF THE CEREBRAL AQUEDUCT

OBJECTIVE What is known about the cerebral aqueduct is derived mainly from the legacy of classic histology and from the most recent advanced neuroimaging technologies. In fact, although this important structure is frequently glimpsed by neurosurgeons, only limited anatomic contributions have been added by microsurgery to its direct in vivo description. A review of our surgical experience in navigating the fourth ventricle prompted us to revisit the classical anatomic descriptions of the aqueduct and compare them using the novel perspective of neuroendoscopy. METHODS We reviewed video recordings of 65 transaqueductal explorations of the fourth ventricle using flexible endoscopes, which were performed in our center to treat various pathological conditions. Forty-one patients were selected as being more informative for anatomic description. They include 21 patients with communicating normal pressure hydrocephalus, 6 patients with intraventricular hemorrhage, 5 patients with membranous obstruction of the foramen of Magendie, 5 patients with trapped fourth ventricle as evidenced after aqueductoplasty, 3 patients with colloid cysts, and 1 patient with craniopharyngioma with apparently normal aqueduct, which was navigated to aspirate small fragments of colloid and tiny clots. RESULTS Patients with normal-sized third ventricles confirmed the typical triangular shape of the aqueductal adytum, whereas all pathological aqueducts invariably had an oval contour. The posterior commissure, a faint trace of the median sulcus, and the rubral eminences were the structures invariably noticed. Five segments of the aqueduct were always identifiable: the adytum, first constriction, ampulla, second constriction, and posterior part or egressus. CONCLUSION Neuroendoscopy provides a novel perspective into the inner aqueductal wall and supplies an incomparable view of the intracanalicular anatomic structures.
Dominant Role of Thyrotropin-releasing Hormone in the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Thyroid Axis*

Hypothalamic thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulates thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) secretion from the anterior pituitary. TSH then initiates thyroid hormone (TH) synthesis and release from the thyroid gland. Although opposing TRH and TH inputs regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, TH negative feedback is thought to be the primary regulator. This hypothesis, however, has yet to be proven in vivo. To elucidate the relative importance of TRH and TH in regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, we have generated mice that lack either TRH, the β isoforms of TH receptors (TRβ KO), or both (double KO). TRβ knock-out (KO) mice have significantly higher TH and TSH levels compared with wild-type mice, in contrast to double KO mice, which have reduced TH and TSH levels. Unexpectedly, hypothyroid double KO mice also failed to mount a significant rise in serum TSH levels, and pituitary TSH immunostaining was markedly reduced compared with all other hypothyroid mouse genotypes. This impaired TSH response, however, was not due to a reduced number of pituitary thyrotrophs because thyrotroph cell number, as assessed by counting TSH immunopositive cells, was restored after chronic TRH treatment. Thus, TRH is absolutely required for both TSH and TH synthesis but is not necessary for thyrotroph cell development.
Effects of Seawater Acidification on Gene Expression: Resolving Broader-Scale Trends in Sea Urchins

Sea urchins are ecologically and economically important calcifying organisms threatened by acidification of the global ocean caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Propelled by the sequencing of the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) genome, profiling changes in gene expression during exposure to high pCO2 seawater has emerged as a powerful and increasingly common method to infer the response of urchins to ocean change. However, analyses of gene expression are sensitive to experimental methodology, and comparisons between studies of genes regulated by ocean acidification are most often made in the context of major caveats. Here we perform meta-analyses as a means of minimizing experimental discrepancies and resolving broader-scale trends regarding the effects of ocean acidification on gene expression in urchins. Analyses across eight studies and four urchin species largely support prevailing hypotheses about the impact of ocean acidification on marine calcifiers. The predominant expression pattern involved the down-regulation of genes within energy-producing pathways, a clear indication of metabolic depression. Genes with functions in ion transport were significantly over-represented and are most plausibly contributing to intracellular pH regulation. Expression profiles provided extensive evidence for an impact on biomineralization, epitomized by the down-regulation of seven spicule matrix proteins. In contrast, expression profiles provided limited evidence for CO2-mediated developmental delay or induction of a cellular stress response. Congruence between studies of gene expression and the ocean acidification literature in general validates the accuracy of gene expression in predicting the consequences of ocean change and justifies its continued use in future studies.
Fascicle length of leg muscles is greater in sprinters than distance runners.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare architectural characteristics of leg muscles of sprinters and distance runners. METHODS Skeletal muscle architectural characteristics were studied in 23 elite male 100-m sprinters (SPR, 10.0-10.9 s for 100 m), 24 elite male distance runners (DR, 13.5-14.5 min for 5000 m), and 24 untrained male controls. Fascicle pennation angle and isolated muscle thickness of the vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis muscles were measured in vivo by ultrasound, and fascicle length was estimated. RESULTS Standing height and upper and lower limb lengths were similar among the groups. Body weight was significantly greater in SPR than in either DR or controls, which were similar. Muscle thickness of the vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis muscles was significantly greater in SPR than in either DR or controls, which were similar. In all muscles, pennation angle was similar between SPR and controls, but less than DR. Fascicle length of the vastus lateralis muscle (absolute and relative to limb length) was greatest in SPR and least in DR with control values being between the athlete groups. Fascicle length of the gastrocnemius medialis muscle (absolute and relative to limb length) was greater in SPR than in either DR or controls, which were similar. Fascicle length of the gastrocnemius lateralis muscle (absolute and relative to limb length) was significantly greater in SPR than DR. Absolute fascicle length in gastrocnemius lateralis muscle was similar between DR and controls; however, relative to limb length DR was significantly less. CONCLUSION Greater fascicle length and lesser pennation angle observed in leg muscles of SPR, compared with DR, would appear to favor shortening velocity as required for greater running speed.
Hepatocyte-specific Deletion of Janus Kinase 2 (JAK2) Protects against Diet-induced Steatohepatitis and Glucose Intolerance*

Background: JAK2 mediates signaling by a number of cytokines in the liver. Results: Hepatic JAK2 KO mice developed spontaneous steatosis but were protected from high fat diet-induced steatohepaitits and insulin resistance. Conclusion: Hepatic JAK2 is required for the development of diet-induced steatohepatitis and glucose intolerance. Significance: Understanding the role of JAK2 in metabolism will provide insights into the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming the leading cause of chronic liver disease and is now considered to be the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. However, the role of steatosis per se and the precise factors required in the progression to steatohepatitis or insulin resistance remain elusive. The JAK-STAT pathway is critical in mediating signaling of a wide variety of cytokines and growth factors. Mice with hepatocyte-specific deletion of Janus kinase 2 (L-JAK2 KO mice) develop spontaneous steatosis as early as 2 weeks of age. In this study, we investigated the metabolic consequences of jak2 deletion in response to diet-induced metabolic stress. To our surprise, despite the profound hepatosteatosis, deletion of hepatic jak2 did not sensitize the liver to accelerated inflammatory injury on a prolonged high fat diet (HFD). This was accompanied by complete protection against HFD-induced whole-body insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Improved glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and an increase in β-cell mass were also present in these mice. Moreover, L-JAK2 KO mice had progressively reduced adiposity in association with blunted hepatic growth hormone signaling. These mice also exhibited increased resting energy expenditure on both chow and high fat diet. In conclusion, our findings indicate a key role of hepatic JAK2 in metabolism such that its absence completely arrests steatohepatitis development and confers protection against diet-induced systemic insulin resistance and glucose intolerance.
Estudio comparativo de las propiedades fisicoquímicas de miel natural y miel sometida a proceso comercial

La miel es un fluido dulce y viscoso producido por las abejas a partir del nectar de las fl ores o de secreciones de partes vivas de plantas o de excreciones de insectos chupadores de plantas. Las abejas lo recogen, transforman y combinan con la enzima invertasa que contiene la saliva de las abejas y lo almacenan en los panales donde madura, su composicion depende de dos factores principales; del nectar o nectares, donde va a infl uir la especie o conglomerado de especies de plantas que producen el nectar y de factores externos, como la temperatura, almacenamiento y buenas practicas de manufactura por parte del apicultor para poder realizar la cosecha. El objetivo del proyecto fue realizar un analisis comparativo de las propiedades fi sicoquimicas en dos tipos de miel, aquella que es tomada del panal de abeja “miel natural”, que no ha sido sometida a tratamiento y la que se encuentra a nivel comercial. La seleccion de estas mieles respondio al interes de conocer la calidad de las mismas. Para ello se determino contenido de cenizas, hidroximetilfurfural, °Brix, porcentaje de humedad y grado de acidez. En base a los resultados obtenidos se logro identificar que la miel natural se encuentra dentro de los estandares de la Norma Tecnica Colombiana 1273 (NTC, 1273) y la miel comercial, presenta rangos superiores a lo establecido, puesto que los niveles de hidroximetilfurfural (HMF) y acidez, estan directamente relacionados con elevadas temperaturas y tiempos de almacenamiento prolongado.
EUS-FNA of recurrent postoperative extraluminal and metastatic malignancy.

BACKGROUND EUS-guided FNA is safe and accurate for the diagnosis of benign or malignant neoplasia and lymphadenopathy; however, its role in the diagnosis of recurrent malignancy is not well described. METHODS A prospectively updated EUS-guided FNA cytology database was used to identify patients in whom a diagnosis of postoperative, recurrent, extraluminal, or metastatic malignancy was made over a 5-year period. Only patients with a positive EUS-guided FNA were included in the analysis. All had undergone surgery for the primary malignancy and were in clinical and/or radiographic remission before the initial suspicion of tumor recurrence. RESULTS Twenty-one patients underwent EUS-guided FNA of 21 lesions (19 masses, 2 lymph nodes) because of a suspicion of recurrent malignancy based on CT (n = 17) or EUS (n = 4) findings. Median time from the initial diagnosis to recurrence was 26 months (range 5-276 months). Lesions were located in the pancreas (9 patients), mediastinum (7), liver (3), perigastric region (1), and liver hilum (1). EUS-guided FNA (mean number of needle passes, 4.5; range 2-8) obtained diagnostic material for recurrent malignancy in all patients as follows: esophageal (6 patients), renal cell (6), pancreatic (2), breast (2), colon (2), bile duct (1), Ewing's sarcoma (1), and lung (1) cancer. No complication was encountered. Transgastric EUS-guided FNA (4 patients), distal, or transesophageal EUS-FNA (2) proximal to a surgical anastomosis was required to confirm recurrence in all 6 patients with esophageal cancer. The initial cytologic diagnosis of recurrent malignancy was made by EUS in 20 of 21 (95%) patients. One patient with recurrent breast cancer had CT-guided FNA of a right lung mass preceding EUS-guided FNA of an AP window lymph node. CONCLUSIONS EUS-guided FNA can detect and safely diagnose recurrent malignancy in the mediastinum, retroperitoneum, and liver. When possible, correlation between EUS-guided FNA cytology and original tumor histopathology/cytology, or the use of immunostaining to confirm the diagnosis, is recommended.
WARM: Workload-Aware Reliability Management in Linux/Android

With CMOS scaling beyond 14 nm, reliability is a major concern for IC manufacturers. Reliability-aware design has a non-negligible overhead and cannot account for user experience in mobile devices. An alternative is dynamic reliability management (DRM), which counteracts degradation by adapting the operating conditions at runtime. In this paper, for the first time we formulate DRM as an optimization problem that accounts for reliability, temperature and performance. We develop an optimal policy for multicores using convex optimization, and show that it is not feasible to implement on real systems. For this reason, we propose workload-aware reliability management (WARM), a fast DRM technique adapting to diverse workload requirements to trade reliability and user experience. WARM is implemented and tested on a real Android device. WARM approximates the solution of the convex solver within 5% on average, while executing more than $400 {\times }$ faster. WARM integrates a thermal controller that allocates tasks to meet thermal constraints. This is required since degradation strongly depends on temperature. We show that WARM meets temperature constraints within 5% in 87.5% more cases than the state-of-the-art. We show that WARM task allocation achieves up to one year lifetime improvement for a multicore platform. It can achieve up to 100% of performance improvement on cluster architectures, such as big.LITTLE, while still guaranteeing the reliability target. Finally, we show that it achieves performance in the 4% of the maximum for a broad range of a applications, while meeting the reliability constraints.
Effect of folate supplementation on folate status and health outcomes in infants, children and adolescents: A systematic review

The aim of this systematic review was to collect all available randomized controlled trials on the effect of folate supplementation on folate status and health outcomes within the paediatric age group. The method included a structured search strategy on MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane databases, with formal inclusion/exclusion criteria and data extraction procedure. We included 26 studies. We conclude that both serum and erythrocyte folate values reflect folate intake; however, serum folate reacts more rapidly to folate intake than erythrocyte folate. As to health outcomes, we found no evidence indicating that additional intake of folate can influence haematological parameters in non-anaemic paediatric patients. We were unable to find evidence of a favourable effect of folate supplementation on the growth of infants. However, the limited data available suggest that supplementing the diet of low-birth-weight infants with folic acid may moderate the rapid fall of serum and red cell folate in the first months of life.
Role of yolk sac endodermal cells with special reference to the fetal macrophage differentiation

The morphological and functional characteristics of rat yolk sac endodermal cells, with particular reference to fetal macrophage (Mφ differentiation, were studied in vivo and in vitro using DA rat embryos from 8 to 16 days of gestation. At a very early stage (day 5–6) of gestation, endodermal cells are derived from proximal endoderm as an essential and multipotent organ with various primitive functions. Based on toluidine blue staining properties and ultrastructures, we demonstrated that the endodermal cell layer of 8–16‐day yolk sacs consists of two cell types, “clear” cells with clear cytoplasm (10%) and “dark” cells with dark cytoplasm (90%), and hypothesized that the endodermal cell layer is heterogeneous at both the morphological and functional levels. We produced three different monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), designated Mar 1, Mar 2, and Mar 3, that recognize rat Mφ populations. Mar 1 binds specifically to the cells constituting the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS). Mφ Mar 3 antigen is a phagocytosis‐associated molecule, and Mar 2 antigen is a differentiation antigen of the Mφ subset. Application of these mAbs in both in vivo and in vitro studies allowed the functional capability and differentiation of fetal Mφs to be assessed. The Mar 3 antigen was expressed first on proximal endodermal cells on day 6 yolk sac and continued to be presented afterward. In vitro culture study demonstrated that the adhesive, phagocytic Mar 3+ · Mar 1+ Mφs differentiate from Mφ precursors in the endodermal cell layer after the first 13 days of gestation. Based on these findings, we proposed that clear cells in the endodermal cell layer are derived from precursor dark cells, detach from the layer, move to the mesenchymal stromas, and subsequently migrate to the fetal liver, loose connective tissue, and other intraembryonic tissues, and consequently they differentiate free Mar 1+ Mφs during gestation (day 13–15). Thus, the Mφ differentiation and the peripherization of the Mφs could be almost fully developed during the prenatal period.
The genome as a developmental organ

This paper applies the conceptual toolkit of Evolutionary Developmental Biology (evo‐devo) to the evolution of the genome and the role of the genome in organism development. This challenges both the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis, the dominant view in evolutionary theory for much of the 20th century, and the typically unreflective analysis of heredity by evo‐devo. First, the history of the marginalization of applying system‐thinking to the genome is described. Next, the suggested framework is presented. Finally, its application to the evolution of genome modularity, the evolution of induced mutations, the junk DNA versus ENCODE debate, the role of drift in genome evolution, and the relationship between genome dynamics and symbiosis with microorganisms are briefly discussed.