Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of a soccer season on anthropometric characteristics and physical fitness in elite young soccer players

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a soccer-training season on the anthropometric and performance characteristics of elite youth soccer players. Two groups (age: 14.4 years) participated in this study: 1) 24 soccer players training 8 to 10 hours per week and 2) 26 non-athletic boys used as controls. Anthropometric measurements, aerobic (Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery test level 1) and anaerobic (counter-movement-jump (CMJ), squat-jump (SqJ), five-jump-test (5JT), and speed (T5m, 10 m, 30 m)) performances were assessed twice during 8 months (T0: October; T1: May) of the competitive season. Data showed significant differences in height and weight at T0 between the two groups (P < 0.05), while no difference in the percentage of body fat (%BF) was observed. However, the soccer players were significantly taller and had lower %BF than age-matched controls at T1. Compared to the controls, the soccer players attained better results in the physical fitness test (P < 0.05) at T0 and T1 except in (T5m) sprinting speed. Hence, significant improvements (P < 0.05) in physical parameters were observed between T0 and T1 only in soccer players. The results demonstrate that soccer-training season was able to provide maturation free improvement in anthropometric and performance characteristics in young soccer players during the training season.
Welfare Impacts of Climate Shocks: Evidence from Uganda

This paper evaluates the effects of weather/climate shocks on household welfare using a nationally representative panel data from Uganda together with a set of novel climate variation indicators. Where the effect of climate/weather variability has a significantly negative effect on household welfare, we further test the hypotheses that policy-relevant mechanisms can be effective means of mitigating the negative welfare effects. In general we obtain very few significant results with respect to climate/weather shock variables which might point towards a consumption and income smoothing behavior by the households, whose welfare level is not affected by the weather shocks. With regards to the different shocks definition, the reference period used to define the shock does not matter since the coefficients and the signs do not change with the reference period. Different policy action variables have also heterogeneous impact across different outcome variables in terms of mitigating the negative impact of climate/weather shocks.
Bs1, a New Chimeric Gene Formed by Retrotransposon-Mediated Exon Shuffling in Maize1[C][OA]

Transposons are major components of all eukaryotic genomes. Although traditionally regarded as causes of detrimental mutations, recent evidence suggests that transposons may play a role in host gene diversification and evolution. For example, host gene transduction by retroelements has been suggested to be both common and to have the potential to create new chimeric genes by the shuffling of existing sequences. We have previously shown that the maize (Zea mays subsp. mays) retrotransposon Bs1 has transduced sequences from three different host genes. Here, we provide evidence that these transduction events led to the generation of a chimeric new gene that is both transcribed and translated. Expression of Bs1 is tightly controlled and occurs during a narrow developmental window in early ear development. Although all Bs1-associated transduction events took place before Zea speciation, a full uninterrupted open reading frame encoding the BS1 protein may have arisen in domesticated maize or in the diverse populations of its progenitor Z. mays subsp. parviglumis. We discuss potential functions based on domain conservation and evidence for functional constraints between the transduced sequences and their host gene counterparts.
Psychoanalytic Considerations of the Etiology of Compulsive Drug use

YUP Of I t may be fruitless to make the effort to identify a universal causes of susceptibility. In any case, while t ere has been some interest in determining what drug users are like, by means of interviews and standardized tests, there has been little systematic effort to delineate and quantify causes. On the other hand, there has,been much hypothesizing about the conditions, events, and circumstances that lead to drug abuse, most of which fall into three categories: the physical, the internal or intrapsychic, and the social and environmental
Systemic and Intraperitoneal Interleukin-6 System during the First Year of Peritoneal Dialysis

Objective To investigate if intraperitoneal and systemic interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) are related to each other and to peritoneal solute transport rate (PSTR). Design Longitudinal study in retrospectively selected patients. Setting Peritoneal dialysis (PD) unit of a university-based hospital. Patients and Methods 31 PD patients on treatment with conventional glucose-based solutions participated in a longitudinal study. IL-6 and sIL-6R were measured in plasma and overnight effluent, both at baseline and after 12 ± 2 months on PD. C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum albumin were used as surrogate markers of inflammation. PSTR of small solutes was evaluated using the dialysate-to-plasma ratio (D/P) of creatinine after a 4-hour dwell; PSTR of large solutes was evaluated using the 24-hour D/P ratio of albumin. Results D/P creat increased over time (0.67 ± 0.15 vs 0.80 ± 0.11, p < 0.0001) and correlated to D/P albumin only at the baseline evaluation. Patients with plasma IL-6 ≥median had higher (p < 0.005) D/P creat at baseline [0.74 (0.62 – 0.87)] compared to patients with IL-6 < median [0.57 (0.47 – 0.66)]. Dialysate IL-6 at baseline was also higher (p < 0.05) in patients with plasma IL-6 ≥median [24.7 (16.5 – 38.5) pg/mL] compared to patients with IL-6 < median [14.1 (10 – 25.7) pg/mL]. Neither CRP nor albumin changed over time on PD, although they were closely linked to plasma IL-6 levels. A strong positive correlation was found between D/P creat and dialysate IL-6 (rho = 0.77, p < 0.0001) at baseline, but not at 1 year. In contrast, there was a significant correlation between D/P creat and dialysate sIL-6R (rho = 0.39, p < 0.05) at 1 year, but not at baseline. At 1 year, 17 patients with increasing PSTR had higher increases in dialysate IL-6 (28 ± 26 vs –21 ± 78 pg/mL, p < 0.05) and levels of dialysate sIL-6R (693 ± 392 vs 394 ± 274 pg/mL, p = 0.05) compared to patients with stable PSTR (n = 11). Patients who had peritonitis presented higher baseline serum IL-6 concentration (6.8 ± 1.0 pg/mL) compared with patients without peritonitis (4.0 ± 0.6 pg/mL, p < 0.05). Finally, both at baseline and after 1 year, there were significant correlations between plasma and dialysate IL-6 (rho = 0.46, p < 0.05, and rho = 0.40, p < 0.05) respectively. Conclusions These findings indicate that, (1) intraperitoneal and systemic inflammation increase in PD patients during the first year of therapy; (2) intraperitoneal and systemic inflammation may be interrelated and the IL-6 system may be the link; (3) the IL-6 system (both intraperitoneal and systemic) is associated with PSTR, particularly in the early phase of PD treatment, in which small and large solute transport are linked. Signs of a transition between acute and chronic inflammation were observed in the follow-up evaluation. Inflammation may, at least in part, be responsible for the development of a high PSTR, and this could be one reason for the high mortality in patients with high PSTR.
Santa Maria di Leuca Province (Mediterranean Sea): Identification of Suitable Mounds for Cold-Water Coral Settlement Using Geomorphometric Proxies and Maxent Methods

The Santa Maria di Leuca (SML) cold-water coral province (northern Ionian Sea) has the largest occurrence of a living white coral community currently known in the Mediterranean Sea. Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa, identified as marking sensitive habitats of relevance by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, have been observed heterogeneously distributed on the summits of several mounds. This particularly patchy and uneven distribution in addition to their importance for regional biodiversity highlights the need to better understand their environmental preferences and predict their distribution. Bathymetric data (40m resolution) was used to derive the seafloor characteristics. A fine scale index quantifying the landscape elevation (Bathymetric Position Index at 120m resolution) was used to select all the elevated features considered as candidate morphologies for potential coral mounds. Statistics on 22 known coral topped mounds were computed. Two statistical methods were then used to identify other potential coral mounds based on predictive variables. The first method, the Geomorphometric proxies method, consists in computing basic statistics of terrain variables, using them for a step-by-step classification in a quantitative approach to select a subset of candidate morphologies. The second method consists in using a predictive Habitat Suitability Model (Maxent model). The Geomorphometric proxies method identified 736 potential coral mounds while the Maxent method predicted 1252 potential coral mounds. A subset of 517 potential coral mounds was common to both methods. The analysis of the contribution of each variable with the Maxent method showed that the variable "Vector Ruggedness Measure" at a resolution of 5 pixels (200 m) contributed to 53% of the final Maxent model, followed by the "Terrain Texture" index (31%) at a resolution of 11 pixels (440 m). The common potential coral mounds are mainly located in an area characterized by a mass transport deposit, also called the mounds area because of the roughness of the seafloor, in accordance with the high proportional contribution of the noticeable first roughness index to the Maxent model. The results highlight the importance of the global conservation of the entire Province, with white coral probably widespread over the entire 600 km² SML area.
Changes in Students' Motivation to Learn during the First Year of College

This study looks at changes in first-year college students' motivational orientation and whether these changes relate systematically to campus and classroom experiences. 130 college students (M age=18 yr., 75% women) completed measures of learning orientation, grade orientation, and work avoidance from the LOGO II at the beginning and end of their first year. The year-end assessment also included questions regarding characteristics of students' classes and the amount of time they spent in campus activities. Students became more grade-oriented and work-avoidant and less learning-oriented over time. Changes in learning orientation and work avoidance were associated with classroom and campus experiences. Results are discussed in terms of the need for additional research on changes in college students' motivation and factors predicting this change.
Three amino acid residues of an odorant‐binding protein are involved in binding odours in Loxostege sticticalis L.

Odorant‐binding proteins (OBPs) play an important role in insect olfactory processes and are thought to be responsible for the transport of pheromones and other semiochemicals across the sensillum lymph to the olfactory receptors within the antennal sensilla. As an important general odorant binding protein in the process of olfactory recognition, LstiGOBP1 of Loxostege sticticalis L. has been shown to have good affinity to various plant volatiles. However, the binding specificity of LstiGOBP1 should be further explored in order to better understand the olfactory recognition mechanism of L. sticticalis. In this study, real‐time PCR experiments indicated that LstiGOBP1 was expressed primarily in adult antennae. Homology modelling and molecular docking were then conducted on the interactions between LstiGOBP1 and 1‐heptanol to understand the interactions between LstiGOBP1 and their ligands. Hydrogen bonds formed by amino acid residues might be crucial for the ligand‐binding specificity on molecular docking, a hypothesis that was tested by site‐directed mutagenesis. As predicted binding sites for LstiGOBP1, Thr15, Trp43 and Val14 were replaced by alanine to determine the changes in binding affinity. Finally, fluorescence assays revealed that the mutants Thr15 and Trp43 had significantly decreased binding affinity to most odours; in mutants that had two‐site mutations, the binding to the six odours that were tested was completely abolished. This result indicates that Thr15 and Trp43 were involved in binding these compounds, possibly by forming multiple hydrogen bonds with the functional groups of the ligands. These results provide new insights into the detailed chemistry of odours’ interactions with proteins.
Mass Customization vs. Mass Production: Variety and Price Competition

We study competition between two multiproduct firms with distinct production technologies in a market where customers have heterogeneous preferences on a single taste attribute. The mass customizer (MC) has a perfectly flexible production technology and thus can offer any variety within a product space, represented by Hotelling's linear city. The mass producer (MP) has a more focused production technology and therefore offers a finite set of products in the same space. The MP can invest in more flexible technology, which reduces its cost of variety and hence allows it to offer a larger set of products; in the extreme, the MP can emulate the MC's technology and offer infinite variety. The firms simultaneously decide whether to enter the market, and the MP chooses its degree of product-mix flexibility on entry. Next, the MP designs its product line---i.e., the number and position of its products---the MC's perfectly flexible technology makes this unnecessary. Finally, both firms simultaneously set prices. We analyze the subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium in this three-stage game, allowing firm-specific fixed and variable costs that together characterize their production technology. We find that an MP facing competition from an MC offers lower product variety than an MP monopolist to reduce the intensity of price competition. We also find that the MP can survive this competition, even if it has higher fixed cost of production technology, higher marginal cost of production, or both.
Oral Inoculation of A/J Mice for Detection of Invasiveness Differences between Listeria monocytogenes Epidemic and Environmental Strains

ABSTRACT Four-week-old Harlan A/J mice were orally infected with six epidemic and six environmental strains of Listeria monocytogenes. Epidemic strains were significantly more invasive as a group than were environmental strains (P < 0.05), and the intestines of some mice infected with epidemic strains had extensive hemorrhage. Mice inoculated with epidemic strains were significantly more likely to become systemically infected than mice inoculated with environmental strains (P < 0.01).
High-Frequency Genetic Recombination and Reactivation of Orthopoxviruses from DNA Fragments Transfected into Leporipoxvirus-Infected Cells

ABSTRACT Poxvirus DNA is not infectious because establishing an infection requires the activities of enzymes packaged in the virion. This barrier can be overcome by transfecting virus DNA into cells previously infected with another poxvirus, since the resident virus can provide the trans-acting systems needed to reactivate transfected DNA. In this study we show that cells infected with a leporipoxvirus, Shope fibroma virus (SFV), can reactivate vaccinia virus DNA. Similar heterologous packaging systems which used fowlpox-infected cells to reactivate vaccinia virus have been described, but SFV-infected cells promoted a far more efficient reaction that can produce virus titers exceeding 106 PFU/μg of transfected DNA. SFV-promoted reactions also exploit the hyperrecombinogenic systems previously characterized in SFV-infected cells, and these coupled recombination and reactivation reactions could be used to delete nonessential regions of the vaccinia virus genome and to reconstruct vaccinia virus from overlapping DNA fragments. SFV-catalyzed recombination reactions need only two 18- to 20-bp homologies to target PCR amplicons to restriction enzyme-cut vaccinia virus vectors, and this reaction feature was used to rapidly clone and express a gene encoding fluorescent green protein without the need for plaque purification or selectable markers. The ability of SFV-infected cells to reactivate fragments of vaccinia virus was ultimately limited by the number of recombinational exchanges required and one cannot reconstruct vaccinia virus from multiple PCR fragments spanning essential portions of the genome. These observations suggest that recombination is an integral part of poxvirus reactivation reactions and provide a useful new technique for altering the structure of poxvirus genomes.
Defining the Optimal Degree of Heparin Anticoagulation for Peripheral Vascular Interventions: Insight From a Large, Regional, Multicenter Registry

Background—The optimal degree of heparin anticoagulation for peripheral vascular interventions (PVIs) has not been defined. We sought to correlate total heparin dose and peak procedural activated clotting time (ACT) with postprocedural outcomes in patients undergoing PVI. Methods and Results—We studied 4743 patients who received heparin during PVIs in a regional, multicenter registry. From those, 1246 had recorded peak procedural ACT with the same point-of-care device. Periprocedural and in-hospital outcomes were compared between patients who received a total heparin dose <60 U/kg (n=2161) and ≥60 U/kg (n=2582). Similarly, outcomes were evaluated between groups with a peak procedural ACT <250 seconds (n=855) and ≥250 seconds (n=391). Technical and procedural success as well as intraprocedural thrombotic events did not differ between groups. Patients with heparin dose ≥60 U/kg had a higher rate of postprocedural hemoglobin drop ≥3 g/dL (7.09% versus 5.09%, respectively, P=0.004) and a higher transfusion rate compared with those with heparin dose <60 U/kg (4.92% versus 3.15%, respectively, P=0.002). In multivariate analysis, independent predictors of bleeding requiring transfusion were total heparin dose ≥60 U/kg, ACT ≥250 seconds, female sex, age ≥70 years, prior anemia, prior heart failure, low creatinine clearance, hybrid vascular surgery, rest pain, and below-knee intervention. In propensity-matched, risk-adjusted models and after hierarchical modeling, total heparin dose ≥60 U/kg and ACT ≥250 seconds remained strong predictors of post-PVI drop in hemoglobin ≥3 g/dL or transfusion. Conclusions—During PVI, higher total heparin dose (≥60 U/kg) and peak ACT ≥250 seconds were predictors of postprocedural transfusion. The high technical and procedural success in all groups suggests that use of weight-based heparin dosing with a target ACT <250 seconds in PVI may minimize the bleeding risk without compromising procedural success or increasing thromboembolic complications.
PROPAGATION AND STRUCTURE OF PLANAR STREAMER FRONTS

Streamers often constitute the first stage of dielectric breakdown in strong electric fields: a nonlinear ionization wave transforms a non-ionized medium into a weakly ionized nonequilibrium plasma. New understanding of this old phenomenon can be gained through modern concepts of (interfacial) pattern formation. As a first step towards an effective interface description, we determine the front width, solve the selection problem for planar fronts and calculate their properties. Our results are in good agreement with many features of recent three-dimensional numerical simulations. In the present long paper, you find the physics of the model and the interfacial approach further explained. As a first ingredient of this approach, we here analyze planar fronts, their profile and velocity. We encounter a selection problem, recall some knowledge about such problems and apply it to planar streamer fronts. We make analytical predictions on the selected front profile and velocity and confirm them numerically. (abbreviated abstract)
Utility of immunohistochemistry in the diagnosis of pleuropulmonary and mediastinal cancers: a review and update.

CONTEXT Immunohistochemistry has become an indispensable ancillary tool for the accurate classification of pleuropulmonary and mediastinal neoplasms necessary for therapeutic decisions and predicting prognostic outcome in the era of personalized medicine. Diagnostic accuracy has significantly improved because of the continuous discoveries of tumor-associated biomarkers and the development of effective immunohistochemical panels. OBJECTIVE To increase the accuracy of diagnosis and classify pleuropulmonary neoplasms through immunohistochemistry. DATA SOURCES Literature review, authors' research data, and personal practice experience. CONCLUSIONS This review article has shown that appropriately selecting immunohistochemical panels enables pathologists to effectively diagnose most primary pleuropulmonary neoplasms and differentiate primary lung tumors from a variety of metastatic tumors to the lung. The discovery of new mutation-specific antibodies identifying a subset of specific gene-arranged lung tumors provides a promising alternative and cost-effective approach to molecular testing. Knowing the utilities and pitfalls of each tumor-associated biomarker is essential to avoiding potential diagnostic errors.
Association between histological features in temporal artery biopsies and clinical features of patients with giant cell arteritis.

BACKGROUND In most cases of giant cell arteritis (GCA) the diagnosis is confirmed by temporal artery biopsy. Aside from the diagnostic purpose, histological parameters may serve as prognostic markers. OBJECTIVES To review positive temporal artery biopsies ofGCA in an attempt to correlate various histological parameters with clinical features, disease complications and outcome. METHODS Positive biopsies from 65 GCA patients were randomly selected for review by a single pathologist. In each biopsy the following parameters were scored: intensity and location of the inflammatory infiltrate, presence of giant cells and other cell types, fragmentation and calcification of the internal elastic lamina, intimal thickening, and presence of luminal thrombus. Clinical data were obtained from the patients' charts. Intensity of the initial systemic inflammatory reaction (ISIR) at the time of diagnosis was scored by the presence of five parameters: fever, anemia, thrombocytosis, leukocytosis, and sedimentation rate >100 mm/hr. RESULTS In cases with bilateral positive biopsy (n=27), there was good correlation between the two sides regarding intensity of inflammation (r= 0.65, P< 0.001), location of the infiltrate (r= 0.7, P< 0.001), degree of intimal thickening (r= 0.54, P 0.001), and presence of giant cells (r= 0.83, P< 0.001). The rate of corticosteroid discontinuation tended to be quicker in patients with inflammatory infiltrates confined mainly to the adventitia, but other histological parameters did not affect this rate. CONCLUSIONS Inflammatory infiltrates confined to the adventitia were associated with more neuro-ophthalmic ischemic manifestations, weak/moderate ISIR at the time of diagnosis, and faster rate of corticosteroid discontinuation. No association was found between other temporal artery biopsy histological parameters and clinical features of GCA patients.