Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bronchoconstriction during cross-country skiing: is there really a refractory period?

PURPOSE The asthmatic airway responds to exercise by bronchodilation (BD) during and bronchoconstriction (BC) after exercise. A refractory period induced by an initial exercise challenge that provides protection against BC during a subsequent exercise bout has also been observed. However, no studies examining during-exercise response or refractoriness during long-duration field exercise by elite athletes have been performed. This study examined airway response and refractoriness during approximately 42-min cross-country ski time trial preceded by a 6- to 9-min 2.5-km high-intensity warm-up ski. METHODS Eighteen elite athletes cross-country skied seven successive 2.5-km loops. Spirometry was performed pre- and at 5, 10, and 15 min post loop 1; loops 2-7 were treated as a race (XCR) with maneuvers performed within 20 s after loops 2-6 and serially for 15 min after lap 7. RESULTS Nine of 18 subjects demonstrated a >or=10% fall from baseline in FEV(1) (EIB+): five after lap 1 and four during or after laps 2-7. FEV(1) for EIB+ athletes during XCR was not different from post lap 1 FEV. Only one EIB+ subject demonstrated significant refractoriness. Four EIB+ athletes had a less than 10% fall in FEV after the initial 2.5-km exercise challenge but developed EIB (>or=10% fall) during the subsequent 6 x 2.5 km XCR exercise challenge. FEF(25-75) falls mirrored FEV(1), but demonstrated greater BD during XCR. CONCLUSION Bronchoconstriction occurs in athletes during prolonged exercise and may thus influence performance. Variability in bronchial hyperresponsiveness onset and the lack of significant refractoriness in our study cohort of athletes is consistent with an exercise bronchoconstrictive dysfunction that is different than frank asthma and is yet to be clearly defined.
Biochemical and Cellular Mechanisms of Toxic Liver Injury

The pathogenesis of drug- or toxin-induced liver injury usually involves the participation of toxic metabolites that either elicit an immune response or directly affect the biochemistry of the cell. The clinical appearance of hepatitis is then a consequence of cell death mediated by either the extrinsic immune system (e.g., cytotoxic T cells) or intracellular stress. Intracellular stress can lead to apoptotic or necrotic cell death, depending on the extent of mitochondrial involvement and the balance of factors that activate and inhibit the Bcl 2 family of proteins and the caspases. Drug metabolites can undergo or promote a variety of chemical reactions, including covalent binding, depletion of reduced glutathione, or oxidative stress with consequent effects on proteins, lipids, and DNA. These chemical consequences can directly affect organelles such as mitochondria, cytoskeleton, endoplasmic reticulum, microtubules, or nucleus or indirectly influence these organelles through activation or inhibition of signaling kinases, transcription factors, and gene expression profiles. The outcome may be either triggering of the necrotic or apoptotic process or sensitization to the lethal action of cytokines of the immune system intrinsic to the liver.
The death of cardiotonic steroid‐treated cells: evidence of Na+i,K+i‐independent H+i‐sensitive signalling

Na/K‐ATPase is the only known target of cardiotonic steroids (CTS) identified in plants, amphibians and later on in several mammalian species, including human. We focus our review on recent data implicating CTS in the tissue‐specific regulation of cell survival and death. In vascular smooth muscle cells, CTS inhibited cell death triggered by apoptotic stimuli via a novel Na+i‐mediated, Ca2+i‐independent mechanism of expression of antiapoptotic genes, including mortalin. In contrast, exposure to CTS in vascular endothelial and renal epithelial cells led to cell death, showing combined markers of apoptosis and necrosis. This mode of cell death, termed oncosis, is caused by CTS interaction with Na/K‐ATPase but is independent of the inhibition of Na/K‐ATPase‐mediated ion fluxes and inversion of the [Na+]i/[K+]i ratio. The intermediates of intracellular signalling involved in Na+i, K+i‐independent oncosis of CTS‐treated cells remain unknown. Recently, we found that this mode of cell death can be protected by modest intracellular acidification via the expression of H+i‐sensitive genes. The molecular origin of intracellular Na+ and H+ sensor involvement in the development of apoptosis and oncosis is currently under investigation.
Immunomodulatory Triterpenoids from the Oleogum Resin of Boswellia carterii Birdwood

Abstract The immunomodulatory bioassay-guided fractionation of the oleogum resin of frankincense (Boswellia carterii Bird wood) resulted in the isolation and identification of 9 compounds; palmitic acid and eight triterpenoids belonging to lupane, ursane, oleanane, and tirucallane skeleta were isolated form the resin. These triterpenoids are lupeol, β-boswellic acid, 11-keto-β-boswellic acid, acetyl β-boswellic acid, acetyl 11-keto-β-boswellic acid, acetyl- α-boswellic acid, 3-oxo-tirucallic acid, and 3-hydroxy-tirucallic acid. The structures of the isolated compounds were deduced based on spectroscopic evidences. The lymphocyte transformation assay of the isolated compounds proved that the total extract retained more activity than that of any of the purified compounds.
Ischemic Preconditioning Does Not Alter Performance in Multidirectional High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise

Purpose: Research dealing with ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has primarily focused on variables associated to endurance performance with little research about the acute responses of IPC on repeated multidirectional running sprint performance. Here we aimed to investigate the effects of IPC of the arms and the legs on repeated running sprint performance with changes-of-direction (COD) movements. Methods: Thirteen moderately-to-well-trained team-sport athletes (7 males; 6 females; age: 24 ± 2 years, size: 175 ± 8 cm, body mass: 67.9 ± 8.1 kg) performed 16 × 30 m all-out sprints (15 s rest) with multidirectional COD movements on a Speedcourt with IPC (3 × 5 min) of the legs (IPCleg; 240 mm Hg) or of the arms (remote IPC: IPCremote; 180–190 mm Hg) 45 min before the sprints and a control trial (CON; 20 mm Hg). Results: The mean (±SD) time for the 16 × 30 m multidirectional COD sprints was similar between IPCleg (Mean t: 16.0 ± 1.8 s), IPCremote (16.2 ± 1.7 s), and CON (16.0 ± 1.6 s; p = 0.50). No statistical differences in oxygen uptake (mean difference: 0%), heart rate (1.1%) nor muscle oxygen saturation of the vastus lateralis (4.7%) and biceps brachii (7.8%) between the three conditions were evident (all p > 0.05). Conclusions: IPC (3 × 5 min) of the legs (220 mm Hg) or arms (180–190 mm Hg; remote IPC) applied 45 min before 16 × 30 m repeated multidirectional running sprint exercise does not improve sprint performance, oxygen uptake, heart rate nor muscle oxygen saturation of the vastus lateralis muscle when compared to a control trial.
Spousal violence and paternal disinvestment among Tsimane' forager‐horticulturalists

We develop and test a conceptual model of factors influencing the likelihood of physical wife abuse. The paternal disinvestment model emphasizes that spousal conflict over resource use results from men's attempts to increase individual fitness at a cost to the family (e.g., through pursuit of extramarital affairs). We propose that men use violence to control women's responses to the diversion of resources away from the family: to quell women's objections to male disinvestment, maintain women's parental investment, and to dissuade women from pursuing relationships with other men.
Continuing Education on Radionuclide Imaging of Musculoskeletal Infection : A Review

There are numerous imaging tests for diagnosing musculoskeletal infection. Radiographs are routinely performed, because even when not diagnostic, they provide an anatomic overview of the region of interest that could influence subsequent procedure selection and interpretation. Magnetic resonance imaging is sensitive and provides superb anatomic detail. Bone scintigraphy accurately diagnoses osteomyelitis in bones not affected by underlying conditions. Gallium-67 is used primarily for spondylodiscitis. Although invitro labeled leukocyte imaging is the radionuclide test of choice for complicating osteomyelitis such as diabetic pedal osteomyelitis and prosthetic joint infection, it is not useful for spondylodiscitis. Antigranulocyte antibodies and antibody fragments have limitations and are not widely available. 111In-Biotin is useful for spondylodiscitis. Radiolabeled synthetic fragments of the antimicrobial peptide ubiquicidin are promising infection specific agents. Fluorine-18 FDG is the radionuclide test of choice for spondylodiscitis. Its role in diabetic pedal osteomyelitis and prosthetic joint infection is not established. Preliminary data suggest gallium-68 may be useful in musculoskeletal infection. Iodine-124 fialuridine initially showed promise as an infection specific radiopharmaceutical but subsequent investigations were disappointing. The development of positron emission computed tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) imaging systems, which combine anatomic and functional imaging, has revolutionized diagnostic imaging. These hybrid systems are redefining the diagnostic workup of patients with suspected or known infection and inflammation by improving diagnostic accuracy and influencing patient management. by on October 21, 2017. For personal use only. jnm.snmjournals. org Downloaded from
Early Holocene Seasonal Movements Between the Desert and the Nile Valley. Details From the Lithic Industry of Some Khartoum Variant and Some Nabta/Kiseiba Sites

Detecting seasonal movements between the Nile Valley and the adjacent desert in the Early Holocene period is a difficult task. The material production, especially the lithic industries, may have been oriented to different economic activities forwarded in these two different environments. Identifying lithic products as the output of the same cultural group moving from one area to the other may be, for this reason, quite complex. The Nabta region and the II nd Cataract offer an interesting hint on this argument. This contribution will try to highlight similarities between groups living in the Nile Valley and the Western Desert considering artefacts and faunal remains left by the inhabitants of Nabta/Kiseiba area and the Khartoum Variant sites of the Nile Valley II nd Cataract. This analysis will also make possible to advance a new chronological attribution for the Khartoum Variant cultural phase.
Twenty-month effectiveness of a non-aversive, long-term, low-cost programme for persons with persisting neurobehavioural disability

Primary objective: To examine the effectiveness of a programme developed for persons with persisting neurobehavioural/neuropsychiatric disorders. Research design: Descriptive study of a programme that has a philosophy of normalization, respect, non-confrontation, positive engagement, support and functional and behavioural skill development. Methods and procedures: Participants were the 40 clients admitted during the initial 20 months of operation. Prior to admission clients had recurrent placement failures secondary to behavioural disregulation and typically were housed at County or State Hospitals. An expanded version of the Overt Aggression Scale Modified for Neurorehabilitation was used to provide detailed descriptions of assaults. Main outcomes and results: Over the 20-month period, 49 incidents of client-to-client aggression occurred representing a rate of 0.11 incidents per client month. Thirty-five of 40 clients remained at the end of 20 months, with only three discharges due to behaviour. Conclusions: A long-term, stable living environment has been provided for individuals who had been intractable management problems elsewhere.
Remittances and Returnees: The Cultural Economy of Migration in Ilocos . Edited by Raul Pertierra. Quezon City: New Day Publishers. 1992. Distributed by Cellar Book Shop, Detroit. xvii, 162 pp. $10.75.

the adolescent female solo dance golek and the dance-drama known as beksan wayang golek (derived from the rod-puppet genre wayang golek) (p. 91). Despite these criticisms, Miettinen presents much that is useful in the descriptive portions of this book; there are valuable passages, particularly on the countries whose theater and dance are seldom discussed in English or other European languages (Burma, Vietnam). Yet a few extra steps might have made the text measure up to the very high quality of the photographs and the overall look of the book. More careful checking of facts and solicitation of critical commentary on the intellectual assumptions that frame the text might well have produced a landmark that would not only please the eyes of browsing tourists (as this work clearly does), but also meet the favor and serve the needs of scholars.
Incidence and severity of fatty liver in dairy cows

A survey of the incidence and severity of post-parturient fatty liver in high yielding dairy cows was carried out on 151 cows and 46 heifers from four Friesian herds and one Guernsey herd. In Friesian and Guernsey cows from the second lactation onwards fat occupied a significant proportion (15 to 32 per cent) of the hepatic parenchyma at one week after calving but decreased to low values at eight weeks after calving. Fatty liver was insignificant in heifers of either breed. When the fatty liver was classified according to the amount of fat at one week after calving, 66 per cent of Friesian cows and 33 per cent of Guernsey cows had a moderate or severe fatty liver. The severity of the fatty liver was related to the loss of condition score after calving but not the condition score at calving.
Use of ICTs and the economic performance of SMEs in East Africa

This paper assesses the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their impact on the economic performance of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) of three East African countries: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Findings of the paper suggest that the diffusion of ICT among East African SMEs is both industry and country specific. The empirical findings suggest that investment in ICT has a negative impact on labour productivity and a positive impact on general market expansion. However, such investment does not have any significant impact on enterprises’ return, nor does it determine enterprises exporter (non-exporter) status.
Stable architectures for deep neural networks

Deep neural networks have become invaluable tools for supervised machine learning, e.g. classification of text or images. While often offering superior results over traditional techniques and successfully expressing complicated patterns in data, deep architectures are known to be challenging to design and train such that they generalize well to new data. Critical issues with deep architectures are numerical instabilities in derivative-based learning algorithms commonly called exploding or vanishing gradients. In this paper, we propose new forward propagation techniques inspired by systems of ordinary differential equations (ODE) that overcome this challenge and lead to well-posed learning problems for arbitrarily deep networks. The backbone of our approach is our interpretation of deep learning as a parameter estimation problem of nonlinear dynamical systems. Given this formulation, we analyze stability and well-posedness of deep learning and use this new understanding to develop new network architectures. We relate the exploding and vanishing gradient phenomenon to the stability of the discrete ODE and present several strategies for stabilizing deep learning for very deep networks. While our new architectures restrict the solution space, several numerical experiments show their competitiveness with state-of-the-art networks.
Allometric relations of cardiovascular function in birds.

The avian cardiovascular system is interesting because birds have larger hearts and lower heart rates than mammals of the same size. This study defines how cardiovascular function is related to body size in nine species of birds encompassing a 1,000-fold size range. Heart mass (HM, g) was related to body mass (M, kg) by the following equation: HM = 8.76 M0.92, and the heart rate (HR, beats X min-1) to body mass by HR = 178.5 M-0.282. Cardiac output (Q, ml X min-1) was related to body mass as Q = 290.7 M0.69. Birds also had a greater cardiac output for a given body mass than mammals. Cardiac output was directly proportional to the rate of O2 consumption (VO2, ml X min-1): Q = 17.5 VO2(1.04), with birds having a greater cardiac output for a given VO2 than mammals. (Variables are considered directly proportional if the exponent does not differ significantly from one). As in mammals, stroke volume (SV, ml) was also directly proportional to body mass: SV = 1.72 M0.97, but for a given body size stroke volume was larger in birds than in mammals. However, as bird hearts are disproportionately large in comparison with body size, when stroke volume is expressed per gram of heart (SV = 0.177 HM1.05) birds have a significantly lower stroke volume-to-heart weight ratio than mammals. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Comparative Protection against Liver Inflammation and Fibrosis by a Selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitor and a Nonredox-Type 5-Lipoxygenase Inhibitor

In this study, we examined the relative contribution of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO), two major proinflammatory pathways up-regulated in liver disease, to the progression of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. Separate administration of 4-[5-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-1-yl]benzenesulfonamide (SC-236), a selective COX-2 inhibitor, and CJ-13,610, a 5-LO inhibitor, to carbon tetrachloride-treated mice significantly reduced fibrosis as revealed by the analysis of Sirius Red-stained liver sections without affecting necroinflammation. Conversely, combined administration of SC-236 and 4-[3-[4-(2-methylimidazol-1-yl)-phenylthio]]phenyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2H-pyran-4-carboxamide (CJ-13,610) reduced both necroinflammation and fibrosis. These findings were confirmed in 5-LO-deficient mice receiving SC-236, which also showed reduced hepatic monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 expression. Interestingly, SC-236 and CJ-13,610 significantly increased the number of nonparenchymal liver cells with apoptotic nuclei (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling-positive). Additional pharmacological profiling of SC-236 and CJ-13,610 was performed in macrophages, the primary hepatic inflammatory cell type. In these cells, SC-236 inhibited prostaglandin (PG) E2 formation in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas CJ-13,610 blocked leukotriene B4 biosynthesis. Of note, the simultaneous addition of SC-236 and CJ-13,610 resulted in a higher inhibitory profile on PGE2 biosynthesis than the dual COX/5-LO inhibitor licofelone. These drugs differentially regulated interleukin-6 mRNA expression in macrophages. Taken together, these findings indicate that both COX-2 and 5-LO pathways are contributing factors to hepatic inflammation and fibrosis and that these two pathways of the arachidonic acid cascade represent potential targets for therapy.
A Simple Regularization-based Algorithm for Learning Cross-Domain Word Embeddings

Learning word embeddings has received a significant amount of attention recently. Often, word embeddings are learned in an unsupervised manner from a large collection of text. The genre of the text typically plays an important role in the effectiveness of the resulting embeddings. How to effectively train word embedding models using data from different domains remains a problem that is less explored. In this paper, we present a simple yet effective method for learning word embeddings based on text from different domains. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through extensive experiments on various down-stream NLP tasks.
Combined effect of nisin, carvacrol and a previous thermal treatment on the growth of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella senftenberg

The aim of this study was to evaluate the combined effect of a previous mild heat treatment (15 min at 55 ℃) with the use of antimicrobials, nisin and carvacrol, on the growth of Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella senftenberg. Natural antimicrobials, alone or combined with a previous mild heat treatment, affected the growth of these two serovars in Tryptone Soy Broth at 37 ℃. Increasing concentrations of carvacrol had a significant effect on both growth rate and lag phase duration of both strains. The time to reach stationary phase was almost doubled in the case of S. enteritidis when a concentration of 0.77 mM in carvacrol was added. For S. senftenberg the effect was smaller. The effect of nisin and of heat, applied individually, was lower for both microorganisms. A combination of 1.2 µM nisin with 0.77 mM carvacrol significantly delayed the growth of heat treated cells, compared to the control without antimicrobials, showing additive effects.
"Coming out" in the age of social constructionism.

Abstract This article examines sexual identity formation among 346 lesbian-identified and 60 bisexual-identified women. On average, bisexuals come out at later ages and exhibit less "stable" identity histories. However, variations in identity history among lesbians and bisexuals overshadow the differences between them and demonstrate that coming out is not a linear, goal-oriented, developmental process. Sexual identity formation must be reconceptualized as a process of describing one's social location within a changing social context. Changes in sexual identity are, therefore, expected of mature individuals as they maintain an accurate description of their position vis-à-vis other individuals, groups, and institutions.
Clinical efficacy and compliance of sublingual immunotherapy with Dermatophagoides farinae drops in patients with atopic dermatitis

The oral route for administration of allergen immunotherapy has been explored since the 1900s. We attempted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) with Dermatophagoides farinae drops in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and investigate related factors influencing the patients' compliance.
Lipemia in the Rabbit Following Injection of Pituitary Extract.∗

Summary An extract prepared from lyophilized hog anterior pituitary gland produces lipemia in rabbits. A similar effect is produced by whole pituitary glands from men, hogs, sheep, and cattle. Activity of the crude extract of lyophilized glands is considerably greater than can be accounted for by the presence of any of the purified anterior pituitary fractions so far tested. This suggests that the lipemia-producing substance is distinct from the recognized pituitary hormones, or that 2 or more pituitary hormones act in a synergistic manner upon the rabbit's serum lipids.
Adaptive Failure Compensation Control for Uncertain Systems With Stochastic Actuator Failures

In this technical note, an adaptive failure compensation problem has been studied for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems subject to stochastic actuator failures and unknown parameters. The stochastic functions related to Markovian variables have been introduced to denote the failure scaling factors for each actuators which is much more practical and challenging. Firstly, by taking into account of the Markovian variables existing in the system, some preliminary knowledges have been established. Then, by employing backstepping strategy, an adaptive failure compensation control scheme has been proposed, which ensures the boundedness in probability of all the closed-loop signals in the presence of stochastic actuator failures. A simulation example is presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.