Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of insulin reduction with benfluorex on serum dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), DHEA sulfate, and blood pressure in hypertensive middle-aged and elderly men.

To determine whether a reduction in insulinemia would be associated with a rise in serum dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) sulfate in insulin-resistant men, 29 middle-aged (30-59 yr old) and 28 elderly (60-80 yr old) hypertensive men were enrolled into a single blind, placebo-controlled study, in which benfluorex was administered to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce circulating insulin. Men in each age group received either benfluorex (150 mg) or placebo three times daily for 6 weeks, and fasting serum insulin, glucose, DHEA, DHEA sulfate, and cortisol were determined before and after treatment. Glucose tolerance was also assessed by an oral glucose tolerance test. Benfluorex treatment lowered diastolic and systolic blood pressures and improved glucose tolerance in both age groups. In middle-aged men, benfluorex (n = 12) reduced both the area under the curve for glucose (AUCGLUCOSE; from 977 +/- 27 to 814 +/- 27 mmol/L.min; P = 0.0001) and the AUCINSULIN (from 78.1 +/- 7.9 to 44.5 +/- 5.7 nmol/L.min; P < 0.0001) during the oral glucose tolerance test. In elderly men, benfluorex (n = 15) also reduced both the AUCGLUCOSE (from 1100 +/- 60 to 864 +/- 26 mmol/L.min; P < 0.0001) and the AUCINSULIN (from 88.9 +/- 5.6 to 44.8 +/- 5.8 nmol/L.min; P < 0.0001). Concurrent with the reduction in insulinemia, benfluorex treatment was associated with rises in both serum DHEA sulfate and unconjugated DHEA. In middle-aged men, serum DHEA sulfate and DHEA rose from 6.80 +/- 0.75 to 10.52 +/- 1.02 mumol/L (P < 0.015) and from 13.69 +/- 1.95 to 22.78 +/- 2.90 nmol/L (P < 0.03), respectively. In elderly men, serum DHEA sulfate and DHEA rose from 5.16 +/- 0.67 to 8.36 +/- 1.21 mumol/L (P < 0.015) and from 8.47 +/- 0.99 to 22.61 +/- 3.24 nmol/L (P < 0.0005), respectively. In neither middle-aged nor elderly men did serum cortisol change with benfluorex treatment. Neither glucose tolerance nor serum DHEA, DHEA sulfate, or cortisol levels changed in either middle-aged (n = 17) or elderly (n = 13) men treated with placebo. We conclude that benfluorex treatment lowers blood pressure, improves glucose tolerance, reduces the glucose-stimulated insulin response, and increases serum DHEA and DHEA sulfate in both middle-aged and elderly men. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Can we take this off-line? How to deal with credentials in federations without global connectivity

In mobile and pervasive computing environments, not all devices have universal capabilities. To fulfill a certain task, it is often necessary to federate devices with specific resources. Because some devices are mobile, devices from different trust domains may have to interact with each other, and potentially sensitive data may flow from one domain into another. This interaction obviously requires access control and authorization. Achieving a secure federation of mobile devices calls for a framework and mechanisms that allow the specification and enforcement of security policies across different trust domains, even when some or all of the devices are disconnected and cannot go on-line, for example to perform an on-line verification of credentials. The WiTness framework was developed in order to address authorization in device federations, particularly providing mechanisms to tackle specific off-line scenarios involving devices without global connectivity. Modes for interaction in federations of different administrative trust domains are also defined within the Web Services Security specifications suite. These modes are generally described assuming a global connectivity of the entities involved. This paper shows how the experiences gained from the WiTness framework can be applied to Web Services, and investigates how the Web Services Security framework can be used to handle the off-line scenarios WiTness is optimized for.
Study of applying contactless power transmission system to battery charge

Contactless power transmission system with the advantages of safety and convenience has been applied to daily supplies. However, general contactless power transmission charger cannot control the current cause there is no charge controller in secondary side and the severe limitation between primary and secondary sides of the battery charger cause difficulty to design. This study provides the charge controller with half-bridge inverter and E-Type core as coupling converter in primary side; A Zeta DC converter is utilized to achieve the outcome of charge with constant voltage and to increase the charging distance between primary and secondary sides. To verify the feasibility of contactless power transmission system, the study completes the contactless charger with the output power of 30W. The result shows that the overall system efficiency is 57.8 % with 150 V/ 0.35A input and 15.2 V/2 A output.
Hepatic perfusion parameters in chronic liver disease: dynamic CT measurements correlated with disease severity.

OBJECTIVE The aim of our study was to determine if hepatic perfusion parameters measured with CT change in relation to disease severity in patients with chronic liver disease. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Dynamic contrast-enhanced single-section CT scans of the liver were obtained in 40 individuals who included six control subjects, 16 patients with noncirrhotic chronic liver disease, and 18 patients with cirrhosis. Hepatic, aortic, and portal venous time-density curves were fitted to a dual-input one-compartment model to calculate the liver perfusion, arterial fraction, distribution volume, and mean transit time. RESULTS Liver perfusion decreased in patients with cirrhosis (67 +/- 23 mL. min(-1). 100 mL(-1) versus 108 +/- 34 mL. min(-1). 100 mL(-1) in control subjects [p = 0.009] and 98 +/- 36 mL. min(-1). 100 mL(-1) in patients with noncirrhotic chronic liver disease [p = 0.003]), and the arterial fraction and the mean transit time increased (41 +/- 27% and 51 +/- 79 sec versus 17 +/- 16% and 16 +/- 5 sec in control subjects, and 19 +/- 6% and 17 +/- 8 sec in patients with noncirrhotic chronic liver disease [p < 0.05]). A significant correlation was seen between these three perfusion parameters and the severity of chronic liver disease based on clinical and biologic data (p < 0.001). No significant change in distribution volume was observed. CONCLUSION Hepatic perfusion parameters measured with CT were significantly altered in cirrhosis and correlated with the severity of chronic liver disease.
Industrial Value Chain Analysis of Chinese Fisheries

The value chain analysis of Chinese fisheries is made, and it is suggested that there are 3 kinds of industrial value chain in Chinese fisheries on the basis of the key links of industrial value chain, that is, the industrial value chain for culturing industry, the industrial value chain for fishing industry and the industrial value chain for aquatic product processing.
Current Status of Plant Products as Botanical Pesticides in storage pest management

The increasing concern over the level of pesticide residues in food has encouraged researchers to look for alternatives of synthetic pesticides. Their indiscriminate use has led to the development of resistant strains of pests as well as different environmental and human health problems. Recently, in different parts of the world, attention has been paid towards exploitation of higher plant products as novel chemotherapeutants in plant protection. Because of non phytotoxicity, systemicity, easy biodegradability and stimulatory nature of host metabolism, plant products possess the potential in pest management. Used widely until the 1940’s, these natural pesticides were displaced by modern synthetic pesticides that at the time seemed cheaper, easier and long lasting. The popularity of botanical pesticides is once again increasing and some plant products are being used globally as green pesticides. The body of scientific literature documenting bioactivity of plant derivatives to different pests continues to expand, yet only a handful of botanicals are currently used in agriculture. Pyrethroids and neem products are well established commercially as botanical pesticides and recently some essential oils of higher plants have also been used as antimicrobials against storage pests because of their relatively safe status and wide acceptance by the consumers. Some of the volatile oils, which often contain the principal aromatic and flavouring components of herbs and spices, have been recommended as plant based antimicrobials to retard microbial contamination and reduction in spoilage of food commodities. Furthermore, some of the antimicrobial plant products also possess strong antioxidant activities which are favourable properties to combat free radical mediated organoleptic deterioration of plant commodities and enhancing their shelf life. In the context of agricultural pest management, botanical pesticides are best suited for use in organic food production in industrialized countries but can play a much greater role in the production and post harvest protection of food products in developing countries.
Allosteric Regulation of Trypanosoma bruceiRibonucleotide Reductase Studied in Vitro and in Vivo *

Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent for African sleeping sickness. We have made in vitroand in vivo studies on the allosteric regulation of the trypanosome ribonucleotide reductase, a key enzyme in the production of dNTPs needed for DNA synthesis. Results with the isolated recombinant trypanosome ribonucleotide reductase showed that dATP specifically directs pyrimidine ribonucleotide reduction instead of being a general negative effector as in other related ribonucleotide reductases, whereas dTTP and dGTP directed GDP and ADP reduction, respectively. Pool measurements of NDPs, NTPs, and dNTPs in the cultivated bloodstream form of trypanosomes exposed to deoxyribonucleosides or inhibited by hydroxyurea confirmed our in vitro allosteric regulation model of ribonucleotide reductase. Interestingly, the trypanosomes had extremely low CDP and CTP pools, whereas the dCTP pool was comparable with that of other dNTPs. The trypanosome ribonucleotide reductase seems adapted to this situation by having a high affinity for the CDP/UDP-specific effector dATP and a high catalytic efficiency,K cat/K m , for CDP reduction. Thymidine and deoxyadenosine were readily taken up and phosphorylated to dTTP and dATP, respectively, the latter in a nonsaturating manner. This uncontrolled uptake of deoxyadenosine strongly inhibited trypanosome proliferation, a valuable observation in the search for new trypanocidal nucleoside analogues.
Forward error correction strategies for media streaming over wireless networks

The success of next-generation mobile communication systems depends on the ability of service providers to engineer new added-value multimedia-rich services, which impose stringent constraints on the underlying delivery/transport architecture. The reliability of real-time services is essential for the viability of any such service offering. The sporadic packet loss typical of wireless channels can be addressed using appropriate techniques such as the widely used packet-level forward error correction. In designing channel-aware media streaming applications, two interrelated and challenging issues should be tackled: accuracy of characterizing channel fluctuations and effectiveness of application-level adaptation. The first challenge requires thorough insight into channel fluctuations and their manifestations at the application level, while the second concerns the way those fluctuations are interpreted and dealt with by adaptive mechanisms such as FEC. In this article we review the major issues that arise when designing a reliable media streaming system for wireless networks.
Constrained Nonconvex Hybrid Variational Model for Edge-Preserving Image Restoration

Total variation (TV) is well capable of preserving edges and smoothing flat regions, however, often suffers from staircase artifacts in regions with gradual intensity variations. The established second-order TV can overcome this drawback but may lead to blurred edges and boundaries in restored images. In current literature, their nonconvex extensions have been proven to be effective for further enhancing image quality. This paper proposes an edge-preserving image restoration model by using both nonconvex first- and second-order TV regularizers, with a box constraint. The nonconvex hybrid regularizer is able to significantly suppress the staircase artifacts while preserving the valuable edge information. The addition of the box constraint provides a visible positive effect on image restoration, especially when there are many pixels with values lying on the predefined dynamic range boundaries. In what follows, to guarantee solution efficiency and stability, we develop an iteratively reweighted algorithm based on alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) to solve the proposed constrained nonconvex hybrid variational model. Numerous experimental results have demonstrated the superior performance of our proposed method in terms of quantitative and qualitative image quality evaluations.
Conversion of 3-Chlorocatechol by Various Catechol 2,3-Dioxygenases and Sequence Analysis of the Chlorocatechol Dioxygenase Region of Pseudomonas putida GJ31

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas putida GJ31 contains an unusual catechol 2,3-dioxygenase that converts 3-chlorocatechol and 3-methylcatechol, which enables the organism to use both chloroaromatics and methylaromatics for growth. A 3.1-kb region of genomic DNA of strain GJ31 containing the gene for this chlorocatechol 2,3-dioxygenase (cbzE) was cloned and sequenced. The cbzE gene appeared to be plasmid localized and was found in a region that also harbors genes encoding a transposase, a ferredoxin that was homologous to XylT, an open reading frame with similarity to a protein of ameta-cleavage pathway with unknown function, and a 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde dehydrogenase. CbzE was most similar to catechol 2,3-dioxygenases of the 2.C subfamily of type 1 extradiol dioxygenases (L. D. Eltis and J. T. Bolin, J. Bacteriol. 178:5930–5937, 1996). The substrate range and turnover capacity with 3-chlorocatechol were determined for CbzE and four related catechol 2,3-dioxygenases. The results showed that CbzE was the only enzyme that could productively convert 3-chlorocatechol. Besides, CbzE was less susceptible to inactivation by methylated catechols. Hybrid enzymes that were made of CzbE and the catechol 2,3-dioxygenase of P. putida UCC2 (TdnC) showed that the resistance of CbzE to suicide inactivation and its substrate specificity were mainly determined by the C-terminal region of the protein.
Structural genomic workflows supported by Web services

In silico experiments encompass multiple combinations of program and data resources, which are complex to be managed. Typically, script languages are used due to their ease of use, despite their specifity and difficulty of reuse. In contrast, Web service technology was specially conceived to encapsulate and combine programs and data, providing interoperability, scalability and flexibility issues. We have combined metadata support with Web services within a framework that supports scientific workflows. We have experimented this framework with a real structural genomic workflow, showing its viability and evidencing its advantages.
Tca5, a Ty5‐like retrotransposon from Candida albicans

This report describes the identification and characterization of a retrotransposon, termed Tca5, from the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. Tca5 has identical 685 bp LTRs flanking 4218 bp of internal sequence within which lies a single long ORF. Immediately internal to the left LTR is a primer binding site complementary to an internal portion of the initiator methionine tRNA and upstream of the right LTR is a polypurine tract. The ORF predicts a protein containing all the conserved motifs characteristic of Gag, protease, integrase, reverse transcriptase and RNaseH. Genomic Southern blots probed with Tca5 sequences show that it is a low copy number element and is present at different loci in different strains. This, together with the apparently intact structure of Tca5, suggests that it has transposed very recently. Potentially full‐length Tca5 transcripts were detected in some strains raising the possibility that some copies of Tca5 may still be active. Phylogenetic analyses and other sequence comparisons suggest that Tca5 is most closely related to the Ty5 element of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. paradoxus. The nucleotide sequence of Tca5 has been submitted to GenBank under Accession No. AF093417. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Building Efficient Resource Management Systems in the Cloud: Opportunities and Challenges

Cloud computing is designed as computing as a utility. Customers rent computing resources in the cloud to complete their work. To ensure the quality of service (QoS) requirements defined by customers and guarantee the resource utilization in cloud datacenters, effective resource management systems should be considered. However, with more and more individuals and enterprises migrating their work into the cloud, workloads in the cloud become more and more heterogeneous. Meanwhile, resources are much more heterogeneous as cloud providers constantly scale or update the clusters with new generations of machines. Withal, workloads are dynamic with different resource demands during their execution. Besides, machines are re-engaged frequently after removal due to various reasons such as crushing and updating. The heterogeneity and dynamicity in both workloads and resources are huge barriers to using classic resource management systems. This paper will first introduce the status quo of cloud computing environment, and then give an overview of resource demand prediction and allocation policies. Finally, challenges are proposed to help build adaptive resource management systems.
Therapeutic Approach to Delusional Disorder Based on Psychopathological Complexity: Proposal for a Decision Model

To the Editors: S everal authors consider delusional disorder (DD) as a treatment-resistant disorder and poor insight as a core feature. However, most clinical guidelines are focused on the management of schizophrenia patients. The evidence for the pharmacological treatment of DD has been considered level C (case series) or level D (single-case studies). This fact is in contrast to double-blind randomized trials and meta-analysis (level A) or nonblinded nonrandomized studies (level B), of which no information is available among this group of patients. Furthermore, in the last decade, the scientific evidence for psychotherapeutic management and cognitive remediation has shown a marked increase and certainly has contributed to ameliorate cognitive impairments in patients diagnosed with psychosis. Recently, 4 psychopathological dimensions of DD have been described (paranoid,
Recovering a Function from a Dini Derivative

provides a clear answer if we can assume that F' is Riemann integrable. Students of analysis will learn that if F' is Lebesgue integrable the same formula can be used, interpreting the integral in this more general sense. A full resolution of the problem requires a more general integral still, that of Denjoy and Perron (known frequently now as the Henstock-Kurzweil integral). The main question of this paper is, as it was for Lebesgue, whether a function can be recovered as an indefinite integral of one of its Dini derivatives? that is, when does the formula
Nonlinear feedback in robot arm control

Nonlinear feedback control is proposed for implementation of an advanced dynamic control strategy for robot arms. Using differential geometric system theory we obtained necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a nonlinear feedback control for a general nonlinear system to be externally linearized and simultaneously output decoupled. An algorithm is given for the construction of the required nonlinear feedback. To design a dynamic control for robot arms we apply the above result to the JPL-Stanford arm and propose a new control strategy, which also contains an optimal error-correcting feedback. Simulation results show great promise for the obtained dynamic control strategy.
Outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus in Portugal, 2015

Summary An outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in the South of Portugal in January 2015 and the spread of PEDV northwards in the territory are described. Comparative analysis of the amplified sequences showed a very high (99.0%) identity with the PEDV variant most recently reported in the United States and also show complete (100%) identity to the strains recently reported in Germany, supporting the hypothesis that a unique strain is currently circulating in Europe. The origin of this PEDV variant still needs to be elucidated and further studies in the remaining European countries may contribute to the knowledge.
Calcium and vitamin D supplements and health outcomes: a reanalysis of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) limited-access data set.

BACKGROUND Frequent use of personal, nonprotocol calcium supplements obscured an adverse effect of coadministered calcium and vitamin D (CaD) on cardiovascular risk in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). OBJECTIVE We investigated the effects of the use of personal calcium or vitamin D supplements on other outcomes in the WHI CaD Study (WHI CaD) by using the WHI limited-access clinical trials data set. DESIGN The WHI CaD was a 7-y, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of CaD (1 g Ca/400 IU vitamin D daily) in 36,282 community-dwelling, postmenopausal women. The incidence of total cancer (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers), breast and colorectal cancers, hip and total fracture, and mortality was assessed by using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS In the WHI CaD, interactions between the use of either personal calcium or vitamin D supplements and CaD were found for total, breast, and colorectal cancers but not for fracture or mortality. In 15,646 women (43%) who were not taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements at randomization, CaD significantly decreased the risk of total, breast, and invasive breast cancers by 14-20% and nonsignificantly reduced the risk of colorectal cancer by 17%. In women taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements, CaD did not alter cancer risk (HR: 1.06-1.26). CONCLUSIONS For women in the WHI CaD who were not taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements at randomization, CaD decreased the risk of total, breast, and colorectal cancers and did not change the risk of fractures or total mortality. The nonskeletal effects of CaD may be more important than the skeletal effects and should be considered when evaluating these supplements. The WHI CaD trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00000611.