Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between sex hormones and anterior knee laxity across the menstrual cycle.

PURPOSE To comprehensively quantify through daily, serial measures changes in knee laxity as a function of changing sex-hormone levels across one complete menstrual cycle. METHODS Twenty-five females, 18 - 30 yr, body mass index < or = 30, who reported normal menstrual cycles (28-32 d) over the past 6 months participated. Participants were tested daily across one complete menstrual cycle; 5-7 cc of venous blood were withdrawn to assay serum levels of estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone. Knee laxity was measured as the amount of anterior tibial displacement at 133 N, using a standard knee arthrometer. To evaluate the relationship of knee laxity to changes in sex hormone concentrations, a multiple linear regression model with the possibility of a time delay was performed on each individual subject and the group as a whole. RESULTS Individual regression equations revealed an average of 63% of the variance in knee laxity was explained by the three hormones and their interactions. All three hormones significantly contributed to the prediction equation, and the amount of variance explained was substantially greater when a time delay was considered. On average, knee laxity changed approximately 3, 4, and 4.5 d after changes in estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone, respectively. When females were analyzed as a group, only 8% of the variance in knee laxity was explained by sex-hormones levels. CONCLUSION Changes in sex hormones mediate changes in knee laxity across the menstrual cycle. However, the strength of this relationship, the relative contribution of each hormone, and the associated time delay are highly variable between women. This individual variability is consistent with the variability in menstrual cycle characteristics among women.
Interleukin-28B Plays a Therapeutic Role on Mouse U14 Cervical Cancer Cells by Down-Regulating CD4+CD25+FoxP3+Regulatory T Cells In Vivo

Aim To investigate the immunotherapeutic effectiveness of adenoviral vector expressing mouse interleukin (IL)-28B (Ad-mIL-28B) against cervical cancer and its mechanism. Method U14 cervical cancer cell–bearing mice were treated with Ad-mIL-28B. Meanwhile, whole cell vaccine was prepared by repeated freezing and thawing U14 cells. Then CD4+CD25+FoxP3+regulatory T (Treg) cells were evaluated by flow cytometry. Tumor volume and metastasis in BALB/c and C57BL/6j mice were detected. Results Ad-mIL-28B treatment significantly decreased the number of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+Treg cells. Subsequently, there was a significant decrease in the size of tumor tissue and the numbers of heteromorphic tumor cells. The tumor metastasis in the lung and liver of the Ad-mIL-28B group also decreased. However, there was no therapeutic effect observed for whole cell vaccine on U14 tumor–bearing mice. Conclusion Interleukin-28B can inhibit the growth and metastasis of cervical cancer in U14 tumor–bearing mice by down-regulating Treg cells.
Students’ Satisfaction Index on Chemistry Learning Process

This study was aimed at describing the index of students’ satisfaction in the chemistry learning process in SMAN 4 Singaraja Bali Indonesia and the factors that influenced it. For that, the survey research was conducted. The population was all students of the tenth and eleventh-grade students of groups of mathematics and natural sciences in academic year 2016/2017 in SMAN 4 Singaraja Bali consisting of 478 people. All population members became samples. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The numbers of respondents which returned the questionnaire were 431 people. Data the were analyzed by descriptive statistics. The results of the study showed that the index of students’ satisfaction viewed from a dimension of tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy was 86.24%, 85.67%, 87.42%, 88.11%, and 85.18%, respectively, and all dimensions were quite high. Overall the index of students’ satisfaction in the chemistry teaching and learning process was 86.19% and it was high.
In vivo vulnerability to competition by endogenous dopamine: Comparison of the D2 receptor agonist radiotracer (–)‐N‐[11C]propyl‐norapomorphine ([11C]NPA) with the D2 receptor antagonist radiotracer [11C]‐raclopride

(–)‐N‐Propyl‐norapomorphine (NPA) is a full dopamine (DA) D2 receptor agonist and [11C]NPA is a suitable radiotracer to image D2 receptors configured in a state of high affinity for agonists with positron emission tomography (PET). In this study the vulnerability of the in vivo binding of [11C]NPA to acute fluctuation in synaptic DA was assessed with PET in baboons and compared to that of the reference D2 receptor antagonist radiotracer [11C]raclopride. Three male baboons were studied with [11C]raclopride and [11C]NPA under baseline conditions and following administration of the potent DA releaser amphetamine (0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 mg kg–1 i.v.). Kinetic modeling with an arterial input function was used to derive the striatal specific‐to‐nonspecific equilibrium partition coefficient (V3″). [11C]Raclopride V3″ was reduced by 24 ± 10%, 32 ± 6%, and 44 ± 9% following amphetamine doses of 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 mg kg–1, respectively. [11C]NPA V3″ was reduced by 32 ± 2%, 45 ± 3%, and 53 ± 9% following amphetamine doses of 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 mg kg–1, respectively. Thus, endogenous DA was more effective at competing with [11C]NPA binding compared to [11C]raclopride binding, a finding consistent with the pharmacology of these tracers (agonist vs. antagonist). These results also suggest that 71% of D2 receptors are configured in a state of high affinity for agonists in vivo. In conclusion, [11C]NPA might provide a superior radiotracer to probe presynaptic DA function with PET in health and disease. Synapse 52:188–208, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Arabic Book Retrieval using Class and Book Index Based Term Weighting

One of the most common issue in information retrieval is documents ranking. Documents ranking system collects search terms from the user and orderly retrieves documents based on the relevance. Vector space models based on TF.IDF term weighting is the most common method for this topic. In this study, we are concerned with the study of automatic retrieval of Islamic Fiqh (Law) book collection. This collection contains many books, each of which has tens to hundreds of pages. Each page of the book is treated as a document that will be ranked based on the user query. We developed class-based indexing method called inverse class frequency (ICF) and book-based indexing method inverse book frequency (IBF) for this Arabic information retrieval. Those method then been incorporated with the previous method so that it becomes TF.IDF. ICF.IBF. The term weighting method also used for feature selection due to high dimensionality of the feature space. This novel method was tested using a dataset from 13 Arabic Fiqh e-books. The experimental results showed that the proposed method have the highest precision, recall, and F-Measure than the other three methods at variations of feature selection. The best performance of this method was obtained when using best 1000 features by precision value of 76%, recall value of 74%, and F-Measure value of 75%.
Evaluation of viscoelastic parameters of the skeletal muscles in junior triathletes

Five male triathletes of the Estonian national junior team were observed during a seven-week competition period. The Myoton-2 equipment was used to describe the viscoelastic parameters of the skeletal muscles. The frequency of damped mechanical oscillation of the muscle tissue (Hz—indicating the tension in the muscle), logarithmic decrement of the oscillations (Θ—indicating the elasticity of the muscle) and stiffness (N m−1) of the muscle tissue were registered bilaterally in eight muscles in both the relaxed and the contracted states: BB—biceps brachii (caput longum); TB—triceps brachii (caput longum); BF—biceps femoris (caput longum); RF—rectus femoris; TA—tibialis anterior; GC—gastrocnemius (caput mediale); LD—latissimus dorsi; PM—pectoralis major (pars sternocostalis). A portable massage table was used for the subject to rest on during the measuring. For the measurement of the anterior muscles, the subject lay supine; for the posterior muscles the prone position was used. The (isometric) contraction was standardized simply by the same measuring position of the limb—the subject raised his arm or leg to an angle of 45° from the horizontal level, using a 2.3 kg dumb-bell as an additional weight for the upper limb. The tarsal dorsiflexion and plantarflexion was performed against a fixed table to contract the crural muscles. The elasticity of the skeletal muscle is higher for the contracted state with respect to the relaxed one (p < 0.0001) and is described by decline of the value of logarithmic decrement, the stiffness and the tension in the muscle increases (p < 0.0001 for both parameters). The measured skeletal muscles differ significantly (p < 0.0018) by the viscoelastic properties in the relaxed state. In the relaxed state, TA was the most elastic (mean ± SD; Θ—0.74 ± 0.13), stiff (mean ± SD; 346.68 ± 60.34 N m−1) and tense muscle (mean ± SD; 18.72 ± 1.55 Hz). In the contracted state, the elasticity of TA did not change (0.76 ± 0.14) while the stiffness and the tension in this muscle rose significantly (93% and 38%, accordingly). Personal differences (p < 0.005) exist if pooled data from the muscles are compared between the subjects.
Oligosaccharide conjugates of Bordetella pertussis and bronchiseptica induce bactericidal antibodies, an addition to pertussis vaccine

Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease that is especially dangerous for infants and children. Despite mass vaccination, reported pertussis cases have increased in the United States and other parts of the world, probably because of increased awareness, improved diagnostic means, and waning vaccine-induced immunity among adolescents and adults. Licensed vaccines do not kill the organism directly; the addition of a component inducing bactericidal antibodies would improve vaccine efficacy. We investigated Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica LPS-derived core oligosaccharide (OS) protein conjugates for their immunogenicity in mice. B. pertussis and B. bronchiseptica core OS were bound to aminooxylated BSA via their terminal Kdo residues. The two conjugates induced similar anti-B. pertussis LPS IgG levels in mice. B. bronchiseptica was investigated because it is easier to grow than B. pertussis. Using B. bronchiseptica genetically modified strains deficient in the O-specific polysaccharide, we isolated fractions of core OS with one to five repeats of the terminal trisaccharide, having at the nonreducing end a GlcNAc or GalNAc, and bound them to BSA at different densities. The highest antibody levels in mice were elicited by conjugates containing an average of 8–17 OS chains per protein and with one repeat of the terminal trisaccharide. Conjugate-induced antisera were bactericidal against B. pertussis, and the titers correlated with ELISA-measured antibody levels (r = 0.74). Such conjugates are easy to prepare and standardize; added to a recombinant pertussis toxoid, they may induce antibacterial and antitoxin immunity.
Genetic analysis of chromosomal mutations in the polysialic acid gene cluster of Escherichia coli K1

The kps gene cluster of Escherichia coli K1 encodes functions for sialic acid synthesis, activation, polymerization, and possibly translocation of polymer to the cell surface. The size and complexity of this membrane polysaccharide biosynthetic cluster have hindered genetic mapping and functional descriptions of the kps genes. To begin a detailed investigation of the polysialic acid synthetic mechanism, acapsular mutants were characterized to determine their probable defects in polymer synthesis. The mutants were tested for complementation with kps fragments subcloned from two separately isolated, functionally intact kps gene clusters. Complementation was assayed by immunological and biochemical methods and by sensitivity to the K1-specific bacteriophage K1F. The kps cluster consisted of a central 5.8-kilobase region that contained at least two genes coding for sialic acid synthetic enzymes, a gene encoding the sialic acid-activating enzyme, and a gene encoding the sialic acid polymerase. This biosynthetic region is flanked on one side by an approximately 2.8-kilobase region that contains a potential regulatory locus and at least one structural gene for a polypeptide that appears to function in polysialic acid assembly. Flanking the biosynthetic region on the opposite side is a 6- to 8.4-kilobase region that codes for at least three proteins which may also function in polymer assembly and possibly in translocating polymer to the outer cell surface. Results of transduction crosses supported these conclusions and indicated that some of the kps genes flanking the central biosynthetic region may not function directly in transporting polymer to the cell surface. The results also demonstrate that the map position and probable function of most of the kps cluster genes have been identified.
Effects of Progressive Muscle Relaxation Intervention in Extremity Fracture Surgery Patients

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of progressive muscle relaxation on state anxiety and self-efficacy in hospitalized patients admitted for an extremity fracture receiving elective surgery. Eighty four patients met the inclusion criteria and all were randomly assigned to either the progressive muscle relaxation group or the control group. The control group received standard orthopedic nursing care, and the experimental group received standard care along with daily progressive muscle relaxation throughout their hospitalization. The State Anxiety Inventory and Self-Efficacy Scales were administered before and after the intervention. Both paired-sample t tests and independent t tests showed that progressive muscle relaxation is effective in reducing state anxiety and enhancing the self-efficacy of patients with extremity fracture undergoing an elective surgery.
Comparison of a Fully Synthetic Electrospun Matrix to a Bi-Layered Xenograft in Healing Full Thickness Cutaneous Wounds in a Porcine Model

A fully synthetic electrospun matrix was compared to a bi-layered xenograft in the healing of full thickness cutaneous wounds in Yucatan miniature swine. Full thickness wounds were created along the dorsum, to which these matrices were applied. The wound area was measured over the course of healing and wound tissue was scored for evidence of inflammation and healing. Animals were sacrificed at Day 15 and Day 30 and tissue samples from the wound site were harvested for histopathological analysis to evaluate inflammation and tissue healing as evidenced by granulation tissue, collagen maturation, vascularization, and epithelialization. Average wound area was significantly smaller for treatment group wounds compared to control group wounds at 15 and 30 days ([7.7 cm2 ± 0.9]/[3.8 cm2 ± 0.8]) and ([2.9 cm2 ± 1.1]/[0.2 cm2 ± 0.0]) (control/treatment) (p = 0.002/p = 0.01). Histopathological analysis of wound sections revealed superior quality of healing with treatment group wounds, as measured by inflammatory response, granulation tissue, and re-epithelialization. A fully synthetic electrospun matrix was associated with faster rates of wound closure characterized by granulation tissue, deposition of mature collagen and vascularization at earlier time points than in wounds treated with a bi-layered xenograft. Treatment with this fully synthetic material may represent a new standard of care by facilitating full-thickness wound closure while eliminating the risks of inflammatory response and disease transmission associated with biologic modalities.
Synthesis of correlated multichannel random processes

This paper describes a method for synthesizing multichannel autoregressive (AR) random processes. The procedure allows for the variation of temporal and cross-channel correlation subject to specific constraints for correlation functions. The resulting synthesized processes provide a "fit" in a minimum mean squared error (MMSE) sense to the process correlation functions specified in terms of their temporal and cross-channel correlation parameters. Computer simulation results are presented showing the case of a two-channel AR process with various values of temporal and cross-channel correlation. A method is also suggested to synthesize a more general class of Gaussian processes with unconstrained quadrature components. >
Impaired cardiac uptake of meta‐[123 I]iodobenzylguanidine in Parkinson's disease with autonomic failure

Objective – To selectively investigate postganglionic sympathetic cardiac neurons in patients with Parkinson's disease and autonomic failure. Material and methods – Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is a pharmacologically inactive analogue of noradrenaline, which is similarly metabolized in noradrenergic neurons. Therefore the uptake of radiolabeled MIBG represents not only the localization of postganglionic sympathetic neurons but also their functional integrity. Ten patients with Parkinson's disease and autonomic failure underwent standardized autonomic testing, assessment of catecholamine plasma levels and scintigraphy with [123 I]MIBG. Results – The cardiac uptake of MIBG, as demonstrated by the heart/mediastinum ratio, was significantly lower in patients in comparison with controls. Scintigraphy with MIBG allowed the selective in‐vivo investigation of postganglionic sympathetic cardiac efferents in patients with autonomic failure, a procedure which was previously confined to post‐mortem examination. Conclusion – These findings point to a relevant postganglionic pattern of involvement of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in Parkinson's disease and autonomic failure.
Sample preparation for atomic spectroscopic analysis: An overview

Sample preparation is an important step in chemical analysis, from time and reagent consuming point of view and from the probability of errors. In the present article, types of samples, problems associated with sample preparation, and sample preparation for most used atomic spectroscopic techniques, FAAS, GFAAS, ICP, and XRF have been discussed.
Development and Implementation of a Single-Chain Fv Antibody for Specific Detection of Bacillus anthracis Spores

ABSTRACT A single-chain Fv (scFv) antibody was developed and applied for efficient and specific detection of Bacillus anthracis spores. The antibody was isolated from a phage display library prepared from spleens of mice immunized with a water-soluble extract of the outer membrane of the B. anthracis spore (exosporium). The library (7 × 106 PFU) was biopanned against live, native B. anthracis ATCC Δ14185 spores suspended in solution, resulting in the isolation of a unique soluble scFv antibody. The antibody was affinity purified and its affinity constant (3 × 108 ± 1 × 108 M−1) determined via flow cytometry (FCM). Preliminary characterization of scFv specificity indicated that the scFv antibody does not cross-react with representatives of some phylogenetically related Bacillus spores. The potential use of scFv antibodies in detection platforms was demonstrated by the successful application of the soluble purified scFv antibody in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, immunofluorescence assays, and FCM.
Quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis of bone and marrow volumes in excised femoral head samples

The authors apply the technique of quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis (QXDA) to trabecular bone tissue to demonstrate that quantitative data of the ratio of bone and marrow volumes within the trabecular region can be obtained. Apparatus has been constructed for measuring energy dispersive X-ray diffraction spectra of human femoral head samples in the diagnostic X-ray energy range. Individual diffraction peaks due to bone and marrow tissue were identified in the measured spectra. The relative intensities of the two peaks within the spectra quantify the relative proportions of the two components, and so the bone to marrow peak ratio is proposed as a parameter which is capable of providing information on the osteoporotic state of trabecular tissue. Preliminary results indicate a significant correlation between this method and the bone density measurement techniques of quantitative computed tomography and Compton scatter densitometry. Results have also shown that the use of a synthetically prepared calibration curve can enable absolute measurement of bone or marrow volumes.
Nodal peripheral T-cell lymphoma with secondary granulomatous cutaneous involvement.

Sir, The presence of a granulomatous pattern has rarely been described in cutaneous lymphomas, mycosis fungoides (MF) being the variant more frequently reported (1 – 4). The aetiology of granulomatous reactions remains unclear and its prognostic value is still disputed, although a favourable influence on outcome has been hypothesized (5). We report here the case of an 87-year-old man with nodal peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTL) with secondary cutaneous involvement, who clinically presented with multiple eruptive papular and nodular skin lesions on the upper part of the body and histologically showed a strong granulomatous reaction in the skin.
Gamma and UV radiation induced mutagenesis in Trichoderma reesei to enhance cellulases enzyme activity

The need for renewable energy resources has focused attention on the renewable polysaccharide cellulose, which can be enzymatically hydrolyzed to yield sugars. The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is an important host organism for industrial enzyme production producing large amounts of hydrolytic enzymes. The aim of the present study was to improve the cellulase production of T. reesei through a successive mutagenesis step. Trichoderma reesei (PTCC 5142) a cellulolytic microorganism, was subjected to mutagenesis using gama and UV radiation individually as mutagens. Successive mutants showed rapid growth on plates containing MYG medium, clear hydrolysis zone on mandels medium and enhanced cellulase production. The mutant strains of T. reesei were isolated and selected by mandel screening method. Results showed some mutant strains has had higher cellulases activities in comper with parent strain. A mutant strain of Trichoderma reesei (PTCC 5142) with maximum production potential of cellulase was finally selected. The developed mutant from gama mutagenesis way is the best mutant for Ccase, CMCase, Avicellase and Fpase activities. This new method could be applied to obtain potent fungal mutants for more enzymes production.
Gangjinia marincola gen. nov., sp. nov., a marine bacterium of the family Flavobacteriaceae.

A novel strictly aerobic, orange-pigmented, Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated strain GJ16(T), was isolated from coastal seawater of Gangjin Bay, the southernmost part of the Korean peninsula, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. It grew optimally at 25-30 °C, at pH 7.0-8.0 and in the presence of 3 % NaCl. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain GJ16(T) formed a distinct lineage within the family Flavobacteriaceae and shared less than 91.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with members of the genera Leptobacterium, Zhouia, Winogradskyella, Dokdonia and Krokinobacter. The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0) (40.2 %), iso-C(15 : 1) G (12.8 %), iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH (11.2 %) and C(15 : 0) (6.6 %). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 39.4 mol% and the major respiratory isoprenoid quinone was MK-6. On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic data, strain GJ16(T) represents a novel species in a new genus in the family Flavobacteriaceae, for which the name Gangjinia marincola gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is GJ16(T) (=KCTC 22649(T) =JCM 16082(T)).