Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Osteopenia in young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

BACKGROUND Improved survival of children with malignant diseases is in part due to the application of intensive, multimodality therapies, including radiotherapy, surgery, glucocorticoids, and cytotoxic agents. Such interventions have the potential to induce complex hormonal, metabolic and nutritional effects that may interfere with skeletal mass acquisition during childhood and adolescence: it is possible that such childhood cancer survivors may therefore reach adulthood with diminished peak bone mass and be at increased risk for clinically significant osteoporosis later in their life. PROCEDURE A bone mineral density (BMD) was measured in 26 unselected former cancer patients attending the Pediatric Long-Term Clinic at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. BMD was measured at the lumbar spine and the hip using dual X-ray absorptiometry (Hologic QDR-4500W). In addition, the patients' complete medical records were reviewed with particular attention to disease type, age modalities of treatment, and hormonal residual deficiencies. RESULTS The median age of patients at the time of cancer diagnosis was 8 years (range, 0.3 to 16 years). Median age at BMD determination was 23 years (range, 18 to 41 years), and the median interval since cancer diagnosis and BMD was 18 years (range, 5 to 29). Overall, their BMD was decreased relative to peak bone mass at all sites: osteopenia was especially pronounced in patients with a history of cranial irradiation who had developed evidence of pituitary insufficiency during childhood or adolescence. Overall, the median BMD T-score was -1.41 at the lumbar spine, -1.04 at the femoral neck, and -1.06 for total hip. For patients with prior cranial irradiation, T-score at the lumbar spine was -2.18 (range, -4.06 to -0.98), at the femoral neck -1.92 (range, -4.11 to +1.10), and for total hip -1.67 (range, -4.79 to +0.56); BMD for irradiated patients was significantly lower than BMD of patients without cranial irradiation. We could not discern an independent impact of other disease characteristics or treatment modalities in this small group of patients. CONCLUSIONS Osteopenia is a prominent finding in young adults who are survivors of childhood cancers; it is likely that antineoplastic treatments during childhood and adolescence impede peak bone mass acquisition. We suggest that systematic attention to this potential complication is needed in order to identify what subgroups of children may require regular surveillance and what interventions are required for its prevention or treatment.
Particle Image Velocity Measurements of Undular and Hydraulic Jumps

Measurements of the mean and turbulent flow fields in undular and hydraulic jumps have been acquired with single-camera particle image velocimetry (PIV). Three Froude numbers, ranging from 1.4 to 3.0, were studied, and in each case data were collected at numerous streamwise locations. The data from these streamwise locations were subsequently compiled into spatially dense ( ∼80,000 grid points) “mosaic” images encompassing both the supercritical and subcritical portions of the flow. The measured mean and turbulent velocity fields provide more detailed views inside undular and hydraulic jumps than were previously available from studies using pointwise measurement techniques. The two-dimensional spatial density of the measurements provides for the determination of gradient-based quantities such as vorticity. The potential for determining boundary shear stress from the velocity data is evaluated with several methodologies. The results are found to be consistent with recent measurements made using Preston tub.
Exploiting multiple contexts for saliency detection

Abstract. A salient object detection method by extensively modeling contextual information in both the saliency feature extraction and the saliency optimization procedure is proposed. First, a sequence of multicontext features is extracted for each segmented image region. This multicontext feature encoding effectively represents the characteristics of image regions and is further mapped to the initial saliency value estimation using a nonlinear regressor. Second, contextual information is also utilized to optimize the initial saliency map, which is realized by constructing a region-level conditional random field (CRF). As such, the quality of the initial coarse saliency maps is promoted in a more principled manner. Third, multiple CRFs, defined over different scales of segmentation, are calculated and integrated so that different ranges of contextual information could contribute to the saliency optimization. Eventually, consistent saliency maps with uniformly highlighted salient regions and clear boundaries are generated. The proposed method is extensively evaluated on three public benchmark datasets, and experimental results demonstrate that our method can produce promising performance when compared to state-of-the-art salient object detection approaches.
The M*-object methodology for information system design in CIM environments : the conceptual design phase

M*-OBJECT is a methodology for the analysis, design and implementation of CIM information systems. In this paper, the conceptual design phase is presented. It starts from users information requirements and provides a conceptual specification, the conceptual schema, of the information system to be used in the integrated manufacturing system to be designed. This methodological phase is supported by the Process and Data Net (PDN) model which integrates an objet-oriented data model, a query and data manipulation language, a process model, and an object behaviour description model. The major features of the specification approach are : static, dynamic, and behavioural properties of information are fully covered, complex data structures and data manipulation can be specified, and specifications are executable for rapid prototyping.
Non-natural G-quadruplex in a non-natural environment

The biocompatibility as well as the sustainability of a deep eutectic solvent makes it a good substitute for aqueous media in studying biomolecules. Understanding the structure and stability of natural and non-natural G-quadruplexes in aqueous and highly viscous media will be useful in biological and nanodevice applications. We report the synthesis and conformational analysis of a model G-rich oligonucleotide G _3T_3 and non-natural G-rich sequences Pyr1–Pyr3 in aqueous and highly viscous media. Progressive increases in the loop replacement with a non-natural pyrene linker leads to a systematic increase of the thermal denaturation temperature of the modified G-rich oligonucleotides Pyr1–Pyr3 in 10 mM cacodylate buffer (pH 7.2) containing 100 mM KCl, as monitored using UV-Vis spectroscopy. A circular dichroism signal clearly revealed the formation of a predominantly anti-parallel vs. parallel conformation in the natural G-rich oligonucleotide G _3T_3 as well as the non-natural G-rich oligonucleotides Pyr1–Pyr3 in 10 mM cacodylate buffer (pH 7.2) containing 100 mM KCl. On the other hand, we observed thermodynamic destabilization of G-rich oligonucleotides in a deep eutectic solvent (DES; 1:2 choline chloride–urea) containing 100 m m KCl with an increase in loop replacements. Interestingly, we observed an exclusively parallel G-quadruplex conformation in the case of G _3T_3 in DES containing 100 mm KCl. While pyrene containing G-rich oligonucleotides Pyr1–Pyr3 exhibited a predominantly parallel vs. anti-parallel G-quadruplex conformation in DES containing 100 mM KCl.
Attenuation of dendritic spine density in the perirhinal cortex following 17β‐Estradiol replacement in the rat

Intraperirhinal cortex infusion of 17‐β estradiol (E2) impairs object‐recognition memory. However, it is not currently known whether this hormone modulates synaptic plasticity in this structure. Most excitatory synapses in the central nervous system are located on dendritic spines, and elevated E2 levels influence the density of these spines in several brain areas. The goal of the present study was to determine whether differences in dendritic spine density in the perirhinal cortex are observed following high E2 replacement in ovariectomized rats. The density of total spines, and mushroom‐shaped (i.e. mature) spines were compared between a high E2 replacement (10 µg/kg/day, s.c.) and a no replacement condition. The perirhinal cortex is subdivided into Broadmann's area 35 and 36 and so group comparisons were made within each sub‐region separately. High E2 replacement resulted in lower density of mushroom‐shaped spines in area 35 relative to no replacement. There was no effect of high E2 replacement on dendritic spine density in area 36. These findings are consistent with the idea that higher E2 levels reduce dendritic spine density in area 35, which may result from spine shrinkage, or reduced synapse formation. This study provides preliminary evidence for a mechanism through which E2 may impair object‐recognition memory. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Defect Prediction Modeling

Defect predictors are helpful tools for project managers and developers. Accurate predictors may help reducing test times and guide developers for implementing higher quality codes. We propose a statistical defect predictor model with two major differences from the existing ones. Our model will use static code measures as input, since they can easily be collected with automated tools and prevent any kind of human subjectivity. There are two major differences between our proposed model and the existing ones. While existing defect predictors treat the software metrics equally, we claim that the effect of different metrics on prediction performance may vary. Thus, we propose a weighted prediction model where the weights are estimated according to the relative importance of metrics. Furthermore, our proposed model assumes that the software metrics are not statistically independent from each other and incorporates the relations between metrics into prediction process. Finally we propose a framework that can use existing set of software metrics and produce more accurate estimates of module complexities by using software system structure information.
Hydrogel Pore‐Size Modulation for Enhanced Single‐Cell Western Blotting

Pore-gradient microgel arrays enable thousands of parallel high-resolution single-cell protein electrophoresis separations for targets accross a wide molecular mass (25-289 kDa), yet within 1 mm separation distances. Dual crosslinked hydrogels facilitate gel-pore expansion after electrophoresis for efficient and uniform immunoprobing. The photopatterned, light-activated, and acid-expandable hydrogel underpins single-cell protein analysis, here for oncoprotein-related signaling in human breast biopsy.
Agonist‐ and Nerve‐Induced Phasic Activity in the Isolated Whole Bladder of the Guinea Pig: Evidence for Two types of Bladder Activity

Spontaneous localised propagating waves of contraction and localised stretches have been reported to occur in the isolated whole bladder of the guinea pig. The physiological role and the cellular processes underlying these events are unknown. In order to gain insight into the mechanisms generating this complex activity, experiments were performed to examine and compare the responses of the whole bladder preparation to (i) the muscarinic agonists carbachol and arecaidine, (ii) the nicotinic ligand lobeline and (iii) nerve stimulation. High concentrations of the muscarinic agonists (>3 μM) induced a slow rise in intra‐vesical pressure upon which were superimposed pressure transients, while low concentrations (< 300 nM) induced only phasic rises in pressure. One interpretation of these data is that there are two separate mechanisms activated by muscarinic agonists: one generating contracture and the other phasic activity. Immunocytochemical staining revealed M3 muscarinic receptors on smooth muscle cells within trabeculae and a second population of positive cells in the sub‐urothelial layer. This observation raises the possibility that the actions of muscarinic agonists are a consequence of activating different cell types. Lobeline (1‐60 μM) activated phasic contractions but did not cause a rise in basal pressure. Atropine did not inhibit the lobeline‐induced responses but abolished the muscarinic responses. Also, hexamethonium or tetrodotoxin did not affect the lobeline‐induced responses. These observations suggest that the mechanism generating phasic activity is activated by a nicotinic stimulus that does not involve ganglia, nerves or the neuromuscular junction. Stimulation of the bladder nerve at frequencies between 20 and 30 Hz for 5 s resulted in a rapid rise in intra‐vesical pressure. Prolonged nerve stimulation (10‐200 s) at frequencies between 1 and 10 Hz activated phasic rises in pressure. Low frequency nerve stimulation increased the frequency of agonist‐induced phasic activity. Thus, nerve stimulation can also produce two forms of activity and low frequency stimulation can augment the processes generating phasic activity. These observations suggest that there are two distinct types of bladder activity: global contractions involving most of the bladder wall and phasic contractions comprising propagating waves of contraction. The mechanisms generating these contractile events appear to be different and they may involve cells located in different regions of the bladder. The nature of these mechanisms and their possible physiological significance is discussed.
Near-Field Radiated From Carbon Nanotube and Graphene-Based Nanointerconnects

The electromagnetic field radiated by Cu–graphene interconnects is predicted in the frequency domain using the equivalent single conductor formulation, and it is compared with the field radiated by a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) bundle interconnect having the same cross section. The effect of the frequency, of the configuration, of the graphene, and SWCNT mean free paths is investigated. The scope is to predict the risk of electromagnetic interference against nearby components and devices, and to define the most critical conditions.
Cloud based virtualization for a calorie measurement e-health mobile application

Smartphones have transformed people approach towards technology. It not only empowers them to use it for communication but also for tracking and maintaining health-fitness via mobile applications. With the increasing number of complex mobile applications, the mobile, with its limited resources (in terms of the computational power and storage capacity) cannot efficiently run these applications autonomously. Similarly our e-health mobile application (Eat Healthy Stay Healthy) requires a platform to run highly computational intensive algorithms like the deep learning (for recognizing food images) and calorie measurement would need higher processing power to perform optimally. We propose a cloud based virtualization model that provides our e-health application with the required computational power that it needs to perform efficiently and at the same time would also give it the flexibility to make use of the various cloud resources. Our model comprises of concepts like virtual swap between various mobile sessions that assist the system for faster processing and intelligent decision mechanism for distributing the task of image processing to cloud servers. By implementing intelligent decision mechanism, the final calorie computation significantly improved by 20.5% while implementing deep learning in cloud.
An introduction to tourism

Preface The nature and characteristics of the tourism industry How tourism developed - the history The measurement of tourism Factors influencing demand for tourism Economic impacts of tourism Social and cultural aspects of tourism Tourism and the environment Tourism trades Marketing Tourism policy, planning and development The role of government Tourism in developing countries Tourism by world region Future trends Index.
Culture, Expansion, and Differentiation of Murine Megakaryocytes from Fetal Liver, Bone Marrow, and Spleen

Megakaryocytes (MKs) are the source of circulating platelets and are readily recognized by their large size and distinctive morphology. Their poor representation in hematopoietic tissues often requires considerable ex vivo expansion to generate cells for biochemical and cell biological studies. These experimental protocols describe the assessment of megakaryocytic potential within hematopoietic precursor cells in the bone marrow by colony‐forming assays and expansion and enrichment of MKs from cultured fetal liver or spleen or bone marrow cells. Although these MKs are not synchronized in their maturation, they can be enriched over an albumin step gradient, and one‐third to one‐half of recovered cells will typically elaborate proplatelets, the immediate precursors of blood platelets. Both protocols require recombinant thrombopoietin (TPO) as a growth factor. Support protocols describe methods for preparing fetal liver cells, identifying mature rodent MKs by staining for acetylcholinesterase activity, and staining (May‐Grünwald‐Giemsa) mixed populations on cytocentrifuged blood cell preparations. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Differential intracellular signaling through PAC1 isoforms due to alternative splicing in the first extracellular domain and the third intracellular loop

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), a pleiotropic neuropeptide, performs a variety of physiological functions. The PACAP-specific receptor PAC1 has several variants that mainly result from alternative splicing in the mRNA regions encoding the first extracellular (EC1) domain and the third intracellular cytoplasmic (IC3) loop. The effects on downstream signaling produced by combinations of alternative splicing events in the EC1 domain and IC3 loop have not yet been clarified. In this study, we have used semiquantitative RT-PCR to examine the tissue distributions of four PAC1 isoforms in mice. We then established cell lines constitutively expressing each of the PAC1 isoforms and characterized the binding properties of each isoform to PACAP-38, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), and the PAC1-specific agonist maxadilan as well as the resulting effects on two major intracellular signaling pathways: cyclic AMP (cAMP) production and changes in the intracellular calcium concentration. The results demonstrate that the variants of the IC3 loop affect the binding affinity of the ligands for the receptor, whereas the variants of the EC1 domain primarily affect the intracellular signaling downstream of PAC1. Accordingly, this study indicates that the combination of alternative splicing events in the EC1 domain and the IC3 loop create a variety of PAC1 isoforms, which in turn may contribute to the functional pleiotropism of PACAP. This study contributes not only to the understanding of the multiple functions of PACAP, but also helps to elucidate the relationship between the structures and functions of G-protein-coupled receptors. effects of the EC1 domain and IC3 loop variants; we examined four PAC1 isoforms (S/R, S/HOP1, N/R, and N/HOP1) for their ability to bind PACAP-38, VIP, and maxadilan. Incidentally, maxadilan to elucidate authentic properties of the isoform. In the present study, we have first unveiled the significance of combinational effect of variants in multiple regions of PAC1 by demonstrating that variants of the IC3 loop affect the binding affinity between the ligands and the receptor, whereas the variants of the EC1 domain may dominantly affect the intracellular signaling mediated by PAC1. In order to elucidate the mechanism and pathphysiological relevance for the combinatorial effects of variants in multiple regions of PAC1, further investigation are required. Accordingly, alternative splicing in multiple regions of PAC1 mRNA generates diversity in the ligand specificity, binding affinity, and downstream signaling of PAC1, and thereby may contribute to the multiple functions of PACAP. The present study not only advances to the understanding of the pleiotropic activities of PACAP, but also provides useful information regarding the relationship between the structures and functions of GPCRs.
Foxb1‐driven Cre expression in somites and the neuroepithelium of diencephalon, brainstem, and spinal cord

We have knocked‐in Cre‐IRES‐EGFP in the Foxb1 locus by homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells. We removed the PGK‐neo cassette (which was flanked by FRT sequences) by crossing with the FLPeR deleter mouse. The Foxb1Cre line showed Cre recombinase activity as well as EGFP fluorescence reproducing Foxb1 expression accurately. By crossing Foxb1Cre mice with the ROSA26R and Z/AP mouse reporter lines we have been able to trace the lineage of Foxb1‐expressing cells. Early transient expression of Foxb1 in the paraxial mesoderm translates into labeling of the somites. In the central nervous system (CNS), the Foxb1 lineage includes the thalamus and mammillary body (hypothalamus), brainstem, and the ventral spinal cord and floor plate. genesis 45:781–787, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
CSR‐labelled products in retailers' assortment

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the responsible offer of mainstream retailers. By focusing on corporate social responsibility (CSR) labelled grocery goods, it aims to study whether consumers are able to make an ethical shopping basket, to create an inventory of CSR labels, and to evaluate the quality of the information conveyed through CSR labels.Design/methodology/approach – Structured observation (audit) was used. Using a template to homogenise data collection, information was recorded for 15 products in eight mainstream retailers in two countries (UK and Spain). Data of 874 products were obtained (548 different brands). Findings – Differences are found across product categories, retailers, type of brands and countries. Private brands are taking the lead in the creation of responsible assortments as well as in the quality of the information provided to consumers.Research limitations/implications – Given the exploratory nature of this paper, a research agenda is built suggesting future avenues of wor.
Performance analysis and modeling of the world's largest CPV power plant

The 30MW solar power plant in Alamosa, Colorado, built by the power-plant developer Cogentrix using Amonix high concentration photovoltaic systems, is the world's largest plant of its kind. Since its commissioning in March 2012, the plant has been consistently producing power above its rating of 30MW. The plant was equipped with lenses from three vendors and two multi-junction solar cell designs, which provides a good platform for making a side-by-side comparison of different technologies in the field. We found that the three lenses demonstrated different system efficiency and temperature dependent behavior in the field. The two cell designs also displayed distinctive behavior in the field. The field performance of both cell designs matched well with a predictive energy model based upon the cell, optics, heat transfer characteristics of the module, and field spectra generated by the SMARTS model. In addition, we discuss the capability of the energy model and simulate the annual energy efficiency of Amonix systems at six other locations in southwestern US.
Life With and Without Heart Disease Among Women and Men Over 50

ABSTRACT This article uses a demographic approach and data from the Health and Retirement Survey, a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population, to investigate sex differences in the length of life lived with heart disease and after a heart attack for persons in the United States age 50 and older. On average, women live longer than men with heart disease. At age 50 women can expect to live 7.9 years and men 6.7 years with heart disease. The average woman experiences heart disease onset three years older and heart attacks 4.4 years older than men.