Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipid and glucose metabolism of broilers (Gallus gallus domesticus) experimentally infected with Eimeria acervulina Tyzzer, 1929 oocysts

Lipid and glucose metabolism of 76 ten-day-old Cobb male broilers, experimentally infected with Eimeria acervulina, was studied for 30 days. Birds were distributed in 2 groups: one infected with 1x106 E. acervulina sporulated oocysts, and the other inoculated with distilled water. Pathological e biochemical liver changes were assessed, as well as plasma glucose concentrations and total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL, fatty-acid, and triglyceride levels in the serum. The infected broilers presented hypoglycemia associated with a reduction in liver glycogen. In addition, these birds developed fatty liver, and there were changes in all lipid classes in the serum. Lipid and glucose metabolism was dramatically changed in broilers experimentally infected with 1x106 E. acervulina oocysts.
Improving mortality after extradural haematoma in England and Wales

Abstract Introduction. Head injury is an important cause of death and disability in young people, with 1.4 million presentations each year in the UK.1 Extradural haematoma (EDH) is a potentially fatal head injury, which is easily remedied surgically. Several factors influence the mortality of EDH. The mortality of isolated EDH ranges from 1.2 to 33%. 12161928 EDH outcome within the UK has not been recently described. Materials and methods. The Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) database was used to collate data on patients in England and Wales, with ‘isolated’ EDH between 1997 and 2003. Age, gender, GCS at 1st emergency department (ED), haematoma size, presence of a skull fracture, outcome (alive or dead) and injury-to-operation time were required. Where this time was unavailable, an estimation could be made using another time collected for the patient. Data co-ordinators at several hospitals were contacted in order to collect extra information missing from the database. The mortality for this group was then calculated and comparisons between this and previous series were made. Results. A total of four-hundred and eighty four (484) patients with isolated EDH were identified. One-hundred and ninety-seven (197) patients were operated on in England and Wales in this TARN dataset, between 1997 and 2003 for ‘isolated’ EDH. The mortality rate for this operative series was 2% (4 patients) (95% CI 0.1–4%). The non-operative mortality rate was 3% (95% CI 0.9–5.0%). Conclusion. This study has found a low EDH operative mortality rate of 2%. This is lower than that of previous studies on isolated EDH in the UK. This is likely to be valid as TARN is the largest European trauma registry, although we acknowledge that this first EDH sample derived from UK EDs may represent a selected series.
An estimation method for the free-space antenna factor of VHF EMI antennas

A novel numerical method is developed for theoretically estimating the free-space antenna factor of an electromagnetic interference (EMI) antenna, especially for the very high frequency (VHF) range where traditional methods are difficult to apply. It requires conventional EMI antenna calibration such as the standard antenna method to obtain the antenna factor of an antenna under calibration as a function of the antenna height. Then, a nonlinear least-squares method is applied to the calibration results to estimate the free-space antenna factor. It is found that the proposed method can yield more accurate estimates of the free-space antenna factor than the averaging method. Attainable accuracy of this method is better than 0.2 dB for tuned dipole antennas and 0.1 dB for biconical antennas and biconi-log antennas. The paper outlines the theoretical background and the validity of this method, with the attainable accuracy demonstrated using method of moments simulations.
Incidence of tuberculosis and HIV and progression of silicosis and lung function impairment among former Basotho gold miners.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary tuberculosis and HIV incidence, mortality, and the progression of silicosis and lung function impairment are described over a 1-year period in migrant ex-gold miners from Lesotho. METHODS Seven hundred seventy-nine Basotho miners were followed for 1 year starting 18 months after lay-off from a South African gold mine in 1998. At baseline and follow-up, they underwent a respiratory symptom interview, physical examination, HIV test, chest radiograph, and spirometry. RESULTS Five hundred thirteen of 779 (65.9%) participants attended both baseline and follow-up visits. HIV incidence was 5.4/100 person-years (95% CI: 3.4-8.2). Prevalence of silicosis (ILO score > or =1/1) was 26.6% at baseline and 27.0% at follow-up. Active tuberculosis diagnosed at baseline was a strong predictor of radiological progression of silicosis. Lung function as measured by FEV(1) declined an average of 91 ml between visits (95% CI: 67-116 ml). Calculated minimum incidence of tuberculosis was 3,085/100,000/years (95% CI: 1,797-4,940) at follow-up. Of those seen at baseline, 18 died before their scheduled follow-up visit (mean age: 51 years). CONCLUSIONS High rates of mortality and of HIV infection and pulmonary tuberculosis were found in this cohort after leaving the South African goldmines. Continuing lung function loss was also apparent. A partnership between the South African mining industry and governments in labor-sending areas of Southern Africa is needed to provide continuity of care and access to HIV and tuberculosis treatment and prevention services. Active silicosis surveillance and an improved statutory compensation system are also needed. These findings can serve as a baseline against which the impact of such interventions can be assessed.
THE INFLUENCE OF PERINATAL FACTORS ON BREAST FEEDING

ABSTRACT. The effect on breast feeding of various factors connected with delivery and the immediate post partum period were investigated in a group of 1701 parturients. Children born by caesarean section or assisted delivery, those of low birth weight or asphyxiated at birth started breast feeding significantly less often than healthy children delivered normally. The length of breast feeding was not affected by these factors once it was started, 49% breast feeding for six months or more. Exceptionally young and old mothers breast fed less well than mothers in general. Mothers whose husbands attended the delivery breast fed more often and longer than others. Failure to start breast feeding occurred in only 2.4% of the material. In this material with high breast feeding rates it can be concluded that obstetric and perinatal abnormalities have a small but nevertheless significant effect on the incidence of breast feeding.
A developmental study of heavy episodic drinking among college students: the role of psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE A theory-based protection/risk model was applied to explain variation in college students' heavy episodic drinking. Key aims were (1) to establish that psychosocial and behavioral protective factors and risk factors can account for cross-sectional and developmental variation in heavy episodic drinking, and (2) to examine whether protection moderates the impact of risk on heavy episodic drinking. METHOD Random- and fixed-effects maximum likelihood regression analyses were used to examine data from a three-wave longitudinal study. Data were collected in fall of 2002, spring of 2003, and spring of 2004 from college students (N=975; 548 men) who were first-semester freshmen at Wave 1. RESULTS Psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors accounted for substantial variation in college-student heavy episodic drinking, and protection moderated the impact of risk. Findings held for both genders and were consistent across the three separate waves of data. Key predictors of heavy episodic drinking were social and individual controls protection (e.g., parental sanctions for transgression and attitudinal intolerance of deviance, respectively); models risk (peer models for substance use); behavioral protection (attendance at religious services); and behavioral risk (cigarette smoking and marijuana use). Changes in controls protection, models risk, and opportunity risk were associated with change in heavy episodic drinking. CONCLUSIONS An explanatory model based on both psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors was effective in accounting for variation in college-student heavy episodic drinking. A useful heuristic was demonstrated through the articulation of models, controls, support, opportunity, and vulnerability to characterize the social context, and of controls, vulnerability, and other behaviors to characterize individuals.
Alternative Solutions to a Language Design Problem: The Role of Adjectives and Gender Marking in Efficient Communication

A central goal of typological research is to characterize linguistic features in terms of both their functional role and their fit to social and cognitive systems. One long-standing puzzle concerns why certain languages employ grammatical gender. In an information theoretic analysis of German noun classification, Dye, Milin, Futrell, and Ramscar (2017) enumerated a number of important processing advantages gender confers. Yet this raises a further puzzle: If gender systems are so beneficial to processing, what does this mean for languages that make do without them? Here, we compare the communicative function of gender marking in German (a deterministic system) to that of prenominal adjectives in English (a probabilistic one), finding that despite their differences, both systems act to efficiently smooth information over discourse, making nouns more equally predictable in context. We examine why evolutionary pressures may favor one system over another and discuss the implications for compositional accounts of meaning and Gricean principles of communication.
Guided Wave Experimentation Using CLoVER Transducer for Structural Health Monitoring

The guided wave fleld excited by a wedge-shaped anisotropic piezocomposite transducer is experimentally investigated with applications to large area structural health monitoring (SHM). This investigation supports the experimental characterization of the Composite Long-range Variable-direction Emitting Radar (CLoVER) transducer introduced by the authors. The multiple advantages of this device over alternative damage interrogation concepts are outlined, and its manufacturing procedure is brie∞y reviewed. The experimental studies include both piezoelectric-based frequency response as well as laser vibrometry measurements in pristine isotropic structures. The results are compared with predictions from an analytical model. A comprehensive set of experimental results is presented that validate the accuracy of the solution in the time, frequency, and spatial domains. The damage interrogation approach proposed with this transducer concept is also experimentally demonstrated using simulated structural damage.
Genome‐wide analysis of familial dysautonomia and kinetin target genes with patient olfactory ecto‐mesenchymal stem cells

Familial dysautonomia (FD) is a rare inherited neurodegenerative disorder. The most common mutation is a c.2204+6T>C transition in the 5′ splice site (5′ss) of IKBKAP intron 20, which causes a tissue‐specific skipping of exon 20, resulting in lower synthesis of IKAP/hELP1 protein. To better understand the specificity of neuron loss in FD, we modeled the molecular mechanisms of IKBKAP mRNA splicing by studying human olfactory ecto‐mesenchymal stem cells (hOE‐MSCs) derived from FD patient nasal biopsies. We explored how the modulation of IKBKAP mRNA alternative splicing impacts the transcriptome at the genome‐wide level. We found that the FD transcriptional signature was highly associated with biological functions related to the development of the nervous system. In addition, we identified target genes of kinetin, a plant cytokinin that corrects IKBKAP mRNA splicing and increases the expression of IKAP/hELP1. We identified this compound as a putative regulator of splicing factors and added new evidence for a sequence‐specific correction of splicing. In conclusion, hOE‐MSCs isolated from FD patients represent a promising avenue for modeling the altered genetic expression of FD, demonstrating a methodology that can be applied to a host of other genetic disorders to test the therapeutic potential of candidate molecules. Hum Mutat 33:530–540, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cranial nerve involvement in CMT disease type 1 due to early growth response 2 gene mutation

Article abstract Mutations in the gene coding for the Schwann cell transcription factor early growth response 2 (EGR2), which seems to regulate myelinogenesis and hindbrain development, have been observed in few cases of inherited neuropathy. The authors describe a unique combination of cranial nerve deficits in one member of a Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1 family carrying an EGR2 mutation (Arg381His). This finding further supports the role of EGR2 in cranial nerve development.
Reengineering Hospital Discharge: A Protocol to Improve Patient Safety, Reduce Costs, and Boost Patient Satisfaction

Implementing patient safety improvements does not often yield immediate cost savings. Yet new research shows a way to reduce hospital readmissions dramatically and save nearly $400 per admission in doing so. Rehospitalization, typically defined as hospital readmission within 30 days of a hospital discharge, is a common, expensive, and lifethreatening event too often associated with gaps in follow-up care. New evidence shows that when hospitals focus on the discharge process, patient care and safety improve and costs decline. Given these advantages, it is difficult to understand why more hospitals have not already overhauled their patient discharge protocols. The answer is counterintuitive: Until recently, properly planned, communicated, and executed hospital discharges have not been a primary focus for hospitals or clinicians. Additionally, the lack of financial incentives attached to patient discharge prevents hospitals from implementing coordinated discharge programs. That could be changing soon, however. As part of President Obama’s 2010 budget plan, Medicare could save an estimated $26 billion by bundling some payments to include follow-up care. Hospitals with high rates of readmission within 30 days would be paid less.
Thoracic epidural anaesthesia in conscious and anaesthetized rats. Effects on central haemodynamics compared to cardiac beta adrenoceptor and ganglionic blockade

A simple technique for cannulation of the thoracic epidural space in rats was described. 40–50 μl of epidural bupivacaine 5 mg/tnl induced a distribution of sensory analgesia from lower cervical to lower thoracic segments. With this model, effects of thoracic epidural anaesthesia (TEA) on mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output (CO), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), stroke volume (SV), heart rate (HR), central venous pressure (CVP), left ventricular end–diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and maximal increase of pressure in the left ventricle (max dp/dt) were studied in six groups of animals: 1) In conscious animals (n= 10) MAP, CO, SV and HR decreased significantly by 12%, 25%, 10% and 16%, respectively, while SVR increased significantly by 20% during TEA; 2) In chloralose–anaesthetized animals (n = 7) the reduction in CO during TEA was less pronounced and there were no significant changes in SV or SVR; 3) In conscious animals (n = 6) LVEDP, CVP and max dp/dt decreased significantly during TEA; 4) Hexamethonium, when administered to pharmacologically vagotomized conscious animals during TEA (n = 8), induced a significant decrease in SVR (23%) but no change in HR; 5) Changes in haemodynamics after cardiac adrenoceptor blockade with metoprolol, in conscious animals (n = 12), did not differ significantly from those seen during TEA, except for an unchanged SV after metoprolol; 6) 50 μl of bupivacaine (5 mg/ml) when given i.v. to conscious animals (n = 8) did not affect CO, SV, HR or TPR significantly, while MAP increased slightly but significantly. Thus, in this conscious animal model, TEA almost completely and rather selectively blocked cardiac sympathetic efferents. The decrease in CO is compensated for by an increase in SVR, in turn probably mediated by a reflex activation of unblocked sympathetic segments. This mechanism was attenuated in anaesthetized animals. TEA–induced negative inotropism was associated with decreased filling pressures.
Investigation on Aerobic Cellulolytic Bacteria in Some of North Forest and Farming Soils

This study was conducted for investigation on number of cellulolytic bacteria and their ability in the decomposition of cellulose. 30 surface soil samples were collected from forest and farming soils in the north of Iran. After analyzing some physical and chemical properties of soil samples, then total number of bacteria in nutrient-agar and aerobic cellulose decomposing bacteria in cellulose-agar were counted. Assessment of bacteria ability in cellulose decomposition was performed via measurement of clear zone around of colony. Results showed that the total number of bacteria, number and percent of cellulolytic bacteria in forest soil samples were more than those of farming soil samples. Mean ratio of clear zone diameter to colony were 1.6 and 2.1 for forest soil and farming soil, respectively. Higher ability of the cellulolytic bacteria in farming soils probably is due to great microorganism diversity in the two soils.
Reducing the beam squint in scanned leaky-wave antennas using coupled SIW cavities

The systematic design of broadband, directive, scanned planar leaky-wave antennas using coupled-cavity substrate integrated waveguide technology is reported in this work. The design methodology is based on the optimization of the corresponding transverse resonance phase equation, so that a constant scanning angle condition is satisfied for a wide frequency band. This design process is validated with full-wave simulations of a 4th order-cavity optimized design. A 3dB scanned pattern bandwidth of 1.5GHz with 10dBi directivity at a central frequency of 15GHz (10% fractional bandwidth), is reported for 30° elevation scanning angle. This is a much higher bandwidth than conventional 1.7% bandwidth associated to the same type of antenna with a single SIW cavity.
Measurement of driving electrical signal and input impedance analysis of PZT transducer in thermosonic bonding

In thermosonic bonding process, the driving electrical signal and input impedance of PZT transducer reflect directly the bonding process between gold ball and substrate. This paper describes a method of getting the electrical signal of PZT transducer during the thermosonic bonding process, and analyzes the input impedance of PZT transducer based on the sampled data. From many experiment samples we find that, the driving voltage and current of PZT transducer are approximately 62 kHz sine wave; the range of the voltage is from 2 V to 8 V, and the current is only from 20 mA to 100 mA; the real bonding period is about 52ms. By PSD (power spectrum density) analysis to the electrical signal, we find that there are harmonics in the signal. At last, the paper uses the concept of generalized impedance to analyze the input impedance of PZT transducer during the thermosonic bonding process.
Evaluation of different balancing market designs with the EDisOn+Balancing model

The work presented in this paper addresses outstanding issues in the context of the recently published Network Code on Electricity Balancing and is part of a European project in the `Intelligent Energy Europe program', which focuses on electricity market designs to support a more efficient integration of renewable energy sources into the pan-European electricity system, in line with the 2020 policy objectives and their follow up towards the forthcoming 2030 targets. In this paper the developed model EDisOn+Balancing and the most important functionalities are explained and validated with real data of the year 2013. Geographical focus is put on central Europe. Afterwards, the different possible future balancing market mechanisms are evaluated, notably for the target year 2030. The analysis considers expected installed capacities of conventional power plants and also from renewable energy sources. The main objective is the quantitative and qualitative measurement of the different outcomes (like average price levels per balancing product, marginal cost reflectivity, etc.) and, consequently, to compile the ranking of analysed balancing market designs. Special focus is put on the procurement of balancing capacity and balancing energy products, and on the procurement of upward and downward balancing capacity products, which can be conducted joint or separated. Furthermore, the impacts of different minimum bid size levels (from 1 MW to 5 MW), the pricing of balancing products (pay-as-bid vs. marginal), the imbalance pricing system (dual, single, combined) and the settlement period (from 15 minutes to one hour) is analysed.
A comparative study of texture analysis algorithms in textile inspection applications

Nowadays, quality control is an important problem for fabric manufacturers. Typically these operations have been carried out by humans operators. However, this method has numerous drawbacks such as low precision, performance and effectiveness. Therefore, automatic inspection systems have increased substantially in the last decade. This work evaluates the performance of some texture measures in textile defect detection applications. For classification a method based on leaving-one-out is used. Our study has been carried out using a large database of samples to take into account a wide spectrum of fabrics and multiple defects of different nature reported by specialized works and publications. A ranking with the effectiveness of best algorithms is presented for every type of fabric. In addition, the computation time of algorithms is compared.
Glycosylation Patterns of HIV-1 gp120 Depend on the Type of Expressing Cells and Affect Antibody Recognition

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) entry is mediated by the interaction between a variably glycosylated envelope glycoprotein (gp120) and host-cell receptors. Approximately half of the molecular mass of gp120 is contributed by N-glycans, which serve as potential epitopes and may shield gp120 from immune recognition. The role of gp120 glycans in the host immune response to HIV-1 has not been comprehensively studied at the molecular level. We developed a new approach to characterize cell-specific gp120 glycosylation, the regulation of glycosylation, and the effect of variable glycosylation on antibody reactivity. A model oligomeric gp120 was expressed in different cell types, including cell lines that represent host-infected cells or cells used to produce gp120 for vaccination purposes. N-Glycosylation of gp120 varied, depending on the cell type used for its expression and the metabolic manipulation during expression. The resultant glycosylation included changes in the ratio of high-mannose to complex N-glycans, terminal decoration, and branching. Differential glycosylation of gp120 affected envelope recognition by polyclonal antibodies from the sera of HIV-1-infected subjects. These results indicate that gp120 glycans contribute to antibody reactivity and should be considered in HIV-1 vaccine design.