Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of early exercise on metacarpophalangeal joints in horses.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of exercise at an early age on tissues in the metacarpophalangeal joints of horses. ANIMALS Twelve 18-month-old horses. PROCEDURES All horses were pasture reared, but 6 horses had additional exercise starting at 3 weeks of age until 18 months of age. At that time, computed tomography, articular cartilage metabolism evaluation, and histologic assessments of synovial membrane, articular cartilage, and subchondral bone were performed. RESULTS Exercised horses had fewer gross lesions, less articular cartilage matrix staining in the dorsal aspect of the condyle, greater bone fraction in the dorsolateral aspect of the condyle, and higher bone formation rate, compared with nonexercised horses. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Exercise at a young age may be protective to joints, although more research is needed to characterize changes in articular cartilage matrix. Results suggested that exercise can be safely imposed at an early age.
Noninvasive Diagnosis of Small Bowel Crohn's Disease: Combined Use of Bowel Sonography and Tc‐99M‐Hmpao Leukocyte Scintigraphy

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is frequently localized in the small bowel, with the diagnosis of disease and the assessment of its extension made by ileo‐colonoscopy (IC) and small bowel enteroclysis (SBE). Transabdominal bowel sonography (BS) and Tc‐99m‐HMPAO leukocyte scintigraphy (LS) are increasingly used for the diagnosis of CD because of their minimal invasiveness, reproducibility, and acceptable costs. Methods: From March 2000 to July 2003, we performed IC, SBE, BS, and LS in 84 patients with either suspected or known small bowel CD. Results: Small bowel CD was present in 50 patients, whereas the other 34 patients received a different diagnosis. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and diagnostic accuracy were, respectively, 98%, 97%, 98%, 97%, and 0.97 for SBE; 92%, 97%, 98%, 88%, and 0.94 for BS; and 90%, 93%, 96%, 85%, and 0.92 for LS. In addition, the combined use of BS and LS led to overall sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and diagnostic accuracy of 100%, 93%, 96%, 100%, and 0.97, respectively. BS showed a fair concordance with SBE in terms of location (k = 0.71) and a correlation with the extension of the disease (r = 0.67, P < 0.001). LS showed a concordance with SBE with regard to location in about one‐half the population (k = 0.54), whereas it was less effective than SBE in defining disease extension. Conclusions: BS and LS are 2 accurate techniques for the diagnosis of small bowel CD, and their combined use can be recommended as an early diagnostic approach to patients in which the disease is suspected. SBE remains the best procedure for the definition of the location and extension of the disease.
Epidemiology of Adaptive and Intrinsic Polymyxin Resistance Mechanisms by Comparing Polymyxin-Resistant Pathogen Prevalence in a One-Year Follow-Up Survey

Affiliations: 1. Hospital Mãe de Deus, Porto Alegre, Brazil; 2. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Address correspondence to Leandro Reus Rodrigues Perez, PhD, Microbiology Unit Hospital Mãe de Deus, 286, José de Alencar Street, Porto Alegre, RS 90610-000 Brazil (leandro.reus@gmail.com). Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1120–1121 © 2017 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved. 0899-823X/2017/3809-0021. DOI: 10.1017/ice.2017. 135
Comparison between blood analysis and police assessment of drug and alcohol use by injured drivers

Official statistics for alcohol/drug use by drivers can influence the introduction of intervention measures against impaired driving. Thus, the validity of official statistics is important. Since official statistics are based on police assessment of inebriation, the present study was aimed at investigating this issue by comparing blood analysis with the rate of police detection of alcohol/drug use by injured drivers. All injured motor vehicle drivers who were hospitalized (HD) (Umeå: n = 104) and all fatally-injured drivers (FD) who were autopsied (Umeå, Northern Sweden: n = 110; Gothenburg, Western Sweden: n= 133) from May 1991 through Dec 1993 were tested for alcohol and both licit and illicit drugs. The findings of the blood analyses were compared with police assessment of inebriation. In the HD, the police suspected inebriation in 13% (n= 13) whilst blood analyses showed drug and/or alcohol in 18% (n = 19) of the drivers (sensitivity 69%; specificity 97%). In the FD, the police suspected inebriation in 7% (n = 16) of the drivers whilst blood analyses showed drug and/or alcohol in 23% (n = 57) of the drivers (sensitivity 53%; specificity 100%). The blood alcohol-positive HD who the police suspected to be inebriated had significantly higher mean blood alcohol concentrations than those not suspected. To avoid biased statistics, official statistics on inebriation of injured drivers should be based on blood analysis of drug/alcohol and not on police assessment.
CDC‐funded intervention research aimed at promoting colorectal cancer screening in communities

Although strong scientific evidence has shown that screening for colorectal cancer saves lives, most U.S. adults who are at the recommended age are not being screened. Prior studies suggest that barriers to routine screening vary by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, urban/rural residence, health insurance status, and factors related to health care providers and the health care environment. Relatively few studies, however, have identified and tested intervention approaches to promote routine colorectal cancer screening among diverse populations.
A new Q-enhancement architecture for SAW-less communication receiver in 65-nm CMOS

A 2.5V second order RF bandpass filter is presented. A new Q-enhancement structure stacked on a LNA is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process with a die area of 1.1 mm × 1.1 mm. The frequency range is adjustable in a 25% range from 1.7 GHz to 2.2 GHz while the Q is adjustable up to 50. Q and the center frequency are adjusted by binary weighted switchable capacitors. The filter draws 42 mA including the buffers from a 2.5 V supply and has an input referred out-of-band 1-dB compression point of 0 dBm. The measured in-band NF is between 5.4 and 6.2 dB.
Fast-settling technique under large electrode offset in integrated biopotential amplifiers

This paper presents a fast-settling technique to reduce the settling time in response to large electrode offset voltage (EOV) in biopotential amplifiers. Settling response in a prototyped capacitively-coupled instrumentation amplifier is significantly accelerated by the proposed DC component feed-forward path; meanwhile the traditional feedback path is also employed to take care of residue DC offset voltage. Implemented in a 0.18 μm CMOS process, the proposed architecture can automatically settle down ±200 mV electrode offset within only 6.4 seconds without extra out-of-chip observation or manually control. Thereby in practical usage, continuous-time monitoring with less long-period DC settling interference is possible, leading to better signal recording robustness.
Exploring the effect of individual protective behaviors on influenza transmission, using an agent based model

Individuals develop different protective behavioral patterns toward a specific disease based on their knowledge of effective interventions. Understanding how people behave individually toward an outbreak of a disease can help experts to evaluate different control strategies and to implement the most effective one. In this research we use the Health Belief Model (HBM) to evaluate the health behavior of students toward influenza in Concordia University and its effect on the spread of virus within the target population. We conduct a survey to gather information about the health-related attitudes and beliefs of students. We apply our survey a control and a treatment group to explore the effect of education on people’s health-related behaviors patterns. Control group reflects the behavioral patterns of students based on their general knowledge of influenza and its interventions while the treatment group illustrates the level of behavioral changes after individuals have been educated by a health care expert. In this research we use an agent-based simulation to explore the effect of individuals behaviors patterns on the spread of influenza and illustrate how the health-related behavior changes in individuals can affect the chances of exposure to the virus.
An AI based approach to multiple census data analysis for feature selection

The census of population and dwellings undertaken by national state institutions world over at regular time intervals, is a fantastic source of information. However, there are major challenges to overcome when transforming the census data that usually consists of a vast number of attributes, into useful knowledge. In this paper, an artificial intelligent (AI) based approach is investigated to select appropriate attribute features that indicate interesting patterns in Beppu census wards in 2000 and 2010. The results of the self-organising map or SOM (unsupervised artificial neural network) based clustering, GIS visualisation and machine learning (J48 and JRip functions of WEKA), provide relevant discerning features, new patterns and new knowledge that can be of use to many professionals, such as urban/transport planers and resources management.
Emla® cream‐induced allergic contact dermatitis in a child with thalassaemia major

A 27-year-old man presented with a history of acne after beginning his research for the graduate dissertation in a chemical laboratory. His work involved manipulation of o-dichlorobenzene once a day and no contact with any other chemical substances except acetone. 3 months after starting this work, he had begun to show initial manifestations of acne and had then accidental hand contact with o-dichlorobenzene because of a broken vial. Soon after this episode, acne symptoms worsened, prompting him to seek medical advice. On examination, there were open comedones and straw-coloured cysts on the cheeks and malar crescent. No lesions were apparent on the forehead, the neck or the chest. Blood tests were normal and there was no evidence of other diseases. The patient was removed from further exposure, treated with systemic antibiotic therapy, and after 3 months showed evident improvement. In order to help confirm the role of o-dichlorobenzene exposure, passive diffusion samplers (Radiello, Aquaria, Milano, Italy) were placed in the laboratory for the duration of the work shift, desorbed with CS2 and then analysed by means of gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. O-dichlorobenzene present in the air was in the range of 0.8–2.2 p.p.b. , that is hundreds of times lower than the ACGIH TLVTWA of 25 p.p.m.
Losses in substrate integrated waveguide band-pass post filters

Insertion loss is a crucial specification to judge the quality of a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) band-pass filter. In this paper, six Chebyshev band-pass post filters in SIW technology are firstly designed with a lossless mode-matching code. The considered filters are designed with various orders for a center frequency of 10.5 GHz and a fractional bandwidth of 9.52%. These filters are then simulated with a full-wave electromagnetic solver in order to investigate the various contributions of ohmic and dielectric losses affecting the performance. In particular, the influence on the insertion loss of the variations of the metal cladding and vias conductivity, the dielectric loss tangent and the thickness of the substrate is quantitatively analyzed. For validation, one prototype filter is fabricated to compare the simulations to experimental results.
Design and Implementation of QoS Aware Priority based MAC for Delay Sensitive Areas of WSN

Networking is a trending research area where the various research took place. Diversified filed of the Network is Sensor Network, which is a centrally adopted due to features and flexibility of sensors. Various disciplines like a military, medical, forest, Industries, Health monitoring and more, where WSN is established. Sensors have various pitfalls like limited lifetime and Storage, installed in misanthropic environments. Frequently power up or replace an energy source is a crucial task. Data communication in WSN is possible in the MAC layer. MAC is responsible for node schedule and sensing task. Collision and retransmission also lead to waste of energy. Variety of MAC protocols are developed for various qualities of service factors like energy, latency, reliability, delay, jitter, etc., however, none of them are given a satisfactory result for various QoS parameters. To overcome some of the pitfalls we need to achieve various QoS parameters. In this Research MAC is designed with a priority mechanism over clusters. Data with the highest priority are sent without or with a very negligible amount of delay. Higher priority packets are transmitted before a no prioritized packet. Using various priorities, the node energy, low delay and high throughput are achieved over standard MAC Protocols.
Expression of the human poliovirus receptor/CD155 gene during development of the central nervous system: implications for the pathogenesis of poliomyelitis.

The gene for the human poliovirus receptor (hPVR/CD155) is the founding member of a new family of genes encoding proteins belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. To determine whether CD155 is expressed during mammalian development, we have made use of the previously characterized promoter of the CD155 gene and generated mice transgenic for a CD155 promoter-driven beta-galactosidase reporter gene. Expression of the reporter gene in transgenic embryos was observed during midgestation in anterior midline structures of the developing central nervous system and in the neuroretina. During that period, reporter gene expression appeared within the notochord and floor plate along the entire spinal cord reaching into the caudal diencephalon. In addition, transgene expression was observed in axonal projections emanating from retinal ganglion cells forming the optic nerve to reach the future region of the optic chiasm. Analysis of expression of CD155 during human embryonic development confirmed the distribution of reporter gene expression specified by CD155 promoter activity. The anatomical distribution of CD155 promoter activity during embryogenesis matches that of transacting factors previously identified to regulate transcription of the CD155 gene. Expression of CD155 within embryonic structures giving rise to spinal cord anterior horn motor neurons may explain the restrictive host cell tropism of poliovirus for this cellular compartment of the CNS.
Employment of broad-range 16S rRNA PCR to detect aetiological agents of infection from clinical specimens in patients with acute meningitis--rapid separation of 16S rRNA PCR amplicons without the need for cloning.

AIMS The aim of this study was to develop a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) method for the rapid separation of 16S rRNA PCR amplicons from aetiological agents of acute meningitis. METHODS AND RESULTS Blood samples from 40 patients with suspected acute meningococcal meningitis were examined for the presence of causal agents, including Neisseria meningitidis employing two methods: (i) broad-range 16S rRNA PCR in conjunction with PAGE and automated sequencing and (ii) species-specific PCR employing ABI TaqMan technology for N. meningitidis. Analysis of clinical specimens employing 16S rRNA PCR yielded 33/40 (82.5%) positive for the presence of bacterial DNA. Species-specific PCR yielded 30/40 (75%) clinical specimens positive for N. meningitidis. Prior to separation by PAGE, only 6/33 (18.2%) amplicons were able to be identified by sequence analysis, the remaining amplicons (n=27) did not yield an identification due to the presence of mixed 16S rRNA PCR amplicons. Following separation, amplicons were re-amplified and sequenced, yielding 24/27 (88.9%) positive for N. meningitidis and three specimens positive for Acinetobacter sp. , Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae. One specimen was positive for both N. meningitidis and Streptococcus spp. and another specimen was positive for N. meningitidis and Pseudomonas sp. , by broad-range PCR. Seven clinical specimens were negative for N. meningitidis and other eubacteria using both detection techniques. CONCLUSIONS Clinical specimens including blood and cerebrospinal fluid from patients with suspected acute bacterial meningitis, may become contaminated with commensal skin flora, resulting in difficulties in downstream sequencing of pathogen plus contaminant DNA. This study allows for the rapid separation of amplified pathogen from contaminant DNA. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF STUDY This study demonstrated the usefulness of the rapid separation of multiple 16S rRNA PCR amplicons using a combination of PAGE and automated sequencing, without the need of cloning. Adoption of this technique is therefore proposed when trying to rapidly identify pathogens in clinical specimens employing broad-range 16S rRNA PCR.
A priority-based selective bit dropping strategy to reduce DRAM and SRAM power in image processing

By adopting the human visual system property, a priority-based selective bit dropping strategy to reduce DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) power consumption is presented in this paper. The tradeoff between power consumption and output quality is explored as well. During the data flow in image processing, the original image data are first processed with our proposed strategy, from which the number of bit-‘1’ in lower part of each pixel is reduced. Then the approximate data are pushed into the DRAM and SRAM for further computation, where the refresh power consumption for DRAM is reduced due to the less bit-‘1’ in each data and the write power consumption for SRAM is also reduced due to the lower switch probability in write operation. The proposed strategy has been realized with digital logic circuits and the approximate image data are processed by the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) in simulation. The results show that 27.7% refresh power reduction on average for DRAM can be achieved and the SRAM also obtained 21.7% write power reduction with negligible overhead. As for the final output quality of the images, only 1.01 dB losses for Peak-Signal-Noise-Ratio (PSNR) is presented (about 3% lower than accurate processing) after the DCT processing.
Molecular dissection of the chromosome band 7q21 amplicon in gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinomas identifies cyclin‐dependent kinase 6 at both genomic and protein expression levels

Amplification of chromosome band 7q21 has been frequently detected in various types of cancer including gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinomas. At present, no gene has been disclosed that can explain this frequent amplification of 7q21 in GEJ carcinomas. Therefore, a detailed genomic analysis of the 7q21 region was performed on a selected series of GEJ adenocarcinomas, i.e., 14 primary adenocarcinomas and 10 cell lines, by array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) with a 7q11.22‐q31.2 contig array. A distinct peak of amplification was identified at 92.1 Mb in 7q21.2, precisely comprising cyclin‐dependent kinase 6 (CDK6), a gene involved in cell cycle regulation. A smaller peak was seen at 116.2 Mb in 7q31.2, the locus of the MET proto‐oncogene. No distinct peak was detected for the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) at 81.3 Mb in 7q21.11. An immunoprofile of HGF, CDK6 and MET revealed a strong correlation between aCGH and immunohistochemical protein expression for CDK6 (P = 0.002). Furthermore, immunohistochemistry did not show expression of CDK6 in Barrett's dysplasia and carcinoma in situ, correlating expression of CDK6 with a malignant phenotype. We conclude that high‐resolution genomic analysis and immunoprofiling identify CDK6 as the main candidate target for the recurrent amplification of 7q21 in GEJ adenocarcinomas. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Restrained Eating is Related to Augmented Overweight-Associated Absenteeism in a Prospective Study

Objective: To replicate in a prospective analysis the earlier cross-sectional moderator effects of physical activity, sports, and dietary restraint on overweight-associated absenteeism. Methods: Using a web-based life style questionnaire in a large banking corporation responses were obtained from 2298 employees. These data were coupled with the data from the company absenteeism registration in the year preceding (T1) and the year following (T2) the assessment of physical activity, sports, and dietary restraint. In all analyses we controlled for age, sex, level of education, and smoking. In addition, we controlled for possible confounding effects of perceived general health and energy at work and in the analyses with dietary restraint also for emotional and external eating and physical activity and sports. Results: Only restrained eating was found to moderate the relation between overweight and/or obesity on the one hand and absenteeism at T2 on the other hand. The degree of overweight and obesity was more strongly related to augmented absenteeism at T2 in people with higher levels of dietary restraint. Conclusion: To reduce absenteeism in overweight and/or obese employees it seems indeed wise to advise them to stop dieting.
Morphology and mechanics of the teeth and jaws of white‐spotted bamboo sharks (Chiloscyllium plagiosum)

The teeth of white‐spotted bamboo sharks (Chiloscyllium plagiosum) are used to clutch soft‐bodied prey and crush hard prey; however, the dual function is not evident from tooth morphology alone. Teeth exhibit characteristics that are in agreement with a clutching‐type tooth morphology that is well suited for grasping and holding soft‐bodied prey, but not for crushing hard prey. The dual role of this single tooth morphology is facilitated by features of the dental ligament and jaw joint. Tooth attachment is flexible and elastic, allowing movement in both sagittal and frontal planes. During prey capture spike‐like tooth cusps pierce the flesh of soft prey, thereby preventing escape. When processing prey harder than the teeth can pierce the teeth passively depress, rotating inward towards the oral cavity such that the broader labial faces of the teeth are nearly parallel to the surface of the jaws and form a crushing surface. Movement into the depressed position increases the tooth surface area contacting prey and decreases the total stress applied to the tooth, thereby decreasing the risk of structural failure. This action is aided by a jaw joint that is ventrally offset from the occlusal planes of the jaws. The offset joint position allows many teeth to contact prey simultaneously and orients force vectors at contact points between the jaws and prey in a manner that shears or rolls prey between the jaws during a bite, thus, aiding in processing while reducing forward slip of hard prey from the mouth. Together the teeth, dental ligament, and jaws form an integrated system that may be beneficial to the feeding ecology of C. plagiosum, allowing for a diet that includes prey of varying hardness and elusiveness. J. Morphol. , 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Role of asymmetrical dimethylarginine in the progression of renal disease

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is a naturally occurring amino acid found in tissues and cells that circulates in plasma and is excreted in urine. It inhibits nitric oxide synthases (NOs) and produces considerable cardiovascular biological effects. Several studies have suggested that plasma concentrations of ADMA provide a marker of risk for endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease. In animal and in population studies ADMA has been associated with progression of CKD. Several mechanisms may be involved in this association, such as compromise of the integrity of the glomerular filtration barrier and development of renal fibrosis. This review summarizes the existing literature on the biology and physiology of ADMA focusing on its role in the progression of renal disease.