Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated trace element concentrations and standard metabolic rate in banded water snakes (Nerodia fasciata) exposed to coal combustion wastes

Trace element concentrations in banded water snakes, Nerodia fasciata, and representative prey items from a site polluted by coal combustion wastes were compared with concentrations in conspecifics from a nearby reference site. Water snakes accumulated high concentrations of trace elements, especially arsenic (As) and selenium (Se), in the polluted habitat. In addition to being exposed to contaminants in water and sediments, snakes in the polluted site are exposed to contaminants by ingesting prey items that have elevated whole‐body concentrations of trace elements, including As, cadmium (Cd), and Se. Snakes from the polluted site exhibited mean standard metabolic rates (SMR) 32% higher than snakes from the reference site. As a result, snakes from the polluted site appear to have elevated allocation of energy to maintenance and theoretically should have less energy available for growth, reproduction, and storage. Our findings are consistent with physiological responses recently documented in other organisms from the polluted site. We hypothesize that long‐term exposure to coal ash–derived trace elements and the resultant accumulation of some elements are responsible for observed increases in SMR.
Modeling of Oxygen Uptake in Perfluorocarbon Emulsions: Some Comparisons With Uptake By Blood

&NA; The use of perfluorocarbons emulsified in water as blood substitutes (artificial blood), is well known. Although considerable research has been devoted to the study of stability, toxicity, and gas solubility properties of these emulsions, there is no quantitative guide to the oxygen transport behavior in such emulsions, especially with reference to this transport process in actual blood. This paper describes a mathematical model from which the oxygen flux into a straight, cylindrical tube carrying a perfluorocarbon emulsion may be computed. The solutions to the proposed model can be adapted to that for a capillary or for a single tube in a blood oxygenator. The rates of oxygen transfer, so obtained, have been compared with analogous transfer rates that can be achieved in natural blood flowing under identical conditions. Therefore, the minimal solubilization capacity for oxygen required of a perfluorocarbon emulsion can be estimated on a quantitative basis. The modeling approach used in this study is based on the well tested theory of mass transfer in microheterogeneous media reported in the chemical engineering literature. ASAIO Journal 1996;42:181‐189.
Glucocorticoids accelerate maturation of the heme pathway in fetal liver through effects on transcription and DNA methylation

ABSTRACT Glucocorticoids are widely used in threatened preterm labor to promote maturation in many organ systems in preterm babies and have significant beneficial effects on morbidity and mortality. We performed transcriptional profiling in fetal liver in a rat model of prenatal glucocorticoid exposure and identified marked gene expression changes in heme biosynthesis, utilization, and degradation pathways in late gestation. These changes in gene expression associated with alterations in DNA methylation and with a reduction in hepatic heme concentration. There were no persistent differences in gene expression, DNA methylation, or heme concentrations at 4 weeks of age, suggesting that these are transient effects. Our findings are consistent with glucocorticoid-induced accelerated maturation of the haematopoietic system and support the hypothesis that glucocorticoids can drive changes in gene expression in association with alterations in DNA methylation.
The Problem of Statistical Power in MIS Research

Statistical power is a topic of importance to any researcher using statistical inference testing. Studies with low levels of statistical power usually result in inconclusive findings, even though the researcher may have expended much time and effort gathering the data for analysis. A survey of the statistical power of articles employing statistical inference testing published in leading MIS journals shows that their statistical power is, on average, substantially below accepted norms. The consequence of this low power is that MIS researchers typically have a 40 percent chance of not detecting the phenomenon under study, even though it, in fact, may exist.Fortunately, there are several techniques, beyond expanding the sample size (which often may be impossible) that researchers can use to improve the power of their studies. Some are as easy as using a different but more powerful statistical test, while others require developing more elaborate sampling plans or a more careful construction of the research design. Attention tot he statistical power of a study is one key ingredient in assuring the success of the study. This article should serve as a useful guide for MIS researcher sin the planning, execution, and interpretation of inferential statistical analyses.
Changes in glucose utilization during development of the lamb.

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Systematic search for susceptibility genes in different populations

We analyzed the first replicate of each of the four simulated population samples from three distinct populations by linkage and association genome scans and could identify three regions with susceptibility loci for the disease: on chromosome 1, marker D1G024, with strong evidence for gene×environment interaction; on chromosome 3, around marker D3G045; and on chromosome 5, markers D5G035–D5G042. Our results were obtained without knowing the true disease model and are compared with this model in the discussion.
An adaptive detection of spread targets in locally Gaussian ground clutter using a long integraton time

This paper deals with the problem of detecting a collision target in ground clutter, using a long integration time. A single reception channel being available, classical space time adaptive processing (STAP) cannot be used. After range processing, ground clutter can be modeled as a known interference subspace in the Doppler domain depending on its radial and orthoradial speeds. We exploit this a priori knowledge to perform an adpative detection of a collision target supposed to lie in a known and different subspace. A GLRT detector is first derived for known clutter covariance matrix. Then, the unknown covariance matrix is adaptively estimated from the projection of the data onto the modeled clutter subspace, and is plugged in the GLRT to form a suboptimal detector. The proposed scheme can be viewed as a synthetic STAP, for which the space domain is replaced by a clutter orthoradial information and longer integration time.
Umbilical cord as human cell source for mitral valve tissue engineering – venous vs. arterial cells

Abstract Around 2% of the population in developed nations are affected by mitral valve disease and available valvular replacements are not designed for the atrioventricular position. Recently our group developed the first tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV) specifically designed for the mitral position – the TexMi valve. The valve recapitulates the main components of the native valve, i.e. annulus, asymmetric leaflets and the crucial chordae tendineae. In the present study, we evaluated the human umbilical cord as a clinically applicable cell source for the TexMi valve. Valves produced with cells isolated from human umbilical cord veins (HUVs) and human umbilical cord arteries (HUAs) were conditioned for 21 days in custom-made bioreactors and evaluated in terms of extracellular matrix (ECM) composition and mechanical properties. In addition, static cell-laden fibrin discs were molded to investigate cell-mediated tissue contraction and differences in ECM production. HUA and HUV cells were able to deliver functional valves with a rich ECM composed mainly of collagen. Particularly noteworthy was the synthesis of elastin, which has been observed rarely in TEHV. The elastin synthesis was significantly higher in TexMi valves produced with HUV cells and therefore the HUV is considered to be the preferred cell source.
EFFECT OF DIETARY LECITHIN SUPPLEMENTATION ON IMPROVEMENT SEMEN QUALITY, REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE PLASMA BIOCHEMICAL TRAITS AND ANTIOXIDANT CHANGES IN RABBIT BUCKS

Lipids are the main structural/functional components of the sperm, and their composition may undergo a series of modifications in relation to either physiologic events and/or diet. The effect of lecithin supplementation on reproductive and reproductive performance were studied in rabbits bucks. Twenty eight adult V line rabbits (at age between 7-8 months) were divided into four equal groups. The first was the control group, where the second, third and fourth groups were given 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% soybean lecithin (SL) in their diet for 12 weeks period. Results revealed better improved sexual activity and higher libido of SL treated bucks. Bucks receiving 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5% dietary SL had a higher semen volume, mass motility and sperm count. Dietary SL reduced the percentage of dead sperm and abnormal sperm. Significant increase in blood testosterone level was observed. Seminal total lipids concentration and the activities of different seminal plasma enzymes were significantly enhanced. Interestingly, SL reduced seminal plasma lipid peroxidation as indicated by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) while increased both the blood and seminal plasma antioxidant enzymes and this was accompanied with improved reproductive traits of lecithin supplemented- groups. In conclusion soybean lecithin supplementation at 1% may be used for improving semen quality, antioxidant status and reproductive traits of rabbit bucks.
International trade and regional income convergence : the ASEAN-5 evidence by Kankesu Jayanthakumaran and

This paper intends to show that that multilateralism and regionalism are complementary and that regional income convergence is likely with the like-minded and committed regionalism that often has links geographically and culturally. In this direction this paper examines the association between international trade, income per capita, regional income convergence in ASEAN-5 by applying the LP (Lumsdaine and Papell, 1997) approach, which allows two endogenous structural breaks. The paper further explores the causal relationships among the above variables by using Granger causality tests. We used intra-ASEAN-5’s (of the 5 founding counties) historical data by isolating the following different historical policy interventions: the introduction of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in 1977 (regionalism), the unilateral liberalisation following the severe recession of the mid-1980s (non-discriminatory multilateralism), the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) formation (regionalism) in 1992 and ASEAN and more Regional Trade Agreements such as ASEAN plus China plus Korea plus Japan; India plus Malaysia; Thailand plus United States.
Infants of depressed mothers exhibit atypical frontal brain activity: a replication and extension of previous findings.

The left frontal brain region is specialized for expression of positive emotions (e.g. joy) whereas the right frontal region is specialized for negative emotions (e.g. sadness). Depressed adults have been found to exhibit reduced left frontal electroencephalographic activity. In this study, baseline frontal and parietal EEG activity was measured in 13-15-month-old infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers who were of middle income with no other major psychiatric problems. Compared to infants of nondepressed mothers, infants of depressed mothers exhibited reduced left frontal EEG activity. Infants of mothers with major depression exhibited lower levels of left frontal EEG activity than those of mothers with subthreshold depression.
INDICATOR DILUTION CURVES IN MITRAL VALVULAR DISEASE

Mitral regurgitation takes place through orifices that are small and severely obstructed or through orifices that are large and seriously incompetent. In disabled patients with atrial fibrillation the predominant lesion can be diagnosed from the diastolic murmur and third heart sound (Nixon and Wooler, 1960; Nixon, 1961a), and from the left atrial stasis wave (Nixon and Wooler, 1961). Measurement of regurgitation would permit the ranking of patients with a particular lesion and simplify the assessment of surgical treatment. The indicator-dilution curve is the method of measurement most likely to succeed, but interpretation is difficult because distortion results from abnormalities ofblood flow and heart size as well as from regurgitation. Simple methods of recording and analysing dye curves have a useful place in the assessment of patients with mitral valvular disease, but reference to published reports tends to obscure this fact because some methods of recording and analysis are prohibitively complicated, and because it may be difficult to decide how closely applicable to disease states are theoretical arguments and the results of animal and model circulation experiments. The purpose of this communication is to describe the indicator dilution curves obtained by injecting blue dye into the left atria of 43 patients with known mitral valvular lesions, and to consider their interpretation in clinical practice.
Brand relationship, consumption values and branded app adoption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine influential factors on branded app adoption from the perspectives of brand relationship and consumption values. Thus a research model integrating consumer-brand relationship literature and the theory of consumption values is developed. Design/methodology/approach – Using the survey approach, 245 participants were recruited from several app market forums and app fan communities. The banking apps issued by three large banks in Taiwan were used in the research. Findings – The findings support the research model and confirm that brand relationship in terms of brand attachment and brand identification, and perceived overall consumption values are influencing factors in branded app adoption. Research limitations/implications – The research advances the understanding of the effect of brand relationship on branded app use behavior and the functional and non-functional value components pertaining to branded apps. Originality/value – Little research has investigated.
Plasma proteomics of lung cancer by a linkage of multi‐dimensional liquid chromatography and two‐dimensional difference gel electrophoresis

To investigate aberrant plasma proteins in lung cancer, we compared the proteomic profiles of serum from five lung cancer patients and from four healthy volunteers. Immuno‐affinity chromatography was used to deplete highly abundant plasma proteins, and the resulting plasma samples were separated into eight fractions by anion‐exchange chromatography. Quantitative protein profiles of the fractionated samples were generated by two‐dimensional difference gel electrophoresis, in which the experimental samples and the internal control samples were labeled with different dyes and co‐separated by two‐dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This approach succeeded in resolving 3890 protein spots. For 364 of the protein spots, the expression level in lung cancer was more than twofold different from that in the healthy volunteers. These differences were statistically significant (Student's t‐test, p‐value less than 0.05). Mass spectrometric protein identification revealed that the 364 protein spots corresponded to 58 gene products, including the classical plasma proteins and the tissue‐leakage proteins catalase, clusterin, ficolin, gelsolin, lumican, tetranectin, triosephosphate isomerase and vitronectin. The combination of multi‐dimensional liquid chromatography and two‐dimensional difference gel electrophoresis provides a valuable tool for serum proteomics in lung cancer.
Wideband Ferromagnetic Resonance in Nanostructured Arrays

Wideband ferromagnetic resonance at room temperature has been measured in a set of nanostructured samples: arrays of lines and antidots for Ni and permalloy-based samples. This technique allows us to determine both saturation magnetization and anisotropy constant providing valuable information about the final properties of the nanostructured material.
Human Activity Recognition Using Spatiotemporal 3-D Body Joint Features with Hidden Markov Models

Video-based human-activity recognition has become increasingly popular due to the prominent corresponding applications in a variety of fields such as computer vision, image processing, smart-home healthcare, and human–computer interactions. The essential goals of a video-based activity-recognition system include the provision of behavior-based information to enable functionality that proactively assists a person with his/her tasks. The target of this work is the development of a novel approach for human-activity recognition, whereby human-body-joint features that are extracted from depth videos are used. From silhouette images taken at every depth, the direction and magnitude features are first obtained from each connected body-joint pair so that they can be augmented later with motion direction, as well as with the magnitude features of each joint in the next frame. A generalized discriminant analysis (GDA) is applied to make the spatiotemporal features more robust, followed by the feeding of the time-sequence features into a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for the training of each activity. Lastly, all of the trained-activity HMMs are used for depth-video activity recognition.
Crucial Transcription Factors in Endoderm and Embryonic Gut Development Are Expressed in Gut‐Like Structures from Mouse ES Cells

Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent and retain the potential to form an organ similar to the gut showing spontaneous contractions in vitro. The morphological features of these structures and their formation, as assessed using the hanging drop method to produce embryoid bodies (EBs), seem to be similar to those in vivo. To determine whether the same molecular mechanisms are involved in the formation process, the expression pattern of transcription factors regulating endoderm and gut development in the mouse embryo was examined by in situ hybridization and compared with in vivo expression. Expression of gene products was also examined by immunohistochemistry, and expression colocalization was analyzed with double staining. The results showed that all factors examined, that is, Sox17, Id2, HNF3β/Foxa2, and GATA4, were expressed in both EBs and gut‐like structures. Moreover, their expression patterns were similar to those in the mouse embryo. EBs after the hanging drop period and before outgrowth already expressed all factors that were colocalized with each other in EB epithelial structures. These findings suggest that the origin of the gut‐like structure is determined during the hanging drop period and that the gut‐like structure is formed as the epithelial structure in EBs during the hanging drop period. They also indicate that the in vitro system using mouse ES cells mimics in vivo development and should prove useful in the study of molecular mechanisms for endoderm and gut development.
Packetized Predictive Control over Erasure Channels

In digital networked control systems links between controller and plant are not transparent, but are affected by time-delays, data-dropouts and quantization. An important observation is that, in contemporary communication networks, such as those employing Ethernet, data is sent in large packets. This motivates the development of networked control schemes where signal predictions are sent as packets. In the present work we present such a strategy. We focus on a configuration where the controller output is connected to the plant input via a network which we assume is prone to transmission errors. By using methods from predictive control theory, we show how closed loop stability can be ensured directly in the design.