Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stimulation by Transforming Growth Factor-a of DNA Synthesis and Proliferation of Adult Rat Hepatocytes in Primary Cultures : Modulation by aand b-Adrenoceptor Agonists

We investigated the effects of transforming growth factor a (TGF-a) on DNA synthesis and proliferation in primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes and examined the influence of a and b adrenoceptor agonists on the TGF-a-induced responses. TGF-a (1.0 ng/ml) produced a 4.1-fold elevation of DNA synthesis during 3 h of culture and a 1.2-fold increase in the nucleus number (proliferation) during 4 h of culture at a cell density of 3.3 3 10 cells/cm. The TGF-a-induced hepatocyte DNA synthesis and proliferation were dose-dependent at EC50 values of 0.36 ng/ml and 0.45 ng/ml, respectively. Hepatocyte DNA synthesis and proliferation induced by 1.0 ng/ml TGF-a did not reduce even at higher initial plating densities (5.0 3 10 and 1.0 3 10 cells/cm). Increasing concentrations of the b2 adrenoceptor agonist metaproterenol (10–10 M) markedly reduced the proliferative effects of TGF-a, whereas those of the a2 adrenoceptor agonist 5-bromo-6-[2-imidazolin-2-yl-amino]-quinoxaline (UK-14304; 10–10 M) and the a1 adrenoceptor agonist phenylephrine (10–10 M) significantly potentiated the TGF-a action. The proliferative effects of TGF-a (1.0 ng/ml) were not affected significantly by a monoclonal antiepidermal growth factor receptor antibody (1–100 ng/ml) and were almost completely blocked by specific inhibitors of signal transducers such as genistein (10 M), 1– 6[[17b-3methoxyestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17-yl]amino]hexyl]-1H-pyrrol2,5-dione (U-73122; 0 M), wortmannin (5 3 10 M), sphingosine (5 3 10 M), 29-amino-39-methoxyflavone (PD98059; 5 3 10 M), and rapamycin (10 ng/ml). These results suggest that among the elements that link signals of cell surface receptor to the nucleus, the proliferative action of TGF-a is mediated, at least, by tyrosine kinase, phospholipase C, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, protein kinase C, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase, and ribosomal protein p70 S6 kinase. Mature rat liver in its normal state is quiescent and thus does not proliferate (Michalopoulos and DeFrances, 1997). However, the liver does have a tremendous capacity to regenerate. For example, after extensive hepatic resection (involving ;70% of the liver mass), the remaining hepatocytes proliferate to restore the mass of the organ within 2 weeks. The key to understanding the process may lie in a knowledge of the action and interactions of the various growth factors and growth modulators that have stimulatory or inhibitory activities (Diehl and Rai, 1996; Michalopoulos and DeFrances, 1997). Studies searching for a trigger substance have implicated humoral factors, portal-derived hepatotrophic factors, and liver-derived growth factors. However, despite extensive analysis of this precisely regulated process, the mechanisms that initiate, maintain, and terminate this intrinsic regenerative process are not well understood. This is probably because such studies are complicated by the fact that so many factors are involved in the hepatic regenerative
Achieving Reliability Over Cluster-Based Wireless Sensor Networks Using Backup Cluster Heads

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are becoming a viable tool for many monitoring applications. These applications may be of critical nature where the transportation of the information of events from the region of interest to some base station is crucial, where the data loss can not be tolerated. In the cluster-based two-tier WSN, where cluster-head nodes gather data from sensors in their clusters and then transmit to base station, when cluster head nodes start to die, the coverage of those clusters is lost and it leaves the region unmonitored. Even if the cluster heads are rotated and reassigned after some time, until the next rotation that cluster in question will be out of cluster head and will lose coverage. A lot of information is lost which is sensed and sent by the sensor nodes of the cluster to the dead cluster head. We propose here to select backup cluster heads (BCHs), for those cluster heads which are close to deplete their energy. The cluster head, when about to die, sends an SOS with the gathered information until then, to the respective BCH which takes over the responsibility and continues to work as a new cluster head. To evaluate the effect and results of BCH we used LEACH-C protocol and compared the data loss ratio with and without a BCH.
A DTW-based dissimilarity measure for left-to-right hidden Markov models and its application to word confusability analysis

We propose a dynamic time-warping (DTW) based distortion measure for measuring the dissimilarity between pairs of left-to-right continuous density hidden Markov models with state observation densities being mixture of Gaussians. The local distortion score required in DTW is deﬁned as an approximate Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD) between two Gaussian mixture models (GMMs). Several approximate KLDs are studied and compared for pairs of GMMs with different properties, and one of them is identiﬁed for being used in our DTW-based HMM dissimilarity measure. In an experiment of identifying automatically the subsets of confusable Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) syllables, it is observed that the result based on the proposed HMM dissimilarity measure is highly consistent with the one based on syllable recognition confusion matrix obtained on a testing data set.
Urinary metabolites of pinacidil. II. Species difference in the metabolism of pinacidil.

1. Pinacidil was given orally to rabbit (10 mg/kg), dog (10 mg/kg), monkey (10 mg/kg) and mouse (150 mg/kg), the urinary metabolites were separated by h.p.l.c. and their structures determined by mass spectrometry. 2. Three new metabolites, namely, omega-hydroxy-pinacidil-O-glucuronide (M-8), pinacidil-pyridine-N-oxide-O-glucuronide (M-9) and pinacidil-pyridine-N-glucuronide (M-10) were isolated from rabbit urine, and one new metabolite, namely, pinacidil-pyridine-phenolic-glucuronide (M-11) was isolated from mouse urine. 3. M-9 is a unique glucuronide because the glucuronic acid is linked to the oxygen of pyridine-N-oxide. 4. In man, similar to rat, dog and mouse, pinacidil-pyridine-N-oxide (M-1) was the main urinary metabolite, with pyridine-N-oxidation being the major metabolic pathway. On the other hand, M-8 and M-9 were the most abundant metabolites in monkey and rabbit urine, respectively. Therefore, rat, dog and mouse have similar metabolism of pinacidil to man, but monkey and rabbit are significantly different in their metabolism of the drug.
The Use of Nonpharmacological Interventions to Reduce Anxiety in Patients Undergoing Gastroscopy in a Setting With an Optimal Soothing Environment

Patients develop anxiety before undergoing gastroscopy. By removing such distressing feelings, patients are more likely to experience gastroscopy more smoothly. This study was designed to examine changes in anxiety levels in patients undergoing gastroscopy and the effect of an optimal soothing environment (OSE) as a new nonpharmacological intervention to reduce patient anxiety prior to gastroscopy. During a 6-month period, 50 outpatients referred for gastroscopy were randomly assigned to two groups (control group, n = 24 patients; OSE group, n = 26 patients). This study was performed at the digestive endoscopy service of a 150-bed acute care hospital in Japan. The patient anxiety was assessed using the Face Scale score. Pre- and postprocedural systolic blood pressures were measured and values were compared with blood pressure upon arrival at the hospital. The tools for an OSE, including a safe essential oil burner with lavender essential oil and a digital video disk program entitled “Flow” manufactured by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) software, were provided to patients in the waiting room before gastroscopy. The score for self-assessed anxiety level just before gastroscopy was significantly higher than that on arrival at the hospital but returned to baseline after gastroscopy in the control group, whereas the score did not increase before starting gastroscopy in the OSE group. Systolic blood pressure measurements just before and after gastroscopy were significantly higher than those on arrival at the hospital and the baseline values in the control group, whereas it was not increased before starting gastroscopy in the OSE group. Providing an OSE before and during gastroscopy is useful to minimize patient anxiety regarding experiencing a gastroscopy. This nonpharmacological method is a simple, inexpensive, and safe method of minimizing anxiety before and during gastroscopy.
Lecciones Aprendidas de una Tentativa De G2G en Brasil

In recent years, many governments have seized the moment provided by Information Technology as the ideal opportunity to rethink their administrative praxis. This restructuring concentrates not only on the internal aspects involved, but also on those related to the relationship between government and other organizations. This work seeks to analyze the main obstacles that resulted in the deployment of an unsuccessful G2G (Government to Government) enterprise in Brazil due to user resistance to Information Systems. In order to achieve this, case study explanatory methodology based on a recent real-life case was adopted, namely the digital link between the Brazilian Central Bank and the Federal Senate. Some lessons are drawn with respect to the importance of adequately managing the change associated with an endeavor such as the one analyzed in order to assist policy makers and public administrators in dealing with this new field of knowledge.
Age Diversity: An Empirical Study in the Board of Directors

This study aims to explore how board age diversity affects corporate performance. This study develops three hypotheses built on the perspective of the upper echelons and Harrison and Klein's (2007) diversity typology. Focusing on age diversity and using a board of directors as a unit of analysis, this study empirically tests the effects of each type of age diversity on corporate performance in a sample of European listed firms for the year 2009. This study advances the understanding of board behavior and its relationships with corporate results, and presents a new approach to study age diversity from an integrated point of view.
Hot flashes are associated with increased ambulatory systolic blood pressure

Objective: To determine the association between ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and hot flash experience. Design: The participants in the study were 154 women (mean age = 46 years, range = 18-65 years), who were evaluated as part of a cross-sectional study on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and diurnal BP patterns. Participants could be either normotensive or mildly hypertensive. Participants wore an ambulatory BP monitor for 24 hours and recorded their awake and sleep times. Hot flashes were assessed using an everyday complaint questionnaire that embeds symptoms associated with menopause into a list of everyday complaints. Results: Thirty-three percent of participants reported having had hot flashes during the 2 weeks before they completed the questionnaire. Compared with women who did not report hot flashes, mean awake and sleep systolic BP values were significantly higher (P < 0.004 and P = 0.007, respectively) in women who reported having had hot flashes. Hot flashes continued to independently predict average awake and sleep systolic BP (both P = 0.03) after controlling for age, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and menopausal status. Hot flashes were not associated with diastolic BP or nocturnal dipping of BP. Conclusions: Hot flashes are associated with increased awake and sleep systolic BP independent of menopausal status. Further investigation is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms by which hot flashes are associated with BP.
The Adoption of Enterprise Application Integration in Healthcare Organisations: Methodological Perspective

The integration of various Information Systems (IS) applications based on heterogeneous systems has always remained problematic in healthcare organisations, with issues such as high operational cost, functionality problems and maintenance cited as significant barriers. As a result of such issues, healthcare organisations are struggling to find new means to increase their functional capabilities. As a result, many large and multi-national organisations are turning to Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) as a means of solving data and process integration problems. The adoption of EAI offers several significant benefits to various organizations, such as cost reduction, process integration, return on investment. Therefore, EAI may be regarded as an integration solution for healthcare organisations. However, there is limited empirical research reported on the adoption of EAI in healthcare. In attempting to explore EAI, the discussion on the adoption of EAI in healthcare organisations is presented. In doing so, the authors conceptualize and propose a model for the adoption of EAI through a comprehensive review of the normative literature in the areas of integration technologies, healthcare informatics and other associated sectors. In addition to that proposition is identified. This proposition will define the scope of the research and provide an in depth analysis of the factor (e.g. barriers). This paper also attempts to present the appropriate research methodology by describing and discussing the prevalent research methodologies in the domain of technology adoption.
Site Selection Strategy of Single-Frequency Tuned R-APF for Background Harmonic Voltage Damping in Power Systems

Series resonance between capacitance and line inductance may magnify background harmonic voltage and worsen the harmonic voltage distortion in power systems. To solve this problem, in this paper, the transmission line theory is used to set up the distributed parameter model of power system feeders, and analyze the harmonic voltage propagation caused by the background harmonic voltage in power systems. Then, a new strategy is proposed for the site selection of resistive active power filter to damp the background harmonic voltage in power systems. Experiments have been performed to verify the theoretical analysis and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.
Translation and testing of the cardiac diet self-efficacy scale for use with Taiwanese older adults.

OBJECTIVES The purposes of this investigation were to translate the Cardiac Diet Self-Efficacy (CDSE) scale from English to Mandarin Chinese and to test the validity, reliability, and feasibility of the translated scale in a sample of Taiwanese older adults. DESIGN AND SAMPLE This study used a methodological design to translate the CDSE based on the Brislin's model: (1) translation from source language (SL) of English to the target language (TL) of Chinese, (2) evaluation of Chinese version, (3) blind back translation from Chinese to English, (4) comparison of original and back-translated English versions, and (5) evaluation of the translated scale by a committee of bilingual Taiwanese experts. The translated CDSE scale was tested with 156 community-dwelling Taiwanese older adults, and any problems occurring during the administration of the scale were documented. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The validity and reliability of the Chinese version of CDSE scale were acceptable. However, the validity of items may have been impacted by differences in culture, language, and educational levels between English-speaking and Chinese-speaking populations. These findings suggest the need for further methodological study to evaluate and refine translation tools to resolve differences in culture, language, and educational levels between SL and TL.
WristTrack? A Mobile Healthcare Surveillance System for Wrist Recovery Exercises

Physiotherapy is an important component for injury recovery. Progressive exercises can help in facilitating recovery when executed correctly, but it can cause damaging effects when done wrongly. However, not all patients are able to make it to the hospital every time due to reasons such as post-surgery immobility. This study introduces a self-served physiotherapy system for wrist exercises (i.e., WristTrack), allowing patients to perform wrist conditioning at their own time and place of convenience. The system integrates wearable devices with mobile and web platform, to capture, visualize and provide useful metrics for both doctors and patients to make steady progression in their recovery process.
Fusing mixed visual features for human action recognition

Human action recognition has gained a lot of interest in the computer vision community in the last decades. A number of action classifiers have been developed for human action recognition, in which how to effectively represent high dimensional human actions for categorisation or recognition is a crucial factor. This paper presents a simple but efficient action recognition algorithm using mixed visual features. The mixed features fuse three action descriptors, namely centre distance-based Fourier descriptors, shape parameters-based regional descriptors and joints-based polar coordinates descriptors. The frame-based human action classifier is developed using random forests algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed method is accurate, efficient and robust, and the combination of the three types of descriptors achieves superior performance in action recognition.
Automated measurement of the internal surface area of the human lung.

This paper presents a technique whereby emphysema can be objectively graded by means of computerized image processing. Emphysema is a common disease affecting human lungs and is characterized by enlargement and destruction of the gas-exchanging portion of the lung, namely alveolar air sacs. This destruction of alveoli results in loss of alveolar surface area.
Synthesis of a compact wind profile using evolutionary algorithms for wind turbine system with storage

In this paper, the authors investigate two methodologies for synthesizing compact wind speed profiles by means of evolutionary algorithms. Such profile can be considered as input parameter in a prospective design process by optimization of a passive wind system with storage. Compact profiles are obtained by aggregating elementary patterns in order to fulfil some target indicators. The main difference between both methods presented in the paper is related to the choice of these indicators. In the first method, they are related to the storage system features while they only depend on wind features in the second.
Cue Recognition and Integration – Eye Tracking Evidence of Processing Differences in Sentence Comprehension in Aphasia

Purpose We aimed at further elucidating whether aphasic patients’ difficulties in understanding non-canonical sentence structures, such as Passive or Object-Verb-Subject sentences, can be attributed to impaired morphosyntactic cue recognition, and to problems in integrating competing interpretations. Methods A sentence-picture matching task with canonical and non-canonical spoken sentences was performed using concurrent eye tracking. Accuracy, reaction time, and eye tracking data (fixations) of 50 healthy subjects and 12 aphasic patients were analysed. Results Patients showed increased error rates and reaction times, as well as delayed fixation preferences for target pictures in non-canonical sentences. Patients’ fixation patterns differed from healthy controls and revealed deficits in recognizing and immediately integrating morphosyntactic cues. Conclusion Our study corroborates the notion that difficulties in understanding syntactically complex sentences are attributable to a processing deficit encompassing delayed and therefore impaired recognition and integration of cues, as well as increased competition between interpretations.
Efficacy of Punctal Occlusion in Management of Dry Eyes after Laser In Situ Keratomileusis for Myopia

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the effect of punctal plug use in preventing dry eye after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). Materials and Methods: A randomized clinical trial at a tertiary eye care center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Participants underwent LASIK for myopia in both eyes and a lower punctal occlusion in one eye only while the other eye served as control. Both eyes received the same postoperative medications except for lubricant duration (subject eye: four times per day for one week; control eye: four times per day for 6 months). Participants were evaluated at 1 week, 2, and 6 months after surgery for signs and symptoms of dry eye. The main outcome measures were visual acuity; ocular surface parameters; and Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire. Results: Seventy-eight eyes of 39 patients were included in this study. The Ocular Surface Disease Index scores of eyes with punctal plugs were better at all follow-up visits, and the differences between both eyes were statistically significant (1 week, p < 0.0001; 2 months, p < 0.0001; 6 months, p = 0.008). At the final follow-up visit, the percentage of normal eyes was higher in eyes with punctal plugs for all ocular surface parameters (Schirmer 1 test, 94.9%; tear breakup time, 77.8%; punctate epithelial keratitis score, 71.8%) compared to eyes without occlusion (Schirmer 1 test, 92.3%; tear breakup time, 58.3%; punctate epithelial keratitis score, 53.8%); however, such differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Punctal plug insertion after LASIK surgeries may minimize the need for frequent lubricant application and hence improve patient satisfaction.
Brushless Exciter Modeling for Small Salient Pole Alternators Using Finite Elements

The self and mutual inductances of an exciter for a genset altemator are estimated for different rotor angular positions by the use of finite element (FE) techniques. These inductances, which are described by complex functions, are measured using a stationary test and compared with calculated values. A real-time computer model for the exciter, the load, and the diode bridge mounted on the rotor is proposed, and a sample of performance prediction and measurement for a specific transient condition of the exciter is presented as confirmation of the method. The model thus validated is ultimately to be included in the evolving total system model used for simulation of genset transient and steady-state performance.
Design of an isolated medium-frequency medium-voltage high-power three-level H-bridge DC/DC converter

In this paper, an isolated three-level H-bridge DC/DC converter has been designed, which is the core device of the DC zonal electrical distribution module (DC-ZEDM) in the new-generation medium-voltage DC vessel integrated power system (IPS). It supplies isolated low-voltage DC to the second-level converter of DC-ZEDM. Considering the problem of relatively large size and weight of a transformer working at a frequency of 50Hz, the phase-shift PWM was used for controlling the converter to increase its frequency and decrease the size and weight of the transformer. And this paper has analyzed the harmonic waves of the H-bridge's output voltage and presented the static operating point at which all the operating modes in one switching period are under CCM. For the loss of duty ratio due to leakage induction, an appropriate compensation solution has been proposed. Finally, a 20kW, 1kHz prototype was applied to the verification of the operating principle of the converter.