Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
First-Year College Students' Attitudes about End-of-Life Decision-Making

This study analyzes attitudes about treatment of the terminally ill among a group of first-year undergraduate students—a cohort that was in high school when intense publicity and extensive political and judicial involvement in the Terri Schiavo case occurred. Data for the study were collected by structured personal interviews with 201 randomly selected, first-year students in the first half of fall semester, 2005. Students clearly make distinctions in the propriety of active euthanasia, passive euthanasia, and physician-assisted death. Presented with a situation of a terminally ill patient in considerable pain, 65.1% of the students supported or strongly supported withdrawal of life-sustaining technology (passive euthanasia), 34.3% supported the physician providing the means of death to the patient (physician-assisted death), and 28.3% supported the physician actually administering a lethal injection (active euthanasia). A review of the literature of correlates of euthanasia attitudes in a variety of samples produced five potential types of influences: 1) general philosophical and religious beliefs; 2) fears about one's own death and dying process; 3) amount of information about and exposure to the issue of euthanasia; 4) characteristics of the community in which one lives; and 5) certain personal background characteristics. These categorical types produced 19 specific variables that were potentially related to euthanasia attitudes. The strongest predictor of attitudes varied among the three types of euthanasia, but political party affiliation had the most overall influence. Students self-identifying as Democrats were more likely than those self-identifying as Republicans to support euthanasia.
Infiltration anesthetic lidocaine inhibits cancer cell invasion by modulating ectodomain shedding of heparin‐binding epidermal growth factor‐like growth factor (HB‐EGF)

Although the mechanism is unknown, infiltration anesthetics are believed to have membrane‐stabilizing action. We report here that such a most commonly used anesthetic, lidocaine, effectively inhibited the invasive ability of human cancer (HT1080, HOS, and RPMI‐7951) cells at concentrations used in surgical operations (5–20 mM). Ectodomain shedding of heparin‐binding epidermal growth factor‐like growth factor (HB‐EGF) from the cell surface plays an important role in invasion by HT1080 cells. Lidocaine reduced the invasion ability of these cells by partly inhibiting the shedding of HB‐EGF from the cell surface and modulation of intracellular Ca2+ concentration contributed to this action. The anesthetic action of lidocaine (sodium channel blocking ability) did not contribute to this anti‐invasive action. In addition, lidocaine (5–30 mM), infiltrated around the inoculation site, inhibited pulmonary metastases of murine osteosarcoma (LM 8) cells in vivo. These data point to previously unrecognized beneficial actions of lidocaine and suggest that lidocaine might be an ideal infiltration anesthetic for surgical cancer operations. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis

During the past 10 years, the Internet has become a vital component of international commerce, interpersonal communication, and technological development. Network measurement is critical to this new communication medium’s continued viability. Researchers, service providers, and other members of the Internet community need to understand the Internet’s growth characteristics and the limitations affecting the system, both globally and locally. Network measurement was neglected in the Internet’s early stages, taking lower priority to increasing the network’s speed, capacity, and coverage. Recently, however, interest in network measurement has expanded, paving the way toward a growing understanding of the Internet’s structure and behavior. Unfortunately, as the number of Internet users has grown, antisocial and even malicious behavior has also increased. Countering these and other scaling challenges will require substantially more investment in Internet measurement and data analysis. The four articles that follow provide an introduction to this vital research area. Historical Perspective In its early history, before 1995, the Internet primarily served a worldwide research community. The infrastructure that seeded the Internet was funded by US government agencies (DARPA and the National Science Foundation), which supported regional networks operated by organizations around the country. Merit Network (www.merit.edu), which operated the NSFnet backbone in its various forms, measured the backbone’s traffic volumes and produced summary statistics through April 1995. (See www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/stats/NSF/merit. html.) But these were primarily oriented toward short-term operational requirements or periodic simplistic traffic reports for funding agencies. As such, they weren’t conducive to workload or performance characterization, much less network-dynamics modeling. As the NSFnet and attached regional infrastructures exploded in popularity among academic and commercial sectors, operators acutely focused on increasing link speeds and router/switch-traffic capacities, as well as expanding the topology to cover
Neuraminidase Stalk Length and Additional Glycosylation of the Hemagglutinin Influence the Virulence of Influenza H5N1 Viruses for Mice

ABSTRACT Following circulation of avian influenza H5 and H7 viruses in poultry, the hemagglutinin (HA) can acquire additional glycosylation sites, and the neuraminidase (NA) stalk becomes shorter. We investigated whether these features play a role in the pathogenesis of infection in mammalian hosts. From 1996 to 2007, H5N1 viruses with a short NA stalk have become widespread in several avian species. Compared to viruses with a long-stalk NA, viruses with a short-stalk NA showed a decreased capacity to elute from red blood cells and an increased virulence in mice, but not in chickens. The presence of additional HA glycosylation sites had less of an effect on virulence than did NA stalk length. The short-stalk NA of H5N1 viruses circulating in Asia may contribute to virulence in humans.
Artificial Vision System Using Mobile Devices for Detection of Fusarium Fungus in Corn

Artificial vision systems aims at mathematically modeling the visual perception systems of living beings and create programs that will allow the simulation of such capabilities by means of a computer system. The current frameworks that run on mobile devices allow both monochromatic and color image processing. The structure and properties of the 3D world that they try to describe aim at not just geometrical properties but also at properties such as material, light intensity/absorption on surfaces in an automated way. In Mexico, the implementation of such technologies in corn crops is almost nonexistent. However, by developing solutions the beneficial impact would boost the creation of technologies that may be able to detect plagues or diseases in crops. The following work proposes the use of an artificial vision system to identify the fusarium fungus on corn crops by integrating the technology in a smartphone and an implementation of javaCV to identify color patterns in the corn and be able to identify any anomaly.
Sequence of human 5-aminolevulinate synthase cDNA.

The mitochondrial enzyme, 5-aminolevulinate synthase, catalyses the first step in the heme biosynthetic pathway and is one of the few animal genes shown to be subject to end pro-duct repression (1). We have isolated 5-aminolevulinate synthase clones from a XgtlO library of human liver cDNA by cross-hybridization with a rat 5-aminolevulinate synthase cDNA clone. A comparison with the cDNA sequences of chicken (2) and rat (unpublished) 5-aminolevulinate synthases, facilitated the assignment of the correct reading frame for the human liver 5-amino-levulinate synthase precursor. The 3' untranslated region of the mRNA contains a long poly(A) tail with an AATAAA polyadenylation signal (boxed). The predicted mature protein contains 586 amino acids and has an N-terminal transit sequence of 56 amino acids (arrowed). This sequence shows strong homology with the mature protein sequences of rat (83%) and chicken (78%), but somewhat less (45%) with that of mouse (3). Similarly, the transit sequences of human, rat, and chicken share a high degree of homology (97% and 89% respectively) in the first 38 amino acids. In contrast, the mouse transit sequence bears no homology to the other three.
Small and Intermediate Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel Openers Improve Rat Endothelial and Erectile Function

Modulation of endothelial calcium-activated potassium (KCa) channels has been proposed as an approach to restore endothelial function. The present study investigated whether novel openers of KCa channels with small (KCa2.x) and intermediate (KCa3.1) conductance, NS309 and NS4591, improve endothelium-dependent relaxation and erectile function. Rat corpus cavernosum (CC) strips were mounted for isometric tension recording and processed for immunoblotting. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), intracavernosal pressure (ICP), and electrocardiographic (ECG) measurements were conducted in anesthetized rats. Immunoblotting revealed the presence of KCa2.3 and large KCa conductance (KCa1.1) channels in the corpus cavernosum. NS309 and NS4591 increased current in CC endothelial cells in whole cell patch clamp experiments. Relaxation induced by NS309 (<1 μM) was inhibited by endothelial cell removal and high extracellular potassium. An inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, and blockers of KCa2.x and KCa1.1 channels, apamin and iberiotoxin also inhibited NS309 relaxation. Incubation with NS309 (0.5 μM) markedly enhanced acetylcholine relaxation. Basal erectile function (ICP/MAP) increased during administration of NS309. Increases in ICP/MAP after cavernous nerve stimulation with NS309 were unchanged, whereas NS4591 significantly improved erectile function. Administration of NS309 and NS4591 caused small changes in the electrocardiogram, but neither arrhythmic events nor prolongation of the QTc interval were observed. The present study suggests that openers of KCa2.x and KCa3.1 channels improve endothelial and erectile function. The effects of NS309 and NS4591 on heart rate and ECG are small, but will require additional safety studies before evaluating whether activation of KCa2.3 channels has a potential for treatment of erectile dysfunction.
Plyometric Jumping Performances of Male and Female Gymnasts From Different Heights

Abstract Marina, M, Jemni, M, Rodriguez, FA, and Jimenez, A. Plyometric jumping performances of male and female gymnasts from different heights. JStrength Cond Res 26(7): 1879–1886, 2012—The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the factors influencing plyometric jumping performance between well-trained gymnasts and a control group. Seventy-six gymnasts and 91 moderately active subjects volunteered to participate in this study. Drop jumps (DJ) were performed from 20-, 40-, 60-, 80-, and 100-cm heights. Flight time (FT) and contact time (CT) were recorded using contact mat. Flight time to contact time (FC) ratio and Bosco expression (BE) were calculated. Male gymnasts scored similar FT to their controls, whereas female gymnasts had significantly longer FT compared with their peers. The gymnasts obtained significantly shorter CT than their control groups, whereas their FC ratios were significantly higher and increased when the height of the drops was close to 60 cm. Moreover, gymnasts' BE was greater in comparison to their respective control groups independent of the drop height. The height of the drop that produced the best FC ratio and BE varied between the groups. The best performances were obtained between 40- and 60-cm drop height for both groups. Female control group showed a trend toward a continuing decline with the increase of the drop height. The best gymnasts (finalists at World Championships) obtained their best performance at 80-cm drop. Flight time is the less discriminating factor distinguishing gymnasts' DJ performances. Considering CT, FC, and BE results all together could better profile the gymnasts rather than taken separately. Bosco expression was shown to be more sensitive to the increase in FT; we suggest BE as the best criteria to assess the appropriate drop height for plyometric training purposes in gymnasts as it has been significantly correlated to FT.
Is color patchy?

In many natural scenes, shadows and shading, which are primarily luminance-defined features, proliferate. Hence one might expect that the chromatic variations of natural scenes, which more faithfully represent the layout of object surfaces, will contain relatively fewer and larger uniform regions than the luminance variations, i.e., will be more "patchy. " This idea was tested using images of natural scenes that were decomposed into chromatic and luminance layers modeled as the responses of the red-green, blue-yellow, and luminance channels of the human visual system. Patchiness was defined as the portion of pixels falling within a +/- threshold in the bandpass-filtered image, averaged across multiple filter scales. The red-green layers were found to be the most patchy, followed by the blue-yellow layers, with the luminance layers the least patchy. The correlation between image-layer patchiness and the slope of the Fourier amplitude spectrum was small and negative for all layers, the maximum value being for red-green (-0.48). We conclude that the chromatic layers of natural scenes contain more uniform areas than the luminance layers and that this is unpredicted by the slope of the Fourier amplitude spectrum.
Epidemiology of varicella in Slovenia over a 20-year period (1979–98)

Varicella is one of the most common childhood diseases. The course of the disease is usually mild and uncomplicated. In Slovenia, varicella is a notifiable communicable disease which must be reported. Data collected from 1979–98 were analysed. Over the 20-year period the number of varicella cases reported ranged from a low of 11 086 (in 1994) to a maximum of 21 141 (in 1987). During the last 10 years, the highest incidence of varicella was reported in children aged from 12 months to 2 years. In adults over 20, incidence has slightly but steadily increased over the 20 year period. Overall, the number of males with varicella exceeded that of females. The proportion of females was higher only in the 20–30-year age group, probably as a consequence of more frequent and closer contact with infected children by mothers. The highest number of reported cases was during winter and early spring.
Improving Tone Recognition with Comb Modelling

To improve tone recognition in continuous speech, we propose a strategy focusing on separating regions influenced by tonal coarticulation from regions that more closely approximate canonical tone production. Given a syllable segmentation, this approach employs amplitude and pitch information to generate an improved sub-syllable segmentation and feature representation. This subsyllable segmentation is derived from the convex hull of the amplitude-pitch plot. Our approach achieves a 15% improvement using our segmentation strategy over a simple time-only segmentation. Finally, a future extension with sequential labelling is discussed.
Polymerase chain reaction‐based mutageneses identify key transporters belonging to multigene families involved in Na+ and pH homeostasis of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Primary ion pumps and antiporters exist as multigene families in the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 genome and show very strong homologies to those found in higher plants. The gene knock‐outs of five putative Na+/H+ antiporters (slr1727, sll0273, sll0689, slr1595 and slr0415) and seven cation ATPases (sll1614, sll1920, slr0671–72, slr0822, slr1507–08–09, slr1728– 29 and slr1950) in the model cyanobacterium (http://www.kazusa.or.jp/cyano/cyano.html) were performed in this study relying on homologous recombination with mutagenenic fragments constructed using a fusion polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach. The impacts of these gene knock‐outs were evaluated in terms of Na+ and pH, and light‐induced acidification and alkalization that are asso‐ciated with inorganic carbon uptake. Two of the five putative antiporter mutants exhibit a characteristic interplay between the pH and Na+ dependence of growth, but only one of the antiporters appears to be necessary for high NaCl tolerance. On the other hand, the mutation of one of the two copper‐trafficking ATPases produces a cell line that shows acute NaCl sensitivity. Additionally, disruptions of a putative Ca2+‐ATPase and a gene cluster encoding a putative Na+‐ATPase subunit also cause high NaCl sensitivity. The findings and possible mechanisms are discussed in relation to the potential roles of these transporters in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.
A Deficit in Peripheral Serotonin Levels in Major Depressive Disorder but Not in Chronic Widespread Pain

ObjectivesIt has been proposed that serotonin dysfunctions underlie the pathophysiology of various mood disorders (including major depressive disorder, MDD) and chronic pain conditions characterized by deficient pain inhibition, such as fibromyalgia (FM). There is reliable data showing that serotonin disturbances are involved in the pathophysiology of MDD. However, in the case of FM, results published so far are less consistent. Therefore, the current cross-sectional study sought to measure plasma serotonin levels in FM patients, MDD patients, and healthy controls (HC). MethodsTwenty-nine FM patients, 17 MDD patients, and 57 HC were recruited who did not differ in terms of age, sex, and the presence or absence of a regular menstrual cycle. Plasma samples were analysed with mass spectrometry. ResultsSerotonin levels were decreased in MDD patients, relative to FM patients and HC. Post hoc analyses showed that serotonin levels were decreased in FM patients taking antidepressants, relative to HC, but not in drug-free FM patients. Moreover, serotonin levels were negatively correlated with mood symptoms across groups. DiscussionOur results further confirm that MDD is associated with decreased serotonin levels, but that serotonin levels are not altered in FM per se, and suggest that 5-Hydroxytryptamine is related to mood symptoms in these patient groups. Our results also suggest that the taking of antidepressant is a major confound to consider when studying serotonin functioning in FM. The long-term use of antidepressants in FM may lead to serotonin depletion. Conversely, serotonin depletion may be before the taking of antidepressants in FM.
Influence of home environment on the academic performance of primary five pupils' in English Language in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State

This study investigated the influence of home environment on the academic performance of primary five pupils’ in English Language in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. Four variables were considered which include parental academic background, parental economic status, parental marital status and parental home location. A sample size of 50 primary five pupils obtained from five public primary schools in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State was used. Five hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Ex-post Facto research design was used for the study. Two instruments were used for data collection such as Home Environmental Factor Questionnaire (HEFQ) and Pupils Achievement Test (PAT) in English Language. The dependent t-test and the analysis of variance ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The result obtained from the study at 0.05 level of significance shows that parental academic backgrounds, parental economic status, parental marital status and parental home location have significant influence on primary five pupils academic performance in English Language hence the null hypotheses were rejected while the alternative hypotheses wee retained. This implies that home environment has significant influence on the academic performance of primary five pupils’ in English Language. These findings were extensively discussed and appropriate recommendations were made.
Host Specificity of Austropeplea ollula (Gastropoda: Lymnaeidae) to Miracidial Infection with a Human Intestinal Fluke Neodiplostomum seoulense (Trematoda: Diplostomatidae) in Korea

Three species of freshwater pulmonate snails of Lymnaeidae have been reported from Korea, Radix auricularia coreana, Austropeplea ollula, and Fossaria truncatula. Of these 3 species, only A. ollula was naturally infected with Neodiplostomum seoulense cercariae (prevalence, 0.3%). In experiments with the laboratory-reared snails, A. ollula was found to be susceptible to the N. seoulense miracidia (prevalence, 10%). This is the first report of A. ollula as the first molluscan intermediate host for N. seoulense in Korea.
THE GENETIC CONTROL OF DISSIMILATORY PATHWAYS IN PSEUDOMONAS PUTIDA

WE shall present here an analysis of the linkage relationhsips among structural genes that control steps of the /3-ketoadipate pathway and two other dissimilatory pathways in a fluorescent pseudomonad, Pseudomonas putida. The convergent branches of the p-ketoadipate pathway (Figure 1 ) , which exists in many taxonomic groups of aerobic bacteria, provide a means for the conversion of certain aromatic and hydroaromatic compounds to intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The initial points of metabolic convergence are two diphenolic intermediates, catechol and protocatechuic acid: each primary substrate is oxidized to one of these intermediates through a special reactionsequence. We shall designate such peripheral sequences by their primary substrates: thus, the mandelate sequence comprises the set of reactions by which mandelic acid is oxidized to catechol. Catechol and protocatechuic acid are further metabolized through parallel, convergent sequences to the end-lactone of p-keto-
Taste Buds and Neuronal Markers in Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

Objective To study the number of taste buds and, with the use of specific markers for peripheral nervous tissue, to study the neuronal pattern in taste buds from 36 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF), 19 renal transplant recipients, and 40 healthy subjects. Of the patients with CRF, 17 patients had not started dialysis, 12 patients were on peritoneal dialysis, and 7 patients were on hemodialysis. Design From all subjects, two or three fungiform papillae were collected from the anterior part of the tongue. Cryostat sections were cut and inspected under light microscopy to determine the presence of taste buds. The sections were subsequently incubated with primary rabbit antibodies against protein gene product 9.5, substance P, and nerve growth factor receptor. Results Using these antibodies, no differences between the groups were observed. However, patients with CRF had fewer taste buds than control subjects. Conclusion No immunohistochemical differences were observed between patients with CRF and healthy controls. However, patients with CRF had significantly fewer fungiform taste buds, suggesting an important factor contributing to the well-known impairment of taste acuity in this patient group.