Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antibacterial and toxicity studies of the ethanol extract of Musa paradisiaca leaf

Abstract The ethanol extract of the leaf of Musa paradisiaca and its aqueous fraction were investigated for antibacterial potentials against Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms of clinical importance. Phytochemical screenings showed the presence of secondary metabolites namely tannin, flavonoids, alkaloids among others. When the extracts were subjected to susceptibility test, results showed that while both the ethanol extract and its aqueous fraction showed activity against the test organisms, the aqueous fraction showed better antibacterial activity. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the aqueous fraction ranged from 3.125 to 25 mg/ml. Acute toxicity test of the aqueous fraction using Swiss Albino mice gave an LD50 of 489.9 mg/kg body weight which indicates a relative toxicity of the extract. The time–kill studies demonstrated a reduction in the viable cell count for the extract.
Broadband C-Shaped Circularly Polarized Monopole Antenna

A novel broadband monopole antenna with circular polarization (CP) is designed and fabricated. It consists of a C-shaped monopole, an open-loop on the backside of the monopole and a modified ground plane. By placing a rectangular open-loop coplanar with the ground plane and connecting a rectangular vertical stub to the ground plane, wide impedance bandwidth is achieved, and axial-ratio (AR) bandwidth of the antenna could be improved simultaneously. The measured results exhibit a 65.2% (4.14 GHz, 4.28-8.42 GHz) CP bandwidth, and the 10-dB impedance bandwidth is 87.7% (6.66 GHz, 4.26-10.92 GHz). Finally, by placing a reflector underneath the antenna with its structural dimensions unchanged, one can obtain unidirectional radiation patterns with greatly improved gains. The advantages of the proposed antenna are the simple structure, a compact size, and a broad 3-dB AR bandwidth.
Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo

Abstract. The darkening effects of biological impurities on ice and snow have been recognised as a control on the surface energy balance of terrestrial snow, sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets. With a heightened interest in understanding the impacts of a changing climate on snow and ice processes, quantifying the impact of biological impurities on ice and snow albedo ( bioalbedo ) and its evolution through time is a rapidly growing field of research. However, rigorous quantification of bioalbedo has remained elusive because of difficulties in isolating the biological contribution to ice albedo from that of inorganic impurities and the variable optical properties of the ice itself. For this reason, isolation of the biological signature in reflectance data obtained from aerial/orbital platforms has not been achieved, even when ground-based biological measurements have been available. This paper provides the cell-specific optical properties that are required to model the spectral signatures and broadband darkening of ice. Applying radiative transfer theory, these properties provide the physical basis needed to link biological and glaciological ground measurements with remotely sensed reflectance data. Using these new capabilities we confirm that biological impurities can influence ice albedo, then we identify 10 challenges to the measurement of bioalbedo in the field with the aim of improving future experimental designs to better quantify bioalbedo feedbacks. These challenges are (1) ambiguity in terminology, (2) characterising snow or ice optical properties, (3) characterising solar irradiance, (4) determining optical properties of cells, (5) measuring biomass, (6) characterising vertical distribution of cells, (7) characterising abiotic impurities, (8) surface anisotropy, (9) measuring indirect albedo feedbacks, and (10) measurement and instrument configurations. This paper aims to provide a broad audience of glaciologists and biologists with an overview of radiative transfer and albedo that could support future experimental design.
A Neural Correlate of Working Memory in the Monkey Primary Visual Cortex

The brain frequently needs to store information for short periods. In vision, this means that the perceptual correlate of a stimulus has to be maintained temporally once the stimulus has been removed from the visual scene. However, it is not known how the visual system transfers sensory information into a memory component. Here, we identify a neural correlate of working memory in the monkey primary visual cortex (V1). We propose that this component may link sensory activity with memory activity.
A comparison of media supplement methods for the extended culture of human islet tissue.

BACKGROUND The preservation of sufficient quantities of islets for human transplantation has proven to be a tenacious problem for researchers and transplant programs. Beyond the variables associated with islet procurement, there is the problem of tissue storage before transplantation. Cryopreservation has been adopted as a method for long-term islet storage that allows for recovery of viable tissue. However, there is significant tissue loss during the process and the possibility that long-term viability may be compromised. An alternate method of prolonged culture at 24 degrees C was initially introduced as a means of reducing islet antigenicity. Although successful in the short term, prolonged culture with serum-based media has also resulted in a significant loss of tissue. In this study, we report the successful use of an ITS+ Premix-supplemented serum-free media for prolonged islet culture and its comparison to fetal bovine serum-supplemented media and to cryopreservation. METHODS Pancreata were procured from cadaveric organ donors, and islets were isolated using our own modification of the automated method of Ricordi. Aliquots from a series of human islet isolations were cultured in parallel in (A) CMRL + ITS (serum-free media; SFM) or (B) CMRL +10% fetal bovine serum (standard media) and compared with cryopreserved and thawed tissue. RESULTS Our results show that SFM allows for the long-term culture of islet tissue. For time points up to 2 months, islets cultured in SFM showed recovery ratios greater than those for standard serum-supple. mented media. At 1 week and 1 month, islet recovery ratios were greater for SFM-cultured islets than for cryopreserved tissue. Viability studies confirmed that the SFM-cultured islets were able to respond to glucose stimulation (stimulation index 0.8-21.2). Additionally, in vivo results using cultured islets in a patient demonstrated good islet function, with a 1-month stimulation index of 4.02 in response to an intravenous glucose tolerance test. CONCLUSION We conclude that this culture modification represents a method by which functional islet tissue can be maintained in long-term culture and successfully transplanted.
Simple models for the analysis of waveguiding systems at the terahertz band using classical microwave approaches

Recently the terahertz band has focused so much attention from many research groups with the aim of designing full systems. The first task before designing devices in this band is to characterize waveguide systems. In this contribution the analysis of different waveguides systems in the terahertz band is presented. The analysis is based on a hybrid mode formulation and the Drude model for the dielectric permittivity of the metallic conductor. A comparison between the exact results obtained with this last formulation and those using classical microwave approaches (surface impedance approximation or Leontovich´s condition) is done in order to determine the validity range of the approximations in both the propagation constant and the electromagnetic field pattern.
Multi-Band Planar Antennas: A Comparative Study

In the paper, four different planar multi-band antennas are designed, modeled, fabricated, and measu- red. Parameters of the antennas are in detail compared to demonstrate advantages and disadvantages of different so- lutions. Discussions are supported by results of the modal and full-wave analyses of antennas. The classical patch antenna is a basic building block of compared antennas. The multi-band behavior is achieved by etching perturbation slots to the patch, which influence resonant current distributions. The antennas are designed for GSM bands (900 MHz, 1 800 MHz), and for the Bluetooth band (2 400 MHz).
Gauge-invariant self-energies and vertex parts of the standard model in the pinch technique framework.

The pinch technique (PT) is applied to obtain one-loop gauge-invariant self-energies, vertex and box diagrams in the electroweak sector of the standard model. Describing the interaction of vector bosons with fermions in terms of current correlation functions, we propose to directly identify the pinch parts with the contributions of equal-time commutators in the relevant Ward identities. We argue that this procedure isolates the parts of vertex and box diagrams that are independent of strong interaction dynamics. The formalism promptly leads us to very simple gauge-invariant transverse self-energies, as well as vertex and box diagrams relevant to four-fermion processes mediated by charged and neutral currents. They automatically possess very desirable theoretical properties. We then apply the PT to {ital e}{sup +}{ital e{minus}} {r arrow}{ital W}{sup +}{ital W{minus}} and explicitly demonstrate that the propagatorlike pinch parts are absorbed in the same self-energies encountered in the four-fermion case. The PT self-energies and vertex corrections are compared with those obtained in other formulations. A number of applications are discussed, including the possibility of a gauge-invariant on-shell definition of the vector-boson mass.
Auditory-based processing of communication sounds

This thesis examines the possible benefits of adapting a biologicallyinspired model of human auditory processing as part of a machinehearing system. Features were generated by an auditory model, and used as input to machine learning systems to determine the content of the sound. Features were generated using the auditory image model (AIM) and were used for speech recognition and audio search. AIM comprises processing to simulate the human cochlea, and a ‘strobed temporal integration’ process which generates a stabilised auditory image (SAI) from the input sound. The communication sounds which are produced by humans, other animals, and many musical instruments take the form of a pulse-resonance signal: pulses excite resonances in the body, and the resonance following each pulse contains information both about the type of object producing the sound and its size. In the case of humans, vocal tract length (VTL) determines the size properties of the resonance. In the speech recognition experiments, an auditory filterbank was combined with a Gaussian fitting procedure to produce features which are invariant to changes in speaker VTL. These features were compared against standard mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) in a size-invariant syllable recognition task. The VTL-invariant representation was found to produce better results than MFCCs when the system was trained on syllables from simulated talkers of one range of VTLs and tested on those from simulated talkers with a different range of VTLs. The image stabilisation process of strobed temporal integration was analysed. Based on the properties of the auditory filterbank being used, theoretical constraints were placed on the properties of the dynamic thresholding function used to perform strobe detection. These constraints were used to specify a simple, yet robust, strobe detection algorithm. The syllable recognition system described above was then extended to produce features from profiles of the SAI and tested with the same syllable database as before. For clean speech, performance of the features was comparable to that of those generated from the filterbank output. However when pink noise was added to the stimuli,
Two approaches to singularity-consistent motion of nonredundant robotic mechanisms

In this paper we discuss the relation between the two approaches to velocity command generation for nonredundant robotic mechanisms, which the two groups of the authors proposed recently and independently of each other. It will be shown analytically that the singularity-consistent null space based approach, and the split Jacobian approach, are equivalent. Analysis of the behavior at a singularity will be presented from the viewpoint of both approaches. An analytical example will be used to demonstrate the theoretical results.
he quality of evidence in health informatics : How did the uality of healthcare IT evaluation publications develop rom 1982 to 2005 ?

Objective: To obtain an overview of study designs and study methods used in research evaluating IT in health care, to present a list of quality criteria by which all kinds of reported evaluation studies on IT systems in health care can be assessed, and to assess the quality of reported evaluation studies on IT in health care and its development over time (1982–2005). Methods: A generic 10-item list of quality indicators was developed based on existing literature on quality of medical and medical informatics publications. It is applicable to all kind of IT evaluation papers and not restricted to randomized controlled trials. One hundred and twenty explanatory papers evaluating the effects of an IT system in health care published between 1982 and 2005 were randomly selected from PubMed, the study designs and study methods were extracted, and the quality indicators were used to assess the quality of each paper by two independent raters. Results: The inter-rater variability of scoring the 10 quality indicators as assessed by a pre-test with nine papers was good (K = 0.87). There was a trend towards more multi-centre studies and authors coming more frequently from various departments. About 70% of the studies used a design other than a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Forty percent of the studies combined at least two different data acquisition methods. The quality of IT evaluation papers, as defined by the quality indicators, was only slightly improving in time (Spearman correlation coefficient [rs] = 0.19). The quality of RCTs publications was significantly higher than the quality of non-RCT studies (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The continuous and dominant number of non-RCT studies reflects the various approaches applicable to evaluate IT systems in health care. Despite the increasing discussion on evidence-based health informatics, the quality of published evaluation studies on IT interventions in health care is still insufficient in some aspects. Journal editors and referees should take care that reports of evaluation on IT systems contain all aspects needed for a sufficient understanding and reproducibility of a paper. Publication guidelines should be developed to support m ∗ Corresponding author. Tel. : +31 20 566 5205; fax: +31 20 691 9840. E-mail address: n.f. keizer@amc.uva. nl (N.F. de Keizer). 386-5056/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights res oi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf. 2006.11. 009 ore complete and better publications of IT evaluation papers. © 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Severity of depression and response to fluoxetine

Pooled data from multiple, double-blind clinical trials comparing fluoxetine with either placebo, a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) or both in patients with major depression were analyzed to assess the efficacy of these treatments in mild, moderate and severe depression. Fluoxetine-treated patients showed statistically significantly higher rates of response and remission than placebo-treated patients within all three severity subgroups. There were no differences in response or remission rates between fluoxetine and TCAs, regardless of symptom severity. Thus, the efficacy of fluoxetine was superior to placebo and similar to TCAs in mild, moderate and severe major depression.
A Y526Q Mutation in the Newcastle Disease Virus HN Protein Reduces Its Functional Activities and Attenuates Virus Replication and Pathogenicity

ABSTRACT The hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a multifunctional protein that plays a crucial role in virus infectivity. In this study, using the mesogenic strain Beaudette C (BC), we mutated three conserved amino acids thought to be part of the binding/catalytic active site in the HN protein. We also mutated five additional residues near the proposed active site that are nonconserved between BC and the avirulent strain LaSota. The eight recovered NDV HN mutants were assessed for effects on biological activities. While most of the mutations had surprisingly little effect, mutation at conserved residue Y526 reduced the neuraminidase, receptor binding, and fusion activities and attenuated viral virulence in eggs and young birds.
Inactivation of mitogen‐activated protein kinase is neither necessary nor sufficient for the onset of pronuclear formation in mouse oocytes

Mammalian oocytes are arrested at metaphase II due to high MAP kinase activity. After fertilization, oocytes resume meiosis, leading to female chromosome segregation, polar body emission and pronuclear (PN) formation. Previous biochemical studies showed that MAP kinase activity remained high for several hours after fertilization and began to decrease in parallel with PN formation. It has been thought that MAP kinase activity is incompatible with PN formation, and its inactivation is required for the initiation of PN formation in mammalian oocytes. In this study, we revisited this hypothesis by examining MAP kinase activity and PN formation in individual mouse oocytes using cytological analysis. We showed that MAP kinase activity in oocytes could be evaluated using phospho‐ERK1/2 immunofluorescent staining. Co‐immunofluorescent staining of phospho‐ERK1/2 and nuclear pore components showed that PN formation preceded MAP kinase inactivation and could be initiated while MAP kinase activity was still high. Moreover, artificial inactivation of MAP kinase or its downstream target, ribosomal S6 kinase, accelerated but did not rapidly induce PN formation. Our results show that although the MAP kinase pathway negatively regulates PN formation, its inactivation is neither necessary nor sufficient for PN formation. These results suggest the involvement of other essential factor(s) in this process.
Selective, potent blockade of the IRE1 and ATF6 pathways by 4‐phenylbutyric acid analogues

4‐Phenylbutyric acid (4‐PBA) is a chemical chaperone that eliminates the accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, its chaperoning ability is often weak and unable to attenuate the unfolded protein response (UPR) in vitro or in vivo. To develop more potent chemical chaperones, we synthesized six analogues of 4‐PBA and evaluated their pharmacological actions on the UPR.
Fast Tomographic Reconstruction via Rotation-Based Hierarchical Backprojection

We introduce a family of fast algorithms for tomographic backprojection in the parallel-beam geometry. The algorithms reduce the computational cost of backprojecting P projections onto an $N \times N$ pixel image from the conventional $O(N^2 P)$ to $O(N^2 \log P)$. The new algorithms aggregate the projections in a hierarchical structure, with images in the hierarchy formed by the rotation and addition of other images made up of fewer projections. While these algorithms are related to existing fast algorithms, this work places them within the signal processing framework, providing a systematic means to optimize and adjust the trade-off between computational cost and accuracy. Rotations are performed separably in order that higher-order interpolators may be used with low computational cost. The same ideas are applied to create a tomographic projection algorithm, which computes projections of an $N \times N$ pixel image onto P view-angles at a cost of $O(N^2 \log P)$.
Exercise induces transient transcriptional activation of the PGC‐1α gene in human skeletal muscle

Endurance exercise training induces mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle. The peroxisome proliferator activated receptor co‐activator 1α (PGC‐1α) has recently been identified as a nuclear factor critical for coordinating the activation of genes required for mitochondrial biogenesis in cell culture and rodent skeletal muscle. To determine whether PGC‐1α transcription is regulated by acute exercise and exercise training in human skeletal muscle, seven male subjects performed 4 weeks of one‐legged knee extensor exercise training. At the end of training, subjects completed 3 h of two‐legged knee extensor exercise. Biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis muscle of both the untrained and trained legs before exercise and after 0, 2, 6 and 24 h of recovery. Time to exhaustion (2 min maximum resistance), as well as hexokinase II (HKII), citrate synthase and 3‐hydroxyacyl‐CoA dehydrogenase mRNA, were higher in the trained than the untrained leg prior to exercise. Exercise induced a marked transient increase (P < 0.05) in PGC‐1α transcription (10‐ to > 40‐fold) and mRNA content (7‐ to 10‐fold), peaking within 2 h after exercise. Activation of PGC‐1α was greater in the trained leg despite the lower relative workload. Interestingly, exercise did not affect nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF‐1) mRNA, a gene induced by PGC‐1α in cell culture. HKII, mitochondrial transcription factor A, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor α, and calcineurin Aα and Aβ mRNA were elevated (≈2‐ to 6‐fold; P < 0.05) at 6 h of recovery in the untrained leg but did not change in the trained leg. The present data demonstrate that exercise induces a dramatic transient increase in PGC‐1α transcription and mRNA content in human skeletal muscle. Consistent with its role as a transcriptional coactivator, these findings suggest that PGC‐1α may coordinate the activation of metabolic genes in human muscle in response to exercise.
Low-Profile Dual-Band Pattern Diversity Patch Antenna Based on Composite Right/Left-Handed Transmission Line

A low-profile patch antenna with pattern diversity is proposed. The topology combines an annular ring together with a center-fed circular patch. The composite right/left-handed transmission line is loaded on both the annular ring and the circular patch, to realize the 2.4/3.5-GHz dual-band operation. The outer annular ring works at its first pair of symmetric modes, which results in broadside radiation patterns, while the inner circular patch provides omnidirectional patterns in the horizontal plane, as a consequence of its physical circular symmetry. The field distribution is analyzed to verify the operational principle. By optimizing the feeding network, the antenna reaches a good impedance matching in both bands. A prototype is fabricated, and the measured results agree well with the simulated ones. The measured correlation coefficient is lower than 0.04 and 0.05 in the lower and upper band, respectively.