Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contraction-relaxation coupling: determination of the onset of diastole.

Left ventricular relaxation is dependent on afterload conditions during systole. An abrupt increase in afterload while the ventricle is actively contracting prolongs the duration of systole. An increase in afterload during ventricular relaxation shortens the duration of systole. Therefore, we hypothesized that the point during systole when an abrupt increase in afterload had no effect on the duration of systole represented the onset of ventricular relaxation. To determine when this point occurs, we performed aortic occlusions progressively throughout the duration of systole in six dogs. We determined the change in systolic time ( t sys) after an intervention normalized to t sys of a control beat ( t sys,i/ t sys,c) as a function of systolic occlusion time as a percentage of total systolic time ( t occ/ t sys,c), where t sys is the duration from time of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure to the time of minimum first derivative of left ventricular pressure. Our results show the onset of left ventricular relaxation during normal ejection occurs at 34 ± 3% of systolic time and ∼16% after the onset of ejection. Thus the beginning of relaxation occurs soon after the beginning of ejection, suggesting that relaxation is modulated by variable loading conditions during ejection, significantly before what has been conventionally been assumed to be the beginning of ventricular relaxation.
Fatigue: Where Did We Come from and How Did We Get Here?

: This paper highlights some key concepts related to fatigue and the seminal role of the 1981 Ciba Foundation Symposia "Human Muscle Fatigue: Physiological Mechanisms" chaired by R.H. T. Edwards in consolidating key ideas that have moved the study of fatigue forward since that time. I also consider these concepts in their historical context via the pioneering work of the Italian physiologist and social activist Angelo Mosso in the late 1800s. Finally, fatigue as a multidimensional concept with implications beyond muscle physiology is considered.
Visuospatial processing in adolescents with critical congenital heart disease: Organization, integration, and implications for academic achievement

ABSTRACT Among the most significant factors affecting quality of life in individuals with critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) are neurodevelopmental challenges, including deficits in visuospatial processing and academic achievement. Few studies have compared outcomes across CCHD subgroups, despite their significant differences in anatomy/physiology and medical/surgical courses. This study compared visuospatial processing abilities using the Developmental Scoring System for the Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure (DSS-ROCF) across groups of adolescents with CCHD (d-transposition of the great arteries [TGA, n = 139], Tetralogy of Fallot [TOF, n = 68], single-ventricle cardiac anatomy requiring the Fontan operation [SVF, n = 145]) and a group of healthy controls (CTR, n = 111), and examined the validity of visuospatial processing in predicting concurrent academic outcomes. The CCHD subgroups were found to differ in Organization, ps < . 001, Structural Accuracy, ps < . 001, and Incidental Elements Accuracy scores, ps ≤ . 008; the post hoc analyses show that the SVF group tended to underperform compared to the other CCHD groups. With respect to academic skills, all CCHD groups scored lower than the CTR group, ps ≤ . 007; however, the CCHD groups were not different from each other, ps > . 23. The regression results showed that the DSS-ROCF Style rating (reflecting integration) accounted for a small yet statistically significant portion of unique variance in “assembled” academic outcomes, over and above the variance already accounted for by DSS-ROCF Organization, p < . 01. These findings support the need for comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and monitoring of children and adolescents with CCHD, as well as targeted intervention for organization and integration deficits that may increase their risk for academic underachievement.
Role of TNFR1 and TNFR2 receptors in tubulointerstitial fibrosis of obstructive nephropathy.

Unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) results in tubulointerstitial fibrosis of the obstructed kidney. In this study, we report the contribution of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) to the fibrosis that develops after ureteral obstruction. Mice in which individual TNF-α receptors TNFR1 or TNFR2 had been genetically knocked out were used, and results were compared with mice of C57Bl/6 background after 5 days UUO. Both kidneys were removed and examined histologically for changes in interstitial volume (Vvint), collagen IV deposition, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) matrix score, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity, and TNF-α mRNA levels. We found that the Vvint of contralateral unobstructed kidneys averaged ∼7% and was indistinguishable among the three genotypes of mice. Vvintof ureteral obstructed kidney of C57Bl/6 mice averaged 33 ± 3.9% after 5 days of UUO. Vvint of obstructed kidneys of TNFR1 mice was significantly reduced to 19.4 ± 3.1%, whereas that of TNFR2 mice was significantly decreased to 25.4% ± 4.8%. There was a modest but significant difference between Vvint of TNFR1 and TNFR2 ( P < 0.047). Both collagen IV and α-SMA matrix scores were decreased significantly in obstructed kidney of TNFR1 mouse compared with that of C57Bl/6 and TNFR2 mice. Nuclear extracts prepared from kidney cortex were found to have a significant increase in NF-κB binding activity in obstructed kidney compared with contralateral kidney. Individual knockout of the TNFR1 or TNFR2 genes resulted in significantly less NF-κB activation compared with the wild type, with TNFR1 being less than TNFR2 knockout. There was a significant increase in TNF-α mRNA in the kidney with ureteral obstruction in all three genotypes. TNFR1 knockout displayed a significant reduction in amount of TNF-α mRNA induced compared with wild-type or TNFR2 knockout mice. Treatment of TNFR1 knockout mice with an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor further decreased Vvint and TNF-α mRNA induction, suggesting an interaction of ANG II and TNF-α systems. These results suggest that TNF-α contributes, in part, to changes in interstitial volume, myofibroblast differentiation, and NF-κB activation in the kidney during ureteral obstruction. These changes appear to be mediated through both TNFR1 and TNFR2 gene products with effects through the TNFR1 receptor predominating. Furthermore, ANG II appears to stimulate TNF-α pathophysiological events leading to renal fibrosis.
Lactate metabolism during exercise: analysis by an integrative systems model.

To provide a framework for quantitative analysis of metabolic and transport processes associated with ATP production during exercise, we adapted a recently developed model that links cellular metabolism and its control to whole body responses at rest. The enhanced model is based on dynamic mass balances for glycogen, glucose, pyruvate (PY), lactate (LA), O2, and CO2 and is solved numerically to simulate responses to acute (<20 min), moderate exercise (i.e., below the LA threshold, less than ∼60% maximal rate of O2 uptake). Simulations of responses to a step change in muscle ATP turnover predict substrate changes in muscle, splanchnic, and other tissues compartments, as well as changes in other metabolites (e.g., NADH, ADP) whose reactions are coupled to the main reactions. Even a significant (64%) decrease in muscle O2concentration ([Formula: see text]) did not affect muscle O2 consumption. Model simulations of moderate exercise show that 1) muscle oxygenation is sufficient ([Formula: see text] >2 mM) even during the transient state; 2) transient increases in concentration of muscle LA and arterial concentration of LA are associated with increases in glycolysis from increases in ADP/ATP and in LA production associated with a rise in NADH/NAD; 3) muscle ADP/ATP reaches a higher steady state that stimulates glycolysis, glycogenolysis, and oxidative phosphorylation to match the ATP demand; and 4) muscle NADH/NAD reaches a lower steady state that stimulates LA oxidation. It is suggested that the continuous stimulation of ATP synthesis processes during moderate exercise is mainly due to a higher ADP/ATP, not to a higher NADH/NAD. Critical measurements needed to quantify metabolic control mechanisms are identified.
Adaptive QoS-Driven Scheduling Framework for a Continuous Query System

In a continuous query environment, different applications may have distinct Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. Given the unpredictability of streaming data, utilizing a single scheduling algorithm, as done by current state-of-the-art stream query engines, is no longer sufficient. Current scheduling algorithms used in these systems are typically one-dimensional, limiting the ability to perform well under changing system conditions. We propose a novel algorithm selection framework used in our CAPE system. This framework leverages the strengths of current scheduling algorithms to meet sets of QoS requirements. In CAPE, each algorithm can be compared in terms of its past ability to improve the QoS, knowing nothing about the characteristics of the algorithm. This knowledge can be used to determine the algorithm that probabilistically has the best chance of improving the QoS. Our framework has the flexibility to add new algorithms, query plans and data sets during runtime, with no need to fine-tune the algorithm to the system. Using standard data sets and query plans from existing literature on scheduling, our experiments show in fact that, this new framework combines the relative strengths of these algorithms while adhering to given QoS requirements.
The Development of a Machine Learning Inpatient Acute Kidney Injury Prediction Model*

Objectives: To develop an acute kidney injury risk prediction model using electronic health record data for longitudinal use in hospitalized patients. Design: Observational cohort study. Setting: Tertiary, urban, academic medical center from November 2008 to January 2016. Patients: All adult inpatients without pre-existing renal failure at admission, defined as first serum creatinine greater than or equal to 3.0 mg/dL, International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, code for chronic kidney disease stage 4 or higher or having received renal replacement therapy within 48 hours of first serum creatinine measurement. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Demographics, vital signs, diagnostics, and interventions were used in a Gradient Boosting Machine algorithm to predict serum creatinine–based Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes stage 2 acute kidney injury, with 60% of the data used for derivation and 40% for validation. Area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated in the validation cohort, and subgroup analyses were conducted across admission serum creatinine, acute kidney injury severity, and hospital location. Among the 121,158 included patients, 17,482 (14.4%) developed any Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes acute kidney injury, with 4,251 (3.5%) developing stage 2. The AUC (95% CI) was 0.90 (0.90–0.90) for predicting stage 2 acute kidney injury within 24 hours and 0.87 (0.87–0.87) within 48 hours. The AUC was 0.96 (0.96–0.96) for receipt of renal replacement therapy (n = 821) in the next 48 hours. Accuracy was similar across hospital settings (ICU, wards, and emergency department) and admitting serum creatinine groupings. At a probability threshold of greater than or equal to 0.022, the algorithm had a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 85% for stage 2 acute kidney injury and predicted the development of stage 2 a median of 41 hours (interquartile range, 12–141 hr) prior to the development of stage 2 acute kidney injury. Conclusions: Readily available electronic health record data can be used to predict impending acute kidney injury prior to changes in serum creatinine with excellent accuracy across different patient locations and admission serum creatinine. Real-time use of this model would allow early interventions for those at high risk of acute kidney injury.
Males prefer virgin females, even if parasitized, in the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare

Abstract In many species, males increase their reproductive success by choosing high‐quality females. In natural populations, they interact with both virgin and mated females, which can store sperm in their spermatheca. Therefore, males elaborate strategies to avoid sperm competition. In the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare, females can store sperm and produce several clutches. Moreover, this species can be parasitized by Wolbachia, which feminizes genetic males, transforming them into functional females. Our study compared attractiveness and mate choice when a male is exposed to both virgin and experienced females (i.e., females who have produced offspring and rested for 6 months), with or without Wolbachia. Our results revealed that males are more attracted to virgin females than experienced females, even if these virgin females are parasitized. Moreover, the chemical analysis highlighted different odors in females according to their reproductive and infection (Wolbachia‐free or vertically Wolbachia‐infected) status. Males attempted copulation more frequently and for longer with virgin females, even if Wolbachia‐infected, while experienced females refused further copulation. The evolutionary consequences of both male choice and female resistance on their fitness are discussed in this study.
Applying the Health Belief Model to college students' health behavior

The purpose of this research was to investigate how university students' nutrition beliefs influence their health behavioral intention. This study used an online survey engine (Qulatrics.com) to collect data from college students. Out of 253 questionnaires collected, 251 questionnaires (99.2%) were used for the statistical analysis. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) revealed that six dimensions, "Nutrition Confidence," "Susceptibility," "Severity," "Barrier," "Benefit," "Behavioral Intention to Eat Healthy Food," and "Behavioral Intention to do Physical Activity," had construct validity; Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliabilities were tested for item reliability. The results validate that objective nutrition knowledge was a good predictor of college students' nutrition confidence. The results also clearly showed that two direct measures were significant predictors of behavioral intentions as hypothesized. Perceived benefit of eating healthy food and perceived barrier for eat healthy food to had significant effects on Behavioral Intentions and was a valid measurement to use to determine Behavioral Intentions. These findings can enhance the extant literature on the universal applicability of the model and serve as useful references for further investigations of the validity of the model within other health care or foodservice settings and for other health behavioral categories.
Acute aerobic exercise helps overcome emotion regulation deficits

ABSTRACT Although colloquial wisdom and some studies suggest an association between regular aerobic exercise and emotional well-being, the nature of this link remains poorly understood. We hypothesised that aerobic exercise may change the way people respond to their emotions. Specifically, we tested whether individuals experiencing difficulties with emotion regulation would benefit from a previous session of exercise and show swifter recovery than their counterparts who did not exercise. Participants (N = 80) completed measures of emotion response tendencies, mood, and anxiety, and were randomly assigned to either stretch or jog for 30 minutes. All participants then underwent the same negative and positive mood inductions, and reported their emotional responses. Analyses showed that more perceived difficulty generating regulatory strategies and engaging in goal-directed behaviours after the negative mood induction predicted more intense and persistent negative affect in response to the stressor, as would be expected. Interactions revealed that aerobic exercise attenuated these effects. Moderate aerobic exercise may help attenuate negative emotions for participants initially experiencing regulatory difficulties. This study contributes to the literature on aerobic exercise’s therapeutic effects with experimental data, specifically in the realm of emotional processing.
Learning important models for web page blocks based on layout and content analysis

Previous work shows that a web page can be partitioned into multiple segments or blocks, and often the importance of those blocks in a page is not equivalent. It has also been proven that differentiating noisy and unimportant blocks from pages can facilitate web mining, search and accessibility. However, no uniform approach and model has been presented to measure the importance of different blocks in a web page. Through a user study, we found that people do have a consistent view about the importance of blocks in a web page. Thus, we investigate how to find a model to automatically assign importance values to blocks in a web page. We formulate the block importance estimation as a learning problem. First, we use a vision-based page segmentation technique to partition a web page into semantic blocks with a hierarchical structure. Then spatial features (such as position and size) and content features (such as the number of images and links) are extracted to construct a feature vector for each block. Then, learning algorithms are used to train a model to assign importance to each block in the web page. In our experiments, the best model can achieve the performance with Micro-F1 80.2% and Micro-Accuracy 86.8%.
Protein intake during the period of complementary feeding and early childhood and the association with body mass index and percentage body fat at 7 y of age.

BACKGROUND A high protein intake during infancy and early childhood has been proposed to increase the risk of subsequent obesity. OBJECTIVE We analyzed the association of different protein intakes during 6-24 mo with body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) and percentage body fat (%BF) at 7 y of age. DESIGN The analyses included 203 participants of the DOrtmund Nutritional and Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study with complete information on early diet (6, 12, and 18-24 mo) and anthropometric data at the age of 7 y. The median of energy-adjusted protein intakes (in g/d) was used to distinguish different patterns of low and high protein intakes throughout the first 2 y of life, which were then related to BMI SD scores (SDSs), %BF, and the risk of overweight and overfatness at 7 y of age. RESULTS Although protein intake at 6 mo of age was not associated with the outcomes, a consistently high protein intake at the ages of 12 and 18-24 mo was independently related to a higher mean BMI SDS and %BF at the age of 7 y [BMI SDS: 0.37 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.61) compared with 0.08 (95% CI: -0.09, 0.26), P = 0.04; %BF: 18.37 (95% CI: 17.29, 19.51%) compared with 16.91 (95% CI: 16.19, 17.66%), P = 0.01] and a higher risk of having a BMI or %BF above the 75th percentile at that age [odds ratio for BMI: 2.39 (95% CI: 1.14, 4.99), P = 0.02); odds ratio for %BF: 2.28 (95% CI: 1.06, 4.88), P = 0.03]. CONCLUSIONS High protein intakes during the period of complementary feeding and the transition to the family diet are associated with an unfavorable body composition at the age of 7 y.
Diets containing barley significantly reduce lipids in mildly hypercholesterolemic men and women.

BACKGROUND Barley has high amounts of soluble fiber but is not extensively consumed in the US diet. OBJECTIVE This study investigated whether consumption of barley would reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors comparably with that of other sources of soluble fiber. DESIGN Mildly hypercholesterolemic subjects (9 postmenopausal women, 9 premenopausal women, and 7 men) consumed controlled American Heart Association Step 1 diets for 17 wk. After a 2-wk adaptation period, whole-grain foods containing 0, 3, or 6 g beta-glucan/d from barley were included in the Step 1 diet menus. Diets were consumed for 5 wk each and were fed in a Latin-square design. Fasting blood samples were collected twice weekly. RESULTS Total cholesterol was significantly lower when the diet contained 3 or 6 g beta-glucan/d from barley than when it contained no beta-glucan; the greatest change occurred in the men and postmenopausal women. HDL and triacylglycerol concentrations did not differ with the 3 amounts of dietary beta-glucan. Large LDL and small VLDL fractions and mean LDL particle size significantly decreased when whole grains were incorporated into the 3 diets. Large LDL and large and intermediate HDL fractions were significantly higher, mean LDL particle size was significantly greater, and intermediate VLDL fractions were significantly lower in the postmenopausal women than in the other 2 groups. A group-by-diet interaction effect was observed on LDL fractions and small LDL particle size. CONCLUSION The addition of barley to a healthy diet may be effective in lowering total and LDL cholesterol in both men and women.
Euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp to assess posthepatic glucose appearance after carbohydrate loading. 1. Validation in pigs.

BACKGROUND Precise knowledge of the rate of glucose absorption after meal feeding requires invasive methods in humans. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to validate in an animal model a technique combining the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp and oral carbohydrate loading (OC-Clamp) as a noninvasive procedure to quantify the posthepatic appearance of glucose after oral carbohydrate loading. DESIGN Twenty-one pigs were fitted with arterial, jugular, portal, and duodenal catheters and a portal blood flow probe. At glucose clamp steady state, duodenal glucose (0.9 g/kg; DG-Clamp) and oral carbohydrate (140 g corn or mung bean starch as part of a mixed meal; OC-Clamp) were administered while the glucose infusion was progressively reduced to compensate for the incremental posthepatic appearance of glucose. [3-3H]glucose was used to assess the glucose turnover rate. RESULTS Hepatic glucose production was totally suppressed by insulin infusion, and the whole-body glucose turnover rate remained stable during glucose absorption. The incremental portal appearance of glucose after the DG load was not altered by hyperinsulinemia, and the cumulative posthepatic appearance of glucose was 63 +/- 3% (x +/- SEM) of the DG load. The net hepatic portal appearance of glucose remained constant during absorption (34 +/- 3% of the load). After the OC load, the respective portal appearance rates of glucose were significantly different between carbohydrate sources; however, the rates paralleled those of the posthepatic appearance of glucose. Again, net hepatic glucose uptake expressed as portal appearance was similar for both carbohydrates. CONCLUSIONS The results validate the OC-Clamp method to monitor the posthepatic appearance of glucose after carbohydrate ingestion and to discriminate between different carbohydrate sources. The results suggest that the technique be used in humans.