Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inflammation marker, damage marker and anabolic hormone responses to resistance training with vascular restriction in older males

The goal of this study was to examine anabolic hormone, muscle damage marker and inflammation marker responses to two types of resistance training protocols in older men. Thirty‐six healthy older males (mean age = 56·6 ± 0·6 years) completed 6 weeks of high‐intensity resistance training (HI‐RT), low‐intensity resistance training with vascular restriction (LI‐BFR) or no exercise control group (CON) three times per week. Three upper body exercises were performed by both exercise groups at the same intensity (at 80% 1‐RM), but lower body exercises were performed by the HI‐RT group at 80% 1‐RM and by the LI‐BFR group at 20% 1‐RM with vascular restriction. Resting serum creatine kinase (CK), interleukin 6 (IL‐6), insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I), IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP‐3) and testosterone (T) were measured before and after training. No significant group differences in resting CK, IL‐6, IGF‐I, IGFBP‐3 and T were detected following training (P>0·05). In addition, there were no significant changes in muscle cross‐sectional area (CSA), but a trend for significant decreases in the percent changes in thigh subcutaneous fat (P = 0·051). Although training‐induced anabolic hormone response did not reach statistical significance, our findings on CK and IL‐6 indicated that the LI‐BFR training protocol was safe and well tolerated for older men to perform to improve muscular strength.
Outbreaks of egg drop syndrome due to EDS-76 virus in quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Two outbreaks of the egg drop syndrome were observed in quail flocks maintained on a farm together with chickens. The decrease in egg production ranged from 10.6 per cent to 50.6 per cent, and the number of soft-shelled eggs increased with the decline in egg production. In both the outbreaks haemagglutination inhibiting antibodies to EDS-76 virus were detected. Fluorescent viral antigen specific to EDS-76 virus was also detected in the lining epithelial and glandular cells of the uterus.
A history of investigation on the mood stabilizing effect of carbamazepine in Japan

Abstract A history of investigation on the antimanic and prophylactic effects of carbamazepine in Japan is described. Following the initial open trials in the early 1970s in which the antimanic and prophylactic effects of carbamazepine were indicated for the first time in the world, the mood stabilizing effect was confirmed by the double blind studies which were performed with a multi‐institutional cooperation in Japan in the late 1970s. During the course of the double blind trials, the problem of different therapeutic dosages of psychotropic drugs between Japan and Western countries emerged; that is, the doses of chlorpromazine and lithium carbonate, which were used as the control drugs to carbamazepine in the two double‐blind group‐comparison studies in Japan, were both much lower than the dosage used in most of the Western countries. The low dosage of control drugs made the evaluation of the results of the double blind studies performed in Japan difficult, and caused a delay of publication in the Western journals of the results. Whether the difference is due to biological factors or to psychosocial and cultural factors is an important problem in psychopharmacology and should be investigated further.
Increasing minority participation in information assurance

In fall semester 2005, the Computer & Information Sciences Department at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, a historical black college and university, introduced an information assurance certificate track. The introduction of new courses into any curriculum presents the traditional problems. This paper provides an overview of our experience in establishing an undergraduate information assurance certificate program. Specifically, details are given about the new information assurance courses and the different instructional methodologies used. Additionally, a summary of student feedback, lesson learned by faculty, and possible future directions are given.
Impairment of endothelial functions by acute hyperhomocysteinemia and reversal by antioxidant vitamins.

CONTEXT Increased levels of homocysteine are associated with risk of cardiovascular disease. Homocysteine may cause this risk by impairing endothelial cell function. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of acute hyperhomocysteinemia with and without antioxidant vitamin pretreatment on cardiovascular risk factors and endothelial functions. DESIGN AND SETTING Observer-blinded, randomized crossover study conducted at a university hospital in Italy. SUBJECTS Twenty healthy hospital staff volunteers (10 men, 10 women) aged 25 to 45 years. INTERVENTIONS Subjects were given each of 3 loads in random order at 1-week intervals: oral methionine, 100 mg/kg in fruit juice; the same methionine load immediately following ingestion of antioxidant vitamin E, 800 IU, and ascorbic acid, 1000 mg; and methionine-free fruit juice (placebo). Ten of the 20 subjects also ingested a placebo load with vitamins. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Lipid, coagulation, glucose, and circulating adhesion molecule parameters, blood pressure, and endothelial functions as assessed by hemodynamic and rheologic responses to L-arginine, evaluated at baseline and 4 hours following ingestion of the loads. RESULTS The oral methionine load increased mean (SD) plasma homocysteine level from 10.5 (3.8) micromol/L at baseline to 27.1 (6.7) micromol/L at 4 hours (P<.001). A similar increase was observed with the same load plus vitamins (10.0 [4.0] to 22.7 [7.8] micromol/L; P<.001) but no significant increase was observed with placebo (10.1 [3.7] to 10.4 [3.2] micromol/L; P=.75). Coagulation and circulating adhesion molecule levels significantly increased after methionine ingestion alone (P<.05) but not after placebo or methionine ingestion with vitamins. While the mean (SD) blood pressure (-7.0% [2.7%]; P<.001), platelet aggregation response to adenosine diphosphate (-11.4% [4.5%]; P=.009) and blood viscosity (-3.0% [1.2%]; P=.04) declined in these parameters 10 minutes after an L-arginine load (3 g) following placebo, the increase after methionine alone (-2.3% [1.5%], 4.0% [3.0%], and 1.5% [1.0%], respectively; P<.05), did not occur following methionine load with vitamin pretreatment (-6.3% [2.5%], -7.9% [3.5%], and -1.5% [1.0%], respectively; P=.24). CONCLUSION Our data suggest that mild to moderate elevations of plasma homocysteine levels in healthy subjects activate coagulation, modify the adhesive properties of endothelium, and impair the vascular responses to L-arginine. Pretreatment with antioxidant vitamin E and ascorbic acid blocks the effects of hyperhomocysteinemia, suggesting an oxidative mechanism.
SENYAWA BIOAKTIF DARI RUMPUT LAUT SEBAGAI ANTIOKSIDAN

Radikal bebas merupakan molekul yang kehilangan salah satu elektron dan sangat reaktif. Molekul ini berusaha mencari elektron lain dari berbagai sumber termasuk molekul biologis untuk menjadi stabil. Radikal bebas ini dapat merusak membran fosfolipid, mempercepat proses penuaan serta menimbulkan berbagai penyakit. Pembentukan radikal bebas dalam tubuh manusia dapat terjadi secara alami maupun induksi dari lingkungan yang akan didiskusikan bersama dengan kerusakan molekulernya. Antioksidan yang adalah senyawa yang mampu menetralkan radikal bebas tersebut dapat berasal dari dalam atau dari luar tubuh manusia melalui makanan yang dikonsumsi. Rumput laut merupakan salah satu sumber antioksidan karena mengandung senyawa bioaktif seperti karotenoid, senyawa fenol dan turunannya, sulfat polisakarida, dan vitamin. Review ini akan memberikan uraian tentang senyawa-senyawa bioaktif tersebut sebagai sumber antioksidan alami. Mekanisme antioksidan karotenoid, fenol dan turunannya, serta vitamin rumput laut yang diuraikan adalah melalui abstraksi atom hidrogen; sedangkan uraian mekanisme pada sulfat polisakarida dan fikobilin masih diselidiki. Selanjutnya, berbagai senyawa bioaktif dari beberapa spesies rumput laut, dan penelitian yang membuktikan kemampuan antioksidan rumput laut juga akan diuraikan. Kata kunci: Senyawa Bioaktif, Rumput Laut, Antioksidan, Radikal Bebas
Comparison of fresh frozen serum to traditional proficiency testing material in a College of American Pathologists survey for ferritin, folate, and vitamin B12.

CONTEXT Comparison of different analytical methods in proficiency surveys may be affected by the artificial nature of the survey material. OBJECTIVE To compare intermethod differences in proficiency survey results between 2 types of survey material, conventional proficiency testing material (PTM) and fresh frozen human serum (FFS), for 3 markers of anemia: ferritin, folate, and vitamin B12. DESIGN Data were gathered from a 2003 survey event in the College of American Pathologists Ligand ("K") Series, in which the specimens to be tested by each participating laboratory included 1 vial of FFS and 2 vials of PTM with different analyte concentrations. The more than 1600 laboratories subscribing to the survey were not advised as to the nature of the specimens. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The bias of each method relative to the median of method means for each analyte and each type of survey material, and the interlaboratory coefficient of variation for each method. RESULTS For each of the 3 analytes, moderate to large method biases were observed. For ferritin, method biases correlated strongly between comparable PTM and FFS specimens (Spearman r = 0.863, P < .001), whereas virtually no correlation was found for folate (r = -0.224, P = .48), and a marginally significant correlation existed for B12 (r = 0.55, P = .049). CONCLUSIONS With ferritin, proficiency survey performance of PTM is similar to that of FFS, implying that method biases relate mainly to calibration. With folate and to a lesser extent with B12, PTM and FFS exhibit different method biases, implying that the biases reflect analyte heterogeneity and/or matrix effects.
Language Disorders From Infancy Through Adolescence: Assessment & Intervention

"Language Disorders From Infancy Through Adolescence, 2e" provides students with the information needed to properly assess childhood language disorders and provide appropriate treatments. Using a developmental approach, the text covers language development from birth to adolescence. The book is divided into three sections: the first deals with issues in language development, which are common to all developmental stages, such as how disorders are defined and organized. The second addresses language development from birth to the end of preschool (until age 5). The third handles language development from age five through adolescence. The developmental organization of the book is unique and has scored high ratings with faculty. The very engaging writing style, first person, has made this book very popular with students at the graduate level. Due to its readability, undergraduate students find the subject matter easy to comprehend. Theoretical and clinical content are effectively balanced, making the product not only a good text but an excellent clinical reference as well.
Compressive sensing based narrowband interference cancellation for power line communication systems

A novel compressive sensing (CS) based narrowband interference (NBI) cancellation approach for power line communication (PLC) systems is proposed in this paper. The repeated training sequences of the preamble in PLC systems are utilized for differential measuring to acquire the measuring vector. Under the CS framework, the sparse high-dimensional NBI signal can be reconstructed from the measuring vector of much smaller size obtained through the proposed CS-based differential measuring (CSDM) method. It is verified by theoretical analysis and simulations that the proposed method outperforms conventional anti-NBI methods under the PLC channel.
Analysis of an online health social network

With the continued advances of Web 2.0, health-centered Online Social Networks (OSNs) are emerging to provide knowledge and support for those interested in managing their own health. Despite the success of the OSNs for better connecting the users through sharing statuses, photos, blogs, and so on, it is unclear how the users are willing to share health related information and whether these specialpurpose OSNs can actually change the users' health behaviors to become more healthy. This paper provides an empirical analysis of a health OSN, which allows its users to record their foods and exercises, to track their diet progress towards weight-change goals, and to socialize and group with each other for community support. Based on about five month data collected from more than 107,000 users, we studied their weigh-in behaviors and tracked their weight-change progress. We found that the users' weight changes correlated positively with the number of their friends and their friends' weight-change performance. We also show that the users' weight changes have rippling effects in the OSN due to the social influence. The strength of such online influence and its propagation distance appear to be greater than those in the real-world social network. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first detailed study of a large-scale modern health OSN.
The Influence of a Two-Day Recruitment Event on Female Upper Secondary Students’ Motivation for Science and Technology Higher Education

This paper reports on how female students’ motivation for higher education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) was influenced by the recruitment event The Girls’ Day at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. In the event, high-achieving females in their last year of upper secondary school visited the university for two days filled with lectures, introduction to study programmes, and interaction with STEM students. Questionnaire and focus group data were collected at several times after the event. The findings indicate that the event influenced the participants’ STEM motivations by affecting their expectation of success and subjective value of STEM tertiary education. Meeting university STEM students was emphasized as the most important factor. These students provided ‘trustworthy’ information, and served as achievable role models helping the participants to see themselves as future STEM students. The majority of the participants rated the costs (in terms of required effort) of studying STEM higher after the event than they did before, but this did not weaken their expectation of success. While learning about the difficulty and required effort, the participants were also introduced to strategies for coping with these costs: study groups, tutor support, and ‘it is tough for everyone’ attitudes.
Resource Utilization Mechanism for Multi-Rate Ultra-Wide Band Networks

Ultra-wideband (UWB) communications has emerged as a burgeoning technology for high data rate wireless personal area networks (WPANs). In this paper, we propose a novel resource utilization mechanism (RUM) for improving the throughput in multi-rate UWB-based WPANs. RUM is intended to remedy a critical issue in both unicast and multicast transmissions. In unicast (single- and multi-hop), the connectivity of a source-destination pair is defined by the ability to overhear control messages (e.g., route requests, request-to-send/clear-to-send, etc.). These messages are usually sent at a low transmission rate to extend their reachability, hence a node can directly communicate with faraway destinations. Such destinations cannot be reliably reached by high transmission rates. This leads to a long channel reservation time and hence a high blocking probability for prospective reservations and low network throughput. In the case of multicast, the maximum transmission rate is bottlenecked by the farthest destination. RUM exploits opportunistic-relaying and time-spreading techniques to improve link reliability and increase the transmission rate, and hence network throughput. Simulations are used to demonstrate the performance gain of RUM.
Prognostic Value and Physiological Correlates of Heart Rate Variability in Chronic Severe Mitral Regurgitation

BackgroundA variety of measures of heart rate variability have been devised to measure high-frequency (0.15-0.40 Hz), low-frequency (0.04-0.15 Hz), or ultralow-frequency (<0.0033 Hz) fluctuations in sinus cycle length. Although measures of low-frequency and ultralow-frequency heart rate variability have been shown to correlate with prognosis in several populations with ischemic heart disease, their relevance to patients with primary valvular heart disease remains to be determined. Methods and ResultsThirty-eight patients with nonischemic causes of chronic severe mitral regurgitationeee who were in sinus rhythm underwent 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography as part of a prospective study of the natural history of regurgitant valvular heart disease. Patients were followed for as long as 9.2 years, and end points of mortality, progression to mitral valve surgery, and development of chronic atrial fibrillation were tabulated. Time- and frequency-domain measurements of high-frequency, low-frequency, and ultralow-frequency heart rate variability were computed and compared with resting ventricular function by radionuclide cineangiography and outcome. The standard deviation of the 5-minute mean RR intervals (SDANN), a measure of ultralow-frequency heart rate variability, was correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction (R=0.49, P=0.002) and right ventricular ejection fraction (R=0.43, p=0.007), whereas low-frequency and high-frequency heart rate variabilities were not. Heart rate, ultralow-frequency heart rate variability, and, to a lesser extent, high-frequency heart rate variability exhibited significant diurnal variation, but low-frequency heart rate variability did not. Heart rate and ultralow-frequency, low-frequency, and combined low- and high-frequency heart rate variability predicted mortality and total events. The most powerful predictor of subsequent events was SDANN. Patients with reduced SDANN were significantly more likely to develop end-point events (P<0.001) with increased progression to mitral valve surgery (P < 0.001) as well as increased early mortality (P=0.02). In a multivariate proportional hazards model, SDANN retained independent predictive power (p=0.001). Likewise, SDANN was the only variable that was significantly associated with the subsequent development of atrial fibrillation (relative risk, 3.1; P=0.03). ConclusionsUltralow-frequency heart rate variability, as measured by SDANN, correlates with right and left ventricular performance and predicts development of atrial fibrillation, mortality, and progression to valve surgery in patients with chronic severe mitral regurgitation.
The Active Site of ICP47, a Herpes Simplex Virus–encoded Inhibitor of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC)-encoded Peptide Transporter Associated with Antigen Processing (TAP), Maps to the NH2-terminal 35 Residues

The herpes simplex virus (HSV) immediate early protein ICP47 inhibits the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP)-dependent peptide translocation. As a consequence, empty major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum and recognition of HSV-infected cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes is abolished. We chemically synthesized full-length ICP47 (sICP47) and show that sICP47 inhibits TAP-dependent peptide translocation in human cells. Its biological activity is indistinguishable from that of recombinant ICP47 (rICP47). By using synthetic peptides, we mapped the core sequence of ICP47 minimally required for TAP inhibition to residues 2–35. This segment is located within the region of the molecule conserved between ICP47 from HSV-1 and HSV-2. Through alanine scanning substitution we identified three segments within this region that are critical for the ability to inhibit TAP function. The interaction of ICP47 with TAP is unlikely to mimic precisely that of the transported peptides, as deduced from differential labeling of the TAP1 and TAP2 subunits using sICP47 fragments with chemical cross-linkers.
The urban female labour market in Latin America: the myth and the reality

Latin America has partly overcome the short-term adjustment stage following the external debt crisis and is now in a stage of restructuring marked by opening up to external markets. These changes, which have included the reorganization of production processes, with the incorporation of new technologies, have altered the composition of the labour market and had a strong impact on Women's labour participation. One of the most noticeable effects has been what is known as the 'feminization of the labour force' . The broad structural trends, at times magnified by the crisis and adjustment processes, have brought about a shift in the urban labour market, and particularly female participation, which exhibits differences from male participation. On the basis of information from household surveys conducted in 13 countries of the region between 1980 and 1994, this study describes the major developments in labour participation by gender. In the second part of the paper, the author makes an empirical analysis of six assertions --- the result of context gaps and time gaps --- that continue to figure in the debate on female labour in the region even though the rapid pace of change has transformed them into mere myths. The study also addresses a number of ' areas of confrontation' , where the inequality between men and women is starkest: income, access to new technologies and their use, and the increasing insecurity of certain types of work such as domestic service, home work and own-account activities. Lastly, the author summarizes the major issues, makes some methodological recommendations and poses a series of questions as to the significance of these changes in the social, family, political and cultural spheres.
Stress, positive personal variables and burnout: A path analytic approach

The notion that personal resources are a powerful screen for the negative influence of stressors in the burnout process is one of the aspects where consensus is more widespread in the domain of Positive Psychology. It is nonetheless true that identifying them and finding out how these “personal strengths or competences” operate would be crucial to improve health and well-being in the workplace. It seems therefore urgent to throw light –from a research perspective– not merely on whether the positive variables play a mediating role between the potential stressors and burnout but also on which the alternative paths are that have an influence on occupational stress. So, the fundamental objective of this study is to analyze a model of influences in which the levels of stress perceived by the teacher from the different disruptive behaviors of the students (verbal abuse at the teacher, aggressions among students, vandalism) are the exogenous variables while the different positive personal variables (optimism, hardiness, life satisfaction) are mediating variables and burnout is the endogenous variable. The results obtained from a sample of 523 secondary education teachers confirm that teacher “resilience” (optimism and hardiness) and life satisfaction mediate the negative impact that stressors from student behavior have on experiencing burnout.