Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validity of 2 Skinfold Calipers in Estimating Percent Body Fat of College-Aged Men and Women

Beam, JR, and Szymanski, DJ. Validity of 2 skinfold calipers in estimating percent body fat of college-aged men and women. J Strength Cond Res 24(12): 3448-3456, 2010-There is a need for cost-effective techniques that accurately predict percent body fat (%BF) and require little skill to administer. There are 2 commercially available skinfold calipers, 1 digital and the other self-administered, that claim to accurately predict %BF. The primary purpose of this study was to validate these calipers using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as a reference method in a sample of college-aged men and women. A secondary purpose of this study was to compare the validity of these calipers to the validity of arm-to-arm bioempedance analysis (BIA) (Omron, Shelton, Connecticut, U.S.A.), leg-to-leg BIA (Tanita, Arlington Heights, Illinois, U.S.A.), and 3-site skinfold equations (SUM3) using DXA as a reference method. Fifty college students (25 men and 25 women) from a kinesiology department who ranged in fitness levels volunteered to have %BF measured by the digital and self-administered skinfold calipers, Omron, Tanita, and SUM3. The digital and self-administered skinfold calipers had the poorest group predictive accuracy for the men and women (total error ranged from 7.9 to 10.9%BF) when compared to the other field methods. The digital skinfold caliper had good individual predictive accuracy in the men (95% limits of agreement [LOA] = ± 6.4%BF) and women (95% LOA = ± 4.9%BF) when compared to the other field methods. However, the self-administered skinfold caliper had poor individual predictive accuracy for the men (LOA = ± 8.6%BF) and the women (LOA = ± 7.5%BF) when compared to the other field methods. Compared to DXA, Tanita, Omron, and SUM3, we would not recommend using the digital or self-administered skinfold calipers for estimating %BF in college-aged men and women with similar body composition as the men and women in this study. We recommend using the SUM3 to estimate %BF.
A Special Ingredient (VtR) Containing Oligostilbenes Isolated from Vitis thunbergii Prevents Bone Loss in Ovariectomized Mice: In Vitro and In Vivo Study

Vitis thunbergii is used in Taiwan as a botanical supplement for inflammatory bone diseases. This study aims to examine its direct effect on bone metabolism. Three-month-old female mice were randomly divided into ovariectomized control (OVX), sham operated (SHAM), and ovariectomy treated with either 17β-estradiol or a special ingredient (VtR) fractionated from an ethanol extract of V. thunbergii started two weeks after ovariectomy. VtR treatment for 8 weeks significantly ameliorated the deterioration of bone mineral density and reversed all the ovariectomy-induced changes in μ-CT parameters. The antiosteoporotic effect of VtR accompanied decrease in serum levels of C-terminal telopeptides of type I collagen (CTx), interleukin-7, and ration of RANKL/osteoprotegerin (OPG) but rise in osteocalcin concentration. Sparse calcified microarchitecture and less alkaline-phosphatase- (ALP-) positive cells were observed at the femur and vertebral sites in OVX mice while VtR remarkably restored such variation. HPLC analysis showed (+)-vitisin-A, (−)-vitisin-B, and ampelopsin C predominated in VtR. Both (−)-vitisin B and ampelopsin C increased ALP activity and bone nodule formation in cultured osteoblasts. Instead of stimulating osteoblastogenesis, (+)-vitisin A dramatically repressed osteoclasts differentiation and bone resorption. The results suggested VtR composed of diverse components to reciprocally drive osteoblastogenesis and interdict osteoclastogenesis may serve as a potential botanic drug for osteoporosis therapy.
Enhancing Short-Term Recovery After High-Intensity Anaerobic Exercise

Abstract Al-Nawaiseh, AM, Pritchett, RC, and Bishop, PA. Enhancing short-term recovery after high-intensity anaerobic exercise. J Strength Cond Res 30(2): 320–325, 2016—This study examined the effects of antioxidant vitamins, ibuprofen, cold water submersion, and whey protein administered simultaneously on short-term recovery. Competitive athletes (n = 22) performed the protocol in 2 occasions (treatment and control) separated by 15 days in counterbalanced crossover design. Each occasion consisted of morning and afternoon sessions (AM and PM). In each session, participants performed 2 bouts of high-intensity anaerobic cycling separated by 30 minutes of rest. Each bout consisted of 3 Wingate tests (3 × 30-second Wingate tests) with 3 minutes of active recovery in between. Power output, rated perceived exertion (RPE), and pain scores were averaged and compared between the 2 sessions (AM vs. PM) and between the treatment vs. control (4 bouts). Creatine kinase (CK) levels were also measured 24 hours after the AM bout. Power output, CK, muscle soreness, and RPE were measured as recovery indices. Creatine kinase increased (p < 0.001) in both treatment and control 24 hours after the AM session. Performance results in the PM session for treatment/control were 832.5 ± 198.7/813.3 ± 187.6 W for peak power (PP), and 497.85 ± 120.7/486.1 ± 115 W for mean power (MP). Treatment was effective in maintaining MP (p = 0.034) in the PM sessions, but there was no significant effect of treatment on PP (p = 0.193), CK (p = 0.08), pain (p = 0.12), or RPE (p = 0.45). Treatment was helpful in protecting performance, but this was apparently not due to reduced muscle soreness or damage.
Mechanism of bronchoconstriction caused by cigarette smoking.

Inhalation of the smoke of a single cigarette causes brief bronchoconstriction in man (Zamel et al., 1963; Pelzer and Thomson, 1966), and it has been suggested that this is due to the irritant action of smoke particles on receptors in the tracheobronchial tree. Other possible mechanisms are the pharmacological activity of nicotine or gaseous products of combustion such as oxides of nitrogen, but it has been shown that neither varying the nicotine content of cigarettes nor removal of nitrous oxide from the smoke alters the bronchoconstrictor effect (Nadel and Comroe, 1961). Moreover, Widdicombe et al. (1962) have found that chemically inert carbon particles can cause bronchoconstriction in man and cats and that this effect can be blocked by atropine or by cooling the vagi, indicating that it is a reflex reaction mediated through the vagus. By analogy it has been assumed and stated that smoking in man works in the same way, but there is little direct evidence on this point, and the present study has been designed to investigate this assumption further, through observation of the effect of atropine on the bronchial reaction to cigarette smoke. volume. Results were expressed as the ratio of airway conductance to thoracic gas volume (C.A./T.G.V.) to allow for changes in lung volume when comparing changes in airway resistance (Nadel and Comroe, 1961).
40Ar/39Ar age of the onset of high-Ti phase of the Emeishan volcanism strengthens the link with the end-Guadalupian mass extinction

ABSTRACT Precise time constraints of the main extrusive phase of the Emeishan large igneous province (ELIP) remain unresolved because basalts commonly do not contain suitable minerals for U–Pb dating, whereas previous 40Ar/39Ar studies on basalts yielded tectonothermal overprint ages. The timing for the ELIP was deduced from indirect dating of minor intrusions of ultramafic/mafic and felsic compositions by geochronological methods and geological correlations. The extrusive part of the ELIP consists of an older low-Ti and younger high-Ti basalt phases. We have found fresh samples of plagioclase-phyric rocks at the lower Qiaojia extrusive section (the Yunnan province of China), which belong to the ELIP unit of the high-Ti basalt series. 40Ar/39Ar dating on plagioclase from two samples conducted at two different laboratories using different age standards yielded statistically indistinguishable results with the weighted mean age of 260.1 ± 1.2 Ma for five individual measurements. This provides the direct constraints on the onset of the ELIP high-Ti basalt extrusive phase. The obtained age is within the error or slightly older than the age of the Guadalupian–Lopingian boundary and felsic ignimbrite capping the ELIP lava succession (both dated at 259.1 ± 0.5 Ma). Our new data are strengthening the short duration of the, at least, high-Ti phase of the ELIP volcanism and its temporal link with the end-Guadalupian mass extinction. Estimation of the total duration of the ELIP volcanism awaits finding of suitable for dating low-Ti basalts.
Functional Neighbors: Inferring Relationships between Non-Homologous Protein Families Using Family-Specific Packing Motifs

We describe a new approach for inferring the functional relationships between non-homologous protein families by looking at statistical enrichment of alternative function predictions in classification hierarchies such as Gene Ontology (GO) and Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP). Protein structures are represented by robust graphs, and the Fast Frequent Subgraph Mining algorithm is applied to protein families to generate sets of family-specific packing motifs, i.e. amino acid residue packing patterns shared by most family members but infrequent in other proteins. The function of a protein is inferred by identifying in it motifs characteristic of a known family. We employ these family-specific motifs to elucidate functional relationships between families in the GO and SCOP hierarchies. Specifically, we postulate that two families are functionally related if one family is statistically enriched by motifs characteristic of another family, i.e. if the number of proteins in a family containing a motif from another family is greater than expected by chance. This function inference method can help annotate proteins of unknown function, establish functional neighbors of existing families, and help specify alternate functions for known proteins.
Interface Design for Children ’ s Searching and Browsing

Elementary-age children are among the largest user groups of computers and the Internet, so it is important to design searching and browsing tools that support them. However, many interfaces for children do not consider their skills and preferences. Children are capable of doing Boolean searches, but have difficulty with the sequential presentation of hierarchical structures used in many category browsers. Based on previous research, we believed a simultaneous presentation of a flat category structure might better support children. We conducted two studies of searching and browsing with these two types of category browsers. Our results suggest that a flat, simultaneous interface provides advantages for both Boolean searching and casual browsing. These results add to the understanding of children’s searching and browsing skills and preferences and suggest guidelines for other interface designers. Author
Motion of the Sprung Mass of a Reciprocating Hermetic Compressor During Startup

A mathematical analysis is made of compressor crankcase motion within the housing during startup. Dynamic models are presented for a two-cylinder reciprocating compressor, the six-degree of freedom crankcase, and single and three-phase induction motors. Pressure, inertial, unbalanced and spring forces are included in the dynamic models. Both single and three-phase induction motors are modeled using reference frame theory. Solution of the combined models yields the linear and angular time displacements of the crankcase.
Cheap hardware support for software debugging and profiling

We wish to determine the effectiveness of some simple hardware for debugging and profiling compiled programs on a conventional processor. The hardware cost is small -- a counter decremented on each instruction that raises an exception when its value becomes zero. With the counter a debugger can provide data watchpoints and reverse execution: a profiler can measure the total instruction cost of a code segment and sample the program counter accurately. Such a counter has been included on a single-board MC68020 workstation, for which system software is currently being written. We will report our progress at the symposium.
Etravirine (TMC-125): The evidence for its place in the treatment of HIV-1 infection

Introduction: Etravirine is a novel nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) specifically designed to suppress the replication of viruses resistant to the three currently approved NNRTIs efavirenz, nevirapine, and delavirdine. Aims: To assess the evidence for the place of etravirine in the treatment of HIV-1 infection. Evidence review: In combination with a ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor etravirine has demonstrated high antiviral activity against strains exhibiting up to three NNRTI resistance mutations. The drug appears to be well tolerated, with only nausea and rash occuring significantly more frequently with etravirine compared with placebo. Of note, neuropsychologic side effects that frequently limit the use of efavirenz were not reported more frequently with etravirine. Place in therapy: Given its high activity against most NNRTI-resistant strains and its very good tolerability, etravirine is of high value for pretreated patients with NNRTI resistance and protease inhibitor exposure. Efforts should be made to demonstrate activity in switching strategies (due to toxicity) and earlier lines of failure or in the setting of primary NNRTI resistance in order to explore the potential of the drug beyond salvage therapy.
ADAMTSL6β Protein Rescues Fibrillin-1 Microfibril Disorder in a Marfan Syndrome Mouse Model through the Promotion of Fibrillin-1 Assembly*

Background: The pathology of Marfan syndrome is caused by insufficient fibrillin-1 microfibril formation in connective tissues. Results: Successful improvement of Marfan syndrome manifestations are induced by the direct administration of recombinant ADAMTSL6β. Conclusion: This study demonstrated critical importance of microfibril regeneration in preventing Marfan syndrome. Significance: Our current data support a new concept that the regeneration of microfibrils using ADAMTSL6β is essential for improving Marfan syndrome. Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a systemic disorder of the connective tissues caused by insufficient fibrillin-1 microfibril formation and can cause cardiac complications, emphysema, ocular lens dislocation, and severe periodontal disease. ADAMTSL6β (A disintegrin-like metalloprotease domain with thrombospondin type I motifs-like 6β) is a microfibril-associated extracellular matrix protein expressed in various connective tissues that has been implicated in fibrillin-1 microfibril assembly. We here report that ADAMTSL6β plays an essential role in the development and regeneration of connective tissues. ADAMTSL6β expression rescues microfibril disorder after periodontal ligament injury in an MFS mouse model through the promotion of fibrillin-1 microfibril assembly. In addition, improved fibrillin-1 assembly in MFS mice following the administration of ADAMTSL6β attenuates the overactivation of TGF-β signals associated with the increased release of active TGF-β from disrupted fibrillin-1 microfibrils within periodontal ligaments. Our current data thus demonstrate the essential contribution of ADAMTSL6β to fibrillin-1 microfibril formation. These findings also suggest a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of MFS through ADAMTSL6β-mediated fibrillin-1 microfibril assembly.
Dynamic generation and refinement of robot verbalization

With a growing number of robots performing autonomously without human intervention, it is difficult to understand what the robots experience along their routes during execution without looking at execution logs. Rather than looking through logs, our goal is for robots to respond to queries in natural language about what they experience and what routes they have chosen. We propose verbalization as the process of converting route experiences into natural language, and highlight the importance of varying verbalizations based on user preferences. We present our verbalization space representing different dimensions that verbalizations can be varied, and our algorithm for automatically generating them on our CoBot robot. Then we present our study of how users can request different verbalizations in dialog. Using the study data, we learn a language model to map user dialog to the verbalization space. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the learned model within a dialog system in order for any user to request information about CoBot's route experience at varying levels of detail.
Supervillin binds the Rac/Rho‐GEF Trio and increases Trio‐mediated Rac1 activation

We investigated cross‐talk between the membrane‐associated, myosin II‐regulatory protein supervillin and the actin‐regulatory small GTPases Rac1, RhoA, and Cdc42. Supervillin knockdown reduced Rac1‐GTP loading, but not the GTP loading of RhoA or Cdc42, in HeLa cells with normal levels of the Rac1‐activating protein Trio. No reduction in Rac1‐GTP loading was observed when supervillin levels were reduced in Trio‐depleted cells. Conversely, overexpression of supervillin isoform 1 (SV1) or, especially, isoform 4 (SV4) increased Rac1 activation. Inhibition of the Trio‐mediated Rac1 guanine nucleotide exchange activity with ITX3 partially blocked the SV4‐mediated increase in Rac1‐GTP. Both SV4 and SV1 co‐localized with Trio at or near the plasma membrane in ruffles and cell surface projections. Two sequences within supervillin bound directly to Trio spectrin repeats 4–7: SV1–171, which contains N‐terminal residues found in both SV1 and SV4 and the SV4‐specific differentially spliced coding exons 3, 4, and 5 within SV4 (SV4‐E345; SV4 amino acids 276–669). In addition, SV4‐E345 interacted with the homologous sequence in rat kalirin (repeats 4–7, amino acids 531–1101). Overexpressed SV1–174 and SV4‐E345 affected Rac1‐GTP loading, but only in cells with endogenous levels of Trio. Trio residues 771–1057, which contain both supervillin‐interaction sites, exerted a dominant‐negative effect on cell spreading. Supervillin and Trio knockdowns, separately or together, inhibited cell spreading, suggesting that supervillin regulates the Rac1 guanine nucleotide exchange activity of Trio, and potentially also kalirin, during cell spreading and lamellipodia extension. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Historical demography and genetic structure of sister species: deermice (Peromyscus) in the North American temperate rain forest

To investigate the evolutionary and biogeographical history of Peromyscus keeni and P. maniculatus within the coastal forest ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest of North America, we sampled 128 individuals from 43 localities from southeastern Alaska through Oregon. We analysed mitochondrial DNA variation using DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome‐b (cyt‐b) gene and control region, and we found two distinct clades consistent with the morphological designation of the two species. The sequence divergence between the two clades was 0.0484 substitutions per site for cyt‐b and 0.0396 for the control region, suggesting that divergence of the two clades occurred during the middle to late Pleistocene. We also examined the historical demography of the two clades using stepwise and exponential expansion models, both of which indicated recent rapid population growth. Furthermore, using the program migrate we found evidence of migration from populations north of the Fraser River (British Columbia) to the south in both clades. This study demonstrates the utility of these model‐based demographic methods in illuminating the evolutionary and biogegographic history of natural systems.
IL-10 Mediates Resistance to Adoptive Transfer Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in MyD88−/− Mice

MyD88 is an adaptor molecule that functions in the innate signaling induced by proinflammatory adjuvants that interact with TLRs. Mice lacking MyD88, for example, resist active experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced by immunization with an encephalitogenic myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide in CFA. We reasoned that MyD88−/− mice, nevertheless, should be susceptible to EAE mediated by adoptive transfer of activated encephalitogenic T cell lines, which do not require adjuvant signaling for their effector functions. We now report, however, that mice lacking MyD88 also resist adoptive EAE mediated by an anti-MOG T cell line that is strongly encephalitogenic in wild-type (WT) mice. The transferred anti-MOG T cells proliferated, secreted INF-γ, and migrated to the CNS in the MyD88−/− mice, as they did in WT mice, but inflammatory infiltrates did not progress and clinical EAE did not develop. The resistance of the MyD88−/− mice to adoptive EAE mediated by the otherwise encephalitogenic T cells was found to result from the secretion of IL-10 by recipient T cells of two different specificities: those specific for MOG and those responding to the T cell clone itself—both anticlonotypic and antiergotypic T regulators were detected. IL-10–producing anti-MOG T cells isolated from immunized MyD88−/− mice suppressed the induction of active EAE in WT recipients. Moreover, the absence of IL-10 production in MyD88/IL-10 double-knockout mice rendered the mice susceptible to adoptive transfer of EAE. Thus, MyD88 signaling appears to be a key factor in determining the cytokine phenotype of T cells involved in autoimmune inflammation and regulation.
Archcollect Front-End: A Web Usage Data Mining Knowledge Acquisition Mechanism Focused on Static or Dynamic Contenting Applications

Knowledge acquisition mechanism is essencial to every Web usage mining project and it can be implemented on the user or on all servers configuration. This paper presents a low coupled acquisition mechanism focused on users’ interactions, associated with semantic data, binded to almost all markup languages and with monitored application layout independence. This mechanism acquires knowledge only from the Web browser. It separates the requests: one for the monitored application and the other for the server called ArchCollect, and has a parser that automatically inserts the knowledge acquisition mechanism into the static/dynamic user’s page. Like other acquisition mechanisms, the ArchCollect front-end is scalable since it can deal with massive network traffic, adopting scalable ArchCollect servers or scalable internal components. It is efficient since it reduces drastically the preprocessing, sharing this hard activity with all users, and since it makes no log files interpretation or completation. It is realible since it eliminates browser and server caches problems. This project can collect layout, usage and performance data, providing general application focus, like Srivastava et.al proposed.
Production of a new non-specific nuclease from Yersinia enterocolitica subsp. palearctica: optimization of induction conditions using response surface methodology

A new non-specific nuclease from Yersinia enterocolitica subsp. palearctica (Y. NSN) was expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) BL 21 StarTM (DE3)plysS. Induction conditions, including isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) concentration, cell density (OD600), induction time and induction temperature, were optimized using response surface methodology. Statistical analysis of the results revealed that induction temperature and all the quadratic terms of variables had significant effects on enzyme activity of Y. NSN. The optimal induction conditions were as follows: 1.5 mmol/L IPTG, OD600 of 0.80, induction time of 20.5 h, and induction temperature of 32 °C. Under the optimized conditions, the highest enzyme activity could be obtained.