Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Periurethral injection of polyacrylamide hydrogel for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence: the impact on female sexual function.

INTRODUCTION Urinary incontinence can negatively affect sexual function. AIM To investigate sexual function in female patients treated for urodynamic stress incontinence (USI) by periurethral injections. METHODS This double-center prospective study included 29 female patients who were treated for USI by periurethral injections of polyacrylamide hydrogel (Bulkamid(®); Ethicon Women's Health and Urology, Contura, Denmark). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patients answered the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire short form, the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire, and the Patient Global Improvement Impression. The Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire-12 (PISQ-12) was used to evaluate sexual function at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Patients were also asked to rate their sexual activity by using a 10-mm visual analog scale at baseline and at 12-month follow-up. Subjective and objective success was examined. RESULTS All patients were discharged on the same day of treatment and there was no intraoperative complication. At 1-year follow-up, the subjective success rate was 89.7% and the objective success rate was 79.3%. At 1 year from the first treatment, all the 23 sexually active patients continued to have regular sexual life. Six women reestablished sexual activity after the treatment. The total PISQ-12 scores showed a significant improvement in quality of sexual life of patients who were sexually active before surgery. CONCLUSIONS Periurethral injections of polyacrylamide hydrogel to treat USI are clinically effective and safe. These surgical procedures cause significant improvements in sexual function and sexual satisfaction of patients.
A Longitudinal Study of the Formation of Interlocking Directorates

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, August 1986. Portions of this research were funded by a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (SES-8858669) to Mizruchi. We are grateful to John Freeman, Mark Granovetter, K. Jill Kiecolt, Donald Palmer, Linda Pike, and the anonymous ASQ reviewers for comments and suggestions on previous drafts. We also thank Holly Myers for her assistance in collecting and entering the data. The present study examines the creation of new interlock ties, using data on 22 large U.S. industrial corporations from 1956 to 1983 to determine factors affecting the appointment of representatives of financial institutions to the industrials' boards. The longitudinal design enabled us to focus on the effects of the general economic environment at a particular point in time as well as on characteristics peculiar to individual firms. Employing event-history analysis, we found that declining solvency, declining profit rate, the correspondence of increased demand for capital with declining interest rates, and the correspondence of increased demand for capital with contraction stages of the business cycle are associated with the subsequent appointment of financial directors. Our findings highlight the importance of examining the general economic environment within which organizational decision making occurs. '
Carotenoids and throat pouch coloration in the great frigatebird ( Fregata minor )

Carotenoid pigments are a common source of red, orange, and yellow coloration in vertebrates. Animals cannot manufacture carotenoids and therefore must obtain them in their diet to produce carotenoid-based coloration. Male great frigatebirds (Fregata minor) display a bright red inflated gular pouch as part of their elaborate courtship display. The basis of this coloration until now has not been investigated. Using highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we investigated the types and concentrations of carotenoids that great frigatebirds circulate in their plasma and whether male gular pouch coloration was carotenoid-based. Great frigatebird plasma collected during the breeding season contained three carotenoid pigments in dilute concentrations—tunaxanthin, zeaxanthin, and astaxanthin—with astaxanthin accounting for nearly 85% of the carotenoids present. Astaxanthin was the only carotenoid present in gular pouch tissue, but the concentration is the highest reported for any carotenoid-pigmented avian tissue. Throat pouch reflectance curves were measured with a UV-VIS spectrophotometer, revealing a complex pattern of one UV peak (approx. 360 nm), two absorption valleys (approx. 542 and 577 nm), followed by a plateau at approx 630 nm. The reflectance curve suggests a role for additional pigments, in particular hemoglobin, in the production of color in this ornament. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
An expanded CTG trinucleotide repeat causes trans RNA interference: a new hypothesis for the pathogenesis of myotonic dystrophy.

Here we report a novel mechanism for the pathogenesis of myotonic dystrophy (DM). The DMPK mRNA with expanded CTG trinucleotide repeats interacts with other transcripts having expanded CAG repeats. This "trans RNA interference" occurs in vitro only when the number of CTG repeats is over 140 and the number of target CAG repeats exceeds 35. The trans RNA interference can explain all the phenomena previously reported about DM.
Affirmative Action in Higher Education: How do Admission and Financial Aid Rules Affect Future Earnings?

This paper addresses how changing the admission and financial aid rules at colleges affects future earnings. I estimate a structural model of the following decisions by individuals: where to submit applications, which school to attend, and what field to study. The model also includes decisions by schools as to which students to accept and how much financial aid to offer. Simulating how black educational choices would change were they to face the white admission and aid rules shows that race-based advantages had little effect on earnings. However, removing race-based advantages does affect black educational outcomes. In particular, removing advantages in admissions substantially decreases the number of black students at top-tier schools, while removing advantages in financial aid causes a decrease in the number of blacks who attend college. Copyright The Econometric Society 2005.
A targeted mutation in the murine gene encoding the high density lipoprotein (HDL) receptor scavenger receptor class B type I reveals its key role in HDL metabolism.

Plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL), which protects against atherosclerosis, is thought to remove cholesterol from peripheral tissues and to deliver cholesteryl esters via a selective uptake pathway to the liver (reverse cholesterol transport) and steroidogenic tissues (e.g., adrenal gland for storage and hormone synthesis). Despite its physiologic and pathophysiologic importance, the cellular metabolism of HDL has not been well defined. The class B, type I scavenger receptor (SR-BI) has been proposed to play an important role in HDL metabolism because (i) it is a cell surface HDL receptor which mediates selective cholesterol uptake in cultured cells, (ii) its physiologically regulated expression is most abundant in the liver and steroidogenic tissues, and (iii) hepatic overexpression dramatically lowers plasma HDL. To test directly the normal role of SR-BI in HDL metabolism, we generated mice with a targeted null mutation in the SR-BI gene. In heterozygous and homozygous mutants relative to wild-type controls, plasma cholesterol concentrations were increased by approximately 31% and 125%, respectively, because of the formation of large, apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)-containing particles, and adrenal gland cholesterol content decreased by 42% and 72%, respectively. The plasma concentration of apoA-I, the major protein in HDL, was unchanged in the mutants. This, in conjunction with the increased lipoprotein size, suggests that the increased plasma cholesterol in the mutants was due to decreased selective cholesterol uptake. These results provide strong support for the proposal that in mice the gene encoding SR-BI plays a key role in determining the levels of plasma lipoprotein cholesterol (primarily HDL) and the accumulation of cholesterol stores in the adrenal gland. If it has a similar role in controlling plasma HDL in humans, SR-BI may influence the development and progression of atherosclerosis and may be an attractive candidate for therapeutic intervention in this disease.
Small-catchment flood forecasting and drainage network extraction using computational intelligence

Forecast, detection and warning of severe weather and related hydro-geological risks is becoming one of the major issues for civil protection. The use of computational intelligence techniques such as artificial neural network and cellular automata algorithm can be suitable for such problems especially for real time forecasting system. Nowcasting (short-term forecasting) of extreme rainfall events is an example that invites to exploit remote sensing systems from satellites, such geostationary and low-orbit radiometers. A rainfall estimation algorithm based on artificial neural network has been developed for this purpose. Satellite data sources can be globally provided but at a quite coarse spatial resolution, therefore, the coupling of rain remote sensing data with regional raingauge networks is also essential for ensuring a calibration of remotely sensed rainfall fields in terms of ground effects. An overwhelming issue is the spatial integration of these rainfall data sources having different space-time resolution and variable accuracies. In this work a cellular automata based algorithm has been used to integrate these heterogeneous data. A flood forecast chain, developed at the Centre of Excellence for Remote Sensing and Hydro-Meteorology Modelling and based on coupled mesoscale atmospheric model and distributed hydrological model with in-situ and remote sensing data integration is presented, with the emphasis on the integration of numerical models and retrieval algorithms using integrated tools based on computational intelligence techniques.
A longitudinal study on nodding syndrome—a new African epilepsy disorder

Nodding syndrome (NS), a new epilepsy disorder of sub‐Saharan Africa, has only recently been classified. In a study conducted in southern Tanzania in 2005, 62 patients with NS were analyzed in great detail. The present study, a follow‐up investigation, was conducted to evaluate the progression of NS over time and to obtain serial electroencephalography (EEG) data.
Strategic Financial Planning in Malaysia's National School: New Strategies for Education Transformation

The public national schools of the third millennium have to be given an opportunity to become more autonomous along the lines of the primary financial resources of government fund. The schools should have ownership of the school and its own resources through the commitment and capacity of the school staff and community. This conceptual paper discuss the important concepts in the strategic financial planning of Malaysia’s national schools and the recommendation of new strategies to face the new dimensions of 21 century education. The international trend of decentralized school system should create opportunity for national schools to have greater autonomy in strategically plan for the school financial resources. The concept of strategic financial planning encompassed the important process of school financial analysis, budgeting management, financial accounting and reporting and finding stable school financial resources for achieving the education goals effectively. To cope with future education transformation, national schools have a clear on school vision and mission establishment, defining financial purposes, school finance organizational structure, role of financial planner and an excellent budget management
Remarks on Global Irregularity in the @{Neumann Problem

The Bergman projection on a general bounded, smooth pseudoconvex domain in two complex variables need not be globally regular, that is, need not preserve the class of all functions that are smooth up to the boundary. In this article the construction of the worm domains is reviewed, with emphasis on those features relevant to their role as counterexamples to global regularity. Prior results, and related issues such as the commutation method and compactness estimates, are discussed. A model in two real variables for global irregularity is discussed in detail. Related work on real analytic regularity, both local and global, is summarized. Several open questions are posed.
Intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) expression correlated to inflammation

The presence of intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) on keratinocytes of psoriatic skin lesions before and during 8‐methoxapsoralen and UVA light (PUVA) treatment was studied. ICAM‐1 was expressed on the keratinocytes in biopsies of the skin lesions of five patients with psoriasis. The patients who responded to PUVA treatment had a concurrent reduction of ICAM‐1 expression on the keratinocytes with a reduction of the number of cells in the mononuclear cellular infiltrate and a lessening of the severity of the disease. Patients who went into remission during therapy and then relapsed showed an increase in ICAM‐1 expression on keratinocytes with an increase in the number of cells in the mononuclear cell infiltrate and an increase in the severity of the disease. HLA‐DR expression on keratinocytes was variable during treatment and showed no strong correlation with disease severity.
CS‐1, a novel c‐kithi+ acute myeloid leukemia cell line with dendritic cell differentiation capacity and absent immunogenicity

Complex cytogenetic abnormalities confer dismal prognoses in myeloid malignancies. Even bone marrow transplantation from siblings or matched unrelated donors offer minimal chances for cure, suggesting that these cases are not only refractory to chemotherapy but also resist the graft‐vs.‐leukemia effect. We herein describe the first permanent, factor‐independent c‐kithi+ cell line CS‐1 derived from an unrelated donor stem cell transplanted patient with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML)‐M5a of high‐risk karyotype [monosomy 7, t(2;11)(q31;p13), t(10;12)(q24;q24)]. Having the same karyotype, CS‐1 exhibits an autonomous growth pattern and responds to stem cell factor (SCF). CS‐1 did not induce T cell activation in mixed‐lymphocyte‐tumor‐cultures (MLTCs) and, when used as third party stimulators, decreased T cell proliferation in mixed‐lymphocyte reactions (MLRs). Cytokines added exogenously or secreted from bystander T cells caused CS‐1 to differentiate into dendritic cells (DCs). CS‐1‐derived DCs, in contrast to DCs originating from non‐malignant CD34+ progenitor cells, had virtually no T cell stimulatory effect, indicating that CS‐1 is both immunosuppressive and poorly immunogenic. These properties may partially be due to the detected downregulation of costimulatory molecules and appear to involve a soluble factor. CS‐1 cells injected subcutaneously (s.c.) to non‐obese diabetes/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice produced solid tumors, disseminating into bone marrow and spleen. The data show that transforming AML blasts with high‐risk karyotype into DCs is insufficient to restore their immunogenicity and that the CS‐1 cell line is useful to identify tumor‐related immunosuppressive mechanisms in vitro and in vivo. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Immunohistochemical study of vesicle monoamine transporter 2 in the hippocampal region of genetic animal model of schizophrenia

Recent research in the etiology of schizophrenia revealed that there may be some neurodevelopmental failures such as neuronal network incompetence in the brain of this disease, and neurotransmitters cannot function accurately or adequately. But, it is unknown precisely what kinds of deficit in neurotransmission may be existed histopathologically. We investigated the expression of vesicle monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2), which has a significant role in neurotransmission, in the hippocampal formation of the animal model of schizophrenia, 14‐3‐3epsilon hetero knockout (KO) mouse, using an immunohistochemical staining technique to clarify the neuronal abnormalities in the model animal. As a result, the expression of VMAT2 was increased significantly in the hippocampal formation of 14‐3‐3epsilon hetero KO mice compared to that of the wild‐type littermates. In conclusion, these findings might be related the pathophysiology of this disease includes a monoaminergic transmission abnormality, based on the investigation in a genetically‐modified mouse as schizophrenic model. Synapse 64:948–953, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Broken Ties: Interlocking Directorates and Intercorporate Coordination

For detailed comments on the most recent versions ot this paper, I wish to thank Ronald Burt, Maggie McLoughlin, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Jerry Ross, and an anonymous ASQ reviewer. For comments on earlier drafts, I wish to thank Charles Perrow, Michael Schwartz, Joanne Martin, Jon Bendor, Dick Scott, the participants of the NIMH Research Training Program at Stanford University, and the members of the MACNET Research Group at SUNY-Stony Brook For patience, I thank the union waiters and waitresses at Zim's. Little is known about the specific types of relationships that interlocking corporate directorates facilitate. This study examines the connective and directional continuity of all ties disrupted accidentally among 1,131 large U.S. corporations between 1962 and 1964to determinethe relative likelihood that different types of interlock ties facilitate relationships of formal coordination. In accordance with previous theory, the number and type of interlocks of which a tie consists was found to be related to the likelihood that it is a vehicle of formal coordination. However, previous assumptions aboutthe percentage of ties in thefull network that facilitate such relationships and the significance of interlock direction were not supported. The implications of these results for interpreting past results and directing future research are also discussed. @
Surfactant and inhaled nitric oxide in rats alleviate acute lung injury induced by intestinal ischemia and reperfusion.

BACKGROUND Respiratory distress and acute lung injury (ALI) are severe complications of intestinal ischemia and reperfusion injury (I/R). The authors hypothesize that a combined surfactant and inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) may alleviate I/R-induced ALI. METHODS Adult rats (body weight 285 to 315 g, n = 45) were allocated randomly to either a negative control group (N-Control, n = 9) with only sham laparotomy, or groups (n = 9 each) for induction of I/R by occlusion of superior mesenteric artery, followed by treatment with (1) surfactant at 100 mg/kg (Surf), (2) iNO at 20 ppm (NO), (3) both surfactant and iNO (SNO), or (4) no surfactant no iNO (a positive control, P-Control). Mechanical ventilation was provided for 120 minutes with variable peak insufflation pressure and FIO2 to achieve adequate arterial pH, PaO2, and PaCO2. Blood gas values, dynamic lung compliance (Cdyn), and airway resistance (Raw) were measured during the 2-hour treatment. Lung wet-to-dry weight ratio (W/D), histopathology, and morphometric analysis of alveolar expansion (V(V)) were determined at the end of the experiment. RESULTS After 120 minutes of treatment, the SNO group had the highest PaO2 and Cdyn values, close to that of the N-Control group. The Surf, NO, and SNO groups had higher V(V) and lower CV (V(V)) values than the P-Control, but modest decrease of W/D values. The NO group had moderately improved PaO2 but Cdyn and V(V) were as low as that of the P-Control. The lungs of the SNO group had significantly alleviated edema and neutrophil infiltration compared with the P-Control. CONCLUSIONS The combined surfactant and iNO treatment alleviated rat ALI induced by I/R, and exerted effects better than the use of surfactant or iNO alone.
Dynamics of reserves of soybean seeds during the development of seedlings of different commercial cultivars 1

Physiological quality and vigor of the seeds comprise properties that determine a high level of activity and performance during germination and seedling emergence, having a direct relation with the establishment of the stand of a crop. In this context, the assessment of seedling development, including the analysis of the seed reserves mobilization are a reliable method to investigate the physiological potential of seed lots. In this preliminary study, the aim was to investigate the dynamics of seed reserves mobilization of a sample of soybean commercial cultivars. By means of the seedling length bioassay and weight of dry matter of seeds, cotyledons, hypocotyls and radicles, information on the reserves mobilization during the germination process was obtained. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and Scott and Knott test, and afterwards, phenotypic correlations between traits were obtained. The results have shown that the dry matter of seeds, reserves reduction of seeds and dry matter of seedlings are positively correlated, and thus, seeds containing more reserves may be more effective during the early development of seedlings. In contrast, reserve reduction of seeds and conversion efficiency of the seeds reserves in the dry matter of seedlings are negatively correlated.
Isolation and characterization of rat fetal Sertoli cells.

Sertoli cells were prepared from fetal rats, aged 15, 18, and 21 days. Cultures of these cells can be prepared at a purity of 85% by a method that is widely used to prepare the same cells from postnatal rats. The fetal cells are identical in appearance to postnatal Sertoli cells. Fetal Sertoli cells round up in response to (Bu)2cAMP, but not in response to FSH. Protein synthesis in the cells is not stimulated by (Bu)2cAMP or FSH. However, incorporation of [35S]methionine into secreted proteins appearing in the incubation medium is stimulated by the cyclic nucleotide, but not by FSH. Reproducible patterns for the incorporation of [35S]methionine into cellular and secreted proteins are presented as autoradiograms of one- and two-dimensional electrophoretograms. These autoradiograms show that the response of secreted proteins to (Bu)2cAMP is a general one; most or all proteins participate in the response. No clear differences were observed in the nature of the proteins synthesized when cells from fetal rats of 15, 18, and 21 days of age were compared. Fetal Sertoli cells produced approximately 2 nmol lactate/10(6) cells.h, which is approximately one fifth of the amount produced by postnatal cells. Lactate production was increased by the addition of FSH or (Bu)2cAMP to the medium. Fetal Sertoli cells also synthesize androgen-binding protein, and this activity is not increased by either FSH or (Bu)2cAMP.
Distributed space-time block coding

In this paper, a new class of distributed space-time block codes (DSTBCs) is introduced. These DSTBCs are designed for wireless networks which have a large set of single-antenna relay nodes Nscr, but at any given time only a small, a priori unknown subset of nodes SsubeNscr can be active. In the proposed scheme, the signal transmitted by an active relay node is the product of an information-carrying code matrix and a unique node signature vector of length Nc. It is shown that existing STBCs designed for Nc2 co-located antennas are favorable choices for the code matrix, guaranteeing a diversity order of d=min{NS,Nc} if NS nodes are active. For the most interesting case, NSgesNc, the performance loss entailed by the distributed implementation is analytically characterized. Furthermore, efficient methods for the optimization of the set of signature vectors are provided. Depending on the chosen design, the proposed DSTBCs allow for low-complexity coherent, differential, and noncoherent detection, respectively. Possible applications include ad hoc and sensor networks employing decode-and-forward relaying