Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interpreting stable isotopes in food webs: Recognizing the role of time averaging at different trophic levels

Lake Tanganyika, East Africa, has a simple pelagic food chain, and trophic relationships have been established previously from gut‐content analysis. Instead of expected isotopic enrichment from phytoplankton to upper level consumers, there was a depletion of 15N in August 1999. The isotope signatures of the lower trophic levels were an indicator of a recent upwelling event, identified by wind speed and nitrate concentration data, that occurred over a 4‐d period several days prior to sampling. The isotope structure of the food web suggests that upwelled nitrate is a nutrient source rapidly consumed by phytoplankton, but the distinctive signature of this nitrate is diluted by time averaging in the upper trophic levels. This time averaging is a consequence of the fact that the isotopic signature of an organism is related to variable nitrogen sources used throughout the life of the organism. This study illustrates the importance of recognizing differences in time averaging among trophic levels.
Inhibition of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction by MK-571, a potent leukotriene D4-receptor antagonist.

BACKGROUND Exercise is a common stimulus of bronchoconstriction in subjects with asthma, who also have bronchoconstriction after inhaling the sulfidopeptide leukotriene D4 (LTD4). The purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of LTD4 as a mediator of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. METHODS In a double-blind, randomized, crossover study, 12 subjects with stable asthma were treated intravenously with MK-571 (160 mg), a selective and potent LTD4-receptor antagonist, or placebo, 20 minutes before each of two challenges involving exercise at a level previously demonstrated to cause a fall of at least 20 percent in the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). The two exercise challenges were separated by one week. The results of the challenges were expressed as both the maximal fall in FEV1 after exercise and the time to recovery from bronchoconstriction. RESULTS Treatment with MK-571 attenuated exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in all the subjects. The mean (+/- SEM) maximal percent decrease in FEV1 after exercise was 25.2 +/- 3.5 percent in the subjects taking placebo and 9.2 +/- 2.5 percent in the subjects taking MK-571 (P less than 0.001). The mean percent inhibition for the entire group was 69.5 percent. The mean time to recovery after exercise was 33.4 +/- 4.0 minutes in the placebo group and 8.4 +/- 2.5 minutes in the MK-571 group (P less than 0.001). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that pretreatment with a potent and selective LTD4 antagonist markedly attenuates exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, and it suggests that LTD4 is a major mediator of this type of bronchoconstriction.
Factors affecting likelihood of applicants being offered a place in medical schools in the United Kingdom in 1996 and 1997: retrospective study

Abstract Objective To assess the relation between a range of measures and the likelihood of applicants to medical schools in the United Kingdom being offered a place overall and at each medical school, with particular emphasis on ethnic minority applicants. Design Data provided by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service on 92 676 applications to medical schools from 18 943 candidates for admission in 1996 and 1997. Statistical analysis was by multiple logistic regression. Main outcome measures Receipt of a conditional or unconditional offer of a place at medical school. Results Eighteen separate measures were independently associated with the overall likelihood of receiving an offer. Applicants from ethnic minority groups were disadvantaged, as were male applicants, applicants applying late in the selection season, applicants making non-medical (so called insurance) choices, applicants requesting deferred entry (so called gap year), and applicants at further or higher education or sixth form colleges. Analysis at individual medical schools showed different patterns of measures that predicted offers. Not all schools disadvantaged applicants from ethnic minority groups and the effect was stable across the two years, suggesting structural differences in the process of selection. The degree of disadvantage did not relate to the proportion of applicants from ethnic minority groups. Conclusions The data released by the Council of Heads of Medical Schools allow a detailed analysis of the selection process at individual medical schools. The results suggest several areas in which some candidates are disadvantaged, in particular those from ethnic minority groups. Similar data in the future will allow monitoring of changes in selection processes.
De Novo Sequencing and Assembly of the Whole Genome of Novosphingobium sp. Strain PP1Y

ABSTRACT Novosphingobium sp. strain PP1Y is a marine bacterium specifically adapted to use fuels as an energy source. We sequenced and assembled its entire genome using the Roche 454 genome sequencer system, which led to the identification of two plasmids and one megaplasmid, besides a 3.9-Mb circular chromosome.
Political Economy of India's Textile Industry: The Case of Maharashtra, 1984-89

INDIA'S TEXTILE INDUSTRY is officially divided into two sectors: the organized sector composed of textile mills, situated mainly in metropolitan cities, and the decentralized sector composed of handlooms and powerlooms. Over the decades since independence, the organized mill sector has undergone a gradual decline, given an environment of stringent governmental controls on entry, exit and expansion, limited demand, and most importantly, increasing competition from powerloom production. Powerlooms frequently employ the same technology as mills, but are designated as part of the small-scale sector, and therefore qualify for important tax exemptions and have a much lower wage structure. The 1980s saw the beginnings of the process of economic liberalization in India; the contraction of the state's role in industry and the creation of greater space for the market and for private enterprise becoming the underlining principles of industrial policy making. In keeping with this policy thrust, the New Textiles Policy of 1985 attempted to reverse the decline of the mill sector by withdrawing controls, offering credit supports, fiscal incentives and import liberalization of technology and machinery. The state also announced its intention of discontinuing governmental takeovers of bankrupt mills merely for the preservation of employment, and announced that an exit policy would be implemented with regard to unfit textile mills both in the private and in the public sectors. Despite these policy changes, the decline of the cotton mill sector continued (except for a few firms which shifted to export oriented manufacture). In the 1985 New Textiles Policy, the question of the imbalance between mills and powerlooms was left largely unaddressed. In the post-1985 years, in the competition for a limited domestic market, the
Selected Secondary Plant Metabolites for Cancer Therapy

Secondary plant metabolites reveal numerous biological activities making them attractive as resource for drug development of human diseases. As the majority of cancer drugs clinically established during the past half century is derived from nature, cancer researchers worldwide try to identify novel natural products as lead compounds for cancer therapy. Natural products are considered as promising cancer therapeutics, either as single agents or in combination protocols, to enhance the antitumor activity of additional therapeutic modalities. Most natural compounds exert pleotrophic effects and modulate various signal transduction pathways. A better understanding of the complex mechanisms of action of natural products is expected to open new perspectives in coming years for their use alone or in combination therapies in oncology. Two major strategies to identify novel drug candidates from nature are the bioactivity-guided fractionation of medicinal plant extracts to isolate cytotoxic chemicals and the identification of small molecules inhibiting specific targets in cancer cells. In the present review, we report on our own efforts to unravel the molecular modes of action of phytochemicals in cancer cells and focus on resveratrol, betulinic acid, artesunate, dicentrine and camptothecin derivatives.
Emotion regulation in delusion-proneness: deficits in cognitive reappraisal, but not in expressive suppression.

OBJECTIVES Although anxiety plays a key role in delusions, its downregulation using specific emotion regulation (ER) strategies has not been investigated. Reappraisal has been shown to be one of the most effective strategies for healthy individuals. However, individuals with delusions might have difficulties in successfully applying reappraisal. This study therefore tests the effectiveness of reappraisal compared to expressive suppression in individuals with varying levels of delusion-proneness. DESIGN An experimental design with the independent variables ER strategy (within subject) and delusion-proneness (between subject; quasi-experimental) was used. The dependent variables were subjective ER success and physiological arousal, as well as state delusional ideation. METHODS Eighty-six healthy participants with different levels of delusion-proneness were instructed to respond to anxiety-inducing stimuli by either using reappraisal or expressive suppression. RESULTS Overall, reappraisal was more effective than expressive suppression in regulating anxiety. However, delusion-prone individuals were less successful in applying reappraisal (interaction effect: F(2,158) = 3.70, p = . 027). In addition, lower success in reappraising threat was accompanied by higher state delusional ideation (r = -0.20, p = .013). CONCLUSIONS Delusion-proneness is accompanied by difficulties in reappraising threat that might contribute to the formation and maintenance of clinically relevant delusions. Preliminary implications for the improvement of cognitive behaviour therapy for delusions are discussed.
Does it Always Have to be Perthes’ Disease?: What is Epiphyseal Dysplasia?

The epiphyseal dysplasias are classified as osteochondral dysplasias in a heterogeneous group of skeletal dysplasias. The common feature of these hereditary conditions is short stature attributable to skeletal dysplasia at various sites. Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia and spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia are of interest to the authors, because the two syndromes are similar in their morphologic features and at first glance suggest the diagnosis of Perthes’ disease. Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia (Wiedemann-Spranger syndrome) is a disorder of growth in which there is an abnormality of enchondral ossification affecting the vertebral bodies and the epiphyses of the long bones. The two forms are the more severe congenita form (Type I), which is inherited as an autosomal dominant condition and is associated with a highly disproportional reduction in growth and severe coxa vara, and the milder tarda form which is an X-linked recessive condition, in which growth in adolescence is defective after normal childhood development. Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia is an abnormality of enchondral ossification, especially of the femoral head epiphysis, and it is an autosomal dominant condition. Depending on its severity, a distinction is made between the severe Fairbank form, the milder Ribbing form, and a mild localized Meyer form.
Novel Handwritten Words and Documents Databases of Five Middle Eastern Languages

This paper introduces new handwritten databases of selected words in the five Middle-Eastern languages of Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Pashto and Urdu. The databases share a common lexicon of forty words that are related to finance and are used in daily life. The five databases have been collected from over 1600 native writers located in four countries. Recognition results for each of the databases are also presented. Results come from three classifiers (Support Vector Machines, Modified Quadratic Discriminant Function. And Multi-layer Perceptron) which were implemented for recognition of the words based on gradient features. Given the diversity of the data, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented process in learning and recognizing samples of handwritten words from different languages. In addition, full page handwritten documents of each language are presented, with approximately forty pages per language. Each document has associated ground truth information.
Real‐time MRI of speaking at a resolution of 33 ms: Undersampled radial FLASH with nonlinear inverse reconstruction

Dynamic MRI studies of the upper airway during speaking, singing or swallowing are complicated by the need for high temporal resolution and the presence of air‐tissue interfaces that may give rise to image artifacts such as signal void and geometric distortions. This work exploits a recently developed real‐time MRI technique to address these challenges for monitoring speech production at 3 T. The method combines a short‐echo time radial FLASH MRI sequence (pulse repetition time/echo time = 2.22/1.44 ms; flip angle 5°) with pronounced undersampling (15 radial spokes per image) and image reconstruction by regularized nonlinear inversion. The resulting serial images at 1.5 mm in‐plane resolution and 33.3 ms acquisition time are free of motion or susceptibility artifacts. This application focuses on a dynamic visualization of the main articulators during natural speech production (Standard Modern German). Respective real‐time MRI movies at 30 frames per second clearly demonstrate the spatiotemporal coordination of lips, tongue, velum, and larynx for generating vowels, consonants, and coarticulations. The quantitative results for individual phonetic events are in agreement with previous non‐MRI findings. Magn Reson Med, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Spatial frequency analysis in early visual processing.

The existence of multiple channels, or multiple receptive field sizes, in the visual system does not commit us to any particular theory of spatial encoding in vision. However, distortions of apparent spatial frequency and width in a wide variety of conditions favour the idea that each channel carries a width- or frequency-related code or 'label' rather than a 'local sign' or positional label. When distortions of spatial frequency occur without prior adaptation (e.g. at low contrast or low luminance) they are associated with lowered sensitivity, and may be due to a mismatch between the perceptual labels and the actual tuning of the channels. A low-level representation of retinal space could be constructed from the spatial information encoded by the channels, rather than being projected intact from the retina.
O contributo do contexto macroeconómico para o fomento do empreendedorismo: uma análise crítica do caso europeu

viii Índice geral . ix Índice de figuras . xi Índice de quadros . xi Índice de tabelas . xi Índice de anexos . xi Lista de siglas, abreviaturas e acrónimos . xii 1 Introdução . 1 1.1 Objetivos . 3 1.2 Estrutura . 3 2 O empreendedorismo . 5 2.1 Enquadramento histórico-conceptual . 6 2.2 A definição contemporânea . 10 3 A mensuração do empreendedorismo . 13 4 Um framework para o empreendedorismo . 18 4.1 Determinantes do empreendedorismo . 19 4.1.1 Quadro regulamentar . 21 4.1.2 Condições de mercado . 25 4.1. 3 Acesso ao financiamento . 30 4.1. 4 I&D e tecnologia . 32 4.1. 5 Cultura e capacidades . 34 4.2 Desempenho empreendedor . 37 4.3 Impacto do empreendedorismo . 39 5 Metodologia . 41 5.1 Conceptualização da investigação . 41 5.2 Hipóteses de investigação e modelo econométrico. 41
Impaired hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis activity, spermatogenesis, and sperm function promote infertility in males with lead poisoning

Summary Lead poisoning is a stealthy threat to human physiological systems as chronic exposure can remain asymptomatic for long periods of time before symptoms manifest. We presently review the biophysical mechanisms of lead poisoning that contribute to male infertility. Environmental and occupational exposure of lead may adversely affect the hypothalamic−pituitary−testicular axis, impairing the induction of spermatogenesis. Dysfunction at the reproductive axis, namely testosterone suppression, is most susceptible and irreversible during pubertal development. Lead poisoning also appears to directly impair the process of spermatogenesis itself as well as sperm function. Spermatogenesis issues may manifest as low sperm count and stem from reproductive axis dysfunction or testicular degeneration. Generation of excessive reactive oxygen species due to lead-associated oxidative stress can potentially affect sperm viability, motility, DNA fragmentation, membrane lipid peroxidation, capacitation, hyperactivation, acrosome reaction, and chemotaxis for sperm-oocyte fusion, all of which can contribute to deter fertilization. Reproductive toxicity has been tested through cross-sectional analysis studies in humans as well as in vivo and in vitro studies in animals.
Autonomous Simultaneous Localization and Mapping driven by Monte Carlo uncertainty maps-based navigation

Abstract This paper addresses the problem of implementing a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm combined with a non-reactive controller (such as trajectory following or path following). A general study showing the advantages of using predictors to avoid mapping inconsistences in autonomous SLAM architectures is presented. In addition, this paper presents a priority-based uncertainty map construction method of the environment by a mobile robot when executing a SLAM algorithm. The SLAM algorithm is implemented with an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and extracts corners (convex and concave) and lines (associated with walls) from the surrounding environment. A navigation approach directs the robot motion to the regions of the environment with the higher uncertainty and the higher priority. The uncertainty of a region is specified by a probability characterization computed at the corresponding representative points. These points are obtained by a Monte Carlo experiment and their probability is estimated by the sum of Gaussians method, avoiding the time-consuming map-gridding procedure. The priority is determined by the frame in which the uncertainty region was detected (either local or global to the vehicle's pose). The mobile robot has a non-reactive trajectory following controller implemented on it to drive the vehicle to the uncertainty points. SLAM real-time experiments in real environment, navigation examples, uncertainty maps constructions along with algorithm strategies and architectures are also included in this work.
Depth-of-interaction compensation using a focused-cut scintillator for a pinhole gamma camera

Preclinical SPECT can potentially be a powerful platform to study fundamental biological processes and drug interactions in small animals. Gamma cameras for such SPECT systems require high spatial resolutions in order to adequately map the uptake of radioisotopes in small animals. Pinhole collimators offer one of the best technically feasible ways to achieve a high resolution. However, pinhole geometry introduces parallax errors, particularly toward the edge of the field of view, limiting the system spatial resolution. The parallax errors arise from the variable depth of interaction (DOI) of gammaray/scintillator events, especially when gamma rays enter a scintillator at steep angles. There have been several efforts to address parallax errors in pinhole SPECT, including algorithm-based DOI modeling and correction and the use of a curved fiber bundle to collimate light from a curved scintillator [1, 2]. Another way to overcome parallax errors in a pinhole gamma camera is to use a focused-cut scintillator, which is pixellated so that the pixels are focused towards the pinhole of a collimator [3]. Thus, the path of a primary ray that has passed through the pinhole only intersects with a single pixel in the scintillator. Here, we experimentally test a pinhole gamma camera with a focused-cut (FC) scintillator. We measure the resolution across a continuous scintillator and across a straight-cut (SC) pixellated scintillator and show that the thicker FC scintillator has comparable parallax error in comparison with a thinner SC scintillator (3 mm vs. 1 mm). Thus, FC scintillators are shown to offer both the high resolution of thin pixellated scintillators and the high sensitivity of thicker scintillators.
The accuracy of population projections.

A review of past population projection errors is presented as a means for constructing confidence intervals for future projections. The author first defines a statistic to measure projection errors independent of the size of population and the length of the projection period. A sample of U.S. and U.N. projections is used to show that the distributions of components of the error statistic are relatively stable. This information is then used to construct confidence intervals for the U.S. population up to the year 2000.
Occupational health issues amongst UK doctors: a literature review.

BACKGROUND Around 1.1 million people suffer from occupational health diseases in the UK. Work-related conditions reported by doctors include mental health disorders, musculoskeletal problems and skin disorders. AIMS To investigate the prevalence of occupational illness in UK doctors from different specialties. METHODS A literature search conducted on PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE® and Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) identified relevant research about doctors between the years 1990 and 2013. RESULTS Seventy-two papers were identified. The majority of studies were cross-sectional with no random ized controlled trials or meta-analyses found. Mental health issues including burnout were widely reported and were attributed to greater job constraints, managerial issues, difficulty with clinical cases and lack of job satisfaction. Substance abuse in doctors was reported to be a risk of maladaptive coping mechanisms and was associated with early retirement. Surgeons were reported as being at greatest risk of needle-stick injuries and musculoskeletal pain. Orthopaedic surgeons were reported to be at risk of noise-induced hearing loss as a result of the use of air-powered and electric drills. There was limited research found concerning contact dermatitis and work-related malignancies amongst doctors in the UK. CONCLUSIONS Our literature review found research on UK doctors for a variety of work-related illnesses with the prevalence varying depending on both specialty and seniority. This could have adverse effects both on the individual and the provision of patient care. Further studies are required to investigate the epidemiology of noise-induced hearing loss, nosocomial infections, skin-related disorders and work-related malignancies.