Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, Helicobacter pylori, and ulcers: where we stand.

BACKGROUND Despite the progress in the diagnosis and treatment of Helicobacter pylori-related peptic ulcer disease, it has become apparent that we may be in the midst of an epidemic of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ulcers and ulcer complications. We also have almost no information about whether there is a link between ulcers in NSAID users and H. pylori infection or whether clinically significant interactions occur. METHODS Current data regarding the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of NSAID-induced ulcers and the possible relationship between H. pylori ulcers and NSAID use is reviewed. CONCLUSION We need to rethink past conclusions about NSAIDs and gastroduodenal complications and also re-do many of the experiments, taking into account the H. pylori status of the patient (infected, uninfected, cured). It is predicted that the epidemic of NSAID complications will only get worse. Only the future will tell whether selective COX II inhibitors or NO-NSAIDs that incorporate a nitroxybutyl moiety will actually provide the same benefit at lower risk. Until then we must rely on more rational use of NSAIDs, and misoprostol to keep the number of complications at a minimum.
Intra‐session repeatability of FET and FEV6 in the general population

Background: The recent American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society spirometry guidelines harmonized quality criteria and included assessment of forced expiratory time (FET) in bronchodilation testing when an isolated significant forced vital capacity (FVC) bronchodilation effect is observed. No consensus exists on the criteria of accepted variability of FET. Forced expiratory volume in 6 s (FEV6) has been suggested to replace FVC, especially in primary care. We examined the variability of FET and FEV6 and its determinants in the general population.
Teachers' Ideas about Learning, their use of Technology and Learner-Centred Classrooms

Despite the ubiquitous and prolific application of computer technologies in educational contexts, technology has not yielded significant transformations of classroom practice. One reason may be due to teachers’ understandings of effective learning and how technology can be used to support learning. In this study, we observed and interviewed ten teachers who were considered to exemplary and known to use technology. While there were instances of technology being used to create learnercentred lessons, much of the time technology was used to make teacherdirected practices more efficient. Teachers’ understanding of effective learning appears to play an important role in using technology to create learner-centred classrooms.
Bromocriptine Transcriptionally Activates the Multidrug Resistance Gene (pgp2/mdr1b) by a Novel Pathway*

The P-glycoprotein (Pgp) reversing agent, reserpine, induces MDR1 mRNA and PGP protein in human colon carcinoma cells (Schuetz, E. G., Beck, W. T., and Schuetz, J. D. (1996) Mol. Pharmacol. 49, 311-318) and in H35 rat hepatoma cells. Reserpine's interference with cellular dopamine utilization suggested that dopamine and dopaminergics might be important physiological regulators of PGP expression. Initial studies demonstrated that the H35 cells express the D2 dopamine receptor. Pgp protein and pgp2/mdr1b mRNA was increased (maximum of 10- and 8-fold, respectively) by the potent D2 dopamine receptor agonists bromocriptine, R(−)-propylnorapomorphine hydrochloride, and quinpirole, and Pgp protein induction was blocked by D2 receptor antagonists spiperone and clozapine. D2 receptor agonist induction of pgp2/mdr1b mRNA was paralleled by transcriptional activation of the pgp2/mdr1b promoter but blocked by pretreatment with the D2 dopamine receptor antagonists, spiperone, eticlopride, and clozapine. Co-transfection of a D2 dopamine receptor expression vector enhanced bromocriptine's transcriptional activation of the pgp2/mdr1b promoter. The G-protein, Gαi2, is required for bromocriptine transcriptional activation because the G-protein inhibitor, pertussis toxin, suppressed bromocriptine's activation of pgp2/mdr1b transcription and co-transfection of a dominant negative Gαi2 abrogated bromocriptine activation of pgp2/mdr1b. Gi proteins can transduce signals by activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and because Raf-1 is a known activator of MDR1, we tested for Raf-1 involvement. Co-transfection of a dominant negative Raf-1 failed to block bromocriptine induction of pgp2/mdr1b, and bromocriptine treatment caused no phosphorylation of the MAP kinase kinase substrates p42 and p44, demonstrating that the MAP kinase pathway was not involved. These are the first studies demonstrating transcriptional activation of an MDR gene by dopamine receptor agonists and that this activation occurs by a signal transduction pathway requiring the D2 dopamine receptor coupled to a functional G-protein.
Molecular fingerprinting defines a strain of Salmonella enterica serotype Anatum responsible for an international outbreak associated with formula-dried milk

Molecular analyses based on plasmid profile typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis have defined a strain of Salmonella enterica serotype Anatum associated with the consumption of a particular brand of formula-dried milk responsible for an outbreak in late 1996/early 1997 involving 15 infants and 2 relatives in the UK, and 2 infants in France. The study has demonstrated the value of laboratory-based surveillance involving identification of the outbreak strain at the molecular level coupled with food microbiology and targeted epidemiological investigations, and has highlighted the importance of rapid communication and subsequent international collaboration through the European Union-funded Salm-Net salmonella surveillance network.
Immobilization‐induced changes in motor unit force and fatigability in the cat

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 3 weeks of immobilization on the mechanical properties of motor units in a cat hindlimb muscle. The muscle, tibialis posterior, was immobilized in a shortened position. Motor units were classified as type FF, F(int), FR, or S. Force, axonal conduction velocity, fatigability, and proportions of motor unit types were compared in control and immobilized muscles. All properties exhibited some change after immobilization, including slower axonal conduction velocities, greater twitch forces, slower twitch contraction times, and greater tetanic forces. In addition, most motor units were less fatigable after immobilization. The number of motor units that could not be included in one of the four classification categories increased significantly after immobilization; these units exhibited normal axon conductivity but failed to produce measurable force or associated EMG. Short‐term immobilization induced a variety of physiological adaptations in neuromuscular processes that varied with motor unit type.
Transmissibility of mouse AApoAII amyloid fibrils: inactivation by physical and chemical methods

AApoAII amyloid fibrils have exhibited prion‐like transmissibility in mouse senile amyloidosis. We have demonstrated that AApoAII is extremely active and can induce amyloidosis following doses less than 1 pg. We tested physical and chemical methods to disrupt AApoAII fibrils in vitro as determined by thioflavin T binding and electron microscopy (EM) as well as inactivating the transmissibility of AApoAII fibrils in vivo. Complete disruption of AApoAII fibrils was achieved by treatment with formic acid, 6 M guanidine hydrochloride, and autoclaving in an alkaline solution. Injection of these disrupted AApoAII fibrils did not induce amyloidosis in mice. Disaggregation with 6 M urea, autoclaving, and alkaline solution was incomplete, and injection of these AApoAII fibrils induced mild amyloidosis. Treatment with formalin, delipidation, freezethaw, and RNase did not have any major effect. A distinct correlation was obtained between the amounts of amyloid fibrils and the transmissibility of amyloid fibrils, thereby indicating the essential role of fibril conformation for transmission of amyloidosis. We also studied the inactivation of AApoAII fibrils by several organic compounds in vitro and in vivo. AApoAII amyloidosis provides a valuable system for studying factors that may prevent transmission of amyloid disease as well as potential novel therapies. FASEB J. 20, E211–E221 (2006)
Inflation and Money: A Puzzle

We document that persistent and lagged inflation (with respect to output) is a worldwide phenomenon in that these short-run inflation dynamics are highly synchronized across countries. We investigate whether standard monetary models are consistent with the empirical facts. We find that neither the new Keynesian sticky-price model nor the Mankiw-Reis (QJE 2002) sticky-information model can explain the international synchronization of the short-run inflation dynamics. Although the sticky-information model of Mankiw and Reis is very successful in explaining the persistent and lagged inflation dynamics for each individual country, its open-economy analogue fails to explain the synchronization of the inflation dynamics among the countries using calibrated international covariance of monetary shocks. The reason is that the dynamic effects of monetary shocks on inflation in one country cannot be effectively propagated across and preserved in other countries. We conclude that the short-run inflation dynamics and their global synchronization cannot be a monetary phenomenon, but may be instead the consequence of non-monetary shocks. An independent contribution of the paper is to provide a simple solution technique for solving general equilibrium models with lagged expectations (e.g., due to sticky information).
In vitro activities of tosufloxacin, temafloxacin, and A-56620 against pathogens of diarrhea

Tosufloxacin (A-60969 HCl), a new quinolone with broad activity against gram-positive and anaerobic organisms, was compared in vitro with other quinolones against bacterial pathogens of diarrhea. Tosufloxacin was the most active agent against Salmonella spp. , Shigella spp. , Campylobacter spp. , Aeromonas hydrophila, and Vibrio spp. Temafloxacin (A-62254) also demonstrated good activity against these organisms.
Distributed Adaptive Binary Quantization for Fast Nearest Neighbor Search

Hashing has been proved an attractive technique for fast nearest neighbor search over big data. Compared with the projection based hashing methods, prototype-based ones own stronger power to generate discriminative binary codes for the data with complex intrinsic structure. However, existing prototype-based methods, such as spherical hashing and K-means hashing, still suffer from the ineffective coding that utilizes the complete binary codes in a hypercube. To address this problem, we propose an adaptive binary quantization (ABQ) method that learns a discriminative hash function with prototypes associated with small unique binary codes. Our alternating optimization adaptively discovers the prototype set and the code set of a varying size in an efficient way, which together robustly approximate the data relations. Our method can be naturally generalized to the product space for long hash codes, and enjoys the fast training linear to the number of the training data. We further devise a distributed framework for the large-scale learning, which can significantly speed up the training of ABQ in the distributed environment that has been widely deployed in many areas nowadays. The extensive experiments on four large-scale (up to 80 million) data sets demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art hashing methods, with up to 58.84% performance gains relatively.
Frequent behavioural challenges in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: a needs-based assessment reported by caregivers and clinicians.

OBJECTIVE Despite substantial research characterizing the brain injury, a significant gap still exists in providing timely and effective care for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The objective of this study was to conduct a needs assessment that could help inform intervention programs and appropriate strategies to manage challenging behaviours targeted to families impacted by FASD. METHODS Sixty caregivers and 26 clinicians from across Canada completed a semi-structured telephone interview. RESULTS Caregivers reported that the most challenging behaviour categories were "Externalizing Behaviours", "Cognitive Difficulties", and "Social Difficulties/Maladjustment", whereas the most successful parenting strategies were "Parental Reflection", "Routine/Structure/Consistency", and "Environmental Modification". Clinicians reported that "Insufficient Support/Knowledge from Health and Social Professionals and Agencies" and "Behavioural Difficulties/Challenges" were the most common concerns from caregivers of children with FASD. CONCLUSIONS The number and extent of challenges reported make it evident that there are many unmet needs that compromise the quality of life for these caregivers, their children, and their families. These data will be used to inform the development of an intervention program that will provide a family-centered approach to training, education, and support for children with FASD and their families.
Growth (Rate) Effects of Migration

Problems related to labor migration on a large scale in South-North as well as in East-West direction are high on the agenda. This papers presents an endogenous growth model for two regions with human capital formation as the engine of growth. The model is used to analyze the growth (rate) effects of migration in the host as well as in the source country. Thereby, two types of migrating individuals which differ in their ability in the human capital formation process are distinguished and the long-run effects of their respective migrations assessed. It can be shown that under certain circumstances migration increases the rate of growth in both regions. Furthermore, it will be argued that the mobility of only one type of individuals tends to equalize interregional factor rewards not only for skilled but for unskilled labour as well.
Model of the Optimal Maneuver Route

The chapter deals with the mathematical model for planning the optimal movement route, which has been implemented in the Tactical Decision Support System (TDSS). The model processes and evaluates the data contained in the five raster layers, which are tactically relevant for planning the movement route of troops or autonomous vehicles on the battlefield. The basis for calculating the optimal movement route is a ground surface layer, which is then modified by algorithmic and criterion relationships with the layers of hypsometry, weather attack, and the activities of enemy and friendly units. The result of mathematical model calculations is a time-optimized and safe movement route displayed on the topographic basis. The experiments realized have verified the function of the optimal movement route model when neither the reconnaissance group nor the autonomous vehicle was observed by the enemy. The total time of the UGV with the use of the TDSS to cover the route of maneuver was 67 minutes shorter than the real time of the BRAVO group movement with the use of the TDSS and 105 minutes shorter than the real time of the ALFA group without the use of the TDSS. The comparison of responses to the attack shows that the BRAVO group using the Maneuver Control System (MCS CZ) as part of the TDSS has destroyed the attackers faster by 71 seconds than the ALFA group without the use of the TDSS.
Developmental eye and neural tube defects in the eye blebs mouse

In the mouse, eye blebs (eb) is a spontaneous mutation that presents a useful model for the study of abnormal eye development. Since its initial description three decades ago, little information has been generated regarding the developmental course of eb eyes. Although the gene for eb has not been identified, much can be learned from the developmental defects present in the eb mouse. First detected in the eye at embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5), the eb defect is observed as an increased vascularization throughout the developing eye and head region. As development proceeds, the embryonic eye fills with blood, and the resulting hematoma distorts the shape of the iris. The eyelids fail to close, and animals are born with open eyes. Lens degeneration and retinal folding are characteristic of eb, as are microphthalmia and thick, disorganized irises. A second presentation of the eb defect is disruption of neural tube closure in the anterior and hindbrain neuropores. These eb animals are born with open neural tubes but with apparently normal eyes. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
HMM-KNN word recognition engine for bank cheque processing

Describes the mixed HMM-KNN word recognition module of a bank cheque processing system developed at CENPARMI. It uses a combination of 2 segmentation free word recognition schemes. The first scheme uses a set of global features associated to a modified K nearest neighbour classifier; while the second one uses a set of directional contour features as input to an HMM. The system has been designed to be modular and independent of specific languages as in Canada one has to deal with at least 2 languages, namely English and French. It can be easily adapted to read other European languages based on the Roman alphabet. The system is continuously tested on data from the local phone company, and we report here the results on a database of approximately 4,500 cheques.
Unique Glass Beads from the Bohemian Paradise

The Case Study section of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation serves two purposes. First, the case studies presented are concerned with problematical issues that are pertinent to students of entrepreneurship. Thus they constitute appropriate teaching and learning vehicles on a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Each case study is accompanied by a set of guidelines for the use of tutors. Second, it is envisaged that those engaged in entrepreneurial activities will find the cases both interesting and useful. The authors wish to thank Hedvika and Michaela Horská, Dáša K ° utková and the staff of AAC for their cooperation in the preparation of this case. Funding for its preparation was provided by the J. William Fulbright Foundation and the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. The case is intended to stimulate class discussion rather than to illustrate the effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. All events and individuals featured are real. difficult. As the company grew in size, managing work schedules became easier, since more workers could pick up the slack if someone was ill or on vacation. But slumps in demand taxed both women’s managerial skills, and put the company’s financial health in jeopardy. They wanted to find other markets for their products, but they did not want to spend money on fancy marketing brochures or expensive international trips that had little guarantee of success. On the other hand, they knew that they would have to do something differently to stay ahead of the competition.
Keeping up with the information society: how active older users negotiate inclusion and participation

This paper builds on an on-going project that aims to contribute to the scholarly debates on the “digital divide” and “digital inclusion” by bringing to fore the complexities of older people’s understandings and usage of digital technologies. Older people are often considered one of the vulnerable groups and are among the key targets of the digital inclusion policies, which tend to focus on user-centered solutions on the micro-level. The critical approach employed in this paper allows reconsidering the normative, inclusionary, micro-level foundations of digital inclusion discourses that often inform the policy. The paper builds on the analysis of focus group interviews with 30 older adults (65+) who are active internet users in Sweden, the country often considered as one of the leading IT nations worldwide. We analyze how active older users construct, reproduce and negotiate ideological notions of participation, inclusion and their privileged position of (active) users as imperatives and prerequisites of “keeping up with the (information) society”. Additionally, the analysis suggests that discourses on digital inclusion need to acknowledge the divide that older people themselves create as they discursively position themselves against non-users when describing when, how and why they engage with digital technologies.
Three‐dimensional domain swapping in the folded and molten‐globule states of cystatins, an amyloid‐forming structural superfamily

Cystatins, an amyloid‐forming structural superfamily, form highly stable, domain‐swapped dimers at physiological protein concentrations. In chicken cystatin, the active monomer is a kinetic trap en route to dimerization, and any changes in solution conditions or mutations that destabilize the folded state shorten the lifetime of the monomeric form. In such circumstances, amyloidogenesis will start from conditions where a domain‐swapped dimer is the most prevalent species. Domain swapping occurs by a rearrangement of loop I, generating the new intermonomer interface between strands 2 and 3. The transition state for dimerization has a high level of hydrophobic group exposure, indicating that gross conformational perturbation is required for domain swapping to occur. Dimerization also occurs when chicken cystatin is in its reduced, molten‐globule state, implying that the organization of secondary structure in this state mirrors that in the folded state and that domain swapping is not limited to the folded states of proteins. Although the interface between cystatin‐fold units is poorly defined for cystatin A, the dimers are the appropriate size to account for the electron‐dense regions in amyloid protofilaments.
Achievement and safety of a low blood pressure goal in chronic renal disease. The Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study Group.

The Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study showed a beneficial effect of a lower-than-usual blood pressure (BP) goal on the progression of renal disease in patients with proteinuria. The purpose of the present analyses was to examine the achieved BP, baseline characteristics that helped or hindered achievement of the BP goals, and safety of the BP interventions. Five hundred eighty-five patients with baseline glomerular filtration rate between 13 and 55 mL/min per 1.73 m2 (0.22 to 0.92 mL/s per 1.73 m2) were randomly assigned to either a usual or low BP goal (mean arterial pressure < or = 107 or < or = 92 mm Hg, respectively). Few patients had a history of cardiovascular disease. All antihypertensive agents were permitted, but angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (with or without diuretics) followed by calcium channel blockers were preferred. The mean (+/- SD) of the mean arterial pressures during follow-up in the low and usual BP groups was 93.0 +/- 7.3 and 97.7 +/- 7.7 mm Hg, respectively. Follow-up BP was significantly higher in subgroups of patients with preexisting hypertension, baseline mean arterial pressure > 92 mm Hg, a diagnosis of polycystic kidney disease or glomerular diseases, baseline urinary protein excretion > 1 g/d, age > or = 61 years, and black race. The frequency of medication changes and incidence of symptoms of low BP were greater in the low BP group, but there were no significant differences between BP groups in stop points, hospitalizations, or death. When data from both groups were combined, each 1-mm Hg increase in follow-up systolic BP was associated with a 1.35-times greater risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. Lower BP than usually recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular disease is achievable by several medication regimens without serious adverse effects in patients with chronic renal disease without cardiovascular disease. For patients with urinary protein excretion > 1 g/d, target BP should be a mean arterial pressure of < or = 92 mm Hg, equivalent to 125/75 mm Hg.