Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Melatonin reduces non‐adrenergic, non‐cholinergic relaxant neurotransmission by inhibition of nitric oxide synthase activity in the gastrointestinal tract of rodents in vitro

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of melatonin on non‐adrenergic, non‐cholinergic (NANC) relaxant neurotransmission in the gastrointestinal tract, which is mainly mediated by nitrergic and peptidergic mechanisms. Melatonin (10−7–10−3 M) had no effect on the basal tonus of the rat gastric fundus smooth muscle. Relaxant responses following electrical stimulation(40 V; 0.5 ms pulse duration; 10 s stimulation duration) under NANC conditions on a 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT, 10−7 M) contraction plateau were elicited at frequencies in the range of 0.5–16 Hz. Melatonin significantly reduced these inhibitory NANC responses (16 Hz without melatonin: –103 ± 6.3%; melatonin 10−5 M: –80.4 ± 7.5%; melatonin 10−4 M: –39.1 ± 17.1%). Intracellular recording was carried out in a mouse colonic preparation. Electrical neural stimulation of the mouse colonic neurons caused biphasic intracellular hyperpolarization in smooth‐muscle cells. The initial fast component is apamin‐sensitive, and the following slow component is dependent on nitrergic mechanisms, as it is abolished in the presence of NG‐nitro‐L‐arginine (L‐NNA). Melatonin significantly reduced the nitric oxide‐dependent slow component of neurally transmitted hyperpolarization, whereas the initial fast component was left unchanged. In a synaptosomal preparation of the enteric nervous system of rat intestine, enzymatic nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity was significantly reduced by melatonin at concentrations ranging from 10−7 to 10−4 M (basal preparation including cofactors: 61.2 ± 9.4 fmol/mg; melatonin 10−4 M: 39.2 ± 6.9 fmol/mg). Reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) studies were conducted to investigate the melatonin receptors (mt1, MT2 and MT3) present in the esophagus, stomach and ileum of the rat. The presence of mt1 mRNA expression alone, but not of mRNA expression for MT2 or MT3, was demonstrated in the tissues. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that melatonin reduces the functional inhibitory NANC response. It shows that this effect may be the result of a reduction of the nitrergic component of the smooth‐muscle inhibitory junction potential (IJP) and related to direct inhibition of NOS activity in enteric synaptosomes. The presence of mt1 receptor transcripts adds supportive evidence for a possible physiological role of melatonin within the enteric nervous system.
Marital protection and marital selection: Evidence from a historical-prospective sample of American men

Whether marriage causes people to live longer or whether healthier people select into marriage is an open question. In this study I followed a sample of men from age 18 to first marriage and ultimately to death. Health in early adulthood was represented by height and weight around age 20. The probability of ever marrying and the conditional probability of marriage in a given time period were lower for smaller men and greater for larger men. Marriage significantly lowered mortality risk even after controlling for health in early adulthood. Thus I found support both for selection into marriage and for protective effects of marriage.
Differential regulation of toll‐like receptor‐2, toll‐like receptor‐4, CD16 and human leucocyte antigen‐DR on peripheral blood monocytes during mild and severe dengue fever

Dengue fever (DF), a public health problem in tropical countries, may present severe clinical manifestations as result of increased vascular permeability and coagulation disorders. Dengue virus (DENV), detected in peripheral monocytes during acute disease and in in vitro infection, leads to cytokine production, indicating that virus–target cell interactions are relevant to pathogenesis. Here we investigated the in vitro and in vivo activation of human peripheral monocytes after DENV infection. The numbers of CD14+ monocytes expressing the adhesion molecule intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM‐1) were significantly increased during acute DF. A reduced number of CD14+ human leucocyte antigen (HLA)‐DR+ monocytes was observed in patients with severe dengue when compared to those with mild dengue and controls; CD14+ monocytes expressing toll‐like receptor (TLR)2 and TLR4 were increased in peripheral blood from dengue patients with mild disease, but in vitro DENV‐2 infection up‐regulated only TLR2. Increased numbers of CD14+ CD16+ activated monocytes were found after in vitro and in vivo DENV‐2 infection. The CD14high CD16+ monocyte subset was significantly expanded in mild dengue, but not in severe dengue. Increased plasma levels of tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and interleukin (IL)‐18 in dengue patients were inversely associated with CD14high CD16+, indicating that these cells might be involved in controlling exacerbated inflammatory responses, probably by IL‐10 production. We showed here, for the first time, phenotypic changes on peripheral monocytes that were characteristic of cell activation. A sequential monocyte‐activation model is proposed in which DENV infection triggers TLR2/4 expression and inflammatory cytokine production, leading eventually to haemorrhagic manifestations, thrombocytopenia, coagulation disorders, plasmatic leakage and shock development, but may also produce factors that act in order to control both intense immunoactivation and virus replication.
Adjustment for current weight and the relationship between birth weight and blood pressure in childhood

Objective To determine the role of current weight in mediating the relationship between birth weight and blood pressure within the context of the ‘fetal origins’ hypothesis. Design Prospective cohort study of 2507 pregnant women and their singleton offspring, delivered live at term, in Perth, Western Australia between 1989 and 1992. The study commenced at 16 weeks gestation with serial weight and blood pressure measurements recorded through early childhood. Results Inverse associations were found between birth weight and systolic blood pressure at ages 1, 3 and 6. The effect of birth weight on systolic blood pressure at age 6 reached statistical significance and was increased fourfold in magnitude to 22.3 mmHg [95% confidence interval = (−3.3 to −1.3), P < 0.01] after adjustment for current weight. The interaction term for birth weight and current weight was not statistically significant. Including intermediate weights did not produce a statistically significantly better model but did increase the magnitude of the estimated regression coefficient of birth weight on blood pressure, and only the birth weight and current weight terms were significant. Conclusions Adjustment for current weight serves to highlight the relationship between birth weight and blood pressure in childhood. Nevertheless, birth weight, rather than birth weight adjusted for current weight, is still the relevant predictor of later blood pressure within the context of the ‘fetal origins’ hypothesis.
High-Performance MIMO Antenna With 1-D EBG Ground Structures for Handset Application

Antennas backed with one-dimensional electromagnetic band-gap (1-D EBG) reflectors were designed for the multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) application. The two monopole antennas together with the 1-D EBG reflectors were patterned onto a folded flexible printed circuit board (FPCB). The antennas could be placed in close proximity to the EBG reflectors due to the reflection characteristics of the high-impedance EBGs. The resulting EBG-backed antennas radiate in opposite directions so that they exhibit isolation greater than 20 dB and a correlation coefficient as low as 0.04 at the operating frequency.
A fault-tolerant control strategy for Lipschitz non-linear discrete-time systems

In this paper, an active FTC strategy is proposed. First, it is developed in the context of linear systems and then it is extended to Lipschitz non-linear systems. The key contribution of the proposed approach is an integrated FTC design procedure of the fault identification and fault-tolerant control schemes. Fault identification is based on the use of an observer. While, the FTC controller is implemented as a state feedback controller. This controller is designed such that it can stabilize the faulty plant using Lyapunov theory and LMIs. Finally, the last part of the paper shows experimental results that confirm the high performance of the proposed approach.
Inhibition of cell division initiation by an imbalance in the ratio of FtsA to FtsZ

Elevated levels of FtsA protein block cell division at a very early stage, similar to that caused by inhibition of the action of FtsZ. In contrast, overexpression of FtsA and FtsZ together does not block division. A specific ratio of FtsA to FtsZ protein, therefore, is required for cell division.
Propofol auto‐co‐induction as an alternative to midazolam co‐induction for ambulatory surgery

We propose the use of an intravenous propofol/propofol auto‐co‐induction technique as an alternative to propofol/midazolam for induction of anaesthesia. We have studied 54 unpremedicated ASA 1 or 2 patients undergoing day‐stay anaesthesia for minor orthopaedic surgery. All received 10 μg. kg−1 of alfentanil before induction, followed by either midazolam 0.05 mg.kg−1, propofol 0.4 mg.kg−1 or saline, and 2 min later, a propofol infusion at a rate of 50 mg.kg−1.h−1 until loss of eyelash reflex. We compared pre‐ and postinduction haemodynamic changes, complications at insertion of a laryngeal mask airway and recovery from anaesthesia in the three groups. Both co‐induction techniques showed less postinduction hypotension and significant reduction of the total induction dose of propofol when compared to the control group. In the propofol/propofol group there was a decreased incidence of apnoea during induction of anaesthesia. These patients were discharged from hospital 2 h after the end of anaesthesia whereas patients in the midazolam/propofol group were discharged after 2½ h (p < 0.001).
A 0.4-mW, 4.7-ps Resolution Single-Loop  $\Delta \Sigma $  TDC Using a Half-Delay Time Integrator

A compact, low-power, single-loop third-order delta-sigma (ΔΣ) time-to-digital converter (TDC) for time-mode signal processing is presented in this brief. In general, a high-resolution (ΔΣ) TDC requires a cascadable time integrator to increase the order of the loop filter. However, implementing the time integrator has been very challenging owing to the difficulty in storing time information. In this brief, we present a low-power half-delay time integrator, which is simply composed of two AND gates, a charge pump, and a comparator. The proposed time integrator can be easily cascaded (serially connected) to implement a loop filter with high-order noise shaping. The prototype TDC fabricated in 0.11-μm CMOS process occupies an active area of 0.11 mm2, consuming 0.4 mW from a 1.2 V supply. It achieves the dynamic range of 81 dB over a signal bandwidth of 50 kHz, and the resolution of 4.7 ps over a measurable range of 39.06 ns, which is half the clock period.
Regional cerebral blood flow during volitional breathing in man.

1. Positron emission tomographic imaging of brain blood flow was used to identify areas of motor activation associated with volitional inspiration in six normal male subjects. 2. Scans were performed using intravenous infusion of H2(15)O during voluntary targeted breathing and positive pressure passive ventilation at the same level. 3. Regional increases in brain blood flow, due to active inspiration, were derived using a pixel by pixel comparison of images obtained during the voluntary and passive ventilation phases. 4. Pooling data from all subjects revealed statistically significant increases in blood flow bilaterally in the primary motor cortex (left, 5.4%; right, 4.3%), in the right pre‐motor cortex (7.6%), in the supplementary motor area (SMA; 3.1%) and in the cerebellum (4.9%). 5. The site of increased neural activation in the motor cortex, associated with volitional inspiration, is consistent with an area which when stimulated, either directly during neurosurgery or transcranially with a magnetic stimulus, results in activation of the diaphragm. 6. The presence of additional sites of neural activation in the pre‐motor cortex and SMA appears analogous to the results of studies on voluntary limb movement. The site of the increase in the SMA was posterior to that previously reported for arm movements. These areas are believed to have a role ‘upstream’ of the motor cortex in the planning and organization of movement. 7. This technique provides a means of studying the volitional motor control of respiratory related tasks in man.
Psychiatric Disorder in Women with Early Stage and Advanced Breast Cancer: a Comparative Analysis

Objective: To assess psychosocial morbidity in women with breast cancer and to compare the differential rates between women with early stage and advanced disease. Method: In this report, 303 women with early stage breast cancer, psychiatrically assessed at baseline (as part of a study of cognitive-existential group therapy during adjuvant chemotherapy), are compared with 200 women with advanced breast cancer (similarly assessed in a trial of supportive-expressive group therapy). A structured psychiatric interview plus self-report measures were used to assess psychiatric morbidity, quality of life and cognitive attitude to cancer. Results: The early stage patients, whose mean age was 46 years, were on average 3 months post-surgery and had an overall prevalence of DSM-IV psychiatric diagnosis of 45%. The metastatic patients, whose mean age was 51 years, were on average 63 months post-primary diagnosis and had an overall prevalence of DSM-IV diagnosis of 42%; the difference between the two rates was not statistically significant. Of women with early stage breast cancer, 36.7% had mood disorders, 9.6% suffering from major depression and 27.1% from minor depression. In the metastatic sample 31% had mood disorders, 6.5% having major depression and 24.5% with minor depression. Anxiety disorders were present in 8.6% of the early stage group and 6% of women with advanced disease. Fatigue, a past history of depression, and cognitive attitudes of helplessness, hopelessness or resignation were significantly associated with depression in both groups. The women from the metastatic sample were significantly less distressed by hair loss but more dissatisfied with body image, and had higher rates of lymphoedema and hot flushes than the early stage women. Conclusions: The rates of psychosocial distress are high, and similar, across patients with both early and advanced stage breast cancer, although the illness related causes of distress are different. These data present a challenge to clinical services to provide a comprehensive range of support services to ameliorate this distress.
Factors associated with sex trade involvement among male participants in a prospective study of injection drug users

Objectives: While much research to date has examined female sex trade work, little has been done to evaluate factors associated with male sex trade involvement or to assess their health service needs. This is particularly true for male sex trade workers who are also injection drug users (IDUs). Therefore, the present analyses were undertaken to evaluate factors associated with sex trade work in a prospective cohort study of male IDUs. Methods: We identified factors associated with sex trade involvement among male participants enrolled in the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS). Since serial measures for each individual were available at semiannual intervals, variables potentially associated with sex trade involvement were evaluated with adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) computed using generalised estimating equations (GEE). Results: Between 1996 and 2003, 995 male IDUs were enrolled into the VIDUS cohort among whom 108 (11%) reported being involved in the sex trade at enrolment and 102 (10%) individuals initiated sex trade involvement during the follow up period. In multivariate analyses, factors independently associated with sex trade involvement included HIV positive serostatus (AOR: 1.77 (95% CI: 1.44 to 2.17)), daily cocaine injection (AOR: 1.37 (95% CI: 1.11 to 1.70)), daily crack smoking (AOR: 1.36 (95% CI: 1.07 to 1.72)), borrowing syringes (AOR: 1.73 (95% CI: 1.32 to 2.25)), and inconsistent use of condoms with casual sexual partners (AOR 0.66, CI 0.53 to 0.82). We also found that male sex trade workers were more likely to report having sought but been unable to access substance abuse treatment (AOR: 1.28 (95% CI: 0.98 to 1.67); p = 0.076). Conclusions: Males involved in the sex trade in this setting have higher levels of HIV infection and engage in risky injection behaviours at an elevated rate. Since these behaviours have major implications for HIV acquisition and public health, prevention efforts and targeted provision of addiction treatment to this population should be expanded.
Omission of histologic grading from clinical decision making may result in overuse of adjuvant therapies in breast cancer: results from a nationwide study.

PURPOSE To investigate the influence of routinely performed histologic grading on breast cancer outcome prediction and patient selection for adjuvant therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS The analysis is based on a cohort of 2,842 women diagnosed with breast cancer and comprising 91% of all breast cancers diagnosed in five defined geographical regions in Finland in 1991 through 1992. Data on clinicopathologic factors and follow-up were collected from hospital case records and national registries. Histologic grade assessed at diagnosis and other clinicopathologic data were available for 1,554 operable unilateral invasive carcinomas. The relative value of grade with respect to competing prognostic factors was estimated with the Cox proportional hazards model and logistic regression. Interactions and nonlinearity of factors were accounted for by using an artificial neural network. RESULTS Histologic grade was correlated strongly with survival in the entire series and in all subgroups studied. Women with well-differentiated node-negative cancer had a 97% 5-year distant disease-free survival rate as compared with 78% for women with poorly differentiated cancer. Grade was an independent prognostic factor in multivariate models and increased the predictive accuracy of a neural network model. Inclusion of grade data in a Cox multivariate model based on tumor size and hormone receptor status in node-negative cancer increased the proportion of patients with 5% or less risk for distant recurrence at 5 years from 15% to 54%. CONCLUSION Even when assessed by pathologists who have no special training in breast cancer pathology, histologic grade has substantial and independent prognostic value in breast cancer. Omission of grading from clinical decision making may result in considerable overuse of adjuvant therapies.
Green logistics optimization model for forward and reverse logistics using genetic algorithm

Green logistics has been receiving much attention due to more focus mainly on environmental protection and conservation, green legislations, customer's increased awareness for clean environment, and sustainability and this drives to more importance given to environmental conservation and protection practices like recycle, reprocess, reuse and emission control to minimize economic cost and environmental effects. The reverse logistics is a key constituent of green logistics. Reverse logistics deal with the collection re-usable packaging and end of life goods for recycling or remanufacturing. The present research is encouraged by the practice oxygen delivery to the hospitals in a predefined time window. Here a genetic algorithm is applied in proposed logistics optimization model for generating routes of two models of VRP for simultaneous pickup and delivery with time window and two pick up strategies full pickups and partial pickups. Then routes are selected after comparison based on a set of economic and environmental cost factors. The experimental results show that the total cost is lower for full pickup strategy.
Distributed Battery Micro-Storage Systems Design and Operation in a Deregulated Electricity Market

This paper covers some design and operation aspects of distributed battery micro-storage systems in a deregulated electricity market system. In this paper, the term “micro” refers to the size of the energy storage (ES) system compared to the grid generation, with a capacity from few kilowatt-hours and up. Generally, ES enhances the performance of renewable distributed generators (DGs) and increases the efficiency of the entire power system. Energy storage allows for leveling the load, shaving peak demands, and furthermore, transacting power with the utility grid. In this paper, different design aspects of distributed micro-storage systems are covered such as system architecture, system sizing, power stage design, battery management system (BMS), economic aspects and operation in a deregulated electricity market with and without renewable DGs.
Validation of a new method for measuring and continuously monitoring the efficiency of industrial flares

ABSTRACT A new method has been developed for a direct and remote measurement of industrial flare combustion efficiency (CE). The method is based on a unique hyper-spectral or multi-spectral Infrared (IR) imager which provides a high frame rate, high spectral selectivity and high spatial resolution. The method can be deployed for short-term flare studies or for permanent installation providing real-time continuous flare CE monitoring. In addition to the measurement of CE, the method also provides a measurement for level of smoke in the flare flame regardless of day or night. The measurements of both CE and smoke level provide the flare operator with a real-time tool to achieve “incipient smoke point” and optimize flare performance. The feasibility of this method was first demonstrated in a bench scale test. The method was recently tested on full scale flares along with extractive sampling methods to validate the method. The full scale test included three types of flares – steam assisted, air assisted, and pressure assisted. Thirty-nine test runs were performed covering a CE range of approximately 60-100%. The results from the new method showed a strong agreement with the extractive methods (r2=0.9856 and average difference in CE measurement=0.5%). Implications: Because industrial flares are operated in the open atmosphere, direct measurement of flare combustion efficiency (CE) has been a long-standing technological challenge. Currently flare operators do not have feedback in terms of flare CE and smoke level, and it is extremely difficult for them to optimize flare performance and reduce emissions. The new method reported in this paper could provide flare operators with real-time data for CE and smoke level so that flare operations can be optimized. In light of EPA’s focus on flare emissions and its new rules to reduce emissions from flares, this policy-relevant development in flare CE monitoring is brought to the attention of both the regulating and regulated communities.
Starvation Selection Restores Elastase and Rhamnolipid Production in a Pseudomonas aeruginosaQuorum-Sensing Mutant

ABSTRACT The las quorum-sensing system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa controls the expression of elastase and rhamnolipid. We report that starvation can select a mutant producing these virulence factors in spite of a lasR deletion. Expression of the autoinducer synthase gene rhlI was increased in this suppressor mutant, suggesting compensation by the rhlsystem. These data show that P. aeruginosa can restore elastase and rhamnolipid production in the absence of a functionallas quorum-sensing system.