Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative analgesic and sedative effects of tramadol, tramadol-lidocaine and lidocaine for caudal epidural analgesia in donkeys (Equus asinus).

OBJECTIVE To compare anti-nociceptive and sedative effects of tramadol, a combination of tramadol-lidocaine, and lidocaine alone for perineal analgesia in donkeys. STUDY DESIGN Experimental 'blinded' randomized cross-over study. ANIMALS Six healthy adult donkeys. METHODS Treatments were tramadol (TR) (1.0 mg kg(-1) ), tramadol-lidocaine (TRLD) (0.5 and 0.2 mg kg(-1) respectively) and lidocaine (LD) (0.4 mg kg(-1) ) given into the epidural space. The volume of all treatments was 0.02 mL kg(-1) . Nociception was tested at the perineal region by pin prick, followed, if no reaction, by pressure from a haemostat clamp. Times to onset, degree and duration of anti-nociception of the perineal region were recorded. Response was tested immediately after drug administration and at: 2, 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes post-administration and then at 30 minute intervals thereafter until a response re-occurred. Physiologic data and degree of sedation and ataxia were recorded pre-administration and at intervals for 240 minutes post-administration. Results were analyzed using anova, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and Wilks' Lambda test as relevant. Significance was taken as p < 0.05. RESULTS Times (minutes, mean ± SD) to onset and duration of anti-nociception, respectively were; TR 13 ± 1.6 and 220 ± 4.6; TRLD 6 ± 0.8 and 180 ± 8.5; LD 4 ± 1.4 and 75 ± 4. Onset and duration times were significantly longer with TR than the other two treatments. TR never produced complete anti-nociception, whereas the TRLD and LD induced complete anti-nociceptive effects. Duration was significantly longer with TRLD than with LD alone. Epidural injections of TR and TRLD induced mild sedation. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Epidural combination of TRLD produced an anti-nociceptive effect in the perineum, which was rapid in onset and had a longer duration of action than LD alone. An epidural single dose of TRLD combination would appear to provide an acceptable analgesic effect in the perineal region of donkeys.
An Essential Role of the Enhancer for Murine Cytomegalovirus In Vivo Growth and Pathogenesis

ABSTRACT The transcription of cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate-early (IE) genes is regulated by a large and complex enhancer containing an array of binding sites for a variety of cellular transcription factors. Previously, using bacterial artificial chromosome recombinants of the virus genome, it was reported that the enhancer region of murine CMV (MCMV) is dispensable but performs a key function for viral multiplication (A. Angulo, M. Messerle, U. H. Koszinowski, and P. Ghazal, J. Virol. 72:8502-8509, 1998). In the present study, we defined, through the reconstitution of infectious enhancerless MCMVs, the growth requirement for the enhancer in tissue culture and explored its significance for steering a productive infection in vivo. A comparison of cis and trans complementation systems for infection of enhancerless virus in permissive fibroblasts revealed a multiplicity-dependent growth phenotype that is severely compromised in the rate of infectious-virus multiplication. The in vivo impact of viruses that have an amputated enhancer was investigated in an extremely sensitive model of MCMV infection, the SCID mouse. Histological examination of spleens, livers, lungs, and salivary glands from animals infected with enhancer-deficient MCMV demonstrated an absence of tissue damage associated with CMV infection. The lack of pathogenic lesions correlated with a defect in replication competence. Enhancerless viruses were not detectable in major target organs harvested from SCID mice. The pathogenesis and growth defect reverted upon restoration of the enhancer. Markedly, while SCID mice infected with 5 PFU of parental MCMV died within 50 days postinfection, all mice infected with enhancerless virus survived for the duration of the experiment (1 year) after infection with 5 × 105 PFU. Together, these results clarify the importance of the enhancer for MCMV growth in cell culture and underscore the in vivo significance of this region for MCMV virulence and pathogenesis.
Association between AKI, recovery of renal function, and long-term outcomes after hospital discharge.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine if recovery of kidney function after AKI modifies the association between AKI during hospitalization and adverse outcomes after discharge. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS The effect of renal recovery after AKI was evaluated in a population-based cohort study (n=190,714) with participants identified from a provincial claims registry in Alberta, Canada, between November 1, 2002 and December 31, 2007. AKI was identified by a two-fold increase between prehospital and peak in-hospital serum creatinine (SCr). Recovery was assessed using SCr drawn closest to 90 days after the AKI event. All-cause mortality and a combined renal outcome of sustained doubling of SCr or progression to kidney failure were evaluated. RESULTS Overall, 3.7% of the participants (n=7014) had AKI, 62.7% of whom (n=4400) survived 90 days. In the 3231 patients in whom recovery could be assessed over a median follow-up of 34 months, 30.8% (n=1268) of AKI survivors died and 2.1% (n=85) progressed to kidney failure. Participants who did not recover kidney function had a higher risk for mortality and adverse renal outcomes when AKI participants who recovered to within 25% of baseline SCr were used as the reference group (adjusted mortality hazard ratio (HR), 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.10, 1.43) (adjusted renal outcomes HR, 4.13; 95% confidence interval, 3.38, 5.04). Mortality HR was notably higher when participants failed to recover within 55% of baseline. CONCLUSIONS Renal recovery after AKI is associated with a lower risk of death or adverse renal outcomes after hospital discharge.
An adaptive popularity tracking algorithm for dynamic content caching for radio access networks

The users' requests for online objects in mobile networks are characterized by fast varying dynamics caused by user mobility and diversity of users who produce contents. Conventional popularity methods cannot efficiently handle such strong dynamic requests of users, because they pay little attention to the time-varying user behavior which contributes to the growth and fading of online media files. To handle this issues, this paper proposes two schemes, including sensing the popularity variation speed of the hot contents and adaptively adjusting the popularity tracking speed of the cache algorithm. For the first one, we make use of the pseudo popularity acceleration in a time window to calculate the shifting speed of hot objects. With the obtained shifting speed can we adaptively adjust the popularity tracking speed of our previous EWMA method. Note that our adaptive EWMA method can achieve nearly the best performance without prior knowledge regarding the shifting speed of hot objects requested by users. Simulations confirm that our adaptive EWMA method significantly outperforms conventional popularity tracking methods.
Effects of xenostrogen treatment (4-Nonylphenol, Bisphenol A) on vitellogenin expression in juvenile Cyprinus carpio

The aim of this study was to examine some potential effects of 4-Nonylphenol (4-NP), Bisphenol A (BPA), and mixture of them on common carp, Cyprinus carpio and demonstrate induction of vitellogenin (Vtg) as a biomarker for screening aquatic ecosystems. These compounds with other estrogenic chemicals may be responsible for disrupting effects observed in fish. A total of 100 juvenile carp were treated experimentally with 17β-estradiol (E2), and increasing doses of 4-NP, BPA and also mixture of them. Then the plasma Vtg levels were measured using indirect competitive ELISA. Results showed a signiﬁcant (P<0.05) increase in Vtg levels of exposed carps with E2, maximum 4-NP, BPA and their mixture. The group treated with E2 showed high induction (490%) with respect to controls. The groups treated with maximum dose of 4-NP and BPA showed also induction of Vtg, whereas the group treated with their mixture (3 mg kg−1 b.w. 4-NP and 0.01 mg kg−1 b.w. BPA) showed the highest induction (2126%). Finally, results showed that mixture of 4-NP and BPA exhibited stronger (synergistic) effects. So that, large scale monitoring of estrogenic effects caused by contamination may be considered as a biomarker in urban and industrial effluents.
The Gut in Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and Sepsis

The prognosis and care of critically ill ICU patients has improved over recent years, but the development of multiple organ failure (MOF) continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality. Shock, with resultant organ ischemia, appears to play a critical role in the development of MOF. It is our global hypothesis that MOF is a gut-derived phenomenon and that novel interventions can improve outcome in shock-induced gut inflammation and dysfunction in critically ill patients. We have found that the anesthetic agent ketamine has a profound impact on the response to endotoxic shock. This review summarizes our findings on the mechanisms of action by which ketamine is able to modulate the nitric oxide, cyclo-oxygenase and heme-oxygenase enzyme systems to attenuate endotoxin-induced organ dysfunction.
Effect of the content store size to the performance of named data networking: Case study on Palapa Ring topology

In the digital era of information technology today, information technology services are needed by all parties ranging from lay people, educational organizations, government organizations, and companies. The current digital growth has resulted in data information services being used as a distribution network that is essentially more common than communication networks and solving distribution problems of complex point-to-point communication protocols and error-prone. One of them is Named Data Networking (NDN), which is a future network technology that is present in helping the effectiveness of network usage in contemporary Internet architecture such as Internet Protocol (IP). With the development of telecommunication technology in Indonesia, through the Ministry of Communication and Information has issued a project Palapa Ring backbone network which is one of the concerns of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia to build the availability of fiber-optic network as the backbone of the national telecommunication network that connects all regions in Indonesia. In this paper will discuss how the effect of changing the size of the content store in the NDN networks using the topology Palapa ring by measuring some parameters such as the value of the dropped package or the value of a delay package.
Advances in oral controlled drug delivery: the role of drug–polymer and interpolymer non-covalent interactions

Introduction: After more than four decades of intense research, oral controlled drug delivery systems (DDSs) still represent a topic of major interest for pharmaceutical scientist and formulators. This can be explained in part by considering the economic value of oral DDSs whose market accounts for more than half of the overall drug delivery market. Polymeric systems based on drug–polymer non-covalent interaction represent a limited, but growing part of the field. Despite the large amount of literature and published reviews covering specific aspects, there is still need for a review of the relevant literature providing a general picture of the topic. Areas covered: The present review aims at presenting the latest findings in drug–polymer and interpolymer non-covalent interactions in oral controlled delivery while providing a specific perspective and a critical point of view, particularly on the tools and methods used for the study of these DDSs. Four main sections are considered: i) ionic interactions between drugs and polymers; ii) interpolymer complexes; iii) hydrogen bond; and iv) hydrophobic interactions. Expert opinion: The largest part of the scientific literature deals with systems based on drug–polymer ionic interactions while hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction though, very promising, are more difficult to exploit, and therefore less studied. An accurate and exhaustive representation of the specific role of the chemical functions in establishing predictable interactions between drug and polymers is still required.
Effect of ranitidine on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of prasugrel and clopidogrel

ABSTRACT Objective: Clopidogrel is an oral thienopyridine antiplatelet agent indicated for the treatment of atherothrombotic events in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Prasugrel, a novel oral thienopyridine, is under investigation for the reduction of atherothrombotic events in patients with ACS undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Prasugrel's solubility decreases with increasing pH, suggesting that concomitantly-administered medications that increase gastric pH may lower the rate and/or extent of prasugrel absorption. This study evaluated the influence of ranitidine coadministration on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the respective active metabolite of prasugrel and clopidogrel. Research design and methods: In this open-label, two-period, two-treatment, crossover study, 47 healthy male subjects were randomized to one of two study arms, receiving either prasugrel (60-mg loading dose [LD], 10-mg maintenance dose [MD] for 7 days; n = 23) or clopidogrel (600-mg LD, 75-mg MD for 7 days; n = 24). In one treatment period, subjects received prasugrel or clopidogrel alone, and in the alternate period received the same thienopyridine with ranitidine (150 mg twice daily, starting 1 day before the LD). Pharmacokinetic parameter estimates (AUC0−t last, Cmax, and tmax) and inhibition of platelet aggregation (IPA) by light transmission aggregometry were assessed at multiple time points after the LD and final MD. Results: Ranitidine had no clinically significant effect on the area under the plasma-concentration-time curve (AUC) and did not affect the time to Cmax (tmax) for active metabolites of either prasugrel or clopidogrel. It reduced the geometric mean maximum concentrations of active metabolite (Cmax) after a prasugrel and clopidogrel LD by 14% and 10%, respectively, but these differences were not statistically significant. When coadministered with a 60-mg prasugrel LD, ranitidine did not affect the time to, or magnitude of, peak IPA, but did result in a modest reduction at 0.5 h from 67.4 to 55.1% (p < 0.001). Ranitidine did not affect prasugrel IPA during MD. For clopidogrel, IPA was not affected by ranitidine. Prasugrel and clopidogrel were both well-tolerated, with/without ranitidine. Conclusions: Results from this study suggest that there is no significant drug–drug interaction between oral ranitidine therapy and concomitantly-administered prasugrel or clopidogrel.
Political Institutions and Political Socialization: A Cross-National Study

When systematic empirical research on political socialization began some thirty years ago, the idea of party identification as a primary vehicle of continuity in the American political culture was already well established. The works of Lazarsfeld et al., Campbell et al., and Hyman had paved the way for a tradition of scholarship in which partisanship was central to the understanding of mass political behavior.1 This tradition encompassed, and in part rested upon, the presumption that partisan feelings play a special part in the process of value transmission across generations. The core of the argument consisted of three major tenets. Party identification is shaped earlier than most other political attitudes and is strongly influenced by parental views. It remains unusually stable over the life cycle. It strongly affects other political attitudes, serving as an anchoring point for ideological commitments and issue stands.
Kinetics of trichloroethylene and toluene toxicity to Pseudomonas putida F1

The goal of the present study was to elucidate the distribution of viable bacteria in chemical gradients and to evaluate the toxic effect of high concentrations of contaminants on contaminant‐degrading bacteria under prolonged exposure. Accumulations of viable Pseudomonas putida F1 (P. putida F1) cells were observed surrounding trichloroethylene (TCE)‐containing plugs. Results from this work indicate that P. putida F1 immediately adjacent to a TCE source become nonviable, whereas cells accumulating farther away use chemotaxis to migrate toward regions with optimal chemical concentrations in the form of concentrated bacterial bands. A method was developed to test the toxicity of model contaminant stressors, TCE and toluene, to P. putida F1; data obtained from toxicity experiments were fit to linear and exponential bacterial viability‐decay models. Toxicity of TCE to P. putida F1 was best described with an exponential viability‐decay model, with a viability‐decay constant kTCE = 0.025 h−4.95 (r2 = 0.965). Toluene toxicity showed a marginally better fit to the linear viability‐decay model (r2 = 0.976), with a viability‐decay constant ktoluene = 0.208 h−1. Best‐fit model parameters obtained for both TCE and toluene were used to predict bacterial viability in toxicity experiments with higher contaminant concentrations and matched well with experimental data. Results from the present study can be used to predict bacterial accumulation and viability near nonaqueous‐phase liquid (NAPL) sources in groundwater and may be helpful in designing bioremediation strategies for sites contaminated with residual NAPLs. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:56–63. © 2009 SETAC
Nonlinear Pass-Through of Exchange Rate Shocks on Inflation: A Bayesian Smooth Transition VAR Approach

Determining the exchange rate pass-through on inflation is a necessity for central banks as well as for firms and households. This is an apparently easy and intuitive task, but it faces high complexity and uncertainty. This paper examines the short and long-term impact of an exchange rate shock on inflation along the distribution chain in the presence of endogeneity, nonlinearity and asymmetry. The econometric model is a smooth transition autoregressive vector estimated by Bayesian methods. This incorporates a model of pricing and the endogenous nature of the exchange rate pass-through (PT). The paper uses monthly data from Colombia for the period 2002 to 2015. The main findings are that PT is incomplete, endogenous and then changes over time, nonlinear and asymmetric in the short and long terms to the state of the economy (i.e., PT is nonlinear state-dependent) and to exchange rate shocks. Findings showed that historically the accumulated PT on inflation of import prices rises from 20% in the first month of the exchange rate shock to a maximum of around 66% in the first year. The equivalent figures on the inflation of producer goods go from 13% to 52%; on the inflation of imported consumer goods from 6% to 48%, and on the CPI inflation from 4% to 30%. At four years, the respective figures for accumulated PT are 98%, 84%, 94% and 80%, but uncertainty about these estimates increases rapidly over time.
VHF Filtering with Digital Programmability and Accumulation MOS-C

In this paper we report a design strategy for VHF filtering in standard digital CMOS processes. The design approach is based on fully-balanced pseudo-differential continuous-time transconductors for applications in low-voltage systems over the VHF range and implemented with MOS-C accumulation capacitors. A 3rd-order Gm-C low-pass Butterworth filter has been implemented, using a 0.35 mum standard CMOS process, with a cut-off frequency programmability over the 40-200 MHz range, which confirm the feasibility of the proposed strategy in applications such as data storage systems and IF strips. The filter consumes less than 3.8 mW per pole at 41 MHz from a 2 V supply. The measured dynamic range was better than 53 dB at THD of 1%. The active chip area is 0.02 mm2 per pole.
Exploring the Influence of Commonly Cited Statistics on NCAA Basketball Team Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis

In the current study, we employ previously unexplored statistics as inputs to a data envelopment analysis (DEA) for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball teams. These statistics have been popularized in the sports media and are widely relied on by college coaching staffs. We explore the efficiencies of 127 college basketball teams from 11 major conferences. Our results indicate which teams can be viewed as inefficient as well as which peer teams it would be useful for them to benchmark against.
Tool-Path Optimization using Neural Networks

Tool-path optimization has been applied in many industrial applications, including subtractive manufacturing likes drilling and additive manufacturing likes 3D printing. The optimization process involves finding a time-efficient route for tools to visit all the required sites, which is often computationally intensive. In practice, heuristics and meta-heuristics are used to generate sub-optimal results within reasonable durations. The aim of this work is to use artificial neural networks to yield better tool-paths.
Effects of buffer composition and dilution on nanowire field-effect biosensors

Nanowire-based field-effect transistors (FETs) can be used as ultra-sensitive and label-free biosensors for detecting protein–protein interactions. A way to increase the performance of such sensors is to dilute the sensing buffer drastically. However, we show here that this can have an important effect on the function of the proteins. Moreover, it is demonstrated that this dilution significantly affects the pH stability of the sensing buffer, which consequently impacts the charge of the protein and thus the response and signal-to-noise ratio in the sensing experiments. Three model systems are investigated experimentally to illustrate the impact on ligand–protein and protein–protein interactions. Simulations are performed to illustrate the effect on the performance of the sensors. Combining various parameters, the current study provides a means for evaluating and selecting the most appropriate buffer composition for bioFET measurements.