Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The evolution of changes in immunoreactive serum insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), IGF-binding proteins, circulating growth hormone (GH) and GH-binding protein as a result of short-term dexamethasone treatment.

Inhibition of growth in man and laboratory animals by glucocorticoid treatment is well recognized, yet we have previously shown that glucocorticoids may paradoxically enhance GH secretion and increase serum insulin-like growth factor (IGF) levels. IGFs circulate bound to high-affinity binding proteins (IGFBPs) which modulate their actions, and circulating GH may be associated with two binding proteins (GHBPs) of which the high-affinity GHBP has been characterized and is structurally identical to the extracellular domain of the GH receptor. We have investigated the time-course of changes in GH, IGFs and their binding proteins induced by glucocorticoid treatment in normal male volunteers (n = 12, age range 22-31 years) sampled at 0800 h daily before and during treatment with dexamethasone (2 mg twice daily) for 5 days. In addition, subjects were sampled at 30-min intervals over 7-h periods (0730-1430 h) during the day prior to dexamethasone (day 0), on day 1 following the first dose of dexamethasone and on day 5 following the last dose of dexamethasone. Mean serum IGF-I rose over the initial 72 h and remained elevated at 96 h (297 +/- 11.5 compared with basal levels of 215.5 +/- 9.3 micrograms/l, P < 0.001) whereas IGF-II levels did not change (472.6 +/- 20.5 vs 450.3 +/- 21.7 micrograms/l, P = 0.97). There was a concomitant rise in serum IGFBP-3 from basal levels of 3.69 +/- 0.23 mg/l to a peak at 5 days of 4.16 +/- 0.21 (P = 0.003 vs day 1). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Selecting next hop nodes for energy efficiency in dynamic filtering based WSNs using fuzzy system

The sensing nodes are easily exposed to the adversary by a false report injection attack. The adversary disseminates false reports to the sensor networks by using compromised node. The injected false reports generate false alerts as arrived in the base station and causes useless energy consumptions. Yu et al. proposed the dynamic en-route filtering scheme (DEF) to early detect and drop the false report in the forwarding process to the base station. This paper, we propose a method with a fuzzy rule-based system that selects the next q hops to improve the energy consumption. The proposed method used three input factor of a fuzzy rule those are the distance from the target nod to the base station, the energy level of the target node, and the number of keys at the target node for selecting next q hop node. We have evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed method compared with DEF. As a result, the experiment results show that our proposed method saves energy up to about 5%.
Predicting Outcomes after Pregnancy Loss: Results from Studies Using the Perinatal Grief Scale

There are widely diverse findings in the literature on the types of variables that best predict grief following a pregnancy loss. This article compares the results from twenty-two studies, carried out in four countries, which all used the Perinatal Grief Scale as their outcome measure. Results of the comparison support the value of the measure for such investigations and indicate strong commonalities among the findings. Specifically, lower grief scores are consistently related to male gender, older age, shorter pregnancy, passage of more time since the loss, mental health, good marital relationship and social support, and a subsequent pregnancy. Conclusions suggest the need for studies that include more diverse populations and evaluate the impact of attributions, coping, and interventions following a loss.
Hepatoprotective Potential of Clitoria ternatea Leaf Extract Against Paracetamol Induced Damage in Mice

Background and Aim: Clitoria ternatea, a medicinal herb native to tropical equatorial Asia, is commonly used in folk medicine to treat various diseases. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity of C. ternatea against experimentally induced liver injury. Methods: The antioxidant property of methanolic extract (ME) of C. ternatea leaf was investigated by employing an established in vitro antioxidant assay. The hepatoprotective effect against paracetamol-induced liver toxicity in mice of ME of C. ternatea leaf was also studied. Activity was measured by monitoring the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and billirubin along with histopathological analysis. Results: The amount of total phenolics and flavonoids were estimated to be 358.99 ± 6.21 mg/g gallic acid equivalent and 123.75 ± 2.84 mg/g catechin equivalent, respectively. The antioxidant activity of C. ternatea leaf extract was 67.85% at a concentration of 1 mg/mL and was also concentration dependant, with an IC50 value of 420.00 µg/mL. The results of the paracetamol-induced liver toxicity experiments showed that mice treated with the ME of C. ternatea leaf (200 mg/kg) showed a significant decrease in ALT, AST, and bilirubin levels, which were all elevated in the paracetamol group (p < 0.01). C. ternatea leaf extract therapy also protective effects against histopathological alterations. Histological studies supported the biochemical findings and a maximum improvement in the histoarchitecture was seen. Conclusions: The current study confirmed the hepatoprotective effect of C. ternatea leaf extract against the model hepatotoxicant paracetamol. The hepatoprotective action is likely related to its potent antioxidative activity.
Target Velocity Estimation and Antenna Placement for MIMO Radar With Widely Separated Antennas

This paper studies the velocity estimation performance for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar with widely spaced antennas. We derive the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) for velocity estimation and study the optimized system/configuration design based on CRB. General results are presented for an extended target with reflectivity varying with look angle. Then detailed analysis is provided for a simplified case, assuming an isotropic scatterer. For given transmitted signals, optimal antenna placement is analyzed in the sense of minimizing the CRB of the velocity estimation error. We show that when all antennas are located at approximately the same distance from the target, symmetrical placement is optimal and the relative position of transmitters and receivers can be arbitrary under the orthogonal received signal assumption. In this case, it is also shown that for MIMO radar with optimal placement, velocity estimation accuracy can be improved by increasing either the signal time duration or the product of the number of transmit and receive antennas.
Local anesthetics: hydrophilic and hydrophobic pathways for the drug- receptor reaction

The properties of Na channels of the node of Ranvier are altered by neutral, amine, and quaternary local anesthetic compounds. The kinetics of the Na currents are governed by a composite of voltage- and time- dependent gating processes with voltage- and time-dependent block of channels by drug. Conventional measurements of steady-state sodium inactivation by use of 50-ms prepulses show a large negative voltage shift of the inactivation curve with neutral benzocaine and with some ionizable amines like lidocaine and tetracaine, but no shift is seen with quaternary OX-572. However, when the experiment is done with repetitive application of a prepulse-testpulse waveform, a shift with the quaternary cations (applied internally) is seen as well. 1-min hyperpolarizations of lidocaine- or tetracaine-treated fibers restore two to four times as many channels to the conducting pool as 50-ms hyperpolarizations. Raising the external Ca++ concentration also has a strong unblocking effect. These manipulations do not relieve block in fibers treated with internal quaternary drugs. The results are interpreted in terms of a single receptor in Na channels for the different drug types. Lipid-soluble drug forms are thought to come and go from the receptor via a hydrophobic region of the membrane, while charged and less lipid-soluble forms pass via a hydrophilic region (the inner channel mouth). The hydrophilic pathway is open only when the gates of the channel are open. Any drug form in the channel increases the probability of closing the inactivation gate which, in effect, is equivalent to a negative shift of the voltage dependence of inactivation.
The minimum equivalent DNF problem and shortest implicants

We prove that the Minimum Equivalent DNF problem is /spl Sigma//sub 2//sup p/-complete, resolving a conjecture due to L.J. Stockmeyer (1976). The proof involves as an intermediate step a variant of a related problem in logic minimization, namely, that of finding the shortest implicant of a Boolean function. We also obtain certain results concerning the complexity of the shortest implicant problem that may be of independent interest. When the input is a formula, the shortest implicant problem is /spl Sigma//sub 2//sup p/-complete, and /spl Sigma//sub 2//sup p/-hard to approximate to within an n/sup 1/2-/spl epsiv// factor. When the input is a circuit, approximation is /spl Sigma//sub 2//sup p/-hard to within an n/sup 1-/spl epsiv// factor. However, when the input is a DNF formula, the shortest implicant problem cannot be /spl Sigma//sub 2//sup p/-complete unless /spl Sigma//sub 2//sup p/=NP[log/sup 2/n]/sup NP/.
Concurrent schedules: Transient-state changeover behaviour

Ten pigeons responded in a two-alternative continuous-choice situation. Rein-forcers were programmed by a single variable-interval 30-sec schedule. The proportion of reinforcers assigned to one alternative was either 0.67 or 0.50 in different conditions. The changes in local changeover rates following changes of conditions were adequately described by an exponential function. This result can be explained by a model of changeover behaviour proposed by Myerson and Miezin (1980), if a simplifying assumption is made about reinforcement rates as controlling variables. A modification of the Myerson and Miezin model that accounts for the exponential function but does not make assumptions about reinforcement rates as controlling variables is presented.
Breeding for the future: what are the potential impacts of future frost and heat events on sowing and flowering time requirements for Australian bread wheat (Triticum aestivium) varieties?

Extreme climate, especially temperature, can severely reduce wheat yield. As global warming has already begun to increase mean temperature and the occurrence of extreme temperatures, it has become urgent to accelerate the 5–20 year process of breeding for new wheat varieties, to adapt to future climate. We analyzed the patterns of frost and heat events across the Australian wheatbelt based on 50 years of historical records (1960–2009) for 2864 weather stations. Flowering dates of three contrasting‐maturity wheat varieties were simulated for a wide range of sowing dates in 22 locations for ‘current’ climate (1960–2009) and eight future scenarios (high and low CO2 emission, dry and wet precipitation scenarios, in 2030 and 2050). The results highlighted the substantial spatial variability of frost and heat events across the Australian wheatbelt in current and future climates. As both ‘last frost’ and ‘first heat’ events would occur earlier in the season, the ‘target’ sowing and flowering windows (defined as risk less than 10% for frost (<0 °C) and less than 30% for heat (>35 °C) around flowering) would be shifted earlier by up to 2 and 1 month(s), respectively, in 2050. A short‐season variety would require a shift in target sowing window 2‐fold greater than long‐ and medium‐season varieties by 2050 (8 vs. 4 days on average across locations and scenarios, respectively), but would suffer a lesser decrease in the length of the vegetative period (4 vs. 7 days). Overall, warmer winters would shorten the wheat season by up to 6 weeks, especially during preflowering. This faster crop cycle is associated with a reduced time for resource acquisition, and potential yield loss. As far as favourable rain and modern equipment would allow, early sowing and longer season varieties (i.e. in current climate) would be the best strategies to adapt to future climates.
Self-directed career attitude as predictor of career and life satisfaction in Chinese employees

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test if the effects of a self-directed career attitude on career and life satisfaction are mediated by a person’s sense of calling and moderated by job insecurity in a sample of Chinese employees. Design/methodology/approach – Among a sample of Chinese employees (n=263), in this paper, a moderated mediation analysis with bootstrapping was applied to test the hypotheses. Findings – The results showed that calling mediates the effects of a self-directed career attitude on career satisfaction and life satisfaction. Job insecurity moderated the effect on life satisfaction but not on career satisfaction. The effect on life satisfaction were stronger under higher levels of job insecurity. Research limitations/implications – These results suggest that a self-directed career attitude may help people develop a calling, which in turn relates to increased subjective career success and well-being. In addition, the notion of a calling may be especially important for well-being.
Dynamic security domain scaling on symmetric multiprocessors for future high-end embedded systems

We propose a method for dynamic security domain scaling on SMPs that offers both highly scalable performance and high security for future high-end embedded systems. Its most important feature is its highly efficient use of processor resources, accomplished by dynamically changing the number of processors within a security domain in response to application load requirements. Two new technologies make this scaling possible without any virtualization software: 1) self-transition management and 2) unified virtual address mapping. Evaluations show that this domain control provides highly scalable performance and incurs almost no performance overhead in security domains. The increase in binary code size is less than 40 KB, and the time required for individual state transitions is of a single-millisecond order. This scaling is the first in the world to make possible dynamic changing of the number of processors within a security domain on an ARM SMP.
Latins, Catholics and from the far south: Argentinian adolescents and their parents.

This paper examines the answers given by a random sample of 341 15- to 19-year old Argentinian adolescents, both male and female, in the 10th and 12th grades of high school in Paraná, to questions focusing on their relationship with their parents and formed part of a comprehensive survey on various aspects of their socio-emotional development. Despite the fact that the individuals belong to a different geographical and cultural environment, the findings coincide with those from countries such as the U.S.A. , Great Britain, Spain and Australia. Parents are the most important persons in the teenagers' emotional life; they are still identification models for them and neither their friends, partners nor other adults displace them from their central position. The bond is perceived as positive and the satisfaction rests on the support they give. There are disagreement areas hinging on issues such as school performance, time-table for outings, and overcontrol, but there is agreement on moral, religious and political values. Several statistically significant differences in the answers provided by both genders and in the perception of the maternal and paternal roles were found.
A Misexpression Screen to Identify Regulators of Drosophila Larval Hemocyte Development

In Drosophila, defense against foreign pathogens is mediated by an effective innate immune system, the cellular arm of which is composed of circulating hemocytes that engulf bacteria and encapsulate larger foreign particles. Three hemocyte types occur: plasmatocytes, crystal cells, and lamellocytes. The most abundant larval hemocyte type is the plasmatocyte, which is responsible for phagocytosis and is present either in circulation or in adherent sessile domains under the larval cuticle. The mechanisms controlling differentiation of plasmatocytes and their migration toward these sessile compartments are unclear. To address these questions we have conducted a misexpression screen using the plasmatocyte-expressed GAL4 driver Peroxidasin-GAL4 (Pxn-GAL4) and existing enhancer-promoter (EP) and EP yellow (EY) transposon libraries to systematically misexpress ∼20% of Drosophila genes in larval hemocytes. The Pxn-GAL4 strain also contains a UAS-GFP reporter enabling hemocyte phenotypes to be visualized in the semitransparent larvae. Among 3412 insertions screened we uncovered 101 candidate hemocyte regulators. Some of these are known to control hemocyte development, but the majority either have no characterized function or are proteins of known function not previously implicated in hemocyte development. We have further analyzed three candidate genes for changes in hemocyte morphology, cell–cell adhesion properties, phagocytosis activity, and melanotic tumor formation.
Utilizing Redundancy Features in TEFL

The present paper touches slightly on theoretical issues concerned with the notion of linguistic redundancy but has primarily a very practical scope, i.e. the facilitation of the foreign language learning process. Specifically, this paper suggests the utilization of redundancy features in aiding learners to develop their recognition knowledge in the new language. As such, the paper is concerned with course objectives and the learner's linguistic needs.
Thrombomodulin Is a Clock-controlled Gene in Vascular Endothelial Cells*

Cardiovascular diseases are closely related to circadian rhythm, which is under the control of an internal biological clock mechanism. Although a biological clock exists not only in the hypothalamus but also in each peripheral tissue, the biological relevance of the peripheral clock remains to be elucidated. In this study we searched for clock-controlled genes in vascular endothelial cells using microarray technology. The expression of a total of 229 genes was up-regulated by CLOCK/BMAL2. Among the genes that we identified, we examined the thrombomodulin (TM) gene further, because TM is an integral membrane glycoprotein that is expressed primarily in vascular endothelial cells and plays a major role in the regulation of intravascular coagulation. TM mRNA and protein expression showed a clear circadian oscillation in the mouse lung and heart. Reporter analyses, gel shift assays, and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses using the TM promoter revealed that a heterodimer of CLOCK and BMAL2 binds directly to the E-box of the TM promoter, resulting in TM promoter transactivation. Indeed, the oscillation of TM gene expression was abolished in clock mutant mice, suggesting that TM expression is regulated by the clock gene in vivo. Finally, the phase of circadian oscillation of TM mRNA expression was altered by temporal feeding restriction, suggesting TM gene expression is regulated by the peripheral clock system. In conclusion, these data suggest that the peripheral clock in vascular endothelial cells regulates TM gene expression and that the oscillation of TM expression may contribute to the circadian variation of cardiovascular events.
A SURVEY ON USER PROFILE MODELING FOR PERSONALIZED SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEMS

User profiles have been suggested to enable personalized adaptations and decrease unnecessary dialogues between the user and the system. In this paper, we first discuss the role of the user profile for personalized service delivery systems, and then analysis the formation of a user profile, after that, we investigate the current user profile modeling approaches. Finally, the challenges of user profile modeling are discussed and future research directions are concluded.
Variational Optical Flow from Alternate Exposure Images

Traditional optic flow algorithms rely on consecutive short-exposure images. In contrast, longexposed images contain integrated motion information directly in form of motion blur. In this paper, we show how the additional information provided by a long exposure image can be used to improve robustness and accuracy of motion field estimation. Recently, an image formation model was introduced [23] that relates a long-exposure image to preceding and succeeding short-exposure images in terms of dense 2D motion and occlusion. We formulate the original two-step problem for motion and occlusion timings as a joint minimization problem and derive a global TV-L energy functional that can be minimized efficiently and accurately. The approach is able to calculate highly accurate motion fields, assigning motion to occluded and disoccluded image regions in one joint optimization procedure.
Reversal of dabigatran anticoagulation by prothrombin complex concentrate (Beriplex P/N) in a rabbit model

Summary. Background: One limitation of the direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran is the lack of specific antidotes that allow acute bleeding events to be managed or urgent interventional procedures performed. Prothrombin complex concentrates (PCCs) have served as a standard treatment for the reversal of coumarin anticoagulation.
A novel anti-apoptosis gene: Re-expression of survivin messenger RNA as a prognosis marker in non-small-cell lung cancers.

PURPOSE The survivin gene is a novel apoptosis inhibitor, related to the baculovirus gene, which is believed to play a pivotal role in fetal development and in cancer. We hypothesised that survivin would be expressed in tumors of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and we attempted to determine the influence of survivin re-expression on clinical outcome in patients with up to stage IIIA NSCLC who had undergone radical surgery. METHODS We designed a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to study the expression of the survivin gene in 83 NSCLC tumor samples and compared the results with relevant clinical and pathologic data. RESULTS The RT-PCR identified survivin gene transcript in 71 (85. 5%) of the tumor samples and in only 10 (12%) of the paired, histopathologically normal lung samples. There was no relationship between histologic subtype (squamous v nonsquamous) and survivin gene expression. The 12 patients without survivin expression had significantly better overall survival than the 71 patients with survivin expression (P =.01 by univariate analysis; relative risk, 2. 1). There was no significant correlation between survivin expression and age, sex, cigarette smoking, histologic subtype, tumor differentiation, tumor size, or the presence of mediastinal lymph node metastases in surgical specimens. CONCLUSION The survivin gene was expressed in a vast majority of NSCLC tumors. We conclude that survivin transcript is a defining diagnostic marker for NSCLC that may also yield prognostic information and, as an apoptosis inhibitor, be an important target in cancer therapy.
Energy function for the one-unit Oja algorithm

The one-unit Oja algorithm plays a very important role in the study of principal component analysis neural networks. In this paper, we propose an energy function whose steepest descent direction (i.e., negative gradient direction) is the same as the average evolution direction of the one-unit Oja algorithm, and the energy function has two global minimal points corresponding to the two converged points of the one-unit Oja algorithm and it has no other local minimal points.
Functional and effective connectivity in neuroimaging: A synthesis

The brain appears to adhere to two principles of functional organization; functional segregation and functional integration. The integration within and between functionally specialized areas is mediated by functional or effective connectivity. The characterization of this sort of connectivity is an important theme in many areas of neuroscience. This article presents one approach that has been used in functional imaging.