Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of thyroid hormone deficiency on mice selected for increased and decreased body weight and fatness.

A study was undertaken to test whether the elimination of metabolic pathways strongly involved in growth and fatness, comprising thyroid hormones (TH) and growth hormone (GH), is responsible for a substantial part of the genetic change produced by selection. Lines used in this study have been selected for about 50 generations for high (PH) and low (PL) body weight at 10 weeks and for high (F) and low fat content (L) at 14 weeks, producing a 3-fold difference in body weights and a 5-fold difference in fat content. Thyroid ablation was achieved by repeated backcrossing into the four selection lines of a transgene comprising the HSV1-tk gene coupled to the promoter of the thyroglobulin gene. Hemizygous pregnant dams were treated with ganciclovir leading to thyroid-ablated dams and offspring and therefore to a lack of TH and subsequently of GH. In the absence of TH and GH, lines still differ in body weight over the period studied (10 d to about 100 d; e.g. at the end PH = 32.1 g vs PL = 10.2 g) and in fat content (F = 16.2% vs L = 3.8%); the corresponding values for the wild-type controls were PH = 49.9 g vs PL = 17.4 g and F = 27.5% vs L = 4.8%. The effect of the transgene depended on the genetic background for body weights at most ages and for relative gonadal fat pad weights, but less for fat content. The L line showed the lowest growth depression. The lit gene, which causes GH but not TH deficiency, was also transferred by repeated backcrosses into three of these lines (PH, PL, F). The combined deficiency of TH and GH had bigger effects on body weights at earlier ages than did GH deprivation. The data show that changes in the TH- and GH-systems are not the only cause of line differences in growth and fatness resulting from long-term selection, but both are involved to a significant extent. The interactions between the effects of the transgene and of the lit gene and the genetic background were, nevertheless, relatively small and therefore these results support a polygenic model of selection response.
Effect of suspension systems on the physiological and psychological responses to sub-maximal biking on simulated smoothand bumpy tracks

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the physiological and psychological responses of cyclists riding on a hard tail bicycle and on a full suspension bicycle. Twenty males participated in two series of tests. A test rig held the front axle of the bicycle steady while the rear wheel rotated against a heavy roller with bumps (or no bumps) on its surface. In the first series of tests, eight participants (age 19 – 27 years, body mass 65 – 82 kg) were tested on both the full suspension and hard tail bicycles with and without bumps fitted to the roller. The second series of test repeated the bump tests with a further six participants (age 22 – 31 years, body mass 74 – 94 kg) and also involved an investigation of familiarization effects with the final six participants (age 21 – 30 years, body mass 64 – 80 kg). Heart rate, oxygen consumption ([Vdot]O2), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and comfort were recorded during 10 min sub-maximal tests. Combined data for the bumps tests show that the full suspension bicycle was significantly different (P < 0.001) from the hard tail bicycle on all four measures. Oxygen consumption, heart rate and RPE were lower on average by 8.7 (s = 3.6) ml · kg−1 · min−1, 32.1 (s = 12.1) beats · min−1 and 2.6 (s = 2.0) units, respectively. Comfort scores were higher (better) on average by 1.9 (s = 0.8) units. For the no bumps tests, the only statistically significant difference (P = 0.008) was in [Vdot]O2, which was lower for the hard tail bicycle by 2.2 (s = 1.7) ml · kg−1 · min−1. The results indicate that the full suspension bicycle provides a physiological and psychological advantage over the hard tail bicycle during simulated sub-maximal exercise on bumps.
Outcomes After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Children With Cardiac Disease: A Report From Get With the Guidelines–Resuscitation

Background— Small studies suggest that children experiencing a cardiac arrest after undergoing cardiac surgery have better outcomes than other groups of patients, but the survival outcomes and periarrest variables of cardiac and noncardiac pediatric patients have not been compared. Methods and Results— All cardiac arrests in patients <18 years of age were identified from Get With the Guidelines–Resuscitation from 2000 to 2008. Cardiac arrests occurring in the neonatal intensive care unit were excluded. Of 3323 index cardiac arrests, 19% occurred in surgical-cardiac, 17% in medical-cardiac, and 64% in noncardiac (trauma, surgical-noncardiac, and medical-noncardiac) patients. Survival to hospital discharge was significantly higher in the surgical-cardiac group (37%) compared with the medical-cardiac group (28%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–2.5) and the noncardiac group (23%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.4–2.4). Those in the cardiac groups were younger and less likely to have preexisting noncardiac organ dysfunction, but were more likely to have ventricular arrhythmias as their first pulseless rhythm, to be monitored and hospitalized in the intensive care unit at the time of cardiac arrest, and to have extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation compared with those in the noncardiac group. There was no survival advantage for patients in the medical-cardiac group compared with those in the noncardiac group when adjusted for periarrest variables. Conclusion— Children with surgical-cardiac disease have significantly better survival to hospital discharge after an in-hospital cardiac arrest compared with children with medical-cardiac disease and noncardiac disease.
Soft Error Detection and Correction Technique for Radiation Hardening Based on C-element and BICS

Higher density of integration and lower power technologies are becoming more sensitive to soft errors caused by radiations. Not only memories and latches are being affected but also combinatorial circuits. Hardening by design techniques based on increasing the amount of charge representing the bit and redundancy techniques have been used over the years. However, what happens if the hardening is affected? Who guards the guardians? This brief proposes a system that acts as a single-event transient (SET) filter and as a checkpoint with self-healing properties to prevent SET propagation. This is achieved due to feedback using bulk built-in current sensors.
Localization of Islet-1–Positive Cells in the Healthy and Infarcted Adult Murine Heart

Rationale: The transcription factor Islet-1 is a marker of cardiovascular progenitors during embryogenesis. The isolation of Islet-1–positive (Islet-1+) cells from early postnatal hearts suggested that Islet-1 also marks cardiac progenitors in adult life. Objective: We investigated the distribution and identity of Islet-1+ cells in adult murine heart and evaluated whether their number or distribution change with age or after myocardial infarction. Methods and Results: Distribution of Islet-1+ cells in adult heart was investigated using gene targeted mice with nuclear &bgr;-galactosidase inserted into the Islet-1 locus. nLacZ-positive cells were only present in 3 regions of the adult heart: clusters in the interatrial septum and around the pulmonary veins, scattered within the wall of the great vessels, and a strictly delimited cluster between the right atrium and superior vena cava. Islet-1+ cells in the first type of clusters coexpressed markers for parasympathetic neurons. Positive cells in the great arteries coexpressed smooth muscle actin and myosin heavy chain, indicating a smooth muscle cell identity. Very few Islet-1+ cells within the outflow tract expressed the cardiomyocyte marker &agr;-actinin. Islet-1+ cells in the right atrium coexpressed the sinoatrial node pacemaker cell marker HCN4. Cell number and localization remained unchanged between 1 to 18 months of age. Consistently Islet-1 mRNA was detected in human sinoatrial node. Islet-1+ cells could not be detected in the infarct zone 2 to 28 days after myocardial infarction, aside from 10 questionable cells in 1/13 hearts. Conclusions: Our results identify Islet-1 as a novel marker of the adult sinoatrial node and do not provide evidence for Islet-1+ cells to serve as cardiac progenitors.
A Modularized Two-Stage Charge Equalizer With Cell Selection Switches for Series-Connected Lithium-Ion Battery String in an HEV

In lithium-ion battery system for hybrid electric vehicle, charge equalizer is essential to enhance the battery life cycle and safety. However, for a large number of battery cells, a conventional equalizer has the difficulty of individual cell balancing and the implementation size problem as well as the cost. Moreover, it shows high voltage stress of electrical elements in the equalization converter due to the high voltage of battery pack. To improve these drawbacks, this paper proposes a modularized two-stage charge equalizer with cell selection switches. The proposed circuit employs the two-stage dc-dc converter to reduce the voltage stress of equalization converter. Contrary to conventional method, the proposed equalizer can achieve the individual cell balancing only through the cell selection switches. With the two-stage converter and the cell selection switches, the proposed equalizer leads to the great size reduction with lower cost which brings advancement of individual cell balancing in a large number of battery cells. In this paper, a prototype for 88 lithium-ion battery cells is optimally designed and implemented. Experimental results are presented to verify that the proposed equalization method has a good cell balancing performance showing the low voltage stress and small size with the lower cost.
Changing models of research to inform educational policy

This contribution explores changes in the way that educational researchers engage with policy‐makers in England. The traditional relationship between research and policy was linear, with funders supporting the efforts of researchers, who carried out research and then disseminated it to those responsible for shaping and implementing policy. This model of ‘knowledge transfer’ is fast being supplemented and sometimes replaced by one of ‘knowledge exchange’ as policy‐makers participate in new forms of research. ‘Knowledge exchange’ consists of collaborative problem‐solving between researchers and decision‐makers that happens through linkage and exchange. This contribution uses one large‐scale English study to illustrate the new relationship between research and policy. The Effective Pre‐school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is a longitudinal study of the effects of pre‐ and primary school on the academic and social development of more than 3,000 children in England. The study's findings have been used as part of the ‘evidence base’ for UK policy on universal pre‐school provision as well as targeted services in disadvantaged communities, for example, Sure Start and Children's Centres. From the earliest days of the study researchers worked in partnership with policy‐makers. Although the overall design was agreed at contract‐stage, major modifications to sampling, assessments, and analyses were made as the study progressed. The researcher/policy‐maker engagement continued throughout the study and consisted of sustained interaction, shared decision‐making and mutual respect. Supportive organisational structures allowed two‐way exchange and decision‐making. Although the researchers were responsible for scientific integrity in all phases, there was shared ownership of the findings with regular and collaborative review and amendment to suit emerging policy needs. The EPPE project was one of the first in the UK to work interactively with Government partners in the shaping of both ‘research’ and ‘policy’ outputs. This partnership enabled the research to have a significant impact on UK policy. The contribution concludes with discussion of how the Furlong and Oancea ‘quality assessment framework’ can be applied to research based on policy partnerships.
Suicide, fatal injuries, and other causes of premature mortality in patients with traumatic brain injury: a 41-year Swedish population study.

UNLABELLED : IMPORTANCE Longer-term mortality in individuals who have survived a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not known. OBJECTIVES To examine the relationship between TBI and premature mortality, particularly by external causes, and determine the role of psychiatric comorbidity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS We studied all persons born in 1954 or later in Sweden who received inpatient and outpatient International Classification of Diseases-based diagnoses of TBI from 1969 to 2009 (n = 218,300). We compared mortality rates 6 months or more after TBI to general population controls matched on age and sex (n = 2,163,190) and to unaffected siblings of patients with TBI (n = 150,513). Furthermore, we specifically examined external causes of death (suicide, injury, or assault). We conducted sensitivity analyses to investigate whether mortality rates differed by sex, age at death, severity (including concussion), and different follow-up times after diagnosis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) of premature death by external causes in patients with TBI compared with general population controls. RESULTS Among those who survived 6 months after TBI, we found a 3-fold increased odds of mortality (AOR, 3.2; 95% CI, 3.0-3.4) compared with general population controls and an adjusted increased odds of mortality of 2.6 (95% CI, 2.3-2.8) compared with unaffected siblings. Risks of mortality from external causes were elevated, including for suicide (AOR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.9-3.7), injuries (AOR, 4.3; 95% CI, 3.8-4.8), and assault (AOR, 3.9; 95% CI, 2.7-5.7). Among those with TBI, absolute rates of death were high in those with any psychiatric or substance abuse comorbidity (3.8% died prematurely) and those with solely substance abuse (6.2%) compared with those without comorbidity (0.5%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Traumatic brain injury is associated with substantially elevated risks of premature mortality, particularly for suicide, injuries, and assaults, even after adjustment for sociodemographic and familial factors. Current clinical guidelines may need revision to reduce mortality risks beyond the first few months after injury and address high rates of psychiatric comorbidity and substance abuse.
A Survey of Indicators of Economic and Social Well-being

In recent years, interest in aggregate or composite indicators of economic and social well-being at the community, national and international levels has grown greatly. For example, the release each year of the United Nations? Human Development Index (HDI) generates considerable media interest, particularly in Canada. Equally, the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) produced by the think tank Redefining Progress has become very well known in a short period of time, and is referred to often in debates on the inadequacies of GDP as a welfare measure. Many communities in Canada and in the United States have attempted to develop social indicators to monitor trends in the welfare of their citizens. The objective of this paper is to provide a survey of the major indicators of economic and social well-being that have been developed at the national and international levels. The paper is divided into three main parts. The first provides a short overview of social indicators, looking at the history of the social indicators movement, types of social indicators, purposes of social indicators, and noting how the development of summary indexes, the focus of this paper, represents the latest phase in the history of social indicators. The second part summarizes what the author believes are the best known and most important indexes of economic and social well-being that have been developed. The third section of the paper discusses a number of issues in the construction of indexes of economic and social well-being, including criteria for index evaluation and application to the indexes developed for Canada; single versus multiple indicator approaches; money versus composite indicators; weighting issues in composite indicators; national versus community indicators; bottom-up versus top-down index design; advocacy versus knowledge-driven indicators; ad hoc versus theoretically consistent indicators; and technical issues in index construction.
The New Intergovernmentalism: European Integration in the Post‐Maastricht Era

The post-Maastricht period is marked by an integration paradox. While the basic constitutional features of the European Union have remained stable, EU activity has expanded to an unprecedented degree. This form of integration without supranationalism is no exception or temporary deviation from traditional forms of European integration. Rather, it is a distinct phase of European integration, what is called ‘the new intergovernmentalism’ in this article. This approach to post-Maastricht integration challenges theories that associate integration with transfers of competences from national capitals to supranational institutions and those that reduce integration to traditional socioeconomic or security-driven interests. This article explains the integration paradox in terms of transformations in Europe's political economy, changes in preference formation and the decline of the ‘permissive consensus’. It presents a set of six hypotheses that develop further the main claims of the new intergovernmentalism and that can be used as a basis for future research.
Cell-cell interactions in conjugating Escherichia coli: role of F pili and fate of mating aggregates

Bacterial conjugation between Escherichia coli cells was investigated by a combination of physical and genetic techniques, using Hfr, F', or R+ donors and F- recipients. DNA transfer occurred in mating aggregates of up to 50 cells. Multiple interactions between donor and recipient cells occurred, and both F- pilus connections and wall-to-wall contacts were detectable. The detectable F- pilus contacts could be destroyed without either disrupting the mating aggregates or preventing DNA transfer. Hfr X F- mating aggregates did not disaggregate even though recombinant frequencies were inversely proportional to the distance from the origin of DNA transfer. F' or R+ donors formed mating aggregates with F- cells which disaggregated soon after transfer of the autonomous sex factor DNA.
Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Genotypes and Multiple Infections in Routine Cervical Cancer Screening in a Spanish Regional Population

Background: Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) has been identified as the primary cause of cervical cancer. Persistent infection with high risk-HPV is the required factor for the development of cervical cancer. Objective: The aim of this study was to know the prevalence and distribution of cervical HPV infection in women attending routine cervical cancer screening. Study design: Liquid-based cytology (LBC) of cervical specimens was processed for HPV testing by INNO-LiPA HPV genotyping Extra Reverse Hybridization Line Probe Assay kit. Results: The cytological results of 115 LBCs were: 11(9.6%) negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM), 32(27.8%) atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US), 62(53.9%) low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and 10(8.7%) high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). No cases of cervical cancer were detected. The mean age was 33.78 years ± 10.75 years (range 17-62 years). The overall prevalence DNA HPV detection was 81.7% (94/115), with a large proportion of multiple HPV infection (55.0%). HPV16 was the most common type detected (8.7%) followed by HPV51 (7.8%), HPV52 (5.2%), and HPV66 (2.6%). We found a high proportion of HPV positive cases in all cytological categories, including NLIM cases. Conclusions: These results indicate that prevalence of HPV infection in women attending routine cervical cancer screening is high. Our results confirm the importance of identifying the types of HPV that affect this community to design more effective prevention strategies and thus contribute to the fight against cervical cancer and its precursor lesions.
Tailoring the photoluminescence of ZnO nanowires using Au nanoparticles

Rational design of hybrid nanostructures through attaching nanowires with nanoparticles is an effective route to enhance the existing functionalities or to explore new ones. We carry out a systematic investigation on the photoluminescence of ZnO nanowire–Au nanoparticle hybrid nanostructures synthesized by attaching Au nanoparticles onto ZnO nanowires. Citrate-stabilized 40 nm Au nanoparticles effectively quench the green emission and enhance the UV emission of the ZnO nanowires, which is consistent with the wavelength-dependent generation of surface plasmon. The UV/green emission intensity ratio could be reversibly and reproducibly tailored by attaching/detaching Au nanoparticles. This enhancement of UV emission diminishes if the Au nanoparticles are coated with a polymer layer. We also find that the orange-red emission of the ZnO nanowires is related to the excess oxygen on the ZnO surface, and it is also tunable via annealing and surface modifications.
Role of Information in Decision Making of Social Agents

The influence of additional information on the decision making of agents, who are the interacting members of a society, is analyzed within the mathematical framework based on the use of quantum probabilities. The introduction of social interactions, which influence the decisions of individual agents, leads to a generalization of the quantum decision theory (QDT) developed earlier by the authors for separate individuals. The generalized approach is free of the standard paradoxes of classical decision theory. This approach also explains the error-attenuation effects observed for the paradoxes occurring when decision makers, who are members of a society, consult with each other, increasing in this way the available mutual information. A precise correspondence between QDT and classical utility theory is formulated via the introduction of an intermediate probabilistic version of utility theory of a novel form, which obeys the requirement that zero-utility prospects should have zero probability weights.
A meta analysis of ISO 9001:2000 research – findings and future research proposals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review and classify the main findings of the studies undertaken on ISO 9001:2000 certified companies and to present future research proposals.Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive literature review is carried out focusing on research papers published in academic literature. Both, the most recently published papers as well as those concerned only with the 2000 version of the ISO 9001 standard are chosen. The findings from the research papers are classified according to the issues examined.Findings – The many studies undertaken regarding the ISO 9001:2000 implementation show that although there are signs that the initial results are not so positive, the general conclusion is that the standard has positive impact on the company's operational as well as business performance and on the company's effort to move towards total quality management. However, many research proposals have been expressed in order to fully determine the long‐term results as well as to sp.