Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-Nutritive Sweeteners: Potential Role in Diabetes and Weight Management

Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) provide sweet taste to beverages and foods without contributing calories. When used in place of some or all of the added sugars in a beverage or food, all else being equal, the net effect is a reduction in the calorie content of that item. Provided the substitution proves acceptable to the consumer (e.g., substituting a diet soda for a regular soda), the benefit of reducing added sugar intake, and subsequently reducing overall calorie intake, sounds straightforward. It is not. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently issued a scientific statement on the current use and health effects of NNS. As the Chair of the writing group that reviewed the evidence, I thought it would be useful to summarize our findings in a less formal, more practical format for busy clinicians. In particular, I wanted to address some of the common questions that the panel was asked by clinicians and the media after the statement’s publication. This discussion of the potential risks and benefits of NNS will consider only evidence from human investigations of dietary intake, weight control, and metabolic variables—long-term safety will not be addressed, and evidence from animal or cellular studies is not considered. DEFINING “NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS” The term “non-nutritive sweeteners” is used to describe a set of food additives that have a higher intensity of sweetness per gram than caloric sweeteners (e.g., sucrose, corn syrups, fruit juice concentrates) and that have FDA approval. The list includes acesulfame K, aspartame, neotame, saccharin, stevia, and sucralose (Table 1). With the exception of stevia, all NNS are considered “artificial sweeteners,” which is the term most familiar to the general population. Stevia-based sweeteners, however, are extracted from leaves of the plant Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni and are therefore not considered “artificial. ” Accordingly, the term NNS is used to describe all noncaloric sweetener replacements, including both artificial and stevia-based products.
A STUDY ON LEXICAL CHAIN IDENTIFICATION AND WORD SENSE DISAMBIGUATION

Lucrarea de faţă investighează problema lanţurilor lexicale şi a dezambiguizării de sens a cuvintelor precum şi conexiunea între aceste două subiecte. Este propus un sistem care extrage cuvinte dintr-un text nestructurat şi generează un set de lanţuri lexicale precum şi dezambiguizarea cuvintelor bazată pe sinseturi WordNet. Sunt testaţi trei algoritmi nesupervizaţi, fiecare dintre aceştia cu câte trei măsuri de similaritate bazate pe conceptul de Conţinut Informaţional. Pentru evaluarea sistemului comparăm rezultatele obţinute cu fişiere adnotate manual ce conţin cuvinte dezambiguizate.
Effectiveness of Clinician Client Centered Counseling on Condom Use and Status Disclosure of Adult HIV Positive Patients Enrolled In Care in Yola, Nigeria: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Quality standards implementation in multispecialty hospitals provides insight on the structure and process related to outcome and serve as instrumental indicators to improve health care. As a consequence, it is important to evaluate quality system and implement ways of continuous quality improvement more efficiently in order to reduce the differences in the operational process and its outcome for preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Objectives: To study and evaluate the quality system implementation in multispecialty hospitals with respect to structure, process and outcome in hospital associated infections. Methodology: The study is based on patient centered standards and hospital infection control measures. Information was gathered from doctors, nurses and other technical staff in the hospitals through discussions and personal observations. A questionnaire was given to the patients to assess their satisfaction. Other data were collected by studying relevant records in the healthcare institution. Results: Study reveals that the structure, process and outcome measures, when assessed showed moderate results. Facility, manpower qualification and competency are met from 50-70% compliance. Process showed 70% of compliance to the standard. The outcome showed good results, i.e., patient satisfactory rate was 80% when analyzed with 100 patients. Conclusion: Quality care is a vital activity for all members of the interdisciplinary team in hospitals. It is important to implement the quality system which can be executed and monitored by using compliance measures in the routine process of the hospital in order to improve the standard of patient health care.
ent-Kaur-16-en-19-al

The title ent-kaurane diterpene compound, C20H30O, was isolated from the roots of Bruguiera cylindrica (Rhizophoraceae), a mangrove plant. The mol­ecule contains a fused four-ring system, with the three cyclo­hexane rings in standard chair conformations and the cyclo­pentane ring adopting an envelope conformation. The aldehyde is bis­ectionally attached to the cyclo­hexane ring. The methyl­ene group is coplanar with the attached cyclo­pentane ring. In the crystal structure, mol­ecules are packed by van der Waals inter­actions.
Pengaruh Konseling Motivational Interviewing terhadap Kepatuhan Minum Obat Penderita Hipertensi Effect of Motivational Interviewing Counseling on Hypertension Patients's Adherence of Taking Medicine

The prevalence of hypertension is increasing, results of SKRT 2001: 8,3% up to 27,5% (2004) and in 2007 Riskesdas survey said: 31,7%. Hypertension is a disease with the largest outpatient visits at Gatoel Hospital Mojokerto. Employees and retirees of PTPN X (Persero) and their family were guaranteed with lifetime health-care by the company. This experimental study design using a pretest-post test control group. The test group received motivational interviewing counseling intervention compared to the control group who received leaflets healthy living with hypertension. Medication adherence assessment using 8 item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. There were 65 samples from 81 divided into two groups. The test group includes 33 samples and 32 samples of control. The average lifespan of subjects: 61,09 years and most had hypertension for more than five years (56,9%). The results of pre-intervention assessment found no significant difference between the two groups. The results of post-intervention there is a difference in the MMAS-8 score between the two groups but blood pressure was not different profile. There are differences in adherence and blood pressure profiles between pre-and post-intervention in both groups, except for diastolic blood pressure in the test group. Motivational interviewing give a positive influence on the improvement of hypertensive medication adherence and increase the number of patients who achieved the target blood pressure.
Idiopathic CD4+ T lymphocytopenia: A case report

Idiopathic CD4+ T lymphocytopenia (ICL) is a very rare immunodeficiency syndrome with an unexplained depletion of CD4+ T lymphocytes and no evidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. Here we report a 29-year-old male patient who had severe ulcerative colitis with low level CD4+ count of 254 cells/mm3, and had no evidence of HIV or Human T cell Lymphotrophic virus type I or II infections. He had recurrent Candidiasis infection and his CD4 count was just 53 cells/mm3 after 3 months. The cause for the decline of CD4 T lymphocytes was unknown.
Multi-Isotope Capabilities of a Small-Animal Multi-Pinhole SPECT System

The quantitative accuracy and image quality of multi-isotope SPECT is affected by various hardware-related perturbations. The present study evaluates the simultaneous acquisition of multiple isotopes using a multiplexed multi-pinhole SPECT system, assesses the extent of different error sources, and proposes experimental procedures for its objective characterization. Methods: Phantom measurements with single-, dual- and triple-isotope combinations of 99mTc, 111In, 123I, 177Lu, and 201Tl were performed with the NanoSPECT/CTPLUS to evaluate system energy resolution, count rate performance, sensitivity, collimator penetration, hardware versus object scatter, spectral crosstalk, spatial resolution, spatial registration accuracy, image uniformity, image noise, and image quality. Results: The intrinsic detector properties were suitable for the simultaneous acquisition of up to 3 isotopes with limitations for count rates exceeding 104 kcps and γ-energies lower than 75 keV. Spectral crosstalk between isotopes was more likely mediated by hardware than by source scatter and was strongly dependent on the isotope combination. Simultaneous multi-isotope acquisitions slightly degraded spatial resolution and image uniformity for spatially superimposed but not for spatially separated activity distributions while the background noise level was increased for all multi-isotope studies. For particular isotopes, collimator penetration and x-ray fluorescence contributed a significant portion of error. Conclusion: The NanoSPECT/CTPLUS enables the simultaneous acquisition of 3 radioisotopes with high quantitative accuracy and only little loss of image quality when the activity ratio is adapted to isotope-specific count rate sensitivities and when the system calibration is performed with phantoms of appropriate size.
Gender impact on transcranial magnetic stimulation-based cortical excitability and cognition relationship in healthy individuals

Objective We sought to determine whether cortical excitability, measured via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), is associated with cognition in healthy individuals and whether gender and education have an impact on this relationship. Methods Fifty-four healthy individuals (31 males, mean age = 41.94, SD = 21.98; 23 females, mean age 48.57; SD = 22.84) underwent TMS to assess their resting motor threshold (RMT) and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) to assess cognition. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between RMT, education, gender and cognition. Results The multiple regression model revealed a significant association between RBANS Total Index Score and RMT in the female group (B = 0.624, β = 0.602, P = 0.001) and not the male group (B = 0.048, β = 0.034, P = 0.858). Conclusion This study demonstrated that lower cortical excitability is associated with better global cognition in healthy female and not male individuals. RMT could be further studied as a tool to better personalize brain stimulation protocols that aim at enhancing cognition.
Dendritic action potentials and computation in human layer 2/3 cortical neurons

Human dendrites are special A special developmental program in the human brain drives the disproportionate thickening of cortical layer 2/3. This suggests that the expansion of layer 2/3, along with its numerous neurons and their large dendrites, may contribute to what makes us human. Gidon et al. thus investigated the dendritic physiology of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in slices taken from surgically resected brain tissue in epilepsy patients. Dual somatodendritic recordings revealed previously unknown classes of action potentials in the dendrites of these neurons, which make their activity far more complex than has been previously thought. These action potentials allow single neurons to solve two long-standing computational problems in neuroscience that were considered to require multilayer neural networks. Science, this issue p. 83 Dendritic action potentials extend the repertoire of computations available to human neurons. The active electrical properties of dendrites shape neuronal input and output and are fundamental to brain function. However, our knowledge of active dendrites has been almost entirely acquired from studies of rodents. In this work, we investigated the dendrites of layer 2 and 3 (L2/3) pyramidal neurons of the human cerebral cortex ex vivo. In these neurons, we discovered a class of calcium-mediated dendritic action potentials (dCaAPs) whose waveform and effects on neuronal output have not been previously described. In contrast to typical all-or-none action potentials, dCaAPs were graded; their amplitudes were maximal for threshold-level stimuli but dampened for stronger stimuli. These dCaAPs enabled the dendrites of individual human neocortical pyramidal neurons to classify linearly nonseparable inputs—a computation conventionally thought to require multilayered networks.
KIFC1 is essential for normal spermatogenesis and its depletion results in early germ cell apoptosis in the Kuruma shrimp, Penaeus (Marsupenaeus) japonicus

In order to explore the dynamic mechanisms during spermatogenesis of the penaeid prawns, the full length of kifc1 was cloned from testis cDNA of Penaeus japonicus through RACE. Both semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot results indicated that KIFC1 was extensive expressed in different tissue of P. japonicus. Compared with other tissue, the highest expression of KIFC1 occurred in the testis. According to the immunofluorescence results, the KIFC1 protein was detected at each stage of whole process of spermatogenesis. In the spermatogonial phase, KIFC1 mainly dispersed in cytoplasm and co-localized with microtubules, while abundant KIFC1 signal was detected in the nucleus of spermatocytes. At the early stage of spermatids, KIFC1 was transported from the nucleus into the cytoplasm, and it assisted microtubule assembly onto one side of the nucleus. Finally, in mature sperm, it was weakly expressed in the acrosome. This implies that KIFC1 may participate in the mitosis of spermatogonia, meiosis of spermatocyte, and acrosome formation during spermiogenesis; it may also play functions in acrosome maintaining in mature sperm. In addition, the results of KIFC1 knockdown by dsRNA injection in vivo reveal that decreased KIFC1 expression may induce aberrant microtubule assembly, and it leads to spermatogonia and spermatocyte apoptosis.
Recent advances in Bayesian inference of isolation-with-migration models

Isolation-with-migration (IM) models have become popular for explaining population divergence in the presence of migrations. Bayesian methods are commonly used to estimate IM models, but they are limited to small data analysis or simple model inference. Recently three methods, IMa3, MIST, and AIM, resolved these limitations. Here, we describe the major problems addressed by these three software and compare differences among their inference methods, despite their use of the same standard likelihood function.
Flight Performance of Mamestra brassicae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Under Different Biotic and Abiotic Conditions

Abstract Mamestra brassicae L. is an important, regionally migratory pest of vegetable crops in Europe and Asia. Its migratory activity contributes significantly to population outbreaks, causing severe crop yield losses. Because an in-depth understanding of flight performance is key to revealing migratory patterns, here we used a computer-linked flight mill and stroboscope to study the flight ability and wingbeat frequency (WBF) of M. brassicae in relation to sex, age, temperature, and relative humidity (RH). The results showed that age significantly affected the flight ability and WBF of M. brassicae, and 3-d-old individuals performed the strongest performance (total flight distance: 45.6 ± 2.5 km; total flight duration: 9.3 ± 0.3 h; WBF: 44.0 ± 0.5 Hz at 24°C and 75% RH). The age for optimal flight was considered to be 2–3 d old. Temperature and RH also significantly affected flight ability and WBF; flight was optimal from 23°C to 25°C and 64–75% RH. Because M. brassicae thus has great potential to undertake long-distance migration, better knowledge of its flight behavior and migration will help establish a pest forecasting and early-warning system.
Analysis of unmapped regions associated with long deletions in Korean whole genome sequences based on short read data

While studies aimed at detecting and analyzing indels or single nucleotide polymorphisms within human genomic sequences have been actively conducted, studies on detecting long insertions/deletions are not easy to orchestrate. For the last 10 years, the availability of long read data of human genomes from PacBio or Nanopore platforms has increased, which makes it easier to detect long insertions/deletions. However, because long read data have a critical disadvantage due to their relatively high cost, many next generation sequencing data are produced mainly by short read sequencing machines. Here, we constructed programs to detect so-called unmapped regions (UMRs, where no reads are mapped on the reference genome), scanned 40 Korean genomes to select UMR long deletion candidates, and compared the candidates with the long deletion break points within the genomes available from the 1000 Genomes Project (1KGP). An average of about 36,000 UMRs were found in the 40 Korean genomes tested, 284 UMRs were common across the 40 genomes, and a total of 37,943 UMRs were found. Compared with the 74,045 break points provided by the 1KGP, 30,698 UMRs overlapped. As the number of compared samples increased from 1 to 40, the number of UMRs that overlapped with the break points also increased. This eventually reached a peak of 80.9% of the total UMRs found in this study. As the total number of overlapped UMRs could probably grow to encompass 74,045 break points with the inclusion of more Korean genomes, this approach could be practically useful for studies on long deletions utilizing short read data.
A phantom system for assessing the effects of membrane lipids on water proton relaxation

Quantitative MRI (qMRI) is a method for the non‐invasive study of brain‐structure‐associated changes expressed with measurable units. The qMRI‐derived parameters have been shown to reflect brain tissue composition such as myelin content. Nevertheless, it remains a major challenge to identify and quantify the contributions of specific molecular components to the MRI signal. Here, we describe a phantom system that can be used to evaluate the contribution of membrane lipids to qMRI‐derived parameters.
Frontal Beta Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation Improves Reversal Learning

Abstract Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies suggest an association between beta (13–30 Hz) power and reversal learning performance. In search for direct evidence concerning the involvement of beta oscillations in reversal learning, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) was applied in a double-blind, sham-controlled and between-subjects design. Exogenous oscillatory currents were administered bilaterally to the frontal cortex at 20 Hz with an intensity of 1 mA peak-to-peak and the effects on reward-punishment based reversal learning were evaluated in hundred-and-eight healthy volunteers. Pre- and post-tACS resting state EEG recordings were analyzed. Results showed that beta-tACS improved rule implementation during reversal learning and decreases left and right resting-state frontal theta/beta EEG ratios following tACS. Our findings provide the first behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for exogenous 20 Hz oscillatory electric field potentials administered over to the frontal cortex to improve reversal learning.
In Vitro and in Vivo Studies of Erythropoiesis during Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis

In order to understand the effect of CAPD on the anemia of chronic renal failure, we studied the behaviour of some hematological parameters and of the colony-formation capacity of bone marrow cells in in vitro cultures in patients undergoing this therapy. Our studies showed a rise in hematocrit, hemoglobin and reticulocyte values, which showed a significant correlation with a recovery of the erythroid cell proliferative activity. Since serum erythropoietin levels do not change, the improvement of bone-marrow function appears to be due to a better clearance (by CAPD) of substances, which inhibit the response of bone marrow to the erythropoietin.
Cooked starchy rhizomes in Africa 170 thousand years ago

Middle Stone Age cooking Early evidence of cooked starchy plant food is sparse, yet the consumption of starchy roots is likely to have been a key innovation in the human diet. Wadley et al. report the identification of whole, charred rhizomes of plants of the genus Hypoxis from Border Cave, South Africa, dated up to 170,000 years ago. These archaeobotanical remains represent the earliest direct evidence for the cooking of underground storage organs. The edible Hypoxis rhizomes appear to have been cooked and consumed in the cave by the Middle Stone Age humans at the site. Hypoxis has a wide geographical distribution, suggesting that the rhizomes could have been a ready and reliable carbohydrate source for Homo sapiens in Africa, perhaps facilitating the mobility of human populations. Science, this issue p. 87 Rhizomes cooked in a South African cave 90 to 170,000 years ago imply a reliable source of carbohydrate in the Middle Stone Age. Plant carbohydrates were undoubtedly consumed in antiquity, yet starchy geophytes were seldom preserved archaeologically. We report evidence for geophyte exploitation by early humans from at least 170,000 years ago. Charred rhizomes from Border Cave, South Africa, were identified to the genus Hypoxis L. by comparing the morphology and anatomy of ancient and modern rhizomes. Hypoxis angustifolia Lam. , the likely taxon, proliferates in relatively well-watered areas of sub-Saharan Africa and in Yemen, Arabia. In those areas and possibly farther north during moist periods, Hypoxis rhizomes would have provided reliable and familiar carbohydrate sources for mobile groups.
Pain relieving effect of dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing total knee or hip arthroplasty

Abstract Background To evaluate the safety and efficacy of dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing total knee and hip arthroplasty for postoperative pain control. Methods An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) identified in systematic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google Scholar, the Cochrane Database and the Chinese SinoMed Database. Results Fourteen RCTs with a total of 1220 patients were included. Overall, dexmedetomidine therapy was associated with significantly decreased pain scores 24 hours after surgery (WMD, −0.36; 95% CI, −0.49 to −0.22; I2 = 90.0%, P < .001) compared with scores in the control group after total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Furthermore, the rate of postoperative delirium was also markedly decreased with dexmedetomidine therapy (RR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.59; I2 = 0.0%, P < .001). Moreover, compared with the control group, dexmedetomidine treatment was associated with a decreased risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing TKA (RR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.79; I2 = 0.0%, P = .012), and there was a similar risk of hypotension (RR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.72 to 1.49; I2 = 24.4%, P = .87) regardless of whether patients underwent TKA or THA. However, the rate of bradycardia was significantly increased with dexmedetomidine treatment in those undergoing TKA (RR, 6.11; 95% CI, 2.35 to 15.91; I2 = 0.0%, P < .001). Conclusions Dexmedetomidine therapy seems to be an effective treatment for pain control and postoperative delirium in patients undergoing TKA/THA. However, the incidence of bradycardia is markedly increased in patients undergoing TKA. Hence, much larger prospective clinical studies are warranted to confirm these findings.