Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vigilance on the civil flight deck: incidence of sleepiness and sleep during long-haul flights and associated changes in physiological parameters

The study investigated sleepiness and sleep in aircrew during long-haul flights. The objectives were to identify loss of alertness and to recommend a practical approach to the design of an alerting system to be used by aircrew to prevent involuntary sleep. The flights were between London and Miami, covering both day- and night-time sectors, each with a duration of ~9 h. The subjects were 12 British Airways pilots. Various physiological variables were measured that could potentially be used to indicate the presence of drowsiness and involuntary sleep: brain electrical activity (electroencephalogram, EEG), eye movements via the electro-oculogram (EOG), wrist activity, head movements and galvanic skin resistance. The EEG and EOG identified sleepiness and sleep, as well as being potential measures on which to base an alarm system. Ten pilots either slept or showed evidence of sleepiness as assessed by the EEG and EOG. Many of the episodes of sleepiness lasted < 20 s, which could mean that the subjects were unaware of their occurrence and of the potential consequences on performance and vigilance. All physiological parameters showed changes during sleep, although only the EEG and EOG were modified by sleepiness. During sleep, skin resistance was increased, and wrist activity and head movements were absent for long periods. The study indicated that the measurement of eye movements (either alone or in combination with the EEG), wrist activity or head movement may be used as the basis of an alarm system to prevent involuntary sleep. Skin resistance is considered to be unsuitable, however, being related in a more general way to fatigue rather than to sleep episodes. The optimal way to monitor the onset of sleep would be to measure eye movements; however, this is not feasible in the flight deck environment at the present time due to the intrusive nature of the recording methodology. Wrist activity is therefore recommended as the basis of an alertness alarm. Such a device would alert the pilot after ~4–5 min of wrist inactivity, since this duration has been shown by the present study to be associated with sleep. The possibility that sleep inertia (reduced alertness immediately after awakening from sleep) could follow periods of sleep lasting 5 min needs to be considered. The findings reported here might be applicable to other occupational environments where fatigue and sleepiness are known to occur.
Post-treatment control of HIV infection

Significance Recent reports suggest that antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiated early after HIV infection increases the likelihood of post-treatment control (PTC) in which plasma virus remains undetectable after treatment cessation. However, only a small fraction of patients treated early attain PTC. We develop a mathematical model of HIV infection that provides insight into these phenomena, suggesting that treatments restricting or reducing the latent reservoir size may allow immune responses to control infection posttreatment. Our model makes predictions about immune response strengths and latent reservoir sizes needed for a patient taken off treatment to exhibit PTC that may help guide future studies. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV is not a cure. However, recent studies suggest that ART, initiated early during primary infection, may induce post-treatment control (PTC) of HIV infection with HIV RNA maintained at <50 copies per mL. We investigate the hypothesis that ART initiated early during primary infection permits PTC by limiting the size of the latent reservoir, which, if small enough at treatment termination, may allow the adaptive immune response to prevent viral rebound (VR) and control infection. We use a mathematical model of within host HIV dynamics to capture interactions among target cells, productively infected cells, latently infected cells, virus, and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Analysis of our model reveals a range in CTL response strengths where a patient may show either VR or PTC, depending on the size of the latent reservoir at treatment termination. Below this range, patients will always rebound, whereas above this range, patients are predicted to behave like elite controllers. Using data on latent reservoir sizes in patients treated during primary infection, we also predict population-level VR times for noncontrollers consistent with observations.
Information-theoretic Methods for Analysis and Inference in Etymology

We introduce a family of minimum description length models which explicitly utilizes phonetic features and captures long-range contextual rules that condition recurrent correspondences of sounds within a language family. We also provide an algorithm to learn a model from this family given a corpus of cognates, sets of genetically related words. Finally, we present an imputation procedure which allows us compare the quality of alignment models, as well as the goodness of the data sets. Our evaluations demonstrate that the new model yields improvements in performance, as compared to those previously reported in the literature.
Characterization of VP7 and VP4 genes of rotavirus strains: 1990–1994 and 2000–2002

SUMMARY A total of 90 rotavirus-positive faecal specimens collected from patients hospitalized with diarrhoea in 1990–1994 (n=77) and 2000–2002 (n=13) were investigated for VP7 and VP4 genotypes. The specimens included 21 typable and 69 non-reactive or multireactive rotavirus strains as monitored by monoclonal antibody-based serotyping ELISA. Genotyping was carried out by multiplex PCR/sequencing using primers specific for both VP7 and VP4 genes. The contribution of common genotypes (G1P[8], G2P[4], G3P[8], G4P[8]) in causing rotavirus diarrhoea was 79·2% and 92·3% in the years 1990–1994 and 2000–2002, respectively, while G9P[8] infections were detected at lower levels (1·3% and 7·7%) at both time-points. There was a predominance of G1P[8] in 1990–1994 and of G2P[4] in 2000–2002. The detection of unusual rotavirus strains (G1P[6], G1P[4], G1P[19], G2P[8], G3P[4], G4P[6]) in 19·5% of the patients indicated a significant contribution of reassortants in causing diarrhoea in western India.
A Study on Challenges Associated in Coverage Problem in WSN

To optimize the QoS in a sensor network, it is required to optimize it under various coverage problems. A network is defined under three main coverage aspects called target coverage, area coverage and barrier coverage. If the network is optimized under all these coverage&apos;s, the scalability, reliability and efficiency will be achieved. This kind of optimization can be achieved statistically during deployment or dynamically with optimization
New Cucurbitacin Glycosides from Picrorhiza kurroa

From the roots of Picrorhiza kurrooa Royle and Benth. , seven cucurbitacin glycosides have been isolated and structurally elucidated mainly by NMR and mass spectroscopy. Four of them (4, 5, 6, 7) are new and two, the 2-O-glycoside of cucurbitacin B (25-acetoxy-2-beta-glucosyloxy-16,20-dihydroxy-9-methyl-19-norl anosta-5, 23-diene-3,11,22-trione) and the 2-O-glucoside of 23,24 didydrocucurbitacin B (25-acetoxy-2-beta-glucosyloxy-16,20-dihydroxy-9-methyl-19-norl anost-5-ene-3, 11-22-trione) were so far not reported as constituents of this plant. The four new cucurbitacins could be identified as 2-beta-glucosyloxy-3,16,20,25-tetrahydroxy-9-methyl-19-norlanos ta-5, 23-diene-22-one, 2-beta-glucosyloxy-3,16,20,25-tetrahydroxy-9-methyl-19-norlanos t-5-ene-22-one, the 2-O-glucoside of cucurbitacin Q (25-acetoxy-2-beta-glucosyloxy-3,16,20-trihydroxy-9-methyl-19-n orlanosta-5, 23-diene-11,22-dione), and the 2-O-glucoside of deacetoxycucurbitacin B (2-beta-glucosyloxy-16,20-dihydroxy-9-methyl-19-norlanosta-5 , 24-diene-3,11,22-trione).
Nicotinic acid inhibits angiogenesis likely through cytoskeleton remodeling

ABSTRACT Angiogenesis is a physiological procedure during which the new blood vessels develop from the pre-existing vessels. Uncontrolled angiogenesis is related to various diseases including cancers. Clinical inhibition of undesired angiogenesis is still under investigation. We utilized nicotinic acid, a family member of the B-vitamin niacin (vitamin B3) that has been used in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis or other lipid-metabolic disorders, to treat human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM), and investigated its influence on angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. We found that nicotinic acid could obviously inhibit HUVEC proliferation induced by vascular endothelial growth factor. Both the in vitro and in vivo assays showed that nicotinic acid could significantly inhibit the process of angiogenesis. To further investigate the mechanism underlying the effect of nicotinic acid on angiogenesis, we found that it might function via regulating the cytoskeleton arrangements, especially the rearranging the structures of F-actin and paxillin. In summary, we discovered that nicotinic acid could obviously inhibit the process of angiogenesis by changing the angiogenesis factor expression levels and inducing the cytoskeleton rearrangement of endothelial cells.
Expression of CD15 in normal and metaplastic Paneth cells of the digestive tract.

AIMS: To substantiate that incubation with monoclonal antibody CD15 (C3D-1) elicits a distinctive immunoreaction in normal small intestinal Paneth cells, normal and metaplastic Paneth cells along the digestive tract were assessed to determine whether they are also immunoreactive to CD15. METHODS: Paneth cells in paraffin wax embedded specimens of normal small intestine, appendix and proximal ascending colon, and from cases of chronic gastritis and ulcerative colitis were investigated immunohistochemically for lysozyme and CD15 antigen expression by means of the avidin-biotin peroxidase complex method. RESULTS: CD15 antibody reacted with a high proportion of both normal and metaplastic Paneth cells. Paneth cell immunoreactivity to CD15, however, was less intense and less extensive than to antilysozyme antibody, though the latter also stained many other cell types and was more commonly associated with nonspecific background staining. CONCLUSIONS: CD15 seems to be a valuable adjuvant for the study of Paneth cells in the normal and diseased digestive tract. Furthermore, as CD15 has been shown to be involved in activation of phagocytes, its expression in Paneth cells reinforces their proposed role as antimicrobial agents and regulators of the intestinal flora.
Characterization of cis-9 trans-11 trans-15 C18:3 in milk fat by GC and covalent adduct chemical ionization tandem MS

Rumen biohydrogenation of dietary α-linolenic acid gives rise in ruminants to accumulation of fatty acid intermediates, some of which may be transferred into milk. Rumelenic acid [cis-9 trans-11 cis-15 C18:3 (RLnA)] has recently been characterized, but other C18:3 minor isomers are still unknown. The objective of this work was to identify a new isomer of octatridecenoic acid present in milk fat from ewes fed different sources of α-linolenic acid. Structural characterization of this fatty acid was achieved by GC-MS. Analysis of dimethyloxazoline and picolinyl ester derivatives allowed for location of the double bond positions. Covalent adduct chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry confirmed the positional structure 9-11-15, identical to RLnA, and helped to establish double bond geometry (cis-trans-trans). This new C18:3 isomer could be formed by isomerization of cis-15 bond of RLnA and subsequently converted by hydrogenation to trans-11 trans-15 C18:2, an octadecadienoic acid also detected in this study.
Integrating AGV schedules in a scheduling system for a flexible manufacturing environment

In a job shop where machining time takes a comparable amount as material transportation time, it is no longer realistic to ignore the scheduling of material transportation systems such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs). The authors' algorithm discussed in this paper integrates AGV schedules into a heuristic-based scheduling algorithm to achieve the maximum amount of flexibility and optimization for a flexible manufacturing environment. Furthermore in order to allow their system to achieve different optimization goals such as shortest schedules or schedules that require the minimum computation time, the authors' system architecture consists of individual modules of heuristics so that one or any combination of these modules can be used. The authors then discuss how they control the use of these heuristic modules to achieve the best results with some experimental data. <<ETX>>
Toward the future: The MVDC large ship research program

Nowadays, the Medium Voltage Direct Current (MVDC) technology represents a new possibility to renew the shipboard power system of large All Electric Ships (e.g. cruise liners or military vessels.). This new concept is capable of achieving valued advantages, such as simplified system integration, modularity and system efficiency, together with an expected reduction of the space devoted to technical system. For a shipyard interested in keeping a leading position in the market, such benefits will be the main strength points. Therefore, the MVDC Large Ship research program (presented in the paper) has been carried out trying to meet with the industrial needs of one of the partners, whose expertise deeply influenced the research and was deemed indispensable: Fincantieri Shipyard.
Procedure for protection of distribution feeder against induced voltages by indirect lightning

Induced voltages by indirect lightning cause faults, damage to equipment and malfunctions to electric power systems, compromising the quality, continuity and reliability of the electrical energy supply. In this context, research development is crucial to improve lightning protection procedures, especially for electrical systems located in areas with high ground flash densities. This article presents the results of the application of a practical procedure for protection of the IEEE 13 Node Test Feeder against induced voltages by indirect lightning simulated with the Rusck model employing metal-oxide surge arresters. The results demonstrate the efficiency and practicality of the presented procedure regarding the technical specification and definition of the best allocation and amount of surge arresters for feeder protection, as well as the analysis of the sensitivity of the transformers and load facing the induced voltages.
Desempeño sexual de machos de laboratorio estériles de Anastrepha obliqua aclimatados bajo condiciones de campo

RESUMEN. Se evaluo por medio de pruebas estandar de control de calidad el desempeno sexual de machos de cria esteriles de Anastrepha obliqua aclimatados bajo condiciones de campo. Machos este-riles de cria de laboratorio fueron mantenidos en un huerto de mango en jaulas de madera durante 0, 2, 4, 6 y 8 dias antes de competir con machos silvestres por hembras silvestres en pruebas de desempeno sexual. Los machos de laboratorio fueron evaluados con 8 dias de edad mientras los silvestres con 15 dias. Este estudio fue conducido para confirmar si los insectos mantenidos lo mas cerca posible a las condiciones naturales, obtienen una ventaja en su desempeno sexual con respecto a machos mantenidos en condiciones artificiales. Los resultados del estudio indicaron que la proporcion de apareamientos en la prueba fue satisfactoria y los valores del indice de esterilidad relativa no muestran diferencias signi-ficativas entre los distintos tratamientos. En conclusion los datos indican que el pre-acondicionamiento de machos de
Time Series Analysis of Jitter in Sustained Vowels

This paper proposes a new equation to show the time domain features of jitter: Jitter = (Ti+1-Ti)/Ti. The subjects are tonal language speakers. Jitter is extracted from EGG signals. The results show that: (1) jitter does not obey Gaussian distribution but multimodal distribution; (2) the first peak position near zero of the jitter distribution curve increases with the pitch; (3) each peak position is an integral multiple of the first peak position; (4) jitter values are around 0, and in most cases, adjacent values have opposite algebraic sign; (5) the zero value percentage and zero-crossing rate of jitter increase with the pitch; (6) the variance of pitch keeps in the allowance of just noticeable difference, which can be attributed to the effect of audible feedback, and it affects the variance of jitter further.
DNA-based control of oak wood geographic origin in the context of the cooperage industry

Controle de l'origine geographique des bois de chene utilises en tonnellerie. L'importation croissante de bois de chene et le manque de garantie sur son origine, lies a l'expansion recente de la tonnellerie francaise, rendent necessaire la mise au point d'une technique fiable permettant de controler l'origine des bois de chene. Dans cette etude, nous avons cherche a adapter, pour ce secteur industriel, les methodes moleculaires de tracabilite des bois de chene utilisant les marqueurs chloroplastiques. La qualite et la quantite de l'ADN extrait et la caracterisation des haplotypes ont alors ete evalues sur les differents types d'echantillons de bois rencontres dans les tonnelleries. Nous avons pu demontrer un effet net des differents traitements du bois sur la degradation de l'ADN. Cependant, malgre la faible qualite et quantite d'ADN extrait des bois de merrains, les haplotypes ont pu etre determines sur une large proportion des echantillons, permettant de tester la conformite des bois avec l'origine annoncee. Dans plusieurs cas, nous avons pu mettre en evidence l'existence de bois mal identifies, provenant de l'est de l'Europe, ainsi que l'utilisation abusive des noms des provenances francaises renommees.
Bacterial Community Structure and Physiological State within an Industrial Phenol Bioremediation System

ABSTRACT The structure of bacterial populations in specific compartments of an operational industrial phenol remediation system was assessed to examine bacterial community diversity, distribution, and physiological state with respect to the remediation of phenolic polluted wastewater. Rapid community fingerprinting by PCR-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rDNA indicated highly structured bacterial communities residing in all nine compartments of the treatment plant and not exclusively within the Vitox biological reactor. Whole-cell targeting by fluorescent in situ hybridization with specific oligonucleotides (directed to the α, β and γ subclasses of the class Proteobacteria [α-, β-, and γ-Proteobacteria, respectively], theCytophaga-Flavobacterium group, and thePseudomonas group) tended to mirror gross changes in bacterial community composition when compared with DGGE community fingerprinting. At the whole-cell level, the treatment compartments were numerically dominated by cells assigned to theCytophaga-Flavobacterium group and to the γ-Proteobacteria. The α subclassProteobacteria were of low relative abundance throughout the treatment system whilst the β subclass of theProteobacteria exhibited local dominance in several of the processing compartments. Quantitative image analyses of cellular fluorescence was used as an indicator of physiological state within the populations probed with rDNA. For cells hybridized with EUB338, the mean fluorescence per cell decreased with increasing phenolic concentration, indicating the strong influence of the primary pollutant upon cellular rRNA content. The γ subclass of theProteobacteria had a ribosome content which correlated positively with total phenolics and thiocyanate. While members of theCytophaga-Flavobacterium group were numerically dominant in the processing system, their abundance and ribosome content data for individual populations did not correlate with any of the measured chemical parameters. The potential importance of the γ-Proteobacteria and theCytophaga-Flavobacteria during this bioremediation process was highlighted.
Protective Effect of Klotho against Ischemic Brain Injury Is Associated with Inhibition of RIG-I/NF-κB Signaling

Aging is the greatest independent risk factor for the occurrence of stroke and poor outcomes, at least partially through progressive increases in oxidative stress and inflammation with advanced age. Klotho is an antiaging gene, the expression of which declines with age. Klotho may protect against neuronal oxidative damage that is induced by glutamate. The present study investigated the effects of Klotho overexpression and knockdown by an intracerebroventricular injection of a lentiviral vector that encoded murine Klotho (LV-KL) or rat Klotho short-hairpin RNA (LV-KL shRNA) on cerebral ischemia injury and the underlying anti-neuroinflammatory mechanism. The overexpression of Klotho induced by LV-KL significantly improved neurobehavioral deficits and increased the number of live neurons in the hippocampal CA1 and caudate putamen subregions 72 h after cerebral hypoperfusion that was induced by transient bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (2VO) in mice. The overexpression of Klotho significantly decreased the immunoreactivity of glial fibrillary acidic protein and ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule-1, the expression of retinoic-acid-inducible gene-I, the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-κB, and the production of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin-6) in 2VO mice. The knockdown of Klotho mediated by LV-KL shRNA in the brain exacerbated neurological dysfunction and cerebral infarct after 22 h of reperfusion following 2 h middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats. These findings suggest that Klotho itself or enhancers of Klotho may compensate for its aging-related decline, thus providing a promising therapeutic approach for acute ischemic stroke during advanced age.
Endotracheal Tubes and Airway Appliances

This chapter will review the development and use of endotracheal tubes and common airway appliances. The first section will review the history and development of endotracheal tubes. The design of modern endotracheal tubes, complications associated with their use, and suggestions for preventing and treating these complications will be presented. In the second section, tracheostomy tubes will be discussed with emphasis on their history, design, and routine care. Some common problems encountered with their use and suggestions for therapies to correct these problems will be discussed.
Methylphenidate treatment for bulimia nervosa associated with a cluster B personality disorder.

OBJECTIVES Psychotherapy and antidepressant medication are helpful to many patients with bulimia nervosa (BN). However, a substantial number of bulimics respond poorly to such treatments. Recent studies suggest that many of the poor responders have cluster B personality disorders. In some ways, the symptomatology of bulimics who have a comorbid cluster B disorder resembles that of patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In particular, individuals in both groups frequently have a high level of impulsivity. Such a resemblance raised the question of whether administration of methylphenidate (MPH), a drug used to treat ADHD, would have therapeutic effects in this subgroup of BN patients. METHODS In a pilot study, we administered MPH to 2 patients with BN and cluster B traits and found beneficial effects. These patients had not responded to adequate trials of psychotherapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). RESULTS MPH treatment was effective. Both Patients had decreased binging and purging. DISCUSSION MPH may be useful for bulimics with cluster B personality disorder who respond poorly to conventional treatment. Further studies of MPH administration may be worthwhile. Due to the potential risks, however, clinical treatment with this agent is not recommended at this time.