Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Submaximal exercise and maturation in 12-year-olds.

The aim of this study was to examine the maturation responses of young people to submaximal treadmill exercise. Body mass was controlled using both the conventional ratio standard and allometric modelling. Ninety-seven boys and 97 girls with a mean age of 12.2 years completed a discontinuous, incremental exercise test to voluntary exhaustion. We measured peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and VO2 when running at 8, 9 and 10 km x h(-1). Sexual maturation was assessed visually using Tanner's indices of pubic hair. Peak VO2 was significantly higher in boys (P<0.001); this was still the case when the influence of body mass was covaried out. During submaximal exercise, no significant differences in absolute VO2 were observed between the sexes (P>0.05); however, values of VO2, expressed both in ratio with body mass and adjusted for body mass using allometry, were significantly greater in boys than in girls (P<0.001). For absolute VO2, significant main effects (P<0.05) were seen for maturity at each exercise stage. With the influence of body mass controlled using either the ratio standard or allometry, no significant main effects (P>0.05) for maturity were observed. Our results indicate that boys are less economical than girls while running at 8-10 km x h(-1) and that, independently of body mass, maturation does not influence the VO2 response to submaximal exercise.
Vaginismus and dyspareunia: automatic vs. deliberate disgust responsivity.

INTRODUCTION The difficulty of penetration experienced in vaginismus and dyspareunia may at least partly be due to a disgust-induced defensive response. AIMS To examine if sex stimuli specifically elicit: (i) automatic disgust-related memory associations; (ii) physiological disgust responsivity; and/or (iii) deliberate expression of disgust/threat. METHODS Two single target Implicit Association Task (st-IAT) and electromyography (EMG) were conducted on three groups: vaginismus (N = 24), dyspareunia (N = 24), and control (N = 31) group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES st-IAT, to index their initial disgust-related associations and facial EMG for the m. levator labii and m. corrugator supercilii regions. RESULTS Both clinical groups showed enhanced automatic sex-disgust associations. As a unique physiological expression of disgust, the levator activity was specifically enhanced for the vaginismus group, when exposed to a women-friendly SEX video clip. Also at the deliberate level, specifically the vaginismus group showed enhanced subjective disgust toward SEX pictures and the SEX clip, along with higher threat responses. CONCLUSIONS Supporting the view that disgust is involved in vaginismus and dyspareunia, for both, clinical groups' sex stimuli automatically elicited associations with disgust. Particularly for the vaginismus group, these initial disgust associations persisted during subsequent validation processes and were also evident at the level of facial expression and self-report data. Findings are consistent with the notion that uncontrollable activated associations are involved in eliciting defensive reactions at the prospect of penetration seen in both conditions. Whereas deliberate attitudes, usually linked with the desire for having intercourse, possibly generate the distinction (e.g., severity) between these two conditions.
Net Production and Consumption of Fluorescent Colored Dissolved Organic Matter by Natural Bacterial Assemblages Growing on Marine Phytoplankton Exudates

ABSTRACT An understanding of the distribution of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the oceans and its role in the global carbon cycle requires a better knowledge of the colored materials produced and consumed by marine phytoplankton and bacteria. In this work, we examined the net uptake and release of CDOM by a natural bacterial community growing on DOM derived from four phytoplankton species cultured under axenic conditions. Fluorescent humic-like substances exuded by phytoplankton (excitation/emission [Ex/Em] wavelength, 310 nm/392 nm; Coble's peak M) were utilized by bacteria in different proportions depending on the phytoplankton species of origin. Furthermore, bacteria produced humic-like substances that fluoresce at an Ex/Em wavelength of 340 nm/440 nm (Coble's peak C). Differences were also observed in the Ex/Em wavelengths of the protein-like materials (Coble's peak T) produced by phytoplankton and bacteria. The induced fluorescent emission of CDOM produced by prokaryotes was an order of magnitude higher than that of CDOM produced by eukaryotes. We have also examined the final compositions of the bacterial communities growing on the exudates, which differed markedly depending on the phytoplankton species of origin. Alteromonas and Roseobacter were dominant during all the incubations on Chaetoceros sp. and Prorocentrum minimum exudates, respectively. Alteromonas was the dominant group growing on Skeletonema costatum exudates during the exponential growth phase, but it was replaced by Roseobacter afterwards. On Micromonas pusilla exudates, Roseobacter was replaced by Bacteroidetes after the exponential growth phase. Our work shows that fluorescence excitation-emission matrices of CDOM can be a helpful tool for the identification of microbial sources of DOM in the marine environment, but further studies are necessary to explore the association of particular bacterial groups with specific fluorophores.
Evidence of progenitor cells of glandular and myoepithelial cell lineages in the human adult female breast epithelium: a new progenitor (adult stem) cell concept

Abstract. Although experimental data clearly confirm the existence of self‐renewing mammary stem cells, the characteristics of such progenitor cells have never been satisfactorily defined. Using a double immunofluorescence technique for simultaneous detection of the basal cytokeratin 5, the glandular cytokeratins 8/18 and the myoepithelial differentiation marker smooth muscle actin (SMA), we were able to demonstrate the presence of CK5+ cells in human adult breast epithelium. These cells have the potential to differentiate to either glandular (CK8/18+) or myoepithelial cells (SMA+) through intermediary cells (CK5+ and CK8/18+ or SMA+). We therefore proceeded on the assumption that the CK5+ cells are phenotypically and behaviourally progenitor (committed adult stem) cells of human breast epithelium. Furthermore, we furnish evidence that most of these progenitor cells are located in the luminal epithelium of the ductal lobular tree. Based on data obtained in extensive analyses of proliferative breast disease lesions, we have come to regard usual ductal hyperplasia as a progenitor cell‐derived lesion, whereas most breast cancers seem to evolve from differentiated glandular cells. Double immunofluorescence experiments provide a new tool to characterize phenotypically progenitor (adult stem) cells and their progenies. This model has been shown to be of great value for a better understanding not only of normal tissue regeneration but also of proliferative breast disease. Furthermore, this model provides a new tool for unravelling further the regulatory mechanisms that govern normal and pathological cell growth.
Characterization of DNA polymerase from Pyrococcus sp. strain KOD1 and its application to PCR

The DNA polymerase gene from the archaeon Pyrococcus sp. strain KOD1 (KOD DNA polymerase) contains a long open reading frame of 5,013 bases that encodes 1,671 amino acid residues (GenBank accession no. D29671). Similarity analysis revealed that the DNA polymerase contained a putative 3'-5' exonuclease activity and two in-frame intervening sequences of 1,080 bp (360 amino acids; KOD pol intein-1) and 1,611 bp (537 amino acids; KOD pol intein-2), which are located in the middle of regions conserved among eukaryotic and archaeal alpha-like DNA polymerases. The mature form of the DNA polymerase gene was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the recombinant enzyme was purified and characterized. 3'-5' exonuclease activity was confirmed, and although KOD DNA polymerase's optimum temperature (75 degrees C) and mutation frequency (3.5 x 10(-3)) were similar to those of a DNA polymerase from Pyrococcus furiosus (Pfu DNA polymerase), the KOD DNA polymerase exhibited an extension rate (100 to 130 nucleotides/s) 5 times higher and a processivity (persistence of sequential nucleotide polymerization) 10 to 15 times higher than those of Pfu DNA polymerase. These characteristics enabled the KOD DNA polymerase to perform a more accurate PCR in a shorter reaction time.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PREADAPTED GENOMES IN THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMAL BODYPLANS AND THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION

The genomes of taxa whose stem lineages branched early in metazoan history, and of allied protistan groups, provide a tantalizing outline of the morphological and genomic changes that accompanied the origin and early diversifications of animals. Genome comparisons show that the early clades increasingly contain genes that mediate development of complex features only seen in later metazoan branches. Peak additions of protein‐coding regulatory genes occurred deep in the metazoan tree, evidently within stem groups of metazoans and eumetazoans. However, the bodyplans of these early‐branching clades are relatively simple. The existence of major elements of the bilaterian developmental toolkit in these simpler organisms implies that these components evolved for functions other than the production of complex morphology, preadapting the genome for the morphological differentiation that occurred higher in metazoan phylogeny. Stem lineages of the bilaterian phyla apparently required few additional genes beyond their diploblastic ancestors. As disparate bodyplans appeared and diversified during the Cambrian explosion, increasing complexity was accommodated largely through changes in cis‐regulatory networks, accompanied by some additional gene novelties. Subsequently, protein‐coding genic richness appears to have essentially plateaued. Some genomic evidence suggests that similar stages of genomic evolution may have accompanied the rise of land plants.
Cost‐Utility Analysis to Control Campylobacter on Chicken Meat—Dealing with Data Limitations

The current article describes the economic evaluation of interventions to control Campylobacter on chicken meat by means of a cost‐utility analysis. Apart from the methodology used, the main focus of this article is on data gaps and assumptions made, and their impact on results and conclusions. The direct intervention costs, the relative risk, the disease burden (expressed in disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs)), and the costs of illness for the various interventions are necessary inputs for the cost‐utility analysis. The cost‐utility ratio (CUR)—the measure for efficiency—is expressed in net costs per avoided DALY. Most data gaps were of a biological order, but for some interventions, information on costs was also scarce. As a consequence, assumptions had to be made, which had some impact on the estimated CUR. A higher (lower) incidence of Campylobacter infections associated with chicken meat, higher (lower) effectiveness, and lower (higher) intervention costs, respectively, would result in absolute better (worse) CUR estimates. By taking the perspective of all consumers eating Dutch chicken meat, rather than only the Dutch society, absolute better CUR estimates could be obtained. Indirect costs or a shift toward non‐Dutch chicken meat would both result in higher CUR estimates. Despite the assumptions made, three interventions showed for most of the applied sensitivity analyses relatively favorable CUR estimates: limiting fecal leakage during processing, carcass decontamination by dipping in a chemical solution, and the phage therapy. However, all three do have some clauses.
T helper 1 (Th1)/Th2 cytokine expression shift of peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in patients at the post‐acute phase of stroke

Local humoral and cellular immune responses modulate the inflammatory processes involved in the development of atherosclerotic lesions, as well as in the evolution of brain infarcts in stroke patients. The role of systemic adaptive immunity on the progression of such disease manifestations is less clear. In the current study, we evaluated the percentages of T helper 1 (Th1) [interleukin (IL)‐2, interferon (IFN)‐γ] and Th2 (IL‐4, IL‐10) cytokine‐producing peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in 23 patients with a history of ischaemic stroke (IS) at the chronic stable phase of the disease (median post‐stroke time 34·5 months). Seven stroke‐free individuals matched for age and vascular risk factors (matched controls, MC) were collected for comparison. To measure cytokine values at baseline and after stimulation, we used a flow cytometry method of intracellular cytokine staining. Intrinsic Th1 and Th2 cytokine production in unstimulated T cells was negligible in all study participants. Following mitogenic stimulation with phorbol 12‐myristate13‐acetate/ionomycin, both the IS and the MC groups exhibited a similarly strong Th1 response; IL‐2 production predominated in the CD4+ T cells and IFN‐γ in the CD8+ T cells. However, when measuring the Th2 cytokine‐production capacity post‐stimulation, a significant increase in the percentage of IL‐4‐producing T cells was observed in the IS groups, compared with the MC group, resulting in a significantly lower ratio of IFN‐γ‐/IL‐4‐producing T cells. No such Th2 enhancement could be confirmed for the case of IL‐10. We propose that in IS patients there is a systemic shift of the immune system towards Th2 responses at the late post‐acute phase of stroke.
Cardiovascular disease in lupus: insights and updates

Purpose of reviewWith improved management of the classical disease manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), cardiovascular disease (CVD) has emerged as one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality. This review in particular focuses on progress over the past year in clinical and basic aspects of SLE-driven accelerated atherosclerosis. Recent findingsBoth subclinical CVD and CV events continue to be recognized at increased frequency in previously unstudied lupus cohorts and populations. Novel associations have been identified between lupus CVD and cognitive impairment, depression, and low-income status. In terms of pathogenesis, there is an ever-increasing focus on the innate immune system and, in particular, type I interferons (IFNs). Recent studies have drawn connections in both human and murine models between neutrophils, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, type I IFNs, and endothelial dysfunction. Whether treatments such as mycophenolate mofetil or statins have a role in prevention of lupus CVD is an area of intensive study. SummaryCVD is a major complication of lupus and is now a leading cause of death among people living with this disease. As such, additional studies are needed in order to identify the most effective preventive strategies and most predictive vascular risk biomarkers. Type I IFNs may play a critical role in lupus CVD pathogenesis, and it is recommended that vascular outcomes be included in ongoing trials testing the efficacy of anti-IFN biologics.
PMEM: Predicting multiple time series using ensemble model

Forecasting Multiple Time Series (MTS) consists of multiple time series with no relation between them and independent of each other. Predicting each time series independently may lead to increase in time and cost. In this paper, we formalize the problem of predicting the multiple time series together over a MTS database. The proposed framework addresses the following issues. First, it build the initial ensemble model for each time series by using a novel Ensemble approach thereby effectively reduce the data storage and time complexity, secondly, by using single ensemble engine for MTS we perform the three major task, i.e., the task of prediction, building new model, ensemble update and lastly predicting the samples by pattern sequence matching using well known Sliding window method. The computational cost for PMEM is O(C ∗ N ∗ (K+ nmatches)) where, nmatches is the Average number of patterns matched and the storage cost is O (N ∗ (\Di\ + C)). The experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach in predicting the multiple time series data compared with the predicting the single time series data using existing methods.
Exercise intolerance in mitochondrial myopathy is not related to lactic acidosis

In a double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled, crossover study in seven mitochondrial myopathy patients (MM), we investigated whether lowering of lactate with dichloroacetate (DCA) can improve exercise tolerance and oxidative capacity in MM. DCA lowered plasma lactate at rest and during exercise (from 10.5 ± 2.0 to 5.0 ± 1.6 mM; p = 0.005) but did not improve maximal work load or VO2 in cycle exercise or phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P‐MRS)‐assessed indices of muscle oxidative metabolism. This indicates that lactate acidosis is not the primary cause of exercise intolerance in MM.
Hierarchical Representation Based on Bayesian Nonparametric Tree-Structured Mixture Model for Playing Technique Classification

This work develops a topic model-based hierarchical representation for identifying the latent characteristics behind the frame-level musical features. Frame-level features and music clips are regarded as acoustic words and acoustic documents, respectively. A Gaussian hierarchical latent Dirichlet allocation (G-hLDA) is proposed to find the latent topics behind the acoustic document. The G-hLDA directly handles the continuous features instead of transforming them into discrete words, reducing information loss from discretization-based vector quantization. Specially, each latent topic that is identified by G-hLDA is represented as a node in the infinitely deep, infinitely branching tree. For a music clip, the number of its acoustic words at each node is computed to form the hierarchical representation. The proposed representation hierarchically captures not only the shared components but also the unique components among music clips, resulting in improved performance. The experimental results on the guitar playing technique database demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms baselines.
Defective T-Cell Activation Is Associated with Augmented Transforming Growth Factor β Sensitivity in Mice with Mutations in the Sno Gene

ABSTRACT The proto-oncogene Sno has been shown to be a negative regulator of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling in vitro, using overexpression and artificial reporter systems. To examine Sno function in vivo, we made two targeted deletions at the Sno locus: a 5′ deletion, with reduced Sno protein (hypomorph), and an exon 1 deletion removing half the protein coding sequence, in which Sno protein is undetectable in homozygotes (null). Homozygous Sno hypomorph and null mutant mice are viable without gross developmental defects. We found that Sno mRNA is constitutively expressed in normal thymocytes and splenic T cells, with increased expression 1 h following T-cell receptor ligation. Although thymocyte and splenic T-cell populations appeared normal in mutant mice, T-cell proliferation in response to activating stimuli was defective in both mutant strains. This defect could be reversed by incubation with either anti-TGF-β antibodies or exogenous interleukin-2 (IL-2). Together, these findings suggest that Sno-dependent suppression of TGF-β signaling is required for upregulation of growth factor production and normal T-cell proliferation following receptor ligation. Indeed, both IL-2 and IL-4 levels are reduced in response to anti-CD3ε stimulation of mutant T cells, and transfected Sno activated an IL-2 reporter system in non-T cells. Mutant mouse embryo fibroblasts also exhibited a reduced cell proliferation rate that could be reversed by administration of anti-TGF-β. Our data provide strong evidence that Sno is a significant negative regulator of antiproliferative TGF-β signaling in both T cells and other cell types in vivo.
Research on the technique of multisource image characteristic fusion

Image fusion is the process by which multiple images of the same scene are combined to generate a more accurate description of the scene than any of the individual source images. Multi-source image fusion is an important topic in the image understanding and computer vision field. Focusing on the evaluation problems in the multi-source image fusion, this document makes systematic analysis and research on the methods of subjective qualitative evaluating as well as objective quantitative evaluating the image fusion performance. Based on the features and interrelations of these methods, this document gives an evaluation system and corresponding evaluation criterion for the multi-source image fusion, which have important directive to the application of the image fusion methods in actual projects.
Estimating deformability of objects using meshless shape matching

Humans interact with deformable objects on a daily basis but this still represents a challenge for robots. To enable manipulation of and interaction with deformable objects, robots need to be able to extract and learn the deformability of objects both prior to and during the interaction. Physics-based models are commonly used to predict the physical properties of deformable objects and simulate their deformation accurately. The most popular simulation techniques are force-based models that need force measurements. In this paper, we explore the applicability of a geometry-based simulation method called meshless shape matching (MSM) for estimating the deformability of objects. The main advantages of MSM are its controllability and computational efficiency that make it popular in computer graphics to simulate complex interactions of multiple objects at the same time. Additionally, a useful feature of the MSM that differentiates it from other physics-based simulation is to be independent of force measurements that may not be available to a robotic framework lacking force/torque sensors. In this work, we design a method to estimate deformability based on certain properties, such as volume conservation. Using the finite element method (FEM) we create the ground truth deformability for various settings to evaluate our method. The experimental evaluation shows that our approach is able to accurately identify the deformability of test objects, supporting the value of MSM for robotic applications.
Mutations at codon position 1999 of acetyl-CoA carboxylase confer resistance to ACCase-inhibiting herbicides in Japanese foxtail (Alopecurus japonicus).

BACKGROUND The intensive and global application of ACCase-inhibiting herbicides has resulted in the evolution of resistance in a growing number of grass weeds. Among the mutations implicated in conferring resistance, limited knowledge is available regarding mutations at codon position 1999. In addition, multiple copies of genes encoding plastidic ACCase have been ignored in previous studies of resistance in Alopecurus japonicus. RESULTS Dose-response tests indicated that the population JLGY-4 had evolved high-level resistance to fenoxaprop-P-ethyl. The carboxyltransferase domain of the ACCase gene in A. japonicus was sequenced and compared. Two loci encoding plastidic ACCase were isolated from both the resistant and sensitive populations. Simultaneously, two resistance-endowing mutations at codon position 1999 of ACCase were determined (W1999C and W1999L). Moreover, a molecular study was conducted to determine the mechanism of resistance to some ACCase-inhibiting herbicides. The W1999C mutation conferred resistance to fenoxaprop and moderate resistance to pinoxaden. The W1999L mutation conferred resistance to fenoxaprop. CONCLUSION This study revealed that A. japonicus had multiple copies of genes encoding plastidic ACCase, and each gene was able to carry its own mutation. It also established the clear importance of the W1999C and W1999L mutations in conferring resistance to ACCase-inhibiting herbicides.