Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of creatine supplementation on two 700-m maximal running bouts.

We investigated the effect of creatine supplementation on maximal running performance in a simulated track competition. Twelve competitive male runners were assigned to either a placebo or creatine supplementation group. Both groups completed two maximal 700-m running bouts 60 min apart on an outdoor track. A second identical trial was performed 7 days later, and for 5 days prior to the second trial, subjects ingested 20 g.day-1 of either creatine monohydrate or a placebo. Subjects in the placebo group ran 110.2 +/- 3.5 s and 110.4 +/- 3.0 s for the first trial and 108.5 +/- 2.9 s and 108.0 +/- 1.7 s for the second trial, while the creatine group ran 109.9 +/- 3.2 s and 110.4 +/- 3.6 s for the first trial and 109.7 +/- 3.3 s and 107.8 +/- 2.2 s for the second trial. There were no significant differences between groups by trial or Trial X Time for running time, postexercise blood lactate concentration, or body weight (p > .05). We concluded that creatine supplementation does not enhance performance of single or twice-repeated maximal running bouts lasting 90-120 s.
A Dynamical Training and Design Simulator for Active Catheters

This work addresses the design of an active multi-link micro-catheter actuated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) micro actuators. This may be a response to one medical major demand on such devices, which will be useful for surgical explorations and interventions. In this paper, we focus on a training and design simulator dedicated to such catheters. This simulator is based on an original simulation platform (OpenMASK). The catheter is a robotic system, which is evaluated by a dynamical simulation addressing a navigation task in its environment. The design of the prototype and its mechanical model are presented. We develop an interaction model for contact. This model uses a real medical database for which distance cartography is proposed. Then we focus on an autonomous control model based on a multi-agent approach and including the behaviour description of the SMA actuators. Results of mechanical simulations including interaction with the ducts are presented. Furthermore, the interest of such a simulator is presented by applying virtual prototyping techniques for the design optimization. This optimization process is achieved by using genetic algorithms at different stages with respect to the specified task.
An ϵ-uniform fitted operator method for solving boundary-value problems for singularly perturbed delay differential equations: Layer behavior

In this paper, an ϵ-uniform fitted operator method which solves boundary-value problems for singularly perturbed differential-difference equations containing small delay with boundary layer behavior is presented. Both the cases, i.e., when boundary layer is on the left side and when boundary layer is on the right side are discussed here. It is shown that the scheme is ϵ-uniform by establishing the error estimate. The effect of small delay on the boundary layer solution is shown by considering several numerical experiments. Numerical results in terms of maximum errors are tabulated and plots giving computed and exact solution demonstrate the efficiency of the method.
Immunology of Normal and Abnormal Menstruation

Normal menstruation is an inflammatory process, where the endometrial concentrations and functions of several leukocyte types can change greatly through the menstrual cycle, especially during the premenstrual and menstrual phases. These leukocytes probably have a range of functions related to mucosal protection, decidualization, embryo implantation, and the process of menstrual tissue breakdown, repair and remodeling. Some of these leukocyte changes are apparently linked to changes in the pattern of circulating leukocytes. Many immune cells have been identified in the endometrium, and those with most relevance to the processes of menstruation include uterine natural killer cells, macrophages, mast cells, neutrophils, dendritic cells and Tregs. A range of disturbances in endometrial immune cell numbers, distributions and functions, and in a range of different inflammatory and other mediators, have been identified in women with heavy menstrual bleeding or endometriosis. Sufficient evidence exists to implicate these immune changes in some of the functional disturbances and symptoms identified in these women. This field is greatly under-researched, and ripe for the wider application of modern molecular and cellular techniques in human and animal model studies.
Differential effects of glucagon‐like peptide‐1 on microvascular recruitment and glucose metabolism in short‐ and long‐term insulin resistance

Acute glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) infusion reversed the high fat diet‐induced microvascular insulin resistance that occurred after both 5 days and 8 weeks of a high fat diet intervention. When GLP‐1 was co‐infused with insulin it had overt effects on whole body insulin sensitivity as well as insulin‐mediated skeletal muscle glucose uptake after 5 days of a high fat diet, but not after 8 weeks of high fat diet intervention. Acute GLP‐1 infusion did not have an additive effect to that of insulin on microvascular recruitment or skeletal muscle glucose uptake in the control group. Here we demonstrate that GLP‐1 potently increases the microvascular recruitment in rat skeletal muscle but does not increase glucose uptake in the fasting state. Thus, like insulin, GLP‐1 increased the microvascular recruitment but unlike insulin, GLP‐1 had no direct effect on skeletal muscle glucose uptake.
A SURVEY: TOP-DOWN XML KEYWORD QUERY PROCESSING

: From the past many years there has been much scope in efficiently replying to the XML (eXtended Markup Language) keyword queries. Existing system has limitations as the common-ancestor-repetition (CAR) and visiting-useless-nodes (VUN) which results inefficiency. In order to solve CAR problem we introduce a generic top-down strategy to answer keyword query. To solve the issue of VUN we implement to make use of child nodes, instead of descendant. In this survey, we propose algorithms like L List based algorithm, Hash search based algorithms, optimized hash search algorithm to improve the performance of the system [1]. To answer a given keyword query basic semantics like lowest common ancestor (LCA), exclusive LCA (ELCA), smallest LCA (SLCA) are proposed. For the efficiency of query processing we use XML keyword, which results in the faster retrieval of the document. With all these techniques and algorithms, various case studies have been performed and results are analyzed to speed up the performance of the system.
The Distribution of an Intranasal Insulin Formulation in Healthy Volunteers: Effect of Different Administration Techniques

Abstract— The initial deposition pattern in the nasal passages and subsequent clearance of an insulin formulation labelled with 99mTc‐human serum albumin have been determined in 12 healthy male volunteers. Four different administration modes from a novel aqueous spray device were compared, involving delivered volumes of 80–160 μL, and with either gentle or vigorous inhalation while firing the device. The entire dose was deposited in the nasal cavity, and no significant radioactivity was deposited in the lungs. A mean 25–33% of the radiolabel remained in the nose after 4h. A significantly smaller area of the nasal mucosa was covered by the smallest (80 μL) bolus, but subsequent clearance rates did not vary significantly with mode of administration. Blood glucose levels fell after administration of the insulin formulation, but no serious episodes of hypoglycaemia occurred.
Follow-up study of refractory obesity treated by fasting.

Carden, N. L. , and Steinhaus, J. E. (1956). Circulat. Res., 4, 680. de Clive-Lowe, S. G. , Gray, P. W. S. , and North, J. (1954). Anaesthesia, 9, 96. De Sanctis, R. W. (1965). 7. Amer. med. Ass. , 191, 632. Frederickson, E. L. , and Morris, L. E. (1955). Fed. Proc., 14, 340. Frieden, J. (1965). Amer. Heart 7. , 70, 713. Greenspan, K. , Lord, T. J., Steinmetz, E. F. , and Fisch, C. (1966). 7. Indiana med. Ass. , 59, 148. Harris, A. S. , Aguirre y Guerra, C. , Liptak, R. A. , and Brigham, J. C. (1956). 7. appl. Physiol. , 8, 499. Harrison, D. C. , Sprouse, J. H. , and Morrow, A. G. (1963). Circulation, 28, 486. Hitchcock, P., and Keown, K. K. (1958). Fed. Proc., 17, 378. -~-~(1959). Slh. med. 7. (Bgham, Ala.), 52, 702. Kao, F. F. , and Jalar, U. H. (1959). Brit. 7. Pharmacol. , 14, 522. Katz, M. J., and Zitnik, R. S. (1966). Amer. 7. Cardiol. , 18, 552. Lancet, 1967, 2, 665. Likoff, W. (1959). Amer. 7. Cardiol. , 3, 427. Melon, J. M. , Cahn, J., and Dubrasquet, M. (1953). Cited by Wiedliz (1964). Minuck, M. (1965). Canad. med. Ass. 7. , 92, 16. Southworth J. L. , McKusick, V. A. , Pierce, E. C. , and Rawson, F. LI (1950). 7. Amer. med. Ass. , 143, 717. Van Dongen, K. (1953). Arch. int. Pharmacodyn. , 96, 45. Visenrini, P.,(1954). Cited by Wiedling (1964). Weiss, W. A (1960). Anesth. Anaig. cury. Res., 39, 369 Wiedling, S. (1964). Xylo,. aine: The Pharmacological Basis of its Clinical Use, 2nd ed. Stockholm. Yu, P. N. , Fox, S. M. , Imbod-n, C. A. , and Killip, T. (1965). Mod. Conc. cardiovasc Dis. , 34, 27.
Predicting Defect-Tolerant Yield in the Embedded Core Context

We address the problem of predicting the yield of a chip composed of cores. A center-satellite model is used to directly represent observed spatial autocorrelation of integrated circuit spot defects. This model is compared to another (large-area clustering) model that only indirectly represents intrawafer correlation. We illustrate that, when different portions of a chip have different susceptibility to defects, the chip layout will affect the predicted yield. This is particularly relevant when portions of a chip are defect-tolerant because their susceptibility to defects is dramatically different. We illustrate how the yield models can be used to predict the utility of making much of a chip (or an embedded core) defect-tolerant. Two yield points parameterized the models. The one extra parameter of, and the suitability of, the center-satellite model allowed it to track the yield data points with less than 1 /10,000 of the error of the large-area clustering model. However, the simpler large-area clustering model is accurate in some circumstances, especially when the chip area is small.
Effects of (cid:1) 2 -Adrenoceptor Agonists on Perinatal Excitotoxic Brain Injury Comparison of Clonidine and Dexmedetomidine

Background: A growing number of children have severe neurologic impairment related to very premature birth. Experi- mental data suggest that overstimulation of cerebral N -methyl-D -aspartate (NMDA) receptors caused by excessive glutamate release may be involved in the genesis of perinatal hypoxic– ischemic brain injury. (cid:1) 2 -Adrenoceptor agonists are protective in models of brain ischemia in adults. The authors sought to determine whether they prevent perinatal excitotoxic neuronal damage. Methods: Five-day-old mice were allocated at random to clonidine (4–400 (cid:2) g/kg), dexmedetomidine (1–30 (cid:2) g/kg), or saline injected intraperitoneally before an intracerebral stereo- tactic injection of the NMDA receptor agonist ibotenate; cortical and white matter lesions were quantiﬁed 5 days later by his- topathologic examination. Cortical neuron cultures exposed to 300 (cid:2) M NMDA were used to evaluate the effects of clonidine or dexmedetomidine on neuronal death assessed by counting the number of pycnotic nuclei after ﬂuorescent chromatin staining. Results: In vivo , both clonidine and dexmedetomidine induced signiﬁcant concentration-dependent reductions in the size of ibotenate-induced lesions in the cortex and white matter. In vitro , the number of neurons damaged by NMDA exposure was signiﬁcantly decreased by both dexmedetomidine ( (cid:3) 28 (cid:4) 12% at 10 (cid:2) M ; P < 0.01) and clonidine ( (cid:3) 37 (cid:4) 19% at 100 (cid:2) M ; P < 0.01) as compared with controls. In both models, the selective (cid:1) 2 -adrenoceptor antagonist yohimbine abolished the neuroprotective effect of clonidine and dexmedetomidine. Conclusions: Clonidine and dexmedetomidine are potent neuroprotectors that act by stimulating the (cid:1) 2 adrenoceptors. These results obtained in a murine model of perinatal excitotoxic injury may be relevant to some forms of neonatal brain damage in humans.
Arthropods as Predators of Ticks (Ixodoidea)

Abstract The existing information on arthropods as predators of ticks is based mainly on sporadic observations and their role in reducing tick populations and in most cases is still not clear. Some reports suggest that in certain ecological habitats arthropods play an important role in the control of the tick population. This publication reports on some 100 relevant publications that appeared between 1906 and 1999. Ants, beetles, and spiders seem to be the major arthropods preying on ticks. In general, engorged ticks are more often preyed upon by arthropods than are unfed or feeding ticks.
Barriers to Competition and Productivity: Evidence from India

Abstract A number of economic theories suggest that barriers to competition lead to higher levels of inefficiency among incumbents. In this paper, we use a detailed plant-level dataset to study the impact on productivity of two reforms (initiated in 1991) aimed at increasing product market competition in India -- liberalization of foreign direct investment (FDI) and reduction in tariff rates. First, we examine the effect of the liberalization policies on mean plant-level productivity in the targeted industries. We find significant increases in productivity in the FDI and tariff-liberalized industries, particularly in the longer term (1993-94). We check and find our results robust to a range of robustness tests. Next, we examine the role of intensive (within-plant productivity growth) and extensive (reallocation from less to more productive plants) margins in the post-reform productivity improvement, and find a predominant role for the former. Finally, we assess potential channels for within-firm productivity improvement. Consistent with a role for price competition, we find evidence of greater declines in output prices as well as concentration measures in the liberalized sectors.
Inferior Olivary Hypertrophy Is Associated with a Lower Functional State after Pontine Hemorrhage

Background: Inferior olivary hypertrophy (IOH) may develop after pontine hemorrhage and may become a pacemaker for symptomatic palatal tremor (SPT). However, there is no information available that elucidates how IOH may affect the functional outcome. The purpose of this study was to investigate how frequently IOH was associated with clinical manifestations of involuntary movements, including ocular myoclonus (OM) and SPT, and whether IOH influenced the functional outcome after pontine hemorrhage. Methods: In 20 consecutive patients undergoing inpatient multidisciplinary rehabilitation after pontine hemorrhage, the location of lesions (tegmental vs. ventral) and the presence of IOH were examined by magnetic resonance imaging, and the functional outcome was assessed by means of Fugl-Meyer scale for neurological impairment and Functional Independence Measure for disability on admission and discharge. Results: In 10 patients, IOH was detected, and the tegmentum was involved in 7 of the 10 patients. OM or SPT was present in 7 of these 10 patients. In the remaining 10 patients, IOH was not detected, and the tegmentum was involved only in 2 of these 10 patients. None of them had OM or SPT. The presence of IOH was associated with a lower functional status on admission and discharge. Conclusion: After pontine hemorrhage, IOH may be associated with tegmental lesions with OM or SPT and may impose a detrimental effect on the functional outcome.
Autopsy Study of Unoperated Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: The Case for Early Resection

A review of 24,000 consecutive autopsies during a 23-year period from 1952 through 1975 at the Massachusetts General Hospital revealed 473 patients died with surgically intact arteriosclerotic abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Contrary to previous studies, the incidence of rupture of AAA between 4 and 7 cm in our experience is similar and significant (25%). The location of rupture and duration of symptoms were recorded. Of the multiplerisk factors considered, only size seemed to bear on the likelihood of AAA rupture. Of 52 patients followed 3 months to 10 years before death with known AAA, the majority died of the ruptured AAA. In a surgical environment with an expected mortality of less than 2%, even small aortic aneurysms should be resected.
ERCN* merged nets for modeling degraded behavior and parallel processes in semiconductor manufacturing systems

This paper presents a new class of "well-behaved" Petri nets called extended resource control net (ERCN*) merged nets that generalize the class of ERCN merged nets proposed in a previous paper by Xie and Jeng. ERCN merged nets can model parallel and synchronized processes in semiconductor manufacturing such as lot split and lot merging, which occurs frequently in a research and development (R&D) semiconductor fab (semiconductor plant) for engineering purposes. However, processing cycles for each resource type must include the initial state of the resource type. In other words, no local processing cycles are allowed. This makes the modeling of degraded behavior in semiconductor manufacturing such as rework, failure, and maintenance difficult. In the current work, this constraint is relaxed under the "extended free-choice (EFC)" or "asymmetric choice (AC)" condition. Specifically, for each operation place with degrading outgoing arcs, the FC or AC condition is satisfied. In addition, degraded behavior is modeled as blocks within ERCNs. We show that conditions for liveness and reversibility of an ERCN* merged net correspond to the absence of unmarked siphons. The "well-behaved" conditions can be transformed into inequalities of the initial marking. Examples are shown to illustrate the proposed methodology.
A New Energy-Aware Dynamic Task Set Partitioning Algorithm for Soft and Hard Embedded Real-Time Systems

Power consumption is a major design concern in current embedded systems. To deal with consumption, many systems apply dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) techniques which dynamically change the system speed depending on the workload characteristics. DVS costs in a multicore system can be reduced by sharing the same DVS regulator among the cores. In this context, to handle energy efficiently, the workload must be properly balanced among the cores. This paper proposes a new heuristic algorithm to balance the workload in an embedded system with a coarse-grain multithreaded multicore processor. This heuristic is aimed at improving the overlapping time between the memory and the processor while keeping balanced core utilizations. To this end, the heuristic dynamically drives the frequency/voltage level to guarantee deadline fulfillment of the hard real-time tasks as well as to achieve a good trade-off between deadline losses and energy savings of the soft real-time tasks. The proposed technique has been evaluated on a model of a contemporary high-end ARM embedded microprocessor executing a set of standard embedded benchmarks. Energy savings depend on the range of frequency/voltage levels that the DVS regulator implements. Experimental results show that with the proposed heuristic, when working with hard real-time tasks, the energy consumption is about 33% the energy dissipated by a system without DVS regulator and balancing heuristic. Moreover, when soft real-time tasks are also considered, the normalized consumption presents values ranging in between 8 and 70% depending on the scheduler aggressiveness.
A method for detecting document orientation by using SVM classifier

An approach for document orientation detection and classification by using support vector machine (SVM) theorem is proposed in this paper. First, all the characters in a document image will be isolated and some valid ones are selected. Using the valid characters, the document image will be vectorized to a 32-dimensional vector by the feature extracting. By training lots of samples, an SVM classifier can be obtained,and then the orientation of unknown document images can be classified. Experimental results show the accuracy of the proposed method is considerably higher than Bray Curtis distance, even for some bad samples.
Sisters homozygous for the spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6)/CACNA1A gene associated with different clinical phenotypes

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the CACNA1A gene. The neurodegeneration that occurs in CAG repeat diseases is considered to share a common mechanism that may result in the gain of a toxic function related to the expanded polyglutamine tracts. However, the phenotypic expression in homozygotes for CAG repeat diseases has been controversial, and is not clearly related to a gain of functional mechanism. We identified a Japanese family with two sisters who were homozygous for the SCA6 with identical CAG repeat expansion (25/25). They showed an earlier age of onset (27 years in both) than their father (44 years), a heterozygote with an expanded allele showing the same CAG repeat length as the homozygotes (25/14). Interestingly, the two sisters showed differences in disease progression and severity, although the age of onset and CAG repeat length were identical. These findings strongly suggest that the gene dosage influences the age of onset, but other unknown factors are also important in the phenotypic expression of homozygous SCA6.
Developmentally Learning the Support Affordance of a Platform

4 Introduction. 4 Proposed Applications. 5 Related Work. 5 Experimental Set-up. 6 Robot Platform. 6 Data Collection. 7 Objects. 7 Constructed Platform. 7 Basic Manipulation Strategy. 8 Methodology. 8 Exploratory Sliding with Self. 9 Exploratory Sliding with Objects. 9 Processing and Analyzing Collected Data. 10 Tracking Self Exploration. 10 Tracking Object. 11 Detecting Edge of Constrained Platform. 12 Detecting Edge of a Cliff. 13 Processing Depth. 13 Results of Experiments. 14 Algorithms. 14 Results of Classification. 16 An Alternative Control Classification. 17 Future Work. 18 Conclusions. 19 Acknowledgements. 20 Works Cited. 20
Influence of Smoking Cessation on Airway T Lymphocyte Subsets in COPD

The mechanisms behind airway inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are still not well understood. Here we investigated lymphocyte subtypes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of COPD, as well as exploring the effect of smoking cessation. Differential cell counts and T cell subsets were determined in BAL fluid from nineteen individuals with stable COPD (seven smokers, twelve ex-smokers) compared to twelve age-matched never-smokers and thirteen smoking-matched smokers with normal lung function. COPD-patients had higher percentages of airway CD8+ T cells compared to never-smokers. An increased population of CD4+ T cells expressed high levels of CD25 in smokers and COPD patients compared to never-smokers, suggesting the presence of regulatory T cells. As the T cell populations in smokers with normal lung function and COPD-patients were similar, the impact of current smoking in COPD was addressed in a subgroup analysis. Activation of CD8+ T cells was found regardless of smoking habits. In contrast, the enhanced expression of γ /δ T cells, was mainly associated with current smoking, whilst the increase in T regulatory cells appeared related to both smoking and COPD. Regardless of smoking habits, CD8+ T cell activation was found in COPD, supporting the contention that this T cell subset may play a role in the pathogenesis of COPD. As CD8+ T cells coexist with immunoregulatory CD4+ T cells in airways of COPD patients, it is likely that both cytotoxic T-cell responses and immunosuppressive mechanisms may be of importance in COPD pathogenesis.