Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acetaminophen Attenuates Lipid Peroxidation in Children Undergoing Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Objective: Hemolysis, occurring during cardiopulmonary bypass, is associated with lipid peroxidation and postoperative acute kidney injury. Acetaminophen inhibits lipid peroxidation catalyzed by hemeproteins and in an animal model attenuated rhabdomyolysis-induced acute kidney injury. This pilot study tests the hypothesis that acetaminophen attenuates lipid peroxidation in children undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass. Design: Single-center prospective randomized double-blinded study. Setting: University-affiliated pediatric hospital. Patients: Thirty children undergoing elective surgical correction of a congenital heart defect. Interventions: Patients were randomized to acetaminophen (OFIRMEV [acetaminophen] injection; Cadence Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, CA) or placebo every 6 hours for four doses starting before the onset of cardiopulmonary bypass. Measurement and Main Results: Markers of hemolysis, lipid peroxidation (isofurans and F2-isoprostanes), and acute kidney injury were measured throughout the perioperative period. Cardiopulmonary bypass was associated with a significant increase in free hemoglobin (from a prebypass level of 9.8 ± 6.2 mg/dL to a peak of 201.5 ± 42.6 mg/dL postbypass). Plasma and urine isofuran and F2-isoprostane concentrations increased significantly during surgery. The magnitude of increase in plasma isofurans was greater than the magnitude in increase in plasma F2-isoprostanes. Acetaminophen attenuated the increase in plasma isofurans compared with placebo (p = 0.02 for effect of study drug). There was no significant effect of acetaminophen on plasma F2-isoprostanes or urinary makers of lipid peroxidation. Acetaminophen did not affect postoperative creatinine, urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, or prevalence of acute kidney injury. Conclusion: Cardiopulmonary bypass in children is associated with hemolysis and lipid peroxidation. Acetaminophen attenuated the increase in plasma isofuran concentrations. Future studies are needed to establish whether other therapies that attenuate or prevent the effects of free hemoglobin result in more effective inhibition of lipid peroxidation in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass.
Distributed power control in wireless networks: stability and delay independence

We show that for a general class of distributed power control algorithms in wireless networks, if a feasible steady state power allocation exists, this is asymptotically stable for arbitrary gains and time varying heterogeneous delays. The analysis exploits certain contraction properties of the interference in such algorithms, and makes use of Lyapunov Razumikhin functions to address the infinite dimensional character of the problem.
Apo(a) phenotypes and Lp(a) concentrations in offspring of men with and without myocardial infarction. The EARS Study. European Atherosclerosis Research Study.

In the European Atherosclerosis Research Study, genetic and environmental markers of risk of premature coronary heart disease were compared in offspring of men with and without myocardial infarction before the age of 55 years. Cases were 682 students with a paternal history of myocardial infarction, and control subjects were 1312 students without such a history. The students were enrolled in 14 universities in five European regions (Finland, Great Britain, and northern, middle, and southern Europe). Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] concentrations were skewed towards lower concentrations in both cases (median, 7.3 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval, 6.3 to 8.1 mg/dL) and control subjects (median, 6.6 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval, 6.1 to 7.2 mg/dL) (P = .37). Significantly more northern European male cases than control subjects had Lp(a) levels exceeding 30 mg/dL (P = .040), but this did not pertain to females (P = .29), and overall, there was no difference between cases (16.5%) and control subjects (15.5%) in the frequency of Lp(a) concentrations above 30 mg/dL (P = .63). As expected, there was a significant (P < .01) inverse relationship between apo(a) molecular size and Lp(a) concentration. In Great Britain there was a significant difference in phenotype distribution between cases and control subjects (P = .035), due mainly to a high frequency of the apo(a) S2 isoform in cases. A similar but statistically insignificant tendency was seen in northern Europeans. In the three other regions, however, the distribution of apo(a) phenotypes among cases and controls was similar, and in the study population overall, the distribution of apo(a) phenotypes did not differ significantly (P = .74) between cases and control subjects.
Modified Local Navigation Strategy for Unknown Environment Exploration

This paper presents an algorithm for unknown environment exploration based on the local navigation algorithm (LNA). The original LNA doesn’t take into account the case in which the robots are trapped and stop exploring the environment. In this paper, we propose some modifications to overcome this problem and demonstrate it by using real robots. For validation purpose, we ran several experiments using the mini-robot Khepera II running on the Teleworkbench. The complete environment is divided into small quadratic patches with some objects placed in it representing obstacles. With on-board infrared sensors and wheel encoder, the robot can successfully explore the unknown environment. Moreover, by calculating the distance to surrounding patches, the implemented algorithm will minimize the distance traveled, and in turn of the consumed energy and time. This paper also shows the advantage of using the Teleworkbench for performing experiments using real robots.
Astaxanthin Reduces Hypertension

Epidemiological and clinical data suggest that dietary carotenoids such as astaxanthin may protect against cardiovascular disease (CVD) which includes hypertension. This condition is associated with blood vessel dysfunction, altered contractility and tone; mediated by relaxant (nitric oxide NO; prostacyclin) and constrictor factors (thromboxane; endothelin) in the blood. Furthermore, blood flow properties serve an important role in the pathological complications seen in atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. Research presented here suggests that astaxanthin may be a useful as part of an antioxidant therapy to alleviate hypertension (Figure 1).
Sequences within and adjacent to the transmembrane segment of alpha-2,6-sialyltransferase specify Golgi retention.

The glycosyltransferase alpha‐2,6‐sialyltransferase (ST) is a Type II membrane protein localized to the Golgi apparatus. The first 44 amino acids of this protein were able to specify Golgi retention of a fused marker protein, lysozyme. This section of ST contains a transmembrane segment which serves as a non‐cleaved signal anchor. When lysozyme was fused to an equivalent region of a cell surface protein it now appeared on the cell surface. Analysis of chimeras between the two proteins revealed that the transmembrane segment of ST specifies Golgi retention. Furthermore, altering this segment in full‐length ST results in the protein accumulating on the cell surface. However, the retaining effect of the transmembrane domain of ST is augmented by the presence of adjacent lumenal and cytoplasmic sequences from ST. If these sequences are spaced apart by a transmembrane domain of the same length as that of ST they too can specify Golgi retention. Thus retention in the Golgi of ST appears to involve recognition of an extended region of the protein within and on both sides of the bilayer.
Towards limiting QT interval prolongation and arrhythmia risk in citalopram use.

Citalopram is a serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) widely used in the treatment of major depression and sometimes also anxiety--associated conditions, obsessive compulsive disorder and behavior disturbances associated with dementia [1, 2]. Citalopram is relatively well tolerated and has been considered to have compa -ratively low potential for drug–drug interactions and anti-adrenergic and anti-cholinergic effects, making it an attractive treatment option for elderly patients [1, 2]. The drug is chiral and the serotonin reuptake inhibitory activity of citalopram resides in the S(+) enantiomer (available as escitalopram) with no therapeutic benefit of the R(–) enantiomer. There is limited evidence that at equivalent doses (i.e. matched concentrations of the S(+) enantio-mer), escitalopram is more effective clinically than citalopram is, raising the possibility of a potential inhibitory effect of the R(–) enantiomer [3–5]. Data from studies, in which serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) occupancy has been examined in humans, suggest that on repeated dosing with racemic citalopram, R(–) citalopram levels may exceed those of the S(+) enantiomer, leading to reduced S(+) citalopram occupancy of SERT [6].
Languages Simultaneously Complete for One-Way and Two-Way Log-Tape Automata

In this paper we study languages accepted by nondeterministic $\log n$-tape automata that scan their input only once and relate their computational power to two-way $\log n$-tape automata. We show that for the one-way $\log n$-tape automata the nondeterministic model (1-NL) is computationally much more powerful than the deterministic model (1-L), that under one-way $\log n$-tape reductions there exist natural complete languages for these automata and that the complete languages cannot be sparse. Furthermore, we show that any language complete for nondeterministic one-way $\log n$-tape automata (under 1-L reductions) is also complete for the computationally more powerful nondeterministic two-way $\log n$-tape automata (NL) under two-way $\log n$-tape reductions. Therefore, for all bounds $T(n)$, $T(n) \geqq \log n$, the deterministic and nondeterministic $T(n)$-tape bounded computations collapse iff the nondeterministic one-way $\log n$-tape computations can be carried out by two-way deterministic log n-ta.
Human papillomavirus genotypes and HPV16 variants in penile carcinoma

The causative role of human papillomaviruses (HPV) and HPV16 variants has been extensively studied in uterine cervix dysplastic lesions and invasive carcinoma; few such studies, however, have been performed in penile tumors. We have investigated HPV genotype and HPV16 variant distribution on 41 penile cancer biopsies from Italian patients. Cases were extracted from the respective pathology departments databases of National Cancer Institutes in Naples and Milan. HPV sequences were detected by PCR and characterized by direct sequence analysis. Among the 19 HPV‐positive cases (46.3%) 2 viral genotypes were identified (HPV16 and 18) with HPV16 accounting for 94.7% (18 out of 19) of the infections. Sequence analysis of E6, E7 genes and long control region (LCR) of 18 HPV16 isolates allowed the identification of European (E‐G‐350) and non‐European (AA and Af‐1) variants in 44.4% and in 55.6% of the samples, respectively. The AA variant alone represented 44.4% of all HPV16 infections, a significantly higher frequency of that observed in cervical carcinoma from Italian women (Tornesello et al., J Med Virol 2004;74:117‐26). Our results suggest that HPV16 has a very high prevalence among penile cancer patients in Italy and the increased frequency of HPV16 non‐European classes, particularly the AA, suggests that they are more oncogenic than European variants in penile tissue. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Angiosperms Helped Put the Rain in the Rainforests: The Impact of Plant Physiological Evolution on Tropical Biodiversity1

Abstract The recycling of transpired water is well known to be an important source of rainfall, particularly in the tropics, and angiosperms have transpiration capacities higher than any other plants throughout evolutionary history. Thus, the evolution and rise to ecological dominance of flowering plants are proposed to have strongly altered climate. Transpiration capacity is closely correlated with leaf vein density, and the average vein density of angiosperm leaves is four times greater than that of all other plants, living or extinct. A rapid transition to high vein densities occurred separately in three or more flowering plant lineages about 100 million years ago. Climate modeling of the impact of this physiological revolution indicates that the tropics would be hotter, drier, and more seasonal in the absence of the angiosperms, and the overall area of tropical rainforest would decline substantially. Because angiosperm diversity is influenced by rainforest area and by precipitation abundance and evenness, the high diversity of angiosperms is partially a product of a positive feedback loop with the climate modifications initiated by the angiosperms themselves. Lineage diversifications among vertebrate and invertebrate animals and nonangiospermous plants in the wake of the angiosperm radiation may be tied to the unprecedented impact of angiosperms on climate.
Antimicrobial Activity of Vinegar on Bacterial Species Isolated from Retail and Local Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

The use of vinegar was studied to reduce the growing number of illnesses caused by spoilage bacteria. The antimicrobial activity of organic vinegar was studied on various bacterial species isolated from domestic channel catfish fillets (Ictalurus punctatus). The effectiveness of the vinegar on the bacteria was measured. Bacteria isolated from catfish fillets with the largest inhibition zone were identified through 16S rDNA sequencing to better understand the spoilage bacteria that could be inhibited by vinegar to increase the quality of fishery products. Microbial changes of catfish fillets were evaluated following treatments of vinegar marinades during storage at 4°C and sensory evaluation was performed with baked catfish fillets to evaluate consumer sensory acceptability. Fish and chip vinegar was the most effective on Shewanella putrefaciens isolated from catfish fillets from the market and the pond. Microbial changes were evaluated and sensory evaluation was performed on different acetic acid dilutions of vinegar. Results showed that vinegar diluted to 0.5% acetic acid on catfish fillets would be suitable for prolonging shelf life and appealing to consumers. Vinegar as a natural antimicrobial product can improve the shelf life and safety of food products providing acceptable sensory quality at an affordable price and reducing economic lost due to spoiled catfish and other food products.
İŞLETMELERDE İŞGÜCÜ DEVRİ SORUNU

Labor tumover rate is defined as the movement of einployces betwcen organizations as well as within the organization. The general tendency is to ieduce the labor turnover rate. However, it is impossible to reduce it to zero level because of natural events like retiremcnt, death or injury. On the othcr hand, a certain level of turnover will be necessary for the growth of the organization. But if the turnover rate is to high. it means the organization has a problem. It is best for any organization to be aole to keep it at an optimum level.
Intermittent chaos, self-organization, and learning from synchronous synaptic activity in model neuron networks.

Self-organization of frequencies is studied by using model neurons called VCONs (voltage-controlled oscillator neuron models). These models give direct access to frequency information, in contrast to all-or-none neuron models, and they generate voltage spikes that phase-lock to oscillatory stimulation, similar to phase-locking of action potentials to oscillatory voltage stimulation observed in Hodgkin-Huxley preparations of squid axons. The rotation vector method is described and used to study how networks synchronize, even in the presence of noise or when damaged; the entropy of ratios of phases is used to construct an energy function that characterizes organized behavior. Computer simulations show that rotation numbers (output frequency/input frequency) describe both chaotic and nonchaotic behavior. Learning occurs when synaptic connections strengthen in response to stimulation that is synchronous with cell activity. It is shown that intermittent chaotic firing is suppressed and simple stable responses are enhanced by such learning in VCON networks. This analysis provides a rigorous basis for further investigation of the ideas of Wiener [Wiener, N. (1961) Cybernetics (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), p. 191] on the origin of slow brain waves due to "the pulling together of frequencies. "
Conjugated linoleic acid depresses the 9 desaturase index and stearoyl coenzyme A desaturase enzyme activity in porcine subcutaneous adipose tissue

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been shown to have an effect on subcutaneous fatty acid composition and has been reported to decrease stearoyl coenzyme A desaturase (SCD) activity by decreasing mRNA expression and(or) catalytic activity in rodents and rodent cell lines. This investigation was designed to study the effects of CLA, corn oil, or beef tallow supplementation on s.c. adipose tissue fatty acid composition, adiposity, SCD enzyme activity, and the 9 desaturase index in piglets. Eighteen crossbred barrows 16 to 18 d of age were adapted to diet for 1 wk and then assigned randomly to one of three treatments: 1.5% added CLA, 1.5% added corn oil, or 1.5% added beef tallow. Barrows were penned individually and fed the supplemental oils for 35 d (to 25.6 ± 0.6 kg BW). Subcutaneous adipose tissue samples were obtained after
Digital Library Content in the Social Web: Resource Usage and Content Injection

Providers of digital non-mainstream content face two major challenges. First, they have little knowledge about the usage of their content in social media channels, which is necessary to improve dissemination strategies. The second challenge is how to bring the content to interested users, who do not know their portals. We present two case studies for analysing and injecting content into social media channels. More specifically, we analyse the usage of scientific literature from the domain of economics in blogs and tweets that are related to the field of economics. Additionally, we present two mechanisms for injecting content into blogs or tweets, by the means of a Wordpress plugin and a Twitter bot respectively. The usage analysis shows that the resource coverage is rather low in the investigated social media channels (~0.15% in tweets and ~0.5% in blogs). Using a Twitter bot for content dissemination is feasible, but not advisable because the automatic approaches are quite hard to optimise towards Twitter's usage policy. For content injection into the blogosphere the Wordpress plugin shows promising results in a qualitative user study. Our results indicate that content injection into social media channels is a promising way for content dissemination and point towards a preference of blogs over twitter as target channel.
Drinking Cultures and the Position of Women in Nine European Countries

Nine European countries involved in the Biomed Project “Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Problems Among Women in European Countries” are described in relation to sociodemographic characteristics and drinking patterns. The populations of the nine countries, especially women, have become much older during the period 1950–1995. Also, women tend to have fewer children, and at an older age, so that the percentage of the younger age groups is decreasing. If we connect this to the fact that women now are more a part of the labor force than before, we might infer that the observed decrease in gender difference in alcohol use is to be explained in relation to economic factors. In terms of drinking patterns, a broad division can be made between two wide regions: (a) the northern dry area, where beer is the leading beverage, consumed on weekends and outside mealtimes; and (b) the southern, or Mediterranean, wet area, where wine is the main beverage, usually drunk at meals. However, the dispersion in alcohol consumption found among the study countries in 1961 declined considerably by 1997. In this respect, European countries are getting more similar, so that we may consider this phenomenon a “convergence” of alcohol drinking in Europe. More generally, changes from a more traditional drinking pattern to a novel one from another country may be due to several factors, one of which is the increasing relevance of women in the drinking context. On the treatment side, such a relevance is nowadays visible through the better availability of both health services and nonstatutory organizations to take care of women affected with alcohol-related problems.
Functional morphology and homology in the odontocete nasal complex: Implications for sound generation

The site and physiologic mechanism(s) responsible for the generation of odontocete biosonar signals have eluded investigators for decades. To address these issues we subjected postmortem toothed whale heads to interrogation using medical imaging techniques. Most of the 40 specimens (from 19 species) were examined using X‐ray computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MR). Interpretation of scan images was aided by subsequent dissection of the specimens or, in one case, by cryosectioning. In all specimens we described a similar tissue complex and identified it as the hypothetical biosonar signal generator. This complex includes a small pair of fatty bursae embedded in a pair of connective tissue lips, a cartilaginous blade, a stout ligament, and an array of soft tissue air sacs. Comparing and contrasting the morphologic patterns of nasal structures across species representing every extant odontocete superfamily reveals probable homologous relationships, which suggests that all toothed whales may be making their biosonar signals by a similar mechanism. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Experimental Pharmacology of Hirunorm: a Novel Synthetic Peptide Thrombin Inhibitor

Summary Enhanced thrombin activity has been associated with coronary thrombosis and with acute and long-term complications following coronary balloon angioplasty. Blocking thrombin activity with specific inhibitors is proposed as a promising antithrombotic therapy. We describe the anticoagulant and antithrombotic properties of hirunorm, a novel synthetic 26-aminoacid peptide thrombin inhibitor, in comparison with r-hirudin and hirulog-1. Hirunorm was equipotent to hirulog-1 and 1/30 as potent as r-hirudin in blocking a-thrombin amidolytic activity (IC50 = 10 ± 2,15 ± 1 and 0.3 ± 0.1 nM, respectively), but it did not affect trypsin, plasmin and t-PA activities at 10 μM. All the compounds inhibited clot-bound thrombin to clots prepared by thrombin hydrolysis of purified fibrinogen in buffer. Hirunorm and hirulog-1 showed similar species-dependent potency in doubling basal in vitro clotting times of human, rat and rabbit plasma (EC200 varied 70 to 200 nM for TT, 0.7 to 16 μM for aPTT and 0.8 to 17 μM for PT), while r-hirudin was always at least three times more active. When assayed by HPLC or by bioassay of the intact peptide, hirunorm was stable against a-thrombin and plasma hydrolases, but it was catabolized by rat liver and kidney enzymes. Venous thrombosis was produced in anaesthetized rats by vena cava ligation following a procoagulant serum injection. Intravenous and subcutaneous hirunorm inhibited venous thrombosis at doses (≤0.3 mg/kg) two-three times higher than those of r-hirudin. Hirulog-1 was as active as hirunorm only after i. v. infusion. Arterial thrombosis was obtained in the anaesthetized rat by chemical (FeCl2) stimulation of a common carotid and i.v. infused hirunorm (1-3 mg/kg/30 min) inhibited it dose-dependently; r-hirudin was partly active only at 3 mg/kg, but hirulog-1 was inactive at either dose. Full antithrombotic doses of hirunorm did not affect the bleeding time as measured from punctured mesenteric vessels, in anaesthetized rats. In conclusion, hirunorm is a potent peptide thrombin inhibitor endowed with antithrombotic activity in models of venous and arterial thrombosis.