Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of chromatin integrity in human sperm using acridine orange staining with different fixatives and after cryopreservation

Summary. Staining of cells with acridine orange (AO) has been widely accepted as a predictor of DNA damage in many cell types. Because of variability of protocols used in previous studies, the AO staining technique has not been widely accepted as a screening test to predict DNA damage in human sperm. In order to further validate the use of AO staining, sperm were evaluated using numerous variations in the staining protocol. This study also elucidated the effects of cryopreservation on sperm DNA. Sperm fixation in Carnoy's solution showed significantly (P < 0.05) more DNA damage (29.9 ± 4.5%) than 2% glutaraldehyde (14.4 ± 2.1%), 4% paraformaldehyde (5.5 ± 1.7%), no fixation (15.8 ± 4.3%) but did not differ from Diff Quik solution (19.2 ± 5.8%). No difference was observed for sperm DNA damage assessment using a 0.2 m (15.5 ± 3.2%) or 0.3 m (14.9 ± 3.3%) concentration of Na2HPO4·7H2O in the AO staining solution. Frozen–thawed semen samples showed increased damage to sperm DNA under both Carnoy's (fresh: 10.9 ± 1.3%; frozen: 30.8 ± 2.9%; P < 0.05) and Diff Quik fixation (fresh: 6.2 ± 0.8; frozen: 17.1 ± 2.5%P < 0.05). Present data also showed that spermatozoa from some individuals are more prone to DNA damage after freezing and thawing procedures than others. In conclusion, Carnoy's fixative provides a better predictive value for DNA damage to sperm using AO staining. Additionally, cryopreservation increased damage to the sperm DNA.
The wear and tear of flint : principles of functional analysis applied to Dutch Neolithic assemblages

Gebruikssporen-analyse van vuursteen is een vrij jonge tak van wetenschap, welke in Nederland tot voor kort niet werd beoefend. Het hier gepresenteerde onderzoek kan beschouwd worden als een aanzet ten einde in deze leemte te voorzien. Aangezien het tot op heden gepubliceerde gebruikssporenonderzoek een weinig systematisch beeld vertoont met betrekking tot gevolgde procedures en interpretaties van de resultaten, bevat de onderhavige studie een uitgebreide verhandeling aangaande methoden en technieken (hoofdstuk 2). Kort samengevat houdt gebruikssporen-analyse het volgende in. Ten gevolge van gebruik ontstaat slijtage op vuurstenen werktuigen. Deze slijtage kan vier vormen aannemen: gebruiksretouche. afronding van de werkrand, glans en krasjes. Binnen de gebruikssporen-analyse zijn twee onderzoeksrichtingen te onderscheiden: de macro-analyse die zich voornamelijk bezig houdt met gebruiksretouche, en de microanalyse die zich concentreert op het bestuderen van glans en krasjes. Bij deze laatste onderzoeksrichting spelen de factoren gebruiksretouche en afronding evenzeer een rol, zij het van ondergeschikte betekenis. Een macro-analyse levert een indicatie van de relatieve hardheid van het bewerkte materiaal, terwijl met de micro-analyse een nadere precisering van de aard daarvan mogelijk is. De huidige studie is gebaseerd op de micro-analytische benaderingswijze; de analyses werden verricht met behulp van een opvallend-licht microscoop (vergrotingen: 50-560x).
A review of Shiga toxin Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica in cattle and free-ranging birds: potential association and epidemiological links

Cattle are the main reservoir for human infection by pathogenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica. To prevent entry of these foodborne pathogens into the human food chain, management factors at the farm level must be identifi ed and controlled. External sources of contamination, such as birds, should be considered as potential sources of transmission over long distances. In this review, we focus on the epidemiology of infection by E. coli and S. enterica and the consequences of birds acting as disseminators of these pathogens at dairy farms in terms of cattle health and the subsequent effects on human health.
Haar filtering with pyramidal resistive networks

Resistive networks have attracted the interest of researchers for their potential applications especially in parallel signal processing. At present they are essential components in analog VLSI circuit implementation of many image processing systems. Resistive grids, as well as their dynamic and more complex counterpart-the cellular neural networks-can perform various spatial filtering operations. One of the most important applications of the resistive grid is the silicon retina, proposed by Mahowald and Mead [1989], whose structure has a well-established neurobiological basis. The data to be processed (an image in the 2-D case) is sampled by a rectangular grid, so that each node of the network is associated with a pixel in the image that is to be filtered. In this paper we propose a different structure for a resistive network with a pyramidal topology which may prove to find some useful applications in parallel signal processing. We will show that the proposed network performs a nonlinear spatial filtering of the input 1D image, implementing in fact a Haar filter.
Supporting Heuristic Evaluation for the Web

Supporting Heuristic Evaluation for the Web. (August 2009) Ana Erendira Flores Mendoza, B.S., Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana; M.S., New Mexico State University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. William Lively Web developers are confronted with evaluating the usability of Web interfaces. Automatic Web usability evaluation tools are available, but they are limited in the types of problems they can handle. Tool support for manual usability evaluation is needed. Accordingly, this research focuses on developing a tool for supporting manual processes in Heuristic Evaluation inspection. The research was conveyed in three phases. First, an observational study was conducted in order to characterize the inspection process in Heuristic Evaluation. The videos of evaluators applying a Heuristic Evaluation on a non-interactive, paper-based Web interface were analyzed to dissect the inspection process. Second, based on the study, a tool for annotating Web interfaces when applying Heuristic Evaluations was developed. Finally, a survey is conducted to evaluate the tool and learn the role of annotations in inspection. Recommendations for improving the use of annotations in problem reporting are outlined. Overall, users were satisfied with the tool. The goal of this research, designing and developing an inspection tool, is achieved.
LATERAL SPECIALIZATION AND PSYCHIATRIC ISSUES: SPECULATIONS ON DEVELOPMENT AND THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS *

At the start of this lecture, I invited you to indulge with me in a "dessert" of speculations. I hope it has been a sufficiency, not a surfeit. In summary, we have examined a hypothetical model of some dissociations of consciousness and the expression of unconscious symptoms in adults; we then explored some possible conditions that would account for the development of separate mental streams. In the course of this exploration we were led to question some basic assumptions about the unity of the self, and we proposed some possible mechanisms by which lateral specialization develops in children. This model of the development of lateral specialization has some implications for the study of evolution of the human brain and consciousness. It would seem useful to examine the relationship between the evolution of the commissural systems and the evolution of different capacities for consciousness. According to this model, the full development of lateral specialization depends upon the later myelination of the commissures, which makes possible the autonomy and competition between hemispheres. By this means, only minimal differences between hemispheres need to be specified genetically, since the rest of lateralization can be produced by progressive differentiation, through interactions with the environment. Thus man's eternal, internal struggle may be the price paid for the evolution of lateral specialization.
A Note on ZipPs Law , Natural Languages , and Noncoding DNA Regions Part ha Niyogi and

In Phys. Rev. Letters, 73:2. 5 Dec. 94, Mantegna et al. conclude on the basis of Zipf rank frequency data that noncoding DNA sequence regions are more like natural languages than coding regions. We argue on the contrary that an empirical fit to Zipf's "law" cannot be used as a criterion for similarity to natural languages. Although DNA is a presumably an "organized system of signs" in Mandelbrot's (1961) sense, an observation of statistical features of the sort presented in the Mantegna et al. paper does not shed light on the similarity between DNA's "grammar" and natural language grammars, just as the observation of exact Zipf-like behavior cannot distinguish between the underlying processes of tossing an M sided die or a finite-state branching process. Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994 This report describes research done at the Center for Biological and Computational Learning and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the Center is provided in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation under contract ASC-9217041. Robert C. Berwick was also supported by Vinton-Hayes Fellowship. The authors can be contacted at pnSai.mit. edu or berwick@ai.mit. edu.
Measurement and modelling of evapotranspiration in three fynbos vegetation types

Many studies have investigated the water relations of indigenous plants in the fynbos shrublands of the Cape, South Africa. These have mainly focused on understanding the mechanisms by which individual plant species respond to droughts, the frequency and severity of which is expected to increase due to climate change. However, comparatively little information exists on the dynamics of water use by indigenous plants in the region, and, in particular, how water use varies seasonally and between sites. In this study we determined water use by 3 fynbos vegetation types growing at 4 different sites, namely: (i) lowland Atlantis Sand Plain fynbos growing on deep sandy soils, (ii) Kogelberg Sandstone fynbos growing in a riparian zone on deep alluvial soils, (iii) dryland Kogelberg Sandstone fynbos growing on shallow sandy soils at a montane site, and (iv) alluvial Swartland fynbos growing in clayey soils. Evapotranspiration (ET) was quantified at each site during specific periods using a boundary layer scintillometer and energy balance system. A simple dual source model in which the stand ET was calculated as the algebraic sum of outputs from soil evaporation and transpiration sub-models was used to scale up the ET measurements to annual values. The data showed large differences in ET depending on site characteristics and on plant attributes. Dense stands of riparian Sandstone Fynbos had an annual ET of 1 460 mm which exceeded the reference ET of 1 346 mm. Dryland Sandstone Fynbos used only 551 mm of water per year while the Sand Plain Fynbos’ annual ET was 1 031 mm, which was similar to the reference ET of 1 059 mm. We conclude that some indigenous plant species use large volumes of water which should be accounted for in, e.g., groundwater recharge estimates, and calculations of incremental water gains after clearing alien invasive plants, among other applications. Keywords : Evapotranspiration, fynbos, scintillometer, Western Cape
Declining Homicide in New York City: A Tale of Two Trends

The mass media pay plenty of attention to crime and violence in the United States, but very few of the big stories on the American crime beat can be classified as good news. The driveby shootings and carjackings that illuminate nightly news broadcasts are the opposite of good tidings. Most efforts at prevention and law enforcement seem more like reactive attempts to contain ever expanding problems rather than discernable public triumphs. In recent American history, crime rates seem to increase on the front page and moderate in obscurity. The recent decline in homicides in New York City is an exception to the usual pattern, the most celebrated example of crime-news-as-good-news in decades. No doubt part of the public attention can be explained because the story took place in the media capital of the United States. But more than location made the New York story newsworthy. The drop in homicides was both large and abrupt-the homicide rate in the nation's largest city fell 52% in five years. Further, changes in police manpower and strategy are widely believed to have contributed to the decline. If this drop can be plausibly tied to enforcement
Clinician-Assisted Internet-Based Treatment is Effective for Panic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To determine the efficacy of an Internet-based clinician-assisted cognitive behavioural treatment program (the Panic program) for panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia). Method: Fifty-nine individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for panic disorder with agoraphobia were randomly assigned to a treatment group or to a waitlist control group. Treatment group participants completed the Panic program, comprising six on-line lessons, weekly homework assignments, received weekly email contact from a psychiatry registrar, and contributed to a moderated online discussion forum with other participants. An intention-to-treat model was used for data analyses. Results: Twenty-three (79%) of treatment group participants completed all lessons within the 8-week program, and post-treatment data were collected from 22/29 treatment group and 22/25 waitlist group participants. Compared to the control group, treatment group participants reported significantly reduced symptoms of panic as measured by the Panic Disorder Severity Scale, Body Sensation Questionnaire, and Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaires. Significant reductions were also reported on measures of disability and depression. The mean within- and between-group effect size (Cohen's d) on the Panic Disorder Severity Scale was 0.93 and 0.59, respectively, and effects were sustained at 1-month follow-up. Mean therapist time per participant was 75 minutes for the program. Conclusions: These results replicate those from the open trial of the Panic Program indicating the efficacy of the Internet-based clinician-assisted cognitive behavioural treatment program for panic disorder with agoraphobia.
EFFECT OF HEAVY METALS COPPER AND CADMIUM EXPOSURE ON THEANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF THE PLANT CLEOME GYNANDRA

Toxic metal contamination of soil, aqueous waste streams and groundwater causes major environmental and human health problems. The most commonly used methods for dealing with heavy metal pollution are still extremely costly. Phytoremediation is the use of plants to extract, sequester and/or detoxify pollutants and is a new and powerful technique for environmental clean-up. Plants are ideal agents for soil and water remediation because of their unique genetic, biochemical and physiological properties. During the exposure of plants to contaminated soils, the antioxidant defence system helps the plant to protect itself from the damage. Antioxidants are substances that protect itself from damage caused by oxidation. In the present work the plant Cleome Gynandra was exposed to the sublethal and half of sublethal concentration of cadmium and copper metal contaminated soils and the antioxidant factors were investigated and the results are discussed.
Trust for Vehicular Applications

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) will enable new applications that increase safety and convenience of the passengers in the car. Most applications for VANETs use information provided by other cars, and road side units. Different complementary means exist to establish a trustworthy and privacy preserving system; they include certification, reputation systems, plausibility checking, and frequently changing pseudonyms. Often, these measures are tailored to specific aspects of the system and cannot easily be used by application developers, nor can they easily be combined. We present an architecture to integrate trust and privacy services for the use in vehicular environments. The main contributions of this paper are (1) an architecture for securing vehicular communications that can easily be used by application developers, (2) the principle of trust tagging including a model for trust establishment for the vehicular domain and (3) the context mix model for preserving location privacy of vehicles
The application of SPECT/CT for preoperative planning in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism

Background and purposeSecondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is a frequent and challenging issue in patients undergoing dialysis for chronic kidney disease. Surgical intervention in the form of parathyroidectomy is generally considered only in cases of severe SHPT. However, identification of the exact location of the parathyroid glands (PTGs) before parathyroidectomy is a challenge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of 99mTc sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) in the detection of parathyroids to guide operative therapy in patients with SHPT. Patients and methodsNinety patients with SHPT who were on hemodialysis were evaluated preoperatively with double-phase 99mTc sestamibi static planar and SPECT/CT parathyroid scintigraphy to evaluate for parathyroids before parathyroidectomy. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 99mTc sestamibi static planar and SPECT/CT scintigraphy were determined. ResultsCompared with static planar scintigraphy, 99mTc sestamibi SPECT/CT was able to detect a larger number of PTGs per study, as well as PTGs of smaller diameter and PTGs of smaller size. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 99mTc sestamibi SPECT/CT in detecting PTGs were 78.9, 100, and 78.9%, respectively, compared with 55.6, 100, and 55.6% for static planar 99mTc sestamibi. ConclusionOur study indicates that 99mTc sestamibi SPECT/CT has a higher sensitivity compared with static planar scintigraphy in the preoperative evaluation of hemodialysis patients with SHPT because of chronic kidney disease. SPECT/CT can not only detect a larger number of PTGs but can also depict the precise location of PTGs more accurately when compared with static planar scintigraphy.
Natural and sexual selection against immigrants maintains differentiation among micro‐allopatric populations

Local adaptation to divergent environmental conditions can promote population genetic differentiation even in the absence of geographic barriers and hence lead to speciation. But what mechanisms contribute to reproductive isolation among diverging populations? We tested for natural and sexual selection against immigrants in a fish species inhabiting (and adapting to) nonsulphidic surface habitats, sulphidic surface habitats and a sulphidic cave. Gene flow is strong among sample sites situated within the same habitat type, but low among divergent habitat types. Our results indicate that females of both sulphidic populations discriminate against immigrant males during mate choice. Furthermore, using reciprocal translocation experiments, we document natural selection against migrants between nonsulphidic and sulphidic habitats, whereas migrants between sulphidic cave and surface habitats did not exhibit increased mortality within the same time period. Consequently, both natural and sexual selection may contribute to isolation among parapatric populations, and selection against immigrants may be a powerful mechanism facilitating speciation among locally adapted populations even over very small spatial distances.
Exitus and Reditus: Towards a New Islamic Neoplatonic Paradigm

This article is a revised version of “Exile and Return: Diasporas of the Secular and Sacred Mind” (which first appeared in Yasir Suleiman (ed), Living Islamic History, Edinburgh University Press, 2010), and is published in Sacred Web with the kind permission of Edinbugh University Press and the author.
Thalidomide in multiple myeloma: current status and future prospects

Thalidomide was introduced in Europe during the 1950s as a sedative agent and was found to be particularly effective at alleviating the symptoms of morning sickness. As is widely known, it was subsequently withdrawn in 1961 after its teratogenic properties were recognized, in particular, its ability to cause phocomelia. Damage to the fetus occurs early in pregnancy (from d 28–42 post conception) and the limb bud abnormalities are thought to be due to inhibition of normal vessel formation. Since that time, thalidomide’s immunomodulatory effects have been recognized and it has been used, in a cautious and restricted manner, in the treatment of such disparate disorders as Behcet’s disease, erythema nodosum leprosum, human immunodeficiency virus-associated oral ulceration and chronic graft-versus-host disease. More recently, the drug has been tested in a variety of solid and haematological malignancies, and has shown remarkable efficacy in patients with advanced multiple myeloma. Indeed, the use of thalidomide is arguably the most significant advance in the treatment of myeloma since the introduction of highdose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation nearly 20 years ago.
Spontaneous reconstitution of discoidal HDL from sphingomyelin-containing model membranes by apolipoprotein A-I Published, JLR Papers in Press, January 15, 2007.

Nascent HDL is known to be formed by the interaction of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) with transmembrane ABCA1, but the molecular mechanism by which nascent HDL forms is less well understood. Here, we studied how reconstituted high density lipoprotein (rHDL) forms spontaneously on the interaction of apoA-I with model membranes. The formation of rHDL from pure phosphatidylcholine (PC) large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) proceeded very slowly at 37.0°C, but sphingomyelin (SM) -rich PC/SM LUVs, which are in a gel/liquid-disordered phase (Ld phase) at this temperature, were rapidly microsolubilized to form rHDL by apoA-I. The addition of cholesterol decreased the rate at which rHDL formed and induced the selective extraction of lipids by apoA-I, which preferably extracted lipids of Ld phase rather than lipids of liquid-ordered phase. In addition, apoA-I extracted lipids from the outer and inner leaflets of LUVs simultaneously. These results suggest that the heterogeneous interface of the mixed membranes facilitates the insertion of apoA-I and induces Ld phase-selective but leaflet-nonselective lipid extraction to form rHDL; they are compatible with recent cell works on apoA-I-dependent HDL generation.
A Spatial Regularization of LDA for Face Recognition

This paper proposes a new spatial regularization of Fisher linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to reduce the overfitting due to small size sample (SSS) problem in face recognition. Many regularized LDAs have been proposed to alleviate the overfitting by regularizing an estimate of the within-class scatter matrix. Spatial regularization methods have been suggested that make the discriminant vectors spatially smooth, leading to mitigation of the overfitting. As a generalized version of the spatially regularized LDA, the proposed regularized LDA utilizes the non-uniformity of spatial correlation structures in face images in adding a spatial smoothness constraint into an LDA framework. The region-dependent spatial regularization is advantageous for capturing the non-flat spatial correlation structure within face image as well as obtaining a spatially smooth projection of LDA. Experimental results on public face databases such as ORL and CMU PIE show that the proposed regularized LDA performs well especially when the number of training images per individual is quite small, compared with other regularized LDAs.