Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relative kinetics of clotting and lysis provide a biochemical rationale for the correlation between elevated fibrinogen and cardiovascular disease

Summary. Background: Elevated plasma fibrinogen is a well known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The mechanistic rationale for this is not known.Objectives: These studies were carried out to determine the fibrinogen concentration dependencies of clotting and lysis times and thereby determine whether these times rationalize the correlation between an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and elevated plasma fibrinogen.Methods: The time courses of clot formation and lysis were measured by turbidity in systems comprising a) fibrinogen, thrombin and plasmin, or b) fibrinogen, thrombin, plasminogen and t‐PA, or c) plasma, thrombin and t‐PA. From the lysis times, kcat and Km values for plasmin action on fibrin were determined.Results: The time to clot increased linearly from 2.9 to 5.6 minutes as the fibrinogen concentration increased from 1 to 9 μM and did not increase further as the fibrinogen concentration was raised to 20 μM. In contrast, the clot lysis time increased linearly over the input fibrinogen concentration range of 2 to 20 μM. A similar linear trend was found in the two systems with t‐PA and plasminogen. Apparent Km and kcat values for plasmin were 1.1 ± 0.6 μM and 28 ± 2 min−1, respectively. Km values for plasmin in experiments initiated with t‐PA and plasminogen were 1.6 ± 0.2 μM in the purified system and 2.1 ± 0.9 μM in plasma.Conclusion: As the concentration of fibrinogen increases, especially above physiologic level, the balance between fibrinolysis and clotting shifts toward the latter, providing a rationale for the increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with elevated fibrinogen.
Enhanced Sensor Medium Access Control Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks in the ns-2 Simulator

One of the most challenging tasks for a wireless sensor network (WSN) is reducing energy waste to increase battery life. This paper examines a popular medium access control (MAC) protocol, i.e., sensor MAC (S-MAC) in the ns-2 network simulator, which has been frequently adopted as a performance benchmark in this field. This paper first proposes a new mechanism for proactive exchanging the status between sensor nodes to prevent unnecessary idle listening by a cross-layer approach that fully utilizes the information from the physical (PHY) layer. Because fatal bugs cause substantial performance degradation, the simulation results of the original module in ns-2 are strongly distorted. Another contribution of this paper is to develop a bug-fixed module. Several graphical illustrations are provided to demonstrate the operation of S-MAC and the effects of improper implementation. Major improvements are addressed in the main text and minor changes are provided in Appendix A. The simulation results show that the actual saturated throughput of S-MAC is approximately two times higher than that of the defect module in the case with bidirectional traffic. In addition, the proposed mechanism can save up to 47% and 25% of the energy for unidirectional and bidirectional traffic, respectively, in a line topology when the traffic is light.
One man's trash is another man's treasure: um mapeamento sistemático sobre as características individuais na gamificação de ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem

A gamificacao e uma forma de incluir elementos de jogos em diversas aplicacoes e esta se tornando popular em varios contextos. O objetivo desse artigo e verificar na literatura, atraves de um mapeamento sistematico, se os alunos com diferentes caracteristicas reagem de forma diferente aos elementos de jogos da gamificacao. Foram definidas tres questoes de pesquisas e, a partir delas, um argumento de busca foi utilizado em sete mecanismos de busca academica. Foram encontrados 1355 artigos e, apos os criterios de inclusao e exclusao, 7 artigos foram analisados. A partir deles, e possivel identificar que algumas caracteristicas (idade, genero, motivacoes, tipos de jogadores) podem influenciar na gamificacao de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem.
The cardiac nurse's role: an Australian Delphi study perspective.

In Australia, as in many parts of the Western world, technological advances in healthcare have affected the roles of healthcare professionals, including nurses. Cost constraints, efficiency, and effectiveness measures also influence staffing numbers, roles, and skill mix. Specialty nurse education programs are changing, and many are moving from the hospital environment to the higher education sector. Initiatives to introduce the American Advanced Nurse Practitioner role in some environments have begun, although the current advanced practice roles are proving problematic. Specialist professional groups are striving to develop competencies or standards for practice. An understanding of what is required of expert clinicians for practice in complex technological environments such as cardiac care would be useful for both practitioners and academics. A national Delphi study was undertaken to determine what knowledge, skills, and attitudes were required of expert cardiac nurses in relation to technology in the cardiac care environments in both the "real" and the "ideal" worlds of practice. Separate panels of 28 cardiac educators and 42 cardiac nurse clinicians were given a questionnaire of 107 items and asked to indicate on a 6-point Likert scale the importance of each item to the nursing roles in both the "real" and "ideal" worlds. On the final, third round, respondents ranked the three most important items in each of the 13 thematic groups. Overall, the clinicians accepted all 107 items as important to their role, and for the majority of these they, felt that they were performing quite close to their "ideal. " This article presents the 32 items for which the clinicians felt the "real" world was quite far from the "ideal" as represented by a gap of > or = 2 between the real and ideal medians. Also, despite being accepted as part of the role through the ideal scores, 21 items achieved a real world median of 3.5 or less, which indicates that in the real world these aspects of nursing are not being valued or practiced to the level clinicians would like. These two sets of items should be of greatest interest to clinicians currently in the role and to those interested in specialty education at all levels.
Biofilm formed by a hypervirulent (hypermucoviscous) variant of Klebsiella pneumoniae does not enhance serum resistance or survival in an in vivo abscess model

A new hypervirulent (hypermucoviscous) clinical variant of Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKP) has emerged over the last decade. Our goal is to identify new mechanisms, which increase the virulence hvKP. It has been shown that hvKP strains produce more biofilm than “classical” stains of K. pneumoniae, therefore we hypothesized that biofilm formation may contribute to the pathogenesis of systemic infection. To test this hypothesis, transposon mutants of the model pathogen hvKP1 were generated and screened for decreased production of biofilm. Three mutant constructs with disruptions in glnA [putatively encodes glutamine synthetase, hvKP1 glnA:: EZ::TN < KAN-2 > (glnA::Tn)], sucD [putatively encodes succinyl-CoA synthase α subunit, hvKP1 sucD:: EZ::TN < KAN-2 > (sucD::Tn)], and tag [putatively encodes transcriptional antiterminator of glycerol uptake operon, hvKP1 tag:: EZ::TN < KAN-2 > (tag::Tn)] were chosen for further characterization and use in biologic studies. Quantitative assays performed in rich laboratory medium and human ascites confirmed the phenotype and a hypermucoviscosity assay established that capsule production was not affected. However, compared with its wild-type parent, neither planktonic cells nor biofilms of glnA::Tn, sucD::Tn and tag::Tn displayed a change to the bactericidal activity of 90% human serum. Likewise, when assessed in a rat subcutaneous abscess model, the growth and survival of glnA::Tn, sucD::Tn and tag::Tn in abscess fluid was similar to hvKP1. In this report we identify three new genes that contribute to biofilm formation in hvKP1. However, decreased biofilm production due to disruption of these genes does not affect the sensitivity of these mutant constructs to 90% human serum when in planktonic form or within a biofilm. Further, their virulence in an in vivo abscess model was unaffected.
Peripherally administered [ Nle 4 , D-Phe 7 ]-- melanocyte stimulating hormone increases resting metabolic rate , while peripheral agouti-related protein has no effect , in wild type C 57 BL / 6 and ob / ob mice

The melanocortin system coordinates the maintenance of energy balance via the regulation of both food intake and energy expenditure. Leptin, a key adipogenic hormone involved in the regulation of energy balance is thought to act by stimulating production, in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, of -melanocyte stimulating hormone ( MSH), a potent agonist of MC3/4 melanocortin receptors located in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Additionally leptin inhibits release of agouti-related protein (AgRP), an MC4R antagonist. During periods of caloric restriction, weight loss is not sustained because compensatory mechanisms, such as reduced resting metabolic rate (RMR) are brought into play. Understanding how these compensatory systems operate may provide valuable targets for pharmaceutical therapies to support traditional dieting approaches. As circulating leptin is reduced during caloric restriction, it may mediate some of the observed compensatory responses. In addition to decreases in circulating leptin levels, circulating AgRP is increased during fasting in rodents while MSH is decreased. As central administration of AgRP depresses metabolism, we hypothesised that the peripheral rise in AgRP might be involved in signalling the depression of RMR during food restriction. We hypothesised that changes in plasma AgRP and MSH may coordinate the regulation of changes in energy expenditure acting through central MC4 melanocortin receptors via the sympathetic nervous system. We show here that acute peripherally administered AgRP at supra-physiological concentrations in both lean (C57BL/6) and obese leptin-deficient (ob/ob) mice does not depress RMR, possibly because it crosses the blood–brain barrier very slowly compared with other metabolites. However, in vitro AgRP can decrease leptin secretion, by approximately 40%, from adipocytes into culture medium and may via this axis have an effect on energy metabolism during prolonged caloric restriction. In contrast, peripheral [Nle4,D-Phe7]MSH produced a large and sustained increase in resting energy expenditure (0·15 ml O2/min; P,0·05) with a similar response in leptin-deficient ob/ob mice (0·27 ml O2/min) indicating that this effect is independent of the status of leptin production in the periphery. In both cases respiratory exchange ratio and the levels of energy expended on spontaneous physical activity were unaffected by the administration of peripheral [Nle4,D-Phe7]MSH. In conclusion, MSH analogues that cross the blood–brain barrier may significantly augment dietary restriction strategies by sustaining elevated RMR. Journal of Molecular Endocrinology (2004) 33, 693–703
Adaptive stabilizing control design via switching for high-order uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper considers the global adaptive stabilizing control design for a class of high-order uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown control coefficients. Different from the existing literature in which the problem is solved by designing the traditional adaptive controller, in this paper, by skillfully applying adding a power integrator and adaptive control methods via switching, a new adaptive controller via switching is successfully proposed, which is simple and easy to implement. The involved controller guarantees that all states of the closed-loop system are globally bounded and furthermore ultimately converge to zero. It is worth mentioning that, compared with the existing literature on adaptive control via switching, the higher system orders and the unknown control coefficients make the nonlinear systems in this paper possess stronger nonlinearities and more serious uncertainties/unknowns.
SKEWED PRIMARY SEX RATIO IN THE SOLITARY SPIDER PITYOHYPHANTES PHRYGIANUS

STEBBINS, G. L. 1957. Self fertilization and population variability in the higher plants. Am. Nat. 91: 337-354. TEMPLETON, A. R. 1986. Coadaptation and outbreeding depression, pp. 105-116. In M. Soule (ed.), Conservation Biology. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA USA. TURNER, B. L. , AND O. S. FEARING. 1964. A taxonomic study of the genus Amphicarpaea (Leguminosae). Southwest. Nat. 9:207-218. VETUKHIV,M.O. ,ANDJ. A. BEARDMORE. 1959. Effect ofenvironment upon the manifestation ofheterosis
Health Care Dollars and Regulatory Sense: The Role of Advanced Practice Nursing

Our current health care "system" has been criticized for providing too little care, too late, for too few people, at too high a cost. In this Article, Dean Safriet argues that these problems require a fundamental restructuring of existing health care delivery systems and more effective utilization of all health care personnel. Dean Safriet urges immediate legislative reform to reduce the restrictions that currently constrain advanced practice nurses, especially nurse practitioners and certified nurse-midwives. Advanced practice nurses have demonstrated repeatedly that they can provide cost-effective, high-quality primary care for many of the neediest members of society, but their role in providing care has been has been severely limited by restrictions on their scope of practice, prescriptive authority, and eligibility for reimbursement. Eliminating these restriction would enable advanced practice nurses to increase access to health care while preserving quality and reducing costs.
The meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics and fatty acid profile in Jinjiang and F1 Simmental×Jinjiang yellow cattle

Objective This study compared the meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics, and fatty acids between Jinjiang yellow cattle (JJ) and F1 Simmental×Jinjiang yellow cattle (SJ) which were offered the same diet. Methods Six JJ and six SJ individuals were reared and fattened from 10 to 26 months of age. After feeding, the highrib (HR), ribeye (RB), and tenderloin (TL) samples were taken from the carcass for meat quality evaluations. Results The results showed that growth performance of SJ was higher than that of JJ (higher live weight and average daily gain), and the hot carcass weight of SJ was higher than that of JJ (p<0.05). pH of JJ was higher than that of SJ in TL (p<0.05); the color of a* of SJ was higher than that of JJ in TL and RB (p<0.05); the cooking loss of SJ was significantly lower than that of JJ in TL and RB (p<0.05); the shear force value was significantly lower in SJ compared to JJ (p<0.05); the muscle fiber diameter was higher and the fiber density was lower in SJ compared to JJ in HR and TL (p<0.05); compared to SJ, the muscles of JJ had higher saturated fatty acid (SFA) composition; the sum of monounsaturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) were lower in the muscle of JJ; the mRNA expressions of myosin heavy chain-I (MyHC-I) and MyHC-IIa were higher in SJ compared to JJ in muscle of HR and RB; the mRNA expressions of MyHC-IIx and MyHC-IIb were lower in SJ compared to JJ in HR and RB (p<0.05). Conclusion Meat quality and fatty acid profile differed between SJ and JJ; the muscle of SJ had higher a* and SFA; SJ had lower cooking loss, shear force and PUFA compared to the muscle of JJ. In addition, the type and development characteristics of the muscle fiber had some difference between SJ and JJ; these might be factors which caused the differences in meat quality and fatty acid profile between SJ and JJ.
A phase II study of pomegranate extract for men with rising prostate-specific antigen following primary therapy.

11 Background: Pomegranate extract (POMx) demonstrates promising antitumor effects in prostate cancer (PCA). Prior published work reveals an increase in PSA doubling time (PSADT) in a single arm study of pomegranate juice (POM) in PCA patients (pts) with a rising PSA after local therapy. We sought to determine the effects of low (1 gram) or high (3 grams) daily POMx on PSADT in a similar but broader population of men seeking to defer androgen deprivation therapy. METHODS Our multi-center, double bind phase II trial randomized men with rising PSA and without metastases to receive high or low dose POMx, stratified by baseline PSADT and Gleason score, and with no restrictions for PSADT and no upper limit PSA value. Men were treated until progression or for 18 months. PSA levels were obtained every 3 months. This study was designed to detect a 6 month increase in PSADT from baseline. RESULTS 104 patients were enrolled and treated for up to 6 (92%), 12 (70%) and 18 months (36%). Median PSADT lengthened in the Intent to treat population (96% white, median age 74.5 years, median Gleason score 7) from baseline 11.9 (range 1.6-54.6) compared to 18.5 (2-1523) months after treatment (p<.001). There was no significant treatment difference on PSADT between the dose groups (p=.920). Declining PSA levels were observed in 13 pts (13%) during the study. No significant changes occurred in testosterone in either group. Although no clinically significant toxicities were seen, mild to moderate diarrhea was seen in 8 pts (7.7%). CONCLUSIONS POMx treatment significantly increased the PSADT by over 6 months in both treatment arms, with no effect on testosterone. This IND-conducted study confirms slowing of PSADT after treatment with POMx as was found with POM, yet in a PCA patient population with greater high risk progression features. [Table: see text].
Turismo Deportivo: Promociã“N Para La Diversificaciã“N De La Oferta Turã Stica En Manzanillo, Colima

El turismo, por su importancia econA³mica y social, se ha convertido en objeto de estudio internacional. Actualmente se pueden encontrar algunos problemas, en este rubro, estos son particularmente graves en muchos paA­ses cuyas economA­as son especialmente dependientes del turismo de masas, y una respuesta a estos ha sido el intento de desarrollar nichos de mercado con el fin de diversificar la oferta del sector turA­stico y, posiblemente, atraer a visitantes con una propensiA³n a gastar mAis. En este sentido, la presente investigaciA³n tuvo como objetivo desarrollar una propuesta que tenga como elemento fundamental la promociA³n del turismo deportivo para la diversificaciA³n de la oferta turA­stica en Manzanillo. Basado en una aproximaciA³n cuantitativa y cualitativa, se aplicA³ una entrevista a profundidad a informantes clave y una encuesta, en donde se utilizo un censo compuesto por 110 cuestionarios, aplicados a los acadA©micos, empresas pAoblicas y privadas dedicadas al turismo en la localidad. El estudio revelA³ que se percibe en buen estado y con potencial turA­stico-deportivo el puerto de Manzanillo, ya que poseen un margen considerable para el desarrollo de una amplia variedad de diferentes tipos, pero que parte de este potencial no se ha dado utilizado. Sin embargo, se tienen considerables oportunidades para ser abordado, pero tambiA©n es claro que, a pesar de poseer una serie de ventajas, se tienen que diseminar algunos problemas de interacciA³n entre empresas y gobierno.
Stem Cell Gene Transfer: Insights into Integration and Hematopoiesis from Primate Genetic Marking Studies

Abstract: Genetic marking strategies in the nonhuman primate model have elucidated a number of principles with relevance to implementation of clinical stem cell therapies, including the lineage potential, number, and life span of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. The recent occurrence of leukemias likely related to insertional activation of a proto‐oncogene in two patients with X‐severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) syndromes treated with CD34+ cells transduced with retroviral vectors expressing the corrective common γ cytokine receptor gene has refocused attention on the issue of retroviral integration. We have analyzed >1500 independent insertions from rhesus macaques transplanted with CD34+ cells transduced with either MLV or SIV vectors. Of these, 46 rhesus macaques followed long term have not had progression to leukemia, abnormal hematopoiesis, or clonal hematopoiesis. However, the pattern of both MLV and SIV integrants in cells of these animals was found to be highly nonrandom, with a propensity for insertions of both vectors within genes: for MLV particularly near the transcription start site, and for SIV particularly in gene‐dense regions.
Learning representations from motion trajectories: analysis and applications to robot planning and control

Generating motion is a crucial aspect of articulated robotics. Many robot manipulation tasks can be defined and solved as a motion trajectory generation problem where the robot needs to calculate and execute a task-appropriate movement. Multiple efficient methods have been developed for this problem in the robotic community, but they do not make use of the patterns found in motion data. We will propose in this thesis novel approaches to combine machine learning and robotics. The main conceptual achievement of this thesis is the successful fusion of machine learning and robotic algorithms to improve motion generation and discover the structure of different motion tasks. By observing examples of robot motions, optimal for a given task, we can find the relevant features of the motions, and discover the latent structure inherent in the interaction between robot and workspace. This leads to new algorithms for planning and control which are demonstrated in numerous experiments to improve on previous approaches in terms of speed and generalization ability. For speeding up motion planning we developed an algorithm called Trajectory Prediction. In the trajectory planning scenario the desired robot behavior is specified by a cost function and a planner algorithm is used to generate low-cost motions. Our contribution is to predict an appropriate initial trajectory that can speed up the planner. We do this by learning a mapping from situation to trajectory, and extracting the representations useful for such a mapping. For learning from demonstration we developed an algorithm called Task Space Retrieval Using Inverse Optimal Control. In this scenario no cost function is available to specify what is a good motion. By observing example trajectories our method can learn a value function model and an efficient sparse task space representation of the desired behavior. A controller for motion generation is developed based on this value function, effectively generalizing the demonstrated behavior in novel situations. i Acknowledgements Danksagung I have been very lucky to have Marc Toussaint as my main thesis advisor. Throughout my time as PhD student he has always supported me and inspired me with his creative vision and great expertise in various fields. His visionary ideas and helpful approach allowed me to realize the joy of discovery and improve myself as a thinker. This gave me the chance to vastly broaden my horizons and meet and discuss science and life with fascinating people. I thank Klaus-Robert Müller for being the second referee …
Comparative Cost‐effectiveness of Alternative Empiric Antimicrobial Treatment Options for Suspected Enterococcal Bacteremia

Enterococcus species are the fourth leading cause of bacteremia. Resistance rates are rising and delays in appropriate initial antimicrobial therapy have been associated with increased mortality. Empiric treatment of patients with suspected enterococcal bacteremia varies and significant cost differences exist between alternatives. The objective of this study was to determine the cost‐effectiveness of various empiric treatments for patients with suspected enterococcal bacteremia.