Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gender Similarities Characterize Math Performance

Gender differences in mathematics performance and ability remain a concern as scientists seek to address the underrepresentation of women at the highest levels of mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering. Stereotypes that girls and women lack mathematical ability persist and are widely held by parents and teachers. Meta-analytic findings from 1990 (6) indicated that gender differences in mathematics performance in the general population were trivial, d = -. 05. d = Mmales – Mfemales sw
Severe organ involvement in systemic sclerosis with diffuse scleroderma.

OBJECTIVE To determine the natural history and timing of severe involvement of the kidney, heart, lung, gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and skin in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and diffuse cutaneous involvement. METHODS This study used the Pittsburgh Scleroderma Databank and included patients with diffuse scleroderma who were seen between January 1, 1972 and December 31, 1995. Patients had frequent follow-ups, and a 95% accountability for these patients was maintained. Severe organ involvement was defined as the presence of any of the following: 1) in the kidney, scleroderma "renal crisis"; 2) in the heart, cardiomyopathy, symptomatic pericarditis, or an arrhythmia requiring treatment; 3) in the lung, pulmonary fibrosis on chest radiograph and a forced vital capacity of <55% of predicted; 4) in the GI tract, malabsorption, repeated episodes of pseudoobstruction, or severe problems requiring hyperalimentation; and 5) in the skin, a modified Rodnan skin score >40. The timing from disease onset to survival for each case of severe organ involvement was determined. RESULTS Of the 953 patients with diffuse scleroderma, kidney involvement developed in 177 (19%), heart involvement in 143 (15%), lung involvement in 151 (16%), GI tract involvement in 74 (8%), and skin involvement in 233 (24%). Severe skin and kidney involvement occurred during the first 3 years in 70% of those who ever developed these problems throughout a mean of 10 years of followup. Severe heart, lung, and GI tract involvement developed during the first 3 years in 45-55% of those who were ever affected. The survival of patients with severe organ involvement was poor. The 9-year cumulative survival rate of all patients with severe organ involvement was 38%, compared with 72% in patients without such involvement (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION This study demonstrates that severe organ involvement in SSc patients with diffuse scleroderma most often occurs early in the course of the disease. Survival for patients with severe organ involvement is markedly reduced. Patients should therefore be monitored very closely during the first 3 years of disease for signs and symptoms that may signal the subsequent development of severe organ damage. Potential disease-modifying therapies must be initiated early to modify the natural history of SSc and to improve survival. Patients who survive the first few years without developing severe organ involvement are less likely to develop such life-threatening involvement later in the disease course.
Coimmunization with Complementary Glucosyltransferase Peptides Results in Enhanced Immunogenicity and Protection against Dental Caries

ABSTRACT Peptide constructs from the catalytic (CAT) and glucan-binding (GLU) regions of the mutans streptococcal glucosyltransferase enzymes (GTF) can provide immunity to dental caries infection. A strategy of coimmunization was tested to determine whether protection could be enhanced. Rats were immunized with one of the previously described peptide constructs from the CAT or GLU region of the GTF of mutans streptococci or coimmunized with a combination of these constructs (CAT-GLU). Coimmunized animals demonstrated significantly higher serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and salivary IgA antibody levels to CAT or GTF than rats immunized with either construct alone. To assess the functional significance of coimmunization with these constructs, animals were immunized as above or with Streptococcus sobrinus GTF and then infected with S. sobrinus to explore the effects of immunization on immunological, microbiological, and disease (dental caries) parameters. Serum antibody from the communized group inhibited S. sobrinus GTF-mediated insoluble glucan synthesis in vitro above that of the individual-construct-immunized groups. Immunization with CAT or GLU constructs resulted in significantly reduced dental caries after infection with S. sobrinus compared with sham-immunized animals. Coimmunization produced greater reductions in caries than after immunization with either CAT or GLU. Also, significant elevations in lymphocyte proliferative responses to CAT, GLU, and GTF were observed after coimmunization with CAT-GLU compared with the responses after immunization with the individual constructs. The results suggested that increased numbers of memory T cells, which could proliferate to CAT, were generated by coimmunization. The experiments support the functional significance of these GTF domains in dental caries pathogenesis and present coimmunization as a simple alternative to intact GTF to enhance protective immunity against cariogenic microorganisms.
Multiple ascending dose study of BMS‐790052, a nonstructural protein 5A replication complex inhibitor, in patients infected with hepatitis C virus genotype 1

The antiviral activity, resistance profile, pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, and tolerability of BMS‐790052, a nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) replication complex inhibitor, were evaluated in a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, sequential panel, multiple ascending dose study. Thirty patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection were randomized to receive a 14‐day course of BMS‐790052 (1, 10, 30, 60, or 100 mg once daily or 30 mg twice daily) or placebo in a ratio of 4:1. The mean maximum decline from baseline in HCV RNA ranged from 2.8 to 4.1 log10 IU/mL; the placebo group showed no evidence of antiviral activity. Most patients experienced viral rebound on or before day 7 of treatment with BMS‐790052 monotherapy; viral rebound was associated with viral variants that had been previously implicated in resistance development in the in vitro replicon system. The PK profile was supportive of once‐daily dosing with median peak plasma concentrations at 1‐2 hours postdose and mean terminal half‐life of 12‐15 hours. Steady state was achieved following 3‐4 days of daily dosing. BMS‐790052 was well tolerated in all dose groups, with adverse events occurring with a similar frequency in BMS‐790052‐ and placebo‐treated groups. There were no clinically relevant changes in vital signs, laboratory, or electrocardiogram parameters. Conclusion: BMS‐7590052 is the first NS5A replication complex inhibitor with multiple dose proof‐of‐concept in clinic. At doses of 1‐100 mg daily, BMS‐790052 was well tolerated, had a PK profile supportive of once‐daily dosing, and produced a rapid and substantial decrease in HCV‐RNA levels in patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 1. (HEPATOLOGY 2011
The electroretinogram of the living extracorporeal bovine eye. The influence of anoxia and hypothermia.

A technique is presented for recording the bovine ERG (electroretinogram) from an isolated perfused preparation, the living extracorporeal bovine eye. By using this method, properties of the bovine ERG response were investigated under anoxic and hypothermic conditions. Retinal anoxia resulted in reduction of ERG waves in the following order: b-wave, slow positive component, and a-wave. The b-wave was most sensitive to the anoxia and diminished at 37° C. in 5 minutes while the a-wave showed only 60 per cent decrease during 6 minutes of anoxia. In recovery phase from the anoxia, ERG waves showed enhancement in the following order: a-wave, slow positive component, and b-wave. With anoxia of 60 minutes, complete recovery of the ERG never occurred upon reperfusion. When temperature was reduced to 30° C. a remarkable decline of oscillatory potential was observed. Slight decreases of amplitude and prolongation of peaking times of aand b-waves were also observed. The ERG responses were moderately well preserved at 30° C. for a period of hours, while lower temperature resulted in a deterioration increasing with time.
Rural Women's Perception of Breast Cancer and its Early-detection Measures in Ibadan, Nigeria

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in many parts of the world and is the most common cancer in women in Nigeria. However, it lends itself to early detection and, subsequently, early treatment, if women use early-detection measures. It is pertinent to study rural women's perception of breast cancer and its early-detection measures because their perception would influence their use of early-detection measures of breast cancer. This is a descriptive study that assessed rural women's perception of breast cancer. Data from 2 rural health districts in Ibadan, Oyo state of Nigeria, were collected through a structured questionnaire. Four hundred seven women were randomly selected for the study. Results showed that 66.2% of the respondents considered that breast cancer is more severe than other forms of cancer. Respondents' perception of risk of developing breast cancer was low, as 64.8% rated themselves 1, on a scale of 1 to 9 (where 1 = does not perceive herself to have cancer; 9 = very much perceives herself to have cancer). Respondents' perceived cause of breast cancer included "putting money in brassiere" and attack from the enemy, among others. None of the respondents identified early detection as an advantage of breast self-examination. Swelling was the most acknowledged early-warning sign. Findings of this study indicate that there is a need for an interventional study to enhance the awareness of breast cancer and its early-detection measures among the rural population to influence early detection of breast cancer and subsequently reduce morbidity and mortality among them.
Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide Receptor Expression on Human Lymphoblasts

This study was designed to determine which (if any) subtypes of leukemic blasts express a functional receptor for vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). Blasts harvested from bone marrow of 38 newly diagnosed patients were classified as acute lymphocytic leukemia (CALLA + pre-B-cell leukemia, CALLA-, pre-B-cell leukemia, T-cell leukemia) or acute myeloid leukemia based on cytochemical and histochemical markers. Of the 32 patients with lymphocytic leukemia, 22 expressed the VIP receptor as evidenced by VIP-mediated activation of adenylate cyclase in cell homogenates. Binding of 125I-VIP to ALL cells correlated with the ability of VIP to activate adenylate cyclase. The VIP receptor was not identified in myeloid blasts from any of six patients. Further correlation of 125I-VIP binding and VIP-mediated stimulation of adenylate cyclase was demonstrated in transformed cell lines: a pre-B-cell line (Nalm 6) and a T-cell line (Molt 4b) exhibited high-affinity binding of 125I-VIP and VIP-mediated activation of adenylate cyclase, whereas neither the histiocytic line (U937) nor the myelocytic line (HL60) appeared to express the VIP receptor. These observations suggest a role for VIP in the proliferation or differentiation of human T and B lymphocytes.
ECOLOGICAL VERSUS PHYLOGENETIC DETERMINANTS OF TROPHIC ASSOCIATIONS IN A PLANT–LEAFMINER–PARASITOID FOOD WEB

Specialized trophic interactions in plant–herbivore–parasitoid food webs can spur “bottom–up” diversification if speciation in plants leads to host‐shift driven divergence in insect herbivores, and if the effect then cascades up to the third trophic level. Conversely, parasitoids that search for victims on certain plant taxa may trigger “top–down” diversification by pushing herbivores into “enemy‐free space” on novel hosts. We used phylogenetic regression methods to compare the relative importance of ecology versus phylogeny on associations between Heterarthrinae leafmining sawflies and their parasitoids. We found that: (1) the origin of leafmining led to escape from most parasitoids attacking external‐feeding sawflies; (2) the current enemies mainly consist of generalists that are shared with other leafmining taxa, and of more specialized lineages that may have diversified by shifting among heterarthrines; and (3) parasitoid–leafminer associations are influenced more by the phylogeny of the miners’ host plants than by relationships among miner species. Our results suggest that vertical diversifying forces have a significant—but not ubiquitous—role in speciation: many of the parasitoids have remained polyphagous despite niche diversification in the miners, and heterarthrine host shifts also seem to be strongly affected by host availability.
MPAS: a Connecting Platform for Integrating Wireless Sensor Network with Grid

It is an exciting explore to integrate wireless sensor network which acts as an infrastructure of sensing environment around with open grid computing system. The combination of the two systems poses many challenges. This paper has analyzed the key requisites of the connecting platform which can integrate sensor network with grid, and further described the architecture of wireless sensor grid. We also designed and developed such a connecting platform named MPAS. The advantage of MPAS is that it is based on Web service resource framework, with the ability of integrating multiple sensor networks with grid; also it can actuate sensor network and support interoperability among multiple sensor networks. The simulation results show that the notification mechanism which is restricted by the running resource is the key factor for getting sensor data successfully
Current matters of the heart

Cardiac function and the development and adaption of the cardiovascular system are among the classics in physiology and, as such, are also among the flagship topics in Acta Physiologica. We regularly revisit according topics as, for example, arterial hypertension, renal function and channelopathies, to provide you with an overview of the latest novel developments in the field. Cardiovascular disease accounts for a major disease burden and has for the recent decades been among the most intensively researched (and funded) topics in biomedicine. However, there have been repeated warnings of the “waning knowledge and expertise in integrative physiology,” a gap which had grown into a veritable risk factor when Sipido et al aimed at identifying current “needs and opportunities for advancing translational research in cardiovascular disease”. In 2002, John Hall, in a short editorial note, had already coined the term “translational physiology”. Therein, he explained that, through a translational approach in physiology, observations from basic science settings would “translate into improved patient care”, as results obtained initially in both clinical trials and population studies would be tested in preclinical models. What’s the big news, one might ask—Douglas R. Seals explained how translational physiology did indeed differ notably from traditional integrative and/or clinical physiology mainly by its “broad investigative scope of basic research to community health”. Cardiac physiology is undoubtedly of high translational potential. In 2002, Hall had noted a gap between, on the one hand, breakthrough advances in basic science, which, on the other, would only inadequately translate into a successful novel treatment strategies. He postulated three underlying causes: (i) a gradual decline in integrative physiology and clinical physiology over the previous years, (ii) the emergence of “two-track systems, with a research track and a clinical track, in academic medical centres” and (iii) a gradual decline of “integrative physiologists working at the whole animal level” in favour of a rise in research done at the cellular level and beyond. Acta Physiologica continues to provide a forum for both integrative and (sub)cellular approaches to cardiac physiology. Let us have a look at the latest news. 1 | CARDIAC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Fulminant Peripheral Neuropathy with Severe Quadriparesis Associated with Vincristine Therapy

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of fulminant neuropathy with severe quadriparesis associated with vincristine chemotherapy. CASE SUMMARY: A 48-year-old white man with acute lymphoblastic leukemia was started on an induction chemotherapeutic regimen that included intravenous vincristine. He received a total of 6 mg of vincristine over two weeks during induction chemotherapy. Over the next two weeks, he developed a fulminant peripheral neuropathy with severe quadriparesis. DISCUSSION: Although commonly associated with peripheral neuropathy, vincristine neurotoxicity only rarely involves instances of fulminant peripheral neuropathy with severe quadriparesis. Guillain-Barré syndrome is also associated with leukemia and may present as a fulminant peripheral neuropathy with severe quadriparesis. CONCLUSIONS: Fulminant neuropathy with severe quadriparesis occurring in patients with leukemia being treated with vincristine (and who do not have coexistent Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease) is more likely due to Guillain-Barré syndrome than to vincristine neurotoxicity.
Output regulation for a class of linear hybrid systems. Part 1: trajectory generation

In this paper the problem of generating zero error steady-state responses is addressed for a class of hybrid linear systems whose jumps are determined by time only. The procedure for the design of an automatic device generating the steady-state response and input is described. Once such device and a compensator ensuring incremental stability (see the companion paper) are available, the classical output regulation problem for the same class of hybrid linear systems can be immediately solved. Compared with previously available results, no assumption is needed on the plant about minimum phaseness, relative degree or squareness (same number of inputs and outputs). The key role of the zero dynamics and of the additional inputs (when the plant is fat) is highlighted.
Inverse kinematics of an equal length links planar hyper redundant manipulator using neural networks

An iterative method using the neural networks to solve the inverse kinematics problem for equal length links redundant manipulators is presented in this paper. The training phase, calculating the neural networks weights, is accomplished for a new proposed geometrical method to solve the problem of multi-solution caused by redundancy. The use of this geometrical method results in one solution among the infinite solutions of the inverse kinematics of the redundant manipulators. This method is very effective for avoiding the singularity problem because it guarantees that there is no lining up for two or more links. Another advantage for this method is that the angles between the links will be set between two maximum and minimum values. This means that the end-effecter can reach any point on the desired path and the angles between the links will not be less than the minimum limit or more than the maximum limit, which makes this method effective for joint limits. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this proposed method, experiments were conducted on an 8 links hyper redundant manipulator in this paper. In addition, the workspace of the manipulator is calculated for this proposed method.
Academic rankings considered harmful!

A CADEMIC RANKINGS HAVE a huge presence in academia. College rankings by U.S. News and World Report (US-NWR) help undergraduate students find the " perfect school. " Graduate-program rankings by USNWR are often the most significant decision-making factor for prospective graduate students. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (known also as the " Shanghai Ranking ") is one that attracts much attention from university presidents and governing boards. New academic rankings, of many different forms and flavors, have been popping up regularly over the last few years. Yet, there is also deep dissatisfaction in the academic community with the methodology of such rankings and with the outsize role that commercial entities play in the ranking business. The recent biennial meeting of the Computing Research Association (CRA) dedicated a session to this topic (see http://cra.org/ events/snowbird-2016/#agenda), asserting that " Many members of our community currently feel the need for an authoritative ranking of CS departments in North America " and asking " Should CRA be involved in creating a ranking? " The rationale for that idea is the computing research community will be better served by helping to create some " sensible rankings. " The methodology currently used by USNWR to rank computer-science graduate program is highly questionable. This ranking is based solely on " reputational standing " in which department chairs and graduate directors are asked to rank each graduate program on a 1–5 scale. Having participated in such reputational surveys for many years, I can testify that I spent about a second or two coming up with a score for the over 100 ranked programs. Obviously, very little contemplation went into my scores. In fact, my answers have clearly been influenced by prior-year rankings. It is a well-known " secret " that rankings of graduate programs of universities of outstanding reputation are buoyed by the halo effect of their parent institu-tions' reputations. Such reputational rankings have no academic value whatsoever, I believe, though they clearly play a major role in academic decision making. But the problem is deeper than the current flawed methodology of US-NWR's ranking of graduate programs. Academic rankings, in general, provide highly misleading ways to inform academic decision making by individuals. An academic program or unit is a highly complex entity with numerous attributes. An academic decision is typically a multi-objective optimization problem, in which the objective function is highly personal. A unidimen-sional ranking provides a …
Quaternary prevention and menopause

In current years, the specialty of mid-life health has been criticized for having become “over medicalized. ” Menopause and androgen deficiency of the male, which are supposed to be “physiologic” phenomena, are felt to have unnecessarily been branded “pathological” by some commentators. It is suggested that interest in the pathophysiology of aging has been created with a view to expanding the market for the pharmaceutical and the medical industry. [1]
Purification and partial characterization of neuraminidase from type III group B streptococci

Extracellular neuraminidase from a type III fresh clinical isolate of a group B streptococcus was purified by a combination of salt fractionation, affinity chromatography of Affi-Gel blue, ion-exchange chromatography on diethylaminoethylcellulose, and gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200. These procedures yielded enzyme which was purified approximately 1,000-fold compared with the enzyme found in the original supernatant fluid. This type III streptococcal neuraminidase had a molecular weight of approximately 125,000 as estimated by filtration on Sephacryl S-200 and approximately 106,000 when analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In contrast to the majority of other bacterial neuraminidases, the type III group B streptococcal enzyme had no effect on colominic acid or N-acetylneuramin-lactose; however, it was quite active on bovine submaxillary mucin.