Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of Self-Report Measures of Physical Activity

Abstract Accurate measurement of physical activity is fundamentally important in epidemiological research of physical activity behavior. A widely used telephone-based physical activity questionnaire was compared with other methods of administration and objective measures (pedometers and accelerometers) among 80 adults (43 women). The telephone questionnaire was comparable to both the self-administered form and international telephone-administered equivalent. Although moderate correlation coefficients with objective measures supported the use of the questionnaire, wide prediction intervals generated using Bland Altman methods highlighted large discrepancies between the measures, particularly in the moderate intensity category. These findings illustrate the limitations of correlation coefficients in validation studies and the inaccuracy of self-report questionnaires in measuring physical activity.
Environmental policy and directed technological change: Evidence from the European carbon market

Environmental policy and directed technological change: Evidence from the European carbon market / Raphael Calel et Antoine Dechezlepretre. FEEM, 2012, 36 p. (nota di lavoro ; 2012.022) http://www.feem. it/userfiles/attach/20124214884NDL2012-022.pdf The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) has aimed to encourage the development of low-carbon technologies by putting a price on carbon emissions. Using a newly constructed data set that links 8.5 million European companies with their .
Expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO) by neutrophils is necessary for their activation by anti‐neutrophil cytoplasm autoantibodies (ANCA) against MPO

Anti‐neutrophil cytoplasm autoantibodies (ANCA) directed against proteinase‐3 and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activate tumor necrosis factor‐α‐primed neutrophils in vitro. We used neutrophils from one completely and one partially MPO‐deficient donor to assess the requirement of MPO expression for neutrophil activation by anti‐MPO antibodies. The MPO deficiencies were defined enzymatically, by immunocytochemistry and by immunoblotting. The mutations in the MPO genes of these donors were identified as a combination of a novel splice‐site mutation at the 3′ end of intron 11 (A‐2→C), a deletion of 14 nucleotides in exon 9 (A1555–C1568), and a novel C1907 → T (636Thr→Met) substitution in exon 11 in the completely MPO‐deficient donor and as the same splice‐site mutation and a novel C995 → T (332Ala→Val) substitution in exon 7 in the partially MPO‐deficient donor. Monoclonal antibody 4.15 against MPO and MPO–ANCA–immunoglobulin G induced no superoxide anion production in these MPO‐deficient neutrophils despite a normal production induced by other stimuli. Thus, the presence of MPO is a conditio sine qua non for neutrophil activation by anti‐MPO antibodies. Moreover, we demonstrated that by means of these MPO‐deficient cells, hydrogen peroxide may diffuse from neutrophils to surrounding cells, which may contribute to the damage induced by oxygen radicals in the pathology of systemic vasculitides.
Potential for reduced methane and carbon dioxide emissions from livestock and pasture management in the tropics

We estimate the potential reductions in methane and carbon dioxide emissions from several livestock and pasture management options in the mixed and rangeland-based production systems in the tropics. The impacts of adoption of improved pastures, intensifying ruminant diets, changes in land-use practices, and changing breeds of large ruminants on the production of methane and carbon dioxide are calculated for two levels of adoption: complete adoption, to estimate the upper limit to reductions in these greenhouse gases (GHGs), and optimistic but plausible adoption rates taken from the literature, where these exist. Results are expressed both in GHG per ton of livestock product and in Gt CO2-eq. We estimate that the maximum mitigation potential of these options in the land-based livestock systems in the tropics amounts to approximately 7% of the global agricultural mitigation potential to 2030. Using historical adoption rates from the literature, the plausible mitigation potential of these options could contribute approximately 4% of global agricultural GHG mitigation. This could be worth on the order of $1.3 billion per year at a price of $20 per t CO2-eq. The household-level and sociocultural impacts of some of these options warrant further study, however, because livestock have multiple roles in tropical systems that often go far beyond their productive utility.
Osmotic responses and tolerance limits to changes in external osmolalities, and oolemma permeability characteristics, of human in vitro matured MII oocytes.

BACKGROUND Oocyte cryopreservation remains a realistic objective, provided that more systematic approaches are applied, such as thorough analysis of the oocyte oolemma permeability to water and diverse cryoprotectants. METHODS We prospectively investigated volume changes over time at different temperatures (30 degrees C, 22 degrees C and 8 degrees C) of human metaphase II (MII) oocytes (obtained in stimulated ICSI cycles and matured in vitro from the germinal vesicle stage) when exposed to changes in external osmolality. We also investigated human in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes membrane permeability characteristics at 22 degrees C to 1,2-propanediol (PG) and dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) and at 30 degrees C, 22 degrees C and 8 degrees C to ethylene glycol (EG), and calculated corresponding oocyte oolemma permeability coefficients (Lp and Pcpa). Furthermore, we investigated the osmotic tolerance limits of IVM oocytes exposed to changes in external osmolality as assessed by their developmental competence during the course of 72 h after ICSI. RESULTS The results of our studies describe human oocyte membrane permeability coefficients for EG at 30 degrees C (2.85+/-0.15x10(-3) cm/min), 22 degrees C (1.17+/-0.60x10(-3) cm/min) and 8 degrees C (0.37+/-0.15x10(-3) cm/min). Furthermore, at 22 degrees C the EG oolemma permeability coefficient was lower than that of PG and DMSO (1.17+/-0.60x10(-3) cm/min versus 2.15+/-0.70x10(-3) and 1.56+/-0.38x10(-3) cm/min, respectively). Our results also indicate, that human IVM MII oocytes tolerated exposure to solutions in the range of 39-2264 mOsmol/kg H2O as assessed by the oocytes' developmental competence after exposure. CONCLUSIONS The results of the present study may contribute to a better understanding of the biology and cryobiology of human oocytes, and to the design of better and more robust cryopreservation (freezing or vitrification) protocols.
Emergency plans support systems: Integration of safety and security operational procedures

IBM IOC (Intelligent Operations Center) is a high potential computational platform with an exponential growth margin, that can be applied in many areas dealing with efficiency and smarter city development, by assisting its daily needs, along with the organization of large scale Festivities. In this work we present the application of this platform to Festa dos Tabuleiros (Trays Festival), which takes place every four years in the historic area of the city of Tomar, facing a number of challenges for the concerned authorities, addressing a set of needs raised by visitor safety and security issues. The resulting system, built around IOC, provides the authorities and general public a single powerful tool with direct impact on the management of the Festival.
On the performance of NCC-OFDMA systems in the presence of carrier frequency offset

Network coded cooperative (NCC) systems have recently gained increasing attention due to their high power and spectral efficiency. For high speed data transmission over frequency-selective channels, NCC is further combined with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). In this paper, we derive outage probability and diversity gain of NCC-OFDMA systems in the presence of carrier frequency offset (CFO). Our results demonstrate that NCC-OFDMA system is capable to achieve full spatial and frequency diversity in noise limited system where the CFO variance σ2ε → 0. However, in interference limited case where the CFO variance σ2ε > 0, error floor occurs leading zero diversity gain. Numerical results are further presented to validate our analytical findings.
Prognosis of colorectal cancer in the elderly

The prognosis of colorectal cancer in the elderly was examined in a study of 306 consecutive patients. The patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 included 171 patients of average age 77 years (range 70–97); Group 2 comprised 135 patients of average age 59 years (range 22‐69). There was no significant difference between the two groups with regard to the mode of presentation, the location and Dukes' classification of the tumours, the incidence of palliative operations, and the perioperative mortality. The surgical mortality rates in Group 1 were 6 per cent overall, 4 per cent after elective operations, and 16 per cent after emergency surgery; the corresponding mortality rates for Group 2 were 3 per cent, 1 per cent, and 20 per cent. Emergency surgery was associated with a significantly higher incidence of perioperative death at any age (P<0.001) and most deaths resulted from complications of coexisting medical disorders or thrombo‐embolic complications. Crude actuarial 5‐year survival curves showed an increased death rate in Group 1 after 18 months and a significantly lower 5‐year survival (P<0.05) but the age‐corrected survival curves for the two groups were not significantly different, and it was concluded that the prognosis for colorectal cancer in the elderly is not significantly different from that of younger patients.
Momordica charantia extracts ameliorate insulin resistance by regulating the expression of SOCS-3 and JNK in type 2 diabetes mellitus rats

Abstract Context: Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) has long been widely used as a traditional remedy for diabetes mellitus in some countries. However, detailed antidiabetic mechanisms are largely unknown. Objectives: This study clarified the ameliorating effects of M. charantia ethanol extracts (MCE) on the insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats. Materials and methods: T2DM rat model was established by high-fat diet and streptozotocin (STZ) injection. Diabetic rats were randomized into five groups: the model control group (n = 8) (common diet), the high-fat diet metformin (50 mg/kg/d), and the three-dose MCE (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/d) groups (n = 8 each). After 8 weeks, the fasting serum glucose, insulin, TNF-α, and IL-6 were measured, and the relevant factors of glucose and insulin were monitored by glycogen dyeing, RT-PCR, and western blot, respectively. Results: The 8-week treatment of 400 mg/kg MCE significantly lowered body weight (330.1 versus 365.9 g), serum glucose (7.41 versus 16.63 mmol/L), insulin (12.06 versus 15.89 mIU/L), TNF-α (52.72 versus 81.83 ng/L), and IL-6 (104.81 versus 135.74 ng/L) in comparison with those of the diabetic control group (p < 0.05). It was the same for skeletal muscle glucose transporter 4 (GLUT-4) protein, and glycogen level, suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS-3), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and Akt expression at both protein and mRNA levels in liver (p < 0.05). Conclusions: MCE can ameliorate insulin resistance in T2DM rats. This effect may be related to the regulation of mRNA and protein levels of SOCS-3 and JNK.
Role of sialic acid in saliva-mediated aggregation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from cystic fibrosis patients

The mechanism of saliva-mediated aggregation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in subjects with and without cystic fibrosis (CF) was investigated. Virtually all saliva from CF patients that we tested strongly agglutinated the Pseudomonas cells and was heat stable to 56 degrees C, whereas saliva from subjects without CF had a decreased aggregating ability and was heat sensitive. When saliva was treated with neuraminidase and proteases, and also when P. aeruginosa cells were treated with mixed gangliosides, there was a decrease in aggregating activities. However, neither the addition of the acid-hydrolyzed ganglioside nor the treatment of the P. aeruginosa cells by sugars had any effect on subsequent aggregating activities. Therefore, the release of sialic acid by enzymatic treatments of saliva, as well as the blockage of the sialic acid-binding sites on the cell wall by mixed gangliosides, resulted in the parallel loss of saliva-mediated aggregating activity of P. aeruginosa. The level of free sialic acid released by endogenous neuraminidase was higher in the saliva from CF patients than in that from the non-CF subjects examined. The increased aggregation of P. aeruginosa mediated by saliva from patients with CF seems to be directly related to the sialic acid content present, suggesting that this acid molecule acts as the salivary receptor for P. aeruginosa.
Changes in vesicular transporters for γ‐aminobutyric acid and glutamate reveal vulnerability and reorganization of hippocampal neurons following pilocarpine‐induced seizures

The reorganizations of the overall intrinsic glutamatergic and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐ergic hippocampal networks as well as the time course of these reorganizations during development of pilocarpine‐induced temporal lobe epilepsy were studied with in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry experiments for the vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1) and the vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT). These transporters are particularly interesting as specific markers for glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons, respectively, whose expression levels could reflect the demand for synaptic transmission and their average activity. We report that 1) concomitantly with the loss of some subpopulations of VGAT‐containing neurons, there was an up‐regulation of VGAT synthesis in all remaining GABA neurons as early as 1 week after pilocarpine injection. This enhanced synthesis is characterized by marked increases in the relative amount of VGAT mRNAs in interneurons associated with increased intensity of axon terminal labeling for VGAT in all hippocampal layers. 2) There was a striking loss of mossy cells during the latent period, demonstrated by a long‐term decrease of VGLUT1 mRNA‐containing hilar neurons and associated loss of VGLUT1‐containing terminals in the dentate gyrus inner molecular layer. 3) There were aberrant VGLUT1‐containing terminals at the chronic stage resulting from axonal sprouting of granule and pyramidal cells. This is illustrated by a recovery of VGLUT1 immunoreactivity in the inner molecular layer and an increased VGLUT1 immunolabeling in the CA1–CA3 dendritic layers. These data indicate that an increased activity of remaining GABAergic interneurons occurs during the latent period, in parallel with the loss of vulnerable glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons preceding the reorganization of glutamatergic networks. J. Comp. Neurol. 503:466–485, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Significance of extracellular enveloped virus in the in vitro and in vivo dissemination of vaccinia.

The significance of extracellular enveloped vaccinia (EEV) for the in vitro and in vivo dissemination of vaccinia virus was investigated. The quantity of in vitro released extracellular virus correlated very closely with the ability of 13 vaccinia strains to cause long-range spread of infection (comet formation) in cell cultures infected at low m.o. i. but was not correlated with plaque size. The kinetics of virus spread after low m.o. i. was related to the amount of virus released from primary infected cells but not to their content of intracellular naked vaccinia (INV). Most extracellular vaccinia virus from IHD-J-infected RK-13 cells banded in CsCl density gradients as EEV (88%) while very little banded as INV (2%). Antisera to the enveloped prevented comet formation while antisera to INV did not. CsCl centrifugation of blood-borne extracellular virus from rabbits infected intravenously with vaccinia virus after cyclophosphamide treatment revealed that 64% of the virus banded as EEV but only 11% as INV. High in vitro EEV-yielding vaccinia strains were able to spread from the respiratory tract to the brains of mice and cause death. Low in vitro EEV-yielding vaccinia strains were generally not able to disseminate in vivo or cause mouse mortality. The notable exception to this trend was strain WR, which, although releasing small amounts of virus in vitro, could nevertheless very effectively disseminate in vivo, causing a high rate of mouse mortality. Treatment with anti-envelope serum protected mice from a lethal vaccinia infection whereas antiserum to inactivated INV did not. These results indicate that the in vitro dissemination of vaccinia infection is mediated by EEV and implicate EEV as having a role in the in vivo dissemination.
Incidence, population, and survival of cystic fibrosis in the UK, 1968–95

The UK Cystic Fibrosis Survey holds data on all people resident in the UK who were diagnosed as having cystic fibrosis and born either since 1968 or before 1968 and alive in 1977. Thus, incidence may be reported from 1968 and prevalence from 1977.The previous estimates are updated to the end of 1995 from data held in the database on 23 August 1996. The incidence is now calculated as one in 2415 live births. The 1992 mid-year population was 6500 people with 65% aged under 16 years. Births outnumber deaths by 160 per year, which suggests a population of 7750 by the year 2000, with all the increase being in the adult age range. The survival of successive cohorts continues to be better than earlier cohorts, the linear descent of the curves is still evident. The infant mortality rate for cystic fibrosis is now under 20 per thousand per year and early childhood mortality is under five per thousand per year. The crude mortality rate for 1995 was 21 per thousand per year, but the standardised mortality ratio was about 3300.
Presence of human T lymphotropic virus type I in two patients with progressive myelopathy in Puerto Rico

Two patients from Puerto Rico with progressive paraparesis had serum positive for human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) antibodies by ELISA and Western blot, and one patient had HTLV-I antibodies in CSF by the ELISA method. Although the Caribbean basin is considered to be an endemic area for tropical spastic paraparesis, this is the first report of the isolation of HTLV-I antibodies in the serum and CSF of patients with chronic myelopathies in Puerto Rico.
Role of configurational gating in intracomplex electron transfer from cytochrome c to the radical cation in cytochrome c peroxidase.

Electron transfer within complexes of cytochrome c (Cc) and cytochrome c peroxidase (CcP) was studied to determine whether the reactions are gated by fluctuations in configuration. Electron transfer in the physiological complex of yeast Cc (yCc) and CcP was studied using the Ru-39-Cc derivative, in which the H39C/C102T variant of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c is labeled at the single cysteine residue on the back surface with trisbipyridylruthenium(II). Laser excitation of the 1:1 Ru-39-Cc-CcP compound I complex at low ionic strength results in rapid electron transfer from RuII to heme c FeIII, followed by electron transfer from heme c FeII to the Trp-191 indolyl radical cation with a rate constant keta of 2 x 10(6) s-1 at 20 degrees C. keta is not changed by increasing the viscosity up to 40 cP with glycerol and is independent of temperature. These results suggest that this reaction is not gated by fluctuations in the configuration of the complex, but may represent the elementary electron transfer step. The value of keta is consistent with the efficient pathway for electron transfer in the crystalline yCc-CcP complex, which has a distance of 16 A between the edge of heme c and the Trp-191 indole [Pelletier, H. , and Kraut, J. (1992) Science 258, 1748-1755]. Electron transfer in the complex of horse Cc (hCc) and CcP was examined using Ru-27-Cc, in which hCc is labeled with trisbipyridylruthenium(II) at Lys-27. Laser excitation of the Ru-27-Cc-CcP complex results in electron transfer from RuII to heme c FeII with a rate constant k1 of 2.3 x 10(7) s-1, followed by oxidation of the Trp-191 indole to a radical cation by RuIII with a rate constant k3 of 7 x 10(6) s-1. The cycle is completed by electron transfer from heme c FeII to the Trp-191 radical cation with a rate constant k4 of 6.1 x 10(4) s-1. The rate constant k4 decreases to 3.4 x 10(3) s-1 as the viscosity is increased to 84 cP, but the rate constants k1 and k3 remain the same. The results are consistent with a gating mechanism in which the Ru-27-Cc-CcP complex undergoes fluctuations between a major state A with the configuration of the hCc-CcP crystalline complex and a minor state B with the configuration of the yCc-CcP complex. The hCc-CcP complex, state A, has an inefficient pathway for electron transfer from heme c to the Trp-191 indolyl radical cation with a distance of 20.5 A and a predicted value of 5 x 10(2) s-1 for k4A. The observed rate constant k4 is thus gated by the rate constant ka for conversion of state A to state B, where the rate of electron transfer k4B is expected to be 2 x 10(6) s-1. The temperature dependence of k4 provides activation parameters that are consistent with the proposed gating mechanism. These studies provide evidence that configurational gating does not control electron transfer in the physiological yCc-CcP complex, but is required in the nonphysiological hCc-CcP complex.
Isoprenyl diphosphate synthases: Protein sequence comparisons, a phylogenetic tree, and predictions of secondary structure

Isoprenyl diphosphate synthases are ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze the basic chain‐elongation reaction in the isoprene biosynthetic pathway. Pairwise sequence comparisons were made for 6 farnesyl diphosphate synthases, 6 geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthases, and a hexaprenyl diphosphate synthase. Five regions with highly conserved residues, two of which contain aspartate‐rich DDXX(XX)D motifs found in many prenyltransferases, were identified. A consensus secondary structure for the group, consisting mostly of α‐helices, was predicted for the multiply aligned sequences from amino acid compositions, computer assignments of local structure, and hydropathy indices. Progressive sequence alignments suggest that the 13 isoprenyl diphosphate synthases evolved from a common ancestor into 3 distinct clusters. The most distant separation is between yeast hexaprenyl diphosphate synthetase and the other enzymes. Except for the chromoplastic geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase from Capsicum annuum, the remaining farnesyl and geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthases segregate into prokaryotic/archaebacterial and eukaryotic families.
Zero-Outage Delay-Aware Adaptive Modulation for Flat Fading Channels

We present an adaptive modulation policy that provides delay-throughput balance for data packet transmission over flat fading channels. The proposed policy is based on uninterrupted data transmission (zero-outage) and achieves low packet-delay while satisfies certain average BER constraints. Such delay and BER control is not an obstacle to achieve an average spectral efficiency close to that obtained by maximum spectral efficiency adaptation policies. Both continuous and discrete rate adaptation are considered