Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Content and In Vitro Release of Endogenous Amino Acids in the Area of the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract of the Rat

Abstract: We sought to identify amino acid neurotransmitter candidates within the nucleus of the solitary tract in rats. Twenty endogenous amino acids were quantified by reverse‐phase HPLC with fluorescence detection (30‐fmol limit). Mi‐cropunches (1 mm) of the intermediate area of the solitary nucleus were prepared, and the amino acid content determined. Of all the components measured, the putative transmitters Glu, Gly, γ‐aminobutyric acid, taurine, Asp, and Ala appeared in greatest concentrations. Bilateral micropunches superfused in vitro with buffered medium containing 56 mM potassium released Glu, γ‐aminobutyric acid, and Gly in a significant manner (p < 0.05) compared with basal levels. With Glu, 78% was calcium‐dependent and, therefore, presumably from nerve endings; 99% of γ‐aminobutyric acid and 42% of Gly were dependent on calcium. After removal of the nodose ganglion, a bilateral decrease in the calcium‐dependent release of Glu and γ‐aminobutyric acid, but not Gly, was observed; decreases were significant ipsilateral to the site of ablation. We conclude that (a) Glu is a transmitter of primary afferents in the nucleus of the solitary tract; (b) glutamatergic afferents may interact with γ‐aminobutyric acid system(s) in this region; (c) Gly also may participate in the mediation and/or modulation of cardiovascular or other visceral reflexes; and (d) amino acid neurotransmission may play an integral role in the neurogenic control of arterial pressure
Postpartum Varicose Veins: Supplementation with Pycnogenol or Elastic Compression—A 12-Month Follow-Up

Abstract This open registry aimed to evaluate the clinical evolution of postpartum varicose veins (VVs), in healthy women after the second pregnancy, how these veins regain shape and competence, and possible treatments. The registry included two groups of women: (1) those who used elastic compression stockings, and (2) who used an oral venotonic agent (Pycnogenol, 100 mg/d). A total of 12 evaluation targets were established. Minor symptoms were scored in an analogue scale line. A visual analogue scale line evaluated the overall satisfaction relative to elastic compression or Pycnogenol. Overall 133 women completed the registry evaluation with at least 3 months of follow-up. The resulting two registry groups were comparable. At 3 and 6 months in the Pycnogenol group the number of veins and incompetent sites were lower. At 6 months there were 13.3% of patients with edema in controls versus 3.2% in the Pycnogenol group. Spider veins decreased in Pycnogenol patients. Cramps and other minor symptoms were less common in the Pycnogenol group. In both groups there was a significant improvement at 6 months with better results in the Pycnogenol group. The need for treatment was limited with a decreased need for sclerotherapy, surgery, and conservative treatments in the Pycnogenol group. The overall satisfaction was higher among Pycnogenol patients, and compliance was optimal. Re-evaluation at 12 months indicated that the variations in VVs and spider vein clusters and the associated symptoms did not change. Most remodeling appeared to happen within 6 months after the pregnancy. It was concluded that the use of Pycnogenol improves signs/symptoms of postpartum VVs, and venous function and shape seem to return faster to prepartum, physiological pattern with its use.
Evaluation of Methods for Estimating Fractal Dimension in Motor Imagery-Based Brain Computer Interface

A brain computer interface BCI enables direct communication between a brain and a computer translating brain activity into computer commands using preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification operations. Feature extraction is crucial, as it has a substantial effect on the classification accuracy and speed. While fractal dimension has been successfully used in various domains to characterize data exhibiting fractal properties, its usage in motor imagery-based BCI has been more recent. In this study, commonly used fractal dimension estimation methods to characterize time series Katz's method, Higuchi's method, rescaled range method, and Renyi's entropy were evaluated for feature extraction in motor imagery-based BCI by conducting offline analyses of a two class motor imagery dataset. Different classifiers fuzzy k-nearest neighbours FKNN, support vector machine, and linear discriminant analysis were tested in combination with these methods to determine the methodology with the best performance. This methodology was then modified by implementing the time-dependent fractal dimension TDFD, differential fractal dimension, and differential signals methods to determine if the results could be further improved. Katz's method with FKNN resulted in the highest classification accuracy of 85%, and further improvements by 3% were achieved by implementing the TDFD method.
Individualism as Threat to Patriotism: An Outlook on Students as Social Media User

The aims of this paper is to investigate the perception of patriotism concept among students who also a social media user and how the individualism values can possibly be a threat to patriotic values among them. Data collected using qualitative research methods by implementing convenience sampling methods. A total of six students were involved in the interview session. The findings of the research suggested that the informants agreed the most common concept of patriotism are pride and love towards the country and individualism has connection with freedom of speech, autonomy and uniqueness. The spreading and sharing of global values that fought personal rights more important than the right of the community through the internet and the social media caused the erosion of patriotism in modern society but not necessary give impact to their patriotic values. Freedom to respond, use and commenting in social media including sensitive issues like race and religion give new challenges to the unity of the Malaysian people. Therefore, existence of the patriotism is an important medium in defending a country with its own identity.
Ultra-structure and localisation of formazan formed by human neutrophils and amoebae phagocytosing virulent and avirulent Legionella pneumophila.

Legionella pneumophila (LP) strains of differing virulence were incubated with a solution of nitroblue-tetrazolium (NBT) at a concentration of 1 mg.ml-1 in the presence of Acanthamoeba polyphaga or human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). Reduction of NBT to formazan occurred at a faster rate in the presence of virulent strains. Reduction appeared to be temperature dependent; at 37 degrees C the reaction rate was higher than at 20 degrees C. On microscopic examination, deposits of formazan around Legionella cells were observed inside amoebae similar to those deposited in human neutrophils. Electron microscopy revealed electron-dense particles surrounding virulent legionellae, which appeared to be associated with formazan formation. Formazan formation inside amoebae may suggest the presence of a respiratory burst against LP, which is more intense with virulent strains.
A survey on political event analysis in Twitter

This short survey paper attempts to provide an overview of the most recent research works on the popular politics domain within the framework of the Twitter social network. Given both the political turmoil that arouse at the end of 2016 and early 2017, and the increasing popularity of social networks in general, and Twitter, in particular, we feel that this topic forms an attractive candidate for fellow data mining researchers that came into sight over the last few months. Herein, we start by presenting a brief overview of our motivation and continue with basic information on the Twitter platform, which constitutes two clearly identifiable components, namely as an online news source and as one of the most popular social networking sites. Focus is then given to research works dealing with sentiment analysis in political topics and opinion polls, whereas we continue by reviewing the Twittersphere from the computational social science point of view, by including behavior analysis, social interaction and social influence identification methods and by discerning and discriminating its useful types within the social network, thus envisioning possible further utilization scenarios for the collected information. A short discussion on the identified conclusions and a couple of future research directions concludes the survey.
Conservative management of bilateral choanal atresia? Bilateral choanal atresia diagnosed in a 5-year-old girl

Choanal atresia (CA) is an obliteration or blockage of the posterior nasal aperture, limiting or obstructing the nasal airway to the nasopharynx. The presentation of unilateral CA commonly occurs at a later age than those children affected by bilateral CA (BCA) and can often persist undiagnosed into adulthood. BCA, on the other hand, typically presents with respiratory obstruction within the first few days of life, or desaturations with or without cyanosis when feeding or during exertion and traditional teaching is that this is a life-threatening emergency. We present the case of a 5-year-old girl referred to our department with nasal obstruction, snoring and some mild rhinorrhoea. After investigation she was found to have a mixed bony and membranous BCA and no other craniofacial abnormalities. The BCA was subsequently repaired using urethral dilators and a drill and the child is currently asymptomatic of any restenosis. This case prompts discussion of the various presentations and options in management of CA as well as allowing us an opportunity to discuss the literature on the subject.
Location Discovery for Three-Dimensional Sensor-Actor Networks Using Alternating Combination Quadrilateration

Location discovery is to determine the coordinates of nodes in a sensor-actor networks which refer to a group of sensors and actors linked by wireless medium to perform distributed sensing and acting tasks. Most previously proposed algorithms to the problem assume that nodes are deployed in planar area. However, these algorithms are unable to locate nodes of three-dimensional networks. In this paper, we present an alternating combination quadrilateration algorithm based on the relative position of nodes for three-dimensional deployment. Our algorithm determines the location of unknown nodes by employing nonoutlier tetrahedrons, weighted function and weighted polyhedron. This algorithm can also be applied to two-dimensional networks. Furthermore, it can significantly improve the localization accuracy. Numerical simulations verify its performance and robustness
El Trastorno Obsesivo-Compulsivo: Escuchando las voces ocultas

Esta investigacion parte desde un acercamiento biopsicosocial y empleo una metodologia cualitativa para conocer como las personas diagnosticadas con Trastorno Obsesivo-Compulsivo (TOC) significan el vivir con dicha condicion. Participaron nueve personas diagnosticadas con TOC. Perciben el TOC como una entidad externa, que esta en contra de sus valores. Presentan dificultades relacionadas a empleos, relaciones de amistad y de pareja. Las relaciones familiares se han impactado negativamente. Personas con una actitud positiva han logrado metas personales y profesionales, incidiendo en una mejor autoestima. Se identificaron problemas con la adherencia al tratamiento. Explican ser victimas de burlas y comentarios despectivos por su condicion. Expresan que entienden van a lograr superar la condicion o al menos mantenerse estable.
The Structure of Human β-Defensin-2 Shows Evidence of Higher Order Oligomerization*

Defensins are small cationic peptides that are crucial components of innate immunity, serving as both antimicrobial agents and chemoattractant molecules. The specific mechanism of antimicrobial activity involves permeabilization of bacterial membranes. It has been postulated that individual monomers oligomerize to form a pore through anionic membranes, although the evidence is only indirect. Here, we report two high resolution x-ray structures of human β-defensin-2 (hBD2). The phases were experimentally determined by the multiwavelength anomalous diffraction method, utilizing a novel, rapid method of derivatization with halide ions. Although the shape and charge distribution of the monomer are similar to those of other defensins, an additional α-helical region makes this protein topologically distinct from the mammalian α- and β-defensin structures reported previously. hBD2 forms dimers topologically distinct from that of human neutrophil peptide-3. The quaternary octameric arrangement of hBD2 is conserved in two crystal forms. These structures provide the first detailed description of dimerization of β-defensins, and we postulate that the mode of dimerization of hBD2 is representative of other β-defensins. The structural and electrostatic properties of the hBD2 octamer support an electrostatic charge-based mechanism of membrane permeabilization by β-defensins, rather than a mechanism based on formation of bilayer-spanning pores.
Efficient Clustering for Large-Scale, Sparse, Discrete Data with Low Fundamental Resolution

Scalable algorithm design has become central in the era of large-scale data analysis. My contribution to this line of research is the design of new algorithms for scalable clustering and data reduction, by exploiting inherent low-dimensional structure in the input data to overcome the challenges of significant amounts of missing entries. I demonstrate that, by focusing on a property of the data that we call its fundamental resolution, we can improve the efficiency of clustering methods on sparse, discrete-valued data sets.
Influence of Calving Season, Body Condition and Supplementation on Postpartum Ovarian Activity of Crossbred Cows under Mixed Pasture Grazing in Northern Guárico State, Venezuela

A objeto de medir la influencia de la epoca de parto, la condicion corporal y la suplementacion sobre los cambios en la actividad ovarica antes de los 90 dias post-parto, 60 vacas adultas mestizas pastoreando pastos nativos, Panicum maximun y Cynodon sp. , fueron seleccionadas y distribuidas al azar en dos tratamientos: T1= pastoreo + suplementacion (bloque multinutricional, BM) pre-parto (45 dias) y post-parto (90 dias); T2 = Pastoreo + suplementacion (BM) post-parto (90 dias). Se hicieron las siguientes mediciones: altura a la cruz (AC), peso corporal (PC) y condicion corporal (CC). Progesterona en leche descremada y la actividad ovarica fueron medidas dos 2 veces/ semana. El forraje y el BM fueron analizados por epoca y el consumo fue registrado semanalmente. Las variables estudiadas fueron: Tratamiento (T1T2); Epoca de parto (EP): 1 (abril-mayo), 2 (junio-septiembre) y 3 (octubre-enero); AC; CC: pobre (2), moderada (≥ 2,5) y buena (>3), nivel de progesterona (NP) y numero de foliculos por clase I (≤5mm), II (6-9mm) y III (≥10 mm). AC fue usada como covariable. Los datos fueron
Novel substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based power amplifier using SIW-based filter to suppress up to the fourth harmonic

In this paper, a novel 10W substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based GaN HEMT power amplifier (PA) using SIW-based filter in both input and output matching networks to suppress up to the 4th harmonic of 2.14 GHz is analyzed, fabricated, and tested. By connecting two SIW-based stubs with one microstrip-based stub, applying the cutoff frequency characteristic of post-wall waveguide structure, the SIW-based filter which can suppress up to the 4th harmonic of 2.14 GHz is achieved. With measured result, the insertion loss of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th harmonics of 2.16 GHz is better than 33 dB, 15 dB, and 20 dB, respectively. Using this proposed SIW-based filter in both input and output matching networks to suppress harmonic components, one SIW-based PA designed at 2.14 GHz is fabricated and tested. Measured results show that, the maximum power added efficiency (PAE) is 61.4% with output power 39.1 dBm at 2.14GHz. The measured maximum gain is 16.1 dB with output power 33.6 dBm.
Clipping of very large or giant unruptured intracranial aneurysms in the anterior circulation: an outcome study.

OBJECT Patients with very large or giant unruptured intracranial aneurysms present with ischemic stroke and progressive disability. The aneurysm rupture risk in these patients is extreme-up to 50% in 5 years. In this study the authors investigated the outcome of surgical treatment for these very large aneurysms in the anterior circulation. METHODS Clinical data on 62 patients who underwent surgery for unruptured aneurysms (20-60 mm) between 1998 and 2006 were reviewed. RESULTS Complete aneurysm occlusion (100%) was achieved in 90% of cases, near complete occlusion (90-99%) in 5%. The surgical risk in patients younger than 50 years of age was 8% (Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 1 or 3 within 1 year after surgery). In older patients, the risk increased with advancing age. CONCLUSIONS The treatment of very large or giant unruptured intracranial aneurysms is hazardous and complex and thus best performed only at major cerebrovascular centers with an experienced team of neurosurgeons, interventional neuroradiologists, neurologists, and neuroanesthesiologists. Surgery, with acceptable risks and excellent occlusion rates, is typically the treatment of choice in patients younger than 50 years of age. In older patients, the benefits of endovascular treatment versus surgery versus no treatment must be carefully weighed individually. Minimizing temporary occlusion and the consequent use of intraoperative angiography may help reduce surgical complications.
99mTc-sulfur colloid gastroesophageal scintigraphy with late lung imaging to evaluate patients with posterior laryngitis.

UNLABELLED The aim of this study was to use gastroesophageal and pulmonary scintigraphy to evaluate the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux and airway involvement among patients with posterior laryngitis. METHODS The study included a total of 201 patients (131 females, 70 males; age range, 15-77 y; mean age +/- SD, 49 +/- 16 y). All patients had posterior laryngitis documented by laryngoscopy and symptoms such as a dry cough, painful swallowing, and hoarseness. A control population of 20 healthy volunteers (13 females, 7 males; age range, 19-74 y; mean age, 53 +/- 13 y) was also evaluated. After a 12-h fast, all subjects underwent gastroesophageal scintigraphy through administration of 300 mL orange juice labeled with 185 MBq 99mTc-sulfur colloid. After 18 h, planar anteroposterior thoracic images were acquired with the subjects supine. RESULTS Sixty-seven percent of patients (134/201) had scans positive for gastroesophageal reflux; of these, 30 (22%) had distal reflux and 104 (78%) had proximal reflux. In addition, the scans of 31 patients were positive for proximal reflux-associated pulmonary uptake. The frequency, duration, and degree of reflux episodes were significantly greater in patients with proximal reflux than in patients with distal reflux (P < 0.001). The 67 patients in whom reflux was not detected had diseases or reflux-associated cofactors that could account for laryngeal symptoms. No statistically significant difference in symptoms or esophageal motility parameters could be identified among the patient groups, but patients with proximal reflux had significantly prolonged gastric emptying times compared with healthy volunteers. CONCLUSION Most patients with posterior laryngitis had detectable proximal gastroesophageal reflux. Exposure of the proximal part of the esophagus to acid, by setting the stage for microaspiration of gastric material into the larynx, remains a major cause of damage to the laryngeal mucosa. Slowed gastric emptying may be a predisposing factor. Moreover, symptoms such as a dry cough, painful swallowing, or hoarseness may not be reliable predictors of the presence of gastroesophageal reflux or of associated airway involvement.
Oncogenic properties of sphingosine kinases in haematological malignancies

The sphingosine kinases (SphKs) have relatively recently been implicated in contributing to malignant cellular processes with particular interest in the oncogenic properties of SPHK1. Whilst SPHK1 has received considerable attention as a putative oncoprotein, SPHK2 has been much more difficult to study, with often conflicting data surrounding its role in cancer. Initial studies focused on non‐haemopoietic malignancies, however a growing body of literature on the role of sphingolipid metabolism in haemopoietic malignancies is now emerging. This review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge of the SphKs and the bioactive lipid sphingosine 1‐phosphate (S1P), the product of the reaction they catalyse. It then reviews the current literature regarding the roles of S1P and the SphKs in haemopoietic malignancies and discusses the compounds currently available that modulate sphingolipid metabolism and their potential and shortcomings as therapeutic agents for the treatment of haematological malignancies.
The prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in hookah smokers

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Hookah smoking is growing worldwide and particularly in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of obstructive pulmonary dysfunction in hookah smokers. We conducted a population-based study in Bushehr Province, Iran. A total of 245 subjects aged 35 years or older who were taking hookah for at least 15 years and 245 healthy controls were enrolled in the study and spirometry was done. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS for windows software version 19. The prevalence of COPD among the exposed group of hookah smoke was 10.2%, with the rate being significantly higher in the patients with older age (p < 0.001), duration of hookah smoking (p < 0.001), men (p = 0.026), ≥3 hookahs/day (p = 0.006), history of cough for ≥2 years (p = 0.002), in patients with a history of sputum for ≥2 years (p = 0.031), and in patients with a history of dyspnea for ≥2 years (p = 0.001). The results of the logistic regression analysis demonstrated that older age, male gender, smoking, and occupational exposure were independent predictive factors for COPD. The results of our study suggest that hookah smoking significantly increases the risk of COPD. Given the importance of COPD in the global burden of diseases, it is necessary to carry out further studies on the relationship between hookah use and COPD.
Real-Time Edge Follow: A Real-Time Path Search Approach

Real-time path search is the problem of searching a path from a starting point to a goal point in real-time. In dynamic and partially observable environments, agents need to observe the environment to track changes, explore to learn unknowns, and search suitable routes to reach the goal rapidly. These tasks frequently require real-time search. In this paper, we address the problem of real-time path search for grid-type environments; we propose an effective heuristic method, namely a real-time edge follow alternative reduction method (RTEF-ARM), which makes use of perceptual information in a real-time search. We developed several heuristics powered by the proposed method. Finally, we generated various grids (random-, maze-, and U-type), and compared our proposal with real-time A*, and its extended version real-time A* with n-look-ahead depth; we obtained very significant improvements in the solution quality.