Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential vasoconstrictor potencies of free fatty acids in the lung vasculature: 2-versus 3-series prostanoid generation.

Pulmonary vasoconstrictor potencies of the 2- and 3-series prostanoid precursors arachidonic acid (AA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) were compared with each other and three reference fatty acids [palmitic acid (PAL), oleic acid (OA) and eicosatrienoic acid (ETA)]. Dose-effect curves were established from transient pulmonary artery pressor responses (approximately 5-50 mm Hg) evoked by intravascular application of nonesterified fatty acids in buffer-perfused rabbit lungs. Release of di- and trienoic prostanoids into the recirculating perfusate was quantified by a post high-performance liquid chromatography enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. EPA and the three reference fatty acids were used in concentrations up to 10 microM; the rank order of vasoconstrictor potencies was ETA < PAL < OA < EPA. In contrast, AA evoked even larger pressor responses at concentrations two orders of magnitude lower (up to 80 nM). All fatty acids induced both thromboxane A2 and prostaglandin I2 release, ranking with ETA approximately PAL approximately OA < EPA as established for 10 microM concentrations; the dienoic prostanoid release in response to 80 nM AA approximated that elicited by 10 microM EPA. The n-3 fatty acid, however, provoked the liberation of excessive quantities of thromboxane A3 and prostaglandin I3, which surpassed the respective 2-series prostanoids 15- to 20-fold; no 3-series cyclooxygenase products were detected in response to AA, ETA, PAL or OA stimulation. Cyclooxygenase (acetylsalicylic acid) and thromboxane synthetase (OKY 046, Ozagrel, (E)-p-(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)cinnamic acid, C13H12N2O2, MW 228.2) inhibition largely suppressed the EPA-evoked pressor responses. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A 2-year prospective study in China provides epidemiological evidence for resistance in humans to re-infection with Schistosoma japonicum.

In 1996, 250 people living in the Dongting-Lake region of China were selected for a 2-year study. All had been or were infected with Schistosoma japonicum. All were treated with praziquantel, although eggs of S. japonicum were only detected in stool samples from 75 of the subjects. In 1998, 213 (85.5%) of these subjects, then with a mean (S.D.) age of 40.2 (14.2) years, provided stool samples for final assessment. Forty-nine (23%) of the 213 were found to be re-infected in 1998, with a geometric mean intensity of infection among the infected of 64.5 eggs/g faeces. The rate of re-infection was highest among those aged < 10 years, declining with increasing age, and higher in males than females (27.3% v. 8.3%; P < 0.005). The mean intensity of infection among the infected males was also higher than that among the infected females [72.4 (4.8) v. 17.8 (2.5) eggs/g; P < 0.005]. Water contact by the subjects was estimated from activity diaries, for 141 days over the 2-year study period, and expressed as skin exposure, in m2-min/day. The mean exposure of a group of subjects was calculated by detransforming the mean of the fourth-root-transformed (i.e. normalized) values for the exposures of each subject within the group. Overall, the 213 individuals had a mean exposure of 6.2 m2-min/day. Differences in occupation led to males having much higher mean water exposures than females (9.2 v. 1.1 m2-min/day). As there was an inverse association between age-specific exposure and age-specific re-infection intensity, the marked reduction seen in intensity of re-infection with increasing age is not attributable to decreasing exposure to water. Instead, the results of this 2-year cohort study provide evidence for age-dependent resistance to re-infection with S. japonicum. The 213 subjects who were followed up were classified, according to epidemiological outcome at the end of the study and the data on water contact, as 'susceptible' (N = 49; 23%), 'insusceptible' (N = 29; 13.6%) or of 'uncertain status' (N = 135; 63.4%). Thus, 78 subjects who are potentially informative in terms of immunogenetics were identified. Further investigation of these individuals should help to shed some light on the role of immunogenetic status in human immunity to Schistosoma japonicum.
Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Job Satisfaction: The Case of Baltic Countries

The growing awareness of the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has raised the questions about how responsible behavior of firms would impact employees’ well-being. This paper investigates the link between corporate social responsibility and job satisfaction, which is a more widely recognized measure to assess well-being at work. Based on the survey of 3637 employees in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, measures of internal and external social responsibility are found to be positively associated with job satisfaction. Findings of the study indicate that employees’ assessments on various aspects of their job are noticeably higher in firms that are perceived as more engaged in CSR activities both towards their internal and external stakeholders. A further outcome of the study emphasizes the negative link between firm size and corporate social responsibility thus reflecting that smaller firms tend to show higher assessments regarding CSR. Similar relationships are also found between firm size and job satisfaction.
Free radicals, antioxidants and functional foods: Impact on human health

In recent years, there has been a great deal of attention toward the field of free radical chemistry. Free radicals reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species are generated by our body by various endogenous systems, exposure to different physiochemical conditions or pathological states. A balance between free radicals and antioxidants is necessary for proper physiological function. If free radicals overwhelm the body's ability to regulate them, a condition known as oxidative stress ensues. Free radicals thus adversely alter lipids, proteins, and DNA and trigger a number of human diseases. Hence application of external source of antioxidants can assist in coping this oxidative stress. Synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxytoluene and butylated hydroxyanisole have recently been reported to be dangerous for human health. Thus, the search for effective, nontoxic natural compounds with antioxidative activity has been intensified in recent years. The present review provides a brief overview on oxidative stress mediated cellular damages and role of dietary antioxidants as functional foods in the management of human diseases.
The Role of a Domain-specific Language Mechanism in Learning Natural and Unnatural Stress

Abstract In an artificial language-learning task, two groups of English and French participants learned one of two language rules: 1) stress the first heavy (CVC) syllable, else the first syllable, or, 2) stress the first light (CV) syllable, else the first syllable. French and English participants were chosen to compare learning outcomes by speakers of different native stress systems, fixed and variable. Participants were trained on the target language by listening to a set of nonsense familiarization words exemplifying the stress rule. This was followed by a forced-choice task to choose the correct version of the words they had just learned. Following the training procedure, participants were tested on novel words with the same stress pattern to which they were familiarized. The result of the novel word testing was that the natural rule with stress on heavy syllables was learned significantly better than the unnatural, stress light syllables, rule. To account for the learnability of both the natural and the unnatural rules, I argue for the interaction of a general cognitive mechanism that facilitates learning in general and a domain-specific language mechanism that can access universal phonological principles to aid in learning a natural language rule.
DP Flow Quantifying And Specifying The Dynamic Response Of Flowmeters

The dynamic response characteristics of flowmeters are often incompletely or incorrectly specified. This is often the result of inadequate dynamic testing. This paper describes a robust method for determining the dynamic response characteristics of flowmeters. The results of frequency response tests on a number of flowmeter technologies are presented. A concise way of specifying the dynamic performance of flowmeters is presented.
VEGF-sdf 1 recruitment of CXCR 7 bone marrow progenitors of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells promotes rat liver regeneration

DeLeve LD, Wang X, Wang L. VEGF-sdf1 recruitment of CXCR7 bone marrow progenitors of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells promotes rat liver regeneration. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 310: G739–G746, 2016. First published March 3, 2016; doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00056. 2016. —In liver injury, recruitment of bone marrow (BM) progenitors of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (sprocs) is necessary for normal liver regeneration. Hepatic vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a central regulator of the recruitment process. We examine whether stromal cell-derived factor 1 [sdf1, or CXC ligand 12 (CXCL12)] acts downstream from VEGF to mediate recruitment of BM sprocs, what the sdf1 receptor type [CXC receptor (CXCR)-4 or CXCR7] is on sprocs, and whether sdf1 signaling is required for normal liver regeneration. Studies were performed in the rat partial hepatectomy model. Tracking studies of BM sprocs were performed in wild-type Lewis rats that had undergone BM transplantation from transgenic enhanced green fluorescent protein-positive Lewis rats. Knockdown studies were performed using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). Expression of sdf1 doubles in liver and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) after partial hepatectomy. Upregulation of sdf1 expression increases proliferation of sprocs in the BM, mobilization of CXCR7 BM sprocs to the circulation, and engraftment of CXCR7 BM sprocs in the liver and promotes liver regeneration. Knockdown of hepatic VEGF with ASOs decreases hepatic sdf1 expression and plasma sdf1 levels. When the effect of VEGF knockdown on sdf1 is offset by infusion of sdf1, VEGF knockdown-induced impairment of BM sproc recruitment after partial hepatectomy is completely attenuated and liver regeneration is normalized. These data demonstrate that the VEGF-sdf1 pathway regulates recruitment of CXCR7 BM sprocs to the hepatic sinusoid after partial hepatectomy and is required for normal liver regeneration.
An easily decoded erasure code based on random bipartite graphs

In the tornado code, cascading with traditional erasure codes (mostly Reed-Solomon codes) is always used to protect the last level, which will enhance the erasure correcting performance. However, this method increases the complexity in the process of encoding and decoding. In this paper, we introduce an improved algorithm to get linear coding complexity and simplify the implementation of decoder in hardware. The simulation results demonstrate that the code with right non-regular sequences of degree distribution is as good or better than tornado code in error recovery capacity.
Image enhancement based on estimation of high resolution component using wavelet transform

An image enhancement method based on multi-scale wavelet representation is discussed. Each edge in an image is analyzed by multi-resolution analysis and is classified according to the pattern of neighboring right and left edges together. A high definition image and its band-limited image are used for learning the edge relation between high resolution and low resolution. By switching the transition rule that is adapted to the input image, generating high resolution components, and using the most suitable enhancement method for each class, natural enhancement without artifacts is realized.
The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens' response to woody plant encroachment

Despite years of accumulating scientific evidence that fire is critical for maintaining the structure and function of grassland ecosystems in the US Great Plains, fire has not been restored as a fundamental grassland process across broad landscapes. The result has been widespread juniper encroachment and the degradation of the multiple valuable ecosystem services provided by grasslands. Here, we review the social–ecological causes and consequences of the transformation of grasslands to juniper woodlands and synthesize the recent emergence of prescribed burn cooperatives, an extensive societal movement by private citizens to restore fire to the Great Plains biome. We discuss how burn cooperatives have helped citizens overcome dominant social constraints that limit the application of prescribed fire to improve management of encroaching woody plants in grasslands. These constraints include the generally held assumptions and political impositions that all fires should be eliminated when wildfire danger increases.
Predictors of gains in inductive reasoning strategies and everyday functioning: Results from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) Study

Prior research demonstrates that some cognitive abilities (i.e., memory, speed of processing and reasoning) decline starting in the sixth decade of life. One mechanism underlying training interventions is cognitive strategies which can maintain or enhance abilities and associated everyday functioning. The present study focused on two research questions. First, does participation in reasoning strategy training lead to increased use of the strategies in performing reasoning tasks? Second, does participation in reasoning strategy training influence subsequent changes in indicators of everyday functioning over a five-year period? To address these issues data were analyzed from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study, a large 10-year investigation of the effects of teaching cognitive strategies to a healthy sample of older adults (Jobe et al., 2001). A total of 601 participants from that study who either received the reasoning training or were assigned to a no-treatment control group were included in the analyses. Regarding the first research question, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the reasoning training was very effective in enhancing the use of strategies by participants. Additional analyses found that the intervention was most effective for participants who were younger, better educated, and White although all groups benefited from training. Regarding the second research question, the results of growth curve modeling analyses indicated receipt of the reasoning strategy training was not related to change in functioning over the five-year period among participants. These results indicate that, although the intervention was effective in enhancing the use of reasoning strategies, these changes did not generalize to everyday functioning among this sample of older adults. Implications of these results for enhancing the cognitive abilities of older adults and improving their functional status are discussed.
Modelling of nutrient partitioning in growing pigs to predict their anatomical body composition. 1. Model description

A dynamic mechanistic model was developed for growing and fattening pigs. The aim of the model was to predict growth rate and the chemical and anatomical body compositions from the digestible nutrient intake of gilts (20–105 kg live weight). The model represents the partitioning of digestible nutrients from intake through intermediary metabolism to body protein and body fat. State variables of the model were lysine, acetyl-CoA equivalents, glucose, volatile fatty acids and fatty acids as metabolite pools, and protein in muscle, hide–backfat, bone and viscera and body fat as body constituent pools. It was assumed that fluxes of metabolites follow saturation kinetics depending on metabolite concentrations. In the model, protein deposition rate depended on the availability of lysine and of acetyl-CoA. The anatomical body composition in terms of muscle, organs, hide–backfat and bone was predicted from the chemical body composition and accretion using allometric relationships. Partitioning of protein, fat, water and ash in muscle, organs, hide–backfat and bone fractions were driven by the rates of muscle protein and body fat deposition. Model parameters were adjusted to obtain a good fit of the experimental data from literature. Differential equations were solved numerically for a given set of initial conditions and parameter values. In the present paper, the model is presented, including its parameterisation. The evaluation of the model is described in a companion paper.
Safety and efficacy of bivalirudin in high-risk patients admitted through the emergency department.

OBJECTIVES The objective was to assess the safety and efficacy of bivalirudin monotherapy in patients with high-risk acute coronary syndrome (ACS) presenting to the emergency department (ED). METHODS Data from the Acute Catheterization and Urgent Intervention Triage StrategY (ACUITY) trial were used to conduct a post hoc subgroup analysis of high-risk ACS patients (cardiac biomarker elevation or ST-segment deviation) who initially presented to the ED. The ACUITY trial randomized patients to receive heparin (unfractionated [UFH] or enoxaparin) plus glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibition (GPI), bivalirudin plus GPI, or bivalirudin monotherapy. Endpoints included composite ischemia, major bleeding (not coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) related), and net clinical outcome (major bleeding plus composite ischemia). RESULTS Of 13,819 participants in the ACUITY trial, 6,441 presented initially to the ED, met high-risk criteria, and were included in the primary analysis. Bivalirudin alone when compared to heparin plus GPI, after adjusting for covariates, was associated with an improvement in net clinical outcome (12.3% vs. 14.3%, adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66 to 0.99), similar composite ischemia (9.3% vs. 9.1%, adjusted OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.77 to 1.24), and less major bleeding (4.0% vs. 6.8%, adjusted OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.42 to 0.75). Bivalirudin plus GPI when compared to heparin plus GPI had similar net clinical outcome (13.8% vs. 14.3%, adjusted OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.75 to 1.11), composite ischemia (8.8% vs. 9.1%, adjusted OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.69 to 1.11), and major bleeding (6.8% vs. 6.8%, adjusted OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.79 to 1.30). CONCLUSIONS Bivalirudin monotherapy decreases major bleeding while providing similar protection from ischemic events compared to heparin plus GPI in patients with high-risk ACS admitted through the ED.
A Median Regularized Level Set for Hierarchical Segmentation of SAR Images

An efficient strategy of image processing algorithms to deal with the speckle noise is to incorporate data knowledge and models into them. In this letter, we introduce a hierarchical level set algorithm, which is fast and precise for multiregion segmentation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Our algorithm performs curve regularization with a nonparametric median filter instead of using the curvature formulation, and hence it reduces the computation time. The proposed algorithm also replaces the front propagation derivatives by morphological operations, and finally, the arithmetic-geometric distance measures the contrast between regions and controls the hierarchical segmentation. We conducted experiments on synthetic and real SAR images modeled by the $\mathcal {G}_{I}^{0}$ distribution. The performance evaluation of the proposed algorithm and two related methods comprises the computation time and measures based on segmentation accuracy and stochastic distance. Overall, our segmentation algorithm performed faster and more precise on both synthetic and real SAR images.
Compulsory treatment in anorexia nervosa

Background Anorexia nervosa is a mental disorder with a high long-term mortality. Patients are ambivalent about treatment and often avoid it. Of necessity, compulsory treatment sometimes must be considered. A report from the Mental Health Act Commission has helped to reduce previous confusion. Aims To identify the premorbid and clinical features that predisposed to compulsory admissions, the short-term benefits of the treatment and the long-term mortality rates (derived from the National Register) Method Eighty-one compulsory patients were compared with 81 voluntary patients. Results Predisposing factors to a compulsory admission were a history of childhood sexual or physical abuse or previous self-harm. Detained patients had more previous admissions. Detained patients gained as much weight during admission as voluntary patients, but took longer. More deaths among compulsory than voluntary patients (10/79 v. 2/78) were found 5.7 years (mean) after admission. Conclusions Compulsory treatment is effective in the short term. The higher long-term mortality in the detained patients is due to selection factors associated with an intractable illness.
Tissue homogenization with sterile reinforced polyethylene bags for quantitative culture of Candida albicans

A simple method of tissue homogenization with sterile reinforced polyethylene bags for quantitative fungal cultures was evaluated with mice infected with Candida albicans. This new method correlated well with standard methods (P less than or equal to 0.01) for quantifying viable fungus in homogenates of brain, kidney, spleen, liver, and lungs and may be applicable in clinical and experimental mycology laboratories.
Refractory hypertension and sleep apnoea: effect of CPAP on blood pressure and baroreflex

This study was undertaken to determine whether abolition of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) could reduce blood pressure (BP) in patients with refractory hypertension. In 11 refractory hypertensive patients with OSA, the acute effects of CPAP on nocturnal BP were studied during sleep and its longer term effects on 24-h ambulatory BP after 2 months. During a single night's application, CPAP abolished OSA and reduced systolic BP in stage 2 sleep from 138.3±6.8 to 126.0±6.3 mmHg. There was also a trend towards a reduction in average diastolic BP (from 77.7±4.5 to 72.9±4.5). CPAP usage for 2 months was accompanied by an 11.0±4.4 mmHg reduction in 24-h systolic BP. In addition, both the nocturnal and daytime components of systolic BP fell significantly by 14.4±4.4 and 9.3±3.9 mmHg, respectively. Diastolic BP was reduced significantly at night by 7.8±3.0 mmHg. In patients with refractory hypertension, acute abolition of obstructive sleep apnoea by continuous positive airway pressure reduces nocturnal blood pressure. These data also suggest that continuous positive airway pressure may reduce nocturnal and daytime systolic blood pressure chronically. Randomised trials are needed to confirm the latter results.
Hepatoid carcinoma of the ovary and management

The designation ‘hepatoid carcinoma’ has been introduced as a unique type of carcinoma that arises outside the liver but resembles, to a considerable extent, hepatocellular carcinoma both histologically and immunohistochemically in its staining for α‐fetoprotein (AFP). The minimum histological criteria of hepatoid carcinomas are the evidence of AFP production and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm. These tumors have been reported in the ovary, the lung, the stomach, the renal pelvis, and the bladder. We, in this study, present a rare patient with primary hepatoid carcinoma of the ovary (OHC) and review the previous reports.