Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Internal Solitons in the Andaman Sea

The solitary wave is a localized hydrodynamic phenomenon that can occur because of a balance between nonlinear cohesive and linear dispersive forces in a fluid. It has been shown theoretically, and observed experimentally, that some solitary waves have properties analogous to those of elementary particles, and the waves have therefore been named solitons. During a measurement program in the Andaman Sea near northern Sumatra, large-amplitude, long internal waves were observed with associated surface waves called tide rips. Using theoretical results from the physics of nonlinear waves, it is shown that the internal waves are solitons and their interactions with surface waves are described.
Characterization of the C operon transcript of bacteriophage Mu

Mu transcription occurs in three phases: early, middle, and late. Middle transcription occurs in the region of the C gene, which encodes the transactivator for late transcription. A middle promoter, Pm, was previously localized between 0.28 and 1.2 kilobase pairs upstream of C. We used S1 nuclease mapping with both unlabeled and radiolabeled capped RNAs from induced lysogens to characterize C transcription and identify its promoter. The C transcription initiation site was localized to a 4-base-pair region, approximately 740 base pairs upstream of C within the region containing Pm. Transcription of C was activated between 4 and 8 min after induction of cts and Cam lysogens and increased throughout the lytic cycle. Significant C transcription did not occur in replication-defective Aam lysogens. These kinetic and regulatory characteristics identify the C transcript as a middle RNA species and demonstrate that Pm is the C promoter. DNA sequence analysis of the Pm region showed a good -10, but poor -35, site homology to the Escherichia coli RNA polymerase consensus sequence. In addition, the sequence demonstrated that C is the distal gene in a middle operon containing several open reading frames. S1 mapping also showed an upstream transcript with a 3' end in the Pm region at a sequence strongly resembling a Rho-independent terminator. The regulatory characteristics of this RNA are consistent with this terminator, t9.2, being the early operon terminator.
Perforated Appendicitis Among Rural and Urban Patients: Implications of Access to Care

Objective:To determine whether rural patients are more likely to present with perforated appendicitis compared with urban patients. Background:Appendiceal perforation has been associated with increased morbidity, length of hospital stay, and overall health care costs. Recent arguments suggest that high rates of appendiceal rupture may be unrelated to the quality of hospital care, and rather associated with inadequate access to surgical care. Methods:We performed a retrospective cohort study of 122,990 patients with acute appendicitis from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2003 to 2004. International Classification of Diseases diagnosis 9 (ICD-9) codes were used to determine appendiceal perforation. Urban influence codes from the US Department of Agriculture were used to determine rural versus urban status. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine patient and hospital factors associated with perforation. Results:Overall, 32.07% of patients presented with perforation. Rural patients were more likely than urban patients to present with perforation (35.76% vs. 31.48%). Factors associated with perforation in multivariate analysis were age more than 40 years, male gender, transfer from another facility, black race, poorest 25th percentile, Charlson score of 3 or higher, and rural residence. Thirty percent of rural patients were treated in urban hospitals. Rural patients treated at urban hospitals were more likely to present with perforation compared with rural patients treated at rural hospitals (OR = 1.23). Conclusions:Patients from rural areas have higher rates of perforation with acute appendicitis than urban patients. This difference persists when accounting for other factors associated with perforation. These differences in perforation rates suggest disparities in access to timely surgical care.
Health of children with chronic arthritis: relationship of different measures and the quality of parent proxy reporting.

OBJECTIVE To examine the strength of the association between different measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL), disability, pain, and well-being in children with chronic arthritis. To evaluate whether HRQOL scores vary as a function of disability status beyond chance. To assess the quality of the parent proxy report for HRQOL as compared with disability, pain, and well-being. METHODS Measures of HRQOL (visual analog scale [VAS] of health, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory [PedsQL], Juvenile Arthritis Quality of Life Questionnaire (JAQQ), and modified standard gamble technique [SG]), disability (Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire), VAS of pain, and VAS of well-being (VAS-well) were completed by the parents (n = 119) and patients > or =8 years (SG: > or =12 years). RESULTS HRQOL was highest when measured by the SG, whose utilities were no more than weakly correlated with any of the other outcomes. The values of all other HRQOL measures were at least moderately correlated with each other and with the VAS-well. Irrespective of the measure used, disability was associated with significantly decreased HRQOL. There was fair to good agreement and moderate consistency of the HRQOL ratings (SG: fair consistency) between patients and parents with marked differences between health domains. CONCLUSION HRQOL measured by the PedsQL, JAQQ, and VAS are moderately to highly correlated with each other in children with chronic arthritis. The children's HRQOL significantly decreases with increasing disability. Despite more pronounced differences for some health domains, parents are moderate to good proxy reporters of HRQOL, disability, and well-being of children with chronic arthritis.
Effects on Monarch Butterfly Larvae (Lepidoptera: Danaidae) After Continuous Exposure to Cry1Ab-Expressing Corn During Anthesis

Abstract Effects on monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus L. , after continuous exposure of larvae to natural deposits of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and non-Bt pollen on milkweed, were measured in five studies. First instars were exposed at 3–4 and 6–7 d after initial anthesis, either directly on milkweed plants in commercial cornfields or in the laboratory on leaves collected from milkweeds in corn plots. Pollen exposure levels ranging from 122 to 188 grains/cm2/d were similar to within-field levels that monarch butterfly populations might experience in the general population of cornfields. Results indicate that 23.7% fewer larvae exposed to these levels of Bt pollen during anthesis reached the adult stage. A risk assessment procedure used previously was updated with a simulation model estimating the proportion of second-generation monarch butterflies affected. When considered over the entire range of the Corn Belt, which represents only 50% of the breeding population, the risk to monarch butterfly larvae associated with long-term exposure to Bt corn pollen is 0.6% additional mortality. Exposure also prolonged the developmental time of larvae by 1.8 d and reduced the weights of both pupae and adults by 5.5%. The sex ratio and wing length of adults were unaffected. The ecological significance of these sublethal effects is discussed relative to generation mortality and adult performance.
Characterization and Origin of Dissolved Organic Carbon in Yegua Ground Water in Brazos County, Texas

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in five shallow (< 20 m) and three deeper wells (27 to 30 m) in the Eocene Yegua Formation (Brazos County in east‐central Texas) ranged from 92 to 500 μm. Characterization of high, intermediate, and low molecular weight DOC fractions (HMW > 3000 amu, IMW 1000 to 3000 amu, and LMW 500 to 1000 amu) and combined neutral sugar analyses provide information on organic matter sources in the Yegua aquifers. Combined neutral sugars ranged in concentration from 0.6 to 2.7 μmol/L and comprised 0.8% to 6.7% of DOC in ground water. Glucose was the most abundant neutral sugar, followed by xylose and galactose, arabinose, mannose, rhamnose, and fucose. These combined neutral sugars were more diagenetically altered in shallow, oxic ground water as indicated by high mole % fucose + rhamnose and low neutral sugar yield. The precursors for neutral sugars are most probably angiosperm leaves, which show a similar distribution pattern of neutral sugars. Ground water DOC was depleted in 13C relative to soil‐zone organic matter (OM) (−16‰ to −19‰). The δ13C values of bulk DOC and HMW DOC ranged from −24‰ to –32‰, whereas LMW and IMW DOC ranged from −32‰ to −34‰ and ‰16‰ to ‰28‰, respectively. This variability in δ13C values is probably related to microbial processes and selective preservation of OM. Carbon isotope analyses in bulk and different molecular weight DOC fractions imply a predominantly C3 OM source and a low contribution of soil‐zone OM to DOC.
University of Hagen at QA@CLEF 2007: Coreference Resolution for Questions and Answer Merging

The German question answering (QA) system InSicht participated in QA@CLEF for the fourth time. InSicht realizes a deep QA approach: it builds on full sentence parses, rulebased inferences on semantic representations, and matching semantic representations derived from questions and document sentences. InSicht was improved for QA@CLEF 2007 in the following main areas: questions containing pronominal or nominal anaphors are treated by a coreference resolver; the shallow QA methods are improved; and finally, our system for the CLEF Answer Validation Exercise is employed for answer merging. Results showed a performance drop compared to last year mainly due to unstable and incomplete handling of the newly added Wikipedia corpus. However, dialog treatment by coreference resolution delivered very accurate results so that follow-up questions can be handled similar to isolated questions.
Synaptically induced sodium signals in hippocampal astrocytes in situ

Astrocytes are in close contact to excitatory synapses and express transporters which mediate the sodium‐dependent uptake of glutamate. In cultured astrocytes, selective activation of glutamate transport results in sodium elevations which stimulate Na+/K+‐ATPase and glucose uptake, indicating that synaptic release of glutamate might couple excitatory neuronal activity to glial sodium homeostasis and metabolism. Here, we analysed intracellular sodium transients evoked by synaptic stimulation in acute mouse hippocampal slices using quantitative sodium imaging with the sodium‐sensitive fluorescent indicator dye SBFI (sodium‐binding benzofuran isophthalate). We found that short bursts of Schaffer collateral stimulation evoke sodium transients in the millimolar range in both CA1 pyramidal neurons and in SR101‐positive astrocytes of the stratum radiatum. At low stimulation intensities, glial sodium transients were confined to one to two primary branches and adjacent fine processes and only weakly invaded the soma. Increasing the number of activated afferent fibres by increasing the stimulation intensity elicited global sodium transients detectable in the processes as well as the somata of astrocytes. Pharmacological analysis revealed that neuronal sodium signals were mainly attributable to sodium influx through ionotropic glutamate receptors. Activation of ionotropic receptors also contributed to glial sodium transients, while TBOA‐sensitive glutamate transport was the major pathway responsible for sodium influx into astrocytes. Our results thus establish that glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the hippocampus results in sodium transients in astrocytes that are mainly mediated by activation of glutamate transport. They support the proposed link between excitatory synaptic activity, glutamate uptake and sodium signals in astrocytes of the hippocampus.
Association between ulcerative growth and hypoxia inducible factor‐1α polymorphisms in colorectal cancer patients

The hypoxia inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α) has been found to be involved in several different physiological mechanisms, such as blood‐vessel formation, apoptosis, and erythropoiesis. HIF‐1α is hydroxylated at normoxia and rapidly degraded via the von Hippel–Lindau (VHL)/ubiquitin‐proteasome degradation system to prevent angiogenesis. In a previous study, the C1772T (P582S) and the G1790A (A588T) polymorphisms were identified in the human HIF‐1α gene, which was shown to have a higher transactivating capability in vitro compared to the wild type allele. However, the role for these polymorphisms in vivo is still unclear. In the present investigation, we have therefore studied the role of the two polymorphic variants in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC) with PCR/RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism), single strand conformation analysis (SSCA), and immunohistochemistry (IHC). A significant higher‐risk was identified between patients heterozygous for the C1772T polymorphism and the more severe ulcerative growth pattern compared to homozygous C1772C wild type tumors (RR = 5.2; 95% CI 1.26–21.6; P = 0.006). This was also verified on the allelic level (RR = 6.5; 95% CI 1.58–26.8; P = 0.001). In addition, patients carrying one or more polymorphic alleles in either the HIF‐1α C1772T or the G1790A polymorphisms display significant higher risk for the development of ulcerative CRCs (RR = 4.17; 95% CI = 1.33–13.08; P = 0.004). These results suggest that the HIF‐1α polymorpisms are an important factor for development of a subset of ulcerative intestinal tumors. Future screening of the polymorphic HIF‐1α allele may therefore be of importance in the selection of treatment strategies of CRC. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Current management of antiphospholipid syndrome-related thrombosis

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an acquired autoimmune disorder characterized by venous or arterial thrombosis, and recurrent pregnancy morbidity in the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies. Many physicians recommend a daily low dose of aspirin for primary thrombosis prevention in asymptomatic individuals with persistent antiphospholipid antibodies. However, recent data question the effectiveness of aspirin. For the secondary prevention of recurrent thrombosis, the most effective treatment is long-term anticoagulation. A moderate intensity of anticoagulation is recommended in the majority of APS patients. In cases of catastrophic APS, an aggressive therapy is highly recommended using immunosuppression and anticoagulants. This article will also review the experimental evidence of potential therapeutic approaches for the management of APS-related clinical events.
Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence, Virologic and Immunologic Outcomes in Adolescents Compared With Adults in Southern Africa

Objective:To determine adherence to and effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in adolescents vs. adults in southern Africa. Design:Observational cohort study. Setting:Aid for AIDS, a private sector disease management program in southern Africa. Subjects:Adolescents (age 11-19 years; n = 154) and adults (n = 7622) initiating ART between 1999 and 2006 and having a viral load measurement within 1 year after ART initiation. Main Outcome Measures:Primary: virologic suppression (HIV viral load ≤400 copies/mL), viral rebound, and CD4+ T-cell count at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after ART initiation. Secondary: adherence assessed by pharmacy refills at 6, 12, and 24 months. Multivariate analyses: loglinear regression and Cox proportional hazards. Results:A significantly smaller proportion of adolescents achieved 100% adherence at each time point (adolescents: 20.7% at 6 months, 14.3% at 12 months, and 6.6% at 24 months; adults: 40.5%, 27.9%, and 20.6% at each time point, respectively; P < 0.01). Patients achieving 100% 12-month adherence were significantly more likely to exhibit virologic suppression at 12 months, regardless of age. However, adolescents achieving virologic suppression had significantly shorter time to viral rebound (adjusted hazard ratio 2.03; 95% confidence interval: 1.31 to 3.13; P < 0.003). Adolescents were less likely to experience long-term immunologic recovery despite initial CD4+ T-cell counts comparable to adults. Conclusions:Compared with adults, adolescents in southern Africa are less adherent to ART and have lower rates of virologic suppression and immunologic recovery and a higher rate of virologic rebound after initial suppression. Studies must determine specific barriers to adherence in this population and develop appropriate interventions.
C5a‐stimulated human neutrophils use a subset of β2 integrins to support the adhesion‐dependent phase of superoxide production

Isolated human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) responded to human C5a with an immediate, transient release of superoxide lasting from 0.5 to 5 min. This was followed by a second release of superoxide, which began at 10 min after addition of C5a, was sustained for more than 30 min, and required ICAM‐1 immobilized in the wells. F(ab′)2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) preparations were used to dissect the role of individual β2 integrins and to avoid the confounding effects of ligating Fc receptors. Anti‐CD18 mAb treatment of the PMN had no effect on the immediate first phase but completely inhibited the second, adhesion‐dependent phase of superoxide production. Anti‐CR3 mAb only inhibited the adhesion phase of superoxide production partially, implying that other β2 integrins were involved. A mixture of anti‐CD11a, anti‐CD11b, and anti‐CD11c was not able to block superoxide production completely, suggesting a role for αd/β2. Surprisingly, blocking anti‐LFA‐1 mAb had no effect on superoxide production. Consistent with this observation, immobilized, purified ICAM‐2, a specific counter‐receptor for LFA‐1, did not support the adhesion‐dependent phase ofsuperoxide production. Thus, PMN treated with C5a used signals via CR3, P150/95, and αd/β2, but not LFA‐1, to support superoxide production. LFA‐1 has been shown by others to mediate most of the adhesion necessary for transendothelial migration in vivo. The inability of LFA‐1 ligation to stimulate superoxide production may be an important means of preventing blood‐vessel damage when PMN migrate across the endothelium.
Low Power Digital Communication in Implantable Devices Using Volume Conduction of Biological Tissues

This work investigates the data communication problem of implantable devices using fundamental theories in communications. We utilize the volume conduction property of biological tissues to establish a digital communications link. Data obtained through animal experiments are used to analyze the time and frequency response of the volume conduction channel as well as to characterize the biological signals and noises present in the system. A low power bandwidth efficient channel-coded modulation scheme is proposed to conserve battery power and reduce the health risks associated
Vascular endothelial growth factor is essential for initial but not continued in vivo growth of human breast carcinoma cells.

In this study, we used a self-contained tetracycline-regulated retroviral vector system to elucidate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in controlling s.c. growth of human T-47D breast carcinoma cells. VEGF expression was tightly regulated by this system, both in vitro and in nude mouse xenografts. A 2.4-fold increase in tumor volume was associated with VEGF overexpression. Tumor growth was almost completely inhibited when VEGF was suppressed from the time of T-47D cell inoculation, and a 6-fold reduction in tumor volume was observed when VEGF suppression was started in 175-mm3 tumors. However, no growth inhibition was observed when VEGF suppression was started in 820-mm3 tumors. In these tumors, basic fibroblast growth factor and transforming growth factor alpha RNA expression was detected after VEGF was switched off. These findings demonstrate that VEGF is critical for the initial s.c. growth of T-47D breast carcinoma cells, whereas other angiogenic factors can compensate for the loss of VEGF after the tumors have reached a certain size.
A Biomechanical Study Using Cadaveric Toes to Test the Stability of Fixation Techniques Employed in Arthrodesis of the First Metatarsophalangeal Joint

Arthrodesis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint of 15 pairs of cadaveric big toes were performed. The arthrodesis site was shaped with either a dome and socket or planar surface contact between the metatarsal head and proximal phalanx. A template was used to standardize the position of arthrodesis in 20° of valgus and 20° dorsiflexion. Various fixation devices were used to hold this position in corresponding pairs of specimens, and these fixation devices were tested to determine their relative effectiveness to prevent displacement on loading. Force-deflection curves were obtained for the various techniques tested, and by comparing these curves, the stability of the metatarsophalangeal arthrodesis site was found to be maintained most effectively using the cancellous screw fixation device with planar metatarsophalangeal surfaces.
Low birth weights contribute to high rates of early-onset chronic renal failure in the Southeastern United States.

BACKGROUND The southeastern United States is a region in which rates of cardiovascular and renal diseases are excessive. Within the Southeast, South Carolina has unusually high rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in young people, with more than 70% of cases attributed to hypertension and diabetes. OBJECTIVE To determine whether the increased vulnerability to early-onset ESRD might originate through impaired renal development in utero as measured by low birth weight. METHODS Patients who were diagnosed with renal failure and undergoing dialysis from 1991 through 1996 were identified from the ESRD registry maintained by the Southeastern Kidney Council, Raleigh, NC. Birth weights reported on birth certificates were selected for the ESRD cases and non-ESRD controls who were born in South Carolina in 1950 and later. Birth weights were compared for 1230 cases and 2460 controls who were matched for age, sex, and race. RESULTS Low birth weight was associated with ESRD among men and women as well as blacks and whites. Among people whose birth weight was less than 2.5 kg, the odds ratio for ESRD was 1.4 (95% confidence interval, 1.1-1.8) compared with people who weighed 3 to 3.5 kg. This association was present for renal failure resulting from diabetes, hypertension, and other causes. CONCLUSIONS Low birth weights, which reflect adverse effects on development in utero, contribute to the early onset of ESRD in South Carolina. Since low birth weight increases the risk of ESRD from multiple causes, the data suggest that an adverse environment in utero impairs kidney development and makes it more vulnerable to damage from a range of pathological processes.