Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Skeletal muscle hypertrophy after chronic restriction of venous blood flow in rats.

PURPOSE Some previous studies have shown that resistance exercise training with venous occlusion causes an enhanced hypertrophy in human muscles. To investigate the effects of blood flow on muscular size at either cellular or subcellular level, we developed an animal model in which several veins from hindlimb muscles of the rat are surgically crush-occluded. METHODS Twenty-four male Wister rats were randomly assigned into either a group for sham operation (sham group) or a group for venous occlusion (experimental group; N = 12 for each group). Fourteen days after the operation, plantaris, soleus, gastrocnemius, extensor digitorum longus, and tibialis anterior muscles were dissected from hindlimbs and subjected to morphological and biochemical analyses. RESULTS Fourteen days after the operation, the muscles expect for soleus showed similar increases in wet weight/body weight (by 7-12%) as compared with the sham-operated group (P < 0.05). Further analyses on the plantaris muscle showed increases in muscle dry weight/ body weight (by 10%) and the concentrations of myofibrillar protein (by 23%), glycogen (by 93%) and lactate (by 23%) after the operation (P < 0.05). Mean fiber cross-sectional area was larger by 34% in the experimental group than in the sham-operated group (P < 0.01). The content of HSP-72 increased, whereas that of myostatin protein decreased (P < 0.01). The expression of nitric oxide synthase-1 (NOS-1) mRNA increased (P < 0.01), whereas that of IGF-1 mRNA showed no significant change (P = 0.36). Although the muscle nitric oxide (NO) concentration tended to increase, but the change was not significant (P = 0.10). CONCLUSIONS Changes in muscle blood flow may affect the muscular size through actions of HSP-72, myostatin, and NOS-1.
Psychiatric Comorbidity of Migraine

Migraine affects nearly 12% of the adult population in the United States and causes significant lost productivity and decrements in health‐related quality of life. The burden of migraine and the challenge in managing it are increased by the comorbid psychiatric conditions that occur in association with it. Studies in both clinical and community‐based settings have demonstrated an association between migraine and a number of specific psychiatric disorders. This review will focus on the relationships between migraine and depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and bipolar disorder. In large scale population‐based studies, persons with migraine are from 2.2 to 4.0 times more likely to have depression. In longitudinal studies, the evidence supports a bidirectional relationship between migraine and depression, with each disorder increasing the risk of the other disorder. Migraine is also comorbid with generalized anxiety disorder (Odds Ratio [OR] 3.5 to 5.3), panic disorder (OR 3.7), and bipolar disorder (OR 2.9 to 7.3). A diagnosis of migraine should lead to a heightened level of diagnostic suspicion for these comorbid psychiatric disorders. Similarly, a diagnosis of one of these psychiatric disorders should increase vigilance for migraine. Treatment plans for migraine should be mindful of the comorbid conditions.
In vivo phase variation of MR/P fimbrial gene expression in Proteus mirabilis infecting the urinary tract

Proteus mirabilis, associated with complicated urinary tract infection, expresses mannose‐resistant/Proteus‐like (MR/P) fimbriae. Expression of these surface structures, which mediate haemagglutination and have a demonstrated role in virulence, undergoes phase variation. By DNA sequence analysis, a 252 bp invertible element was found in the intergenic region between mrpI, the putative site‐specific recombinase gene, and mrpA, the primary structural subunit gene. The invertible segment is flanked by identical 21 bp inverted repeats and the presumptive half‐sites for recombinase binding show homology to those recognized by FimB and FimE encoded by the Escherichia colifim (Type 1 fimbriae) gene cluster. When amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from static broth cultures expressing MR/P fimbriae, the switch region was found in both ON and OFF positions. When PCR was used to amplify agar cultures which do not express the fimbriae, the switch region was OFF only. A canonical σ70 promoter inside the invertible element drives the transcription of mrpA when in the ON position; in the OFF position it is directed away from mrpA but does not appear to drive expression of mrpI. The mrpI gene was able to confer inversion of the mrp switch region in trans from both ON to OFF and OFF to ON. To examine the position of the switch in vivo, urine, bladder, and kidneys from mice transurethrally infected with P. mirabilis were used to prepare template DNA for PCR amplification. In the absence of urolithiasis (urease‐mediated stone formation), the switch was found 100% in the ON position, a condition never observed following in vitro culture. We conclude that MR/P phase variation is regulated at the transcriptional level by the action of MrpI on an invertible element and that there is strong selective pressure for the expression of MR/P fimbriae in vivo.
Family Transfers with Retirement-Aged Adults in the United States: Kin Availability, Wealth Differentials, Geographic Proximity, Gender, and Racial Disparities

This paper examines transfers of time and money between retirees and their children. It uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to test whether numbers of children, parent-child wealth differentials, geographic proximity, and gender contribute to racial and ethnic differences in transfers of time and money between retirement-aged adults and their children. Critical components of the analysis include measuring kin availability, the spatial and social embeddedness of family networks, supply as well as demand for transfers, and gender. Key limitations are that we exclude those who have no living family members with whom they could transfer, and we do not examine the role of non-familial transfers.
Combining Biofilm-Controlling Compounds and Antibiotics as a Promising New Way to Control Biofilm Infections

Many bacteria grow on surfaces forming biofilms. In this structure, they are well protected and often high dosages of antibiotics cannot clear infectious biofilms. The formation and stabilization of biofilms are mediated by diffusible autoinducers (e.g. N-acyl homoserine lactones, small peptides, furanosyl borate diester). Metabolites interfering with this process have been identified in plants, animals and microbes, and synthetic analogues are known. Additionally, this seems to be not the only way to control biofilms. Enzymes capable of cleaving essential components of the biofilm matrix, e.g. polysaccharides or extracellular DNA, and thus weakening the biofilm architecture have been identified. Bacteria also have mechanisms to dissolve their biofilms and return to planktonic lifestyle. Only a few compounds responsible for the signalling of these processes are known, but they may open a completely novel line of biofilm control. All these approaches lead to the destruction of the biofilm but not the killing of the pathogens. Therefore, a combination of biofilm-destroying compounds and antibiotics to handle biofilm infections is proposed. In this article, different approaches to combine biofilm-controlling compounds and antibiotics to fight biofilm infections are discussed, as well as the balance between biofilm formation and virulence.
Consumer Inventory and Demand for Storable Goods: New Evidence from a Consumer Survey

In this study, I provide new evidence on consumer inventory from a unique survey on the purchase and inventory of a storable product. I confirm that the predictions regarding the correlations between the key variables of purchase probability, purchase quantity and inventory derived from the standard dynamic models of consumer inventory are consistent with the data. Furthermore, I find that the amount of daily consumption varies within a household across time and depends on inventory holding. The evidence does not conform to a constant consumption rate, which studies often assume for tractability.
Shadow Economies and the State: A Comparison of Cassava and Timber Networks on the Cambodia-Vietnam Frontier

ABSTRACT This article extends understandings of “shadow economies” – networked, economic exchanges outside formal state regulation – and specifically how they are socially, economically and politically nested within frontier landscapes. The article analyses two related commodities that are often cast differently upon the legality spectrum: timber and cassava. By comparing the actors, relationships and practices that facilitate timber and cassava trade across the Cambodia-Vietnam border, two significant points of connection are identified: border checkpoints and land transactions, both through state actors. The analysis therefore exposes the systemic role of state actors in shadow economies and broader processes of frontier commodification, supported by their regulatory mandate. Methodologically, the study illustrates how examining relationships between commodities can help to illuminate the mechanisms, relationships and ambiguities of shadow economies operating in resource frontiers in border areas.
Seizure Development and Noradrenaline Release in Kindling Epilepsy after Noradrenergic Reinnervation of the Subcortically Deafferented Hippocampus by Superior Cervical Ganglion or Fetal Locus Coeruleus Grafts

Solid pieces of fetal locus coeruleus (LC) or superior cervical ganglion (SCG) were placed into a fimbria-fornix lesion cavity in 6-hydroxydopamine-treated, noradrenaline (NA)-denervated rats. Six to 8 months later, all animals were subjected to electrical kindling stimulations in the hippocampus until they had reached the fully kindled state. Nongrafted lesioned animals showed markedly increased kindling rate which was partly attenuated by LC but not SCG grafts. In both LC- and SCG-grafted animals, dopamine beta-hydroxylase immunocytochemistry demonstrated a high density of graft-derived noradrenergic fibers in the dorsal hippocampus, whereas reinnervation of the ventral hippocampus was much more sparse. Subregional distribution of these fibers within the hippocampus was different in the two grafted groups. Both grafts partly restored basal extracellular NA levels in the hippocampus and reacted to generalized seizures by a significant (two- to threefold) increase of NA release, as measured by intracerebral microdialysis. Our data indicate (i) that seizure activity can regulate transmitter release from noradrenergic neurons in both LC and SCG grafts, (ii) that only fetal LC grafts retard seizure development in kindling, and (iii) that the inability of SCG implants to influence kindling epileptogenesis could be due to a lack of synaptic contacts between the graft-derived ganglionic fibers and host hippocampal neurons.
Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Ant Colony Optimization

This paper introduces a new approach to routing operations in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). We have developed a routing scheme and adapted ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm to this scheme to get a dynamic and reliable routing protocol. We have also implemented our approach to a small sized hardware component as a router chip to propose sensor node designers an easy handling of WSN routing operations. The chip is tested and its performance results are obtained by using proteus simulation program. The ACO approach and its hardware implementation seem to provide a promising solution for node designers to operate routing tasks easily and effectively
Increased nuchal translucency at 10—14 weeks of gestation as a marker for major cardiac defects

Screening for fetal cardiac defects is traditionally based on the ultrasonographic examination of the four‐chamber view of the fetal heart at mid‐gestation, which has been shown to identify 26% of major cardiac defects. Pathological studies in fetuses with increased nuchal translucency at 10–l4 weeks of gestation, a sonographic marker for chromosomal abnormalities, have shown an association between increased nuchal translucency and congenital abnormalities of the heart. This study reports the prevalence of cardiac defects in 1427 chromosomally normal fetuses with increased nuchal translucency thickness, and examines the potential value of this sonographic marker in screening for major cardiac defects. The diagnosis of cardiac defects was made either by postmortem examination in terminations of pregnancy and intrauterine or neonatal deaths or by clinical examination and appropriate investigations in live births. The prevalence of major cardiac defects was 17 per 1000 (24 of 1427 fetuses) and increased with translucency thickness from 5.4 per 1000 for translucency of 2.5–3.4 mm to 233 per 1000 for translucency of ≥ 5.5 mm. These findings suggest that measurement of nuchal translucency thickness at 10–l4 weeks may prove to be a useful method of screening for abnormalities of the heart and great arteries in addition to its role in screening for chromosomal defects. Copyright © 1997 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Persistent infection associated with residual cement after resection arthroplasty of the hip.

BACKGROUND The danger of residual bone cement after resection of infected prosthetic components is controversial. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed 10 patients with infected total hip prosthesis who had been treated previously with resection arthroplasty and antibiotics and who had persistent infection with residual cement. In 9 patients, surgical debridement with resection of all the PMMA was performed, and adequate intravenous antibiotics were administered. 1 patient refused surgical treatment, but accepted antibiotics. RESULTS At an average of 4 (1-18) years of follow-up, 8 patients had no signs or symptoms of recurrent infection. 1 severely immunodeficient patient died 2 years after the removal of residual cement, for reasons other than his hip. The patient who refused surgical treatment continues to have an active sinus 4 years after first consultation. INTERPRETATION Residual cement may be responsible for chronic infection. At resection arthroplasty, as part of the treatment of an infected hip arthroplasty, all devitalized or foreign material must be removed.
Software design pattern recognition using machine learning techniques

Design patterns helpful for software development are the reusable abstract documents which provide acceptable solutions for the recurring design problems. But in the process of reverse engineering, it is often desired to identify as well as recognize design pattern from source code, as it improves maintainability and documentation of the source code. In this study, the process of software design pattern recognition is presented which is based on machine learning techniques. Firstly, a training dataset is developed which is based on software metrics. Subsequently, machine learning algorithms such as Layer Recurrent Neural Network and Decision Tree are applied for patterns detection process. In order to evaluate the proposed study, an open source software i.e., JHotDraw 7.0. 6 has been used for the recognition of design patterns.
An Omnidirectional Circularly Polarized Slot Array Antenna With High Gain in a Wide Bandwidth

In this letter, a novel omnidirectional circularly polarized (CP) slot array antenna with high gain is proposed. The array is based on the coaxial cylinder structure. The omnidirectional radiation is realized by four perpendicular slot pairs surrounding the axis of coaxial cylinder in the outer conductor, which can be seen as a basic omnidirectional CP element. With four of these basic elements along the axis of the coaxial cylinder, the radiation slot array is constructed with desired omnidirectional CP property and particularly stable high gain in a wide bandwidth. To match the antenna, three cascade coaxial lines with the same outer radius but different characteristic impedance are connected to its input. Measured results show that the proposed antenna performs a -10 dB impedance bandwidth (S11<;-10 dB) of 16.4% ranging from 5.05 to 5.95 GHz and a 3-dB axial-ratio (AR) bandwidth of 14.5% ranging from 5.1 to 5.9 GHz. Within the common band ranging from 5.1 to 5.9 GHz, the measured gain in the omnidirectional plane (xy-plane) is stable and higher than 5 dBic.
A genomewide screen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for genes that suppress the accumulation of mutations

A genomewide screen of a collection of 4,847 yeast gene deletion mutants was carried out to identify the genes required for suppressing mutations in the CAN1 forward-mutation assay. The primary screens and subsequent analysis allowed (i) identification of 18 known mutator mutants, providing a solid means for checking the efficiency of the screen, and (ii) identification of a number of genes not known previously to be involved in suppressing mutations. Among the previously uncharacterized mutation-suppressing genes were six genes of unknown function including four (CSM2, SHU2, SHU1, and YLR376c) encoding proteins that interact with each other and promote resistance to killing by methyl methanesulfonate, one gene (EGL1) previously identified as suppressing Ty1 mobility and recombination between repeated sequences, and one gene (YLR154c) that was not associated with any known processes. In addition, five genes (TSA1, SOD1, LYS7, SKN7, and YAP1) implicated in the oxidative-stress responses were found to play a significant role in mutation suppression. Furthermore, TSA1, which encodes thioredoxin peroxidase, was found to strongly suppress gross chromosomal rearrangements. These results provide a global view of the nonessential genes involved in preventing mutagenesis. Study of such genes should provide useful clues in identification of human genes potentially involved in cancer predisposition and in understanding their mechanisms of action.
Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Tes) Observations: Atmospheric Temperatures During Aerobraking and Science Phasing

Between September 1997, when the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft arrived at Mars, and September 1998, when the final aerobraking phase of the mission began, the Thermal Emission Spectrometer has acquired an extensive data set spanning approximately half of a Martian year. Nadir-viewing spectral measurements from this data set within the 15 m mC O 2 absorption band are inverted to obtain atmospheric temperature profiles from the surface up to about the 0.1 mbar level. The computational procedure used to retrieve the temperatures is presented. Mean meridional cross sections of thermal structure are calculated for periods of time near Northern Hemisphere fall equinox, winter solstice, and spring equinox as well as for a time interval immediately following the onset of the Noachis Terra dust storm. Gradient thermal wind cross sections are calculated from the thermal structure. Regions of possible wave activity are identified using cross sections of rms temperature deviations from the mean. Results from both near-equinox periods show some hemispheric asymmetry with peak eastward thermal winds in the north about twice the magnitude of those in the south. The results near solstice show an intense circumpolar vortex at high northern latitudes and waves associated with the vortex jet core. Warming of the atmosphere aloft at northern midlatitudes suggests the presence of a strong cross-equatorial Hadley circulation. Although the Noachis dust storm did not become global in scale, strong perturbations to the atmospheric structure are found, including an enhanced temperature maximum aloft at high northern latitudes resulting from intensification of the Hadley circulation. TES results for the various seasonal conditions are compared with published results from Mars general circulation models, and generally, good qualitative agreement is found.
Psychophysical evidence for rod vulnerability in age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE To determine whether there is rod system dysfunction in the central retina of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS Dark-adapted sensitivity (500-nm stimulus) and light-adapted sensitivity (600 nm) were measured psychophysically at 52 loci in the central 38 degrees (diameter) of retina in 80 patients with AMD, and results were compared with those from older adult normal controls. All dark-adapted data were corrected for preretinal absorption. RESULTS Mean field dark-adapted sensitivity was significantly lower in AMD patients as a group than in normal subjects. Within the AMD group were subsets of patients with normal mean dark- and light-adapted sensitivities; reduced dark-adapted sensitivities without detectable light-adapted losses; both types of losses; and, least commonly, only light-adapted losses. Regional retinal analyses of the dark-adapted deficit indicated the greatest severity was 2 degrees to 4 degrees or approximately 1 mm from the fovea, and the deficit decreased with increasing eccentricity. CONCLUSIONS These psychophysical results are consistent with histopathologic findings of a selective vulnerability for parafoveal rod photoreceptors in AMD. The different patterns of rod and cone system losses among patients at similar clinical stages reinforces the notion that AMD is a group of disorders with underlying heterogeneity of mechanism of visual loss. Dark-adapted macula-wide testing may be a useful complement to the more traditional outcome measures of fundus pathology and foveal cone-based psychophysics in future AMD trials.
MCM2–7 Complexes Bind Chromatin in a Distributed Pattern Surrounding the Origin Recognition Complex inXenopus Egg Extracts*

The MCM2–7 complex is believed to function as the eukaryotic replicative DNA helicase. It is recruited to chromatin by the origin recognition complex (ORC), Cdc6, and Cdt1, and it is activated at the G1/S transition by Cdc45 and the protein kinases Cdc7 and Cdk2. Paradoxically, the number of chromatin-bound MCM complexes greatly exceeds the number of bound ORC complexes. To understand how the high MCM2–7:ORC ratio comes about, we examined the binding of these proteins to immobilized linear DNA fragments in Xenopus egg extracts. The minimum length of DNA required to recruit ORC and MCM2–7 was ∼80 bp, and the MCM2–7:ORC ratio on this fragment was ∼1:1. With longer DNA fragments, the MCM2–7:ORC ratio increased dramatically, indicating that MCM complexes normally become distributed over a large region of DNA surrounding ORC. Only a small subset of the chromatin-bound MCM2–7 complexes recruited Cdc45 at the onset of DNA replication, and unlike Cdc45, MCM2–7 was not limiting for DNA replication. However, all the chromatin-bound MCM complexes may be functional, because they were phosphorylated in a Cdc7-dependent fashion, and because they could be induced to support Cdk2-dependent Cdc45 loading. The data suggest that in Xenopus egg extracts, origins of replication contain multiple, distributed, initiation-competent MCM2–7 complexes.
Sex Hormone and Gender Difference—Role of Testosterone on Male Predominance in Brugada Syndrome

Introduction: The clinical phenotype is 8 to 10 times more prevalent in males than in females in patients with Brugada syndrome. Brugada syndrome has been reported to be thinner than asymptomatic normal controls. We tested the hypothesis that higher testosterone level associated with lower visceral fat may relate to Brugada phenotype and male predominance.
Mature Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms Prevail Compared to Young Biofilms in the Presence of Ceftazidime

ABSTRACT Phenotypic tolerances to antibiotics of mature and young Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 biofilms and released planktonic bacteria were compared for four antibiotics. Resistance levels were similar for gentamicin and ciprofloxacin but differed for ceftazidime and meropenem. β-Lactamase mapping showed that, after 5 h of ceftazidime exposure, mature biofilms produced more β-lactamase than young biofilms, facilitating the growth of released planktonic bacteria. This shows the importance of early treatment and choice of antibiotics for P. aeruginosa biofilm infections.