Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Xylanase Supplementation and Citric Acid on Performance, Ileal Nutrients Digestibility, and Gene Expression of Intestinal Nutrient Transporters in Broilers Challenged with Clostridium perfringens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of xylanase and citric acid (CA) on growth, digesta pH, ileal populations of Clostridium perfringens and lactic acid bacteria, ileal nutrient digestibility, digestive enzyme activity, and mRNA expression of intestinal nutrient transporters in starter broilers challenged with C. perfringens. The experiment was conducted in a 2×2 factorial arrangement with two levels of CA (0 and 30 g/kg) and 2 levels of xylanase (0 and 200 mg/kg). Each of the four dietary treatments was fed to six replicate pens (15 birds/pen) between 0 and 21 d of age. Dietary CA significantly increased ADFI and ADG; meanwhile, xylanase addition led to a substantial reduction in FCR (P<0.05). No differences in digesta pH, C. perfringens counts, or quantity of lactic acid bacteria were found between the treatments. Xylanase supplementation increased AME values (P<0.01) and ileal digestibility of CP (P<0.05) in challenged birds. The inclusion of CA also increased the AME (P<0.01), and tended to increased ileal CP digestibility (P=0.085). Xylanase supplementation increased α-amylase, trypsin, and sucrose activity in the jejunum (P<0.01). Dietary CA significantly increased (P<0.01) villi length as well as the villus length to crypt depth ratio in jejunum segments. The jejunal mRNA expression of sodium glucose co-transporter 1 (SGLT1) and H+-dependent peptide transporter 1 (PepT1) were upregulated by xylanase supplementation (P<0.01). The results suggest that dietary CA can promote growth as well as improve intestinal morphology and AME in birds challenged with necrotic enteritis. This study shows that xylanase supplementation improved FCR and AME in birds independent of C. perfringens infection; it also elevated the apparent ileal digestibility of CP, digestive enzyme activities, and mRNA expression of nutrient transporters in challenged birds.
An Autonomic Approach for Replication of Scalable Internet Service Deployment

: As our world becomes more interconnected, there is an increasingly important role for distributed computer system. Designing these systems is not an easy task. Progress has been made in this regard with the development of formal specification languages and verification tools. One area that is usually not addressed is the deployment of a system. This is unfortunate as the deployment can be critical to the performance. Placing components on slow, unreliable hosts will severely hinder the system, while grouping components on the fastest hosts creates single points of failure . Service deployment deals with the problem of selecting which node in a network is most suitable for hosting a service and that responds to queries from other nodes. Optimal placement of service facilities reduces network traffic and improves connectivity between clients and servers . Here it deals with the movement of service facility between neighbour nodes in a way that the cost of service provision is reduced and the service facility reaches the optimal location and remains there as long as the environment does not change, and as network condition changes the migration process is resumed automatically, Thus naturally responding to network dynamicity under certain conditions. The paper focus to bring the service provision points close to the demand in order to minimize communication cost of provided service.
Urinary DNA lesions as a biomarker for assessing male reproductive health

The study aimed to examine whether urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) could serve as a biomarker for assessing sperm DNA integrity. Urine and semen samples were collected from 124 coke-oven workers, who had chronically been exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from a steel plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The coke-oven workers were divided into two subgroups: topside-oven workers and side-oven workers. Sperm DNA integrity was assessed in terms of DNA fragmentation and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodGuo). Urine samples were used to detect 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) and urinary 8-OHdG, which served to assess exposure to PAHs and the whole body oxidative stress, respectively. Urinary 1-OHP concentrations were significantly higher in the topside-oven workers than the side-oven workers ( p = 0.02). Sperm 8-oxodGuo concentrations were correlated with percentages of sperm fragmentation ( p = 0.044), but urinary 8-OHdG levels failed to correlate with sperm 8-oxodGuo levels and with percentages of fragmentation. In conclusion, exposure to PAHs was linked to increased oxidative stress on sperm. However, urinary 8-OHdG may not be a suitable biomarker for examining sperm DNA damage associated with oxidative stress.
Aspects of Multicomponent Integrated Care Promote Sustained Improvement in Surrogate Clinical Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE The implementation of the Chronic Care Model (CCM) improves health care quality. We examined the sustained effectiveness of multicomponent integrated care in type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We searched PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE (January 2000–August 2016) and identified randomized controlled trials comprising two or more quality improvement strategies from two or more domains (health system, health care providers, or patients) lasting ≥12 months with one or more clinical outcomes. Two reviewers extracted data and appraised the reporting quality. RESULTS In a meta-analysis of 181 trials (N = 135,112), random-effects modeling revealed pooled mean differences in HbA1c of −0.28% (95% CI −0.35 to −0.21) (−3.1 mmol/mol [−3.9 to −2.3]), in systolic blood pressure (SBP) of −2.3 mmHg (−3.1 to −1.4), in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of −1.1 mmHg (−1.5 to −0.6), and in LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) of −0.14 mmol/L (−0.21 to −0.07), with greater effects in patients with LDL-C ≥3.4 mmol/L (−0.31 vs. −0.10 mmol/L for <3.4 mmol/L; Pdifference = 0.013), studies from Asia (HbA1c −0.51% vs. −0.23% for North America [−5.5 vs. −2.5 mmol/mol]; Pdifference = 0.046), and studies lasting >12 months (SBP −3.4 vs. −1.4 mmHg, Pdifference = 0.034; DBP −1.7 vs. −0.7 mmHg, Pdifference = 0.047; LDL-C −0.21 vs. −0.07 mmol/L for 12-month studies, Pdifference = 0.049). Patients with median age <60 years had greater HbA1c reduction (−0.35% vs. −0.18% for ≥60 years [−3.8 vs. −2.0 mmol/mol]; Pdifference = 0.029). Team change, patient education/self-management, and improved patient-provider communication had the largest effect sizes (0.28–0.36% [3.0–3.9 mmol/mol]). CONCLUSIONS Despite the small effect size of multicomponent integrated care (in part attenuated by good background care), team-based care with better information flow may improve patient-provider communication and self-management in patients who are young, with suboptimal control, and in low-resource settings.
Contribution of Virus ond Immune Factors to Herpes Simplex Virus Type l-lnduced Corneal Pathology

In vivo T-lymphocyte subpopulation depletion techniques were used to identify the roles of L3T4 (CD4) and Lyt-2 (CD8) T-lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of corneal stromal disease induced by two different strains of Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Histologic examination of infected corneas revealed significant differences in the composition of the inflammatory corneal infiltrates induced by the RE and KOS strains of HSV-1. The RE strain induced a predominantly polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) infiltrate, which began approximately 1 week after infection and progressed through day 21. Depletion of CD4 cells before corneal infection with RE HSV-1 greatly reduced the incidence and severity of corneal disease; depletion of CD8 cells had no effect. The strain KOS HSV-1 induced an early PMN infiltrate that became predominantly mononuclear by day 21. Depletion of CD4 cells did not change the incidence or severity of KOS HSV-1-induced corneal stromal disease. The corneal lesions of these mice contained numerous CDS cells. Depletion of CD8 cells before KOS HSV-1 infection of the cornea moderately reduced the incidence of stromal disease. However, in CD8-depleted mice with the disease, PMNs were the most prevalent infiltrating cells, and the disease appeared identical to that seen in RE HSV-1 infected corneas. Simultaneous depletion of CD4 and CD8 cells before KOS HSV-1 infection eliminated stromal disease. However, when T-cell depletion was discontinued in these mice, stromal disease developed in concert with the appearance of T-cells in the lymphoid organs and corneas. Thus, T-lymphocytes are a necessary component of HSV-1 corneal stromal disease. These results further suggest that RE HSV-1 preferentially activates CD4 cells in the cornea, and KOS HSV-1 preferentially activates CD8 cells in the cornea. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 31:1929-1939,1990
Highly NIR emitting lanthanide complexes with 2-( tosylamino ) benzylidene-N-benzoylhydrazone

Please note that technical editing may introduce minor changes to the text and/or graphics, which may alter content. The journal’s standard Terms & Conditions and the Ethical guidelines still apply. In no event shall the Royal Society of Chemistry be held responsible for any errors or omissions in this Accepted Manuscript or any consequences arising from the use of any information it contains. Accepted Manuscript Dalton Transactions
Beyond RPCA: Flattening Complex Noise in the Frequency Domain

Discovering robust low-rank data representations is important in many real-world problems. Traditional robust principal component analysis (RPCA) assumes that the observed data are corrupted by some sparse noise (e.g., Laplacian noise) and utilizes the l1-norm to separate out the noisy compo- nent. Nevertheless, as well as simple Gaussian or Laplacian noise, noise in real-world data is often more complex, and thus the l1 and l2-norms are insufficient for noise charac- terization. This paper presents a more flexible approach to modeling complex noise by investigating their properties in the frequency domain. Although elements of a noise matrix are chaotic in the spatial domain, the absolute values of its alternative coefficients in the frequency domain are constant w.r. t. their variance. Based on this observation, a new robust PCA algorithm is formulated by simultaneously discovering the low-rank and noisy components. Extensive experiments on synthetic data and video background subtraction demon- strate that FRPCA is effective for handles complex noise.
The Computational Complexity of Weighted Greedy Matching

Motivated by the fact that in several cases a matching in a graph is stable if and only if it is produced by a greedy algorithm, we study the problem of computing a maximum weight greedy matching on weighted graphs, termed GREEDYMATCHING. In wide contrast to the maximum weight matching problem, for which many efficient algorithms are known, we prove that GREEDYMATCHING is strongly NP-hard and APX-complete, and thus it does not admit a PTAS unless P=NP, even on graphs with maximum degree at most 3 and with at most three different integer edge weights. Furthermore we prove that GREEDYMATCHING is strongly NP-hard if the input graph is in addition bipartite. Moreover we consider three natural parameters of the problem, for which we establish a sharp threshold behavior between NP-hardness and computational tractability. On the positive side, we present a randomized approximation algorithm (RGMA) for GREEDYMATCHING on a special class of weighted graphs, called bushgraphs. We highlight an unexpected connection between RGMA and the approximation of maximum cardinality matching in unweighted graphs via randomized greedy algorithms. We show that, if the approximation ratio of RGMA is ρ, then for every ε > 0 the randomized MRG algorithm of (Aronson et al. 1995) gives a (ρ − ε)-approximation for the maximum cardinality matching. We conjecture that a tightbound for ρ is 2/3; we prove our conjecture true for four subclasses of bush graphs. Proving a tight bound for the approximation ratio of MRG on unweighted graphs (and thus also proving a tight value for ρ) is a long-standing open problem (Poloczek and Szegedy 2012). This unexpected relation of our RGMA algorithm with the MRG algorithm may provide new insights for solving this problem.
Family Relationships and Well-Being

Abstract Family relationships are enduring and consequential for well-being across the life course. We discuss several types of family relationships—marital, intergenerational, and sibling ties—that have an important influence on well-being. We highlight the quality of family relationships as well as diversity of family relationships in explaining their impact on well-being across the adult life course. We discuss directions for future research, such as better understanding the complexities of these relationships with greater attention to diverse family structures, unexpected benefits of relationship strain, and unique intersections of social statuses.
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing: more questions than benefits?

A plethora of genetic tests for susceptibility to common complex disorders have made their way onto the market. Groceries, clothing, hardware equipment, plane tickets and, now, even genetic tests can be ordered directly over the internet, from the comfort of your own home, without ever seeing a physician. Is this simply a natural progression, following in the footsteps of home pregnancy tests and blood-pressure monitors, which many people would admit do fulfill a certain niche and accomplish a lot of good for health-conscious consumers? After all, genetic testing is at the root of personalized medicine within the context of specific drug responses (pharmacogenetics). There are examples of genetic variants that do have a significant and clinically relevant effect on drug response; therefore, testing for them can lead to more efficient and cost–effective treatments [1]. However, there are many more examples with questionable validity and usefulness, so this begs the question: do direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic services, which allow consumers to completely bypass the traditional healthcare system, do more harm than good? Direct-to-consumer genetic testing can be understood as including two related aspects: first, the advertising of genetic tests directly to consumers; and second, the direct access or ordering of genetic tests without the intermediate of a healthcare professional [2]. Although both aspects are equally important and do raise important ethical issues, they differ sufficiently to warrant separate analyses. This editorial will focus solely on DTC access to genetic testing. Other publications have tackled the issue of advertising [3,4]. Over 1100 genetic tests are available clinically and several hundreds are available in research settings. Although most genetic tests are still only available through a healthcare provider, a growing number of tests
Review of Development Stages in the Conceptual Design of an Electro Hydrostatic Actuator for Robotics

The design of modern robotic devices faces numerous requirements and limitations which are related to optimization and robustness. Consequently, these stringent requirements have caused improvements in many engineering areas and lead to development of new optimization methods which better handle new complex products designed for application in industrial robots. One of the newly developed methods used in industrial robotics is the concept of a self-contained power device, an Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator (EHA). EHA devices were designed with a central idea, to avoid the possible drawbacks which were present in other types of actuators that are currently used in robotic systems. This paper is a review of the development phases of an EHA device for robotic applications. An overview of the advantages and disadvantages related to current EHA designs are presented, and finally possible ideas for future developments are suggested.
Empathy present and future

ABSTRACT The empathy concept has central significance for social and personality psychology and in many other domains, including neuroscience, clinical/abnormal psychology, and the health professions. However, the current diversity in conceptual and operational definitions, and the promiscuous use of the term “empathy,” threaten the ability of researchers to advance the field. The present article provides a quantitative review and conceptual analysis of empathy definitions and usages by examining 393 studies published between 2001 and 2013, and 96 studies published in 2017. We document the prevalence and diversity of definitions, as well as inconsistencies between conceptual definitions and measurements employed. We discuss ways to refine the conceptualization and operationalization of the empathy construct, including for many purposes, bypassing the term empathy in favor of lower-level construct labels that more precisely describe what is actually being measured. In many cases we see no added theoretical or empirical value in applying the term empathy.
Amyloidosis-inducing activity of blood cells in mouse AApoAII amyloidosis

Mouse senile amyloidosis is a disorder in which apolipoprotein A-II (APOA2) deposits as amyloid fibrils (AApoAII) in many organs. We previously reported that AApoAII amyloidosis can be transmitted by feces, milk, saliva and muscle originating from mice with amyloid deposition. In this study, the ability of blood components to transmit amyloidosis was evaluated in our model system. Blood samples were collected from SAMR1.SAMP1-Apoa2c amyloid-laden or amyloidosis-negative mice. The samples were fractionated into plasma, white blood cell (WBC) and red blood cell (RBC) fractions. Portions of each were further separated into soluble and insoluble fractions. These fractions were then injected into recipient mice to determine amyloidosis-induction activities (AIA). The WBC and RBC fractions from amyloid-laden mice but not from amyloidosis-negative mice induced AApoAII amyloid deposition in the recipients. The AIA of WBC fraction could be attributed to AApoAII amyloid fibrils because amyloid fibril-like materials and APOA2 antiserum-reactive proteins were observed in the insoluble fraction of the blood cells. Unexpectedly, the plasma of AApoAII amyloidosis-negative as well as amyloid-laden mice showed AIA, suggesting the presence of substances in mouse plasma other than AApoAII fibrils that could induce amyloid deposition. These results indicated that AApoAII amyloidosis could be transmitted across tissues and between individuals through blood cells.
A Generalized Software Approach for Node-level Power Management

Power management has become increasingly important as the deployment of high-density servers increases. Consequently, a number of management systems have been proposed to provide power guarantees while maximizing performance. One drawback of existing approaches is that they work only on a fixed set of components (or actuators). If new components become available, these management systems must be redesigned and reimplemented to incorporate the new actuators. In this paper, we propose PTRADE, a novel server-level power management system that is general with respect to the components it manages. PTRADE can be deployed to work with a new set of actuators without redesign and reimplementation. PTRADE’s generality is demonstrated through the management of power goals on two different Linux/x86 systems and a simulated 128-core manycore system, each with different components that govern power and performance tradeoffs. Our experimental results show that PTRADE meets power goals while providing 96.1% of the maximum performance on the Linux/x86 systems. On the simulated manycore, PTRADE meets power goals while providing 97.7% of the maximum performance.
Synchronisation through learning for two self-propelled swimmers

The coordinated motion by multiple swimmers is a fundamental component in fish schooling. The flow field induced by the motion of each self-propelled swimmer implies non-linear hydrodynamic interactions among the members of a group. How do swimmers compensate for such hydrodynamic interactions in coordinated patterns? We provide an answer to this riddle though simulations of two, self-propelled, fish-like bodies that employ a learning algorithm to synchronise their swimming patterns. We distinguish between learned motion patterns and the commonly used a-priori specified movements, that are imposed on the swimmers without feedback from their hydrodynamic interactions. First, we demonstrate that two rigid bodies executing pre-specified motions, with an alternating leader and follower, can result in substantial drag-reduction and intermittent thrust generation. In turn, we study two self-propelled swimmers arranged in a leader-follower configuration, with a-priori specified body-deformations. These two self-propelled swimmers do not sustain their tandem configuration. The follower experiences either an increase or decrease in swimming speed, depending on the initial conditions, while the swimming of the leader remains largely unaffected. This indicates that a-priori specified patterns are not sufficient to sustain synchronised swimming. We then examine a tandem of swimmers where the leader has a steady gait and the follower learns to synchronize its motion, to overcome the forces induced by the leader’s vortex wake. The follower employs reinforcement learning to adapt its swimming-kinematics so as to minimize its lateral deviations from the leader’s path. Swimming in such a sustained synchronised tandem yields up to 30% reduction in energy expenditure for the follower, in addition to a 20% increase in its swimming-efficiency. The present results show that two self-propelled swimmers can be synchronised by adapting their motion patterns to compensate for flow-structure interactions. Moreover, swimmers can exploit the vortical structures of their flow field so that synchronised swimming is energetically beneficial.
Four New Diterpenoid Alkaloids from the Roots of Aconitum carmichaelii

Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine and an important source of clinical drugs, of which the parent and lateral roots are known as ‘Chuanwu’ and ‘Fuzi’, respectively. Four new C19‐diterpenoid alkaloids, carmichasines A – D (1 – 4), were isolated from the roots of Aconitum carmichaelii, together with twelve known compounds (5 – 16). Their structures were elucidated via spectroscopic analyses, including HR‐ESI‐MS, IR, and NMR. Carmichasine A (1) is the first natural C19‐diterpenoid alkaloid possessing a cyano group. Most of the diterpenoid alkaloids isolated were C19‐category, which might provide further clues for understanding the chemotaxonomic significance of this plant. The cytotoxicity of the new compounds was also investigated against several human cancer cell lines, including MCF‐7, HCT116, A549, and 786‐0, and none of them showed considerable cytotoxic activity.
Design and Optimization of LDO Regulator with MTCMOS Techniques

: Advances in VLSI technology changed that to allow the creation of System-on-Chip (SoC) devices that integrated those discrete components on a single chip. The most obvious driver for low-power environments leads to increase the demand for battery operated application. Highly accurate Low Drop-Out (LDO) regulators in power supply ICs are typically under 500mA, and frequently used in a wide range of electronic products. LDOs provide a power management solution and satisfying their needs like low power, space-conscious design etc. The main characteristic of the LDO regulator design is to minimize the quiescent current and dropout voltage so as to provide high efficiency. The proposed LDO regulator uses ultra-low quiescent class-AB error amplifier (ERR AMP) and a slew-rate (SR) enhancement circuit to minimize the effect of capacitance and speed up transient response designed in the 180nm technology. The MTCMOS design technique is used to reduce the quiescent current than conventional LDO.It increased the demand for low-cost energy-constrained system applications. The proposed LDO design is simulated by using the cadence analog environment.