Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protection of cyclophosphamide-induced toxicity in reproductive tract histology, sperm characteristics, and DNA damage by an herbal source; evidence for role of free-radical toxic stress

Cyclophosphamide (CP) as an anticancer alkylating agent has been known as a male reproductive tract toxicant. The aim of this study was to examine whether Satureja khuzestanica essential oil (SKEO) as an established herbal antioxidant, might protect tract rat reproductive system from toxicity of CP. To reach this aim, total antioxidant power (TAP) and lipid peroxidation (LPO) in testis and plasma, blood levels of sex hormones, sperm characteristics, DNA integrity and chromatin quality, and fertility in male rats were tested. Histopathological analysis of testes and epididymides and staining of mast cells were performed for assessment of spermatogenic disorders. CP (6 mg/kg/day) and SKEO (225 mg/kg/day) were administered alone or in combination by gavage for 28 days. In the CP-exposed rats, testicular and plasma LPO increased, TAP decreased, plasma testosterone diminished, and both spermatogenesis and fertility were impaired. In CP-treated rats, a decrease in sperm quality was associated with increased DNA damage and decreased chromatin quality. Coadministration of SKEO significantly improved CP-induced changes in plasma testosterone, sperm quality, spermatogenesis and fertility, toxic stress, and DNA damage. It is concluded that CP-induced toxic effects on androgenesis and spermatogenesis is mediated by free radicals. SKEO protects reproductive system from toxicity of CP through its antioxidant potential and androgenic activity.
Guidance of Mobile Actuator-Plus-Sensor Networks for Improved Control and Estimation of Distributed Parameter Systems

This paper presents an abstract framework for the optimization of actuating and sensing devices in distributed parameter systems. The optimization is performed on the repositioning of these devices throughout the spatial domain. It is assumed that a network of mobile sensing and actuating devices is available to obtain measurements from the spatially distributed process and dispense control signals to the spatially distributed process. By taking advantage of the properties that the spatial operator that governs the process dynamics possesses, namely symmetry, coercivity and boundedness, a scheme for the guidance of a mobile actuator-plus-sensor network is developed and used for the performance enhancement of the spatial process. The class of systems is governed by diffusion PDEs equipped with actuators having a boxcar spatial distribution and a collocated sensing device that provides the spatially averaged state measurement over the range of the actuating device. Using Lyapunov stability arguments, a stable guidance scheme is provided for each of the mobile agents. Due to the specific structure of the closed loop system operator with time-varying input and output operators, the same guidance schemes are applicable to the dual problem of mobile sensors employed for enhancing the state estimation problem. Both a centralized state estimator with mobile sensors and a network of consensus distributed estimators are considered, since both filters can be shown to result in the specific algebraic structure of a symmetric spatial operator with collocated input and output operators. Extensive numerical simulations for a 1-D diffusion equation with two actuator/sensor agents, a 2-D diffusion equation with one collocated actuator/sensor agent plus a centralized filter for a 1-D diffusion equation are included to verify the effectiveness of a such a mobile actuator-plus-sensor network in suppressing the effects of spatially varying disturbances and enhancing the system's performance.
Is pharma running out of brainy ideas?

On 4 February, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced that it planned to pull the plug on drug discovery in some areas of neuroscience, including pain and depression. A few weeks later, news came that AstraZeneca was closing research facilities in the United States and Europe and ceasing drug-discovery work in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety. These cutbacks by two of the top players in drug development for disorders of the central nervous system have raised concerns that the pharmaceutical industry is pulling out, or at least pulling back, in this area. In direct response to the cuts at GSK and AstraZeneca, the Institute of Medicine Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders organized a meeting in late June that brought together leaders from government, academia, and private foundations to take stock. But the biggest problem, researchers say, is that there is almost nothing in the pipeline that gives any hope for a transformation in the treatment of mental illness. That9s worrying, they say, because the need for better treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders is vast. Hundreds of millions of people are afflicted worldwide. Yet for some common disorders, like Alzheimer9s disease, no truly effective treatments exist; for others, like depression, the existing drugs have limited efficacy and substantial side effects.
Telmisartan inhibits β2-integrin MAC-1 expression in human T-lymphocytes

Objective The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease, is influenced by the renin–angiotensin system and especially by angiotensin II subtype 1 (AT1) receptor activation. Although pro-inflammatory properties of angiotensin II as well as anti-inflammatory effects of AT1 receptor antagonists are well known, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Method and results In a prospective double-blind study, patients with hypertension and coronary artery disease were treated with either 40 mg telmisartan (n = 21) or placebo (n = 21) for 12 weeks. General markers of inflammation, such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and cell adhesion molecules, such as soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (s-ICAM-1) and the leucocyte adhesion molecule soluble-L-selectin (sL-selectin), as well as the lymphocytic expression of the β2 integrin MAC-1, were assessed before and after treatment. Telmisartan therapy significantly decreased the lymphocyte β2 integrin MAC-1 expression, whereas hs-CRP, IL-6, s-ICAM and sL-selectin remained unaltered. In-vitro experiments were conducted to clarify the mode of action. Cultured human lymphocytes were stimulated with either angiotensin II or phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)/ionomycin, alone or after pretreatment with telmisartan. Whereas angiotensin II exerted no effect on β2-integrin MAC-1 expression in lymphocytes, telmisartan dose-dependently inhibited β2-integrin expression in lymphocytes in the absence or presence of angiotensin II. Conclusion The AT1 receptor antagonist telmisartan inhibits the expression of the pro-inflammatory β2-integrin MAC-1 expression in lymphocytes independently of angiotensin II, suggesting an AT1 receptor-independent atheroprotective effect of this AT1 receptor antagonist.
Plant science. Pavlovsk's hopes hang on a tweet.

Scientists trying to save a unique gene bank of thousands of fruit and berry crops in Russia have taken heart from a surprise intervention last week by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. He sent out a "tweet" from his Twitter account saying that he wants to review a court decision that threatens to destroy the collection. Medvedev9s note came amid an international campaign to rescue the Pavlovsk Experimental Station of the N. I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry near St. Petersburg, whose lands have been approved for bulldozing by property developers.
Protective effect of N-acetylcysteine on experimental chronic lead nephrotoxicity in immature female rats

Oxidative stress plays a key role in lead (Pb)-induced nephrotoxicity. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a potent oxygen free radicals scavenger and a metal chelator. In the present study, female Sprague-Dawley rats received PbAc2 (300 mg/L, via drinking water) and/or NAC (100 mg/kg/day, by intraperitoneal injection) to investigate the protective effect of NAC on Pb-induced renal damage and oxidative stress as well as its mechanism of action. Renal toxicity was evaluated by measuring urinary excretion of total protein, β2-microglobulin, albumin and urinary enzyme markers of tubular necrosis, as well as serum urea nitrogen level. Activities of antioxidant enzymes, contents of glutathione and malondialdehyde in kidney were also measured. Renal cell damage was assessed by electron microscopy. Animals that received both Pb and NAC showed a better renal function than those receiving Pb alone. Lead-induced tubular lesions and mitochondrial damage were markedly reduced in rats that also received NAC. Also, NAC significantly reduced the levels of lipid peroxidation and markedly restored the enzymic and non-enzymatic antioxidants levels in kidney of Pb-treated rats. Moreover, NAC administration significantly increased urinary Pb excretion and decreased its level in the serum and kidney. In conclusion, NAC treatment prevents renal tubular damage induced by chronic Pb administration, most probably through its antioxidant properties and chelating ability.
Give beach ecosystems their day in the sun.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report ([ 1 ][1]) largely overlooked the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems ([ 2 ][2]). In their Review (“The impact of climate change on the world's marine ecosystems,” 18 June, p. [1523][3]), O. Hoegh-Guldberg and J. F
Austerity and the rise of food banks

In the first of the four pre-election television debates, interviewer Jeremy Paxman asked the UK prime minister, David Cameron, “How many food banks were there in this country when you came to power? ” Looking slightly flummoxed, Cameron replied, “I don’t know the exact figures, but I know use of food banks has gone up. ” Paxman pointed out that since 2010 the number of food banks had risen from 66 to 421, while around 900 000 people had received free food parcels last year. Paxman then challenged the prime minister to say whether or not it was “acceptable in a rich country like ours that there are that number of people dependent on free food aid. ” Cameron …
CLEAR LIQUID MEDIUMS FOR THE AEROBIC CULTIVATION OF ANAEROBES

Anaerobic organisms are often overlooked in clinical and biologic laboratories because of the lack of a simple anaerobic medium which can be used just as any aerobic broth without the use of anaerobe jars or other special equipment or technics. It is well known that most clear liquid mediums when heated to drive out the air will be anaerobic for a short time. Whether this period is long enough to allow germination of the spores or growth of the anaerobes present depends on the composition of the medium, the amount of aeration while inoculating and several other factors. For most purposes the period of anaerobiosis obtainable in this manner is not sufficient. To avoid the use of mechanical devices such as the marble seal, special tubes or layers of oil or petrolatum, various substances have been added in attempts to prolong the anaerobiosis and still have a clear liquid medium
Resveratrol commonly displays hormesis: Occurrence and biomedical significance

Resveratrol induces hormetic dose responses in a wide range of biological models, affecting numerous endpoints of biomedical and therapeutic significance. These responses were reported for numerous human tumor cell lines affecting breast, prostate, colon, lung, uterine and leukemia. In such cases, low concentrations of resveratrol enhanced tumor cell proliferation whereas higher concentrations were inhibitory. Similar resveratrol-induced biphasic dose responses were seen with several parasitic diseases, including Leishmaniasis and trichinella. Hormetic effects were also reported in animal models for cardiovascular induced injury, gastric lesions, ischemic stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis. In these cases, there was often a protective effect at low doses but an adverse effect at higher doses, exacerbating the disease process/incidence. This analysis indicates that many effects induced by resveratrol are dependent on dose and that opposite effects occur at low and high doses, being indicative of a hormetic dose response. Despite consistent occurrence of hormetic dose responses of resveratrol in a wide range of biomedical models, epidemiologic and clinical trials are needed to assess the nature of its dose-response in humans.
Collecting Routine Outcome Data in a Psychotherapy Community Clinic for Young People: Findings from an Ongoing Study.

BACKGROUND The paper reports on the collection of routine outcome data from an ongoing audit at a voluntary sector psychotherapy service for young people aged 12 to 21 years in London offering once-weekly psychotherapy. METHOD The study uses intake and follow-up data from an ongoing audit of the psychotherapy service that started in 1993; 1608 young people were included in the study. Measures and areas of interest include the Youth Self Report Form, a significant other (SO) version of the Teacher's Report Form, the Young Adult Self Report Form, and the Young Adult Behaviour Check List. RESULTS Percentage returns at intake were 94% (self), 66% (SO) and 80% (therapist), but became 35%, 21% and 38% at 3-month follow-up, and decreased further at 6- and 12-month follow-up. At all time points, significant other report rates were lower than self or therapist report rates. Young people who did not provide data at intake were more likely to have dropped out of treatment. Over the 15-year period of the audit, intake self-report data rates remained stable (about 94%) whereas SO and especially therapist report rates increased. However, there was a reduction in self, significant other and therapist report rates at 3- and 6-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Collecting routine outcome data was compromised by a variety of factors, and systematic efforts, including introducing initiatives for participation are needed to increase follow-up data rates and improve their quality.
Cardioprotective effect of lemon grass as evidenced by biochemical and histopathological changes in experimentally induced cardiotoxicity

Isoproterenol is a synthetic catecholamine found to cause toxicity leading to severe stress in the myocardium of experimental animals. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the cardioprotective effect of Cymbopogon citratus, which is used as a culinary item and commonly known as lemon grass (LG), in isoproterenol-induced cardiotoxicity. Male Wistar albino rats were segregated into five different groups as follows. Groups I and II rats were treated with vehicle. Groups III and IV rats were treated with 100 and 200 mg/kg b.wt. of LG. Group V with 100 mg/kg b.wt. of vitamin E. Myocardial necrosis was induced in Groups II, III, IV and V on 58th and 59th day using isoproterenol at a dose of 85 mg/kg twice at 24-hour interval. Animals were sacrificed on the 60 th day. LG pretreatment exhibited cardioprotective activity as evidenced by decreased activity of cardiac markers in serum and increased the same in heart homogenate (p < 0.05). LG administration decreased the toxic events of lipid peroxidation (TBARS) in both serum and heart tissue, by increasing the level of enzymatic antioxidants and non-enzymatic antioxidants significantly in both heart homogenate and serum sample (p < 0.05). The histopathological observations also revealed that the cardioprotective effect of LG extract was observed at a dose of 200 mg/kg b.wt. The results of the present study reveal that LG is cardioprotective and antilipid peroxidative by increasing various antioxidants at a dose of 200 mg/kg b.wt. , which is comparable with that of vitamin E.
Global Stabilization of a Class of Invertible MIMO Nonlinear Systems

In this paper, we consider the class of input-affine MIMO nonlinear systems which are assumed to be invertible and input-output linearizable. This class includes, as a trivial special case, the class of MIMO systems possessing a well-defined vector relative degree. It is shown that if a system in this class is strongly minimum phase, in a sense specified in the paper, it is globally stabilizable via partial-state feedback or semiglobally stabilizable via (dynamic) output feedback. The result substantially broadens the class of nonlinear MIMO systems for which global/semiglobal stabilization via limited state information is known to be possible.
Multivariate Spectral Estimation Based on the Concept of Optimal Prediction

In this technical note, we deal with a spectrum approximation problem arising in THREE-like multivariate spectral estimation approaches. The solution to the problem minimizes a suitable divergence index with respect to an a priori spectral density. We derive a new divergence family between multivariate spectral densities which takes root in the prediction theory. Under mild assumptions on the a priori spectral density, the approximation problem, based on this new divergence family, admits a family of solutions. Moreover, an upper bound on the complexity degree of these solutions is provided.
Output Regulation for Unknown Stable Linear Systems

The regulation problem is addressed for single-input, single-output, linear unknown stable systems P(s), of unknown order, with exosystems generating biased multi-sinusoidal references and/or disturbances containing at most q known frequencies ω<sub>i</sub>, 1 ≤ i ≤ q. Sufficient conditions are presented which require the knowledge of sign[P(0)] and either sign{Re[P(jω<sub>i</sub>)]} or sign{Im[P(jω<sub>i</sub>)]}, 1 ≤ i ≤ q. The constructive proofs lead to the design of regulators with minimal order (2q + 1), provided that the gains are sufficiently small. For stable plants P(s) such that Re[P(jω)] > 0, for any ω ∈ ℝ, a universal modular regulator is designed without gain limitations.
Climate negotiations. Cancún delegates see the trees through a forest of hot air.

A new deal inked last week at the United Nations climate talks in Mexico paves the way for rewarding nations for maintaining their forests. A central facet of the agreement, which puts the protection of trees at the vanguard of climate negotiations, is a call for developing countries to begin calculating national totals for emissions from forest loss and to adopt systems to begin monitoring deforestation. The deal opens the door for future trading of forest credits.
Structural Sequence Detectability in Free Choice Interpreted Petri Nets

This technical note is concerned with the structural sequence detectability problem in Free Choice Interpreted Petri nets, i.e., with the possibility of recovering the firing transition sequence in Free Choice Interpreted Petri nets using the output information when the initial marking is unknown. Based on the Free Choice Interpreted Petri net structure, three relationships are proposed which are devoted to capture the confusion over the transitions. These relationships depend on interpreted Petri nets structures such as T - invariants, P - Invariants, attribution, and distribution places. Thus, the approach herein presented exploits the interpreted Petri nets structural information in order to determine the structural sequence detectability of an interpreted Petri net.
$L_{1}$ Discretization for Sampled-Data Controller Synthesis via Piecewise Linear Approximation

This paper develops a new discretization method with piecewise linear approximation for the L1 optimal controller synthesis problem of sampled-data systems, which is the problem of minimizing the L∞-induced norm of sampled-data systems. We apply fast-lifting on the top of the lifting technique, by which the sampling interval [0, h) is divided into M subintervals with an equal width. The signals on each subinterval are then approximated by linear functions by introducing two types of `linearizing operators' for input and output, which leads to piecewise linear approximation of sampled-data systems. By using the arguments of preadjoint operators, we provide an important inequality that forms a theoretical basis for tackling the L1 optimal controller synthesis problem of sampled-data systems more efficiently than the conventional method. More precisely, a mathematical basis for the piecewise linear approximation method associated with the convergence rate is shown through this inequality, and this suggests that the piecewise linear approximation method may drastically outperform the conventional method in the L1 optimal controller synthesis problem of sampled-data systems. We then provide a discretization procedure of sampled-data systems by which the L1 optimal controller synthesis problem is converted to the discrete-time l1 optimal controller synthesis problem. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through a numerical example.
Effects of the combined artesunate and mefloquine antimalarial drugs on rat embryos

Artemisinins combination therapy (ACT) is the first choice therapy for falciparum malaria. Data on the safety of ACTs in pregnancy are limited and controversial and the use is not recommended on the first trimester. To evaluate the effects of isolated and combined artesunate (AS)/mefloquine (MQ) on embryo rats, pregnant rats were treated orally with AS (15 and 40 mg/kg body weight (bwt)/day), MQ (30 and 80 mg/kg bwt/day) and AS/MQ (15/30 and 40/80 mg/kg bwt/day) on days 9–11 post coitum (pc). The dams were euthanized on day 12 pc and gestational and embryos histological parameters were evaluated. Embryolethality and histopathological anomalies were significant when AS was given alone or combined with MQ. Combination of AS and MQ did not enhance their toxicity compared to their separate administrations; on the other side, there was a reduction in the toxic effects of the AS when combined with MQ. Isolated MQ did not induce developmental toxicity.
Characteristics and determinants of adult patients with acute poisoning attending the accident and emergency department of a teaching hospital in Qatar

Data about etiologic and demographic characteristics of acute poisoning in adults in Qatar are lacking. This prospective observational study was undertaken to analyze characteristics and possible determinants of acute poisoning in adults in Qatar. During 2010, 18,073 patients attended the emergency department of Hamad General Hospital, a teaching hospital in Qatar. Out of them, 599 (3.3%) patients were diagnosed as “poisoning case” with either chemical or pharmaceutical substances. The prevalence rate of poisoning incidence was 35.3/100,000 population. Seven patients died, corresponding with a case-fatality rate of 0.39/1000. The majority were male (65%) and the mean age was 34 years. The poisons involved were mainly chemicals (61.6%) and pharmaceuticals (38.4%). Female, mainly single, suffered more intentional poisoning compared to male. Of the patients aged 60 years and above (7.2%), the majority (95.3%) suffered unintentional poisoning with pharmaceuticals; 56% with warfarin, 12% with digoxin and 7% with insulin. Multivariate analysis shows that female gender, single status, younger than 35 years of age, being poisoned by pharmaceutical products, and the need for hospitalization are significant determinants for acute intentional poisoning after adjusting all other possible covariates. The findings of this study can be used to establish awareness and prophylactic campaigns in Qatar.