Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of oral insulin delivery systems

The possibility of administering insulin orally in replacement of painful subcutaneous route has been investigated over years but with varying degree of success. Nanoparticles, microparticles, hydrogel, capsule, tablet, and film patch are designed to deliver insulin orally. They are largely formulated with polymeric adhesive, protease inhibitor, insulin aggregation inhibitor, and functional excipients to induce transcellular, paracellular, Peyer’s patches, or receptor-mediated transport of insulin in gastrointestinal tract. Superporous matrix, intestinal patches, and charged-coupled micromagnet microparticles are recent formulation strategies to promote oral insulin absorption. The formulation emphasizes on assembly of insulin and excipients into a physical structure which provides an element of drug targeting to maintain stability and increase bioavailability of insulin. The overview of various strategies applied in oral insulin delivery system design denotes the significance of mucoadhesiveness whereby a prolonged retention of dosage form in intestinal tract translates to cumulative insulin release and absorption, overcoming the intestinal transport capacity limit. Synthesis and use of mucoadhesive excipients, chemical modification of insulin to promote its physicochemical and biological stability for encapsulation in dosage form with prolonged retention characteristics and identification of potential insulin adjuncts are efforts needed to accelerate the speed of obtaining a functional oral insulin delivery system.
Effect of Poultry Litter Treatment (PLT) on death due to ascites in broilers.

The purposes of this study were to determine the effect of Poultry Litter Treatment (PLT) on levels of litter moisture, litter nitrogen, atmospheric ammonia, and death due to ascites. Data were collected from chicks raised in containment conditions that resembled commercial settings. The ascites death rate (5.9%) in broiler chicks on PLT-treated litter was significantly (chi 2 = 15.5, df = 1, P = 0.0001) lower than that (31.5%) in broiler chicks raised on untreated litter. Likewise, atmospheric ammonia levels in pens that had been treated with PLT were significantly (P < 0.05) lower than those in pens that received no treatment. Under the conditions of the present study, litter moisture and litter nitrogen levels were not different (P > 0.05) among treatments at any sample interval.
A Novel PSS Stemmer for String Similarity Joins

String similarity join plays a vital role in the integration and cleaning of data by identifying the similar pair of strings from one or more sources. The focus on string similarity join has been increased in the current scenario as it emphasizes on the effective management of data for the accurate analysis of hidden truth. String similarity joins always comes under the scope of stemming techniques as they concentrate on the explication of the syntactic base of a given string which would be helpful for the mapping of data from multisets. The string similarity join algorithms proposed in the existing literature have not been thoroughly experimented to prove its real time usability. Hence, the objective of the paper is to introduce a novel stemming algorithm for identifying prefix and suffixes of the given word to be used for the similar strings from one or more sources and to prove the real time usability of the proposed work.
Shape of thermal plumes in a compressible mantle with depth‐dependent viscosity

The mantle plume model has been invoked to explain the formation of large igneous provinces (LIP) and associated age‐progressive hotspot tracks. The shape of mantle plumes should be significantly altered by physical properties of the mantle and will influence how plume theory is used to interpret observational constraints. Based on theoretical analysis and numerical modeling, we explore the parameters that control the shape of thermal plumes in a compressible mantle. A theoretical analysis shows that the ambient mantle viscosity plays a dominant role in determining the radius of thermal plumes. This analysis is verified by numerical solutions. A continuously decreasing mantle viscosity from the CMB to the lithosphere can effectively reduce the radius of both plume head and tail. A low viscosity zone between 100 and 660 km depths where viscosity decreases by a factor of 100 reduces the radius of a plume conduit by approximately a factor of 3. Such a low viscosity zone can reduce the plume head radius impinging the lithosphere from larger than 500 km to ∼200 km. When the low viscosity zone is confined to between 100 and 410 km depths, the plume head size becomes even smaller. To form large igneous provinces, a small plume head implies time‐progressive volcanism from LIP center to LIP edge.
Abnormalities of Cerebral Structure in Schizophrenia on Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Interpretation in Relation to the Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis

The nature of abnormalities of cerebral structure evident in schizophrenia on magnetic resonance imaging is considered in relation to the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of the disorder. While schizophrenic patients showed increased ventricular volume, the extent of increase with age was comparable with that evident in controls and was unrelated to duration of illness. Conversely, cortical atrophy was evident only in patients, and this increased markedly with age and duration of illness. Such findings could be suggestive of two distinct pathophysiological processes in schizophrenia, but a schema for their reconciliation with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis is elaborated.
Segmentation , Compression and Wireless Transmission of Volumetric Brain MR Images

The main objective of this paper is to provide an efficient tool for delineating brain tumors in three-dimensional magnetic resonance images and set up compression-transmit schemes to distribute result to the remote doctor. To achieve this goal, we use basically a level-sets approach to delineating brain tumors in threedimensional. Then introduce a new compression and transmission plan of 3D brain structures based for the meshes simplification, adapted for time to the specific needs of the telemedicine and to the capacities restricted by wireless network communication. We present here the main stages of our system, and preliminary results which are very encouraging for clinical practice. Keywords—Medical imaging, level-sets, compression, meshes simplification, telemedicine, wireless transmission.
Significance of Interspecies Matches when Evolutionary Rate Varies

We develop techniques to estimate the statistical significance of gap-free alignments between two genomic DNA sequences, using human-mouse alignments as an example. The sequences are assumed to be sufficiently similar that some but not all of the neutrally evolving regions (i.e., those under no evolutionary constraint) can be reliably aligned. Our goal is to model the situation in which the neutral rate of evolution, and hence the extent of the aligning intervals, varies across the genome. In some cases, this permits the weaker of two matches to be judged as less likely to have arisen by chance, provided it lies in a genomic interval with a high level of background divergence. We employ a hidden Markov model to capture variations in divergence rates and assign probability values to gap-free alignments using techniques of Dembo and Karlin, which are related to those used for the same purpose by BLAST. Our methods are illustrated in detail using a 1.49 Mb genomic region. Results obtained from the analysis of human chromosome 22 using these techniques are also provided.
A Novel Tilting Micromirror with a Triangular Waveform Resonance Response and an Adjustable Resonance Frequency for Raster Scanning Applications

We present a novel tilting micro-mirror that has a triangular waveform resonance response, and a resonance frequency that can be continuously and reversibly adjusted. The triangular waveform and the adjustability of the resonance frequency are crucially important for raster-scanning applications. Although the mirror is driven by electrostatic forces, the triangular waveform is achieved by mechanical means. Our micro-mirror is driven by up to 60 Volts whereas to achieve the same waveform without the novel mechanical design would require extremely high voltages.
Degradation of hydroxylapatite, fluorapatite, and fluorhydroxyapatite coatings of dental implants in dogs.

Calcium phosphate coatings on dental implants enhance integration of the material. Resorption of the ceramic coatings has raised some concern about the behavior of the bone-implant interfaces after the coating disappearance. Substitution of the OH- ions by fluoride in the hydroxylapatite (HA) lattice makes the calcium phosphate more stable. We investigated the degradation rate of dental implants with 50- and 100-microm coatings of HA, fluorapatite (FA), or fluorhydroxylapatite (FHA). The implants were inserted in dog jaws and retrieved for histological analysis after 3, 6, and 12 months. The thickness of the calcium phosphate coatings was evaluated using an image analysis device. A relative resorption index and its standard deviation were studied. HA and FA coatings (even at 100-microm thickness) were almost totally degraded within the implantation period. In contrast, the FHA coatings did not show significant degradation during the same period. The standard deviation showed that the resorption process for FHA with thicknesses of 50 or 100 microm was the same. Such a difference was not observed between the 50- and 100-microm thick coatings of FA and HA. In conclusion, the FHA coatings showed good integration in the bone tissue and lasted much longer than classic calcium phosphate coatings.
Defining GM-CSF– and Macrophage-CSF–Dependent Macrophage Responses by In Vitro Models

GM-CSF and M-CSF (CSF-1) induce different phenotypic changes in macrophage lineage populations. The nature, extent, and generality of these differences were assessed by comparing the responses to these CSFs, either alone or in combination, in various human and murine macrophage lineage populations. The differences between the respective global gene expression profiles of macrophages, derived from human monocytes by GM-CSF or M-CSF, were compared with the differences between the respective profiles for macrophages, derived from murine bone marrow cells by each CSF. Only 17% of genes regulated differently by these CSFs were common across the species. Whether a particular change in relative gene expression is by direct action of a CSF can be confounded by endogenous mediators, such as type I IFN, IL-10, and activin A. Time-dependent differences in cytokine gene expression were noted in human monocytes treated with the CSFs; in this system, GM-CSF induced a more dramatic expression of IFN-regulated factor 4 (IRF4) than of IRF5, whereas M-CSF induced IRF5 but not IRF4. In the presence of both CSFs, some evidence of “competition” at the level of gene expression was observed. Care needs to be exercised when drawing definitive conclusions from a particular in vitro system about the roles of GM-CSF and M-CSF in macrophage lineage biology.
Histochemical study on rat tear film and ocular surface epithelial cells.

PURPOSE To investigate the histochemistry of the tear film, conjunctival goblet cells and corneal superficial epithelial cells by an in vivo cryofixation with the freeze-substitution method. METHODS Following rapid freezing of the eyeballs by an isopentane-propane mixture cooled by liquid nitrogen directly, the specimens were freeze-substituted and then embedded in Lowicryl K4M resin at low temperature, or in epoxy resin for histochemical study, using light and transmission electron microscopy. RESULTS The tear film was weakly positive with periodic acid-Schiff staining, but negative with alcian blue at pH 2.5 or pH 1.0 and high iron diamine staining. Conjunctival goblet cells were positively stained by all these techniques. There was a gradually weakening staining intensity of mucus from the goblet cells to the conjunctival surface. With the periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver protein method the tear film was weakly stained, while glycocalices, vesicles, glycogen in epithelial cytoplasm and the mucus secretory granules of goblet cells were all intensely stained. CONCLUSIONS The tear film consists mainly of dilute mucus and contains either neutral or acid glycoproteins.
Fecal Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Measurement for Optimizing Detection of Disease Activity in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

particularly important for low prevalence conditions, such as CMV colitis, which are subject to substantial case misclassification if the diagnostic codes are not accurate. We recently demonstrated that an accurate diagnosis of CMV reactivation in inflammatory bowel disease requires a tissue diagnosis, and is dependent on biopsy number, location, and the type of histologic test.2 The sensitivity of whole blood polymerase chain reaction was only 31% (95% confidence interval, 16-46) in patients with confirmed CMV reactivation by immunohistochemistry. Similarly, conventional histopathology by hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue has poor sensitivity for detecting CMV reactivation (25%; 95% confidence interval, 15-36). In the current study, only 37% of patients without CMV underwent an endoscopic examination, and it is unknown if any of the individuals who underwent an endoscopic examination were adequately assessed for CMV. As a result, the prevalence of CMV in this population cannot be accurately ascertained, nor can the CMV negative group be regarded as an appropriate control. A second limitation of this study was the inability to assess for the use of antiviral therapy or the degree of viral burden. We recently demonstrated that antiviral therapy results in an 80% reduction in colectomy risk, among patients with corticosteroid-refractory UC.3 We also demonstrated that antiviral therapy seems to be most effective in patients with a high burden of CMV.4 Similarly, others have demonstrated that patients with a high-viral burden are more likely to be resistant to multiple immunosuppressive agents,5 suggesting that the viral burden may impact pathogenicity. On the basis of these studies and others, a new paradigm is emerging which suggests that the pathogenicity of CMV lies upon a continuum, dependent on the degree of viral burden. When low levels of virus are present, the virus likely exists as an innocent bystander, and when high levels are present the virus likely contributes a pathogenic role. Unfortunately, the current study was not able to assess these factors. Therefore, conclusions regarding the impact of CMV cannot be drawn from this work. In conclusion, we would like to stress that accurate case ascertainment through appropriate diagnostic testing, and an understanding of the degree of viral burden along with the use of antiviral therapy are crucial when assessing the impact of CMV in inflammatory bowel disease.
Unusual hair changes with prolonged erlotinib exposure

The introduction of new therapies that target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) for the treatment of various malignancies has been associated with new cutaneous toxicities; papulopustular rash (45–100%), abnormalities of hair growth (21%), dry and itchy skin (12–16%) and periungual inflammation. The localization of these side-effects to the mucocutaneous sites and the high rates of these reactions are thought to reflect the function of EGFR in the epidermis, hair follicle and periungual tissues. Erlotinib, a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting the EGFR, is associated with various acute and chronic cutaneous changes typical of this class of agent. We present a case associated with unusual changes to the patient’s hair. A 38-year-old non-Asian woman who was an ex-smoker initially presented in August 2004 with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. She received cytotoxic chemotherapy with stable disease initially but which had progressed by April 2005. She commenced erlotinib 150 mg daily and developed a typical grade 3 (papulopustular skin rash over 50% of body surface) of the face and trunk by week 4. After dose reduction to 100 mg/day, she could recommence the erlotinib. Restaging after 8 weeks of erlotinib showed a good partial response and this is maintained after a total of 18 months of treatment. She continued to have a fluctuating papular rash (grade 2 or less) over her face and trunk. After 10 months of treatment she noted patchy alopecia, curling and a change in the colour of her hair from dark brown (Fig. 1) to orange (Fig. 2). Although abnormal scalp hair growth (including alopecia) and ‘curling’ have previously been described, this patient’s change of hair colour appears to be a new finding.
Measuring Time-Frequency Distributions Concentration

Efficient measurement of time-frequency distributions (TFDs) concentration can provide a quantitative criterion for evaluation of various distributions performance. It can be used for adaptive and automatic parameter selection in time-frequency analysis, without supervision of a user. Measures for distribution concentration of monocomponent signals date back to [3], [8]. For more complex signals, some quantities from statistics and information theory were the inspiration for defining measures of the TFDs concentration [4][5]. They provided good quantitative measure of the auto-terms concentration. Various and efficient modifications are used in order to take into account the appearance of oscillatory cross-terms. The application of concentration measures will be demonstrated on automatic determination of the “best window length” for the spectrogram or “the best number of terms” in the method that provides transition form the spectrogram toward the pseudo Wigner distribution (pseudo WD) [Article 6.2].
Reversal of delirium induced by tricyclic antidepressant drugs with physostigmine.

The authors found that 2 mg. of physostigmine given intramuscularly was effective in reversing acute brain syndromes in two patients who had ingested toxic doses of drugs with anticholinergic properties (amitriptyline alone and an amitriptyline-perphenazine combination). Physostigmine also controlled one patient's tachycardia and tachypnea. Physostigmine may not control toxic effects of anticholinergic drugs when these effects are not mediated through cholinergic blockade.
State of the science on cardiometabolic risk after spinal cord injury: recap of the 2013 Asia pre-conference on cardiometabolic disease.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) who survive at least 1 year post injury. Persons with SCI who are younger than 45 years of age are four times more likely to die of cardiac causes than their age-matched counterparts without SCI. There is evidence that people with SCI are at increased risk for CVD compared to the general population, however prospective trials documenting true incidence have not confirmed this. These figures are not surprising, due to the effect of paralysis on body composition, challenges to physical activity, and the body’s response to physical activity after SCI. Individuals with SCI may also be less likely, depending on level of injury, to experience angina or other cardiac-related symptoms as a warning sign of cardiac compromise due to sympathetic nervous system disruption. Because measures of risk, and subsequent preventive practices, are based on and designed for the general population and because persons with SCI experience CVD earlier and with fewer cardiac symptoms than the general population, there is a need to better characterize the risks in this population.6 One of the significant risks of CVD in persons with SCI is their tendency to develop cardiometabolic syndrome, defined as a cluster of risk factors that includes obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and subclinical atherosclerosis. Cardiometabolic risk (CMR) has been a principal research focus of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Secondary Conditions in the Rehabilitation of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury. Research conducted during a previous cycle of SCI-RRTC (2003-2009) funding demonstrated that 76.9% of subjects exhibited risk clustering, with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) occurring in 64% of subjects and depressed high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) occurring in 53% of subjects (42% and 11%, respectively, for males and females). Further, overweight/obesity was the most prevalent CMR (74%) among 121 community-dwelling persons with chronic SCI. Body mass index (BMI) provides a proxy measure of body fat, as the ratio of weight (kg) and height (m2). Although BMI may be adequate for providing a gross estimate of obesity in the general population, it is problematic after SCI due to the significant changes in body composition that are nearly universal and are characterized by a loss of lean and increase in fat mass. As a result, the BMI scale significantly underestimates obesity in individuals after SCI and therefore may not signal actual risk. Similarly, although optimization of the lipid profile is integral to general population CVD prevention, the way in which lipid patterns may differ after SCI and how those differences impact CVD risk in persons with SCI have not received much attention.
O AGRONEGÓCIO DO TRIGO E SEUS DERIVADOS: O EFEITO DA DESREGULAMENTAÇÃO E REDUÇÃO DOS SUBSÍDIOS NO BRASIL

Taxes and subsidies can have an influence on the food market changing the price and food consumption. The present study analyzed the effect of subsidies reduction and economic openness on the prices of wheat (paid to the producers), wheat flour and pasta in Brazil. The prices were compared in two distinct periods: from 1980 to 1990 characterized by having subsidies, and from 1991 to 2010 with reductions in subsidies and trade liberalization. Multiple linear regressions were used to test the effect of wheat and flour prices on the pasta price. In addition, the price elasticity of demand was calculated to analyze the sensitivity of consumption of flour and pasta in relation to price changes. The results indicate that subsidies for wheat production and wheat flour consumption may have resulted in better prices for national wheat producers and wheat flour consumers during the period of regulation, but caused an increase of the pasta price. The changes in the prices of wheat flour and pasta influenced the consumption. The consumption of wheat flour reduced in greater proportion than its price increase. The decrease of pasta price may have contributed to the observed 1 Autor correspondente. Revista Brasileira de Gestão e Inovação – Brazilian Journal of Management & Innovation v.3, n.1, Setembro/Dezembro – 2015 ISSN: 2319-0639 http://www.ucs. br/etc/revistas/index.php/RBGI/index Página 114 increase in consumption. Since subsidies and taxes produce direct and indirect effects, any intervention should be analyzed looking for advantages to producers and consumers with minimum social costs.
Cytochrome a3: Destruction by Light

Spectroscopic measurements on cultures of Prototheca zopfii irradiated with blue light revealed that inhibition of respiration was accompanied by destruction of cytochrome a3. One of the three b-type cytochromes and one of the two c-type cytochromes of this organism were also affected. Cytochrome oxidase of yeast (not resolved into the a and a3 components) and cytochrome a3 of beef-heart mitochondria were also destroyed by blue light.
Investigations on the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis infections in infertile male outpatients

Summary. The determination of Chlamydia antibodies in serum is unsuitable for diagnosing infertility in men. The determination of secretory IgA in seminal plasma would seem to be of greater relevance. Since antibodies against C. trachomatis and C. pneumoniaecan be detected, a species‐specific test for the diagnosis of infections of the male genital tract should be used. Only at relatively high titers (≥ 1:400) do genus‐specific tests agree with the species‐specific micro‐immunofluorescence test. Whether such values can be taken as a true indicator of a local, chronic infection remains to be investigated.