Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of Neurotrophin 4 and Its Receptor Tyrosine Kinase B in Reproductive Tissues during the Follicular and Luteal Phases in Cows

The neurotrophins, required for the survival and differentiation of the nervous system, are known to be important for the development of the reproductive tissues. However, the signals initiating the growth of follicles, gamete development, and transport and the development of zygote in the reproductive system of cows remain ambiguous. The purpose of the present study was to identify the transcripts and proteins of Neurotrophin 4 (NT4) and its receptor tyrosine kinase B (TrkB) in bovine reproductive tissues. The transcripts and immunoreactivity of NT4 and TrkB proteins were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. Using immunohistochemistry, the specific immunoreactivity of NT4 and TrkB were detected in the oocytes of primordial follicles and in the growing primary follicles. The NT4 and TrkB immunoreactivity was predominantly observed in granulosa cells, cumulus granulosa cells, cumulus oocyte complexes, theca cells of mature follicles, as well as in the oviduct epithelial cells, uterine gland cell, and epithelium cells of the uterus during the follicular and luteal phases in cows. Expressions of NT4 and TrkB mRNAs were not significantly different among the ovary, oviduct, and uterus of the follicular phase. For the luteal phase, the expression of NT4 mRNA in the ovary was significantly higher than that in the oviduct and uterus, and the expression of TrkB mRNA in the oviduct was significantly higher than that in the ovary and uterus, as determined by fluorescence quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The expression of NT4 mRNA was significantly higher than that of TrkB mRNA in the ovary and uterus, whereas NT4 mRNA expression was lower than that of TrkB mRNA in the oviduct during the luteal phase. The present study hypothesizes that NT4 participates in the regulation of both gonads and extra-gonadal reproductive tissues in cows.
Three-dimensional surface displacement map of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake derived from Phase Correlation (PC) sub-pixel offset method and Adaptive Local Kriging (alk) DInSAR data

Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) is an effective technique to measures the surface displacement caused by strong earthquakes, such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. However, in the area subject to the most significant deformation along the Longmenshan fault zone, the coherence between pre- and after- earthquake SAR images is completely lost because of the earthquake induced violent and chaotic destruction on the land surface and consequently, no surface displacement data can be measured. The missing data were recovered using Adaptive Local Kriging (ALK) method to produce a complete Line Of Sight (LOS) displacement map. As a further step to characterize the 3D (three-dimensional) co-seismic deformation, horizontal displacement maps were generated using the Phase Correlation based Image Analysis System (PCIAS), and in combination with the ALK DInSAR data, the vertical displacement map can then be decomposed. Thus, a 3D displacement dataset is accomplished. This dataset shows the thrust and right-lateral strike slip motions along the Longmenshan fault system with two major uplift in Yingxiu and Beichuan areas respectively.
Transcriptional Profiling of Breast Cancer Cells Exposed to Soy Phytoestrogens After BRCA1 Knockdown With a Whole Human Genome Microarray Approach

The estrogen-like properties of the soy phytoestrogens could modulate the estrogen-dependent expression of BRCA1 oncosuppressor, which is highly involved in hereditary and sporadic breast cancer. In order to better understand the importance of BRCA1 function and the role of other genes involved around BRCA1 in the phytoestrogen pathways, we have exploited the BRCA1-specific knockdown by RNA interference using double stranded small interfering RNA (siRNA) in breast tumor cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231) and a fibrokystic breast cell line (MCF-10a) and treated with 18.5 μM genistein or 78.5 μM daidzein for 72 h. We used pangenomic microarrays and subsequently TLDA analysis and demonstrated that cumulated BRCA1 knockdown with soy isoflavone supplementations in breast cell lines seems to modulate apoptosis, MAPK pathway, cell communication, xenobiotic metabolism, and sterol metabolism. Also, transient BRCA1 deficiency in breast cell lines significantly diminished or reversed gene expression after phytoestrogen supplementation. We observed that the significant decrease expression of apoptosis-related genes such as BAX, and the increase expression of BCL2, under BRCA1 knockdown condition, were completely reversed after phytoestrogen treatments. These results underlined the role of BRCA1 expression in breast carcinogenesis and suggested that soy phytoestrogen supplementation could play a role in cancer.
STRATEGIC CHANGE AND THE PERFORMANCE OF CHARITABLE CHILDREN INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA

The study examines the role of strategic change on the performance of charitable children’s institutions in Kenya. While studies have been done on the management of charitable children institutions (CCIs), little has addressed the role of strategic change on the performance of these important institutions. This study seeks to analyze the relationship between organizational structure change and the performance of charitable children institutions and the effects of technological change on the performance of charitable children institutions. A descriptive research design was used. Both primary and secondary data were used in this study. Primary data was collected from key informants using a self- administered questionnaire while Secondary data was derived from the children department and CCI records. Data was analyzed usingdescriptive and inferential statistics techniques. Inferential statistics was used to determine the relationship between the study variables and included analysis of variance regression. The study results of the first objective showed that 42.8 percent of the performance of charitable children institutions can be explained by organizational structure (R squared = 0.428). The study results of the second objective revealed that technological changes effect on performance was statistically significant (overall p-value = 0.016). Performance largely depended on the technological changes with 46.9 percent of performance being explained by technological changes (R squared = 0.469). The study recommends that the right structure and technology should be employed for the effective running of the CCIs in Kenya.
Extending Brick for automated comfort diagnosis

Abstract Modern buildings are data-rich environments that can contain thousands of IoT devices. However, most of this data is not analyzed in order to reduce energy consumption and improve occupants' comforts. This is often due to the required large manual effort for integrating the data into analytic systems. Semantic models allow to model the required meta-data and to arrive at an automated integration process. This is demonstrated for the new Brick ontology, that comprehensively models meta-data in buildings. It is extended by model concepts enabling to address challenges pertaining to physics and thermal comfort. Moreover, this Brick ontology is further extended by reasoning approaches in order to better exploit knowledge. As an example, the proposed approach is used to compute and diagnose virtual sensors so as to assess thermal comfort in a real building.
Improvements in body composition, anthropometric measurements and lipid profile following discontinuation of clozapine

Background: Metabolic syndrome (obesity, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia) is a well-known adverse effect of most antipsychotics. It is particularly common in patients treated with olanzapine and clozapine. Currently, the mechanisms underlying its development are not completely understood. Case report: We present a case of improved body composition (reduced amount of total body fat and visceral adipose tissue), anthropometric measurements (body weight, waist, abdominal and hip circumferences) and lipid profile in a 31-year-old man with schizophrenia following discontinuation of clozapine. During a combined treatment with clozapine, flupentixol and ziprasidone, a routine laboratory test revealed a severe dyslipidaemia (triglycerides > 1800 mg/dL; > 20.3 mmol/L), despite previous lipid-lowering therapy. This abnormality completely recovered after clozapine has been discontinued. Conclusions: Clozapine may cause severe, but reversible metabolic abnormalities, including obesity and hypertriglyceridaemia. Atypical antipsychotic-related lipid abnormalities may have a very rapid onset, occur in relatively young patients, with severe lipid derangements and have potential serious complications. This case confirms how important is to monitor metabolic parameters in patients taking antipsychotics. Discontinuation or switching to another antipsychotic medication may improve components of the metabolic syndrome.
Design of a Digitized Vibration Detector Implemented by CMOS Digitized Capacitive Transducer With In-Plane SoI Accelerometer

In this paper, a digitized vibration detector implemented by CMOS digitized capacitive transducer with in-plane silicon-on-insulator (SoI) accelerometer is newly proposed. The proposed digitized vibration detector is attractive due to the fact that all the circuits and the sensor can be robustly and compactly combined together. A total solution including the continuous-time-voltage (CTV) analog sensing circuits and digitalized interface are proposed in this paper. Based upon 0.35-μm 2P4M CMOS technology with 3 V power supply, all the functions and performance of the proposed CMOS digitized capacitive transducer are successfully tested and proven through measurements and confirmed it to be applied on the in-plane SoI accelerometer. The sensitivity of the proposed CTV analog sensing circuits is 50.488 mV/g and maximum nonlinearity is 2.5% over the excitation of 0.25-5.75-g intensity. The peak signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratio of the proposed digitized vibration detector is 67.6 dB under excitation of 3.25-g intensity. The proposed digitized vibration detector is suitable for digitized accelerometer applications, such as automobiles, consumer electronics, Wii game player, and so on.
Telemedicine: A Pilot Study in Nursing Home Residents

Background: Telemedicine has been applied successfully in various fields of medicine. This mode of health care delivery may potentially be useful in supporting frail nursing home residents who require multidisciplinary geriatric services. Objective: To assess the feasibility of telemedicine in providing geriatric services to nursing home residents, and whether this mode of care resulted in increased productivity and savings. Methods: A local 200-bed nursing home supported by the Community Geriatric Assessment Team (CGAT) was recruited. Over a 1-year period, teleconferencing was used to replace conventional geriatric outreach services. The feasibility of telemedicine was evaluated by participating specialists. Productivity gains, consumption of hospital services and user satisfaction were measured. Results: Telemedicine was adequate for service delivery in up to 99% of cases, depending on the specialty. A greater number of clients were served and follow-up intervals were shortened. The service was cheaper than conventional outreach or clinic activities, and acceptable to users and clients. In particular, savings were made through a 9% reduction in visits to the Accidents and Emergency Department and in 11% fewer admissions to acute hospital wards. Conclusion: Telemedicine is a feasible means of delivering multidisciplinary care to frail nursing home residents, and may result in increased productivity and significant savings.
Differences by Retrospective Illness Course on Burden,Expressed Emotion, Psychological Distress and Quality of Life in Relatives of Mexican Outpatients with Psychosis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Patients’ illness might also affect their relatives’ psychological state. The present crosssectional study aimed at assessing the levels of burden, expressed emotion, psychological distress and quality of life in a sample of relatives of Mexican outpatients with psychosis and the possible effect of illness course assessed retrospectively. Sample included 65 participants: 73.8% female; mean age of 48.7 years. Relatives self-responded the following scales: the Caregiver Burden Interview, the Family Questionnaire, the WHOQOL-BREF and the GHQ-28. Mean scores were compared by groups according to the retrospective illness course of patients (diagnosis, residual symptoms, relapses) with one tailed Mann-Whitney tests. Levels of burden, expressed emotion, psychological distress, and poor quality of life were low,significantly related and particularly influenced by patient residual symptoms. It is important to involve relatives not only as care providers but also as individuals whose psychological well-being is at risk, particularly when their ill relative present residual symptoms.
A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness to reduce stress and burnout among intern medical practitioners

Abstract Introduction: Stress and burnout are highly prevalent among medical doctors, and are associated with negative consequences for doctors, patients, and organizations. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness training intervention in reducing stress and burnout among medical practitioners, by means of a Randomised Controlled Trial design. Methods: Participants were 44 intern doctors completing an emergency department rotation in a major Australian hospital. Participants were randomly assigned to either an active control (one hour extra break per week) or the 10-week mindfulness training intervention. Measures of stress and burnout were taken pre-, mid- and post intervention. Results: Participants undergoing the 10-week mindfulness training program reported greater improvements in stress and burnout relative to participants in the control condition. Significant reduction in stress and burnout was observed for participants in the mindfulness condition. No such reductions were observed for participants in the control condition. Conclusions: Mindfulness interventions may provide medical practitioners with skills to effectively manage stress and burnout, thereby reducing their experience of these symptoms. It is likely that doctors would benefit from the inclusion of such a training program as a part of their general medical education.
Clinical and Economic Value of Performing Dialysis Vascular Access Procedures in a Freestanding Office‐Based Center as Compared with the Hospital Outpatient Department among Medicare ESRD Beneficiaries

Dialysis vascular access (DVA) care is being increasingly provided in freestanding office‐based centers (FOC). Small‐scale studies have suggested that DVA care in a FOC results in favorable patient outcomes and lower costs. To further evaluate this issue, data were drawn from incident and prevalent ESRD patients within a 4‐year sample (2006‐2009) of Medicare claims (USRDS) on cases who receive at least 80% of their DVA care in a FOC or a hospital outpatient department (HOPD).
Réduction de dimensionalité et saillance pour la visualisation d'images spectrales. (Dimensionality reduction and saliency for spectral image visualization)

De nos jours, la plupart des dispositifs numeriques d’acquisition et d’affichage d’images utilisent un petit nombre de couleurs dites primaires afin de representer n’importe quelle couleur visible. Par exemple, la majorite des appareils photos "grand public" quantifient la couleur comme une certaine combinaison de Rouge, Vert et Bleu(RVB). Ce genre de technologie est qualifiee de tri-chromatique et, au meme titre que les modeles tetra-chromatiques communs en imprimerie, elle presente un certain nombre d’inconvenients, tels que le metamerisme ou encore la limitation aux longueurs d’onde visibles. Afin de palier a ces limitations, les technologies multi-, hyper,voire ultra-spectrale ont connu un gain notable d’attention depuis plusieurs decennies. Un image spectrale est constituee d’un nombre de bandes (ou canaux) superieur a 3, representant des regions spectrales specifiques et permettant de recouvrer la radiance ou reflectance d’objets avec plus de precision et independamment du capteur utilise. De nombreux travaux de recherche ont fait considerablement progresser les methodes d’acquisition et d’analyse, mais beaucoup de challenges demeurent, particulierement en ce qui concernel a visualisation de ce type de donnees. En effet, si une image contient plusieurs dizaines de canaux comment la representer sur un ecran qui n’en accepte que trois ? Dans cette these, nous presentons un certain nombre de methodes d’extraction d’attributs pour l’analyse d’images spectrales, avec une attention particuliere sur la problematique de la visualisation.
Design of Single-Input Fuzzy Logic Controller for Spatial Control of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor

In large nuclear reactors, such as the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), the spatial oscillations in the neutron flux distribution due to xenon reactivity feedback need to be properly controlled; otherwise, power density and rate of change of power at some locations in the reactor core may exceed limits of fuel failure due to “flux tilting. ” Further, situations, such as online refueling, might cause transient variations in the flux shape from the nominal flux shape. For analysis and control of spatial oscillations in AHWR, it is necessary to design a suitable control strategy, which will be able to stabilize these oscillations. In this paper, a simplified scheme to design a fuzzy logic controller for spatial control of AHWR, known as the single-input fuzzy logic controller (SIFLC) is proposed. The SIFLC reduces the conventional two-input fuzzy logic controller (CFLC) to a single-input FLC. The SIFLC offers a significant reduction in rule inferences and simplifies the tuning of control parameters. The SIFLC requires less execution time compared to CFLC for the control of spatial oscillations in AHWR. Through the dynamic simulations, it is observed that the designed SIFLC is able to suppress spatial oscillations developed in AHWR and the performance is found to be better compared to the recently proposed approach in the literature.
Studies on an outbreak of neonatal diarrhea caused by EPEC 0127:H6 with plasmid analysis restriction analysis and outer membrane protein determination

An outbreak of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) 0127:H6 diarrhea occurred at two nurseries for the newborn in Chongqing in May 1987. Sixty‐nine neonates had diarrhea; two deaths resulted. The epidemic strains, carrying 1.5 and 60 Md plasmid DNA, had an identical restriction digest profile and the same outer membrane protein pattern and could produce localized adherence to HeLa, HEp‐2 and FL cells. The rates of contamination with EPEC 0127:H6 on medical staff's hands in these two nurseries were 11.8% and 8.7%, respectively, whereas 85 samples from milk, air and other sources were all negative for EPEC. The source of infection was the index case's mother who had had watery stools. Transmission of EPEC 0127:H6 from infant to infant took place by way of the fecal‐oral route, most likely via the hands of medical staff attending their care. We present the first case, confirmed by plasmid and restriction analyses and outer membrane protein determination, of a neonate who acquired EPEC during delivery through ingestion of organisms residing in the maternal birth canal.
On Channel Estimation for OFDM Based Two-Way Relay Networks

We consider the channel estimation issues for two-way relay network (TWRN) that employs orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. We propose a two-phase training protocol for channel estimation, which is compatible with two-phase data transmission scheme associated with TWRN. It will be seen that channel estimation in TWRN is quite different from that in the traditional point-to-point system or even that in the one-way relay network (OWRN). The identifiability issue of the channel estimation, which particularly exists for TWRN, is studied. Simulation results corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Ion channel properties searching by SQUID with real time histogram

Magnetic fields induced from neuromuscular junctions in frogs were measured with a high-resolution dc-SQUID magnetometer in a magnetically shielded room. Scanning the frog preparation automatically, the magnetic field distribution associated with end plate currents was successfully measured. Analyzing the real time histogram of current profile and amplitude distribution conferring the open and close probabilities of Na+ and K+ ion channels, the location of ion channels with their properties was revealed.
Clock Genes, Oscillators, and Cellular Networks in the Suprachiasmatic Nuclei

The mammalian SCN contains a biological clock that drives remarkably precise circadian rhythms in vivo and in vitro. Recent advances have revealed molecular and cellular mechanisms required for the generation of these daily rhythms and their synchronization between SCN neurons and to the environmental light cycle. This review of the evidence for a cell-autonomous circadian pacemaker within specialized neurons of the SCN focuses on 6 genes implicated within the pace making mechanism, an additional 4 genes implicated in pathways from the pacemaker, and the intercellular and intracellular mechanisms that synchronize SCN neurons to each other and to solar time.
Intramolecular chimeras of the p51 subunit between HIV-1 and FIV reverse transcriptases suggest a stabilizing function for the p66 subunit in the heterodimeric enzyme.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase (RT) is a heterodimeric enzyme composed of a 66 kDa (p66) and a 51 kDa (p51) subunit. Recently we showed that p51 plays an important role in the conformation of p66 within the HIV-1 RT heterodimer and hence appears to influence its catalytic activities [Amacker, M. , and H ubscher, U. (1998) J. Mol. Biol. 278, 757-765]. This was further investigated here via construction of three intramolecular chimeras of HIV-1 and FIV RTs. The first 25 and 112 amino acids of the N terminus, respectively, as well as the last 22 amino acids of the C terminus in the p51 subunit of HIV-1 RT were exchanged with the corresponding regions of the FIV RT and combined with the wild-type HIV-1 p66. Characterization of these chimeric RT heterodimers demonstrated significant biochemical differences in (i) DNA-dependent DNA synthesis, (ii) strand displacement DNA synthesis, and (iii) RNase H activity. Our results indicate that both the N and C termini of HIV-1 RT p51 appear to be important in stabilizing the RT heterodimer for enzymatic functions.
Viewpoint: An Informatics Infrastructure Is Essential for Evidence-based Practice

The contention of the author is that an informatics infrastructure is essential for evidenced-based practice. Five building blocks of an informatics infrastructure for evidence-based practice are proposed: 1) standardized terminologies and structures, 2) digital sources of evidence, 3) standards that facilitate health care data exchange among heterogeneous systems, 4) informatics processes that support the acquisition and application of evidence to a specific clinical situation, and 5) informatics competencies. Selected examples illustrate how each of these building blocks supports the application of evidence to practice and the building of evidence from practice. Although a number of major challenges remain, medical informatics can provide solutions that have the potential to decrease unintended variation in practice and health care errors.