Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Potential value of plants as sources of new antifertility agents II.

Literature on the phytochemical study of plant estrogens is reviewed. The coumestans reportedly have a greater degree of estrogenic activity than the isoflavones. Diethylstilbestrol is the prototype of the synthetic silbene derivatives. Of the natural stilbenes, only rhaponticin possesses estrogenic activity, though this is not firmly established. 6, 4'-dihydroxyflavone has also been reported to have estrogenic activity. Coumestrol and genistein have been shown to compete with 17beta-estradiol for binding sites in the uterus of young rabbits. Vinblastine, demecolene, and podophyllotoxin posses known cyto toxic, antifertility properties. Naturally occurring steroid estrogens, estrogenic isoflavins, coumestans, plants with reported estrogenic activity, and cytotoxic agents with antifertility properties are listed along with their plant sources.
Management of acute asthma in adults in the emergency department: nonventilatory management

Peter, a 26-year-old man with chronic, poorly controlled asthma, presents to a walk-in clinic reporting increasing asthma symptoms over a period of one week. He has been needing up to 20 puffs of salbutamol per day. An acute exacerbation of asthma is diagnosed, and the patient is immediately
Cholecystokinin activates catecholaminergic neurons in the caudal medulla that innervate the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in rats

Stimulation of gastric vagal afferents by systemic administration of cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK) inhibits gastric motility, reduces food intake, and stimulates pituitary secretion of oxytocin and adrenocorticotropic hormone in rats. To characterize further the central neurol circuits responsible for these effects, the present study used triple‐labeling immunocytochemical methods to determine whether or not exogenous CCK activates cFos expression in catecholaminergic neurons in the caudal medulla that project to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN). To identify these neurons, the retrograde tracer fluorogold (FG) was iontophoresed into the PVN of anesthetized rats under stereotaxic guidance. After 2 weeks, rats were injected with CCK (100 μg/kg, i. p.) and then anesthetized and killed 1 hour later by perfusion fixation. Medullary sections were processed for triple immunocytochemical localization of cFos, retrogradely transported FG, and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). In rats with FG injections centered in the PVN (n = 10), approximately 70% of the FG‐labeled neurons in the caudal nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) and ventrolateral medulla (VLM) expressed cFos. Of these activated PVN‐projecting neurons, approximately 78% in the NST and 89% in the VLM were catecholaminergic (TH positive). These results indicate that PVN‐projecting catecholaminergic neurons within the caudal medulla are activated by periph eral administration of CCK, further implicating these ascending catecholaminergic path ways in the neuroendocrine, physiological, and behavioral effects produced by gastric vagal stimulation. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Normal forms for multidimensional databases

In the area of online analytical processing (OLAP), the concept of multidimensional databases is receiving much popularity. Thus, a couple of different multidimensional data models were proposed from the research as well as from the commercial product side, each emphasizing different perspectives. However, very little work has been done investigating guidelines for good schema design within such a multidimensional data model. Based on a logical reconstruction of multidimensional schema design, this paper proposes two multidimensional normal forms. These normal forms define modeling constraints for summary attributes describing the cells within a multidimensional data cube and constraints to model complex dimensional structures appropriately. Multidimensional schemas compliant to these normal forms do not only ensure the validity of analytical computations on the multidimensional database, but also favor an efficient physical database design.
Low Overhead Hardware-Assisted Virtual Machine Analysis and Profiling

Cloud infrastructure providers need reliable performance analysis tools for their nodes. Moreover, the analysis of Virtual Machines (VMs) is a major requirement in quantifying cloud performance. However, root cause analysis, in case of unexpected crashes or anomalous behavior in VMs, remains a major challenge. Modern tracing tools such as LTTng allow fine grained analysis - albeit at a minimal execution overhead, and being OS dependent. In this paper, we propose HAVAna, a hardware-assisted VM analysis algorithm that gathers and analyzes pure hardware trace data, without any dependence on the underlying OS or performance analysis infrastructure. Our approach is totally non-intrusive and does not require any performance statistics, trace or log gathering from the VM. We used the recently introduced Intel PT ISA extensions on modern Intel Skylake processors to demonstrate its efficiency and observed that, in our experimental scenarios, it leads to a tiny overhead of up to 1%, as compared to 3.6-28.7% for similar VM trace analysis done with software-only schemes such as LTTng. Our proposed VM trace analysis algorithm has also been open-sourced for further enhancements and to the benefit of other developers. Furthermore, we developed interactive Resource and Process Control Flow visualization tools to analyze the hardware trace data and present a real-life usecase in the paper that allowed us to see unexpected resource consumption by VMs.
The Relationship Between Performance and Spatial-Temporal Region Size for Reduced-Reference, In-Service Video Quality Monitoring Systems

This paper presents objective-to-subjective correlation results for a reduced-reference, in-service, video quality monitoring system. This reduced-reference system utilizes quality parameters that are computed by comparing features extracted from spatial-temporal (S-T) regions of the input video stream with identical features extracted from the output video stream. The amount of reduced-reference information that is required to compute the quality parameters is inversely related to the size of the S-T region. Smaller amounts of reference information (i.e., larger S-T regions) are desired since less transmission or storage bandwidth is required for the reference information. However, objective-to-subjective correlation drops off if the S-T region size becomes too large. In this paper we examine the tradeoffs between objective-to-subjective correlation results and S-T region size. Correlation results for S-T region sizes from 8 vertical lines x 8 horizontal pixels x 2 video frames to 128 x 128 x 24 are presented. These results utilized a total of nine subjectively rated data sets that span an extremely wide range of bit rates and compression techniques. Thus, designers of television video systems as well as Internet video streaming systems may use the results.
Establishing Computer Science Professional Norms Among High-School Students

Norms govern the criteria by which students decide what is good and what is not good, and align their learning trajectories accordingly.We found that the high-school students’ normis to produce working, but not necessarily error-free, programs and to argue for their correctness solely on the basis of a few executions. Therefore, they prefer working directly with the computer, refining an initial idea iteratively by trial and error. To change this norm, instruction should provide a fertile environment for the growth of professional norms as an integral part of computer science training. Specifically, we suggest integrating explanatory proofs as a means of establishing norms of precision in the students’ practices and methods of communication. In order to demonstrate how our approach is implemented, we describe a case study, portraying the teacher’s role as a norms facilitator and illustrating the students’ adjustment to the instructional activities.
An effective SAR-GMTI technique based on eigen-decomposition of the covariance matrix

An effective multi-channel SAR-GMTI technique based on eigen-decomposition of the covariance matrix is proposed. The variation of the sum of small eigenvalues of the covariance matrix is used to detect moving targets which can avoid clutter suppression. The radial velocity of the moving target is estimated by two steps. Firstly, using the interferometric phase of two SAR images to get the coarse radial velocity estimation, then the more precise radial velocity is obtained by searching the space-domain steering vector of the moving target. It overcomes the sensitivity of the interferometric phase to clutter and noise. The performance of the approach is analyzed in detail. The merit of the presented technique is demonstrated by simulated and measured SAR data.
Transmission of rotavirus and other enteric pathogens in the home

Rotavirus is the most common gastrointestinal pathogen present in day-care settings. Control and prevention of rotavirus infection are difficult because of the lack of a licensed vaccine, the absence of any effective treatment other than palliative measures and the presence of asymptomatic children shedding virus. Rotavirus is transmitted by fecal-oral contact and possibly by contaminated surfaces and hands and respiratory spread. Other gastrointestinal pathogens are also transmitted primarily by the fecal oral route, although contaminated surfaces, hands or food may also serve to transmit infection in some cases. Control and prevention measures for all enteric pathogens include isolating infected children from others, thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting environmental surfaces with effective agents and strictly following handwashing procedures before and after contact with infected persons and/or potentially contaminated surfaces.
Numerical simulation of transmission in depressed trapezoidal-ridge waveguide based on FEM

Finite element method is introduced to analyze the transmission characteristics of depressed trapezoidal-ridge waveguide in this paper, solves the cutoff wavelength of the dominant mode, bandwidth and field patterns of the typical model size, discussions the influence of the trapezoidal-ridge size on the transmission characteristics. Some numerical results and figures are presented.
Towards Mechanized Semantics of UML Sequence Diagrams and Refinement Relation

Sequence diagrams are widely used to describe the behavior of software during the design phase. Sequence diagrams have significant practical value. However, a systematic way of understanding and specifying the formal semantics of sequence diagrams does not exist. Analyzing the design properties may reveal software faults before software implementation, thereby improving the software quality and reducing development costs. We propose to use the theorem proof assistant Coq to mechanize the semantics of sequence diagrams and the refinement relations on models. In this framework, the syntax of a sequence diagram is represented as inductive types, and the semantic function is represented as inductive predicates. Based on mechanized trace semantics, the desired properties of both semantics and the refinement relation can be stated as lemmas. The proof of each lemma ensures that the semantics and the refinement relation satisfy the specified properties. Our work demonstrates the viability of using Coq to mechanize the semantics of software design models and provide increased reliability guarantee in model-based development.
Long‐term follow‐up of leukaemia patients after related cryopreserved allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

We have previously shown that allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) with cryopreserved donor marrow cells can be used without prolonging the engraftment time or interfering with the reconstitution of haemopoiesis. In this report we extend our initial observations of the first 40 patients who underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from related donors with cryopreserved donor bone marrow for haematological malignancies, including the long‐term follow‐up data of the previously reported patients. The outcome of these patients was compared with that of 40 related BMT recipients receiving fresh donor bone marrow (historic control group). Time until engraftment of all patients receiving cryopreserved bone marrow was not different from the control group (ANC > 0.5 × 109/l 17 d (range 11–24 d) versus 17.5 d (range 10–28 d); platelets > 20 × 109/l 21 d (range 11–85 d) versus 22 d (range 13–69 d), respectively). There was the same incidence of acute and chronic GvHD in patients receiving either cryopreserved bone marrow or fresh bone marrow (acute GvHD ≥ II 61% v 60% and chronic GvHD 56% v 52%, respectively). Chimaerism studies showed no difference between the patient groups. Furthermore, the two groups did not differ in day 100 survival (82% v 72%). With a median follow‐up of 520 d (range 47–1365 d) and 1289 d (range 48–1849 d), 60% of the patients receiving cryopreserved and 53% of the patients receiving fresh allogeneic donor bone marrow, respectively, are alive. We conclude that cryopreservation of allogeneic related donor bone marrow does not adversely affect engraftment, does not decrease the incidence of severe acute GvHD, and does not seem to affect the day 100 survival or long‐term haemopoiesis.
Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor &dgr; Inhibits Human Macrophage Foam Cell Formation and the Inflammatory Response Induced by Very Low-Density Lipoprotein

Objective—Hypertriglyceridemia is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Elevated plasma very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) puts insulin-resistant patients at risk for atherosclerosis. VLDL readily induces macrophage lipid accumulation and inflammatory responses, for which targeted therapeutic strategies remain elusive. We examined the ability of VLDL to induce macrophage foam cells and the inflammatory response and sought to define the cell signaling cascades involved. We further examined the potential of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) &dgr; activation to attenuate both VLDL-stimulated lipid accumulation and cytokine expression. Methods and Results—THP-1 macrophages exposed to VLDL displayed significant triglyceride accumulation, which was attenuated by PPAR&dgr; activation. PPAR&dgr; agonists stimulated a transcriptional program resulting in inhibition of lipoprotein lipase activity, activation of fatty acid uptake, and enhanced &bgr;-oxidation. VLDL-treated macrophages significantly increased the expression of activator protein 1 associated cytokines interleukin-1&bgr;, macrophage inflammatory protein 1&agr;, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1. VLDL treatment significantly increased the phosphorylation of both extracellular signal-related kinase 1 and 2 and p38. VLDL reduced AKT phosphorylation as well as its downstream effector forkhead box protein O1, concomitant with increased nuclear forkhead box protein O1. Cells treated with PPAR&dgr; agonists were completely resistant to VLDL-induced expression of inflammatory cytokines, mediated by normalization of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)erk and AKT/forkhead box protein O1 signaling. Conclusion—The combined PPAR&dgr;-mediated reductions of lipid accumulation and inflammatory cytokine expression suggest a novel macrophage-targeted therapeutic option in treating atherosclerosis.
Utility assessment among patients of primary angle closure/glaucoma in China: a preliminary study

Aim: To evaluate utility values among patients of primary angle closure/glaucoma (PAC/G) in a local hospital in China, and the factors influencing the quality of their lives. Methods: A cross-sectional study. Utility values were measured using the time trade-off (TTO) and standard gamble (gamble for blindness) methods. Standard face-to-face interviews were conducted. Results of ophthalmic examinations were recorded. Results: One hundred and six patients were recruited, 16 (15.1%) male and 90 (84.9%) female, mean age 63.21 years (SD 7.46). Fifty-five (50.9%) patients had a history of acute angle closure (AAC). The mean duration from glaucoma diagnosed to the day of interview was 7.69 (3.30) months. All participants underwent laser therapy, and 12 patients (11.3%) also received trabeculectomies. The mean utility value was 0.75 (0.14) (95% CI 0.73 to 0.78) with the TTO technique and 0.80 (0.08) (95% CI 0.78 to 0.81) with the standard gamble (SG) technique. The correlation between the two values was significant (p<0.001). Age, educational status, better best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), worse BCVA and better visual field had significant effects on the utility values. Patients’ self-evaluation of the impact of PAC/G upon their lives correlated with the TTO utility values (p = 0.008) and not with the SG utility values (p = 0.652). Conclusion: The mean TTO utility score of the studied population is 0.75. The utility value is directly dependent on age, the degree of visual function loss and educational status. It is likely that patients find the TTO method easier to comprehend than the SG method.
Proposed verification method for the content suitability of the customer satisfaction survey

Purpose – To address multiple problems facing a company's top management with respect to the customer satisfaction survey. Is the customer satisfaction survey still suitable after many years of use? What method should be applied to help ensure better utilization of information from the customer satisfaction survey? Should the three aspects (i.e. quality, delivery, and responsiveness) representing the customer satisfaction continue to be used as part of the survey's main contents. As an ISO 9001: 2000 certified company, the customer satisfaction survey is required.Design/methodology/approach – A method was proposed to help integrate the survey results with other key performance indicators (or ratios). This integration represented the verification effort on the suitability of the customer satisfaction survey. The examinations into the interrelationships between these three aspects the company's performance indicators included three perspectives. They were: no time‐factor consideration; one‐period time‐lag f.
Optic-phonon-limited transport and anomalous carrier cooling in quantum-wire structures.

We present an analytical derivation of the distribution function of a one-dimensional electron gas at high temperature. The quenching of carrier-carrier scattering and the predominance of polar-optic-phonon scattering make the system nonergodic and provide a «jagged» profile to the distribution which results in carrier cooling below the thermal energy. In GaAs quantum wires, this anomalous effect, which is characterized by extremely high carrier mobility, is predicted to occur above T L =150 K. These conclusions are in excellent agreement with results of Monte Carlo simulations
Mode selection for energy-efficient D2D communications in LTE-advanced networks: A coalitional game approach

We consider the problem of mode selection for device-to-device (D2D) communications in LTE-advanced networks. We propose a solution based on a coalitional game among D2D links to select their communications modes. The solution is given by three coalitions which represent the groups of D2D links using cellular mode, reuse mode, and dedicated mode of transmission. The D2D links in the same coalition cooperatively select the subchannels and use the corresponding transmission mode such that the total power is minimized while their rate requirements are satisfied. The D2D links can make a decision to leave and join a coalition based on their individual transmission costs. The individual transmission cost of each D2D link is a function of the transmission power and the price of channel occupancy which depends on the D2D link's communications mode. We find stable coalitions as the solution of the mode selection problem. The stable coalitions represent the system states in which no D2D link can change its communication mode and have lower transmission cost without making others worse off. A discrete-time Markov chain-based analysis and a distributed algorithm are presented to obtain the stable coalitions.
Relation between strength of stimulus and nystagmus frequency in patients with Meniére's disease.

Patients with unilateral Meniere's disease were accelerated at 1°, 2°, 4°, and 8°/sec2. Clockwise and counterclockwise accelerations were applied alternately. Maximal nystagmus frequency was determined for each acceleration. The results were approximately the same on acceleration to the healthy and to the affected ear; but at all acceleration strengths the patients with Menibre's disease had a lower nystagmus frequency than the healthy subjects. This shows that the maximal nystagmus frequzncy cannot be used to demonstrate the differences between the right and the left vestibuloocular reflex in this type of stimulation. Nor can it be used to demonstrate vestibular recruitment. Nystagmus frequency is considered to be regulated by centra other than those regulating the latency time and the duration of poststimulatory nystagmus.
Antigenic reversion in human cancer.

Studies based on the rejection of transplantable tumors between highly inbred or syngeneic rodents have established the existence of tumor-specific antigens in many animal tumors induced by either oncogenic viruses or chemical carcinogens (1-6). Normal tissue isografts exchanged between syngeneic animals contain identical transplantation antigens and survive indefinitely. The immunologic rejection of a transplanted tumor can there­ fore be evqked only by new, tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTA) which have arisen in the tumor tissue during the process of malig­ nant transformation. Both ethical restraints and the virtual absence of a genetically homoge­ neous human population have precluded the use of tumor transplantation as a tool in the antigenic analysis of human tumors. Alternative experimental ap­ proaches have, therefore, been necessary in human cancer immunology (7). In recent years, improved immunologic methodology and an adequate con­ sideration of the necessary controls have permitted the demonstration of tumor-specific antigens in certain human cancers (6, 8-12). In the present review, however, consideration will be restricted to those tumors whose spe­ cific antigens apparently arise through a mechanism whereby the cancer cell reverts to the synthesis of constituents normally found only in fetal and embryonic tissues.
Acetylcholinesterase and its Kinetics in the Diagnosis of Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial Infarction (MI) has been diagnosed on the basis of enzyme assay such as CK-MB, SGOT, LDH and troponin I & troponin T in addition to clinical findings, ECG changes and Echocardiographic changes. In 1 the present study another enzyme AChE has been taken to estimate the damage of myocardium because heart is richly innervated by cholinergic nerves. Along with the study of AChE enzyme kinetics will help to ascertain the salvage of myocardium, which will affect the contractility of myocardium. The CK-MB & SGOT levels were found to be increased in correlation with STelevation in ECG tracings. In the present study the Km was increased from -3 -3 2.76 x 10 M to 4.5 x 10 M. However, the AChE activity was inhibited as the activity is inversely proportion to Km. Madhavi Gaur, Rajeev Gupta* and Santosh Kumar** Sant Hirdaram Girls College, Hirdaram Nagar, Bhopal (M.P.) * Associate Professor, Department of Cardiology, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal (M.P.) ** Former Vice Chancellor, Dr. H.S. Gour University, Sagar (M.P.)