Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hemodynamic Change and Bradykinin Levels in Plasma and Lymph During Experimental Acute Pancreatitis in Dogs

rrocrr when complicating thc conrsr of acute pans . creatrtrs, is a senous prognostic sign, cha~tcterized not only by hypovolemia, but also invohing an alteration of local circulation throngh the pancreas. The profound shock which occasionally accompnnics nccrotizing pancreatitis has been difficult to explain entircly on the basis of observable fluid shifts. In 1949, Rocho r Silva's' discovery of vasoactive polypcptidc, bmdykinin, opened a new avcnue of investigation. Brndykinin was shown to be capable of producing vasodilatation, increxscd capillary permeability, hypotension, polynorphonnclear lcucocyte accumulation and pain. The pancreas is known to contain large qnantitics of trypsinogcn and kallikrcinogen, each of which, in their activc form, is capable of releasing bmdykinin from its inactive precursor, bmdykininogen. This precursor is present as a pseudoglobulin in plasma, lymph, and intestinal fluid. The current experiments were dcsignrd to study the systemic arterial pressure and alteration of portal venous and pancrcaticodnodenal arterial flow in relation to thc bndykinin Icvels in blood and Iymph during cxperimental acute pancreatitis.
Challenges and Opportunities for Biodiversity Conservation in the Atlantic Forest in Face of Bioethanol Expansion

Brazil is the world largest producer of sugarcane ethanol, an alternative to gasoline. Large players, including international oil companies, are aware of the potential of Brazilian ethanol and are investing in the production and expansion of sugarcane plantations in the country. The growing ethanol market imposes some conservation challenges on Brazil to meet the increasing demand. The market points out to an expansion of sugarcane crops, but this can be extremely harmful to the remaining biodiversity of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The impact of such expansion will be more severe in the states of Alagoas, Pernambuco, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte, the second largest sugar-ethanol production region, and one of the most globally threatened areas of tropical forest (only 12% left, ∼ 1% legally protected). There, most forest fragments are smaller than 100 ha and several endemic species are on the verge of extinction. Here we advocate that instead of expanding plantations, increasing crop productivity should be the more logical and environment-friendly solution for that region. Further, we indicate that the current challenge is to increase the number of sugar and ethanol companies following best management practices and to turn these programs into a real opportunity to restore the biodiversity and environmental services of an ecosystems in eminent collapse. We urge that companies should move one step further and, at least, guarantee the protection of the habitats that go beyond the protection area imposed by the current environmental law.
Compressive load applied by the teatcup liner to the bovine teat

Summary The magnitude of the cyclic load applied to the teat apex by the collapsed liner during milking was estimated by measuring the pressure required to cause retrograde flow of milk into the teat canal from a manometer attached to the external teat orifice. The study was extended by observation of the milk flow cycle within a transparent teatcup assembly and by pressure recordings within the teat canal using a catheter-tip transducer. The source of the force compressing the teat is the small airspace, within the collapsed liner, directly below the teat apex. The total force generated is determined mainly by the size of this airspace and the pressure difference (PD) acting across the opposing liner walls. When the PD reached 80–90% of the liner vacuum, the load was just sufficient to occlude the teat canal. Further increase in PD provided the compressive load capable of offsetting vascular congestion of the teat apex. Increasing liner tension increased the load applied. The narrow range of compressive loads applied by conventional liners (5–12 kPa above atmospheric pressure) may be sufficient to offset congestion and oedema in the teat. Loads greater than the mean arterial pressure within the teat apex might serve only to expose the tissues to non-productive compression.
Allelic alterations in well‐differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (carcinoid tumors) identified by genome‐wide single nucleotide polymorphism analysis and comparison with pancreatic endocrine tumors

Well‐differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (WDNT, carcinoid tumors) are uncommon indolent neoplasms. The genetic alterations of these tumors are not well characterized. We used genome‐wide high‐density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array analysis to detect copy number alterations in 29 WDNTs, including seven lung, seven nonileal gastrointestinal, and 15 ileal tumors, and compared with allelic imbalances in 15 pancreatic endocrine tumors (PETs). Most frequent allelic imbalances in WDNTs were losses of chromosome 18 in 10 tumors (34%), chromosome 21 or 21q in six (21%), chromosome 13 or 13q in five (17%) and chromosome 16 or 16q in four (14%) tumors, and amplification of chromosome 20 or 20p in seven (24%) tumors. We also found one tumor with loss of heterozygosity of chromosomes 10 and 15 without copy number loss. These allelic imbalances were associated with primary site of tumor: loss of chromosome 18 was present exclusively in ileal WDNTs (P = 0.001), and loss of chromosome 21 or 21q was more frequent in nonileal gastrointestinal WDNTs (P = 0.02). The tumors with loss of chromosome 21 were larger compared to tumors without loss (P = 0.03). Chromosomal aberrations were less common in WDNTs from lung and gastrointestinal tract compared to PETs (P = 0.001). Our study shows that genome‐wide allelotyping using SNP array is a powerful new tool for the analysis of allelic imbalances in WDNTs, and some of these alterations are tumor site‐dependent and are different than in PETs. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
JPEG compression/decompression via parallel processing

In this paper, a method for a parallel pipelined implementation of baseline JPEG compression and decompression is introduced for use on 4 Texas Instruments' TMS320C40 digital signal processors. A PC host with 2 Sonitech dual 'C40 boards is used for this implementation. The DCT is implemented using 2 'C40s, while quantization and Huffman encoding are each performed using a single 'C40. This novel implementation provides significant speedup over a sequential implementation by pipelining 8/spl times/8 blocks, through the parallel implementation.
Ultrastructure of the oocytes of the egyptian spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus)

The oocytes of types 2, 3, 4 and 5 follicles from the normal spiny mouse were examined with the electron microscope. Multiple juxtanuclear Golgi bodies, mitochondria associated with flattened granular endoplasmic reticulum, and large nucleus are the main features of the type 2 follicle oocyte. The numbers of mitochondria and Golgi apparati increase significantly at later stages. Small mitochondrial aggregates lacking “intermitochondrial cement” are seen in the ooplasm of types 3, 4 and 5 follicles. “Lamellar complexes” comprising two to six elongate flattened rough ER cisternae and intercisternal filaments begin to appear in the oocyte of the type 3 follicle. The intercisternal filaments may be observed as punctate‐, dashed‐, and solid‐lines in cross sections. In tangential sections the filaments display a paracrystalline structure. In the type 4 follicle oocytes, the “lamellar complex” becomes more extensive; polysomes and ribosomal fibrils are juxtaposed to the “lamellar complexes. ” Bundles of ribosomal fibrils are abundant in the ooplasm of the type 5 follicle. The origin of ribosomal filaments and the functional significance of “lamellar complexes” are discussed.
Remote sensing and field study of drought-related changes in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali

Center for Earth and Planetary Studies National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. 20560 ABSTRACT Remote sensing and field mapping of a portion of the upper Inland Niger Delta indicate that the Sahelian drought years 1968-1985 have had a significant effect on the soils and morphologic processes of the region. Changes include a decrease in the surface area of lakes, ponds and swamps mapped as permanent water bodies in the 1950's. Analysis of Landsat data and 1985 field work also confirmed the desiccation of channels distributary to the main rivers in the region, the Bani and the Niger. Some distributary channels have been abandoned, and both the Niger and Bani Rivers presently are underfit. Sapping was observed in the soils of the combined Niger-Bani floodplain and fluvial erosion has been invigorated, widespread reactivation of previously stabilized linear dunes has occurred, and modern dunes and sand stringers are evident over portions of the field area.
A Review of Securities Commission of Malaysia’s Revised Shariah Stock-Screening Criteria

This paper addresses the perceived more tolerant Shariah-screening criteria by the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SCM). Recently, in 2013, SCM introduced the “two-tier” screening process of the stocks traded on Bursa Malaysia. Despite this revision, the two-tier process is seen as being less stringent than the Shariahscreening process of e.g. Dow Jones and MSCI. Such perception may affect the credibility of the SCM in determining Shariah-compliant securities compared to international standards. Proponents of SCM screening criteria argue that since Shariah screening in Malaysia only includes Malaysian listed stocks, more rigid screening process may limit the list of investible stocks, and may further restrict the benefits of diversification, i.e. one may not be able to form efficient portfolios or achieve appropriate risk-return portfolios while complying with the Shariah principles. This paper argues that the justification for the less-stringent screening process adopted by the SCM does not seem to be corroborated by theoretical or portfolio diversification studies, and evidence from the socially-responsible investing and Shariah-compliant empirical findings.
CHANGES IN THE GABA SYSTEM IN EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS‐INDUCED PARALYSIS

Abstract— The content of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA), but not glutamate, and the uptake of [3H]GABA by synaptosomes was reduced in the lumbar cord of guinea pigs during experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE)‐induced hind limb paralysis. The decrease in glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) activity in the dorsal and ventral parts of the cord was confined to the lumbar region, and appeared before the onset of motor dysfunction. No change in activity was found in the thoracic cord, motor cortex, cerebellum or striatum. GAD activity remained unchanged in animals which were EAE‐sensitized but did not develop the clinical symptoms. Choline acetyltransferase activity did not change in the cord during paralysis.
Decision making with limited feedback : Error bounds for recidivism prediction and predictive policing

When models are trained for deployment in decision-making in various real-world settings, they are typically trained in batch mode. Historical data is used to train and validate the models prior to deployment. However, in many settings, feedback changes the nature of the training process. Either the learner does not get full feedback on its actions, or the decisions made by the trained model influence what future training data it will see. We focus on the problems of recidivism prediction and predictive policing, showing that both problems (and others like these) can be abstracted into a general reinforcement learning framework called partial monitoring. We then design algorithms that yield provable guarantees on regret for these problems, and discuss the policy implications of these solutions.
Wideband Magneto-Electric Dipole Antenna for 60-GHz Millimeter-Wave Communications

A new wideband magneto-electric dipole antenna is proposed for 60-GHz millimeter-wave applications. This antenna features wideband and stable gain characteristics. The low cross polarization and low back radiation are obtained owing to its complementary antenna structure. The prototype of the single element was built using the low-cost single-layer printed circuit board (PCB) technology. The proposed antenna exhibits an impedance bandwidth of 51% (SWR ≤ 2) and a gain of approximately 8 dBi.
Characterization of Microfibrillar-associated Protein 4 (MFAP4) as a Tropoelastin- and Fibrillin-binding Protein Involved in Elastic Fiber Formation*

MFAP4 (microfibrillar-associated protein 4) is an extracellular glycoprotein found in elastic fibers without a clearly defined role in elastic fiber assembly. In the present study, we characterized molecular interactions between MFAP4 and elastic fiber components. We established that MFAP4 primarily assembles into trimeric and hexameric structures of homodimers. Binding analysis revealed that MFAP4 specifically binds tropoelastin and fibrillin-1 and -2, as well as the elastin cross-linking amino acid desmosine, and that it co-localizes with fibrillin-1-positive fibers in vivo. Site-directed mutagenesis disclosed residues Phe241 and Ser203 in MFAP4 as being crucial for type I collagen, elastin, and tropoelastin binding. Furthermore, we found that MFAP4 actively promotes tropoelastin self-assembly. In conclusion, our data identify MFAP4 as a new ligand of microfibrils and tropoelastin involved in proper elastic fiber organization.
Feature Selection for Image Classification Based on a New Ranking Criterion

In this paper, a feature selection method combining the reliefF and SVM-RFE algorithm is proposed. This algorithm integrates the weight vector from the reliefF into SVM-RFE method. In this method, the reliefF filters out many noisy features in the first stage. Then the new ranking criterion based on SVM-RFE method is applied to obtain the final feature subset. The SVM classifier is used to evaluate the final image classification accuracy. Experimental results show that our proposed relief- SVM-RFE algorithm can achieve significant improvements for feature selection in image classification.
PDZ proteins and proximal ion transport

Purpose of reviewPDZ proteins are major structural components of protein assembly. This review covers the implications of these proteins in the regulation of transport systems expressed in renal proximal tubules. Recent findingsIn the last few years, many reports have highlighted the implication of PDZ proteins in two aspects of proximal tubule physiology, namely the generation and maintenance of epithelial polarity and the formation of regulatory complexes that provide spatial and molecular specificity to the intracellular signalling. SummaryPDZ-mediated interactions are involved in a wide range of cellular functions, from cell division to cell polarity to intracellular signalling. Consistent with this functional spectrum, ablation of PDZ protein genes generates a wide panel of pathological phenotypes, some of which link directly to human syndromes. In proximal tubules, PDZ proteins are thought to play a major role in epithelial polarity and transport regulation.
Inhibition of Clot Retraction by Previous In Vitro Platelet Aggregation

Summary Clot retraction was not observed in plasma when coagulation was preceded by in vitro platelet aggregation; this inhibition was proportional to the degree of platelet aggregation. In the absence of continuous stirring, the coagulation of citrated-platelet rich plasma by CaCl2 was not preceded by measurable aggregation of platelets and was followed by normal retraction of the clot. In presence of a continuous stirring of platelet-rich plasma, the addition of CaCl2 led to platelet clumping and coagulation but not to clot retraction. Platelet-rich plasma containing ADP-unresponsive platelets, retracted normally. Using different inhibitors of platelet aggregation, clot retraction was shown to be inhibited by antimycin A and by 2-deoxy-D-glucose together, but was normal in presence of adenosine or acetylsalieylic acid. Which pool of ATP provides energy for clot retraction has been discussed. Suggestions were presented that the appearance of platelet factor 3 activity during clotting is not invariably linked to platelet aggregation.
Numerical and Experimental Study on Current Distribution of LTS/HTS Hybrid Superconductor

In order to extend basic research on the current distribution characteristics of a low-temperature superconductor (LTS) and a high-temperature superconductor (HTS) hybrid superconductor, and to explore its potential applications, an LTS/HTS hybrid superconductor made of NbTi/Cu tape and YBCO/Ag tape was numerically and experimentally studied in this paper. The current distribution was numerically analyzed based on the n power-law model. Current distribution of the short sample has been experimentally and numerically performed with different operating currents and temperatures. Simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental ones. This type of hybrid superconductor has better stability and has thus some potential applications in cryocooler-cooled and large-scale magnets.
Understanding negative outcomes following traumatic exposure: The roles of neuroticism and social support.

The established literature indicates that an overwhelming majority of adults will experience at least 1 traumatic stressor during their lifetime. Such stressors have been consistently linked to a range of adverse subsequent conditions and span the mood, anxiety, and personality diagnostic categories. Yet, understanding why some individuals experience traumatic reactions and adverse outcomes and others facing significant stressors do not succumb to such problems remains a challenge. In this study, traumaexposed participants (natural disaster, n 51; sexual assault, n 35) completed measures of neuroticism and social support as well as measures of adverse mental health outcomes known to be associated with traumatic exposure. Results indicate that the personality characteristic of neuroticism is generally significantly correlated with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and general distress. Social support was found to have no impact alone but a differential impact on these outcomes (sometimes helpful, sometimes harmful) depending on the survivor’s level of neuroticism. In considering social support options following traumatic exposure, providers are therefore encouraged to carefully consider the survivor’s neurotic demeanor.
Nutritional factors in stroke

Observational studies support the role of modifying lifestyle-related risk factors such as diet, physical activity and alcohol use in stroke prevention. For example, increased Na intake is associated with hypertension, and reduction in salt consumption may significantly lower blood pressure and may reduce stroke mortality. Moderately elevated homocysteine levels may be associated with stroke and are associated with deficiency of dietary intake of folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. Consumption of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, folate, K, Ca, Mg, dietary fibre, fish and milk may protect against stroke. Regular physical activity may also protect against stroke through its role in controlling various risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity. The role of fat intake as a risk factor for stroke remains uncertain, whereas the association between stroke and cholesterol has more convincingly been demonstrated by the recent intervention trials using statins. There is also evidence that a low serum albumin may be causally linked to stroke risk and outcome and that a significant number of stroke patients are undernourished on admission and their nutritional status deteriorates further whilst in hospital. Undernutrition is associated with increasing morbidity and mortality and nutritional supplements may have some beneficial effect on some outcome measures.
New vancomycin disk diffusion breakpoints for enterococci. The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards Working Group on Enterococci

Since 1988, when the first vancomycin-resistant enterococcus was described, several descriptions of failures of disk diffusion breakpoints to detect low-level vancomycin resistance (MICs, 8 to 32 micrograms/ml) have been published. A four-laboratory collaborative study was undertaken to establish more accurate breakpoints for the disk test. Mueller-Hinton agar was used to perform dilution testing (in three laboratories) and disk diffusion testing (in all laboratories). Results were determined at 18, 24, and 48 h, and zones of inhibition were read using both transmitted and reflected light. One hundred organisms (35 Enterococcus faecalis, 55 E. faecium, and 10 E. gallinarum or E. casseliflavus isolates) were selected to represent vancomycin-susceptible and -resistant phenotypes. Interlaboratory agreement of agar dilution MICs was better at 24 h (91 to 94% within +/- 1 dilution) than at 18 h (76% within +/- 1 dilution). Therefore, 24-h agar dilution MIC results were used as the reference. For disk diffusion, it was critical to note the presence of a haze or colonies inside the zone when interpreting the test, since this correlated better with the results of the agar dilution test. The presence of a haze or inner colonies was best detected by reading the zones with transmitted light and incubating the plates for a full 24 h. When plotted against 24-h agar dilution MICs, breakpoints of </= 14 mm (resistant), 15 to 16 mm (intermediate), and >/= 17 mm (susceptible) resulted in 58 minor errors (14.5% of total values) and 5 very major errors (2.2% of resistant values or 1.3% of total values). No major errors were seen. Results of repeat testing using a common lot of Mueller-Hinton agar showed 52 minor errors (13.3%) and 4 major errors (4.2% of susceptible values of 1.0% pf total values) but no very major errors. It is recommended that any haze or colonies within the zone be taken into account when determining zones of inhibition and that an MIC test be performed for strains with intermediate zones if vancomycin is being considered for treatment.
Transmission network expansion planning considering uncertainties in loads and renewable energy resources

This paper proposes a novel method for transmission network expansion planning (TNEP) that take into account uncertainties in loads and renewable energy resources. The goal of TNEP is to minimize the expansion cost of candidate lines without any load curtailment. A robust linear optimization algorithm is adopted to minimize the load curtailment with uncertainties considered under feasible expansion costs. Hence, the optimal planning scheme obtained through an iterative process would be to serve loads and provide a sufficient margin for renewable energy integration. In this paper, two uncertainty budget parameters are introduced in the optimization process to limit the considered variation ranges for both the load and the renewable generation. Simulation results obtained from two test systems indicate that the uncertainty budget parameters used to describe uncertainties are essential to arrive at a compromise for the robustness and optimality, and hence, offer a range of preferences to power system planners and decision makers.