Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uberreiter's syndrome (chronic superficial keratitis) in dogs in the Rocky Mountain area--a study of 463 cases.

The characteristics of 463 cases of Uberreiter's Syndrome are presented. Over 80% of the diagnoses were made in German Shepherds. A treatment regimen utilizing combinations of corticosteroids, irradiation, superficial keratectomy and partial penetrating keratoplasty is outlined. An hypothesis that ultraviolet radiation is involved in the pathogenesis of this syndrome is proposed for further testing.
Etiology and Treatment of Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding

Patients with dysfunctional uterine bleeding of perimenarcheal, postmenarcheal and perimenopausal years were evaluated with daily follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels, urinary or serum estrogens, vaginal smears for maturation index determination and basal body temperature charts. Tubal and endometrial pathology, and complications of pregnancy were excluded from the diagnosis. Anovulatory bleeding in the perimenarcheal and postmenarcheal groups was treated with clomiphene citrate or administration of a progestational agent. In the perimenarcheal group, short ovulatory cycles or irregular anovulatory bleeding patterns were observed. The gonadotropin determinations were compatible with a central defect, probably an immature hypothalamus. In the perimenopausal group, bleeding was most commonly associated with anovulation, secondary to ovarian failure. Markedly elevated FSH levels and normal or slightly elevated LH levels were obtained. The postmenarcheal group included patients with a variety of disorders: Stein-Leventhal syndrome, obesity stress, premature menopause, and congenital ovarian anomalies. In those patients with central defects, LH predominance was observed, whereas in patients with ovarian problems an FSH predominance prevailed.
Improving management of neutropenic sepsis in the emergency department

Neutropenic sepsis (NS) is a common and serious complication of bone marrow dysfunction and cytotoxic chemotherapy. As with all cases of sepsis, rapid recognition and administration of effective antimicrobial therapy is essential to prevent avoidable deaths (Rivers et al, 2001; Mackenzie & Lever, 2007). Patients at risk of NS are instructed to seek urgent specialist advice if they feel unwell. Our hospitals’ policy states that these patients should be assessed by a haematologist on the haematology ward within an hour of admission. A shortage of haematology beds, however, results in a significant number of NS cases presenting to the emergency department (ED) for direct admission. Despite these patients being assessed by doctors covering haematology, significant delays in management have been noted. We studied the ED management of NS over 2 months, identifying delays in management and instigating changes to practice (Study 1). We then repeated the study and compared these results to patients managed on a specialist haematology ward (Study 2). Both studies identified 19 cases managed for neutropenic sepsis in the ED and Study 2 also identified 10 cases managed on the haematology ward. Times are expressed as median averages with interquartile ranges (Fig 1). The median time from admission to the administration of antibiotics in Study 1 was 4 h 14 min (3:29–5:26). The maximum time was 12 h and 39 min in a patient treated with vancomycin for presumed line sepsis. The upper quartile included one patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with a neutrophil count of 0Æ69 · 10/l who waited 7 h and 10 min for meropenem. In this case statim gentamicin was administered in the ED; the first administered dose of meropenem was the subsequent regular dose. Median time to nurse triage was 16 min (8–20). Median delay from triage to documented medical assessment by a haematologist was 45 min (00:22–1:15). The most significant delay was 3 h (1:56–4:30) from medical assessment to administration of antibiotics. This delay had a bimodal distribution centred around 4 h. Two causal factors were identified. Firstly, meropenem was not routinely stocked in the ED due to cost and the perception that it would be needed infrequently. Secondly, although many patients received their antibiotics within the ED 4-h maximum wait, a significant proportion was deferred until they had left the ED. In many such cases antibiotics were not administered until the next prescribed regular dose, which was up to 10 h later in the case of meropenem. Results were presented at the ED and haematology clinical governance meetings to increase awareness of the problem. Agreement was reached with the pharmacy to stock meropenem in the ED. Nurses were encouraged to ensure treatment before patients were transferred out of the ED. Haematology
Chopper , a New Death Domain of the p 75 Neurotrophin Receptor That Mediates Rapid Neuronal Cell

The cytoplasmic juxtamembrane region of the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75) has been found to be necessary and sufficient to initiate neural cell death. The region was named “Chopper” to distinguish it from CD95-like death domains. A 29-amino acid peptide corresponding to the Chopper region induced caspaseand calpain-mediated death in a variety of neural and nonneural cell types and was not inhibited by signaling through Trk (unlike killing by full-length p75). Chopper triggered cell death only when bound to the plasma membrane by a lipid anchor, whereas non-anchored Chopper acted in a dominant-negative manner, blocking p75-mediated death both in vitro and in vivo. Removal of the ectodomain of p75 increased the potency of Chopper activity, suggesting that it regulates the association of Chopper with downstream signaling proteins.
The IDE4L Project: Defining, Designing, and Demonstrating the Ideal Grid for All

The Purpose of the IDE4L project was to define, design, and demonstrate the ideal grid for all, with an active distribution network that integrates renewable energy sources (RESs) and new loads and guarantees the reliability of classical distribution networks. The active distribution network consists of the infrastructure of power delivery, active resources, and active network management (ANM) and combines passive infrastructure with active resources, ANM functionalities, and distribution automation information and communication technology infrastructure. Active distributed energy resources (DERs) include distributed generation (DG), demand, response, and storage. The concept of a commercial aggregator offering flexibility services is also integrated in an ANM.
Human Factor and Usability Testing of a Binocular Optical Coherence Tomography System

Purpose To perform usability testing of a binocular optical coherence tomography (OCT) prototype to predict its function in a clinical setting, and to identify any potential user errors, especially in an elderly and visually impaired population. Methods Forty-five participants with chronic eye disease (mean age 62.7 years) and 15 healthy controls (mean age 53 years) underwent automated eye examination using the prototype. Examination included ‘whole-eye' OCT, ocular motility, visual acuity measurement, perimetry, and pupillometry. Interviews were conducted to assess the subjective appeal and ease of use for this cohort of first-time users. Results All participants completed the full suite of tests. Eighty-one percent of the chronic eye disease group, and 79% of healthy controls, found the prototype easier to use than common technologies, such as smartphones. Overall, 86% described the device to be appealing for use in a clinical setting. There was no statistically significant difference in the total time taken to complete the examination between participants with chronic eye disease (median 702 seconds) and healthy volunteers (median 637 seconds) (P = 0.81). Conclusion On their first use, elderly and visually impaired users completed the automated examination without assistance. Binocular OCT has the potential to perform a comprehensive eye examination in an automated manner, and thus improve the efficiency and quality of eye care. Translational Relevance A usable binocular OCT system has been developed that can be administered in an automated manner. We have identified areas that would benefit from further development to guide the translation of this technology into clinical practice.
Reciprocal Specialization in Multihost Malaria Parasite Communities of Birds: A Temperate-Tropical Comparison

How specialization of consumers with respect to resources varies with respect to latitude is poorly understood. Coexistence of many species in the tropics might be possible only if specialization also increases. Alternatively, lower average abundance of more diverse biotic resources in the tropics might force consumers to become more generalized foragers. We examine levels of reciprocal specialization in an antagonistic system—avian malaria—to determine whether the number of host species used and/or parasite lineages harbored differ between a temperate and a tropical assemblage. We evaluate the results of network analysis, which can incorporate both bird and parasite perspectives on specialization in one quantitative index, in comparison to null models. Specialization was significantly greater in both sample sites than predicted from null models. We found evidence for lower per-host species parasite diversity in temperate compared to tropical birds. However, specialization did not differ between the tropical and temperate sites from the parasite perspective. We supplemented the network analysis with estimates of specialization that incorporate phylogenetic relationships of associates and found no differences between sites. Thus, our analyses indicate that specialization within an antagonistic host-parasite (resource-consumer) system varies little between tropical and temperate localities.
Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity of Phthalates

The purposes of this review are to (1) evaluate human and experimental evidence for adverse effects on reproduction and development in humans, produced by exposure to phthalates, and (2) identify knowledge gaps as for future studies. The widespread use of phthalates in consumer products leads to ubiquitous and constant exposure of humans to these chemicals. Phthalates were postulated to produce endocrine-disrupting effects in rodents, where fetal exposure to these compounds was found to induce developmental and reproductive toxicity. The adverse effects observed in rodent models raised concerns as to whether exposure to phthalates represents a potential health risk to humans. At present, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), and butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) have been demonstrated to produce reproductive and developmental toxicity; thus, this review focuses on these chemicals. For the general population, DEHP exposure is predominantly via food. The average concentrations of phthalates are highest in children and decrease with age. At present, DEHP exposures in the general population appear to be close to the tolerable daily intake (TDI), suggesting that at least some individuals exceed the TDI. In addition, specific high-risk groups exist with internal levels that are several orders of magnitude above average. Urinary metabolites used as biomarkers for the internal levels provide additional means to determine more specifically phthalate exposure levels in both general and high-risk populations. However, exposure data are not consistent and there are indications that secondary metabolites may be more accurate indicators of the internal exposure compared to primary metabolites. The present human toxicity data are not sufficient for evaluating the occurrence of reproductive effects following phthalate exposure in humans, based on existing relevant animal data. This is especially the case for data on female reproductive toxicity, which are scarce. Therefore, future research needs to focus on developmental and reproductive endpoints in humans. It should be noted that phthalates occur in mixtures but most toxicological information is based on single compounds. Thus, it is concluded that it is important to improve the knowledge of toxic interactions among the different chemicals and to develop measures for combined exposure to various groups of phthalates.
Design of current feedback instrumentation amplifiers with rail-to-rail input-output ranges

System level modeling is applied to a recently proposed indirect current feedback (ICF) chopper instrumentation amplifier based on a Gm-C low pass filter architecture. The aim of the study is solving important limitations of the previous architecture in terms of output range and bandwidth-to-chopper frequency ratio. The possibility of obtaining a rail-to-rail input common mode range is also investigated. An improved architecture is proposed and analyzed by means of simulations that consider the main non-idealities of the building blocks.
Phosphatidylethanol is superior to carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and γ-glutamyltransferase as an alcohol marker and is a reliable estimate of alcohol consumption level.

BACKGROUND In clinical practice as well as research situations, it is of great importance to get reliable information about a patient's alcohol consumption. The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation of alcohol biomarkers (phosphatidylethanol [PEth], carbohydrate-deficient transferrin [CDT], γ-glutamyltransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase) to retrospective as well as diary-based alcohol self-reports and to examine whether it is possible to correlate a biomarker result to a more precise level of alcohol consumption. METHODS One hundred and sixty alcohol-dependent patients were included in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of pharmacotherapy for alcohol dependence, of which 115 (76 men and 39 women) completed the study. Retrospective alcohol consumption data were collected at baseline, and alcohol diaries were used during the study. Blood samples for determination of alcohol biomarkers were collected on 5 occasions during the study. RESULTS PEth and CDT showed a better correlation with alcohol consumption documented in the diary (PEth rs = 0.56 and CDT rs = 0.35) than with retrospective consumption data (PEth rs = 0.23 and CDT rs = 0.22). An even higher correlation (rs = 0.63) was seen between the 2 alcohol biomarkers PEth and CDT. At all consumption levels, PEth had the highest sensitivity of all biomarkers studied. CONCLUSIONS PEth was the biomarker with the best correlation to self-reported alcohol consumption. PEth was superior to CDT owing to its substantially higher sensitivity but also due to its closer correlation to self-report. PEth values can be translated into an approximate level of alcohol consumption and PEth appears to be a more reliable measure of alcohol consumption than self-reports.
Optimization of Recovery of RNA From Formalin-fixed, Paraffin-embedded Tissue

Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue is the most common specimen available for application of diagnostic assays on tissue after microscopic examination. Not only is there a substantial archive of tissue available, but FFPE tissue remains the best method of preparation for microscopic examination in a routine clinical environment. Molecular assays, especially reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction and expression array-based assays, offer significant potential as diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive tools, but require high quality RNA. Herein, we have optimized a reliable RNA extraction method for FFPE tissue. It is based on deparaffinization at high temperature coupled with a 3-day lysis at 65°C. The average total RNA yield is 4.5 to 5.5 pg per 1 μm3 of archival FFPE tissue, and 260/280 ratios are between 1.80 and 1.95. The extracted RNA has a modal fragment length between 100 and 200 nt by the Bioanalyzer analysis. Although modal lengths of RNA fragments were shorter, reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction was able to amplify amplicons in range of 300 bp. Pretreatment with RNAlater followed by formalin fixation did not result in improving the RNA quality, but did improve RNA yield. Our method improves the utility of FFPE tissue for molecular profiling studies.
The transport of sheep and goat spermatozoa in the ewe.

Counts were made of the numbers of spermatozoa in the Fallopian tubes of ewes 24 hr after mating or after insemination with either sheep or goat semen. Spermatozoa were recovered from all five mated ewes (10/10 tubes), from all eight ewes inseminated with sheep semen (13/15 tubes) and from four of eight ewes inseminated with goat semen (7/16 tubes). The calculated mean numbers of spermatozoa per tube for the three groups
A Knowledge-Based System for Locating Missing High Cards in Bridge

A knowledge-driven system for locating missing Bridge honours in closed hands is described. The program is Intended to follow the development given in an expert-level book. Although It is Incomplete, being as yet confined largely to reasoning from the bidding and opening leads, Its performance to date is promising. In roughly the first half of the book, It is able to replicate the conclusions about card location in more than eighty percent of the cases studied. The paper describes the three principal sections of the current program which deal with the analysis of the bidding, understanding the opening lead, and the 'Inference engine' respectively.
A reversible data-hiding method for palette-based images with capacity optimization

This study presents a reversible data-hiding scheme based on palette image histogram characteristics, in which the least frequent color entries and the most frequent color entries are identified to imbed data. Data are concealed by sacrificing many sets of the least frequent colors, and placing one of the most frequent colors in their positions in the palette to make a ‘cluster’ for each set. Different bits of data can be imbedded using different sized clusters. A capacity optimization scheme is then developed to obtain the maximum capacity by estimating all possible combinations of clusters. For image reconstruction, making the host image reversible requires saving the overhead information caused by sacrificing the least frequent colors. Effectiveness of the proposed method is also demonstrated on test images by showing the capacity and distortion. Importantly, the proposed method has a high imbedding capacity and excellent marked image quality.
An improved binary particle swarm optimization for unit commitment problem

This paper proposed a new approach combining priority list (PL) with binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) to solve unit commitment (UC) problem. At first, PL method was used to determine the initial UC, and then the optimization window was determined according to the results, at last the BPSO method was adopted to solve the UC problem within the window. The window is to reduce the computing time and improve the optimization accuracy. In each iteration, the adjustment heuristic strategy was applied to revise the particle to meet the generators' constraints. This paper adopted Lambda-iteration method combining with dichotomy algorithm to solve the economic dispatch (ED) problem. The simulation results showed that the proposed method is indeed capable of obtaining higher quality solutions.
Tampering with Motes: Real-World Attacks on Wireless Sensor Networks

Most security protocols for wireless sensor networks (WSN) assume that the adversary can gain full control over a sensor node through direct physical access (node capture attack). But so far the amount of effort an attacker has to undertake in a node capture attack is unknown. In our project we evaluate different physical attacks against sensor node hardware. Detailed knowledge about the effort needed for physical attacks allows to fine tune security protocols in WSNs so they provide optimal protection at minimal cost.
Daniel Huntington and the Ideal of Christian Art

painter Daniel Huntington (1816-1906) seems ironically proportional to the prominence he enjoyed during his lifetime. Once regarded as a successor to Thomas Cole in landscape and Washington Allston in history painting, Huntington is now remembered mainly as an uninspired but prolific portraitist and as the figure who presided over the National Academy of Design's descent into moribund conservatism in the second half of the nineteenth century. His consistently prosperous sixty-year career as a fixture of the New York art establishment, apparently remarkable for the absence of either artistic distinction or
Contributions of MexAB-OprM and an EmrE Homolog to Intrinsic Resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to Aminoglycosides and Dyes

ABSTRACT Of the six putative small multidrug resistance (SMR) family proteins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a protein encoded by the PA4990 gene (emrEPae) shows the highest identity to the well-characterized EmrE efflux transporter of Escherichia coli. Reverse transcription-PCR confirmed the expression of emrEPae in the wild-type strain of P. aeruginosa. Using isogenic emrEPae, mexAB-oprM, and/or mexB deletion mutants, the contributions of the EmrE protein and the MexAB-OprM efflux system to drug resistance in P. aeruginosa were assessed by a drug susceptibility test carried out in a low-ionic-strength medium, Difco nutrient broth. We found that EmrEPae contributed to intrinsic resistance not only to ethidium bromide and acriflavine but also to aminoglycosides. In this low-ionic-strength medium, MexAB-OprM was also shown to contribute to aminoglycoside resistance, presumably via active efflux. Aminoglycoside resistance caused by these two pumps could not be demonstrated in high-ionic-strength media, such as Luria broth or Mueller-Hinton broth. The EmrE-dependent efflux of ethidium bromide was confirmed by a continuous fluorescence assay.
Portraits de jeunes migrants dans une école internationale au Canada

Cet article presente des portraits de langues sous forme de dessins commentes de 15 lyceens en classe de Premiere, inscrits dans une ecole internationale situee au Canada. Le recours a cette technique artistique d’enquete permet d’analyser les representations d’eleves a partir d’une approche biographique. L’objectif de l’etude est de comprendre le sens que revet la mobilite geographique chez les eleves issus de la migration internationale et transnationale et d’analyser comment l’ecole les (re)construit a son tour. Nous nous interessons au cas particuliers d’etablissements situes dans les zones de flux migratoires eleves et aux populations largement diversifiees au plan linguistique et de l’origine ethnique. Les portraits mettent en valeur l’identite plurilingue des eleves et la complexite des liens familiaux au sein d’un « monde mondialise ». Des pistes d’analyse sont evoquees de facon exploratoire dans un questionnement d’ensemble sur les effets de la mobilite sur les parcours scolaires et l’idee de contextes plus fluides auxquels les ecoles doivent aujourd’hui tenir compte.
The CCK-B receptor antagonist Cl 988 reverses tolerance to morphine in rats.

The ability of the selective cholecystokinin-B (CCK-B) receptor antagonist Cl 988 to reverse tolerance to morphine's antinociceptive effect was investigated with the hot-plate test in Sprague-Dawley rats. Tolerance was induced by subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of 10 mg kg-1 morphine twice daily for four days. On the fifth day rats were administered CI 988 (10 mg kg-1) or saline plus 5 mg kg-1 morphine s.c. Significant antinociception was observed in the group that received the CCK-B antagonist plus morphine, whereas the saline plus morphine group exhibited total tolerance. These results suggest that upregulation of the endogenous CCK system during repeated morphine administration may have an important role in the development of opiate tolerance.