Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PCR assay for identification of Anopheles quadriannulatus species B from Ethiopia and other sibling species of the Anopheles gambiae complex

Abstract Sibling species A and B of Anopheles quadriannulatus (Theobald) are recognized as allopatric members of the Anopheles gambiae Giles complex of Afrotropical mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). Species A represents An. quadriannulatus sensu stricto, widespread in southern Africa, whereas An. quadriannulatus species B occurs in Ethiopia. Because of difficulty of identification, distribution of An. quadriannulatus sensu lato remains poorly known. Cytotaxonomy and the standard DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay do not distinguish between species A and B of An. quadriannulatus. By optimizing the standard PCR assay ( Scott et al., 1993 ) for identification of members of the An. gambiae complex, we identified two discriminant fragments of 153 bp and 900 bp from DNA of An. quadriannulatus species B, whereas only the 153 bp fragment was amplified for species A from South Africa. This modified PCR assay can therefore be used to distinguish between species A and B of An. quadriannulatus s.l. as well as other members of the An. gambiae complex.
Clinical evaluation of sodium bicarbonate, sodium L-lactate, and sodium acetate for the treatment of acidosis in diarrheic calves.

Thirty-six dehydrated diarrheic neonatal calves were used to study the effects of various alkalinizing compounds on acid-base status, the changes in central venous pressure (CVP) in response to rapid IV infusion of large volumes of fluid, and the correlation of acid-base (base deficit) status, using a depression scoring system with physical determinants related to cardiovascular and neurologic function. Calves were allotted randomly to 4 groups (9 calves/group). Over a 4-hour period, each calf was given two 3.6-L volumes (the first 3.6 L given in the first hour) of a polyionic fluid alone (control group) or were given the polyionic fluid with sodium bicarbonate, sodium L-lactate, or sodium acetate added (50 mmol/L). Acid-base status, hematologic examination, and biochemical evaluations were made immediately before infusion of each fluid (at entry) and after 3.6, 4.8, and 7.2 L of fluid had been given. Compared with control values, bicarbonate, lactate, and acetate had significantly greater alkalinizing effects on pH (P less than 0.01) and base deficit (P less than 0.01) after 3.6, 4.8, and 7.2 L of fluid were given. Bicarbonate had the most rapid alkalinizing effect and induced greater changes in base deficit (P less than 0.01) than did acetate or lactate at each of the 3 administered fluid volumes evaluated. Acetate and lactate had similar alkalinizing effects on blood. Rehydration alone did not improve acid-base status. The CVP was elevated in 10 (28%) of the 36 calves after 1 hour of fluid (3.6 L) administration, but significant differences in body weight, PCV, and clinical condition or depression score at entry were not found between calves with elevated CVP and those with normal CVP. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Modification of human hemoglobin with methyl acyl phosphates derived from dicarboxylic acids. Systematic relationships between cross-linked structure and oxygen-binding properties.

Human hemoglobin was reacted with five dicarboxylic acid bis(methyl phosphate) reagents under different ligand conditions. The bis(methyl phosphate) reagents tested were derived from fumaric, isophthalic, terephthalic, trans-stilbene-3,3'-dicarboxylic, and trans-stilbene-4,4'-dicarboxylic acids. These acyl phosphate mixed anhydrides are anionic electrophiles and will react with N-terminal amino and lysyl epsilon-amino groups to form amides. The major and many of the minor reaction products that result have been isolated and structurally characterized by globin chain and peptide analysis. Products which are not cross-linked, intrachain linked, and interchain singly and doubly cross-linked occur in proportions which depend upon the reaction conditions and reagent. Modifications of the beta chains were limited to the amino groups of beta 1Val, beta 82Lys, and, to a minor extent, beta 144Lys. In the case of the smaller reagents, the amino groups of alpha 1Val, alpha 99Lys, and, to a minor extent, alpha 139Lys were modified. The oxygen binding affinities of most of the major modified hemoglobins have been measured and are characterized by P50 values from about 1/2 to over 5 times that of unmodified human hemoglobin. Most show strong cooperativity with Hill coefficients (n) of 2.0 or greater. Several of the products that are cross-linked between the beta 1Val of one chain and the beta 82Lys of the other chain have oxygen affinities in a physiologically useful range for oxygen transport and delivery. An inverse linear correlation has been found between the log of P50 and bridging distances for the hemoglobins cross-linked between beta 1Val of one chain and the beta 82Lys of the other chain. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Variable Gain Low-Noise Amplifier for Use in an In tegra ted Television Tuner

The prohibitive cost and size of traditional television tuners are preventing the spread of television to poorer areas and mobile applications. Fully integrated television tuners could reduce the size and cost but currently face issues with noise and linearity which are both strongly dependant on the corresponding specifications of the lownoise amplifier (LNA). Noise and linearity face a trade-off in the LNA which can be dynamically adjusted depending on the input signal level. In this thesis, a variable gain common-source amplifier is proposed to function as the front-end LNA in a television receiver system-on-chip (SoC). The amplifier employs bias asjustment in order to effect a continuously variable gain which the post-layout simulation results show to range from 9.4 dB to 14.5 dB. Noise figure ranges from 4 dB to 2.6 dB over this gain range while IIP3 ranges from 1.8 dBm to 8 dBm. Measurements that correlate well to simulations have not been succesfully made. Unfortunately, the proposed variable-gain common-source LNA employing resistive feedback input matching does not meet the requirements determined by a system study. The system specifications are likely overly ambitious to be feasible with the current technology. Nevertheless, a charge-sampling architecture and corresponding low-noise transconductance amplifier is suggested to meet the system requirements.
A Pilot Phase II Randomized, Cross-Over, Double-Blinded, Controlled Efficacy Study of Octreotide versus Hyoscine Hydrobromide for Control of Noisy Breathing at the End-of-Life

Noisy breathing at the end of life (noisy breathing (“NB”) occurs in up to 90% of people. Interventions have not been systematically evaluated. There has been clinical observation coupled with a proposed mechanism of effect that supports a role for octreotide in management of NB. The aim of this phase II study was to assess ten completed participants for the feasibility of an adequately powered phase III study. This randomized, double-blind, crossover pilot trial recruited participants from an inpatient palliative unit. Participants while well and their proxies simultaneously provided written informed consent. If NB were encountered, people were randomized to 200 mcg octreotide or 400 mcg hyoscine hydrobromide subcutaneously. If subsequent treatment was needed, the other medication was administered. A five point categorical scale documented the nurses' assessment of secretions over six hours. Eighty participants were consented of whom 10 (3 females, 7 males; median age 79, all with advanced cancer) received medication, five in each arm. There was no difference in the median time to administration of the second medication (3 hours). Two participants in each arm had a 2 category reduction of intensity after the second medication. Although feasible to consent and study this population in a way that respects autonomy and dignity even in the terminal hours of life, this pilot study suggests reconsideration of the pharmacological interventions (choice of agents, dosing, timing of dosing and pharmacokinetic profiles), standardizing of non-pharmacological care; and ways to measure directly family distress before further randomized studies for this symptom.
Assessment of nutrition, supplementation and body composition parameters on the example of professional volleyball players.

BACKGROUND Volleyball is a team game belonging to a group of sports disciplines that involve indirect fighting. Adequate energy coverage in athletes is a crucial issue. It depends primarily on the type, intensity and duration of physical activity related to the sports discipline practiced and to the training cycle duration. The average energy requirement in sportsmen is 50% higher than that of adults. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to characterize the mode of nutrition, including dietary supplements and to assess somatic indices in female volleyball players of the AZS Bialystok team. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study involved 17 women. Research tools included a questionnaire consisting of 24-hour recall, a questionnaire survey concerning supplement intake and body composition analysis performed using a bioimpedance analyzer InBody 220. RESULTS Data analysis indicates that the anthropometric characteristics and body composition of the AZS Bialystok players meet the recommendations associated with the somatic features in volleyball. Daily diet of the volleyball players were of low-energy with regard to the recommendations for physically active people, with very low supply of carbohydrates and dietary fiber, excessive proportion of saturated fatty acids and dietary cholesterol, and too low content of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Supply of vitamins and minerals was found to be alarmingly low, especially of iron and calcium; diet supplementation was insufficient. No significant abnormalities were noted in body composition of the study athletes. However, they are recommended to increase muscle mass and slightly reduce body fat. CONCLUSIONS Results of diet evaluation show the need for education in the field of nutrition and the necessity of further research into dietary habits among sportsmen.
Characterization of the activin receptor in cultured rat hepatocytes

Activin A is an autocrine inhibitor of initiation of DNA synthesis in rat hepatocytes. The present study was conducted to characterize the cell‐surface receptors for activin A in cultured rat hepatocytes by measuring 125I‐activin A binding. Scatchard analysis of 125I‐activin A binding indicated the existence of two classes of binding sites with apparent Kd values of 3 × 10−. 10 mol/L and 3.5 × 10−. 9 mol/L. Pretreatment of the cells with heparitinase reduced the number of low‐ affinity binding sites, whereas pretreatment with excess exogenous follistatin increased the number of low‐affinity binding sites. Affinity cross‐linking of 125I‐activin A to hepatocytes revealed distinct protein complexes with molecular weights of approximately 48, 65, and 85 kd, which may represent cross‐linked cell‐bound follistatin, type I and type II activin receptors, respectively. Another band with a molecular weight of 180 kd was also found, which may represent the type III activin receptor. When hepatocytes were cultured with epidermal growth factor (EGF), both high‐ and low‐affinity binding sites increased at 12 hours without altering their affinities. At 60 hours of the incubation with EGF, the high‐affinity binding sites decreased while the number of low‐affinity binding sites increased slightly. These results indicate that two classes of 125I‐activin A binding sites exist in cultured hepatocytes: the high‐affinity binding site may represent oligomeric complex of the type I and type II receptors, and at least part of the low‐affinity binding site may represent cell‐bound follistatin. The number of activin receptors in hepatocytes is increased after the stimulation with EGF.
The prevalence of overweight, obesity and stunting in school children aged 6–19 years in Beijing, China

Abstract Background: Childhood/adolescent obesity and stunting are associated with heightened risk of metabolic syndrome. Understanding the prevalence and patterns of stunting, the emergence of overweight/obesity in children and adolescents and the concomitant risk for metabolic syndrome is of critical importance for public health policy. Aim: To investigate the prevalence of overweight, obesity and stunting in school children and adolescents aged 6–19 years in Beijing and to compare the differences in screening rates by national and international references. Subjects and methods: School children aged 6–19 years in Xuanwu, Haidian and Fangshan district were selected. Overweight and obesity in the children was screened for using the International Obesity Task-force (IOTF) and Chinese standards. Stunting was defined as height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) less than −2 using the 2009 Chinese standards and 2007 WHO reference. Results: A total of 99 482 children were included in this survey. The prevalences of overweight and obesity are 17.7% and 14.4% in the Chinese standard, but they are 18.1% and 8.6% in the IOTF standard; there were significant differences between the prevalences of these two standards (p < 0.01). The prevalences of overweight/obesity in boys are all significantly higher than that of girls in every age-group (p < 0.05). Overall there was stunting in 2630 children and adolescents (2.6%) according to the Chinese standards, with 2.8% in boys, higher than the 2.5% of girls (p < 0.01). According to WHO standards, there was stunting in 1201 children and adolescents (1.2%) with 1.1% in boys and 1.3% in girls (p < 0.05). The prevalence of stunting in urban areas was 1.3%, which is significantly lower than that of suburban areas, at 3.9% (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight/obesity in children and adolescents aged 6–19 years in Beijing was close to western countries, which should be highly valued when considering public health policies and the problem of growth stunting should not be ignored.
Regulation of fatty acid uptake into tissues: lipoprotein lipase- and CD36-mediated pathways Published, JLR Papers in Press, November 24, 2008.

Cells obtain FAs either from LPL-catalyzed hydrolysis of lipoprotein triglyceride or from unesterified FFAs associated with albumin. LPL also influences uptake of esterified lipids such as cholesteryl and retinyl esters that are not hydrolyzed in the plasma. This process might not involve LPL enzymatic activity. LPL is regulated by feeding/fasting, insulin, and exercise. Although a number of molecules may affect cellular uptake of FFAs, the best characterized is CD36. Genetic deletion of this multiligand receptor reduces FFA uptake into skeletal muscle, heart, and adipose tissue, and impairs intestinal chylomicron production and clearance of lipoproteins from the blood. CD36 is regulated by some of the same factors that regulate LPL, including insulin, muscle contraction, and fasting, in part, via ubiquitination. LPL and CD36 actions in various tissues coordinate biodistribution of fat-derived calories.
Discrete-Time Deterministic $Q$ -Learning: A Novel Convergence Analysis

In this paper, a novel discrete-time deterministic <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning algorithm is developed. In each iteration of the developed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning algorithm, the iterative <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula> function is updated for all the state and control spaces, instead of updating for a single state and a single control in traditional <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning algorithm. A new convergence criterion is established to guarantee that the iterative <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula> function converges to the optimum, where the convergence criterion of the learning rates for traditional <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning algorithms is simplified. During the convergence analysis, the upper and lower bounds of the iterative <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula> function are analyzed to obtain the convergence criterion, instead of analyzing the iterative <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula> function itself. For convenience of analysis, the convergence properties for undiscounted case of the deterministic <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning algorithm are first developed. Then, considering the discounted factor, the convergence criterion for the discounted case is established. Neural networks are used to approximate the iterative <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula> function and compute the iterative control law, respectively, for facilitating the implementation of the deterministic <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-learning algorithm. Finally, simulation results and comparisons are given to illustrate the performance of the developed algorithm.
Differentiation of some species of Neisseriaceae and other bacterial groups by DNA‐DNA hybridization

DNA‐DNA hybridization using total genomic DNA probes may represent a way of differentiating between miscellaneous bacterial species. This was studied with type and reference strains of 20 species in Moraxella, Kingella, and other selected Gram‐negative groups. Both radioactive and biotin labelling were employed. Most of the species examined were easily distinguished, such as Moraxella (Branhamella) catarrhalis, M. (B.) ovis, M. atlantae, M. phenylpyruvica, M. osloensis, Neisseria elongata, N. meningitidis, Kingella kingae, K. indologenes, K. denitrificans. Oligella urethralis, Eikenella corrodens, Cardiobacterium hominis, Haemophilus aphrophilus, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Gardnerella vaginalis, and DF‐2. This reflected the extent of the genetic distances between them as a basis for identification by hybridization. There was some clustering in the Moraxella group. Especially the closely related Moraxella nonliquefaciens. M. lacunata and M. bovis showed strong hybridization affinities. This leads to potential problems in distinguishing these three species from each other by DNA‐DNA hybridization with total genomic probes alone.
Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in Abused Children

Five infants and toddlers who sustained cervical spinal cord injury as the result of child abuse are described. Three cases are previously unreported. Diagnosis was complicated by coexistent brain injuries and their treatments, subtle and/or evolving paralysis, and central cord syndrome, in which arm function is diminished but leg function is preserved. Definitive spinal imaging by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography, and plain radiographs was delayed because of life support efforts. When completed, the MRI was most sensitive to cord injury. Evidence of associated bony spinal injury was often absent or unapparent until healing occurred; 4 children had spinal cord injury without (or with minimal) radiological abnormality. The 3 children presenting to our hospital with cord injury represent 1% of the estimated cases of inflicted head injury seen during a 23-year period.
Intent to breastfeed: a population-based perspective.

BACKGROUND Prenatal maternal intent to breastfeed can indicate postnatal breastfeeding practices and may serve to indicate potential barriers to breastfeeding. Breastfeeding rates in West Virginia, a primarily rural state, are among the lowest in the United States, and minimal research has been published to date on population-based prenatal intent to breastfeed among rural women. METHODS Secondary data analysis of population-based data was conducted using two state-linked datasets. State data included all live singleton births from at least 20 weeks of gestation in West Virginia from 2004 to 2006, for a total of 52,899 births. RESULTS Results from the logistic regression model for the population-based study indicate that variables predicting intent to breastfeed among pregnant women in West Virginia include insurance status, maternal education, maternal age, parity, marital status, timing of prenatal care initiation, and prenatal smoking status. CONCLUSIONS Prenatal identification of characteristics associated with lack of intent to breastfeed can serve to inform healthcare providers of women who are at risk for not breastfeeding for directed breastfeeding promotion and intervention, complementing education of healthy lifestyle choices such as breastfeeding promotion with smoking cessation.
Respiratory sounds classification using cepstral analysis and Gaussian mixture models

The cepstral analysis is proposed with Gaussian mixture models (GMM) method to classify respiratory sounds in two categories: normal and wheezing. The sound signal is divided in overlapped segments, which are characterized by a reduced dimension feature vectors using Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) or subband based cepstral parameters (SBC). The proposed schema is compared with other classifiers: vector quantization (VQ) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural networks. A post processing is proposed to improve the classification results.
The cortical somatotopic map and phantom phenomena in subjects with congenital limb atrophy and traumatic amputees with phantom limb pain

The extent of the cortical somatotopic map and its relationship to phantom phenomena was tested in five subjects with congenital absence of an upper limb, four traumatic amputees with phantom limb pain and five healthy controls. Cortical maps of the first and fifth digit of the intact hand, the lower lip and the first toe (bilaterally) were obtained using neuroelectric source imaging. The subjects with congenital upper limb atrophy showed symmetric positions of the left and right side of the lower lip and the first toe, whereas the traumatic amputees with pain showed a significant shift (about 2.4 cm) of the cortical representation of the lower lip towards the hand region contralateral to the amputation side but no shift for the toe representation. In healthy controls, no significant hemispheric differences between the cortical representation of the digits, lower lip or first toe were found. Phantom phenomena were absent in the congenital but extensive in the traumatic amputees. These data confirm the assumption that congenital absence of a limb does not lead to cortical reorganization or phantom limbs whereas traumatic amputations that are accompanied by phantom limb pain show shifts of the cortical areas adjacent to the amputation zone towards the representation of the deafferented body part.
Handwritten digit recognition using state-of-the-art techniques

This paper presents the latest results of handwritten digit recognition on well-known image databases using the state-of-the-art feature extraction and classification techniques. The tested databases are CENPARMI, CEDAR, and MNIST. On the test dataset of each database, 56 recognition accuracies are given by combining 7 classifiers with 8 feature vectors. All the classifiers and feature vectors give high accuracies. Among the features, the chain-code feature and gradient feature show advantages, and the profile structure feature shows efficiency as a complementary feature. In comparison of classifiers, the support vector classifier with RBF kernel gives the highest accuracy but is extremely expensive in storage and computation. Among the non-SV classifiers, the polynomial classifier performs best, followed by a learning quadratic discriminant function classifier. The results are competitive compared to previous ones and they provide a baseline for evaluation of future works.