Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of the Roles of New Antiepileptic Drugs and Serum BDNF Levels in Efficacy and Safety Monitoring and Quality of Life: A Clinical Research

Objective: We aimed to determine the therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) features and the relation to Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) of frequently used new antiepileptic drugs (NADs) including lamotrigine (LTG), oxcarbazepine (OXC), zonisamide (ZNS) and lacosamide (LCM). Moreover, we investigated their effect on the quality of life (QoL). Methods: Eighty epileptic patients who had been using the NADs, and thirteen healthy participants were included in this cross-sectional study. The participants were randomized into groups. The QOLIE-31 test was used for the assessment of QoL. We also prepared and applied “Safety Test”. HPLC method for TDM, and ELISA method for BDNF measurements were used consecutively. Results: In comparison to healthy participants, epileptic participants had lower marriage rate (p=0.049), education level (p˂0.001), alcohol use (p=0.002). BDNF levels were higher in patients with focal epilepsy (p=0.013) and in those with higher education level (p=0.016). There were negative correlations between serum BDNF levels and serum ZNS levels (p=0.042) with LTG-polytherapy, serum MHD levels (a 10-monohydroxy derivative of OXC, p=0.041) with OXC-monotherapy. There was no difference in BDNF according to monotherapy-polytherapy, drug-resistant groups, regarding seizure frequency. There was a positive correlation between total health status and QoL (p˂0.001). QOLIE-31 overall score (OS) was higher in those with OXC-monotherapy (76.5±14.5). OS (p˂0.001), seizure worry (SW, p=0.004), cognition (C, p˂0.001), social function (SF, p˂0.001) were different in the main groups. Forgetfulness was the most common unwanted effect. Conclusion: While TDM helps the clinician to use more effective and safe NADs, BDNF may assist in TDM for reaching the therapeutic target in epilepsy.
Determination to nutritional value, food safety and taste of organic foods.

Organic foods are herbal and animal foods which could not be used genetic engineering, artificial fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and fungicides, growth hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, coloring agents, food additives and packaging materials for growing and processing them. In recent years, the production and consumption of organic foods have been increased dramatically. In some studies founded that reasons of the main drivers of organic food sales that the growing demand for foods that are healthful, tasty and environmentally friendly by the consumers. However, the results of the researches of the properties of organic foods those are quite conflicting. The production principles of organic foods and the differences in nutritional value, food safety and taste between the traditional and organic foods were discussed in this review article.
Clinical applications of resting state functional connectivity

, analysis of these spontaneous fluctuations usually involves the identification of correlations between remote brain areas, commonly referred to as functional connectivity. The term " functional connectivity " has been used in both resting-state and task-state studies and can refer to correlations across subjects, runs, blocks, trials, or individual BOLD time points, an ambiguity which can become confusing (Friston et al. We will therefore use the term resting state functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) for added specificity, and this will be the focus of the present article. The two most popular techniques for performing resting state fcMRI are seed-based correlations and independent components analysis (ICA). In the seed-based technique signal is extracted from a specific region of interest, and a map is created by computing the correlation between this extracted signal and all other brain voxels (Biswal et al., 1995; Fox and Raichle, 2007). In contrast, ICA considers all voxels at once and uses a mathematical algorithm to separate a dataset into distinct systems or networks that are correlated in their spontaneous fluctuations but also maximally independent, Regardless of the technique, a consistent observation is that regions with similar functional properties, such as the left and right somatomotor cortices, exhibit coherent BOLD fluctuations even in the absence of movement under resting conditions (Biswal et al., and a frontal opercular network that has been related to stimulus salience
Systems Neuroscience

Independent component analysis as a blind source separation technique has become a major data-driven analysis tool for fMRI It is an explorative data analysis method that produces a number of spatial maps (spatial components) and corresponding time courses (Calhoun et al., 2001). Generally, spatial ICA is a more appropriate method than time-domain ICA for analyzing resting-state fMRI data, given the small number of time points and large number of voxels (spatial samples) included in most fMRI datasets. Resting-state networks (RSNs) can be reliably and reproducibly detected using ICA at individual subject and group levels (Greicius et al. of meaningful neurophysiological spatial components is usually performed either by spatial correlation with a predefined template Importantly, altering the dimensionality (model order) estimation in ICA can have a significant impact on the spatial characteristics of the RSNs identified (Abou Elseoud et al., 2010). Accordingly, ICA results may be " split " into a number of sub-networks, depending on the parameters of the analysis (e.g., model order selection). Notably, the process of ICA model order selection is somewhat
The expression of renal Epstein-Barr virus markers in patients with lupus nephritis

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of renal Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis (LN). A total of 58 renal tissue samples from patients with LN, seven normal renal tissue samples from patients with non-glomerular hematuria and 37 renal tissue samples from patients with minimal change nephropathy were collected. The expression of EBV-latent membrane protein-1 (EBV-LMP1) and EBV-encoded RNA 1 (EBER-1) in the renal tissue was examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in situ hybridization (ISH), respectively. The sera levels of anti-nuclear antibody as well as antibodies to extractable nuclear antigen in patients with LN were also measured. An equivalence test showed that the results from the IHC and the ISH analyses had strong agreement. The positive rates of renal EBER-1 and EBV-LMP1 in the LN patients were significantly higher than those of the normal and minimal change nephropathy patients (P<0.001), while no significant difference was identified between those of the normal and minimal change nephropathy groups (P>0.05). The positive rates of EBV-LMP1 and EBER-1 in the renal tissues of patients with LN were not determined to be significantly different between the relapse (immunosuppressant-treated) and initial onset (non-treated) patients, between the patients with and without concurrent infection, and among the patients with different age ranges (P>0.05). The proportion of LN patients positive for anti-Sm antibody was significantly higher in the renal EBV-positive group than in the EBV-negative group (P<0.05), while the proportions of LN patients positive for the other autoantibodies that were examined were not identified to be significantly different between these two groups (P>0.05). The present study shows that renal EBV infection may contribute to the pathogenesis of LN by inducing anti-Sm antibody production.
The effect of mineralization on the ratio of normal to tangential compliance of fractures

The effect of a fracture on the propagation of seismic waves can be represented in terms of the normal compliance BN and tangential compliance BT of the fracture. If BN/BT= 1 for all fractures, the effective elastic stiffness tensor of an isotropic background containing an arbitrary orientation distribution of fractures is orthotropic (i.e., has three orthogonal planes of mirror symmetry) in the long‐wave limit. However, deviations from orthotropy may occur if BN/BT differs significantly from unity and this can cause the principal axes of the P‐wave NMO ellipse and of the variation in the PP‐reflection amplitude as a function of azimuth, to deviate from the fast and slow polarization direction of a vertically propagating S‐wave. Simple models of a fracture in terms of a planar distribution of cracks suggest that BN/BT≈ 1 for dry fractures. However, naturally occurring fractures often exhibit mineralization in the form of bridges between opposing faces of the fracture. The presence of such bridges leads to significant departures of BN/BT from unity.
Mesozoic Syn- and Postrifting Evolution of the Central Apennines, Italy: The Role of Triassic Evaporites

Jurassic–Cretaceous syn- and postrift successions from the central Apennines were backstripped to gain information on the Mesozoic evolution of the passive margin of the Adriatic Plate. Early Jurassic rifting led to the development of a horst-and-graben paleogeography (the Latium-Abruzzi Carbonate Platform and the Sabina-Umbria-Marche Pelagic Basin). Subsidence curves were built for both carbonate platform and pelagic-basin domains from original and literature stratigraphic data. The paleodepositional depths of the deepwater sediments were reconstructed from field geology data, including new paleontological data. It is proposed that after the deposition of lower Hettangian shallow-water carbonates, an abrupt increase in paleowater depth, to 600–1000 m, occurred during the late Hettangian–Sinemurian synrift stage. The postrift stage was characterized by basin filling, with decreasing paleowater depths during the Jurassic, and by a new deepening during the Cretaceous. Our backstripping curves show, for the Sabina-Umbria-Marche Basin, a short period (<5 m.yr.) of rapid tectonic subsidence at the beginning of the Jurassic, followed by very slow (likely thermally controlled) or absent tectonic subsidence until the Cretaceous. The slight increase in subsidence observed from Cenomanian time is linked to a renewal of extensional tectonics. The Latium-Abruzzi Carbonate Platform shows variable subsidence rates in both place and time. Fast subsidence occurred in the Rhaetian–Hettangian, Toarcian, Berriasian, and Cenomanian and is linked with extensional or transtensional tectonic events. After the Early Jurassic rifting, subsidence rates (on average 30–40 m/m.yr.) affecting the Latium-Abruzzi Carbonate Platform were faster than those recorded by the Sabina-Umbria-Marche Basin. Faster postrift subsidence in carbonate platform areas is a geological paradox that is here explained by the lateral flow of upper Triassic evaporites toward the deepwater domains, as a result of higher sedimentary loading in the carbonate platform areas and the onset of a pressure gradient toward the pelagic basin at the depth of the evaporites.
Simple field methods for estimating soil hydraulic conductivity.

Soil water content profiles monitored as a function of time following steady-state infiltration conditions in a field soil provide the only data necessary to estimate the soil hydraulic conductivity as a function of soil water content. For two proposed methods, it is assumed that water redistributes only in response to the gravitational field and that the hydraulic conductivity is an exponential function of soil water content. Experiments were conducted on three fallow field soils covered with plastic to prevent evaporation and sampled to depths of nearly 2 m. Values of hydraulic conductivity calculated by both the two proposed methods as well as by a third recently reported method were compared with those calculated by integrating Richards' equation without simplifying assumptions. Although the above comparisons at given sites within a field revealed that the three methods may sometimes yield poor estimates of the hydraulic conductivity, distributions of observed values averaged over the entire field were statistically comparable for 20 observations. It is concluded that a greater number of observations made possible by simplifying assumptions, and hence, less instrumentation and cost, is preferable to fewer observations with more exact methods that are not as amenable to statistical analyses over larger land areas. Additional Index Words: soil water redistribution, spatial variability, soil water content. View complete article To view this complete article, insert Disc 4 then click button8
Influence of temperature, moisture, and organic carbon on the flux of H2 and CO between soil and atmosphere: Field studies in subtropical regions

Production and deposition rates of atmospheric hydrogen and carbon monoxide were studied during field measurements in subtropical regions, i.e., Transvaal (South Africa), Andalusia (Spain), and the Karoo (South Africa). Measurements were carried out by applying static and equilibrium box techniques. The equilibrium technique has been introduced as a novel method to measure production and destruction rates simultaneously even when soil conditions (e.g., temperature) change during the course of the measurements. Deposition velocities of H/sub 2/ and CO were virtually independent of the soil temperature measured in 3- to 10-mm depths and agreed with those measured in the temperate regions. The deposition velocities were inhibited or stimulated by irrigation water depending on the conditions of the individual field sites. H/sub 2/ production by soil was not observed. By contrast, CO was produced by soil in a dark chemical reaction. Production rates increased exponentially with soil temperatures, giving activation energies of 57-110 kJ mol/sup -1/ and increased linearly with soil organic carbon content. CO production rates followed a diel rhythm parallel to soil surface temperatures. Production generally exceeded CO deposition during the hot hours of the day, so that arid subtropical soils act as a net source of atmospheric CO during thismore » time. On a global basis, CO production by soil may reach source strengths of 30 Tg yr/sup -1/, which is considerably less than the global deposition of CO estimated to be 190-580 Tg yr/sup -1/. Global H/sub 2/ deposition rates were estimated to 70-110 Tg yr/sup -1/. « less
Familial Predisposition for Salivary Gland Cancer in Finland

Background Salivary gland cancer (SGC) accounts for 3–5% of head and neck malignancies, and register-based studies estimate the familial proportion to be 0.15%. Objective We studied familial predisposition for SGC in the genetically distinct Finnish population. Patients and Methods We sent a patient questionnaire to 161 Finnish SGC patients, 86 of whom responded. Results A total of 76% of the patients reported having one or more relatives with cancer, 30% two or more, and 9% three or more but only one patient reported having a relative with SGC. Tracing the birthplaces of the SGC patients’ grandparents showed no regional clustering suggestive of a founder effect. Conclusions Lack of familial SGC patients and the absence of a founder effect strongly suggest that familial predisposition for SGC is insignificant in the Finnish population. Various histological subtypes and the rarity of these neoplasms make it impossible to draw conclusions about site-specific association between SGC and other malignancies.
Investigating the mesoscale impact of artificial reservoirs on frequency of rain during growing season

The specific question that this study pursued is “Have large dams modified the downwind frequency of rainfall in the mesoscale during growing season? ” Rigorously quality controlled precipitation data comprising 3055 stations from the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) were analyzed with 92 large dams in the U.S. Using 30 years of atmospheric reanalysis data, the wind rose diagram for each dam was derived from wind data at the 850 mb level. Around 96 (78) GHCN downwind (upwind) precipitation stations were identified that were within 100 km (mesoscale) of dams. The Mediterranean and humid subtropical climates were found to have experienced the highest and statistically significant change in trend in precipitation frequency downwind and within 100 km of dams during the growing season. The warm summer continental climatic region was found to have exhibited the next most modification. Paired analyses were performed as a function of predam and postdam and at upwind and downwind locations. For Mediterranean climates, the stations studied were found to have experienced a generally weak trend in precipitation frequency before the construction of the selected dams and a systematically more impacted trend during the postdam period. However, using precipitation observations alone, the specific role played by irrigation dams could not be distinguished from other types of dams in this study. Analysis of humidity records, however, revealed that dams can increase the moistening of the air mass by about 5%–15% (in terms of vapor pressure) as it passes downwind, while the effect can also be marginal for other dams. In summary, our study reveals that it is easier to establish a physically intuitive connection between large dams and downwind frequency of rain, but it is much more difficult to demonstrate this connection consistently for all the downwind stations in the mesoscale without the use of additional geophysical data (e.g., topography, land use, and land cover patterns) and mesoscale atmospheric modeling.
Establishing macroecological trait datasets: digitalization, extrapolation, and validation of diet preferences in terrestrial mammals worldwide

Ecological trait data are essential for understanding the broad-scale distribution of biodiversity and its response to global change. For animals, diet represents a fundamental aspect of species’ evolutionary adaptations, ecological and functional roles, and trophic interactions. However, the importance of diet for macroevolutionary and macroecological dynamics remains little explored, partly because of the lack of comprehensive trait datasets. We compiled and evaluated a comprehensive global dataset of diet preferences of mammals (“MammalDIET”). Diet information was digitized from two global and cladewide data sources and errors of data entry by multiple data recorders were assessed. We then developed a hierarchical extrapolation procedure to fill-in diet information for species with missing information. Missing data were extrapolated with information from other taxonomic levels (genus, other species within the same genus, or family) and this extrapolation was subsequently validated both internally (with a jack-knife approach applied to the compiled species-level diet data) and externally (using independent species-level diet information from a comprehensive continentwide data source). Finally, we grouped mammal species into trophic levels and dietary guilds, and their species richness as well as their proportion of total richness were mapped at a global scale for those diet categories with good validation results. The success rate of correctly digitizing data was 94%, indicating that the consistency in data entry among multiple recorders was high. Data sources provided species-level diet information for a total of 2033 species (38% of all 5364 terrestrial mammal species, based on the IUCN taxonomy). For the remaining 3331 species, diet information was mostly extrapolated from genus-level diet information (48% of all terrestrial mammal species), and only rarely from other species within the same genus (6%) or from family level (8%). Internal and external validation showed that: (1) extrapolations were most reliable for primary food items; (2) several diet categories (“Animal”, “Mammal”, “Invertebrate”, “Plant”, “Seed”, “Fruit”, and “Leaf”) had high proportions of correctly predicted diet ranks; and (3) the potential of correctly extrapolating specific diet categories varied both within and among clades. Global maps of species richness and proportion showed congruence among trophic levels, but also substantial discrepancies between dietary guilds. MammalDIET provides a comprehensive, unique and freely available dataset on diet preferences for all terrestrial mammals worldwide. It enables broad-scale analyses for specific trophic levels and dietary guilds, and a first assessment of trait conservatism in mammalian diet preferences at a global scale. The digitalization, extrapolation and validation procedures could be transferable to other trait data and taxa.
Curvature of subducted lithosphere from earthquake locations in the Wadati‐Benioff zone

Estimates of slab curvature from 133 profiles across 12 major subduction zones are obtained by fitting splines through earthquakes locations. Several geometric quantities are computed from the spline fits, including the minimum radius of curvature. We also introduce a quantity called the equivalent radius of curvature to precisely define the bending dissipation in either a viscous or a plastic slab. The minimum and equivalent radius of curvature are approximately equal in slabs with simple geometry (i.e., a single bend) but deviate substantially when the geometry is more complicated. A compilation of estimates shows that the equivalent radius of curvature is insensitive to the age of the plate at the trench. Mean values are 175 km or 191 km, depending on the rheology of the slab. When bending occurs by viscous deformation, the resulting dissipation can exceed the power available from subduction with reasonable choices for viscosity. A more consistent description of the energetics is obtained by assuming a plastic rheology.
Observations of ultrafine aerosol particle formation and growth in boreal forest

Number size distribution of ambient submicron and ultrafine aerosol particles have been measured on a continuous basis (every 10 minutes) for three quarters of the year 1996, at a forest site in Southern Finland. Continuous monitoring offers additional insight over the diurnal dynamics of the submicron size distribution, including existence of clearly separate size modes as well as events of new particle formation. Selected examples of the measured size distributions are presented, including the particle formation events observed at the measurement site. Typical characteristics of days with particle formation events versus days of no events are discussed.