bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bifid Brachiosaurs, Batman!
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

These are the days of miracle and wonder, especially for all you right-minded people out there who are lovers of fine brachiosaurs.  I heard yesterday evening about a new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: You and Li’s (2009, duh) description of a new brachiosaur, the first one known from the Cretaceous of Asia:  Qiaowanlong kangxii  . Best of all, it’s based primarily on vertebral material: You and Li (2009:fig.
Mystery of the missing Malawisaurus vertebra
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Quick story: in 1993, Jacobs et al. described the basal titanosaur  Malawisaurus  based on reasonably complete material from, you guessed it, Malawi. This was kind of a big deal, in that  Malawisaurus  was at the time the most complete sauropod from the Cretaceous of Africa, and also provided important information on titanosaur skulls.
Small African primate possibly sheds light on soft-tissue morphology of Cretaceous diplodocoid
Authors: Naish Darren
Published: December 2023

One of the most bizarre of sauropods – and arguably one of the most bizarre of dinosaurs – is the Patagonian dicraeosaurid diplodocoid  Amargasaurus cazaui  Salgado & Bonaparte, 1991. Here’s a picture of a replica specimen, provided by Nizar Ibrahim.
Yet more uninformed noodling on the future of scientific publishing and that kind of thing
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

Sorry to keep dumping all these off-topic thoughts on you all, but I got an email from Matt today in which he suggested that there should be some system of giving people credit for particularly insightful blog comments.  (This came up for the obvious reason that SV-POW! readers tend to leave unusually brilliant comments, as well as having excellent reading taste and being remarkably good looking.)
New thunder from Down Under!
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Big news today: Australia’s dinosaur fauna just got a little less depauperate. Hocknull et al. (2009) described three new saurischian dinosaurs in PLoS ONE, and two of them are sauropods! I’m just going to hit the highlights in this post. For all 51 pages of awesome, you can download the full paper for free. Here are the new critters (Hocknull et al. 2009:fig.
Mystery vert revisited – SV-POW!bucks now on the line
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Was this just a half-lame attempt to fulfill our titular mandate whilst plugging my new astronomy blog? Of  course  it was (and I just did it again!). Doesn’t mean you lot are off the hook for figuring out what it is. So here’s another image with more views. You have a week. Don’t let me down. Oh, and to sweeten the pot, 351 SV-POW!bucks to the person who first figures it out.  UPDATE:  Too late, suckers!
Things to Make and Do, part 6: fun with ostrich heads
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

Please welcome my new best friend, Veronica the ostrich.  Well, Veronica the ostrich  head  , if you want to be picky.  She arrived yesterday morning, courtesy of the good folks at ﻿﻿Ostrichfayre, very well packaged and still frozen and with a convenient little chunk of distal neck still attached.
Off-topic: I have an Ask Me Anything up at Reddit
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

[Hello to any redditors who have followed a link here.  Please scroll down to find the more interesting articles; sorry that your introduction to SV-POW! is a backlink article.] Excuse the self-promotion, but some SV-POW! readers might be interested to know that I have an Ask Me Anything going over at the social news aggregator site reddit com.
Here comes Santaposeidon!
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Ever since we started working on  Sauroposeidon  , Rich Cifelli and I dreamed of seeing the reconstructed neck on display. That vision has come to fruition. The Oklahoma Museum of Natural History opened a totally new building in 2000. Coincidentally, the opening ceremony for the new digs was held the same week that the paper naming  Sauroposeidon  came out in JVP.
Finite Element Analysis of sauropod vertebrae
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Figure 3 from Schwarz-Wings et al. 2009. A is Diplodocus, B-D are Giraffatitan. Earlier this month Daniela Schwarz-Wings and colleagues published the first finite element analysis (FEA) of sauropod vertebrae (Schwarz-Wings et al. 2009). Above is one of the figures showing some of their results.
Mamenchisaurus tail club, again
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

In color, this time, with multiple views, thanks to Xing et al. (2009). They also did a finite element analysis of the tail club and concluded that it was a fairly pathetic weapon. Xing et al. closed by supporting the contention of Ye et al. (2001) that the tail club was a sensory organ.
Clash of the Dinosaurs: The Discovery Channel steps up
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Great news! I just got off the phone with someone at the Discovery Channel. He asked not to be named, but he has responsibility for  Clash of the Dinosaurs  and the authority to do what he promised, which is to fix the “second brain” segment exactly as I asked in the previous post! He said that the program would not be broadcast again until that segment was fixed, and that the fixed version would be in the DVD/Blu-ray release.
Sorting out Cetiosaurus nomenclature
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

Today saw the publication of the most startlingly dull paper I’ve ever been involved in (Upchurch et al. 2009) — and remember, I write this as co-author of a paper on the phylogenetic taxonomy of Diplodocoidea.  Not only that, but one time when I was practising a conference talk with my wife Fiona as audience, she fell asleep actually while I was speaking.  Actually asleep.
Wie weit darf Big Data gehen?
Authors: Wragge Alexander
Published: December 2023

Körperdaten kündigen früh eine Infektion an. Facebook-Likes verraten den IQ der Nutzer. Big-Data-Analysen versprechen neue Erkenntnisse für Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft. Warum von einer Revolution zu sprechen ist, erläutert der Internetforscher Viktor Mayer-Schönberger im Interview.  iRights.info: In Ihrem Buch beschreiben Sie, wie die Analyse großer Datenmengen aus allen Lebensbereichen bestimmte Zusammenhänge erst sichtbar macht. 
Sauropods of 2008: Dongyangosaurus
Authors: Naish Darren
Published: December 2023

So, 2008 has come and gone. Was it a good year for sauropods? In terms of new taxa, it wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t too bad, and (as we’ll see in this and a few following posts) some of the taxa involved had pretty interesting vertebrae.
Tutorial 8: how to photograph big bones
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

Since I started taking photographs of sauropod vertebrae back in 2004, I’ve got much, much better at it, and for the last few months I’ve been meaning to write an article about what I’ve learned along the way.
Argentinosaurus: smaller than you think?
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Dorsal vertebrae from Argentinosaurus (center) and Supersaurus (either side). The vert on the left is the holotype of Ultrasauros, and the one on the right is the holotype of Dystylosaurus, but both of those taxa have been sunk into Supersaurus. Found on teh intert00bz. As often happens here, a comment thread got to be more interesting than the original post and ended up deserving a post of its own.
The hitherto hidden half of BMNH R46870
Authors: Naish Darren
Published: December 2023

It’s no secret – at least, not if you’re a regular SV-POW!
What a 23% longer torso looks like
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

Just checking: no-one’s bored of brachiosaurs yet, are they? Thought not.  Right, then, here we go! Greg Paul’s (1988) study of the two “  Brachiosaurus  ” species — the paper that proposed the subgenus  Giraffatitan  for the African species — noted that the trunk is proportionally longer in  Brachiosaurus  than in  Giraffatitan  due to the greater length of its dorsal centra.
NHM 46870 Strikes Back: ASP
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

By now you’ll recognize this as NHM 46870, a minor celebrity in the world of pneumatic sauropod vertebrae. Darren has covered the history of the specimen before, and in the last post he showed photographs of both this chunk and its other half. He also briefly discussed the Air Space Proportion (ASP) of the specimen, and I’ll expand on that now.
A new paper, and a pneumatic hiatus at last
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

I had a new paper come out today. Unofficial supplementary info here, PDF here. I would have had all this ready to go sooner, but the paper came out sooner than I expected. In fact, I didn’t even know that it had been published until Andy Farke (aka the Open Source Paleontologist) wrote me for a PDF. Turnabout’s fair play, I suppose, because last year I congratulated Stuart Sumida on his  Gerobatrachus  paper before he knew it was out.
Giant snow-sauropods of the FairbanksSapporo Ice Festival
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

Hat tip to Open Dinosaur Project contributor Rob Taylor, who drew my attention to this photo of a huge and sauropodoriffic snow sculpture at [what I thought when I wrote this was] the Fairbanks Ice Festival: Sauropod snow-sculpture. No attribution given -- please mention in the comments if you know where it's from. (Copied from this page on phombo.com) Is it real?  I really hope so, but I have my doubts.
Necks lie
Authors: Wedel Matt
Published: December 2023

Since we’re spending a few days on neck posture, I thought I’d expand on what Mike said about bunnies in the first post: in most cases, it is awfully hard to tell the angle of the cervical column when looking at a live animal. Because necks lie. Take this horse (borrowed from here). You can see that the external outline of the neck, which is what you would see in the living animal, is pointed in a different direction than the cervical column.
Things to Make and Do, part 3b: Wallaby feet
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

I’m following up immediately on my last post because I am having so much fun with my wallaby carcass.  As you’ll recall, I was lucky enough to score a subadult male wallaby from a local farm park.  Today, we’re going to look at its feet. Wallabies are macropods;
Electronic publishing is inevitable and even the ICZN is beginning to accept it
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

After a completely barren 2008, this year is turning out to be a good one for me in terms of publications.  Today sees the publication of Taylor (2009b), entitled  Electronic publication of nomenclatural acts is inevitable, and will be accepted by the taxonomic community with or without the endorsement of the code  — one of those papers where, if you’ve read the title, you can skip the rest of the paper.
Streaming-Dienste und personalisiertes Radio
Authors: Pachali David
Published: December 2023

Die CD-Sammlung hat ausgedient. Streaming, Music-on-Demand, Internet-Radio – inzwischen gibt es zahlreiche Möglichkeiten legal im Internet Musik zu hören oder eigene Stücke zu veröffentlichen. Wir stellen die wichtigsten Möglichkeiten vor. Wer Musik über Streaming-Angebote hören wollte, musste in Deutschland lange warten, doch mittlerweile ändert sich die Lage.
Cetiosaurus nomenclature, redux — comments from Paul Barrett and Pete Galton
Authors: Taylor Mike
Published: December 2023

For those of you who care about such things, the new issue 66(2) of the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature contains two comments on our petition to the ICZN to fix  Cetiosaurus oxoniensis  as the type species of the historically important genus  Cetiosaurus  (Upchurch et al. 2009) — both of them supporting the proposal
ética judicial en las redes sociales
Authors: D'´Angelo Romina Luján
Published: December 2023

En este trabajo me referiré a cuestiones generales sobre la ética judicial, las idoneidades de los jueces y los principios éticos. También a los códigos de ética que perfilan al juez excelente o ideal, para luego relacionarlo con su participación en las redes sociales. Posteriormente subsumiré aquellas premisas a un campo particular, que es cómo debe conducirse un juez en el marco de las redes sociales. Reseñaré qué actividades son éticamente cuestionables en internet, si existe o no total libertad para acceder a ellas, cómo se relacionan con los derechos de privacidad y de libertad de expresión, y qué principios de la ética judicial pueden verse implicados en el mal uso de las redes sociales.
ley y la norma
Authors: Pazos Crocitto José Ignacio
Published: December 2023

La afirmación de Binding de que la prohibición o el mandato, la orden legal contra la que actúa el delincuente, es la norma que precede conceptualmente a la ley penal y que es hallada transformando la primera parte de las proposiciones penales en una orden, es una afirmación que nada aporta. Por el contrario, el distingo aludido es artificioso y complejiza la necesaria intelección de una antijuridicidad como infracción a la norma (en sentido amplio) y punibilidad como consecuencia de dicha infracción. De hecho, el concepto de norma de Binding se mueve en el mismo sentido que la teoría de la tipicidad como fundamento de la antijuridicidad: no existe ninguna norma decisiva penalmente para la fundamentación de la pena que no sea parte del tipo. Este aporte pretende demostrar que es necesario abandonar en la dogmática penal el distingo aludido, y que, infructuosa e innecesariamente, es seguido por una amplia doctrina.
Derecho y trabajo en la era de la inteligencia artificial
Authors: Ortiz Luisina
Published: December 2023

La propuesta de este trabajo es analizar el nuevo paradigma jurídico ante el avance disruptivo de la inteligencia artificial y su impacto en todos los sectores sociales de este siglo, especialmente en el ámbito laboral. Nos encontramos desde hace algunos años atravesando la llamada cuarta revolución industrial, donde el mundo se ha sumergido en la masificación de tecnologías que transformarán radicalmente las actividades humanas, trayendo consigo grandes beneficios, pero también resistencias e inquietudes, fundamentalmente en torno al empleo. El derecho no es ajeno a esta cuestión, pues, por su carácter dinámico, hoy es convocado a  regular nuevos escenarios que con el devenir tecnológico comienzan a suscitarse.
El sistema dactiloscópico ideado por Juan Vucetich
Authors: Sifre Paola Vanesa
Published: December 2023

En las líneas de este artículo se explican circunstancias respecto de la identificación de las personas mencionando los orígenes de la identificación, métodos y cómo estos siguen aplicándose día a día en las diferentes etapas de los procesos penales.
principio de contradicción en el modelo adversarial vigente en el ámbito de la provincia de Buenos Aires
Authors: Muga Agustin Pablo Ignacio
Published: December 2023

A través del presente trabajo se intentó describir escuetamente los rasgos salientes del modelo adversarial, vigente en la provincia de Buenos Aires desde la entrada en vigencia del Código Procesal Penal según Ley 11.922, y abordar algunas de las dificultades con que la defensa tropieza a lo largo del proceso penal, que implican una desigualdad de armas que atenta contra el debido contradictorio, piedra basal del proceso adversarial.
Trabajo en aplicaciones
Authors: Vallefín Lucio Alberto
Published: December 2023

El presente artículo efectuará un análisis de la situación actual del trabajo en aplicaciones en nuestro país, con especial énfasis en las sentencias emitidas por los juzgados N° 1, 2 y 4 del Departamento Judicial de La Plata, por medio de las cuales se multó a través del Ministerio de Trabajo de la provincia de Buenos Aires a las principales empresas de reparto a domicilio por plataforma. A partir de dicha situación, se procederá a reflexionar sobre las implicancias que tal decisión supone, otras posibles respuestas al fenómeno y por qué el mismo sigue siendo ampliamente debatido.
СОЮЗЫ СИБИРСКИХ ШИБАНИДОВ С ТЮРКСКИМИ И МОНГОЛЬСКИМИ ГРУППАМИ В ВОЕННО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ЦЕЛЯХ
Authors: YILMAZ Mecnun
Published: December 2023

Ара-кум, Кара-кум, земли от берегов рек Иргиз, Ор и Илек до Уральских гор, земли к востоку от реки Яик, берега реки Сырдарья, устья р. Чу и Сары-су были переданы Шибану Бату-ханом. Таким образом, Шибан и его потомки жили на этих землях. Однако со временем шибаниды, проживающие в Западной Сибири, пытались расширить свое господство на запад и закрепить политическое лидерство на землях Западной Сибири и сохранить нынешнее господство на принадлежащих им землях. Для этих целей сибирские шибаниды заключали союзы с различными тюркскими и монгольскими группами. Так, благодаря этим союзам сибирские шибаниды заняли троны Большой Орды, Казанского xанства и Сибирского xанства и усилили свою военную мощь. В данной статье в причинно-следственном контексте рассматриваются союзы сибирских шибанидов с ногайцами, калмыками и башкирами. Кроме того, методом является рассмотрение сведений в источниках и литературе, анализ полученных сведений и создание композиции с помощью проанализированных сведений в соответствии с целью исследования.
Theoretical thermal performance of cross-flow finned heat pipe heat exchanger used for air conditioning in surgery rooms
Authors: Nogueira Élcio
Published: December 2023

The thermal efficiency of heat exchangers was applied for theoretical analysis of the thermal performance of a finned heat pipe heat exchanger (FHPHE) used as an auxiliary device to control the temperature and quality of the air conditioning in operating rooms. The theoretical analysis performed is punctual and distributed. It is divided into three aspects: analysis of the evaporator section, analysis of the condenser section, and analysis of the heat exchanger in terms of overall performance. The distributed procedure contrasts with the theoretical-experimental study, which uses the concept of thermal effectiveness (ε-NTU) for global heat exchanger analysis. The developed approach considers the number of heat pipes, the number of fins, and the flow rate variation at the inlet of the heat exchanger as fundamental parameters for determining the thermophysical quantities of interest. Theoretical values were determined for the average velocities, Nusselt numbers, thermal effectiveness, heat transfer rates, and exit temperatures. The localized theoretical-experimental comparisons are consistent, and the absolute relative error for the global heat transfer rate ranges from 0.5% to 35%.
Desempeño docente, liderazgo transformacional en calidad de servicio educativo
Authors: Vargas Gutierrez Delicia De Jesus , Gomez Chagua Janet Janina , Nomberto Luperdi Ana Zoila , Tello Díaz Anélida , Lozano Achuy Miosoty , Vargas Gutiérrez Gladis Milagros
Published: December 2023

El presente trabajo de investigación tuvo como objetivo general determinar el nivel de influencia del desempeño docente y liderazgo transformacional en la calidad del educativa en una IEP Moyobamba 2023. Para ello se trabajó bajo un enfoque cuantitativo, tipo básica, de diseño no experimental correlacional causal con 77 docentes de una IEP de Moyobamba, a los cuales se les aplico 3 cuestionarios para medir las variables desempeño docente, liderazgo transformacional y calidad educativa. Se obtuvo como resultado que, la influencia del desempeño docente y el liderazgo transformacional en la calidad educativa de una IEP Moyobamba 2023 es significativa con un p de 0.008 y un R de Nagelkerke de 0,092, lo que establece que, el 9.2% de la calidad educativa depende del desempeño docente y el liderazgo transformacional. Por lo que se concluye que el desempeño docente y el liderazgo transformacional si influyen en la calidad educativa de la IEP de Moyobamba y esto quiere decir que, si se mejora el desempeño de los docentes y el liderazgo transformacional ejercicio por el equipo directivo, mejorará la calidad del servicio educativo.
Educación ambiental y estrategia en una Unidad de Gestión Educativa Local de Ayacucho 2023
Authors: Sosa Mendoza Quiralina
Published: December 2023

Este estudio se enmarca dentro del contexto de la problemática ambiental y tiene como objetivo principal contribuir a la educación ambiental para generar transformaciones en la actitud y aptitud de las personas, buscando alcanzar un equilibrio armonioso entre el ser humano y su entorno. Reconoce la necesidad de contar con el respaldo de diversas disciplinas y la participación activa de individuos e instituciones. El objetivo de estudio fue lograr una educación ambiental como una base cultural y estrategia para concientizar y a su vez difundir la educación ambiental desde su entorno hacia las entidades superiores y la sociedad. El estudio fue estructurado en: tratamiento de residuos sólidos y la cultura de reciclaje, incremento de espacios de vida, cuidado del agua y ahorro de energía. Esta investigación adopta un enfoque cualitativo en su diseño metodológico, empleando entrevistas como técnica para recopilar información de los trabajadores administrativos y especialistas de educación de una Unidad de Gestión Educativa Local. Los resultados se enmarcan en el logro de la concientización del comportamiento en la educación ambiental. Se concluye que hay una escaza preocupación por los problemas ambientales, el estudio permitió una concientización y reflexión en la educación ambiental.
Clubes ecologistas sobre cultura ambiental en instituciones educativas del Distrito Santiago del Cusco 2023
Authors: Almanza Nilo Achahui
Published: December 2023

El artículo de revisión, presenta investigación bibliográfica sobre Clubes Ecologistas como activistas estudiantiles, preocupados por la problemática de la crisis ambiental que la tierra enfrenta; con este propósito se recogió información seleccionada en base de datos de Scopus, SciELO y Google Académico. Las políticas ambientalistas inician su proceso de implementación desde que se dio la alarma mundial a fines de la década del 60 del siglo pasado. Transcurrieron más de medio siglo, sin embargo, la problemática ambiental no es controlada, sino al contrario se agudiza, a tal punto que la vida en la Tierra está en peligro. Para prevenir esta crisis ambiental, el compromiso individual y social debe ser clave y fundamentalmente de los estudiantes, mediante el fortalecimiento de competencias y capacidades, en cultura ambiental sostenible, vinculando la escuela con la familia y sociedad; éste desafío debe ser liderado por estudiantes pertenecientes a los clubes ecologistas; entendiendo que ellos en corto plazo asumirán roles decisivos para la sociedad, por lo que, se requiere fortalecer base sólida en temática de educación ambiental. El artículo concluye, manifestando que la escuela constituye el espacio de privilegio para implementar proyectos ambientalistas, que permita contribuir al cambio de actitud de todas y todos incluido autoridades para así cuidar la madre Tierra que es nuestro único hogar.
Aprehensión del contenido y dominio del idioma: Garantía del éxito en la formación profesional
Authors: Calvo Gastañaduy Dora Concepcion , López Meléndez Lelis Roseni , Gómez Arce Ricardo Martín , Calvo Gastañaduy Carola Claudia
Published: December 2023

La finalidad del presente trabajo es conocer como la adquisición de conocimientos académicos específicos y la lengua extranjera, inglés, en este caso, se integran en contextos CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) en una clase a nivel superior. Para este análisis se revisaron un total de 84 artículos científicos de revistas indexadas en inglés en la base de datos Scopus de los últimos 3 años. La muestra fue constituida por 17 artículos los que fueron seleccionados por ajustarse al objetivo de la revisión. En cuanto a los resultados se puede mencionar que esta metodología es beneficiosa en gran medida, tanto para los estudiantes como los docentes que lo trabajan en aula. Cuando el contenido del curso y los objetivos lingüísticos se diseñan teniendo en cuenta las necesidades de los estudiantes, no hay límite en cuanto a quién puede beneficiarse en su aprendizaje. El enfoque CLIL y la exposición frecuente al idioma inglés ayudan a mejorar la aprehensión de contenidos y la competencia comunicativa lo que garantiza el éxito en la formación profesional.
Creatividad Disruptiva. Cuando la tecnología ayuda a las ideas a patear el tablero
Authors: Larosa Matías
Published: December 2023

La comunicación cambió de paradigma. Dejó de ser unidireccional, estática distante, anacrónica. La comunicación es dialógica y tiene tanto peso lo que la marca dice en un comercial, como lo que comenta un usuario en Facebook a las 3 de la mañana. Se invirtieron los roles, hoy el protagonista es el usuario, no las marcas. Los usuarios están expuestos las veinticuatro horas a múltiples e infinitos datos, por eso el esfuerzo está puesto en llamar la atención y en llegar a establecer relaciones atractivas con los usuarios. La tecnología permite eso. Permite llegar al usuario de manera atractiva y en nuevos territorios. Si vemos los festivales de música son de compañías de celulares.
5S rRNA: Structure and Function from Head to Toe
Authors:   Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, Microbiology Building Room 2135, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, Dinman Jonathan D. , Dontsova Olga A.
Published: December 2023

5S rRNA is uniquely positioned so as to link together all of the functional centers of the ribosome. Previous studies have supported the hypothesis that 5S rRNA acts as a physical transducer of information, facilitating communication between the different functional centers and coordinating of the multiple events catalyzed by the ribosome. Here, we present a synthesis of both structural and genetic information to construct a more detailed picture of how 5S rRNA may act to transmit and coordinate all of the functional centers of the ribosome.
A Study of the Relationships between Serum Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide, Sex Hormone, Homocysteine and Coronary Heart Disease in Postmenopausal Women
Authors:   Department of Emergency Peking University Third Hospital Beijing 100083 P. R. of China, Wang Zhen , Guo Jingxuan , Wang Xian , Zhao Yiming , Hou Lingfei
Published: December 2023

To investigate the relationships among serum calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), homocysteine (Hcy), female hormone, and coronary arteriopathy in postmenopausal women. Method. In a cross-sectional study, serum CGRP, estrodiol (E2), progesterone（P）and Hcy levels of 144 postmenopausal women with coronary heart disease (CHD) and non-coronary heart disease (NCHD) were measured. Results. The mean serum CGRP level was significantly lower in CHD patients than in NCHD subjects. The mean serum E2 and P level were significantly lower in CHD patients than in NCHD subjects. The mean serum Hcy level was significantly higher in CHD patients than in NCHD subjects. By multivariate logistic regression, the OR of high Hcy level ≥1, p<0.01，which suggests that Hcy is an independent risk factor in the development of coronary arteriopathy. The OR of CGRP, E2 , and P are all≤1, indicating that CGRP , E2 and P are independent protective factor. Conclusion. The results of our study show that Hcy is an independent risk factor in the development of arteriopathy. CGRP and endogenous E2 are independent protective factors in the development of coronary arteriopathy. There are no relationships between Hcy, CGRP, and endogenous E2.
Chiral Drugs. An Overview
Authors:   Laboratory of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Paris 5, 4 avenue de l'Observatoire, 75006 Paris, France., Chuong Pham-Huy , Nguyen Lien Ai ,   Department of Pharmacy, Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center, 725 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA, He Hua ,   Department of Analytical Chemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 210009, China
Published: December 2023

About more than half of the drugs currently in use are chiral compounds and near 90% of the last ones are marketed as racemates consisting of an equimolar mixture of two enantiomers. Although they have the same chemical structure, most isomers of chiral drugs exhibit marked differences in biological activities such as pharmacology, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, metabolism etc. Some mechanisms of these properties are also explained. Therefore, it is important to promote the chiral separation and analysis of racemic drugs in pharmaceutical industry as well as in clinic in order to eliminate the unwanted isomer from the preparation and to find an optimal treatment and a right therapeutic control for the patient. In this article, we review the nomenclature, pharmacology, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, metabolism etc of some usual chiral drugs as well as their mechanisms. Different techniques used for the chiral separation in pharmaceutical industry as well as in clinical analyses are also examined.
Endogenous estradiol and testosterone may predispose toward atherogenic lipid profile, but higher blood level of testosterone is associated with lower number of stenoses in the coronary arteries of men with coronary disease
Authors:   Department of Andrology and Reproductive Endocrinology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland, Kula Krzysztof
Published: December 2023

To assess the correlations between blood levels of sex steroid hormones and blood lipid profile or the degree of coronary artery stenosis in men with coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: 111 men with stable CAD, aged 36-73 yrs, unselected for the coexisting clinical coronary risk factors were prospectively studied. Degree of coronary stenosis was assessed angiographically using different indices. Total cholesterol (T-Ch), high density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-Ch), low density lipoproteins cholesterol (LDL-Ch), triglicerydes (TG), testosterone, estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were measured in the blood. Free testosterone index (FTI) was calculated. Results: A positive, significant correlations were found between blood concentrations of estradiol and T-Ch (r=0.29, p< 0.01) or LDL-Ch (r=0.34, p<0.005) as well as between FTI and blood LDL-Ch (r=0.23, p< 0.05). Blood level of estradiol negatively correlated with HDL-Ch/T-Ch ratio (r=-0.21, p<0.05). While blood levels of T-Ch correlated positively with 3 out of 5 applied here indices of coronary stenosis, blood LDL-Ch with two of them. In turn, blood level of testosterone negatively correlated with one index of coronary stenosis (r=-0.26, p<0.05). Conclusion: In men with CAD, plasma estradiol concentrations are predictive for T-Ch, LDL-Ch and HDL-Ch/TCh ratio, and FTI for LDL-Ch. Regression analyses indicated that while sex steroid hormones may predispose toward atherogenic lipid profile and are predictive for the number and degree of coronary artery stenosis, higher blood level of total testosterone was associated with the lower number of stenosis in the coronary arteries. Hence, endogenous testosterone may have beneficial effect on coronary arteries.
Haplotype based association study between t-PA gene and essential hypertension
Authors:   Division of Receptor Biology, Advanced Medical Research Center, Nihon University School of Medicine, Nakayama Tomohiro , Saito Kosuke ,   Department of Biotechnology and Applied Chemistry, Toyo University Graduate School of Engineering, Kaneko Yoshiyuki ,   Fifth-year Medical Student, Nihon University School of Medicine, Sato Ichiro ,   Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nihon University School of Medicine, Morita Akihiko ,   Department of Neurology, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, Takahashi Teruyuki ,   Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Nihon University, Soma Masayoshi ,   Division of Nephrology and Endocrinology, Department of Medicine Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Published: December 2023

Several previous studies have shown that essential hypertension (EH) is associated with fibrinolysis. Tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) plays a key role in fibrinolysis. Thus, it is possible that the t-PA gene is a susceptibility gene of EH. However, there have been no reported studies of association between EH and the t-PA gene using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The aim of the present haplotype-based case-control study was to investigate whether SNPs in the human t-PA gene are associated with EH. We performed a genetic association study using 3 SNPs (rs7007329, rs8178750, rs4471024). The subjects were 276 EH patients and 283 age-matched normotensive (NT) individuals. There were no significant differences in overall distribution of genotypes or alleles between EH patients and NT subjects. Also, there were no significant differences in the haplotype-based case-control study. The present results do not indicate an association between the t-PA gene and EH.
CORTICAL SPREADING DEPRESSION ELICITED IN RAT BRAIN AFTER EXPOSURE TO MICROWAVE FROM GSM MOBILE PHONE
Authors:   Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, Sallam Samera M. ,   Egypt
Published: December 2023

The aim of the present work is to evaluate possibility of microwave emitted by cellular phone that can elicit cortical spreading depression (CSD) in rat brain and studying the characteristics of the evoked signals. (CSD) was elicited in cerebral cortex of anesthetized rats after exposure to microwave irradiation (935.2-960.2 MHz) from Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) mobile phone. With the microwave output of about 8.5 mW at the antenna - tissue surface (4mm in diameter), CSD was elicited after 50 sec irradiation from the beginning of a received signal to the mobile and after 35 sec irradiation from the beginning of a transmitted signal from the mobile. CSD was elicited in about 90% of experiments after irradiation by both types of signal exposure. The results have shown that slow potential change (SPC) has an amplitude of 4.5 ±0.75 mV, duration of 1.5 ± 0.5 min and propagated speed of 3 mm/min on the average. The amplitude, duration and behaviour of SPC of the evoked spreading depression were found to be affected by irradiation time and the method of exposure.
Umbilical Cord Segmental Hemorrhage and Fetal Distress
Authors:   A.Fa.R. Associazione Fatebenefratelli per la Ricerca, Isola Tiberina, Roma. PhD in Perinatal Medicine, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy, Larciprete Giovanni
Published: December 2023

We describe an unexplained case of umbilical cord segmental hemorrhage linked with meconium-stained amniotic fluid. A severely asphyxiated infant was delivered at term by Caesarean section. There were poor prognostic signs on fetal cardiotocography with rupture of membranes with meconium-stained amniotic fluid. The pathophysiologic mechanism in this case is still unknown, even if we argued a possible role of the umbilical cord shortness.
Saving implants! BMP-2 application in revision total hip surgery
Authors:   Department of Orthopedics, Heinrich-Heine University Hospital Dusseldorf (Director: Univ. Prof. Dr. med. R. Krauspe), Moorenstr. 5, D-40225 Dusseldorf, Germany (FRG), Jager Marcus , Emami Rezer , Thorey Fritz , Krauspe Rudiger
Published: December 2023

Objective: Besides others, there are two major problems in total hip replacement surgery which result in implant failure. First there is aseptic loosening due to a lack of implant biocompatibility or micromovements and second periimplant wear debris induced osteolysis which limits the survival rate of an implant. Regarding to recent data there are only limited therapeutic strategies to heal these bony defects without arthroplasty revision surgery. Since the investigation and characterization of adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow, a cell and tissue engineering based therapy might be a promising solution to heal endoprosthesis associated bony defects. Moreover the application of growth factors in bone reconstructive surgery is another treatment concept to promote local bone regeneration. Patient and Methods: We report about a 73-year old patient with a painful weight bearing and a large, wear debris induced pelvic osteolysis after total hip arthroplasty. To prevent from salvage surgical procedures and preserve bone, a healing attempted was performed by filling the critical bony defect zone with a BMP-2/MSC composit. Results: Clinical and radiological follow-ups showed a progressive bony healing of the critical size defect area without any complications. Fifteen months after application the patient is still pain free, has no limitations in daily life or sport activities. Conclusion: The case embarks on a strategy of non-embryonic stem cell and growth factor application to heal bony defects at patients with total hip endoprosthesis.
Sterile Corneal Ulcer and Sjögren's Syndrome Associated with Long-Term Interferon alpha-2b Treatment in a Case of Multiple Myeloma
Authors:   Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C, Chen Ko-Hua , Liu Yin-Tsu , Hsu Wen-Ming
Published: December 2023

A 71-year-old Chinese male was referred for severe dry eyes who suffered from multiple corneal melting ulcers and underwent a long-term and high-dosage interferon alpha-2b (INFα-2b) treatment for multiple myeloma (MM). The patient was diagnosed to have MM 12 years ago, and since then INFα-2b (3-million units, intramuscularly, three times a week) was prescribed until the present. Two years ago, diffuse superficial punctuate epithelial defects, filaments and multiple melting ulcers in his cornea were noted. Sjögren's syndrome was diagnosed after the salivary gland biopsy. In addition to preservative-free topical lubricants, bilateral permanent punctal occlusion and tarsorraphy were performed but in vain. Topical and systemic immunosuppressants including corticosteroids, cyclosporin and methotrexate improved his corneal condition successfully. The present case suggests a relationship between INFα-2b and Sjögren's syndrome. Long-term use of INFα-2b may impair tear functions and complicate corneal melting ulcers. Immunosuppressants play a role in treatment of INFα-2b associated keratopathy.
Introduction of Sustained Release Opipramol Dihydrochloride Matrix Tablets as a New Approach in the Treatment of Depressive Disorders
Authors:   Istanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Beyazıt 34119 Istanbul, Turkey, Uner Melike , Gonullu Umit , Yener Gulgun , Altınkurt Turan
Published: December 2023

Opipramol 2-HCl (OP) is used for therapy of general somatoform and anxiety disorders. Conventional tablets in the market contain 50 mg OP to be used once or up to three times a day in effective treatment of depression in mild. In case of serious depressive disorders, OP may be administired up to 300 mg a day. Decrease in frequency of high dose administration via sustained drug release would reduce incidence of symptoms of intoxication in long-term use of OP. With this aim, OP matrix tablets containing 100 mg were prepared by direct compression method to be used once a day to provide patient compliance and constant blood level, consequently to decrease side effects. Two concentrations of polymers (10% and 20%): hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), sodium alginate (NaAlg), xanthan gum (XG) and Carbopol 941 (C941) were used in preparation of matrix tablets. Drug release study were performed in distilled water, pH 1.2 HCl buffer and pH 7.4 phosphate buffer solutions according to the Method II in USP 29. Two commercial tablets containing 50 mg OP available in Turkish market were used for comparison. Kinetic models of release patterns from tablets were evaluated. Drug release was displayed slower to faster pattern in order of formulations containing C941, HPMC and HPC. Drug release was significantly faster in tablets of 10% polymers than those of 20%. NaAlg and XG were insufficient to sustain drug release. The most sustaining drug release effect at the lowest polymer concentration was obtained with C941. Drug release from matrix tablets containing 10 % C941 was determined as 58.2 %, 52.4 and 57.0 % in related dissolution mediums above after 8 hours, respectively. However, HPMC and HPC sustained drug release at 20 % concentration. As a result, Carbopol® 941, HPMC and HPC can be suggested as suitable to prepare matrix tablets of OP.
Lifespan Extension by the Antioxidant Curcumin in Drosophila Melanogaster
Authors:   400 Freimann Life Science Center, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA, Suckow Mark A. , Suckow Brianne K.
Published: December 2023

The interest in health benefits associated with consumption of anti-oxidants has led to investigations examining the possibility that diets rich in anti-oxidants promote lifespan extension. Studies using the standard fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) model of longevity have shown that the antioxidants vitamin E and N-acetyl cysteine prolong lifespan. Turmeric is a spice which has been consumed and used for medicinal purposes for many centuries in Asia. Interestingly, turmeric contains the powerful antioxidant, curcumin. To test the hypothesis that dietary curcumin prolongs lifespan, groups of 30 male D. melanogaster were cultured on media containing 1) no additive; 2) 0.5 mg of curcumin/gram of media; 3) 1.0 mg of curumin/gram of media; 4) 1.0 μg of of the superoxide dismutase inhibitor, disulfiram/gram of media; 5) 10 g of disulfiram/gram of media; 6) 0.5 mg curcumin and 1.0 g disulfiram/ gram of media; 7) 1.0 mg curcumin and 1.0 g disulfiram/ gram of media; 8) 0.5 mg curcumin and 10 g disulfiram/gram of media; or 9) 1.0 mg curcumin and 10 g disulfiram/gram of media. The number of live fruitflies was noted daily and mean lifespan determined for each treatment group. A significant (P≤0.05) increase in mean lifespan was noted only for the fruitflies maintained on 1.0 mg of curcumin/gram of media; this effect was reversed by addition of disulfiram. These results demonstrate that dietary curcumin prolongs lifespan and that this effect is associated with enhanced superoxide dismutase activity.
Intraoperative Ethanol Treatment as an Adjuvant Therapy of Pterygium Excision
Authors:   Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C., Hsu Wen-Ming , Chen Ko-Hua
Published: December 2023

Recurrence of pterygium is the main concern for ophthalmic surgeons after the excision of pterygium. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ethanol treatment during pterygium excision in preventing the recurrence of pterygia, a prospective randomized study was performed of 78 eyes in primary pterygium patients treated by excision. Primary pterygium patients were randomly assigned to ethanol group (38 eyes given intraoperative ethanol) or mitomycin-c (MMC) group (40 eyes given intraoperative MMC). Ethanol (20%) was applied for 60 seconds to the pterygial and its adjacent corneal surfaces before pterygium excision. After excision, the excised site of sclera was soaked with 20% Ethanol for 60 seconds. In group 2, MMC (0.25 mg/ml) was applied for 60 seconds to the bare sclera after pterygium excision. The outcomes were followed for more than one year. Pterygium recurred in 2 (5.3%) of 38 eyes in ethanol group and 4(10.0%) of 40 eyes in MMC group. Final appearance of the pterygium excision area was satisfactory in 73.6% of group1 and 67.5% of group 4. No patients experienced severe complications postoperatively. In comparison with MMC treatment, intraoperative ethanol is more efficacious in preventing recurrence of pterygium and causes fewer complications. It suggests this regimen as an alternative for the treatment of pterygium, especially for those patients of high risk group for MMC treatment complications.
Validation and Determination of Mercury in Yemeni Common Canned Tuna Using Direct Mercury Analyzer
Authors: AL-Hammadi Mahfoudh M. , Alnedhary Anass A. , Numan Abdualqawi A. , Murshed Fatima A. , Al-Alie Ranya A.
Published: December 2023

The presence of Hg in canned tuna flesh is a major source of customer concern. Thus, the primary goal of this investigation was to evaluate total mercury levels in Yemeni canned tuna. Thirty-one samples of seven popular locally canned tuna brands were acquired from local stores in Sana'a. A Direct Mercury Analyzer was used to determine the mercury content. The linearity of the method was tested by assessing a series of mercury standards in triplicates at concentrations ranging from 20 to 500 ppb. The correlation coefficient for this method was 0.9993. The repeatability of the procedure was measured as intra-day variation and given as the relative standard deviation, which did not exceed 4.45%. This indicated the excellent precision of the method. Mercury recoveries from spiked actual canned tuna samples were between 96.61% and 100.49%, demonstrating excellent accuracy and an acceptable procedure for mercury measurement. The limits of detection and quantitation were 1.62 ppb and 5.4 ppb, respectively. The mercury content in 31 canned tuna samples was less than the 500 ppb standard imposed by the Yemeni Organization for Standards Metrology and Quality Control (YSMO).
Evaluation of Data Clustering Accuracy using K-Means Algorithm
Authors: Suraya Suraya , Sholeh Muhammad , Lestari Uning
Published: December 2023

Data clustering is one of the methods in data science that is often used in data analysis. This method is used in making groupings from a collection of datasheets. Data clustering is done to find patterns or relationships between data. This research aims to evaluate the accuracy of data clustering using K-Means algorithm on wine datasheet. Wine datasheet has 13 features that describe the chemical characteristics of three types of wine. The clustering process must produce the best clustering evaluation metrics. The evaluation metric is done through comparison between the clustering results of K-Means algorithm with Davies Bouldin and Silhouette. The research steps involved data standardization, selection of the optimal number of clusters, and assessment of clustering accuracy. The research method uses KDD which consists of pre-processing, transformation, model building and model evaluation. Experimental results show that appropriate parameters and cluster initialization can improve clustering evaluation metrics. The clustering results show that the normalized datasheet produces evaluation metrics for Davies Bouldin 2 groups and Silhouette produces 3 groups. Before normalization, Davies Boulidin results in 7 groups and Silhouette results in 2 groups. In conclusion, this study produced different evaluation metrics between normalized and non-normalized datasheets. The selection of the number of groups chosen depends on the context of the data analysis performed and is selected into 3 groups which can be labelled "Superior Variety", the second group "Intermediate Variety" and the third group "Standard Variety".
Effectiveness of Exercises Plyometrics in the Treatment of Post-Muscle-Tendon Injuries in Under-17 Category Footballers
Authors: Carrión Sonia Alexandra Alvarez , García María Belén Pérez
Published: December 2023

Musculotendon injuries, which encompass a variety of conditions from muscle strains to tendinitis, are a common concern in athletes of all ages and levels. These injuries, considered overuse pathologies, constitute a significant part of sports injuries and are often related to constant repetition of loads on the tendons. In this context, plyometrics, a training approach focused on jumping and explosive exercises, has emerged as a promising tool in the rehabilitation of these injuries. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of plyometrics exercises in the treatment of musculotendon injuries in under-17 soccer players. In this descriptive study, the prevalence of muscle-tendon injuries in under-17 football players was investigated. It was evident that several previous studies in the sports field have addressed the importance of muscle functionality for athletic performance and quality of life in general this through plyometrics. While plyometrics are commonly used in sports that require jumping, rapid changes of direction, and explosive movements, its effectiveness in the rehabilitation of musculotendon injuries still requires deeper and more precise evaluation. Athletes' perception and satisfaction with these exercises may influence their adherence to the rehabilitation program and, therefore, their success in recovery.