Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Prospective Multicenter Study of Injury Profile, Severity and Risk Factors in 221 Motorcycle-Injured Nigerian Maxillofacial Patients

Objective: This 12-month prospective multi-center study was designed to ascertain the entire injury profile, injury severity, and risk factors in motorcycle injured Nigerian maxillofacial patients. Methods: With a validated investigator-administered questionnaire, we obtained data from motorcycle-injured in- and out-patients managed in the maxillofacial units of four Nigerian teaching hospitals. Standardized information on host factors, agent, and type of crash as well as location, type, and extent of injury were elicited. Injuries were scored using the Facial Injury Severity and Abbreviated Injury scales (FISS, AIS). Results: A significant male preponderance was observed (p = 0.003) with peak age 21–30 years; 62.7% of the patients were riders. Alcohol/substance abuse was implicated in 31.2% of riders, fatigue in 13.5%, and bad roads in 17.6%. The rate of helmet use was 3%. The predominant type of crash was head-on collision (HOC) 58%). Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score ranged from 5 to 15 with mean 13.3 (3.5); Facial Injury Severity Score (FISS) ranged from 1 to 11, mean 3.7 (1.9); and Abbreviated Injury Score was mostly 2. FISS was not significantly different between both genders (p = 0.26) and road types (p > 0.05). The mean FISS was greater with multiple passengers than with single or no passengers (p = 0.12) and lower with crashes involving motorcycles carrying heavier loads (p = 0.022). Six of the patients died (2.7% fatality) in the course of their hospitalization all within a month of injury. Conclusion: We advocate prompt legislation of a ban on greater than one passenger on a motorcycle, impaired (substance abuse) operation on a motorcycle, and stronger enforcement of speed limit and adoption of legislation that would make it mandatory to wear a full-face helmet when operating a motorcycle in Nigeria.
The Role of Expectedness in the Implicitation and Explicitation of Discourse Relations

Translation of discourse connectives varies more in human translations than in machine translations. Building on Murray’s (1997) continuity hypothesis and Sanders’ (2005) causality-by-default hypothesis we investigate whether expectedness influences the degree of implicitation and explicitation of discourse relations. We manually analyze how source text connectives are translated, and where connectives in target texts come from. We establish whether relations are explicitly signaled in the other language as well, or whether they have to be reconstructed by inference. We demonstrate that the amount of implicitation and explicitation of connectives in translation is influenced by the expectedness of the relation a connective signals. In addition, we show that the types of connectives most often added in translation are also the ones most often deleted.
Mannose-Binding Lectin Inhibits Monocyte Proliferation through Transforming Growth Factor-β1 and p38 Signaling Pathways

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL), a plasma C-type lectin, plays an important role in innate immunity. However, the interaction, and the consequences of it, between MBL and the immune system remain ill defined. We have investigated the contributing mechanisms and effects of MBL on the proliferation of human monocytes. At lower concentrations (≤4 μg/ml) MBL was shown to partially enhance monocyte proliferation. By contrast, at higher concentrations (8–20 μg/ml) of MBL, cell proliferation was markedly attenuated. MBL-induced growth inhibition was associated with G0/G1 arrest, down-regulation of cyclin D1/D3, cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) 2/Cdk4 and up-regulation of the Cdk inhibitory protein Cip1/p21. Additionally, MBL induced apoptosis, and did so through caspase-3 activation and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage. Moreover, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 levels increased in the supernatants of MBL-stimulated monocyte cultures. We also found that MBL-dependent inhibition of monocyte proliferation could be reversed by the TGF-β receptor antagonist SB-431542, or by anti-TGF-β1 antibody, or by the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitors specific for p38 (SB203580), but not ERK (U0126) or JNK (SP600125). Thus, at high concentrations, MBL can affect the immune system by inhibiting monocyte proliferation, which suggests that MBL may exhibit anti-inflammatory effects.
Modelling of DC arc discharge on ice surfaces

Using a triangular ice sample, the characteristics of the DC arc appearing on ice surfaces was investigated. Based on the results obtained, a model for predicting the 50% flashover voltage of ice-covered insulators energised with DC was presented. The model takes into account the ice surface conductivity, voltage polarity, and arc root radius. Moreover, to validate the model, the 50% flashover voltage of a short string of five IEEE standard insulators covered with artificial ice under both DC– and DC+ was measured. There was an excellent concordance between the experimental results and those calculated from the mathematical model.
IrisTK: a statechart-based toolkit for multi-party face-to-face interaction

In this paper, we present IrisTK - a toolkit for rapid development of real-time systems for multi-party face-to-face interaction. The toolkit consists of a message passing system, a set of modules for multi-modal input and output, and a dialog authoring language based on the notion of statecharts. The toolkit has been applied to a large scale study in a public museum setting, where the back-projected robot head Furhat interacted with the visitors in multi-party dialog.
The effect of clary sage oil on staphylococci responsible for wound infections

Introduction The spreading of bacterial antibiotic resistance among clinical strains of pathogenic bacteria has made investigators to search for other active antibacterial agents which could provide a valuable complement to the existing therapies. Aim To determine the antibacterial activity of clary sage oil (Salvia sclarea L.) against Staphylococcus clinical strains which were isolated from patients with wound infections. Material and methods A comprehensive evaluation of Staphylococcus clinical strain resistance to antibiotics was performed. The constituents of clary sage oil were assayed by GC-FID-MS analysis. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the tested essential oil against staphylococci by the micro-dilution broth method was determined. Results The clary sage oil was active against Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and S. xylosus with MIC values ranging from 3.75 to 7.00 µl/ml. Conclusions The results of the in vitro tests encourage to use formulations containing sage oil as the active natural antimicrobial agent. Because of its antimicrobial properties clary sage oil may be applied to treat wounds and skin infections.
Simulation of robustness against lesions of cortical networks

Structure entails function, and thus a structural description of the brain will help to understand its function and may provide insights into many properties of brain systems, from their robustness and recovery from damage to their dynamics and even their evolution. Advances in the analysis of complex networks provide useful new approaches to understanding structural and functional properties of brain networks. Structural properties of networks recently described allow their characterization as small‐world, random (exponential) and scale‐free. They complement the set of other properties that have been explored in the context of brain connectivity, such as topology, hodology, clustering and hierarchical organization. Here we apply new network analysis methods to cortical interareal connectivity networks for the cat and macaque brains. We compare these corticocortical fibre networks to benchmark rewired, small‐world, scale‐free and random networks using two analysis strategies, in which we measure the effects of the removal of nodes and connections on the structural properties of the cortical networks. The structural decay of the brain networks is in most respects similar to that of scale‐free networks. The results implicate highly connected hub‐nodes and bottleneck connections as a structural basis for some of the conditional robustness of brain systems. This informs the understanding of the development of connectivity of the brain networks.
Physician-Prescribed Medication Use by the Finnish Paralympic and Olympic Athletes

Objective:Data about medication use by Paralympic athletes (PAs) are limited and no data concerning medication use outside Paralympics exist. The objective of the current study was to compare the use of physician-prescribed medication in PAs and Olympic athletes (OAs). Design:A cross-sectional comparative study. Setting:Finnish PAs and OAs receiving financial support from the Finnish Olympic and Paralympic committee in 2006 and 2009, respectively. Participants:A total of 92 PAs (response rate, 75.0%; 92 of 123) and 372 OAs (response rate, 91.9%; 372 of 405) participated. Assessment of Risk Factors:Age, sex, and type of athlete (PA vs OA) were included as independent covariates in the logistic regression model analysis. Main Outcome Measures:The use of physician-prescribed medication among athletes during the previous 7 days and 12 months. Results:Among the PAs, the use of physician-prescribed medicines (48.9% vs 33.3%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.99; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-3.51), painkillers (2.61; 1.18-5.78), oral antibiotics (4.10; 1.30-12.87), and anti-epileptic medicines (37.09; 5.92-232.31) were more common than among the OAs during the previous 7 days. Paralympic athletes had used significantly less asthma medicines than the OAs during the previous 7 days (4.3% vs 11.0%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.30; 95% confidence interval, 0.10-0.96). Conclusions:The use of any physician-prescribed medicines, especially those to treat chronic diseases, seems to be more common among the PAs than the OAs. Paralympic athletes use significantly less asthma medicines than OAs.
Impact of Anticoagulation on Rebleeding Following Endoscopic Therapy for Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage

OBJECTIVE:Endoscopic therapy for nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage achieves hemostasis in greater than 90% of patients, but up to 20% rebleed. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of anticoagulation on rebleeding in patients undergoing endoscopic therapy for nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage.METHODS:Patients who underwent successful endoscopic therapy for nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2004, at a large, tertiary care teaching hospital were identified. The primary outcome was rebleeding within 30 days. Secondary outcomes were transfusion requirement, length of stay, surgery, and mortality. Baseline data were analyzed using t-tests and χ2 tests. Multivariable logistic and linear regression analyses were carried out to calculate the adjusted odds ratios for the international normalized ratio (INR) predicting the primary and secondary outcomes. The multivariable analyses controlled for: age, Charlson comorbidity index, antiplatelet agent use, postprocedure heparin use, postprocedure proton pump inhibitor use, hypotension, ulcer as the bleeding source, and active bleeding at endoscopy.RESULTS:The study included 233 patients. Forty-four percent of the patients had an INR ≥1.3. Ninety-five percent of the anticoagulated patients had an INR between 1.3 and 2.7. The rebleeding rate was 23% in the anticoagulated patients and 21% in the patients with INRs <1.3. On multivariable analyses, INR was not a predictor of rebleeding, transfusion requirement, surgery, length of stay, or mortality.CONCLUSIONS:Mild to moderate anticoagulation does not increase the risk of rebleeding following endoscopic therapy for nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, suggesting that endoscopic therapy is appropriate in these patients.
Patient Selection for Stroke Endovascular Therapy— DWI-ASPECTS Thresholds Should Vary among Age Groups: Insights from the RECOST Study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of endovascular intervention in large-vessel occlusion strokes, depending on age class. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A clinical management protocol including intravenous treatment and mechanical thrombectomy was instigated in our center in 2009 (Prognostic Factors Related to Clinical Outcome Following Thrombectomy in Ischemic Stroke [RECOST] study). All patients with acute ischemic stroke with an anterior circulation major-vessel occlusion who presented within 6 hours were evaluated with an initial MR imaging examination and were analyzed according to age subgroups (younger than 50 years, 50–59 years, 60–69 years, 70–79 years; 80 years or older). The mRS score at 3 months was the study end point. RESULTS: One hundred sixty-five patients were included in the analysis. The mean age was 67.4 years (range, 29–90 years). The mean baseline NIHSS score was 17.24 (range, 3–27). The mean DWI-derived ASPECTS was 6.4. Recanalization of TICI 2b/3 was achieved in 80%. At 3 months, 41.72% of patients had a good outcome, with a gradation of prognosis depending on the age subgroup and a clear cutoff at 70 years. Only 19% of patients older than 80 years had a good outcome at 3 months (mean ASPECTS = 7.4) with 28% for 70–79 years (mean ASPECTS = 6.8), but 58% for 60–69 years (mean ASPECTS = 6), 52% for 50–59 years (mean ASPECTS = 5.91), and 72% for younger than 50 years (mean ASPECTS = 6.31). In contrast, the mortality rate was 35% for 80 years and older, and 26% for 70–79 versus 5%–9% for younger than 70 years. CONCLUSIONS: The elderly may benefit from thrombectomy when their ischemic core volume is low in comparison with younger patients who still benefit from acute recanalization despite larger infarcts. Stroke volume thresholds should, therefore, be related and adjusted to the patient's age group.
Name-Based Access Control

This paper presents a content-based access control access control model for content stored in network storage. The model enforces the access control directly over content through encrypting content at the time of production, rather than relying on a third party (such as data storage) as traditional perimeter-based access control model. We present the design of Name-based Access Control (NAC), which implements the content-based access control model in Named Data Networking (NDN). We demonstrate how to make use of naming convention to explicitly convey access control policy and efficiently distribute access control keys, thus enabling effective access control. We evaluate the scalability of NAC against CCN-AC, another encryption-based access control scheme. The results suggest that NAC is more suitable for large scale distributed data production and consumption.
Corticostriatal Interactions during Learning, Memory Processing, and Decision Making

This mini-symposium aims to integrate recent insights from anatomy, behavior, and neurophysiology, highlighting the anatomical organization, behavioral significance, and information-processing mechanisms of corticostriatal interactions. In this summary of topics, which is not meant to provide a comprehensive survey, we will first review the anatomy of corticostriatal circuits, comparing different ways by which “loops” of cortical–basal ganglia circuits communicate. Next, we will address the causal importance and systems-neurophysiological mechanisms of corticostriatal interactions for memory, emphasizing the communication between hippocampus and ventral striatum during contextual conditioning. Furthermore, ensemble recording techniques have been applied to compare information processing in the dorsal and ventral striatum to predictions from reinforcement learning theory. We will next discuss how neural activity develops in corticostriatal areas when habits are learned. Finally, we will evaluate the role of GABAergic interneurons in dynamically transforming cortical inputs into striatal output during learning and decision making.
12–AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO TWO-FOLD WEAVING YARN PART III: TESTING OF THE THEORETICAL MODEL

The operation of an experimental two-strand spinning system in which cylindrical rubber monofilaments are used is investigated, and the results are compared with the idealized theoretical model. Experimental results are shown to be in good agreement with the theoretical model. Results from a system in which nylon multifilament strands are used are also given and the differences between experimental results and the theoretical model explained in terms of departures from the idealizing assumptions of the model.
Induction of Th2 cytokines and control of collagen-induced arthritis by nondepleting anti-CD4 Abs.

CD4+ T cells play a key role in the development of cell-mediated autoimmune diseases, and their modulation has been used to prevent autoimmune diseases in animal models. The effect of the nondepleting anti-CD4 mAb (KT6) was investigated in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in DBA/1 mice and in adoptive transfer of CIA into SCID mice. KT6 (200 microg/dose/mouse) was administered systematically from the day of collagen type II (CII) immunization and continued by alternate-day injection until day 11. Only 20% of KT6-treated mice developed arthritis compared with 100% of the isotype control treated mice (p < 0.001). KT6 treatment in a similar regimen also abrogated the adoptive transfer of CIA into SCID mice. Serum levels of IgG2a anti-CII Abs in KT6-treated DBA/1 mice were significantly reduced (p < 0.001), while IgG1 anti-CII were not significantly changed (p > 0.05). Lymph node cells of mice treated in vivo with KT6 had a reduced production of IFN-gamma but increased IL-4 upon in vitro challenge with CII. Furthermore, KT6 could also reverse the profile of cytokine release of in vivo primed and pathogenic CII-specific T cells. These results demonstrate that in vivo modulation with nondepleting anti-CD4 Abs prevents CIA, likely by altering the functional profile of Th1 T cells to Th2. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this treatment can not only prevent, but more importantly also control pathogenic T cells by switching their cytokine production from a Th1 to a Th2-like profile. Our results thus provide compelling evidence of how treatment with nondepleting anti-CD4 may control an autoimmune process. They also indicate that this approach not only prevents, but also could control ongoing autoimmune diseases.
Multiscale Coupled-Hygromechanistic Approach to the Life-Cycle Performance Assessment of Structural Concrete

AbstractMoisture and cracks are scourges of structural concrete, and understanding the multiscale interactions between the two is key to determining long-term durability performance. This paper uses three-dimensional integrated micromaterial structural modeling to address moisture migration/balance and associated volume changes of concrete with creep in prestressed concrete bridge viaducts that are experiencing excessive deflections. It is found that moisture migration–related deflections driven by the capillary surface tension and disjoining pressures in cement micropores account for 25 to 45% of the macroscopic deflections. These apparent kinematics can be approximated by adding the moisture-related time-dependent deflections to the mechanistic-induced creep by external loads. This paper also addresses water–crack interaction in cracked RC bridge decks under moving loads in view of the coupled hygromechanics. It is found that the water presence on the upper deck parts, when subjected to high-speed traff.
Enhanced mucosal and systemic immune responses to intestinal reovirus infection in beta2-microglobulin-deficient mice

Enteric infection of mice with respiratory enteric orphan virus (reovirus) type 1, strain Lang elicits both humoral and cellular immune responses. To investigate the role of CD8+, alpha/beta T-cell receptor (TCR)+ T cells in mucosal immunity to an enteric pathogen, we examined immune responses and viral clearance following enteric reovirus infection in C57BL/6, B6129F2, and beta2-microglobulin-deficient (beta2m-/-) mice. Analysis of Peyer's patch and lamina propria culture supernatants revealed a two- to threefold increase in levels of reovirus-specific immunoglobulin A in beta2m-/- mice compared to normal controls. These data corresponded to a similar increase in the frequency of virus-specific immunoglobulin A-producing cells in Peyer's patches and lamina propria and an increase in immunoglobulin G-producing cells in spleens from beta2m-/- mice compared to controls. These increased humoral immune responses were not due to a difference in B-cell populations because cell counts and flow cytometric analyses showed that beta2m-/- and control mice had similar numbers and percentages of B cells in mucosal and systemic tissues. Analysis of cytokine message by reverse transcriptase-PCR 5 and 10 days after infection revealed no difference in message level for transforming growth factor beta, gamma interferon, interleukin-4, interleukin-5, or interleukin-6 for all mouse strains. Virus tissue titers determined by plaque assay at 5 and 10 days after infection demonstrated that beta2m-/- mice cleared reovirus from the small intestines with the same efficiency as control mice. Collectively, these data suggest that CD8+, alpha/beta TCR+ T cells may regulate mucosal and systemic humoral immune responses to oral infection with reovirus.
GABAergic input to cholinergic forebrain neurons: An ultrastructural study using retrograde tracing of HRP and double immunolabeling

Amygdalopetal cholinergic neurons in the ventral pallidum were identified by combining choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunohistochemistry with retrograde tracing of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) following injections of the tracer in the basolateral amygdaloid nucleus. Although ChAT‐positive terminals were identified in the ventral pallidum, they were never seen in contact with either immunonegative or ChAT‐positive amygdalopetal neurons; In material, in which immunostaining against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), the synthesizing enzyme for GABA was combined with retrograde tracing of HRP from the basolateral amygdaloid nucleus, GAD‐positive terminals were seen to contact immunonegative amygdalopetal neurons. In addition, when sections of the rostral forebrain were processed, first to preserve and identify the transported HRP, and then were sequentially tested for both ChAT and GAD immunohistochemistry with the immunoperoxidase reaction for both tissue antigens, GAD‐immunopositive terminals were seen to make synaptic contacts with cholinergic amygdalopetal neurons. These results suggest that amygdalopetal, presumably cholinergic, neurons receive GAD‐positive terminals. In separate experiments using immunoperoxidase for ChAT and ferritin‐avidin for GAD labeling, we confirmed the presence of GAD‐containing terminals on cholinergic neurons. In addition, cholinergic terminals were seen in synaptic contact with GAD‐positive cell bodies. These morphological studies suggest that direct GABAergic‐cholinergic and cholinergic‐GABAergic interactions take place in the rostral forebrain.