Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Slowly progressive semantic impairment with category specificity

Abstract We describe the case of an architect, MF, who in his fifties presented a 10-year progressive cognitive deterioration similar to that recently classified as semantic dementia. For a long period general intelligence, non-lexical aspects of language, memory and pre-semantic stages of visual perception were spared. MF showed a lexical-semantic deficit that was more severe for living things, famous people and architectural knowledge and concerned both visual and encyclopaedic information. Visual and encyclopaedic knowledge about tools, vehicles and furniture was completely spared for a long time. On MRI, our patient presented severe atrophy of the temporal lobes, that most severely affected the right side and also involved basal neocortex, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyri.
Are Customers Satisfied with Automated Teller Machines Services in Ghana?: A Study of A Universal Bank

In a highly competitive industry like banking, one way to gain competitive advantage is to ensure that customers are satisfied and that the services being provided are not flawed with constraints. This study was aimed at finding out if Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), meet the expectations of the customers and what constrained their use by the customers. The study covered five selected branches of a case bank and involved the use of interview guide. In all, 120 respondents were sampled among the customers and 10 from the staff. The data were analyzed using SPSS. From the results, it was realized that the inadequate education given to users of ATMs and the functional limitations identified with the machines were major contributors to customers unpleasant experiences at the ATM points. It was recommended that education given to customers on the use of the ATM should be improved and dummy ATMs be installed in the banking halls to facilitate practical training of prospective users.
A Novel Approach to Cleft Lip Nose Deformity: Posterior Dome Graft Technique

The pathology of "nasal tip complex" remains as a problem to be solved in unilateral cleft lip nose deformity wherein open rhinoplasty and cartilage grafts are used frequently. For this reason, the research for the treatment of cleft-side tip projection lost and ala depression still continues. Our technique is to put the cartilage graft at posterior dome area after the release of cleft-side ala from vestibular mucosa and skin to elevate the ala depression and tip projection. This technique has been used on 16 patients between the years 2003 and 2007. This technique, different from the augmentation methods, aims to increase the direct lateral crura's elastic support strength and to support the new position of alar cartilage. This method will particularly be helpful in obtaining the long-term results in delayed and serious cases.
Helpless, Hopeless, and Out of Control: Features of Despair

SUMMARY Youth workers often pride themselves on the degree to which they share power with clients, encounter clients on their own terms, and allow young people to set the tone for and direct the helping relationship. In their descriptions of not-knowing, however, many youth workers mention acute discomfort at the feeling of control having been stripped away from them rather than willingly surrendered or shared. This chapter describes the second of five themes associated with youth workers' experiences of not knowing what to do: the loss of control and features of despair. In addition to presenting the dominant theme of helplessness and loss of control, this chapter discusses the three variations on the theme, as described by youth worker participants: (a) There was nothing there to protect me, (b) Something else just took control of everything, and (c) What does he have to do, kill someone?
Sialolithiasis: MR sialography of the submandibular duct--an alternative to conventional sialography and US?

PURPOSE To determine the value of magnetic resonance (MR) sialography for the diagnosis of sialolithiasis by comparing results prospectively with those of ultrasonography (US) and digital sialography. MATERIALS AND METHODS MR sialography was prospectively performed with T2-weighted three-dimensional (3D) constructive interference in steady-state (CISS) and rapid acquisition with relaxation-enhancement (RARE) sequences in 24 patients suspected of having sialolithiasis. Evoked salivation was used as contrast material. T1-weighted spin-echo and T2-weighted turbo spin-echo MR imaging also were performed. The results were then compared with those of US and digital sialography, with the latter as standard of reference. RESULTS The 3D CISS images were significantly (P: <.05) superior to RARE images for demonstrating the submandibular ductal system, followed by T2-weighted turbo spin-echo images (P: <.01) and T1-weighted spin-echo images (P: <.001). The sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 80%, respectively, for CISS MR sialography and 80% and 100%, respectively, for RARE MR imaging. The sensitivity and specificity of US were both 80%. CONCLUSION MR sialography with evoked salivation is noninvasive and allows delineation of the submandibular ductal system and detection of sialoliths with accuracy that is similar to that of digital sialography and superior to that of US.
Associations of -374T/A polymorphism of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) gene in Turkish diabetic and non-diabetic patients with coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND In this study we aimed to determine the possible risks for the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) in diabetic (DM(+)) and non-diabetic (DM(-)) patients according to the -374T/A polymorphism of the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) gene which affects the function of RAGE itself. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was carried out in 52 non-diabetic and 62 diabetic patients with CAD, and 55 CAD-free, healthy volunteers as controls. The A-T transversion polymorphism at position -374 in the promotor region of the RAGE gene was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) techniques. RESULTS The -374T/A AA genotype frequency was statistically higher in the whole patient group when compared with the control group (p=0.034), and statistically higher in the DM(+) group when compared with the control group (p=0.003). Homozygosity for the -374A allele was found to be higher, but not statistically meaningful, in DM(-) patients (17.3%) when compared with the control group (13.2%). In this study, in contrast with other studies, we found possesion of the A allele to be an independent risk factor in CAD in patients with diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSION Possesion of the -374A allele may contribute to the CAD in diabetic patients with triggering macrophages by increased levels of AGEs.
The transcription factor HNF 1 regulates expression of chloride-proton exchanger ClC-5 in the renal proximal tubule

Karo Tanaka,* Sara Terryn,* Lars Geffers, Serge Garbay, Marco Pontoglio, and Olivier Devuyst Department of Pharmacology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; Nephrology Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain Medical School, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Genes and Behavior, Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany; and INSERM U567, CNRS UMR 8104, Université Paris-Descartes, Team 26, Institut Cochin, Paris, France
Rethinking the Role of Top-Down Attention in Vision: Effects Attributable to a Lossy Representation in Peripheral Vision

According to common wisdom in the field of visual perception, top-down selective attention is required in order to bind features into objects. In this view, even simple tasks, such as distinguishing a rotated T from a rotated L, require selective attention since they require feature binding. Selective attention, in turn, is commonly conceived as involving volition, intention, and at least implicitly, awareness. There is something non-intuitive about the notion that we might need so expensive (and possibly human) a resource as conscious awareness in order to perform so basic a function as perception. In fact, we can carry out complex sensorimotor tasks, seemingly in the near absence of awareness or volitional shifts of attention (“zombie behaviors”). More generally, the tight association between attention and awareness, and the presumed role of attention on perception, is problematic. We propose that under normal viewing conditions, the main processes of feature binding and perception proceed largely independently of top-down selective attention. Recent work suggests that there is a significant loss of information in early stages of visual processing, especially in the periphery. In particular, our texture tiling model (TTM) represents images in terms of a fixed set of “texture” statistics computed over local pooling regions that tile the visual input. We argue that this lossy representation produces the perceptual ambiguities that have previously been as ascribed to a lack of feature binding in the absence of selective attention. At the same time, the TTM representation is sufficiently rich to explain performance in such complex tasks as scene gist recognition, pop-out target search, and navigation. A number of phenomena that have previously been explained in terms of voluntary attention can be explained more parsimoniously with the TTM. In this model, peripheral vision introduces a specific kind of information loss, and the information available to an observer varies greatly depending upon shifts of the point of gaze (which usually occur without awareness). The available information, in turn, provides a key determinant of the visual system’s capabilities and deficiencies. This scheme dissociates basic perceptual operations, such as feature binding, from both top-down attention and conscious awareness.
Vasodilator responses of coronary resistance arteries of exercise-trained pigs.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that vasodilator responses of porcine coronary resistance arteries are increased by exercise training. METHODS AND RESULTS Yucatan miniature swine were randomly divided into groups of exercise-trained (ET) and sedentary (SED) control pigs. ET pigs were placed on a progressive treadmill training program lasting 16 to 20 weeks, and SED pigs remained inactive during the same time period. Coronary resistance arteries 64 to 157 microns in diameter were isolated for in vitro evaluation of relaxation responses to the endothelium-independent dilators sodium nitroprusside (1 x 10(-10) to 1 x 10(-4) mol/L) and adenosine (1 x 10(-10) to 1 x 10(-5) mol/L) and to bradykinin (1 x 10(-13) to 3 x 10(-7) mol/L), an endothelium-dependent agent. Relaxation responses to adenosine and sodium nitroprusside were not altered by exercise training. Endothelium-dependent relaxation to bradykinin was enhanced in coronary resistance arteries from ET pigs (IC50: ET, 0.07 +/- 0.02 nmol/L; SED, 1.59 +/- 0.09 nmol/L). To determine whether prostanoids and/or the nitric oxide synthase pathway were involved in the ET-induced changes in bradykinin-induced vasodilation, responses to bradykinin were examined in coronary resistance arteries from both ET and SED pigs in the presence of indomethacin and in the presence of nitro-monomethyl L-arginine (L-NMMA). Both indomethacin and L-NMMA produced significant inhibition of the bradykinin-induced relaxation in vessels from both groups. Despite decreased bradykinin-induced relaxation after indomethacin, bradykinin-induced vasodilation was still enhanced in vessels from the ET group. L-NMMA caused greater inhibition of the bradykinin-induced relaxation in coronary resistance arteries from ET pigs relative to arteries from SED pigs and eliminated the training-induced enhancement of the bradykinin responses. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that exercise training enhances bradykinin-induced vasodilation through increased endothelium-derived relaxing factor/nitric oxide production by the L-arginine/nitric oxide synthase pathway.
Variables that Encourage Students to Persist in Community Colleges

Estimating the persistence of first-time students from the first year to the second year of college is a growing social and financial concern. Studying how socioeconomic status affects year-to-year persistence may help to identify and assist those students who have socioeconomic profiles most likely to indicate challenges to year-to-year persistence. This study used data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:96/98), a nationally representative survey, to provide additional information about the patterns of educational attainment and persistence for a subset of the more than 51,000 students included in the NPSAS:96 survey. The study used all students enrolled as first-time beginning students at two-year institutions. The purpose of the study was to develop and test a theoretical framework for describing the persistence of students at two-year institutions. The preliminary model included 39 literature-based variables grouped into seven factors: background, high school, college-entry, financial, social integration, academic integration, and college performance. The data were tested using descriptive statistics and logistic regression to determine the predictive value of the models for the students. Social capital variables, particularly student integration to the collegiate environment, were strongly associated with persistence of students. Contact between students and faculty outside of the classroom environment is critical to persistence.
Full pf shell model study of A=48 nuclei.

Exact diagonalizations with a minimally modified realistic force lead to detailed agreement with measured level schemes and electromagnetic transitions in [sup 48]Ca, [sup 48]Sc, [sup 48]Ti, [sup 48]V, [sup 48]Cr, and [sup 48]Mn. Gamow-Teller strength functions are systematically calculated and reproduce the data to within the standard quenching factor. Their fine structure indicates that fragmentation makes much strength unobservable. As a by-product, the calculations suggest a microscopic description of the onset of rotational motion. The spectroscopic quality of the results provides strong arguments in favor of the general validity of monopole corrected realistic forces, which is discussed.
The Beat to Read: A Cross-Lingual Link between Rhythmic Regularity Perception and Reading Skill

This work assesses one specific aspect of the relationship between auditory rhythm cognition and language skill: regularity perception. In a group of 26 adult participants, native speakers of 11 different native languages, we demonstrate a strong and significant correlation between the ability to detect a “roughly” regular beat and rapid automatized naming (RAN) as a measure of language skill (Spearman's rho, −0.47, p < 0.01). There was no such robust relationship for the “mirror image” task of irregularity detection, i.e., the ability to detect ongoing small deviations from a regular beat. The correlation between RAN and regularity detection remained significant after partialling out performance on the irregularity detection task (rho, −0.41, p, 0.022), non-verbal IQ (rho, −0.37, p < 0.05), or musical expertise (rho, −0.31, p < 0.05). Whilst being consistent with the “shared resources model” in terms of rhythm as a common basis of language and music, evolutionarily as well as in individual development, the results also document how two related rhythm processing abilities relate differently to language skill. Specifically, the results support a universal relationship between rhythmic regularity detection and reading skill that is robust to accounting for differences in fluid intelligence and musical expertise, and transcends language-specific differences in speech rhythm.
School Sector and Student Achievement in the Era of Standards Based Reforms

The authors examine whether standards based accountability reforms of the past two decades have closed the achievement gap among public and private high school students. They analyzed data from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS) to examine sector differences in high school achievement in the era of standards based reforms. The authors found that students in Catholic and private secular schools enjoy greater math gains from 10th to 12th grade than comparable public school students. However, they found that these advantages are largely concentrated among more advanced math skills. Moreover, private school students took more academic math courses than public school students, even after controlling for family background and prior achievement. These differences in course taking accounted for most of the public-private difference in achievement gains.
Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health Treatment Failure Outcomes for Emergency Department Patients with Skin and Soft Tissue Infections

This was a sub-analysis of a parent study, conducted at two EDs, evaluating a new, nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) for Staphylococcus aureus in ED patients. Patients ≥18 years receiving incision and drainage (I&D) were eligible. Patient-reported outcome data on improvement of fever, swelling, erythema, drainage, and pain were collected using a structured abstraction form at one week, one month, and three months post ED visit. Results: We enrolled 272 participants (20 from a feasibility study and 252 in this trial), of which 198 (72.8%) completed one-week follow up. Twenty-seven additional one-week outcomes were obtained through medical record review rather than by the one-week follow-up phone call. One hundred ninety-three (73%) patients completed either the one- or three-month follow up. Most patients recovered from their initial infection within one week, with 10.2% of patients reporting one-week treatment failure. The odds of treatment failure were 66% lower for patients who received antibiotics following I&D at their initial visit. Overall SSTI recurrence rate was 28.0% (95% CI [21.6%-34.4%]) and associated with contact with someone infected with methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), previous SSTI history, or clinician use of wound packing. Conclusion: Treatment failure was reduced by antibiotic use, whereas SSTI recurrence was associated with prior contact, SSTI, or use of packing. [West J Emerg Med. 2015;16(5):642-652. ]
The impact of drama on pupils' language, mathematics, and attitude in two primary schools

This article reports on research which examined the impact of The National Theatre's Transformation drama project on young pupils' reading, mathematics, attitude, self‐concept and creative writing in primary schools. Two of the schools taking part in Transformation were matched to two Control schools in the first two years of the project. Assessments were administered to all pupils at the start of Year 3 as a basis for comparison at the end of Year 4. The assessments were developed by the Performance Indicators in Primary School (PIPS) project, Curriculum Evaluation and Management Centre based at Durham and are widely used by schools across England. This meant that comparison could be made against a nationally representative sample of schools. Although the sample was small, the research project had interesting findings. The value‐added scores of pupils in the Transformation group were frequently higher/more positive than the scores of pupils in the Control group. The self‐concept of the pupils in the Transformation group as determined by the questionnaires was significantly more positive than the pupils in the Control group at the end of Year 4. The article raises questions both about the type of research worth pursuing in the arts and drama, and what research in the arts should seek to achieve.
An MEG Study of Silent Meaning

Although research on the neural bases of language has made significant progress on how the brain accesses the meanings of words, our understanding of sentence-level semantic composition remains limited. We studied the magnetoencephalography (MEG) responses elicited by expressions whose meanings involved an element not expressed in the syntax, which enabled us to investigate the brain correlates of semantic composition without confounds from syntactic composition. Sentences such as the author began the book, which asserts that an activity was begun although no activity is mentioned in the syntax, were contrasted with control sentences such as the author wrote the book, which involved no implicit meaning. These conditions were further compared with a semantically anomalous condition (the author disgusted the book). MEG responses to the object noun showed that silent meaning and anomaly are associated with distinct effects, silent meaning, but not anomaly, eliciting increased amplitudes in the anterior midline field (AMF) at 350450 msec. The AMF was generated in ventromedial prefrontal areas, usually implicated for social cognition and theory of mind. Our results raise the possibility that silent meaning interpretation may share mechanisms with these neighboring domains of cognition.
Optimum threshold parameter estimation of wavelet coefficients using fisher discriminant analysis for speckle noise reduction

Optimizing threshold value of wavelet coefficient is an important task in speckle noise reduction in the wavelet domain. Without proper selection of threshold value image information may be lost, which is unwanted. In this paper we proposed optimum threshold parameter using Fisher Discriminant Analysis (FDA) for determining the optimum threshold value of wavelet coefficient for the best speckle noise reduction. It also preserves edges without destroying image information. The method is compared with the several other classical thresholding methods on variety of images and the experimental results confirm significant improvement over existing methods.
Exploring Social Studies through Multicultural Literature: Legend of the St Ann's Flood

The search for literature that is of high quality and interest, is written at age-appropriate levels for adolescent readers, addresses social studies topics, and presents multicultural perspectives can be daunting. Legend of the St Ann's Flood is a fiction trade book that meets all of these criteria. Its setting in Trinidad and Tobago provides the opportunity for students to learn about a country and region frequently overlooked in the social studies curriculum in the United States. This article provides historical and cultural background information about Trinidad and Tobago, an overview of the book, and specific teaching suggestions that integrate reading and writing into social studies instruction.
Effects of modularity, certification session and re-sits on examination performance

General Certificates of Secondary Education, known as GCSEs, are organised into modules which can be assessed at the end of the course (linear route) or at different points throughout the course (modular route). This research investigates students’ performance in English and mathematics in each assessment route and the effects of certification session and re-sits on examination outcomes using data from one English awarding body. In mathematics, modular students performed better than linear students once prior attainment was accounted for. In contrast, modular assessment in English did not always lead to better performance. In the modular routes of English, students certificating early in the course were at a disadvantage compared to those certificating at the end. However, modular mathematics students obtained significantly better results in early sessions than at the end of the course. The benefits of re-sitting seemed clear, as most students performed better on their second attempt at a module than on their first. However, this did not often lead to an improvement on the module grade.