Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wall thickness and outer diameter of the normal appendix in adults using 64 slices multidetector CT.

OBJECTIVE Determine wall thickness and outer diameter of the normal appendix in adults using 64 slices multidetector CT MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective review of 538 patients (190 men, 348 women; mean age, 56.5 years +/- 15.2 SD) who were sent for abdomino-pelvic CT without clinical suspicion of acute appendicitis was conducted. Two radiologists blinded to the presented patient's history of appendectomy interpreted CT images regarding the visualization of the appendix, location, luminal contents and presence of appendicoliths. The maximum outer diameter and two walls thickness of the visualized appendices were measured. RESULTS The sensitivity specificity, positive and negative predictive value, and accuracy for visualization of the appendix were 90.8%, 100%, 100%, 76.5% and 92.9% for reader 1 and 97.3%, 97.6%, 99.3%, 91.7% and 97.4% for reader 2. The mean maximum outer diameter of the appendix was 6.6 mm +/- 1.5 (range, 3.4-14.0 mm). The mean two walls thickness of the appendix was 4.4 mm +/- 1.0 (range, 1.6-8.0 mm). CONCLUSION The normal appendix is frequently identified at 64 slices MDCT. Contrast to maximum outer diameter, normal two walls thickness of the appendix is infrequently exceeding the threshold of 6 mm.
Relationships of lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae) estimated from mitochondrial DNA sequences and morphology

DNA sequences from parts of the 12S, 16S and cytochrome b mitochondrial genes, which totalled 1049 aligned base pairs, were used to estimate the relationships of 49 species of Lacertidae, including representatives of 19 out of the 23 recognized genera and 23 species of the paraphyletic genus Lacerta. These data were used, together with morphological information, to estimate the relationships within the family. Molecular evidence corroborates the monophyletic status of many genera and species groups originally based on morphology. It indicates that Psammodromus forms a clade with Gallotia, which is the sister taxon of all other lacertids. These comprise three units: the primarily Afrotropical armatured group; the largely Oriental Takydromus; and the west Palaearctic Lacerta and its derivatives, Podarcis and Algyroides. Morphology also supports the first three assemblages, but suggests that they are derived from a paraphyletic Lacerta. Within Lacerta and its allies, DNA sequence analysis corroborates the affinity of some members of each of the subgenera Lacerta s. str. and Timon, and of the L. saxicola group. It also supports the relationship of L. monticola, L. bonnali and L. horvathi, and suggests that the L. parva–L. fraasi clade and L. brandti are not related to Psammodromus–Gallotia, as morphology indicates, but instead are associated respectively with the L. danfordi and L. saxicola groups. DNA sequence data provide additional evidence that the eastern Arabian ‘Lacerta’ jayakari and ‘L. ’ cyanura are members of the armatured clade and also sister species. Our analysis supports an origin for present lacertids in west Eurasia. The armatured clade invaded Africa, probably in the mid–Miocene, spreading widely and evolving increasingly xeric–adapted forms, one lineage of which later moved back into the Palaearctic. ‘Lacerta’ jayakari and ‘L. ’ cyanura are assigned to Omanosaura, Lutz and Mayer 1986. The name Gallotiinae Cano, Baez, Lopez–Jurado and Ortega, 1984 is available for the Gallotia–Psammodromus clade, Eremiainae Shcherbak 1975 for the armatured clade and Lacertinae for Lacerta, Podarcis and Algyroides. Two new subgenera of Lacerta are proposed here: Caucasilacerta for L. saxicola and its allies, and Parvilacerta for L. parva and L. fraasi.
Interleukin-8, Nitric Oxide and Glutathione Status in Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy and Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Purpose: To evaluate interleukin-8 (IL-8), nitric oxide (NO) and glutathione (GSH) profiles in vitreous humor and blood samples in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and in patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and to compare the levels with those of controls. Patients and Methods: NO concentrations were determined by using the Greiss reaction in plasma and vitreous humor samples. GSH levels were determined in both blood and vitreous humor samples, using DTNB, a disulfide chromogen. Vitreous IL-8 were assayed by ELISA. Twenty-three patients with PDR, 18 patients with PVR and 21 cadavers as the control group were included in the study. Results: Plasma and vitreous NO levels were found to be25.6 ± 2.1 and 36.9 ± 3.0 µmol/l in patients with PDR, 27.0 ± 4.7 and 34.3 ± 2.9 µmol/l in patients with PVR and 17.4 ± 2.7 and 15.9 ± 1.4 µmol/l in controls, respectively. Vitreous humor and plasma NO levels did not show any statistically significant difference between PDR and PVR groups. However, the values for vitreous in both groups were significantly higher than those of controls (p < 0.0001). Although IL-8 levels in vitreous samples of patients with PDR were not significantly different (79.6 ± 9.7 pg/ml) from those of patients with PVR (42.2 ± 7.3 pg/ml) (p = 0.06), the levels in both groups were significantly higher than those of controls (19.0 ± 3.9 pg/ml) (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.05, respectively). Blood and vitreousGSH levels were found to be5.3 ± 0.4 µmol/g·Hb and 0.58 ± 0.16 µmol/l in patients with PDR and 8.4 ± 0.5 µmol/g·Hb and 15.7 ± 2.2 µmol/l in patients with PVR and 12.0 ± 1.1 µmol/g·Hb and 0.26 ± 0.03 mmol/l in controls, respectively. Vitreous and blood GSH levels were significantly lower in patients with PDR compared to those with PVR (p < 0.0001 for both). Conclusion: Elevated levels of vitreous and plasma NO and vitreous IL-8 in PDR and PVR implicate a role for these parameters in the proliferation in these ocular disorders. GSH concentrations both in vitreous and blood samples of the PVR and PDR patients were much less than those observed in the control group. Lower GSH concentrations detected in PDR in comparison with those in PVR in vitreous humor and to a lesser degree in blood may play an important role in pathogenesis of new retinal vessel formation in patients with PDR. This also suggests that oxidative stress may be involved in the pathogenesis of PVR and particularly that of PDR.
Forgotten History: Educational and Social Antecedents of High Achievement among Asian Immigrants in the United States

ABSTRACTRecent studies of ethnic minority group education in the United States include comparative analyses between the growing cohort of Asian-Americans and the ethnic minorities of longer standing. The educational record of Asian-Americans, especially that of recent immigrants, tends to be markedly superior to the patterns of poor school adjustment, low achievement, and high dropout rates among American Indians, blacks, and Hispanics. A current view in the literature posits a causal link between group cultural traits and the apparent paradox of Asian success and ethnic minority failure patterns. But a historical view shows that many Asian immigrants have received in their home countries a rigorous education tending to focus on science, technology, and related areas. In the United States they are a select group whose succeeding generations replicate their parents' upwardly mobile educational and economic patterns that surpass those of all other ethnic groups, even whites. Asian immigrant successes are la.
Is prenatal bonding enhanced by prenatal education courses?

AIM Prenatal education courses (PEC) are a way of allaying anxiety in pregnancy. PEC consist of a series of five 1-hour lessons in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Conducted by nurses or midwives, the course syllabus includes the basics of fetal physiology and development, singing sessions, dance sessions, massage-through-the-womb sessions. Here we investigated whether they can enhance feto-maternal bonding. METHODS We studied 77 pregnant women (mean age: 31.5+/-4.1 years), 36 of whom attended PEC. We used the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI), a validated 21-item questionnaire, to score prenatal bonding and compared the scores of the two groups. Three months after delivery, we asked the mothers to fill in another questionnaire to assess infant and maternal well-being. RESULTS The PEC group showed a higher PAI score than the control group (65.5+/-6.9 vs. 59.9+/-6.1; P<0.05). Babies born to the PEC group had a higher frequency of unexplained crying. CONCLUSION PEC positively influenced prenatal attachment. More studies are needed to assess whether this may be useful for the development of the mother-infant relationship.
Turbulent MHD Pipe Flow Hydrodynamic Analysis

The focus of this paper is searching the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic steady state turbulent flow hydrodynamic flow characteristic. A circular pipe model was created by Gambit software and computational analyses done by ANSYS Fluent software. Hydrodynamic flow parameters are investigated under the influence of magnetic field induction. Acquired results backed up with the literature studies. Hydrodynamic flow parameters are dynamic viscosity, eddy viscosity, velocity, turbulent intensity, turbulence kinetic energy and density variation by the influence of electromagnetic forces was evaluated. Results showed that turbulent intensity, turbulence kinetic energy, velocity and eddy viscosity decreases, but also density and dynamic viscosity increases.
A distributed algorithm for deadlock detection and resolution

This paper presents two distributed algorithms for detecting and resolving deadlocks. By insuring that only one of the deadlock processes will detect it, the problem of resolving the deadlock is simplified. That process could simply abort itself. In one version of the algorithm, an arbitrary process detects deadlock; and in a second version, the process with the lowest priority detects deadlock.
Obesity, physical activity and the risk of pancreatic cancer in a large Japanese cohort

It is unclear whether body mass index (BMI) and physical activity are associated with the risk of pancreatic cancer in Asian populations. We examined these associations in the Japanese Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk. Our cohort study included 110,792 Japanese men and women at enrollment (1988–1990). Data on height, body weight (at baseline and at age 20 years) and physical activity were obtained from a questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the relative risks of pancreatic cancer mortality. We observed a total of 402 pancreatic cancer deaths during the follow‐up period. Men with a BMI of 30 or more at age 20 years had a 3.5‐fold greater risk compared with men with a normal BMI. Women with a BMI of 27.5–29.9 at baseline had ∼60% increased risk compared with women with a BMI of 20.0–22.4. In men, weight loss of 5 kg or more between 20 years of age and baseline age was associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer death. In contrast, women with weight loss of 5 kg or more over the same period had a decreased risk. Physical activity was not associated with pancreatic cancer risk in either men or women. Obesity in young adulthood may be associated with an increased risk of death from pancreatic cancer in Japanese men. The risk of pancreatic cancer in relation to BMI seems to differ according to sex and the period over which BMI was measured. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Filter-Based Design of Noise Radar Waveform With Reduced Sidelobes

Noise radars possess several advantageous properties, including low probability of detection and identification, especially when working in continuous-wave mode. One of the main drawbacks of such radars is the occurrence of the masking effect, when a weak target echo is masked by the sidelobes of a strong target echo. The sidelobes of the ambiguity function emerge on the level of the time–bandwidth product below the main peak and are spread in the entire range–Doppler plane. While most approaches to mitigate the masking effect focus on the processing of the received signal, it is possible to move the computation burden to the waveform design phase. This paper describes a filter-based method of creating noise-like waveforms that have very low sidelobes in the area of certain range and Doppler shifts. Both theoretical analysis and measurement results are presented and compared with the lattice filter method of masking effect cancellation.
Facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks and rapid response learning : two types of memory for priming in person recognition

Experience with a stimulus changes a person forever. if not forever, at least for 17 years (Mitchell, 2006). Any process engaged by the brain leaves a trace behind that affects similar future processing. This form of plasticity aims to optimize the brain toward more efficient interaction with stimuli that have been encountered before, adapting the individual to the environment. Similar adaptation manifests itself as faster and more accurate performance to repeated stimuli. Repetition priming is the term used in the literature to describe this kind of facilitation. A crucial open question on repetition priming is whether experience makes stimulus processing more efficient or facilitates the selection of an appropriate response to a stimulus. In the literature these two alternatives are theorised respectively by facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks and by rapid response learning (Chapter 1). In the work presented here, processing/response accounts are tested in person recognition. This thesis presents evidence that repetition priming in person recognition is mostly produced by facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks, but, when stimuli are repeated three or more times, additional facilitation due to rapid response learning occurs as well (Chapters 2 - 3 - 4). Orthogonal tasks were used to distinguish the contribution of perceptual/conceptual facilitation and rapid response learning in behavioural facilitation (Chapter 5). Furthermore, LRPs/ERPs shed light on the neural processes that generate rapid response learning in person recognition: the response accessed from rapid response learning interacts with the response obtained from stimulus re-processing and determines benefits when congruent and costs when incongruent (Chapter 6). These results show that rapid response learning and facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks refer to two complementary types of memory that can lead to repetition priming. This thesis proposes a framework in which facilitation in perceptual and conceptual networks is supplemented, under specific circumstances, by rapid response learning (Chapter 7).
Shared decision making among individuals with cancer in non-Western cultures: a literature review.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To examine the extent to which shared decision making is a concept addressed within the published, empirical oncology decision-making research originating from non-Western countries from January 2000 to January 2012 and provide an overview of the outcomes of this research. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE®, CINAHL®, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and PubMed were searched for oncology decision-making literature published in English from January 2000 to January 2012. DATA SYNTHESIS Charles's three-stage conceptual framework of shared decision making was used as an organizational framework for the 26 articles meeting the initial criteria and reporting on at least one decision-making stage. CONCLUSIONS Although most patients wanted to be informed of their diagnosis, patient preferences for information and participation in decision making differed from that of physicians and varied among and within cultures. Few studies in this review addressed all three stages of shared decision making. Physician and patient attitudes, preferences, and facilitators and barriers to potential successful adoption of shared decision making in non-Western cultures require additional study. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Nurses should assess patients from non-Western countries regarding their knowledge of and desire to participate in shared decision making and provide decision support as needed. KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION Shared decision making may be new to patients from non-Western cultures, necessitating assessment, education, and support. Non-Western patients may value having family and friends accompany them when a cancer diagnosis is given, but assumptions based on culture alone should not be made. Nurses should determine patient preferences for diagnosis disclosure, information, and participation in decision making.
Design of Efficient BCD Adders in Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata

Among the emerging technologies recently proposed as alternatives to the classic CMOS, quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is one of the most promising solutions to design ultralow-power and very high speed digital circuits. Efficient QCA-based implementations have been demonstrated for several binary and decimal arithmetic circuits, but significant improvements are still possible if the logic gates inherently available within the QCA technology are smartly exploited. This brief proposes a new approach to design QCA-based BCD adders. Exploiting innovative logic formulations and purpose-designed QCA modules, computational speed significantly higher than existing counterparts is achieved without sacrificing either the occupied area or the cell count.
Trefftz Difference Schemes on Fuzzy Stencils

The recently developed Flexible Local Approximation MEthod (FLAME) produces accurate difference schemes by replacing the usual Taylor expansion with Trefftz functions -- local solutions of the underlying differential equation. This paper advances and casts in a general form a significant modification of FLAME proposed recently by Pinheiro & Webb: a least-squares fit instead of the exact match of the approximate solution at the stencil nodes. As a consequence of that, FLAME schemes can now be generated on irregular stencils with the number of nodes substantially greater than the number of approximating functions. The accuracy of the method is preserved but its robustness is improved. For demonstration, the paper presents a number of numerical examples in 2D and 3D: electrostatic (magnetostatic) particle interactions, scattering of electromagnetic (acoustic) waves, and wave propagation in a photonic crystal. The examples explore the role of the grid and stencil size, of the number of approximating functions, and of the irregularity of the stencils.
Connecting microstructural attributes and permeability from 3D tomographic images of in situ shear‐enhanced compaction bands using multiscale computations

Tomographic images taken inside and outside a compaction band in a field specimen of Aztec sandstone are analyzed by using numerical methods such as graph theory, level sets, and hybrid lattice Boltzmann/finite element techniques. The results reveal approximately an order of magnitude permeability reduction within the compaction band. This is less than the several orders of magnitude reduction measured from hydraulic experiments on compaction bands formed in laboratory experiments and about one order of magnitude less than inferences from two‐dimensional images of Aztec sandstone. Geometrical analysis concludes that the elimination of connected pore space and increased tortuosities due to the porosity decrease are the major factors contributing to the permeability reduction. In addition, the multiscale flow simulations also indicate that permeability is fairly isotropic inside and outside the compaction band.
Approximate Inference and Side-chain Prediction

Side-chain prediction is an important subtask in the protein-folding problem. We show that finding a minimal energy side-chain configuration is equivalent to performing inference in an undirected graphical model. The graphical model is relatively sparse yet has many cycles. We used this equivalence to assess the performance of approximate inference algorithms in a real-world setting. Specifically, we were interested in two questions: (1) which approximate inference algorithms give superior performance and (2) how does this performance compare to the state-of-the-art in computational biology. We looked at three tasks in side-chain graphical models — finding the minimal energy configuration, finding the M best configurations and approximating the free energy and conformational entropy. In all three subtasks we found that belief propagation gave the best results among the approximate inference algorithms and in many cases it outperformed the state-of-the-art in algorithms developed in the computational biology field.
Student motivation in low-stakes assessment contexts: an exploratory analysis in engineering mechanics

The goal of this paper is to examine the relationship of student motivation and achievement in low-stakes assessment contexts. Using Pearson product-moment correlations and hierarchical linear regression modelling to analyse data on 794 tertiary students who undertook a low-stakes engineering mechanics assessment (along with the questionnaire of current motivation and the ‘Effort Thermometer’), we find that different measures of student motivation (effort, interest, sense of challenge, expectancy of success and anxiety to fail) showed atypical correlation patterns. The nature of the correlations further varies depending on the type of test booklet used by students. The difficulty of the early items in the assessment were positively correlated with ‘anxiety’ and ‘success’, but negatively correlated with ‘interest’. In the light of our findings, we suggest that future research should systematically explore (taking into account testing conditions like test booklet design and test-item format) the implications of student motivation for achievement in low-stakes assessment contexts. Until the consequences of these processes are better understood, the validity of assessment data generated in low-stake conditions in the higher education sector will continue to be questioned. With a greater understanding of these processes, steps could be taken to correct for student motivation in such settings, thus increasing the utility of such assessments.
Is academic performance an indicator for physical fitness?

Abstract Many studies have investigated whether elevated levels of physical activity and fitness improve academic performance in children, but only a few have examined whether it is physical fitness which varies with academic performance. The purpose of this study was to examine if academic performance is indeed an indicator for physical fitness. For this study, middle school students were recruited for the necessary values and information. The data acquired for academic performance were based off of a public honour roll list distributed within the school community and physical fitness was evaluated via mile-run time, resting, post-active blood pressure and heart rate. There were no differences in proportion across the academic cohorts for any measurements of physical fitness. There was no conclusion such as “students with higher academic performance are less physically fit”; all academic cohorts had relatively similar levels of physical fitness. This may be due to mandatory physical and health education classes, which all students attend; the physical fitness levels are similar due to similar training.