Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Microbiological and Clinical Effects of Combined Therapy according to Guidelines on the Treatment of Pulmonary Mycobacterium avium Complex Disease in Japan – Including a Follow-Up Study

Background: The difficulty of treatment for pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) in Japan. Objectives: To investigate the clinical and microbiological effects of treatment according to the guidelines proposed by the American Thoracic Society and the Japanese Society for Tuberculosis and prospective follow-up studies after the completion of treatment of patients with pulmonary MAC disease. Methods: Analysis of the microbiological effects with regard to sputum conversion rate and the sputum relapsing rate and the clinical effects with regard to clinical symptoms and radiological findings for patients with pulmonary MAC disease treated with a regimen consisting of rifampicin, ethambutol, streptomycin, and clarithromycin over 24 months and follow-up over 12 months. Results: Sixty-five patients with pulmonary MAC disease were enrolled in this trial. In 39 patients, negative sputum conversion was observed within 6 months after the initiation of this regimen, 16 relapsed, and 20 experienced clinical worsening within 1 year after the completion of treatment. Although retreatment with the same regimen or a regimen including new quinolones was carried out for these patients, we could not achieve negative sputum conversion and/or clinical improvement. Conclusions: We believe that the dose of clarithromycin for pulmonary MAC disease may be increased and recommend surgery for patients with a localized lesion at early-stage MAC disease to prevent a high rate of relapse.
Performance Analysis of MRC Diversity for Spectrum Sharing Systems with Imperfect Channel Estimation

In this paper, we analyze the performance of maximum ratio combining (MRC) diversity in spectrum sharing systems with imperfect channel estimation. Considering the limited power and number of pilot symbols, we study the impact of imperfect channel estimation about the secondary transmission link on the performance of the spectrum sharing system. Specifically, the exact closed-form expressions for the outage probability and average symbol error rate (SER) of spectrum sharing systems are derived, and the impact of various key system parameters, such as interference temperature, number of antennas, and channel estimation error, is investigated. Moreover, simple asymptotic expressions for the outage probability and average SER at the high signal-to-noise-ratio regime are provided, based on which the diversity and coding gains achieved by the secondary system are characterized. The finding of this paper suggests that zero diversity gain is attained due to imperfect channel estimation whereas a full diversity can be achieved under the perfect channel estimation case.
Embryonic cortical neural stem cells migrate ventrally and persist as postnatal striatal stem cells

Embryonic cortical neural stem cells apparently have a transient existence, as they do not persist in the adult cortex. We sought to determine the fate of embryonic cortical stem cells by following Emx1IREScre; LacZ/EGFP double-transgenic murine cells from midgestation into adulthood. Lineage tracing in combination with direct cell labeling and time-lapse video microscopy demonstrated that Emx1-lineage embryonic cortical stem cells migrate ventrally into the striatal germinal zone (GZ) perinatally and intermingle with striatal stem cells. Upon integration into the striatal GZ, cortical stem cells down-regulate Emx1 and up-regulate Dlx2, which is a homeobox gene characteristic of the developing striatum and striatal neural stem cells. This demonstrates the existence of a novel dorsal-to-ventral migration of neural stem cells in the perinatal forebrain.
Mobile Social Networking: A Case Study in an Australian Mobile Network Operator

In the context of increased importance of social applications and convergence between mobile and Web technological domains, this paper investigates potential strategies that MNOs can adopt regarding the offer of mobile social networking services. A case study in an Australian mobile network operator is presented in order to highlight the decision-making process for the launch of mobile networking services. General conclusions and potential implications for mobile network operators are presented, including a three-step strategy for carriers wishing to enter the social networking arena.
Pressure Measurements in the Terminal Vascular Bed of the Epimyocardium of Rats and Cats

In order to measure pulsatile pressures in microvessels of the left ventricular myocardium, we developed a method that extends the use of the resistance servo-nulling technique to the beating mammalian heart. In 9 cats and 25 rate, we studied the terminal vascular bed of the ventricular epimyocardium by incident light in vivo microscopy, using a highly sensitive television camera tape system. Following intravenous administration of fluorescent dextrans, microvascular diameters and flow patterns could be observed continuously. Intrahuninal pressures in the microvascular bed of the cat and rat heart were determined by micropuncture and a micropipet servo-nulling sy stem. In contrast to larger coronary arterioles (diameters 160–300 μm), smaller arterioles with diameters <100 μm showed a considerable pressure drop between ascending aorta and the site of pressure recording. In venules of the epimyocardium, the pressure curve exhibited a late systolic peak, occurring just before aortic valve closure. Maximal coronary arteriolar dilatation by dipyridamole (0.5 mg/kg body weight, iv) provoked only a slight increase in systolic coronary venular pressure (controls 25 ± 3 mm Hg, dipyridamole 27 ± 6 mm Hg). On the other hand, positive inotropic intervention by intravenous infusion of dobutamine (6 μg/kg per min), as well as the application of norepinepht-ine, resulted in a marked rise of systolic coronary venular pressure. These data suggest that the contractile state of the myocardium and left ventricular afterload are the major determinants of systolic coronary venular pressure.
p70 Phosphorylation and Binding to p56lck Is an Early Event in Interleukin-2-induced Onset of Cell Cycle Progression in T-lymphocytes (*)

The cytoplasmic protein tyrosine kinase p56lck has been implicated as an effector of interleukin-2-induced cell division in T-lymphocytes, but little is known about physiological substrates for p56lck during these events. We have used p56lck fusion proteins to identify potential cytoplasmic signal transduction proteins that bind to p56lck in mitotically activated human peripheral blood lymphocytes and in constitutively dividing leukemic T-cell lines. In peripheral blood lymphocytes, we have observed an interleukin-2-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of a 70-kDa protein and binding of tyrosine phosphorylated p70 to the SH2 domain of p56lck. A 70-kDa phosphoprotein was also observed to constitutively bind p56lck in leukemic T-cells. Affinity purification of p56lck-associated p70 and sequencing of proteolytic fragments revealed identity to a 62-kDa protein that has been identified as a ras-GTPase activating protein. These results demonstrate a stimulation-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of p70 and its interaction with p56lck and may provide a link between p56lck and GTPase-mediated signal transduction pathways in activated T-lymphocytes.
Australia's Capital of Jazz? The (re)creation of place, music and community at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival

Abstract An otherwise little-known country town has become a ‘capital’ for one creative scene—jazz. The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz plays a significant role in both nourishing the local community and Australian jazz music. The festival creates a unique space for performance, listening and interaction which intimately connects Wangaratta with major cities in Australia and overseas. Despite the fact jazz has no roots in Wangaratta, the town is increasingly significant in jazz circles as the pinnacle of musical excellence and integrity for 4 days of the year. The festival's impact lives on beyond the physical boundaries of the festival through new social connections, recordings and ensembles which are born out of it. In a very real sense, Wangaratta is Australia's capital of jazz because it has built a reputation as the place where jazz belongs.
Depression, suicidal ideation and STD-related risk in homeless older adolescents.

Goals of this study were to examine the frequency of depression and related constructs of suicidal ideation and hopelessness in a sample of homeless older adolescents and their associations with behaviors that may increase the risk of sexually transmitted disease (STD). Diagnostic interviews and blood/urine samples were obtained from 523 homeless adolescents (mean age=17.8). Overall, 12.2 per cent had a current DSM-IV diagnosis of major depression and 6.5 per cent had dysthymia, with higher rates for female and older participants. Depression appeared to precede rather than follow homelessness and was associated with biologically verified STDs (in older participants), infrequent condom use, a non-heterosexual orientation (in older participants), and lifetime homosexual experience. Unlike depression, suicidal ideation and hopelessness were associated with higher rates of intravenous drug use but lower rates of multiple sex partners and, in young homeless women, less sexual coercion. Depression is frequent in homeless older adolescents and has a complex association with STD-related behaviors.
Generalized Parsers for Machine Translation

Designers of statistical machine translation (SMT) systems have begun to employ treestructured translation models. Systems involving tree-structured translation models tend to be complex. This article aims to reduce the conceptual complexity of such systems, in order to make them easier to design, implement, debug, use, study, understand, explain, modify, and improve. In service of this goal, the article extends the theory of semiring parsing to arrive at a novel abstract parsing algorithm with five functional parameters: a logic, a grammar, a semiring, a search strategy, and a termination condition. The article then shows that all the common algorithms that revolve around tree-structured translation models, including hierarchical alignment, inference for parameter estimation, translation, and structured evaluation, can be derived by generalizing two of these parameters — the grammar and the logic. The article culminates with a recipe for using such generalized parsers to train, apply, and evaluate an SMT system that is driven by tree-structured translation models.
Diffusible iodine‐based contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (diceCT): an emerging tool for rapid, high‐resolution, 3‐D imaging of metazoan soft tissues

Morphologists have historically had to rely on destructive procedures to visualize the three‐dimensional (3‐D) anatomy of animals. More recently, however, non‐destructive techniques have come to the forefront. These include X‐ray computed tomography (CT), which has been used most commonly to examine the mineralized, hard‐tissue anatomy of living and fossil metazoans. One relatively new and potentially transformative aspect of current CT‐based research is the use of chemical agents to render visible, and differentiate between, soft‐tissue structures in X‐ray images. Specifically, iodine has emerged as one of the most widely used of these contrast agents among animal morphologists due to its ease of handling, cost effectiveness, and differential affinities for major types of soft tissues. The rapid adoption of iodine‐based contrast agents has resulted in a proliferation of distinct specimen preparations and scanning parameter choices, as well as an increasing variety of imaging hardware and software preferences. Here we provide a critical review of the recent contributions to iodine‐based, contrast‐enhanced CT research to enable researchers just beginning to employ contrast enhancement to make sense of this complex new landscape of methodologies. We provide a detailed summary of recent case studies, assess factors that govern success at each step of the specimen storage, preparation, and imaging processes, and make recommendations for standardizing both techniques and reporting practices. Finally, we discuss potential cutting‐edge applications of diffusible iodine‐based contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (diceCT) and the issues that must still be overcome to facilitate the broader adoption of diceCT going forward.
Cognitive-behavioural treatment of anger intensity among offenders with intellectual disabilities

Background Aggressive behaviour has been identified as a significant problem amongst people with intellectual disabilities living in institutional settings. Anger is a key activator of aggressive behaviour, as well as being an important element of clinical distress related to adverse life experiences. There is some evidence for the value of cognitive–behavioural treatments for anger problems with people having intellectual disabilities. No controlled studies of anger treatment involving intellectually disabled offenders living in secure settings have been conducted to date. A pilot study of an elaborated anger treatment protocol for this client population was undertaken, comparing the specialised anger treatment with routine care. Methods Detained men with intellectual disabilities and histories of offending were allocated to specially modified cognitive–behavioural anger treatment (n = 9) or to routine care waiting-list control (n = 10) conditions. Eighteen sessions of individual treatment were delivered over a period of 12 weeks. Treatment outcome was evaluated by participants' self-report of anger intensity to an inventory of provocations and by staff-ratings of the anger attributes of participants' ward behaviour. Results Participants' reported anger intensity was significantly lower following the anger treatment, compared to the routine care wait-list condition. There were largely no treatment condition effects in staff-rated anger. Limited evidence for the effectiveness of anger treatment was provided by the staff ratings of participant behaviour post-treatment. Conclusions Detained offenders with intellectual disabilities can benefit from intensive individual cognitive–behavioural anger treatment. Further research is required to examine the mechanisms for change and their sustainability.
"Asymmetric" catalysis by lanthanide complexes.

Catalysis with lanthanide (Ln) complexes has been underestimated for long time, although Ln(III) complexes have great advantages as Lewis acid catalysts for "asymmetric" carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. Lanthanide complexes are highly active in ligand-substitution reactions, especially with hard ligands. The association with substrates and dissociation of products are achieved fast enough for high catalyst efficiency. The asymmetric catalysis of organic reactions can be greatly advanced by the use of Ln complexes with chiral ligands such as binaphthol (binol). Ln(II) complexes are good reducing agents, which can be used in a wide variety of synthetically important reactions; when chiral ligands are used, many of these reactions are highly stereoselective. In the context of "green chemistry", the development of asymmetric Ln catalysts, and their recyclable use, is of increasing importance. This review gives an overview of the most recent developments in catalysis with lanthanide(II) and lanthanide(III) complexes.
Bottom-up and top-down processes in body representation: a study of brain-damaged and amputee patients.

OBJECTIVE Body representation is a complex process involving different sources of top-down and bottom-up information. Processing the position and the relations among different body parts is necessary to build up a specific body representation, that is, the visuospatial body map (or topological map of the body). Here we aimed to investigate how the loss of peripheral or central information affects this representation by testing amputee and brain-damaged patients. METHOD Thirty-two unilateral brain-damaged patients (i.e., left-brain-damaged patients and right-brain-damaged patients who were or were not affected by personal neglect), 18 lower limb amputees and 15 healthy controls took part in the study. The topological body map was assessed by means of the "Frontal body-evocation subtest" (Daurat-Hmeljiak, Stambak, & Berges, 1978), in which participants have to put tiles (each representing a body part) on a small wooden board on which a head is depicted. RESULTS Group statistical analysis showed that in amputee patients the loss of peripheral information about the right lower limb affects the ability to represent relations among different body parts as much as the loss of top-down information in brain-damaged patients with personal neglect. Single case analysis of brain-damaged patients without personal neglect showed that the topological map of the body was deficient in 1 right-brain-damaged and 2 left-brain-damaged patients. CONCLUSIONS Studying amputee and brain-damaged patients together allowed us to highlight the importance of visuospatial information about one's own limbs and the role of both hemispheres (not only the left one) in creating an efficient topological body representation.
The impact of individual factors on the academic attainment of Chinese and UK students in higher education

This study investigates the academic performance differences between Chinese and UK students in a UK university using two undergraduate cohorts by uniquely exploring academic performance patterns among Chinese and UK students across a full degree study period (3 or 4 years). The results reveal a dramatic drop in performance among Chinese students from year 1 to year 2 and increasingly significant performance gaps between Chinese and UK students in the final academic year by gender, prior academic performance, degree programme, prior academic qualification and enrolment year. Among Chinese students, their final degree mark is not influenced by gender, prior academic performance, prior academic qualification or degree programme. The distinctive nature of Chinese students in higher education is clearly demonstrated here and such uniqueness warrants further work focusing on learning approaches, curriculum design and the contents of assessments, in the context of academic achievement.
The Dark Side of Emotion in the Classroom: Emotional Processes as Mediators of Teacher Communication Behaviors and Student Negative Emotions

Based on emotional response theory (ERT), recent researchers have observed connections between teachers' communication behaviors and students' emotional reactions. In the present study, we further elaborated ERT by exploring the effects of teacher communication behaviors and emotional processes on discrete negative emotions, including anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom. Using cross-sectional survey data, we tested a hypothesized predictive model using structural equation modeling; the model was observed to fit well with the data. When teachers lack immediacy, are unclear, and/or demonstrate poor communication competence, students tend to report heightened negative emotional reactions. These effects are mediated by students' perceptions of social support from their teacher and their perceived need for emotion work in the class. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Effect of antiretroviral therapy on clinical and immunologic disease progression in HIV positive children: One-year follow-up study

Objective: To study the effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on clinical, immunologic, and nutritional progression of disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children for 1 year. Materials and Methods: The study included 54 children aged 1.5–15 years who registered at the ART center, Surat, from August 2007 to August 2009. During the study period, the children were followed-up at 6 monthly intervals up to 1 year after starting ART. World Health Organization (WHO) clinical staging and CD4 cell count as per national guidelines, and nutritional status were used to measure clinical and immunologic progression of disease up to 1 year. Results: Out of 54 children, mother-to-child transmission was reported in 96.2% children; for 74% of the children, both parents were HIV positive. All the children were classified according to WHO clinical staging into 4 stages and as per CD4 cell count (%), followed up at 6 and 12 months and the benefits with ART reported. At 12 months follow-up, 15% of the study group children had died. Both mean CD4 count and a relative percentage showed significant increase (P < 0.01) in the study group 1 year after ART. Conclusion: The present study reports benefits of ART in terms of clinical and immunologic progression of disease, nutritional status of HIV-infected children after 1 year of ART.
Towards a wearable device for controlling a smartphone with eye winks

The development of mobile technology over the last years and the consequent boom of available apps has enabled users to migrate a wide range of activities that were traditionally performed on computers to their smartphones. Despite this new freedom to work ubiquitously, there are circumstances in which operating the device becomes difficult, e.g., when the hands are not free due to driving or other activities. Even though there are voice-control alternatives for operating smartphones, these do not perform well in crowded or noisy environments. In this paper we present EyeWink: an innovative hands- and voice-free wearable device that allows users to operate the smartphones with eye winks. The system records the Electrooculography (EOG) signals on the forehead by means of two facial electrodes. Eye winks are detected by comparing the potentials recorded from the electrodes, which also helps avoid false actuations due to (unavoidable) eye blinks. The user can associate the action to perform with each eye by means of an app installed on the smartphone. The proposed device can be widely used, with customers ranging from runners to people with severe disabilities.
The Family-School Interaction: School Composition and Parental Educational Expectations in the United States.

Research has shown that intersections among families, schools and communities affect children's development, but there is still much unknown about how these contexts are linked and how they jointly influence children's education. This study explores one aspect of the overlapping influence of schools and families on children's education: the relationship between parental education expectations and school composition. Extending findings from literature on how parent expectations differ across social groups and studies showing school compositional effects on student outcomes suggests that schools may affect parents' attitudes and beliefs. Using US nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten (ECLS-K), multilevel models show an independent, positive relationship between parental educational expectations of eighth grade children and the percentage of nonwhite students in the child's school, a surprising result given the lower average achievement levels of US schools with higher percentages of nonwhite students. This finding persists beyond controls for a variety of family, child and school factors, including baseline expectations from fifth grade. The results also show that parents of low socioeconomic status (SES) have higher expectations in schools with greater percentages of minority students, but higher SES parents are largely unaffected by school composition. Although the study cannot rule out the possible influence of unobservables, it cautiously interprets a causal effect of US schools on parent expectations. The study therefore concludes that school influence may extend beyond the child to family processes and that school composition is an important but overlooked factor related to educational expectations.