Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anomalous Circumflex Coronary Artery: Benign or Predisposed to Selective Atherosclerosis

Anomalous origin of the circumflex coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva is the most common coronary anomaly and is usually considered benign. Although several researchers in the past believed that aberrancy predisposes this vessel to accelerated atherosclerosis, this could not get wide acceptance owing to lack of convincing data. To examine the suggestion that atherosclerosis affects the anomalous circumflex artery more severely, the authors reviewed the clinical and angiographic features of patients with this anomaly identified from 2,684 coronary angiography procedures performed between January 1998 and March 2000 at their institution. The degree of atherosclerotic narrowing in the anomalous artery was compared with that in other coronary arteries in the same patient as well as in the nonanomalous circumflex arteries in controls. For comparison 3 control subjects were selected for each patient with anomalous circumflex artery, matched by age, sex, and clinical presentations. The results showed earlier and greater degree of atherosclerotic narrowing of the anomalous artery as compared to the other coronary arteries in the same patients as well as to nonanomalous circumflex arteries of age- and gender-matched control subjects with similar clinical characteristics. However, this predilection for atherosclerosis was evident only in anomalous vessels arising from the right side and pursuing a retroaortic course. The anomalous artery was responsible for myocardial infarction in 3 patients, all of whom were 60 years or older. Two of the patients with this anomaly and myocardial infarction underwent successful angioplasty with stent placement for symptomatic relief.
The impact of COPD on health status: findings from the BOLD study

The aim of this study was to describe the impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on health status in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) populations. We conducted a cross-sectional, general population-based survey in 11 985 subjects from 17 countries. We measured spirometric lung function and assessed health status using the Short Form 12 questionnaire. The physical and mental health component scores were calculated. Subjects with COPD (post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity <0.70, n = 2269) had lower physical component scores (44±10 versus 48±10 units, p<0.0001) and mental health component scores (51±10 versus 52±10 units, p = 0.005) than subjects without COPD. The effect of reported heart disease, hypertension and diabetes on physical health component scores (-3 to -4 units) was considerably less than the effect of COPD Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease grade 3 (-8 units) or 4 (-11 units). Dyspnoea was the most important determinant of a low physical and mental health component scores. In addition, lower forced expiratory volume in 1 s, chronic cough, chronic phlegm and the presence of comorbidities were all associated with a lower physical health component score. COPD is associated with poorer health status but the effect is stronger on the physical than the mental aspects of health status. Severe COPD has a greater negative impact on health status than self-reported cardiovascular disease and diabetes. COPD is related to worse health status: impairment is greater than in self-reported cardiovascular diseases or diabetes http://ow.ly/p1cIx
The Biomechanical Effects of Dynamic External Rotation on Rotator Cuff Repair Compared to Testing with the Humerus Fixed

Background Biomechanical testing without humeral motion is a standard method for evaluating rotator cuff repair constructs. This cannot elucidate the effects of dynamic external rotation on the repair, which is a common postoperative motion. Hypothesis Biomechanical properties and gap formation of rotator cuff repairs will be different when dynamic external rotation is allowed to occur during loading. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods In 6 matched pairs of human cadaveric shoulders, a commonly used single-row rotator cuff repair was performed. In 6 shoulders, a materials testing machine and a custom testing apparatus that permits cyclic rotation (0°-30°) were employed (group 1). In contralateral shoulders, the apparatus was fixed to prevent humeral rotation (group 2). All repairs were cyclically loaded from 0 to 60 N at a displacement rate of 1 mm/s for 30 cycles. The constructs were then loaded to failure. Repair strength, gap formation, and strain were compared between groups. Results Cyclic loading revealed no difference in linear stiffness between testing conditions. Hysteresis was significantly greater when dynamic external rotation was allowed to occur. With load to failure, there were no differences in yield or ultimate load. Anterior tendon gap formation was greater at end rotation (30° of humeral external rotation) and at yield load, and strain on the posterior tendon was less with dynamic external rotation. With dynamic external rotation, gap formation and tendon strain were significantly greater in the anterior region of the supraspinatus tendon compared with the posterior region. Discussion External rotation using postoperative physiologic loads affects gap formation and tendon strain between anterior and posterior supraspinatus tendon regions. Previous testing models without humeral rotation may underestimate gap formation and anterior tendon strain and overestimate posterior tendon strain. Clinical Relevance Understanding regional differences with respect to these variables, depending on quality of repair, may provide the surgeon a framework from which to prescribe guidelines for postoperative rehabilitation.
Transition from Periodicity to Chaos in a PWM-Controlled buck converter with Zad Strategy

The transition from periodicity to chaos in a DC-DC Buck power converter is studied in this paper. The converter is controlled through a direct Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) in order to regulate the error dynamics at zero. Results show robustness with low output error and a fixed switching frequency. Furthermore, some rich dynamics appear as the constant associated with the first-order error dynamics decreases. Finally, a transition from periodicity to chaos is observed. This paper describes this transition and the bifurcations in the converter. Chaos appears in the system with a stretching and folding mechanism. It can be observed in the one-dimensional Poincare map of the inductor current. This Poincare map converges to a tent map with the variation of the system parameter ks.
Kinesiology of the musculoskeletal system : foundations for physical rehabilitation

Section I: Essential Topics of Kinesiology. Fundamental Principles of Kinesiology. The Structure and Basic Function of Joints. Muscles: The Ultimate Force Generator. Basic Biomechanical Principles of Kinesiology. Appendix 1: Glossary of Key Terms. Section II: The Kinesiology of the Upper Extremity. The Shoulder Complex. The Elbow. The Wrist. The Hand. Appendix 2: Attachments and Innervation of the Musclers of the Upper Extremity. Section III: The Kinesiology of the Axial Skeleton. The Axial Skeleton - Part 1: Osteology and Arthrology. The Axial Skeleton - Part 2: Muscle and Joint Interaction. The Axial Skeleton - Part 3: The Temporomandibular Joint and the Mechanics of Breathing. Appendix 3: Attachments and Innervation of the Muscles of the Axial Skeleton. Section IV: The Kinesiology of the Lower Extremity. The Hip. The Knee. The Ankle and Foot. The Kinesiology of the Human Gait. Appendix 4: Attachments and Innervation of the Muscles of the Lower Extremity. Index.
Learning representations for speech recognition using artificial neural networks

Learning representations is a central challenge in machine learning. For speech recognition, we are interested in learning robust representations that are stable across different acoustic environments, recording equipment and irrelevant inter– and intra– speaker variabilities. This thesis is concerned with representation learning for acoustic model adaptation to speakers and environments, construction of acoustic models in low-resource settings, and learning representations from multiple acoustic channels. The investigations are primarily focused on the hybrid approach to acoustic modelling based on hidden Markov models and artificial neural networks (ANN). The first contribution concerns acoustic model adaptation. This comprises two new adaptation transforms operating in ANN parameters space. Both operate at the level of activation functions and treat a trained ANN acoustic model as a canonical set of fixed-basis functions, from which one can later derive variants tailored to the specific distribution present in adaptation data. The first technique, termed Learning Hidden Unit Contributions (LHUC), depends on learning distribution-dependent linear combination coefficients for hidden units. This technique is then extended to altering groups of hidden units with parametric and differentiable pooling operators. We found the proposed adaptation techniques pose many desirable properties: they are relatively low-dimensional, do not overfit and can work in both a supervised and an unsupervised manner. For LHUC we also present extensions to speaker adaptive training and environment factorisation. On average, depending on the characteristics of the test set, 5-25% relative word error rate (WERR) reductions are obtained in an unsupervised two-pass adaptation setting. The second contribution concerns building acoustic models in low-resource data scenarios. In particular, we are concerned with insufficient amounts of transcribed acoustic material for estimating acoustic models in the target language – thus assuming resources like lexicons or texts to estimate language models are available. First we proposed an ANN with a structured output layer which models both context–dependent and context–independent speech units, with the context-independent predictions used at runtime to aid the prediction of context-dependent states. We also propose to perform multi-task adaptation with a structured output layer. We obtain consistent WERR reductions up to
Monitoring Absorption Changes in a Layered Diffusive Medium by White-Light Time-Resolved Reflectance Spectroscopy

Diffuse spectroscopy of turbid media has assumed a crucial role in the characterization of biological tissues. In particular, broadband time-resolved optical spectroscopy allows the direct determination in a single measurement of both the optical parameters of the tissue and the concentration of its main constituents. Moreover, the possibility of performing parallel wavelength measurements allows the recording of data in real time, providing a system that is able to perform dynamic measurements. We used a white-light time-resolved spectroscopy system to monitor absorption changes in a layered diffusive medium. Measurements were performed in reflectance geometry, with a 2-cm source-detector distance, on a two-layer liquid phantom with optical properties similar to those of human tissues. By varying the concentrations of three inks with different spectral features, we changed the absorption coefficient of the layers to mimic functional brain activation and the systemic response in the scalp. Data were analyzed by a time-resolved spectrally constrained fitting method based on a homogeneous model of photon diffusion. Although this approach is based on a homogeneous model and employs a single source-detector distance, the technique is able to monitor changes in the lower layer, while it is scarcely affected by variations in the upper layer. These results were confirmed by numerical simulations based on a perturbation approach to diffusion theory. Preliminary in vivo measurements have been performed on healthy volunteers to monitor oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin changes in the brain during a motor task. Although the overall sensitivity of the technique is reduced, in vivo results are in general agreement with the findings of the dedicated system for functional brain activity.
15 Threshold Effects in Multivariate Error Correction Models

We propose a testing procedure for assessing the presence of threshold effects in nonstationary vector autoregressive models with or without cointegration. Our approach involves first testing whether the long-run impact matrix characterizing the VECM type representation of the VAR switches according to the magnitude of some threshold variable and is valid regardless of whether the system is purely I(1), I(1) with cointegration or stationary. Once the potential presence of threshold effects is established we subsequently evaluate the cointegrating properties of the system in each regime through a model selection based approach whose asymptotic and finite sample properties are also established. This subsequently allows us to introduce a novel non-linear permanent and transitory decomposition of the vector process of interest. 15.
Effects of written action plan adherence on COPD exacerbation recovery

Background The effects of written action plans on recovery from exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have not been well studied. The aims of this study were to assess the effects of adherence to a written action plan on exacerbation recovery time and unscheduled healthcare utilisation and to explore factors associated with action plan adherence. Methods This was a 1-year prospective cohort study embedded in a randomised controlled trial. Exacerbation data were recorded for 252 patients with COPD who received a written action plan for prompt treatment of exacerbations with the instructions to initiate standing prescriptions for both antibiotics and prednisone within 3 days of exacerbation onset. Following the instructions was defined as adherence to the action plan. Results From the 288 exacerbations reported by 143 patients, start dates of antibiotics or prednisone were provided in 217 exacerbations reported by 119 patients (53.8% male, mean age 65.4 years, post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) 43.9% predicted). In 40.1% of exacerbations, patients adhered to their written action plan. Adherence reduced exacerbation recovery time with statistical (p=0.0001) and clinical (−5.8 days) significance, but did not affect unscheduled healthcare utilisation (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.83). Factors associated with an increased likelihood of adherence were influenza vaccination, cardiac comorbidity, younger age and lower FEV1 as percentage predicted. Conclusions This study shows that adherence to a written action plan is associated with a reduction in exacerbation recovery time by prompt treatment. Knowing the factors that are associated with proper and prompt utilisation of an action plan permits healthcare professionals to better focus their self-management support on appropriate patients.
Environmental Enrichment Exacerbates Amyloid Plaque Formation in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer Disease

Epidemiological studies of Alzheimer patients from a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds have identified education and occupation as environmental factors that can affect the risk of developing disease. A model of environmental manipulation in rodents uses enriched housing to provide cognitive and social stimulation. Previous studies have established elevations in synaptic number and function in rodents housed under enriched conditions. Recent experiments in hippocampal cultures have demonstrated that synaptic activity can influence the processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Here we examined whether changes in synaptic activity brought about by enriched housing might also influence the deposition of amyloid plaques in vivo using a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer disease (AD). Mice co-expressing mutant APP and presenilin 1 (PS1) were housed in either enriched or standard cages from 2 months of age and then killed for pathological evaluation several months later. We find that, as compared to littermates housed in standard cages, the enriched APP/PS1 transgenic mice develop a higher amyloid burden with commensurate increases in aggregated and total Aβ. These results suggest that Aβ deposition can be exacerbated by the neuronal changes associated with enrichment, and demonstrate a substantial, albeit paradoxical, environmental influence on the progression of pathology in a mouse model of AD.
Vegetative compatibility and pathogenicity in Cochliobolus sativus

Forty isolates of C. sativus, the causal agent of barley spot blotch, were isolated from symptomatic tissues of barley from different regions in Syria. These isolates were grouped into vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) by demonstrating heterokaryosis by complementation tests using nitrate non-utilising (nit) mutants. All isolates were grouped into three VCGs, 1-A, 1-B and 1-C. No self-incompatibility was observed in any of the isolates tested. VCG 1-C was the most common group within growing regions in Syria and proved to be the most virulent of the VCGs identified. These data indicate that the level of virulence in C. sativus is related to VCG.
Ulysses and the Poetics of Cognition

Introduction. Ulysses and the Human Mind 1. Shame and Beauty: "Telemachus" and "Nestor" 2. Identity and Emotion: "Proteus" 3. Simulating Stories: "Calypso," "Lotus Eaters," and "Scylla and Charybdis" 4. Narration, Style, and Simulation: "Hades," "Aeolus," and "Lestrygonians" 5. Psychological Realism and Parallel Processing: From "Wandering Rocks" to "Sirens" 6. Critical Realism and Parallel Narration: "Cyclops" and "Nausicaa" 7. Style Unbound: "Oxen of the Sun" 8. Metaphor, Realism, and Fantasy: "Circe" 9. Narrational Duality, Loneliness, and Guilt: "Eumaeus," "Ithaca," and "Penelope" Afterword. An Outline of Theoretical Concepts and Principles
Dynamics of an electrostatically charged rod in fluid

We investigate the effects of electrostatic and steric repulsion on the dynamics of pre-twisted charged elastic rod immersed in a viscous incompressible fluid. Equations of motion of the rod include the fluid-structure interaction, rod elasticity, and a combination of two interactions that prevent selfcontact, namely the electrostatic interaction and hard-core repulsion. The governing equations are solved using the generalized immersed boundary method. We find that after perturbation, a pretwisted minicircle collapses into a compact supercoiled configuration. The collapse proceeds along a complex trajectory that may pass near several unstable equilibrium configurations, before it settles in a locally stable equilibrium. The dwell time near an unstable equilibrium can be up to several μs. Both the final configuration and the transition path are sensitive to the initial excess link, ionic strength of the solvent, and the initial perturbation.
Does Dialysis Modality Influence the Oxidative Stress of Uremic Patients?

Background/Aims: Since peritoneal membrane is more compatible and residual renal function better preserved during peritoneal dialysis, we questioned whether the oxidative burden in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is influenced by dialysis modality. Methods: 49 stable CKD patients, 17 on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), 16 on hemodialysis (HD), and 16 non-dialyzed, and 13 healthy subjects were enrolled. Plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS; nmol/g protein), serum total antioxidant activity (TAA), total plasma-free thiols (Pt-SH; µmol/g protein), albumin and uric acid were measured by spectrophotometry. Serum residual antioxidant activity (RAA) was calculated. Results: TBARS were higher in HD (78.3 ± 20.3) versus both non-dialyzed (53.1 ± 27.9, p = 0.007) and CAPD groups (58.3 ± 19.8, p = 0.008). Pt-SH was reduced in CKD patients, but showed comparable values between dialysis groups. TAA and RAA were similarly increased in HD and CAPD patients than in the other two groups. Conclusion: Oxidative stress occurs in all CKD patients and worsens as renal function declines. Lipid peroxidation seems more augmented during chronic HD as compared to CAPD, but the plasma antioxidant status did not differ between the investigated dialysis methods. Therefore, dialysis modality appears to influence lipid peroxidation without changing the extracellular antioxidant defense of CKD patients.
Expression, purification, and properties of recombinant encephalomyocarditis virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

Encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase (GST), which allowed easy purification of the fusion protein by affinity chromatography on immobilized glutathione. Inclusion of a thrombin cleavage site between the GST carrier and the viral enzyme facilitated the release of purified mature EMC virus RNA polymerase from the GST carrier by proteolysis with thrombin. The purified recombinant enzyme has a molecular mass of about 52 kDa and is recognized by polyclonal immune serum raised against a peptide sequence corresponding to the C-terminal region of the protein. The recombinant enzyme comigrates with immunoprecipitated EMC virus RNA polymerase from infected mouse L929 cell extracts when run in parallel lanes on a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. The enzyme exhibits rifampin-resistant, poly(A)-dependent poly(U) polymerase activity and RNA polymerase activity, which are both oligo(U) dependent. Template-size products are synthesized in in vitro reactions with EMC virus genomic RNA or globin mRNA. The availability of recombinant EMC virus RNA polymerase in a purified form will allow biochemical analysis of its role in the replication of the virus as well as structure-function studies of this unique class of enzyme.
The Relationship Between Intrinsic and Augmented Feedback in Motor Skill Learning.

x Chapter 1. 1 References to Chapter 1. 7 Chapter 2 . 09 Introduction. 09 Method oo.o.oo.e. e.oo.eoo.os. o.o. ooo. 12 Subjects. 12 Task and Apparatus. 12 Procedure. 13 Results. 14 Acquisition. 14 10-min Retention. 17 24-hour Retention. 17 Discussion. 19 References to Chapter 2 . 22 Chapter 3 . 25 General Introduction. 25 Experiment 1. 30 Introduction. 30 Method. 32 Subjects. 32 Task and Apparatus. 32 Procedure. 33 Results. 34 Acquisition. 38 1-min Retention. 38 24-hour Retention. 38 Discussion. 39 Experiment 2 . 42 Introduction. 42 Method. 43 Subjects. 43 Task and Apparatus. 44 Procedure. 45 Results. 46 Discussion. 47 Experiment 3 . 50 Introduction. 50 Method. 53 iv Subjects. 53 Task and Apparatus. 53 Procedure. 53 Results. 54 Acquisition. 55 5-trial Retention Test. 56 1-min Retention. 56 24-hour Retention. 59 Questionnaire Data. 60 Discussion. 62 References to Chapter 3. 67 Chapter 4 . 71 General Discussion. 71 Influence of KR Schedule on Motor Learning. 71 Relationship between Task Characteristics and KR Schedule. 74 Implicatxons for Traxnxng. 73 References to Chapter 4. 80 Appendix A Additional Related Literature. 83 Appendix B Additional References. 157 Appendix C Letters Requesting and Granting Permission From Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 166 Appendix D Scaled Version of the Target Used in Chapter 2 . 169 Appendix E Human Consent Form. 171 Appendix F Instructions for Each Experiment. 173 Appendix G Chapter 3 Experiment 3 Questionnaire. 178 Appendix H Chapter 2 Experiment Data and ANOVA Tables. 180 Appendix I Chapter 3 Experiment 1 Data and ANOVA Tables. 184 Appendix J Chapter 3 Experiment 2 Data and T-Test Tables. 188 Appendix K Chapter 3 Experiment 3 Data and ANOVA Tables. 191 Appendix L Computer Programs for Chapter 3 Experiments 1 and 3 . 196