Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated Plasma Cardiac Troponin T Levels Caused by Skeletal Muscle Damage in Pompe Disease

Background—Elevated plasma cardiac troponin T (cTnT) levels in patients with neuromuscular disorders may erroneously lead to the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction or myocardial injury. Methods and Results—In 122 patients with Pompe disease, the relationship between cTnT, cardiac troponin I, creatine kinase (CK), CK-myocardial band levels, and skeletal muscle damage was assessed. ECG and echocardiography were used to evaluate possible cardiac disease. Patients were divided into classic infantile, childhood-onset, and adult-onset patients. cTnT levels were elevated in 82% of patients (median 27 ng/L, normal values <14 ng/L). Cardiac troponin I levels were normal in all patients, whereas CK-myocardial band levels were increased in 59% of patients. cTnT levels correlated with CK levels in all 3 subgroups (P<0.001). None of the abnormal ECGs recorded in 21 patients were indicative of acute myocardial infarction, and there were no differences in cTnT levels between patients with and without (n=90) abnormalities on ECG (median 28 ng/L in both groups). The median left ventricular mass index measured with echocardiography was normal in all the 3 subgroups. cTnT mRNA expression in skeletal muscle was not detectable in controls but was strongly induced in patients with Pompe disease. cTnT protein was identified by mass spectrometry in patient-derived skeletal muscle tissue. Conclusions—Elevated plasma cTnT levels in patients with Pompe disease are associated with skeletal muscle damage, rather than acute myocardial injury. Increased cTnT levels in Pompe disease and likely other neuromuscular disorders should be interpreted with caution to avoid unnecessary cardiac interventions.
Study of the coexistence of VDSL2 and PLC by analysing the coupling between power line and telecommunications cable in the home network

PLC (Power Line Communications) and VDSL2 (Very high bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line) allow high bit-rate transmissions, through power line and copper pair respectively, but both technologies use the same frequency band. Consequently, these technologies could have to coexist in a home network inside the customer premises. This paper describes a theoretical analysis of the electromagnetic coupling between PLC and VDSL2 links. The effects of different parameters such as copper pair characteristics distance between the power line and the copper pair are presented.
Access to Music Education with Regard to Race in Two Urban Areas

This quantitative study examined access to school music instruction with regard to race in two urban areas: Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, DC, in 2009–2010. We found significant differences in the provision of music instruction between schools with high and low proportions of nonwhite enrollment, in categories including curricular offerings, extracurricular offerings, and resources. In the Detroit area, only 31 percent to 60 percent of schools with high percentages of nonwhite students offered any music instruction at all. We contrast our findings with those of a National Center for Educational Statistics report to demonstrate how regional and national averages can obscure information that should guide policy, such as the influence of location and racial demographics of schools on the provision of public school music instruction. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of using flawed data in the creation of policy and suggestions for more comprehensive and accurate data collection and analysis.
The Influence of the Spouse on Expatriate Adjustment and Intent to Stay in Overseas Assignments.

This study found that a favorable opinion about the overseas assignment by the spouse is positively related to the spouse's adjustment and that the novelty of the foreign culture has a negative relationship with the spouse's adjustment. Additionally, the adjustment of the spouse is highly correlated to the adjustment of the expatriate manager and the adjustment of the spouse and is positively related to the expatriate's intention to stay in the overseas assignment.
Altered hemodynamics and regional cerebral blood flow in patients with hemodynamically significant stenoses.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) contrast largely depends on changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF). Because cerebrovascular disease may result in altered CBF, we assessed the temporal dynamics and magnitude of the BOLD response in patients with major arterial stenoses. METHODS Seven patients with hemodynamically significant stenoses affecting the anterior circulation (primarily left internal carotid and middle cerebral arteries) were compared with 7 neurologically healthy subjects. Continuous arterial spin-labeled perfusion MRI was used to measure resting CBF globally and within various vascular distributions. The BOLD response was acquired during a visually guided bilateral handball squeeze task while motor performance was recorded by a pressure transducer. RESULTS Baseline CBF was reduced in bilateral middle cerebral artery and left anterior cerebral artery territories in patients. A prolonged BOLD hemodynamic response was observed in patients in bilateral primary motor cortices but not visual cortex. Patients also exhibited a larger early negative BOLD response, or "initial dip," in left primary motor cortex. There were no differences in motor performance between groups, suggesting behavioral differences were not primarily responsible for the characteristics of the BOLD response. CONCLUSIONS An initial deoxygenation followed by a delayed hyperemic BOLD response was observed in patients, although resting flow values were not within an ischemic range. A simple visuomotor BOLD activation paradigm can reflect alterations in the hemodynamic response in patients with hemodynamically significant stenoses.
Towards an Experiential Model of Occupational Balance: An Alternative Perspective on Flow Theory Analysis

Abstract The Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) being elaborated within flow theory provides a unique opportunity to collect data about occupational experiences. Both four‐ and eight‐channel models have been developed, to capture various dimensions of people's lived experience. However neither of these models seems suitable for analysis and discussion of balance within everyday life and its relationship to other factors such as well‐being. The purpose of this study was to analyse balance of everyday occupations from a novel experiential viewpoint, using an alternative model in which the eight channels are condensed into three dimensions; High Matched Experiences, High Not Matched Experiences and Low Challenge Experiences. A secondary analysis of published data from four cross‐cultural ESM‐studies with a total of 159 participants from three countries was conducted. The results show a similar pattern in all samples, with Low Challenge Experiences comprising barely half of the pattern and the other two dimensions relatively evenly distributed. Analyses of three case examples indicate possible problems regarding balance conditions between the different dimensions. The analysis supports the condensed model as a framework to understand and analyse occupational balance and patterns from an experiential perspective. This dynamic model has the potential to explain the relationship between everyday dimensions of occupations as a health promoting balance as well as potentially dysfunctional patterns causing occupational deprivation or risk of overload and burnout.
Cooling, Heating, Generating Power, and Recovering Waste Heat with Thermoelectric Systems

Thermoelectric materials are solid-state energy converters whose combination of thermal, electrical, and semiconducting properties allows them to be used to convert waste heat into electricity or electrical power directly into cooling and heating. These materials can be competitive with fluid-based systems, such as two-phase air-conditioning compressors or heat pumps, or used in smaller-scale applications such as in automobile seats, night-vision systems, and electrical-enclosure cooling. More widespread use of thermoelectrics requires not only improving the intrinsic energy-conversion efficiency of the materials but also implementing recent advancements in system architecture. These principles are illustrated with several proven and potential applications of thermoelectrics.
Processing Conceptual Metaphors in On-Going Discourse

In this study, we investigate whether or not conceptual mappings are accessed and used in on-going discourse when people process conceptual metaphors. In particular, we postulate that the conflicting results of previous studies (Nayak & Gibbs, 1990; Glucksberg et al., 1993) may be due to either one or both of the two diverse methods employed: (1) the different task demands (a judgment task employed by the former versus a reading task employed by the latter) and (2) the distinct visual presentations of stimuli (a paragraph presentation in the former versus the line-by-line presentation in the latter). We carried out one off-line and four on-line tasks in order to examine which factors affect the access of conceptual mappings in on-going discourse. Our study supports the hypothesis that conceptual mappings exist and are accessed in on-going language processing when materials are presented in a paragraph style. We argue that the line-by-line presentation method creates an expectation for new information, and thus, does not facilitate the activation of conceptual mappings, while a paragraph presentation method allows for conceptual representations to be built and accessed, regardless of what type of task is used.
Obesity and Self‐reported Outcome after Minimally Invasive Lumbar Spinal Fusion Surgery

OBJECTIVEMany patients undergoing lumbar spine fusion are overweight or obese. The relationship between body habitus and outcome after lumbar spine fusion surgery is not well defined. METHODSWe analyzed a prospectively maintained database of self-reported pain and quality of life measures, including Visual Analog Scale pain score, Short Form 36, and Oswestry Disability Index. We selected patients undergoing minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion between September 2002 and June 2006 at a single institution. We used linear regression models and mixed-effects linear models to examine the relationships between body habitus and self-reported outcomes. RESULTSThe analysis identified 110 patients meeting the study criteria, with a median follow-up period of 14.8 months. The mean age was 56 years, mean height was 169 cm, and mean weight was 82.2 kg. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 28.7 kg/m2; 31% of patients were overweight (BMI, 25–29.9), and 32% of patients were obese (BMI, >30). Linear regression analysis did not identify a correlation between weight or BMI and pre- and postsurgery changes in any of the outcome measures. The significant findings observed in the mixed-effects linear models were that the changing patterns of Short Form 36 Body Pain subscale and Short Form 36 Vitality subscale varied significantly by category of BMI (P = 0.01 and P = 0.002, respectively), but not significantly if continuous BMI was used (P = 0.53 and P = 0.46, respectively). BMI correlated marginally with estimated blood loss (P = 0.08), but not operative time, length of hospital stay, or complications. CONCLUSIONAmong this cohort of minimally invasive lumbar fusion patients, body habitus measured by BMI, weight, or height did not have a significant relationship with most self-reported outcome measures, operative time, length of hospital stay, or complications. Obesity should not be considered a contraindication to minimally invasive lumbar spinal fusion surgery.
Intervenção do Estado e (re)estruturação urbana. Um estudo sobre gentrificação

According to this paper, gentrification is a consequence of changes not only in the quality, composition and distribution of labor force, but first and foremost in space reorganization for commodity production, circulation and consumption. According to this view, the concept should be understood as part of a wide and complex process of urban (re)structuring; in addition, it links the concept to specific processes of spatial (re)organization, thus widening its meaning so as to enable it to explain some gentrification processes that would otherwise remain unknown. To illustrate our proposition, we present the case study of “Dona Teodora”, in the city of Porto Alegre, where the State is not only the main conductor of the urban restructuring processes, but also the agent of the gentrification process.
Propagation of solitary waves through significantly curved shallow water channels

Propagation of solitary waves in curved shallow water channels of constant depth and width is investigated by carrying out numerical simulations based on the generalized weakly nonlinear and weakly dispersive Boussinesq model. The objective is to investigate the effects of channel width and bending sharpness on the transmission and reflection of long waves propagating through significantly curved channels. Our numerical results show that, when travelling through narrow channel bends including both smooth and sharp-cornered 90◦-bends, a solitary wave is transmitted almost completely with little reflection and scattering. For wide channel bends, we find that, if the bend is rounded and smooth, a solitary wave is still fully transmitted with little backward reflection, but the transmitted wave will no longer preserve the shape of the original solitary wave but will disintegrate into several smaller waves. For solitary waves travelling through wide sharp-cornered 90◦-bends, wave reflection is seen to be very significant, and the wider the channel bend, the stronger the reflected wave amplitude. Our numerical results for waves in sharp-cornered 90◦-bends revealed a similarity relationship which indicates that the ratios of the transmitted and reflected wave amplitude, excess mass and energy to the original wave amplitude, mass and energy all depend on one single dimensionless parameter, namely the ratio of the channel width b to the effective wavelength λe. Quantitative results for predicting wave transmission and reflection based on b/λe are presented.
The effects of quality of work life on commitment and turnover intention

Although previous studies have demonstrated the importance of balance between family and work life, few have included quality of work life (QWL) and job-related attitudes. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of quality of work life on auditors’ career and organizational commitment in Taiwanese public accounting firms, and how those commitments, in turn, affect turnover intention. Our findings indicate that different dimensions of QWL result in distinctive effects on organizational and career commitments and turnover intentions. Managerial implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Power and Child Protection: The Need for a Child Welfare Service Users' Union or Association

Abstract This paper reports a study in which parents who had received child protection intervention set out to develop a “Service Users' Guide” to help parents newly receiving intervention better understand and cope with the process. The study took place in Ontario, Canada between 2004–2009. Ninety-five parents took part in 13 focus groups and 20 individual interviews. A mix of Participatory Action and grounded theory methods were used to enable parents to develop their service uses guide. As the study progressed it quickly became evident that the biggest issue parents face when receiving intervention is an imbalance in power between themselves and workers. This paper describes the problems this power imbalance causes for parents and presents a potential solution suggested by parents themselves – the development of a child welfare service users' association or union. Parent's ideas about why this association is needed, how it could function, and the benefits it might bring, are discussed. The paper concludes by reviewing the benefits a service users' association might bring not only for those receiving child welfare intervention, but all social work services.
Effect of Vagal Stimulation on the Overflow of Norepinephrine into the Coronary Sinus during Cardiac Sympathetic Nerve Stimulation in the Dog

In anesthetized dogs with the chest open, supramaximal stimulation of the left cardiac sympathetic nerves at 2 and 4 Hz produced an increase of 40-50percent; in ventricular contractile force (CF) and of 40-65percent; in coronary sinus blood flow. At these frequencies of stimulation, norepinephrine (NE) overflow into the coronary sinus was 29.8 ± 5.1 (SE) and 54.9 ± 13.2 ng/min, respectively. Concurrent, supramaximal vagal stimulation, at a frequency of 15 Hz, had no significant effect on coronary sinus blood flow, but caused a 25percent; reduction in CF and a 30percent; decrease in NE overflow. The changes in CF and NE overflow evoked by vagal stimulation were prevented by atropine. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that there are muscarinic receptors on the postganglionic sympathetic terminals in the walls of the ventricles. Acetylcholine released during vagal stimulation combines with these receptors, causes a reduction in the liberation of NE, and thereby attenuates the positive inotropic response.
Social Values Associated with Cross-national Differences in Mathematics and Science Achievement: A cross-national analysis

This study explores several factors that account for cross-national differences in mathematics and science achievement for middle-school students from 39 countries based on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. The results suggest that economic development level, as measured by GNP per capita, has a positive but relatively weak association with mathematics and science achievement. In contrast, variables reflecting a society's value on education, specifically the education of mathematics and science, demonstrates strong effects on students' achievement. These variables include students' perceived rigour of mathematics and science - a proxy of academic standards of mathematics and science, students' school attendance, the length of a school year, students' educational aspiration, and the average number of parents living with the student. The evidence presented in this study supports the argument that education reform aiming at improving mathematics and science achievement can hardly be successful without the efforts of the whole society.
Whole Genome Resequencing Reveals Natural Target Site Preferences of Transposable Elements in Drosophila melanogaster

Transposable elements are mobile DNA sequences that integrate into host genomes using diverse mechanisms with varying degrees of target site specificity. While the target site preferences of some engineered transposable elements are well studied, the natural target preferences of most transposable elements are poorly characterized. Using population genomic resequencing data from 166 strains of Drosophila melanogaster, we identified over 8,000 new insertion sites not present in the reference genome sequence that we used to decode the natural target preferences of 22 families of transposable element in this species. We found that terminal inverted repeat transposon and long terminal repeat retrotransposon families present clade-specific target site duplications and target site sequence motifs. Additionally, we found that the sequence motifs at transposable element target sites are always palindromes that extend beyond the target site duplication. Our results demonstrate the utility of population genomics data for high-throughput inference of transposable element targeting preferences in the wild and establish general rules for terminal inverted repeat transposon and long terminal repeat retrotransposon target site selection in eukaryotic genomes.
A Semantic Loss Function for Deep Learning with Symbolic Knowledge

This paper develops a novel methodology for using symbolic knowledge in deep learning. From first principles, we derive a semantic loss function that bridges between neural output vectors and logical constraints. This loss function captures how close the neural network is to satisfying the constraints on its output. An experimental evaluation shows that it effectively guides the learner to achieve (near-)state-of-the-art results on semi-supervised multi-class classification. Moreover, it significantly increases the ability of the neural network to predict structured objects, such as rankings and paths. These discrete concepts are tremendously difficult to learn, and benefit from a tight integration of deep learning and symbolic reasoning methods.
Adoption of electronic reference materials in academic libraries of Iran

Libraries have experienced a great deal of change in communication networks and information technology. The Iranian academic libraries, like other libraries, attempted to adopt the new information technology. It should be realized that although new information technologies and electronic resources are collected on a large scale by academic libraries they are not always used in the same scale. There are some factors, which affect the rate of adoption of each new technology. Rogers in his theory introduced these factors in five categories as relative advantage, observability, trial- ability, complexity and compatibility. This paper investigates the effects of different features of electronic reference materials on the rate of their adoption. Results show that the most effective factors in adoption of electronic reference materials are the ability of electronic reference materials to facilitate information retrieval, shortening the time of searching and fair cost of resources. In addition, it seems that the most problematic factors, which slow down the adoption of electronic reference materials, stem from unfamiliarity of academic librarians and users with computers and searching of databases.
Developing Conceptual Understanding in Primary Science

Over the past 30 years research has generated considerable insights into children's ideas related to science and the process of conceptual change. Using this knowledge to inform teaching is not straightforward. This paper outlines some general guidelines for teaching for conceptual development and then focuses on the introduction of new ideas in the primary classroom. Two pieces of teaching, about light and electricity, are used to exemplify how relevant ideas of science can be introduced and related to children's thinking and to everyday phenomena. The role of the teacher in 'talking ideas into existence' is discussed and directions for future research identified.
Response deprivation: An empirical approach to instrumental performance

The empirical law of effect is criticized as an incomplete step in the development of empirical laws of instrumental performance. An alternate approach to the prediction of performance is developed which follows Premack in relating instrumental performance to empirical measures of operant behavior. However, it is concluded that instrumental performance is not determined by a probability differential in operant baseline between the instrumental and contingent responses, but by the condition of response deprivation. This condition depends on the terms of the schedule as well as operant baseline measures. The response deprivation condition occurs in a contingency if, in performing the instrumental response at operant baseline, the subject would perform less than his operant baseline of the contingent response. Instrumental performance appears directly related to the amount of response deprivation. Response selection and the application of the response deprivation approach are discussed.