Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Foramen ovale: an ultrasonographic study of its relation to the inferior vena cava, ductus venosus and hepatic veins

According to the literature, oxygenated blood from the ductus venosus and hepatic veins may either enter the right atrium before flowing through the foramen ovale to the left atrium, or flow directly from the ductus venosus and the hepatic veins to the foramen ovale, bypassing the right atrium. To address this problem, 103 normal fetuses were examined by two‐dimensional imaging, M‐mode and color Doppler at an average gestational age of 27 weeks (range, 15–40 weeks). The position of the ventricular septum and foramen ovale, and the angle and flow direction of the inferior vena cava, ductus venosus and hepatic veins were recorded. Two pathways for blood were described: a left ductus venosus‐foramen ovale pathway that delivers blood directly to the foramen ovale circumventing the right atrium, and a right inferior vena cava‐right atrium pathway that delivers blood into the right atrium through the right portion of the proximal inferior vena cava at an angle of 13° to the long axis of the spine. The left and medial hepatic veins enter the left ductus venosus‐foramen ovale pathway, and the right hepatic vein enters the right inferior vena cava‐right atrium pathway. This supports the hypothesis that oxygenated blood from the ductus venosus and left hepatic veins flows directly through the foramen ovale to the left atrium avoiding extensive mixture in the inferior vena cava and an intermediate entrance to the right atrium. Copyright © 1992 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Laparoscopic versus open treatment of patients with acute cholecystitis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS The studies published so far mention a high rate of complication and conversion in laparoscopic surgical treatment of acute cholecystitis. Considering the relatively high conversion rate in cases of acute cholecystitis, it is necessary to pre-operatively estimate the chance of successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy. One of the aims of this study was to determine the factors that influence the chance of success of this technique. Another aim was to define possible advantages of the method. METHODOLOGY From 1991 through to 1995, a total of 295 patients in whom acute cholecystitis had been diagnosed on the basis of clinical examination, laboratory data, ultrasonography and pathohistological examination, underwent operative therapy. The laparoscopic approach was attempted in 49 of these patients. Since the patients who underwent primary open surgery were markedly handicapped with regard to severity of inflammation and co-morbid factors, we identified a sub-group of these patients who were comparable to those who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy in accordance of the above-mentioned criteria. RESULTS The rate of conversion (44.9%) correlated with the severity of inflammation, which was determined on the basis of leukocytosis > 10 x 10(9)/l (p = 0.004) and the pathohistological diagnosis (p = 0.005). Hence, the rate of conversion was 71.4% in cases of empyema of the gallbladder but only 29.2% in cases of edematous cholecystitis. In patients whose leukocyte count decreased within 4 days of conservative treatment, a successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) was performed in 91.7% (11/12) of cases, while 8 patients whose leukocyte count increased or showed no reduction during this time required conversion to open cholecystectomy (p = 0.0001). In cases of acute cholecystitis, the complication rate after LC is lesser in respect of wound infection (p = 0.07) and pneumonia (p = 0.04). In all patients, obesity was a risk factor for wound infection (p = 0.04). Injury to the small intestine was registered in 1 case but in no case was LC associated with injury to the bile duct. CONCLUSIONS The degree of inflammation and its response to conservative treatment, which are determined on the basis of leukocytosis and clinical improvement, are clear indications of the chance of successful delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy within the first week. Hence, all patients whose leukocyte count does not decrease after antibiotic treatment should be treated with open cholecystectomy (OC). The complication rate following LC is less than that following OC. Although no injury to the bile duct has been observed in cases of acute cholecystitis, major complications are possible and should not be excluded.
University of Huddersfield Repository Implications for Future Research

Qualitative research investigating soccer practitioners ’ perceptions can allow researchers to create practical research investigations. The extra-time period of soccer is understudied compared to other areas of soccer research. Using an open-ended online survey containing eleven main and nine sub questions, we gathered the perceptions of extra-time from 46 soccer practitioners, all working for different professional soccer clubs. Questions related to current practices, views on extra-time regulations, and ideas for future research. Using inductive content analysis, the following general dimensions were identified: ‘ importance of extra-time ’ , ‘ rule changes ’ , ‘ efficacy of extra-time hydro-nutritional provision ’ , ‘ nutritional timing ’ , ‘ future research directions ’ , ‘ preparatory modulations ’ and ‘ recovery ’ . The majority of practitioners (63%) either agreed or strongly agreed that extra-time is an important period for determining success in knockout football match-play. When asked if a fourth substitution should be permitted in extra-time, 67% agreed. The use of hydro-nutritional strategies prior to extra-time was predominately considered important or very important. However; only 41% of practitioners felt that it was the most important time point for the use of nutritional products. A similar number of practitioners account (50%) and do not (50%) account for the potential of extra-time when training and preparing players and 89% of practitioners stated that extra-time influences recovery practices following matches. In the five minute break prior to extra-time, the following practices (in order of priority) were advocated to players: hydration, energy provision, massage, and tactical preparations. Additionally, 87% of practitioners advocate a particular nutritional supplementation strategy prior to extra-time. In order of importance, practitioners see the following as future research areas: nutritional interventions, fatigue responses, acute injury risk, recovery modalities, training paradigms, injury epidemiology, and environmental considerations. This study presents novel insight into the practitioner perceptions of extra-time and provides information to readers about current applied practices and potential future research opportunities.
Regularity Lemmas and Combinatorial Algorithms

We present new combinatorial algorithms for Boolean matrix multiplication (BMM) and preprocessing a graph to answer independent set queries. We give the first asymptotic improvements on combinatorial algorithms for dense BMM in many years, improving on the "Four Russians'' O(n^3/(w\log n)) bound for machine models with word size w. (For a pointer machine, we can set w = \log n.) The algorithms utilize notions from Regularity Lemmas for graphs in a novel way. We give two randomized combinatorial algorithms for BMM. The first algorithm is essentially a reduction from BMM to the {\em Triangle Removal Lemma}. The best known bounds for the Triangle Removal Lemma only imply an O\left((n^3 \log \beta )/(\beta w \log n)\right) time algorithm for BMM where \beta = (\log^*n)^{\delta} for some \delta ≫ 0, but improvements on the Triangle Removal Lemma would yield corresponding runtime improvements. The second algorithm applies the Weak Regularity Lemma of Frieze and Kannan along with several information compression ideas, running in $O\left(n^3 (\log \log n)^2/(\log n)^{9/4})\right)$ time with probability exponentially close to 1. When $w \geq \log n$, it can be implemented in O\left(n^3 (\log \log n)^2/(w \log n)^{7/6})\right) time. Our results immediately imply improved combinatorial methods for CFG parsing, detecting triangle-freeness, and transitive closure. Using Weak Regularity, we also give an algorithm for answering queries of the form is S \subseteq V an independent set? in a graph. Improving on prior work, we show how to randomly preprocess a graph in O(n^{2+\eps}) time (for all \eps ≫ 0) so that with high probability, all subsequent batches of \log n independent set queries can be answered deterministically in O\left(n^2 (\log \log n)^2/((\log n)^{5/4})\right) time. When w \geq \log n, w queries can be answered in O\left(n^2 (\log \log n)^2/((\log n)^{7/6})\right) time. In addition to its nice applications, this problem is interesting in that it is not known how to do better than O(n^2) using "algebraic'' methods.
Pathogenic significance of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas putida.

Among the members of the genus Pseudomonas, P. aeruginosa and P. pseudomallei were, until recently, considered the human pathogens. However, since the early 1960s, other Pseudomonas species have been found in clinical specimens, and their number and frequency of isolation seem to be growing. ' The "simple fluorescent" species, P. fluorescens and P. putida, belong to those that were thought by earlier authors28 to be nonpathogenic for man. A few instances of possible human pathogenicity, however, have been reported since 1953 when Pittman' described six strains with the characteristics of P. fluorescens that had grown in transfusion blood and had caused severe to fatal reactions in the recipients. Rutenburg et al.' mentioned three urinary tract infections and one wound infection from which P. fluorescens was recovered in pure culture; septicemia developed in the latter case. The authors also reported a mixed urine culture with P. fluorescens. Rogers' cultured P. putida from the blood of an 8-year old boy with a fatal septicemia and otherwise unexplained lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. Sutter7 isolated P. fluorescens repeatedly from the blood of a patient with an abdominal abscess following bowel resection. Furthermore, she cultured P. putida from a bile drain, from two urines (in pure culture from an asymptomatic patient and in mixed culture from another patient with chronic urinary tract infection), and from a sputum after pneumococcal pneumonia treated with erythromycin and tetracycline. Pathogenicity of the P. putida strains could not be established in these cases. Pickett et al.' found P. putida in urines of ten patients. Two cultures were pure and came from debilitated patients with no clinical signs of urinary tract infection, while three other strains from different sources as well as 43 strains of P. fluorescens were not considered etiologically significant by these authors. In view of such reports, it is not surprising that there is no unanimity as to the pathogenic significance of P. fluorescens and P. putida for man. This paper is intended as a contribution to the discussion. In the two-year period from March, 1969 to February, 1971, 11 strains of P. putida and 4 strains
Competitive Search: A Test for Direction and Efficiency

A pad (11) having a non-slip surface, the pad adapted for attachment to a substrate and for use in combination with a garment worn by a person, the pad comprising a layer of a flexible non-slip material. having a lower surface adapted to be removably attached to said substrate and an upper surface which is partially covered by a hook and loop type fastener (14) and the garment has a surface complementary to the hook and loop type fastener, such that in use the person can control the extent of engagement between the complementary surface of the garment and the hook and loop type fastener of the pad by selectively placing the garment on the pad so that the complementary surface can contact both the hook and loop type fastener and non-slip material.
Autonomic Modulation in Older Women: Using Resistance Exercise as a Countermeasure

It is unclear if resistance training (RT) can be used to alter declines in autonomic modulation associated with aging. Young women (YW; range 18–25 yrs) and older women (OW; range 50–72 yrs) were compared at baseline. Only OW underwent supervised RT 2 days a week for 12-weeks. Baseline and post-training measurements included heart rate variability (HRV) and complexity (Sample Entropy) to assess autonomic modulation. The 12-weeks of RT consisted of 9 exercises performing 3 sets of 8–12 repetitions. At baseline, group differences in maximal strength, and autonomic modulation were evaluated with a one-way ANOVA with BMI as a covariate. In the OW, the effects of RT were evaluated with repeated-measures ANOVA in order to compare baseline to after RT. The YW had significantly (p≤0.05) lower diastolic, but not systolic blood pressure. The YW also had significantly (p≤0.05) greater absolute Ln (natural logarithm) high-frequency (HF) power and normalized HF power compared to the OW. In addition, there were significantly (p≤0.05) greater levels of normalized low-frequency power (LF) (and the LF/HF ratio) in the OW compared to the YW before RT. However, no difference was found for Sample Entropy. After RT, OW significantly (p≤0.05) increased the chest press (28%) and leg extension (33%). RT had no significant effect on any autonomic parameter suggesting that it may not be a sufficient stimulus to alter the effects of aging.
Distributed consensus over directed networks with limited information communication

Existing works that deal with the problem of distributed average consensus with quantized information communication assume that the update matrices are doubly stochastic, which amounts to agents evolving on balanced directed networks. Thus, the resulting quantized average consensus protocols are not applicable to directed networks with unbalanced topology. This paper is concerned with the problem of seeking consensus via quantized information communication over a general unbalanced directed network. It is established that, by designing a protocol with a finite-level uniform quantized scheme, merely one bit quantized information transmitting along each connected directed channel suffices for achieving weighted average consensus with an exponential convergence rate, as long as the directed network is strongly connected. An explicit characterization of the convergence rate is also given.
WCA Recommendations for the Long-Term Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

ABSTRACT Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common and disabling condition. In addition to combat-related PTSD, the disorder occurs in civilians exposed to severe traumatic events, with the community prevalence rate for the combined populations reaching as high as 12%. If left untreated, PTSD may continue for years after the stressor event, resulting in severe functional and emotional impairment and a dramatic reduction in quality of life, with negative economic consequences for both the sufferer and society as a whole. Although PTSD is often overlooked, diagnosis is relatively straight-forward once a triggering stressor event and the triad of persistent symptoms—reexperiencing the traumatic event, avoiding stimuli associated with the trauma, and hyperarousal—have been identified. However, comorbid conditions of anxiety and depression frequently hamper accurate diagnosis. Treatment for PTSD includes psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. The latter includes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), tricyclic antidepressants, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Only SSRls have been proven effective and safe in long-term randomized controlled trials. Current guidelines from the Expert Consensus Panel for PTSD recommend treatment of chronic PTSD for a minimum of 12–24 months.
Assessing L2 knowledge of Spanish clitic placement: converging methodologies

In this paper, we report on an experiment investigating adult second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish object clitic placement by native speakers of English (which lacks clitics) and French (where clitics contrast in certain respects with Spanish). Two different experimental methodologies are compared: an on-line sentence matching (SM) task and an off-line grammaticality judgement (GJ) task. Subjects were advanced and intermediate level English-speaking and French-speaking learners of Spanish, together with a native-speaker control group. A variety of constructions involving Spanish clitic placement were tested. The results from the two tasks complement each other: all groups show significant effects for grammaticality on the SM task and considerable accuracy on the GJ task, suggesting that L2 clitic placement can successfully be acquired even when the first language (L1) lacks clitics. However, both tasks reveal that L2 learners have difficulties in restructuring and causative contexts, which we attribute to problems with clitic climbing.
Multi-scale quantification of tissue behavior during amniote embryo axis elongation

Embryonic axis elongation is a complex multi-tissue morphogenetic process responsible for the formation of the posterior part of the amniote body. How movements and growth are coordinated between the different posterior tissues (e.g. neural tube, axial and paraxial mesoderm, lateral plate, ectoderm, endoderm) to drive axis morphogenesis remain largely unknown. Here, we use quail embryos to quantify cell behavior and tissue movements during elongation. We quantify the tissue-specific contribution to axis elongation using 3D volumetric techniques, then quantify tissue-specific parameters such as cell density and proliferation. To study cell behavior at a multi-tissue scale, we used high-resolution 4D imaging of transgenic quail embryos expressing fluorescent proteins. We developed specific tracking and image analysis techniques to analyze cell motion and compute tissue deformations in 4D. This analysis reveals extensive sliding between tissues during axis extension. Further quantification of tissue tectonics showed patterns of rotations, contractions and expansions, which are consistent with the multi-tissue behavior observed previously. Our approach defines a quantitative and multi-scale method to analyze the coordination between tissue behaviors during early vertebrate embryo morphogenetic events. Summary: A combination of time-lapse imaging and image analysis techniques allows visualization and quantification of the complex choreography and sliding behaviors of embryonic tissues during quail body axis elongation.
GRAPE: A Graph-Based Framework for Disambiguating People Appearances in Web Search

Finding information about people using search engines is one of the most common activities on the Web. However, search engines usually return a long list of Web pages, which may be relevant to many namesakes, especially given the explosive growth of Web data. To address the challenge caused by name ambiguity in Web people search, this paper proposes a novel graph-based framework, GRAPE (abbr. a Graph-based fRamework for disAmbiguating People appEarances in Web search). In GRAPE, people tag information (e.g., people name, organization, and email address) surrounding the queried people name is extracted from the search results, a graph-based unsupervised algorithm is then developed to cluster the extracted tags, where a new method, Cohesion, is introduced to measure the importance of a tag for clustering, and each final cluster of tags represents a unique people entity. Experimental results show that our proposed framework outperforms the state-of-the-art Web people name disambiguation approaches.
The Sensitive Left and the Impervious Right

Recent years have seen increased attention to integrating what we know about individual citizens with what we know about macro-level contexts that vary across countries. This article discusses the growing literature on how people's interpretations, opinions, and actions are shaped by variable contextual parameters and provides a novel substantive application. Using surveys conducted in 20 European democracies, the authors examine the effect of income inequality on people's attitudes about the functioning of the political system and trust in public institutions. They find that citizens in countries with higher levels of income inequality express more negative attitudes toward public institutions. Moreover, they show that the negative effect of inequality on attitudes toward the political system is particularly powerful among individuals on the political left. In contrast, inequality's negative effect on people's faith in the system is muted among those on the right.
The ‘Hidden Pedagogy’ and its Implications for Teacher Training

Abstract Despite the diversity of training they receive and the diversity of subjects and schools in which they work, teachers tend to share a vision of their work in which ‘classroom control’ and ‘classroom privacy’ figure prominently. This common element in their understanding of the work can be explained by the fact that they share one overriding influence on their attitudes and approaches to the job — assroom experience. Because this experience itself is shaped by some characteristic features of the material and social organisation of classrooms, teachers tend to share certain problems, dilemmas, frustrations and opportunities that come as normal parts of classroom experience and which present the teachers with some practical imperatives they cannot afford to ignore. Classroom experience, for this reason, fosters a set of pragmatic beliefs about the job which, by way of contrast with formal educational theory, can be regarded as a ‘hidden pedagogy’. This generally involves a belief in the need to esta.
Rapid, direct activity assays for Smoothened reveal Hedgehog pathway regulation by membrane cholesterol and extracellular sodium

Significance The Hedgehog pathway is critical in development and disease, but how cells respond to the secreted Hedgehog signal remains mysterious. A key step involves the regulation of the seven-transmembrane oncoprotein Smoothened by the 12-pass transporter-like Hedgehog receptor Patched1. We investigate the model that Patched1 is an ion-driven transporter of an endogenous lipidic Smoothened ligand. Whereas Patched–Smoothened regulation has traditionally been studied through indirect, downstream pathway readouts, we developed rapid, direct functional assays to dissect this step in simplified cell-based and in vitro systems. Cholesterol, a major membrane lipid, constitutively activates purified Smoothened by engaging its membrane-spanning region. Patched1 activity depends on extracellular Na+, suggesting that transmembrane Na+ gradients, universal among metazoans, might power Patched1 transporter-like activity in Smoothened regulation. Hedgehog signaling specifies tissue patterning and renewal, and pathway components are commonly mutated in certain malignancies. Although central to ensuring appropriate pathway activity in all Hedgehog-responsive cells, how the transporter-like receptor Patched1 regulates the seven-transmembrane protein Smoothened remains mysterious, partially due to limitations in existing tools and experimental systems. Here we employ direct, real-time, biochemical and physiology-based approaches to monitor Smoothened activity in cellular and in vitro contexts. Patched1–Smoothened coupling is rapid, dynamic, and can be recapitulated without cilium-specific proteins or lipids. By reconstituting purified Smoothened in vitro, we show that cholesterol within the bilayer is sufficient for constitutive Smoothened activation. Cholesterol effects occur independently of the lipid-binding Smoothened extracellular domain, a region that is dispensable for Patched1–Smoothened coupling. Finally, we show that Patched1 specifically requires extracellular Na+ to regulate Smoothened in our assays, raising the possibility that a Na+ gradient provides the energy source for Patched1 catalytic activity. Our work suggests a hypothesis wherein Patched1, chemiosmotically driven by the transmembrane Na+ gradient common to metazoans, regulates Smoothened by shielding its heptahelical domain from cholesterol, or by providing an inhibitor that overrides this cholesterol activation.