Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Attentional and non-attentional systems in the maintenance of verbal information in working memory: the executive and phonological loops

Working memory is the structure devoted to the maintenance of information at short term during concurrent processing activities. In this respect, the question regarding the nature of the mechanisms and systems fulfilling this maintenance function is of particular importance and has received various responses in the recent past. In the time-based resource-sharing (TBRS) model, we suggest that only two systems sustain the maintenance of information at the short term, counteracting the deleterious effect of temporal decay and interference. A non-attentional mechanism of verbal rehearsal, similar to the one described by Baddeley in the phonological loop model, uses language processes to reactivate phonological memory traces. Besides this domain-specific mechanism, an executive loop allows the reconstruction of memory traces through an attention-based mechanism of refreshing. The present paper reviews evidence of the involvement of these two independent systems in the maintenance of verbal memory items.
DNA binding mediates conformational changes and metal ion coordination in the active site of PcrA helicase.

Based upon the crystal structures of PcrA helicase, we have made and characterised mutations in a number of conserved helicase signature motifs around the ATPase active site. We have also determined structures of complexes of wild-type PcrA with ADPNP and of a mutant PcrA complexed with ADPNP and Mn2+. The kinetic and structural data define roles for a number of different residues in and around the ATP binding site. More importantly, our results also show that there are two functionally distinct conformations of ATP in the active site. In one conformation, ATP is hydrolysed poorly whereas in the other (activated) conformation, ATP is hydrolysed much more rapidly. We propose a mechanism to explain how the stimulation of ATPase activity afforded by binding of single-stranded DNA stabilises the activated conformation favouring Mg2+binding and a consequent repositioning of the gamma-phosphate group which promotes ATP hydrolysis. A part of the associated conformational change in the protein forces the side-chain of K37 to vacate the Mg2+binding site, allowing the cation to bind and interact with ATP.
The risk of ischemic events increased in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis with decreased cerebrovascular reserve

Identifying high-risk patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis (ACS) is necessary regardless of whether intensive medical therapy or aggressive treatment is applied. In order to assess the relationship between cerebrovascular reserve (CVR) measured by perfusion CT with inhalation of CO2 and the risk of ischemic events in ACS, this long-term follow-up study was conducted. Forty-five patients with ACS who underwent the examination of CVR measured by perfusion CT with inhalation of CO2 were collected and followed-up for at least 5 years. The primary end point was the occurrence of ipsilateral cerebral ischemic events. HRs and their 95% CI were calculated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression models. The mean follow-up time was 68.7±10.7 months (40.0–84.0 months). 13 (28.9%) ipsilateral ischemic events were observed. The annual risk of ipsilateral ischemic events was 4.8%. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that patients with less CVR experienced more ischemic events (p=0.006 and p=0.013, respectively), which was confirmed by multiple Cox regression analysis (p=0.012). CVR measured by perfusion CT may potentially be the factor which can predict the risk of ipsilateral ischemic events in patients with ACS. Multidisciplinary management is necessary for these high-risk patients.
The influence of perceived stress on insulin resistance in adults with type 2 diabetes

Objective: To identify whether perceived stress is a risk-factor for higher cortisol levels and greater insulin resistance in Type 2 diabetic patients, using data from participants with and without diabetes in the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), specifically MIDUS II, Project 4. The following hypotheses were tested: (H1a) greater perceived stress would be associated with higher cortisol for Type 2 diabetic participants, (H1b) the perceived stress/cortisol relationship would be stronger for people with Type 2 diabetes than for those without it, (H2) greater perceived stress would be associated with higher Homeostatic Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR, insulin-resistance) for Type 2 diabetic participants, (H3a) subjective well-being would moderate the perceived stress/insulin resistance relationship for Type 2 diabetic participants, and (H3b) depression would moderate the perceived stress/insulin resistance relationship for Type 2 diabetic participants. Method: MIDUS, a longitudinal study of over 7,000 American adults, explores biopsychosocial factors that could contribute to variance in mental/physical health. Only complete data were utilized. Type 2 participants (n=115) consisted of 54 males and 62 females ranging in age from 36 to 81 years. Non-diabetic participants (n=1097) consisted of 470 males and 627 females ranging in age from 34 to 84 years. Results: None of the predicted relationships were statistically significant. Waist to hip ratio was significantly related to insulin resistance (r = .31, p = .001). Conclusions: Future studies should collect information about the type and duration of stressors in addition to perceptions about stress for those with Type 2 diabetes.
Characterization of Leishmania Species Isolated from Cutaneous Human Samples from Central Region of Syria by RFLP Analysis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an endemic disease and a public health problem in Hama governorate located in the central region of Syria. The aim of this study was to characterize Leishmania species isolated from human skin samples. A polymerase chain reaction, restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay, was performed on skin lesion material samples from 32 patients with confirmed CL by direct microscopic examination in order to prove its usefulness and efficiency for identification of Leishmania species. Leishmania tropica (L. tropica) is confirmed as an etiologic agent of CL in this area.
An Estimated Structural Model of Entrepreneurial Behavior

Using a rich panel of owner-operated New York dairy farms, we provide new evidence on entrepreneurial behavior. We formulate a dynamic model of farms facing uninsured risks and financial constraints. Farmers derive nonpecuniary benefits from operating their businesses. We estimate the model via simulated minimum distance, matching both production and financial data. We find that financial factors and nonpecuniary benefits are of first-order importance. Collateral constraints and liquidity restrictions inhibit borrowing and the accumulation of capital, especially among high-productivity firms seeking to expand. The nonpecuniary benefits to farming are large and keep small, low-productivity farms in business. Although farmers are risk averse, eliminating uninsured production risk has only modest effects on capital and output. (JEL C51, D24, G32, Q12, Q14)
Predictability of VO2 max from submaximal cycle ergometer and bench stepping tests.

The predictability of the maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) was studied using progressive and steady state protocols for cycle ergometry and bench stepping. The subjects were 12 healthy men, 23-58 years old. Prediction of VO2 max was made by extrapolation of the heart rate and O2 uptake at several sub-maximal work-loads using the least squares regression technique. The four sub-maximal procedures underestimated the measured VO2 max by between 0.13-0.55 l.min-1. The differences between the measured and predicted values were statistically significant for the tests involving the steady state protocol. The correlation coefficients between the predicted VO2 max for each of the submaximal tests, and the measured VO2 max, were significant at the . 05 level. The results indicate that for a group of male subjects VO2 max can be predicted using the progressive protocol on either the cycle ergometer or stepping bench. Individual predictions are liable to considerable error.
Examining the impact of psychopathological comorbidity on the medical lethality of adolescent suicide attempts

The primary aim of this study was to determine if various typologies of psychiatric diagnoses and patterns of comorbidity are differentially related to the medical lethality of adolescent suicide attempts. The secondary aim was to determine if the relationship between psychopathological comorbidity and suicide attempt lethality is significantly different across gender, age, and race in adolescents. To investigate these relationships, psychiatric evaluations were reviewed for all adolescents that presented to Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB) from 2006 to 2010 for a suicide attempt (N = 375). Bivariate and OLS regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. Bivariate results showed that attempters diagnosed with a Substance Abuse Disorder comorbid with any other disorder had higher levels of suicide attempt lethality than those without the diagnosis. Additionally, having Bipolar or Mood Disorder NOS in combination with either Substance Abuse alone or Substance Abuse and Disruptive Disorders had a significant positive relationship with suicide attempt lethality when compared to other comorbidity patterns. In OLS regression, having Substance Abuse comorbid with any other disorder was the only significant diagnostic predictor of lethality. Female gender did not have a significant relationship with lethality. Age group was not predictive of lethality in regression analysis. African-American/Black race had a negative relationship with lethality in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Study findings have important implications for practice, policy, and future research with suicidal adolescents. Results suggest that improvements in the assessment and treatment of substance abuse in suicidal adolescents can play a critical role in decreasing the adolescent suicide rate. Screening for symptoms other than depression, such as substance use, will be critical to effective suicide prevention practices. Future research should focus on the development of effective treatment strategies with suicidal adolescent substance abusers, and aim for a better understanding of suicidal behaviors of adolescents with comorbid bipolar and substance abuse diagnoses. In order to further develop prevention and treatment strategies with this population, policies must be initiated that will support their advancement.
Upper limb motion estimation from inertial measurements

In this paper we introduce a real-time human arm motion detector that has been developed to aid the home-based rehabilitation of stroke patients. Two tri-axial inertial sensors are adopted to measure the orientation of the arm. Kinematics models then allow us to recover the coordinates of the wrist and elbow joints, given a still shoulder joint. One of the significant contributions of this paper is the use of a total variation based optimization in smoothing the erroneous measurements due to rapid or unstable movements. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate favorable performance of the proposed inertial tracking system in different sensor positions and motion speeds, compared to the outcomes of a marker-based optical motion tracker that is commercially available. Keyword: Rehabilitation, motion tracking, inertial sensor, total variation.
A more detailed classification of mild head injury in adults and treatment guidelines.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to analyze risk factors that are associated with intracranial lesion, and to propose criteria for classification of mild head injury (MHI), and appropriate treatment guidelines. METHODS The study was based on 898 patients who were admitted to our hospital with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 13 to 15 between 2003 and 2007. The patients' initial computerized tomography (CT) findings were reviewed and clinical findings that were associated with intracranial lesions were analyzed. RESULTS GCS score, loss of consciousness (LOC), age and skull fracture were identified as independent risk factors for intracranial lesions. Based on the data analysed in this study, MHI patients were divided into four subgroups : very low risk MHI patients are those with a GCS score of 15 and without a history of LOC or headache; low risk MHI patients have a GCS score of 15 and with LOC and/or headache; medium risk MHI patients are those with a GCS score of 15 and with a skull fracture, neurological deficits or with one or more of the risk factors; high risk MHI patients are those with a GCS score of 15 with abnormal CT findings and GCS score of 14 and 13. CONCLUSION A more detailed classification of MHI based on brain CT scan findings and clinical risk factors can potentially improve patient diagnosis. In light of our findings, high risk MHI patients should be admitted and treated in same manner as those with moderate head injury.
Combination therapy with interferon alpha and ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C virus infection in thalassaemic patients

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is common in multi‐transfused thalassaemic patients, and, in combination with transfusional iron overload, can result in progressive liver disease. Therapy with interferon‐alpha causes a sustained loss of HCV in only 15–25% of patients, and there is as yet no established effective therapy for those who fail to respond. We have conducted a pilot study of combination anti‐viral therapy for patients who failed to respond, or relapsed after an initial response to single‐agent interferon‐alpha. Patients were treated for 6 months with interferon‐alpha 2b, given subcutaneously three mega units thrice weekly, together with ribavirin, orally 1 g daily. 11 patients were enrolled, their median age was 24.9 years. 8/10 evaluable patients had cirrhosis on biopsy, five were infected with HCV type 1 and all but one had initial HCV RNA titres > 106 genomes/ml. Five patients (45.5%) had a sustained virological response with loss of serum HCV RNA for > 6 months after finishing therapy. There was no clear association between response to therapy and age, histology, HCV genotype, or HCV RNA titre. Transfusion requirements were significantly increased during the treatment phase, probably due to ribavirin‐induced haemolysis, and this necessitated intensification of iron chelation therapy. Serum ferritin levels decreased significantly in those who responded. These results suggest that combination therapy is potent in clearing HCV infection, and may provide effective second‐line therapy for thalassaemic patients who have failed to respond to interferon‐alpha monotherapy.
Assessment of oestrogenic potency of chemicals used as growth promoter by in‐vitro methods

Three in‐vitro bioassays were used to compare the oestrogenic potency of chemicals used as growth promoter in beef cattle in certain non‐European Union countries (17β‐oestradiol, α‐zearalanol, testosterone, trenbolone, trenbolone acetate, melengestrol acetate) or found as food contaminant such as the mycotoxin zearalenone and some of their metabolites (17α‐oestradiol, oestrone, 17α‐epitestosterone, 19‐nortestosterone, androstendione, zearalanone, α‐zearalanol, β‐zearalanol, α‐zearalenol, β‐zearalenol). The strong oestrogens 17α‐ethinyl oestradiol and diethylstilboestrol were used as standards. The first bioassay was based on the activation of a reporter gene by oestrogens in recombinant yeast expressing human or rainbow trout oestrogen receptor. In the second bioassay, the vitellogenin gene induction of rainbow trout hepatocyte cultures was used as a biomarker for the exposure to oestrogens. The third bioassay was based on the alkaline phosphatase gene induction by oestrogens in the human endometrial Ishikawa cell line. The assessment of oestrogenic potency of these chemicals clearly demonstrates the strong oestrogenicity of the mycotoxin zearalenone and its metabolites and particularly α‐zearalenol which was as potent as ethinyl oestradiol and diethylstilboestrol in the human endometrial Ishikawa cell line.
Influence of different UTBB SOI technologies on analog parameters

This paper presents an analysis of the influence of the silicon film thickness and the gate dielectric material on analog parameters in Ultra Thin Body and Buried Oxide (UTBB) SOl nMOSFET devices with and without Ground Plane (GP) for two different channel lengths (1μm and 70nm). The analysis is based on experimental data and simulations results. The presence of a GP improves the transconductance in the saturation region due to the strong coupling between front and back gates, but only in devices with thinner silicon film and L = 1μm. Devices with short channel length (70nm) have a strong influence of drain electrical field penetration, improving the analog parameters in devices without Ground Plane. The same effect occurs in devices with a thicker silicon film. Devices with high-κ material as gate dielectric present less influence of the presence of a Ground Plane.
A Planning and Optimization Framework for Ultra Dense Cellular Deployments

To accommodate the ever-expanding wireless data traffic volumes, mobile network operators are complementing their macrocellular networks by deploying low-power base stations (or small cells) to offload traffic from congested macrocells and to reuse spectrum. To that end, Ultra Dense Network (UDN) deployments provide means to aggressively reuse spectrum, thus providing significant enhancements in terms of system capacity. However, these deployments entail several challenges, including the increased complexity in network planning and optimization. In this paper, we propose a versatile optimization framework for planning UDN deployments. The planning and optimization framework is underpinned by metrics that consider scalability in terms of number of users, cost of densification, and fairness. The proposed methodology is evaluated using a real-world UDN planning case. The numerical results expose a number of interesting insights, including the impact of different bandwidth allocation strategies and spatial service demand distribution on the performance of various network topologies. Specifically, we provide a performance comparison of the optimized UDN topologies versus random (unplanned), regular grid, and heuristically derived UDN topologies. This comparison further underlines the need for flexible network planning and optimization frameworks as different operator performance metrics of interest may require different radio access networks configurations.
Traffic Image Classification using Horizontal Slice Algorithm

Traffic image classification to identify the traffic density will support the traffic problems such as intelligent traffic signal control, traffic planning, etc. This paper proposes a novel traffic image classification method based on horizontal slice algorithm and histogram. The system model is designed and evaluated with the image datasets of Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. The best accuracy result can obtain 91%. General Terms Traffic image classification, horizontal slice algorithm, histogram
Lexical postcorrection of OCR-results:the web as a dynamic secondary dictionary?

Postcorrection of OCR-results for text documents is usuallybased on electronic dictionaries. When scanning textsfrom a specific thematic area, conventional dictionaries oftenmiss a considerable number of tokens. Furthermore,if word frequencies are stored with the entries, these frequencieswill not properly reflect the frequencies found inthe given thematic area. Correction adequacy suffers fromthese two shortcomings. We report on a series of experimentswhere we compare (1) the use of fixed, static large-scaledictionaries (including proper names and abbreviations)with (2) the use of dynamic dictionaries retrieved viaan automated analysis of the vocabulary of web pages froma given domain, and (3) the use of mixed dictionaries. Ourexperiments, which address English and German documentcollections from a variety of fields, show that dynamic dictionariesof the above mentioned form can improve the coveragefor the given thematic area in a significant way andhelp to improve the quality of lexical postcorrection methods.
Discourse, power interplays and ‘disordered identities’: an intersectional framework for analysis and policy development

While acknowledging the discursive constitution of student identities through the interplay of unequal power relations and discriminatory processes, the article discusses the ways in which social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) are ‘produced’ and ‘managed’ within current schooling. SEBD are routinely framed in terms of ‘psychopathologisation’ and managed through zero-tolerance policies and punitive interventions. In this way ‘difference’ is framed as a ‘behavioural problem’ in schools and used, as an ontological a priori, to legitimise the construction and management of subjectively defined ‘disordered identities’ through disciplinary procedures. Issues of power and identity politics are central to any attempt to analyse the complex and intersecting social and discursive factors which contribute to the construction, negotiation and definition of ‘disordered identities’. It is suggested that a human rights approach to difference and diversity requires that ‘challenging behaviour’ and ‘SEBD’ are understood and managed on the basis of an intersectionality-based policy analysis (IBPA) framework and that such an analysis should inform development of policies which take a holistic and socially just approach to understanding and managing students’ problem behaviour.
The Unclampable Ascending Aorta in Coronary Artery Bypass Patients: A Surgical Challenge of Increasing Frequency

BackgroundThe unclampable ascending aorta (UAA) is a condition increasingly encountered during CABG procedures. We report our experience with CABG patients with UAA and place particular emphasis on the preoperative diagnosis and surgical management. Methods and ResultsUAA was diagnosed in 211 of 4812 consecutive CABG patients (4.3%). On the basis of the chest radiograph, echocardiogram, and coronary angiograph, a preoperative diagnosis was achieved in only 58 patients (27.4%). An age of >70 years, diabetes, smoking, unstable angina, diffuse coronaropathy, and peripheral vasculopathy were all predictors of UAA. Patients were treated with hypothermic ventricular fibrillation (no-touch technique n=129) or beating heart revascularization (no-pump technique n=82) depending on the possibility of founding an arterial cannulation site. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 2.8% (6 of 211) with no differences between the 2 surgical strategies. The no-touch technique was associated with a greater incidence of neurological complications (stroke and transient ischemic attack), renal insufficiency, and stay in the intensive care unit and hospital. However, at midterm follow-up, more patients of the no-pump group had ischemia recurrence. ConclusionsA preoperative diagnosis of UAA is achievable only in a minority of patients, which highlights the necessity revising the current diagnostic protocols. The use of the no-touch technique is associated with an high perioperative risk but a superior possibility of complete revascularization, whereas adoption of the no-pump strategy ensures a smoother postoperative course at the expense of an higher incidence of ischemia recurrence.