Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and safety of incobotulinum toxin A in periocular rhytides and masseteric hypertrophy: side-by-side comparison with onabotulinum toxin A

Background: Incobotulinum is a newly developed botulinum toxin A in which the complexing proteins had been removed. Objective: The aim was to compare the efficacy and safety of incobotulinum with onabotulinum in treating periocular rhytides and masseteric hypertrophy. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, split-face study was planned. Fifty-six patients were treated for periocular rhytides and the other 56 patients were treated for masseteric hypertrophy. Onabotulinum was injected on one side of the face and incobotulinum was injected on the other side of the face. The degree of periocular rhytides and masseteric hypertrophy was rated using Fitzpatrick Wrinkle Classification System (FWCS) and 10-point visual analogue scale (VAS) (0: the minimum to 10: the maximum). Objective and subjective rating was performed at pretreatment and every posttreatment follow-up visit by investigators and subjects. Result: The efficacy and safety of incobotulinum were not inferior to those of onabotulinum in treating periocular rhytides and masseteric hypertrophy up to 16 weeks after injection. There were no noteworthy differences in the onset time of effect between two botulinum toxins for periocular wrinkles and masseteric hypertrophy. No adverse event was reported. Conclusion: Incobotulinum provided non-inferior efficacy and safety for the treatment of periocular rhytides and masseteric hypertrophy compared with classic onabotulinum.
THE SPECTRUM OF THYROID DISEASE IN A COMMUNITY: THE WHICKHAM SURVEY

A survey has been conducted in Whickham, County Durham, to determine the prevalence of thyroid disorders in the community. Two thousand seven hundred and seventy‐nine people (82.4% of the available sample) were seen in the survey. The prevalence of overt hyperthyroidism was 19/1000 females rising to 27/1000 females when possible cases were included, compared with 1.6–2.3/1000 males. The prevalence of overt hyothyroidism was 14/1000 females rising to 19/1000 females when possible cases were included, compared with less than 1/1000 males. The prevalence of spontaneous overt hypothyroidism (excluding iatrogenic cases) was 10/1000 females or 15/1000 females including unconfirmed cases. Minor degrees of hypothyroidism were defined on the basis of elevated serum thyrotrophin (TSH) levels in the absence of obvious clinical features of hypothyroidism. TSH levels did not vary with age in males but increased markedly in females after the age of 45 years. The rise of TSH with age in females was virtually abolished when persons with thyroid antibodies were excluded from the sample. TSH levels above 6 mu/1 were shown to reflect a significant lowering of circulating thyroxine levels and showed a strong association with thyroid antibodies in both sexes, independent of age. Elevated TSH levels (>6mu/l) were recorded in 7.5% of females and 2.8% of males of all ages. Thyroglobulin antibodies were present in 2% of the sample. Thyroid cytoplasmic antibodies were present in 6.8% of the sample (females 10.3%, males 2.7%) and their frequency did not vary significantly with age in males but increased markedly in females over 45 years of age. 3% of the sample (females 5.1%, males 1.1%) had thyroid antibodies and elevated TSH levels and the relative risk of a high TSH level in subjects with antibodies was 20:1 for males and 13:1 for females, independent of age. Small goitres (palpable but not visible) were found in 8.6% of the sample and obvious goitres (palpable and visible) in 6.9%. Goitres were four times more common in females than in males and were most commonly found in younger rather than older females. TSH levels were slightly but not significantly lower in those with goitre than in those without goitre. There was a weak association between goitre and antibodies in females but not males.
Hamburger Beitr Age Zur Angewandten Mathematik a Penalized Fischer-burmeister Ncp-function: Theoretical Investigation and Numerical Results Hamburger Beitr Age Zur Angewandten Mathematik Reihe a Preprints Reihe B Berichte Reihe C Mathematische Modelle Und Simulation Reihe D Elektrische Netzwerke Und

We introduce a new NCP-function that reformulates a nonlinear com-plementarity problem as a system of semismooth equations (x) = 0. The new NCP-function possesses all the nice properties of the Fischer-Burmeister function for local convergence. In addition, its natural merit function (x) = 1 2 (x) T (x) has all the nice features of the Kanzow-Yamashita-Fukushima merit function for global convergence. In particular, the merit function has bounded level sets for a monotone complementarity problem with a strictly feasible point. This property allows the existing semismooth Newton methods to solve this important class of comple-mentarity problems without additional assumptions. We investigate the properties of a semismooth Newton-type method based on the new NCP-function and apply the method to a large class of complementarity problems. The numerical results indicate that the new algorithm is extremely promising.
Functional recognition of a distinct receptor preferential for leukotriene E4 in mice lacking the cysteinyl leukotriene 1 and 2 receptors

The cysteinyl leukotrienes (cys-LTs) are a family of potent lipid mediators of inflammation derived from arachidonic acid. Activation of certain cell types results in the biosynthesis and export of leukotriene (LT) C4, which then undergoes extracellular metabolism to LTD4 and LTE4. LTE4, the most stable cys-LT, is only a weak agonist for the defined type 1 and type 2 cys-LT receptors (CysLT1R and CysLT2R, respectively). We had recognized a greater potency for LTE4 than LTC4 or LTD4 in constricting guinea pig trachea in vitro and comparable activity in eliciting a cutaneous wheal and flare response in humans. Thus, we hypothesized that a vascular permeability response to LTE4 in mice lacking both the CysLT1R and CysLT2R could establish the existence of a separate LTE4 receptor. We now report that the intradermal injection of LTE4 into the ear of mice deficient in both CysLT1R and CysLT2R elicits a vascular leak that exceeds the response to intradermal injection of LTC4 or LTD4, and that this response is inhibited by pretreatment of the mice with pertussis toxin or a Rho kinase inhibitor. LTE4 is ≈64-fold more potent in the CysLT1R/CysLT2R double-deficient mice than in sufficient mice. The administration of a CysLT1R antagonist augmented the permeability response of the CysLT1R/CysLT2R double-deficient mice to LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4. Our findings establish the existence of a third receptor, CysLTER, that responds preferentially to LTE4, the most abundant cys-LT in biologic fluids, and thus reveal a new target for therapeutic intervention.
Improved Results on Statistic Information Control With a Dynamic Neural Network Identifier

This brief proposes a novel statistic information tracking control framework for complex stochastic processes with a dynamic neural network (DNN) identifier and multiple dead zone actuators. The new driven information for the tracking problem is a series of statistic information sets (SISs) of the stochastic output signal. By using an adaptive method to adjust the weight matrices and to compensate the unknown parameters, a new control input is built with the Nussbaum gain matrix and feedback control gain. It is shown that both the identification errors of DNNs and the closed-loop SIS tracking errors converge to zero. Finally, a numerical example is included to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Joint Source coding and Packet Marking for Video Transmission over DiServ Networks

We consider transmission of video for real-time display over a network offering differentiated services. In such a network, the probability of loss for each video packet is determined by the service class assigned to it. Using information about the error concealment strategy at the decoder and the QoS status of the network, we jointly consider the selection of source coding parameters and packet classification. A minimum cost approach is presented in which the goal is to minimize the cost to transmit a video sequence, while achieving a desired level of video quality, as measured by the expected distortion of the received video sequence. An approach for minimizing the distortion subject to a cost constraint is also discussed. A solution approach based on Lagrangian relaxation and deterministic dynamic programming is presented. Experimental results demonstrate the advantage of simultaneously adapting the source coding and prior-
Communication-Efficient Distributed Dual Coordinate Ascent

Communication remains the most significant bottleneck in the performance of distributed optimization algorithms for large-scale machine learning. In this paper, we propose a communication-efficient framework, CoCoA, that uses local computation in a primal-dual setting to dramatically reduce the amount of necessary communication. We provide a strong convergence rate analysis for this class of algorithms, as well as experiments on real-world distributed datasets with implementations in Spark. In our experiments, we find that as compared to state-of-the-art mini-batch versions of SGD and SDCA algorithms, CoCoA converges to the same . 001-accurate solution quality on average 25x as quickly.
Roadway Proximity and Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death in Women

Background— Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a major source of mortality and is the first manifestation of heart disease for the majority of cases. Thus, there is a definite need to identify risk factors for SCD that can be modified at the population level. Exposure to traffic, measured by residential roadway proximity, has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Our objective was to determine whether roadway proximity was associated with an increased risk of SCD and to compare that risk with the risk of other coronary heart disease outcomes. Methods and Results— A total of 523 cases of SCD were identified over 26 years of follow-up among 107 130 members of the prospective Nurses’ Health Study. We calculated residential distance to roadways at all residential addresses from 1986 to 2012. In age- and race-adjusted models, women living within 50 m of a major roadway had an elevated risk of SCD (hazard ratio=1.56; 95% confidence interval, 1.18–2.05). The association was attenuated but still statistically significant after controlling for potential confounders and mediators (hazard ratio=1.38; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.82). The equivalent adjusted hazard ratios for nonfatal myocardial infarction and fatal coronary heart disease were 1.08 (95% confidence interval, 0.96–1.23) and 1.24 (95% confidence interval, 1.03–1.50), respectively. Conclusions— Among this sample of middle-aged and older women, roadway proximity was associated with elevated and statistically significant risks of SCD and fatal coronary heart disease, even after controlling for other cardiovascular risk factors.
Smart laser based tracking system for robotic arm

The problem of tracking a moving object on natural scenes has received much attention using passive acquisition vision systems and computationally intense image processing. In this paper we present a simple active tracking system using a laser diode, steering gear box setup and a photoresistor, which is capable of acquiring two dimensional coordinates in real time without the need of any image processing technique. In this system instead of scanning the full field of view we only scan the moving object which has arrays of photoresistors embedded in it.
The RNA Chaperone Hfq Is Required for Virulence of Bordetella pertussis

ABSTRACT Bordetella pertussis is a Gram-negative pathogen causing the human respiratory disease called pertussis or whooping cough. Here we examined the role of the RNA chaperone Hfq in B. pertussis virulence. Hfq mediates interactions between small regulatory RNAs and their mRNA targets and thus plays an important role in posttranscriptional regulation of many cellular processes in bacteria, including production of virulence factors. We characterized an hfq deletion mutant (Δhfq) of B. pertussis 18323 and show that the Δhfq strain produces decreased amounts of the adenylate cyclase toxin that plays a central role in B. pertussis virulence. Production of pertussis toxin and filamentous hemagglutinin was affected to a lesser extent. In vitro, the ability of the Δhfq strain to survive within macrophages was significantly reduced compared to that of the wild-type (wt) strain. The virulence of the Δhfq strain in the mouse respiratory model of infection was attenuated, with its capacity to colonize mouse lungs being strongly reduced and its 50% lethal dose value being increased by one order of magnitude over that of the wt strain. In mixed-infection experiments, the Δhfq strain was then clearly outcompeted by the wt strain. This requirement for Hfq suggests involvement of small noncoding RNA regulation in B. pertussis virulence.
LOW EXTREME-ULTRAVIOLET LUMINOSITIES IMPINGING ON PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

The amount of high-energy stellar radiation reaching the surface of protoplanetary disks is essential to determine their chemistry and physical evolution. Here, we use millimetric and centimetric radio data to constrain the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) luminosity impinging on 14 disks around young (∼2–10 Myr) sun-like stars. For each object we identify the long-wavelength emission in excess to the dust thermal emission, attribute that to free–free disk emission, and thereby compute an upper limit to the EUV reaching the disk. We find upper limits lower than 1042 photons s−1 for all sources without jets and lower than 5 × 1040 photons s−1 for the three older sources in our sample. These latter values are low for EUV-driven photoevaporation alone to clear out protoplanetary material in the timescale inferred by observations. In addition, our EUV upper limits are too low to reproduce the [Ne ii] 12.81 μm luminosities from three disks with slow [Ne ii]-detected winds. This indicates that the [Ne ii] line in these sources primarily traces a mostly neutral wind where Ne is ionized by 1 keV X-ray photons, implying higher photoevaporative mass loss rates than those predicted by EUV-driven models alone. In summary, our results suggest that high-energy stellar photons other than EUV may dominate the dispersal of protoplanetary disks around sun-like stars.
Distinct Mechanisms for Processing Spatial Sequences and Pitch Sequences in the Human Auditory Brain

Perception of the acoustic world requires the simultaneous processing of the acoustic patterns associated with sound objects and their location in space. In this functional magnetic resonance experiment, we investigated the human brain areas engaged in the analysis of pitch sequences and sequences of acoustic spatial locations in a paradigm in which both could be varied independently. Subjects were presented with sequences of sounds in which the individual sounds were regular interval noises with variable pitch. Positions of individual sounds were varied using a virtual acoustic space paradigm during scanning. Sound sequences with changing pitch specifically activated lateral Heschl's gyrus (HG), anterior planum temporale (PT), planum polare, and superior temporal gyrus anterior to HG. Sound sequences with changing spatial locations specifically activated posteromedial PT. These results demonstrate directly that distinct mechanisms for the analysis of pitch sequences and acoustic spatial sequences exist in the human brain. This functional differentiation is evident as early as PT: within PT, pitch pattern is processed anterolaterally and spatial location is processed posteromedially. These areas may represent human homologs of macaque lateral and medial belt, respectively.
Virtual Eyes Can Rearrange Your Body: Adaptation to Visual Displacement in See-Through, Head-Mounted Displays

Among the most critical issues in the design of immersive virtual environments are those that deal with the problem of technologically induced intersensory conflict and one of the results, sensorimotor adaptation. An experiment was conducted to support the design of a prototype see-through, head-mounted display (HMD). When wearing video see-through HMDs in augmented reality systems, subjects see the world around them through a pair of head-mounted video cameras. The study looked at the effects of sensory rearrangement caused by a HMD design that displaced the user's virtual eye position forward (165 mm) and above (62 mm) toward the spatial position of the cameras. The position of the cameras creates images of the world that are slightly downward and inward from normal. Measures of hand-eye coordination and speed on a manual pegboard task revealed substantial perceptual costs of the eye displacement initially, but also evidence of adaptation. Upon first wearing the video see-through HMD, subjects' pointing errors increased significantly along the spatial dimensions displaced (the y dimension, above-below the target, and z dimension, in front-behind the target). Speed of performance on the pegboard task decreased by 43 compared to baseline performance. Pointing accuracy improved by approximately 33 as subjects adapted to the sensory rearrangement, but it did not reach baseline performance. When subjects removed the see-through HMD, there was evidence that their hand-eye coordination had been altered. Negative aftereffects were observed in the form of greater errors in pointing accuracy compared to baseline. Although these aftereffects are temporary, the results may have serious practical implications for the use of video see-through HMDs by users (e.g., surgeons) who depend on very accurate hand-eye coordination.
Dynamic Coding of Events within the Inferior Frontal Gyrus in a Probabilistic Selective Attention Task

Besides the fact that RTs in cognitive tasks are affected by the specific demands of a trial, the context in which this trial occurs codetermines the speed of the response. For instance, invalid spatial cues generally prolong RTs to targets in the location-cueing paradigm, whereas the magnitude of these RT costs additionally varies as a function of the preceding trial types so that RTs for invalid trials may be increased when preceded by valid rather than invalid trials. In the present fMRI study, we investigated trial sequence effects in a combined oddball and location-cueing paradigm. In particular, we tested whether RTs and neural activity to infrequent invalid or deviant targets varied as a function of the number of preceding valid standard trials. As expected, RTs in invalid and deviant trials were significantly slower when more valid standard trials had been presented beforehand. This behavioral effect was reflected in the neural activity of the right inferior/middle frontal gyrus where the amplitude of the hemodynamic response in invalid and deviant trials was positively related to the number of preceding valid standard trials. In contrast, decreased activity (i.e., a negative parametric modulation effect) was observed when more valid standard trials were successively presented. Further positive parametric effects for the number of preceding valid standard trials were observed in the left caudate nucleus and lingual gyrus. The data suggest that inferior frontal cortex extracts both event regularities and irregularities in event streams.
Mersin Üniversitesi Okul Öncesi Öğretmen Adaylarının Teknolojik Pedagojik Alan Bilgisi (TPAB) Özgüven Algılarının İncelenmesi

The aim of this study was to investigate the Early Childhood program teacher candidates self confidence on their technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (TPACK). Moreover, the study aimed to examine whether the Early Childhood teacher candidates’ TPACK self confidence differs with respect to their genders and grade levels. The participants of this survey study were 154 teacher candidates who continued their education at the Mersin University Early Childhood Education program in their 2nd, 3rdand 4th grades in the Fall semester, 2011-2012 year. The data were collected through the “Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge Self-Confidence” scale developed by Graham, Burgoyne, Cantrell, Smith, and Harris (2009), translated into Turkish by Timur and Tasar (2011), and the “Demographics Questionnaire” developed by the researchers. According to the research study, it was found that the Early Childhood teachers candidates self confidence on their TPACK was high. Moreover, the results of the study showed that the Early Childhood teachers candidates’ self confidence on their TPACK ddid not differ with regard to the gender and grade level
Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder

Dissociation. Multiple Personality Disorder. Etiology, Epidemiology, and Phenomenology. Diagnosing Multiple Personality Disorder. The Alter Personalities. Beginning Treatment. Issues in Psychotherapy. Psychotherapeutic Techniques. The Therapeutic Role of Hypnosis and Abreaction. Adjunctive Therapies. Crisis Management and Resolution.
Association between TLR4 A299G Polymorphism and Pneumonia Risk: A Meta-Analysis

Background Several genetic studies have evaluated the association between Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) A299G polymorphism and the risk of pneumonia. However, the results were not consistent. We thus did this meta-analysis. Material/Methods Relevant studies were systematically searched by using the NCBI, Medline, Web of Science, and Embase databases. Data were extracted independently by 2 investigators. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. Results Eight case-control studies with 658 patients and 1862 controls were included in this meta-analysis. TLR4 A299G polymorphism was significantly associated with pneumonia risk (OR=1.74; 95% CI 1.19–2.53; P=0.004). The result was significant in adults. In addition, TLR4 A299G polymorphism was also associated with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) risk. Results from cumulative meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis suggested that the results are reliable and robust. Conclusions The results of this meta-analysis suggest that susceptibility to pneumonia was associated with TLR4 A299G polymorphism.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Analysis of Neural Circuit Abnormalities in: Medication Naive Children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Normal Healthy Adults During Acute Alcohol Intoxication

The human brain is possibly the most complicated structure in the known world. It contains 100 billion neurons, each making contact with 1,000 to 10,000 other neurons. The neurons themselves have hundreds of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters / receptors with which to use to activate or de-activate other neighbouring neurons. Ultimately these neurons are organized into locally defined functional neural networks, which in turn connect with other neural networks to create non-localized highly-complex brain circuits. These brain circuits are responsible for the higher order functions such as perception, emotions, learning, language and conscious thought. In healthy brain states, these networks and circuits are communicating and signalling appropriately. With mental illness, or in an intoxicated brain state, however, this network and circuit functioning can become disrupted: either in a very specific manner, or in a generalized form. Alcohol (in the form of ethanol) is one of the oldest and most widely used psychoactive drugs in the world. In recreational doses, it can have drastic effects on how a person thinks and behaves. Small doses will lead to feelings of euphoria, increased sociability, and impaired judgement, while larger doses will lead to impaired memory and comprehension, and at extreme doses will lead from confusion and stupor to coma and death. The current understanding of alcohol’s effects on the brain is that it acts in a very specific way on a variety of brain enzymes and receptors. This in turn affects specific brain circuitries, making alcohol intoxication a promising model of pharmacological neural network and brain circuit