Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laparoscopic Ureteroneocystostomy and Vesicopsoas Hitch for Infiltrative Endometriosis

Objective: To report a series of laparoscopic vesicopsoas hitch procedures performed for the treatment of infiltrative ureteral endometriosis. Methods: A retrospective chart review of 6 women with severe endometriosis and ureteral obstruction caused by infiltrative disease of the distal ureter was performed. The patients underwent successful laparoscopic ureteroneocystostomy and vesicopsoas hitch. Results: Five of the 6 patients had a history of endometriosis, and their obstructions were diagnosed during prior surgeries. The other patient was diagnosed with severe endometriosis of the rectum, bladder, and ureter at the time of the procedure. She was referred for evaluation of an incidental finding of hydroureter and hydronephrosis. Three patients were treated with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog for at least 3 months preoperatively. Five patients had ureteral stents in place prior to the psoas hitch surgery. No intraor postoperative complications occurred. All patients had a normal cystogram performed 10 to 14 days postoperatively prior to Foley catheter removal. Stents were kept in place for 6 to 8 weeks, and an intravenous pyelogram (IVP) was done 2 weeks after removal. All patients had a normal renal ultrasound, computer tomography, or intravenous pyelogram at least 1 year postoperatively. Conclusion: Laparoscopic vesicopsoas hitch can be a safe and effective alternative to the laparotomy with the known benefits of laparoscopy.
Titin Isoform Switch in Ischemic Human Heart Disease

Background—Ischemia-induced cardiomyopathy usually is accompanied by elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, which follows from increased myocardial stiffness resulting from upregulated collagen expression. In addition to collagen, a main determinant of stiffness is titin, whose role in ischemia-induced left ventricular stiffening was studied here. Human heart sarcomeres coexpress 2 principal titin isoforms, a more compliant N2BA isoform and a stiffer N2B isoform. In comparison, normal rat hearts express almost no N2BA titin. Methods and Results—Gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting were used to determine the N2BA-to-N2B titin isoform ratio in nonischemic human hearts and nonnecrotic left ventricle of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. The average N2BA-to-N2B ratio was 47:53 in severely diseased CAD transplanted hearts and 32:68 in nonischemic transplants. In normal donor hearts and donor hearts with CAD background, relative N2BA titin content was ≈30%. The titin isoform shift in CAD transplant hearts coincided with a high degree of modifications of cardiac troponin I, probably indicating increased preload. Immunofluorescence microscopy on CAD transplant specimens showed a regular cross-striated arrangement of titin and increased expression of collagen and desmin. Force measurements on isolated myofibrils revealed reduced passive-tension levels in sarcomeres of CAD hearts with high left ventricular end-diastolic pressure compared with sarcomeres of normal hearts. In a rat model of ischemia-induced myocardial infarction (left anterior descending coronary artery ligature), 43% of animals, but only 14% of sham-operated animals, showed a distinct N2BA titin band on gels. Conclusions—A titin isoform switch was observed in chronically ischemic human hearts showing extensive remodeling, which necessitated cardiac transplantation. The shift, also confirmed in rat hearts, caused reduced titin-derived myofibrillar stiffness. Titin modifications in long-term ischemic myocardium could impair the ability of the heart to use the Frank-Starling mechanism.
Genetic diversity and prevalence of CCR2-CCR5 gene polymorphisms in the Omani population

Polymorphisms in the regulatory region of the CCR5 gene affect protein expression and modulate the progress of HIV-1 disease. Because of this prominent role, variations in this gene have been under differential pressure and their frequencies vary among human populations. The CCR2V64I mutation is tightly linked to certain polymorphisms in the CCR5 gene. The current Omani population is genetically diverse, a reflection of their history as traders who ruled extensive regions around the Indian Ocean. In this study, we examined the CCR2-CCR5 haplotypes in Omanis and compared the patterns of genetic diversity with those of other populations. Blood samples were collected from 115 Omani adults and genomic DNA was screened to identify the polymorphic sites in the CCR5 gene and the CCR2V64I mutation. Four minor alleles were common: CCR5-2554T and CCR5-2086G showed frequencies of 49% and 46%, respectively, whereas CCR5-2459A and CCR5-2135C both had a frequency of 36%. These alleles showed moderate levels of heterozygosity, indicating that they were under balancing selection. However, the well-known allele CCR5Δ32 was relatively rare. Eleven haplotypes were identified, four of which were common: HHC (46%), HHE (20%), HHA (14%) and HHF*2 (12%).
What matters in tie-breaking rules ? How competition guides design PRELIMINARY DRAFT

School districts that adopt the Deferred Acceptance (DA) mechanism to assign students to schools face the tradeoff between fairness and efficiency when selecting how to break ties among equivalent students. We analyze a model with with random generated preferences for students and compare two mechanisms differing by their tie-breaking rules: DA with one single lottery (DA-STB) and DA with a separate lottery for each school (DA-MTB). We identify that the balance between supply and demand in the market is a prominent factor when selecting a tie-breaking rule. When there is a surplus of seats, we show that neither random assignments under these mechanisms stochastically dominates each other, and, the variance of student’s assignments is larger under DA-STB. However, we show that there is essentially no tradeoff between fairness and efficiency when there is a shortage of seats: not only that DA-STB (almost) stochastically dominates DA-MTB, it also results in a smaller variance in student’s rankings. We further find that under DA-MTB many pairs of students would benefit from directly exchanging assignments ex post when there is a shortage of seats, while only few such pairs exist when there is a surplus of seats. Our findings suggest that it is more desirable that “popular” schools use a single lottery over a separate lottery in order to break ties, while in other schools there is a real tradeoff.
Stability of Taylor–Couette flow in a finite-length cavity with radial throughflow

Linear stability analysis predicts that a radial throughflow in a Taylor–Couette system will alter the stability of the flow, but the underlying physics for the stabilization of the flow is unclear. We investigate the impact of radial inflow and outflow on Taylor vortex flow and wavy vortex flow in a finite-length cavity via direct numerical simulation using a three-dimensional spectral method. The numerical simulations are consistent with linear stability predictions in that radial inflow and strong radial outflow have a stabilizing effect, while weak radial outflow destabilizes the system slightly. A small radial outflow velocity enhances the strength of the Taylor vortices resulting in destabilization of the base flow, whereas strong radial outflow and radial inflow reduce vortex strength, thus stabilizing the system. The transition to wavy vortex flow is unaffected by small radial outflow, but is stabilized for radial inflow. For strong radial outflow the wavy vortex flow includes localized dislocatio.
Robust control of rotary slosh using integral sliding modes

This paper investigates a problem of control of rotary slosh using integral sliding modes (ISM). Slosh coupled with vehicle dynamics represents a class of systems having coupled nonlinear and underactuated dynamics. Rotary slosh is modeled using spherical pendulum. The coordinates are chosen to avoid the singularity at equilibrium point. A stabilizing control is designed using Lyapunov approach. A stabilizing controller (SC) is made robust by adding ISM component. The integral sliding mode control (ISMC) yields robust performance over the entire state space. The effectiveness of the method is validated in simulations.
Left Ventricular Assist Device Therapy in Patients With Restrictive and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Background— Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is being increasingly used in patients with end-stage dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy. There have been no clinical trials addressing the use of LVAD therapy in patients with end-stage heart failure caused by restrictive (RCM) or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The purpose of this study was therefore to analyze the outcome of LVAD therapy in these patients. Methods and Results— Eighty-three patients received continuous axial flow LVAD (Heart mate II, Thoratec, Pleasanton, CA) from February 2007 to May 2010 at our institution. We analyzed the baseline characteristics and surgical and long-term impact of LVAD therapy in 8 patients with RCM or HCM and compared their outcomes with the 75 patients with dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy. Compared with patients with ischemic or dilated cardiomyopathy, patients with RCM and HCM have significantly smaller left ventricular end-diastolic dimensions (52.5±6 mm versus 68.6±8 mm; P<0.0001) and increased thickness of septal (16 [12, 19] mm versus 10[8.5, 11] mm, P=0.0003) and higher left ventricular ejection fraction (21 [20, 36]% versus 17 [15, 22]%; P=0.0009). We found no difference in early mortality (12.5% versus 9.3%, P=0.57) or length of hospital stay (11 [8, 45] days versus 18.5 [12.2, 27.7] days; P=0.51) between the 2 groups. The right atrial pressure was higher (18 [15, 20] mm Hg versus 12 [9, 15] mm Hg, P=0.03), and pump flow was lower (4.3 [3.8, 4.5] L versus 5.2 [4.7, 5.5] L, P=0.001) after LVAD implantation in patients with RCM and HCM. Central venous catheter related infections were more common in patients with RCM and HCM (87.5% versus 44.5%, P=0.006). There was no difference in the total number of blood units transfused. Median (min, max) follow-up duration after LVAD implantation was 166 [1, 1044] days. The 1-year actuarial survival rate was not different between the 2 groups (87.5% [95% confidence interval, 52.9% to 97.8%] versus 73.2 [95% confidence interval, 60% to 85%]; P=0.77). Conclusions— Our preliminary data show that patients with end-stage heart failure caused by RCM or HCM may benefit from continuous axial flow LVAD therapy. This small study suggests that mortality is comparable with those patients who have dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathy, but right heart failure, prolonged inotropic use, and central venous catheter infections are more common in patients with RCM and HCM who were treated with LVAD. Because of the small numbers the differences should be interpreted cautiously, and prospective clinical trials would be required to recommend this therapy for these patients as bridge to transplantation or destination treatment.
ORBITAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE β Pic INNER PLANET CANDIDATE WITH KECK ADAPTIVE OPTICS

A point source observed 8 AU in projection from β Pictoris in (3.8 μm) imaging in 2003 has been recently presented as a planet candidate. Here we show the results of -band adaptive optics imaging obtained at Keck Observatory in 2008. We do not detect β Pic b beyond a limiting radius of 0. ″29, or 5.5 AU in projection, from the star. If β Pic b is an orbiting planet, then it has moved ⩾0. ″12 (2.4 AU in projection) closer to the star in the five years separating the two epochs of observation. We examine the range of orbital parameters consistent with the observations, including likely bounds from the locations of previously inferred planetesimal belts. We find a family of low-eccentricity orbits with semimajor axes ∼8–9 AU that are completely allowed, as well as a broad region of orbits with e ≲ 0.2, a ≳ 10 AU that are allowed if the apparent motion of the planet was toward the star in 2003. We compare this allowed space with predictions of the planetary orbital elements from the literature. Additionally, we show how similar observations in the next several years can further constrain the space of allowed orbits. Non-detections of the source through 2013 will exclude the interpretation of the candidate as a planet orbiting between the 6.4 and 16 AU planetesimal belts.
Best Practices in Academic Mentoring: A Model for Excellence

Mentoring is important for the recruitment and retention of qualified nurse faculty, their ongoing career development, and leadership development. However, what are current best practices of mentoring? The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a model for excellence in establishing a formal mentoring program for academic nurse educators. Six themes for establishing a formal mentoring program are presented, highlighting best practices in mentoring as culled from experience and the literature. Themes reflect aims to achieve appropriately matched dyads, establish clear mentorship purpose and goals, solidify the dyad relationship, advocate for and guide the protégé, integrate the protégé into the academic culture, and mobilize institutional resources for mentoring support. Attending to the six themes will help mentors achieve important protégé outcomes, such as orientation to the educator role, integration into the academic community, development of teaching, scholarship, and service skills, as well as leadership development. The model is intended to be generalizable for faculty teaching in a variety of academic nursing institution types and sizes. Mentoring that integrates the six themes assists faculty members to better navigate the academic environment and more easily transition to new roles and responsibilities.
An efficient local search for grid scheduling problem in learning system

Grid scheduling is an NP-complete problem which the objective is to minimize the completion time (makespan). This paper is motivated by the requirement that the feedback analysis service of e-learning system needs to distribute the computing jobs for balancing the workload and getting the fast response. We propose an efficient local search method embed into the differential evolution algorithm (DE) to find a feasible solution. DE is efficiently in the computing time and the proposed local search method tries to enhance the result of DE for minimizing the makespan. Comparing with DE, our proposed algorithm reduces the makespan with the ratio 64% in the best case. Simulation results demonstrate the proposed method.
[The relationship between body weight, body height, body mass index and weight gain during pregnancy].

BACKGROUND The weight gain during pregnancy is influenced by maternal body weight and height. With this study we want to illustrate the relationship between weight, height, body mass index (BMI) and the weight gain in pregnancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data of about 2.3 million singleton pregnancies were taken from the German perinatal statistics of 1995-2000. Weight gain was calculated as the difference between the weight at the end of the pregnancy and the weight at the first consultation. RESULTS The distribution of the weight gain resembles a normal distribution. Overall mean weight gain is 12.8 kg. For women weighing < 63 kg, there is a rise in weight gain with increasing body weight at the first consultation. Beyond 63 kg the amount of weight gain falls with increasing body weight at the first consultation. Weight gain increases with increasing height. Overall there is a negative correlation between BMI and weight gain. However, women with the same BMI but different body weights and heights can differ significantly with regard to their weight gain. CONCLUSIONS Height and body weight at the beginning of pregnancy are important determinants of the weight gain. They should therefore be used when assessing the weight gain in clinical practice. Use of the BMI, however, is not appropriate. We are investigating other ways of combining body weight and height. This will be discussed in a later publication.
Improved electrical characteristics of zinc oxide thin-film with fluorine passivation

Thin-film transistors fabricated on fluorinated zinc oxide have been found to exhibit improved electrical characteristics. The dependence of the extent of the improvement on the amount of fluorine is investigated. At a fluorine concentration of ~1020/cm3, transistors with a relatively high field-effect mobility of ~71cm2/Vs, a relatively low pseudo sub-threshold slope of 0.18V/decade and improved reliability have been realized. The enhancement is attributed to the passivation of carrier traps by fluorine. Fluorine concentration in excess of ~1020/cm3 is found to degrade transistor performance.
Transcriptional control of human papillomavirus (HPV) oncogene expression: composition of the HPV type 18 upstream regulatory region

The malignant transformation potential of high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) is closely linked to the expression of the viral E6 and E7 genes. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms resulting in HPV oncogene expression, a systematic analysis of the cis-regulatory elements within the HPV type 18 (HPV18) upstream regulatory region (URR) which regulate the activity of the E6/E7 promoter was performed. As the functional behavior of a given cis-regulatory element can be strongly influenced by the overall composition of a transcriptional control region, individual elements were inactivated by site-directed mutagenesis in the physiological context of the complete HPV18 URR. Subsequently, the effects of these mutations on the activity of the E6/E7 promoter were assessed by transient transfection assays. We found that the transcriptional stimulation of the E6/E7 promoter largely depends on the integrity of cis-regulatory elements bound by AP1, SP1, and in certain epithelial cells, KRF-1. In contrast to previous reports by implying a key role for NF1 and Oct-1 recognition motifs in the stimulation of papillomavirus oncogene expression, the inactivation of these elements in the context of the HPV18 URR did not strongly affect the transcriptional activity of the E6/E7 promoter. Mutation of a promoter-proximal glucocorticoid response element completely abolished dexamethasone inducibility of the HPV18 E6/E7 promoter and resulted in an increase of its basal activity. Functional dissection of the HPV18 constitutive enhancer region indicates that its transcriptional activity is largely generated by functional synergism between a centrally located AP1 module and thus far undetected cis-active elements present in the 5' flank of the enhancer. Furthermore, comparative analyses using homologous and heterologous promoters show that the transcriptional activity of HPV18 enhancer elements is influenced by the nature of the test promoter in a cell-type-specific manner.
Miniaturized Dual-Band Negative Group Delay Circuit Using Dual-Plane Defected Structures

In this letter, a design for a dual-band negative group delay circuit (NGDC) using dual-plane U-shaped defected structures is presented. The center frequency and group delay (GD) time of each band are separately controlled by a defected microstrip structure (DMS) and a defected ground structure (DGS) with resistors connected across the DMS and DGS slots. To verify the design concept, the NGDC is designed, fabricated, and compared with the circuit simulation. To get a wideband bandwidth, two NGDCs with different center frequencies are connected in a cascade design. From the measurements, the GD times of -4.54 ±0.6 ns and -4.20 ±0.5 ns are obtained at 3.46-3.58 GHz and 5.10-5.20 GHz, respectively.
Culture Impacts the Neural Response to Perceiving Outgroups Among Black and White Faces

Outgroup members (e.g., individuals whose racial identity differs from perceivers’) are stigmatized in Eastern and Western cultures. However, it remains an open question how specific cultural influences affect stigmatization. In this study, we assessed whether cultural learning (i.e., social information acquired from the people in one’s environment) associated with Chinese individuals’ relocation to the United States differentiated the response to multiple outgroups. Two types of cultural learning predict diverging responses to outgroups – awareness of stereotypes about different racial outgroups is associated with increased negative affect and cognitive control toward the stereotyped outgroup. Conversely, intergroup contact attenuates those responses, and does so to a greater extent for individuals from Western cultures. As Chinese–Americans would have had more opportunities to have contact with both White and Black individuals (relative to the Chinese participants), we explored their responses to outgroups as well. Because the neural regions associated with stereotyping and intergroup contact have been well-characterized, we used neuroimaging to disentangle these possibilities. Eighteen White American, 18 Chinese–American, and 17 Chinese participants – who had relocated to the United States less than 1 year prior – viewed images of Black and White individuals while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants also completed measures of awareness of cultural stereotypes in the United States about Black and White individuals, implicit bias, and experiences with White and Black individuals. Behaviorally, White American and Chinese–American participants had more intergroup contact with either race than did Chinese participants, but there was no effect of participant group on stereotype knowledge or implicit bias. When viewing faces of White (as compared to Black) individuals while undergoing fMRI, White American (relative to Chinese) participants had attenuated activation in regions of the brain associated with cognitive control, including the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal striatum, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Chinese–Americans’ neural response to either race did not differ from White American or Chinese participants. Taken together, outgroup biases seemed to emerge in a culturally-dependent way based on variability in intergroup contact, but not necessarily awareness of stereotypes.
Extracellular Monomeric Tau Is Internalized by Astrocytes

Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that is expressed in neurons. However, in a group of neurodegenerative diseases named tauopathies – characterized by an increase in aggregated and/or hyperphosphorylated Tau – the protein accumulates inside other cells, such as astrocytes and microglia. Given that these glial cells do not produce Tau, its presence can be explained by internalization from the extracellular medium and consequent formation of Tau aggregates. Among internalization mechanisms, heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) have been proposed to be responsible for fibrillary Tau uptake in various cell types. Here we studied whether monomeric Tau, which has been observed to be internalized by glial cells such as microglia, was also taken up by astrocytes. Although this Tau form was internalized from the extracellular medium by these cells, the mechanism of uptake was found to be independent of HSPGs.
Effects of User Distraction Due to Secondary Calling and Texting Tasks

We conducted a study of user distraction using a simple driving game controlled by a steering wheel. Steering performance was compared in three conditions, two using distracter tasks and one without distractions. One distracter simulated answering calls on a mobile phone. The second simulated sending short text messages using a phone keypad. Both distracters were performed during the primary steering task, necessitating division of attention between two unrelated tasks. Results indicate that the text messaging distracter significantly degraded steering performance. On average, distance from the center of the “driving lane” increased by about 33%, compared to the no distracter condition. The call answering distracter resulted in about a 6% increase. Deviation during text messaging improved upon completion of a message.