Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute haemodynamic comparison of multisite and biventricular pacing with a quadripolar left ventricular lead.

AIMS Pacing from multiple sites in the left ventricle (LV) may bring about further resynchronization of the diseased heart compared with biventricular (BiV) pacing. We compared acute haemodynamic response (LV dP/dtmax) of multisite and BiV pacing using a quadripolar LV lead. METHODS AND RESULTS In 21 patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy, a quadripolar LV lead and conventional right atrial and ventricular leads were connected to an external pacing system. A guidewire pressure sensor was placed in the LV for continuous dP/dt measurement. Four multisite pacing configurations were tested three times each and compared with BiV pacing using the distal LV electrode. Nineteen patients had useable haemodynamic data. Median increase in LV dP/dtmax with BiV vs. atrial-only pacing was 8.2% (interquartile range 2.3%, 15.7%). With multisite pacing using distal and proximal LV electrodes, median increase in LV dP/dtmax was 10.2% compared with atrial-only pacing (interquartile range 6.1%, 25.6%). In 16 of 19 patients (84%), two or more of the four multisite pacing configurations increased LV dP/dtmax compared with BiV pacing. Overall, 72% of all tested configurations of multisite pacing produced greater LV dP/dtmax than obtained with BiV pacing. Pacing from most distal and proximal electrodes was the most common optimal configuration, superior to BiV pacing in 74% of patients. CONCLUSION In the majority of patients, multisite pacing improved acute systolic function further compared with BiV pacing. Pacing with the most distal and proximal electrodes of the quadripolar LV lead most commonly yielded greatest LV dP/dtmax.
Impact strength of a modified continuous glass fiber--poly(methyl methacrylate).

The effect of fiber reinforcement of autopolymerizing poly(methyl methacrylate) was investigated. The impact strength of continuous E-glass fiber-poly(methyl methacrylate) composite was determined. Rectangular test specimens (n = 10 per group) were modified by incorporating an additional fiber reinforcement of untreated E-glass fibers, silanized E-glass fibers, or aramid fibers in the test specimens. Controls were either unreinforced or reinforced from the middle of the test specimen only. The impact strength of the specimens was measured by using a charpy-type pendulum impact tester after the specimens had been stored in water at 37 degrees C for 4 weeks. After the impact strength test, the length of the delamination of poly(methyl methacrylate) from the fibers was measured and plotted to the impact strength of the test specimens by using a linear regression model. The impact strength of unreinforced autopolymerizing poly(methyl methacrylate) was 7.8 kl/m2, while incorporation of glass fiber reinforcement with a fiber concentration of 12.4 wt% increased the impact strength to 74.7 kl/m2 (P = .000). The additional fiber reinforcement of the test specimen did not affect the impact strength (P = .363). Delamination negatively correlated with the impact strength of the test specimens (r = -.72, P = .000). The results of this study suggest that glass fiber reinforcement enhanced the impact strength of autopolymerizing poly(methyl methacrylate), while the use of additional fiber reinforcement made of aramid or glass fibers in the test specimens did not have an effect on the impact strength.
Reassessing the impact of teaching assistants: how research challenges practice and policy

straightforward input/output process, and the best parts of this book are where he strives to relate a politicised critique to ‘culture as lived’ in schools. For his ultimate aim is not to debunk Marxist theorisation, but to enrich it. In the service of that aim, he reasserts the significance of human agency – admittedly with the caveat that the resistance often operates at a personal rather than a political level – but for him this still indicates that the ‘reproductive’ view of the schooling process is flawed. Importantly, Apple invites the reader to see teaching as work and to view the bureaucratisation of teachers’ work as a governmental response to teachers’ power in the education process. The implication is that regulation, measurement and the prescription of curricula are an attempt to control the mysterious process of ‘production’ that constitutes education. The book deserves its status as a classic and as such should be more widely read, not least by teacher educators and those studying on teaching qualifications who are interested in critical and Marxist theory. It is refreshing that far from glibly positioning teachers as the bad guys, working unconsciously to replicate social inequality in society, Apple sees teachers’ work and schools themselves as repositories of hope and potential agents of change. There is a lot the reader recognises in the overview of research into the responses of students to education. His use of Willis’s study of (what would now be called) ‘disaffected’ lads seems worryingly relevant in the current context with its discourse around so-called NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training), and this suggests (to this reviewer at least) that in excess of two decades of government meddling in the curriculum has failed to address some fundamental issues. Ultimately, Apple calls for a grass-roots reorganisation of education by teachers and informed by students (and their parents) that addresses issues of inequality on the basis of class, race and gender. Densely theoretical and rigorously analytical though he is, Apple never moves too far away from engagement with the real world. For me, this is a strength. His stance of optimistic activism resolves in a final urging of the reader to connect theory to practice, and while Education and Power is not a handbook on how to bring about change, it at least equips teachers with a sense of their ability to do so.
Enterovirus 71 Infection with Central Nervous System Involvement, South Korea

We assessed neurologic sequelae associated with an enterovirus 71 (EV71) outbreak in South Korea during 2009. Four of 94 patients had high signal intensities at brainstem or cerebellum on magnetic resonance imaging. Two patients died of cardiopulmonary collapse; 2 had severe neurologic sequelae. Severity and case-fatality rates may differ by EV71 genotype or subgenotype.
Unilateral Family Therapy with the Spouses of Alcoholics

The design and development of a unilateral family therapy for alcohol abuse is reported from a study of 25 spouses. Subjects were recruited from newspaper advertisements in which spouses of partners who had a drinking problem and refused to enter treatment were solicited to receive free professional assistance. Treatment embraced treatment orientation, clinical assessment, spouse role induction, abuser-directed interventions, spouse-directed interventions, and maintenance. Results indicated that the unilateral treatment program can be implemented, the spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers can be assisted to function as a positive rehabilitative influence with their alcoholic mates, and that important positive gains for the abusers and spouses can be achieved. It is concluded that the unilateral approach should be experimentally evaluated and, if results are favorable, applied with other populations.
Seeing Race: N170 Responses to Race and Their Relation to Automatic Racial Attitudes and Controlled Processing

We examined the relation between neural activity reflecting early face perception processes and automatic and controlled responses to race. Participants completed a sequential evaluative priming task, in which two-tone images of Black faces, White faces, and cars appeared as primes, followed by target words categorized as pleasant or unpleasant, while encephalography was recorded. Half of these participants were alerted that the task assessed racial prejudice and could reveal their personal bias (“alerted” condition). To assess face perception processes, the N170 component of the ERP was examined. For all participants, stronger automatic pro-White bias was associated with larger N170 amplitudes to Black than White faces. For participants in the alerted condition only, larger N170 amplitudes to Black versus White faces were also associated with less controlled processing on the word categorization task. These findings suggest that preexisting racial attitudes affect early face processing and that situational factors moderate the link between early face processing and behavior.
Thermal perturbation during charnockitization and granulite facies metamorphism in southern India

We have deduced the steady-state lithospheric geotherm at c. 1 Ga in the south Indian shield area using the available data on the concentration of radioactive elements, and the f-T conditions of Proterozoic mantle xenoliths in the south Indian kimberlites as constraints. The geotherm was adjusted back to 2.5 Ga by keeping the surface temperature constant and calculating the temperature change at the top of convecting upper mantle. The reduced or mantle heat flux, which was treated as an adjustable parameter, was 20.9-21.3 mW/m2 at 1-2.5 Ga. Comparison of the calculated steady-state geotherm with the available f -T data of the Archaean (c. 2.5 Ga) charnockites and granulites from southern India suggests that the granulite facies metamorphism in this region had resulted from a major thermal perturbation, which was c. 400" C at 25 km. Seismic tomographic and gravity data essentially preclude any significant magma underplating of the granulitic crust in southern India. Previous workers have suggested that the formation of charnockites in this region was associated with copious CO, influx from a deep-seated source, possibly the mantle. In this work, we have evaluated both the transient and steady-state thermal effects of the heat convected by CO, outgassing from upper mantle. It is shown that the thermobarometric array of charnockites and granulites can be produced by the convective perturbation of the steady-state geotherm, and that a flux of CO, of 290 mol/m2 yr (corresponding to Darcy velocity of 20.30 cm/yr) for a period of 130 Ma was needed to produce the required perturbation. This is c. 150 times the average CO, flux through the tectonically active area of the Earth's crust at the present time. There is, however, an uncertainty of a factor of 3 in this value. Seismic tomographic and gravity data independently suggest thickening of the crust beneath the granulite terrane compared with the adjacent Dharwar craton. This suggests thermal perturbation due to overthrusting as a major potential cause for the granulite facies metamorphism in south India. Overthrusting of a 30-35-km-thick thrust block was needed to produce the required thermal effect. The estimated thickness of the original crust from geobarometric and seismic tomographic data south of the orthopyroxene isograd or 'transition zone' is compatible with the emplacement of a thrust block of this magnitude. However, the latter fails to match the estimated pre-uplift crustal thickness at the transition zone, if it is assumed that the crust has not thinned by non-erosional processes since the Archaean. Thus, we propose a combination of overthrusting and CO, fluxing from a deep-seated source as the cause for the formation of charnockites in this zone. The required focusing of CO, in this case is c. 40% of that estimated in the model where CO, fluxing was considered to be the sole reason for thermal perturbation. This combined thrusting-CO, fluxing model also helps explain the development of patchy charnockites in the transition zone from amphibolite facies rocks.
the stigmatized image of the ''crack head'': a sociocultural exploration of a barrier to cocaine smoking among a cohort of youth in New York City

Using ethnographic methods and sociological theory, this article explores some reasons why a cohort of young adults have apparently eschewed the use of cocaine in an environment that would usually put them at risk for drug abuse. The diffusion of the idea ''crack head'' into drug subcultures and the stigmatized status attached to it appears to have protected some young adults from using cocaine. It is assumed that this cohort of adolescents took pride in not using crack cocaine and were acutely aware of the shame of being designated as a crack head by their peers The fear of being cast as a crack head appears to have acted as a barrier to their cocaine use.
Analyzing PJM’s economic demand response program

We analyze the economic properties of the economic demand response program in the PJM electricity market. The original program provided subsidies and side payments to customers who agreed to reduce load in a given hour. The program featured a price level or "trigger point," set at $75/MWh, at or beyond which incentive payments for load reduction were made available. No incentives were available when market prices were below the trigger point. Particularly during peak hours, such a program does save money for the system, but the subsidies involved introduce distortions into the market. We simulate demand-side bidding into the PJM market during 2006, and compare the social welfare gains with the subsidies paid to price-responsive load. We find that the largest economic effect arises through wealth transfers from generators to non price-responsive loads. Based on the incentive payment structure that was in effect through the end of 2007, we estimate that the social welfare gains exceed the distortions introduced by the subsidies. Lowering the "trigger point" increases the transfer from generators to consumers, but may result in the subsidy outweighing the social welfare gains due to load curtailment.
Prognostic Significance of the Morning Blood Pressure Surge in Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND An exaggerated morning blood pressure surge (MBPS) may be associated with stroke and other cardiovascular events, but the threshold at which an MBPS becomes pathological is unclear. This study aimed to systematically review the existing literature and establish the most appropriate definition of pathological MBPS. METHODS A MEDLINE search strategy was adapted for a range of literature databases to identify all prospective studies relating an exaggerated MBPS to cardiovascular endpoints. Hazard ratios (HRs) were extracted and synthesized using random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS The search strategy identified 2,964 unique articles, of which 17 were eligible for the study. Seven different definitions of MBPS were identified; the most common was a prewaking surge (mean blood pressure for 2 hours after wake-up minus mean blood pressure for 2 hours before wake-up; n = 6 studies). Summary meta-analysis gave no clear evidence that prewaking MBPS (defined by a predetermined threshold: >25–55mm Hg) was associated with all cardiovascular events (n = 2 studies; HR = 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.39–2.28) or stroke (n = 2 studies; HR = 1.26, 95% CI = 0.92–1.71). However, using a continuous scale, which has more power to detect an association, there was evidence that a 10 mm Hg increase in MBPS was related to an increased risk of stroke (n = 3 studies; HR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.03–1.20). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that when measured and analyzed as a continuous variable, increasing levels of MBPS may be associated with increased risk of stroke. Large, protocol-driven individual patient data analyses are needed to accurately define this relationship further.
The effect of prior accounting education: some evidence from New Zealand

The advantage provided by prior accounting study at school in the corresponding first-level university course has been extensively studied. However, only one study (Schroeder, 1986) has examined the effect of the amount of prior study. This paper seeks to determine whether extra years of prior study conferred an advantage with a sample from New Zealand. The results were in conflict with those of Schroeder (1986). Tentative explanations are offered.
Adhesion and invasion of bovine endothelial cells by Neospora caninum

Summary Neospora caninum is a recently identified coccidian parasite which was, until 1988, misdiagnosed as Toxoplasma gondii. It causes paralysis and death in dogs and neonatal mortality and abortion in cattle, sheep, goats and horses. The life-cycle of Neospora has not yet been elucidated. The only two stages identified so far are tissue cysts and intracellularly dividing tachyzoites. Very little is known about the biology of this species. We have set up a fluorescence-based adhesion/invasion assay in order to investigate the interaction of N. caninum tachyzoites with bovine aorta endothelial (BAE) cells in vitro. Treatment of both host cells and parasites with metabolic inhibitors determined the metabolic requirements for adhesion and invasion. Chemical and enzymatic modifications of parasite and endothelial cell surfaces were used in order to obtain information on the nature of cell surface components responsible for the interaction between parasite and host. Electron microscopical investigations defined the ultrastructural characteristics of the adhesion and invasion process, and provided information on the intracellular development of the parasites.
Ontology Based Business Simulations

Within business games there is a need to provide realistic feedback for decisions made, if such business games are to continue to remain relevant in increasingly complex business environments. We address this problem by using software agents to simulate individuals and to model their actions in response to business decisions. In our initial studies we have used software agents to simulate consumers who make buying decisions based on their private preferences and those prevalent within their social network. This approach can be applied to search for behavioural patterns in social structures and to verify predicted values based on a priori theoretical considerations. Individual behaviour can be modelled for each agent and its effects within the marketplace can be examined by running simulations. Our simulations are founded upon the BDI software model (belief-desire-intention) combined with ontologies to make world knowledge available to the agents which can then determine their actions in accordance with this knowledge. We demonstrate how ontologies can be integrated into the BDI concept utilising the Jadex agent framework. Our examples are based upon the simulation of market mechanisms within the context of different industries. We use a framework, developed previously, known as AGADE within which each agent evolves its knowledge using an ontology maintained during the simulation. This generic approach allows the simulation of various consumer scenarios which can be modelled by creating appropriate ontologies.
Continuous Video to Simple Signals for Swimming Stroke Detection with Convolutional Neural Networks

In many sports, it is useful to analyse video of an athlete in competition for training purposes. In swimming, stroke rate is a common metric used by coaches; requiring a laborious labelling of each individual stroke. We show that using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) we can automatically detect discrete events in continuous video (in this case, swimming strokes). We create a CNN that learns a mapping from a window of frames to a point on a smooth 1D target signal, with peaks denoting the location of a stroke, evaluated as a sliding window. To our knowledge this process of training and utilizing a CNN has not been investigated before; either in sports or fundamental computer vision research. Most research has been focused on action recognition and using it to classify many clips in continuous video for action localisation. ,,,,,,In this paper we demonstrate our process works well on the task of detecting swimming strokes in the wild. However, without modifying the model architecture or training method, the process is also shown to work equally well on detecting tennis strokes, implying that this is a general process. ,,,,,,The outputs of our system are surprisingly smooth signals that predict an arbitrary event at least as accurately as humans (manually evaluated from a sample of negative results). A number of different architectures are evaluated, pertaining to slightly different problem formulations and signal targets.
Determinants of general fatigue and emotional exhaustion: a prospective study

The present study was undertaken to determine the factors that predict general fatigue and emotional exhaustion over two years. Because fatigue is hypothesized to be persistent, general fatigue and emotional exhaustion at baseline were included as predictors. A model of mediators and moderators of the stress-health relationship (Taylor and Aspinwall, 1996), was employed to select the other variables. A sample of the Dutch working population (N = 325) completed questionnaires concerning demographic variables, personality and temperament, work pressure and workload, perceived social support, perceived stress, and coping strategies. Emotional exhaustion and general fatigue, measured two years later, were the outcome variables. Structural equation modeling indicated that general fatigue and emotional exhaustion are rather persistent. Furthermore, workload predicted both emotional exhaustion and general fatigue. Finally, emotional exhaustion was predicted by hardiness, whereas general fatigue was predicted by strength of inhibition.
Adhesion molecules in common variable immunodeficiency (CVID)—a decrease in L‐selectin‐positive T lymphocytes

CVID is immunologically characterized by defective antibody production. Various additional immunological abnormalities have been reported, but little is known of the role of adhesion molecules in CVID. In 31 CVID patients serum levels of L‐selectin (CD62L), vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 (VCAM‐1) (CD106) and intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) (CD54) were significantly elevated compared with controls. In 15 CVID patients investigated, the number of L‐selectin‐positive cells was significantly reduced in both CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes compared with controls, and these changes were observed in both CD45RA+ and CD45RO+ subsets. In CD19+ lymphocytes the percentage of ICAM‐1+ cells was significantly increased compared with controls. Fifty percent of the patients had splenomegaly. These patients demonstrated even higher serum levels of adhesion molecules, a lower percentage of L‐selectin‐positive and a higher percentage of CD38+ cells in many T lymphocyte subsets compared with both other CVID patients and controls. Finally, in this patient group the percentage of L‐selectin‐positive CD19+ lymphocytes was significantly reduced compared with both other patients and controls. These findings indicate a state of ongoing T lymphocyte activation in CVID, especially in the subgroup of patients with splenomegaly, which may contribute to the impaired anti‐microbial defence observed in these patients.