Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protein profiling of anastomosed facial nerve treated with mesenchymal stromal cells.

BACKGROUND AIMS The types of proteins released from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are still unclear. Our aim was to compare apoptosis scores and the expression of myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), myelin basic protein (MBP), neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM)-1,matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1A, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1, TIMP-1/MMP-1A ratio, nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), neurotrophin (NT)-3, NT-4, glial cell-derived neurotropic factor (GDNF), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-α and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in anastomosed facial nerves that had been treated with or without MSC. METHODS In seven rats, the buccal branch of the right facial nerve was transected, anastomosed and treated with MSC (anastomosed + MSC group). The left buccal branch was anastomosed only (anastomosed-only group). The left mandibular branch served as an intact nerve group. On days 18-20, the distal segments of the branches were examined in terms of expression of the mentioned proteins and apoptosis scores using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated digoxigenin-UTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assays. RESULTS MSC application significantly increased CNTF, PDGF-α, LIF, TGF-β1, BDNF and NT-3 expression (P < 0.05). MAG expression slightly decreased whereas NCAM-1, MMP-1A and FGF-2 slightly increased(P > 0.05). Changes in other proteins and apoptosis scores were not significant. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that MSC increases expression of CNTF, PDGF-α, LIF,TGF-β1, BDNF and NT-3. MAG, NCAM-1, MMP-1A and FGF-2 expressions were slightly changed in this stage of nerve regeneration. The comparison of apoptotic activity was not conclusive. Overall, it appears that MSC might have differential effects on the mentioned tissue-related proteins and trophic/growth factors.
Mass Models for Low Surface Brightness Galaxies with High-Resolution Optical Velocity Fields

We present high-resolution optical velocity fields from DensePak integral field spectroscopy, along with derived rotation curves, for a sample of low surface brightness galaxies. In the limit of no baryons, we fit the NFW and pseudoisothermal halo models to the data and find the rotation curve shapes and halo central densities to be better described by the isothermal halo. For those galaxies with photometry, we present halo fits for three assumptions of the stellar mass-to-light ratio, Υ*. We find that the velocity contribution from the baryons is significant enough in the maximum disk case that maximum disk and the NFW halo are mutually exclusive. We find a substantial cusp mass excess at the centers of the galaxies, with at least 2 times more mass expected in the cuspy CDM halo than is allowed by the data. We also find that to reconcile the data with ΛCDM, ~20 km s−1 noncircular motions are needed and/or the power spectrum has a lower amplitude on the scales that we probe.
Rapid Medical Assessment: Improving Pediatric Emergency Department Time to Provider, Length of Stay, and Left Without Being Seen Rates

Objectives This article aimed to study the impact of a rapid medical assessment (RMA) program on patient flow and left without being seen (LWBS) rates in a pediatric emergency department (ED). RMA is designed to evaluate and discharge uncomplicated patients quickly or initiate diagnostic workup and treatment before the patient is placed in an ED bed. Methods Rapid medical assessment was initiated January 1, 2008 with an assigned midlevel provider. We compared 6 months of data from January 1 to June 30, 2007 (pre-RMA), to January 1 to June 30, 2008 (post-RMA). Data studied were obtained from a tracking system and include the time to provider, ED length of stay, and the LWBS rate. t Test was used to compare results, and &khgr;2 test was used to compare LWBS rates. Results During the study period, there were 28,360 patients seen in 2007 and 32,053 in 2008. Time to provider mean time was 80 minutes (median = 57) in 2007 and 53 minutes (median = 39) in 2008, with a difference of 27 minutes (95% confidence interval, 25–28 minutes). Mean length of stay in 2007 was 239 minutes (median = 220) compared to 181 minutes (median = 162) in 2008, with a difference of 58 minutes (95% confidence interval, 56–60 minutes). The LWBS rate decreased from 9% in 2007 to 3% in 2008 (&khgr;2 P < 0.01). Conclusions Rapid medical assessment is an effective way to improve patient flow and reduce the LWBS rate. A decrease in the LWBS rate allows the ED to provide health care to these potentially high-risk patients.
The Impact of Website Quality and Perceived Trust on Customer Purchase Intention in the Hotel Sector: Website Brand and Perceived Value as Moderators

This study investigates the relationships among website quality, website brand, perceived trust, perceived value, and purchase intention in the hotel industry. The study sample was a target chain hotel in Taiwan (i.e., Sheraton). A statistical analysis of the collected questionnaires was computed from a web-based survey. Using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, the results reveal that perceived trust is positively influenced by website quality, and purchase intention is positively influenced by perceived trust. Therefore, purchase intention is indirectly influenced by website quality through the mediator of perceived trust. Furthermore, the relationship between website quality and perceived trust is stronger for customers who perceive better website brand while the relationship between perceived trust and purchase intention is found to be stronger for customers who perceive high service value. According to the findings, the implications and future research directions are provided.
Relationships between the T-peak to T-end interval, ventricular tachyarrhythmia, and death in left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

AIMS The interval between the T-wave's peak and end (Tpe), an electrocardiographic (ECG) index of ventricular repolarization, has been proposed as an indicator of arrhythmic risk. We aimed to clarify the clinical usefulness of Tpe for risk stratification. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated 327 patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 35% (75% male, LVEF 23 ± 7%). All patients had an implanted implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Clinical data and ECGs were analysed at baseline. Prospective follow-up for the endpoints of appropriate ICD therapy and mortality was conducted via periodic device interrogation, chart review, and the Social Security Death Index. During device clinic follow-up of 17 ± 12 months, 59 (18%) patients had appropriate ICD therapy, and during mortality follow-up of 30 ± 13 months, 67 (21%) patients died. A longer Tpe(c) predicted appropriate ICD therapy, death, and the combination of appropriate ICD therapy or death (P< 0.01 for each endpoint). On multivariable analysis correcting for other univariable predictors, Tpe(c) remained predictive of ICD therapy [hazard ratio (HR) per 10 ms increase: 1.16, P= 0.02], all-cause mortality (HR per 10 ms: 1.14, P= 0.03), and the composite endpoint of ICD therapy or death (HR per 10 ms: 1.16, P< 0.01). CONCLUSIONS In patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction and an implanted ICD, Tpe(c) independently predicts both ventricular tachyarrhythmia and overall mortality.
Evaluation of Blood Agar Microtiter Plates for Culturing Leishmania Parasites To Titrate Parasite Burden in Spleen and Peripheral Blood of Patients with Visceral Leishmaniasis

ABSTRACT Serial dilution of blood and spleen biopsy specimens, plated on Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle (NNN) blood agar using microtiter culture plates, is a sensitive and reproducible method for detection and growth of Leishmania parasites. Plates could be easily monitored, and growth could be rapidly detected. Moreover, parasite number may be estimated using this technique.
Static and dynamic spin-torque-diode sensitivity induced by the thermoelectric charge and spin currents in magnetic tunnel junctions

Based on the quantum-mechanical transport calculations of the charge and spin fluxes associated with the inhomogeneous thermal heating of three-dimensional structure of MTJ by the input RF microwave power, finite-element analysis of the thermal contribution to the spin-torque sensitivity of MTJ was carried out in the case of zero bias current. Within the magnon-induced spin-transfer torque model, the amplification of DC rectifying voltage in the spin-torque diode initiated by the spin pumping to the tunnel barrier from magnons was also estimated. The results obtained can be used for the development of new types of microwave detectors based on spin thermoelectric effects in MTJ.
The Outcome and Efficacy of Recanalization in Patients with Acute Internal Carotid Artery Occlusion

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Acute occlusion of the ICA is often associated with poor outcomes and severe neurologic deficits. This study was conducted to evaluate outcome of the occluded ICA and efficacy of recanalization under protective flow arrest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty consecutive patients who underwent endovascular treatment for acute ICA occlusion were identified from the prospectively collected data base. We assessed NIHSSo, occlusion type (cardioembolism vs atherosclerosis), occlusion level (supraclinoid-terminal, petrocavernous, or bulb-cervical), recanalization degree (TICI), and efficacy of recanalization (protective flow arrest vs nonprotection) leading to better outcome. RESULTS: Successful recanalization (TICI ≥ 2) was obtained in 90% of patients and good recovery (mRS ≤ 2) in 60% of patients. Good outcome was related to National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score on admission (P < .001), TICI (P < .007), occlusion type (P = .022), and occlusion level (P = .038). Poor initial patient status, less recanalization, cardioembolism, and supraclinoid-terminal occlusion were associated with poor prognosis. Application of protective flow arrest led to better outcome in the distal ICA segment than in the bulb-cervical segment. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the initial patient status and successful recanalization, the occlusion level or type of the occluded ICA could affect clinical outcome. In this study, treatment benefits of protective flow arrest were accentuated in patients with ICA occlusion above the bulb-cervical segment.
Hydrogen sulphide production by bacteria.

SUMMARY: Hydrogen sulphide production by growing cultures and non-multiplying suspensions was compared and the factors influencing the sensitivity of the tests were investigated. Cysteine hydrochloride (0.01%) was added to Lemco broth to provide a medium with a standard source of sulphur. H2S was detected with lead acetate papers more readily than by lead acetate agar. Suspensions were tested with cysteine, sodium thiosulphate and sodium sulphite; the organisms investigated were mainly Bacteriaceae and seldom failed to produce H2S from cysteine; sodium thiosulphate was less readily attacked; sodium sulphite was unsuitable for this technique. Media commonly used for testing the capacity of bacteria to produce H2S are reviewed and the value of this test in bacterial classification discussed.
PARADOXES, DUALITIES AND DILEMMAS: UNDERSTANDING SUSTAINABILITY IN HRM

The paper contributes to the emerging literature linking sustainability as a concept to problems researched in HRM literature. Sustainability is often equated with social responsibility. However, emphasizing mainly moral or ethical values neglects that sustainability can also be economically rational. This conceptual paper discusses how the notion of sustainability has developed and emerged in HRM literature. A typology of sustainability concepts in HRM is presented to advance theorizing in the field of Sustainable HRM. The concepts of paradox, duality, and dilemma are reviewed to contribute to understanding the emergence of sustainability in HRM. It is argued in this paper that sustainability can be applied as a concept to cope with the tensions of short- vs. long-term HRM and to make sense of paradoxes, dualities, and dilemmas. Furthermore, it is emphasized that the dualities cannot be reconciled when sustainability is interpreted in a way that leads to ignorance of one of the values or logics. Implications for further research and modest suggestions for managerial practice are derived.
Natural Phytochemicals in the Treatment and Prevention of Dementia: An Overview

The word dementia describes a class of heterogeneous diseases which etiopathogenetic mechanisms are not well understood. There are different types of dementia, among which, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are the more common. Currently approved pharmacological treatments for most forms of dementia seem to act only on symptoms without having profound disease-modifying effects. Thus, alternative strategies capable of preventing the progressive loss of specific neuronal populations are urgently required. In particular, the attention of researchers has been focused on phytochemical compounds that have shown antioxidative, anti-amyloidogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties and that could represent important resources in the discovery of drug candidates against dementia. In this review, we summarize the neuroprotective effects of the main phytochemicals belonging to the polyphenol, isothiocyanate, alkaloid and cannabinoid families in the prevention and treatment of the most common kinds of dementia. We believe that natural phytochemicals may represent a promising sources of alternative medicine, at least in association with therapies approved to date for dementia.
Improving Perceptual Multimedia Quality with an Adaptable Communication Protocol

Innovations and developments in networking technology have been driven by technical considerations with little analysis of the benefit to the user. In this paper we argue that network parameters that define the network Quality of Service (QoS) must be driven by user-centric parameters such as user expectations and requirements for multimedia transmitted over a network. To this end a mechanism for mapping user-oriented parameters to network QoS parameters is outlined. The paper surveys existing methods for mapping user requirements to the network. An adaptable communication system is implemented to validate the mapping. The architecture adapts to varying network conditions caused by congestion so as to maintain user expectations and requirements. The paper also surveys research in the area of adaptable communications architectures and protocols. Our results show that such a user-biased approach to networking does bring tangible benefits to the user.
Early Peritonitis is an Independent Risk Factor for Mortality in Elderly Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background/Aims: The impact of early peritonitis on the outcome of elderly peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients has not been studied. We aimed to research the influence of early peritonitis on patient outcomes in elderly PD patients. Methods: This study involved elderly PD patients (age ≥65) who underwent PD between Jan 1, 2004 and Jul 31, 2013. Patient characteristics were collected in our database. Early peritonitis was defined as peritonitis within 6 months after the initiation of PD. Patient survival and technique were compared among the non-peritonitis, early peritonitis and late peritonitis groups using Cox regression analysis. Results: There were 155 subjects involved in this study. The patients were divided among a non-peritonitis group (n=78), early peritonitis group (n=32) and late peritonitis group (n=45). The organisms causing first peritonitis in the two groups did not differ significantly. After adjustment for age, diabetes, serum albumin and residual renal function, multivariable Cox regression model revealed that compared with the early peritonitis group, both the non-peritonitis group (HR 0.57, RI 0.32-0.99, p=0.046) and the late peritonitis group (HR 0.37, RI 0.16-0.75, p=0.004) exhibited a lower patient mortality rate. Conclusions: Early peritonitis is an independent risk factor for mortality in elderly peritoneal dialysis patients.
Crystallographic studies of inter- and intramolecular interactions reflected in aromatic character of .pi.-electron systems

An old quantitative measureof aromaticcharacter named HOMA (harmonic oscillator measureof aromaticity) is reformulated and related to the Jug and Koester concept of resonance coordinate. In its new version, the HOMA index can be used to estimate an aromatic character of r-electron systems (molecules, ions, or their fragments) built up of the following bonds: CC, CN, CO, CP, CS, NN, and NO. It is shown that even if aromatic stabilization is due to a-electron structure inclined to maintain equal bond lengths, the aromatic character is mainly a result of r-electron properties of the system. Application of the HOMA index to benzene rings in various molecular and ionic systems showed that the aromatic character depends rather weakly on deformation from planarity whereas it may be strongly dependent on the intermolecular H-bonding net as well as on cooperative substituent interactions of push-pull type and on the topology of a mutual link between benzene rings in condensed benzenoid hydrocarbons,
Outcome of Twin pregnancy in women ≥45 years old: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract Objective: To investigate prematurity rate in women aged ≥45 carrying a twin pregnancy. Other maternal and neonatal outcomes are also described. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Women delivering a twin pregnancy at a single tertiary medical center. Population: The study included all women aged 45 years and over carrying a twin pregnancy who delivered at 20 weeks gestation or beyond over a 9-year period from May 2000 to May 2009. Methods: Women aged 45 years and over were identified, all conceived by in vitro fertilization with ovum donation. The study group was compared to a control group of women <40 years with twin pregnancies conceived by IVF who delivered during the same time period. Main outcome measure(s): Maternal complications during pregnancy and neonatal outcome. Results: During the study period 32 women ≥45 years delivered twins. The control group included 109 women. The rate of delivery before 37 weeks as well as before 32 weeks were very high in our study group (65% versus 40%, p = 0.01 and 15% versus 5.0%, p = 0.05, respectively). The rate of maternal life-threatening complications including blood product transfusion and maternal admission to the intensive care unit were also significantly higher in our study group compared to the control group (18% versus 2%, p = 0.018 and 6.3% versus none, p = 0.05). Conclusions: Women ≥45 years old with twin pregnancy carry a higher risk of maternal and perinatal complications.
QoS Ranking Prediction for Cloud Services

Cloud computing is becoming popular. Building high-quality cloud applications is a critical research problem. QoS rankings provide valuable information for making optimal cloud service selection from a set of functionally equivalent service candidates. To obtain QoS values, real-world invocations on the service candidates are usually required. To avoid the time-consuming and expensive real-world service invocations, this paper proposes a QoS ranking prediction framework for cloud services by taking advantage of the past service usage experiences of other consumers. Our proposed framework requires no additional invocations of cloud services when making QoS ranking prediction. Two personalized QoS ranking prediction approaches are proposed to predict the QoS rankings directly. Comprehensive experiments are conducted employing real-world QoS data, including 300 distributed users and 500 real-world web services all over the world. The experimental results show that our approaches outperform other competing approaches.
Study of Solidification Cracking Susceptibility during Laser Welding in an Advanced High Strength Automotive Steel

Susceptibility to weld solidification cracking in transformation-induced plasticity steel sheets was studied using a modified standard hot cracking test used in the automotive industry. To vary the amount of self-restraint, bead-on-plate laser welding was carried out on a single-sided clamped specimen at increasing distances from the free edge. Solidification cracking was observed when welding was carried out close to the free edge. With increasing amount of restraint, the crack length showed a decreasing trend, and at a certain distance, no cracking was observed. With the aid of a finite element-based model, dynamic thermal and mechanical conditions that prevail along the transverse direction of the mushy zone are used to explain the cracking susceptibility obtained experimentally. The results indicate that the transverse strain close to the fusion boundary can be used as a criterion to predict the cracking behavior. The outcome of the study shows that optimum processing parameters can be used to weld steels closer to the free edge without solidification cracking.
Evaluating integrated healthcare for refugees and hosts in an African context

Abstract: This paper argues on ethical and practical grounds for more widespread use of an integrated approach to refugee healthcare, and proposes a basic model of assessment for integrated systems. A defining element of an integrated approach is an equal ability by refugee and host nationals to access the same healthcare resources from the same providers. This differs fundamentally from parallel care, currently the predominant practice in Africa. The authors put forward a general model for evaluation of integrated healthcare with four criteria: (1) improved health outcomes for both hosts and refugees, (2) increased social integration, (3) increased equitable use of healthcare resources, and (4) no undermining of protection. Historical examples of integrated care in Ethiopia and Uganda are examined in light of these criteria to illustrate how this evaluative model would generate evidence currently lacking in debates on the merit of integrated healthcare.
Natural convection heat transfer in heat exchangers with vertical helical coils.

Natural convection heat transfer was studied in shell-and-coil heat exchangers. One or more helical coils were installed in a cylindrical shell to form a natural convection shell-and-coil heat exchanger. A heated aqueous solution of 40% propylene glycol was pumped through the coils. Water from a storage tank circulated naturally on the shell side of the heat exchanger. The helical coils were made of copper tubes of 4.76, 6.35, 7.94 and 9.52 mm outer diameter. Coil outer diameter was varied from 35.7 to 74.5 mm and coil pitch from 1.00 to 5.96 tube diameters. Two shell diameters of 51 and 77 mm were tested and the shell height was either 382 or 762 mm. Experiments were conducted for glycol mass flow rates from 0.00185 to 0.0343 kg/s and heat transfer rates from 160 to 2300 W.