Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extraluminal laryngotracheal fixation with absorbable miniplates.

OBJECTIVE To determine if miniplates made of polydioxanone can be used successfully for extraluminal laryngotracheal fixation. DESIGN Twelve rabbits underwent anterior and posterior laryngotracheofissure with extraluminal fixation of the divided segments with polydioxanone miniplates. Three control animals did not undergo plating. Animals were killed after 2, 4, and 12 weeks. Larynges were removed and examined to determine the intraluminal area and histologic status of the repair site. RESULTS The intraluminal area of the animals in the experimental group was 1.6 times that of those in the control group. The trachea was relined with respiratory mucosa by 2 weeks. Little inflammatory reaction was evident. Plate resorption was almost complete at 12 weeks. CONCLUSION Polydioxanone plating is a feasible and well-tolerated method of extraluminal laryngotracheal fixation. It may be useful in the treatment of grade 2 or 3 subglottic stenosis.
Identification of Risk Factors for Self‐Injurious Behavior in Male Prisoners *

Abstract: Male prisoners with (n = 132) and without (n = 132) histories of engaging in self‐injurious behavior (SIB) were matched on conviction prefix and custody level. Conditional logistic regression revealed that a combination of risk factors from domains defined by developmental, offense history, mental health, and institutional functioning factors correctly classified 93% of the prisoners in the sample (ROC AUC = 0.89, S.E. = 0.005, p < 0.0001). Model specificity was 92.6% and sensitivity was 95.3%. False positive and false negative rates were 2.3% and 3.4%, respectively. Implications for the assessment of prisoners at risk for SIB as well as suggested future directions for SIB prisoner research are discussed.
Effect of Niobium Doping on the Properties of Yttria-Stabilised Zirconia for Solid Electrolyte in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

8 mol % Yttria Stabillize Zirconia (8YSZ) generally used as solid electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). In this study, niobium (0, 1, 2, 3 mol%) doped 8YSZ ceramics were prepared by the conventional solid state process. The mixtures of powders were calcined, compacted into cylinderical pellets, and sintered at 1500°C for 2 hours in air atmosphere. All samples were evaluated for phase stability, microstructure and electrical conductivity. Tetragonal phase was detected as the major phase for all studied samples. With increasing in Nb addition, tetragonal and cubic phase started to transform to monoclinic phase. The introduction of Nb2O5 (more than 0.5 mol %) was not only useful to enhance the densification, but also helpful to enhanced the ionic conductivity of 8YSZ samples. SEM micrographs of niobium-doped zirconia powders indicated the coalesce of fine particles with sizes varying from 10 μm to 1 μm, in response to increasing in Nb content.
Research Agenda for Frailty in Older Adults: Toward a Better Understanding of Physiology and Etiology: Summary from the American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging Research Conference on Frailty in Older Adults

Evolving definitions of frailty, and improved understanding of molecular and physiological declines in multiple systems that may increase vulnerability in frail, older adults has encouraged investigators from many disciplines to contribute to this emerging field of research. This article reports on the results of the 2004 American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging conference on a Research Agenda on Frailty in Older Adults, which brought together a diverse group of clinical and basic scientists to encourage further investigation in this area. This conference was primarily focused on physical and physiological aspects of frailty. Although social and psychological aspects of frailty are critically important and merit future research, these topics were largely beyond the scope of this meeting. Included in this article are sections on the evolving conceptualization and definitions of frailty; physiological underpinnings of frailty, including the potential contributions of inflammatory, endocrine, skeletal muscle, and neurologic system changes; potential molecular and genetic contributors; proposed animal models; and integrative, system biology approaches that may help to facilitate future frailty research. In addition, several specific recommendations as to future directions were developed from suggestions put forth by participants, including recommendations on definition and phenotype development, methodological development to perform clinical studies of individual‐system and multiple‐system vulnerability to stressors, development of animal and cellular models, application of population‐based studies to frailty research, and the development of large collaborative networks in which populations and resources can be shared. This meeting and subsequent article were not meant to be a comprehensive review of frailty research; instead, they were and are meant to provide a more‐targeted research agenda‐setting process.
Host cell reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus in normal and repair-defective leukocytes.

Abstract Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced transformation efficiencies were quantitated for peripheral blood leukocytes from two patients with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and a patient with the related disorder Cockayne9s syndrome. By transformed centers or limiting dilution assays, there were no observed differences in transformation efficiencies between XP, Cockayne9s syndrome, or normal adult leukocytes. In contrast it was found that when either the leukocytes or the infecting EBV were UV irradiated prior to virus exposure, XP leukocytes showed a greater decrease in ability to undergo in vitro transformation. The doses of the transforming functions of the B95-8 strain of EBV lethal to 37% of the animals were 70, 725, and 750 ergs/sq mm when measured in XP, XP heterozygotic, and normal adult leukocytes, respectively. Transforming activity of UV-irradiated EBV could be partially restored by illuminating infected XP leukocytes with visible light 36 hr after virus exposure. Illumination with visible light had little effect on transformation of neonatal or normal adult leukocytes by UV-irradiated EBV. Colony formation in soft agarose by the resulting lymphoblastoid cell lines established from primary XP or Cockayne9s syndrome leukocytes showed increased sensitivity to UV-irradiation when compared to lymphoblastoid cell lines established from heterozygotic or normal individuals. These results demonstrate that EBV is similar to other herpesviruses in being subject to host cell reactivation, and the EBV-induced transformation does not require or alter these functions.
Positive Effect of Overexpressed Protein-tyrosine Phosphatase PTP1C on Mitogen-activated Signaling in 293 Cells (*)

PTP1C, an SH2 domain-containing protein-tyrosine phosphatase, is predominantly expressed in hematopoietic cells, in which it negatively regulates cellular signaling. However, this enzyme is also expressed in many non-hematopoietic cells. We demonstrate here that in non-hematopoietic 293 cells, overexpression of a catalytically inactive mutant of PTP1C strongly suppressed the stimulatory effects of the epidermal growth factor or serum on cell proliferation, early gene transcription, and DNA synthesis. Similarly, the phosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase activity was markedly inhibited by overexpression of mutant PTP1C. The inhibitory effect of mutant PTP1C was overcome by cotransfection with wild-type PTP1C, but not with the structurally related PTP2C. Furthermore, expression of the mutant phosphatase resulted in hyperphosphorylation on tyrosine of a 95-kDa protein that was co-immunoprecipitated with the mutant, but not with the wild-type protein. These results suggest that, unlike in hematopoietic cells, PTP1C in 293 cells plays a positive role in epidermal growth factor- or serum-activated mitogenesis. Thus, PTP1C participates in multiple signaling pathways, where the enzyme, depending on its target molecules, may function as either a positive or negative mediator.
Reconstructing the Transition Rate Function of a Broadwell Random Walk from Exit Times

In this paper, we utilize the layer stripping method, a method used in seismology by geophysicists, to study a stochastic inverse problem arising from a one-dimensional Broadwell process. The Broadwell process can be described as a random walk of a particle that transitions, with a spatially dependent flip rate, between two states associated with the same speed but with different signs of velocities. Our goal is to reconstruct the spatially dependent flip rate function of a one-dimensional Broadwell process from exit time distributions out of a finite interval. In principle, we are able to reconstruct flip rate functions with error within $O(10^{-2})$ from $O(10^5)$ exit times when the particle speed is unity. For smaller particle speeds, the noise increases for a fixed number of exit times. This method is less time consuming compared with traditional projection methods which involve optimization.
Self-Timed Design in GaAs - Case Study of a High-Speed, Parallel Multiplier

The problems with synchronous designs at high clock fre- quencies have been well documented. This makes an asynchronous ap- proach attractive for high speed technologies like GaAs. We investigate the issues involved by describing the design of a parallel multiplier that can be part of a floating point multiplier. We first present a new architecture called the partial army of array (PAA) that is more regular than a partial tree approach while having the same latency. We then show how this architecture can be used in a self-timed implementation in the style of micropipelines. We next describe how we can design the final carry propagate adder using a new precharged logic family in GaAs that we developed as part of this project. We conclude with some genera1 observations on doing asynchronous design in GaAs. Zndex Terms- Self-timed systems, micropipelines, multipliers, GaAs, precharged circuits.
Seasonal Cholera from Multiple Small Outbreaks, Rural Bangladesh

Clinical and environmental Vibrio cholerae organisms collected from February 2004 through April 2005 were systematically isolated from 2 rural Bangladeshi locales. Their genetic relatedness was evaluated at 5 loci that contained a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR). The observed minimal overlap in VNTR patterns between the 2 communities was consistent with sequential, small outbreaks from local sources.
Anomaly Detection in Medical Wireless Sensor Networks using SVM and Linear Regression Models

This paper details the architecture and describes the preliminary experimentation with the proposed framework for anomaly detection in medical wireless body area networks for ubiquitous patient and healthcare monitoring. The architecture integrates novel data mining and machine learning algorithms with modern sensor fusion techniques. Knowing wireless sensor networks are prone to failures resulting from their limitations i.e. limited energy resources and computational power, using this framework, the authors can distinguish between irregular variations in the physiological parameters of the monitored patient and faulty sensor data, to ensure reliable operations and real time global monitoring from smart devices. Sensor nodes are used to measure characteristics of the patient and the sensed data is stored on the local processing unit. Authorized users may access this patient data remotely as long as they maintain connectivity with their application enabled smart device. Anomalous or faulty measurement data resulting from damaged sensor nodes or caused by malicious external parties may lead to misdiagnosis or even death for patients. The authors' application uses a Support Vector Machine to classify abnormal instances in the incoming sensor data. If found, the authors apply a periodically rebuilt, regressive prediction model to the abnormal instance and determine if the patient is entering a critical state or if a sensor is reporting faulty readings. Using real patient data in our experiments, the results validate the robustness of our proposed framework. The authors further discuss the experimental analysis with the proposed approach which shows that it is quickly able to identify sensor anomalies and compared with several other algorithms, it maintains a higher true positive and lower false negative rate.
Intake of Mediterranean vegetable soup treated by pulsed electric fields affects plasma vitamin C and antioxidant biomarkers in humans

The bioavailability of vitamin C from pulsed electric fields (PEF)-treated vegetable soup in comparison with freshly made (FM) vegetable soup—gazpacho—and its impact on 8-epiPGF2α and uric acid concentrations in a human population were assessed. For this purpose six subjects consumed 500 ml PEF-treated vegetable soup/day, and six subjects consumed 500 ml FM vegetable soup/day for 14 days. On the first day of the study, the subjects drank the vegetable soup in one dose (dose–response study), and on days 2–14 they consumed 250 ml in the morning and 250 ml in the afternoon (multiple-dose–response study). Blood was collected every hour for 6 h on the first day and again on days 7 and 14. All blood samples were analyzed for vitamin C, 8-epiPGF2α, and uric acid. The maximum increase in plasma vitamin C occurred 3 h post-dose in both the PEF and the FM groups. Vitamin C remained significantly higher (P≤0.05) on days 7 and 14. The plasma 8-epiPGF2α concentration was significantly lower at the end of the study in both the PEF group (P=0.002) and the FM group (P=0.05). Plasma levels of vitamin C and 8-epiPGF2α were inversely correlated in both groups (r= − 0.549, P=0.018; and r= − 0.743, P=0.0004, respectively). To summarize, drinking two servings (500 ml) of PEF-treated or FM gazpacho daily increases plasma vitamin C and significantly decreases 8-epiPGF2α concentrations in healthy humans.
Tools for outcome prediction in patients with community acquired pneumonia

ABSTRACT Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most common causes of mortality world-wide. The mortality rate of patients with CAP is influenced by the severity of the disease, treatment failure and the requirement for hospitalization and/or intensive care unit (ICU) management, all of which may be predicted by biomarkers and clinical scoring systems. Areas covered: We review the recent literature examining the efficacy of established and newly-developed clinical scores, biological and inflammatory markers such as C-Reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6), whether used alone or in conjunction with clinical severity scores to assess the severity of CAP, predict treatment failure, guide acute in-hospital or ICU admission and predict mortality. Expert commentary: The early prediction of treatment failure using clinical scores and biomarkers plays a developing role in improving survival of patients with CAP by identifying high-risk patients requiring hospitalization or ICU admission; and may enable more efficient allocation of resources. However, it is likely that combinations of scoring systems and biomarkers will be of greater use than individual markers. Further larger studies are needed to corroborate the additive value of these markers to clinical prediction scores to provide a safer and more effective assessment tool for clinicians.
An assessment of the relationship between vasoconstrictor assay findings, clinical efficacy and skin thinning effects of a variety of undiluted and diluted corticosteroid preparations

We have evaluated a number of diluted and undiluted topical corticosteroid preparations in terms of vasoconstrictor potency, clinical efficacy and skin thinning effects. We conclude that, for the materials tested so far, an area under the curve measurement obtained from serial readings of the vasoconstrictor assay allows reasonably accurate predictions to be made concerning the relative clinical efficacy and skin thinning potential of these agents.
Temperature dependence of mechanical stiffness and dissipation in ultrananocrystalline diamond

Ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films are promising for radio frequency micro electro mechanical systems (RF-MEMS) resonators due to the extraordinary physical properties of diamond, such as high Young's modulus, quality factor, and stable surface chemistry. UNCD films used for this study are grown on 150 mm silicon wafers using hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) at 680°C. UNCD fixed free (cantilever) resonator structures designed for the resonant frequencies in the kHz range have been fabricated using conventional microfabrication techniques and are wet released. Resonant excitation and ring down measurements in the temperature range of 138 K to 300 K were conducted under ultra high vacuum (UHV) conditions in a custom built UHV AFM stage to determine the temperature dependence of Young's Modulus and dissipation (quality factor) in these UNCD cantilever structures. We measured a temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of 121 and 133 ppm/K for the cantilevers of 350 μm and 400 μm length respectively. Young's modulus of the cantilevers increased by about 3.1% as the temperature was reduced from 300 K to 138 K. This is the first such measurement for UNCD and suggests that the nanostructure plays a significant role in modifying the thermo-mechanical response of the material. The quality factor of these resonators showed a moderate increase as the cantilevers were cooled from 300 K to 138 K. The results suggest that surface and bulk defects significantly contribute to the observed dissipation in UNCD resonators.
Deep radio imaging of the SCUBA 8-mJy survey fields: submillimetre source identifications and redshift distribution

The SCUBA 8-mJy survey is the largest submillimetre (submm) extragalactic mapping survey undertaken to date, covering 260arcmin 2 to a 4� detection limit of ≃8mJy at 850µm, centred on the Lockman Hole and ELAIS N2 regions. Here, we present the results of new 1.4-GHz imaging of these fields, of the depth and resolution necessary to reliably identify radio counterparts for 18 of 30 submm sources, with possible detections of a further 25 per cent. Armed with this greatly improved positional information, we present and analyse new optical, near-infrared (IR) and XMM-Newton X-ray imaging to identify optical/IR host galaxies to half of the submm-selected sources in those fields. As many as 15 per cent of the submm sources detected at 1.4GHz are resolved by the 1.4 ′′ beam and a further 25 per cent have more than one radio counterpart, suggesting that radio and submm emission arise from extended starbursts and that interactions are common. We note that less than a quarter of the submm-selected sample would have been recovered by targeting optically faint radio sources, underlining the selective nature of such surveys. At least 60 per cent of the radio-confirmed optical/IR host galaxies appear to be morphologically distorted; many are composite systems — red galaxies with relatively blue companions; just over one half are found to be very red (I −K > 3.3) or extremely red (I −K > 4); contrary to popular belief, most are sufficiently bright to be tackled with spectrographson 8-m telescopes. We find one submm source which is associated with the steep-spectrum lobe of a radio galaxy, at least two more with flatter radio spectra typical of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN), one of them variable. The latter is amongst four sources (≡15 per cent of the full sample) with X-ray emission consistent with obscured AGN, though the AGN would need to be Compton thick to power the observed far-IR luminosity. We exploit our well-matched radio and submm data to estimate the median redshift of the S850µm ∼8mJy submm galaxy population. If the radio/far-IR correlation holds at high redshift, and our sample is unbiased, we derive a conservative limit of ≥2.0, or ≥2.4 using spectral templates more representative of known submm galaxies.
Effect of Co-pesticide on Adsorption- Desorption Process on Agricultural Soils

This work aim is to study the effect of different copesticides as Atrazine and propanil on adsorption processes on agricultural soil samples. The co-pesticides as Atrazine on adsorption behavior of metolachlor [ 2chloro-N- (2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1methylethyl) acetamide)] which is nonionic herbicide, and propanil on adsorption behavior of 2,4-D (2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) as anionic herbicide have been preformed, using batch equilibrium experiments on six agricultural soil samples. Linear and Freundlich models were used to describe the competitive sorption between the pair herbicides. Variation in adsorption affinities of the soils to the pesticides was observed. Freundlich coefficient KF values for adsorption process varied between 0.079 - 2.282 mlg -1 and 0.058- 0.720 mlg -1 for metolachlor/atrazine and 2, 4-D/propanil respectively. The sorption strength of the herbicides decreased with increasing solution concentration. A nonionic surfactant was tested for its desorption potential and was found to be fairly effective at critical micelles concentration cmc concentration with removal of more than 65% sorbed pair competitive herbicides. Freundlich coefficient for desorption process KFdes for desorption process varied between 0.209- 0.523 and 0.926- 1.296 mlg -1 for metolachlor/atrazine and 2,4D/propanil respectively. To investigate the effect of adsorption-desorption in the presence of cmc concentration of the nonionic surfactant for each pesticide alone also performed by using batch equilibrium experiments on six agricultural soil samples. The Freundlich coefficient KF in the presence of the nonionic surfactant for metolachlor and 2,4-D ranged between 0.337-0.437 and 0.001-1.012 mlg -1 for adsorption processes. The Freundlich coefficient KFdes values for desorption process in presence of the nonionic surfactant ranged from 0.209 to 0.689 mlg -1 and 0.238 to 1.442 mlg -1 for metolachlor and 2,4-D respectively.
GABA UPTAKE IN RAT CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: COMPARISON OF UPTAKE IN SLICES AND HOMOGENATES AND THE EFFECTS OF SOME INHIBITORS

Abstract— Fifty‐two substances were tested as inhibitors of the uptake of [3H]GABA in slices of rat cerebral cortex. Among GABA analogues tested, only the 2‐fluoro, 3‐hydroxy and 2‐amino compounds had affinities for the uptake mechanism comparable to that of GABA. [3H]GABA uptake was also potently inhibited by p‐chloromercuriphenylsulphonate, N‐ethylmaleimide, chlorpromazine and haloperidol. No inhibitors were found to act in a competitive manner with respect to GABA. [3H]GABA uptake was also examined in homogenates of cerebral cortex and other regions of CNS. There was a rapid uptake of [3H]GABA into particles when homogenate samples were incubated with the labelled amino acid; this uptake had similar kinetic properties and inhibitor sensitivity to that observed in slices of intact tissue. Density gradient centrifugation experiments indicated that the particles responsible for the uptake of [3H]GABA in homogenates were probably synaptosomes. Uptake of [3H]GABA also occurred in slices and homogenates of rat spinal cord, and evidence was obtained by the simultaneous labelling of homogenates with [14C]glycine and [3H]GABA that these two amino acids were taken up by different nerve terminals in this region.