Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Transepicondylar Axis Approximates the Optimal Flexion Axis of the Knee

The traditional understanding of knee kinematics holds that no single fixed axis of rotation exists in the knee. In contrast, a recent hypothesis suggests that knee kinematics are better described simply as two simultaneous rotations occurring about fixed axes. Knee flexion and extension occurs about an optimal flexion axis fixed in the femur, whereas tibial internal and external rotations occur about a longitudinal rotation axis fixed in the tibia. No other translations or rotations exist. This hypothesis has been tested. Tibiofemoral kinematics were measured for 15 cadaveric knees undergoing a realistic loadbearing activity (simulated squatting). An optimizing technique was used to identify the locations of the optimal flexion and longitudinal rotation axes such that simultaneous rotations about them could best represent the measured kinematics. The optimal flexion axis was compared with the transepicondylar axis defined by bony landmarks. The longitudinal rotation axis was found to pass through the medial joint compartment. The optimal flexion axis passed through the centers of the posterior femoral condyles. No significant difference was found between the optimal flexion and transepicondylar axes. To an average accuracy of better than 3.4 mm in translation, and 2.9° in orientation, knee kinematics were represented successfully by simple rotations about the optimal flexion and longitudinal rotation axes. The optimal flexion axis is fixed in the femur and can be considered the true flexion axis of the knee. The transepicondylar axis axis, which is identified easily by palpation, closely approximates the optimal flexion axis.
Role of bcl-2 in Epstein-Barr Virus-Induced Malignant Conversion of Burkitt's Lymphoma Cell Line Akata

ABSTRACT We have demonstrated that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) confers enhanced growth capability in soft agarose, tumorigenesis in the SCID mouse, and resistance to apoptosis in the Burkitt's lymphoma cell line Akata. Subsequently, we have shown that EBV-encoded small RNAs (EBERs) are responsible for these phenotypes. We constantly observed the upregulation of bcl-2 oncoprotein expression upon EBV infection and expression of EBERs. To test whether these phenotypes were due to the upregulation of bcl-2 expression, we introduced bcl-2 into EBV-negative Akata cells at various levels encompassing the range at which EBV-positive cells expressed it. As cells expressed bcl-2 at higher levels, they became more capable of growing in soft agarose and became resistant to apoptosis. However, clones expressing bcl-2 at a higher level than EBV-positive Akata cells were negative in the tumorigenesis assay in the SCID mouse. On the other hand, introduction of bax into EBV-positive Akata cells reduced the resistance to apoptosis; however, it failed to reduce the growth capability in soft agarose. These data indicate that EBV targets not only bcl-2, but also an unknown pathway(s) to enhance the oncogenic potential of Akata cells.
Prognostic Significance of Intratumour Microvessel Density and Haemoglobin Level in Carcinoma of the Uterine Cervix

The prognostic significance of intratumour microvessel density (IMD) and haemoglobin (Hb) level was studied in 152 (FIGO stage IB -IIIB) cervical cancer patients before radiotherapy. Patients' age and tumour stage, grade and degree of keratinization were also studied. IMD measurement expressed as the mean vessel count per 1 mm 2 was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumour biopsies stained with anti-factor VIII antibody (DAKO Ltd.) using immunohistochemistry and the vascular hot-spot technique. The median age of patients was 55 years (29-80). Median values for IMD and Hb level were: 142.5 (range 56.3-476.6) vessels/mm 2 and 129 (range 81-160) g/l, respectively. The median time of follow-up was 26 months, with a range of 2-145 months. Tumour stage (p=0.7009), grade (p=0.6660) and degree of keratinization (0.2669) were not significant in the Kaplan-Meier univariate analysis. However, patients' age >50 years (p=0.0079), high vascularity (IMD >190.0 vessels/mm 2 , minimal cut-off point, p=0.0503) and Hb concentration >116 g/l (p=0.0213) were favourable prognostic factors for cervical cancer treated with radiotherapy. In the Cox multivariate analysis only higher vascularity (IMD>190/mm 2 and Hb concentration >116 g/l were favourable prognostic factors in terms of patients' survival. However, when a Cox analysis was done separately for keratinizing and non-keratinizing tumours, it was found that higher vascularity was significant only for keratinizing, and higher Hb level only for non-keratinizing cancers.
Development of a Panel of Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assays for Detection of Biothreat Agents

ABSTRACT Syndromic panels for infectious disease have been suggested to be of value in point-of-care diagnostics for developing countries and for biodefense. To test the performance of isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assays, we developed a panel of 10 RPAs for biothreat agents. The panel included RPAs for Francisella tularensis, Yersinia pestis, Bacillus anthracis, variola virus, and reverse transcriptase RPA (RT-RPA) assays for Rift Valley fever virus, Ebola virus, Sudan virus, and Marburg virus. Their analytical sensitivities ranged from 16 to 21 molecules detected (probit analysis) for the majority of RPA and RT-RPA assays. A magnetic bead-based total nucleic acid extraction method was combined with the RPAs and tested using inactivated whole organisms spiked into plasma. The RPA showed comparable sensitivities to real-time RCR assays in these extracts. The run times of the assays at 42°C ranged from 6 to 10 min, and they showed no cross-detection of any of the target genomes of the panel nor of the human genome. The RPAs therefore seem suitable for the implementation of syndromic panels onto microfluidic platforms.
But ASR system for BABEL Surprise evaluation 2014

The paper describes Brno University of Technology (BUT) ASR system for 2014 BABEL Surprise language evaluation (Tamil). While being largely based on our previous work, two original contributions were brought: (1) speaker-adapted bottle-neck neural network (BN) features were investigated as an input to DNN recognizer and semi-supervised training was found effective. (2) Adding of noise to training data outperformed a classical de-noising technique while dealing with noisy test data was found beneficial, and the performance of this approach was verified on a relatively clean training/test data setup from a different language. All results are reported on BABEL 2014 Tamil data.
Nurses' knowledge of the code for nurses.

"Investigation of Professionalism in Nursing Behaviors" was funded by the Beta Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International and the College of Nursing, Arizona State University. Researchers asked 514 nurses in eight western states if they had a copy of the Code For Nurses. Most respondents did not have a copy of the Code; however, they indicated that adherence to the Code was essential to the professional nurse. Years of practice, educational background, participation in autonomous activities, and present position were variables used to determine those respondents most likely to possess a copy of the Code. Implications for continuing educators are discussed.
Comparative Evaluation of Efficacy and Tolerability of Glycolic Acid, Salicylic Mandelic Acid, and Phytic Acid Combination Peels in Melasma

BACKGROUND Melasma is acquired symmetric hypermelanosis characterized by light-to-deep brown pigmentation over cheeks, forehead, upper lip, and nose. Treatment of this condition is difficult and associated with high recurrence rates. Chemical peels have become a popular modality in the treatment of melasma. OBJECTIVE To compare the therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of glycolic acid (35%) versus salicylic-mandelic (SM) acid (20% salicylic/10% mandelic acid) versus phytic combination peels in Indian patients with melasma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ninety patients diagnosed with melasma were randomly assigned into 3 groups of 30 patients each. Group A received glycolic acid (GA-35%) peel, Group B received SM acid, and Group C received phytic combination peels. Each group was primed with 4% hydroquinone and 0.05% tretinoin cream for 4 weeks before treatment. Chemical peeling was done after every 14 days in all groups until 12 weeks. Clinical evaluation using melasma area and severity index (MASI) score and photography was recorded at every visit and follow-up was done until 20 weeks. RESULTS There was a decrease in MASI score in all 3 groups but it was statistically significantly lower in Group A than Group C (p = .00), and it was also statistically significantly lower in Group B than Group C (p = .00) but there was no statistically significant difference between Groups A and B (p = .876). Objective response to treatment evaluated by reduction in MASI scoring after 12 weeks was 62.36% reduction in GA group, 60.98% reduction in SM group, and 44.71% in phytic acid group. CONCLUSION It is concluded that GA (35%) and SM acid peels are both equally efficacious and a safe treatment modality for melasma in Indian skin, and are more effective than phytic acid peels. Salicylic-mandelic peels are better tolerated and more suitable for Indian skin.
Large Vector Auto Regression for Multi-Layer Spatially Correlated Time Series

Abstract. One of the most commonly used methods for modeling multivariate time series is the Vector Autoregressive Model (VAR). VAR is generally used to identify lead, lag and contemporaneous relationships describing Granger causality within and between time series. In this paper, we investigate VAR methodology for analyzing data consisting of multilayer time series which are spatially interdependent. When modeling VAR relationships for such data, the dependence between time series is both a curse and a blessing. The former because it requires modeling the between time series correlation or the contemporaneous relationships which may be challenging when using likelihood-based methods. The latter because the spatial correlation structure can be used to specify the lead-lag relationships within and between time series, within and between layers. To address these challenges, we propose a L1\L2 regularized likelihood estimation method. The lead, lag and contemporaneous relationships are estimated using an efficient algorithm that exploits sparsity in the VAR structure, accounts for the spatial dependence and models the error dependence. We assess the performance of the proposed VAR model and compare it with existing methods within a simulation study. We also consider a case study to illustrate the applicability of our method.
Essentials in brain connectivity

Imaging Neuroscience is aiming to reveal functional changes, that is, changes in brain activity, and structural changes, which address changes in neuroanatomy. There is a growing interest in defining functional interactions of different brain regions based on the increased sensitivity and specificity of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The present contribution is a brief overview of the trends in brain connectivity research driven by the development of several techniques derived from fMRI.
Microfibril-Associated Glycoprotein-1 Controls Human Ciliary Zonule Development In Vitro

The ciliary zonule in the eye, also known as Zinn’s zonule, is composed of oxytalan fibers, which are bundles of microfibrils consisting mainly of fibrillin-1. However, it is still unclear which of the microfibril-associated molecules present in the ciliary zonule controls oxytalan fibers. Microfibril-associated glycoprotein-1 (MAGP-1) is the only microfibril-associated molecule identified in the human ciliary zonule. In the present study, we used siRNA against MAGP-1 in cultures of human non-pigmented ciliary epithelial cells to examine the extracellular deposition and appearance of fibrillin-1 employing Western blotting and immunofluorescence. MAGP-1 suppression led to a reduction of fibrillin-1 deposition. Immunofluorescence also confirmed that RNAi-mediated down-regulation of MAGP-1 led to suppression of fiber development. These results suggest that MAGP-1 plays a crucial role in the extracellular deposition of fibrillin-1 during formation of the human ciliary zonule.
An efficient algorithm for downconverting multiple bandpass signals using bandpass sampling

Bandpass sampling is a useful alternative for direct digital downconversion in software radio. It significantly relaxes the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) sampling rate requirement and facilitates the design goal of moving the ADC as close as possible to the antenna. This paper presents a modified interpretation to the graph of allowable sampling frequencies in uniform bandpass sampling. It is shown that the position and guard bands of a downconverted bandpass signal band are highly related to the order of the valid sampling range, called the wedge order. An efficient algorithm is then proposed, which significantly reduces the computational load in determining the valid sampling frequencies to downconvert multiple distinct bandpass signals. Conditions for the placement of bandpass signals to utilize a given sampled bandwidth are also discussed.
En Bloc Partial Laminectomy and Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion in Foraminal Spinal Stenosis

Study Design A retrospective study. Purpose An en bloc partial laminectomy and posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) in spinal stenosis patients with severe foraminal narrowing has a shorter operation time, less neural manipulation and allows indirect decompression by restoring the interforaminal height compared to other procedures. This study investigated the efficacy of the procedure. Overview of Literature PLIF is one of the most popular surgery for degenerative spine such as foraminal spinal stenosis, instability spondylolisthesis and discogenic pain. Various techniques for PLIF have their own advantages and disadvantages. But in some severe cases, we need an efficient method of PLIF for decompression and fusion. Methods This study examined 61 patients, who had 85 levels treated with PLIF using an en bloc partial laminectomy and facetectomy, and could be followed up for more than 2 years. The mean age of the patients and mean follow up period was 66 years and 39 months, respectively. The clinical results were evaluated using the MacNab's criteria, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, and Korea Version Oswestry Disability Index (KODI). The union of the intervertebral space was evaluated using Lenke's criteria. The intervertebral angle and height of the posterior intervertebral disc were also measured. Results Excellent and good results were obtained in 54 cases (89%) according to MacNab's criteria. The VAS and KODI scores were 8.1 and 34.6, preoperatively, and 3.4, and 14.1, postoperatively. Bone union was A and B grades according to Lenke's criteria in 57 cases. The mean segmental angle and mean height of the posterior disc were respectively, 7.4° and 6.5 mm preoperatively, 9.1° and 10.6 mm postoperatively, and 8.0° and 9.7 mm in the last follow-up. There were 5 cases of postoperative infection, 4 cases of junctional problems and 1 case of screw malposition. Conclusions En bloc partial laminectomy and PLIF is an effective method for treating severe spinal stenosis with foraminal narrowing.
Potentiodynamic polarization study of Type 316L and 316LVM stainless steelsfor surgical implants in simulated body fluids

Corrosion of metal implants is critical because it can adversely affect the biocompatibility and mechanical integrity. The aim of this research is to compare the electrochemical corrosion behaviour of two biomedical alloys, 316L and 316LVM stainless steels in simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37°C. This temperature is equivalent to human body temperature. The SBFs used in this study were Hank’s solution and Ringer’s solution. This comparison is focused on passive behavior of the alloys using electrochemical potentiodynamic polarization study. Analysis of electrochemical parameters indicated that 316L stainless steel was more susceptible to pitting corrosion than 316LVM in SBF. It can be seen that corrosion potential (Ecorr) for 316LVM is nobler(more positive) indicating that type 316LVM stainless steel is more corrosion resistant than type 316L stainless steel in SBF. The high corrosion susceptibility of type 316L was due to surface passive film with less protective to reveal high anodic dissolution rate.
Serum procalcitonin level and other biological markers to distinguish between bacterial and aseptic meningitis in children: a European multicenter case cohort study.

OBJECTIVE To validate procalcitonin (PCT) level as the best biological marker to distinguish between bacterial and aseptic meningitis in children in the emergency department. DESIGN Secondary analysis of retrospective multicenter hospital-based cohort studies. SETTING Six pediatric emergency or intensive care units of tertiary care centers in 5 European countries. PARTICIPANTS Consecutive children aged 29 days to 18 years with acute meningitis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Univariate analysis and meta-analysis to compare the performance of blood parameters (PCT level, C-reactive protein level, white blood cell count, and neutrophil count) and cerebrospinal fluid parameters (protein level, glucose level, white blood cell count, and neutrophil count) quickly available in the emergency department to distinguish early on between bacterial and aseptic meningitis. RESULTS Of 198 patients analyzed, 96 had bacterial meningitis. Sensitivity of cerebrospinal fluid Gram staining was 75%. The PCT level had significantly better results than the other markers for area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.95-0.99; P = .001). At a 0.5-ng/mL threshold, PCT level had 99% sensitivity (95% confidence interval, 97%-100%) and 83% specificity (95% confidence interval, 76%-90%) for distinguishing between bacterial and aseptic meningitis. The diagnostic odds ratio between high PCT level and bacterial meningitis was 139 (95% confidence interval, 39-498), without significant heterogeneity between centers. CONCLUSIONS The PCT level is a strong predictor for distinguishing between bacterial and aseptic meningitis in children in the emergency department. Its combination with other parameters in an effective clinical decision rule could be helpful.
Endoleak Assessment Using Computational Fluid Dynamics and Image Processing Methods in Stented Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Models

Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a predominant surgical procedure to reduce the risk of aneurysm rupture in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) patients. Endoleak formation, which eventually requires additional surgical reoperation, is a major EVAR complication. Understanding the etiology and evolution of endoleak from the hemodynamic perspective is crucial to advancing the current posttreatments for AAA patients who underwent EVAR. Therefore, a comprehensive flow assessment was performed to investigate the relationship between endoleak and its surrounding pathological flow fields through computational fluid dynamics and image processing. Six patient-specific models were reconstructed, and the associated hemodynamics in these models was quantified three-dimensionally to calculate wall stress. To provide a high degree of clinical relevance, the mechanical stress distribution calculated from the models was compared with the endoleak positions identified from the computed tomography images of patients through a series of imaging processing methods. An endoleak possibly forms in a location with high local wall stress. An improved stent graft (SG) structure is conceived accordingly by increasing the mechanical strength of the SG at peak wall stress locations. The presented analytical paradigm, as well as numerical analysis using patient-specific models, may be extended to other common human cardiovascular surgeries.
The Centre for Market and Public Organisation Evaluating the Impact of Performance- Related Pay for Teachers in England Evaluating the Impact of Performance-related Pay for Teachers in England

The principal aim of the CMPO is to develop understanding of the design of activities within the public sector, on the boundary of the state and within recently privatised entities with the objective of developing research in, and assessing and informing policy toward, these activities. Abstract This paper evaluates the impact of a performance-related pay scheme for teachers in England. Using teacher level data, matched with test scores and value-added, we test whether the introduction of a payment scheme based on pupil attainment increased teacher effort. Our evaluation design controls for pupil effects, school effects and teacher effects, and adopts a difference-indifference methodology. We find that the scheme did improve test scores and value added, on average by about half a grade per pupil. We also find heterogeneity across subjects, with maths teachers showing no improvement.
Hereditary Angioedema Nationwide Study in Slovenia Reveals Four Novel Mutations in SERPING1 Gene

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare autosomal dominant disease characterized by swelling of the face, lips, tongue, larynx, genitalia, or extremities, with abdominal pain caused by intra-abdominal edema. HAE is caused by mutations affecting the C1 inhibitor gene, SERPING1, resulting in low levels of C1 inhibitor (Type I HAE) or normal levels of ineffective C1 inhibitor (Type II HAE). A nationwide survey identified nine unrelated families with HAE in Slovenia, among whom 17 individuals from eight families were recruited for genetic analyses. A diagnosis of HAE was established in the presence of clinical and laboratory criteria (low C1 inhibitor antigenic levels and/or function), followed up by a positive family history. Genetic studies were carried out using PCR and sequencing to detect SERPING1 mutations in promoter, noncoding exon 1, the 7 coding exons, and exon-intron boundaries. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification was performed in order to search for large deletions/duplications in SERPING1 gene. A mutation responsible for HAE was identified in patients from seven families with the disease. In HAE type I families, one previously reported substitution (Gln67Stop, c.265C>T) and four novel mutations were identified. The new mutations included two missense substitutions, Ser128Phe (c.449C>T), and Glu429Lys (c.1351G>A), together with two frameshift mutations, indel (c.49delGinsTT) and deletion (c.593_594delCT). Both families with HAE type II harbored the two well-known substitutions affecting the arginyl residue at the reactive center in exon 8, Arg444Cys (c.1396C>T) and Arg444His (c.1397G>A), respectively. In one patient only the homozygous variant g.566T>C (c.-21T>C) was identified. Our study identified four novel mutations in the Slovenian HAE population, highlighting the heterogeneity of mutations in the SERPING1 gene causing C1 inhibitor deficiency and HAE. In a single patient with HAE a homozygous variant g.566T>C (c.-21T>C) might be responsible for the disease.