Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomechanical evaluation of the helica femoral implant system using traditional and modified techniques.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of implant placement on proximal femoral axial bone strains, implant subsidence, implant motion, and failure mechanical properties of Helica implants. STUDY DESIGN In vitro biomechanical study. SAMPLE POPULATION Cadaveric canine femora (n = 8 pairs). METHODS Femora instrumented with strain gauges and kinematic markers were cyclically loaded in axial compression before (intact femora) and after implantation with a Helica prosthesis that engaged only cancellous bone (traditional technique) or cancellous bone and lateral cortex (modified technique) to evaluate bone strains, subsidence, and motion; femora were then loaded to failure to evaluate failure mechanical properties. RESULTS After implantation, modified femoral prosthesis angle was 5% less than intact femora and 5.7% less than traditional implanted femora. Medial femoral bone strain was lower (P ≤ .05) for intact (-570 µ strain) than modified (-790), but not (P = .08) traditional (-700) implanted femora. High-load implant subsidence was present but small (-0.087 mm) for the modified technique. Motion (traditional and modified) increased (P = .05) during cyclic loading (-0.17 and -0.328 mm) and failure (P = .04) (-2.121 and -3.390 mm); remaining yield and failure properties revealed no significant findings (P ≤ .05). CONCLUSIONS The modified technique resulted in a smaller neck angle and minimal subsidence. Bone strain was minimally altered so stress shielding may be less compared to findings with traditional implants. Motion detected during cyclic and failure testing may lead to implant loosening in vivo.
A Dual-Specificity Phosphatase Cdc25B Is an Unstable Protein and Triggers p34cdc2/Cyclin B Activation in Hamster BHK21 Cells Arrested with Hydroxyurea

By incubating at 30°C in the presence of an energy source, p34cdc2/cyclin B was activated in the extract prepared from a temperature-sensitive mutant, tsBN2, which prematurely enters mitosis at 40°C, the nonpermissive temperature (Nishimoto, T., E. Eilen, and C. Basilico. 1978. Cell. 15:475–483), and wild-type cells of the hamster BHK21 cell line arrested in S phase, without protein synthesis. Such an in vitro activation of p34cdc2/cyclin B, however, did not occur in the extract prepared from cells pretreated with protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, although this extract still retained the ability to inhibit p34cdc2/cyclin B activation. When tsBN2 cells arrested in S phase were incubated at 40°C in the presence of cycloheximide, Cdc25B, but not Cdc25A and C, among a family of dual-specificity phosphatases, Cdc25, was lost coincidentally with the lack of the activation of p34cdc2/cyclin B. Consistently, the immunodepletion of Cdc25B from the extract inhibited the activation of p34cdc2/cyclin B. Cdc25B was found to be unstable (half-life < 30 min). Cdc25B, but not Cdc25C, immunoprecipitated from the extract directly activated the p34cdc2/cyclin B of cycloheximide-treated cells as well as that of nontreated cells, although Cdc25C immunoprecipitated from the extract of mitotic cells activated the p34cdc2/cyclin B within the extract of cycloheximide-treated cells. Our data suggest that Cdc25B made an initial activation of p34cdc2/cyclin B, which initiates mitosis through the activation of Cdc25C.
Virtual reality for the assessment of frontotemporal dementia, a feasibility study

Abstract Purpose: Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a non-Alzheimer dementia characterized by difficulty in documenting social-emotional changes. Few investigations have used virtual reality (VR) for documentation and rehabilitation of non-Alzheimer dementias. Methods: Five bvFTD patients underwent insight interviews while immersed in a virtual environment. They were interviewed by avatars, their answers were recorded, and their heart rates were monitored. They were asked to give ratings of their stress immediately at the beginning and at the end of the session. Results: The patients tolerated the head-mounted display and VR without nausea or disorientation, heart rate changes, or worsening stress ratings. Their insight responses were comparable to real world interviews. All bvFTD patients showed their presence in the VR environment as they moved their heads to face and respond to each avatar’s questions. The bvFTD patients tended to greater verbal elaboration of answers with larger mean length of utterances compared to their real world interviews. Conclusions: VR is feasible and well-tolerated in bvFTD. These patients may have VR responses comparable to real world performance and they may display a presence in the virtual environment which could even facilitate assessment. Further research can explore the promise of VR for the evaluation and rehabilitation of dementias beyond Alzheimer's disease. Implications for Rehabilitation Clinicians need effective evaluation and rehabilitation strategies for dementia, a neurological syndrome of epidemic proportions and a leading cause of disability. Memory and cognitive deficits are the major disabilities and targets for rehabilitation in Alzheimer's disease, the most common dementia. In contrast, social and emotional disturbances are the major disabilities and targets for rehabilitation in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), an incompletely understood non-Alzheimer dementia. Virtual reality is a technology that holds great promise for the evaluation and rehabilitation of patients with bvFTD and other non-Alzheimer dementias, and preliminary evidence suggests that this technology is feasible in patients with bvFTD.
Time-Dependent Cortical Activation in Voluntary Muscle Contraction

This study was to characterize dynamic source strength changes estimated from high-density scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) at different phases of a submaximal voluntary muscle contraction. Eight healthy volunteers performed isometric handgrip contractions of the right arm at 20% maximal intensity. Signals of the handgrip force, electromyography (EMG) from the finger flexor and extensor muscles and 64-channel EEG were acquired simultaneously. Sources of the EEG were analyzed at 19 time points across preparation, execution and sustaining phases of the handgrip. A 3-layer boundary element model (BEM) based on the MNI (Montréal Neurological Institute) brain MRI was used to overlay the sources. A distributed current density model, LORETA L1 norm method was applied to the data that had been processed by independent component analysis (ICA). Statistical analysis based on a mixed-effects polynomial regression model showed a significant and consistent time-dependent non-linear source strength change pattern in different phases of the handgrip. The source strength increased at the preparation phase, peaked at the force onset time and decreased in the sustaining phase. There was no significant difference in the changing pattern of the source strength among Brodmann’s areas 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. These results show, for the first time, a high time resolution increasing-and-decreasing pattern of activation among the sensorimotor regions with the highest activity occurs at the muscle activity onset. The similarity in the source strength time courses among the cortical centers examined suggests a synchronized parallel function in controlling the motor activity.
Autism Spectrum Traits in the Typical Population Predict Structure and Function in the Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are typically characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, narrow interests, and repetitive behaviors. The heterogeneity in the severity of these characteristics across individuals with ASD has led some researchers to suggest that these disorders form a continuum which extends into the general, or “typical,” population, and there is growing evidence that the extent to which typical adults display autistic traits, as measured using the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ), predicts performance on behavioral tasks that are impaired in ASD. Here, we show that variation in autism spectrum traits is related to cortical structure and function within the typical population. Voxel-based morphometry showed that increased AQ scores were associated with decreased white matter volume in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), a region important in processing socially relevant stimuli and associated with structural and functional impairments in ASD. In addition, AQ was correlated with the extent of cortical deactivation of an adjacent area of pSTS during a Stroop task relative to rest, reflecting variation in resting state function. The results provide evidence that autism spectrum characteristics are reflected in neural structure and function across the typical (non-ASD) population.
Cell wall component and mycotoxin moieties involved in the binding of fumonisin B1 and B2 by lactic acid bacteria

Aims: The ability of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to bind fumonisins B1 and B2 (FB1, FB2) in fermented foods and feeds and in the gastrointestinal tract could contribute to decrease their bioavailability and toxic effects on farm animals and humans. The aim of this work was to identify the bacterial cell wall component(s) and the functional group(s) of FB involved in the LAB–FB interaction.
Identification of a functional variant in the KIF5A-CYP27B1-METTL1-FAM119B locus associated with multiple sclerosis

Background and aim Several studies have highlighted the association of the 12q13.3–12q14.1 region with coeliac disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis (MS); however, the causal variants underlying diseases are still unclear. The authors sought to identify the functional variant of this region associated with MS. Methods Tag-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis of the associated region encoding 15 genes was performed in 2876 MS patients and 2910 healthy Caucasian controls together with expression regulation analyses. Results rs6581155, which tagged 18 variants within a region where 9 genes map, was sufficient to model the association. This SNP was in total linkage disequilibrium (LD) with other polymorphisms that associated with the expression levels of FAM119B, AVIL, TSFM, TSPAN31 and CYP27B1 genes in different expression quantitative trait loci studies. Functional annotations from Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) showed that six out of these rs6581155-tagged-SNPs were located in regions with regulatory potential and only one of them, rs10877013, exhibited allele-dependent (ratio A/G=9.5-fold) and orientation-dependent (forward/reverse=2.7-fold) enhancer activity as determined by luciferase reporter assays. This enhancer is located in a region where a long-range chromatin interaction among the promoters and promoter-enhancer of several genes has been described, possibly affecting their expression simultaneously. Conclusions This study determines a functional variant which alters the enhancer activity of a regulatory element in the locus affecting the expression of several genes and explains the association of the 12q13.3–12q14.1 region with MS.
Automatic robust image registration system: Initialization, estimation, and decision

Our goal is a highly-reliable, fully-automated image registration technique that takes two images and correctly aligns them or decides that they can not be aligned. The technique should handle image pairs having low overlap, variations in scale, large illumination differences (e.g. day and night), substantial scene changes, and different modalities. Our approach is a combination of algorithms for initialization, estimation and refinement, and decision-making. It starts by extracting and matching keypoints. Rank-ordered matches are tested individually in succession. Each is used to generate a similarity transformation estimate in a small region of each image surrounding the matched keypoints. A generalization of the recently developed Dual-Bootstrap algorithm is then applied to generate an image-wide transformation estimate through a combination of matching and reestimation, model selection, and region growing, all driven by a new multiscale feature extraction technique. After convergence of the Dual-Bootstrap, the transformation is accepted if it passes a correctness test that combines measures of accuracy, stability and non-randomness; otherwise the process starts over with the next keypoint match. Experimental results on a suite of challenging image pairs shows the effectivenss of the complete system.
Heterogeneous acoustic measurements and multiple classifiers for speech recognition

The acoustic-phonetic modeling component of most current speech recognition systems calculates a small set of homogeneous frame-based measurements at a single, fixed time-frequency resolution. This thesis presents evidence indicating that recognition performance can be significantly improved through a contrasting approach using more detailed and more diverse acoustic measurements, which we refer to as heterogeneous measurements. This investigation has three principal goals. The first goal is to develop heterogeneous acoustic measurements to increase the amount of acoustic-phonetic information I extracted from the speech signal. Diverse measurements are obtained by varying the time-frequency resolution, the spectral representation, the choice of temporal basis vectors, and other aspects of the preprocessing of the speech waveform. The second goal is to develop classifier systems for successfully utilizing high-dimensional heterogeneous acoustic measurement spaces. This is accomplished through hierarchical and committee-based techniques for combining multiple classifiers. The third goal is to increase understanding of the weaknesses of current automatic phonetic classification systems. This is accomplished through perceptual experiments on stop consonants which facilitate comparisons between humans and machines. Systems using heterogeneous measurements and multiple classifiers were evaluated in phonetic classification, phonetic recognition, and word recognition tasks. On the TIMIT core test set, these systems achieved error rates of 18.3% and 24.4% for, context-independent phonetic classification and context-dependent phonetic recognition, respectively. These results are the best that we have seen reported on these tasks. Word recognition experiments using the corpus associated with the JUPITER telephone-based weather information system showed 10–16% word error rate reduction, thus demonstrating that these techniques generalize to word recognition in a telephone-bandwidth acoustic environment. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Nursing Interventions for Critically Ill Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

Neuroscience intensive care unit (ICU) nurses deliver a number of interventions when caring for critically ill traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Yet, there is little research evidence documenting specific nursing interventions performed. As part of a larger study investigating ICU nurse judgments about secondary brain injury, ICU nurses were asked to identify interventions routinely performed when caring for TBI patients. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that all nurses routinely monitored hemodynamic parameters such as oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and temperature. Nurses were responsible for monitoring intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure approximately 50% of the time. Qualitative analyses revealed that additional nursing interventions could be categorized as neurophysiological interventions, psychosocial interventions, injury prevention interventions, and interventions to maintain a therapeutic milieu. Findings from this study provide evidence of the multifaceted role of the neuroscience ICU nurse caring for TBI patients and can be used in future research investigating the impact of nursing interventions on patient outcomes.
The Milieu Manager: A Nursing Staffing Strategy to Reduce Observer Use in the Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Setting

BACKGROUND: Rising acuity levels in inpatient settings have led to growing reliance on observers and increased the cost of care. OBJECTIVES: Minimizing use of observers, maintaining quality and safety of care, and improving bed access, without increasing cost. DESIGN: Nursing staff on two inpatient psychiatric units at an academic medical center pilot-tested the use of a “milieu manager” to address rising patient acuity and growing reliance on observers. Nursing cost, occupancy, discharge volume, unit closures, observer expense, and incremental nursing costs were tracked. Staff satisfaction and reported patient behavioral/safety events were assessed. RESULTS: The pilot initiatives ran for 8 months. Unit/bed closures fell to zero on both units. Occupancy, patient days, and discharges increased. Incremental nursing cost was offset by reduction in observer expense and by revenue from increases in occupancy and patient days. Staff work satisfaction improved and measures of patient safety were unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was effective in reducing observation expense and improved occupancy and patient days while maintaining patient safety, representing a cost-effective and safe approach for management of acuity on inpatient psychiatric units.
Biokinetic Evaluation and Modeling of Continuous Thiocyanate Biodegradation by Klebsiella sp.

Biokinetics for autotrophic degradation of thiocyanate using batch culture of Klebsiellasp. were evaluated both analytically and numerically. A sequential approach with an analytical method followed by a numerical approximation was used to evaluate and to ensure the accuracy of the parameter estimation. The nonlinear least‐squares method with a 95% confidence interval was employed. The growth conditions were maintained at pH 7 and 38 °C for all experiments. With an automated incubation and turbidity reader, a total of 16 different initial thiocyanate concentrations, ranging from 10 to 300 mg L−1, were used to develop a kinetic expression of specific growth rate as a function of substrate concentration. The biodegradation of thiocyanate with Klebsiellasp. followed a substrate inhibition pattern. Three identical automated bioreactors with working volumes of 1.5 L, equipped with sterilizable sampling ports, were also used for the numerical approximation of the biokinetic parameters in batch mode. A fourth order Runge‐Kutta method was used to approximate the substrate inhibition kinetics of the Klebsiellasp. utilizing thiocyanate. Although the kinetic coefficients estimated by analytical and numerical methods were not statistically different at a 0.05 α level, model responses of numerical approximation generated a better prediction of changes in thiocyanate and cell mass concentrations. The hypothetical maximum growth rate, μm, half saturation coefficient, Ks, microbial yield coefficient, Y, cell mass decay rate coefficient, kd, and substrate inhibition coefficient, Ksi, were evaluated as being 0.62 ± 0.05 d−1, 85 ± 8 mg SCN− L−1, 0.076 ± 0.011 mg cell mass (mg SCN)−1, 0.03 ± 0.002 d−1, and 131 ± 22 mg SCN− L−1, respectively. The calculated maximal substrate concentration, Sm, and apparent maximum specific growth rate, μ′m, were 105.5 ± 8.7 mg SCN− L−1 and 0.24 ± 0.01 d−1, respectively. Using these estimated parameters, the theoretical performance of the continuous operation was also illustrated, which depicts the residual thiocyanate and Klebsiella sp. concentrations in the non‐steady and steady states at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs). Assuming the influent concentration of 250 mg SCN− L−1, the expected treatment efficiency ranged from 94.9% to 69.4% between 20 and 5 days HRT, respectively. Klebsiellasp. was expected to be washed out at 4.8 days HRT, thus resulting in no treatment of thiocyanate.
Comparison of Multipath TCP and CMT-SCTP based on intercontinental measurements

The market penetration of access devices with multiple network interfaces has increased dramatically over the last few years. As a consequence, there is a strong interest to use all of the available interfaces concurrently to improve data throughput. Corresponding extensions of established Transport protocols are receiving considerable attention within research and standardization. Currently two approaches are in the focus of the IETF: The Multipath TCP (MPTCP) extension for TCP and the Concurrent Multipath Transfer extension for SCTP (CMT-SCTP). This paper evaluates and compares implementations of these two loadsharing protocols by using both lab measurements and intercontinental testbed realized via the Internet between Europe and China. The experiments show that some performance critical aspects have not been taken into account in previous studies. Furthermore, they show that the simple scenario with two disjoint paths, which is typically used for evaluation, does not sufficiently cover the real Internet environment. Based on these insights, we highlight that the different path management strategies of the two protocols have a significant impact on their performance in real Internet scenarios.
Chemical composition and biological potential of plants from the genus Bauhinia

Plants of the genus Bauhinia (Fabaceae, Leguminosae), commonly known as cow's‐paw or cow's hoof, are widely distributed in most tropical countries and have been used frequently in folk medicine to treat different kinds of pathologies, particularly diabetes, infections, as well as pain and inflammation. In recent years, interest in these plants has increased considerably throughout the world. The biological properties of different phytopreparations and pure metabolites have been investigated in numerous experimental in vivo and in vitro models. Although some contradicting evidence has been documented, in general, the results support the reported therapeutic properties, indicating that they are mainly due to the presence of flavonoids. This review summarizes the recent chemical and biological knowledge of plants of the genus Bauhinia. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Survival of Rabbits After Prolonged Cerebral Ischemia

Cerebral ischemia was produced by a combination of vascular occlusion and mild systemic hypotension in 2 groups of rabbits. Arterial blood pressure, arterial pH, arterial blood gases, blood glucose and PCV were monitored and recorded before, during and for 3 hours after reperfusion. Return of EEC activity, vasomotor control, spontaneous ventilation and corneal reflex were also recorded. At 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 hours after reperfusion, the rabbits' neurologic status was assessed according to an arbitrary scale based on motor function. The 2 groups differed in return of reflexes and motor function. Eighty percent of the rabbits ischemic for 20 minutes and 75% of the rabbits ischemic for 30 minutes survived. The graduated response of motor function to cerebral ischemia is attributed to the ventilatory and circulatory support given the rabbits for the first 3 hours after reperfusion. The graduated response of motor function to ischemia supports the suggestion that motor function can be used as an index of neurologic damage.