Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Institutional Layering: A Review of the Use of the Concept

Over the years layering has gained increasing attention in studies of institutional change. Notably, the concept has been subject to the exact mechanism it tries to explain: incremental change. This article reviews the use of the concept over a 60-year time span in order to elucidate its value for studying institutional change. The article especially looks at the use of the concept by one of the leading authors in the field: Kathleen Thelen. It concludes that layering provides a bridge between – seemingly conflicting – ideas on incremental change and punctuated equilibrium.
A SMA actuated artificial earthworm

This paper presents the design and development of a microrobot which aims to replicate the locomotion principle of earthworms. The undulatory locomotion of living earthworms has been investigated deeply from the biological point of view, but attempts at replication of earthworm models in real size are limited. The authors have designed an artificial earthworm with four modules which can be driven independently according to defined undulatory patterns with a typical frequency of 0.5 Hz. Each module is actuated by one or more SMA springs whose configuration has been designed in order to limit wiring problems and optimize working frequency. The robot is covered by a shaped silicone material which can be used as a platform to insert tiny legs for obtaining differential friction conditions. Preliminary tests demonstrate that the earthworm prototypes can move with a speed of 0.22 mm/s, thus approximating the behavior of biological earthworms.
Letter: calcineurin inhibitor level reduction during treatment with sofosbuvir in liver transplanted patients

SIRS, In liver transplant, during anti-viral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) recurrence, the immunosuppressant levels should be monitored to prevent both toxicity and rejection. Sofosbuvir (SOF) has been used within compassionate programs for HCV recurrence and, according to pharmacokinetic analyses, is not supposed to have significant pharmacological interactions with tacrolimus (Tac) or ciclosporin. This was reported in the review article by Koff recently published. We treated eight transplant recipients with SOF/ribavirin (RBV) for a severe HCV recurrence, and observed unexpected Tac/ciclosporin reduction during SOF. The patients’ mean age was 48.1 years. They were all men and had mean time from liver transplant 4.2 years, mean MELD-score 13.4 (range, 7–22), mean Child-Turcotte-Pugh score 8 (6–11). There were six (75%) genotype 1, one (12.5%) was genotype 3, and one (12.5%) was genotype 4. All patients were on a stable Tac regimen except one who was on ciclosporin. Treatment with oral daily doses of SOF 400 mg + RBV (range, 200–1000 mg) was started after the SOF compassionate use approval by the Ethics Committee. Initial Tac/ciclosporin dose was not modified at the beginning of anti-viral treatment. The Tac/ciclosporin levels were monitored weekly (Figure 1). At week 4, mean Tac/ciclosporin reduction was 40.2% (range, 21.4–72.1%). Daily Tac/ciclosporin doses were increased in all, except one patient who had renal failure and was also receiving mycophenolate mofetil. All patients except one reached undetectable HCV-RNA at week 4. The mean CTP reduced from 8 at baseline to 6 at week 4. Currently available data report no significant reciprocal influence of absorption, distribution, metabolism or excretion of Tac/ciclosporin and SOF. No dose adjustment is recommended for immunosuppressants during SOF, as indicated in the recent review article (2). Nonetheless, this information arises from a single-dose study, while our data reveal a reduction in immunosuppressant levels. This might be a consequence of an improvement of liver function, even if a drug–drug interactions cannot be a priori excluded. Regardless of the underlying mechanism, our report is aimed to raise awareness to hepatologists who are familiarising themselves with SOF in the post-transplant HCV-recurrence setting as we are now moving towards SOF global availability.
Prevalence of hypertension and associated variables in paid workers in Ilorin, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND The enormous burden of hypertension worldwide and in Africa, informed the decision to measure the blood pressure pattern in salaried workers in Ilorin, Nigeria. These were selected, as they resemble closely those that are likely to be affected by western style living. METHODS It was a cross-sectional study that involved staff of both government and a private organisation in Ilorin, Nigeria. Two hundred and eighty one subjects, comprising of 211 males and 70 females were recruited into the study. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) were determined. RESULTS The prevalence of hypertension was 27.1% in the population, being 28.4% in males and 22.9% in females. Mean SBP and DBP were significantly higher in females (SBP; 139.59 mmHg +/- 20.84, DBP; 86.92 mmHg +/- 10.96) than in males (SBP; 127.39 mmHg +/- 19.55, DBP; 82.16 mmHg). P < 0.05. The prevalence of hypertension increased with age and BMI. Age was correlated to SBP, (r = 0.355, P < 0.01) DBP, (r = 0.322, P < 0.01) and BMI (r = 0.143, P < 0.05). Obesity prevalence was 13.2% consisting of males (5.3%) and females (7.8%). Prevalence of diabetes mellitus was similar in both sexes at 1.5%. CONCLUSION There is a high prevalence of hypertension among salary earners in Ilorin, Nigeria and this is commoner among males. The degree of increase in BP is worse in female workers. Obesity is on the upward climb in our society and should be addressed early in order to curtail its associated morbidities.
The Degrees of Freedom Regions of Two-User and Certain Three-User MIMO Broadcast Channels with Delayed CSIT

The degrees of freedom (DoF) region of the fast-fading MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) Gaussian broadcast channel (BC) is studied when there is delayed channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). In this setting, the channel matrices are assumed to vary independently across time and the transmitter is assumed to know the channel matrices with some arbitrary finite delay. An outerbound to the DoF region of the general K-user MIMO BC (with an arbitrary number of antennas at each terminal) is derived. This outer-bound is then shown to be tight for two classes of MIMO BCs, namely, (a) the two-user MIMO BC with arbitrary number of antennas at all terminals, and (b) for certain three-user MIMO BCs where all three receivers have an equal number of antennas and the transmitter has no more than twice the number of antennas present at each receivers. The achievability results are obtained by developing an interference alignment scheme that optimally accounts for multiple, and possibly distinct, number of antennas at the receivers.
Panethnic Differences in Blood Pressure in Europe: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background People of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asians(SA) ethnic minorities living in Europe have higher risk of stroke than native Europeans(EU). Study objective is to provide an assessment of gender specific absolute differences in office systolic(SBP) and diastolic(DBP) blood pressure(BP) levels between SSA, SA, and EU. Methods and Findings We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies conducted in Europe that examined BP in non-selected adult SSA, SA and EU subjects. Medline, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from their inception through January 31st 2015, for relevant articles. Outcome measures were mean SBP and DBP differences between minorities and EU, using a random effects model and tested for heterogeneity. Twenty-one studies involving 9,070 SSA, 18,421 SA, and 130,380 EU were included. Compared with EU, SSA had higher values of both SBP (3.38 mmHg, 95% CI 1.28 to 5.48 mmHg; and 6.00 mmHg, 95% CI 2.22 to 9.78 in men and women respectively) and DBP (3.29 mmHg, 95% CI 1.80 to 4.78; 5.35 mmHg, 95% CI 3.04 to 7.66). SA had lower SBP than EU(-4.57 mmHg, 95% CI -6.20 to -2.93; -2.97 mmHg, 95% CI -5.45 to -0.49) but similar DBP values. Meta-analysis by subgroup showed that SA originating from countries where Islam is the main religion had lower SBP and DBP values than EU. In multivariate meta-regression analyses, SBP difference between minorities and EU populations, was influenced by panethnicity and diabetes prevalence. Conclusions 1) The higher BP in SSA is maintained over decades, suggesting limited efficacy of prevention strategies in such group in Europe;2) The lower BP in Muslim populations suggests that yet untapped lifestyle and behavioral habits may reveal advantages towards the development of hypertension;3) The additive effect of diabetes, emphasizes the need of new strategies for the control of hypertension in groups at high prevalence of diabetes.
A novel reduced switching-frequency voltage-balancing strategy for modular multilevel converters

Capacitor voltage balancing with a relatively low switching frequency is one of the main concerns for the design of modular multilevel converter (MMC) controller. This paper proposes a novel reduced switching-frequency voltage-balancing strategy. Firstly, SMs in each arm are divided into several groups. Then, the required inserted SMs are assigned to those groups, and a developed principle is presented to keep the amount of required SMs invariable for each group as far as possible. Finally, it attempts to maintain the switching states of SMs in each group unaltered by a designed rule. The effectiveness of proposed strategy is validated by a 21-level MMC model in PSCAD/EMTDC environment. Simulation results demonstrate that the switching frequency can be reduced significantly with an allowable deviation of capacitor voltages.
Little League Elbow

It is well known that the school-age athlete is susceptible to all forms of sports-related injuries, including acute, chronic, and recurrent types. Increasing concerns exist that chronic overuse orthopedic injuries are becoming more frequent occurrences in youth sports. Conditioning and training errors coupled with rapidly changing physical characteristics are some factors that contribute to rising injury rates. Year-round training in a single sport and longer competitive seasons are adding to the musculoskeletal stresses our adolescent athletes experience. Little League elbow is a valgus overload or overstress injury to the medial elbow. Classic Little League elbow refers specifically to an apophysitis of the medial epicondylar growth plate found in skeletally immature athletes. A general understanding of normal skeletal development, reasonable workload limits, and proper throwing biomechanics are essential for successful management of this injury. It is estimated that the incidence of baseball-related overuse injuries is 2–8%. Specifically, the annual incidence of the elbow pain in 9–12 year old range in baseball is 20–40%. Early recognition of this condition leads to better outcomes and should aid in the prevention of persistent functional disabilities in the athlete. There are many causes of elbow pain, but the purpose of this article is to focus on the diagnosis and treatment of medial elbow pain with an up-to-date discussion of proper management in the adolescent athlete.
Cellular Invasiveness Prostate Cancer PC-3 Cells Suppresses Tumor Growth and Secreted Wnt Antagonist , in Human Androgen-Independent Expression of Frzb / Secreted Frizzled-Related Protein 3 , a

The ability of Frzb/secreted Frizzled-related protein 3 (sFRP3) to inhibit Wnt signaling and the localization of Frzb/sFRP3 on chromosome 2q to a region frequently deleted in cancers have led some investigators to hypothesize that Frzb/sFRP3 is a tumor suppressor gene. Here, we examined the biological effects of Frzb/sFRP3 on an androgenindependent prostate cancer cell model. We showed that expression of Frzb/sFRP3 in PC-3 cells resulted in decreased colony formation in soft agar and a dramatic inhibition of tumor growth in a xenograft mouse model. When cellular morphology was examined, PC-3 cells expressing Frzb/sFRP3 exhibited an increase in cell-cell contact formation accompanied by a pronounced induction of epithelial markers E-cadherin and keratin-8 and down-regulation ofmesenchymal markers N-cadherin, fibronectin, and vimentin. This phenomenon suggested a reversal of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and a less invasive phenotype. Indeed, further in vitro studies with a Matrigel assay showed that Frzb/sFRP3 decreased the invasive capacity of PC-3 cells. These changes in the biology of PC-3 cells are associated with a decrease in the expression and activities of both matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 as well as decreases in AKT activation, cytosolic B-catenin levels, T-cell factor transcription activity, and expression of Slug and Twist. In addition, transfection of PC-3 with a dominant-negative low-density lipoprotein receptor–related protein 5 (DN-LRP5) coreceptor showed similar biological effects as Frzb/sFRP3 transfection. Together, these data suggest that Frzb/sFRP3 and DN-LRP5 exhibit antitumor activity through the reversal of epithelial-tomesenchymal transition and inhibition of MMP activities in a subset of prostate cancer. (Cancer Res 2005; 65(21): 9762-70)
Divergent Nematic Susceptibility in an Iron Arsenide Superconductor

Lattice Trailing the Electrons Superconducting order recedes with decreased chemical doping in a typical iron-based superconductor family. Thus, the symmetry of the material is broken by almost simultaneous antiferromagnetic and structural phase transitions. However, some pnictides also exhibit an electronic nematic transition manifested by anisotropy of the electrical resistance. Because this anisotropy occurs at the same time as the structural transition, it is not clear whether it is a consequence of the broken crystal lattice symmetry or its cause. Chu et al. (p. 710) performed constant strain experiments on the series Ba(Fe1−xCox)2As2, which can distinguish between the two scenarios, and confirm that the electrons drive the lattice transition. Electrons are shown to drive a structural transition in a pnictide superconductor. Within the Landau paradigm of continuous phase transitions, ordered states of matter are characterized by a broken symmetry. Although the broken symmetry is usually evident, determining the driving force behind the phase transition can be complicated by coupling between distinct order parameters. We show how measurement of the divergent nematic susceptibility of the iron pnictide superconductor Ba(Fe1−xCox)2As2 distinguishes an electronic nematic phase transition from a simple ferroelastic distortion. These measurements also indicate an electronic nematic quantum phase transition near the composition with optimal superconducting transition temperature.
TFF2 mRNA transcript expression marks a gland progenitor cell of the gastric oxyntic mucosa.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Gastric stem cells are located in the isthmus of the gastric glands and give rise to epithelial progenitors that undergo bipolar migration and differentiation into pit and oxyntic lineages. Although gastric mucus neck cells located below the isthmus express trefoil factor family 2 (TFF2) protein, TFF2 messenger RNA transcripts are concentrated in cells above the neck region in normal corpus mucosa, suggesting that TFF2 transcription is a marker of gastric progenitor cells. METHODS Using a BAC strategy, we generated a transgenic mouse with a tamoxifen-inducible Cre under the control of the TFF2 promoter (TFF2-BAC-Cre(ERT2)) and analyzed the lineage derivation from TFF2 mRNA transcript-expressing (TTE) cells. RESULTS TTE cells were localized to the isthmus, above and distinct from TFF2 protein-expressing mucus neck cells. Lineage tracing revealed that these cells migrated toward the bottom of the gland within 20 days, giving rise to parietal, mucous neck, and chief cells, but not to enterochromaffin-like-cell. Surface mucus cells were not derived from TTE cells and the progeny of the TTE lineage did not survive beyond 200 days. TTE cells were localized in the isthmus adjacent to doublecortin CaM kinase-like-1(+) putative progenitor cells. Induction of spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia with DMP-777-induced acute parietal cell loss revealed that this metaplastic phenotype might arise in part through transdifferentiation of chief cells as opposed to expansion of mucus neck or progenitor cells. CONCLUSIONS TFF2 transcript-expressing cells are progenitors for mucus neck, parietal and zymogenic, but not for pit or enterochromaffin-like cell lineages in the oxyntic gastric mucosa.
Literature review of the distribution of hepatitis C virus genotypes across Europe

Recent advances in hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapies have transformed the treatment landscape for this disease. However, efficacy of current treatments depends on HCV genotype and individual patient characteristics. This review aimed to appraise observational studies reporting epidemiological outcomes to characterize HCV genotype distribution in Europe, in the general HCV population and various subpopulations of interest. MEDLINE and EMBASE entries published between November 2008 and November 2013 were systematically searched. Studies were grouped according to the patient populations of interest: general HCV population, HCV–HIV co‐infected patients, patients with advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis, and liver transplant recipients. Thirty publications provided estimates of HCV genotype distribution in four distinct patient groups: general HCV population (n = 21), HCV–HIV co‐infected patients (n = 6), liver transplant patients (n = 3), and patients with HCV‐compensated cirrhosis (n = 1). Nationwide estimates of genotype distribution in the general HCV population were available for 10 countries, with genotypes 1 and 3 the most commonly reported. Romanian studies were found to have reported genotype 1 infections almost exclusively (98.0–99.8%). Considerable regional variation was reported in some countries (e.g., Italy), but not others (e.g., France). National and multi‐national estimates for the HCV–HIV co‐infected population suggested a different genotype distribution to that in the general HCV population. No studies reported nationwide genotype distribution in patients with advanced liver disease. Given the clinical importance of genotype in developing optimal HCV eradication strategies, further nationwide European studies are needed to fully characterize genotype distribution in both the general HCV population and in HCV subpopulations. J. Med. Virol. 88:2157–2169, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Combining EBMT, SMT, TM and IR Technologies for Quality and Scale

In this paper we present a hybrid statistical machine translation (SMT)-example-based MT (EBMT) system that shows significant improvement over both SMT and EBMT baseline systems. First we present a runtime EBMT system using a subsentential translation memory (TM). The EBMT system is further combined with an SMT system for effective hybridization of the pair of systems. The hybrid system shows significant improvement in translation quality (0.82 and 2.75 absolute BLEU points) for two different language pairs (English--Turkish (En--Tr) and English--French (En--Fr)) over the baseline SMT system. However, the EBMT approach suffers from significant time complexity issues for a runtime approach. We explore two methods to make the system scalable at runtime. First, we use an heuristic-based approach. Secondly, we use an IR-based indexing technique to speed up the time-consuming matching procedure of the EBMT system. The index-based matching procedure substantially improves run-time speed without affecting translation quality.
The efficacy of continuous passive motion in the rehabilitation of anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions

Seventy-five patients undergoing arthroscopically-as sisted anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction by the same surgeon were divided into three random subgroups. All of the anterior cruciate ligament recon structions used the middle third of the ipsilateral patellar tendon autograft. Patients undergoing meniscal repair, extraarticular procedures, or repair of other ligaments were excluded. The 75 patients were divided into subgroups to assess the benefits or disadvantages of early active motion (25 patients), continuous passive motion (25 patients), and a combination of both (25 patients) during the first 30 days after surgery. All patients were evaluated at specific intervals for 6 months after surgery. Data recorded included drain output, medication usage, tourniquet time, leg involved, hospital stay length, KT-1000 testing (before surgery in the anesthetized patient, after the procedure was com pleted, and 2 and 6 months after surgery), and range of motion. Radiographs and the International Knee Evaluation Form were also used to evaluate the results. No statistically significant differences were found be tween the three groups. Side-to-side anterior-posterior differences, stability, and restoration of full range of motion were similar in each subgroup at each evaluated interval. In this prospective study of motion, started immediately after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruc tion, passive and active methods were shown to have identical results. A supervised active and passive mo tion program during the 1 st month had the same results as either one used individually.
Channel-wise Feature Decorrelation for Enhanced Learned Image Compression

The emerging Learned Compression (LC) replaces the traditional codec modules with Deep Neural Networks (DNN), which are trained end-to-end for rate-distortion performance. This approach is considered as the future of image/video compression, and major efforts have been dedicated to improving its compression efficiency. However, most proposed works target compression efficiency by employing more complex DNNS, which contributes to higher computational complexity. Alternatively, this paper proposes to improve compression by fully exploiting the existing DNN capacity. To do so, the latent features are guided to learn a richer and more diverse set of features, which corresponds to better reconstruction. A channel-wise feature decorrelation loss is designed and is integrated into the LC optimization. Three strategies are proposed and evaluated, which optimize (1) the transformation network, (2) the context model, and (3) both networks. Experimental results on two established LC methods show that the proposed method improves the compression with a BD-Rate of up to 8.06%, with no added complexity. The proposed solution can be applied as a plug-and-play solution to optimize any similar LC method.