Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A cross-sectional evaluation examining the use of the Achilles tendinopathy toolkit by physiotherapists in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the awareness and use of the Achilles tendinopathy toolkit (ATT), a knowledge translation (KT) strategy supporting evidence-informed management of midportion Achilles Tendinopathy (AT), by British Columbian physiotherapists (PTs). Secondarily, to assess PTs strategies for AT management by examining the association between exploring the ATT and following best practice in clinical care as recommended by the ATT. Methods: Members of the Physiotherapy Association of British Columbia (BC) completed an online cross-sectional survey collecting information on demographics; awareness and exposure; perceptions, usability and applicability to clinical practice; knowledge; and attitudes. A clinical vignette assessed if respondents adhered to recommendations made by the ATT. Multi-variable logistic regression examined the association between exploring the ATT and following its recommendations. Results: Of 238 participants, 81% (n = 154) were aware of the ATT and of those 53% (n = 81) explored its contents. Time was the most frequent barrier. Bi-variable analyses showed those who explored the ATT had over double the odds of following the best practice (odds ratio = OR = 2.8; 95% confidence interval = 95% CI = 1.3–6.0). This did not remain significant in the final adjusted model (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 0.9–5.4). Conclusions: Evaluation of KT strategies is critical. This study revealed high awareness and moderate use of the ATT. Future work should consider the impact of toolkits on patient outcomes. Implications for Rehabilitation A toolkit is a novel knowledge translation (KT) strategy designed to provide accessibleevidence-informed resources to facilitate best practice by clinicians. The evaluation of the Achilles tendinopathy toolkit (ATT) revealed favourable findingsregarding the impact of this KT strategy on the knowledge and attitudes of British Columbia(BC) PTs and the possibility of a positive impact on best practice in clinical care. This research suggests toolkits are a feasible and meaningful KT strategy to provide clinicianswith valuable synthesized resources that have the potential to benefit patient outcomes.
Superconducting magnets

Superconducting magnets have become essential components of hadron accelerator/colliders and compact electron accelerators. Their technology has greatly progressed in recent years thanks to the Tevatron and HERA operation experience, the production of the RHIC magnets and the intense R&D programs for SSC, UNK and LHC. For the LHC, at present the most important and advanced project, dipoles, quadrupoles and corrector R&D magnets have been successfully built in industry and laboratories. Major milestones have been recently passed with test and measurement of several industry made, 10 m long, twin-aperture dipoles and the successful operation of a "string" test facility simulating the basic machine half-cell.
An expert consensus for the management of chronic hepatitis B in Asian Americans

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is common with major clinical consequences. In Asian Americans, the HBsAg carrier rate ranges from 2% to 16% which approximates the rates from their countries of origin. Similarly, HBV is the most important cause of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver related deaths in HBsAg positive Asians worldwide.
Functional Capacity 1 Running head : CORRELATES OF FUNCTIONAL CAPACITY

This study investigated correlates of functional capacity among participants of the Georgia Centenarian Study. Six domains (demographics and health, positive and negative affect, personality, social and economic support, life events and coping, distal influences) were related to functional capacity for 234 centenarians and near centenarians (i.e., 98 years and older). Data were provided by proxy informants. Domain-specific multiple regression analyses suggested that younger centenarians, those living in the community and rated to be in better health were more likely to have higher functional capacity scores. Higher scores in positive affect, conscientiousness, social provisions, religious coping, and engaged lifestyle were also associated with higher levels of functional capacity. The results suggest that functional capacity levels continue to be associated with age after 100 years of life and that positive affect levels and past lifestyle activities as reported by proxies are salient factors of adaptation in very late life.
Curcumin, a Major Constituent of Turmeric, Corrects Cystic Fibrosis Defects

Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). The most common mutation, ΔF508, results in the production of a misfolded CFTR protein that is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum and targeted for degradation. Curcumin is a nontoxic Ca–adenosine triphosphatase pump inhibitor that can be administered to humans safely. Oral administration of curcumin to homozygous ΔF508 CFTR mice in doses comparable, on a weight-per-weight basis, to those well tolerated by humans corrected these animals' characteristic nasal potential difference defect. These effects were not observed in mice homozygous for a complete knockout of the CFTR gene. Curcumin also induced the functional appearance of ΔF508 CFTR protein in the plasma membranes of transfected baby hamster kidney cells. Thus, curcumin treatment may be able to correct defects associated with the homozygous expression of ΔF508 CFTR.
Bioinformatics exploration of PAK1 (P21-activated kinase-1) revealed potential network gene elements in breast invasive carcinoma

P21-activated kinase-1 (PAK1) is an enzyme associated with multiple metabolic networks and different types of cancers. Hence, there is a need to study the global network map of PAK1 to understand its role and regulatory mechanisms by means of its significant molecular interactive partners. This will help to explore its global biological functions in breast cancer. In view of this, we obtained the gene expression data-sets of PAK1 from The Cancer Genome Atlas-cBioportal and GeneCards databases and found that 91 PAK1-related genes are associated with breast cancer. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway investigations of 91 genes via Database for Annotation Visualization and Integrated Discovery bioinformatics resource revealed that, PAK1 being a major kinase is associated with several metabolic pathways and involved in phosphorylation, signal transduction, apoptosis, biosynthesis and majorly cancer-related cell signalling pathways. The PAK1 interaction network derived from STRING and Cytoscape revealed that the genes Signal-Transducer-and-Activator-of-Transcription-3 (STAT3), Cyclin-D1 (CCND1), Mitogen-activated protein kinase-1 (MAPK1), Ras-Homolog-Family-Member-A (RHOA) and Catenin-beta-1 have high degrees of interaction where CCND1, MAPK1 and RHOA have direct interaction with PAK1. Finally, the global expression map of PAK1 and its related genes was derived as topological frame that helped to explore and investigate PAK1 interactions. Further, the molecular modelling studies of PAK1 with its major interacting partners RHOA and STAT3 helped to explore the key interactive residues of PAK1 structure. This information can be used to develop novel therapeutic and control strategies against breast cancer.
Frequency Domain Inverse Profiling of Buried Dielectric Elliptical-Cylindrical Objects Using Evolutionary Programming

An efficient method based on the evolutionary programming (EP) technique is proposed for inverse profiling of 2-D buried dielectric objects with elliptical cross sections. In particular, EP with Cauchy mutation operator (EP-CMO), as its first reported implementation to inverse problems, is utilized as a stochastic optimization tool for quantitatively reconstructing buried objects. Moreover, the method of moments technique in conjunction with conjugate gradient-fast Fourier transform method is used, as a fast and simple frequency domain forward solver, in each iteration of the proposed method. Numerical results for different case studies are presented and analyzed. To assess the proposed EP-CMO method, the results are also compared statistically with that of three other well-known optimization techniques, namely, EP with Gaussian mutation, particle swarm optimization, and genetic algorithms. The results reveal that EP-CMO is a significantly more robust and efficient optimization tool in reconstruction of this class of buried objects.
Acoustic Analysis of Chronic Laryngitis - Statistical Analysis of Sustained Speech Parameters

: This paper describes the statistical analysis of a set of features extracted from the speech of sustained vowels of patients with chronic laryngitis and control subjects. The idea is to identify which features can be useful in a classification intelligent system to discriminate between pathologic and healthy voices. The set of features analysed consist in the Jitter, Shimmer Harmonic to Noise Ratio (HNR), Noise to Harmonic Ratio (NHR) and Autocorrelation extracted from the sound of a sustained vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ in a low, neutral and high tones. The results showed that besides the absolute Jitter, no statistical significance exist between male and female voices, considering the classification between pathologic or healthy. Any of the analysed parameters is likely to be a statistical difference between control and Chronic Laryngitis groups. This is an important information that these features can be used in an intelligent system to classify healthy from Chronic Laryngitis voices.
Association of Glycemic Variability in Type 1 Diabetes With Progression of Microvascular Outcomes in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial

OBJECTIVE The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) demonstrated the beneficial effects of intensive versus conventional therapy on the development and progression of microvascular complications of type 1 diabetes. These beneficial effects were almost completely explained by the difference between groups in the levels of HbA1c, which in turn were associated with the risk of these complications. We assessed the association of glucose variability within and between quarterly 7-point glucose profiles with the development and progression of retinopathy, nephropathy, and cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy during the DCCT. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Measures of variability included the within-day and updated mean (over time) of the SD, mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE), and M-value, and the longitudinal within-day, between-day, and total variances. Imputation methods filled in the 16.3% of expected glucose values that were missing. RESULTS Cox proportional hazards models assessed the association of each measure of glycemic variation, as a time-dependent covariate, with the risk of retinopathy and nephropathy, and a longitudinal logistic regression model did likewise for cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy. Adjusted for mean blood glucose, no measure of within-day variability was associated with any outcome. Only the longitudinal mean M-value (over time) was significantly associated with microalbuminuria when adjusted for the longitudinal mean blood glucose and corrected for multiple tests using the Holm procedure. CONCLUSIONS Overall, within-day glycemic variability, as determined from quarterly glucose profiles, does not play an apparent role in the development of microvascular complications beyond the influence of the mean glucose.
Results of Simple Limbal Epithelial Transplantation in unilateral ocular surface burn

Purpose: This study aimed to report the long-term outcomes of autologous Simple Limbal Epithelial Transplantation (SLET) performed for unilateral limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) following chemical burn at a tertiary eye center in North India. Methods: This was a single-center prospective interventional case series of patients who developed unilateral LSCD after suffering from ocular surface burns and who underwent SLET between October 2012 and May 2016 with a follow-up period of at least 6 months. The primary outcome measure was restoration of a completely epithelized, stable, and avascular corneal surface. The secondary outcome measure was percentage of eyes, which reported visual gain. Results: The study included 30 eyes of 30 patients, 18 adults and 12 children, at a median follow-up of 1.1 years (range: 6 months to 3.5 years), 21 of 30 eyes (70%; 95% confidence interval, 53.6%–86.2%) maintained successful outcome. Visual acuity gain was seen in 71.4% of successful cases. The clinical factors associated with failure were identified as acid injury, severe symblepharon at the time of presentation, and SLET combined with penetrating keratoplasty (PK). Conclusion: Autologous SLET is an effective limbal cell transplantation technique for the treatment of unilateral LSCD. It is especially beneficial for centers where cell cultivation laboratory is unavailable. Presence of severe symblepharon, which requires PK peroperatively , has poor outcome.
Targeting Accurate Object Extraction From an Image: A Comprehensive Study of Natural Image Matting

With the development of digital multimedia technologies, image matting has gained increasing interests from both academic and industrial communities. The purpose of image matting is to precisely extract the foreground objects with arbitrary shapes from an image or a video frame for further editing. It is generally known that image matting is inherently an ill-posed problem because we need to output three images out of only one input image. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of the existing image matting algorithms and evaluate their performance. In addition to the blue screen matting, we systematically divide all existing natural image matting methods into four categories: 1) color sampling-based; 2) propagation-based; 3) combination of sampling-based and propagation-based; and 4) learning-based approaches. Sampling-based methods assume that the foreground and background colors of an unknown pixel can be explicitly estimated by examining nearby pixels. Propagation-based methods are instead based on the assumption that foreground and background colors are locally smooth. Learning-based methods treat the matting process as a supervised or semisupervised learning problem. Via the learning process, users can construct a linear or nonlinear model between the alpha mattes and the image colors using a training set to estimate the alpha matte of an unknown pixel without any assumption about the characteristics of the testing image. With three benchmark data sets, the various matting algorithms are evaluated and compared using several metrics to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of each method both quantitatively and qualitatively. Finally, we conclude this paper by outlining the research trends and suggesting a number of promising directions for future development.
Adrenomedullin and Arterial Stiffness: Integrative Approach Combining Monocyte ADM Expression, Plasma MR-Pro-ADM, and Genome-Wide Association Study

Background—Adrenomedullin (ADM) is a circulating vasoactive peptide involved in vascular homeostasis and endothelial function. Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the ADM gene are associated with blood pressure variability, and elevated levels of plasma midregional proadrenomedullin (MR-pro-ADM) are associated with cardiovascular diseases. Methods and Results—We investigated the sources of variability of ADM gene expression and plasma MR-pro-ADM concentrations in the general population, and their relationship with markers of atherosclerosis. MR-pro-ADM levels were assessed in 4155 individuals who underwent evaluation of carotid intima-media thickness and arterial rigidity (reflection index and stiffness index). In a subsample of 1372 individuals, ADM gene expression was assessed as part of a transcriptomic study of circulating monocytes. Nongenetic factors explained 45.8% and 7.5% of MR-pro-ADM and ADM expression variability, respectively. ADM expression correlated with plasma C-reactive protein, interleukin-receptor 1A, and myeloperoxidase, whereas MR-pro-ADM levels correlated with C-terminal proendothelin-1, creatinine, and N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide. Genome-wide association study of ADM expression and MR-pro-ADM levels both identified a single locus encompassing the ADM gene. ADM expression was associated with 1 single nucleotide polymorphism rs11042717 (P=2.36×10−12), whereas MR-pro-ADM was associated with 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms with additive effects, rs2957692 (P=1.54×10−13) and rs2957717 (P=4.24×10−8). Reflection index was independently associated with rs11042717 (P<10–4) and ADM expression (P=0.0002) but not with MR-pro-ADM. Weaker associations were observed for stiffness index. Intima-media thickness was not related to ADM single nucleotide polymorphisms or expression. Conclusions—These results support an involvement of the ADM gene in the modulation of peripheral vascular tone.
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

11 Nowadays most industrial wood products are manufactured with thermosetting synthetic resins being the most used those based on formaldehyde. However, environmental and health considerations are leading to more severe standards according to the maximum permissible formaldehyde emissions from wood-based boards. This joined with the increasing costs of petroleum-based synthetic resins has intensified the search for alternative resins based on natural and environmentally friendly materials for wood adhesives preparation. Therefore, there are proposals of different types of formaldehyde-free resins, based on condensed tannins, lignin, vegetable oils, proteins and soy flour. Tannins extracted from lignocellulosic materials have been employed in the formulation of adhesives in combination with synthetic resins based on formaldehyde or using formaldehyde as hardener, with satisfactory results in the preparation of wood boards. However, the possible presence of free formaldehyde in the finished boards, limits its commercial attractive. In this work the formulation of totally formaldehydefree adhesives based on tannins obtained from some lignocellulosic forest and/or industrial wastes was considered. This can be achieved by using alternative hardener compounds such as glyoxal, hexamethylenetetramine and tris(hydroxymethyl)nitromethane. Chestnut (Castanea sativa) shell and bur and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) bark are lignocellulosic wastes produced in significant quantities by food and forest (pulp and wood boards) Galician industries, respectively. Its availability, its renewable character and chemical nature have been the reasons for proposing a new application oriented to the development of high added-value products as an alternative to their actual use for energy production in the industries that generate them. The study was performed in various stages: study of extraction conditions and characterization of the tannin extracts obtained, adhesives formulation and their physicochemical characterization and particle board manufacture with selected adhesives and their quality analysis. The extraction conditions study began with a preliminary study applied to chestnut shell and eucalyptus bark in which it was concluded that chestnut shell extracts showed better properties for wood board adhesives formulation than eucalyptus bark due to higher Stiasny number values and total phenol content, together with substantially
Microbial Diversity of Impact-Generated Habitats.

Impact-generated lithologies have recently been identified as viable and important microbial habitats, especially within cold and arid regions such as the polar deserts on Earth. These unique habitats provide protection from environmental stressors, such as freeze-thaw events, desiccation, and UV radiation, and act to trap aerially deposited detritus within the fissures and pore spaces, providing necessary nutrients for endoliths. This study provides the first culture-independent analysis of the microbial community structure within impact-generated lithologies in a Mars analog environment, involving the analysis of 44,534 16S rRNA sequences from an assemblage of 21 rock samples that comprises three shock metamorphism categories. We find that species diversity increases (H = 2.4-4.6) with exposure to higher shock pressures, which leads to the development of three distinct populations. In each population, Actinobacteria were the most abundant (41%, 65%, and 59%), and the dominant phototrophic taxa came from the Chloroflexi. Calculated porosity (a function of shock metamorphism) for these samples correlates (R2 = 0.62) with inverse Simpson indices, accounting for overlap in populations in the higher shock levels. The results of our study show that microbial diversity is tied to the amount of porosity in the target substrate (as a function of shock metamorphism), resulting in the formation of distinct microbial populations. Key Words: Microbial diversity-Endoliths-Impact melt-rocks-Mars-Astrobiology. Astrobiology 16, 775-786.
Evolution of sfbI Encoding Streptococcal Fibronectin-Binding Protein I: Horizontal Genetic Transfer and Gene Mosaic Structure

ABSTRACT Streptococcal fibronectin-binding protein is an important virulence factor involved in colonization and invasion of epithelial cells and tissues by Streptococcus pyogenes. In order to investigate the mechanisms involved in the evolution of sfbI, the sfbI genes from 54 strains were sequenced. Thirty-four distinct alleles were identified. Three principal mechanisms appear to have been involved in the evolution of sfbI. The amino-terminal aromatic amino acid-rich domain is the most variable region and is apparently generated by intergenic recombination of horizontally acquired DNA cassettes, resulting in a genetic mosaic in this region. Two distinct and divergent sequence types that shared only 61 to 70% identity were identified in the central proline-rich region, while variation at the 3′ end of the gene is due to deletion or duplication of defined repeat units. Potential antigenic and functional variabilities in SfbI imply significant selective pressure in vivo with direct implications for the microbial pathogenesis of S. pyogenes.
A Neurocomputational Model of the N400 and the P600 in Language Processing

Abstract Ten years ago, researchers using event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) to study language comprehension were puzzled by what looked like a Semantic Illusion: Semantically anomalous, but structurally well‐formed sentences did not affect the N400 component—traditionally taken to reflect semantic integration—but instead produced a P600 effect, which is generally linked to syntactic processing. This finding led to a considerable amount of debate, and a number of complex processing models have been proposed as an explanation. What these models have in common is that they postulate two or more separate processing streams, in order to reconcile the Semantic Illusion and other semantically induced P600 effects with the traditional interpretations of the N400 and the P600. Recently, however, these multi‐stream models have been called into question, and a simpler single‐stream model has been proposed. According to this alternative model, the N400 component reflects the retrieval of word meaning from semantic memory, and the P600 component indexes the integration of this meaning into the unfolding utterance interpretation. In the present paper, we provide support for this “Retrieval–Integration (RI)” account by instantiating it as a neurocomputational model. This neurocomputational model is the first to successfully simulate the N400 and P600 amplitude in language comprehension, and simulations with this model provide a proof of concept of the single‐stream RI account of semantically induced patterns of N400 and P600 modulations.