Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chrono-, litho- and conodont bio-stratigraphy of the Rauchkofel Boden Section (Upper Ordovician – Lower Devonian), Carnic Alps, Austria

An updated stratigraphy of the Rauchkofel Boden Section, a classical reference section for the Carnic Alps that exposes rocks from the Katian (Upper Ordovician) to the Pragian (Lower Devonian) is here presented, following latest developments in conodont taxonomy and biostratigraphy, as well as in chrono stratigraphy, and the recent introduction of a new lithostratigraphic outline of the Carnic Alps. The original conodont collection of the ’70s and ʼ80s was restudied and complemented by a detailed resampling in order to achieve a more precise conodont biostratigraphic assignment. Twenty-five conodont Zones are now documented. The lithostratigraphy is precisely fixed to the new lithostratigraphic scheme of the Pre-Variscan sequence by definition of seven distinct formations. Finally, the position of chronostratigraphic boundaries is discussed.
Original Papers

SUMMARY Background. Early detection and management of patients with eating disorders is thought to improve prognosis, yet little is known about the factors associated with referral of these patients to treatment centres. Aim. To calculate general practitioner (GP) referral rates to a specialist eating disorder service and determine the association between referral rate and general practice and practitioner factors. Method. Referral rate was calculated from a database of routine referrals to St George's Hospital Eating Disorder Service from January 1990 to May 1996 and correlated with practice and practitioner details obtained from medical directories and health authority data. Results. There was a wide variation in referral rates. A higher referral rate was found to be associated with practice size, proximity to the clinic, female GPs, GPs having the MRCGP qualification, being United Kingdom qualified, and offering full contraceptive services. Fundholding was associated with lower rates of referral. Conclusion. Patients with eating disorders may be at a disadvantage in certain practices. Educational interventions could be targeted towards low referrals.
Enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis and healthy subjects assessed by ‘head-to-toe’ whole-body MRI and clinical examination

Objectives To investigate the ability of whole-body MRI (WBMRI) to detect axial and peripheral enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), and in healthy subjects (HS). Furthermore, to develop MRI enthesitis indices based on WBMRI and validate these by use of clinical measures of disease activity. Methods Prospective cross-sectional study of patients with PsA (n=18) and axSpA (n=18) with moderate to high disease activity, and HS (n=12). Enthesitis at 35 individual sites located at upper and lower limbs, chest and pelvis were evaluated by WBMRI and clinical examination, and compared. Three new WBMRI enthesitis indices were developed. Results WBMRI allowed evaluation of 888 (53%) of 1680 sites investigated, and 19 (54%) of 35 entheses had a readability >70%. The percentage agreement between WBMRI and clinical enthesitis was 49–100%, when compared at the level of the individual entheses. Enthesitis on WBMRI was observed in 148 (17%) of the entheseal sites, and was frequently present at greater trochanters (55%) and Achilles (43%) and supraspinate (23%) tendon insertions in patients and HS. At the first mentioned two locations enthesitis often appeared without clinical signs of enthesitis. Patients and HS differed significantly in one of the new WBMRI enthesitis scores. Patients and HS differed significantly in one of the new WBMRI enthesitis scores, and this score correlated weakly with BASDAI question 4 (tenderness in relation to entheses), BASDAI and patient global (ρ=0.29–0.31, p<0.05). Conclusions WBMRI is a promising new imaging modality for evaluation of enthesitis in patients with PsA and axSpA, but requires further investigation before clinical use.
Influence of Smoking on Colonic Gene Expression Profile in Crohn's Disease

Background The development and course of Crohn's disease (CD) is related to both genetic and environmental factors. Smoking has been found to exacerbate the course of CD by increasing the risk of developing fistulas and strictures as well as the need for surgery, possibly because of an interaction between smoking or nicotine on macrophage function and the intestinal microvasculature. Several genes are involved in the pathogenesis of CD, and in this study the gene expression differences of the descending colonic mucosa were investigated in CD (smokers or never smokers) and controls (smokers or never smokers). Aim To identify any difference in gene expression of the descending colonic mucosa between smoking and never-smoking CD patients (and controls) by determining genetic expression profiles from microarray analysis. Methods Fifty-seven specimens were obtained by routine colonoscopy from the included material: CD smokers (n = 28) or never-smokers (n = 14) as compared to fifteen healthy controls (8 smokers and 7 never-smokers). RNA was isolated and gene expression assessed with Affymetrix GeneChip Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0. Data were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), Wilcoxon rank sum test and multiple linear regressions. Real-time (RT) PCR was subsequently applied to verify microarray results. Results The PCA analysis showed no intrinsic clustering of smokers versus never-smokers. However, when Wilcoxon rank sum test corrected with Q values were performed, six known genes were significantly expressed differently in the inflamed CD smokers as compared to the inflamed CD never-smokers: ring finger protein 138 (RNF138), metalothionein 2A (MT2A) and six transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate 3 (STEAP3), SA hypertension-associated homolog, PGM2L1 and KCNJ2. The subsequent RT-PCR-analyses verified, however, that only RNF138, MT2A and STEAP3 were significantly up-regulated in CD smokers in specimens with inflammatory activity of the descending colon. Conclusions The present study demonstrates that the genes, RNF138, MT2A, and STEAP3 are differently expressed in the inflamed descending colon of smoking versus never-smoking CD patients, which might be of relevance for the poorer clinical course among CD smokers. Many gastroenterologists are still not totally aware of the benefits of smoking cessation in relation to CD, and do not put much effort into getting the patients to quit, therefore more information on the negative effects of smoking, seems warranted.
AutoHair

We introduce AutoHair, the first fully automatic method for 3D hair modeling from a single portrait image, with no user interaction or parameter tuning. Our method efficiently generates complete and high-quality hair geometries, which are comparable to those generated by the state-of-the-art methods, where user interaction is required. The core components of our method are: a novel hierarchical deep neural network for automatic hair segmentation and hair growth direction estimation, trained over an annotated hair image database; and an efficient and automatic data-driven hair matching and modeling algorithm, based on a large set of 3D hair exemplars. We demonstrate the efficacy and robustness of our method on Internet photos, resulting in a database of around 50K 3D hair models and a corresponding hairstyle space that covers a wide variety of real-world hairstyles. We also show novel applications enabled by our method, including 3D hairstyle space navigation and hair-aware image retrieval.
Immune Reconstitution after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

The timely reconstitution and regain of function of a donor-derived immune system is of utmost importance for the recovery and long-term survival of patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Of note, new developments such as umbilical cord blood or haploidentical grafts were associated with prolonged immunodeficiency due to delayed immune reconstitution, raising the need for better understanding and enhancing the process of immune reconstitution and finding strategies to further optimize these transplant procedures. Immune reconstitution post-HSCT occurs in several phases, innate immunity being the first to regain function. The slow T cell reconstitution is regarded as primarily responsible for deleterious infections with latent viruses or fungi, occurrence of graft-versus-host disease, and relapse. Here we aim to summarize the major steps of the adaptive immune reconstitution and will discuss the importance of immune balance in patients after HSCT.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and the manufacturing–marketing interface: an information-processing theory view

The manufacturing–marketing interface has received substantial consideration in the operations management literature. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of information systems in facilitating manufacturing–marketing integration. As integrated cross-functional systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are well-suited to provide manufacturing–marketing integration. Based on information-processing theory, the central proposition of this paper is the greater the interdependence between manufacturing and marketing, the greater the benefit of ERP. Specifically, the first hypothesis (H1) states that the greater ERP-enabled coordination between manufacturing and marketing, the greater the benefit of ERP to the plant. The second hypothesis (H2) states that the degree to which ERP-enabled manufacturing–marketing coordination improvements are realized depends on the amount of interdependence between manufacturing and marketing. Using multiple regression, the model is tested on survey data from 107 manufacturing plants running ERP. The data support H1 and H2. These findings support the general proposition that interdependence between functions is one factor that influences the degree to which organizations reap benefits from their ERP investments. Based on the ERP literature, the model controls for the amount of time that ERP has been running in the plant; this factor was found to be insignificant in the model. However, exploratory analysis finds that time is associated with other ERP benefits.
Post-thoracotomy pain syndrome and sensory disturbances following thoracotomy at 6- and 12-month follow-ups

Background Persistent pain affects a large proportion of patients after thoracotomy and is associated with sensory disturbances. The objective of this prospective study was to investigate the time course of pain and sensory disturbances over a 12-month period. Methods Patients scheduled for thoracotomy were recruited. Data were collected on the day before surgery, including baseline characteristics and the presence of any preoperative pain. At 6- and 12-month follow-ups, data on pain were collected using the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form, and perceived sensory disturbances around the thoracotomy scar were recorded from a self-exploration test. Results At 12 months after surgery, 97 patients had complete data including baseline and 6-and 12-month measurements. Almost half of the patients reported post-thoracotomy pain at the follow-ups. However, 20% of the patients not reporting post-thoracotomy pain at 6 months did report it at 12 months. Between 40% and 60% of patients experienced some kind of sensory disturbance at 6 months. A small decline in some kind of sensory disturbance was reported by 20%–50% of patients at 12 months. Conclusion A proportion of patients experienced either resolved or delayed onset of pain. Sensory changes were strongly associated with post-thoracotomy pain syndrome, but were also present in a large proportion of patients without it.
Discriminating speakers with vocal nodules using aerodynamic and acoustic features

This paper demonstrates that linear discriminant analysis using aerodynamic and acoustic features is effective in discriminating speakers with vocal-fold nodules from normal speakers. Simultaneous aerodynamic and acoustic measurements of vocal function were taken of 14 women with bilateral vocal-fold nodules and 12 women with normal voice production. Features were extracted from the glottal airflow waveform and peaks in the acoustic spectrum for the vowel /ae/. Results show that the subglottal pressure, air flow, and open quotient are increased in the nodules group. Estimated first-formant bandwidths are increased, but result in minimal change in the first-formant amplitudes. There is no appreciable decrease in high frequency energy. Speakers with nodules may be compensating for the nodules by increasing the subglottal pressure, resulting in relatively good acoustics but increased air flows. The two best features for discrimination are open quotient and subglottal pressure.
The mast cell and eosinophil response of young lambs to a primary infection with Nematodirus battus

Helminthologically naive 8-week-old lambs were administered 50000 infective-stage larvae of the trichostrongyle nematode Nematodirus battus. Initial mean adult worm burdens were significantly reduced (P < 0·01) at day 21 post-infection (p.i.). Peripheral blood eosinophil counts showed a significant increase (P < 0·001) by day 25 p.i. when compared with uninfected control animals. Sections of small intestine taken at post-mortem from the area of adult worm establishment over the course of infection showed a significant increase in mucosal eosinophil and mast cell numbers during the period of adult worm rejection, when compared with uninfected control animals. These results show that young lambs develop significant increases in the numbers of cells associated with an inflammatory reaction in the intestine during the development of a partially protective immune response to this parasitic nematode.
Spathian (Lower Triassic) ammonoids from western USA (Idaho, California, Utah and Nevada)

The Early Triassic marine deposits are distributed over a large area in the Western United State and are very rich in ammonoids. The detailed bed by bed study of their stratigraphic distribution allowed us to present a new very precise biochronological framework of the Spathian stage (Middle to Late Olenekian). Nineteen new ammonoid species belonging to the genera Pseudosvalbardiceras ? , Prohungarites, Silberlingeria, Bajarunia, Hemilecanites, Arctomeekoceras, Xenoceltites, Nordophiceratoides, Sibirites, Columbites, Hellenites and Svalbardiceras and eighteen new spathian ammonoid genera (Courtilloticeras, Yvesgalleticeras, Marcouxia, Jeanbesseiceras, Tapponnierites, Gaudemerites, Deweveria, Ceccaisculitoides, Coscaites, Eschericeratites, Carteria, Goricanites, Tardicolumbites, Cowboyiceras, Nordophiceratoides, Glabercolumbites) have been described in a recent preliminary report by Guex et al. (2005) on the basis of unpublished material collected in the western USA (Idaho, Utah, Nevada and California). In addition, one new genus (Rudolftruempyiceras) and four new species are also described in the present work. The precise stratigraphic description of the collected sections is given in the present Memoir and the stratigraphic distribution of 88 species belonging to 51 genera is established herein. Twenty-three new biochronological horizons are defined thanks to these new data. The Cowboy Pass section (Utah) records a very interesting terrestrial (red beds and very shallow water deposits) transition between the marine Late Smithian and the Earliest Spathian faunas. That worldwide short lived regression followed by a major transgression fits the model proposed by Guex et al. 2001 and Morard et al. 2003 for the Pliensbachian - Toarcian transition: major volcanic SO2 emissions generating a short but major cooling and glaciation associated with an important sea level fall and large scale emersions, followed by a warming inducing a transgressive episode with some anoxic deposits.
Involvement of JNK/NFκB Signaling Pathways in the Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Modulation of Aquaglyceroporin Expression in 3T3-L1 Cells Differentiated into Adipocytes

Aquaglyceroporins, belonging to the family of aquaporins (AQPs), are integral plasma membrane proteins permeable to water and glycerol that have emerged as key players in obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression profile of AQPs in undifferentiated and differentiated 3T3-L1 cells and to investigate the changes in expression of aquaglyceroporins in 3T3-L1 cells differentiated into adipocytes and subjected to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) mimicking inflammation occurring during obesity. Furthermore, the study aimed at identifying the signaling cascade involved in the regulation of aquaglyceroporins expression upon LPS stimulation. 3T3-L1 cells were grown as undifferentiated cells (UDC; preadipocytes) or cells differentiated into adipocytes (DC, adipocytes). DC were incubated in the presence or absence of LPS with or without inhibitors of various protein kinases. AQPs mRNA expression levels were measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). AQP1, AQP2, AQP3, AQP9 and AQP11 mRNA were expressed in both UDC and DC, whereas AQP4, AQP7 and AQP8 mRNA were expressed only in DC. In DC, LPS up-regulated AQP3 mRNA levels (p < 0.05) compared to control; these effects were inhibited by CLI095, SP600125 and BAY11-7082 (p < 0.05). LPS decreased both AQP7 and AQP11 mRNA levels (p < 0.01) in DC as compared to control; this decrease was inhibited by CLI095 and BAY11-7082 (p < 0.05) and additionally by SP00125 for AQP7 (p < 0.05). SB203580 had no effect on LPS-induced AQP3, AQP7 and AQP11 mRNA levels modulations. In conclusion, our results clearly show that many AQPs are expressed in murine 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Moreover, in DCs, LPS led to decreased AQP7 and AQP11 mRNA levels but to increased AQP3 mRNA levels, resulting from the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-induced activation of JNK and/or NFκB pathway.
Discriminative Models-Based Hand Gesture Recognition

In this paper, we study the discriminative models like CRFs, HCRFs and LDCRFs to recognize alphabet characters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9) in real-time from stereo color image sequences. To handle isolated gesture, CRFs, HCRFs and LDCRFs with different number of window size are applied on 3D combined features of location, orientation and velocity. The gesture recognition rate is improved initially as the window size increase, but degrades as window size increase further. In contrast to generative approaches such as HMMs, experimental results show that the LDCRFs are the best in terms of results than CRFs, HCRFs and HMMs at window size equal 4. Additionally, our results show that; an overall recognition rates are 91.52%, 95.28% and 98.05% for CRFs, HCRFs, and LDCRFs respectively.
Hemodynamics of Early Experimental Renal Hypertension in Dogs: NORMAL LIMB BLOOD FLOW, ELEVATED LIMB VASCULAR RESISTANCE, AND DECREASED VENOUS COMPLIANCE

To investigate the hemodynamics of early experimental renal hypertension, skin and muscle blood flows and intravascular pressures were measured in the isolated, innervated, naturally perfused forelimbs of 44 male mongrel dogs under pentobarbital (35 mg/kg) anesthesia. In addition, venous pressure-volume relationships were studied in temporarily isolated segments of femoral and jugular veins. In 10 dogs (group H-1) one kidney was wrapped in silk 8 days before study; in 12 (H-2) one kidney was wrapped 4 weeks, and a contralateral nephrectomy was done 2 weeks, before study; 22 were prepared as appropriate normotensive controls. A significant rise in mean arterial pressure occurred in groups H-1 and H-2. Compared to corresponding control groups, (1) muscle and skin blood flows in both hypertensive groups were unchanged (P>0.1); (2) muscle and skin resistances/100 g limb weight were increased in group H-2 (P<0.05); and (3) femoral venous pressure-volume curves were shifted toward the pressure axis (P<0.02). These data suggest that in the early stages of experimental renal hypertension in dogs: (1) blood flow in skin and skeletal muscle is not increased; (2) arteriolar resistance is elevated in skin and skeletal muscle; and (3) reduced venous compliance may be present.
Annual cost of hospitalization, inpatient rehabilitation, and sick leave for head and neck cancers in Germany

Background Data on the economic burden of head and neck cancers (HNCs) in Germany is scarce. About 16%–28% of these cancers are associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Therefore, the study reported here aimed to assess the annual costs of HPV-related HNCs incurred by hospitalization, inpatient rehabilitation, and sick leave in Germany in 2008. Methods A cross-sectional retrospective analysis of five German databases covering hospital treatment, inpatient rehabilitation, and sick leave in 2008 was performed. All hospital, inpatient rehabilitation, and sick leave cases due to HNCs in 2008 were analyzed. Associated numbers of HNC hospitalizations, health care resource use, and costs were identified and extracted using the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10; World Health Organization, Geneva, 1990) codes C01–C06, C09–C14, and C32 as the main diagnoses. Resources were valued with German official prices in 2008 euros (€). The annual costs of HPV-related HNCs were estimated based on the percentage of HNCs likely to be attributable to HPV infection. Results In 2008, there were 63,857 hospitalizations, 4898 inpatient rehabilitations, and 17,494 sick leaves due to HNCs, representing costs of €365.78 million. The estimated annual costs associated with HPV-related HNCs were €78.22 million, mainly attributed to males (80%). Direct costs accounted for 84% (80% for hospital treatment, 4% for inpatient rehabilitation) and indirect costs due to sick leave accounted for 16% of HPV-related HNC costs. Conclusion The economic burden of HPV-related HNCs in Germany in 2008 has been underestimated, since costs incurred by outpatient management, outpatient chemotherapy, long-term care, premature retirement, and premature death were not included. However, as far as we are aware, this study is the first analysis to investigate the economic burden of HNCs in Germany. The estimated annual costs of HPV-related HNCs contribute to a significant economic burden in Germany and should be considered when assessing the health and economic benefits of HPV vaccination in both sexes.
This Reprint May Differ from the Original in Pagination and Typographic Detail. Changes in Corticospinal Excitability during an Acute Bout of Resistance Exercise in the Elbow Flexors

All material supplied via JYX is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. Changes in corticospinal excitability during an acute bout of resistance exercise in the elbow flexors (2014). Changes in corticospinal excitability during an acute bout of resistance exercise in the elbow flexors. Abstract Purpose: Hypertrophic resistance exercise (HRE) induces central and peripheral fatigue. However, more detailed information about changes in corticospinal excitability remains to be elucidated. Methods: Eleven volunteers participated in the upper arm HRE which included one repetition maximum (1 RM) control contractions and three sets of 13 RM (SET1–3). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied during maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MVC) at the end of each set and during control contractions to study changes in corticospinal excitability. Electrical stimulation was used in order to measure peripheral changes.