Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of a Community Reintegration Outpatient Program Service for Community-Dwelling Persons with Spinal Cord Injury

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of a community reintegration outpatient (CROP) service for promoting well-being and community participation following spinal cord injury (SCI). Participants. Community-dwelling adults (N = 14) with traumatic and nontraumatic SCI. Interventions. The CROP service is a 12-week (1 × week; 120 minutes) interprofessional closed therapeutic education service. Main Outcome Measure(s). Moorong Self-Efficacy Scale (MSES); Impact on Participation and Autonomy (IPA); Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS); Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations (CISS); World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF); semistructured qualitative interviews. Methods. Twenty-one participants were recruited from two subsequent CROP services, with only 14 persons completing all data assessments. Data were collected at baseline (week 0), at exit (week 12), and at a three-month follow-up. Semistructured interviews were conducted at exit. Results. Self-efficacy (MSES) and positive affect (PANAS) improved from baseline to exit (P < .05), but the changes were not maintained at follow-up. Qualitative analysis identified four major themes related to therapeutic benefits: (1) role of self; (2) knowledge acquisition; (3) skill application; and (4) group processes. Conclusions. Participation in a therapeutic education service has the potential to improve well-being in persons with SCI, but there is a need to identify strategies to maintain long-term gains.
The clump mass function of the dense clouds in the Carina Nebula

Context. The question how the initial conditions in a star-forming region affect the resulting mass function of the forming stars is one of the most fundamental open topics in star formation theory. Aims. We want to characterize the properties of the cold dust clumps in the Carina nebula complex, which is one of the most massive star forming regions in our Galaxy and shows a very high level of massive star feedback. We derive the clump mass function (ClMF), explore the reliability of different clump extraction algorithms, and investigate the influence of the temperatures within the clouds on the resulting shape of the ClMF. Methods. We analyze a 1.25 ◦ × 1.25 ◦ wide-field submillimeter map obtained with LABOCA at the APEX telescope, which provides the first spatially complete survey of the clouds in the Carina nebula complex. We use the three clump-finding algorithms CLUMPFIND, GAUSSCLUMPS and SExtractor to identify individual clumps and determine their total fluxes. In addition to assuming a common “typical” temperature for all clouds, we also employ an empirical relation between cloud column densities and temperature to determine an estimate of the individual clump temperatures, and use this to determine individual clump masses. Results. We find that the ClMFs resulting from the different extraction methods show considerable differences in their shape. While the ClMF based on the CLUMPFIND extraction is very well described by a power-law (for clump masses well above the completeness limit), the ClMFs based on the extractions with GAUSSCLUMPS and SExtractor are better represented by a log-normal distribution. We also find that the use of individual clump temperatures leads to a shallower ClMF slope than the (often used) assumption of a common temperature (e.g. 20 K) of all clumps. Conclusions. The power-law of dN/dM ∝ M −1.95 we find for the CLUMPFIND sample is in good agreement with ClMF slopes found in previous studies of the ClMFs of other regions. The dependence of the ClMF shape (power-law versus log-normal distribution) on the employed extraction method suggests that observational determinations of the ClMF shape yields only very limited information about the true structure of the cloud. Interpretations of log-normal ClMF shape as a signature of turbulent pre-stellar clouds versus power-law ClMFs as a signature of star-forming clouds may be taken with caution for a single extraction algorithm without additional information.
Trans-Rearrangements in Nurse Shark Lymphoid Tissues, and Surprising Identification of T Cells in Primary Evolutionarily Conserved TCR Binding Sites,

Cartilaginous ﬁsh are the oldest animals that generate RAG-based Ag receptor diversity. We have analyzed the genes and expressed transcripts of the four TCR chains for the ﬁrst time in a cartilaginous ﬁsh, the nurse shark ( Ginglymostoma cirratum ). Northern blotting found TCR mRNA expression predominantly in lymphoid and mucosal tissues. Southern blotting suggested translocon-type loci encoding all four chains. Based on diversity of V and J segments, the expressed combinatorial diversity for g is similar to that of human, a and b may be slightly lower, and d diversity is the highest of any organism studied to date. Nurse shark TCR d have long CDR3 loops compared with the other three chains, creating binding site topologies comparable to those of mammalian TCR in basic paratope structure; additionally, nurse shark TCR d CDR3 are more similar to IgH CDR3 in length and hetero-geneity than to other TCR chains. Most interestingly, several cDNAs were isolated that contained IgM or IgW V segments rearranged to other gene segments of TCR d and a . Finally, in situ hybridization experiments demonstrate a conservation of both a / b and g / d T cell localization in the thymus across 450 million years of vertebrate evolution, with g / d TCR expression especially high in the subcapsular region. Collectively, these data make the ﬁrst cellular identiﬁcation of TCR-expressing lymphocytes in a cartilaginous ﬁsh. The Journal of Immunology , 2010, 184: 6950–6960.
Cell Depletion Due to Diphtheria Toxin Fragment A after Cre-Mediated Recombination

ABSTRACT Abnormal cell loss is the common cause of a large number of developmental and degenerative diseases. To model such diseases in transgenic animals, we have developed a line of mice that allows the efficient depletion of virtually any cell type in vivo following somatic Cre-mediated gene recombination. By introducing the diphtheria toxin fragment A (DT-A) gene as a conditional expression construct (floxed lacZ-DT-A) into the ubiquitously expressed ROSA26 locus, we produced a line of mice that would permit cell-specific activation of the toxin gene. Following Cre-mediated recombination under the control of cell-type-specific promoters, lacZ gene expression was efficiently replaced by de novo transcription of the Cre-recombined DT-A gene. We provide proof of this principle, initially for cells of the central nervous system (pyramidal neurons and oligodendrocytes), the immune system (B cells), and liver tissue (hepatocytes), that the conditional expression of DT-A is functional in vivo, resulting in the generation of novel degenerative disease models.
Pseudoseptic Arthritis: A Case Series and Review of the Literature

Purpose. Pseudoseptic arthritis is an acute inflammatory monoarthritis with a sterile synovial gram stain and culture. Pseudoseptic arthritis has been previously described in the literature in a variety of settings including rheumatoid arthritis and microcrystalline disease. Despite pseudoseptic arthritis being a described entity, there is little published data on this topic with no published reports since 1992. Methods. This paper was a retrospective chart review over a 20-year period that identified all rheumatology inpatient consultations at our tertiary rural hospital for pseudoseptic arthritis. Results. We identified 10 patients with pseudoseptic arthritis and presented 5 of those cases in this paper. Majority of these patients had known autoimmune inflammatory arthritis or microcrystalline inflammatory arthritis. Conclusion. Pseudoseptic arthritis is a syndrome that should be in the differential diagnosis with patients with long standing inflammatory condition who present with an acute monoarthritis with no known bacterial source for septic arthritis.
Production of Chlamydia pneumoniae Proteins in Bacillus subtilis and Their Use in Characterizing Immune Responses in the Experimental Infection Model

ABSTRACT Due to intracellular growth requirements, large-scale cultures of chlamydiae and purification of its proteins are difficult and laborious. To overcome these problems we produced chlamydial proteins in a heterologous host, Bacillus subtilis, a gram-positive nonpathogenic bacterium. The genes of Chlamydia pneumoniae major outer membrane protein (MOMP), the cysteine-rich outer membrane protein (Omp2), and the heat shock protein (Hsp60) were amplified by PCR, and the PCR products were cloned into expression vectors containing a promoter, a ribosome binding site, and a truncated signal sequence of the α-amylase gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. C. pneumoniae genes were readily expressed in B. subtilis under the control of the α-amylase promoter. The recombinant proteins MOMP and Hsp60 were purified from the bacterial lysate with the aid of the carboxy-terminal histidine hexamer tag by affinity chromatography. The Omp2 was separated as an insoluble fraction after 8 M urea treatment. The purified proteins were successfully used as immunogens and as antigens in serological assays and in a lymphoproliferation test. The Omp2 and Hsp60 antigens were readily recognized by the antibodies appearing after pulmonary infection following intranasal inoculation of C. pneumoniae in mice. Also, splenocytes collected from mice immunized with MOMP or Hsp60 proteins proliferated in response to in vitro stimulation with the corresponding proteins.
Functional Anatomy of a Prelearned Sequence of Horizontal Saccades in Humans

We have used positron emission tomography (PET) to study the functional anatomy of the repetition of a prelearned sequence of horizontal saccadic eye movements. Five subjects had to memorize a sequence of six successive horizontal saccades. The subjects were scanned in total darkness under three different conditions: at rest, during the execution of self-paced horizontal saccades, and while repeating a prelearned saccades sequence. The repetition of the prelearned saccades sequence led to specific normalized regional cerebral blood flow (NrCBF) increases at the depth of the superior frontal sulcus as well as at the rostral part of the supplementary motor area, whereas at the parietal level an important activation was observed in the intraparietal sulcus extending up to the precuneus. In addition, it was noticed that compared with the resting control condition, both oculomotor tasks activated a common set of cortical and subcortical areas. At the cortical level, this network was composed of the frontal eye fields, the supplementary eye fields, the median part of the cingulate gyrus, and the insula. At the subcortical level, the lenticular nucleus and the thalamus as well as the cerebellar vermis were activated consistently. A direct comparison of our results with those of other PET studies on spatial vision suggests that the dorsal visuospatial pathway could be extended toward the frontal premotor region. In such a scheme, visuospatial information computed in the intraparietal sulcus would be transmitted to the frontal premotor cortex to optimize a spatial-oriented behavior. This is consistent with the early proposal that perceptual and intentional components of spatial information are mediated through superior parietal and frontal areas, respectively.
Development of the Smart Spring for Active Vibration Control of Helicopter Blades

Significant structural vibration is an undesirable characteristic in helicopter flight that leads to structural fatigue, poor ride quality for passengers and high acoustic signature for the vehicle. Previous Individual Blade Control (IBC) techniques based on piezoelectric actuator schemes to reduce these effects have been hindered by electromechanical limitations of piezoelectric actuators. The Smart Spring is an active tunable vibration absorber using the IBC approach to adaptively alter the “structural impedance” at the blade root. In the paper, a mathematical model was developed to determine the response of the absorber under harmonic excitation. An adaptive notch algorithm using a DSP platform was developed to implement vibration control. Reference signal synthesis techniques were used to automatically track the shift in the fundamental vibratory frequency due to variations in flight conditions. Experiments using a mechanical shaker and wind tunnel tests conducted on the proof-of-concept hardware achieved significant vibration suppression at harmonic peaks. Investigation verified the capability of the Smart Spring to suppress multiple harmonic components in rotor vibration through active impedance control.
An improved error diffusion algorithm based on visual difference

Based on the human vision system(HVS), this paper introduces an error diffusion algorithm that produces higher visual quality results while preserving fine texture details and tone consistency present in the original images. We calculate the visual difference between the original and halftone images based on the HVS model. Then by compensating original images for visual difference, reconstructed continuous-tone images that respect the human vision characteristics are obtained. Besides, we use the adaptive median filter to remove noises and preserve sharpness in the reconstructed images. Finally, Floyd-Steinberg E-D using threshold modulation is adopted to get the halftoning results. Multiple experiments show that our method outperforms the existing state-of-art halftoning algorithms and presents visually pleasing results with both fine texture details and clear lines especially in the weak texture and dark tone regions. Meanwhile, our method is much faster due to its simple processing procedure. Combined good visual properties with fast speed, our method can be applicable in most real-world applications.
Evaluating the Fit of the Ecological Framework for Implementation Variables

Many teachers struggle to deliver interventions with sufficient treatment integrity, perhaps due to implementation variables that mediate or moderate treatment integrity. Potential implementation variables have frequently been conceptualized in ecological frameworks, including the intervention, implementer, organization, and external environmental levels. Although the ecological framework is a useful organizational tool, a measure aligned with this model of implementation variables has not yet been developed. This article describes the development of the Assessment of Ecological Implementation Influences (AEII), a measure to evaluate implementation variables across ecological levels. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate to what extent responses on the AEII reflect the hypothesized ecological factor structure. The model of variables from the intervention to external environment level was not reflected within the factor structure here. Rather, factors emerged that were not previously accounted for in the implementation variables literature. Implications for future research on the measurement of treatment integrity and implementation variables are described.
Survival of Class III Amalgam and Composite Restorations in Primary Cuspid Teeth

Objective: The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to determine the survival of class III amalgam and composite restorations in primary canines. Methods: A chart review was done on patients seen at the University of Toronto’s pediatric dental clinic between 1999 and 2017. Results: The median survival time of amalgam and composite was approximately 4.5 years and 3.8 years respectively. There was no significant difference between the clinical survival of amalgam and composite (log-rank test: p=0.09, Wilcoxon: p=0.31). Amalgam was significantly less likely to fail due to recurrent caries versus composite (p<0.01). Conclusion: In this study, both amalgam and composite restorations had similar survival when used as a restorative material for class III restorations in primary canines.
Synchronization of Neural Activity across Cortical Areas Correlates with Conscious Perception

Subliminal stimuli can be deeply processed and activate similar brain areas as consciously perceived stimuli. This raises the question which signatures of neural activity critically differentiate conscious from unconscious processing. Transient synchronization of neural activity has been proposed as a neural correlate of conscious perception. Here we test this proposal by comparing the electrophysiological responses related to the processing of visible and invisible words in a delayed matching to sample task. Both perceived and nonperceived words caused a similar increase of local (gamma) oscillations in the EEG, but only perceived words induced a transient long-distance synchronization of gamma oscillations across widely separated regions of the brain. After this transient period of temporal coordination, the electrographic signatures of conscious and unconscious processes continue to diverge. Only words reported as perceived induced (1) enhanced theta oscillations over frontal regions during the maintenance interval, (2) an increase of the P300 component of the event-related potential, and (3) an increase in power and phase synchrony of gamma oscillations before the anticipated presentation of the test word. We propose that the critical process mediating the access to conscious perception is the early transient global increase of phase synchrony of oscillatory activity in the gamma frequency range.
Muscle-Derived Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinases 1 and 2 Are Required for the Maintenance of Adult Myofibers and Their Neuromuscular Junctions

ABSTRACT The Ras–extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) pathway appears to be important for the development, maintenance, aging, and pathology of mammalian skeletal muscle. Yet no gene targeting of Erk1/2 in muscle fibers in vivo has been reported to date. We combined a germ line Erk1 mutation with Cre-loxP Erk2 inactivation in skeletal muscle to produce, for the first time, mice lacking ERK1/2 selectively in skeletal myofibers. Animals lacking muscle ERK1/2 displayed stunted postnatal growth, muscle weakness, and a shorter life span. Their muscles examined in this study, sternomastoid and tibialis anterior, displayed fragmented neuromuscular synapses and a mixture of modest fiber atrophy and loss but failed to show major changes in fiber type composition or absence of cell surface dystrophin. Whereas the lack of only ERK1 had no effects on the phenotypes studied, the lack of myofiber ERK2 explained synaptic fragmentation in the sternomastoid but not the tibialis anterior and a decrease in the expression of the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) epsilon subunit gene mRNA in both muscles. A reduction in AChR protein was documented in line with the above mRNA results. Evidence of partial denervation was found in the sternomastoid but not the tibialis anterior. Thus, myofiber ERK1/2 are differentially required for the maintenance of myofibers and neuromuscular synapses in adult mice.
Response to BMP4 signalling during ES cell differentiation defines intermediates of the ectoderm lineage

The formation and differentiation of multipotent precursors underlies the generation of cell diversity during mammalian development. Recognition and analysis of these transient cell populations has been hampered by technical difficulties in accessing them in vivo. In vitro model systems, based on the differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells, provide an alternative means of identifying and characterizing these populations. Using a previously established mouse ES-cell-based system that recapitulates the development of the ectoderm lineage we have identified a transient population that is consistent with definitive ectoderm. This previously unidentified progenitor occurs as a temporally discrete population during ES cell differentiation, and differs from the preceding and succeeding populations in gene expression and differentiation potential, with the unique ability to form surface ectoderm in response to BMP4 signalling.
The dhammic framework applications for understanding student behavioral usage of innovations

The Dhammic framework is a theoretical framework that illustrates the psychological conditions of an individual from Buddhist perspectives. The Dhammic framework logically represents psychological constructs underlying how a user behaves towards a perceived system. In this article, the major psychological constructs in the Dhammic framework are experimented whether they are correlated with each others and underly student behavioural usage of innovations. Facebook was used as an experimental innovation for investigating the correlations of the Dhammic framework constructs. The experiment was conducted in similar fashion to that of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) widely recognised as a framework for measuring the user's behavioural intention towards using an innovation in order to predict the likelihood of the innovation being adopted by the user. The results show that the Dhammic framework can be used as another prominent framework for predicting user acceptance of innovations.
Power-stepped protocol: enhancing spatial utilization in a clustered mobile ad hoc network

While most previous studies on mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) rely on the assumption that nodes are randomly distributed in the network coverage area, this assumption is unlikely to hold, as nodes tend to be cluttered around hot spots like the site of an accident or disaster. We refer to this as a clustered layout. Intuitively, a MANET with the clustered layout may suffer from serious performance degradation due to the excessive collisions in congested hot spots and space underutilization of sparse areas. In this paper, we propose a power-controlled network protocol, called the power-stepped protocol (PSP), that maximizes the spatial utilization of limited channel bandwidth. Using a number of discrete power levels available for the underlying wireless network hardware, PSP finds the appropriate power level for each node in a distributed and a coordinated manner without causing any serious problem at the medium access control and network routing layers. A unique feature of this approach is the use the chosen radio power for both data and control packets, and thus, it requires neither any special mechanism (e.g., a separate control channel) nor frequent power adjustments. Our extensive ns-2-based simulation results have shown the proposed PSP provides excellent performance in terms of packet delivery ratio and delay, as well as the network capacity.
Multi-Component NLS Models on Symmetric Spaces: Spectral Properties versus Representations Theory

The algebraic structure and the spectral properties of a special class of multi- component NLS equations, related to the symmetric spaces of BD.I-type are analyzed. The focus of the study is on the spectral theory of the relevant Lax operators for different fundamental representations of the underlying simple Lie algebra g. Special attention is paid to the structure of the dressing factors in spinor representation of the orthogonal simple Lie algebras of Br ' so(2r + 1,C) type.