Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A low power 24 GHz LNA in 0.13 μm CMOS

This paper presents a 24 GHz differential LNA in 0.13 mum CMOS technology. It is based on a combined NMOS/PMOS transconductor allowing DC-current reuse. A gain of 14 dB and a noise figure of 5 dB have been achieved at the center frequency. The circuit exhibits input-referred 1 dB compression point and IIP3 of -14.1 dBm and -1.7 dBm, respectively. Due to implementation of the virtual ground concept high ESD protection is provided at the RF pins without degrading the high-frequency performance. The measured TLP and HBM ESD robustness is 2 A and 2.5 kV, respectively. The LNA consumes only 12 mA from a single 1.5 V supply. The chip size including the pads is 0.23 mm2.
Bias Associated with Failing to Incorporate Dependence on Event History in Markov Models

Purpose. When using state-transition Markov models to simulate risk of recurrent events over time, incorporating dependence on higher numbers of prior episodes can increase model complexity, yet failing to capture this event history may bias model outcomes. This analysis assessed the tradeoffs between model bias and complexity when evaluating risks of recurrent events in Markov models. Methods. The authors developed a generic episode/relapse Markov cohort model, defining bias as the percentage change in events prevented with 2 hypothetical interventions (prevention and treatment) when incorporating 0 to 9 prior episodes in relapse risk versus a model with 10 such episodes. Magnitude and sign of bias were evaluated as a function of event and recovery risks, disease-specific mortality, and risk function. Results. Bias was positive in the base case for a prevention strategy, indicating that failing to fully incorporate dependence on event history overestimated the prevention’s predicted impact. For treatment, the bias was negative, indicating an underestimated benefit. Bias approached zero as the number of tracked prior episodes increased, and the average bias over 10 tracked episodes was greater with the exponential compared with linear functions of relapse risk and with treatment compared with prevention strategies. With linear and exponential risk functions, absolute bias reached 33% and 78%, respectively, in prevention and 52% and 85% in treatment. Conclusion. Failing to incorporate dependence on prior event history in subsequent relapse risk in Markov models can greatly affect model outcomes, overestimating the impact of prevention and treatment strategies by up to 85% and underestimating the impact in some treatment models by up to 20%. When at least 4 prior episodes are incorporated, bias does not exceed 26% in prevention or 11% in treatment.
The Role of ICT in Education – Romanian Experience

The rapid evolution of ICT in recent years has an important impact on the whole society, and also on the education system. The current article aims to look to the current state of integration of ICT in the school education in Romania in order to determine its role in educational activities. The research was conducted on a sample of 538 people (school principals, teachers and students) selected from four schools in Ilfov county, Romania, two urban and two rural. The methods and data collection tools were: survey-based questionnaire, interview and analysis of documents. The results of this research provides insights into the opinions of teachers and students regarding the use of new technologies in education, the extent to which the new technologies are used in the education process, the training of teachers and students in the use of multimedia, the modalities of integration of new technologies in teaching, the degree to which teachers and students use online sources of information and educational software. The conclusion is that although the use of new technologies in teaching is beneficial for both students and teachers there is no relation between 1) the level of how much IT equipment exists in schools (in Romania this level varies significantly between schools) associated with the level of the training of teachers in informatics (not every school in Romania has well trained teachers) and 2) the willingness of students to use new technologies in their learning activity. © 2017 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy. org.uk
Response of cotton, Gossipium hirsutum L to plant growth regulators

Field studies were conducted in Rajasthan with plant growth regulators viz GA, NAA, Cycocel, ethephon and TIBA at 100 ppm and benzyladenine at 0.5 ppm to determine their effects on yield and yield attributes of cotton cultivar RST-9. The chemicals were foliar sprayed at square formation stage and 20 days after first spray. Results showed that the foliar application of NAA at 100 ppm brought about significantly higher mean seed cotton, cotton seed and lint yield by 57.3, 53.3 and 67.6 per cent respectively over water spray which resulted due to better, balanced plant growth and greater partitioning of assimilates towards yield formation as evidenced by higher number of flowers plant-1 (76.9), bolls plant-1 (49.3), mature bolls plant-1 (24.5), per cent boll setting (49.8), seed cotton weight boll-1 (104.3 g) and cotton weight boll-1 (4.23 g). This treatment was closely followed by Cycocel, ethephon at 100 ppm and benzyladenine 0.5 ppm.
Bullous Pemphigoid Associated With Linagliptin Treatment.

and dysgeusia than the continuous regimen. Similarly, the muscle cramps and dysgeusia in the present patients resolved within 1 month after interrupting the vismodegib regimen. Although pharmacokinetic studies have shown suboptimal efficacy and similar incidence and severity of adverse effects when vismodegib, 150 mg, was used once weekly or 3 times weekly, no studies to our knowledge have investigated the efficacy of continuous daily doses with drug breaks in between.3 We found a mean of 1.4 new surgically eligible BCCs per year per patient undergoing intermittent therapy, which is comparable to the 2.0 new surgically eligible BCCs per year per patient found by Tang et al1 in patients undergoing a standard continuous daily regimen. Vismodegib resistance occurs in patients who undergo continuous vismodegib dosing.4 The frequency of resistance in patients who undergo an intermittent form of treatment is largely unknown. Combination therapy with hedgehog pathway inhibitors downstream of smoothened, such as itraconazole and arsenic trioxide, provide opportunities to increase efficacy and possibly reduce the incidence of resistance.5,6
Population-based birth weight reference percentiles for Chinese twins

Abstract Background: Birth weight percentiles by gestational age are important for assessing prenatal growth and predicting postnatal outcomes of newborns. Several countries have developed nation-specific birth weight references for twins, but China still lacks such references. Methods and results: Birth weight data for twins born between October 2006 and September 2015 were abstracted from the China National Population-based Birth Defects Surveillance System. A total of 54,786 live twin births aged ≥28 weeks of gestation without birth defects were included in the analysis. The LMS method was adopted to generate gestational age-specific birth weight percentiles and curves for male and female twins separately. Significant differences were observed between the current reference and other references developed for Chinese or non-Chinese twins. The neonatal mortality rate in this cohort was 12.3‰, and much higher rates at very early gestation weeks were identified in small-for-gestational-age twins grouped by the newly developed reference cutoffs. Conclusions: The established birth weight centiles represent the first birth weight norm for contemporary Chinese twins and can be a useful tool to assess growth of twins in clinical and research settings. Key Messages There have been no population-based birth weight percentiles for Chinese twins prior to this study. The established birth weight centiles for female and male twins are markedly lower than those for Chinese singletons. Twin-specific curves should be used for determining inappropriate for gestational age in twins rather than using existing singleton reference. The birth weight percentiles for twins differed significantly from those for non-Chinese twins. In addition to ethnic influences, the observed differences could be ascribed to variations in prenatal care, fetal or maternal nutrition status or other environmental factors. Neonatal mortality rates varied considerably among twins grouped by the newly developed reference percentiles. Small-for-gestational-age twins had much higher mortality than did appropriate-for-gestational-age twins, highlighting the need to reduce postnatal mortality by improving perinatal health care for twins.
The application of using social networking Sites with available online tools for teaching and learning management

Social networking sites (SNSs) have been gaining popularity and influence in everyday. The application of using SNSs in an education field is likely to provide more benefits to teacher and student. Especially when used in the teaching and learning management. Therefore, the author who works in the educational career has decided to write this article to offer guidelines about the application of using SNSs with available online tools for teaching and learning management. The author made a comparison of SNSs: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Schoology in various features that related to the use and application for teaching and learning management. Application of using SNSs with available online tools: YouTube, Skype, Dropbox, Google Docs, and Google Calendar to assist in teaching and learning management are presented in this article. From the information that the author provides, the author has commented. The applying of Schoology that designed for “especially when used in the teaching and learning management is suitable to work together with online tools and can support the teaching and learning management more perfectly. ” Moreover, if using the popular SNSs such as Facebook and Google Plus for helping to publicize information that related with teaching and learning management, it allows easy access to the user.
Assessment of Automatically Exported Clinical Data from a Hospital Information System for Clinical Research in Multiple Myeloma

PURPOSE An important part of the electronic information available in Hospital Information System (HIS) has the potential to be automatically exported to Electronic Data Capture (EDC) platforms for improving clinical research. This automation has the advantage of reducing manual data transcription, a time consuming and prone to errors process. However, quantitative evaluations of the process of exporting data from a HIS to an EDC system have not been reported extensively, in particular comparing with manual transcription. In this work an assessment to study the quality of an automatic export process, focused in laboratory data from a HIS is presented. METHODS Quality of the laboratory data was assessed in two types of processes: (1) a manual process of data transcription, and (2) an automatic process of data transference. The automatic transference was implemented as an Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) process. Then, a comparison was carried out between manual and automatic data collection methods. The criteria to measure data quality were correctness and completeness. RESULTS The manual process had a general error rate of 2.6% to 7.1%, obtaining the lowest error rate if data fields with a not clear definition were removed from the analysis (p < 10E-3). In the case of automatic process, the general error rate was 1.9% to 12.1%, where lowest error rate is obtained when excluding information missing in the HIS but transcribed to the EDC from other physical sources. CONCLUSION The automatic ETL process can be used to collect laboratory data for clinical research if data in the HIS as well as physical documentation not included in HIS, are identified previously and follows a standardized data collection protocol.
Outcome of Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Patients with Uncontrolled Acromegaly

Objective: Linear accelerator based stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) has been used for the treatment of pituitary tumours; however, little is known concerning the use of this modality for the treatment of patients with acromegaly. We have prospectively studied the short-term outcome of SRT in 12 acromegaly patients who failed to achieve biochemical remission despite surgery and/or pharmacologic therapy. Methods: We identified all patients who had biochemically uncontrolled acromegaly and were treated with SRT between April 2003 and December 2006. All patients were followed prospectively based on a pre-defined protocol that included Goldman visual field examination, MRI of the sella, and pituitary hormone testing at 3, 6, 12 months, and then yearly. Results: A total of 12 patients with acromegaly were treated with SRT. There were 9 females and the median age of the group was 50 years. The median follow-up was 28.5 months during which time the mean tumor volume decreased by 40%, the median GH fell from 4.1 μg/L to 1.3 μg/L (p=0.003) and the median IGF-1 dropped more than half from 545.5 μg/L to 260.5 μg/L (p=0.002). Four patients achieved normal, while an additional 2 achieved near-normal, IGF-1 levels. One patient was able to discontinue and two were able to reduce their acromegaly medications while maintaining a normal IGF-1. A new pituitary hormonal deficit was found at 24 months in one patient who developed hypoadrenalism requiring corticosteroid replacement. Conclusion: Based on our early experience, we believe that SRT should be considered in treating patients with uncontrolled acromegaly.
Postoperative analgesic and cardiopulmonary effects in dogs of oxymorphone administered epidurally and intramuscularly, and medetomidine administered epidurally: a comparative clinical study.

Thirty dogs undergoing pelvic or hindlimb orthopedic surgery were each administered one of the following postoperative treatments: intramuscular oxymorphone 0.15 mg/kg (OIM) (n = 10); epidural oxymorphone 0.05 mg/kg, (OEP) (n = 10); or epidural medetomidine, 0.015 mg/kg (MEP) (n = 10). Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), and arterial blood pressure were measured before drug injection and 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240, 300, 360, 420, and 480 minutes postinjection (PI). Arterial blood gas analysis was performed before and 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 360, and 480 minutes PI. The duration of analgesia with OEP, 7.62 + 0.30 hours (mean +/- SEM), and MEP, 7.06 + 0.50 hours, was significantly (P < .05) longer than the 4.91 + 0.44 hours obtained with OIM. All treatments resulted in a significant decrease in HR. Four dogs receiving epidural medetomidine each had second degree atrioventricular (AV) block associated with sinus arrhythmia for a brief period during the first 20 minutes after injection. There was no significant difference in arterial blood pressure between OIM and OEP but arterial blood pressure was significantly higher with MEP than with OIM. MEP can provide analgesia comparable with OEP, but bradycardia and second degree AV block will develop in some cases.
Definitions of homework, types of homework, and ratings of the importance of homework among psychologists with cognitive behavior therapy and psychoanalytic theoretical orientations.

A random sample of 827 psychologists were surveyed to assess their definitions of homework, use of homework tasks, and perceived importance of homework. Theoretical orientation distinguished practitioners' responses. Cognitive-behavioral therapists defined homework as being closer to empirically supported therapy, whereas psychodynamic therapists rated homework as less characteristic of a process that embraces client responsibility and adaptive skills. Cognitive-behavior therapists did not limit their choices to activity-based tasks, and psychodynamic therapists reported using behavioral tasks "sometimes. " Monitoring dreams and conscious thought were also used among the entire sample surveyed. Psychodynamic therapists rated homework as "somewhat" or "moderately" important, whereas cognitive-behavior therapists more often rated homework as "very important. " Data suggest some homework may be common to different psychotherapeutic approaches. Findings are discussed in the context of recent theoretical work on homework in psychotherapy and recommendations for future research.
Children left behind: self-confidence of pupils in competitive environments

ABSTRACT To sort pupils at the end of primary school, some early-tracking systems apply a mechanism that unwittingly divides classes into two groups: students preparing for exams to enter better schools and everyone else, who decide not to compete for selective schools. Utilizing TIMSS data and a follow-up study in the Czech Republic, we show that this environment has a detrimental effect on pupils’ self-confidence in mathematics, particularly among girls, who do not apply for selective schools but have peers in their classroom who do apply. Our results imply that gender gaps in self-confidence can result from school competitive environments.
Expression of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors (PPARs) in human urinary bladder carcinoma and growth inhibition by its agonists

Recent studies have demonstrated that peroxisome proliferator activator‐receptors(PPAR)‐γ is expressed in various cancer tissues and its ligand induces growth arrest of these cancer cells through apoptosis. In our study, we investigated the expression of PPAR‐α, β and γ in human bladder tumor (BT) and normal bladder (NB) tissues as well as the effects of PPAR‐γ ligands. Specimens were obtained from 170 patients with BT and 20 with NB. The expressions were investigated using RT‐PCR and immunohistochemical methods. We also investigated the inhibitory effect of PPAR‐γ ligands on BT‐derived cell line. Immunoreactive PPAR‐α and ‐β were significantly apparent in both BT and NB tissues. Although no marked expression of PPAR‐γ was observed in NB tissue, significant expression was found in BT tissue. The extent and intensity of immunoreactive PPAR‐γ polypeptides in BT cells were statistically much greater than those of NB cells. Correlation between PPAR‐γ expression and tissue type or progression of bladder cancer was observed; PPAR‐γ expression was higher in G3 of bladder cancer than in G1 and was higher in advanced than in early cancer. PPAR‐γ agonists, troglitazone and 15‐deoxy‐Δ12, 14‐prostaglandin J2 inhibited the growth of the BT cells. PPAR‐γ is expressed in bladder tumor, and results suggest that PPAR‐γ ligands may mediate potent antiproliferative effects against BT cells. Thus, PPAR‐γ has the ability to become a new target in treatment of bladder tumor. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Structuring composite local governance indicators

ABSTRACT The importance of good governance is praised by many academics and practitioners. The prominence of the subject suggests that measurement is important. However, setting out to measure the quality of governance empirically is controversial. Doubts regarding the feasibility and meaningfulness of this undertaking are widespread in the literature. Recognizing the potential caveats, the current article discusses a set of guidelines for structuring a theoretically sound local governance assessment tool based on the Decision Analysis and Operational Research literatures. The authors argue that using a multi-criteria model which employs several objective (quantitative and qualitative) indicators and relies on a participatory method to aggregate them is a suitable way of developing sensible Local Governance Indicators. The purpose here is to provide a detailed roadmap for any country (or region, or locality) willing to engage in the assessment of the quality of local governance. The real-world implementation of a model developed according to these guidelines could help raise awareness, promote good practices and increase the ‘governance literacy’ of citizens. By operationalizing good governance, analysts may also be able to further investigate the relationships between local governance practices and several socio-economic factors.
Neurokinin 1 Receptor Mediates Membrane Blebbing in HEK293 Cells through a Rho/Rho-associated Coiled-coil Kinase-dependent Mechanism*

We have investigated the effect of neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R) agonists on HEK293 cells transfected with the NK1R receptor. The NK1R receptor mediates dramatic shape changes that include contractions of the membrane cortex resulting in membrane bleb formation. We have found that the cell shape changes correlate with changes in electrical impedance measured in cellular monolayers. The shape and impedance changes were prevented after preincubation with NK1R antagonists aprepitant and L-73060. Although bleb formation usually heralds apoptotic cell death, we have found that NK1R-mediated cellular blebbing does not associate with apoptosis. Preincubation with a cell-permeable derivative of C3 transferase that blocks Rho or with the Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase inhibitor Y27632 completely prevented NK1R-induced shape and impedance changes. Blebbing was also completely inhibited by ML-9, a myosin light chain kinase inhibitor. Furthermore, the phospholipase C inhibitor U73,122 did not interfere with the effect of Substance P (SP) on cellular morphology and cellular impedance but completely blocked SP-induced intracellular calcium increase, indicating that the blebbing is a process independent of intracellular calcium elevations. Blebbing is a protein kinase C-independent process, since the nonselective protein kinase C inhibitor GF109203X did not interfere with SP-induced effects. Based on these results, we provide the first evidence that NK1R receptor-ligand interaction can cause apoptosis-independent cellular blebbing and that this process is mediated by the Rho/Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase pathway.