Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment Strategies for Lateral Sphenoid Sinus Recess Cerebrospinal Fluid Leaks

OBJECTIVE To highlight concepts critical to achieving successful repair and avoiding intracranial complications in the treatment of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks from the lateral recess of the sphenoid sinus (LRS). DESIGN Outcomes study. SETTING Tertiary referral university hospital. PATIENTS Eleven patients with LRS CSF leaks from June 2008 to June 2010. INTERVENTIONS Endoscopic transpterygoid approach and multilayer repair of skull base defect in the LRS. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Recurrence, graft techniques, postoperative intracranial pressure (ICP), and use of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt. RESULTS Thirteen CSF leaks originating in the LRS were surgically repaired in 11 patients; 2 patients required bilateral leak repair. The endoscopic transpterygoid approach was used in 12 of 13 repairs. Eight patients had failed attempts at repair prior to presentation (4 endoscopic sphenoidotomies and 4 middle cranial fossa [MCF] approaches). One patient presented with a temporal lobe abscess following hydroxyapatite "obliteration" to seal off the LRS. This required a combined MCF/transpterygoid approach to drain the abscess, remove the encephalocele and hydroxyapatite, and seal the skull base defect. In 2 cases, the LRS was left patent owing to concerns of inadequate mucosal extirpation. The median duration of follow-up was 10.8 months (range, 2-29 months). One patient experienced a failure (2 months after repair), which was successfully sealed on the second attempt. Postoperatively, 5 patients required VP shunts, and 5 were maintained on acetazolamide for elevated ICP (average, 26.7 cm H₂O in 8 patients; presumed elevated in 2 patients). CONCLUSIONS The current study demonstrated a 92% success rate using the endoscopic transpterygoid approach for LRS skull base defects providing support for routine use in the treatment algorithm. Poor outcomes were observed with previous surgical attempts to obstruct the LRS without repairing the skull base defect.
Mobility-enhancement technologies

Applying stress to induce appropriate strain in the channel region of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) increases both electron and hole mobilities in the strained channel as stated in R. People (1986), J. J. Welser et al. (1994), C. K. Maiti et al. (1998) and D. J. Paul (2004). Furthermore, interest is driven by the possibility of creating electronic devices as well as integrating existing devices in different materials systems, leading to the production of integrated circuits with increased functionality and lower cost. In this article, we review various mobility enhancement techniques, such as substrate-enhancement, including stain, Ge/SiGe channels, orientations, process-induced strain, and package-strain (external mechanical strain).
Bank Credit and Capital Formation in Nigeria

The paper investigated the impact of bank credit on capital formation in Nigeria between the years 1980 and 2014, and found a positive but no significant impact. The lack of significance was attributed to the bottlenecks or stringent rules surrounding credit allocation by banks, which have so far frustrated the efforts of monetary and federal authorities in Nigeria to let funding get to where they are most needed. Revitalization and substantial capital enhancement of the only infrastructure bank – former Urban Development Bank – was recommended.
Asymptotic Properties of Multicolor Randomly Reinforced Pólya Urns

The generalized Pólya urn has been extensively studied and is widely applied in many disciplines. An important application of urn models is in the development of randomized treatment allocation schemes in clinical studies. The randomly reinforced urn was recently proposed, but, although the model has some intuitively desirable properties, it lacks theoretical justification. In this paper we obtain important asymptotic properties for multicolor reinforced urn models. We derive results for the rate of convergence of the number of patients assigned to each treatment under a set of minimum required conditions and provide the distributions of the limits. Furthermore, we study the asymptotic behavior for the nonhomogeneous case.
Greek Cypriot Attitudes Toward Turkish Cypriots and Turkish Immigrants

The authors examined the attitudes of 106 Greek Cypriots toward Turkish Cypriots and Turkish immigrants on Cyprus. The authors examined Greek Cypriot attitudes, willingness to cohabit with Turkish Cypriots and Turkish immigrants, and the reasons behind their attitudes in terms of their social-identity perceptions, victimization experiences, and human-rights concerns. A series of repeated measures analyses of variance showed that Greek Cypriots were more willing to cohabit with and had less negative attitudes toward Turkish Cypriots than they were with and toward Turkish immigrants. Women felt more victimized by Turkish Cypriots and Turkish immigrants than did men. Perceived differences in social identity predicted unwillingness to cohabit with Turkish Cypriots. Feelings of victimization predicted negative attitudes toward Turkish Cypriots. Differences in social identity and victimization experiences predicted unwillingness to cohabit with Turkish immigrants. Differences in social identity predicted negative attitudes toward Turkish immigrants. The authors discussed the findings in terms of support for realistic group conflict theories of attitudes and their implications for the coexistence of these ethnic groups in Cyprus and of other ethnic groups in multicultural societies.
The myoclonic epilepsy and ragged-red fiber mutation provides new insights into human mitochondrial function and genetics.

Of the ~50 mtDNA point mutations, reported so far, that cause disease in humans, ≥ 35 occur in tRNA genes (Schon et al. 1997). Of these, perhaps the best-studied is the A → G transition at position 8344 in the tRNA^(Lys) gene, the mutation that causes myoclonic epilepsy and ragged-red fiber syndrome (MERRF; Shoffner et al. 1990). This disorder is an encephalomyopathy characterized by myoclonic epilepsy, ataxia, and mitochondrial myopathy, with additional dysfunction, in some individuals, in tissues other than brain and skeletal muscle (Schon et al. 1997). Histological analysis of transverse sections of a MERRF patient’s skeletal muscle, stained with Gomori’s modified trichrome stain, reveals the presence of “ragged red fibers,” muscle fibers that exhibit peripheral blotchy, red patches that represent subsarcolemmal accumulations of mitochondria.
Comportamiento inteligente y juegos de lenguaje en la enseñanza de la psicología

La ensenanza de la psicologia constituye el proceso mediante el cual el comportamiento del aprendiz frente a las situaciones teoricas o empiricas definidas como psicologicas, es progresivamente sometido al control de los criterios paradigmaticos de la disciplina. Uno de los propositos fundamentales de este proceso deberia ser desarrollar en el estudiante modos de comportamiento efectivo, variado y novedoso, es decir, comportamiento inteligente, en lugar de la mera repeticion del comportamiento del profesor. Con base en la nocion wittgensteniana de juego de lenguaje, se analizan los distintos ambitos de desempeno de la practica psicologica y su ensenanza como comportamiento inteligente.
The Emergence of Structured Variation

This paper presents some early findings of an ongoing project, The Emergence of Structured Variation in the Speech of Tyneside Infants (ESV). This project focuses on the phonetic and phonological development of 40 children ages 2-4, from the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. ESV builds upon the findings of an earlier project, which we refer to as PVC. PVC yielded a detailed record of variation and change among an adult community in Newcastle upon Tyne, showing correlations between various linguistic forms and speech style, gender, class, and age. The project furthermore attempted to integrate methods and theories from variationist sociolinguistics with those of contemporary phonological theory and of acoustic phonetics. In light of the findings of PVC, we are seeking to understand how children acquire complex patterns of structured phonetic variation, including phonetic alternants which are sociolinguistically patterned in the surrounding adult community. In Newcastle English, for example, words of the NURSE lexical set (Wells 1982) may be pronounced with a range of vowel qualities, including [o:] and [flJ:]. The former variant is used almost exclusively by males, while the latter is significantly more common in the speech of women (Watt and Milroy 1999, Watt 2000). Variable features of this kind have received little attention in the literature on child language acquisition. In part this is the result of methodological constraints: most child studies have involved diary-based documentation of the productions of individual children, in contrast with the large samples necessary to locate sociolinguistic variation.
CORRELATED STRONTIUM AND BARIUM ISOTOPIC COMPOSITIONS OF ACID-CLEANED SINGLE MAINSTREAM SILICON CARBIDES FROM MURCHISON

We present strontium, barium, carbon, and silicon isotopic compositions of 61 acid-cleaned presolar SiC grains from Murchison. Comparison with previous data shows that acid washing is highly effective in removing both strontium and barium contamination. For the first time, by using correlated 88Sr/86Sr and 138Ba/136Ba ratios in mainstream SiC grains, we are able to resolve the effect of 13C concentration from that of 13C-pocket mass on s-process nucleosynthesis, which points toward the existence of large 13C pockets with low 13C concentrations in asymptotic giant branch stars. The presence of such large 13C pockets with a variety of relatively low 13C concentrations seems to require multiple mixing processes in parent asymptotic giant branch stars of mainstream SiC grains.
Journal of Network and Computer Applications

Cloud computing is a modern paradigm to provide services through the Internet. Load balancing is a key aspect of cloud computing and avoids the situation in which some nodes become overloaded while the others are idle or have little work to do. Load balancing can improve the Quality of Service (QoS) metrics, including response time, cost, throughput, performance and resource utilization. In this paper, we study the literature on the task scheduling and load-balancing algorithms and present a new classi ﬁ cation of such algorithms, for example, Hadoop MapReduce load balancing category, Natural Phenomena-based load balancing category, Agent-based load balancing category, General load balancing category, application-oriented category, network-aware category, and work ﬂ ow speci ﬁ c category. Furthermore, we provide a review in each of these seven categories. Also. We provide insights into the identi ﬁ cation of open issues and guidelines for future research.
Corporate Governance and Backdating of Executive Stock Options

This paper investigates whether weak corporate governance is a contributing factor to the incidence of backdating executive stock option awards. Based on a sample of S&P 1500 firms that exhibit evidence of backdating, we find that firms with weaker governance structures that allow CEOs to exercise greater power over the board and its compensation committee are more likely to engage in CEO option backdating. Moreover, the tendency to backdate is stronger when stock options are more important in CEO compensation and when directors receive option grants on the same date as the CEO. We also find interlocking boards among backdating firms are associated with a higher incidence of backdating. Finally, we find that CEOs of backdating firms receive a significantly higher level of total compensation than their counterparts in non-backdating firms after controlling for economic determinants of executive pay, and that the predicted excess compensation arising from the board and ownership structure variables has a more negative association with future firm performance for backdating firms relative to non-backdating firms. The evidence is consistent with backdating firms having greater agency problems that negatively affect shareholder value.
Association of vitamin D receptor Taq I polymorphism and susceptibility to oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND It has been hypothesised that vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms may influence both the risk of cancer occurrence and prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS The distribution of VDR Taq I polymorphism in 64 patients with OSCC was determined by polymerase chain reaction based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and compared with that of 87 healthy controls. RESULTS There was a significant difference in the distribution of VDR Taq I genotypes between OSCC patients and healthy controls. Patients with the VDR Tt genotype were found to be at significantly higher risk for OSCC than those with other genotypes (p=0.036). In particular, female OSCC patients were at higher risk (p<0.001) for oral cancer. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the VDR Taq I polymorphism may be associated with susceptibility to OSCC. Female predilection of the OSCC risk in association with VDR gene polymorphism should also be investigated.
The morphology of an unique population of Corynosoma strumosum (Acanthocephala, Polymorphidae) from the Caspian seal, Pusa caspica, in the land-locked Caspian Sea using SEM, with special notes on histopathology

Over 700 specimens of Corynosoma strumosum (Rudolphi, 1802) Lühe, 1904 were collected from one young male Caspian seal, Pusa caspica (Gmelin) in the southern land-locked Caspian Sea in April, 2009. Collected worms showed consistent variations from those reported by other observers using light microscopy especially in proboscis hook and trunk spine patterns. SEM images revealed many features that have not been previously reported including the shape and distribution of trunk spines, dorsoventral differences in proboscis hooks and their organization, the baldness of anterior proboscis, the rough egg topography, epidermal micropores, and variations in the female gonopore. This isolated population of C. strumosum from the land-locked Caspian Sea is distinguished from others reported from open waters elsewhere by the distribution of trunk spines, consistently smaller size of trunk and testes, larger eggs, and fewer proboscis hooks. Histopathological sections reveal the invasive path of worms in host tissue with damage to intestinal villi and worm encapsulation. Information obtained from SEM studies and histopathological sections is reported for the first time.
Effects of mood stabilizers on the inhibition of adenylate cyclase via dopamine D(2)-like receptors.

OBJECTIVE The mood stabilizing drugs lithium, carbamazepine and valproate modulate brain adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels, which are assumed to be elevated in bipolar disorder patients. The aim of this work was to investigate how these three mood stabilizing agents affect the regulation of cAMP levels by dopamine D(2)-like receptors in vitro in rat cortical neurons in culture and in vivo in the rat prefrontal cortex. METHODS The production of cAMP was measured in the cultured cortical neurons or in microdialysis samples collected from the prefrontal cortex of freely moving rats using the [8-(3)H] and [(125)I] radioimmunoassay kits. RESULTS In vitro and in vivo data showed that the treatment with the mood stabilizing drugs had no effect on basal cAMP levels in vitro, but had differential effects in vivo. Direct stimulation of adenylate cyclase (AC) with forskolin increased cAMP levels both in vitro and in vivo, and this effect was significantly inhibited by all three mood stabilizers. Activation of dopamine D(2)-like receptors with quinpirole partially inhibited forskolin-induced increase in cAMP in untreated cultures, but no effect was observed in cortical neuron cultures treated with the mood stabilizing drugs. Similar results were obtained by chronic treatment with lithium and valproate in the prefrontal cortex in vivo. However, surprisingly, in carbamazepine-treated rats the activation of dopamine D(2)-like receptors enhanced the responsiveness of AC to subsequent activation by forskolin, possibly as a consequence of chronic inhibition of the activity of the enzyme. CONCLUSIONS It was shown that each of these drugs affects basal- and forskolin-evoked cAMP levels in a distinct way, resulting in differential responses to dopamine D(2)-like receptors activation.
Taking Risks in Investing in the Equity Market

ABSTRACT Some policy makers and policy analysts have proposed that Social Security should be privatized to enable participants to achieve higher returns through investment in the stock market. How well individual retirees would fare financially under a privatized system largely depends on their decision to invest in the equity market, rather than in other types of investment vehicles. For that reason, it is important to investigate the degree to which minority people are currently investing in this market. This article presents the findings of a study that compared the investment behavior of black and His panic people aged 51 to 61 with the investment behavior of their white counter parts. The major findings indicate that black and His panic people: (a) are less likely to invest in the equity market than are white people, and (b) tend to invest smaller percent ages of their as sets in the equity market. Implications for policy are discussed.
The physical and mental health of Inuit children of teenage mothers.

BACKGROUND The physical and mental health of children of teenage mothers differs from that of children of older mothers. Compared with the overall population of Canada, Inuit experience first-time pregnancy earlier. However, little population-based research has examined health outcomes for Inuit children of women who began childbearing in their teens. DATA AND METHODS This study uses data from the 2006 Aboriginal Children's Survey to compare physical and mental health outcomes of 2- to 5-year-old Inuit children of teenage and older mothers. RESULTS The physical and mental health outcomes of Inuit children differed depending on whether their mother had been a teenager or aged 25 or older when she began childbearing. Although some differences were explained by socio-economic factors, others, namely, ear infections, dental problems and hyperactivity/inattention, were not. INTERPRETATION Further research is needed to determine what underlies differences in the mental and physical health of Inuit children of teenage and older mothers.
Calcium conductance and firing properties of spinal motoneurones in the turtle.

1. The contribution of Ca2+ conductance to the firing properties of motoneurones was investigated in transverse slices of the turtle spinal cord. 2. In the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX), tetraethylamonium (TEA) in low extracellular concentration (less than 5 mM) promoted Ca2+ spikes. In higher concentrations of TEA, a suprathreshold depolarizing current pulse was followed by an after‐discharge of Ca2+ spikes riding on a Ca2+ plateau potential. 3. The Ca2+‐dependent plateau was also promoted by Cs+, 4‐aminopyridine (4‐AP) and apamin. However, Ca2+ spikes during plateaux were an order of magnitude faster when promoted by Cs+ or 4‐AP rather than TEA, and apamin did not promote Ca2+ spikes at all. 4. Ca2+ plateaux but not Ca2+ spikes were blocked by nifedipine. 5. In normal medium all effects of the transient Ca2+ influx during action potentials were attributable to its influence on the slow after‐hyperpolarization. The nifedipine‐sensitive, sustained Ca2+ influx was expressed exclusively as plateau potentials and only under conditions of reduced K+ current. 6. It is concluded that the transient and the sustained Ca2+ fluxes in spinal motoneurones are curtailed by different K+ conductances. The two Ca2+ responses are suggested as being mediated by two different types of Ca2+ channels.
Severe aplastic anaemia and Grave's disease in a paediatric patient

Summary. Severe aplastic anaemia (SAA) is considered to be an autoimmune disorder affecting the haematopoietic cells and most often is idiopathic. An association between SAA and other autoimmune diseases is rare and has been described in adults for eosinophilic fasciitis, thymomas, systemic lupus erythematosus and thyroid disorders. We describe the first paediatric patient with chronic relapsing SAA and Grave's disease. We discuss the difficulty in diagnosis of Grave's disease, the possibility of its manifestation due to withdrawal of immunosuppressants, and issues to consider in the treatment of this disease in the setting of bone marrow failure.
Limiting the power of p53 through the ubiquitin proteasome pathway

The ubiquitin proteasome pathway is critical in restraining the activities of the p53 tumor suppressor. This review by Pant and Lozano focuses on ubiquitination as a mechanism for regulating p53 stability and function and reviews current findings from in vivo models that evaluate the importance of the ubiquitin proteasome system in regulating p53.
rbohA, a rice homologue of the mammalian gp91phox respiratory burst oxidase gene.

It has been hypothesized that plants contain respiratory burst oxidase which, upon activation, oxidize NADPH and generate extracellular superoxide, O2. -. These proteins are proposed to play a central role in defence against pathogens. However, plant DNA sequences that encode proteins with similarity to components of respiratory burst oxidase have not previously been reported. This paper describes the complete cDNA and genomic DNA sequence of the rice rbohA (for respiratory burst oxidase homologue) gene. The predicted RbohA product is most similar to the main catalytic subunit, gp91phox, of the respiratory burst oxidase of neutrophils. Reverse transcriptase PCR detects rbohA transcripts in both roots and shoots of healthy rice plants.
Catecholamine Oxidative Products, but Not Melanin, Are Produced by Cryptococcus neoformans during Neuropathogenesis in Mice

ABSTRACT Melanin has been proposed as a virulence factor inCryptococcus neoformans, but its presence has not been shown unambiguously in vivo. Validated methods used previously to show production of cryptococcal eumelanin pigment in vitro (P. R. Williamson, K. Wakamatsu, and S. Ito, J. Bacteriol. 180:1570–1572, 1998) were used to assess for production of laccase-derived products in mouse brain of the Lacc+ strains, 2E-TUC, H99 (serotype A), and ATCC 34873 (serotype D), and the Lacc− strain, 2E-TU. Pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic and pyrrole-2,3-dicarboxylic acid, specific degradation products of catecholamine derivatives such as melanin, were found in all Lacc+ strains, but not in the Lacc− strain, 2E-TU. However, the presence of melanin pigment itself could not be demonstrated in the same cells. Lack of the specific degradation products aminohydroxyphenylalanine and aminohydroxyphenylethylamine in Lacc+ strains upon hydriodic acid hydrolysis showed that pheomelanin was also not produced by the fungus in vivo. These are the first data to support the generation of catecholamine oxidation products by C. neoformans in vivo, but they do not support postenzymatic polymerization of these products to form typical eumelanin, as previously proposed.
Torg Syndrome Is Caused by Inactivating Mutations in MMP2 and Is Allelic to NAO and Winchester Syndrome

Torg syndrome is a multicentric osteolysis syndrome of unknown etiology. We identified mutations in the MMP2 gene in a patient with Torg syndrome that resulted in complete loss of MMP2 activity. MMP2 mutations were previously identified in patients with NAO and Winchester syndrome. Our findings suggest that Torg, NAO, and Winchester syndrome are allelic disorders.