Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study on relationship between flat foot and health status in differently abled children

Flat foot is one of the common orthopaedic issues in paediatrics as well as adult health practice. The prevalence of flat foot is not much known possibly because there is no comprehensive meaning, proper categorization and different radiographic criteria for defining a flat foot. The purpose of the study was to establish a possible correlation between health status in terms of body mass index and posture in terms of foot angle of visually impaired, hearing impaired as well as mentally challenged children. A total of 111 students with special ability admitted to Blind (N=42), Hearing Impaired (N=36), and mentally challenged (N=33) served as subjects for the study. All inmates of all the three schools irrespective of gender were selected from Shivamogga Taluk for the present study and their age ranged between 11 to 18 years. The body mass index of subjects was calculated by using the following formula BMI = Kilograms / Meter. In order to assess flat foot incidence among disabled children most convenient method called pedograph was utilized. The statistical techniques employed for this study were Mean, Standard Deviation and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient to find out any significant corelation between body mass index and flat foot angle. Present study will be analysis of data reveals that disabled children in Shimoga Taluk was found to be “underweight”. In case of foot angle, it was observed that the group selected for the study was “Normal” and correlation obtained between Body Mass Index and foot angel was observed to be in significant. In other words, there do not exists any significant correlation between the two variables.
e.Proofing | Springer

Policymakers increasingly draw on scientific methods, including simulation modeling, to justify their decisions. For these purposes, scientist and policymakers face an extensive choice of modeling strategies. This paper distinguishes two types of strategies: Massive Simulation Models (MSMs) and Abstract Simulation Models (ASMs), and discusses how to justify strategy choice with reference to the core characteristics of the respective strategies. In particular, I argue that MSMs might have more severe problems than ASMs in determining the accuracy of the model; that MSMs might have more severe problems than ASMs in dealing with inevitable uncertainty; and that MSMs might have more severe problems than ASMs with misinterpretation and misapplication due to their format. While this in no way excludes the prospect that some MSMs provide good justifications for policy decisions, my arguments caution against a general preference for MSM over ASMs for policy decision purposes.
Seropositivity of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) in Dogs Presenting at Abeokuta, Nigeria

Background: Canine distemper (CD) is a highly contagious, multi-systemic, and potentially fatal viral disease that was once recognized as the leading cause of death in dogs. Aims: This study was carried out to detect canine distemper virus (CDV) in plasma and serum samples of vaccinated and unvaccinated dogs in Abeokuta, Nigeria. The usefulness of a commercially available rapid canine distemper virus antigen test kits was also evaluated to determine the seropositivity of CDV in dogs. Methods: Rapid canine distemper virus antigen test kits ® were used to detect the presence of CDV in dogs presented at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, FUNAAB, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Forty dogs were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were collected from 40 dogs and screened for CDV and evaluation of post-vaccination immunity to CDV. Results: The age range of all the dogs sampled were from 3 months to 10 years. Of the 40 dogs tested, 3(7.5%) were positive for CDV and 37(92.5%) were negative. CDV was only detected in plasma samples and none in serum samples. Among 25(62.5%) dogs with known history of vaccination, 3(12.0%) were positive for CDV. None (0.0%) of the 4(10.0%) unvaccinated dogs and 11(27.5%) with unknown history of vaccination had CDV. Higher prevalence was observed in females (12.5%) than males (4.5%). CDV was only present in Boerboel (33.3%) and Alsatian breeds (5.6%). CDV was also present in apparently healthy dogs (9.7%). Conclusions: This study has further confirms the presence of CDV in 7.5% of the dogs in Abeokuta, Nigeria. The study showed significant association (p< 0.05) with age, sex, breeds, vaccination, health status, sample types and CDV seropositivity. This study further confirms the efficacy of rapid canine distemper virus antigen test kits in the detection of CDV in plasma of dogs.
ON WOMEN CANDIDATES The Case of Chile ’ s Michelle

Because more women are running – and succeeding – in presidential races all over the world, it is important to analyze the way they are portrayed by the news media. Using Chile as a case study and agenda setting as a theoretical framework, the authors examined differences in press coverage of this country’s first woman president, Michelle Bachelet, and her male contenders in the 2005/6 elections and compared them to public opinion. As expected, the press covered the candidates’ personal attributes and issue positions following traditional gender stereotypes. However, some gender-based differences in news coverage actually boosted the image of Michelle Bachelet. The authors suggest that the media may have influenced public opinion toward the candidates, and discuss the implications of these findings for future research.
N . 2019 / 18 DEM Working Papers Economic Growth and Public Debt : An Experimental Approach in Search of a Confidence Channel

This paper aims at investigating the relationship between public debt and the consumption side of economic growth from an experimental macroeconomics point of view, by analysing whether consumers’ expectations about public debt are linked to tax compliance, consumption, and savings choices, that in turn affect GDP. To this end, we have implemented a laboratory experiment in which the participants earn an income to be allocated between consumption, savings, and voluntary taxation for an unknown number of rounds. Debt’s dynamics arises endogenously within a public good game with threshold: taxation is used to cover a given level of public expenditure, which is equally distributed to the participants at the beginning of each subsequent round. If the collected amount of taxes is lower than required, a deficit is generated, and it feeds public debt. Debt can then be unexpectedly reduced by the government through accessing subjects’ savings. To check for the role of beliefs, participants’ expectations about future debt reduction and perceived debt sustainability are elicited during the experiment. Results show that this experimental framework is characterized by relatively high and often increasing aggregate savings and relatively low and decreasing aggregate consumption. An increase in the debt-reduction expectations and a decrease in the perceived debt sustainability are also found to explain savings and consumption behaviours. These conclusions do not change if tax audits are introduced, but the average savings level lowers, thus increasing subjects’ exposure to the unexpected shocks.
Arrhythmogenic propensity of the fibrotic substrate after atrial fibrillation ablation : a longitudinal study using magnetic resonance imaging-based atrial models

Institute for Computational Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, 208 Hackerman, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, 208 Hackerman, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Division of Cardiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; and Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA
Minimally Invasive Cochlear Reimplantation Case Report and Technical Considerations

There is a growing number of individuals undergoing minimally invasive surgery for Cochlear Implantation (CI). Due to device failures and other reasons there is also a growing necessity to perform cochlea reimplantation in such patients. We describe the Bremen approach: the first minimally invasive CI reimplantation accommodating the implant revisions and reimplantations.
AT1R blockade reduces IFN-γ production in lymphocytes in vivo and in vitro

AT 1 R blockade reduces IFN-γ production in lymphocytes in vivo and in vitro. Background Type 1 angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor (AT 1 R) signaling induces proinflammatory responses. Recent studies suggest that T lymphocytes express AT 1 R; yet the effects of Ang II binding to AT 1 R on T cells are poorly understood. We examined the effect of AT 1 R blockade on release of the proinflammatory cytokine, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) by human lymphocytes in vivo and in vitro. Methods We used an AT 1 R blocker losartan in a randomized clinical trial in kidney transplant recipients over a 12-month period [AT 1 R blocker ( N = 11) and control ( N = 10)]. Peripheral blood lymphocytes, isolated from both cohorts, were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assays (ELISPOT) analyses and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to enumerate IFN-γ producing T cells and IFN-γ mRNA levels. The effects of AT 1 R blockade in vitro were assessed using human alloreactive T cells and an IFN-γ producing human cytotoxic T-lymphocyte line. Alloreactive T cells were treated with losartan or candesartan and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) was used to measure IFN-γ protein release. The cytotoxic T-lymphocyte line also was AT 1 R blocker–treated prior to determining IFN-γ producing cells by intracellular cytokine staining. Results The AT 1 R blocker cohort had a significant decrease in IFN-γ producing peripheral blood lymphocytes ( P ≤ 0.05 for each time point) and IFN-γ mRNA levels ( P = 0.01 vs. control patients). Losartan also decreased IFN-γ production ( P P 1 R blocker treatment inhibited Ang II's effect ( P 1 R blocker treatment furthermore also inhibited IFN-γ production in the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte line. Conclusion AT 1 R blockers may have a clinically relevant immunomodulatory role by blocking IFN-γ production in T cells.
Understanding HIV risk behaviors in prison: a qualitative study among recently released inmates

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore HIV risk behaviors of inmates during incarceration and gain an in-depth understanding of the context within which these behaviors occur. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 47 recently released ex-offenders participated in focus group discussions that explored the contexts surrounding inmate engagement in HIV risk behaviors in prison. Data were analyzed using NVivo 7 and results were organized into themes. Findings – Inmates engaged behaviors that could predispose them to HIV infection. These behaviors include unprotected sexual intercourse, transactional sex, injection drug use, tattooing, and body piercing. The results of this study show that the contexts within which risk behaviors occur among inmates are complex, involving inmates, corrections staff, and visitors. The reasons why inmates engage in risk behaviors are also myriad: finance; addiction; boredom; deprivation; prison culture; slack security and monitoring; indifference by correctional off.
Late Disseminated Lyme Disease Associated Pathology and Spirochete Persistence Posttreatment in Rhesus Macaques

opyright a 2018 American Society for Inve his is an open access article under the CC B ttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath. 2017.11. 005 Nonhuman primates currently serve as the best experimental model for Lyme disease because of their close genetic homology with humans and demonstration of all three phases of disease after infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. We investigated the pathology associated with late disseminated Lyme disease (12 to 13 months after tick inoculation) in doxycycline-treated (28 days; 5 mg/kg, oral, twice daily) and untreated rhesus macaques. Minimal to moderate lymphoplasmacytic inflammation, with a predilection for perivascular spaces and collagenous tissues, was observed in multiple tissues, including the cerebral leptomeninges, brainstem, peripheral nerves from both fore and hind limbs, stifle synovium and perisynovial adipose tissue, urinary bladder, skeletal muscle, myocardium, and visceral pericardium. Indirect immunofluorescence assays that combined monoclonal (outer surface protein A) and polyclonal antibodies were performed on all tissue sections that contained inflammation. Rare morphologically intact spirochetes were observed in the brains of two treated rhesus macaques, the heart of one treated rhesus macaque, and adjacent to a peripheral nerve of an untreated animal. Borrelia antigen staining of probable spirochete cross sections was also observed in heart, skeletal muscle, and near peripheral nerves of treated and untreated animals. These findings support the notion that chronic Lyme disease symptoms can be attributable to residual inflammation in and around tissues that harbor a low burden of persistent host-adapted spirochetes and/or residual antigen. (Am J Pathol 2018, 188: 672e682; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2017.11.005)
Innovation Under Asymmetric Information : signalling through internal financing

This paper considers the financing of innovation in the presence of information asymmetry between innovators and investors. Innovators are privately informed of high or low prior belief in the risky project and choose to exert costly effort to experiment before investment. As innovators themselves normally cover the learning cost, the choice of internal funding spent on the experimentation could be adopted to signal their confidence in the project. The more the internal funding allocated, the faster the learning, so the posterior belief in the project being good will be increased if no bad news arrives during experimentation. In the first-best case, high-type innovators tend to allocate less internal financing based on the higher prior belief compared with the low-type ones. When borrowing from external financiers, revenue shares contingent on success or failure and internal financing will be included in the financial contract. Under imperfect information, multiple pooling equilibria exist where cross-subsidisation from the high to the low is commonly involved. While under the unique least-costly separating equilibrium, the high-type innovators are willing to invest even more than the low-type first-best internal funding in order to repel others from mimicking, and the low-type remain at their first-best internal financing, in which case financier could distinguish between different types of innovators via the signal of internal funding. JEL classification: D82,D86,G32,O32
Tunisian population quality of life: a general analysis using SF-36.

Background The SF-36 is the instrument for measuring the health relatedquality of life (HRQOL) of patients in many clinical and national studies to describe the health status of populations, by obtaining comparable data on health status internationally. Aims This study aimed to obtain population norms for the Tunisian version of SF-36 and to assess the association between socio HRQOL scores with the demographic characteristics of the Tunisian population. Methods Face-to-face interviews for a cross-sectional study were carried out in 2005 to collect socio demographic and environmental variables as well as self-reported quality of life. A representative sample of 6543 aged between 35 and 70 years old were selected. Results All scores had a high level of internal consistency reliability coefficient. HRQOL score levels were associated with sociodemographic characteristics and a decrease as age increased. The averages of the physical and mental component summary were 53+/-8 for males and 47.7+/-10 for females. Conclusions This study was the first to address the general Tunisian population. This study shed light on factors associated with HRQOL in the Tunisian context.
Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 Inhibition Sensitizes Pancreatic Cancer Cells to Chemotherapy by Abrogating the TopBP 1 / ATR-Mediated DNA Damage Response

Purpose: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a predominantly fatal common malignancy with inadequate treatment options. Glycogen synthase kinase 3b (GSK-3b) is an emerging target in human malignancies including PDAC. Experimental Design: Pancreatic cancer cell lines and patient-derived xenografts were treated with a novel GSK-3 inhibitor 9-ING-41 alone or in combination with chemotherapy. Activation of the DNA damage response pathway and Sphase arrest induced by gemcitabine were assessed in pancreatic tumor cells with pharmacologic inhibition or siRNA depletion of GSK-3 kinases by immunoblotting, flow cytometry, and immunofluorescence. Results: 9-ING-41 treatment significantly increased pancreatic tumor cell killing when combined with chemotherapy. Inhibition of GSK-3 by 9-ING-41 prevented gemcitabineinduced S-phase arrest suggesting an impact on the ATRmediated DNA damage response. Both 9-ING-41 and siRNA depletion of GSK-3 kinases impaired the activation of ATR leading to the phosphorylation and activation of Chk1. Mechanistically, depletion or knockdown of GSK-3 kinases resulted in the degradationof theATR-interacting protein TopBP1, thus limiting the activation of ATR in response to single-strand DNA damage. Conclusions: These data identify a previously unknown role for GSK-3 kinases in the regulation of the TopBP1/ATR/ Chk1 DNA damage response pathway. The data also support the inclusion of patients with PDAC in clinical studies of 9-ING-41 alone and in combination with gemcitabine.
Curto período de imobilização provoca alterações morfométricas e mecânicas no músculo de rato

Short-term immobilization causes morphometric and mechanical alterations in rat muscles Objective: to analyze the morphometric and mechanical characteristics of the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles after immobilization in a shortened position. Methods: 20 Wistar rats (250 ± 20g) were divided equally into immobilized and control groups. The left hind limb was immobilized by means of an acrylic resin orthosis, with the ankle joint at maximum plantar flexion. After seven days of immobilization, the muscle mass, number and length of sarcomeres in series, muscle fiber cross-sectional area, density of the intramuscular connective tissue area and tensile strength of the triceps surae muscle were evaluated. The data were analyzed by the ANOVA and Tukey tests (p< 0.05). Results: The immobilized soleus muscle presented changes in all the morphometric variables analyzed, while some of these changes were not observed in the gastrocnemius muscle. Analysis of the traction test showed that the immobilized group presented a 20% decrease in the maximum tensile muscle strength. Conclusion: The results from this study showed that short-term immobilization causes changes to the morphometric parameters of the muscle fibers, with repercussions on muscle mechanics. These results suggest the need for rehabilitation of muscles subjected to immobilization, even if only for a short period, in order to achieve early recovery of normal muscle characteristics.
N A ] 8 O ct 2 01 9 Norm of Tensor Product , Tensor Norm , and Cubic Power of A Third Order Tensor

We establish two inequalities for the nuclear norm and the spectral norm of tensor products. The first inequality indicts that the nuclear norm of the square matrix is a matrix norm. We extend the concept of matrix norm to tensor norm. A real function defined for all real tensors is called a tensor norm if it is a norm for any tensor space with fixed dimensions, and the norm of the tensor product of two tensors is always not greater than the product of the norms of these two tensors. We show that the 1-norm, the Frobenius norm and the nuclear norm of tensors are tensor norms but the infinity norm and the spectral norm of tensors are not tensor norms. We introduce the cubic power for a general third order tensor, and show that the cubic power of a general third order tensor tends to zero as the power increases to infinity, if there is a tensor norm such that the tensor norm of that third order tensor is less than one. Then we raise a question on a possible Gelfand formula for a general third order tensor. Preliminary numerical results show that a spectral radius-like limit exists in general.
Generating Expensive Relationship Features from Cheap Objects

We investigate the problem of object relationship classiﬁcation of visual scenes. For a relationship object1-predicate-object2 that captures the object interaction, its representation is composed by the combination of object1 and object2 features. As a result, relationship classiﬁcation models usually bias to the frequent objects, leading to poor generalization to rare or unseen objects. Inspired by the data augmentation methods, we propose a novel Semantic Transform Generative Adversarial Network (ST-GAN) that synthesizes relationship features for rare objects, conditioned on the features from random instances of the objects. Speciﬁcally, ST-GAN essentially offers a semantic transform function from cheap object features to expensive relationship features. Here, “cheap” means any easy-to-collect object which possesses an original but undesired relationship attribute, e.g., a sitting person ; “expensive” means a target relationship on this object, e.g., person-riding-horse . By generating massive triplet combinations from any object pair with larger variance, ST-GAN can reduce the data bias. Extensive experiments on two benchmarks – Visual Relationship Detection (VRD) and Visual Genome (VG), show that using our synthesized features for data augmentation, the relationship classiﬁcation model can be consistently improved in various settings such as zero-shot and low-shot.
The functional role of temperate forest understorey vegetation 1 in a changing world 2 Running title : The functional role of understorey vegetation

11 Temperate forests cover 16 % of the global forest area. Within these forests, the understorey is an 12 important biodiversity reservoir that can influence ecosystem processes and functions in mult ip le 13 ways. However, we still lack a thorough understanding of the relative importance of the understorey 14 for temperate forest functioning. As a result, understoreys are often ignored during assessments of 15 forest functioning and changes thereof under global change. We here compiled studies that quantify 16 the relative importance of the understorey for temperate forest functioning, focussing on litter 17 production, nutrient cycling, evapotranspiration, tree regeneration, pollination and pathogen 18 dynamics. We describe the mechanisms driving understorey functioning and develop a conceptual 19 framework synthesizing possible effects of multiple global-change drivers on understorey-media ted 20 forest ecosystem functioning. Our review illustrates that the understorey’s contribution to temperate 21 forest functioning is significant but varies depending on the ecosystem function and the 22 environmental context, and more importantly, the characteristics of the overstorey. To predict 23 changes in understorey functioning and its relative importance for temperate forest functioning under 24 global change, we argue that a simultaneous investigation of both overstorey and understorey 25
Segmentation of melanoma images

Melanoma is the type of aggressive skin cancer; responsible for approximately 75% of deaths in patients with this disease [1]. Early detection and treatment are critical and result in improved patient survival rates [2]. Many publications report on isolated efforts into the direction of automated melanoma recognition by image processing [3]. This paper presents a segmentation approach of melanoma, which is a modification of [4]. This work aims to segment the melanoma Region of Interest (ROI) using color morphological tools followed by a threshold based technique. [. ]