Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potential Amplitude Growth Functions and HiResolution Programming Levels in Pediatric CII Implant Subjects

Objective: To characterize the amplitude growth functions of the electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) in pediatric subjects implanted with the Clarion HiFocus electrode array with respect to electrode position and the presence or absence of a Silastic positioner. Electrophysiologic growth function data are compared with HiResolution (HiRes) psychophysical programming levels. Design: ECAP growth functions were measured for all electrodes along the implant’s array in 16 pediatric subjects. Nine of the patients were implanted with a Silastic positioner, whereas seven had no positioner. ECAP thresholds and growth function slopes were calculated. Fifteen of the 16 patients had psychophysical threshold and maximum comfort levels available. Programming levels and ECAP thresholds were compared within and among the subjects. Results: ECAP thresholds showed variability among patients, ranging from 178 to 920 nA at 32 μsec pulse width. ECAP thresholds did not depend on electrode position along the cochlea but were lower in the presence of the Silastic positioner (p < 0.001). Thresholds determined with the masker-probe versus the alternating polarity paradigms revealed moderate (r = 0.76) correlation. Growth function slopes also showed considerable variation among patients. Unlike thresholds, slopes decreased from apical to basal cochlear locations (p < 0.001) but showed no difference between the absence and presence of the positioner. Programming levels in HiRes were correlated with ECAP threshold levels. When ECAP thresholds were adjusted for each patient by the difference between M level and ECAP threshold at electrode 9, however, overall correlation between the two measurements was excellent (r = 0.98, N = 224). Conclusions: In pediatric subjects with the Clarion HiFocus electrode, ECAP growth function thresholds appear to decrease with the presence of the Silastic positioner but are unaffected by electrode position along the array. Growth function slope, however, depends on electrode position along the array but not on the presence of the positioner. ECAP programming levels can reliably predict stimulus intensities within the patients’ dynamic ranges, but considerable variability is seen between ECAP thresholds and HiRes programming levels.
Interference alignment in partially connected multi-user two-way relay networks

In this paper, a partially connected ad-hoc network with relays is considered. Partially connected means that not all nodes are connected to all relays, but each node may be connected to one or multiple relays. This leads to multiple partially connected subnetworks, where each subnetwork includes a single relay and all nodes connected to this relay. The most challenging part of such a partially connected network is the handling of the nodes which are connected to multiple relays. In this paper, a new closed-form solution to achieve interference alignment in partially connected networks with relays is proposed. It is shown that local channel state information (CSI) is sufficient to perform interference alignment in such a network. The properness condition for the proposed algorithm is derived using the method of counting the dimensions of signal spaces. The new algorithm to perform interference alignment is decomposed into what we call simultaneous signal alignment, simultaneous channel alignment and transceive zero forcing. The simulation results show that the degrees of freedom increase for the considered network in comparison with our reference scheme.
Soluble CD40 ligand in haemodialysis patients: survival impact and cardiovascular prognostic role

Abstract Context: Soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40l) can predict cardiovascular events (CVE) and mortality in haemodialysis (HD) patients (short-, medium-term follow-up studies). Objective: To evaluate the relationship between sCD40l and survival, CVE and mortality in HD patients on long-term follow-up. Methods: We registered 46 HD patients’ baseline characteristics, mortality and CVE for 108 months. Results: SCD40l correlated positively with C-reactive protein, was higher in survivors, but had no impact on survival and was not predictive for CVE or CV mortality. Conclusion: The levels of sCD40l have no influence on survival or CVE and mortality in HD patients in a long-term follow-up.
Patterns of selection on Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte‐binding antigens after the colonization of the New World

Pathogens, which have recently colonized a new host species or new populations of the same host, are interesting models for understanding how populations may evolve in response to novel environments. During its colonization of South America from Africa, Plasmodium falciparum, the main agent of malaria, has been exposed to new conditions in distinctive new human populations (Amerindian and populations of mixed origins) that likely exerted new selective pressures on the parasite's genome. Among the genes that might have experienced strong selective pressures in response to these environmental changes, the eba genes (erythrocyte‐binding antigens genes), which are involved in the invasion of the human red blood cells, constitute good candidates. In this study, we analysed, in South America, the polymorphism of three eba genes (eba‐140, eba‐175, eba‐181) and compared it to the polymorphism observed in African populations. The aim was to determine whether these genes faced selective pressures in South America distinct from what they experienced in Africa. Patterns of genetic variability of these genes were compared to the patterns observed at two housekeeping genes (adsl and serca) and 272 SNPs to separate adaptive effects from demographic effects. We show that, conversely to Africa, eba‐140 seemed to be under stronger diversifying selection in South America than eba‐175. In contrast, eba‐181 did not show any sign of departure from neutrality. These changes in the patterns of selection on the eba genes could be the consequence of changes in the host immune response, the host receptor polymorphisms and/or the ability of the parasite to silence or express differentially its invasion proteins.
Coronary Heart Disease, Echo-Doppler Evidence of Peripheral Arterial Disease and Polymorphism of Apolipoprotein B Gene and Apo AI/CIII Cluster

The possible associations between coronary heart disease (CHD) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), detected by echo-Doppler analysis, with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of apo AI/CIII cluster and apo B gene were investigated in a group of men with premature CHD (n = 39) and in a control group of men without evidence of CHD (n=40). The genetic analysis of SstI RFLP of apo AI/CIII cluster showed a significantly higher frequency of the rare SstI allele (S2) in CHD patients (0.16) as compared with controls (0.06). No significant differences were found in the frequencies of XbaI RFLP for the apo B gene between CHD patients and controls. Moreover, patients with PAD showed no significant differences in the frequencies of XbaI RFLP for the apo B gene and of SstI RFLP for the apo AI/CIII cluster as compared with patients without evidence of peripheral arterial disease detected by echo-Doppler analysis.
A Model of Neuronal Intrinsic Plasticity

Recent experimental results have accumulated evidence that the neurons can change their response characteristics to adapt to the variations of the synaptic inputs, which is the so-called neuronal intrinsic plasticity mechanism. In this paper, we present a new model on neuronal intrinsic plasticity. We first show that the probability distribution of the neuronal firing rates is more suitable to be represented as a Weibull distribution than an exponential distribution. Then, we derive the intrinsic plasticity model based on information theory. This study provides a more realistic model for further research on the effects of intrinsic plasticity on various brain functions and dynamics.
Cytokinin regulates root meristem activity via modulation of the polar auxin transport

Plant development is governed by signaling molecules called phytohormones. Typically, in certain developmental processes more than 1 hormone is implicated and, thus, coordination of their overlapping activities is crucial for correct plant development. However, molecular mechanisms underlying the hormonal crosstalk are only poorly understood. Multiple hormones including cytokinin and auxin have been implicated in the regulation of root development. Here we dissect the roles of cytokinin in modulating growth of the primary root. We show that cytokinin effect on root elongation occurs through ethylene signaling whereas cytokinin effect on the root meristem size involves ethylene-independent modulation of transport-dependent asymmetric auxin distribution. Exogenous or endogenous modification of cytokinin levels and cytokinin signaling lead to specific changes in transcription of several auxin efflux carrier genes from the PIN family having a direct impact on auxin efflux from cultured cells and on auxin distribution in the root apex. We propose a novel model for cytokinin action in regulating root growth: Cytokinin influences cell-to-cell auxin transport by modification of expression of several auxin transport components and thus modulates auxin distribution important for regulation of activity and size of the root meristem.
Are Choosers Losers? The Propensity to Under-Delegate in the Face of Potential Gains and Losses

Human beings are often faced with a pervasive problem: whether to make their own decisions or to delegate decision tasks to someone else. Here, we test whether people are inclined to forgo monetary rewards in order to retain agency when faced with choices that could lead to losses and gains. In a simple choice task, we show that even though participants have all the information needed to maximize rewards and minimize losses, they choose to pay in order to control their own payoff. This tendency cannot be explained by participants’ overconfidence in their own ability, as their perceived ability was elicited and accounted for. Rather, the results reflect an intrinsic value for choice, which emerges in the domain of both gains and losses. Moreover, our data indicates that participants are aware that they are making suboptimal choices in the normative sense, but do so anyway, presumably for psychological gains.
The Treatment and Outcomes of Extraskeletal Osteosarcoma: Institutional Experience and Review of The Literature.

BACKGROUND Extraskeletal osteosarcoma is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis. The purpose of this study is to examine the oncologic outcomes of this disease as they relate to surgical treatment and use of adjuvant therapies. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed all patients treated at our institution for high-grade extraskeletal osteosarcoma of the limb or chest wall. We recorded demographic data, presenting stage, surgical margin, use of adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation, incidence of local recurrence, metastases, and death. Overall and event-free survival were calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival methods. RESULTS There were 12 patients treated with primary wide resection or re-excision of a previously operated tumor bed. Four patients presented with metastases. Seven patients received chemotherapy and four patients received radiation therapy. There were two local recurrences, six patients developed new metastases, and nine patients died. There was no difference in overall survival in patients who received chemotherapy. There was, however, a trend towards increased length of survival in patients who received chemotherapy compared to those who did not (16.4 months vs. 9.3 months, p=0.16). CONCLUSIONS Despite no difference in overall survival, patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy have a trend towards increased length of survival. We suggest that extraskeletal osteosarcoma be treated with standard osteosarcoma chemotherapy regimens in addition to wide resection.
Obstetric anal sphincter injury

Obstetric trauma following childbirth is the primary cause of faecal incontinence in women. Injury to the anal sphincter complex is common: it has been clinically diagnosed in 0.4‐2.5% of vaginal deliveries involving a mediolateral episiotomy and in up to 19% of cases of midline episiotomy. Studies using endoanal ultrasound have reported occult anal sphincter injury in up to 35% of women after their first delivery. This paper reviews the risk factors for obstetric anal sphincter injury, as well as diagnosis and management of the condition.
The effect of refractive blur on postural stability

The effect of refractive blur upon postural stability was investigated under three conditions: normal standing, standing with input from the somatosensory system disrupted and standing with input from the somatosensory and vestibular systems disrupted. Standing stability was assessed using the centre of pressure (COP) signal from force plate data in four young subjects (mean 23.9 ± 3.1 years) and five repeated sets of measurements were taken. The subjects looked straight ahead at a horizontal and vertical square wave pattern of 2.5 cycles (degree)−1. Under each of the three test conditions, standing stability was measured with the optimal refractive correction and under binocular blur levels of 0, + 1, + 2, + 4, and + 8 D and with eyes closed. In the normal standing condition, dioptric blur had only a mild effect on postural stability. However refractive blur produced large increases in postural instability when input from one or both of the other two sensory systems were disrupted. We hypothesized that dioptric blur would have an even great effect on postural stability if the visual target used was of higher spatial frequency. This was confirmed by repeated measurements on one subject using a target of 8 cycles (degree)−1. The study highlights the possible importance of an optimal correction to postural stability, particular in situations (or people) where input from the somatosensory and/or vestibular systems are disrupted, and where the visual surrounds are of high spatial frequency.
Portfolio risk measures and option pricing under a Hybrid Brownian motion model

The 2008/9 financial crisis intensified the search for realistic return models, that capture real market movements. The assumed underlying statistical distribution of financial returns plays a crucial role in the evaluation of risk measures, and pricing of financial instruments. In this dissertation, we discuss an empirical study on the evaluation of the traditional portfolio risk measures, and option pricing under the hybrid Brownian motion model, developed by Shaw and Schofield. Under this model, we derive probability density functions that have a fat-tailed property, such that “25σ” or worse events are more probable. We then estimate Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) using four equity stocks listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, including the FTSE/JSE Top 40 index. We apply the historical method and Variance-Covariance method (VC) in the valuation of VaR. Under the VC method, we adopt the GARCH(1,1) model to deal with the volatility clustering phenomenon. We backtest the VaR results and discuss our findings for each probability density function. Furthermore, we apply the hybrid model to price European style options. We compare the pricing performance of the hybrid model to the classical Black-Scholes model.
Reproductive Health Knowledge, Sexual Partners, Contraceptive Use and Motives for Premarital Sex among Female Sub-Urban Nigerian Secondary Students

Adolescents in sub-Saharan African countries constitute a large proportion of the population. They are sexually active, engage in unsafe reproductive health behavior with attendant consequences but lack appropriate reproductive health education. In the Nigeria Nation Reproductive Health Strategy Framework and Plan, the status of adolescents' reproductive health care is considered low. This study assessed reproductive health knowledge, sexual partners, contraceptive use, and motives for premarital sex among female sub-urban Nigerian secondary students. The study was cross-sectional, involving 500 senior secondary 1 and 2 female sub-urban students. The instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS. More than 70.0% of the respondents had knowledge of all reproductive health items; male and female condoms were popular contraceptives. At least 53.4% were sexually active and a majority (49.6%) had boyfriends as sex partners. Peer pressure (31.6%) and fun/pleasure (29.2%) were major motives for engaging in premarital sex. Majority (40.3%) terminated pregnancies through self-medication. Though respondents had knowledge of reproductive health, there is need to introduce health education (incorporating reproductive health education) as a core subject in schools as well as provision of youth-friendly health facilities.
Financialization and liberalization: South Africa’s new forms of external vulnerability

Since the late 1990s, shifts in the nature of the global financial integration of developing and emerging countries have exposed them to new forms of external vulnerability. This article explores such in the South African case. The article shows a precipitous growth in the magnitude of South African assets held and traded by international investors – increasingly institutional investors and ‘other’ financial institutions, such as hedge funds and complex investment vehicles. The composition of these assets, and the motivation for trading, has also altered, shifting towards a complex set of rand-denominated, short-term assets in equity, bond and derivatives markets traded for capital gains. Given this, the article contends that it is the portfolio considerations of such investors, rather than economic ‘fundamentals’, that have come to determine key economic prices, including the exchange rate, causing volatility, large swings and sudden adjustments. This, it is argued, places monetary policy in a predicament. In the context of liberalized capital accounts, together with the prioritization of inflation targeting, open-market interventions are ineffective at managing exchange rate movements and volatility, and often reinforce both the patterns of trading and subsequent vulnerabilities while carrying their own costs. In these respects, the nature of South Africa’s global financial integrations has exposed it to new forms of external vulnerability, with both these developments, and associated monetary policies, deepening the financialization of the South African economy.
Pain avoidance predicts disability and depressive symptoms three years later in individuals with whiplash complaints

Longstanding symptoms due to whiplash are commonly associated with decreased levels of emotional and physical functioning. To date, there is strong empirical support for the relationship between psychological in/flexibility and pain‐related functioning, but the predictive role for future health is largely unknown. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate if psychological in/flexibility (i.e. avoidance and cognitive fusion) predicted pain disability and depressive symptoms 3 years later in individuals with whiplash complaints.
Atypical parietal lobe activity to subliminal faces in youth with a family history of alcoholism

Abstract Background: Adults with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) show different behavioral and neurological functioning during emotional processing tasks from healthy controls. Adults with a family history (FHP) of AUD also show different activation in limbic brain areas, such as the amygdala. However, it is unclear if this pattern exists during adolescence before any episodes of heavy alcohol use. Objectives: We hypothesized that the amygdalar response to subliminally-presented fearful faces would be reduced in FHP adolescents compared to peers who were family history negative (FHN) for AUD. Method: An adapted Masked Faces paradigm was used to examine blood oxygen level-dependent response to subliminal fearful vs. neutral faces in 14 FHP (6 females, 8 males) and 15 FHN (6 females, 9 males) youth, ages 11–15 years. Both FHP and FHN youth had no history of heavy alcohol consumption. Results: A significant difference was seen between groups in the left superior parietal lobule FHN youth showed deactivation to fearful and neutral masked faces compared to baseline, whereas FHP youth showed deactivation only to fearful masked faces. No significant differences in amygdalar activation were seen between groups. Conclusion: The left superior parietal lobule is part of the fronto-parietal network, which has been implicated in attentional control. Lack of reduced neural activity to neutral faces among FHP youth may represent differences in suppressing attention networks to less salient emotional stimuli, or perhaps, a higher threshold of saliency for emotional stimuli among at-risk youth.
Intracellular calcium signals are enhanced for days after Pavlovian conditioning.

Previous observations have implicated GABA as a neurotransmitter released by the vestibular sensory neurons ("hair cells") of the snail Hermissenda onto visual sensory neurons, the type B cells, whose cell bodies are the sites of biophysical and biochemical changes during and following Pavlovian conditioning. Still other observations demonstrated that light-GABA pairings that simulate stimuli presented during Pavlovian conditioning cause prolonged elevation of intracellular Ca2+ and transformation of GABA-induced synaptic inhibition into excitation. Intracellular Ca2+ signals in response to GABA perfused onto the postsynaptic type B terminal branches are shown here to be prolonged on days after conditioning, but not after control paradigms. These and past results demonstrate two separate sites, i.e., the cell body and the terminal branches, for learning-induced changes after Pavlovian conditioning.
Sustainable Diffusion of Fashion Information on Mobile Friends-Based Social Network Service

This study presents a model integrating research on mobile social network services (SNS) and word-of-mouth (WOM) by examining the sustainable diffusion of fashion information via multidimensional effect factors, including the social relationship and sub-network structure characteristics of SNS. Implications for expanded research scope and methods are generated by applying social network analysis to information diffusion on friends-based SNS for sustainable development, which is connected to the social cascade phenomenon. This study investigates the relationship between the social network characteristics of subscribers and the sub-network structure characteristics of friends-based SNS and examines the effect of sub-network structure characteristics on fad-like behavior and WOM. We examine 311 people with experience in fashion information activities using friends-based SNS services for data analysis and perform frequency analysis, reliability and validity analysis, measurement model analysis, and path analysis using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0. This study furthers our theoretical and practical understanding of the network extension pattern in fashion information diffusion in mobile friends-based SNS. The study also points out the need for community network management and identifies the key factors in friends-based SNS, thus providing strategic guidelines for spreading fashion information effectively.