Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intraregional differences of perioperative management strategy for lumbar disc herniation: is the Devil really in the details?

Background This study intends to evaluate whether regional common habits or differences in case-volume between surgeons are significative variables in the perioperative management of patients undergoing surgery for lumbar disc herniation. Methods An e-mail survey was sent to all neurosurgeons working in Lombardy, Italy's most populated region. The survey consisted of 17 questions about the perioperative management of lumbar disc herniation. Results Forty-seven percent (47%) out of 206 Lombard neurosurgeons answered the survey. Although in some respects there is clear evidence in current literature on which is the best practice to adopt for an optimal management strategy, we noticed substantial differences between respondents, not only between hospitals but also between surgeons from the same hospital. Still, no differences were evident in a high vs low case-volume comparison. Conclusion We identified no regional clusterization as for practical principles in the perioperative management of lumbar disc herniation and neither was case-volume a significative variable. Other causes may be relevant in the variability between the perioperative management and the outcomes achieved by different specialists.
Spatial and temporal analysis by neurons in the representation of the central visual field in the cat's lateral suprasylvian visual cortex

Abstract We studied quantitatively the receptive-field properties of 74 units recorded from the representation of the central visual fields in the cat's lateral suprasylvian (LS) visual cortex. In agreement with previous workers, we found that LS receptive fields tended to be large and to lack discernible spatial structure. They resembled the complex receptive fields of areas 17 and 18 in their general organization. We examined the responses of these neurons to moving optimally oriented sinusoidal gratings that varied in spatial and temporal frequency of drift. Most LS neurons were selective for the spatial frequency of sinusoidal gratings; 7% responded to all spatial frequencies below a cutoff value. In agreement with previous reports, the optimal spatial frequencies for LS neurons covered a wider range than is seen in either area 17 or 18 alone (0.05–1 cycle/deg), but are certainly included in the range covered by both these afferent areas. Individual neurons in LS responded to a range of spatial frequencies broader than is typical for neurons in areas 17 and 18. The effect of varying the drift rate of otherwise optimal gratings was similar in LS to that reported for areas 17 and 18. Most neurons were optimally responsive to drift rates between 0.5 and 4 Hz, and resolved frequencies as high as 10–30 Hz. A few neurons had optima higher than 6 Hz and resolved frequencies in excess of 30 Hz. We conclude that the receptive fields of LS neurons reflect rather closely the properties of their afferents from areas 17 and 18. Apart from the increased incidence of directional selectivity in LS and the increase in receptive-field size seen there, we find no evidence for a significant reorganization of visual signals.
REGULATION OF MICROENVIRONMENT WITHIN THE OVIDUCT September , 2016

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ----------------------------------------5 CHAPTER 2 REGULATION OF BOVINE OVIDUCTAL NO SYNTHESIS BYFOLLICULAR STEROIDS AND PROSTAGLANDINS INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------------------------7 RESULTS -----------------------------------------------------------------8 DISCUSSION ----------------------------------------------------------18 SUMMARY -------------------------------------------------------------22 CHAPTER 3 ROLES OF EDNS IN REGULATING OVIDUCTAL NO SYNTHESIS AND SMOOTH MUSCLE MOTILITY IN COWS INTRODUCTION -----------------------------------------------------23 RESULTS ---------------------------------------------------------------24 DISCUSSION ----------------------------------------------------------31 SUMMARY -------------------------------------------------------------35 CHAPTER 4 SUMMER HEAT STRESS AFFECTS PROSTAGLANDIN SYNTHESIS IN THE BOVINE OVIDUCT INTRODUCTION -----------------------------------------------------36 RESULTS ---------------------------------------------------------------37 DISCUSSION ----------------------------------------------------------42 SUMMARY -------------------------------------------------------------45 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS -------------------------------------------------------46 MATERIALS AND METHODS --------------------------------------------------------------------47 REFERENCES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------58 ABSTRACT IN JAPANESE -------------------------------------------------------------------------66IN JAPANESE -------------------------------------------------------------------------66
Cogging Torque and Unbalanced Magnetic Force Prediction in PM Machines With Axial-Varying Eccentricity by Superposition Method

This paper proposes a double superposition method to quickly and accurately predict the cogging torque and unbalanced magnetic force (UMF) of permanent magnet machines with axial-varying rotor eccentricities. The original axial-varying eccentric machine is cut into several uniform slices along the axial direction and each slice is considered to be axially uniform, i.e., axial even. For each axial-even eccentric machine slice, the circumferential superposition method can be used to predict the cogging torque and UMF of this slice. Finally, the cogging torque and UMF of the original axial-varying eccentric machine can be obtained by using an axial superposition technique which combines the cogging torque and UMF of each slice with different eccentricity magnitudes together. The 3-D finite-element analysis is adopted to validate the efficacy of the proposed method and the merit of high accuracy and computational efficiency is also identified by comparing the results predicted from these two methods.
Natural or Unnatural Monopolies in UK Telecommunications?

This paper analyses whether scale economies exists in the UK telecommunications industry. The approach employed differs from other UK studies in that panel data for a range of companies is used. This increases the number of observations and thus allows potentially for more robust tests for global subadditivity of the cost function. The main findings from the study reveal that although the results need to be treated with some caution allowing/encouraging infrastructure competition in the local loop may result in substantial cost savings.
Association of a functional polymorphism in the IRF5 region with systemic sclerosis in a Japanese population.

OBJECTIVE Interferon regulatory factor 5, an established susceptibility factor for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), plays a role in type I interferon and proinflammatory cytokine induction. A recent study showed association of a functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in intron 1 of IRF5, rs2004640, with systemic sclerosis (SSc) in a European French population. We undertook the present study to determine whether IRF5 polymorphisms are also associated with a predisposition to SSc in Japanese. METHODS A case-control association study was performed for rs2004640 as well as for rs10954213 and rs2280714, all of which were previously reported to be associated with SLE, in 281 SSc patients and 477 healthy controls. Patients with SSc complicated by SLE or Sjögren's syndrome were excluded. Association of the rs2280714 genotype with messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of IRF5 and adjacently located transportin 3 (TNPO3) was examined using the GENEVAR database. RESULTS All 3 SNPs were significantly associated with SSc, with the rs2280714 A allele having the strongest association (allele frequency P=0.0012, odds ratio 1.42 [95% confidence interval 1.15-1.75]). Association was preferentially observed in subsets of patients with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) and anti-topoisomerase I antibody positivity. Conditional analysis revealed that rs2280714 could account for most of the association of these SNPs, while an additional contribution of rs2004640 was also suggested for dcSSc. The genotype of rs2280714 was strongly associated with IRF5 mRNA expression, while only marginal association was detected with TNPO3 mRNA expression. CONCLUSION Association of IRF5 with SSc was replicated in a Japanese population. Whether the causal SNP is different among populations requires further investigation.
ON THE INTERFERENCE OF CLINICAL OUTCOME ON RABIES TRANSMISSION AND PERPETUATION Brandão

Rabies is a viral zoonotic infectious disease that affects mammals and is caused by genotypes/species of the Lyssavirus genus (Rhabdoviridae, Mononegavirales), with the genotype 1 (classic rabies virus – RABV) being the most prevalent. Despite continuous efforts, rabies is still an incurable disease that causes thousands of deaths amongst humans worldwide. Due to a wide range of hosts and the different evolutionary paths of RABV in each host, several host-specific variants have arisen in an ongoing process. The result of RABV replication in nervous tissues may lead to two opposite clinical outcomes, i.e., paralytic/dumb form and encephalitic/furious one. The paralytic form creates dead-end hosts mainly amongst herbivores, while the furious form of the disease allows for augmented transmission when manifested in gregarious carnivores, as their natural aggressive behavior is accentuated by the disease itself. The aim of this article is to propose a theoretical model intended to explore how the rabies virus intrinsically modulates the immune system of different host classes, the pathological changes that the virus causes in these animals and how these elements favor its own perpetuation in nature, thus providing a basis for better prediction of the patterns this disease may present.
Variation‐aware widely tunable nanoscale design of CMOS active inductor‐based RF bandpass filter

This paper presents a novel design methodology for realizing a variation‐aware widely tunable active inductor‐based RF bandpass filter (BPF). The inductor‐less filter is designed and implemented using voltage differencing transconductance amplifier (VDTA) as an active building block and a grounded capacitor, thereby validating its suitability for fully integrated circuit applications. Digital ‘coarse’ tuning and analog ‘fine’ tuning are employed to achieve better frequency coverage. The designed filter exhibits a tuning range of 1.65–3.015 GHz and a 3‐dB bandwidth of 1400–122 MHz which translates into a quality factor of 1.17–24.71. It offers a voltage gain of 0–22.91 dB, noise figure of 28.16–28.95 dB, has a 1‐dB compression point of 2.50–2.478 dBm and draws 0.065–0.232 mW power from 1‐V power supply. Our proposed design shows a figure‐of‐merit of 82.08–91.27 dB, which is higher as compared to its counterparts available in the literature. The filter is implemented in 45‐nm CMOS technology node using metal gate and strained silicon. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Small-Group Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: Observational and Incidental Learning

This study evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of constant time delay (a near errorless learning procedure) in a small-group instructional arrangement. Three fifth-grade students with learning disabilities were taught to recognize multisyllabic basal vocabulary words. A multiple-probe design across behaviors (word sets) was used to evaluate the procedure. Following instruction on each word set, students were assessed on their ability to recognize their own target words, recognize observational words, spell both target and observational words, and define both target and observational words. The results indicated that the constant time-delay procedure was reliably implemented and was effective in establishing criterion-level performance for all students with extremely low error percentages.
Anogenital distances in newborns and children from Spain and Greece: predictors, tracking and reliability.

BACKGROUND Anogenital distance has been associated with prenatal exposure to chemicals with anti-androgenic effects. There are limited data in humans concerning descriptive patterns, predictors, and the reliability of measurement of anogenital distances. We examined anogenital distance measurements and their predictors in males and females and further estimated the reliability of these measurements. METHODS Anogenital distances were measured in repeated time periods among 352 newborns and 732 young children in two cohorts, one in Crete, Greece and one in Barcelona, Spain. Mixed effect models were used to estimate the between-children, between- and within-examiners variance, as well as the reliability coefficients. RESULTS Genitalia distances were longer in males than in females. Anogenital distances in both sexes increased rapidly from birth to 12 months, while the additional increase during the second year was small. Birthweight was associated with an increase of 1.9 mm/kg [95% CI 0.1, 3.8] (CI, confidence interval) in the anogenital distance measured from the anus to anterior base of the penis in newborn males, 2.9 mm/kg [95% CI 1.8, 3.9] in anoclitoral distance and 1.0 mm/kg [95% CI 0.0, 2.0] in anofourchettal distance in newborn females, after adjustment for gestational age. In children, body weight was the main predictor of all genitalia measurements. Moreover, anogenital distances at birth were associated with the corresponding distances at early childhood. High reliability coefficients (>90%) were found for all anogenital distances measurements in males and females. CONCLUSIONS Anogenital distances are strongly related to gestational age and birthweight and later, to growth. They track through early life and are highly reliable measures in both sexes.
Sperm output in patients with primary infertility and hepatitis B or C virus; negative influence of HBV infection during concomitant varicocele.

AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the sperm abnormalities in young infertile patients with hepatitis B (HBV) or C (HCV) virus infection and to evaluate the additional negative influence of varicocele on sperm parameters in these patients. METHODS Part I. Forty-two infertile patients in Child-Pugh classification A with HBV (n=23) or HCV (n=19) infection, underwent sperm analysis and quantitative detection of HBV-DNA or HCV-RNA in blood serum. Sperm parameters were compared to those of a group of 30 patients with primary infertility due to causes different from liver diseases and/or varicocele). Part II. Twenty-one infertile patients with varicocele associated to HBV (n=11) or HCV (n=10) infection were also enrolled and underwent semen analysis: a group of 39 patients without liver disease, but with varicocele alone served as matched-control group. RESULTS Part I. HBV patients (with a median HBV-DNA load of 6x10(5) copies/mL, range 1x10(5)-10x10(6)) showed median sperm parameters (sperm density, total number, forward motility and morphology, viability) significantly worse than those found in patients with HCV (with a median HCV-RNA load of 2.3x10(6) copies/mL, range (2x10(5)-12x10(6)). Sperm parameters showed no significant correlation with the duration of infertility neither with the duration of viral infection. Sperm morphology only, exhibited a trend (P=0.06) of negative correlationship (r=-0.59) with the viral HBV-DNA load, whereas the other sperm parameters studied showed no correlation with the viral load. Part II. The group of infertile patients with HBV and varicocele showed median values of all sperm parameter evaluated significantly worse than those found in infertile patients with varicocele alone, or with HCV infection plus varicocele. CONCLUSIONS Patients with HBV infection show worse sperm parameters compared with HCV patients. The additional presence of varicocele further impairs sperm output in HBV patients.
Movements of immature hatchery-reared Mekong giant catfish Pangasianodon gigas released in the Mekong River, measured using acoustic telemetry

Twenty-eight immature hatchery-reared Mekong giant catfish Pangasianodon gigas tagged with acoustic transmitters were released in the Mekong River, Thailand from 2002 to 2004. Twenty-four and four fish were tagged with normal transmitters and pressure-sensitive transmitters, respectively. Five to seven automated monitoring receivers were used for monitoring the post-release movements. The tagged catfish could be detected for up to 97 days, the first detection taking place at the release point, where the fish remained for several days. Sixteen tagged fish (57%) were not detected at any later point. These fish may have passed along the opposite (Laos) side of the river without notice because the width of the river was larger than the detection range of the transmitter. The remaining 12 tagged fish (43%) could be detected by the receivers installed, excluding the release point receiver. Of these 12 tagged fish, six showed long-distance (30–80 km) upstream movements and one long-distance (50 km) downstream movement. These seven fish (25%) were detected only during the daytime, suggesting that the Mekong giant catfish is diurnal.
Autosomal dominant onychodystrophy and anonychia with type B brachydactyly and ectrodactyly

A family is reported with nail dysplasia and/or absent nails, long and broad finger‐like thumbs, camptodactyly and absent fingers. Radiological studies revealed hypoplasia of metacarpals, metatarsals and distal phalanges. Two affected individuals have absent metacarpals and phalanges. The clinical and radiological features may constitute a distinct syndrome of autosomal dominant onychodystrophy and anonychia with Julia Bell brachydactyly type B.
Race-ethnicity as a predictor of attitudes toward mental health treatment seeking.

OBJECTIVE Previous research on mental health disparities shows that persons from racial-ethnic minority groups have less access to mental health care, engage in less treatment, and receive poorer-quality treatment than non-Hispanic whites. Attitudes and beliefs about mental health treatment were examined to determine whether they contribute to these disparities. METHODS Data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) were analyzed to determine attitudes toward treatment-seeking behavior among people of non-Hispanic white, African-American, and Hispanic or Latino race-ethnicity. Additional sociodemographic variables were examined in relation to attitudes and beliefs toward treatment. RESULTS African-American race-ethnicity was a significant independent predictor of greater reported willingness to seek treatment and lesser reported embarrassment if others found out about being in treatment. These findings persisted when analyses adjusted for socioeconomic variables. Hispanic or Latino race-ethnicity also was associated with an increased likelihood of willingness to seek professional help and lesser embarrassment if others found out, but these differences did not persist after adjustment for the effects of socioeconomic variables. CONCLUSIONS Contrary to the initial hypothesis, African Americans and Hispanics or Latinos may have more positive attitudes toward mental health treatment seeking than non-Hispanic whites. To improve access to mental health services among racial-ethnic minority groups, it is crucial to better understand a broader array of individual-, provider-, and system-level factors that may create barriers to care.
Copper transportion of WD protein in hepatocytes from Wilson disease patients in vitro.

AIM To study the effect of copper transporting P-type ATPase in copper metabolism of hepatocyte and pathogenesis of Wilson disease (WD). METHODS WD copper transporting properties in some organelles of the cultured hepatocytes were studied from WD patients and normal controls.These cultured hepatocytes were incubated in the media of copper 15 mg x L(-1) only, copper 15 mg x L(-1) with vincristine (agonist of P-type ATPase) 0.5mg x L(-1), or copper 15 mg x L(-1) with vanadate (antagonist of P-type ATPase) 18.39 mg x L(-1) separately. Microsome (endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus), lysosome, mitochondria, and cytosol were isolated by differential centrifugation. Copper contents in these organelles were measured with atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and the influence in copper transportion of these organelles by vanadate and vincristine were comparatively analyzed between WD patients and controls. WD copper transporting P-type ATPase was detected by SDS-PAGE in conjunction with Western blot in liver samples of WD patients and controls. RESULTS The specific WD proteins (M(r)155,000 lanes) were expressed in human hepatocytes, including the control and WD patients. After incubation with medium containing copper for 2 h or 24 h, the microsome copper concentration in WD patients was obviously lower than that of controls, and the addition of vanadate or vincristine would change the copper transporting of microsomes obviously. When incubated with vincristine, levels of copper in microsome were significantly increased, while incubated with vanadate, the copper concentrations in microsome were obviously decreased. The results indicated that there were WD proteins, the copper transportion P-type ATPase in the microsome of hepatocytes. WD patients possessed abnormal copper transporting function of WD protein in the microsome, and the agonist might correct the defect of copper transportion by promoting the activity of copper transportion P-type ATPase. CONCLUSION Copper transportion P-type ATPase plays an important role in hepatocytic copper metabolism. Dysfunction of hepatocytic WD protein copper transportion might be one of the most important factors for WD.
Migratory behavior of lymphocytes with specific reactivity to alloantigens. I. Selective recruitment to spleen, bone marrow, and liver after an intravenous challenge.

A dual antigen, dual isotope assay has been used to monitor the migratory behavior of selectively labeled anti-allogeneic lymphocytes in mice given an i.v. challenge with semiallogeneic spleen cells. 3H-labeled anti-C3H and 14C-labeled anti-C57BL lymphocytes of DBA/2J origin were pooled and adoptively transferred to two groups of DBA/2J recipients previously challenged i.v. with either (C3H × DBA)F1 or (C57BL × DBA)F1 semi-allogeneic spleen cells. After 24, 48, 72, and 96 hr, a subgroup of four mice from each group were sacrificed and the relative numbers of anti-C3H and anti-C57BL lymphocytes present in the spleens, bone marrows, livers, lymph nodes, intestines, lungs, and bloods of each mouse were inferred from the mean 3H/14C ratios of each tissue of that subgroup. The results of these studies indicated that specific anti-allogeneic lymphocytes were selectively recruited to the spleens, bone marrows, and livers of challenged mice and deleted from their lymph nodes, lungs, intestines, and blood. Similar studies with labeled marker cells enriched for T lymphocytes (and free of macrophages) and labeled marker cells depleted of T lymphocytes with anti-Thy 1.2 serum plus complement indicated that the cells selectively recruited to the spleen, bone marrow, and liver were predominantly but not exclusively T lymphocytes. A direct demonstration of selective recruitment of specifically reactive lymphocytes to bone marrow and liver has not been previously described. The significance and implications of these findings are discussed.