Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic instability of the anterior syndesmosis of the ankle

textabstractThis thesis is concerned with chronic anterior instability of the tibiofibular syndesmosis of the ankle. The ankle plays a fundamental role in locomotion. It consists of the talocrural and distal tibiofibular joint. The latter is a syndesmosis, a fibrous joint with ample intervening fibrous connective tissue. The syndesmosis consists of the anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament (ATiFL, also known as the anterior syndesmosis), the interosseous ligament (IL), and the posterior inferior tibiofibular and transverse ligaments (PTiFL and TL), also known as the posterior syndesmosis). Some authors recognize the transverse ligament as a separate entity. Injuries of the tibiofibular syndesmosis can occur in isolation or in combination with osseous or ligamentous ankle injuries. This thesis focuses on syndesmotic injuries without ankle fractures. To stress that no ankle fracture is present they are called ‘isolated syndesmotic injuries’, even though concomitant ligamentous or soft tissue injuries and tibiofibular avulsion fractures may be present. In this thesis the emphasis will be put on chronic anterior syndesmotic instability, but other syndesmotic injuries will be mentioned too.
The importance of laboratory parameters in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Platelet activation and inflammation are the related mechanisms of pathogenesis in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW) are the markers of platelet activation. C-reactive protein (CRP) and red cell distribution width (RDW) in relation to the inflammation in OSAS might be increased. We aimed to investigate the correlation of the MPV, PDW, and RDW levels with the severity of OSAS. We included 98 patients with suspected OSAS, evaluated by polysomnography. According to their apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), patients were divided into group A (n = 20; 20.4%) with AHI below 5/h; group B (n = 15; 15.3%) with AHI 5–14.9/h; group C (n = 26; 26.5%) with AHI 15–29.9/h; and group D (n = 37; 37.8%) with AHI ≥30/h. Hemoglobin, MPV, PDW, and RDW were measured using an automated blood cell counter. BMI and age showed a statistically significant and gradual increase in AHI groups. Hemoglobin, platelet, CRP, MPV, and RDW values did not differ between AHI groups. PDW was significantly higher in group D (mean value 14.4 ± 1.8) than in group A (13.2 ± 0.5) (P < 0.001). Epworth sleepiness scale was significantly higher in group D (9.9 ± 5.5) than in group A (5.6 ± 3.5), B (9.2 ± 3.6) and C (6.6 ± 3.8) (P = 0.005). When the four groups were compared, group D had the lowest minimum SpO2 value [group A (89.4 ± 3.0), B (86.7 ± 4.2), C (81.2 ± 6.4), and D (68.2 ± 13.0)]. There was a statistically significant correlation between AHI and age (r = 0.35, P < 0.001), BMI (r = 0.31, P = 0.003), PDW (r = 0.28, P = 0.006), and Epworth sleepiness scale (r = 0.29, P = 0.007). However, AHI was not correlated with CRP, MPV, and RDW. PDW is higher in severe OSAS and is correlated with different parameters of breathing function during sleep. The severity of OSAS was not correlated with CRP, MPV, and RDW. These findings show an evidence for platelet activation in OSAS and suggest that PDW might be related markers of OSAS severity.
Approximate image storage with multi-level cell STT-MRAM main memory

Images consume significant storage and space in both consumer devices and in the cloud. As such, image processing applications impose high energy consumption in loading and accessing the image data in the memory. Fortunately, most image processing applications can tolerate approximate image data storage. In addition, multi-level cell spin-transfer torque MRAM (STT-MRAM) offers unique design opportunities as the image memory: the two bits in the memory cell require asymmetric write current — the soft bit requires much less write current than the hard bit. This paper proposes an approximate image processing scheme that improves system energy efficiency without upsetting image quality requirement of applications. Our design consists of (i) an approximate image storage mechanism that strives to only write the soft bits in MLC STT-MRAM main memory with small write current and (ii) a memory mode controller that determines the approximation of image data and coordinates across precise/approximate memory access modes. Our experimental results with various image processing functionalities demonstrate that our design reduces memory access energy consumption by 53% and 2.3 x with 100% user's satisfaction compared with traditional DRAM-based and MLC phase-change-memory-based main memory, respectively.
Genetic Programming for detecting rhythmic stress in spoken English

Rhythmic stress detection is an important but difficult problem in speech recognition. This paper describes an approach to the automatic detection of rhythmic stress in New Zealand spoken English using a linear genetic programming system with speaker independent prosodic features and vowel quality features as terminals to classify each vowel segment as stressed or unstressed. In addition to the four standard arithmetic operators, this approach also uses other functions such as trigonometric and conditional functions in the function set to cope with the complexity of the task. The error rate on the training set is used as the fitness function. The approach is examined and compared to a decision tree approach and a support vector machine approach on a speech data set with 703 vowels segmented from 60 female adult utterances. The genetic programming approach achieved a maximum average accuracy of 92.6%. The results suggest that the genetic programming approach developed in this paper outperforms the decision tree approach and the support vector machine approach for stress detection on this data set in terms of the detection accuracy, the ability of handling redundant features, and the automatic feature selection capability.
Thin endometrium in assisted reproductive technology

Purpose of review To review the etiology, diagnosis and clinical importance of thin endometrium during assisted reproductive technology cycles and to find out better ways to deal with it. Recent findings Precise and specific endometrial maturational development is crucial in allowing implantation following assisted reproduction. As endometrial biopsy is invasive and hormonal milieu assessment inaccurate, the need to evaluate endometrial development encouraged the use of high-resolution ultrasonography as an alternative non-invasive method of assessment for uterine receptivity. Ultrasonographic endometrial thickness measurement, endometrial pattern investigation, endometrial volume computation, uterine and subendometrial blood flow analysis by Doppler sonography are just some of the methods that we can utilize to have an idea of uterine receptivity and consequently to better predict pregnancy outcome following assisted reproductive technology cycles. There is a lot of debate on the administration of low-dose aspirin, estrogen, vaginal sildenafil citrate, pentoxifylline, vitamin E, and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist for the management of thin endometrium with an aim to increase the pregnancy and implantation rates in assisted reproductive technology cycles. Summary Various recent modalities proposed for the treatment of thin endometrium seem to be useless and inefficient from an evidence-based medicine point of view. At the moment, evaluation of endometrium using different ultrasonographic markers seems to be superior to all those therapies.
Ammonification in Bacillus subtilisUtilizing Dissimilatory Nitrite Reductase Is Dependent onresDE

ABSTRACT During anaerobic nitrate respiration Bacillus subtilisreduces nitrate via nitrite to ammonia. No denitrification products were observed. B. subtilis wild-type cells and a nitrate reductase mutant grew anaerobically with nitrite as an electron acceptor. Oxygen-sensitive dissimilatory nitrite reductase activity was demonstrated in cell extracts prepared from both strains with benzyl viologen as an electron donor and nitrite as an electron acceptor. The anaerobic expression of the discovered nitrite reductase activity was dependent on the regulatory system encoded by resDE. Mutation of the gene encoding the regulatory Fnr had no negative effect on dissimilatory nitrite reductase formation.
FACT OR FICTION? BEHAVIOURAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL REVERSAL AFTER 60 KA IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

The organisers of the “Microanalysis and Dating for RockArt Studies” training workshop acknowledge the financialsupport provided by the ARCUS le-de-France/South Africarock art project (Region le-de-France, Ministere des affairesetrangeres, CNRS, AFD) and the Science, Technologies, RockArt GDRI (CNRS, NRF). The authors want to thank all partici-pants to the workshop: Aurelie Abgrall, Isabelle Barrier, ElizeBecker, Camille Bourdier, Catherine Cretin, Vincent Detalle,Paul Dumas, Sewelo Fane, Jean-Michel Geneste, CuanHahndiek, Geoffroy Heimlich, Jeremy Hollmann, LouisaHutten, Petrus Leroux, Nicolas Melard, Decio Muianga,Ancila Nhamo, Jane Noah, John Parkington, Carlos Pineda,Linda Prinsloo, Pascale Richardin, Celeste Rossouw, ClaireRossouw, Neil Rush, Elias Sideras-Haddad, Christine Sievers,George Susino, Thomas van der Linden, Nicholas Wiltshire,Leslie Zubieta. The authors acknowledge the exceptionalsupport from Dr Anne Corval of the CNRS office in Johannes-burg.
Active Participation In Business-To-Business Online Communities: A Conceptual Framework

Online communities (OCs) have been studied for the past several decades by many scholars from different disciplines and backgrounds. It is found that the success of an OC largely depends on its members’ participation and contribution behaviour. While significant research has examined the factors affecting participation in various OC types ranging from online communities of practice to online social networking sites, little research has focused on Business-to-Business (B2B) OCs. Hence, the primarily aim of this paper is to provide some understanding of the most important factors affecting active participation in B2B OCs. Towards achieving this goal, this study proposed a theoretical framework underpinned by two well-known theories: Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Uses and Gratification theory (U&G). This study contributes to the OC literature by defining and classifying online business communities and proposes a theoretical model to address active participation in B2B OC. This is a theoretical study and its application has not been tested on a particular community, the next step therefore is to conduct future studies to empirically test the framework with B2B OCs members.
Letter: lymphocytic gastritis and coeliac disease

SIRS; We appreciate the commentary by Philpott et al. regarding our study. 2 Regarding repeated oesophageal food bolus impaction for patients with eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE), our database only captured information during the first impaction to present at our centre during the study period. This rationale was based on our primary aims, which were to report aetiologies of impaction, as well as general outcomes. Patients with EoE who had a prior impaction all had episodes prior to 2004, or presented elsewhere prior to their index impaction at our centre. For those with recurrent impaction presenting to our centre during the study period, data regarding aetiology and season were not collected. Regarding regional pollen counts, we suspect that such a study would be valuable, as recent data demonstrate a consistent seasonal variation in EoE diagnosis, with cases occurring more in the summer. Furthermore, we acknowledge that studies reporting seasonal variation in pollen counts, and whether these correlate to increased rates of impaction, are necessary. We did not collect this information, as an analysis of seasonal variation of EoErelated food bolus impaction was not our primary aim. We did note a low frequency of erosive oesophagitis, which was a rare cause of food bolus impaction in the absence of an oesophageal stricture. Increasing the biopsy rate would likely further increase the proportion of EoE-related food bolus impaction, as the majority of non-EoE food bolus impactions do not typically require histology to establish a diagnosis. Finally, they suggest that mandatory general anaesthesia (GA) should be employed. It is noteworthy that GA was associated with a higher risk of complications (OR 5.0). While this is confounded by indication, it demonstrates that GA does not completely mitigate periprocedural risk. Further data are necessary before imposing a practice mandating GA for oesophageal food bolus impaction, given that conscious sedation appears to be safe and effective in selected patients.
Differences in HDL cholesterol concentrations in Japanese, American, and Australian children.

BACKGROUND Mortality from coronary heart disease is relatively low in Japan compared with other developed countries and has remained low despite an increasing standard of living and an apparent increase in mean plasma cholesterol concentration in adults over the past three decades. Important differences in childhood plasma lipoprotein profile might contribute to some of the difference in coronary heart disease mortality seen between Japan and both Australia and North America. METHODS AND RESULTS Plasma HDL cholesterol and total cholesterol were surveyed in representative populations of schoolchildren in Australia, Japan, and Bogalusa, La. The mean concentration of plasma HDL cholesterol (but not total cholesterol) was higher for Japanese schoolchildren than for Australian or US schoolchildren (P<.001). In addition, the difference in plasma HDL cholesterol between the ages of 8 to 10 years and 12 to 15 years was much greater for Australian (boys, 15.2%; girls, 2.6%) and US (boys, 9.1%; girls, 2.7%) children than for their Japanese counterparts (boys, 4.2%; girls, 1.9%). An examination of potential explanatory factors revealed little difference in body mass index between samples, higher physical activity levels for the Japanese compared with the Australians, and substantial differences in dietary intake between Japanese and Australian schoolchildren. CONCLUSIONS The relatively high ratio of plasma HDL cholesterol to total cholesterol in Japanese schoolchildren and the relatively small negative difference of plasma HDL cholesterol with age may help to explain why the coronary heart disease mortality rate in Japan is low compared with that in other developed countries.
Doctor and nurse perception of inter-professional co-operation in hospitals.

OBJECTIVE To explore doctor and nurse perception of inter-professional co-operation in hospitals; discuss professional differences as reflections of cultural diversity in the perspective of quality improvement. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey data from a stratified sample of 15 Norwegian hospitals, September 1998: 551 doctors and 2050 nurses at medical and surgical wards. Measures. Doctor and nurse evaluation of their inter-professional co-operation was mapped. Logistic regression models predicting their satisfaction were compared. RESULTS Doctors were significantly more often than nurses satisfied with the inter-professional co-operation of the two groups. Satisfaction with inter-professional co-operation was predicted by a number of work situation variables. Some of them contribute differently to doctor and nurse satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS Doctors and nurses not only evaluate their inter-professional co-operation differently, they also appear to define the concept in different ways. Hospital managers should include an understanding of this cultural diversity into the basis of their quality improvement efforts.
Meta-analyses involving cluster randomization trials: a review of published literature in health care

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s cluster randomization trials have been increasingly used to evaluate effectivenessof health care intervention. Such trials have raised several methodologic challenges in analysis. Meta-analyses involving cluster randomization trials are becoming common in the area of health care intervention. However, as yet there has been no empirical evidence of current practice in the meta-analyses. Thus a review was performed to identify and examine synthesis approaches of meta-analyses involving cluster randomization trials in the published literature. Electronic databases were searched for meta-analyses involving cluster randomization trials from the earliest date available to 2000. Once a meta-analysis was identified, papers on the relevant cluster randomization trials included were also requested. Each of the original papers of cluster randomization trials included was examined for its randomized design and unit, and adjustment for clustering effect in analysis. Each of the selected meta-analyses was then evaluated as to its synthesis concerning clustering effect. In total, 25 eligible meta-analyses were reviewed. Of these, 15 meta-analyses reported simple conventional methods of the fixed-effect model as method of analysis, while six did not incorporate the cluster randomization trial results in the synthesis methods but described the trial results individually. Three meta-analyses attempted to account for the clustering effect in the synthesis methods but approaches were in arbitrary. Fifteen meta-analyses included more than one cluster randomization trial, each of which included cluster randomization trials with a mixture of randomized designs and units, and units of analysis. These mixture situations might increase heterogeneity, but have not been considered in any meta-analysis. Some methods dealing with a binary outcome for some specific situations have been discussed. In conclusion, some difficulties in the quantitative synthesis procedures were found in the meta-analyses involving cluster randomization trials. Recommendations in the applications of approaches to some specific situations in a binary outcome variable have also been provided. There are still, however, several methodologic issues of the meta-analyses involving cluster randomization trials that need to be investigated further.
Functional traits as predictors of vital rates across the life cycle of tropical trees

Summary The ‘functional traits’ of species have been heralded as promising predictors for species’ demographic rates and life history. Multiple studies have linked plant species’ demographic rates to commonly measured traits. However, predictive power is usually low – raising questions about the practical usefulness of traits – and analyses have been limited to size-independent univariate approaches restricted to a particular life stage. Here we directly evaluated the predictive power of multiple traits simultaneously across the entire life cycle of 136 tropical tree species from central Panama. Using a model-averaging approach, we related wood density, seed mass, leaf mass per area and adult stature (maximum diameter) to onset of reproduction, seed production, seedling establishment, and growth and survival at seedling, sapling and adult stages. Three of the four traits analysed here (wood density, seed mass and adult stature) typically explained 20–60% of interspecific variation at a given vital rate and life stage. There were strong shifts in the importance of different traits throughout the life cycle of trees, with seed mass and adult stature being most important early in life, and wood density becoming most important after establishment. Every trait had opposing effects on different vital rates or at different life stages; for example, seed mass was associated with higher seedling establishment and lower initial survival, wood density with higher survival and lower growth, and adult stature with decreased juvenile but increased adult growth and survival. Forest dynamics are driven by the combined effects of all demographic processes across the full life cycle. Application of a multitrait and full-life cycle approach revealed the full role of key traits, and illuminated how trait effects on demography change through the life cycle. The effects of traits on one life stage or vital rate were sometimes offset by opposing effects at another stage, revealing the danger of drawing broad conclusions about functional trait–demography relationships from analysis of a single life stage or vital rate. Robust ecological and evolutionary conclusions about the roles of functional traits rely on an understanding of the relationships of traits to vital rates across all life stages.
Critical Nutrient Concentrations and DRIS Norms for 1 Pinus patula 2 3

Pinus patula is one of the most planted wood conifer species worldwide; however, no foliar 9 nutrient standards exist for this species up to date. The objective of the present study was to generate 10 and verify two sets of foliar nutrient standards for nearly ten-year-old P. patula trees: critical nutrient 11 concentrations and DRIS norms. Nutrients studied were N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, and B. The 12 reference standards were verified experimentally by installing two fertilization trials; one of them 13 located in Huayacocotla, state of Veracruz and the other one in Aquixtla, state of Puebla, Mexico. 14 Nutrient status of each fertilization trial was correctly predicted by critical nutrient values and DRIS 15 as well. Both standards were able to detect the secondary growth-limiting nutrient deficiency in the 16 Huayacocotla trial, where the primary limitation for growth was scarcity of solar radiation within 17 tree crowns. The limiting nutrient in both experimental trials was K. 18
Effects of cloud-radiative heating on atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations of convectively coupled equatorial waves

[1] This study examines the effects of cloud-radiative heating on convectively coupled equatorial waves simulated by the Seoul National University (SNU) atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM). The strength of cloud-radiative heating is adjusted by modifying the autoconversion rate needed for cloud condensates to grow up to raindrops. The results show that increasing the autoconversion rate has little effect on the climatological mean precipitation, but it significantly reduces the time-mean clouds and radiative heating in the upper troposphere and enhances heating due to moist processes in the middle troposphere. These lead to cooling of time-mean upper troposphere temperature and drying of lower-troposphere moisture. Reduction of cloud-radiative heating enhances the prominence of Kelvin and n = 0 eastward inertial gravity (EIG) waves. It also tends to enhance significantly the variance of the Kelvin, equatorial Rossby (ER), mixed Rossby-gravity (MRG), and n = 1 westward inertial gravity (WIG) waves, but not the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) or n = 0 EIG wave. Reduction of cloudradiative heating has little effect on the phase speed of the waves, which is associated with unchanged effective static stability caused by the near cancellation between reduced dry static stability and reduced diabatic heating. An important implication of this study is that when tuning GCM’s top-of-the-atmosphere radiative fluxes to fit the observations, one needs to make sure that the enhancement factor of cloud-radiative heating at the intraseasonal timescale also fits with the observation so that the convectively coupled equatorial waves are not suppressed.
IMPROVED ESTIMATE OF TIME-DELAY FOR STABILITY OF LINEAR SYSTEMS

Abstract The robust stability problem of uncertain linear time-delay systems is investigated using a refined discretized Lyapunov functional approach. The uncertainty under consideration is norm-bounded, and possibly time-varying. A new stability criterion is derived. The computational requirement is reduced for the same discretization mesh. Examples show that the results obtained by this new criterion significantly improve the estimate of the stability limit over some existing results in the literature.