Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implantable microelectromechanical sensors for diagnostic monitoring and post‐surgical prediction of bone fracture healing

The relationship between modern clinical diagnostic data, such as from radiographs or computed tomography, and the temporal biomechanical integrity of bone fracture healing has not been well‐established. A diagnostic tool that could quantitatively describe the biomechanical stability of the fracture site in order to predict the course of healing would represent a paradigm shift in the way fracture healing is evaluated. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a wireless, biocompatible, implantable, microelectromechanical system (bioMEMS) sensor, and its implementation in a large animal (ovine) model, that utilized both normal and delayed healing variants. The in vivo data indicated that the bioMEMS sensor was capable of detecting statistically significant differences (p‐value <0.04) between the two fracture healing groups as early as 21 days post‐fracture. In addition, post‐sacrifice micro‐computed tomography, and histology data demonstrated that the two model variants represented significantly different fracture healing outcomes, providing explicit supporting evidence that the sensor has the ability to predict differential healing cascades. These data verify that the bioMEMS sensor can be used as a diagnostic tool for detecting the in vivo course of fracture healing in the acute post‐treatment period. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 33:1439–1446, 2015.
BODY IMITATION IN AN ENCULTURATED ORANGUTAN (PONGO PYGMAEUS)

The mechanisms underlying the copying of others' actions in monkeys and apes are poorly understood. The author compared the ability of the 18-year-old, human-reared, language-trained orangutan Chantek to reproduce the same set of actions that Custance, Whiten, and Bard (1995) used with two chimpanzees. Previous studies (e.g., Miles, Mitchell, and Harper (1996)) had shown that Chantek was capable of imitating on command, but no direct comparison across studies had been attempted. The aim of this study was to investigate how he encoded observed behavior and what types of information he acquired from the experimenter. Chantek received the 48 test actions used by Custance et al. (1995). After the experimenter modeled the target action, Chantek was asked to do the same. Chantek's responses were scored for body part used, type of action performed, and general accuracy. In general, Chantek showed good accuracy in reproducing the experimenter's actions. Three types of errors were especially interesting. First, although he had a 90% matching accuracy between his own gross body areas (e.g., head, arms) and those of the experimenter, Chantek's accuracy decreased considerably for the body parts within those gross body areas. Second,Chantek performed better in those actions thatinvolved some contact between his body parts. Finally, Chantek may have had some difficulty interpreting what he was expected to reproduce (e.g., when asked to raise his index finger, he raised his arm). The author argues that an attentional bias toward certain results or goals and a less differentiated ability to encode observed actions may be important factors contributing to the observed error patterns.
Congenital Neonatal Intestinal Obstruction: Retrospective Analysis at Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: The purpose of this study is to analyze the etiology, clinical presentation and outcome of neonatal intestinal obstruction at our institute. Materials and Methods: The medical record of all the patients, presented with intestinal obstruction in neonatal period during 2014 and 2015 was reviewed retrospectively for etiology, clinical features, investigations, management, and outcome. Results: Out of total 53 cases of neonatal intestinal obstruction, 27 were of intestinal atresia (9 cases (17%) were of duodenal atresia, 7 (13%) were of jejunal atresia and 8 (13%) were ileal atresias and 3 cases were found with colonic atresia); 7 were malrotation, 17 were Hirschsprung's disease (HD). All the patients were investigated with abdominal radiography and sonography. All patients were managed surgically. Overall mortality was 10/53 (18.8%). Out of 27 cases of atresia, 9 patients died (33% mortality). Septicemia was the cause of death in 7 patients (58.3%). Anastomotic leak was present in one mortality case. Conclusion: The most common cause of neonatal intestinal obstruction is atresia. Duodenal atresia was the most common atresia in our study followed by ileal atresia. Postoperative complications like septicemia led to most of deaths in our series. Septicemia, wound infection, hypothermia, prematurity need special attention for survival of neonates.
Technology Strategies for Struggling Readers

Lack of reading ability could easily be identified as a crisis in education effecting students all over the world. Students who struggle to read, struggle to learn. This literature review evaluates the technology based strategies that have been proven to be beneficial for those students who struggle with reading as a result of a variety of different factors. The role of the teacher is to implement the technology strategies with fidelity in order to provide the most benefit and improvement to students. While many opposing viewpoints exist on technology and its effectiveness, this review identifies technology strategies such as multimedia, computer-assisted tutoring, podcasts, animated storybooks, digital thesaurus, and e-books and the positive results they have had with struggling readers. A primary tool that needs to be evaluated in further research is the use of assistive technology for students who have difficulty obtaining information through reading.
Impact of EOT scaling down to 0.85nm on 70nm Ge-pFETs technology with STI

For the first time, an STI module is integrated in an advanced 70 nm Ge-pFET technology allowing EOT scaling down to 0.85 nm. Gate leakage is kept below 0.2A/cm2 and ION is increased inversely proportional to the EOT. The impact of this aggressive EOT scaling on hole mobility is also investigated by temperature measurements down to 4 K, suggesting the presence of defects at different levels of the Si/SiO2/HfO2 gate stack.
When Focusing on Differences Leads to Similar Perspectives

The current research investigated whether mind-sets and contexts that afford a focus on self-other differences can facilitate perceptual and conceptual forms of perspective taking. Supporting this hypothesis, results showed that directly priming a difference mind-set made perceivers more likely to spontaneously adopt other people’s visual perspectives (Experiment 1) and less likely to overimpute their own privileged knowledge to others (Experiments 2 and 3). Given that intergroup encounters typically evoke a difference mind-set, we also explored the possibility that such contexts might help perceivers to step outside their own perspectives. As predicted, perceivers were less “cursed” by their own privileged knowledge when mentalizing about out-group targets than when mentalizing about in-group targets (Experiment 4) and communicated more effectively with interaction partners whose minimal-group membership differed from their own (Experiment 5). Overall, acknowledging self-other differences allowed perceivers to look beyond the limits of their own perspectives and thereby provided an efficacious route to intuiting other people’s minds.
DAPK2 positively regulates motility of neutrophils and eosinophils in response to intermediary chemoattractants

The tight regulation of granulocyte chemotaxis is crucial for initiation and resolution of inflammation. Here, we show that DAPK2, a Ca2+/CaM‐sensitive serine/threonine kinase known to modulate cell death in various cell types, is a novel regulator of migration in granulocytes. We demonstrate that human neutrophils and eosinophils express DAPK2 but unlike other leukocytes, no DAPK1 or DAPK3 protein. When DAPK activities were blocked by inhibitors, we found that neither granulocyte lifespan nor phagocytosis was affected. However, such pharmacological inactivation of DAPK activity abolished motility of granulocytes in response to intermediary but not end‐target chemoattractants ex vivo. The defect in chemotaxis in DAPK2‐inactive granulocytes is likely a result of reduced polarization of the cells, mediated by a lack of MLC phosphorylation, resulting in radial F‐actin and pseudopod formation. As neutrophils treated with DAPKi also showed reduced recruitment to the site of inflammation in a mouse peritonitis model, DAPK2 may be a novel target for anti‐inflammatory therapies.
What Drives Business Cycles and International Trade in Emerging Market Economies?

This paper investigates the role of domestic and externalfactors in explaining business cycle and internationaltrade developments in fifteen emergingmarket economies. Results from sign-restrictedVARs show that developments in real output, inflationand international trade variables are dominatedby domestic shocks. External shocks, on average, explaina fraction of no more than 10% of the variationin the endogenous variables considered. Concerningimpulse responses, consumer prices and real importsare overall the endogenous variables most affected bydomestic disturbances. Consumer prices are mostlydriven by technology and risk premium shocks. Theshocks inducing the largest effects tend to be monetarydisturbances, which can be traced to unpredictablemonetary policy. These shocks generate relativelylarge impacts on real imports, which -owing tomuted reactions in real exports-, carry over to thetrade balance, alongside more modest changes inconsumer prices and real output.
Breaks in Money Demand

During the last twenty years, beginning with the provocative paper by Goldfeld [5] that revealed the case of the "missing money," the question of whether money demand (the relationship between money, income, and an interest rate) is stable has been intensively investigated using a variety of econometric techniques. Currently, the most popular framework for examining the behavior of money demand is the cointegration framework. In this framework, the stationarity of money demand instead of the stability of money demand is evaluated. Earlier tests of the stability of money demand typically centered on whether the coefficient estimates were stable, i.e. not subject to a structural break. These tests did not consider the underlying time series aspects of the variables in money demand or the time series properties of their joint relationship prior to estimation as is now common given the seminal work of Engle and Granger [1]. Since then, newer tests have focussed on the time series properties of the money demand variables and whether the joint relationship between the variables is stationary, i.e., whether the variables are cointegrated. Engle and Granger [1] and Johansen and Juselius [10] offer cointegration estimation procedures that have been applied by numerous researchers to the money-incomeinterest rate relationship. The pervasive finding is that money demand is non-stationary (see section II, below). Structural stability has not typically been a facet of investigation. However, the issues of stationarity and stability should not necessarily be treated independently. Failure to take account of structural change may bias the results in favor of non-stationarity, as shown in Perron [16]. 1 History suggests that the economic environment and monetary institutions, regulations, and operating procedures have changed over time. In the early 1970s, the fixed exchange rate system collapsed when the gold exchange standard was abandoned and the U.S. dollar became a fiat currency. During that same time, the U.S. suffered an oil price shock that produced accelerating inflation and stagnant GDP growth-an outcome that had never before been experienced in
Validity of Procedure Codes in International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, Clinical Modification Administrative Data

Background:Administrative hospital discharge data are widely used to assess quality of care in patients undergoing certain procedures. However, little is known about the validity of administrative coding of procedure data. We conducted a detailed chart review to evaluate the accuracy and completeness of information on procedures in administrative data. Methods:We randomly selected 1200 hospital separations in the period April 1, 1996, to March 31, 1997, from administrative discharge data of 3 acute adult hospitals in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Each separation record in administrative data contains up to 10 procedure coding fields. The corresponding medical charts were reviewed for recording presence or absence of procedures. We then determined sensitivity to quantify the accuracy of coding presence of procedures in administrative data when these are present in the chart data (criterion standard). Results:The agreement between the 2 databases varied greatly across 35 procedures studied. The sensitivity ranged from 0% to 94%. Of 6 major procedures studied, validity of coding was generally good, with 5 procedures having coding sensitivity of 69% and over and only 1 (lysis of peritoneal adhesion) with a low sensitivity of 41%. In contrast, many minor procedures had low sensitivities. Of 29 minor procedures studied, sensitivity was lower than 50% for 15 procedures, between 50% and 79% for 10, and 80% and over for 4. Conclusion:Validity of information on procedures in administrative discharge data appears to be related to type of procedures. Major procedures that are usually performed in operating rooms are reasonably well-coded. Meanwhile, minor procedures that are routinely performed on wards or in radiology departments are generally undercoded.
Gender matters: Constructing a model of adolescent sexual health

This article illustrates the construction of a new model of adolescent sexual health, one that addresses the complex relationships between gender and adolescent sexuality. A review of sexual health models highlights the absence of gender; in contrast, research illuminates the significance of gender. This article describes the process of building a model of sexual health explicitly for girls, guided by feminist research on adolescent girls' sexuality and a “web of theories. ” It also describes the unanticipated challenges of making a companion model for boys and the ensuing shift from a gender‐specific approach to an integrated gendered model of adolescent sexual health. Gender complementarity is defined and forwarded as a way to incorporate gender into a model of adolescent sexual health.
IGF-I and mechanical environment interact to modulate engineered cartilage development.

Bovine calf articular chondrocytes were seeded onto biodegradable polyglycolic acid scaffolds and cultured for four weeks using in vitro systems providing different mechanical environments (static and mixed Petri dishes, static and mixed flasks, and rotating vessels) and different biochemical environments (medium with and without supplemental insulin-like growth factor I, IGF-I). Under all conditions, the resulting engineered tissue histologically resembled cartilage and contained its major constituents: glycosaminoglycans, collagen, and cells. The mechanical environment and supplemental IGF-I (a) independently modulated tissue morphology, growth, biochemical composition, and mechanical properties (equilibrium modulus) of engineered cartilage as previously reported; (b) interacted additively or in some cases nonadditively producing results not suggested by the independent responses, and (c) in combination produced tissue superior to that obtained by modifying these factors individually.
Can Money Supply Predict Stock Prices

A positive causal relation from money supply to stock prices is frequently hypothesized by some financial media and financial analysts. The basis of this assertion is an assumed negative causal relation from money supply to interest rates, and a negative causal relation from interest rates to stock prices. In this paper, we argue against a stable causal relation from money supply to stock prices. An empirical analysis, based on cointegration and Granger Causality tests, supports our argument.
Innovation Management in the German Savings Banks Association - Appraisal and Perspectives

In the European public (financial) service industry the innovation management has not been systematically investigated yet, although this sector is highly important for economic growth and employment in Europe. Due to the financial crisis this industry is currently receiving additional attention by European policy makers and researchers. We studied German savings banks using a quantitative survey in order to contribute to a more systematically empirical investigation of the current status of innovation management in one of the most important service industries in Europe. The central result of our empirical study highlights that highly innovative financial service companies differ from less innovative companies in the way the top management supports the innovation development activities and how customer focuses on the companies. Based on these findings we put forward recommendations on how to investigate and plan holistic innovation management in the European financial and (public) service industry in general. We present evidence relating to the growing need for innovation management in financial institutions by the example of German savings banks. Our survey investigated the innovation activities in German savings banks for the first time. Our study is based on the question “How innovative are German savings banks and their corresponding associations? ” The presented findings are based on descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses. The recommended procedures can be transferred to other public welfare companies.
Pseudoexfoliation syndrome and secondary cataract

AIM/BACKGROUND The pseudoexfoliation (PEX) syndrome is frequently associated with impairment of the blood-aqueous barrier. This study analysed if this might stimulate secondary cataract following cataract extraction. METHODS This historical cohort study included 197 eyes of 197 patients (99 with and 98 without PEX) that underwent extracapsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber lens implantation (PMMA optic) between 1985 and 1991. Secondary cataract was defined as opacification of the axial posterior capsule and decrease of visual acuity by two or more lines. Mean follow up was 23.8 months. For statistical analysis, the Kaplan–Meier method and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used. RESULTS Secondary cataract was observed within 24 months in 35% (SD 7%) of all eyes, and was significantly more frequent in eyes with PEX (45 (11)%) than in eyes without PEX (24 (9)%, p<0.03). Eyes with diabetes mellitus (n=32) showed a significantly lower frequency of secondary cataract (11 (11)%) than eyes without diabetes mellitus (39 (8)%, p<0.01). The influences of sex, open angle glaucoma, type of cataract, surgeon, positioning of IOL, and phacoemulsification versus nuclear expression on secondary cataract did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION The higher frequency of secondary cataract could be considered as another potential complication of cataract surgery in eyes with PEX.
Familial Wilms tumor

Wilms tumor (WT), an embryonic tumor arising from undifferentiated renal mesenchyme, has been a productive model for understanding the role of genes in both tumorigenesis and normal organogenesis. Approximately 2% of WT patients have a family history of WT, and even sporadic WT is thought to have a strong genetic component to its etiology. Familial WT cases generally have an earlier age of onset and an increased frequency of bilateral disease, although there is variability among WT families, with some families displaying later than average ages at diagnosis. One WT gene, WT1 at 11p13, has been cloned, but only a minority of tumors carry detectable mutations at that locus, and it can be excluded as the predisposition gene in most WT families. Two familial WT genes have been localized, FWT1 at 17q12–q21 and FWT2 at 19q13.4; lack of linkage in some WT families to either of these loci implies the existence of at least one additional familial WT gene. Originally modeled as the inheritance of a mutation in a tumor suppressor gene, molecular analysis of familial tumors not linked to 11p13 have provided data suggesting that this model may be overly simplistic and/or not applicable to all WT families. Identification of the FWT1 and FWT2 genes will help clarify this and will also likely aid in our understanding in general of the roles of the various WT genes and their genetic interactions in the development of WT. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mycorrhizal symbionts of Pisonia grandis and P. sechellarum in Seychelles: identification of mycorrhizal fungi and description of new Tomentella species

Nyctaginaceae includes species that are predominantly non-mycorrhizal or form arbuscular or ectomycorrhiza. Root-associated fungi were studied from P. grandis and P. sechellarum roots collected respectively on the islands of Cousin and Silhouette in Seychelles. In addition fungal sporocarps were collected from the sampling area. Fungal symbionts were identified from the roots by anatomotyping and rDNA sequencing; sporocarps collected were examined microscopically and sequenced. Three distantly related ectomycorrhizal fungal species belonging to Thelephoraceae were identified from the roots of P. grandis. Sporocarps also were found for two symbionts and described as new Tomentella species. In addition Tomentella species collected from other Seychelles islands were studied and described as new species if there was no close resemblance to previously established species. P. sechellarum was determined to be an arbuscular mycorrhizal plant; three arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal species were detected from the roots. P. grandis is probably associated only with species of Thelephoraceae throughout its area. Only five Tomentella species are known to form ectomycorrhiza with P. grandis and they never have been found to be associated with another host, suggesting adaptation of these fungi to extreme environmental conditions in host’s habitat.
Presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis and plasma cell dominance in gingival tissues with periodontitis.

OBJECTIVE Porphyromonas gingivalis can invade and survive within its host epithelial cells. The aim of this study was to test our hypothesis that persistent presence of intracellular periodontal pathogens in gingival tissue causes the chronic inflammation and that an inappropriate immune response is a risk factor for periodontitis. METHODS Together with the presence of P. gingivalis, the distribution of B cells, plasma cells, and CD4(+), CD8(+), and FOXP3(+) regulatory T cells was evaluated in gingival tissues from healthy (n = 7) and periodontitis (n = 8) sites by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, respectively. RESULTS Porphyromonas gingivalis was detected in proximity to inflammatory infiltrates in three and seven biopsies from the healthy and periodontitis sites, respectively. Compared with healthy sites, periodontal lesions contained a significantly increased number of each immune cell studied with a relative dominance of plasma cells over T cells. CONCLUSIONS Persistent bacterial invasion of gingival tissues in combination with a plasma cell-dominant immune response may be involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis.