Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Choosing public health dentistry as a career: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess the attitude of dental students towards considering Public Health Dentistry as their future career. MATERIALS AND METHODS A questionnaire based, cross-sectional survey was conducted, which included dental students from different years of study. It consisted of 27 questions that were graded on five point Likert scale. RESULTS A total of 293 of the 320 registered undergraduate students participated in the study, with an overall response rate of 91.5%. Among the sample, 80 (27%) were males and 213 (73%) were females. Among the total sample which was studied, it was observed that only one third (35.4%) of them had high attitude towards selecting Public Health Dentistry as a future career, and nearly two thirds of them (58.02%) had an average attitude, with very few students having low attitude (6.48%). CONCLUSION The present study concluded that there was an average attitude of 58% among dental students, which showed that they had a considerable amount of interest in pursuing post graduation in this speciality. Efforts should be intensified, both by dental council and by the dental colleges, to develop this speciality, keeping in mind the increasing attitude of dental undergraduates towards it. This also helps in increasing the number of dental personnel who are specialized in implementation of oral health policy, which does not exist in India.
ANALYSIS OF MECHANICAL AND METABOLIC FACTORS IN THE GAIT OF CONGENITAL BELOW KNEE AMPUTEES: A Comparison of the SACH and Seattle Feet

Prosthetic feet have been developed with the intention that they deform during the first half of the stance phase, to store energy that can be released at the end of stance and contribute to push-off. The purpose of this study was to examine the three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics of gait and metabolic energy cost in children and adolescents with below-knee amputations using the SACH and Seattle prosthetic feet. The metabolic test consisted of an 8-min walk around an oval track while expired gases were collected and analyzed. The biomechanical test consisted of 10 walking trials: 5 for each of the prosthetic and sound limbs. Stance and swing phase moments and powers were calculated for both the prosthetic and sound limbs. A four-camera VICON system recorded movements of the limb segments to calculate joint kinematics, and these were combined with ground reaction force data in a three-dimensional model to determine moments and powers about the hip, knee and ankle joints. The Seattle foot produced a small increase in stride length, which led to a small increase in walking velocity. Biomechanical data revealed that the Seattle foot was less resistant to passive dorsiflexion in midstance, and although there was no effect on the work done across the prosthetic ankle, a knee flexor moment dominated the stance phase when the SACH foot was tested, whereas the Seattle foot allowed a normal extensor moment. The profile of work was unaffected by the type of foot. On the sound side, the hip produced most of the positive work while the ankle output was below normal. The metabolic results showed that the energy cost of walking was slightly lower for the Seattle foot.
Maxillary Sinus Floor Elevation Using Platelet-Rich Plasma Combined With Either Biphasic Calcium Phosphate or Deproteinized Bovine Bone

Purpose: Maxillary sinus floor elevation procedure has the objective of augmenting available bone in atrophic posterior maxilla to allow dental implants placement. The main aim of this prospective study was to evaluate clinically and histomorphometrically the performance of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) used in conjunction with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) compared with demineralized bovine bone matrix (DBBM) and PRP in sinus floor elevation surgery. Materials and Methods: Patients candidate to sinus floor elevation were treated using either BCP and PRP or DBBM and PRP. Biopsies were retrieved using trephine bur during implant placement surgery 6 months after grafting. Clinical success of implants was evaluated 1 year after prosthesis delivery. Histomorphometric analysis was performed assessing the relative volume of newly formed bone. Results: A total of 20 patients were recruited, and 20 sinus augmentation procedures were performed, 10 for each group. A total of 42 implants were placed. One year after prosthetic loading a 100% implant survival rate was reported in both groups. Histomorphometric analysis revealed that the mean amount of new bone formation was 18.6 ± 3.3% in BCP group and it was 21.9 ± 4.9% in DBBM group, without statistically significant difference. In BCP group a greater amount of collagen type I was found with respect to DBBM group. Conclusions: Both grafting materials led to an excellent performance regarding implant survival rate after 1 year follow-up, without any significant adverse sequelae. A similar capability of inducing new bone formation was observed in both groups, even though the higher quantity of collagen type I in BCP group may suggest a greater potential for bone formation over time as compared with DBBM.
Oncolytic viral therapy with a combination of HF10, a herpes simplex virus type 1 variant and granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor for murine ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the most frequent cause of gynecological cancer‐related mortality as a majority of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage with intraperitoneal dissemination because of the absence of initial symptoms. Granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) plays an important role in the maturation of specialized antigen‐presenting cells. In this study, we utilized a herpes simplex virus (HSV) amplicon expressing murine GM‐CSF combined with HF10 (mGM‐CSF amplicon), a highly attenuated HSV type 1 strain functioning as a helper virus to strengthen anti‐tumor immune response, for the treatment of ovarian cancer with intraperitoneal dissemination. A mouse ovarian cancer cell line, OV2944‐HM‐1 (HM‐1), was intraperitoneally injected, following which HF10 only or the mGM‐CSF amplicon was injected intraperitoneally three times. HF10 injection prolonged survival and decreased intraperitoneal dissemination, but to a lesser extent than the mGM‐CSF amplicon. Although HF10 replication was not observed in HM‐1 cells, expression of VP5, a late gene coding the major capsid protein of HSV, was detected. Moreover, mGM‐CSF production was detected in transfected HM‐1 cells. Immunohistochemical staining revealed the infiltration of CD4‐ and CD8‐positive cells into the peritoneal tumor(s). A significantly increased CD4+ T cell concentration was observed in the spleen. Murine splenic cells after each treatment were stimulated with HM‐1 cells, and the strongest immune response was observed in the mice that received mGM‐CSF amplicon injections. These results suggested that the mGM‐CSF amplicon is a promising agent for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer with intraperitoneal dissemination.
Starvation Protects Germline Stem Cells and Extends Reproductive Longevity in C. elegans

Life Histories to Suit Nematode worms can profoundly manipulate their life histories in several ways. For example, Caenorhabditis elegans has two genders: males and hermaphrodites. Some clues for the evolution of this peculiar mating system have been revealed by Baldi et al. (p. 1002), who turned females of a related species, Caenorhabditis remanei, into hermaphrodites by modifying a gene involved in making sperm and another gene required for activating the spermatids. In most animals, the germ line is fully established during adulthood and a reproductive period is determined, at least in part, by aging of the germ line and the viability of oocytes. The reproductive longevity of hermaphrodite C. elegans can be increased at least 15-fold by starvation. Angelo and Van Gilst (p. 954, published online 27 August; see the Perspective by Ogawa and Sommer) found that in starved worms, the germline component of the reproductive system is actively killed, with the exception of a small set of preserved stem cells. When the worms are able to feed again, these cells regenerate into an entirely new and functional germ line. But this is not all. Kim et al. (p. 994, published online 1 October; see the Perspective by Ogawa and Sommer) show that subsets of the complex mixture of structurally related molecules in dauer pheromone act via distinct G protein–coupled receptors either to initiate longterm effects on development and physiology by modulating the neuroendocrine axis, or to trigger short-term acute effects on behavior by altering neuronal responses. During starvation, germline stem cells are saved for regeneration when food is restored. The study of starvation-resistant biological programs has elucidated numerous mechanisms influencing aging. Here we present the discovery and characterization of starvation-induced adult reproductive diapause (ARD) in Caenorhabditis elegans. ARD differs from the C. elegans dauer diapause in that it enables sexually mature adults to delay reproductive onset 15-fold and extend total adult life span at least threefold. The effectiveness of ARD requires apoptotic death of the entire germ line, except for a small population of protected germline stem cells (GSCs). When feeding is resumed, surviving GSCs regenerate a new germ line capable of offspring production near the level of nonstarved animals. The starvation-sensing nuclear receptor NHR-49 is required for ARD entry and recovery. Our findings establish mechanisms for preserving stem cell potency and reproductive potential during prolonged starvation.
Ca2+-Dependent Nuclear Export Mediated by Calreticulin

ABSTRACT We have characterized a pathway for nuclear export of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in mammalian cells. This pathway involves the Ca2+ -binding protein calreticulin (CRT), which directly contacts the DNA binding domain (DBD) of GR and facilitates its delivery from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In the present study, we investigated the role of Ca2+ in CRT-dependent export of GR. We found that removal of Ca2+ from CRT inhibits its capacity to stimulate the nuclear export of GR in digitonin-permeabilized cells and that the inhibition is due to the failure of Ca2+-free CRT to bind the DBD. These effects are reversible, since DBD binding and nuclear export can be restored by Ca2+ addition. Depletion of intracellular Ca2+ inhibits GR export in intact cells under conditions that do not inhibit other nuclear transport pathways, suggesting that there is a Ca2+ requirement for GR export in vivo. We also found that the Ran GTPase is not required for GR export. These data show that the nuclear export pathway used by steroid hormone receptors such as GR is distinct from the Crm1 pathway. We suggest that signaling events that increase Ca2+ could positively regulate CRT and inhibit GR function through nuclear export.
Seminoma With Tubular, Microcystic, and Related Patterns: A Study of 28 Cases of Unusual Morphologic Variants That Often Cause Confusion With Yolk Sac Tumor

We report 28 testicular seminomas with cystic spaces of variable nature, sometimes accompanied by solid and hollow tubular patterns (12 cases). The spaces often suggested reticular or microcystic patterns of yolk sac tumor, and the solid and hollow tubular patterns often added to the diagnostic confusion. The tumors occurred in men 21 to 55 years old and on gross examination had the typical appearance of seminoma. On microscopic examination, the spaces ranged from small, closely packed and relatively regular to dilated, more dispersed and somewhat irregular. The hollow tubules appeared to result from central discohesion within nests of tumor. The spaces, particularly when large, often contained occasional tumor cells or inflammatory cells within pale edema fluid. The cytologic appearance of the cells lining the spaces, and in the surrounding tumor, retained the typical features of seminoma cells. Thirteen tumors (46%) either lacked (8 cases) or had very scant (5 cases) lymphocytes in the cystic and tubular areas, and hyaline globules were absent. Thirteen of 13 tumors were immunopositive for OCT-3/4 in the nontypical and typical areas; 9 of 10 were placental alkaline phosphatase positive, and 7 of 10 were c-Kit (CD117) positive. The same 13 cases were negative with cytokeratin (AE1/AE3) and alpha-fetoprotein stains. Distinction from yolk sac tumor is aided by the observation that the spaces of yolk sac tumor are often more irregular in their individual shapes and frequently form anastomosing channels. Additionally, the spaces of yolk sac tumor randomly merge with various other yolk sac tumor patterns. The cells lining spaces in yolk sac tumor are often flattened with compressed nuclei and lack the typical prominent nucleoli of seminoma cells. Paucity of lymphocytes and intracystic edema, however, are not differentially helpful, although basophilic fluid favors yolk sac tumor. A panel of immunostains (AE1/AE3, OCT-3/4, and alpha-fetoprotein) is helpful in the differential with yolk sac tumor in especially problematic cases. The edema and paucity of lymphocytes may suggest spermatocytic seminoma, but the varied cell types of that neoplasm are absent.
The Substance of Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurship of Substances

Abstract: James Buchanan argues that profit seeking and rent seeking are formally the same sort of behavior, but that the substance of such activities — whether they create or destroy wealth — depends on the institutional environment within which they take place. William Baumol and Israel Kirzner each flesh out this distinction between form and substance in more detail but in different ways. Baumol distinguishes between productive, unproductive, and destructive forms of entrepreneurship, while Kirzner distinguishes between ordinary types of entrepreneurial discovery and superfluous discoveries. In this essay we argue that Baumol and Kirzner’s contributions are complementary, providing a more complete taxonomy of the substance of entrepreneurial activity. We also integrate these ideas with recent work on institutional entrepreneurship that examines changes in the rules governing economic activity. We illustrate this taxonomy by examining entrepreneurial innovation in drug markets both legal and illegal, identifying cases of productive, superfluous, erroneous, unproductive, destructive, and protective entrepreneurship.
Observability analysis of in-flight calibration of gyros and attitude sensors on orbit

This paper deals with in-flight calibration method of gyros and attitude sensors of the spacecraft on orbit. On-orbit calibration is an in-flight calibration process for more precise spacecraft attitude determination. For the spacecraft which is required more precise pointing accuracy, on-orbit calibration should be performed after the launch to accommodate attitude estimation error caused by vibration and thermal shocks. In this paper, a Quaternion based Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used to perform the on-orbit calibration. The observability of on-orbit calibration along trajectories is discussed by Lie-derivative-based observability analysis, and the degree of observability is computed by singular value decomposition (SVD). It is shown that the system is globally observable with calibration maneuver and the analysis results about the observable degree of each state are presented.
In vitro replication, packaging, and transcription of the segmented double-stranded RNA genome of bacteriophage phi 6: studies with procapsids assembled from plasmid-encoded proteins

The genome of the lipid-containing bacteriophage phi 6 contains three segments of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). We prepared cDNA copies of the viral genome and cloned this material in plasmids that replicate in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas phaseolicola, the natural host of phi 6. These plasmids direct the formation of viral proteins and the assembly of structures similar to viral procapsids containing proteins P1, P2, P4, and P7. We found that these particles are capable of taking up viral single-stranded RNA and synthesizing the minus strands to produce dsRNA structures. Once the dsRNA is formed, it is then used as a template for the production of viral plus strands in a reaction that resembles normal transcription. The particles were also capable of directly transcribing exogenous dsRNA. The replicase reactions were specific for phi 6 RNA, were specific for procapsids, and resulted in substantial incorporation of product dsRNA into particles. These results offer strong support to a model in which genomic packaging is done by preformed procapsids.
A Trellis Shaping for Peak and Average Power Reduction of BICM-OFDM Signals

One of the major drawbacks of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is their high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) signals, and trellis shaping (TS) is a promising approach for reducing both peak power and average power of OFDM signals. In practice, OFDM should be employed with coded modulation for improving reliability, and bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) has been often combined with OFDM to gain robustness against severe fading channels. In this work, we propose a new BICM-OFDM system concatenated with TS for achieving good error performance. To this end, a novel soft-in-soft-out decoder for TS is developed. Optimization of the shaping convolutional code in terms of transmitter performance is also discussed. The effectiveness of our system is demonstrated through the analysis in terms of average mutual information as well as frame error rate (FER) over an additive white Gaussian noise channel. Furthermore, the FER is evaluated over a frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel and compared with the theoretical outage probability. The simulation results reveal that our system can achieve good frequency diversity effect over such a fading channel while enjoying much lower PAPR.
Imaging of the retinal nerve fibre layer with spectral domain optical coherence tomography for glaucoma diagnosis

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) techniques have been applied to develop a new generation of the technology, called spectral domain (SD) or Fourier domain (FD) OCT. The commercially available SD-OCT technology offers benefits over the conventional time domain (TD) OCT such as a scanning speed up to 200 times faster and higher axial resolution (3 to 6 μm). Overall, SD-OCT offers improved performance in terms of reproducibility. SD-OCT has a level of discriminating capability, between healthy and perimetric glaucoma eyes similar to that obtained with TD-OCT. Furthermore, the capabilities and features of SD-OCT are rapidly evolving, mainly due to three-dimensional imaging and image rendering. More sophisticated approaches for macular and optic disc assessment are expected to be employed in clinical practice. Analysis software should be further refined for interpretation of SD-OCT images in order to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of glaucoma diagnostics. Most importantly for SD-OCT is determination of its ability to diagnostic structural glaucomatous progression. Considering the recent launch time of the commercially available SD-OCT and slow progressing characteristic of glaucoma, we must wait for longitudinal SD-OCT data, with a long enough follow-up, to become available.
Using a parental checklist to identify diagnostic groups in children with communication impairment: a validation of the Children's Communication Checklist--2.

BACKGROUND The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC 1998) was revised in 2003 (CCC-2) to provide a general screen for communication disorder and to identify pragmatic/social interaction deficits. Two validation studies were conducted with different populations of children with language and communication impairments. METHODS & PROCEDURES In Study 1, the questionnaire was given to families of 87 children attending full-time special education for specific language impairment, pragmatic language impairments or autistic spectrum disorders. In addition, the teachers of half the sample completed CCC-2 forms for the same children, providing evidence for interrater agreement. In Study 2, the sample was increased to include 24 children with similar diagnoses in educational contexts in Scotland and 27 children referred for clinical evaluation at a neurodevelopment centre. OUTCOMES & RESULTS The CCC-2 distinguished children with communication impairments from non-impaired peers. Furthermore, the social-interaction deviance composite (SIDC) of the CCC-2 identified children with disproportionate pragmatic and social difficulties in relation to their structural language impairments. This measure also had good interrater agreement (r=0.79). CONCLUSIONS CCC-2 provides a useful screening measure for communication impairment and can be helpful in identifying children who should be referred for more detailed assessment of possible autistic spectrum disorder. However, the present data highlight substantial overlap amongst groups with 'distinct' diagnoses. It is suggested that it is unrealistic to use the CCC-2 to make categorical distinctions on this continuum of disorder.
Longevity Risk Management for Individual Investors

AbstractWe model and numerically solve the optimal asset allocation problem of a retired couple with uncertain lifetime, in the presence of a life insurance policy. The couple maximizes expected utility over their joint lifetime by dynamically adjusting their asset allocation and purchasing term-life insurance. We conduct three numerical analyses: In the base case, we find optimal policies assuming the expected lifetimes are correct. The other two examples introduce longevity risk through either a shift in the expected lifetimes or an unexpected cut in retirement income. We find that optimal asset allocation policy depends on the presence and the type of these risks as well as the relative price of insurance. Furthermore, we show that a generalized linear policy is not likely to help under such circumstances.
Lack of Adaptation of Chimeric GB Virus B/Hepatitis C Virus in the Marmoset Model: Possible Effects of Bottleneck

ABSTRACT Approximately 3% of the world population is chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). GB virus B (GBV-B), a surrogate model for HCV, causes hepatitis in tamarins and is the virus phylogenetically most closely related to HCV. Previously we described a chimeric GBV-B containing an HCV insert from the 5′ noncoding region (NCR) that was adapted for efficient replication in tamarins (Saguinus species). We have also demonstrated that wild-type (WT) GBV-B rapidly adapts for efficient replication in a closely related species, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Here, we demonstrate that the chimeric virus failed to adapt during serial passage in marmosets. The chimeric virus was passaged four times through 24 marmosets. During passage, two marmoset phenotypes were observed: susceptible and partially resistant. Although appearing to adapt in a resistant animal during a prolonged and gradual increase in viremia, the chimeric GBV-B failed to replicate efficiently upon passage to a naïve marmoset. The resistance was specific to the chimeric virus, as the chimeric virus-resistant animals were susceptible to marmoset-adapted WT virus during rechallenge studies. Three isolates of the chimeric virus were sequenced, and 20 nucleotide changes were observed, including eight amino acid changes. Three unique changes were observed in the 5′ NCR chimeric insert, an area that is highly conserved in HCV. We speculate that the failure of the chimeric virus to adapt in marmosets might be due to a bottleneck that occurs at the time of infection of resistant animals, which may lead to a loss of fitness upon serial passage.