Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outcome and survival of temporary hemodialysis catheters: a prospective study from a single center in Iraq.

BACKGROUND The use of temporary hemodialysis catheters (THC) has facilitated the delivery of hemodialysis to patients lacking functional vascular access. However, the use of these catheters is often associated with infections or mechanical complications. METHODS A review of experiences at a tertiary referral center in Iraq with the use of 128 THC catheters in 103 patients was undertaken over one year, to identify indications for use and outcomes and issues limiting survival. RESULTS The indications for insertion of THC included the following: as acute dialysis access for patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) in 42.1%, failed arteriovenous fistulae in 14%, acute renal failure in 18%, failed prior THC in 18.7%, absent vascular access in patients with transplant rejection in 6.2% and severe anasarca in one patient (0.78%). The site of insertion was the right internal jugular vein in 101 patients, the right subclavian vein in 23 patients, and the left internal jugular vein in four patients. During follow-up, 86 catheters were removed: 62 in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), 23 in patients with acute renal failure and one patient with severe anasarca. The reasons for removal of THC in ESRD patients were elective removal (44%), catheter related sepsis (CRS) in 30%, mechanical complications (19%) and others (7%). The subclavian site was associated with infection in 20% of patients, while the internal jugular site was associated with infection in 22.7% of patients. For patients in whom THC removal was for infection, a post removal culture of the catheter tip showed Staphylococcus aureus in 57.8%, Klebsiella in 15.7%, Pseudomonas in 15.7% and Streptococcus hemolyticus in 10.5% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS THC is advantageous for vascular access in patients with acute renal failure. Infections and blockage significantly reduce the survival of THC in patients with ESRD. Approaches to minimize these complications are likely to lead to improved clinical outcomes with THC use.
A Kineto-Elastodynamic Model of a Mechanism for Automatic Machine

This work deals with the kineto-elastodynamic modelling of a mechanism for rocking motion with a cam and timing belt drives, used in a high-performance automatic packaging machine. A lumped-parameter model is presented, having five degrees of freedom and taking account of non-linearities. Equations of motion are numerically integrated, using the finite difference method. Model parameters are evaluated on the basis of design data and measurements of the actual motion of the output link. Finally the model is satisfactory validated by comparison with experimental results. The model makes it possible to relate the design and functional parameters of the mechanism to its dynamic behaviour; thus it is used to detect the causes of the dynamic phenomena that reduce performances.
Multiple hypothesis tracking algorithm for multi-target multi-camera tracking with disjoint views

In this study, a multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) algorithm for multi-target multi-camera tracking (MCT) with disjoint views is proposed. The authors' method forms track-hypothesis trees, and each branch of them represents a multi-camera track of a target that may move within a camera as well as move across cameras. Furthermore, multi-target tracking within a camera is performed simultaneously with the tree formation by manipulating a status of each track hypothesis. Each status represents three different stages of a multi-camera track: tracking , searching , and end-of-track . The tracking status means targets are tracked by a single camera tracker. In the searching status, the disappeared targets are examined if they reappear in other cameras. The end-of-track status does the target exited the camera network due to its lengthy invisibility. These three status assists MHT to form the track-hypothesis trees for multi-camera tracking. Furthermore, a gating technique which eliminates the unlikely observation-to-track association using space-time information has been introduced. In the experiments, the proposed method has been tested using two datasets, DukeMTMC and NLPR\_MCT, which demonstrates that the method outperforms the state-of-the-art method in terms of improvement of the accuracy. In addition, real-time and online performance of proposed method is also showed in this study.
Histopathological Assessment and hematotoxicity of Dietary acrylamide on Wistar rats

Acrylamide is a toxic, cancer-causing, industrial chemical used primarily in the preparation of polyacrylamide, which is used principally in water and wastewater treatment and in pulp and paper processing. A significant source of dietary acrylamide is foods cooked at high temperature. Till recently, only known human health effect is neurotoxicity at relatively high doses occurring through occupational exposures. Numerous gaps in knowledge concerning the formation, dietary exposure, and potential for adverse health risks of acrylamide were identified, and the resulting recommendations called for additional research on these topics. Hence the objective of this study was to assess the effects of dietary acrylamide at different doses on tissues and blood of Wistar rats. The results showed no evidence of carcinogenic effect of acrylamide on any of the vital organs, but the main features were growth depression and pathological changes on the liver, kidneys and intestines sufficient to impose significant haematological changes. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3126/ijls.v7i1. 8018 International Journal of Life Sciences 7(1): 2013; 21-25
Stress, Distance, Magnitude, and Clustering Influences on the Success or Failure of an Aftershock Forecast: The 2013 M 6.6 Lushan Earthquake and Other Examples

Immediately after the 12 May 2008 M 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, we began calculating the static stress change on major faults surrounding the rupture zone (Parsons et al. , 2008), and Toda et al. (2008) mapped out regional Coulomb stress changes (Fig. 1). The purpose was twofold: (1) to identify the most likely locations (stress increases) of dangerous aftershocks, and (2) to conduct a prospective test of stress mapping as a rapid‐response forecast tool. The occurrence of the 20 April 2013 M 6.6 Lushan earthquake in the Longmen fault zone near Ya’an was consistent with the prospective static stress forecast; for example, press coverage in 2008 (Kuang, 2008) stated According to their results, published in Nature on 6 July, Ya’an Thrust, Xiong Po Thrust, and Xianshuihe Fault, all near Longmen Fault where the earthquake occurred, show a notable increase in static stress changes, and therefore face a high risk of aftershocks. “The 12 May earthquake … caused grievous losses, yet its legacy includes possible large aftershocks in the near future because it increased failure stress on important faults within and around the Sichuan basin,” write the authors. Figure 1. Earthquake activity ( M ≥2) following the 12 May 2008 M 7.9 Wenchuan mainshock in Sichuan Province, China. Epicenters are superimposed on static stress‐change calculations made shortly after the mainshock in 2008 on mapped faults (red and blue lines) and optimally oriented faults (Parsons et al. , 2008). It is evident that many aftershocks occurred in regions and faults with calculated stress decreases, which led Parsons et al. (2012) to conclude that the forecast was a failure. However, a formal evaluation of the post‐Wenchuan forecast performance by Parsons et al. (2012) was not favorable, as …we show two fully prospective static stress forecasts that have failed to reproduce spatial patterns of microseismicity … over a span of 1 to 4 years we …
Beyond the evoked/intrinsic neural process dichotomy

Abstract Contemporary functional neuroimaging research has increasingly focused on characterization of intrinsic or “spontaneous” brain activity. Analysis of intrinsic activity is often contrasted with analysis of task-evoked activity that has traditionally been the focus of cognitive neuroscience. But does this evoked/intrinsic dichotomy adequately characterize human brain function? Based on empirical data demonstrating a close functional interdependence between intrinsic and task-evoked activity, we argue that the dichotomy between intrinsic and task-evoked activity as unobserved contributions to brain activity is artificial. We present an alternative picture of brain function in which the brain’s spatiotemporal dynamics do not consist of separable intrinsic and task-evoked components, but reflect the enaction of a system of mutual constraints to move the brain into and out of task-appropriate functional configurations. According to this alternative picture, cognitive neuroscientists are tasked with describing both the temporal trajectory of brain activity patterns across time, and the modulation of this trajectory by task states, without separating this process into intrinsic and task-evoked components. We argue that this alternative picture of brain function is best captured in a novel explanatory framework called enabling constraint. Overall, these insights call for a reconceptualization of functional brain activity, and should drive future methodological and empirical efforts.
Banks Transparency , Financial Disclosure through Corporate Governance and Its Financial Performance in Nigeria

This paper elucidate in the context of Nigeria‟s banking sector, Banks transparency, financial disclosure through Corporate Governance and its financial performance in Nigeria. The increased incidence of bank failure in the recent period generated the current literature on quality of bank assets and also emphasized good governance as means of achieving banks objectives. This study made use of secondary data obtained from the financial reports of nine (19) banks for a period of ten (10) years (20062016). Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Findings revealed that the earning quality might be influenced primarily by some factors other than those considered in this study. This shows that irrespective of the level of disclosure by banks in Nigeria, the earnings do not improve at all they both followed inverse directions. It is recommended that banks should make known both financial and pertinent non-financial information on their official websites to permit stakeholders (such as researchers, media professionals, shareholders, and supervisors) to have easy access to important information.
The effect of oregano and rosemary essential oils or alpha-tocopheryl acetate on performance and lipid oxidation of meat enriche

The study was conducted to compare the effects of two essential oils, fed individually or in combination, with alpha-tocopheryl acetate (alpha-TA) on performance parameters and lipid oxidation of broiler meat enriched with n-3 PUFAs. Seven hundred and twenty day-old Hubbard-JV unsexed broiler chicks were used. Treatments included; control: without antioxidant; alpha-TA200: with alpha-TA at 200 mg/kg; OO150: with oregano essential oil (OO) at 150 mg/kg; OO300: with OO at 300 mg/kg; RO150: with rosemary essential oil (RO) at 150 mg/kg; RO300: with RO at 300 mg/kg; OO75+RO75: both OO and RO at 75 mg/kg; OO150+RO150: both OO and RO at 150 mg/kg. The feeding program consisted of a starter diet to 21 d and a grower diet to the end of the trial at 42 d. Both feeds contained 15 g fish oil/kg as the source of n3 PUFAs. Birds fed alpha-TA200 had significantly higher weight gains at 42 d than those fed OO150, OO75+RO75 and OO150+RO150. However, there were no differences in carcass yield, feed intake, feed conversion ratio or mortality between treatments. Neither essential oil exerted any growth-promoting effect on performance, and there was no interaction between them. Antioxidants retarded lipid oxidation as measured in TBARS, but the effect of each differed according to storage time (0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 d) and meat type (breast or thigh). Alpha-TA200, RO300 and combined essential oils (EO) had higher antioxidant effects in breast meat, and OO150+RO150 in thigh meat, than the other treatments with antioxidant at zero time of storage. The ability of natural antioxidants to inhibit lipid oxidation to the end of the storage period was, in decreasing order, combinations of EOs > alpha-TA200 = OO300 = RO150 = RO300 > OO150 in breast meat; and combinations of EOs > RO at both levels > alpha-TA200 = OO150 = OO300 in thigh meat. Combinations of EOs had a greater effect than those fed individually or alpha-TA200 on inhibiting lipid oxidation, and protecting alpha-TA concentration in refrigerated meat enriched with n-PUFAs stored for 15 d. Thigh meat was more susceptible to lipid oxidation than breast meat. The combination of OO and RO, at 150 mg/kg, proved as effective as alpha-TA in retaining the sensory qualities of breast meat after 15 d storage, and was more effective than when these EOs were fed individually or at 300 mg/kg. There is a possible synergistic effect between oregano and rosemary essential oil in preventing lipid oxidation in stored meat enriched with n-3 PUFAs.
Emotion does not influence prefrontal cortex activity during a visual attention task. A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Research shows that positive and negative emotion can influence a range of cognitive processes as well as hemodynamic prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity. This study sought to investigate if PFC activity was influenced by positive and negative stimuli during mood induction as well as during a subsequent visual attention task. The International Affective Picture System was employed to induce affective states in participants before they completed a visual attention task. PFC hemodynamic activity was recorded using non-invasive functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Increased PFC activity was evident during the visual attention task compared to affective stimuli viewing. However, emotion did not influence PFC activity during affective stimuli viewing or completion of the visual attention task. Future research should take into account the role individual differences may play in mitigating any influence of emotion on PFC activity. Emotion; fNIRS; PFC; visual attention; mood; cognition
Effect of Compost Application on Some Properties of a Volcanic Soil from Central South Chile

Soil compost application is a common soil management practice used by small farmers of Central-South Chile that produces positive effects on soil properties and also promotes presence and activity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). This fungi form symbiosis with plant roots improving plant nutrition, as well as producing glomalin, a glycoprotein that has been associated with soil aggregation stability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate, in an Ultisol from Central-South Chile, the effect of different doses of compost on some soil characteristics at the end of the third year of a crop sequence including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), and grassland (Lolium multiflorum Lam. associated with Trifolium repens L.). Studied soil characteristics included chemical (pH, available-P, organic C), biological (C and N biomass, AMF spore number, root colonization percentage, mycelium length, and glomalin content), as well as physical parameters (water holding capacity [WHC], and water stable aggregates [WSA]). Results showed that, in general, compost application increased soil
New Concepts and Entities in Penile Cancer Pathology

The majority of penile squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) show a conventional nonverruciform keratinizing squamous cell appearance (SCC of usual type). Histological variants included in the WHO histological classification of penile SCCs are: basaloid carcinoma, warty (condylomatous) carcinoma, verrucous carcinoma, papillary carcinoma, sarcomatoid carcinoma, mixed carcinomas and adenosquamous carcinomas. (1-7). In this presentation I would briefly discuss some of the less common histological variants already included in the WHO classification and also describe some additional histological variants such as pseudohyperplastic SCC, carcinoma cuniculatum and acantholytic SCC that were more recently reported (8-12). In addition, I would like to present some of our more recent work in the area of penile carcinoma that includes HPV-related studies, histopathological and immunohistochemical studies of precursor lesions and other studies related to prognosis.
Contribution of dust inputs to dissolved organic carbon and water transparency in Mediterranean reservoirs

The Mediterranean reservoirs receive frequent at- mospheric Saharan dust inputs with soil-derived organic components mostly during the stratification periods, when run-off inputs are particularly limited. Here, we quantified and optically characterized the water-soluble organic car- bon (WSOC) of the (dry and wet) atmospheric deposition in collectors placed near three reservoirs from the western Mediterranean Basin. In addition, we determined the WSOC contribution to the pool of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the reservoirs and the influence of dust-derived chro- mophoric organic components on the water transparency dur- ing their stratification periods. We found synchronous dynamics in the WSOC atmo- spheric inputs among the three collectors and in the DOC concentrations among the three reservoirs. The DOC con- centrations and the WSOC atmospheric inputs were positive and significantly correlated in the most oligotrophic reser- voir (Qu´ entar) and in the reservoir with the highest ratio of surface area to mixing water depth (Cubillas). Despite these correlations, WSOC atmospheric inputs represented less than 10% of the total DOC pool, suggesting that indirect effects of dust inputs on reservoir DOC may also promote these syn- chronous patterns observed in the reservoirs. Chromophoric components from dust inputs can significantly reduce the water transparency to the ultraviolet radiation (UVR). The depths where UVR at = 320 nm was reduced to ten per- cent of surface intensity (Z10 %) decreased 27 cm in B´ 49 cm in Cubillas, and 69 cm in Qu´ entar due to the dust in- puts. Therefore, the increasing dust export to the atmosphere may have consequences for the water transparency of aquatic ecosystems located under the influence of the global dust belt.
Spectroscopy of large PAHs Laboratory studies and comparison to the Diffuse Interstellar Bands

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are thought to be the carriers of the ubiquitous infrared emission bands (UIBs). Data from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) have provided new insights into the size distribution and the structure of interstellar PAH molecules pointing to a trend towards larger-size PAHs. The mid-infrared spectra of galactic and extragalactic sources have also indicated the presence of 5-ring structures and PAH structures with attached side groups. This paper reports for the first time the laboratory measurement of the UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectra of a representative set of large PAHs that have also been selected for a long duration exposure experiment on the International Space Station ISS. PAHs with sizes up to 600 amu, including 5-ring species and PAHs containing heteroatoms, have been synthesized and their spectra measured using matrix isolation spectroscopy. The spectra of the neutral species and the associated cations and anions measured in this work are also compared to astronomical spectra of Diuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs).
Stochastic Analysis of Gas-Liquid-Solid Flow in Three-Phase Circulating Fluidized Beds

Characteristics of gas-liquid-solid flow behavior in a riser are investigated in a three-phase circulating fluidized bed (0.102 m I.D.×3.5 m in height). Local gas holdup, solid holdup distribution, and pressure fluctuations in the riser have been measured and utilized to describe the gas-liquid-solid flow behavior more conveniently. The resultant pressure fluctuations have been analyzed by adopting the chaos method: The time series of pressure fluctuations have been interpreted by means of phase space portraits and Kolmogorov entropy. The effects of gas and liquid velocities and solid circulation rate on the local gas holdup, solid axial distribution, phase space portrait, and Kolmogorov entropy of pressure fluctuations, as well as on the flow behavior of gas-liqid-solid mixture in the riser are determined. It is found that pressure fluctuations can be a quantitative tool to characterize the flow behavior and flow regime transition of multiphases in the riser. The relations between the pressure fluctuations and the distribution of phase holdup and flow regime in the riser are also discussed.
Diversity and abundance of conspicuous macrocrustaceans on coral reefs differing in level of degradation

Coral reefs sustain abundant and diverse macrocrustaceans that perform multiple ecological roles, but coral reefs are undergoing massive degradation that may be driving changes in the species composition and abundance of reef-associated macrocrustaceans. To provide insight into this issue, we used non-destructive visual census techniques to compare the diversity and abundance of conspicuous macrocrustaceans (i.e., those >1 cm and visible without disturbance) between two shallow Caribbean coral reefs similar in size (∼1.5 km in length) and close to each other, but one (“Limones”) characterized by extensive stands of the branching coral Acropora palmata, and the other (“Bonanza”) dominated by macroalgae and relic coral skeletons and rubble (i.e., degraded). We also assessed the structural complexity of each reef and the percent cover of various benthic community components. Given the type of growth of A. palmata, we expected to find a greater structural complexity, a higher cover of live coral, and a lower cover of macroalgae on Limones, and hence a more diverse and abundant macrocrustacean community on this reef compared with Bonanza. Overall, we identified 63 macrocrustacean species (61 Decapoda and two Stomatopoda). Contrary to our expectations, structural complexity did not differ significantly between the back-reef zones of these reefs but varied more broadly on Limones, and the diversity and abundance of macrocrustaceans were higher on Bonanza than on Limones despite live coral cover being higher on Limones and macroalgal cover higher on Bonanza. However, the use of various types of microhabitats by macrocrustaceans differed substantially between reefs. On both reefs, the dominant species were the clinging crab Mithraculus coryphe and the hermit crab Calcinus tibicen, but the former was more abundant on Bonanza and the latter on Limones. M. coryphe occupied a diverse array of microhabitats but mostly coral rubble and relic skeletons, whereas C. tibicen was often, but not always, found associated with colonies of Millepora spp. A small commensal crab of A. palmata, Domecia acanthophora, was far more abundant on Limones, emerging as the main discriminant species between reefs. Our results suggest that local diversity and abundance of reef-associated macrocrustaceans are partially modulated by habitat degradation, the diversity of microhabitat types, and the establishment of different commensal associations rather than by structural complexity alone.