Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interaction and therapeutic interventions in treatment groups for intimately violent men

Partanen, Terhi Interaction and therapeutic interventions in treatment groups for intimately violent men Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2008, 46 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Education, Psychology and Social Research ISSN 0075-4625; 332) ISBN 978-951-39-3197-1 (PDF), 978-951-39-3119-3 (nid.) Finnish Summary Diss. This thesis focuses on interaction and therapeutic interventions in treatment groups for intimately violent men. The aim of the studies was to describe one anti-violence group program and to examine in detail how the actual therapy work was done in this setting. The data of the studies consisted of videotaped and transcribed group therapy sessions, and the methodology employed was discourse analysis. Under scrutiny were the interaction and the talking practices of the participants, and the design and the use of different therapeutic strategies. The thesis also asks what discourses the male clients use in the context in making understandable their violent behavior and themselves. In the first study it was asked how the male clients and the therapists negotiate and construct clienthood in the conversations. The second study dealt with the clients’ problematic account of their loss of self-control. The third study concerned how reports of change were constructed and used in follow-up meetings after the group treatment process in order to consolidate the preferred outcome. The results of the thesis show how work in the field of intimate violence seems to require specific intervention practices compared to more traditional therapeutic settings. Various discursive strategies that are specific for the work on intimate violence were found and presented. The main function of these strategies was to make clients take responsibility for their problematic behavior, and further, if possible, to pinpoint an intentional nature in their actions. The aim of specific intervention strategies was to enhance clients’ agency by pointing out their ability to choose their way of acting moment by moment. What is also central is the neutrality of the strategies, the attempt to avoid attributing guilt, and the avoidance of excessive confrontation. Besides these specialized tools of interaction, the therapists also used more traditional therapeutic intervention strategies, and managing the balance between the two became the challenge for the work on violence.
Origin, structure, and regulation of argK, encoding the phaseolotoxin-resistant ornithine carbamoyltransferase in Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola, and functional expression of argK in transgenic tobacco

Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola produces the tripeptide N delta(N'-sulfo-diaminophosphinyl)-ornithylalanyl-homoarginin e (phaseolotoxin), which functions as a chlorosis-inducing toxin in the bean halo blight disease by inhibiting ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCT). The bacterium possesses duplicate OCT genes, one of which, argK, encodes a toxin-resistant enzyme (ROCT) and imparts resistance to phaseolotoxin. We sequenced the argK gene from strain NPS3121, defined its promoter region, analyzed its regulation, and characterized its transcripts. The gene probably originated from another organism, since it is very distantly related to the argF gene encoding the housekeeping toxin-sensitive OCT and has low G+C content compared with the bacterial genome as a whole and with other protein-coding genes from P. syringae pv. phaseolicola. Optimized alignments of 13 OCT sequences allowed us to define key residues that may be responsible for toxin resistance and to identify a distinct prokaryotic amino acid signature, in ROCT, which argues for a prokaryotic origin of argK. An in-frame fusion of the argK coding region with the chloroplast transit peptide segment of the pea rbcS gene was introduced in Nicotiana tabacum by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The presence of an ROCT activity in transgenic plants was demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo assays. Some plants were toxin resistant, suggesting that pathogen-derived resistance to the toxin should be feasible in the pathogen's host.
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis resulting in respiratory failure during neutrophil recovery from postchemotherapy neutropenia in three patients with acute leukaemia

Abstract. Takuma T, Okada K, Uchida Y, Yamagata A, Sawae Y (Kyushu University Graduate School of Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan; University of California, CA, USA; and Shin‐kokura Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan). Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis resulting in respiratory failure during neutrophil recovery from postchemotherapy neutropenia in three patients with acute leukaemia (Case Report). J Intern Med 2002; 252: 173–177.
Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) ELISA: a novel tool for monitoring fibrosis

Background: Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) has been identified as a key factor in the pathogenesis of diseases with significant fibrosis-related complications such as hepatitis, diabetes and renal transplantation. Increasing evidence shows that CTGF levels in plasma, serum and urine have promising biomarker applicability in these disorders. Objective: To present an overview of current knowledge on CTGF in various patient populations and the technical aspects of CTGF measurement by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Method: We performed a comprehensive literature search by using electronic bibliographic databases. Conclusion: CTGF is associated with disease severity parameters and outcome in fibrotic disease and may have diagnostic and prognostic values. However, CTGF ELISA needs standardization.
Impact of the 1987 revision of the case definition of acquired immune deficiency syndrome in the United States.

To measure the impact of the 1987 expansion of the definition of acquired immune deficiency syndrome on the number and characteristics of cases in the United States, we reviewed the 28,920 cases diagnosed since the revision and reported through 1988. The proportion meeting only new criteria was 28% overall, with a range of 0 to 82% in different states and territories. This proportion was 26% in the last quarter of 1987 and increased to 31% in the last quarter of 1988. It was higher in heterosexual intravenous drug abusers (IVDAs) (43%) and lower in homosexual male non-IVDAs (21%) than in other groups. The new criteria, but not earlier (pre-1985) criteria, generally require a positive test for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; however, use of HIV testing varies among states, as demonstrated by differences in the percentage of pre-1985-criteria cases with a reported HIV test (39 to greater than 95%). The revision has changed the distribution of characteristics of cases (e.g., heterosexual IVDAs composed 18% of cases meeting old criteria, 35% of cases meeting only new criteria, and 23% of all cases). Interpretation of trends in both the number and characteristics of cases should take into account the variable impact of the revision on reporting.
Contagious cancer: Lessons from the devil and the dog

Cancer is generally defined as uncontrollable growth of cells caused by genetic aberrations and/or environmental factors. Yet contagious cancers also occur. The recent emergence of a contagious cancer in Tasmanian devils has reignited interest in transmissible cancers. Two naturally occurring transmissible cancers are known: devil facial tumour disease and canine transmissible venereal tumour. Both cancers evolved once and have then been transmitted from one individual to another as clonal cell lines. The dog cancer is ancient; having evolved more than 6,000 years ago, while the devil disease was first seen in 1996. In this review I will compare and contrast the two diseases focusing on the life histories of the clonal cell lines, their evolutionary trajectories and the mechanisms by which they have achieved immune tolerance. A greater understanding of these contagious cancers will provide unique insights into the role of the immune system in shaping tumour evolution and may uncover novel approaches for treating human cancer.
Module placement based on quadratic programming and rectangle packing using less flexibility first principle

We formulate the floorplanning or placement problem as fixed die and connectivity-oriented problem. To solve such a problem, we first use quadratic programming to optimize the total wire-length of the placement and then using a deterministic rectangle packing algorithm based on less flexibility first principle to fulfill the placement in an estimated fixed die area. Experimental results demonstrated that our method is promising for practical use.
Elucidation of the quantitative significance of pyruvate carboxylation in cultured cerebellar neurons and astrocytes

Pyruvate carboxylation was studied in cerebellar astrocytes and granule neurons. The cells were incubated in medium containing [U‐13C]glucose (2.5 mM) and [U‐13C]lactate (1 mM) and varying amounts of 3‐nitropropionic acid (3‐NPA) plus/minus aspartate. 3‐NPA alone clearly stopped tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity at the succinate dehydrogenase step in both culture types as evidenced by a buildup of succinate. Labeling of aspartate and glutamate was abolished in neurons in the presence of 3‐NPA. In astrocytes, however, labeled glutamate and glutamine derived from pyruvate carboxylation was detected. Unchanged glucose and lactate metabolism in the absence of a functioning malate aspartate shuttle indicates the importance of the glycerol‐3‐phosphate shuttle in brain cells. To compensate for the loss of oxaloacetate in the presence of 3‐NPA, unlabeled aspartate (0.25 mM) was added. In this case [1,2‐13C] and [3,4‐13C]aspartate were observed in neurons but not in astrocytes. This labeling pattern in aspartate occurs after a full turn of the TCA cycle and thus indicates only partial inhibition by 3‐NPA in the neurons when aspartate is present. In astrocytes, however, aspartate derived from uniformly labeled pyruvate was observed clearly indicating pyruvate carboxylation. The present study has unequivocally demonstrated a quantitatively important pyruvate carboxylation in astrocytes but it was not possible to demonstrate the presence of such carboxylation in neurons. Based on the present results it may be safely concluded that neuronal pyruvate carboxylation is unlikely to be of quantitative significance. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Graphs in Scientific Visualization: A Survey

Graphs represent general node‐link diagrams and have long been utilized in scientific visualization for data organization and management. However, using graphs as a visual representation and interface for navigating and exploring scientific data sets has a much shorter history, yet the amount of work along this direction is clearly on the rise in recent years. In this paper, we take a holistic perspective and survey graph‐based representations and techniques for scientific visualization. Specifically, we classify these representations and techniques into four categories, namely partition‐wise, relationship‐wise, structure‐wise and provenance‐wise. We survey related publications in each category, explaining the roles of graphs in related work and highlighting their similarities and differences. At the end, we reexamine these related publications following the graph‐based visualization pipeline. We also point out research trends and remaining challenges in graph‐based representations and techniques for scientific visualization.
Adapting robot kinematics for human-arm motion recognition

This paper presents a novel method to the analysis of human-arm motion, in particular improving the efficiency of conventional motion recognition algorithms. Contrary to the prior art methods, this research develops a framework for human-arm motion recognition where qualitative normalised templates (QNTs) is proposed to replace the conventional approaches. First of all, the conventional robotic model has been employed to build a generic vision model for a human-arm, that is we utilise the robot kinematics to construct a stick model. Secondly, the qualitative robotic model is adopted to learn and construct the QNTs where human-arm motion is termed as, whose execution is consistent and could be easily characterised by a definite space-time trajectory in configuration space. Finally, classification of the human-arm motion is achieved by comparing the QNTs to the parameters learnt with particle filter based motion tracking algorithm. Experimental evaluation has demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method in human-arm motion classification, and our future work is focused on extending the proposed method to recognise complex human motion, e.g. walking and running.
Pedigree analysis and exclusion of alpha-tocopherol transfer protein (TTPA) as a candidate gene for neuroaxonal dystrophy in the American Quarter Horse.

BACKGROUND Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (NAD/EDM) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting young horses of various breeds that resembles ataxia with vitamin E deficiency in humans, an inherited disorder caused by mutations in the alpha-tocopherol transfer protein gene (TTPA). To evaluate variants found upon sequencing TTPA in the horse, the mode of inheritance for NAD/EDM had to be established. HYPOTHESIS NAD/EDM in the American Quarter Horse (QH) is caused by a mutation in TTPA. ANIMALS 88 clinically phenotyped (35 affected [ataxia score ≥2], 53 unaffected) QHs with a diagnosis of NAD/EDM with 6 affected and 4 unaffected cases confirmed at postmortem examination. PROCEDURES Pedigrees and genotypes across 54,000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were assessed to determine heritability and mode of inheritance of NAD/EDM. TTPA sequence of exon/intron boundaries was evaluated in 2 affected and 2 control horses. An association analysis was performed by 71 SNPs surrounding TTPA and 8 SNPs within TTPA that were discovered by sequencing. RT-PCR for TTPA was performed on mRNA from the liver of 4 affected and 4 control horses. RESULTS Equine NAD/EDM appears to be inherited as a polygenic trait and, within this family of QHs, demonstrates high heritability. Sequencing of TTPA identified 12 variants. No significant association was found using the 79 available variants in and surrounding TTPA. RT-PCR yielded PCR products of equivalent sizes between affected cases and controls. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE NAD/EDM demonstrates heritability in this family of QHs. Variants in TTPA are not responsible for NAD/EDM in this study population.
Microstructural evidence for magma confluence and reusage of magma pathways: implications for magma hybridization, Karakoram Shear Zone in NW India

In the Karakoram Shear Zone, Ladakh, NW India, Miocene leucogranitic dykes form an extensive, varied and complex network, linking an anatectic terrane exposed in the Pangong Range, with leucogranites of the Karakoram Batholith. Mineral paragenesis of the heterogeneous anatectic source rocks suggests melting has resulted from water influx into rocks at upper amphibolite facies conditions, and microstructures suggest anatexis was contemporaneous with shearing. The network is characterized by continuous and interconnected dykes, with only rare cross‐cutting relationships, forming swarms and chaotic injection complexes where magmatic rocks cover up to 50% of the outcrop area. Despite this volume of magma, the system did not lose continuity, suggesting that it did not flow en masse and that the magma network was not all liquid simultaneously. Leucogranites in this network, including leucosomes in migmatites, carry an isotopic signature intermediate between the two main anatectic rocks in the source, suggesting efficient homogenization of the magmatic products. Here, we describe a number of microscopic features of these magmatic rocks which suggests that several pulses of magma used the same pathways giving rise to textural and chemical disequilibrium features. These include: (i) narrow, tortuous corridors of fine‐grained minerals cutting across or lining the boundaries of larger grains, interpreted to be remnants of magma‐filled cracks cutting across a pre‐existing magmatic rock; (ii) corrosion of early formed grains at the contact with fine‐grained material; (iii) compositional zoning of early formed plagioclase and K‐feldspar grains and quartz overgrowths documented by cathodoluminescence imaging; (iv) incipient development of rapakivi and anti‐rapakivi textures, and (iv) different crystallographic preferred orientation of early formed quartz and fine‐grained quartz. Mapping of the fine‐grained corridors interpreted to represent late melt channels reveal an interlinked network broadly following the S‐C fabric defined by pre‐existing magmatic grains. We conclude that early formed dykes provided a pathway exploited intermittently or continuously by new magma batches. New influxes of magma opened narrow channels and migrated through a microscopic network following predominantly grain boundaries along an S‐C fabric related to syn‐magmatic shearing. A mixed isotopic signature resulted not from the mixing of magmas, but from the micro‐scale interaction between new magma batches and previously crystallized magmatic rocks, through local equilibration.
Automated registration of dynamic MR images for the quantification of myocardial perfusion

Cardiac dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after contrast media injection suffers from motion induced by free breathing during acquisition. This work presents an automated approach for motion correction of the heart. The registration is based on the multipass/multiresolution iterative minimizing of intrinsic differences between each image and a reference image coupled to a two‐dimensional/3 parameters rigid body correction. The efficiency of this correction method was evaluated with anatomical landmarks, various cost functions, and for a compartment model fit of the data with 2 parameters: K1, the blood to myocardium transfer coefficient; and Vd, the distribution volume of the contrast media. The variability of K1 and Vd, derived from the fit of the registered images (using the manual correction as a gold standard), was significantly reduced by comparison with the variability obtained from the uncorrected images (P < 0.04). This motion correction method also clearly improves the analysis of dynamic cardiac MRI after contrast media injection in comparison to manual correction. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;13:648–655. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ureterolithiasis: Management in an environment with limited facilities

Background: In the past 2–3 decades, there has been a dramatic development in the techniques of stone removal. This study highlights the management of symptomatic ureteral stones in an environment without such facilities. Materials and Methods: Sixty-nine patients, comprising 53 (76.8%) males and 16 (23.2%) females, diagnosed of symptomatic ureteric calculi within the study period in two tertiary health institutions were included in the study. Thorough history taking and physical examinations were performed. Extensive laboratory investigations using blood and urine specimens were carried out. Imaging studies, ultrasonography, intravenous urography, and computerized tomographic scan were used to locate the position and size of the calculi. Results: Forty-six (66.7%) patients presented with excruciating flank ureteric colic radiating to the groin in 16 (23.2%) patients and hematuria in 62 (89.9%) patients. Bilateral ureteric calculi occurred in 3 (4.3%) patients. Eleven (15%) stones passed spontaneously. 33 (47.8%) patients had uneventful open surgery. The stones were mixed in nature. Conclusion: Management of ureteric stones in our environment is affected by delay in presentation, low level of awareness of urinary stone disease, lack of modern endourological equipment, and paucity of urological surgeons. Finally, medical treatment should be explored for stones below 10 mm in size.
Modeling Category Learning

shown that human subjects generalize category knowledge in a rule-like fashion when exposed to a rule-plus-exception categorization task. This result has remained a challenge to exemplar models of category learning. We show that these models can account for such performance, if augmented with exemplar-specific specificity or exemplar-specific attention. This is, however, only the case if the choice-rule that converts evidence for competing categories into probabilities is sensitive to small differences between evidence values close to 0. Exemplar-specific attention provided the best overall approximation to the data. Exemplar-specific specificity provided a slightly worse approximation but predicted better the rule-like generalization pattern observed.
Prognostic value of a new quantitative D-dimer test in critically ill patients 24 and 48 h following admission to the intensive care unit

A D-dimer assay may predict mortality in medical critically ill patients, although no consensus on the clinical utility of this diagnostic test has been reached. A prospective single-center study was designed to evaluate whether D-dimer levels, as measured by a new, rapid assay, correlate with poor outcome in critically ill patients. A total of 95 blood samples were collected from medical and surgical adult patients 24 and 48 h following admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). D-dimer was assayed by the Miniquant quantitative test and correlated to the ICU length of stay, the hospital length of stay, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score and the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) 24 and 48 h following admission to the ICU, organ system failure index and hospital mortality. The 24-h D-dimer level correlated with the 48 h APACHE II and SAPS scores (r = 0.41, P = 0.01; and r = 0.39, P = 0.01, respectively). The 48-h D-dimer level correlated with the APACHE II and SAPS scores at 48 h and with the organ system failure index (number of organ failure) (r = 0.54, P = 0.0008; r = 0.60, P = 0.0001; and r = 0.37, P = 0.02, respectively). Neither the 24-h nor the 48-h D-dimer levels were predictive of in-hospital mortality in a multivariate model. We conclude that this simple and new laboratory test may serve as an additional tool to predict the clinical severity of patients admitted to the ICU.
Increased expression and serum levels of the stromal cell‐secreted protein periostin in breast cancer bone metastases

Periostin, a matricellular protein, is overexpressed in the stroma of several cancers. The aim of our study was to investigate more specifically whether periostin expression is associated with bone metastases from breast cancer and to determine its source in the affected bone. Nude mice were inoculated with human MDA‐B02 breast cancer cells. Bone metastases‐bearing mice were treated with zoledronic acid—an antiresorptive drug—or vehicle. Bone metastases were examined for tumor‐ and stroma‐derived periostin expression by quantitative polymerase chain reaction with human‐ and mouse‐specific primers and immunohistochemistry. Serum periostin and conventional bone turnover markers were also measured. MDA‐B02 cells did not express periostin both in vitro and in vivo. However, mouse‐derived periostin was markedly overexpressed (eightfold) in metastatic legs compared to noninoculated mice. Serum periostin levels were also markedly increased in metastatic mice and correlated with in situ expression levels. Immunostaining showed that periostin derived from the environing stromal cells of bone metastasis. Bone turnover blockade by zoledronic acid markedly decreased osteolytic lesions but only slightly modulated serum periostin levels. Bone metastases from breast cancer induce overexpression of periostin by surrounding stromal cells. Periostin could be a biochemical marker of the early stromal response associated to breast cancer bone metastasis formation.