Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of low-level laser therapy in the treatment of temporomandibular disorders.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in the treatment of myogenic originated temporomandibular disorders (TMD). BACKGROUND DATA Limited studies have demonstrated that LLLT may have a therapeutic effect on the treatment of TMD. METHODS Thirty-nine patients with myogenic TMD-associated orofacial pain, limited mandibular movements, chewing difficulties, and tender points were included in this study. Twenty-four of them were treated with LLLT for 10 sessions per day excluding weekends as test group, and 15 patients with the same protocol received placebo laser treatment as a control group. These parameters were assessed just before, just after, and 1 month after the treatment. RESULTS Maximal mouth-opening improvement, and reductions in pain and chewing difficulty were statistically significant in the test group when compared with the control group. Statistically significant improvements were also detected between two groups regarding reduction in the number of tender points. CONCLUSION Based on the results of this placebo-controlled report, LLLT is an appropriate treatment for TMD and should be considered as an alternative to other methods.
Determining strategic clusters and performance of construction organizations in South Africa

ABSTRACT This study examines the linkage of strategic clusters and performance of South African organizations, using Porter's generic strategies to determine whether differences exist between clustered organizations in terms of performance, characteristics, resources and capability and how the companies achieve strategic fit within different environments. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from construction companies registered in Grades 7–9 on the cidb contractor register. The study results show that four clusters of construction organizations exist in the South African construction industry; that the four strategic groups exhibited the characteristics of Miles and Snow's Taxonomy of Strategies; and that human resource capabilities were significantly different across the groups. However, the results show no statistically significant differences among the clusters in terms of performance. It emerged that all the respondents' organizations placed a high premium on employee satisfaction as a measure of achieving success. This study thus proved empirically that different clusters of organizations exist within the South African construction industry, and that they exhibit the characteristics of defenders, prospectors, analysers and reactors.
Psychiatry in ancient Indian texts: a review

Descriptions of different types of mental illness are found in ancient Indian medical and religious texts. This paper offers an insight into these descriptions and the principles of treatment. The role of observation was seen as more important than the subjective experiences of the patient. The concepts of mental illnesses prevalent in ancient India are compared with those practised in modern Western psychiatry. The implications of this comparison for research are discussed.
Prevention of Direct and Indirect Discriminents Method and Evaluation Parameter

Extraction of the important information from large set of data is done in data mining. But this information is sometime tends to extract information which harm the personal identity. So privacy preserving mining is new era of research. Keeping this motive paper work to provide the privacy for the discriminate prevention from the large dataset. Here by using Aprior algorithm association rules are generate and preserve the dicriminant items from the dataset by decreasing the support value of the discriminate item. Here by decreasing the the dicriminant item will prevent different rule generation. Results shows that proposed approach is better on the different evaluation parameter include the time and originality.
Inhibitory effect of co‐administration of atorvastatin and endothelin‐1 receptor antagonist on the progression of atherosclerosis in rabbit

Atorvastatin, a hydroxymethylglutaryl‐CoA reductase inhibitor, and endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) receptor antagonist have been separately indicated to ameliorate disease progression in atherosclerosis. However, no study has evaluated the effect of their combination on atherosclerosis. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the direct in vivo effects of a combination regimen of atorvastatin and ET‐1 receptor antagonist on male New Zealand white rabbit models of atherosclerosis (injury‐induced). Thirty‐two atherosclerotic rabbits were divided into four experimental groups: (a) injury group – fed high‐fat diet; (b) ET‐1 receptor antagonist preventive group – fed high‐fat diet, but with intragastric administration of the ET‐1 receptor antagonist, darusentan; (c) combined preventive group – fed high‐fat diet, but with intragastric administration of both darusentan and atorvastatin; and (d) treatment group – fed high‐fat diet for the first 8 weeks, followed by normal diet and intragastric administration of both darusentan and atorvastatin up to 16 weeks. A further eight non‐atherosclerotic rabbits were fed normal diet and classified as the control group. At the end of 8 and 16 weeks, compared with the injury group, the combined preventive group had significant reduction in both the concentration of serum lipids and inflammatory factors and atherosclerosis formation, indicative of a multifaceted anti‐atherosclerotic impact. The relative area of atherosclerotic lesions in the injury group (30.84%) was significantly higher than the control group (4.62%; p < 0.05). The combined preventive group showed a significantly robust effect on lowering serum lipid, inflammatory cytokines, and maintained homeostatic balance of free radicals, and important downstream effectors like ET‐1 and matrixmetalloproteinase‐9. Our data show that atorvastatin and ET‐1 receptor antagonist co‐administration may decrease lipid levels, stabilize plaques and relieve vascular inflammation. By reducing the plaque burden, this regimen may minimize the risk of atherosclerotic plaque rupture or arterial occlusion.
Protein aggregation kinetics in an Escherichia coli strain overexpressing a Salmonella typhimurium CheY mutant gene

The tendency of recombinant protein in bacteria to partition into soluble and insoluble forms is attributed, in general, to a kinetic competition between protein folding and aggregation. However, little experimental work has actually been performed in vivo on the kinetics and mechanisms of protein folding and aggregation. Results are presented here from radiolabeling experiments which monitored the kinetics of recombinant protein aggregation in actively growing cultures. The strain used was an Escherichia coli strain overexpressing a Salmonella typhimurium CheY mutant gene. The rate of CheY aggregation was found to be time dependent in that the tendency of CheY to aggregate was greater for newly translated molecules, i.e., those translated within the previous several minutes, than for molecules translated less recently. CheY protein molecules that were translated less recently continued to aggregate for several hours but at a lower rate. The movement of soluble CheY to the insoluble form was enhanced at elevated growth temperatures and inhibited by the presence of chloramphenicol. The latter observation suggests that ongoing translation facilitates the movement of soluble CheY to the insoluble form. The implications of these results for the mechanism of protein aggregation in vivo, i.e., inclusion body formation, are discussed.
Acidic Proline-rich Protein Db and Caries in Young Children

Polymorphic, acidic proline-rich proteins (PRPs) in saliva influence the attachment of bacteria associated with caries. Our aims were to detect one of three acidic PRP alleles of the PRH1 locus (Db) using polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) on genomic DNA, and to determine its association with caries. DNA was obtained from buccal swabs from Caucasian and African-American children, and their caries experience was recorded. PCR primers designed around exon 3 of the PRH1 locus gave a 416-base product representing Db and a 353-base product representing the other two alleles (Pa or Pif). In Caucasians, Db gene frequency was 14%, similar to Db protein from parotid saliva. In African-Americans, however, it was 37%, 18% lower than Db from parotid saliva (reported previously). Compared with African-Americans, all Caucasians had significantly greater Streptococcus mutans colonization, but only Db-negative Caucasians had significantly more caries. Alleles linked to Db may explain racial differences in caries experience.
Self-reported vulvar pain characteristics and their association with clinically confirmed vestibulodynia.

OBJECTIVE We evaluated a series of questions pertaining to vulvar pain symptoms to determine their association with a localized vulvodynia (vestibulodynia) diagnosis in women from the general population. METHODS A sample of 12,435 women completed a self-administered screening questionnaire for the presence of specific types and characteristics of vulvar pain lasting 3 months or longer. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated for each cross-classification of vulvar pain type and characteristic, using as the gold standard 121 subjects with a clinically confirmed vestibulodynia diagnosis. RESULTS Relative to women with clinically confirmed vestibulodynia, 83% reported >10 episodes of pain on contact at the time of tampon insertion, intercourse, or pelvic examination, and 83% also reported pain on contact that limited or prevented sexual intercourse. These strong associations with a vestibulodynia diagnosis were not observed with respect to women who reported vulvar pain symptoms of burning or knifelike pain, or vulvar pain characteristics of continuous versus intermittent pain, or provoked versus spontaneous pain. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that a small number of symptoms may be suitable for identifying a large proportion of women suffering from vestibulodynia which may be ideal for the development of an effective screening test in the future. However, we also recognize that a large proportion of women experiencing vulvar pain symptoms will not meet the diagnostic criteria for vestibulodynia. Thus, implementing such a screening procedure as part of a routine examination or testing would require a subsequent pelvic examination to confirm a vestibulodynia diagnosis and to rule out other known explanations for vulvar pain.
On Improving Spectrum Utilization through Cooperative Diversity and Dynamic Spectrum Trading

The prime wireless spectrum is inherently a critical yet scarce resource. As the demand of wireless bandwidth grows exponentially, it becomes a crucial issue to improve the spectrum utilization for the development and deployment of any new wireless technologies. In this thesis, we seek to address this problem through cooperative diversity and dynamic spectrum trading, in the context of the envisioned primary-secondary dynamic spectrum sharing paradigm. For an OFDMA-based cellular primary network which owns an exclusive right to access a certain spectrum band, we propose XOR-assisted cooperative diversity to improve the spectral efficiency of the allocated band, as well as an optimization framework to address the resource allocation problem. For the secondary network that utilizes cognitive radios to opportunistically exploit the spectrum white spaces, we establish a spectrum secondary market, design the market institution based on double auctions, and solve the decision making problem using reinforcement learning, to improve spectrum utilization via trading among secondary users.
Exploration of Power Optimal Implementation Technique of 128-PT FFT/IFFT for WPAN using Pseudo-Parallel Datapath Structure

An optimal implementation of 128-Pt FFT/IFFT for low power IEEE 802.15. 3a WPAN using pseudo-parallel datapath structure is presented, where the 128-Pt FFT is devolved into 8-Pt and 16-Pt FFTs and then once again by devolving the 16-Pt FFT into 4times4 and 2times8- We analyze 128-Pt FFT/IFFT architecture for various pseudo-parallel 8-Pt and 16-Pt FFTs and an optimum datapath architecture is explored. It is suggested that there exist an optimum degree of parallelism for the given algorithm. The analysis demonstrated that with modest increase in area one can achieve significant reduction in power. The proposed architectures complete one parallel-to-parallel (i.e., when all input data are available in parallel and all output data are generated in parallel) 128-point FFT computation in less than 312 ns and thereby meeting the standard specification. The relative merits and demerits of these architectures have been analyzed from the algorithm as well as implementation point of view. Detailed power analysis of each of the architectures with different number of data paths at block level is described. We found that from power perspective the architecture with eight datapaths is optimum. The core power consumption with optimum case is 60.6mw which is only less than half of the latest reported 128-point FFT design in 0.18u technology. Apart from the low power consumption, the advantages of the proposed architectures include reduced hardware complexity, regular data flow and simple counter based control
Respiratory Syncytial Virus Modified by Deletions of the NS2 Gene and Amino Acid S1313 of the L Polymerase Protein Is a Temperature-Sensitive, Live-Attenuated Vaccine Candidate That Is Phenotypically Stable at Physiological Temperature

ABSTRACT Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading viral cause of lower respiratory tract disease in infants and children worldwide. In previous work to develop point mutations in RSV with improved genetic stability, we observed that an attenuating mutation at amino acid position 1321 in the L polymerase protein was subject to deattenuation by a spontaneous second-site compensatory mutation at position 1313 (C. Luongo, C. C. Winter, P. L. Collins, and U. J. Buchholz, J. Virol. 86:10792–10804, 2012). In the present study, we found that deletion of position 1313 (Δ1313), irrespective of the presence of an attenuating mutation at position 1321, provided a new attenuating mutation. RSV bearing Δ1313 replicated in cell culture as efficiently as wild-type virus at 32°C, was restricted for replication at 37°C, and was restricted 50-fold and 150-fold in the upper and lower respiratory tracts, respectively, of mice. We combined the Δ1313 deletion with the previously described, attenuating NS2 gene deletion (ΔNS2) to produce the recombinant live-attenuated RSV vaccine candidate ΔNS2/Δ1313. During in vitro stress tests involving serial passage at incrementally increasing temperatures, a second-site compensatory mutation was detected in close proximity of Δ1313, namely, I1314T. This site was genetically and phenotypically stabilized by an I1314L substitution. Combination of I1314L with ΔNS2/Δ1313 yielded a virus, ΔNS2/Δ1313/1314L, with genetic stability at physiological temperature. This stabilized vaccine candidate was moderately temperature sensitive and had a level of restriction in chimpanzees comparable to that of MEDI-559, a promising RSV vaccine candidate that presently is in clinical trials but lacks stabilized attenuating mutations. The level of attenuation and genetic stability identify ΔNS2/Δ1313/1314L as a promising candidate for evaluation in pediatric phase I studies.
Progression of hearing loss caused by occupational noise.

This review is a compilation of 11 investigations by different authors regarding the progression of hearing deterioration during severe long-term exposure to noise in mines, shipyards, forges, weaving mills, other factories and industries and from field artillery and hunting. With one exception, the reports concern conditions at times when ear protection was virtually unknown or only seldom used. The different investigations are described in a broad outline with their essential measurement and background data. For the first eight studies the results of the hearing deterioration with increasing exposure time are illustrated in figures showing, on the one hand, the original data and, on the other, the progression of hearing loss with increasing age, though reduced by the ISO 1999 (1990) values from database A for the normal threshold of hearing as a function of age. This is followed by a discussion of the results and a compilation of the data from the 11 investigations for, particularly, a noise exposure time of about 5 to 10 years, corresponding to an age of around 30 years, in comparison with an exposure time of 30 to 40 years, i.e. at an age range of about 50 to 60 years. Despite the great diversity in the character and level of the noise, the compilation shows for the higher ages in the range of 3 to 8 kHz a similar median hearing loss from nearly all investigations; however, at 1 kHz and, particularly, at 2 kHz the differences in the character of the noise are apparent in a wide spread of the median hearing loss between the different studies. In addition, it was found that at higher ages and hearing loss levels of more than 45 to 50 dB it is not possible to distinguish between the effect of the noise, on the one hand, and that of ageing, on the other; the ad hoc assumption of their additivity is no longer valid and thus the term "age correction" inadequate. A series of further figures illustrates the progression of the hearing loss with exposure time in the different investigations at particularly 1 kHz, 2 kHz and 4 kHz. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The Effect Of The Financial Crisis On The Returns Of The Cee Capital Markets

In this article, we study the impact on return and volatility of CEE capital markets during three crises (subprime crisis, global financial crisis and the crisis generated by Brexit), occurred between January, 1st 2007 – August, 26th, 20016, taking into consideration the daily returns of the stock exchange indexes for 5 CEE countries. In order to reduce the initial causal space, represented by the returns on CEE markets, we used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A principal component was identified and placed within a AR(2)-GARCH(1,1) model for return and associated volatility. The results show that the volatility during the global crisis and that related to the Brexit moment are statistically significant, but they present different coefficients: the volatility boosted during the global financial crisis and lowered after the Brexit announcement. This late result can be explained by the prudent stance of the investors who are concerned to evaluate the impact of the Brexit and the consequences for the financial markets of the associated measures.
The Discursive Perspective of Market Categorization: Interaction, Power, and Context

Abstract Scholars have primarily focused on how language represents categories. We move beyond this conception to develop a discursive perspective of market categorization focused on how categories are constructed through communicative exchanges. The discursive perspective points to three under-researched mechanisms of category evolution: (1) the interaction between market participants, (2) the power dynamics among market participants and within the discourse, and (3) the cultural and material context in which categories are constructed. In this theoretical paper, we discuss how each of these mechanisms shed light on different phases of category evolution and the methods that could be used to study them.
Housing Quality in Festac Town, Lagos State, Nigeria

To curtail problems of housing shortage, government-built public housing estates have become unique and dominant components of the urban housing stock, especially in Lagos, Nigeria. This study, therefore, examines the quality of housing in FESTAC Town (a public residential housing scheme) in Lagos State. Data was collected from primary and secondary sources. Questionnaire was administered to both residents and management (Federal Housing Authority - FHA) of the town. Majority of dwellings and infrastructure are in poor condition. Analysis of data reveals that a large proportion of infrastructure is in deplorable condition with an index of 1.97, measured on a 5-point scale. The study area, which is over 30 years old (built in 1977) has been lacking in maintenance from both residents and management, thus degenerating in quality. The study concludes that FESTAC Town is in a bad state.
Local is better than general anesthesia during endovascular acute stroke interventions.

The aim of endovascular reperfusion techniques for acute ischemic stroke is to improve clinical outcomes. Reperfusion grade, age, earlier time to reperfusion, and location of vessel occlusion have been implicated in impacting clinical outcome.1,2 Interestingly, much of the focus in acute stroke protocols has been in the emergency room and stroke units, but the endovascular specialist does not typically adhere to a standard medical or technical protocol. Arguably, the time spent in the endovascular suite may be the most critical portion of patient care and the medical management (ie, blood sugars, blood pressure readings, neurological assessments, etc) is likely not monitored as rigorously as in the intensive care unit. The use of general anesthesia (GA) is common for such interventions ranging from 23% to 44% in recent publications.2,3 Proponents of GA have argued that the procedure is safer due to patient immobility, that hemodynamics are more tightly controlled, anesthesia may offer cerebral protection, and that the airway …
Early goal-directed therapy reduces mortality in adult patients with severe sepsis and septic shock: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Survival sepsis campaign guidelines have promoted early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) as a means for reduction of mortality. On the other hand, there were conflicting results coming out of recently published meta-analyses on mortality benefits of EGDT in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. On top of that, the findings of three recently done randomized clinical trials (RCTs) showed no survival benefit by employing EGDT compared to usual care. Therefore, we aimed to do a meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of EGDT on mortality in severe sepsis and septic shock patients. Methodology: We included RCTs that compared EGDT with usual care in our meta-analysis. We searched in Hinari, PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane central register of controlled trials electronic databases and other articles manually from lists of references of extracted articles. Our primary end point was overall mortality. Results: A total of nine trails comprising 4783 patients included in our analysis. We found that EGDT significantly reduced mortality in a random-effect model (RR, 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72–0.94; P = 0.008; I2 =50%). We also did subgroup analysis stratifying the studies by the socioeconomic status of the country where studies were conducted, risk of bias, the number of sites where the trials were conducted, setting of trials, publication year, and sample size. Accordingly, trials carried out in low to middle economic income countries (RR, 0.078; 95% CI, 0.67–0.91; P = 0.002; I2 = 34%) significantly reduced mortality compared to those in higher income countries (RR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.33–1.06; P = 0.28; I2 = 29%). On the other hand, patients receiving EGDT had longer length of hospital stay compared to the usual care (mean difference, 0.49; 95% CI, –0.04–1.02; P = 0.07; I2 = 0%). Conclusion: The result of our study showed that EGDT significantly reduced mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. Paradoxically, EGDT increased the length of hospital stay compared to usual routine care.