Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motor neuron activation in peripheral nerves using infrared neural stimulation

Objective. Localized activation of peripheral axons may improve selectivity of peripheral nerve interfaces. Infrared neural stimulation (INS) employs localized delivery to activate neural tissue. This study investigated INS to determine whether localized delivery limited functionality in larger mammalian nerves. Approach. The rabbit sciatic nerve was stimulated extraneurally with 1875 nm wavelength infrared light, electrical stimulation, or a combination of both. Infrared-sensitive regions (ISR) of the nerve surface and electromyogram (EMG) recruitment of the Medial Gastrocnemius, Lateral Gastrocnemius, Soleus, and Tibialis Anterior were the primary output measures. Stimulation applied included infrared-only, electrical-only, and combined infrared and electrical. Main results. 81% of nerves tested were sensitive to INS, with 1.7 ± 0.5 ISR detected per nerve. INS was selective to a single muscle within 81% of identified ISR. Activation energy threshold did not change significantly with stimulus power, but motor activation decreased significantly when radiant power was decreased. Maximum INS levels typically recruited up to 2–9% of any muscle. Combined infrared and electrical stimulation differed significantly from electrical recruitment in 7% of cases. Significance. The observed selectivity of INS indicates that it may be useful in augmenting rehabilitation, but significant challenges remain in increasing sensitivity and response magnitude to improve the functionality of INS.
The Sexual Dimorphism of the Sacro‐Iliac Joint: An Investigation Using Geometric Morphometric Techniques

The ability to correctly estimate the sex of skeletal remains is vital in forensic sciences. This article investigates the sexual dimorphism of the human sacro‐iliac joint, using geometric morphometric techniques that assess morphological characters better than the traditional approaches for recording outline shapes, which are subject to quantification and inter‐observer problems. Eight two‐dimensional landmarks were recorded from digital images of 29 female and 35 male auricular surfaces of the ilium and sacrum. The specimens were analyzed using geometric morphometric methods (Generalized Procrustes analysis, relative warp analysis, Goodall's F) and multivariate statistics (ANOVA, MANCOVA, principal component analysis, discriminant function analysis [DFA]). Both the size and shape of the analyzed structures were found to be sexually dimorphic. The DFA illustrated that when the form of both the iliac and sacral articular surface is taken as a predictor variable, 94.5% of the individuals are assigned to the correct sex. The successful sex determination obtained by the DFA makes the further study of the sacro‐iliac joint's sexual dimorphism promising.
An exploration of survivors' experience of organizational downsizing : a sensemaking perspective

This research explores the experiences of downsizing survivors from the UK and from Germany and Switzerland. It makes a unique contribution to organizational studies theory by applying the concept of sensemaking from Weick (1995) as a theoretical lens for the study of survivors’ experiences. Since this concept was never previously operationalized in this way, this research adds value to the theoretical debate about the sensemaking processes of organizational members in times of change. This work also contributes to the body of knowledge in this field by proposing a theoretical model about survivors’ sensemaking of organizational downsizing. Unlike previous research that mainly addressed causes and effects of organizational downsizing (e.g. Brockner, 1988), the present model depicts survivors’ sensemaking as an iterative process and thereby provides a more holistic view and a new dimension about how survivors respond to the situation post-downsizing. Further theoretical contributions relate to the long-term effects of downsizing on survivors. As it was found that survivors’ attitudes were still negatively affected up to 18 months post-downsizing, this study provides more evidence that the effects of downsizing are not only felt in the short term but are long-lasting. Moreover, this research revealed that repeated exposure to downsizing led to an accumulation of stress and thereby impacted survivors’ well-being over time. Thus, it contradicts several studies, mainly from North America (e.g. Chreim, 2006), which had indicated that surviving repeated waves of downsizing has a favourable effect on survivors and makes them more resilient over time. The present study also has implications for business practices with its recommendation that organizations need to have a clear concept in place to facilitate survivors’ change processes, as well as with its suggestion that organizations provide their line managers with more training opportunities with regard to how downsizing survivors should be supported.
Assessing coronary artery stenosis severity: In vitro validation of the concept of fractional flow reserve

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is an index to assess the functional obstruction of an isolated coronary artery stenosis. It can be measured using only pressure measurements proximal (Pa) and distal (Pd) to the stenosis: FFR = Pd/Pa. We studied the relation of pressure and flow‐derived measurements of FFR in a pulsatile, hydraulic model of a coronary artery under physiological aorta pressure (80–110 mm Hg) and coronary flow (140–260 ml/min) conditions. Measurements were done at baseline and for several stenosis levels obtained with an external occluder. We found good correlations (r2 > 0.95) between pressure and flow‐derived FFR, irrespective of isolated changes in myocardial resistance or aortic perfusion pressure. The basic assumption, i.e., that myocardial resistance is constant, was identified as most crucial in the validity of the concept of pressure‐derived FFR. The agreement between our data and published animal and human studies indicates that this is most probably the case in hyperaemic conditions. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 46:375–379, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Hepatocellular carcinoma in HCV‐infected patients awaiting liver transplantation: Genes involved in tumor progression

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in the world. The present study aimed to investigate the genes involved in viral carcinogenesis and tumor progression in liver transplant recipients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HCC. To accomplish this, we performed the analysis of hepatic gene expression in HCV‐infected liver recipient patients with stages of disease ranging from early cirrhosis with preserved volume and function to late cirrhosis with diminished volume and function with and without HCC. We found consistent differences between the gene expression patterns in HCV‐HCC and those of early HCV–cirrhosis, late HCV cirrhosis, and normal control livers. The expression patterns in HCC were also readily distinguished between early and advanced HCC tumor stages. Moreover, we found different gene expression patterns between early cirrhosis and late cirrhosis. In conclusion, these findings confirm the presence of multiple molecular alterations during HCV‐HCC hepatocarcinogenesis and, clinically, indicate the possibility for identifying prognostic factors associated with HCC progression in liver transplant patients waiting for a donor and/or posttransplantation recurrence. (Liver Transpl 2004;10:607–620.)
Impact of geoengineering schemes on the global hydrological cycle

The rapidly rising CO2 level in the atmosphere has led to proposals of climate stabilization by “geoengineering” schemes that would mitigate climate change by intentionally reducing solar radiation incident on Earth's surface. In this article we address the impact of these climate stabilization schemes on the global hydrological cycle. By using equilibrium climate simulations, we show that insolation reductions sufficient to offset global-scale temperature increases lead to a decrease in global mean precipitation. This occurs because solar forcing is more effective in driving changes in global mean evaporation than is CO2 forcing of a similar magnitude. In the model used here, the hydrological sensitivity, defined as the percentage change in global mean precipitation per degree warming, is 2.4% K−1 for solar forcing, but only 1.5% K−1 for CO2 forcing. Although other models and the climate system itself may differ quantitatively from this result, the conclusion can be understood based on simple considerations of the surface energy budget and thus is likely to be robust. For the same surface temperature change, insolation changes result in relatively larger changes in net radiative fluxes at the surface; these are compensated by larger changes in the sum of latent and sensible heat fluxes. Hence, the hydrological cycle is more sensitive to temperature adjustment by changes in insolation than by changes in greenhouse gases. This implies that an alteration in solar forcing might offset temperature changes or hydrological changes from greenhouse warming, but could not cancel both at once.
CYP24A1 Is an Independent Prognostic Marker of Survival in Patients with Lung Adenocarcinoma

Purpose: The active form of vitamin D, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-D3), exerts antiproliferative effects in cancers, including lung adenocarcinoma (AC). CYP24A1 is overexpressed in many cancers and encodes the enzyme that catabolizes 1,25-D3. The purpose of our study was to assess CYP24A1 as a prognostic marker and to study its relevance to antiproliferative activity of 1,25-D3 in lung AC cells. Experimental Design: Tumors and corresponding normal specimens from 86 patients with lung AC (stages I–III) were available. Affymetrix array data and subsequent confirmation by quantitative real time-PCR were used to determine CYP24A1 mRNA expression. A subsequent validation set of 101 lung AC was used to confirm CYP24A1 mRNA expression and its associations with clinical variables. The antiproliferative effects of 1,25-D3 were examined using lung cancer cell lines with high as well as low expression of CYP24A1 mRNA. Results:CYP24A1 mRNA was elevated 8- to 50-fold in lung AC (compared to normal nonneoplastic lung) and significantly higher in poorly differentiated cancers. At 5 years of follow-up, the probability of survival was 42% (high CYP24A1, n = 29) versus 81% (low CYP24A1, n = 57) (P = 0.007). The validation set of 101 tumors showed that CYP24A1 was independently prognostic of survival (multivariate Cox model adjusted for age, gender, and stage, P = 0.001). A549 cells (high CYP24A1) were more resistant to antiproliferative effects of 1,25-D3 compared with SKLU-1 cells (low CYP24A1). Conclusions:CYP24A1 overexpression is associated with poorer survival in lung AC. This may relate to abrogation of antiproliferative effects of 1,25-D3 in high CYP24A1 expressing lung AC. Clin Cancer Res; 17(4); 817–26. ©2010 AACR.
Decreased Effectiveness of On-Chip Decoupling Capacitance in High-Frequency Operation

This paper shows the decreased effectiveness of on-chip decoupling capacitance in high-frequency operation. On-chip decoupling capacitance is often used to decrease the variation of the propagation delay caused by power/ground noise, i.e., dynamic IR-drop and/or delta-I noise. However, it is shown in this paper that decoupling capacitance is only effective for coping with dynamic IR-drop if the recharging time between switching events is sufficient. In other words, the effectiveness of decoupling capacitance for dynamic IR-drop in high-frequency operation is less than that of a fully-charged decoupling capacitor. The recharging time and the effectiveness of a decoupling capacitor depend on the propagation delay of the average circuit path which is used to determine the total switching current of a given macro/chip and clock cycle time. If the propagation delay of the critical paths is approximately equal to that of the average circuit path, then it is shown in this paper that adding decoupling capacitance never improves the maximum frequency of the system due to dynamic IR-drop limitations. On the other hand, if the propagation delay of the critical paths is larger than that of the average circuit path, then the maximum frequency is improved by adding decoupling capacitance. In both cases, a new metric, called the apparent capacitance, can be used to help make correct decisions about decoupling capacitance planning.
Enabling Transdisciplinary Collaboration: Stakeholder Views on Working With “Children With Mentally Ill Parents” Research Groups

Working collaboratively and openly together with stakeholders has become a common phenomenon in research. While previous studies have gathered a clear picture on researchers' attitudes, motivations, and barriers for actively involving stakeholders in transdisciplinary research, the stakeholder perspective is yet unknown. Therefore, this paper sets out to identify how stakeholders perceive transdisciplinary collaborations with researchers. This paper in particular reveals the enablers and barriers for such collaborations from the viewpoint of stakeholders. To do so, we look at how stakeholders, who were actively involved in the governance structure of two “children with mentally ill parents” research groups in Austria, perceived their collaboration with researchers. We used a mixed-method, quantitative-qualitative design. We conducted an online survey and interviews with the members of the advisory board and competence group. These stakeholders reported great satisfaction with the transdisciplinary collaboration and emphasized the value of different expertise. As the most important enablers for successful, transdisciplinary collaboration stakeholders emphasized researchers' open-mindedness toward new perspectives and approaches, flexibility to adapt to the research process along the way, and creativity dealing with diverse backgrounds and skills. Stakeholders further underlined the importance of a person facilitating the collaboration process between researchers and stakeholders to resolve any tensions and insecurities. Concluding, researchers' attitudes, and in particular their understanding of the value of stakeholder involvement in research are key enablers for successful transdisciplinary research collaborations.
Identifying the Ethics of Emerging Information and Communication Technologies: An Essay on Issues, Concepts and Method

Ethical issues of information and communication technologies ICTs are important because they can have significant effects on human liberty, happiness, and people's ability to lead a good life. They are also of functional interest because they can determine whether technologies are used and whether their positive potential can unfold. For these reasons, policy makers are interested in finding out what these issues are and how they can be addressed. The best way of creating ICT policy that is sensitive to ethical issues pertain to being proactive in addressing such issues at an early stage of the technology life cycle. The present paper uses this position as a starting point and discusses how knowledge of ethical aspects of emerging ICTs can be gained. It develops a methodology that goes beyond established futures methodologies to cater for the difficult nature of ethical issues. The authors outline how the description of emerging ICTs can be used for an ethical analysis.
Intergovernmental grants in Russia Vote-buying or bargaining power of regions? 1

Two hypotheses about the determinants of Russian intergovernmental grants are tested. According to the first hypothesis, federal transfers to regions correlate with recent voting behaviour of regional electorates. The second hypothesis states that transfers are higher in regions with politically powerful governors. I find a strong confirmation for the first hypothesis and no evidence for the second hypothesis for the years 1995‐99. This result is robust across specifications. However, in the years 2000‐2004 electoral variables show no effect on transfers. The only significant political variable is Putin’s visits to regions. JEL classifications: H11, H77, R5, P26.
Lost in translation: impact of language barriers on children's healthcare

Purpose of review As the cultural and linguistic diversity of the United States grows, a greater number of patients with limited English proficiency will enter the healthcare system. Best practices for the care of these individuals include identification of their language assistance needs and prompt provision of interpreter services. This review will summarize the legal basis for providing language access in the healthcare setting, discuss the impact of interpretation services on clinical care, and explore the effects of language barriers on health outcomes. Recent findings There has been greater awareness of language as an important and independent determinant in the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in healthcare. Studies have shown that there is suboptimal identification of patients who require linguistic assistance and, as such, there are missed opportunities to bridge language gaps with many of our patients. The lack of interpretation, or use of informal, untrained interpreters, has significant effects on patient safety, quality of care, and patient satisfaction. Summary Though federal and regulatory guidelines mandate meaningful access to language services, such processes are still a work in progress in many healthcare settings. Further research and quality improvement initiatives are needed to provide clinicians the knowledge and skills needed to effectively communicate with their limited English proficient patients.
Motoneuron death after sciatic nerve section in newborn rats

When the sciatic nerve was cut in newborn rats almost all of the motoneurons were subsequently lost. The adult sciatic nerve contained 7,640 myelinated fibers of which 1,650 were motor axons. The ventral roots of the sciatic nerve (L4‐L6) contained in all 4,080 myelinated fibres; only 2,380 were present 5–30 weeks after the sciatic nerve had been cut at birth. The deficit of 1,700 fibres corresponded to the number of motor axons in the sciatic nerve. The motoneuron pools were depleted and practically no labelled or unlabelled perikarya were after found after HRP had been applied to the nerve proximal to the former lesion. The deficit of ventral root fibres was 1,030 when the nerve had been cut at age 1 week; nerve section 4 weeks after birth was not followed by retrograde loss of motor axons. Nerve crush at birth caused a deficit of 1,230 ventral root fibres. The incomplete loss of motor axons after crushing was due to the fact that not all axons had been severed.
Multiple description coding in the quincunx sub-sampling lattice with diamond-shape DCT

Pixel-domain sub-sampling based on the quincunx lattice is one of the traditional approaches to carry out multiple description coding (MDC). Unfortunately, the re-alignment (either horizontal or vertical) would deteriorate the sample correlation within each description, thus leading to a lower coding efficiency. In this paper, we propose to apply a diamond-shape DCT on the quincunx sub-sampling lattice to create an MDC representation. A theoretical analysis is first presented assuming the covariance matrix of the Toeplitz type. The results show that such DS-DCT can achieve a better coding gain as well as energy packing efficiency as compared to the normal DCT with re-alignment. Then, the proposed DS-DCT is tested on various images using the standard JPEG compression scheme and the results show that it out-performs the traditional re-alignment approach by a similar margin as obtained in our theoretical analysis.
Secondary prevention in patients with vascular disease. A population based study on the underuse of recommended medications

Objectives To investigate the premorbid use of secondary prevention medications in patients with recurrent vascular events. Design Prospective, observational, population based study. Setting The Dijon Stroke Registry and the registry of myocardial infarction of Dijon and Côte d'Or, France. Patients All patients with cerebral ischaemia (ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attacks) or coronary artery disease (CAD) and a history of vascular disease (cerebral ischaemia, CAD or peripheral arterial disease (PAD)) in Dijon, France from 2006 to 2010. Main outcome measures Data on medical history and prior use of treatments were collected. Mutivariate analyses were performed to identify predictors of the use of medications. Results 867 patients (614 cerebral ischaemia and 253 CAD) were recorded including 448 (51.7%) with a history of cerebral ischaemia only, 191 (22.0%) with a history of CAD only, 68 (7.8%) with a history of PAD only and 160 (18.5%) with a history of polyvascular disease. In these 867 patients, 57.3% were on antithrombotic therapy, 61.2% were treated with antihypertensive drugs, 32.9% received statins and only 23.6% were on an optimal regimen, defined as a combination of the three therapies. Compared with patients with previous CAD only, those with previous cerebral ischaemia only were less likely to be receiving each of these treatments or to receive an optimal regimen (OR=0.17, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.26, p<0.001). Conclusions Our findings underline the fact that the underuse of secondary preventive therapies is common in patients with recurrent vascular events, especially those with previous cerebral ischaemia. This underuse could be targeted to reduce recurrent vascular events.
Immunoreactivity to Putative B-Cell Epitopes of Hepatitis G Virus Polyprotein in Viremic and Nonviremic Subjects

ABSTRACT The hepatitis G virus (HGV) polyprotein was scanned by computer-aided prediction of antigenicity to search for B-cell epitopes. Four polypeptide sequences, V37D (amino acids [aa] 1685 to 1721), V36S (aa 2102 to 2137), P37R (aa 2156 to 2192), and C40P (aa 2280 to 2319), were identified and synthesized for use in immunoassays. Antibodies to these peptides were searched for in a panel of 239 serum samples, which were also tested for anti-E2 antibodies and HGV RNA. Furthermore, the course of HGV markers was studied prospectively in four patients who had been transfused with HGV RNA-positive blood. There was a negative association between immunoreactivity to V37D and P37R and presence of HGV RNA (2 of 53 and 1 of 53, respectively;P < 0.05); none of the subjects with dual antibody positivity was HGV RNA positive. Anti-V37D and anti-P37R antibodies compared favorably with anti-E2 antibodies as markers of recovery from HGV infection. These results might be useful for the development of new, more sensitive diagnostic assays.