Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CHEMICAL DISSECTION OF MAMMALIAN SPERMATOZOA

Spermatozoa from several mammalian species have been dissected by chemical methods to yield free heads, tails with attached midpieces, and tails from which the mitochondrial components of the midpiece were removed. Mouse and rat spermatozoa were cleaved by brief treatment with trypsin to yield free heads and tails, while human, guinea pig, and rabbit spermatozoa were cleaved by trypsin only after incubation with 2-mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol. Spermatozoa were also cleaved at the junction of the head and the tail by treatment with acid and base. Mitochondria were removed from intact spermatozoa or isolated tails by mechanical shear after treatment with 2-mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol. The dissected components of spermatozoa were fractionated with good yield and high purity by density gradient centrifugation. Ultrastructural analysis indicates that proteolytic cleavage to yield separated heads and tails occurs at a specific location in the neck of the spermatozoon, leaving the basal plate attached to the head of the cell. In contrast, after acid cleavage the basal plate remains with the midpiece. Proteolytic treatment has no apparent effect on any other spermatozoan structures, whereas acid or base treatment results in damage to the plasma membrane, the acrosome, and other structures. The specificity of the proteolytic cleavage suggests that a particular protein or group of proteins may be responsible for the linkage between the sperm head and tail.
Mechanisms of cryoinjury in living cells.

Biological metabolism in living cells dramatically diminishes at low temperatures, a fact that permits the long-term preservation of living cells and tissues for either scientific research or many medical and industrial applications (e.g., blood transfusion, bone marrow transplantation, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, food storage). However, there is an apparent contradiction between the concept of preservation and experimental findings that living cells can be damaged by the cryopreservation process itself. The challenge to cells during freezing is not their ability to endure storage at very low temperatures (less than -180 degrees C); rather, it is the lethality of an intermediate zone of temperature (-15 to -60 degrees C) that a cell must traverse twice--once during cooling and once during warming. Cryobiological research studies the underlying physical and biological factors affecting survival of cells at low temperatures (during the cooling and warming processes). These factors and mechanisms (or hypotheses) of cryoinjury and its prevention are reviewed and discussed, including the most famous two-factor hypothesis theory of Peter Mazur, concepts of cold shock, vitrification, cryoprotective agens (CPAs), lethal intracellular ice formation, osmotic injury during the addition/removal of CPAs and during the cooling/warming process, as well as modeling/methods in the cryobiological research.
Training data pseudo-shuffling and direct decoding framework for recurrent neural network based acoustic modeling

We propose two techniques to enhance the performance of recurrent neural network (RNN)-based acoustic models. The first technique addresses training efficiency. Because RNNs require sequential input, it is difficult to randomly shuffle training samples to accelerate stochastic gradient descent based training. We propose a "pseudo-shuffling" procedure that instead augments training sample unexpectedness by skipping successive samples. The second proposed technique is a novel "direct decoding" framework in which the posterior probability of the RNN is inputted into a decoder without conversion into a hidden Markov model emission probability. In our large vocabulary speech recognition experiments with English lecture recordings, the first technique significantly improved RNN training efficiency, showing a 14.3% relative word error rate (WER) improvement. The second technique further achieved an additional 3.1% relative WER improvement. Our sigmoid-type RNN achieved a 10.7% better WER than same-sized deep neural networks without using long short-term memory cells.
Performance of the QuantiFERON-Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Assay for Detection and Estimation of the Magnitude and Functionality of the CMV-Specific Gamma Interferon-Producing CD8+ T-Cell Response in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients

ABSTRACT The performance of the QuantiFERON-cytomegalovirus (CMV) assay was compared to that of a flow cytometry intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) method for the detection of CMV-specific gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-producing CD8+ T-cell responses in allogeneic stem cell transplant (allo-SCT) recipients and for estimations of their magnitude and functionality. A total of 90 whole-blood specimens from 23 allo-SCT recipients was analyzed by both methods. Overall, the percentage of specimens that yielded concordant results by both methods was 68.8% (κ = 0.691; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.548 to 0.835), and the sensitivity of the QuantiFERON-CMV assay for the detection of positive IFN-γ T-cell responses (>0.2 IU/ml), taking the ICS method as the reference, was 76.3%. The magnitude of IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T-cell responses to CMV-specific peptides measured with the QuantiFERON-CMV assay correlated significantly (σ = 0.695; P = <0.001) with that of the total IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T cells and dual-functional (IFN-γ/tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α] [σ = 0.652; P = <0.001] and IFN-γ/CD107a [σ = 0.690; P = <0.001]) and trifunctional (IFN-γ/TNF-α/CD107a [σ = 0.679; P = >0.001]) CMV-specific CD8+ T-cell responses, as quantitated by ICS. In summary, the data indicated that the QuantiFERON-CMV assay is less sensitive than the ICS method for the detection of CMV-specific IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T-cell responses in the allo-SCT setting. Nevertheless, it allowed the estimation of the total and polyfunctional CMV-specific IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T-cell responses in specimens that tested positive by both methods.
A meta‐analysis of continuing medical education effectiveness

Introduction: We undertook a meta‐analysis of the Continuing Medical Education (CME) outcome literature to examine the effect of moderator variables on physician knowledge, performance, and patient outcomes. Methods: A literature search of MEDLINE and ERIC was conducted for randomized controlled trials and experimental design studies of CME outcomes in which physicians were a major group. CME moderator variables included the types of intervention, the types and number of participants, time, and the number of intervention sessions held over time. Results: Thirty‐one studies met the eligibility criteria, generating 61 interventions. The overall sample‐size weighted effect size for all 61 interventions was r = 0.28 (0.18). The analysis of CME moderator variables showed that active and mixed methods had medium effect sizes (r = 0.33 [0.33], r = 0.33 [0.26], respectively), and passive methods had a small effect size (r = 0.20 [0.16], confidence interval 0.15, 0.26). There was a positive correlation between the effect size and the length of the interventions (r = 0.33) and between multiple interventions over time (r = 0.36). There was a negative correlation between the effect size and programs that involved multiple disciplines (r = −0.18) and the number of participants (r = −0.13). The correlation between the effect size and the length of time for outcome assessment was negative (r = −0.31). Discussion: The meta‐analysis suggests that the effect size of CME on physician knowledge is a medium one; however, the effect size is small for physician performance and patient outcome. The examination of moderator variables shows there is a larger effect size when the interventions are interactive, use multiple methods, and are designed for a small group of physicians from a single discipline.
Psychological distress mediates the effects of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics on the physical health component of health-related quality of life in patients with coronary heart disease

Background: This study aimed to examine the mediating role of psychological distress in the relationship between the physical health component of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of coronary heart disease patients and their socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from March 2009 to July 2010 with a total of 420 participants recruited from two hospital-based phase II cardiac rehabilitation centres. Participants’ socio-demographic variables, self-reported medical history data, level of psychological distress, perceived social support, and HRQoL were collected by means of a structured questionnaire. Body weight and height, blood pressure and clinical data including fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were also collected. Exploratory univariate analyses and multivariable regressions were conducted to identify socio-demographic and clinical determinants of the physical health component of HRQoL. Path analyses were then performed to examine the mediating role of psychological distress in the relationship between the physical health component of HRQoL and the determinants. Results: Path analysis revealed that age, sex, perceived social support, history of angina, and dyslipidaemia had both direct effect and indirect effect through psychological distress on the physical health component of HRQoL. Obesity and impaired left ventricular function only affected the physical health component of HRQoL directly, whereas household income only affected it indirectly, through psychological distress. Conclusion: Psychological distress mediates the effects of some socio-demographic and clinical variables of CHD patients on the physical health component of HRQoL. Our findings have important implications for rehabilitation care for people with CHD in order to enhance their HRQoL.
No benefit from perioperative intravenous lidocaine in laparoscopic renal surgery: a randomised, placebo-controlled study

Context There is evidence that perioperative intravenous lidocaine administration can reduce analgesic requirement, improve recovery of bowel function and shorten the length of hospital stay. Its effect in laparoscopic renal surgery has not been investigated. Objective To evaluate the effect of systemic lidocaine on the length of hospital stay, readiness for discharge, opioid requirement, bowel function and inflammatory and stress response after laparoscopic renal surgery. Design Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Setting Single tertiary centre where the study was carried out between July 2009 and February 2011. Participants Sixty-four patients completed the study. Inclusion criteria were laparoscopic renal surgery and American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I to III. Exclusion criteria were steroid therapy, chronic opioid therapy, allergy to lidocaine, pre-existing bowel dysfunction and arrhythmia. Intervention Lidocaine was given as a 1.5 mg kg−1 bolus during induction of anaesthesia, followed by an intraoperative infusion of 2 and 1.3 mg kg−1 h−1 for 24 h postoperatively. Primary outcome was the length of hospital stay. Secondary outcomes were readiness for discharge, opioid consumption, sedation, incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), return of bowel function and inflammatory and stress responses. Main outcome measure Length of hospital stay. Results The length of hospital stay did not differ between the groups [6 days for the lidocaine group, interquartile range (IQR) 5 to 7, range 2 to 8 vs. 5 days for the placebo group, IQR 5 to 6, range 2 to 11; P = 0.24). Lidocaine had no effect on readiness for discharge [4 days for the lidocaine group (IQR 5 to 7, range 2 to 8) vs. 4 days for the placebo group (IQR 5 to 7, range 2 to 11); P = 0.26], opioid consumption, postoperative sedation, PONV, return of bowel function and plasma concentrations of C-reactive protein, procalcitonin and cortisol. Conclusion Systemic perioperative lidocaine administration over 24 h did not influence the length of the hospital stay, readiness for discharge, opioid consumption, return of bowel function or inflammatory and stress responses after laparoscopic renal surgery. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00789620.
SERUM FERRITIN IN ASSESSMENT OF IRON NUTRITION IN HEALTHY INFANTS

ABSTRACT. We followed up 238 infants on 7 occasions during their first year of life. The diets of the infants were systematically either supplemented or not supplemented with iron. Developmental changes in serum ferritin were determined from a group with adequate intake of iron and without evidence of iron deficiency by three laboratory criteria: hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume and transferrin saturation. The data indicate that the average level of serum ferritin correlates well with iron nutrition within groups of infants since the developmental changes are in accordance with the known changes in storage iron, the level of serum ferritin correlates with iron intake, and low ferritin levels are associated with lower transferrin saturation. The usefulness of serum ferritin as the sole criterion of iron deficiency in individual infants is limited, suggesting the use of more than one indicator to refine the diagnosis of iron deficiency without anemia.
Variability of motor unit discharge and force fluctuations across a range of muscle forces in older adults

Variability of motor unit discharge is a likely contributor to the greater force fluctuations observed in old adults at low muscle forces. We sought to determine whether the variability of motor unit discharge rate underlies the fluctuations in force during steady contractions across a range of forces in young (n = 11) and old (n = 14) adults. The coefficient of variation (CV) for discharge rate and force were measured during a force‐matching task as the first dorsal interosseous muscle performed isometric contractions. The recruitment thresholds of the 78 motor units ranged from 0.04% to 34% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force. The CV for discharge rate ranged from 7.6% to 46.2% and was greater (P < 0.05) for old adults (21.5% ± 7.7%) than young adults (17.3% ± 8.1%). Although the CV for force was similar for young and old subjects (2.53% ± 1.6%) across all target forces, it was greater for old adults at the lowest forces. Furthermore, there was a positive relation (r2 = 0.20, P < 0.001) between the CV for force and the CV for discharge rate across the range of recruitment thresholds. This relation was significant for old adults (r2 = 0.30, P < 0.001), but not for young adults (r2 = 0.06, P > 0.05). Thus, the normalized variability (CV) of motor unit discharge was greater in old adults and was related to the amplitude of force fluctuations across a broader range of forces than previously examined. These findings underscore the contribution of variability of motor unit activity to motor output in normal human aging. Muscle Nerve, 2005
Laparoscopy: direct trocar insertion without pneumoperitoneum.

At the Indianapolis Fertility Center in Indianapolis Indiana physicians conducted 1002 laparoscopies by inserting the trocar directly into the abdomen without using prior needle insufflation between July 1982 and December 1988 to evaluate the safety of this technique. The purpose of these laparoscopies was oocyte retrieval for in vitro fertilization of the gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) procedure diagnoses of infertility or pain treatments (e.g. laser vaporization of endometriosis or sterilization) and part of an operative pelviscopy. Insufflation after proper trocar placement did not cause any complications. In fact physicians created pneumoperitoneum successfully in every case. They used a triple gas mixture of 5% carbon dioxide 5% oxygen and 90% nitrogen for insufflation in all GIFT cases to avoid the potential adverse effects of 100% carbon dioxide. The Surgiport Disposable Trocar with the shield (used in 724 cases) improved the safety of the technique. No organ perforations occurred. Just 1 case experienced a complication: a small self-limiting hematoma in a fold of the peritoneum which juts from the stomach to the adjacent abdominal organs. The only intervention required in this complication case was 24 hours of observation in the hospital. This procedure reduced the operating time. Other advantages of this technique were that it allowed the physicians to feel each tissue layer during trocar insertion which is more difficult to do in a distended abdomen and it obviates technical failures secondary to preperitoneal and/or retroperitoneal emphysema. These results indicated that this laparoscopy technique is easy and safe. Further research using this technique needs to be conducted to confirm its effectiveness and safety.
“Here for the Residents”

Purpose: This study explores the perception of cultural competence of personal support workers (PSWs) in a long-term care (LTC) home in Ontario. As Canada’s demography becomes older and more diverse, LTC homes will increasingly accommodate residents from various cultural backgrounds. However, few studies have examined cultural competence among PSWs in the LTC home setting. Design: The study employed a qualitative case study approach. Data collection and analysis were conducted in three phases: document analysis of organizational policies, a key informant interview with the Director of Care, and two focus groups with PSWs. Results: Our findings illuminated the PSWs’ broad definition of culture, the process of developing cultural competence and its strong connections to person-centered care, and the organizational factors that facilitate or hinder PSWs’ cultural competence. Implications: The ambiguous perception of cultural competence reported by PSWs suggests the need for more education and further research on this topic.
Serological analysis of Helicobacter hepaticus infection in patients with biliary and pancreatic diseases

Background and Aims: Infection with Helicobacter hepaticus has been associated with development of hepatocellular carcinoma and gallstones in animal models. In humans, however, the association of H. hepaticus infection with biliary and pancreatic diseases has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to serologically examine the prevalence of H. hepaticus infection in patients with biliary and pancreatic diseases.
Chloroanisoles may explain mold odor and represent a major indoor environment problem in Sweden.

Indoor mold odor is associated with adverse health effects, but the microbial volatiles underlying mold odor are poorly described. Here, chloroanisoles were studied as potential key players, being formed by microbial metabolism of chlorophenols in wood preservatives. Using a three-stage approach, we (i) investigated the occurrence of chloroanisoles in buildings with indoor air quality problems, (ii) estimated their frequency in Sweden, and (iii) evaluated the toxicological risk of observed chloroanisole concentrations. Analyses of 499 building materials revealed several chloroanisole congeners in various types of buildings from the 1950s to 1970s. Evaluation of Swedish records from this time period revealed three coinciding factors, namely an unprecedented nationwide building boom, national regulations promoting wood preservatives instead of moisture prevention, and use of chlorophenols in these preservatives. Chlorophenols were banned in 1978, yet analysis of 457 indoor air samples revealed several chloroanisole congeners, but at median air levels generally below 15 ng/m(3) . Our toxicological evaluation suggests that these concentrations are not detrimental to human health per se, but sufficiently high to cause malodor. Thereby, one may speculate that chloroanisoles in buildings contribute to adverse health effects by evoking odor which, enhanced by belief of the exposure being hazardous, induces stress-related and inflammatory symptoms.
Towards the Theory of monetary degradation, or Post Keynesian analysis of monetary problems of the Russian transitional economy in 1991-1998

The paper develops Post Keynesian theory of endogenous money and applies it to analysis of changes in monetary circulation in the Russian transitional economy in 1991-1998. These changes were characterized by displacement of bank deposits by cash, barter and inter-firm arrears as special means of payment. Author treats this process as «monetary degradation» because it created additional barriers to financing investment, made for criminalization and contributed to cost-push inflation. All this could be ruinous for creation of monetary capitalist economy in Russia. The main cause of monetary degradation is associated with inability of the government to enforce effectively contracts due to sharp institutional changes generated by shock therapy policy. The paper also focuses on the «legacies» of monetary degradation which matter at the present time. These are low coefficient of monetization, large M0/M2 ratio and absence of such monetary aggregates as M3 and M4. All these phenomena are the barriers to rapid and steady economic growth not based on rising oil prices. So, money structure can be considered as both institutional feature and macroeconomic variable.
Robust Real-Time Bio-Kinematic Movement Tracking Using Multiple Kinects for Tele-Rehabilitation

This paper investigates the robust and accurate capture of human joint poses and bio-kinematic movements for exercise monitoring in real-time tele-rehabilitation applications. Recently developed model-based estimation ideas are used to improve the accuracy, robustness, and real-time characteristics considered vital for applications, where affordability and domestic use are the primary focus. We use the spatial diversity of the arbitrarily positioned Microsoft Kinect receivers to improve the reliability and promote the uptake of the concept. The skeleton-based information is fused to enhance accuracy and robustness, critical for biomedical applications. A specific version of a robust Kalman filter (KF) in a linear framework is employed to ensure superior estimator convergence and real-time use, compared to other commonly used filters. The algorithmic development was conducted in a generic form and computer simulations were conducted to verify our assertions. Hardware implementations were carried out to test the viability of the proposed state estimator in terms of the core requirements of reliability, accuracy, and real-time use. Performance of the overall system implemented in an information fusion context was evaluated against the commercially available and industry standard Vicon system for different exercise routines, producing comparable results with much less infrastructure and financial investment.