Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formación en competencias digitales para estudiantes universitarios basada en el modelo DigComp

La competencia digital es una de las competencias basicas del ciudadano del siglo XXI y es ademas una de las competencias transversales de todas las universidades espanolas. En este contexto, cobra especial relevancia la formacion en competencias digitales de los estudiantes universitarios y para ello hemos llevado a cabo la experiencia que describimos en este articulo. Hemos disenado una propuesta formativa basada en un metodo de aprendizaje por tareas y sustentada en las 5 dimensiones de la competencia digital de la Comision Europea. Hemos recogido datos de evaluacion con un diseno pretest-postest aplicando un cuestionario. Tras evaluar la experiencia, nuestros estudiantes han expresado su satisfaccion con la metodologia y han puesto en evidencia la adquisicion de la competencia.
Magnetic resonance imaging measurements and clinical changes accompanying transtentorial and foramen magnum brain herniation

Current Concept of brain herniaton have depended largely on correlating clinical sings and symptoms with indirect radiographic studies and the results of postmortem neuropathology. This article describes measurments on midsagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that distinctly define normal and abnormal rostral–caudal relationships between the diencephalic–mesencephalic junction and the plane of the tentorial incisura, herein termed the incisural line. We similarly provide quantitative MRI scan measurments relating the cerebellum and the plane of the foramen magnum, termed the foramen magnum line. Measurements from 156 midsagittal and 63 coronal MRI scans performed on 123 normal adults, placed the iter of the aqueduct 0.2 ± 0.8 mm (mean ± SD) below the incisural line and the cerebeller tonsils 0.1 ± 2.1 mm below the foramen magnum line. Defining 2 SD from thses norms as abnormal, 23 patients with intracranial mass or obstructive lesions showed 4 distinct patterns of brain herniation, i.e., upward or downward transtentorial shift with of without accompanying cerebellar tonsillar herination. Five patients with Posterior fossa masses demonstrated displacement of the iter above the incisura ranging from 1.6 to 6.3 mm. Eighteen patients with supratentorial masses demonstrated displacements of the iter ranging from 2.0 to 11.0 mm below the incisura. Two‐third of patients with upward and one‐half of those with downward transtentorial shift had concurrent tonsillar herination. In acute illnesses, MRI scan changes anticipated or confirmed clinical signs of brain herniation. In chronic cases, clinical and MRI scans correlated less well, with MRI sometimes revealing major degrees of anatomical herniation well in advance of clinical abnormalities.
Adding Cartoon-like Motion to Realistic Animations

In comparison to traditional animation techniques, motion capture allows animators to obtain a large amount of realistic data in little time. In contrast, classical animation requires a significant amount of manual labour. The motivation behind our research is to look at methods that can fill the gap that separates realistic motion from cartoon animation. With this knowledge, classical animators could produce animated movies and nonrealistic video games in a shorter amount of time. To add cartoon-like qualities to realistic animations, we suggest an algorithm that changes the animation curves of motion capture data by modifying their local minima and maxima. We also propose a curve-based interface that allows users to quickly edit and visualize the changes applied to the animation. Through our user studies, we determine that the proposed curve interface is a good method of interaction. However, we find that in certain cases (both user-related and algorithmic), our animation results exhibit unwanted artefacts. Thus, we present various ways to reduce, avoid or eliminate these issues.
A neuromorphic model of motor overflow in focal hand dystonia due to correlated sensory input

Objective. Motor overflow is a common and frustrating symptom of dystonia, manifested as unintentional muscle contraction that occurs during an intended voluntary movement. Although it is suspected that motor overflow is due to cortical disorganization in some types of dystonia (e.g. focal hand dystonia), it remains elusive which mechanisms could initiate and, more importantly, perpetuate motor overflow. We hypothesize that distinct motor elements have low risk of motor overflow if their sensory inputs remain statistically independent. But when provided with correlated sensory inputs, pre-existing crosstalk among sensory projections will grow under spike-timing-dependent-plasticity (STDP) and eventually produce irreversible motor overflow. Approach. We emulated a simplified neuromuscular system comprising two anatomically distinct digital muscles innervated by two layers of spiking neurons with STDP. The synaptic connections between layers included crosstalk connections. The input neurons received either independent or correlated sensory drive during 4 days of continuous excitation. The emulation is critically enabled and accelerated by our neuromorphic hardware created in previous work. Main results. When driven by correlated sensory inputs, the crosstalk synapses gained weight and produced prominent motor overflow; the growth of crosstalk synapses resulted in enlarged sensory representation reflecting cortical reorganization. The overflow failed to recede when the inputs resumed their original uncorrelated statistics. In the control group, no motor overflow was observed. Significance. Although our model is a highly simplified and limited representation of the human sensorimotor system, it allows us to explain how correlated sensory input to anatomically distinct muscles is by itself sufficient to cause persistent and irreversible motor overflow. Further studies are needed to locate the source of correlation in sensory input.
Human Adult Deglutition during Sleep

Objectives: Clearance of the pharynx by deglutition is important in protecting the airway. The pattern of deglutition during sleep was investigated. Methods: Deglutition during sleep was examined in 8 normal human adults via time-matched recordings of polysomnography and surface electromyography (EMG) of the thyrohyoid and suprahyoid muscles. Results: During sleep, deglutition was episodic, and was absent for long periods. The mean number of swallows per hour (±SD) during the total sleep time was 2.9 ±1.3. The mean period of the longest absence of deglutition was 50.6 ± 10.2 minutes. Most deglutition occurred in association with spontaneous electroencephalographic arousal in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep. Deglutition was related to sleep stage. The mean number of swallows per hour was 7.2 ± 3.5 during stage 1 sleep and 2.0 ± 0.7 during stage 2 sleep. There was little deglutition during stages 3 and 4. The deeper the sleep stage became, the lower the mean deglutition frequency became. The mean number of swallows per hour was 2.7 ± 2.2 during REM sleep. The EMG amplitude dropped to the lowest level of recording and hypotonic EMG activity increased during REM sleep. Conclusions: Deglutition, a vital function, is infrequent during sleep.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III study evaluating efficacy and tolerability of 2 courses of alefacept in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis.

BACKGROUND In previous phase II studies, alefacept significantly improved psoriasis and was well tolerated. The clinical response to alefacept was durable. OBJECTIVE Our purpose was to further evaluate efficacy and tolerability of alefacept in a phase III study of patients (n = 553) with chronic plaque psoriasis. METHODS Two 12-week courses of once-weekly intravenous alefacept 7.5 mg or placebo were given in a randomized double-blind study; patients were followed up for 12 weeks after each course. RESULTS During treatment and follow-up of course 1, a 75% or greater reduction in the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) was achieved by 28% of alefacept-treated and 8% of placebo-treated patients (P <.001). Patients who received a single course of alefacept and achieved a 75% or greater reduction from baseline PASI during or after treatment, without the use of phototherapy or systemic therapies, maintained a 50% or greater reduction in PASI for a median duration of more than 7 months. Among patients who received 2 courses of alefacept, 40% and 71% of patients achieved a 75% or greater and 50% or greater reduction in PASI, respectively, during the study period. Alefacept was well tolerated over both courses. In course 1, the incidence of transient chills was higher in the alefacept group compared with the placebo group; more than 90% of cases occurred within 24 hours after the first few doses. CONCLUSION Alefacept significantly improved psoriasis and produced durable clinical improvements among patients who responded. A second course of alefacept increased efficacy and was equally well tolerated.
Cardiovascular consequences of paediatric obesity: Will there be a future epidemic of premature cardiovascular disease?

There is strong evidence that an epidemic of childhood obesity has led to a significant increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and an acceleration of the atherosclerotic process, which, if unchecked, will lead to an epidemic of premature cardiovascular disease. There is a strong imperative for the development and implementation of evidence-based strategies aimed at the prevention and treatment of obesity in youth. While the solution must be multifactorial and multidimensional in nature, there is much that paediatric health care providers can contribute to reverse what is a dire prediction for the future.
Ya pué[h]! Perception of coda-/s/ weakening among L2 and heritage speakers in coastal Ecuador

EN This investigation lies at the intersection of second language acquisition (SLA), sociophonetic variation, and speech perception. Specifically, it investigates the perception of coda /s/-aspiration (producing disco as [dih.ko]), a dialectal feature characteristic of Guayaquileño (coastal Ecuadorian) Spanish, among 14 young-adult English speakers who travel to Ecuador. The study investigates the participants’ ability to perceive an aspirated variant as a legitimate /s/ over time as they are further exposed to the local variety. It also explores the linguistic and extralinguistic factors that play a role in the perception of the variable such as phonological context of /s/, proficiency level, and individual differences in experience with /s/-weakening dialects. Results suggest that most learners are able to acquire new mappings within their interlanguage phonological system. However, results vary according to proficiency, phonological context of /s/, and at the individual level. The results also suggest that gains in sociolinguistic competence can be seen in terms of perception (as opposed to only in learner production), which underscores the necessity to include perceptual studies in future research in variationist SLA.
Motion segmentation and activity representation in crowds

Video surveillance of large facilities, such as airports, rail stations, and casinos, is developing rapidly. Cameras installed at such locations often overlook large crowds, which makes problems such as activity and scene understanding very challenging. Traditional activity understanding techniques, which rely on input from lower level processing units dealing with background subtraction, human detection, and tracking, are unable to cope with frequent occlusions in such scenes. We propose a novel spatiotemporal segmentation and activity recognition framework that bypasses these commonly used low‐level modules. We model each local spatiotemporal patch as a dynamic texture. Using a suitable distance metric to compare two local patches based on their estimated dynamic texture parameters, we segment a video into spatiotemporal regions that show similar motion patterns. We are also able to temporally stitch together local regions to form activity streamlines and represent each streamline by its constituent dynamic textures. This allows us to seamlessly perform activity recognition without explicitly detecting individuals in the scene. We demonstrate our framework on multiple datasets and show favorable results compared with the state of the art. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 19, 80–90, 2009.
Do Fraudulent Firms Produce Abnormal Disclosure?

Using text-based analysis of 10-K MD&A disclosures, we find that fraudulent firms produce verbal disclosure that is abnormal relative to strong counterfactuals. This abnormal text predicts fraud out of sample, has a verbal factor structure, and can be interpreted to reveal likely mechanisms that surround fraudulent behavior. Using a conservative difference-based approach, we find evidence that fraudulent managers discuss fewer details explaining the sources of the firm's performance, while disclosing more information about positive aspects of firm performance. They also provide less content relating the disclosure to the managerial team itself. We also find new interpretable verbal support for the well-known hypothesis that managers commit fraud in order to artificially lower their cost of capital.
Combined Analysis of MicroRNome and 3′-UTRome Reveals a Species-specific Regulation of Progesterone Receptor Expression in the Endometrium of Rhesus Monkey*

Background: The contribution of endometrial microRNAs (miRNAs) to female reproduction in rhesus monkey is unknown. Results: Progesterone receptor is negatively modulated by miRNAs through non-conserved miRNA binding sites in the 3′-UTR. Conclusion: miRNA regulation of endometrial receptivity is species-dependent. Significance: Our study provides new insights into the species-biased molecular mechanisms underlying endometrial receptivity from the aspects of miRNA-mediated regulation. The establishment of endometrial receptivity is a prerequisite for successful pregnancy, which is controlled by a complex mechanism. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that have emerged as important regulators of gene expression. However, the contribution of miRNAs in endometrial receptivity is still unknown. Here we used rhesus monkey as an animal model and compared the endometrial miRNA expression profiles during early-secretory (pre-receptive) phase and mid-secretory (receptive) phase by deep sequencing. A set of differentially expressed miRNAs were identified, 8 of which were selected and validated using quantitative RT-PCR. To facilitate the prediction of their target genes, the 3′-UTRome was also determined using tag sequencing of mRNA 3′-termini. Surprisingly, about 50% of the 10,677 genes expressed in the rhesus monkey endometrium exhibited alternative 3′-UTRs. Of special interest, the progesterone receptor (PGR) gene, which is necessary for endometrial receptivity, processes an ultra long 3′-UTR (∼10 kb) along with a short variant (∼2.5 kb). Evolutionary analysis showed that the 3′-UTR sequences of PGR are poorly conserved between primates and rodents, suggesting a species-biased miRNA binding pattern. We further demonstrated that PGR is a valid target of miR-96 in rhesus monkey and human but not in rodents, whereas the regulation of PGR by miR-375 is rhesus monkey-specific. Additionally, we found that miR-219–5p regulates PGR expression through a primate-specific long non-coding RNA immediately downstream of the PGR locus. Our study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying endometrial receptivity and presents intriguing species-specific regulatory roles of miRNAs.
Factors affecting the concussion knowledge of athletes, parents, coaches, and medical professionals

Objectives: To determine the predictors of knowledge and awareness of concussion symptoms and outcomes through a survey of athletes, parents of players and coaches in sports settings in Canada. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of athletic communities in Canada was conducted. Respondents’ concussion knowledge score consists of responses to questions about the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of a concussion and the timing of return-to-sport post-concussion. The percentage of correct responses was defined as the “identification rate. ” The extent to which participant factors affected the scores was examined by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Respondents were able to identify a mean of 80.6% of symptoms. Cognitive symptoms were most commonly known, and mental health symptoms associated with concussion were least known, and health professionals, coaches, and those with a personal history of concussion had the highest levels of overall knowledge. Language, age, educational level, annual household income, and traumatic brain injury history were good predictors of better concussion knowledge. Conclusion: Those designing and implementing interventions aimed at concussion management and prevention should ensure that younger, lower income, lower educational, non-English-speaking persons, and those without experience of traumatic brain injury or concussion be specifically accounted for in the design and implementation of interventions to prevent and treat concussion and mild traumatic brain injury.
Increment of HFABP Level in Coronary Artery In-Stent Restenosis Segments in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Minipigs: HFABP Overexpression Promotes Multiple Pathway-Related Inflammation, Growth and Migration in Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Background: Our previous study suggested that heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (HFABP) levels were greatly elevated in the conditioned medium of explant culture of in-stent restenosis (ISR) tissue from diabetic minipigs compared with those of non-ISR tissue. We here verified this result in animal tissues and investigated the impact of HFABP overexpression in human aortic smooth muscle cells (hASMCs). Methods and Results: In Western blot and real-time RT-PCR, HFABP protein and mRNA levels were significantly higher in ISR than in non-ISR tissues from minipigs, and higher in the ISR tissue from diabetic minipigs than that from nondiabetic minipigs. The mRNA microarray and cellular effects of hASMC retroviral overexpression of HFABP and vector was analyzed. Compared with vector, HFABP transduction activates multiple signaling pathways (e.g. adipokine, TGF-β, Toll-like receptor, Wnt, Hedgehog, ErbB and Notch) and promotes inflammation, growth and migration in hASMCs whereas the knockdown of HFABP by small hairpin RNA attenuates these effects. Conclusion: HFABP expression is significantly higher in ISR tissue than in non-ISR tissue from diabetic and nondiabetic minipigs. Overexpression of HFABP induces multiple pathway-related promotion of inflammation, growth and migration in vascular SMCs, suggesting a potential role in coronary artery ISR.
Major outbreak of suspected botulism in a dairy herd in the Republic of Ireland

This is the first report of a major outbreak of a paralytic disease in cattle on a farm in the Republic of Ireland. Thirty-six of 65 dairy cows were euthanased or died. A presumptive diagnosis of botulism was made on the basis of the clinical signs, the duration of the outbreak and the postmortem findings, and by ruling out other differential diagnoses.
EFFECTS OF TIME OF ADMINISTRATION AND DIETARY IODINE LEVELS ON POTASSIUM IODIDE (KI) BLOCKADE OF THYROID IRRADIATION BY 131I FROM RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT

Abstract—Radioiodines, particularly 131I, may be released into the environment in breach-of-containment nuclear reactor accidents and localize in and irradiate the thyroid with an attendant risk of neoplastic growth and other adverse health effects. Pharmacologic thyroid blockade by oral potassium iodide (KI) (50–100 mg in adults) can substantially reduce thyroid uptake of and irradiation by internalized radioiodine. In the current analysis, computer modeling of iodine metabolism has been used to systematically elucidate the effects of two practically important but highly variable factors on the radioprotective effect of KI: the time of administration relative to exposure to radioiodine and the dietary level of iodine. In euthyroid adults receiving iodine-sufficient diets (250 &mgr;g d−1 in the current analysis), KI administered up to 48 h before 131I exposure can almost completely block thyroid uptake and therefore greatly reduce the thyroid absorbed dose. However, KI administration 96 h or more before 131I exposure has no significant protective effect. In contrast, KI administration after exposure to radioiodine induces a smaller and rapidly decreasing blockade effect. KI administration 16 h or later after 131I exposure will have little effect on thyroid uptake and absorbed dose and therefore little or no protective effect. The 131I thyroid absorbed dose is two-fold greater with insufficient levels of dietary iodine, 2,900 cGy/37 MBq, than with sufficient levels of dietary iodine, 1,500 cGy/37 MBq. When KI is administered 48 h or less before 131I intake, the thyroid absorbed doses (in cGy/37 MBq) are comparably low with both sufficient and insufficient dietary iodine levels. When KI is administered after 131I intake, however, the protective effect of KI is less and decreases more rapidly with insufficient than with sufficient dietary iodine. For example, KI administration 2 and 8 h after 131I intake yields protective effects of 80 and 40%, respectively, with iodine-sufficient diets, but only 65 and 15% with iodine-deficient diets. In conclusion, whether exposed populations receive sufficient or insufficient dietary iodine, oral KI is an effective means of reducing thyroid irradiation from environmentally dispersed radioiodine but is effective only when administered within 2 d before to ∼8 h after radioiodine intake.
Demineralized Bone Matrix in Extraction Sockets: A Clinical and Histologic Case Series

Purpose:To evaluate its efficacy and predictability in immediate extraction sockets, this case series used demineralized bone matrix in a puttylike carrier (DBM putty) with and without mineralized bone chips. Each preparation was made from the long bones of the same tissue donor; the only excipient material was water. Material and Methods:A single failing tooth was atraumatically extracted from each study subject, and the socket was debrided. Intact sockets were grafted with DBM putty (n = 6), and sockets with buccal defects were grafted with DBM putty with bone chips (n = 6). A bovine pericardium membrane was draped over the graft site, and tension-free primary closure was obtained. After 6 months of healing, a trephine biopsy was taken from the center of each graft, and then, a dental implant was placed. Two subjects were withdrawn, and histologic data could not be obtained from 2 other patients. Results:Mean new bone fill was 40.28% for DBM putty (n = 5) and 44.60% for DBM putty with bone chips (n = 4). Conclusions:Both preparations maintained ridge dimensions and, despite ongoing bone turnover, produced adequate mineralized tissue that enabled implant placement at 6 months. This finding warrants further research.
Impact of trap creation at SiO2/Poly-Si interface on ultra-thin SiO2 reliability

The relationship between TDDB characteristics of the devices having ultrathin SiO2 as gate dielectrics and the hydrogen-related trap creation have been re-investigated from the viewpoint of the oxidation process dependence. In order to study the influence of hydrogen on the reliability, deuterium isotope effect has been used. As a result, the Weibull distributions of time-to-breakdown (tBD) depends on the oxidation process condition even under the same oxidation temperature. Trap creation at gate oxide interface strongly correlates to the dielectric breakdown in ultra-thin gate oxides However, this oxidation process dependence could not be explained only by the amount of hydrogen release from SiO2/Si substrate interface From the experimental results of low-voltage SILC, it can be concluded that not only the released hydrogen from SiO2/Si substrate interface but also those from Poly-Si/SiO2 interface correlates to the breakdown mechanisms.