Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of protein degradation in neuronal cell death

2 The Role of Protein Degradation in Neuronal Cell Death Joanna Norman, MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 9HN In neuronal systems, the degradation of intracellular proteins, controlled by the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy, is of paramount importance for normal cellular homeostasis. The dysfunction of either of these pathways leads to the accumulation of protein aggregates, as seen in neurodegenerative conditions, culminating in neuronal cell death. In the current study I investigated the cleavage of the proteasome subunits, S1, S6 ́ and S5a in cerebellar granule neurons induced to undergo apoptosis through the withdrawal of potassium. The cleavage of S1 and S6 ́ and the loss of proteasomal activity corresponded with the activation of caspase-3; however the role of the proteasome was shown to be limited in this model as cells had passed the death commitment point. In addition, I developed a multiubiquitinated fluorescent sensor for the analysis of the proteasomal function on a single cell level, and characterised its use in SH-SY5Y cells. I have also constructed epitope-tagged plasmids encoding the autophagy-related proteins and examined their potential regulation by cell death proteases in an in vitro cleavage assay. Most of the autophagyrelated proteins were cleaved in the in vitro model and the potential cleavage sites were identified for mutagenesis. The cleavage of Beclin 1 was also observed in apoptotic cerebellar granule neuron lysates. Finally, I investigated the mechanisms by which the HDACi, TSA, exerts a neuroprotective effect in cerebellar granule neurons. I have demonstrated that it increases the expression of a number of BCL2 family proteins, in particular MCL1, which was hypothesised to contribute to the neuroprotection observed. Taken together, I have demonstrated in this thesis that there are multiple levels of control during cell death; defining their importance is essential for the development of future drug targets.
Optimal buffered clock tree synthesis

Given a topology and a library of buffers, we propose a clock buffer synthesis using a dynamic programming algorithm which finds optimum buffer sizes and insertion levels. At the same time, we optimize wire widths which further reduces propagation delay and the sensitivity of clock skew. Careful fine tuning by shifting buffer locations at the last stage preserves the zero skew property and reduces the wire length. Extensive experiments show a significant delay reduction compared to the best known clock topology generation algorithm. We also show a significant reduction of skew sensitivity under manufacturing variations. <<ETX>>
Label Expansion for Multi-label Classification

In multi-label classification tasks, instances are simultaneously associated with multiple labels, representing different and, possibly, related concepts from a domain. One characteristic of these tasks is a high class-label imbalance. In order to obtain improved predictive models, several algorithms either have explored the label dependencies or have dealt with the problem of imbalanced labels. This work proposes a label expansion approach which combines both alternatives. For such, some labels are expanded with data from a related class label, making the labels more balanced and representative. Preliminary experiments show the effectiveness of this approach to improve the Binary Relevance strategy. Particularly, it reduced the number of labels that were never predicted in the test instances. Although the results are preliminary, they are potentially attractive, considering the scale and consistency of the improvement obtained, as well as the broad scope of the proposed approach.
Flächenreinigung und Desinfektion im Krankenhaus. Verbesserung durch objektive Überwachung und Intervention

Hintergrund und Fragestellung: Beurteilung der Reinigung und Desinfektion in Krankenhausern durch objektive Kontrollen und Uberprufung notwendiger Korrekturmasnahmen. Methodik: Prospektive Untersuchung der Reinigung und Desinfektion von taglich zu reinigenden Oberflachen in 5 Allgemeinkrankenhausern mit Ultraviolett-Fluoreszenz-Markierungen (UVM-Methode) gefolgt von einer Ausbildungs- und organisatorischen Intervention. Die UVM wurden auf Bettenstationen, Operationsbereichen und Intensivstationen angebracht. Eine vollstandige Entfernung wurde als erbrachte Reinigungsleistung bewertet. Nach der ersten Erhebung erfolgten Schulungen und verstarkte Eigenkontrollen, 6 Monate spater eine Erfolgskontrolle. Ergebnisse: Die durchschnittliche Reinigungsleistung lag vor der Intervention bei 34% (31/90), mit erheblichen Unterschieden zwischen den 5 Krankenhausern (11–67%). Die besten Ergebnisse fanden sich auf den Intensivstationen (61%) und in den Operationsbereichen (58%), die schlechtesten Ergebnisse auf den Bettenstationen (22%). Die Intervention fuhrte zu einer signifikanten Verbesserung der Reinigungsleistung auf durchschnittlich 69% (65/94; +34,7%, 95% Konfidenzintervall (CI): 21,2–48,3, p Schlussfolgerungen: Die Uberprufung der Reinigung und Desinfektion von Oberflachen mit der UVM-Methode ist geeignet zur Kontrolle von Hygieneplanen. Eine Intervention fuhrt zu einer signifikanten Verbesserung der Reinigungsleistung. Als Teil einer Strategie zur Verbesserung der Hygiene im Krankenhaus erlaubt die UVM-Methode eine einfache, gunstige und effiziente Uberwachung von Reinigungsleistung und Korrekturmasnahmen.
Loss performance analysis of an ATM multiplexer

The performance of an ATM statistical multiplexer is studied using an input traffic model which is the superposition of several switched determined processes (SDP). The discrete-time queue with this superposition for its input process was analyzed using the mini-slot method. The expression for loss probability was derived and the numerical results were given. The results obtained can be used for ATM multiplexer design. <<ETX>>
Improvement of partial interference cancellation receiver using variance from matched filter for weight factor assignment and adaptation in multirate CDMA cellular mobile communication systems

The objective of this article is to propose a new method to adapt the weight factor applying for partial interference cancellation in multirate CDMA cellular mobile communication systems. The proposed scheme in weight factor decision utilizing matched filter output variance from the previous stage is compared with groupwise weighted PIC (GW-PIC) and standard PIC (SPIC). The simulation results show that performance of the proposed method is better than that of the GW-PIC and the SPIC.
B-type natriuretic peptide is a biomarker for pulmonary hypertension in preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Correspondence: Brian Sims Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1700 6th Avenue South, Women and Infant’s Center, Birmingham, AL 35249, USA Tel +1 205 934 4680 Fax +1 205 934 3100 Email bsims@peds.uab. edu Background: B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a cardiac biomarker useful in screening for pulmonary hypertension (PH) in adults. It is possible that BNP may also be useful in detecting PH among preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Objective: To determine the utility of BNP for identification of PH among preterm infants with BPD. Methods: We retrospectively identified preterm infants with BPD who underwent screening echocardiography for suspected PH and had serum BNP levels measured within 10 days before or after echocardiography. Eligible infants were classified based on echocardiographic diagnosis of either PH or no PH. Median and interquartile ranges (IQR) of BNP values were compared, and area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the optimum threshold value for detection of PH. Results: Twenty-five preterm infants with BPD (mean gestational age 26.5 ± 1.7 weeks, mean birth weight 747 ± 248 g) were identified. The median difference in days between echocardiography and BNP measurement was 1 day (IQR 0–3, range 0–10 days). Based on echocardiography, 16 were diagnosed with PH and nine without PH. No significant difference in terms of gestational age, birth weight, sex, race, or respiratory support was found between the two groups. Median (IQR) BNP values of those with PH were higher than those without PH (413 [212–1178] pg/mL versus 55 [21–84] pg/mL, P , 0.001). AUC of ROC analysis showed that a BNP value of 117 pg/mL had 93.8% sensitivity and 100% specificity for detecting PH. Conclusion: BNP estimation may be useful for screening of PH in infants with BPD.
Measuring interrater reliability in application of the Braden Scale

Objectives: To verify pressure ulcer prevalence in hospital units of adult patients in the University Hospital of the University of Sao Paulo (HU-USP), and to verify interrater reliability in risk assessment, using the Braden Scale. Methods: A quantitative, exploratory study. Data were collected by six trained collaborators who conducted physical exams and risk assessment in 87 patients, an evaluation that is considered the “gold standard”. Data from the assessments performed by the nurses, of those same patients, were collected from the patient records. Results: We verified the pressure ulcer prevalence within the hospital was 19.5%, with 63.6% prevalence in the intensive care unit, 15.6% in the surgical clinic, 13.9% in the medical clinic, and 0% in the semi-intensive [step-down] unit. Regarding interrater reliability in the clinical evaluation of the patients, there was strong agreement in the subscores of: sensory perception, activity, mobility, friction/shear. Moisture and nutrition showed lower agreement, suggesting that these subscores require discussion to verify the causes of the discrepancies. Conclusion: Pressure ulcer prevalence studies provide the possibility to verify the extent of the problem and provide input for the construction of strategies and prevention programs.
Effect of dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to ropivacaine in ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block for post-operative pain relief in cesarean section

Introduction: Peripheral nerve blocks after cesarean section (C-section) reduce post-operative use of analgesic agents. Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is an effective way to provide postoperative analgesia. TAP block with ropivacaine alone has not consistently been proven to be useful after C-section, and dexmedetomidine has not been studied as an adjuvant to ropivacaine for TAP blocks after C-section. Objective: To compare the combination of dexmedetomidine and ropivacaine to ropivacaine alone for TAP block after C-section for time to onset of pain and time to rescue analgesia. Materials and Methods: Forty American Society of Anesthesiology grade I or II patients undergoing C-section were enrolled in this randomized, controlled, double-blind study. Twenty patients each were allocated to two groups receiving bilateral TAP block. Test group received TAP block with 3 mg/kg of ropivacaine with 50 μg of dexmedetomidine. Control group received TAP block with 3 mg/kg of ropivacaine. Patient demographics, time to initial reporting of pain, time to first rescue analgesia, quality of block, and side effects were recorded. Results: Time to initial onset of pain (6.6 vs. 5.03 h; P = 0.01) and time to first rescue analgesia (7.8 vs. 6.47 h; P = 0.03) were significantly longer in the test group compared with control group. The two groups were similar in demographics and quality of block. No significant difference in side effects was noted between the two groups. Conclusion: Addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine for TAP block in patients undergoing C-section prolonged the time to initial onset of pain and time to first rescue analgesia.
Cigarette Smoking, Alcohol and Cancer Mortality in Men: The Kangwha Cohort Study

Objective : To examine the relationship between cigarette smoking, alcohol and cancer mortality in men in the Kangwha cohort after 12 years and 10 months of follow up. Methods : The subjects consisted of 2,681 men in the Kangwha cohort aged over 55 in 1985. Number of deaths and the time to death front all cancers and other cause were measured and the data for the smoking and drinking habits were obtained from the baseline survey data in 1985. All subjects were categorized into four groups according to their smoking habits: non-smokers, ex-smokers, mode(ate-smokers (1-19 cigarettes per day), heavy-smokers (20 cigarettes per day). In addition, they were also categorized according to their drinking habits: non-drinkers, light-drinkers (1 drink per week), moderate-drinkers (3 drinks per day). The cancer specific death rates were calculated according to their smoking and drinking status. The adjusted risk ratio for all cancer deaths according to their smoking and drinking status were estimated using the Cox's proportional hazard regression model. Results : Using nonsmokers as the reference category, the adjusted risk ratio for all cancer deaths were 1.573(95% CI=1.003-2.468) for heavy-smokers. For lung cancer deaths, the adjusted risk ratios were 3.540(95% CI=1.251-10.018) for moderate-smoker and 4.114(95% CI=1.275-13.271) for heavy-smokers. Compared to non-drinkers, the adjusted risk ratio for stomach cancer was 2.204(95% CI=1.114-4.361) for light-drinkers. Conclusion : Smoking is the most significant risk factor for cancer deaths particularly lung cancer.
The acquisition of coarse gaze estimates in visual surveillance

This thesis describes the development of methods for automatically obtaining coarse gaze direction estimates for pedestrians in surveillance video. Gaze direction estimates are beneficial in the context of surveillance as an indicator of an individual's intentions and their interest in their surroundings and other people. The overall task is broken down into two problems. The first is that of tracking large numbers of pedestrians in low resolution video, which is required to identify the head regions within video frames. The second problem is to process the extracted head regions and estimate the direction in which the person is facing as a coarse estimate of their gaze direction. The first approach for head tracking combines image measurements from HOG head detections and KLT corner tracking using a Kalman filter, and can track the heads of many pedestrians simultaneously to output head regions with pixel-level accuracy. The second approach uses Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo Data Association (MCMCDA) within a temporal sliding window to provide similarly accurate head regions, but with improved speed and robustness. The improved system accurately tracks the heads of twenty pedestrians in 1920x1080 video in real-time and can track through total occlusions for short time periods. The approaches for gaze direction estimation all make use of randomised decision tree classifiers. The first develops classifiers for low resolution head images that are invariant to hair and skin colours using branch decisions based on abstract labels rather than direct image measurements. The second approach addresses higher resolution images using HOG descriptors and novel Colour Triplet Comparison (CTC) based branches. The final approach infers custom appearance models for individual scenes using weakly supervised learning over large datasets of approximately 500,000 images. A Conditional Random Field (CRF) models interactions between appearance information and walking directions to estimate gaze directions for head image sequences.
Proximal femoral fractures in children and adolescents: an update

Despite the low incidence, pediatric hip fractures continue to be a topic of great interest. Because they are rare, there is a lack of consensus for best treatment. More prospective randomized studies examining treatment outcomes and associated complications are necessary. This study reviews the recent literature on how treatment practices have changed to improve outcomes and reduce complications.
Communicating with Nurses: The Experiences of 10 Individuals with an Acquired Severe Communication Impairment

Abstract Successful communication is integral to quality health care and successful nursing practice. Ten people who had been in hospital in the 12 months prior to the study and who had no functional speech at that time were interviewed about their communication experiences with nurses. Overall, these individuals experienced difficulties, some of which appeared to be related to a lack of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) resources and a lack of knowledge of AAC among nurses. In addition, the participants noted that nurses did not always have the time or the skills to communicate effectively with them. The participants suggested strategies to improve communication interactions between patients with no or limited functional speech and nurses. These strategies include pre-admission briefing and training nurses about effective strategies for communicating with patients who are unable to speak, including the use of augmentative and alternative communication systems.
Diagnostic Value of Spectral Doppler Ultrasound in Detecting Breast Malignancies: An Original Article

Background: The present study was conducted to investigate the diagnostic value of spectral Doppler ultrasound in determining malignant potential of breast masses. Methods: The dedicated B-mode and Doppler (including color and spectral) breast ultrasound examinations were performed on 100 consecutive women with breast mass (mean age = 45.02 years). The findings were compared between benign (n = 65) and malignant (n = 35) groups, regarding the histopathologic results. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the optimal cut-off point for each spectral Doppler index. Results: On B-mode ultrasound, malignant breast masses tended to have bigger size, irregular and ill-defined border, cystic components, and mixed echogenicity (P < 0.001 for all characteristics). On color Doppler study, detectable flow was more common in malignant tumors compared to benign lesions (74.1% vs. 21.9%, P < 0.0001). All spectral Doppler indices, including mean peak systolic velocity (PSV), resistive index (RI), and pulsatility index (PI) were significantly higher in malignant tumors. All of these indices had high diagnostic accuracy for differentiating malignant tumors from benign lesions with area under the curve (AUC) equals to 0.79, 0.78, and 0.90 for PSV, RI, and PI, respectively. The optimal cut-off points were PSV = 12.5 cm/s (sensitivity: 75%, specificity: 71.4%), RI = 0.68 (sensitivity = 85%, specificity = 74%), and PI = 0.93 (sensitivity = 90%, specificity = 85.7%). Conclusions: Doppler examination has a significant role in the evaluation of breast masses and adds value to the B-mode ultrasound for distinguishing malignant tumors from benign lesions.
Why Can't A Man Be More Like A Woman?

The medical interview is the family physician's principal tool for both diagnosis and treatment. Residency-trained family physicians have already received more detailed instruction and feedback regarding interview skills than have most other specialists, but we must nevertheless continue to explore ways in which we can enhance the thera­ peutic potential of the interview. Two recently presented studies are therefore of great interest to family physicians. The first suggests that women physicians display certain valuable inter­ viewing skills more frequently than men. The second suggests . that practicing physicians can enhance these sorts of skills following a brief and focused intervention and that measurable patient improvement results. Charon and colleagues 1 have developed a nar­ rative model of medical encounters that funda­ mentally looks at the medical interview as an ex­ ample of reading the meaning of a text (i.e., the patient's story). Previous work on gender differ­ ences in the reading of literary texts suggests that women read differently from men - spe­ cifically, women more readily enter into the world of the text and identify emotionally with it while men remain more distant from the text
Women in management : barriers to accessing senior positions in the uMgungudlovu region of the Department of Education.

The research interest is in the area of leadership and gender, with specific reference to promotion prospects of female educators in predominantly black schools. I seek to establish internal and external factors that contribute to women educators being marginalised. The investigation is carried out in the uMgungundlovu region of the KwaZulu-Natal's Department of Education. This region covers the rural areas of Vulindlela and the urban and peri-urban circuits of Pietermaritzburg. I made use of qualitative methodology to obtain data from a random sample of twenty one out of twenty five deputy principals from the two circuits. This was followed by a detailed interview of seven of the twenty one who formed the purposive sample The central thesis of this study is that constitutional laws which outlaw unfair discrimination and academic qualifications play a subsidiary role in the upward mobility of women. The study will seek to confirm or refute this claim. A major finding in this study indicates that hindrances to promotion among married women include family responsibilities of being mother and wife; disruption of career advancement as a result of husband relocating. Low self-esteem among some women also acts as a hindrance to promotion. However, the more intractable hindrances turned out to be external. Cultural conditioning and tradition both combine to relegate women to domestic responsibilities. There is the issue of unequal power relations between men and women in the work place and, in some instances, the failure to apply antidiscriminatory legislation during interview processes. It therefore made little or difference whether the research was carried out in an urban area like Pietermaritzburg or a rural environment like Vulindlela. Hindrances to female promotion were very similar.
Management of topics in online one-to-one English conversation instruction

i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . ii TABLE OF CONTENTS . iii LIST OF FIGURES . vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.0 Introduction . 1 1.1 Research motivation and background . 1 1.1.1 CMC and CALL . 2 1.1.2 CMC and language education . 4 1.1.3 The practical application of synchronous voice-based CMC to language education . 6 1.2. Research purpose . 6 1.3 Methodology and research questions . 8 1.4 Significance of the study . 9 1.5 Thesis outline . 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 13 2.0 Introduction . 13 2.1 CA institutional discourse perspective . 13 2.2 Language teaching: speaking activities and classroom interaction . 16 2.2.1 Language teaching . 16 2.2.2 Speaking activities and classroom interaction . 19 2.3 Computer-mediated communication (CMC) . 23 2.3.1 Characteristics and types of CMC . 24 2.3.2 Previous studies on text-based and voice-based chat through CMC . 26 2.4 Topic Management. 30 2.4.1 Definitions of topic in the literature . 31 2.4.2 Topic initiation . 33 2.4.2.1 First topic initiation . 33 2.4.2.2 Subsequent topic initiation . 34 2.4.3 Topic maintenance . 43 2.4.3.1 Topicalisers . 44 2.4.3.2 Preferred responses . 45 2.4.3.3 Repetition of part of prior talk . 47 2.4.3.4 Asking a question . 48 2.4. 4 Topic transition . 49 2.4. 4.1 Clarification of terms related to topic transition . 51 2.4. 4.2 Techniques of terminating a topic-in-progress for the purpose of topic transition . 52 2.4. 4.2.1 Exchange of ‘Well’, ‘Okay’, ‘Alright’, ‘So’ . 56 2.4. 4.2.2 Summary of prior talk . 56 2.4. 4.2.3 Providing a planned future activity or event . 59 2.4. 4.2.4 Exchange of minimal responses . 61 2.4. 4.2. 5 Occurrence of a series of silences . 62 2.4. 4.3 Types of topic transition. 64 2.4. 4.3.1 Stepwise topical movement. 66