Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autoantibodies to GABAergic neurons and response to plasmapheresis in stiff‐man syndrome

Stiff-man syndrome is a rare disorder of unknown etiology in which progressive rigidity, spasms, and continuous motor unit activity may be due to dysfunction of GABAergic inhibition of alpha motor neurons. Some patients with this disorder have evidence of autoantibodies reactive with glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). We describe a patient with progressive stiff-man syndrome and high titers of GAD-like immunoreactivity in serum but not spinal fluid. Plasmapheresis resulted in lowered antibody titers, decreased exteroceptive reflex responses, reduced motor unit activity, and marked clinical improvement. Immunohistochemistry using patient serum and plasma produced specific labeling of human and experimental animal tissue consistent with GABAergic neurons and terminal fields. This antibody response was not present in samples from more than 200 other patients. These results provide additional evidence of an autoimmune mechanism for stiff-man syndrome and indicate plasmapheresis may be beneficial in some patients.
A Community-based Healthy Living Promotion Program Improved Self-esteem Among Minority Children

Objectives: Improving self-esteem, dietary habits, and physical activity is essential for long-term success in childhood obesity prevention. The aim is to evaluate the effects of a healthy living promotion program, Healthy Kids-Houston, on BMI, dietary habits, self-esteem, and physical activity among minority children. Methods: The after-school program was implemented at community centers in low-income neighborhoods with close proximity to public schools. The program consisted of 3 6-week sessions. Each week, children attended 2 2-hour sessions. Each 2-hour session in the intervention included 90 minutes of structured physical activities and 30 minutes of nutrition and healthy habit lessons. The control group received typical enrichment programs. Outcomes were measured before the intervention and at the end of each 6-week session. Results: We enrolled 877 children (age 10.2 ± 0.1 years (mean ± SE); body mass index z score: 1.49 ± 0.1; 52.0% boys; 72.6% Hispanic) in the program with 524 children received the intervention at 14 community centers and 353 children served as control at 10 community centers. The intervention led to no improvements in BMI z score (P = 0.78) and dietary habits (P = 0.46). Significant improvements (P ⩽ 0.02) were detected in the amount of exercise that a child perceived to be required to offset a large meal and in several key self-esteem scores. No improvements were detected in physical activities (P ≥ 0.21). Conclusions: The improvement in some key self-esteem scores and nutrition knowledge may act as a mediator to motivate these children to adopt a healthier lifestyle in the future.
IFCN standards for digital recording of clinical EEG. International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology.

University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA University of Milan, Milan, Italy Neurological Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark University Catholique Louvain, Brussels, Belgium Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Hospital I Albert Einstein, Sa ̃o Paolo, Brazil Institute of Neurophysiology, Vienna, Austria
Transient Overturning Compensation between Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Basins

Climate models consistently project (i) a decline in the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and (ii) a strengthening of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds in response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. These two processes suggest potentially conflicting tendencies of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC): a weakening AMOC due to changes in the North Atlantic but a strengthening AMOC due to changes in the Southern Ocean. Here we focus on the transient evolution of the global ocean overturning circulation in response to a perturbation to the NADW formation rate. We propose that the adjustment of the Indo-Pacific overturning circulation is a critical component in mediating AMOC changes. Using a hierarchy of ocean and climate models, we show that the Indo-Pacific overturning circulation provides the first response to AMOC changes through wave processes, whereas the Southern Ocean overturning circulation responds on longer (centennial to millennial) time scales that are determined by eddy diffusion processes. Changes in the Indo-Pacific overturning circulation compensate AMOC changes, which allows the Southern Ocean overturning circulation to evolve independently of the AMOC, at least over time scales up to many decades. In a warming climate, the Indo-Pacific develops an overturning circulation anomaly associated with the weakening AMOC that is characterized by a northward transport close to the surface and a southward transport in the deep ocean, which could effectively redistribute heat between the basins. Our results highlight the importance of interbasin exchange in the response of the global ocean overturning circulation to a changing climate.
High performance quality management systems and work-related outcomes: Exploring the role of audit readiness and documented procedures effectiveness

This study investigates a comprehensive quality management system (QMS) and its influence on multiple work-related outcomes. It examines certified quality systems used in the automotive industry to test whether QMS audit readiness mediates the relationship between quality factors and outcomes. A survey instrument, encompassing quality award criteria and system certification precepts, helped identify factors associated with high-performance. Regression results showed several factors, including leadership and process management, as being critically important in predicting work outcomes. Human resources emerged as being critical to most outcomes. Audit readiness did not emerge as a mediating variable, but rather as a significant process outcome. This research offers an understanding of the factors that are critical to achieving high performance and multidimensional competitive advantage.
The Comparative Statics of the Effects of Credit Guarantees and Subsidies in the Competitive Lending Market

We compare the effects of government credit subsidies and guarantees on decreasing inefficiencies caused by principal-agent problems in the credit market in transition and posttransition economies. We show that the guarantees and subsidies targeted to low risk borrowers decrease efficiency while those targeted to high risk borrowers increase efficiency both in transition and post-transition economies. The uniform non-targeted guarantees decrease the credit rationing or dead-weight loss caused by the collateral transfer. The uniform subsidies may be used to improve welfare in the economy subjected to credit rationing, but they do not have any effect on the size of collateral required in post-transition economy.
Municipal accountability : should regulations similar to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act apply to the local sector?

OF THE DISSERTATION MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTABILITY: SHOULD REGULATIONS SIMILAR TO THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT APPLY TO THE LOCAL SECTOR? by Douglas Ray Fink Florida International University, 2008 Miami, Florida Professor Howard A. Frank, Major Professor As America moved into the 21" century financial scandals associated with large publicly traded corporations brougt widespread concern about the reliability of financial reporting. In response the U.S. Congress adopted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Undergirding SOX was the belief that improvements in the reliability of an organization's financial disclosures would lead to increased trust in the issuing organization. While SOX is aimed at publicly traded private sector organizations, the value of adopting SOX-like practices in the public and the nonprofit sectors have en recognized. Although SOX-like auditing practices have not at the time of this research become part of the auditing regime for municipalities, the results of this research provide a baseline "read" of municipal finance officers' perceptions of the value and obstacles associated with adoption of two major components of SOX: Principal Officer(s) Certification (POC) and the Independent Audit Committee (IAC) requirements. The author mailed surveys to all finance oficers of municipalities in Florida and Ohio with populations of 10,000 or greater which did not contract out the operation of
Endothelin-1 Induces Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression and Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species in Endothelial Cells

Since both endothelin-1 (ET-1) and aldosterone have been shown to induce expression of several pro-inflammatory genes, including cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), in the vasculature as a cardiovascular risk hormone, the present study was undertaken to examine the effects of ET-1 and aldosterone on COX-2 gene expression as measured by a real-time reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction in aortic endothelial cells. Treatment with ET-1(10-7 M) markedly upregulated COX-2 mRNA levels in rat endothelial cells, whereas aldosterone (10-7 M) did not show any effect. The ET-1-induced COX-2 upregulation was inhibited by pretreatment with a non-selective endothelin receptor antagonist (TAK044), a protein kinase C inhibitor (GF109203X), and a MEK inhibitor (PD98059). Furthermore, ET-1 increased intracellular reactive oxygen species generation as estimated by the measurement of dichlorofluorescein fluorescence, whose effect was blocked by a COX-2 inhibitor (NS398). Our data show that ET-1 induces COX-2 upregulation in rat endothelial cells via a protein kinase C-dependent and extracellular signal-regulated kinasedependent pathway, which may largely contribute to the generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species.
Postoperative concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy for high-risk squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

BACKGROUND Despite the use of resection and postoperative radiotherapy, high-risk squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck frequently recurs in the original tumor bed. We tested the hypothesis that concurrent postoperative administration of cisplatin and radiotherapy would improve the rate of local and regional control. METHODS Between September 9, 1995, and April 28, 2000, 459 patients were enrolled. After undergoing total resection of all visible and palpable disease, 231 patients were randomly assigned to receive radiotherapy alone (60 to 66 Gy in 30 to 33 fractions over a period of 6 to 6.6 weeks) and 228 patients to receive the identical treatment plus concurrent cisplatin (100 mg per square meter of body-surface area intravenously on days 1, 22, and 43). RESULTS After a median follow-up of 45.9 months, the rate of local and regional control was significantly higher in the combined-therapy group than in the group given radiotherapy alone (hazard ratio for local or regional recurrence, 0.61; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.41 to 0.91; P=0.01). The estimated two-year rate of local and regional control was 82 percent in the combined-therapy group, as compared with 72 percent in the radiotherapy group. Disease-free survival was significantly longer in the combined-therapy group than in the radiotherapy group (hazard ratio for disease or death, 0.78; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.61 to 0.99; P=0.04), but overall survival was not (hazard ratio for death, 0.84; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.65 to 1.09; P=0.19). The incidence of acute adverse effects of grade 3 or greater was 34 percent in the radiotherapy group and 77 percent in the combined-therapy group (P<0.001). Four patients who received combined therapy died as a direct result of the treatment. CONCLUSIONS Among high-risk patients with resected head and neck cancer, concurrent postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy significantly improve the rates of local and regional control and disease-free survival. However, the combined treatment is associated with a substantial increase in adverse effects.
Adolescent Psychological Resilience Scale: Validity and reliability study

The purpose of this research was the development of an Adolescent Psychological Resilience Scale. Validity and reliability studies were completed. Participants in the study were 347 high school students. Exploratory factor analyses of construct validity explained 56.99% of the total variance of the scale and found 29 items and 6 factors. The criteria for the validity of the study included the Problem Solving Inventory with 0.47, the Beck Hopelessness Scale with 0.61 and the Locus of Control Scale, in which a 0.46 correlation was found. In a reliability study, the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.87, 0.61, and 0.89 for the subscales-ranged alpha values. After an interval of 1 month, a result of the test-retest correlation coefficient was found to be 0.87. In another reliability study, 27% of bottom-top group comparisons revealed significant differences in all items. Finally, the item-total correlation analysis of the relationship was examined and found to vary between 0.59 and 0.81. Based on these findings, we can say that the Adolescent Resilience Scale can be used in the field of education and psychology and that it is a reliable and valid measurement tool.
Chromosomal replication incompatibility in Dam methyltransferase deficient Escherichia coli cells.

Dam methyltransferase deficient Escherichia coli cells containing minichromosomes were constructed. Free plasmid DNA could not be detected in these cells and the minichromosomes were found to be integrated in multiple copies in the origin of replication (oriC) region of the host chromosome. The absence of the initiation cascade in Dam‐ cells is proposed to account for this observation of apparent incompatibility between plasmid and chromosomal copies of oriC. Studies using oriC‐pBR322 chimeric plasmids and their deletion derivatives indicated that the incompatibility determinant is an intact and functional oriC sequence. The seqA2 mutation was found to overcome the incompatability phenotype by increasing the cellular oriC copy number 3‐fold thereby allowing minichromosomes to coexist with the chromosome. The replication pattern of a wild‐type strain with multiple integrated minichromosomes in the oriC region of the chromosome, led to the conclusion that initiation of DNA replication commences at a fixed cell mass, irrespective of the number of origins contained on the chromosome.
Fast and efficient Gaussian noise image restoration algorithm by spatially adaptive filtering

In this paper, we propose a spatially adaptive noise removal algorithm using local statistics that consists of two stages: noise detection and removal. To corporate desirable properties into denoising process, the local weighted mean, local weighted activity, and local maximum are defined. With these local statistics, the noise detection function is defined and a modified Gaussian filter is used to suppress the detected noise components. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
The Reculatory Framework for Effective Post-Disaster Reconstruction in New Zealand

New Zealand has extensive infrastructure networks and localised, dense urban populations that make it vulnerable to natural disasters. When they occur, the effects can be devastating on the natural and built environment. Organisations therefore need to be well prepared, rather than rely on a reactive recovery process after an event. As one aspect of a major programme of research in New Zealand, the authors address the recovery issue in terms of how the local legislative and regulatory frameworks either facilitate or hinder reconstruction projects and programmes. If well articulated and implemented, the regulations should not only provide an effective means of reducing and containing vulnerabilities (disaster mitigation), but also a means of facilitating reconstruction projects. This paper highlights the interrelated reconstruction challenges of allocation of responsibility for coordination, scarcity of resources and the application of legislation and regulations that were written for routine construction rather than post-disaster reconstruction. Examples of reconstruction following recent small scale disasters in New Zealand are presented to support the points raised. The paper concludes that whilst routine construction processes have proved adequate for small-scale disasters, the greater degree of coordination required for programmes of reconstruction following a larger disaster has not been adequately addressed in policy and legislation.
Land-cover classification using SAR and MS image with ANN classifiers

ABSTARCT: In this work, gray-level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) have been used to quantitatively evaluate statistical textural parameters for a SAR image and to generate a filtered image to feed to ANNs for classification for land cover. Prior to performing the textural analysis, an adaptive filter was applied to reduce the effect of radar-system-generated coherent speckle to produces an image approximating local tone while preserving edge definition. A feature set was than chosen that best classifies the SAR image into the aimed classes. The features are selected based on their discrimination ability and classification accuracy. And at last, the three ANNs used were compared using the image formed by the chosen features in combination.
Dispersion-relation-preserving (DRP) 2-D finite-difference time-domain schemes

UMERICAL dispersion is a major source of error in the Finite-Difference TimeN Domain (FDTD) algorithm [l]. Numerical dispersion causes the phase velocity in the FDTD grid to become a function of frequency and propagation angle. Because of its cumulative effect, numerical dispersion poses limitations particularly for simulations involving electrically large domains. One relevant question then arises on how to construct optimal FDTD algorithms with dispersion-relation-preserving (DRP) [2]-[3] properties for broadband simulations. In this paper, we shall describe a methodology to develop DRP schemes for 2-D FDTD algorithms.
MemoryRetrospect: lifelogging with social awareness

As a promising procedure of mobile application. So far, lifelogging has already some initial attempts on photos, audios and video records. However, they are just simple information recording tools, in which the receivers cannot feel the senders with empathy in space or time. In this poster, we propose a concept called MemoryRetrospect, which combines Lifelogging with Social Awareness. It considers not only our daily photos and videos, but also the weather, the locations and time. When and how to open the e-records can be set by the senders' willing. Thus the receivers have a chance to feel the true space-time meaning of the e-records. More exactly, every e-record will be packaged in a capsule, which the senders are able to set with kinds of scenes as the activation conditions for recipients. With this, the recipients can experience and understand senders' happiness, beautiful moments and emotions at some certain moment.
Pharmacokinetics of Long‐Acting Naltrexone in Subjects With Mild to Moderate Hepatic Impairment

Long‐acting naltrexone is an extended‐release formulation developed with the goal of continuous naltrexone exposure for 1 month for the treatment of alcohol dependence. The influence of mild and moderate hepatic impairment on naltrexone pharmacokinetics following long‐acting naltrexone 190‐mg administration was assessed. Subjects with mild (Child‐Pugh grade A) and moderate (Child‐Pugh grade B) hepatic impairment (n = 6 per group) and matched control subjects (n = 13) were enrolled. Naltrexone and 6β‐naltrexol concentrations were determined over a period of 63 days following a single intramuscular dose. Naltrexone and 6β‐naltrexol concentrations were detected in all subjects through 28 days. Total exposure (AUC0‐∞) of naltrexone and 6β‐naltrexol was similar across all groups. The long apparent half‐lives of naltrexone and 6β‐naltrexol (5–8 days) were attributed to the slow release of naltrexone (long‐acting naltrexone exhibits absorption rate‐limited elimination or “flip‐flop” kinetics); elimination was not altered in subjects with hepatic impairment. Based on pharmacokinetic considerations, the dose of long‐acting naltrexone does not need to be adjusted in patients with mild or moderate hepatic impairment.
Towards a sustainable knowledge sharing environment for online research communities

Sustainability of online knowledge-sharing communities is a major challenge at the present time. Many approaches to knowledge-sharing communities have suffered from the lack of active user participation. To explore this problem it is necessary to study both social and technical issues. In this thesis, social and economic theories have been employed to investigate users' demand and behaviour in an online knowledge-sharing environment. An empirical study was carried out using the Virtual Knowledge Park (VKP) to analyse the relationship between the level of users' participation and their perceived cost and gain. The results show that individual activity of participation was inversely proportional to his/her perceived cost over gain and the level of participation significantly correlated with the factor of mutual benefits among the users. The results suggest that the promotion of the mutual benefits may lead to increased active participation and thus a more sustainable online community. In addition, it was found from user feedback that the users were not satisfied with the flexibility and the lack of autonomy in the VKP. To improve users' flexibility and autonomy, a decentralized approach was explored. A peer-to-peer Virtual Knowledge-sharing Environment (VKSE) was developed to support knowledge-sharing in an online journal club (OJC). The application of the OJC and another decentralized VKSE (Groove) were evaluated in a set of user scenarios. It was found that decentralized VKSEs can provide the users with more flexibility, sense of ownership and control over their shared knowledge resources. However thsi approach was not as good in managing and coordinating the online community as the VKP. Drawing from the studies above, a novel infrastructure was designed. It adopts a community based knowledge market paradigm with two main concepts: agreements and transactions. The infrastructure applies a hybrid-decentralized approach, where the agreements are handled by centralized servers, and the transactions of knowledge resource are carried out in a peer-to-peer model. It is expected that the market paradigm would encourage the provision of mutual benefits to online community members thus enhancing active participation. This should improve the sustainability of online knowledge-sharing communities. Given the novelty of the technical platform and concepts required for this approach, this research has shown that it is significant to carry out further work to assess its effectiveness.
The trouble with creatives: negotiating creative identity in advertising agencies

Advertising creatives are often characterised in terms of stereotypes such as genius or maverick. Relatively few studies have focused on the complexities and contradictions that face creatives in their professional role. In this paper we draw on depth interviews conducted with a small sample of senior-level creatives working in a cross-section of New York agency settings to explore the ways in which they negotiate and resolve their senses of personal and professional identity. We find that ad agencies are a site of conflict and insecurity for these creatives, yet also of potential fulfilment. We suggest that these creatives may be complicit in the conflict because their sense of professional identity has a substantial investment in it. We suggest that the advertising industry has not evolved working practices that fully assimilate those creatives who experience such dilemmas of identity.