Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Screening the metallothionein III gene in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Metallothioneins are proteins involved in antioxidant defence, essential metal homoeostasis and heavy metal detoxification, all mechanisms implicated in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS). We therefore looked for changes in the gene for nervous system-specific metallothionein III (MT3) that might explain susceptibility to SALS. DNA was extracted from 87 sporadic ALS and 174 matched controls. The gene for MT3 was sequenced in 20 SALS and 5 control subjects to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These SNPs were then screened in all subjects. Eight novel SNPs were found in the 5' untranslated region and intron 2 of MT3. No differences were found in the frequency distribution of alleles or haplotypes for these SNPs between the SALS and control groups. The genotype distribution of one SNP (A1422C) was significantly different between ALS and control groups (p<0.02) but this is not likely to be biologically relevant. We conclude that changes in the MT3 gene are unlikely to be responsible for susceptibility to SALS.
Etazolate, a neuroprotective drug linking GABAA receptor pharmacology to amyloid precursor protein processing

Pharmacological modulation of the GABAA receptor has gained increasing attention as a potential treatment for central processes affected in Alzheimer disease (AD), including neuronal survival and cognition. The proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) through the α‐secretase pathway decreases in AD, concurrent with cognitive impairment. This APP cleavage occurs within the β‐amyloid peptide (Aβ) sequence, precluding formation of amyloidogenic peptides and leading to the release of the soluble N‐terminal APP fragment (sAPPα) which is neurotrophic and procognitive. In this study, we show that at nanomolar‐low micromolar concentrations, etazolate, a selective GABAA receptor modulator, stimulates sAPPα production in rat cortical neurons and in guinea pig brains. Etazolate (20 nM–2 μM) dose‐dependently protected rat cortical neurons against Aβ‐induced toxicity. The neuroprotective effects of etazolate were fully blocked by GABAA receptor antagonists indicating that this neuroprotection was due to GABAA receptor signalling. Baclofen, a GABAB receptor agonist failed to inhibit the Aβ‐induced neuronal death. Furthermore, both pharmacological α‐secretase pathway inhibition and sAPPα immunoneutralization approaches prevented etazolate neuroprotection against Aβ, indicating that etazolate exerts its neuroprotective effect via sAPPα induction. Our findings therefore indicate a relationship between GABAA receptor signalling, the α‐secretase pathway and neuroprotection, documenting a new therapeutic approach for AD treatment.
Read-out control system for high resolution time-to-digital converter

The paper describes the read-out control system for high resolution time-to-digital converter (TDC). The used TDC is mentioned with its parameters. The block diagram of the read-out system is shown and the blocks are described. The measurements are presented in different set-ups, which are described in corresponding chapters. The results taken from the measurements are discussed.
The outcome of implant-supported fixed prostheses from the prosthodontic perspective: proposal for a classification protocol.

PURPOSE This article proposes a classification protocol for reporting the outcome of implant-supported fixed partial dentures. MATERIALS AND METHODS A review of the literature revealed a contrast between the accepted criteria for assessing and presenting the outcome of osseointegrated implants and the deficient and misleading assessment and presentation of the outcome of the prostheses supported by these implants. A classification protocol comprising 6 well-defined fields with objective standards that accounts for retreatment as well as failure is proposed. This protocol has been applied where possible to reports on the outcome of fixed partial dentures in several published articles. RESULTS In all cases there was a stark difference between the authors' claims of success and the outcome according to the 6-field protocol. It is accepted that the outcome of a given prosthesis does not necessarily correspond to the outcome of the overall prosthodontic treatment, as the latter also involves an assessment of outcome as perceived by the patient and accounts for planned revisions. CONCLUSION If adopted, the proposed protocol would allow meaningful comparisons between prosthesis designs and between different implant systems' capacities to support such designs. It would also assist in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of implant-supported treatments.
Chronic alteration in phosphatidylinositol 4,5‐biphosphate levels regulates capsaicin and mustard oil responses

There is an agreement that acute (in minutes) hydrolysis and accumulation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5‐bisphosphate (PIP2) modulate TRPV1 and TRPA1 activities. Because inflammation results in PIP2 depletion, persisting for long periods (hours to days) in pain models and in the clinic, we examined whether chronic depletion and accumulation of PIP2 affect capsaicin (CAP) and mustard oil (MO) responses. In addition, we wanted to evaluate whether the effects of PIP2 depend on TRPV1 and TRPA1 coexpression and whether the PIP2 actions vary in expression cells vs. sensory neurons. Chronic PIP2 production was stimulated by overexpression of phosphatidylinositol‐4‐phosphate‐5‐kinase, and PIP2‐specific phospholipid 5′‐phosphatase was selected to reduce plasma membrane levels of PIP2. Our results demonstrate that CAP (100 nM) responses and receptor tachyphylaxis are not significantly influenced by chronic changes in PIP2 levels in wild‐type (WT) or TRPA1 null‐mutant sensory neurons as well as CHO cells expressing TRPV1 alone or with TRPA1. However, low concentrations of CAP (20 nM) produced a higher response after PIP2 depletion in cells containing TRPV1 alone but not TRPV1 together with TRPA1. MO (25 μM) responses were also not affected by PIP2 in WT sensory neurons and cells coexpressing TRPA1 and TRPV1. In contrast, PIP2 reduction leads to pronounced tachyphylaxis to MO in cells with both channels. Chronic effect of PIP2 on TRPA1 activity depends on presence of the TRPV1 channel and cell type (CHO vs. sensory neurons). In summary, chronic alterations in PIP2 levels regulate magnitude of CAP and MO responses as well as MO tachyphylaxis. This regulation depends on coexpression profile of TRPA1 and TRPV1 and cell type. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Food habits and nutritional status of adolescents in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

INTRODUCTION The prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity is increasing, with negative medical and psychosocial consequences. AIMS This study examines the association between weight status and nutrient intake, sport and leisure habits of middle school students in Bologna (Italy). METHODS Anthropometric data (height, weight) of 598 subjects (321 males and 277 females) 11-14 years old were collected. Questionnaires on nutrient intake, sport and leisure behaviour were administered. RESULTS Protein, carbohydrate and total fat intakes of the adolescents were higher than the recommended ranges in all age groups and in both sexes. The proportion of energy from protein and total fat was higher than recommended, but the percentage from carbohydrate was lower. A significant proportion of the adolescents had a cholesterol intake above the Italian RDA and lower than recommended intakes for micronutrients. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher in males than in females at all ages (overweight: 35.2 vs 31.6 at 11 yrs.; 27.5 vs 20.2 at 12 yrs.; 18.6 vs 17.8 at 13 yrs.; 18.7 vs 10.9 at 14 yrs.; obesity: 5.5 vs 3.2 at 12 yrs.; 3.9 vs 1.1 at 13 yrs.; 5.3 vs 3.6 at 14 yrs.), except in subjects 11 years old (obesity: 7.4 vs 10.5). The overweight and obese adolescents consumed less carbohydrates and less fibre than their normal weight and underweight counterparts. CONCLUSION The results of the present study indicate an unbalanced diet of the Bologna adolescents, which could damage their health and quality of life.
Wireless personal health ECG monitoring application

It is vital for a chronic medical patient to continuously take readings of his/her vital functions (e.g. heartbeat, etc.) and present to the physician. The problems are how to take readings without affecting the patient's normal life and how to send large amounts of data associated with vital readings like ECG, EEG, etc. to the physician effectively. In this article we propose a framework which will collect readings from ECG monitoring devices in a wireless network, then compress the collected data and automatically send this data to the physician through the patient's handheld device like 'smart' phone. We have also proposed an efficient compression algorithm for compressing the ECG waveforms in real time into a form that can be easily transmitted from the handheld device using SMS. The results obtained after implementing this compression algorithm using Java platform, micro edition version 2 (J2ME) are compared with existing ECG compression algorithms in terms of percent mean square difference (PRD), compression ratio (CR) and execution time.
Deep-Structured Machine Learning Model for the Recognition of Mixed-Defect Patterns in Semiconductor Fabrication Processes

Semiconductor manufacturers aim to fabricate defect-free wafers in order to improve product quality, increase yields, and reduce costs. Typically, wafer defects form spatial patterns that provide useful information, helping to identify problems and faults during the fabrication process. Machine learning (ML) methods have been used to classify these defects in order to locate the root causes of failure. This paper proposes a novel deep-structured ML approach as an extension of our previous randomized general regression network (RGRN) model, to identify and classify both single-defect and mixed-defect patterns. The principal motivation for this paper is that a shallow-structured RGRN performs well on single-pattern defects, achieving an accuracy of 99.8%, but performs poorly when a wafer has mixed-defect patterns. The proposed approach improves RGRN performance, particularly on mixed-pattern defects, by incorporating a novel information gain (IG)-based splitter as well as deep-structured ML. A spatial filter is applied to remove random noise and reduce model bias during training. During the first detection stage, the splitter generates unique rules that are built using the IG theory and splits the defects data into single-defect and mixed-defect patterns. Single-defect patterns are then classified by RGRN, whereas mixed-defect patterns are fed into the deep-structured ML model for further classification. This combination improves the ability of the proposed approach to classify diverse defect patterns and achieve a better overall performance. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves an overall detection accuracy of 86.17% on a dataset that contains real data representing both single-defect and mixed-defect patterns, as commonly found in real manufacturing scenarios, outperforming existing ML-based models.
Get Your Experience Factory Ready for the Next Decade--Ten Years after "How to Build and Run One"--

This one-day tutorial aims at industry practitioners, managers and developers alike, who want to learn more about how to successfully design, implement and run an Experience Factory, to systematically build up and manage the experience of an organization. State-of- the art methods and techniques on how to initially set-up or to further develop and improve an organization¿s Experience Factory are discussed. Participants should come from organizations (not only from the software domain) that are interested in implementing an Experience Factory to help effectively support improvement activities (such as TQM, ISO 9000, CMMI, SPICE, or TSP) to gain competitive advantages.
Role of B Cells in Mucosal Vaccine–Induced Protective CD8+ T Cell Immunity against Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Emerging evidence suggests a role of B cells in host defense against primary pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). However, the role of B cells in TB vaccine–induced protective T cell immunity still remains unknown. Using a viral-vectored model TB vaccine and a number of experimental approaches, we have investigated the role of B cells in respiratory mucosal vaccine–induced T cell responses and protection against pulmonary TB. We found that respiratory mucosal vaccination activated Ag-specific B cell responses. Whereas respiratory mucosal vaccination elicited Ag-specific T cell responses in the airway and lung interstitium of genetic B cell–deficient (Jh−/− knockout [KO]) mice, the levels of airway T cell responses were lower than in wild-type hosts, which were associated with suboptimal protection against pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis challenge. However, mucosal vaccination induced T cell responses in the airway and lung interstitium and protection in B cell–depleted wild-type mice to a similar extent as in B cell–competent hosts. Furthermore, by using an adoptive cell transfer approach, reconstitution of B cells in vaccinated Jh−/− KO mice did not enhance anti-TB protection. Moreover, respiratory mucosal vaccine–activated T cells alone were able to enhance anti-TB protection in SCID mice, and the transfer of vaccine-primed B cells alongside T cells did not further enhance such protection. Alternatively, adoptively transferring vaccine-primed T cells from Jh−/− KO mice into SCID mice only provided suboptimal protection. These data together suggest that B cells play a minimal role, and highlight a central role by T cells, in respiratory mucosal vaccine–induced protective immunity against M. tuberculosis.
The Spiroindolone Drug Candidate NITD609 Potently Inhibits Gametocytogenesis and Blocks Plasmodium falciparum Transmission to Anopheles Mosquito Vector

ABSTRACT The global malaria agenda has undergone a reorientation from control of clinical cases to entirely eradicating malaria. For that purpose, a key objective is blocking transmission of malaria parasites from humans to mosquito vectors. The new antimalarial drug candidate NITD609 was evaluated for its transmission-reducing potential and compared to a few established antimalarials (lumefantrine, artemether, primaquine), using a suite of in vitro assays. By the use of a microscopic readout, NITD609 was found to inhibit the early and late development of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes in vitro in a dose-dependent fashion over a range of 5 to 500 nM. In addition, using the standard membrane feeding assay, NITD609 was also found to be a very effective drug in reducing transmission to the Anopheles stephensi mosquito vector. Collectively, our data suggest a strong transmission-reducing effect of NITD609 acting against different P. falciparum transmission stages.
Effects of a soft wearable robotic suit on metabolic cost and gait characteristics in healthy young subjects

This paper experimentally evaluates the effects of a soft wearable robotic suit, which is developed for energy-efficient walking in daily activities, in healthy subjects. The robotic suit provides a small but effective assistance for hip flexion. Moreover, it is lightweight and it does not restrict the motion range of the lower limbs. Experimental results on two healthy subjects show that the robotic suit worn and powered on (PON) reduced oxygen uptake by an average of 3.6 % compared with the condition of worn but powered off (POFF). Moreover, compared with the POFF condition, walk ratio was improved by an average of 2.6 % in the PON condition.
Laparoscopy. Gasless vs. CO2 pneumoperitoneum.

OBJECTIVE To compare gasless laparoscopy with conventional laparoscopy using CO2 pneumoperitoneum. STUDY DESIGN Women undergoing bilateral laparoscopic tubal coagulation (LTC) were randomly assigned to one of two laparoscopy procedures: (1) a gasless laparoscopy system consisting of an intraabdominal fan retractor and electrically powered mechanical arm, and (2) standard CO2 pneumoperitoneum laparoscopy. The two laparoscopic procedures were compared on the basis of intraoperative visualization, operation duration, procedural difficulty, ventilatory parameters, hemodynamic stability, and postoperative pain and nausea. RESULTS Significant disadvantages for the surgeon (increased technical difficulty, poorer visualization, longer operative times) and patient (greater postoperative pain and nausea) were seen with the gasless system. Because of these findings, the study was prematurely terminated after only 18 patients had participated. Intraoperative ventilatory and hemodynamic parameters were more stable in the gasless laparoscopy groups; however, the differences were not clinically significant in this population of healthy patients. CONCLUSION The markedly increased technical difficulty and absence of clear clinical benefits for the healthy patient led to the conclusion that laparoscopy with CO2 pneumoperitoneum is preferable for routine LTC and most laparoscopic procedures in the pelvis. Gasless laparoscopy may be of benefit for the fragile patient with a compromised cardiovascular system who may suffer complications from hypercarbenemia.
"Switching of high-power current pulses up to 250 kA and submillisecond duration using new silicon devices-reverse switched dinistors"

Power switches based on silicon semiconductor devices-reverse switched dinistors are proposed to switch high-power pulsed currents of microsecond and submillisecond duration. The switch design is described for the operating voltage of up to 25 kV and operating current of up to 200 kA with the current pulses duration of 500 /spl mu/s at 0.11/sub max/. The authors give the test results and estimate the possibility of using such a switch in the NIF capacitor bank.
A Theory-based Analysis of Coercion in Addiction Treatment

The use of coercion to induce entry to addiction treatment is controversial and a large body of research has accumulated considering ethical issues, benefits, and repercussions. However, development of evidence-based policy and practices is hampered by limitations of existing literature. Theoretical and empirical work on self-determination suggests that perceptions of coercion have negative implications for motivation, behaviour change, and psychological wellbeing; however, these insights have not generally informed research on coerced treatment. The present work seeks to further understandings of the meaning and effectiveness of coerced addiction treatment through a theory-based, prospective study of coercion and treatment processes. The sample includes 276 adults admitted to an outpatient counseling program for alcoholand drug-related problems. At admission, participants completed questionnaires on motivation, perceived coercion, and pressures to enter treatment. Two months later, a second questionnaire assessed engagement in treatment and substance problem severity (follow-up rate = 74.3%). Retention was determined via self-report and agency records. Analysis was guided by a conceptual model based on Self-Determination Theory. Perceived coercion at admission was associated with greater pressures from legal and informal sources, and lower substance problem severity. Fewer than half (45.7%) of participants were still attending treatment at 2-month follow-up. Clients who reported greater coercion were more likely to leave treatment within the
Homogeneous repair of nuclear genes after experimental stroke

The repair of oxidative DNA lesions (ODLs) in the nucleus of ischemic cortical brain cells was examined following experimentally induced stroke by occluding the right middle cerebral artery and both common carotid arteries for 60–90 min followed by reperfusion in male long‐Evans hooded rats. The control group consisted of sham‐operated animals undergoing the same surgery without vessel occlusion. Using a gene‐specific assay based upon the presence of Escherichia coli Fpg protein‐sensitive sites, we noted that animals with stroke exhibited six and four ODLs per gene in the actin and DNA polymerase‐β genes, respectively. This was increased from one per four copies of each gene in the sham‐operated control (p < 0.01). One half of the initial ODLs was repaired within 30 min, and 83% of them were repaired as early as 45 min of reperfusion. There was no further increase when gene repair was measured again at 2 h of reperfusion. The rates of active repair within 45 min of reperfusion were the same in these two genes (p = 0.103, anova). BrdU (10 mg/kg) was administered via intraperitoneal injection at least one day before surgery. We observed that there was no significant incorporation of BrdU triphosphates into genomic DNA during active repair, but there were significant amounts of BrdU triphosphate in nuclear DNA after active repair. The result indicates that genomic repair of ODLs in the brain did not significantly incorporate BrdU, and the initiation of neurogenesis probably starts after the completion of repair in the brain.
Toward a Simplified Software Process Improvement Framework for Small Software Development Organizations

ABSTRACT For decades, software developers have struggled with delivering high-quality systems. To address the issues related to poor quality software, many use software process improvement (SPI) models such as the capability maturity model integration (CMMI) to guide the software development process. However, implementing these initiatives in small software development organizations is particularly challenging due to the high cost and complexity involved. To address these issues, this study proposes a simplified SPI framework (based on the CMMI) that small organizations can use to help improve software development. Conducted in four English-speaking Caribbean countries, this study uses focus groups with information systems (IS) professionals to arrive at a consensus on the content of a simplified SPI model. The model was assessed using data from a survey of small software development organizations’ practices across the four countries. The resulting model, called the SPI model for small organizations (SPIM-S) is deemed less cumbersome and complex to implement, in comparison to its counterpart, the CMMI. It should therefore be less disruptive to implement—offering practitioners an alternative guide in their quest for high-quality software.
Land Accessibility Factors in Urban Housing Provision in Nigeria Cities: Case of Lagos

The housing need of the burgeoning population, economic development and increasing urbanization have intensified the significance of land accessibility as an avenue towards improving housing provision in Nigerian urban centres. Literature in housing provision in Nigeria identified land accessibility factors in urban centres, yet there appears a gap in empirical housing studies on the specific orders of the accessibility from the perspectives of the urban low-middle income housing providers in Nigeria. This study examines the dimensions, extent of importance of the factors and their joint interactive influence on housing provision. Data were collected through a validated survey questionnaire, backed up with interview in Lagos. Analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential (t- test, relative importance index, RII and correlation statistics). Findings show that tenure security is the major accessibility factor and the least factor is availability (scarcity). It is further revealed that each identified factor influences one another in a different dimension in providing for urban housing. In conclusion, the need for an efficient land administration/ governance towards improving urban housing provision is recommended.