Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantification of Laser-Induced Cartilage Injury by Confocal Microscopy in an ex Vivo Model

Background: The application of lasers in orthopaedic surgery is increasing. However, some investigators have reported that osteonecrosis may occur after laser meniscectomy. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of laser wavelength and energy on cartilage injury in an ex vivo model. Methods: Fresh bovine articular cartilage was exposed to either holmium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Ho:YAG) or erbium:YAG-laser (Er:YAG) irradiation. Both lasers were operated in a free-running mode and at a pulse-repetition rate of 8 Hz. The effect of laser treatment at several energy levels (Er:YAG at 100 and 150 mJ and Ho:YAG at 500 and 800 mJ) was examined. For each light source and energy level, ten cartilage samples were assessed by conventional histological analysis and by confocal microscopy. Thermal damage was assessed by determining cell viability. Results: The extent of thermal damage demonstrated by confocal microscopy was much greater than that demonstrated by histological analysis. The extent of thermal injury after Ho:YAG-laser irradiation was much greater than that after Er:YAG-laser irradiation, which was associated with almost no damage. In addition, the ablation depth was greater after treatment with the Er:YAG laser than after treatment with the Ho:YAG laser. Conclusions: In the present study, histological analysis underestimated thermal damage after laser irradiation. In addition, our findings highlighted problems associated with use of high-power settings of Ho:YAG lasers during arthroscopic surgery. Clinical Relevance: Débridement and smoothing of cartilage in patients with osteoarthritis or cartilage defects should cause minimal injury to the surrounding cartilage in order to avoid additional tissue destruction.
Literature Survey : Neural Machine Translation

Neural Machine Translation (NMT) is a new highly active approach for machine translation, which has showed promising results and due to its success it has attracted many researchers in the field. In this paper we investigate how NMT architecture changed over very short span of time. Starting with basic encoder-decoder architecture that suffered two problems, poor performance with longer sentences and out-of-vocabulary (OOV) problem. Attention based NMT performs better with longer sentences but it still faces the OOV problem. To deal with OOV problem attention based NMT along with subword segmentation called Subword NMT are being used. With word segmentations NMT systems are able to cover larger range of vocabulary. Later factored NMT were proposed which shows improvement in performance, but requires linguistic features annotated data, which may not be available easily for most of the language pairs.
Functional capacity as a significant independent predictor of postoperative mortality for octogenarian ASA-III patients.

BACKGROUND The American Society of Anesthesiology's (ASA) 6-point physical status classification remains one of the most significant predictors of perioperative morbidity and mortality and is the most widely used risk stratification tool worldwide. Its utility is significantly limited for octogenarians, however, as the majority of these patients are classified as ASA-III. Thus, for patients aged 80 or older, we hypothesized that incorporating patients' functional status, defined by the ability to perform activities of daily living independently, would improve perioperative risk stratification. METHODS All data were extracted from the Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program, a perioperative prospectively maintained computerized database. ASA-III patients were reclassified into subgroups IIIA or IIIB, with IIIA representing functionally independent patients and IIIB representing partially or fully dependent patients. Functional status was self-reported during preoperative assessments. In this database, mortality data (primary outcome) was reliably available for all patients for the duration of the 96-month follow-up period, as were other perioperative patient data. RESULTS Seven hundred and fifty-nine (72.4%) patients were classified as ASA-IIIA, and 290 (27.6%) patients were ASA-IIIB. Thirty-day and long-term survival was significantly better in the ASA-IIIA group, irrespective of type of surgery (hazard ratio 1.87, confidence interval 1.55-2.25, p < .001). ASA-IIIB hazard ratios for mortality were greatest for orthopedic and vascular surgery patients, but a significant divergence in survival between ASA-IIIA and IIIB patients was observed in all surgical specialties. CONCLUSION As evidenced by Kaplan-Meier and multivariate analyses, functional capacity was a significant independent predictor of mortality for ASA-III patients older than 80 years of age.
Verification of external specifications of reactive systems

External specification is currently approached by specification languages for describing and analyzing system requirements. The external specification can be defined during the early stages of the system development and can be very useful for: checking the class/system/subsystem requirements; checking the system composition; evaluating costs of reuse; defining validated reference requirements, histories, and traces for the final validation. The paper presents a collection of criteria in order to formally verify the external specification of reactive systems/subsystems. The verification criteria are grounded on the Tempo Reale object-oriented language (TROL) specification model for real-time systems. In TROL, the external specification is expressed in terms of ports and clauses with temporal constraints. The goal of the verification criteria presented is to check the completeness and consistency of the external specification with special attention to temporal constraints. These criteria can be applied to other real-time specification models and have been enforced in the tool object oriented machine state (TOOMS) tool. A practical example illustrates the verification process that embodies these criteria.
Dynamically Reconfigurable Independent Cellular Switching Circuits for Managing Battery Modules

In battery packs, batteries need to be serially connected to obtain high voltage, connected in parallel to acquire high current, and the defected batteries need to be bypassed. In this study, dynamically reconfigurable, independent cellular switching circuits have been proposed in order to connect the batteries in desired configuration. Each cell comprises a battery, a serial switch, a bypass switch, a parallel switch, and triggering switches. The batteries within the pack can be connected in different configurations according to their operation mode such as all in serial, all in parallel, all bypassed, or hybrid (serial–parallel–bypass). The novel aspect of the proposed circuit is that only intracellular battery energy is utilized in order to trigger the switches that are controlled with a very simple circuit. Each cell is independent and completely modular. Moreover, a single mosfet is sufficient instead of two mosfets which is connected in serial in order to control the current. The complexity of the circuit has been reduced to three mosfets for each cell and its efficiency has been increased. The operation of the proposed circuit has been tested with a prototype that includes twelve batteries and its advantages have been confirmed.
Remittances and Financial Development in Latin America and the Caribbean Countries: A Dynamic Approach

Despite the importance of remittances in total international flows, the conclusion of the studies on the relationship between remittances and financial development, is still not completely unanimous, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, financial development matters for growth and poverty alleviation and financial inclusion have many beneficial effects for households. We examine the relationship between remittances and financial sector development with several dynamic panel data methods. We find a positive, significant, and robust bidirectional link between remittances and financial development for the panel of 32 countries.
Correlation Analysis between Normalized Radar Backscatter Cross Section, Complex Dielectric Constant and Chemical Content of Rocks

The SiO2, Fe2O3 and other 11 kinds of chemical composition were measured in 120 rock samples which were obtained in Xing-cheng region, Liaoning Province. Moreover, the dielectric constant was measured in 24 of rock samples. The polarization aperture radar synthetic (SAR) (ALOS/PALSAR) image was obtained as well, and Normalized Radar Backscatter Cross Section (NRCS) of each polarized state was calculated in this study area. Regarding the fact that NRCS is sensitive to surface roughness, rock samples were further classified into four groups as igneous rock, sandstone, limestone and siltstone (including shale) by lithology and grain size. By using correlation analysis method, line charts were drawn in different collections between chemical content, complex dielectric and each polarization NRCS. Finally, we summarized curve features to analyze correlations among them which were necessary to have in-depth discussions.
The Effect of Corporate Governance on Earnings Quality and Market Reaction to Low Quality Earnings: Korean Evidence

This study investigates whether corporate governance mechanisms are associated with earnings quality, especially accurate earnings reporting, and whether investors react differently to inaccurate earnings according to governance strength. Earnings accuracy is one of the key factors affecting a firm’s sustainability in the sense that reported earnings provide information about a firm’s long-term sustainability and further are directly associated with a firm’s cost of capital. In this paper, we employ the independence of the board of directors (BOD) and foreign ownership as governance mechanisms associated with the earnings gap between audited and unaudited earnings. Using 1976 non-financial firm-year observations listed on the Korea Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2016, we find that the gap between unaudited earnings and actual earnings is smaller for firms with independent BODs and foreign ownership, suggesting that earnings accuracy is higher for firms with effective corporate governance. This study also examines how investors react to the earnings gap. Stock returns to the earnings gap are less negative for firms with independent BODs and are more negative as foreign ownership increases, implying that each mechanism of corporate governance has different effects.
Epstein-Barr Viral BNLF2a Protein Hijacks the Tail-anchored Protein Insertion Machinery to Block Antigen Processing by the Transport Complex TAP*

Background: Herpesviruses have evolved sophisticated strategies to escape immune surveillance. Results: EBV BNLF2a acts as tail-anchored protein and is posttranslationally inserted into the ER membrane, where it arrests core TAP in a transport-incompetent conformation. Conclusion: BNLF2a exploits the host tail-anchored protein insertion machinery. Significance: This inhibition mechanism is distinct and mutually exclusive of other viral TAP inhibitors. Virus-infected cells are eliminated by cytotoxic T lymphocytes, which recognize viral epitopes displayed on major histocompatibility complex class I molecules at the cell surface. Herpesviruses have evolved sophisticated strategies to escape this immune surveillance. During the lytic phase of EBV infection, the viral factor BNLF2a interferes with antigen processing by preventing peptide loading of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules. Here we reveal details of the inhibition mechanism of this EBV protein. We demonstrate that BNLF2a acts as a tail-anchored protein, exploiting the mammalian Asna-1/WRB (Get3/Get1) machinery for posttranslational insertion into the endoplasmic reticulum membrane, where it subsequently blocks antigen translocation by the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP). BNLF2a binds directly to the core TAP complex arresting the ATP-binding cassette transporter in a transport-incompetent conformation. The inhibition mechanism of EBV BNLF2a is distinct and mutually exclusive of other viral TAP inhibitors.
Identification of Mxr1p‐binding sites in the promoters of genes encoding dihydroxyacetone synthase and peroxin 8 of the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris

Expression of genes involved in methanol metabolism of Pichia pastoris is regulated by Mxr1p, a zinc finger transcription factor. In this study, we studied the target gene specificity of Mxr1p by examining its ability to bind to promoters of genes encoding dihydroxyacetone synthase (DHAS) and peroxin 8 (PEX8), since methanol‐inducible expression of these genes is abrogated in mxr1‐null mutant strains of P. pastoris. Different regions of DHAS and PEX8 promoter were isolated from P. pastoris genomic DNA and their ability to bind to a recombinant Mxr1p protein containing the N‐terminal 150 amino acids, including the zinc finger DNA‐binding domain, was examined. These studies reveal that Mxr1p specifically binds to promoter regions containing multiple 5′‐CYCC‐3′ sequences, although all DNA sequences containing the 5′‐CYCC‐3′ motif do not qualify as Mxr1p‐binding sites. Key DNA‐binding determinants are present outside 5′‐CYCC‐3′ motif and Mxr1p preferably binds to DNA sequences containing 5′‐CYCCNY‐3′ than those containing 5′‐CYCCNR‐3′ sequences. This study provides new insights into the molecular determinants of target gene specificity of Mxr1p, and the methodology described here can be used for mapping Mxr1p‐binding sites in other methanol‐inducible promoters of P. pastoris. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Region‐specific gastrointestinal Hox code during murine embryonal gut development

Hox genes encode transcription factors, and they are involved in the specification of each body part along the anteroposterior (AP) body axis during embryogenesis. To clarify AP pattern formation of the digestive tract, the expression patterns of Hox genes belonging to paralogous groups 4 and 5, and parts of groups 6 and 7, were systematically examined by whole‐mount and section in situ hybridization. The Hox gene expression pattern of paralogous groups 4–9 in the developing gut at 12.5 days post‐coitum was fully examined. All HoxA and HoxB genes in paralogous groups 4–8 were expressed in the stomach, in contrast to the HoxC and HoxD genes. In the midgut region, all Hox cluster genes showed colinear expression within each cluster, yielding the Hox code; the more 3′ located genes were expressed more rostrally and the 5′ group genes more caudally. The colinear expression of HoxA and HoxB cluster genes started from the duodenum, that of HoxC cluster genes started from the jejunum, and HoxD cluster genes were expressed in the caudal part of the midgut, ileum and cecum. In the hindgut region, HoxD cluster genes and Abd‐B family genes were expressed. Thus, a different Hox code seems to exist in each subdomain of developing gut (foregut, midgut and hindgut). The visceral mesoderm restricted expression also suggested that the Hox code primarily functions in mesenchymal specification, and then leads to the regional differentiation of gut subdomains as the result of epithelial– mesenchymal interactions.
N-n-butyl Haloperidol Iodide Protects Cardiac Microvascular Endothelial Cells From Hypoxia/Reoxygenation Injury by Down-Regulating Egr-1 Expression

Aims: Our previous studies have shown that N-n-butyl haloperidol iodide (F2) can antagonize myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury by down-regulating the early growth response (Egr)-1 expression, but the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Because there is evidence implicating myocardial I/R injury is closely associated with endothelial dysfunction. The present study is to test the hypothesis that the protective effects of F2 on myocardial I/R injury is related closely with down-regulating Egr-1 expression on cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs). Methods: A model of cultured CMECs exposed to hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) was developed. With antisense Egr-1 oligodeoxyribonucleotide (ODN), the relationship between Egr-1 expression and endothelial H/R injury was investigated. Egr-1 mRNA and protein expression were examined by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR, immunocytochemical staining and Western-blot analysis. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), adherence of neutrophil and platelets, and cell viability were measured after H/R to evaluate the degree of endothelial injury. Results: Pretreatment with antisense Egr-1 ODN significantly reduced Egr-1 protein expression and attenuated injury of CMECs. Consistent with down-regulation of Egr-1 expression by F2, inflammation and other damage were significantly reduced as evidenced by a decrease of ICAM-1 expression, reduction of neutrophil and platelets adherence, increase in SOD, and decreases in MDA and LDH levels, resulting in the rise of cell viability. Conclusions: We demonstrate a protective effect of F2 in CMECs against H/R injury by down-regulating Egr-1 expression, which might be play a vital role in the pathogenesis of myocardial I/R injury.
Arithmetic-Haar Spectral Transform Decision Diagrams

The generalization of multi-polarity arithmetic-Haar transform in the form of layered Kronecker matrices and its corresponding representations is proposed. As the new generalized arithmetic-Haar transform has a structure similar to that of the Haar and arithmetic transform matrices, similar spectral transform decision diagrams are held in the expanded transform as well. The new kind of spectral transform decision diagram has multiple-valued terminals corresponding to the multi-polarity arithmetic-Haar transform to represent the arithmetic-Haar spectra of discrete functions.
Correlation between ROS production and InsP3 released by granulocytes from type 1 diabetic patients in a cAMP-dependent manner.

BACKGROUND Diabetes is associated with a pro-inflammatory status characterized by an increased production of inflammatory molecules. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cAMP elevating agents represent two molecular systems, normally generated during inflammation. These molecules could be responsible for the alteration of signaling pathways. In the present paper we have studied the correlation between ROS generation and inositolpolyphosphates (InsP(1), InsP(2) InsP(3) and InsP(4)) released by granulocytes from Type 1 diabetic patients (DM1) in the presence or in the absence of cyclic AMP-elevating agents. METHODS The effect of cAMP on ROS production was quantified in a chemoluminescence assay luminol-dependent (RLU/min). InsP(1), InsP(2) InsP(3) and InsP(4) were quantified by inositol-H(3) in a Beta-counter and the results were expressed as count per minute (CPM). RESULTS The elevation of intracellular level of cAMP inhibited both InsP(3) and ROS production in granulocytes from healthy subjects and activated in the cells from Type 1 diabetic patients. InsP(1), InsP(2) and InsP(4) did not show significant alteration in both studied cells. There was a significant correlation between InsP(3) and ROS in the presence of elevated content of cAMP. This correlation was observed in a 15 minutes reaction for healthy subjects and in 120 minutes for DM1. CONCLUSIONS The importance of both InsP(3) release and ROS production in an inflammatory process and tissue pathophysiology in Type 1 diabetic patients is still under debate because hyperglycemia accelerates generation of oxidative stress and may play an important role in the development of complications in diabetes. Thus, our results demonstrated alteration in metabolic response in granulocytes from Type 1 diabetic patients and it may be important for the development of therapeutic processes and drugs that interfere with signaling of ROS generation and may contribute to the improvement of the severe complications of diabetes.
Personality as an Antecedent of Impulsive Buying Behaviour: Evidence from Young Indian Consumers

The main aim of this research was to examine the effect of intrinsic attributes on impulsive buying behaviour among young consumers with special reference to Indian context. After employing exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis on select consumers under the study, results showed that personality significantly shapes impulsive buying predispositions. Furthermore, select personality dimensions vis-à-vis expressive propensity, pleasure-seeking propensity, sociableness, emotional stability, conscientiousness and conserving propensity have significant bearing on the outcome of impulsive buying behaviour. In the current study, some of the select personality attributes comprising of expressive propensity, pleasure-seeking propensity and sociableness have been found to have positive effect on impulsiveness while other factors, namely, emotional stability, conscientiousness and conserving propensity have negative effect on the impulsiveness. These findings are paramount both from the perspective of consumer welfare advocates and corporates and could largely support them in their respective endeavours.
Butyrylcholinesterase Antisense Transfection Increases Apoptosis in Differentiating Retinal Reaggregates of the Chick Embryo

Abstract: To investigate the roles of the enzymes butyryl‐ and acetylcholinesterase (BChE and AChE) in retinal proliferation and differentiation, we use reaggregated spheres from retinal cells of the 6‐day‐old chick embryo, forming cellular and fibrous areas homologous to all layers of a normal retina. Recently, we could suppress BChE expression by transfecting these so‐called retinospheroids during their proliferation period with a pSVK3 expression vector containing a 5′ fragment of the rabbit BChE gene in antisense orientation. Along with morphological changes, proliferation was significantly decreased. Here, we have studied the effect of antisense BChE suppression during the differentiation period of retinospheroids. As BChE is suppressed, the differentiation of AChE‐positive cells is increased, whereas the immunoreactivities for red and green cone‐specific opsins are strongly reduced. Concomitantly, the rate of apoptosis as determined by propidium iodide uptake, by increased CPP 32‐like caspase expression, and by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick end‐labeling and DNA fragmentation assays is roughly doubled, predominantly at the expense of degenerating photoreceptor precursors. This is further strong evidence that the proliferation marker BChE regulates an intricate balance between cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and programmed cell death in this in vitro retinal system.
Patient satisfaction for homeless women.

BACKGROUND Patient satisfaction is a key quality of care indicator for which little is known for the homeless women population. We hypothesized that homeless women who last visited homeless-focused healthcare sites (shelter/outreach clinics and mobile vans) will have higher satisfaction ratings than homeless women who last visited county/government clinics. This association was also tested using the Gelberg-Andersen Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations. METHODS Data were gathered on 974 homeless women aged 15-44 in a probability cluster sample of 60 shelters and 18 meal programs in Los Angeles County. The homeless women participated in 45-minute interviews. RESULTS Our hypothesis was partially supported, as shelter and outreach clinics were positively and significantly associated with greater quality satisfaction (beta = 10.2, p < 0.001). Healthcare at private doctors' offices was also associated with quality, access, and appointment satisfaction when compared with care received at county/government clinics (beta = 15.9, p < 0.001; beta = 8.6, p < 0.05; beta = 16.3, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Policymakers should encourage healthcare sites that serve homeless women to improve their care by learning from shelter/outreach clinics and private doctors.