Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subtalar Distraction Osteogenesis for Posttraumatic Arthritis Following Intra-Articular Calcaneal Fractures

Background: The most common treatment for old calcaneal fractures accompanied by subtalar joint injury is the use of subtalar in situ arthrodesis and subtalar distraction bone-block arthrodesis or osteotomy. This article describes the introduction of a novel surgical treatment, gradual subtalar distraction with external fixation and restoration of the calcaneal height, and presents an assessment of its efficacy. Methods: The protruding lateral calcaneus and the articular surfaces and subchondral bone of the posterior facet of the subtalar joint were surgically removed. An external fixator, attached with 2 pins in the subcutaneous tibia and 2 pins in the posterolateral calcaneus, was used to fix the subtalar joint for 7 to 10 days followed by gradual subtalar distraction at 1 mm/d. The lengthening procedure was stopped when the calcaneal height was restored according to radiography. The external fixator was removed after bone fusion. Seven cases of old calcaneal fractures accompanied by severe subtalar joint injury (8 feet) were treated using this method. Average follow-up was 14.3 months (range, 7-36 months). Results: In all 7 cases (1 case of both feet), the postoperative wound healed primarily. The calcaneal heights of all 8 feet were partially restored. Subtalar joint bone fusion was completed within 4 to 6 months after the operation. The average preoperative American Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) hindfoot score was 25.3, and the average postoperative AOFAS score was 76.3. Conclusion: Subtalar distraction osteogenesis with external fixation was a novel and effective method for the treatment of old calcaneal fractures accompanied by severe subtalar joint injury in this small group of patients. Level of Evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.
EWC Confidential. Confidentiality in European Works Councils and How Representatives Deal with it: Case Study and Survey Insights

The idea behind the establishment of European Works Councils (EWCs) is that these are bodies which should be informed and consulted on company decisions and actions. However, this flow of information is often disrupted by confidentiality constraints imposed by management. Three central research questions are: (1) what are the different practices of confidentiality and the withholding of information in EWCs; (2) what are the different handling strategies EWC representatives use in order to deal with confidential information; and (3) how do these handling strategies affect the functioning of the EWC and the employee representatives themselves? The survey findings generally confirm the observations based on the case studies: EWC members who think management withholds information are also more likely to feel limited in discussing information because of the ‘confidential’ labelling; at the same time, EWC members who think management shares all information also feel much more free to talk about that information.
CROWDSOURCING – AN AREA TO EXPLORE

In this dynamic and digital world, most of the e-businesses are done by outsourcing. As many business models have reached the saturation level by outsourcing process, industrialists are looking for innovative ideaswhich reduces cost, time and access for right talent. Crowdsourcing isone of the most appropriate model which promotes innovation by gathering a large number of ideas from broad range of talents in shorter duration with less cost. Crowdsourcing is the compound fusion of Crowd and Outsourcing, which defines outsourcing a job for the crowd. Beyond the cost, crowdsourcing offers significant benefits to the business by reducing the risk of failures and paves for solutions or services that meet its expectations without any geographical limitations. This paper provides a detailed review on crowdsourcing, its various forms, its applicability in different domains and challenges faced by both the participants and the organizers in crowdsourcing.
Bidirectional homeostatic plasticity induced by interneuron cell death and transplantation in vivo

Significance We describe homeostatic plasticity of both excitatory synaptic transmission and intrinsic properties of CA1 pyramidal neurons in distal-less homeobox 1 (Dlx1−/−) mice, a genetic model of postdevelopment interneuron cell death. Loss of synaptic inhibition and compensation by excitation led to enhanced potential for long-term potentiation (LTP) and altered neural oscillations. This shows that homeostatic compensation may rebalance inhibition and excitation but cannot fully normalize neural function. Transplantation of interneuron progenitor cells restored inhibitory synaptic transmission to WT levels and induced a reversal of homeostatic changes to excitation and excitability. LTP and gamma oscillations were also normalized after integration of transplanted interneurons. These data indicate that homeostatic plasticity functions in vivo to balance activity based on inhibitory tone. Chronic changes in excitability and activity can induce homeostatic plasticity. These perturbations may be associated with neurological disorders, particularly those involving loss or dysfunction of GABA interneurons. In distal-less homeobox 1 (Dlx1−/−) mice with late-onset interneuron loss and reduced inhibition, we observed both excitatory synaptic silencing and decreased intrinsic neuronal excitability. These homeostatic changes do not fully restore normal circuit function, because synaptic silencing results in enhanced potential for long-term potentiation and abnormal gamma oscillations. Transplanting medial ganglionic eminence interneuron progenitors to introduce new GABAergic interneurons, we demonstrate restoration of hippocampal function. Specifically, miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents, input resistance, hippocampal long-term potentiation, and gamma oscillations are all normalized. Thus, in vivo homeostatic plasticity is a highly dynamic and bidirectional process that responds to changes in inhibition.
A low power SHA-less pipelined ADC used in DVB-S2

A 8-b 125 MS/s pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) used in DVB-S2 is presented in this paper. Based on reviewing low-power design techniques of high speed ADCs, several technologies are used in the design including the SHA-less architecture to reduce the power dissipation significantly. Detailed analysis is given about the relationship between the closed loop bandwidth (BWclose) and the current of operational amplifier (OPAMP) used in multiply digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) to get the lowest power dissipation which can satisfy the ADC. The ADC is realized in SMIC 0.18 um 1P6M CMOS process and according to the simulation results, the SNDR is 48 dB with the power of 23.5 mW.
Stochastic analysis of parallel system with two discrete failures

In this paper two identical parallel units have been analyzed by using discrete distribution and regenerative point technique. The distribution for repair time and inspection policy for detecting the kind of failures (minor or major) are taken as geometric distribution. Various reliability measures of system effectiveness such as mean time to system failure, steady state availability and busy period for both inspection and repairman were obtained. Graphs has been plotted for the system, that concluded the behaviour of profit function which increase along with increase in rate of repair mechanism and decreases with increase in failure rate.
Asymptotic analysis of a GLR test for detection with large sensor arrays: New results

This paper addresses the behaviour of a classical multi-antenna GLR test that allows to detect the presence of a known signal corrupted by a multipath propagation channel when the number of sensors M, the sample size N, and the number of paths L are large and of the same order of magnitude. In the asymptotic regime where M, N and L converge towards ∞ at the same rate, the test statistics is shown to be asymptotically Gaussian under each hypothesis. The results of this paper extend previous contributions of the authors that addressed the case where the number of paths L is much smaller than M and N, and used these results in order to propose a pragmatic Gaussian approximation of the test statistics when L is large. Simulation results indicate that the proposed Gaussian approximation of the test statistics is more reliable than the above mentioned pragmatic approximation.
A genetic polymorphism in transforming growth factor beta receptor‐2 is associated with serum osteopontin

Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted glycoprotein demonstrated to play an important role in inflammation. Transforming growth factor beta and a related signalling pathway have been implicated in control of OPN secretion. We examined the relationship between transforming growth factor beta receptor‐1 and ‐2 (TGFBR1 and 2) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and serum OPN in 296 men from the Health in Men Study. Serum concentrations of OPN and 58 SNPs for TGFBR1 and 2 were assessed. One SNP in TGFBR2 was associated with serum OPN (TGFBR2 g.20690C>T, SNP ID rs4522809, P = 0.0007) after adjusting for multiple testing. This study suggests that polymorphism in TGFBR2 are associated with altered secretion of OPN, supporting a role for transforming growth factor beta in OPN production.
Weak Fault Feature Extraction of Rolling Bearings Using Local Mean Decomposition-Based Multilayer Hybrid Denoising

Extraction of the weak fault features under strong background noise is crucial to early fault diagnosis in bearings. A new method called local mean decomposition (LMD)-based multilayer hybrid denoising (LMD-MHD) is proposed for signal denoising in this paper. LMD is a novel self-adaptive time-frequency analysis method. It can decompose the signal into a set of product functions (PFs), and is thus particularly suitable for processing of multicomponent amplitude-modulated and frequency-modulated signals. The first filtering layer of LMD-MHD is to use a multiple criteria decision to select the effective PF components. The second filtering layer is to use the wavelet threshold denoising (WTD) as the prefilter of singular value decomposition (SVD) implementation, which enables the preserved singular values to consist of the most important information of the PFs. The final denoising layer of LMD-MHD is to use SVD to extract the most important principal features from Hankel matrix of the PFs. The order of effective ranks of the Hankel matrix is determined by the number of main frequencies in the fast Fourier transformation (FFT) result of the signal. The filtering is finished based on the reconstructed signal from the decomposition result of SVD. The results of experimental analysis on the simulation signals and vibration signal collected from rolling bearings indicate that LMD-MHD is effective for extracting the weak fault features and performs well for bearing fault diagnosis.
FPGA Implementation Of Viterbi Decoder Using Hybrid Trace Back And Register Exchange Method

Error correction is an integral part of any communication system and for this purpose, the convolution codes are widely used as forward error correction codes. For decoding of convolution codes, at the receiver end Viterbi Decoder is being employed. The parameters of Viterbi algorithm can be changed to suit a specific application. The high speed and small area are two important design parameters in today's wireless technology. In this paper, a high speed feed forward viterbi decoder has been designed using hybrid track back and register exchange architecture and embedded BRAM of target FPGA. The proposed viterbi decoder has been designed with Matlab, simulated with Xilinx ISE 8.1i Tool, synthesized with Xilinx Synthesis Tool (XST), and implemented on Xilinx Virtex4 based xc4vlx15 FPGA device. The results show that the proposed design can operate at an estimated frequency of 107.7 MHz by consuming considerably less resources on target device to provide cost effective solution for wireless applications
Thirty-six-item short-form outcomes following a randomized controlled trial in type 2 diabetes.

The goals of clinical interventions in diabetes are to improve not only medical outcomes but health status and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as well. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form (SF-36) (1) remains the most widely used measure of HRQOL in medical research. We report on change in HRQOL, as assessed using the SF-36, following a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in urban African Americans with type 2 diabetes, a population overrepresented in diabetes prevalence and adverse diabetes outcomes but with relatively little HRQOL research. Between 1995 and 2000, we conducted a four-arm RCT (2) of the effects of nurse case manager (NCM) and community health worker (CHW) interventions on risk factors for diabetes-related complications in a sample of 186 African Americans with type 2 diabetes in east Baltimore, Maryland. The 2-year trial compared usual care with NCM, CHW, and combined NCM and CHW interventions. The interventions targeted traditional aspects of diabetes care along with socioeconomic factors and home environment. SF-36 was administered at baseline (3) and 2-year follow-up. One hundred forty-nine persons (84%) completed the 2-year follow-up visit. Pearsons χ2 analyses and two-sample t tests revealed no differences between participants who completed the follow-up and those who did not …
Optimized Search Window Alignment for A-GPS

The best performance of assisted-global positioning system (A-GPS) positioning is obtained when fine time assistance is provided to the terminal, i.e., when information on the GPS time of week is provided, and is accurate to within a few microseconds. This paper presents a new method for the minimization of the size of the coarse acquisition (C/A) code search windows, around their so-provided window centers. The method accounts for 1) the geometrical shape of the initial region where the terminal is known to be located; 2) the location of the radio base station; and 3) the azimuth and elevation angles of each space vehicle. Benefits include a reduced computational complexity of the GPS signal acquisition or a corresponding sensitivity enhancement.
Evaluating the current surgical strategies for hepatocellular carcinoma

ABSTRACT Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Despite careful surveillance programs and the development of antiviral therapy for hepatitis virus infection, the occurrence rate of HCC remains high. Liver resection and liver transplantation are mainstay curative treatments. Most patients with HCC have impaired liver function, and surgical treatment is always accompanied by the risk of decompensation of the remnant liver, especially when the volume of the remnant liver is too small and the liver function too low to meet metabolic demands. The mortality of liver resection has dramatically decreased over the last three decades from 20% to less than 5% due to the accumulation of knowledge of liver anatomy, perioperative management and preoperative assessment of liver function. Here we provide an overview of the multidisciplinary treatments and current standard treatment strategies for HCC, to explore the possibility of expanding surgical treatments beyond the current standards.
Enzyme leaps fuel antichemotaxis

Significance Challenging the traditional view that enzyme kinetics are only a matter of catalyzing chemical reactions, there is mounting evidence that the enzyme catalysis enhances enzyme mobility. This is significant to programming spatio-temporal patterns of molecular response to chemical stimulus, which is common to living matter as well as to significant chemical technology. This paper shows that the enhanced diffusivity of enzymes is a “run-and-tumble” process analogous to that performed by swimming microorganisms, executed in this situation by molecules that lack the decision-making machinery of microorganisms. The result is that enzymes display “antichemotaxis” when they turn over substrate; they migrate in the direction of lesser reactant concentration. There is mounting evidence that enzyme diffusivity is enhanced when the enzyme is catalytically active. Here, using superresolution microscopy [stimulated emission-depletion fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (STED-FCS)], we show that active enzymes migrate spontaneously in the direction of lower substrate concentration (“antichemotaxis”) by a process analogous to the run-and-tumble foraging strategy of swimming microorganisms and our theory quantifies the mechanism. The two enzymes studied, urease and acetylcholinesterase, display two families of transit times through subdiffraction-sized focus spots, a diffusive mode and a ballistic mode, and the latter transit time is close to the inverse rate of catalytic turnover. This biochemical information-processing algorithm may be useful to design synthetic self-propelled swimmers and nanoparticles relevant to active materials. Executed by molecules lacking the decision-making circuitry of microorganisms, antichemotaxis by this run-and-tumble process offers the biological function to homogenize product concentration, which could be significant in situations when the reactant concentration varies from spot to spot.
Verbal Memory Impairment in Congestive Heart Failure

Cognitive dysfunction, mainly memory impairment, characterizes congestive heart failure (CHF). Aim of this study was to verify whether: (1) CHF has differential effects on primary and secondary memory; (2) memory dysfunction can be diagnosed by a screening instrument. In a multicenter study we enrolled 369 patients with stable CHF who underwent a structured assessment of verbal memory mechanisms and selected cognitive functions. Performance on some verbal memory indexes (Recency, Rey's immediate and delayed recall, Learning efficiency) progressively decreased from II to IV New York Heart Association (NYHA) class. Rate of forgetting was uniformly high across NYHA classes II–IV. Verbal memory indexes were highly correlated with most nonverbal scores. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) had poor sensitivity and specificity versus primary or secondary verbal memory dysfunction. Therefore, a deficit of both primary and secondary memory is relatively common in CHF but cannot be accurately recognized by a screening neuropsychological test.
Emerging tyrosine kinase inhibitors for esophageal cancer

Introduction: Because of the poor prognosis for patients with esophagogastric cancers (EGCs), increasing attention has focused on targeted agents. Areas covered: Targets include epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Her2, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and MET. We briefly discuss preclinical data and the rationale for targeting these pathways and summarize the results of clinical trials of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) against these targets. Expert opinion: While anti-EGFR therapy has been extensively investigated, completed Phase III trials suggest that this is not a promising target. A Phase III trial of an anti-VEGF antibody failed to show improvement in the primary endpoint of overall survival but response rates and progression-free survival were improved; a Phase III trial of an anti-VEGF receptor 2 antibody in second-line therapy did show improved survival. As such, Phase II and III evaluations of anti-VEGF TKIs are ongoing. The only Food and Drug Administration-approved targeted therapy in EGC is trastuzumab, an anti-Her2 antibody, and the results of a Phase III evaluation of lapatinib, an anti-Her2 TKI, are awaited. Phase III evaluation of an mTOR inhibitor has been negative. Finally, MET inhibition appears to have significant clinical potential and early testing of MET TKIs is underway.
Molecular Characterization of δ-Thalassemia in Iran

Abstract δ-Thalassemia (δ-thal) (OMIM #142000) resulting from mutations on the HBD gene usually has no clinical consequences. However, it may cause the misdiagnosis of β-thalassemia (β-thal) carriers by lowering the Hb A2 level to the normal range. Therefore, a study for δ-thal should be considered as a step in the detection of at-risk couple in our region. The aim of the present study was to characterize the mutations of the HBD gene in β-thal carriers with normal Hb A2 levels, and also in normal individuals with Hb A2 of less than 2.0%. Four β-thal carriers with normal Hb A2 and 39 individuals with Hb A2 of less than 2.0% were enrolled. Genomic DNA was extracted by the salting out method and the HBD gene was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct DNA sequencing. Hb A2-Yialousa (HBD: c.82 G > T) was the most common variant found in the HBD gene, but the following mutations were also found: Hb A2-NYU (HBD: c.39 T > A), Hb A2-Coburg (HBD: c.350 G > A), Hb A2-Etolia (HBD: c.257 T > C), Hb A2-Fitzroy (HBD: c.428 C > A) and the δ-IVS-I-5 (G > T) (HBD: c.92 + 5 G > T). One case was a compound heterozygote for δ-IVS-I-5/Hb A2-Fitzroy. The results of this single center study suggest that the mutations in the HBD gene in the Iranian population are heterogeneous and should be considered in genetic counseling of families.
Probing In Vivo Promoter Activities in Mycoplasma pneumoniae: a System for Generation of Single-Copy Reporter Constructs

ABSTRACT The nucleotide sequences that control transcription initiation and regulation in Mycoplasma pneumoniae are poorly understood. In this work, we developed a lacZ-based reporter plasmid that can be used to integrate fusions of promoter fragments to a promoterless lacZ gene into the chromosome of M. pneumoniae.
An Associative Neuron Group Microchip with analog EEPROM weight matrix in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS

A novel microchip implementation for an associative neuron group is presented. This microchip is intended for human-like cognitive systems where information is processed via links between distributed representation signal arrays. In this study a microchip containing 8 associative neurons and 128 synaptic connections was realized by 0.35 μm CMOS process. The synaptic weights have been implemented using a customized analog nonvolatile EEPROMs. Measurements show that the presented ideas work and the neuron group is able to associate signal arrays together as intended and the proposed analog EEPROM structure is operating in an accurate and reliable manner even using a standard CMOS technology
Interfering With Lipid Raft Association: A Mechanism to Control Influenza Virus Infection By Sambucus Nigra

Sambucus nigra (elder) are broadly used species to treat microbial infections. The potential antiviral activity and mechanism action of elder fruit (EF) in human epithelium cell (A549) cultures infected with H9N2 influenza virus were determined. The effect of various concentrations of EF on influenza virus replication was examined by using virus titration, quantitative real time RT-PCR, fusion and lipid raft assays following two treatment procedures: A) pre-treated H9N2 virus with each concentration of EF extract and transfection of A549 cell cultures, and B) each concentrations of EF was added to H9N2 virus infected-cell cultures following virus adsorption. In both treatments with lower doses of EF increased viral titer as well as synthesized viral nucleoprotein as indicating the herb had no inhibitory effects on virus replication. In (B) trial with higher doses, 40 and 80 μg/mL of EF, a significant decrease in virus titer and viral protein synthesis were shown in EF treated cells indicating the herb affect either entry of viruses or inhibition virus particle release. The results suggest that EF treatment of the influenza virus infected-human epithelial cells may involve in lipid raft association which function as platform for formation of viral membrane fusion and budding. Differencesin treatment time and dose of EF extract in infected cells with influenza virus have a marked effect on the efficacy of the herb.