Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the soft tissue volumetric changes following acellular dermal matrix grafts with cone beam computerized tomography.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to use cone beam computerized tomography (CBCT), which consistently allowed the determination of the dimensions of the soft tissue, to evaluate acellular dermal matrix grafts (ADMG) used to increase gingival soft tissue thickness (GSTT). METHOD AND MATERIALS In total, 90 gingival defects were included in the study. Surgical procedures were performed to augment the gingival tissue with ADMG. While GSTT measurements were assessed at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months post-surgery, ADMG measurements were performed with CBCT at 6, 12, and 18 months post-surgery. RESULTS All parameters showed statistically significant differences between time intervals. In the ADMG-treated sites, the baseline GSTT was 1.00 ± 0.37 mm and the final thickness was 1.66 ± 0.34 mm. The 6-month measurement of ADMG was 0.79 ± 0.08 mm, and the final measurement was 0.11 ± 0.09 mm. CONCLUSION High-quality images of the GSTT and ADMG can be consistently obtained with CBCT. The present findings indicate that soft tissue augmentation can be achieved in gingival defects with the use of ADMG.
Validity of aggregate packing models in mixture design of interlocking concrete block pavers (ICBP)

Interlocking concrete block pavers (ICBP) are manufactured using a semi dry concrete mix and vibration and compression are applied by electrical or hydraulic machines to cast the blocks. Hence the concrete mixture characteristics differ from concrete mixtures that we use for general purposes. When determining the mix proportions for the mix design, several properties of the block need to be considered. Maintaining required strength and surface texture, producing mixes with optimum water content to maintain the green strength while avoiding slumping are some of the challenges faced by the industry. To overcome such challenges a mix design using aggregate packing optimisation can be used effectively. There are number of theoretical packing models available for concrete mix optimisations and each model has its own pros and cons. Most of the models are successfully used for more generalised concrete applications and these models have not been used for more specialised applications such as ICBP. This study considers Modified Toufar model, three parameter model and compressible packing model to determine the validity of applying for ICBP. The theoretical models are compared with laboratory and field packing density experiments and the results indicate that the models are not accurately predicting the packing density for mix design of ICBP. Hence the study suggests developing a new theoretical packing model that accommodates production procedures together with mixture performances to enhance the mix design procedure as well as the performance of ICBP.
The Health and Working Conditions of Women Employed in Child Care

Over one million women are employed in child care and are among the lowest wage workers in the US. The health and working conditions of 674 child care workers (118 administrators and 556 staff) from 74 centers is described using baseline data from a larger intervention trial. Participants were 39.9 (±13.0) years old; 55.4% African American, 37.1% Caucasian, and 5.3% of Hispanic ethnicity. Seventy-six percent reported having an Associate’s degree or less; 42% were classified as at or below poverty (<$20,000); and exhibited many health risks such as excess weight, insufficient activity, poor diet, and inadequate sleep. We investigated potential differences by income and job category. Lower income participants were significantly more likely to be current smokers (19.9% vs. 11.7%), drink more sweetened beverages (1.9 vs. 1.5), and report higher depressive symptoms (15.5 vs. 12.6). Administrators worked more hours weekly compared to staff (46.4 vs. 40.6), are less active (100 vs. 126 min/week), more sedentary (501 vs. 477 min/day), and reported higher job demands (13.3 vs. 12.5). Given the numerous health issues and challenging work conditions, we hope our results serve as a call to action for addressing low wages and the work environment as a means of influencing the health and well-being of child care workers.
Production of a Dynamic Cropland Mask by Processing Remote Sensing Image Series at High Temporal and Spatial Resolutions

The exploitation of new high revisit frequency satellite observations is an important opportunity for agricultural applications. The Sentinel-2 for Agriculture project S2Agri (http://www.esa-sen2agri.org/SitePages/Home.aspx) is designed to develop, demonstrate and facilitate the Sentinel-2 time series contribution to the satellite EO component of agriculture monitoring for many agricultural systems across the globe. In the framework of this project, this article studies the construction of a dynamic cropland mask. This mask consists of a binary “annual-cropland/no-annual-cropland” map produced several times during the season to serve as a mask for monitoring crop growing conditions over the growing season. The construction of the mask relies on two classical pattern recognition techniques: feature extraction and classification. One pixel- and two object-based strategies are proposed and compared. A set of 12 test sites are used to benchmark the methods and algorithms with regard to the diversity of the agro-ecological context, landscape patterns, agricultural practices and actual satellite observation conditions. The classification results yield promising accuracies of around 90% at the end of the agricultural season. Efforts will be made to transition this research into operational products once Sentinel-2 data become available.
The value of duplicate slides on atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude high‐grade intraepithelial lesion

Atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC‐H) category was added to the 2001 Bethesda System. ASC‐H accounts for a small percentage (0.2–0.6%) of abnormal Pap smears and includes heterogenous group of lesions. There are more high‐grade cervical lesions (30–50%) in ASC‐H than ASC‐US (10–15%). An accurate Pap diagnosis is crucial for appropriate patient follow‐up and treatment.
Characterization of an IncA/C Multidrug Resistance Plasmid in Vibrio alginolyticus

ABSTRACT Cephalosporin-resistant Vibrio alginolyticus was first isolated from food products, with β-lactamases encoded by blaPER-1, blaVEB-1, and blaCMY-2 being the major mechanisms mediating their cephalosporin resistance. The complete sequence of a multidrug resistance plasmid, pVAS3-1, harboring the blaCMY-2 and qnrVC4 genes was decoded in this study. Its backbone exhibited genetic homology to known IncA/C plasmids recoverable from members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, suggesting its possible origin in Enterobacteriaceae.
Transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells promotes axonal regeneration and functional recovery of peripheral nerve lesion in rats

Introduction: Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) hold promise for cell therapy because they may promote regeneration of the central nervous system. However, OECs have been less studied after peripheral nerve injury (PNI). The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of OEC transplantation on a severe sciatic nerve (SN) lesion. Methods: OECs were injected in rats after section and 2‐cm resection of the SN. Results: Three months after therapy, muscle strength and morphometric studies showed complete restoration of the contractile properties of the gastrocnemius and complete repair of the SN. Immunohistochemistry and RT‐PCR studies indicated an increase in the presence of neurotrophic factors. Interestingly, tracking of green fluorescent protein (GFP)‐positive OECs showed that no OECs were present in the SN. Discussion: Our results demonstrate that, after severe PNI, OECs have remarkable potential for nerve regeneration by creating a favorable microenvironment. Muscle Nerve, 2011
Specific Heat of Solution of HCl-NaOH Reaction by a Simple Handmade Calorimeter

A research study was performed by couple of students under the research project of bachelor in chemistry. The main goal to perform this project was to determine the changes in temperature of solution when an acid and a base were mixed together inside the cups of handmade calorimeter and their reaction was proceeded under the lab conditions and to determine either reaction would be exothermic or endothermic. Basically, from these changes in temperature of solution, the specific Heat of solution or Heat of reaction was determining. Temperature changes were observed using analytical thermometer with stop watch and all changes were noted on datasheet, while after completion of the whole experimental work, a thermodynamic equation of specific Heat was applied to calculate the Specific Heat of solution mathematically in numeric value which was 3214.72476 J or 3.21472 KJ. It was seen that as the base was mixed into acid, the temperature of solution was increased to maximum rapidly showing the exothermic reaction. After reaching to maximum range, the temperature decreased gradually to its minimum range being constant and consistent. The consistent temperature range terminated the reaction. All variations in temperature ranges were recorded very carefully and a table with a graph showing all ups and downs in temperature ranges was drawn on MS Excel Data Sheet.
Pharmacokinetics and physiologic effects of alprazolam after a single oral dose in healthy mares.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetic properties and physiologic effects of a single oral dose of alprazolam in horses. Seven adult female horses received an oral administration of alprazolam at a dosage of 0.04 mg/kg body weight. Blood samples were collected at various time points and assayed for alprazolam and its metabolite, α-hydroxyalprazolam, using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Pharmacokinetic disposition of alprazolam was analyzed by a one-compartmental approach. Mean plasma pharmacokinetic parameters (±SD) following single-dose administration of alprazolam were as follows: Cmax 14.76 ± 3.72 ng/mL and area under the curve (AUC0-∞ ) 358.77 ± 76.26 ng·h/mL. Median (range) Tmax was 3 h (1-12 h). Alpha-hydroxyalprazolam concentrations were detected in each horse, although concentrations were low (Cmax 1.36 ± 0.28 ng/mL). Repeat physical examinations and assessment of the degree of sedation and ataxia were performed every 12 h to evaluate for adverse effects. Oral alprazolam tablets were absorbed in adult horses and no clinically relevant adverse events were observed. Further evaluation of repeated dosing and safety of administration of alprazolam to horses is warranted.
PhenX: a toolkit for interdisciplinary genetics research

Purpose of review To highlight standard PhenX (consensus measures for Phenotypes and eXposures) measures for nutrition, dietary supplements, and cardiovascular disease research and to demonstrate how these and other PhenX measures can be used to further interdisciplinary genetics research. Recent findings PhenX addresses the need for standard measures in large-scale genomic research studies by providing investigators with high-priority, well established, low-burden measurement protocols in a web-based toolkit (https://www.phenxtoolkit.org). Cardiovascular and Nutrition and Dietary Supplements are just 2 of 21 research domains and accompanying measures included in the PhenX Toolkit. Summary Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provide promise for the identification of genomic markers associated with different disease phenotypes, but require replication to validate results. Cross-study comparisons typically increase statistical power and are required to understand the roles of comorbid conditions and environmental factors in the progression of disease. However, the lack of comparable phenotypic, environmental, and risk factor data forces investigators to infer and to compare metadata rather than directly combining data from different studies. PhenX measures provide a common currency for collecting data, thereby greatly facilitating cross-study analysis and increasing statistical power for identification of associations between genotypes, phenotypes, and exposures.
The Contribution of Health Literacy to Disparities in Self-Rated Health Status and Preventive Health Behaviors in Older Adults

PURPOSE Health literacy is associated with a range of poor health-related outcomes. Evidence that health literacy contributes to disparities in health is minimal and based on brief screening instruments that have limited ability to assess health literacy. The purpose of this study was to assess whether health literacy contributes, through mediation, to racial/ethnic and education-related disparities in self-rated health status and preventive health behaviors among older adults. METHODS We undertook a cross-sectional study of a nationally representative sample of 2,668 US adults aged 65 years and older from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess for evidence of mediation. RESULTS Of older adults in the United States, 29% reported fair or poor health status, and 27% to 39% reported not utilizing 3 recommended preventive health care services in the year preceding the assessment (influenza vaccination 27%, mammography 34%, dental checkup 39%). Health literacy and the 4 health outcomes (self-rated health status and utilization of the 3 preventive health care services) varied by race/ethnicity and educational attainment. Regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for potential confounders, health literacy significantly mediated both racial/ethnic and education-related disparities in self-rated health status and receipt of influenza vaccination, but only education-related disparities in receipt of mammography and dental care. CONCLUSIONS Health literacy contributes to disparities associated with race/ethnicity and educational attainment in self-rated health and some preventive health behaviors among older adults. Interventions addressing low health literacy may reduce these disparities.
Efficient Feature Detection for Sequence Classification in a Receptor Database

The analysis of sequences is one of the major research areas of bio-informatics. Inspired by this research, we investigate the discovery of sequential patterns for use in classification. We will define variations of a fit function that enables us to tell if one pattern better fits to a class than another. Furthermore we will show how domain knowledge can be used for faster discovery of better sequential patterns in specific types of databases, in our case a receptor
Synergism in low level vision

Guiding image segmentation with edge information is an often employed strategy in low level computer vision. To improve the trade-off between the sensitivity of homogeneous region delineation and the over-segmentation on of the image, we have incorporated a recently proposed edge magnitude/confidence map into a color image segmenter based on the mean shift procedure. The new method can recover regions with weak but sharp boundaries and thus can provide a more accurate input for high level interpretation modules. The edge detection and image segmentation (EDISON) system, available for download, implements the proposed technique and provides a complete toolbox for discontinuity preserving filtering, segmentation and edge detection.
Whole-Genome Sequencing of Bacterial Pathogens: the Future of Nosocomial Outbreak Analysis

SUMMARY Outbreaks of multidrug-resistant bacteria present a frequent threat to vulnerable patient populations in hospitals around the world. Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to nosocomial infections due to indwelling devices such as intravascular catheters, drains, and intratracheal tubes for mechanical ventilation. The increased vulnerability of infected ICU patients demonstrates the importance of effective outbreak management protocols to be in place. Understanding the transmission of pathogens via genotyping methods is an important tool for outbreak management. Recently, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of pathogens has become more accessible and affordable as a tool for genotyping. Analysis of the entire pathogen genome via WGS could provide unprecedented resolution in discriminating even highly related lineages of bacteria and revolutionize outbreak analysis in hospitals. Nevertheless, clinicians have long been hesitant to implement WGS in outbreak analyses due to the expensive and cumbersome nature of early sequencing platforms. Recent improvements in sequencing technologies and analysis tools have rapidly increased the output and analysis speed as well as reduced the overall costs of WGS. In this review, we assess the feasibility of WGS technologies and bioinformatics analysis tools for nosocomial outbreak analyses and provide a comparison to conventional outbreak analysis workflows. Moreover, we review advantages and limitations of sequencing technologies and analysis tools and present a real-world example of the implementation of WGS for antimicrobial resistance analysis. We aimed to provide health care professionals with a guide to WGS outbreak analysis that highlights its benefits for hospitals and assists in the transition from conventional to WGS-based outbreak analysis.
Relational DBMS Internals

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Linear square-mass trajectories of radially and orbitally excited hadrons in holographic QCD

We consider a new approach towards constructing approximate holographic duals of QCD from experimental hadron properties. This framework allows us to derive a gravity dual which reproduces the empirically found linear square-mass trajectories of universal slope for radially and orbitally excited hadrons. Conformal symmetry breaking in the bulk is exclusively due to infrared deformations of the anti-de Sitter metric and governed by one free mass scale proportional to ΛQCD. The resulting background geometry exhibits dual signatures of confinement and provides the first examples of holographically generated linear trajectories in the baryon sector. The predictions for the light hadron spectrum include new relations between trajectory slopes and ground state masses and are in good overall agreement with experiment.
Characterization of additives in NR formulations by TLC-IR (UATR)

It is a well-established fact that rubber accelerator is essential to provide solution in different sectors. However, there is a reversal process which can reduce the material performance. Sulfur accelerators donors and organic peroxides have been presented as a solution to the problem. The methodology development that can separate or characterize those components is a challenge and still allows gaps, explained by the application of conventional technique to reach this goal. This study aimed at contributing to the use of off-line coupling of thin layer chromatography (TLC)/infrared spectroscopy (IR) by Universal Attenuated Total Reflection (UATR) for analysis of N-cyclohexyl-2-benzotiazolsulfenamide (CBS), tetraethylthiuram disulfide (TMTD) and dicumyl peroxide (DCP), in natural poly-cis-isoprene (NR) formulations, containing naphthenic oil. The best results were obtained for the plasticizer and DCP, in formulations that had a greater proportion of these compounds. The separation of CBS and TMTD was made with less effectiveness, due to bands overlapping.
Extracting game design patterns from game design workshops

In this paper, we study the design of hybrid reality location-based mobile games. To support the design of such games, a set of design patterns is proposed, which were extracted from game design workshops. Six workshops for designing location-based games were organised and the designers were asked to generate game concepts for a hypothetical location-based mobile game for visitors of the site of ancient Pompeii, where the players should engage simultaneously with the real-world but also with its game-world counterparts. Having obtained the game designs, we applied methods from content analysis and grounded theory to identify the designers' decisions in the design documents and used that information to extract patterns that the designers applied. The resulting patterns are design elements that can support ideation and concept generation. They are part of a larger project which includes a design framework and a set of design guidelines for location based mobile games.
Lack of genetic diversity in Crimean‐Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses in Turkey: Assessment of present and future patterns of disease

Crimean‐Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick‐borne zoonosis which is common in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Balkan Peninsula. CCHF has been reported in Turkey with high frequency since 2002. The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetic diversity and genetic relationship between CCHF virus (CCHFV) isolates derived from infected patients over a 2‐year period (2009 and 2010) in several provinces of Turkey. Serum samples (n = 48) were selected from CCHFV RNA positive patients and subjected to sequence analysis of the gene regions encoding the S (48 samples) and M (14 samples) segments. The nucleotide sequence alignments showed that the nucleic acid relatedness of CCHFV isolates ranged from 95.7% to 100% and from 93.7% to 100% for S and M segments, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of both segment sequences revealed that CCHFV isolates circulating in Turkey belonged to the European lineage I and were closely related to the viruses found in the Eastern European‐Russian and Balkan Peninsula. The M gene segment‐based phylogenetic analysis suggested that 2/14 CCHFV isolates (KYSR3159/09 and YZGT714/10) had additional genetic variations. The results of the present study confirmed that the CCHFV isolates present in Turkey associated with human disease had high genetic homology in S segment, but some variability in the M segment of the RNA. J. Med. Virol. 84:471–478, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Progressive fuzzy fusion control of two coupled inverted penduli

This paper considers the control of two inverted penduli coupled with a spring using a progressive fuzzy fusion control method. The two penduli have some uncertain and unknown parameters and the coupling spring has an unknown spring constant. We assume that the lengths of the penduli and the spring are known. One of the inverted penduli is excited to generate the force disturbance to the other through the spring link. The aim of this paper is to design a controller based on the idea of fuzzy logic and the classical control methods, such that the second pendulum can reject the disturbance from the first pendulum significantly even without precise mathematical model of the system. The angular position and the angular speed for both inverted penduli are measured to feed into the fuzzy fusion controller via the proposed disturbance decoupling procedure. Based on the hardware-in-the-loop realtime simulation environment provided by MATLAB/Simulink RTW (real-time workshop) and plants in Quanser's rotary servo family, the subjective knowledge about this system in a progressive way. Extensive experimental results are reported to demonstrate how effectively benefit from the fuzzy logic control.