Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Management of unilateral staghorn renal stones with concurrent urinary tract infections by retroperitoneal laparoscopic pyelolithotomy with prolonged renal posterior lower segment incision

The present study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of the removal of unilateral staghorn renal stones with concurrent infections by retroperitoneal laparoscopic pyelolithotomy (RLP) with prolonged renal posterior lower segment incision. Patients with staghorn renal stone and concurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) who underwent RLP with prolonged renal posterior lower segment incision as the primary, one-session treatment at our institution between March 2014 and December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Routine laboratory tests were performed and the patients received broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics from at least 3 days prior to the operation. All patients were examined pre-operatively by urinary ultrasonography, computed tomography or intravenous urography. UTI was confirmed by laboratory tests with or without radiographic evidence by an experienced urologist. All patients (18 females and 10 males) successfully underwent the procedures and there was no conversion to open surgery in any case. The mean age was 57.0±10.81 years (age range, 40–74 years) and the mean calculus size was 3.3±0.79 cm. The mean operation time, warm ischemia time and post-operative hospital stay were 114.4±12.09 min, 28.1±4.23 min and 5.8±1.42 days, respectively. The mean hemoglobin drop on day 3 following surgery was 0.5±0.38 g/dl and there was no requirement for blood transfusion in any patient. The mean change of serum creatinine levels between pre-operative baseline and post-operative day 3 or post-operative month 6 was 6.0±20.03 or −4.5±15.13 µmol/l, respectively. The stone-free rate was 100% at 3 days and at 6 months. Mild post-operative complications (Grade I or II) occurred in 6 patients, including temporary and constant elevated body temperature (>38.5°C). No severe complications, including urine leakage, sepsis, residual stones requiring auxiliary procedures, were noted and there were no circumstances requiring further surgical intervention in any of the patients. In conclusion, RLP with prolonged renal posterior lower segment incision is an effective and safe procedure for patients with staghorn renal stones and concurrent UTI, and its feasible application as a single-session monotherapy is particularly convenient considering the financial and medical situation, as well as the patients' preference.
DSM Accuracy Evaluation for the ISPRS Commission I Image Matching Benchmark

Abstract. To improve the quality of algorithms for automatic generation of Digital Surface Models (DSM) from optical stereo data in the remote sensing community, the Working Group 4 of Commission I: Geometric and Radiometric Modeling of Optical Airborne and Spaceborne Sensors provides on its website http://www2.isprs. org/commissions/comm1/wg4/benchmark-test.html a benchmark dataset for measuring and comparing the accuracy of dense stereo algorithms. The data provided consists of several optical spaceborne stereo images together with ground truth data produced by aerial laser scanning. In this paper we present our latest work on this benchmark, based upon previous work. As a first point, we noticed that providing the abovementioned test data as geo-referenced satellite images together with their corresponding RPC camera model seems too high a burden for being used widely by other researchers, as a considerable effort still has to be made to integrate the test datas camera model into the researchers local stereo reconstruction framework. To bypass this problem, we now also provide additional rectified input images, which enable stereo algorithms to work out of the box without the need for implementing special camera models. Care was taken to minimize the errors resulting from the rectification transformation and the involved image resampling. We further improved the robustness of the evaluation method against errors in the orientation of the satellite images (with respect to the LiDAR ground truth). To this end we implemented a point cloud alignment of the DSM and the LiDAR reference points using an Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm and an estimation of the best fitting transformation. This way, we concentrate on the errors from the stereo reconstruction and make sure that the result is not biased by errors in the absolute orientation of the satellite images. The evaluation of the stereo algorithms is done by triangulating the resulting (filled) DSMs and computing for each LiDAR point the nearest Euclidean distance to the DSM surface. We implemented an adaptive triangulation method minimizing the second order derivative of the surface in a local neighborhood, which captures the real surface more accurate than a fixed triangulation. As a further advantage, using our point-to-surface evaluation, we are also able to evaluate non-uniformly sampled DSMs or triangulated 3D models in general. The latter is for example needed when evaluating building extraction and data reduction algorithms. As practical example we compare results from three different matching methods applied to the data available within the benchmark data sets. These results are analyzed using the above mentioned methodology and show advantages and disadvantages of the different methods, also depending on the land cover classes.
Water Balance in a Tropical Eucalyptus plantations in the Doce River Basin, Eastern Brazil

The rapid expansion of Eucalyptus plantations in Doce river basin, eastern Brazil, by changing the grassland and the natural surface cover in the savanna ecosystem, can potentially cause significant changes to water resources of the region. Especially for the higher amount of water transpired by the trees. The objective of this work was to model the water balance in an area cultivated with clonal E. grandis × urophylla in the Doce river basin, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Between October 2007 and September 2010, the water balance model estimated the daily variation of available soil water as a function of the water loss via evapotranspiration. Components of the evapotranspiration process were estimated by modifying the stomatal resistance of the Penman-Monteith equation. Evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation (P), during the three years, were 3,467 mm and 3,439 mm, respectively. The evapotranspiration/precipitation ratio (ET/P) was of 1.01. Precipitation input was approximately balanced by water losses to evapotranspiration, without significant changes to water stored in soil and groundwater.
Pricing Coupon Bond Options and Swaptions under theTwo-Factor Hull-White Model

In this article, we propose an alternative approach for pricing bond options and swaptions under the two-factor Hull-White model that differs from existing models used to evaluate these instruments. Assuming that the forward price of a coupon bond is a martingale under the forward risk-neutral measure, the proposed model involves deriving the volatility of the coupon bond as a function of the stochastic durations calculated with respect to the model’s two factors. Once the volatility function is defined, the price of options on coupon bonds can be derived by simply applying standard no-arbitrage pricing theory. Given the equivalence between the price of a coupon bond and the price of the corresponding swaptions, our approach can be adopted to calibrate the parameters of the two-factor Hull-White model using swaptions quoted in the market. The new solution we propose for the calibration can be considered as an alternative with respect to the existing approaches proposed in the literature and currently used by practitioners. Numerical results are provided in order to analyze the features of the proposed model for calibration purposes.
Immunocytochemical localization of the α1A subunit of the P/Q‐type calcium channel in the rat cerebellum

Among various types of low‐ and high‐threshold calcium channels, the high voltage‐activated P/Q‐type channel is the most abundant in the cerebellum. These P/Q‐type channels are involved in the regulation of neurotransmitter release and in the integration of dendritic inputs. We used an antibody specific for the α1A subunit of the P/Q‐type channel in quantitative pre‐embedding immunogold labelling combined with three‐dimensional reconstruction to reveal the subcellular distribution of pre‐ and postsynaptic P/Q‐type channels in the rat cerebellum. At the light microscopic level, immunoreactivity for the α1A protein was prevalent in the molecular layer, whereas immunostaining was moderate in the somata of Purkinje cells and weak in the granule cell layer. At the electron microscopic level, the most intense immunoreactivity for the α1A subunit was found in the presynaptic active zone of parallel fibre varicosities. The dendritic spines of Purkinje cells were also strongly labelled with the highest density of immunoparticles detected within 180 nm from the edge of the asymmetrical parallel fibre–Purkinje cell synapses. By contrast, the immunolabelling was sparse in climbing fibre varicosities and axon terminals of GABAergic cells, and weak and diffuse in dendritic shafts of Purkinje cells. The association of the α1A subunit with the glutamatergic parallel fibre–Purkinje cell synapses suggests that presynaptic channels have a major role in the mediation of excitatory neurotransmission, whereas postsynaptic channels are likely to be involved in depolarization‐induced generation of local calcium transients in Purkinje cells.
Mexico’s Monetary Policy Communication and Money Markets

Central bank communication is becoming a key aspect of monetary policy. How much financial markets listen and, possibly, understand Banco de Mexico’s communication on its monetary policy stance should be a key consideration for the central bank to further modernize its monetary policy toolkit. In this paper, we tackle this issue empirically by using our own index of the tone of communication based on Banco de Mexico’s speeches and statements and find that Mexican money markets do not only listen but they also understand the stance of monetary policy conveyed in the central bank’s words. Regarding the ability to listen we find that both the volatility and volume in the money market rates change right after communication from Banco de Mexico’s governing body. As for the markets’ understanding, we document a statistically significant rise in money market rates the more hawkish communication is. All in all, our results show strong evidence of effective oral and written communication from the Central Bank towards Mexico’s money markets.
A human cytomegalovirus early promoter with upstream negative and positive cis-acting elements: IE2 negates the effect of the negative element, and NF-Y binds to the positive element

The human cytomegalovirus early promoter for the UL4 gene, which codes for an early viral envelope glycoprotein designated gpUL4, requires immediate-early viral protein two (IE2) synthesis to be activated (C.-P. Chang, C. L. Malone, and M. F. Stinski, J. Virol. 63:281, 1989). We investigated the cis-acting and trans-acting factors that regulate transcription from this UL4 promoter. In transient transfection assays, the viral IE2 protein negated the effect of an upstream cis-acting negative element and enhanced downstream gene expression. A cis-acting positive element contributed to the activity of the viral promoter when an upstream cis-acting negative element was deleted or when the viral IE2 protein was present. The cellular protein(s) that binds to the cis-acting negative element requires further investigation. The cellular protein that binds to the cis-acting positive element was characterized. Two DNA sequence-specific protein complexes were detected with DNA probes spanning the region containing the cis-acting positive element and human cytomegalovirus-infected human fibroblast cell nuclear extracts. The more slowly migrating complex was labeled complex A, and the faster was labeled complex B. Only complex B was detected with mock-infected cell nuclear extracts. Competition experiments confirmed the specificity of the A and B complexes. The protein bound to the DNA in both the complexes contacts a CCAAT box imperfect dyad symmetry (5'CCAATCACTGG3'). Either CCAAT box within the dyad symmetry could compete for binding the nuclear factor. Mutation of the CCAAT box dyad symmetry resulted in a decrease of the transcriptional activity from the UL4 promoter. A cellular transcription factor, antigenically related to nuclear factor-Y (NF-Y), was found in both complexes A and B. Events associated with viral infection caused phosphorylation of protein complex A. Dephosphorylation of the DNA-binding protein converts complex A to complex B. The effect of phosphorylation of NF-Y is not known.
Human capital accounting: A literature review

Article history: Received June 5, 2015 Received in revised format August 16 2015 Accepted December 21 2015 Available online December 24 2015 This study interrogates the meaning and conceptual nuances of human capital accounting and additionally highlights its empirical dimensions. A critical aspect of the concerns of the study borders on the validity of an interdisciplinary interpretation of the trajectories of human capital accounting. The methodology of the study is purposively the literature review. The study has attempted to underscore the essential aspects of the critical developments in the subject matter of human capital accounting. It has also tried to draw attention to the shortcomings of earlier studies, while showing the strengths of the influential types of such previous researches. Finally, the interdisciplinary thesis of the problem of the study was upheld, as having a large measure of validity. The empirical import of the concept of human capital accounting however, remains contentions. Consequently, continuous interdisciplinary research-engagement is recommended as an outcome of the study.
Exploring automatic extraction of body-based soft biometrics

Given the growing interest in soft biometrics and its application in many areas related to biometrics, this paper focuses on the automatic extraction of body-based soft biometric attributes from single-shot images. The selected body soft biometrics are: height, shoulder width, hips width, arms length, body complexion and hair colour. For the extraction of these attributes, the Southampton Multi-Biometric Tunnel Database has been used with a total of 222 subjects. Images at far distance between the subject and the camera were considered in order to be able to extract the whole body of the person. Feature extraction is based on distances between key points automatically extracted from the person's silhouette, and also based on pixel information. Support Vector Machines (SVM) are used as the matchers, achieving promising results. Finally, given an image of a person at a distance, the system automatically gives the probability for the classes of each body-based soft biometrics considered, which could be seen as a description of the subject's body. This description could be used to reduce the search space in forensic applications, or to improve the robustness of biometric recognition systems at a distance, especially for face and gait systems, among other applications.
Ubiquitin‐like proteins in halobacteria

Within our studies of protein degradation, the presence of ubiquitinylated proteins in haloalkaliphilic archaea was investigated. We found that Natronococcus occultus proteins that react with antibodies raised against ubiquitin appear in different growth phases, particularly in the initial and exponential ones. The expression of these proteins is increased when the cells are either treated with puromycin or starved for nutrients. Dot blot analysis of cell extracts with antibody against ubiquitin shows the presence of either ubiquitinylated or ubiquitin‐like proteins not only in Natronococcus occultus, but also in various genera of halobacteria.
Household Location Decisions and the Value of Climate Amenities

We value climate amenities by estimating a discrete location choice model for US households. The utility of each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) depends on location-specific amenities, earnings opportunities, housing costs, and the cost of moving to the MSA from the household head’s birthplace. We use the estimated trade-off among wages, housing costs, and climate amenities to value changes in mean winter and summer temperatures. We find that households sort among MSAs as a result of heterogeneous tastes for winter and summer temperatures. Preferences for winter and summer temperatures are negatively correlated: households that prefer milder winters, on average, prefer cooler summers, and households that prefer colder winters prefer warmer summers. Households in the Midwest region, on average, have lower marginal willingness to pay to increase winter and reduce summer temperatures than households in the Pacific and South Atlantic census divisions. We use our results to value changes in winter and summer temperatures for the period 2020 to 2050 under the B1 (climate-friendly) and A2 (more extreme) climate scenarios. On average, households are willing to pay 1 percent of income to avoid the B1 scenario and 2.4 percent of income to avoid the A2 scenario.
Age-sensitive eHealth Applications in Smart Homes

Based on the demographic shift and the related challenges resulting from the growing number of elderly and persons with chronic diseases, the idea of smart home that supports its inhabitants in the daily life, gains importance. The purpose of this paper was to examine in a prototypic Ambient Assisted Living environment if users after interaction with different health- supporting applications intend to use such in the future. Two experimental studies exemplary show possible applications of home-integrated technology that can support, assist and accompany the target group in different contexts, and examine to what extent participants are willing to future use such sophisticated technology at home. The results show that people in general, but especially the old and chronically ill ones are quite fascinated of health-supporting ambient technology and the majority intends to use such ambient assistance in the future (study I). Moreover, serious games for healthcare are shown as a hedonic use of technology in smart homes that have a great potential to retain or improve the physical health, mobility and the overall well-being of the inhabitants (study II). The article provides two examples of ambient technology to leverage the demographic change and presents important user factors for facilitating high user acceptance.
Self-Reported Anger: Vulnerability for Risky Behaviors in Two-Wheeler Riding Young Men

Objectives: Aggressive driving and road accidents are major concerns in the public health sector. This study aimed to explore risk to aggressive and risky behaviors on the road in two-wheeler riding young men. Methods: The study comprised 433 young male two-wheeler riders from an urban city of India. A two-wheeler riding survey that captured subjective perception of difficulty in managing anger in general, easy provocability to anger, and aggressive and risky behaviors on the road, and Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) scale were administered. Results: Of the 433 participants, 83 (19%) reported experiencing problematic anger in general, whereas 175 (40.42%) did not endorse experiencing problematic anger. Based on this, two groups were formed, namely, problematic anger-present group and problematic anger-absent group. The problematic anger-present group reported high score on easy provocability to anger, difficulty in controlling anger, specific motives related to riding fast than usual, and severity of aggressive responses to frustrating situations while riding, and low score on NMR scale. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: This study highlights the relevance of assessing subjective perception of problematic anger in two-wheeler riding young men. This has implications for designing interventions for enhancing road safety.
Malignancy-associated vessel tortuosity: a computer-assisted, MR angiographic study of choroid plexus carcinoma in genetically engineered mice.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The ability to assess tumor malignancy and monitor treatment response noninvasively would be of value to both clinicians and animal investigators. This report describes the MR imaging characteristics of a genetically engineered mouse model of choroid plexus carcinoma (CPC) during tumor growth and progression to malignancy. We assess the ability of vessel tortuosity measurements, as calculated from high-resolution MR angiographic (MRA) images, to detect emerging CPC cancers. METHODS MR images of 9 healthy mice and of 20 CPC mice with precancerous choroid dysplasia or with cancer over a wide range of sizes were analyzed. Two vessel tortuosity measures and a measure of vessel attenuation (vessel count) were calculated from MRA images. Malignancy assessment was based upon a statistical analysis of vessel tortuosity, by using an equation derived from an earlier study of human brain tumor patients. RESULTS Choroid dysplasia was correctly judged nonmalignant. On the basis of vessel count, neoangiogenesis could not be detected until cancers were full-blown and had reached a volume of approximately 80 mm3. Vessel tortuosity measurements, however, correctly identified emerging malignancy in lesions larger than 0.3 mm3. CONCLUSION To the best of our knowledge, this report provides the first description of in vivo, MR imaging characteristics of genetically engineered CPC mice during the progression from dysplasia to cancer. Vessel tortuosity measurements offer promise of correctly defining even tiny tumors as malignant.
Function of the KKXX Motif in Endoplasmic Reticulum Retrieval of a Transmembrane Protein Depends on the Length and Structure of the Cytoplasmic Domain*

Transmembrane glycoproteins with type 1 topology can be retrieved to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by a retrieval signal containing a di-lysine (KK) motif near the C terminus. To investigate the structural requirements for ER retrieval, we have constructed mutants of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) envelope (Env) protein with cytoplasmic tails of different lengths and containing a KK motif at the −3 and −4 positions. Such proteins were found to be retained intracellularly when the signal was located 18 amino acids or more away from the membrane spanning domain. The retrieval signal was found to be functional even when placed at the distal end of the wild-type SIV Env protein with 164 amino acids in the cytoplasmic tail, as shown by the lack of proteolytic processing and lack of cell surface expression of the mutant proteins. However, proteins with a cytoplasmic tail length of 13 amino acids or less having the di-lysine motif at the −3 and −4 positions were not retrieved to the ER since they were found to be processed and transported to the cell surface. The surface-expressed proteins were found to be functional in inducing cell fusion, whereas the proteins retained intracellularly were defective in fusion activity. We also found that the KK motif introduced near an amphipathic helical region in the cytoplasmic tail was not functional. These results demonstrate that the ability of the KK motif to cause protein retrieval and retention in the endoplasmic reticulum depends on the length and structure of the cytoplasmic domain. The ER retrieval of the mutant proteins was found to correlate with increased intracellular binding to β COP proteins.