Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of critical intensity from a single lactate measure during a 3-min, submaximal cycle-ergometer test

ABSTRACT We tested the hypothesis that critical intensity in cycling can be determined from a single delta blood lactate in the third minute of a submaximal cycle ergometer trial. Fourteen healthy young men performed four to six constant-power-output trials on a cycle ergometer to the limit of tolerance. Critical intensity was calculated via a linear model and subsequently validated. Lactate was measured at baseline and at 3 min from exercise onset. Delta lactate was the difference between these measures. Based on individual trials, we obtained the delta lactate–% validated critical intensity relationship and thereafter an estimate of critical intensity was computed. Validated and estimated critical intensity were compared by effects sizes, paired-sample t-test and Bland–Altman analysis. Delta lactate was a linear function of the intensity of exercise, expressed as % validated critical intensity (R2 = 0.89). Estimated critical intensity was not different from (d = 0.03, P = 0.98) and highly correlated with (R2 = 0.88) validated critical intensity. The bias between measures was 0.03 W (≠0) with a precision of 7 W. The results suggest that critical intensity in cycling can be accurately and precisely determined from delta lactate during a sub-maximal trial and so provides a practical and valid alternative to direct determination.
evelopment , validation and application of an HPLC – MS / MS method or the determination of fentanyl and nor-fentanyl in human plasma nd saliva

Monitoring fentanyl concentration in saliva and plasma may be useful in pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic studies. Salivettes® have been used widely for collecting saliva samples. However due to its lipophilicity, fentanyl adsorbs to the cotton dental bud (CDB) used in this device. Furthermore, due to dry mouth being a common adverse effect seen in patients treated with opioids, obtaining enough saliva for analysis is often a challenge. Hence, a simple simultaneous method to quantify fentanyl and its metabolite in both human plasma and saliva was developed and validated. A novel extraction method was also developed and validated to recover fentanyl in saliva directly from the CDB. This extraction method utilises acetonitrile to recover the fentanyl directly from the CDB rather than recovery by centrifugation, which is not always possible. Reverse phase chromatographic separation was performed on a Shimadzu LC 20A HPLC system using gradient elution. The electrospray ion source (ESI) was operated in positive ion mode using an Applied Biosystems API 3200 LC/MS/MS as detector. Deuterated fentanyl (D5) and nor-fentanyl (D5) were used as internal standards (IS). The retention times for fentanyl and nor-fentanyl were 3.70 min and 3.20 min respectively. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was determined to be 0.030 g/L in plasma and 0.045 in saliva for fentanyl and nor-fentanyl. Acceptable linearity for fentanyl and nor-fentanyl in both plasma and saliva was demonstrated from 0.02 to 10 g/L (R2 0.9988–0.9994). Accuracy for fentanyl and nor-fentanyl in both plasma and saliva samples was between 96% and 108%. Total imprecision expressed as the co-efficient of variation was between 1.0 and 15.5% for both analytes in both matrices. The validated method was applied successfully in 11 paired plasma and saliva samples obtained from patients with cancer pain receiving transdermal fentanyl (Duragesic®) at doses from 25 g to 100 g. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Multimarket Linkages, Trade and the Productivity Puzzle

This paper examines the relationship between firms’ productivity improvement and the volume of exports, and shows that it can be sometimes negative, which seems to be an empirical puzzle. The key lies in that we simultaneously take into account intermediate retailers (i.e. vertically) and multimarket linkages (i.e. horizontally). With convex cost functions, when market conditions worsen, the manufacturer increases supply to the retailer who is larger or more efficient in trade cost.
Stack Gate Technique for Dopingless Bulk FinFETs

FinFETs have been made successfully for mass manufacturing on bulk and silicon-on-insulator wafers. When choosing the bulk option, additional process steps are needed for substrate leakage suppression. Typically, heavy substrate doping for punchthrough stopping between the source and drain is used, but precise control of the doping profile to prevent its up-diffusion into the channel has been a challenging task, especially for continuously shrinking device dimension. In this paper, we propose a stack gate structure with doping-free substrate while punchthrough leakage can be suppressed. The proposed technique can be integrated in conventional gate-last high-k metal gate process. Both polysilicon and metal gates are shown to be feasible in the proposed stack gate based on 3-D TCAD simulation. In addition, the stack gate structure without substrate doping is immune to its random dopant fluctuations.
Recent advances in dementia research in Japan: Alzheimer‐type dementia

In a previous article, recent reports by Japanese researchers on non‐Alzheimer‐type degenerative dementias were reviewed. In the present article, recent Japanese reports on Alzheimer‐type dementia (ATD) are reviewed. Alzheimer‐type dementia has received great attention and has been studied from various viewpoints in Japan as well as in Europe and the Americas. In Japan, although it was believed that vascular dementia was the most frequent dementia in the elderly, ATD has recently been shown to be the most predominant type of dementia. Such a great number of papers on ATD have been reported in Japan that mainly the clinical, neuropathological, biochemical and molecular biological research papers alone are reviewed here.
Genetic characterization of staphopain genes in Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract Staphylococcus aureus, a leading cause of bacterial infections in humans, is endowed with a wealth of virulence factors that contribute to the disease process. Several extracellular proteolytic enzymes, including cysteine proteinases referred to as the staphopains (staphopain A, encoded by the scpA gene, and staphopain B, encoded by sspB), have proposed roles for staphylococcal virulence. Here we present data regarding the distribution, copy number and genetic variability of the genes encoding the staphopains in a large number of S. aureus strains. The polymorphism of the scpA and sspB genes in three laboratory strains and 126 clinical isolates was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Both genes were detected in all isolates by PCR amplification and, based on the PCR-RFLP patterns, classified as four types for scpA and six types for sspB. Those with the most divergent patterns were subjected to DNA sequencing and compared with genomic sequence data for the seven available strains of S. aureus. Southern blot analysis of the scpA and sspB sequences indicates that they are strongly conserved as single-copy genes in the genome of each S. aureus strain investigated. Taken together, these data suggest that the staphopains have important housekeeping and/or virulence functions, and therefore may constitute an interesting target for the development of therapeutic inhibitors for the treatment of staphylococcal diseases.
Interventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Guided Aspiration and Biopsy of a Cystic Midbrain Tumor

Interventional magnetic resonance imaging defines the intraoperative application of magnetic resonance imaging technology, permitting the surgeon to work in an open magnetic field. The application of this technology to pediatric neurosurgery allows precise intraoperative localization of pathology, real-time assessment of the anatomical consequences of surgical and anesthetic interventions, accountability of brain shifts, confirmation of the exact site of biopsy or completeness of lesion removal, and immediate identification of some intraoperative and early postoperative complications. We present the case of a young boy with a cystic left midbrain tumor who underwent interventional magnetic resonance imaging guided aspiration and biopsy to illustrate the surgical advantages of this technology.
USTED: a methodology for a quantitative analysis of land use scenarios.

Scenarios are a useful tool to study the effects of changes in the socio-economic and/or biophysical environment on agricultural land use. For the analysis of these scenarios an operational methodology, USTED, has been developed. The methodology is based on a linear programming model in combination with GIS, crop growth simulation models, and expert systems. The data requirements include quantitative descriptions of land use systems and technologies, attribute data on such features as prices and chemical compositions, and georeferenced data on farms and soils. Sustainability is incorporated in the methodology by a limited number of quantified sustainability parameters. The linear programming model analyses, on the basis of different farm types, the effect of different scenarios on land use. Customized computer software (MODUS) is used to integrate the different models. The methodology is illustrated with a case study for the Neguev settlement in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica.
GMFM 1 year after continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion

The purpose of this study was to assess whether there is an improvement in motor function in persons with cerebral palsy (CP) who have had a reduction of muscle tone by continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion. This was a prospective, open label, non-blinded case series without a control group, conducted at multiple centres. There were 31 subjects, aged 4–29 years. All had a pre-treatment mean lower extremity Ashworth scores of ≥ 3 and a significant reduction in tone after a bolus injection of intrathecal baclofen (ITB) and received an implanted pump for continuous delivery of ITB. Motor function was assessed by the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) prior to and 1 year following pump implantation. Significant improvement (p < 0.05) in mean GMFM scores was seen in subjects < 8 years (mean change 4.1) and in those from 8–18 years (mean change 3.7) and in subjects with CP Classes 2 and 5 (mean changes 6.2 and 2.9). There was a statistically significant decrease (p < 0.05) in Ashworth scores in CP classes 2–5. Subjects or their caregivers that completed a survey about perceived changes stated that motor control, positioning and endurance improved.
The interrelations of decision‐making rationales around BSC adoptions in Finnish municipalities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the interrelations of the decision‐making rationales around accounting performance measurement (PM) adoptions in Finnish municipalities. Previous studies informed by new institutional sociology (NIS), have tended to assume that accounting PM adoptions occur because of either “rational” or “institutional” reasons. The accuracy of this “polar” view is empirically analyzed in this paper (as called for by Ribeiro and Scapens). Design/methodology/approach – Survey data (199 responses, 48 per cent response rate) were analyzed with factor analyses using, for example, SPSS and LISREL programs.Findings – The decision‐making rationales (factors) around Balanced Scorecard (BSC) adoption were labeled “mimetic”, “rational” and “normative‐experimental”. Mimetic rationale correlated negatively with the other factors.Research limitations/implications – The data was small. Further, as case studies and LISREL diagnostics often suggest, there may be other forces involved in P.
Delay-dependent robust passivity analysis for uncertain genetic regulatory networks with interval time-varying delays

This paper deals with the problem of the robust passivity for genetic regulatory networks with interval time-varying delays and norm-bounded parameter uncertainty. The regulatory functions are assumed to satisfy the globally Lipschitz continuous conditions. The interval time-varying delays exist in both the translation process and the feedback regulation process. Based on an improved bounding technique, a delay-dependent robust passivity condition is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The delay-dependent criterion is dependent on the lower and upper bounds of the time-varying delays. By an improved bounding technique, free-weighting matrices are introduced to reduce the conservatism of the criterion. The important feature of the results is to improve upper bounds to introduce some degree of conservativeness. The numerical example demonstrates the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed results.
Can dietary patterns help us detect diet–disease associations?

The role of diet in promoting health and preventing disease is difficult to elucidate due to its complex network of foods and nutrients. Besides total energy intake, dietary composition is probably the most important discriminator within and between populations. Dietary composition is reflected in dietary patterns, which have recently gained popularity. The present paper reviews the most commonly applied methods to identify dietary patterns, data-driven methods such as factor and cluster analysis, investigator-driven methods such as indices and score, and methods combining the two, namely reduced rank regression. We describe the techniques and their application, discuss strengths and limitations, and discuss the usefulness of dietary pattern analyses.
The Extent of Cluster-Based Policies and the Political/Institutional Context

Regional economic development strategies are becoming increasingly popular with policy makers. Yet the role of government in cluster development and sustainability is not clearly understood. This research attempts to fill the gap between cluster theory and public administration by testing a political/institutional context model. A total of 24 in-depth interviews focusing on the shipbuilding cluster in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi were completed. Results indicate that the political culture of the region is a major limiting factor for the development of governance structures suitable for cluster-based economic development and upgrading. However, public administration’s network governance theory provides an ideal framework to build governance structures more suitable for cluster-based economic development and upgrading.
Inborn errors of creatine metabolism and epilepsy

Creatine metabolism disorders include guanidinoacetate methyltransferase (GAMT) deficiency, arginine:glycine amidinotransferase (AGAT) deficiency, and the creatine transporter (CT1‐encoded by SLC6A8 gene) deficiency. Epilepsy is one of the main symptoms in GAMT and CT1 deficiency, whereas the occurrence of febrile convulsions in infancy is a relatively common presenting symptom in all the three above‐mentioned diseases. GAMT deficiency results in a severe early onset epileptic encephalopathy with development arrest, neurologic deterioration, drug‐resistant seizures, movement disorders, mental disability, and autistic‐like behavior. In this disorder, epilepsy and associated abnormalities on electroencephalography (EEG) are more responsive to substitutive treatment with creatine monohydrate than to conventional antiepileptic drugs. AGAT deficiency is mainly characterized by mental retardation and severe language disorder without epilepsy. In CT1 deficiency epilepsy is generally less severe than in GAMT deficiency. All creatine disorders can be investigated through measurement of creatine metabolites in body fluids, brain proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H‐MRS), and molecular genetic techniques. Blood guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) assessment and brain H‐MRS examination should be part of diagnostic workup for all patients presenting with epileptic encephalopathy of unknown origin. In girls with learning and/or intellectual disabilities with or without epilepsy, SLC6A8 gene assessment should be part of the diagnostic procedures. The aims of this review are the following: (1) to describe the electroclinical features of epilepsy occurring in inborn errors of creatine metabolism; and (2) to delineate the metabolic alterations associated with GAMT, AGAT, and CT1 deficiency and the role of a substitutive therapeutic approach on their clinical and electroencephalographic epileptic patterns.
Generating Real Persistent Effects of Monetary Shocks: How Much Nominal Rigidity Do We Really Need?

This paper attempts to assess whether money can generate persistent economic" fluctuations in dynamic general equilibrium models of the business cycle. We show that a small" nominal friction in the goods market can make the response of output to monetary shocks large" and persistent if it is amplified by real wage rigidity in the labor market. We also argue that" given the level of real wage rigidity that is observed in developed countries nominal stickiness might be sufficient for money to produce economic fluctuations as persistent" as those observed in the data.
Unobtrusive Observational Measures as a Qualitative Extension of Visitor Surveys at Festivals and Events: Mass Observation Revisited

This article explores methodological issues in monitoring one-time, short-run, festival performances and events with fast exit rates (e.g., concerts and theatrical performances). Through critical case analysis the article suggests the limitations of questionnaire surveys and the value of augmenting them with unobtrusive, direct observational measures derived from those first used in U.K. leisure/tourism research by Mass Observation in the 1930s and 1940s and since commended to, but rarely adopted by, tourism researchers.
Role of thrombomodulin gene in Indian population with coronary artery disease

Context: Thrombomodulin (TM), a natural anticoagulant have been implicated in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD) thus emphasizing its potential role as a biomarker. Objectives: To investigate the role of the TM genetic variants and soluble TM (sTM) plasma levels in Indian population with CAD. Materials and methods: This case–control study involved genotyping of the entire TM gene and sTM levels estimation in 266 subjects. Results: None of the four TM genetic variants identified significantly increased CAD risk in the study population. However, further subgroup analysis revealed that in subjects ≤49 years, C1418T variant (Ala455Val substitution) was significantly associated with CAD. Conclusion: The increased CAD risk in subjects ≤49 years due to TM Ala455Val substitution is a promising finding. Further validation on large Indian cohorts is required in order to screen asymptomatic young subjects for CAD risk and to establish the clinical utility of Ala455Val substitution.
Tourism Forecasting: Error Magnitude, Direction of Change Error, and Trend Change Error

Forecasting accuracy can be assessed in various ways. The most popular accuracy measures are based on the magnitude of error, but directional accuracy and trend change accuracy are also important. Seven quantitative forecasting methods are used to forecast one-year-ahead international tourist flows, and the consistency of accuracy rankings across the various accuracy measures is analyzed. The "no change" extrapolation model is ranked most accurate in terms of error magnitude, econometrics is ranked first in terms of direction of change error, and exponential smoothing is ranked first in terms of trend change error.
Asymptotic indifference pricing in exponential L\'evy models

Financial markets based on L\'evy processes are typically incomplete and option prices depend on risk attitudes of individual agents. In this context, the notion of utility indifference price has gained popularity in the academic circles. Although theoretically very appealing, this pricing method remains difficult to apply in practice, due to the high computational cost of solving the nonlinear partial integro-differential equation associated to the indifference price. In this work, we develop closed form approximations to exponential utility indifference prices in exponential L\'evy models. To this end, we first establish a new non-asymptotic approximation of the indifference price which extends earlier results on small risk aversion asymptotics of this quantity. Next, we use this formula to derive a closed-form approximation of the indifference price by treating the L\'evy model as a perturbation of the Black-Scholes model. This extends the methodology introduced in a recent paper for smooth linear functionals of L\'evy processes (A. \v{C}ern\'y, S. Denkl and J. Kallsen, arXiv:1309.7833) to nonlinear and non-smooth functionals. Our closed formula represents the indifference price as the linear combination of the Black-Scholes price and correction terms which depend on the variance, skewness and kurtosis of the underlying L\'evy process, and the derivatives of the Black-Scholes price. As a by-product, we obtain a simple explicit formula for the spread between the buyer's and the seller's indifference price. This formula allows to quantify, in a model-independent fashion, how sensitive a given product is to jump risk in the limit of small jump size.
The obese without cardiometabolic risk factor clustering and the normal weight with cardiometabolic risk factor clustering: prevalence and correlates of 2 phenotypes among the US population (NHANES 1999-2004).

BACKGROUND The prevalence and correlates of obese individuals who are resistant to the development of the adiposity-associated cardiometabolic abnormalities and normal-weight individuals who display cardiometabolic risk factor clustering are not well known. METHODS The prevalence and correlates of combined body mass index (normal weight, < 25.0; overweight, 25.0-29.9; and obese, > or = 30.0 [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared]) and cardiometabolic groups (metabolically healthy, 0 or 1 cardiometabolic abnormalities; and metabolically abnormal, > or = 2 cardiometabolic abnormalities) were assessed in a cross-sectional sample of 5440 participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 1999-2004. Cardiometabolic abnormalities included elevated blood pressure; elevated levels of triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, and C-reactive protein; elevated homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance value; and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. RESULTS Among US adults 20 years and older, 23.5% (approximately 16.3 million adults) of normal-weight adults were metabolically abnormal, whereas 51.3% (approximately 35.9 million adults) of overweight adults and 31.7% (approximately 19.5 million adults) of obese adults were metabolically healthy. The independent correlates of clustering of cardiometabolic abnormalities among normal-weight individuals were older age, lower physical activity levels, and larger waist circumference. The independent correlates of 0 or 1 cardiometabolic abnormalities among overweight and obese individuals were younger age, non-Hispanic black race/ethnicity, higher physical activity levels, and smaller waist circumference. CONCLUSIONS Among US adults, there is a high prevalence of clustering of cardiometabolic abnormalities among normal-weight individuals and a high prevalence of overweight and obese individuals who are metabolically healthy. Further study into the physiologic mechanisms underlying these different phenotypes and their impact on health is needed.