Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DASH Diet, Insulin Resistance, and Serum hs-CRP in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Abstract This study was designed to assess the effects of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan on insulin resistance and serum hs-CRP in overweight and obese women with PCOS. This randomized controlled clinical trial was done on 48 women diagnosed with PCOS. Subjects were randomly assigned to consume either the control (n=24) or the DASH eating pattern (n=24) for 8 weeks. The DASH diet consisted of 52% carbohydrates, 18% proteins, and 30% total fats. It was designed to be rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products and low in saturated fats, cholesterol, refined grains, and sweets. Sodium content of the DASH diet was designed to be less than 2 400 mg/day. The control diet was also designed to contain 52% carbohydrates, 18% protein, and 30% total fat. Fasting blood samples were taken at baseline and after 8 weeks intervention to measure insulin resistance and serum hs-CRP levels. Adherence to the DASH eating pattern, compared to the control diet, resulted in a significant reduction of serum insulin levels (−1.88 vs. 2.89 μIU/ml, p=0.03), HOMA-IR score (−0.45 vs. 0.80; p=0.01), and serum hs-CRP levels (−763.29 vs. 665.95 ng/ml, p=0.009). Additionally, a significant reduction in waist (−5.2 vs. −2.1 cm; p=0.003) and hip circumference (−5.9 vs. −1 cm; p<0.0001) was also seen in the DASH group compared with the control group. In conclusion, consumption of the DASH eating pattern for 8 weeks in overweight and obese women with PCOS resulted in the improvement of insulin resistance, serum hs-CRP levels, and abdominal fat accumulation. Clinical trial registration number: www.irct. ir: IRCT201304235623N6
The Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation to SME Performance in Bangladesh

This paper has examined the relationship between SME performance and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) in Bangladesh. Data have been collected from the SME entrepreneurs working in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Followed by convenience sampling, a total of 193 entrepreneurs’ information (out of 300) was retained using a pre-tested survey questionnaire. Correlation analysis and hierarchical regression were used to test the hypotheses. The study covered five dimensions of EO-risk-taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy. Except for competitive aggressiveness, all dimensions of entrepreneurial orientations possess a positive significant effect on SME performance. This study has shifted the application of EO concept from developed countries to an emerging economy to scrutinize how do different dimensions of EO determine the performance of SMEs in Bangladesh. The findings of the study also provide some insightful implications for business managers and researchers.
Angiographic and clinical outcomes of a pharmacokinetic study of sirolimus-eluting stents: lesson from restenosis cases.

BACKGROUND A pharmacokinetic (PK) study was conducted to evaluate sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) in Japanese people, representing the first clinical trial of the use of drug-eluting stents in Japan. METHODS AND RESULTS The PK study was conducted in 20 patients with 30 lesions treated with sirolimus-coated BX Velocity stents. All lesions were treated with a single SES (3 x 18 mm). Angiographic follow-up was performed at 8 months after SES implantation, and the clinical outcomes were evaluated at 1 year in all cases. All procedures were successful, and all patients were discharged without any adverse cardiac events. The total restenosis rate was 10% (3 lesions) and target vessel revascularization was performed in those 3 cases (15%). Restenoses occurred at the proximal and distal stent margins. Intravascular ultrasound examination of restenosis cases revealed abundant plaque burden at the stent edges even though the luminal area was preserved. CONCLUSIONS The sirolimus-eluting BX Velocity stent is safe and useful for Japanese patients with coronary artery disease. However, restenosis at proximal stent edge seems to be a problem.
Abdominal hollowing and bracing strategies increase joint stability in the trunk region during sudden support surface translation but not in the lower extremities.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Application of hollowing and bracing, abdominal activation strategies (AAS), has focused on improving trunk stability. This study aimed to clarify the AAS effect on body sway during support surface translation while standing. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty healthy subjects (10 male, 10 female; aged 25.45 ± 3.22 years) performed hollowing, bracing, and natural strategies while standing, and exerted to maintain their balance during forward and backward translation. Ultrasonography evaluations confirmed the appropriate application of the 3 strategies by measuring abdominal muscle thickness. Additionally, a motion analysis system was used to capture the whole body sway along the sagittal plane. RESULTS During backward translation, angular displacements of the trunk were significantly different among the 3 strategies (upper thoracic: F = 13.758, p < 0.001; lower thoracic: F = 8.477, p = 0.001; and lumbopelvis: F = 8.651, p = 0.001). AAS significantly decreased the sway by 25-36% in all inter-spinal segments compared with the natural strategy (p < 0.05). During forward translation, only angular displacement of the lower thoracic was significantly different among the 3 strategies (F = 7.640, p = 0.002), and bracing decreased the sway by 33.48% compared with the natural strategy (p = 0.003). No significant differences were seen between hollowing and bracing during forward and backward translation. CONCLUSIONS AAS increased joint stability only in the trunk where joints are adjacent to abdominal muscles, but not in the lower extremities. The low impact of AAS on the lower extremities might have important implications on the paradigm of standing balance.
Prenatal alcohol exposure and early postnatal changes in the developing nerve-muscle system.

BACKGROUND Extensive research on prenatal alcohol exposure has proven the potent teratogenicity of this substance of abuse. Children born to alcoholic mothers are often diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Those afflicted with FAS often have muscle weakness, muscle wasting, and atrophy. This study assessed the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the developing rat neuromuscular system. METHODS Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intraperitoneally with 1.0 ml of 20% ethyl alcohol/100 gm body weight. Unexposed rats served as controls. The offspring were killed 2, 3, 4, and 5 weeks after birth, and their body weights were recorded. The tibialis anterior (TA) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were recovered and weighed. The TA muscles were histochemically stained by silver cholinesterase in order to study the pattern of innervation. The EDL muscles were processed and stained by hematoxylin-eosin. The number and size of the EDL muscle fibers was quantified. The sciatic nerve was also removed and stained by Swank and Davenport's method to demonstrate the myelin pattern. RESULTS Assessment at the neuromuscular junction showed a higher proportion of endplates polyneuronally innervated in the alcohol-exposed rats. The muscle weights, as well as the number and size of the muscle fibers, were significantly reduced in these animals. A light-microscopy examination of the nerve sections revealed alterations in the connectivity of myelin. CONCLUSIONS The finding that a higher proportion of endplates were polyneuronally innervated in the alcohol-exposed rats indicates that the maturation process of the neuromuscular system was delayed, thus confirming the deleterious effects of alcohol on growth and maturation of the nerve-muscle system.
Hybrid III–V/silicon on insulator nonlinear nanophotonics

Heterogeneous integration of III–V semiconductor compounds on Silicon on insulator (SOI) is one the key technologies for next generation on chip optical interconnects. Indeed, this hybrid platform combines the best of both material systems: on one hand, the CMOS compatibility and the predispositions of silicon to be used for fabricating an ultra compact low loss optical circuitry; on the other hand, the versatility of III–V semiconductors for making laser sources and active devices. This approach was recently used for demonstrating laser emission [1,2], light amplification [1], modulation [3] and optical flip-flops [4].
Cascaded loops directional filter with transmission zeroes for multiplexing applications

In this paper, a new design of a traveling wave loop directional filter allowing for realization of transmission zeroes has been proposed. In order to introduce transmission zeroes to bandpass branch of the filter, two loops have been cascaded using transmission line sections. Theoretical analysis of the circuit has been provided giving the insight into behavior of the appearing transmission zeroes related to electrical lengths of the loops' connecting segment. Performance of the presented approach has been verified by the design and measurements of an exemplary cascaded single-loops directional filter with two symmetrically placed transmission zeroes covering ISM 2.4 GHz band. The obtained results prove the usefulness of the presented approach.
Wireless Device for Noninvasive Recordings of Cardio-respiratory Signals

This work describes a portable device that acquires two ECG leads, pulse photopletismography waveform and respiratory flow waveform that are sent, using wireless Bluetooth protocol, to a notebook where they are shown on the screen in real time and are also stored into the hard disk. Example of recording during cardiac autonomic activity blockade is presented. The results show that the developed system is a suitable tool to study autonomic modulation of the heart rate variability in different scenarios.
Application of Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis of VP7-Encoding Genes: Fine Comparison of Irish and Global Rotavirus Isolates

ABSTRACT A restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) detection assay was developed to examine the genetic relationship(s) among VP7-encoding genes from 100 Irish rotavirus isolates and 30 randomly selected global rotavirus isolates (from the current databases). RFLP analysis of the VP7 gene segments was performed independently with three enzymes (RsaI, AluI, and EcoRV) in separate reactions by direct digestion of the DNA product amplified by reverse transcriptase (RT)-mediated PCR (RT-PCR) or by using computational methods. Thirty-six RFLP patterns were identified for all 130 strains, and of these, only nine patterns were associated with the Irish isolates. A correlation between the G type of the Irish isolates and certain single or combined enzyme profiles was apparent. These data suggested that the Irish wild-type rotavirus population was homogeneous and could be distinguished by RFLP analysis from global isolates of the same serotype(s). The deduced amino acid sequences of the VP7 RT-PCR products from six Irish isolates known to be of the G serotype revealed significant amino acid substitutions within major antigenic regions. In addition, these data identified the existence of at least two genetic lineages within serotype G1 strains which were distinguishable by RFLP analysis.
Safety and Efficacy of the Endeavor Resolute® Stent in Patients with Multivessel Disease: The HEART (Honam EndeAvor ResoluTe) Prospective, Multicenter Trial

The Endeavor Resolute® (ER) is a zotarolimus-eluting stent (ZES) with a biocompatible BioLinx polymer. This study prospectively compared the clinical outcomes of 2 versions of ZES, ER and Endeavor Sprint® (ES), in patients with multivessel disease. A total of 488 patients who underwent multivessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were divided into 2 groups the ER group (n=288) and the ES group (n=200). The primary endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) consisting of death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization after 12 months. In all patients, the prevalence of diabetes was higher in the ER group (42.7% vs. 31.0%, p=0.009). The rate of post-PCI Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction flow grade 3 was higher in the ER group (100.0% vs. 98.0%, p=0.028). There were no between-group differences in the in-hospital, 1-month and 12-month clinical outcomes. In the propensity score matched cohort (n=200 in each group), no differences were observed in the baseline and procedural characteristics. There were no statistical differences in the rates of in-hospital, 1-month and 12-month events (12-month MACE in the ER and ES groups: 6.0% vs. 3.5%, p=0.240, respectively). The safety and efficacy of both versions of ZES were comparable in patients with multivessel disease during a 12-month clinical follow-up.
Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group 2011 Challenges of a Sustained Climate Observing System

Observations of planet Earth and especially all climate system components and forcings are increasingly needed for planning and informed decision making related to climate services in the broadest sense. Although significant progress has been made, much more remains to be done before a fully functional and dependable climate observing system exists. Observations are needed on spatial scales from local to global, and all time scales, especially to understand and document changes in extreme events. Climate change caused by human activities adds a new dimension and a vital imperative: to acquire climate observations of sufficient quality and coverage, and analyze them into products for multiple purposes to inform decisions for mitigation, adaptation, assessing vulnerability and impacts, possible geo­ engineering, and predicting climate variability and change and their consequences. A major challenge is to adequately deal with the continually changing observing system, especially from satellites and other remote sensing platforms such as in the ocean, in order to provide a continuous climate record. Even with new computational tools, challenges remain to provide adequate analysis, processing, meta-data, archival, access, and management of the resulting data and the data products. As volumes of data continue to grow, so do the challenges of distilling information to allow us to understand what is happening and why, and what the implications are for the future. The case is compelling that prompt coordinated international actions are essential to provide for information-based actions and decisions related to climate variability and change.
Simulation of steady state free precession acquisition mode in coupled spin systems for fast MR spectroscopic imaging

Steady state free precession (SSFP) is an acquisition mode that may be useful for fast magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging in high field MR systems because of the high achievable SNR. In such systems, metabolites with coupled spin systems may be observed, but the knowledge of their behavior and the induced spectral changes is still limited. Such information is needed for both experiment design and spectrum quantification. This work presents computer simulations of model molecules and of myo-inositol, which is one of the clinically relevant target molecules and describes the algorithm used. It is shown that antiphase and multiple-quantum coherences may represent a considerable portion of the steady state. The effects in spectra are studied based on hypothesized relaxation parameters.
A Method to Compare the Stability of Electromagnetic Attenuation Induced by Soft Barriers

Mitigating the interference between networks or reducing the electromagnetic pollution are some of the proposals to use different kinds of soft barriers, taking advantage of the attenuation they induce. Previous studies on such barriers are focused on the median attenuation, looking for the configuration that provides larger radio electric waves mitigation. However, no care on the stability along time or distance of such attenuation has been taken. Barriers inducing large median attenuation would not be very useful for some applications if attenuation levels present high variability along time (or distance). A method to analyze the stability of the attenuation induced by obstacles of any kind is presented in this letter, supported by the analysis of vegetation barriers data.
How do Singapore patients view post-anaesthesia adverse outcomes? A single-centre willingness-to-pay study.

INTRODUCTION Knowing how patients value the quality of anaesthesia helps anaesthesiologists to customise their service. However, generalising findings from Western population-based willingness-to-pay studies across different cultures and societies might result in the oversight of some contextualised perspectives of the anaesthesia experience. This study aimed to capture the Singapore perspective of undesired post-anaesthesia outcomes. METHODS 132 patients recruited in a pre-anaesthetic evaluation clinic were given questionnaires describing ten possible post-anaesthetic outcomes. Outcomes were ranked for undesirability and assigned relative value through the hypothetical proportioning of SGD 100 to avoid their occurrence. Data was analysed with reference to patients' background and anaesthetic history. RESULTS A response rate of 69.1% (n = 132/191) was achieved. Outcomes from the most to least undesirable were pain; vomiting; nausea; shivering; orodental trauma; sore throat; abrasions; somnolence; and thirst. Relative values allocated, in descending order, were pain; vomiting; nausea; orodental trauma; abrasions; sore throat; shivering; somnolence; and thirst. CONCLUSION Similar to previous studies in Western populations, pain, vomiting and nausea were the top three adverse outcomes that Singapore patients wished to avoid. However, discrepancies with Western patients were seen in spending attitudes, possibly accounted for by differences in healthcare socioeconomics. This study provided a better understanding of Singapore patients' perspectives on post-anaesthesia adverse outcomes and could help to improve treatment strategy and resource management.
Structures and Receptor Binding of Hemagglutinins from Human-Infecting H7N9 Influenza Viruses

Two Viruses to Bind Structural studies of two different H7N9 influenza viruses isolated from humans—A/Shanghai/1/2013 and A/Anhui/1/2013—which have different amino acid sequences in the receptor binding site, provide data indicating that the virus is in transition with respect to host adaptation. The Shanghai virus was one of the first isolated in humans that binds avian receptor glycans with high affinity, but binds poorly to human receptors. However, the later Anhui isolates can bind both avian and human receptors at high affinity. Shi et al. (p. 243, published online 5 September) show that four hydrophobic mutations contribute to acquisition of affinity for the human receptor by the virus hemagglutinin (HA) and confirm this effect in binding studies with virus particles. Further comparison of a mutant H7N9 A/Anhui/1/2013 HA with the bird flu H5N1 virus revealed the significance of some of the naturally occurring changes observed in circulating H7N9 viruses, which helps to explain how these viruses have been able to cause many severe human infections in a short time. Four amino acids in the H7N9 influenza virus binding site provide a hydrophobic environment for human receptors. An avian-origin human-infecting influenza (H7N9) virus was recently identified in China. We have evaluated the viral hemagglutinin (HA) receptor–binding properties of two human H7N9 isolates, A/Shanghai/1/2013 (SH-H7N9) (containing the avian-signature residue Gln226) and A/Anhui/1/2013 (AH-H7N9) (containing the mammalian-signature residue Leu226). We found that SH-H7N9 HA preferentially binds the avian receptor analog, whereas AH-H7N9 HA binds both avian and human receptor analogs. Furthermore, an AH-H7N9 mutant HA (Leu226 → Gln) was found to exhibit dual receptor-binding property, indicating that other amino acid substitutions contribute to the receptor-binding switch. The structures of SH-H7N9 HA, AH-H7N9 HA, and its mutant in complex with either avian or human receptor analogs show how AH-H7N9 can bind human receptors while still retaining the avian receptor–binding property.
Barriers to Healthcare Provision for Victims of Sexual Assault: A Grounded Theory Study

Background: Victims of sexual assault need comprehensive healthcare services to deal with the consequences of their experience. However, there are still many girls/women that delay seeking healthcare after they experience sexual assault. Objectives: To explore the process of health care and clinical services for victims of sexual assault in the health care centers of Iran. Patients and Methods: This was a qualitative study based on the grounded theory method. The sample consisted of 23 health care providers and 10 victims of sexual violence. Unstructured interviews and observations were used for data collection. Constant comparative analysis was used according to the Strauss and Corbin method. Results: The analysis of all data led to the extraction of four categories: “performing routines”, “victims’ expectations”, “conflict between expectations of victims and existing healthcare services”, and the core category of “neglect of healthcare providers to address the needs and expectations of victims”. Providers were offering health care to the victims of sexual violence regardless of their needs. Due to this neglect, victims sought illegal solutions to overcome the consequences that led to social stigma. Conclusions: The findings indicate the lack of mutual understanding between health care providers and victims of sexual violence in relation to the expectations and priorities of victims.
Camera Uncertainty Computation in Large 3D Reconstruction

In computer vision, large scale Structure from Motion pipelines do not often evaluate the quality of the reconstruction by error propagation from measurements to the estimated parameters. It is a numerically sensitive and computationally challenging process, which is not easy to implement in practice for large scenes. We present a new algorithm that increases the numerical precision of the uncertainty propagation. It works with millions of feature points, thousands of cameras and millions of 3D points on a single computer. We provide an experimental comparison of our approach, as well as of previous approaches, on accurate ground truth and demonstrate that our algorithm is practical.
A cyclic iterative approach and its modified version to solve coupled Sylvester-transpose matrix equations

Recently, Tang et al. [Numer Algorithms. 2014;66(2):379–397] have offered a cyclic iterative method for determining the unique solution of the coupled matrix equations Analogues to the gradient-based algorithm, the proposed algorithm relies on a fixed parameter whereas it has wider convergence region. Nevertheless, the application of the algorithm to find the centro-symmetric solution of the mentioned problem has been left as a project to be investigated and the optimal value for the fixed parameter has not been derived. In this paper, we focus on a more general class of the coupled linear matrix equations that incorporate the mentioned ones in the earlier refereed work. More precisely, we first develop the authors’ propounded algorithm to resolve our considered coupled linear matrix equations over centro-symmetric matrices. Afterwards, we disregard the restriction of the existence of the unique (centro-symmetric) solution and also modify the authors’ algorithm by applying an oblique projection technique which allows to produce a sequence of approximate solutions which gratify an optimality property. Numerical results are reported to confirm the validity of the established results and to demonstrate the superior performance of the modified version of the cyclic iterative algorithm.