Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization and Pharmacological Responsiveness of Dopamine Release Recorded by Microdialysis in the Substantia Nigra of Conscious Rats

The extracellular concentration of dopamine (DA) and 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the substantia nigra (SN) and striatum was estimated by microdialysis. The dialysate content of DA from the SN was recorded during infusion of a DA uptake blocker (nomifensine; 5 μmol/L) dissolved in the perfusion fluid. Perfusion of tetrodotoxin (1 μmol/L) produced a virtually complete disappearance of nigral and striatal DA release. Dendritic as well as terminal release of DA was inhibited for several hours when the nerve impulse flow in dopaminergic neurons was blocked by systemic administration of γ‐butyrolactonc (750 mg/kg, i.p.). The systemic administration (0.3 mg/kg, i.p.) as well as infusion (1 μmol/L) of the D2 agonist (‐)‐N‐0437 [2‐(n‐propyl‐N‐2‐thienylethylamino)‐5‐hydroxytetralin] produced a significant decrease in the release of DA in both the striatum and the SN. DA levels were recorded in the striatum both with and without addition of nomifensine to the perfusion fluid. The decrease in the striatum after (‐)‐N‐0437 was suppressed in the presence of nomifensine. Infusion (1 μmol/L) as well as systemic administration (40 mg/kg) of sulphide caused a similar increase in the release of striatal DA; this increase was, in both experiments, potentiated by nomifensine coinfusion. Sulpiride administration induced a small increase in the release of nigral DA. Infusion of (‐)‐N‐0437 or (‐)‐sulpiride into the nigra caused a moderate decrease and increase, respectively, of striatal DA level. It was possible to estimate the relative contribution of nigral and striatal au‐toreceptors to the typical changes in striatal DA release seen after peripheral administration of D2 agonists or antagonists. These results suggest that the dendritic release of DA fulfills classical release criteria.
Intralesional saline injection for effective ultrasound-guided aspiration of benign viscous cystic thyroid nodules

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vigorous saline injection for viscous cystic thyroid nodules. Methods: Eighteen patients who underwent ultrasound-guided aspiration for viscous cystic thyroid nodules using a saline injection were included in our study. After failing to aspirate the cyst by the usual method, we vigorously injected saline into the cyst in multiple directions to break up and liquefy the viscous cystic contents to enable aspiration. The initial and the residual volume of the nodule were calculated, and the volume reduction rate and the time taken to perform the aspiration were recorded. Results: The mean volume of the cystic nodules before aspiration was 11.0 mL (range, 1.2 to 26.0 mL), while the postaspiration volume was 4.2 mL (range, 0.2 to 14.5 mL). The mean aspirated volume was 63.7% of the initial volume. The mean procedure time was 12.4 minutes (range, 5 to 26 minutes). There were no significant complications related to the procedure. Conclusion: A vigorous saline injection followed by aspiration can be a useful method to aspirate viscous cystic thyroid nodules as a prestep for further intervention or simple management.
MoBiS-Q: a tool for evaluating the success of mobile business services

Companies deploy mobile business services to enable efficient work processes and gain increases in productivity. However, the success of the services in fulfilling these goals depends on several factors from the usability of the service to its success in supporting the business processes of the companies. This paper reviews existing measures for the usability of services and measures for evaluating the effects of mobile business services on the productivity of the company. We discuss the usefulness of the existing measures in the mobile business context, where both mobility and work-context pose specific demands for the services. The review showed that existing measures rarely consider the great contextual variation caused by mobility of the services and the demands this poses on usability; which, in turn, affects productivity. To build a measurement tool that better meets the requirements of mobile business services, we completed case studies on two mobile business services, one used in passenger transport and the other in construction sites. Based on the understanding gained from the case studies, we propose a list of themes addressing both usability and productivity measures that work as the basis for a multidisciplinary measurement tool, MoBiS-Q.
Winning friends and influencing people: self-presentation motives in physical activity settings

In this article, a critical eye is cast over research into self-presentational processes in physical activity settings, and a focus is given to recent developments in the study of impression motivation. In line with calls for theoretical advancement in this area, we draw from the literature on approach/avoidance and agency/communion distinctions in the construction of a 2 × 2 framework for the study of self-presentation motives. We propose that when performing physical activity within interpersonal environments, individuals may adopt acquisitive-agentic, acquisitive-communal, protective-agentic, and/or protective-communal motives. Theory-derived predictors of these motives, implications of motive endorsement, and possible moderators of the effects of motive adoption on physical activity outcomes are discussed.
Mixed-age grouping in early childhood – creating the outdoor learning environment

Children attending centre-based early childhood care and education programmes across Australia are most likely to be grouped according to age and development. While multi- or mixed-age grouping has been seen to have positive benefits on young children's learning and pro-social behaviours, this approach is not usually adopted in the organisation of children's grouping in most long day care settings across the county. This paper reports on a case study which explored one urban children's setting where the outdoor learning space has been specifically designed to enable a mixed-age approach for children. The findings suggest that while the educators see many benefits across the age groups in engaging in this approach, there is still a preference to segregate the very young children arising from concerns for their safety. The study also found that planning for learning especially in regards pro-social learning with the older children has been problematic.
Holocaust Survivors and Internal Strengths

This article focuses on what happened to the survivors of one of the most unbelievable horrors of the modern age, the Holocaust. My interest in this topic was motivated by the fact that I am one such survivor. This study presents evidence that survivors endured their ordeal and fared better in their subsequent lives than has been indicated by much of the psychoanalytic and psychological literature previously published. It suggests that the survivors were supported during the horror of their incarceration by inner resources cultivated during earlier childhood experiences in their family environment. Remarkably, many then-young adults were not only able to endure the horror of the Holocaust, but also subsequently to function adequately in a world that was very different from the one they knew when they were young. Furthermore, my study indicates that those who survived the Holocaust had the capacity to consider the world around them as positive and nurturing in spite of the suffering they had experienced. Finally, this analysis also sheds light on some factors enabling survivors to undergo a significant transformation of their identity by having at their disposal a reservoir of inner psychic strength. Techniques of accommodating included the creative use of fantasy, recollecting experiences of warmth and love, and identifying the self with a group. Perhaps a study of such creative adversity will assist victims of other kinds of trauma.
Evaluating resistance to jamming and casual interception in mobile wireless networks

Mobile ad-hoc and sensor networks play an important role in several application fields. The usage of wireless links and the node mobility make the networks prone to security attacks; among these, jamming attacks are insidious and they consist of one or more nodes continuously transmitting dummy packets to keep some wireless links busy. The goal is to destroy the network connectivity or highly reduce its throughput. In this paper we propose a probabilistic formal method, based on a process algebraic approach, targeted at the analysis of connectivity and the evaluation of interference in mobile networks. We show our framework at work on the analysis of an indoor wireless communication scenario.
Education, Civic Participation and Identity: Continuity and change in Hong Kong

This paper firstly identifies the major legacies inherited by the post-colonial government in Hong Kong, with reference to the key features of access, control and curriculum. Subsequently we examine the state's attempts to reconcile the tension between its quest for legitimacy and for stability. Two dimensions of education, namely the process of educational policy making and the nature of citizenship promoted through the school curriculum, are analysed in terms of the conceptions of civic participation and identity promoted and implemented by the state. In conclusion we point to the shift in the policy making process and the strengthening of policy actions designed to promote the state's conception of civic identity.
Global trends in migration: theory and research on international population movements.

This book contains revised versions of papers originally presented at a conference on international migration that was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and held in Bellagio Italy in June 1979. "The conference was organized to review the state of the art in the field of international migration evaluate current migration trends and assess the implications for research and policy. " The papers are arranged in three sections. In Part 1 concerned with theoretical issues the authors examine how political economic and social structures both at the national and international level shape current international migration patterns and policies. Part 2 focuses on international migration trends and policies in six geographic regions including Western Europe Australasia and the South Pacific Canada and the United States the Caribbean the Southern Cone of Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa. In Part 3 the incorporation of migrants into host societies is considered and return migration policies are discussed. A general bibliography is also included. (EXCERPT)
Component-based modeling and integration of automotive application architectures

The introduction of new propulsion technologies such as electric or hybrid drives imposes fundamental changes to the overall structure of the vehicle's electric and electronic system architecture. It also increases the need for cross-domain functionality, such as centralized energy management or the orchestration of mechanical braking and electric energy recuperation during deceleration. This leads to new challenges with respect to architecture development as interconnections between features are introduced that are not yet fully understood. The vehicle's system architecture evolves from towards a distributed multi-functional control system. Component oriented, model based approaches with multiple viewpoints have already proven being suitable in other domains to manage the dependencies between functionality by decomposing a system into a network of functional entities encapsulated in components. In this paper, we present a domain-specific component model to describe functional interdependencies as well as non-functional requirements needed to enable safe integration of software components in a centralized automotive ICT architecture. The model enables the composition of high-level functions and the definition of compatibility constraints. The approach is then applied to unveil feature interaction in a component architecture. This forms the foundation of a sound development and integration process for heavily interconnected functions. It also enables online product validation mechanisms to ensure functional integrity and safety as well as meeting of deployment constraints and timing requirements.
Crystal structure of bis(2-aminoanilinium) hydrogen phosphate

In the title compound, the hydrogen phosphate anions are linked by O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into chains parallel to [100]. The inorganic anionic chains and the organic cations are linked by N—H⋯O and N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming a two-dimensional supramolecular network extending parallel to (001).
Safety and efficacy of local periadventitial delivery of sirolimus for improving hemodialysis graft patency: first human experience with a sirolimus-eluting collagen membrane (Coll-R).

BACKGROUND Neointimal hyperplasia causes a high rate of hemodialysis synthetic graft failure. Thus, therapies that inhibit neointimal hyperplasia are urgently needed. The Coll-R is a sirolimus-eluting collagen matrix designed for intra-operative perivascular implantation around the graft-venous anastomosis. Sirolimus is an anti-proliferative drug that has proven clinical utility in suppressing neointimal tissue growth in coronary artery disease when delivered locally to the vascular wall by an endovascular drug eluting stent. METHODS A cohort of 12 chronic hemodialysis patients underwent surgical placement of 13 polytetrafluoroethylene grafts + Coll-R and were followed for up to 24 months. The primary endpoint was safety (freedom from device related adverse events). Secondary endpoints were pharmacokinetics of sirolimus release, success of Coll-R implantation and primary unassisted graft patency. RESULTS There were no technical failures, infections, vascular anastomotic or wound-healing problems. Whole blood sirolimus levels rose to a mean peak of 4.8 ng/mL at 6 h and fell to <1 ng/mL at 1 week (n = 5). Twelve and 24-month primary unassisted patencies were 76 and 38%, respectively, and the thrombosis rate was 0.37/patient-year. CONCLUSIONS Perivascular implantation of the Coll-R during graft surgery safely delivered sirolimus to the vascular wall. Systemic sirolimus levels were sub-therapeutic for immunosuppression. This small first-in-human study supports the concept that the Coll-R can safely deliver sirolimus to the graft-venous anastomosis. Safety and patency in this small study were sufficiently encouraging to justify randomized controlled trials to further test the efficacy of the Coll-R.
The sodium iodide symporter: its pathophysiological and therapeutic implications

The sodium iodide symporter (NIS) is an intrinsic plasma membrane protein that mediates the active transport of iodide in the thyroid gland and a number of extrathyroidal tissues, in particular lactating mammary gland. Because of its crucial role in the ability of thyroid follicular cells to trap iodide, cloning of NIS opened an exciting and extensive new field of thyroid‐related research. Cloning and molecular characterization of NIS allowed investigation of its expression and regulation in thyroidal and nonthyroidal tissues, and its potential pathophysiological and therapeutic implications in benign and malignant thyroid disease. In addition to its key function in thyroid physiology, NIS‐mediated iodide accumulation allows diagnostic thyroid scintigraphy as well as effective therapeutic application of radioiodine in benign and malignant thyroid disease. Characterization and application of NIS as a novel therapeutic gene and the presence of high native NIS expression in the majority of breast cancers further suggest a promising role of NIS in diagnosis and therapy of cancer outside the thyroid gland.
Opponent Modeling in Poker

Poker is an interesting test-bed for artificial intelligence research. It is a game of imperfect knowledge, where multiple competing agents must deal with risk management, agent modeling, unreliable information and deception, much like decision-making applications in the real world. Agent modeling is one of the most difficult problems in decision-making applications and in poker it is essential to achieving high performance. This paper describes and evaluates Loki, a poker program capable of observing its opponents, constructing opponent models and dynamically adapting its play to best exploit patterns in the opponents' play.
University of Birmingham Dynamic manipulability of the center of mass: a tool to study, analyse and measure physical ability of robots

—This paper introduces dynamic manipulability of the center of mass (CoM) as a metric to measure robots’ physical abilities to accelerate their CoMs in different directions. By decomposing the effects of velocity dependent constraints, such as unilateral contacts and friction cones, CoM dynamic manipulability is deﬁned as a velocity independent metric which depends only on robot’s conﬁguration and inertial parameters. Thus, this metric is independent of any choice of controller and expresses only physical abilities of robots. This important property makes the proposed metric a proper tool to study, analyse and design current and future robots. The outcome of the CoM dynamic manipulability analysis in this paper is an ellipsoid in the CoM acceleration space which graphically shows accessible points due to the unit weighted norm of joint torques. Physical meanings and concepts of two reasonable choices for the weighting matrix, which is used in the weighted norm of joint torques, are discussed and illustrative examples are presented. Since the proposed metric measures physical ability to accelerate the CoM, it is claimed to be a suitable tool to study balance ability of legged robots.
Alcohol and drug use and other high-risk behaviors among youth in the slums of Kampala, Uganda: Perceptions and contexts obtained through focus groups

Swahn, M. , Haberlen, M. , & Palmier, J. (2014). Alcohol and drug use and other high-risk behaviors among youth in the slums of Kampala, Uganda: Perceptions and contexts obtained through focus groups. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 3(4), 289-295. doi:http://dx.doi. org/10.7895/ijadr.v3i4. 171Aims: The study seeks to determine perceptions of and contexts for risky behaviors among street and slum youth in Kampala, through focus groups.Design: Three 90-minute focus groups were conducted in Luganda (local language) to ask specific questions on alcohol and drug-related behaviors among youth in the slums.Setting: Uganda Youth Development Link drop-in centers for disadvantaged youth in Kampala.Participants: 31 participants, aged 14 to 24 years.Measures: The focus group probes were based on the World Health Organization report “Working With Street Children: Module 5: Determining the Needs and Problems of Street Children—A Training Package on Substance Use, Sexual and Reproductive Health Including HIV/AIDS and STDs. ”Findings: Results show that these youth engage in a number of risky behaviors, including alcohol and drug abuse, fighting and weapon carrying, delinquency, prostitution and unsafe sexual behaviors.Conclusions: The study provides context for risky behaviors in this population, which can provide useful insights and help to guide resource allocation and intervention planning for services that seek to reduce adverse health outcomes in this vulnerable population, particularly those related to alcohol and drug use.
Range-based localization for estimating pedestrian trajectory in intersection with roadside anchors

In ITS research field, recently a lot of efforts have been made to develop driving safety support systems (DSSS) for car drivers such as warning to drivers “danger” in potential blind spots at intersections. In this paper, we propose a localization method to estimate the movement trajectories (position, speed and direction) of pedestrians near intersections by using some roadside anchors. In our method, we assume that each pedestrian is equipped with a small device which periodically emits a radio beacon signal and each roadside anchor can receive the signal and measure its received signal strength (RSS). Our method estimates the pedestrian position from RSS at each anchor based on the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method. Moreover, to obtain an accurate pedestrian trajectory, our method applies the Bayes' theorem to a series of estimated positions and reduces estimation errors caused by uncertainty from radio interference and other factors. Through computer simulations with RapLab, we confirmed that our method estimates pedestrian positions within 2m error.
Intraoperative cholangiography and risk of common bile duct injury.

To the Editor: Dr Flum and colleagues found that intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) during cholecystectomy decreased the rate of common bile duct injury (CBDI) from 0.58% to 0.39%. From these results one can compute an absolute risk reduction of 0.0019, and a number needed to treat (NNT) of 526. That is, 526 patients would need to have IOC (each with approximately one half hour of extra operating room time, the expense of a radiology technician, radiologist, and prorated cost of the fluoroscope and supplies) to avoid a single case of CBDI. The authors also do not consider the risk of complications from IOC and its added time under anesthesia. There are a number of risk factors for CBDI, including obesity, severe inflammation, adhesions, intraoperative hemorrhage, and poorly delineated anatomy. The use of IOC helps prevent CBDI for only the last of these risk factors. The authors’ administrative database, however, could not account for all of the causes of CBDI, and thus does not provide enough clinical detail to support the routine use of IOC. Common bile duct injuries are among the most common reasons that general surgeons are sued for malpractice. In the authors’ database there were 7911 cases of CBDI from 40210 surgeons. Assuming that each surgeon was responsible for no more than 1 to 2 CBDIs, then 10% to 20% of the general surgeons in the study experienced this complication. Although it is often argued in court that the occurrence of CBDI is prima facie evidence of substandard surgical care, these data show that a significant proportion of surgeons have experienced this complication. Since the standard of care calls for a surgeon to exhibit skills considered average, and since this complication is experienced by many surgeons, it appears that occurrence of CBDI does not in itself establish that a patient received substandard care. Similarly, as 61% of all cholecystectomies are apparently performed without an IOC, the standard of care does not appear to require it. Statistics such as these could help to adjudicate malpractice claims in that they could provide evidencebased definitions for standards of care.