Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wideband Reflectance Norms for Caucasian and Chinese Young Adults

Objective: This study examined differences between the middle ears of two ethnic groups, Caucasian and Chinese young adults with normal hearing, using a new middle-ear measurement technique, wideband energy reflectance. The goal of this study was to determine whether the Chinese group had different middle-ear transmission properties than the Caucasian group. Design: There were 126 subjects (237 ears) between the ages of 18 and 32 yr, with 62 subjects in the Caucasian group and 64 subjects in the Chinese group. Wideband energy reflectance data were gathered using Mimosa Acoustics (RMS system version 4.0.4.4) wideband reflectance (WBR) equipment. Results: The Chinese group had significantly lower wideband energy reflectance than their Caucasian counterparts at higher frequencies; however, the Caucasian group had significantly lower energy reflectance at lower frequencies than the Chinese group. The Chinese group also had significantly lower admittance magnitude than the Caucasian group at lower frequencies. Because body size indices are more comparable between Caucasian females and Chinese males, the effect of body size could be potentially adjusted for by comparing the Caucasian female subjects with the Chinese male subjects. The differences observed between the Caucasian and the Chinese groups were no longer significant when the Caucasian female subjects were compared with the Chinese male subjects. Applying the Caucasian norms to four Caucasian adults with surgically confirmed otosclerosis resulted in an improved hit rate compared with the combined Caucasian and Chinese norms and the Chinese-only norms. Conclusion: Body size may play a role in the observed differences between the Caucasian and Chinese groups. The findings of this study suggest that further research is needed to investigate the effects of body size on wideband energy reflectance. It should be noted that factors other than body size may contribute to the observed differences. Chinese individuals may simply have different middle-ear characteristics than Caucasian individuals, which could affect WBR. In the meantime, overall test performance may be improved by using a more homogeneous norm when evaluating the middle ear of Caucasian or Chinese individuals with WBR.
Simple analytical approach for measurement of the complex permittivity of resins and viscous liquids

An analytical method to determine the dielectric constant and the loss tangent of epoxy resins and other viscous liquids is presented. The method requires the injection of the liquid-under-test (LUT) into a disposable cuvette of rectangular or square cross-section, and measuring the reflection and transmission coefficient data in the S-band by positioning it at the center of a WR-340 rectangular waveguide. The complex relative permittivity of the LUT is reconstructed from the measured scattering data using the proposed analytical closed form relations. The analytical expression is based on the derivation of the transcendental equation using the transverse resonance method, which basically helps in analyzing the multi-layered partially filled waveguide structure. The proposed method is validated by reconstructing a number of known liquid specimen.
On Sampling Edges Almost Uniformly

We consider the problem of sampling an edge almost uniformly from an unknown graph, $G = (V, E)$. Access to the graph is provided via queries of the following types: (1) uniform vertex queries, (2) degree queries, and (3) neighbor queries. We describe an algorithm that returns a random edge $e \in E$ using $\tilde{O}(n / \sqrt{\varepsilon m})$ queries in expectation, where $n = |V|$ is the number of vertices, and $m = |E|$ is the number of edges, such that each edge $e$ is sampled with probability $(1 \pm \varepsilon)/m$. We prove that our algorithm is optimal in the sense that any algorithm that samples an edge from an almost-uniform distribution must perform $\Omega(n / \sqrt{m})$ queries.
Avoidance of reporter assay distortions from fused dual reporters

Positioning test sequences between fused reporters permits monitoring of both translation levels and framing, before and after the test sequence. Many studies, including those on recoding such as productive ribosomal frameshifting and stop codon readthrough, use distinguishable luciferases or fluorescent proteins as reporters. Occasional distortions, due to test sequence product interference with the individual reporter activities or stabilities, are here shown to be avoidable by the introduction of tandem StopGo sequences (2A) flanking the test sequence. Using this new vector system (pSGDluc), we provide evidence for the use of a 3′ stem–loop stimulator for ACP2 readthrough, but failed to detect the reported VEGFA readthrough.
Evaluating adrenal activity in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) by fecal corticosteroid analysis.

A noninvasive corticosteroid hormone monitoring technique was validated for use in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). The double-antibody 125I radioimmunoassay for corticosterone was validated by demonstrating parallelism between serial dilutions of wild dog fecal extracts and the standard curve, recovery of corticosterone added to fecal extracts, and the time course of fecal corticoid excretion after an exogenous adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) challenge. All feces were collected from three female and two male African wild dogs for 72 hr before and 144 hr after i.m. injection of long-acting ACTH (Acthar Gel, 400 IU). Fecal corticosterone immunoreactivity increased 10-30-fold within 24 hr of ACTH administration in all individuals, with peak concentrations from 1,200-8,000 ng/g. High-pressure liquid chromatography analysis revealed that >90% of all corticosterone immunoreactivity was associated with a single peak that exhibited intermediate polarity relative to cortisol and corticosterone reference tracers. Fecal corticosterone immunoreactivity appears to reflect adrenal activity in the African wild dog and, therefore, may be useful for evaluating stress. From a conservation perspective, these techniques can complement in situ and ex situ research studies designed to evaluate how environmental conditions and management strategies affect overall animal health.
Extracellular Inosine is Modulated by H2O2 and Protects Sertoli Cells against Lipoperoxidation and Cellular Injury

Extracellular purines are involved in the regulation of a wide range of physiological processes, including cytoprotection, ischemic preconditioning, and cell death. These actions are usually mediated via triggering of membrane purinergic receptors, which may activate antioxidant enzymes, conferring cytoprotection. Recently, it was demonstrated that the oxidative stress induced by cisplatin up-regulated A1 receptor expression in rat testes, suggesting an involvement of purinergic signaling in the response of testicular cells to oxidant injury. In this article, we report the effect of hydrogen peroxide on purinergic agonist release by cultured Sertoli cells. Extracellular inosine levels are strongly increased in the presence of H2O2, suggesting an involvement of this nucleoside on Sertoli cells response to oxidant treatment. Inosine was observed to decrease H2O2-induced lipoperoxidaton and cellular injury, and it also preserved cellular ATP content during H2O2 exposure. These effects were abolished in the presence of nucleoside uptake inhibitors, indicating that nucleoside internalisation is essential for its action in preventing cell damage.
High-dose atorvastatin reduces the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with percutaneous coronary intervention

We systematically searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from the inception to March 31, 2017, identified relevant trials about efficacy of high-does Atorvastatin for patients with percutaneous coronary intervention. Twelve studies with the number of 2801 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with control group, high-does Atorvastatin significantly reduced the risk of myocardial infarction in patients with percutaneous coronary intervention (Relative risk =0.62, 95% confidence interval: 0.49-0.78), with low level of heterogeneity (I2=22.6%, P=0.228). Nine studies with 2248 patients reported the adverse cardiovascular events. A fixed-effect model was applied. Compared with control group, patients with high-does Atorvastatin taken, the risk of adverse cardiovascular events was degraded by 65% (Relative risk, RR=0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.50-0.84), which was confirmed by trial sequential analysis as the cumulative Z curve entered the futility area. The subgroup analyses found that decreased risks of myocardial infarction among trails (RR=0.64, 95%CI: 0.50-0.83, RR=0.55, 95%CI: 0.34-0.88). Egger and Begg’s test found no publication bias (t=-1.670, P=0.129; Z=1.560, P=0.119). The use of high-dose Atorvastatin could reduce the risk of myocardial infraction and cardiovascular adverse events in patients with percutaneous coronary intervention. High-dose Atorvastatin was recommended as an adjunct to aid percutaneous coronary intervention.
Universities : The Impacts of University Research Center Affiliation and Gender on Industrial Activities

Academics work in increasingly complex institutional environments. Universities become more engaged with commercial activities at the same time that they generate new internal structures to manage research activities. Faculty members are the principal agents through which these interactions develop and mature. How these institutions and industrial arrangements affect faculty career management continues to be investigated in recent work. We use scientific and technical human capital theory to test the hypothesis that university research center-affiliation helps to facilitate valuable industrial involvement by university professors. We are particularly interested in how gender may moderate the effects of university research center-affiliation on industrial activities. We study tenure-track academic scientists and engineers in US research universities to find that affiliation with a university research center increases the industrial involvement of both men and women. We conclude that the development of university research centers has resulted in a new basis of institutional stratification among professors, with affiliates engaging in more industrial activities than their exclusively department-based peers. Although university research center-affiliation advantages both men and women, male university research center-affiliates enjoy a slightly greater advantage than female center-affiliates in their industrial involvement. & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Optical near‐field harmonic demodulation in apertureless microscopy

Spatial derivatives of the optical fields scattered by a surface can be investigated by apertureless near‐field optical microscopy by modulating sinusoidally the probe to sample distance and detecting the optical signal at the first and higher harmonics. Demodulation up to the fifth harmonic order has been accomplished on a sample of close‐packed latex spheres by means of the silicon tip of a scanning interference apertureless microscope. The working principles of such microscope are reviewed. The experimental configuration used comprises a tuning‐fork‐based tapping‐mode atomic force microscope for the distance stabilization, and a double‐modulation technique for complete separation of the topography tracking from the optical detection. Simple modelling provides first indications for the interpretation of experimental data. The technique described here provides either artefact‐free near‐field optical imaging, or detailed information on the structure of the near fields scattered by a surface.
Post-processing enhancement of reverberation-noise suppression in dual-frequency SURF imaging

A post-processing adjustment technique to enhance dual-frequency second-order ultrasound field (SURF) reverberation-noise suppression imaging in medical ultrasound is analyzed. Two variant methods are investigated through numerical simulations. They both solely involve post-processing of the propagated high-frequency (HF) imaging wave fields, which in real-time imaging corresponds to post-processing of the beamformed receive radio-frequency signals. Hence, the transmit pulse complexes are the same as for the previously published SURF reverberation-suppression imaging method. The adjustment technique is tested on simulated data from propagation of SURF pulse complexes consisting of a 3.5-MHz HF imaging pulse added to a 0.5-MHz low-frequency sound-speed manipulation pulse. Imaging transmit beams are constructed with and without adjustment. The post-processing involves filtering, e.g., by a time-shift, to equalize the two SURF HF pulses at a chosen depth. This depth is typically chosen to coincide with the depth where the first scattering or reflection occurs for the reverberation noise one intends to suppress. The beams realized with post-processing show energy decrease at the chosen depth, especially for shallow depths where, in a medical imaging situation, a body-wall is often located. This indicates that the post-processing may further enhance the reverberation- suppression abilities of SURF imaging. Moreover, it is shown that the methods might be utilized to reduce the accumulated near-field energy of the SURF transmit-beam relative to its imaging region energy. The adjustments presented may therefore potentially be utilized to attain a slightly better general suppression of multiple scattering and multiple reflection noise compared with non-adjusted SURF reverberation-suppression imaging.
Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition During Late Deterioration of Human Kidney Transplants: The Role of Tubular Cells in Fibrogenesis

The hallmark of failing renal transplants is tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis (TA/IF). Injury to tubular epithelial cells (TEC) could contribute to fibrogenesis via epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). We examined the features of EMT in renal transplants that developed TA/IF. Biopsies from 10 allograft kidneys with impaired function and TA/IF and 10 biopsies from transplants with stable function were compared to their implantation biopsies. Relative to implantation biopsies, TEC in TA/IF kidneys showed loss of epithelial markers (E‐cadherin, cytokeratin) with altered distribution. Some TEC also showed new cytoplasmic expression of mesenchymal markers vimentin, S100A4, and alpha smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA) and collagen synthesis marker heat shock protein (HSP‐47), both in deteriorating and atrophic tubules. Double immunostaining showed coexpression of cytokeratin and vimentin, S100A4 and HSP‐47, indicating intermediate stages of EMT in TA/IF. These changes were absent or much less in transplants with stable function. EMT features in the TA/IF group correlated with serum creatinine (vimentin, S100A4, HSP‐47), history of T‐cell‐mediated rejection (cytokeratin, S100A4) and proteinuria (cytokeratin). These findings support a model in which the TEC damage induces loss of epithelial features and expression of fibroblast features, as a common pathway of deterioration by either immunologic or nonimmunologic processes.
Integrated role of TQM and technology management in organizational sustainability

Organizations around the world have adopted TQM philosophy and practices to attain business excellence. Many of them have succeeded but many are still in pursuant of long term organizational sustainability. Contemporarily worldwide technological advancement and challenges have enriched a competitive environment in the business world. In literature TQM and technology management have been addressed with separate role while this paper outlines the co-alignment between TQM and technology management in integrated fashion to attain excellence and organizational sustainability. The relationship among different aspects of TQM and technology management is structured as a framework preceded with a research study conducted in Pakistan. Data collection is administered through structured questionnaire and survey, and summarized with statistical analysis. The results show positive correlation among the aspects of the research framework and depict usefulness of the study for the organizations to adopt.
GA-based Load Balancing Algorithm for Distributed Timing Task

Distributed architectures and various load balancing algorithms have improved resource utilization and system stability observably. Tasks driven by time series will be executed and produce actual load for systems at scheduled time depending on the pre-planned arrangements. The general load balancing algorithms, such as Random, Round Robin, Least Connection, Dynamic Adaptive, all aim at balancing load based on server features or real-time server resource utilization. But few studies have been conducted on load balancing by considering temporal characteristics of distributed timing tasks, while this kind of demand is needed. To solve this issue, we propose an improved load balancing algorithm based on genetic algorithm. The algorithm fully considered the temporal parameter and the extension of genetic algorithm, can quickly obtain an approximate optimal task allocation sequence to realize load balancing in the next period of time.
Theoretical investigation of electric properties of the silicene / fully hydrogenated BN heterobilayer

Silicene with an unique properties and potential applications has attracted great interests in exploring since its discovery. The behavior of silicene is strongly influenced by the substrate which need to further research. To overcome the defect of dull band gap, find a suitable substrate material and modify the properties of silicene,the measure of piling silicene that has attractive Dirac-like electronic properties on fully hydrogenate boron nitride (H-BN) monolayer can be applied. In this paper, first-principles calculations based on density-functional theory (DFT) are adopted to research the interactions between H-BN monolayer and silicene. The H-BN/silicene were shown to have finite gap of about 44 meV, which may caused by the small van der Waals interaction. The opened band gap of new formed heterobilayer and preserved excellent electric properties of silicene just like high carrier mobility, ferromagnetism and half-metallic can extend the range of uses of silicene. Application of the electric field perpendicular to the bilayer system was found to facilitate modulation of the band gap, exhibiting a wide adjustable range of the gap energy. And the biaxial strain is also used to tune the band gap. The degree of the modulation was mainly determined by the Si-p electronic states at the interface of the H-BN/silicnene bilayers. The value of gap energy of Si/H-BN bilayer system is 0.044eV, it can reach more than 0.123 eV through modulation. All these indicate H-BN monolayer is promising candidate of substrate for silicene.
The Efficacy of Endovascular Treatment of Ruptured Blood Blister-Like Aneurysms Using Stent-Assisted Coil Embolization

We report our experience with endovascular treatment and follow-up results of a ruptured blood blister-like aneurysm (BBA) in the supraclinoid internal carotid artery. We performed a retrospective review of ruptured blood blister-like aneurysm patients over a 30-month period. Seven patients (men/women, 2/5; mean age, 45.6 years) with ruptured BBAs were included from two different institutions. The angiographic findings, treatment strategies, and the clinical (modified Rankin Scale) and angiographic outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. All seven BBAs were located in the supraclinoid internal carotid artery. Four of them were ≥ 3 mm in largest diameter. Primary stent-assisted coiling was performed in six out of seven patients, and double stenting was done in one patient. In four patients, the coiling was augmented by overlapping stent insertion. Two patients experienced early re-hemorrhage, including one major fatal SAH. Complementary treatment was required in two patients, including coil embolization and covered-stent placement, respectively. Six of the seven BBAs showed complete or progressive occlusion at the time of late angiographic follow-up. The clinical midterm outcome was good (mRS scores, 0–1) in five patients. Stent-assisted coiling of a ruptured BBA is technically challenging but can be done with good midterm results. However, as early regrowth/re-rupture remains a problem, repeated, short-term angiographic follow-up is required so that additional treatment can be performed as needed.
Multiplex PCR for Rapid Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Tuberculosis

Background: Rapid and specific diagnosis of gastrointestinal tuberculosis (GITB) is of utmost importance. Aim: To evaluate Multiplex PCR (MPCR) using MPB64 and IS6110 primers specific for M. tuberculosis for rapid diagnosis of GITB. Materials and Methods: MPCR was performed on colonoscopy biopsy specimens on 11 GITB confirmed (culture/AFB/histopathology was positive), 29 GITB suspected and 30 Non GITB (control group) patients. Results: MPB64 PCR had sensitivity and specificity of 90% and 100% for confirmed GITB cases. In 29 clinically diagnosed but unconfirmed GITB cases, MPCR was positive in 72.41%. MPCR was negative in all control group patients. The overall sensitivity and specificity of microscopy, culture, histopathology and MPCR was 5%, 2% 20% and 77.5% and 100%, 100%, 100% and 100% respectively. Conclusion: MPCR has good sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing gastrointestinal tuberculosis.
The Effect of Forced-Exercise Therapy for Parkinson's Disease on Motor Cortex Functional Connectivity

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurologic disorder primarily characterized by an altered motor function. Lower extremity forced exercise (FE) has been shown to reduce motor symptoms in patients with PD. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that FE and medication produce similar changes in brain activation patterns. Functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) affords the ability to look at how strongly nodes of the motor circuit communicate with each other and can provide insight into the complementary effects of various therapies. Past work has demonstrated an abnormal motor connectivity in patients with PD compared to controls and subsequent normalization after treatment. Here we compare the effects of FE and medication using both resting and continuous visuomotor task fcMRI. Ten patients with mild to moderate PD completed three fMRI and fcMRI scanning sessions randomized under the following conditions: on PD medication, off PD medication, and FE+off medication. Blinded clinical ratings of motor function (a Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Motor Scale-III exam) indicated that FE and medication resulted in 51% and 33% improvement in clinical ratings, respectively. In most nodes of the motor circuit, the observed changes in the functional connectivity produced by FE and medication were strongly positively correlated. These findings suggest that medication and FE likely use the same pathways to produce symptomatic relief in patients with PD. However, the connectivity changes, while consistent across therapy, were inconsistent in polarity for each patient. This finding may explain some past inconsistencies in connectivity changes after medication therapy.