Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coronary magnetic resonance angiography for the detection of coronary stenoses.

BACKGROUND An accurate, noninvasive technique for the diagnosis of coronary disease would be an important advance. We investigated the accuracy of coronary magnetic resonance angiography among patients with suspected coronary disease in a prospective, multicenter study. METHODS Coronary magnetic resonance angiography was performed during free breathing in 109 patients before elective x-ray coronary angiography, and the results of the two diagnostic procedures were compared. RESULTS A total of 636 of 759 proximal and middle segments of coronary arteries (84 percent) were interpretable on magnetic resonance angiography. In these segments, 78 (83 percent) of 94 clinically significant lesions (those with a > or = 50 percent reduction in diameter on x-ray angiography) were also detected by magnetic resonance angiography. Overall, coronary magnetic resonance angiography had an accuracy of 72 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 63 to 81 percent) in diagnosing coronary artery disease. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for patients with disease of the left main coronary artery or three-vessel disease were 100 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 97 to 100 percent), 85 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 78 to 92 percent), and 87 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 81 to 93 percent), respectively. The negative predictive values for any coronary artery disease and for left main artery or three-vessel disease were 81 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 73 to 89 percent) and 100 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 97 to 100 percent), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Among patients referred for their first x-ray coronary angiogram, three-dimensional coronary magnetic resonance angiography allows for the accurate detection of coronary artery disease of the proximal and middle segments. This noninvasive approach reliably identifies (or rules out) left main coronary artery or three-vessel disease.
Teachers' Perceptions of Project of Heart, An Indian Residential School Education Project

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how settler teachers took up an arts and activist-based Indian Residential School Commemoration Project called Project of Heart. More specifically, it sought to assess whether or not the research participants were led to transformation, demonstrated through disrupting “common sense” (racist) behaviours of teachers and students as well as through their engagement in social justice work that Project of Heart espouses. Since 2007 Ontario school boards have been required by Ministry policy to to teach the “Aboriginal perspective” in their high school courses, yet at the time of the study (2010) there were still very few resources available for educators to do so. There were even fewer resources available to teach about the Indian Residential School era. Project of Heart was created by an Ontario teacher and her students in 2007 in order to address this egregious situation. The study was guided by grounded theory methods and the findings suggest that while Project of Heart did not achieve “transformation” in its participants as assessed through teachers’ lack of completion of the social justice requirement, teachers indicated that both students and teachers benefitted greatly because of the relevance of the learning. Included in the appendix are assessment and evaluation rubrics for Project of Heart. i
The Use Support Vector Machine and Back Propagation Neural Network for Prediction of Daily Tidal Levels along the Jeddah Coast, Saudi Arabia

— Sea level rise threatens to increase the impact of future storms and hurricanes on coastal communities. Accurate sea level change prediction and supplement is an important task in determining constructions and human activities in coastal and oceanic areas. In this study, support vector machines (SVM) is proposed to predict daily tidal levels along the Jeddah Coast, Saudi Arabia. The optimal parameter values of kernel function are determined using a genetic algorithm. The SVM results are compared with the field data and with back propagation (BP). Among the models, the SVM is superior to BPNN and has better generalization performance.
Social Capital – An Emerging Concept

Have the citizens of western democracies lost their trust in each other? If so, what are the sources of this unfortunate development and what are the consequences? Why can citizens in some regions or villages join together and solve their collective action problems while others cannot? These questions have been prompted in large part by the growing conviction that the answers are crucial both to political stability and to economic development. In the 1990s, scholarly studies and polemical essays attempted to answer these difficult questions, drawing attention to resources that derive from the society itself, namely social capital. While many dimensions of the concept of social capital are far from new, major sociological and political science contributions in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Coleman 1988, 1990, Putnam 1993, 2000) have provoked new research and much debate over the last decade. Scholars have been increasingly concerned with this key social resource that seems to oil the wheels of the market economy and democratic politics. The existence and maintenance of social trust and networks in communities seems to lower the amount of drug use, criminal activity, teenage pregnancies, and delinquency; to increase the success of schools and their pupils; to enhance economic development; and to make government more effective (Case and Katz, 1991; Fukuyama, 1995; Granovetter, 1985; Hagan, Merkens and Boehnke, 1995; Jencks and Peterson, 1991; Kawachi, Kennedy, Lochner and Prothrow-Stith, 1997; Knack and Keefer, 1997; La Porta et al., 2000; Putnam, 1993 and 2000; and others). In short, social capital is conceptualized as a societal resource that links citizens to each other and enables them to pursue their common objectives more effectively. It taps the potential willingness of citizens to cooperate with each other and to engage in civic endeavors collectively. As such, it has proved influential as a means of countering the strong emphasis on the atomized individual that was so characteristic of politics (and economics) during the 1980s in the US and the UK. Robert D. Putnam struck a sensitive nerve when he applied his argument to the United States, and argued in Bowling Alone (1995a, 2000) that social capital has been in steady decline over the last decades. His description of falling membership in voluntary associations, declining volunteerism, political apathy, and rising political and social distrust seemed to confirm the civic disarray that people had experienced in recent decades in the West. Scholars have debated, contested, and re-examined Putnam’s alarming interpretations and warnings.1 While the idea of social capital seems to capture what large numbers of people, politicians included, are feeling about the problems of early twenty-first century western societies, there is considerable disagreement about the conceptualization and measurement of social capital, its sources and about
MoSS: Mobile Smart Services for ubiquitous network management

We present an intelligence-based mobile solution addressing product life cycle and overall network management functions. Traditional network and service management systems rely on basic inventory information periodically collected from the network in order to establish the basic “Install Base” network view. Such collection systems, however, still require manual human manipulations given the required device's electronically embedded predefined parameters are often inaccurate or absent. Leveraging mobile agents and ubiquitous computing in networks, we developed the Mobile Smart Services (MoSS), a location-aware solution as well as a novel interactive interface to improve the collected parameters and Return Material Authorization (RMA) user experience. The fluid interaction, mobility, and efficiency of the system allow network service providers and customers to solve network management problems. The applications developed also enable ubiquitous inventory management, intelligent contract management and effective system diagnosis to improve productivity in complicated network systems.
Mouse Down-regulated in Adenoma (DRA) Is an Intestinal Cl−/HCO3 − Exchanger and Is Up-regulated in Colon of Mice Lacking the NHE3 Na+/H+Exchanger*

Mutations in human DRA cause congenital chloride diarrhea, thereby raising the possibility that it functions as a Cl−/HCO3 − exchanger. To test this hypothesis we cloned a cDNA encoding mouse DRA (mDRA) and analyzed its activity in cultured mammalian cells. When expressed in HEK 293 cells, mDRA conferred Na+-independent, electroneutral Cl−/CHO3 − exchange activity. Removal of extracellular Cl− from medium containing HCO3 − caused a rapid intracellular alkalinization, whereas the intracellular pH increase following Cl−removal from HCO3 −-free medium was reduced greater than 7-fold. The intracellular alkalinization in Cl−-free, HCO3 −-containing medium was unaffected by removal of extracellular Na+ or by depolarization of the membrane by addition of 75 mm K+ to the medium. Like human DRA mRNA, mDRA transcripts were expressed at high levels in cecum and colon and at lower levels in small intestine. The expression of mDRA mRNA was modestly up-regulated in the colon of mice lacking the NHE3 Na+/H+ exchanger. These results show that DRA is a Cl−/HCO3 − exchanger and suggest that it normally acts in concert with NHE3 to absorb NaCl and that in NHE3-deficient mice its activity is coupled with those of the sharply up-regulated colonic H+,K+-ATPase and epithelial Na+ channel to mediate electrolyte and fluid absorption.
What computing instructors did last summer: Experiences and lessons learned

This paper studies the first computing education summer camp of its kind in Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were performed with six of the camp's instructors focusing on their teaching experiences in relation to the instructional content and the children. The instructors struggled with meeting the wide range in children's programming experience, suggesting a lack of pedagogical knowledge. The results also shed some light on the challenges and advantages related to recruitment, content, and teaching strategy. Awareness of the camp instructors' experiences enables computing instructors, in both formal and informal settings, to enhance the design of learning environments for children.
Taxonomic richness of stream benthic algae: Effects of flood disturbance and nutrients

We sampled benthic algae monthly for 15 months in 12 New Zealand gravel‐bed streams to investigate amongstream differences in algal taxonomic richness and how this might relate to among‐stream differences in flood disturbance and nutrient resource regimes. The mean number of benthic algal taxa per month ranged from 9.4 to 21.3 among streams. There were moderate month‐to‐month fluctuations in richness, partly in response to flood disturbances. Flow perturbations generally reduced richness in streams with unarmored bed sediments but had little or no effect on richness in streams with armored sediments. Richness was moderate within days of floods in most streams but then did not vary significantly for periods of up to 50 d. However, in streams with prolonged periods without bed‐moving floods, richness slowly increased after ~100 d, and, in two of these streams, it peaked at 200–300 d before declining. Unexpectedly, there was not a significant pattern in mean monthly richness among the streams as a function of annual flood frequency. Mean richness was strongly negatively related to soluble nutrient concentrations (particularly with soluble inorganic nitrogen [SIN]; R2 = 0.511, P = 0.018). However, this was not a direct relationship, because nitrogen‐fixing taxa were common in the streams with low SIN, resulting in intermediate to high mat‐scale nitrogen concentrations. This possibly shifted these communities to P‐limited growth. A combination of disturbance frequency and mat P gave the most parsimonious model of among‐stream variations in benthic algal richness (R2 = 0.635, P = 0.037). The highest richness occurred in streams with low to intermediate frequencies of flood disturbance (up to 10 bed‐moving events yr-1) and intermediate to high concentrations of mat P (>0.6% P). We could not define an upper nutrient concentration that negatively affected benthic algal richness (perhaps because none of our streams were highly enriched). We discuss our results in relation to three contemporary models of biodiversity.
Study on Feature Extraction in China Railway Ticketing and Reservation System

Because that data analysis methods for train ticket data are mostly designed for building predictive analysis models, which are always good at describing the characteristics of major classes but are lack of reflecting the minorities, this paper presents a new method FEBIR that is based on the set-partition for data feature extraction. The presented method can distill the pointed favorite class features without the limitations of current analysis methods in characterizing the minors. The characteristic rules which are extracted by this method include quantitative information, and the order of attributes in the rules reflects how importantly they contribute to sculpture the class, so it provides enough information for decision-makers to analyze the special class and will be an effective tool for railway managers to get useful information about their focuses.
The search environment is not (always) benign: reassessing the risks of organizational search

March and Simon’s (1958: 50) assumption that search happens within a “benign environment” has become taken-for-granted in organizational studies. The implications of making this assumption are not widely theorized, investigated, or even discussed, and yet, it often appears to have been unwittingly imported into explanations of organizational learning. March and Simon acknowledged that this assumption was not realistic—our work builds on theirs by investigating the origins and consequences of a non-benign search environment. We draw on in-depth qualitative research at a Fortune 500 mining firm to show how perceptions of social risk problematize the assumption of a benign search environment. Causal links are drawn between role equivalence, performance comparisons, and rivalry for social status to explain how social risk is generated and why it can lead actors to view the intraorganizational search environment as non-benign. These perceptions help create what we describe as a “paradox of local equivalence” that leads actors to search for nonlocal solutions. Our causal logic provides a new way of understanding the phenomena of nonlocal search; complements explanations of nonlocal search founded on myopia in organizational learning; and shows how the micro-foundations of existing search models can be adapted to better explain organizational learning. In doing so, this study contributes to recent efforts to improve behavioral explanations of search and learning by bringing the notion of intraorganizational conflict back to center stage in this important area of organizational theory.
Differentiation of cardiomyocytes in floating embryoid bodies is comparable to fetal cardiomyocytes.

Embryonic stem cells will cluster and differentiate into embryoid bodies, which can develop spontaneous rhythmic contractions. From these embryoid bodies, cardiomyocytes can be isolated based on density by a discontinuous Percoll gradient. These cardiomyocytes differentiate into ventricular myocytes, which is demonstrated by the expression of the ventricular specific isoform of the myosin light chain 2 gene. In this study the functional expression of ion channels was compared between fetal cardiomyocytes (in vivo) and stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (in vitro). Sodium and calcium currents together with transient potassium currents could be detected in early developmental stages (<day 14) both in vivo and in vitro. In the early stages, we found a limited number of cells expressing I(Kr)and virtual absence of I(Ks). The characteristics and distribution of currents are similar in both cell types. The current characteristics were identical for ventricular compared to atrial or undifferentiated stem cell derived cardiomyocytes, despite differences in expression of regulatory myosin light chain proteins. The myocyte differentiation was verified in a limited number of cardiomyocytes following the patch clamp procedure by immunocytochemistry.
Non-fluctuating target detection in fluctuating K-distributed interference and noise

This paper deals with the problem of non-fluctuating target detection in the presence of a mixture of heavy tailed K-distributed clutter and independent noise. Prior papers have derived generalized likelihood ratio tests (GLRT) for this problem as well as approximations of the GLRT. These results show the required optimum processing and its vastly different efficiency as compared to similar results derived under standard Gaussian assumptions. In this study we examine the detection performance of several proposed detectors using numerical simulation techniques. We demonstrate their performance under different clutter and noise conditions. We also propose a two-stage detection scheme for a multi-observation multi-channel detection problem.
Annexin A1: A Central Player in the Anti-Inflammatory and Neuroprotective Role of Microglia

The brain microenvironment is continuously monitored by microglia with the detection of apoptotic cells or pathogens being rapidly followed by their phagocytosis to prevent inflammatory responses. The protein annexin A1 (ANXA1) is key to the phagocytosis of apoptotic leukocytes during peripheral inflammatory resolution, but the pathophysiological significance of its expression in the CNS that is restricted almost exclusively to microglia is unclear. In this study, we test the hypothesis that ANXA1 is important in the microglial clearance of apoptotic neurons in both noninflammatory and inflammatory conditions. We have identified ANXA1 to be sparingly expressed in microglia of normally aged human brains and to be more strongly expressed in Alzheimer’s disease. Using an in vitro model comprising microglial and neuronal cell lines, as well as primary microglia from wild-type and ANXA1 null mice, we have identified two distinct roles for microglial ANXA1: 1) controlling the noninflammatory phagocytosis of apoptotic neurons and 2) promoting resolution of inflammatory microglial activation. In particular, we showed that microglial-derived ANXA1 targets apoptotic neurons, serving as both an “eat me” signal and a bridge between phosphatidylserine on the dying cell and formyl peptide receptor 2 on the phagocytosing microglia. Moreover, inflammatory activation of microglia impairs their ability to discriminate between apoptotic and nonapoptotic cells, an ability restored by exogenous ANXA1. We thus show that ANXA1 is fundamental for brain homeostasis, and we suggest that ANXA1 and its peptidomimetics can be novel therapeutic targets in neuroinflammation.
Acne vulgaris: a review of antibiotic therapy

Antibiotic therapy has been integral to the management of inflammatory acne vulgaris for many years. Systemic antibiotics work via antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory modes of action, and have been found to be useful in managing moderate-to-severe acne. Commonly prescribed antibiotics include tetracyclines, erythromycin and trimethoprim, with or without sulfamethoxazole. In selecting the appropriate antibiotic for patients needing to receive topical or systemic antibiotic therapy, the clinician should take into account the severity of the acne, cost-effectiveness, the safety profile of the drug and the potential for development of resistance. The widespread and long-term use of antibiotics over the years has unfortunately led to the emergence of resistant bacteria. The global increase in the antibiotic resistance of Propionibacterium acnes may be a significant contributing factor in treatment failures. It is therefore essential that clinicians prescribing antibiotics for the treatment of acne adopt strategies to minimise further development of bacterial resistance. This includes addressing compliance issues, using combination therapies, avoiding prolonged antibiotic treatment, and avoiding concomitant topical and oral antibiotics with che-mically dissimilar antibiotics.
Escherichia coli‐based cell free production of flagellin and ordered flagellin display on virus‐like particles

Bacterial flagellin has been explored as a potential vaccine adjuvant for enhancing immune responses. In this article, we describe Escherichia coli‐based cell‐free protein synthesis (CFPS) as a method to rapidly produce soluble phase 1 flagellin (FliC) protein from Salmonella typhimurium. The yield was about 300 µg/mL and the product had much higher affinity for the TLR5 receptor (EC50 = 2.4 ± 1.4 pM) than previously reported. The flagellin coding sequence was first optimized for cell‐free expression. We then found that the D0 domain at the C‐terminus of flagellin was susceptible to proteolytic degradation in the CFPS system. Proteolysis was reduced by protease inhibitors, the use of protease‐deficient cell extracts or deletion of the flagellin D0 domain. A human Toll‐Like Receptor 5 (hTLR5)‐specific bioactivity analysis of purified flagellin demonstrated that, although the D0 domain is far from the TLR5 recognition region, it is important for flagellin bioactivity. We next incorporated a non‐natural amino acid displaying an alkyne moiety into flagellin using the CFPS system and attached flagellin to hepatitis B core virus‐like particles (VLPs) using bioorthogonal azide‐alkyne cycloaddition reactions. The ordered and oriented VLP display of flagellin increased its specific TLR5 stimulation activity by approximately 10‐fold. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 2073–2085. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Extracts obtained from predegenerated nerves improve functional recovery after sciatic nerve transection

Gap injuries of peripheral nerves, resulting from trauma or neurosurgical procedures, presage badly, for the presence of the distal stump of the nerve seems to be indispensable for regeneration. The standard grafting method requires a lesion of a healthy nerve, and therefore various substitutional materials are under consideration. The aim of the present work was to examine the recovery of rat sciatic nerves after supplying 10‐mm‐long gaps with an autologous connective‐tissue chambers filled with fibrin only or fibrin and various neuroactive substances (brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), extracts from predegenerated or non‐predegenerated nerves). The nerves were allowed to regenerate for 16 weeks. Recovery was measured functionally using the sciatic functional index, and by comparing the weight ratios of calf muscles. The histologic features of regeneration were assessed by counting the number of acetylcholinesterase‐positive nerve fibers present inside implanted chambers. We found that chambers filled with fibrin and predegenerated peripheral nerve extracts or BDNF supported functional nerve regeneration much more strongly than chambers filled with fibrin only or fibrin and non‐predegenerated peripheral nerve extracts. We conclude that autologous connective‐tissue chambers filled with fibrin and predegenerated peripheral nerve extracts or BDNF seem to be a promising tool in peripheral nerve gap injury treatment, with likely clinical implications. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 25:486–494, 2005.