Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bio-electrical impedance spectroscopy: alternatives for the conventional hand-to-foot measurements.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Bio-impedance spectroscopy (BIS) is a very attractive method for measuring body composition. The standard method measures impedance from hand to foot. However, in patients a hand or foot is not always accessible. In these cases alternative methods would be helpful. The objective of this study was to compare BIS measurements from hand to foot (HF) with foot to foot (FF) and hand to hand (HH) measurements as alternatives. Aims were firstly, to assess the relationship between resistance (R) values measured by the different methods, secondly, to study the influence of body geometry on this relationship and lastly, to assess the predictive capacity of the methods for measuring body fluid volumes. METHODS In 53 subjects with different degrees of obesity (mean BMI = 38; SD = 9 kg/m(2)) three BIS measurements were performed from HF, HH and FF with a Xitron 4000B machine. Resistances of extracellular (Recw) and intracellular water (Ricw) were extrapolated by fitting the data to a Cole-Cole plot. Total body water (TBW) and extracellular water (ECW) were measured by deuterium and bromide dilution respectively. Intracellular water (ICW) was calculated as TBW-ECW. Anthropometric measurements, including length and circumference of limbs and trunk, were performed as measures for body geometry. RESULTS The Recw, Ricw and R50 values of HF measurements could be accurately described as a function of the Recw, Ricw and R50 values of HH or FF measurements. The relative circumference of arms and legs and the length of the trunk influenced the relationship between R values of the three different measurements. The degree of overweight did not affect this relationship. The precision of the predictions of TBW, ECW and ICW based on R values of the HH measurements were comparable with the traditional HF measurements while the FF measurements gave slightly less accurate results. CONCLUSIONS Under circumstances where total body BIS measurements cannot be performed, FF or HH measurements may be used as alternatives. However, for clinical use the effect of changes in fluid distribution on the accuracy of these methods needs to be studied further.
[Ankle sprains. Comparison of long-term results of functional treatment methods with adhesive tape and bandage ("brace") and stability measurement].

Both taping and bracing can be applied in the early functional treatment of ankle sprains. In this study the long-term (2.3 +/- 0.5 years) results of functional treatment with two types of bandages were compared. Out of 165 patients treated, 112 were available for interview, 60 of whom had been treated with adhesive, non-elastic tape and 52, with a confection brace. In 93 of these patients (47 in the tape group), the ankle was examined and stabilometry was performed. The distance (D) and area (A) covered by each patient's centre of gravity while he/she stood on one leg for 30 s were measured. The following symptoms were found on the total population: pain on movement in 5%, swelling in 8% and functional instability (recurrent sprain or a feeling of giving way) in 38%. Mechanical instability was found in 34%. Pain on palpation of the lateral ligaments was the only symptom whose frequency differed significantly (P < 0.05) between the tape group (47%) and the brace group (20%). Stabilometric measurements revealed no substantial difference between the tape group (D: 436 +/- 100 mm; A: 192 +/- 87 mm2) and the brace group (D: 459 +/- 111 mm; A: 206 +/- 92 mm2). Nor was any difference in stability observed between the injured and the non-injured ankle, between the stable and the unstable ankle, or between the unstable ankle with and without brace application. Stabilometry is thus not an appropriate means of quantifying the symptoms of ankle instability. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Assessment criteria and approaches for rapid detection methods to be used in the food industry.

The number of commercially available kits and methods for rapid detection of foodborne pathogens continues to increase at a considerable pace, and the diversity of methods and assay formats is reaching a point where it is very difficult even for experts to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of different methods and to decide which methods to choose for a certain testing need. Although a number of documents outline quantitative criteria that can be used to evaluate different detection methods (e.g., exclusivity and inclusivity), a diversity of criteria is typically used by industry to select specific methods that are used for pathogen detection. This article is intended to provide an overall outline of criteria that the food industry can use to evaluate new rapid detection methods, with a specific focus on nucleic acid-based detection methods.
A 1V Low-Power Single-Chip CMOS WLAN IEEE 802.11a Transceiver

A 1V WLAN IEEE 802.11a CMOS transceiver integrates all building blocks on a single chip including a transformer-feedback VCO and a stacked divider for the synthesizer and 8-bit IQ ADCs and 8-bit IQ DACs. Fabricated in a 0.18-mum CMOS process and operated at a single 1-V supply, the receiver and the transmitter consume 85.7mW and 53.2mW, including the frequency synthesizer, respectively. The total chip area with pads is 12.5 mm2
Active-mode-locked terahertz quantum cascade lasers

Mode-locked femtosecond (fs) lasers have become established as a means to probe fast transient phenomena, with pump-probe experiments using two mode-locked fs-lasers with slightly different repetition rates becoming widespread [1,2]. In these experiments, the time delay between the pump and the probe laser pulses is automatically scanned at the difference frequency between the repetition rates. Such technique, also called asynchronous optical sampling, has been recently exploited in the THz frequency range, to probe broadband THz pulses generated with non-linear optics [3–5].
ATOMIC NUCLEI.

The imaginary part of the optical potential for nuclear ion-ion scattering in the energy range 20 MeV<E/A ~<200 MeV is derived using Feshbach's projection formalism. It is defined as the effective absorptive potential in the projected one-body Schroedinger equation for the relative motion of the colliding nuclei. Calculations are done in the ThomasFermi approximation, which accounts in a simple way for all phase-space effects as well as for the finite size of the ions. Intrinsic excitations are considered to be of one particle one hole type in either of the ions, the other remaining in its ground state. The effective two-body interaction is taken to be of finite range. Further simplifications of the model consist in neglecting antisymmetrization between the mutual wave functions of the two ions and in the omission of the Coulomb energy.
Identification of the low affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E on mouse mast cells and macrophages as Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII

In addition to their well characterized high affinity immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptors (Fc epsilon RI) mast cells have long been suspected to express undefined Fc receptors capable of binding IgE with low affinity. In this paper, we show that Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII, but not Mac-2, on mouse mast cells and macrophages bind IgE-immune complexes. This binding is efficiently competed by 2.4G2, a monoclonal antibody against the extracellular homologous region of both Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII. Furthermore, IgE-immune complexes bind specifically to Fc gamma RII or Fc gamma RIII transfected into COS-7 cells. The association constants of IgE binding estimated from competition experiments are about 3.1 x 10(5) M-1 for Fc gamma RII, and 4.8 x 10(5) M-1 for Fc gamma RIII. Engagement of Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII with IgE-immune complexes (after blocking access to Fc epsilon RI) or with IgG-immune complexes triggers C57.1 mouse mast cells to release serotonin. This release is inhibited by 2.4G2, and at maximum, reaches 30-40% of the intracellular content, about half of the maximal release (60-80%) obtained after Fc epsilon RI engagement. These data demonstrate that mouse Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII are not isotype specific, and that the binding of IgE-immune complexes to these receptors induces cell activation.
Reconstruction of Extensive Lip and Perioral Defects After Tumor Excision

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to assess the clinical features, treatments, and results of extensive lip and perioral defects after tumor excision. MethodsThis is a retrospective study of patients with extensive lip and perioral defects who underwent surgical interventions during the 7-year period from April 2005 to April 2012. The reconstructive procedures of lip and perioral defects were mainly performed with regional flaps or free flaps. ResultsEleven patients with extensive lip and perioral defects were identified, and immediate lip and perioral defects reconstruction was performed with the folded free radial forearm flap in 2 patients, the free radial forearm flap and the forehead island flap in 1 patient, the pectoralis major myocutaneous flap in 2 patients, the submental island flap and the nasolabial flap in 1 patient, the folded thinned anterolateral thigh flap in 4 patients, and double skin paddle anterolateral thigh flaps and adjacent flap in 1 patient. All patients had good oral competence, and the cosmetic results were acceptable. ConclusionsReconstruction of extensive lip and perioral defects after tumor excision is a challenge for the plastic surgeon. It should take into account the patient’s condition, local tissue characteristics, previous treatments, functional needs, cosmetic aspects, and so on. The surgeon might need to reconstruct the lip with regional flaps or free flaps.
Effects of dietary addition of bentonite on manure gas emission, health, production, and meat characteristics of Hanwoo (Bos taurus coreanae) steers.

A study was conducted to determine the dietary effects of a clay mineral (sodium bentonite, NaB) on manure gas emission, health, production, and meat characteristics of Hanwoo steers. Two diets fed to steers included a control diet (concentrate mix and rice straw) and a treatment diet (control diet+1.0% clay mineral/concentrate mix). Dietary NaB addition considerably reduced concentrations of gases (H2S, SO2 and NH3) in the manure of Hanwoo steers. Growing steers fed NaB had similar blood profiles with the exception of lower (p 0.05) fatty acid composition. The study demonstrated that the dietary addition of a clay mineral could be effective in improving mineral bioavailability to Hanwoo steers, which could be one of the reasons for their improved performance. (Key Words : Clay Mineral, Bentonite, Production, Meat Quality, Hanwoo)
PARALLEL TCAD OPTIMIZATION AND PARAMETER EXTRACTION FOR COMPUTATIONALLY EXPENSIVE OBJECTIVE FUNCTIONS

The SIESTA (Simulation Environment for Semiconductor Technology Analysis) framework is an extensible tool for optimization and inverse modeling of semiconductor devices including dynamic load balancing for taking advantage of several, loosely connected workstations. Because of the increasing computational power available today, the use of evolutionary computation optimizers which usually require a large number of evaluations of the objective functions becomes feasible even for problems with computationally very expensive objective functions. After a brief introduction to the SIESTA framework and its capabilities, we compare the performance of its optimizers at a real world parameter extraction problem and find that for certain problems genetic algorithms and simulated annealing perform better than gradient based optimization.
Multiprofessional Palliative Care Education: Past Challenges, Future Issues

Historically, health and social care professionals have described their lack of competence and confidence in many aspects of palliative care, and have recognized the need for increased educational opportunities, where new skills can be acquired and existing knowledge consolidated. Redressing these omissions has led to the development and growth of educational programs. Many of these courses have been unidisciplinary, with concomitant limitations. The adoption of a generalist approach to education has been suggested, to facilitate greater collaboration among professions and to ensure better use of resources. Course participants have greeted multiprofessional programs with enthusiasm. However, evidence of their effectiveness and impact on the delivery of palliative care to patients and their carers, although positive, remains scant. As the phenomenon of demographic aging continues, the growth of multiprofessional educational opportunities will amplify the need to scrutinize their content more closely.
Induced Excitation and Synchronization of Nerve Impulses in Two Parallel Unmyelinated Fibers

The interaction of nerve impulses in two adjacent fibers has been treated quantitatively. Calculations were made on the basis of equations describing the propagation of impulses in electrically equivalent parallel transmission lines that contain the active membrane current elements proposed by Hodgkin and Huxley. The coupling between adjacent fibers is simulated by a resistive network. The effects of coupling appear to be as follows: while an impulse is traveling along one fiber, a change in the excitability of the other develops, and it has also been confirmed that, in the special case of strongly coupled fibers, excitation of the parallel fiber can be induced by the active one. In the case of parallel conduction of impulses in each fiber, synchronization of their conduction velocities becomes apparent when the inherent velocities of the impulses differ by not more than 20 percent. In general, the closer fibers approach one another and/or the greater the resistance of the interstitial fluid, the stronger is the apparent effect of interaction between impulses. The results of the present simulation are compared with the experimental observation by Katz and Schmitt.
Anterior Medial Temporal Lobe Activation during Attempted Retrieval of Encoded Visuospatial Scenes: An Event-Related fMRI Study

Various studies have shown that the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which consists of the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, is important for episodic memory. Earlier fMRI studies substantiated this role by showing activation upon encoding of visuospatial scenes. In this study we used event-related fMRI to study whether the cognitive process of retrieval of visuospatial scenes, tested with the use of a recognition paradigm, also activates the MTL. Nine subjects (mean age 24 years) were presented previously studied color pictures (old) and pictures they had never seen before (new) in a mixed trial design. Data analysis allowed calculation of the fMRI response of correct judgments on new pictures, old pictures, and false judgments. Since we used previously encoded color pictures as old stimuli, we also included an encoding paradigm in the current set of experiments. This allowed us to compare encoding and recognition activation in the MTL of exactly the same pictures in the same subjects. Correct judgments on new pictures showed an increased activation in the anterior parahippocampus bilaterally and the right anterior hippocampus compared to judgments on old pictures in the recognition experiment. The former judgments took significantly longer, indicating that retrieval of successfully stored information is less demanding than the effort to retrieve nonencoded information. A comparison of the two experimental data sets showed evidence for a functional segregation of encoding and retrieving color pictures. We conclude that the left posterior parahippocampal gyrus responds during encoding, while on the other hand the left anterior parahippocampal gyrus and the right anterior hippocampus were more strongly involved in retrieval.
Demonstration of Rickettsia Conorii-Induced Coagulative and Platelet Activation in vivo in Patients with Mediterranean Spotted Fever

Summary Endothelial injury in vivo induced by Rickettsia Conorii, the etiologic agent of Mediterranean Spotted Fever (MSF) has been recently demonstrated. We sought to determine whether platelet and/or coagulative activation in vivo can be demonstrated in the acute phase of MSF, through measurements of a major metabolite of thromboxane (TX) in the urine (1 1-dehydro-TXB2) and of plasma prothrombin fragment 1+2, whose levels reflect activation of prothrombin to thrombin. Moreover, we measured plasma endothelin-1 as marker of endothelial dysfunction. Our results provide biochemical evidence for the occurrence of TXA2-dependent platelet activation and thrombin generation in vivo, together with endothelial dysfunction. These phenomena could account for clinical manifestations of MSF, such as vasculitis and focal microthrombus formation. These results could also provide a rationale for testing the efficacy of aspirin or heparin in reducing the prothrombotic status of Rickettsiae diseases.
Immune rabbit sera do not recognize antigenic variants of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus isolated during persistent infection

Isolates of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus recovered 12 to 18 months after infection of goats were tested for neutralization by using rabbit antisera directed to the original inoculum virus. Only slight differences in neutralization kinetics between the long-term isolates and the original virus were detected, indicating that heterologous rabbit antisera do not detect antigenic variation of the neutralizing epitopes of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus.
Andrew Marvell and the "Painter Satires": A Computational Approach to Their Authorship

Abstract:This article applies the methods of computational stylistics to a notable problem of attribution. Edmund Waller's eulogistic 'Instructions to a Painter' (1665) became the model for a succession of 'painter satires'. Some of them have been attributed to Andrew Marvell but the external evidence is uncertain. The computational evidence now offered suggests that the "Second" and "Third Advices" and the "Last Instructions" are Marvell's work but that the "Fourth" and "Fifth Advices" are not. Along with the literary and historical evidence presented by George de F. Lord (1963) and Annabel Patterson (2000), these new findings also reinforce the belief that Bodleian MS Eng. poet. d. 49 is a reliable locus of Marvell's verse.
Two Algorithms for Constrained Two-Dimensional Cutting Stock Problems

We propose two combinatoric methods that generate constrained cutting patterns by successive horizontal and vertical builds of ordered rectangles. Each of the algorithms uses a parameter to bound the maximum acceptable percentages of waste they create. Error bounds measure how close the pattern wastes are to the waste of the optimal solution. We also discuss computational results and applications of the methods to a general cutting stock problem.
Estimation of ruminal and intestinal digestion profiles, hourly effective degradation ratio and potential N to energy synchronization of co-products from bioethanol processing.

BACKGROUND Little research has been conducted to determine the magnitude of the differences in nutritive value among wheat dried distillers' grains with solubles (DDGS), corn DDGS and blend DDGS, or between different bioethanol plants. The objectives of this study were to compare different types of DDGS and different bioethanol plants in terms of: (1) rumen degradation kinetics profile of each DDGS component and rumen availability; (2) intestinal digestion profile of rumen undegraded protein; (3) hourly effective rumen degradation ratio and potential N-to-energy synchronization; (4) the role of acid detergent insoluble nitrogen in the determination of nutrient availability of DDGS. In addition, these parameters were compared in DDGS as opposed to parental grain. RESULTS (1) The effective degradability of dry matter in DDGS samples increased as the content of feedstock wheat increased. DDGS are a good source of rumen-undegradable protein. The protein content of DDGS derived from wheat is higher relative to that derived from corn; however, the undegradability of the protein fraction increases as the proportion of corn in the feedstock augments. (2) In addition, DDGS provide significant amounts of rumen-degradable protein, which increased as the content of wheat in the feedstock increased. This indicates a potential loss of N when high levels of DDGS are included in the diet. (3) Acid detergent insoluble crude protein (ADICP) levels were low across DDGS samples, revealing no effect on ruminal and intestinal disappearance of protein. However, consideration should be given to the numerical differences in digestibility of rumen-undegradable protein and the relation to ADICP content. (4) Further research with a higher number of samples and higher variability in the ADICP content should be undertaken to investigate the effect of ADICP on rumen and intestinal disappearance of DDGS protein. CONCLUSION The digestive characteristics of each DDGS component (dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fiber), the hourly effective degradation ratio between N and organic matter, and the intestinal availability of rumen-undegradable protein differed significantly (P < 0.05) among wheat DDGS, blend DDGS and corn DDGS, and to a lesser extent between the different bioethanol plants. These results indicate that it is inappropriate to assume fixed rumen and intestinal degradation characteristics for DDGS without considering factors such as DDGS type and bioethanol plant origin.
Design consideration of a high temperature superconductor Maglev vehicle system

The design consideration of the superhigh speed HTS Maglev vehicle system of 1000 m test line is presented on the basis of the experiment results of HTS Maglev vehicle in the years before last. The gross weight of NdFeB of test line guideway is 6750 kg. The low temperature rectangle-shape liquid nitrogen vessel on board has high mechanical strength at 77 K of the temperature. The vessel has 5 mm of bottom thickness and 12 hours of continuous working time. There are two seats in the HTS Maglev vehicle. The total load of the Maglev vehicle is 500 kg including 150 kg of weight of two passengers in the weight. The vehicle body is the quasiellipsoidal shape, and the outside outline size of the vehicle with shell is about 2.3 m of length 0.95 m of height, and 1.2 m of width. The vehicle is driven by a linear motor which is controlled by a ground controlling system. Drive acceleration is 5 g (about 49 m/s/sup 2/), and the acceleration section length is 300 m. The maximum speed of the vehicle is over 600 km/h when there is no onboard man, and the manned speed is still up to 100 km/h.