Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expandable and rigid endorectal coils for prostate MRI: Impact on prostate distortion and rigid image registration.

Endorectal coils (ERCs) are used for acquiring high spatial resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images of the human prostate. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of an expandable versus a rigid ERC on changes in the location and deformation of the prostate gland and subsequently on registering prostate images acquired with and without an ERC. Sagittal and axial T2 weighted MR images were acquired from 25 patients receiving a combined MR imaging/MR spectroscopic imaging staging exam for prostate cancer. Within the same exam, images were acquired using an external pelvic phased array coil both alone and in combination with either an expandable ERC (MedRad, Pittsburgh, PA) or a rigid ERC (USA Instruments, Aurora, OH). Rotations, translations and deformations caused by the ERC were measured and compared. The ability to register images acquired with and without the ERC using a manual rigid-body registration was assessed using a similarity index (SI). Both ERCs caused the prostate to tilt anteriorly with an average tilt of 18.5° (17.4±9.9 and 19.5±11.3°, mean±standarddeviation, for expandable and rigid ERC, respectively). However, the expandable coil caused a significantly larger distortion of the prostate as compared to the rigid coil; compressing the prostate in the anterior/posterior direction by 4.1±3.0mm vs 1.2±2.2mm (14.5% vs 4.8%) (p<0.0001), and widening the prostate in the right/left direction by 3.8±3.7mm vs 1.5±3.1mm (8.3% vs 3.4%) (p=0.004). Additionally, the ability to manually align prostate images acquired with and without ERC was significantly (p<0.0001) better for the rigid coil (SI=0.941±0.008 vs 0.899±0.033, for the rigid and expandable coils, respectively). In conclusion, the manual rigid-body alignment of prostate MR images acquired with and without the ERC can be improved through the use of a rigid ERC.
From the circumsporozoite protein to the RTS,S/AS candidate vaccine

The RTS,S/AS01E malaria vaccine candidate has recently entered phase 3 testing. Reaching this important milestone is the culmination of more than 20 years of research and development by GlaxoSmithKline and partners and collaborators. The vaccine has been developed to protect young children and infants living in sub-Saharan Africa against clinical and severe disease caused by Plasmodium falciparum infection. Over the past 9 years, RTS,S/AS candidate vaccine has been evaluated in multiple Phase 2 studies. The vaccine was shown to have a favourable safety profile and to be well tolerated in all age groups in which it was tested, including the intended target population of infants and young children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data obtained so far suggest that RTS,S/AS can be co-administered with other vaccines included in the routine Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI). In Phase 2 testing, the vaccine candidate was shown to confer significant protection against P. falciparum infection and clinical disease, including severe malaria. Furthermore, a trend towards an indirect beneficial effect of the vaccine on non-malarial morbidities has been observed in several trials. In this paper, we will describe the genesis of the RTS,S/AS concept, including the rationale for selecting the circumsporozoite protein (CSP) as the target antigen. Early development history of the vaccine will be briefly described. We will present the most salient results from recent Phase 2 studies conducted in the target pediatric population, which have led to the decision to progress RTS,S/AS to Phase 3 testing. If the Phase 3 results confirm the observations made during Phase 2 testing, the RTS,S/AS vaccine, when broadly implemented and judiciously integrated with other malaria-prevention measures, would have a major public-health impact in Sub-Saharan Africa.
First Report of the Photosynthetic Dinoflagellate Genus Azadinium in the Pacific Ocean: Morphology and Molecular Characterization of Azadinium cf. poporum

A strain of a dinoflagellate belonging to the genus Azadinium was obtained by the incubation of sediments collected from Shiwha Bay, Korea. This report of the genus Azadinium is the first outside of northern Europe and furthermore from the Pacific Ocean. The diagnostic morphological features of the isolate very closely resemble the recently described species Azadinium poporum isolated from the North Sea. However, the shape of the 3′ apical plate and the occasional morphological variations unreported from A. poporum bring minor distinctions between strains from different locations. The DNA sequences of small subunit, ITS, and large subunit (LSU) rDNA differed by 0.2%, 2.6%, and 3.6%, respectively, from those of A. poporum, whereas the COI gene was identical to those found in all strains of Azadinium. Phylogenetic analyses of the ribosomal DNA regions generally positioned the Korean strain as a sister taxon of A. poporum. However, the Korean isolate tends to occupy a basal position within Azadinium species with ITS rDNA and LSU rDNA. Using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry, no known azaspiracids were detected. The slight but discernible morphological differences, the distinct rDNA sequences, and the tendency of the Korean strain to diverge phylogenetically based on ITS rDNA and LSU rDNA from A. poporum do not enable us to clearly assign the isolate to A. poporum. However, these characteristics do not allow us to classify it as a distinct species, and it is therefore designated as Azadinium cf. poporum. The examination of more strains to find more diagnostic characteristics might enable the attribution of this material to a well‐defined taxonomic position.
Tumor necrosis factor causes bronchial hyperresponsiveness in rats.

We have previously reported that exposure of rats to aerosolized endotoxin (LPS) causes a transient, dose-dependent increase in bronchial responsiveness (BR) to 5 hydroxytryptamine (5HT), 90 min after exposure. In the present study we examined whether LPS induces the release of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the airways and whether TNF contributes to the increase in BR. After 90 min following exposure to aerosolized LPS, at a concentration of 1 or 10 micrograms/ml, TNF concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid were 17.9 +/- 6.9 and 80.5 +/- 7.8 U/ml, respectively. No TNF was detected in BAL fluid of saline-exposed animals. At 90 min after exposure to aerosolized recombinant human TNF (rhTNF) (1 microgram/ml) an increase in BR was observed: the provocative concentration of 5HT causing a 50% increase in lung resistance (PC50RL 5HT) was 2.7 +/- 0.4 versus 4.4 +/- 0.3 microgram/kg in saline-exposed animals (p less than 0.01). Pretreatment with anti-TNF antibodies 30 min before LPS exposure significantly diminished the increase in BR: PC50RL 5HT was 2.3 +/- 0.4 versus 1.2 +/- 0.5 microgram/kg in control pretreated LPS-exposed rats (p less than 0.01). Exposure to aerosolized TNF also induced a significant influx of neutrophils in BAL fluid (12.1 +/- 3.7 versus 1.7 +/- 0.4% in saline-exposed animals) (p less than 0.01). The LPS-induced neutrophil influx in BAL fluid was partly inhibited by pretreatment with anti-TNF antibodies (55.2 +/- 5.1 versus 76.0 +/- 3.9%) (p less than 0.01). We conclude that TNF causes bronchial hyperresponsiveness and airway inflammation. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Irradiation Enhances Human T-cell Function by Upregulating CD70 Expression on Antigen-presenting Cells In Vitro

In addition to the direct killing of tumor cells, radiation therapy can alter the balance of immune cells in vivo due to the differential radiosensitivity of different cell types. The addition of adjuvant radiation therapy before adoptive cell transfer therapy has been shown to enhance antitumor responses in both mouse models and clinical trials. This study examines the effects of in vitro irradiation on the phenotype and function of human antigen-presenting cells. The results indicated that irradiation upregulated CD70 expression on both B cells and mature dendritic cells (DCs). Expression of CD70 on mature DCs was enhanced in a dose-dependent manner, whereas under the same conditions, no significant upregulation of CD80, CD86, or CD40 was observed. The levels of expression of CD70 induced on mature DC by irradiation correlated highly with the ability of those cells to stimulate T-cell proliferation and interferon-&ggr; production. Furthermore, significant reductions in T-cell proliferation and interferon-&ggr; production were seen when CD70 expression on DCs was partially reduced using shRNA, as well as when DCs were incubated with a blocking anti-CD70 antibody. Radiation therapy may therefore enhance T-cell activation in vivo through the CD27 pathway by virtue of its ability to upregulate the expression of CD70 on antigen-presenting cells.
A New Mutation (Arg251 Trp) in the Ca2+ Binding Site of Factor X Protease Domain Appears to be Responsible for the Defect in the Extrinsic Pathway Activation of Factor X Padua

Factor X Padua, first described a few years ago, is characterized by a defect only in the extrinsic system. In this present paper, the molecular basis for this peculiar defect is investigated. Polymerase chain reaction amplification and direct sequencing of the entire FX coding sequence and of exon-intron junctions detected in the proposita a C-to-T translocation in exon 8 of nucleotide 875 at the homozygous level. This resulted in the substitution of tryptophan for arginine 251. A niece of the proposita was shown to be heterozygous for the abnormality. Molecular modeling suggested that the mutation does not alter significantly folding and stability of the protein but may be involved in the Ca2+ binding site.
Quality of Service Based Pricing Schemes for Content Sharing in Peer‐to‐Peer Networks

In this paper, we study quality‐of‐service (QoS) based pricing schemes that serve as incentive mechanisms to induce sharing behaviors in Peer‐to‐Peer (P2P) networks. We incorporate operational QoS metrics into users’ utility functions and demonstrate how they affect individual users’ content sharing decisions. Using a game‐theoretic model, our study reveals how organizations respond to the changes of operational QoS metrics in their design of pricing schemes for various business objectives at different stages of network evolution. Our results show that a higher upload capacity can foster rational sharing to start when the network is small; however, it also discourages sharing behaviors when the network becomes large. In order to induce a socially optimal behavior, a pricing scheme will not charge users for requesting content while compensating them for sharing content. Such compensation is found to increase faster with the network size when the network is large. In order to maximize the profit of a monopolistic provider, however, a pricing scheme will charge content requests with a positive price while providing less compensation to sharing users compared to the socially optimal scheme. When the network size is small, such compensation can be even negative, which implies that a monopolistic provider discourages content sharing when the network is small, but encourages it when the network becomes larger. In addition, we find that more information about peer upload capacity discourages peers to share.
Determinants of Voluntary CSR Disclosure : The Economic Perspective

Today, companies spend a lot of effort in their reporting on corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR reporting relates to the provision of information regarding the companies' voluntary contribution to sustainable development. From an economic perspective, companies might disclose this information for avoiding/decreasing potential political costs. Based on GRI-guidelines, we use content analysis to document the amount of CSR-disclosures of stock-listed German companies. Furthermore, we focus on a number of firm-specific factors that are likely to proxy for high political and/or societal costs and argue that companies try to reduce those costs by proactively communicating specific CSR-information. In doing so, we try to explain why companies disclose CSR information. Our results show that reporting on social issues is affected by social constraints and shareholder structure. Contrary to our hypotheses is that profitability as well as the companies' relationship to US stakeholders have no influence on companies' disclosures. Finally, size and industry affect the amount of CSR-disclosure.
Wear resistance of four types of vacuum-formed retainer materials: a laboratory study.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the resistance to wear of four different vacuum-formed retainer (VFR) materials: Essix C+, Essix ACE, Duran, and Tru-Tain. Essix C+ is a polypropylene polymer; the other materials are polyethylene co-polymers. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was undertaken at the Leeds Dental Institute, Leeds, UK, with 26 samples in each group. The specimens were vacuum-formed according to the manufacturers' guidelines, and a custom-made wear-simulation machine was used to conduct the test. Each specimen was subjected to 1000 cycles of the wear simulation, with steatite balls as the antagonist material. The resistance to wear of the VFR materials was evaluated by measuring the maximum wear depth using noncontact, three-dimensional surface profilometry. The wear depth was given in micrometers. RESULTS The median wear depth was 63.20 µm for the Essix C+ group, 7.88 µm for the Essix ACE group, 9.75 µm for the Duran group, and 12.08 µm for the Tru-Tain group. The Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the four VFR materials detected a statistically significant difference between the groups (P < .001). Comparisons of the groups using the Mann-Whitney U-test demonstrated that the Essix C+ group had significantly greater wear than the other three groups (P < .001). There was no statistically significant difference in median wear depth between the two groups with the least amount of wear-the Essix ACE and Duran groups. CONCLUSIONS Under the standardized conditions of this laboratory study, the three polyethylene co-polymer materials-Essix ACE, Duran, and Tru-Tain-exhibited significantly less wear than the polypropylene material, Essix C+.
Removable media auditbased on drive layer

A solution to use removable storage medium safely is put forward based on the study about trusted computing theory. This solution manages removable media through C/S model, registers mobile storage media used by user in the server, assigns a unique authorization number to authorize it can be used in trusted region; The client consists of the application and driver, the application is used to authorize mobile storage media and record the transaction log, then send control words to the driver after authentication, and the driver makes the mobile storage media at three states: read-only, disabled and normal. So it can control users use mobile storage media safely, prevent leakage of sensitive data in the network effectively.
Reliability of Popliteal Angle Measurement: A Study in Cerebral Palsy Patients and Healthy Controls

The popliteal angle is a widely used clinical measure for hamstring contracture in cerebral palsy (CP) patients and in healthy individuals. The reliability of popliteal angle measurement is being questioned. The aim of this study is to determine the reliability of popliteal angle measurement by means of visual and goniometric assessment. Methods: Three different observers measured the popliteal angle in 15 CP patients and 15 healthy volunteers. In each subject, popliteal angles were visually estimated and measured with a blinded goniometer twice by all observers with approximately 1 hour between measurement sessions. Results: All intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were lower in the CP group compared with healthy controls. The ICC for intraobserver differences was higher than 0.75 for both groups. The ICC for interobserver reliability of visual estimates and goniometric measurements was low for both groups. Intermethod ICC was higher than 0.75 for both groups. Conclusions: Measurements in the CP group seemed to be less reliable than measurements in the control group. Intraobserver reliability is reasonable for both groups, but lower in CP patients than in controls. Interobserver reliability of both visual estimates and goniometrical measurements is poor. No significant differences in reliability have been found between visual estimation and goniometric measurement. Because of poor interobserver reliability of popliteal angle measurement, this should not be the only variable in clinical decision making in CP patients.
Women Chief Housing Officers at State Universities in the Northwest United States

Hyatt, Jennifer Leigh. Women Chief Housing Officers at State Universities in the Northwest United States. Doctor of Education (Higher Education), December 2016, 89 pp., 1 table, 3 figures, 48 references, titles. This qualitative study explored the experiences of women chief housing officers (CHOs) at state universities within the northwest region of the United States. The study used narrative inquiry methodology with a thematic analysis approach to investigate how seven female CHOs experience and make meaning of their professional career progression and journey toward becoming and remaining a CHO. Five core themes emerged from the study: (a) understanding housing operations, (b) self-efficacy, (c) gender inequities, (d) relationships with staff, and (e) mentorship. The theme of gender identity suggests that gender does influence how these female CHOs make meaning of their professional experience. The overall results suggest that although the perception of many is that the field of student affairs is wide open to women, in some senior-level positions, such as CHO, gender inequity is prevalent. A factor that may contribute to this inequity is the privatization of housing which calls for a greater understanding of business and housing operations, areas dominated by males. An implication from this study is that an increase in the number of women in the CHO position may only occur when university housing personnel expand professional preparation for mid-level housing positions to include more business-related practices. The mid-level position could then be seen as a step toward desired CHO competencies and toward making the position of CHO more inclusive.
Makahiki and SGSEAM: Design and Evaluation of a Serious Game Framework for Sustainability and Stakeholder Experience Assessment Method

Sustainability education and conservation have become an international imperative due to the rising cost of energy, increasing scarcity of natural resource and irresponsible environmental practices. Over the past decade, running energy and water challenges is the focal point for sustainability efforts at both university and industry campuses. Designers of such challenges typically have three choices for information technology: (a) build their own custom in-house solution; (b) out-source to a commercial provider; or (c) use a minimal tech solution such as a web page and manual posting of data and results. None of these choices are ideal: the custom in-house solution requires sophisticated design and implementation skills; out-sourcing can be financially expensive and impedes evolution; and the minimal tech solution does not fully leverage the possibilities of advanced information technology. To provide a better alternative to these three choices, I have led an effort over the past years to design and implement an open source serious game framework for sustainability called Makahiki. Makahiki implements an extensible framework with a variety of common services for developing sustainability games including authentication; game mechanics such as leaderboards, points, and badges; a variety of built-in games and content focused in sustainability, a responsive user interface, cloud-based deployment, and the ability to customize to the needs of individual organizations. Makahiki lowers the overhead to those who would build a custom in-house solution by providing pre-built components. It can lower the financial cost to those who would out-source by providing an open source alternative. Finally, it provides an opportunity for those who would choose a minimal tech solution to instead provide more sophisticated information technology. To provide initial evidence regarding the ability of the Makahiki framework to support sustainability games in different environments, we ran seven challenges at four organizations: The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii Pacific University, the East-West Center and Holy Nativity School. While these experiences provided anecdotal evidence for the usefulness of Makahiki, we realized that a more rigorous evaluation of the framework would yield better quality insight into its current quality and requirements for future enhancement.
Aortic cross‐clamping influences regional net release and uptake rates of tissue‐type plasminogen activator in pigs

Background: The key regulator of intravascular fibrinolysis, tissue‐type plasminogen activator (t‐PA), is released from a dynamic endothelial storage pool. The aim of the study was to investigate regional t‐PA net release and uptake rates in response to infra‐renal aortic cross‐clamping (AXC) and declamping (DC).
The exercise test in periodic paralysis

Of 21 patients with clinically definite hypokalemic, hyperkalemic, or normokalemic periodic paralysis, 15 (71%) had a greater than normal increase in compound muscle action potential amplitude during 2–5 minutes of intermittent strong voluntary contraction of the muscle. This increase was followed by a progressive decline in amplitude, which was greater than in a control population and which was most rapid during the first 20 minutes after exercise. The amplitude often decreased to a level below the preexercise level. A similar response was seen in six of nine patients with periodic paralysis secondary to disorders such as thyrotoxicosis. This test may have value in the identification of patients with periodic paralysis.
The Role of Party and Coalition Politics in Federal Reform

ABSTRACT The article analyses the role of the German political parties as actors of federal change. Parties perceive federal processes through their own organizational lenses, giving priority to electoral logics, programmatic ideas or territorial interests. Each of the three reform steps in the German case was shaped by a specific blend of the three logics. Looking at the sequences of reform, the analysis shows that parties have remained central for organizing federal processes but have become less capable of arriving at cohesive and unified party positions. There have been struggles over which of the strategies was to prevail both within individual parties and across the party divide. The territorial power balances within parties, the timing of the reform, that is, the constellation of political majorities at federal and regional levels in the moment of reform, and the policy issues in question are important framing conditions for the choice of particular party strategies.