Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vivo regeneration of rat sciatic nerve in a double‐halved stitch‐less guide: A pilot‐study

It is about 20 years that tubular nerve guides have been introduced into clinical practice as a reliable alternative to autograft, in gaps not‐longer‐than 20 mm, bringing the advantage of avoiding donor site sacrifice and morbidity. There are limitations in the application of tubular guides. First, tubular structure in itself makes surgical implantation difficult; second, stitch sutures required to secure the guide may represent a site of unfavorable fibroblastic reaction; third, maximum length and diameter of the guide correlate with the occurrence of a poorer central vascularization of regenerated nerve. We report on the in vivo testing of a new concept of nerve‐guide (named NeuroBox) which is double‐halved, not‐degradable, rigid, and does not require any stitch to be held in place, employing acrylate glue instead. Five male Wistar rats had the new guide implanted in a 4‐mm sciatic nerve defect; two guides incorporated a surface constituted of microtrenches aligned longitudinally. Further five rats had the 4‐mm gap left without repair. Contralateral intact nerves were used as controls. After 2 months, nerve regeneration occurred in all animals treated by the NeuroBox; fine blood vessels were well represented. There was no regeneration in the un‐treated animals. Even if the limited number of animals does not allow to draw definitive conclusions, some result can be highlighted: an easy surgical technique was associated with the box‐shaped guide and acrylate glue was easily applied; an adequate intraneural vascularization was found concurrently with the regeneration of the nerve and no adverse fibroblastic proliferation was present. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Microsurgery, 2009.
An e-health intervention designed to increase workday energy expenditure by reducing prolonged occupational sitting habits.

BACKGROUND Desk-based employees face multiple workplace health hazards such as insufficient physical activity and prolonged sitting. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to increase workday energy expenditure by interrupting prolonged occupational sitting time and introducing short-bursts of physical activity to employees' daily work habits. METHODS Over a 13-week period participants (n=17) in the intervention group were regularly exposed to a passive prompt delivered through their desktop computer that required them to stand up and engage in a short-burst of physical activity, while the control group (n=17) was not exposed to this intervention. Instead, the control group continued with their normal work routine. All participants completed a pre- and post- intervention survey to estimate workplace daily energy expenditure (calories). RESULTS There was a significant 2 (Group) × 2 (Test) interaction, F (1, 32)=9.26, p < 0.05. The intervention group increased the calories expended during the workday from pre-test (M=866.29 ± 151.40) to post-test (M=1054.10 ± 393.24), whereas the control group decreased calories expended during the workday from pre-test (M=982.55 ± 315.66) to post-test (M=892.21 ± 255.36). CONCLUSIONS An e-health intervention using a passive prompt was an effective mechanism for increasing employee work-related energy expenditure. Engaging employees in regular short-bursts of physical activity during the workday resulted in reduced sitting time, which may have long-term effects on the improvement of employee health.
Hippocampal atrophy rates in Alzheimer disease

Objective: To investigate the added value of hippocampal atrophy rates over whole brain volume measurements on MRI in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and controls. Methods: We included 64 patients with AD (67 ± 9 years; F/M 38/26), 44 patients with MCI (71 ± 6 years; 21/23), and 34 controls (67 ± 9 years; 16/18). Two MR scans were performed (scan interval: 1.8 ± 0.7 years; 1.0 T), using a coronal three-dimensional T1-weighted gradient echo sequence. At follow-up, 3 controls and 23 patients with MCI had progressed to AD. Hippocampi were manually delineated at baseline. Hippocampal atrophy rates were calculated using regional, nonlinear fluid registration. Whole brain baseline volumes and atrophy rates were determined using automated segmentation and registration tools. Results: All MRI measures differed between groups (p < 0.005). For the distinction of MCI from controls, larger effect sizes of hippocampal measures were found compared to whole brain measures. Between MCI and AD, only whole brain atrophy rate differed significantly. Cox proportional hazards models (variables dichotomized by median) showed that within all patients without dementia, hippocampal baseline volume (hazard ratio [HR]: 5.7 [95% confidence interval: 1.5–22.2]), hippocampal atrophy rate (5.2 [1.9–14.3]), and whole brain atrophy rate (2.8 [1.1–7.2]) independently predicted progression to AD; the combination of low hippocampal volume and high atrophy rate yielded a HR of 61.1 (6.1–606.8). Within patients with MCI, only hippocampal baseline volume and atrophy rate predicted progression. Conclusion: Hippocampal measures, especially hippocampal atrophy rate, best discriminate mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from controls. Whole brain atrophy rate discriminates Alzheimer disease (AD) from MCI. Regional measures of hippocampal atrophy are the strongest predictors of progression to AD. AD = Alzheimer disease; BET = brain extraction tool; CI = confidence interval; df = degrees of freedom; FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration; HR = hazard ratio; MCI = mild cognitive impairment; MMSE = Mini-Mental State Examination; NBV = normalized brain volume; PBVC = percentage brain volume change; ROI = region of interest; VaD = vascular dementia; VAT = visual association test.
Some Empirical Evidence of Loan Loss Provisions for Albanian Banks

Abstract In this paper we used a panel of Albanian banks for the period 2004-2014 to examine the main determinants of loan loss provisions. In addition, we tested how the latest crisis has affected provisioning behaviour of the banks. We find that loan loss provisions of banks are driven by non-discretionary components and economic fluctuations. Furthermore, we find a positive and significant result between earnings before interest, taxes and provisions and loan loss provisions, thus confirming the income smoothing hypothesis. Our estimated results do not support the capital management and signalling hypotheses. We also find that the global crisis has contributed significantly to the procyclicality of loan loss provisioning in Albania and banks continued to do income smoothing during the crisis.
Chemokine gene variants in schizophrenia

ABSTRACT Background Chemokines are known to play a major role in driving inflammation and immune responses in several neuroinflammatory diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Inflammation has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Aim We aimed to investigate a potential link between chemokines and schizophrenia and analyze the role of MCP-1-A2518G, SDF-1-3’A, CCR5-delta32, CCR5-A55029G, CXCR4-C138T and CCR2-V64I gene polymorphisms in the Turkish population. Methods Genotyping was conducted by PCR-RFLP based on 140 patients and 123 unrelated healthy controls to show the relation between chemokine gene variants and schizophrenia risk. Results Frequencies of CCR5-A55029G A genotypes and CCR5-A55029G AG genotypes were found higher in patients than the controls and even also CCR2-V64I WT: CCR5-A55029G A and CCR2-V64I 64I: CCR5-A55029G A haplotypes significantly associated according to Bonferroni correction. However, no significant association was found for any of the other polymorphisms with the risk of schizophrenia. Conclusions Our findings suggest that CCR5-A55029G polymorphisms and CCR2-V64I WT: CCR5-A55029G A and CCR2-V64I 64I: CCR5-A55029G A haplotypes might have association with schizophrenia pathogenesis.
Association of Workplace Chronic and Acute Stressors With Employee Weight Status: Data From Worksites in Turmoil

Objectives: To examine the independent and joint effects of psychosocial chronic and acute stressors with weight status and to report the intraclass correlation coefficient for body mass index (BMI). Methods: Baseline data on 2782 employees from a group-randomized weight gain prevention intervention were examined to investigate the effect of high job strain and job insecurity on BMI and on the odds of overweight/obesity including potential confounders and mediating variables. Data were analyzed using mixed models. Results: The mediating variables removed the effect of high job strain on weight (&bgr; = 0.68, P = 0.07; odds ratios = 1.34, confidence interval = 1.00 to 1.80) whereas job insecurity was never significant. Intraclass correlation coefficient for BMI is 0.0195, 0.0193, and 0.0346 overall, for men and women, respectively. Conclusion: Worksite wellness should target health enhancing behaviors to minimize the health effects of psychosocial work conditions.
The Environment Effect Embodied in Export and Import of China's Industry: An Analysis Based on the Industrial Data

Based on the data of 15 industries during 1996 - 2008, by using pollution content, pollution intensity and the environment trade terms as the indicators, this paper provides empirical evidence on the environment effect embodied in export and import of China. The results demonstrate that although the industrial unit pollutants emission was on the decrease, the pollution had been transferred to China more and more via trade as the export, especially pollution-intensive industries' export increased in a high speed. To reduce the pollution transferred from China's trade partners, we must further improve the trade composition, and strengthen the environmental regulations on pollution-intensive products.
Revisiting the Miles and snow typology strategic path Mediating Business strategy and Resource Configuration for Innovation

This article provides the results of an exploratory study that investigated the effect of Capability Lifecycle Path on attaining effective adaptation through innovation. Based on Miles and Snow (1978), an empirical study was conducted to explore whether performing firms are those that indicate consistency within the strategy, process, structure and Capability Lifecycle Path arrangement. The basic premise of this study is adaptability for sustainability, where firms go through adaptation cycles through Business Model Innovation would perform well when they are able to consistently create value and effectively manage adopted business models, or denoted as Business Model Effectiveness. Using data obtained from seven Indonesian firms in various industries, PLS Analysis was conducted to investigate the relationships between Business Strategy, Firm Resource Configuration, Capability Lifecycle Path and Business Model Effectiveness. Findings indicated that Capability Lifecycle Path, or decisions made on the development of capabilities at the mature stage, is an important part of the series of decisions made during adaptation to ensure performance. Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:. 0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
Twitter Analysis of Tweets that Emerged after the #Wacoshooting

This study analyzes the tweets that emerged following the Waco biker incident of 2015. Findings indicate individuals used Twitter to take a stand on the highly publicized incidents surrounding the shootout. Thousands of tweets emerged with popular hashtags to identify the case such as #wacoshooting, #wacobikers and #wacothugs, #Ferguson, #whitebikers, #blacklivesmatter and #Whiteprivilege. Responses to the Waco shootout were polarizing with individuals weighing in on Twitter to show support or scorn for the bikers, city officials, law enforcement and attorneys. Themes of race surfaced in tweets about the event as it occurred in the midst of the #Blacklivesmatter movement. Twitter users compared bikers to the movement, using tweets and graphics to illustrate various points. The Branch Davidian incident also provided an important backstory to the biker incident. Images of the fiery burning of the Branch Davidian compound, which occurred decades earlier, were still on people’s minds as evidenced by tweets that characterized the incident as “just another Waco
Novel use of polymerase chain reaction to amplify cellular DNA adjacent to an integrated provirus

We describe a modification of the polymerase chain reaction technique which allows amplification of cellular DNA adjacent to an integrated provirus given sequence information for the provirus only. The modified technique should be generally useful for studies of insertional mutagenesis and other situations in which one wishes to isolate DNA adjacent to a region of known sequence.
Energy-Aware Task Allocation onto Unrelated Heterogeneous Multicore Platform for Mixed Criticality Systems

Heterogeneous multicore platforms have become an attractive choice to deploy mixed criticality systems demanding diverse computational requirements. One of the major challenges is to efficiently harness the computational power of these multicore platforms while deploying mixed criticality applications. The problem is acerbated with an additional demand of energy efficiency. It is particularly relevant for the battery powered embedded systems. We propose a partitioning algorithm for unrelated heterogeneous multicore platforms to map mixed criticality applications that ensures the timeliness property and reduces the energy consumption.
Intercellular interactions and cytokine responsiveness of peritoneal alpha/beta and gamma/delta T cells from Listeria-infected mice: synergistic effects of interleukin 1 and 7 on gamma/delta T cells

Peritoneal gamma/delta T cells from Listeria-immune mice show an enhanced potential to expand when restimulated with antigens or mitogens in vitro (see companion paper [Skeen, M. J., and H. K. Ziegler. 1993. J. Exp. Med. 178:971]). When cocultured with peritoneal alpha/beta T cells, the gamma/delta T cell population expanded preferentially even when the in vitro stimulus was specific for the alpha/beta T cell population. Purified gamma/delta T cells did not respond to alpha/beta T cell-specific stimuli. If isolated T cell subsets were recombined in cell mixing experiments, the resulting proliferative response was greater than additive. Irradiated alpha/beta T cells could enhance the proliferation of responding gamma/delta T cells, but the effect was unidirectional; i.e., irradiated gamma/delta T cells did not stimulate responding gamma/delta T cells. This effect appeared to be cytokine mediated and did not require cell-cell contact. Both recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL-2) and rIL-7 could support the expansion of the gamma/delta T cells, while rIL-7 was only minimally stimulatory for the alpha/beta T cells. The magnitude of the response by gamma/delta T cells to rIL-7 exceeded the response to other in vitro stimuli, including immobilized anti-T cell receptor monoclonal antibody, and was 50-100-fold greater than the alpha/beta T cell response to IL-7. This unique sensitivity of gamma/delta T cells to IL- 7 was strongly enhanced by the presence of accessory cells. These cells could be replaced by rIL-1, establishing a synergy for IL-1 and IL-7 as factors that could uniquely stimulate this gamma/delta T cell population. Isolated peritoneal gamma/delta T cells from Listeria- immune mice react to heat-killed Listeria preparations in the presence of macrophages accessory cells in a non-H-2-restricted manner. Considered collectively, these results suggest a potential mechanism by which gamma/delta T cells can predominate in epithelial tissues and at sites of infection.
Modeling Clinical Endpoints as a Function of Time of Switch to Second‐Line ART with Incomplete Data on Switching Times

Modeling clinical endpoints as a function of change in antiretroviral therapy (ART) attempts to answer one simple but very challenging question: was the change in ART beneficial or not? We conceive a similar scientific question of interest in the current manuscript except that we are interested in modeling the time of ART regimen change rather than a comparison of two or more ART regimens. The answer to this scientific riddle is unknown and has been difficult to address clinically. Naturally, ART regimen change is left to a participant and his or her provider and so the date of change depends on participant characteristics. There exists a vast literature on how to address potential confounding and those techniques are vital to the success of the method here. A more substantial challenge is devising a systematic modeling strategy to overcome the missing time of regimen change for those participants who do not switch to second‐line ART within the study period even after failing the initial ART. In this article, we adopt and apply a statistical method that was originally proposed for modeling infusion trial data, where infusion length may be informatively censored, and argue that the same strategy may be employed here. Our application of this method to therapeutic HIV/AIDS studies is new and interesting. Using data from the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Study A5095, we model immunological endpoints as a polynomial function of a participant's switching time to second‐line ART for 182 participants who already failed the initial ART. In our analysis, we find that participants who switch early have somewhat better sustained suppression of HIV‐1 RNA after virological failure than those who switch later. However, we also found that participants who switched very late, possibly censored due to the end of the study, had good HIV‐1 RNA suppression, on average. We believe our scientific conclusions contribute to the relevant HIV literature and hope that the basic modeling strategy outlined here would be useful to others contemplating similar analyses with partially missing treatment length data.
Electrostatic Potential Barrier in Asymmetric Planar Lipopolysaccharide/ Phospholipid Bilayers Probed with the Valinomycin-K+ Complex

Using the carrier-ion complex valinomycin-K+, current/voltage (I/U ) characteristics were registered for planar asymmetric lipid bilayers composed on one side of a phospholipid mixture and on the other side of rough mutant lipopolysaccharide. This system resembles the lipid matrix of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The evaluation of the current/voltage curves yielded a highly asymmetric electrical potential barrier. The total potential difference between the phospholipid and the lipopolysaccharide was -85 mV, a result which cannot be explained by contributions of Gouy-Chapman potentials alone. The possible contribution of dipole potentials and influences of headgroup effects are discussed. It is shown that the asymmetry of the I/U-characteristic results from the differences of the surface charge densities of the two monolayers but not from those of the states of order of their hydrocarbon chains.
Links between students' goals and their choice of educational resources in undergraduate mathematics

© The Author 2017. Currently, there is a dearth of studies exploring the kind of tools that undergraduates use when studyingmathematics with previous approaches focusing mostly on digital or institutionally provided resources. In this article, we present and discuss the results from our investigations into the different types of tools that a cohort of second year engineering undergraduates uses. Our survey (N= 201) showed that although to some extent students use resources external to their university, their practices are dominated by tools that their institution provides to them. Analysis of six follow-up interviews revealed that when students use the most popular resources they aim mostly for exam-related goals. This suggested that students in our sample choose to use certain tools because these enable them to pursue their exam-driven goals.
Bibliometria sobre concepção de habitats de inovação

Aiming to enhance economic and social growth, innovation habitats are spaces that promote innovative actions, targeting the competitiveness of enterprises and institutions generating knowledge incorporated in today's society. Given the relevance of the theme for the present society which is based on knowledge, the objective of this article is to map the state of the art of innovation habitats on a conceptual study of innovation in a multidisciplinary and social sciences context. Therefore, a bibliometric analysis was carried out through a systematic search in the Scopus database. As a result, it was identified that the research emerges in the field of multidisciplinary areas intersecting discussions on biochemistry, molecular genetics, psychology, engineering, knowledge management. After reading the articles, it was noticed that there is a difference between innovation system and innovation habitats, being the first related to the laws, rules, registration, public policy, while the second is related to the physical construction, physical environment relevant to innovation.
Intra-observer and inter-observer reliability of leg circumference measurement among six observers: a single blinded randomized trial

Hypothesis: Circumference measurement of extremities that was reported to be a reliable method as long as being standardized is commonly used both in clinical and home settings by clinicians or caregivers due to its cheapness and easy use. Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine the inter-observer and intra-observer reliability of manual circumference measurement among different observers and various measurement points. Methods and Results: A total of 58 lower limbs were included in the study. Both lower limbs of each subject were assessed by 6 observers randomly using circumference measurement method from 9 reference points specified with a Leg-O-Meter. All observers performed the measurements and they were blind to each other’s measurements. Results: Measurement results from reference points were statistically significant between good to perfect (ICC 0.65-0.99, p<0.001). Interrater reliability of all observers’ first and second measurements showed perfect reliability for both measurements (ICC: 0.92-0.99, p<0.001). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the lower extremity manual circumference measurement is a reliable method for clinical practice. Abbreviations: BMI = Body Mass Index, ICC = Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, Metatarsal heads (cA), Ankle-heel (cY), Ankle (cB), Distal beginning point of gastrocnemius (cB1), The widest point for gastrocnemius (cC), Head of fibula (cD), Midline of knee (cE), Midline of thigh (cF), Groin level (cG)
On the life and death of distance

Buch et al. (2004) explain the “distance puzzle” suggesting that the distance coefficient only measures the importance of bilateral trade with distant countries relative to closer ones, while a large part of the positive effect of decreased distance costs on trade volumes can be captured in the intercept – expected to be positively influenced. Comparing the course of the intercept when trade growth is included to when removed (using an adjusted specification for the model), we do not seem to find any evidence that the impact of (assumed) decreased distance costs can be traced in the intercept. We also find no “death of distance” in “relative” trade over time, consistent with the majority of literature.