Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study of p53 immunostaining in the gastric epithelium of cagA‐positive and cagA‐negative Helicobacter pylori gastritis

p53 mutations are an early event in the multistep progression of gastric carcinoma. These mutations are often present in dysplastic and intestinal metaplastic gastric epithelium. However, the presence of immunohistochemically detectable p53 protein and p53 mutations in nondysplastic/nonmetaplastic gastric mucosa is more controversial. Recent reports have suggested that immunohistochemically detectable p53 protein may be present in the gastric epithelium of Helicobacter pylori gastritis. Furthermore, because cagA‐positive H. pylori is associated with greater mucosal injury but decreased apoptosis, it would be interesting to determine if this phenotype is associated with greater immunostaining of p53, as the wild‐type p53 gene helps to initiate apoptosis.
Using Relevance Feedback Techniques for Optimising Media Retrieval Applications

Storage capacity in portable media players has increased to 30 GB and beyond. Increasing bandwidth and connectivity has led to a case where there is an arguably unmanageable amount of content stored in computers and media players. Creating the right interface for managing media is highly important in consumer electronic devices. Previous works have focused on mechanisms to classify and retrieve audio files. But mere classification is not enough in the case of personal media players, as the musical taste of each user is different, and classification cannot be purely based on what others have classified. For adoption in media players and other consumer electronic devices, the musical tastes of each user have to be taken into account while retrieving, and this aspect is missing in current systems. Also, the speed of retrieval is of prime importance in consumer electronic devices. This paper discusses ways of optimising the retrieval process, using relevance feedback from the user. The feedback is used to tune the classification process using perceptual weights. The feedback can be generated directly, or by using indirectly generated data from the behaviour of the user during the search process. Speed of retrieval can be optimised for the user, by successively optimising the search results. Experimental results show the benefits of this approach in terms of search time to get the most relevant results
Cultural tourism and rural entrepreneurship: A case study of a Scandinavian literary festival

Tourism demand within peripheral regions reflects visitor motivations to seek experiences constrained by attributes that involve the abilities of these visitors. Often, the basis of tourism supply is driven by accessible publicly‐owned common‐pool resources that exist as regional economic assets yet are unpriced in the marketplace. Free‐riding prevails as rent‐seeking firms utilize non‐marketed natural and cultural assets in their production practices. The work reported here develops concepts that illustrate keys to successful cultural tourism entrepreneurship using a case study of a festival on the Norwegian coast that features the treasured literary works of Olav Duun. Results suggest that public‐private partnerships can be used to stimulate entrepreneurial activity. Further, success is a function of managerial expertise in attaining visitor experience that falls within the flow channel. La demanda turistica dentro de las regiones perifericas refleja las motivaciones de los visitantes que buscan experiencias limitadas por atributos que incluyen las habilidades de estos visitantes. A menudo, la base de la oferta turistica esta impulsada por recursos publicos comunales accesibles que existen como activos economicos regionales y que, sin embargo, no tienen precio en el mercado. El uso gratuito prevalece a medida que las empresas que buscan obtener beneficios utilizan bienes naturales y culturales no comercializados en sus practicas de produccion. El trabajo que se presenta aqui desarrolla conceptos que ilustran las claves para el exito del emprendimiento en el turismo cultural mediante un estudio de caso de un festival en la costa noruega que celebra las valiosas obras literarias de Olav Duun. Los resultados sugieren que las asociaciones publico‐privadas se pueden utilizar para estimular la actividad empresarial. Ademas, el exito depende de la experiencia de los gerentes para lograr una experiencia de los visitantes que este dentro del canal de flujo. 周辺地域内の観光需要は、訪れる旅行者の自らの能力を含む属性に制限される、経験を求める動機を反映している。 多くの場合、観光業における供給の基礎は、まだ市場では価格がつけられていない、地域の経済的資産として存在するアクセス可能な公共の共有資源により決定される。 レントシーキングを行う企業が、市場のものではない自然資源および文化資源を商品として利用するのに伴って、フリーライドも横行する。 本稿では、Olav Duunの有名な文学作品をフィーチュアしたノルウェーの海岸線のフェスティバルを例にしたケーススタディを行い、文化的観光業のアントレプレナーシップの成功の要因を例証する概念を詳述する。 結果から、アントレプレナーの活動を促進するには官民パートナーシップが有用であることが示唆される。 さらに、成功は、フローチャネルの範囲内に入る旅行者の経験を獲得するための経営の専門知識の機能である。
Short‐term outcome of percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation for low anterior resection syndrome: results of a pilot study

Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) is a minimally invasive procedure which has been demonstrated to be effective in faecal/urinary incontinence but has never been tested in low anterior resection syndrome (LARS). The severity of LARS may be evaluated by the LARS score, but rectal cancer treatments may also affect urinary and sexual function, which are not explored by the LARS score. The Three Axial Perineal Evaluation (TAPE) score is a new validated index addressing the overall pelvic floor functions. This study aims to assess the efficacy of PTNS in LARS patients and to evaluate the results by the LARS and TAPE scores.
Identification of C1 presympathetic neurons in rat rostral ventrolateral medulla by juxtacellular labeling in vivo

The rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) contains barosensitive, bulbospinal neurons that provide the main supraspinal excitatory input to sympathetic vasomotor preganglionic neurons. However, the phenotype of the critical RVLM cells has not been conclusively determined. The goal of the current study was to identify the proportion of electrophysiologically defined, putative, presympathetic RVLM neurons that are C1 cells. We used a juxtacellular labeling technique to individually fill spontaneously active, barosensitive, bulbospinal RVLM neurons with biotinamide following electrophysiological characterization in chloralose‐anesthetized rats. To determine whether these neurons could be classified as C1 cells, the biotinamide‐labeled cells were processed for detection of tyrosine hydroxylase. The majority of barosensitive bulbospinal RVLM neurons were tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive (TH‐ir; 28 of 39). All of the barosensitive bulbospinal RVLM neurons with axonal conduction velocities in the C fiber range (<1 m/second) were TH‐ir (n = 16), whereas faster conducting cells (1 to 7 m/second) were either lightly TH‐ir (n = 12) or not detectably TH‐ir (n = 11). Adjacent respiratory‐related RVLM units labeled with biotinamide were not detectably TH‐ir (n = 10). To verify that TH‐ir cells were indeed adrenergic, a subset of barosensitive bulbospinal cells labeled with biotinamide were examined for phenylethanolamine N‐methyltransferase immunoreactivity (PNMT‐ir). Three slowly conducting cells had detectable PNMT‐ir, and two fast‐conducting cells had no detectable PNMT‐ir. These results indicate that the majority of bulbospinal RVLM neurons with putative sympathoexcitatory function are C1 cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 387:524–536, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A 76.5 GHz microstrip comb-line antenna array for automotive radar system

This paper presents a 45 degree linearly polarized microstrip comb-line antenna array for the 76.5 GHz automotive radar system. The 13-element array is implemented on Rogers RO3003 substrate with a size of 20 × 2 mm2. The measured gain of the antenna is 11.4 dBi and the sidelobe level is below -16.5 dB at 76.5 GHz.
Central correlation of muscle sympathetic nerve activation during baroreflex unloading – a microneurography–positron emission tomography study

The baroreceptor reflex controls spontaneous fluctuations in blood pressure. One major control variable of the baroreflex is the sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity to muscles [MSNA; burst frequency (BF) and burst incidence (BI)], which can be quantitatively assessed by microneurography. We aimed to investigate the central regions involved in baroreflex regulation of MSNA. Healthy men (mean age 25 years) participated in three experimental sessions. (i) Microneurography recordings of MSNA from the left peroneal nerve during rest and baroreflex unloading, induced by lower body negative pressure (LBNP; −40 mmHg). If MSNA could be reliably recorded throughout this procedure (n = 15), the subjects entered the positron emission tomography (PET) experiments. The two PET sessions took place in a randomised order. Cerebral glucose metabolism (18‐fluorodeoxyglucose) was analysed after: (ii) baroreflex unloading (LBNP); and (iii) control condition (lying in the LBNP chamber without suction). The PET data were analysed employing SPM8. LBNP elicited a significant increase in MSNA in all successfully recorded subjects (BI: P = 0.001; F = 5.54; BF: P < 0.001; F = 36.59). As compared with the control condition, LBNP was associated with increased PET regional glucose metabolism bilaterally in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC; BA 11, 47). Related to the rise of BF, there was increased activation of the left OFC (BA 11); related to the rise of BI there was increased activation of the brainstem corresponding to the rostral ventrolateral medulla. Our data support a role for the ventrolateral medulla and the OFC in baroreflex‐mediated control of MSNA in humans.
Tomorrow's City Today: Eco-city Indicators, Standards and Frameworks: Bellagio Conference Report

This project deals with the international development and use of various ‘eco-city’ indicators, standards and frameworks. It is centred upon a deliberative process involving an international group of leading experts. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the project involved a three-day conference held in autumn 2012 in Bellagio, Italy. The multi-disciplinary group of 18 participants includes academics, policy-makers and practitioners from 14 countries from both the Global South and Global North. The project comprises three parts: (1) comparative analyses of contemporary eco-city indicator systems and endorsement schemes; (2) evaluation of eco-city indicator use within particular policy contexts; and (3) recommendations concerning policy needs and opportunities at local, national and international levels. The project results are contained in the Bellagio Statement.
Law is Code: A Software Engineering Approach to Analyzing the United States Code

The agglomeration of rules and regulations over time has produced a body of legal code that no single individual can fully comprehend. This complexity produces inefficiencies, makes the processes of understanding and changing the law difficult, and frustrates the fundamental principle that the law should provide fair notice to the governed. In this article, we take a quantitative, unbiased, and software-engineering approach to analyze the evolution of the United States Code from 1926 to today. Software engineers frequently face the challenge of understanding and managing large, structured collections of instructions, directives, and conditional statements, and we adapt and apply their techniques to the U.S. Code over time. Our work produces insights into the structure of the U.S. Code as a whole, its strengths and vulnerabilities, and new ways of thinking about individual laws. For example, we identify the first appearance and spread of important terms in the U.S. Code like "whistleblower" and "privacy. " We also analyze and visualize the network structure of certain substantial reforms, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and show how the interconnections of references can increase complexity and create the potential for unintended consequences. Our work is a timely illustration of computational approaches to law as the legal profession embraces technology for scholarship, to increase efficiency, and to improve access to justice.
The Ability of Outcome Questionnaires to Capture Patient Concerns Following Ankle Reconstruction

Background: The objective of this study was to compare questions from outcome questionnaires with items generated by preoperative and postoperative ankle reconstruction patients (using the open-ended questions of self-reported Patient-Specific Index [PASI]) to determine whether existing questionnaires address patients’ concerns. Methods: Patients (n = 142) completed the PASI. Questions from 6 standardized questionnaires (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Foot and Ankle Questionnaire [AAOS], patient-reported portion of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Clinical Rating System Ankle-Hindfoot Scale [AOFAS], Foot Function Index [FFI], Lower Extremity Functional Scale [LEFS], Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment [SMFA], Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index [WOMAC]) and PASI were matched by 3 reviewers to corresponding categories in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Standardized questionnaires were then compared with the patient responses produced by the PASI. Results: Patients identified 690 items corresponding to 45 ICF categories. Most PASI concepts fell into Activities and Participation (60.3%) and Body Functions (29.0%) components, including the categories “walking” (19.1%), “pain” (16.5%), and “recreation and leisure” (15.4%); 237 items were identified in questionnaires and linked to 39 ICF categories. Core issues in questionnaires (“pain,” “walking,” “stairs”) were important concerns for patients, but other key patient concerns (“swelling,” “recreation and leisure,” “sports”) were seldom included in questionnaires. Conclusion: No single questionnaire captured all patient concerns, and standardized questionnaires differed largely in content. This analysis may help guide development of a more comprehensive instrument for evaluating outcomes following ankle reconstruction. Clinical Relevance: When choosing an outcome questionnaire, clinicians and researchers should consider the targeted outcome because no one questionnaire captures the full patient experience.
Satellite image retrieval application using Locality Sensitive Hashing in l2-space

This paper demonstrates the use of the Locality Sensitive Hashing technique operating in Euclidean metric space to build a data structure for Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite imagery database. Due to the high dimensionality of these images, their texture feature vectors are used. These features are extracted using pyramidal wavelet decomposition coupled with Gaussian central moments. Families of hash functions are drawn randomly and independently from a Gaussian distribution to create hash tables for these texture feature vectors of the images. The hash tables and the families of hash functions are then used to find similar satellite image matches to any query image in sublinear search time. When tested, our algorithm has proven to be about thirty three times faster than the linear search algorithm. In addition, our algorithm searches less than two percent of the entire database on the average to find the possible similar image matches to any given query without loss of accuracy. 1 2
A genetic-algorithm based quantization method for fractal image coding

This paper proposes a high-accuracy quantization method for IFS parameters in fractal image coding by using a genetic algorithm (GA). The development of IFS-parameter quantization techniques is significant for the image coding because its errors make more serious problems in the iteration procedures than the other quantization topics. Even if the errors are small, high-quality reconstructed images are not necessarily obtained. Therefore, the high-accuracy quantization methods are required for the parameters. The proposed method provides higher quality reconstructed images than a conventional method which merely minimizes the errors.
A Source-Side Injection Lucky Electron Model for Schottky Barrier Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Devices

This letter explores source-side injection in Schottky barrier metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. Unlike drain-side injection in conventional MOS devices, a source-side lucky electron model predicts the specific source-side injection in Schottky barrier MOS devices. The source-side electric field is derived from the solutions of 2-D Poisson's equations. The conformal-mapping method is used to estimate the gate electrode contribution to determine the source-side injected probability. 2-D device simulations confirm the agreements between the analytical models and the numerical results. This study provides a physical understanding of enhanced source-side injection in new Schottky barrier nonvolatile memory.
Binding of polarity-sensitive hydrophobic ligands to erythroid and nonerythroid spectrin: fluorescence and molecular modeling studies

We have used three polarity-sensitive fluorescence probes, 6-propionyl 2-(N,N-dimethyl-amino) naphthalene (Prodan), pyrene and 8-anilino 1-naphthalene sulphonic acid, to study their binding with erythroid and nonerythroid spectrin, using fluorescence spectroscopy. We have found that both bind to prodan and pyrene with high affinities with apparent dissociation constants (Kd) of . 50 and . 17 μM, for prodan, and . 04 and . 02 μM, for pyrene, respectively. The most striking aspect of these bindings have been that the binding stoichiometry have been equal to 1 in erythroid spectrin, both in dimeric and tetrameric form, and in tetrameric nonerythroid spectrin. From an estimate of apparent dielectric constants, the polarity of the binding site in both erythroid and nonerythroid forms have been found to be extremely hydrophobic. Thermodynamic parameters associated with such binding revealed that the binding is favored by positive change in entropy. Molecular docking studies alone indicate that both prodan and pyrene bind to the four major structural domains, following the order in the strength of binding to the Ankyrin binding domain > SH3 domain > Self-association domain > N-terminal domain of α-spectrin of both forms of spectrin. The binding experiments, particularly with the tetrameric nonerythroid spectrin, however, indicate more toward the self association domain in offering the unique binding site, since the binding stoichiometry have been 1 in all forms of dimeric and tetrameric spectrin, so far studied by us. Further studies are needed to characterize the hydrophobic binding sites in both forms of spectrin.
Improving personal self-advocacy skills for individuals with brain injury: A randomized pilot feasibility study

ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the feasibility of a self-advocacy intervention for individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI). Design: Two-arm, parallel-design, randomized feasibility study. Methods: Twelve participants, 1-year or more post-ABI (TBI and cerebral vascular accident (CVA)), were randomized into treatment/control groups. The treatment group received a group intervention and workbook; the control group received the workbook only. Outcome measures, taken at baseline, post-treatment and 6-weeks follow-up, included the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) and two exploratory measures developed for the study: the Self Advocacy Scale (SAS) and the Personal Advocacy Activity Scale (PAAS). Results: Participants were successfully recruited and treated per protocol. The treatment group exhibited improvements from baseline to post-treatment on all measures; the control group improved on the GSES and declined on all others. Both groups exhibited improvement on all measures at follow-up, except the PAAS, which declined. There were no significant group differences on non-parametric analysis at any assessment points; however, the magnitude of change at post-treatment approached significance for the SAS and PAAS. Conclusions: Initial feasibility for the methodology was demonstrated. Positive trends were noted. Further research could result in an evidence-based intervention to enhance self-advocacy post-ABI.
Influence of sociodemographic factors on Helicobacter pylori prevalence variability among schoolchildren in Leipzig, Germany. A long-term follow-up study.

BACKGROUND Until the beginning of this decade the assumption was that the Helicobacter pylori prevalence increases with the age of the population under consideration. More and more epidemiological studies have been suggestive of constancy in Helicobacter pylori prevalence, but to date there has been no long-term follow-up study in a large group of children confirming this hypothesis. METHODS Following up our study of H. pylori among school starters and 2nd graders in 1998 and 2000, we conducted a third phase of this study in 2006 using the [13C]-Urea Breath Test and a detailed parent-completed epidemiological questionnaire to evaluate the development of prevalence among the overall population of 8th graders in the city of Leipzig (n = 1,905), and especially of the subgroup of participants who took part in all three study phases (n = 751). RESULTS The overall H. pylori prevalence was 6.5% and had not significantly changed since 1998 and 2000 (6.1%, 5.7% respectively). However, we noticed a significant lower prevalence in the subgroup that participated in all study phases (2.7%). Moreover, we observed a dependence of prevalence on distribution of sociodemographic risk factors such as foreign nationality of at least one parent, birth outside of Germany, low parental education and unemployment, and > or = 2 older siblings. CONCLUSION The variability in prevalence is most likely a result of unequal sociodemographic family backgrounds.
Business Services and the Financing of Global Production Networks: The Case of Global Law Firms in Southeast Asia

Financial and business services (FABSs) as intermediaries play a significant role in global production networks (GPNs). Yet, the mechanisms through which they influence the activities of lead and supplier firms in GPNs have received little in-depth attention. This article addresses the shortcoming and examines how global legal business services configure the financial discipline of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Southeast Asia. It documents the way FABS articulate financial imperatives and encourages the reproduction of ‘global financial architectures’. It also shows, however, that temporal dynamics and spatial specificities in the power relations between FABS and TNCs generate variegated financial configurations. Southeast Asian TNCs adopt and adapt in ways that serve their interests. This implies that the governance effects of FABS have important temporal and spatial contingencies that need to be accounted for in analyses of GPNs.