Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The association between demographic factors, disease severity and the duration of symptoms at clinical presentation in elderly people with dementia.

OBJECTIVE To determine the association between factors unrelated to the disease process, the duration of symptoms and the degree of cognitive or functional impairment in elderly patients presenting with dementia. METHOD The living situation, educational level, age, gender and diagnosis based on standardized criteria were recorded for 209 elderly patients presenting to a memory clinic with dementia. Cognitive and functional deficits were measured with the cognitive section of the Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination combined with the Mini-Mental State Examination and the abbreviated version of the Blessed dementia scale, respectively. RESULTS 129 patients had a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease, 19 had probable ischaemic vascular dementia and 61 had mixed dementia. There was no effect of diagnosis on duration of symptoms or dementia severity at the time of presentation. Patients living with a son or daughter were more functionally impaired than those living alone or with a spouse. Males had higher cognitive scores but did not have milder functional deficits. Patients with only a primary-school education had a trend towards lower cognitive scores at presentation but did not have more functional deficits. CONCLUSIONS The gender of the patient and the relationship to the carer are associated with cognitive and functional scores at the time of presentation in patients with dementia.
Responsive behavior of tumor‐marker‐imprinted hydrogels using macromolecular cross‐linkers

Tumor‐marker‐imprinted hydrogels having lectin and antibody molecules as ligands for a tumor‐specific marker glycoprotein were strategically prepared by biomolecular imprinting using minute amounts of low‐molecular‐weight or high‐molecular‐weight cross‐linkers. The tumor‐marker‐imprinted hydrogels shrank gradually in response to a target glycoprotein, because their apparent cross‐linking density increased owing to simultaneous complex formation of lectin and antibody ligands with a target glycoprotein after their ligands dynamically recognized the glycoprotein. The swelling ratio of the tumor‐marker‐imprinted hydrogel using high‐molecular‐weight cross‐linker with an optimal chain length decreased more drastically than that using a low‐molecular‐weight cross‐linker, but the hydrogel using the cross‐linker with a chain that was too long did not exhibit tumor‐marker responsive behavior. This paper focuses on the effect of the molecular weight of cross‐linkers on the responsive behavior of tumor‐marker‐imprinted hydrogels having lectin and antibody molecules as ligands. The cross‐linker chain length was an important factor in determining the dynamic glycoprotein recognition and responsive behavior of the biomolecule‐imprinted hydrogels. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Does Afferent Heterogeneity Matter in Conveying Tactile Feedback Through Peripheral Nerve Stimulation?

One approach to conveying tactile feedback from sensorized neural prostheses is to characterize the neural signals that would normally be produced in an intact limb and reproduce them through electrical stimulation of the residual peripheral nerves. Toward this end, we have developed an integrate-and-fire model that predicts with millisecond accuracy the timing of responses of the mechanoreceptive afferents that innervate the glabrous skin of the hand. Individual afferents produce highly repeatable and stereotyped responses to a given stimulus. However, responses differ considerably across afferents, even across afferents of a given type. In the present study, we wish to assess the extent to which this within-type variability shapes the signal conveyed by the hand to the brain. Specifically, we wish to determine the extent to which a single canonical model can be used to mimic the responses of a population of afferents during a set of activities of daily living. We find that the spiking responses simulated using the canonical model does not match, in their fine temporal structure, those simulated using individually fit models. However, population firing rates simulated using a canonical model match those simulated using individual models. Our results suggest that afferent heterogeneity is important if the read-out of the response of afferent populations is sensitive to the precise temporal structure of the population response. To the extent that precise spike timing (at a resolution of milliseconds) is not essential, a canonical model can be used to simulate the responses of populations of afferents.
The Microphthalmia Transcription Factor Regulates Expression of the Tartrate‐Resistant Acid Phosphatase Gene During Terminal Differentiation of Osteoclasts

The defective terminal differentiation of osteoclasts in mice homozygous for the mi allele of the microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF) gene implies that MITF plays a critical role in regulating gene expression during osteoclast ontogeny. To begin addressing the role of this transcription factor in the osteoclast, target genes need to be identified. In the present work, several lines of evidence show that the gene encoding the enzyme tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) is a target of MITF. Analysis of osteoclasts in vivo in the embryonic forelimb showed that MITF and TRAP RNA were coexpressed in a dynamic pattern during the process of endochondral ossification of long bone. Primary osteoclast‐like cells (OCLs) produced from mi/mi mutant mice expressed TRAP messenger RNA (mRNA) at 8‐fold lower levels than in OCLs derived from normal mice, indicating a direct link between MITF function and TRAP expression. The activity of mouse TRAP promoter‐reporter genes was assayed in the primary OCLs by DNA‐mediated transfection, and this activity was shown to depend on a conserved sequence (GGTCATGTGAG) located in the proximal promoter. Recombinant MITF protein recognized specifically this conserved sequence element Expression of a TRAP promoter–green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene mimicked the expression of the endogenous TRAP gene during differentiation of osteoclast‐like cells, and the expression of the transgene was decreased 8‐fold when placed into the mutant mi/mi background. These results are consistent with a role for MITF in gene expression during terminal differentiation of the osteoclast and will allow osteoclast‐specific mechanisms of gene regulation to be studied in greater detail.
Acceleration feedback and friction compensation for improving positioning performance in systems with friction

High-gain proportional-integral-derivative (PID) position control can achieve stiff position control but it involves the risk of overshoots in some cases such as discontinuous position commands and disturbances. This paper presents a new position controller that achieves accurate trajectory tracking and overdamped resuming motion from large positional errors and disturbances. The proposed controller is a combination of PDD2 (proportional, derivative, and second derivative) controller with nonlinear D2 term, which we call (N-PDD2), and the output of a friction compensator (FC). The nonlinear D2 term allows the use of high gain PDD2 and thus, advantageous in dealing with disturbances. Accurate trajectory-tracking is achieved due to friction compensation. The validity of the proposed controller was demonstrated through experiments in realizing overdamped motion and accurate tracking simultaneously and achieving improvement in robustness to disturbances in a robotic manipulator.
A flexible nested logit model

This paper develops simple but flexible nested logit. The basic idea is to introduce heterogeneity in the key parameter driving substitution patterns in the nested logit model: the correlation between utilities. By doing so the model generates a flexible demand system, overcoming an undesirable property of the classic nested logit. It is also relatively easy to estimate and compute, properties that could prove useful to researchers and practitioners trying to avoid the operational costs (i.e. numerical difficulties) of the general Random Coefficient model.
60 GHz patch antenna using IPD technology

In this paper, we present a high efficiency antenna for 60 GHz low-cost packaged modules. This antenna is fabricated using IPD™ technology which is flip-chipped on a PCB Taclamplus substrate. A microstrip line etched on this Taclamplus substrate from Taconic is directly coupled to the upper patch antenna fabricated in the IPD™ technology from ST Microelectronics. A -10dB bandwidth of 10 GHz is obtained centered on 60 GHz frequency.
Efficient generation and cryopreservation of cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells.

AIM Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) represent a novel cell source to treat diseases such as heart failure and for use in drug screening. In this study, we aim to promote efficient generation of cardiomyocytes from hESCs by combining the current optimal techniques of controlled growth of undifferentiated cells and specific induction for cardiac differentiation. We also aim to examine whether these methods are scalable and whether the differentiated cells can be cryopreserved. METHODS & RESULTS hESCs were maintained without conditioned medium or feeders and were sequentially treated with activin A and bone morphogenetic protein-4 in a serum-free medium. This led to differentiation into cell populations containing high percentages of cardiomyocytes. The differentiated cells expressed appropriate cardiomyocyte markers and maintained contractility in culture, and the majority of the cells displayed working chamber (atrial and ventricular) type electrophysiological properties. In addition, the cell growth and differentiation process was adaptable to large culture formats. Moreover, the cardiomyocytes survived following cryopreservation, and viable cardiac grafts were detected after transplantation of cryopreserved cells into rat hearts following myocardial infarctions. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate that cardiomyocytes of high quality can be efficiently generated and cryopreserved using hESCs maintained in serum-free medium, a step forward towards the application of these cells to human clinical use or drug discovery.
Effects of asset purchases and financial stability measures on term premia in the euro area

ABSTRACT We study the effects of the announcements of ECB asset purchases and of financial stability measures in the euro area in the wake of the global financial crisis and the euro area sovereign debt crisis on 10-year government bond term premia in 11 euro area countries. We find that the term premia of euro area countries with higher sovereign risk, as measured by sovereign CDS spreads, decreased more in response to the announcements of asset purchases and financial stability measures. Term premia of countries with lowest sovereign risk either increased as in Germany, or were not significantly affected or fell slightly, as in the Netherlands and Finland.
Social Spending, Welfare and Redistribution: A Comparative Analysis of 22 European Countries

This paper aims at analysing the effectiveness and the efficiency of social public expenditure in 22 European countries. We present a basic theoretical framework connecting the choice of the level of social protection to the median voter’s preferences and the inefficiency of expenditure. To test it against real data, we construct performance and efficiency indicators. While the existing literature measures the performance of social policy restricting the analysis to its impact on inequality and the labour market, our index summarises the outcomes achieved in all sectors of social protection (family, health, labour market elderly, disabled, unemployment, inequality). Based on this, we find that the ranking of countries differs from those found in the literature. We then put together performance and the amount of expenditure needed to achieve it (to better compare countries, we use social public expenditure net of tax and transfers), constructing efficiency indicators. Our results suggest that countries with a higher social expenditure inefficiency index present a greater variability of performance in all subsectors considered.
A Wideband Spectrum-Sensing Processor With Adaptive Detection Threshold and Sensing Time

Spectrum sensing over a wide bandwidth increases the probability of finding unutilized spectrum for cognitive radios. The hardware realization of wideband sensing is challenging because strong primary users introduce large dynamic range and spectral leakage in adjacent unused bands. This paper proposes a multitap-windowed frequency power detector with adaptive threshold and sensing time to address the above challenges. The suppression of spectral leakage is achieved by multitap-windowed FFT processing, which also enables reduced sensing time. The sensing time and detection threshold are adapted according to the channel-specific spectral leakage, which results in a reliable wideband signal detection within constrained sensing time. Our simulations with a 20 dB interferer-to-noise ratio (INR) indicate a 2× improvement in detection rate compared to conventional power detectors. An order-of-magnitude improvement in sensing time is achieved in the presence of 30-dB INR interferers while maintaining a false-alarm rate of 0.1 and a detection rate of 0.9. The proposed algorithms are realized in an FPGA to demonstrate real-time operation with a latency below 10 μ s. Experimental results from a radio testbed closely match the numerical simulations. An ASIC architecture for a 200-MHz bandwidth is estimated to occupy 0.98 mm2 and dissipate 25 mW from a 1-V supply in a standard 65-nm CMOS technology.
Protein Chip Array Profiling Analysis in Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Identified Serum Amyloid A Protein as a Biomarker Potentially Useful in Monitoring the Extent of Pneumonia

Abstract Background: A new strain of coronavirus (CoV) has caused an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), with 8098 individuals being infected and 774 deaths worldwide. We carried out protein chip array profiling analysis in an attempt to identify biomarkers that might be useful in monitoring the clinical course of SARS patients. Methods: We performed surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry on 89 sera collected from 28 SARS patients, 72 sera from 51 control patients with various viral or bacterial infections, and 10 sera from apparently healthy individuals. Results: Nine significantly increased and three significantly decreased serum biomarkers were discovered in the SARS patients compared with the controls. Among these biomarkers, one (11 695 Da) was identified to be serum amyloid A (SAA) protein by peptide mapping and tandem mass spectrometric analysis. When we monitored the SAA concentrations longitudinally in 45 sera from four SARS patients, we found a good correlation of SAA concentration with the extent of pneumonia as assessed by a serial chest x-ray opacity score. Increased SAA occurred in three of four patients at the time of extensive pneumonia as indicated by high x-ray scores. Over the course of gradual recovery in two patients, as assessed clinically and radiologically, SAA concentrations gradually decreased. In the third patient, the concentrations were initially increased, but were further increased with superimposed multiple bacterial infections. SAA was not markedly increased in the fourth patient, who had low x-ray scores and whose clinical course was relatively mild. Conclusions: Protein chip array profiling analysis could be potentially useful in monitoring the severity of disease in SARS patients.
Inhibitory effect of fucoidan on nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide‐activated primary microglia

1. Microglial activation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases by producing various pro‐inflammatory cytokines. Microglia‐derived nitric oxide (NO) is critical for the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced selective loss of dopaminergic neurons.
Predictors of Violence Exposure Among Inner-City Youth

Examined the ability of demographic variables and risk factors (parental substance use, number of people in the home, out-of-home placements, grades repeated, arrest history, and total life stress) to predict exposure to community violence among 342 high school students from inner-city Baltimore referred for mental health care in community centers or in the schools. Over 90% of the sample knew at least 1 victim of a violent act, 77% reported witnessing a violent act, and 47% reported past victimization by violence. Risk variables were more powerful regression predictors of violence exposure than demographic characteristics such as race, sex, or clinical setting. Even after controlling for demographic differences in violence exposure, risk factors as a group accounted for another 10% to 15% of variance. Life stress was the most consistent predictor of violence exposure for this sample, and life stress was the only variable to make a significant unique contribution to the prediction of all 4 violence criteria.
An investigation of the effect of gastrointestinal microbial activity on oral arsenic bioavailability

In vitro gastrointestinal (GI) microbial activity in the colon compartment facilitates the arsenic release from soils into simulated GI fluids. Consequentially, it is possible that in vitro models that neglect to include microbial activity underestimate arsenic bioaccessibility when calculating oral exposure. However, the toxicological relevance of increased arsenic release due to microbial activity is contingent upon the subsequent absorption of arsenic solubilized in the GI lumen. The objectives of this research are to: (1) assess whether microbes in the in vitro small intestine affect arsenic solubilization from soils, (2) determine whether differences in the GI microbial community result in differences in the oral bioavailability of soil-borne arsenic. In vitro GI microbial activity in the distal small intestine increased arsenic release from soils; however, these effects were unlikely to be relevant since they were transient and demonstrated small effect sizes. In vivo arsenic absorption for juvenile swine was unaffected by antibiotic treatment. Therefore, it appears that microbial effects on arsenic release do not result in increased arsenic bioavailability. However, it remains to be seen whether the results for the limited set of soils described herein can be extrapolated to arsenic contaminated sites in general.
Improving Maternal Health Care in a Post Conflict Setting: Evidence from Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Abstract We evaluate a development programme with an important maternal health care component in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The region and its mostly indigenous people experienced violent conflict in the past and face a constant risk of recurring conflict. Given this fragile setting, our work differs from conventional impact evaluations by incorporating two conflict indicators: the household’s actual experience of violence and fears of future violence. We find that the intervention undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) succeeded in boosting maternal health care utilisation: antenatal care (ANC) check-ups rose by 18 percentage points, while deliveries at health facilities increased by 23 percentage points. However, household experiences of violent conflict and perceptions of insecurity dampen maternal health care utilisation. Impacts on ANC check-ups are concentrated among households without experience of conflict (19 percentage points compared to 4 percentage points among households with such experience). And households without fears of violence see relatively larger impacts on deliveries at a health facility (37 percentage points compared to 11 percentage points). The programme is successful in raising maternal health care utilisation but its effectiveness has been constrained by the violence experienced and perceived by households.
A New Dynamical Particle Swarm Optimization Based on Principle Free Entropy Minimization

One of the primary complaints toward particle swarm optimization (PSO) is the occurrence of premature convergence because the diversity of the particles rapidly comedown. In order to improve diversity of the particles, a dynamical particle swarm optimization (DPSO) is proposed for global optimization, which adds a memory mechanism conceptually derived from the principle free entropy minimization. DPSO is that all particles in a swarm are running and searching with their swarm evolving driven by a new selecting mechanism. This mechanism simulates the principle of molecular dynamics to keep the diversity of the particles and obtain a good balance between aggressive exploration and detailed search. In order to verify the effectiveness of the propose scheme, DPSO is applied to solving some typical global optimization problems. The experimental results show the DPSO is feasible and reliable.
Exploring the Impact of Digital Platforms on SME Internationalization: New Zealand SMEs Use of the Alibaba Platform for Chinese Market Entry

ABSTRACT Digital platforms have changed the way in which Asia-Pacific firms operate across borders, however, the impact of digital platforms on entry strategy is under-researched in current International Business literature. This study aims to explore how digital platforms impact New Zealand small and medium-sized (SMEs) companies’ entry into the Chinese market. The results of case study interviews conducted with four SMEs suggest that digital platforms ease entry barriers to some extent, particularly in helping overcome resource constraints and facilitating access to networks. However, the participating firms still required local staff as a key part of successful market entry.
Acute biliary pancreatitis: focus on recurrence rate and costs when current guidelines are not complied

Abstract Background: International guidelines recommend cholecystectomy within 2–4 weeks after mild to moderate acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP) to prevent recurrence. We aimed to investigate the compliance to guidelines concerning early cholecystectomy and the associated costs. Methods: Admissions for ABP 2011–2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Classification was made according to the revised Atlanta classification. Treatment, time to surgery and recurrence, as well as cost analysis for both in-hospital costs and loss of production (LOP) were performed. Results: In total, 254 patients were included. Some 202 of the ABP patients (80%) underwent definitive treatment during their first attack of ABP (68% cholecystectomy, 17% endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), 15% both interventions) and 186 (73%) were treated within 1 month of discharge. Patients with ERCP alone were significantly older than cholecystectomy cases (p < .001), but no significant difference was observed between those who underwent ERCP or no treatment (p = .071). Mild ABP had intervention earlier (p < .001). In all, 52 patients (20%) had no intervention, out of which 15 were readmitted due to pancreatitis, compared to 3 patients of those treated at the initial admission (p < .001). The mean cost for hospital care and LOP in mild ABP was €6882 ± 3010 and €9580 ± 7047 for moderate ABP (p = .001). The cost for a recurrent episode was €16,412 ± 22,367. Conclusion: By improved compliance to current guidelines concerning the management of ABP, recurrence rate and associated costs can potentially be reduced.