Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation: A Treatment Option for Chronic Pain Due to Refractory Loin Pain Haematuria Syndrome

To the Editor: Unilateral flank pain, besides (macroor microscopic) haematuria of unclarified origin, is the key feature of loin pain haematuria syndrome (LPHS). The cause of development of flank pain in LPHS still remains unknown, however, abnormalities in the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) were observed in most cases of LPHS. Therefore, Spetie et al. proposed an origin for flank pain in LPHS in pathologically of thinned GMB, leading to haematuria and as a consequence to tubular obstruction, which in turn, leads to glomerular back leakage, parenchymal swelling and renal capsular stretching, resulting in severe visceral pain (1). Severe pain, if going untreated, may lead to a chronic pain syndrome, with signs of peripheral and central sensitisation and decompensation in coping strategies. Chronic pain due to LPHS can have a disabling and invalidating course. Patients are often limited in physical activities leading to social and psychological distress. The estimated prevalence of LPHS is reported up to 0.012% and therefore is classified as an uncommon syndrome. Smith et al. (2) and Zubair et al. (3) summarize treatment options for LPHS, respectively in Clinical Journal of Pain (2012) and Clinical Kidney Journal (2016). Conventional treatment for LPHS consists of physiotherapeutic and psychological treatments and neuropathic analgesics (e.g., tricyclic antidepressants, antiepileptics) and opioids. Minimal invasive pain treatments as splanchnic nerve blocks, pulsed radiofrequent lesions of the splanchnic nerves, ureteric bupivacaine infusion, and intrarenal capsaicin have been applied, however, do not supply structural pain relief. Some patients have reported benefits from catheter-based or surgical renal denervation. Even major surgical interventions, for example, autotransplantation and nephrectomy, have been reported as successful treatment options to control pain. Hogan and Norby described a sequential algorithm for the management of chronic kidney disease related pain (4). Evidence for treatment of refractory chronic pain in LPHS using invasive neuromodulating techniques, including: splanchic nerve stimulation, spinal cord stimulation, and implantable intrathecal drug delivery devices, is growing. Since 2012, a new target for treatment of chronic pain conditions was found in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation. The pain perception of the loin depends on its sensory, sympathetic, and parasympathetic innervation. Sympathetic fibers from the spinal cord run to the sympathetic chain at level T12 to L1 and, thereafter, via the splanchnic nerves which synapse in the celiac ganglion. Systems of regulation of nociceptive messages are present at all levels of the nervous system. The target for loin pain treatment by DRG stimulation may, therefore, be at multiple thoraco-lumbar levels. We present a patient suffering from chronic pain due to LPHS who was successfully treated with thoracolumbar dorsal root ganglion stimulation using the dorsal transforaminal approach.
Quality control of Harpagophytum procumbens and its related phytopharmaceutical products by means of NIR‐FT‐Raman spectroscopy

NIR‐FT‐Raman spectroscopy was used for identification and quantification of harpagoside in secondary roots of Harpagophytum procumbens as well as in related phytopharmaceutical products, e.g., ethanolic extracts and tablets. Applied Raman mappings reveal the spatial distribution of this valuable iridoid glycoside within the different samples. The same technique can be used for quality control purposes beginning from the plant to its final products. Based on the obtained spectral data and reference HPLC values of harpagoside, a reliable multivariate calibration model was developed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers, 2005
Antecedants of Purchase in the Online Buying Process

How and why consumers use the Internet is important to understanding retail change in the online context. This study identified the factors that influence online buying behaviour, developed a model of the buying decision process and empirically tested the model. A mail survey was used to collect data from one hundred and forty six Australian consumers. The results suggest that consumers have a preference for purchasing digital services and non-bulky analogue products online, specifically tickets, travel and hotels, music, books and cameras. Product attributes play an important role in choosing the initial retail channel. Pricing and product information are potential drivers causing consumers to switch from online to off line channels. High levels of trust in either the brand or the supplier are associated with online purchasing. The implications for pure-play and multi-channel retailers are discussed. ; ;
Adaptive Submodularity with Varying Query Sets: An Application to Active Multi-label Learning

Adaptive submodular optimization, where a sequence of items is selected adaptively to optimize a submodular function, has been found to have many applications from sensor placement to active learning. In the current paper, we extend this work to the setting of multiple queries at each time step, where the set of available queries is randomly constrained. A primary contribution of this paper is to prove the first near optimal approximation bound for a greedy policy in this setting. A natural application of this framework is to crowd-sourced active learning problem where the set of available experts and examples might vary randomly. We instantiate the new framework for multi-label learning and evaluate it in multiple benchmark domains with promising results.
Identification of Xenopus S6 protein kinase homologs (pp90rsk) in somatic cells: phosphorylation and activation during initiation of cell proliferation

We have identified human, mouse, and chicken homologs to Xenopus S6 protein kinase II (S6KII). In quiescent cells, the apparent molecular mass of the Xenopus homologs (referred to as pp90rsk) increased from a range of 81 to 91 to a range of 85 to 92 kilodaltons following serum addition, which is consistent with an increase in protein phosphorylation. Indeed, serum growth factors stimulated pp90rsk phosphorylation at multiple serine and threonine residues. Furthermore, pp90rsk activity was stimulated within seconds of serum addition. Distinct molecular sizes, chromatographic properties, phosphopeptide maps, and kinetics of activation, the lack of immunological cross-reactivity, and analysis of S6 kinase activities in cells that overexpressed pp90rsk suggest that pp90rsk and pp70-S6 protein kinase, a previously identified mitogen- and oncogene-regulated S6 kinase in cultured cells, are distinct and differentially regulated. The notion that both enzymes are regulated by protein phosphorylation was supported by the ability to inactivate their S6 phosphotransferase activities with potato acid phosphatase. These data demonstrate that homologs to the Xenopus S6 protein kinases are produced and regulated by protein phosphorylation in somatic cells and that, in addition to a proposed role in Xenopus oocyte maturation, these homologs may participate in the initiation of animal cell proliferation.
Predicting Interactions among Fishing, Ocean Warming, and Ocean Acidification in a Marine System with Whole‐Ecosystem Models

An important challenge for conservation is a quantitative understanding of how multiple human stressors will interact to mitigate or exacerbate global environmental change at a community or ecosystem level. We explored the interaction effects of fishing, ocean warming, and ocean acidification over time on 60 functional groups of species in the southeastern Australian marine ecosystem. We tracked changes in relative biomass within a coupled dynamic whole‐ecosystem modeling framework that included the biophysical system, human effects, socioeconomics, and management evaluation. We estimated the individual, additive, and interactive effects on the ecosystem and for five community groups (top predators, fishes, benthic invertebrates, plankton, and primary producers). We calculated the size and direction of interaction effects with an additive null model and interpreted results as synergistic (amplified stress), additive (no additional stress), or antagonistic (reduced stress). Individually, only ocean acidification had a negative effect on total biomass. Fishing and ocean warming and ocean warming with ocean acidification had an additive effect on biomass. Adding fishing to ocean warming and ocean acidification significantly changed the direction and magnitude of the interaction effect to a synergistic response on biomass. The interaction effect depended on the response level examined (ecosystem vs. community). For communities, the size, direction, and type of interaction effect varied depending on the combination of stressors. Top predator and fish biomass had a synergistic response to the interaction of all three stressors, whereas biomass of benthic invertebrates responded antagonistically. With our approach, we were able to identify the regional effects of fishing on the size and direction of the interacting effects of ocean warming and ocean acidification.
Tuneable Q-Factor of MEMS Cantilevers with Integrated Piezoelectric Thin Films

In atomic force microscopes (AFM) a resonantly excited, micro-machined cantilever with a tip is used for sensing surface-related properties. When targeting the integration of AFMs into vacuum environments (e.g., for enhancing the performance of scanning electron microscopes), a tuneable Q-factor of the resonating AFM cantilever is a key feature to enable high speed measurements with high local resolution. To achieve this goal, in this study an additional mechanical stimulus is applied to the cantilever with respect to the stimulus provided by the macroscopic piezoelectric actuator. This additional stimulus is generated by an aluminum nitride piezoelectric thin film actuator integrated on the cantilever, which is driven by a phase shifted excitation. The Q-factor is determined electrically by the piezoelectric layer in a Wheatstone bridge configuration and optically verified in parallel with a laser Doppler vibrometer. Depending on the measurement technique, the Q-factor is reduced by a factor of about 1.9 (electrically) and 1.6 (optically), thus enabling the damping of MEMS structures with a straight-forward and cheap electronic approach.
Determination of amphotericin B in PLA-PEG blend nanoparticles by HPLC-PDA

Neste trabalho desenvolveu-se e validou-se um efetivo metodo por cromatografia liquida de alta eficiencia (CLAE) em fase reversa com deteccao por fotodiodos para a analise quantitativa de anfotericina B (AmB) em nanoparticulas compostas por blendas de poli(acido latico)-polietilenoglicol (PLA-PEG). Corridas cromatograficas foram realizadas sob coluna C18 de fase reversa com fase movel consistindo de acido acetico 9% e acetonitrila (40:60, v/v), em eluicao isocratica com fluxo de 1 mL/min. A AmB foi detectada no comprimento de onda de 408 nm. O processo de validacao foi realizado considerando a seletividade, linearidade, precisao, exatidao, robustez, limite de deteccao (LD) e limite de quantificacao (LQ) do metodo. Uma faixa de concentracao entre 1-20 µg/mL foi usada para obter a curva-padrao linear. Os valores de LD e LQ foram 55 e 18 ng/mL, respectivamente. A recuperacao media da AmB a partir das amostras foi de 99,92% (desvio padrao relativo = 0,34%, n=9) e o metodo foi robusto, considerando alteracoes no fluxo da fase movel (desvio padrao relativo maximo=4,82%). Os coeficientes de variacao intra e inter dia foram inferiores a 0,59%. O metodo foi utilizado com sucesso para a determinacao da eficiencia de encapsulacao da AmB em nanoparticulas de PLA-PEG.
Enabling Support of Collaborative Cross-enterprise Business Processes for Legacy ERP Systems

In order to create innovative business products, share knowledge between people and businesses, or increase the control and quality of services, more and more often enterprise business processes involve in collaborations by delegating or providing some pieces of work to other enterprises. Necessity to cooperate in the cross-enterprise setting leads to Collaborative Business Processes (CBPs). The difference between CBPs and Business Processes (BPs) is in the decentralized coordination, flexible backward recovery, participants notification about the state, efficient adaptability to changes, presence of multiple information systems, and individual authorization settings. In the paper we consider a specific case of CBPs where multiple collaborating partners use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system of the same vendor. The vendor can see (e.g., monitor) the changes of data elements, but does not have explicit process awareness in the ERP system to support flow of activities in the cross-enterprise setting. The paper also discusses different settings of cross-enterprise CBP and shows simplified enterprise models behind the vendor possibilities to positively impact collaborative processes. The restrictions of the vendor are implicit information flows in BP, diversity of ERP integrations with third party Information Systems (IS), the lack of mechanisms for monitoring BP instances, backward recovery, user notification about the current state and tasks, and inability to make explicit changes in customers’ ISs.
Safety in Numbers? An Analysis of Market Concentration and Safety in the Commercial Railroad Industry

In this paper, we examine the relationship between market concentration and safety incidents in the freight railroad industry in the United States. We measure safety incidents as the number of accidents and market concentration as the Herfindahl Hirschman Index. We test the model in the context of the commercial railroad industry, using a comprehensive data set spanning 40 years. We systematically control for correlated unobservables, and the results consistently indicate that a 1% increase in market concentration yields an approximately . 4% decrease in the number of accidents. These results are robust to different measures of concentration, various time aggregations, and numerous model specifications. Furthermore, using bootstrapping techniques, we show that the relationship between safety and market concentration is mediated by the level of investment in capital expenditures, the total number of employee hours, and the amount of freight switching between railroad companies. An important implication of this study is that mergers may provide substantial value by reducing the number of accidents. These findings are relevant for firms, regulators, and consumers across all industries that suffer from safety incidents.
Dynamics of Social Media Metrics and Firm Equity Value

bunnika_po@yahoo.com Abstract Social media metrics in online environment provide a powerful source of customer feedback in predicting firm performance. Current study examines whether social media metrics specifically in terms of Facebook (FB) and Twitter metrics, are related to stock market performance. Which of these metrics has the stronger relationship, and explores the dynamics of these relationships. The authors collected social media metrics data from official Facebook pages and Twitter accounts of three fast food companies over a period of six months. They developed multiple metrics of each social media platform and derive results using Vector Autoregressive time-series models to assess the immediate and long-term relationship between social media metrics and stock market performance of the firms in terms of abnormal returns and idiosyncratic risk. Results indicate that FB metrics are significant leading indicators of firm equity value. Interestingly, Twitter metrics, as compared to FB metrics, are found to have significant but substantially weaker predictive relationship with organizational equity value. Collectively, current research extends new visions for organizational top executives and investors with respect to organizational equity valuation and the social media power
Selection Versus Talent Effects on Firm Value

Measuring the value of labor-market hires for stock prices, be it underwriters when firms go public (IPOs) or chief executive officers (CEOs), is difficult due to selection. Opaque firms with higher costs of capital benefit more from prestigious underwriters, while productive firms benefit more from talented CEOs. Using assignment models, we show that the importance of talent (or agent heterogeneity) relative to selection (or firm heterogeneity) is measured by wage increases across agents of different compensation ranks divided by changes in output across their firms. The median of this ratio is 0.5% for underwriters and 2% for CEOs.
Good Fat, Essential Cellular Requirements for Triacylglycerol Synthesis to Maintain Membrane Homeostasis in Yeast*

Storage triacylglycerols (TAG) and membrane phospholipids share common precursors, i.e. phosphatidic acid and diacylglycerol, in the endoplasmic reticulum. In addition to providing a biophysically rather inert storage pool for fatty acids, TAG synthesis plays an important role to buffer excess fatty acids (FA). The inability to incorporate exogenous oleic acid into TAG in a yeast mutant lacking the acyltransferases Lro1p, Dga1p, Are1p, and Are2p contributing to TAG synthesis results in dysregulation of lipid synthesis, massive proliferation of intracellular membranes, and ultimately cell death. Carboxypeptidase Y trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum to the vacuole is severely impaired, but the unfolded protein response is only moderately up-regulated, and dispensable for membrane proliferation, upon exposure to oleic acid. FA-induced toxicity is specific to oleic acid and much less pronounced with palmitoleic acid and is not detectable with the saturated fatty acids, palmitic and stearic acid. Palmitic acid supplementation partially suppresses oleic acid-induced lipotoxicity and restores carboxypeptidase Y trafficking to the vacuole. These data show the following: (i) FA uptake is not regulated by the cellular lipid requirements; (ii) TAG synthesis functions as a crucial intracellular buffer for detoxifying excess unsaturated fatty acids; (iii) membrane lipid synthesis and proliferation are responsive to and controlled by a balanced fatty acid composition.
Stress, Depression and Obesity among Adolescents: A Narrative Review

Adolescents try to eat as a way to stress relief, while they suffer from overweight and obesity and feel depressed later. This is a review and analysis of the results of published research literature since 1980 on the relationship of obesity with stress and depression among adolescents. The current review tries to evaluate and describe the effect of stress on obesity and subsequently on depression among adolescents. The literature reveals obvious differences in various emotional problems for boys and girls. However, some studies focused on stress and obesity among adolescents, some others reported depression among obese adolescents. Descriptive design was used for quantitative studies as well as using theories which were used for qualitative studies. Interview and questionnaires were used for data collection. Studies revealed that stress results in overweight and obesity among adolescents through decreasing physical activity and increasing food intake. Consequently, obesity among adolescents as a result of negative body image and concept of proper appearance can cause depression. On the other hand, gender, age and ethnicity affect stress and depression as well as obesity during adolescence.
Robotic finger with coupled joints: A prototype and its inverse kinematics

Without an external load or without a special effort to overcome the coupling, human fingers move in such a way that DIP and PIP joints of each finger except of a thumb move simultaneously in a coupled fashion. Similar motion of robotic fingers can be achieved by independent control of each joint, but to reduce number of needed actuators, a mechanical coupling of respective joints is frequently used. In this paper we derive an algebraic solution of inverse kinematics for robotic finger with linearly coupled PIP and DIP joints. The calculation involves solving a polynomial. A prototype of robotic finger with coupled joints that uses newly proposed mechanism called "Twist Drive" is presented. The principle of proposed joints actuation mechanism and its main characteristics are explained. A prototype of robotic finger and basic experimental results of joint positioning control are presented.
Computer Aided Design of a Firmware Flashing Protocol for Vehicular On-Board Networks September 28 th , 2009

Vehicular On-Board Networks consist of up to 70 electronic c ontrol units (ECUs) interconnected by buses and gateways and organized w thin domains with different trust levels. This paper describes how the de sign of a protocol for deploying a new firmware onto various vehicular ECUs migh t be automated. In particular, such a protocol should prevent attack s to the firmware update process and make sure that no malicious firmware is act ually installed in place of a regular firmware update, despite the fact that it may be sent through insecure domains. Designing security protocols fo r ECU communication in such architectures can become quite complex and error-prone, especially given the computational and deployment constra i ts that apply in the domain. This paper discusses how the protocol designer m ight receive some help in exploring fundamental design decisions based o n the systematic review of alternative security architectures and pote ntial threats.
Molecular Karyotyping: Array CGH Quality Criteria for Constitutional Genetic Diagnosis

Array CGH (comparative genomic hybridization) enables the identification of chromosomal copy number changes. The availability of clone sets covering the human genome opens the possibility for the widespread use of array CGH for both research and diagnostic purposes. In this manuscript we report on the parameters that were critical for successful implementation of the technology, assess quality criteria, and discuss the potential benefits and pitfalls of the technology for improved pre- and postnatal constitutional genetic diagnosis. We propose to name the genome-wide array CGH “molecular karyotyping,” in analogy with conventional karyotyping that uses staining methods to visualize chromosomes.
Microsatellite instability

Unlike aneuploidy, considered to be the cardinal feature of malignant tumors ever since the chromosomal analysis of neoplastic cells became technically feasible, a second pathway toward malignancy has emerged over the past decade that is not characterized by gross aneuploidy but, instead, by inactivation of the DNA mismatch repair system, leading to a hypermutable state in which simple repetitive DNA sequences are unstable during DNA replication. Although mutations of many of these microsatellite sequences are presumably innocuous, because they do not occur in the coding or regulatory regions of genes, other such sequences are critically located in the coding regions of genes involved in the regulation of cell growth. First discovered in the rather uncommon hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome, where there is an inactivating germline mutation in one of the DNA mismatch repair genes and most of the tumors show microsatellite instability, the latter phenomenon has since been implicated in about 15% of sporadic colorectal cancers, as well as in cancers at several other sites, such as the endometrium. Tumors showing microsatellite instability are generally near-diploid, are at a low stage of development, have a favorable prognosis, and, in the colon, are commonly located on the right side. In recent years, epigenetic phenomena, including hypermethylation and loss of imprinting, have come to be recognized as having a significant bearing on the development of these tumors.